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Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

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F/F

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Parahumans Series - WildbowX-Men - All Media Types

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Victoria Dallon | Glory Girl | Antares & Taylor Hebert | Skitter | Weaver

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Alt-Power Taylor HebertWhat Was I Thinking?Phoenix Force (X-Men)

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English

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Published:2025-08-09Updated:2025-11-02Words:248,706Chapters:39/?Comments:242Kudos:457Bookmarks:258Hits:29,966

Firebird

chibipoe

Chapter 7: Slumber 1.7

Chapter Text

Thursday.

I stared at my stomach in the mirror, eyeing the nasty looking bruise there with a frown. It still ached, but It wasn't slowing me down too much and I didn't think anything was broken or cracked. I still couldn't help but hiss a little as muscles protested the poking and prodding, before I let my shirt drop and stared blearily at the mirror. I had to squint at small things and I frowned, looking around for my glasses.

Oh, right. They were crushed to bits in the mall parking lot. I grimaced. I would have to go get some replacements. Oh well, I was due for a check-up anyway if my memory was right. Leaving the bathroom, I went for my room to get the rest of my things. My backpack had been torn enough that I didn't want to use it for school. Thankfully, I had an old messenger bag that was a bit worn, but still functional.

Going downstairs was only possible from having taken those stairs so many times. I waved absently at my dad, who was assembling his lunch.

"Do you need me to take you by the optometrist after school?" he asked, looking in my direction as I entered the kitchen.

"I haven't made an appointment yet," I said, grabbing and orange and starting to peel it. "Still kicking myself for putting them down."

"Don't do that," he murmured. "Blame whoever made off with them."

"I was thinking," I began while peeling away the last of the orange's skin, "that I might try contacts instead of glasses."

My dad looked up, tilting his head in that manner that I knew meant he was thinking about it. "That's not a bad idea. Make the appointment and we'll see what prices look like."

"That'd be nice," I said, peering at the clock while chucking the last piece of orange into my mouth. "I need to go catch the bus. I'll see you after school!"

"Have a good day, Taylor!" my dad called out as I left, blinking as the early morning sun made me wince slightly. A whole day without my glasses. I would be lucky if I didn't have a headache after first period.

I reached the stop for the bus and there were a few other people waiting. I nodded to them, then leaned against the plexiglass that made up the rain cover, checking my watch for when the bus would pass by.

The bus still had five minutes and I put my arm down, wincing as I heard something that almost felt like static. It was like sound, but not, a scratchy, uneven sensation, springing to life close to me. I twitched a bit and stepped away from the plexiglass, glancing toward the others standing around, but no one was holding anything that could have produced the sound that wasn't.

"Weird," I muttered to myself, earning a couple of odd looks from the people close enough to hear me apparently talking to myself.

The bus arrived and I found an empty seat quickly, closing my eyes so I could relax for a moment as I leaned against the glass. Even with the noise and vibration of the engine as it rolled through town, I almost missed my stop by nearly dozing off.

There weren't many students present yet, but the gang colors while fewer were still prominent enough that you couldn't miss them. Whatever their point had been for coming out so openly, I guessed they had accomplished it. I didn't normally go to the cafeteria for breakfast, but I was still strangely hungry so I made that my first destination since I had arrived earlier than I expected to.

Two sausage biscuits later and I felt a little better, but the sound I had heard before the bus arrived had come back, if fainter than it had been, pulses of sound that had me fighting the urge to turn around and look for the source.

I forced myself to ignore the sound, drinking the container of orange juice when it abruptly stopped and I heard something that almost made sense. I turned and saw Madison approaching. When our eyes met, she stopped and looked hesitant for a moment, then simply nodded before walking past without doing or saying anything to me.

"What… just happened?" I said aloud, frowning slightly. Usually, Madison was always ready with an insult or something petty like spitballs aimed at me. She never just nodded and went on. I scanned the cafeteria quickly, in case her out of the ordinary behavior was a distraction, but no one was approaching to play some prank on me.

I turned back toward where Madison was in line, still frowning. The sound returned for a moment and I could almost make sense of it. Madison's behavior had changed for some reason. But why? Was it something I had done?

I grabbed my trash and headed for the exit, thinking of last night. Those men had been afraid of me and it was something I had made happen. Was her nodding to me something I had done as well? I left the cafeteria as quickly as I could, wincing when the sound returned as I navigated down the hall. What was causing it?

I found an empty classroom and leaned against the wall, trying to clear my head, to think. Last night, I had done something to those muggers. Was this related? Cold certainty trickled down my neck as realization. It was. It had to be. I had some other powers aside from the precog and shield? I fished in my bag and took out a notebook, putting it on the desk with my back to the door so no one could see.

I hadn't thought about it last night, or this morning, but maybe… I stared at the notebook, holding my hand above it and focusing on the feeling from last night. The notebook shifted slightly, so little movement that I thought I might have imagined it when, unsteadily, uneven, it began to rise toward my hand.

An almost giddy laugh escaped as I stared at the notebook, feeling it move in response to my thoughts. There was no sense of weight, but there was… I didn't know how to describe it. A sense of pressure. What I was doing took some effort and I thought there was, for a moment, the faintest hints of blue surrounding the notebook.

I wanted to shout out loud in excitement. I had something tangible. Not just being able to see the future, but telekinesis. I could move things with my mind. I let a smile creep onto my face as I stared at the rotating notebook.

The door opened abruptly behind me and I gasped, my concentration lapsing. The notebook fell like a puppet with it's strings cut and I made a grab for it, but only succeeded in knocking it to the floor.

"You're in early," the teacher's aide said, obviously recognizing me even I couldn't put a name to her face. "Sorry if I startled you, just dropping some things off for the Professor." She deposited a folder on his desk and raised an eyebrow as I scrambled to pick up my notebook and smooth any pages out.

"It's ok," I said, barely able to calm my racing heart. Between her coming in and what I had figured out… "I was just surprised, is all." I tucked the notebook back into my bag before heading toward my seat. Professor Singer's class was my first one of the day and I should have paid more attention to which room I went in. I could have been moving things and had him walk in.

The man barely made a sound when he was moving around the room during class. There were rumors floating around that he had been some sort of military officer after the way he had cowed some of the gang members. I wasn't sure about that, but the few times I watched him out of the corner of my eye, it was like watching some great big predatory animal prowling around. A well-muscled, predatory animal that happened to resemble a man.

I flushed, shaking my head and got my sketchbook out to distract myself from stupid thoughts. I had other things to worry about, like the blank page in front of me. I tapped the pencil on the edge of the paper, biting my lip thoughtfully. The sketches I had made so far, none of them felt right. I needed something different. Something that was me now and not hideously impractical.

My eyes fell on my sleeve, the gold bands contrasting with the black prompting me to smile a bit. It really was a nice jacket and I needed to think of a way to repay Vicki and Dean. Well, mostly Dean. But I didn't have the slightest idea where to start, since he clearly had nearly everything he could want, if he thought nothing of spending that much money on someone he barely knew.

