So that last chapter didn't have that much comedy.

For some reason my brain wants this story to have an actual plot for some reason.

Not sure how to feel about this but the train stops for none, not even me.

Egg 1.4

"Taylor, are you really okay?"

"Yea dad, I'm fine."

Taylor turned her head away from her dad to look out the window as the world sped by. She could feel the concerned gaze of her father on the back of her head. It stung but to be honest, she just wanted to home at this point. The entire day had been a giant mess and she wanted it to be over.

Her dad has asked her if she was fine multiple times at this point, to which she had responded with the same dismissive answers. Even now, the image of the goose waddling away from the crowd of students was burned into her mind, distracting her from the present.

Well that and her exhaustion.

The only saving grace was that she hadn't been in the hallway when the "parahuman" had apparently discharged Armsmasters halberd, getting past all of his safety mechanisms in less than a second before taking out an entire hallway of students. Still, the injuries that she had sustained in the brawl hurt, even if the paramedics had cleared her.

Luckily, none of the students had been seriously harmed, but it had been a close call and several students had been taken away by the ambulances following the incident. A statement had already been released by the PRT, detailing their version of the events at the school, and the "parahuman" had been classified as a stranger and thinker with unknown threat levels for both classifications. A warning had been given for civilians to run away in the event that they saw an object moving by itself.

For some reason, Taylor doubted that the measure would work in the way that the PRT intended. It was more a gut feeling than anything else but if she could bet on it, she would.

"Look, Taylor..."

Taylor refused to turn. Perhaps on another day she would have put in the effort but not today. Yet despite that, she sighed internally and prepared herself for the conversation ahead. her dad was concerned. That was reasonable, fine even. Yet in the immediate aftermath of her hospitalization following the locker incident, he had been concerned as well. Yet soon enough, his fire, which had once been so bright, flickered out again, just as it had after the death of her mom. Taylor doubted that her father's concern would last long this time either. Authority figures in her life had a habit of letting her down. At this point, she had just learned to accept it.

"I know I haven't been the best dad..."

Taylor tried her best to create a judgmental silence all while not moving a muscle.

"But your hospitalization made me realize something. I- when I got the call from the hospital I thought I might have lost you as well."

Taylor flopped down into her chair further. Despite her exhaustion, despite the living hell she had been living through, her dad's words struck home, conjuring up the image of her mother. Yet at the same time, more recent memories also came to the forefront, of her dad losing himself in drink and misery, leaving her to face the world alone.

"And I know that after the settlement I went back to being a terrible parent but today I thought I lost you again. I- Taylor?"

Taylor finally turned to look at her dad with one of her eyes, only to be met with the broken expression of Danny Hebert which tugged at her heart.

Damn it...

"Yea dad?"

"I- just- is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Taylor focused her eyes onto the road. Exhausted as she was, both mentally and emotionally, she didn't know how to react to her dad's heartfelt remarks. In all honesty, she wished that he had done this another time but at the same time, it was the first that her dad had truly opened up to her since the accident. She willed herself to face him.

"I- I don't know dad."

"...I understand. Just- if you need anything."

"Alright."

Taylor turned away again, the conversation somehow having taken more energy than the entire rest of the day combined. Still, it was a start. And to be honest, she did miss her dad. The only issue was that she didn't know if she was ready to forgive him yet.

"In more recent news, the attack on Winslow High by the unknown parahuman today has resulted in several injuries to students. Thankfully, it seems that all have made a full recovery but the villain remains at large. Arms-"

Taylor raised her head at the sound of the radio before she turned back to her father. For a moment, the desire to remain silent was overwhelming but she pushed it down.

"Hey dad, you're the hiring manager for the Dockworkers Union, right?"

Danny Hebert blinked.

"I- yes?"

"Do you have any goose repellant?"

"...I would have to check. I'll ask around."

"Alright. If you find any, can I have it?'

Taylor's dad looked puzzled but before long, a small grin made its way onto his face.

"Sure Taylor."

Taylor continued to look out the window, her emotions in turmoil. This didn't mean that she had forgiven him. She was just using the tools available to her to take out her mortal enemy. That was all.

(~)

"Damn it, why did I do that..."

Taylor slammed her head over and over into her pillow.

School had been temporarily cancelled for the next few days. That was to be expected of course, but the context of that had changed. For one, now that the adrenaline and exhaustion of the previous day had worn off, she had been waiting for the other shoe to drop at any moment. Police showing up at her house, or maybe even the Protectorate. Yet despite that, none had come. But the feeling of fearful anticipation still remained as she had stressed out since waking up about how she would deal with the authorities when they came.

