So, before I get into this chapter, allow me to give you the foreword that I maybe could have put on the first chapter.
Number one: I have given this story the title 'Levels' for two reason. The first is the 'power levels' of the DBZ characters, in the beginning, gave us an estimable base for how ridiculously over powered they were on any given day. Hercule, the 'strongest man on Earth' had a power level just over one hundred. Frieza had a power level over one million in his second form, nearly doubling his primary form. Following that math, by the time he reached final form, the evil femmy gecko was boasting something along the lines of four million. They stopped using it at that point, so I shudder to even think about the other monsters they fought, but think of this. Raditz, the weakest of the saiyans, with a power of fifteen hundred, could move faster than the speed of light. He could have, very easily, destroyed the Earth, but was instead trying to recruit Goku.
Fifteen hundred and faster than the speed of light. That's a humongous statement right there.
Number two: I really like the video for the Aviccii song, Levels.
Three: From this point forward, to match the title, I will be posting Taylor's current power level at the bottom of each chapter that follows, along with the estimates of any major enemies she fights.
Since I didn't do it last chapter; Taylor's Power Level: 145
On with the show.
Chapter Two: Dragon of Kyushu
Taylor stood on a rooftop, in the middle of summer break, wearing her Hero costume. It was pretty simple, all told. An orange hoodie with short sleeves, a black body suit beneath that, blue jean hip huggers, a pair of normal running shoes, and a black mask with goggles in the eyes that had a pair of her glasses lenses in them. On the back of the hoodie was a black and white sigil depicting a butterfly.
It wasn't much, but it was hers and it was easy to replace.
The last four months had been, in a word, boring. She trained, she expanded her energy stores, she ignored her bullies, she did her school work.
By the end of the first week of dealing with Emma by singing loudly, she ran out of songs from musicals and had to start using obscure tunes from the internet. The bitch just wouldn't give it a rest. After that first day, Taylor caught the black track runner staring at her speculatively more than once, but she didn't try to hit her again, which was a pleasant surprise. By the end of the month, Sophia had completely pulled out of the bullying campaign. Madison had never even been a real problem, just a mild annoyance.
By the time school came to an end, little over a month and a half ago, Taylor was so deep into her empowerment that, Ki on, getting hit by a train would be inconvenient at worst. The thought of any of the street thugs of Brockton Bay being able to hurt her was laughable. The capes were another matter, but not an insurmountable one, by any stretch of the imagination.
School, because of all this, was about as adventurous as a well maintained golf course in Switzerland. Her grades exploded into ranges that would earn scholarships, her mood improved, and the other kids completely stopped picking on her. It was boring, but such an improvement that she would take it a thousand times over again rather than go back to the way it was..
So, halfway through summer vacation, finished with her training, she was just waiting for something big enough to happen that she could get on the PRT radar in the best possible way.
"For a city with more villains than heroes, it is ridiculously peaceful," she grumbled to herself. Sure, she had stopped seventeen muggings, two rapes, bungled a robbery and even pulled a cat out of a tree, but none of that was anything less than the average officer would do. Except the cat thing, that was just silly.
She didn't even have to focus for more than a fraction of a second before her body was covered in a red glow and she lifted into the air. The sun was setting and she was hoping that something, anything, would happen after dark.
Several hours later, floating above the boardwalk, she was just about to lose hope. It seemed like, when she was finalled keyed up-she snorted at her horrible pun- there was absolutely nothing happening. She was just about to head home, around midnight, when she noticed some activity coming from one of the warehouses nearby. A gaggle of gangsters, wearing the colors of the Azn Bad Boys, poured out onto the street, followed by a large man wearing only pants and a metal face plate.
Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu. The villain that had stood toe to toe with Leviathan.
Taylor's grin nearly split her mask.
She didn't even care what they were about to do, she now had a goal. It would be more than a feather in her cap if she took him down.
She absently thanked that Japanese cartoon, DBZ, and put her fingers to her forehead, looking at the man that would be a dragon, and imagining the chain she was about to pull off.
From Lung's point of view, he was simply going about his evening, planning on killing some kids that had overstepped their bounds, when there was suddenly a skinny girl in front of him, her hand on his chest. There was a sound like a metallic twang when she appeared, and another when the scenery shifted from an abandoned neighborhood to the boat graveyard.
Next, he was kicked in the face and sent tumbling back into the hull of one of the boats by the girl and he felt his ire rising.
"You," he growled, already growing, "are dead."
"Really?" Taylor asked, smirking, though the gangster couldn't see it, "Bring it on then!"
Lung's power was what some might call a Zero State ability. He started out pretty much a normal man, aside from some regeneration and Pyrokinesis, but as the fight went on, he got stronger and tougher and bigger until he turned into a fully fledged dragon. A prolonged fight with him was never a winning prospect.
