Quest

by Kahlil Johnson

Uhhhh

36. Fire bird 4

Interlude - Three Glimpses

The phone began to ring. Brian thought about ignoring it as he was in the middle of dinner.

"Sorry, Aisha," Brian said. "I've got to take this."

"Whatever," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'm going to watch some TV."

He waved a hand and brought the phone to his ear. "Hello?"

"Brian, I need you to come pick me up," Lisa said, a note of very obvious panic in her voice. "Like, now."

"Lisa? What the hell. Where have you been? I've been trying to get in touch with you for days!"

"No time for that," she hissed. There was a surge of noise in the background, making what she said too hard to understand. "—And hurry up. I'll be at the corner of Bleecker and Greymalkin Lane!"

"Lisa, I'm having dinner with my sister, I can't just leave her… and you've hung up. Great." He stared at the phone for a moment and pulled up recent calls, dialing the last number. After a moment, he got a message that the phone was no longer in service.

"Damnit, Lisa," he muttered, putting his phone into his pocket. Judging from what Lisa had said, it sounded like she was in trouble. Sighing, he walked back into the living room where Aisha had moved to.

"I need to go out for just a bit," he said. "Stay here, don't let anyone in and don't leave."

"Stay here and don't leave kind of mean the same, bro," Aisha retorted without looking away from the TV. "Going out for a quickie?"

"What? No! Why would you even ask that?" he demanded. "A friend just needs a pick up. I won't be gone long."

"Sure, whatever," she replied. "You got any popcorn I can fix?"

"I think there's some in the cabinet over the stove," he said, grabbing his coat and keys. "I'll be back soon." He didn't hear her response before he left, taking care to lock the door up tight.

He hit the road soon after, taking note of the mostly abandoned streets. He had caught an announcement on the news earlier of the PRT announcing that the gang war was apparently over. The Undersiders had kept a low profile through most of it, especially with Lisa dropping out of touch so abruptly. Brian waited for the light to change before flipping on the radio.

"—And now, to everyone's favorite group of capes, New Edition, performing one of their classic hits, If It Isn't Love!" A moment later, a fairly upbeat song started with a quick drumroll and he tapped on the steering wheel for a bit, driving forward when the light changed.

He pulled into a parking space near the corner she had said to meet at, looking around for any sign of her. There weren't a lot of people out and even at this hour, her blonde hair would be easy to pick out. A few minutes passed and he watched some people come and go, more than one giving him an odd look. Even with the announcement from the PRT today, there weren't a lot of people who willingly came out this late yet.

And they're probably wondering why I'm sitting out here.

A moment later, his attention sharpened as a figure slipped out from some shadows across the street, making a beeline in his direction. For a second, he tensed at the sight of the large, dark coat hanging off the figure's shoulders. But then, he realized just how slight they were. A dirty, tangled mop of hair poked out above the collar.

"Shit, Lisa?" he asked. He hit the automatic lock so she could climb in the passenger seat. She fumbled with the door and pulled it shut after entering, holding one arm close against her torso.

"Lisa, what the—" he began.

"Drive, now," she said, her face becoming visible from within the oversized coat. Dirt smudged one cheek, covering what he thought was a bruise. Or rather, as he looked closer, the corner of the bruise that was most of her face.

"What the hell happened to you?" he demanded, feeling all the anxiety and anger he had kept bottled up over the week begin to burst.

"Brian, please," she said, the words rough, as if she had strained her voice somehow. "Just drive. Turn left or right, I don't care, but get me the fuck away from here! Please."

He shifted out of park and pulled away from the curb, the frown never leaving his face. After a few blocks, she seemed to relax just a bit and drew a slightly dinged laptop from the folds of her coat. As she did, his eyes fell on a ring of shiny metal around one wrist, with the broken end of a chain dangling from it. Angry red marks were visible around that wrist as well.

"What the hell happened to you?"

She didn't answer immediately, carefully twisting in her seat to look back the way they had come. He glanced her way briefly and saw her eyes fixed back slightly skyward.

"What are you doing? Come on and sit down before some cop decides to pull me over," he told her. "Last thing we need is someone stopping us and you looking so beat up. I've seen how that goes."

She sat back down, looking frustrated for a moment before she tugged at the handcuff still circling her wrist.

"Leave it," Brian said. "We'll go to the warehouse. I've got some stuff there for disinfecting and I can get it off there too."

"Thank you," she said quietly. "And thank you for coming."

"Thank me by explaining what—" a thunderous roar drowned him out and something slammed into the car. He resisted the panicked impulse to turn the wheel incorrectly and corrected for the slide, managing to bring the car under control. His eyes went to the rear view mirror, immediately looking out the back window at what he saw. A pillar of fire swirled into the night sky, maybe half-a-block away from where he had just picked up Lisa.

"What the fucking hell was that?" He took one last look at the fading pillar before driving off. Flaming shrapnel was falling around, but it was too far away for him to be affected and he began calming the further away he got.

"I don't think our boss is going to be accepting my resignation now," Lisa said. With the bruising, her usual grin was almost grotesque.

"What?" he said. "Did you do that?"

Something went across her face for a moment and she shook her head in a sharp, rapid movement. "No. That. Wasn't me. What it was… shit… I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know? That's your entire thing, knowing stuff. So what do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't, okay?" she retorted, her eyes drifting back toward the fading display. "Just… drive, please?"

Brian nodded. "We'll talk about this more at the loft."

"If that's the farthest away we can get right now, sure," she muttered, throwing a haunted look back down the road again.

Alec whistled the moment he saw her. "You look like shit."

"Thanks ever so much," she grumbled, setting the laptop down. "Rachel here?"

He shrugged. "She's out checking on her dogs. Been there more than here lately." He gave her a look. "What happened to you?"

"Hand," Brian said, coming back with some tools and a first aid kit. Lisa raised her hand as he began working at the lock on the handcuff. Regent's eyebrows went up at the sight of it.

"Going to guess that isn't the fun kind," he observed. "Mine are—"

"Fluffy with prints, I know," she interrupted. "Ugh, I'll tell Rachel myself later. Long or short version?"

"Short," Alec said, already looking bored and beginning to turn back toward his game.

"Long," Brian corrected. "Starting with where you've been. You went out last week and then just dropped out of touch."

She held her arm up, earning an annoyed look as it upset whatever he was doing. "As you can see, I was indisposed and phones weren't an option." He took her hand back and resumed work on the lock. A moment later, it clicked and dropped away.

"Thank you," she said as he started cleaning the chafe marks from the cuff. "Short version. We used to work for someone. If you heard that latest explosion, well, then you know why we don't work for him anymore."

"I'm sorry," Alec said without looking away from the television. "I couldn't hear it over the sound of my video games."

Brian glared and pressed a damp gauze pad on her forearm. "Hold that there for a moment." He stalked over and switched off the video game console.

"Ok, finished," Alec said, twisting to look toward Lisa. "You were saying?"

"Our employer was actually Coil," she said as Brian started on her arm again. "A week ago, I was talking with someone that he was targeting, hoping to warn her and get her help. He… was apparently several steps ahead of me."

"So, you've been his prisoner for the past week?" Brian asked.

"Bingo," she answered. "Until a few hours ago, at least. At that point, well…"

"This explosion?" Brian prompted. "You said earlier you knew who…?"

"I know who and some of the what, but not so much of the why and how," she told them, wincing as Brian worked some of the disinfectant into a particularly sensitive spot. "As it stands, I managed to salvage what I could, but we won't have my former employer's backing, or money. So, it's just us now."

Alec shrugged. "I didn't even know we had a secret backer. So nothing's really changed."

Lisa sighed as Brian wrapped her forearm. "I'm glad you're so sanguine about this. We'll need to just keep a low profile for a while. After this week, I'm sure the PRT and Protectorate will be on alert and come down on anyone stepping out of line hard."

"How do you know that?" Alec asked. "You've been away for a week getting smacked around for kicks or whatever."

She glared at him for a moment. "Too useful. Got told things. Figured the rest out myself."

"Go get some sleep," Brian ordered. "You look like crap and we can talk more in the morning."

"There's still more I need to—" Lisa began, before her mouth stretched out in a yawn. She picked up the laptop. "Okay, fine. Get Rachel here and I'll explain what I can then." She started toward her room. They could fill her in on what she had missed this week then as well.

She sat the laptop down on her desk after she entered the room. She knew it well enough that navigating in the dark wasn't a problem. Lisa settled on her bed gingerly, glad she had kept Brian from noticing some of the other injuries.

Need to go see the doctor first thing in the morning. The thought made her frown a bit, but she accepted it as necessary. None of the injuries were life-threatening, but it was best to have them look her over just in case there was something she had missed. She was glad she kept Brian from noticing them, taking a slow shuddering breath when she sat on her bed.

The quiet dark of the room seemed to squeeze in around her, almost suffocating. Any minute now, Coil, or his men would burst in and proceed to teach her a lesson about betrayal. Lisa sucked in a breath and fumbled for the lamp. It came on, filling the room with soft light. Relaxing, she sighed and began gently massaging her forehead. The dull ache that had been bothering her from frequent use of her powers was finally threatening to break into a full on migraine.

But she was free. He was dead.

She shook her head. No, she couldn't be sure of that without seeing the body.

Hebert was unlikely to have left anything identifiable. A spike of pain accompanied the thought and she almost bent over, wincing as the movement brought a different kind of pain from her torso.

Several ribs cracked, possibly broken. Another stab of pain came along and she hissed, reaching for the painkillers she kept in the nearby drawer. A couple were swallowed and she headed for the bathroom, filling a small cup with water that she downed in one gulp.

The pain in her head lessened slowly, but still remained as a dull throb that she decided was manageable. She sat back down, looking around at her room for a long moment. Her room. With no lingering worry that he might realize she had been working against him. No gun to her head any more.

He was dead, a fact she was certain of even without seeing the body. Hebert's rampage had left little doubt of the outcome. It had been punctuated by the pillar of fire.

What the hell did Hebert do? Lisa thought about the moment in the mall, when she had approached the girl. The fries were supposed to have been cold, but she had seen that they weren't.

But her power hadn't given any hint that she was capable of what happened back there. And the carnage with the guards. She had made their heads explode. The bodies alone were testament to that, to say nothing of when she had seen a pair of guards simply drop, the walls near them decorated with what remained of their skulls.

In the space of moments, the bunker had gone from her prison and place of punishment, as well as Coil's safety, to a slaughterhouse. All because of one person that she had tried to help. That she had also pointed Coil at.

Lisa shook her head, pushing that thought aside, just as an image of one of Coil's soldiers, turning her way and raising his weapon, only for his head to burst. He didn't even have a chance to react. And standing behind him, her eyes looking like she had seen forever and not quite come back, had been Taylor Hebert.

A hand clamped over her mouth and she staggered back toward the bathroom, barely reaching the toilet as her stomach rebelled at the image of blood and other things splattering the walls. A moment later and she slumped to the floor, holding one arm to her side as her ribs protested the sudden action.

Damn. Probably need to see the doctor sooner rather than later. She carefully climbed to her feet, heading toward the door. Brian was probably still here and wouldn't object to ferrying her over. She could figure out what she was going to do if Hebert came looking for her, or if she went looking for her first.

