Hookwolf in his alternate form was a deadly nightmare. He had the strength, speed, and durability of a tank. He could shrug off bullets and tear through steel like paper. Coupled with his his ability to move his metal at such speeds that they appeared invisible to the naked eye, he was one of the most deadly capes in the city.

So it was more than a shock when he met Taylor's fist and the force of her blow sent him crashing through the air, into the back of the building, and through the wall.

Taylor lowered her fist, all her earlier euphoria replaced by fury.

How dare the Empire do this? Taylor had always known, intellectually, that the Empire was one of the worst criminal gangs in the city. They were Neo-Nazis after all and she had heard the stories of them raiding houses.

She had even seen news reports of them being involved in crimes like human trafficking.

But there was a difference between knowing something and seeing it.

All these poor people in cages, herded like cattle, being enslaved by a bunch of delusional racist monsters…it made Taylor so angry.

Hookwolf's goons shifted, finally unfreezing from their shock, some of them drawing their guns and beginning to move towards the people in the cages and the girl on the ground.

Hostages. Taylor connected the dots. They wanted to use these people as shields against her.

Icy rage gripped her heart, and Taylor moved.

She moved faster than she had ever moved in her entire life, faster than should have been possible.

…except she had just spent the last few hours doing the impossible.

Grabbing the gangsters by the scruff of their collars, she threw each and every one of them into a corner. Taylor heard a few bones crack, but she couldn't make herself care.

Not when she looked at all these people in the cages, still cowering and covered in dust from the rubble.

Dusting her hands off contemptuously, Taylor turned away from the pile of moaning Nazis to the girl on the ground.

The girl was looking up at her with something like awe in her eyes, but when Taylor approached her, she backed away, her terror obvious.

Taylor faltered for a moment, unsure of what to say.

She opened her mouth, searching for something reassuring to tell the girl, but before she could come up with anything, the other girl's eyes widened.

"Look out!" She cried out.

Taylor spun on her heel…just in time for Hookwolf's gigantic metal jaws to close around her upper body.

For a moment, Taylor was struck by dread. Was this really how this was going to end? She was going to die, torn apart by a Nazi monster her first time out as a hero, not even a day after getting her powers?

But even as fear almost overwhelmed her, it was wiped away in the next instant as Hookwolf's teeth broke against her skin. The razor blades squealed and screamed, trying to dig into her flesh and costume… and while sparks flew, there was no blood.

Hookwolf let out a howl, swearing up a storm as he realized she was invulnerable, backing away from her and letting Taylor see again. His metal teeth were broken, reforming now, and she was…fine, Taylor realized. Fine.

Hookwolf hadn't even scratched her skin.

She couldn't help but laugh at the realization.

Hookwolf snarled in response, voice echoing from his metal form, clearly furious. His form shifted, becoming sleeker and smaller, and he tensed for a moment.

But the attack Taylor expected never came.

Instead, Hookwolf spun around and ran.

Oh no, you don't!

Taylor sprinted after him, reaching out with one hand to grab him by the tail.

Even as he struggled in her grip, Taylor swung him up and brought him crashing down to the ground on the other side of her…and then she repeated the process on the other side, smashing Hookwolf against the ground again and again, swinging him around like the world's deadliest yo-yo.

For a moment his body shifted, the metal expanding to lurch out and away, but she was fast enough to shift her hood on him, and begin the smashing anew.

His struggles grew progressively weaker until finally, he stopped moving at all. Taylor barely caught herself from smashing him against the ground again as his metal form receded and vanished, leaving her holding Hookwolf by the ankle.

She not-so-gently dropped him on the ground, noting with interest that even though he was unconscious, he wasn't hurt. Apparently, none of her blows to his shifted form had done any damage to his real body.

Not that she would have cared much if it had, Taylor admitted to herself.

Turning back to the prisoners, Taylor noticed there was a complete hush over the room, everyone staring at her as if they were waiting for her to lash out at them. She felt a surge of guilt as she saw how many of them were covered in plaster and dust, finally realizing how dangerous that could have been, accompanied by a rush of anger that went through her at what the Empire had done to these people.

Taylor squashed it. It took more effort than fighting Hookwolf.

These people needed help. Hope. Not more fear.

Smiling as best as she could, Taylor stepped forward to the girl Hookwolf had been beating earlier, gesturing to the chains wrapped around her wrists and ankles.

"May I?" Taylor asked, trying to make her voice as soft and gentle as possible.

The girl stared up at her for the longest moment of Taylor's life, before nodding slowly.

Bending down, Taylor snapped the chains like they were made of paper, removing them from the girl as gently as she could. But there were still vivid red marks where the chains had been digging in, which sent another thrum of anger through Taylor.

Standing up, Taylor strode over to the cages, ripping the bars off one by one with new strength.

It was like a flood, as people practically ran out of the cages through the gaps she made, many of them sobbing with relief.

"Thank you," One woman whispered as she passed her by. Taylor just gave an awkward nod, not trusting herself to speak.

When the last cage was empty, Taylor turned around to look at the crowd of crying, traumatized people…and realized she had no idea what to do.

All eyes were on her, and Taylor's mind frantically churned for a solution.

The PRT! She needed to call the PRT.

But how? Her gaze sweeping across the room, Taylor's eyes landed on the pile of unconscious Nazi thugs she had made earlier.

At least one of them should have a cellphone.

Hurrying over to the pile, Taylor did her best to ignore the bewildered looks people were giving her as she dug through the pockets of the various gangsters. It had been a long time since she had handled a cell-phone…

To her irritation, while most of them had phones, they were locked. Growling, Taylor went through nearly a dozen smartphones before she found one that didn't have a security code.

