Warlord

Chapter 6

Scanning the city for a familiar bug cape, I desperately hoped tonight was a cape night for Taylor. I really needed my only friend Right then. Being alone with my thoughts led to too much thinking about what the bomber said. About my being a hypocrite. About the comparisons.

That spiraled into thinking about taking over and some bit of my brain seemed in love with the idea. Like something was poking my impulse control issues and egging me on. For a moment I thought I was being mastered but I locked down every bit of my aura from outside influence, compared my brain to earlier scans, and flew out of range of any master and still found it there.

I spent the rest of that night at home and the slow trickle of kidnapping victims came back. PRT everywhere because the building had turned into a crime scene. Something that worried me even as that worry tried to turn to anxiety.

So then I sat at home the rest of the day. PHO was alight with info. Kidnapping victims telling their tale which left me entirely absent. People singing the praises of the Protectorate, the folks who merely showed up and escorted everyone home. Outside of the arrest, they didn't help at all with the take down of the Villain known as Bakuda.

The PRT released a tentative press release but the full one and the details would come out later.

Also it turned out that Oni Lee was still loose despite the ABB basically having been broken with the loss of the only two capes that seemed capable of independent action.

The Merchants launched a massive expansion later that day now that the Empire was wounded and the ABB gone. Not that they'd be able to hold that. The merchants were kind of… they were basically unorganized.

I thought about going out and busting them but Bakuda was right, the more I took out the existing gangs the more new gangs would pop up or move in. Hell that's what happened when Marquis got put away. He vanished and the nazis swelled, the merchants were born and Lung showed up and founded the ABB.

Of course the size and the strength of the gangs tied inversely to the quality of life of the city, sorta. At least on the unpowered side. Most folks would just get a job and live life if that was easier and safer than being in a gang.

Which meant I'd either need to take over the whole city while being barely able to take care of myself despite being absurdly powerful, or make the city nice enough to not need it.

Problem was while I could create food and water and such the government outlawed a lot of mundane cape stuff with NEPEA-5. They'd crack down hard on me building houses to replace abandoned warehouses and giving out free food and water by the barrel. They wouldn't let them keep it and then I'd be fighting the government and then I was back at that whole gang leader thing.

I couldn't be everywhere at once. Not even close.

So Taylor. The one person I trusted to talk about stuff with. Not to mention it'd be easier to just take care of her problems than try and figure out how to save the city. Looking around I peeked at the nervous system of the local bugs by flying low. Turns out her power doesn't turn off and it's kinda obvious if she's around when I look for it, especially because she had a much bigger range. Two city blocks. Not to mention she could sense touch through them and from the locker incident she could probably eventually use sight and sound.

Bug after bug, block after block I found nothing as looked around her normal haunts for a while. Then I doubled back and found that she wasn't home so she had to be somewhere out… unless she died while I wasn't looking.

Oh fuck please no.

By the time I found the first bug of hers I'd noticed my anxiety had slipped pretty far off the leash. Only because of the relief squashing a lot of it. She was alive, and that meant things would be okay even if I had to take Panacea hostage to heal her.

Because I wouldn't hesitate to, if she needed it.

Still I narrowed it down flying stealthed towards where I was triangulating her position to be.

Heck just to get her attention I lifted and rotated a dozen bugs. A moment later, a bunch swarmed me, bumbling into my anti-bug barrier. And a moment later they formed an arrow.

Yes, she was still talking to me. Thank fuck. I-I don't quite know what I'd do if she never wanted to speak to me again… probably destroy Winslow just to make sure she got out of there. If I wasn't allowed to be in her life to help her I'd at least leave her in a better place than I found her.

Perched atop a building, not even really hiding, just looking out at the city she turned to face me. "Hey."

"Hey…" Landing near her, I took a deep breath as expanded my stealth field to cover both of us. "C-can I have a hug? I uhm, would really like one right now."

Bugs swarmed with untold emotion and then she slowly stepped forwards. And then wrapped her arms around me. "Want to… talk about it?"

My own arms gave her a squeeze, I'd already made her indestructible, as I always did when I got near. "A little, but would rather help with Taylor stuff." Then I paused a beat. "Do you have a cape name?"

"…No." Okay that skittering bug pattern had to be embarrassment.

Still held up against the chitin chest plate I mumbled. "Well uhm… I can help with that. How about…" I watched her bugs in my aura. "Skitter? Its bug related and cute."

That got her breaking the hug to cross her arms. "How is Skitter cute? It sounds like a villain name."

"It’s the bug equivalent of scamper or scurry or scuttle. It's cute like you." My hands gesturing to her everything. "You're like completely adorable and you should have a cute name to match."

Her whole body went silent. The bug reaction unintelligible. Was she… happy? Angry? Did I hit a button with trauma because she had a lot of trauma.

