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King of Ghosts and Queen of Escalation

Chapter 4: Dodging Enemies on the Fly

Summary:

Enter Taylor Hebert, stage left! Oh, and a wild Phantom enters stage right, pursued by a Plasmius!

Notes:

Adding tags for the Worm cast! Be warned, it's worm, so violence ensues!

Chapter Text

Brockton Bay, New Hampshire - 17 December 2010

Taylor Hebert was not having a good day. If she had to describe it, it would be along the lines of a ‘Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.’ She had woken up late, her alarm failing her as she rushed to get dressed, ripping a hole in her favorite pair of jeans in the process. Groaning in defeat, she pulled on some baggy sweatpants, then realized her black hoodie was in the wash.

Rushing down the stairs while pulling a light gray hoodie over her head and swinging her backpack onto her back, she heard her dad, Danny Hebert, inside the kitchen with a pleasant smell wafting from within. Dad never cooked anymore, and now Taylor would be unable to enjoy it. She hurried into the kitchen, her father turning at the sound of her entrance.

“Morning, Taylor!” He smiled at her, a strained thing, but still there. The pair hadn’t had a lot to smile about in almost two years now, which peaked Taylor’s curiosity. If only she wasn’t late…

“Morning, Dad! Sorry, I woke up late. I gotta run!” Taylor grabbed a piece of toast from the counter, which was laid out with a small but freshly made breakfast assortment of bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Her stomach growled in protest as she slipped up to her dad, giving him a small hug. With a “Bye,” she was back out the door, but not before noticing her dad’s face fall slightly.

“Sure, kiddo. Have fun at school,” his small voice called to her as Taylor dipped out of the front door, hoping to catch the bus.

Taylor sprints toward the bus stop, seeing her ride in the distance… pulling away… without her… “God damn it…” She slowed down; no point running if she couldn’t catch it. Taylor lets out a sigh, wiping some sweat from her forehead. It was winter, but running like that so quickly after waking up was not Taylor’s idea of a good time.

Getting splashed by a car as it sped past, hitting a dirty puddle as it went, was also not her idea of a good time… ‘Great…this might as well happen today…’ Taylor sighed deeply, attempting to push past this spurt of bad luck.

Soaked through with dirty water, Taylor arrived at Winslow High. She hunched over, making herself smaller as she walked up the steps to her own personal hell. She pretended to not notice the snickering of her peers as she passed, ignoring their jeers of “She looks like a drowned rat,” or “Must have shut off the water if she’s bathing in the sewer.”

Taylor moved to her locker, jimmying the locking mechanism that seemed to stick more and more as she used it throughout the year. A loud BAM sounded next to her that caused her to jump, heart beating out of her chest. She looked around to see no one, only hearing the snickers of a group of girls passing by.

The group, while mostly consisting of cronies that delighted in making her miserable, included some of Taylor’s faaaavorate people. Madison was in a warm looking pink jacket, contrasted with the skirt she insisted on wearing despite the cold of the season, covering her mouth as she failed to hold back her annoying laughter. Sophia, who Taylor suspected was the cause of her mini-heart attack, looked at Taylor like she was a bug on the bottom of her shoe; when Taylor avoided eye contact, Sophia smirked, holding her head a little higher. Taylor’s eyes drifted between the other faces until she made eye contact with Emma, her best-friend-turned-worst-enemy, who smiled sweetly at her.

“Oh, Taylor. Did your family forget to pay the water bill again? You can’t just bath in a sewer; you already smell as it is. No need to make it worse,” Emma’s mock pity and concern cut through any conversation around them like she had spoken in a megaphone.

Taylor looked away, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment. ‘Asshole…’ Taylor grabbed her books and shut the door to her locker, attempting to rush past the group, only to be tripped by an outstretched foot.

Taylor let out a yelp as she fell, arms outstretched to catch herself as her books few forward out of her hands. Her palms stung with the impact, a wave of pain radiating up her arms and into her shoulders. She looked behind her, witnessing Sophia pull her foot back into place while smirking down at Taylor.

“Clumsy bitch,” she sneered, “Watch where you’re going. Wouldn’t want your garbage bath to stink up anyone else.” The rest of the group laughed cruelly as Emma walked over to Taylor's books, stepping on them with her expensive-looking shoes.

