Flying Free Chapter 2 (original chapter Chapter 67)

Hebert Residence

Blinking in surprise, I stared at the dully purring phone in my hand in shock. I had just been on the phone to Emma as her Dad was taking her to a modelling job of some kind when she'd abruptly been cut off. I had a really, really bad feeling about this.

I had cheered up a lot since I had gained my powers and Emma and I had become even closer as she designed my costume, as impossible as it sounded. We had already been like sisters, but now we were so much closer than before that I was kinda giddy about it.

That something was possibly happening to my sister-in-all-but-blood made my blood freeze.

It might be a leap of logic for someone living elsewhere, but in Brockton Bay, never attribute to accident or stupidity something for which you can possibly blame the gangs for. If you did that, you were right nine times out of ten.

After a moment of paralyzed indecision, I leapt up and ran to my room, ripping off my clothes except for my panties and looking for the costume that Emma and I had assembled over the last few weeks. She had used her connections in the modelling business to grab a few sets of things that she had modelled in the past, as well as buying a few expensive things that she had passed off to her parents as an 'attempt at an Intervention on Taylor', whatever she had meant by that.

First to go on was a pair of spandex shorts, swiftly followed by a sports bra. Me actually had enough boobage to need a sports bra was something that I had never thought would happen. Yay, powers.

I slid on a knee length skirt next, one that was red with light blue vertical stripes running down it. A red t-shirt followed it, along with a blue jacket. Both of these last items had been modified to allow my wings in my Changer state to pop out without ripping through the fabric, as well as giving them enough space to flap so I could fly.

Yes, I could fly. Very quickly, as it so happened. I wasn't an Alexandria-type by any means, but I was able to fly, so one out of three isn't too bad.

Gloves and thigh-high (heelless) boots took care of my hands and feet. On my head, I wore a mountaineering helmet with two small holes drilled into it to allow my antennae to grow through them unrestrictedly. As for my face, I work a pair of ski goggles that Emma had bought as a part of a special offer on winter clothing (weird) and finished with a bandanna worn around my lower face similar to Miss Militia.

Dressed and ready, I opened the window and threw myself out of it, Changing immediately and speeding off to find Emma and her dad. Fortunately, I knew where to look. The studio that the modelling agency had rented out for this shoot was deep in ABB territory, so the people responsible were almost certainly the ABB.

Added to that, Alan Barnes was someone who always took the shortest route between two points, so I knew the general location of where they were likely to be, given that Emma had rung me ten minutes into the journey. I started at the Barnes family home (otherwise known as my second home) and started moving along the route that Alan would have taken. Thank god Emma told me where she was going to be working today!

"C'mon, c'mon…where the hell are you?!" I muttered anxiously as I zipped across traffic, ignoring the gawping features of passersby and drivers. It was when I zipped down a less beaten path that I heard a scream…in a very familiar voice.

"Emma!"

With Emma and Alan Barnes

Ignoring my scream, the ABB guy asked again, "So what'll it be, little girl? Eye or hair?"

"Do her hair." The female gangbanger holding my struggling father down sneered. "We're behind on our quota anyway."

Panic raced through me, along with fear and quite a bit of terror. I knew that white girls captured by the ABB did not live for long afterwards, sold as whores abroad. No…no! I couldn't let that happen! Taylor needed me! My family needed me! I couldn't let this happen!

Yet, as the knife drew nearer and nearer, I knew it was hopeless. I was going to be taken, and nothing and no one was going to come and rescue me.

Helphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelphelp…!

My eyes rolled back.

[Destination]

[Agreement]

[Alignment]

[Agreement]

[Resonance: Intangibility, Transformation]

[Integration?]

[Agreement]

[Intersection!]

With Taylor

I picked myself off the rooftop, somewhat confused. One minute I was flying, the next I was lying on the top of a building. What the hell just happened?

Shaking off my confusion and putting it aside for the moment, I reactivated my powers and fluttered up, spotting about five or so ABB grunts, along with two very familiar figures, one of whom was lying back against the side of the car as one of the ABB came at her with a knife!

"NO!" I roared and fired off a blast of air waves at the man with a mighty flap of my wings. They flew through the air and slammed into him, sending him flying over Alan Barnes' car and into a wall. As he slid down it to land on the pavement, the others looked up and spotted me.

