Taylor Hebert/Bug
July 19th, 2010
"Do I have the right to remain silent or not?" I ask, staring at the hero, staring past the golden rope, past the glow in her eyes, and past her stupid, skimpy costume. I look beyond Wonder Woman.
And see the person beneath, Diana.
"What?" She asks and she has the nerve to seem confused, the blue of her eyes tinging with something I can't name as the bugs crawl ever closer to the light, their antennae just barely shadowing under every door and wing behind every vent.
"You said I had the right to remain silent," I repeat, echoing her own words back at her. "Aqualad said it too, I don't have to talk to you, right?"
"I don't—" her eyes flash with a golden intensity and she grips the rope just a little tighter, the veins in her hands rising a little. "Yes, you have the right to remain silent."
"And that's supposed to be the truth?" I ask and when a roach flutters in the vents outside, the woman in front of me tilts her head, her hair slipping behind her ear. "But then you tell me that it's either you tie me up and force me to speak or some— some alien is supposed to just walk inside my mind? Inside me?!"
The phrasing is intentional and the woman in front of me flinches at my tone but it isn't with fear or disgust, it's something else, something that forces her to stand.
"Taylor," she starts and then that gold flashes again, softer this time, lacing her words as she puts one hand up in surrender. "Taylor, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to— no. You don't have to do this and you don't have to let Martian Manhunter read your mind, that isn't— I'm sorry I phrased it the way I did but this isn't an ultimatum."
"It isn't?" I ask, disbelief staining the words, shaking the tone before the bugs start to chitter in their hiding spots. My voice cools into something bitter, something sharp. "I don't believe you."
"Taylor, this isn't—" she tries to repeat herself but I cut her off, my hand swiping down between us, drawing a line in the floor.
"No," I shake my head to punctuate the answer. "I'm not letting you touch me with that thing and I'm not letting anyone read my mind, I won't—" I pause, remembering something dad said when I was in middle school. It's not just enough to stay quiet when you're under arrest, you have to say what you're doing. "—I am invoking my right to remain silent."
Diana stares at me for a long moment then, her eyes flicking from mine to the walls past me and then down to my hands.
I follow her gaze and see that they're shaking.
"Okay," she finally says, nodding at me. "I won't use this and I'll notify Martian Manhunter that telepathy isn't something you're comfortable with, I'm sorry that I…"
She trails off as she puts her lasso back on her hip, the glow dying as I glare at her. I know what she's doing, they used to this at Winslow all during my Freshman year.
I had so many options, they'd tell me. Things I could have done to prevent my peers from 'retaliating,' options that no one told me about until it was too late. I shouldn't be surprised, I knew—
"I'm sorry that I didn't make it clear," Wonder Woman states, tone blunt and regretful. "You have the right to remain silent and the League will respect that right. I apologize that I made you feel that right was being infringed upon"
I don't say anything as I turn, shifting so that she has a clearer path to leave, to lock me back in this little room and—
"Would you like to see your friends?" she asks, gesturing to the still open wall. "I know it's getting late but I think they'd enjoy your company all the same."
Idly, my attention shifts to the Undersiders.
I can feel them, the gnats in their hair, the ladybug I've got in Brian's cornrows and the mosquito sitting on one of Alec's curls, the strand slipping down almost to his shirt.
One of its legs brush against the metal around his neck and I look that way. I could—
Diana said that Rachel was angry with me, mad that I made her surrender. She's had to have argued with the others by now, tried to tell them it's my fault they're locked up. I don't think they'd agree, not when they saw how badly we were outgunned, but they've known her for so long, maybe…
Maybe they do think it's my fault, maybe they think I betrayed them, maybe…
It doesn't matter.
I want to see them anyway.
My eyes flick back to Diana and I can feel the scowl on my face try to get deeper.
I hate how she's suggested it, asking if I want to see my friends only after she threatened to take away my rights, after she and her team stuffed me in this little room. She's built a bridge and she's forcing me to walk down it, like I should be fucking grateful for it.
I let out a breath and I nod.
"Okay," she says and her tone is softer as she moves, her pace slow, careful to keep her hands in front of herself, always in my view. "Follow me."
She steps past me and out of that little room, leading me into a hallway that almost feels too big to be called that.
The ceilings are taller, maybe around twenty feet or so and there's enough space between the walls that I could stretch three times my arms length and not touch both ends.
That weird, tight feeling in my chest eases up as I step past the threshold and I exhale to let it go.
My mouth doesn't feel as dry as I follow Wonder Woman, her long steps slow so that I can keep up with her.
I don't really look at her as we start walking, I already know where we're going.
Most of the walls here aren't hollow, the stone's just too thick for it, but I can sense more than just the gaps for wiring and insulation.
As Wonder Woman leads the way, past more identical cells to mine, I get a feel for the mountain.
I can sense two main floors, one above us, with their little Wards team sitting around a common area and this one.
The one above has everything I think a headquarters would need: a sizeable kitchen, a few lounge spaces, a library, showers, a locker room, a whole host of living quarters (maybe close to fifty of them), plenty of miscellaneous rooms I'd need to actually see, and then a grotto on the eastern side.
Then there's this floor, home to three different medical bays and their little prison.
My bugs search everywhere as I walk through the halls.
Before I was trying to be subtle, I tried not to have too many flies out at the same time but now? Now that the collar's fried, I need to know this place.
And the first thing I find is something I'm positive they don't want me knowing.
There's a space between this floor and the one above us.
It isn't very open, the hallways more cramped and the ceiling caps out at maybe eight feet or so but it's sprawling. There's a whole secret floor to this place, a grid of hallways and hidden entrances and exits. There's one in the library, one in the kitchen, one in every third bedroom, it all—
I feel someone else in their room.
One of my gnats lands on a knuckle I don't know. Whoever they are, they're sitting just next to Rachel, they— it's hard to tell but I think they're eating something.
Slowly, I try to bring a spider down from the ceiling, ready to land on their shoulder when Diana suddenly stops.
"They're just through here," Wonder Woman gestures to a short hallway, smaller than the one we're in but still wide enough, the ceiling still tall. "Second door on the right."
I don't even look at her as I pass her by, my eyes firmly fixed on the second door. It's a heavy thing, made of a bright gleaming metal. There's a vertical handle where the knob should be and something like a lightswitch next to it. There's a little device like that near every door.
My hand moves to grab the handle but I hesitate.
I can hear them inside now, not the exact words they're saying but I can hear their voices, their tones. They sound… I don't think happy is the right word but something close to that?
There's another voice too, a booming baritone but somehow meek at the same time, understated even while his words seem to shake the door.
I don't know that voice but I think I can hear Lisa giggling at something he's said. I want to say that if she's comfortable with him then he might not be a threat but if her collar's still working then I shouldn't rely on her to know that.
Thankfully, while most of the bugs in this mountain aren't especially venomous, I do recognize a few spiders by their feel. I can't see them but as they scuttle through the vents, rushing to this room, I'm sure the red of their hourglass is just as deadly here as it is back home.
Worse comes to worse, the Justice League's given me a way out.
Taking a breath, I grab the handle and pull.
Instantly, whatever conversation they were having falls silent, the words dropping to the ground as five heads turn to stare at me.
The room they're in isn't anything to write home about, maybe a little bigger than my cell, with two couches, one against either wall, a table with food between them, an armchair in the corner, and a TV directly across from the door.
Brian and Lisa are sitting on the couch to my right, Alec's lounging over the other one, his feet hanging next to Rachel's as she takes the other side.
