June 7th, 2006
"You? You claim to be heroes? You believe that your masks make you powerful, important, and safe, hidden behind them as you are? No, not here, not in the ways that matter. Behind those masks, you are nothing but children playing a game, just like we were, once."
"And children always grow up, whether they like it or not."
I noted that Armsmaster kept himself between me and Alexandria as he guided me to the cluster of desks, stopping me in front of where he had been working.
Still wired from my earlier outburst, I hoped for a chair to let my quaking legs rest, but there was only one.
"Let me finish setting up the final settings then we can get started," Armsmaster stated as he took a seat. "This set up was put in place just for this, so I need to make sure it's all in working order. In the meantime, there are a few safety checks we need to go over."
"In the case of your power going haywire, if at all possible, keep it aimed away from anyone, as well as to keep as still as possible if you are in no danger. Assault will be standing by to help ensure that we are safe, but that doesn't mean we should take unnecessary risks."
"If need be, I can step in as well," Alexandria interjected. "I'm fast enough to get you either away from the area or to pull you out of danger while having little to no risk to myself. Though we should start small, the last thing we need is for you to replicate Winslow."
"But the ice might not have been me," I cut in.
"… I'm sorry?"
"Taylor earlier informed me that she inadvertently used her power to go invisible, without the formation of any ice," Armsmaster clarified to Alexandria. "Whether or not this is just another aspect of her power is yet to be determined, as powers often have sub-sets to them."
"I am aware, Armsmaster," Alexandria said coolly. "I have met several Blaster/Changers in which their powers are linked in use, as well as a Changer/Shaker/Thinker. Odd power mixes are rare, but not unheard of."
If Armsmaster caught Alexandria's tone, then he gave no sign of it, simply nodding and adding:
"An excellent example. Grey Bulk, I assume?"
"Yes, though he was considering a name change the last I heard. Armsmaster, if Taylor is to be believed- not that I'm saying you're lying, Ms. Hebert," the hero interrupted herself, trying to placate me with an upraised hand. "Have the protocols been changed to compensate? Do we have something to work with, or are we going off of assumptions and following the Sentinel Standards?"
"Nothing that extreme, ma'am, Taylor had already informed me that she exercised her power by accident at Arcadia. She stated that she displayed some form of invisibility. We'll go with the Wyvern Protocols."
Alexandria hummed and glanced at me. "A good choice, what type of invisibility are we talking about, Ms. Hebert: actual invisibility or some form of Stranger power that induced invisibility?"
"… There's a difference?" I hesitantly ask.
"Only on the paperwork side of things," says Assault, the red-suited hero having taken a spare seat and now leaning impossibly far back in it.
"In practical terms, being invisible means you can't be seen, but there is a difference between being transparent, and having no one see you and/or perceive you as a threat. Nice Guy, for example- he didn't go invisible, but he might as well have been."
"Not the best or most accurate example, but a fair one nevertheless," Armsmaster stated. "So you do read the reports I give out."
"Well what else am I going to do when I'm on Alert Five? Never cared for watching TV and you yanked the gaming consoles from the Deck months ago. Plus we both know how bad Battery is at writing up reports."
Armsmaster stopped his typing to glance over at his fellow hero, mouth open and head and shoulders coming back in that familiar way that I'd seen teachers move just before they discipline a student…
Before he paused and frowned.
"… Reminder: schedule a team meeting about proper protocol involving the Deck and Protectorate forms."
"Will do, Boss!"
Armsmaster sighed and turned back to the computers. "I referring to you, Assault."
There were several more moments of waiting while Armsmaster finished up whatever he was doing. After which he spun around to face me, picking up a case and opening it as he did so.
"Now, I need to attach these to get readings from you, if I may?" Armsmaster asks as he gestures to me. A quick nod was all he needed to begin.
Armsmaster was quick and clinical, attaching several devices to my arms, one to my head, one to my neck, and then clipping something onto one of my fingers.
"This will only take a moment to establish the baseline. Some powers are linked to emotional states, which have clear physical and biological reactions behind them. Given what limited examples we have of your power, this data might lead to you better understanding and controlling it."
Turning away, the hero busied himself with a keyboard, and it was only from watching TV that I understood some of what was showing up on the screens. A heart monitor and the like, but a few I was sure only a medical professional would understand. One screen even had some form of wireframe being formed on it; it flowed in a rough circle, hundreds of wires twisting in some pattern.
It was a long minute of waiting before Armsmaster nodded and turned back to me.
"Now, you said that you believe you voluntarily used your power before, is it possible for you to replicate that?" Armsmaster asked. "In a small as amount as you can please, just 'flex' your power, if you will. I will monitor from here."
I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Alexandria had drifted away, floating off the ground with her arms still clasped behind her back. She stood like a statue, the only movement being from her cape steadying.
Not that that made me nervous or anything.
It took a moment, to reach for that Well- not within me, but still in my center. To draw it out, to bring it forth from my arms.
White-blue smoke rippled from my hands, arcing through the air for a moment before vanishing. And now that I was looking, I could also see little bits of the same light shooting off my arms as well, like wiggly sparks.
What was it? Part of my power? Some people got pretty powers, some got nothing to show off their power, and others (like Murderbeam, or New Wave) had some sort of effect to show that it was working.
Was this mine? Did it do anything? Could I control it or change it? Or was it just a side effect of me tapping into the Well?
The sound of Armsmaster grunting pulled me from my introspection, and I looked up to see him angrily tapping away at his keyboard.
Or at least was trying to, because I realized after a moment that all of the screens had frozen, the heart monitor resembled a three-year-old's drawing, several others seemed to be in the middle of becoming static, and the wireframe had twisted itself into a pretzel.
