Danny was slightly depressed as he once again was sitting next to his daughter while she laid in a hospital bed.
The doctors who first looked at her had told him that there was nothing wrong with Taylor, at least from what they could tell and that she was merely asleep. He had, of course, called bullshit on that, for if she were asleep, they would have been able to wake her up.
Though the doctors had said that, that was the only thing they could think of but, they stated that he was lucky for Panacea was in today, and they had requested for her to check on Taylor and figure out what was wrong and if possible wake her. Danny had dismissed after that and was now waiting for the young Parahuman healer to show up.
Danny turned his head around as he heard the door to the room, open up, and saw a girl walk in. The girl was mousy looking she had brown hair and freckles on her face along with brown eyes and she was wearing an alabaster robe with a red scarf around it. Danny guessed the girl was Panacea.
The girl turned to face him. "Are you Danny Hebert?" She asked.
"Yeah, that's me, and you're Panacea, correct?" He returned the question.
"I've been asked to look at your daughter, she collapsed at home, and she hasn't woken up since?" Danny responded with a yes. "So, do I have permission to look at your daughter and heal her if possible."
"You have my permission," Danny said, and the girl a nod in thanks and walked over to Taylor's side.
"And Mr. Hebert, I am sorry for what happened to your daughter, I heard the court results from my mom and they should have gotten worse." She said and placed her hand on Taylor's arm. Danny appreciated the girl's words.
Xxx
Amy mentally sighed as she put her hand on the sleeping girl to see what was wrong with her.
What the actual fuck. Thought Amy as she saw the insides of Taylor, more specifically her brain. She didn't touch it, even though she wanted to, Amy repressed that thought. She could still see it and what she saw wasn't quite right.
First, of the, Taylor was a Parahuman, she could see the Gemma and the Pollentia, and they were firing on all cylinders. She had never seen a pair with so much activity. And the rest of the brain was a bit of mystery too. For some reason, it was sending signals to produce an unusual amount of Melatonin and Adenosine, and the amount of Cortisol was low. As if to keep the body in a state of sleep. Amy could counteract it, but, it would just return to normal quickly, and Taylor would fall asleep again unless she was touching her 16/7.
Well, as she couldn't help with that, Amy turned her attention to the rest of the body, to see if it was healthy. And boy it was, she found no deficiencies in Taylor's cells, and she had a right amount of muscle on her body and was on the way to a six-pack. The only thing that could find that was wrong with her was the eyes, which Amy fixed so Taylor wouldn't need her glasses anymore.
But, Amy was faced with a little dilemma. She didn't know if she should tell Mr. Hebert that his daughter was Parahuman. After thinking for a moment, she decided not to. It's not my right to make such a decision. Was the reason she told herself.
Amy lifted her hand from Taylor's body and turned around to face the girl's father, who was looking fatigued, kinda like she sometimes did.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Hebert but, I'm unable to wake your daughter up since it's her brain that's doing it, and I can't work with them." Amy apologized, a pang of guilt hit her as she saw how crestfallen the man looked. A part of Amy wished that she had parents that worried about her like that. "But, I can say that Taylor is a healthy girl, and since I couldn't wake her up, I fixed her eyes so, that won't need glasses again."
"No need to apologize Panacea, you tried your best, and I thank you for that. Now please would you leave me alone with my daughter." Mr. Herbert's tone was ice cold.
Amy nodded and left the room. I need a cigarette.
Xxx
Danny felt like breaking as he saw the door close behind Panacea. His only hope for waking his daughter saying she couldn't, he had wanted to yell at her, to make his hate flow but, he held, for the girl didn't deserve it. And help his daughter. So, know the only thing he could do was to hope his daughter would wake up on her own. But, right now, he just wanted to cry, and so he did until they ran out and still continued.
Danny didn't know how much time had passed as he heard the door open once again behind him. He turned around and saw Alan standing in the doorway.
"Hey, Alan," Danny greeted the man.
"Hey, to you, Danny," Alan greeted back. "So, how is she?"
