Angels in Brockton
We all know how it goes, Taylor gets shoved into the Locker and gets powers from somewhere, usually something stupidly powerful and beyond comprehension. However, the aftermath of that power being gained is usually fairly subdued. This time though, the resulting explosion is both literal and destructive as the Tenth Angel spreads its wings.
Welp, this is...a rather odd idea. For a change, this is pure Worm without any hint of an OC...but it is kinda, sorta crossed with Date a Live. Sort of. Powers only, no characters (directly). This is gonna be interesting. Enjoy!
Sandalphon 1:1
Winslow High School is a hellhole. Everyone who came within spitting distance of the place would agree to that. However, for one Taylor Hebert...you know what, we all know this so lets get a move on. Taylors bullied, locker, no one let her out and now its night time. There, done. And naturally, this moment is the one where something reaches out and touches the poor girl, changing her life and that of everyone on Bet. However, normally that conversation would happen in her head or on an Astral plane. Here, however, something much...stranger happened.
In the moment between one second and the next, a man appeared in front of the Locker. He wasn't much to look at, just a perfectly normal man with dark skin, graying hair and a pure white suit. He looked around, then turned to the locker from which a thick, reddish ooze was leaking under the door and sighed.
"Such pointless cruelty," he murmured, "Sometimes I wonder if we did the right thing all those millenia ago...ah, but no matter. It is far too late for me to do anything about it. All I can do is help Humanity move forwards."
He pulled something small and bright out of his pocket and looked down at it.
"My last gift," he muttered, "I hope I chose right. So many regrets…"
He chuckled softly.
"Ah, but I'm still lost in the past. Perhaps Michael was right, I should have retired a thousand years ago…"
He shook his head and looked back at the Locker.
"I am sorry for this Taylor Hebert," he said, "Humans were never meant to carry Grace, but I have no choice. I pray this works."
He reached out and somehow pushed his hand through the metal door and into the chest of the unconscious girl inside. He pulled his arm back and waited, his heart in his mouth. This was his last chance, if this failed then…
His thoughts trailed off as a deep, purple light began to leak from inside the locker, which was starting to vibrate ominously. Despite the obvious danger, the man smiled.
"Ah, so it did work," he whispered, "Good."
He closed his eyes.
"Go forth my youngest daughter," he said, "I name thee Malkuth. Fight well, free your siblings and destroy the one who destroyed us."
Then, the Locker exploded.
While the night of Brockton Bay could never really be called peaceful, or even quiet, but even in Brockton, people tend to notice when schools randomly start exploding. Doubly so when said explosion was less rapidly expanding cloud of gas and heat and more a bizarre distortion in space, creating a rapidly expanding pitch black orb around Winslow High until it abruptly stopped and collapsed inwards, creating a pulse of force that shattered most of the windows in the city and leaving a rather large, perfectly circular area centered around Winslow High that extended to just beyond the schools boundaries and looked like a bomb had gone off inside it.
Needless to say, the authorities and many, many gawkers quickly arrived, led by the PRT since the blast was obviously Parahuman in origin. There were many things they expected to find, but the figure of a teenage girl stood in the center of the devastation was not one of them.
Armsmaster, a Tinker and the leader of the Protectorate ENE, advanced slowly across the no-mans-land of crushed buildings the Capes arrival had created. His suite of sensors had confirmed that the blast had not left any nasty surprises behind, leaving only the unknown Cape as a potential threat. As he moved closer, he used his helmet system to scan the young woman in an attempt to figure out what her powers could be. It was unlikely to work, but any information could be useful.
She looked about 15, with very long, glossy black hair tied back with a purple and cream butterfly shaped clip, a wide mouth and pale skin. She was wearing a set of purple and cream plated armor on her shoulders and hips, a black corset and a pink and white, two-layered knee-length skirt, a pair of gauntlets which have petal-like cuffs and a pair of armored boots. The armour didn't look like Tinkertech, but that wasn't any real indication of lack of threat. After all, Tinkertech was pure bullshit at times, a sentiment even he couldn't argue with. Aside from her armour, the girl also had a large, gilded throne with what appeared to be a large sword hilt sticking out the top that worried him a lot more than the girls armour since it did actually look like Tinkertech.