And they would come, Taylor knew that. With her word against Emma's, it was almost certain that she would lose.

The only thing that she could be thankful for was that her injuries had all been minor and while some did bruise, they weren't very noticeable.

But as time passed, no one came. The seconds, minutes and hours ticked by without anything happening.

And slowly but surely, she calmed down. After all, there was nothing she could do about it now.

Frustration soon took over. Punching Emma had been a moment of pure catharsis, yes, but the situation she was in hadn't changed.

Still, now that she was thinking straight, school being cancelled did have one benefit aside from staying as far from Emma and the rest of the Trio as possible.

It would give her time to finally work out a way to take out the goose.

Taylor stood up and sat down in her chair before grabbing a pencil and a stack of papers, putting the events of yesterday out her her mind.

Continuing to worry about the police and Emma wouldn't lead anywhere. She knew that. And so, she reverted back to her new purpose.

Drawing up more plans to finally take out the goose once and for all.

Taylor sighed heavily before getting to work.

The issue with her past few plans had been that they were either based on a small amount of data or a spur of the moment decision, which resulted in failure. She had failed to stop the goose while it was in her home, and she had also failed to stop the goose in the brawl at the school. Now that she had sort of claimed responsibility for the creature, it being her power and all, she couldn't rest until it was dealt with.

So, with a will that could only come from unending rage, she began to draw up more plans.

First of all, it had become clear that she alone was not enough to take the goose out. Not only was she just too physically weak to topple the creature, but it seemed to be fearless and unafraid of pain. Taylor didn't think she had seen the goose flinch once in the time that she had known it, even when it had been hit by Sophia. And Taylor knew first hand that Sophia could hit hard when she wanted to. So, she would need help. The Protectorate would likely be the best option, but that ran the risk of being outed as a cape.

And of course, as the master, if that term could even be applied, to the goose which had just launched a terrorist attack on a school.

Taylor crossed out one of the ideas on her page.

Nope.

There was a small chance that she could trick the Protectorate into taking out the goose for her, however as it would have to be in a manner that didn't out her as a parahuman, it was just too risky right now. Perhaps later on if the opportunity presented itself but until then it was a no go.

Going to the gangs was out for obvious reasons, so she would either have to trick the continent spanning organization with access to the best thinkers in the world or find an alternative that wasn't going to kill her on sight.

Taylor put down her pencil. No matter how much she thought about it, she didn't have an answer. So for now, all she could do was gather more data.

Primarily, how durable the goose was and if it could even be killed. Taylor had done some research online, and from online articles, it seemed that most projections couldn't die permanently so long as the master was alive.

So that meant that either the goose could die, and she could summon it back to life, if that was even within her control, or the goose wouldn't die unless she did.

Which... was an issue to be sure but one that Taylor would ignore until she confirmed what category the goose was in. Besides, it wasn't as if the goose couldn't be permanently trapped after all.

Taylor doubted that the even the goose could escape the Birdcage if it came to it.

...Surely.

Taylor blinked.

It couldn't right?

After a moment of hesitation, she crushed her doubts.

No, there's no way. If the worst villains in the world can't escape, then I doubt the goose could either.

Now a bit more confident in her answer, Taylor stood up from her desk and grabbed the goose repellent that her father had given to her. Apparently one of the dockworkers had moved to Brockton Bay from Montreal in the wake of Heartbreaker's rise to prominence in the city, and had been willing to part with it.

Of course, hearing that story from her father had brought her no small amount of fear. An entire country, the second largest in the world, filled with geese... the thought terrified her. Almost as much as the thought of someone deciding that Brockton Bay was a better choice of city for habitation than their original home. Though, if she was living in the aforementioned hell on earth that was Canada, she would probably move too so Taylor supposed she couldn't say anything.

"Dad, I'm heading out to run."

"...are you sure Taylor? Your injuries don't hurt anymore?"

"...yea."

An awkward pause enveloped them before her dad sighed. Ever since the day before, their relationship had improved a bit but things were still strained between them. For a moment, Taylor was afraid that her dad would say no but eventually he relented.

"Just- Just make sure your careful out there. You do have that pepper spray I gave you yesterday right?"

"I do."

"...alright, have a good day."

"You too dad."

Taylor nodded to her dad before leaving. Dropping her hand to her waist, she felt the two cannisters that she had packed for this trip.

Pepper spray wasn't the only thing she was carrying today.

(~)

Ever since it had waddled away from the brawl at the school, Taylor had seen neither feather nor tail of the goose ever since. A blessing, yes, however she refused to be complacent. It could return at any time, at any place and she would be caught completely unawares. Much better to seek the goose out and face it prepared.

