*000000*

[X] "You're safe now; this is a field hospital."

((()))

"You're safe now," you say gently, "This is a field hospital, and you should be all healed up now."

The girl looks down at herself again, eyes wide as she rubs her hands over smooth, unblemished skin.

"Hey," another voice cuts in, a nurse stepping up and briskly lifting the girl up, "Let's get you to the other survivors, maybe we can find someone you know."

"...Thank you," the little girl says, waving over the nurse's shoulder as she's carried away, and with those words, the situation doesn't seem quite so bleak anymore.

"I didn't expect something that comprehensive out of you," another voice interjects, and you turn your neck to see Doctor Battleaxe standing over you, "Did you use two applications?"

"No," you say, shaking your head, "She was small and young. Both of those mean the effect works better."

"We'll keep that in mind when we get younger patients," she says, before turning away to help with one of the injured men being wheeled out of the triage room.

Looking around, you seem to have a moment to catch your breath and process; Panacea is working on another patient, while the blonde girl with her is staring right at you.

What do?

[] Just rest for a bit.

[] Ask the blonde why she's staring at you.

[] Activate detect magic, see what Panacea's power looks like while it's working.

[] Write-in.

((()))

[x] Ask the blonde why she's staring at you.

AN: A lot of people have been assuming Amy and Vicky are going to be exactly like they are at canon start. They're not, they're both relatively new to their powers. They're also ~16, not 13/14 like Taylor, or 18 like at canon start.

Also, injuries from the battlefield. Not pretty to look at or describe.

((()))

"Is there a reason you're staring at me?" you ask, glancing towards the entrance before padding over to her.

"Uh," she says, "You're a Dragon. And not like, Lung Dragon, actual Dragon."

"I'm nowhere near as strong as Lung," you say, shaking your head, "But he isn't the real deal anyways; he's just a Changer with a theme. I'm Bookwyrm; who're you?"

"I'm Glory Girl," she says, her posture shifting a little as she speaks, "Me and my sister are with New Wave."

"Oh!" you reply, "You're from Brockton Bay then?"

She opens her mouth to reply, but a Zap sounds from outside, and a moment later you're flooded with new patients to treat again.

This time you're assigned to heal a cape in a mangled blue costume. He's one of those middle-aged guys who is a mixture of muscular and fat, which you suspect is the only reason he's still alive when you get to him. His entire lower half is squashed, and the surface abrasions on his skin don't even begin to heal as you watch your spell slowly work its healing on him, which suggests there's a lot of internal bleeding to repair.

"Dragon-girl!" Battleaxe calls sharply, "Get over here, we're losing this one!"

'This one' is a woman in a costume with a skimpy enough cut you suspect she's very beautiful, when she isn't missing most of the flesh on the front of her body. You leap over, flapping your wings once to carry you across the triage room, forelegs already moving through the motions of the spell.

The spell starts taking effect as soon as you touch her, and even in Dragon form, your stomach feels a little queasy as you watch bits of gravel, glass, and bone get forced out of her raw flesh.

"Damn," Battleaxe says, shaking her head as she watches your spell work critically, "You weren't kidding about the stabilization. How long will it take you to recharge after you're out?"

"At least eight hours," you say, fidgeting a little and looking away from the mangled woman, "I can do ten more."

"I'll find the best use for them," Battleaxe says grimly, before turning to one of the orderlies, "Move her on; she's stable now."

((()))

The next half hour passes in much the same way. You exchange a few words with Glory Girl in between waves of patients, just enough to find out she's here with her sister to serve as a bodyguard, and emergency evacuation if the Simurgh veers this way. She can fly, and asks if you'd be interested in flying together some time.

You don't even have a chance to decide on an answer, between patients, talking with Doctor Battleaxe, and Glory Girl holding her sister as the shorter brunette desperately clings to her between a couple of the rougher waves.

None of the other patients are quite as bad as that one woman, and only one more is conscious while under your care, a fit man in a suit, who could have passed as a businessman instead of a cape if not for his mask. He's somewhat shockingly still conscious in spite of the length of rebar rammed through his ribcage, but he watches you with tight eyes and gritted teeth as you try to figure out if your spell will expel something that large.

A glance around shows that this wave of patients, one of the largest so far, hasn't left any other free hands to help with this patient. Given how you've stabilized every single patient without fail, you don't really blame them for focusing on others, even if a more emotional part of you would really like some help right now.

You're fourteen, and a man's life is in your hands. With the others before, you just had to cast your spell, but this time you have to make a decision, and abruptly you just feel far, far too young to be doing this.

The Gruul didn't care how young you are.

The terrorists who attacked the Decamillenial celebration didn't care.

And neither did the idiot who got your mother killed.

You're here right now, and you can make a difference, so you will.

"I'm going to try to pull this out and heal you at the same time," you tell him, carefully climbing up onto the gurney he's on, "I don't know if it'll heal in place otherwise."