The pencil started moving across the paper as I watched people filter into the room slowly. The bursts of noise had returned and I felt a distinctly uncomfortable sensation in my stomach that told me I was likely going to have some other problems soon. I kept drawing though, letting the pen move freely to distract me from both the noise and other issues. Hopefully, I could get through today without feeling too bad.

~~~~~~~~

The class room was mostly full as Colin walked in, his briefcase and a satchel in one hand, a cup of coffee in the other. He waved absently to the class and sat his belongings down, scanning the room quickly to determine that everyone was present. Seeing that everyone that was supposed to be there was in attendance, he crossed to the front of his desk and leaned against it.

"Today, I believe we're going to spend the class discussing instead of just giving you an assignment," he said, looking them over. "We've covered a great deal in the few weeks I've been here, but I want to go in a different direction today. Instead of discussing and parroting what we read in a book, I want your opinions."

When he saw he had their attention, even those students who were normally disruptive, he pushed away from the desk, pacing across the front of the room. "Put simply, I'm sure it's something we take for granted now, almost thirty years since the appearance of Scion. None of you are old enough to know a world where we didn't have parahumans. That is the world we live in, however, so I want to know your thoughts on that. How do you feel knowing that you live in a city where you could become a casualty of a fight between capes simply because they got out of control?"

"We have the Protectorate and the Wards! They wouldn't let something like that happen." one of the students in the back yelled. He let the faintest of smiles appear as he focused on the speaker.

"As much as I believe in the Protectorate and their younger counterparts, Eric," he said, "I'm aware of the fact that they cannot be everywhere all the time. For instance, last week, at Cornell University, a student obtained powers and used them to threaten and harm many of her classmates and instructors."

"The circumstances under which she obtained those abilities are, at present, being withheld from the public, but what I do know is she constructed several bombs that she threatened the university with, as well as inflicting injury and death on many there." he finished. "Without powers, would the damage she inflicted be anywhere near as severe?"

He scanned the room, looking at the students there, nodding as a blonde raised her hand. "Yes, Jerrica?"

The girl dropped her hand, tugging on one of her star shaped earrings in a nervous gesture. "Are you saying we shouldn't place our trust in them?"

"Of course he isn't," the first boy said, sneering. "Are you stupid?"

"That will do, Mr. Raymond," Colin said sharply. "There are better ways to express your disagreement with another. That will be detention this afternoon with me." He turned his attention back to the girl.

"What I am saying is I want all of you to consider the effect parahumans have had on our society. We all have choices to make as we go through life and consider this, no one's choices are less important than another's, but you choose to turn left at an intersection instead of right. How does that affect you and everyone around you? As much as I am loathe to consider anyone else's choices less important, there is a question of scale."

"What do you mean, Professor?" another blonde asked, looking at him. He eyed the girl and her blonde bob cut, searching his memory quickly for her name while considering how to answer.

"Well, Meg," he said, "Consider. You have two people. One is an ordinary person like you and I and the other has powers. We'll say the other has the power to build things. Perhaps they develop technology similar to that old show, The Six Million Dollar Man, and are able to safely implant it in a person."

"Bionics, you mean?" Meg asked, shifting in her seat slightly. The reference made her uncomfortable for some reason. Colin made a mental note to look into that later.

"Exactly," he replied. "Now, our bionics tinker takes a random person off the street and tests his or her work, making that random person many times stronger and faster than most anyone they encounter. Perhaps they have shoulder-mounted sonic weapons, or hidden wrist lasers."

"Unfortunately, our tinker hasn't done any sort of research into the person he is giving these abilities to," Colin went on. "The person he performs his work on decides that he is going to rob a bank, because he has power now. With his enhancements, he is stronger and faster than anyone he faces. Several people are hurt because the man has no regard for anyone's safety and believes himself invincible."

"So, we have two choices that have affected many people's lives," Colin said. "The tinker, for just deciding to pursue his research and change someone without thinking of any potential consequences, created a situation where another person chose to hurt many people solely for his own benefit." He paused, looking over the room and saw he had everyone's attention, even, apparently, Taylor Hebert's, though her pencil was still moving across the notepad she had on her desk. Drawing again, he assumed, frowning internally as she wasn't giving any apparent regard for what was on the paper.

"Meanwhile, we have our person who has no powers," he continued. "He has a wife who is very ill and needs medical treatment. Their insurance won't provide for it, claiming it as a pre-existing condition and outside their coverage. The company he works for is suffering a decline due to heavy competition and he has no one he can call on to help him. Desperate, he elects to rob a bank as well because he needs the money to help his wife."

"But won't that just get him into trouble?" another student asked, a broad-shouldered member of Winslow's football team. "He'll be a criminal."

"You'll find, Jonathan," he told the young man, "that people in desperate circumstances are willing to do a lot that they wouldn't normally consider. In this case, he is willing to do this because he doesn't see any other options. Even so, he plans everything out meticulously, trying to account for every possibility.

"Why does he do that?" was the reply. "To avoid hurting anyone?"

"An excellent hypothesis, Mr. Quick," he said, leaning to one side of his desk and making a note on one of his notepads. "One that is more or less correct, as well. Our beleaguered family man is an engineer by trade and accustomed to thinking of unorthodox solutions. He can't account for every possibility, admittedly, as that would be largely impossible, but he is thorough enough that his preparations allow him to perform the robbery without hurting anyone."

"He thinks he didn't hurt anyone," a brown haired, lanky teen said from the back row, looking bored. "But what about the money he stole? The people who were terrorized while he was robbing the bank?"

"Well, by his view, no one was hurt, Kevin. You see, he was considering only physical hurt. Anyone that was healthy when he entered was still healthy when he left. Abstracts weren't entering into his mind at all when he decided to do this." Colin explained. "Which brings me to the point, at last. Choice. Our choices define who we are, as I said. However, as much as I am loath to consider one person's choices greater than any other's, a parahuman's choices do tend to have significantly more impact than those of someone who isn't."

He paced across the front of the room. "So, that's what I want you to all discuss today. Choices made by parahumans and how they affect the world around them. I don't have any particular expectations as to how you pair up as long as you do, but I do expect each of you to converse on the topic with as many of your classmates as possible, so no forming a group and ignoring the rest of the room for the period."

Colin pulled out his chair and settled down at his desk. "If you have any questions, feel free to approach me, otherwise, you have your assignment for the period." He opened his laptop and began going over some of his work as the classroom erupted into conversation.

~~~~~~~~

Catherine winced slightly as she sat in the uncomfortable desk, listening to the teacher drone on about something utterly meaningless. That they spent so much time trying to attach meaning to Shakespeare made her want to cry. It was just Shakespeare. He didn't write anything to attach some grand meaning to his plays. They were the equivalent of television at the time.

She turned her head to look out the window, cradling her chin in her palm. A vibration against her leg drew her attention and she glanced toward the teacher, who was busy reading something aloud while peering at the pages of the book she held. The woman's nose was so far into the book that Catherine doubted she could see anything else.

Shaking her head, she slipped her phone from her pocket and flipped it open, holding it out of sight and reading the message before sending a quick reply to Minako. Closing it, she looked at her fingers and grimaced. The phone went back in her pocket and she fished out a cuticle pusher and some wipes, cleaning away the black smudges beneath her nails and wiping her fingers clean.