“Seriously, Taylor,” Emma cooed, kicking the books back at Taylor, hitting her in the stomach with them and forcing her to let out a gasp of pain, “you’re going to hurt someone with how clumsy you are. It’s almost negligent, although…” she pauses, putting a finger to her chin, crossing her arm over her stomach in mock thought. She glances down at Taylor, a small smile gracing her lips, “Must run in the family, huh?”

The group laughs again jeering at Taylor as they disguise their cruel words as ‘just trying to help.’ Taylor stands and pushes past Emma, forcing herself not to cry. ‘Asshole…asshole…ASSHOLE!’ Taylor’s thoughts screamed in her head. Emma was always good at using her cruel words like knife in Taylor’s heart. ‘How could she?!

Since Taylor’s mother had died in that car accident two years ago, Emma had become more avoidant and distant, resulting in this: abandoning Taylor and actively using any form of confidence that had been given to her to cut right into Taylor’s feelings. Taylor could handle the physical abuse brought by Sophia and the jeering from Madison any day; Emma’s betrayal hurt, the girl expertly using their past friendship to be as cruel as possible.

Let’s just get through the day,’ Taylor scrubbed at her face with the sleeve of her hoodie, still determined not to let anything the Trio said get to her. Arriving at Mrs. Knott’s classroom for homeroom, Taylor slipped inside and took a seat near the back of the room, away from the normal seats of Madison and her lemmings.

Madison and her group entered closer to the bell, settling in their seats while stealing glances at Taylor, giggling to themselves and whispering amongst each other. The glances and whispers set Taylor on edge, sending a shiver down her spine. She was not looking forward to whatever they had planned. Taylor wanted nothing more than for this day to end so she wouldn’t have to deal with them until the new year.

One more day, Taylor. Just hold out and you can finally catch a break…’ Taylor couldn’t hope for them to just ignore her. Their harassment had been constant and vicious. ‘Eventually they'll get bored…or maybe Emma will…’ she banished that deludedly hopeful thought. The idea that Emma would apologize for her behavior, and they could go back to how things were? Taylor had been tricked by that sentiment one too many times to be hopeful for that.

Time passed, homeroom ended, and Taylor trudged through the hallway to her World Issues class. Her clothes had dried somewhat at that point, but that was ignored in favor of focusing on a dread that seemed to follow her through her walk to class. Something was off, but she couldn’t tell what.

Mr. Gladly was his normal, 'Call me Mr. G' self as he attempted to curry favor with the popular kids, not assigning any real schoolwork, but instead putting on a movie.

“No one wants to work right before the holidays, right?” He joked, putting on some Hallmark crap about a young 20 something meeting the parahuman of their dreams. It was sickeningly sweet, had a pre-finale conflict separating the two lovebirds, and decidedly had nothing to do with the holidays, more focused on the relationship drama then the season. Definitely not Taylor’s type of movie, but at least she could avoid talking to people.

Emma and Madison shared this class with Taylor, and Taylor was doing everything in her power to avoid their attention. It was easier than it should have been. They would normally cause some sort of issue, even if Taylor had claimed a seat very much out of their way. Taylor hoped that this would continue throughout the day but wasn’t holding her breath for it.

As the bell rang to the end of class, Mr. Gladly called out to the students hurriedly packing their things, “Everyone, be safe during the break and let me know if you need anything! Just because it’s a holiday, doesn’t mean you can’t reach out if you need some help, or advice!” There were a few ‘Merry Christmas’’s and ‘Happy Holidays’’s thrown around, but Taylor quickly ducked out of the door.

Today was a half day, thank goodness, so only Computer class with Mrs. Knott was left. Taylor spotted Sophia walking down the hall toward Mr. Gladly’s classroom as Taylor slipped away, most likely meeting up with Emma and Madison before their next classes. Taylor would only need to avoid Madison in Mrs. Knott’s class, so she rushed as fast as she could while avoiding attention to get to her destination.

Taylor completed her work as quickly as possible during class and even completed her winter break assignments, ignoring the snickering behind her at the computers that Madison and her cronies had claimed. They were whispering something again, but Taylor refused to listen, sure that they were making comments about her that were _oooh_ so funny.

