My Girlfriend Is Terrifying [Worm Au][Taylor x Victoria x Lisa]

January 2011

Coffee.

Amy needed coffee. The poor girl stumbled through the crowded hallway in a tired daze. How long had she been here? A few hours at least. Barely awake, Amy bobbed and weaved past rushing doctors and nurses. Thankfully, most of them were more than happy to give the mythic 'Panacea' a wide berth as she made her way towards the vending machine.

Extra strength, black.

Amy clicked the appropriate buttons, hitting the final one more than a few times in the vain hope that it would actually deliver her a stronger brew. Her forehead rested on the machine as it hummed and whirled. Pouring out the dark liquid into a plain white cup.

She took it in both hands, enjoying the warmth. Even inside, the cold winter air was getting to her. Hospital coffee wasn't good, nor was it particularly warm. But Amy craved it all the same. She took a deep sip and sighed.

"Why the hell did I come here again?"

A question she regretted asking herself. Amy wasn't here for any official service. She'd already completed the 15-hour limit that Carol had set for her. Carol wasn't even aware that she was here. The hospital graciously accepted Amy's help, the girl who could heal any illness with a simple touch. Who spent all her free time healing the sick without ever asking for anything in return. Saint Amy, some might even call her.

Amy wasn't here out of the goodness of her heart. Nor was she here out of some 'moral obligation' to use her powers for the betterment of mankind. No, Amy was here for the simple reason that she needed a distraction. Vicky had invited Dean over for the day and the two of them wouldn't be able to keep their hands off each other. Using every and any excuse to swap spit. Even now, Amy knew that the boy probably had his dirty hands all over her sister, her Vicky.

Sure, they tried to keep quiet about it. Act sensible when Carol was around. But Amy knew, Amy heard, Amy saw. Victoria was embarrassed when the two of them were caught by Amy, she simply wanted them to turn the sound of their movie down, not knowing that it was masking an even worse noise.

It took all the willpower Amy could muster to not reach out. How easy it could've been. Placing a hand on Vicky's head and finally making her see exactly how Amy felt about her, make her feel the same way in return. Even give a spare hand to Dean and make sure he 'never' touched Vicky again.

Amy couldn't do that. She 'wouldn't' do that. She could control herself, even when it hurt. She refused to become the monster, no matter how good it would make her feel. Instead, she threw herself into her work. Curing the good people of Brockton Bay. Every moment spent here was one less moment thinking about her sister and the empty pit that was inside Amy right now.

"Amy? Amy Dallon?" A male voice asked out from behind the girl. Probably another doctor, or worse, a patient that wanted to 'thank her' for all the work she's done. Amy sighed as she finished her coffee, chucking it into the nearby bin before turning around.

The man in question was neither a doctor nor a patient. Instead, a well-dressed businessman in a full suit. He didn't look to be ill or emotional, Amy's next guess was hospital administration?

"Yes?" Amy said, considering getting a second coffee. She'd need the energy if this ended up becoming a long and boring conversation.

"Great, My name is Samuel Greene," The now overly energetic man said, extending a hand to Amy. She took it tentatively to shake. "I was hoping to take a moment of your time?"

Amy looked back towards the emergency department that she had come from. The never-ending influx of patients was once again building up. Brockton Bay was a busy city after all.

"I'm a little busy at the moment." Amy sighed, "And I don't exactly know who you are, Samuel."

"Apologies," The suited man said, pushing a hand into his jacket pocket. He eventually pulled out a laminated ID wallet, "Agent Greene, I'm with the PRT investigations divisions." His ID confirmed what he was saying. Amy relaxed, she was more accepting of PRT work over another businessman trying to buy her time… and powers. Agent Greene took Amy's relaxed state as confirmation and continued, "I'm here investigating a possible trigger event, but the patient isn't exactly in any state to question. So far, I haven't discovered anything conclusive and my caseload is piling up. Do you reckon you can take a quick look for me, tell me if we have a new parahuman on our hands?" Greene shot a grin at Amy.

"What the hell…" Amy agreed she could use the distraction -from her distraction.

"Great!" Greene said, leading Amy away to the emergency department. "You are a lifesaver. I always feel bad writing these things off."

Amy was led up a few floors into a shared hospital room with several other patients. Each one gawked at Panacea, hoping to get a free treatment before she left. Amy sighed, she wouldn't normally bother with people who had such minor ailments, but it wouldn't look good to ignore them.

Agent Greene pointed to the curtain in the far corner. The two stepped in to find a girl lying on the bed. She was awake but she also wasn't. Amy looked towards the Agent for confirmation, he nodded, and Amy took the girl's hand.

"Well… she's catatonic. I don't think she's even aware that we're here." Amy said, diagnosing her with her powers. "I can't do anything about that. Can't touch brains. But I doubt it'll be long-term. She also has-"

"Thank you," Agent Greene cut her off. "But we're not here to diagnose. The doctors have her case well-handled. All I want to know is if she's triggered."

Amy took another look at the girl's brain. Her Corona Pollentia was active. "Yes, definitely a parahuman."

Agent Greene sighed, "Dammit, I almost wrote her off. Alright, thank you. Any chance you can tell me what she's likely to do when she wakes up?"

Amy shook her head. "Sorry, No idea. It's receiving information so maybe a thinker? But honestly don't quote me on that. It's beyond even my skill set."

The Agent started writing down into his notepad. "I see. Guess we'll keep a close eye on her. Perhaps move her to Arcadia. Who knows, maybe we'll have a new Ward in a couple of months."

Amy was already moving over to the other patients in the room, they all had their hands out waiting for the cape to heal them. "I hope so," Amy mumbled, not really caring one way or the other. "Brockton Bay could use more heroes."

After reaching the last patient, Amy left the room to find Agent Greene waiting outside on the phone. He collapsed the foldable phone as he saw her. "Ah, thank you again for your help." He held out his hand for another overly enthusiastic handshake. "HQ has already accepted my initial report. We'll be transferring her to Arcadia once she recovers. Even if she doesn't choose to become a hero, it'll be good to get her out of that environment." He thought for a moment as Amy tried to worm her hand free from his grip. "You go to the same school? Would you mind keeping an eye on the girl? Nothing serious, just let us know if she starts flying or shooting lasers or whatever." He chuckled as he handed Amy a card.

"Sure…" Amy said, accepting the card. She didn't want to look out for some random parahuman and she doubted that she'd ever really interact with this soon-to-be transfer student. Still, it didn't hurt to be polite. "What's her name?"

"Oh," Agent Greene said, thinking to himself before checking his notes. "It's uh… Taylor Hebert."

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Three months later.

Skitter held the knife close to Amy's neck. Glory Girl stood firmly on the other side of the room. A look of pure hatred at the supervillain.

"Don't come any closer." Skitter hissed, pressing the knife into Amy's skin. She hadn't drawn blood yet. That might have been the only reason Victoria hadn't lunged at her yet.

From the outside observer, it looked like the villain was cool, calm and in control. A spider lay on every single hostage, threatening to bite them with possibly deadly venom. Holding the 'great' Panacea at knifepoint in front of her own sister. Only Amy was aware of the little shakes and wavers in Skitter's actions. The villain was way over her head and slowly being backed into a corner. If Amy could just make any kind of skin contact, this could all be over. Unfortunately, the Villain was dressed in a full-body suit, and Amy couldn't work through hair contact alone.

"I don't want to hurt you," Skitter whispered in Amy's ear. "I don't want to hurt anyone. Tell her to leave." The blade was still held to Amy's neck, she could feel the cold touch of metal.

"Vicky…" Amy said, careful not to make any sudden movements. "Just… take a step back." Glory Girl didn't break her gaze at the masked villain, but slowly did as her sister asked.

"What's going on here?" Asked another villain walking into the room. Spying on the situation before her. Tattletale wandered over to Skitter. "Oh damn, Panacea? Grue's gonna kill me for missing that one. You good Skitter?"

"Yeah…" Skitter grumbled. "She tried to swing a fire extinguisher at me, but she missed. Managed to send a text to her sister though."

"Eh, you seem to have things under control, why not set your bugs on prom queen here?" Tattletale suggested.

"Because she's invincible and I'd rather not piss off the girl who can throw a school bus at us," Skitter growled, before looking back to Amy. "At least not any more than I already have."

Tattletale scoffed, "You know she's not really invincible, right? That's just an idea she's put into everybody's head. One good whack and her forcefield goes down. Then she's as human as you or me. For example…" Tattletale pulled out a small handgun and pointed it directly at Glory Girl. Her eyes went wide with shock.

"Don't…" Skitter said, placing her free hand on Tattletale's gun. Then she looked back up to Glory Girl. "Look, you want your sister back. We want to get out of here. We still have several hostages. We will let them go as soon as we're in the clear. Nobody needs to get hurt here." Glory Girl looked at the other hostages in the room, perhaps noticing them for the first time.

Grue jogged into the room and froze upon seeing the situation. "Skitter, T. Wards are down. We're leaving. Now."

"We're all good, G" Tattletale called out. "Be with you in a sec."

"Are we good?" Skitter asked again, the implied threat towards Glory Girl. Slowly moving the knife away from Amy's throat.

Glory Girl grit her teeth and nodded. Darkness shot out around Grue and encapsulated the two other heroes. Amy was shoved out of the smoke shortly after. Glory Girl moved to hover, but Amy held her arm and shook her head. Pointing towards the other hostages.

"I'm sorry." Amy said, "I tried to intervene. Maybe mess up with her powers but she was too fast."

Glory Girl shook her head and welcomed Amy in with a hug. "It's okay Ames. I'm just glad you're safe."

The Undersiders got away after robbing the bank. Glory Girl didn't try to give chase. Opting to calm the remaining hostages. A few of the Wards got roughed up, but overall, there were no serious injuries. The spiders all began to scurry away. True to Skitter's word, none of them bit a single hostage, even as said hostages kicked and punched at the fleeing spiders.

