Sunlight filtered loosely through the windows, illuminating a small kitchen. Culinary clinked together, as father and daughter ate breakfast together.

Taylor absentmindedly chewed, ruminating on the past few days. Her father was reading the paper, the crinkling of the sheets the only other sound breaking the silence.

"Hey -"

They both stared at each other, bemused.

"You go first." Danny waved her on.

"I was thinking," Taylor began. "If I can literally move mountains, what's stopping me from fixing up the boat graveyard at the docks?"

Danny leaned forward pensively. "It's not as simple as that, Taylor. I'm sure you could move them, but you'd need somewhere to move them to. The scrapyards here could handle maybe a half dozen of them, but the rest?" Danny shook his head. "You'd need a dedicated ship breaking yard. Especially for the few freighters, with them being the multi-ton steel monsters that they are."

"I could move them to a ship breaking yard." Taylor argued. "Hell, I could break them up myself."

"And I'm sure you could, on both counts." Her father agreed. "But there are laws for this stuff for a reason." He sighed. "Tell you what. I'll speak to the city when I get a chance, and see what their opinion is."

"Okay Dad." Taylor responded somewhat disappointedly.

"Hey." Danny warmly smiled. "Thank you for the thought." He chuckled. "I think it speaks of your character a lot, that you'd still think of helping your old man out with that power of yours."

Taylor blinked. "Of course I would." She frowned. "Why wouldn't I?"

Endurance was but one of the myriad of characteristics of mountains Taylor had admired. Their stubbornness was another. Mountains did not move easily, and neither would she. Loyalty might have not been a highly valued trait amongst her former friends, but it would be to her.

Her father merely laughed, looking oddly proud of her. Taylor didn't understand why, but it was heartening nonetheless. She smiled. "What did you want to say?"

Her dad nodded. "Right. After you fell asleep last night, the PRT called. They want you to come in for power testing sometime today."

Taylor's eyes widened. "They do? When?"

"Sometime today." Danny repeated himself, chuckling when Taylor rolled her eyes. "They said they'd call again-"

He trailed off as the phone rang, as if on cue.

Taylor looked up with a mix of curiosity and anticipation as her father got up and answered it. It was an old corded thing, and ever since.. Taylor shook her head. They hadn't gotten a new one because the current one was fine, and there was nothing more to it.

Her father glanced at her as someone over the phone said something. "Yes, she's here." He paused. "Would you like to talk to her?"

"Is it the PRT?" Taylor asked, leaning forward in her seat as though trying to listen in on the conversation.

Danny nodded, handing it over to her. The cord stretched as Taylor awkwardly got out of her chair, maneuvering around the table to eagerly take the phone.

She swallowed, suppressing her nerves. "Hello, this is Taylor Hebert?"

The voice that responded was distorted by the old phone, tinny and faint, but it was still very recognizable from the few media broadcasts Taylor had watched.

"This is Armsmaster. We share a mutual friend in Dragon. I'm calling to follow up on yesterday's conversation. When is a good time for you and your father to come in?"

"Uh." Taylor held the phone to her chest as she looked up at her father. "When's a good time for us to go to the PRT?"

Danny shrugged. "Whenever you want. I'm still off work for a few more days, and you don't have school."

"Noon, then?" Taylor asked tentatively, to which her father nodded.

Lifting the phone back to her head, Taylor continued. "Sorry about that. Does noon work for you?"

"That will be sufficient. We will see you soon, then."

The line clicked dead, and Taylor looked at the phone for a moment. "He's very abrupt." She observed, placing the phone back onto the set.

"We can't all be good at everything." Danny replied, sitting back down at the table. Finish your breakfast, Taylor. I'll give you a ride there in a bit."

She nodded, smiling. "Thank you Dad."


The PRT building, Taylor reflected, was no less imposing up close. In fact it was more so. Taylor tentatively felt out with her power, casting her awareness down. There were sections of the building that went down to the bedrock and beyond.

It wasn't merely a government building, this was a fortress, designed to withstand assault by parahuman weaponizing the building blocks of the universe. The PRT logo emblazoned on the wall hovered almost ominously overhead as Taylor and her father walked through the entrance.

It felt odd, walking into such a building wearing a mask, and she felt ridiculous, but apparently that was part of the Unwritten Rules. Rules of Engagement for capes, was the way Dragon had put it.