The wipes were stealthily tucked away in a plastic baggie sticking out the top of her backpack for throwing away later. The teacher finally withdrew from her book and scanned the room, looking sternly at them before giving them an assignment about Romeo and Juliet just as the class ended. Like that hadn't been obvious from the way she prattled on about the playwright. She couldn't get out of that classroom fast enough. What did they think was the point of making them study this, really?

Minako was waiting near the cafeteria, looking bored, though one who didn't know her might think she was merely impassive. Her expression brightened as Catherine approached and she inclined her head.

"Waiting long?"

"No," Minako shook her head. "I was merely thinking on someone else's problem's."

"Taylor, you mean?" Catherine asked, glancing down the hall as she saw Professor Singer reaching up on a stool to tinker with a light fixture. Since when did the teachers do that? Wasn't that the maintenance man or janitor's job?

Minako nodded. "That girl worries me and what I have heard as rumor… worries me more."

"So?" Catherine shrugged. "She tries something and we kick her ass, problem solved."

"I do not think she will be so obvious as to try what she did yesterday again," Minako said carefully. "I find that Taylor truly needs friends and I would not care for her to be hurt further by her tormentor."

"Well, what do we do then?" Catherine grimaced, holding the door open so they could enter the cafeteria.

"I had a thought…" Minako began and as she continued, Catherine paid full attention, listening to her friend's ideas intently.

~~~~~~~~

Sophia grinned to herself as she stretched for the physical education class. Hebert stood across on the other side of the gathering on the track. There were some sort of repairs going on in the gym, but she didn't know what exactly. Still, the phys-ed coach was also in charge of the track team and that gave her a lot more leeway than she got from other teachers. It had been child's play to get the coach to have them do laps and other track activities since the usual waste of time stuff was unavailable with the gym closed.

Stretching her legs one last time, she straightened, staring across the field toward the school building. Was that the new teacher, the Professor dumb-ass or whatever he insisted on being called? What was he doing outside right now? She frowned, then shook her head as he finished whatever he was doing and went back in. Not her problem.

At the signal, she took off, enjoying the feel of the wind whipping past her as she quickly outpaced everyone else. Even keeping herself to a slower pace, she left the rest in the dust. It was the only time, other than when she was out at night, that she felt comfortable. Nothing could touch her, nothing could catch her. She was free. Just her and the wind.

She opened her eyes after a moment. She knew the track without even having to look and she was already halfway around the track and the rest were just making it past the first curve. She would lap them before they had completed a full lap of their own. She pushed out a bit more speed, sending her close to the starting line before backing off a bit, letting the burn in her legs settle back down. She took a moment, scanning the line of runners until she spotted Hebert, who was leading the group.

Fancies herself a runner, does she? Sophia almost sneered and picked up the pace, intending to lap Hebert. At the rate she was going, Sophia was certain Hebert would outpace the others shortly, leaving them behind. Once they were far enough from the others, then she could make sure Hebert knew her place and it would look like a complete accident. She had had enough of them when she was first starting out that she was confident she could replicate one now.

Several more laps passed and she was almost grudgingly impressed by the time she passed the starting mark for the sixth time. A lot of them had fallen back or given up, but Hebert was still going, evenly pacing herself. Sophia knew Hebert hadn't crossed the start as many times as she had, but it was somewhat impressive.

Sophia came around the curve, bringing herself even with Taylor, who glanced in her direction briefly, but otherwise showed no reaction.

Now.

She deliberately veered into Hebert's lane, looking like she had just drifted off course. She shot a foot out and aimed for the other girl's own feet, intending to trip her and send her sprawling. Then she'd call for the coach and apologize profusely, claiming she drifted off course on autopilot.

Her foot fell short as Hebert veered away before contact would be made. Prepared to stumble, she missed a step and her feet tangled on each other. Before she could correct, she pitched forward, hearing a popping sound in the same moment she felt her knees scrape the pavement. A choked off sound reached her ears and it took a second to realize it was her voice as she curled in, reaching for her ankle.

"Coach!" Hebert was calling out. "Sophia needs help!"

"Don't worry," she heard Hebert telling her as she gritted her teeth. "The coach is on her way. You should pay a bit more attention I think. I know what it's like to get lost while enjoying running, but going on autopilot is never a good idea."

The bitch was mocking her. Sophia hissed, wanting to snap at Hebert, but the other girl was standing somewhere out of sight.

"What the hell happened?" the coach demanded. Sophia tried to say something but her ankle released a fresh wave of pain and she curled tighter in on herself.

"I think she got too focused," Hebert's voice rang out. "She drifted off course and nearly collided with me. I veered off, but I guess she came out of tunnel vision, missed a step and went down before she could correct."

The coach nodded and Sophia saw him kneeling down near her ankle, tentatively peeling her hand away from it. The hissed sound was all she needed to know.

"Damnit, Hess," he said. "This is going to have you out for weeks, at least."

"Should I get the nurse?" Hebert asked.

Coach Reslin nodded. "Tell her to bring a chair or something. Hess isn't going to be walking on this until we've gotten it looked at. Maybe not even then."

"I'll be right back!" Hebert said, sounding genuinely concerned before she ran off. A lie. Sophia ground her teeth together. The entire thing was an act. The bitch had set her up! Just like before, it was like she had seen it coming and moved in just the right way to cause her to crash and screw up her ankle.

Sophia sucked in air, trying to ignore the blinding pain. Like she had known it was coming. Weeks of this. No one could be that lucky. The bitch had to be a parahuman or have one doing something for her to swing the odds in her favor. Whatever else was going on at school, she knew what she was doing now. This was the last straw. Hebert had to go.

~~~~~~~~

I waved goodbye to Catherine and Minako, heading toward the bus stop. Dad had another hour before he was off and I was going to be able to make it home before that. I ran a hand through my hair and winced at how sweaty it felt. I had run a lot more than I had intended to, but it had helped ease the constant sounds that I kept hearing. I was certain I knew what they were now, but I didn't want to think about that.

I needed a shower when I got home, and I needed it bad. A quick look ahead and I knew I would have time to do that before my dad got back. I sighed, glancing back toward the school for a moment. I'd only had a moment to decide what to do when Sophia tried to trip me. There had been a couple of possibilities and I had chosen that. I thought about it for a moment and finally shook my head. Sophia had chosen to try something and got what she deserved. One step less and I would have been the one with a wrecked ankle.

Choices. I thought about what Professor Singer had said today, about the choices we made and how the choices made by people with powers could have more impacts than those made by the people who didn't. I had chosen the option that made Sophia get hurt.

Was that the choice I wanted to make all the time? I bit my lip, thinking about it while taking my case of colored pencils out to start adding some color to the figure I had drawn earlier. Blacks and golds for this one would work best, I thought.

No. I didn't want to do that, to benefit from someone else's pain. Seeing her ankle twisted like that and how much pain she was in and realizing it was my fault. I didn't like it. Maybe she would if she had done that to me, but that was on her.

