I woke to a pounding headache.

I stared up at the ceiling for a long moment before stumbling out of bed. Dreams of a desert swirled through my head. Not the vast dunes of sand that I'd instinctively associate with the word, but instead the brown dust of a land that had withered simply for lack of water. I managed to get to the bathroom and held onto the sink, forcing back the urge to vomit.

Something was wrong.

I'd been sick too often lately. Ever since the locker. I frowned. Should I go back to the hospital? We were already swamped in bills from my last visit. And there was no guarantee that it was even something physical. What if it was my powers? Some sort of backlash from using them too hard?

No, something felt off about that. I looked up at my reflection in the mirror. I was pale and drawn, dark circles under my eyes. I looked like I hadn't slept in a week. There was something different about this. I'd done… something specific last night to leave me in this state. What had I been doing?

I took a deep breath and - The scream of tearing metal, the car crushed against a building, blood bright and vivid on my hands - barely lurching to the side to let my bile fill the toilet.

Fuck.

Damn it.

I scrubbed the tears from my eyes and banished the memory before letting myself lean back against the wall. It'd been three years since Mom died. I was supposed to be stronger than this. I wasn't supposed to fall apart like this.

Had I even saved that woman? Maybe. I had no way of knowing. It was possible I'd just delayed her death a little bit longer. But it was possible that I'd bought her the time she'd needed.

A knock interrupted my thoughts. "Taylor? You okay in there?"

"Yeah. Sorry, Dad. Think I must have caught some sort of stomach bug."

"Need me to call the school and let them know?"

"No. I'll be okay. I think I got most of it out of me."

"You sure? I don't think they'd mind if you needed the day off."

"It's fine. I'll be fine, Dad."

Maybe if I kept repeating that, I'd even believe it.

·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·

"Christ, Taylor, you look like death warmed over."

I cast my baleful gaze upon Sayori, who cheerfully ignored it. "I'm fine."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that isn't true." She poked at my cheek, but I closed my eyes and did my best to ignore it without moving my head off of my desk. It'd take too much energy to respond further. How did that poem go…? 'In Spring one sleeps a sleep that knows no dawn'? That's how I felt about now. I'd managed to make it through the morning, but I'd been pretty out of it the entire time.

"Leave her be, Sayori. She probably needs the sleep."

"Mou." I opened a single eye to stare at Sayori, even as I tried to decipher whatever weird sound it was that she'd just made. "It's too bad Vicky and Amy aren't here today, or we could drag Taylor over to them."

I picked my head up slightly at that. "They aren't here? Did something happen?"

It was Monica who answered. "You didn't hear? The Simurgh hit Australia on Sunday. New Wave's helping with the clean up, to get infrastructure up and running again. And… Well…"

"And to help put the wall up," Sayori finished quietly.

Oh. The Endbringers were practically a force of nature, bringing inevitable destruction wherever they went. Even by their standards however, the Simurgh was a special brand of horrifying. She messed with peoples' heads, turned them into ticking time bombs that might not go off until years later. So, cities she attacked often had to be walled off, quarantined so that those infected couldn't hurt the rest of the world.

It was horrific, and Victoria and Amy were there helping deal with it while I could barely face a car crash. If I was going to be a hero, then I needed to be stronger. I needed to be better.

·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·

I loped along the rooftops, speeding up occasionally when I had to make a jump. I'd found that if I focused, pulled on my power, I could keep my jumps going just a bit farther, as if gravity pulled me ever so slightly less.

It was definitely something I'd have to practice. A Mover power, even one as small as that, would help me a lot. If nothing else, it would keep me from slipping and falling to the pavement below if I ever flubbed a jump.

Maybe that was why you never saw the actual heroes scrambling on rooftops. But they had the advantage of a backup, while I had to make do using stealth as my sole advantage. I wouldn't win if enemies could see me coming, so even if it was more dangerous, I had to take alternate routes.

I stumbled as I hit a new roof, a sudden sense of vertigo overcoming me. I slipped, rolling down the angled roof, before scrabbling to get my hand under me to stop my descent. I groaned, knowing that the way I'd rolled into the backpack I was wearing would leave me with bruises. I waited until my vision stopped swimming to sit up again, ignoring how my gut tightened.