However, as he approached, he quickly realized that his caution was for naught as the girl was unconscious. A moment later, his system identified the girl as one Taylor Hebert, who had been reported missing by her father a few hours prior when she hadn't arrived home from school.
"Trigger Event?" he asked.
"Most likely," said Dragon, who was watching by remote, "Still, I've never seen one this energetic before."
"Hnn," grunted Colin as he snapped his fingers in front of the girls face.
He was secretly rather proud of the device that let him do that in armoured gauntlets.
The girl didn't react, so he gently poked her in the shoulder with the shaft of his halberd, then shook her when there was no response. At his touch, her eyes snapped open wide and she started screaming. Before Colin could react, her arm snapped up and caught him in the chest, sending him flying back like he'd been punched by Glory Girl. He slowly sat up, holding his ribs and noting that the girl had somehow cracked the Tinker ceramics that made up his breastplate, just in time to see the girl pitch of the throne and collapse to her hands and knees where she proceeded to empty her guts.
Yep, that was the reaction of a fresh off the Trigger Parahuman alright. Lovely.
Armsmaster pushed himself to his feet and quickly waved off the PRT troopers and his teammates before they could do something stupid. He wasn't exactly the best at this sort of thing, but even he knew that attacking in this situation was a horrible idea. Instead, he decided to take the much more dangerous option. He was going to talk to her.
He took a deep breath and set his halberd in the ground beside him. He wasn't entirely comfortable at the idea of talking with an unknown Parahuman without his weapon close at hand, but it could teleport to him in an instant and it would hopefully help the girl relax a little.
Now sufficiently steeled, he drew himself up and walked towards the shaking girl, making sure to make some noise as he approached so as not to startle her. That would NOT be a good idea.
"Miss Hebert?" he called once he got closer, but still not within arms reach of her.
Taylor's head snapped up, a panicked expression on her face. A moment later, it cleared and was replaced with confusion.
"A-armsmaster? I...wha…."
She blinked as she slowly sat up and looked around, taking in the devastation around her.
"What...what happened? Where am I?"
Armsmaster grimoused.
"You are in what remains of Winslow High School," he said, "It appears that you had a Trigger Event and your power erupted out of control."
Taylor went green.
"O-oh god!" she gasped, "I-I didn't...I don't…"
Armsmaster shoved down the urge to scowl. He wasn't any good at this sort of thing, but he also didn't want to bring in anyone else if he could help it. While it appeared that Taylor wasn't going to start attacking people at random, until he was completely sure she was stable, he wasn't going to risk it. Fortunately, Dragon knew him well enough and threw up a text screen with an appropriate response.
"Don't worry Miss Hebert," he said, doing his best to sound comforting, "While the damage is...extensive, no one was harmed. Plus, as it was your Trigger Event, there is a certain amount of leeway given."
Taylor sniffed as she calmed down a little and sat up, resting her hands in her lap. As she did, she seemed to notice her outfit and frowned as she looked herself over.
"Wha...where did this come from?" she asked.
"As far as I can tell, it is likely a result of your power, as is that," said Armsmaster, pointing at the throne behind her.
The girl looked back at the throne and blinked.
"Really? Huh…" she muttered, "My power comes with a built-in in costume? Thats...cool."
Armsmaster frowned slightly and cleared his throat, drawing her attention back to him.
"I hate to ask you this, but what is the last thing you can remember?" he asked.
Instantly, the look of worried curiosity was replaced with a mix of anger and fear as the air around her began to vibrate and gain a purple tinge.
"Those fucking BITCHES shoved me in my locker!" she snarled, "They filled it with...god, I don't know, the contents of the medical bin in the girls toilets by the look of it and left me to rot! I've been in there since the start of the day and NO ONE let me out!"
TRUTH.
Armsmaster went pale under his helmet. That sounded like a Trigger event if there ever was one and said some pretty unpleasant things about the students and staff of the school. The smell from something like that would be...horrific and the fact it was ignored for at least a full day was...worrying. Not to mention, depending on how long the mess had been left, there was a good chance that a rather worrying number of nasty diseases would have the perfect place to multiply.
"That is a serious allegation Miss Hebert…" he started, but before he could continue, the girl whirled around to face him, her eyes glowing brightly.