I wanted to be better than that. I would be better than that.

"This weekend," I murmured to myself, scribbling a note with a plain pencil in the corner of the page for myself. There were some things I needed to buy, but I think I would be able to start working on the costume I was coloring right now.

The bus arrived and absently flashed my I.D. to him, switching to a gold color and beginning to fill in the symbol on the chest. Wasn't there some sort of parahuman who worked with fabric operating somewhere near downtown? I might be able to buy some fabric off her… if I was careful. I didn't know if there were rules for just approaching a cape like that and the last thing I wanted was to offend a cape by accident because I didn't know something.

Something to look at once I was home and I could check Parahumans Online, I thought as I switched back to black to fill in some empty spaces. This outfit actually had a mask. I smiled a bit at that thought. After so many without masks, having one that did was nice. The way it covered my face would change its lines enough that if I wore it, it wouldn't immediately connect to me.

I stared at the outfit for a bit longer before closing the notebook and tucking it into my bag. Choices did help decide who we were going to be. After today, I think I knew what I- no, who I, wanted to be.

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Entire Work ← Previous Chapter Next Chapter → Chapter Index Comments Hide Creator's Style Share Download

Work Header

Rating:

Not Rated

Archive Warning:

Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Category:

F/F

Fandoms:

Parahumans Series - WildbowX-Men - All Media Types

Relationship:

Victoria Dallon | Glory Girl | Antares & Taylor Hebert | Skitter | Weaver

Characters:

Additional Tags:

Alt-Power Taylor HebertWhat Was I Thinking?Phoenix Force (X-Men)

Language:

English

Stats:

Published:2025-08-09Updated:2025-11-02Words:248,706Chapters:39/?Comments:242Kudos:457Bookmarks:258Hits:29,966

Firebird

chibipoe

Chapter 8: Slumber 1.8

Chapter Text

Friday. 4:12 PM

Colin pinched the bridge of his nose, wishing desperately that he had his suit with its built-in tension soothers. This entire situation had gone downhill so fast and all because of a seriously disturbed girl's inability to deal with being shown up by someone she had looked down upon.

"Has emergency services gotten everyone hurt to BB Memorial?" he asked, surveying the milling crowd of students being directed by police and other faculty. Parents were arriving to pick up their children and he saw and heard several arguing loudly with the authorities, demanding answers they couldn't provide.

"We're making one last sweep of the school for any possible hold-outs, but I believe so," Miss Militia said. "Director Piggot was not pleased that you tasked PRT resources to deal with a situation that didn't involve parahumans."

"She can address those concerns with me directly," he shrugged, loosening his tie. "Given the location, I judged containing the situation quickly and efficiently was more important than whatever her concerns are. As you know now, though, it wasn't a civilian case anyway."

"You're not talking about Shadow Stalker, are you?" Militia asked, glancing his way. "You were worried about our pyrokinetic acting out again?"

"I considered that a possibility," he admitted. "One among many. The recent influx of gang activity had me worried as well. The E88 have at least one parahuman of the appropriate age to be at Winslow, to say nothing of some of the independents who have refused Wards membership."

Miss Militia looked thoughtful. "That could have turned Winslow inside out. Our initial ratings on some of the independents… a fight breaking out could have easily leveled the school."

"Still, it could have been worse," he turned his eyes toward where the new crews were milling around outside the limits of the school property. "At least what happened with Stalker was only witnessed by a few students. If that had been widespread, this could have been much worse. The last thing we need is the news running parahuman fear pieces. They would connect the dots to Hebert's situation last month in a hurry and we'd already have Parahuman terrorizing normal people garbage littering the air."

"It would be the truth, Colin," she pointed out gently.

"Doesn't make it not garbage," he sighed and looked toward the school for a moment. "I'm sorry. This has been a stressful week. I got the monitoring systems running and this happened. I'm still no closer to deducing who the pyrokinetic is than I was when this started."

"You're still against Hebert, then?"

"I'm divided," he admitted. "I hadn't seen anything to suggest it, but I'm considering that she might have triggered. The way she dealt with Hess after provoking her, it was like she knew exactly what was going to happen, precisely the buttons to push. It appeared too… easy, I guess."

"Perhaps she took up martial arts?" Militia said. "A parahuman power doesn't have to be the first answer all the time."

"She hasn't," he said absently, starting toward the school, Miss Militia following. "I performed a search for any recent applicants into any of the schools around Brockton Bay and none of them matched her description."

"Colin," Militia said patiently. "Most schools don't record keep that way, to say nothing that it couldn't be merely training from someone she knows."

"I'm not discounting any of those possibilities," he replied. "But it seems unlikely, nonetheless. Had she recently taken up martial arts, there wouldn't have been enough time for such smooth, coordinated responses to become ingrained. This was something I would have expected from Vista with years of training."

He glanced sideways as they moved down the hall, noting her surprise. "What?"

"I wasn't aware you had such a high opinion of her skills," she observed.

"Creativity in place of outright strength is worthy of respect," he grunted. "The decision to keep her in a support role was not mine. I had no hand in some of marketing's decisions either."

"You still don't like the PR department," she almost laughed.

"For a variety of reasons," he agreed. "Not the least of which is some of the things they put my emblem on." He nodded toward the door ahead, where a pair of PRT guards stood in place. "That aside, I think we should see about piecing together how all of this happened."

"Agreed," Militia said. "Shall I take point, since you're still incognito?"

"Actually, let me take lead," he decided, wishing again that he was fully geared. His suite of lie detection systems would be very useful right now. The two PRT agents held the door open and he entered behind Miss Militia. Catherine Greene sat at one end of the conference room that was typically used for parent and teacher meetings.

"Ms. Greene," he said, settling into one of the chairs while Miss Militia took another. "Our apologies for taking so long. There were a lot of issues outside that we had to oversee."

The girl shrugged. "I've got nothing to do except go home, Which I'd like to do. This room's kind of boring."

"Well, we just have a few questions about today and then you're free to go," he told her.

"Let me guess," she said, apparently in an ill-temper. "I'm stuck here until I answer your questions, am I right? I think my dad might have some issues with unlawfully detaining a minor."

"Nothing of the sort," Miss Militia murmured. "We would just like to obtain a clearer picture of what set off today's events and as you were intimately involved, we were hoping you might be able to fill in some of the pieces for us."

The girl stared at them for a moment, then snorted. "It'll get me out of here faster than anything else, though I still don't think my dad will be thrilled about this. So, ask your questions."

"How was it that you became aware of the animosity between Ms. Hebert and Ms. Hess?" Miss Militia asked.