Patrolling while sick might not have been the smartest choice, but I couldn't just lay back and do nothing.

I took a deep breath before setting off again. I drew on my power to help keep myself steady. It was useful for things like this, that feeling of life, of connection to the entire Universe. I immersed myself in it, letting it soothe away my ills. They would still be there later, but for now, I could ignore them.

I was speeding up, getting ready for the next leap, when I felt something pull at me from two streets down. Something was wrong. I wasn't sure how I knew, but something was wrong.

I changed directions. My heart thrummed, a drum that echoed with each step I took. I had to be fast. I didn't know why. I sprinted and lept from roof to roof, no longer calculating each jump, but instead simply trusting in my power to guide me. It was only as I approached my destination that I slowed down, quieting my footsteps.

A middle aged guy in a suit had been backed into an alley by three younger, Asian-looking guys. I frowned as I looked them over. They wouldn't look out of place in Winslow's halls, couldn't be older than twenty at the most. The only thing that set them apart was the tattoo peeking out of the collar of the leader of the trio and the red and green clothing marking them as members of the Azn Bad Boys.

The leader was talking, "-our territory, you got it? So you're gonna hand over your wallet like a good piggy bank, or we're gonna see if you squeal like a pig when we stick you."

One of the boys, the scrawnier of the three, flicked a knife out to emphasize Tattoo's words. The bulkier third simply crossed his arms silently. None of them seemed concerned. This wasn't something new to them, they'd all done this before. Quietly, carefully, I unzipped my backpack and floated out one of the bricks I'd carried with me.

I wasn't much of a fighter. I could barely throw a decent punch. My powers weren't much better. I couldn't lift anything especially heavy. But I could lift a brick. Gravity would do the rest.

I floated the brick out over Scrawny before letting it fall. I followed it, slamming feet-first into Tattoo. There was a cry of pain, of startlement, and Tattoo went stumbling back even as I sprung away, recovering from the fall. He was stunned, but not incapacitated. Scrawny's knife had gone skittering across the alley however, and he was left clutching at a broken wrist.

I flicked my baton out. I couldn't afford to let up for a second. There were three of them and only one of me.

-Bulky came at me, swinging his fist high-

I dropped down, barely managing to duck under the punch, and jammed my baton into the boy's stomach. He grunted, tried to throw another punch, but my leg darted out to hook his ankle and he went falling into a heap. He kicked at me, and I-

-Slammed my baton into his knee, but had no time to see how effective it was, as an arm wrapped around my throat from behind and lifted me into the air-

-Dodged the kick, letting myself fall to my hands before lifting myself to kick out behind me. My feet hit Tattoo's gut, and I let the momentum of the kick flip me forward. I landed on my feet and-

-Scrawny lunged at me, his arms wrapping around my waist as he tried to tackle me to the ground-

-Scrawny lunged at me and I jumped backwards. Not fast enough however, and his arms wrapped around my legs, sending the both of us to the ground. Bulky was getting up. I didn't have time for this. I leaned forward and slammed my baton into Scrawny's broken wrist.

I ignored the scream that followed, focusing instead on kicking my legs free and rolling to my feet. Bulky and Tattoo had both recovered, but they were hanging back, looking at me warily. Good. I could use that.

Tattoo was the first to break the stalemate. He charged and Bulky followed. I waited a brief second, timing Tattoo's steps, and then hooked my power around his ankle and yanked as his foot was coming down, sending him falling. His chin hit the ground. Bulky wasn't far behind however, I turned towards him and saw the approaching fist-

-I picked my head off the ground and blinked the stars from my eyes, just in time for his foot to catch me in my ribs. I rolled with it, trying to get my distance. I managed to get to my knees, but he was rushing forward to hit me again. Well, fine. I'd just hit back harder. I pulled the same trick I had with Tattoo, pushing Bulky's feet out from under him; and then I was on top of him with my baton, slamming it into his face. Once, twice, and then a third time before he stopped struggling.