"Are you calling me a liar?!" she snarled.
He quickly held up his hands and shook his head.
"No, I am well aware that you have no reason to lie about this," he said, "However, you must understand that the word of one person isn't enough and your Trigger may well have destroyed all the evidence that can be gathered."
The anger vanished as quickly as it had appeared and Taylor deflated.
"Of course, why would I expect anything else?" she muttered, "Once again, those bitches get away with murder…"
"I wouldn't be so sure," said Armsmaster, "If you give me their names, I will ensure that this event is investigated. At the very least, this could be concidered attempted murder. Considering that the mess that was in your locker likely placed everyone in the school at risk, it could potentially be bumped up to bioterrorism."
Taylor looked up at him in surprise.
"Wait, really?" she asked.
"It is unlikely that it would go that far," he admitted, "But thats only because it was unlikely intended as more than a poorly thought out prank. Now, the names?"
"O-oh, right," said Taylor, "Um, their Emma Barnes, Madison Clements and Sophia Hess."
Armsmaster froze.
"Say that again," he said, his voice flat as he stared at the TRUTH result from his lie detector.
"Emma Barnes, Madison Clements and Sophia Hess," repeated Taylor.
Armsmaster took a deep breath and shoved his fury aside. It wouldn't do to show even a hint of weakness when this was going so well.
"I see," he said, "Thank you for informing me of this Miss Hebert."
"Um, your welcome?" said Taylor, sounding a little wery, "Um, what now?"
Armsmaster took a deep breath, got to his feet and indicated for the Troopers to approach.
"Now, we head back to HQ," he said, "I think I have everything, but we still need to interview you in a more...official setting and call your Father."
Taylor paled.
"Oh god, Dad must be worried sick!" she gasped.
"You can call him on the ride over," said Armsmaster as Miss Militia slowly approached the two, her power in the form of a rather large machine gun, "Miss Militia, can you take her from here?"
The Military Cape relaxed slightly, her gun switching to a large pistol on her hip with the confirmation that the situation was under control.
"Yes, of course," she said and turned to Taylor with a smile, "Hello dear, I'm Miss Militia."
Taylor looked like a deer in the headlights at the sudden addition of another Cape.
"U-um, I'm Taylor," she said, "I...can I have your autograph?!"
She immediately went bright red and covered her face with her hands as Miss Militia burst out laughing.
"I'll give you one later," she said, "Come on, lets get you somewhere more comfortable. And don't worry about your...throne, we'll bring it along and keep it safe."
"Um, thanks," said Taylor, before she was cut off by a very loud rumble.
She blushed again and ducked her head while Miss Militia chuckled.
"We'll get you some food as well," she said, "Come along."
Taylor nodded meekly and followed the green clad Heroine. A few steps away, she paused and looked back at Armsmaster
"Um, thank you Armsmaster," she said.
Armsmaster raised an eyebrow under his visor.
"What for?" he asked.
Talyor frowned.
"I'm...not sure," she said, "Listening I guess."
Armsmaster smiled slightly.
"You are quite welcome Miss Hebert," he said, "Now get going."
Taylor ducked her head and hurried after Miss Militia. Once she was gone, the smile on Armsmasters face was replaced with an angry scowl.
"Dragon, access Shadow Stalkers phone and any email or social media accounts tied to her," he growled, "Shes been pulling the wool over our eyes and I want to know just what shes been up to."
"Already on it," said Dragon, "Colin, some of the stuff on here is…"
"Forward it to my system," he said as he marched over to his bike, "And bring this to the Directors attention."
"Understood," said Dragon.
Armsmaster grunted as he mounted his bike and started the engine. It looked like he was in for a busy night and aggravating night.
Danny Hebert was beside himself with worry. Taylor should have been home hours ago, but there was no sign of her. He'd tried calling the Barnes, but Zoe said she hadn't seen Taylor in months and he didn't know anything about anywhere else she could have gone. For the first time, he cursed his decision to not get his Daughter a phone because it meant that if anything happened to her, she would be unable to call for help and in a city like Brockton, there were far, FAR to many things that could happen to a young girl that didn't bear thinking about.
