So, now, I really will answer one question from the first chapter because, in reality, I don't think it will ever be explained in detail in the story itself.

The gist of the question was why do the people I've listed so far have the power levels that they do?

According to DBZ episode one, an adult farmer had a power level of Five. There are a lot of theories on why it was that low, but for this story just know that the average, untrained adult has a power level from four to eight, this fully depends on their fitness level and body shape. Danny, even though he's skinny, was trained as a boxer(Not Canon! Creative License used!), thereby giving him a higher threat rating than others.

Now you might look at that and think, 'Gee, Why does some vague boxing training from twenty or so years ago make Danny twice as strong as the average person?'

It doesn't work that way. Twelve is twice as strong as six, but that doesn't mean that two people with a level of four couldn't team up and take him down. Power level is a number given to show someone's potential threat level. Even as they introduced the power levels, Goku and Piccolo showed they were unreliable at best because Goku's shot up to twenty two hundred when he used the Kamehameha, but other than that it stayed at somewhere under a thousand.

The numbers themself are completely given up after Frieza's second transformation- for good reason in my opinion- but it was an interesting convention while it lasted and, in this more detailed and slower moving version of Levels, I intend to explore how much difference there really is in the numbers for each individual and what they mean.

Attached to that question was whether or not Parahuman abilities affect PL. The short answer is yes. The long answer is, yes, but it varies depending on the ability. Shadowstalker's training plus her ability rank her a thirty. Armsmaster's training alone would net him a forty five. He would be boosted to one hundred ten if his tech could be read as having a Power Level. Taylor get's boosted by six after gaining the power of Pikachu and another six by mastering a martial art, without having the physical strength to use it. But that can, and will, improve with the more training and physical fitness she gets, in conjunction with other abilities she can copy. Until then, she'll get diminishing returns.

And I will state right now, Taylor's Manton Limit prevents her from copying other Parahuman abilities. If she second triggers, this will not change. This is a wide step away from what the last one was, plot wise, and I'm doing so minutely with the power as well.

Chapter Three: Hero. Villain. Rogue.

Danny stared at his daughter, mouth agape. How does one react when they find out that, A, their daughter is a parahuman, B, she's apparently a Pikachu?

Taylor shook her hands, a slight grimace on her face, but it did nothing to diminish the bright smile she sported.

"Feels like my hands went to sleep," she mumbled, "All pins and needles."

"When?" Danny finally uttered.

Taylor blinked for a moment then made the connection, "Well, since the locker, I'm pretty sure. I can…" she tilted her head to one side for a moment before nodding slightly to herself, "I can observe something, a movement, then I can copy it. I can also, very slightly, predict how any particular movement will end. Like, I will never be surprised by the outcome of a boxing match, and I'll gain championship boxing skills at the same time."

"Ok, but how did you…" he gestured vaguely at her hands, "Pikachu?"

The grin was back in full force, "Apparently, if I see, intimately, how something is done, I can do it, too. My power has been trying to ping off of that ki stuff in Dragon Ball, but there hasn't been enough detail," she pointed at the TV screen that was still showing the diagram of how a Pikachu channeled electricity, "That. That is just enough detail for my power to fill in the gaps and replicated it."

Danny swallowed hard. He knew of more than a few scenes in the cartoons she wanted to watch with him that would give her a graphic look at the fine details of how to channel Ki, among other things. What would she do then, when she had a force multiplier capable of destroying galaxies?

"What are you going to do with it?" he asked.

"It's funny that you should ask," she said, sitting down and looking him in the eye, "If you asked me a month ago, I'd say I want to be a Hero. Now, I don't think so. Don't get me wrong," Taylor said quickly, "I don't want to be a Villain. That just leads to all sorts of trouble I don't need, or want. Both of them do, really.

"I mean, think about it. How many villains, in this city alone, have been put behind bars, permanently? Eight or so, in thirty years? That's… well, weird. I don't get it. I don't want to get it. I don't want to know why they're letting them do what they want. I'm going to trust that they have their reasons. Instead of joining one side, or the other, I'm going to spend then next six to ten years learning every martial art I can, finish my schooling, start keeping fit, and when that's all done, I'm going to offer my services to the PRT and Law Enforcement as a martial instructor. I could do far more good for the world by making sure that those who are paid to stop criminals are better trained for it," she crossed her arms proudly over her chest, "Real heroes don't wear capes and masks, they have badges and uniforms."

"Taylor," Danny said, his eyes shimmering, "You are so brilliant. You never cease to amaze me. You are… You are so much like Annette," he pulled her into a sudden, woodenly awkward hug, "She would be so proud of you. For everything. And so am I."

"Well, that said," she grinned at her father, "I am going to continue finding abilities I can copy," her face grew solemn quickly, "This world is full of incredible threats. Things that the heroes can't, and sometimes just wont, fight against. My abilities, this one and whatever else I can learn, will be used to make sure that I actually survive to my adulthood."

"I understand," the man nodded. He fully agreed with that course of action. Anything that made sure his daughter lived to a ripe old age was a good thing in his book.

