Chapter Text
History Major
Taylor Hebert was many things. One of those things was a loving daughter to her mother. Even though it had been years since Annette Hebert had passed away, Taylor made sure to preserve her memory as best she could: a loving mother, a doting wife, and above all else, a professional historian for post-World War 1 era Germany.
Many, as a child, were the rants that Taylor had sat through, about the important of truly remembering those times so that they could be learned from. Many were the debates about how the truthful remembrance was important in order to learn lessons, and how the distortion, both benign and malevolent, of those times twisted the important things learned from them.
Which was why, despite being surrounded by a pack of rabid schoolgirls seeking her to gnaw on her self esteem like a gristle covered bone, Taylor found herself straightening and turning to glare at a pair of junior skin heads.
“What did you two just say?” Taylor demanded, interrupting Emma’s attempt to remove what little social capital remained to her after a year of empowered isolation.
Apparently, the sudden interrupt was enough to draw a pause from her aggressors.
And also, draw a pause from the two wannabe E88 members.
“Er, are you talking to us?” one of the skinheads asked, with the slow, beleaguered attempt of the unintellectual to comprehend unusual occurrences.
“You’re darn right I’m talking to you,” Taylor growled, stalking forward to fold her arms and tower menacingly like an adorable Maine Coon kitten, far too large for its cuteness and too awkward to be more than cooed at despite it’s attempt at being threatening. “I want to hear what you just said. Go on. I dare you.”
“Uuuuuhhhh,” the first skinhead declared intelligently. The second skin head seemed of greater intellectual capability and spoke up.
“We were talking about how art class is stupid and gay, and how the real master race would skip the class?” he offered, brow furrowed mightily in recollection, before apparently realizing that he was currently being talked down to by a skinny teen that was at the bottom of Winslow’s social totem pole. “What’s it to you?”
“Really?” Taylor demanded, still glaring in rage as she recalled many of her mother’s rants. “Well, I have news for you. Do you know who wanted to be an artist most of all? I’ll tell you: Hitler!”
The teenage skinhead who had been gearing himself up to try and intimidate the girl in front of him paused. “Wait, really?”
“That’s right,” Taylor declared, glaring down her nose as she corrected the historically deprived creatures in front of her. “In fact, in 1907 he travelled to Vienna and applied twice to the Academy of Fine Arts! If he had managed to get in, the entire course of history could have been altered! Even then, he was an avid painter for his entire life! So no, art class isn’t gay and stupid! So there!”
“Really?” the first skinhead declared, staring with blank shock as his entire life view was rearranged. “So… liking art… makes us better Nazis?”
“Darn tooting!” Taylor nodded sharply. “Even at the height of World War 2, Hitler was always collecting and making art. He was planning on using it to make a museum if they won the war!”
“Wow…” the second junior gangbanger whistled, scratching his unshaven chin in bewilderment. “I never knew. I guess maybe art is pretty cool after all.”
“Huh,” the first member blinked in the slow, bovine way of one who’s need for printed instructions to tie his shoe laces was offset by his basic illiteracy. “Maybe we should, like, go to a museum too…”
Off to the side, Sophia watched the entire exchange with the blank look of one who had no idea what just happened.
At her side, Emma just sighed and rolled her eyes, recalling with nostalgic familiarity the rants of Auntie Annette she had also been exposed to.
“See that you do,” Taylor snapped at the two, turning with a huff of accomplishment at having educated the unwashed masses. Then she blinked, and cocked her head to the side, regarding the crowd of bemused girls that had previously been harassing her. “Er, I sort of forgot what we were doing a second ago…?”
“Never mind,” Emma sighed. “You ruined the mood.”
***Scene Break***
James Fliescher, or as he preferred to be called ‘The Great and Terrifying Master of Warfare’ (which sounded really impressive in German, but was a bit of a mouthful and usually just got shortened to ‘Krieg’) was making the rounds through the usual white power facilitation meetings (again, generally just shortened to Nazi Rallies). It was important to maintain morale for the troopers and let him keep his fingers on the pulse of the gang.
