Didn't expect to update this week

Should be studying, really

...

Here's the chapter anyways!

Egg 1.3

Taylor watched with most of the students outside of Winslow High as several other students fled the building through the front doors. For a moment all was calm as most of the students already outside simply stared at what looked like madmen running out of the building before one of the fleeing students slammed into one of the ones already outside, the two toppling together to the ground.

There was a brief moment of silence as they two tried to detangle themselves from each other, growing more violent and desperate by the second before another student was hit, then another by the fleeing students who didn't seem to be trying to avoid other people in their sheer panic to get away from whatever it was inside the building.

Soon enough, the students already outside started to nervously step back as more and more students ran out of the building, before panic started to overcome them as well. Taylor moved to the side of the crowd, trying to get away from the chaos, managing to back herself up against one of the school walls away from the doorway.

Mere moments later, mass pandemonium erupted as the students already outside of the building got drawn into the chaos that seemed to have the gravitational pull of a black hole. The change was almost instant, one second she was standing with the other students as they waited for the PRT to deal with the situation then the next everyone and everything was screaming, running and fighting each other as confusion consumed everything.

Nearby, PRT agents tried in vain to stop the chaos, yet they were no match for the mass of students who only continued to panic, their terror crashing over everything like one of Leviathan's waves.

Standing to the side as far from the chaos as space allowed, Taylor didn't know what to think. About everything really, but mostly about the goose that had caused the situation in the first place.

She briefly wondered what sort of war crimes she had committed in a past life to deserve being saddled with a power like this before a familiar white head poked it's way above the crowd, wings unfurled and beating as it rose above the crowd. A moment later, a familiar voice shouted something Taylor didn't pick up due to the fever high pitch of screaming students, as Armsmaster's armour covered form appeared at the doors leading into the school, visible for the briefest of seconds, before he too was swallowed up by the chaos.

Yet despite all the sound, all the noise that threatened to blow out her ears, Taylor could still hear the infernal sound of the goose echoing above everything.

"HONK! HONK! HONK! HONK! HON-"

It was deafening. Still, she tried to keep away from the chaos, from the fighting both to preserve her life and her sanity.

So she simply watched on as another helmet covered figure, presumably another cape, joined Armsmaster as he tried to push his way through the crowd toward the goose's general location. As the goose battered another student in the face before sending her tumbling to the ground, Taylor could clearly see as Armsmaster picked up on the attack and changed direction to get closer to his target.

Unlike the fight between Sophia and the goose, this time it was very clear who Taylor despised more and so she mentally cheered Armsmaster on from the sidelines, hoping above all for him to catch and contain the fowl so that the crowd could calm down and everyone, her especially, could return to their regular, normal lives.

Then the goose dived. And things got even worse.

Taylor watched on in horror as the white blob dodged and weaved between legs, tackling some and tripping others with its body, all while constantly moving from place to place with a swiftness and agility that she had never seen before.

The heroes stopped moving after a few seconds as they couldn't identify where their target was through the veritable sea of bodies and legs, and Taylor saw them yelling something that didn't reach her before they pulled away to escape the crowd, leaving the goose to wreak havoc on its lonesome, continuing to make life as difficult as possible for the crowd of students it had set its beady eyes upon.

Are they leaving?

Taylor couldn't believe her eyes. Armsmaster and whoever the other cape was were trying to leave the crowd, pushing to get to the PRT tape that the agents of the organization had put up around most of the school. Yet after a moment she dismissed her thoughts. There could be a million and one reasons for why they were trying to get out of the crowd and she doubted she could guess any of them.

Still, that still left the issue of the goose itself, which didn't seem to be slowing down as it continued to cause pandemonium, all while honking incessantly. No one could see it, no one could hear it, and no one could stop it.

Except for her.

Taylor backed up against one of the school walls, as a spike of guilt started to burrow into her mind.

Should- Should I do something?

Taylor gritted her teeth. Was the goose her responsibility? She didn't want it to be. Yet by nature, it technically was. She couldn't control it, couldn't command it yet it was still in the end, her power, no one else's. And her power was the thing currently tripping and beating her fellow students with reckless abandon.

Yet on the other hand, if she revealed that she could see and hear the goose, then she might be blamed for everything it had caused. She was no stranger to being blamed for something she hadn't done after all, and she doubted that she could escape notice if she did decide to try and end the goose's reign of terror on her own. Regardless of the fact that she couldn't control the goose, Taylor had serious doubts as to whether the Protectorate would accept that as an excuse.

Every other system of authority had screwed her over already, who was to say that the Protectorate would be any different?