"Physically she is fine, but she won't wake up, Panacea said it had something to do with her brain keeping her asleep." Danny somberly answered.
"Carol's daughter, well, if she said that it's probably true," Danny heard Alan say, though it was probably just to himself, Alan continued talking. "So, how are you doing, Danny."
"Fine."
"No, Danny, no, you're not, I can see in your face. You are dying with worry over Taylor."
Danny couldn't find it in himself to disagree.
"So, that's why the two of us tonight, is going out drinking."
Danny sputtered as his brain caught to what Alan had just said. "What," He hissed out.
"You heard me; we are going out drinking. You're way to spent up and will do you better than sitting there moping right next to Taylor." Alan said.
"I'm not moping," Danny whispered.
"And besides, do you think Taylor wants you to act like you did after Annette died."
Alan's words hit Danny straight in the heart. "No, no, she wouldn't."
"Great, I'm picking you at nine. See you, buddy." Alan walked back out the room having said his to get him out of his funk.
"Yeah, see you later, buddy."
Then later, Danny was picked up by Alan and Zoe Barnes, and they went out to drink. The next morning Danny woke up beside a mousy brown-haired woman.
Xxx
In any other circumstance, Thomas Calvert would be enjoying his current situation. He had finally become PRT Director of ENE but, not in the way he had expected, and he hated it.
The setup had been perfect, and Piggot would surely be fired for the Shadow Stalker incident, and Thomas had made it, so he was the one to take over, then it happened.
But, then, she interfered, and she told him that the only reason he could become Director was if he shared the position with Piggot. He, of course, obeyed her, and Thomas was now CO-Director together with Piggot but, didn't mean he liked it. Even after a single day on the job, Thomas was already making plans to of Piggot.
Thankfully his other plans were proceeding as planned. His dear Tattletale was gathering the information on the Empire. His operations as Coil were going well even though he had to make use of his doppelganger now more often. But, if all went well, Coil would no longer be necessary by summer.
The bright side of his situation was that even though he was Co-Director, he still had the authority of one that was alone. And that meant a particular group had to go.
Thomas activated his power, and in one reality, he sent the Guild the location of the Dragonslayers, and in another, he didn't.
In both realities, he got a call from his agents, and they told him that the Hebert girl had been admitted to the hospital. The girl had apparently collapsed in her home and couldn't be woken up even by Panacea. A fact he found most interesting.
In the timeline, Thomas had sent the info to the Guild the Dragonslayers had caught on and terminated Dragon. So, he collapsed that reality and did once again, and this time gave the Guild more information, and he continued to do that until the Guild managed to catch the Dragonslayers without Dragon dying. It happened a week later, and he rejoiced.
Xxx
"We seem to have hit a little roadblock in our plans."
"A little, you say? We lost five members and the girl. The boy has fallen into a slumber, So I ask what do we do, oh dear Superior."
"It just means they were not worthy vessels, and the Puppet is still active, so the gathering of hearts will only be diminished slightly."
"Oh, how do you know that Moon Boy. The Puppet could fall asleep to."
"…"
"Oh, is Moon Boy angry better get away from the oversized sword that totally compensates for something."
"Why you!"
"Enough both of you be quiet and calm down. Number II is right, and we have no idea if the Puppet will fall asleep. But, rest assured, the boy will awaken, and so will the other after the girl pieces his memories back together. Now onto other things, have you found anything interesting of use?"
"I sure did."
"And what is it what you found."
"If you would let me explain Moon Boy, I would tell. I found a few interesting Worlds. Most don't have a use for us but, they were interesting. Even a few residents could be useful for our plans. Like in of the Worlds, I meet a woman that was like the Seeker but not a Heartless. The Darkness takes an unusual form."
"You think that she could be useful to our cause."
"That I do, dear Superior. She has a hate boner for the Light."
"Fascinating now what about the other Worlds."
"Like I said, interesting but, useless to us. But, there was one that unique."
"In what way?"
"Patience Moon Boy. You see, I found a World fully cut off from both Darkness and the Light."
"Impossible!"