He nodded in appreciation as a small group next to him debated the important aspects of attacking minorities, including what priority to assign the minorities if they were traveling comingled. He chimed in when another group was discussing the consumption of copious amounts of alcohol, encouraging them to drink at the appropriate venues. He then listened into a small group of the younger attendees as they…
“Look, we all can agree that expressionism is the height of artistic expression! The evocation of emotion is fundamentally more encompassed by the movement! And the name has ‘expression’ in it!”
“You take that back you dirty fucker! Landscapes evoke emotion far more fundamentally than some bullshit attempt to paint emotional expression! Landscape does that naturally, and offers further outlets for judgment of the artists technical skills!”
“Yeah! Bob Ross never lies!”
“…Okay, yeah, I’ll give you Bob Ross, but you can’t tell me that Ernst Kirchner isn’t at the height of artistic talent!”
…as they debated artwork? Krieg blinked, and double checked. Yes, four kids, blue jeans, wife beaters, amateur swastika tattoos, shaved heads. They certainly LOOKED like they were in the right place, but…
“Oh, bullshit! Van Gogh could take Kirchner in a fight ten out of ten times!”
“Are you fucking with me? Van Gogh would never hear Kirchner coming! And it’s complete bullshit that you’re trying to claim that Van Gogh is a landscape artist!”
Yes, they were still debating art it appeared, though the debate did not just include the art itself, but which artist could take which in a fight.
“Just what are you four talking about?” he interrupted, genuinely perplexed, and the four jumped as they realized just who had snuck up on them.
“Ah! Krieg! I mean, sir! We were just…” one of them began before trailing off as he tried to figure out how to explain themselves.
“Oh, we were trying to get to being better Nazis by liking art,” another one explained, nodding as though the explanation in fact explained anything.
“Better Nazi by liking art?” Krieg repeated, wondering if maybe this lot was just particularly stupid. Yeah, lots of Nazis were stupid, but, you know, there was always going to be a bell curve.
“Yeah! Because Hitler totally liked art, so we’re trying to be more like Hitler!”
Krieg blinked again.
“Hitler liked art?” he repeated. You know, Krieg honestly wasn’t sure if that was really a thing. It sort of sounded like it might be? “And how do you know that Hitler like art?”
“Oh, there’s this girl at school,” one of them explained. “She looks like, you know, like she might be a jew, but she’s actually super smart, and knows all sorts of things about Hitler!”
Krieg narrowed his eyes.
“Tell me more about this girl…”
***Scene Break***
“I just don’t see a point in going to school. I’m just going to drop out and join the Empire anyway.”
“Oh, I totally get it. School is complete bullshit. Dropping out is for the good of the gang.”
“Excuse me!?”
“Gah!”
The two skinheads who had been skipping class jumped in surprise, turning to find that they had been interrupted by that tall, dark-haired chick that everyone seemed to pick on all the time. Her hair was currently covered in pencil shavings. Behind her, the door opened onto a classroom where a surprised teacher was looking out at the two and a class stared at the dark-haired chick who had apparently slammed open the door in the middle of class to confront the two in the hallway.
“What the actual heck do you mean dropping out is for the good of the gang?” she demanded of the two, scowling ferociously.
“Well, like, isn’t it better for us, to like, join the gang rather than go to school and get a job or something?” one of the skinheads explained, before blinking and starting to scowl. “And who the hell are you too…”
“Good for the gang?” He was interrupted, by the girl shaking her finger in his face. “The gang that’s made out of Nazis, right? Well, you know something? The Nazi parties original name was the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, and two parts of the twenty-five points that the party was built on was one, it’s everybody’s responsibility to work and be productive members of society, and two, that higher education and better jobs would be made available to everyone!”
“Wait, really?” one of the skinheads muttered, cocking his head to the side. It wasn’t anything HE had heard of, personally, but the girl sure seemed pretty certain about bit…
“Twenty-five points?” the other muttered, and the girl threw her hands up in frustration.
“How can you claim to be a Nazi and not know the fundamental policies of their political party!? How!? Hitler himself campaigned on those! You know, the guy you all claim to look up to? Hitler wants you to stay in school and get jobs! Are you going to disappoint Hitler!?”
“No, I don’t want to do that!” one of the Nazis admitted, suddenly very worried.
