Chapter Text
"Eugh. Look at her arms." Sophia chuckled at Emma's words, my jaw shifted uncomfortably. Everyone around us had gone quiet.
What happened to her? Ever since Summer camp... Ever since Sophia. It felt like she kept me around out of pity, we used to be sisters, we used to be close.
I had almost declined the invitation to the Cape Masquerade event. declined a chance to meet the Wards and the protectorate because being around her and Sophia was just so... miserable now.
Tonight was kinda okay, Glory Girl and some of the Wards had been chatting idly with us. It was cool, even though I couldn't really get myself to engage.
And the way she'd coached me on how to act around Sophia...
I was just tired. So tired. And now, she was bullying a disabled girl for holding up the line due to costume trouble?
"What the hell is wrong with you?" The words slipped out of my mouth, Glory girl stopped moving, she was clearly about to speak up as well.
Emma turned to me, she was wearing a cheap Vista costume and the green visor made her eyes super hard to make out, I'm sure the same went for the lenses on my Armsmaster helmet. But her emotions, annoyance, was made clear by the sharp change from a smile to a harsh line in her mouth.
"What? Why'd she even come if her costume wasn't finished or whatever." Her whole body was turned toward me now, one of her knuckles settling on her hip.
"You're just-" I paused, swallowing. "she's not hurting anyone, you're enjoying this- what happened to you?"
She seemed a bit taken aback by the last words, pausing to chew on her lip for a moment.
"What happened to you? God, read the room Taylor, nobody wants you here- moping off at the sides, you've been like this ever since-" I spat in her face.
"Don't ever talk to me again. You don't get to bring up my mom like that you-" I didn't finish the words, just storming away.
I found an isolated balcony near the corner of the event hall, leaning up against the railing with my arms crossed. Who the hell did she think she was?
...God I missed Mom, I missed when everything was good.
I was taken out of my stupor by a noise behind me, a sort of shuffling. I turned.
Glory girl really lived up to her name. She had great skin, and her costume complimented her hair with just a generally great synergy. You could see the lithe muscle on her figure and her... I made myself stop ogling. She had a sorta awkward smile on her face.
"You okay?" She walked forward a bit, I wondered for a moment if she was walking on purpose because her flight could be a bit intimidating.
"I'll be okay. Really just want to be alone right now." I didn't know if that was entirely true, but Glory Girl definitely wasn't the person I wanted near me right now.
"You sure?" She was right next to me now, I wasn't meeting her eyes. "Cmon, you got any questions about being a cape? I'm wide open right now give me your best shot."
I met her eyes at that, taking a second.
"Are you walking right now because flying is intimidating?" She chuckled a bit.
"Nah I wasn't actually thinking about it that hard." She started looking out over the city, smiling less awkwardly now. "When I first got my powers, I flew all over the house until mom made it a rule, keep my feet on the ground inside. I guess I just got used to it."
"That's like... a sitcom." I mumbled the words without thinking.
"Really?"
"It's simple, relatable humor with a twist. I bet there's some show from Aleph about a superhero family that has something similar."
"Yeah maybe." She paused. "Well, I'll get out of your hair, I just wanted to say, good on you."
"Good on me?" I turned to face her directly.
"Emma's a piece of work." She leaned back.
"She didn't used to be... I blame Sophia, she started getting like that after they met."
"Well, still." She stepped back. "C-ya Taylor."
"Yeah, thanks."
I continued looking out on the city. That... wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Not as hard to get my words out. I felt different now, an odd feeling in my chest.
---
I chose to walk home from the event. Too awkward to share Emma's ride and it wasn't too long of a walk back to my house.
The streets weren't illuminated, something had clearly happened to the street lights. In the darkness all the greys of the city seemed to meld and melt into blobby, wet smudges.
I could make my way through it well enough, there weren't any other people on the road besides a nondescript man in a hoodie walking down the street. I did my best not to pay a lot of attention to him, but still be aware.
My costume helmet was tucked underneath my arm. It was sorta uncomfortable to hold, too many sharp edges.
The man up the street crossed the road, we were walking towards each other now. I didn't have an opportunity to change sides, there was a line of cars blocking me from the road. I was probably overthinking this. It was going to be fine. Still, I sped up slightly the closer I got to him.
Sadly that wasn't enough, the man lunged, pulling me off to the side. He took me by my waist first, pushing me up against the wall and then dragging me down. My neck hurt with the whiplash and the breath was taken out of me as I hit the sidewalk.
