Chapter 2-7

Aegis led me to the girls' locker room so I could get changed. I had to admit, I didn't like going in there. Not after what happened in January. It felt like such a stupid thing, to be afraid of locker rooms. What if a supervillain decided to hide in one? I shook my head and willed myself through the door. Stupid me. Hopefully, Aegis didn't notice anything. If he did, he didn't say. Not sure what to think about that…

I banished my armor and started putting on some civilian clothes I brought from home. Just jeans and a sweatshirt. Nothing fancy. Not like I had the looks for something more daring anyway. Prettying myself up would just come across as trying too hard to impress.

Now that I was thinking about it, what did I really want from the Wards? Not the Wards program itself, but the individuals I'd be working with for the foreseeable future. Did I want friends? Something more? Something less? I've heard that people my age (or anyone, for that matter) need lots of friends in order to stay sane and develop properly. That probably wasn't entirely true; Emma was all I ever needed throughout elementary and middle school. I had plenty of acquaintances, but she was the only one I'd genuinely call a friend, and things were just fine. Right until high school started. Would I have been better off if I had more friends than just Emma? Maybe they would have called Emma out on her bullshit and things would never have gotten this far. Alternatively, they could have joined right in. It was impossible to tell in hindsight.

What was I supposed to do about these guys, though? I read about them as part of my research after I triggered, but my focus was on their abilities, not on who they were. I probably wouldn't have found much even if I had been looking for it. As far as I know, they could be like the old Emma, or they could be worse than the new one. There was no way of knowing without trying to befriend them and in order to do that, I needed to open myself up to them. Tell them my worries and my secrets. Make myself vulnerable again. Was I willing to take that risk, after what happened last time?

No. No, I wasn't. I wouldn't survive another betrayal. Maybe I should just treat them like colleagues? They'd probably see me as cold or distant, but that's better than having to live through another bullying campaign.

I overheard a conversation on the other end of the door. Huh, must be the other Wards.

"'Morning, Aegis." A new voice said. "Heard we got a new member."

"We did." Aegis answered. "She's inside getting changed."

"I have to ask…"

"Clockblocker, please don't."

"Is she cute?" I blinked. Was that really the first question that came to mind?

Aegis sighed, his mood mirroring my own. "I will not dignify that question with a response."

"Oh, c'mon! We're teenagers. That's supposed to be the first thing on our minds. Besides, we're the only team on the eastern seaboard with more guys than girls. About time we got some more ladies around here."

"Well, there's always Vista and Shadow Stalker…" A third voice said. Must be Kid Win.

"Vista's like a little sister and Shadow Stalker is…well…Shadow Stalker. I'm not that desperate."

"What are the new girl's powers, anyway?" Kid Win asked. "All I heard is that we got a new member."

I could hear Aegis smirk. "You heard about what happened to Lung?"

Clockblocker answered first. "Yeah. Some new cape crashes an ABB meeting, beats up all his goons, then slices him in half. It's the talk of the town. Wait, that's her?"

"Yep."

I thought I heard Clockblocker whimper a bit. Bet he just realized what he said. "Okay. That's just great. How much I need to pay you guys to keep your mouth shut?"

"Actually, she's got super-hearing too." I could almost hear the grin on Aegis' face. He loved rubbing it in, didn't he?

"You're shitting me."

"Nope. Hey Taylor," Aegis whispered "could you knock on the door a few times?" I obliged.

"Well, crap." Clockblocker must have thought he pissed me off. I didn't know what to think about that.

"She can also cancel out sound in an area around her. Very good for sneaking around."

"So basically I'm screwed, right? Guess I have to freeze her and run away screaming like a little girl."

Kid Win chuckled. "And here he keeps saying there aren't enough girls on the team…"

Having finished changing, I decided to make my entrance. No point in stalling it any further, unless I wanted to hear more boy-talk. I took a deep breath and steeled myself. I'm just meeting my future team mates. Nothing special. I could do this. "Hi, I'm Taylor. Nice to meet you."

A boy in red and gold power-armor stepped forward first. "Kid Win, nice to meet you too. Don't worry about Clockblocker." He said, pointing at the Ward in white armor with clock motifs. "He's just busy trying to get his foot out of his mouth."

Clockblocker chuckled softly. "Yeah, sorry about that. Please don't do something horrible."

"Oh? Like what?" I asked.

"Like following me home, breaking into my house, rearranging all the furniture day after day until I go completely insane?"

I blinked. "What."

"So you won't do that?"

"Uhh, no, I won't do that."

"Good. Because that would be a terrible thing to do."

Not that it was a bad idea, coming to think of it. If I ever fought a villain with OCD, breaking into their homes and rearranging their stuff would seriously mess with their head. I'd have to hold onto that one.

Aegis shook his head. "Don't mind Clockblocker. He's always like that." Then, without warning, he took of his mask. "Hi, I'm Carlos. Before you ask, we're teammates now."

Clockblocker was next. "Dennis."

"And I'm Chris." Kid Win said. "Nice to meet you."

I had to admit, I was a little surprised that they were willing to unmask right in front of me. A hero's secret identity is their best line of defense, both for themselves and their loved ones. I could post this information online or sold it to the highest bidder. I wouldn't, but they couldn't have known that. Or maybe they did. The Protectorate has known about my existence for several hours now. With the ridiculous amount of resources available to them, that should have been enough to vet me already. Even if it wasn't, I'm pretty sure that I'm nowhere near a good enough actress to try and fool someone like Armsmaster or Piggot.

Still, it was a big show of trust. One I appreciated more than I thought I would.

"Now, with that out of the way, let's get some lunch and get to know each other." Aegis said.

