Human Resources

I saw my first example of real gang warfare only two days after my visit to the asylum. I'd been going around town, looking at possible targets, when an explosion attracted my attention. A minute later, I was on a wall, overlooking the scene.

For some reason, possibly related to the capture of Victor and Othala, the ABB launched a strike at their rival, the E88, striking hard to gain territory. And at the front of that advance, Oni Lee was there taking on the Empire's soldiers in big numbers.

It was horrible.

I'd struck against numerous unpowered individuals before, going mainly to incapacitate. Oni Lee was doing no such thing, popping from place to place and leaving explosions in his tracks. It was clear he had no challenge there, no difficulty. He just flitted here and there, appearing in the middle of any group opposing the rank and file of the ABB. He could have a kill count of dozens in as little as a minute.

Of course, that changed when the Empire's parahumans entered the scene. They were better at herding him, especially a young girl Tattletale had described as Cricket, but he knew about it. Knew, and planned for it.

Whenever a suitable number of E88 capes appeared on the scene, he'd bolt, and so did the ABB grunts that were doing the raiding. They took some losses, true, but not as much as the E88 did.

Then he'd reappear somewhere else and start all over again, just in another part of the city. He'd do three or four attacks a night, from early as 9 PM to as late as 4 AM. Then he'd start all over the next day, selecting another spot and striking fast.

We were now up to the third day of such attacks.

I'd followed Oni Lee back to wherever he laired on the first night, intent on preparing for a similar visit to that I'd done to Victor and Othala. Not as theatrical of one, that one had been meant as a message to those who struck innocents, but one more like the Merchants. In, out, with no trace or proof. I'd make sure this time there wasn't a camera monitoring me.

Only thing was, Oni lee did not lair in any a specific place.

First night he'd gone and slept in an unoccupied apartment, deep in ABB territory. I nearly lost him that night, finding out that I couldn't warp with the shadow of a teleporter, at least not one like him. I ended up needing to stick to the bottom of his shoe to travel with him, and it wasn't the best spot for reconnaissance.

Then the second he'd gone and slept on the top floor of a shop. Same settings: a simple armchair that could tilt back, a small desk to place his phone on, and nothing else. He slept dressed, with all his equipment on, as if he was ready to go and fight at a moment's notice. If he ever changed his shirt, I didn't notice. He either didn't or had a closet somewhere full of the things.

It was now around three in the morning on the third night and he'd broken off from his last fight. Since he hadn't rejoined members of his gang, I suspected he was done for the night. I couldn't tell, having to rely on sound only, but I was pretty sure he wasn't heading for any location I knew.

The proverb said three times was enemy action. I had to say it seemed right in this case; Oni Lee was doing this on purpose. No because he had a passenger, no… Because he simply was that paranoid. I had to agree that his setup didn't cost much, outside of space, which is something in great availability in Brockton Bay. He could have a dozen such safehouses, hidden all over the city, and no one would notice.

Oni Lee did not sleep his feet flat to the ground, so I had no issue noticing when he sat in his 'bed'. I waited for a few more minutes, until the soft wheezing of his snores could be heard, then slipped out.

I had to take a decision.

I preferred my battles like the ones I'd done before, ambushes were the enemy was unprepared and the ground was well-known. Thing was, with an opponent like Oni Lee that was impossible: He was always armed, always ready. This argued for postponing my visit.

On the other hand, things were getting pretty hectic. With three to four battles each night, it wasn't going to be long until this became total war. Until now, only the lack of Lung's presence had stopped things from degenerating to that point. Nobody wanted Lung to come out of nowhere, striking at someplace unprepared. But that wouldn't stay forever.

There were already enough deaths in the last few days that I wanted to act. I thought for a second about balancing the number of casualties to the risk, then realized what I was doing. No risks were worth the life of a person.

So, tonight it was going to be.

Especially since it wasn't much of a risk, attired as I was. I'd repaired my Slenderman outfit following the shootout with Victor. It was pretty much bulletproof, which meant I didn't have to fear much from Oni Lee's gun, and in Shadow mode explosives were just an irritation at best. I doubted his knife would do much better.

I still took precautions. From what Tattletale had said, Oni Lee required line of sight to teleport somewhere. I couldn't stop him from doing so inside his current residence, an abandonned warehouse with a few piles of garbage here and there, but I made sure to cover every window as thoroughly as I could. The fact that it made my shadow travel easier was only a bonus.

Only then did I slip inside. A good search of the place revealed nothing, no cameras, no microphones, not even a clock or any other piece of furniture. Nothing that could catch me in the act.

Oni Lee wore his suit to bed, which meant I had very little places to target. Outside his mouth and eyes which weren't covered by his mask, only his hands were bare. They would have to be my contact point.

I left shadow state, appearing crouched right next to my target. I could see him shine in the darkness. I removed my left glove and went to poke him, when his glow vanished instantly.

What?! I screamed inside.

Then he reached for the pin of a grenade on his chest and pulled.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

As Oni Lee pulled the pin on the grenade holstered on his chest, I found myself shifting to shadow state instinctively. It wasn't really a conscious decision of my part, but I went with it.

And regretted it a second later.

The grenade he'd used was a flashbang, and in my other form in was painful beyond anything I remember feeling. I dimly realized that I'd returned to my normal form, only to feel the impact of numerous bullets on my chest. I couldn't count them, being barely able to see.

I only started having a good idea of what was happening when I felt someone jump on my back and a knife at my neck. The armor there was more than enough, and I managed to see the glowing of the real Oni Lee at my left. A quick look reveal that none of the Lees I could see were reaching for a grenade, so I went in shadow state and dashed to the other side of the room, going back to human form as soon as I got there.

Even in that small amount of time, Oni Lee had managed to clone himself another two times. I was in the line of sight of only a single one this time, and took two more shots before said clone disappeared. Another took his place, the the real Asian flashing for a quarter of a second before me, and said clone waited no time before drawing a grenade off his bandoleer.

This time, I forced myself to stay human. I couldn't deal with the pain of another flashbang. I used my arms to block the cameras on my suit, ignoring another Lee shooting at me.

Then the grenade exploded, and it wasn't a flashbang but an explosive.

I felt the wave of heat for the bomb. My suit was pretty much insulated against outside attacks, but not completely. Especially vulnerable were my hands, since my single remaining glove was cheap mass-produced stuff, not tinker made as the rest of my suit. My shoes might become another issue, but my hands were the first priority.

Note to self, I told myself angrily. Craft synthetic silk gloves, then better shoes.

I did another second long shadow dash and started thinking about what I could do.

My natural power was useless, unless I could get into striking range of the real one… Not an easy feat with his speed. My shadow power's mover abilities were of great help dodging, but brought a critical vulnerability with them. My areas were useless, as Oni Lee would probably not let me finish one, and even if I did he didn't seem the kind to fall in such an obvious trap. Tinkers required setup, which I couldn't do now. Othala's gift wasn't gonna do anything in such a situation, and I still had no clue about my 'thief' power. I still activated it.

There was no change I could notice.

I could still run away, but I didn't want to. Slenderman relied on his reputation, his mystique, and that was sure to be screwed if I left now. My shadow power would probably be revealed, which would be a great disadvantage in further visits, not to mention what other information someone could glean from this battle. No, running away wasn't in the cards, not unless my situation became worse than now.

I dashed again and dodged another grenade, another explosive. I managed to get away enough that I only felt a little heat and the pressure wave from the explosion. Which, by the face Oni Lee made, wasn't what he wanted.

So he started lobbing grenades in pairs.

I wasn't stupid. Two meant a flashbang along with something else. So dodging would hurt, and not dodging would hurt.

That meant taking a third option.

I reached forward and grabbed the flashbang, putting it behind my head as I entered shadow state once again. Behind me, the other grenade exploded, fragmentation this time. When it did, the Asian parahuman was safely hidden being a mound of trash, farther in the room. Two seconds later, he started jumping from spot to spot, leaving a clone each time. From my place in corner, I waited until he popped right before me.

And then I appeared before him, back first.

I learned that holding a flash grenade was painful, even with a somewhat gloved hand, but it was nothing compared to Oni Lee. He took the brunt of the light right next to the face while I dodged it by being prepared. The sound didn't seem to bother him, for some reason. I suspected some form of earplugs.

I smiled inside my suit. I can do this, I realized. I can get him for good. I felt good, focused. I reached out for his hand with my own.

But the Asian before me wasn't out of tricks. He grabbed a grenade of his belt, one I didn't recognize, and tossed it right my face.

A smoke grenade.

My suit didn't have an air filtration system, so I got a lungful of smoke. My shadow power reacted instantly, and I dashed on the other side of the room. By then however, I couldn't see the real Oni Lee, and the clones were crumbling into white ash one by one.

