Sorry for taking so long, but life and shit happened.

Now if only I could find a good Slenderwoman picture to use as a cover...

Review Replies:

First off, thanks to everyone for your supportive words. Now, onto the questions asked.

Edale: I'll admit, the reference to the Simurgh was totally unintentional, but makes a lot of sense in hindsight. Also, I'll try to keep this story going in a satisfactory direction, but I'll be honest: I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing half the time and the other half I only have part of a plan (about 12%).

Creepy Quiet Kid: See the above.

Alexkehling: I love Outcry too. And yeah, Taylor's cape name is gonna take a while to figure out. Thank you for your kind words as well, I'll do my best to not disappoint. Oh, and yes, the name is a reference to Taylor's newfound lack-of-mouth (Partial lack, actually. Boy are the PRT gonna be freaked the fuck out.)

OMAC001: Taylor's powers are basically, well, Slenderman powers. Though she's not a case 53 because A) she triggered naturally (If a bit strangely) and B) still has her memories.

GrimKid98: Glen is gonna flip the fuck out. And if Taylor were a worse person… Sophia would be screwed harder than a rabbit in heat. (Oh the irony)

TripOfDeath: First off, thanks for your review. Second, I included that bit with the entities to show just how wrong Taylor's trigger event went and to sorta set up a minor plot point later. Third, yeah, her secret identity is screwed. Also, your power reading is pretty accurate, but to be honest, there's quite a bit more in store for Taylor. She's going to have an incredibly diverse set of ratings, I'll be honest. Slenderman's powerset is… scarily diverse and in the right hands (Taylor's) super fucking terrifying.

daemonkeeper: I totally forgot about that. Whoops.

Oh, btw, got a poll up for the story's future prospects. Check my profile for that stuff, I guess.

Awakening 1.2

Taylor awoke to blinding brightness and a constant, annoying beeping coming from off to her side. Groaning from the headache pulsating through her head, she tried to rub at her eyes only to find that her arms were stuck at her sides for whatever reason. As her vision slowly cleared and the pounding in her head finally subsided, she looked around and took note of her surroundings.

'A hospital? Did… it must have been the locker. Someone must have pulled me out...'

Looking around further, she saw the cuffs around her wrists, chaining her to the hospital bed. More importantly, she noticed just how pale she had become. As soon as she fully realized that her skin was now chalk white, Taylor immediately panicked, sending the heart monitor to her right into a frenzy of beeping as she thrashed, kicking off the covers and revealing to the world that yes, she indeed was white all over. A small part of Taylor took solace in the fact that at least somebody had been nice enough to get her a hospital gown.

As she began to calm down, the door to her room was thrust open and a nurse-AnnalisaWarrensage32motheroffiveBpositivebloodsmellsoffearandparanoiamentalcontaminationlow- stormed in. Taylor's head jerked backwards with a startled gasp- she hadn't been expecting the sudden rush of information about the woman nor was she expecting the instincts telling her to just reach out and snuff the life out of the woman in some horrific manner or another. She carefully held still as the nurse fussed over her, thinking over her predicament until her curiosity reached a boiling point and she finally asked, "C̖̙̗̱̿́̊̚-̼̖ͬ̑̈̋̍c̱a̶̦̠̥͎͋n̮̰̦̥͖͈̥͒ͪ ͍̟̣͇͉͕̆̋̿̈̊͘I̦ͣ̅̽̔ͬ ̼ͪ̊̌̅̔̿̊͞h̙̲̪̪̳̪ͦͥ̉̚͡-̥̬̍̄ͤ̇͑̈́h͇͉̞͍̗̘a̵̮̺̳͈͓v̡͓̞͔͖̼͆̑͑̏̍̓e͇̲̭̪̾ͮ ̽̉ͧ̇͛̀̀̚a͚̲̲̗ͧ ̸̳̫͍͉̬̓̾̄̓̔̊̐m͑̅͆̀̀i̼̦̗̖̱͂ͫr̓ͮ̆r͙ͯ͌ͤͩ̓ō̺̙̝̬ͧͅr̭ͫ̊ͩ̃̌͋ͫ?͑ͤ̍ͥ͊͏"

Immediately, both nurse and Taylor flinched back, the nurse dropping her clipboard and stumbling into the doorframe while Taylor's hands immediately clapped around where her mouth would be, tearing through the cuffs as if they were wet tissue. Feeling the smooth blankness of her mouth, Taylor gasped- a distorted, dual-toned noise akin to radio static- and felt over her face, patting it down and shaking with terror at everything she found, or rather, didn't find.

