Crisis 1.4
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Starfield
She was awakened by softly whispered words. Words that could twist a mind and collapse it past sanity. And, as always, she took comfort in them. Allowing them to whisk away the after thoughts and sour taste her dream had left her.
"Aria, Melody… Rest?" she questioned, her voice sounding surprisingly slurred, the name of her new friend almost escaping her. She hadn't felt that disoriented in a while, her head felt like it would never stop spinning. "Wha's goin on?"
"Taylor!" A dozen femine voices spoke as one in what could only be called a musical tone, a sound that could only be Aria. "Tekeli-li, are you alright?"
"I think… where are we?" She asked, head shifting back and forth to look at the rooftop they were apparently on. She didn't recognize any of the nearby buildings and a few things on the rooftop seemed suspiciously chewed on. She was going to let that go for the moment, as she was more worried about what had happened.
"We do not know," Melody's voice said. "We just got you away from… whatever happened."
"And what happened?" Her mind strained to remember, to look back at her last memory and see what had happened. "All I remember was that we were about to go on patrol again and then…. I don't know. Then there was a big black light." How did that even work? Light was not supposed to be black.
"And a bunch of blue stars," Aria added, "Yeah, we remember that too. It didn't feel nice."
"It hurt," Melody admitted with Rest copying her last word, "and then we, well you, were somewhere else. On a street filled with smoke and you were not responding. So I flew us away." Melody flexed her released wings; stretching them and making Taylor realize she wasn't in control of her friend's free limbs. Not a big deal really, she usually let them control the released limbs unless she needed them; she was more worried that something had knocked her out. She didn't even think that was possible anymore!
She stood up with a stagger, something else to worry about, and took stock of herself. There were no new holes in her clothing or skin so it probably wasn't an attack, a direct one anyway. A mind attack? Like the ones those Master and Stranger class Parahumans supposedly did?
Taking control of Melody's wings she stretched out the limbs in an almost yawn like fashion as they literally grabbed and clawed threw the air, lifting her into the sky and giving a view of her home city in the light of the setting sun.
It should have been a beautiful sight, seeing towering buildings glistening in a sheet of freshly fallen snow. But she saw no snow and the sun was well on its way to setting. What she saw instead were buildings gutted apart, streets distorted by some strange effects that she had to squint her figurative eyes at to understand, and areas of the city just up and out missing. It looked like a war zone!
What had happened?
Was it why she was unconscious?
Was her dad alright?
That last question of a thought spurred her into movement, her borrowed wings moving through the air with a renewed purpose. "Dad!" She didn't think she'd ever find Melody's wings to be too slow for but at that moment in time she could only imagine the most horrible of things. Things that made her push the wings harder than she ever had before.
"Taylor! Taylor! What is wrong?" Melody tried to call out only to be ignored for the frantic and imaginary race Taylor was having. She had to get home. She had to.
To her relief her home and neighborhood seemed to be untouched by whatever craziness that had happened. That still didn't mean she still wasn't feeling a gut tearing fear for her father. If he wasn't there she wasn't sure what she'd do.
She landed silently in their backyard, quickly retracting her friends' limbs back into the other side of her portal. Her face was barely slapped on and healing over when she slammed the back door open. "Dad!" She yelled needlessly as the man had been sitting patiently in the kitchen with a cup of warm coffee in his hand, formerly in his hand.
Hot brown liquid spilled and spread over the table top as the surprised man scampered away from the table. Wiping the hot liquid off him in a desperate attempt to stop it from soaking in he looked up at his frazzled daughter, "Taylor?"
He had barely gotten her name out before he found himself in a surprisingly tight embrace. "You're okay." Her words were muffled from his sweater but he heard her all the same.
The man didn't seem to know what to do for a few brief seconds, shocked by the sudden contact and rare hug, but eventually his arms found their way to their proper place. "I-is everything alright?"
Taylor almost screamed at him, to tell him things weren't alright. How could things be okay when the city looked an Endbringer had rolled through?
Was that what happened?
"Taylor, where are your glasses kiddo?" He asked softly, as if he were trying not to scare her away. He was probably right to.
One of her hands unwound themselves from the hug in response to his question, fingers tracing the side of her face for the familiar frames. They weren't there, but she knew where they were.
They were inside her pouch pocket with her original eyes. Which she was pretty sure was not something he wanted to hear, so she fudged the details. "In my pocket."
He gave her a look she couldn't place, probably wondering why she had them there instead of on her face. But he seemed to let it go as he took a look at her and her clothes. The ones she knew she wasn't wearing earlier that day and were curiously covered in dirt and grime. What had Aria and Melody done with her body when they were dragging her away? "What happened?" he asked again, his voice just as soft as before.