I looked over the three combatants. Bulky and Tattoo were out. Scrawny was still awake, but he was cradling his arm and crying, I don't think he was in any shape to keep fighting. My heart was hammering in my chest, my breath coming in ragged gasps, but I'd won. I slowly stood to my feet and looked over at the middle-aged guy. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm- I'm alright. Thanks, Miss…?"

"Seeker. Mind calling the cops on these three?"

"Sure, I can do that."

I waited around while he dialed his phone, idly feeling at my cheek. I had the feeling I'd have a new bruise showing up there soon enough. Back to back with the whole Sophia debacle, it was going to raise questions. I really needed to keep my injuries below the neckline or find a way to heal myself.

My eyes drifted over the alleyway, catching on a glint of light. The knife that scrawny had dropped. I could take it. It'd be another weapon in an emergency. Another way to protect myself.

It was also evidence of what these three thugs had intended. More than that, it was a lethal option. If I took it out against someone, it meant I was ready to kill that person.

I didn't want to rely on that. I was a hero. I didn't want to kill anyone.

Not even Sophia?

I squashed that traitorous thought and turned back to the man once I heard sirens approaching. "Think you'll be okay to stick around and give a statement if I head off?"

"Yeah, I don't think these three are getting up anytime soon."

The man gave a weak smile and I returned it before running a few steps up a wall and hopping off to catch the edge of a fire escape. Pulling myself up afterwards was a bit more difficult, but all the rooftop scrambling I'd been doing lately had been helping me to build some upper body strength.

I gave the man a final wave before disappearing into the night, a satisfied smile on my face.

Two days later, I was glancing around nervously as I stepped into the school cafeteria. I'd avoided eating in here ever since the… incident with Victoria on my first day at Arcadia. Back at Winslow, eating out in the open like this, surrounded by so many people, had always been a recipe for trouble. It made it easy for the Trio to find me. Even though I knew it was different here, that no one would attack me here, my experience with Victoria's aura had only managed to deepen that anxiety.

Still, I forced myself forward. New Wave had apparently gotten back from Australia sometime last night. I scanned over the room and… Yes, there was Victoria, holding court once again. She was talking and laughing, a gaggle of both girls and guys sitting at her table with her. And like a shadow, Amy sat at the edge of the table, her head resting on her arms.

I slipped in next to her, largely unnoticed by the rest of the crowd, and gently nudged her with my elbow. "Hey there."

Amy jerked up, startled, and I caught Victoria glancing our way for a second. She shot a smirk at me, but quickly turned her attention back to her current group of friends. Was that her being considerate by not drawing attention to Amy and me? Or were her other friends just more important?

"Um… Hi." Amy was looking at me strangely. "Did you need something, Taylor?"

"I just um… I was just wanting to check up on you, I guess? I mean, see how you were doing after everything with the Simurgh?"

"Oh. Well, it's not like I was actually at the fight itself. I'm fine."

"That's good. I mean, I knew that. That you weren't at the fight, that is. But…" Ugh, why can't I just hold a normal conversation? "Well, it's the Simurgh. I'm sure it had to be awful even just cleaning up, right?"

Amy looked down, her hair falling to hide her face from view. "I guess. Was that it?"

"No. I was thinking, if it's not too much trouble for you, we could…"

Amy looked back up at me and rolled her eyes. "Just spit it out already."

"I was just wondering if you'd like to hang out again sometime?"

"Sure," she said flatly, "I'll ask Vicky when she's available for you."

I frowned. That's not… "I wasn't asking to hang out with Vicky. I wanted to hang out with you."

Amy opened her mouth only to close it again, her brow furrowing as she stared intently at my face. I shifted back under the scrutiny. "What?"

"Nothing. Fine, I guess we can 'hang out.' Carol said I should take a few days off from the Hospital anyways, so it's not like I've got much else going on. What did you have in mind?"

"I er…" I hadn't really planned that far ahead. I considered how much cash I had and winced inwardly. "I guess we could grab a coffee or something and maybe see a movie? I didn't really…"

Amy snorted softly, but her lips curved upwards for the first time since I'd sat down. "Sure. We'll figure something out later. Meet you after school?"

I let a hesitant smile of my own form in response. "Sounds good."

·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·

I'd quickly made my retreat from the cafeteria after that.