"No, it's not Moon Boy. You see, I was looking through the library in that old observatory and found coordinates to a way out World but, it wasn't there when I checked through the telescope. So, I decided to investigate. I tried to go there with a Corridor but, I hit a wall."
"A wall?"
"That was what it felt like. So, after poking around for a bit, I came to the conclusion that something has cut the World off from Light and Darkness and hidden it from normal view. But, I can sense it with my spatial powers, and I think I can enter if I can find a weak point in shielding."
"I have a new mission for you; you are to find a way into this World and locate the thing that has cut it off. Understood."
"I do, Superior."
Xxx
Taylor's eyes opened up as she heard the familiar sound of monitor beating.
Fuck. Taylor thought. As to why she was in the hospital once again. Taylor tried to wrench her slowly restarting mind for answers, as Taylor sat up in the bed the Keyblader had been sleeping. It was a bit hard, for her entire body felt like lead, and she was hungry.
Taylor gave a look at the feeders in her arm and ripped them out.
Taylor thought back to the last thing she remembered. I was in the kitchen making and then, and then I suddenly felt sleepy? Taylor was brought out of her thoughts as she heard the sound of a door opening. She turned her head around and saw her Dad standing in the door.
Taylor saw his eyes widen before he rushed over to her and had her a hug, Taylor graciously accepted it.
"How are you, kiddo?" Her Dad asked.
"I'm okay, Dad, just a bit hungry. What happened for me to wake up here again?" Taylor answered and asked her questions.
Taylor didn't like it when her Dad's face became one of sadness. "Don't remember Taylor? You collapsed in the kitchen and didn't wake up. You've been asleep for 24 days."
24 days? I've been asleep for twenty-four days. How the fuck did that happen. Taylor shook her head. She had to figure that out later.
"Dad, can we go home?" Taylor asked.
"That, we can, Kiddo. Oh, and when we get home, I have a surprise for you well two, in fact."
A surprise. Taylor thought.
An hour later, after going through the hopes of checking her out of the hospital and driving home, Taylor was walking up the stairs to her room there Danny had said one of her surprises were.
Taylor opened the door and couldn't help but, gasp as she what had happened to her room. There was a brand new bed, a worktable with a laptop and a smartphone on it. Taylor opened the door to her closet and saw new colorful clothes inside it.
She closed it, ran back downstairs and into the living room where her Dad was waiting and hugged him.
"Thanks, Dad," Taylor said into his shoulder.
"You're welcome Taylor, now are you ready for your second surprise." He asked.
"I'm not sure I can take much more." Taylor tried to joke.
"Well, you can come in now." Taylor was hella curious as to who her Dad was calling for. A second later, a mousy looking brown-haired woman entered the living room. Who is she?
"Taylor, I would like to meet Kayden, she is, she is," Danny was looking horribly embarrassed and nervous. "She is my new girlfriend." He finally managed to say.
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaattttttttttt
Xxx
March 6
If they don't stop looking at me, I'm going to fucking explode! Taylor mentally yelled as she sat in the cafeteria of Arcadia.
She had only been at the school for five days, and they were already driving her insane.
It wasn't because they were saying mean things to her like the bitches, but it was how they acted and looked at her. With sympathy. And she hated it.
It had started from almost the moment she had walked through the school doors, they kept saying how sorry they were about what had happened to her, and if they had known they would have helped her.
Taylor had wanted to tell to choke on their bullshit but, she had held her tongue. She had figured they would stop after a day or two, and they had. But, only with their words, not their eyes.
The worst offender of it was a boy by the name of Dean, who was apparently Glory Girls' boyfriend. He just looked her with a weird expression every time she walked by their table as if he seeing something no one else did before he switched over to the sympathy eyes. Sometimes Taylor just wanted to yell at him and force him to tell why he kept giving her those looks but, she held cause she didn't want to be expelled before the first week of school was over.
The only person in the school who didn't look at her like she was a broken doll was Amy AKA Panacea. Who Taylor had only spoken to a few times. The first time being to thank Amy for trying to heal her. The healer had responded to her in such a way that even Taylor thought she was an ice queen.