"CAPE!" one shouted.

I swooped in to hover above them. Focusing, I fired a rainbow-colored beam from my eyes that slammed into another ABB grunt, knocking her away from Alan Barnes, who wasted no time running to his daughter's side.

"Get in the car and get home. I'll take care of these scumbags." I told him with a low grunt.

"R-Right!" he said as he swept Emma into the car before heading for the driver's seat.

"Don't let them get away!" one of the remaining idiots shouted.

Opening my mouth, I shrieked at him. For whatever reason, whenever I used this move, I could only affect one target at a time, when you'd think a soundwave would affect anything and anyone within its path. Powers are so weird.

Anyway, being hit with it made the guy clutch his head in pain and stumble off. Three down, two to go. Alan used their distraction to peel his car away like a bat out of hell.

"Fuck you, freak!" one of them screamed and pulled a pistol from his pants (why do these people keep them inside their pants? Aren't they afraid of an accidental discharge hitting their junk?) . As he pulled the trigger, I lashed out with my mind, my willpower rather, sending the bullet careening off into the ground a foot away from the muzzle.

"No freaking way!" he shouted. I lashed out again with my will, knocking the weapon from his hand.

"Get lost." I said, gesturing away. "Take your friends with you. If I see you five hanging around again, I'll string you up by your feet outside the police station!"

The two gangbangers nodded frantically and scrambled to grab their fallen friends. I snorted and exercised my will for a third time, smashing the gun to pieces before turning and flying towards the Barnes home.

Landing on the lawn, I crossed to the front door and knocked. After a moment, Mr. Barnes peered out suspiciously before letting me in.

"You have no idea how thankful to you I am." He told me as he ushered me inside, closing the door behind me, being careful of my wings. "If you hadn't arrived when you had, those…those monsters would have taken my daughter from me."

"I'm glad to have helped." I said with a nod, still keeping up my fake voice. "How is your daughter?"

"Not good." He admitted. "She's almost completely unresponsive, even to her mother."

"ALAN!" the shout from Zoe Barnes made the man move so fast that I had to wonder if he had a parahuman power of his own. He sped up the stairs, with me following at a more sedate pace.

"Good god!" I heard him exclaim from the door of Emma's bedroom. Peering around him when I made it to him, I gasped myself.

The person I presumed to be Emma was a pure black outline, surrounded by a purple mist-like aura. Zoe was standing nearby, looking at her daughter in shock.

"She's got powers." I said in disbelief.

"Who are you?!" the frantic woman demanded when Alan moved aside to let her see me.

I looked around and, satisfied that all of the curtains were closed, removed my helmet, goggles and bandanna before reverting back to my normal appearance.

"T-Taylor?!" Alan whispered in shock.

"Emma was on the phone to me when you were attacked." I explained softly. "I costumed up and headed out to find you because I had a bad feeling that you and she were in trouble. I'm sorry that I was right."

Just then, I was tackled by Zoe, who was crying softly. "My baby…you saved my baby…thank you Taylor!"

"She's as good as my sister." I assured her. "I wouldn't let anything happen to her if I can help avoid it. Still...I never expected her to get powers. More than that, powers like mine."

"She was just staring blankly at the ceiling, and then…this." Zoe said as she recovered. "What's happened to her?"

"She gained powers today, Aunt Zoe." I said as I made her stand back. "I don't know how it happens, but it seems to be trauma or stress that triggers the powers. She must have been scared out of her mind. I guess she was also thinking of me when it happened and her powers were patterned after mine…"

"You transformed into a humanoid butterfly, not…whatever this is." Alan pointed out shakily.

"There's a category of Parahuman powers called Changer." I explained. "It covers any sort of power that changes the form of the user's body from one thing to another. That's what I am, and it seems like Emma is as well. Let me see…"

I picked up a piece of paper, scrunched it up and threw it at Emma. It passed right through her.

"I thought so. Whatever it is she Changed into has a Breaker-type power." I nodded. Then I explained, "A Breaker is a Cape who has a body that violates the law of physics in some way or another; changing into shadows like the Vigilante Shadow Stalker, having a body like rubber…stuff like that. Emma was being threatened with a knife, so she subconsciously wanted, and got, a power that makes ordinary weapons useless against her."

"Is that how powers work?" Alan asked in puzzlement.