That alongside with the fact that she needed to know exactly what the goose was capable of had spurred her to action.

Eventually, her search led her to the boardwalk.

Taylor had never liked the boardwalk. It was public, flashy, and popular.

Everything she was not. In fact, it reminded her of Emma, which was never a good thing.

Even now, as the whispers and conversation of the crowd buzzed around her, Taylor couldn't help but feel that they were talking about her, in the same way that the students of Winslow would, even if she knew that that was paranoia. Unlike in Winslow, people at the Boardwalk had better things to do than discuss some random girl.

Before now, she would never have considered coming here, but from what she had seen of the goose so far, it seemed to like crowded places, where it could cause the maximum amount of chaos. The boardwalk was the perfect place for that, and so it was where Taylor had decided to start her search.

Of course, she had come prepared. Her baggy clothing had actually provided an additional advantage aside from blending into the background, and that was that she could carry a lot of stuff at once. Including, a camera.

While her father had banned the use of phones in their household ever since her mom died years ago, he had still kept a camera which Taylor had borrowed for the day.

While she was pretty sure that cameras wouldn't be able to pick up the goose either, Taylor had decided to test it out just in case. It would be pretty stupid of her if cameras could pick up the goose and she had already done a million other things to try and remove the goose before she found that out.

Walking through the boardwalk was a strange and new feeling for her. In fact, Taylor reckoned that it was one of the first times that she had ever come to the Boardwalk since she was a kid.

It was surreal in a way. The amount of people did get on her nerves though, it felt a bit too much like the brawl. Still, she was here for a reason and that reason pushed her forward through the crowds and past her doubts.

She became a part of the crowd, one individual amongst hundreds, fading into it.

Going from store to store proved to be more difficult. She wasn't exactly the type to shop for clothes and it showed. Still, it couldn't be helped so she entered a store, looked around for a minute or two before leaving to the next one.

This process continued for a while, however the goose was nowhere to be found.

Yet Taylor was not deterred.

Walking past several restaurants, she continued her search, her eyes sweeping across the vast arrays of people in front of her before her gaze was suddenly caught by someone looking directly at her.

It was a girl, similar to her age with dark blonde hair and green eyes. For a moment, they stared at each other as Taylor noticed a puzzled expression on the other girl's face before Taylor turned her eyes down and away as she was used to doing when meeting someone's gaze. Putting the girl out of her mind, she started walking again to continue her search.

She didn't have time to care about what other people were doing, she had to find the goose.

Of course, that was her thought process until she suddenly felt someone tap her on the back. Jumping a bit, she whirled on the spot, only to meet a set of familiar green eyes and dark blonde hair. It was the girl that she had met eyes with only moments prior.

Taylor froze up.

Despite everything, despite her actions at the brawl, old instincts died hard and painfully and as such she didn't know how to begin to react when the stranger began to speak.

"Hey, are you looking for something?"

"I-I uh no?"

"...Right. Look, it's pretty clear that you're new to the Boardwalk. How about I help you out with whatever you're looking for?"

Taylor's first response to the girl's forwardness was to double down immediately, backing away from her while holding her hands up.

"A-Actually, I'm just looking around. I don't need help?"

Yet her answer came out more as a question than an answer.

The girl smiled. It was a strange smile, not quite like Emma's smile, but it had a strange quality to it that seemed a bit similar.

Smugness maybe?

Taylor didn't like it. In fact, the idea that a random stranger would go out of their way to help her in particular was setting off warning bells by the hundreds.

As such, Taylor continued to try to extricate herself from the conversation yet the girl continued to press, bulldozing over her answers.

"Well, it kind of looks like you do. See, I've been around here a lot and it's pretty easy to tell when someone's new. I make a point to help people who are lost around here. So? Is there anything in particular you're looking for?"

"Umm..."

Taylor started to panic. She had already exhausted her now apparently very short list of conversation enders and now she was stuck in a bind. With her mind racing, she eventually resigned herself to playing along until she could detangle herself from the situation and escape.

"Yea... I could probably use some help."

"That's the spirit. By the way, the name's Lisa. Now, where to first?"

Taylor sighed.

It was going to be a long day.

A/N:

Taylor begins her investigation into the goose and runs into a certain blonde. First chapter in the entire story without the goose making an appearance but I figured after the past few chapters focusing on nothing but the goose, a short break would probably be good. Don't worry though, your regularly scheduled nature documentary will resume in a chapter or two.

Anyways the next chapter will be another interlude, you can probably guess from who.