He nods grimly, the muscles in his neck increasingly tense. You're starting to tense up yourself, so you take a deep breath, and go through the motions of the spell, ending with one paw on his collarbone, and the other taking hold of the rebar, bracing your wings as best you can against the gurney.

The instant the spell starts to take effect, you pull.

"RRRGH!" he roars through grit teeth as the bloody length of steel rips free, the flesh closing back up almost immediately afterwards.

He immediately rolls onto his side, and starts coughing out blood, ferocious will on his face. Seeing that you haven't accidentally killed him trying to help, you shift your attention to look around at the rest of the patients being sorted, passed through, or worked on in the worst cases.

"Dragon-girl," a raspy voice says, and you turn to see the suited man pushing himself back to his feet, "I owe you my life, and I pay my debts. I'm Moxie; look me up if you're ever in Chicago."

He staggers to his feet, and starts carefully walking out of the tent, back towards where he was teleported in.

((()))

Crack.

Another group of patients enters the tent, but to your confusion none of them are seriously injured. You see bruises, cuts, and a couple of broken limbs, but almost everybody entering is moving under their own power.

Alexandria is with them, carrying a determined looking teenage girl with two broken legs.

"The Simurgh has retreated," Alexandria declares in a commanding voice, "Threat analysis is still underway on whether we will be sending relief personnel into the city, or rotating rescuees through here."

You almost slump at that; the worst has passed.

Not that this means that there aren't more patients yet to come, and you have three more castings available still.

((()))

After you run out, Battleaxe shuffles you around to supply duty, specifically rapid collection of blood and plasma from a nearby cold storage semi-truck. They're small and light, and you move faster even on the ground than anyone else, which means you're just about ideal for the job.

Part of you is surprised that she puts you to more mundane work, but it only takes a few seconds' thought to make sense out of it. She has a limited amount of manpower working under her, and when lives hang in the balance, she's going to make use of anyone willing to follow her orders to keep things going.

And things do keep going. For a long, long time.

The attack itself only lasted maybe an hour. Work at the medical station continues through the rest of the day and well into the night afterwards. You're kind of horrified when you learn that this is just overflow and cases too urgent to be flown out to other hospitals in the region. Medevac helicopters are making runs to Milwaukee, Chicago, the Twin Cities, Green Bay, and a number of small cities throughout the area.

In the end, it's nine hours before your shift is relieved, a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital from the regular armed forces having been set up to take over. When that happens, the orderly who first met you on your arrival (and whose name you still don't know) approaches you with a question.

"Strider's back on shift," he says, "And he's taking first-responders home. Are you ready for a ride home?"

What say?

[] Ask to go with the group heading back to Brockton Bay.

[] No, you'll catch some sleep and then help out here for at least another day.

[X] Ask to go with the group heading back to Brockton Bay.

((()))

"I'm from Brockton," you tell one of the PRT Troopers standing at the teleport mustering area, "Can I hitch a ride back with the teleporters?"

"One moment please, miss," he says, and touches his hand to the side of his closed helmet.

That seems like a strange way to activate a comm built into the helmet… probably just a gesture to deliberately give some indication of what he's doing.

"You're cleared," he says a few moments later, "Thank you for your help, and please know that if you decide to join the Protectorate, you'll be entitled to back-pay at hazard pay rates for what you've done here."

"...Okay?" you say, a bit surprised by that, before padding past him to where Glory Girl and Panacea are, as well as a couple capes you don't recognize.

"Hey Bookwyrm," Glory Girl says as you approach; Panacea looks like she's almost fallen asleep on Glory Girl's shoulder, "You're an East Coast girl?"

"Yes," you reply, "I'm still not entirely sure how I got to Madison of all places, but I'm definitely ready to get back home."

"So are all of us," she replies, a strained expression on her face, "I've gone to the hospital with Ames a few times before, but it was never anywhere near as bad as this…"

She pauses for a moment to take a deep breath, and you can see that she's having all kinds of internal struggles.

"I'm glad we came," she continues, "A lot of people are alive that wouldn't have been. This was a mess though."

"Yeah," you say, a shiver running down your spine and tail, "I'm glad Battleaxe kept everything going."

"Battleaxe?" Glory Girl asks, "I don't remember that cape."

"The head doctor," you says, shaking your head, "I never got her name, and thought of her as 'Doctor Battleaxe."

A strangled laugh emerges from Panacea, and Glory Girl smiles a little at that.

A moment later Armsmaster and Assault walk out into the teleportation area, and-

Crack.

"The Brockton bus is here!" a man in a blue and black costume declares, "Everybody wanting a ride home, get your rear in gear!"

Two dozen people laden with what look like medical supplies, arrived with him, and they immediately start jogging away from him towards the nearest tent. Armsmaster wastes no time marching forward into the area they've just cleared, and the rest of you follow.

"Everybody here?" the cape says, "They didn't give me a passenger list or anything."