The ride back home had been informative.

Security guards stood sentinel, the PRT soldiers heavily armed. The two closest to the door turned to regard her, their onyx visors concealing their expressions. One of them nodded to the other, and they gestured forward.

After the natural beauty Taylor had witnessed barely days earlier, their appearance was a sobering reminder to the lawlessness that governed her hometown.

Some days she wondered just what her father saw in this place. The 'security guards' wouldn't look out of place in a war zone.

"Everest?" The receptionist beckoned them forth, and Taylor made towards her. "Armsmaster will be down shortly. Please wait."

Taylor winced, as a few of the people within the public area turned to her, evidently realizing that she was a new cape. She was thankful that her cape name wasn't associated with the mountain nor Newfoundland by the general public but she was sure that would change soon. She wasn't looking forward to it.

She took a seat, uncomfortably aware with the attention suddenly heaped on her. She was the rock and stone, she was the mountain. She would endure, she would hold fast, but in a social situation, she was hopeless. It said a lot about her that she would ironically probably be more comfortable had they been abusive, rather than awestricken. At least it would be familiar territory.

A set of sliding doors opened, and Armsmaster walked through, clad in his distinctive cobalt armor. Taylor stood up, more than ready out of the spotlight. The servos in his armor faintly whirred as he turned to face her, lights gleaming faintly along his armor.

"Everest." He nodded towards her. "Follow me."

She followed Armsmaster through the long hallways of the headquarters, dull metal flooring making each footstep very audible. Taylor was the first to break the silence.

"You said you were a friend of Dragon's?"

Armsmaster turned to her, his stoicism breaking for the first time. A small smile spread across his face. "Yes. She's a valued coworker of mine, she has helped me on many projects." He inclined his head towards her for a moment. "Dragon had nothing but good things to say about you."

"She's awesome." Taylor agreed. "Really nice. Without her and Narwhal I'd probably be a lot worse off."

"Probably." Armsmaster agreed bluntly, before turning away from her, facing forward. "We're almost at the power testing room. From the footage Dragon gave me, your preliminary classifications are Shaker 10+, with tentative Brute/Breaker classifications, both likely approaching the same level."

Taylor blinked. "Why brute/breaker?"

Armsmaster visor turned to her. Despite the opaqueness of the lense, Taylor still felt as if he were side-eyeing her. "You can withstand your own ability. Not everyone can stand knee deep in lava. The breaker is because your clothes were fine. Our hypothesis is that you emit a short ranged breaker field around you."

"So that's why it's a hybrid classification." Taylor said, nodding. "I understand."

Armsmaster nodded. Taylor continued. "I think I should have a thinker classification as well."

Armsmaster turned to her as they reached the power testing room. "I can see the history of the rocks I manipulate, it's almost like -"

"Geokinetic based psychometry." Armsmaster finished her sentence. "Fascinating. We will see."


A heavily insulated room surrounded her, bullet resistant plexiglas lining one side of it. In front of her was a small metal table, resembling a gurney. Two rock samples rested on it.

Speakers embedded walls crackled for a moment, a loud sound that nearly made Taylor jump, before a familiar, warm voice came out of it.

"Hello, Everest."

"Dragon!" Taylor smiled, looking at the ceiling. "How have you been?"

"I've been well. I hope you are too?"

"Yeah. Are you going to be the one testing me?"

Dragon laughed. "Correct. Normally there'd be a few PRT scientists here, but it's much safer for everyone if I do it. Plus, it gives me a chance to see your ability once more. It was incredible to watch last time. I'm eager to do so once again."

Taylor rubbed the back of her neck, smiling. "Thank you, Dragon." She looked at the gurney again. "So what do you want me to do first?"

"Well," Dragon said dryly, "We already know the scale of your ability, so strength testing is rather unnecessary. We'll be testing your fine control. See what you can do. Start from the one on the left."

"Understood." Taylor replied. She approached the rock in question. It was a stygian slab of igneous rock, gleaming darkly in the sharp lighting of the testing room. Taylor softly ran a hand over it, feeling the cool, smooth surface. She closed her eyes, sending her awareness into the rock beneath her fingertips.

