Note: It's time for Taylor to use light in a very similar way to a certain pale librarian. Maybe you also get to see a certain something happen. I also edited a few of the previous chapters. I found a few writing mistakes I left behind. I also fixed a bunch of formatting issues my previous chapters had on FF and AO3. Apparently copying and pasting somehow doesn't properly carry over new paragraphs.
-The Light of Brockton Bay-
- Taylor's POV
I set my new set of clothes down on the table in my room. Looking at it again, I still get a warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest. It's been quite a while since I have gotten a gift from someone I could call a friend. The colours match, and it did look quite good on me. 'How did she get my measurements?' I'll have to ask Amy when I see her again.
I was super nervous when Amy told me she was buying a gift for me. Amy ignored my little plea of not needing it, and I'm glad she did. It might just be an outfit, but it might be one of the most important things that happened in the recent years, at least in my eyes. It's still a little surreal, thinking about my friendship with Amy, with Panacea. I was unsure if she really saw me as a friend at first, and I still am a little unsure. But the gift changed and gave me the hope that I needed.
Strangely enough, Scorched Girl calmed down when I got the gift. Before that moment, it had been like an amplifying force for my emotions. Any small thought about Amy betraying me like Emma simply snowballed unless I reeled my thoughts back. After getting the gift, Scorched Girl died down, as if there simply wasn't anything significant enough to amplify.
Dad seemed very happy to hear that I was out with friends. I ended up wearing the outfit when we had dinner. We talked about our respective days, which hasn't happened in a long time. It felt good to have a simple chat with Dad; we haven't really talked much since mom died.
Taking the clothes, I carefully fold them up and put them in their respective drawers. I get into bed thinking about what I'm going to do tomorrow. I guess I could do a boardwalk patrol; it's a good way to get my image out there. According to my research on PHO, more gang activity happens on the weekend. It's a Thursday tomorrow, so I only have to wait 2 more days.
I'm starting to actually have a serious inner debate on joining the wards. I wasn't keen on it before, but seeing and hanging out with one of them in person has painted them in a different light for me. Assuming that the rest of them would be remotely that friendly. I still wonder which ward Dennis was. The male wards would be Aegis, Gallant, Clockblocker, and maybe Kid Win, but Kid Win is a little too small to be him.
Setting that aside, I close my eyes, and prepare to step into the abyss containing the river. There's some stuff I want to try while I'm in this space. First order of business: getting a proper name for this place. I don't want to call this 'The Abyss' forever, so it needs a new name. Da'at came to me naturally, but no name is coming for this.
'What would be fitting?' The place looks otherworldly. An empty black abyss, although last time it got a nice stone pathway addition, so maybe this time it might have more. It's the place where I get my identities, which I think are other versions of me. 'Other, hmm.' Maybe I'll go with 'The Otherside'? Honestly, I can suck at naming sometimes, and this one fits enough.
Pulling myself into The Otherside, I find not much has changed. The river is bigger; the best I can do is eyeball it, but it looks about 120 feet long and 20 feet wide. Still that mystical-looking green. The only other change is a very faint smell of something in the air. 'Is that... smoke?' It's barely noticeable, but I'm 90% sure its smoke. The only thing that has changed since last time is the addition of Scorched Girl to my repertoire. Which would fit that smoke smell.
Other than that, nothing else changed. Now to test some ideas. If this is a non-physical space like I think it is, I could maybe will some objects into existence since this is all might be in my head. If it isn't in my head, then I have no idea where this is.
Focusing as hard as I can, I try to form a wooden cube. It's not like I've done this before, so I'm just trying to imagine a wooden cube, but imagined harder and more real. After looking like an idiot for a few minutes straight, I stop. This obviously isn't working; it feels like I'm almost there, but there's something missing. It feels like the mental object needs something added to it to give it substance.
'What if I?' I try again, but this time I try to pull on my light at the same time. Not for any specific identity, but the light as a whole. I slowly feel tingly as the air in front of me manifests a bright but not blinding white light. The white light shifts and bends, eventually taking the shape of a cube. Finally, the light detached from the cube in little specs that fade into the air. In my hands I'm left with a cube of wood the size of my palm, and it looks exactly as the one I had visualized.