The thought of whether Taylor found her first sent a chill running down her spine. How the hell was she going to explain this whole mess to the others?

~~~~~~~~

Of all the things that Triumph thought being a member of the Protectorate would involve, standing watch over an enormous crater was not anywhere on the list. Well, not just a crater. The surrounding area was also devastated, there were buildings with crumbled and shattered walls in any direction he cared to look.

He hadn't heard exactly how far the damage went, but it was clearly the work of something major. He hoped, however, that it wasn't the signal for a restart of hostilities. The ABB's non-cape numbers were low, as were the Empire's. The Empire had also lost several capes in the fighting, so they had taken a hit there as well.

"That's a really big hole," Dauntless remarked, coming to stand beside him. "Any thoughts on what caused it?"

"Immense heat and the application of pure force," he said. "I'd estimate that it originated from somewhere in the center of the building's lower levels. Lower levels, I will add, that aren't on any of the building plans filed with the city."

He raised his hands when he saw Dauntless staring at him. "What?"

"That's a lot more precise than I expected to hear from you," was the reply.

Triumph shrugged. "Do you know how many times this week I've written down something similar to that? I lost count. As to the plans, the city actually has digital scans of those and I did a search while standing here." He held up a tablet computer before stowing it away in a belt pouch.

"Report," Armsmaster said as he approached.

"We've established a perimeter and have the police redirecting any traffic," Triumph said. "There's a few spots within three blocks that may have been exits, but the squads haven't attempted to gain entry through any yet."

"Investigate them and see what you can find out, but be careful," he instructed. "Have a squad begin performing a survey of the surrounding area. We may have to advise the city of damage underground."

"Yes, sir," Triumph replied, moving away and calling out to others to relay his instructions. Armsmaster stared at the crater, as if he could wrest answers from it by simply staring.

"What was this place, anyway?" Dauntless asked after his commanding officer said nothing.

"Officially, a warehouse registered to a now defunct shipping company," Triumph said, coming back over. "Least that's what the records you had me pull say. Triton Shipping. They closed up shop here a few years ago. Not sure why they didn't sell, but the place has sat abandoned since then."

"Not so abandoned, it seems," Armsmaster mused, adjusting a setting on his halberd. "I'm going to take a closer look." He pointed the halberd outward toward a section of the foundation and a second later a grappling hook shot out with a burst of air, piercing the concrete. The leader of the Protectorate pressed a button and launched forward, down into the crater.

"Did he just…" Triumph began.

"Fire a grapnel from his halberd and descend into a potentially unstable crater to investigate it for what might have caused this?" Dauntless sighed. "Yes."

"So, we… what? Wait for him to come back? Should we go down after him?" Triumph asked.

There was a brief burst of static, then Armsmaster's voice rang in their ears. "Don't bother. I can already tell there's nothing else worth staying down here for the moment. I did find something that I'll take back to my lab, so I'll be right up."

"That was quick," Triumph remarked.

Dauntless shrugged. "Judging from up here, I doubt there was much really salvageable. Bet he goes back down tomorrow to look again in daylight, just to be thorough."

"Twenty says he doesn't," Triumph challenged. "You heard him, nothing down there. Armsmaster won't waste his time digging around in the daylight."

"You're on," Dauntless replied, grinning beneath his mask as he heard the familiar tink of Armsmaster's grapple impacting into a new spot. A moment later, his commanding officer pulled himself up into view. Dauntless offered a hand quickly, grasping the other man's forearm and helping him the rest of the way up.

"I'll need to review that at my lab," he told them once he was standing, indicating a metal box with visible damage on it. "I have a few things we've been working on for salvaging data on damaged drives. I'll perform another sweep tomorrow, when there's more light." He took the drive back before heading off.

Dauntless kept a straight face as he held out his hand. Triumph growled, dug into a pack on his belt and handed over twenty dollars. "You set me up."

"It was your suggestion," Dauntless countered. "Not my fault you made a sucker's bet. Anyway, come on, I'll pick up some donuts on the way back and you can share."

"You used to be a cop, right?" Triumph asked. "Isn't that living up to the stereotype?"

"There's actually a reason for it, if you can believe it," Dauntless said as they started walking towards his car. "Lot of times you're stuck in your car for hours and you need something that keeps relatively well and can give you a boost of energy. Hence, donuts."

"Really?"

"Nah," Dauntless laughed, clapping a hand on the newest Protectorate member's shoulder. "But it sounds reasonable, right? I ate donuts because I liked donuts."

"Think there's anything on that computer?" Triumph asked. "And he said something 'we've' been working on. Who is we?"

"Probably Dragon." He shrugged. "Anyway. I'll drive, we'll see if we can catch up to him." He indicated the rapidly shrinking image of Armsmaster on his motorcycle.

"Before, or after donuts?" Triumph asked and Dauntless chuckled at the hopeful note in his voice. The past week had everyone stressed and the incident with that building had put everyone on edge again.

"After," Dauntless said. "I know a place and it'll be hilarious if we make it back before he does." Triumph shook his head and settled into the passenger seat and they drove off.

Armsmaster idly reached for a donut while the computer did its work. It had taken some time to clean away any debris or accumulations of soot from the drive. He had a device that could do that, but for something delicate like this he preferred to do it manually.

"Something's bothering you." He hastily put the donut down, grabbing a napkin to wipe his mouth and chin in case anything flaked off from the pastry. Dragon's amused face graced the screen and he grimaced, disposing of the napkin before turning his attention to the monitor.

"I don't like unsolved puzzles," he said. "And what I found tonight is one."

Her face turned, like she was looking at something off-screen. "You haven't submitted your report yet."

"I'm waiting until I see if there's anything useful here," he said, indicating the screen. "I may just have suspicions. I don't believe this incident was a bomb that we somehow missed."

"Who do you think it is?" she asked, a flash of what he thought was frustration appearing on her face. He hadn't put any of his thoughts into a computer yet and she was likely wishing she had access to those.

"The damage seems remarkably identical to an incident a few months back," he said. "Only on a significantly larger scale. We weren't able to determine who was responsible, though we did have suspects. Lung was one, given the amount of fire damage, but none of our Thinkers could provide a reason for him to go smashing through the Boat Graveyard. One suggested that he might have been there to interrupt a possible alliance meeting between the Empire and a powerful independent cape, but that was dismissed."

"Someone like that, depending on how powerful we're talking about… I'd estimate that the Docks would have been a casualty, so I can see why that was deemed unlikely," Dragon said. "Are you going to share or do I have to go looking myself?"

"Our other suspect was Sirin," he said. "That was set aside as well when she never displayed any signs of pyrokinesis."

"And you think this incident tonight was similar?"

"Scale is the only difference I saw in my initial survey. I won't know conclusively until I can conduct a more thorough investigation. And even if the two incidents are connected, I doubt I'll find anything that will tell me the cause was."

"It could always have been Lung," she observed with a light tone.

Armsmaster snorted. "We'd have noticed a lot sooner if Lung were ramped up enough to have done this in one shot, so no, I don't think it was him."

"Sirin, then? Or someone new that we haven't heard about."

"Perhaps," he began. "Glory Girl spoke to Assault last week, worried that something may have happened to Sirin. They didn't find anything to give them a lead and she hasn't been seen since the incident with the Empire."

"It is possible that she simply left, you realize," Dragon pointed out. "Perhaps she felt responsible? The Empire's actions were precipitated by her defeating four of their own."

His eyes fell on a suit of his armor sitting in one corner of the lab, badly scarred from multiple fights over the past week. "Possibly. She's certainly stubborn enough to want to stay, but… simply leaving so that she'll be left alone can't be ruled out. Hell, that was all she really wanted to beg—"

A discordant shriek, like metal rending, erupted from the speakers. The sound quality fluctuated wildly. "Stop! I… anything you want. There has to be something! I have resources!"

Silence for a second, then a voice replied, static breaking up some of the words. "...Want? What I… want?"

"Yes! Anything!" The man's voice pleaded.

"I...want... " The girl or woman's voice faded out for a moment and he wasn't sure if she had continued speaking. "I know you. Coil."

"Pause," Armsmaster said. "Restart at beginning and set system to record." He fished out a notepad and began writing down the words as well, neatly marking down what had already been said and waiting for it to catch up.

"Ms. Hebert," the man, Coil, said, prompting Armsmaster to stare at the speakers again, making several notations. "I know we've had our differences, but I do have resources. Anything you want, I can make it happen. I promise."

"Want…" Her voice trailed off, sounding lost. It sharpened. "I want you to tell me the future."

"The future?" Armsmaster said out loud. Dragon didn't comment as he mulled the words over. The way she said them suggested some sort of significance, but there hadn't been anything so far that provided further context. Except… a suspicion began forming in his mind as the girl resumed speaking.

"The f-future?" Coil spoke. "I can't—"

"If you could," she answered, the words sounding strained, as if she was forcing them out. "You'd know you… what I want, you can't give."

"I have money!" he protested. "A lot of it. If I can't do it myself, I can—" Armsmaster frowned as whatever Coil was about to claim broke off in a cry of pain.

"Nothing," she said, the focus that had filled her earlier words gone. "What you can do and what you are…has no worth."

"I swear," he tried again, a panicked and pleading note overwhelming his voice. "Anything you want, money, power, name it and it's yours!"

The next words were distorted and he couldn't make sense of them, other than one word before the system alerted him that there was nothing else salvageable.

He sighed, leaning back in his chair in thought. "Damn," he said, staring at the word but not really reading it. "So. That is where she's been. But what the hell does phoenix mean?"

"The phoenix is a mythological bird," Dragon said, cutting off with a faint smile at the look he threw her.

"I know what one is," he said. "What does it have to do with-" He cut himself off, grabbing a folder and sorting through it. Not finding what he wanted, he tapped the mouse several times, navigating to a specific location and bringing up a picture.

"What would you say that looks like, Dragon?"

"There is some similarity to artistic and historical depictions of one," she answered after a moment. "I don't understand what this has to do with the person Coil mentioned. I gather from your reaction that you know who she is."

"I do," he said, but didn't volunteer anything further.

Dragon made a thoughtful sound. "You clearly knew who Ms. Hebert was, as I said. And you earlier mentioned Sirin, whose name is a reference to a russian mythological bird creature, and that she had been absent. When the recording finished, you said 'that's where she's been'. Now a mention of another mythological bird. I assume Ms. Hebert and Sirin are the same?"

He sighed. "Yes. Though I don't think you had to lay out your chain of logic for me."

"I prefer to be thorough," she said, her avatar making a motion that he thought was a shrug. She was silent for a moment, her expression distracted. "Oh, she's the one you've been venting about before. Those conversations make more sense now."

"Don't they just?" he asked with a bit of a grin as she, he assumed, finished looking up the information on Sirin.

"Quite," she said, her avatar's head shaking once. "Though, what are your thoughts on the conversation we heard and what it means?"

"Judging from the destruction tonight, I'm tentatively labeling the location as Coil's hideout," he mused. "I'm tentatively labeling Coil missing, presumed dead."

"And Ms. Hebert?"

"Well, the question now is whether she survived and vacated before that place went up," he said. "It's possible she simply brought it down while she was inside as retaliation for whatever Coil did. In fact…"

"In fact?"

"Just flagging the system in case she happens to turn up in a hospital," he said. "Dauntless is over at Brockton Bay General, for example, so it'll alert whoever might be closest to investigate."

"And if she does turn up again?" Dragon asked.

"While I'll be glad she's alive, that's more complicated. There's unlikely to be anything conclusive in that mess that could prove she was responsible. If something did turn up that proved otherwise, that could change things. The conversation by itself isn't proof of anything but a confrontation."

"I sense a but," Dragon remarked.

"A couple of things," Armsmaster began, reaching over for a set of schematics and making some notations in the margins. "She wasn't exactly receiving positive public attention after the brawl with the Empire. There was noise again from those who want more stringent restrictions on Parahumans, to say nothing of the Mayor's office expressing concerns about how much damage she did."

He chuckled. "Fortunately, no one listens to the extremists, and the Director was able to divert the Mayor, especially with the gang war. That's quieted down at least, but if this gets out, all that would be right back in focus."

"There's more, isn't there?"

"Maybe." He shrugged. "PR had something planned. That was why Glenn was here personally. Her dropping out of sight upset that. Who knows what they'll do when I bring this to them?"

"I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think," Dragon said. "You should be more positive, Colin."

"When situations stop giving me reason not to be, I will," he said, glancing at his phone. It had begun to vibrate.

"What is it, Dauntless?" he asked, the phone's vibration sequence telling him who it was.

"Well, sir, I did find Taylor Hebert," the other man said. "I even spoke to her briefly. She was admitted as a Jane Doe with no ID late last night. Claims no recollection of the past week. I came back and accompanied some police as they suspected rape, based on her condition upon arrival, which was apparently unusual enough to warrant my involvement. I was heading out when I realized why the system sent me that alert. Now, though…"

"She's gone, I take it?"

"...Yes sir. It appears she's left. However…" Dauntless paused for a moment. "Doctor's tests found a lot of crazy drugs in her system. They were breaking down, but the Doctor who explained them to me talked about them like they were unusual, not your usual run of the mill stuff. She had some marks on her neck like repeated injection spots and some chafing consistent with restraints."

Armsmaster grimaced, but took note of it anyways. "Anything else?"

There was a long pause. "One thing, sir, but I'd prefer to discuss that in person privately, if you don't mind."

"Will it help in locating her?" he asked.

"I do not believe so," Dauntless replied.

"We'll discuss it later then," he said. "Get back here and give me your report, as well as any information the hospital can provide." He cut the call off, dropping the phone onto his workspace.

"Not positive news?"

"Ms. Hebert survived," he said. "She was at the hospital and is now gone. Dauntless had something else to talk about, but whatever it is, he'll have to wait until I get free of the Director."

"You're going to deliver your report, then?"

"Unfortunately," he grumbled. "First, I'll swing by and see if they found anything else in that crater. After that I get to make the Director's day. Thanks for sticking around to talk, Dragon."

"Any time, Colin," she replied and the monitor that had been hosting her avatar went blank. Shaking his head, Armsmaster organized his notes and then tapped a few commands into the computer. The Director was not likely to appreciate his findings. But first, he had to check with the crews that were tackling the survey of the crater and see if they had uncovered anything else.

The phone rang twice before the agent picked up. "This is Kellyn, sir."

"Anything else come out the crater?" he asked.

"We managed to put together a rough outline of the bunker's layout," the agent said. "Without the plans, there's some questions of accuracy, but we believe we have a solid layout with the exception of the parts that were destroyed in the explosion. Those parts are, obviously, an estimation. There's a few sections that we are still trying to map, but it is slow-going."

"Anything else?" Armsmaster asked.

"We've found human remains, sir," Kellyn said and he closed his eyes, counting slowly back from ten.

"How many?"

"Impossible to tell, sir," Kellyn replied. "Most aren't intact. Identification is unlikely without fingerprinting or DNA analysis, I would estimate. The one intact body we found… well, he was missing his head, sir."

"Say again?" Armsmaster asked.

"His head was missing, sir," Kellyn repeated. "The examiner we had on site believed that his head, um, exploded, but was withholding from making a final determination until he got back to the coroner's office to perform a proper examination."

"Estimate?"

"If we're correct, there was at least forty, sir."

"Damn," he made a note on his papers about that. "Anything else? Equipment? Paraphernalia that might confirm whose base this was?"

"An armory, sir," Kellyn told him. "There's a lot of damaged equipment, but a fair bit that isn't. Other than that, nothing yet. We've withdrawn from the site for now due to poor lighting conditions, but we'll be continuing in the morning."

"How stable did it appear?" Armsmaster asked.

"Touch and go, sir. That's been our biggest issue. We have to check each area several times before moving on. No one's been hurt, but there were a few close calls."

"Submit your reports for today when you can, and carry on," Armsmaster said. "Report if you find anything else unusual."

"Yes, sir," Kellyn said, hanging up.

"What a mess," he muttered. "Now I have to add telling the Director about a possible mass homicide to the list."

The alert buzzed, letting him know someone was at the door to his lab, waiting for entry. A glance confirmed it was Dauntless and he admitted him, surprised that he had made such a quick return.

"Dauntless," he said in greeting. "You mentioned something you wanted to discuss?"

"Two things, actually, sir. But I'm… not sure about the second. First, I'd like to report that I uncovered the identity of the independent cape, Sirin."

"I'll have the appropriate paperwork sent to your email," he replied. "Sign and return it."

"You… aren't surprised, sir?"

He shook his head. "Suffice to say, no. What else?"

"Well, I figured it out as I was preparing to leave," Dauntless went on. "Something weird happened then. I was downstairs, in a stretch of hallway with no one around. And I clearly heard Ms. Hebert say: 'Sorry, Dauntless.'"

"You're certain she wasn't around, or you didn't imagine it?"

"It's possible, I suppose," Dauntless answered. "But I had left her in the hospital room and I visually checked the area several times. It.. wasn't exactly hearing, though, sir."

"What? You either heard her or you didn't, right?"

He tapped the side of his head. "It was like she was inside my head saying that, sir."

Armsmaster regarded him for a moment. "When was the last time you had a full night's sleep?"

"When was the last time you did?" Dauntless retorted. "I'm tired, but I don't think I'm to the point of hearing voices. And if I were, why would they be of a girl I've spoken to a handful of times?"

"The alternative is that this girl did something that we suspect is an ability of The Simurgh," Armsmaster said. "Tell me which sounds more unbelievable."

Dauntless fairly radiated frustration and Armsmaster sighed, holding up a hand. "Alright. Go over this with me, in detail. You spoke to Ms. Hebert… once, or twice?"

"Twice," Dauntless said. "The first time while making rounds to reassure the patients and such. I'd heard from the nurses that she apparently was missing a whole week and figured I'd cheer her up. She was nice, but I figured she had just gotten caught up in one of the explosions and that was why she was missing a week. Short-term amnesia, maybe."

"The second time," he went on, "was after the hospital had requested some detectives. They were concerned about rape and there were claims about her arriving under unusual circumstances, so parahuman involvement became a possibility. I was there, as you know, so I got the alert. I didn't learn anything new then, though."

"Was she injured in any way?"

"Chafe marks from where she had clearly been restrained at some point, and seven or eight spots marking repeated injection sites. Other than that… well, she looked underfed. Given that they said she was lit up with some seriously potent stuff, that doesn't surprise me."

"Alright, after your second meeting, then what?" Armsmaster asked.

"I was heading out when it happened. It had just hit me who she might be, and then I heard her. By the time I got back to her room, she was gone."

"Damn," Armsmaster said. "I wish she had stayed. No telling where she is now and with this crater incident… Damn."

"There might be a way to find out, sir," Dauntless offered. "One of the nurses mentioned that she did call someone and had a visitor."

"Who? Her father?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Glory Girl."

"That might be helpful," Armsmaster allowed, then frowned. "What about your conversations with her? Did she say anything that might shed light on where she was?"

"First time, it was small talk. She asked some questions about what had been going on. I gave her some general information, stuff that you can hear on the news. The second time, I got her permission to take a closer look at her neck. My helmet's scanner took some pictures." He drew a folder out from under his arm. "And everything I could get from the hospital."

"Let me see your helmet," Armsmaster said, reaching for a cord and plugging it into a hidden port when it was passed over. "There. I've copied over the pictures. Good thinking there."

"Thank you, sir," Dauntless replied. "Looking back, I think she was a bit nervous when we came back. The police didn't catch on, but… I'm certain of it now. Probably why she rabbited. Afraid she had been ID'd."

"Well, I'm certain she'll turn up soon," Armsmaster said. "Either causing a ruckus or being part of one. She seems drawn to those."

"What are we going to do, sir?" Dauntless asked.

"I'll have a better idea once I've spoken to the Director. Probably with Glenn too. Until then, proceed following our standing orders. I want thorough notes about the incident you relayed to me."

"I thought you didn't believe me?"

"I'm skeptical, but I try to avoid ruling out anything," he said. "File your report then go get some sleep."

"Yes, sir!" Dauntless saluted and quietly left. Armsmaster looked at the additions to his notes and the newly added pictures, assessing the new information.

"Hopefully, he's just imagining things," he said to himself. "Or some power that allows ranged communication. Something like Screamer's, maybe."

"Questions for later," he decided, shaking his head. Should focus on what I know for sure now. Hopefully, I'll catch the Director in a good mood. He tapped in a few commands, dialing her private line.

--

Last edited: Aug 30, 2015

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chibipoe

Aug 29, 2015

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Threadmarks Sleep Walking - 4.1

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chibipoe

chibipoe

Catradora is life, Catradora is love

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Sep 10, 2015

#4,901

4.1

Piece of (Damn, I really) shit, I hate (Wait, why did I) red lights. Why do I (come downstairs) always get (want a beer) a red on this corner (Beer, Beer, Beer, Beer, Whiskey!) damnit! Why is 15mph (again? Fuck, this) so damn slow!? (always happens.") "Hmm... (What was I doing.)

Telepathy wasn't like the empathy at all. Actual thoughts were less of a mess and more of a constant noise. The walls I had put up helped screen them out, but unlike with my empathy, maintaining them required conscious effort. I was exhausted, and there was a lingering, bone-deep ache that made it that much harder to block out the noise.

Chinese or Italian?" (Half a box of white rice,) again? Ehh... (week old mashed potatoes,) I'm glad I'm not in Australia. (some of that soup) that spider in the toilet (I can't stand but) "Fuck, how many (she always makes, celery) I can't stop this feeling (that's starting to rot. Maybe) would have been (there's something in the pantry) I like trains.

It was like when Emma and her cronies would crowd around me and say random things to rile me up. I didn't let it bother me then and I wouldn't let it bother me now. Although, I had wondered if that would change if a lot of people started panicking all at once.

(Dat ass...) a killer. heh heh heh. (I can make quickly?) literally... but fuck that stings!" (times I have to tell my boss, / Deep inside of me / (Ooh, found a penny!) wood shrinks when (Girl, you just don't realize) it goes dry..." (What you do to me) Shit, did I remember to pick up the dry cleaning? (Ten am to two pm, my ass.)

I opened my eyes slowly, staring at over the skyline of Brockton Bay as the thoughts faded to a distant murmur. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than just walling everything up. That clearly wasn't working. How many times had I taken a hit I could have avoided? Gotten into something because I had only thought to look ahead after the fact or listened for what the emotions around me were telling me of what my opponents intended?

A sigh escaped. It wasn't like there was anyone that I could actually ask for help. There was only one… person… thing, whatever, even suspected of being a telepath. I couldn't just fly up into orbit, and even if I could, I knew that trying to ask the Simurgh for help was a bad idea.

I sighed again and unfolded my legs, wincing at the pins and needles from having sat on it too long and swinging them back and forth until the feeling returned. I could mostly tune the voices out, but what I needed was to practice hearing what I wanted and nothing else. If I could do it right… I could do so much to help people. Know when someone was going to do something bad and be there to stop them. I could even do something a bit less violent, help people. I could know their thoughts, their feelings and help them that way.

"Taylor Hebert, super-therapist," I said aloud, then snorted. "Yeah, that's not happening."

I dropped my hands down, letting them curl around the edge of the telekinetic shape I was sitting on. Talking to Catherine and Minako had filled me in on a lot of what I had missed and I wasn't sure I was happier for having the knowledge.

The Empire had responded to my take down of Cricket, Hookwolf, Fenja and Menja by attacking in force, launching attacks across the city before hitting the PRT and liberating the four of them. The ABB had responded with a campaign of terror aimed at Empire territory in response to that and their earlier attack at the market where I'd first encountered Cricket.

A week of fighting and terror… that had only come to an end because the Empire were forced to withdraw. Both them and the ABB had suffered a lot of losses and it seemed like an unspoken ceasefire was declared.

And then I apparently made things tense again by cratering a building and wrecking several city blocks from the shockwave. I grimaced at the thought, wishing it were possible to glare at a hole in your mind. Nothing had surfaced about the time I was missing other than some really unsettling dreams that I didn't understand. I almost wondered if they were my precog working while I was asleep, but I was pretty sure there weren't any ancient ruins on the moon.

"Moping up here again?" I looked up to see Vicky floating there, holding a familiar brown bag. "I brought burgers."

"I am not moping," I said, hating how petulant I sounded. "And you didn't need to do that."

"Have you looked at yourself in a mirror?" Vicky retorted. "You are skin and bones. I mean, I was kind of envious over how slender you were… but this is taking it a bit far."

"Just give me a burger." I told her, rolling my eyes while stretching the platform out a bit. "You can sit, if you want."

Vicky carefully felt around with her hand, frowning. "This is still the weirdest thing. How am I supposed to tell where to sit?"

"Sorry I can't color-code my power for your convenience," I snarked, unwrapping one of the burgers and tearing into it. After chewing, I continued. "Just look for the distortions in the air."

"Because those are so obvious," Vicky replied, gingerly sitting down. She sat the paper bag down, shaking her head as it remained stationary. "Utter bullshit, I'm telling you."

"Telekinetics can't be that uncommon," I said, reaching for another burger. "And don't you have several teammates who can make forcefields? I'd figure they'd have made chairs out of them at least."

Vicky didn't say anything for a moment, eating her own burger in silence. "First, most telekinetics affect a specific thing. Second, no, they make forcefields and I haven't seen any of them shape them into anything else Third, telekinetics don't just do… whatever it is you do. The reason it's bullshit is because you don't have any rules."

"Hm?"

She sighed, tossing her grease-stained wrapper into the breeze. "Most grab-bag capes have a few weak powers and maybe one strong one. You have... how many powers now? And pull out new ones regularly? With no apparent limits?"

I dropped my wrapper into the bag, catching the one she had thrown with my powers and dropping it in there as well. "I've wondered about it a few times, but I don't know how to respond to that."

"Well, take Narwhal, for example," Vicky explained. "She's ranked so highly because she can get around the Manton limit."

"Manton limit?" I frowned, rolling the words around in my head. "What the hell is that?"

Vicky stared at me. "You've had your powers how long and you don't know?"

"I've kind of been preoccupied with a bunch of things. Looking up obscure details hasn't been high on my priorities." I fished another burger free of the bag and began unwrapping it. "Enlighten me."

"Obscure?" Vicky repeated, almost growling. "Ugh. Why am I teaching you basic parahuman 103?"

"Just lucky, I guess?" I asked.

"You are not funny," she retorted before sighing. "Alright, here's what it means. You can basically affect living things, or inanimate objects. But not both. Most of the time, this means you can't use your powers directly on other people. Like you can't just make someone burst into flame, or something. And… you usually can't use your powers on yourself. I think that's right."

I frowned. "Okay, I can get the not being able to use your powers on yourself… sort of. But the other part? That doesn't even make sense."

Vicky shrugged. "I'm sure Dr. Manton agrees with your assessment. How many degrees do you have, again?"

"Whatever," I said, poking at the bag to see if there was another burger hidden among the wrappers I had deposited in there.

"You're still hungry?" Vicky asked. "Maybe I should have taken you to Fugly Bob's. Least then we could order more."

"Have you looked at me recently?" I returned with a grin. "Skin and bones."

"Fine," she said, sighing heavily. "Fugly Bob's it is. I'm not eating anything else, but I'll treat you to some more. Anything to get you looking like you're not starving."

"Sounds good," I said, preparing to disperse the platform. "Race you?"

"First," Vicky interrupted and I turned my head to look, taking note of her expression. "I.. wanted to talk about something. Why I was… angry when we talked at the hospital."

I raised a hand. "You were stressed. Let's not…"

"No." She cut me off with a shake of her head. "I want… I need to talk to someone about it."

Vicky shifted where she sat and it was a moment before she finally said anything. "Did Catherine or Minako fill you in on this week in detail yet?"

"Broad strokes," I answered. "It was something of a tense atmosphere at the time. Their dad doesn't entirely like me, I think."

"Cath says he's a bit overprotective and a bit controlling as far as their cape thing goes," Vicky said. "I get why, but yeah, I can see him being a bit of a jerk easily, even if I haven't met him personally."

"Wait, cape thing?" I blinked. "You know?"

"Well, yeah?" Vicky asked. "I mean, I didn't say anything because not my business, but Taylor, two girls hang out with you as civvies, two girls hang out with you as a cape. I don't need to be a rocket scientist to put two and two together and get five."

"Five?"

"Anyway, they told me the day after you went missing," Vicky went on. "I got Amy to fix Mina up. Don't know if she told you, but she was pretty busted up after you went missing."

"Yeah, though not that Amy had patched them up," I answered. "Or maybe they did. There was a lot of topic changing that night."

"Well, I did," Vicky said. "They didn't give me much more than confirm that they thought it was someone who had taken you because of your powers." She paused to stare at me for a moment before reaching over and flicking me in the forehead.

"Hey! What was that for?" I rubbed at the spot and glared at her.

"That was for going off to meet a stranger and then bringing her home!" Vicky said. "For all you know, she was just setting you up for what happened. She wasn't around when they woke up, which means either she was kidnapped too, or she was in on the whole thing."

"Given what happened, I can't imagine putting herself willingly into that situation," I replied. "I mean, she seemed just as surprised as everyone else when everything exploded. I think, anyway. I was a bit preoccupied with trying to breathe and get everyone out at the same time."

"Could have been an act," Vicky insisted. "I mean, you weren't reading people's minds before whatever happened to you. And you should really let Amy make sure you're alright, while we're on that subject."

"First, the doctors say I'm fin—"

"My sister trumps whatever those quacks say."

"And second," I continued, raising my voice a little. "In case you hadn't noticed, your sister either doesn't like me, or is scared of me. Maybe both. I don't know why, either."

Vicky's shoulders slumped. "No, I don't know either. She won't tell me why, but I know there has to be a reason. She doesn't dislike people without one."

"I could find out," I said, but held up a hand as Vicky turned to glare at me. "But I won't. I don't have someone with similar powers to teach me etiquette on mind-reading, so I have to figure it out for myself. I'm trying to avoid invading people's privacy if I can help it." I blinked, and for a split second I could see the phantom of a smiling, aged face in front of me. Distantly, I could almost hear his voice as he held out a hand towards me.

I blinked again, and it was gone and Vicky was waving a hand in front of my face. "Earth to Taylor. You in there?"

I shook the image away. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You spaced out on me for a second," she said. "Are you sure I shouldn't get Amy to look at you?"

"I'm fine," I insisted. "The only thing I'm having trouble with is learning to only hear what thoughts I want to hear."

"I dunno," Vicky said. "I mean, those were some pretty crazy sounding drugs, from what I saw on your report. There could be something making you loopy still. Like just now, you completely spaced out."

"Weren't we talking about this past week and not me?"

"Fine, be a grouch," Vicky said, taking a deep breath. "The Protectorate and New Wave focused on just relief at first, letting them fight it out. Though the Empire was getting it hard from the Protectorate after busting out their people."

I grimaced at that. "Not a deal, right?"

She made a face. "No one told me about them attacking and breaking them out until recently. Turns out I was spouting rumor when we talked at the hospital. Protectorate was just keeping quiet about it, probably to save face. I won't pretend to know why exactly though."

"And the Empire wasn't crowing over getting one over the Protectorate and PRT?" I asked. "That's… kind of surprising."

"It was kind of worrying, honestly," Vicky admitted. "I've never known the Empire to not gloat when they do something big. The only reason they wouldn't would be if there something else they wanted to brag about, something bigger."

"I wonder what that was." I frowned. "Did they ever say anything?"

She shook her head. "Usual threats, but they were just aiming at the ABB for the most part. ABB was hitting back just as hard. Harder, really, given what they were doing with their new cape."

"I think I remember that. You mentioned her in the hospital," I said. "Bakuda, wasn't it?"

Vicky's expression tightened into a scowl. "Yeah. That's her."

I frowned at her. "Something bad happened, didn't it?"

"Three days after it started, yeah." Vicky began, pausing as her hands curled around the edge of the platform, knuckles turning white from the force she was applying. I reinforced the surface as she was gripping it with enough force that I could feel my telekinesis crumpling. "The Empire kept bringing more to bear and kept pushing the ABB back. The ABB was staying focused on them unless attacked, but their methods… well, any place could be a bomb waiting to go off."

"What happened?" I asked when Vicky fell silent.

"We were helping clear a part of Anders Memorial that had been damaged by a nearby explosion," Vicky finally said. "Some shop or another got melted and the effect damaged some of the hospital's structure."

I didn't say anything or interrupt as she continued. "Mom went to check if there was anyone else, but, apparently one of Bakuda's bombs was still there and she got caught in the blast."

"She isn't—"

Vicky shook her head. "No. She didn't die. This one was apparently something else. Caused pain. She wouldn't stop screaming. Amy did what she could, but she doesn't do brains and well, Mom's been a problem since. Like, Ames spends more time away from the house than at it now. So do I, for that matter." Can't stand to have another argument.

"Arguments?" I prompted and she rolled her eyes before blowing a lock of hair out of her eyes.

"Amy fixed her up, like I said," Vicky continued. "But she… I think it did something else. She's really unpleasant, particularly toward Amy. Acts like Amy's done something to her personally, or going to do something to her."

"That… I don't know what to say. That's been the cause of the arguments, I take it?"

"Yeah," Vicky said. "I got fed up with it and started calling her on it. Since, she's started giving me the same sort of attitude."

"And it isn't something that Amy can fix?"

"Even if it was, Mom isn't likely to let Amy touch her to do it." Vicky snorted. "Anyway. Let's go hit up Fugly's. I'll fill you in on how things settled down once we've got a table and you're stuffing your face."

My stomach chose to growl loudly, interrupting what I had been planning to say and I took the bag containing our trash. "Sure. I don't have any place special to be right now and more food is probably good."

"Race?" Vicky asked.

"Really?" I asked. "Even recovering, you'll still eat my dirt."

"Loser buys sundaes!" Vicky fired back, diving off the platform with a laugh.

"Cheater!" I called out, giving chase.

"Closed?" I frowned at the sign, then looked past it at what I could see of the interior, then up toward the roof, signs of damage clearly visible. I guess they had closed early rather than risk problems over the damages.

"The mall's still open," Vicky pointed out, glancing up and down the street. "We can probably get something at the food court." The combination of the recent fighting and the damaged shops or restaurants had discouraged people from coming out.

"I guess we're going there," I agreed. "Wasn't there a new place in there? Korean barbeque or something like that?"

Vicky nodded. "I think that's it. I've heard good things about them."

"Loser buys sundaes this time!" I shouted and took off after a quick check that no one was around to see. Vicky's outraged cry only made me laugh as she rushed to catch up to me. Vicky said something as she drew closer, but I only gave her an absent nod and did a barrel roll around her.

Flying was easily my favorite power now that I could do it properly. Especially right now, with how I was still recovering. There was nothing quite like being able to just forget about how easily I got tired or how utterly weak I felt sometimes, to be able to just take to the air and leave that behind. Nothing quite like the feeling of freedom that it gave, that you weren't tied down to anything.

A shrill whistle interrupted me and I came to a halt, turning to see Vicky hanging back a bit. "What?"

"Mall's back there," she said, pointing with her thumb back over her shoulder. "You just kept on going. You really should let Amy check you out. Zoning out while flying at high speed?"

"I said I'm fine," I told her, more curtly than I meant to as I dropped toward the mall. "I think we already went over the situation with your sister too."

Vicky shook her head. "No, not putting it off this time. We're eating and then you're coming with me. One time spacing out is okay, but twice in less than half an hour?"

"You aren't going to stop about this, are you?"

"You can read my mind, what does that tell you?"

"Ugh, fine," I growled. "It's on you when Amy freaks out again."

"I'll deal with that if it happens," she told me. "Let's go find some more food for you first."

"Whatever." I sighed, dropping quickly down between some cars in a stretch of parking lot where there was no one around. I looked around, feeling for anyone that might be approaching and my eyes landed on an area that was taped off. "Is that—"

"Where the transport got turned over," Vicky answered before I had finished. "Just past that is where you had it out with the Empire. They still haven't filled in the crater from where you buried Hookwolf."

I didn't say anything as I walked toward it, severing the tape with an idle use of my powers. I hadn't given the area much thought in the wake of the fight, but seeing it now, in full daylight, I could only stare. There were sections of grass and dirt strewn around from where the transport had been turned over, but the worst of the damage was past that spot, craters and just whole sections of the tarmac torn up and ground down until all that was left was a disaster zone.

"I heard the Mall's planning to replace the big window in the food court with just a wall," Vicky said somewhere behind me. "In case something gets thrown that way during a fight."

"I didn't throw anything near the mall," I muttered sourly, glancing toward the distant windows of the food court.

"No," Vicky said as she walked up beside me, arms crossed. "You didn't. But you could have. They could have. And there were a lot of stupid people with their noses pressed against it. They're afraid it's going to happen again and someone will throw something or someone at that window and there's going to be another crowd of gawkers turned collateral. Then the mall has to explain why it happened in the first place."

I snorted. "You, of all people, lecturing me about damage? What did Assault call you again? Collateral Damage Barbie?"

"Which makes you Mass Destruction Skipper," Vicky retorted without any sign that she was irritated. "C'mon, sidekick, let's get some food."

"I am not your sidekick!" I protested as she started toward the mall.

"I'm the senior cape here, so by default, you're my sidekick," Vicky said. "Did you miss that memo?"

"It must have come while I was a prisoner in someone's basement," I replied, shaking my head. Vicky gave me a look and I shrugged. "Could have been worse. I could have been stuffed in a refrigerator."

"That is not funny." Vicky glared at me.

"Sorry, it sounded funnier in my head." I shrugged again. "Guess my sense of humor isn't that great."

"If only Amy could fix that too," Vicky said, grinning at me. "Now, come on, enough staring at this mess. Food is this way."

The entrance we took was actually on the other side of the mall from the food court, and I took the time to observe in silence, noticing just how skittish the people shopping were. More than a few had an air of trepidation surrounding them, like they were expecting something bad to happen at the drop of a hat.

But as nervous as people were, I could at least see that they were enjoying themselves. Unlike in other places across Brockton, the mall seemed to have all its stores open and undamaged, having apparently escaped the week-long conflict untouched. Fugly's was only one example out of many places that were either closing up early for repairs everyday, or were closed entirely.

"Escalators aren't far," Vicky chimed in while reaching behind her to pull me forward. I hadn't even noticed while people-watching, but my breath was starting to run short at some point, leaving me feeling winded.

"Thanks," I muttered, grateful when the escalators were there and I was able to just stand while it carried us upward.

"Now do you think I'm wrong about getting Amy to take a look? You can't even walk a few feet without threatening to pass out. Have you seen your face right now? If that color was any more wrong…"

"I'll be fine when I've had some more to eat," I said, irritated. "I said I'd go, you don't have to keep harping on it." I stepped clear of the escalator and looked around, spotting the line of people that seemed to be for the new restaurant she had mentioned. We wandered over and settled in at the back of the line, slowly inching forward.

"Look, I'm sorry," Vicky said finally. "I'm worried about you though. But you really do look like you're going to keel over at any second now, Taylor."

"I don't look that bad," I said. "I'm just tired."

"Bullshit," Vicky snapped. "You look like shit. I swear, I should just—"

Whatever she was going to say was interrupted as a group came into the line directly behind us. I glanced toward them, noting that none of them were anyone I knew, though an odd sense of familiarity tugged at me as I met eyes with a well-built teenaged Asian boy. I looked past as he broke eye contact, feeling surprise, guilt, and fear, of all things from him. Two other boys were talking and the last two were an Asian girl who looked bored and a younger girl who saw me and smiled brightly before waving.

However she stopped, apparently in surprise, as she looked beside me and seemed to finally notice who I was with. For a moment, I thought it was just another fan before she brightened again and called out to her. "Hi, Vicky!"

Vicky's expression smoothed out and I got a sense of irritation mingled with amusement running through her mind. "Hi, Missy. How are you?"

Missy's smile grew for a moment before she exhaled. "Tired. First time we've gotten to go out since all this stuff started last week."

