I slowly return to consciousness, feeling sore yet again. At least the bed is soft. I stretch out and enjoy it for a while. I don't remember my bed being so big though.

With that realization I shoot up and look around, but I don't have my glasses and everything is blurry. I gather bugs to supplement my sight. I see that I'm in someone's bedroom, but it's blank. There's no personal belongings, clothes, decorations, anything. I get up and out of the bed slowly and see that I'm still in my costume, but my mask is gone and I don't see it anywhere. I start to rifle through drawers in the room, but I can't find anything. I move to the wall out of sight of the doorway and start to search the rest of the place I woke up in.

I send the bugs out and they end up in a hallway, then I spread them out. It seems to be an apartment. The only things I find are a couple duffel bags in the living room, and I see my mask on the counter of the attached kitchen. Soaked into one end of the couch seems to be old blood stains. As I send bugs down the hall, I hear running water. I guide them into what seems to be the bathroom. It looks nicer than the rest of the apartment, bigger to. The showers running and through the fogged glass I see someone hunched over on their knees in the shower, someone blonde.

What happened yesterday starts to come back to me as I realize I'm in Owl's apartment. I start to make the bugs leave.

"Stop." Then there's a wet squelch. Her voice sounds empty and raw, lower than normal. Olivia is in there, but how did she know I moved the bugs in. I turn them to look, but Olivia is still in the shower, still hunched. Like she hasn't moved at all.

"Stop." There's that noise again. Curiosity gets the better of me sadly, and I send a couple bugs over the top of the glass to see.

The first thing the bugs notice is that it's cold, just ice cold water. I look and see that the hot is turned on fully. How long has she been in here. Then I see that the bottom of the shower is covered in blood swirling down the drain.

"Stop." Olivia moves her arms, the first movement I've seen from her, and I hear the noise again.

I move the bugs down to get a look at where the noise is coming from, and where all this blood is coming from.

Through her curtain of hair I see that she has a pained look on her face, with tears streaming down. Her hands clutch something near her chest, and she slowly pulls her hands away. It's a knife, a large kitchen knife. Positioned right over her heart. As she pulls it out, a rush of blood flows out before the wound seals shut.

"Stop." Then she stabs the knife into her heart again, and I hear the noise. The noise of Olivia hurting herself.

I want to go in there. Go and stop her from hurting herself. Oh god do I want to. But I can't. She'll know I violated her privacy, saw her in a vulnerable moment. That might do more damage.

"Stupid. Stupid. Stupid." Every word, punctuated with a knife's blade. She's shaking, and slowly falling forward until her head hits the floor. "I don't need your pity." She sobs out. "We fucked up Owl. We fucked up and scared her."

Me? Well she did scare me, and has gotten rather violent in fights.

She falls to her side and curls up, knife still in her chest. "I don't want to lose her, I can't go through that again." Her hands raise up to her face and starts clawing gouges into it. "We're monsters! I-I got to excited, I always get to excited. And now she must hate us!"

I didn't even notice when I started to move, but somehow I'm already at the bathroom door. I hesitated opening the door. Uncertainty fills me, but being forced to hear her pain filled whimpers, hearing her cry thinking she lost me. I'm through the door before I make up my mind. I open the glass door and shut off the water.

She looks up slowly at the absence of the water, and shrinks back a little when she sees me. "T-taylor?" She looks so afraid, of me. I drop to a knee and reach towards her and she flinches. I stop for a moment in reaction, then reach down. I grab the knife handle still in her chest and slowly pull it out. I throw the knife away, and it clatters across the floor. She still looks afraid, and I sit and pull her to me and hold her again.

"Ya big idiot, yeah you scared me, but I'm not leaving any time soon." She looks surprised, then turns slightly and wraps me in both her arms and buries her head in my still costumed chest. "I told you yesterday, I was afraid that you were leaving me. I'm not going anywhere." The water may as well still be going with how Olivia is crying right now, all big fat tears and pure ugly crying. And that's just fine.

After a while Olivia settles, and I get up to leave. I shoot one last glance at the knife before I go.