They're all wearing the same grey sweats as me but I see Rachel's got her sleeves torn off and when I turn to look at her, I see her three dogs lifting their heads up from the floor, all of them staring at me.
For a second, all we do is stare at each other but then Brian and Lisa both start to smile.
"Hey," Brian greets, voice breathless as he sits up straighter, scooting closer to the armrest and offering me a seat between him and Lisa. "We were—"
"Oh!"
I turn my head to the armchair in the corner, the one right next to Rachel and for a second I nearly feel intimidated by the big man squeezed into the seat. The uniform he's got on, the same purple as the one Oliver had, it barely seems to contain him, his size threatening to split the seams.
His arms are heavy leaden weights and his legs match, strength obvious as he moves to stand.
…and the second he does, I realize I've misjudged him
The cloth shifts over his front as his shoulders draw inward, slumping and lopped low, where before it looked like it strained to keep him inside now it seems all too baggy. His muscles fall away into an obvious flab and when he turns his head to look up at me, what I find isn't any better.
His black hair is done in a severe side-part, sweeping across his scalp and his glasses are even thicker than mine, turning his blue eyes gawky. His face is blunt, squared, maybe it could be handsome in the right light but here it just makes him look mismatched, contrasting too much with his bulk.
"You must be Taylor!" he says, his voice a touch squeaky despite its base, like he never really grew into it. "My name's Clark, I uh— I helped Rachel when she—"
He somehow manages to bang his hip against the armrest as he stands and the small tray of food he'd had in one hand splats against the floor, some kind of chicken and mashed potatoes forming a puddle at his feet.
"—oh darn it," he sighs as he lifts a foot, staring at the yellow potatoes clinging to his loafers.
"Dude," Alec cranes his head up to look over at the man, his tone a touch amused. "You have, like, negative coordination."
"Yeah," the man agrees, trying to laugh along with the Undersider. "Always been a klutz I guess, I— uh—"
He looks away from the mess, his eyes meeting mine as a nervous smile rises up his face.
"Sorry," he greets and then flounders, his face jumping between five different emotions. "Sorry! I mean, hi! Hello! It's nice to meet you I uh— um—" he looks down at the mess he's made, "—I'm gonna go get something to clean that up but uh—" he shimmies between the table and the couch Alec and Rachel are on, "—I'll be back in a second!"
He moves towards me and unconsciously I turn to let him pass.
"Are you supposed to leave us alon—" Alec tries to stop him but Clark steps clear through the door, the metal of it sliding back into place with a hiss. "—and he's gone."
With Clark's clumsy footsteps echoing down the corridor, I turn my head back to the others and before I can even say a word, Lisa beats me to it.
"Hey," she greets, voice brighter than I expected, her smile almost wide enough to be genuine. "Take a seat? We've been talking about how much these collars suck."
"And the differences between Bet and whatever fucking letter these guys are," Alec adds, pointing a finger at Lisa before turning it to me. "You would not believe the weird shit Clark was trying to sell us on."
I know what he's trying to do, offering me a place to jump into the conversation and I nearly take it. I'm sure this place has plenty of weird things we could compare Bet to but the words don't really form.
There's a weird feeling trying to crawl up my throat, like rancid satisfaction. There's a part of me that wanted this, locking the Undersiders away, I just didn't think about what it would do the people they were under the masks.
"You alright?" Brian asks and I blink as I meet his eyes, nearly swallowing as I nod.
"Yeah," I lie, taking a step towards them when Lisa pouts. "I mean, the collar's—" I cough, my bugs don't feel anything that could be a listening device but I don't know what that would feel like in the first place. "—yeah, it's terrible."
The faux leather of the couch squeaks as I take my seat, my eyes darting to the table and spotting a fifth plate of food, a plastic cover steamed opaque over it all.
I haven't eaten all day but the way my stomach is doing flips, I don't think I could eat even if I wanted to.
"You can say that again" Alec starts, his blue eyes looking at his own tray, most of the food still on it only swished around "What kind of discount Protectorate they got in this universe?"
The little bit of humor doesn't really land as well as I think any of us would like it to, instead of diffusing any lingering tension, the silence starts to build, getting thicker by the second as I become intimately aware of just how tense I am, every vertebrae rigid as I sit there.
The couch isn't very comfortable but given where it is, halfway between the prisons and one of the medbays, I doubt it's meant for anything other than waiting.
And that's what we do.
For nearly half a minute, not one of them says a word. Rachel points to the mess on the ground for her dogs to lick up but other than the sound of them eating off the floor, there's nothing.
Just the five of us.
Just the four of them and me.
The spiders I've got sit just above where Clark had been, their eyes staring down through the metal grate, the kaleidoscope of their vision fuzzy in my mind. I make one of them scuttle further into the vents, searching for someone else they can bite, just in case I need them to.
The couch across from me squeaks and I look up.
Rachel's staring at me.
She isn't glaring, not really, but the anger in her eyes is unmistakable. She's exactly as upset as Diana had warned me, her whole body coiled up like a spring. She shovels another bite of food into her mouth, chewing silently as she stares.
She's gonna start a fight.
I don't know when exactly but it'll be soon.
I need to get some of this tension defused, at least so it's not taking all my attention.
Idly, I bring one of the widows into the room, the spider crawling along the ceiling as I turn to look at Lisa. Her green eyes meet mine and even without her power she knows what I want.
"So…" she starts, swishing her food around with a fork, "Pretty sure I know the answer already, but how'd the lasso go for you?"
For a second my eyes widen, shock overtaking me before I force it down.
I shouldn't be surprised, Diana said she'd done it with the others so it makes sense they'd have been talking about it.
"You all really did it?" I ask, Diana hadn't had the lasso wrapped around her hand when she'd said as much, but what she'd said after pretty much confirmed that her tool worked. They gave her their names, they gave her my name.
Something must show on my face because Lisa just about cringes, her eyes narrowing at the edge and her nose scrunching.
"Didn't want to," she starts, "Not at first anyway, without my power I had no real way to confirm it did what she said it did."
"Then why'd you do it?" I ask and I turn fully to face her, the leather shifting under my thighs as I give her my full attention.
"I asked if I could use my power," Lisa states simply and I shift back a little as she continues, "Doubt they'd do the same for you, no offense but your—" she stops, pointing at the rest of the room, "—all of your powers have a bit more of an edge than mine. She asked why I needed it, I told her there was no fucking way I'd let her or their martian into my head if I didn't have a way to one-up and them—"
"And she agreed?" I interrupt, disbelief as plain in my voice as it is on my face. "Just like that?"
"What can I say?" Lisa shrugs, grinning a little, "I can be very persuasive when I need to be and she's got an honest streak she really doesn't want to break, warrior's honor or whatever."
"Okay," I nod, deciding to give Lisa a test. Diana had said that she'd only allowed her to use the lasso if she got to ask questions of her own. I school my features as best I can, waiting to see if Lisa reveals that on her own. "What kind of questions did she ask you?"
"Same shit as us," Alec chimes in, his blue eyes staring at the ceiling as he tries and fails to balance his fork on the tip of his nose. The plastic prongs poke his forehead as he continues, "What's your name, where are you from— I asked them to skip the powers question but—"
"Skip?" I ask as he brings the fork back up, making him turn his head to look at me.
