Wasn't planning on continuing

Further down the rabbit hole, I guess

Or the goose... nest?

What-

Well in for a penny, a pound of feathers weighs more than a pound of gold (look it up)


Egg 1.2


Taylor ran.

Nope, nope, nope, nope, no-

Her feet slammed on the ground, one after the other as she blew down the hallway, her breath already leaving her body as she fled as fast as she could. She could hear Sophia behind her, her running just as loud as her own, clearly gaining on her as they ran down the hall, the other students getting out of the way as they noticed the two coming towards them.

Fortunately, in this case, the students of Winslow had long learned to avoid fights which meant that they cleared a path for her without even looking at who she was. Still, the lack of students blocking Taylor wasn't going to help her. She knew that.

Running from a track star was an exercise in futility.

Or... at least it should have been.

A loud thud and a cry of surprise and sharp pain informed Taylor that something had not gone as it was supposed to.

Against her better will, she turned her head to look back while still running, only to skid to a complete stop as she gaped at what had happened behind her.

Sprawled out on the ground, clutching her forehead, was the figure of Sophia, who had... tripped?

That... didn't make any sense. Sophia wasn't the type of person to trip. Ever. Taylor had never seen her trip even once before, Sophia was a track star after all and always had a sort of silent grace when moving, something that Taylor had fallen victim to many times when Sophia had sneaked up on her without her realizing.

Still, she wouldn't look a gift hors-

The head of a very familiar goose popped up behind Sophia's body before it waddled to the side into full view of Taylor, head raised in a sort of triumphant aloofness as it let out a loud HONK that only Taylor could hear, which almost seemed gloating, as if the goose was a warrior that had just felled a mighty beast in single combat.

Taylor stood frozen looking at the scene as Sophia snarled in anger before whirling around towards the goose's former location, only to find absolutely nothing there. Following that, she turned on the onlookers with a wild look on her face that promised wrathful retribution, turning right then left then right again.

"WHICH ONE OF YOU SACKS OF S-"

"HONK"

"-AH!"

With a pained cry, Sophia tumbled for the second time that day as she stepped backwards while accusing the other students, only to trip over the goose again, before landing ingloriously on her back with another cry of pain.

"HONK HONK HONK!"

Clearly, this time the goose had taken offence to being hit by Sophia's foot a second time as it reared its white head, unfolding its wings to their full, meter and a half-length before charging at Sophia's downed figure, flapping its wings in a wild berserker rage as it landed on Sophia's face, before battering it with its wings while incessantly honking.

Yet Sophia wasn't going down without a fight and she started to thrash about as well, throwing out wild punches at the invisible thing attacking her, all while screaming profanities along the way, eventually getting her hands onto the shape of the goose before throwing it against one of the lockers lining the walls with a loud thud.

The impact seemed to almost dent the locker however the goose got back up, rearing its head up again like a snake before it flew up into Sophia's face and jabbed at it with its beak, all while flapping and honking in the air.

Taylor looked on with horror and a strange sense of glee as Sophia fell back, clutching at her face which was now bleeding in several places from the goose's assault.

"CALL THE PRT YOU FU-GAH!-"

The goose hit Sophia again, this time going around her hands guarding her face to peck at her now vulnerable ears, yanking them along with it while still flapping in the air, which caused Sophia to get dragged along behind it, curses now flooding out of her mouth like vomit, rolling over one another to form an incoherent constant stream of screaming that almost seemed to rupture the ears of everyone in range.

The goose continued to drag Sophia along for a few more moments as she threw out more punches before she finally got a good hit in, slamming her fist against the goose's face, which sent it honking loudly all the way to the ground, where it landed with an audible thud, to Taylor at least.

For a second Taylor wondered if it had finally given up before the goose rose up like a vampire from its coffin, long neck swinging around behind its body before it let loose another honk of war, rushing Sophia again and this time beating at her legs with its neck, dodging and swerving around her wild kicks as it continued to harass the Trio member with reckless abandon.

It was at this point that Taylor finally snapped out of her shock and started cautiously stepping away from the fight. No matter how satisfying it was to watch Sophia getting attacked by the very same goose that had infuriated her, Taylor in no way wanted to be connected to the invisible shape, especially by Sophia and so she started to step backwards, trying not to draw any attention.

After a few steps, she turned and fled, leaving the two to fight it out behind her.

Best case scenario, those two take each other out.

Taylor knew that wouldn't happen though. Her luck wasn't nearly that good.

Turning the corner, Taylor paused to take a quick breather before nonchalantly joining the crowds of students moving to their next class before picking up her pace. She didn't need to give the administration any more reason to screw her over after all.

(~)

Turns out, she needn't have bothered. Five minutes into second block, PRT sirens rang out across the school. Just like everyone else, Taylor moved over to the window to look out at the parking lot, where several black vans pulled up in front of the school, soon after depositing masked and armoured PRT agents, before another figure came out of one of the vans, midnight blue armour covering his body holding a halberd at his side.

Is that... Armsmaster?

