One month later

"Anne Taylor Hebert?"

Victoria's ears pricked as she rounded the corner to see a tall lanky girl hurry towards a nurse at the station. Her hair looked familiar, she thought, narrowing her eyes at the long black curls sweeping down her back.

She chose a random seat by the corner, automatically folding her arms as she sat down. Amy was running late, as usual, and there was just something about that girl that was familiar.

The nurse patted her on the shoulder before walking away. The girl seemed to take a breath, squaring her shoulders and turning around and—

Their eyes met. Victoria stiffened. The world seemed to yawn, a swallowing sensation that rushed through her ears and left her dizzy.

Taylor Hebert.

Only not quite. Anne immediately ducked her head, letting her hair cover her face as she walked briskly towards Victoria. She had a strange, contradicting mix of timid mulishness that threw Victoria off for a second and reminded her that this was a different Taylor.

"Hello," she said softly. Her hands whipped out to grab the book on the seat next to Victoria. "Sorry, I just wanted to get my stuff."

"It's fine. Ah, hey—" Victoria raised her voice slightly, stopping the other girl in her tracks. "Anne… Taylor, right? I knew someone with a similar name."

It was a lame call-out, but it worked. "It's just Taylor, actually," she said as turned around slowly. Her shoulders were still hunched and her hands clutched the book so tightly it was getting crinkled at the edges.

"Not an 'Anne'?"

Taylor huffed, relaxing marginally. "My dad screwed up when he was filling in my birth certificate. He mixed up my first and middle names, so…" She scuffed her shoe against the ground, dragging out her O's.

"Oof, bummer. So just Taylor then?"

"Yeah." Taylor shrugged. "It's not a big deal or anything, I just prefer that name. Feels kinda right."

Victoria blinked, a pale shiver going down her back. "Oh, you can sit by the way, it's cool. Sorry for taking your chair."

"Ah?" The other girl shrank back, her eyes darting between the seats and Victoria. It felt strange seeing Taylor without her absolute confidence, as someone more cautious, more skittish.

"I don't bite, you know."

"Right, no," Taylor replied hurriedly, plodding on the seat. She smoothed out the book against her lap, laughing nervously. "Sorry, it's just—" her voice dropped into a hushed whisper "—you're Glory Girl."

Victoria offered a friendly smile. "What are you here for?"

"Oh, I'm just accompanying my mom." Taylor waved her hand out in a burst of animation. "It's just some crazy medical thing with her work. Apparently all her records got erased, somehow? In the last 3 years at least, including all her health insurance papers. So she's here getting a full checkup so they can reverify her insurance." She swivelled around in her seat, leaning forward, hands clenched and voice full of indignation. "And can you believe it? The university even accidentally hired a new professor for her position! My mom teaches at BBU, you see. They don't even know how to explain it. Some paperwork error, just like what happened with her documents."

"Oh." Victoria shut her mouth with a click before trying again. "That, uh, that sucks. You said 3 years of records?"

"Yeah, they're still investigating what happened but no one seems to be able to remember anything."

"Right," said Victoria, nodding dumbly. Her mind scrambled for something to add, but all she could think about was how strange time travel was.

Taylor suddenly blushed, looking sheepish. "Sorry," she said, scratching her head. "I blabber sometimes, didn't mean to talk your ear off." Her face fell, looking more sedate. "A friend once said I had a motormouth."

The TV in the lounge blared before Victoria could reply and cut through the mild awkwardness between them.

"—after the PRT's press release, more information has come to light as hundreds of files have been leaked online by an anonymous group, documenting secret ties between the PRT and Cauldron, an organization with ties to multiple villain groups including the infamous Slaughterhouse Nine.

"Further links to the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center have also been uncovered, with mounting evidence that suggests approval for the prison was forced through via parahuman thinker manipulation on a wide, unprecedented scale.

"Multiple senators have called for a thorough audit of the PRT and the previous Chief Director, Rebecca Costa-Brown. Although still unconfirmed by the PRT, Costa-Brown is allegedly Triumvirate member Alexandria, and also an alleged founding member of Cauldron. More questions surround the close nature of this relationship, and—"

Taylor sighed, shaking her head. "I was a fan of Alexandria."

"Yeah." Victoria looked away from the TV. "So was I."