The silence stretched to the point I needed to fill it. "I uhm… I didn't upset you did I? I'm not… good with people. Also you're like impossible to read, and I've studied a lot of body language to try and make sense of people… If you don't like the name then that's cool. I just- I know I have weird tastes in everything." My hands somehow found their way to in front of my chest, awkwardly fidgeting… Oh fuck I let the anxiety loose again. "Forgot to hold the anxiety limb still again."

"I don't hate it." She muttered as life returned to her. "You weren't insulting me?"

"What? No! why would I… Since when is anything about me subtle?"

"Your stealth aura."

I pouted not that my mask revealed it. "Yes I have to use literal omnipotence just to be stealth and I still get caught. Nothing subtle from this bitch. Except that Bakuda take down. The Protectorate better give me credit for that because I did all the work and they just hauled her away."

Behind her mask she blinked owlishly. "That was you?"

"They uh, they were kidnapping my neighbors (I live in an apartment building in ABB territory) and I noticed and I followed them back and found Bakuda and called the PRT and then took her down and they handled the victims and taking her to jail." Yup that summed up the night… wait errant detail that brain is shoving out of my mouth! "Also I revealed way too much info to Armsmaster about my powers and it literally changed nothing and I regret it because he's a jerk."

"Oh." Taylor really wasn't the most wordy person. I usually wasn't until the ADHD pushed past the Autism. Then I couldn't shut up.

Anyway explaining that reminded me of the Bakuda talk and my worries about how to actually use my powers and that nagging bit of my brain that wanted to take over the city. "Uhm… can we talk about how you've been? What's up with the bitches and your dad and did you decide? Because I'd love to tear down Winslow, it'd be very cathartic."

"Dad has been trying differently. He's home a bit more and laying off the questions but offering help more." Well that sounded good. She looked away from me. "I think I want to tell him, and get the lawyer."

That got a bright smile from me, one that I had to take off my mask to show. "Yes! Sue their asses get them thrown in Juvie. Drag them through the mud until they learn that being murderous bitches is wrong." Then I held out my arms for a hug which she did not enter, but I waited either way while finishing. "You want me to support you telling your dad? I uh understand if I'm too blunt and-"

"Yes. I put it off until you had time…" Still no hug.

"Taylor." My face falling into a frown. "You went to school with the trio today where they tortured you, rather than tell your dad because you wanted me there for emotional support?"

Not even looking at me she nodded.

"Ugh, Tomorrow stay home from school and try and get your dad to stay home till I get there. I'm gonna be over as soon as I wake up." With my arms still out stretched I mad grabby motions. "Hug?"

Another hug from the stick bug of a girl. It was painfully adorable how once she got over that nervous trauma induced flinch at touch she sort of melted into the embrace. Taylor must've been really touch starved. Like me.

"You like donuts? I'll bring some with me."

"I like eclairs."

"I'll grab some!" and then I broke the embrace. "So I know you uh have trust issues and uhm… I kind of know a bit more about you than you know about me, and I know when it comes to trusting strangers its so much easier if you know them inside and out. So-" My lungs filled with a deep breath… and then exhale. "Would you want to see my place? It feels only fair since I've been to your house like three or four times."

Another cute owl blink. "…Sure."

"Want to fly there?" My mask reappeared covering up my smile.

With a nod she let me princess carry her again. I took off stealth felid resized for just us. Thankfully our homes and shared patrol area were all in the same general part of town. Vaguely. Brockton Bay was a full city even if it was no Boston.

Landing on the fire escape I removed the bars and opened the window, and led inside. I kept a bit of a minimalist aesthetic but back when I did my upgrades the week before my debut, I maybe stole some fancier suburban house stuff. To clone into my place. From the baseboard trim to the carpet, and the kitchen island I never used but looked cool. And the living room spot that I made for guests I never had over. Complete with couch and TV. My blanket pile with my plushies…

I closed the shutters behind us and dropped the stealth. With a twirl as I switched to my normal day dress, my arms flared out. "Welcome to my home!"

Taylor took off her mask, I still saw the bugs in her hair. Wow she housed black widows in her curls. Looking around she stared. "This is… different than I thought." then almost as an afterthought. "It's nice."

"Yea it turns out being able to control, create, and copy anything made it easy to make my house look nice. The walls, floor and ceiling are extremely sound proof. And reinforced. Also I tinkered with the central air system around my place so none of the weed stink from the downstairs neighbors comes through."

With a walk over to the couch I sat down. "Please don't leave any bugs here after you leave. I tend to annihilate them, and also I've patched a lot of gaps they could squeeze in and out through."

"I noticed." Taking a seat across from me on the couch's L, Taylor took in the sight of my bookcase shelf. "You like Maggie Holt?"

"I fucking love the Maggie Holt books! I didn't track down a full set of signed autographed hardbacks because I merely like them."

"Those are signed?" I could feel the excitement in her bones. Not a single emotion hidden in her swarm.

My smile was massive as I levitated them over to her and opened them to the first page to show the author signature. The look on her face left my excitedly wiggling as I sat cross legged. Thankfully leggings meant I could do that in dresses. "You want an atomically perfect copy of the set?"