Clearly, the other students thought so as well as the classroom exploded into chatter. Looking at the figure at second glance, it was very clearly Armsmaster. Despite not being very into the cape scene herself, Taylor at least knew most of the local heroes, just because of how popular they were as discussion topics online, and Armsmaster had been one of her favourites in the past. However... his presence didn't bode well.

Taylor winced as the intercoms of the school blared above, stopping the rampant conversations in the classroom with their sheer sound.

"ATTENTION ALL STUDENTS, PLEASE STAY WHERE YOU ARE, PARAHUMAN ACTIVITY HAS BEEN DETECTED ON CAMPUS. PRT AGENTS WILL BE WITH YOU SHORTLY, REMAIN CALM AND DO NOT MOVE."

Parahuman activity? Wait... but that's-

Taylor whirled as everyone continued to look out the window, dread running up and down her body as she walked over to the door before peaking out into the hallway.

Confirming her worst fears, down the hall, a singular goose stared back at her with one eye, head held high. Taylor had the feeling it was looking down at her despite being much, much smaller. After a moment of eye contact, the goose turned around before waddling away.

Taylor stood frozen as the small animal turned the corner, vanishing from her sight before she relaxed the muscles she had tensed earlier without realizing.

I-... should do something about that... right?

Taylor turned back toward the rest of her classmates who were still stuck up against the windows, looking out at the hero now making his way to the doors of the school as PRT agents formed up behind him.

Taylor was caught in a bind. On one hand, she was pretty sure and had been pretty sure for some time now that the goose was likely her power, as she was the only one who could see the damn thing, which by the way worst power ever, but on the other hand, it hadn't caused any serious harm yet aside from a few cuts on Sophia's face. Additionally, the PRT was clearly trying to lock down the school and so running out in the hallways on a wild... on a mission to hunt down the goose didn't seem very conductive to her health with agents and even Armsmaster himself moving around the school at the same time.

In the end, she decided to stay in the classroom. She did sort of owe the goose one now after all, which was a horrible thought but now looking back on it, she wish she'd had a camera on her during the fight between Sophia and the goose. It had been pretty cathartic.

As the PRT agents and Armsmaster entered the school, Taylor sat back down in her seat, as many of the other students continued to talk, speculating on what parahuman power had been detected, even as a few of the students with clear gang tattoos and the like within the class started to tug down their sleeves.

Taylor was content to wait though. The goose was invisible after all. Soon enough, the PRT would leave or let the students leave and they could all continue on with their regular lives.

A loud crash not that far away dispelled her hopes almost immediately after the words had formed in her head. Loud yelling from what seemed like PRT agents flooded the hall outside the classroom before those yells turned even louder accompanied by the sound of... something else that Taylor couldn't quite make out before stopping all at once.

Dead silence enveloped the classroom as the students in it slowly backed away from the door and closer to the window, all chatter now gone as genuine fear began to rise in their eyes. After a few moments of silence, one of the students finally spoke the words that everyone was thinking.

"What the hell was that."

Taylor started to inch back as well, leaving her desk and seat to back away from the door, before she was suddenly pushed from behind, the sudden feeling making her jump as she almost tripped and fell onto the ground before whirling around to see the face of one of the white students who were clearly a member of the 88 glaring at her.

"Go check out what that was."

"What!? But-"

"Now."

Taylor almost opened her mouth again but decided against it after seeing the boy's face twist into a menacing stare, causing her to hesitantly nod before she began to inch, one step at a time toward the door. Tension started building up in the room as every set of eyes was focused on the door.

Taylor's heart pounded as she gulped before she reached out to grab the door handle. After another moment of hesitation, she turned the knob and pulled it open.

She held in a scream before fear very quickly turned to confusion.

At first glance, the hallway looked like something straight out of a horror movie, several of the lights above were covered by some substance that made the lighting in the hallway much dimmer than normal. Then there were the bodies. Pieces of arms, legs and even one head covered by a PRT mask were all coming out of piles of the same substance that covered the ceiling lights, almost as if they had been torn off or the owners of the body parts had been drowned inside of the substance, but soon enough Taylor began to hear muffled yells through what was now very clearly foam.

Taylor sighed in relief.

The agents were just trapped in containment foam. That was good.

Wait-

Taylor reoriented her thoughts.

On second thought, that's actually really bad.

From the doorway, she looked around the hallway, looking for what caused the mess before her eyes eventually landed on the small white figure of a familiar animal, with what looked to be a grenade launcher on the ground held in its beak.

The goose looked at her. Taylor looked back. Taylor blinked. The goose did not.

After a moment of silence, the goose dropped the weapon and started moving, making Taylor flinch as the animal waddled over to where Taylor was standing, causing her to start backing away from the doorway, grabbing the door as she prepared to close the door and ignore the problem until it went away.

Unfortunately, she wouldn't have the chance as she suddenly hit something, or rather someone as she tried to back away, which caused her to stumble forward as she turned around, only to see another student, mouth wide open while staring at the scene behind her.

