omake32
Uatu (standing on the moon): "There are many tales of Taylor Anne Hebert, her life sliding from talkative little girl to self-justifying supervillain and unreliable narrator. In most cases, she had a mother named Annette Rose Hebert who died before Taylor's story could really begin. In most cases, the death of that mother causes the family to fall apart and sets the path that Taylor walks thereafter."
Uatu steps to the side and images of different versions of the woman flickers into being on a screen that hangs in midair.
Uatu: "Which brings the question of how could an alteration of one person alter the paths that Taylor Hebert walks. And if she walks a different path, how does that affect the world around her? That is the question I observe today, for I am Uatu - known by some as the Watcher."
"She's almost here," said Emma.
"Yeah, you said she's weak and useless? You don't need that sort of trash tying you down," said Sophia. "Be strong."
"Right," said Emma.
Emma opened the door and stepped out a few minutes later, and Sophia arranged to be right behind Emma. It was Emma who needed to cut these ties and grow stronger after all.
Why was there the sound of something big approaching? Sophia glanced out past Emma's shoulder and saw a green triceratops come charging down the street, then shift into a green-tinted tall and gawky-looking girl.
"Emma! You wouldn't believe the stuff I saw over the summer!" started the green girl.
"Taylor! You aren't going to like this but I have to tell you-" began Emma.
"Emma?" asked Sophia. "That's Beast Girl. You know Beast Girl?!"
"Uhm," said Emma.
"Oh hi," said Beast Girl, waving awkwardly.
"I was a big fan of the way you turned into a club-tailed dinosaur and slapped Hookwolf out into the bay when the Empire tried to claim the Docks last year!" said Sophia. She liked predators after all and this girl could do ALL the predators. Also the more badass prey animals and things she'd never seen on Animal Planet.
"Oh yeah, I don't know who posted that video," confessed Beast Girl.
"Taylor, you're weak, and our friendship is through!" tried Emma.
"Huh?" asked Beast Girl and Sophia.
"Wait. Beast Girl is the childhood friend you said was weak?" said Sophia. "She smacked Hookwolf into the Bay. He skipped like a rock three times. Went glub glub. How was that not awesome?"
"It was kind of instinctive, you know," said Beast Girl. "Uhm, Emma?"
"Get lost, Taylor! We're through! Don't come back again!" said Emma, going back into the house and slamming the door.
Sophia, having come out during all that, stared at the door and then back at Beast Girl before sighing. "I'll talk to her. Just give her some space for now, okay?"
Sophia watched as the green girl became a monkey which quickly clambered up a tree only to shift into an eagle and fly away.
Too bad, Sophia decided as she went into the house after Emma. Have to figure out why Emma thought someone who could change into any animal that had ever lived or died on Earth was weak - that just didn't make any sense.
* Danny *
"Something wrong, Taylor?" asked Danny Hebert.
"Emma broke off our friendship, said she didn't want to see me anymore," confessed Taylor.
"That's weird," admitted Danny. "Maybe she's just tired of the cape drama thing, distancing herself rather than be a potential target? I went through that with your mother after all."
"That makes sense," said Taylor, still saddened by it.
"Well, that makes the decision on schools easier," said Danny. "I never wanted you to go to Winslow considering how many Empire kids go there."
"True," said Taylor, not cheering up though. Losing what had been a lifelong friend wasn't easily dismissed.
* PRT ENE HQ *
Director Emily Piggot checked and nodded as she went through daily updates.
Beast Girl was back in town after Alexandria's little "summer camp" for capes. The daughter of Annette Hebert, the deceased bio-enhancement Tinker who had saved her daughter's life by giving that daughter the power to change into animals. A note indicated that Taylor had also filed the paperwork for a change from Winslow to Arcadia High School.
Which was actually a relief, as she had expected some Empire kids to be thrown out a window by a giant green gorilla within the first week if Taylor Hebert ended up in Winslow.
There was currently a truce, such as it was, between the Dockworkers and the Empire. Which had come from Danny Hebert negotiating from a position of strength after an attempt by the Empire to take the section of the Docks controlled by the Union. As the DWU was the only gang she didn't have to worry about as far as the usual crime or territory conflicts - that was welcome.
She'd still feel better if she could get Beast Girl in the Wards, but that might shift the balance of power and cause the whole house of cards to collapse so she could accept that lack.
Having the Dallons there though - that might mean that Beast Girl might end up in New Wave. That would be more acceptable as there would be some adult oversight.