"The real question is, what am I going to do, immediately?" the teen said, sitting back on the couch and whispering 'Pikachu' again, causing some electricity to arch between her hands once more.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked.

"I'm being bullied, dad," she said, "It's Sophia and her personal ass lickers, Emma and Madison," her father frowned at that, "Do you have any idea how tempted I am to just shock the ever loving day lights out of them?"

The man nodded along with her, urging for her to continue.

"I've got power now, and I can break them, easily. I… Don't really want to," she shrugged, "I don't want Emma to come back anymore. I'm over that. She's made her bed. She gets to lie in it. I still want them to stop, though," she looked to her father, wondering what she could do, "How do I get away with using my abilities to stop them?"

Danny's face had darkened from the moment that Taylor had mentioned that she was still being bullied and the school was doing nothing about it, still. He had thoughts about what he could do as the de facto leader of the Dock Workers Association. He may not be a bigshot lawyer, or rich, but he had connections. He could have more if he ever decided to accept a bribe. He could make the Hess, Clements and Barnes families disappear, just by turning his head the other way, and mentioning to the right people that they had offended him.

Of course, he didn't even think of saying any of that aloud to his daughter. Dark fantasies were one thing, enacting them an entirely different matter.

Besides, Taylor was asking for ways to make them stop without killing the bullies in question.

While the girl watched, the man seemed to fold in on himself for a few moments, then a smirk cut across his face like a sword leaving its sheath and she almost gulped when he looked at her.

"I have an idea."

+- 9003-+

The Heberts spent the rest of their lazy Sunday watching cartoons and discussing plans. Taylor was able to copy three more martial arts styles from the anime they watched and one sword style.

When she went back to school on Monday, she had a solid plan in place for dealing with her bullies, without ever laying a hand on them.

It started almost as soon as she was in the door, Sophia marching towards her, after checking that none of the faculty were around.

Taylor looked at the track start that was coming at her. Time dilated to a crawl and she suddenly understood the movement of everyone around her. She focused it on Sophia and the predictive part of it kicked in.

The teen grinned inwardly. Last Friday, the reason she was unable to dodge Sophia's kick was because she had only focused on the girl at the last moment. By the time she realized she was going to be kicked, the leg was already moving forward.

Now? Now she was focusing solely on the girl, long before she had started her attack. It allowed her to predict what kind of attack she'd used before the girl herself did.

Sophia, it seemed, planned on giving Hebert a harsh brush to the shoulder.

As Sophia got within five feet of her intended target, she sped up, committing to the blow.

Quick as she could, Taylor crouched down, turning to the side, just outside of the bully's path, and started messing with her shoe laces. Sophia couldn't stop herself in time, and ended up crashing into one of the wannabe Empire Eighty Eight goons.

The skinhead was at least two times Sophia's size, and not in muscle, and had a swastika painted on the side of his neck in permanent ink.

"Watch it, Nigger!" The fat teen barked at her, shoving her back the way she came.

Taylor didn't see what happened next, having moved on, but she heard a meaty thwack and the crunch of bone followed swiftly by the sound of a Neo-Nazi teen crying about his broken nose.

The girl had to hide her smile. That worked out better than she could have hoped. She hadn't even known that guy was behind her.

Of course, that wouldn't be enough to stop the trio from assaulting her, but that was step one.

Step two came during gym class.

"Jesus, look at her," Madison sneered to another flunky, "What guy would touch her?" Her friend snickered, "She's probably so desperate, she'd have to bribe a Merchant with draino just to get a taste."

Standing under the shower head, naked as the day she was born and seemingly unashamed, with her hands on her hips, not covering a single part of her body, Taylor spoke, "Gee, Madison," she said loud enough for the rest of the locker room to hear, "You seem to spend a lot of time thinking about me naked. Is there something I should know?" there were gasps from the locker room, then more laughter, not uproarious, but laughter none the less, "Because, I've got to tell you, I'm only interested in men, not boys," there was another, more noticeable, gasp at that. The implication was clear.

Sophia was built like a track runner, so it was fortunate that she became one, and was rather attractive. Emma was stacked like a model at fourteen years old and was only getting better as she got older. Taylor was, tall, skinny and flat chested, but still obviously a girl.

Madison was small, petite, cute. Boyish.

She loved using her cuteness to her own advantage, getting out of trouble with little effort. She hated how close to a young boy she looked.

And Taylor had just said, aloud, that she thought the girl was a little boy.

"Shut up!" The girl almost screamed.

"Oh, pierce mine heart," Taylor said, placing her hands over her chest, "I am cast all asunder, brought low by thine cutting wit! Woe is me, insulted so!" she turned off the shower head, hearing a cacophony of snorted laughter, and proceeded to dry off, not looking after Madison storming away with an ugly frown on her cute face.

The day was only half over and it was going brilliantly so far.

It wasn't until just after Mister Gladly's class that things started getting real. Emma, Madison, and Sophia, with a half dozen of their lackeys cornered her in the nearly barren halways. Taylor had been reading the handbook for Cape Based Laws, and had almost been yanked off her feet when Sophia grabbed her by the backpack and threw her at the wall. Taylor managed to turn around and face them before she hit, thus mitigating the damages, but it had still knocked the air out of her lungs.