"Everyone who left Brockton Bay is here," Armsmaster says, his gruff voice a little stretched with fatigue as he looks around, "Plus one authorized addition."

"Then off we go!" the cape declares brightly.

Crack.

The sensation is a little more jarring than the teleportation circles you've used in Ravnica, but close enough that you wish you'd had Detect Magic up to see if it was a Conjuration spell effect.

Once the teleportation is over, you find yourself on a nighttime city street, and after a quick look around, you're able to recognize that you're in front of the Brockton Bay PRT HQ. It's not a part of town you're particularly familiar with, and unless-

Crack.

Mr. blue teleporter brought you to the wrong place, and left you there, it's the only place that fits.

"Alright then," Glory Girl says with a yawn, scooping Panacea up into a princess carry, then floating up off of the ground, "I'm heading home so we can get some sleep. Can I get you number so we can have that race some time?"

"Uh," you say, glancing around at the others who are already splitting up and going their own ways, "Well-"

What say?

[] Taylor remembers her home phone number, give her that.

[] "I don't have a cell phone."

[] "Maybe give me yours instead?"

[] Polite refusal?

[] Write-in.

((()))

Next course of action vote; where does Taylor go from here?

[] Just fly straight home.

[] Go to the DWA? It'd be less of a giveaway to who you are than going home.

[] Maybe the Barnes?

[X] "Maybe give me yours instead?" [X] Fly to DWU and shift to human. Then ask for Dad. And, if Dad's not there, or at home, ask for the Barnes's.

((()))

"...I don't have a cell," you say, "Maybe give me yours instead?"

"Sure," she replies with a shrug, before rattling off her number, "Just don't wait too long before calling. I'm usually up until nine-thirty or so on weeknights."

"Thanks," you say, pausing a moment before addressing her sister, "And thanks for all your work, Panacea. It's easier to deal with… everything knowing that you were saving people even after I ran out of sp-juice."

Panacea's tired eyes shift over to focus on you, and she smiles weakly; Glory Girl nods at you, then starts flying home. Seeing as that seems like a good idea, you unfurl your wings, and take to the air yourself.

...And promptly realize that you've never tried to navigate your home city from an aerial perspective before. Fortunately, by the simple expedient of flying fairly low, it's easy to keep things in a similar enough perspective that you can easily read street signs, recognize landmarks, etc.

It only takes a few minutes to get from downtown to the DWU building in the docks. It's locked up of course, but landing on the roof and using a little bit of prestidigitation lets you open the door. It's late enough at night that the building is empty, but you make your way down to your father's office, and-

-It's been emptied out.

That's not a good sign. Dad hurled himself into his work as a way of coping after mom died. You're not sure what it would take to get him to quit. Fortunately, the phone is still in the office, so you pick it up and call home.

Ring-ring.

There's no answer, and after the fifth ring, it goes to answering machine. Given that it's late, that's not completely shocking, but still frustrating. You find yourself hesitating as you suddenly need to leave a message and you're not sure what to say, but after a few seconds you rush to speak before the machine shuts off.

"Dad, it's me," you say, "I'm finally back. I'll be trying to get home, but I'm trying to avoid a big fuss, so it'd be best if you call me at your old office so we can meet up somewhere private."

You hang up after that, and immediately feel completely at loose ends. How long will it take dad to get the message? Is he even home? Will he check the message when he gets home?

How long should you wait for a callback before heading home?

In the end, you decide to wait five minutes in case he was elsewhere in the house and couldn't get to the phone in time. After five minutes pass, you call the Barnes, with some vague hope that your father might be there, but definitely to hear Emma's voice if he isn't.

Ring-ring.

"Hello," a familiar voice calls, "This is the Barnes', Zoe speaking."

"Aunt Zoe!" you burst out, immensely relieved to finally hear a familiar voice, "It's Taylor, I've finally managed to make my way back to Brockton!"

"Taylor?" she replies, sounding utterly shocked for a moment, before her voice turns demanding and hopeful, "I don't-what did you and Emma do with bath towels when you were eight that you shouldn't?"

"...Tried to fly down the stairs," you say after a moment to cast your memory back to what she's probably referring to, "Emma bruised her butt, and I skinned my knee."

"Yes," she says, and you can almost hear her taking a moment to center herself mentally, "Yes you did. Did you manage to bring Emma back with you?"

"...Emma's missing?" you say, feeling like the rug has been pulled out from under you.

"She disappeared at the same time you did," Zoe says, suddenly sounding very fragile, "Vanished into thin air. It scared those bloody thugs into running away, but we haven't seen her since. The PRT said that according to records from the phones and eyewitness accounts, you disappeared at the exact same time. Are you sure she isn't with you?"

What say?

[] "I have no idea where she is."

[] "She isn't with me, but she might have gone through the same thing I did."

[] Write-in.