I spread my hands helplessly. "I haven't a clue. I've only had my power for just under a month. What we have to do is snap Emma out of this. She's probably having a waking dream about what happened. I'll try and do something to get her out of it."

I made to move forward, but Zoe stopped me. "Taylor, when I went close, that purple mist made me feel ill."

That made me mutter a curse. She had also probably wanted to keep people (the gangbangers) away from her as well, thus the damned poison gas. Urgh, this was gonna be a pain.

"Emma! Emma, please wake up!" I called to the insensate form of my best friend. "Emma! C'mon, wake up already!"

"Tay…lor…?" the voice coming from the ghostly form was definitely Emma's, but it was also doubled up, as if it were being echoed.

"Yes, it's me!" I was relieved that my words were getting through to her. "Emma, you have to wake up…just open your eyes and sit up."

"OK…" she said and suddenly a wide set of half-moon eyes snapped open on the head of the shadowy figure, which then say up. "Uh…Tay…? What the heck happened to me?"

"You've got powers." I told her. "Dangerous ones. You're surrounded by a poisonous mist that can hurt us. Focus on your real appearance and concentrate on becoming that."

"B-But…what about the gangbangers…?!" Emma whimpered.

"I drove them off, Ems." I said soothingly. "You know I can handle them. And we're in your house. If they want to get to you, they'll have to go through me and your parents first. You are safe here."

Swallowing (or at least making a gulping sound), Emma did as I instructed. One moment, a shadowy form was sitting on the bed, then next instant, there was the form of my best friend.

In three strides, I crossed the room and pulled her into a hug. "I've got you." I whispered. "Let it out."

With a great sob, Emma clung to me and started crying. Alan and Zoe joined us, wrapping their daughter into a hug. Once Anna got back, she joined in after being filled in about the basics of what had almost befallen her sister. Zoe and Allan kept my identity as the Cape who had helped save Emma a secret from her for the moment. Not because they didn't trust her, but because she was to excitable; I was still pretty certain that she wouldn't shut up about it once she found out.

Elsewhere

Shadow Stalker, otherwise known as Sophia Hess, spat out a dozen curses. The damn butterfly girl had flown too fast for her to track, making her pursuit a waste of time.

'That redhead fuckin' Triggered!' the vigilante thought bitterly. 'If that butterfly bitch hadn't shown up, I coulda had someone to who understands! Next time I see her, she's getting a quarrel in the leg!'

She had known that being near someone Triggering would make any Parahuman fall unconscious for a handful of seconds; it was the so-called 'Trigger Shock' effect. Asking a [Verified Cape] on PHO had gotten her that answer. Sophia had never to actually be near enough to someone Triggering that she would feel it though!

Another Parahuman, Triggering in front of her…it was a sign, wasn't it? Then again, the vigilante hadn't gotten to see if the girl would fight back or not thanks to that fucking butterfly girl!

'A butterfly…fucking seriously?!' she scoffed to herself. No way could anyone who turned into a butterfly actually be strong. She had seen what the girl had used against the five members of the ABB and was not impressed. A gust of wind, a lightshow, a shout and a bit of weak TK. Pfft, please. It might work against weak ABB punks but that did not make her a Predator. The butterfly was Prey, pure and simple.

At some point, she'd express that to the bitch personally.

First things first though; she had to track down that redhead. Then she'd have to see exactly how much of a Predator she was. Shadow Stalker had planned on hitting the Empire 88, maybe interrogate a couple, but for once, those racist scumbags were not a primary concern.

Well, not unless they got in her way, at any rate.

Next Day

Hebert Home

"So…you have powers?" Danny asked with a blink.

"Yup." I nodded. "I turn into a humanoid butterfly with odd powers besides."

We were in the living room, with Mr. Barnes and Emma sitting with them.

"And, thanks to those scumbags attacking you…you have powers as well, Emma?" the tall, thin man asked slowly.

"Yep. I turn into some kind of ghost-thing." Emma said in a small voice. Her father gently placed a supportive arm around her.

"I'm…upset that you didn't tell me about getting powers, but I am proud of you for saving Emma." Dann said with a smile. "Well done, Little Owl."

I beamed at the praise.