"Is the stuff with the PRT affecting you?" Taylor asked abruptly. When Victoria deliberated a moment too long, she added self-consciously, "Not that it's any of my business if it's top secret or something."

"No, it's not a secret or anything. New Wave is independent, although we are affiliated with them. But so far, nothing's reached us yet." Victoria raised a hand, shaking it over her head. "It's not like we worked with Alexandria or something. Besides, everyone's still dealing with the bubble."

"Oh yeah, the bubble! I was caught in that actually."

Victoria narrowed her eyes. "Do you remember anything?"

"No?" Taylor sounded hesitant. Her arms snaked around herself in a loose hug.

"You don't sound sure."

The lanky girl struggled with herself for a second. "It's just some weird dreams." She shook her head, letting her hair fall free. "I don't really remember much, except for my hair. I would always have different coloured hair." Taylor laughed to herself. "Like pink! I also didn't know I could look so cool in white."

Victoria was stiff. She forced her face carefully blank, trying not to react.

"Sounds like interesting dreams."

"Ha, yeah maybe. Like I said, I don't remember much about them." Taylor tapped a finger against her lips. "Although sometimes it feels so real I get discombobulated. But it's probably just some aftereffect of the bubble. The doctors checked us out and cleared us."

"Yeah, don't worry, it should fade. What do you mean by discombobulated?" Victoria kept her voice even as she asked.

"Oh, it's nothing. Just flashes of weirdness, like sometimes I look in the mirror and my vision goes double. Or I'll see some blurry figure in the corner of my eye but when I turn around, nothing's there." Taylor smiled, shaking her head. "I'm probably just spooked. It's crazy that some tinker froze an entire neighbourhood!"

"It is pretty crazy. But you don't have to worry about that anymore."

"Yeah, I saw the press release. The tinker died?" Taylor bit her lip. "Funny thing, I know she was crazy or something, but I felt sad when I heard the news."

One of the doors of the consultation rooms sprang open. A tall, skinny woman walked out.

"Oh! That's my mom! I got to go." Taylor cut herself off, standing up hurriedly. She flashed a wobbly grin at Victoria. "Thanks for talking to me. You're really awesome, Glory Girl."

Victoria barely got her hand up before she was already dashing away. She watched Taylor gesture animatedly with her mother as they walked off.

"Hey. What are you spacing out about now?"

Victoria flinched as a finger prodded her. She turned around to see Amy looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Nothing. I just have to make a phone call later."

"So."

Missy took a deep breath, trying hard not to sigh as she waited for Sophia to reply.

She sighed anyway when the taller girl ignored her, leaping off the roof in a burst of smoke.

"Seriously, you're gonna keep up this brooding act for the whole patrol?"

"Why, thought you guys weren't talking to me anyway," Sophia retorted snippily. Missy rolled her eyes when she heard it; with a swish and swoop, she appeared next to Sophia and grabbed her.

"Don't—" she started, but Sophia had already phased out from her grip. "Stop running! I'm trying to show it to you, idiot!"

The two of them froze as they looked at each other. One was cagey, the other annoyed. Missy waved her phone, beckoning her over. Sophia slinked closer with her hands stuffed in her pockets.

"What's this?"

Missy's phone held a map of Brockton Bay, with various blinking points pin over the city.

"It's a detection app Dragon made." Missy kept her eyes on Sophia as she spoke. "It's linked to a few sensors around town to check if Taylor's back."

"Taylor?" Sophia frowned. "You mean the tinkers?"

"Yeah."

Her frown deepened. "You mean Cardinal."

"Yeah."

"You think I'm not over it yet?" Sophia looked away as she growled.

Missy cocked her head, trying to see the other girl's face. "Are you?"

"I'm fine," Sophia bit out. "I'm over it."

"Sure."

"I mean it," she snapped, her head spinning around with a fierce gaze.

Missy spread her palms out. "Chill. I believe you." After a moment, she continued with a softer tone. "I heard you told Miss Militia everything. The bullying and stuff. Punishment duty for a year and a new Youth rep?"

Sophia folded her arms, bristling defensively. "It's nothing. We're even now," she muttered, more to herself than to Missy.

"How's your friend? The redhead, right?"

"She doesn't remember what happened. But I told her mom about the shit that was going on." Sophia scuffed her feet against the ground, hunched inward. "Said she should see a doctor."

