Chapter 13

Taylor gaped at the smouldering ruin of what was once a six story building. Once being the operative term, because it had apparently done something to offend Jaya and was summarily blasted out of existence.

"What the fuck Jaya!?" Lisa's voice, shouting through a concealed earpiece, knocked Taylor out of her reverie, "Did you have a reason for leveling half the block or were you just bored?"

Right, it was two buildings, wasn't it? The first was farther down the street, and... yup, it was missing most of its roof. Well, at least it was still standing. Mostly.

Taylor suspected she was experiencing a minor amount of shock. Odd.

"Hmm? I was aiming for Oni Lee." Jaya replied distractedly, peering into the distance with a frown, "He's a fast little fucker though."'

That jarred Taylor enough for her to form words. "Oni Lee is here?" she yelped, instinctively opening her senses to her swarm. A million tiny eyes frantically searched their surroundings, desperately hunting for the lunatic-

A hand clamped down on her shoulder, and Jaya's voice, soft and soothing and utterly calm, rang out with quiet authority, "He's gone. Calm down."

Okay. Calm. She could do that. Taylor took a deep breath and let it out slowly, focusing on the comforting presence beside her. And then on the dozen unconscious bodies around her.

Oh right, she'd just taken down, like, an entire warehouse full of bad guys. This was hardly the appropriate place for a panic attack. She could freak out about ninja assassins and her best friend's extreme disregard for property damage after the assorted gang members were in jail.

"The PRT will be there soon," Lisa advised, "Maybe you should get your story straight? Jaya, if you aren't ready for your debut, you need a good excuse for all that, uh... fire."

"Ah that's easy." Jaya dismissed the blonde's concerns with a careless wave, "Oni Lee was rocking some serious tinker-tech. At least I'm pretty sure it was tinker-tech, judging by the energy output. I'm not positive, but the ABB only have one tinker and she makes bombs so... Weaver here stuck some bugs on him and he detonated a couple of clones to get away?"

Taylor blinked in confusion, "Wait, so you want me to lie to the PRT? That seems like a bad idea."

"Nah, nah," Jaya chided, "Not lie, just... let them come to their own conclusions. By lying. Okay, yes, I want you to lie."

The glare Taylor leveled at her friend could melt steel, "Fine, but me and you are going to have a long talk about acceptable force after this," she said evenly, "Heroes don't kill people, and we definitely shouldn't be blowing up buildings."

Jaya cocked her head in confusion, "You're telling me I should have held back against Oni Lee? While he was rocking tinker-tech ordnance? Are we talking about the same guy? Oni Lee, the prolific serial killer? Oni Lee, the teleporting ninja? Taylor, he was within range of you and I had no idea what his weaponry was capable of. Anything other than overwhelming force in that situation is absolutely unacceptable to me. I'm not about to risk the life of my friend for someone like Lee."

Taylor fought down a brief surge of happy embarrassment. "Okay, bad example, but my point stands," she admitted awkwardly, "We should talk about how you plan on fighting. I get that your power is dangerous, but there's no way you don't have better options than immediate immolation." Taylor waved her arm at the burnt out husk for emphasis.

"Holy shit," Lisa interrupted, "Apparently Jaya is right on target. Oni Lee was on a bombing run all night. He's killed several Empire capes while they were fighting the Protectorate, by dropping tinker-tech bombs at their feet."

"He... oh damn, he was probably here for Victor then." Taylor ventured nervously, her paranoia ratcheting up as she stepped away from the downed villain, "Are you sure he's not here anymore Ja- uh Catalyst?"

Jaya nodded, glancing at Taylor with clear concern, "Yeah, he's gone. The PRT are just around the corner. Are you up to this? I can handle it if you need a break."

Taylor shook her head, and stubbornly fought down her nausea. She was a hero dammit, and she refused to ruminate on what might have happened had Jaya not insisted on patrolling together. She did good tonight, acted like a true hero, and the city would be safer through her actions. Taylor focused on that thought as Jaya slipped away, retreating out of sight to allow Taylor, with her actual costume, to speak for their burgeoning hero team.