Amy knelt down and inspected one of the spiders that had been stepped on in the ensuing chaos. She touched the creature, it wasn't dead. Not yet. After inspecting the spider, she touched another one and then another. After investigating the arachnids, Amy laughed.

"What's so funny?" Victoria asked, walking over to her sister.

"Oh, nothing," Amy said, prodding a dead spider. "Just realising that this new bug villain bluffed the hell out of us."

"What!?" Victoria groaned.

"The spiders… They have no venom. They couldn't hurt a baby, much less grown adults." Amy picked up one of the live spiders and watched as it walked over her hand. "It seems like she really didn't want to hurt anyone after all."

"That bitch…" Victoria huffed. A little creeped out by the spider in her sister's hand. Amy nodded along with her statement.

Brockton Bay had yet a new villain to its roster. One that Victoria was looking forward to facing again one day. Skitter could run back to whatever sewer she crawled out of, Glory Girl would catch her one day. On that, Victoria promised.

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Late January 2011

Victoria spotted a small crowd of students gathering in the hallway. Her first instinct is to see if something's wrong. No one seemed scared or angry, just a bunch of curious onlookers. The same kind of onlookers Victoria would get on days she flew into school.

"What's going on?" Victoria asked, sitting up straighter in her cafeteria chair to see better. She could hover, and get the full view from above, but she didn't want the attention that would bring.

Her friends all shrug. They have as much of an idea as Victoria does. The crowd isn't anything massive, but it is noticeable. Finally, Dean spoke up, his arm over Victoria's shoulder. "Oh, I think it's that new student?"

"What? Now?" Another person at the table asked, "How come I didn't hear about this?"

"Not our grade." Dean answered, "Year below us. I don't know. I overheard some teachers talking yesterday."

The crowd of students parted slightly, giving Victoria a view of the student in question. A tall and shy girl with long dark hair. She obviously didn't like the attention that she was receiving.

"Oh yeah…" Amy said, looking in the same direction. "I remember her."

The whole table turned to face Amy, waiting for her to elaborate.

"You know her, Ames?" Victoria asked, desperate for the gossip.

Amy shrugged. "Barely. Ran into her during a shift at the hospital. Couple of weeks ago now." She held back the part about her being a parahuman. Even if she wasn't a cape, it wasn't polite to reveal that fact to people.

"So?" Victoria asked, leaning closer to Amy. "What's her name?"

Amy paused for a good half minute then huffed with a shrug. "I forgot…"

 

Two days after the bank job

"Here, this is for you," Lisa said with her usual vulpine grin. Holding a card between two fingers. Taylor looked back in confusion. "It's your pay. For the bank heist. Great job dealing with Glory Hole, and they say 'I'm' the socially manipulative one." She giggled to herself as Taylor took the gift in her hand.

"It's a… credit card?" Taylor asked, still confused.

"What? You didn't think we were just going to hand you a pile of cash again?" Lisa laughed as Taylor blushed in embarrassment, that was exactly what she was expecting. "Would you like that in a briefcase or a sack? And how were you planning to deposit all your loot later?"

"I don't know…" Taylor mumbled. The Undersiders had only paid her once, a two grand sign-on fee when she joined their ranks and that was entirely in cash.

Lisa patted Taylor on the shoulder, trying to hold in her giggle. She knew Taylor responded negatively to mocking. Lisa suspected bullying. If she wanted to keep on Skitter's good side, Lisa would have to temper her teasing.

"The cards for your new bank account," Lisa explained as Taylor inspected the plastic in her hand. "I already got it set up, your share of the spoils is already in there. No need to worry about anyone tracing the money from the bank to this. Because it isn't the money from the bank." Taylor was confused again by that but Lisa quickly added, "The boss pays us, he'll clean whatever money we stole, that'll take months and all go directly to him. All future payments go into this, your allowance on the team and anything extra will be split up and divided out"

Taylor nodded along as Lisa casually placed an arm around her. "I guess that makes sense. I wasn't expecting this to all be so… organised." Lisa chuckled again at that statement. They were villains, working for a crimelord. A mysterious and unknown benefactor to all but Lisa. Taylor was now knee-deep in organised crime. "So, how much did we end up making?" She asked coyly.

"See for yourself," Lisa smirked, pulling out Taylor's phone from her pocket. Taylor opened her new banking app that Lisa had 'somehow' installed on her phone and looked at the new balance.

"Holy fu…" Taylor gasped. Lisa watched as the devil on Taylor's shoulder.

Lisa knew already, that Taylor had 'moral issues' with joining the Undersiders. While Grue and the others mistook Skitter for a new villain on the streets, Lisa knew from day one that Taylor was 'trying' to be a hero. That Taylor had convinced herself that she was 'spying' on the Undersiders and planned to turn them all over to the heroes once she uncovered their boss.

But she also knew that Taylor was poor, lonely and actually enjoying her time with the group.

Lisa had a plan. To seduce Taylor to the 'dark side' with promises of wealth and friendship. Granted, the money was good and the friendship was genuine, so it wasn't as evil of a plan as Lisa made it out to be.

"Not bad for your first week on the job," Lisa chuckled, watching Taylor's jaw drop. "Don't spend it all at once." She wasn't sure if Taylor was listening to her anymore. Lisa enjoyed Taylor's reaction for a little while longer before adding, in a more serious tone. "Seriously though. Don't try spend it all at once, or on anything stupid. Like buying a car or renting out a fancy apartment. The protections in place won't stop from picking up on extreme spending habits."

"I'm fifteen…" Taylor said in response. "I can't even drive yet."

"You get what I mean." Lisa chuckled again. "Just be smart about it and you'll have no issues. I'll take you shopping tomorrow and we'll pick out a whole new wardrobe. Show you how to live it up, Undersiders style." She watched Taylor's eyes light up with the possibilities.

Lisa smiled, she was happy to see Taylor relaxing around her. Lisa didn't mind that Taylor had issues with villainy, nor did she care that Taylor was 'planning to betray them.' She could read the guilt all over the girl's body language. Taylor wasn't going to follow through with that, the rest of the team never had to know that was the original plan and Lisa could have a new girl friend to go shopping with. Rachel certainly wasn't going to join in on the fun any time soon.

Beyond the guilt, Lisa's power told her that Taylor was genuinely grateful for being invited to the team. Being welcomed with open arms. Money was always a good incentive, but first and foremost, Taylor wanted friendship. Also, judging by the way the girl looked at Lisa, she wanted a little more than friendship. A nice compliment to know that she looked good, but Lisa didn't swing that way, or any way for that matter.

Lisa chuckled to herself, making a mental note to let the new girl down easy in the near future. She was certain that Taylor would become a permanent member of the team regardless, all she had to do was show her that the friendship went both ways.

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Three months ago

Taylor swallowed her nerves as her Dad said goodbye. She waved as the car pulled away. Turning around, she looked at the entrance to Arcadia High, her new school.

After years of constant bullying, Emma and the rest of the trio finally hit the limit. Shoving Taylor inside a filthy locker and traumatising the girl so hard that she ended up in the hospital. It was the final straw. Someone must have been looking out for her, because when she finally returned from her catatonic state, Taylor had been transferred out of Winslow and far away from the clutches of Emma.

Of course, there was no word on if the trio were even going to be punished. Taylor didn't care, she was out. She was free and ready to start her new life. She even had superpowers to boot. Taylor was still getting used to that last fact, a small trail of ants followed her as she walked. She quickly dispersed the line of insects, looking about to see if anyone else had noticed.

In her attempt to scan the area for witnesses, she became aware that she had access to a second sight… and the third, and a fourth, fifth, sixth… her bugs, she could see through her bugs.

Taylor shook her head. This was going to be a very weird day.

Every eye was on Taylor as she made her way through the halls. The 'new girl' who was transferred midway through the school year. Who came from the hellscape known as Winslow after 'something' big went down.

Taylor wanted to hide, wanted everyone to stop perceiving her. She could hear the gossip forming already, hushed whispers about who she might be and what she might have been a part of. Winslow had a lot of gang activity, maybe this new girl was part of the Empire? Did Emma's false rumours of whoring herself out to the ABB make it this far uptown? Taylor hunched over, pulling her hoodie over her face to hide from the onslaught of curious onlookers.

In truth, most students didn't even notice her. Taylor was just another part of the crowd, and in a school that suspected to hold most, if not all of Brockton Bay's Wards, Taylor was the furthest thing from anyone's mind right now. Most students were busy gawking at Glory Girl and Panacea as they flew in behind Taylor.

Taylor still being completely unaware that two celebrities had just landed behind her as she walked in through the school door, and shuffled off towards the school administration office. Head facing down to her feet as she avoided eye contact with anyone and everyone on her route.

The Principle shook Taylor's hand and directed Taylor to her first class. She already had a private orientation on the weekend, and all the staff were made aware of Taylor's circumstances. However only the Principle was aware of Taylor's parahuman capabilities, not that they knew what it was that Taylor could do. It was safe to say that there would be a closer eye on the girl and no one was going to bully her again.

Actual rumours of 'the new girl' only started to spread once Taylor made it to her first class. Once students were informed of Taylor's existence, the gossip started up again. (For the first time) Taylor sat at the back of the class and kept her head down. Her seatmates attempted to introduce themselves but Taylor only responded with brief words and grunts. Shutting down any form of small talk sent her way.

At lunch, she was swarmed by a crowd of students in her grade wanting to get to know her. They weren't being openly hostile towards her but Taylor felt trapped all the same. Her desire for food quickly plummeted and she excused herself to the nearest bathroom.

The anxiety had finally reached a bursting point as she spent the rest of her lunch break leaning over a toilet, expelling her earlier breakfast.