* Armsmaster *
"Armsmaster Log 08162009A. Taylor Hebert, aka Beast Girl, has returned from the Alexandria Summer Camp for Capes. This year the Camp was held in the refurbished ghost town of Los Diablos in New Mexico. Beast Girl is the Changer 8 variform that has the ability to transform into any animal that has ever lived or died on an Earth, so long as she can see an example or video reconstruction of it. The major restrictions noted are that she cannot shift her mass below that of a field mouse or hummingbird, or significantly above that of a blue whale. The oldest organism she can duplicate was from the Devonian Period.
"Beast Girl is an open cape due to her base and Changer forms all being the same shade of green. Power was due to a childhood illness caused by exposure to a Nilbog virus. Her mother, Professor Animus, was a bio-enhancement Tinker responsible for creating healer-spores and regenerative symbiotes that aided in the survival rates of Endbringer battles until her death in 2007.
"Beast Girl has applied for starting high school at Arcadia High School. There is a chance that interaction with existing Wards or New Wave members at that school will lead to her joining one of the two groups. Hopefully soon as she currently has no support outside what the Dockworkers Union can provide.
"Glory Girl, on the other hand, was at the corner of Bleeker and Washington at 2135 hours last night where she uprooted a stop sign and used it to stop a getaway vehicle after three ABB members were leaving the scene of an armed hold-up of Julio's Quickmart. She did this by impaling the vehicle's engine with the post of the stop sign. Vehicle damaged. Sign needs to be replaced. Also damage to two other businesses in the area due to the vehicle crashing. This is one of the least damaging interventions by Glory Girl, and hopefully she will continue the trend."
* 8/18/2009 *
A dolphin, green in color, splashed around in the bay.
Sometimes being nude made her really self-conscious. Even if it was only when she was in an animal form.
Fortunately her powers made it so that she could take her clothes with her, as long as it wasn't too billowy or fancy. Skinny jeans and a tee were usually good enough. Though she kept going through jackets as nothing that protected against Brockton Bay winters was sufficiently tight for the morphic field to handle.
What made this really good for her was that shifting forms translated exercise as well. She'd been getting a little potbelly at one point but dolphin form was really good for working on her abs.
Her mom had been a genius after all, once she'd gotten her powers she'd switched from English studies to Biology and Parahuman Studies. As Professor Animus she'd come up with a lot of things that had survived her.
Including her own powers, as Beast Girl she was always looking for new forms to analyze and copy. The summer camp had been more about working with others and trying out new uses for animals she usually used.
Changing into some animals during her "down time" to amuse herself and the others. That had been kind of fun.
She still didn't know what was going on with Emma, but Emma knew where she lived. When she was ready to talk, she could.
* Watcher *
"And so it is that Taylor Hebert lives a life where she is Beast Girl, from a mother who was a Rogue cape. She goes on to make friends and accomplish many things. So what about if Taylor's mother was an actual hero?"
* Barnes' House *
"She's weak and holding you back, you don't need that sort of thing," said Sophia.
"Right, get this - she spent a whole week crying about her mother dying to an Endbringer!" scoffed Emma. "How weak is that?"
"Uhm. Right," said Sophia, thinking that didn't sound all that weak. Unless she was non-stop crying or something. "An Endbringer attack?" Lots of people died in anything involving an Endbringer.
"Yeah, her Mom went off to fight an Endbringer," said Emma, making a dismissive gesture. "How stupid is THAT?"
"Wait... you said 'fight'?" asked Sophia. "Was her mom a cape?"
"Yeah, shhhh. Here she comes," said Emma, screwing up her courage. "I'll cut these ties holding me down."
Sophia watched as some tall-looking girl came down the street. "Villain mom?"
"Her mom was Yeoman."
Sophia blinked, slowly turned her attention to Emma, and then mouthed the words. "Yeoman? The Golden Archer who put seven arrows - one in each of Leviathan's eyes? THAT Yeoman?"
"Yeah. So?" asked Emma.
"Two things," said Sophia, her voice lowered as the newcomer was almost there. "One. You don't unmask capes or their families. It's a really bad thing in cape culture. Only the worst villains do that. Second, Yeoman was freaking badass. Got an Endbringer charging you and you're freaking quoting Shakespeare while shooting arrows at the thing? That's not lame. That's going out hardcore. A bunch of the other capes got out of the way and lived cause she was drawing its attention."
"It was lame, she still died and her family fell apart after that," said Emma, stepping forward to be able to properly tell Taylor off.
Sophia glanced at Emma and then studied the "weak girl" she didn't know. She didn't remember much Shakespeare, and the only things she could remember off the top of her head were the parts Yeoman had spoken at that last fight. She realized she didn't even know where the quote had come from without looking it up.
