Chapter Eight: Helping Hands

I'd barely managed to put myself back together by the time I made it home. I'd taken the most scenic route which took a little over an hour.

In that time, through my bugs I'd born witness to a wife slapping her husband, and heard the entirety of their argument. I'd listened to a poor kid beg his boss to let him keep his job in one of the fast food restaurants. A child had scraped her knees on the kitchen floor while her mother barely paid notice to the girl's cries, her eyes glued to the television.

I had grit my teeth and walked on. These weren't wrongs I could do anything about, but knowing about them stung. I wished I didn't know. If I didn't then I wouldn't feel guilty for not being able to help.

It was about 11:30 when I finally reached my apartment, slid into my room, and plopped my face into my pillow, content to feel sorry for myself for the next two hours until the hearing.

Fuck. The hearing. How was I ever going to get up the drive to speak for it now? I probably shouldn't anyway. Probably make some other poor sap trigger, too.

I'm such a jackass.

My fingers gripped the sheets and relaxed almost of their own accord. My eyes wouldn't stop watering. My lips were dry and crackly. This was too much. I couldn't take it. So I did what I had always done, and drowned my emotion in the sensation of my bugs.

In the apartment below, one of the three girls who lived there was dancing with her pants off like a lunatic to some rather bad music. Two doors down a boy was playing on a computer game but I couldn't make out what the game was. His room was filled with my minions. Pizza boxes littered the coffee table in front of a large sofa and television in the living room of that particular apartment. Two more boys were throwing ping pong balls into cups on opposite sides of a long, cheap table.

Beer Pong. This early?

A boy outside was playing with his dog, throwing a frisbee on the grassy courtyard that surrounded the apartment complex, constantly going in and out of my range. I was impressed as the dog had barely a flea or mite on him. The boy, whoever he was, must've really cared for him, and it showed in how they played.

Two girls and a boy were coming up towards my doorway. Oh wait. Sophia, Chloe, and Reid. I couldn't help but perk up a little. My friends. I almost got up to go greet them when their words reached my ears. My bugs' ears.

"Just didn't really feel like going to my noon class. Wanted to talk to her. She's acting all weird again," Chloe's tone was somber, depressed really.

"Crazier than a box of rocks, I'm telling ya," Sophia's voice came in quietly. "One minute she's fine, doing a handstand for fun, and she's laughing and so normal and then the next… Boom. Blasts into her room and locks the door."

Talking about me of course. Didn't they have anything better to do?

"She lived through Earth-fucking-Bet Sophia. You gotta cut her some slack, you know?" Reid's voice was a little harder to pick out, his low tones coming in somewhat more cracked from the few bugs I had in the apartment's living room. "PTSD shit."

"You don't know that. That's just a guess," Sophia snapped back. She sighed and then leaned against the wall. "I loved seeing her so happy yesterday. And then something just ruins it all over again. I really hoped getting her arm back would help her..."

That little string in my heart tugged again, but the more pragmatic side of my personality latched on to a more relevant piece of information.

How did they know I was from Earth Bet? I never got around to telling them that.

"But you and I both heard her Dad saying that she had lost her powers. Maybe… Do you think maybe…" Chloe asked trailing off with the unasked question.

Why you eavesdropping little jerks!

Something about that thought struck me as out of place. Maybe even wrong, but I couldn't put a finger on what.

"Can we stop talking about Taylor already?" Sophia cut in. "Ever since the seminar its been nothing but Taylor, Taylor, Taylor!"

"Well what are we doing this afternoon?" Reid asked casually, attempting to change the subject.

"You mean besides listening to you yammer on about Taylor?" Chloe asked with a sort of snide smirk at the both of them.

It was hard to make out but I was pretty sure Reid and Sophia both growled at her. Maybe more of a groan.

"Yes," Reid sighed, exasperated. "My crush on Taylor aside, what are we planning on doing? I'm never telling you a secret again by the way."

"Sure you will!" Chloe seemed quite confident. "Who else is gonna help you?"

Wait, was he serious?

It's amazing how quickly emotions can flip. I'd just found out I'd literally ruined some girl's life to the point that she'd triggered. And with a tinker power, I could bet that it wasn't a second generation bud from my own shard. She'd been traumatized to the same point as me in my locker, covered in bugs and bile.

Meanwhile, my heart was doing little backflips about some petty crush. That just brought the guilt back even more.

"I'm going to the teachers' hearing." Sophia interjected smoothly. "Mrs. Greene was a part of that seminar so her job's in trouble and I don't think she deserves that. Most of them don't actually. Nothing planned after that though."