I wasn't sure why I was trying so hard to be friends with Amy. She hadn't exactly been the most friendly or pleasant person to be around so far. Sure, she was Panacea, but I'd like to think it wasn't out of some sense of cape worship.

I searched my feelings, trying to figure out my own reasoning. I guess when it came down to it, Amy's standoffishness was the exact reason why I'd impulsively decided to reach out to her. She hadn't felt the need to pretend to be nice to me out of some sense of pity. I think… if she decided to be my friend, it would be because I'd earned it.

I passed the rest of the school day with those thoughts circling in my head, occasionally chased by the worry that she wouldn't like me in the end, that I wouldn't be able to stand on my own merits. I cut off that line of thinking whenever it came up.

In the end, I found myself waiting out by the school's entrance when I spotted Amy… with Victoria in tow. I tried to keep the frown off my face.

"Heeey!" Victoria waved with a grin. "Don't look so disappointed to see me, Taytay, I'm not going to interrupt you two." She winked and Amy looked upwards as though searching Heaven for help that wouldn't come. "I just wanted to talk to you really quick before you left."

"...Sure. What's up, Vicky?"

"Did you decide on if it was alright for me to tell Dean? I know things kind of got pushed off with…" Victoria's smile faltered for a moment and she took a deep breath. "Stuff that happened at the start of the week. But I do think he could help."

I hadn't decided. I'd actually kind of forgot with everything else that had happened. "I… don't really see how, Vicky. I guess it couldn't actually hurt though. Set something up for Friday and I'll talk to him about it."

"Great! Then I'll let him know his presence is required. In the meantime, you two should go enjoy your date."

I blinked. "Date?"

"Ignore her," Amy interjected before Victoria could answer. "It's her way of teasing me. You ready to go, Taylor?"

"Um-"

"Aw, come on, Ames. I didn't even get to question her about her intentions towards my sister yet," Victoria pouted.

"Who even does that anyways? Come on, Taylor."

Amy grabbed my arm and pulled me along, heedless of my response. I turned my head back to look at Victoria, who simply grinned and waved the two of us off. Well, that was a thing.

I waited until we'd walked a good block of distance and Amy's pace had slowed down again before asking, "So what was that about a date?"

Amy's face turned an interesting shade of pink and she huffed, "Just my Sister being annoying. She's constantly trying to find someone to pair me up with. Though, I'll admit, this is her first time trying to throw me at another girl."

"That seems…" Uncomfortable? Exasperating? "Annoying. Couldn't you just tell her you're not interested, or you want to find something on your own?"

Amy shrugged and pulled me across the street to a bookstore. "Over here, I wanted to pick something up as long as we're out and about. Anyways, I've tried that, but she sees things through Dean-tinted glasses. She's happy dating him, so clearly everyone else would also be happy if they just found their one true love. Never mind how often the two of them get into fights."

Wow, there was a bit of venom in that. Did Amy have a problem with Dean? "So what made her decide the two of us ought to be a couple?"

"Don't know, don't care." Amy navigated us down the aisles, apparently familiar enough with the store to know where everything was kept. She pulled a book off a shelf - something fantasy, though I didn't recognize the author's name. "Was there anything you wanted here?"

"Um. Not today. Maybe next time." I didn't have the money to buy a new book anyways.

"If you say so. Anyways, don't be surprised if Vicky starts trying to find people to hook you up with too once it becomes obvious that teasing me isn't going anywhere."

"I don't suppose you know a way to keep her from doing that?"

"If I did, I would have done it for myself a long time ago," Amy said dryly. "No, with Vicky, you have to learn that she gets her way and the best you can do is put up with it."

I grimaced and let my thoughts turn inwards as Amy paid for her book. For a brief moment, I allowed memories of when Emma and I had gossipped together about our future romances to float through my head before shoving them aside to focus on the present. I really didn't need my own personal matchmaker. Maybe I'd let something happen if I found someone I liked, but… Well, I wasn't about to go looking for any sort of romance. It seemed like more trouble than it was worth, especially with my new cape identity taking up my time.

"Come on," Amy said, interrupting my train of thought, "Let's get that coffee you promised me."