'Holy shit that was wicked.' It may just be a cube, but that might be one of the coolest things I've seen. I start to poke at the cube; it's exactly like what I would imagine a wooden cube to be. I toss it into the air, and it comes back down. I can't help but marvel at it. Thinking about it, I never tried this in the real world; I doubt I could do this in the real world, but I wouldn't lose anything from trying.
For some practice, I decide to try and spruce up The Otherside a bit. Starting with something simple, I imagine a bench in front of me, right next to the stone path and a couple feet from the river. The straight wood planks, held together by the 2 curly pieces of iron on both ends acting as handles. It takes a few minutes to properly visualize the bench, but I finally get it how I want it and push light into the idea.
A bigger piece of light appears just above the ground, and exactly like the wooden cube, a bench appears. I feel a slight headache coming on as this happens. The bench was much more complex than a wooden cube, and I could barely get a complete grasp on its form in my mind. 'Maybe I'll get better with practice. Wait, if I can make things feel, look, and sound real, then couldn't I?'
I take a deep breath and imagine something simpler than a bench. A clear glass cup. Inside the glass cup is a cold chocolate milkshake. I put some real emphasis into what a chocolate milkshake should taste like. I then add some whip cream on top and push some light into it. A small ball of light appears that slowly morphs into a cup shape. When the light eventually fades, I'm left with a milkshake in my hand. I take a sip.
'It... It's delicious!' It's creamy and chocolatey, like I imagined. I change my mind; my power isn't weird; it's the best fucking power in the world. I don't care if I was offered to trade powers with Eidolon; nothing will top this.
I take a minute to finish my milkshake. My mood might have been good before, but now it's skyrocketed. I still haven't forgotten my other tests, though. The next thing I want to try is putting on an identity with The Otherside. If my identities are already adding some minor changes to The Otherside, then maybe putting one on might do something.
Choosing not the safest but the most interesting option, I pull out my Scorched Girl identity. The first thing I notice is the fire. A lot of fire. Buildings burn not far from the path, rubble is everywhere and melting, and the hot smoke is now layered heavy in the air. I'm on the path, alone. The fire feels so warm. I want to go touch it.
'Nope!' I pull back Scorched Girl. I guess that's enough testing identities in The Otherside for now. That scared the shit out of me. That was a lot harder to pull back from than usual. If the difficulty of reorganizing my thoughts normally was a 10, that was like a 30. The only reason I snapped out of it so quickly was that the forcefulness of it surprised me. Although, now that I think about it, this could be a good way to train my mental resilience. It's not like I can hurt anybody here, I think. 'At least my bench looks unharmed'
I make my way to the river and take a glance. I still don't feel like I can take a dive yet. Maybe I'll give it a few days. Now that the river is in front of me, I try one final test before I exit The Otherside. The river has been here since the beginning and will probably always be the most important landmark. I take my wooden cube and drop it into the river. Surprisingly, it doesn't drop in and sink; instead, it dissolves into the river, leaving behind small streams of light that slowly continue downstream.
That was surprising, but it also leaves me with more questions than answers. If the river holds alternate identities of me, why would it dissolve an object made from my mind? I have no clue, and frankly, I've had enough thinking for this trip.
Walking back to my bench, I lay down on it. At least now I have somewhere slightly comfortable to lay down here. Slowly, I push myself back out of The Otherside and back into the physical world.
I open my eyes to find a few rays of light creeping into my room from the window. The sun is starting to rise, and I woke up a few minutes before when my alarm would. Honestly, if I can spend an hour in The Otherside drinking milkshakes and doing other cool stuff instead of sleeping and still get a full night's rest, then I'm going to be hanging out in The Otherside a lot. I hope that doesn't mean I won't have dreams anymore.
I sit up and cancel my alarm before it goes off. I guess I can try manifesting an object. I imagine another wooden cube. Now that I have a little bit of practice, it's a lot easier. I then push my light into the wooden cube I'm thinking of. Only for a familiar ball of light to appear in front of me, which quickly drops an also familiar-looking wooden cube.
I stared at the cube on the ground for a solid minute straight. This is a huge discovery. I notice that after making the cube, I feel drained, even though I just woke up. Unlike when I made stuff in The Otherside, my light feels just a little bit smaller than it was a few minutes ago. I guess that means I need light to make things. The cube didn't take much; that's the best way I can describe the amount of light taken. It's already hard to feel how much light I have, even harder when the amount taken is miniscule.
I set aside the thinking for now; I can think about the implications of the newfound ability while I'm on patrol. Right now, I'm hungry, and I think I can hear Dad downstairs making breakfast.
