Origins 1-4

"Shit. Shit. Shit."

I haven't been a practicing cape for even a week and already someone has discovered my secret identity. How the hell did that girl, Lisa, know? Does she know who I am? Does she know where I live?

"So damn frustrating" I fell onto my bed and yelled my frustration into the pillows.

"Taylor?" a knock came from my bedroom door. "Is everything okay?"

Dad's home? "It's open," I called though my voice was muffled by my face still being buried in a pillow.

"Hey kiddo," Dad opened my door but didn't enter my room.

I rolled over and sat up on the edge of my bed. "Hey Dad, your home early." He didn't look so good. Like he hadn't been sleeping much lately.

Dad shifted uncomfortably. "Not a lot of work at the docks right now." He leaned into my room and looked around. "I heard noises, are you okay?"

I flushed with embarrassment. "I feel like I made an idiot of myself today."

"Impossible, you are the smartest girl I know." Dad crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame, trying to act casual but I could see the fatigue.

"I'm pretty sure you are biased." I laughed.

"I am the very embodiment of impartiality." He sniffed.

"You've been reading Mom's books again." I regretted my words as soon as they left my mouth. I could almost see him drifting away again.

"Dad I didn-"

"No, it's okay." Despite his words he wouldn't look me in the eyes. "I was thinking maybe ordering takeout from that place you like over on Dover street. Do you want your usual?"

I knew it was an excuse for him to be able to get out of the house and away from the reminders of Mom but I couldn't help but feel like he was trying to get away from me. I heard the rattle of his keys and the closing of the front door. Looking at the clock I saw that it read quarter to four. I wonder if her would actually get Chinese food or if he would forget when he went wherever he goes when he runs away.

I flopped back down onto my bed. Great job me.

.

Dad didn't get home until almost two in the morning. I heard him stumble into the small table where he usually leaves his truck keys, followed by the creaking of the stairs, and finally the click of his bedroom door.

I rolled over in bed to face the window. There was no way I was going out tonight after worrying when, or if, Dad would come home. That thought sent a shiver down my spine. Besides, like it or not, my costume is a bust. I needed a new one and I have no idea what to do about it. Maybe I should call that girl Lisa and see what she knows. I could play dumb. Surely, I could fool a girl I haven't said more than a few sentences to.

Fuck it.

I'll call her and see if she wants to meet on the Boardwalk tomorrow.

.

She's late.

She said to meet at the Bay Café at ten and it's a quarter past. I sipped at my way overpriced coffee and tapped my foot with impatience. Had she bailed on me? Was this some kind of set up like with The Trio? I was just about to leave when she walked in through the door.

"Hey!" she greeted as she slid into the chair across from me. "Sorry I got caught up in something for work."

"No problem," I lied. "What kinda job could a eightee-"

"Sixteen." Lisa corrected.

"Sixteen? That's bearly older than me!" Okay something was defiantly up.

"So suspicious." Lisa grinned. "You know people who look for secrets in everything using are the ones hiding the biggest ones."

I shifted uncomfortably in my chair. It was like she could read my mind.

Lisa only smiled wider.

"Does anyone tell you that is unnerving?" I asked.

"All the time."

What am I supposed to do with that? "So, uh, what do you want to talk about?"

"You tell me." she said. "You are the one who called me."

That damn grin was getting on my nerves. "Right, uh.."

"You're not very good at this are you?" she asked.

Duh. "No, not really."

"Why not?" Lisa leaned back in her chair.

What do I tell her?

She sighed. "Let me guess you were bullied or otherwise had a stress filled daily life for the past year and a half. Am I close?"

"H-how did you know? Did someone tell you?" I demanded. I knew it, this was some kind of prank. I scanned the interior of the coffee shop for the Trio. It had to be them behind this.

"No, no one told me anything. Most people don't look for cameras or hidden accomplices. Then there is how you lean away from me every time I lean forwards in my chair. And, to top it all off, you watch my chin to see where I am looking instead of meeting my eyes. All this tells me you have trouble dealing with others even those your own age and what's the most likely cause of that? Bullying."

"I-," I didn't know what to say. I never noticed I did those things and yet those were the things that gave away my greatest shame. "How?" I asked.

