Taylor soared through the sky towards downtown Brockton Bay.
She'd decided to drop in on Crystal and Victoria like she'd told Tawny she would yesterday, but now she was left undecided on how exactly to approach them.
It wasn't as if she had their phone numbers. Taylor was pretty sure she could find where they lived, but showing up at their doorstep felt too invasive. After all, they'd only hung out for a couple of hours a few days ago.
In the end, she'd just decided to follow the same route they'd patrolled the other day and hoped they'd show up eventually.
Retracing the route was…easier than she expected. Even though she'd only done it once, it was still clear and sharp in her mind. Probably a benefit of the Wisdom of Solomon.
Like the other day, there wasn't much trouble. Not even a reckless gun deal by amateurs like the one they'd found the other day.
After circling around several times and seeing nothing, Taylor spotted a little old lady on the sidewalk, using a walking stick and carrying a shopping bag in one hand but with no one around to help even as the traffic rushed by.
She hesitated for a single moment. This wasn't a superhero thing, was it?
But the woman seemed small and fragile in the midst of rush hour, and as stereotypical as the situation was, it couldn't possibly hurt to help out
Ah, what the heck.
Descending down to the pavement, Taylor landed gently beside the old woman, hardly causing a whisper as her feet touched the ground
"Can I help you, ma'am?" Taylor asked. "I could carry your bag for you if you want."
The old lady seemed startled by her appearance for a moment, her eyes widening behind her glasses before she gave a shaky smile. "Of course, young lady."
Taylor took the shopping bag, which weighed next to nothing to her in her transformed state, and let the old woman wrap one wrinkled hand around her elbow. As the traffic light turned red and the traffic crawled to a stop, Taylor helped the old woman across the crosswalk.
Drivers gawked at her from behind their wheels, and Taylor cringed when she saw pedestrians snapping photos on their phones out of the corner of her eyes.
"I'm sorry, ma'am," She apologized. "I didn't think this would cause such a scene."
"Oh, it's quite alright," The old lady chuckled. "It's not every day an old woman like me gets to be on the arm of a dashing young hero, you know? I quite like it."
Taylor blushed at the words as they finally made it across the street. The old woman chuckled even harder at her embarrassment but didn't press. "I'm Joan Garrick, by the way. What's your name?"
"Nice to meet you, Mrs Garrick," Taylor replied. "And my name is…the Captain." She needed to sit down and think of a better name.
But Mrs Garrick didn't seem to take offence. "Thank you, Captain," She said with a warm smile. "My husband was feeling under the weather today, so he couldn't come with me, but I'm glad you were here to help. Would you mind taking me home as well?"
"Of course!" Taylor affirmed, following Mrs Garrick through the crowd, trying to ignore all the gawking bystanders. "But are you sure it's okay? I wouldn't want all these people to bother you."
"Bah, it's fine," Joan waved a hand dismissively. "I'll deal with them if I need to."
Taylor almost objected, but there was suddenly a formidable gleam in the old woman's eyes that made her stay silent. She felt… perturbed by that, but decided it was mostly a trick of the mind.
And if not… well, Brockton Bay had been a rough place for a long time before she had been born, especially compared to nowadays. This old lady had probably seen everything under the sun.
They walked a short distance until they reached the edge of downtown. It wasn't quite as high-class as the rest of the city, but still nice, and it had a…warmer vibe to it, somehow.
Taylor dropped Joan off at the entrance of an older but still well-maintained apartment building, the doorman taking the bags from her.
"Are you sure you wouldn't like to come inside, dear?" Mrs Garrick asked, folding both hands on her cane. "I could get you something to drink and introduce you to my husband."
Taylor shook her head, smiling. "Thank you, Mrs. Garrick, but I need to get back to patrol."
"Of course, a hero's work is never done," The old lady patted Taylor's hand affectionately. "Look after yourself, dear, and feel free to drop by to visit whenever you want."
Waving goodbye to the old woman, Taylor took off again.
For the next hour or so, she did mostly mundane things. Helping a window washer that had gotten stuck on a high floor, moving a car that had a punctured wheel to the side of the road, and little things like that.