After wrapping up her final assignment for the break, Taylor looked at the time: she still had 30 minutes left of class to kill! Silently, Taylor brought PHO to see if anything interesting had updated since she had last checked the day prior.

Parahumans Online was the main compiled source of all thing’s cape: Superhero, Supervillain, and anything in between. It was a constant update of information from a cape’s suspected powers to the latest news around the globe.

Taylor began scrolling through the site, looking for anything new. The latest Behemoth attack seemed to have been less damaging than others. Clean-up was going well and there were less casualties than usual, too. Taylor sighed in relief: it could have been so much worse.

Endbringers, as the name implied, were creatures that had the potential to end the world, if not for the brave Capes who fought them. The latest, the Simurgh, had descended from the sky in 2002 in Lausanne, Switzerland, where she manipulated the populace into destroying everything in their path with her psychic scream until they were finally quarantined or…disposed of. The second, Leviathan, surfaced in 1996, taking the city of Oslo, Norway, into its domain of the sea while taking hundreds of thousands of lives with it.

Finally, the first, Behemoth, also known as the Hero Killer, initially appeared in Marun Fields in Iran in 1992. It had destroyed the second largest oil field in the world, taking a good number of Capes with it. It was the Endbringer with the highest kill count and would irradiate the land it walked upon, making the places it trod impossible to live, at least in Taylor’s lifetime.

Taylor clicked off the Endbringer forum after verifying that all the capes from Brockton Bay had survived the Endbringer attack, not wanting to go too in depth with that today and scrolled through other news. All that she found noteworthy was that the trial for Bad Canary had ended: the singer being sent to the Bird Cage for “assault with a parahuman power.”

The fact that Bad Canary was sentenced so harshly after a first offence when people like Lung, the leader of the Azn Bad Boys (who had constantly road the line of a Kill Order and was currently in line to the Bird Cage himself), or Kaiser (the Nazi in charge of Empire Eighty-Eight who had hurt and killed so many people either by ordering his fellow bigots to do it for him or doing it personally) were still at large was insane.

Taylor read through some of the case information for Bad Canary, only stopping once she noticed the time. She gathered her things into her bag and prepared to bolt, not wanting to remain for long with how Madison and her groupies were snickering with increasing frequency.

The bell rang, and Taylor quickly stood, shouldering her backpack and rushing to be the first out the door. She made a quick glance around her, spotting Emma and Sophia walking quickly toward her class. ‘Yeah, nope!’ Taylor fast walked in the opposite direction with her shoulders hunched and head down, determined not to get shit on anymore today. She heard the guffawing laughter of the trio, and Taylor’s face heating up involuntarily as she fled.

Taylor kept going, hearing the tap of multiple footsteps behind her. With that ambient dread at an all time high, Taylor all but sprinted out of the school with the sounds of sneakers hitting the floor behind her. Once she reached the entrance, Taylor kept running, hearing Sophia laughing her ass off at the door. ‘Bitch' Taylor thought, still sprinting to the bus. She slid to a stop in at its doors, trying to catch her breath as she boarded the bus.

Taylor slumped in one of the seats in the back, pulling her hoodie hood over her long curly brown hair. She caught her breath, peaking out the window. She saw the trio with their group, laughing together and looking pointedly at her bus.

She slumped even further, Taylor attempting to sink into the floor, to disappear like a ghost. Alas, a ghost she was not, and the bus departed, leaving the sound of laughter behind.

Taylor hopped off the bus when it reached her stop, but she didn’t want to head home yet. Her dad probably wouldn’t expect her for a few more hours, so Taylor shifted her bag and began to walk with no destination in mind. Her head was on a swivel; you could never be too careful in Today’s Brockton Bay. She passed a park that had long since fallen in disrepair. It wouldn’t hurt to sit and wallow for a bit, would it?

Taylor sat on a dilapidated swing set, testing her weight as it creaked in protest. No one was around, so Taylor dropped her bag by her feet, and pulled out a notebook and pen. Flipping through the pages, she stopped at a relatively clean page and began to write. She had begun to keep detailed accounts of what the trio had been doing, already filling three composition notebooks back home. This was her fourth, and she added today’s events in its pages.