The PRT arrived with a flurry of lights and sound. Taylor's calm facade steadily waned as more and more cars arrived, and she slowly realized just how visible Jaya's little firestorm had been. The constant stifled giggles in her earpiece were not helping matters.

Finally, after what felt like the entirety of the PRT had positioned themselves in front of her, a red blur whipped past Taylor, around her captured gangsters, and through the warehouse behind her. Only Lisa's quick alert of "That's just Velocity," prevented Taylor from diving into cover and flooding the PRT with bees.

Perhaps she was a little more nervous than she first thought.

The blur finished its observations, and came to a stop in front of her. Taylor immediately recognized the hero in front of her, and managed to relax a fraction after confirming Lisa's words.

"Don't you trust me?" Lisa piped up over the comms with exaggerated hurt. Taylor rolled her eyes in exasperation, her expressions safely hidden behind a full face mask.

Velocity eyed Taylor's costume dubiously, and she suppressed a groan. She knew something like this would happen, which is why it was so important for this first debut to go well. She slowly raised a hand a waved at the hero in front of her, "Hello. I've got Victor and some unpowered E88 members here for pickup."

"You're the new hero then?" Velocity asked, "I don't mean to be rude it's just..." he gestured helplessly at her outfit.

This time, Taylor couldn't hold back her irritation, "Yes, I am very aware of how my costume looks, thanks. I didn't mean for it to come out so edgy and now it's too late, which is why I'm here tellingyou I'm a hero, instead of calling this in and leaving. It's my first time out, and I don't want to get foamed by a twitchy PRT officer once I start patrolling regularly."

"Sorry, sorry," Velocity apologized quickly, "I just, uh, nevermind. So you caught all these guys by yourself huh? That's one hell of a first night. How'd you manage that, anyway? And did you pick out a name yet?"

"Well, they had a really bad matchup against me," Taylor admitted, fighting her body's urge to preen, "There wasn't really anything they could do after I built up a big enough swarm. Oh, and my name is Weaver. I- uh, well here," Taylor raised an arm parallel with the ground, and commanded the insects concealed within her outfit and hair to gather. They poured out from every crevice, from her hair, her backpack, from countless concealed pockets, thousands of insects formed a massive sphere around her hand.

"I control bugs," she mentioned superfluously.

Velocity took an involuntary step back. "Fuck me," he muttered under his breath, as Taylor spun her miniature swarm into a spiraling pattern around her body. He glanced nervously at the cocooned villain off to her side, "Well, I can see you picked an appropriate name, but uh, listen, me and the boys," he gestured to the army of PRT officers behind him, "We were just wondering if you happened to see that gigantic fireball..." he glanced pointedly towards the blasted remains of Oni Lee's hiding spot.

Taylor felt a spike of overpowering anxiety, of almost suffocating fear, but she shoved it away. Jaya asked her to lie about this, and Taylor could now understand her reasons. She was skeptical, at first, when her older friend spoke of downplaying the full extent of her power. The thought that the Protectorate would ever act against a fellow hero, even one not directly under them, seemed ludicrous.

The sheer number of people who responded to Jaya's almost casual display of power drove Taylor's skepticism right out of her mind. Caution was one thing, but the arrayed troopers were stillpointing those damn foam guns at her, even after she gave them a batch of Nazis on a silver platter.

Taylor recalled her circling swarm, squirreling the insects back away in the various pockets woven into her suit, and throughout her hair. She took her irritation, her anger, her pride, everything that made Taylor Taylor, and dispersed it into the swarm. It had worked to calm her earlier, when she confessed to her friends, so she could see no reason for it not to work now. Her fear fled her body, lost among a million minds, and her determination, her certainty of purpose, returned to her.

"I saw it." Taylor, Weaver, confirmed with utter calm, "I'm fairly certain it was one of Oni Lee's grenades. He seemed to panic a bit when I covered him in wasps."

"You- What- Oni Lee was here!?" Velocity exclaimed, "And you fought him? How- no, hold on a second, I need to call this in." He blurred backwards into the foam army, and held a muttered conversation over what Taylor assumed was an earpiece. Alternatively, he was insane and talking to himself.

"Hah! Jaya, you bitch, I'm pretty sure you just got Bakuda an unsigned kill-order." Lisa howled with glee, "Lung better watch himself; if he gets too excitable with those bombs he's liable to get a kill-order himself."