Vicky smiled weakly. "That I will agree with. This week has been hell."

"Amen to that," one of the boys said, stepping up. "How's this place's food?"

Vicky shrugged and threw an arm on my shoulders. "Not sure yet. Checking it out with my friend Taylor, here. Taylor, this bunch goes to Arcadia with me."

"Hi," I said, slipping from under her arm. I could feel the emotional connections, mostly friendship, amongst them, though there was the oddest mix from the Asian boy, but it wasn't directed at Vicky. It was aimed at me. And I had no idea who he was.

There was still the oddest sense of familiarity, but I couldn't place why and after a moment, I gave up, nodding absently as the others introduced themselves. Missy, the girl, was friendly, but there was an undercurrent of dissatisfaction. Something she wasn't happy with. It was something shared among them, a sense of dwelling on something I couldn't pin down. There was also a deeply buried core of jealousy in Missy toward Vicky.

I was pretty sure I didn't need mind reading to figure that out. The boy who had asked about the restaurant was named Chris and he felt primarily distracted with something. His hands would twitch occasionally, like he wanted to be doing something with them.

Conversation sprung up as the line moved forward. I tuned it out, as they were all talking about things at Arcadia and I didn't find it particularly interesting. I started to hum a melody, one I couldn't recall learning. I glanced at them from the corner of my eye, watching how they talked and joked. School had never been like that for me, even after I had—

The Asian boy was standing at the fringe of their group, his hands in his pockets and looking slightly uncomfortable. He saw me looking his way and shifted, then raised a hand and smiled awkwardly.

After a moment, he seemed to reach a decision and moved past the others, offering a hand. "Um, hi, I'm.. um, well, I'm Seiya."

"Nice to meet you," I said, shaking his hand. He looked like he was going to say something else before stepping back, nervousness and confusion clear in his thoughts and emotions.

"Sorry to have bothered you," he muttered, shifting back to where he had been standing. I consider reading his thoughts to figure out what was going on and learn why that nagging sense of familiarity hadn't left me. I pushed the thought away, though. People's minds weren't just open books for me to peek at whenever I felt like it.

I placed my order and went to find seats, but it quickly became apparent that we were going to end up crammed together with her friends. So much for finding out more about this week. I grimaced at the thought and found a seat, trying not to sigh as Vicky followed with the rest of the group.

One advantage to having Vicky around, at least, was that I could settle into the background whenever I wanted, most of the time. Apparently, her aura was almost constantly to some degree or another. With her commanding everyone's attention, I was usually ignored unless Vicky had other ideas.

"Oi, Taylor," Vicky said after the drinks had been delivered. "You're too quiet."

"Nothing much to say," I muttered, stirring the ice cubes around with my straw. "I don't go to Arcadia, so I don't know any of what you were talking about, either."

"Where do you go?" Missy asked curiously. "Clarendon?"

"I don't," I said. When I didn't say anything else, Missy frowned, looking to Vicky for clarification.

"Don't mind Taylor," Vicky explained. "She's still recovering from last week and it's got her out of sorts." I resisted the urge to glare as a chorus of agreement came out from the others and the conversation shifted to talking about things that had happened. I let it be background noise, trying not to dwell on the fact that they were talking about things I had missed. The gap in my memory was still there and all I had was what the Travelers had told me about.

"—Sirin," the redheaded boy, Dennis said, intruding on my thoughts. I looked up, then glanced to see Vicky looking in my direction with a faint grin on her face.

"What about Sirin?" I asked, forcing myself to sound like I had no idea. "She's some cape, right? An independent?"

"Well," Vicky began quickly. "Missy and the rest here, they're part of Dean's club at school. They handle the school's newsletter about the Wards and Brockton Bay's cape scene."

"Arcadia has a newsletter about that? Really?" I gave her a disbelieving look as I asked the question. There was something wrong with what she was saying, but I… no, I wasn't going to peek on people's thoughts!

"Not just about that," Missy chimed in. "But we do get to talk to them sometimes. Interviews and such. They take us out for that when we do. Been kind of busy lately, so we haven't gotten to recently."

"I see," I said. "What was the last one? Something to do with Sirin?"

"Well, yeah." Missy made an irritated face. "She came up because we had to do a bit about new capes and our only real source are the Wards… they didn't seem thrilled about the subject."

"Can you blame them?" Dennis said, then shifted in his seat, looking uncomfortable. "I mean, Clockblocker was talking about her. Said she was pretty much a… word I will not repeat in polite company."

I was glad my hands were curled around my cup and that it was made of that shatterproof plastic, or I was sure I would have broken it. "So, she's… not pleasant to be around?"

"Ignore Dennis," Lily said. "Sirin is, I am told, somewhat disagreeable, but she isn't anything like what he said. Flechette is of the opinion that the girl's very unhappy, is all."

Chris snorted. "Unhappy is a flattering description of her attitude," he said with a sour smile. "From what I've heard, she's a real—"

A hand smacked him in the back of the head. "She's not," Seiya said, glaring at him. "Just because your idol doesn't get along with her is no reason for name calling."

"Okay, okay," he said. "Didn't have to hit me that hard."

"It was just a smack, stop being a baby," Seiya retorted. "Can we talk about something else? There's always a bitch-fest when we have to talk to them and she comes up. Maybe talk about her good qualities instead?"

"What are those?" Dennis quipped, then held up his hands in surrender as Missy turned and glared at him. "I'll be good," he said in almost mock meekness.

"Well, um, there's…" Chris began before throwing up his hands. "Don't mean to be uncharitable, but I got nothing."

"You're both jerks." Lily shook her head, glaring at them.

They both shrugged. But Dennis was the one to actually respond as he started playing with the plastic cutlery as they waited for the food to arrive. "Alright, sure. We might be jerks. But the way the Wards talk, they've tried to reach out to her and got completely snubbed for their efforts. I heard one of the other Wards teams got saddled with that psycho Shadow Stalker and in exchange BB's Wards have to deal with Sirin. Did you see the fight she had here last week? That's something they kinda expected out of her. Just going nuts because she took a tap on the nose."

"I remember what Flechette said about that," Lily said. "It was hardly a tap on the nose. She was lucky not to have her nose broken. And, she did take down four of the Empire by herself. I think that's pretty impressive."

Dennis grimaced. "Okay, okay. Hookwolf being used as a dodgeball was pretty cool."

"I have video!" Missy chirped, digging a fancy phone out of her small purse. "Where was it… Ah!"

I leaned forward a bit to the sight of myself in costume using Hookwolf as a weapon set to some overly cheerful piece of music. Someone had even taken the time to add in visual effects every time one of the twins took a hit.

"So what?" Chris said. "She kicked their butts, sure, but it isn't like she made sure they couldn't escape. Remember this past week?"

"Wait, so the PRT fails to hold Cricket after she gets her butt kicked, twice," I said. "First by Vicky here, and then by Sirin… and that's somehow Sirin's fault? That stupid bitch nearly—"

"Taylor and I were shopping when Stormtiger, Hookwolf and Cricket attacked that marketplace," Vicky interrupted. "Cricket busted her up pretty good to try and distract me. I got Amy to fix her up, but…"

"And then she puts the stupid bitch down, along with her friends when they bust her out and the PRT or Protectorate still can't keep them in custody when three of them can't even walk, so again, how is that Sirin's fault?"

"Taylor," Vicky said, gently turning me to face her. "It's fine, they didn't know and you're okay."

"Um, is everything alright?" Missy asked, staring at me with worry. The others were all staring as well, while Vicky continued to say words that I wasn't really paying attention to. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, then another. Calm. I needed to be calm.

Warmth surged through for a moment and the agitation I had felt fell away in its wake. I took one more breath and opened my eyes.

"Sorry, I'm… still recovering," I said. "Just got out of the hospital a few days ago."

"Look," Dennis said. "None of us meant to upset you. We talk to the Wards a lot and she's been a bit of a hot-button topic. So, we should apologize for dropping our irritation on you like that when you're clearly still recovering."

"Yeah!" Missy said. "You look like you've seen better days. You should see if Vicky's sister can get you fixed up!"

"I'll think about it," I said, ignoring the smug look Vicky was giving me as well as the repetitions of 'I told you so' that were playing through her mind.

"So, who's hungry?" Vicky asked. "And what's taking the food so long?"

"I'm sure they'll be here in a moment," I said, a half-smile forming as I felt the thoughts of a server going over our order to be sure everything was there. "Can't take too much longer. They've got a good reputation so far for a reason, right?"

"I guess," Vicky said, giving me a suspicious look just as the server arrived with our food. Her questioning thought was clear as day. Are you reading people's minds?

No. I felt my smile grow as Vicky nearly jumped out of her chair, drawing everyone's attention.

"Sorry, leg cramp," she said with a grimace, sitting back down carefully. Our food was distributed and we ate with the odd bits of conversation here and there. Vicky kept the conversation away from topics related to Sirin or the past week.

"So, Taylor, you don't go to Clarendon?" Dennis asked. "Immaculata then?"

I shook my head, sighing internally. "When I said I don't, I mean that. But I used to go to Winslow."

There was silence for a moment and my statement seemed to perplex all but one of the group before Chris leaned forward. "Wait, you don't go to school at all? How'd you manage that?"

"Home schooling," I lied easily, surprised at how easy the words came out. "It's….easier for me."

"I wish I could do that," Missy grumbled. "Stupid requirements."

"Requirements?"

She waved a hand. "After school club related stuff. We can't participate unless attending school. No home schooling, GED or anything like that."

"That… wow, that's pretty strict," I said.

"You have no idea," Lily muttered. "I'd have already tested out if I could."

"The extra credit is good, at least, right?" Dennis asked, snickering. The sense that there was something here I wasn't getting struck me and I resisted the urge to actively read their thoughts and find out what it was.

"We shouldn't talk about something when Taylor doesn't understand," Seiya's husky voice said, carrying an edge that caused the others to blink. "How about a change of topic?"

"I know!" Missy said. "We know her from Arcadia, mostly, but how did you meet Vicky, Taylor?"

"Uh, clothes-shopping, actually," I admitted. "Vicky was criticizing my choices."

"I was not!" Vicky protested. "I made suggestions, you'll recall. I could have, given some of the things you had picked out. Did you start out shopping for someone else and change your mind?"

I blinked and thought back to that, remembering that I had picked out an entire wardrobe for a different body than mine. "I dunno. Wasn't paying attention, I guess. And that was the only thing you could have criticized."

Vicky nodded. "Point. You do have a good eye. We should go shopping again soon."

I grimaced. "That'll have to wait, as much as I wish we could. Not exactly flush with cash right now after… well, you know."

"Hm, that's true," Vicky said before brightening. "Oh! I can just get Dean to—"

"I am not letting you use Dean's money to buy me new clothes," I interrupted. "I'll be fine."

"Uh, why do you need to buy new clothes?" Dennis asked. "Like, did your house blow up or something? Hey!"

"And the award to most thoughtless question goes to Dennis," Lily said, drawing her hand back from having smacked him. "Think about it, moron. She doesn't look well and she needs new clothes. What happened this past week, again?"

"Uh, the gangs… oh." Dennis shrank back into his seat. "Sorry."

I waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. I got a bit banged up, sure, but I'm alive and everyone I care about is fine."

"You won't be fine if you don't eat more," Vicky said. "You've barely touched the food we got here!"

"Yes, mother." I rolled my eyes and the sarcasm prompted a round of laughter. The conversation returned to Arcadia-related topics, so I began to eat my food instead. I wasn't in school, true, but it was actually kind of nice to think about my high school experience being more like than what I ended up with.

The shelter I was staying at was in the middle of the marketplace that Cricket, Stormtiger, and Hookwolf had attacked. The market had gotten hit again during the fighting, so it was still in pretty rough shape, but everyone who lived near or ran a business appeared to be working to fix things up. The shelter was one of the only places I knew of that I was able to stay at that wouldn't report me as a runaway. I think it had ties to the ABB in some way, but as I hadn't observed anything unusual happening while I had been here, I couldn't act on the possibility that it was.

I didn't even have a costume at the moment anyway, so it wasn't like I could do anything without just shucking any lingering pretense I had of a cape identity. Vicky and the rest of New Wave might be comfortable with that, but despite my failings so far I wasn't sure I was. The older lady who ran the shelter didn't ask for much from anyone, and I just tried to pitch in where I could. Right now, I was picking up trash that always seemed to appear out of nowhere, putting it in an industrial garbage bag and putting it with the rest of the trash.

"You," a resonant, deep voice said, "are not Asian."

I turned to stare at the person who had spoke, meeting the eyes of an Asian man. He was wearing a simple suit, with the sleeves rolled up to the elbow. I glanced down quickly, feeling my eyebrows raise toward my hairline at the tattoos there.

"No, I'm not," I said, meeting his eyes. "And? I don't approve of what happened here, so I'm helping to clean things up."

"Most who are not Asian do not seem to care," he observed. "Do you claim to be different?"

"I'm here, aren't I?" I retorted, feeling irritated by the fact that this stranger was challenging me. "If I didn't care, I would probably be somewhere else instead of helping to clean up."

"You could be one of the Empire's," he told me, "pretending to be helpful in order to do harm here. After all, very few white people stay here for long."

"Now, you listen her—" The woman who ran the shelter appeared, gesturing for silence before speaking to the man in what I thought was Japanese, the rapid-fire words barely making sense to me. I had started picking up a few words here and there, but so far, hello and goodbye were the limits of my vocabulary. In several languages, but I got winces whenever I spoke. Apparently, my pronunciation was terrible.

I wonder if I can learn a language by copying it from someone's mind? I toyed with the idea as the man asked something and the woman answered, gesturing toward my face as she did so before making a motion like she was swinging something.

The man's eyes were intent when he shifted his gaze back to me as the woman walked away. "You were here when the Empire and their trash attacked."

"What?" I blinked and then looked at him closer. "Oh, it's you! I wondered where I had seen you before. Yeah, I was here. Not that it mattered much, all I did was get my face bashed in."

"You are still here, though, and your attacker is not."

"Is there something I can help you with?" I asked, turning my back on him to begin shifting some of the smaller pieces of rubble. Amy had fixed up most of what was physically wrong with me at her sister's insistence, but it had still been a tense few minutes and I still didn't know what Amy's issue with me was. I had some theories, but I wasn't sure how I was going to broach the subject with Vicky, or if I was even going to.

"I am curious about you," he said, moving around and beginning to shift some of the larger pieces of rubble with little apparent effort. "It is not often that we find runaways here, Taylor Hebert."

"What do you want?" I asked, concealing a wince. Of course he knew my name. My luck wouldn't allow anything else.

"Want? Nothing. I am curious, however." His reply was measured and I said nothing, expecting him to continue. "You are not Asian. None of these people are yours, so why would you do anything for them?"

"Why wouldn't I? They're letting me stay. I want to stay. So I help around. No one bothers me, so I don't bother others. People are friendly, so I'm friendly. It's nice to stay here while I look for my own place again. So I do."

"Even if these acts set your own against you?"

"They aren't my own if they attack me for this," I answered with a snort. "And I don't think helping clean up around here is going to make the Empire's, if that is who you mean, opinion of me any lower. And anyway, what do you care, whoever you are?"

I wasn't sure if it was amusement in his voice as he spoke. "I care because I am responsible for this neighborhood, and many others. I look after them and anything strange or potentially dangerous is something I must look into."

"I'm a scrawny fifteen year old girl who looks like she still needs to eat several hamburgers so that a stiff breeze won't blow me away. How dangerous could I possibly be?"

"This town has a man who can turn into a dragon, your argument is invalid," he remarked and now I was sure it was amusement that I was feeling.

"That's… wow, I don't have a response to that," I said. "Point made. I don't have any bad intentions. I'm here because it's a place to stay and nobody tries to pry into my business."

He eyed me for a long time and I wondered why I was being so honest with him. I had seen him from a distance that day when I was getting my nose checked, but I hadn't learned any details about who he was.

"Very well," he straightened. "You may remain here, if you wish. You are now Asian."

I blinked. "I still don't know who you are, but I'll go wherever I plea— I am now Asian? What?"

"I am Kenta Nakamura," he said, straightening. "This area is under my protection. If I said so, you would be turned away. I have decided that you may remain. For now."

"That's great, but what does that have to do with my now being Asian?"

"If I say you are Asian, no one will argue with me," he said simply. "This place is not meant for those who are not Asian, therefore to remain, you must be Asian."

"... You can't just say someone is Asian and make it true, though." Was this guy insane?

"No one will disagree if I say you are Asian," he said, shrugging carelessly. "My word is law."

"Who are you?" I asked, frowning. "Your name doesn't tell me anything. Assume I'm completely clueless."

"The only name you need concern yourself with is what I have given you," he said, looking around at the repairs that were going on. Other than the woman from the shelter, no one had approached, though there was a slender man standing a short distance away. Mr. Nakamura's attendant or bodyguard. I remembered thinking that he seemed to be someone important and he clearly thought so. "There was much that happened this past week that could have perhaps been avoided and I am making sure repairs and rebuilding are proceeding properly."

"And that requires that you question the random white girl?" I couldn't keep a hint of mockery from my voice.

His eyebrows knitted together in irritation. "You were an anomaly, one that I have judged," he said. "I have other tasks to attend to. Perhaps will speak again, little shrike."

"Little shrike? Why do you call me that?" I blinked. Now I was getting pet names from this guy? Wasn't a shrike a— Shit, did he know too? Was there really a sign over my head that everyone but me could see, telling the world?

"It is a bird," he said, clearly amused by my consternation. "You remind me of such, with your spindly limbs."

I wasn't getting much in terms of thoughts or emotions beyond amusement from him. I had noticed some people were harder to read than others. Maybe if I—

"Ow, damnit," I muttered as a spike of pain lanced through my head when I reached out for his thoughts. I winced and held a hand to the side of my skull, taking several slow breaths to try and ease the pain away.

"Are you alright?" he asked, actually sounding concerned. A little bit, at least. His attention was completely focused on me.

"Just a headache," I said. I had felt this sort of pain before, but where? I scanned my memory quickly and felt cold as I realized it. Armsmaster, both when he was disguised as a teacher and in costume.

Obviously, he wasn't Armsmaster, but… if was this something specific to parahumans then this Kenta Nakamura was probably one. The question was who? The most likely suspect was not something I wanted to think about right now.

"Little birds should not strain themselves if they only recently left the nest," he said, drawing my attention. "Go and rest, Taylor Hebert. Your help is not needed for now."

I wanted to argue with him, but this really did hurt and the possibility that he might be a parahuman made me want to go find something else to do. Preferably away from here. Far away. I simply nodded and walked away, thinking of what errands I needed to run. If I was going back out as Sirin, I was going to need to make a replacement for my costume, or make a new one. To do that, I was going to need materials, since everything I had been working on got torched. And for that, I was going to need money.

"Back to square one," I muttered as I went and retrieved my backpack from the room I was staying in. I pulled my jacket on and made my way down to the back exit. "Money, then I can go see if Parian's shop has any more of that fabric."

I pushed down the hood of the lightweight hoodie I was wearing under my jacket; it had served its purpose for now. Gathering money the way I had been doing with the scratch cards was a bit risky at the moment, but my options were either that, ask for a loan from one of my friends, or take money from the gang members, like the Empire. The last was one I was divided on, whether they were criminals or not, it was still stealing. At the same time, I couldn't ignore the insistent thought that I simply didn't care about that. They couldn't stop me if I chose to do it, so whether the law said it was stealing didn't matter. I grimaced at the direction of my thoughts and entered the next corner market with purpose.

An hour later, with a modest amount collected, I arrived at my destination finally. Unlike many of the shops I had seen in the past few days, Parian's was largely untouched. After I entered, I made my way toward the counter, surveying the interior curiously. There wasn't even signs of damage to the walls, like cracks that I had seen in other stores.

"Hello! Oh, it's you again." The same young woman who had been here before emerged from the back, her eyes widening slightly as she saw me.

"You remember me?" I asked as I stopped at the counter. I had only visited twice and it had been quite a while since the last trip.

"I don't get as much demand for that particular fabric as you might think," she said, indicating a roll of the fabric I had made my first costume from. "Mainly, ah, specialty orders. So, I tend to remember them, by sight at least."

"Well, I was hoping to see if you had something that might be more durable than that?" I sorted through the cash I had, hoping what I had acquired would be enough. "If not, can I get—"

"I don't, I'm sorry." She shook her head and gently laid a hand over mine, halting what I was doing. "And what I've got has been bought up in a special order. I just haven't pulled it from the front yet. I'm expecting more in two weeks, though demand has been driving the price up. I can put you down on the list if you want?"

I concealed a grimace. Parian's was the only shop I knew where I could get the fabric from and I didn't want to wait two weeks to have the fabric I needed to rebuild my costume. "Is there anywhere else that I can get some at?"

"Not that I know of," she said. "I've asked my supplier if there is anyone else who gets it, in case I run out. Unfortunately, the closest person is in New York City."

"I see," I said, grimacing openly this time. "Well, sorry to have bothered you today, then." I left her shop dejected, kicking a rock into the gutter as I wondered how I was going to recreate my costume. I could go out with something thrown together, but it would just look cheap. Lesser quality fabric was an option, but it wouldn't afford any protection and after the last few fights that I could remember being in, I wasn't even sure if the high-dollar stuff would be enough. Maybe I needed something more armored?

"Damn, now what do I do?" I muttered aloud, running through my options. I slipped my arms free of my jacket and shimmied out of the hoodie quickly. The jacket went back on and I stuffed the other into my backpack. I really did like the jacket, but the fact that it was the only thing to survive, even if battered was still kind of irritating. I'd put a lot of money into that costume. Even the replacement I had almost finished was gone now.

I had to start from scratch all over again, with not even half the resources I had the first time around. I could always stitch some bargain bin finds together, but it wouldn't be anywhere near as good as what I had before.

"This sucks." I dug my hands into my pockets and kept walking, mulling over my options. I wasn't happy with any of them and I couldn't just beat down gangers and take their money to fund my new costume. The idea was appealing, but would draw attention I didn't want very quickly, especially after my unintentional stunt at the hospital. I had no idea what Dauntless would do about it.

Hopefully nothing, as telepathy wasn't a power that any cape was suspected to have, but I was leery of drawing their attention without a better idea of how they would react. I thought of the phone number tucked away in an inner pocket of my coat. I could call whoever that was, but I wasn't sure who it was from. Lisa? Assault? Both were possibilities. I slipped it out and stared at it, the number was half-faded and most of what was written on it was illegible. Unlike my coat, it had not fared as well during the week laying there in the wreck of the firehouse.

Still, the ink was a separate thing applied to the paper. Maybe I could make it clearer by drawing the ink up? The surface had faded, but… I concentrated, trying to identify which parts were paper and which weren't. It was a very fine application of my power and I hadn't tried using it on something so small before. Maybe if I tried something else?

A hole tore in the center of the card as I felt my grip on the ink tighten, but it yanked the paper with it and the card all but ripped in half.

Well that was stupid. And pointless. I sighed and tucked the damaged card back into the inner pocket. Well, maybe not entirely pointless. I could manipulate something that small. Maybe I could do something even smaller? Something to look into, but I still had no immediate solutions for what to do right now.

I tapped my powers and scouted a place where I wouldn't be observed. I didn't have solutions right now, but that was alright. I hadn't had any when I struck out on my own. I'd make it work somehow.

I nodded as that thought came to me, turning down a side-alley and following several twists that lead me to a secluded spot. Another quick check told me I was alone and I went airborne. I would make this all work out somehow. I had started mostly from scratch once before and I could do it again.

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chibipoe

Sep 10, 2015

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Threadmarks Sleep Walking - 4.2

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chibipoe

chibipoe

Catradora is life, Catradora is love

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Sep 28, 2015

#5,390

4.2

I checked the address Noelle had given me, confirming that I was at the right place. The small coffee shop hardly seemed like it would be large enough to fit all of the Travelers, even without me. I also wasn't sure how I felt about them. I had agreed to a fresh start, but the fact that at least one of them had been involved in my kidnapping still gnawed at me.

Noelle, however, hadn't been, which was why I accepted her invitation. That, and I wanted to learn more about the connection we shared. Even now, I could feel her somewhere inside the cafe, an uncomfortable reminder of the week-long gap in my memory.

I wasn't sure about how the connection exactly worked, but the only way I'd learn more was to go in and find out. I took a deep breath and pulled the door open. Immediately, a bell on the inside of the door filled the air with a faint chime, announcing my arrival. I did not see her as I entered and for a moment, I wondered if I had gotten the address wrong.

Noelle's presence, however, still hummed against my mind and told that she was here. I politely declined the server's offer to show me toward a table and went to a corner booth at the back of the shop. I slid in, taking the empty seat and felt her emotions shift at the sight of me. Happiness, the release of some sort of fear, and gratitude so intense I was surprised she wasn't prostrating herself at my feet.

"Morni—," I began, then felt myself flush as an unexpected yawn interrupted me. "Sorry, didn't sleep so well last night, let me try again. Good morning."

"Bad dreams?" Noelle asked. "And good morning as well."

I waved a hand. "Kind of. Haven't been really restful since, well, yeah, that thing from before we met. So, bad dreams and some other stuff." My flush deepened as I thought of the other stuff, and hoped Noelle wouldn't ask. I hadn't figured out how to tune out this connection and there were certain things I did not want to know or feel about what she was doing. "How about you?"

"I'm okay, all things considered." She paused as the waiter wandered over and asked for our orders. I ordered some tea with a bagel and Noelle got a coffee drink that was more sugar and cream than actual coffee as well as two large pastries, both different. I raised an eyebrow at the sight after the orders arrived, and she just laughed and hoisted what might have been a bearclaw once upon a time before being drowned in glaze and chocolate syrup. "What? Do you know how long it's been since I've had stuff like this?"

"I guess a while?" I asked, spreading some cream cheese onto my bagel. "There was a lot I'm guessing was left out of the story. Like, for instance, what it was I was supposed to have cured you of while I was drugged out of my mind."

Noelle's expression fell and she nodded. "There was. Is. Whatever."

"What really happened?" I asked. "I got the feeling there's a whole story here, but like I said, it was light on the details the other night."

Noelle stared at her pastries for a long time, her expression thoughtful. "There's a lot of it I wasn't awake for, so I don't know if I can tell everything. Or if I even should. It's not just my story, after all. It's my team's story too."

"The others," I said. "The Travelers. There's something that you guys didn't mention or even hint at, isn't there?" I frowned a bit. I could tell there was something really big that they were holding on to, but I wasn't going to go digging for it. At least not in Noelle's mind, when I had no idea how deep the connection was.

"There is," Noelle admitted and she ran a hand through her hair, frustration clear. "On the one hand, they're my friends, my team, but the past two years… I'm… I just don't know. I remember it. Can't forget it really. But sometimes I wish it wasn't real. I want to blame them for all that's happened, blame myself… and to blame that pale-assed bitch." She leaned back against her side of the booth, releasing a heavy sigh.

I tried to send a reassuring feeling, hoping to brace up her sudden downswing of a mood. Her eyes suddenly snapped to mine, narrowing ever so slightly. Well. I think I had my answer on whether she was aware of it or not.

"Before I go into that, though," Noelle began, setting her pastry down delicately before waving her hand at the space between us. "I guess you might want to talk about this, whatever it is."

"If I knew what this was, sure," I replied with a sour look at my tea. "But I was drugged out of my mind when it happened, remember? I guess you've had your own share of feedback from me?"

"Just a few," she said as her cheeks turned pink. "I hope my, ah, well, I guess you know what I was doing last night, wasn't too upsetting or distracting."

"I don't think it's permanent," I said, ignoring the heat pooling around my cheeks. "At least, I hope it's not. It isn't as strong as it was the first night on the roof, so at least it's fading somewhat."

"That's good," Noelle murmured and turned her head, looking toward the front for a moment. "As far as my story and my team's. Well, the real question is do you want to know the whole story? I wasn't entirely sane for a good portion of it either."

Her face shifted into an impish grin. "Also, not telling you my entire life story. I know what happens after that and I'm not getting ganked for dramatic effect."

"...What?"

She waved a hand, a faint smile appearing on her face. "Gaming thing. A world away, literally."

"Okay," I drank some of my tea and considered. "The short version, then?"

"For that, we'll need, ah, there he is." She stretched to the side and waved a hand, beckoning the slender young man that had just entered over. I recognized him immediately, and I felt my fingers clamp around my mug of tea, but I kept from any other displays as he slid into the booth beside Noelle.

"Taylor," Noelle said with a bright smile. "Let me properly introduce Francis Krouse, my boyfriend."

"We've met, remember?" I reminded her. "This is better circumstances, at least."

"Hey," Krouse said, sliding an arm around Noelle's shoulders. "At least everything isn't burning to the ground around us."

"It wasn't then, if your story was to be believed," I pointed out.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about that," Krouse said, glancing at Noelle with a look that caused her cheeks to turn a cherry red. A veritable flood of mostly positive emotions rushed across from her. The meaning hit me, and I stonewalled it in an instant. Not fast enough though, as I could feel the heat in my own cheeks.

"Breakfast, I am, ah, trying to eat it," she said, glancing at me with some concern. "Did you get the car parked?"

"Ah, the car, yeah," he said, then glanced across at me. "Oh, here, I thought this would interest you." He pulled a folded newspaper from his back pocket and handed the crumpled paper over.

The main headline talked about the recent gang war and I skimmed through it before looking up at him. "Yes? It doesn't tell me anything I don't already know."

"Below that one," he said. "You're front page news. But really, do you always play so rough?"

"Krouse!" Noelle said, almost barking the word out. I blinked at the commanding tone and the way Krouse just sat there in acceptance as she berated him. Her words about calling them her team drifted back to my mind and I wondered if this was what she had meant. She mentioned gaming too, as I recalled. It wasn't something I was into myself, but…

I shook my head and let my thoughts turn away from that and Krouse' teasing or whatever it was to the column he had indicated.

Is The Protectorate Outdated?

Lucy Konita, from the Associated Press,

Recently, Brockton Bay was a city under siege. Two of the various gangs that occupy our city, the Neo-Nazi faction that calls itself the Empire 88 and the Azn Bad Boyz went to war against one another with little regard for what stood in their way. For a week, their conflict inflicted millions of dollars in property damage and resulted in numerous deaths and injuries when the fighting spilled out, often catching uninvolved bystanders in the crossfire.

Through all of this, the Protectorate appeared to be largely passive. Their efforts seemed focused more toward containing the fighting, and halting the spread of conflict into public venues, but little was done to actually curb the conflict at its source. As a result, our town's citizens suffered a week trapped in their own homes, often huddled in the dark and flinching at the smallest sound. Reporters of this agency have personally interviewed many, and each case tells of their harrowing experiences.

Assurances were given that the situation was under control and peace would be restored, but the week stretched on with no reprieve in sight. The Protectorate's mandate was to react and then only for attempting to control the situation. One has to ask why there was no proactive action? Why were these gangs allowed to do as they pleased, largely unobstructed save for the efforts of a few vigilantes and some of New Wave's younger generation?

Which brings us to a recent development within Brockton Bay that preceded the explosion of conflict in this past week. Those of you reading this are aware, certainly, of the independent parahuman who recently found herself the subject of much controversy after video of her confrontation with members of the Empire 88 was made available on the internet. Tagged 'Sirin' by local authorities, this individual was shown in a conflict with the Neo-Nazi faction where she dominated the conflict quite commandingly.

The video shows her overwhelming four members of the Empire and foiling an escape attempt on the part of Cricket, one of the Empire's enforcers after her recent arrest during an altercation with New Wave's Glory Girl. The Protectorate does not arrive or intervene in any way until after the conflict was over. In truth, one wonders why they were even making the effort to show up at all. After failing to keep the dangerous parahuman contained, that same individual was apprehended by an unaffiliated cape. The question posed now is what relevance does the Protectorate and the PRT even have? Just hours after the event, the Empire wrested their defeated members from custody with apparently little effort. Twice, in a matter of days, they were unable to keep hold of prisoners that another cape hand-delivered.

The article continued on, going into detail about the fight and citing several statistics I made a mental note to look into. A color picture of me swinging Hookwolf around like a flail accompanied it, lifted no doubt from some video online.

I had to admit. It was less than flattering. The image was fuzzy, but if you looked you could see the anger written across my face in the pixelated mess. I followed the article to where it continued further in, trying to make sense of what was being said. It seemed to paint a largely positive picture of me, but why? To smear the Protectorate?

"Next time, I'd say aim for the headline rather than just a sidebar," Krouse interrupted my train of thought, a faint smirk on his face. "Though, I'm kind of envious. We never made the front page at all."

"Once," Noelle said and I didn't need to see the scowl on her face to know there was something painful behind the word. Krouse flinched and ducked his head, speaking to her in low tones that I couldn't quite overhear. Whatever it was seemed to work and she calmed down somewhat, giving me a forced smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Tell you what, how about we get a box for these and go someplace else?" she asked. "There's some other stuff we should talk about somewhere more private."

"Where did you have in mind?" I asked, mulling over what she had already said before Krouse had arrived. She'd mentioned a 'pale-assed bitch' earlier and I wondered who she was referring to.

"We've got a place not far from here," Krouse answered. "Just using it while we get back on our feet, at least. Got abandoned after everything that went down recently."

My smile was a bit forced. "Forgive me, but I can't say I'm all that trusting about conveniently abandoned places after recent events."

He nodded. "Fair enough. Tell you what, we'll go over there. Anything happens, we'll call it my fault and you can kick my ass or whatever. But just me. Everyone else, especially Noelle, is left alone."

"Krouse!"

I waved a hand. "The offer to throw yourself on a sword is… well, appreciated, I guess? But not necessary. I'll just be a bit more attentive to my surroundings this time."

"More attentive?" Noelle asked. "How so?"

I shrugged, unwilling to give away more about my powers when I wasn't sure how much they already knew. "The thing I got abducted for, that I should have used more often. I'm working on correcting that."

"You mean you really can—" Krouse began, cutting off with a grunt as Noelle jabbed him in the side with her elbow.

"Like you said, let's get out of here and talk about it at your place?" I asked as I folded the paper up and tucking it away for later reading. Noelle nodded and we left after getting a box for her pastries.

The place the Travelers were staying at was a squat building sitting right in the middle of the strip of the city that had existed as a sort of neutral space between the Empire and the ABB. Naturally, much of the area had been trashed in the fighting and the few buildings still intact were largely vacated.

The building was old, but sturdily built and I could easily see how it had weathered the fighting. Whoever owned it had apparently fled, or worse, and the old brick building was now the temporary shelter of the Travelers.

"The owner decided to leave and we're renting the place at a steal," Noelle explained as we entered a modestly furnished common room. "Everyone else would be here, but I had them go shopping so it's just the three of us. Less tension, yeah?"

Well. That had been a concern of mine. Yet more proof that she was reading me in the same way I was reading her. I really needed to get a handle on that. I moved toward one of the chairs in the living room. "You said something back at the cafe I was curious about. Who's the pale-assed bitch?"

Noelle and Krouse both froze and then he muttered something about getting drinks. Noelle frowned, shaking her head while she gestured towards the couch, inviting me to sit down. I tracked Krouse with my precog, watching as he did exactly what he said, gathering up several cans of soda and heading back toward us. I only relaxed my grip on the future when he had returned.

The two of them exchanged a look and I was surprised to see that Noelle seemed rather indecisive. Slowly, as if trying to pace herself through the memory, she started talking.

"Let me start by saying that I don't want you to freak out, please," Noelle began. "Some of what I'll tell you, well, I've done research since the night you did your thing and I've got a pretty good idea how people in our situation get treated."

"Okay," I said, frowning a bit. "Though, I have to say, starting out with saying 'please don't freak out on me' isn't the best beginning."

"It only gets worse," Krouse muttered.

"Yes, thank you, Francis," Noelle said, turning to glare at him. "That was so helpful."

"Sorry," he said, cracking open his drink with a hissing pop.

"Anyway," Noelle resumed. "The six of us are from Madison. But not your Madison."

"Madison? As in Madison that got hit by—"

"Complicated," Krouse volunteered, looking a bit ill. "Like, you won't believe it."

I looked between them. "Okay, explain?"

Noelle sighed and gave Krouse an uneasy look. "There's moments where I think it's all a bad dream and I'm just in a coma at a hospital somewhere. That's more real than what's actually happened, right? I wasn't even really conscious for the first parts either."

"We're from Earth Aleph," he interrupted and raised his hands at her look. "What? I know you're not thrilled about explaining. Just say it then worry about it sounding crazy afterwards."

Noelle rolled her eyes. "As blunt as he was, Krouse is correct. We're from Madison, just not your Madison. We ended up here when we were getting ready to compete for a sponsorship and… the building sort of turned on its side and we were here."

Her words played back in my mind and I poked at my memory, pursuing a thought that had been interrupted earlier. They were from Earth Aleph, so they claimed, from Madison.

Madison… The answer came in a rush and I looked at them both warily. "Madison was hit in two thousand nine by an Endbringer."

Krouse nodded sourly. "You're not wrong. And before you ask, yes, that was when it happened. One minute we're gearing up for a title, the next we get a front-row seat to the pale bitch tearing it up. Or the Simurgh, as you call her."

I exhaled slowly, thinking about what that meant. Simurgh. What did I remember about the Simurgh?

No one really liked to talk about her, but anyone exposed to her song for too long became a ticking time bomb. Didn't matter who they were, once it happened, you could never tell what they might do. Switzerland was testament to that. It was the first and last time anyone ever second guessed that particular Endbringer. Behemoth left cities in ruins. Leviathan left them under sea level. But with the third Endbringer, you were never sure what you were going to get when she left.

And I was sitting in the same room as two people who had been at ground zero for one of her worst attacks. Who were part of a group whose other members had also been there. Simurgh attacks, in particular, weren't something people liked to talk about. After Switzerland and other incidents, like Canberra earlier this year, there was definitely an out of sight, out of mind rule that went unspoken.

People who had the tattoo were treated pretty horribly, if I remembered right, as no one could be really sure when they were going to flip out. And I had gotten involved with six people who could be walking timebombs. What the hell was I supposed to do now? I looked at the two across from me, who were clearly tense, wondering what I was going to do or how I was going to react.

No. I'd said we had a fresh start. I would just have to be more attentive when using my powers when I was around them. If something was going to happen, then I would have warning.

"Ok, and?" I finally asked, adding a flippant tone to my question. "I thought it'd be something serious, like one of you is actually a mini-Endbringer."

Krouse's expression soured and he gave me an irritated look. "That isn't funny."

Noelle sighed. "It wasn't, but I'm glad that isn't the case anyway. Again, I don't know how you did what you did, Taylor, but thank you."

The gratitude in her thoughts and words was almost overpowering and I swallowed, willing back the surge of emotions. "Okay, I don't want to be rude or anything, but maybe it's time you gave me the full story on this. Like, what the hell was wrong with you that you're so grateful for whatever I did while out of my mind?"

Noelle and Krouse exchanged a look before she nodded. "You're right. It's a bit of a long story though, so I hope you have some time. Krouse, go get some more drinks, please." Krouse did so without complaint and Noelle leaned forward while I began tracking Krouse with my powers.

"This starts near Christmas, back in two thousand nine," she began and I gave most of my attention to her words.