After she hadn't arrived home by five oclock, he'd called the police and reported her missing. Since then, he'd been pacing around the living room, unable to sit still while waiting for the phone to ring and going over every possible reason for her disappearance and cursing himself for how he'd treated Taylor since her Mother died. The loss of Annette had hurt him badly, but that was no excuse for the neglect Taylor had suffered as a result of it, especially since she was hurting as well. He couldn't even remember the last time they'd had an actual conversation.
He couldn't remember the last time he'd told his Daughter that he loved her.
So wrapped up in his thoughts was Danny that when the phone on the coffee table rang, he nearly jumped out of his skin. Then he practically dove across the room and snatched it up.
"Hello?" he said.
"Um, hi Dad," said a familiar voice.
"Taylor!"
Just like that, hearing his Daughters voice made all the tension drain out of his body and he slumped against the sofa cushions.
"Thank god, your OK," he said, "You are OK, aren't you? Where are you?"
"I...yes, I am," she said, "But things have got...complicated. I need you to come down to the PRT HQ."
Danny felt his stomach drop. Any reason for him to pick her up at the PRT building couldn't be good.
"Why, whats happened?" he asked, "Your not in trouble are you?"
"NO! No, I'm not in trouble," said Taylor, "But...look Dad, just come down, OK? I don't really want to talk about this over the phone."
Danny momentarily toyed with the idea of pressing for more information, but discarded it. He'd be able to get the information soon enough and, more importantly, hug his Daughter and make absolutely sure she was OK.
"Alright, I'll be right there," he said, "Taylor...I...I'll be right there."
"OK, see you soon."
Taylor hung up, leaving Danny sitting listening to the dial tone.
Half an hour later, he arrived at the PRT building and was met in the lobby by a very familiar, fatigue wearing woman.
"Danny Hebert?" asked Miss Militia.
"Thats me," he said, "Wheres Taylor?"
"If you'll follow me, I'll take you to her," she said.
Danny swallowed and followed the Military Heroine into the elevator.
"Please tell me Taylors alright," he said.
"Shes unharmed," said Miss Militia, "Physically at least."
Danny narrowed his eyes.
"Whats that supposed to mean?" he asked, "Will you please just give me a straight answer?"
Miss Militia looked at him and sighed.
"I'm sorry Mr Hebert, I'm not being deliberately misleading, but this entire debacle is causing us a lot of trouble," she said, "Taylor is fine and shes not in any trouble, but...what do you know about Trigger Events?"
Dannys stomach once again ended up somewhere near his shoes.
"I know they're how Parahumans get their powers," he said, "Are you saying that Taylors Triggered?"
Miss Militias silence was all he needed. Fortunately, the doors chose that moment to open and Miss Militia led him down the hall a short distance and opened a door into a spartenly decorated room. However, the details of the room were lost on Danny as he saw who was sitting in one of the uncomfortable seats.
"TAYLOR!"
"Dad!"
CRACK!
"OW!"
Ohmygod, sorry Dad!" gasped Taylor as she let go of Danny and caught him as he nearly collapsed.
"I'm...fine," wheezed Danny, rubbing his throbbing ribs, "How are you so strong?"
Taylor blushed and rubbed the back of my head.
"Ah, thats one of my powers," she said, "Um, I'm a Cape now Dad."
"So I hear," said Danny, regaining his breath, "How did that happen?"
Taylor winced.
"Thats...a long story," she said.
"Alright, whats the scoop?" asked Director Piggot as she tried to get comfortable in her desk chair, "And be quick about it. I'm overdue for my dialysis."
"As you know, around an hour ago, a large explosion at Winslow High pinged off our sensors as an obvious Parahuman event," said Armsmaster without preamble, "Myself, Miss Militia and Velocity attended, backed up by three squads of Troopers."
"Why so many?" asked Piggot.
In answer, Armsmaster pulled up some images of the destruction.
"Ah, I see," said Piggot, "Carry on."
"We arrived expecting to find a fight, instead it turned out to be the aftermath of a Trigger Event," said Armsmaster.
Piggots eyebrows shot up.
"All that damage was caused by a Trigger Event?" she asked.
"Apparently so," said Armsmaster, "The new Trigger in question, one Taylor Hebert, was found at the apparent ground zero unconsous and reacted...violently when I woke her."