What happened? She didn't know, hence the panicking. She wished she knew, she really did, but all she had was a big blank in her mind. A blank that she could not fill, besides some images of stars that weren't her own and a very strange dream, and it was worrying her. But she wasn't willing to voice all of that to her dad or more accurately she felt she couldn't. Like it was too much to unload, especially with how close it was to her Cape life. The life she hadn't told him about yet.
So instead she shrugged, hoping he could divine some meaning from the gesture.
He did, but it only led to some more pointed questions. Was she hurt anywhere, sore? Where had she been? Did she remember who she was with? He had a lot of questions, a good chunk of which she could not answer. But she was able to answer enough to bring down some of his worries, but certainly not all.
And apparently not enough as she had just barely stopped him from calling the police. "Damn it Taylor, what do you want me to do?" He wasn't quite yelling but it was the loudest she'd heard his voice in a while, if she didn't count the hospital. "You come home in a frenzy and you're not telling me what's wrong! What else am I supposed to do when… when something horrible could have happened to you?"
She was struck still from how defeated he sounded with those last words. She didn't really know what to say beyond what she had already said, "I'm fine dad, really. No pain or bruises, nothings wrong, I promise."
"Then why won't you tell me what happened? Or why you came in here in such a rush and basically tackled me?" His hand mussed his thinning hair in frustration, "You don't talk to me or tell me what's wrongs, I have to hear to it second hand. Always. I had to hear it from your teachers that things are still not going well at school."
They called her dad about that? Or did he call them? Was the school really seemed to be trying to keep its promise? Even if it wasn't much it was nice to know some changes were being made.
"Taylor, why have you been skipping class?"
What? That's what they called him about? Not the bullying, not about Emma or the bitch pretending to be a hero? No it was about her skipping classes. Something she rarely did but no more than any other student, and that wasn't even getting into any of the gangers' habits.
"I haven't!" She paused and amended that statement, "Not much anyway, only a few classes, definitely not enough to get a call."
"Don't lie to me Taylor," he said, his voice just as frustrated as her own but far more restrained. "They say you skipped the whole month, the whole month Taylor. You've missed major tests, project due dates, homework… They're saying you might fail, if you haven't already."
Taylor wanted to scream out in frustration. They were behind it, she was sure of it. She didn't know how but those three managed to make it look like she wasn't going to school. Why did they have to mess with her life like that? Why did they have to keep on tearing down every little bit of good she tried to build?
"Dad, you got to believe me, I've been going!" She implored, "I don't know how they did but they're behind this!"
"Who Taylor? Who could have made all these teachers say you weren't there, to say you didn't do the work?" He asked her almost immediately back, his voice just as coaxing as her own. He wanted to know, he wanted to help.
But her stupid mouth would not form the names, leaving him only with an awkward and frustrated pause that left him looking more defeated than when they started the conversation.
"I called the school to get an update on how you were doing, and they said you hadn't been to class in some time, and I didn't know what to do. I just- I felt completely lost. I called your Gram."
Taylor stood stunned at that statement. Gram was her mom's mother, an austere woman who'd never fully approved of Taylor's dad as a match for her daughter. It couldn't have been easy for him to make that call. A painful call if anything.
Had her secrets and lies, no matter how few or serious, really have driven him that far?
"She convinced me that maybe I've been too focused on being your ally, and not focused enough on being your parent. If she'd told me that a week ago, I would have hung up on her. But after talking to your school, realizing how badly I failed you-"
"You didn't fail me," she told him, her voice breaking a bit from emotion.
"I did. It's clear that whatever we've been doing hasn't been working, if you're in this situation, if you can't talk to me. No more secrets, no more half-truths. So we're going to stay here all night if need be. I'll even call off work tomorrow if I have to, but we're going to talk."
"I want to talk," Taylor said honestly. "But it's… hard." So much to tell, but what should she share and what should she continue to hide?
"Take your time," he said earnestly, retaking his seat and gesturing for her to take her own. Though he seemed to regret his actions as still warm coffee soaked into his pants. "I'll be right back. Just, just stay here."
She did, taking the offered seat and let her mind roll over what she should tell him.
Should she tell him about Emma? About Sophia? How no matter what they did Mr. Barnes and the PRT would be in their way?
Or should she tell him about her friends? Talk to him about her powers? Explain to him the only bright spots that had come into her life in a very long time?