Not much actually happened today,’ Taylor mused, her pen scratching in the silence. Once she finished, she stowed the book back in her bag for safekeeping, then sighed, leaning back while holding the rusty metal chains of the swing. ‘Maybe they just didn’t have time? Or they just didn’t want to try anything before the break…

Taylor closed her eyes, feeling like she was missing something, but unsure what it could be. She began to swing back and forth, reveling in the feeling of the cold breeze on her face. When she opened her eyes, she realized that the sun was going done.

Crap,’ Taylor looked around, startled that time had gotten away from her. She stretched, working the kinks out of her shoulders and back. ‘Guess I should head home. Maybe I can ask Dad what was up this morning!

Before Taylor could stand, placing her palms on her legs to prepare for the action, she heard a loud crash come from behind her, toward the jungle gym that had been standing behind her.

Taylor jumped and subsequently fell over as her arms and legs tangled in the swing set. Yelping, Taylor disentangled herself as quickly as possible from her prone position and jumped up, facing the source of the sound that had startled her.

The jungle gym was now in a pile of twisted metal and broken plastic. A small crater pushed through the thing into the ground where a boy a little younger than her lay. He had snow white hair that glowed in the shadows surrounding him, the low light of the sun highlighting the etherealness of it. He wore a black body suit with white accents and combat boots with some sort of symbol on his chest. His eyes were closed, tan face twisted in pain. Above him, a glowing green portal seemed to have been ripped into the air, a swirling nothingness inside.

Taylor blinked… then again… ‘Whaaaat’ Taylor’s mind had stalled. The boy groaned, shifting his weight experimentally as he moved to get out of the crater he had formed. His eyes fluttered open, piercing green poking through the slits. Taylor shuddered, not knowing why the sight of the boy was sending her for a loop. His suit reminded Taylor of a Cape, but…no mask? And who was he?

Taylor heard a snarl of rage, and another figure emerged from the portal above the boy, slamming into him with a loud crack. A gasp of pain came from the boy as the second figure, a vampire-looking man with black hair, bright blue skin, and red eyes that seemed to burn into the kid he was now holding up by the neck. The white-haired boy let out a strained breath as he tried to take one in, grabbing at the vampire’s arms to get free.

You, Little Badger, are testing my patience,” the vampire man snarled, squeezing the boy’s throat further, “If you would just listen for once in your pathetic life…”

“Maybe… you should…get a…life…” the boy gasped, attempting to kick and scratch at the man holding him. A green liquid was dripping from the back of his head where it had contacted the ground.

Taylor looked at the scene, transfixed. She should call someone…the police, or the PRT, or the Protectorate. She shouldn’t be standing here stunned like this. That boy was in trouble and was bleeding because that was definitely blood and-

The vampire sighed, as though dealing with an impudent child that he was scolding and not a boy who he was choaking the life out of, “Enough, Daniel. Your fit has gone on long enough and I am taking you home. And while I agree that your Father is a useless oaf, your Mother does truly care for you, as I do. So, stop this nonsense and lets…”

The man paused, looking up to the portal as it winked out of existence. He blinked, his whole body freezing as he watched it happen. He seemed stunned for a few seconds, as though his whole brain was trying to process what had happened, while the boy continued to fight against his hold.

“…” The silence stretched, only broken by the boy’s struggling and the pounding in Taylor’s ears (oh, that was her heart). The vampire slowly turned his head back to the boy, and Taylor could feel the pressure rising around her. A pissed vampire was not a good vampire, in her personal opinion.

“Daniel…” The man said in deadly calm, “Please tell me you know how to open that portal again…”

There was another pause, where the boy, Daniel, ceased his struggling and looked up to where the portal had been. The silence stretched, until Daniel looked back into the eyes of the vampire, blinked, then smirked, “Wouldn’t you like to know, Weather Boy.”

The vampire snarled again, squeezing the living daylights out of Daniel again, throttling him with what seemed to be full force, “NOW ISN’T THE TIME FOR YOUR ILL-ADVISED REFERENCES, DANIEL!”

Taylor, be it from her stupidity or bravery (she couldn’t tell which at this point), had had enough. Hefting her bag into her arms, she sprinted at the vampire and bashed him in the head from behind with the bag, causing him to let Daniel go.