Armsmaster stopped pounding away at the keys to turn and open up one of the computers, releasing a small puff of smoke as he did so.
"… Well," Armsmaster started with a frown as he waved away the cloud. "If it was that easy to understand powers then it would have been done long ago. You can remove the sensors for now, I need to see what I can salvage from this."
I couldn't help from saying sorry.
"Not entirely your fault Miss Herbert," came Alexandria's voice from right behind me, causing me to spin around with a gasp.
"Powers are barely understood the best of times."
Again, I was struck with how much of a presence Alexandria had, and how easily it could change from admiration, to intimidation.
She still had her arms behind her back, but with how she was floating right behind me, made me view it less in awe and more as an uneasy feeling. What was she doing so close?
She didn't even move as I took a step back, she just floated there, watching me.
… was she waiting for something? Or did she want to ask questions? Or for me to ask questions?
It was hard to hold onto my spurt of confidence from before, having Alexandria floating ominously behind you tends to make one start to shake in one's boots.
Just what was it that she wanted? Confirmation that I was the one causing the Thinker issues? Was she just standing by to intercede if something went wrong? Or was she just like this, so used to being looked upon with awe that she no longer understood things like personal boundaries when it came to capes and powers?
… no, wait, that was more like Vicky. She was the one that had the problem of 'youth plus power' to inflate her head (then again, if I looked like her and had her powers, I was sure I would have a big head as well).
Part of me hoped that Alexandria would do something after our… it wasn't quite a staredown, she seemed to be looking near me, more than right at me. Yet she wasn't doing anything.
After several seconds, just for me to have something to do, I started to remove the things Armsmaster had put on me, careful not to let Alexandria out of my sight, even as I set them aside. She gave no reaction to my moments, simply floating there and waiting.
"Very well, we'll move onto the practical testing." Armsmaster to the rescue!
The power-armor wearing hero walked past me, seemingly not seeing any issue with how Alexandria was acting and grabbed a few more of those sensors to replace the ones that I removed.
These were different, larger and fewer of them. One went on my neck, and two more went on my arms. The final one was placed on my head like before.
"Now, it will take me a moment to get the backup running," Armsmaster stated as he took a step back. "During that time if you could walk out to stand in front of the camera out in the middle of the floor, then we can move forward with the actual power testing. If there is anything else you wish to add or clarify, now would be the time to do it."
"… I don't… need to eat or sleep anymore?" I said hesitantly.
Armsmaster simply stared at me, before asking, "You've tested this?"
"… yeah, I… I got a little curious about if there was something else to my power, like faster reflexes or something, and ended up not sleeping for a day, which changed to not eating for a while, but I got hungry after I pushed myself on a jog but other than that I haven't had anything substantial aside from some water and snacks to keep appearances, but even then I didn't feel like I needed it. I swear I was going to bring it up, but I just didn't know if you wanted to do this like a checklist or…something…" I trailed off.
I couldn't understand Armsmaster's expression as he stood there, even with his mask blocking most of it; it was strangely… blank.
"… what about waste?"
Assault coughed in the background, loudly.
Armsmaster seemed to jerk and shook his head to free himself from… whatever he was thinking (how was I supposed to answer that!?), before turning away from me and mumbling something about luck.
"I'll mark it down for a later, long-term study," he stated. "It is possible that there is an unseen side effect which could cause problems further down the line, so it will have to be addressed. For now, please walk out to the marked location and face the targets, it's time for the practical testing of your power."
It took me several moments before I spotted the 'targets,' if only because Assault pointed them out to me.
They were on the far end of the warehouse, visible only as posts that stood out as being painted yellow, as opposed to the grey/black/rust-colored building.
"I can give you a lift if you don't want to walk," offered Assault.
"Or Armsmaster could give you one in his jeep," He finished in an overly-loud voice, looking at the Tinker. Said Tinker looked up from where he was working on the busted computer and paused.
"… Ah, it is some distance."
"I can jog it."
"You don't need to," Armsmaster continued, moving to stand up. "It will be a simple matter t-"
"I didn't get my jog in this morning anyway," I explained. "It would be nice to fix that."
Armsmaster wavered for a moment, before nodding and returning to his seat. "Very well, if you are fine with it."
I noted that Alexandria didn't offer me a lift, nor move from her spot during the conversation but pushed that aside and got moving.
The upside of my jog? I got to get away from the trio of heroes and lose myself in the repetition of my run, feeling the steady pounding of my feet upon the concrete, and listening to the subtle echo of the cavernous room.
Downside: The jog gave me time to think, something that I felt wasn't the best choice right now.
I hadn't expected everything to go the way it was, but I also hadn't known what to really expect in the first place, so…
All the same, what had happened so far wasn't anything like what I would have guessed.
Armsmaster, Assault, Alexandria… when I had walked into the PRT building for my testing session, I had expected something more like a lab, with heroes from the Protectorate watching over me as I used my power, with maybe a few other trusted people taking notes.
Instead, I got taken to the abandoned part of town (which I understood, ie. destroying a building), and had one of the Triumvirate there to oversee it. Which…. I didn't really get now that I thought about it.
Even if my power was making a mess of other Thinkers, why would the second-in-command of the Protectorate show up to deal with it?
Alexandria wasn't affected by Master powers, but… my power wasn't a Master power. They could have just sent someone else, or had a few Thinkers watching my session. Hell, Armsmaster basically reported to her, Alexandria could have just asked him for a report or to extend my testing to see what I could do.
She knew something about my power, something that she wasn't telling any of us, I could feel it. There was no other reason for her to act the way she was, not for someone like her.