She still considered it pretty badass. Go out of this life in such a fashion that even your enemies raised a toast to your memory. Yeah, though she'd prefer it if her enemies kept checking behind themselves to make sure she hadn't staged it just to get the drop on them.
She'd have to keep an eye on Hebert. With that kind of parent, she might have some depths to her.
* September 5, 2009 *
"No, I don't think we should physically bully her," protested Sophia. Hebert hadn't done anything despite the school bullying. So far.
"You're worrying too much. It's just Taylor," insisted Emma.
"Yeah, I shoulder-checked her. She just looks like she's skin-and-bones," explained Sophia. "More solid than you'd expect. She knows any martial arts?"
"Yeah, her mom insisted on her learning some lame style," said Emma. "Not that she'll use it for anything."
"What style of martial arts, do you know?" asked Sophia, again getting the feeling that she wasn't going to like the answer.
"Couple of 'em, she couldn't even commit to ONE style," scoffed Emma. "Started out with some weird karate thing and the moo tai. Sounds more like something you'd get at a Chinese restaurant, right?"
"Muay Thai," said Sophia. So, punches, elbow and knee strikes, kicks. The style of karate could mean a lot of things. Most relied on punches and kicks primarily, with a few throws. She'd seen enough ABB gangers who had some of that stuff. "You don't know what karate style though? Some of them do throws and I don't want to bodycheck her and get thrown over the stairs." Also - learning more than one style of martial arts meant someone could mix stuff up - which was what a lot of martial artists did.
"Nah, some weird style a friend of her mother's teaches outside the Bay. She usually has a summer camp she goes to for that."
Sophia nodded. Friend of Yeoman. Yeah, that could be a problem. "You don't know the name of the school or the teacher though? Pity." She unscrewed her water bottle and took a sip.
"She'd natter on about it but it wasn't important," said Emma.
Sophia shook her head. She'd dismiss it as it was a skinny girl who hadn't responded much to attacks. Still, Emma apparently knew the girl pretty well so what could go wrong?
* September 6, 2009 *
What could go wrong?
As it turned out - lots of things could go very wrong, very fast, very thoroughly.
Sophia had also determined that when Taylor Hebert had decided enough was enough - that she could get pretty darn insistent.
She also now knew the style of martial arts that Taylor Hebert knew. And she knew that Taylor Hebert counted as a parahuman.
Her mother, Yeoman, had the ability to charge weapons with various effects - mainly a piercing effect on arrows that allowed them to tunnel into materials that a metal-tipped arrow normally wouldn't. The glowing trails that the arrows left behind were kind of distinctive in the videos she'd seen.
Taylor Hebert could put something similar into her fists. Something that caused her fists to glow and then she could hit Sophia despite using her shadow power.
So, no chance of a team-up, and she was pretty sure she could kill Hebert if she ambushed her without any warning.
On the other hand, Hebert was transferring to a different school and the two of them might not cross paths in the future.
* September 30, 2009 *
"Emma. You're a smart girl. WHY did you try to attack Taylor?"
"Mom! I didn't! Tay's just making stuff up!"
"I saw the video."
"Uhhh. 'Video'?"
"Uh huh."
"Uhm, what video? You know they fake video all the time!"
"Emma. Taylor's been taking martial arts lessons for years. You know who her mother was."
"lame and stupid."
"What did you say?!"
"I didn't mean it! No, not the soap! Mommmmm!"
* Uatu, the Watcher *
"And so life goes on with Taylor going to Arcadia, Emma and Sophia going to Winslow, and eventually things fall into a familiar pattern. Taylor's ability to 'charge' her fists and feet with concussive force gets the attention of the PRT in 2010 and things fall into the usual manner of events.
"A third option presents itself. Taylor's mother Annette never distanced herself from Lustrum's movement, feeling that she was needed as a moderating influence. She failed in that regard as she was simply one voice.
"Danny Hebert managed instead to impress a young lady that he had regarded as outside his own financial class. He was young, she was young, these things happen."
Uatu stopped and read the comments section. "Oh. I see. Too over-the-top. Unbalanced. Well, then. Let me just find one. Ah. That one."
* 1991 *
"Eh?" asked Danny Hebert. A classic Japanese beauty, from her hime-style haircut to her practical-yet-expensive-looking shoes, approaching him was unusual enough. Her asking him out was even more odd. "Why me?"
She smiled slightly. "Fate."
"I don't even know you," said Danny nervously.
"Hello, Daniel Hebert. My name is Gentiana."
"'Gentiana'," repeated Danny.