The boy gasped for air, dropping to the ground as he caught his breath. The vampire doubled over, shocked and confused by his sudden concussion. Taylor darted forward, grabbed the injured kid by the arm, and dragged him away from his attacker, sprinting as fast as she could out of the park.

Idiot, stupid, dumbass Taylor! What were you thinking!? You weren’t, that’s what you were doing! Fucking stupid!’ Taylor’s mind screamed at her as she ran. The boy had yelped at the sudden tug at his arm, sprinting with her as they went. Taylor could hear the raging of the vampire behind them, breaking things in the park while attempting to find where they had gone.

Taylor ducked into an open gated yard, dragging Daniel with her. She pulled him to put him behind her, tucking them both into the shadows of the fence. The boy was glowing brightly, a halo of white light surrounding him while banishing the darkness.

“Can’t you do anything about the light show?!” Taylor hissed at him, her heart thumbing in her throat. He flinched at her panic, the light around him dimming significantly. Taylor sighed in relief but had to stifle a yelp as she heard the vampire man raging through the street, trying to find them. She put an arm out in front of Daniel’s chest, pushing him further behind her and into the shadows.

“Daniel! Come out right this instant. Playing hide-and-seek will not save you.” The man seethed, landing in the street near their hiding place. Taylor held her breath, Daniel doing the same. The vampire paced around the area for what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, before yelling, “Oh, cheese curds!” Which…just baffled Taylor, mouthing the words while rolling them around her tongue. ‘What a weirdo…

The vampire flew off towards the south, still calling out to the boy behind her. When she could no longer hear his calls, Taylor let out a sigh of relief, her legs giving out on her. She slumped against the side of the house they were hiding, letting go of the boy’s arm. The boy flittered around her, clearly concerned but not sure what to do.

“Shoot, are you ok? I’m sorry, you shouldn’ta had to do that. Are ya hurt?” The boy stammered; his hands were held out in front of him as though he wanted to check her for injuries but didn’t want to intrude in her space.

“Me?! What about you! He was going to choke you to death!” Taylor was baffled how not affected the boy in front of her was to almost being killed by that villain.

The boy had the audacity to laugh at that, bringing his right hand up to the back of his neck and rubbing it.

“Well, if he did, I’d just match my insides, right?” He said with a grin, his green eyes sparkling with mirth. Taylor blinked up at him, staring him down. The boy’s expression faltered for just a second, glancing to the side to avoid her gaze, “Dang, tough crowd.”

Taylor let out a long, exasperated sigh, standing up and brushing off her pants. She looked the boy over again, seeing he still had blood dripping from his head and dark green handprints had begun to appear around his neck where the vampire had grabbed him. The boy was trying to hide it well, but he was hurting and was showing signs of exhaustion.

This is so stupid… he should go to a hospital…’ But something stopped Taylor from saying that aloud. She looked the boy over again, taking in his outfit and injuries. He shifted from left to right under her scrutiny.

“Soooooo…” the boy drawled out, looking back at her face, “you gonna say somethin, oooor…you’re not actually hurt, are ya?” His face shifted to concerned, looking her up and down too, presumably searching for injuries again.

Taylor shook her head, “No, I’m fine. I’m more worried about you,” looking pointedly at his bruised throat and bloodied head.

“Pshhh, naw, I’m fine. This’ll heal itself in a jiffy!” Daniel deflected, bringing a hand to his head and rubbing it, winching at the touch. He pulled his hand away from the injury and saw the bright green blood now coating his fingers, “Oh…oops.” He stared at it for a second, and Taylor just shook her head, letting out a huff of incredulous laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Daniel held out his hand, beaming at Taylor with a lopsided grin, “The name’s Danny, nice ta meet ya!” Taylor stared blankly at his bloodied hand. Daniel, because calling him Danny in Taylor’s head would get confusing considering her Dad's name, looked at his outstretched hand and sheepishly pulled it back, wiping it on his pants.

“Soooooo…” Daniel paused, drawing out the sound as he rocked back and forth, looking around, “Where are we?”

Taylor looked at the boy who didn’t seem all that concerned about he’s predicament, and sighed, “Brockton Bay.”

Daniel cocked his head to the side like a confused puppy; Taylor could almost see the question mark appear over his head.

“Where?”

“Brockton Bay, New Hampshire.”

“Where?”

Taylor sighed. This was going to be a long night.