I waited. He'd have to get out of the smoke at one time or another.

It took around a minute before he was out, but when he did he wasted no time going on the offensive, looking angry. Clones popped all over the place, throwing explosives, pineapple grenades and flashbangs pair by pair. No subtelty, little strategy, simply filling the room as much as he could with maximum firepower. He just kept a safe spot for a few seconds, a place with only flash grenades, then went a found a different one. He even used his own clones as shields to protect himself from their attacks.

Unfortunately, he'd given me the perfect place to hide. His smoke grenade was still going, giving me there perfect spot on the ceiling to wait out attacks. And wait I did, because I realized something.

He was tiring.

Before, there would be five to six Lees in the room, now there were four at most. I didn't know why that was, overuse of his power, high exercise and lack of sleep, but he was. I tried for the same maneuver as I did previous, but he didn't fall for it this time. He was ready for it, and managed a jump at the last second.

So I started doing hit and run. Just as he did the last few days on the battlefield.

I would appear at his right, left, behind or straight in front of him, reaching out for his hand. Each time I did, I was a fraction of a second closer to touching. His clone always reached out for a grenade, but they were slowing down too and I always managed to escape before they could do anything.

I don't know how long it went like this, but our game of tag kept on.

Then one time, instead of escaping, the real him reached out for a grenade.

I moved back like I did for a clone. By now, I could recognize which grenade was which, and this one was a fragmentation bomb. I stood on the opposite wall, waiting for him to throw.

He didn't. He seemed, from his body language, like everything was taking him too much energy.

What are you waiting for! I screamed inside.

Even with all the previous detonations, this one seemed louder. I dashed to him as soon as the blast was gone. His mask was cracked, his suit as mess, and his right arm was basically missing, shredded. I put my fingers on the stump, trying to staunch the bleeding. I pulled his power, mainly to keep him from moving, but started feeling a headache coming. I ignored it, and focused on what could have caused this.

He'd basically killed himself, when he was going full pin against me minutes earlier. This surely wasn't normal behavior.

It was only then I remembered Victor's power, still active in the back of my head. For some reason, it took two tries before it shut off, and my headache nearly doubled.

Oni Lee did react. The eye that I could see, which had been dim, grew focused in a second. He tried reaching out for me, only to fall before getting halfway there.

I thought for a second, focusing through my rising headache, and noted there was nothing I could do here. I didn't have any medical training, and even then I doubted I could do anything at this point. My now-complete regeneration beacon was on the other side of the city, so getting it wasn't a possibility. I had what I'd come for, even if the result wasn't what I expected, and there was no reason for me to stay. As abandoned as this place was, sooner or later someone was going to noticed what happened here.

I slipped into shadow form, ignoring another stab of pain, and was out of the room a minute later. Behind me, Oni Lee's fingers twitched as they traced the ground.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

My headache hadn't improved by the time I reached my base, shortly before four. In fact, it had been an issue the whole way there, and had reached migraine levels at the moment I left shadow form.

It wasn't the only thing I felt. The fight done, my adrenaline crashed, and with that all the various wounds and bruises I'd accumulated in the past hour made themselves known to me.

My hands, as I had suspected, were the worst off. One had burns dripping fluid little by little, while the other, who'd held on an igniting flashbang, had bits of cloth cooked into the skin.

I flashed into shadow for a second, stripping myself of my suit, something which did not improve the state of my head. Without anything on, I found a good number of bruises, places where numerous impacts had managed to get through. Compared to the rest, they were a tertiary issue at best.

Forcing myself to ignore the pain, I got a pair of tweezers and started removing the cloth and other bits of material stuck in my hands. It was unpleasant work, but necessary. I had finished the improved healing device, a beacon, but it wouldn't heal well with debris still stuck on. It wasn't as powerful as the original version I had in my head, lacking the power source of the real thing, but it was serviceable, without the issues of the first model I made.

Also without the gun and shield the original would have, but that was not so important now.

It was a long twenty minutes before I declared my work done and my hands as clean as they could be, and switched my healing device on. My migraine was still getting stronger, and I hoped the beacon would help.

It didn't.

Actually, as I saw my hands slowly fix themselves, the pain above became worse and worse.

Why? I asked myself. What did I do?

I thought for a second it might be a side effect of Victor's power, but activating it did nothing except worsening my mental state. By this point it was getting hard to think.

Oni Lee's power? I wondered.

Looking at his spark in the back of my head revealed the problem, though it was not it. Lee's power wasn't active, but it was somehow pressing on the other sparks there, trying to fit in. It felt like I was trying to push a eight people in a car meant for four, with all the knees and elbows that would be involved. And it was getting worse.

I had to find something quick. I needed at least twenty five more minutes before my hands were healed, and as things went I wouldn't be able to do anything at that point.

On a whim, I drew a zone around me and set it to power nullification. It took three tries before it stuck, but both the feelings at the back of my brain and the headaches vanished.

Thank god, I said to myself.

I could at least think now. I needed to find a solution quick, because I needed to be home as soon as possible. My hands, along with my other wounds, were at least healing, so that was one thing less on my mind.

It was a bad time for learning about issues with my power. It seemed it had a hard limit to how many powers I could hold, and passing it was punishing me.

Problem was, what could I do? I still didn't known all the limits of my power management. Could I transfer a power to anybody, or only to a cape? Would Oni Lee do, in the state that he now was, or would I need to find someone else? Could I trust anyone with the powers I could give?

Those questions went back and forth in my head without any solution in sight, and when my hands had been healed for a good ten minutes, I gave up and decided to sleep on it. I would build a zone like the one I was currently under around my bed and think about it as I went to sleep. Anyway, I was exhausted, having had a long night that included a long battle, and some rest could only help my brain fire on all cylinders.

I managed, with a little contortion, to grab the pyjamas I'd left earlier and dress myself without leaving the area I'd built. I was also preparing myself mentally. I didn't know what would happen when I left the zone. Would the pain return instantly? Would it slowly rise as before?

Only one way to find out, I said in my mind, readying myself.

I took a step out.

Not as bad as I expected, I noted. The pain was there, true, but at a manageable level. It was still rising, however.

I wasted no time, turning to shadow and heading home at best speed.

The pain spiked, much faster than it had ever before.

I managed to get home, slipping into my room and turning human again. The pain was once again at migraine levels, above what it had been in my workshop. I tried hurrying, reaching out to Skidmark's old power to draw the area I needed, but it simply wouldn't activate. Each attempt pushed my suffering higher, and by the third try the agony was too much. I simply fell on my bed, whimpering, holding my head between both of my hands. Then I screamed, another spike crashing in my brain.

"Taylor?!" came a voice from farther in the house. I was so out of it that I didn't even realize who it was until he burst into the room, clad only in boxers.

My Dad.

"Are you…" he started. I whimpered again, closing further into a ball.

This time he simply came and pulled me close, slipping a hand on my forehead to take my temperature. "It's gonna be okay, sweetie. You're strong, you're gonna be okay."

Actually, the pain receded as soon as he said that and put his hand on me. I blinked the tears out of my eyes, looking up to him, trying to reassure him.

He was glowing.

NO! I screamed inside. NO, NO, NO!

I did a mental count. Thief. Shadow. Area. Tinker. And the new one, Oni Lee's, which I could now feel much more easily. Copy or clone, maybe.

What about Othala's? I said to myself. But I already knew.

I'd just given my father, without knowing, Othala's Gift spark.

I'd just made Danny Hebert a cape.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I stared blankly at my now glowing father. I didn't know what to say, what to do. I thought about taking back the power I'd just given him, but realized the headaches would just start all over again. I needed to give out a power, sooner or later.

And I had to agree it could be worse. My father pretty much topped the list of people I trusted, which was a very small list indeed. And while Othala's power wasn't the one I'd preferred getting rid of, it was the one I felt was safest to give away.

"Taylor, you all right?" Dad said, visibly shaken. "Talk to me, sweetie."

I tried speaking up, explaining what had happened, what I had done, but the words just got stuck in my throat.

I… can't. I can't tell him about my power, I realized. It was too much of an escape from my normal life that I couldn't risk it.

"I'm fine, Dad," I said instead. "It passed."

"You sure, kiddo?" he replied. "It sounded horrible, what you were going through."

"It was just a headache," I answered, telling a partial truth. "Took me by surprise, you know?" I continued, trying to make light of my circumstances.

He smiled. "Did the same for me, Taylor. That's for sure," he said, then put his hand back on my forehead. He had this weird look for a moment, and he removed his hand.

"Well, your temperature isn't anything worrying, and your color is getting better. Can you dress? I know a clinic that's still open."

