0.16


Post-Endbringer debriefings were amongst the list of things Legend hated doing the most.

The mourning, the devastation, the words of consolation, the empty promises that damage could have been even worse had the PRT not intervened, the honoring of the many lives lost during the fight, both heroes and civilians. It was a soul draining endeavor that often left him feeling numb for days after the fact.

But this time it was different.

The story was different.

Legend could stand proud, with his back straight and a genuine smile on his face as he exchanged handshakes and farewells with some of the local team leaders and Guild officials and heroes from across the entire Commonwealth. Even now, those who had survived the battle were holding what he could only tastefully refer to as a victory celebration.

Though it was more of a party.

Of course, speeches had been made, and a moment of silence was given to the people who hadn't made it. But even then, Legend could say he felt like a genuine hero as he went through the motions with enthusiasm he thought dead half a decade ago.

They won.

They've actually won!

Not a pyrrhic victory, not a tragedy with a silver lining.

Canberra was saved, Ziz was driven away, and even now he couldn't help but shake in place as he bid farewell to the last of the officials as they joined up with the 'unofficial celebration' going on outside. To be honest, he really felt like joining them.

But duty called.

"Door Me."

Flying through the portal, Legend struggled to contain his excitement as he walked through the familiar hallways of Cauldron's base. Even the stark white walls and the lifeless decoration failed to ground his mood. He hadn't felt this alive since he received his power, or since his wedding night.

Which was why, when he rounded into the meeting room, he couldn't help the whiplash he got from the dour atmosphere.

David, or Eidolon to his friends, was off to the side with eyes closed in deep concentration. He hadn't actually gotten injured during the fight and didn't seem winded in the slightest. But that was as far as good news went since his fellow hero looked frustrated, or perhaps annoyed. By his side he could see what looked like one of the tinkertech laptops they'd purchased.

Rebecca wasn't much better.

Leafing through a massive stack of folders, lists containing names and other basic information he couldn't see from where he was standing. As always, it was nigh impossible to read her, she didn't twitch or make unnecessary movements. Sometimes it felt like she was a machine, only doing things the moment it needed to and wasting no effort.

"Welcome back. I trust the aftermath is dealt with?"

The one sitting at the head of the table, Doctor Mother, was perhaps the only one who didn't seem to be doing anything. Instead she was nursing a cup of fragrant tea with her cellphone left to the side.

"No complications for once, everything went smoothly."

The Doctor nodded and gestured for him to take a seat.

"Good, I believe we'll have a lot to discuss tonight. But before that, we're still missing someone…."

And right on cue, one of the doors leading out of the room opened with a muted click, closing near silently before the figure took her seat to the side. As if she'd always been there. If Keith wasn't used to the way she did things by now, he'd have thought Contessa as some kind of ghost.

"Not anymore." He noted wryly, earning an exasperated look from the Doctor and an amused one from the resident ghost.

"You seem chipper." Rebecca noted, looking at him for the first time since he'd entered the room.

"I mean, shouldn't I? We won."

"You drove off the Simurgh, not destroyed it. There's not much difference."

Well damn, talk about putting a damper on the mood.

"Yeah, and we did it with record low casualties and avoided having to wall off the city. I don't get why we aren't popping open the champagne and joining the folks down at Canberra right now."

"Because as long as the Simurgh is still alive, there's always going to be a next time and one after that. Never mind Leviathan and Behemoth. Saving a single city is all well and good, but it's meaningless if that's all we can accomplish."

Damn, she must really be in a mood.

"Yes, we couldn't nail the Simurgh but don't you see how big this is? It's a first step, the first time people actually felt like they were defended from an Endbringer. That should count for something, right?"

"Only it wasn't us, Keith." Eidolon cut in. "It was that girl, Fontaine."

Legend sighed.

So that had him all sour? The new girl?

Yes, she was powerful. Extremely so, enough that Keith wondered if Leviathan wasn't somehow trying to play a prank on them. In the end, however, it was a team effort that won the day, even if the MVP had been another player. He was fine with the silver medal, or even a bronze one so long as the team won.

That's all that mattered.

"What do we have on her?"

