The next day, Taylor waited backstage.
Her fur felt strange, now. Silky smooth and soft, after she'd been put through a half-hour wash, blowdry and comb followed by a quicker but still significant once-over for all eight of her branch forms.
Fortunately it turned out that that did persist for a while after it was done at first, so it hadn't been wasted effort.
"Hey," Aegis whispered to her. "You'll be fine."
Taylor wondered if it had been that obvious that she was nervous, and gave Aegis a confused look.
"Everyone's nervous on their debut," Aegis explained. "Just remember, compared to Clockblocker this is going to go better. It could hardly be worse."
Taylor made a sort of chuff sound, amused, then nodded.
"...the Wards of Brockton Bay," Armsmaster was saying, and Aegis led the others out on stage. They took up their usual formation, and she could hear mutters about the missing Shadow Stalker.
Maybe it was just the confirmation that she'd been canned. There'd been rumours all over PHO, but some people had thought it might have been a teenaged cape with different, similar-but-not-the-same powers who'd not yet been announced.
"Shadow Stalker has left the team, owing to irreconcilable conflicts," Armsmaster told the crowd, which was a reasonable way of putting it. "However, the Wards team has remained at strength, owing to the introduction of the newest member – Multitude."
That was her cue, and Taylor bounded out to join the other Wards.
It was still a funny feeling, being part of a group like that.
She also wasn't entirely ready for the absolute lightning storm of camera flashes that went off, as practically everyone in the audience tried to get a photo of her.
As they'd previously discussed – and rehearsed – she went in the middle of the group, in front of the rest of them, as she was shorter than everyone else in any of her Changer forms. Then she sat back on her haunches, and smiled.
The number of camera flashes increased.
"What kind of power does Multitude have?" someone asked. "Apart from being a Changer?"
"I think we'll leave that up to Multitude to demonstrate," Aegis said. "Multitude?"
Taylor nodded, determined, and fired up a cloud of half-a-dozen yellow stars. They spread out, then changed course to come together in a shower of sparks as they collided, and as they did Taylor switched to her fire-form. Sending up a spiral of flame, she kept it up for three seconds, then let it fade away as she returned to her base form before switching to her ice-form.
That one sent up a shower of ice shards, and they took long enough to peak in mid-air before falling again that she had time to go through her base-form to get to her psychic-form. Her eyes and gem glowed as she stopped the ice shards in mid-air, and each of the other Wards took one as she moved them over.
"She's got a lot more tricks, too!" Vista said, as Taylor switched back to her base-form again before taking on her ribbon-form. "Lung's known that for a while!"
Taylor winked.
"That was very cute," Danny said, that evening. "Well done, Taylor. You're doing very well."
He paused. "Did you tell them about the ship, though?"
Taylor shook her head.
"I'd rather be sure if there's going to be damages and stuff, or not," she admitted. "How is that going, anyway?"
"Well, we've had a couple of ships come in over the last few days," Danny answered. "The rail lines just north of Boston are pretty near capacity, so ships coming in here saves time – hell, just the fact they can miss Boston traffic to get onto I-95 is working out pretty well apparently. It's slow stuff for now because we're a bottleneck, there aren't enough dockworkers to manage more ships, but for the first time in years we can actually give everyone full hours."
His voice caught slightly, and he shook his head. "It's… it's been amazing, Taylor. You go out there and save the city from criminals all you want, but you've already saved it from something worse."
Taylor blushed.
"I wanted to see if I could," she said, quietly.
"And you could," Danny replied. "And your first thought to test out what you could do was to move that goddamn ship. There's been capes in Brockton for decades and none of the others have succeeded – if they tried in the first place."
He sighed. "I know there's laws that stop them, but you'd think Armsmaster could have tested a teleporter making the thing fuck off before now."
Taylor didn't say anything, and Danny chuckled.
"Don't worry, I'll stop insulting your new boss," he said. "What's next for you, anyway?"
"Meeting New Wave," Taylor replied. "Patrols… I guess they're okay with me not going back to Winslow, but I need to keep up with what I should be learning, so I'll need to do some of that. Then, uh, I've got an appointment to visit Boonsboro, but I need to get your approval on that…"
"So, you're the latest Ward!" Lady Photon said, on Tuesday evening. "I'm sorry we haven't made time to meet you before now, you… well, actually, you probably do know how it is to be that busy. You've done a lot for yourself."