Catherine stared again for a moment before shaking her head. "Well, rumor was pretty strong, but after a friend and I were witness to psycho-girl trying to harass Taylor more than once, we were concerned she might try something worse…"

~~~~~~~~

Friday, 9:47 AM

The library was quiet for her free period and Catherine leaned back in her chair, the book she had been reading forgotten. The morning had been dull, though hearing about what had happened yesterday on the track during PE had her split between trying to smile and frown. She had passed Sophia in the hall earlier, who was moving about slowly with the aid of a cane and looking almost murderous as she limped about.

The rumors she had overhead in the cafeteria at breakfast suggested that her injury sidelined her for some upcoming track meet, and that she had been expected to carry Winslow through several events. It was the sort of thing that she expected would invite retaliation, as rumors ran the range from Sophia jumped out a window and broke her ankle to Taylor beating Sophia down with a hurdle from the track until it broke to pieces.

"You are worried," Minako murmured, drawing her attention.

"Well, yeah," she admitted. "If even half of what we've heard about the crap Taylor got from her is true, then I expect her to try something bad today. Retaliation for yesterday."

"Have you given thought to what we discussed yesterday? It could be useful and she might agree," Minako asked.

Catherine frowned. "I thought about that, but I'm not sure we should. That… we'd be going all in and I'm… not right now, no." Minako nodded slightly in acknowledgement and looked down at the assignments she had been working on.

"There is the alternative of employing Hess' preferred tactics against her," Minako said. "Injured as she is, we would have little difficulty."

"Punting the stupid bitch into next year would be gratifying," Catherine replied. "Just… she reminds me of someone and I can't place exactly who. Rubs me the wrong way though."

"You are opposed to that?" Minako asked.

"Yeah," she sighed. "As much as I want to pound her face in, she's got pull with someone. Track, probably. She'd just whine to them and we'd be hauled off to the office."

"What do you recommend, then?"

"Best I've got right now would be one of us sticks with Taylor as much as we can, the other keeps an eye on Hess?" Catherine mused.

"We do not share all of our classes with her," Minako pointed out. "We do not even share all of our classes with each other. Unfeasible."

"Hell if I know what to do then," Catherine said, crossing her arms. "What do you suggest?"

"What does anyone do with a complicated situation that involves one of their friends?" Minako asked. "They go to their friend and ask what they can do to help."

Catherine stared at her. "Talk to Taylor, you're saying."

"That is what I said, yes," Minako murmured. "She has proven adept in the time we have known her of dealing with her tormentor. She may be prepared already."

"The next class I share with her is before lunch, if I recall right," Catherine said. "I'll talk to her then."

~~~~~~~~

"After that, we finished our study period and I went to my next class," she finished. "Are we done here?"

"Almost," Colin murmured, looking at the rough reports they had gathered. "There was the altercation between you, your friend Ms. Yori, Ms. Hebert, and Sophia Hess that we wanted to ask about."

Catherine shrugged. "I showed up to knock that crossbow from her hand. Minako was there before I was. I just joined in the punching after that, and I can't talk about what I didn't see. Can I go now, please?"

"You'll be free to go shortly," Miss Militia said politely. "We just have to ask some of the others some questions. Please wait here, if you would." Colin stood alongside her and they started toward the door.

"Knew I should have just told you to fuck off," Catherine muttered. "What happened to 'Answer our questions and you can go?"

"We may have more questions, Ms. Greene," Colin said, his voice tight. "I assure you we'll do everything possible to have you on your way quickly."

"Whatever," she retorted, crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair, the table vibrating as she kicked the underside of it.

Colin glanced sideways at his companion once they were outside of the room. "I don't know that I've ever been told so much detail about absolutely nothing before."

"She wasn't lying," Miss Militia said.

He nodded in agreement. "No, she wasn't. I hope that speaking with Ms. Yori will prove more enlightening, however."

"Have you reviewed your recordings yet?"

Colin shook his head. "I just got them deployed yesterday afternoon and haven't had the occasion to look any of the video over. I'm not sure it would give me anything useful for this entire mess, though."

"Not even another view of the events involving Ms. Hebert and Ms. Hess?" Miss Militia asked.

"I can't imagine that will provide me any information than what I saw with my own eyes." he said with a glower. "Still, I'll package the video up and send it along to be reviewed."

Minako Yori was in her chair when they entered, eyes closed, looking completely at peace. She was so still that Colin wasn't sure he was looking at a living, breathing person for a moment. Her eyes opened calmly as they took seats opposite her.

"Ms. Yori," Miss Militia began. "We were hoping you could answer a few questions for us about today."

"You wish to know about my interactions with Taylor, and with Sophia Hess," Minako said serenely.

"That is correct," Colin said firmly. "It's been observed that you were friendly with Taylor this past week, and as someone close to the situation, any insight you have would be helpful."

Minako said nothing for a moment before beginning to speak. "My intent had been to approach Taylor before the next class, however, I chose my route poorly…"

~~~~~~~~

There were two groups of students eyeing each other with open hostility obstructing the hall as she came out of the stairwell. She almost stepped back, frowning as she identified that both groups were wearing gang colors. The Empire and the ABB. All their eyes were for one another, so she stepped back, unwilling to be caught between a closed door and the Empire, who were the ones she had come out behind.

Minako kept the door open slightly so she could hear them while slipping a hand into her pocket for her cellphone. It buzzed as soon as her hand closed around it and she quietly let the door close as the groups broke out into violence.

"Catherine?"

"Are you okay?" her friend asked. "There's fights breaking out between-"

"The Empire and the ABB," she finished. "I did not gather much about what sparked this before you called, though."

"I heard someone in the hall saying that the school got a threat of some sort," was the reply. "Nothing too clear though. Maybe both gangs think the other one is moving?"

"That is possible," Minako murmured. "What purpose would such a threat serve, though?"

She tilted her head, even though such a gesture could not be seen by Catherine, considering what she had witness and what she had just been told. "We should find Taylor."

"Taylor?" Catherine repeated and then there was a sound of confirmation from the other girl. "You think this might be Hess?"

"I do not decide on anything as a certainty, but this does concern me," Minako said, moving down the stairs quickly.

"I don't know if Hess is dumb enough to do something like this," Catherine said doubtfully. "Seems like she'd be more the type to do it herself… but.. you might be right. Taylor's got social this period. Meet me there?"

"I shall," she ended the call and stepped out on the ground floor. Professor Singer's classroom was at the other end of the hall from her.

"Well, well, well," a sneering voice said. "Look what we got here. A little chink bitch, wandering away from her friends." Minako closed her eyes for a moment, then looked at the trio of skinheads before her.

"Please move aside," she asked politely. "I have no wish for trouble."

"Too bad, huh?" the apparent ringleader said. "We thought we'd send a message to your sloke friends and you just happened to be here. Works for us, right?"

She went still for an instant, then let her fingers curl and uncurl once. Just a little would be enough. They were unarmed and ignorant. "I detest that word. It is very offensive."

"What? Sl-?" he began, cutting off in a choked sound as she attacked.

A moment later and all three were down and she stepped around them. "Thank you for moving from my path."

~~~~~~~~

"That was Kevin Gregory, Walter Edgewood and Michael Randolph, yes?" Colin asked, glancing at a report of the injured students.

Minako shook her head. "I do not know their names, but they were most unsavory."

"And you took them down alone… how?" he asked bluntly.

"My mother is familiar with the martial arts and Catherine's father insists that his daughter's friends know how to defend themselves," was her reply.

"Did they also teach you how to assault a half-crippled girl?" he asked, frustrated with the girl's composed responses to everything. Did nothing upset her?