"Almost nothing. We know she triggered recently, and that she operates in the PRT ENE region and that's about it." Rebecca sighed, pinching the brow of her nose, more out of habit than any real mental exertion.

"Not one of ours then?" He asked.

"No, I checked with Number Man and Contessa confirmed that this wasn't a result from one of the stolen vials."

A happy accident then? He could live with that.

"Do we know her identity?"

Keith tried to keep the grimace off his face. It was how the Doctor worked. She didn't like having variables you couldn't account for, but sometimes he wished she'd phrase it better.

"No, originally I had the Brockton Bay Protectorate keep their distance in case this could be handled under the table. But after that mess I instructed them to attempt to establish cordial contact. I assumed Calvert would take it from there."

David snorted.

"And look what a great job he is doing. We might as well can the experiment while we're at it."

"Or, this could be proof of a phenomenon we have yet to see. It is telling that such a powerful parahuman triggered under the set conditions for the experiment. Perhaps we should replicate the experiment and see if a parahuman of similar caliber will trigger."

Legend leaned against his seat, deep in thought.

He didn't exactly approve of the idea of letting parahumans run amok and take over a city, but if the reaction it caused was the appearance of someone as powerful as the hydrokinetic, then it was unlikely to actually succeed while giving them more options against the Endbringers.

That didn't mean he had to like it.

"Let's put a pin in that for now. It is still early enough for the girl to attach herself to one of the groups. One of my sources told me she accompanied the Guild when they arrived at Canberra so hasty action could ruin it."

Rebecca frowned, a measured outward show of emotion.

"The Guild lacks in firepower bar a few exceptions. Fontaine's presence could help stabilize them in the public eye as a force to rely upon." It was an ironic twist in fate that the very group they'd written off as support and little else turned out to bring the biggest gun to Canberra.

"But they aren't equipped to deal with the mess that's coming her way."

"What are you talking about?" Legend blinked, confused.

"She's talking about the cultists."

"The Fallen?"

"One of their 'gods' just took a shot dead in the center of her reputation. Canberra was saved and the Simurgh was decisively driven off with negligible casualties."

Hearing this, Contessa spoke for the first time.

"There are already two groups moving towards Fontaine now."

He… hadn't considered that possibility.

"There's zero threat." David interjected. "The Australian government would be willing to deploy fighter jets and cruise missiles to defend Fontaine, even if she is unconscious, never mind that when I left, members of both the Guild and ENE were watching over her."

"She will not be harmed."

"You Pathed her?"

Legend was a tad bit surprised. Yes, she was important, but hadn't been important up until now. Frankly, he assumed that Fontaine, it felt rude to think of her in her civilian name, was going to be important but not something Cauldron needed to actively affect.

"I tried to."

Everyone was taken aback for a moment, Rebecca frowning and asking for a clarification.

"She's a blindspot?"

It wasn't impossible, or, on a global scale, truly rare for capes with certain powers to be difficult to Path long term. Just unusual in the extreme when the individual wasn't a powerful Stranger, Trump, or someone with a temporal effect.

"No. I am capable of attempting to Path her, but my power can not accurately predict her actions. Before the battle at Canberra, I was perfectly aware that the city would be lost, but no crippling casualties would occur. Fontaine's powers were far more powerful and versatile than I believed. And the path continually updated itself as I observed her in action."

"So… are you saying that your powers don't actually… know hers?"

"Yes."

He wasn't sure how to handle that. As far as he knew this particular issue had never occurred before. And it was clear that the others were displeased.

"Has this altered the survival rate of humanity?" Doctor-Mother quickly asked, annoyance clear in her tone. "And if so, to what degree?"

"Improved upwards by 0.03%."

Eidolon actually whistled.

"So, what, how many tens of billions of lives is that in total?"

"Irrelevant." Alexandria interrupted. "The issue is that her Path was updating its model in use. Meaning it is attempting to forecast with imperfect information, placing all other information about Fontaine into question. Both before and after her trigger. I am immediately recommending that we assign PRT assets to monitor her and conduct a background check."

She'd slipped into "Director Costa-Brown" mode and Legend was about to object, quite vehemently, to the intrusion into this girl's life on a random suspicion when David beat him to it.