Going to a doctor wasn't part of my plan. "No need for a doctor, Dad. It's gone." I yawned. "Sleep's the only thing I need right now."

"You sure?" I nodded. "You'll tell me if it comes back?" A second nod, along with another yawn. "Want me to bring you a glass of water?"

I shook my head negatively. "No. I feel like I could drop dead tired any moment. Sleep is all I want."

My father nodded and tucked me into bed. "Rest well."

"Sorry for that, Dad," I said as he was about to leave.

"No worries, kiddo. Just glad you're fine," he replied, closing the door.

I tried staying awake after that, but my system just crashed. The bed was comfy and the crisis was done, so my eyes dropped near-instantly. I was completely asleep before the minute was done.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Whoa! This suit is finished," I said, pulling my Slenderman costume up for better see the damage. There were small holes everywhere, a good part of it was burnt off, and it smelled of chemicals and smoke.

I was better off building a new one.

It was now 2 PM, and I was only up for the latest hour. I'd forgotten my alarm last night, and my father decided (with good reason) not to wake me up before leaving. I felt much better now physically, at the very least.

I was still stuck with the issue of my father. I didn't want him involved with this part of my life, relishing the freedom I had here. This meant I had to take his power back.

The issue with that, is that I needed to drop one of my other powers first, if I didn't want the horrible headaches I had this morning. Sure, a power nullification zone could help, but I couldn't live all my days in one.

The problem was how to do so.

I wasn't going to poke a random person and give him powers. I didn't want to be responsible for someone becoming another villain, or killing by mistake.

I knew which power I wanted the least and would most like to give away. Thief. Only issue was, it would be just as dangerous for someone else than it was with me. Worse, since it would be their only power, they'd be even more tempted to use it.

Last night, I'd used Thief to make someone kill himself. It wasn't on purpose, wasn't planned and was in self-defense, but I could still remember Oni Lee bleeding out at my feet, glaring at me with his eyes. Just the memory of it made me feel like a horrible person. I'd stolen his powers and left him dead behind me.

I was the worst kind of thief.

An idea came from my tinker spark and I started working on it, just to distract me from my gloomy thoughts. Anyway, I needed a new costume. I wasn't going to go out as Slenderman, not until I fixed the costume and solved the five powers issue, so I needed another one, probably a power suit of some kind, if I wanted to continue trying to help the city.

I drew a power boosting zone and started working right then.

I tinkered the whole day without coming to any solution. My tinker spark was silent on anything related to the storage of powers, and no other answer came up in my brainstorming. I ended up going home to my dad with the same number of ideas as I had when I left.

None.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It was the next day when Lisa contacted me for a meeting with her and Brian. I was still deep in tinkering, for lack of anything better to do, so I invited her to my base for lunch. I made sure to bring pizza for four.

Yes, four. I'd tested Oni Lee's Copy spark yesterday night, and found that, like him, it allowed for creating a copy of myself. It had restrictions compared to how the Asian used it, but was longer lasting, at least.

The two Undersiders were present outside when I arrived, so I slipped under the door and invited them in. They were silent until the door closed behind them, and I respected that with my own silence.

"So, hello you two," I said, waving. "What brings you to my place?"

Lisa simply went and hugged me while Brian stood stoically back. "Just making sure you're all right," Lisa said, her arms around me. "The news broke out his morning about Oni Lee getting into a fight with Slenderman, and it looked brutal."

"Pretty much," Brian added from where he was. He noticed my blank face. "Haven't seen today's newspaper yet, I see."

Lisa ended her hug and withdrew said newspaper from her purse. The cape section was on top, and the headline there was quite revealing.

'Slenderman strikes down ABB lieutenant', it said.

What followed was half fact and half guesswork. I already knew most of it, but was surprised to learn that Oni Lee had indicated who he fought in writing, along with another character that hadn't been complete and as such, was not yet deciphered. There wasn't a picture of this message, so I couldn't even start to guess what it was.

There were, however, pictures of the warehouse we fought in.

I had to admit I now understood why the two of them were there. I'd not noticed during the battle, being focused on Oni Lee and all that, but the place was damaged beyond belief. Whole sections of the floor were shattered, walls bent and twisted. The article even indicated that the building would be taken down for public safety once the investigation was done.

I then realized I was ignoring my guests. "Sorry," I said, handing back the paper.

Lisa had her grin on and Brian, his boyish smile. "No worries," he replied. "I do the same for the articles about the Undersiders every morning."

"So, how about this pizza of yours?" Lisa asked.

I nodded and led them to a table that was clean of tinker stuff. I pulled out four plates along with glasses, and called out "T, dinner!" to the surprised faces of my guests.

Lisa was about to ask something something when a "Coming!" came from deeper in the building.

T, as I called her after the name I'd given Lisa, strolled out of a side room where she'd been doing some welding. Apart from the necessary protective equipment, we were wearing different clothes, though they were easily recognizable as mine.

Looking at yourself like that needed some getting used to, I can tell you that.

Lisa, of course, was the first who understood. "Oni Lee's power, right?" she looked from left to right. "Which one is the real one?"

"I suppose I am," I said. "I think, at least."

"You think?" Brian said, visibly not understanding how one couldn't be sure.

"She was the one with the clothes when I appeared," T answered before I could.

Brian made a face, then hid it beneath his hands, while Lisa started laughing. "Sorry," he said, voice muffled.

I took the laughter in good grace. T had done the same when she first appeared. It seemed my face had been something special to look at.

The laughter was short lived as we went back to our food. "So, that makes six, right?" Lisa asked after a bite.

T and I looked at each other for a moment. "No, still five. I… was forced to drop a power."

Lisa became serious. "Some form of limit, correct?" she said.

I nodded. "More than five brings horrible migraines, like you wouldn't believe," I explained.

Her smile was understanding. "Believe me, I know. You're not the only one who gets them," Lisa replied. "I have the same when I overuse my own ability." She thought for an instant. "It's clear you don't have those migraines right now. So, where did you drop your extra power? Oni Lee? Just nowhere? Which one did you drop?"

While I trusted the two of them, I didn't trust them that much. Also, I wanted to separate my home life from my cape life as much as possible. "Not telling who, but I dropped Othala's." The rest of her words hit me then. "Wait a minute…"

I hadn't tried simply pushing a power nowhere. It should have been the first thing I tried. As such, I closed my eyes, focused on Thief inside my head, and tried pushing it away in the void.

Nothing. Thief wouldn't budge, and neither did the others. It seemed like I needed to give them to someone, and not simply make them vanish.

Opening my eyes back, I found T, Lisa and Brian all staring at me. "Sorry," I said, blushing a little. "Just trying something."

"Just sending a spark away, right?" my copy replied, to which I nodded. "I can feel it didn't work, though."

"No, it didn't," I confirmed, looking at both Undersiders. "Which is a pity."

"There's one of your powers you want removed?" Brian asked.

"Yes," I said, turning to him. "Thief, Victor's power," I specified. "I…" My voice broke as the events of two days ago came back to mind. "I caused the death of Oni Lee with it," I finally said, looking down.

Lisa reached out from her chair to give me a one-handed hug. "You said caused, so I suppose it's not a directly offensive power. What does it do?" she asked, her arm still around me.

"My version of Thief steals… Energy? Will to live? Regardless of what it takes, in the end it made Oni Lee kill himself," I explained. "He took a grenade and withdrew the pin, then simply held it until it exploded." I covered my face as the memory came back, barely seeing T lower her own face. "It was… It was…" I tried saying.

Brain's tone was serious. "Where you trying to kill him?"

"Of course not!" I nearly yelled.

"Was he trying to kill you?" he continued. "From the start?"

"…Yes."

"Did he try escaping? Did you put him in a corner, until he had no choice but to escalate?"

I thought for a while. "No," I finally said. I hadn't realized, but he'd not tried anything but kill me. With the amount of explosives he had on himself, he could have easily made himself a way out, and once outside his power would have made his escape easy.

I wonder why he didn't? I asked myself.

"Then you have nothing to blame yourself for," he exclaimed. "Those are the risks of us capes. You never know how two capes fighting will go, and sometimes someone pays for it. Oni Lee was a murderer dozens of times over, and I can't say he'll be missed. He could have tried escaping, could have tried something else, but he fought until he fell. That was his choice."

"I'm the one who started the fight!"

"That changes nothing," Brian replied. "And even then, you attacked because of his strikes into Empire territory, right?" I nodded. "So, in a way, he started the fight, with those battles."

"You wouldn't be the first who, using a power she knows barely anything about, ends up doing more damage than she expected," he added. He then looked the at Lisa, and a silent message passed between the two.