“Oh, shit, I’ve been skipping a lot of class,” the other one admitted, suddenly worried about how Hitler would look at him for that.
With a growl, the girl reached out with both hands, pinching an ear on each of them and dragging them into the classroom.
“You two, stand in the back and learn something!” she ordered, growling as she did so.
“Yes, ma’am!” they agreed immediately, shuffling back with the obedience of people who were used to letting someone else think for them and then bark orders for them to follow.
“Mr. Gladly, continue the class,” the girl demanded.
The teacher stared at her blankly.
“Ms. Hebert, did you just…” he began, and was interrupted when Taylor slammed her hand on the desk. Behind her, Madison Clements jumped in surprise, staring at the girl she had been dumping pencil shavings on for months now and could, apparently, command Nazis at will.
“Now!” Taylor snapped at the teacher, and he jumped, immediately starting to scribble something on the board in compliance.
***Scene Break***
“I’ve been down to some of the local rallies recently,” Kaiser began, drumming his fingers together at the head of the big Nazi conference he was holding. “It appears that attendance from the younger generation has grown…sparse.”
“We losing the crowd?” Hookwolf asked, scowling as he did so. It was always important to keep new blood coming in. If that started slipping, it could cause problems with the other gangs.
“Not… quiet,” Krieg spoke up hesitantly.
Kaiser raised an eyebrow, remembered he wore a helmet, and promptly spoke up instead.
“Explain?”
“According to those who are still attending, the rest of the young recruits have been skipping the rallies because they’re on school nights, and they need to stay home and study,” Krieg explained slowly.
Silence settled on the room for a moment.
“Wait,” Victor chimed in, also confused. “Attendance is low because our members are worried about their GRADES?”
“Apparently, they’re worried about disappointing Hitler by not getting into college.”
“Well, that’s bullshit,” Rune snorted.
“Actually,” Othala began, giving a stern look at the other teenager, “I’ve seen your grades as well, and you could stand to do a bit more studying…”
Kaiser raised one hand, paused and then put the hand to his forehead and sighed.
“Why?” he groaned.
“I have not brought it up before, but I’ve heard words of a young lady who attends Winslow,” Krieg admitted seriously. “Apparently, she frequently approaches our young members and lectures them about how they are disappointing Hitler by misbehaving. They say she speaks with a great breadth of knowledge and wisdom, and knows much about the history of our organization.”
“A believer?” Kaiser prompted, frowning at the news of one so young being so knowledgeable.
“With the depth of her knowledge, almost certainly,” Krieg confirmed. “She must be exceptionally earnest in her commitment to have studied so thoroughly.”
“Speak to this young girl,” Kaiser ordered. “If she has shown herself to be so influential, perhaps we might make use of her appearance in rallies to rouse the masses.”
“Just who is this little bint anyway?” Hookwolf snorted.
“Her name is Taylor Hebert.”
***Scene Break***
“Who is it?” Taylor called as she went down the stairs of her house to answer the knock on the front door. The pounding was quite loud, and insistent. “I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m OH SWEET BABY JESUS!”
“Hello, Fräulein,” Krieg greeted dramatically as he pushed his way through the Hebert residence front door in full costume. His gasmask caused his voice to distort, and he loomed over the terrified girl as he studied her. “I have come to speak to you of your… decisions.”
“Oh god, oh god, the money is in the vault, behind the bed,” Taylor babbled as she backed away quickly, desperately considering the fastest route to the back door and trying to calculate her odds.
“Oh, do not worry, Fräulein,” Krieg continued, tone dripping with contempt. “I’m just here to determine the breadth of your knowledge of our glorious leader.”
“Also, I have a rare blood borne disease that makes me taste bad and be poisonous, so please don’t eat me…”
“Though if this is the extent of your spine,” Krieg snorted, “I very much doubt you know much about our esteemed Hitler…”
Taylor froze, her eyes narrowed, and her spine straightened. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the parahuman who had invaded her home.
“What did you just say?” she demanded, voice low and threatening. Krieg blinked, and found himself leaning backwards, though he would never willingly admit to being intimidated by the skinny teen.
“How much could you actually know about our glorious Nazi origins?” he tried to recover.
