A quick jog around the neighborhood. That was all it was supposed to be. Just some exercise for Taylor to try and prepare her body for whatever messed up magic Marina was preparing to teach her next. Hopefully it wouldn't be those jars of slugs the Occultist had been smiling eerily at throughout the week.

Gods not the slugs.

But anyway, she really had just been going out for a jog. She hadn't disobeyed her dad by going out Caping too soon, she understood that she still needed time to learn and gain experience. None of that changed the fact though that she had just run into a mugging.

The poor woman was fighting but the man had already snatched away her purse and was now… trying to tear into her shirt.

Oh crap it was worse than a mugging.

Thankfully Taylor had remained unseen behind a corner but what could she do? Shooting a fireball was just as likely to burn the woman as she would the assailant, she didn't have that level of accuracy or control to make such a precision shot. Marina hadn't given her much instruction when it came to offensive spells and she still wasn't ready to carry around a gun.

She still had a knife and taser but that man was also armed with his own blade and he looked a lot bigger than her. Lots of ways for this to go wrong and Marina had constantly warned her that any capable Occultist would do their best to avoid a direct confrontation if they could.

All that was left then was just a few spells meant for daily life and communication. How would talking to rats actually help out-

Oh.

Taylor brought out Steve from his pocket and whispered something to him. He saluted and immediately jumped off her hand to enact their plan.

It was an agonizing wait, made all the more painful as the man gained more and more ground into cutting the women's clothes. Thankfully he had only just began to push her to the ground when a nearby trash can rumbled.

Both victim and assailant only had time to turn and look at the source of the noise before a wave of rats suddenly emerged and swarmed the man.

He shrieked in an even higher pitch than the woman and began to swing his knife around fruitlessly. Soon enough the clawing and biting was too much for him and he immediately ran off; the swam following him for a brief moment before dispersing and disappearing into the nearby landscape.

Taylor let out a sigh of relief as the woman slowly picked herself up off the ground. She was disheveled, wounded, and her face was covered in her own tears, but she was still able to grab her stuff and run off in another direction.

Taylor had wanted to check on her but she didn't even have a mask on. Too much risk for her identity and at the very least the woman was running toward the areas that were less sketchy. She would be safe, probably, and so Taylor began to mull over how she was going to tell her dad about this.

He was going to freak out no matter what, didn't matter how little of this was her own fault. He would probably be reasonable enough to ground her unjustifiably, Marina would never let something like that go through anyway, but it was still just going to be a biiiig hassling dealing with all the worrying and coddling.

Strange how much she had wished he would pay her any attention after Mom's death, only to now feel smothered by it. He was trying though and she did appreciate it… and because of that she decided to not say anything at all.

It would be best for him not to stress out over something that ended well. Yep! That was a perfect plan!

Taylor pivoted on her feet with a smile only to find herself looking at the face of a diminutive masked figure.

"Yo/"

Taylor screamed. The girl in blue screamed. They both screamed and then suddenly they were like fifty meters away from each other.

Or at least that was how far she assumed it was. Kinda hard to gauge distance for a power that she had only just seen for the first time.

Taylor's eyes crossed in order to make sense of what was happening in front of her. Everything just got messed and twisted as if space itself was suddenly- "You're Horizon!"

"And you're… very loud," Horizon gasped as she put a hand to her chest. "Freaked me out."

Oops.

"Sorry," Taylor apologized meekly. "You kinda just… caught me off guard."

"Yea I have that effect on people," Horizon replied cheerfully as she hopped forward, closing the distance between them in that single movement.

Taylor had seen photos of Horizon's costume online but seeing it in person was a different experience. It was simple, but practical and it still looked pretty good. Worn but sturdy boots, loose fitting blue pants for mobility, a large blue cloak atop a black shirt that enveloped her body to the middle of her thighs and also hid her hands, and finally a large black scarf around her neck that covered the bottom half of her face. The scarf and its use was reminiscent of Miss Militia's bandana, someone that Horizon had been noted to express her admiration for during the few interviews she had accepted.

"So uh… what do you need me for… Miss Horizon?" It felt weird being polite to a ten-eleven year old?, but when said girl could turn space into her own play area well it was best to just act a bit respectful.

"Nothing now. Just appreciating of a new Hero."

"H-hero!" Taylor's neck began to sweat. "All I did was just watch as that poor woman was being mugged!"

