Note: I don't own anything


Interlude 1.2: Contact


She woke up in the middle of the night, again. The damned locker incident completely ruined her sleep schedule. At least she didn't have any dreams or nightmares so far. It was the fifth time she woke up in the hospital, and each time she felt better than before. Last time she woke up she recovered enough to reach the restroom with a nurse's help. Maybe tomorrow she would even be able to walk around by herself. She put herself in a half-sitting position and thought what could've made her wake up.

*knock-knock-knock*

She snapped her head in the direction of the sound. Normally, people expect a sound like that to come from the door, but this time it came from an opposite direction, which caused a small cognitive dissonance in Taylor's mind for a second. There, on the other side of the window, a masked figure stood in the air, it's hand waving in a manner that she vaguely remembered as friendly. While Taylor didn't remember all of Brockton Bay's Capes by name, nor did she remember exactly to which factions all of them belonged to, she did know how all of them looked like and what was their alignment. Either one of the local Capes had a change of image, which was unlikely, or it was a new Cape entirely.

"May I come in?" the figure asked, it's voice slightly muffled by the mask and the window, but easily recognizable as male. Taylor was confused, trying to come up with a plausible reason for a new Cape to come here in the middle of the night, and waking up so suddenly to such an unusual situation didn't help with her thinking process. Then, finally, she remembered how and by whom exactly she was saved. After a long and awkward pause, she slowly nodded her head. The Cape touched the window, and it opened on its own. He came inside, closed the window behind him and calmly walked on empty air as if there was a solid surface under his feet, stopping about half a meter away from her bed, right in front of her. Taylor quickly, or at least as quickly as she could right now, grabbed her glasses from the bedside table and looked at the figure.

Now that Taylor could see him more clearly she noticed just how unremarkable he looked. He was wearing a moss green zipped up jacket with a furred hood, even darker seaweed green cargo pants and brown boots. He looked like a random person from the street. The only thing that made you think "Cape" when you looked at him was the black avian mask covering his face that reminded her of plague doctor masks. It was smooth, with a pretty short, but sharp beak, and simple, round eye holes that weren't covered by lenses.

"So, what's up, Taylor Hebert?" - he suddenly asked, interrupting her silent staring. Because of the way he said it she was confused if this was an actual question or just a casual greeting. It sounded like something a friend or an acquaintance would say, and that only made this more confusing.

"Obviously, it's me!"

A joke, and a stupid one at that. This Cape came here in the middle of the night and the first thing he does is tell a stupid joke. She didn't know what exactly she expected to hear, but obviously it wasn't something like this. Whatever seriousness and tension she felt from this strange situation was replaced with annoyance and irritation, which was only intensified by the stupid laughter of the Cape in front of her.

"Pffthahahaha! Damn, that look on your face, haha, it's priceless!"

He laughed for several seconds, then suddenly stopped and started trying to suppress his laughter. He probably realised that being so loud would attract attention. This actually made Taylor feel even more annoyed. Finally, he stopped and now they were just awkwardly staring at each other for several seconds in silence.

"So..." both of them said almost at the same time, which caused another awkward pause.

"You go first." the Cape said.

"Alright. So, who are you and why are you here?" - she finally asked, even though she already had a pretty good guess.

"Uh, yeah, I'm a new Cape. So new, in fact, that I haven't even picked a name yet. Oh, and I was the one that got you out of that locker a week ago. I came here to talk."

Once again, there was an awkward silence while Taylor was thinking his words over. Her guess was correct, he was indeed the one who saved her, but it didn't really make all this any easier. After all, from what her father told her, PRT suspected that this Cape was a Villain.

"Uh, to talk about what, exactly?"

"Hmm, nothing specific, really. Okay, let's do it like this, you ask me a question and I will do my best to answer it honestly, and when you're done I'll ask my questions in return, 'kay? " - he said in a casual manner.

"Okay. So, first question, then. Um, are you a Hero?"

"Couldn't you ask something easier? Haha! Damn, this is a difficult question. No, I'm not a hero, not even a vigilante, rogue or independent. Technically, I'm a small-time Villain. Like, really small-time."

Hearing this made Taylor a bit more tense than before. Most Villains were incredibly dangerous and deadly. The only reasons why she was so calm right now were the realisation this Cape saved her, and the stupid joke from earlier. This made her associate him with joke villains like Uber and Leet.

"A Villain? Why did you save me, then?"