He rubbed his chest plate.
"But she came quietly, correct?" asked Piggot.
"Yes, she has been remarkably cooperative," said Armsmaster, "I believe her attack was more a reaction to suddenly waking up after a traumatic event."
"And this traumatic event was…?"
Armsmaster visibly stiffened, his hands tightening.
"Being forced into a locker full of used female sanitary products and left for over twenty hours," he said.
Piggot paled, although she suppressed any other reaction. That was a Trigger Event if she ever heard of one. Hell, she was surprised the girl was in any way coherent.
"Do we have any information on who did it?" she asked.
"We do," said Armsmaster, "Miss Hebert named three people and my lie detector didn't pick up any indication of falsehood. Emma Barnes, Madison Clements and Sophia Hess."
Piggot went stock still.
"I beg your pardon?" she asked with icy calm, "Please don't tell me you said that Sophia Hess was responsible for that girl, who is apparently strong enough to crack armour that could withstand a hit from Lung, Triggering in a situation I would honestly class as attempted murder?"
"I'm afraid I did Director," said Armsmaster, "Whats more, Dragon, under my authority, accessed Hess' phones and found corroborating evidence, along with a laundry list of other...pranks that range from childishly cruel up to assault."
Director Piggot took a deep breath as she tried to keep her blood pressure down.
"Alright, heres what we're going to do," she said with barely a tremor in her voice, "You and Dragon are going to go through all of her Handlers files tonight. I want to know how this slipped under our noses. Then, once you've done that, you will call in Shadow Stalker tomorrow and place her under arrest. I want her in custody by lunchtime at the latest and, depending on what you find, Agent Hammleton and Principle Blackwell may well be joining her."
"What about Miss Hebert and her Father?" asked Armsmaster.
Piggot glanced at the clock on her computer screen.
"Let them go home for now," she said, "Tell them to come back tomorrow after we've dealt with this mess as much as possible. I'll talk to them then about all this."
"You intend to tell her about Hess?" asked Armsmaster.
Piggot fixed him with a flat look.
"I'm not an idiot Colin," she said, "I know we can't keep this hidden forever and I'd rather the girl who completely obliterated an entire school in her sleep not see us as the bad guys if I can help it. I have no doubt that we'll take a PR hit from this, but with any luck, we can gain a powerful new Ward."
"You think she's likely to join?" asked Armsmaster.
"I have no idea, but I have to try or the Chief Director will have my head," said Piggot as she heaved herself to her feet, "Now get to work. You have a busy night ahead and I need to go get my blood cleaned."
Armsmaster nodded and followed his superior out of the room.
And that'll do. I could probably do a scene with Taylor and Danny getting home and talking, but that can wait for now. Before I go, a few points.
Point one, no, this isn't actually a crossover with Date A Live, I'm just using powers and some characters as the bases for some other characters who will be appearing in the future.
The old man. Hes played by Morgan Freeman. Take a guess as to he was.
Taylors power set is basically identical to Tohka's, complete with her Astral Dress and Angel.
Armsmaster not trying to arrest Taylor. There are a few reasons for that, most notably the fact that this is obviously a Trigger Event. That can excuse a lot, especially if theres a chance for the Protectorate to get a powerful new member. It might be different if someone got hurt, but since the building was empty anyway, its not that bad.
Piggot being, well, reasonable. Thats mainly because I don't like seeing characters pick up the idiot ball for no goddamn reason other than to add grimderp elements. Yes, I know this is Worm, but the purpose of Fanfiction is to fix things we see as stupid. Admittedly, a lot of Piggot being reasonable is for personal reasons, she doesn't want Taylor going off the deep end for one and she'll probably play dirty later, but she won't be a Piggot who'll do anything stupid simply because she doesn't like Capes.
Taylors powers. Obviously shes not a Parahuman, but shes not really a Spirit either, obviously. We got an idea of her power level, but let me give you a hint as to her potential power level once she gets the hang of it. In addition to Taylor, there are four other individuals who possess powers from the same source. Three of them are blatantly obvious and the fourth might require some thought. I will say though that one of them actually looks the part. Lets see if that gets the ol' mental gears turning.
And with that, I'm done. Until next time, PEACE!