Disclaimer:
Once again, Worm is the property of Wildbow and its fucking awesome. If you've somehow made it to this chapter without reading it I pity you. I really really do. You're missing out on one of the great things this world has to offer.
Special thanks to MarkerIV for his awesome editz and now for turning his own pen to an Interlude of his own that will be released in the not so distant future! And a great whelming thanks to the people at Spacebattles who make writing more fun than I've ever had. Almost fun enough to get me to leave entirely... but 11 years of loyalty is hard to break. In fact though, some of their comments were directly lifted and used for this chapter which I found just awesome.
Sorry about the formatting for that by the way but makes comment/forum style nearly impossible.
Enjoy the chapter, Suped up for those few of you who haven't already read it on the forum. ^_^
Chapter Three: A Normal Day
Friday. Even ex-capes like me felt a certain sense of joy when such days finally rolled around. After today I could sequester myself in my room and barricade my door and hope this whole thing blew over. Maybe Chloe and Sophia would just… ignore it?
Seriously? Who am I kidding?
I contemplated skipping my first class. Skipping the whole day even. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Dad had worked so hard to get me here, and while I knew I'd helped a little with whatever part time jobs I could find, it would never be enough to assuage the guilt I'd feel if I forsook the classes he'd paid for in the first week.
So I got up and rolled my shoulders. Last night had been horrible for me and for everyone else. I'd walked home so of course they'd all beaten me back to the apartment. Tanner, Reid, Sophia, and Chloe sitting around our newly furnished apartment acting nothing like the college students they were. Talking. Quietly. It was a measure of how much I'd spooked them that none of them even said a word to me when I entered.
"T-Taylor." Sophia had managed to eek out. She hadn't actually been at the rally. The others had probably demonized me already.
I'd felt guilt at the time. Guilt of all things. Guilt for ruining their cape seminar. Powers were all brand new and sparkly to them. Had I crushed their dreams and hopes? Maybe. I couldn't stand the looks they gave me right then.
"If… if you want me to go find somewhere else to stay I can. I just need a few days..." Is what I think I'd managed to say. I charged passed their little congregation around the table and plunged into my room, ignoring their use of my name.
How was I so god damn good at being a villain? I scared civilians shitless even when I fucking was one.
After the night of largely sleepless rest I did manage to feel a little better.
I was up earlier than anyone else thankfully and so I was able to slip out of the apartment and slide into the street for my morning run with no one the wiser. Long habit had woken me and I took off down the main road towards the college.
I'd made the run every other day this week and had felt wonderful about it. Warm sunlight, cool air, and the ability to show my face fearlessly as I had for an entire year. I had reveled in my anonymity. Just like the last time I had believed myself anonymous, my revelry was quickly crushed.
No longer a nameless face, I found people staring. Was I imagining it? Students awake for the earliest of classes slowly making their way across the lots towards the school gasped at the sight of me. One boy even dropped his books as I came into view.
I had gone from no one to celebrity in the course of an evening. What were they saying about me? That crazy girl who yelled at professors? Likely. The girl who stood up for capes? If I was lucky. The cripple who'd brought a grown college girl to tears? Fuck, why did that girl have to make such a big deal of it? I'd have picked another person if I'd known she'd react so strongly!
By the time I got halfway down my normal route I couldn't take it anymore and turned back. Sometimes I thought that my panic and confusion as Khepri, when I couldn't recognize anyone, had stuck with me and lingered still. A boy had smiled at me warmly and it took a moment for me to recognize the gesture for what it was. He probably hadn't been there last night.
I returned the gesture as best I could with one of my own. I doubted he'd have many smiles for me when he knew who I was, but it didn't hurt to try. A first impression could go a long way.
I arrived back home in record time, fiddling with my keys to get the door open.
It opened itself and Chloe stood there, fully dressed with Sophia right behind her.
"Oh Taylor!" She exclaimed with a great sigh of relief. To my shock, the girl wrapped her arms around me, standing on her tiptoes to embrace me in a full on hug.
