Late I know, but school's been kicking my rear end.
Anyways here's the chapter.
Egg 1.6
Taylor chaffed against the ropes around her body, pushing against the tight constricting material with a small grunt of exertion before relaxing while letting out a tired sigh that fell against the duffel bag on her head which blocked all light from view.
It was an all too familiar situation, with all too familiar dangers. The urge to panic and yell was there, just as it had been inside of the locker, but this time it was reduced, lesser in a way.
She didn't know if it was because she had experienced something like this before, or just because she was too tired to panic.
Taylor felt it was probably the latter.
At least there aren't any used products this time...
She paused upon that thought, mulling it over because of just how insane that sounded upon second glance before banishing the thought from her mind. It wouldn't help her here.
After all, she didn't know where she was, what time it was, or who her kidnappers were beyond the fact that they were supervillains, which only made things worse. The only ally she had in this situation, Lisa had been taken just like her and Taylor had no idea if they were together or not.
Despite how crazy that girl was, Taylor hoped that she was fine. Lisa had tried to save her from those ABB members after all, even if that hadn't exactly worked out the way anyone planned.
"I'm taking off the bag. Don't move."
The now familiar deep voice of skull mask echoed through the once quiet room. Taylor tensed and braced herself even as the duffel bag was roughly grabbed and torn off her head. On the way out, it caught some of her face, dragging it up for a moment before it detached from her body, her long hair following the bag's trajectory for a second before falling back down around her head.
Light blinded her.
Taylor blinked, trying to adjust her vision now that she was out of the dark as spots formed in her vision before she squinted, trying to make out the room she was in.
There wasn't much in it, plain white walls without windows as far as she could tell, and there was nothing inside of the room save for a table in front of her and someone in the process of sitting down opposite from her.
Someone with a skull mask over their face. While Taylor had seen it from somewhat far away in the alleyway, now it was up close, mere meters from her, and she could make out all the details of the mask that she previously hadn't been able to make out.
It was an unnerving sight. Despite the fact that she knew it was a person behind that mask, it might as well have been a demon considering what that person was.
Taylor averted her eyes away from the supervillain the second she spotted him. There was no telling what they wanted and she wasn't about to give them reason to hurt her for challenging them or something.
Seconds passed as silence filled the room. Skull mask didn't speak, simply staring at her from behind his mask. Taylor could feel the tension in the air growing as she braced herself for his interrogation.
"Who are you?"
Taylor blinked at the question before a shiver ran down her spine, already on the back foot.
That... was bad. Really bad. If they knew who she was then they could track down her dad, which was the last thing she wanted. Yet on the other hand, if she lied and the supervillain found out that she lied, then they could, and likely would hurt her.
It was a lose lose situation.
"..."
"Speak up, I can't hear you."
Taylor remained silent but after a second forced herself to raise her head as she met skull mask's gaze somewhat head on, even if she was still not looking directly into the eye sockets of the mask.
"...before that, where's Lisa?"
"...that's not import-"
A loud bang suddenly rang out through the room, making both skull mask and Taylor jump in their seats as they both whirled toward the door, which had been blown open. Behind it, a blond haired girl in a purple bodysuit with a domino mask over her eyes stood with her hand stretched forward with her head down looking at the ground.
Taylor stared, taking aback even as the girl lifted her head and stared directly at her with pure malice in her eyes.
Skull mask started to stand up, reaching out a hand toward the newcomer.
"Tattletal-"
"YOU."
Taylor's eyes widened as she pushed herself more against the back of her chair as the newcomer practically stomped over, avoiding skull mask's hand, before stopping to loom over Taylor still trapped in her chair. The person's voice felt vaguely familiar yet Taylor did't get a chance to think about that as the domino mask wearing girl grabbed her shirt before pulling it up as she lowered her own face until it was mere centimetres from Taylor's.
Taylor began to sweat as she tried to look away from the supervillain, before the the supervillain maneuvered Taylor's body so that she was now face to face with the domino mask on the cape's face.
"WHO WAS THAT!"
"I-Wha-"
"WHO!"
"Wh-"
"ANSWER ME!"
"Tattletale!"
The cape finally let go, leaving Taylor to collapse back into her chair before the supervillain looked over at skull mask, fury still clear in her eyes.
"What."
"You need to let her respond."
"...fine."
The supervillain whirled back on Taylor who was doing her best chameleon impression before staring into her eyes with the same fury as before, though this time it was much more subdued.
"Who was the invisible parahuman. I know you know. So tell me."
Taylor didn't know how to respond or if she even should. Aside from the fact that this new cape knew that she had some connection to the goose, confirming any relation to the goose sounded like the worst possible idea she could ever have. Even if this parahuman had doubts, remaining silent still seemed like the best option as the supervillains may just decide to kill her if they knew the truth. Still, not speaking also carried with it the risk of getting killed as well. It was another lose lose dilemma.