Taylor couldn't handle the complete 180 of her life. Her mind refused to believe that kids would actually care about her life, and actually want to speak to her without any hidden agenda. They were all making fun of her, they had to be. The trio were gone but the scars remained and Taylor was never going to trust people again.

Students stopped trying to crowd the poor girl after the first few days. Many stopped talking about her by the end of the week. A full month later, Taylor had gone from the 'mysterious transfer student' to the 'quiet girl' who doesn't talk to people. A few of the teachers had concerns, attempting to bring the girl out of her shell. Unfortunately, Taylor was a creature of habit, sitting away from most students, hiding away during breaks and avoiding all other events after school.

No one was bullying Taylor anymore, except for herself. She gaslit herself into believing that school was evil, regardless of where she went. That students would still whisper behind her back and that all the pretty, popular girls were colossal bitches.

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Three days ago

Deep down, Taylor desperately craved a connection, someone she could call a friend. Someone who would break through her barriers and pull her out of this pit that Emma had placed her in. She thought that maybe with her powers, she could make friends as a hero. Taylor wasn't expecting to be mistaken for a villain on her first night, let alone have the team of villains she assisted reach out and contact her.

Taylor was hesitant to deal with the Undersiders. The money was nice, but it wasn't her intention to get into villainy. The fact that Tattletale, Lisa, tracked her down on the second day was more than a little concerning. Taylor was more or less forced to meet with the rest of the crew, Lisa knew exactly what to say and how to say it to get Taylor to stick around.

When Lisa announced the plan to rob a bank, Taylor freaked out. Internally. It was one thing to finally get to hang out with a bunch of kids her age again. It was another thing altogether to commit 'acts of villainy' with her new friends.

She told herself that 'this was temporary.' That she would find out who this mysterious mastermind was and deliver them to Armsmaster. Finally cementing her as the hero she wanted to be.

A spike of nausea swelled in her stomach as she looked towards Lisa and the rest of the crew. It wasn't from her previous social anxiety, nor had it anything to do with her moral quandary of robbing a bank. As she looked at Lisa's smile and Brian's nod of approval, she felt the guilt of her incoming betrayal. The realisation that this group of villains were the first people in a long time who actually treated Taylor like a person, who didn't gawk or whisper behind her back.

She'd barely known them for a week and with the one obvious exception of Rachel, Taylor had finally made friends and she wasn't ready to let go of them. Taylor had promised to contact Armsmaster when she either discovered something worthwhile or if the Undersiders were planning something big. The bank job would have been classified as 'something big' and yet, Taylor didn't try to reach out.

If the Undersiders were going to rob the place regardless, Taylor could help… keep everyone safe? Have someone on the inside to make sure no one got hurt, that's heroic, right?

Taylor explained how she could take care of the hostages inside. An army of spiders, one for each hostage would keep them in check, and Taylor would be in charge of them, no one would get hurt in that case. She'd milk the venom out of all her spiders, just in case. Lisa liked her idea, and Taylor liked the fact that someone 'liked' her ideas.

It was a good idea. A safe idea. Taylor could keep her new friends and her morality. There was no downside to this at all.

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Two days ago

Taylor held the knife close to Panacea's neck. Glory Girl stood firmly on the other side of the room. A look of pure hatred at the supervillain.

Taylor was terrified. Glory Girl was terrifying. The white-gold goddess stood across from her and eyed Taylor as the knife shook in her hand.

How the fuck did she end up in this situation? Who's stupid idea was it to rob a bank? And why did they choose the same day that Panacea visited the place?

"Don't come any closer." Taylor hissed, her voice catching in her throat. She was holding a knife to the hero who dropkicks cars. The hero didn't even care about her spiders that stood on every hostage in the room. She probably knew already that it was a giant bluff. All Glory Girl needed to do was lunge at her and it was all over.

Taylor looked back to Panacea in her arms. She held a knife to the girl's neck, Panacea tried to attack her and Taylor only barely dodge in time. After a brief struggle over the phone, Taylor now was in this precarious situation. She held the knife back, realising that it was getting too close to the young hero's neck.

"I don't want to hurt you," Taylor whispered in a panic. "I don't want to hurt anyone. Tell her to leave." She was trying to hype herself up, she hadn't meant to say it out loud and yet, Panacea spoke up.

"Vicky…" Panacea said, deadly still in Taylor's arms. "Just… take a step back."

Taylor relaxed slightly as Glory Girl did as Panacea said. She wasn't out of the fire yet, but she had room to breathe, room to think.

"What's going on here?" Asked Lisa as she walked into the room. Taking a moment to take in the scene before walking closer to Taylor. "Oh damn, Panacea? Grue's gonna kill me for missing that one. You good Skitter?"

"Yeah…" Taylor grumbled. No, she wasn't good at all. Freaking Glory Girl was a few meters from taking her head off, this whole bank job had gone to shit, the Wards were currently fighting Bitch's dogs in another room and Taylor was threatening the goddamn cure to cancer with a fucking knife. "She tried to swing a fire extinguisher at me, but she missed. Managed to send a text to her sister though."

"Eh, you seem to have things under control, why not set your bugs on prom queen here?" Lisa suggested. Taylor looked back at Lisa like she had said the single dumbest thing in the history of dumb things ever said.

"Because she's invincible and I'd rather not piss off the girl who can throw a school bus at us," Taylor growled, before looking back to Panacea. "At least not any more than I already have."

There was no way that Taylor was getting out of here and spinning it around into a 'heroic deed.' Taylor was a villain, Glory Girl would never stop until she was behind bars… or worse.

Lisa scoffed, "You know she's not really invincible, right? That's just an idea she's put into everybody's head. One good whack and her forcefield goes down. Then she's as human as you or me. For example…" Lisa pulled out a small handgun and pointed it directly at Glory Girl. Taylor's eyes went wide with shock, much like Glory Girl's.

"Don't…" Taylor said, lunging her free hand on Lisa's gun. If what the thinker was saying was true, then that gun could kill the hero before her. As terrified as Taylor was, she was more afraid of someone getting hurt. Thinking quickly, she turned back up to Glory Girl. "Look, you want your sister back. We want to get out of here. We still have several hostages. We will let them go as soon as we're in the clear. Nobody needs to get hurt here." Taylor could feel the sweat running inside her mask as the hero thought about her offer.

'Please please please please please' Taylor thought to herself.

Brian jogged into the room and froze upon seeing the situation. "Skitter, T. Wards are down. We're leaving. Now."

'Oh thank god, we can leave now.' Another thought, letting Taylor relax.

"We're all good, G" Lisa called out. "Be with you in a sec."

"Are we good?" Taylor asked again, practically begging Glory Girl to stand down. Taylor lowered the knife as a show of goodwill.

Glory Girl gritted her teeth and nodded. Darkness shot out around Brian and encapsulated Taylor. A hand tugged on Taylor's shoulder, and she pushed Panacea forward as they all fell back. Quickly finding Rachel's dogs and climbing onto their backs.

Taylor could feel her heart beating a million miles a minute as they moved away from the bank. Her job was done, all she had to do was hold on for dear life and get hope no one gave chase.

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Present day

Taylor walked to school in a daze. She'd taken a detour to the Undersider's base to collect her pay for the bank job. At first, she was worried that Lisa would be giving her another big wad of cash to carry around in her backpack. She was surprised on both accounts to discover that Lisa had set up a new bank account for 'Skitter' and that they were paid almost triple the amount that they originally estimated to make.

'Who the hell was bankrolling them? …Us?' Taylor thought to herself. Still looking at all the zeros in her new account.

She closed her phone only after reaching the gate to Arcadia. Taylor didn't want to risk having to explain to any students why she had access to so much money. The rest of the Undersiders didn't understand why Taylor bothered with school, she was the only member who hadn't dropped out. Taylor had explained that it was mainly for her dad, who was happy to know that his daughter was out of whatever environment landed her in the hospital. Arcadia was also a lot stricter when it came to skipping classes, a fact that Taylor discovered during her first week in costume.

In any case, Taylor would continue to attend high school while working with the Undersiders. She would commit crimes after school and on weekends only. A ridiculous thought when she dwelled on it. Taylor still wasn't sure how she felt about the criminal element of her life. Skitter was without a doubt, a villain in Brockton Bay. There was no turning back from that, but Taylor now had friends.

A giggle through the hallway sent a chill up Taylor's spine. Not in the same way that Emma's giggle used to do. This was a new voice that scared her in new ways.

Arcadia's own celebrity student, Victoria Dallon was walking with her posse down the halls. It was no secret that Arcadia had heroes attending its classes. The rumours of who those students would be were still up in the air. Most people suspected the group of students around Victoria, for the obvious reason that she was New Wave's own Glory Girl.

Taylor could visualise some of the students who walked with her, and imagine costumes around them. It was pretty damn obvious that Victoria's friend/current ex-boyfriend 'Dean' was Gallant. It was an unspoken given that Glory Girl and Gallant were dating on and off. Pretty hard to keep a secret identity when with such a public person. The rest of the group was harder to put masks on faces.

It was safer for Taylor to assume the entire group were Wards and to keep as far away from them as possible. She couldn't even use the fact that they recently got into a fight as a way to identify them because another member of the group was Amy. If any Wards had been injured the other day, they would be back to fighting form by now.

Other students made room as Victoria and co made their way down to class. A sense of awed respect swept over anyone who got too close to the group. Taylor tried to blend into the background. Make herself invisible to everyone, especially the team of heroes who wanted her dead.

It didn't matter, Victoria still noticed her. Blending in a crowd of many, Victoria still managed to lock eyes with Taylor.

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Victoria didn't know Taylor that well, at all really. Victoria didn't even know her name. She was that 'mysterious and quiet' girl in Amy's grade. Just another student in school. She'd heard from teachers that they were worried about the girl. No one was picking on her, it was incredibly hard to get away with bullying when Victoria was about. A small part of her was concerned about the girl.