"Yeah," his eyes glance to Lisa and Brian, "S'not like they had carte blanche—" he shifts, the accent he's put on fading as he sits up, "—she told me when I agreed what the questions were gonna be, I asked to skip a few, and she didn't ask them when she tied the lasso around my wrist."
I look at Brian over my shoulder and the Shaker nods before he picks up the conversation.
"I didn't skip the power question," he sets the food down and rolls his shoulders as he leans back, his throat bobbing a second as he looks at the others. "I skipped the question bout how I got my powers, didn't want to deal with that shit."
My brow furrows and the confusion only builds as the rest of them nod, some kind of mutual understanding flowing through them as I whip my head back to Lisa.
"Why's that a big deal?" I ask
The room suddenly turns cold, dropping almost twenty degrees as the blonde's smile drops, her face deathly still.
I turn my eyes to the others and find similar expressions, Rachel's hazel glare has fallen into something strange; some kind of surprise leaking in with something else. Alec's face isn't just slack, he might as well be faceless as he sits up fully, his blue eyes turned glassy like a doll's.
I nearly flinch when I look at Brian, his massive frame frozen like a statue, brown eyes unblinking as he swallows.
For a moment I think it's something outside, something in the door that's gotten their attention but there's no one here, nothing that could have startled them.
Nothing except me.
"What?" I ask, shifting as I sit back, the cold leather piercing through my sweats as the word echoes. "What did I say?"
All of their collars, the little red lights just under theirs chins, I would swear that for just a moment, I see them flicker.
Author's Note: Hello again!
Y'all ever just start writing and you have a whole plan of what you want the chapter to be, you know what you want from it, what you need it to do, all that jazz? I swear I had that plan when I outlined this but writing it out, I remembered something I absolutely couldn't gloss over.
Taylor has no fucking idea what a trigger event is.
And I really wanted to capture that moment from canon here, that 'oh shit' moment. I think I did an okay job, I know this chapter bounced around a bit, we didn't get the pay off with the lasso— YET— but I think this chapter is good.
Well, I like it anyway, plus I got it out on time which is nice.
So yeah, 2.2 done, I hope to get 2.3 out by Thursday but that might be pushed to Friday at the latest, I'm… I'm not in a tenuous financial situation but y'know, money's tight so I might be picking up some shifts then. So who knows? I hope I have it done by then.
Next time on Peristalsis, a tense conversation on what it means to be a parahuman and an unlikely suggestion, what will Taylor do? Find out next time
OH! I'm also gonna be doing a grammar and spelling check for all the chapters tomorrow so if you see activity, that's just me doing that.
So y'know, grammar and spelling mistakes should be gently pointed out but continuity errors should get my head caved in with a sledgehammer.
Also we'll be getting an omake from yours truly very soon
Taylor Hebert/Bug
July 19th, 2010
For a good few seconds, time seems to slow down, getting heavier, the tension we'd just about shrugged off coming back like a downpour. The others are frozen still, just sitting there, staring at me, but as the silence threatens to stretch further, Alec blinks and his face twists back into its usual nonchalance.
"Let me put it this way—" he tries to start but the second the words leave his lips, Brian's speaking up, leaning forward as he settles his elbows on his knees.
"No," he cuts Alec off bluntly, shaking his head as he continues. "Not here, we can—"
"Talk about it when we get home?" Alec's words slip past Brian like a knife, making the Shaker glare at him. "That ship's sailed, we need to—"
He cuts himself off, his lips thinning a second before he looks past Brian and I to the Thinker on my left.
"—we're talking about it." He says, tone a little cool before he looks back to Brian. "Okay?"
Brian's inhale is a shaky thing, threatening to crack with some kind of frustration before he nods.
"Rache?" Alec turns to the redhead, shortening her name as he turns to look at her, his torso twisting. "You cool with that?"
"S'fucking fine," Rachel finally speaks, bringing one foot up to the couch, her arms wrapping around her knee as she looks at me. "Shoulda known already."
"Known what?" I ask, feeling my throat get dry as my eyes dart from her to Brian to Alec then finally sticking on Lisa. "What the hell are you guys talking about?"
For a good second the blonde just stares at me, her green eyes unreadable before she shifts, bringing her legs up on the couch and laying her feet behind herself.
"When you got your powers," she starts and my eyes dart again to her collar, to the black metal of it and the lights beneath her chin. "Was it a good day?"
I didn't have to think long.
"No," I answer, shaking my head as I bring one arm up, my hand grabbing the other elbow.
"Worst day of your life?" Rachel asks next, her voice softer than usual, still gruff and grinding but lower now, almost gentle. Almost.
"Second worst," I reply, feeling my own voice dip lower, the collar suddenly feeling too tight as I swallow. "It's like that for everyone?"
"Most," Lisa answers and when I look back at her I find she isn't looking at me, "I mean, there's second generation capes and they—" she stops, bringing her lip between her teeth before letting it go. "—some research says they don't get it as bad, people like Glory Girl I mean."
"Why?" I ask and when her eyes dart back to me, I explain. "Why do we through that?"
"It's called the trigger event," Lisa's hand glides down her knee, her fingers toying with some of the gray fabric. "I wasn't super up to date with parahuman research but the stats are something like for every cape that has powers, there's five people with the potential for powers, people that just haven't had a shitty enough life yet, people that haven't been pushed to the edge. It's fight or flight at its most extreme, to the limits— past that even— so far you can't even think and it…"
"Powers," Brian fills in the trail, "That's when you get them."
"When something really shitty happens to you," Alec completes, "Like the shittiest thing that's ever happened to you or at least… when it— I don't know. Maybe it isn't the worst moment of your life but it's definitely up there, at least second place. "
"That's the big deal," Rachel's words slice like a scalpel, her glare sharpening every word as she lets her knee drop, her foot stomping against the ground with a thud. "S'what they tried to ask all of us."
"And none of you answered," I surmise, if Brian said he skipped that question and everyone agreed then that means none of them told the League their worst days.
"Not about to tell anyone that shit," Rachel says, turning her head and leaning her chin on her palm.
"Agreed," Brian crosses his arms as he leans back, inhaling again.
"They want to know about the worst moments of our lives?" I ask, feeling the bugs in the mountain move, searching still, looking through every room as quietly as they can.
"Don't know why they asked, they gotta fucking know," Brian shrugs, his eyes darting down to me "Trigger events are— maybe Brockton U or some other college offers a class about them but I doubt they fully get it. You have to live through one and I don't…" he shakes his head. "I don't think I'd do that to somebody."
There's a gravity to his words, a kind of sad orbit to them, a feeling that sucks the rest of us into it and as my bugs continue their mission, I let myself shift.
I hadn't— I hadn't known that everyone got their powers that way, I didn't really— this might come as a fucking shock but I try not to think about how I got them and so… so I didn't really think about how others got them.
The quiet starts to seep into the room, running over all of us and as my eyes dart to each of them, I don't have to wonder what they're thinking about. I'm thinking about it too.
And I said it hadn't been a big deal.
I stare at the food on the table, it's probably getting cold now if it hasn't already. I should eat but I can't, not when the mood's so low, not when I can practically taste the metal.
"Sorry," I try to break the silence but I don't think I really succeed, maybe it strains, but it doesn't shatter like if Brian or Lisa had said something. "I didn't think about it, I—"
"Don't worry about it," Lisa leans closer then, mussing up my hair as she smiles. I can still see something lingering in her eyes but she blinks it away as she leans back "You didn't know and… there's plenty of other things we could talk about."
