Becoming a cape is relatively easy… on the surface. The sole things you need are a mask and have superpowers. However, the reality is always harsher than anticipated.
There lots and lots of parahumans on Earth Bet, but not every human with power is a cape. To be a cape, meant to be something more or sometimes less than just a human with powers.
Capes are divided into three considerable groups. Heroes, Villains, and Rogues. Aka the good guys, bad guys, and neutral dudes. The first category is composed of the capes of The Protectorate, New Wave, and Sponsored ones.
The Protectorate remains the most key group had the most influence and resources out all of them. New Wave was a relatively young organization that operated on significantly opposed ideas. While capes of Protectorate preserved their identities concealed, New Wave exploits the idea of cape without a secret as a PR move of some kind. It's far easier for average civilians to trust somebody when they deal with just another human who merely looks like your friendly neighbor with some really bizarre fashion sense. Who can fly or blow things up.
Twins' opinion about Protectorate overall was rather neutral. Wodime being the successful politic in The Clock Tower and Taylor being rather smart when given initial push understood the situation in which Protectorate was stranded. The organization was between rock and a hard place for many reasons outside of its control, but there were quite a lot of mistakes on their part.
They remain the official organization that controlled and oversee every cape and parahuman activity in the USA and partially Canada. It was understandable that they lacked resources and manpower. From what Taylor gathered using some tips from Lio, it seems that the situation in Brockton Bay was rather bad. Really bad. Empire Eighty-Eight could rival Brockton Bays branch of Protectorate in terms of firepower and that's only them. The saving grace remains the fact that most of the bands here are not In good relation. Empire being an influential group of Nazis wasn't in good relation with Azn Bad Boys for obvious reasons, Merchants were universally hated by nearly everyone and any other group was either too small or lacked any capes.
Empire worked rather brutal, but at the same time with incredible precision. It slowly, but without much hesitation started to conquer the city and its people. If to believe some speculation and information on the net, they are the biggest villain organization in Brockton Bay.
Azn Bad Boy while merely had two capes those two were presumably the most powerful ones in the city. Their leader Lung, according to some rumors managed to beat The Protectorate when he appeared in the city for the first time. While quite a lot of things changed since that accident, it still established a powerful reputation for Lung. In addition, Oni Lee, Lung's lieutenant was a rather problematic opponent for Kirschtaria.
Merchants were the most bizarre group out of the main three. They didn't own any territory most of the time, and we're constantly on the move. Their main modus operandi was selling drugs and constantly moving from location to location. They moreover were the smallest in terms of numbers, but they had more capes then ABB. Having drug-addicted in control of the group likely contributed to it.
As a mage, Kirschtaria didn't have any problems with them supplying drugs or even utilizing them himself. Drugs were frequently used by mages in some shape or form. Mostly to enter a unique state of mind or a part of some rituals. Every so often you need to shift and modify your perspective on the world and it is far easier to just drug yourself than buying expensive artifacts or acquire a special type of mystic eyes. His family magecraft had some rituals that needed the caster to remain in a special state to completely immerse themselves into the cosmos.
Merchants being the smallest and overall the weakest group were at the end of Wodime's list, which to his irritation was not the same with Taylor. Apparently, selling drugs was remarkably high on the list of things that Taylor hated. Their minor argument was hastily ended by simply reminding Taylor that other groups do the same and even more. She rather easily accepted defeat, even too easily. But Kirschtaria decided to completely drop the issue.
As the week started to end, he began talking with Taylor about their intended carrier… and about involving their grandmother into it.
Kirschtari Wodime was planning to use her to gain much-needed resources and reputation. She had money; she had connections and most importantly Diane had a keen mind and sharp tongue. While being capes that were sponsored by the head of the slaughterhouse is a somewhat unusual position to be in, Wodime didn't identify it as any problem. Taylor too, but she hesitated rather strongly and Kirschtaria suspected the reason.
Taylor didn't want to involve an ordinary part of the family in their future as capes. She feared that her father wouldn't take the ideal well and force her to either enter the Ward program or forget the idea entirely. She knew that her father was a robust and compassionate man, but even the strongest people can be crushed by the death of their most important.
Taylor was an ordinary schoolgirl with an anti-social brother before, but now she is a hero-in-the-making with a socially awkward brother. It seems like an improvement, right? Not so much. Now that she had powers to make an impact, she started to comprehend how hard is to be an actual cape and was somewhat dazed by her brother's knowledge about the whole ordeal. She never took him for the type to geek over capes and parahuman stuff, but the world indeed full of mysteries and unexpected developments. However, from the way he talked Lio sounded rather from neutral to passive-aggressive. She couldn't help but try and understand his view on capes; Taylor being not braindead started to slowly understand some things about her brother that she never bothered to notice.