She never saw her eat in the cafeteria? Amy didn't know anything more than she did about her. Did she have any friends? What did she get up to in her free time?

Victoria was unfortunately too busy to follow up for answers to her questions. School was starting, classes were being filled up with students and Vicky had enough sense than to bother a random junior who by all word of the students, wanted to be left alone.

With a lack of time on her hands and not much to do about it, Victoria did the least she could do. A token of kindness, a gesture of goodwill. She shot a smile at the strange girl. It cost nothing to smile at someone and always guaranteed that they'd have a better day.

The shy girl turned away from Victoria, hiding her face. Victoria wasn't blind, nor was she stupid. She was aware of the effect she had on people, mainly boys but she did notice the odd girl blushing her way. She didn't mind, she took it as a compliment.

With her well wishes sent forth in the form of upturned lips, Victoria went on about her day as an odd thought popped into her head.

'She's kinda cute.'

--------------------------------------------------

Victoria made eye contact with Taylor and a chill ran up her spine. Taylor looked back into the eyes of the woman who glared bloody murder not two days prior. The intense feeling of Glory Girls' emotional powers swept over her. Taylor's internal fear was compounded with Victoria's aura of awe.

She was pretty, beautiful even. But that wasn't Taylor's first thought. The smile that would have made most people blush only added to her internal feelings. She'd held a knife to her sister's neck, threatened her to back down and actually got away.

Glory Girl must be hiding her internalised frustration and anger behind that smile. Taylor could sense it, that was the same sadistic smile that Emma had all the time. Where Emma had a trio, Victoria had a posse and now she knew that Taylor existed.

'She knows. She knows and she's going to kill me. They're all going to beat me, arrest me.' Taylor held back the anxiety in her gut.

Taylor looked away. Unable to stomach the hero looking her way. She wanted to disappear, she wanted to hide. Coming to school was a terrible idea, the Undersiders were right. She was an idiot and this was how she got caught.

A swarm of bugs stood ready in case Taylor needed to make a quick getaway. She wasn't sure how she would do it, but they would do something if the hero got too close.

Thankfully, Glory Girl said nothing. Taylor felt the sense of awe wash away. Her heart relaxed as the posse and the rest of the students started filtering away into class. Leaving Taylor alone with a single thought in her head.

'She's fucking terrifying.'

 

Late Afternoon

"Skitter, ready to go?" Brian asked behind the door, placing on his mask. The Undersiders were mounting up on dogs, about to commit yet another act of villainy. "Come on, we're on a time limit here."

"In a minute!" Taylor called out from her room. The team had given Skitter a place of her own inside their home/lair. She'd never stayed the night, so the bed was still unused. It was mostly a collection of terrariums for her insect swarm. "Just putting on my mask!" She added.

The Undersiders were already dressed and waiting when Taylor arrived. As the only member to still bother with school, Taylor had sprinted out from class at the end of the day to get here. Taylor wouldn't dare leave her costume anywhere near Arcadia, not with all the Wards about. She had barged through the door to the lair in a rushed and panting panic. Making a beeline for her room and suit.

Lisa and Alec both giggled as Brian sighed. Their leader wasn't all too happy that the latest addition to the team had such a limited schedule, and that didn't even take into account the risk factor for attending the school.

"Seriously, why did you think this a good idea?" Brian groaned at Lisa. It was more of a rhetorical question, everyone except Rachel had agreed that Skitter would be a valued asset to the team. But there were days like today when Brian remembered that 'Skitter' had a double meaning for the panicked mess of a girl.

"Almost done!" Taylor called out again, followed by a surprised yelp and a crash as something inside the room fell over. "All good, I'm all good. Coming out now." Lisa giggled as she wonders to herself how Taylor would react to finding out the name they chose for her came from how 'skittish' she was.

Skitter's door finally opened, and the 'villain' stepped out. A dark swarm was climbing up into her hair and backpack, adding to the disgustingly terrifying visage of Skitter. "Let's go," Taylor said, her mask now adding a muffle that made her all the more mysterious, even Brian with his skull helmet was slightly intimidated by the girl.

"Not it!" Called Alec, quickly as he jumped on one of Rachel's dogs.

"Not it," Lisa added

"Fuck you guys." Rachel barked.

"Not- gah fine…" Brian said too late.

Taylor had no idea what 'It' was. Lisa climbed onto the dog that Rachel was already sitting on. Brain climbed up on the third dog and reached a hand to Taylor.

It wasn't that anyone in the group didn't like Taylor. Well, Rachel might, but besides that, the rest of the group liked the girl perfectly fine. Riding with Skitter, however, meant riding with the girl who had bugs in her hair. As much as the Undersiders loved having a powerhouse like Skitter on their team, none of them wanted to deal with the creepy crawlies personally.

Brian thanked his past self for choosing to have a full head covering mask as Taylor climbed on and wrapped her arms around him. Even now, he could hear the insects buzzing and skittering about, mirroring Taylor's own nervousness about the upcoming job.

After fifteen minutes or so of dog riding, the dogs all climbed onto a nearby rooftop as the team got into place. Taylor finally asked the question that she should have asked before leaving.

"So, what 'are' we doing today?"

"Are you serious right now?" Brian sighed.

Taylor shrunk down, like a told-off child.

"Crime, obviously." Lisa laughed.

"We spoke about this, twice now." Brain added, "Smash and grab, tinker tech. Tattletale and I will identify the tech. Regent and Skitter are on crowd control, there shouldn't be any problems, just keep everyone together. And Bitch is support and our exit."

Rachel huffed. "Wait around as usual…"

Brian shot her a look, which was saying a lot considering the full-face mask.

Taylor vaguely remembered being informed of this upcoming job. They had been hired by someone to steal something. Taylor had hoped that after such a prolific job as a bank heist, that the Undersiders would go into hiding for a while, but life went on and Brockton Bay was a busy city, ripe with opportunity.

Skitter had since appeared in several daring crimes across the city. Ranging from simple 'smash n grabs' to the more prolific 'distraction jobs' which usually meant causing chaos in the streets and getting into fights with other heroes.

Taylor didn't like getting into fights, even though she was getting pretty good at them. Her swarm allowed her to attack people from a distance and Lisa had taught her some basic hand-to-hand combat defence during the downtime. On top of bringing Taylor shopping to gear up. Taylor refused to use a gun of her own, but through some convincing arguments, bought herself better equipment to help 'stay alive longer'.

The target for today's criminal activity appeared to be some fancy penthouse apartment. A wealthy collector of art had managed to get his hands on something 'techy', completely unbeknown to him. The poor fool was apparently displaying it as an 'Avant Garde' statue on his work desk.

The job was simple. Break in, steal the tech, take anything else of value and get out before anyone could respond. Each member of the team, except for Rachel, had a duffle bag over their shoulder. No one was sure exactly what they'd find at the place, but it paid to be prepared.

"Alright, synchronise your watches," Brian ordered everyone, taking the time to set a silent alarm. "In and out, ten-minute maximum. If you're not on the dogs by then, you're walking home."

With that, the dogs leapt across the rooftop. Taylor's nervous excitement turned to outright worry as she spotted the would-be victim of their crime. Sitting at an outdoor table, eating an early dinner and not by himself. A terrified family of three watched as the Undersiders descended upon their home.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

8 minutes later

Taylor hated taking hostages. She stood over the family and grimaced at the sight of all three of them sobbing on the floor. Taylor felt even worse knowing that one of the hostages was a little girl, barely five or six years old.

She made sure that none of the insects in her swarm touched the family, making a circle around the family instead. They were reasonably well-behaved, it did take Skitter about five minutes of back-and-forth discussion to convince the family that she wasn't going to 'eat' them.

Alec had left the second Taylor had surrounded the family. He wasn't interested in babysitting when there was loot to be gathered. Taylor could hear the rest of the Undersiders smashing up the place, looking for anything of value. She stared down at her own duffle bag, which was significantly empty.

Turning away from her hostages and scanning the room, Taylor didn't spot any valuables. They had all been moved into the child's bedroom, it wouldn't have anything worth taking nor would there be any hidden weapons that catch them off guard. While the two adults were scared out of their minds, the child was only mildly aware of what was happening.

'I'm a fucking monster…' Taylor thought to herself. She'd taken hostages before, in the bank. There were even small children at the time but breaking into someone's home felt like a new level of evil.

Taylor checked her watch, she had 40 seconds left to get on the dog. She sighed in relief as she stood up from the wall she'd been leaning on. The family shuddered in fear at Taylor's movement, flinching back from her as she moved to the door.

She knew that the family would rush to call the authorities the second that they were free, which would cause problems for the Undersiders. Channelling her 'inner villain,' Taylor turned back to the family.

"Stay here, wait another twenty minutes before calling anyone," Skitter said, her swarm echoing her words. "I'll know if you didn't wait." To add to her point, she twisted a digital clock in the room towards the family and pointed at the time. The family nodded in fear as Skitter left the room, the bulk of her swarm falling back inside her suit.

Lisa met her with a grin, loading the bags onto one of the dogs. She held a hand out for Taylor's bag. "Feeling a little light there," She sighed, taking the empty duffle bag. "You know you didn't have to stay in the room with them. That's what your bugs are for."

"Sorry…" Taylor mumbled, still feeling guilty for terrorising the family as Lisa pulled her onto the dog.

"Time!" Brian called, as the dogs leapt off and away.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

A short ride later

The Undersiders didn't go back to base, instead, they found a quiet spot to lay low as they all dismounted. Rachel took watch as Brian and Alec took stock of the stolen loot. Lisa was inspecting the stolen tech, which did indeed look like some odd metal paperweight, before placing it into a separate, small sack.

Lisa turned to Taylor and could immediately read all the guilt and self-hatred that dripped from her. Her 'morality' was once again getting in the way of her celebration.