"That's probably the worst thing we can do right now. She's got guts, power, and she's a possible blindspot. The last thing we need to do is pick a fight. And that is what it would be when, not if, it comes out we were stomping over her civilian identity."

Contessa spoke up once again.

"I can not Path her to her civilian identity. To be clear, I can obtain her identity, and have confirmed it before arriving here. But my power does not recognize Fontaine as existing prior to her trigger. Nor does it recognize her previous self as continuing past the moment of her trigger. They are two fundamentally distinct existences."

Doctor-Mother interjected, forcibly, at that.

"Explain."

It was not a request.

"Fontaine, such as she is now, 'begins' in a damaged locker, in a run down school. The Path wishes to insist on symbolism. Or, perhaps, is attempting to communicate that the point of origin was symbolic."

"So, what, that was the birthing pains of a powerful cape?" Legend laughed. "Are you telling me, what, three wise men and some donkeys were standing next to this kid's locker. Wait, so she is a kid, kid? Shit. And a bullying induced trigger…."

"Information related to her Trigger Event is useful." Their oh so caring Mother continued. "But I would know why she stopped existing. Is Fontaine a projection?"

"I do not believe so."

"Is she, what, reanimated? Did she die and her power brought her back?"

"Possibly."

"Then what can you say for certain?"

"That Fontaine is possibly so heavily influenced by her power that who she was before she gained her power is irrelevant. I believe a comparison to Labyrinth, one of the mercenaries operating out of Brockton Bay, is relevant. Or she has a sufficiently advanced capacity to hide that even the Paths do not directly overcome it."

Legend couldn't help it. He had to express… some of the confusion he felt!

"Maybe that Stranger rating was a bit low."

The joke was weak, but it at least got a noise of agreement from Alexandria.

"Perhaps. I will see about, discreetly, investigating the effects of her abilities."

"I think more than that is called for." Doctor-Mother stood up. "I will contact Numbers Man and will ask him and you, Contessa, to meet with Accord. If her powers exist outside of conventional perceptions and models, then I want to understand why. Being able to apply that effect to other Parahumans could prevent the Enemy from predicting them in combat. Or at least limiting their capacity to do so."

"Accord will need to know powers do not apply conventionally."

Contessa's addendum with a nod.

"Understood. I trust your discretion. This is a potential threat. I would have it neutralized, preferably in a way that preserves an asset for the final battle."

Legend wanted to say something, but the others ignored him except for Eidolon, who tapped his shoulder.

"Meet me later."

Then walked off.

Keith threw up his hands as the group broke up.

"Whatever."


Taylor was falling.

She was sinking.

Her mind was freed, bonds weakening as her perception of everything grew.

Deeper and deeper, as if untethered, she sunk into the darkness. The weight of her body drove her into the embrace of the cold depths as lightless waters roiled about her. She was too weak to move, too weak to put up anything but token resistance as the world around her grew dimmer and the feeling of separation between her and the waters grew fainter and hazier.

There was no light with which to see, but her powers had no restriction. The vastness of the world she could make out seemed… without end. A literally endless sea whose limits seemed to be only defined by the vast streams of information pouring into her.

And, through that endless perception, she noticed a small additive.

An imperfection in that infinite void.

She was dissolving.

Everything that she was.

Everything she hoped to be.

Everything she'd left behind was slowly but steadily breaking down and floating away in the form of foam and bubbles. Less and less of her remained and the sea rushed forth to consume what was left, waves lapping against her with a steady, benevolent pattern. Not hoping to destroy her, merely wash away the impurity so suddenly intruding on the vast depths beyond.

"Thank goodness, I've found you."

Before suddenly finding herself being yanked upwards. Like fish on a hook, a powerful force pulled her upwards. Or, rather, scooped up the amorphous soup that vaguely resembled Taylor Hebert and dragged her from the dark depths onto the surface.

The mass gasped in surprise, air filling lungs that were only half there. Blood beginning to leak back into veins and arteries that were writing themselves. A heart gave a stuttering, skipping beat.

Grabbing her chest, the young woman rolled to her side, hacking and coughing as her body tried to expel something that wasn't there anymore. Yet it was all she could to tremble and retch in place as the cold, numb feeling steadily disappeared and awareness returned to her.