The parahuman man launched himself at the skinny girl, expecting her to teleport away and try to hit him from the side.
Instead, Taylor sent a beam of red energy into his face, sending him flying back the way he came. He groaned, but he kept ramping up, quicker than before. A tail began to sprout from the base of his spine and steel scales started to cover his body. He was already twelve feet tall and still growing. He brought flames to his hands and launched a not inconsiderable fireball at the wannabe hero.
Taylor punched the fire, causing it to disrupt. Well, not really. She actually punched forward so fast, with her Ki focused strongly in her limbs, that the air pressure caused the fire to dissipate before it could reach her.
Lung launched himself at her again, several times faster, despite his size.
She kicked him in the gut, sending him flying back again.
He leapt at her again. She shot him with a an energy beam. He breathed fire. She dodged. He threw a boat at her. She caught it and threw it back.
"Come on!" she shouted at him, "This is it? This is the best that the Dragon of Kyushu has to offer? How have you survived this long?"
"G'll 'ooo!"
She waved away his threat, "Yeah, yeah, you've been saying that for the last ten minutes. I can see your underwear."
"Graaaaah!" The dragon launched into the air, beating his wings and trying to get past her, to have the high ground advantage.
"No," she moved so fast he could barely perceive it, grabbing his tail, "you," she pulled and his forward momentum stopped and he was dragged into a spin, "don't!" after a few turns she tossed him back down at the ground. The impact pushed the dragon man through three full ships and was followed up by a few more beam attacks. She knew they wouldn't be enough to completely stop him, but that really wasn't the point.
She landed back on the ground a few seconds later, still glowing with Chi. She could see the metal shifting and blasts of fire as Lung tried to escape the rubble, but she had a few seconds before that happened.
"The hell do you think you're doing?!" a man with power armor and a halberd demanded of her, stomping forward, even as he kept an eye on the shifting metal.
"Defeating Lung," Taylor answered simply, "Good evening, Armsmaster."
The registered hero almost glared at the girl from behind his visor.
"This is not a game, girl. If Lung isn't brought down soon, the collateral damage could be extensive. Countless lives could be-"
"Hey," she interrupted him, "Can he survive being eviscerated?"
"..." Armsmaster was silent for a few moments before he growled out, "Yes. Now-"
"Cool," she held up a finger, "Just a sec."
The girl blurred away so quickly that his gear had trouble realizing she had moved at all.
At that same moment, the boat rubble Lung was underneath exploded upwards with an insane amount of fire and a roar of rage so pure that it seemed to color the air red around him.
Wait, no, that was Taylor, standing beneath the thirty foot dragon, holding an energy tack far above the ones she had used so far.
"Ruby Balle!" she shouted in French, shooting the attack skyward. It cut through lung like he wasn't even there. Lung froze, wheezing as his lungs and organs slowly regrew. The lack of oxygen, though, began to rob him of his consciousness and he collapsed, shrinking quickly back to his normal size. Taylor, who had moved before he fell on her, watched as he continued to shrink and regenerate. She grimaced when she noticed that the man had ripped through all of his clothing, leaving him naked.
She pointed her hand at the downed man, more energy gathering in her palm.
Armsmaster ran forward, pointing his halberd at her, "Stop!"
"Clothes Beam!" she ignored him and fired. The energy struck Lung and covered him in a bright orange prisoner jumpsuit.
The girl turned to look at the Hero, who had slowed his run, "That is easily my most useful attack," she said, grinning behind her mask, her hands on her hips.
Armsmaster stalked forward, his suit making his footsteps ever heavier. He stopped a few feet away, looming over the girl, and frowning.
"Who are you?" he demanded in a growl.
"You can call me Saiyan."
-9001-
"I fucking knew it!"
Taylor, unmasked and conversing with the Wards, looked over shoulder at the teen hero that had been missing, Shadowstalker. The girl hero was also unmasked, showing the face of Sophia Hess, a frown marring her features.
"I fucking knew you triggered!" she pointed accusingly at the other teen.
"Oh," Taylor intoned, shock numbing her emotions, "Hey, Sophia..." She even managed a short wave.
Sophia, on the other hand, was angry and somewhat afraid. Hebert had triggered, obviously from the locker, and now was trying to be a hero, a Ward. If she revealed to these guys how she triggered, Hess would be in deeper trouble than she could truly understand.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Dennis, Clockblocker, asked.
"Yeah," Taylor said, turning back to the charmingly funny Striker, "She made me the strongest bitch on the planet."
"What?"
"Sophia's a bully, I triggered because of it. If I were into girls I'd actually kiss her for it," Taylor explained, waving away whatever concerns they currently had and creating whole new ones.