He was saying something, laying on top of me. I made a panicked scramble, pushing my hips up and dragging my self out from underneath him with my legs. The run I broke out into was clumsy, but after a second, I realized that he wasn't following me. I took deep breaths, and kept running.
I moved for a full, uninterrupted hour. Stopping and starting my sprints and jogs before I decided walking was okay to do again. Partly because I couldn't keep up with the pace I had set with my fading adrenaline everything was quiet again, I was almost home.
The shuffling came first as I drifted in front of an alley next to the sidewalk. This tackle was even rougher than the first one. Me and the man tumbled off the sidewalk into the empty street.
"You saw my face-" He was out of breath as he spoke. "Gonna gut you girl- Gonna fucking gut you." He had followed me? You saw my face- I hadn't, last time I hadn't seen his face. Now I did, greasy, bald, in the same hooded jacket I had seen him in last time.
His full weight was on me this time. There was a slight opening though, one of his arms was fully splayed out not restricting me. I made to move for it, only for him to pull his arm back next to my body holding a knife.
There were heroes, I was just with the heroes, just with Glory Girl. The man reeled back and headbutted me, my nose was smashed in. This wasn't fair, I hadn't even seen his face, this wasn't fair.
I felt like I couldn't stop my body from squirming I remembered standing up to Emma, where was that energy, where was my resistance. I couldn't draw on anything, there was no control.
The man reeled back with his knife hand and brought it down on my throat. I gasped, I didn't feel pain. I didn't feel anything. The weight on top of me, the man, was fuzzy. I was dead.
Could I just see Mom now?
Please?
Could she hold me and tell me that I did good?
Or even that I messed up. That I had failed Dad.
When I opened my eyes, I was still on the street. I made an undignified noise of confusion, the man was gone. I stayed there, in the middle of the road for a long time before I even somewhat understood.
There was a new layer, a new sense, a new something. Broiling energy inside me that I could dedicate to different things, ideas, something. I wasn't sure.
Beside me in the road, the man's knife was crumpled like an accordion, discarded. He had run? It took a little bit for me to gather the motivation to stand. The movement made me realize something, barely visible. Something coating me, an energy colored a deep denim blue.
---
I studied my hero notebook, laying on my bed after a shit day at school.
It took me a bit, flying sessions around the boat graveyard and even some testing around the house when I was home alone. But eventually, my powers made some semblance of sense.
I had an energy field around me. the 'Alexandria package', flight, strength, invulnerability. But each of my powers was dependent on a limited amount of energy that I had to consciously devote to them.
Devote to strength, I increased my ability to interact with other objects. Lifting and supporting weight, increasing oomph when I impacted something.
Devote to invulnerability, I decreased object's ability to interact with me. Dulling impacts, generally increasing the amount of damage I could take.
Flight was the odd one. Simultaneously, it would increase the speed, fine control of myself in the air, and my senses in order to comprehend what was happening at high speeds. The first time I had dedicated all of my energy to flight had been... scary.
Complete and utter control of myself in the air, turning on a dime, moving faster than a human body was meant to move. With nothing in durability I was unable to move my arms. They were stuck to my sides with the air pressure. I bit down on my lips from the inside of my mouth to keep them stuck together. When I finally stopped they were bleeding significantly.
The other scary one was strength. Sure, I could blow apart a brick wall with barely any effort but I wasn't immune to flying rubble taking my head off.
Durability hadn't been scary, but it had been odd. I couldn't... feel anything. I was breathing, but I couldn't feel the air come in or out. There was something of a perfect lukewarm temperature, perfectly neutral in everything.
Perfect neutral was... basic. everything was perfectly manageable. My biggest asset was the versatility of it all, shifting on the fly wasn't instantaneous, the more amount of energy shifted the slower it transferred. But shifting small amounts, adding little bits of flight to movements, prepping for impacts... I was happy with it. My power. Glad that I hadn't ended up with something that hurt me.
I was going out tonight.
My costume wasn't good, kitbashed, but it was enough. And I was ready. I mattered, I could do good. According to my research last night, aspects of powers or types of powers transferred. That night on the balcony with Glory Girl, before the assault. She had- it was weird to thing about. To credit the only good thing about a really shitty moment in my life to someone else.
It was fine. I could stop it now, I could stop people from being punching bags. I could.
I was in control of myself now.