Lio was and still is a bit paranoid and sometimes there was a feeling like he overestimated everyone and everything. While trying "oh-so-subtly" sneak from the house and entering their base, her brother showed Taylor some of his gathered information and future plans. And she was, to be completely honest, puzzled and somewhat shocked by the amount of work Lio managed to do, while hiding his powers and intentions.
It was apparent that most of the information was gathered from open sources, and everything that wasn't was rumors and speculations. However, from her limited idea of how good research and deduction looked like, she was impressed. Reports and personal files of capes looked like information about agents in some action movies. But for some reason beyond her comprehension, it lacked any actual names, and it was strange. With such an array of information and minor details it should be exceptionally easy to find out their civilian identities.
Hence she asked "why" he didn't do it in one of their meetings. On the question, he answered with a light smile.
"I am quite overjoyed that you noticed, Tay! Nothing less from my dear sister!" He looked like a dancing puppy which was a surreal view to say the least. He normally was rather composed and indicated his positive state with little hints. Quirked ends of lips, an intimate playful glimpse in the eyes, and overall less pragmatic body language.
"You see, in the cape community there are some rules that while is not official, but nonetheless respected. Some call them the unwritten rules and do you have any idea how hard it was to discover this critical piece of the puzzle? All things considered, it's a list of rules that you should never break if you lack any real power or you don't want others to break it to bring you down." He stated it in rather serious, clearly indicating their importance.
"They consist of "don'ts." Don't kill without good reason; Don't uncover capes true identities and don't interfere with their civilian life; And finally, don't kill, rape, or involve non-parahuman civilians." He announced it rather nonchalantly.
Taylor nodded in understanding. It was a rather logical set of rules and limitations. If you kill the parahumans family, they have nothing to lose and simply will go on a rampage. They also will go on a rampage, if they don't possess any kind of outlet for their frustration. And killing part was rather logical, really. Parahumans were mainly accepted for two reasons: they can help progress human civilizations, and they needed in battles against Endbringers.
The second was the key reason. Humans even with all military power of the country don't stand a chance against an Endbringer. One parahuman with the proper power can easily replace an entire army. For example, Lung or anyone from The Triumvirate. And blowing up Nuclear Bomb every time Endbringer appeared was a terrible idea that didn't really work out. For an excellent example of why it is not going work, someone needs to look no further than the situation with Behemoth in India. It was made worse by the fact that it was no ordinary Nuclear weapon, but a tinker-made one. The results… weren't pretty to say the least.
Their grandma somewhat complicated things for them. Presently they needed an excuse to go out in the evening to the city and from there to their hideout. The return to the school didn't help the matter cutting down their free-time significantly.
Lio remained anti-social as ever, but currently primarily spent their breaks talking with Taylor instead of watching from the distance and actually tried to become closer with Emma. Above all, because she was his sister's best and sole friend at school. The whole situation with friends was a bit awkward for everyone involved and Kirschtaria pitied Taylor. His somewhat suspicious and distant attitude creates a field of isolation around both of them. He knew that their classmate called him "creepy" and "weird-ass stalker", that while didn't really have any effect on him, mostly because he never had much interest in having friends thanks to his previous plan that involved cutting all ties with Hebert household.
He had some respect for Emma Barnes, despite her being equally "scared" of the twins at the start; she thanks the series of lucky coincidences managed to form a friendship with Taylor. As fate would have it, shortly after they become unusually intimate and he knew that Taylor was struggling about telling or not telling Emma about her becoming parahuman. Kirschtaria believed in his "little" sister to make the right choice and not regret it later in life.
Wodime was planning to move their base to somewhere else. Now that he actually had some general idea about how magic and the world in this reality works, transporting and setting up their base at a new location would be a child's play. The primary reason for relocation was the inconvenience created by the original placement. While it was a rather desolated and barren area, there still were a lot of homeless people and it took an ungodly amount of much needed time to get there each time, that both Twins started to become irritated.
With some modifications he likely could establish this pseudo-reality in something moving like a truck or even a plane. He humored the idea for quite some time. It would be incredibly valuable and just plain comfortable to have the ability to at any given time to relocate their base of operations. But to Wodime's disdain he or Taylor needed driver-license for this or even the skill to actually drive the damn thing. There also was the fact that they needed to get the transport itself somewhere. If they were going for the villain team as their starting choice, they could have just snatched it. But getting a good reputation far easier as a hero, plus Taylor wouldn't even muse about the idea of becoming the villain. She was rather hell-bent on helping others and reforming the world for the better. The remnants from the age when she was a fan of Alexandria probably still linger in her soul. And Wodime could only respect her drive to carry out good things, even if the notion was a bit childish in his eyes. Saving and helping everyone will not redeem humanity and allow it to move to a greater height.