Taylor nodded, a little embarrassed.
I'm still getting used to being a hero that people actually make appointments with, she admitted. To meet, at least. It's very different from being a vigilante… and it's a bit strange that they're going to be making soft toy versions of all of my alternate forms.
"I can imagine it would be," Lady Photon admitted. "We haven't had to deal with that, but as an independent team New Wave isn't entirely free of the dread scourge of… marketing."
Taylor stifled a giggle.
"But yeah, it's actually pretty good that it's about now," Laserdream told Taylor. "Since it means I'm actually around. Not off at college."
What's it like, being a known cape at college? Taylor asked, curious. I imagine it was probably quite strange at school.
"Oh, yeah, it is," Laserdream agreed. "Why? Considering going to college in that form?"
She shook her head. "I guess that would be one way to keep your secret identity while still using your powers."
"Okay, okay, enough talking about school, right?" Shielder said.
Taylor did know who the members of New Wave were, since their identities were public, but like this it was easier to just think of them as their cape names instead of their normal names – it was a habit to get into, so she'd keep thinking of, say, Aegis as Aegis even if he unmasked to her.
Needless to say, it wasn't a courtesy she was especially bothered about extending to someone like Sophia.
What should we be talking about, then? Taylor asked, then, turning to Shielder. You're the team with experience at this.
"Power conversations usually come up," Panacea said. "Though I'm generally the odd one out, and I don't think that's going to change here."
"Amy," Brandish chided.
"Unless Multitude can heal people, along with everything else," Panacea added, then frowned. "Wait. Shouldn't Vicky have said something by now?"
"She's awesome," Glory Girl replied, shrugging. "I mean, seriously, she beat Lung and then his entire gang at once. Honestly, Ames, I wouldn't be surprised if she could heal."
Sorry, myself only, Taylor answered. Though I've got a few different ways to do it.
She shrugged, flicking her tail. It's variety, I think. Sometimes it's about absorbing incoming attacks, sometimes it's about something else.
"Absorbing incoming attacks…" Panacea repeated. "That sounds similar to Assault."
I've met him, and – not really? Taylor admitted. I can see why you'd make the connection, though.
"Okay, I need to ask this," Glory Girl said. "I've seen the pictures of all your forms, we all have, and – is there any chance that I can see what it's like to pet you? I know that might be kind of forward, but-"
Taylor shrugged again. I have actually had a class about this, about how it's up to me. It's fine, in one of my changer forms, but… you know. Not otherwise.
"They have weird PR meetings," Flashbang said.
I know… Taylor agreed. I probably shouldn't say too much more, though, because you guys are Protectorate affiliates and not Protectorate yourselves.
She returned her focus to Glory Girl. And I haven't forgotten about what you asked, I just want to make sure I've finished talking for a bit, before I switch to that form.
"Totally makes sense, don't worry," Glory Girl said, with a thumbs-up.
Oddly enough, after that Taylor actually couldn't think of anything else to say, and the several seconds of pause that followed showed that nobody else could either.
With a shrug, Taylor switched back to her base form, and smiled.
Glory Girl was pretty cool… though she was looking a bit confused, too.
"...huh," the older teen said, after a moment. "That's… weird."
"Weird?" Brandish repeated. "Weird how?"
"I still think Multitude is cool, but not as awesome," Glory Girl explained. "...wait. Fuck."
Taylor tilted her head, confused.
"I think your, uh, purple cat form must have some Trump power reflection thing going on," Glory Girl explained. "I was getting my own aura back at me. I really thought I had it off, but I'm going to have to keep an eye on that now."
"You mean Multitude was applying a Master effect to you?" Brandish asked.
"Only because I was trying to do it to her without realizing it," Glory Girl said, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. "Seriously, Mom, this is all on me."
She looked contrite. "And, uh… is the fluff thing still on? I seriously didn't mean that."
Taylor considered for a moment, then nodded, and Glory Girl reached out a bit hesitantly to pat Taylor on the head.
Then she gasped.
"Oh my god that's so fluffy," she said. "That's the softest thing I've ever felt. Seriously, Ames, you have to try this."
"How could I refuse?" Panacea asked. "Especially with my sister giving such a strong review?"