For the next 2 days, I'm going to just patrol the docks and boardwalk. I know it won't have as many criminals going around, but I'm already making plans on being more recognizable. Might as well try a few more public patrols.
-The Light of Brockton Bay-
- Taylor's POV, 2 days later
The last 2 days have been boring as hell. Don't get me wrong, it was nice patrolling the docks; there isn't a lot of crime there compared to gang-controlled territory. But it's so very boring to walk around doing almost nothing for 8 hours.
A few things happened, but nothing crime-related. I've been told that someone apparently did manage to capture my fight with Mush but didn't post it until the day after. I've never had a PHO thread about me.
I apparently had a few fans already. Some people really liked the way my Scorched Girl outfit looked. A few wanted pictures in my different identities; most people wanted Scorched Girl. One girl in particular wanted to hold the giant cannon, but I thought that would be a bad idea, so the best she got was a look up close.
I barely got a fraction of the attention most heroes get. I only got stopped 5 times during the last 2 days. However, it's good to know that people are starting to know me. I didn't see any other heroes, though. It makes sense; most non-ward Protectorate members patrol the worse parts while the wards tend to patrol the safer areas, but they're in school.
My light's slowly starting to build up again after the initial 3 dives that left me on empty. I've experimented more with making objects inside The Otherside. I found a few interesting things. One of the main limitations other than light usage is that it gets exponentially easier to do if I understand the object I have to make.
Making a wooden cube is easy, but a chocolate milkshake is slightly harder. I looked up the ingredients for a chocolate shake and found it easier to make the next time. However, something like electronics is outside my understanding. I also can't do anything living; at least when I tried to make something that was alive, I found my light just refused to even try. Maybe I just don't understand biology enough; if a simple electronic is outside my reach, I can't imagine how much harder a living being would be.
There's also something controlling the cost of an item. I haven't exactly figured out what determines the cost, but I have tried a few things. Very common or inexpensive objects like cutlery, thumbtacks, etc, have very low costs; I could probably make hundreds of them per day. I thought that would mean that size changes its cost, but when I tried to make even a small diamond, I could feel that I had nowhere near enough light to make it.
I also feel like I'm getting a little bit stronger every day. Nothing to parahuman levels when I have no identity equipped, but it's noticeable enough. If I had to describe it, before I had no exercise and I was malnourished from my lunch being stolen constantly. Now it's like I've barely exercised and I'm not malnourished.
Currently it's Saturday, and I'm patrolling the docks again. I wouldn't say I'm hoping to find gang activity, but I would be lying if I said I don't want some kind of action. I started wearing Scorched Girl outside of combat while on patrol sometimes. It's the most recognizable identity I have, and I have more stamina for walking all day.
My guilty wish seems to get answered because off in the distance I hear some kind of explosion. I take off running to where I heard the boom. It's in the direction of the PRT building, which is concerning. As I'm running, I see people fleeing from the affected area. I round the corner, only to find pandemonium.
The PRT has a jail next to the main building that holds people before they go to prison; parahumans specifically go there to be held. Currently, there are dozens of merchants swarming around. Each one of them is just as ratty as the last, and all of them are holding some sort of handheld weapon; no guns from what I can see.
Then there's a giant tank that looks to be made of scrap that drove into a wall before backing up. I have looked on PHO enough to have seen one of Squealers creations before; people started to coin the term 'Killdozer' to her bigger and more destructive vehicles. She's a vehicle tinker that mainly uses scrap to build machines of destruction, although some people speculate that she only uses scrap because that's all she has access to.
The killdozer has a roof-mounted minigun, which no one is manning currently. There are PRT troopers with riot shields and batons desperately trying to hold back the tide of druggies. I also see Velocity trying to fight his way through the crowd and Miss Militia a couple feet away with a high-power beanbag gun. The battlefield was hectic, to say the least.
I'm not taking any chances here, so I put on Scorched Girl immediately. In the past 2 days, I've gotten better at keeping control. I make my way to where Miss Militia and Velocity are fighting. The trio of merchants facing against Velocity have their backs turned to me. I take this opportunity to smash the hilt of my sword into the backs of one guy's head. The 2 merchants turn before I have a chance to strike again.