Dumbly, I stood there uncomprehending.
"Uh… I… Hi Chloe."
Sophia had a weird smile on her face. I couldn't really read her expression very well but I thought it might be wry amusement. "Saw the video of last night. You got balls, Taylor."
I blinked. That was… unexpected. Chloe's grip around my neck seemed to tighten and I let my arms mechanically wrap around her.
"We… after what you said last night we didn't wanna bug you. We thought we'd let you sleep and then talk to you in the morning but you were gone so we thought… well you said you were gonna try and leave so-!"
"We don't want you to leave! You're awesome, so don't leave!" Chloe simplified Sophia's meandering words by yelling them into my shoulder. I was forced to lean down into her hug as she planted her heels firmly on the ground and pulled me down to her level.
"You uh… don't mind? Me staying?"
"Skinny, you have got to tell me how you did that. Do you know how many times I've wanted to slap Professor Comerford? His fucking face… that alone was priceless!" Sophia's crude voice was drawing a snicker from my lips before I even realized it.
Slowly, Chloe dropped my neck and I was allowed to stand back up to my full height.
"Hey uh, we were going to go get some breakfast at this diner I know. You and Chloe are both new in town so… uhm. You wanna come?" Sophia's hair trigger confidence that she'd shown all week had been muffled but definitely not extinguished by the revelation the video must have caused.
"Sure!" I said feeling uncharacteristically bright. "I… yeah. Do you mind if I shower quick?"
"No problem. First class is at 10 for both of us. Plenty of time." Chloe said. I dutifully ignored the girl's reddened cheeks as she mumbled. "We were going to look for you."
A small bit of my heart warmed at that. Living with them for this week had been fun. I held them at arms distance of course. I held everyone at arms distance. But… their little invites, their inclusion of me, despite how gawky and weird I knew I came across as… they felt nice.
Peace. Well. Maybe my definition of peace didn't have to be out of the spotlight. There was probably no going back to anonymity now. Really, what had I actually revealed? That I was passionate about capes not being discriminated against? That I was maybe a little crazy and that I'd somehow lost my arm?
Maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought. My fifteen minutes, as it were.
"If… you don't mind me asking." Chloe prodded as I stepped through the doorway and back towards my room. "Uhm… are you… a hero? The way you spoke last night… it felt so real, the story you made. I was pretty fucking scared of you Taylor. Like, damn near piss myself scared. That's not a power is it? Terrifying speeches?"
"No powers." I sort of lied calmly. The way I'd felt Obelisk's abilities wasn't sitting well with me. "But that situation I made up?" I paused holding open my door before turning to face the girl. "That's all too real."
I thought of my territory as I showered and got ready. The people I'd fought Mannequin for. They'd hated me at the time but slowly I had won their love, even though I was a villain. I thought of Weaver too. The Wards who I'd never quite become a part of. Had I been a Hero to the end? The people had hated me but I'd done what I thought was right and gave everything to stop Scion. I'd succeeded. Did that make me a better Hero than Vigilant, who had turned away?
No. I couldn't compare the situations. They hated me because of the way I'd saved them. Not that I'd failed them. Still it struck a chord in my mind. It was like kicking villain ass with butterflies. To be a hero, not only did you have to succeed, but you had to do it how they wanted you to. Fail in either, and you failed at both.
When I stepped out into the living room again, Chloe had her laptop out. They were both staring at it, transfixed.
The YouTube video. I cringed. I didn't want to be famous for even fifteen minutes! But what other choice did I have?
I crossed in front of them and circled behind the couch to stare over their shoulders.
My jaw dropped.
"A million!?" I gasped.
"Y-Yeah. You… really know how to swing a crowd." Chloe's eyes turned from the video and she looked up at me. "Not all for you though. You didn't see what happened with the crowd and Vigilant after you left. Here, look!"