Question was, what? Was it something she hadn't shared? Some piece of information that a Thinker had uncovered about what my power could do?
Could Thinkers even do that? I hadn't really ever used my power and sure, Precogs and all of that, but if they could figure out my power that easily, then how come people like the Nine were still running around?
Those thoughts accompanied me for most of my jog, circling in my head.
The 'marked location' was little more than a chalk square on the floor, around which were markings that had distances next to them extending out to the point where I couldn't see them anymore.
To the right had several different types of targets made of what I guessed were different types of metal, along with wood, plastic, and a few other building materials, all held upright on stands. There were also plants, the type you would find in an office; a few ferns, some flowers. I guessed they were for seeing what my power would do to living things?
On the left were things like cameras and other recording equipment, all pointed at where I could stand.
"Taylor, can you hear me?" Armsmasters' voice echoed out from one of the devices, as, somewhat creepily, one of the cameras started following me as I moved.
"Yes."
"Good, everything is coming through fine on our end, so we'll begin in a moment… do you feel winded from your jog?"
I shook my head at the camera. "… not particularly." It hadn't been much of a jog after all; I did more during my morning runs.
"… none of your vitals have changed since I placed then on you, outside predicted jumps for basic movement. In fact, the few metabolic readings I have from you suggest that you expended no energy for that jog."
"… which means?"
"… Ignore Armsmaster for now," Alexandria cut in. "Circumventing the conservation of energy isn't unprecedented for capes, though having it to this level is somewhat unique. One moment."
It was actually several before Armsmaster started speaking again.
"… hmm, right. The original testing for you involved seeing both the state of your power, and if you could control it. Obviously, parts of the testing were organized under the assumptions of a controlled repeat of the Winslow Event, but if it has changed then we'll be following a different plan."
"Basically, we wing it."
"We wing nothing, Assault, there are procedures to follow even in situations like this."
"Which amounts to, 'use the power, see what happens.'"
"In a controlled manner to the best of the cape in questions ability."
"That part should be common sense though."
"If common sense was really common, then everyone would use it." Alexandria again interjected, more sternly this time. "Taylor, simply start with what you were doing before and continue on from there with whatever feels natural, using your power in limited amounts at first. We'll be monitoring from here."
I could hear what sounded like bickering in the distance as I took Alexandra's words to heart and focused inwards towards my power.
It was easier this time, to bring the flow of blue-white wisps of gas-light from my arms.
No, not easier, I just knew what I was doing now. Experience had me reaching for my power the same way someone might reach for a doorknob; cause and effect based upon previous experience telling me what and how this would work.
I swished and hands and arms through the air, watching as the light-mist twirled into half-fractal circles, lines and ropes that curled back upon themselves.
"That's good Taylor," Armsmaster said over the radio. "Now, start small and work your way up, slowly if you will, using your power the best you can, in whatever form it takes beyond this."
Well, that was a simple request, and it was something that I felt didn't need to be said, if only because I didn't want to make another Winslow. Trouble was…
"And how do I do that?"
"… I'm sorry?"
At this distance, I felt free to roll my eyes. Really?
"My power, how do I use it?"
"… hello?"
I glanced back from where I came, trying o see if something had happened, but the distance was just far enough that I couldn't see more than their figures.
"… It is instinctual," came Alexandria's stern voice. "While the specifics might escape you at this time, using your power should be as natural as walking Miss Hebert."
Wait instinctual? As in capes just got their powers and just knew how to use them? That seemed… strange… as much as being able to suddenly fly was 'strange' anyway.
How did that work anyway? Did powers come with an instruction manual? One second you're in a bad spot, the next you're able to walk through walls with no issue? And just knew that you could do it?
"Well not for me," I countered. "I don't remember what happened at Winslow, and don't know how I went invisible before, I barely figured out this by accident. I panicked and it started happening, and all I know now is that I can do this."
I lifted my arms above my head and shook them, letting a light show play out.
"This isn't even something I knew I could do until I did it. Anything more than this? Nothing."
"Every cape knows how to use their power, Ms. Hebert; it is all but the single defining rule for most capes. Not knowing would be like not knowing how to use your arms, or to breathe."
"Not entirely accurate, Alexandria, some capes don't understand their powers as they are reactionary or linked to outside stimuli. To say nothing of…"
Armsmaster stopped long enough to make me worry, and while I could make out Alexandria having moved his way, but the distance was just far enough that I could get nothing more than that.
Though despite that, I could figure out what had happened. From my limited interactions with Armsmaster I had gathered that he was… blunt. Not quite to the point of him being insensitive, but having the mix of intelligence and straightforwardness that would allow him to open his mouth and lay out exactly what happened to me and how it came about as well as some of his own complacency in the events, while my father was right there in the room.
So, I could see him getting the evil-eye from Alexandria over his words in my mind, even if they were more directed at me for the explanation.
"It is possible that your powers are linked to a mental state," Armsmaster continued at the end of those long moments. "It isn't uncommon to have powers only work when the cape is feeling something. For now, focus on what you've done so far, expand on that first and we'll see what happens."
Easy enough, in theory.
Like before, I stoked my power, bring up more of the lightning-mist. It shifted along my arms and expanded to my chest before stopping.
"That's good Taylor, whatever you're doing seems to be working. Keep at it, try using more of your power, think of the events that were occurring when you used it before."
"Easy for you to say," I mutter.
Still, I thought back to the bathroom, the feeling of not wanting something to happen to me, the weightlessness of slipping, the fear.
… and nothing happened, my power remained how it was, little wisps of light echoing across my arms.
But there was more, I could feel it. The Well, the place where my power was coming from, it felt like I was just sticking my fingertips into it, barely causing ripples in its surface.