"Yes."

I sent my book back to the shelf and summoned up a stack for her. "I'll fly them home with you."

"Thank you." Picking them up and sifting through them as if to double check they were really real. "Do you read a lot?"

"Not as much anymore. I mostly spend time on my computer. Speaking of." I summoned up a fancy preuse laptop. "I saw that excuse you call a computer in your house and uh, happy late Christmas early birthday or whatever. If you need literally anything, its trivial for me to copy it and create as many duplicates as you want."

Apparently gifts were not what Taylor was expecting from a trip to my place, but the look of uh, that look when a gift means a lot to a person, really hit me in the feels. Low empathy sure, but I still had some. And a fuck ton of sympathy.

"Heck do you want spare costumes? Spare bugs? I can instantly clone them. Give you a million black widows." Then I sifted through the catalogue in my brain. "Want a gun?"

Let no one say that Taylor Hebert doesn't know how to deadpan. "No."

"Okay!" I chirped. This was a good night. Better than I'd hoped for actually. Like sure there was that whole worrying earlier but now I was wiggling hard from all the happy feelings. In fact so much so I started hand flappies and that was not a common stim for me.

As she picked up the laptop I realized it'd need the charger and created that too.

Then I thought about my own computer and being on PHO all the time and- "Do you have a PHO account? Because I do and since I don't have a phone yet, it'd be the next best way to like message each other. I'm Foxlet on there."

"I'm Flute underscore girl. The 'F' is capitalized."

Immediately I flew over to my computer to send a message to her handle. "Alright I sent you a DM! so want to chill for a bit or want me to fly you home? I probably have at least a couple hours before I have to sleep."

"I…" Brows knitting in thought, Taylor frowned slightly. "I can stay for a while… You seem different when you're happy."

"Yea." I agreed. "It's hard for me to be happy and relaxed outside of my apartment. So I'm kind of always on guard since it's not safe. Which is weird because I'm literally invincible but my brain can't fully internalize the concept so I just have to manually suppress my fear and anxiety so I can do dumb things like let Lung ramp up and attack me without defending."

"That's reckless."

"Bot calling kettle, you-" And I pointed out an accusing finger that I leaned over to almost touch but not quite reach. "attacked Lung too and you aren't invincible like I am. So which one of us is actually reckless?"

"He was going to kill kids!"

"You're a kid!" That earned me a glare. "Just because your tall doesn't make you an adult."

Looking down at the new laptop in her lap she grew a touch more still. "I had to try and save them."

A small smile formed on my face. "Yea, you're really selfless like that. Just don't be suicidally selfless? Please? I'd be really upset if I lost my only friend-slash-family."

The guilt on her face looked painfully tangible. It was a bit intentional on my part, but it seemed to work. Her bullies seemed to have destroyed her self-worth. She did not value herself or her life at all. But she valued others, she valued me despite me being a terrible person. So framing her safety not in terms of what it'd do to her, but in what it'd do to me hits right.

If she couldn't live for herself, maybe she could live for me, at least until she could value herself again.

Definitely gotta talk her into a therapist. Wait I could do that now! "Taylor, you need a therapist."

The scowl formed instantly. "I can't afford—" About a million dollars in gold, jewelry, and cash appeared around us like a dragons hoard with a thump. "… I don't want to."

"Look, therapists are… really hit or miss. Mostly miss, but when they hit, they can do a lot of good…" Not receptive, gotta reframe. Hmm I already played the guilt angle and she seems to be like me in the 'guilt is physically painful' way. So another… yes this all felt very manipulative but my lack of conversational skills needed to be compensated for. How about her determination to not let her bullies win. She definitely brought that up the second day I shadowed her when I asked why she didn't use her bugs. "Your bullies wouldn't want you to get help, they wanted to break you. They ended up getting in your head. I know Emma did, and you're not gonna get them out until you have someone who can help. Therapists are professionals."

"I talked to some at the psych ward and…"

"Taylor," I waited until she looked up at me. My desperate need to hug screamed that she needed one. "I've been in a psych ward too, they're awful, yes. However the thing about most therapists is that you are paying to be there, they work for you. If you set a boundary, and they cross it, then you get up, leave and they never see your money again. You're in charge with a therapist, and if they ever contest that then you should give them lice and walk out."

Yes, a small smile at the lice joke! She released a breath. "I'll think about it."

With that out of the way I looked to the dragons hoard around us. And with a flicker of power I cleaned up my place back to the tidy state it defaulted to. Then I scooted over on the couch next to the half costumed girl. "Hugs?"

Begrudgingly she allowed a hug that she melted into. "You really like hugs."

"Hugs are the best! Or they are when you are comfortable with the hugger, I've had very few such hugs in my life, I'm deeply touch starved." Then with a tiny squeeze I added, "Please feel free to hug me without asking I would like it a lot, and appreciate them."

And she squeezed right back. "Okay."

We settled into a slightly cuddly silence, for just a little bit.