"Woops." Jaya replied dryly.

Velocity seemed to finish his conversation, and reappeared in front of Taylor, "Weaver, you did great work today. That intel on Lee was extremelyvaluable, and likely will save countless lives." He rubbed the back of his head nervously, "Listen, you did good fighting off Lee, but you need to know, this sort of life is usually short and brutal for solo heroes. You won't always get this lucky. I strongly suggest that you consider the Wards program. Its entire purpose is to give young parahumans a safe and stable environment to learn their powers."

"Oh that won't be necessary, Velocity," Taylor said with genuine happiness, "I already have a team lined up. Thanks for the concern though, I appreciate it."

"You- uh, I see." The hero seemed temporarily befuddled, "Okay, well that's great! Do you mind if I ask what team you are joining? I was under the impression that New Wave were the only independent heroes operating in the Bay, and they require members to unmask."

Taylor paused in thought, with some small part of her brain taking note of the PRT officers dragging Victor and company into a holding van. "Well... two of my friends are capes and offered to team up with me. They haven't made their official debuts yet though, as their costumes are unfinished, which is why you are talking to me instead of one of them."

"I see." Velocity's hand rubbed his chin in true mastermind fashion, "I thought you said you were alone?"

"No, you said that." Taylor chirped cheerfully, "My friends are still around. They're watching us right now."

Velocity twitched nervously, "Uh."

"Oh! I didn't mean that to sound menacing!" Taylor exclaimed, obstinately ignoring the cackling laughter filling her earpiece, "I just, meant, you know, I've got teammates to watch my back! I'd never threaten another hero, I swear!"

"Right. Of course," Velocity chuckled awkwardly, "Well I'm happy you've got someone looking out for you, but I would still recommend you at least check out the Wards program." he passed over a business card, "That has the Protectorate number, along with my own, for if you have any questions. Now, I need to get going. You picked a hell of a night to make your debut." With a casual salute, Velocity blurred into the distance and out of sight.

Taylor sighed in embarrassment, and rubbed her temple. That, at least, was finally over. She was pretty sure she made a good impression. Only time would tell, she supposed.

The assorted PRT vehicles started to withdraw once Velocity left, and only a small crew of officers remained, presumably to load and categorize the piles of crates that filled the warehouse. Taylor briefly wondered if she should help them, and coughed loudly into her hand.

One of the officers glanced towards her, and she gave a small wave, "Is there anything I can help with?"

"No."

"Uh." she stared blankly at the officer, who immediately returned to cataloging gear. "Okay, well... I'm just... just gonna go then. Bye." Taylor turned and rapidly jogged around the corner, blushing furiously beneath her mask as Jaya and Lisa roared with laughter.

"Shut it." Taylor muttered, flicking the camera mounted on her temple. "I'm not exactly a social butterfly okay?"

"We are aware." Jaya answered, as she stepped out of a nearby building. "You're much better around people you know though, which is good considering what we're doing next."

"What? It's only ten... ish, we can keep patrolling can't we?" Taylor protested, "What else do we have to do?"

"You need to keep up your end of the bargain," Jaya said, poking Taylor's stomach, "We gave you our fancy toys, and let you patrol on this crazy-ass night, now you have to talk to your father."

Taylor paled beneath her mask, "Come on I- You weren't joking? I really don't think that's a great idea."

"Taylor," Lisa interjected gently, "If you plan to go out often, he needs to know. There is literally no possible way he won't notice you coming and going at random times during the night."

"He's a deep sleeper." Taylor murmured morosely.

"Nope. You made a deal." Jaya remarked happily, slinging an arm around Taylor's waist and hugging her. The older girl's head barely made it to Taylor's chin. "Don't worry about it. Me and Lisa, we'll be right there with you. It'll be fine"

"I'm on my way to your house as we speak." Lisa added.

Taylor nodded, absorbing her friends assurance like a sponge. She had missed this feeling for so long, this unconditional support, this overwhelming love. With her friends by her side, she could face anything. With her friends by her side, she could defeat anyone.

Together, they would be greatest heroes the world had ever seen.