Taylor found herself enjoying it, strangely. It felt…good. To see the smiles on people's faces and help them
And yet, a small part of her whispered that this was a waste of her time and that there were more important things she could be doing.
She could be hunting down gangs or the capes of the E88 or the ABB-
"Hey, Cap!"
Taylor spun around to see Crystal floating towards her, waving. More people turned to look at the heroine, some doing a double take when they saw her feet not touching the ground.
"Laserdream!" Taylor greeted, noticing that the older girl was wearing civilian clothes today, a red t-shirt and blue jeans. "Good to see you."
"Call me Crystal, I'm off-duty today," She said, smiling. "Great to see you. We didn't get to talk yesterday, but thank you so much for the help with Silver Banshee."
"It was no trouble," Taylor assured her. "I got there as fast as I could once I saw the news."
"Which was pretty fast, I'm guessing," Crystal grinned.
Before Taylor could respond, Victoria appeared, floating slightly above the crowd. Like her cousin, she was dressed in civilian clothes today, though with a yellow blouse and white skirt instead. With her was a smaller, younger girl with mousy brown hair that Taylor didn't recognize, but Victoria was pulling her along by the hand.
It gave an almost comical impression of someone holding a superhero-shaped balloon.
"Hey, Cap!" Victoria cried, waving. "How are you?"
"Yeah, I wanted to ask, you took the brunt of Banshee's scream yesterday," Crystal said, looking concerned. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Really!" She insisted at their skeptical looks. "I have enhanced healing. I was completely recovered like an hour after the fight."
Crystal's eyebrows too. "Wait, you have enhanced healing too?"
"Yeah."
Victoria let out a low, long whistle. "Damn, you won the superpower lottery, huh? I know some Brutes get regeneration, but that and an Alexandria package? Lucky girl."
Well, she did have the power of multiple gods, so Taylor couldn't exactly dispute that assessment. "I guess so."
"And let me introduce you to my sister!" Victoria said cheerfully. "Amy, this is Cap. Cap, Amy."
The smaller girl stepped forward hesitantly and spoke in a low voice. "Hi," She said quietly. "Thanks for saving my sister yesterday."
"Like I told Crystal, it was no trouble. I was happy to help." Taylor replied, finally recognizing the younger girl. This was Victoria's adopted sister, if she remembered correctly, which explained the complete lack of family resemblances.
However, it wasn't just the features. In every other way, Amy Dallon resembled her sister and cousin very little. She was quiet and almost slouching where she stood, wearing a blue jacket with a hood over her t-shirt and jeans in the middle of summer for some reason. It was a thin jacket, admittedly, but Taylor couldn't help but think it was still a little strange.
"Do you have powers?" She asked Amy curiously. "I've never seen you on the news."
Almost instantly, Taylor realized she'd misstepped as Crystal and Victoria's smiles shrank, and Amy shifted awkwardly, shoving her hands into her pockets.
"I don't have any powers," Amy said after a moment. "Totally normal." She tried to make it sound nonchalant, but Taylor sensed that she'd touched a nerve. Or something… the way she said it didn't seem offended but… Taylor wasn't sure.
Even with the wisdom of Solomon, she wasn't exactly a people reader.
"Anyway!" Victoria said loudly before Taylor could apologize, clearly trying to change the subject. "I saw the pics of what you've been doing today, Cap. Did you help a little old lady cross the street?"
Unsure of what else to do, Taylor let the conversation topic pass, yeah. "I did. She seemed lonely, and I thought it might be dangerous, so."
Crystal laughed. "You are such a girl scout." She said, grinning.
"Am not." Taylor protested, heat flowing to her cheeks.
"Are too," Crystal countered with a grin. "Helping little old ladies, bringing cats down from trees, definitely a girl scout."
"It's not a bad thing," Victoria cut in, smiling. "I think it's sweet. I like to do the same thing with the hospitals. Show up, give kids some on one time, fly them around, juggle them-"
"She does not do that," Amy said, looking to make sure none of the crowd had heard that.
Victoria just winked.