"Here," Lisa said, and I found a slice of pizza handed to me. I started nibbling on it, my appetite gone. "Let's switch to lighter subjects," she asked and looked back and forth from T to me. "What have the two of you been working on?"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

The four of us discussed tinker tech while polishing off the remains of the pizza. The two Undersiders had dealt with two tinkers, Armsmaster and Kid Win, and had plenty of details and stories they could bring up.

Once the food was done, T left to go back to her welding, saying goodbye to the two villains with a wave. I returned to the desk I was using, which was full of notes, only to be followed by Brian and Lisa.

"So, what are you doing here?" Brian asked.

"Planning." I answered. "I need to do something about my powers, and quickly with that. I have a few plans that might work, but nothing really concrete." Most of these were morally ambiguous, also. I wanted a better solution before I did anything.

"Want to bounce ideas off us?" Lisa added. "We might point out things you haven't thought of."

"Like what?" I said.

"What do you know about your power managing ability?" Brian asked.

"Not much." I said. "Works by touch. Can both steal and give. Maximum of five powers." I counted on my hands. "Gives me some idea of what the powers I have do." I was silent for a second. "That's pretty much it."

"Giving away a power seems your priority, so let's focus on that. Are you restricted to capes and former capes? How about normal humans? Have you tested giving one a power?" Brian asked.

Not exactly, but close enough. "Yes for non-capes. It works."

"How about animals?" Lisa added.

"Tested. Doesn't work." I said. I'd done the test this very morning, trying to push my tinker power to a neighbourhood dog. Nothing. An alley cat succeeded no better a little later.

"So, restricted to humans." Brian said out loud. He was then silent for an instant. "How about multiples?" He asked.

"Multiples?" I repeated.

"Pushing more than one power on a person." He explained. "You have six in total, if we count your original one. Maybe that number is just a part of your power, and maybe everyone can have more than one, and just don't have in general."

"It would explain some of the more powerful capes, like Eidolon." Lisa added.

And explain Sveta. I said to myself. I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of the possibility, especially after visiting the asylum. Worse, I had had the perfect moment to test this, with Skidmark and Squealer, and blew it. "Never tried it." I finally said.

Brian extended his hand. "How about now?" He said with a smile.

My eyes went wide. "You do know I have no clue what could happen, right?"

"It will either work, or not." The leader of the Undersiders replied. "And you can just take back your power if anything happens, can't you?"

True. I said to myself, still not convinced. "Are you sure?"

He nodded.

I put my hand on his. I wasn't going to try with Thief, since I had no clue what power it would give him. I ended up after a moment selecting my Tinker spark for this trial, since it was the one whose effects were the most noticeable while still being unlikely to have a bad reaction. I grabbed hold of it in my mind and pushed.

As I expected, it didn't go according to plan. While the power I'd selected went away, I fished Grue's spark at the same time.

It wasn't fog or mist like I suspected, but more like weaken or reduce, with some elements of draining also involved. Impair was the word I found that resonated the most with it.

Two voices rang out at the exact moment I was done.

"Whoa!" Brian said, his eyes wandering with a glazed look. I knew the feeling, remembering when I first withdrew that power from Squealer.

"Hey!" came T's voice from deeper in the factory. She made her way to the rest of the group purposely. "No playing with the powers I'm working with." She said, hands on her hips. "I'll have to start over for the part I'm working on, now."

"Sorry." I answered. I'd forgotten T was tinkering deeper in the building. I hadn't gotten used to her yet.

"The two of you share your powers?" Lisa asked.

I nodded. "She's like an extension of me." I said. "The restrictions are still the same, which means only a single zone between the two of us, and only one clone out at the time, but outside of that we both have the same powers."

As an example, T crumbled into shadow for a second before rising back from the floor.

"Not that I mind." Brian said, eyes closed. "But could I have my power back instead of this one? All the details coming up are distracting."

I nodded to T. "Go ahead. Just push his power out to him." She reached out to Brian's arm, and I felt the switch in my mind, Impair vanishing and my Tinker spark returning.

Brian exhaled. "Good." He sighed. "That was… special." He turned to his fellow villain. "I might have a good idea what you're going through, now. There was a lot of information in very little time."

"Mind trying out your power?" I asked.

A globe of shadowy mist appeared in Grue's hand. "Done." He looked from it to me. "Why?"

"Just wanting to make sure your power hasn't changed." I explained. "I don't get the same powers as the source has, so I wanted to make sure it hadn't changed during the transfer." That was one of the possibilities I'd been afraid of. A result like Sveta had been the other.

Brian turned to Lisa, globe still in hand. "Still the same." Lisa confirmed.

"Mind if I try something else?" I asked.

He handed me his hand again. "Go ahead."

I wasn't ready to give up on the possibility of two powers of a single person. I made sense, from my experiences.

But maybe I couldn't add one to someone who already had one.

I drew out Grue's power. The little bit of headache that appeared I ignored, and tried pushing both Tinker and Impair down to Brian at the same time.

Nothing.

Maybe another power? I told myself. Impair and Shadow also failed, and felt even less like they could work together. But Grue's power somehow clicked with Skidmark's, and I was able to send the both of them down to Grue without issue.

Grue noticed instantly, eyes going wide. "What did you do?" He asked, his eyes boring into me.

I breathed out as the head pain slowly vanished. "Two powers this time, yours and Skidmark's." I explained. "Not all powers work well together, it seems."

He opened his hand like he did before, only no darkness appeared. "How does it work?" He finally asked, somewhat irritated.

"No clue." I said, shrugging. "I have the figure out the uses and limitations of whatever new ability I get through experimentation."

"Can you take it back?" He replied.

"Sure." I did so, pulling only Zone back. I could recognize it, but I was pretty sure that was because I had given it in the first place. Grue didn't wait a moment before generating a bit of his mist. "Much better."

"Might have been more useful to test out the new power." Lisa pointed out.

"Some other time, maybe." Brian said, now visibly calmer. "I think it's enough testing for today, anyway." He continued, looking directly at me this time.

"Ok." I answered.

"Good." T added. "If you're done, I'm going to go back to tinkering. I mean…" She started, then froze. She then proceeded to fall apart, turning into grey ash as her clothes hit the ground.

"Oni Lee's power all right." Lisa said. I caught her meaning instantly. She was right; No one knowing capes in Brockton Bay would mistake that for anybody else's power.

I quickly looked to my watch. 2:48 PM, nearly twelve hours. "About half a day." I spoke out loud, anticipating the question Lisa was about to ask.

"Are you going to remake her?" Brain asked.

"A little later, once I'm in private." I said, gathering the clothes from the pile of ash and shaking them vigorously.

"Ok." He said, then thought for an instant. "I'm gonna hit the road, then. Lisa, you coming?"

"Nope." Said girl answered. "Gonna talk a little more with Taylor here."

"Suit yourself." He said, turning toward the exit. "See you later, then." He opened the door leading into the alley outside, then stopped in the archway. "Hey Taylor!" He said out loud.

"Yes?"

"If you want it, there's a place in the Undersiders for you." He said, smiling. "Just letting you know. Have a good day!" He then closed the door behind him.

Those words hit me like a ton of bricks. Sure, Lisa had told me about the offer he'd nearly made before I attacked Othala and Victor, but I'd mostly put it out of mind.

I'd never been particularly popular. Emma had been my only friend for a good while, and even that had turned bad. The previous year had been me and me alone, against a world that seemed to take perverse delight in hammering me down.

But now I had a pair of people I considered friends, and they wanted to make it official. Being a real part of their gang and working with them seemed pretty good. The days the three of us worked together were amongst my best days.

But they were thieves.

I turned to Lisa. "Did you know…" I started.

"He was going to ask?" She finished for me. "No, I didn't. He didn't have any noticeable tell about it, at least." She explained. "I'm not actually disagreeing with him."

"Why would he ask?" I continued. "Is it… about that power of mine?"

"Not that I know of." She answered. "Actually, you pretty much have the opposite type of power we need. The one thing our team lacks is a heavy hitter. An Alexandria package would be the best case. We make due with Bitch's dogs, but…"

A heavy hitter I wasn't. "Then why?"

"He likes the way you think." Lisa finally said. "You don't take this, the cape business, like a game of some sort. There's a lot of capes out there who don't take this business seriously. He does, and you do. That's one thing the two of you have in common."

"Not to mention that we could do with some backup." She continued. "Your shadow power is actually the most directly useful of the ones you have. We don't really have any movers on the team, and you have to admit it's perfect for gaining entry or for infiltration."

I couldn't contradict that, having used it for such purposes before. "What about what you said before, about your boss?"

"That hasn't changed, but I didn't like learning you might be seriously wounded or dying from a newspaper." She countered. "You're drawing attention anyway with what you do. I'd feel better knowing I could help if anything came up."