Taylor triggered. Not, like, having a sudden traumatic experience that resulted in the gaining of parahuman powers, but rather she triggered like a social crusader who just had someone assume their gender.
“Sit your ass right there, and get comfortable,” she growled, pointing at a couch as she started to stalk to the basement. “You’re not going anywhere until you eat those words.”
“Er,” Krieg watched with bemusement, following the sound of angry stomping into the basement as he tentatively sat himself in the indicated spot. Several loud crashing noises occurred, followed by more stomping as Taylor emerged from the basement with her arms full of several large boxes, with an easel held under her arm.
“Now,” Taylor began, setting up the easel and reaching into the box to pull out several charts and diagrams. “Adolf Hitler was born on April 20, 1889 to his parents Alois Heidler, previously Schicklgruber, and Klara Polzi…”
***Scene Break***
Danny Hebert paused when he opened his front door, taking in the sight before him. He immediately assumed he’d entered the wrong house, closed the door, and checked the address.
Nope. This was his home alright.
He reopened the door, and took careful stock of what he saw within.
His daughter, giving an angry presentation above the intricacies of post-World War 1 economics, and how that had primed the German people for the advent of nationalism?
Check.
What appeared to be a beleaguered and confused super villain sitting and asking questions about the presentation?
Check.
Ah, right there. Taylor snapping at the cape about keeping better notes and correcting him as he frantically took a notebook and started scribbling a particular part out?
Check.
Finally, Danny sighed in bitter-sweet resignation.
“Just like Annette,” he whispered to himself.
***Scene Break***
“Well, Krieg?” Kaiser prompted at the next super-secret Nazi meeting. “I presume you’ve had a… conversation with this Taylor Hebert?”
“I… I have, my Fuhrer,” Krieg admitted, his tone hesitant.
“Well, hurry up and spit it out,” Hookwolf grumbled.
“I…”
“Krieg,” Crusader cut in, looking worried at the other Nazi’s response. “Krieg, are you alright?”
“She was overwhelming,” Krieg whispered. “The depth of her knowledge, the completeness of her surety… She spoke… she spoke like she had actually been there, like she had witnessed the start of the glorious Reich herself…”
“Truly?” Kaiser prompted, leaning back in consideration.
“There was no question she could not answer, no piece she was not aware of,” Krieg whispered in awe. “It was… less like I was being taught, and more that she was enlightening me, showing me secret truths lost to time…”
“Hmmm?” Hookwolf growled, and felt the urge to grin. “So, she’s impressive, is she? Let’s see just HOW impressive…!”
***Scene Break***
“And that’s why you’ll always be a worm…” Sophia gloated as Taylor hunched before her, her victory assured as she prepared to finish cutting down the pathetic loser in front of her, when a voice cleared behind her.
“What?” Sophia snapped, turning around to see just who would dare interrupt HER, the apex predator…
And immediately scowled, body tensing.
“Excuse us,” the skinhead declared, several other well-muscled youth and three fully grown men, all showing some form of allegiance to the Empire 88. “We’re here to kidnap this one.”
“Me?!” Taylor yelped, pointing at herself in shock as she trembled at the display of goon in front of her. “Why are you kidnapping me!? Take Sophia, she’s easily the most hate-able person alive!”
“The fuck, Hebert?” Sophia grunted, giving the other girl a scowl.
“Fuck you, you know I’m right,” Taylor snapped back, and Sophia blinked at the sudden spine. Huh. Who knew that all it took was an intense dose of adrenaline from an upcoming kidnapping to prompt the worm to fight back…
“No, orders are quite clear,” the skinhead who spoke up at least sounded apologetic. “From Hookwolf himself. Orders are to kidnap one Taylor Hebert. But we’re supposed to be, like, a little polite about it. Plus, you know, a lot of the boys like you and look up to you, so, yeah. Ready to be kidnapped?”
“But why ME!?” Taylor whined.
“Something about checking to see if you know your stuff as well as Krieg said you did?”
“Take me to my house,” Taylor snapped, tone a hiss, and Sophia stared at the sudden change in her usual target. Taylor didn’t even wait for a response, stalking her way through the group of intimidated skinheads with the imperious grace of someone who was about to DESTROY everything that got in her way. “I have a presentation to prepare. Then, we will go see this…” she snorted in disdain, “…Hookwolf.”