Velocity uses this lapse in judgement to punch the back of another one of their heads as I parry a blow from a metal pipe the last merchant has. Obviously my punches are stronger because the merchant Velocity punched turns around to face him. I go to swipe at my target with my sword only to miss because something collides with my back. I fall forward and bodycheck the merchant in front of me, sending him toppling backwards, which lets me push off of him to not fall as well.
I see a fucking cinder block behind me, thrown by yet another merchant. I need to remember to look for attacks from behind in large group fights. I take a moment and turn to Miss Millitia and Velocity. "What's happening right now?"
Miss Militia gives me a reply while Velocity goes to help more with the fight. "The Merchants are doing a jailbreak."
It takes only a split second to realise why. "They're going for Mush, aren't they?"
She focuses on a nearby merchant and launches a beanbag at their face. "That's what we think they're doing." Her expression turns grim and worried. "You should let us handle this. I don't want you hurt in a fight as large as this."
Why wouldn't I? I can help people if I fight right now, and I don't want Mush to break out only 3 days after I captured him. I know I'm young and she's worried, but shouldn't that be put aside when lives are on the line? "Are you going to stop me from helping?"
Miss Militia looks a little shocked that I would ask something like that. "No I won't, but if you really are going to help here, please be safe; I mean it when I say I don't want you to get hurt."
I feel a small smile form on my face from her worry. "I'll try not to."
I go back into the fray, still hurting from the cinderblock earlier. Lots of merchants are unconscious, but there are even more that are still fighting. I pick out a lone merchant yelling at some PRT troopers. I start to run towards my target, only to barely dodge the slash of a knife from a merchant lunging out from a pile of debris.
I grab his overextended hand and throw him behind my back. The merchant who was yelling decided to join the fight. Armed with nothing, he attempts to leap and tackle me. He manages to grab my arm and pull me off balance. As he holds my arm, another merchant moves to hit me with a glass bottle. I'm forced to hit the arm holding the bottle with my sword. This leaves me open for a surprisingly well-put jab into my jaw from the merchant holding my arm.
I'm starting to get angry now. I just got Mush into a cell, and now he's about to get out in under a week. I yank the merchant holding me with only one arm and throw him into the one now holding a broken bottle. I almost didn't notice it, but I definitely didn't have that kind of strength before. My ash grey cloak has begun to smoulder. The edges of all my clothing now glow a dark red like embers. And the ash that I leave behind has increased.
I can feel the need to burn something again, but before I can properly calm myself, I get blown back a few feet by a stream of garbage. 'Who dares to hit me with trash.' I look up to see Mush out of prison. He had sent a tendril specifically to hit me with. "How ya doin, girlie?"
'He's already out?' Another merchant goes to swing at me with a baseball bat. I grab the bat mid-swing with my hand and punch him in the gut with significant force. The merchant flies backwards with a faint scorch mark where I hit, and the bat starts to blacken in my grip. I throw the bat at Mush, who deflects it with a tentacle.
My sword, which is slowly beginning to glow, easily slices through another tentacle of garbage being thrown at me. I want to burn his face with a torch. I hit a merchant in my path to Mush with my hilt. They attempt to block it with their forearm, but I feel their bones crack instead.
I switch to my cannon; it feels warm in my grip. I launch a cannonball at Mush with little regard to the property behind him. He moves to the side, but it still blows one of his limbs off. I use the recoil to swing the cannon around into the chest of a gang member. They get blown backwards with a couple of broken bones.
I barely have time to react to Mush swiping at me. "You should watch yur back, bitch." At this moment, I hear someone yell, "Da'at!"
I turn to find Skidmark has set up several acceleration fields behind me and is placing a piece of concrete in them. The piece of concrete accelerates towards me at an enormous speed. I can't react in time; it's too fast for that. The blow never hits me; someone jumps in front of me and takes the hit for me. They get blasted back into me, and we both tumble backwards.
I snap out of my thoughts and quickly grab the person on top of me, only to jump up in surprise at the familiar American flag theme bandana on their face. Laying down in front of me is Miss Militia, unconscious and bleeding. 'no no No NO NO NO.' Why did she take the hit? She was so nice to me, and I've failed her.
I should have taken the hit, not her. I don't want to lose her, but I can't help but think that I will eventually. I'm interrupted by a piece of kindling launching more garbage at me, at her. My sword burns through the mass of trash. I feel so very cold. I look at the kindling in front of me and prepare my sword.
"I will leave nothing, except for ashes in the wind."