How did I know this? I didn't quite know, it was just… there. An echo of somth-
-taking hold. You will have to dream, m-
-ing else. What, I had no idea.
And why was I tried all of the sudden?
I shook the feeling off with a shake of my head, focusing back at my arms and my power streaming off of them.
… Why my arms? Was it because I just so happened to be looking at them? Or was it something more?
I could feel it, the flow of my power reaching out through me, the rush and ebb of something that could have 'felt' like water, but yet… I somehow just knew that it wasn't.
Maybe there was something to the whole 'instinctual' thing.
As I toyed with the feeling under my skin, I reflected upon what I was 'feeling,' just to try and get a better understanding of what it was.
My first thought of my power was that it felt like a well, of a hidden depth that stretched on down unseen, of something lurking just under the surface and I was able to draw it out.
But as I felt more, felt it roll across my fingers and though my bones, mind, an l, I realized it was more something akin to a bright, rolling ocean, of which was flexing, pressing, rolling against me as I reached for it.
I was just simultaneously the river, the spigot, the dam that was holding it back, stopping it from rushing forth in a storm of spinning, twirling fog-lighting.
My power wanted to flow, to push out, to move unimpeded through me, the bridge between e and h e r e being little more than the flesh of my mind, and I was stopping it, holding back the crushing weight of a hidden and unknown world.
Whispers danced in my eyes and ears, of stories lost and untold, of madness and chaos and love and pain and hate and happiness and song and silence.
Voices echoed in my ears, of events long past, of a ship, lost and forgotten.
Endless hallways stretched, formed of white, gold, black and blue. Hope and duty, honor and fear echoed in hazy faces. A shudder amongst the deck-plates, the lights flicker. Something had happened.
Clusters gather up and separate, work is done, and machinery is repaired.
But what was made was unmade as the e slowly wormed its way to the tender center, twisting away at thoughts and minds.
Something's out there, kiddo... watching us.
My power connected me to something. At a glance, dark and vast on the surface, unfathomable just as the stars above would be to one that only looked upon them.
Yet I could all but s e e rolling clouds of light churning through it, e the promise of power within the lightning threads as they rolled by, bending in on itself as it had done and always will be done.
There was familiarity to it. There was danger to it. Glimpses of un-seeable things flickered by, echoes of the past walked before the future. But yet I could h e a r the noise of the world speaking out, of un-dreamed dreams and lost promises. And I knew it, I'd s e e n it sung before.
It was like… experiencing a song that I k n e w, that I swore I knew it, but didn't know from where.
Deeper down I went, watching figures twirl and move in the flows and mists, lands forgotten to time and unbirthed from the world, even as they were eroded away, twisted, and reshaped by the swirling mists of lightening-water.
An image, of an outstretched hand, of rushing figures, of roving shapes moving forward as reality became d.
Rap
a parent, defending her son
cards, each marked with different faces
laugher, cruel and mocking
madness in the crew's eyes as they roamed
a son, hiding from his mother
a child's plea, shouted before a door sealed shut
eyes, like black pits staring me down, as the Donda spun alone
a face marred in reflex from the unexpected touch
poked and prodded by uncaring steel hands
voices, loud and demanding
a kind touch, a promise
TAP
sleeping, yet awake
failure, harsh truths and a trial
a flash of green light
realization and an invention
awake, yet sleeping
blades seeking flesh, metal worming into skin
chosen
willing or not
bound together, in the
dream
misery
and
not
rage
and
of
undeath
and
what
anguish
and
you
loss
and
are
pain
TA-
"-ylor?"
My head jerked back. "Huh?"
"… You drifted for a moment," Armsmaster explained. "You alright?"
"I'm…" I paused. I was what? I felt like I had just for-
A sharp pain bloomed in the center of my forehead, prompting me to grip my head and groan for a moment.
"Taylor!?"
"Fine! I'm fine!" I shout, trying not to make a deal out of it. "I just…"
… What? What had I been thinking about? Something about –
-ua a few years ago. They're calli-
-Devils? Despair? Why were those the first words to come to mind?
Every time I tried to reach out for the memory-
-utgrown the cradle. Now your Tran-
-It was like… I didn't know, one of those out-of-body feelings of being pulled inside my head and out the back of my skull if I tried to focus too hard on what just happened.
Yet… something was tickling at the back of my head, something that I… realized.
"… You know when you have that moment of introspection that you get when you just… realize something?" I ask. "I just had that."
"I have powers," I say after a moment, letting the energy pool from my hand once more. "No matter what happens after this, my life is never going to be the same."
That wasn't it, but it was… close.
I tried hard to cling to what had happened-
-ave a little quiet. It's my turn to ask the ques-
-But the harder I reached, the faster it slipped through my fingers like sand, leaving behind a feeling of loss and relief.
There was something I was missing, like-
-nd. The power and the misery... of the V-
-there was something… more, to my power. Something… else, that I could do.
"… how much are powers controlled by emotions?"
"It varies from power to power, but more have some intertwined levels to the mental states of the cape in question. Why? Have you figured something out?"
"No," I mutter. "Just…"
"How do they work? I mean really, how do our minds just suddenly know how our powers? Do our brains get rewired, or is it just like learning any other skill? Just more… instant, rather than learned."
"There are many schools of study which involve capes and their powers Ms. Hebert, including several that even a teenager like yourself could be a part of. But that subject is for another day. Now please, if you would be so kind."
"…Right, sorry."
I left that mystery of what just happened behind me and brought my power back up along my arms, once again watching the wisps of gas-light dance across my skin.
"… if you are having difficulty, then it might be a mental issue rather than a powers one," Alexandria interjected after several moments.
