Next chapter incoming. While I'm overall happy with how this chapter turned out, it was a struggle between making sure things weren't happening either too fast or too slow. I think I've got it balanced fairly well. Hope you all enjoy.

Chapter 3: Road to Heroism II

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Taylor sat on the floor with her legs crossed. She had been doing some research online both before and after lunch and hadn't found anything she found super useful. As such, she decided to push it off to later and work on the other part of today's training. Alright, so this energy I have. You said you'd explain what it is and what I can do with it.

'Right, well… first let's start with a little bit of knowledge from my world.'

"Wait… you're world? You're from another world?!" Taylor exclaimed.

'In your head, and did I not mention that?'

NO!

'Oh… my bad.'

How are you so casual about this?! You went from living your life in another world to being stuck in my head!

'How does that really change anything? It's not like me having another life before this is new information, it's just the other world part that's new. Besides, I'm technically only a mental copy of the real Kiana, the real Kiana wasn't even affected by this. So it's not like I was actually plucked out of my homeworld and shoved into your head.'

What do you mean a mental copy?!

'Uhh… I mean I'm a copy of her mind that's entirely in your head. It's not a hard concept.'

You are way too casual about this. I'd be losing it if I knew I was just some clone of the original.

'Ehh… you learn to roll with it. I'll have to tell you about some of my adventures at some point, you'll see why I can brush this off easily. Anyways, we've got a lesson to get to.'

Taylor really wanted to press this further, but decided against it. Fine, but I'm not letting this go. Kiana merely shrugged in response.

'Suit yourself. Anyways, as I was about to say, we had this thing called the Honkai back in my world. While the whole concept can be pretty complicated, the part you need to know about is honkai energy. It's what allowed me and my friends to do all kinds of superhuman feats. Now, while you technically have a type of honkai energy, it's not the same as what I had. The actual Honkai is WAY too dangerous to even be let near your world. Thankfully we shouldn't have to worry about that happening.'

I see. How dangerous is this Honkai thing out of curiosity? She felt Kiana shudder in her mind.

'Far worse than anything all those Endbringers combined could bring forth I'll tell you that.'

Taylor gulped. So it's a good thing we don't have it.

'Yep…'

Taylor shuddered at the implications of such a power. But then, she thought about Kiana's wording for a minute. What do you mean we won't have to worry about the Honkai showing up? If you got here, couldn't it?

There was no response. After a little bit, she felt Kiana grow frustrated.

'I can't say, I just know that it shouldn't happen. At least not for a while.'

What do you mean?

'There's a gap in my knowledge where there shouldn't be one. I should know more about this than I do.'

WHAT?!

'I'm just as confused as you. My best guess is something got lost either when I was sent over or when I connected with you. From what I do know, being sent here was a rushed job.'

Do you think it's something important?

'Maybe… no, it probably is. It seems to be related to why I was sent here and why you've got that modified honkai energy. There's a reason for it all, but I can't remember what that reason is.'

A silence took hold of the room as Taylor let this new knowledge sink in. A feeling of dread filled her. Could something be… She pushed that feeling down as quickly as it rose. No… my world is already in a shitty state, I shouldn't assume something is coming without any real proof. Is what she told herself privately, however she couldn't shake the feeling that her initial intuition was correct. She refocused on her conversation with Kiana. So… what are we going to do about it?

'What can we do, unless I find what I lost somehow there's nothing we can do about it. What we can do however, is focus on training you up so you'll be ready for anything.'

Got it… so… did you have anything else to explain?

'Yeah, there's what honkai energy can provide you. Through it, you can improve your natural physical abilities, making you stronger, faster, and more durable. Your natural healing factor will also be improved. Another is the more powerful and or esoteric abilities of the battlesuits you'll eventually make are powered by it. The main two things are the Authority of the Void and the Authority of Flames.'

The Authority of the Void and… Flames? How are those two even remotely related?

'Admittedly not by much. Don't worry about it too much. You have them and you'll have to learn how to use them. Now, while the Flames part is self-explanatory, the Authority of the Void isn't. Simply put, it allows you to manipulate space to an absurd degree. There's a bit more to it but that's the basics.'

I see.

'To start with, you'll just be focusing on bringing the energy out and maintaining it. You need to get your body acclimated to it, which will take the most time out of anything. Though it should help accelerate your growth in other areas.'

Alright, let's get started.

'Right, for this, just do what you did in the hospital but try it with both hands. We'll stick to this for now but eventually you'll want to let it run throughout your whole body.'