~~~~~~~~

I rubbed at my arms as I walked through the mall. I could have gone flying and found someplace isolated to consider what I had been told, but I wasn't feeling the urge right now. It was nice to just be another face in the crowd. Even if I was considering so many things right now.

The Travelers were from a whole other world. Brought here by the Simurgh for who knew what reason. That was what I kept circling back to, trying to decide what I was going to do. On the one hand, they were Simurgh victims and no one knew they were running loose. Madison had been quarantined, if my memory was right and by all rights I should go and inform the PRT.

I had looked ahead to see what happened if I did that and the events that followed made me wince. That was a bad idea and I had no desire to turn the Bay into a warzone again. The Travelers had a lot more power than they had shown and the PRT coming after them did not go over well. I could have ran a few more possibilities, but I didn't really want to map out a fight with the Travelers, even if I knew how it would end.

When did my life get so complicated? The thought drew a frown from me, and I paused by a snack machine to get a pack of salted cashews. The newspaper I had shoved in my pack crinkled as I returned my change purse to it. I settled on a nearby bench and unfolded the paper, beginning to read the article again and considering what it was suggesting.

The author clearly had some sort of agenda, of that I was certain. As a whole it focused on how others, particularly me, had done more to oppose the gangs than the Protectorate, who appeared to only be maintaining the status quo. I couldn't help but feel that it was more than a standard news piece poking at the Protectorate and the PRT.

They did make good points, though. If the Protectorate was more proactive, they would certainly be able to bring enough force to bear to shut down the Empire. Lung and the ABB were a different matter, but the same principle could apply there was well, though it was a lot riskier. Lung had endured as the smallest parahuman faction since arriving because he alone was able to go toe to toe with an Endbringer.

Even he, though, seemed to adhere to a status quo. He could take on an Endbringer but didn't appear to do much unless he was poked. The question was why? Why did the Protectorate stop crime, but not stamp on it? The Director had mentioned that Brockton Bay was a powderkeg and if it went off, she wanted it going off at her direction.

My eyes narrowed as I thought about the week I had been captive. The powderkeg, as she had put it, had gone off. And she had done nothing. Ran damage control, but didn't deal with anyone. Didn't even crush the Merchants, the weakest gang. Hell, as far as I could tell, the casualties had been from gang on gang violence.

The edges of the paper crumpled in my hands. Why did the heroes of the city hold back? I hadn't, much, and four of the Empire had gone down. I was sure I could do more than that. I'd seen the crater of Coil's base and the surrounding area that had been done while I was drugged. The amount of damage was still mind-boggling, as it eclipsed what I'd done to the Boat Graveyard by quite a bit.

I couldn't turn that indiscriminately against the Empire, but when I'd fought them, I'd only held back using fire and trying to be nonlethal. Otherwise, I had fought to win. And I had. So why didn't the Protectorate? Lung aside, why weren't they taking down the other villains? Why weren't they winning?

None of the answers I could come up with satisfied me. I looked at the article, reading it all the way through once more. My frown had only grown as I finished, the cashews long since finished off. Something felt off about the article, but I wasn't sure what it was. I folded it up with the empty plastic that had contained my snack and dropped it in a nearby trash can.

I did some math in my head, calculating how much money I had before starting toward the escalators to go downstairs. There was a small grocery store at the far end and I could pick up a few things there before I went back to the shelter. I grabbed one of the baskets near the store's entrance, thinking of what I needed to stock up on for supplies.

I didn't pay much attention, simply wandering down the aisles and letting my mind drift to what I had learned about the Travelers. The Simurgh messed with people's minds, that much was known. If that was done with something like my own powers, could I detect the 'bombs' she left behind?

More worryingly, the thought I'd had a few times but tried to ignore, could I do the same? I had already screwed with those ABB gangsters weeks ago and I still wasn't sure if letting anyone else know about me being able to read minds or play with people's emotions was a good thing. It wouldn't take much for comparisons to the Simurgh to go out, I was sure.

I grabbed a can of soup from the shelf, checked to see if that was the last thing I needed and started toward the checkout lines. There was enough to last the next few days if I got hungry, and a few extra things that the kitchen at the shelter needed. Pausing at the top of one of the aisles, I ran my list through my head one more time to be sure I had everything I needed.

Tea. I had forgotten to get some. Swearing under my breath, I turned to head back down the aisle. And promptly froze as my eyes slid over the checkout lanes. Standing near the magazine racks that decorated each lane with their tabloid nonsense, with his friends Kurt and Lacey, was my dad.

My knuckles turned white from the grip on the basket. His cheeks were sunken from fatigue and his face had more wrinkles, but there was a lightness in his eyes, something that Kurt told him drawing a half-smile. I watched for a moment, then ducked to the other side of the aisle's endcap. The huge display let me observe the three of them without risking my dad seeing me.

Lacey said something and I saw my dad laugh in response. I shifted my feet a bit, feeling a wistful smile cross my own features. The faintest brush toward his thoughts revealed that he was at ease and I glanced down at the floor, reaching up with my free hand to brush away at whatever was making my eyes sting.

What if I went over? The thought sparked my precognition to respond and I squeezed my eyes shut as the answer played out for me. Angry words would be exchanged and any happiness he was feeling right now would be wiped away in a torrent of spite and disagreement. My hand tightened even further around the basket's handle before relaxing as I came to a decision.

No. I wasn't going over to talk to him. Or even let him see me, if that was going to be the result. He had made his choice and wouldn't respect mine. I looked away and straightened my shoulders before heading off in the other direction, away from those checkout lanes. The exit to the mall would let me avoid them easily enough, so I went there and handed my basket to the old lady manning the nearby checkout.

"Everything alright, dear?" she asked.

"Yeah," I said, forcing a smile. He was happier without me around. "Everything's fine."

~~~~~~~~

The sound of exploding firecrackers kept drawing my focus away from their target: an assortment of goons Hanabi and Rockshow were fighting. I still had no replacement for my costume, but that didn't matter. With darker clothes and the night sky to shield me, I could float out of sight, using my powers freely. Like the night Dauntless had shown up to accost me after I foiled the ABB, I was toying with their emotions.

Only this time, it wasn't just one person and it wasn't the ABB. These guys were part of the Empire, a group that had finally crawled out of the woodwork now that things seemed to be calming down. I didn't really care about them in particular, though. They were only a stepping stone to who I really wanted to find.

Cricket had seemingly disappeared since the end of the fighting between the Empire and the ABB. With nothing else to do, I had been trying to find someone who knew where she was. So far, I was coming up with absolutely nothing. After the near miss earlier with my dad, I needed to work out some frustration. These guys would suffice and hopefully tell me what I needed to know.

A slight nudge with my powers twisted their perceptions: Hanabi and Rockshow were more imposing now, the alley way they was smaller. Whispering came from the deepening shadows, promising pain. It wasn't hard to make them feel a cold wind, carrying the smell of fire and the faintest hint of brimstone.

It wasn't immediately noticeable, but all five began shifting nervously and I knew one action from either Catherine or Minako would turn this from a standoff to a fight again. A nudge and one of them twitched as he believed he had seen something move. Minako reacted to his distraction, darting forward to drive an open hand against his chest. Light flashed and the man shot backward, landing on his ass. The fight broke out in earnest once more and I turned my attention down to the alley's mouth.

There, one of the Empire was keeping watch, ready to call out if the authorities were approaching so that they could run. I was actually surprised he was still here, with two capes visibly present, but there was probably more to his presence than just being a lookout. With the fight under control at the moment, I could focus on him. A touch of precognition let me track if I needed to intercede with the fight below as I centered the majority of my attention on the watchdog.

I hadn't done anything to him yet, but now, with things under control below, I strummed the chords of his fears and watched how he reacted. Making the shadows darker caused him to look around nervously and dig a hand into one pocket. His emotions shifted and I frowned a bit at what they told me. He was afraid of the dark? Really? Well, it was something I could use. I made the area around him seem darker, like a haze had fallen over the nearby streetlights. My target began fumbling in his pockets for a phone, panic clearly overtaking whatever good sense he had.

Oh, I can't have you doing that. I let him hear the thought and he jumped, spinning around for the person that he was certain had just whispered in his ear. Then the nearest streetlight erupted into sparks, glass falling to the ground. He jumped again, fumbling his grip on the phone and I gave it a boost on the way to the ground, causing it to break apart. The lookout, whose name I had gleaned was Ashley, swore loudly.

His outburst drew the attention of his companions and I suppressed a laugh as their distraction lead to them getting smacked around by my friends. To my surprise, though, Ashley did not break and run. He was frightened, but he was holding firm out of some form of loyalty to his allies. I could see how much he'd endure before his fear became too great.

You're a worthless piece of trash. Ashley swallowed and looked around for a moment, shaking his head. I stared for a moment. I had heard his thought as well, though it carried a different flavor than his own thoughts. A memory? It wasn't one I had plucked at, though and that made me curious. What sort of fear was he burying?

Another nudge, making him think there was something watching him from the shadows. Still, he didn't run. He actually seemed to fold into himself, like he was trying to hide. I considered the reasons why, nudging another string of his fears while swatting one of the gangsters below as he tried to hit Minako with a pipe.

Ashley. What the hell kind of name is that? Fucking girly bullshit. The man jerked again and I could tell those words had hit home. Whatever my efforts were bringing up, it was something he was truly afraid of. A button, something new to push.

What I had been doing was fairly low-tier. Not any different than what I did to the ABB, playing up their fears, making them irrational. The way Ashley was responding was something new, though. Something different. I thought about the meeting with Noelle and the revelation that the people claiming to be indebted to me were not only from another world, but victims of the Simurgh.

I swear by all that's holy that I will beat your ass, you damn little freak! The spotter visibly jumped as the voice came louder. I pushed at the part of him that was afraid of the dark and what lurked there. A metal garbage can shifted by my power, the scrape of metal against pavement made him spin, only to find no one there.

Thought you'd got away, huh, girly-boy? The man stiffened as the words welled up from his subconscious. Thought you'd done in your old man? That you could prove you weren't some girly little freak? He turned slowly, his fear almost at a fever pitch as a hallucination plucked from feverish nightmares of his childhood loomed over him. Dishevelled clothing, bloodshot eyes that seemed to burn red, each detail was plucked from his fears and sharpened into perfect clarity. A belt swung, smacking against the open hand. There was no sound, but the man's fear made him think there was and he flinched. I wasn't even doing anything now, the man's own fears overtaking all conscious thought with more virulence than anything I could conceive.

He backed up, his thoughts little more than a litany of denial and pleading as he tried to banish long buried behaviors that the specter before him evoked.

You've been hanging with that other freak again, haven't you? That other boy. WHAT DID I TELL YOU I WOULD DO?

I winced a little at the way his thoughts screamed as the wall came up behind him. With nowhere else to back up, he slid down the wall.

Pleasedonthurtmedaddy!

YoulittlefreakIll—

I tuned out his thoughts. I considered trying to jar him out of his stupor, but there wasn't any point. He wasn't going to be a threat to anyone like this. Just by nudging his fears in the direction I wanted, I had reduced him to a sobbing wreck. Just like the Simurgh did. My lips thinned into a frown. It was different from that. I was different than that.

I landed after the last of the group that they had been fighting went down. The two of them looked at me, relaxing slightly when I gave a nod to indicate that they were all out. Even the ones that had started to stir were now sound asleep, a nudge from my powers ensuring that.

Catherine looked around at the fallen with a frown, taking a moment to eye the entire scene before her eyes fell in the same direction that Minako's had.

"What about that one?" Minako asked before Catherine could say, indicating where Ashley was at the mouth of the alley, still out of it.

"He isn't going to be bothering anyone." I shrugged without looking in his direction. I dug my hands into my pockets, feeling a sudden chill. "Severe daddy issues, I think." As if he's the only one.

"No one got a call out for backup, did they?" Catherine asked, digging out her phone.

"Ashl—, I mean he tried, but I smashed it."

"You know his name?" Minako asked

"Ashley," I told her. "It's… kind of hard not to pick up things. I tune out most thoughts, but distracting him, well, it's close enough of a rapport that privacy's right out the window. At least for surface thoughts." And for buried fears. I pushed aside the glimpses I'd gotten into what really terrified him. I was not going to feel sorry for a member of the E88, regardless of what his daddy did to him when he was a child.

"You want me to fly you guys home?" I asked. "I can go float up out of sight while you give your report when the PRT or cops pick these guys up."

"That would be amazing," Catherine said before sighing. "But Dad's big on keeping with routines and I don't want to upset that right now, especially since he at least seems to be tolerating you."

I grimaced. "Right. See you at Chronicles this weekend?"

"Yes, coffee, and then we can keep looking for someplace to replace the firehouse," Minako said.

"A pity I can't find another conveniently decommissioned place like that," I replied with a grin. "That'd make this all so easy."

"It was too easy to begin with." Catherine snorted. "I'm surprised you didn't have police showing up to arrest you for squatting. Utilities and everything still functioning? And no one noticed the bill going up? I'm not even sure they noticed it getting burnt down."

"More than once," I muttered, remembering my dream and waking to find myself and the bed on fire. "You're right though, it was too perfect to be true. But even so, it had everything I needed. Space, privacy and all that."

"We will find something else," Minako said, laying a hand on my shoulder. "It may not be as well set up, but we will find someplace."

I smiled wanly, reaching up to give her hand a squeeze. "I know."

"Ok, Chronicles, ten am, and don't be late," Catherine said. "Now go before the cops and such show up."

"Yeah, yeah," I said, forcing a smile. "I'll catch you guys on Saturday." I was airborne a second later, giving them both a wave as I departed ahead of the growing sound of sirens. I rode up higher into the night sky, considering what I wanted to do now.

I could keep looking for information on Cricket and her whereabouts. I didn't want to have to be constantly looking over my shoulder or making repeated fly-bys over the house to check on my dad. I was mad at him, but I didn't want him dead and I didn't like even thinking about the thought that someone would attack him to get at me.

Cricket remained a missing element. I had no idea where she was or if she had found out my name. They were questions I was going to find answers to. No matter what.

Even if she didn't, I wasn't sure I could just ignore the Empire and assume that they wouldn't come after Sirin, after me. My actions were seen by many as the spark that had set off their recent misfortune and I knew that they had lost some of their own in the fighting.

A few had even been confirmed. Victor and Othala were caught in a bubble of frozen time; apparently Bakuda had gotten the idea off one of the Wards' powers, Clockblocker. Fenja and Menja had taken some damage, but were still alive as far as I knew. And Rune, one of their youngest members, had died as well.

Stormtiger, Krieg, and Kaiser were still active. Purity was as well, but I could remember her claiming to not be part of them any longer. I didn't know how to find Kaiser or Krieg, and the little I had heard as rumor on the street gave no hint about where Cricket might be. No signs of her being active, no word that she was dead or alive. Not even a twisted monument like what had been erected around the spot where Victor and Othala were at.

She was just missing. And I didn't like it, not knowing. She could be dead. Could have died long before she told anyone what I looked like. Or she could be lying in a hospital somewhere, breathing through a tube and I was worrying for nothing. Until I knew, though, the fact that she could be out there, trying to hunt me down gave me pause.

I had to find out and the only way I… I came to a halt over the bay, a thought occurring to me. I could find her the way I had found Emma when Mr. Barnes had shown up at the front door. I closed my eyes, letting the same pattern play out across my mind, skimming over those I was familiar with. I felt frustration build, though, as a fact I had overlooked became clear.

I had no idea what Cricket's mind or whatever, what her psyche, felt like. I'd only been in her presence twice and neither time had that been something I was focused on. I sighed and ended my search, mulling over this as I floated there.

Why was I afraid? Cricket's power was insignificant compared to mine, but I was afraid of her being alive knowing what she knew. Why?

Because twice, she had hurt me. Even that first thug the night I blew my identity to Vicky hadn't come anywhere near as close. And she had seen my face, then figured out who I was when I confronted her in costume. Now, with no idea where she was, I had this looming over me. Something had to be done. Again, I thought of the article I had read earlier in the day, decrying the Protectorate's maintaining of the status quo.

A moment later, I dug into my pack and withdrew a dark length of cloth. I stared at it for a moment and then nodded, turning back toward the city, toward the Empire's territory. Something had to be done and I was going to do it.

Dogs barking filled the night as they ran in every direction, some attacking humans, most fleeing from the wrecking building that had served as a dog-fighting ring for Hookwolf. It was ruins now, some parts of it burning from where I hadn't held back. I walked forward, staring at the man who was crab walking away from me.

I brought my hand forward, palm up, purely for show and raised it slowly, watching the man's eyes widen in panic as he was lifted from the ground. He tried to twist his arms, his legs, but failed. He had tried to fight, but as the only cape present, he hadn't presented much of a challenge.

"I want you to take a message to your boss," I said clearly, raising my voice a bit so I was heard over the continuing collapse of the building. "Can you do that?"

"Kaiser's gonna fucking murder you, you crazy bitch," Stormtiger snarled.

I smiled, though he couldn't see it over the scarf wrapped around most of my face. Between it and the hoodie I'd pulled up, my eyes were the only thing visible. That, and a bit of my hair that had slipped out from the back of the hood. "If Hookwolf, Cricket and his two whores couldn't, I don't think I'll have anything to worry about from Kaiser."

Recognition flared in his eyes. "You're that bitch who attacked them, the one Cricket—"

"Where can I find her, by the way?" I asked, reaching toward his thoughts to see if asking would put it in the forefront of his mind. Her location was not present, but there was a trace of something there as he spat at my feet.

"Not telling you a damn thing, bitch!"

I crooked a finger and he floated closer. Cricket had taught me one important lesson and I kept him from moving at all. I wasn't keen on getting my nose broken again.

"You're wrong about that, Stormtiger," I told him, reaching up.

"Don't fucking touch me!" His voice was a touch shrill as I caught his head between my palms.

"You're going to tell me everything I want to know." I caught the thread of his thoughts, chasing after anything that had to do with Cricket and pulled. Stormtiger screamed, thrashing against my grip to no effect. His efforts to resist didn't slow me at all and the world fell away around us as the images from his memory revealed what I sought.

Cricket, eyes wide and blank, laying in what appeared to be a hospital bed. Stormtiger was sitting beside her, looking unhappy. I didn't bother drawing the words he was saying out. The emotions coloring the memory and the way she laid there, unresponsive, told me everything I needed to know.

Stormtiger fell to the ground as I released him, his screams tapering off, replaced by gasping breaths as he gulped air.

"Thanks for that," I told him, turning the memory over in my head with some satisfaction. "I don't have to worry about Cricket any more, right?"

"Kaiser's gonna—" Stormtiger began, clutching at the sides of his head while trying to climb to his feet. "We're gonna—"

I held up a hand and looked around the wrecked warehouse that had served as their dog-fighting ring. "You'll forgive me if I don't take your threats seriously, I hope?"

"Bitch, the Empire i—" I used my powers and knocked him out, watching as he slumped. I gave the wrecked building one last look, thinking on what I had seen in his memories. Cricket was a non-issue. But that didn't mean she hadn't told someone what she had figured out.

"And you couldn't have known the answer to that, could you?" I glared toward Stormtiger before I took off, leaving the wreckage of the Empire's dog-fighting ring behind. Someone in the Empire might know, which meant this wasn't the end of it. At least not for me. I was certain she had told someone and I wasn't going to stop until I found out.

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chibipoe

Sep 28, 2015

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Threadmarks Sleep Walking - 4.3

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chibipoe

chibipoe

Catradora is life, Catradora is love

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Oct 13, 2015

#5,530

4.3

There was something distinctly odd about my powers. I wasn't sure it was even the fact that I had five different ones, six if you counted whatever I was supposed to have done to Noelle, but it was the fact that I had next to no learning curve on them. As I used them against a storehouse of the Empire's, cycling through nearly all of my powers, I mulled over this.

Even the one I had been actively aware of the least amount of time, the telepathy, I was using with a disturbing amount of precision. Like it was just remembering things I had forgotten. And I knew this was wrong. I'd talked to Vicky enough. Powers didn't work like that. Maybe a few did, innate ones like what Aegis had, maybe, but not active abilities. A parahuman didn't wake up and immediately have mastery. It took them time. They had, at best, enough understanding not to hurt themselves at first. The rest they had to learn. They certainly didn't develop what felt like a lifetime's worth of mastery in just days.

A lifetime's? I frowned at my choice of wording for that thought as I drove a pair of Empire thugs away with illusions of their worst fears. Why had I used that to describe it? I'd had these powers barely six months. Not a lifetime, or even close to one. But I couldn't let go of the thought. It meant something, I was sure.

I wrenched a pair of guns out of the hands of a particularly stupid member of this bunch tried to attack me. In fact… every gun I could grab with my powers floated into the air, under my direction. The few gang members who had not fled froze, their fear ratcheting up a notch without any pressure from my powers. Doing something like this never failed to cow any resistance.

A wince followed that thought and I drew in a slow breath, then crumpled every single gun into scrap and let them drop to the ground. Oddities like that. Holding the guns at the people I was fighting with my powers. Like I had done that… no, I had seen that done before? But when? I couldn't place exactly, though the sense of deja vu was almost overpowering.

I thought about that, drawing on other moments of similar oddities, while I looked at the gangsters. "I don't suppose one of you is going to be cooperative and tell me where I might find Kaiser or the other capes that work for him?"

Profanities were the only response I received, drawing a sigh from my throat and I put them all to sleep. None of them had known anything useful. They got orders via phone and had only seen Kaiser at a distance a few times during a rally.

This had been a waste of time, I decided, looking around in case I had missed anyone that hadn't fled. A piece of wood was kicked aside with my foot and I started toward the exit, thinking about my powers again. There was something… Lifetimes? What had that thought meant? And why had the stunt with the guns felt so familiar? Something I had done? Seen?

I thought of Vicky and frowned. There was… something there, something that she had to do with this? Clothes? When we first met? What was… I blinked as I remembered. I'd had to put back an entire set of clothes because they were sized for someone else.

What did it mean? I stopped outside the building, trying to remember if there were any other moments like that. I hadn't even thought about it as something odd, but now, I couldn't figure out why I had overlooked it. After a long moment, I sighed and lifted off from the ground. Whatever this was, I needed to look into it and I wasn't going to get anything else done while it bothered me.

Still, there was more that I could do tonight, if I ignored this. I bit my lip as I considered my options, sparing a glimpse towards the pile of disabled thugs. I could clear out a few more groups, and give the police something to do. After a moment, I shook my head. No. I was done for tonight. Time to go, maybe try and figure out whether I was imagining things or there really was something wrong.

Decision made, I climbed higher, then raced away toward my temporary home.

~~~~~~~~

"What I would like to know is why you allowed that to be printed," Glenn said, his tone reasonable even if the statement was really a demand.

"And for the last time, I don't answer to you, Mr. Chambers," the editor of the Brockton Bay Journal replied. "What gets published in my paper isn't influenced by the group of jackbooted thugs you work for. I felt Ms. Konita had valid points and the Journal doesn't require the mandate of the PRT. Good day."

"Impossible," Glenn muttered, setting the phone aside as his eyes fell on the newspaper article that was the root of recent troubles. After a moment, he looked to the computer monitors arrayed before him, each filled with windows showing him the ebb and flow of recent media attention.

"At least she's getting positive attention?" He asked aloud. Her rather showy display against the Empire before the fighting broke out in earnest, followed by her current crusade against them had made her a popular discussion point locally.

And nationally, he thought with a grimace. The article hadn't been confined to Brockton Bay exclusively. A few minor changes, to accommodate the fact that audiences elsewhere weren't familiar with Brockton Bay's particular stew of chaos and there was a great deal more attention on Sirin than he cared for.

At least the fact that she's an out of control Ward isn't public knowledge. Glenn was grateful for that, even as he admired the finesse behind the article. A few hundred printed words had produced a steadily growing shitstorm. Though, he had to admit, the article's impact wouldn't have been nearly as great if hadn't been followed by the girl's actions.

Actions that were bearing fruit and seeming to reinforce the message behind the article. It was hard to argue its point when the Empire's recent attempts to expand on recently opened territory were being checked by the precision tactics of a fifteen year old girl. Grimacing, he clicked through several screens, stopping at one that showed comments from people in the Bay.

There were outliers, people speaking out in opposition, questioning why she hadn't been seen during the gangs fighting, but the majority were in support. Even if it wasn't one hundred percent certain that it was her, as the recent attacks on the Empire had been from someone sporting a downgraded costume. Glenn had no doubts though; a conversation with Armsmaster had yielded some insight into that situation. Her loss of costume was unsurprising. What was surprising though was that rumors were circulating amid the public.

Someone had connected her to the incident that led to the complete collapse of Coil's power base. They didn't have the full story, but it had only enhanced her reputation. Sighing, Glenn looked over the reports, disliking the developing trends and the impact they were having on his plans. Piggot had ceded the situation to him, but it was rapidly becoming apparent that something needed to be done soon. Public interest on Sirin was inevitably going to lead to people digging and the fact that she was registered as a Ward would come up.