((()))

AN: If you do not want this to naturally lead to Taylor meeting up with the Barnes, include that in your vote. Also, since the incredibly obviously 'do something that gives away my identity' options did not win, you can assume that Taylor will go forward with basic efforts to keep her cape and civilian identities separate.

I will be explicit, leaving out a bunch of options that would make it easy for people to link the two, then warning people to think through the consequences of their vote in the last AN, was a test. To see if people would go for impulsive options, which would be reflected by Taylor acting like an impulsive teenager, or with a more measured response, which would mean Taylor was being more cautious and judicious in her judgement.

There's been a lack of consistency on which direction Taylor's personality will go in the voting track record so far, which is feeding into the characterization I write her with.

[X] "She isn't with me, but she might have gone through the same thing I did."

-[X] "Is Dad... okay? I came to his office, and I've left a message on the home answering machine, I just..."

((()))

"Emma isn't with me," you reply, "But if she went missing at the same time, the same way, she probably went through what I have."

"What was that?" Zoe asks hesitantly.

"That's probably something that should be talked about in person," you say after a moment's hesitation, "Do you know where dad is? All I got when I called home was the answering machine."

"...That's probably something we should talk about in person too," Zoe says, "Where are you? Can I come and pick you up?"

"...Yes," you say after a moment's thought, "Pick me up on the northern corner of the block the DWA is on."

"I can be there in twenty minutes," Zoe says, "Stay safe."

((()))

You spend most of the twenty minutes leaving the union building as stealthily as possible, and then making absolutely sure that nobody sees you climb down off the roof in human form. You wait a couple minutes in the alley behind the building, and don't step out onto the open until you hear a car approaching, and check to make sure its the Barnes' Yukon.

Zoe stares at you with wide eyes as you approach, a conflicting mass of emotions on her face.

When you climb into the front seat, you see there's a gun on her hip. Carrying guns is supposed to have been steadily increasing in popularity since Parahumans appeared in the 80's, but the Barnes had never bothered before. Apparently Emma getting attacked and then disappearing changed that.

"Are you okay?" Zoe asks as you buckle in, putting the car back into gear and then getting moving as soon as you're finished.

"It's been a rough day," you say, shaking your head, "But I've had worse. Where's dad?"

"After you'd been missing for three months," Zoe says, staring at the road, "He… he decided whatever happened was the ABB's fault. We don't know if he thought he could get answers out of them, or he just wanted to make them pay, but he attacked them a little over a month ago.

"Danny killed four gang members and hospitalized three more before Oni Lee killed him."

Something cracks in your chest, but you grit your teeth and keep yourself from breaking down.

"The answering machine?" you ask hoarsely.

"I guess the utilities haven't been shut off yet," Zoe says, shaking her head, glancing at you briefly before turning her attention back to the road, then taking a deep breath before continuing, "Is Emma dead?"

"I don't have any reason to think so," you say, shaking your head, "I-"

What to tell Zoe?

[] Tell her about Ravnica, don't hold anything back.

[] Speak in vague generalities.

[] Give minimal details. You went someplace that could be dangerous or safe, depending on exactly where it was. You didn't see Emma, but it's big enough that's not surprising if she was there.

[X] Tell her about Ravnica, don't hold anything back.

((()))

"I still don't entirely understand what started everything," you say, "But back during the Summer, when I was on the phone with Emma from camp, something yanked me away and-"

You pause for a moment, realizing you should probably use terminology more common to Earth Bet, rather than Ravnica. Also, maybe hold off on magic/parahuman abilities until you're at the Barnes' house and you don't have to worry about disrupting Zoe's concentration on the road.

"-It was basically an alternate planet, like Earth Bet, but they called it Ravnica. I didn't go straight there though, there was somewhere in between, where someone talked with me. He said something dangerous was happening, and he was sending me to the care of someone he knew. I'm pretty sure he meant Feather, a member of the local police who found me when I appeared right in the open street, and she took me in and took care of me…"

You start laying out your first few days at Ravnica, the struggle with language, and meeting McClade. You also try to give an outline on how Ravnica has basically had 'parahumans' long enough that they're fully integrated into society, and a lot of law enforcement makes extensive use of them, like with Feather. It only takes about ten minutes to get back to the Barnes', and as soon as she's parked in the garage, you diverge a bit to include that you're a Parahuman.

"...I was afraid of that," Zoe says sadly, leaning across the middle of the car to pull you into a hug, "Alan and I have read through everything we could get our hands on since Emma disappeared. It-"

She breaks off for a moment, pulling back and starting to get out of the car; you do likewise, and follow her into the house as she starts up again.

"Do you have multiple different minor powers?" she asks hesitantly, "That often indicates multiple people triggering at once, or a 'group trigger' for grab-bag capes."

"...You could describe it that way," you say, "I have a lot of different minor powers, but my main ability is to change form."

"Oh?" Zoe asks, "Hopefully something that makes you harder to hurt?"