I didn't know what to answer to that, and the silence stretched for a minute. "Let's change the subject, then, since you probably have to think about this alone." Lisa finally said. "I'm gonna shoot some ideas in the air. Correct me if I'm wrong. Is that okay?"

I nodded.

"You didn't drop a power, you were forced to drop one." Nod. "The reason why you're such in a hurry to drop one of your current powers is that you want to grab that power you dropped before the person notices." Nod.

"It's your dad, right?" It wasn't really a question.

I dropped my head in shame.

"And you didn't tell him, too." She realized. "Ouch."

"I…" I started "I just couldn't…"

"I don't blame you, girl." Lisa quickly replied. "I don't think I would have done any better if it had happened to me." There was a couple of seconds of silence. "How long ago?"

"Nearly two days."

"Double ouch." She exclaimed. "Worse, Othala's power tends to work by touch." She looked at me in the eyes. "What was that plan you had, the one you didn't like?"

"Giving Thief to someone who's dying, or someone in a coma." I said, face still down.

The face Lisa made said it all. "I have to agree with you, that would be morally touchy as hell." She thought for a few moments before seemingly having an idea. "How about giving it back to Victor?"

My face rose to look directly at her. I hadn't thought of that. I admitted to myself.

"Best of all, you know how his power would manifest itself." She said, her fox-like smile returning to her face. "It's not like it would enable him to escape from prison, not anymore than he can now. It would even be misdirection about your powers as Slenderman."

"The issue about that is where?" I replied. "I have no clue where he is."

She withdrew her phone and looked at the time. "Give me a few hours." She finally said, putting her cell back in a pocket. "I can find out. Call me over after ten, and we'll discuss what I found." She turned and walked out. "'Til tonight."

"Later!" I answered as the door to my base closed.

Then I smiled. Things were looking up, finally.

I went and remade T, and the both of us worked on tinkering until my alarm rang. It was easier than expected, since it seemed like I remembered working on it myself. Still, we didn't advance much, the both of us more focused on tonight then on the present.

In the end, I left early, leaving T to work. It would give me time to shower before cooking supper, since it was my turn.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

What I didn't expect, however, was to find my father waiting for me at the kitchen table when I got in.

I've got a bad feeling about this. I said to myself.

"Take a seat." Danny Hebert said, pointing to the chair opposite his. I said nothing and did as he asked.

I saw him take a deep breath. "Taylor, it seems I'm a cape. I have powers." He said, his voice level, and looked into my eyes. "And I know you also do."

Busted.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

[Emily Piggot]

These are the times I hate my job the most, I said to myself, waiting for the elevator to finish descending. I understood how necessary it was, for our current society, but that didn't stop me from disliking it.

We never should have tried rehabilitating that sociopath, I added to myself.

The door finally opened, and I stepped out. I instantly recognized John Mason, having worked with the man on a few other cases. So that meant the other man was Danny Hebert, his client. He visibly wasn't at ease in this environment, though he was trying not to let it show. He didn't fool my eyes, though.

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, Mr. Hebert, Mr. Mason. A meeting simply ran long," I said as I took a seat directly opposite Mr. Hebert at the table. "Emily Piggot, Director of Brockton Bay PRT." My two colleagues took a place on either side of me, Armsmaster in front of Mr. Mason. "I suppose I don't have to introduce Armsmaster, the local protectorate leader, and his second-in-command Miss Militia?" The both of them weren't really necessary here, but were present for the 'shock and awe' factor. Every little bit helped.

Mr. Hebert shook his head, while Mr. Mason simply replied "No".

"I'm sure you're not here for pleasantries, so let's get to business," I said, looking straight at Danny. He was the one I really had to convince here. "As Mr. Mason must know, the PRT is informed about any court case that affects, either directly or indirectly, capes, be them villains, heroes or rogues."

"Correct," the lawyer confirmed.

"As such, it is my duty to inform you that your case against Winslow High endangers the identity of members of the Brockton Bay Wards," I continued, still looking straight at Mr. Hebert.

"What?" he replied. "I mean…" he said, then took a breath to catch himself. "Winslow is a Ward school? I thought…"

"Indeed," I cut him off. "It is not something we publicize, preferring to to leave the illusion that every Ward goes to Arcadia."

"Makes it safer for the kids," Miss Militia added.

The man looked like I'd just punched him in the guts. "What… What happens now?"

I winced mentally. That wasn't the reaction I was looking for. "That is why I want to settle your issue here, inside this conference room."

I had a dossier on the man before. Single with one child, wife dead in an automobile accident. One of the men working to rebuild the fallen docks. No criminal dossier, not even a speeding ticket. Someone who always works inside the law.

If Mr. Hebert had been a different type of person, someone trying to profit from others' misfortune, we wouldn't have been trying this way. The PRT has access to a dozen Thinkers who specialize in law; any of them could have buried this case in injunctions, discrediting witnesses and the like.

But, in this case, it was better to work with the people instead.

"We aren't trying to shut you up or bribe you off, Mr. Hebert. The opposite," Armsmaster replied. "We want to solve issues outside of the court system, if possible." I could hear the irritation in his voice, though I doubted either of the men before me noticed it. He didn't like what we were doing any more than I did.

"The PRT has quite a bit of pull on Wards schools, amongst other things," I added. "Let's see if we can all come to an agreement."

Mr. Hebert turned to his lawyer.

"Personally, I would see what they can offer," John Mason said. "A court case, even one as solid as this, can drag for months at the time, if not worse. You lose nothing in seeing what they're offering."

Mr. Hebert thought for a moment, then nodded. "Tell me what you have in mind, then."

I smiled. "First, let us go through the usual. The PRT will be paying for investigation fees, lawyer fees, court fees and all such related costs. Along with that, your family will be given a lump sum for damages and interests, enough to cover for missed opportunities and such."

"What will happen to Winslow? The bullying?" Mr. Hebert asked.

"The PRT is against any form of bullying…" I said, keeping the 'especially by capes' silent. "As such, you can be sure that we will do our best to eradicate this problem. Winslow may be removed as an appropriate Ward school, along with all the funds allocated to such schools."

"Could I…" he started. "Have that in writing? The school director had promised something similar, but…" He let the phrase speak for itself.

I turned to Armsmaster who nodded, brought out a laptop and started typing. "Anything else?" I asked.

He was silent for a moment. "Not really, I don't…" he said, then something visibly came to his mind. "Arcadia!"

"What about Arcadia?" Miss Militia asked.

"My daughter, she hasn't been to school in the past few weeks," he explained. "After the… incident, she wanted to be moved to Arcadia to get away from the problems at Winslow. It didn't happen." He stopped for a second. "I'd feel safer if she could transfer to Arcadia. It's not that I don't trust you, but…"

"Once burned, twice shy. I understand." It wasn't an issue. Arcadia was a Ward school, and as such the PRT had quite a bit of control over admissions. "Consider it done. Anything else?"

"No," he replied, this time more sure of himself.

The following hour was spent going over legalese and finalizing the exact document to be signed. Armsmaster, Mr. Mason and I went over the whole thing together while Miss Militia and Mr. Hebert watched. We finally agreed on a version everybody was okay with, and everyone signed.

"Thank you, Mr. Hebert, Mr. Mason," I said, rising. I shook his hand and that of Mr. Mason. "Pleasure doing business with you." It hadn't really been, but I could admit this could have gone much worse. "Have a good day."

Armsmaster and Miss Militia shook Mr. Hebert's hand next, and I could see something akin to surprise on his face. Probably expecting a more powerful grip out of a cape, I said to myself. I grabbed my cane and started making my way back to my desk.

As soon as all three of us were behind closed elevator doors, I turned to Miss Militia. "Hannah, thank you for your help. Colin…" I turned to him. "My office with me."

There were still things to be done.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

[Emily Piggot]

It felt good to be back in my custom-made chair, but I had to ignore comfort for the moment. "Colin, what's happening with Shadow Stalker?" I asked as soon as Armsmaster was in his chair.

"Nothing," he replied. "Her power hasn't returned, and we can't find the cause anywhere in her body. We went through every test we could think off, and nothing returns any valid result. Panacea is coming tomorrow to see if she can do anything, but outside of that option, we have nothing."

"She's no longer necessary, then?" I said. "There isn't any more use we can get out of her?"

"Unless Panacea can do something to give her back her power, no."

"Then, in that case, I want her in a juvenile detention center as soon as Panacea is done with her," I exclaimed. "She's been a disaster from start to finish, and I want her out of my hands pronto."

"Yes, director," he replied, standing straight. He knew this wasn't a moment to argue with me.

"And I want you to keep a closer eye on your Wards. I don't want a second case like this," I said. "We were lucky enough that they agreed to keep this under the table this time. There will be no repeat, am I clear?"