But, she was still one the few that Taylor knew that didn't give her that look. The others were her Dad, Alan, Zoe, Anne, and Kayden.
Now Kayden, there was a thing Taylor was conflicted about. She was still a bit in shock about it, even over a week later, after being introduced to her Dad's new girlfriend. A person, her father, had met during her little coma-trip. The reason she was so conflicted was that it felt like Kayden was trying to take over the spot in her heart that belonged to Annette.
A person Taylor had loved with all her heart and that she now did too. Heck, even Vanitas, had felt something for Annette with the limited awareness that he had.
But, Taylor couldn't help but, like her cause, the woman was just so motherly, and the bigger reason was, that she made Dad happy. Happier than she had seen in a long time.
And then she had been introduced to Aster. Who was the most innocent cinnamon roll ever? So innocent that she made even Taylor's dark heart light up a bit. And Taylor would forever deny to making any cooing sounds at the baby.
Taylor sighed in relief as the clock rang, announcing to the students that recess was over. She packed her stuff and made her to the next class. Taylor couldn't wait for school to be over so, she could go home and prepare for tonight and make her somewhat Cape debut.
Xxx
Taylor stood in her bedroom and was preparing to go out and bust up that E88 safe house she had found last month before her little Aurora incident, and to her luck, it was still running.
Taylor took a look at her clock to see what time it was. Alright, it's eleven now. Time to go and humiliate some Nazis. Taylor thought.
A moment later, she was decked in her Vanitas Outfit and left her room via the Dark Corridors of her World.
Taylor walked through the Darkness to her destination, it only took Taylor a couple of minutes to arrive at the safe house even though it was on the other side of Brockton Bay. This a fact of the Dark Corridors. That Taylor actually liked, cause they weren't controlled by space or time. They were manipulated by thought, and as long you had a clear destination in mind, all travel took the same time no matter how far away you were from it.
When she arrived at the safe house, Taylor made a little peeking hole for her to see the rooms of the safe house and finding out how many people were in it currently. As she spied on the Nazis, Taylor also heard them talking to each other, and by that managed to identify the person in charge of it, and luckily for her were wasn't an Empire Cape in the building.
Taylor found an empty closet where she fully exited the Dark Corridor.
From there, Taylor released twenty-four Unversed from her being and had them attach to each of the Nazis that were currently in the safe house.
And now for the checkmate. Taylor thought as she unleashed her plan. She could only smile as she heard two dozen human bodies hit the floor. Twenty-three of twenty-four Nazis dead.
Taylor opened the closet door and made her way to the sole survivor of her little massacre, she hummed a little tune as she moved between her victims avoiding the pools of blood they were making from where their hearts used to be located. Along the way, she picked up her Flood Unversed and had them collect the weapons, money, drugs, and other valuable artifacts in the safe house.
Taylor's walk came to a stop as she had reached the place where the survivor was bound by her Unversed. Taylor just looked down at the skinhead and shook her head. "Let's have a little talk away from here, shall we," Taylor said and took hold of the Nazi but, before he had a chance to reply, Taylor teleported both of them away from the safe house.
Xxx
On top of one, the few skyscrapers that were present in Brocton Bay. Taylor appeared still holding the skinhead from the safe house but, not a second later, she threw him to the edge of the roof.
"Who the fuck are you?" Asked and shouted the skinhead at Taylor, while trying to escape from the creature that bound his limbs.
"Me?" Taylor asked mockingly. "I am Vanitas, and I'm your worst nightmare." Her voice took on a more threatening tone.
"You don't scare me," The skinhead tried to sound brave but, Taylor could feel his fear. "So, what do you want with me?"
Taylor walked towards the roof the edge where the Nazi was laying. "What I want from you," her voice was cold as she spoke. "Is for you tell me everything you know about the Empire, safe house location, meeting places, and things of that nature?" She 'asked.'
Taylor saw the skinheads face turn into a hateful sneer. "You really think I'm going to fucking snitch on the Empire when you must be absolutely stupid? You fucking stupid ass nigger, chink, faggot, bitch jew."