"Definitely," you say, managing a strained smile, "I turn into a Dragon?"

"Like Lung?" Zoe says, her eyes widening slightly as she leads you into the living room.

"A little bit?" you say, glancing around the living room, "If we close the curtains, I could show you?"

Zoe nods, and the two of you spend a few seconds closing the curtains, before you close your eyes to focus, and shift into your more durable form.

"...Were you reading the Lord of the Rings again while you were at camp?" Zoe asks while she seats herself on the couch, "You look like a smaller version of the real deal."

"I know," you say, turning to offer her a weak smile, "I was about half this size when I first showed up in Ravnica. I don't know if this is a real type of Dragon on some other Earth, but if it is, I think I'm 'growing up.'"

"You are taller than I remember you being as well," Zoe says, trying and failing to smile, "Hopefully this means that wherever Emma ended up, she has powers. Where do you think she might be?"

That leads into you describing the world-city of Ravnica as a whole, and why it isn't at all surprising that Emma could be any number of places where you'd never have run into her. This also involves describing how most of Ravnica is pretty lawful and stable, but what your experience with the Gruul was like. By the end of that part of the story, you're back in human form and Zoe has you pulled halfway into her lap.

There's a chance Emma ended up somewhere very dangerous, but most likely she's somewhere reasonably safe.

The story goes late into the night, and you end up falling asleep on the couch.

((()))

The smell of bacon and eggs wakes you in the morning. Zoe threw a blanket over you after you fell asleep, and as the curtains were already closed, the sun didn't wake you when it rose. A glance at the clock shows that it's only technically morning at this point, quarter past eleven is much more appropriately called mid-day, and you decide to head into the kitchen.

"Alan isn't going to be back from his trip until Monday," Zoe says as you enter, "And Anne is at university in Arizona now, so it's just the two of us."

"Okay," you say, for lack of anything better, then after a moment of standing around aimlessly, set about setting the table for two.

"Thank you," Zoe says, favoring you with a tired smile, "I suppose the most important question now, is what do you want to try to do with yourself?"

Earth Bet general route selection:

[] Taylor wants to stay with the Barnes and regain some semblance of normal life, at least while she deals with Danny's death. (Passive route.)

[] If Danny is dead, the Barnes are the only significant tie Taylor has left here, and Emma isn't here. Figuring out what happened in Madison, maybe going back to try to see if there's anything left to learn, is the best chance you have at returning to Ravnica. (Independent route.)

[] Go and ask the PRT/Protectorate for help. You don't have much in the way of resources, they do, but they'll expect you to join up. (PRT route.)

[X] If Danny is dead, the Barnes are the only significant tie Taylor has left here, and Emma isn't here. Figuring out what happened in Madison, maybe going back to try to see if there's anything left to learn, is the best chance you have at returning to Ravnica. (Independent route.)

((()))

"With dad…" you begin, taking a deep breath and gritting your teeth before starting again, "...If Emma is in Ravnica too, then the closest person I have left is over there too. I'm also the only person here who has a way to maybe find her, which means there's a certain amount of responsibility that comes with that."

"Four months ago I would have suggested going to the PRT," Zoe says, bringing breakfast to the table, "And I still might, but they haven't managed to get us any kind of results so far."

"Four months?" you ask as you start loading your plate, glad for something else to focus on.

"Four and a half," Zoe says, "If you want to be more specific."

"...I was in Ravnica for nine months," you say with a grimace, "Time apparently isn't constant across dimensions."

"That would explain how you've managed to grow a good three inches," Zoe says, making a decent attempt at a smile, "You're going to be taller than me before long. Do you think that what the Izzet taught you will help you get back to look for Emma?"

"I know how to look for that sort of paranatural effect," you say, easily and automatically translating 'magic' into terminology that will be taken more seriously here, "Researcher Actigall and some of my own reading indicated that more serious dimensional breaches can be permanent, long-lasting, or leave long-lasting scars. I don't have enough power to cross the boundary myself, but I'm not that far off from being able to at least send a message. It…"

You trail off, and force yourself to start eating before your emotions can try to catch up and overwhelm you again.

"It could take me a really long time," you say angrily through a half-full mouth, "I think they're more likely to succeed from the other end, but I know it's possible. Besides, I want to go back to Nivix and keep studying. I'm sure we can work out a way to go back and forth regularly once I find Emma."

"I like the sound of that," Zoe says, laying a hand gently on your shoulder, "And part of me wants to push you to do anything you can to help find Emma, but I think Annette might rise from the grave to strangle me if I don't also advise some caution.

"Be careful with how far you push yourself. Don't let grief or desperation push you into doing something crazy. It won't help anything if you…"

She trails off, and you start attacking your breakfast even more aggressively to try to distract yourself from the name she hasn't mentioned.

Besides, if everything goes right, you won't have to miss anyone any longer anyways.