Taylor sympathized with her fellow student, she really did, but in this case, he was blocking her from getting back into the classroom so she nudged him to the side before slamming the door shut. The student was broken out of his stupor as he turned to her with clear concern and confusion on his face, to which Taylor simply shrugged before putting as much distance between herself and the door as possible.

Soon enough, the other PRT agents or Armsmaster would finally catch the goose and her life would go back to normal. She only nee-

"Honk."

.

..

...

Taylor took a deep breath in and exhaled before her head fell into her hands.

This can't be happening...

Even as every fibre of her being screamed not to turn around, Taylor did so, her darkest fears confirmed as the form of the goose stood on one of the desks in front of her, its beady eyes like a void that stared into her soul.

"Hey, what did you see out there?"

Taylor remained locked in eye contact with the goose even as the other student who had seen what was in the hallway responded to the question.

"I- I didn't get a very long look but it looked like all the PRT agents were buried in some substance. Whatever parahuman's out there, they can take out a whole squad of agents like it's nothing, man. I didn't see the parahuman though, maybe they moved on?"

One of the other female students brought her hands up to her mouth as she began to tremble.

"Oh my god."

Similar sentiments were echoed by some of the other students, with one of them even collapsing to the floor in fear even as Taylor continued to stare the goose down, willing it to go away.

A few of the students moved to comfort others as fear grew before one student stepped up.

"We need to barricade the door."

"That's a good idea."

"But what if the parahuman can get through regardless?"

"There's a chance they can't, and besides, what else can we do?"

"R-right."

Taylor finally broke the gaze of the goose, intent on saying something before her voice died in her throat. After all, what was she supposed to say? That she could see something that everyone else couldn't? That was either going to get her labelled as crazy or out her as a parahuman, neither of which she wanted.

In the end, she stayed silent as the other students began to barricade the door with desks and chairs, causing the goose to leap off of its perch as it was moved by one of the students toward the door.

Taylor watched as it waddled across the floor, her body tensed as she backed away from it.

Yet it seemed that this time the goose was not focused on her as it eventually settled beside one of the windows of the classroom right before a voice rang out from the hallway beyond the classroom.

"Dear god..."

The sound of running rang out before another voice spoke, this one more synthesized as if it was being affected by a voice filter. The voice was level, without any particular rises and falls in tone like a normal person and seemed almost... robotic.

"Looks like it's containment foam."

The voice was vaguely familiar to Taylor as if she had heard it before but she couldn't quite place it.

Thankfully, another one of the students did.

"Is, is that Armsmaster?"

"... I think it is."

"Armsmaster, we're in here!"

The students exploded into chatter again, sounding relieved now that a hero was nearby, believing themselves safe. Taylor knew otherwise of course, but it wasn't exactly like she could say anything so she simply faded into the crowd of students while still keeping track of the goose in the corner of her eye.

The door rattled as if it was trying to open but the desks and chairs prevented it from doing so.

"Is this door locked?"

"Oh! We blockaded it, we'll remove the desks and chairs for you."

The students moved to the door, this time taking the desks and chairs away from the door so that it could open.

Eventually, the students opened the door, revealing a PRT agent in full gear standing in front of it. Behind him, the figure of Armsmaster was visible in his blue armour.

"Move out of the classroom in a single file line, I'll bring you out of the school. Armsmaster here is going to make sure that the parahuman is caught. You're safe now."

"Thank god."

"Yea, that was really scary."

"Thank goodness it's over."

Even as the students spoke, Taylor was still keeping an eye on the goose, which was still beside the window. It turned to look at her, before moving its gaze. Confused, Taylor turned to look at what the goose was looking at before her eyes landed on the form of Armsmaster, who had moved to gaze into the classroom even as some of the students looked at him with clear awe.

Taylor turned around again to look at the goose. It had moved since she had last seen it, and it was now a few meters in front of the window with its body facing it. Unfolding its wings, it turned its white head to look at Taylor again as she realized what it intended to do.

Don't you dare.

Taylor didn't know what her thought would accomplish, but if the goose was her power as she suspected, then perhaps the goose would consider listening to her.

The goose raised its head slightly, its head tilted to the side as if considering her request before it turned to look past her.

Then Taylor felt a presence to her side and turned as Armsmaster walked into the door, his gaze now focused on her. The student who had been looking at nothing for the last minute while the rest had started to leave the door.

Taylor froze under his intense look as the last student aside from her left the room. Then Armsmaster started to speak.

"What were y-"

Until the sound of breaking glass interrupted his question.


A/N:

I actually didn't connect this story idea to Untitled Goose for some reason. It's certainly inspired by it, no doubt about that but it was more of a subconscious thing than a conscious decision made by me. I think that was because I repressed my memories of that game after listening to a video of the goose honking for thirty minutes straight which probably resulted in a rapid deterioration of my mental state afterwards.

I'm honestly not sure if I should put this into the crossover section because while this story was inspired by that game, the goose from this story wasn't intended to be the exact same goose from the game. I'll just leave it in the worm archive for now but I might move it later.

Btw I still have no clue what I'm doing if that wasn't already abundantly clear. Not really sure how to feel about this chapter but I'm not sure how to feel about this story in general so par for the course I guess.