"I saw you talking to that rat in your pocket," Horizon said plainly. "Is that your power? Controlling rats?"

"I can talk to them… and other small vermin. They listen to me and tell me things as long as I'm nice and give them food." Taylor didn't know why she was saying so much but she just felt like she had to tell the girl something. Even if she was a Hero that helped people it was nervous being in front of a Cape like this. Especially without her own-

Taylor gasped and immediately tried to cover the bottom half of her face with her mouth. A bit futile at this point but she couldn't help it.

"You don't have to worry about me, not going to break the Unwritten Rules or anything, especially when you weren't even planning out to go Caping just yet. Not even gone on your first official patrol right?"

Taylor nodded.

"Still you helped that woman. You could make a good Hero… You are planning to be a Hero?"

"I am. I'm just… not ready for it yet. Still a lot of preparation to do."

"Huh you're a lot more careful than most Parahumans, me included," Horizon muttered that last part to herself before offering Taylor her hand. "Nice to meet another Hero."

"Um thank you," Taylor replied as she shook her hand. "I really didn't do that much. My power isn't really good for much."

At least for now.

"It's the flashiest power but you can talk with rats and other vermin. There must be millions of them in this city and… how smart are they? How much can they tell you?"

"They see things differently so it takes a bit of time to figure it out," Taylor admitted. "But yea they can tell me a lot."

"Like say a layout of the building? And the number of people there?"

"I mean I could map or something with the information and they definitely know how to find and avoid people," Taylor replied as she really began to think of the applications of her current skill set.

"That's-… well… see the thing is my power has limitations," Horizon began to explain. "I can only manipulate space that I can see and I have to deal with the Manton effect. I can't manipulate any space directly where there is a living being. Makes trying to raid any Gang hideout really risky for me. I tried playing around with spacial mirrors and lenses with my powers to sort of bounce my vision at different angles, but it's a lot of trouble and not very subtle at all."

"Are you… asking me to team up with you?" Taylor began to realize.

"Yep! I think it's the best use of our powers! You're not really suited for a straight up fights, that's fine I'm not either, so I'm figuring we combine our strengths and the Villains will never know what hit them!"

Woah. Horizon, The Horizon, was actually asking to team up with her. There was something in Taylor that went absolutely giddy. To be a hero to work with an awesome Independent Hero like Horizon, it was almost everything the childhood Taylor had dreamed of. But there was also another part of her that remembered the warning that Dad and Marina had given her.

"I can't. I need permission from my dad and Mentor," Taylor replied reluctantly.

"Oh so you let your parents know and- do you mean another Cape is teaching you?"

Fuck! Exposing Marina was the last thing that she wanted. "Uh could you forget that last part?"

"No."

"Alright so then I'm sorry, I'm not ready to work with you just yet."

"I think that woman you saved says otherwise and honestly you'll learn the most by actually being out there and helping. Gods only know I did."

"Why don't I try talking with them then?" Horizon put her hands to her waist. "I'm sure they'll be more willing to let you go out if I'm there watching your back!"

Taylor was pretty sure that being accompanied by a plucky pre-teen, powers or not, would achieve the opposite effect of what Horizon was thinking. Still… Did she really have to tell them? At least not everything, she could mention meeting Horizon and not going out with her which was technically true. She wasn't going to get involved in any fighting. All she would be doing was just give Horizon information about the building or area she was about to go through. It was probably the safest way of getting into the Cape Scene, she wouldn't even need that much for a costume. Just a mask to carry around, but otherwise it wouldn't be that hard to remain inconspicuous. She had been pulling off talking the rats all over school without anyone noticing after all.

"You know what?" Taylor made her decision. "I think I do want to work with you."

"Yes!" Horizon did a quick hop and cheer. It was probably one of the cutest things that Taylor had even seen a human pull off. "You can't believe how long I've been wanting to work with another hero that'll actually listen to me and even better another girl! Can't wait to start, partner!"

Despite the cheer, Taylor couldn't help but feel that she made a bit of a terrible decision.

"You looked like you had an eventful day yesterday."

Taylor resisted the urge to roll her eyes as she walked into Marina's store, the Occultist doing some dusting of the knick knacks. "Dad told you everything right?"

Marina nodded. "Danny didn't freak out too much did he?"

"He did, but at least he didn't ground me or blame me for anything. All he said was for me to watch where I'm jogging in the future… which is fair."