((()))

Apparently you got back Saturday night, so while Zoe goes to church Sunday morning, you use her laptop to catch up on news on Earth Bet, and go over some of the Barnes' notes on their search for Emma. Most of the notes aren't very useful for you, but it does make it clear that the PRT put forward a more than just cursory investigation, though most manpower has been moved on to more urgent cases, and there's just a pair of officers still working on it part time.

The Barnes' have also been spending a lot of their own cash on private investigators and research; Anne has also started taking electives at university that would enable a switch or double-major into law-enforcement related fields. Part of you is heartened to see how seriously the Barnes have been taking this, part of you rages that your parents are both too dead to ever do anything like this for you.

Though apparently your father did have the Dockworkers combing the city for you, before he was fired by higher-ups for almost inciting open violence with the ABB. There's too much emotion for you to process all of that right now, so you shove it aside and move on.

In general news of Earth Bet, America, and Parahumans in America, Behemoth attacked another coal mine in Russia, the burrowing Endbringer killing dozens of miners, setting off explosions that destroyed all of the heavy mining equipment, and causing a landslide that buried the power plant the mine fed. The damage to the power grid in that part of Russia could cause thousands to freeze to death over the Winter. Some number of Russian Parahumans died fighting him off, but the Russians don't seem to feel like telling anyone any details.

Some new gang called the 'Slaughterhouse Nine' has cropped up. They're wanted for a series of gruesome murders in the Los Angeles area, which turned into an ugly rampage through the streets when they were caught in the act. They violated the Endbringer Truce by going on that rampage while Alexandria was away fighting the Simurgh in Madison, and have fled to somewhere in Mexico.

There's been a bunch of political infighting in both major political parties. Certain voices in each party want to both repeal NEPEA-5, or alternately strengthen the measures of it. You wouldn't really pay much attention to such things, but reading some of Feather's law books have established some curiosity in you for what Earth Bet's laws about parahumans are like, and you're looking for anything to distract yourself right now.

The rest of the national news about parahumans is mostly about particular criminals you know nothing about being caught, or escaping, or standing trial. It doesn't really mean much of anything to you, since none of those criminals are from Brockton Bay.

In the end you conclude that not much has changed on Earth Bet, but that you definitely want to bring a laptop and some way of charging it with when you go back to Ravnica. Even without the internet, all the easy document handling and calculator functions are huge time-savers.

((()))

Taylor's first two orders of business: (vote for two)

[] Focused look into the Madison attack.

-[] Do not contact the PRT directly to ask for info.

-[] Contact the PRT directly to ask for info.

[] Check on your own house.

[] Call Glory Girl.

[] Look into getting set up to make money with your powers. Going to need resources.

((()))

AN: So, as per usual when I write in a setting, I try to rationalize it so that it's more coherent. This update has the first meaningful look at some of that, with things such as the S9 being a more recent pop-up rather than something that has existed for decades in spite of things like airstrikes and giving a lot of people with a lot of explosives and money reason to try to kill them.

Two major things for Taylor:

1: This is the first vote where players have made a vote for Taylor to be proactively heroic. That's character significant.

2: I've been having Taylor roll will saves to keep her shit together. She's rolled 19, 19, and 15 on the dice so far, which means she's kept it together pretty well. Danny dying will catch up with her at some point here though.

[X] Call Glory Girl.

[X] Look into getting set up to make money with your powers. Going to need resources.

((()))

When Zoe gets back, the two of you start cooking lunch together, and talk about some general idea of what you can do next.

"If you're going to be staying here long-term," Zoe says, "You'll need to at least talk to the PRT. You're on file as a victim of a parahuman kidnapping."

"I understand that," you say with a nod, "But I haven't decided if I want to let them know I'm a Parahuman yet. I'll talk with them, but I want to figure out if I want them to know Bookwyrm and Taylor are the same person first."

"I can understand that," Zoe says, "But if you're out in public, they may force the issue, so don't wait too long."

"I won't," you say, "I'm going to try calling Glory Girl, to talk with her about what it's like being a cape. Hopefully that'll help me decide what to do. Aside from that, I want to look into what Parahumans can and can't do legally to earn money, because some of the things I learned at Nivix are expensive to pursue."

"...You have a fair bit of money available to you," Zoe says with a grimace, "Claiming a life insurance payout will mean you have to let the state know that you're back, which will mean talking with the PRT. The policy was for a hundred thousand dollars."

"...Oh," you say, before shoving your emotions aside again, "That'll help."

Conversation dies after that.

((()))

You use an ability you only tested to see if you could before, shifting to a human form other than yourself. Taylor or Bookwyrm being seen leaving the Barnes could give your identity away, but an average height, slightly pudgy girl with dirty blonde hair? Nobody should recognize her, because she doesn't exist.

Payphones have been falling out of use as cell phones become more and more common, but they still aren't that hard to find, and there's one at the bus stop closest to the Barnes' house. Zoe made sure you were well-equipped not just with quarters, but with Anne's old bus pass, which doesn't expire until the end of the year, before you went out the door.