She was okay.

She was alive.

She was….

"Where am I?"

The last thing Taylor remembered was the final moments of the battle against Ziz. The desperate struggle to move the Endbringer as far away from the city as they could, her unloading a whole lot of power into the monster and watching it fly away into the distance.

And then… and then there was nothing.

"It's complicated, but good to see I wasn't late. Can you tell me how many fingers I'm showing you?"

Looking up from where she laid on the ground, Taylor found the familiar form of her powers, the white haired blue eyed woman holding up her hand for her to count. Fortunately, she wasn't too far gone that she couldn't count to three. But for a moment she had to actually think about what she was seeing.

"What happened? And-" she hacked another cough. "where are we?" She managed to wheeze out, dragging herself off the ground.

Looking around she saw water. Water from all sides.

Above, below, in every direction around them. As far as her eyes could see, a vast expanse of clear blue water surrounded them with only a glass box keeping them from being crushed on all sides. But it was strange, there was just something off about it. She could see strange bubbles of pearlescent pink and light blue rise from the depths below them, long strips of viscous liquid mingling with the sparkling dark blue of the ocean.

She couldn't help but look on, transfixed by the strange surroundings.

"If you are worried about the battle, it should be over now. Our final strike successfully banished that creature and it failed to return before evacuation efforts were successful.
It left the vicinity and hasn't returned thus far."

Oh good.

For a moment she was worried she accidentally sank Australia into the ocean.

"So where are we? Some kind of dream? We don't see each other like this unless you project yourself out."

"Extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures, I'm afraid. You could think of this as an out of body experience. Or, to put it more simply, your mind has slipped somewhere it shouldn't."

Focalors was, as always, a stunningly inhuman beauty. But even Taylor could tell that there was something off about her this time, from how she was slightly hunched over, to the bags under her eyes, to the slight unkemptness of her hair. She still looked more beautiful than anyone else Taylor could recall, but clearly she had seen better days.

"This is your mind?"

She tried not to sound too freaked out. After all, fighting an endbringer and using magic were already harder to accept than whatever was going on inside her head. If anything she wasn't going to sweat details until she had the time to do it later at her leisure.

"A close enough approximation. This is the space which my mind inhabits, but it is also a physical manifestation of it. We could go into the differences and intricacies of minds, souls, and spirits but I'm afraid we would be here all day and you'll have to wake up soon."

That brought her focus back to attention.

"How long have I been out?"

"Outside? Two hours or thereabouts."

Two?!

Dad was going to kill her! She needed to go back!

"Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!"

"I was trying, but finding you here was like searching for a needle in a haystack. You're quite fortunate I was able to find you when I did. Had I been late, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Taylor wanted to say something rude, something cruel. Panic and fear causing something ugly to well up in her - alongside the memories of nearly dissolving. Instead, screwing her eyes shut, trying to just focus on her breathing, she bit her tongue hard enough to draw blood. Pain focusing her and quelling the ugliness inside.

"Here, allow me."

Taylor felt her body move, pulled upright and sat into a large, plush bubble shaped like a chair. Across from her, Focalors settled on one of her own, allowing Taylor to catch her breath and regain her bearings.

"Better?"

Sagging against the seat, Taylor took another deep breath before turning her focus to her powers.

There were so many questions she wanted answered, but she didn't even know which one to start with. So instead she figured that going back to the ones she had before was better than trying to understand the mechanics behind what exactly was happening.

"A little. But you haven't told me anything yet."

"Yes, I suppose I, too, needed a bit of a breather before we got started. It's… going to be a long one I'm afraid." Focalors seemed just as tired, though far more graceful as she reclined against her own seat.

She wasn't very enthused by long conversations, but, all things considered, that was a small price to pay.

"You already told me where this is. So now I want to know why."

"That last wager against the Simurgh had… unforeseen consequences, you could say. You made quite the hefty sacrifice and as a result I lost sight of you after we released that burst of power. It didn't just launch our enemy far from the battlefield, but it also completely swallowed you."

She understood exactly half of that.

"I thought you were my powers."

Sighing, the older woman gave her an apologetic look.