Reid sighed. "I don't wanna go to that. I didn't know any of those teachers."

"But Taylor's gonna speak there you know?" Chloe said with that same patronizing little smile she got when it came to playing matchmaker. One of her more annoying qualities actually. She fiddled with the keys at the door.

"Really?" He perked up.

"Yeah. I heard she told Professor Butler she'd speak for them. You don't wanna miss that do you!?" Again I could almost feel her giving that snide smirk. Not malicious. Just… I don't know. Frisky? She really liked playing cupid then tormenting her targets about it.

I am not your entertainment Chloe!

"As far as I know. I think she feels bad about getting them in trouble." Chloe's words lost their humor. "She feels bad about a lot, actually."

The mood among all three of them became somber and none of them spoke as they slid into the apartment. Their voices were muffled much further as we kept the place pretty clean, so I had to move the bugs through the walls. The lights made it difficult to keep them out of sight, but I managed well enough.

"Well, maybe I'll ask her today. After the hearing," Reid said. I thought it was more to break the ice than any actual plan.

"She's probably here you know. She might hear you," Sophia said tonelessly."Also, what are you even doing here? Shouldn't you be with Tanner?"

Reid scowled a little. "He asked me to pick up his X-box since you guys stole it again."

Chloe laughed. "Yeaaahh… Tell him I said no. He can't have it. I have more zombies to kill."

"Knew you'd get hooked." Reid smirked.

"Shudap you," She said in that affectionate way close friends do. I felt a weird pang of envy at the closeness they shared. Could I have a little part of that?

"I'm gonna start making something for lunch. Sophia you wanna knock on Taylor's door? Or Reid would you rather do it?"

Reid snorted, and the two girls laughed at him, leading me to believe that they might actually be serious about him having a crush on me. Well that was weird. I don't think that had ever happened to me before.

Very suddenly as Sophia approached my door, I became horribly self conscious about my appearance. I was a mess, my eyes wet, wearing a green sweater that did nothing to show off the admittedly less meager assets I was sporting recently.

I blinked. Were they…? Wait Clinic wouldn't have…?

I shook my head. I couldn't deal with that now, so I put it out of my mind. A matter for another time. Right now I had a group of friends who even seemed to like me when I wasn't in earshot. Maybe they could cheer me up after this business with Theresa. Hero, I suppose.

I wonder how good she is? Tinker, so she'll be a nightmare no matter what if I ever have to fight her. I hope she isn't in the original Hero's league. Though if she could build a birdcage that would be convenient.

A knocking came at my door and I got up.

"Taylor, Chloe's making lunch. Want any?" Sophia called through the closed door.

"Yeah please. I'll be out in a minute." I said a little louder than normal. I hoped they didn't catch the slight hiccup in my voice. "Tell her I say thanks."

"You're welcome!" Came my black-haired roommate's call from further back in the kitchen. I must've been loud enough to hear. Well that explains how they heard Dad so easy. Dammit.

I checked over myself in the mirror, erasing the evidence of my angst. I was feeling a little embarrassed now. I had a plan to fix what I'd done, or at least make it better. I'd panicked but I was okay now, and they were already worried about me. I wanted them to know that what they'd done had been marvelous. It wasn't their fault healing me came with a side order of Anthropodokinesis.

It took about five or six minutes to make sure I looked normal before I left the shelter of my bedroom and wandered out into the glorious smell of sizzling ground beef.

"I'm makin' nachos!" Chloe exclaimed dynamically upon my entry.

I laughed. She was such a dork sometimes, but she did a damn good job of cheering me up.

"Dibs on the cheesiest ones," I said simply, smirking.

"No fair!" Sophia called from somewhere back in her own room.

I sat down on the couch as it was the only open spot with blankets thrown akimbo on the armchairs. Right next to Reid.

"Hey Taylor. Uh… you doing alright? You seemed pretty worried about something last night and all," he said with that sort of calm tone someone might use if they'd accidentally fallen into the lion exhibit at the zoo.

Real subtle, dummy.

"I'm alright. Just a bit of a panic attack. Not really even sure why," I lied, and they all knew it. Luckily they seemed to leave it at that.

About half a minute of awkward silence lasted before luckily, Reid had an idea. "Hey! Wanna kill zombies?"

Reminds me a little of Regent. Without the creepy, "I-take-your-body" factor.

Not that I had any room to talk anymore. At all. I remember being uneasy with Regent for a little while after he'd taken control of Sophia and later Shatterbird. Oh how he would laugh at me after Khepri. I could see it now. "So. What's new? How ya been since I died? Oh, mind controlling the entire world? That's pretty awesome. Also you're a hypocritical bitch. No offense, Bitch."