I didn't have any real objections to that, so we wandered over to the attached café that so many bookstores seemed to rely on to help push up their flagging sales these days. It was on the smaller side, much like the bookstore itself had been, with only two tables to sit at near a window that looked out towards the street.

We sat there for a bit, Amy idly watching the people go by outside as she sipped at her coffee. I was the one to finally break the silence.

"So what book did you get?"

"Mm?" Amy blinked in surprise as her attention snapped back to me. "Oh, it's… a romance fantasy series, I guess? It's in a fantasy setting, but it's very focused on the relationship between the two main characters."

I glanced down at the cover, which prominently featured a blonde woman in some sort of knightly armor. Another woman was behind her, facing away from the viewer. "Is the series a favorite of yours?"

"Well…" I felt a small thread of embarrassment waft off of Amy. I did my best to ignore it. I didn't want to have to rely on my powers for basic social interaction. It felt like I was cheating somehow. "It's not exactly high literature, but I enjoy it, I suppose."

"Maybe I can borrow the first book from you sometime then?"

The embarrassment strengthened to the point that I felt my own ears burning. Amy muttered a quick, "Yeah, maybe later sometime," before quickly changing the subject. "So what is it that you usually do for fun, Taylor? I get the feeling that 'coffee and a movie' isn't your usual go to."

"Oh, uh. It isn't really." It's not like I usually had anyone to go with anyways. "I guess I just read mostly? And I've been meditating recently."

"Meditating? I wouldn't have pegged you for that sort of New Age-y type."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not going to claim I'm somehow tapping into the consciousness of the Universe, Amy." Even though I sort of was? That was my powers though, it didn't count. "It's just… After everything that happened at Winslow, I had a lot of pent up anger and… other stuff that I just wasn't happy feeling. It hasn't gone away, but meditation does help me deal with it. It gives me a way to sort through my emotions."

"Huh. And that works?"

"Like I said, it helps. You could join me sometime if you want to give it a try. I certainly wouldn't mind the company."

The corner of Amy's mouth twitched upwards. "I'm not really the 'clear your mind' type. Even if I were, my power's basically throwing information at me all the time. I don't think I'd get very far with it."

I tilted my head back. How to explain this. "It's not really clearing your mind. At least, not how you're probably thinking about it. You're not trying to think about nothing at all. It's more… letting your thoughts come and then pass on without lingering. I mean, if you don't want to, I won't force you to or anything, I just think it's been really helpful for me."

Amy glanced away, a complex whirl of emotions sweeping through her that I had trouble identifying, loudly enough that even with me trying not to tap into that portion of my powers, I still heard it. "I'll think about it."

"Sure, no pressure." I gave her a smile and finished my coffee. There goes the last of my savings. Ah well. "So did you have any plans for the rest of the evening?"

"Not really. Just going to call Vicky to give me a ride home. You want to stick around? I'm sure she wouldn't mind the detour to get you home as well."

I shifted, unsure if I wanted to take Amy up on the offer. After a moment I shook my head. "No, it's fine. I'll just catch the bus home. Less time for her to grill us about our supposed 'date' that way."

Amy let out a sharp laugh. "Well, I suppose that's fair enough. Until next time then, Taylor?"

I grinned in response. "Yeah, until next time."

·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·

The bus ride home went about the same as it usually did. I sat near the back and did my best to seem unobtrusive.

There weren't too many other passengers. An elderly looking Asian woman. A Black man in worker's coveralls. A pair of teenage boys playing on their phones. The problem was the group of three white guys near the front.

They weren't wearing gang colors and they weren't skinheads, but you live in Brockton Bay long enough and you get a feel for when a group of people are probably Empire. When the Black guy got off the bus they jeered insults at him. When a Hispanic-looking woman got on, they stuck their foot out to trip her.

In short, they were bullies, the kind of people I hated the most.

They never escalated to anything beyond that, thankfully. The gangs generally tried to avoid picking fights in Brockton Bay's public transit for whatever reason. Still, I was happy when my stop came and I had a chance to get away from it all.

I rushed off. The sooner I was home, the better. At least, that's what I'd thought until I got there and came to a dead stop, my breath catching in my throat.

There was a cop car parked outside my house.