I settle into the couch and turn on the tv. Sadly, it's just more news about the bombing. And surprisingly someone caught the fight we had with the Empire. Someone even took video. The video starts with Gorha meeting them, cuts before the fight starts because this is tv, and ends with her talking with Assault. There's no sound, the person who filmed was probably to far away. The news anchor says the full video was posted on PHO, and they warn people that it is very graphic. Well that probably doesn't put us in great spot, even if the people we beat were Nazis. That wasn't a pretty fight, though the newscaster didn't mention Alabaster dying.

And Olivia pulled her bandanna down part way through the fight didn't she. Shit I hope that isn't a problem.

She had her mask on so hopefully that might stop her identity from getting out.

Those domino masks seem useless with how little they seem to cover, either people are idiots or they buy into those unwritten rules pretty hard.

Before I could think deeper on how capes seem dumb, Olivia sits on the couch next to me with her new clothes on. She looks a little ashamed.

"How." She gulps and plays with her hands for a second. "How much did you see?"

"I'm pretty sure I only saw the end bits. How long were you in there?"

She looks at the tv receiver to get the time, then sighs. "A while."

We sit in silence for a while. Eventually I ask. "Does that happen, often?"

She looks down at the couch, the blood stained end of the couch shes sitting at. Her hand rests on the cushion, she clenches her fist for a second, then relaxes. "It happens fairly often. It is like an itch that demands to be scratched. I sleep on the couch, and sometimes the nightmares become really bad. I wake up with my nails in my face, with the couch covered in blood." She leans back and looks straight up. "The s-stabbing, that's because I deserve it."

I turn to her a nudge her. "You don't deserve that."

With her head still leaned back she looks at me. Her eyes are still sad, mournful, ashamed. "Taylor, I have hurt a lot of people. When I say that I am a monster, it is because I was. After I triggered I use to lash out at people, hurt them because of how I was hurt. I was a horrible person. A killer. If there is a Hell, I'm being sent there when I finally find a way to die."

We just continue to sit there.

She twitches for a second. "We went out shopping after we dropped you off." Owl says. "There's some cereal in the cabinet if you want some."

"Alright." I say quietly. I get up and walk into the kitchen. I watch Owl through my bugs and she points to a cabinet. I open it and see a box of generic marshmallow cereal, a plastic bowl, and a box of plastic spoons on the same shelf. I guess it's the little things you forget about when you can't eat normal food. I open her fridge and get milk.

While I'm making my bowl of cereal and ask Owl. "Is Olivia going to be okay, are you okay?"

She gives me a smile. "I'll be fine Tay. Liv had to step out though, she was starting to feel the pain to much." She gives and sigh and stretches out on the couch. "We don't feel pain very much, like normal pain. I could jump off the top of a building and turn into a smear on the sidewalk and it would only tickle. Liv though, she has always been in pain. It's constant burning. That's why she doesn't like to be control. Sometimes though she goes to a dark place and tries to cut the pain out. It's one of the things we've been working on, but we haven't made any progress."

When I start to walk over she makes room for me.

"She's always so hard on herself." She gets off the couch and stands, then hops and turns to me, snaps her finger and points at me. "Alrighty, what are we doing today Tay?"

I finish my spoonful of sugar before answering. "I'd like to look for Bakuda some more, but I think I should go see my dad."

"Oh yeah, we probably should check on Danny. But, before we do that you'll need some new clothes. As funny as it would probably be for Skitter to go see Danny in the hospital, we probably shouldn't do that. Unless that's how you plan on telling your dad that your a cape."

I look at myself through the bugs and notice, again, that I'm still in costume. This thing just fits well, I guess I forgot about it. "Yeah, I'm going to need something else to wear. We could probably stop by my house."

"Okay, well I have some not horribly ruined clothes you can wear in the mean time."

I finish breakfast, then we get the clothing situated, and start to head out and in the direction of my house. As we go I still use my bugs to search all the buildings just in case.