The only petty reply I would be able to come up with would be "It's body control… not mind."

Which would just make him laugh, and laugh, and laugh. Imp would probably throw her own two cents in just to make me feel a little more dirty. Jeez. The thought was so oddly poetic that I almost laughed. He really would find this situation so goddamn funny.

"Hell yeah," I replied after a moment spent rubbing my chin as if in thought.

Reid grinned.

The four of us killed zombies and ate nachos for the next two hours. Independently, I also decided that Tanner could not have his Xbox back. By the time 1:30 rolled around, I was in almost as good a mood as I had been this morning.

I think I love my friends.

The hearing was a stately affair. Mimicking a courtroom, the defendants were lined up in a row of chairs at the front of the room. Six professors in total, whose livelihoods were in the balance due to my words. The pointy hoods KKK reference might have been a bit much in retrospect, but at least they were alive. I could content myself with knowing that I'd stopped Obelisk from murdering them, even if they could never know it. If they lost their jobs and resented me, well, that was a price I'd have to pay.

Something about that bugged me. If Obelisk had been doing the right thing, why had she nearly been willing to kill these professors as well? If the accusations to the late Professor Coals were true then wouldn't that have ended it? I'd assumed that she'd simply been angry about the way Vigilant was being treated for his attempt at rescuing people and stopping her. Some weird sort of 'capes stick together' mentality, despite Villain or Hero labels. But the more I thought on it, the more I began to believe that there was a missing puzzle piece. Why had the seminar been so 'anti-cape?' The obvious conclusion was that more had been going on that I didn't know about. Could it be that one of these professors had known, or maybe even participated in Coals' debauchery?

If ever there was a time that I missed Tattletale, now was it.

I took a seat near the back and my friends followed me. The room was already pretty crowded with over two hundred filling the hastily arranged chairs. A board of men and women sat behind a large ornate desk at the back of the room, all of them sharply dressed. At the center sat the college president, Prof. Camilla Wright. A mathematics professor who now only taught a few casual seminars between her duties as head of the college itself. She was older, her hair greying, but it had not yet fully lost the black tinge it once held.

The professors looked nervous. I caught professor Butler's eyes as he scanned the audience behind him and saw the obvious relief well up in him when he met mine. Somehow I'd become the savior for him. He must have been extremely worried indeed if he was depending on me to help him keep his job.

Well. I said I'd try. That was all I could do. If he did lose it then it was his own fault.

Mr. Comerford also met my eyes, but he was not nearly so docile. There was a deep and intense anger there, hidden by a paper thin veil of manners and the sham of dignity that I had robbed from him.

My heart seized in my chest. I could feel it within him. The ability to rob the a person… of… oh god. I held my hand to my mouth, barely holding down vomit at the implications of just what Professor Comerford could do.

Calm down Taylor. He might've triggered recently. He might not even know.

…Who says he's even a 'he?'

I don't know why I could feel his power so easily but it was there before my eyes, plain as day. Not even an intuition like it had been the past few times. I knew without doubt that Mr. Comerford could take other people's bodies. I wasn't certain but I was pretty sure that any body he took would erase the victim.

How ironic was that? The anti-cape activist, a cape himself. I'd seen horrible romance novels back in my homeworld with similar plots.

Thankfully, Comerford's power took a long period of time at least. He couldn't just snatch anybody any time he wanted, and he had to be able to touch his victim. The worst part about it was, for all I knew he might not even be Mr. Comerford. He might have left a trail of bodies, his own previous ones, behind for as long as he'd had his power.

I contented myself with the fact that most people wouldn't choose a person in their upper fifties if they could steal the body of anyone they could touch for more than five minutes. I didn't feel much more comforted by that though.

He wasn't using his power now at least, like Obelisk had been about to before the seminar. Instead, he was just… interacting with it. Like clenching a fist rather than preparing to throw a punch. Maybe like flexing a muscle.

Was that how I could sense powers? Hostility? They had to be a threat maybe? Well, Obelisk was obvious. What had Rhapsody been saying on the television? As far as I could remember she'd been silent, but it had been too long. I couldn't remember.

Where could I get a power like that? I wracked my brain and came up with nothing. I didn't know anyone who could sense…

No. Wait, there was one. One person who sensed powers and only reacted afterwards…

Scion.

I turned my thoughts away from that. No way. That was just crazy.

Comerford turned away from me with a snap of his head back to the board of educators seated at the front of the room.