"Oh for goodness sake...fine answer this then. If we promise not to hurt you and let you go, will you answer our questions?"
"...how do I know you're telling the truth?"
"Look, who we're after is the invisible parahuman. I know you know more about them than us and since you were also fighting them, its your best interest to help us as well."
No its not.
Taylor began to sweat more as the new cape continued to interrogate her. No matter how she looked at it, the entire situation was terrible and there wasn't anything she could do to try and get out of it. She was quite literally trapped.
"..."
"Do you think we have to use Regent?"
"No, she doesn't deserve that."
"Well she's not talking Tattletale. Violence could also help."
Tattletale sighed.
"She doesn't deserve that either Grue, she may be connected to the parahuman in some way, but she's just a civilian."
"...fine. But we do need answers eventually. We can't be misinformed about a parahuman that powerful in the city."
"Yea yea I know. Boss wants more info as well. Hell, I want more info damn it."
"Then I suppose I'll leave this to you."
"Sure sure."
Tattletale waved skull mask, who's name was apparently Grue, off, before rounding on Taylor again. As the door clicked shut behind Grue, the supervillain sighed before sitting down onto the other chair that Grue had just vacated before glancing over at the other occupant of the room.
"Look, at least tell me this. If that invisible parahuman your enemy?"
Taylor didn't need to think long about that one.
"Yes."
"Then, again, we're on the same side. Look, if that parahuman is going to stick around in this city, then we need to know more about it. I need to know more about it. Then you can leave."
Taylor had the feeling that the cape across from her wasn't used to not knowing things from how frustrated she had gotten. Though, that knowledge didn't help her much. As for the offer... she wasn't sure about that either. Making a deal with supervillains sounded like a terrible idea, but she did need to find a way to put an end to the goose and superpowers would probably help with that... and it wasn't as if she had much of a choice in the first place considering her situation.
"...fine. I'll tell you what I can."
"That's a lie. But so long as you give us something we can use, that'll have to be good enough..."
"...wait."
The supervillain paused as she was about to get out of the chair at Taylor's words before she looked at her with an annoyed expression.
"What."
"Where's Lisa?"
"...don't worry, your friend hasn't been hurt. Physically at least."
"...wha-"
"Anyways."
Tattletale stood up and walked over to the door before opening it and yelling through the entrance.
"HEY GRUE! I'm letting her out, she's ready to talk!"
Following the statement, Tattletale walked over to where Taylor was sitting before untying the ropes.
"...wait aren't you afraid I'm going to escape?"
"Tying you up was more of a formality than anything anyways. If you run, you won't make it far, trust me."
"...great."
After a moment she had been untied, and as Taylor stood, her legs protesting at the sudden movement, Tattletale motioned toward the door with her head.
"Alright lets go. You first."
"...okay."
Taylor walked cautiously out of the door and into the rest of the house beyond.
It was... a normal house. That was aside from the costumed supervillains who inhabited it. There was a couch, a TV and a dining area just like any other house. Yet the normality of the house was undermined by the three figures within.
First was Grue, who was standing up against one of the walls. His gaze was firmly attached to Taylor, which was still unnerving, but her attention was quickly grabbed by the other two people in the room. At the far end crouching on the ground was dog mask girl, who was currently feeding a regular dog. As soon as Taylor entered the room, the dog stood up, growling at her, which caused their owner to look up as well. Then finally, there was the Shakespeare cosplayer who was lounging on the couch who looked to be without a worry in the world.
Taylor envied that. She really did.
"Well?"
Taylor turned to Grue before Tattletale pushed her from behind further into the room as she had frozen involuntarily at the sight of the capes.
"I- uh..."
She tried to force words out before Tattletale grabbed her arm and dragged her over in front of the couch before the supervillain let go and collapsed into the couch even as the cosplayer let out an indignant noise in response to his space getting violated before Tattletale looked up at Taylor who was now standing awkwardly in front of the TV.
"Talk."
"...right. Umm..."
Am I really doing this? If they find out that I'm the goose's master, then I'm screwed. Still, I'm screwed if I don't say anything as well...
"So uhh-... as far as I know the parahuman is both invisible and inaudible..."
"That much was already obvious."
"Right, right... I've been trying to kill it for some time now and nothing I've tried has worked."
"...go on."
"It's- It's pretty much hard to hurt. You can hit it but it never takes any damage from what I've seen."
"...from what you've seen?"
"Yea."
Tattletale looked over at Grue and Taylor looked at them confus-
FUCK. Fuck. FUCK. Shit.
"Uhh- fuck- I mean- I-"
"So you can see it then?"