"You really don't like simple and easy questions, do you? Alright, first of all, not all Villains are equally evil, or evil at all." - he said as he started walking in circles at an angle in the air - "Some are forced into the life of villainy for one reason or another, like Burnscar or Bonesaw. Some are born into it, like Heartbreaker's kids. Some do it because they think they're in the right, like some members of the Elite or Empire Eighty-Eight. Some had to make a difficult choice in their life." - at this point, his body was parallel to the floor, yet he still continued walking as if he was inside an invisible sphere that had its own weird gravity - "Some were labelled as Villains and couldn't do anything about it. Some just don't care. And, finally, some people just enjoy doing bad things. So, yeah, Villains are just people, and they come in all kinds of flavours. There is nothing strange about your life being saved by a Villain." - when he was done with his lecture about Villains, he stood upside down in the air, and Taylor suspected that he was just showing off - "Anyway, to answer your question. I made a deal with someone who wanted you to be saved, and it was the kind of deal that you don't just refuse. Yes, I didn't save you just out of the goodness of my heart. No, I don't know who it was and why it was so important to save you, although I do have a few good guesses." - and now he was sitting upside down on an invisible chair.

"What did you get in return for saving me?" - she asked, curiously. After all, it couldn't be much. While Taylor didn't like to think about herself like that, she knew that in the grand scheme of things she was just an unimportant nobody. Her family was nothing special even before her mother died.

"Everything."

His answer was short and vague, but even something like that was enough for Taylor to get a slightly better idea about the deal itself. Whatever this Cape got in return was of great value to him, which meant that saving her was important enough for someone to give it to him. And he also said that he couldn't just refuse, which probably meant that he eighter ended up in a pretty bad situation before the deal on his own, or he was deliberately put into such a situation.

"So, anything else you want to ask?" - he soundlessly tapped his foot.

"No, I think that's all." - she replied after a few seconds of thinking. There wasn't much that she could ask him about in the first place.

"Splendid! Now, for my first question, how do you feel? Everything's fine?"

This question slightly shocked Taylor. Even though she just heard a lecture about how not all villains were equally bad, it's not like she took it seriously, and her views on morals still remained black and white. This made her a bit suspicious. After all, there wasn't anything of value to gain from such a question.

"Uh, fine, I guess? I had blood poisoning when I got here a week ago, but Panacea healed me. I should be free to go tomorrow or a few days later."

"Good. When I got you out, you were covered in blood and filth. I suspected that your regeneration wouldn't heal you from toxins, so I guess I was right to call for an ambulance. Thank God that Panacea was around that night."

.

.

.

"What."

It wasn't really a question, just a natural reaction to hearing something unbelievable. Regeneration. He said that she could regenerate, that she had powers. If this was true, and she couldn't think of a reason for him to lie about this, then it meant that she could become a Hero, that her childhood dream could become a reality!

"Uh, regeneration? Don't tell me that you didn't know yet."

Taylor didn't reply. She just sat there, on her bed, thinking over these life-changing news. Then, after about a minute of silence, she finally asked.

"Are you sure that I have powers, that I can regenerate?"

"Well, I've seen it happen, so I'm pretty sure. We can do a little experiment to confirm it tho'. You in?"

She thought about it for a few seconds as the Cape stood up and walked down from his weird position, this time making it look like he was inside an invisible cube. There really wasn't anything to lose and a lot to gain from such an experiment. She doubted that she could check it by herself later.

"Okay, stretch your hand out and give me your finger," - the Cape said as he grabbed a piece of paper from her bedside table - "I'm going to make a small cut and we will see if you can regenerate."

She stretched her hand out and let him grab her index finger. The piece of paper in Cape's hand straightened out as he slowly moved it to her finger.

"If you're afraid of blood or pain then it would be easier for you if you turned away."

"No, I'm fine."

He put the edge of the paper sheet on her finger, and it didn't feel like paper at all, it felt like a razor blade. Then, he made a sudden cutting motion and she could see a small amount of blood come out. She barely felt any pain from the cut, and something immediately rushed through her arm towards her finger. The cape released her finger and she looked at it a bit closer. The blood on her finger already turned into a blood crust that immediately fell off, revealing healthy, unscarred skin under it.

"I think you should have other abilities as well, and I have a pretty good guess about what those may be, but I would have to take a closer look with my power to be sure."

"When you cut my finger I felt something rush through my hand."

"Hmm, I think I know what that is. Give me your hand again, I will take a look with my power."

She stretched her hand out, again. When the Cape grabbed it, she felt something invading her body and rushing through it. She felt uncomfortable, exposed. The Cape's eyes were closed, but she felt as if he looked through her as if her body wasn't even there. Then, she felt like he sent something through her hand and something stirred inside her in response, quickly spreading through her body.

"Ow! What the fuck?! How are you even..."