"I am an entity that exists within your powers and have been using my experience and greater control to regulate your access to this plane because- "

So she'd lied.

Or rather, she omitted the truth by letting Taylor come to her own conclusions. She got powers and a voice in her head, so she'd assumed that the voice belonged to the powers and vice-versa. Only it seemed Focalors was like her, someone connected to these powers who decided she knew better than her.

"- you would have died the moment you came here."

"Was that why... I felt myself, I dunno, dissolving? Disappearing? But why would I have ended up here if you didn't screw with my head?"

"Taylor, despite this great power you are still a human. Whereas I am a god, serving as a connection to the powers of… something beyond this world. Ah, you lack context for this. But do you remember when I suggested you read the books on gnosticism?"

"Yes. Vaguely."

"To borrow from its terminology, I was the Archon of Hydro and was granted the Gnosis of a fallen Descender."

"Wait, wait, wait. No. Gnosis is… divine revelation. Personal intuition into the nature of god. Or, well, God-god. Not some thing you get. And a Descender? That sounds like it has a capital letter in it."

"An Outsider entity of incomprehensible nature. That is also not me insulting you. But, rather, a Descender is or was, inherently, alien to the world in which it descends with a will equivalent to that of the world itself. Were this the time for levity, I would jokingly suggest you were becoming a Descender based upon stubbornness alone."

She narrowed her eyes.

"I apologize. To be blunt, Gnosis was a fragment of the being which granted a degree of insight into its nature. The term is not a one to one, but you can think of it, in the crudest and most incorrect possible terms, as a battery or a relay mechanism."

"I see. So a way to move power of some kind from one place to another." Taylor pursed her lips, leaning forwards. "So an Archon? A servant of the Demiurge?"

"The Heavenly Principles."

"That sounds Chinese."

"By your reckoning. By mine it was simply the nature of Heaven."

"Which is real?"

"Was real. Might still be."

"But you don't know?"

"I died, Taylor, and when I woke up I had a choice to make. And I chose you."

Taylor leaned back, her unfamiliar clothing rustling as she did so. Her first instinct was to laugh. Her second was to ask why not Sophia, was strong and driven and athletic, or at least someone better than her. She held very few illusions about herself. She was ugly and gangly, with a too wide mouth, a flat chest, and while she had some muscles now, after a month and a half of monitored exercise under Focalors, she wasn't particularly strong or swift or brave or… anything.

She was a stupid, bullied girl, in a dying city, in a dying corner of a dying country of a dying world.

"Why?"

"For the same reason we're having this conversation now. Your willingness to inflict an incredible price on your own body, on the off chance of saving people you don't know. And because someone else chose you first."

"So because I'm stubborn?"

That got a laugh, a genuine laugh, and Focalors rubbed her face with her hands.

"Maybe. Yes. Probably. It means you'll have the will to make it through what happens next."

Taking the pieces she'd been given, the teenager accepted that her powers, that Focalors had probably been trying to ease her into all of this. It still didn't mean she was particularly pleased with it.

"You think you're a copy, don't you?"

There was a sad sigh from the deity.

"I'm afraid that I am." Her smile was a little watery. "I remember dying. What happens in that moment. But I don't recall anything past that. At the very least I ought to have returned to my mother. As both an oceanid and a deity I knew, or thought I knew, where I would go when I met my end." Gesturing at her, the white haired woman shrugged.
"I did not expect it to be a teenager's mind."

She had nothing to say to that. So Taylor said nothing. Merely nodding, she processed that piece of information before asking the obvious question.

"What were you the god of?"

"Justice, believe it or not."

"Not fashion?"

"No." Focalors' smile brightened a little. "Not fashion."

With several options laid out before her, she knew this was important. Focalors seemed weaker than she ever had before. And that thought alone was… wrong. The annoying, frustrating, overly dramatic, and sometimes far too clever should not be tired. It just wasn't right. But Taylor didn't exactly know how to fix it.

So she didn't.

"Come here."

What she could do was hug Focalors.

It was awkward and Taylor was taller than the shortie of a goddess. But she simply stood up, walked over, and wrapped her arms around Focalors like her mom had her.

"T-thank you."

"I'm not saying I forgive you."

"For leading you on?"