Like most things you've memorized since triggering, recalling Glory Girl's number is incredibly easy, even though you only heard it once, and she picks up on the third ring.

"This is Vicky!" she says cheerfully.

"Hello," you reply, "This is Bookwyrm. You said you wanted to go flying together some time?"

"Yes!" she replies immediately and with almost excessive enthusiasm, "Oh my god I am bored to tears at home today. Where do you want to meet, and how soon can you be there?"

"Uh," you say, put a little off-balance, "I'm not doing anything else this afternoon, and since we can both fly, I figured we'd just meet in the sky?"

"Great!" she says, "I'll fly over Captain's Hill and look for you, what direction will you be coming from?"

"I'm already at a bus stop on the edge of the hill," you say, glancing around to make sure nobody is close enough to be listening in, "I'll just head right up to look for you."

"Great!" Glory Girl says, "TTYL!"

She hangs up, and you decide you'd best move quickly if you want to find a place out of sight to change form before she's more or less directly overhead. It only takes a minute or so to find a corner alley with mostly-blocked lines of sight, and nobody in any windows that have angles on where you are when you shift back to Dragon form. Once you've shifted, there's no particular reason not to just take to the air immediately; you can use a completely different fake form to go back to the Barnes later if need be.

Even though you're in the air less than two minutes after Glory Girl hung up, she's already about a hundred feet up, looking around for you when you rise above treetop level/average house height. You spot each other at about the same time, you because Dragons have the eyesight of flying predators, her because your wingspan is pretty big and the human eye is drawn to its motion.

"Hey!" she says, rushing over with no apparent effort, "I'm sooo glad you called, I definitely need to blow off some steam. Where do you want to race to?"

In person, you can see that her cheerful energeticness is actually pretty forced. It's not hard to see that she's looking for a distraction from dealing with the Madison attack, and you've handily volunteered yourself for the role.

"Pick a skyscraper?" you hazard, banking a bit to circle her within conversational range, "First to touch it wins?"

"Alright," she says, turning towards downtown, "The Gas & Pro building sound good?"

"Sure," you say, rolling your neck in the flying version of a shrug, "We can start once I've circled around to be facing it next to you."

You can see her just about bite off the desire to do a countdown instead, but substantial experience with Betty has shown you that kind of starting method isn't really fair when you're competing with someone who can effortlessly hover in place. Instead, she watches you with sharp eyes as you circle around, and then…

"Go!" she shouts, rocketing away towards downtown.

You grit your teeth, a very different experience with a Dragon jaw, and begin to flap furiously as you race to catch up. Apparently, she's one of the cheaty magical fliers who doesn't need to do things like accelerate, which is even more annoying than dealing with Betty's superior maneuverability.

Still, she made the mistake of engaging you in a straight-line race, which has always been your strongest ability as a flier. Hammering your wings up and down through the air, keeping your neck straight and your legs tucked, steering against gusts of wind with just minute adjustments to your tail, you rapidly reach maximum speed and start catching up with her.

The cheeky girl rolls over onto her back, a taunt on her lips as she approaches the building, before her eyes widen as she realizes you're almost right on top of her. She flips back over to face the building again, arms stretching out as she tries for just a little bit of extra distance, but just like with other magic fliers, she might have instant acceleration and physics-defying maneuverability, but there's also a hard limit on just how fast she can move.

You smoothly wing your way past her, just seconds before reaching the top of the Gas & Pro building, reaching out to slap it with one of your paws.

"Damn!" you hear Glory Girl curse, though her voice is almost washed away by the rush of air as you tilt your wings back, air-braking as hard as you can.

You have to spend a good quarter second or so decelerating and looping back around to alight atop the building; Glory Girl, of course, was able to stop and land instantly, though she's sitting on the lip of the building looking up at you with a pout. She's also not even breathing hard, while your chest is heaving as you pant, trying to recover from your sprint.

Her flight seems to work almost exactly like the spell, and now you're curious.

What say as you come to land beside her?

[] "Don't worry, you aren't the first to lose to my magnificent speed."

[] "Mind if I try to figure out how your flight works, given it's obviously not working by aerodynamics?"

[] "Why you sulking? You challenged me."

[] Write-in.

[X] "Mind if I try to figure out how your flight works, given it's obviously not working by aerodynamics?"

((()))

"So," you say between heavy breaths as you furl your wings, "Your flight clearly isn't based on conventional use of aerodynamics. Do you mind if I try to figure out how it works?"

"...Okay?" Glory Girl says, apparently a bit confused by your question.

You close your eyes for a moment and swiftly work through the words and motions of Detect Magic, then open your eyes to study Glory Girl and the magical aura around her.

It is a magical aura.

In fact, it's a very familiar magical aura.