She patted Taylor's head as well, then lifted her hand and sort of stared off into the distance.
"...Amy?" Shielder asked. "Earth-Bet to Amy Dallon, are you okay?"
"What the good goddamn is up with your genetics?" Panacea asked, blinking a few times, then reached down to check again.
Taylor flicked her ear into place to make contact, because she was sort of interested too. Was there something up with her genetics?
"Your DNA is like, uh," Panacea said, pausing to try and put the words together. "It's like, normally there's a blueprint? Multitude's is like a magic eye picture that's got loads of different solutions, and I can see how there's bits that get used in loads of different ways too, but apart from that I can't make head nor tail of it!"
Taylor backed away a bit, breaking contact with Panacea's hand, then yipped softly to get her attention. "Vee!"
Then she touched her head, followed by wiggling her tail.
"...smartass," Panacea said, and the Pelham half of the family all started laughing.
So did Glory Girl.
Then Taylor frowned, suddenly curious, and switched to her leaf form before offering her head again.
Hesitantly, Panacea reached out, driven on by an encouraging nod from Taylor, and patted her again.
"...what the fuck," she breathed. "You're a plant now?"
Taylor nodded, swishing her tail back and forth.
"This is a very weird day," the healer decided.
I don't really know what I expected, Taylor admitted, that weekend. I guess… I don't know if I expected fewer people here, or more people here?
"I can understand why you're not sure," the cape next to her agreed.
Taylor glanced to the side a little, still surprised that Dragon was here to help with something she was going to do, then over at Armsmaster who was checking on a camera he'd unpacked from the transport they'd arrived in.
"In all honesty, if you'd been a full Protectorate hero, we might have had more active publicity," Dragon went on. "That's what I've been told, anyway. But because you're a Ward we don't want to put too much pressure on you."
There's pressure already, Taylor muttered, mostly to herself. But… I became a hero to help people, and this is the kind of situation where I can help people. And nobody else can.
"That's a very mature attitude," Dragon told her. "I'm impressed. The Guild and the Protectorate both try to keep an eye on it, but we're quite aware of how Wards are, well… teenagers."
She made an amused noise. "So the Cool Factor of powers often gets involved. Your maturity is… something that's a bonus."
Glad to help, Taylor told her, looking around. And… we're waiting for someone, right?
"That is correct," Armsmaster said, stepping away from the camera. "Department Twenty-Two is based in Washington DC, which is slightly less than sixty miles from here, and we're waiting on the arrival of a cape known as Fizzle."
"Speaking of which," Dragon said, looking away in a direction that Taylor thought was… probably southeast. "I just got confirmation, they should be arriving in about ten minutes."
"We should be able to get started shortly after that point," Armsmaster decided. "Fizzle is the last person we're waiting on."
Taylor scanned the twenty or so people scattered around the park, a few other capes from the local area – Protectorate and independents – and PRT agents, in pairs and forming a kind of perimeter.
Plus an increasing number of locals and possibly-tourists, who appeared to have noticed the parahuman activity. Some of them were dressed like Civil War soldiers, which was… weird.
Maybe this was a Civil War site or something? She hadn't exactly been able to focus in history courses over the last couple of years, so maybe she'd missed something about the importance of Boonsboro.
What does Fizzle do? Taylor asked. I guess they're important.
"Fizzle is a Trump," Armsmaster told her. "His power lets him damp down other powers, making them less effective over time – it's not an immediate and complete shutdown, but the suppression gets stronger with time and lasts after the target leaves his presence. More importantly, he can discriminate."
Okay…? Taylor replied. Sorry, I must have missed why that matters.
"It's one of the precautions we're taking," Dragon explained. "Remember, it's generally considered that stress leads directly to trigger events, so-"
Oh, right, Taylor winced. Yeah, I should have realized that.
"You can't know without asking," Dragon told her. "I'd rather you ask than not know."
Fizzle arrived by helicopter with a few more PRT agents, then Armsmaster nodded to himself and waved them forwards.
Taylor followed, approaching their objective – the reason they were here – then slowed to a halt shortly before reaching the fenced-off barrier.
"Recording," Armsmaster announced. "The date is April 30th 2011. Multitude of the Wards ENE is making an attempt to pop the Gray Boy bubble in Boonsboro, Maryland, using a previously displayed power."