"Yeah." She squeezed a little tighter. "But I'm not saying I wouldn't have done the same."

"Good, suspicion and critical thinking are important tools to justice. Learning what is real and what is not, and to seek out truth to make a proper judgment. One cannot always resort to trust, even if it remains the most important element."

She was still a bit bad at the whole trust thing.

Even if she was trying to get better at it.

"Still, where does that leave us?"

"Well, you are still going to die. In six months, give or take a week or so."

"What?!" Taylor broke the hug and almost leapt back, only to be brought back down as her body suddenly screamed in pain and brought her back down.

"It is like I told you. I was acting as a limiter, a flow regulator of sorts that allowed you to use this power without being exposed to it. Now that the barrier is gone, even the temporary protection I've given you will eventually break down. In fact, it already is. Look around us."

Taylor craned her neck.

Before, she hadn't given much thought about it, but they were both sitting inside a glass box of sorts. One which seemed to be floating in the endless sea. Only instead of pristine spotless crystal she could now spot several cracks in the box. Small as they might be, they were still there.

"What happens when it breaks?"

"Without me to regulate the flow? You will be overwhelmed and absorbed into it."

"And you can't fix it? You managed to save me for now."

"If you'd like to keep your mind here, trapped in this cubicle around the clock? Perhaps I could maintain it, but even then it would still break down eventually. I cannot hold it back, I am merely part of this power."

"So… what? There's no way out?"

"Out? No. Through? Perhaps. To put it bluntly, I need you to learn how to control at least some of this power and the more you can learn to control Hydro energy, the longer all of this will last."

"Wouldn't that just make it break faster?"

"It's a gamble. You already made one. I think this one will pay out a little better."

"Do I have a choice?"

Focalors smiled at her and held out her hand.

"Always."


When Taylor came to, she noticed a few things.

One, her body was hurting. As if someone decided to judo throw her off the top of a building before dragging her back and doing it again just to make sure they did it right.

Two, she had a pounding headache and her outfit was all torn up and sliced up from the fight with the Simurgh. Really, if not for the fact someone had draped a blanket over her, she'd probably be very embarrassed. Not that anything was really showing, but, well, she was almost wearing rags.

It hurt more that it was her mother's clothes than anything else.

And three… there was a naked woman in her room.

Fortunately it was just Narwhal.

"Hey."

"Holy crap, you're awake!"

"Yeah."

"Are you… here, let me get you some water."

Taylor just grunted in agreement and took the chance to just enjoy what she was seeing. Because she was feeling a mixture of jealousy and a great deal of something else.

"Tell you what."

"Hmm?"

Narwhal looked up from the water cooler the seven foot tall woman had, had to bend over to properly reach.

"If - well. We won?"

Standing up, and sending Taylor's jealousy up another notch, she walked over to where the Shaker was lying.

"We did." A small nod of the head. "After the fight you fell. Clipped a building and bounced. Eidolon caught you before you could slam into the ground."

Sipping the water, and holding the blanket over herself, she sat up and pressed against the wall of the medical cot.

"I'll tell him thank you later, I guess. How is everyone? No. No, no. How is Nautille?"

"He made it through just fine." Sitting back down, and taking out a paperback, the most pre-eminent cape of Canada settled in place. "You should know that we were warned the Fallen are already hunting for you. Dragon caught a few emails of all things."

"Well shit."

"Yeah, I don't envy you. The internet is on fire now because of what happened. The moment recordings started being leaked, there was no way to hide who was involved with the defense of the city. Though, if it makes you feel better, there were plenty of people volunteering to go back with you."

"No." Taylor shook her head. "No. I can… I just need to speak to a few people. I'll deal with it. Like I dealt with the ABB. Other people would just be in danger."

Narwhal frowned.

"Usually I would say it is not my place to issue instructions to those not under my purview, but I will say, in this case, that you should most definitely coordinate with the Protectorate."

Scowling, she let out a bit of her earlier frustration on the glowing woman in front of her.

"Yeah. So they tell me to sit around, my da-family gets attacked when I'm in a meeting with them, and the Fallen try to, I don't know, blackmail me into being their attack dog. No. I can deal with this."