On one hand, she could face serious charges if she tried to help but on the other, the panic didn't seem to be letting up and she could see some real injuries that some of the students had accrued as a result of the panic causing people to push, fight and even bite each other to get away from the situation faster.

Guilt weighed heavy on her heart but so did fear.

Eventually the guilt won out and she tepidly made her way toward the mass of students, before taking a deep breath in. While she did want the chaos to stop, she also didn't want to get discovered. So, she would do this as conspicuously as possible to avoid detection. Then the chaos could end and she would get off scot free. Maybe she'd even punt the goose right at Armsmaster so he could come up with a way to lock it away forever.

Yet reality was not so kind.

The issue was not being discovered immediately, that would be difficult to accomplish even if she wanted to, but instead getting to the goose in the first place.

As soon as she tried to force herself into the mass of students, an arm slammed into her side, sending her to the side as she clutched the impacted part of her body before she found herself in the middle of the storm.

The mass of students ebbed and rose around her, all shoving, punching and yelling, causing Taylor to get thrown around without any sense of direction, as she immediately began to regret every decision she had ever made.

Why, why, why, why-

Taylor jolted as she was pushed to one side again as she berated herself for thinking that she could make a difference, the claustrophobia of the crowd around her and the feeling of getting hit repeatedly causing a terrible feeling of panic and helplessness before a single sound cut through everything.

"Honk."

Taylor gritted her teeth as she pushed back against one of the people around her, a sudden drive powering her movements as she glanced around, trying to see through the bodies to find her target. After a moment, where she continued to push back at people who pushed her, mostly with limited success, she finally spotted the white feathers and yellow beak of the goose, currently beating its wings into the face of a student lying on the ground.

As the student trashed, trying to get whatever was attacking it away, Taylor ducked down and tried to squeeze through the crowd toward him and the goose, with slow yet steady progress as the constant movement of the people around her allowed her to move every so often despite getting pushed and pulled every few moments.

Eventually, after what seemed like forever, Taylor finally reached the two and as she did, the goose suddenly stopped attacking the downed student, turning from aggressive to eerily calm in an instant as it looked at her with one of it's black eyes, staring her down.

Taylor stopped in her tracks at the stare yet regathered her will and stepped forward, getting ever closer to the goose. Around the two, students continued to fight, topple and get back up only to continue the cycle of chaos as parahuman and projection locked eyes.

Then, after a moment of no movement from either side, Taylor leaped.

The goose, impossibly, dodged at the very last moment, causing Taylor to eat the ground and she tumbled into the downed body of another student, which stopped her momentum. Groaning, she rose to her knees, only to see the goose now levelling its full gaze on her.

"Shi-"

The goose didn't give her a chance to finish as it barreled into her with the full force of it's body before hitting her face with it's wings. Taylor quickly got her arms in front of her face yet that only meant that her arms now took the brunt of the damage, and the goose hit surprisingly hard for something so small, leaving her to wince as her arms became battered.

Lashing out with a kick, Taylor made solid contact with the goose, which flew back into the crowd with a cathartic honk before another student fell over her, covering her with their body.

Taylor pushed them off as best she could, managing to get their upper body off of her before she pulled her legs out, bringing her head up to around knee height as she looked around in an attempt to find the goose again, trying to find the white coloring of it's feathers so she could fulfill her goal of somehow giving the goose over to Armsmaster to make it his problem instead of hers.

After a moment, she relocated the goose, which was currently tripping as many people as it possibly could by flying into the backs of legs before moving on to it's next target. Despite everything, Taylor had to admit that the goose was good at what it did.

That didn't mean she would back down though. She had committed to this path and she would see it through.

Navigating the sea of legs was just as difficult as before. Taylor moved while crouched so that she could avoid the fighting overhead however the sheer amount of bodies that were constantly falling and getting back up proved challenging. More than once, she had to push someone away or block a wild punch with her arms yet she was still made progress all the same.

Until suddenly, someone blocked her path.

Taylor bumped into them, just as many she had before yet even as she tried to move past the person, she felt herself getting grabbed and hauled back. Letting out a noise of annoyance, she tried to escape the grasp so that she could refocus on the goose, only for a voice to shatter all of her plans in an instant.

"Taylor!"

Taylor froze upon hearing Emma's voice. Unlike in the morning, this time her voice was more panicked, yet despite that when her old friend said her name, it still held the same vitriol and disgust that underlined her words.

Yet when Taylor turned to look at her bully, she her thoughts stopped.

Emma was... bleeding. Her arms were covered in small cuts and her clothes were slightly torn. Her face had a bruise forming on it, and for the first time in a long time, Emma looked.. vulnerable. Weak even. Yet even so it seemed that her current injuries weren't going to stop her.