"It isn't uncommon for new capes to have some trepidation involving the use of their powers, particularly if they are forced to use them in a way that doesn't mesh with standard social conventions. Ms. Hebert, what happened at Winslow wasn't your fault and you shouldn't let it stop you from living your life, trust me, that path holds nothing but a life not worth living."
Despite the situation of her being there, Alexandria's words released some hidden tension in my shoulders. For most people, their words would ring hollow when they spoke of me and Winslow, about how I would get over it in time. Because people died because of me, why should I and how could I just live my life like it never happened?
But Alexandria? The words meant something coming from her. The Protectorate was set up as a counter to help stop capes from killing each other and others, to bring the 'Wild West' of capes under control. Part of that meant having to kill people so that others could live.
I didn't envy her, having to live with that choice, to make the decisions to take lives, but her having made those chooses meant of all people, she would best understand my feelings about Winslow.
And likely my feelings about my power as well.
Could some part of me be holding back out of fear of another Winslow?
Well, the answer was obviously yes, but it was still something that I had to wrap my head around.
Was my power at a limit of what I could make it do, or was I the hold limiting it?
… Maybe I was holding back.
Perhaps it was because of Winslow, my fear of what could happen if I didn't keep a tight leash on things, but I could feel the Well beside and within me, how it ebbed and rippled around me, barely touching upon what I could do with it.
Wait, how did I know that?
… there was definitely something to the whole 'instinctual' thing. A Geas of sorts, something that was intrinsically linked to the power in question.
I had the fear of another Winslow in my heart, of killing others with my power, yet… I didn't want this specter to have any more control over my life, I'd lived someone else calling the shots for you.
So, I stopped holding back, and let the power run within my arms freely.
And nothing happened… well, not really.
My Well, the River, it built up, I could feel it ripping in, ready and waiting for me to use it. And from there…
I watched my fingers as I flexed them, how my muscles shifted over the top of my bones as I told them to move. Before, back in the bathroom, I stroked my power, bring it to the surface like I was doing now. What would happen if I controlled the flow? If I pushed or pulled it down a path I wanted?
… my arms would be the easiest I figured, I already knew that I could do something there, so I pointed my left hand at the target, the one that wasn't behind the shield, and pull-
BBWHHOOOOOOOHHHhhhhksss
It wasn't a pull, it was a push.
Raw untamed energy blasted from my palm, reaching out to slam into the target.
The metal vanished beneath a stream of blue-white energy, all but melting away from the blow, which continued on for a short while past the plate before seemingly vanishing into open space.
I only caught a glimpse of this, however, because the recoil shoved my arm back as my power spilled forward, twisting me like a top to send me crashing to the floor, and the beam following my moments.
Or the movements of my flailing hand as it were, at least until my the impact with the ground cut it off.
Dust fluttered down around me as the sounds of collapsing debris echoed in the warehouse, causing me to cough.
There was throbbing in my arm, my elbow hurt from where it was slammed into the ground, my shoulder was protesting taking the brunt of the impact, and it felt like I twisted my ankle during my fall.
But other than that, I was fine.
I hissed as I pressed my hand into something sharp as I maneuvered myself upright, but I checked saw no blood.
Now the target on the other hand…
The target had a hole burned straight through it, from the center upwards roughly the size of my head. The edges were curled, almost like something had punched its way through it, yet were smooth, with the surrounding metal being warped in a kaleidoscope of textures, ranging from swirls and lines, all the way to like someone had cut a piece out before layering other over another, forming a clear line of two different pieces.
But it was the damage that my power did to everything else that had me gaping in shock from my spot on the floor.
A trail was carved into concrete, ripping it away in a jagged line that zigzagged around me, traced randomly over several of the targets, cutting off their support and sending them to the ground. A support beam was cut in two, some wreckage from an old machine was sheared in half, with the beam finally ripping a hole into the roof from the angle I had landed.
The plants faired just as bad. One of the ferns was all but gone and in pieces, while the other had wilted to the point that it resembled more of a fossil. Several of the flowers had been blown away and one of the pots had been broken, the dirt inside having turned into some kind of sand/mush with bits of what seemed like glass inside of it.
… well, at least it wasn't another ice-tree, I thought. Though I don't think that the PR-
My arm was nearly ripped from its socket as I was yanked upright. The pain blinding and overriding all my other injuries as my feet left the floor. I stumbled when they hit the ground again, nearly falling over if it wasn't for the grip like a steel vice that engulfed my arm.
"How did you do that?!" Alexandria demanded, her grip never faltering as she pulled me along.
"What? I…"
"Alexandria! Woah there! Maybe let up on the grip?"
Assault, I caught a glimpse of his red outfit as Alexandria twisted me around, staying upright only because of her grip.
"This is now a Class 8-B-S situation," stated Alexandria. "As such you are no longer authorized to be here."
"Alexandria! What are you doing!?"
The pounding of feet heralded Armsmaster's arrival, and I could see him running towards us through the tears in my eyes as I once more got my feet underneath me, my other hand clawing at Alexandria's to try and free myself.
Assault was standing nearby, the relaxed pose from before gone as he tensed up, leaning forward, arms at his sides and ready, facing me and Alexandria, who spun to face Armsmaster as he approached.
"Armsmaster, I am declaring a Class 8-B-S situation, you and Assault are no longer authoriz-"
Throughout the pain of having my arm nearly crushed, I yanked, desperate to free myself. When grasping at her arm didn't work, I switched to reaching out to push at her side, pleading, "Stop! I don't -you're hurting m-"
I didn't get to finish as my world spun, my arms getting twisted behind me in a second while the ground rushed up to greet me and I didn't know what was happening and wanted out out out!