"Cheer up, bugs," Lisa said, tying the small sack to her belt. "You did good, kept them safe. And no one got hurt. Plus, they weren't able to hit the panic buttons hidden all over the place. 'And' you made sure that they wouldn't for another twenty minutes. Freaking genius!"

Taylor couldn't help but smile at Lisa's compliments. "Yeah… it only made sense. I didn't want to risk getting into a car chase or anything." She remembered how she basically threatened the family before she left the room and felt terrible again.

"Hey…" Lisa said softly, picking up on Taylor's falling mood again. "If it's any consolation, remember that the man is actually a really horrible person." Taylor shot Lisa a confused look, one that would be lost behind her mask if not for Lisa's intuition. "What? You think we'd just break in and terrorise any old poor family?

The PRT would hang us for sure if we did that." She added with a chuckle. Lisa pointed towards the loot.

Taylor hadn't paid any attention to the stolen spoils, specifically the loot from the collector's private office. Looking at them now, Lisa's words made sense. All the 'artwork' was Nazi memorabilia in some way or another. Taylor watched on in disgusted shock.

"Seriously Skitter," Lisa laughed, "I know you tend to zone out when we start discussing crime, but you should pay more attention to our meetings. Dude bankrolls the Empire in his free time. Not a cape or a member himself but a strong supporter. True believer kind of shit."

Taylor could admit, child or not, she felt a little better knowing that she'd robbed and traumatised a Nazi sympathiser. Compared to her original feelings about assaulting a random wealthy family.

"Sorry…" Taylor said, "I should've remembered. I'm still getting used to…"

"Crime?" Lisa chuckled, "Being a dastardly villain?"

Taylor shrank down, still not like being called out on her immoral deeds, regardless of the victim.

"Skitter," Lisa continued, placing her arm around the girl, and playing the angel on her shoulder this time. "You don't have to be sorry for caring. Hell, we all care… Except for Regent, maybe? The point is to have fun, make money, teach the wrong people a lesson. Do whatever the hell you want. And if you start paying attention to our meetings, you'll be able to know ahead of time just how morally grey our crime of the day is."

Taylor nodded her head in acceptance. She was afraid that one day she'd be placed in a situation where she would be asked to do something truly terrible. It was both a legitimate fear and a silly one. The Undersiders weren't bad people, just 'bad guys.' Taylor needed to remember that.

"And if we ever do suggest doing something that you're not comfortable with." Lisa added, picking up on her mood, "You're more than welcome to throw in a veto. You're part of this team, we'll listen to you."

Lisa was also afraid that one-day Skitter would make a personal call in the heat of the moment if faced with a truly terrible situation. While the Undersiders had varying degrees of morality, Lisa didn't want to stress test any of the members when it came to their jobs. Sticking to quick crimes and quicker getaways.

"Alright, Regent, Skitter and Bitch will stash the loot until it can be picked up," Brian spoke up over the group. "T and me will deliver the tech and get our pay. We can all break from there." He gave us all a curt nod.

Taylor tensed up briefly, Alec and Rachel weren't exactly her favourite people in the group. Alec was fine enough in small bursts, but Rachel outright hated Taylor, at least from Taylor's point of view. The idea of spending time alone with them without Brian or Lisa to run interference was stressful.

"Can I go with you two?" Taylor asked, holding closer to Lisa in a grip that yelled 'Don't leave me alone with them, please.'

Brian paused for a moment and looked at Lisa. Lisa simply shrugged causing Brian to sigh.

"Fine, whatever." He groaned, "We could use the scare factor to keep them from doing anything stupid. Just don't go overboard. In fact, don't do anything at all. Stay with T and don't talk."

Rachel's dogs already moved to leave before Brian was done talking. Bitch and Regent headed home to hide the loot. Brian started walking in a direction, waving a hand for the two remaining girls to follow.

"So, uh?" Taylor started, looking at Lisa, "Who are we meeting? I take it that it's not 'the' boss?"

Lisa smiled and shook her head. "Nah, just rich asshole who collects tinker tech. There're always people like that, good money to be made if you know the right people. They can be kinda creepy, but just be on your best behaviour and we'll be in and out before you know it."

Taylor thought about that. Lisa had told her to pay more attention and be part of the team, and seeing more of the business she was now a part of would be a good thing. Taylor could handle it, she had Lisa and Brian watching over her. She'd be on her best behaviour, a simple sales deal, much less stressful than robbing some nazi's house.

--------------------------------------

Half an hour later

Glory Girl was the first on the scene. She'd been in the area after dropping Amy off at the hospital. The call came in through the PRT crime watch. A supervillain fight had broken out in the streets. Several members of the Undersiders were engaged in combat with the ABB.

Victoria could see the black smoke engulfing the scene as she approached from the air. Gunshots rang out as she flew closer. People were running away in a panic as the villains duked it out in the street.

Tattletale was dodging a man's attempts to punch at her. The attacker was dressed in ABB gang colours. He couldn't land a punch on the Tattletale, who continued to mock him as he flailed over the place. A second man continued to fire wild shots into the thick dark fog that approached him. Victoria couldn't spot anything special about them. A standard person with a handgun.

Victoria figured taking out the gunner was the smart option before somebody got hit with a stray bullet. Flying down onto the unsuspecting man. They didn't even look up until the shadow of the girl fell over them. By then it was too late, the man raised their gun only to receive a fist to the face. The gun was crushed in Victoria's hand.

Tattletale and the first man paused their fight as they both noticed the hero's violent landing.

"Glory gi-" The man called out before also getting punched in the face. Tattletale taking his shock as an advantage. It wasn't as hard as a punch from Glory Girl, but it created enough space for Tattletale to break away and move towards Grue.

"We need to leave!" Grue barked, emerging from his smoke to call over Tattletale. "Get out and regroup."

Tattletale looked back towards Glory Girl and at the mess the villains had made during their fight. "But, what about Sk-"

"Now T!" Grue ordered, pulling Tattletale into the smoke with her.

Victoria watched as the two villains disappeared behind the smoke, she hovered to move but was distracted by the man Tattletale punched earlier, who was now picking himself up and charging at the hero. Vicky countered with a quick weave and arm tackle. The Man held his ground, barely.

Victoria hadn't expected the man to take her punch. The gang member was an apparent rogue cape. A parahuman with rather low-rated abilities who didn't feel the need to make a name for themselves. The man in question had the brute-like ability to hit harder than the common man by making his body denser than usual, but not by much.

Changing tactics, Victoria put more strength into her fists. Sending the man flying back into a nearby streetlight. The light pole bent slightly but didn't fall over, and the man didn't try to stand up.

Scanning the area, both Undersiders had managed to escape while Victoria was distracted. She did, however, pick up on the sound of insects buzzing.

"Skitter…" Victoria said with a growl. She didn't know what she had flown into, but Victoria wasn't going to give up the chance to repay the villain for threatening her sister at the bank.

Grabbing the two ABB members already taken out, Victoria bent a metal pole to keep them in place and then shot up into the sky. On the other side of the street was the mass of bugs, Skitter's swarm. They were giving chase of someone behind a building.

Victoria still couldn't see who Skitter was fighting, but she knew the villain must be close. A quick scan from above and Victoria had eyes on Skitter. She flew down towards the battle. Skitter must have heard her coming, because, at the last moment, Skitter jumped back out of Victoria's path. The swarm broke away to return for protection.

"You…" Skitter hissed, her swarm echoing the word. "Why are you here?"

"Arresting you," Victoria said smugly, hovering up from the ground. "Obviously."

"Stay out of this!" The swarm cried. Causing Victoria to fall back slightly as some bugs struck out at her. After rebalancing, she lunged at Skitter as a wall of bugs formed between them. The villain used the time to dodge out of the way. Victoria flew through the bugs to find nothing on the other side. The swarm tried to converge on her but Victoria didn't stay still long enough to be covered.

Skitter was already booking it down the street, hoping to make space between her and the brute.

"Running away?" Victoria said mockingly. Quickly closing the distance. "As expected for your kind."

The villain threw even more bugs her way, somehow pulling them out of her hair. A disgusting thought on top of the face full of bugs. Victoria started panicking, as one would if their face was covered in flies and cockroaches. It didn't harm her, but it was a sensation that no one should ever experience regardless.

"Fucking gross…" Victoria groaned, "Ew ew ew…" She wanted to cry, she'd much rather take a punch to the face over bugs any day of the week. A serious, deep shower was required after this, but first, she needed to find Skitter. She caught the villain trying to escape down a nearby alleyway.

There was a fiery explosion ahead as a small portion of the swarm caught fire and quickly died.

"I've been looking forward to this, Bug!?" Called a male voice ahead of her with a strong Asian accent. "You can run, but you can't hide!"

Flying up and ahead, hoping to cut off Skitter on the other side of the street, Victoria spotted the man who she had heard talking. It was Lung, the leader of the ABB who was supposed to be in PRT custody right now.

Victoria still didn't know what exactly was going on but Skitter no longer appeared to be the main issue in this situation. She quickly contacted PRT authorities to notify them of the development. Her mother had once given her a list of villains who

Victoria should under no circumstances ever engage with and Lung was near the top of that list.

Even so, Lung was here. He was growing larger by the second and tearing up the street. Civilians were fleeing in panic and Skitter looked like she was about to be roasted alive.

The larger villain looked between Skitter and Glory Girl. Trying to determine who was the bigger threat. Victoria moved to punch Lung but was too slow. Lung lifted a large garbage bin and swung the heavy object like it weighed nothing at all.

As the bin crashed into Victoria, she felt the full weight of the heavy object. Pushing her back as her forcefield broke. Another blow like that could leave Victoria as a red paste on the wall if she wasn't careful.

Skitter's swarm caught up to the Lung, the man turning to see the horde of insects approaching. He shot fire back, killing the bugs in bulk. A long streak of fire shot in Skitter's direction like a flame thrower, engulfing the bug villain entirely. Victoria's eyes went wide with shock as she believed to watch the woman burn alive.