He suddenly jerked his hand away, as if he was zapped by a weak electric shock. After whatever he did she could feel something moving chaotically through her whole body. It felt similar to the sensation she got after he cut her finger, only much stronger and it didn't just go away like before. It wasn't an uncomfortable feeling, but she was a bit suspicious about what the Cape did, or at least tried to do.

"What did you do?" - she asked, her voice coming out colder and more threatening than she wanted it to or expected. Clearly she was quite a bit more upset than she originally thought.

"I, uh, found something weird when I examined you with my power and sent a minuscule amount of my energy to check it. It wasn't meant to be harmful or anything. Alright, can you feel your power now? I felt it spread through your body when it pushed me out"

"Yeah, I can feel it. It's like... I don't know, it's like something is constantly moving inside me randomly. And you should've warned me before sending your energy or whatever!"

"Sorry about that. Won't do it again." - he said, his voice quieter, softer than before. - "Anyway, back to your powers, any questions?"

"Can you explain what did you see with your power? You said that it was something weird, and it kinda worries me."

"Hmm, how do I explain this..." - he walked back and forth near her bed, tapping his finger on the beak of his mask. - "I guess I'll have to explain my ability first. Can you keep this a secret?"

"Sure."

"I'm serious, Taylor. Tell no one. Heroes, Villains, PRT, Police, even your dad, no one can know."

"Okay, I got it. I won't tell anyone." - the mention of her father made her take this promise a bit more seriously. The Cape was a Villain, and he knew who she is, so if she told someone then there was a possibility that her father would get hurt. He silently looked at her, probably trying to see if her answer was a lie.

"Alright, I believe you." - he made a short pause - "My power allows me to sense and manipulate souls in many different ways. When I got you out of that locker, I looked at your soul. It was like a glass sphere that was shattered and glued back together. You were dying. So, I used my power to help you put yourself back together, letting your soul absorb my energy through the cracks. When I looked at your soul now... I honestly have no idea how you're alive and why it looks like this. It has something like a super-dense core at its centre, surrounded by the shattered glass bubble."

"..."

"If you don't believe in souls, you can think of it as an essence or nature of things instead."

Taylor didn't really know what to say to this. The cape claimed that he can see souls and that hers was so weird that she shouldn't even be alive. She tried to sense her own soul herself, looking inwards, searching for the source of that strange something moving randomly inside her body, and after about a minute of searching, she found it. Indeed, it felt exactly as he described it. She felt that there was even more of that chaotically moving stuff inside that core of hers, and she could draw even more energy from it. She didn't really know or understand how to do it, but she felt that she could. When she actually tried to pull more of that chaotic stuff out of the core, it came to her easily, naturally, like breathing. The chaotic stuff filled her body and she felt her weakness go away. The cape to her left gasped, falling to one knee. She stopped and pushed the stuff back into the core, but her weakness didn't return.

"Damn, that scared me quite a bit. *phew* A little warning next time, please?"

Taylor blushed, embarrassed about the situation. The irony wasn't lost on her.

"Sorry. I, uh, tried to pull a bit more of that stuff that pushed you out from the core of my soul. I'll be more careful next time"

"I thought I'm gonna get crushed or something. Ah, anyway, now that you know you have powers and can even use them, I think we can go back to my questions."

"I almost forgot! Sorry. Um, yeah, you can ask your questions."

"Alright! Then, did the police and PRT come to get your statement as the main victim?"

"No, they didn't. Last night I woke up for the first time since last week's incident. They'll probably come to get it tomorrow or a few days after."

"Hmm. And what are you going to tell them when they come?" - his voice was soft, but there was something sinister in it. It reminded her of Emma, of how her voice sounds when she has some nasty plan.

"Uh, dad told me that Blackwell, my school's principal, is currently being investigated, so I planned to tell them everything about what happened to me for the past year and a half." - she said, a bit uncertainly.

"Good. Great, even! Hmm, and what do you think about getting some revenge?"

Oh, revenge, Taylor really wanted to get some of that after more than a year of physical and psychological torture. She was so tempted to admit that she wanted it. But she also wanted to be better than the people that hurt her. In her eyes, revenge was a childish and petty endeavour. Not to mention that now that she had powers, the trio and the school were beneath her anyway. She will be a hero, after all, so using her powers for revenge was not allowed.

"If you're asking about me using my powers to take revenge, then my answer is no. I will be a hero, so I have to use my powers responsibly!" - she replied, passionately.

"Oh? Even if I tell you that Sophia Hess is Shadow Stalker, a PRT affiliated junior Hero?"

"Wha-?"