“Yes Ma’am!” the Nazis immediately answered, being the well-conditioned sort to automatically follow anyone they saw as having authority giving orders, and falling into formation behind the angered school girl.
***Scene Break***
Brad Meadows knew the moment that Taylor Hebert had arrived at his dog fighting ring. It was the tension in the air, the heightened emotions that came before a clash. He breathed it in, savoring it.
“Ready?” the mechanical voice of Cricket came next to him and he grinned at his comrade in arms.
“Ready,” he growled, the mechanical whir of a chainsaw in the back of his voice (Literally. He studied for hours to figure out how to grind his own steel against itself. He had workshopped it for days, and practiced at least an hour every week).
“How good could she be?” Stormtiger chimed in, tone dismissive as he leaned back on his concrete perch.
“Well, finding out is half the fun, isn’t it?” Hookwolf chuckled.
Across the room, a door was kicked in. Hookwolf took her in, young, thin, tall, and with glasses that flashed in the light of the arena and fire in her eyes.
“Hookwolf!” Taylor Hebert shouted in challenge. “Let’s talk history!”
“Bring it!” Hookwolf growled back.
***Scene Break***
“… and thus, on November 24, 1933 the Nazi party passed into being the Reichstierschutzgesetz, one of the earliest examples of animal protection legislature!” Taylor Hebert nearly purred, gloating in her satisfaction. “With this major victory of the Nazi party, animal protections such as the banning of vivisection were set in stone! So, take that, Hookwolf!”
“Damn!” he growled, sweating. The battle had been long, and both sides had taken hits, but the logical denouncement of his dog fighting rings based on party politics had taken him by surprise! He could still recover though! He was Hookwolf, and he didn’t lose! “Still, humane slaughter remains in place! People need to eat meat and you can never take that away!”
“Hitler,” Taylor hissed, the savage joy of her victory, of his defeat, flashing in the heat of her eyes, “was a VEGETARIAN!”
Hookwolf reeled, stunned by the final blow. Really? He hadn’t known that! What the hell!
“So, be like Hitler, don’t kill animals!” Taylor Hebert told him. But… But!!! Hookwolf… Hookwolf didn’t lose!
“Er, Brad,” the mechanical voice came next to him, and he reeled, taking in Cricket’s guilty look. “I… I love puppies. I sometimes cry after the dog fights. I never wanted… never wanted to hurt them. Can’t we… follow Hitler’s example? Can’t we be nice to animals?”
“Melody,” he whispered, shocked. “Why didn’t you ever say something?”
“Didn’t want… to disappoint you…”
“Boss man, I gotta admit,” Will spoke up, his blue tiger mask slouching. “I just, well, I never really got into it, you know? I mean, it used to be about the murder, and the bloodsport. People should kill people, not animals. I know you were into the dogfighting and all, but can’t we go back to good old fashioned human deathmatches?”
Hookwolf slumped. Yeah, the dogfighting was good business, but really? It always rung a bit hollow on him. Why should he watch dogs kill each other, when people could be killing each other?
“You… you win, Taylor Hebert,” he finally admitted. “I’ll close the dog rings. From here on out, it’s pure people blood sport for us.”
“Good,” Taylor was savage in her victory, before she paused, blinking. “Wait, what?”
***Scene Break***
Rachel Lindt looked on in confusion. Yes. There were a number of non-descript vans showing up in front of her dog shelter.
And yes, they were all unloading cages full of dogs, all in various shapes of health.
Yes, that was Hookwolf, seeing to the unloading.
“All yours,” her most hated foe growled at her, before all the vans loaded up with the people, and left behind their canine luggage.
Rachel considered, then shrugged. Whatever.
“Gonna need more food,” she nodded, and started the process of releasing and treating all the former fighting dogs.
***Scene Break***
“She’s fucking glorious is what she is,” Hookwolf growled in exultation. He had several new scars over his body, and he was fairly glowing with savage joy. People bloodsport was agreeing with him. “She knows her stuff, she’s ruthless and vicious. God, if she was five years older I might have made a play for that. As it is, I want her to call me uncle, and I’m gonna murder any boy who tries to touch her.”