She breathed in. This was solidified lava originating from Mount Hekla, an incredibly active stratovolcano in Iceland, formed as a result of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It was by technicality the longest mountain range on the planet several times over, the mighty plate boundary responsible for driving billions of tons of rock apart dozens of millimeters each year.

She picked up the rock, turning it over in her hand. Such a small thing, to have originated from such powerful geologic phenomena. She clenched her fist, and her fingers sunk into the volcanic rock with the crackling of shattering volcanic glass. The rock glowed an angry orange, beginning to bubble and froth. A small pebble-sized fragment came loose, impacting the gurney below and sizzling into the hardened metal.

"Excellent, Everest." Dragon's voice was that of an experienced scientist, detached yet passionate. "Solidify it now."

Taylor hummed as she considered the lava clenched in her fist. "Do you want me to turn it back into its original form?"

"That's not necessary. Any form will do."

Shrugging, Taylor did just that. With a thought, the rock instantly stilled. Where a slab of obsidian had once been, a chunk of pumice now stood, the porous material crumbling as Taylor placed it back on the gurney.

She winced. "Sorry."

"That's quite alright." Dragon chuckled. "I should've seen that one coming. Don't worry about it. Begin with the second one, now."

Taylor regarded it for a moment. Unlike the other one, it was nowhere near as attractive looking. It was an ugly, rough looking rock, pink with dark stripes running through it. She reached out, placing her hand on it, feeling the rough texture of it lightly scraping against her hand.

She cast her thoughts into the rock, feeling it. It was a metaigneous rock, a gneiss originating from the Slave Craton in Nunavut. And it was -

Taylor leaned away, overwhelmed. "Old." She gasped.

She regarded the rock with new light. It was a billion years old when the first cell split into two. It was older than life on Earth. If Taylor could see what this rock had seen, if she could know what this rock had known…

"Are you okay? Everest?"

"I'm okay." Taylor mumbled. She repeated herself, louder. "I'm okay.".

She shook her head. "That was an experience!"

Her problems suddenly seemed so small. That rock had existed before the Earth had seen liquid water.

"Are you good to continue?" Dragon's voice broke through her reverie.

Taylor nodded, reaching for the rock again. "Yeah."

"Alright, for this rock, I want you to throw it. Send it downrange as fast as possible."

A foam silhouette popped up, and Taylor felt something within her jolt with anticipation. She grinned, clenching her fist. The eons-old rock hovered into the air uncertainly, before steadying.

She regarded the foam silhouette silently. For a brief moment, she saw it as one of her school bullies. Taylor's grin sharpened into something fierce. She imagined the intense pressures within the Earth, the furnace within a mountain, the heat and pressure. She imagined it pushing the rock onwards.

Drawing back her fist, Taylor thrusted it forward with a howl.

The lights flickered as a sonic boom rocked the room. Taylor didn't see the rock move. It was there, and then there was a basketball sized hole in the foam. Rivulets of melted material streamed down the target, and Taylor belatedly realized the airspeed must've been so intense it had flashmelted the tinkertech ballistic foam upon contact.

She staggered back. "Holy shit." She looked at her fist, turning it this way and that, and then looked at the target again dumbfoundedly. She laughed incredulously, even as fire retardant sprayers went off in front of her, drowning the target in high pressure water and foam.

"Well," began Dragon dryly, "I think we can add blaster to your classification."

"Yeah…" Taylor mumbled, staring at her fist. "I think so too."


Director Piggot steepled her fingers, watching the testing footage play. Slowly, a smile spread across her face.

For too long, she'd had to do nothing but sit on her hands, enforcing the status quo. But with a cape like this on side?

Things were changing. The PRT could finally go on the offensive. No more compromising with criminals. She was a soldier first and foremost, and for the first time in a very long time, the director felt anticipation for a fight.

She reached out, pressing a button on her desk.

"Get me Calvert."

Fourth chapter in like what, 3 days? Lets go!

Also, ignore the AN in Chapter 2, I'm legitimately retarded. The quote is from MIB, not Spy Kids. The 2 have literally become one and the same to me and I don't think I'm okay

Also

be coil

have impregnable underground base

life good

feel good

look at news

the unholy daughter of Behemoth and Simurgh lives in your city

im gonna get a lot of schadenfreude soon, not sure how it'll go down yet