I watched as a muted crowd seemed to slowly bleed away from the bleachers. It would've been silent if not for the girl who could hardly stop her sobs down in the front row. Whoever was taking the video had been in the top stands, his camera focused as one by one people approached an increasingly flabberghasted Vigilant."
"Don't forsake us…"
"We're sorry. I'm sorry. Never would've come here if I'd known…"
"You wouldn't really abandon us like that… would you?"
"You didn't deserve this. Girl was right…"
A precious few, somehow unwilling to break the somber mood were still caught on camera glaring heatedly at the man for abandoning them in my scenario. For being anything less than perfect.
What in the hell had I done to these people? The walked with haunted eyes, shoulders taut and heads bowed. The effect was horrifyingly similar to the students at Arcadia after Brockton Bay had become ground zero. Maybe I DID have a different power. This was just weird. I hadn't been trying to sway opinions, or terrify anyone! Just keep Obelisk from skewering people!
But somehow I knew that this was no power. Just the effect my presence had on people.
...I really needed to stop using Jack Slash as a role model for public speaking. And I probably needed to find that girl and apologize. Quickly. Jeez she really looked awfully fucked up.
The comments section was horrendous. Just from the first page I could see some shit that just wasn't going to go away.
IneedaHero
30 seconds ago
We're all dead :-(
Likes 0 Dislikes 6
Randomdude47
17 seconds ago
No shit, we are totally fucked.
Likes 0 Dislikes 0
LightHedge
20 seconds ago
So sad, we don't have Vigilant to protect us... At least we got cripple girl! *laughs*
Likes 2 Dislikes 5
Spindleass
30 seconds ago
Duuude this chick is fucking crazy! She made that girl cry her heart out right there! Oh man I'm shivering and I'm a hundred miles away! Her name's Taylor?
Likes 4 Dislikes 0
SoftRogue
30 seconds ago
You know, I can't help but focus on that poor girl the cripple picked on and used/abused for her speech...
Likes 8 Dislikes 0
UnrepentantJoker
30 seconds ago
I know right... That was some funny shit.
Likes 3 Dislikes 19
Emogirl932
30 seconds ago
Vigilant is so dark… I'd thought he was such a bitch before in the bank video but now…. mmMMMmm.
Likes 0 Dislikes 23
Inoright
17 seconds ago
Would be so fun to show Vigilant my appreciation... ;-)
Likes 2 Dislikes 1
Thirsty_One
5 seconds ago
You are such a slut ino...
Likes 5 Dislikes 0
Erik-Jonas1990
33 seconds ago
Faake! This shit is so staged! You can tell the "Hero" girl is completely faking it.
Likes 1 Dislikes 12
Chandalier003
17 seconds ago
But if its not? Look at her. She's seriously freaking out.
Likes 5 Dislikes 0
Peanuckle
39 seconds ago
That speech gave me goosebumps.
Likes 13 Dislikes 0
Capeh4t3
39 seconds ago
No kidding. Did you see how she turned that crowd into putty? No way she isn't a cape.
Likes 5 Dislikes 2
PossiblyEnos
18 seconds ago
Naw, the girl lost her arm, is in college and just not afraid to speak up in such a situation. It is far more likely that she is a former soldier who got wounded in Afghanistan.
Likes 6 Dislikes 1
Wanderer17
40 seconds ago
Anyone else think that this girl might be in danger? If Obelisk sees this video I bet she tries to kill her. Blight? Brrr..
Likes 2 Dislikes 4
CrazyShapes
42 seconds ago
The way she talks… It's like she knows. You think maybe she's a cape? I mean look at her arm. Look close at the scarring. That thing was cauterized!
Likes 7 Dislikes 10
FitnessFreak42
30 seconds ago
There's noooo way you can tell that just by looking. The thing's clearly been healed for over a year. Bullshit CrazyShapes. But you're kinda right about the way she talks. Like maybe she was THERE you know?
Likes 9 Dislikes 2
CyverHero
23 seconds ago
I bet she got a bitchin awesome power. Like instant crowd control! Did you see how she made everyone shut up? Like terror power. I'm shitting myself just watching this.