The world shifted and altered in a familiar way. A swirl of blue-white light encircled around me, and the pain on my arm all but vanished as I jerked it away by floating through Alexandria.
I scrambled away from the hero, the world around me feeling like I was pushing through water, and half fell to the ground away from the group, tucked into a ball to protect my injured arm.
Meanwhile, Alexandria had leapt upward and was now floating several feet in the air, rapidly looking around for me while the other two heroes talked.
"What's the play, Bossman?" Assault asks. Like Alexandra, he was looking around, but also was keeping the flying hero in view as he slowly slid across the ground.
Armsmaster, on the other hand, was addressing Alexandria, his voice stern and steady. Even as I stood, pushing back against the world to get distance from Alexandria.
Did I walk closer to the other pair? Or just move towards the exit or someplace to hide?
"Ma'am, Class 8 situations deal with powers capable of destroying buildings. While given the damage at Winslow I understand the rating, the B and S annexes deal with the range of the power in question, as well the PRT threat level, respectively. By declaring Taylor S Class, you are effectively placing her in the same threat category as the Slaughterhouse Nine, to say nothing of the fact that you simply cannot do that. All S-class threats require three Thinkers to verify the situation before it can be declared as such and isn't something even you can just declare."
Alexandria didn't even bother to look at Armsmaster when she replied.
"There are exceptions in place when dealing with capes whose powers have either been changed by anothers or have second Triggered, as well as powers that either can be shared or propagate themselves, such as Teacher or the Butcher. For that reason, I am enacting Article 17d of the PRT and declaring Taylor Herbert to be detained immediately pending investigation into her powers."
From within me, I could my power drain from its use, but not from the Well, that remained vast and ever-present as ever. Instead, it was some kind of internal Reservoir from within me that was draining; with every second of being invisible was one less second that I had to be invisible.
And I somehow knew exactly how much time I had left before my control over my power faded.
"I feel I should point out that she came to us willingly," Assault pointed out. "Also, she is still here by the way, unless she figured teleported instead of becoming invisible, so maybe instead of treating her like a criminal, we should be trying to, you know, find her? Or get her to come out? Though that might be hard when the cast-iron bitch is on the warpath."
That last part wasn't quite spoken soft enough to be considered a mutter, though the way Assault didn't flinch when Alexandria glared at him made me think that was the point.
"I've been dealing with powers and capes far longer than you Assault, of everyone here I should be well qualified in making decisions about powers. And she's not just invisible, she's also incorporeal, even if you knew where she was you wouldn't be able to do anything abo-"
Time ran out, and with a swirl of light and a subtle Wvooh, I was no longer invisible.
And about a dozen feet away at max.
Near instantly I could feel my Reservoir refilling, but with how fast Alexandria spun to look at me, I knew that I wasn't going to get the time I needed to slow-boat my way out of everyone's sight.
Faster than I could blink, Alexandria was right on top of me.
My shoulders were jarred ached as the hero grabbed me by the wrists and forced them behind my head, interlocking and crossing my arms at my neck to do so.
She didn't yank me off my feet this time, but it was near thing. Her grip was like iron bars upon my wrists, and the way she was grabbing me made any sort of meaningful moment impossible, even then I still struggled, doing nothing but making Alexandra's face tighten.
"Alexandria!"
"I've seen this power before Armsmaster," Alexandria defended, shifting her grip as I tried to yank my arms free. I may have even tried kicking her.
"I've fought against its users several times, I know what it can do."
"That would be quite impossible, ma'am," Armsmaster countered. "Taylor is only a recent trigger, and she has limited contact with any other capes, to say anything of others that could give powers."
"I don't know if they all share powers, if it was something that was cape-made or a quirk of the powers in question, but I have seen these exact powers before. The Clans."
I paused in my attempts to free myself, the Clans? The name didn't ring a bell, but there were tons of cape groups out there, and not everyone pulled things like Teacher or the Elite.
Still, who were the Clans? And what did they do to drive Alexandria to act like this to me?
"… do you really believe that Taylor, a sixteen-year-old girl, is a member of an international shadow organization?!"
"I believe that it might be a powers situation," Alexandria snapped. "The Clans came out of nowhere, with weapons and skills far beyond what most were capable of at that time; even now we are hard-pressed to match what they are capable of doing. Do I believe that Taylor is a member? No. But I do know that the only thing we truly know about powers it we you know almost nothing about them, and that there are no limits to what they can do."
"It is possible that Taylor's power isn't what I think it is, but it is just as likely that she has been just unlucky enough to Trigger with some unknown part of the Sleeper's power, and that she'll vanish in a few days and never be seen again, just as it's easily possible that one day she's killed wearing one of the Clans' suits. Do I want that to happen? No, just like I don't want to throw a sixteen-year-old girl into a dark hole to be experimented upon, but I am willing to do that no matter how badly it makes my stomach churn because someone needs to make the hard decisions. No matter how bad they are."
"Her powers are identical to a Clan member's I'd fought, and shared reports over the years revealed that they all share similar powers, even if the armor they wear differ wildly. None of us may like it, but this is what needs to be done, so stand down Armsmaster, that's anorder."
Armsmaster wavered, and I felt something die within me.
The Tinker was known within the Protectorate, he was one of the ones that stood on the posters that highlighted the major heroes. Alexandria was his boss, and here he was getting an order from her to not help me.
I wanted to scream and flail, but was caught up in my fear. It was happening all over again, someone with more power than me, more backing, more authority, and prestige.
"Ma'am-"
"You've done good work here Armsmaster, don't throw it all away over something you lack perspective on."