“Hell yeah,” Stormtiger chimed in. He also looked like he’d taken to the human bloodsport again. “Damn, it feels nice to be back in the ring myself!”
“Auntie… Melody,” Cricket hummed to herself. “Sounds… nice.”
“She is so truly the embodiment of our ideals?” Kaiser muttered, stroking his chin in hard thought. This… this was well outside his expectations, and beyond any of his calculations.
“Taylor Hebert… Taylor Hebert,” Crusader, for some reason was just quietly repeating the name over and over again, his eyes furrowed in intense concentration as he poured over the reports on the enigma that had come to haunt the Empire.
“And they found her later,” Krieg murmured, a cold sweat forming on his brow. “And she was talking with the teachers. And she gave answers of great knowledge, astounding them all…”
“Krieg,” Othala hissed, recognizing the bible verse being quoted. “You can’t mean that!”
“But what if…” Krieg continued, dismayed and astounded by the quite natural conclusion he was forming. “What if she truly is… the second coming of Hitler?”
“You mean to say this slip of a girl could very well be the reincarnation of our great leader?” Kaiser demanded, aghast at the very thought. Of course, it was perfectly natural to expect the great Adolf Hitler to one day be reborn to the world in order to lead it to a glorious future of Aryan Ascendency! That was completely natural! But this Taylor was a girl!
“No,” Crusader hissed, his tone broken and awed. “It was right in front of us… this whole time… We worthless ones just weren’t wise enough to see it…”
“See what, man!? Speak sense!” Kaiser demanded, and nodded at Menja who obligingly gave a slap to Crusader to snap him out of his hysteria.
“Her name,” Crusader insisted, tone full of budding devotion. “Taylor Hebert. But we got it wrong! Her full name is Taylor Anne Hebert!”
“So?” Kaiser demanded, raising an eyebrow in confusion.
“Her initials are ’T’, ‘A’, ‘H’. They no doubt stand for ‘The Adolf Hitler’! It’s been in front of us this whole time, and we just couldn’t see it!”
“My God,” Krieg whispered as enlightenment spread through his body. “The scales have fallen from my eyes…”
“No!” Kaiser denied, violently, but internally he was shooken with doubt. “No matter what the signs may say, I refuse to believe she is truly our glorious leader, descended from Valhalla to once more lead us! Not without proof. Fenja! Menja!”
“Yes, Kaiser!” the two straightened, raising their weapons in salute.
“Bring me this pretender,” Kaiser ordered, folding his arms sternly. “Bring her to me so we can… debate.”
“Yes, Sir!”
***Scene Break***
“So we all can agree that something weird has been going on?” Madison put out, chewing on her lips in worry as she and the others waited outside the school to confront Hebert.
“Doesn’t matter,” Sophia insisted, crossing her arms petulantly as she glared at the ground in front of her. Internally, her mind was racing as well, recalling all the odd… incidents that had been going on.
“You mean how Taylor has finally grown a spine?” Emma sighed rubbing her forehead. “Like shouting down skinheads and correcting ABB members? But then she acts like she doesn’t even notice she has one when we pick on her? Or how she’s slowly been making all the skinheads behave in class and pay attention? Or how they’ve all started to basically worship the ground she walks on? And again, she doesn’t even notice?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Sophia insisted.
“Yeah,” Madison ignored Sophia and answered Emma. “I don’t wanna sound, like, weird or anything, but I’m starting to think that something unnatural is going on, you know?”
“I know,” Emma sighed. This was not what she had in mind when she decided to try and get Taylor to grow a spine by picking on her. Why was it the girl who shriveled in on herself when you threw a spitball or called her a name also the girl who would violently lecture anyone who misrepresented true Nazi history?
Then Emma remembered Auntie Annette.
“She’s just like her mother,” Emma sighed.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, here she is,” Madison perked up, turning as Hebert left the school doors. “Are we sure we still want to do this?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Yeah, we’re still doing this,” Emma assured the other girl, ignoring Sophia. The Hero had been in a bit of a slump lately, and Emma was doing what she could to either help her new best friend, or ignore her as necessary.