That would make this an even worse mess and if there was one thing Glenn had learned, it was the things you didn't want publicly known always became so at the worst possible moment.

~~~~~~~~

Rain danced across the windows, tracing elaborate patterns that vanished as quickly as they appeared. I watched them, entranced, occasionally spotting the people rushing by, huddled in raincoats or beneath umbrellas, aiming to get out from the deluge as quickly as possible. The inside of the Chicago-style pizzeria where I sat was empty except for myself and two men sitting a few tables away. I looked in their direction for a moment, noting the older of the two seemed entirely at ease while his younger companion was extremely uncomfortable, almost screaming in terror inside his thoughts.

Whatever they were talking about was kept to low voices and I couldn't get any sense of malice from the older man, who was English, if I had placed his accent correct. And wealthy, the cane leaning against his table was capped with ornate silver. When whatever was bothering the younger man seemed to settle into just plain worry, I stopped paying attention to them, looking around the rest of the restaurant. For whatever reason, none of the people outside were choosing to come in. Maybe it was the dim, almost smoky, interior. Or maybe it was something else.

I looked back toward the window, staring out into the rain as I thought of the last few days. I had hit the Empire several times over, but I wasn't any closer to actually learning if Cricket had told anyone or if my identity as Sirin was truly compromised. I had snuck in to where Cricket was being treated, but there hadn't been anything mentally that I could find out from her comatose state. Baiting Kaiser also hadn't turned up any results and I was now at a loss for what to do next.

Or if what I've been doing is right. I grimaced at the the thought, hearing the faintest echo of that Empire member's mental screams accompanying it. My hands tightened around the mug of tea and I glanced away from the window, my eyes landing on the half-eaten pizza I had ordered.

Since I'd left home, I'd done my best not to second-guess myself, as it was all too easy to get caught up with might-have-beens, especially with my powers. Since the other night, though, I had been doing just that, finding myself dwelling on my actions whenever I wasn't assaulting the Empire's storehouses or gatherings.

This had started out as a lot more fun at first. I had powers, I could fight back against Emma and Sophia and I was able to go out, to be a hero. Somewhere, it ceased to be fun. Maybe when everything blew up in my face? I scowled, wishing, not for the first time, that I had never laid eyes on the blonde twit. Oh, I wasn't sure that she had, in fact, set me up, but it made me feel better to blame her.

The fact was, I kind of felt like she was bad luck. No sooner than she stuck her head in and started talking, things had gone downhill. Now, the comfortable place I'd stayed at was reduced to a single room at a shelter and my resources were next to nothing. Rebuilding to where I was before Coil had attacked me was a prospect that was both daunting and irritating.

I sighed, poking halfheartedly at the pizza with my fork. There was just so much to do and I wasn't keen on using the same tactics again. Coil had gotten on my trail because of the tickets and using it as my main source of funds again had me wary because the result. The last thing I needed was to have someone else track me down for my powers.

What was I supposed to do? I wasn't sure of my goals anymore and the path before me now was a confusing one, lacking the simplicity of before. Establish myself as a hero, help people. It had all gotten so fucked up.

"I knew I would find you here," the familiar voice, accompanied by a presence I knew quite well drew my attention away from the increasingly depressing turn of my thoughts. Vicky stood in the doorway, looking for once, as something other than meticulously perfect in appearance. Her hair was plastered against her scalp and most of her clothing was more than a bit damp.

"Are you alright?" I asked, honestly alarmed at her condition. She was so careful with how she looked that to see her this bedraggled and with a haunted look on her face had me worried. "Have… have you been crying?"

"No," she said quickly before her expression crumpled and I found myself with her in my arms, bawling uncontrollably against my shoulder as I felt surge of sadness and despair rushed outward.

I wonder if this is how her aura feels like? I sighed internally at the thought, carefully tuning out the flood of emotion while gently, if awkwardly, sending comfort toward her in hopes that it would settle her nerves.

A few minutes later, looking marginally more composed, Vicky sat opposite me, devouring some of the pizza I hadn't touched yet.

"So, why are you flying around in the rain like this?" I asked, noting the way she flinched when the question left my lips.

It was several minutes before she framed a reply. "I had a fight with Dean."

I didn't hide my frown as I looked at her. "And that had you flying about in this mess looking for me? Being invincible won't help if you develop pneumonia, you know."

"I wanted to talk to you," she said quietly. I touched her surface thoughts and feelings briefly, trying to get a better idea of why an argument with Dean, of all things, had her so upset.

"What's bothering you about this fight with Dean?" I finally asked as my skimming didn't yield anything of substance. The distraction of this was welcoming, but I was a bit confused on how I qualified to offer relationship advice. I could listen, at least, but I wasn't sure what else she expected from me.

"Dean's a great guy, but sometimes, he can be a bit of a jerk," Vicky began. "He can get so obsessed with being the knight in shining armor type that I want to strangle him. I mean, if it was just sweeping me off my feet, sure, but he tends to get rather preachy at times. There's only so much holier-than-thou I can take, y'know?"

I nodded, not quite sure where she was going with this. "I can see that."

"So, he was going on about you, I mean, about Sirin," Vicky went on. "Getting judgemental about what you've done recently. I.. kind of snapped at him in your defense and then we were screaming at each other, saying awful things before I finally stormed out."

Her words rolled around in my mind, drawing another frown as I tried to piece together what bothered me about them. Vicky sighed and poked at her current slice of pizza with a fork, in mirror of what I had done earlier. "We've argued before, even broken up, but never like this, never this bad."

"You've smoothed things out before, right?" I asked, nudging her foot with one of my own to get her attention. "It'll work out here too, I'm sure."

My words of reassurance did not appear to have the effect I had hoped for as Vicky's scowl returned. "Don't say that! Don't be understanding! You don't know what he said!"

I held my hands up. "Sorry. You're right, I don't. Was just trying to cheer you up, things will get better and all that."

Vicky didn't reply to that, staring at the window and the rain decorating it for a long time. "Sorry, I shouldn't snap at you. It isn't your fault that Dean's such a prick."

"I'm guessing that you came to find me for something other than ranting about Dean?"

"You can see the future, right?"

"Not that well, apparently," I muttered to myself. "Yeah, precog's one of my powers."

"Can you see if this works out? If we fix it this time. Maybe...if we can actually make it last?"

I blinked. trying to trace the path of her logic. "Make it last? What, are you planning to run to Vegas?"

"What? No! Well, I mean, in the future, maybe?"

I sighed, realizing what she wanted. "If only it were that easy."

Vicky looked at me and frowned. "What d'you mean?"

"It isn't like just looking ahead and seeing what will happen," I told her. "Well, it is for the short term, like the next twenty minutes or so. For that, I can be pretty accurate, but the further away, the less precise it is."

"Only twenty minutes?" Vicky asked, her shoulders slumping. "That doesn't help."

I waved a hand. "It was just an example, but there's a lot of variables that determine how long." I looked around to be sure the two men were still having their discussion and raised an eyebrow as the older man was holding a ring out to the younger. Whatever, nothing to do with me. Once certain that no one was paying attention to our table, I nudged the dispenser for the toothpicks sitting on the table with my powers.

The toothpicks settled into a neat pile by my hand. I took one and sat it on the table before me. "It's hard to explain. I can look farther. It's been getting easier and easier to push it another few minutes at a time. But when I try to look too far, things start to fall apart.."

Vicky didn't say anything as I laid more toothpicks down, tilted at angles from the first one and kept setting more of them down. "The thing is, no one exists in a vacuum and the further ahead I look, the more choices are available, and the chance that all those other choices happen becomes bigger. While I can try to map out what is most likely, until it happens any particular event is just possibility. I can even lay out scenarios, like with my dad, for example, but I don't have the ability or, frankly, the patience, to sit and view all the possibilities."

"I see…" Vicky stared at the toothpicks and the way it spread out from one point, branching off until I ran out of room and stopped.

"Not to mention, it takes time to do that." I added, lifting a slice of pizza out to my plate. "If I got that caught up in looking at the future, I'd never get anything done today, I'd only have time for that." Which was what Coil had wanted me for. The reminder of my earlier thoughts made me frown for a moment.

"No, I guess not," Vicky agreed after a moment, looking anywhere but at me. "God, I must sound so stupid. Coming to you and going 'Can you tell me if I'll get back together with my boyfriend?' Like some stupid girl in a book who runs to the local fortuneteller and gets in trouble."

"The ones you don't tell your sister about?" I asked with a half-grin, hoping the light-hearted question would cheer her up. "Afraid they're too hardcore for her?"

"Are you kidding? Amy reads worse." Vicky's expression brightened a bit. "The hospital nurses got her hooked on those trashy romance novels to start with, but her tastes get weird sometimes."

"I remember you mentioning that," I said, shaking my head. "And that one you made me read! I kept expecting the lady who runs the shelter to come in to clean and catch me reading it! How do they even get away with printing this stuff?"

Vicky looked at me and smirked. "Liked it, huh?"

My face burned. "You're awful." Her smirk only widened and she scooped out another slice of the pizza as the rain continued outside and the conversation turned to other topics.

~~~~~~~~

It was days like today, Armsmaster observed, that made him glad for one of his inventions over any of the others. The Rain Repellent Spray was incredibly useful in allowing him to work in rainy conditions like this. There was something to be said for the atmosphere created by such weather, but when he was following up on work that required time spent either outdoors or in buildings exposed to the weather, it was invaluable.

I will never again let any of the Wards know about it. The thought made him shake his head at how it distracted him. Clockblocker had inquired about whether he had a variant that repelled sharks more than once.

The interior of the building he was in now drew his attention again, following up on a request from the Mayor's office to investigate an old fire station. They believed it had been the site of some sort of parahuman fight. Ordinarily, he'd have dispatched a PRT squad to look into this, but something had made him decide to look into this personally.

"The firehouse at Eight-Ninety Fifth Avenue has been abandoned of any occupants for roughly two weeks, judging from the damage and how exposed it has been," he said aloud, his suit's audio systems recording while he carefully navigated the damaged floor. He scanned the area with a wary eye, not overlooking a single detail. "The majority of the damage to the interior was done by explosive devices, flashbangs, smoke and noise bombs. An attack, I think, aimed to disorient a thinker that has to be taken down quickly to have any chance."

He frowned and looked around the shattered space. "The tactic is similar to one the PRT uses against Thinkers when containment foam isn't immediately viable. There aren't any independent agencies operating within Brockton Bay that use such tactics. The only mercenary group that would have done so was Coil's. Faultline's group is, other than some of the guards at her club, a parahuman force. Neither the Empire or the ABB's non-powered members have the training to execute something like this."

"The damage to the floor is too extensive to have been done by whoever set the explosive devices," he said, skirting around the edge of the hole in the floor. "Likely the work of someone with a brute rating."

"Whoever was staying here has not returned since this occurred, I would estimate," he murmured. "An exact timeframe is hard if not impossible to determine due to the internal damage to the building. In truth, there appears to be little reason for someone to have come back. While the fires caused by the explosive devices were apparently largely extinguished before they could spread too far, enough damage was done to ruin any of…"

He trailed off, halting the recording with an absent murmur before making his way to a battered dresser. The first drawer's contents prompted him to frown and he quickly opened the others to see if they contained similar.

"A dresser apparently survived the assault intact," he remarked into its recording. "The contents are a young woman's clothing, possibly that of a teenage girl, judging from a cursory glance. Why they are left behind is a puzzle, but perhaps…" Frowning, he reluctantly shifted some of the clothing to one side, drawing out a leather bound journal that he recognized.

"Dresser was used as a hiding receptacle for a journal," he commented. "It is one I have seen before. Despite the exposure of the building's interior to the weather, being sheltered within the dresser has permitted it to remain mostly intact. I last saw this in the possession of Taylor Hebert. Conclusion: Prior to her disappearance and presumed captivity, she was living out of this firehouse."

Thumbing carefully through the pages at the drawings, he nodded and tucked it into a compartment on his suit. A push of a button on his belt brought a drone from his motorcycle as he made a decision. The unit was capable of following simple tasks and what he needed of it now would be within its parameters.

A compartment on his belt produced a storage container that unfolded efficiently. "Relocate the contents of this dresser into that container." If Assault and Battery could make contact with her, they could at least see about returning her clothing to her. If nothing else, it might at least build some good will from her toward them.

While it worked, he continued his examination of the area, noting the pile of what he thought was raw fabric, now scorched and burned beyond repair. The foundation for a new costume, perhaps?

There was little else to be seen. Scorched pieces of carbon that might have once been sheets of paper, a similar notebook to the first, though the pages were water damaged and it was quite ruined. He put it in with the other anyway and rose slowly, heading further in as his foot collided with something.

The battered object slid away from the impact as he glanced down, identifying it as one of the personal security boxes sold by stores to protect valuables from fires. In this case, he thought ruefully, it had been wholly inadequate. A simple nudge with one hand flipped the lid over, revealing ashes and the scraps of what had once been money.

"The picture painted by what I've gleaned about her disappearance so far is not a happy one," Armsmaster said aloud, his recording system starting again in response to his voice. "Without definite testimony from her, though, it's all conjecture on my part, but I'm honestly surprised that her recent bouts of lashing out have been as restrained as they are."

He nudged open a door with his halberd, lights from his helmet illuminating the small bathroom. It was utilitarian, a sink, a toilet and a tub with a shower attachment. Nothing of consequence beyond a few toiletries that he paid little attention to as the lights settled on something in the tub.

"Correction, my previous conclusion is now fact," he said, staring at the costume lying in the tub, the symbol on the chest faded, but still distinct. The cracked and peeled golden bird spread its wings almost defiantly despite its condition. "The bathroom contains the remains of part of her costume as Sirin."

He dispatched another drone to gather the remains of the suit up before starting toward the outside. The rain had finally stopped and he drew the journal out, idly flipping through its pages as he walked. It was, as he had suspected, the same notebook she had been drawing in that day at the school. The drawing he had half-glimpsed then stared back at him now and he frowned at it, comparing his memory of the sketch he had done in recreation against the original.

Most of the drawings appeared to be of costumes, some of which made him frown at how ineffective they were at offering any sort of protection. They were the type worn by either the very stupid or very powerful. Sometimes both, but even so, the majority were so impractical that he wasn't surprised over what had been Hebert's ultimate choice. He paused to look at a pair of costumes, different only for the primary color choice, one green, one red.

Armsmaster examined every detail of those, wondering what the difference in color entailed. Representative of a mindset change? Something else? After a moment, he continued flipping through the pages as the drones brought down the container that her clothes had been packed into. A cover opened at the back of his motorcycle and it was deposited, sliding into a spatially folded compartment that could contain more than it appeared to.

The last few pages were a mess of assorted images with no rhyme or reason connecting them. A visor, covering the eyes of barely visible lineart for someone's face. Pieces of other costumes? There didn't seem to be any unifying elements to any of them. A few were even more out of place; an outline of a man's suit, ruffled at the neck. Nineteenth Century, if he was correct. A woman's outfit that would not have been out of place in a lingerie catalog.

Perhaps some sort of hopes for fashion design? He rolled the thought around in his mind as he flipped to the last page. It was devoted to one picture, a clearly mechanical construct shaded with bits of purple and maroon. A yellow light was drawn on its chest, some sort of power source, perhaps?

The image was almost ridiculous, the impression of its size was that it was quite large and the materials required to make it durable and mobile would have made it so heavy that it could barely move. Still, there was an almost palpable feeling of dread as he stared at it. Below it, in penmanship that suggested confusion, were a few scrawled words.

'Sentinel?' was the first, followed by 'What is this?' Armsmaster stared at it for a moment, his frown growing before closing the notebook and stowing it away. Something to look into later, perhaps he could even inquire of Hebert directly. He mused on that as he climbed onto his motorcycle once the drones had settled in their appropriate places.

He glanced back toward the ruined firehouse, debating whether to make another sweep and be sure he hadn't overlooked anything. A message appeared on his display, signalling an incoming call and he sighed.

"Armsmaster here," he said. "What do you need, Director?"

"We're having a meeting concerning the situation with the Empire, report to my office as soon as possible." Her voice crackled across the speaker.

"Understood," he replied, grimacing. "I'll be there shortly." The call ended without any farewell and he sighed, starting up his motorcycle. With a last glance toward the firehouse, he drove away.

~~~~~~~~

A lifetime's worth.

What did that mean? What was I missing, that might explain that one thought? I looked up at the sky, watching the twinkle of stars through the gaps in the clouds now that the rain had stopped. Vicky had went home, in a much better mood than she had started out with, and I was sitting on the roof of the shelter, my legs hanging off the edge. Below, the hustle and bustle of the shelter had slowed to a crawl as the lights started to go out. A few stayed on, some people not content to turn in just yet.

A lot like me at the moment. I knew that if I tried right now, I would just end up tossing and turning all night long as questions and thoughts ate away at what might be a peaceful night's sleep. I sighed and raised a hand as more and more lights went out, leaving the neighborhood, and me, in darkness.

But only for a moment as fire bloomed above my hand, casting light for me to see by and warmth to guard against the night's chill. I stared at it for a moment, then directed it to circle around my hand with only a thought. When I first discovered this power, it had been in a fit of rage and I'd avoided touching it as much as possible.

With nearly disastrous consequences. I grimaced at the thought of the nightmare or whatever it had been and waking to find that the bed, that I, was ablaze. Yet the fire hadn't harmed me at all. Even now, with the fireball having grown to the size of my head, I felt nothing more than warmth from it. I pulled on it in my mind, scretching the ball out into a ribbon of flame that I wove around my hand and between my fingers, letting the warmth and glow of it encompass me.

And I didn't even have to try. I wanted to do it, and was natural to just follow through. Like it was something I'd done before, practiced until I could do these things with ease. But I hadn't. Instead, new powers showed up, I stumbled a bit at first and then I was using them like it was second nature.

A lifetime's worth. The thought repeated and I frowned, bringing the streamers of fire back together into a fireball, staring at it for a moment before reaching out with one hand. It pulsed, almost like a heartbeat and I felt an answering warmth pulse somewhere deep inside me. Would it burn if I touched it? Would I burn? I hadn't before, so probably n—

A worried voice shouted and cold water splashed over and past me, extinguishing the fireball with a hiss. I jerked to the side, startled by the sudden drenching, twisting to see Noelle staring at me, a water bottle held open before her.

I blinked, glancing around the roof quickly. There was no one else but the two of us. "What… why?"

"Are you alright?" Noelle asked, quickly kneeling beside me and grabbing my hand. "Do you need to go to the hospital?" She turned my hand over and over, looking at it with no small amount of worry on her face.

I gently disentangled my hand. "I'm fine. Since I got my powers, the fire never bothered me. Anyway, when did you get here? How did you get here?" Had I been so wrapped up in thinking about my powers that I'd missed her arrival? After promising to myself that I'd keep a closer watch on my immediate surroundings. Stupid.

"I came up the stairs?" Noelle asked in a way that made me sigh as she pointed at the stairwell leading down. "And found you trying to set yourself on fire."

"I wasn't trying to set myself on fire," I interrupted, rolling my eyes. "I said the fire doesn't bother me, remember?"

Noelle looked skeptical as she carefully sat down on the edge of the roof next to me. "Most people aren't so blasé about something like that."

I shrugged. "It's a power. I stopped trying to figure out why I don't burn or even really feel the heat a while ago." A glance around had me frown. "You skipped out on Krouse?"

Noelle began twirling a some keys around her finger. "Sort of. Krouse means well, but sometimes he gets a bit clingy, especially with recent events. Right now, though, he's, ahem, otherwise occupied and not likely to get away."

I arched an eyebrow, looking from her to the keys spinning on her finger. What did that mean? I figured out the answer a moment later from a particularly vivid image in her mind and flushed. "Ew. Too much information."

"Don't want to know, don't go peeking," Noelle shrugged, smirking at me before her expression turned serious. "Though, that you did does let me bring up one of the things I wanted to talk to you about."

"So, this isn't just a social call," I sighed, having a strange sense that I knew what was coming. "What is it?"

"You've been busy lately," Noelle said after a moment. "Even with this… whatever it is, lingering between us and what I pick up from it, I've been following the news." She half-turned to face me and there was no attempt on her part to hide what she was feeling right now. Worry.

"I've felt what you've been feeling and thinking during these times, Taylor," she stated. "And I get where you're coming from with some of those thoughts. The way I was… before you did your thing, there were times when I wanted to really let loose and make everyone feel the way I did."

I turned so I was staring away from her, inexplicably irritated by her words. "I don't think it's the same thing. I'm not a ravening monster twisted by the Simurgh and powers in a bottle."

"But you are angry and you've got a lot of power," Noelle said, ignoring my jab at her condition. It had stung, I could feel that, but she was refusing to let it distract her. "You know, I looked up some more about you once I was able to."

"I'd make some irritated remark about you figuring out I was Sirin, but I kind of blew that secret voluntarily," I remarked.

"Taylor," Noelle said gently. "You're not going to distract me. Before you saved me, before you ended up in Coil's cell, you had a fight with the Empire, right?"

"What about it?"

"Don't you think that maybe, being called out on going too far by a Neo-Nazi, reformed or not, was a sign that you might in fact be going too far?"

I snorted. "Do you know some of the things they've done? Purity, of all people, doesn't have any stance from which to throw stones over anything I've done. Especially anything I did to Cricket."

"And Stormtiger? How does what Cricket did matter there? Or with those guys last night that you terrified so badly? Or with Ashley?"

I winced, but didn't turn in her direction. "Thought we weren't picking up from each other as clearly anymore."

"Most of the time, no, but when things bother you, or you feel them strongly, it's clearer," Noelle said. "And that bothered you. A lot more than you're willing to voice. Especially with how you tore into Stormtiger after."

"If he'd just told me what I wanted to kno—" I began.

"Set aside the fact that they're Neo-Nazis, or white supremacists, or any of that," Noelle interrupted. "They may be scum, sure and do I care if you beat the living crap out of them? Honestly, no, I don't. The fact—"

"Then why are you—"

"I'm not finished, so please don't interrupt me," Noelle said firmly. "I don't care about them. I do care about what doing these things to them is doing to you."

I didn't say anything as she continued. "Back to Stormtiger, though, why do you think he should have told you where Cricket was? You're an enemy. One who had already hurt her quite a bit. He's a Neo-Nazi, sure, but that doesn't make him devoid of feelings. You ripped into his mind, saw him by her bedside. And didn't even look at what else there was in the memory. She was comatose, maybe permanently, and he was still there, sticking by her."

"Your point?" I asked.

"I kind of have valuable insight into it. Being there for someone like that? It takes more than just a camaraderie from hating someone with different colored skin." Her expression softened for a moment as she thought of something. "You might say I was in her position, comatose, for a long time."

"That's hardly the same thing," I protested. "You're not…"

"A Neo-Nazi? No, but just… put that fact to the side. Their beliefs suck, sure, but you can't use that as a reason to treat them as less than human, as objects to just take what you want from."

"I don't want anything from them," I protested.

"Except to crush them into the dirt?" Noelle asked, cutting off whatever else I had been about to say. "Because one of them gave you a bloody nose, twice?"

"She nearly killed me," I said, shuddering as the image of her looming above me came to the forefront of my mind again. Even knowing she was unlikely to ever threaten me again personally, the memory still filled me with fear.

"You were afraid, I get it," Noelle said, laying a hand on my shoulder. I didn't pull away, but it was a near thing. "You shouldn't let that fear drive you, or make this personal. Cricket's done and you won that fight."

"I want to believe that," I said quietly, taking a deep breath as I let her words sink in. It was something to think about, truly. Maybe I was going a bit far. But it wasn't a topic I wanted to talk about any further.

A thought occurred and I forced a smile as I glanced her way, seeing that she was relaxing a bit as I absorbed what she had been saying. "Change of subject."

"I'll allow it," she said with a smirk. "What's the new topic?"

"Couldn't Krouse just switch his way out?"

Noelle laughed and gave me a look. "Nice try at embarrassing me. But I can assure you, Krouse was in no state to even try that."

I flushed again as I got another image that was entirely too clear. "I shouldn't have asked."

Noelle patted my head. "I'm sure you'll understand when you're older."

"I hate you," I said without any heat to it. "So much."

"Sure, sure," Noelle said. "C'mon, you could probably do with getting dried off and I'm sure there's some place that is open right now. You need something to eat, seriously."

"Fine, fine, mom," I grumbled, batting her hand away.

"Mmm, no," Noelle murmured. "Not old enough for that, but… maybe a big sister?"

I climbed to my feet, arching an eyebrow at her hopeful tone. A big sister? I had wanted one when I was younger. For a while, Emma had filled the spot but having someone there would have been nice after that. Still, I hesitated and Noelle gave me a half-smile.

"A bit too much, I get it," she said. "Friends?"

I nodded quickly. "Friends, I can do." Noelle smiled and we started toward the stairs to find food.

~~~~~~~~

Truth be told, it would surprise most that knew him, but Max Anders, Kaiser, cared little for the ideology he espoused. No, the only thing he cared for, truly, was power. And the gathering of more power. Two things that the Empire 88, which he had seized the reins of from his father years ago, provided in abundance.

Or it had until little over two weeks ago, before a disastrous conflict between an independent hero, one relatively unknown at that point, and four of his own.

It had infuriated him, to see his followers brought low by someone who was barely worth his notice. The insult was compounded by the fact that the media seized on it, those who opposed his Empire for ideological reasons using it as a rallying cry to take action against him.

That had been infuriating, but other matters had claimed priority before he could see to putting some upstart in her place. Reclaiming what had been taken from him took precedence. Only then could he see to teaching the little chit where she stood in the scheme of things.

However, that situation had been tabled again in favor of a more immediate issue. The show of force to reclaim his soldiers had been ill-timed. While he had lead that strike, Lung and his ilk had played their hand, assaulting his Empire. His haste in moving to secure what was his had resulted in provoking the Protectorate when the ABB were moving openly against him.

With cost, he had weathered that assault. His Empire had been diminished, but it, he endured. And as long as he did, the Empire would also. Hostilities had died down and he was sure he could begin moving again, when the nuisance resurfaced. Where she had been during the fighting, he knew not. Nor, in truth, did he care. Perhaps she had gone to ground while the true powers of this city fought? That mattered little, ultimately. Where she had been was of no account against what she was doing now.

Whatever reason for her disappearance, she was acting against him now and that could not be borne. The past several days had been nothing but attack after attack on his holdings. No precaution appeared sufficient to deter or evade her notice. After Stormtiger's defeat and the disturbing report he had received in its wake, he had held his parahuman forces back and merely observed.

There appeared to be neither reason nor logic to her assaults. How she identified what was his eluded him too. She would simply appear, devastate his belongings and depart. Sometimes she would question his followers, either about him, or about Cricket.

What the appropriate response to her defiance should be occupied his thoughts since. The girl was powerful, clearly, but he could not abide the continued slight to his authority. She would be curbed and it had to be in such a way that spoke boldly, illustrated that no one defied his Empire. Lung was tolerated; he had power, despite his tainted stock. But no others could be permitted, especially not one who was barely worth his notice, a vigilante unaffiliated with the Protectorate.

Sirin would bend her neck to her betters, or she would be broken.

Last edited: Oct 14, 2015

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chibipoe

Oct 13, 2015

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Threadmarks Sleep Walking - 4.4

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chibipoe

chibipoe

Catradora is life, Catradora is love

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Aug 26, 2016

#5,723

4.4

Images filled the screens around him, scanned from the journal that was now packed away with the rest of the belongings that were deemed salvageable. He'd tasked Battery with that, which earned him more than a few jokes from Assault about why he was carrying around a box full of teenage girl's clothes.

Thankfully, he didn't have to deal with that any longer, having retreated to his workshop so he could look into this further. That was before another problem reared its head. That was sitting in one of his chairs, reviewing the images he had collected on his server. Which was fine. He could deal with that, the man in question was good at his job and Armsmaster respected competence where it could be found.

What was intolerable was the glossy red package Glenn Chambers had with him, that he occasionally reached in and withdrew a handful of toffee covered popcorn mixed with nuts to eat.

"Must you do that?" he asked, looking toward him while he made some adjustments to the internal motors for his current project.

"I missed lunch," Glenn said in reply, his eyes never wavering from the images. "Did you want some?"

He eyed the offered bag with distaste. "No. I need my hands clean. Can't risk contamination to any of the internal mechanisms. From anything on my hands or from the environment," he said as he eyed a dried piece of caramel fall to the floor from the offered bag.

"Ah," Glenn shrugged and resumed eating. "I'll stay over here, then."

"You could have just waited for me to assemble my report, you know," he pointed out after a few moments had passed and he finished lining up the pistons.

"Please," Glenn snorted. "After all that I've had to do to keep Emily in her job and contain the recent negative opinion, I need to get things back on track with Ms. Hebert as soon as possible. These may be a useful glimpse into her mindset."

"I already looked them over," he replied. "They're just different costume ideas."

Glenn shook his head. "If they were just that, I'd be gone already. I'm pretty good at reading people by how they present themselves, you realize. It is part of my job, after all."

Armsmaster grunted, lifting up the heavy centerpiece so he could work on it. "And what does your experience at that tell you, seeing these?"

"Well, for one, she has an eye for Parahuman fashion," he remarked before frowning. "And appears to be literally of two minds about it too."

He looked up, his attention sharpening. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Glenn tapped the keyboard in front of him, thankfully with the hand that had not been digging into the bag. "These here, they're just concepts. She starts on them, they're clearly the beginnings of something she thought of, but she gets halfway through and then stops and starts over. And every time, she produces a full costume."

"She had another idea and scrapped the old one," he suggested.

"No," Glenn shook his head. "The finished ones are different. There's a uniformity to that. Design elements carry from one to the other, in many cases. They're more… reproductions of a finished product than something she conceived personally."

"You got all that from some pictures?"

"Every finished product has one feature that carries over in some fashion, except for two specific ones that have their own theme," he tapped another key then reached for a touchpad and stylus. Armsmaster cringed slightly as Glenn began highlighting spots on the images using the tip of the stylus. "Observe."

He scanned the images, a detail he had noticed, but paid little attention to earlier standing out. "X? There's an X on nearly all of them? Why? Some sort of emblem? What does it stand for, then?"

"Only these two differ, but they have their own theme, obviously, one that the costume she ultimately chose shares somewhat," Glenn indicated the two costumes that differed only in their primary color. One green, one crimson. "There is, though, one feature that nearly all of the finished costumes have in common. Or rather, the lack of a feature."

"No mask," Armsmaster said.

"Correct." Glenn made a thoughtful sound. "All of her aborted concept outfits feature masks to obscure identity. The majority of the finished ones do not, with a handful of exceptions. It's like they were designed by someone who either saw no point in it, or felt no need to hide her identity. Why would that be, do you think?"

"Identity being either an open fact, or she simply felt powerful enough that concealing her identity was unnecessary because she was strong enough to ignore consequences."

"Yes, but there is something else. The other thing," Glenn murmured, sliding through each one in the rough timeline that they had been ordered in, "is there's a definite evolution here. Some of these… feel old, wouldn't you say? Like designed with less resources, but they grow more advanced and complex. The second fiddle look gives way to more defensive, protective designs, and then phases back slightly, valuing appearance more."

"Time period too," Armsmaster added thoughtfully. "Some of the initial ones wouldn't have felt out of place in the eighties, or earlier. Also, they look out of place, like something's missing."

"A sidekick or teammate. The earlier costumes are...submissive in a sense. Something someone following someone else's lead would wear." he nodded. "Some of the early ones definitely feel that way, I agree. There's phases too. This girl… her maturity seems all over the place."

"Wishful thinking on a teenage girl's part," Armsmaster dismissed, going back to testing adjustments on his project. "Wanting to appear as more than she is."

"I'm not so sure," Glenn said. "Like, things give way to functionality in a lot of cases. Less from just design but… practical experience? Things that aren't needed are discarded and phased out. And then there's this."

He looked up at the row of images, noting the two highlighted. "What about them? She revisited an earlier design."