"You did a good thing, you know," Missy offered.

"Wait." Sophia interrupted, her head snapping up. "They're all coming back? Even the crazy pink-haired one?"

"No. Well, Dragon doesn't think so. Apparently, there's some big terminal thing that connects all the Taylors together and that's how they're coming back? She didn't really explain the details much. But Evil Taylor disconnected herself from it, so—"

Suddenly, her phone vibrated with a loud beep. The screen lit up red as the map recentered over an address.

"Okay, what's happening?"

Missy stared at her phone with her mouth agape.

"Oi!" Sophia punched her shoulder.

"They're here! The sensors picked up something!" Missy grabbed the air, pulling the distance to her feet. "We have to go."

"What about patrol?" Sophia asked, but she was already running alongside her. The space between buildings shrank while the various pipes and structures on the rooftops flattened, everything merging into a clean, level plane.

"Clockblocker's on Control, he'll cover for us!"

The wind glided underneath them as they strode above the city in compressed space, beelining directly to their objective. They managed to reach the quiet neighbourhood in 15 minutes.

"Hebert's house," Sophia said aloud as they landed on a neighbouring roof across the road.

"Yeah." Missy held her phone out, slowly panning in a wide arc. She double-checked the screen again. "Signal's coming from there."

"Boy do we all look creepy, skulking on top of some random house like this," a voice said from above them.

Missy and Sophia looked up to see Victoria descending with another blonde in her arms. Both were in their street clothes.

"Tattletale?" Vista asked curiously as they touched down on the roof.

"She was having dinner at my place," Victoria answered the unspoken question as Lisa hopped off.

"It's just supper, not an agreement to join New Wave," she clarified pointedly. She swept her hair back, out of the large, oversized sunglasses on her face. "Still need to help settle the other Undersiders too. Ugh, you told her?"

"Tsk." Sophia scoffed, looking away."

Underneath her visor, Missy was rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I told her. Where's Dragon?"

"She said she's running late. Meeting at the PRT." Victoria scanned around the peaceful neighbourhood. It was already past midnight, and the street was dark and silent. "What are we supposed to look for?"

"I—"

Missy's voice died as she started talking. Her mouth moved but no words came as all sounds in the world halted.

Five dots of light burst out from the Heberts' lawn. They followed one another, spiralling upwards in a widening circle, a stark white brightness that threw long fluttering shadows across the grass and over the street.

Victoria watched as the lights flashed round and round, almost hypnotically. In the ringing silence, the world seemed centered on this moment. Unconsciously, she gripped the front of her hoodie, feeling tense all of sudden, like she was on the edge of a cliff, teetering forward but not quite.

It felt like waiting for a push that didn't come.

The lights started to flicker rapidly. They spluttered midair, dropping then catching themselves — and Victoria felt like she fell with them, her heart pumping as quickly as they beat.

She heard Missy gasp. The sound of her breathing returned to her ears in a rush. The veil over the night seemed to recede, and in that moment she abruptly thought of Franklin, her blue mane spread out wild against a golden blast as she stood in front of her.

Then the lights froze. They throbbed with an invisible resonance, expanding to the size of a tennis ball and silencing the world again. The shine around them ebbed, revealing a glistening, beating flesh that wiggled and squirmed with the colour red. Tendrils sprouted from each seed, delicate lines splitting off into finer veins that interlaced to form a web of blood and bone. Slowly and carefully, as slivers of muscles grew along the strands, five human bodies formed in the air.

A trail of fire rocketed overhead. Dragon plunged soundlessly from the sky, the jets on her feet splashing blue flame over the asphalt. The suit split apart as it landed, and Dragon stepped out from the hollow space.

Sophia was the first to move. She slid down the roof, against the rattling tiles, and dropped to the ground in a cloud of black smoke. The others followed behind Missy, catching up to Dragon in a single step. She was standing near the bodies; the light was almost gone, covered by the slithering flesh, the last layer of skin beginning to fill in.

The tinker waved to them as they approached. "What's going on?" Victoria mouthed.

Dragon held her hand up, shaking her head. Then, five heartbeats echoed simultaneously in the space between them.

The world exhaled the breath it held with a sigh. A song of crickets accompanied the rustling grass as the Taylors swivelled upright in the air.

Their eyes sprang open as they dropped onto the ground, wobbling uncertainly on their first step.