The three moved to confront their prey with the intention of tripping her into a mud puddle and then laughing at her and calling her names…
…when a series of SUVs, with a limo on the middle, all pulled up to the front of the school with great speed before shrieking to a halt, with the limo set directly in front of the door.
“Eeeh?” Hebert ‘eeped’, clutching her book bag and shrinking into herself in fear.
Out of the limo stepped two parahumans, the Valkyrie twins Menja and Fenja. Even as they left the limo, the two began to grow until they were twelve-foot tall, gleaming armored statues giving tribute to an elder age.
Standing on either side of the door to the limo, weapons held in salute.
“Taylor Anne Hebert,” they pronounced as one. “The Kaiser would have words with you.”
“Eeeeeh!?” Taylor offered the high-pitched return of a dormouse that had been sighted by the local pride of barn cats.
“He wishes to… debate.”
“Fine,” Taylor hissed, entire demeanor changing as she scowled, and pushed her glasses up, the glass catching the light with a sheen. “I’ve been expecting this. I have what I need, right here. Bring me to this presumptuous ‘kaiser’ so that I can put him in his place.”
The twins stood straighter, their faces alighting with wonder at the tone of their target.
“Perhaps she truly is…” Fenja muttered softly. Menja held her voice, though hope fluttered through her heart at the chance of their future ascendency.
The trio watched silently as Taylor marched with imperious grace to go confront the leader of one of the most powerful gangs in the city with nothing but her backpack and a scowl.
“Girls,” Madison began slowly as the caravan pulled away. “I think it might be best if we laid off with the whole ‘picking on Taylor’ thing we have going.”
“…It Matters.”
***Scene Break***
Kaiser sat behind his desk at the height of Medhall’s vaunted halls, the office that none but the most loyal were allowed to even know about. Around him were displays and paintings, all relics of the time that saw the rise of their glorious leader. Great landscapes as depicted by Hans Makart, Anton Romako, and Albrecht Durer all stood present. Crystal vases with Nazi symbols, all genuine antiques, were stood on various stands. The carpet itself had a swastika printed on it.
He sat ready, in the seat of his power, at the height of his hubris, to confront what very well might be in essence a living god.
And if she wasn’t, he would see this false idol thrown down!
The door was opened by his faithful body guards, and the contender entered.
Taylor Anne Hebert entered the room, and was not impressed. Her eyes narrowed, and moved to each of the paintings in turn, before giving a slow nod, as though deigning to give approval, recognizing the art as having been done by some of Hitler’s favorite artists. Then her eyes moved to the vases, and a nod began again, but paused.
“That one!” she snapped, pointing at a particular vase. “That one is a counterfeit!”
“A bold claim,” Kaiser narrowed his eyes, though he studied the memorabilia. “But I require more proof then words.”
“Watch the refraction of the light,” Hebert declared, moving to pick up two vases, one of which was the one she called a fake. She brought them both to the window and held them to it. “True crystal reflects a rainbow due to light distillation. Just glass does nothing!”
Before his impressed eyes, he could see that indeed, the light shining through one of the vases came out as though through a prism, while the other was just muddied light.
He had been had. It was indeed a counterfeit.
“I will have that merchant killed,” he promised her solemnly.
“See that you do,” Taylor sniffed, glaring at the fake. She put the real vase down and casually dropped the fake in a garbage can as she stalked through the room. Even without Kaiser’s guidance, under his still considering eyes, she located with unerring certainty the USB port that led to the ceiling projector.
“Now,” she declared, pulling out a USB. “I have a multimedia presentation to give.”
Kaiser felt a premonition. He steeled himself for the battle ahead.
He would not go down without a fight!
***Scene Break***
It was hours later, and Kaiser was pale, his skin soaked with sweat, his breath a shallow panting as he tried to keep his pride and not collapse.
“-while conditions for the Reichsautobahn were originally bad, after the strikes had gathered enough attention, the Kraft Durch Freude set about ensuring proper working conditions…”
As time had passed, despite Kaiser’s wish to keep this confrontation private, more and more of the Empire capes had drifted in, settling on the ground like supplicants at a shrine (or children in a preschool during story time) as they stared with wide wonder at what no doubt was their great leader reborn, gifting this new generation with knowledge and wisdom of the ages.