"She was moving toward more functional, then she changed to the green and gold, then changed back to something that was hideously impractical." He bit his lip. "There's something I'm missing here though. The next one is the red, or crimson as you said, and gold. And then…"

"You've thought of something?"

"The costumes that are finished," he said slowly. "They aren't designed for someone with Ms. Hebert's build in mind. Like I said, two minds."

"Wishful thinking," Armsmaster repeated, frowning at the screen.

"I've watched every bit of video we have of her," Glenn retorted. "Where, exactly, did she give you that impression? Enlighten me, as I'd like to know what I missed."

"What are you proposing?"

"There's something we're missing here," Glenn said. "Her concepts are clearly built with her own appearance in mind, but these others… they all follow a single individual… through various stages… The first one or two might be around Ms. Hebert's age, but whoever they represent, she gets older. Even at a younger age, she's clearly a more developed figure, shall we say, than Ms. Hebert. This.. will sound crazy, but it's almost like two different people drawing, but they're the same person."

Armsmaster straightened, looking up at the pictures as recollections from questioning sessions that occurred months before returned to his thoughts. "You're suggesting some sort of mental issue?"

"It's possible," Glenn allowed. "The circumstances under which powers are gained can create some personality shifts. They're usually, from what I've observed, extremely pronounced though. Did you think of something?"

"When the situation at Winslow turned into a complete mess with Shadow Stalker," he said slowly. "I spoke with Browbeat regarding her complicity in events and she remarked that it seemed almost like Taylor Hebert had become someone else. She carried herself differently, more self-assured."

"Are you suggesting some sort of severe personality shift? Or that she could be Mastered?"

"There's one question I have for you," Armsmaster asked, reaching to a nearby touchpad and moving the images to two specific ones. "These. They don't fit at all with any of the others. What sort of insight do these lend to your theories?"

Glenn looked at the two pictures with a grimace, glancing at the woman in provocative black lingerie and a cloak, of all things and the sketch of a man in nineteenth century clothing. "These two, I'm afraid I have no explanation for. Characters in some sort of story, perhaps?"

Armsmaster frowned, then shook his head, eyeing one of the images askance. "I don't think we need to probe too deeply into that. Given that one's clothing, I'm not sure it's the sort of story we need to investigate or ask Ms. Hebert about."

Glenn nodded absently, putting the tablet down. "I can see that. You'll forward the information to me?" Armsmaster nodded absently, feeling relief as the other man excused himself and left him to work in peace.

~~~~~~~~

Lisa stared at the computer screens arrayed before her, gently rubbing the sides of her head to ease away the dull ache forming there. Arrayed across the monitors was everything was that she had collected regarding Sirin; Taylor Hebert. White boards hung around the room, covered in sticky notes with lines drawn between them to connect certain notes together. There was an order to how everything was laid out.

It was, however, an order that clashed with the disorder everywhere else. Empty cans of iced coffee and energy drinks littered the floor, intermingled with discarded wrappers from easy to fix meals. Eyes with bags beneath them from lack of sleep flittered from board to board, before settling on the computer at her desk.

What was she missing? Everything she knew or had gleaned about the girl's personality and power was here, but something was missing, something vital. And it burned, that she couldn't piece together a clear picture.

"Okay, run down the list from the top," she muttered, looking back to where her collected information started. "Hebert got powers earlier this year, around the…" Her words trailed off as she stared at the picture of Hebert in costume, her eyes falling on the emblem on her chest.

"Holy shit, no way," Lisa said, quickly bringing up another image from January, staring at the picture that had been plastered all over the news for several weeks. It was right in front of her the whole time. Her eyes darted between the image from the news and the emblem on Sirin's chest.

"Wait, wait, no," she bit her lip. "That can't be right. Hebert didn't show signs that she was aware of this. Was it just a one time thing? How…"

Massaging her temples slowly, she shook her head. "No, getting sidetracked. Whether or not she was aware of that doesn't matter right now. What she's going to do next is what I need to sort out. And what I'm going to do."

Lisa sighed, looking over the mess of her office before bringing up the paperwork she had filed days ago. There was still red tape to sort through, but she had managed to lay hands on a good portion of Coil's assets. Not everything. But enough that she could be reasonably comfortable for the rest of her life even if she did nothing with it.

There was still more to do. There was going to always be more to do for a long time yet. The man had his hands in a lot of pockets and corralling all of that was taking time. Officially, Thomas Calvert was listed as missing and she'd taken care to ensure that there wasn't anything to connect him to his identity as Coil just yet. The last thing she wanted was for scrutiny to fall on him until she had stripped him of everything he had ever owned. Her own compensation for what he put her through.

Her office room door creaked opened, and she squinted and turned away from the spear of light that intruded into the room. When the door closed, Brian stood there, a glass of water in one hand and a familiar bottle in the other.

"I have your painkillers," he said quietly, glancing at the assorted white boards and the shadows they cast against the wall in the dim light of her computer screen. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

"Nothing important," Lisa answered, accepting the glass with a half-forced smile. "Just some research." She scanned the boards quickly, to make sure there was nothing that would give away the identity of her her research project to Brian. She downed the pills and water quickly, then glanced back toward where Brian was eyeing the garbage strewn across the floor.

"Okay, what?" she asked as he nudged an empty can with one foot, scanning the room with an expression of distaste.

"When was the last time you cleaned up in here?" The question made her frown and shift in her chair.

"I've been busy," Lisa replied after a moment. "Research, trying to salvage what I can so that we're not left in the cold after what happened. Our backer's gone, remember?"

"And that means you need to wallow in a mess?" Brian asked, raising an eyebrow. "Have you looked around, I mean, really looked?"

She shook her head. "I don't have time for that, right now. This needs to get done, and fast. The longer I wait, the more we risk losing something valuable in the shuffle. Did you need something else?"

For a moment, Brian was silent. A look of indecision on his face before determination set it. He pulled up the spare chair, and sat across from her at the other side of the desk. "Sure, I've got something. What are we going to do now? If our backer's gone, we're left picking our own jobs." Brian explained. "What's the plan then? Especially if members start drifting off?"

Lisa was silent for a moment, before she realized what Brian meant and her eyes widened slightly before she shook her head. "I don't know. And more importantly, I don't care."

Brian frowned. "I don't follow."

"I explained this to you. How do you not?" she said. "I was forced to bring this whole thing together. The Undersiders? Coil's little pet project for his plans. Do you think I really wanted to be part of this? Held at gunpoint wasn't unclear, I hope?"

"So, what, you're just going to bail and we can fend for ourselves?" he asked, anger beginning to curl around his words as he spoke. "I seem to recall promises to help with my sister."

"What part of 'I was held at gunpoint' and 'our 'backer' is carbon on a wall somewhere' is unclear to you?" Lisa asked. "I don't have his contacts, if those were even real. But here, I can at least do this." She switched screens on her monitor and began typing.

"What did you just do?"

"I'm moving funds around, so that you, Rachel and Alec are compensated," she explained. "I'll give Rachel her money myself, but that's it."

"So that's it?" Brian asked, a hard edge to his voice as he stood, looming over her. Whether intentional or not, the display rankled. But she wasn't going to be strongarmed by anyone. Not again.

Never again.

"That's it," she said in agreement, her own temper beginning to flare. "What else did you expect? The leash around my neck is off and at the end of the day, none of you are anything more than co-workers I barely know. You have money that can use and ensure your sister is taken care of. You can go now."

Brian stood there for a long moment, fury radiating from him in waves before he stepped back. "You had better hope that what you just said is true, if no-"

"I said you can go now!" Lisa interrupted harshly, not looking up from her desk. She couldn't look at him. She wouldn't. A clean break, even if a hostile one, was best.

A moment later and her room's door slammed shut, leaving her alone in the dimly lit office. Lisa stared at it for a moment before drawing in a shuddering breath and trying to calm herself. She was free. He was dead and there wasn't going to be another phone call, ever again. Brian might be mad, but he could manage things now. It would be all right.

Wiping at her face, she forced her attention back onto what she had been working on before, letting her power resume the dropped thread of her inquiry. Hebert was where everything lead back to and she didn't want to misjudge which way the girl was going to land. Something told her it was vitally important.

~~~~~~~~

Noelle, when she got moving, was as much a force of nature as Vicky, pulling me along in her wake until I found myself in a small cafe with some sort of green tea mixed with milk. I had eyed it dubiously, but found the mixture quite nice, if a bit different from my typical preferences.

"So, you dragged me from the roof to a tea house?" I asked, sipping the steaming drink slowly.

"Warms you up," Noelle replied. "And to talk. Less attention this way."

"You're joking, right?" I asked, glancing around at the crowded room. "How is this less attention?"

"We're just two more people in the room," she shrugged. "As opposed to standing on a rooftop and lighting yourself on fire."

"I wasn't lighting myself on fire," I said with a glare before sighing. "I was trying to test a theory."

"What? How to burn yourself?" Noelle asked.

"I'm immune to my own fire, as far as I know," I looked away, staring at people as they came and went. "I was trying to… oh hell, I don't even know." I sighed and stared down at my cup, biting my lip as I thought about that moment on the roof again.

"Something's bothering you," Noelle observed after a moment. I looked up at her and nodded slowly.

"Since I got my powers," I admitted. "I didn't pay it much attention before, but I've noticed several things lately and it seems to be getting more frequent."

"And this has you trying to immolate yourself?" Noelle asked, drawing another glare before I saw the grin playing around her lips.

"Wasn't," I grumbled, taking a drink of the tea to settle my nerves. "This is something else, and not a joke."

"Sorry, sorry," Noelle said. "Trying to lighten the mood. You've just been so dour and it doesn't feel right. Especially after what I've heard about what happened. You shouldn't be depressed."

"I don't remember much of that," I admitted, shaking my head. "I'm not sure I want to either."

"You can't run away from it, you know," she told me.

"I know," I answered with a tight smile. "But, I can put it to the side for now, while I figure things out."

"Figure out what things?" Noelle asked.

I turned my head slightly, looking at the window for a long time before I answered. "Sometimes, I'm not sure who I am."

"Is this teenage angst? Because I've had my fill of that," she asked, giving me a grin to take away any sting from the words. "Everyone goes through that."

"Not like that," I grimaced. "I mean… I dream things, or have moments where I am remembering something that I know I didn't do. Couldn't have done."

Noelle eyed me with worry in her eyes. "This isn't teenage angst, is it?"

"Probably not," I replied. "I don't know what it is, except that it bothers me and after what happened when I was captive, whatever that was, I can't ignore it anymore."

"Ok, so go over this with me from the top," Noelle said after a moment. "Details, from the beginning."

"It starts," I began after taking a deep breath, "with a firebir-" I stopped, frowning. That wasn't right. I didn't know why, but firebird was the wrong word. Too simple.

"A firebird?" Noelle asked, finishing my half-formed thought.

I shook my head, certainty growing. "No, with a phoenix."

"A phoenix?" Noelle's forehead furrowed for a moment. "Mythological bird, dies and is reborn in fire and all that? Outside of the gaming scene, I was studying mythology."

"I got my powers back in January," I told her. "I was stuffed in a locker filled with... "

Noelle's hand found mine, her expression a mixture of comfort and distaste. "I get that. Keep going"

"I don't remember much after I was locked in, but apparently, at the same time, a gigantic phoenix made out of fire appeared above the school. I was comatose for a bit and they apparently did some tests and didn't find any signs that I was a parahuman. But.. well, I'm something, that's for sure." I glanced around the room, relaxing as Noelle's words came back to me. There was enough noise that our conversation was unlikely to be overhead.

I took a sip from my cup and sat it down. "For the first while after I was back in school, things were different. Before the locker, I'd just been trying to endure, but after, well, I didn't care about that. I was going to be better than them. I made friends, pushed past what they had tried to do to me."

"And the person you are now doesn't resemble who you were before?"

I shook my head. "There were a few times, not long after, where I had thoughts, urges, even a moment or two where I was sure I was remembering something that had never happened to me. I drew a lot of pictures then. I thought I was designing costumes, but most of them didn't seem like something I would have worn." I frowned. "Guess those got torched with most everything else."

"Why didn't you stick around and check for more than the jacket?"

I looked to my left, scanning the room as I thought about the answer to that question. There were several couples scattered across various tables. My eyes fell on a pair of girls curled in one of the booths across, a redhead and a brunette, the whole world forgotten as they sat there, leaning into one another.

Melancholy washed over me for a moment and I pulled my gaze away, wishing suddenly that I could be like that with someone. I frowned and pushed the whim aside, focusing on what she had asked. "Part of it was that everything was so wrecked when I got there. The fire department had come by at some point and hosed it down to put the fire out. I was surprised the jacket was still intact and after everything else.. I couldn't bring myself to root through everything looking for stuff that wasn't burnt or ruined."

"And you didn't want to go back and sift through the ashes," Noelle murmured in question.

"Exactly," I replied, grateful that I didn't have to explain in further detail. The connection between us had dimmed since the incident, but she seemed to be able to pick up my mood and easily gain an idea of what I was going to say or think. The lack of privacy in my own thoughts might have bothered me once, but it felt like something I had dealt with for a long time. Everyone else's thoughts were an open book for a long time before The Professor had—

I swallowed suddenly, feeling my blood run cold. The Professor? Who was that?

"Taylor?" Noelle asked, picking up on my sudden mood change. "What is it?"

"It was another one," I said quietly. "I was just thinking about my powers, about hearing someone's thoughts and the lack of privacy and then I was thinking of someone who had helped me with that. I've never met anyone like that, though."

Noelle didn't say anything for a moment, simply looking concerned as she regarded me. "You're sure?"

The image was clearer in my head now, an older man, wheelchair bound, regarding me with affection. I shook my head in dismissal. "No, I don't. I remember him, but I've never met him before." I looked at her and let my hands grip the edge of the table. "How is that even possible?"

"Maybe it's just from the drugs that you were doped with?" Noelle suggested. "Maybe they'll pass once you're fully recovered?"

"I guess," I said, moving my hands to grasp my cup of tea. "I had moments of this happening before this though."

Noelle winced. "Right, there is that. Well, you should tell someone other than me, at least. I mean, that way if you start acting weird, they'll know what to look for."

I felt a laugh bubble up. "Right, tell all my friends that I might be crazy."

"You aren't," she said firmly. "Powers are weird. I should know, of all people. I doubt a crazy person could have fixed me."

"I don't even know what I did!" I protested. "I was drugged out of my mind and apparently did… something. Krouse's explanation of what happened… well, it didn't really explain anything since I can't remember anything more than brief, unsettling flashes."

"And you want to know, don't you?" she asked, then tilted her head. "But you're afraid?"

"I don't… Yeah, yeah I am. Like, I was drugged up beyond belief, but what about anything else? The doctors said there was no evidence I had been-" I paused for a moment, struggling with the words, "raped, but there's a lot of things that could have happened that they couldn't have found with tests or examinations."

"I can't speak for that, but, the impressions I can recall and the things Krouse told me… I don't think you have to worry about that," Noelle said finally. "That didn't seem like a thing he was interested in."

"You'll forgive me if I am not reassured," I replied with a sigh, finishing off the last of my tea. "I suppose there isn't a whole lot I can do if I let it work me into a frenzy."

"What will you do, then?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. But I'm not going to find answers by agonizing over this. The only way out is through, right?"

Noelle smiled. "Don't do anything, stupid, alright?"

"No plans to," I agreed. "I, um… thanks for the tea, and for listening."

"Just don't go setting yourself on fire," she said with a grin. "That isn't a solution, at any time. I might not always be around to put you out."

I snorted. "I told you-" I glanced at her face and the smirk there. "Yeah, yeah. Take care of yourself and try not to overshare. I don't need those images when I'm trying to sleep."

"You know," Noelle's grin widened. "I'm rather focused on other things then. So if you're picking up things, that's all on you." She fanned herself. "So lewd, spying on my private time with Krouse. He's off limits, though."

I snorted. "Not interested in him, sorry."

"Oh, me then?" The grin grew a fraction more. "Well, I suppose I could see if he's okay with sharing…"

My face heated up. "I am going now and you are horrible."

"You can come see me whenever, you know that, right?" she asked as I stood. "Don't make me come hunt you down and really, talk to more people. You can't take it all on yourself."

"Thanks," I said, then frowned. "Did you need me to drop you off anywhere?"

"Nah, Krouse will be by soon, if he can get free that is. The others will tag along and then we're going to talk some things over," she waved a hand absently. "Don't sweat the tea, either. I've got it. Just be safe, okay?"

"Will do," I answered, my frown morphing into a smile before I left.

~~~~~~~~

"...I'm at war with the world and they… try to pull me into the dark…"

The band performing wasn't the sort of stuff I normally listened to, but the concert was for some sort of free performance and I sat with my legs dangling over the edge of a wall, enjoying the show, the worries and stress of the last week or three forgotten.

The Empire might still be an issue and I still had no answers to what was going on with the things I kept remembering or having the odd flashes of. But I would find them, find a way forward.

"It's getting harder to stay awake and my strength is fading fast, you breathe into me at last…"

The larger question was what I was going to do about the other situations before me. A place to stay more long term, money for food and expenses. And whether I wanted to continue as I was doing. Being a hero had resulted in a lot of pain since I went out.

"No one ever said it would be easy," I muttered to myself, watching as the drummer of the band blasted out another line in counterpoint to the lead.

"Right here, right now, stand my ground and never back down!"

Being a hero had brought a lot of pain, but there had been positives. I held out my hand, letting fire curl around it, forming a serpentine shape before shifting into a small bird. I had powers. A lot of them.

"Maybe...too many?" Too many. And they were getting stronger. Vicky's words from a conversation came back to me, about how powers just came along a theme and that was it. But I just kept getting new stuff, and getting stronger. I had gone by the crater of Coil's base again and surveyed how much damage. The shockwave from whatever I had done had blown out windows for 3 blocks in every direction. I hadn't been capable of something like that when I first started out.

Pyrokinesis, precog, telepathy, telekinesis. And whatever the hell I had done to fix Noelle. Even with them sharing their story, I still wasn't exactly clear on what had happened to her that I had fixed or even how.

"Guess there's something to be said for bad drug trips," I snorted with a current of dark amusement running through me at the words. "But apparently I can fix people? Healing too?"

I thought about that for a while, then shook my head. I didn't think that it was healing, the thought didn't feel right. Related to healing somehow, certainly. I couldn't remember healing her, or even the feeling of it. All that time was lost. I prodded at the blank spot, trying to pull anything from it, but all that I found, as the other times I had tried, was an empty haze, obscuring everything.

I snuffed out the flame I had been playing with, relaxing as a scan of the area told me that no one had noticed my display. Whatever I was going to, whatever I was going to be from here on out, I needed a better handle on my powers. If something like what had happened with Coil occurred, what was I going to do if I reacted the same way, or worse?

My powers were getting stronger and Vicky had been sure that there was something wrong about that; that powers didn't work that way. I needed to know why mine did. There weren't many options for figuring out how my powers worked. Dr. Manton had disappeared ages ago and I thought I had read something a few years ago about him being dead, something to do with the Slaughterhouse Nine when they were all killed and the bounties collected in a single day.

I wondered who had done that. At the time, I hadn't been that interested because of what had happened to my mom and then the events that followed when Emma went nuts on me. Probably no way to find that out now, anyway. I pushed the thought aside. The Protectorate could help, I was sure, but I was fairly certain what their price would be.

They all wanted something. Coil had wanted my precognitive powers, the Protectorate and PRT want another powerful cape. My friends just wanted to be friends, I thought, but Catherine's dad definitely had an agenda of some sort. I sighed and pushed off the wall with my hips, taking flight. Maybe If I went home and talked to the others, I could figure things out.

I gained altitude and turned southwest, picking up speed as fire wreathed around me. It was just under three hours driving to where I wanted to go, but I could make it in twenty minutes at a relaxed pace. I turned my thoughts back to my current dilemmas. Things with my Dad weren't so good right now and I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with bringing all that up again. But ignoring that, there were still more issues that I would need to face eventually.

Maybe I can call Sara and talk to her about how to deal with the Dad situation, or just to catch up. It's been a long time since we talked last. I could only hope that she wouldn't take my parent's side.

Banking around a cloud, then turning into a spiral, I shook my head. Sara was probably busy and our last conversation hadn't been good. She didn't approve of what we were doing at the Institute, but it was the right thing to do, whatever she thought.

Bobby would just suggest something stupid and Hank would be busy reading or experimenting. Warren would be off with his fifth girl of the week and thus, useless.

Maybe Scott? I shook my head. No, he didn't understand. He didn't even have parents to argue with. I hadn't known any of the rest long enough that I couldn't see sharing with them. I breezed past another row of clouds and angled downward, beginning my descent.

I frowned as I landed, the sudden feeling that something was wrong flaring in my mind. Where was the mansion?

...Mansion?

I swallowed and looked around at the farmland around me, trying to pinpoint where the hell I was. What the hell had I been thinking, flying off in a random direction? Had I gone off on another spacing out instance like with Vicky the other day?

And who the hell were Bobby, Warren, Hank and Scott? Why did those names feel so familiar? I could almost attach faces to the names. Faces that belonged to a place that was meant to be here in the fields, surrounded by a forest. A place filled with familiar faces, laughing and living and fighting for their lives and something they believed in.

That place was supposed to be here.

It wasn't.

So why was I?

I took a step back, shaking my head as I looked around, a thread of panic rising. This was wrong. Why wasn't it here when I was? What the hell had happened to put me here without everything else I knew?

...Who was I? I shook my head, pushing at the insistence that there should be a mansion and carefully kept grounds here, not forgotten farmland in need of clearing. I didn't know this place, had never been here.

So why was I so certain that it should be? That there should be people here that I knew, most of whom I had known for years? Why was I certain it was this spot and that I wasn't in the middle of nowhere?

I looked around again, pushing down the insistence that this was the place I needed to be, swallowing roughly as the impressions of people and the feelings they stirred released me, leaving me feeling empty.

My feet left the ground as I took one last look around, my eyes stinging as I began to move away,. It wasn't here… so why was I? The answer did not come to me as I flew away, feeling more lost and alone than I had in a long time even as rain began to pelt against my skin.

~~~~~~~~

Vicky stared at the rain as it fell against the window, watching it make patterns that disappeared as quickly as they formed. She didn't want to go home, but she didn't know what to do. Amy was pissed over something, probably related to their mom acting weird because of the bomb that had hit her. With her dad barely doing anything and Mom on a constant tirade, she didn't really want to go home. Whatever was bothering Amy, too, was prompting her to spend more time at the hospital. Home was simply an unpleasant place right now.

Normally, she would have distracted herself with Dean, but he was very low on the list of people she wanted to deal with right now, still. Taylor hadn't replaced her phone since that whole mess from a few weeks ago, so she had no way to get in touch with her after finding that she wasn't at the shelter she had been staying at.

"This sucks," she muttered. Dean being an ass was a thing that happened far too often and despite the ups being quite fun, she was wondering if the downs were worth it. Grimacing, she pushed thoughts of Dean and that entire shitty situation away. Until he pulled his head out of his ass, it wasn't worth it. And even if he did, it might not be.

She glanced outside, watching the rain as it fell into a circle of light left by a streetlight across the street. Her breath left her lungs in a rush at the sight of the person standing in that circle.

Taylor. The other girl was standing motionless, her expression forlorn and dejected. Vicky's eyes immediately noted that the jacket she had gotten Taylor was missing and her clothes were soaked. A car roared by, blocking her view for a second and when it passed, the other girl was gone. Vicky grabbed her coat and tossed money down on the table before dashing out.

There was no sign of her when she crossed the street, glancing around wildly before settling on a direction as she saw someone turn a corner. Turning the corner, she even took flight, glancing around for any sign of her friend before landing a bit further ahead. Above, a clock chimed and she looked up, scanning for any sign of Taylor as it announced midnight.

There was no sign of Taylor and she grimaced, hoping that her friend was alright. Even in the few days after she escaped from Coil, Vicky had never seen such a haunted look in the other's eyes.

"Damnit," she muttered, slamming a fist against a nearby streetlight pole, then wincing as a dent formed in the metal. "Maybe I just imagined it?" She shoved her hands into her pockets, giving the empty streets around her a frustrated glance before starting to walk away.

Footsteps splashing in rain were her only warning and she turned to see the other girl running toward her. Taylor stumbled at the last and Vicky moved, surging forward to catch the other girl. However slight she was, the act threw her off balance and she spun into the air before setting the other girl down.

"Taylor? Are you okay?" she asked. Wide eyes met her own and then her friend's expression crumpled and she buried her face against Vicky's shoulder. Unsure of what to say, she settled for holding her friend in a hug as she cried, wondering what had happened to upset her this much.

She wasn't sure how much time passed as she walked with her friend, letting the other calm down. Though, even after she had, Taylor remained silent, staring off into the distance and looking lost. Vicky sighed and slipped her coat off as the rain finally stopped, draping it over the other girl's thin frame.

"What is it?" she finally asked.

"Nothing," Taylor's voice was barely a whisper as she answered.

"Come on, I can tell something's bothering you, something big," Vicky pressed as they came to a halt out near Captain's Hill. She was and was surprised to realize how far they had come while walking.

Taylor didn't say anything for a long time, and Vicky began to get worried that she had lost focus again and was about to say something when she finally spoke. "You know how we discussed that there was something weird about my powers? How I kept getting more of them and they kept getting stronger?"

Vicky nodded. "Yeah, is that what has you upset…?"

"I flew to New York today," Taylor went on. "Looking for a place that isn't there."

"Hold on, you flew to New York? City?"

Taylor shook her head. "No, Westchester County, near Salem Center."

Vicky frowned, thinking of the last map she had seen. "Why? There's nothing but farms out that way."

Taylor's laugh was bitter and just a touch hysterical and it made Vicky's frown deepen. "That's right. There's nothing there. Just farms. But I'm here."

"You are not making sense," Vicky said. "What's so special about these farms or whatever isn't there?"

A sigh escaped her friend and her shoulders hunched a bit, as if she was retreating. "It's nothing. Just a memory from a dream."

"With dancing bears and painted wings?" Vicky asked, drawing an odd look from her friend. "Sorry, animated movie I saw. Very terrible retelling about Anastasia Romanov."

"I don't think I've seen it," Taylor said quietly.

Vicky grinned. "I like looking up old animated films. A lot of them have really good music. Mostly the ones made here in the States, at least. I try some foreign shows every now and then, but…"

"But?"

"Just ask me before you watch anything from Japan, alright?" Vicky asked her, making a face before grinning. "If you're really curious I'll send you some recommendations."

"I… am frightened," Taylor murmured, the faintest hint of a smile appearing on her face for a moment. "It's something horrible, isn't it?"

She shrugged. "Depends on your point of view, I guess. They have some odd ideas over there, is all. Anyway, going to get to the point about what's bothering you?"

Taylor was silent for a moment before scowling. "I'm not sure there's anything bothering me."

Vicky felt a frown return. "Who then? Your imaginary friend?"

Shaking her head, Taylor answered. "I don't know how to explain it that doesn't sound crazy."

Vicky reached over with one arm, drawing the other girl into a single-armed hug. "How about starting from the beginning? I don't have anywhere to be and have plenty of time."

"Don't you need to go home? It is pretty late," Taylor asked, glancing up at her friend with a worried look.

"You need a shoulder more than I need to go home," she gave her friend a grin as she spoke. "Also, I'm avoiding home, just so you don't think I'm being entirely selfless."