I don't know how we can just move on from something so dour but Alec takes the bait like he was born to.
"Like fucking Atlantis," he snorts on the other couch, falling back into a laze as he laughs. "Fucking— was he bullshitting?"
"You saw that Aqualad guy," Brian laughs too and it only sounds a little forced as he sits up "Fucking webbed hands and gills, thought he was a Changer but—"
"Fucking Atlantis!" Alec barks a laugh, the sound stuttered into a cackle "They've got Atlantis here! Do we—" he rolls on to his side, something too subtle to be called excitement flowing off him. "—you think we've got an Atlantis back home?"
"There's not a chance," Lisa replies, shaking her head with a giggle and it actually sounds kind of real "They would've— okay, next time Clark comes in I'm gonna ask to use his phone because there's no way—"
"What are you guys talking about?" I cut in, feeling my own lips shake into a smile as Brian starts to laugh in earnest, a bassy chuckle almost shaking the couch. "What?"
"It's—" he tries to answer but the laugh catches in his throat as he looks up at the ceiling. "Clark, the big guy, he came in with Rachel, he asked about Bet and we asked about here and… they've got Atlantis."
He says it like that's supposed to clear everything up but…no. That can't be right.
"You mean the myth?" I ask, incredulity plain in my voice as I lean back, giving him my full attention. "The ancient sunken city?"
"It's a fucking country here!" Alec answers, his hands slapping his chest as he lets them fall, "Like, it's a real place, it—"
"It's not a country," Lisa interrupts, her own voice stained with mirth. "It's a kingdom, run by—"
"Aquaman," Rachel completes and I'm startled when her own shoulders jump in a laugh, her palm pressing against her mouth as she shakes. "They have a fucking king and his name is— it's—"
She laughs again, louder, a deep belly laugh that nearly has her grabbing at her own stomach.
"Aquaman!" Alec completes and the couch actually shakes as Brian tries to bite down his own laughter. "There's a— you're right Lis' that was a detail I couldn't fuck up— there's a kingdom, right?"
"And it s-sank—" my lips curl as I try to fight the smile, "—to the bottom of the ocean?"
"We don't know yet!" Alec says, turning on his side and pointing at me "Clark was— he was trying to wrap his head around it just being a fucking story in Bet and then you came in and fuck, Lis', you're right, we need to see his phone, do they even have google here or—"
"They have aliens too," I can't stop myself from speaking up, "When we surrendered, you—" I point to Lisa, "—you thought they had aliens?"
"Oh yeah," Lisa nods and I'm surprised when she grabs my plate, peeling the plastic off as she hands it to me. "Here, it's better than it looks, but yeah! My power's a hundred percent sure, Aqualad has definitely talked to an alien and Superboy, he's— I think he might be a clone?"
"A fucking clone?" Rachel asks, her smile wide and closed, the corners of her eyes crinkled. "Like what Blasto makes down in Boston?"
"No, it's more— he's more stable than that, I think— I didn't get a good enough read on him but he's at least part alien and the way he said he was made on earth, I don't— I'm not a hundred percent on it, I'd need more."
"Oh of course," Brian jokes and Alec leans over to high five him, limb stretched over the table. Brian returns the gesture, not leaning even half as much. "That's always your excuse."
"Is it an excuse if it's true?" Lisa asks, her voice still tinged with amusement but decidedly sharper. "Besides, I'm not the one whose power was beaten by a gust of wind."
"He got me when I'd just started going," Brian tries to counter but Alec's already snickering, his foot jostling Rachel. She grabs it to keep him still. "Besides I—"
"So," Lisa cuts him off and I think Brian scoffs as she claps her hands together, "You wanted to know what kind of questions she asked?"
"Oh,yeah, I—" I drop the fork, food still on it as I nod. I'm about to set the plate down before Lisa pushes it back up.
"It's fine, I'll talk, you eat." she points to my food and I acquiesce as she continues. "As Alec said, she asked what my name was, where was I from, what my power did, how I got my powers— which we all skipped— why we're a team, what kind of work we did as a team, why were we robbing that bank, how did we get here, why did we run, that sort of shit but I—"
"Here we go," Rachel mutters, Lisa's probably gone over this a few times already
"—got to ask some questions myself," she states proudly. "Learned some cool things about this place, if you wanna know."
"Just tell her," Brian answers for me, my mouth too stuffed with some surprisingly good mashed potatoes as I nod, agreeing with him.
"Spoilsport," Lisa pouts, rolling her eyes as she leans away from me, the small of her back pressing against the armrest. "One, we're apparently in their old headquarters, that mountain we all saw? We're in it."
I nod, I already knew that and I bet Lisa did too but a probing question to test the truth was probably a good first bet.
"Their 'League' isn't officially a part of the US government or any government for that matter, it's sanctioned by the UN and countries that haven't signed the charter aren't technically in their jurisdiction."
I chew as I try to consider the implications of that. If capes started popping up right before World War Two, I guess the nations involved wouldn't really have the time or the resources needed to set up a national agency. Maybe this League is just a continuation of the JSA? But then, they were called the Justice Society of America and that would mean they'd have to have been sanctioned by the US so—
"They don't call the capes here parahumans," Lisa continues, "Instead— it kinda gets flipped around depending on the cape's powers— but usually they're called Metas, shorthand for metahumans, they—"
"Hold on," I swallow, setting the fork down as I speak. I want to know everything she asked, everything she's willing to tell me, but ever since I sat down, a question's been nagging at me."You can tell me this all later, what I need to know is…"
I lick my lips, swallowing as I put my plate down, maybe a third of my food already gone as I look at the others.
"Why did you guys do it? Why'd you let her use the lasso?"
The reminder of what the lasso is, what it does; it almost sucks all the air out of the room again, the mood dropping like a stone before Alec suddenly catches it, snorting as he answers.
"Because we had to," he says and when I turn to look at him, he shrugs. "I mean, yeah she said I had the right to shut up when I decided to go along with it but you know how that shit goes. I mean you don't know, never been arrested, but anytime you try to make it difficult with the cops, try not to do what they want you to do, they're gonna find a way to make you do it anyway."
"Really?" I ask but I'm already nodding, I figured as much already so that must mean when we're done here they'll try to—
"I don't know about that," Lisa interrupts before Alec can continue, snatching our attention as she speaks. "Look, maybe the Protectorate would have tried some shit like that, maybe, but these guys…."
She trails off and points to my food, silently ordering me to eat. I grab my fork because I'm hungry, taking a bite as she collects herself.
"When they turned off my collar, I spent a lot of my power on her and her team, their 'Justice League' and they… I don't think they're like the white hats back home. Sure, Armsmaster might spray you with some truth serum or test out a weird gadget without your consent—" I take another bite, remembering the lie detector he'd been using on me. "—but these guys… I think they'd actually let you talk to a lawyer if you wanted one."
"The Protectorate would let you talk to a lawyer," I swallow, my fork scraping the plate. "Wouldn't they?"
"They would," Brian replies, his tone low, probably speaking from some kind of experience "But they'd jerk you around first, they'd wait for as long as they could to give you a phone call, wait as long as they can to follow something up, that kind shit, typical slow downs to make people sweat."
"Yep," Alec nods and then points to Lisa, taking the reins of the conversation again, "But yeah, even if Lis' says these guys are different, I wouldn't put money on it, I mean, you saw that robot, he put us away without even thinking about it."
"We did kidnap somebody," I point out and Alec shrugs.