“-the work project itself was designed to revitalize the flagging German economy and, by putting to work the unemployed, change them from being a burden to active spending participants of the economy and increasing national GDP. This project was later emulated by Roosevelt in his ‘New Deal’ campaign which similarly used public works to benefit the unemployed…”
“She’s amazing…” Krieg whispered in awe, tears of inspired joy on his cheeks.
“To be able to bask in her presence is all the joy I will ever need,” Crusader admitted, sighing in inspiration. “I wish Kaiden was here to see this.”
“Once we tell her, there’s no doubt she’ll come back,” Fenja told him in consolation.
“… and that is how the Nazi party set the foundation for what would become the modern German Autobahn.” Taylor pulled up the last slide, and shrank her collapsable pointer. Her cheeks glowed with passion, and her eyes flashed with satisfied fire as she finished her presentation on historic German public works and their influence on modern society. “Any questions?”
“None, my lady,” Kaiser was forced to admit. He rose from behind his desk, knowing that he was no longer the most fit person to be seated there. “The chair is yours.”
“Thanks, I was feeling quite tired,” Taylor admitted, wiping some sweat from her forehead. “Can I have some water?”
“Of course, my lady,” Kaiser himself poured the drink, and Taylor started gulping it down, before she suddenly realized something.
“My lady?” the young teen repeated in puzzlement. Then she glanced around the room, and apparently for the first time realized just where she was and who she was with. “Eeeh?”
“Is there any doubt in your minds that this is the reincarnation of our glorious leader, Adolf Hitler?” Kaiser demanded of the room imperiously. As one, the gathered Empire parahumans rose, fervor and devotion in their eyes.
“None!” they declared, voices united as one, just like their hearts.
“Eeeeeh!?”
“Then let this be the dawning of a new age!” Kaiser proclaimed, raising his hand in the Nazi salute. The group, as one, joined him. “With our leader reborn, we will be catapulted into a new age of Nazi glory! All give praise!”
“Sieg Heil! Sieg Heil!”
“EEEHHHH!?!?”
“Heil Hebert! Heil Hebert!”
“SIEG HEIL! SIEG HEIL!”
“EEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHH!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?”
***Scene Break***
“Kiddo,” Danny began, glancing at his daughter carefully. “You seem down. Is something wrong?”
Taylor, face planted on the kitchen table, arms spread in front of her in a graceless flop, mumbled into the table unintelligibly.
“I think that means somethings wrong,” was the conclusion Danny came to. Carefully, he moved to sit across from his daughter. Gently, he reached out to pat one of her hands comfortingly. “You know you can tell me anything, don’t you Taylor?”
“Uuuuuuh,” the girl groaned, slowly sitting up. She looked down at the table, but gave her dad occasional glances, as she twiddled her fingers together nervously. “Dad? Do you love me?”
“Of course,” he told her without a moment of hesitation, smiling gently.
“And will you always love me?” Taylor insisted, shoulders hunched. “Even if I might have… accidentally… done something that might be considered bad?”
“Absolutely,” Danny assured her. “Whoever it was, I’m sure they had it coming. I’ll have some of the more discreet workers over in minutes, and we know just where to hide the body.”
“Eh?” Taylor blinked, then flushed. “No, not that! There’s no body! Not yet!”
“Do you need some help in making the body?” Danny asked, smiling encouragingly as a father should.
“There is no body!” Taylor insisted, shrieking in embarrassment. “I just sort of accidentally took over the Empire 88, and now they’re worshiping me as the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler!”
Danny paused. Slowly, he took of his glasses, giving them a light polish as he sighed nostalgically.
“Just like your mother,” he told her, smiling gently at his beautiful little angel.
“Eeeeh?” Taylor blinked. “Wait, how is that anything like my mother!?”
“Well, she did sort of accidentally take over the Lustrumites,” Danny remembered fondly.
“EEEEHHH?”
“Her full maiden name was ‘Annette Rose Sheffield’. Apparently, they thought her initials stood for ‘Actually Reincarnated Sappho’. They took her in and worshiped her like a goddess.”
“EEEEHHHHH!?!?!?!?!?”
“Lustrum even volunteered to go to the Bird Cage to take the fall for her when things got too rough.”
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!”