"Right," Taylor murmured before falling silent again. It was a while before she said anything and Vicky waited, sensing that her friend was struggling with how to put the thoughts into words. "Well, it starts right after the locker…"

~~~~~~~~

"...And there was nothing there, just empty farms." I finished, feeling parched and wishing I had a bottle of water. Internally, I cringed, wondering how Vicky was going to react to everything I had just dumped on her.

Vicky whistled softly. "I- You're sure about this?"

"If I had another explanation, I'd go for it. Especially if it was more sane than the idea that I have someone else's memories in my head." I told her. Talking about it had lifted my spirits a bit, but it was still frustrating. Walking around while we talked had definitely helped, but I wasn't even sure what time it was now.

"Any ideas how this happened?" Vicky asked. "We know you have mental powers. Maybe you copied from someone during your trigger?"

"I guess it's possible," I said slowly. "I don't know a lot about powers and where they come from, admittedly, but I much prefer the copying idea to some of the other thoughts I've had about getting pieces of another person in my head."

"Well, maybe if we can work out who this person is, we can figure out how to separate the memories?" Vicky mused. "Has anything else leaked through?"

"Our first meeting," I said, sighing. "What was I doing again?"

Vicky frowned. "The clothes. You were shopping for her!"

I snorted and nudged her with my shoulder. "How do you know it's a her?"

She rolled her eyes, gesturing with the arm that wasn't draped across my shoulders still. "One, I take some university classes, most about parahuman powers, but there's some psychology in there. Two, you obviously weren't picking out clothes for yourself. I had wondered about that for a while and you telling me this is the piece I was missing."

I shook my head, "Was it really obvious that they weren't for me? I just remember picking them out because they looked good."

Vicky nodded. "Taylor, sweetie, they were designed for someone with, well, a lot more up-top and more hips than you have. Also, they were totally not your colors. You're a Winter. These were for someone who is a Spring or Summer."

"Not all of us can be built like the model of a superheroine in the old comics," I snorted.

"Taylor, I wish I had your build sometimes," Vicky rolled her eyes. "Like, I've seen you eat, when you do. Where do you put it?"

I shrugged, then glanced around, trying to determine where we were. "Okay, you've succeeded in distracting me. But where are we?"

Vicky looked around with a frown and I took a moment to glance her way while she was distracted. Just wandering around with her like this, it was nice, and her taking the time to just listen had done wonders for my mood. Even if I was no closer to figuring everything out, it felt good to just walk around with a close friend.

"Looks like we're almost to where you're staying," she remarked. "So! Here's what I think. You're going to go stop worrying about this. I'll think about what you've told me and we'll talk tomorrow."

I gave her a shy smile and tilted my head toward the beginnings of the sunrise to our left. "Don't you mean tonight?"

"Tonight, right," she laughed and grinned. "You know, I could make my family flip if I told them I had spent all night with a girl."

"You won't get any problems from staying out, will you?" I asked, frowning.

"Eh, Mom might gripe, but whatever, that's nothing new lately," Vicky said, yawning. "Just lost track of time, is all. And don't beat yourself up over that, what are friends for, after all?"

"There might be space if you don't want to fly home," I said hesitantly, unsure how she'd take the offer.

Vicky made a face. "If you still had your digs at the firehouse, I might take you up on that, but your current place is a bit cramped."

"We can go hunting for someplace else for me to squat later," I laughed. "Be safe, Vicky."

"Get some rest, Taylor," Vicky said, taking to the air. "Fugly's at six sound good?"

"I'll be there," I promised as she flashed another grin and took off.

I stood there for a few minutes until she was out of sight and I turned, starting on the rest of the walk to the shelter, feeling less burdened than I had when this night began. The elderly lady who ran the shelter gave me a stern look as I entered, then pointed upstairs. I smiled, nodded and ventured up to my room, taking a quick shower before falling into the bed.

My dreams, when they came, were filled with fire.

Last edited: Aug 27, 2016

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chibipoe

Aug 26, 2016

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Threadmarks Sleep Walking - 4.5

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chibipoe

chibipoe

Catradora is life, Catradora is love

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Dec 25, 2016

#5,907

4.5

"Oi, Skipper!"

I turned at the vaguely familiar voice, memories of being called that by one particular person weeks ago surfacing alongside the greeting. However, the person I expected to find was a slender male, built like a runner, in his late twenties, with a shorter woman beside him, who looked somewhat uncomfortable. Though neither had a face that I recognized, I could tell who they were just from the familiarity of their minds.

"What. The. Hell." I said slowly. Seriously, did everyone know— No, that was a stupid question. More importantly, why the hell were they out of costume?

"I'm sorry, I don't believe we've met," I said, forcing a smile out. "Are you sure you were talking to me?"

""Nope, we totally have never met!" the man said, grinning hugely. "I'm Ethan, though. Pleasure!"

I grimaced, a brief skim of his thoughts making it clear that he wasn't going to just go away and leave me to enjoy the rest of the sundae in front of me. Apparently, waiting to meet up with Vicky at Fugly's was too public. How they had found me made me curious, but I wasn't going to go digging in their thoughts for that.

"I'm Taylor," I said sourly. "Not Skipper."

"Nah, you're totally a Skipper. Missing Barbie though, why's she missing your date?" Ethan asked, looking around curiously.

"Probably arguing with Ken?" I asked, shrugging. I guess hanging around Fugly's wasn't really that discreet a place to hang out . Especially on the new patio area they had opened after the remodel. "Are you going to introduce your wife?"

The woman, who I was fairly certain was Battery, shifted uncomfortably at the question and appeared to be about to speak. Ethan merely chuckled, raising an eyebrow and spoke before she could. "Oh, we're married, are we? How do you know that?"

I matched his look and pointed. "Wedding bands." I didn't mention that I could feel the strong emotional ties between them as well, not wanting to volunteer anything that the Protectorate didn't already know about.

"What makes you think we're married to each other? Maybe it's other people," he asked, grinning, even as the woman released a wistful sigh as she glared half-heartedly at him.

"We stopped our day out to bother her for a reason, remember?" she asked, smacking a hand against his arm. "Could you try being serious?"

"I suppose I could try," he replied with a contemplative look before shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders, "but why should I invite failure?"

"Idiot," she said with an exasperated look before she turned her attention to me. "The truth is, we weren't expecting to see you out here today, but since we did, this dumbass decided to come over and say hi. For which I will be yelling at him quite severely. That aside, we wanted to let you know we had some things to return to you.."

"My...things?" I asked, processing the statement. They shouldn't have anything of mine, at least, not that I knew of.

"Just a few things recovered from your place," Ethan supplied helpfully. "Hope you don't mind, but Beardsy poked around after we found what you done with it and stumbled across a couple odds-and-ends. There's even a little something extra in there."

I blinked, realizing what they were saying. Some of my things had survived the explosions and fire? I know I hadn't found anything, but I hadn't looked all that hard the one time I was there. Still… "That was all?"

Ethan nodded and pulled out his wallet, drawing a card out that he sat on the edge of my table. "I'm guessing you lost the other, but give me a call when you want to meet for your stuff. It'll just be me and puppy here, promise. Or if you want to talk about anything."

I frowned for a moment, giving them both an uncertain glance. "And is there something to talk about?"

"That's entirely up to you, Skipper," Ethan said. "We're just wanting to meet to hand over your stuff when you get some free time. Anything more is on you."

"I see," I glanced at the card and carefully picked it up, brushing it lightly with my telekinesis, but it was just a simple card, with nothing that wasn't a paper product as part of it. "Well, I'll give you a call soon about whatever stuff you've got."

"Sounds good," he said, slinging an arm across his companion's shoulders. "We'll leave you to your date or whatever you and Barbie might have planned."

"Barbie and I aren't dating," I shook my head at him. "Was there anything else?"

He waved a hand absently. "Nah, just give us a call when you can, seriously. We'll see you around, Skipper. C'mon, puppy, let's go home and grab something to eat."

"It's way too early for dinner," the woman said in protest as they began walking away. "It's only three-"

"Did I say it was food we were going to be eating?" I heard as they moved away, the press of the crowd taking them out of earshot. I shook my head and took a sip of my tea, frowning as I realized it had gone cold. A quick check with my powers determined no one would notice anything and I heated it quickly, channeling the heat into the mug.

I sat there for a while, simply enjoying watching people pass by as I wondered what Assault and Battery wanted. Was this another round of being harassed by the Protectorate? Was I going to have to deal with that again on top of everything else lately? The Empire had been making noises of looking for me, but I hadn't bothered with going after them for the past few days. Cricket wasn't going to wake up and point them at me.

But whatever these memories were, these dreams, I needed to deal with them before anything else. Who was the Professor? Who was Scott? Hell, who was I? I thought i was Taylor Hebert, but now, I wasn't so sure.

A finger poked my forehead and I almost fell out of my chair in surprise, squawking indignantly as I focused on the smirking blonde standing by my table. Vicky. I flushed and steadied my chair, ignoring the looks I was getting from other people from my outburst. "You could have said something to get my attention, you know."

"I did," Vicky retorted, dropping into the chair opposite me. "Several times. You were lost in your own little world. It was kind of cute."

I gave her what I hoped was an exasperated look. "So, what is it that we're doing here? Your family isn't giving you flack for spending so much time with me, are they?"

Vicky scowled. "No, and I'd rather not talk about them, thank you very much. I don't know how I can help with your problems, but I know how to take your mind off of them. So, we're going to party."

"What." I said flatly, a sinking feeling emerging from my stomach as Vicky directed a smirk my way.

~~~~~~~~

The party, as Vicky had put it, turned out to be just that, some friends she knew that were having a party while their parents were away on business. It wasn't a situation I was familiar with, though I was pretty sure I had seen or heard of movies based on this exact thing. That it apparently really happened made me wonder whether the movies were accurate or not.

I, as it turned out, was filling the role of the person who hung at the fringes of the party. The social outcast, as it were. Hopefully no one would decide I was due for a round of humiliation. Vicky had tried a few times to coerce me to mingle before being pulled away by the people she knew. I didn't mind, as despite Vicky's whirlwind of introductions, none of these were people I knew and it was a little overwhelming.

Brushing hair from my face, I moved along the wall and then slowly navigated through the press of people until I found the table that drinks were sitting on. There was a punch bowl and an assortment of soft drinks. No tea though, which was disappointing but unsurprising. A quick glance ahead showed that drinking the punch would lead to situations I did not want to deal with, given that someone had judiciously enhanced its flavor at some point in the past. Instead, I selected the least offensive of the soda options and popped the tab with a minute use of my telekinesis.

The carbonation made me wrinkle my nose as I took a drink, but it was thankfully devoid of alcoholic elements the way the punch was. I coughed for a second after taking that first sip, the precognition of possibilities that could've happened if I had chosen the punch played out in my mind in more detail, startling me.

The first few were amusing, just incidents of the police being called and the party turning into an embarrassing debacle, much like some of those stupid movies that this entire experience resembled. But others. I felt my face heat as I saw myself getting horribly intoxicated and Vicky did likewise and we-

I shut down the precognition line quickly, banishing images of the upstairs bedroom from my mind. How that could have happened baffled me. I stood there and rewound through all the possibilities, trying to figure out where I had misjudged Vicky's interests so badly. Was it just the result of the alcohol? My scanning wasn't giving me any clear answers and I grew frustrated, reaching ahead further.

"Hey, could you move?" a voice intruded, sounding irritated. I flinched a little at the effort it took to draw my attention back to the present.. "You're blocking the punch."

I blinked several times, wincing once as a brief burst of pain rolled across my skull. "Yeah, sorry." I moved away, trying to ignore the muttered conversation between the jock and the girl that had been hanging off his arm.

"Who the hell is she anyway?" the girl whispered to her presumed boyfriend. "I don't recognize her. One of Jason's friends?"

"I dunno, bae," he replied. "I think Glory Hole brought her along. Maybe a charity case?"

The mocking insult of Vicky's cape name made me sigh, realizing that I was smack in the middle of teenage drama. I had avoided this sort of thing after the ringer Emma had put me through. A scowl formed as I thought about Emma, realizing I had not given her much thought since that morning in the hospital. Was she ok? Did I even care?

I grimaced and moved toward the rear of the house, suddenly keen on being away from this too-cramped room and the direction my thoughts were going. I moved through the partygoers, suddenly desperate for fresh air. Why I had allowed Vicky to drag me to this Jason's party, whoever he was, I still didn't know.

Jason…

The name echoed across my thoughts as I pushed the twin doors to the patio open, surprised to find no one was out there. I drew my arms tight around my torso, shivering at the sudden cold from a gust of air as I stepped outside. I wasn't going to ignore a chance for privacy from the crowded house. I stumbled as my feet settled on stone instead of wood floor, dizziness causing me to feel as if I was falling. Where was I? I...

Oh, of course, Victoria had succeeded in convincing me to attend this gathering, divesting me from what good sense I possessed to attend a party such as this. I was aware that Victoria was more worldly than I, but seeing so many behaving with such license had been shocking. Escaping from the eyes of the host had brought me out here. The man's eyes regarded me, taking liberties that I was uncomfortable with.

I thought of what little my friend had shared with me about him. He was a man of some means from the colonies, rumoured to be seeking a bride. The thought filled me with disquiet for reasons I could not put a finger to as I recalled the way he had stared at me. Whoever he was, the sense that association with him would bring me into peril gnawed at my mind.

Best to avoid him and some other would draw his attention if it was made clear I had no interest. I moved further onto the veranda, staring out across the carefully tended yard and the distant trees, letting my thoughts wander as the cool air eased the overly warm feeling that had overtaken me at the illicit behavior of the attendees.

The breeze returned, no longer bearing a bitter chill and I closed my eyes, drawing what enjoyment from the solitude that I could. Moments passed and I felt my brow furrow as the shift of feet on stone alerted me to an intruder upon my privacy.

"I wish for naught but to be left alone," I said clearly, not turning around. Whatever servant had seen fit to accost me would soon regret it.

"Your pardon, milady, but the Master of the house would speak with you," a soft-voiced woman said. I sighed and turned slightly, regarding the woman askance as she backed away. "I am merely announcing his arrival. By your leave."

She forestalled any rejoinder by departing without waiting for my consent or refusal to see this man. Whatever ilk this colonial had hired to attend to his estate, they were clearly lacking in manners. As was their Master, as the man himself emerged onto the veranda to join me. I eyed him with distaste, unsure what prompted my dislike. He was attractive, I could not deny that, but even still, something unsettled me.

"You are a sight to behold, Miss," he said, his sculpted jaw moving slightly as he framed the words, clearly believing himself to be sophisticated and urbane.

"Your words ring false, sir," I answered, scorning the compliment. "And your interest is neither wanted nor appreciated."

"Spirited," he murmured, moving closer and I stepped back. "I appreciate that. The Lady Victoria is your friend, is she not?"

"My acquaintances are no concern of yours, sir," I told him. "Is it common, where you hail from, to intrude on another's privacy in this fashion?"

He shrugged, the red coat he wore shifting with the motion. "This was my first opportunity to speak with you without the rabble lingering about." My backing up came to an end as my thighs struck a table, before I could move to one side or the other, his hands had settled on the table's edge, pinning me in place.

"Please move, sir," I said, my pulse racing uncomfortably fast. He was handsome, I could not deny that, but I had no interest in his advances.

"You are for me, Lady Gr-" he said, the last word distorting for some reason as he leaned in. I turned my head to one side but he was undaunted, his hands moving from the table to rest on my person.

"Unhand me, sir!" I snapped, my voice raising in volume as he pawed at me, one hand coming up and forcing my face toward him. "Unhand me ri-" His mouth pressed on mine, forcing his tongue on me as he continued his groping, struggling with my attempts to resist.

"Don't fight," he said, the smell of alcohol on his breath making me want to retch. "You'll see, it will be what you've always wan-"

"No!" I jerked my head away as he tried to kiss me again, still fighting his grip. Fabric tore, the sound like thunder in my ears as our struggles unbalanced the table. We fell, with his weight pinning me down and I gave myself fully into panic, beating at him.

Then, a furious female shout rang out and his weight was gone from me, a familiar voice filling me with relief as I scrambled away, pulling at the torn sections of my bodice. Victoria appeared in my sight and I swallowed, trying to calm my racing heartbeat.

"Taylor...Taylor!" she repeated and I swallowed, scooting back to rest against a brick wall that served as a garden barrier. The stone floor melted away, replaced with familiar wood decking. Victoria was outside with me on the patio that I had gone out to for escape from the party. The doors were open and there were a lot of the partygoers standing there, staring at us.

Dizziness overwhelmed me and I fought a rush of nausea. The thoughts of everyone rushed in, an abrupt cacophony that made me flinch before I could reassert control, pushing aside the mixture of curiosity and dislike as my eyes drifted over to where a teenage boy lay sprawled by an overturned cooler, groaning audibly.

"Are you alright, Taylor?" Vicky asked and I glanced at her, trying to make sense of what had just happened. I had been… that man had been…

"I need… I need to get out of here," I told her, ignoring the other teenagers milling about and the fact that several of them had their phones out, pointed toward us as Vicky crouched near me. "I don't kno-" There were too many people, spilling out from the inside of the house and circling around us. I needed away from here.

I tried to stand, nearly fell and Vicky caught me, helping me to get my footing. "Let me get our jackets and we'll get out of here."

I started to respond and glanced down, noting a rip in my shirt. It didn't show anything, but it was a reminder of… whatever that had been. I swallowed, shook my head and tried to bury the urge to puke as the feeling of that man's hands on me returned, making me shudder.

Vicky said something else, but I didn't catch it, pushing off the ground and into the air as noises erupted below me before the wind drowned it out as I accelerated away into the evening sky. A few minutes passed and Vicky drew even with me, waving her hands to get my attention.

I slowed down and the sound of the wind faded as she threw my jacket at me. "What?"

"Taylor! What the hell? You just flew off back there without waiting for me! It was all I could do to catch up, you were going so fast!"

"I knew you would," I shrugged, pulling the jacket on, feeling its familiar weight settle around my upper body. "So I flew, big deal. I had to-"

"Taylor," Vicky interrupted. "You flew off in front of all of them! They had phones out! What is wrong? It wasn't just him being too handsy, was it?"

I shook my head, trying to ignore the feelings of revulsion that had torn through me with whatever had happened back there, wherever… whenever I had been. "There's.. It was like before, when I went to New York, only I wasn't just absently trying to go somewhere that doesn't exist. I was somewhere… someone else!" My voice caught peaked at the last word and I took a deep breath, looking around for someplace to sit down that didn't feel closed in and had some sort of cover, as it was starting to rain.

Vicky started to say something but cut off as I dove, dropping onto a seat on a rooftop not far from the crater that marked Coil's former base. I had an excellent view of it from here and the sight of it filled me with a feeling akin to glee, pushing against the confusion and panic of that almost-rape hallucination, or whatever it had been, back at the party.

I glanced at my torn shirt again as Vicky settled down beside me. Maybe it wasn't a hallucination? A thought raised a telekinetic barrier above us that funneled rain away. "So… what happened back there? You pulled that guy off of me?"

"Jason had been into the spiked punch too much," Vicky said. "And I think he thought you were cute, but I didn't think he would have tried something like that. I should have thrown him harder but I was more worried about you. Why didn't you just shove him off?"

I bit my lip, the momentary spike of pain letting me focus. "I went outside to get some fresh air and…"

"And?" Vicky prompted after a few minutes.

I shook my head. "I was somewhere else, someone else. It was like, another time. The seventeen hundreds or something. There was a ball… and a man approached me. He wouldn't take no for an answer and was trying… was trying to—"

"Hey, it's alright," Vicky said, scooting over and sliding an arm around me. "You're fine, you're here. Whatever this is, it can't hurt you. I'll beat it up if it tries."

I didn't say anything for a while, drawing in gulping breaths and burying my face against her shoulder as I released my grip on the fear and wrongness that had been threatening to overwhelm me.

"Can you show me?" Vicky asked after I had calmed down, straightening slightly in her embrace.

"What?"

"Can you show me what you saw?" she asked. "We can talk with our minds, so do you think you can show me?"

I thought about it, frowning. "I… maybe? I've never done that but something… some instinct says I can. Just... " I swallowed and gave it more thought. "I think I can. But I won't."

Vicky's eyes narrowed but concern was still clear. "You can't just bury things, Taylor."

"I'm not," I insisted. "But that isn't something I'm going to do. Even if I can, it's way too close to screwing with your mind. I've… done things like that before."

"With my mind?"

"No," I shook my head quickly. "Other people. Some stupid thugs who worked for the ABB. The worst was a guy with the Empire. He… had a lot of issues and I used them against him. And then there was Stormtiger. I took what I wanted to know about Cricket from him, and I wasn't gentle."

Vicky frowned, then winced briefly, looking around as the rain grew heavier. Lightning cracked in the distance, followed by a rumble of thunder. I frowned myself, wondering what had brought the sudden storm on.

"I want to see," Vicky said. "You won't hurt me and this really freaked you out. Hell, it freaked me out. When you first looked at me, it was like you weren't even seeing me. You were seeing someone else."

"Lady Victoria," I told her. "Whatever it was corresponded roughly to what was going on today. I was a noblewoman and you were too, and you had dragged me along to some decadent ball or something. It was… a lot more intense than the party we were actually at."

"Intense?" Vicky eyed me with a look I couldn't decipher. "Intense how?"

I flushed. "Please don't ask."

"Now you have me curious," she said with a grin, reaching over with her other arm to poke me in the side. I tried to squirm away, but her grip held me in place. "Spill!"

"It was like an orgy, okay?" I muttered, finally using my telekinesis to block her poking my ribs. "It was really weird and this guy… he was staring at me and it was like… like I was just a plaything for him. Something to twist around and reshape into what he wanted me to be…" I trailed off, prodding at the feeling of wrongness at those thoughts. There were memories there that I could almost tou—

"Taylor!" Vicky's voice shouted in my head. I jumped and nearly lost my balance on the roof's edge.

"What the hell, Vicky?" I asked as she caught my arm and helped me right myself.

"You spaced out and weren't answering me! What else was I supposed to do?"

I gave her a disgruntled look and sighed. If I had spaced out, she did have a point. Vicky scowled and looked around again before reaching up to rub her forehead. I frowned, remembering that she had done that a few minutes ago as well. "Are you alright?"

"Just… just some sort of ringing," she said, looking around. "You don't hear it?"

I shook my head, looking around the rooftop to see if there was anything that might be causing whatever it was she was hearing. Unfortunately, with the rain, which was now coming down in torrents, there wasn't a lot of visibility as it was past sunset and all I could see was a repetitively flashing red light high up on the spire in the center of the roof.

"Nope," I finally said. "Doesn't seem to be anything up here that could be causing it. Maybe if…" Something tickled at the back of my mind and my precognition opened up, the next twenty minutes unfolding before me in a rapid fire series of images that I noted and absorbed the import of in seconds.

"Vicky," I said, taking a deep breath to fight against the chill I suddenly felt. "Go find your family. Get out of the city."

"Taylor…?" she asked, glancing my way. "What is it?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but the sound cut across the downpouring rain, answering for me. The howling screel of an air raid siren providing almost all the knowledge Vicky needed. Her face went white.

"Which one?" Her voice trembled as she asked, glancing at the rain around us. "Leviathan?"

I shook my head. "Doesn't matter. You need to go. Get your family, you don't want to be here for this."

"Which one?" she almost shouted this time. "Behemoth? Damnit, I can't just run!"

"Vicky!" I shouted. "It doesn't matter which one it is. You need to go! You can't help against this. I don't think any of us can. What you can do is get your family and get out of town! You don't have much time before!" I cut off, looking away as the future I had seen abruptly shifted. It was true. If what I was seeing was true, I didn't think anyone could help. That didn't mean I wasn't going to try. Especially if...

"Before what?" Vicky asked and then her frown reappeared. "The ringing. It… it stopped."

"You're not wrong there," I agreed morosely, turning my head to the left to look across town as the change I had just seen played out and the clouds in the distance parted. Shafts of light erupted down across the city, from what I didn't know as the sun had already set, but if nothing else, she knew how to make an entrance. Her feet appeared first and I felt as much as heard Vicky's recognition.

The Simurgh had come to Brockton Bay. Wings shifted, and her figure was visible even through the deluge as she drifted down, settling into a stationary position over a building across town, one building in particular that I knew all too well.

Winslow. I swallowed, knowing exactly what this was, before standing up and turning to Vicky. "Listen. Go, find Amy, find your family. Get out of town. You'll be fine if you do."

"How do you-" Vicky asked before her eyes widened as she looked at me, climbing to her feet and grabbing my shoulders. "No, no, no! Taylor, you can't do this!"

"She isn't here for you, Vicky," I said after a moment, playing out several possibilities with my precognition and watching as they shifted almost immediately in response. The bitch was fast, that was for sure. I gently lifted her hands off my shoulders and tried not to laugh at the perplexed expression as she tried to resist with her strength. "Whatever happens from here on out, Vicky, it.. It was nice to have a friend. Remember that, alright?"

"What do you-" she cut off as I leaned forward and pressed my lips against her forehead.

"Find Cath and Mina too, if you can? Go to 54 Bleecker, if there's anyone there, ask for Noelle and help them get out of town too." I asked, feeling the panic Noelle was fighting against, the bond between us affording a clarity it hadn't had since that first week after Coil's Basement. I sent a reassuring thought her way and pushed off the roof.

"Taylor!"

"Take care of your family, Vicky!" I shouted and took off. I played out several more scenarios, grateful that she didn't follow. She wanted to, desperately, but none of those instances where she did ended well for her and her family.

With a thought, my clothing shimmered, shifting according to my will and I was wearing Sirin's costume again. Fresh and intact as it had been before most of my belongings were torched. It didn't feel quite right, but it was something I had made. It was mine. Just like the Bay was home. I had friends here. Family, even if estranged.

The winged bitch was here for me. Well, that was fine. Maybe I couldn't deal with whatever the hell these visions or memories were… but I could deal with this. I reached out with my power, and fire erupted around me in a corona as I launched toward Winslow and the waiting Simurgh.

If this bitch wanted a fight, then I was going to give her one she would never forget.

635

chibipoe

Dec 25, 2016

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Threadmarks Sleep Walking - 4.6

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chibipoe

chibipoe

Catradora is life, Catradora is love

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Jan 4, 2017

#6,239

4.6

There really is a lot that's difficult to explain about fighting another precog that you can't really understand if you aren't one yourself and I am not sure how you would even put into words for someone who isn't. Suffice to say, as I charged at her, leaving a trail of fire in my wake, I was running through a countless set of possibilities and mapping responses to her, even as they changed from one instant to another and she reacted to me.

Or I reacted to her and she reacted to my reactions. Fire balls launched at her and sections of Winslow were uprooted, blocking all of my shots. I swerved and dodged as countless pieces of rebar tore free of concrete and speared toward my like lethal projectiles. Even as those possibilities faded away, the distance between us narrowed. There was an entire line of possibilities where I came in behind her and then she was suddenly behind me, then I behind her, repeat incessantly. I dismissed that line of absurdity and prepared my attack.

Sections of rebar bounced off of a telekinetic defense as I twisted out of the way, erecting a wall of telekinetic force to block a machine gun spray of concrete chunks that would have, in one timeline, torn through my body. I dropped tracking that thread as new possibilities wove through the tapestry in my mind.

There was no distance remaining now and I gathered the flame around me, condensing it and shoved my hand forward with the sphere aimed for her midsection. It struck only air as a nudge sent me off course, passing her by with barely an inch to spare.

I arrested my motion and spun on a dime, knowing that she could not avoid this even as a multitude of other possibilities flew by. The sphere of fire exploded into a lash that enveloped the winged figure. Or it should have, as she twisted at the last moment, brushing past it by a hairsbreadth. The fire continued on, unobstructed, as a telekinetic shove slammed into me. I tumbled head over heels in the air, catching glimpses with my eyesight even as my precognition showed a building below lighting ablaze as my attack struck it.

The strike was strong enough that I couldn't completely counter it, but I made multiple minor adjustments, keeping myself from dying in a hundred different ways as Winslow was torn apart below us. Huge chunks of the building circled me, held aloft by The Simurgh's power before they suddenly shot toward me in the same moment I managed to stop my uncontrolled tumble.

Her grip on them was firm enough that I found myself trapped, sealed inside a confined space as the concrete and metal closed around me. I grimaced at the uncomfortable sensation and shoved the panic aside in time with a burst of my own power. The makeshift prison exploded outwards and away from me, debris raining down on the city below as I looked for The Simurgh.

She was drifting away, the direction one that I confirmed with a glance ahead to track where she was going. She was heading toward the floating building that served as the Protectorate's headquarters in Brockton Bay.

"We're not done, bitch!" I shouted, for all the good it did. She had never, as far as I knew, actually spoken or communicated beyond her Scream and her singing. Which I apparently couldn't hear, but my knowledge of them, things everyone heard about, meant there was a time limit. If she was here long enough, Brockton Bay could be walled off and cut off from the rest of the world. That narrowed down the long term possibilities quite a bit if I set that as a condition to avoid. But the short term were still a kaleidoscope that shifted with every thought I had.

I adjusted my precognition as I struck out with my telekinesis, struggling against hers for a moment before I had to evade a truck that ripped through the air, the faint sounds of someone screaming. In my mind, I set the multitasking, splitting my awareness along the multiple possibilities I had laid out. In present time, I wrenched the door of the truck open and plucked the passengers free, devoting only enough attention as was needed to return them to the ground relatively unharmed.

The futures I was seeing resolved into four paths as the Simurgh moved, drifting further away from Winslow's ruins, still on a course for the Rig. I tensed as I raced through each, fighting a growing sense of panic as she evaded another of my attacks, the truck sailing past her to crash in the city below. All four lines were important; Vicky, Cath & Mina, Noelle and Danny. How was I supposed to choose?

Shaking my head, I tore girders out of the damaged sections of Winslow and set them ablaze, flinging them at the Simurgh. The heat was such that they melted in transit, spreading outward in a wave that she evaded with the slightest of movements, all but dancing away from my attack as if it was no threat to her. I snarled, a thought changing the molten metal's course, chasing after her as I reached out to seize her in the grasp of my telekinesis.

My grip slid off, like I was trying to grasp something that was far larger than it appeared, but I did see her wings shift and the possibilities of reprisal shifted. She didn't like that I had tried that.

Rain sizzled off the molten metal as she tore it from my grasp, reshaping blobs of it into spears that she launched at me. I shifted, evading each just as she had done, minute adjustments that just happened to carry me out of their path before ending it with a flourish that was a mockery of what she had done. My eyes locked on her as I did so, uncaring of where the spears fell when my precognition did not show any further attacks from them on me.

Her expression did not change but more projectiles burst from the city below us, forcing me to devote more attention to dodging or deflecting those as she drifted further away. The most likely path now was the Rig, with the other paths almost overlaying my sight, ghostly images of the Simurgh angling off in different paths. Of those, the strongest of the possibilities at the moment would take her away from the Rig to an attack on Vicky and her family.

The molten metal came at me again and I seized it in a grip, tearing it away from her and condensing it into a single orb that I leeched the heat from, firing it off in a burst of concentrated energy that turned rain into steam as it crossed the distance. I had already established that she had no way to affect intangibles with her telekinesis and being able to manipulate heat meant I had an avenue of attack that she could only block or dodge, not wrench away from me.

Of course, the effects of the concentrated heat didn't appear to do anything as I watched her evade it in the present time while in another possibility, she simply didn't bother to avoid it, instead peeling a building below apart. A woman screamed as she pulled upward, flailing helplessly as she was embraced by the Simurgh.