"Fontaine." A gruff voice interrupted her as a man in blue armor lifted up the tent flap. "May I come in?"

"Gah. Sure. Whatever."

Laying back down on the bed and tugging the blanket around her shoulders, she turned away from the people in the room.

"I wanted to thank you for today, on behalf of the Protectorate." Blinking, Taylor was surprised enough to turn over and look at Armsmaster, because that was who entered into the tent.

"You saved a great many lives today. Not just through the people who you pulled out of burning wrecks, or injured capes you carried to medical tents, but the several thousand people you actively led out of the city. This is… dangerously close to breaking the rules, but I just want to say… for someone as young as you are. For as new a hero as you are… thank you."

Looking at him in the eye, through his visor, she was stunned. never before could she imagine Armsmaster, the Armsmaster, speaking to her like this.

"Well, um, you're welcome." She was blushing a little. "But I am a villain, remember?"

"Regardless, you saved my life today, twice, as well as half a dozen other heroes today when you helped wash away Ziz's constructs. They'd reached a damaged evacuation bus with at least fifty people inside. We would have been overrun without you and even if we'd survived, we would have been inside of Ziz's range for too long."

Did she do that? Taylor really couldn't recall much of what her powers were doing other than throwing herself at Ziz. The rescue and support parts were left to Focalors, so she hadn't known just how much her powers had gotten done.

Not until now, that is.

"Wow." Surprise, shyness, awe, confusion, and more was sloshing around her head. Along with Focalors' words from earlier. Suddenly there was a lump in her throat. "You're welcome. I-I'm glad I could help."

Swallowing, nodding, Taylor sat up, still holding the sheet to her chest.

"Consider this a standing invitation from the leader of the Protectorate in Brockton Bay to have our support in dealing with the fallout of this incident. Should it come to that, we would like to build a relationship of collaboration in the future."

"Straight to the point as always. At least let the girl get her bearings before springing this on her." Narwhal, who up till this point had chosen to stay quiet, finally chose to comment.

"Time was of essence, I'm afraid."

Sighing, the older woman gave Armsmaster an exasperated look.

"Dragon suggested I make the same pitch, you know?"

Armsmaster's lips quirked into a thin smile.

"Yes, she might have mentioned it."

Still a bit wary, still just… unable to shake that last bit of suspicion, she couldn't help but demand a clarification.

"You also had an offer?"

"Yes." Narwhal, perhaps a bit displeased, but also not willing to undercut Armsmaster's authority in front of another cape, voiced the same thoughts. "You fought well and it would be a terrible blow to Nautille or, well, everyone here if anything happened to you. The Guild would like to extend the same offer as well."

Taylor rubbed at her face, unsure of what to say or do. It was all… too much. Focalors' revelations, the fact her own powers might be killing her, and now the heroes all deciding to treat her like she was the second coming of Alexandria.

All she wanted was to sleep some more.

"Right now, can I go home?"

Both adults nodded.

"We can have a teleporter ready in a few minutes, if you'd like."

Armsmaster was all too happy to step out when his female colleague gave a jerk of the head and he simply gave Taylor a parting nod.

"Please consider the offer. Or, if you plan to act on your own, feel free to contact Velocity."

Taylor chuckled and agreed, while Narwhal, when Armsmaster had fully left, simply gave her a small frown.

"Concerning Nautille, he appears to trust you even though you haven't been vetted yet, so normally I'd be on his case for letting a villain onto his sub. But after what you did today, that would be hypocritical in the extreme."

Taylor winced. She hadn't really thought what it meant back then for her to just intrude on him like that, but it was good he wasn't getting into trouble.

She'd have to do something to make it up to him later.

"If you ever want to move to the Great White North, well, the Guild will be happy to welcome you. That boy doesn't make friends easily so consider this an olive branch from us." Narwhal popped a shoulder and Taylor let herself really focus on the jealousy she was feeling again.

"One last thing."

Taylor sighed, bracing for whatever big revelation was about to be sprung on her.

"Would you like a fresh change of clothes? Your costume appears to be damaged."

Taylor couldn't help it this time.

She groaned in embarrassment, throwing the covers over herself and wondering if it was too late to go back to being the mysterious, scary villain.