"Crystal, director," he instantly replied.

"Good, now get back to your post. I'll have the papers for her removal from the Wards done before the end of the day."

He said nothing, simply nodding and leaving the office.

I took a deep breath as soon as he was gone. Hopefully this whole Shadow Stalker thing wouldn't come bite us in the ass once more.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

[Danny Hebert]

Having taken the afternoon off from the Dockworkers' Association, I found myself alone at home, waiting for Taylor to arrive. I hadn't found her in the library on my way here, so I expected she was with that friend of hers, Lisa. Good for her to have made a new friend, even out of school.

I also hoped she wasn't going to be too angry at my news. I knew she didn't want to talk about the bullying or anything related to it but, as a father, I needed to do something about it.

And finding her a place at Arcadia, like she'd wanted, was worth whatever anger she would have at me.

But that wasn't what I was thinking of.

I was looking down at my hand, staring at it.

Ever since Taylor got sick two nights ago, I'd been having strange feelings whenever I touched my daughter. Something like putting my hand on something distantly warm, or like the sensation of restrained power in a generator.

And, before today, it only happened with her.

But when I shook Armsmaster's hand, the feeling was there. Weaker, true, or more distant, but still present. And Miss Militia was the same, with a similar feeling as her fellow protectorate member.

I barely talked to M. Mason as we left, being stuck on that feeling. I thought on the whole way home, and finally found what the three of them might have in common.

Capes. My daughter was a cape.

It explained a good number of things. Taylor had changed, in the past weeks. She was happier, more sure of herself, more talkative. More confident in general. I had taken the changes as consequences of her leaving school, but now I wasn't so sure.

And I supposed I was one too, somehow. A cape able to detect other capes. A very underwhelming power, true, but I didn't mind. I didn't see myself as someone chasing after villains in costume, or being chased after. More like someone outside the heroes/villains system.

A rogue. Yeah, that's how they called them, I remembered.

I was wondering how long did Taylor have powers when the front door opened. Speak of the devil, I thought.

"Take a seat," I said. She did so, visibly surprised by my presence. She was early, I had to admit.

I took a deep breath. Let's go with the powers first… I told myself. That will probably go more easily. "Taylor, it seems I'm a cape. I have powers," I said, trying to keep my voice level and looking straight into her eyes. "And I know you also do."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

My first instinct was to deny everything immediately. I squashed it ruthlessly. It wouldn't help in this case, I felt.

This wasn't an accusation my father would do easily, without any form of proof. Have I been spotted? I said in my mind. Did someone catch me using my powers? "How… did you find out?" I finally asked.

He raised his left hand somewhat. "Like I said, I have powers too. My own, it detects capes by touch."

I resisted the urge to slap my own head. I hadn't expected this of the power I'd given him, even though my own power has a similar ability, except by sight.

"I wasn't sure of what I'd been feeling at first, but after Armsmaster and Miss Militia, it became clear." He continued.

Armsmaster? Miss Militia? How did he…? I wondered. I couldn't think of a way his work might bring him in contact with them. "Where did you meet them?" I asked.

He was visibly taken by surprise, as if he just realized he'd said something he hadn't been planning to. "Oh, hum…" He stuttered. "I met them in the PRT offices."

That made even less sense. "Why were you there?" I continued.

He lowered his head. "I was meeting them and the PRT director about my court case against Winslow."

"What?!" I yelled before I could even think about what he'd just said. He knew I didn't want anything like that. "You… You…"

"I wasn't going to involve you! I even said so to Mr. Mason, my lawyer." He quickly added.

"Yes, as if checking into my school wasn't going to involve me." I said, cynically. "How long has this been going on?"

"I went to the law offices the day you left school for good." He said. "The school, they'd told me they would clean up the bullying, and you came home wounded after only two days back. I couldn't let it stand. Not if I wanted to live with myself afterwards."

I was about to argue some more, then I remembered something Lisa had said the day I first met her, about my original powers. "Best thing would be to never use that power of yours…" She'd said. "Be only Shadow Girl and nothing else, but I know you wouldn't take it. I wouldn't, myself."

That's why I went and struck at Skidmark, at the gangs. I could do something, so I did. Not doing so would have killed me inside.

But that didn't require powers. My father had seen he could do something, so he did.

I was definitely my father's daughter.

I took a deep breath to center myself before responding. "Ok." I said. I still wasn't happy about what he'd done, but I could understand it at least. "What's done is done, so let's not argue about it." I replied, and I saw my father sigh in relief. "So, tell me about this court case against Winslow."

For the next thirty minutes, he went over what he'd done. He brought out a document, a report from a private investigator he'd hired, and explained what was in it. I went through it quickly, and there was quite a bit I hadn't known in there. I wasn't surprised about the other bullies, not with the example Emma's group made, but I hadn't noticed the three that were after me also had other targets.

"That doesn't explain what you were doing in the PRT offices, Dad." I pointed out.

"Turns out Winslow is a Ward school, and any case affecting capes has to go through them." He explained, and I had a bad feeling. "My case was putting the identity of some wards at risk, so…"

"What?!" I yelled out for the second time today. At my reaction, my father brought out a contract before me. The great lines were, in exchange for certain concessions, my father was to drop the case against Winslow.

"Those fuckers!" I screamed, ignoring my father saying "Language!". "They knew, and they're covering their asses, the bastards." I wasn't someone who swore, but I could make an exception, this time.

My dad's face went from angry at my swear to curious. "Taylor, what are you saying?" He asked, looking staright at me.

I grabbed back the report from the PI, flipped through it, then pointed to a specific name. "Recognize this name." I said, my finger indicating the name Sophia Hess.

"Well, not in person of course, but sure…" He went a little deeper in the document. "It says here she's the one who pushed you inside." He left the rest unsaid.

"That's Shadow Stalker." I intoned gravely.

"Isn't that…" He said, then his eyes went wide. "That's a member of the Wards." He realized. "That can't… I mean, the PRT couldn't have known." He replied.

"Then why go through all this?" I asked.

"I thought a ward was amongst those bullied." He answered, eyes still wide.

I smiled a cynical little smile. "Nope. It was a Ward doing the bullying."

"The authorities couldn't have known." He replied. "They would have done something, at least."

"It was pretty clear from how she acted in the wards." I said, remembering my infiltration of the place. Insults, physical violence, all those little digs she did. "Only way they could have missed it was if they forced themselves not to look."

"That can't be true…" he replied. "I mean…" He started, then something visibly clicked in his mind. "Taylor, how do you know how she acts in the wards?"

Oops. I realized. That might not have been the best thing to say. I had a decision to make, now. I knew my father; He wasn't going to let this go, not now. I could pretend my shadow power was my only power, but that had issues. My Tinker spark would have been a better choice if I said I only had a single power, as I sometimes found myself tinkering without noticing, but it wouldn't explain my words just now.

But I didn't want to lie to my father.

"Dad, can I trust you?" I asked.

The face my father made at those was sad, sadder than any since my mom had died. "Sweetie, I'm your father, of course you can trust me."

"That means I can trust you not to do or say anything about my powers without my approval, right?" I continued.

That, I could see, offended him. "Taylor, I'm an adult. I've been through enough to be able to tell when to do something or not."

I shook my head. "Not in this." I replied. "You know nothing about the world of capes, not really. I didn't, either, and I nearly paid the price. I can't risk my power coming out, it's too dangerous." I looked at him straight in the eyes. "Can I trust you? Can you swear you won't do anything relating to my power without my approval?"

I hated putting my father on the spot like this, but it was necessary. Him going to the PRT about my having powers could lead directly to my imprisonment or death. And my father trusted the system, which made it worse.

It took a minute before he said or did anything. "You're my daughter, so I'm on your side." He said with a sad little smile. "I swear I won't say or do anything about your power without your prior approval. Now, can I know what you were talking about?"

I smiled. "Thanks, dad. And I'm sorry to have involved you in this."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

I took a deep breath. "You didn't get powers. I gave you one, by mistake."

"You can give powers." He said, his eyes going wide. He thought for an instant. "I can see what some people would do for that."

"It's worse than that. I don't only give them, I can also take them." I said, then explained what my original power was and how he got his power. "You're not mad at me, are you?" I asked, in an uncertain voice.

"About my power? No, not really." He answered. "A little warning might have been good, but it's all water under the bridge now." He was silent for a second. "Who knows about all this… I mean, your powers and the like."

"Two of my friends, Lisa and Brian." I said, then added. "I didn't even tell Lisa, she just figured it out. She's the one that taught me most of what I know about capes."

"She's a cape herself, I suppose." He replied. I simply nodded.