"I was helpless yesterday, Danny." Alan sighed. "Those…gangbanger scumbags…were going to take my little girl away and probably kill me into the bargain. Who knows what would have happened if Taylor hadn't shown up when she did."

"You should get a gun license and a concealed carry permit." Danny advised his old friend. "If nothing else, it'll help deal with common gangbangers like yesterday. I have both, although I rarely carry it."

"Zoe won't like it…but I think after the fright she got yesterday, she'll go along with it." The divorce lawyer sighed. "Question is…what do we do about Emma and Taylor? They both have powers and Taylor, if nothing else, clearly wants to use them."

"Emma helped get my costume together." I smiled at my sister, who smiled back tremulously. "I told her about my powers first, because I trust her so much. Sorry, Dad."

"It's fine." My Dad shook his head in resigned amusement. "You two are practically joined at the hip and have been since you were in kindergarten. Keeping each other's secrets like that is expected. Still…what do you want to do? Join the Wards?"

I shook my head slightly. "As I said to Emma a while back, they aren't around where you need them to be…like in side streets where the ABB like to kidnap people. The areas of the city that the PRT, Protectorate and Wards cover adds up to less than a third of it…the rich sections, the places that are filled with people from out of town most often. When was the last time the PRT sent a patrol our way? Years ago?"

"You were five, I think." Dad sighed. "I'm not comfortable with the idea of you going out and about on your own, fighting criminals and what not. I only just lost your mother…I don't think I could bear it to lose you as well."

Blinking away tears, I said softly, "What would Mom say?"

Another sigh. "She'd want you to follow your heart." Dad admitted ruefully. "You're just as stubborn as she was."

"I think she gets that from both sides, actually." Alan put in dryly, making both me and Emma giggle.

"Et tu, Alan?" Danny grumbled.

"Just telling it as it is." The lawyer said innocently. A practiced man at his craft, he looked as though butter would not melt in his mouth. Dad grumbled some more.

"Dad…I want to help Tay." Emma said suddenly, looking determined.

"Emma, you don't have to." I said firmly, before Alan could start to argue with her. "You have to mentally recover from the shock of what happened yesterday first. You can help, but not as a teammate until you're OK. Alright?"

"I agree with Taylor." Dad nodded. "No going out as a Cape until you're a hundred percent, Emma. That includes talking to a therapist. In the meantime, you should try to master your powers."

"O…Ok…" the redhead nodded.

"If Emma's are anything like mine, she'll need space." I admitted. "I was basically going off of instinct with what I felt I could do."

"There are a bunch of abandoned warehouses in the Docks area, some that the Dockworker's Association own." Dad smirked. "I think I can have one listed as condemned or something so no one will go near it. That ought to make it acceptable as a training spot."

"Yeah…we also need to add armour or something to Taylor's costume." Alan noted. "It looks good, but it has no ability to protect her. Know anyone that sells Kevlar vests on the low, Danny?"

"I know a couple of guys that fit the bill." Dad nodded. He looked at me and sighed. "I don't like that you're going to be fighting scum like the ABB, Empire 88 and Merchants, but if you insist on doing it, I want you to be as protected as possible. Like hell I'm losing you or Emma to these scumbags."

Warmth filled me at his words. "Thanks Dad." I said.

"What were you thinking about for your Cape name?" Alan asked. "I don't think you want to let the PRT give you one. Even I've heard about Chubster."

I winced. "Yeah…that sucks. I was thinking…"

"Always dangerous." Emma quipped.

"Shush you." I scolded my irksome best friend-slash-sister. "Anyway, I was thinking…I turn into a butterfly and I feel free when I fly…so how about Butterfree?"

OK, so the name is VERY obvious. Sue me; I suck at naming things almost as much as Taylor herself does.

Now, a list of attacks used by Taylor in this chapter, whether she realizes she used them or not: [Tailwind], [Air Slash], [Psybeam], [Supersonic] and [Confusion]. She ain't no Pokémon, and can know and use many more than four moves.

Emma, for those who have not guessed, is a Ghastly. It was just about the best fit for her Triggering with both Taylor and Sophia nearby, but maybe some of you disagree. Can she 'evolve' her Changer form into Haunter and then Gengar? Your guess is as good as mine, but probably.

And for everyone wondering, no, they are not Pokégirls in THAT sense. They will not become savage or feral if they don't have sex with someone for a certain amount of time.