"Let me go!"

Even while yelling, it was hard to make out the sounds that came out of Emma's mouth next yet as Emma's face turned red and she drew back her hand, Taylor could clearly feel the slap that impacted her face, sending her down to the ground.

"Ha- That's right Taylor, stay on the ground where you belong!"

Taylor's eyes widened as Emma looked down at her with a crazed frenzy that clashed with her usual demeanor, before in a moment of clarity, she realized what was going on. Emma was... lashing out. From her crazed demeanor and speech, it was clear. Judging by her appearance, Taylor reasoned that Emma had probably been hit at least a few times in the brawl and it seemed plausible that she'd try to reestablish her position in the only way she knew how, by taking out her frustrations on her. Yet the will to fight back fluctuated.

Before her hospitalization, before the goose, Taylor wouldn't have lifted a finger, letting herself get beat down without fighting back. Even now, her old memories and instincts screamed at her to not move, to take the abuse, because it wouldn't do anything, and would only make things worse.

Yet at this point, another emotion had also risen within her, one that had festered and grown ever since she had been cursed with her power. Before, she would have cared about the consequences, about fighting back because she knew that it wouldn't help, but here and now, she was done.

Done with everything, done with not fighting back, done with caring about the consequences of her action, and above all, done with that white demon that she still had to punt into the next century.

Steading herself, Taylor rose and slammed her fist into Emma's face.

It was beautiful. Emma's split second look of sheer surprise and panic before pain enveloped her features as she fell down to the ground, now looking up at Taylor with unfocused eyes. It was cathartic in a way that Sophia's loss to the goose hadn't been, as her fist ached and hurt at the impact yet despite the pain, she had never felt better in years.

As Taylor met Emma's eyes, she smiled before turning without a word. For the first time in a while, there were more important things than dealing with Emma and the rest of the Trio.

That felt... good.

She almost wanted to thank the goose for that. Almost but not quite.

So, she dove back into the brawl in a search for the goose again, this time spotting it after a minute of making her way through the crowd, currently trying to tug a student to the ground while flying.

This time, you won't get away.

As Taylor navigated her way in front of the goose, the creature finally downed it's target before noticing her approaching her. Raising it's head into the air, it looked down it's beak at her from three feet below her eyes as she glared down at it.

Moments later, a titanic struggle commenced. Teenage girl vs goose, human vs animal. The two went back and forth, animal pecking at the human's arms and body as the human flailed in place as she tried to hit her mobile and agile opponent.

Then, just as many had before her, Taylor was dragged to the ground by the scourge of Winslow, her hair grabbed in the goose's beak and brought to the dirt below.

Defeated, Taylor raised her head to look at the smug form of the goose above her before the goose flew away, likely to attack another target.

The urge to scream battled with apathy and eventually the apathy won out as she simply laid down on the ground, watching the brawl continuing around her before suddenly a wave of PRT agents hit the crowd dragging away students one by one to take them out of the brawl. Eventually, the remaining students started to calm down as Taylor watched on as the form of the goose waddled away, leaving only the aftermath of the brawl in it's wake.

Slowly, bit by bit, the brawl came to an end as the PRT agents either reassured or cuffed the students, preventing them from continuing the fight. Taylor had never seen so many PRT agents in the same place at once. As the students began to clear out, Taylor spotted the cape that had been with Armsmaster earlier clearly this time, freezing a particularly violent student in place.

Ah, Clockblocker. That makes sense...

"Hey there, are you awake?"

Taylor turned her head as one of the agents knelt down next to her, cutting off her thoughts. She looked back at the masked agent with dead eyes.

"Don't worry, the fight's over. Do you mind standing up and joining everyone else?"

Taylor did mind in fact yet with a labored sigh, she pushed herself up to a sitting position before the agent took one of her arms and hauled her to her feet.

Shuffling over to the rest of the students, Taylor joined in with the rest as several ambulances pulled into the school parking lot, with medical professionals getting out to treat the injured.

Before long, a familiar car also pulled into the parking lot along with many others as Taylor's dad pushed the car door open before he met Taylor's eyes, a haunted look on his face.

Taylor simply raised a hand in greeting, not having the strength to do much else.

"Hey dad."

A/N:

Fourth chapter done, many more to go (hopefully). This release is a bit ahead of schedule actually, I was planning on posting it over the weekend but inspiration struck before then. I was actually planning on scraping this entire chapter and starting again but I realized that the rewrite actually fit better if this version of the chapter came before it so I just moved the rewrite to the next chapter instead.