Nodding, Taylor focused, and watched as the poor victim of the time bubble endlessly realized their situation and tried to run away.
He was a few years older than her, she thought, maybe a college-student age, in sturdy hiking gear that Gray Boy's power reduced to monochrome desaturation.
"Just give us a countdown, okay?" Fizzle asked, over the radio – he was keeping his distance, but ready to rush in as needed. "Don't do it without warning."
Got it, Taylor agreed, and took a deep breath.
Here goes, she said, mostly to herself, and her gem and eyes glowed as she formed a bubble of energy – light blue, looking like a concentrated soap bubble, and a perfect sphere which detached from her gem as it began to grow.
She had some leeway, unlike last time. She didn't need to get the parameters exactly right.
The bubble expanded until it was about ten feet across, surrounding the area of the time bubble victim, and Taylor defined the shape and effect carefully.
I'm going to alter the flow of time and then reverse it, she announced, and the time bubble victim looked at her on his escape attempt this time – surprise or hope, she couldn't tell. That's the same thing I did with the time bubble in Brockton Bay. They'll happen at the same time… in five, four, three, two, one-
Taylor saw… something.
A pair of spacecraft, or creatures, spiralling through the void. Shedding parts.
An overwhelming mental impression of AGREEMENT.
And… she felt an echo of incredible pain.
Then the sensation passed, and she staggered slightly on her paws.
"Ugh," Armsmaster said, sounding irritated in a way that she found almost odd even after knowing him for such a short time. "Trigger event backlash."
The time bubble victim's colour had returned, and he'd collapsed to the ground with an audible groan.
"Mr. Miles?" Dragon said. "Mr. Miles, are you aware of what's going on?"
"You – someone – saved me," Miles replied. "I'm… I was trapped in that… horrible eternity, the same thing over and over again, the pain over and over again…"
"Don't focus on it," Dragon told him. "It's over now. Mr. Miles, we've got some therapists available…"
What was that? Taylor asked, looking at Armsmaster. You said trigger event backlash?
"Correct," Armsmaster replied, sounding much more normal now. "It's a documented phenomenon. When a trigger event or crisis point takes place in the vicinity of other parahumans, it usually results in their temporary incapacitation. Dragon and I both volunteered to accompany you in close, but that's why the other capes present were so far away."
He paused, as Dragon talked Mr. Miles through the fact that he was now a parahuman and that the white-and-blue-clad cape approaching was in case he had problems with his newly attained power. "My apologies. I should have confirmed that you were aware of this ahead of time."
Do you know what that was that I saw? Taylor checked. I saw… something.
"You remember?" Armsmaster said. "Interesting. The trigger event backlash is generally considered to have some kind of imagery associated with it, but details are sparse as it is generally not remembered well."
He considered. "It would probably be helpful for you to transcribe what you remember at some point."
Taylor's phone rang in the middle of lunch, and she put down her sandwich to grab it.
"Multitude, this is Console," Kid Win's voice said. "I know you're off duty right now, but you're a fast Mover and things are kind of escalating right now!"
"Got it," Taylor replied, grabbing her domino-mask just in case, then picked up her earpiece as well. "Give me a moment, I'll be on the move soon. Where should I go?"
"Downtown," Kid Win told her. "Near… you know that building that's shaped kind of like a cheese grater?"
"Yep," Taylor agreed. "Changing in a moment."
"I'll update you on the move," Kid Win decided, and Taylor shifted into her base-form before clipping her earpiece over her ear. She shrugged on the stretchy utility vest she'd picked up over the last few days – in between going all over the US breaking time bubbles – and Kid Win kept updating her, whenever he had time not doing the other things that were part of Wards console duties.
"Gallant and Browbeat spotted a shakedown going on, turns out it was an ABB remnant getting attacked by the Empire," the Tinker told her. "Seems like they're trying to take over the whole of the old ABB territory and might be making a play for the entire city-"
As he went silent, Taylor slipped out of the door, letting it shut behind her, then loped down the street. She shifted to her lightning-form, then bounced up onto a rooftop with a single jump, and then accelerated.