Lisa shrugged her shoulders, "I'm good at reading people. It's like those fraud psychics that used to be on TV before parahumans became a thing. Where they would read your reactions to different things and make a vague reference that allows you to fill in the blanks either with words or more actions. Almost anyone can learn it, I'm just quick on the uptake is all."

"Must be nice to be able to read people that well."

"I can say it got old pretty fast," Lisa's frowned. "and all dating came to a complete stop."

"Is it really that bad?" She had to be overstating things.

Lisa gave me a flat look. "imagine being able to basically tell what a guy is thinking every time they look at you, and notice just how often, and where, their eyes drift. No thanks."

I suppressed a shudder. I mean my dating experience adds up to exactly zero thanks in no small part to the Trio but even I understood that sometimes ignorance was bliss.

"So, uh, your note said if I wanted to talk about capes to call you. what did you mean by that?" Okay I can do this just don't act weird and she won't know what I'm up to.

Lisa's mischievous grin returned.

Breathe, she's just messing with me. Probably.

"Just what I said. I like talking about capes and when I don't have anyone to talk cape stuff with I'm on PHO." She got up from her chair. "Let me grab a coffee and we can get down to business."

Somehow Lisa with coffee doesn't make me feel better about this.

"Mmm, not bad." Lisa returned sipping her coffee. "I can't say I like it for the price but it's not bad otherwise." Lisa slid back down into her chair. "okay, what did you decide on?"

"Decide on what?"

"What to talk about of course."

"Uh cape costumes?" Shit! I practically just gave myself away!

Lisa tilted her head. "Cape costumes huh? Most people want to talk about what cape is their favorite or what power is the most bullshit."

I snorted. "That's easy, Eidolon is the most overpowered cape by far."

"Yeah, but he is the easy choice." Lisa huffed.

I shrugged, "Cause it's true."

"What about locally?" Lisa sipped at her coffee. "Who would you pick for Brockton Bay?"

"Lung took on the whole Protectorate once and walked away from that, so he's my choice."

"But he can be stopped before he has a chance to ramp up." Lisa argued.

I frowned back at her, "Then who would you pick?"

Lisa scrunched up her face in thought, "Hmm, maybe Panacea."

"Panacea?"

"Yeah." She defended. "Look, New Wave might say she is a healer but she is able to render someone unconscious with a touch. That doesn't really seem like healing to me."

"But-"

"Oh, sure, she uses her powers for healing and does a great job of it too, but I think there is something more there that could put her at the top of Brockton Bay." Lisa leaned back and looked annoyingly smug.

I sipped at my coffee and tried to ignore her smugness.

"So, cape costumes." Lisa prompted.

"It was the first thing that popped into my head."

"Oh? And what put it in your mind?" Lisa leaned across the table in a clearly over exaggerated whisper. "Are you a new Cape?"

WHAT?! "I wish I had powers but not a Cape." I tried my best to keep my voice even, praying she believed me.

Lisa frowned. "Bummer. There were rumors on PHO of a new Ward in town."

"Really? I hadn't heard." Hopefully I was in the clear.

Lisa shrugged, "Just a rumor for now. I think it started with a guy who claims to work for the PRT but he didn't have the 'Verified PRT' tag so who knows if it's true."

"Was this in the last day or so?" I asked.

Lisa pulled out her phone, one of those fancy touch screen ones, and showed me the screen. "It was about thirty minutes ago. I saw it as I was coming to meet you."

It really was a nice phone and I had to fight down a pang of jealousy. "Wow when you said you were always on PHO you weren't kidding."

She shrugged again. "So, cape costumes. What about them?"

"Well I mean there is so much about Cape costumes that make me wonder." I sipped at my coffee again trying to think of how to lead my questions properly. "Like, why do so many Heroes and Villains wear skin tight costumes?"

"That's easy. Look at the capes powers, if they have a power that requires them to get in moderately close to their target excess fabric or whatever is going to either get in the way of provide a handhold in a fight with another cap"

I frowned, was it really that simple? "I guess that makes sense."

Lisa smiled. "you don't sound happy with my answer."

"No, it's just that in hind sight it's pretty simple. I can't believe I believe I didn't think of it."