She nodded and held her hands out and focused on the energy within her. Eventually she brought it out. Orange arcs of energy flowed around her arms. This lasted for a few seconds before Taylor began to visibly struggle to maintain it. It wasn't long before she had to drop it. She took deep breaths, already tired from just a few seconds. This… this is gonna be harder than I thought. After catching her breath she resumed the exercise.

Later…

"I thought you said you'd take it easy?" Danny expressed with a disappointed tone.

Taylor just looked at him with tired eyes as she struggled to bring the leftover pork up to her mouth to eat. He had gotten home around dinner time and, after realizing no dinner had been made, heated up leftovers. As he'd been getting everything ready, he failed to notice Taylor's state until he sat everything down and they began eating.

"I was… but this one exercise was an endurance test. I stubbornly keeped trying to go longer each time I did it." Taylor tiredly explained.

'OH FOR THE LOVE OF GOD JUST TELL HIM THE TRUTH!'

Taylor ignored Kiana in favor of her dinner.

"I don't plan on making that mistake again. My arms don't burn but I'm tired as hell." Taylor muttered before taking another bite of the porkchop.

"Good, I guess. Even if the doctor's cleared you, you should still take it easy." Danny directed.

Taylor just rolled her eyes.

"I'm fine." She declared dismissively.

Danny wanted to say something to that but just sighed.

"Anyways, everything's squared away with Carol. Hopefully Jim will pull through and get things done through the school board, but we're ready if he doesn't." Danny explained.

"That's good." Taylor muttered. "Hopefully I'll finally get some justice."

Doubt it. She thought cynically to herself.

"I hope so too." Danny added.

The two continued to eat as an awkward silence descended upon them. This lasted for a few minutes until Danny finally spoke up.

"I saw Alan today. THAT Alan, at the law firm." He stated.

Taylor froze mid stabbing into pork. While she made no noticeable expression, the room grew chilled as a cold fury took hold of her at the mention of the man she once called uncle.

"I see… and…" She growled.

"I know it doesn't mean much, but it seemed like he genuinely doesn't know about Emma." He explained. "I wouldn't be surprised if she had been keeping all she'd done a secret from her parents."

There was a brief moment of silence as Taylor seemed to process this.

"I see…" She noted before resuming her dinner.

Danny did the same as silence once again took hold. This continued right up until dinner was almost finished when, suddenly, the phone rang.

"I'll get it." Danny stated.

He got up and walked towards it. Taylor just continued finishing up her dinner as her father answered the phone.

"Hello?" Danny spoke up. "Jim?"

Taylor wasn't really paying attention as she took her plate to the sink and washed it off before putting it in the dishwasher.

"Are you serious?!" Her father exclaimed with elation, drawing her attention.

"Yeah… yeah I'll tell her." Her father stated.

"I will, thanks again Jim." Her father continued before hanging up the phone.

He turned to her with a big smile on his face.

"Good news kiddo, Old Man Jim pulls through again. He's gotten the school board on side and they've got the superintendent looking into things already. It's only a matter of time now until we're vindicated." He declared.

Taylor just stared at him for a good while, in shock at the news.

"Wha…" She breathed out.

"Surprised I see, don't blame you. From what you've said, your bullies have gotten away with a lot for a while. But that's about to change. With the school board onside, they'll get what's coming to them." Danny declared.

Taylor just continued staring off, gaping like a fish.

"I'd say we should celebrate but let's hold off on that until the investigation is over and the results are in." Danny stated before heading off. "And stop gaping like that, a fly's gonna fly in if you don't."

Taylor just stood there gaping in shock.

The next day…

Taylor continued her morning run and strength training as usual. Danny had gone back to work, unable to really put it off much longer, leaving Taylor to her own devices. After finishing her strength training she worked on her schedule and managed to get it nearly finalized. She would have gotten it done, had she not gone down a rabbit hole while looking up stuff online. While the concept of chakras were interesting, she didn't think it'd help her in anything she was doing.

After this, she worked on bringing out more honkai energy for a few hours. She took it easy, not pushing too hard and taking breaks when she needed to. After this, she decided to make some dinner. Since they had pork the last two nights, she decided beef was in order. She spent the rest of the time until her father came home cooking dinner, having it ready around the time he did, luckily enough. The two ate and engaged in some awkward small talk. While slowly getting better, their relationship was still a strained one. For Taylor, it didn't help that Kiana was still complaining about her keeping the fact that she was a cape a secret from her father. Once dinner was finished they went their separate ways for the night, saying goodnight to each other before going to bed.