Relieved, Taylor opened the phone app and dialed 911.

"Hello, what is your emergency?" Came a voice from the other side, made tinny by the phone.

"This is…" Taylor faltered as she realized she didn't have a cape name yet. "Uh, I need to report a crime."

Taylor stood to the side as the various paramedics tended to the prisoners, giving them first aid and putting them in the ambulances.

"Will they be okay?" She asked quietly.

Miss Militia turned to her, offering her a gentle smile. "We'll do our best to help them, I promise."

Taylor nodded, even as she clutched at her arms. Her eyes moved from the former prisoners to the Nazis. The gang members were all being taken away by the police, while Hookwolf had been sprayed with what the PRT called containment foam. The PRT troopers were loading him into a special van.

Miss Militia caught her gaze, looking over at Hookwolf herself. "Don't worry," She said quietly. "He'll go to the Birdcage. He was already sentenced there once. This time, he won't escape to hurt anyone else."

Are you sure? Taylor wondered. What if he breaks out again?

But she didn't voice these thoughts.

"So, what is your name, exactly?" Miss Militia asked, focusing her gaze on Taylor. There was nothing unfriendly in the gaze, but it was still piercing enough that Taylor couldn't help but shift, feeling like she had been caught outside of class by one of her teachers.

"Uh, well, I haven't picked one yet," Taylor said lamely.

This was not how she had wanted her first meeting with one of Brockton Bay's top heroes to go.

Miss Militia's eyebrows rose. "Really?"

"Yeah," Taylor said, resisting the urge to fidget. "Today is my first day."

Miss Militia's eyebrows clambered even higher on her face. "This was your first outing?"

Taylor nodded sheepishly.

The older woman out a chuckle. "Well, let me be the first to congratulate you. You did well today. You saved a lot of people."

Taylor warmed inside at the admission. She had already been happy to help, but being praised by a professional, experienced hero felt amazing.

"You could have been more careful about it, though." Miss Militia continued. "You scared a lot of the victims at first when you entered, and it was lucky that you didn't hurt them."

Taylor cringed, shame churning in her gut. "I know," She said quietly, remembering the fear in their eyes.

"I'm not trying to discourage you," Miss Militia said gently. "But these are the sort of things you have to keep in mind as a hero, as a parahuman."

Taylor nodded.

"On top of that, your actions today will have painted a target on your head," Miss Militia continued. "The Empire will come after you for taking down Hookwolf."

If someone had told her a day ago that the Empire would be coming after her, Taylor would have been scared to death.

But as she remembered all those scared people in the cages, how terrified they had been, the girl that Hookwolf had been beating…

Taylor raised her chin defiantly. "Let them come."

Miss Militia smiled faintly. "That's brave of you," She said. "But it would be easier for you to deal with them if you had a team on your side. Have you considered joining the Protectorate?"

Taylor had half-expected the offer, but she still didn't know what to say.

On one hand, this was the Protectorate! They were the heroes of Brockton Bay. What kid hadn't dreamed of joining them?

But on the other hand…Taylor knew they wouldn't let her keep her identity secret. They'd want to know who she was. And once they saw her real form, they would make her join the Wards.

…and they'd probably want her to tell Dad the truth too.

God, what was she going to tell him?

Hey Dad, I got magic superpowers from a crazy old man claiming to be a wizard and now I'm a superhero?

Taylor had no clue how he would react to that.

She wasn't sure she wanted to find out.

If mom were here, it would be easier but Annette Hebert was gone and she was never coming back.

Seeing that Miss Militia was still waiting for a response, Taylor forced herself to answer. "I…don't know. I'd need to think about it."

Miss Militia nodded. "I understand," There was no pressure or judgment in her voice, even as she pulled out a card and offered it to Taylor. "Call me, if you decide to join. And remember, it's always good to have proper training and a team on your side to back you up."

Taylor took the card. "Thanks."

Suddenly feeling incredibly awkward, Taylor took off into the air before Miss Militia could say anything else, speeding away as quickly as she could.

Before long, she found her way home. Taylor almost entered through the open window of her bedroom before remembering that she needed to change back to normal.

And it would be pretty hard to explain a hole in the roof to Dad.

Slipping away to a nearby alley, Taylor landed on the ground.

"Shazam," she whispered.

The instant loss of power was disheartening. Taylor shrank, and then the sensation of lightning bubbling below her skin vanished. The world grew greyer and duller, less vibrant than it had been moments before.

Her normal clothes had reappeared as if they had never gone, and Taylor was acutely aware of the weight of the glasses on her face in a way she hadn't been in years.

She was just ordinary old Taylor Herbert again.

Letting out a breath of disappointment, Taylor walked back to her house.

Letting herself in, she entered the drawing room and saw her dad sitting there, watching TV.

"Taylor!" Danny said, turning his head to offer her a tired smile. He looked exhausted, but also pleased. "Good to see you, out of your room. Should I make dinner?"

Taylor smiled back. "Yeah, I'd like that."

An image on the TV caught her eye. "What are you watching, dad?"

"Oh, some new hero appeared in the city today," Danny said, standing up and stretching. "She took down that metal man- Hookwolf, I think they called him. Freed a bunch of the Empire's human trafficking victims. Good on her."

Taylor beamed, suddenly feeling much better. "That's great to hear, dad."

"It is," Danny said with a chuckle. "Maybe she'll take down the whole Empire next, huh?"

Taylor's mind whirled as she followed her father into the kitchen.

"Yeah, maybe."