Likes 1 Dislikes 0
STAR_Sarah-Culbert
47 seconds ago
That's Taylor Hebert! She sits right behind me in my Calc class! But I never knew she was missing her arm! She hid it so well! I can't even believe this! She seems so normal over the past week I've known her. Real quiet type.
Likes 154 Dislikes 120
Scion_Suxxxx
35 seconds ago
Its always the quiet ones…
Likes 14 Dislikes 14
SoftRogue
35 seconds ago
Bet you she gets headhunted to by the feds to speak for the new Wardens straight outta college.
Likes 14 Dislikes 3
Sharp_Dale7
15 seconds ago
Girl has a Charisma score of 30!
Likes 2 Dislikes 7
EPICwin
55 seconds ago
One four year ticket to college - $25,000
One bus ride to parahuman meeting - $2.50
Getting to hear this girl shut DOWN the faculty - $Priceless!
Likes 45 Dislikes 0
Fuck you Sarah Culbert! Dammit!
It almost felt like being outed again. Thankfully Chloe stopped scrolling so I couldn't see anymore. 1,274,993 views in one night. Was that a record? It hadn't even been 12 hours yet.
The page cut off at the bottom there and I didn't want to see anymore. So they were guessing. Speculating. That didn't mean anything. All I had to do if asked was deny, really. What were they going to do, demand I use my powers? Hah.
At most they would assume, and rightly so, that I was a refugee from Earth Bet. Just one of quite a few others who'd escaped into this world before the portal had been closed. I just really hoped none of them saw this and connected me to… Weaver.
That was unlikely anyway. I'd changed significantly since then. My last major appearance on television had been when the fight against Behemoth had leaked all over the internet. After that I was only in a few skirmishes that rarely ever made television. I'd been almost camera shy after being so exposed. I'd gotten taller, my hair was a lot longer. My arm was missing of course so that was a big difference and…
I sighed, slumping down into one of the chairs at the table behind the couch. Who was I kidding…? This would never go away.
Fuck doing the right thing! Obelisk could have her damn murders next time this shit happens. I'm staying out of it! And buying a cabin! In the woods. In Canada!
Of course I'm sure that conviction will last all of twenty minutes with my luck. Probably run into another situation that only I could resolve before lunchtime!
I groaned, and Sophia patted me on the shoulder. In a bit of a slump, I made my way to the corner where I'd made my prosthetic stand a home and slid the rubber tube up my stump, preparing to attach the limb.
Sophia owned a bright red sports car that 'screamed' rich daddy. Maybe it would've been sexy to other people but I found her clearly wealthy background to be off putting at times.
At the moment, I loved it. I didn't want to walk to school at all.
Breakfast was quick and pretty quiet, but not at all uncomfortable. They wanted me here, the both of them. They had awoken hours before either of them had needed to and had determined that I had gone apartment hunting on foot, determined to find me. I laughed at how silly it was and it embarrassed them a little but walking away from breakfast that morning, I felt a little bit closer to the two. Maybe I could share some secrets with them.
Just a bit.
I decided I'd tell them I was a refugee from Earth Bet tonight. That was probably not very hard to guess anyway. It would spawn a bunch of questions about capes and the end of the world and Scion but that was okay. Tempt them with a secret they'd already sorta guessed and maybe they wouldn't notice the bigger one you were hiding right under their feet.
Or so I hoped.
I stepped into my first class at five till 9, Sophia and Chloe having left to the rec center and the library respectively to wait for their own classes. Conversations ground to an instantaneous halt, all eyes turning to me.
I took a few steps forward, watching as their heads turned comically with my path towards my desk on the far side of the room. I stopped in front of the teacher's desk, my eye lingering long and hard on Sarah Culbert before I swept them over the rest of the room.
The girl visibly gulped.
The teacher wasn't here yet but that wasn't unusual. I'd only been here a week but Mr. Crowbes had already made it abundantly clear that he would never be on time for his own class.