The next day…

Taylor had gotten up a little later and, as a result, started her run around the time Danny was heading for work. While he didn't have to work every Saturday, every once and while he had to come in, like today. After finishing her run and strength training, which was already getting easier, she moved on to finalizing the schedule for how she would proceed from here. After a bit more thinking and some more research, she came up with, what she thought, was a decent schedule.

For now, she'd focus on her run in the morning followed by strength training. She'd then rest for a bit before moving on to training her use of honkai energy. She'd do this for a while before resting, making that her free time. She'd do more strength training in the evening before dinner, making sure she'd be eating plenty of protein. Once she'd built up her strength enough, she'd change the morning session into combat training. While she'd rather save that for the evening, unless she wanted to tell her dad about this, which she didn't, she'd have to do it in the mornings to not raise any questions.

After her combat skills were up to a sufficient level, she'd move on to scavenging and tinkering to make her equipment. This led to the main problem with her scheduling, doing all of this without her dad finding out.

'All the more reason you should tell him.' Kiana spoke up as Taylor finished writing out the schedule.

Taylor rolled her eyes. I don't want him to worry, he's got enough on his plate as it is. Besides he'd probably push me towards the Wards and I do NOT need more teenage drama.

'I already told you can't keep this a secret from him forever. You might be able to trick others, but not your dad. At the absolute most you've got two weeks before you'll be unable to hide it and I doubt it'll even be close to that.'

I can dye my hair. She then remembered that hair dye can be bad for hair. Err… I'll get hair dye and say I dyed my hair.

'And you suddenly dyeing your hair is going to be even more suspicious. Also, how are you going to buy hair dye?'

I'll help do shopping and pick it up then. If I go out alone he won't notice.

'And what about the fact that you won't need glasses since I didn't need them.'

I can also buy fake glasses.

'And how are you going to stop him from seeing them?'

I'll sneak out the glasses!

'And what if he catches you sneaking the glasses out? Or if you can't go out and get hair dye without him being suspicious.'

I'LL THINK OF SOMETHING!

'Or you can just tell the truth and not make a giant web of lies!'

Taylor slammed her journal down onto her desk.

"WOULD YOU STOP LECTURING ME! YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING ABOUT ME! ABOUT WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH!" She screamed.

Kiana didn't respond as Taylor breathed heavily. There was a moment of silence.

'I think I know far more than you realize.' Kiana replied.

Taylor scoffed at that.

"Yeah right… Tell me, did your dad…" Taylor began.

'Barely even acknowledge your existence.'

This caused Taylor to stop.

'Did the bare minimum to take care of you. Seemingly hardly there or in some cases, just isn't. Needed you to nearly die to finally act like a proper father.'

Taylor's mouth was agape struggling to respond. After a moment she finally gathered her thoughts.

"O-o-o-o-okay so maybe my dad wasn't AS bad… b-b-b-but… did your mom…" She began.

'Die? Yes, I was too young to even properly remember her. Can barely put a face to the name.'

Taylor's mouth immediately closed.

"I… uh… I…" She tried to speak.

'Why don't you sit down, I have a story to tell you. It'll help explain some things and help you understand an important lesson.'

Taylor didn't immediately respond. Instead, she went and sat on her bed. After a few seconds, Kiana began the tale of a girl once called K-423.

Later that day…

Danny arrived home to find his daughter just sitting silently on the sofa, her head hung low and her knees to her chest as she hugged herself. He was surprised to see her like this given how she was when he left.

"Taylor…" He spoke up. "Are you alright?"

She just sat there in silence.

"No…" She eventually admitted softly with a hint of shame in her voice. "I feel like a total bitch."

Danny blinked in surprise by her blunt admission.

"Uhmm… why? If you don't mind me asking?" He inquired.

"It's… a long story. You might want to sit down." She answered, patting the spot next to her.

Still a little confused, Danny made his way over regardless. He sat down next to Taylor and looked at her. It was then he noticed something.

"Why do you have a white stripe of hair?" He asked.

She tensed up a bit before relaxing.

"It's… part of what I have to tell you." She stated, as she held out a fist. "Watch."

Growing even more confused, Danny watched as Taylor's fist seemed to do nothing at first. Then arcs of orange energy raked across it before fading. Danny's eyes went wide as they remained fixed on the spot even as Taylor lowered her fist.

"I'm a cape Dad. I… I got powers from being shoved in that locker." Taylor stated.

"I… see…" He muttered.

"I didn't want to tell you. Didn't want you to worry, especially with all that's going on right now. Also… I thought you'd probably push me to join the Wards… which I don't want." Taylor explained.