She was obviously more comfortable with the second, to give him good news instead of bad, but he wanted to help. He wanted to fix things for her as best he could and giving good news wasn't the way to give him that, was it?
She must have been quiet for a bit too long because her dad called out her name as she mulled over the two options, trying to decide what was best. "I'm fine dad, just... thinking."
"Okay." Was all he said, leaving her as he sat in his now clean seat waiting not quite patiently for her to speak. And after a few minutes Taylor started to undo her shoe.
As she removed the shoe she started to talk. "Dad, there's something I need to tell you. Something I've been hiding from you." The sock came next only to be snagged on something, it took Taylor a few more pulls to dislodge the snag and present him with her naked foot.
There was something in it, a dozen something's. They were small, circular and with a dull metallic shine.
"Tacks?" he thought out loud with a hint of horror in his voice.
His horror filled thoughts were interrupted as Taylor started to pull one out, to its full two inch length. A two inch nail, not a tack, was in his daughter's foot. One of dozens.
As that thought started to stir and settle in his mind Taylor said something that he couldn't make out. He was about to ask her to repeat herself when something slim and in a color resembling green started to squirm its way out of her foot, widening the hole and pushing the other nails aside as it emerged from his daughter's skin like a worm or snake.
To make things worse whatever was emerging had an eyeball suddenly appear on it, an eye that looked straight at him. In the surreal horror of the situation he was proud to say he managed to hear his daughter's next words.
"Dad, I'm a superhero."
He almost didn't register the words, he blamed that partly as the tentacle with an eyeball sticking out of Taylor's foot literally waved at him, but in the end he heard it. He heard it but again his mind felt distant, distracted, twisted.
It took a full minute and his daughter calling his name to drag him back to reality. "For how long?" he managed to ask, head shaking away emotions he would just push off for shock. Shock at the news of his daughter having powers and shock of said display of powers.
"A little over a month, I think." She said with a bit of a shrug, "I've had my powers since the hospital."
"That long," he mumbled. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Again she shrugged. "I don't know. I was just worried how you'd react."
"Because your power somehow involves driving nails into your feet?" His voice wasn't deadpan but the flat tone he said it in, a forced tone to hide a number of emotions, came close.
Taylor shifted as if embarrassed, resting her now thankfully tentacle free foot against her knee. "Ah, those are just so my friends know what's up from down."
Danny was almost afraid to ask. "Friends?"
Still seemingly embarrassed and obviously uncomfortable or unsure how to explain things to her father she answered his question. "Yeah, um, my power kinda makes me into a portal and on the other side I have friends. Like Aria." Again the tentacle emerged from the sole of her foot and gave Danny a wave.
It was as disturbing to see the second time as it was the first. It again took him a few seconds to process the appearance of the thin limb. "So your friends are aliens?"
"I guess. They don't really remember much about themselves but that's what we're guessing. Oh," She said in sudden realization. "There's also Melody and Rest… I would introduce you but that mean making a bigger hole…"
"And to make a bigger hole you'd have to cut more into yourself?" he half asked, connecting dots from the bits of his daughter's powers from what she had shown him. He really did not like the mental image that was forming.
"It's not as bad as it sounds!" She said in a rush. "I heal quick so it's not a problem. I don't even really get hurt anymore."
"That's… a relief," he said, unsure of her definition of hurt considering her apparent willingness for self-harm.
Though despite his obvious reservations Taylor smiled as if she had reassured him. "I haven't gone out much yet but it has come in handy."
"Is that why you're…" he gestured to her, eyes looking pointedly as her grimy clothes and hair.
"I think so, but I can't remember," Taylor said, frustration clear on her face. "Apparently there was explosion and Melody had to fly me away, but that's all we have."
Danny's mind momentarily side stepped the 'We' in his daughter's statement, as so far he wasn't sure he liked what he saw. Nor did he like the idea of his daughter, who just tried to reassure him of her durability, apparently got caught in an explosion that left her unconscious for god only knows how long. The war with the ABB, while winding down, was still in progress and who knew how many of that madwoman's bombs they still had to throw around.
"Damn it Taylor, please don't tell me you went out alone," Danny demanded only to have his daughter avoid eye contact.
"I wasn't exactly alone."
"Your 'friends' don't count. Jesus Taylor this is why they started that Ward program, so things like this won't happen." He had barely finished his sentence before Taylor started shouting down the idea.
"I can't!" She denied. "I tried already. I talked to Miss Militia, had lunch with a few of the Wards, and sparred with Aegis. Everything seemed so great and then that, that, bitch had to show up and ruin things. I just can't get away from them no matter where I go."