"Wh͖͕͙͓a̗̱͕̮t͕͈̦̳̤̠ͅ ͙̮͡h̭͙͈̮̘͔a͚͈͈̮p̹̟̥͔͟p̺̟̫e͍̖͢ń͈ḛ͇̮̙͕̹̩d̜͙̰̟͔͖͞ ̝̰͎͕͞t̨̖̰͉̠͉̻o͝ ̥̥͍̳͖m̳̯̥̳y͔ ͚̺̲f͕̘̞a̪͙͕̳̟c͏͕̹e̟͖̘̭!͏̹̩?̳͟ ̙͚̪͍̼͓͠W̨h̶̼̯̻̳y̹̱̕ ͎̖̯̜i̡̻͎̘̪̹̯̟s̨ ̢̜͕̜͔̪m̴̼̥͎̳ͅy̪̗͡ ͚͔͕̻͡s͇͈̤̥̺̘k͇̭i͏͈͖̤ṉ ̢͙͕̬s̞̲̰o̧̟͙͈ ͙̬̟̰̹̦ṕ͕̭a͈̪͕̮̦le̷̺̼͉!͏͚̼? ̛̥͙̹͚̣͙̗W͇̻͚̥̗̘̠h̲̟̠͔̞̬̪͢a̵͈̦̩t̛̺̰ ̩͇̳̙̪̬͕͞h͡ạp̥͝p̳̻͝en͔͝e͠d!͕̕? ̶͈ͥ͗͆̔̏̚T̺̳̩̠̤̝̆̆ͮ̋E̛̜̗͈͔̙͊̓͒͌͛̓́L̝̳̩̉ͭͧ̉͋̄̂̀L̴̴͇͎͇̪̩̼̫̑̍͑̾ͮ͋ ̢͗͑ͮ͏͓M͓̞̪̙̾ͪ͠Ḗ̵̯̲̬̜̠̗ͅ!̥̙̲̤̳ͨͤ͆́"

At Taylor's last desperate cry for an explanation, the hospital lights flickered and died as shadowy black tentacles burst from her spine and flailed through the air, effortlessly smashing and slicing through the medical equipment all around her. The nurse shrieked in fear, speeding from the room as if the very hounds of hell were after her. Taylor, on the other hand, found herself quickly preoccupied by the barrel of a containment foam sprayer being shoved in her face, driving her head back against the frame of the bed as Miss Militia glared down at her. Miss Militia pulled back slightly, waiting to see just what Taylor would do with more wiggle room.

Taylor flinched back, the lights returning back to normal as her tentacles retracted into her body. She shivered, noticing that her gown had been shredded when those strange tentacles had exited her back. Hiking up her blanket for modesty, Taylor tried to work up the courage to speak again, this time focusing on keeping her voice as normal as possible.

"C-can I get a mirror?" The words slipped from where her mouth should have been in a mostly normal tone, marred only by the hissing undertone echoing through after each word. Miss Militia nodded and drew back, her containment foam sprayer dissolving and reforming into her standard combat knife at her hip.

"Sorry about the harsh treatment, I had to make sure you weren't actively hostile," Miss Militia stated, having the good grace to look slightly abashed at her own paranoia. The fatigues wearing woman bent over and picked up a mirror, hesitating slightly before handing over the mirror with a warning, "You might want to take it slow, you've gone through some pretty drastic changes and might not like what you see."

Taylor took a deep breath, whispering out, "Thanks, but I think I'll be okay." Another breath to steel her nerves later, and she looked in the small, handheld mirror.

The resulting scream broke every window and mirror in a three block radius.

After an excessive amount of panicking and half-stuttered denials, Taylor found herself face to no-face with her father, who was quite obviously very, very angry. Not at Taylor herself, but rather at the vague entity responsible for Taylor's hospitalization and trigger known as the 'Winslow High School Faculty'.

"I can't believe those… those assholes! How could they just turn a blind eye to this and try to cover this up!? Taylor, what the hell happened to do this!?" Danny's fury-rageworryregretfearhopelessnessdespair- was nearly palpable to everyone nearby, and to Taylor it visibly flared around his body in a light crimson haze, settling around his head and upper torso.