"Gentiana Shivano," said Gentiana. "My closer associates call me 'Shiva'."
* Uatu *
"And so begins a courtship that ends in a couple, though no marriage occurs. Oddly, by Daniel Hebert's standards, others are brought into their 'coupling' as friends and associates of Gentiana. Daniel simply comes to expect this as some of Lustrum's followers were known to be less observant of some boundaries.
"As in so many universes, Taylor Hebert is born on June 12th in the year 1995. She has a mother who has a lot of close friends who are referred to as either Uncle or Auntie. Danny knows them as capes, some of whom have names uncomfortably close to Endbringers. At several points, Danny and Taylor are read stories about what happens when a nonhuman someone's identity is discovered. The tale of the Japanese snow-woman or yuki-onna. The Chinese tale of the white serpent. There are many such tales, all with a tragic ending as the veil of humanity is lifted and the non-human has to leave the human realm.
"Despite this, on September 7 2008, Lung fights the PRT and Protectorate in Brockton Bay and soundly defeats them only for things to shift a tiny amount."
* 9/7/2008. Boreas Street. *
The dragon, now over twenty feet in length, roared in victory at the sky.
A woman got out of her car and began walking towards him.
Lung roared again, sending a sheet of flame at the woman.
Who made a sweeping gesture and the flame was diverted by a sudden blast of wind and ice.
"Go away," said the woman, addressing Lung directly. "You wrecked my car. My family is with me. Go away so the tow truck can come."
Lung roared and sent a second wave of flame at the woman. She brushed it away like the first.
"I said 'go away'," said the woman. She raised an arm and a cold wind rushed along it to strike Lung.
First his fires went out, then ice began creeping up his form.
"Leave. You have proven your strength, claimed your territory," said the woman, not letting up her attack in the slightest. "There is no reason for you to tarry."
Lung screamed his defiance even as the ice advanced over his body.
Finally he nodded and turned to leave. Though he had to break the ice around his feet in order to do so.
The woman went back to her car and had three minutes before it was surrounded by PRT agents.
* December 3, 2008 *
* Marcoule Nuclear Plant, France *
The Endbringer alarms had gone off. Heroes and villains alike had responded, most expecting to die but to die accomplishing something.
Despite the protests of her family, Shiva was among that number.
Behemoth rose above the Earth like some impossibly ugly gopher.
"I don't get it," said one of the heroes nearby. Pèlerin if she recalled correctly.
"What do you not get?" asked Miss Militia, taking her time lining up the shot.
"If all Behemoth wanted to do was destroy the power plants? Why not do that from under the ground?" asked Pèlerin. "We would not be able to the attack."
"I have no idea," said Miss Militia, taking the shot.
They moved to a different location, Pèlerin's flight extending to those he was in physical contact with making relocation easy.
"I need a direct path between myself and Behemoth. This is Shiva, sending location."
"Shiva, this is Control. State nature of requirement."
"I see a gap. Taking it. Absolute Zero."
Miss Militia found her current view of Behemoth obstructed. Ice was rapidly spreading over the Endbringer as it came to a complete halt.
Some of the capes were dropping and other capes were zipping in and grabbing those falling.
Miss Militia looked around through the rifle scope briefly, then slowly stood up and took in the sight with unaided eyes.
There was a line of jagged ice forming leading from the top of one building to Behemoth. Miss Militia shivered as the temperature even where she was seemed to plummet.
There was a crashing noise and Behemoth fled, leaving behind frozen chunks of itself.
* PRT HQ *
* December 9, 2008 *
"Analysis indicates that she absorbed the molecular energy in a cone shape that extended nearly a kilometer long. All molecular motion halted, the energy sent elsewhere. It was literally colder than interstellar space along a path between Shiva and Behemoth. Over one quarter of Behemoth's mass was flash-frozen and is being analyzed by French scientists."
"Further analysis was that Behemoth noticed something happening and moved before the freezing could be completed."
"Everything in the path of that attack died instantly. Fortunately, Shiva waited until there was a gap between the defending capes and that line towards Behemoth. As it was the thermal shock was sufficient to nearly kill twenty capes."
"The snow and ice in that line? Frozen atmosphere. It started boiling away within minutes. There were a number of animals, mostly birds, that ended up flash-frozen by the same instant freezing effect."
"Enough," said Rebecca Costa-Brown. "With that sort of power level, we NEED her to join the Protecorate. Director Piggot, she's in Brockton Bay. See if you can convince her."
* Uatu *
"And so, within a year, the PRT harassing Shiva in an attempt to get her to join the Protectorate violates the First Principle explained to her family and she must leave.