I began lining the walls with my bugs. I didn't expect to have to use them, and my range wasn't large enough to provide much of a proper swarm anyway. But I wanted to be as ready as I could possibly be. Fuck, I could barely reach the high ceiling. Marble floors made poor holes for bugs to crawl through, though at least I could get several mites and ants through the carpeted areas.

I spotted Devin, Vigilant, sitting near the front, curiously right beside Theresa. Well now. That was interesting.

Katie waved amicably towards me, Sophia, Chloe, Reid, and Tanner who had met up with us on the way in, but didn't come sit by us. She had a group of friends that I knew pretty well from the speech club sitting near the front row.

We sat there for about fifteen minutes as little conversations slowly died before Professor Wright banged on her desk with a gavel and called the room to order.

Seriously? An actual gavel? I thought that was just for drama.

"Everyone, welcome to this hearing. We will begin the proceedings shortly–"

"Get rid of the racism!" someone from the audience immediately interrupted. "Fire the old bags!"

They waited until she started talking to do that?

A chorus of angry protests and inaudible clamors rose around the words, hiding the identity of the person who'd shouted. The old woman, by contrast, seemed to grow colder and more intimidating by the minute.

The look on Mr. Butler's ashen face was almost pitiable at the outburst. Professor Comerford clearly wanted to kill someone, which I already knew I would have to at least look into with my bugs. The others all seemed somewhere in the middle of rage and great sadness, though I did note a harsh glare on Professor Greene's wrinkled face.

"Are you quite finished?" Wright asked plainly once the roars had died down. "Good. The adults are talking. If you can't behave like one you and all those with you shall be escorted out."

"Buuuurrrn," Chloe whispered and I snorted.

Principle Wright had a sort of clipped tone that demanded attention. She reminded me of a significantly thinner Piggot.

"I, along with my colleagues, have assembled here to dispute these teachers' status as employees of Villa Grove University. The teachers have been allowed to speak in their defense, after which we will allow students to also speak if they have any words, as they are closer to their teachers than many of us could ever be."

Hmm. So not like Piggot very much. The woman had a way with words that the old Director couldn't really match.

"After everyone who chooses to speak has done so, we will convene for a short time, on whether we shall continue the process of revoking tenure from the five here who have it, or in the case of Mr. Aldrich terminating his employment. This is a preliminary hearing so no final says will be given today." Her eyes turned directly to the six professors on trial. All of them looked contrite, even Professor Comerford, now.

"I would like to emphasize the importance of this hearing, however, as it will very likely decide the outcomes of your careers."

No one reacted, but the grey haired woman stopped as if expecting someone to speak. After a momentary awkward pause, President Wright was forced to continue.

"If there are no questions, I would like to invite Professor Comerford forward to speak in his defense."

The man stood, wiping a kerchief across his sweaty mostly bald head before stepping up to a podium arrayed in the middle of the room. I tagged him with an ant on his boot.

"Students, ladies, gentleman." Mr. Comerford said, all traces of his anger at me, erased from his face entirely. "I would like to apologize."

A murmur arose from the crowd at that. Luckily no one seemed to want to shout out again, and incur President Wright's wrath.

My awareness of the room was heightened, and after so many months with normal vision it felt good to be able to see from all the angles that I had become used to, even if it wasn't nearly as far as I had once enjoyed. I noticed things that I never would've caught without my swarm. There was a tightness in Devin's face, a cold hatred for Professor Comerford brimming in his eyes. I noticed Theresa rubbing his knee in a soothing manner. It seemed to work, and they shared a close smile.

Something was definitely going on there.

Obelisk wasn't in the crowd. Fortunate. I didn't know how she might react to all this, and I didn't know what she knew about these professors. If more of them had been involved with Coals' debauchery and she was aware, I didn't know how she'd react. It occurred to me that she probably didn't either, and might have avoided this hearing purposefully. She had a temper hotter than my own. I knew that after only one direct meeting.

Comerford's words were inspiring. He claimed responsibility for the seminar as he had been the host, and he graciously spoke with the tones of memorization.

"I regret that I was placing blame. Blame on Obelisk, directly onto your shoulders Mr. Maxworth, and I did so foolishly. With the… the…" He stumbled, his voice hiccuping in what actually might have been real emotion. "...revelations about Professor Coals, a man I'd thought above such filth, I believe I might have even judged Obelisk poorly. The point is, I was wrong. I ask for the mercy of the students who have known me these many years, and the teachers who have done the same, to allow an old man but one mistake in a career of over two decades."