"I-it was…" Taylor paused and dangled her legs over the side of the bed, an unconscious part of her thinking that just a day ago her feet wouldn't have touched the floors at all but somehow her limbs stretched without stretching and her feet hit the floor as if they had always been long enough to do so. "It was Emma, Dad. She and her friends have been tormenting me the whole school year."

Danny looked shocked, as if someone had hit him in the gut with a sledgehammer. He spoke, confusion etching his words, "I… I thought the two of you were friends? When did this start happening?"

Taylor sighed and dropped her head into her hands, barely noticing the elongated, blackened nails tipping her fingers, and began, her voice barely above a whisper, "It all started just after summer vacation…"

The day after Taylor checked out of the hospital, she stood in front of PRT HQ as inconspicuously as possible, covering every inch of exposed skin she could. Silently, she thanked the fact that it was winter, as she would have been even more conspicuous in summer.

As it was, she still got a fair share of strange looks, mostly about her height, or so her newly gained empathy was telling her. She steeled herself and looked over at her father, also bundled up, though he was also carrying a sheaf of paperwork and a large cup of coffee straight from the nearby Starbucks.

Taylor idly wondered just how it was possible that Starbucks and Mcdonald's could thrive even in a villain and Endbringer infested crapsack planet like Earth Bet. From what her father had told her, this had kept her mother awake quite often while she was still alive. Shaking the inane thoughts from her head, and jerked said cranium towards the inviting automatic doors and the heated environment present within.

Danny sighed to himself, took a sip from his coffee (Black, two sugars and a cream. Strong enough to stagger even Leviathan, or so the tagline went) and looked over at Taylor, the unspoken 'Are you sure about this?' coming across loud and clear to Taylor's mind.

"It's now or never, dad. You know this as much as I do. So… Let's go make me a hero." Using courage she didn't have, Taylor strode into the PRT HQ and up to the front desk, taking the paperwork from her father and presenting it to the wide-eyed receptionist who, from what her power was telling her, recognized her from the debacle barely a week ago.

"Taylor Hebert to see Miss Militia at one o' clock," Taylor half-whispered, her voice still piercing through the air with supernatural clarity. The shivering receptionist-DariaWilliams32yearsoldsmokesoccasionallyheavydrinkerlostthreekidstoBehemothbrotherwasacapewhodiedagainstLeviathanterrifiedterrifiedterrified. Mental contamination: low-medium- immediately pressed a single button on the screen in front of her and spoke, a light stutter forcing its way out.

"M-miss M-militia, a-ah… Y-your one o'clock is h-here…"

"Send her in, Daria," came the curt reply, the intercom shutting off immediately after. Daria turned back to Taylor and Danny, shakily holding out a pair of pre-prepared visitor ID cards.

Taylor and Danny accepted the cards and, with one last apprehensive look from Danny, the pair continued into the depths of PRT Headquarters, a guard peeling off from a nearby post to guide them on their way.

Said guard– RichardPentecost42yearsoldjoinedPRTin200- Taylor clamped a hand to her head and shut off the flow of information that even now was attempting to worm into her skull and give her just what she needed to break each and every person she focused on completely and utterly, to the point of no recovery.

Said guard looked at Taylor with apprehension, his hands straying ever so slightly towards his containment foam sprayer even as he asked Taylor, "Are you alright, ma'am?"

Taylor grumbled under her breath as she straightened up, "I'm fine, sir, just my powers acting up a little bit."

The soldier nodded and resumed leading them to Miss Militia's office. A few minutes later, Pentecost left them in front of a door marked "Hannah Washington". Taylor stared at the door in apprehension, then looked to her father, then back at the door.

"Well, dad… now or never, right?"

"Right… You can still back out of this, you know…"

"I can't, dad… I just can't… you know this already."

Danny sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Now or never, then…"

Both of them nodded resolutely and Taylor raised her fist and knocked on the door.

The door opened and both of them took their first steps into a life that one was apprehensive of, and the other was very apprehensive of.

"Welcome, Mr. Hebert, Ms. Hebert. My name is Hannah Washington, or as most know me, Miss Militia. I believe you scheduled an appointment to discuss Ms. Hebert's induction into Brockton Bay's Wards program?"

A/N: Okay, not the most exciting chapter ever, but power testing comes next chapter. Overall, I'd say that this is my least favorite chapter to even think about… even though I only have two chapters… but I digress.

Point is, I finally got through this stupid chapter. Go me.