There was in addition a big problem with the difference in their mentality. Even if Kirschtaria identifies a lot of potential and good in humanity, he clearly understood that humanity is ultimately can't move forward without sacrifices and sometimes take the hardest choice. Even his plan to ascend humanity beyond heavens needed his and Atlas's life in exchange. For him even developing this plan and getting access to Greek Lostbelt, billions of life needed to be transformed into ash by Alien God. For him to become a better human than before, the death of an innocent child was wasted on someone like him. He could merely hope his sacrifice allowed the Master of Chaldea to move forward and that Daybit would achieve what he desired. Ultimately, Kirschtaria understood that killing people is not a choice, but a necessity. Mindless murder with nothing behind it was Beryl's kink and Wodime was a bit sour when it came to his psychopathic comrade. This backstab while was something that he was feeling could happen, provide an unpleasant surprise for him. Feeling that something will happen and actually dodging the stab from your ally is a rather different thing.
Taylor was ultimately against the idea of murdering somebody or torturing them. Not that he expected from a teenager to gladly accept this way of helping the world with a broad smile and cheerful nod if it was indeed this way he would probably try to interfere with her memories in an attempt to find out when something went this horribly wrong. But to his surprising relief, she wasn't ready to gladly kill and inflict suffering on others… for now.
Kirschataria knew that at some point she will kill somebody. Accidently or for a valid reason, he didn't know, but with her powers it was extremely easy to slip. And even one slip was enough. She will either be shocked to the point of completely forbidding herself from wielding powers or merely getting over it after some time. It would be probably for the best for him to orchestrate her first killing. This way he will retain some control over it and he could smooth things over for her. Luckily, there was enough scum in this city for him to prepare the stage.
For the present, he requested her to split her mind and sent a single host to investigate the city. This way they could start to gradually build their info-base and spy on the different groups, while simultaneously it allowed Taylor to see the harsh reality that she mostly ignored while being a commoner. It also was good practice for her ability; he planned for her to slowly expand the number of hosts to something more than four. Ideally, even eight would be plenty enough, but the sky's the limit for her potential.
They started working on her coordination while her consciousness was split up to four times. It looked mildly amusing mostly for Wodime, because Taylor disliked the feeling of helplessness every time she tangled in her own legs, but the girl was most determent to become better. They spent the whole week on walking alone while trying to make Taylor act and move natural without looking like a puppet with a really shitty puppeteer. At one point, the female twin was so frustrated that she started to bang her head against one of the pillars in their space-base. Wodime only chuckled, she reminded him of Ophelia at one point. She was so infuriated with him trying to summon Napoleon using The Arc de Triomphe when it wasn't built yet. It was also likely caused by her being so frustrated with his attitude. The one that you didn't indeed expect from the pure-blood mage from the ancient family that was called the next lord of Astrology Department. He however could recall the Hinako's face too, when he notified her about him knowing about her little "secret." Oh, these sweet memories of her trying to murder him and promises to suck his blood out, what a cute little "vampire" she was.
He retained quite a few memories that allowed him to push forward until the particular moment and supported him through his solitary journey. And now he had some, that were created in this strange world with the girl that he called "sister" or "Tay".
Their main excuse for getting out in the evening for their Grandma was a coherent explanation that they like to jog and train for a bit. It worked for the sole reason that Diane didn't really pay attention to the situation with the gangs in the city and how bad it in fact was.
The part about training was true, though. Both Lio and Taylor needed to sculpt their bodies into some better form. While they both lacked any excessive fat and weren't thin like the skeletons, twins undoubtedly don't have any real figure to talk about. Now that they would risk their lives in direct or not-so-direct confrontations, they need to get themselves in the shape. Wodime tried to reason Taylor about her don't need to actually appear in-person to fight, but she merely waved her hand and that was it. Kirschtaria speculated on her simply didn't have any actual idea what a hell is a genuine battlefield. He desperately hoped she would lose this stupid idea after a few fights, he really-really hoped that after tasting the feel of the battle Taylor would become much more careful and fight remotely.
And so their free-time was reduced even more substantially. Now they had school, homework, housework, and training combined with careful planning and information gathering. Crypter was actually surprised how well a teenage girl took this hell-creation of a schedule. He suspected their mother's death and whatever she had seen in her dream to seriously warp her mind. But only time will show and he really didn't know how to address this delicate subject.
With heavy sight he closed the book about capes impact on humanities growth and after a quick glance at his sister lazing around in her bed with her phone, probably chatting with Emma, he stood up from the chair while mentally going trough his future talk. His now-not-so-distant-future talk with Diane Boucher about them being capes and them desiring her to be their "supporter."
Taylor was rather frustrated with an idea but decided to respect her brother's judgment.