Danny let Taylor vent and take a few breaths to calm down as his mind reaches back to days earlier, to when Taylor and Emma had their fight. To the moment Shadow Stalker rapidly appeared to break up the fight and how she instantly sided with Emma instead of reprimanding both. Something that through his new perspective didn't seem as unbiased as he initially thought.
Reaching out he took Taylor's hand. "One of your bullies were there?" Despite his suspicions he had to have her confirm it for him, make it more real.
She only nodded her head and Danny thought that was enough of an answer. Honestly he'd gotten more out of her than he'd ever dreamed. He'd honestly half expected the night to end with shouting. He was glad it hadn't.
"How about you go upstairs and wash up? I'll fix us up something to eat and we can talk more, if you want. Does that sound good?"
"Yeah," Taylor said with a small nod. "That sounds good." She offered him a small smile that gave him a bit of hope for their crumbling relationship.
But as she stood to head for her room and the shower Danny remembered something. "Hold up a sec kiddo," he called out as he stood from his seat and made his way to the door. As he pulled out a series and fished for the right one he received a look from his daughter. "I, uh, saw this night going a very different way."
Taylor wasn't sure how she felt about that but she let it go, for the moment. Things were going well and she didn't want to risk things. So, instead, she just continued her walk to her room.
"Taylor? Is everything okay?" Melody asked, sounding tentative. Rest asked the same question a second later: sometimes Taylor wondered if the little copycat only spoke up so often just to make noise.
"Everything's fine. Great actually." She admitted as she dug through her closet and drawers for clothes. She found it a bit odd as she saw clothes she never remembered getting. Maybe they were just old clothes that just now resurfaced in the face of laundry day? "My dad and I just had a talk, and it went well."
"That was your dad?" Aria asked, voices sounding excited. "He looked a little weird but kinda looked like you. All pink skinned and with fur on his head."
"By that definition, Aria, then every other human we have seen looks like Taylor," Melody tried to reprimand gently, only for it to excite her adoptive sister more.
"They do!" Aria insisted, "But in different colors! And don't you worry Taylor you're still the prettiest of them all."
"Thanks Aria," Taylor said with a bit of sarcasm as she entered the bathroom and started the shower. She thought it best to let her friend have those delusions. It could serve as a nice ego boost someday. Speaking of looks she better switch her eyes out, if for nothing else than to look a bit more normal for her dad.
As she finished the process and stepped into the shower she was pretty sure she heard the phone ring followed by her father hush-yelling into the receiver. Not an uncommon thing, she had heard it a dozen times before. Her father wasn't as quiet with some of his work phone calls as he would have liked.
She asked about it when she came down a few minutes later, hair still wrapped in a towel.
"Just a prank call. Don't worry about it," he said in a tight voice, obviously upset over what was said. She wanted to ask him more about it but he forced the conversation onwards, saying he made them a few sandwiches. Nothing fancy but still delicious to eat, even if it was eaten in a good amount of silence.
They still tried to talk, her dad asking a few more questions about her powers and friends, but there was something awkward about it. It worried her a bit.
In the midst of another bout of silence Taylor couldn't help but notice the sounds of crickets. They were being unusually loud that night, enough so for her to comment on it.
It wasn't even a moment later when they heard the front door slam open and footsteps rushing towards the kitchen. Taylor was already standing at the sound of the door, her feet trying to carry her towards the counter that held her knives but seeing who entered the room made her pause.
It was her.
It was literally her, another Taylor Hebert just standing there in the door way looking as shell shocked as she felt. Distantly she heard her dad's chair skirt back but she couldn't pay it any mind. She had to focus on the person in front of her.
Her copy.
She had heard, read about it on PHO, about people who could change how they look, even imitate other people. But seeing it was surreal and disorientating. Though she did spot a few errors, like the length of her other's hair was a bit longer and she seemed to have more muscle than Taylor ever had. Still though, it was a very good imitation.
Her copy recovered quicker and the sounds of crickets returned, louder than before and accompanied by a myriad of other sounds that would have given most people chills up their spines. "Step away from the knives," the copy said slowly and deliberately.
As much as Taylor wanted to say no, to just grab a knife and let Aria loose, she couldn't. Her dad was there. If she moved what would her other do? Would she attack Taylor's dad while she made a move that sealed his fate? Or would she, hopefully, lunge at Taylor instead?
A fifty-fifty chance she wasn't willing to bet on, especially when her mind went to the more famous shape shifters in Brockton Bay. So she stepped back, not by much but she did.
"Taylor?" her dad started, sounding out of depth and she didn't blame him.