Taylor looked at Tattletale as if she was the devil. Which she may as well have been. Clamming up, Taylor refused to say another word even as inscrutable dread filled her body from top to bottom. Then just as Tattletale was about to speak, the sound of a phone ringing echoed across the room.
Tattletale reached into her pocket and took out the offending phone before accepting the call, her tone cautious.
"Hello?"
Then as a few seconds passed and the caller presumably replied, Tattletale tensed up.
"A warehouse? Where?"
A few more tense moments passed in silence as Grue looked over at Tattletale, which thankfully drew attention away from Taylor.
"That's Lung's territory."
Grue tensed up.
"...the docks?"
More silence.
"The merchants as well?"
Even more silence.
"...understood."
Tattletale ended the call and put down the phone before glaring up at Taylor.
"Well it looks like your target just set fire to one of Lung's warehouses and stole from the merchants.
Taylor's eyes widened.
What?
"And apparently you can see it while no one else can. Why is that? Are you a parahuman?"
"...no-"
"So you are."
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
At the proclamation, Grue, dog mask girl and even the cosplayer all tensed up as the cosplayer sat up in the couch, with his full undivided attention on Taylor as the girl in question flinched back.
"Well that clears some things up. Also don't worry, I don't know what her power is but she doesn't have the ability to harm us."
"Oh. Well you should have just said so."
With that the cosplayer flopped back onto the couch even as Grue turned his attention to glare at the other cape with visible disapproval.
"So you're a cape and you can see the parahuman. Interesting. You must know who they are then."
"I- I mean...wait..."
Taylor paused, thinking for a moment. Then, taking a deep breath, she reviewed what the cape had said. She knew that she had been trying to take out the goose. She also knew that she had seen the goose before. But how?
"Did- did Lisa tell you all this?"
Tattletale tensed up before she looked into Taylor's eyes, this time much more alert than before.
"...what do you mean?"
"Did she tell you that I was hunting down the parahuman? That I was its enemy? That I had a history with it? You weren't there yet you kno-"
"Yes. She was the one who told me."
"...what did you do to her? She just got caught up in the situation, she wasn't-"
"We didn't do anything to her. We just asked her questions and let her on her way."
Taylor seriously doubted that was the case but let it go for fairly obvious reasons. As much as she wanted to confirm Lisa's safety, there was little she could do about it right now with her own safety in so much doubt.
"Now back to the parahuman's identity. Can you tell us who they are?"
"...I can't."
"That's only partly true, now talk."
"..."
"Tattletale."
"Yea yea Grue I got it."
The supervillain sighed before standing up from the couch. Walking over to where Taylor was standing, she stopped a very short distance from her before looking at her more intensely than before. Taylor got chills almost immediately.
"Look, until you tell us what you know, we have no choice but to keep you here. And no one here wants that but we can if we need to. You clearly know more than you've told us. Also, you're a parahuman. Once that gets around, and it will, you're life will be in danger. It already is considering who you're trying to kill."
"..."
"You're new to the scene. Has anyone even told you about the unwritten rules yet?"
"...the what?"
"Thought so. Well, basically there are a few unwritten rules that parahumans follow so that society doesn't collapse in on itself. Things such as no killing children, no attacking capes in their civilian identities, no attacking family members of capes, other stuff like that. Because of the unwritten rules, the cape scene is more like a game of cops and robbers than a war. Of course, they don't apply to everyone but they keep things civil for the most part."
"...why are you telling me this?"
"Well, its so that you understand the stakes. Whether you want it or not, you're in the game now. So is the invisible parahuman. But they've already broken the rules. A lot more people than just you are going to be gunning for them now."
That was... good. It meant the goose was less of her problem. Yet, that didn't mean it wasn't. Taylor had never seen it get injured once. It would come back for her in time. She couldn't let it roam free, both for her own sake and for the sake of regular people who didn't deserve getting a goose like that dropped on them out of the blue.
"So then, if you tell us more about this parahuman, then we can spread the information around so that it can be dealt with."
It wasn't a bad idea. At least Taylor thought it wasn't. Then again, it could easily be a trap considering who she was dealing with. Now the only question was if she could accept working with villains to put down the goose.
...she could. For the greater good she could. She didn't trust them, but she could trust in self preservation. If she fed information to the PRT as well-
"You're thinking of going to the PRT as well, aren't you?"
Taylor flinched as her thoughts were put into words by Tattletale.
"Don't even bother. It's not worth it. If they figure out that you're a parahuman too, which they will, then they won't ever let you go. You know that right? Say what you will about us, we can't chase you down across an entire country or even world if we want to find you. Also they have their hands tied with the ABB and the Empire."
Taylor considered the supervillain's words. It would be foolish to simply accept them but the same went for straight denial. Still, she was pretty convincing. Getting outed as a parahuman to the PRT was one of the worst case scenarios she could think of, especially if the true nature of her power got out.