Then it began. A wave of insults and digs, themed and contradictory. They attacked her femininity, her hair, her complexion and her face with negative comments. For a year and a half, she had been dealing with this and it always hurt. The pain was stymied, this time, by the knowledge that she was better than all of them would ever hope to be, but it was still painful to hear. She ignored the commentary on her sexual promiscuity, not caring if any of the boys in this school heard them. She wouldn't date anything in this school, even if her life depended on it. She didn't care if they thought she was a slut, she knew she wasn't.

"What's wrong Taylor?" Emma said, causing the others to pipe down. Sophia and Madison were already grinning maliciously. "No, smart comments? Or didn't Mommy teach you how to talk?"

Taylor turned her head, her eyes closed with the effort to fight of the anxious feeling she got. That could only be the first part of this.

"Oh"! Sophia stage whispered, "She's gonna cry!"

"Huh? That was all it took?" Emma almost sighed, "No wonder Annette went and got herself killed? I'd be too ashamed of you to live, if you were my daughter?"

And there it was. Taylor took a deep, shuddering breath. Of course that bitch would use her secret insecurities as weapons. Since her mother's death she had always feared that she wouldn't be proud of how she was dealing with her problems. Her mother would, surely, have done something to stop them by now.

Her brow furrowed into a fierce scowl and she fought back the tears with a nova force rage. When she opened her eyes and looked at Emma, the redheaded teen almost gasped.

Taylor took another slow, deep breath through her nose. She inhaled every bit of air her lungs could possibly contain.

Then she screamed.

It was so sudden and unexpected that some of the girls before her also screamed briefly. Sophia hopped almost a foot in the air before she took a fighting stance for a moment. Emma and Madison had their hands over their ears.

Taylor put everything into that scream. Her sadness and depression, her anger, her fear, her anxiety. Every negative emotion she had felt since Emma betrayed her.

Her scream cracked the windows nearest her.

And, more importantly, it attracted attention. In three seconds flat, Teachers and students were flooding into the hallway to see what was going on.

Her scream had ended by the time Gladly had pushed his way to the front of the group and Taylor had moved forward and embraced Emma, almost sobbing into her shoulder.

Emma almost pushed her way, but stopped herself, considering there were so many witnesses.

She felt something clatter to the ground and saw a shiv, drop behind Taylor.

"What the hell is going on!?" Gladly demanded.

Taylor pulled away from the other girl and looked at the teacher with teary eyes, "Somebody tried to attack me, Mister Gladly!"

The man frowned, and began to say, "Taylor, Sophia-"

"No!" she all but yelled at him, "Someone did! But Sophia, Emma, everyone! They chased him away!" she looked at all of the redhead's friends and lunkies, "I-I, I don't know what would have happened if they didn't show up! He had a knife, Mister G!" Her eyes teared up again and now she embraced the teacher himself, crying into his shirt.

The man only hesitated for a moment before wrapping one arm around the girl's shoulders and rubbing her back.

"Look!" someone in the crowd said, "A shiv! Someone actually tried to stab Hebert!"

The faculty looked at the ground and saw the makeshift knife and frowns crossed their faces. Now they had to do something, or at least make it look like they were.

"Alright, everyone! Back to class!" Mister Quinlan said loudly, in a no-nonsense tone of voice, "Mister Gladly, please escort Miss Hebert to the Nurse's Office. We'd best call her father as well. This is a very serious matter."

The other teacher nodded and took Taylor down the hall and away from the scene.

"The fuck was that?" Sophia hissed at Emma.

"I don't know," the teen model said, staring after their favorite victim.

One of the teachers picked up the red and purple wrapped knife.

"ABB colors," the gym teacher grumbled, "Probably a rite of passage. Didn't matter who it was, long as the bastard stabbed somebody," the man's words carried through the hallway as he spoke to the other teachers. None of them notice it as one of the junior Nazi's hurried away with the information.

+-9003-+

In the Nurse's Office, Taylor hugged her knees to herself and had her head down. She rocked back and forth occasionally, and a few small sobs escaped her lips.

She should have gotten an Academy Award for this act.

Her dad was coming to pick her up. She couldn't wait to tell him how it went. The shiv had been absolutely perfect.

There was no way that this had ended the bullying, not a chance in hell. But step three was complete. Over the next couple of weeks she'd make sure to tell everyone how Emma, Sophia, and Madison had surely saved her life. She'd have every lunch break spent, hearing whispers about the three heroes and their entourage, willing to step into gang activity to save a fellow student.

Because killing them with kindness was almost as sweet as the idea that the gangs might start taking interest in the troublesome trio, forcing their parents to remove them from the school for their own safety.

Taylor almost giggled, but choked it into a sob. Today was going great.

+-9003-+

Chapter Three End.

Power Levels!

Taylor- 25

Fat E88- 4

Quinlan- 6

Gladly- 5

Gym Teacher(Unnamed)- 10