The other Taylor answered him all the same, "I'll explain later dad, like I said earlier it's hard to go over in a few minutes."
"The phone call…" he said a bit numbly, a tone she did not like hearing from him. Especially not in such a dangerous situation.
"What do you want?" Taylor growled out, trying to dig her nails hard enough into her palm to break skin. She wasn't having much luck, she was afraid that her nails counted too much as her to get past her skin. She started shifting her weight hoping to wiggle the nails there enough to open a tear large enough for her friends to widen. She wasn't having much luck.
"Look," the fake let out a breath and the ambient sound started to calm down. "Just step away from the knives and I'll start explaining things."
"How about you explain why you're here and how you know about me," Taylor demanded right back, not liking the others tone.
"I'm here because I live here," the other lied. "And I know about you because I am you."
Taylor almost laughed at the audacity of the other Cape. Did she seriously expect Taylor to fall for that? For such an obvious lie? The girl was obviously out of her mind if she did.
So with a mouth filled with sarcasm Taylor gave the other girl the response she deemed such an answer deserved. "Funny."
"She's telling the truth," a new voice said, entering the scene from behind the fake. The voice belonged to a freckled blonde girl she didn't recognize, one whose smile left her face as soon as she took one look at Taylor. "Crap. She doesn't know who I am."
"Then you really should have stayed with Angelica," the fake said with a biting tone.
"And like I said earlier it doesn't make sense for both me and Brian to watch the dog, especially when I'm useless when I'm just standing uselessly by while he hides her. Besides I thought a friendly face might help, but apparently me and her have never met," the blonde said in a constant string before pausing to wave at Taylor's dad. "Hi Mr. Hebert. Nice to see you again, wish it was under better circumstances though."
"You're a part of this Lisa?" So her dad knew the blonde? That was… probably bad? She didn't know.
"Just a bit, well more than a bit, but I'm here to help." She aimed that last part at the copy, whose expression became a bit harder at her words. "I really am."
"What do you want?" Taylor repeated, taking the stranger's attention away from her father and onto her.
"Just a bit of business, the confusing and interesting kind. You know, normal Cape things," she said with a bit of a smile, "Now, first, a question. What's the date?"
"What?"
"Just answer, trust me when I say it'll move things along." That was the thing though. Taylor didn't trust this blonde, this Lisa. She didn't know what she or the other Taylor wanted. Still though, it was a simple bit of information. Something she doubted could get her in any sort of trouble.
So she answered. "January 23."
"Aaand wrong." The blonde said.
What? How was that wrong? Was this some sort of head game the blonde was trying to play?
Looking over at her dad for any sort of answer or help she found his gaze on her. A gaze that she couldn't identify but it almost looked like he didn't recognize or trust her. "What?" She asked, feeling rather put on the spot.
"Its May 2nd, Taylor."
What? But she was sure it was January. She had just barely started school again but the constant date keeping they forced upon her stuck out in her mind.
"Don't worry the others got it wrong too, though they were right in a way. Just like it was January for you it was so and so date for them, but here it's May," the blonde rambled. "Guess the different worlds aren't time synched."
"What does that even mean?" Taylor demanded, eyes now completely focused on the blonde.
"It means, Taylor, that you're not in Kansas anymore."
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Shygirl
"Bored, bored, bored, BORED!" a childish voice yelled out into the dark, rocks thrown into a nearby wall with each repetition of the word. The rocks never bounced off or rebound, instead they embedded themselves into the wall or through it in the case of the last rock.
Which was impressive for such a thin girl, considering the warehouse walls were made of concrete.
"I want to go home!" she yelled as she added a kick to the mix to help relieve her disgruntlement. She did not like waking up in a place she did not know, even more so when said place was apparently worlds away from her home.
Sorry boss, we're trying but… it's harder than we thought it would be. General Guy said from across her link, You're closer than most any other world but it's hard to get to. We're literally being forced to backtrack to a few other worlds just to get to you. It's going to take a while.
The girl let out an annoyed huff but she knew her Guys were trying and would find her soon. So, graciously, she let out a "Fiiine." and plopped down into the make shift bed she and Nippy had made. "But if you're not here when I wake up I'm going exploring!"
General Guy was quiet for a second, one that some would call exasperated, Just be careful, alright boss? We don't know what kind of world you landed on.
Now he was just being silly. She wasn't completely helpless without her Guys around, she was strong and smart enough to watch out for herself. Besides she still had Nippy with her, not to mention a satchel full of Bob-Bombs and power ups. So of course she was going to be fine.
She wondered what this new world was like though. She hoped it was fun!
-End of Day 1-