"Regardless," Lisa clears her throat, "I went along with the lasso because worse comes to worse, they decide what we did today means more than us being dimensional refugees? It'll look good with them if we play ball."
"If we're cooperative?" I ask, my eyes narrowing.
"Basically," Lisa agrees, nodding. "Plus, I got to play my little quid pro quo without the collar so I came out on top. What about you—" she points to the boy on my other side, Brian already leaning up to say his piece. "—what made you go along with it?"
Brian briefly glares at the Thinker, she's gotta know already why he agreed and he knows she knows that. All of this? It's just for my benefit.
"I…" He stops, his eyes flicking down to me before he takes another shuddering breath, his shoulders rolling in what I'm pretty sure is a nervous tick "I didn't want to. The way I figured, I had no idea if that lasso actually did what she said it would do but… I need to get home."
His eyes look back to Lisa, something fragile lurking in them.
"You said they're our best bet to get back?" He asks and when the Thinker nods, he closes his eyes, leaning back into the couch as he speaks. "I know a few of you know this already but this whole Undersider thing? I like it, it gives me money, gives me my own workflow, lets me make my own decisions but the main reason I'm in this outfit is because of what the boss promised me."
I wait for him to elaborate, holding my breath as he decides whether or not he needs to say more.
"I have a sister," he finally adds, "Aisha, she's a— she's a lot." He nods to himself, opening his eyes and staring at some spot on the floor. "But she's good. She means a lot to me and what I've got going on back home, it isn't— dad did an alright job with me, he was tough, maybe smacked me more than I needed, but he doesn't know how to handle her."
I don't ask about his mom, he'd have brought her up if she was a good alternative. If she was even in the picture.
"That's why I started doing this whole thing," he gestures to his neck, to his collar. "Got a pair of motorcycle leathers, a helmet, did some muscle for hire type jobs and then… then the boss told me he could get me custody if I ran his team for him."
He brings a fist into his open palm, the skin smacking as he nods to himself.
"So I needed them to know that, that that's why I'm doing this, why I fucking—" he leans back, one hand rising up to rub at the back of his neck. "—why I let you guys talk me into robbing a fucking bank."
An uneasy quiet fills the void his confession leaves. It isn't as bad as the quiet before, not even close, but it still sticks to my skin as I force down another bite.
I want to ask him why. Why he's put so much faith into his boss, why he couldn't just go to the Wards, why he had to be a villain, how he could even believe their boss could pull a string like that when he doesn't even know who he is but… but I don't let my curiosity push him down any deeper than he already is.
I'm not the best at reading people. I can tell some things, when someone's upset, when they're happy, easy stuff like that. When they try to hide it though… that's when it gets muddy. Brian is doing a pretty good job of that.
I can tell he's upset, that he's hurt, but I can't make out if that's going to boil over into a shouting match or if it's going to curl into something sadder. Either way, I don't think he'll let us see it. Let us see him.
"What about you Rache'?" Brian asks, lifting his head up and adopting Alec's nickname. "What made you go along with it?"
Rachel doesn't answer at first, she pats her thigh for Angelica to jump up, the little terrier accidentally bonking her chin on Rachel's knee as she scrambles into the girl's lap. Rachel's rough hands move over the dog's back, her long nails raking through the fur, collecting dirt and grime without a care.
After a second or so, she nods.
"Clark," she answers simply. "Guy talked to me on the drive, talked at me when I didn't say anything back. Didn't push, didn't fucking try to know me. He just… he talked."
None of us push and eventually, Rachel continues.
"When we got to that fucking… that little hospital thing they've got, he told me what the collar was gonna do and I nearly jumped him, got ready to make my dogs big, get them to fuck him up but he… he told me they were gonna be safe."
"And you believed him?" Alec asks, making something like a growl begin to brew in Rachel's throat.
"Dunno why," she answers, "He didn't… I don't fucking know, okay? He was just… he knew what my dogs needed, how to take care of them, said he had one. Nice little labrador. He didn't really look at me when he talked, just looked at my dogs, he pet them right. He knew what he was doing."
She scratches Angelica behind the ears, the little terrier tilting her head into the gesture.
"He walked me to my cell, let me keep my dogs and he… he just talked to me. Sat in the cell with me, told me about this place, where he was from, that kind of shit, and when that Wonder Lady came in…"
She trails off, deciding she doesn't need to say anymore.
For a second, it seems like the silence is about to settle again but then Lisa's reaching for me, putting her hand on my knee.
"You should do it," she says, voice so blunt it takes me a second to get what she means.
"What?" I can't help but ask, nearly coughing on my last bite before I put the plate down. "No, why would I—"
"Normally I'd agree that we shouldn't talk to cops, super or otherwise—" Lisa looks around the room, silently gathering a consensus, "—but by now they've definitely gotten Panacea's statement on what happened and while they'll probably believe the hostage over the people that threatened her life, the more we can add to the timeline, the more it leans in our favor. So get it all out, every little sympathetic detail you can, and maybe we'll work out something better than a crappy Wards deal."
"I don't—" I stop myself, lips thinning as I get my swarm to retreat, back into the vents, into the little nooks and crannies of this mountain as I consider Lisa's idea.
I don't want to submit to the lasso, I don't want my secrets to just— to be ripped out of me. Armsmaster's lie detector had already been annoying but something that forces me to talk? Forces me to speak, I don't…
I don't want to.
"Hey," Brian speaks up on my other side and when I turn to look at him, his throat bobs. "You wanna get home too, right?"
His words cut into me and even though I don't nod, he catches on all the same.
"I don't like it either, I hated it when she had it around my wrist but it's the best chance we got at getting back to Brockton." He looks past me, eyes darting to Lisa and then to Alec and Rachel. "I don't know if we're gonna be able to stick together, Protectorate would break up a crew like ours if they had the chance, but even if the League does that, we're still a team. Okay?"
A chorus of affirmations rise up, Alec gives a yep, Rachel grunts a yeah, and Lisa answers with a nearly cheerful 'of course.'
With their words still ringing in the air, Brian's eyes turn back to me.
"Okay?" he repeats and I feel my face heat as I look away, nodding.
"Okay," I reply, feeling something start to twist around in my guts when the door opens, getting all of our attention.
Unsurprisingly, it's Clark. I'd kept the gnat on his knuckle and somehow he hadn't noticed it yet, the bug keeping perfect track of him even while I focused on the conversation.
"Uh, hey gang!" he coughs into his fist, gesturing over his shoulder with his other hand. "I, uh, sorry to tell you guys but um, it looks like we're approaching lights out here and uh… well… I…"
"Back to the cells?" Brian asks and the gawky looking man gives him a nod, a small, sad smile on his face.
"Fraid so, it uh… " Clark opens the door wider, gesturing to the hall. "I think it'll only be for tonight, I-I talked to some of the uh… those Justice League guys and they think— well, you— you all seem like good kids."
I almost snort as I stand up, Clark could not be a worse judge of character.
"Don't worry about cleaning up," the big man manages not to stutter as he gestures to the mess of food on the table, "S'what they pay me for."
"You're a janitor?" Alec asks as he squeezes between Clark and the door, making our chaperone realize he's blocking the only exit. He nearly trips on his own feet as he takes a step back, laughing with Alec again as he replies.
"Uh, not really, I just help out from time to time, I uh— the others are just out in the hall, they'll take you back to your… rooms."