Thankfully, Skitter rolled out of the way, still badly singed. Rolling on the floor and patting out the parts of her suit that had caught alight. Not wanting to do that again, Skitter decided to turn tail and run. It was at that point Lung decided to chuck the large bin in Skitter's direction.

Only Skitter wasn't there. Lung had thrown wildly and was set to hit a bystander. Victoria watched in horror as the Lung's impromptu weapon was now on a collision course with a civilian. The world moved in slow motion, or at least that's how it felt for Victoria as she moved to grab the bin from the air. It was too little, too late. She wasn't going to grab it before it struck.

The civilian in question was a teenager, looking around the same age as Victoria if she had to guess. Some random guy who was unlucky enough to be taking a shortcut just as a cape fight had broken out. Who was too concerned with the bug supervillain running at him to notice the incoming force of metal that was about to slam him into the pavement.

At the last moment, Skitter made her move. Diving at the teenager, pushing both out of the way of the impending heavy metal that threatened to splatter them along the pavement. The bin slammed into a car, causing a lot of damage but no injuries.

Victoria turned back to Lung, who was already looking for something else to throw. Forcefield reignited, she didn't give him the chance. Pressing forward, Victoria hit him at full force. As a brute and a hero, Victoria was always taught how to pull her punches and make sure not to use unnecessary force against her opponents. Against someone like Lung, Victoria didn't have to worry about holding back.

It was all over in a matter of seconds, Victoria had never been so determined to take someone down. Before she knew it, Victoria was hovering over an unconscious Lung. Panting and shaking, she checked to make sure he was breathing, before turning back to Skitter.

"It's just a scrape, you'll be fine," Skitter said as she checked over the civilian she'd saved. The teenager nodded in a panic and quickly fled the second he could stand.

Victoria wasn't sure what her plan was now. She'd watched the bug villain risk her life to save a civilian and the adrenaline from beating on Lung was wearing down. But Skitter was still a villain and Glory Girl still had a job to do. She moved towards Skitter and froze as Skitter looked back.

Skitter touched her face. Her actual face. Lung's flame thrower attack had singed her suit so bad that the mask had started melting. Skitter had pulled it off while she was fleeing, not even aware that she had done so until now.

Victoria recognised her face. She didn't have a name, but she had seen her before. It was on the tip of her tongue. Skitter's eyes went wide as she herself realised what was happening. Not only was the villain unmasked, but Victoria 'knew' her.

"W-wait!" Victoria called out. Reaching a hand towards the girl.

In a panic, the remaining swarm covered Skitter. Shielding herself from Victoria's view. Skitter ran off down the street, hand covering her face as the swarm blocked her from any onlookers. Most bystanders had already taken off.

Victoria could have followed after Skitter, but she let her go. The smart play was to keep watch over Lung until backup arrived. At least that's what she told herself as the swarm disappeared.

Victoria had seen her face, she knew who Skitter was. She couldn't place 'where' she'd seen Skitter, but it was somewhere in her memory. Replaying the thought repeatedly, she pieced together what little she knew. Skitter was a familiar girl, who looked to be about Victoria's age, if not younger. That meant Skitter went to school. 'That's' where Victoria recognised her from. Skitter was a student of Arcadia. Skitter was that 'mysterious quiet girl' in Amy's grade.

For now, the only question on Victoria's mind was.

'What do I do with this information?'

---------------------------------------------

A short while later

"How did you not know!?" Brian yelled, holding his arm. He'd been grazed with a bullet during the earlier fight. "It is literally your job to know these things."

Lisa hurriedly pulled out the medical kit from the bathroom and pulled out the relevant supplies. "I'm not psychic! That's not how my powers work, you know that."

She inspected Brians's arm before administering medical care. He was bleeding badly, but it did need to be taken care of soon.

Alec ran into the room, looking over his leader, bleeding on the couch. "What kind of party did I miss?"

"Not now, where's Rachel?" Brain grunted.

Alec shrugged. "She left as soon as we dropped off the bags, doubt she even saw your message."

"Well fucking call her back," Brian barked, "We need to rescue Skitter!"

"Again," Alec said, pulling out his phone. "What the hell did I miss?"

"The client sold us out." Lisa spat angrily, "Turned our deal into an ambush for the ABB, Lung was waiting for us."

"So, no pay I take it?" Alec joked, Lisa shot him an angry look before returning to patching Brian up. "What?... Oh, and Rachel still isn't picking up."

"Fuck!" Lisa swore, standing up from Brain and taking a moment to think. "Okay, just the three of us then. Where would Lung take Skitter?"

"She's probably already de-" Alec began before Brain shot smoke over his mouth.

Lisa tried to ignore the comment, even though it was the most likely scenario. Lung had been there for Skitter specifically. Rumours of his escape from custody were being kept on the down-low by the PRT, but somehow he had returned for his revenge.

"Okay, I can call in some old favours… maybe," Lisa said, panic in her voice.

"Or maybe she'll just walk through the door." Alec countered, pulling himself free of Brian's smoke.

"This isn't funny. Taylor might actually die." Lisa snapped.

Alec responded by pointing behind her. Taylor was standing at the door, dressed in casual jeans and a hoodie. Panting as if she had sprinted all the way back to base herself.

"Taylor!" Lisa gasped, running over to the girl and giving her a hug.

"How the hell did you make it out of there?" Brian asked, giving Taylor a concerned look over.

Taylor shrugged, or at least tried to as Lisa squeezed her. "Glory Girl got in the way. Took Lung down."

The rest of the Undersiders nodded, and Alec whistled at how impressive the feat seemed.

"How are you doing?" Lisa asked, looking over Taylor. "I'm sorry we left you. I should have seen the ambush coming. Are you okay, you seem really worried?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just, y'know. Almost dying…" Taylor lied. While the fight with Lung had indeed been scary, the thought of a hero seeing her face was at the forefront of Taylors' mind'. She forced a smile, pretending that everything was fine now, for Lisa's sake.

For now, the only question on Taylor's mind was.

'What do I do about school tomorrow?'

 

Morning

'Skitter goes to Arcadia.'

The same thought echoed through Victoria's mind as she entered the building. Somewhere in this crowd of students was the infamous supervillain, casually living her life.

How many times had Victoria passed Skitter in the halls without ever realising?

Skitter might only have been an active villain for a couple of weeks now but the student behind the mask has been here for months. Victoria scanned every student she passed, trying to spot the girl with long black hair.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked, noticing Victoria's odd focus on everyone they passed.

"Uh, nothing." Victoria deflected, forcing her head forward and trying to act normal.

She hadn't told anyone about her recent discovery, not even her sister. A part of her reasoned that confronting a villain like Skitter in school would only end up putting civilian lives at risk, but in truth, Victoria wasn't sure if she wanted to arrest Skitter at all.

Not yet at least.

Victoria wanted to understand Skitter or the girl under the mask. Most villains Victoria met had been gang members, psychopaths and greedy crooks. She never paid much attention to 'who' they were. Villains were criminals, and why they did what they did never mattered much when 'Glory Girl' was taking them down.

But Skitter was a student. A teenager. Didn't every kid want to become a hero? Isn't that the cliché fantasy? Why was she a villain? Was she being forced? Was she just another heartless monster? Obviously not, she avoids harming civilians and actively saved one during a fight.

Victoria wasn't stupid, she knew that all the Undersiders were young. However, she never considered why a group of kids were committing crimes, she never cared to ask. Knowing that a member was going to her school finally got her to ask these questions to herself.

There was still one giant unanswered question that was bugging her.

"What's her name?"

"What?" Amy asked, looking up at Victoria.

"That girl, the quiet transfer, in your grade?" Victoria clarified. "What's her name?"

Amy shrugged. "Dunno. Why?"

Victoria didn't respond. Choosing instead to walk off on her own to go find some answers, leaving a confused Amy behind.

---------------------------------------------

Lunchtime

In her investigation, Victoria discovered… nothing. Skitter had either not come to school today or was incredibly good at hiding, and worse, no one even knew the girl's name. Every student Victoria approached either called her 'the quiet girl' or 'the weird girl.'

What little the students knew about her didn't answer any questions. In the four months since this 'mysterious transfer student' had arrived, she had managed to not make a single friend and the rest of her peers had accepted her desire to remain invisible. Most students couldn't even remember if they shared classes with her until forcibly prompted by Victoria.

"How does no one know who this girl is!?" Victoria sighed at her table of friends.

Her social group all gave each other a confused look before Dean spoke up.

"Why are you so interested in this girl anyway?" He asked.

Victoria looked up at the group, quickly trying to think of a valid excuse that wasn't 'she's actually a supervillain and I want to know why.'

"It's just… frustrating, and sad. Isn't it?" Victoria asked. "The girl's been here for months and nobody even knows her name. Does nobody care?"

"It's hard to notice someone like that," Amy muttered through her food. "You didn't care until today, I'm sure most students don't think about it."

"The teachers would know," Dean added, thinking out loud. "They'd have to. Also isn't there a student registry or something?"

Victoria sighed to herself. Why didn't she think of that obvious answer? She was so focused on the students and learning about what the girl was like that she didn't think of asking a teacher.

Amy, Dean and the rest of the table watched as Victoria pushed off the table and hovered out of the cafeteria. Her blatant use of flying signalled how intensely focused Victoria was on her goal.

About ten minutes later, Victoria returned to the table. Slamming a large book in front of Amy and opening it to a list of names.

"Alright, so I couldn't find any teachers," Victoria began, flipping to the relevant pages "Because I don't even know which homeroom class she's in. But I spoke to the admin and they lent me a copy of the registry. Except it doesn't have any photos, just a list of names."

Victoria pushed the list closer to Amy, looking at her sister expectedly. "What do you want me to do?" Amy asked, confused and intimidated by Vicky's new obsession.