"Right," Dennis said slowly as every eye that didn't belong to Taylor turned towards Sophia.
The shadowy archer gulped.
A week later, with Shadowstalker on two months of monitor duty for causing a person to trigger, Taylor, Saiyan, was on the job with the other Wards.
They had received word from an anonymous source, that there was going to be an attack on Brockton Bay Central Bank. So, on a particularly rainy afternoon, Saiyan, Vista, Browbeat(an independent for the moment), Clockblocker, Gallant, and Aegis, with Glory Girl guest starring, were standing outside the only exit. They could see that the windows of the bank were completely darkened, so they didn't have a great idea of what was going on inside, but they knew enough.
Aegis, in Clockblocker's outfit, gave a brief overview, "The Undersiders are the ones robbing the bank. They normally play small time, but are notoriously difficult to catch. If you can grab one, do so. Be careful of civilians, they might try to use them as a shield."
Saiyan nodded, and began to gather her Ki.
Suddenly, the doors busted open and darkness poured out onto the street. The wards waited a moment, then civilians began pouring out of the black mist. Vista grumbled something about that playing havoc with her powers. After about fifteen civilians, the Undersiders themselves made a break for it.
Two monstrous creatures that might once be considered dogs made a B line for Clockblocker, dressed as Aegis.
"No! Go for Clockblocker!" a girl's voice shouted, followed by a whistle. The dogs veered off course and one slammed into Aegis.
"Engage!" the real time themed teen said. Immediately, Vista shortened the distance between Clock and another one of the dogs. He tagged it, causing it to freeze nearly completely. Hellhound was beyond pissed, preparing to send her remaining dogs at the Striker.
"Brutus is fine! Keep going!" the teen generating the darkness shouted.
Saiyan stepped into the path of Grue, ready to take him down when her leg twitched enough to send her off balance. She saw the one in the frilly shirt and the purple mask grin at her and salute with his scepter just as he was pulled onto the back of another monster dog.
Saiyan's eyes narrowed.
Before Regent could blink the girl he'd just used his powers on was in front of him and Tattletale. She slammed her fist down on Angelica's head, causing the giant monster dog to flip forward. With her rider's airborne, it was child's play for the Thinker to pull them down. She didn't hesitate in flicking Regent on the forehead with a Ki powered finger, knocking him out instantly.
She turned to Tattletale, "You gonna be a problem?" She held up her glowing finger, threateningly.
The villainess shook her head, staring intently at Saiyan. The hero was actually kind of freaked out about it, especially when after just a few seconds, the blonde girl's nose started to bleed. The blonde passed out, just a few moments later.
By the time Saiyan turned back to the other's Aegis was holding a cursing and snarling Hellhound down and Glory Girl had Grue by the back of his uniform, forty feet up.
"Alright!" Clockblocker said, grinning visibly, "And that's why I love being one of the good guys! Party at the Protectorate!"
"No," Aegis said grimly, "There is not. However," he turned to Saiyan, "Good job, Saiyan. You regulated yourself well and took out a threat when it became apparent. I'd call that a very successful first op." Saiyan nodded and grinned back, beneath her mask.
She had been told that the PR rep wanted a chat about her uniform. She already knew what her answer was going to be.
"That was pretty cool," Glory Girl said, coming down out of the air with her prisoner, "Hope they caught what you did to those two on video."
Saiyan rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly, "I suppose it probably looked pretty cool from the outside."
-9001-
In a holding cell, several hours later, Tattletale was sitting calmly on the bed provided in the cell. Grue was in the cell next to hers and Regent and Bitch were across the way. Regent was kept on a constant IV drip and an induced coma to overcome his annoying ability and they simply ignored the darkness that Grue generated.
Tattletale simply didn't care. She was staring intently at her hand. Her power told her everything she needed to know, with the fewest clues available. What it told her about Saiyan, or more specifically, Saiyan's power, was world shaking.
Grue was pacing. Bitch was sulking in a corner. Regent kept breathing.
Tattletale just kept focusing on her hand. Her powers took her deeper and deeper into her thoughts, almost becoming meditative. It told her about how Saiyan wasn't really using her power when she hit the blonde and regent. That had been pure martial arts. On a level only seen in cartoons, but martial arts none the less.
And that glow. That completely natural glow. A glow, an energy, that anyone could use because everyone had it in them.
Purple light began to fill Tattletale's cell.
"Oh," the girl grinned wide as a fox, "This is going to be fun."
+- Chapter End
One, yes, I have completely ignored the stated timeline and molded it to my specifications.
Two, power levels for relevant characters.
Lung: 20-340
Grue-12
Regent-5
Bitch/Hellhound-9
Tattletale: 5-78
Taylor/Saiyan-560
Please, Enjoy.