There was silence for a moment. "You still haven't told me how you know about Shadow Stalker in the wards." He pointed out.

I smiled and rose. "I'll show you. Look down." I said, and turned into my shadow state. I did a few turns around the kitchen table, then turned back. "That's how I did it."

My father stepped back into his chair. "Yeah…" He said, sounding somewhat overwhelmed. "That's special."

I smiled. "At the time, I thought she was simply hiding who she was from the Wards, being only a bully at school. I snuck in, planning on revealing her act before her boss in the Wards, only she wasn't acting. She was insulting and violent even in the Wards, no different than at school." I explained. "The only way they hadn't known is because they made sure to look the other way."

He took the contract he'd signed and went over it. "Disgusting." He said angrily, pushing the document away. "I thought I was helping."

"You couldn't have known, Dad." I said, trying to calm him down. His anger was useless at best, right now. "At least you got something out of it, right?" I said with a smile. "It's better than nothing."

At least Sophia was still powerless. That counted for something.

My father looked at the kitchen clock. "I'm not in the mood for cooking, right now. How about we eat out?"

"I don't mind." I answered, then something came to mind. "Actually, I know this great French restaurant just off the Boardwalk…"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"That was you?" My father said, surprised. He had before him the paper write-up of my battle with Oni Lee.

The both of us were in the exact same booth Lisa and I had gotten, more than a month ago. The food had already come and gone, and that under lighter conversation.

I was the one who brought back the conversation to cape matters. I had still a few details to pass.

Crucial amongst those was my identity as Slenderman. My father had enough information to guess, so it was better to reveal all I could now before something could come back and bite me. As Lisa had said a few hours earlier, one did not like hearing from a newspaper that someone he or she cared for had been in deadly combat.

"Yes, it was." I replied. "I had an opportunity to remove him from the board and I took it. I won't say it went as planned…" I let the words hang for a moment. "But things could have been much worse."

"Could have been much worse?!" He said, then looked down to the newspaper as if to confirm something. "Taylor, this place looks like it was used for artillery testing! You're not hurt anywhere, are you?"

I spread my arms wide. "Dad, does it look like I'm wounded anywhere?" Thank whoever gave me my power for tinker medicine. I added inside. My dad didn't need to know I'd been hurt.

He did take a good look for about a minute before saying. "No, it doesn't."

"Physical stuff doesn't hurt a shadow, Dad." I explained. "Those grenades of his couldn't hurt me." That wasn't completely true. If an explosive emitted light, it also caused me some pain in my other state, but it was of short duration and I could fight through it.

The flashbangs were another matter entirely, but he didn't need to know that either.

He went and reread the article. He then fixed me with a serious stare. "It says here you killed him. Is that true, Taylor?"

I gulped. "Not… exactly." I answered. "I found him on his first night doing raids, and started planning on taking his power. No battle, just in, out."

"The only thing was that the man was paranoid, never sleeping in the same place twice. By the third day it was clear that I couldn't choose where to hit him, and with the casualties mounting I decided to strike that night." I explained, my father silent all the while. "I interrupted the lights in his place, then snuck in. Only he must have seen or heard me coming, because he dodged at the last second and started throwing those bombs of his everywhere."

"We fought for a while without anybody getting a clear advantage. He couldn't hurt me, but he was too fast for me to strike. I ended up activating one of my newest powers, one I didn't know what it did." I shrunk on myself. "Turns out it saps willpower, but I didn't know that then. He started slowing down, and I thought he was getting tired." A vision of Oni Lee pulling the pin on his fragmentation grenade came back to mind, and I couldn't push it back. Tears started coming to my eyes. "He… he grabbed a grenade and… and he simply held it there, in his hand. And I couldn't…"

I stopped there as my father got out of his chair and gathered me in his arms. "There, there…" He said as I cried into his shirt. "It's gonna be OK. I know you didn't do it on purpose. Everything will be all right." He repeated, over and over, until I finally cried myself out.

I had needed to hear that. Brian's words had helped, true, but I wouldn't be able to live with myself if my father hated me. Outside of him and my two friends, the rest of the world could hang.

I just needed to know it wouldn't change things between us.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"I must say, the power will take some getting used to." My father said, taking back his chair. He was clearly trying to change the subject. I was more or less back in control, though surprised no one had come looking.

"What do you mean?" I had to admit I was curious. I was pretty sure he didn't only have the power to feel capes, though exactly what he had was still unknown.

"It's like… power, somewhat distantly." He explained after a moment's thinking. "You feel… closer? Stronger? More visible?" He was searching for the right words to use. "Well, generally more accessible than the two others I felt. They felt pretty much the same compared to you."

I was surprised. While Miss Militia wasn't generally ranked amongst the powerful capes, Armsmaster was among the top five tinkers in the world. His specialty affected everything, which was more than I could say of my own tinker spark.

Maybe he's feeling all my powers in one big bunch. I surmised. That didn't explain Armsmaster and Miss Militia being the same level, however.

"I'm pretty sure that there's more to your power, Dad." I said.

"Why do you think that?" He replied.

I took a moment to order my thoughts in my mind. "I had your power for a while, Dad. I call it 'Gift', and that's what it does. It gives." I explained. "The two previous times, it gave powers. It probably does the same thing in your case." I thought for a second. "Maybe it only works on capes, and that's why you can feel them."

I handed him my hand. "Want to try?"

He put his hand on mine. "What do I do?" He asked. "You're the specialist here."

"Focus on the sensation you feel." I said. "Try stuff. Mentally pushing or pulling or… Whoa! Yeah, that."

"Taylor, you OK?" My father said, withdrawing his hand. "What happened?"

I raised my hand in the universal sign for stop. "Everything's fine." I replied. "Just surprised."

My father could, by touch, enhance a cape's connection to his spark. This unlocked secondary abilities or lowered restrictions on usage. It was a temporary thing, affected both by the time since the last use of this power, and distance from it's user.

I could tell, because that was the effect it had on me. It increased my ability to identify capes. Looking at my father's glow had made the information jump right to my brain, in a way I supposed similar to Tattletale's ability.

"You boost capes, Dad." I finally said, once I'd gotten used to the new knowledge in my head. "Add secondary powers or remove limits."

"Nothing offensive?" He asked.

"Unless you use it on someone with offensive powers, no." My father might be prone to anger, but he wasn't a violent man.

"Good." He was silent for a moment. "I could use some dessert right now. How about you?"

"Dessert would be great." I answered.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

We were just getting home when Tattletale's phone indicated a text message.

"Taylor, is that from you?" My father asked as we were getting out of his car.

I nodded, bringing out the cellular. "It belongs to Lisa." I nearly said Tattletale. When it came to parahuman stuff, it was her cape name that came up naturally. "She lent it to me in case I needed to reach her in an emergency."

Meet @ corner Johnson & Mntnwlk, 30 min. News about V & O​

Corner of Johnson and Mountainwalk in thirty minutes. I translated mentally. I wonder what news she has that she doesn't want to discuss by phone?

I put back the phone in my pocket and turned toward the street, only for my father to interrupt. "Cape stuff, right?" He said, his tone a little sad.

I simply nodded.

"You're going, I suppose." I nodded again, not wanting to interrupt his train of thought.

He sighed. "You're not planning on going after another villain, are you?"

"No." I replied. "I'm not. I can't really at the moment, I have too many powers to do that."

"Good." He replied and sighed again. "I can't really stop you, but I'd like to put down a few rules, if only for my peace of mind." He stepped before me. "I want to know when you're going out. No sneaking out. Leave a message on the fridge or on the phone if necessary." I nodded.

"I want you to keep that phone with you at all times." I was surprised; My dad, telling me to make sure I had a cellphone? "I don't like it, but I'll feel better knowing I can call you if necessary. Don't hesitate to call me, if you need anything. Even late at night."

"Make sure to keep your studies up, and be safe, promise?"

"I promise." All in all, those weren't really restrictive rules; I could live with them. I didn't want my dad dying of a stress aneurysm. "See you tomorrow Dad. Sleep well."

"Go." He said, waving. I stepped behind the car, out of sight from the street, and became a shadow the next instant.

Then I was gone.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I was surprised to see Lisa in costume in the alley closest to the meeting point. I'd expected her dressed in civilian clothes. Nonetheless, I joined her in the alley before returning to solid state.

"Good, you're early." She said as soon as I left the ground. She then got a good look at my face. "You OK?"

"Yeah." I answered, nodding. I wasn't surprised she'd noticed. "It's just been a busy day." That was one way of describing the emotional roller-coaster I'd been on.

"Right." She said. "Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we'll have to think of another option about that Thief of yours."

"Why?" I asked.

"Victor, and Othala actually, are no longer in jail." She replied.