"She's in your grade. You even said that you 'forgot' her name when we asked." Victoria explained. "That implies that you knew it once, right? Just go through the list, point out whatever looks familiar."

Amy furrowed her brow before taking the book. She doubted that she could remember a random name she heard at the start of the year, yet her sister was counting on her, so she did her best. Scrolling her finger through the list of names, Amy could feel the pressure. Eventually, she paused as her finger traced a name.

"Taylor… Hebert." Amy read before tapping on the name. "Yeah, that name sounds familiar… I think. That's probably her."

Victoria grabbed the book back and looked at the name, nodding with a smile. "Taylor. Alright, Taylor. Taylor Hebert…" Victoria burned the name into her memory. Taylor Hebert was Skitter, but why? She looked back up at her sister. "You said you met her once, in the hospital? Do you remember what she was doing? Did you two talk about anything?"

Amy was taken aback. She barely remembered mentioning that fact let alone what happened that day. She took a moment to think back to that night before responding. "Uh… we didn't really talk. At all. She was-" Amy stopped herself before realising she was speaking about a patient, not a student. This was technically hospital business. She shook her head. "That's uh, confidential?"

Amy held up an apologetic frown met only by a more intense look from her sister.

"Amy…"

"I can't, Vicky." Amy countered. "I don't talk about patients. You know that."

"Amy."

Amy looked towards the rest of the table and then back to Victoria. She couldn't deny her sister, it was her one weakness after all.

"Fine," Amy sighed. "But not here."

Victoria practically pulled Amy from her seat, leading her away from the mass of students enjoying their lunch.

"Alright, spill," Victoria said once they found a private spot. "What do you remember about Taylor?"

"Not much," Amy admitted, trying to temper Vicky's expectations. "I was working at the hospital one night and some PRT agent came up and asked me to check some girl for him."

"The PRT?" Victoria asked as she leaned closer in, unaware of how Amy reacted awkwardly to her intense stare.

"Yeah, they were checking on a possible trigger. Wanted me to confirm it for them. So yeah, she's uh. Parahuman."

Amy shrunk down admitting that fact. Even for her sister, she didn't feel comfortable telling other peoples secrets.

"So the PRT know about her?" Victoria thought to herself before turning back to Amy. "What was her trigger? Must have been pretty bad to land her in the hospital."

Amy shrugged again. "Don't know. They didn't tell me and the girl was catatonic when I saw her."

"Catatonic?" Victoria gasped. Trigger events were always traumatic, but that sounded extreme.

"Yeah, she had no idea we were there. She was completely out of it." Amy said before looking down. "Sorry, I didn't really think much of it at the time. Just another patient in my day."

Victoria nodded to herself, patting Amy on the shoulder as thanks. She had a name at least, she could start from there.

------------------------------

Walking back to the school administration, Victoria returned the student registry she borrowed.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Ask the lady at the reception who had lent the book.

"Yes," Victoria said with a smile. "Thanks again for that."

"Anything for Glory Girl." The receptionist chuckled. Victoria didn't like using her 'hero status' to her advantage at school, but this was important. She was finding out about a villain, it counted as work.

"Actually, I was hoping for another favour?" Victoria asked, puffing her chest out and trying to look more heroic than usual.

"Oh, what did you need?"

"Taylor Hebert?" Victoria said directly to the point. "I need to talk to her. Any chance you can tell me what class she has next?"

The receptionist smiled, happy to help, turning to her computer and typing into it.

"Let's see. Taylor… Hebert… Ah." The lady said, reading her screen before looking up with an apologetic smile. "It appears Miss Hebert called in sick today."

"Probably should've expected that," Victoria muttered to herself. "Any chance I can look at her records?"

The receptionist blinked back at Victoria, it was an odd request that she wouldn't usually dare to take seriously if it were any other student. But this was Glory Girl.

"Uh, sure?" The receptionist said, a little confused but otherwise happy to help. "I'll print you a copy. Just don't pass it around to other students."

Victoria tapped the desk impatiently while the printer slowly spat out its paper. Eventually, it finished the job and the lady passed the documents to her and she took them gratefully. Scanning through to find any information on the girl that would give any insight into the villain.

"Winslow?" Victoria read out loud. "Heard there's a lot of gang activity in that school. Does Taylor have any affiliation?"

The receptionist looked back, a little shocked at the question. "I-I don't… uh. No? I don't believe so." She scanned the file on her computer. "Is she in any trouble? Like… hero trouble?" She whispered the last part.

"No!" Victoria snapped back, louder than she expected. "Uh, I mean. No, I'm just trying to get an understanding of her." Victoria definitely didn't want to panic the school about a villain attending their halls. "I just noticed she doesn't have many friends here. I was hoping to get to know her better." She lied.

The receptionist smiled. "Oh, how nice of you. I wish more students were as caring as you."

Victoria turned back to the document. "What's this 'locker incident' here?" She asked, pointing to a section on the paper. "She was transferred shortly after but it doesn't say what happened."

The receptionist looked over from her computer. "Not too sure? Hold up, there are some files sent over from Winslow." The computer started printing again.

Reading over the extra document, Victoria's face twisted to disgust at the horror she was reading. A janitor had found Taylor in the locker at the end of the first period. She was kicking and screaming to the point that police and paramedics had to be called to take her away.

The list of contents found in the locker alone made Victoria want to be sick, let alone the idea of being trapped in that hell.

However, the thing that really got on Victoria's nerves was that there was no mention of the culprit. As if the school just assumed that Taylor 'somehow fell' into a locker full of trash and locked herself in.

She was looking at obvious proof of bullying and there wasn't even a note about suspected students. Following through with the documents, Victoria found several other instances where Taylor would be found in obvious distress without the slightest hint of who put her in that situation. It went beyond sheer negligence or incompetence, Winslow was covering for someone or a group of people who had a vendetta against the girl and it had been going on for a long time.

"No wonder she became a villain. The poor girl probably thinks the world hates her." Victoria said quietly to herself. Angry and sad at the story unfolding in her hand.

Victoria had decided. She wasn't going to arrest Taylor, she wasn't going to attack her in school nor was she going to tell the PRT or anyone for that matter about her identity. She needed to meet with Taylor, face-to-face. Not as a hero and villain, but as two peers.

'But would Taylor even come to school?' Victoria thought to herself. The villain had been unmasked to a hero, Taylor might choose to run away and double down on her life of crime now that her civilian life was compromised.

Victoria could only hope that Taylor would return someday before Skitter got caught.

------------------------

A few days later

Taylor stood out the front of Arcadia High. She could only fake being sick for so many days until her Dad started questioning what was going on. Her first instinct was to run, just bolt down the street and into the Undersider's base. Give up on her civilian life completely and become 'Skitter' for the rest of her life. That would mean leaving her Dad behind, and that was something Taylor wasn't ready to do.

The past few days, Taylor was worried that the PRT would be kicking in her door any minute. She had a bag hidden under her bed ready to go the second her bugs picked up on anything strange. Lisa had told her once that there were 'unspoken rules' about attacking Villains in their own homes, but Taylor wasn't sure how serious those rules were.

No one had come in the night to arrest her, so either the rules were working or Glory Girl didn't recognise her as Taylor suspected. It was only a brief look and Taylor was pretty good at being invisible at school.

Taking her first shaky steps, Taylor made her way into the school. Her bugs were on extra alert yet still unable to pick up on any PRT uniforms hiding around the school. If they were planning to arrest her, a school would be a terrible place to do it. Any student could become collateral in an event like that, no sane person would authorise that.

Calming herself down, Taylor sunk into her usual routine. Blending into the crowd and making her way to class. She kept an extra eye out on the Wards, or at least the students who were strongly suspected to be Wards. Taylor took the extra long route to her locker just to avoid two boys who she was 70% sure was Clockblocker and Kid Win.

Collecting her things, Taylor made her way to class. Once the school day properly started, Taylor was able to relax. Nobody was after her, nobody even knew who she was, exactly how Taylor wanted it to be.

As long as Taylor could avoid Glory Girl for the foreseeable future, she could get through her school life. Glory Girl was also a whole year ahead of her and was due to be graduating in a few months. Taylor could keep to the shadows until then.

Reassuring herself, Taylor grew confident. All her worries were for naught, as the first set of classes ended and lunch period was about to begin, Taylor realised she forgot about one person in particular.

"Yeah, she's right here." Said a voice from behind Taylor as she walked through the halls. "Want me to talk to her or?" Taylor turned around to find Panacea, Amy Dallon, on the phone looking at Taylor. She had the usual tired look that Amy was known for but the girl waved a polite casual hand in Taylor's direction. "Oh, she noticed me. Want me to-"

Taylor bolted, she didn't care where. Down a random hallway, away from the hero and the mass of students. She needed to get out of there. Coming to school was a stupid idea, she should have stuck to her original plan and ditched her life entirely.

Calling her bugs, it was time for Taylor to disappear forever and for Skitter to become a full-time member of the Undersiders. A short sprint out the back, climbing the fence and Taylor would be home free. Bursting out into the school courtyard, Taylor dashed through the school's 'track and field' sports area.

There were no students out here yet, Taylor had a straight line to freedom. A few hundred meters to go before she was out and her new life began. Tears ran down her face as she said her goodbyes in her head. She probably wouldn't see her Dad for a long time. She would get back to base, find Lisa and hope that she had some smart way out of this entire mess.

Glory Girl landed between Taylor and her new life. More specifically, it was Victoria, as she wasn't dressed in her usual hero getup. Taylor stiffened briefly after seeing the hero descend before her.

"Taylor…" Glory Girl said, confirming without a doubt that she knew who Taylor was.

That was it, the heroes knew her name. There was no coming back from this, Taylor would be hunted for the rest of her life. She wasn't going to surrender. Taylor refused to go to prison. Calling her swarm to her side, Taylor prepared for battle.