Armsmaster was someone that had been viewed as a frontline fighter in the Bay, the man that would run headlong into cape fights right beside Conscript, or would be credited for helping bust up a drug ring with the BBPD, break up a cape fight, or had been the one to catch a villain.
He was someone that the city believed in, a hero that was hard at work fighting the villains and crime, one that worked hard because he himself believed in what he was doing.
I had my problems with the PRT and Protectorate; the way the city had more villains than heroes, how those same villains walked free for years without getting caught, and if they did they ended up back on the streets within a few days, but talks with both my Dad and Mr. Rieper had made me a little more aware of the reality of things.
One would not simply defeat Lung and make the ABB go away, putting all of the Empire capes behind bars would not make the group stop being racist, it was all more complex than that.
Yet when Armsmaster backed down at Alexandria's words, when he stood by and let someone he should have stepped in to protect get dragged away because of something she couldn't control… it didn't feel complex, not to me.
I hadn't done anything wrong.
Why was I the one that the world decided to shit on? What I had done to make fate choose me to be the punching bag?
What was worse was that this wasn't an overworked shithole of a school that had dozens of students and bigger problems to deal with. This wasn't a bully picking on one friendless kid because she knew that now one would step in to stop her and knew that no one was going to stop her from doing it.
This was Alexandria, one of the strongest capes in the world, fighter of Endbringers, leader of one of the best and biggest Protectorate teams, a symbol of heroes everywhere.
What was I to her?
Could I do anything here at all?
… no, I couldn't do anything.
But then that placed me right back in the same situation that got me into this mess, and didn't I say that I wasn't going to let it happen again?
"Thank you Armsmaster, I'll arrange transport for Taylor and be out of the city within a d-"
With a flex of my power I slipped my way through Alexandria hands, reaching out to push her away from me because fuck her and her issues and her sense of righteousness.
I didn't need to fight her, I just needed some space to argue about this, to get my voice out there rather than to slump and take the hits like before. Like I did at Winslow.
I needed to take a stand, to made myself heard and understood. I wasn't part of some global conspiracy, and if someone was coming after me because of my power was like theirs, I sure as hell didn't want to end up brainwashed or whatever Alexandria thought this 'Clan' did.
And to that aim I let my arms pass through Alexandria's, and pushed out at her own, more to get me away from her than anything.
She reacted just like I figured someone like her to react, with blinding speed and precision. But it was hard to grab ahold of someone when you couldn't touch them, and even harder when that same person could shove back without-
Alexandria screamed, a raw primal sound, which sent me screaming and tumbling backwards, my footing sliding out from under me from the shock.
Most of her right sleeve was gone from where I had touched her, looking to have been burnt or eroded away, letting everyone in the room see what had happened to the skin underneath.
The skin from her wrist all the way to the elbow had been burned pure white, the flesh melted and scarred to the point that it didn't even seem real.
Mid-float as she was, I was able to see the damage in its entirety, from the paleness of her now clay-like flesh, to the stretched ripples where her joints flexed.
Alexandria. Even though she named herself after the library for what she could do with her mental prowess, most people thought of her other, more physical powers first. She was strong enough to fling buses around, fast enough that she could cross cities and states in seconds, and durable enough to take hits from Endbringers and shake it off like it was nothing.
And my power ignored all of that when I shoved her away from me with glowing hands.
I felt something like ice just encase my entire back, my mind just shutting down from the shock.
… I hurt Alexandria. How did I-
It was a split second, just an instant, but I knew, somehow. It was just there.
The moment that Alexandria pulled her arm back, recoiling in pain from the burns (I hurt Alexandria), I knew… that she was afraid.
It popped into my mind like I had just remembered it. Like it was something I had always known. Trouble was, it wasn't normal fear.
This was the 'pants-wetting, fight or flight, don't think straight' fear, the kind that spoke of trauma and repressed memories, the kind that had all but been forgotten in modern times, with all of its conveniences and the lack of looking over your shoulder for that predator that was hurting you while you just tried to live hour by hour, day by day.
I knew all of this and more, it all happening in the instant of Alexandria pulling her arm back and me falling back to the floor.
Something else popped into my mind at the say time, a saying, one that my mother had told me.
They hate whom they fear.
Quintus Ennius
It wasn't even a conscious thought. One moment I was falling away from the hero in shock (I hurt Alexandria), then next I just knew that I shouldn't be there right the-
The world didn't shift as much as it blurred.
One second I was in front of Alexandria, the next, my power flared and flexed and flowed…
And then I was elsewhere.
I nearly lost my footing when I found myself standing on the wreckage of the targets from before, and was left wondering what just happened? When-
CRACK
The ground rumbled in time with the sound, a shuttering that reminded me of the one-time Brockton experienced an earthquake.
Alexandria's had imbedded her arm into the concrete nearly up to her elbow. With the grinding of stone on stone, she pulled it free while flying up and spinning around.
… Did Alexandria just try to kill me?
Even as she spotted me once more, I reflexively drug up my power, yanking at it and repeating what I had done just moments before-
It was more draining then slipping into invisibility, happening in a chunk of my reserves rather than a steady decrease, but I traveled so much further than that slow walk I was reduced to in that state.
I did it twice in rapid succession, feeling myself flash though the world like it was standing still, aiming for the far wall of the warehouse to escape, to get to a door somewhere-
And slammed painfully into a signpost with my shoulder.
Once more I found myself on the ground, blinking away the bright sunny light of the outside world.
The dingy streets, the echoing, throbbing pain, the graffiti and leftover trash, all of it seemed so normal compared to what I had just experienced that it was jarring. As if I had just taken a spill and just needed to take a moment to stand up.