"There are plenty of capes out there with something different. Look at Eidolon with his body armor robe combo he has going on. Or Myrddin with his crazy wizard get up. Even Rune from Empire Eighty-Eight."

"Why does it sound like you are trying to reassure me that not all capes wear bodysuits? I'm not a cape so it doesn't matter to me what they wear. What I was thinking is how all these capes get tailor made costumes that fit just right? They can't all make their own so why aren't more capes exposed when they get their costumes?"

"Because no one wants to break the Unwritten Rules." Lisa's serious tone. "They can actually be found on PHO but they aren't official by any means."

"If they aren't official then why follow them at all?"

"Cause people who don't, typically wind up dead. Like that idiot that killed Fleur from New Wave." Lisa leaned forward onto the table, face serious. "The guy that did it was Empire, but because he killed Fleur in her civilian identity Kaiser himself killed him. There is one thing that ninety-nine-point nine percent of capes agree on and that is you don't mess with another capes civilian identity. Not even the heroes will cross that line."

I frowned and crossed my arms. "But if the heroes knew a villain's civilian identity couldn't they just surprise and arrest them?"

"Sure they could but then the villains would go after hero's civilian identities or their families or even on killing sprees in extreme cases. The Unwritten Rules keep the peace in its own way and no one wants to be the one to cross that line. Its almost on par with breaking an Endbringer truce."

"I have never heard of any of this." I admitted.

Lisa wave away the comment with her hand. "It's all on PHO, just not in one easy to read place. If you spend as much time as I do on PHO you would have put it together too."

"I'm not so sure." I answered. "But other than the unwritten rules I can't see capes just ordering a costume from a catalogue."

Lisa shrugged. "I don't know how it works but I'm sure a lot of capes get their costumes from whatever organization they are a part of."

Well that's not good news for me. "I wonder if that is why there are so few Rogue capes in comparison to Heroes and Villains."

Lisa snorted. "I don't think that plays into it all that much. Rogues don't last long because either they are killed or forced into a Villains group or the Protectorate. The Villains recruit either by greed or by force and the Protectorate as an alternative to jail time on what ever charges they can bring up against non-affiliated capes."

"It sounds like the Protectorate are almost as bad as the gangs."

Lisa nodded. "In some ways worse if you think about it. They have a much wider influence and they encourage kids to fight."

I guess my silence counted as an answer because she continued as if it was.

"I mean think about it. Have you ever heard of a Ward who wasn't put out on the streets on patrol? Or how rarely do you see them paired up with an adult Hero or out on call with the PRT? I'm just saying that the Protectorate are no angels, no matter how good their PR is." Lisa crossed her arms and gave me a look as if she was daring me to argue.

Instead I took another route. "What about teams like New Wave?"

"I personally think they are nuts for revealing their identities, but to each their own. They used to be a pretty big deal, I mean they took down Marquis back when Allfather was still running Empire. Now, though they hardly ever go out in costume other than Panacea or Glory Girl." Lisa said the last name as though she was trying not to say something else in its place. "But back when they were a big deal they were probably about as close to ideal as you could get. They fought the fight and stuck around for clean up afterwards as a part of their whole Cape accountability thing."

I hummed in thought, "So the whole cape thing, both heroes and villains, is one big complicated nightmare."

"Well, yeah, just like anything else that big in scope." Lisa said as if it were completely obvious. I guess she did have a point. On the table her phone lit up and gave a brief chirp of a ringtone. Lisa picked up her phone and glanced at the message with a frown. "Somethings come up at work I have to go."

I exchanged goodbyes with her and finished my coffee off. A brief check of my watch revealed that we had only been talking for just over a half hour. I had kind of expected it to have lasted longer but I suppose I did learn a lot about the cape scene that I didn't know before. Though I was still at square one for my costume. With a sigh I exited the coffee shop and decided to browse the shops. I couldn't afford anything but maybe something would inspire an idea.

Authors Note: This chapter took longer than I hoped and didn't fully cover everything I wanted but that's what the other chapters are for, no?

I've started a new job that gives me more hours so most of my free time has been filled though I still write bit and pieces of chapters on break. If you notice a strange skip in word flow then it's likely I was mid-sentence when break ended.

Happy 4th of July!

K. Raiden