"What're you all staring at!?" I growled, shocking them. "So I don't have an arm. No reason to go all slackjawed."
It obviously wasn't the arm that was making them stare, but I pretended and they turned their eyes away, attempting and failing to start up little conversations. It would have to do.
I sat down at my desk and pulled out my Calc book, staring out the window into the late summer sunshine…
"Did that happen to you?" Someone asked. Some brave, brave girl.
I turned, unsure if the question was directed at me. It was loud, and those little fake conversations stopped again.
I found a shy looking girl with cropped blonde hair staring in my direction, her lower lip quivering. God dammit, I was a freaking gawky teenager! I'm just not that scary!
"Did your story… last night. Is that what happened to you?" She asked, gathering courage.
I stared at her for a long moment and let my face break out into a small smile.
"No." I told her resolutely, but my words carried through the silence of the classroom. "It was just a story… I hated what those professors were saying to that guy. Like I said, his only crime was trying to do what was right. I just… wanted to show where letting something like last night continue could lead to."
That seemed to settle the girl and the class seemed to let out a collective sigh of relief.
"I… guess I got a little carried away." I put forth feebly.
Some managed to laugh at that, and it was as if the tension melted away. A boy at the back smiled at me, and I blinked, recognizing him. I'd seen him on my run this morning. Painfully pale, he'd probably never even seen full sunlight before, preferring instead, the artificial lights of a gym. He was fit, heavily so, with a bit of stubble that he pulled off well. Brown hair cut short, and green eyes covered a face that didn't look like it had ever seen a speck of acne.
Nothing like Grue really, but attractive all the same.
I beamed at him. He'd made me feel a little better when I'd thought I'd drowned all chance of normality this morning. Here he was doing it again, with only that smile, and a small nod before he broke eye contact.
Mr. Crowbes chose that moment to walk in and he began without preamble as was his custom. He didn't even spare a glance for me. It felt wonderful. I sighed as a full hour of window gazing, and trying to understand what the hell a derivative was lulled me into an even greater feeling of relief.
Class let out after that hour and contrary to the students mild awe from before, I now found them actively engaging me in conversation.
"Hey Taylor. Listen, there's a party tonight. If ya wanna go, give me a call. Love to get to know ya more." said a rather sly looking pair of eyes and a smirk that could rival Tattletale at her worst. As he confidently handed me a torn scrap of paper with a name and a number on it, I consciously catalogued him as a creep. I would not be attending any party hosted by this boy.
"What's your last name? Hubert? I'm Katie Dillen! I'll facebook you, kay? Uhm. Sorry about the whole staring thing earlier." Said an older looking girl, almost too old to be a college student from my view.
"It's Hebert. E. B. E." I replied making my usual correction, and the girl nodded.
"Hey so, what you did last night? That was pretty brave. Saw the video. You got guts standing up to the professors like that. You should seriously join the speech club. Frankly, I don't think we could ever lose another debate with you on our team."
I blinked. Recruitment? I blinked again. Then I laughed. The request had been so unexpected, so painfully normal that I could hardly stop it. "I might do that!"
Both of these conversations managed to hit me before I'd even reached the exit as people filed out of the room. Somewhat childishly as I walked down the stairs towards my next and final class of the day, hoping that boy would talk to me. No such luck. He was gone.
Despite the little twinge I found myself not caring too much as Sarah Culbert shyly approached me, her head lowered and trying vainly to mumble out an apology. She already knew what for.
She was so damn pathetic about it that I forgave her on the spot. Hell she'd given out my name in the last 45 seconds of comments that I'd seen; someone else had probably given it out on that video much earlier than her.
Biology did not go quite so well.
I entered my ten o'clock class, noting that there were a few people from my math class before who were no longer stone cold stumped at what to say about me. The girl last class had broken the ice and rumor was already spreading. I was just a civil rights activist. I had a thing against bullies really. Not a fallen hero. The students didn't all pause to stare at me this time, though a few did.