But I didn't have time to readjust, to gain my balance in either stance or mentality, as the nearby wall suddenly blew apart with a shriek of metal, fragments flinging away into the street and into neighboring buildings from the speed that Alexandria traveled through it.
I had moments to make myself invisible, seconds.
The ground under me cracked from Alexandria's impact, her hands closing around where I was, but passing through me harmlessly
"I know that you're here!" the hero declared, not moving form her spot with her arms inside me. "I won't fall for the same trick again! Your aura effect is different when you use your mover power!"
Panting, I rolled sideways, gathering myself up on all fours, before lurching upward to walk away.
Walk, because my fucking power didn't let me do more than that when I was invisible.
There wasn't enough energy left in my reservoir for me to Dash away, I didn't even have enough for more than seconds as I was!
"Alexandria!"
Assault flew though the air out of the hole in the warehouse, sliding to a stop in the street facing Alexandria.
"Uh, we might be missing a few key details here, but me and Armsy are rather concerned with your actions right now!"
"Stay out of this Assault, the situations is no longer your concern."
"Well I like to think of myself as a hero, and what you're doing right now isn't somethin-"
With the two spoke, or more like Assault talked to Alexandria while she floated in circles with the eyes of a hawk on the lookout for me, I moved as fast as I could, hoping that a little distance between us would buy me that little more time I needed.
At least until my power ran out again.
Alexandria spun at the sound and lurched at me, suddenly being right there in front of me-
BBWHHOOOOOOOHHH
Oh, my invisibility had a separate Reservoir from my ability to fire beams of fuck you, good to know.
As in, it would have been good to know five minutes ago.
Still, the beam of light shooting from my wildly flailing hand was enough to get Alexandria to fly away from me in a shock of air. She hovered just feet away from where the beam ended, eyeing me with a scowl as I tried not to fall over from the sudden burst of air, suddenly very happy that I had put my hair up as it blew around me.
"Whoa! Everybody. Calm. Down!"
Assault just stepped in between us, likely using his power to cross the distance.
"Alexandria! This isn't the way to do this! Stop, Before you make me do something that will likely get me killed."
"Do you even understand what you're doing!?" Alexandra cried. "There are reasons for this! There are greater things at stake other than the life of a single girl! Are you really willing to die on this hill Assault? Do you really think you can stop me from doing what needs to be done, and not face consequences of your actions?!"
"… Not really, no," Assault admitted. "But I do still have Legends phone number, what would he think about this whole thing, I wonder?"
A furious look swept over Alexandria's face, and she glowered at Assault.
"Don't you even thin-"
A hook connected to a chain slammed into Alexandria back, and she jerked in place, spinning around to grasp it before she just froze.
Several heartbeats passed until I let myself take in a staggering breath.
What the fuck?! Why the fuck was Alexandria acting like this?
"Assault! Grab Taylor and get her out of here!"
Armsmaster was awkwardly standing in the hole in the warehouse, one hand holding up his Halberd, a frozen in place chain extending from it to the still Alexandria, her mouth open as if to shout.
"Is that-"
"Clock's power," Armsmaster rapidly explained. "It drains the batteries. Can't move, my suit is powering it now. Alexandria is bad at tracking people, limited experience. I'll deal with her, get Taylor and go!"
Assault didn't even hesitate, in fact he was already moving before Armsmaster had finished speaking.
A few steps with the use of his power and he was right next to me, arms out, but not grabbing at me, offering.
"We should listen to the Armsbeard and get."
I backed off fast. I had just been nearly killed by one of the most powerful Parahumans in the world, and now she was being held back by one of the more famous Tinkers out there.
All just because I had a power similar power to someone she'd fought before.
"It's alright Taylor," Assault assured me in a soft voice, pointedly taking a step back himself. "Trust me, I'm one of the good guys here, I'm on your side."
Laughter echoed, eerie and omnipresent, and I whirled, searching.
My Double crouched atop a nearby signpost, impossibly balanced on the small area.
"Didn't I tell you Kiddo? You don't get power for free, you've got to pay for it somehow."
Glowing black eyes shifted over, his smile never leaving as he gazed upon Assault.
"Isn't that right Ethan?"
"… oh, what the fuck?"
My eyes found Assault, who was staring at my Double because he could see it.
It wasn't just me, it was real, really real.
Assault took a step back, his eyes never leaving my Double… or would it be his Double?
"Armsmaster? You seeing this?"
"It showed up when Alexandria first grabbed Taylor."
"Fuck, ok, uhhh… game plan?"
"Get Taylor and go."
"Right." Assault tore his eyes off the Double and spun around to face me.
"Well, I think we should get outta here, whaddaya say Tay?"
… on one hand, Assault hadn't been a part of whatever the fuck had just happened, on the other he was still part of the Protectorate, and hadn't done anything to stop what was happening at the time.
Could I trust him? Armsmaster had trusted him, but Armsmaster also trusted Alexandria, and she nearly killed me while he was watching!
… no, I wasn't going to deal with this right now, all the uncertainty, all the fear and unknown.
I was done.
I needed space, to think, to process and decompress.
Turning, I bolted down the street -ignoring the heroes shouts, as well as-
"There you go, running off yet again Kiddo. didn't you say something about not doing that anymore?"
- and drew in my power to Dash-
Once-
Twice-
Three times.
Entire blocks flashed by, streets were crossed, and warehouses were left far behind.
I hit the ground with a stumble, feeling something in my ankle shift for a moment before I blotted it out, running as soon as I could get my feet under me.
And didn't look back.
A/N: oops, my bad, wrong update, should be 3.8 here, not a repeat of Ellisburg. FF sorts chapters alphabetically, so when I updated 3.8 with some for some spelling issues, I just clicked on the bottom of the list.
Fixed now of course.