And just like that, all her passion and conviction crumbled. She didn't want to believe what he said. After all, he admitted that he is a Villain. But he also saved her life and helped her to discover her powers, and what he said made too much sense. If it was true, then it would explain why The Trio always avoided punishment no matter what they did, why the teachers always looked the other way, even though other kids were punished for less. Thinking about it pissed her off.

"If this is just some joke or-"

"It's not a joke," - he interrupted her - "I'm being absolutely serious here. Sophia Hess is a Ward."

Taylor remained silent for about a few minutes, the Cape not bothering to break the silence. This new information made her rethink pretty much everything. The Cape in front of her was a villain, the one that saved her from the locker, and a local Hero, the one that was supposed to protect people like her was the one who put her in that locker, the one who stole her best friend away, the one who tortured her for a year and a half.

"I'm not going to ask you how you know this, but... why did you tell me?"

"Because I wanted to ask for a small favour in return."

Of course, that made sense in her mind. He was a Villain, after all. Asking for a "small favour" in exchange for information that was of great value to the other party was as cliche as it could get.

"If you want me to use my powers to-"

"Powers? No. No-no-no, I don't need that. What I want you to do is tell PRT that you know Stalker's civilian ID when you give your statement."

"Only that? Why?"

"Because that will raise the chances that PRT will get rid of her, of course! You see, Shadow Stalker is a problem for the cape community. She represents the same kind of problem as Lung, Hookwolf, or drugged out Merchant Capes. They escalate the conflict by going for the kill."

Now this, this made even sense to Taylor. A Villain trying to get rid of a Hero, although a corrupt one. And she was really, really tempted to help, to make Sophia suffer for what she did. Before she could think it over some more, the cape continued.

"And it's not like you have nothing to gain from this. You see, PRT doesn't like bad PR, and if they go through with Sophia's punishment to the very end, then they would lose a Hero, decrease their firepower, weaken their position in the city, make people ask questions, you get the idea. So, what's likely to happen is that they will just sweep everything under the rug, tell you that you don't have enough evidence. Sounds familiar?"

It did sound oh so familiar to Taylor. This was exactly what Winslow did, probably to keep the extra funding for pretending to keep an eye on a Ward. The Cape continued.

"But, if you say that you know who Stalker is, if you refuse to sign their stupid NDA's, which you are not obligated to sign anyway, and if you threaten them with the reveal of her identity if they don't punish her properly... Well, they will just have to bend over and punish her."

"But what if they will threaten me and dad in return? PRT is one of the largest government organisations there is and-"

"And they are scared shitless of bad PR. All you would have to do is contact the Youth Guard with everything you have on Stalker's activities in her civvies and PRT will have no choice but to punish her, on top of being punished themselves." - he paused - "A threat like that will probably be enough to make them transfer Stalker somewhere else and keep her on a short leash. Of course, she will probably try to escape, which will force PRT to hunt her down. No matter what, it's a win-win situation for both of us, no?"

"I... I'll do it."

Taylor knew that she was compromising on her ideals here, that it could lead to a slippery slope, but she also understood that people like Sophia, people that exploited the system and hid behind it when it was convenient for them, had to be punished for what they did. Sophia already showed her that she won't just stop on her own.

"Great! I think that this is everything I wanted to talk about for tonight. If you have any more questions or want to exchange some information in the future, then call me later! Let me write down my contact information real quick."

The cape said cheerfully as he pulled out a pen and a note pad and started writing. Even now he was showing off by putting the note pad against an invisible wall so that it would be easier to write. When he was done, he ripped one of the pages, put it on the bedside table and started walking towards the window.

"Later, Taylor Hebert!"

He opened the window and walked out, then made it close itself. Of course, he didn't miss the last chance show off by making himself slowly rise upwards, waving his hand, as if he was inside an invisible elevator. She flipped him a bird, which got her a few muffled ha-has in response. While Taylor didn't feel weak and tired anymore, this roller-coaster of a conversation still left her a bit emotionally drained. She examined the ripped out page. The Cape left her a phone number, an e-mail address and a PHO account name. She put the page down on the table along with her glasses and lied down, trying to fall asleep. She couldn't. Her head was buzzing with thoughts about what just happened, about her new status as a parahuman, about the revelation of Sophia being a Hero, about a Villain helping her so much in such a short time, while the people in power were willing to look the other way, about what she was going to do with all this... It was a lot, no, too much to think about. In the end, she decided to tell her dad about everything that she learned from and about the new Cape tonight, except for her being a parahuman.


Author's Note:

And that's Part 2! Yeah, I know, It's like 5 times bigger than Part 1. Whatever.

If you have any questions, ask away!