Well… in a way, she's not wrong. Danny thought to himself. He'd push for her to just not go out and do any sort of hero business. But if he knew his daughter as well as he thought he did, she'd still try regardless. Thus he was still thinking of pushing her to join the Wards regardless of her wishes, just to keep her safe. Something to think about later.

"Then… well… I ah… I'd have to explain my powers a bit more, but for now, let's just say I got a wake up call in how stupid I was being." She stated as she began to shake.

"I'd be lying to you again, doing what got us here in the first place." She declared with a quivering voice. "And even if I did manage to keep this all a secret. What if I died? I know I won't be strong enough to take on the likes of Lung for a while. I'd have kept all of this from you only for you to find out if they ever identify my corpse."

An ice cold fear gripped hold of Danny's heart at the mere thought of such a thing. He brought his daughter into a tight hug almost fearing she'd disappear. She remained there in her father's embracing, working to get a hold of her emotions. The two remained like that for a little while as Taylor calmed down.

"Thank you for telling me." Danny eventually expressed gratefully.

"Sorry I didn't tell you sooner." Taylor mumbled.

Danny shrugged.

"It wasn't that long. Though I'm glad I found out this way and not the way you described. I don't think I would have been able to live with myself if I found out you snuck out to be a hero and wound up dead because of it." He admitted.

"Kind of why I told you." Taylor replied.

Danny nodded.

"So… with all that said about not wanting to die, and since I know I can't convince you to not go out and be a hero, for my sake, how about joining the Wards?" He brought up.

"No." Taylor flatly stated.

"What the… WHY?!" Danny exclaimed.

"Don't wanna, simple as. High school was shit with normal teenagers, the Wards seem like that but with superpowers. So worse." Taylor declared.

"I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad." Danny pointed out.

"Don't feel like chancing it." Taylor returned.

"You'd be less likely to die." Danny pointed out.

"I'll be fine. Just stay away from the big scary rage dragon until I'm strong enough. My powers will grow over time." Taylor returned.

"Which means if you're in the Wards, you can grow safely without having to really worry about anyone attacking you when you're weak." Danny pointed out.

"I'm not going out yet. Not until I feel I'm strong enough." Taylor returned.

"I was more thinking of if they attacked you while you're still training." Danny pointed out.

There was a brief moment of silence as Taylor struggled to come up with a response to that.

"Still don't wanna." She answered.

Danny sighed. He really, REALLY wanted to force this.

"Fine, I won't force you." He relented, wanting to honor his daughter's wishes.

She relaxed in his arms.

"But if you're going to do this, I'm laying down some ground rules. First and foremost I don't want you going out until I feel you're ready." Danny declared.

Taylor nodded at that.

"I already wasn't planning to go out for a while anyways. Kiana wanted me to at least know how to fight before gathering parts to start tinkering so I could build my suit. I wasn't planning on actually going out and doing hero stuff until my first battlesuit was done." She explained.

Danny grew progressively more confused as his daughter spoke.

"Who the hell is Kiana?" He blurted out.

There was an awkward moment of silence.

"I've got a lot to explain about my powers." Taylor replied.

Danny sighed/

"How about we do it over dinner, I'll order us takeout." He suggested.

"Pizza?" She asked.

"Pizza." He answered.

"Yaaaaaaaay…" She cheered.

Danny chuckled as he let go of his daughter to go order dinner.

Later…

"So what you're saying is, you're hearing a voice in your head that's telling you to be a superhero." Danny declared.

Taylor just gave him a flat unamused look. He let out an amused chuckle. She ignored him in favor of her pizza. Her oh so delicious pizza.

'I wish I could have pizza… … … wait a minute.'

Kiana went to work. I don't think you can…

'Ha HA! PIZZA!' Kiana exclaimed as she held a pie of pizza in her hands within Taylor's mind.

Taylor's mouth was agape. Kiana took a slice and bit into it. She moaned in blissful delight from the flavor.

'It's not Mei-senpai's cooking but it tastes oh so good. Just like how you remember it.'

Taylor stared off into the distance with her mouth agape.

"Taylor?! Are you alright?" Danny asked worriedly.

"Kiana just made a mental pizza pie and is eating it in my head." Taylor stated in disbelief.

Danny stared at her for several seconds.

"What?" He questioned.

The two just sat there in silence not eating in confusion. The only sound was the one Taylor heard in her head of Kiana moaning in delight. Eventually they moved on from their confusion and continued eating their dinner.

And that's a wrap. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Just a reminder, I'm going to be slowing down my update schedule to give myself more time to make sure this whole story is really well fleshed out. Till next time. If you want me to be able to produce more content, please consider supporting me on subscribe star. (search zmanxv and the link is on my deviantart page).