"That's good. Paranoia and fear does not suit anyone's mind in the long term. I trust you'll make the right choices… and also the bad ones but at least you'll recover from them."

"So, what's the lesson plan for today?" Taylor asked.

"Well Sylvian is a bit too Rated-R for you so I figured we can go with an introduction to old Groggy and have you perform a little bit of friendly necromancy! All we need is just a bit of your blood and I've already got a couple of rat corpses ready for you!"

"That sounds cool, but what about Rher? I think mind reading could be-"

"No."

Taylor froze. "Why?"

Marina shook her head. "You are not messing with Rher and don't ever ask me to."

"Ok…" Taylor replied hesitantly.

"Look Rher is just… someone you don't mess with. I have history with him and I know from personal experience that everyone should do their best to avoid his influence. Anyway~," the change in Marina's attitude was just as jarring as it was before, "let's go down to the basement and have those corpses dance!"

"Is this really the best use of magic?" Taylor asked as she followed the Occultist to the basement.

"Magic should be used for what enjoyment and comfort you can derive from it. It isn't just about obliterating your enemies, sometimes it's just about making our lives in this messed up world just a bit easier."

There was a certain wonder in Marina's voice that made her feelings on magic clear. Even if she was cautious of the Gods, abhorred the Church, and was paranoid about anything involving the Supernatural, there was clearly a part of her that loved Magic and the Occult. It was the reason why she had made it her occupation and title, and honestly that passion was just a bit contagious for Taylor.

Marina was a lot like mom in that sense. Someone who loved what they taught so much and made it so that anyone that learned from them could feel that love too. Would mom also be teaching like this if she was still alive?

If Taylor wasn't the one that had killed her?

*Snap*

Taylor jerked and then crossed her eyes as she looked at Marina's crossed fingers in front of her face.

"Don't let yourself spiral like that," Marina commanded. "It's very easy to lose yourself that way. Always remember why you choose to live and what gives you reason to get up in the morning."

Taylor nodded and stared into Marina's eyes. There was a darkness in them and something manic, something that Marina struggled with even if she never showed it to others, but it was also something that she was conquering. Marina was someone who chose to and lived happily and it was something to emulate.

Marina nodded. "Good, now let's go. Best to be in top shape when getting blood for Groggy."

Just a little blood!? That wasn't just a little! In fact she hadn't bled that much since a week ago when she went through that particularly bad mens- nevermind. Taylor didn't really want to think about that right now, especially when Marina had wanted to save that blood since it was actually a decent substitute for rituals with Sylvian and… bleh it made her shudder to think about it.

Why was the God who had some of the most potent healing spells offered also such a pervert? Like seriously, how many fetishes could a person or God have?

As Taylor made her way home she couldn't help but start rubbing her arms. Marina did good work, the healed skin didn't even leave behind a scar, but Taylor couldn't help but still feel the several cuts she had to make on them.

It was actually really scary to see so much blood coming out of her arms, especially once she started to get woozy from the blood loss. However, Marina refused to stop the ritual until it was finished even as Taylor continued to fall further and further into mania. By the time the chalice was filled Taylor had grown a significant dislike for the Old God Gro-Goroth. Still at the very least she was able to animate the corpse of a rat once it was over… which honestly freaked her out a lot. Probably going to avoid Necromancy in the future.

Hopefully Hurting, the spell Marina was going to get her to learn next and a personal favorite of the Occultist, would prove to be a bit more useful. I mean physically blowing things up from a distance had to have some use, right?

Her walk was interrupted by a noise from her pocket that she was quickly getting familiar with. She took out her phone, looked at the name on the screen, and answered.

"H-hey Horizon. What do you need?"

"Cmon Taylor, just call me Missy."

"Okay, Missy," Taylor replied. She had been surprised with how quickly Missy had been willing to trade numbers and identity, but she was just eager if not a bit impatient person in general. She was just someone that wanted to get things done.

"So I'm pretty sure I found a drug den, but I'm not tooooo sure. And it would be nice if I could get some more information before I start kicking the windows in."

Taylor lifted her phone away from her ear so she could look at the time. It was late and this was a bit sudden, but she also knew for a fact that dad was going to be working late that night. And she had already gotten a handkerchief that she could use as a scarf…

"Sure, where do you need me?" Taylor asked.