The faintest of smiles appeared on her face. "They taught me that you had to deal quickly and decisively with people who behave as she did. A strike to the face was the least of what she deserved."

"Well, this has been most informative, Ms. Yori," Miss Militia said, giving him a disbelieving look as she rose from her seat. "We have two more interviews to conduct and you should be free to go shortly."

The girl nodded and closed her eyes, returning to her still, peaceful posture that she had when they entered the room.

"Those three boys were not small, by any stretch of imagination," Colin remarked after they had left. "Training or no, they should have been able to overpower her just by weight alone."

"If she were fast enough, perhaps not," Militia said. "She was not lying about training. She was too still when we came in. That suggests training from a very young age."

"So, again, we have truth, but there are details missing?" he grimaced. "Hopefully our next interview will be more enlightening than these two. Hess or Hebert?"

Miss Militia looked up from her PRT-issued phone at a message. "The squads would like permission to transport Ms. Hess out. The Director wants a word with her soon."

He grimaced. "I want to question her, but… best to get her moved out quickly and quietly. Let Emily have her to terrorize. It isn't as if I won't be able to properly question her after I put my beard back on."

"I'll send word," she began typing a response on the phone. "Do you want me there when you speak to Ms. Hebert, to cut in if you start to lose your temper like that again?"

"I see no reason to break our trend," he said, nodding in acknowledgement of her words. "She's still in the office, yes?"

"Blackwell was gracious enough to allow her to stay there, yes," Miss Militia said. "I do not know how you have not lost your temper with that woman."

Colin grinned mirthlessly. "She and I have butted heads more than once, to her detriment. I imagine she is busy trying to spin this and absolve herself of all culpability."

"You don't like her," Miss Militia observed.

"I don't know how she still has her job, given how inadequate she is at it. She has to have something on someone higher up, is my theory."

"Perhaps this incident will be too much for whoever that is?" Miss Militia asked.

"One hopes," he nodded to the guards at the door they were approaching and entered. The girl sitting there looked up as they entered. She had been drawing in her omnipresent notebook, he saw, but only caught a glimpse of the picture before she closed it.

He didn't say anything as they settled in the chairs opposite the girl. The notebook she was always drawing in was something he was curious about, but she had not afforded anyone a look inside that he knew of.

"Do you draw, Ms. Hebert?" Miss Militia asked. The girl swivelled to stare at her, equal parts astonished and guarded. There was distrust there, of authority if his guess was correct. He could hardly blame her for that given what he had gleaned about her interactions with the faculty at Winslow before his arrival.

Afterwards as well, he thought ruefully. She was not disposed to trust in the teachers at all and that included him, even when he had made overtures. He considered what he knew of her as she began tucking the notebook away in her pack.

"I do," she said simply. "But I don't think you came in to ask me about art."

He nodded slightly. "Unfortunately, with what happened today, we do have some questions that we hope you can answer and make things a bit more clear for us."

"I've already gone over what happened with the police," she murmured, turning her gaze toward Colin "Why do I have to do this again with a member of the Protectorate and a teacher? Why are you even here questioning me?"

"Principal Blackwell is otherwise occupied and as someone who has interacted with the PRT and Protectorate in the past, it was decided that I was the best person to stand in these sessions as a representative for the school," Colin said smoothly.

"That still doesn't explain why I'm having to go over all of this again," Taylor pressed. "There isn't anything I can tell you that I didn't already tell the police, or that you didn't see. This is a waste of time."

"Given that Ms. Hess was revealed as a parahuman, we do have to perform our own inquiry separate from the police," Miss Militia said. "I understand your frustration, Ms. Hebert, but cooperating will have you on your way quickest."

"I don't see what her being a parahuman has to do with anything," Taylor countered. "No one but her knew that until about three hours ago. What, was she a Ward and you're just trying to cover yourselves so you don't look bad?"

"I'm not privy to what the Director might intend for Ms. Hess, however she was not a member of the Wards, no." Miss Militia said. Colin almost winced at her choice of wording as Taylor's eyes narrowed.

"Implying that she might become one, or will be offered membership," Taylor said frostily. "This fills me with all sorts of confidence in the Protectorate and the Wards program. If I ever got powers, I think I'd just say no."

Colin sighed mentally and brought his hands together. "Ms. Hebert, while I can certainly understand your animosity for Ms. Hess, given her actions toward you, I hardly think that taking your frustrations out on Miss Militia helps matters."

Taylor stared at him, distrust still clear in her gaze. He frowned slightly as he regarded her. Weren't her eyes hazel or dark brown? For a moment, they had almost seemed green. He blinked and shook his head. No, her eyes were brown. The lights in here were just terrible.

"What do you want to know?" Taylor said, slumping in her chair as if exhausted. "I'd really like to get out of here and it looks like you're not going to let me go until you have your questions answered."

"Well, if you could begin with this morning, that would be appreciated," he told her.