It's a Transmutation effect, and while it is more powerful and versatile than the standardized Fly spell taught as third-circle magic at Nivix, it's clearly a further development of that spell. You recognize specific pieces of the thaumic structure as being outright identical.

This isn't just magic, it's magic that you could cast a version of yourself, were you substantially more powerful.

"I know I'm gorgeous," Glory Girl says dryly, "But the stare is starting to get a little creepy."

"Sorry," you say, shaking your head and glancing at her face for a moment before focusing fully on the magical auras again, "I'm kind of a very broad grab-bag cape, and I'm using a Thinker ability to look at how your power interacts with normal physical reality. I've seen this kind of effect before, on other people with flying powers."

"Is it how you fly?" Glory Girl asks, studying your wings, "You have an impressive wingspan, but nowhere near enough muscle for it."

"That's a bit more complicated," you reply, "My wings interact with air, and my body with gravity, entirely normally. I am supernaturally strong, and my body is lighter than it should be. You just have an effect that changes how you interact with gravity and inertia directly."

"So you're some kind of cape scholar?" Glory Girl asks, sounding genuinely interested.

You open your mouth to say you spent six months at Nivix, then realize that you are, again, at a point where you need to decide how much to tell a person, part of which is going to be figuring out just how much she'd believe.

Studying her posture and body language, she seems to be quite positively disposed towards you, and eager for something to sink her mind into. Partly because she's genuinely curious, but also partly because she's still trying to avoid being overwhelmed by what she saw in the med tent at Madison.

How and how much trust to extend to Glory Girl?

[] Try gradually explaining bits and pieces that build on each other, gauging how much she believes you as you go.

[] Bluntly ask her how much she wants to hear, and how much she's willing to keep quiet.

[] Tell her that you have formally studied under some very specialized researchers, but you probably shouldn't give away details like places right now.

[X] Tell her that you have formally studied under some very specialized researchers, but you probably shouldn't give away details like places right now.

((()))

"There were some very specialized researchers who taught me," you say, "I basically got lessons, and pay, because my particular abilities-"

You gesture to your draconic body in general.

"-Were of interest to them. I don't think it would be appropriate for me to go into details right now; we have only just met, after all."

"...That's fair," Glory Girl says with a nod, "I get that most capes don't want their identities getting out. Can you talk about the contents of the research though?"

"Sure," you say with a shrug, "It's not like I got past the basics as far as they were concerned, and the more knowledge is shared, the more easily it can be advanced. Where to start though..."

You pause for a moment, settling down on the rooftop and wrapping your tail around yourself.

"Might as well start with gravity," you decide with a shrug, "So gravity is a force in the universe. I'm no professional physicist, so I certainly couldn't tell you why it works, but we all know that it does work. By using gravity, we can harvest useful energy to use for other ends; for example through a hydroelectric dam, gravity drags the water down over a paddle-wheel, which turns a turbine, which generates electricity.

"We've learned to do all kinds of things with that electricity. Lights, motors, computers, radio, TV, all kinds of stuff. The important part is that we understood how to use gravity and electromagnetism to get that energy in a usable form.

"At least some powers work with a sort of energy that the people who taught me figured out how to track and measure, a detection effect, which is what I just used. It shows that that energy, one of the terms they use for it is 'Thaumic' energy, is following similar structures to other flight effects I've seen before. I don't know if that means that all flight powers use the same basic mechanism, since you're the first parahuman I've used the detection ability on since I left-"

You pause for a moment, the need to not use the word 'magic' kind of wearing you out a little bit.

"-I suppose it doesn't hurt to tell you the place that I studied is called Nivix," you say, "But anyways, your flight works like most of the flight effects I saw there, though it's more powerful."

"Not powerful enough to let me keep up with you," Glory Girl says, arching en eyebrow towards you.

"I'm more than twice as fast as most people who use that type of flight," you say with a snort, "And you'd still beat me on endurance. Your power is doing all the work for you; I actually have to flap my wings."

"So can you help me go faster?" Glory Girl asks.

"...Not really," you say, shaking your head, "Like I said, I've only learned the basics. I don't fully understand your power or anything, much less how you could try to 'flex' it harder. I just know it looks a lot like others that I've seen."

"Darn," Vicky says with a sigh, before launching up off the rooftop, "Come on, let's cruise. Maybe if you go back to powers school you can figure it out. Actually, if you had a good job at that kind of place, why'd you come to-oh. Sorry."

...She seems to have concluded that you were studying at some kind of private institute in Madison. Not unreasonable under the circumstances, even if it isn't true.

What direction to take the conversation next?

[] Tell her Nivix isn't in Madison.

[] Maybe see if you can teach her how to cast Detect Magic?

[] Ask her if she knows anything about trying to make money as a parahuman, particularly a healer like her sister.

AN: Short update, but hopefully throwing it up early will give a chance at another update later in the day to get a better per-day word count.Like Award Quote Reply270LordsFire