"Taylor?"

The first of them refocused on the word. She glanced at Dragon sharply, her face lighting up with recognition.

"Dragon. You got my gift." She took a deep breath, shaking off her dreaminess. A cloak settled over her nakedness after she clutched it; Taylor Prime ran a hand through the white buzz over her head and looked at them with a smile.

"Hello you all," she said. Her white locks grew out rapidly, falling around her shoulders like the softest snowfall.

A shimmering wall grew up around them, shading them from the neighbourhood.

Franklin waved cheerily. Gold scars crisscrossed her body, winding naturally around her muscles as if part of her body. Sage came up from behind and tapped her shoulder, cladding her in a glowing green robe similar to her own.

Behind them, Newton stood hand in hand with Cardinal, sharing a large blanket. The redhead's hair was still shorn, but she had a faint buzz over her head instead of scars. She and Sophia stared at each other for a long moment; they nodded at each other and turned away.

"How did you come back?" Victoria asked.

Dragon spoke up. "As long as they have the tiniest bit of cognizance, they can't be killed. They can simply restore themselves." She looked at Taylor, who was listening with a smile. Her eyes were shining, focused on Dragon. "I saw you insert a black crystal into your network, back in that extra dimension. That was Coil's power, wasn't it? The slice of shard you took from him."

Lisa gasped. Her eyes fluttered as her power kicked in. "Coil had awareness over two timelines. His power retained his consciousness even after death to his other self," she intoned before jerking out of the trance. Her fingers rubbed against her temples. "But Anne Taylor isn't you."

"No," Taylor agreed. "But she's close enough to share the connection to our shard."

"You used her as the relay point back."

"It was the only chance we had."

"Is she a parahuman?"

"Not exactly. You could say she was essentially given the power but not the means to use it."

Dragon widened her eyes. "Like implanting new powers."

"Yup. Flashes of memories, dreams not quite hers. Just enough to carry us back maybe, but nothing else."

Taylor stared at Dragon, her lips still parted as if to say something more. Then the lamp on the porch suddenly flicked on. Everyone froze, looking at the front door as it swung open.

Anne Taylor peeked out from behind. She rubbed her eyes underneath her glasses, yawning slightly.

"Anne, what are you doing?" an older woman asked. Annette Hebert came out from the shadows in the house, wrapped in a long floral robe.

Lisa didn't need her power to see the complicated mix of emotions on the Taylors. She heard their breaths hitch as they watched on silently.

"It's nothing. I just thought… I just thought I heard something." Anne Taylor shook her head, letting her mother tug her back inside.

"Is something wrong? I've been hearing you wake up in the middle of—" Annette's voice faded as the door closed shut. The lamp winked out.

"Anne, huh?" Newton murmured. Her head settled on Cardinal's shoulder. "That's interesting."

Missy glanced between the Taylors and the dark porch. "Are you going to tell them?"

Taylor Prime bit her lips, a sigh of regret escaping. She looked at Sage as she walked closer, an unspoken thought crossing between them.

"If it's safe," the green-haired Taylor replied instead. She smiled wryly. "There's no hurry to upend their lives just yet."

"The PRT doesn't actually have any orders regarding the Heberts," said Dragon.

"Oh? Do we have you to thank for that?"

"I didn't need to do much. You exposing Alexandria with the case-53s in New York was already enough."

"They're saying the PRT might get dissolved," Missy said, her words carrying an accusing undercurrent.

"If not the PRT, then it'll just be another 3 letter organization. The government will always need an organization to manage parahumans, especially as the population grows." Taylor paused, raising an eyebrow as she noticed the stiff expressions on some of their faces.

"What? You're not expecting us to take over, are you?"

Victoria shrugged. "No one can stop you if you do."

"Yeah, but why? That shit is all tedious as hell," Franklin interjected, hollering from the back.

"So what then?" asked Lisa.

"Well." Taylor puffed her cheeks out, sharing a look with Sage and Franklin. Newton and Cardinal stepped up behind them.

"I think it'd be nice, for once, just to see what's tomorrow."

END


And it's complete! Thanks everyone for following and favoriting and reviewing my story, I hope you enjoyed it. This will probably be my last fanfic for a long while since my next plot bunnies are for original stories, which I will probably be posting on AO3. Thanks!