She gave him a disgruntled look and straightened. "Well, I came to school…"

~~~~~~~~

The bursts of noise that had plagued me throughout the day yesterday had stopped, but they had been replaced with a sound not unlike water running across rocks. It wasn't unpleasant, but it was distracting, especially when I was sitting in class and my attention drifted from Professor Singer's lecture.

He has got to work out in his spare time.

I blinked, hearing the words as clear as day, but no one around me had said anything. It wasn't my own thought, either, though it was one I had before. I glanced around the room carefully, trying to figure out what I was hearing. I settled on a girl that I thought was one of Emma's circle of flunkies. Her name was Nancy, if I was not mistaken and she was staring at Professor Singer with an expression that suggested she was not thinking about schoolwork.

This is boring. Who cares about some bunch of capes who I'll never meet?

Maybe it was focusing so much, but I could feel where this came from and I glanced at an angle toward the back of the room. A surly hispanic boy sat in the corner, his arms crossed and looking thoroughly bored.

Was I hearing people's thoughts? I looked back down to my notebook and idly made notes on the edges of the paper. How to test… I tilted my head and looked toward Professor Singer as he began talking about the formation of the Protectorate and how it affected the dynamics of parahuman/civilian interaction. The sound I could hear in the back of my mind was like water, but as I focused on it, I could tell it wasn't just one large stream. It was a lot of small ones making up a whole. If each was a person… I reached out for the one I thought was Professor Singer's. It felt different from the others around me. More developed? I could almost touch it...

"Ah!" I said, wincing as something struck at me, producing a flash of pain as my concentration splintered into shards.

"Are you alright, Ms. Hebert?" I heard him ask, realized I had several people staring at me.

"Just a sudden headache, Professor," I gritted, wincing still from the discordant sensations I had felt in that brief instant. "May I be excused for a moment?"

He stared at me and then nodded. "Class is almost over, so go ahead. If you need to, go see the nurse."

"Thank you, sir," I murmured, gathering up my things and quickly leaving the room. There were restrooms nearby and I headed for them, bringing a hand up to massage my forehead. Hearing thoughts…. I think that was what I was doing, but what had that been? It hadn't made any sense at all in the moment I had made contact. Was Professor Singer some sort of alien? It hadn't felt like anyone else's stream had when I had been studying them.

"Aliens, right," I snorted and winced as it brought a fresh stab of pain. I must have touched something else or did something wrong. But… I could hear people's thoughts! Was there anyone who had that kind of power?

I splashed some water into my face, thinking. Mind-reading, telekinesis, foresight… and whatever I had done to those guys who had tried to mug me. I'd made them afraid of me… but I couldn't think of what that was exactly. I stared at my reflection in the mirror, trying to decide what to do. With just precognition, there wasn't really a lot of testing to figure out what I could do.. but with these… I had to figure out what I was capable of before I hurt someone without meaning to.

Thoughts of that were torn away as I heard a shout and then the definite sound of fist striking flesh from out in the hall. Fighting? The streams closest to me now were agitated, disturbed and roiling. I dried my hands, glancing at the faucet and imagining the handles turning. They twisted slowly, shutting off the flow of water. The headache had not entirely died out, but I felt better nonetheless, a smile creasing my face.

It dropped off as I peeked out from the bathroom, to see a pair of teachers trying to break up a fight between some members of the Empire and the ABB. The bell had sounded and there were students milling around, trying to get to their next class while occasionally gawking at the fight. I turned smoothly and slid into the flow of traffic, letting my precognition guide me in avoiding bumping into anyone.

"Mrs. Harold," I heard a student say as I passed by the teacher keeping watch so I could cut over to the cafeteria. "There's a couple of people out cold on the floor near the stairs at the end of the hall. I think there was a fight or something…"

"Show me," she said simply, following the student. I sighed and changed directions, wanting to avoid the likely bottleneck that whatever happened down there would create. A quick glance forward and I ducked through a nearby classroom, cutting through it to the hallway on the other side.

There were, however, teachers dealing with fights there as well. I stared for a moment and shook my head, starting toward the nearest stairwell so I could get to lunch. The sounds of fighting from somewhere higher up in it made me sigh. What the hell had set the gangs off? They had been tense earlier in the week, but nothing like this before…

I leaned against the wall, watching as other students entered, heard the sounds of fighting and promptly turned around the way they had come. There had to be a way out that wouldn't involve stumbling into someone else's fight.

A frown appeared as I tried another hallway and found a fight taking place there as well. There were just so many fights. Was something causing this? Everywhere I went there was one going on, like a warzone bubbling across the entire school.

Was I doing it somehow? I stopped by a water fountain, considering that. I had affected those men at the mall, but I didn't know how yet. I certainly didn't think I was projecting anyway and even if I were… why would I make everyone fight?

No, this wasn't me. There was something else. I was just missing a piece of the puzzle that would cause this all to make sense. I needed to know what that wa-.

I can't believe someone called in a threat, claiming a student had weapons in the school. This is unacceptable. When I find out… The thought drifted to me, clear as day and I swung around quickly, catching sight of Principal Blackwell turning a nearby corner. Weapons? Was that it? Someone had brought… knives? No, there were gangers with those everyday. Guns, maybe.

Calm settled over me as things started to make sense. The staff couldn't keep a lid on it and the gangs both thought the other side is making a move, probably. The spark to set off the fire. Great.

My mind churned as I ran through the chain of logic. The gangs weren't going to stop until someone won or the teachers ended it, which was pretty unlikely. Professor Singer might be able to break up a few fights, but there were too many for him to contain, just from what I had seen so far. The rest of the staff weren't anywhere near the same sort of shape as he.

Not that many of them seen to have the spine to try in the first place, I thought uncharitably as I saw one teacher actively backing away from a fight and running down the hall. They would probably call for the police, perform searches to see if there were…

I blinked as a thought dropped into my mind, then shook my head. No, even she wouldn't…

A moment later, I bit my lip as I ducked down an empty hall and used my foresight, pushing ahead to see if anything was happening near the locker I no longer used.

"Bitch," I snarled as the sequence played out in my mind; Sophia coming down the hall, looking almost frantic as she hobbled along, a dufflebag slung across her back. I saw her stop in front of my locker and reach for it before I cut the vision off, stalking away. Pissed over what happened yesterday, I guessed, and trying to get back at me?

Yesterday hadn't driven the point home that I was done being screwed with, I suppose. I didn't understand why she was doing this. Even for her, this was pretty extreme. The locker had been disgusting but I had avoided any infections or the like. This… this was… I couldn't even make sense of why she would try this.

I shook my head. Whatever. It didn't matter why. It only mattered that I stop her. I pushed off of the wall, intending to do that then stopped as a different idea occurred to me. Sophia had been trying a lot of stuff lately and it had all fallen apart or, like yesterday, self-destructed on her. If that fact hadn't sunk in for her yet, then maybe something else needed to blow up in her face.

Starting off again, I began running possibilities for how to collapse this entire mess on Sophia. I skirted around a fight that Professor Singer was breaking up, giving him a worried look as he glanced toward me, but kept moving. I didn't have time to explain this.

The hallway to my locker was virtually empty when I got there. Ahead of me, just as I had seen, Sophia was hobbling toward section where mine was, muttering to herself, but I couldn't tell what she was saying.

"You know," I called out, loud enough that she would know it was me. "This has got to be the dumbest thing you have ever done. I didn't think you could top yesterday's stupidity. Looks like I was wrong."

Sophia spun, an ugly expression on her face. I frowned slightly at how fast she moved. That was faster than I thought she was capable of. "Hebert."

"Hess," I said in the same tone of voice. "Now, what could you possibly want with my locker?"

Sophia looked around and when she confirmed that there was no one else visible, gave me what was probably her best sneer. "Your locker? You mean the locker I just found you taking weapons from to hide somewhere else?" She freed the bag from her shoulder and flung it toward me where it skidded to the floor at my feet, its contents spilling out along the way.

I didn't move or even look at it. "Really? That's your plan? Try to pin this on me when there's no one around that lend credence to your accusation? Not a great plan."

"Like the Principal will believe you over me," she retorted. "You might think you're something special now, flaunting it all over the school under everyone's noses. But I know."

I kept my face impassive. She knows? That I have powers? How? No, she might suspect but I hadn't done anything around her that would definitely say I had powers. "You know… what, exactly? I know you're upset over yesterday and I really am sorry, but that was an accident. If you had just paid attention…"

"Don't!" she snapped. "I'm not stupid. I couldn't possibly screw up like that. It was you. You did something!"

"I really don't get how you figure that, but sure, let's go with it," I said dismissively. "Do you even realize how crazy you sound right now?"

"Doesn't matter what you think I sound like," Sophia said, starting toward me. "Since it won't be my word against yours. It'll just be my word."

"How are you going to manage that?" I asked, starting forward as well. "I'd love to hear this."

"I found you trying to run off with that, we fought and you suffered an unfortunate accident," Sophia retorted, dropping down quickly and snatching up a compact crossbow from the weapons that had spilled from the bag. A crossbow that was already loaded and pointed at me. I didn't say anything, letting my power show me what to do next.

"I told you I don't lose," she snarled and pulled the trigger. I stepped to the side in that same instant and it soared past me with space to spare.

"I know this might be hard to accept," I said as frustration appeared on her face, "but you missed."

"I don't lose!" she snarled again and reached into her hoodie's pocket, fumbling for something there. Another bolt for the crossbow, I saw, as she tried to put in place. With the cane she had been given though, she was having a hard time balancing everything. I started forward, intending to stop her, then I slid to a halt, smiling faintly at what I saw behind her.

A hand came down and the crossbow was knocked away and Sophia jerked away from the person responsible, staring at Catherine and Minako, who had come up behind her.

"I don't know how you two thought to find me here, but I am glad for it," I said. surprised to find that it was true.

"We were concerned that this person might intend you ill," Minako said lightly.

"Looks like we were right, too," Catherine chimed in, glaring at Sophia. "You're a piece of work, you know that?"

"You two again," she snapped. "Why? She's a nobody and you two just drop out of nowhere to be her protectors. Did she just conjure you up out of thin air?"

"You know, that's a good theory," Catherine said. "Too bad it's wrong. Pretty sure my parents had something to do with my existence."

"I'm not entirely sure what is going on here," Professor Singer's voice intruded, drawing everyone's attention. He was standing down the hall from us, rolling the bolt that had been fired between his fingers, looking oddly pleased for some reason. "But I suspect that it's nothing good."

"They attacked me, sir," Sophia said immediately. "Hebert's got weapons and was planning to use them. I tried to stop her and they ganged up on me."

"That's an interesting story," he said quietly, walking forward. I didn't say anything, curious to see what he would do. "An almost believable one, with Ms. Hebert here surrounded by all these weapons. However… she's standing here and those two are there… and the only crossbow that I see is at your feet… You might want to try again with a better story, don't you agree, Ms. Hess?"

Her expression twisted through several emotions before she spun, still surprisingly fast for someone with a busted ankle. She was clearly angling to get away but found Catherine cutting her off.

The brunette's punch spun Sophia right into a blow from Minako, their motions so fluid that it almost looked like something they had practiced. Professor Singer hadn't reached where I was standing yet and I moved forward as Sophia reeled, catching her cane as it started to fall. I jabbed the grip toward her stomach, aiming to knock the air out of her.

It passed through with little resistance, the lines of Sophia's figure wavering and becoming indistinct. I stumbled, unprepared for the lack of resistance and she became solid again, shooting off toward an open stretch of the hall to avoid Professor Singer.

No. She was not getting away from this. I flung the cane, adding spin to it and watching it helicopter toward her as she did that shadowy thing again when the Professor tried to grab her. She came out of it a few steps later, right as the cane spun into her ankles, sending her to the floor with a sound almost identical to what I had heard yesterday on the track field.