I nod as I step past him, Lisa following just behind me as we enter the hall
True to his word, there's a trio standing at the end of the hall, two of them wearing the same purple uniform, the pants baggy and the shirt short sleeved and fixed tight. The third makes Lisa slump, his robotic joints whirring as he turns to face us.
"Greetings," Red Tornado raises a hand, "I will be escorting Lisa back to her cell."
"No shit," Lisa mumbles and her tone almost sounds defeated as she moves ahead of me, letting me get a good look at the other two. They're both human as far as I can tell, probably unpowered, but with how different this place is supposed to be I can't guarantee that.
The first one is on the taller side, his frame nearly lanky but compensated by his bulk. He isn't terribly strong, definitely less so than Brian, but he takes good care of himself, his arms just a bit too defined to be called wiry. My eyes trail up the expanse of his torso and the long road of his neck before meeting his face.
He's what I might call conventionally handsome, with features I'd put more in line with an action star, something like Top Gun maybe. He's nice to look at but in a generic way, like someone copy-pasted a mass produced idea of what's attractive. His brown hair swoops into a perfectly formed curl, his bright green eyes nearly glowing as he looks past me, locking on to Brian.
"Hey," he greets, raising a hand up in a relaxed salute.
"Hey," Brian returns, his voice significantly less cheerful as the second man steps around his coworker.
He's noticeably thinner than the green-eyed man but being nearly half a head shorter, I can't really call him lanky. That said, his uniform doesn't fit him half as well as the other man, baggy around his stomach and sleeves, his build too small to fit it. He's a runner, I can tell just by his blonde hair, windswept and barely kept in its coif.
His face is thin too, with a longer nose, thinner lips, and eyes that border just on the edge of being owl-like. I'd still call him handsome though, just maybe not in the way someone like me would appreciate.
He doesn't say anything as he leans up, looking over Brian and to the last of our quintet. He must be Alec's guard.
And last, just turning the corner and looking down at me, is Diana.
Immediately my eyes flick to the lasso at her waist, Lisa's words echoing in my mind.
"See you in the morning," the Thinker says, her shoulder bumping mine as she offers me a smile, her green eyes darting to Diana in silent cajoling. I know what she wants me to do but I don't—
"It's not goodbye yet," Wonder Woman says, gesturing down the hall, down the opposite way we came, "Taylor, there's a room closer to your comrades. It's yours if you'd like to take it."
My eyes narrow, there's gonna be a catch to this, isn't there?
I nod anyway, my steps locking with the others as we all turn right, our group making its way down the hall, decidedly quieter this time with so many ears listening.
It doesn't take very long for us to reach our cells and true to her word, mine is much closer to the others, Lisa and I sharing a wall and…
It's bigger.
That's the first thing I notice as the glass wall comes down.
The ceiling is taller, the walls further apart, it's gotta be a waste of space but just stepping in it…
My chest gets tight but it isn't as bad as before.
"There's a comm by the door if you need any of us," Wonder Woman says, gesturing to the little gray box just at the edge of the left wall. "Breakfast will be held at 8 AM sharp and you and comrades will be allowed time in the rec room if you so desire."
I nod and as she turns to leave I force myself to swallow something bitter.
"I'll do it." I say, holding up my wrist, "You can ask your questions."
Author's Note: Hello again!
Well, this chapter was a doozy and a half, balancing the trigger talk, dumb teenagers being dumb teenagers, talking about motivations, explaining the lasso… again, I feel I did an okay job but it definitely feels messy. Y'all let me know if it's not up to par.
Oh, one quick thing, Lisa is different in the trigger conversation than in canon because without her power she's tiptoeing around Alec more (he's a second generation cape too and without her power giving her the all clear to say he isn't bothered by 'second gens have it easier' she isn't risking it)
Anyhoozle, I like this chapter, I think it's okay, but I can understand it not being my strongest.
Also, I was gonna skip the actually lasso questioning (maybe have it as a 1k omake) but you guys can let me know if that's a bad idea or not.
(Tentatively) Next time on Peristalsis: Taylor and the others meet a martian, he is very concerned about what they show him. There's something about a slaughterhouse, Endbringers, and what's this about powers needing to be used?!
As always, please point out spelling or grammar errors and if you'd like to poison my food because of a continuity error, I'd understand.
Edit: We're doing the lasso scene gang.
Also, Martian Manhunter is only doing a mindscan if he had permission, he might (story ambiguity) just skip Taylor because she said she wouldn't want that
Diana of Themyscira is many things.
A child of Zeus, a child of Hades, an enemy of Ares, but above all she is a hero.
This isn't some grandiose statement, some meaningless praise to throw at one of the most powerful people on the planet.
It's a simple fact.
The sun shines, grass grows, and wherever injustice or despair creeps into being, Wonder Woman is there too, with a hand for those in need of aid and a blade for those who would oppress the first.
She is a hero.
And as she stands across from Taylor Hebert, the girl's wrist raised in offering for her lasso, Diana doesn't hesitate.
She doesn't truly know Taylor, not yet, but she understands just by the tone of her voice that once she's got something in her head, it's almost impossible to persuade her otherwise.
"Very well," Diana nods, her hands already moving for the lasso but not yet removing it from her hip, "But before we begin, I need to make sure you understand what exactly you're agreeing to."
"It'll make me tell the truth," Taylor replies, her shoulders tense, her whole body coiled tight like a snake in waiting. Her tone is curt, just on the edge of politeness and blunt, a ghost of annoyance threatening to leak into her voice. Of course now the hero wants to explain what she's going to do. "If you ask me a question, I won't be able to lie or keep quiet, right?"
"Yes," Diana confirms, her own tone serious before she continues. "But in addition, the lasso's idea of truth… it may be deeper than what you believe."
Taylor doesn't ask the hero to elaborate, instead she just stares, her eyes narrowing behind her glasses as Wonder Woman explains.
"Oftentimes a person's idea of what the truth is may change, a person might lie to themselves, they might even convince themselves of these lies. Under the lasso's power, those untruths are undone and on occasion I've found… many are not prepared for such a reaction."
The silence between the two grows colder then, almost sharp in its intensity. Taylor's eyes flick down to the golden thread, its glow just barely perceived as the hero across from her takes a step, one hand gesturing to the bed.
"You may find my questions more taxing than you expect, for your own safety, I ask that we sit on the bed."
"In case I collapse," Taylor surmises, looking over her shoulder at the bed in question before turning back to face the hero. "I think I'll be fine."
Diana blinks and then nods.
"If you believe that is best," she replies, ignoring the glare thrown her way. "Now—" the lasso sings against itself as she unspools it, the threads rubbing against each other almost musically as she takes another step forward, the glass wall rising up to lock them in. "—before we begin, I'm going to lay out all of my questions now so that you have an opportunity to veto them. Once you're under the lasso's power, you will not be able to skip them. Do you understand?"
"Yes," despite her outward bravery, Diana can hear the faintest current of trepidation in the young woman's voice. She isn't scared, not yet, but she is apprehensive. "I understand."
And with that, Wonder Woman speaks.
She tells Taylor the same cabal of questions she'd given the rest of her team and of course, she's met with the same cabal of vetoes.
Taylor won't explain the full extent of her power and she won't explain how she got them.
Diana knows better than to push the young woman, not when the peace between them is so fragile, not when she already hears the bugs surrounding them move in ways they shouldn't.
The Demigod wraps her lasso loose around Taylor's wrist, the thread drawn just tight enough for the magic to activate but loose enough that it can be removed quickly.