This class had a different sort of coldness. Professor Butler stood, leaning easily on his desk and upon entering his eyes locked on me with a sort of cold fury that I could picture on very few faces. Sophia's maybe. Shadow Stalker was pretty damn good at fury, cold or hot.
My turn to be rendered silent, I slowly slid by him and hoped that I hadn't provoked him somehow. Last night he'd seemed pretty contrite. Today, something entirely different.
"Good morning class." He said glibly once everyone had reached their seats. A small smattering of replies greeted him from us and he began to do that pacing teacher thing.
This class contained upwards of a hundred students but Professor Butler had a knack for remembering people's names. Mine hadn't been important to him but he had seemed to grade the papers I'd returned him fairly, despite the notes about my handwriting.
"I am going to assume most of you have seen the video of last night's seminar, yes? Hmm." He said, his voice deep and rich. I had called him a wordsmith last night and it was definitely true.
"Unfortunately, being compared to the Ku Klux Klan has cast a rather bad light upon me and my fellow teachers. I don't feel the reference was warranted, but after seeing the video for myself, from the perspective of my audience I can understand how that result might've been reached."
Oh fuck… I hadn't gotten this old guy fired had I? You could tell by the happy way he interacted with most of his students that not only had he had some of them in other classes before but that he was a well liked sort. He was also a very good teacher. The type who had a lot of open office hours and was never condescending about helping students who didn't understand something.
"My tenure, and my job in fact along with that of my colleagues who have it, has been called into question." There was a small gasp from the collected students. Pity? Sadness. "Before I continue, I want to let you all know that none of the fault for this belongs to any of you." His eyes lingered hard on me. "Any of you."
I felt a lump of guilt in my throat. Wordsmith indeed.
"I… realize this might sound a bit out of character, and many of you I haven't known for more than this past week." His voice suddenly went a bit softer. Garnering pity perhaps? "But for those of you that have, or perhaps those of you willing to grant an old man a mistake or two, It would be very helpful if you could attend a hearing with the principal and board of directors on the twelfth of October at 2 pm in the administrative building, Room 312. While I don't expect any of you to speak in our defense," his eyes lingered on me again. "I admit that any thoughts you have would be appreciated."
A month and a half or so away. A long wait for an older man to worry about his job. Lots of stress. Fuck, he might even trigger. Goddamnit. Not coldness. What I'd mistaken for coldness on his face had been his almost unbearable worry. Apparently that was how he showed worry to a class that he'd been teaching for over a decade.
It worked. I felt pity for him. I felt the waves of pity that came from others, and I knew that I'd be attending a Saturday afternoon hearing in his defense.
Dammit all. What happened to my convictions earlier! He might just be faking! Probably is in fact!
As my paper came back: B+ upped from a B- with several margin comments about my handwriting scratched out vigorously, I couldn't help but think he was trying to bribe me, but not seem like it. That too, was working pretty well.
He continued with the class and managed to do a passable job of pretending he wasn't horrified about the meeting.
I found biology, the subject not the class itself, a hell of alot easier than math. It, along with all of my courses really, were gen-eds: Classes you had to take for bachelors in pretty much anything. I still had no idea what I planned to major in, only that I had a few years to make a decision and that I didn't want anything to do with biology, despite my aptitude for it.
I wandered out of class slowly. There were a few more stares directed my way this time but nothing like the blatant awe in the faces of my Math class this morning.
I ate where I worked. One of the many cafeterias spaced out about the campus. Work Study was a pretty convenient program that let you work for the school for a couple hours a day at slightly over minimum wage. Even so it was easy money since, crippled as I was, all I had to do was punch what people bought into a computer and swipe their Student IDs.
I ran through the line at first, nodding and waving to a few of the people I'd met over the course of the week, serving food behind the cafeteria line. A good half of them stopped and stared at me, silently mouthing my name. I continued on passed them before it could get awkward, collecting a wrapped deli sandwich rather than waiting for one of them to snap out of their stupor and spoon a bit of beef stew onto my tray.