After walking for a while, Owl grabs my arm to get my attention. "Tay~, I smell someone familiar." She says in a sing-song voice. Then she looks back and forth while sniffing. Then she slaps my chest and points across the street. Standing at a crosswalk with their backs to us are a man and a woman. The man is a red head, and seems to be rather theatrical with the way he's talking, or just silly. The woman is a bit shorter than him with short darker hair and a serious expression.

Owl motions for me to follow, then runs across the street and starts to sneak up behind them.

When we get there, Owl throws her arms around the red head. He tenses immediately and looks ready for a fight. "Hey there chief, you got that answer for me yet." She purrs into his ear. When he hears that, he relaxes, but now looks rather nervous. The woman turns and looks at Owl with narrowed eyes, then at the guy with a glare, and back to Owl. After a second her eyes widen, and she pales a little.

The man gulps, and says to Owl in a joking tone. "Well someone seems to like breaking rules huh."

Owl laughs. "Well of course, what's life without a couple broken rules." The man gives a little laugh, and the woman gives him a little glare. Owl the sniffs at the lady. "Oh, you reek of him, are you his lady friend?"

Lady friend? And who is this guy, with red hair, and the familiar joking tone. Oh my god, Owl just unmasked Assault. I give her a little shove. "You can't just do that." I whisper-yell at her. Then I turn to the lady to apologize, and just mentally impose a costume on her just to see. Yup, that's Battery. I groan.

Assault looks at me with mirth filled eyes, and pulls Owl's arms off him. "Well now aren't we in a funny predicament. Sorry if I just happen to bug you ma'am." And he gives me a big stupid grin.

Battery punches him in the arm. "You're not allowed to do that either!"

He's still smiling. "Sorry Puppy, but my hands are tied. Sides I'm just letting her know, I know. Easier for everyone if we're open about it for now. Cat's outta the bag." He then turns to Owl, who is also smiling. "Also to your question, probably not. Ask me next week after this has cooled off a little."

Owl gets a gleam in her eye. "Well I guess in 7 days I'll hunt you down for that answer. Don't worry about finding me, I'll find you." And she gives him a wink.

He laughs nervously and rubs his head. "Okay, I guess I'll see you then."

Battery turns to me. "I'm sorry about him, I really am."

"It's fine, I'm sorry about Owl, and this whole situation I guess."

"It's unavoidable really, you get to excitable people like them together and this is bound to happen." She shakes her head, while she talks to me Owl and Assault are still joking with each other. "So what were you guys doing yesterday night are you met this bum." She motions to Assault. " There was reported explosions in the area near where you guys were, but no one knows what happened in the area besides property damage."

Should I tell her? Well we won, and Oni Lee attacked us so I think it should be fine. "We found Oni Lee, or he found us really, and he decided to fight us. We beat him, but he was a sore loser and dropped a grenade and left."

"Are you alright, he's a tough opponent. He doesn't pull his punches." She asks with a little worry.

"I'm fine, Owl kept him away from me."

She nods. "Alright, that's good. Well we need to be somewhere, so it was nice meeting you and I'm glad you're okay." She puts her hand forward for me to shake. "I'm Jane by the way, and the idiot over there is Ethan."

I hesitate for a moment, should I? This is quite a feat of trust to give your name, but she gave me her's so I guess it's just fair. "I'm Taylor." I shake her hand and she gives me a kind smile.

"If you ever need help, please call. You have Owl for support, but independents have a very short lifespan in this city and you seem like a nice girl. I'd hate for you to lose your life over something stupid." She then turns to Ethan. "Hey, we gotta go if we're going to make our appointment."

Ethan nods and says his goodbyes. We turn and head the other direction.

After a block or so Owl starts talking. "They were planted there to meet us."

I draw up short at that. "What?"

She gives me a serious look. "The PRT unmasked them on purpose to build rapport with us, to make sure we stay allies."

"So Jane and Ethan didn't actually care at all, they're just manipulating us?" I ask with a little anger, and a feeling of betrayal.

"No, they didn't seem to want to do it at all. They were honest with their worry, they don't want either of us to get hurt. I'm thinking the PRT strong armed them into doing this though."