I stepped back in surprise. "What?"

"E88 broke them out of jail last Friday. Rumor is Kaiser was personally there to spring them. The PRT is covering it up for the moment, but the news will break out sooner or later."

"Damn!" I cried, punching the alley wall for good measure. "Can't they actually do something right for once?" I continued. Othala escaping wasn't a danger, but Victor was an efficient fighter regardless of his powers. He could still take the right cape on, once back in the streets.

Then I remembered what else the PRT had done today, and my anger surged again.

"Sorry about that." Lisa said, even though it wasn't her fault. "We'll discuss this at length later. I have to go, the rest of the Undersiders are waiting for me."

"Another heist?" I said, trying to control my anger.

"Nope." She replied. "The boss has us hitting ABB workplaces, trying to capitalize on the disappearance of Oni Lee."

"Want help?" Taking the fight to the ABB felt like just what the doctor ordered to clear my mood.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "You sure? You might start being associated with the Undersiders if you do stuff like that."

"Right now, I don't care." I said. I really needed to do something with myself, and hitting a few ABB safehouses could only help me unwind. It had been a while since I hit either them or the Empire, they had gotten wise to my methods. All the places I'd found were now guarded by at least four guards all night long, and I wasn't going to strike a place like that until I had efficient body armour.

If I were alone, that is.

I waited while Tattletale rang Grue and talked it over with him. It wasn't long before she turned to me. "Grue's fine with it." She finally said, closing her phone. "You aren't coming as Slenderman, are you?"

"No. I'll have another costume." I'll need to rebuilt my Slenderman costume, actually. I made a mental note. I then thought for an instant. "The other two Undersiders don't know my powers, right?" She nodded. "I'll go as shadow girl, then." I said.

Lisa smiled. "Try to find a better name than that, if you can. It's been taken for the past ten years at least." She started walking. "Meet us at the southern entrance of the Docks as soon as you can. I'll try my best to have them wait there." She waved. "Later!"

I did the same, then turned back into my shadow state. I even beat my speed record, getting to my base.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Hey, Taylor."

"Hi T." I looked around. "How is it going?"

"Helmet's done." She said, pointing to the piece standing on a table. "Working on the left glove. Making boron alloys is really time consuming." She explained.

"Where's the other glove?" I asked. The gloves T and I were building were basically improved versions of the ones I'd lost when I was shot. These had an taser integrated, perfect for going after Asian Bad Boyz thugs.

"On the desk over there. Why? Planning something?" She asked, turning from the bunch of circuits she was working on to face me.

"I'm going with the Undersiders to mess up some ABB property." I said, grabbing both the glove and the helmet.

"OK…" She said. "Need anything?"

"No. Continue doing as you were." I said, then flashed into shadow state for a second to remove my clothes. "Actually, got a good idea for a cape name based on my shadow powers?" I added while I went and donned one of the synthetic spider silk suits I had prepared. I had three, one for each of us and one spare. My battle with Oni Lee had at least taught me that I needed a backup costume just in case.

"Let's see…" She said. "Ghost, Haunt, Abyss…" She turned back to her work. "Shade, Ghoul, Apparition, Specter, Void…"

"Apparition will do just fine, actually." It fit perfectly with how I seemed to appear and disappear in darkness. I finished putting on everything. "How do I look?"

She turned to me. "Pretty good. Let me just fix one last detail, and no one will recognize you." She came close and fiddled with my helmet for a second. I felt something fall on my back. "Perfect." She said. "Now nobody would think Taylor Hebert while looking at you."

I reached out to my back and pulled whatever was there in sight. "Blond hair? Where did you get this?"

"It's synthetic. Looks and feels like the real thing." She explained. "You'd need chemical or DNA testing to notice the difference." She grabbed a mirror off her desk. "Look."

I had to admit she had a point. Nobody would link Taylor Hebert to the young blond woman in a skintight suit that was facing me in the glass. The helmet was similar to that of Grue, only less wide and with ear-like extensions at the top.

Best of all, outside the leotard-like suit, I looked nothing like my previous costume. Work was planned on a breastplate, but for the moment my current outfit would have to be enough.

Lisa hadn't said how long I had, so as soon as I was sure everything was in place, I said my goodbye to T and left the base.

Direction: the Docks.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I was worried for nothing; I actually beat the rest of the Undersiders there. The four of them were riding a pair of those giant dogs, two on each animal. They touched down right at entrance and I waited no time to return to physical form.

"Shadow Girl! Glad to have you." Grue said, not moving from his place on the dog. I could hear the smile in his voice. "Have you finally decided on a name?"

"Apparition will do for now." I responded.

He turned to the rest of his group. "Good. Team, this is Apparition, who'll be working with us today. She's a shadow mover." He turned to me. "You know Tattletale, so the other girl, the one in the dog mask, is Bitch, and the man in the mask and coronet is Regent." Bitch gave me a straight look, saying nothing, while Regent did a mock bow.

Grue then discussed the target. I knew of the place, having scouted it multiple times in the past month. Drug packing plant, but one with enough guards inside to give me pause.

"Last thing." He finally finished. "We see Lung, we scram. We're not here to take out the ABB leadership, we're here to mess with their business. So, anyone sees him, we warn the rest and we're gone. No picking a fight we don't need." He looked directly at the dog mistress. "That goes double for you, Bitch."

The woman nearly growled, as did her dog, before looking aside at me. "I'm not giving her a lift." She said, teeth showing.

I was tempted to reply something sarcastic, but held my tongue. "I'll beat the four of you there, regardless." I finally responded. I was formless a second later, and dashing toward our target.

I did beat the rest of the gang there, even managing to scout the place again before they arrived. They landed in an alley and I appeared to make my report. "Two exits, front and back. Two guards in the front, one in the back. Everything that's happening is in the basement, other floors are clear."

"Good work. Take Tattletale and scout behind the building, Regent and I will take the front. Bitch, shrink your dogs until they can fit through a door; We might need to enter in force."

I dropped the lonely guard with my taser before Lisa even arrived in the back; A professional this guy wasn't. She had tie-wraps to bind him, and I made note to carry some too. The whole thing was done in silence, which I found surprising with her usual loquacity.

The Undersiders and I met back in front, looking into the basement from the only window giving us a vantage point.

"Door's guarded." Regent pointed out. "Two guards with machine guns."

"I can cover the room in darkness when we go in." Grue answered.

"They might spray the door anyway, dick." He pointed out.

Grue didn't rise to the insult. "You have a better plan?"

"I might." I said. "Can you cover the ceiling, and only the ceiling, with that shadow of yours, and maintain it? Said ceiling had bright neons all over the place. Going there in shadow state would be irritating at best, and easily visible.

"Sure." He turned to me. "What have you got?"

"If you do like I asked, I'll sneak in down there and cause chaos; Drop the people with guns, the ones calling for help and all. I'm sure, after a minute or so everyone down there will be rushing out. The rest of will just have to intercept them at the doors."

He clearly thought for an instant. "Perfect." He answered. "We'll go with that. Regent, Bitch, take the back. Tattletale, with me. We go in two." He clapped his hands. "Places everyone."

With the lights out, I easily took out the two armed guards. One got a few bullets off, but hit nothing but air. By the time I dropped a third, one who had reached for a cell phone, it was mass panic in the room and everyone was rushing out. I didn't catch the other parts of the battle, but judging by the state of everyone once the building was clean, it had been as easy for them as it had for me. The whole thing had taken maybe fifteen minutes, top. It wasn't even a challenge.

The group was going over the loot when I approached Grue. "How much are you making off attacking this place?"

"Five thousand, plus whatever we find." He answered. "Don't worry, I'll have your cut before you leave."

Bitch scowled at me at that moment.

"Is it this building in particular, or any ABB business?" I asked. I didn't care much about the money; I had more than I could easily buy stuff with.

"Five thousand per ABB place we hit." He confirmed. "Why?"

I smiled behind my helmet. "I can help you make at least twenty thousand more tonight." I answered.

He was silent for a moment. "You know four more ABB places." He said, voice serious.

I nodded. "Four spots I wasn't able to hit alone, yes."

He turned to the rest of his gang. Tattletale had her usual smile, and Regent a smug smirk. Bitch's grin was right past predatory.

"I think everyone here is in agreement." He said, and I could hear his lips curl in his voice. "Lead on."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I was surprised to hear my father was up as I went to bed. "Everything all right, Taylor?"

"I'm fine, dad." I answered. "You can go back to sleep."

There was silence for a moment. "Anything special happened?" He finally asked.

"Nothing special." I said with a teasing tone. "Just helped take out three drug packing plants and two arms depots."

Another moment of silence.

"What?!" My father cried out.

I had to wait another hour before finally being able to go to bed.