As the lasso begins to glow, the golden light bathing over both of them, they take a moment to meet each other's eyes.
"What is your legal name?" Diana asks, her tone heavy as she watches Taylor's face, searching for any sign of discomfort.
"Taylor Anne Hebert," the answer comes seamlessly, no sign of discomfort or pain on the girl's face. Her lips don't even thin as she returns the look.
"What are you called in costume?"
"I hadn't come up with a name," Taylor answers and then, just as she was about to fall quiet, she continues, voice a little strained. "Grue called me 'Bug' when we started the robbery."
As the words leave her lips, Taylor takes a breath, steadying herself as she squints. Apparently, even something as minor as an offhanded comment is enough for the lasso to demand. As Taylor leans back up, her interrogator waits patiently, Diana's expression schooled of any and all emotion, anything the young girl could take as a sign of suspicion.
Or pity.
After another moment, Taylor swallows, her eyes rising up to stare into the hero's again, silently asking her to continue.
"Where are you from?" A simple question with a simple answer.
"Brockton Bay, New Hampshire, Earth Bet," Taylor replies, voice calm and to the point, her mouth no longer betraying her as she shifts from foot to foot.
"What kind of work have you done with your powers?" Diana asks, her wording careful. What crimes Taylor committed would be a different question, a different story, a different narrative and not something Wonder Woman wants to explore.
"I made a costume," Taylor starts and almost like checking the heat of a stove, she hesitates, her voice edging forward, the truth given in little bursts and half-measures, testing the boundaries of the magic. "I waited until I was ready, until I—" She stops, her face tightening, her bottom lip brought between her teeth, the context she was trying to add yanked back by the lasso, the spell apparently deciding it wasn't necessary.. "I fought Lung, I beat Lung, when Rachel sicced her dogs on me I—"
A hiss leaves the young girl, her eyes fixed on the thread around her wrist, staring at the glow as her other hand tries to grab at the rope. But just before it can reach, just before it can yank the lasso away, it stalls, held back and knuckles clenched.
Taylor could remove it, she could take it off, but what would that prove? That she wouldn't tell the truth? That she was someone so scared of it she'd cower and push it away?
No.
She forced her hand back to her side, the nails digging into the fabric of her sweats.
"After Brian punched her, pushed her to the floor, I used them to make a wall between us and her dogs, I didn't hurt them though, I didn't—"
Again the context is ripped from her voice before she can explain and with another tight sound leaving her throat, Taylor continues.
"I brought as many bugs as I could to the bank, stuffed them into the back of a van, and when we went in I…" she pauses, waiting for that discomfort to hit her and like a pot set to boil, it begins to brew in her chest.
It starts as a low simmer, a feeling that makes her want to move and quickly, it grows in its intensity. It isn't heat, not exactly, but it's something like that. Something like fire, dancing in her chest, sparking against itself, getting bigger by the second.
An itch begins to swim through her blood, a feeling like horrible frustration rising up through her throat, into her mouth, and collecting on her tongue.
Taylor closes her eyes, trying to blink the feeling away, trying to push it out and into something but the more she pushes, the worse it gets. It builds and builds and builds and every moment she thinks it's over, another wave begins to form, washing over her, drowning her in its truth.
And she cannot hold her breath forever.
"I used—" she starts and before she can push it back down, she continues, the truth flooding from her in a one breath. "I used black widows!"
Her voice cracks as her posture bends, shoulders drawn inward and knees buckling, like the honesty's a physical weight pushing her down!
"I didn't want to hurt them! I needed them to be— I needed—" she gasps, her breath choked and torn and when the lasso is ripped from her wrist, she only notices because that horrible burn in her soul finally dies, the magic smothered.
For a long moment, all Taylor Hebert can do is breath.
She curls on herself, arms drawn in, the swarm just on the edge of her awareness, the tide of chitin and shell bringing with it its own kind of comfort. She can feel them, the million million soldiers of her army and it makes the breaths come a little easier.
But of course, she doesn't let the peace settle.
"Why'd you—" she coughs, staring back up at the hero, brown eyes blurred by something she doesn't want to admit. "Why'd you stop?"
"You were in distress," Wonder Woman answers and as the golden light floods her eyes, Taylor feels… something try to spark in her chest. The lasso glows and Wonder Woman continues, "I believed you were having a reaction you didn't expect, you were hurt, and I already know what your power did today."
Slowly, Diana brings a hand to Taylor's shoulder, squeezing the muscle gently.
"We do not need to continue," Diana says and the truth affirms her words, the lasso's light constant as ever.
The words should bring some kind of relief, some kind of release, some kind of something to make Taylor feel better but all it does is make her lips thin.
No.
No!
No, she will not let it end here, she needs Wonder Woman to understand who she is, what she was trying to do, she won't let pity steer this interrogation. Not when she has so much left to say.
Taylor reaches for the lasso and with barely a quirk of her brow, Diana lets her.
The insect Master winds the rope tighter this time, tight enough that the threads would burn her if they were yanked free.
"I didn't want to hurt them," Taylor explains, letting the words flow easily, barely guided by the magic "The people at the bank, the hostages, I needed them to be out of the way, I needed them to know what could happen if they tried to make it difficult. I needed them to just— to just let it happen so that the others wouldn't have to take control."
Diana continues to stare, the explanation has only sparked more questions.
She wants to ask them of course, why did Taylor use real widows when she could have planted normal spiders and used only one for a demonstration, why didn't she try to rob the bank quieter, her bugs slipping into the vault and stealing bills one by one?
Would Taylor have really used the widows if she'd thought she needed to?
Diana has many questions but she keeps herself silent until Taylor is satisfied.
And just as the silence begins to stretch again, she asks her next approved question.
"What is your team's name?" The hand on Taylor's shoulder squeezes again, the hold grounding her as she speaks.
"I'm not on—" the words die a swift death, her eyes widening as she brings a free hand to her throat, startled by the answer she couldn't say. "I'm not—" she tries to repeat herself but as the magic begins to swell again, she groans, letting the truth flow. "The Undersiders."
Swallowing, Taylor looks to the ceiling, perplexed by what the lasso had forced out of her.
Why had… why had she said that?
Sure, she was 'a member' but it wasn't… it wasn't real. She was undercover, she was only doing this so she could flip on them, so that when they told her who their boss was, she could go to the Protectorate with actual work under her belt, something she didn't need help to do, something she could show as proof of her own abilities.
That's why she joined— that's why she pretended to join! That's…
That's all it was.
Slowly, Taylor looks back down, nodding for Diana to continue.
"What kind of work do the Undersiders do?"
This was an easier question to answer. The Undersiders didn't have an official wiki but Taylor had read enough of their individual pages to know what kind of work they did.
"Theft mostly," she answers, "Sometimes corporate, sometimes stealing from other gangs, occasionally they might fight other villains, heroes, police officers, PRT, whoever tries to stop them—"
Taylor almost manages to shut her mouth before the truth surges again, bright and hot in her chest, making her squint as the correction slips up her throat.
"—whoever tries to stop us."
Taylor nods to herself then, that answer she could at least understand. She hadn't been an Undersider for long, she hadn't even finished a single job with them, but she did try to help when Uber and Leet had cornered them in the bank.
And while Taylor hadn't technically used her powers on the duo, she couldn't with whatever bug zapper Leet had deployed, she had at least made a smokescreen of chitin to confuse the pair.