In the now, though, the winged bitch drifted past that building without any sign that it interested her in the least, the probabilities of her destination shifting from the Rig to one of my friends, with the second most position warring between Vicky and Noelle now..

No.

I flew at her with enough force that the bubble of telekinetic force around me would have allowed me to tear through an armored car. The Simurgh spun away, evading it as she had done nearly She still floated there, almost mocking with the certainty that there was nothing I could do that would affect her.

Debris filled the air around me and I twisted, deflecting and dodging concrete, rebars and other wreckage that she was throwing my way. I winced mentally at some of the possibilities as I saw a telekinetic swat from Ziz plunge me into an overflowing drainage line. Those lines faded as I had no desire to watch myself die over and over from a rusted iron pipe punching through my head.

Rectangles shot up into my field of view, the green color and slits in the one in front of me unmistakable as a locker slammed into place around me. I heard screws twisting even over the rattle of rain against the metal

A locker. Fucking hell.The bitch was using that against me!

It ripped apart before panic could overwhelm me and I glared in the Simurgh's direction, where she had reached the waterfront, the Rig still her goal. Fire seethed around me in my response to my anger and I flung it at her, a whip of flame that hounded her. Still, she dodged and wove through the air and for a moment, I thought I could see her lips shift in a mocking smile as my attacks failed.

I let the whip fizzle out and any restraints on my temper shattered, my powers setting the bitch on fire directly. She immediately twisted, dove and crashed through a building, spreading flames through it before she emerged, the rain putting out any fire that clung to her with a hiss of steam.

"That won't help you!" I screamed as she flew toward the Rig again, once more set ablaze from my power. Another blow of telekinetic force struck home and I swore as the angle she was positioned at caused her to drop into the water, extinguishing the flames that I had just created. She vanished beneath the dark water quickly and I readied my next attack as she erupted from the water. I didn't have anything on hand so I settled for dropping hammers of telekinesis and fire at her where she would emerge.

The attacks skimmed past her and crashed into the Rig, the building shaking from the impact and the exterior wall visibly sagging from the amount of heat that had collided. Again, she had avoided my attacks and I chased after her as she rose toward the Protectorate's headquarters. I could see people on the landing platform, rushing toward a helicopter as well as others boarding a boat, clearly evacuating the building.

As the Simurgh rose past, they stopped and I could feel fear and terror radiating from them at the sight of The Endbringer. Her wings shifted and the Rig began peeling itself apart, The people on the landing and the docks were still staring at her, petrified where they stood and I swore.

"Move, damnit!" I swore loudly, but between the rain and the sounds of the Rig being pulled apart, they apparently couldn't hear me. Damnit, move! The thought lanced through my mind and I saw the people gathered there twist to look in my direction, including one who had just emerged.

Dauntless. His spear crackling with energy as he looked from the Simurgh to me. This close, I could pick up on the emotions of everyone, the undercurrent of emotions that I had been ignoring from all across the city being quite clear. Fear of the Simurgh was there, but there was something else radiating from them, that hadn't been there before. It took a second to identify. Fear of me.

The Simurgh began acting again, the debris as the Rig was torn apart floating up, wires and cables and pieces of computers following as more of the upper levels came apart. She was building… something and while I wasn't sure what, I didn't need precognition to know letting her finish it was a bad idea. Maybe if I could keep her engaged with trying to build that, it would keep her from following on one of the other timelines. I forced myself to ignore the nausea I felt at the possibilities that awaited those I cared about and focused on the now.

What was her goal here? Maybe I could counter her better if I knew that? Could I read her mind? I added another thing to the assortment I was juggling and reached out, hoping I wasn't making a huge mistake but not seeing any chance of such among the timelines I was viewing.

Pain exploded into my skull, like you felt when a sound turned into hideous static, nails on a chalkboard, only a thousand times worse and I tumbled back, clutching at the side of my head as I tried to fight past the stabbing pain that assailed me..

When I opened my eyes, the Rig was peeling apart even faster, the pieces flying upward to become part of something. She had picked up speed. Why? I looked ahead, sparing attention from the timelines I had been tracking to che— Oh.

Lightning erupted from the sky, crackling bolts that twisted and turned as the Simurgh avoided them, abandoning her science project for evasion. I tracked where he would be before he actually appeared, my eyes fixing on a particular stretch of cloud. Green clothing, with a cape and cowl, his featureless mask shifting from the Simurgh to me for a moment. Both his hands glowed, crackling with power as he emerged into view.

Eidolon.

A flash and he was floating in the space before me, his voice surprising me with how normal it sounded. "Sirin, is it not?"

For a moment, I was stunned that one of the Triumvirate knew of my name. The amazement faded quickly as the shifting timelines drew my focus again.The Simurgh was moving, more debris rising toward the thing she had started. I ripped away pieces of the Rig and threw them at where I knew she would be.

And only two of them actually hit her as Eidolon drew abreast of me, the tilt of his head and the sense of his emotions reflecting slight puzzlement. "This is your first Endbringer fight, correct? You should go to the staging area and get a wristband. Fighting her is different from the others and every precaution is needed." I wanted to listen, to trust that this could be left to them, but the futures I was following grew worse if I withdrew to do as he asked.

I shook my head, hoping I could make him understand while I chased the Simurgh with projectiles, tearing at her grip on whatever she had been building so that I could unmake it. "I don't have time for that! They'll die if I-

"What?" The interruption was clear as his emotions crystallized to a mix of hope and suspicion. "You're a precog? No, better question. You can predict the Simurgh's actions? Truly?"

"Yes, and they will die if I…" I trailed off with my answer, swallowing as one of the timelines swung up to be the most likely, the images showing The Simurgh diving back toward the city, dodging past me on a direct course fo—

I abandoned the conversation slammed into the Simurgh, holding a barrier around myself. She tried to dodge, but I hammered her with my telekinesis, keeping her in my path and her head twisted to look at me, an impossible angle that a human body couldn't have done.

"You won't touch him!" I screamed, slamming her form with repeated blows of pure force that made her seemingly delicate form rebound repeatedly from side to side. Even through that barrage, she kept moving, drifting away from the Rig and toward the shoreline, until we hung over where the Dockworker's Association's office was.

The building tore apart under her her will and I winced at the sight of my da —of Danny's— workplace crumbling. Rocks slammed into my bubble, throwing me off course as she twisted in a move worthy of a world class ballet dancer, settling back into the same stance and posture she had from when I first attacked her. Again, I caught what I thought was a mocking smile directed to me, but when I focused, her expression remained as serene as ever.

The rocks and debris coalesced, just like the first time, squeezing around me to trap me inside a small space again. At least it wasn't a locker like the last time, but it still made my temper flare as I fought against her grip. An instant, and my prison was torn away by another force and the green clad man was there, appearing with an odd flickering effect, like a shutter opening and closing rapidly.

"Hey! Listen!" Eidolon demanded. "Can you truly precog her? We need to get you to command to help coordinate if that's true!"

"What if I can?" I shouted, tracking the Simurgh as she began drifting away, her intended course playing out. Her path would take her over Mom's house but he didn't appear to be the target now. No, it was Vicky. The image of what would happen to Vicky and her family, after being twisted by The Simurgh's headgames made me tense. There had to be a way to stop her. "If I leave, the things she'll do to people I care about…"

Eidolon threw an attack toward the Endbringer, a web of energy that she shifted in the air, arcing away from it as it pursued her relentlessly. "Look, I understand that seeing things with precog can be unsettling, but you need to-"

"I don't have time for this, or you, sorry," I cut him off. "What part of I can't leave or it gets worse is unclear?"

"Have you ever-"

"Out of the way!" I snapped, doing something I knew I would regret later, but if it kept Vicky safe, it was worth it. Eidolon was suddenly surrounded by a bubble similar to what I had used to shield myself when I rammed the winged bitch. This time, it shielded him from the g-force as I sent him flying out of the way, removing the obstacle from my path to my target.

I tore brickwork and concrete up from the city below, stretching my powers as much as I could to use the debris. Let's see how the bitch likes turnabout. She twisted and dodged, evading the attempts to hit her, but I wasn't aiming for that this time as the air around her was filled with rubble.

My hand closed and it all condensed to one point, slamming into the Simurgh and trapping her, a giant sphere of metal, stone and brick that trembled visibly. I brought my other hand up, though it wasn't necessary, struggling against her own telekinesis as she tried to break free of the prison I had shaped around her.

"How long can you hold her there?" A voice asked, one I had been expecting in the back of my mind. Another of the Triumvirate. Not Legend though, instead, it was female, belonging a figure that I had idolized for a long time and I couldn't quite bury the thrill at meeting her, even given the circumstances. Alexandria had arrived on the battlefield finally.

"I… she's fighting me, so I don't know. So far, I think I'm good, but…" I said, moving to the side as a car flew up from below, aimed at me. It changed direction to come back at me and I scowled. She was trying to break my focus so she could break free of the rubble. Apparently, she had decided that was an easier path of escape than to contest my telekinesis outright?

A wing burst free, proving her right as I dodged the car, which tore itself apart abruptly, countless pieces of shrapnel making a beeline for turning me into a pincushion. Could I…

The moment of indecision was all she needed and I threw up a barrier as the prison I had crafted exploded outward, pieces rocketing away. Below, the crashed into buildings while the rest slammed uselessly against my defenses. Alexandria dodged or simply punched pieces she couldn't into powder before drawing close to me.

"Sirin, is it? I'm told you claim you can precog her?" she asked as we cleared the rain of debris. "It would be invaluable if you pulled back out of her range and helped coordinate our offensive, if that's true."

I hesitated, torn between differing emotions. This was Alexandria and she knew my cape name! On the other hand, I had blown off Eidolon, who was now engaging The Simurgh while the second Triumvirate member spoke to me, but… I tapped my precognition to see what would happen if I did as she was asking.

The Simurgh dove as soon as I left the battlefield, dodging and evading attacks from the Triumvirate and others who were joining the fight. Her first target was in my neighborhood, tearing apart what had been my hous—

My eyes shifted in her direction and I swallowed, cutting off the timeline as I dove after the Simurgh, gathering rubble and lighting it on fire as I fell. Alexandria kept pace with me and I exhaled, framing an answer for her.. "No, if I leave her alone, if I don't fight, it's worse. I'm sorry, but I'm not going anywhere."

"Listen!" Alexandria shouted over the wind. "I understand you can precog and think you have power to match her, but-"

Whatever else Alexandria was saying, I lost it in the sound of my attacks breaking on the Simurgh. Some of them anyway. Several were deflected away, scattering several other groups of capes that were aiming to join the assault. Before I could press onward, Eidolon dove in, driving the Simurgh down to the ground with an attack that released a visible shockwave, shattering buildings around the point of their impact.

I clenched my hands into fists, grateful that I had a moment or two of reprieve before I had to go after her again, so occupied with Eidolon was she. Alexandria dropped down beside me and I could sense frustration from her, alongside resignation for reasons I couldn't decipher. I held up a hand before she could speak. "I already know what you're going to say and you're wasting your time. And before you consider it, you can't stop me."

"You plan to keep attacking her?" Alexandria asked, forestalled from another appeal to make me withdraw by my statements.

"I can't stop," I said, winding my way through the shifting possibilities quickly. It was getting easier to do so, but I was still only finding options for a holding action, keeping her away from those I wanted to protect. Mostly. There were a few where I could drive her off, if I was willing to, but I couldn't bring myself to investigate them very thoroughly after taking a cursory glance ahead.

"I understand you're frustrated with what you see, but-" And we're back to her trying to convince me to leave. I opened my mouth to reply when the Simurgh exploded into motion, escaping from Eidolon's bombardment. Her course would take her to a well-to-do neighborhood, where a house at the end of the street sat. Catherine and Minako.

I took off, cutting off her charge with fire, working to hem her in and keep her away from my friends. The fire blazed hot, shifting colors as I forced my power into the flames and slashed at her with it. This time, it left marks behind and I pressed the attack. I had something that was showing an effect finally!

Visible damage appeared across her body as I continued assaulting her, blackened sections appearing where the fire impacted against her body. A nearby water tower tore open, its contents twisting to meet my own attacks in an attempt to cancel them out. I mentally scoffed at the attempt raised the temperature higher, watching the water simply boil away and my flame whip continue on unabated. Behind me, I felt another's presence come into focus near that of Alexandria and Eidolon. It was an unfamiliar one to me, but the sense of camaraderie between it and the other two was enough to tell me who it was. The final member of the Triumvirate had arrived.

They hung back, not joining my assault on the Simurgh and I frowned but couldn't spare the effort to investigate why, as buildings rose, propelled at me by the Endbringer. I shredded them with my power, turning the rubble into projectiles that I used for trying to herd her into the fire. She twisted and dodged, or used her telekinesis to nudge things off course, or to steal pieces of rubble and use those to deflect.

Legend shot past me, a flash of emotion making it clear that he was dissatisfied with whatever the discussion with the other two had wrought. His lasers lit up the sky, chasing after the Simurgh even as she evaded the fire and rocks I was throwing at her. With his aid, it became easier to land hits, as he cut off options that I didn't have to spend time on, letting me maximize my blows. Alexandria and Eidolon had not rejoined the fight, but I could feel them moving off. Below, in the city, I could sense familiar minds, those of the Protectorate and Wards, mixed among the ebb and flow of terror that was wafting from the minds of the city's residents.

I tried matching my efforts more closely to Legends, reaching out to get a feel for what he intended next. I didn't delve deeply, because I didn't want another of those headaches to occur. The ones I got sometimes when I tried to read a parahuman's mind were similar to what had happened when I had reached for the Simurgh. Was there a connection?

A shake of my head drove the thought away. That didn't matter right now, I decided. Chasing her away, or better, destroying her, if such were even possible, had to be the priority. Still, with my light brush of his mind, I could keep myself in sync and not get in his way, making our efforts have the biggest impact.

More buildings were brought into play and I devoted effort to fighting her grip on them, I won out after a moment and turned them to my purpose, using them to box her in. The fact that I was feeling no strain from doing so made me wonder at how much I could really manage, but other than when I trashed the boat graveyard, I had avoided really cutting loose.

Still, The Simurgh did not make it easy to keep her pinned down. It was nigh impossible, but seeing which ways she would go helped and even as she tore pieces of the buildings apart to give her space, Legend's lasers would be there.

Eidolon finally rejoined the battle, coming in with an attack that rippled through the air down onto the Simurgh, the pristine surface of her skin blackening and cracking. She danced out of the path of the attack and shoved Eidolon away with her telekinesis, sending him tumbling through open air. Then, with a shift toward me, she dove toward the city.

I charged to meet her, a hammer blow of force throwing her off course from a path that would have sent her straight for Catherine's house. She adjusted her path and I gave chase through the streets, the passing of seconds carrying us over a familiar house. One I had once called home. A glance with my powers confirmed that no one was home now, so why had she come here?

The entire block exploded, one house after another peeling apart into a tornado of debris. My chase had carried us away from the Triumvirate and I could feel them moving to catch up, feel alarm from Alexandria but not clearly enough to figure out why. I deflected pieces of houses that were thrown at me in a half hearted series of attacks, prodding my precognition to see what would happen with all three of the Triumvirate fighting beside me against the Simurgh. Two possibilities filled my vision and elation followed. In both, the Simurgh's defeat was a certainty. The first, she was driven from Brockton Bay in just moments more. The second, our attacks overwhelmed her and a strike at-

The Simurgh's head twisted to regard me, then every house in range joined her vortex. Below the Simurgh, the house that I had once, that Mom had called home, shattered into too many pieces to count. My breath caught as I watched the remains rise, separate from the vortex that was being used to hound the Triumvirate. Alexandria broke through, though, an unstoppable force that couldn't be slowed by something as simple as mere debris. I felt her drawing near, but most of my attention was for what had been home.

"No!" I screamed in denial of what had just happened, the word a half thought as well. Alexandria's head snapped around to stare in my direction as everything went to shit. A wave of force slammed against my shields, sending me reeling as the power of the blow was unlike anything that she had brought to bear before. Before I could right myself, with the possibilities shifting madly as I tried to make sense of them, the wreckage that had been my house closed in around me, cutting off my physical sight.

Memories flashed through my mind, shattering my sight of the future in favor of the past; The way I was entombed was nearly identical to another moment, months before and I heaved a shuddering breath, pushing at the trap. I was even turned in the same fashion, my arms caught between my tk barrier and my body, with everything pressing in around me. I took another shuddering breath, fighting to keep calm. It's all to throw me off balance, that's it. I could deal with that. I could.

The rubble didn't budge, her grip countering my own. How? She wasn't that powerful, was she? Nothing I had seen had indicated this! Had she confounded my precog somehow? Made it lie to me?

No. I remembered that much from reading what little there was on them. Most Thinker powers simply conflicted and didn't work against the Endbringers, especially precogs. I had been able to map out her actions without even a blip beyond countering when she did something in response to what I was seeing. No, I had…

I had to get out! I shoved with everything I had, shaking my head with denial at what I was going to see when the prison of brick and metal broke around me, the Simurgh's own telekinesis no longer able to hold against my own. I turned in the air, facing the Endbringer where she floated, serene once again, for all that she now carried visible marks of the conflict.

The Triumvirate were gone. Not dead, but in the time she had held me trapped, she had apparently cleared the field of everything but me and her. I could sense them, back toward the waterfront, where the remains of the rig floated, but my loss of sight during the panic had made me miss what had sent them away.

I tried reaching out for their minds and all I could feel was a sense that they had been pulled away, assisting with an evacuation? It wasn't clear as to the reasons why. What was, though, was that I was once again alone against the Simurgh. The rain that I had been ignoring was coming down even heavier now and even with my blocking it out, the amount of moisture in the air had simply soaked everything, my hair plastered against my head as I stared across the street at my opponent.

An Endbringer. The Simurgh, who had destroyed our house.

My temper lost all restraint and I charged after her at her with a scream of rage. Fire blossomed around me and reared up in a twisting column that shot forward, intending to surround The Simurgh.

She drifted to the side in an almost casual movement and the attack missed. I didn't let that deter much, twisting it with my mind to chase after her as she began to pick up speed, dancing across the sky over Brockton Bay as I lobbed fire at it. Not her. It. An abomination that ruined everything it touched. She continued to run and I gave chase, throwing everything I could at her as we settled over a section of town that I thought was ABB territory. With the rain and darkness, it was hard to tell.

"You can't dodge this, you bitch!" I snarled, fed up with her running away. My power latched onto her, seizing her in a grip with every ounce of telekinesis I could manage. She struggled, but this time, at least, my grip was unbreakable as I pulled, her wings stretching out in different directions by my will alone. I was going to pluck this bitch's wings off one by one and enjoy every moment of it.

One of her wings ripped away with a hideous shriek and I cast it aside, applying more pressure on the rest even as I brought the fire around, condensing it, making it hotter, my rage driving it onward until it was so bright that it hurt even when I wasn't looking at it.

Another wing cracked, feathers scattering downward slowly and I saw her twisting, desperation to escape evident as the condensed fire, now so hot that it was its color had turned blue shot forward, on a collision course for the Simurgh that she couldn't avoid. I had her.

A building below me ripped apart abruptly and something shot upward into the path of my attack, its timing exact enough that I couldn't divert out of the way. Even my telekinesis slipped off of it, so firm was the Simurgh's hold. Every bit of the fire that I had unleashed was swallowed up until only the device remained, rotating slowly. I stared as it began spinning faster, pieces unfurling like one of those expanding child's toys that condensed down to a very small form, but in reverse.

Color fled from my face as my powers showed me what was happening. I slammed it with my telekinesis, flinging debris, anything I could do as the core was revealed, a coruscating sphere of blue light that all but shrieked. How had she… when had she? Why hadn't I seen this?

No!

The thought was a panicked shriek that I couldn't control as I threw up a barrier, throwing everything I had into it as the core shrunk to a tiny point before it erupted outward. Light obliterated my sight as a thunderous impact slammed into my shields. I reeled as my entire world turned into pain and everything went dark….

"It starts with a firebir- No, with a phoenix."

The words from several nights ago drifted into my mind, jarring me back to consciousness. Light trickled as I opened my eyes, making me flinch for a moment as I tried to get the ringing in my ears to stop. All around me was dark, save for a thin beam of light coming from above, tracing through a tiny opening to strike directly into my eyes. I groaned and reached out, shifting away rubble to free myself. I floated upward, shaking my head several times to try and dispel the ringing that was slowly fading away.

I blinked several times as I looked around, not quite sure of what I was seeing. There were no buildings. There were no streets, no city. Just a scorched and blasted rubble as far as I could see. I drifted downward, settling onto a flat expanse of concrete, reaching out for any sounds, any minds that I could detect,

"Mina? Catherine? Dad? Noelle! ...Vicky?" My thought stretched out, and there was no response. I couldn't feel them. I couldn't feel anyone. The hum that had become a familiar background sensation since I started being able to hear thoughts was gone, leaving only silence.

"Vicky!" I projected it as a shout and waited, taking a step forward after no answer came. My eyes drifted across the ruined landscape, searching for any sign of moment, feeling for any thoughts. Nothing. No one as far as I could reach.

"Dad!" I shouted with my own voice, only for it to be snatched away by the wind. "Catherine! Minako? Noelle?"

"...Vicky?" I tried again, my shoulders slumping. There was no answer, only silence. I took in a ragged breath, glancing upward. My breath caught. The rain and the clouds were gone, baring a star-studded sky and a radiant moon. Of the Simurgh, of the Triumvirate, there was no sign. Nothing marred the sky. No buildings, no streetlights or neon from signs. I beheld the night sky without a trace of human-produced light to dampen the sight. I stood there, breathless and alone as I looked up, my mind stretching as far as I could reach for any sign of life.There had to be someone. I didn't want to believe what my powers were telling me. Someone, anyone. There had to be.

Looking around again, I tried to orient myself. It wasn't easy, with the landmarks that I would have normally used gone. Thanks to me. Was I standing where Dad worked...where he had used to work? I pushed off into the air slightly, flying unsteadily over the ruins as I looked around. The Simurgh was gone. I wasn't sure if she had died in that explosion as well or if she had just retreated. The urge to hunt for her was there, but it was weak. I had played right into her hands like a damned fool and I wasn't sure I would accomplish anything by doing so. Probably just blow some other town up if I tried.

I laughed bitterly and dropped to the ground before what had been my home, shifting what little rubble covered the ground floor and staring at the sections of flooring that had collapsed into the basement. The wood shifted, trembling as I struggled to force myself to peel it away, to see what was beneath that. I reached out, feeling for any minds, for someone to fill that emptiness at the back of my thoughts. Something. Someone.

Anyone.

But there was only silence.

"It starts with a firebir- No, with a phoenix."

The repeated thought made me freeze in place and I drew on some fire that I let hover in the air nearby, providing some meager warmth. Why was I thinking of that conversation with Noelle now?

"-a gigantic phoenix made out of fire appeared above the school."

I bit my lip, feeling that there was something there, just on the tip of my tongue. A concept, something I could almost grasp. A phoenix. What was a phoenix?

"Fire."

Right, reborn from its own ashes. What did that mean now? I mulled over the thought as I left behind the spot that had been my house, my grip on the collapsed debris in the basement releasing. I couldn't pull it free, couldn't bring myself to see with my own eyes what my powers had shown me. Why hadn't he left? Why had he hid down there? Why?

"Life."

Life, right. I shoved aside a section of rubble at another location, staring at the bodies huddled I saw there, then moved on. That was three. Phoenixes were symbolic of death, and of rebirth, of life coming again. Which wasn't going to happen here. If I had manifested a phoenix that day, I had certainly lived up to the first part of what it stood for, with what had just happened.

Life…

"Want… I want you to tell me the future. If you could, you'd know you… what I want, you can't give."

I blinked. I had said that, hadn't I? When? My forehead furrowed in thought as I reached for the memory while I looked over the ruin of what had been a upscale townhome, abandoned to a group of out of town visitors that I had saved inadvertently. A waste, now. My eyes alighted on one figure, clutching the hand of another, with a seared section of top hat visible beneath a piece of rock. Four.

"Anything you want, money, power, name it and it's yours!" I flinched at the memory of the pathetic plea, remembering a moment that had only haunted my nightmares over the past few weeks.

The room's walls were warped and distended, the thin man cowering before me as heat rippled across the air. Sweat had drenched him and a distinctly acrid odor emanated from him, but I was troubled by none of it. I was the very spark of creation and no heat could harm me.

"Power? There is none that matters before me. I am Fire, worm. The very spark of life itself that spun your pitiful cosmos into existence. Money? What use is that to a being that sets stars ablaze and bathes worlds in cleansing fire? Less than nothing."

"Hebert… Sirin…" the man stammered, shifting from where he had been crouched, almost kneeling at my feet. "Whatever you want, I will give it! I'll work for you, give you everything that I've built! Brockton Bay! It can be yours!"

"You are deluded. There will be no accord between us. You have harmed my vessel, sought to leash something far above you."

"V-vessel?" he asked, shifting backwards again. "What… what are you?"

I knelt, hands clad in gold cupping his face between them. "I am fire, and life incarnate. Forever, I am Phoenix. And you are naught but ash."

The memory fell away and I staggered, once more on the ground, in a half crouch, my hands extended before me, toward a blasted figure that was more ash and bone than person. Five. My gaze drew away from that as my the stinging of my eyes grew more than I could bare and I felt tears emerge.

Dad. Catherine. Minako. Noelle. Vicky. I buried my hands in my face as my shoulders shook. A hiccuping breath, followed by another and I gave both voice and thought to a scream, pouring everything into it as I clutched at my stomach. One arm tightened against my abdomen as the other slammed down on the broken ground, disturbing dust and ash in a small burst of air.

"Fire." It erupted around me, flaring brightly, surrounding me as I screamed again, this time with my voice alone. I wiped at my eyes, staring at the flame. Maybe I could end… if I was gone, this couldn't… I raised a hand and watched the fire move with it and realized that I felt no heat that could peel skin and blacken bone. Only warmth, like you would feel from the embrace of a loved one, or as a fireplace chased away the chills of a cold night

No, this fire wasn't at all what I had wielded against the Simurgh, I could tell. It was different. Something more than just fire.

"Life." The thought made me hiccup again, as a half-remembered thought came to me. Mine? Hers? I didn't know and a sound emerged that I thought might be called a laugh, if you were a crazy person.

The Phoenix brings life from the ruin of what was before.

It was insane. I was insane for even thinking this, but….

I shifted slightly, bringing myself closer to the corpse, to what had been my friend, that I had found myself before. I could tell, even with everything that had burnt away, I knew who this had been… was. Would be. My hands shook as I reached out, iridescent flames spreading from my fingers to cover the body. I reached deep, not sure what I was even doing as I felt warmth rise up from within me somewhere, fanning a spark within the target of my focus.

"Live," I whispered, holding my breath as the flames flared brightly before slowly fading, leaving a person whole and unblemished, their chest rising and falling slowly. I reached out and brushed golden hair away from her face even as I felt lines of the future shift, a distant glimpse that some day, what I was doing might lead to another confrontation with the pale figure who had orchestrated this, if she had survived.

I banished the glimpse and all my lines of the future, focusing on the now. It had worked. Whatever I had done, it had worked. But… there were so many still. All around me, fire had begun to spread. A blackened figure that had been stretching toward Vicky with one arm was first, enveloped in flames with not even a thought. It had started and it was reaching out, spreading across the city. Everything she had manipulated me into taking, everyone who was gone, they would return.

The fire surrounding me erupted outward, growing larger, beginning to take shape as I raised my arms. Behind me, I heard Vicky stir and glanced back to see her coughing and turning onto her side to stare at me.

"T-Taylor?"

I didn't reply as the flames roared higher yet again, spreading outward as I reached deeper, reached for more. I could almost feel it. There was something there, stirring within me, welling up to the surface. Fire. Life. I could grasp it. Spread it outward to those that had been affected by what I had done.

Fire raced across my clothes, burning them away and replacing them with another outfit, one I had drawn months ago. Not Sirin's. That did not fit what was happening now. Green and gold took shape around, with a sash belted at my hips, held in place by a clip shaped like the emblem I had worn as Sirin, that even now still rested upon my chest.

The flames erupted into a shape that I had only seen in dreams, in a picture on the internet and in the papers.

"Taylor!" Vicky's voice rang out and I could see her trying to stand.

Not Taylor. Not a firebird. A Phoenix. I was… I am Phoenix.

I moved, and the fiery aura moved with me, wings stretching out over what had been my home, growing so large that I was dwarfed by it. I reached out and fire spread all across what had been Brockton Bay. Small flames in some cases, pillars that cut down into the ground in others and carved a path into the sky in others.

"Everyone that was lost, everyone that was taken by my hand," My voice was like thunder as I pulled from wellspring inside me, drawing from what seemed an inexhaustible source as the Phoenix's shape around me grew larger still, lighting the sky up as I could almost hear a birdlike screech pierce the starlit sky above me. "Live."

Life emerged in brockton bay. People, animals, insects. Anything that had been culled by what I had been party to, and more. Their flames burned anew, bright and strong as I felt my own flicker and ebb. Thoughts emerged, confusion, panic, relief, reverence, fear. I could feel it all. Dad, Noelle, Catherine, Minako, Vicky. They were all alive. I smiled, relief pouring through me as the hum that had been my constant companion for months returned.

Then my fire went out.

805

chibipoe

Jan 4, 2017

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