"Anyway, uh, they tried to help the police get control of the situation, then Krieg and Menja showed up and I think Victor might be in the area too. Velocity's arrived but other Protectorate support is going to take a while, and Gallant's been hit. By the sounds of things the police aren't doing too hot either."
"'on," Taylor yipped, showing she was listening, and accelerated further.
She could move fast when she wanted to, and right now she knew where she needed to go.
By the time Taylor arrived, things had got even more confusing. Velocity was still present, zipping all over the place, and the ABB remnants were in trouble from the Empire gangers, but in addition to the three Empire capes Kid Win had mentioned Taylor entered the scene at about the same time as Hookwolf – and, on the other side of the now-mostly-empty street, she could see several of the Undersiders Kid Win had reported while she was en route.
And where was Gallant – there!
Taylor blurred over, halting next to Gallant and Browbeat, then went through her base-form and into her psychic-form. Her eyes flashed with a bright blue light, and a wall of energy slammed into place to protect them.
"Good to see you, Multitude," Browbeat said, with a nod. "They're in trouble now!"
I'll do my best, Taylor agreed, looking around for something useful to use, then exerted her Shaker telekinesis to pick up some broken debris and turn it into a wall.
Switching to her ice form, she froze a much thicker wall around them, then went back through her base form to her psychic form.
Now we've got a better defence, she said. What's the mission?
"Right now, not have things get worse," Browbeat replied. "Keep Gallant from getting hurt and wait for the PRT and Protectorate to arrive is the minimum."
I've never been much interested in doing the minimum, Taylor admitted, glancing over her ice barricade. Oh crap, Hookwolf incoming!
She vaulted onto the barricade and exerted her powers, and Hookwolf's blade-scraping charge slowed – then halted, as Taylor lifted him a few inches off the floor and stopped him from getting traction.
"Fucker!" Hookwolf snarled at her, waving, and someone shot her.
Taylor lost focus on her power as the bullet hit, knocking her backwards with the impact a little on the ice, and she fell behind it.
"Multitude, are you okay?" Gallant asked.
A moment later, Browbeat jumped over the barricade himself, his body bulking up and expanding and letting him catch Hookwolf as the bladed cape resumed his attack. Much of Taylor's ice barricade went crash as Hookwolf smashed through it, but that also messed up his footing, and Browbeat punched the Nazi cape hard enough to knock him back across the street.
I am now, Taylor answered Gallant, wiping away her wound with a burst of healing, then switched from her psychic-form to her base-form. She fired out a barrage of homing stars at Hookwolf, and the Brute-slash-Changer swore at her.
Something was going on with Menja and the Undersiders, where it looked a lot like the giant woman had just tripped over nothing, but most of Taylor's focus was on Hookwolf.
"I really hope you've got a plan right now, Multitude," Browbeat said.
Taylor winked at him, then Hookwolf charged at her, and she switched from her base-form to her fire-form. Flames licked up around her, and she charged Hookwolf head-on in a contest of pure offensive strength that someone like him wouldn't be able to resist.
Just before impact, Taylor also popped a cloud of smoke, though too late to make him miss her. She didn't want Hookwolf to miss her.
When they collided, Taylor got a strong headache and the impact rattled her wits for a moment, though she remembered to stay inside the smoke at least.
"...was bullshit, Multitude!" Clockblocker said, as Taylor shook herself out a bit. "You knocked him over a building!"
He sounded very entertained. "Fortunately, Vista dropped me next to him. Tag!"
Taylor launched out another smokescreen, shifting forms twice inside the cloud so she was in her psychic-form, then healed herself again and headed back towards Gallant and Browbeat – only to stop, head snapping around, as another bullet came down from a high building. This one missed her slightly, and she narrowed her eyes before crouching and jumping into the air.
"What's up, Multitude?" Browbeat asked. "I didn't see."
Sniper nest, Taylor sent back, hoping that Browbeat had caught that, and her eyes glowed as a piece of debris from Hookwolf's charge floated up underneath her. She lifted it and herself with it, rising into the air, and the sniper fired a third shot at her.
This time she had a psychic shield up, and the round pinged off. A few seconds later she jumped down from her Rune-style floating platform, and confronted the cape she'd expected to be the one who'd targeted her – Victor.
Hello, she said. I don't suppose you'd be willing to come quietly?
Victor drew a gun, pointing it at her, but didn't fire – probably because of the slightly visible hazing of her power in the air.
