The next few hours were quite busy for Taylor, what with the entirety of the local Protectorate capes showing up at Winslow, a very tense escort first to Blackwell's office, where her father was called to meet them at the Rig, then to the Rig itself. The interrogation that Armsmaster and Miss Militia tried to put her through. Her stony silence until her father arrived.
Yes, it was quite a day.
"And why is my daughter being held here?"
Her father, for all his recent mental absence, was still sharp as a tack when push came to shove.
"Mr. Hebert, it's standard procedure to interview anyone involved in an interaction with Scion. And the circumstances under which your daughter interacted with him are... unusual." Miss Militia was leading the interchange while Armsmaster stood in the corner, his imposing blue armor still enough that he must have locked the joints.
"You mean how he rescued me from a locker that should rightfully be classified as a biohazard?" Taylor stared at Miss Militia with a sickly sweet smile on her face. She somehow understood exactly what the woman was trying to do, putting them at ease so as to extract the maximum amount of information from them.
Miss Militia turned to meet Taylor's eyes. "Yes, Miss Hebert, but also what followed. I don't know if you know, but Scion usually doesn't stick around after performing his good deeds. He's more of a whoosh-in-whoosh-out kind of guy. So him spending more than a minute just staring at you leads to a lot of questions."
The smile never left Taylor's face, which was actually starting to creep out Miss Militia a little. If anything, it grew a little wider. It seemed... unnatural.
Danny stepped in once more. "That may as be, but Taylor did nothing wrong and you have no cause to keep her here. In fact, I'd like us to leave right now."
He stood, motioning for his daughter to join him. She did so, languidly. Armsmaster jerked an almost imperceptible amount as his joints unlocked and he twitched his halberd as if to block the door. Behind the Heberts, Miss Militia shook her head slightly and he pulled the weapon back.
"You are of course free to leave, if you wish, Mr. Hebert. I would like to point out that Scion's interaction with your daughter is very widely known at this point. There are multiple videos already online showing what happened between them. It might not be safe to return home, in case somebody wants to garner some street cred by attacking one of Scion's rescuees."
Danny stopped dead and slowly turned his head to face the woman.
"Are you threatening us, Miss Militia?"
"Of course not. I'm merely pointing out something you may not have thought of. Taylor is safer in our custody than she would be at home."
Taylor turned smoothly, wide smile still on her face. "I think I'll be okay, Miss Militia. No one is going to bother the girl blessed by Scion. He might come back, after all, and I expect they would live to regret it."
An involuntary shiver went down Hana's spine. The girl hadn't done anything explicitly parahuman, but she was just... off, in a way that set Hana's teeth on edge.
She sighed. "If you insist. At least let us give you a number for the Protectorate's back line, so if something happens we can respond immediately."
A slow nod from the tall girl. "Thank you. I doubt we'll need it, but the thought is appreciated."
After a car ride home filled with unspoken words, the two Heberts finally entered their home shortly before 8PM. Danny puttered around in the kitchen, preparing a couple of sandwiches for them, as Taylor seemed content to sit quietly at the table waiting. Finally, the tension grew too strong for Danny and he broke through the silence that had been sitting between them for far too long.
"What happened, honey? Why were you in that locker in the first place and what did you mean by calling it a biohazard?"
Taylor focused on him and the smile that had graced her face finally faltered and fell. The confidence that held her upright flagged and she slumped forward, once again the picture of uncertainty and despair that had been her previous standard.
"There were, are, these bullies. They've been after me almost since I started at Winslow, escalating bit by bit. Today was... just the latest peak. They somehow got into my locker and filled it with... the foulest stuff they could find. I'm pretty sure there were used tampons and pads, maybe some dirty diapers, lord knows where they got those from. It was... unimaginable in how foul it was. It must've been sitting and fermenting for days. So when they shoved me in there, I kinda lost it. I don't remember a whole lot between when Sophia shoved me in and when Scion let me out."
"Sophia? Who's Sophia? I think I need to have a talk with the school about what she did."
"Don't bother, Dad. She's on the track team and their golden girl for some reason. Emma backing her up doesn't hurt."
"Wait, Emma? Your best friend Emma?"
Tears threatened to overflow Taylor's eyes as she hunched over further.
"Ex-best friend. Something happened to her, I don't know what, and she turned on me. The most evil, stereotypical Queen Bee bitch you could ever think of and she uses everything she knows about me as a weapon."
Taylor paused, not noticing the rising rage on her father's face.
"I tried to be the bigger person, turning the other cheek, not reacting and it never worked. I tried going to the teachers and the principal and they always believed Emma and Sophia and Madison."
Barely constrained anger filled Danny's voice as he tried to stay calm. "Why didn't you tell me about any of this, honey? I could've done something."
Still not looking at him, Taylor shook her head, her long black hair a veil across her features. "No you couldn't've, Dad. Emma already told me that if we did anything publicly that she'd have her dad sue us into oblivion for defamation of character. And the school already proved they won't do anything. And besides, you were still so broken up over Mom that I didn't want to put more on your shoulders."
Danny suddenly stood up, the chair skidding across the kitchen floor, and started pacing.
"Honey, I love you for wanting to protect me, but it is my job as a parent to protect you! You should've come to me sooner and we could've figured out something." He scrubbed his hands through his hair.
"Fu-dge. I love you, Taylor, and we'll figure it out."
Taylor watched through her hair as her father paced. Timidly, she said, "There's... something else, too, Dad."
He stopped and looked at her.
"Is this something that's going to make me want to punch someone?"
"Maybe?" Dad, I think I'm a cape.
"Wh-what? What was that?"
I'm speaking in your head, Dad. Looks like telepathy is possible after all.