~~~~~~~~

"After that, we were all escorted to different rooms, I guess and the police and PRT were in here asking me a bunch of questions." Taylor shrugged. "So, nothing you didn't know."

"How did you know the cane would stop her?" Colin asked, letting his pencil drift across the page he was looking at in the folder before him, his other hand holding up one page

"I hoped it would," she shrugged. "She was going to get away and that seemed the most likely way to stop her from doing so."

Miss Militia leaned forward slightly. "Ms. Hebert, after the incident last month and what happened today, there is some concern that you might have… well, developed parahuman abilities."

Taylor stared at her. "And? You did your tests and they said I wasn't. Am I supposed to have the power to make people think I'm not a parahuman? That seems kind of worthless, if so."

She slid a card across the table. "If there is anything you do want to talk about, call this number. I can understand what it's like to suddenly be different and would be happy to answer your questions."

"Are you even listening?" Taylor groaned. "I don't want or need your card. Give it to someone who actually needs help. Hess, maybe. But unless you have a parahuman whose power is to give the best therapy ever, I don't think there is much that will help her."

Colin carefully closed the folder he had in front of him. "Very well. I think that is everything we need, Ms. Hebert. If Miss Militia has no other questions, then you are free to go." Miss Militia shook her head, looking frustrated as Taylor shouldered her bag and left the room, the card abandoned on the table.

Colin sat for a moment after she had left and sighed, covering his face with a hand. "This… is a problem."

"You still think she's a parahuman?" Miss Militia asked.

"And you don't?" he replied. "She was careful to avoid saying anything that was a lie, but I do think she's one. But is she the one responsible for that display last month? I don't know. Regardless, she's been bullied and now she has power. Add to that a disillusionment with authority and becoming openly aggressive… What would you say she's ripe for?"

"Gang recruitment," Miss Militia said. "The signs do seem pretty clear toward that end. You're absolutely sure?"

"I try not to deal in absolutes if I can help it," he replied. "But this doesn't do anything but make my job harder, I'm afraid. If Ms. Hebert is a parahuman as I now believe her to be, we still have no idea exactly what she can do. We could be staring at a potential time bomb."

"Perhaps we should revisit the teacher you replaced and his situation?" Miss Militia asked. "Gladly, was it?"

"I don't think there's much to gain from him, honestly," Colin replied. "We already tried questioning him, but I'll look over the transcripts of that again. Perhaps I missed something."

"In the meantime…?" Miss Militia stood.

"Well, I'm going to continue here at Winslow for now," he said. "The Director may want me back, but I can't shake the feeling that there's something serious building here. Today only reinforced that. We have one parahuman who was here, if unstable. There could be others, possible Wards candidates aside from Taylor, if my suspicions play out."

"And Ms. Hebert?"

He took a deep breath. "As long as she denies it and we have no proof, we can't really approach her. The issue will have to bide for now, until something changes. Pressure would just reinforce the viewpoint she already has and drive her away, making the situation worse."

"What about her friends? Ms. Greene and Ms. Yori?"

"I'll keep an eye on them, though, logically, I would say no," he mused. "Ms. Yori, for example, handled herself with remarkable composure. She doesn't strike me as the type to have a trigger. Still… My instinct tells me not to rule them out. I might see if I can get Dragon to help me develop a system to compare what we know about our independents and cross that against the student body. It wouldn't be one hundred percent, but it might give me an idea of who I could be dealing with, if anyone."

Miss Militia shook her head, a half-smile crossing her features. "I think you should trust your instincts, Colin. You don't do that nearly enough."

"Perhaps," he said ruefully. "I still find myself wishing I could sedate some of these kids and find myself reaching for the means to do so, before remembering where I am. I'll consider it. At the moment, I will finish up here and then meet you at PRT HQ to speak with the Director?"

"An event I am thoroughly anticipating," Miss Militia said before resting a hand on his arm. "Take care, Colin."

Colin smiled and gave her hand a squeeze. "You as well, Hannah." She left without another word and he flipped the folder he had been looking at during the talk with Taylor again. He lifted the interview form out of the way, looking at the page where he had sketched out what he could recall of the picture in her art book before she closed it.

"I wonder…" he pulled out his Protectorate phone and scrolled through images he had stored there until he found the one he was looking for. He sat the phone by the paper, eyes flickering between them. From both the phone and the page, a stylized yet abstract bird of prey looked at him, one rendered in flame, the other in ink.

He absently rubbed at where his beard once was, as he murmured into his hand. "Suspicions, indeed…"

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Chapter 796 - 7-9