"Oh well, I tried to be civil," Taylor said more to herself, than the cursing racist in front of her.
And so she moved quickly with giving the Empire officer a chance to, she took him by the angle and lifted him out over the edge of the skyscraper.
The skinhead screamed a rather girlish scream as he discovered that he was now dangling from the roof of the building.
"So," Taylor spoke once again. "Are you going to tell me the information I want, or do you want to keep dangling there."
"Screw you." The Nazi screamed.
"I'm warning you, my arm is getting tired." Which was a big fat lie, Taylor could keep doing this for hours. But, for the sake of speeding up the process, she loosened her grip slightly.
"Argh," The skinhead screamed once again. "Okay, okay, I tell you, I tell you what you want to know!"
"Good, now talk." And so the skinhead spilled his metaphorical guts to Taylor. Telling her everything he knew, from safe houses, meeting places, secret stashes he knew of, and everything else he knew of.
"Thank, you for your cooperation," Taylor said, and then she let go and teleported away from the roof of the skyscraper.
Taylor had vanished from the roof before the man hit the ground and so she did not hear the traumatized screams of Vista as she saw the man's brain splatter out on the street and on her.
Xxx
Taylor reappeared back in the former Empire safe house. Ready to take all the things that her Unversed had gathered for her.
Wow, this a lot of shit. Thought Taylor as she looked at the piles that had been collected. Now let's see here Guns, money at least 10 grand, keeping that and OH MY GOD, are those Dragon Tech. Taylor looked at the items to confirm that it was. Yep, it is. Taylor looked at the electronics in front of her, lots of Dragon Notes, Dragon Pads, and a Dragon Book. She was so keeping those, and with that, she showed them into her Subspace along with the money and jewelry. She decided to leave the drugs and weapons for the police.
Oh, right, the police.
Taylor took out one of the phones and called 911.
"This is 911, what is your emergency?"
"I am an Independent Hero by the name of Vanitas I would like to call in the location of an Empire 88 safe house just track this phone for the site," Taylor told the lady on the other of the line. After that, she placed the phone on a table and left the safe house heading home, considering the night well and her first night of heroism complete.
Xxx
"So, what's the situation?" Officer Jenkins asked his partner as he entered the patrol car holding in his hand his hot chocolate.
"Emergency just got a call from a new Cape by the name of Vanitas, he was apparently calling in the location of an Empire safe house," Jenkins' eyes widened a bit at that. Those safe houses were notoriously hard to find, and when you did, you were most likely killed shortly after by gunfire, that was how most you teenage Capes lost their life. "And he apparently left directly after calling. Cause the phone is still ringing but, nobodies answering. They have tracked the call, and luckily for us, we're closest to the place." Jenkins's partner Thomas exposed to him. Jenkins liked his partner doing that because of the morgan freeman voice he had.
"Well, lucky us, and what about the PRT?"
"They have been called but, won't arrive until about fifteen minutes."
"At least we go first this time," Jenkins muttered and took a sip of his chocolate.
It took them only three minutes to arrive at the place, the origin of the call came from.
"So, this is the place?" Jenkins asked as he looked at the old apartment building.
"Yep," answered Thomas.
"Well, let's go in," Jenkins said.
Both cops walked up the front door and checked if it was open, and luckily for them, it was unlocked. Thomas opened the door and stepped inside where Jenkins heard an "oh god," come from his partner.
Jenkins followed his partner inside and came upon the same scene his partner saw, "Oh God" was very appropriate.
"I'm going to call it in," Was all Jenkins said to Thomas and returned the car where he up picked the radio.
"This is Patrol Car A-07 in response to call 104 we got multiple one-eight-sevens here requesting paramedics. Over."
And this one of many calls that would be made over the next two weeks.
xxx
A/N: If you like this or any other of my stories, you can donate to my P A Treon. com (slash) StreamingViking and read commissioned stories. And chapters before they are released here. And Forum to let people know myforums/StreamingViking/5698335/