"You know what, why don't you join us?"
"Tattletale!"
The cape in question turned to Grue.
"What? I meant temporarily. She has a vendetta against the invisible parahuman and she's going to get herself killed if she keeps at it alone. It's also a threat to us as well, remember? She has the most experience with the parahuman and that'll help, not to mention she has powers herself, even if they aren't that useful in direct combat. Besides, Coil wants the invisible parahuman gone."
"...will she join us for jobs?"
"I doubt it. She doesn't want to join us, and I doubt she'll help us commit crimes, but for the sake of taking out the parahuman, working together sounds like the best option."
Grue looked contemplative for a moment before turning to the cosplayer who was still on the couch.
"What do you think about this Regent?"
"If Ms. Know It All thinks its a good idea, then its probably a good idea."
The skull mask cape then turned to the other occupant of the room.
"Bitch?"
Did he just call her a bitch again?
"No."
Yet this time it was Tattletale that responded instead of Grue.
"And why not? She won't take any shares of the money while being in the team."
The dog mask girl growled in response and instead of responding, stood up and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind her. The rest of those in the room, including Taylor and excluding Regent watched her leave before Tattletale turned back to Taylor.
"She's outvoted anyways."
"I still haven't voted."
"But you will. Look, Grue you can see the benefits of this as well."
"...fine yes."
"So she's outvoted. Anyways what do you think?"
Taylor didn't know what to say. Her, a supervillain? Well not exactly considering they would only be working together to take down the goose, which did sound appealing, but still, supervillain.
But on the other hand, taking down the goose...
Taylor thought long and hard about it. Her instinctive answer was no, getting involved with supervillains regardless of how low level they were was a bad idea. Yet if she let the goose roam free, more people would get hurt. And she had a better chance of putting a stop to it if she had actual capes on board. Additionally, being a member of a team would probably protect her from other groups who would be hunting for her once they found out she existed.
In the end, she caved.
"...fine. Just for now. And for your information, I'm not going to get involved in any of your crimes."
And the second the goose was gone, she would leave.
"That's fine. We only really want your cooperation with this issue anyways. So, welcome to the team!"
Grue looked away while Regent continued to be in his own world. It didn't really feel like a welcoming.
"Anyways, now that you're a part of the team, want to tell us anything else about the parahuman?"
Taylor looked at the three capes in front of her. Her new team, even if that thought was insane. But they had committed to helping her out. They deserved to know, if not the truth, then most of the truth. Just not the parts that would get her killed. Mentally preparing herself for the confession, Taylor took a deep breath in before saying something she would never be able to take back.
"...its a goose."
There was dead silence in the room. Tattletale blinked. Grue turned toward Taylor with confusion evident even behind the mask. And Regent looked over at her for the first time since she had entered the room.
"...what?"
"The parahuman, its- its a goose."
"...I'm sorry could you repeat that one more time?"
Taylor was a bit startled to hear Regent addressing her but responded all the same.
"I can see it, its not human. Its literally a goose. Like the animal. It honks. It can fly. It can't be hurt. Its only purpose as far as I can tell is to cause chaos. It doesn't care who you are or how strong you are because its a goose. It attacks and harasses without care or hesitation. It doesn't feel remorse, fear, or guilt. It just destroys."
Dead silence again. Taylor lowered her head, feeling both fear and relief at having spilled the beans. It was nice to know that other people knew her pain even if they were supervillains. Tattletale looked dumbstruck. Grue wasn't moving.
So that was why Taylor flinched back a bit when Regent stood up, slowly pushing himself off of the couch as everyone else looked at him before he stood at his full height. Turning, he faced the rest of them, who were all still in complete silence. Then, he spoke.
"We're fucked."
A/N:
So basically exam season has been rough. It's not even that I haven't had time to write, it's that studying and writing exams have drained my energy and motivation to the point where I've been using my free time to just mindlessly scroll through youtube and reading sites.
But I've finally finished a chapter so hooray for that. I have no clue how the rest of exam break is going to pan out, I still have quite a few exams left so updates for this story are kind of up in the air rn.
Anyways for the actual chapter, I wrote a bit more than usual which I didn't expect but that's just how the chapter worked out. This chapter is the end of the first arc btw. Taylor finally tells other people what's going on and they're just as lost as she is. No goose in this chapter unfortunately but as this isn't crack I do need to do plot stuff as well. Not to worry, the goose will return as it always does.
As for why the Undersiders are helping Taylor out, its a mix of self preservation as Lisa got attacked by the goose out of costume which was a big yikes moment for them and also because of Coil, who's perspective will come up soon enough.
Anyways hope you enjoyed the chapter.