He was good. If anything, he did care for his career. I saw him meet the eyes of many in the crowd, with a warmth that I hadn't seen before now. Students I didn't know. Katie beamed at him, apparently familiar with him. Me, he glared at but it was subtle. This had been my fault after all. I couldn't begrudge him a little anger at me. Better yet, the more he spoke, the more convinced I was that he was unaware that he was a cape himself. He cared about his job, and he cared about the people. It showed in his words.

I'd misjudged him.

Butler, on the other hand, I'd judged all too well.

"I was only at the seminar in support of Mr. Comerford who has been a long time associate of mine, and my words against capes were said in the heat of the moment. I had nothing to do with the planning of the seminar, in fact it was the first one I'd actually attended. I didn't even know Mr. Maxworth would be there. Instead, I had hoped to share some of my theories in a public forum but was woefully unprepared to stop the catastrophe that unfolded that night."

I watched in growing disgust for this man as he casually threw his fellow professors under the bus to try to save his own skin. His, I-absolve-myself-of-responsibility, stance almost made me want to change my own when I was finally allowed to speak.

Weirdly, though, I now felt guilty for professor Comerford. He'd moved me with his speech perhaps. I tended to regard myself above that, but image was a weapon that could be used against me just as easily as I could use it. My gut was telling me he was genuine.

Or maybe I just didn't want to bear the thought of another enemy right now. One who could permanently steal bodies.

The other professor spoke. Some followed Butler's route. Mrs. Greene didn't even seem to care, as if this whole trial hearing was nonsense, but none of them had a quarter of the charisma of Mr. Comerford.

Devin also spoke. Against the professors which made sense to me. From his point of view they were enemies. Antagonists. His nervousness didn't seem to die.

"I would like to see retribution. This is a d-direct quote. "I believe you capes should be quarantined after your trigger events."

"For a certain time!" Professor Ellen Carefield stood, still stout as ever, and shorter than I remembered. The stress had not been kind on her this past month. "I said for a certain–!"

"Allow Mr. Maxworth to speak, Professor Carefield." President Wright intruded over the other woman harshly. "You were given your own chance."

Carefield bristled spitefully but took her seat with a studied grace. The glare didn't leave her eyes, what little I could see of them from far behind.

"The point I'm making…" Devin continued, stuttering a little. His words did not command the attention of the room as the professors before him had, but he did command their attention regardless. This was Vigilant. Nervous. Camera shy. Powered. That last was all that mattered. "...Is that I don't believe anyone who could suggest quarantine in such a way, especially after the horror of triggering that had been discussed at previous seminars, should be allowed in a position of power. Teachers are supposed to spread knowledge and my experience last month was everything but enlightening."

Little conversations and whispers echoed around his words. He commanded the people's attention but he could not hold it. He was no public speaker, and again I felt sorry for him. That seemed to be working in his favor. He might have gotten what he wanted if the public oppinion had been left to rest after his speech.

I felt a little pride in noting that I had yet to speak, and I was on the professors side, for better or worse.

He focused on Mr. Comerford for a moment. "I don't accept your apology. You invited me, knowing full well what I was walking into. A god damn trap. A guilt trip when I never did anything wrong."

Mr. Comerford couldn't help but quip, "No. You did not."

A few more people stood to take the stand, and none were relevant. The man who shouted before spoke for all of three minutes with uninspiring and unprepared words that only helped the professor's case.

Ninety percent of the audience were students that had been taught by these professors, many alumni. The teachers on the board had been their colleagues and friends for years. I could already tell long before I spoke that their jobs were probably safe. Unfortunately, I'd told Mr. Butler I would speak, and so I would.

When at last the floor opened up once more for anyone from the audience and no one stood, I decided it was finally time. I would have the last word.

"Any other speakers?" Principle Wright's clipped tone rang throughout the room just as I was rising.

I felt Chloe touch my arm. My new arm. I turned to look at her, and she gave me a smile.

"Hey. No scaring everyone this time, kay?" She whispered. It was a joke but there was an undertone of seriousness to her that I couldn't shrug off.

I quirked a grin. "No promises."

She rolled her eyes, but she was still smiling.

Eyes turned to me, and dead silence reigned. The little conversations that went on in the background were abruptly cut short. I met Principle Wright's eyes and even she seemed a little intimidated as I slowly walked down the center aisle to the podium.

When I was half way there, every bug I could feel on the south side of the building abruptly began to spasm. I could hear screaming from people nearby them, scratchy and broken as the bugs twittered in pain. By the time I reached the podium, every one of those touched were dead.

God dammit. Not again.

END CHAPTER