Something no one really tells you about missing a right arm is how inconvenient it is. Obvious really, but the effect doesn't really sink in until you've tried to fish a thin plastic id card out of a wallet that holds 40 different ones with only your left hand.
After an embarrassingly long time trying to get the thing out of my billfold, the girl at the counter where I would be working in an hour staring at me wide eyed all the while, I handed her my card and then slowly balanced my tray all the way to one of the tables. Most of them were full during this time but I could usually find a spot relatively secluded to spend the hours before my work study rolled around.
While I ate I contemplated the irony of the bug girl working in the food industry, and laughed about how appalled management would be if they knew my references. After a while, once all I had left was a small container of applesauce I pulled a book out of my backpack and began to read.
So engrossed was I in the adventures of this little kid sent to a wizarding school, that I didn't care to look up when someone sat across from me, setting down their own tray. Must have been a busy day, I reconned.
"Hypothetical Situation." The words were dark and menacing and directed at me.
I raised my eyes.
Obelisk occupied the seat across from me, smiling, her dark bushy hair, dark tan, and dark eyes, contrasting her brightly colored yellow shirt under a denim jacket I could've seen Emma wearing.
"A girl's silly little speech makes you into a supervillain renowned throughout the nation, when all you were trying to do was the right thing," the black haired girl said with a smile on her face.
I tried to be afraid. I really tried to pretend her speech was getting to me, but this girl didn't scare me. This girl who'd managed one kill in her one debut on the national theatre. Yes she could skewer me like a shish kabob and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. That didn't make her intimidating. Not to me.
I held her gaze neutrally, somewhat annoyed about having to put down Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
"Murder, is very rarely the right thing." I said, appreciating the change of position. It had been a long time since I'd killed Coil in cold blood, and Alexandria in hot. I didn't regret those choices now, but that didn't make being a murderer easier.
As I looked at this girl, confidence brimming out of her every pore, I could tell that it was all fake. She was falling apart inside, consumed by the same guilt that had once swarmed my every emotion.
"And if it was?" She demanded. "If he was so bad that he deserved to die? Would that justify the person who got the job done?"
I shrugged turning and draping my working arm over the back of the chair. The room was filled with conversations and no one could hear ours. "It tends to be better for the murderer's image if the victim is known to be… evil." I said. Not really the best word choice but it would have to do.
"That doesn't answer anything."
"Sure it does. Its the answer to everything. How it looks could've been a thousand times better. Could've blackmailed him. Threatened him to turn himself in. Bigass spear from between the legs is pretty intimidating but our hypothetical murderer in this situation went from 0 to full throttle without considering the options in between."
"Ah fuck, What do you know?" She scoffed, disregarding my words.
"More than you could ever fucking imagine," I told her.
We had locked eyes, neither straying nor blinking during the entire conversation. She turned away. She'd appeared so confident but once again my charisma had managed to intimidate her.
We sat in silence for a little while, and I spooned some applesauce. It was really good today.
"Lame power." She told me finally. "Recognizing me… sensor type? Something like that?"
I said nothing. Let her think what she wanted.
"Huh, but you haven't outed me yet. Well, nice meeting you I guess. Nicer than I expected anyway. We'll talk again." She said, standing, managing to quiver only a little as she did so.
As she turned to walk around the table I stopped her with my eyes. Holding her with my gaze as surely as if I'd wrapped her in spider silk.
"Wh-what?" She asked after a while.
"If I were a murderer… who thought she'd done the right thing… I'd try to get proof. Then I'd hope to make everyone see it." I said lightly.
Slowly, very slowly, she nodded, and I saw her gulp. Cute. She really was afraid of me. I released her, and she fled. Actually fled out the door. I watched her through the window. By the time she got out of the building she took off at a dead run.
When she was gone, I pushed back the tray and rested my forehead on my hand, tiredly wishing this nightmare of capes would have just left me alone.
What the hell are you doing Taylor?
End Chapter