"Oh, I know just the place."

To Clockblocker, or Dennis, the best place to have lunch is a fast food joint/Brockton Bay institution named Fugly Bob's. More specifically, it was the place to be if you wanted to kill your diet and gain a few pounds. They probably didn't have a single item on the menu that could be considered healthy by any stretch of the imagination. Portions at Fugly Bob's started at 'large' and went up from there. Oh, well, it's not like I'm in any danger of getting fat any time soon, not with my stick-thin figure. Why, I could probably gain a few pounds.

"…so I played dead like I normally do and she barely reacts! Turns out, she could tell my heart was still beating." Carlos said, telling the others about what happened earlier today.

"Excuses, excuses." Dennis replied, taking another bite out of his massive hamburger. Apparently his earlier awkwardness had completely faded.

"What? It's not my fault she's got super-hearing."

"You're just a crap actor. I'm just better at horrible pranks than you are. Next time, I get to handle the hazing."

Carlos turned to me and said: "See what I have to deal with? Dennis' a magnet for paperwork."

"Yes, we all feel very sorry for you." Chris muttered.

"What do you think, Taylor?" Carlos asked me. "Mind helping me out here?"

I flinched a little. I never liked being the center of attention and I certainly didn't like having to pick sides. "Well, you know what his…'nickname' is, right? What were you expecting?" A non-committal response, but it was the best I could manage. Socializing has always been hard for me.

"That it's just a phase and he'd grow out of it? Meh, guess that's too much to hope for." Carlos shrugged. "But don't worry, Dennis, you're next in line. When I graduate, you'll be in charge. That means all sorts of delightful paperwork, having responsibility, and talking to Piggot every time someone does something wrong."

"I'll make sure to be as big a pain in the ass as possible when Carlos' gone." Chris was grinning like a madman.

"Oh, have mercy, Chris." Dennis said, with a false expression of shock on his face.

"Maybe I should come by every now and then. Make sure you're still having fun."

"Now that's just plain villainous."

Part of me cringed a little seeing the Wards being so openly friendly with each other. It wasn't that I didn't expect the Wards to be friends with one another, it's that they were so up-front about it. While there's nothing wrong with that per se, if one of us was ever unmasked, how long before we all were? Aren't superheroes supposed to be a little more careful than this? Secret identity, and all that?

"You're a quiet one, aren't you, Taylor?" Chris suddenly said. Great, now I had to say something. How does one answer a question like that anyway? 'Yeah, I don't like opening up to other people because I think you're going to stab me in the back one day?' That would go over well.

"Well, yes, but…are you sure it's a good idea to hang out, you know…with our, umm, other job?" Logically, I knew they were just trying to be friends. That didn't stop me from feeling like I was in a spy movie.

The Wards looked at each other, before Chris said: "You don't know, don't you? Few people outside the cape community do."

"Know what?"

"Unwritten laws?" I shook my head. "Right. Well, capes have rules."

"Unwritten rules." Dennis interjected.

"Rules that every cape sticks to, heroes and villains, no matter what. It's one of the few things that keeps the US from going turning into a giant parahuman warzone. Example: you don't go after someone's secret identity. Ever."

"You may have noticed that villains rarely get unmasked after they've been arrested, right?" Carlos said. "That's not just a courtesy or to protect a villain's family. We do that because if wedon't respect the villains' secret identities, they won't respect ours. If we start outing the bad guys en masse, what's to keep them from doing the same to us?"

"But they're villains." I argued. "They wouldn't be villains if they played by the rules."

Dennis chuckled. "Absolutely, but this is different. Villains generally aren't team players but if one of them breaks the unwritten laws, they will be dogpiled to death. Trust me, I've seen it. Way things work around here, the people doing the outing are usually worse off than the people being outed."

"What Dennis means is that you don't need to worry too much about people finding out our secret identities." Carlos explained. "Even if someone did, they wouldn't be able to do anything with the information without screwing themselves over. Going after a cape's family, especially a Ward's, is a death sentence. If they're lucky, we get the bastard first and throw them in the slammer for a long time. It they aren't, the villains will take it as an excuse to get rid of a potential rival. Permanently."

"In other words, our civilian identities can still be friends." Chris reassured. "In fact, we'd like to be."

That shook me, more than it probably shook. "Really?" I mentally slapped myself. What kind of loser is surprised when someone offers to be their friend?

"Why not? You seem like one of the good guys."

"I just…" Words flapped out of my mouth. I needed to shut up. There was nothing I could say that wouldn't make me sound like a social reject. If I said nothing, though… "I'm not used to this. I get bullied in school…a lot. I triggered because a bunch of girls trapped me in a locker and left me to rot. Everyone stays away from me because they're afraid they'll get bullied too." God, I sounded pathetic. "I'm sorry, this is ridiculous. I shouldn't bother you with my problems."

The Wards looked at each other before coming to some sort of silent consensus.

"That's okay. You're not the only one with problems, Taylor." Chris said. "Just talk with someone about it or you'll go nuts."

"And I'll end up with rearranged furniture."

"Dennis…"

"It's not actually a bad idea." I added. "There's got to be at least one villain we can scare out of town that way."

Carlos visibly groaned. I bet he could already see the mountain of paperwork a stunt like that would generate. "Now you've done it." He muttered. The guys and I shared a laugh at his expense. It…actually felt good. I got the impression that the Wards understood me, to some extent. They genuinely wanted to be my friend. I felt like an ass for being so suspicious. I might have had my reasons, but that didn't mean I should treat everyone as a potential danger. Sometimes, the other shoe just doesn't drop.

When we walked back to base, I couldn't help but notice that I was walking a little taller.