"Fuck you," he replied, enunciating clearly and looking her in the eye.
You know I'm a Ward, right? Taylor asked. That at least is official information in the public eye. I'm not sure you should be swearing in front of me.
Her tail flicked lazily behind her.
"Don't care," Victor replied. "You need to learn. Like everyone needs to learn. You can't stop Kaiser, and delaying him is a good way to get yourself hurt. That's how it is."
Taylor smiled slightly, and met Victor's gaze levelly.
Got another one, she sent, a minute or so later, as she floated down to ground level on her platform.
Victor followed her like a limp balloon, and Taylor dropped the last foot or so to land neatly next to the newly-arrived Armsmaster and Miss Militia.
Might want to stun him, though, she added.
Armsmaster fired a tranquillizer dart from his halberd at Victor, then nodded at her. "Thank you."
"I'm impressed," Miss Militia said. "I know Kid Win made it clear that getting involved was your choice, so I don't have a real complaint there, and you were the fastest possible response… but how did you manage to neutralize Victor so effectively?"
He tried to steal my ability to… walk, I think, Taylor replied. At least, I assume so. We just had a staring match for a minute trading barbs, then he fell over.
"That would do it," Armsmaster decided. "Your effect reflection is very useful – and effective."
He got a contemplative look.
"We may need to up your Trump rating. Again."
"I wonder what happens if the city runs out of gang capes?" Danny asked, the next morning.
The national news was talking about the Eurovision song contest, possibly because there wasn't anything else to talk about, and Taylor shrugged.
"I don't really know," she admitted. "I don't think anyone's ever considered the idea of Brockton Bay running out of gang capes… you mean to me, right?"
"Yes," Danny agreed. "You're clearly one of the stronger local capes… which is really amazing to me given how recently you started, but it does mean you're going to be in high demand. It would be really… I don't know, but it wouldn't be nice if I had to say goodbye to you. If you got transferred."
Taylor frowned.
"I think there has to be some kind of agreement with their family, for Wards to move," she said. "I think that got mentioned, actually. And it'll take months to clean up Brockton Bay even in the best case, so maybe they'd keep me around until I turned eighteen and then see where I wanted to transfer?"
She chuckled. "Actually, come to think of it… I guess moving to a new city might suck in a lot of ways, but it would mean I could get into a school without as many awful memories."
"It's up to you, in a lot of ways," Danny said. "I know that I've spent a lot of my time focused on the Union, and – well, this has been my home for decades. But… maybe it would do me good to move somewhere else, as well. I don't know."
"There's no need to plan anything just yet, Dad!" Taylor replied. "Brockton Bay still has plenty of stuff for me to do…"
Her phone rang.
Not the normal this-is-a-regular-phone ringtone. Not the urgent Wards-business ringtone.
This was one she'd never heard before, and she stared at her phone for a moment before picking it up.
It asked for her PIN, and she tapped it in. Then Armsmaster appeared on it.
"General alert, all PRT and Protectorate personnel," he said. "Models give a greater than sixty percent probability of Leviathan attacking Brockton Bay inside four hours. Probability is trending up rapidly and the Endbringer sirens will be going off once the probability reaches ninety percent. All PRT and Protectorate report for duty at the main PRT building; Wards report at your discretion."
The message ended, and Taylor lifted her gaze to her father.
"...fuck," he said.
"I have to go," Taylor told him. "I – my powers are-"
"I wish I could argue," Danny interrupted her. "Oh, Taylor, how I wish I could argue, because you're my daughter. But I can't, because – you're my daughter, and Annette's daughter, and you're everything we could have hoped for and more."
He reached out, taking her hand. "I'm going to be in a shelter, or – or out of the city, if there's time. I don't know what the advisory is yet. But, Taylor, promise me this – you will do your damnedest to come home."
"I will, Dad," Taylor replied. "I'll do my best to come home – and to make sure there's a home to come back to."
Danny stood up at the same time Taylor did, and they shared a wordless, intense hug.
Then Taylor picked up her to-go bag, and hurried out of the house to find somewhere to change.
The sirens hadn't gone off yet, so she had time to do that. Time to shift, time to report to the PRT building.
Time to worry.
AN:
It's that time of year!
Well, in-fic, anyway.