That technically counted as the truth and thinking of it like that helped,
That must be how the lasso works, off the technicalities, what might be considered the most 'objective' truth. Stripping away the broader context and justifications, and leaving the simplest answer to be said.
Thinking of it like that would make everything that would come after so much easier.
"Why did you hold Panacea hostage?"
Holding on to how she figured the lasso worked, Taylor answers the question without a hitch.
They didn't know where they were, they didn't know how they'd get back home, they needed some kind of insurance if the Protectorate found them and what better a bargaining chip then the world's greatest healer? Was it particularly noble of them? Absolutely not, but it was shrewd and it might've even worked if they hadn't been sent to another universe.
"Why did you release her?"
Another easy question with another easy answer.
The healer didn't need to be hurt, Taylor didn't want to hurt her, she'd already seen the writing on the wall and if she wanted the little Wards team to back off, Taylor needed the Undersiders to at least appear cooperative.
With only one final question to answer, Taylor almost let herself relax.
This last one was sure to be the easiest.
"Why did you join the Undersiders?"
Taylor almost smiled.
This was something she'd been waiting to explain, something that would separate her from the others, something that would prove to Wonder Woman and the League that she was a hero, someone that knew right from wrong, someone they could trust.
But as Taylor Hebert moves to answer, the lasso seems to get tighter.
"I was planning to flip on them," she answers, voice perfectly calm and collected. She nearly manages to close her mouth but the magic surges. That's fine of course, there's probably a technicality she needs to make clear. "I'd joined but I was undercover, once I knew who their boss was I'd—"
She coughs, voice hoarse and strained, her eyes wide as she brings a fist to her chest, trying to clear her throat as a small burn starts to smolder in her chest. "I was trying to— I was—"
Again, another cough, this one even worse, her breath ripped from her as the truth pulses, the lasso glowing brighter.
"I was going to—" not even five words into her explanation and the truth seems to whip her. The magic is— it isn't pain. Not really, it doesn't make her flinch or scream but it's something between agony and discomfort, not quite enough to sting but certainly above an itch.
Taylor shifts as she tries to get the words out, as she tries to push what she knows is the truth.
The swarm dances at the edge of her mind but as she pushes more and more of herself against the magic it only seems to get heavier. She tries to push it down, tries to force it away, but as the bugs in her range begin to shake and shiver and dance, she can't keep her mouth closed forever.
"I was going to turn them in but then it— it changed— somewhere it—" she brings her free hand to slap against her mouth, her skin stinging and the pain offering her a brief release. A heat starts to blossom over her face, embarrassment warring with will.
"Taylor," Diana's hand squeezes again, tight enough that Taylor's eyes snap closed. She won't look at her, she won't let her see, she won't— "It's okay."
"I—" she tries to muffle herself, tries to keep her hand steady but against her own will it shivers away from her mouth. "I was—"
She can't bring her jaw to shut, can't bring her teeth to bite her own tongue, she can't choke herself silent, and finally the truth pushes through her.
"I was lonely!" She shouts to the ceiling, her face turning even more pink and flushed, her eyes screwing closed even tighter as her traitorous voice is pulled along by the magic. "I was lonely!"
Her knees give out, Wonder Woman moving to catch her as the lasso demands even more from her.
This isn't context the magic's forcing her to add, it isn't unnecessary fluff or padding, it's just the truth.
The whole truth.
"I was tired of being alone!" Taylor cries out and as she blinks into Wonder Woman's shoulder, the hero pulling them both to the ground, she tries to keep her voice steady.
She tries.
"I didn't want to—" she stutters but her control is too fragile to reassert itself, "I didn't want to be alone anymore! I wanted friends! I wanted people to—"
A tight, broken sound rises into her explanation, her face red and wet and splotched as her arms shake at her sides.
"I wanted people to care about me! To like me! I wanted to have friends and I… I would…" she presses her face to the hero's shoulder, letting her arms rise up to mirror the pair already at her back. "I wanted to be their friend, I wanted them to be my friends, I'd had fun with them and I think it…"
She swallows, that burn in her chest is almost gone, the truth nearly complete but there's one last thing she needs to say.
"I'd been lonely," she repeats and while it still makes her face burn in humiliation, there's some awful catharsis to it now, like pulling the bandage off a wound, letting it air out "I was so lonely, I hated myself so much I just… I needed to matter. To someone."
She curls around Wonder Woman, a final sob echoing as the magic begins to die.
"T-to anyone."
The golden light surrounding Taylor and Diana begins to fade, the magic retreating back into the lasso, Hestia's truth subdued.
At least for now.
For minutes, neither of them say a single word, both of them content to linger in the silence.
Taylor collects herself as swiftly as she can, the gasps and sobs slowly quieting before she forces them away all together, ignoring the gentle hold she's still trapped in, ignoring the kind words whispered against her scalp.
As for Diana?
She just sits there, offering a hand to those in aid.
This is what she does.
She tries to be a hero.
Slowly, quietly, the two of them separate, Taylor scooting out from the demigod's lap and the demigod herself moving to undo the knot Taylor made of her lasso.
Once the artifact is again fixed to her hip, Diana stands, helping Taylor to her feet as she speaks.
"Thank you for answering my questions," she says. She won't waste the breath apologizing, sorry as she is for what the lasso did to Taylor, she knows the young woman in front of her would not accept an apology.
Because that would mean she'd have to acknowledge what it did.
What she'd said.
"Of course," Taylor nods, managing not to sniffle as she gestures to the bed. "I'd like to go to sleep now."
Diana returns the nod and though every instinct in her body is telling her to pull Taylor into another hug, she restrains herself and turns to the door.
The hero doesn't need to press any button, she doesn't need to speak aloud, the wall just opens as she approaches, the camera outside fixed on her as she leaves.
As the wall goes back up and the lights dim, leaving Taylor alone in something approaching darkness, she slips under the covers and stares at the ceiling, her own words echoing in her mind.
She…
She didn't expect that.
Even when Diana had said as much, had told her what the lasso did to people, she just… she didn't know.
She rolls to face the wall, blankets pulled around her, and while her mind would normally be running wild with everything that happened today, she just… she can't bring herself to dwell on it anymore.
Her eyes close and Taylor Hebert falls into a dreamless sleep.
Author's Note: Hello again!
And holy shit! Right?! I mean, I don't know, I figure this bit will be controversial as hell. I know a lot of people might have problems with the final question and how Taylor reacted to it, but personally I think this is the truth of the situation. Or at least, it's the truth that makes sense to me. This girl was ride or die with them and yeah, you can say she joined to flip them, you can say she stayed to save Dinah (I actually agree that that was a huge motivator) but y'know what?
If Dinah hadn't told her to leave, hadn't had her power as evidence for it being literally for the sake of the world, Taylor would have stayed.
I'm fucking sure of it.
But that's just me.
I'm not gonna dwell on it, I think I did a kickass job.
Anyways, next time on Peristalsis: The Undersiders are tentatively allowed out of their cells and without the collars, a few days have passed since they first got stranded here, and the League is trying to learn more about this 'Earth Bet' they're all from… why is Martian Manhunter sounding so concerned?
Hopefully the next chapter will be out by Tuesday but if you want to motivate me, Patreon is linked in my signature.
Also, spelling and grammar mistakes should be pointed out and are appreciated, any continuity errors should get me burned alive!
Edit: Made some changes to the last question, Taylor's initial answer has been changed to the whole being undercover thing, I made a passing glance to the whole self-worth debacle (I don't think it would unfold more unless Diana prodded at it),