"Thanks, Victoria," Taylor said awkwardly, scratching her cheek. "And wait-, pictures? What do you mean?" There was no way they could have spread so fast, right?
Crystal produced her smartphone, holding it up to show photos. "I mean these."
Taylor took the offered phone and scrolled through the photos, recognizing herself and Joan, the shopkeeper she'd helped, the car she'd moved…she'd known people were taking photos of her, but she hadn't realized there were this many or that they would spread so fast.
She handed the phone back to Crystal, frowning slightly. "I didn't think this would happen," She admitted. "I don't think I like it."
"Sorry, Cap," Crystal said, looking apologetic. "But that's just kind of the life of a superhero. People will be watching your every move wherever and whenever they can. It can be frustrating, but no any is avoiding it. We're functionally celebrities ya know?"
Taylor frowned. Crystal's words made sense and it wasn't as if she had never obsessed over photos of capes herself, but it still felt weird to be on the other side.
"We're taking the day off today, but you want to walk with us?" Crystal asked, changing the subject. "It'll be fun, we can do some window shopping, maybe visit a cafe."
"Sure," Taylor agreed after a moment's hesitation. She felt like she should go back on patrol, but seeing the hopeful look in Crystal and Victoria's eyes, she couldn't say no.
They walked for a while after that, chatting aimlessly. Taylor was relieved to hear that no one in New Wave had been seriously hurt, they'd only suffered minor wounds and some exhaustion, so they were taking it easy for a bit.
She couldn't help but notice that Amy hung back, however. Victoria kept trying to include her and draw her into the conversation, but it was obvious that the younger Dallon sister wasn't a terribly social person.
Taylor could empathize, but honestly, part of her couldn't but get the impression that Amy didn't like her. Had her earlier misstep been that bad? Or was she more sketched out about an adult hanging out with teenagers?
She didn't know what would be worse.
But pressing didn't seem like it would help, so Taylor let her attention drift from Amy, letting Victoria and Crystal pull her into a pleasant conversation as they walked. People pointed and stared at them wherever they went, but to Taylor's relief, no crowds gathered or reporters showed up to bother them.
As they were walking, however, they passed Big Star Mall.
Taylor paused to stare at the now wrecked building, surrounded by shards of glass on all sides, no longer a single window anywhere. The steel and brick structures were cracked and damaged too, even if they hadn't completely fallen apart.
A construction crew of some kind seemed to set up at a safe distance away from the ruins of the mall, but given that it had only been a day, they hadn't made much progress.
"Silver Banshee did a number on the place," Crystal muttered, stopping beside Taylor to look at the place. "It's probably going to take months, maybe even years for them to fix it. Shame we can't do more to help."
"Yeah," Taylor agreed softly.
Or wasn't there, she wondered? Crystal and Victoria might not be able to help, but…well, she had won the superpower lottery, hadn't she?
"Wait here a second, would you?" She told the other girls. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
They seemed a bit surprised but acquiesced easily enough. "Sure," Crystal said, looking curious.
Taylor quickly flew over to the construction crew, speaking to one of the men. "Hey, can I please speak to the foreman here?"
The worker seemed a bit startled, as did all his colleagues. "Uh, sure," He said, catching himself after a long moment. "Just let me go get him."
A minute later, he returned with an older man in his 40s, wearing the same construction clothes as everyone else but with a sheaf of papers tucked under his arm. He was tall, with salt and pepper hair, his face creased with lines, but he was still fit.
"I'm Grant Jackson," He said, looking her up and down with a hint of wariness in his eyes. "Can I help you….?"
"Captain."
"Can I help you, Captain?"
"I wanted to see if I could help you," Taylor told him. "Is there anything I can do to speed up the process of cleaning this place up?"
Jackson blinked in surprise, for a moment looking completely flabbergasted by her question. "Do you have a history of working in the industry? I can't accept any building materials made by powers or you taking off work from my guys. I don't know if you know, but there are laws against that kind of thing."
Taylor did not know that but raised her hands complacently, "Um, then is there anything I can do that wouldn't get in the way?"
Jackson looked at her for a moment, seemingly in deep thought… then he smiled. "You know what, I'm sure I can think of something."