"Naturally, this does not leave the remaining Hebert family particularly fond of the PRT or the Protectorate.
"Thirteen year old Taylor Hebert is considered a 'person of interest' by the PRT, as the child of a cape might well Trigger themselves."
* 9/1/2009 *
He was Lung. He was powerful, he was the strongest parahuman on the East Coast. He was also Yakuza in outlook and background.
"These pictures," said Lung. "This is the family of the Yuki-onna?"
"Yes, great Lung," said his flunkie. Hiroyuki? Hiroshi? Something like that. Not one of his lieutenants or higher-ups.
"What was your reason for bringing this to me?" asked Lung, fire dancing along his arms briefly. He liked this chair though so he kept it mostly under control. The Yuki-onna had arranged it to be given him this past year, with a note to how annoying the PRT was. He understood the gift for what it was, at least in his own estimation, acknowledgement of his strength and territory. Also very comfortable.
"Shiva had your respect, great Lung, you have stated such. Now that the PRT has driven her off through their ill-considered plan to force her recruitment, her family would also be worthy of some respect, would it not?"
Lung relaxed a bit, and seeing that this flunkie relaxed just a tiny bit. If the minion had intended some revenge against the family, he would reduced him to a grease spot on the floor. Which took forever to clean up and stank really bad, so it was just as well that didn't happen here in his Audience Chamber.
Lung nodded. "You have done well. Isao." One of his lieutenants, or more properly addressed - a Fuku-Honbucho stepped forward. "Circulate these photos. These two are to be considered non-targets. Accord them some respect, for their woman has the respect of Lung. She was strong enough that mercy was to be considered. Any other news of import?"
"Director Piggot of the PRT was transferred out, the new Director is Thomas Calvert," said Isao as he took the photos from the minion.
"Good," said Lung. "If it's one thing I hate, even among those who oppose me, it is incompetence."
* Director Thomas Calvert *
He had not been ready for things to develop into this situation or for him to acquire the position of PRT ENE Director, but Emily Piggot had screwed the pooch by repeatedly trying to get Gentiana Shivano into the Protectorate.
Not that Emily Piggot was alone, or given much choice, as the demonstrated power level of Shiva was sufficient to cause considerable concern. One thing to be able to bench press a truck, another entirely to be able to produce a thermal shock wave that had caused nearby buildings to crumble. That somehow someone had said something so offensive to Shiva that she'd left her family behind and simply vanished had been the crowning failure of Emily Piggot's reign.
Director Tagg had been in town that week. Almost everyone involved figured it had to be something Tagg had done and left Emily holding the bag. There was no evidence, but anyone who knew Tagg or his rants about Director Piggot not "bringing that cape to heel" was pretty sure this was the case.
Good thing - Shiva was gone as far as anyone could tell. He'd once tried a timeline where he directly put out a hit on her family to cut those ties and bring her entirely under his control. The new Ice Age that had spread out from Brockton Bay to put advancing glaciers on the weather forecast for this part of the planet? Not something he wanted to experience again.
Bad thing - Shiva was gone as far as anyone could tell and it was the PRT's fault. While the PR in PRT did not actually stand for Public Relations, it was certainly a major priority of the organization. Some would argue that it was the main priority of the organization.
Still, he could and did play the "previous administration's fault" when it came up. There were two problems still outstanding that had some interference to his felonious little plans.
Danny Hebert was not a parahuman. He'd been checked over by Panacea who couldn't affect brains but could tell if someone was a parahuman and Danny Hebert was not one. She could also tell that someone who had to be a parahuman had altered the man so that he had reinforcement structural changes applied to his body. He was accorded a Brute-1 on his Threat Assessment, and could pull what had to be some sort of Tinkertech pistol out of nowhere that he'd say was a gift from one of Shivano's friends. A pistol that worked similarly to a Star Trek phaser in that it could stun a number of targets.
Also, according to timelines he'd experimented with, Danny Hebert had absolutely no problem in walking up to people he'd stunned and introducing them to Mister Blunt Trauma Instrument. Repeatedly and with very good aim and much enthusiasm.
Taylor Hebert had a chance, small but still significant, of having some parahuman ability related to her mother. Cold generation, or heat energy negation, was something that had significant possibilities for use with at least two of the three Endbringers. Arranging a Trigger Event for her had become something of an ongoing project. What was known of Trigger Theory was that for a Blaster/Shaker ability certain specific events had to take place.
Once he had arranged for Taylor Hebert to trigger, he could arrange for her to have an accident and kill someone with her powers. Then she could be forced into the Wards and be a resource he could utilize.
He would win. It was his power after all.