I stew on that for a little while. "How do you know?"

"It wouldn't be the first time they've tried something like this before. It probably won't be the last either. Good news, Ethan seems to genuinely care, and wants to get to know us. Jane wants Ethan to be safe, so she'll play along to keep him safe, but she also likes you. She doesn't like the fact that you've been in three dangerous fights so far. Seems she might have a little bit of a protective streak, of course most heroes do though."

"But how do you know all that, can you smell it or something?"

She laughs at that. "No I can't smell it, I'm just good at reading people. The skill comes with living on the streets for years. Also the PRT isn't the most subtle of organisations."

"Aren't you worried though. They know who you are in costume, hell they know who I am out of costume."

She thinks for a bit. "Nah, if I was worried about those two, I wouldn't have approached them at all. Besides I played into that so they think I'm predictable, silly and air headed is a surprisingly easy cover. Now the PRT on the other hand, no I don't trust them, but if I didn't do that they would possibly try something more risky."

"If the PRT tries something riskier though, wouldn't that put people in danger?"

"Yes, but most higher ups in the PRT look for results first, safety second. Though the PRT in this city might operate differently, I'm not sure, but I'm not very hopeful."

Well that's not very reassuring. And it seems pretty disgusting that they would try something like this to. "Let's just go to my place and get clothes, I'm already done with today." I say.

"Alright, just remember. The heroes try to mean well, really they do, they're just led be idiots. Try not to hold it against them to much."

I just give her a noncommittal grunt as we head on our way.

I grab my clothes and glasses so I can finally see with my own eyes. We head to the hospital and are told what room my dad is in. We head there, and when I enter I see dad laying on the bed. He's sleeping, in a hospital gown, hooked up to a few machines. Me and Owl sit by him.

We chit chat quietly for a while, me shooting him glances every now and then, wishing he would wake up.

After a while of talking with Owl I was starting to get restless, starting to lose hope for the day, but I hear a groan that lifts my spirits.

I turn and look at the bed and see dad slowly waking up. He looks a little confused as his eyes focus on the room, but he clears up quickly. He then sees me and smiles. "Taylor."

"Dad!" I go over quickly and hug him. He gives a little oof, but hugs me back. After a minute we break off the hug with a bit of hesitation. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, little owl, just sore." Oh he just had to use mom's pet name for me. I feel my eyes start to well up a little.

"Little Owl huh?"

I look behind me and see Owl, with one of the biggest grins I've ever seen. "Oh no." She just gives a little giggle.

"Good to see you're feeling good Danny."

He looks a little shocked to she her here, but he recovers. "Oh Owl you came to, nice to see you." Owl just waves.

I turn back on dad. "Are you okay, what's wrong, when are you getting out." I ask rapidly.

He pats my hand. "Slow down, I'm right here. I'm fine, I just got a bit roughed up. There keeping me for observation for a couple days to make sure I'm fine, but so far I'm all good." He gives me a smile.

I give him another hug.

"Are you okay at the house without me?"

I almost want to say that it's not that different than normal, that it's not like he's ever really there anyway, but that would be unfair to him, especially right now. He doesn't need that weight on him now. "I spent the night at Owl's place. If you'll be here for a few days, I might still be there." I look back at Owl just to make sure it's okay.

She gives me a little nod. "It's fine you can stay if you want, little owl." I give a little groan, and dad just laughs.

"If it's alright with you, thank you Owl." Dad says.

"Eh, it's no problem. Tay's good people, so it's fun."

We both take a seat on either side of dad and start to talk about nothing with him, Owl throws in jokes every now and then, and I just enjoy talking with my dad for the first time in two years.

All it took to really reconnect with him was a possible life threatening situation.

All the earlier worries of the day just seem to melt away for now.

AN: Well if the first scene made you uncomfortable, I wrote it right. I was iffy on it at first, but that's always been a thing of Owl's so sadly it felt right.

If you liked the chapter please review and let me know you enjoyed.

-Killa