----------------------------------------------

Victoria's phone rang in the middle of school just as Vicky was leaving class. Taking it from her pocket, she paused after seeing the caller ID. It was Amy, Vicky was about to have lunch with her sister so whatever she had to say must have been important.

Flipping the phone open Victoria answered with a smile. "Sup Ames?"

"You wanted to know when your mystery girl was here," Amy said.

"What?" Victoria asked before realising what she meant. "Oh, you mean Taylor?"

"Yeah, she's right here." Amy said, "Want me to talk to her or?"

"No!" Victoria said, already jogging in Amy's direction. "I'm heading to you. Don't lose eye on her."

"Oh, she noticed me. Want me to-" Amy said before pausing. "She just ran off. That's weird. I get that she's shy but I didn't expect-"

"Which way!?" Victoria asked, moving to a hover for speed.

"Oh, uh, sport's field I guess." Amy said, "Vicky, What's going on?"

"Nothing." She lied, "Probably just shy, I'll talk to her. Go have lunch, Ames, thanks."

Ending the call, Victoria found the nearest window she could open and flew out. Not something she would usually do in school but if Taylor was running then she needed to find her before something happened.

Taking to the skies, Victoria quickly saw a lone student with dark hair sprinting along the track field. Victoria could quickly catch up to someone on foot, even when they had a straight line to run in.

Landing down in front of the girl, Victoria stood face to face with Taylor. Her face showed the same fearful expression Skitter had when her mask was removed. There was no doubt these were the same people.

"Taylor, wait-" Victoria began. A swarm of bugs formed around the scared girl. It wasn't a large swarm like when they last fought, there weren't as many bugs around Arcadia and Taylor hadn't enough time to call them together.

The girl formed a shaky defensive posture as the bugs formed into an almost liquid pool of buzzing. She was ready to fight which was the last thing Victoria wanted to do.

"Woah, woah, woah!" Victoria said, raising her arms up high. "I come in peace. I don't want to fight."

Taylor paused at that. Her eyes darted from Victoria to the scene around her. They were alone, no Wards or PRT were encroaching on her. Taylor didn't drop her pose but her swarm did fall closer back to the girl.

Victoria could see that Taylor was shaking in fear, tears forming in her eyes. The girl was terrified and was a hair trigger away from doing anything to get away.

"I just want to talk," Victoria added, trying to calm the situation.

"Then talk." Taylor hissed, her voice catching in her throat, glaring at Victoria.

Victoria looked towards the swarm gathered around Taylor and then back to the school. Students would be coming out any second now. "Lose the bugs first." She asked the swarm buzzed angrily at the suggestion and Taylor clenched into a deeper stance. "People are going to see if you don't disperse them," Victoria added, concern radiating from her voice. "I haven't told anybody. No one knows but me. Please, put the bugs away and let's talk."

Taylor paused again and held her eyes to Victoria's. The swarm dispersed as students began to appear in the background, none of them noticing the intense confrontation at the edge of the school. Victoria let out a deep sigh of relief.

"What do you want?" Taylor asked, still tense. The swarm might not be together but she could easily pull them back if she needed.

"Just to talk, I promise," Victoria said again, keeping her movements calm and careful. "I'm not going to arrest you, or anything. Just… please relax."

"Why?" Taylor asked, continuing to glare at Victoria. She was confused and looking for what hidden angle Vicky 'must' be working. "You know me, you know I'm…"

"Skitter," Victoria said, holding her ground to Taylor's glare.

"So why? I'm not surrendering. Fight me and get it over with already." Taylor growled.

Victoria could hear the hurt in that statement. 'Get it over with already.' This girl already accepted the fact that Victoria was going to beat her, the idea that Vicky wanted to find an alternative was completely foreign to her.

"I won't fight you," Victoria said calmly. "So please don't attack me either. I think I understand you, a little at least…" Her eyes were saddened as Victoria thought back on Taylor's school history.

"What?" Taylor asked confused before getting angry again. "I don't need your pity."

"Sorry, that's not…" Victoria shook her head. "I looked into your time at Winslow, I know you were bullied." The mere mention of the school made every bug in the area buzz in anger. "I can't imagine what you've been through. So, I get it. I don't think you're... evil or whatever. You've had a rough time. So-"

"So you read some notes and think you understand me?" Taylor scoffed, angry and amused at the audacity of the 'hero.' "Again, I don't need anyone's pity. Especially not from someone like you."

'Someone like you.' There was something in the way she said that. There was more to the bullying that Victoria obviously didn't know. Taylor held anger towards her specifically or 'someone like her'.

"I don't understand you," Victoria said, trying to calm Taylor again. "I barely know you. No one does. But from the little I do know…" She thought carefully about how to approach the girl. "…You deserve better."

That caught Taylor off guard, her posture relaxed in the confusion.

"You should have a normal school life. I'm not going to take that away from you. I won't arrest you. I won't tell anyone here about you." Victoria said.

"I don't… understand?" Taylor said, cautiously returning to a more relaxed state. "You don't know me, you don't want to arrest me. What do you want?"

"You're right. I don't know you," Victoria continued, "But I want to understand you. Want to show you a better alternative. So let's make a… deal."

"A deal?"

"While we're at school. Or just in our usual civilian lives. I won't take any action against you." Victoria said, "You don't have to worry about me, nor any of the Wards that come here. I'll make sure none of them ever know about you."

Taylor thought on that for a moment. "And what do you want in return?"

"You need to start interacting with the other students," Victoria said with a smile. "Take part in the whole, 'school experience.' Learn that not every place is as awful as Winslow."

Taylor scoffed again. "Seriously? What? You expect me to just, make friends? You know that's not going to happen. All these people hate me."

Victoria was taken aback by that statement. Taylor genuinely believed that the entire student body hated her. More answers about how 'Skitter' came about and questions on Taylor's mentality.

"Start with me then," Victoria said, holding out a hand to greet Taylor. She suppressed giving the girl another sad look, not wanting to set Taylor off again by 'pitying' her. "I'll be your friend."

Taylor hesitated for a long moment before extending a hand to take Victoria's. Victoria's smile grew as they shook hands.

"Hi, Victoria Dallon. It's a pleasure to meet you." She said with a welcoming smile.

"Uh, Taylor Hebert," Taylor said in return, still confused as to how she got here. "It's… nice to meet you… again?"

"Want to grab some lunch?" Victoria asked, leading Taylor back towards the school. She didn't pull Taylor as she might with someone like Amy, instead gently walking in the direction and waiting for the girl to follow.

Taylor took a few shaky steps with Victoria, not letting go of her hand. The two found an equal pace and headed off for lunch. Taylor had no idea what to expect and Victoria had no idea what she was doing.

A plan formed in Vicky's mind. To seduce Taylor to the 'light side' with promises of memories and friendship. The memories would be good and the friendship would be genuine. On that Victoria would make sure.

As for what to do about Skitter, and how she'd interact with 'Glory Girl' going forward?

That would be a problem for tomorrow.

 

T/W: Very Mild Suicidal Ideation mention

Wasn't sure if I should put this in or not, but figured it'd be safer to err on the side of caution.
It's only one off sentence that gets cut off, I don't really plan to delve deeply into that topic, but warning for those it may bother.​

Lunch

Taylor wasn't sure what she was expecting when she took Glory Girl's hand. The hero had her cornered, outed and could've easily arrested her or worse and yet… she offered a hand of friendship and led the scared villainess back into the school.

She was still waiting for the other shoe to drop. To work out what the hero's play was, throwing her off with words to get Taylor to drop her guard and then willingly lead her into a trap. That had to be it, right?

Glory Girl didn't want to arrest Taylor because she had something worse planned for her. Taylor should've fought when she had the chance, now she's back inside, away from her bugs, her exit and locked hands with a brute who could tear her arm off.

This was a terrible idea, why had Taylor accepted her offer? She lied, they always lie. Taylor fell for the oldest lie in the book. Friendship. Playing on Taylor's loneliness and insecurities. Glory Girl could give Lisa a run for her money.

Now Taylor is in the cafeteria and everyone was looking at them. At her. The pitiful girl behind was being led to the gallows by the Queen Bee of Arcadia. This is exactly where Glory Girl will make her statement, show to the entire school how she's in control and how Taylor is just another toy to play with. To torturer.

It's Emma all over again, except this time she had super strength and Taylor will never outrun her.

Taylor winced at the thought, her feet freezing in place. Glory Girl tugs gently on her arm before also stopping and turning back to see what's wrong. To see why Taylor is not moving. Not obeying her.

"Taylor?" Glory Girl asked, putting up the pretence of false concern. "Are you okay? Your hand is tensing up?"

Why are you so weird, Taylor? Why are you so meek and pathetic? Why can't you just do as you're told? Why are you so ugly and stupid? Why do I have to be seen with a freak like you? Why don't you just kill yo-

"Taylor?" Glory Girl said again. A little firmer this time. She squeezed Taylor's hand back and a gentle wave of calm emanated from the hero. "It's okay, we're gonna sit in the far corner. Okay? You don't need to worry about anyone else. I'll introduce you to my friends. They can become your friends too, okay?"

Taylor nodded gently, taking in a deep breath. Her feet started moving again, and she started feeling better with every step. The hero's hand gripped tightly, not pulling but guiding Taylor away from the large crowd of onlookers, most of which were moving on to get about their day.

Taylor's calming moments didn't last for very long as she caught eyes on Glory Girl's 'friends'. In hindsight, it was pretty obvious who they were going to be but Taylor wasn't exactly thinking straight at the time. Glory Girl was now pulling Taylor in front of her posse, the group of students who clung to the hero all day long, the group of students who Taylor was sure wore masks of their own. Taylor had fallen into the hero's trap. She was now face to face with the Wards.

-----------------------------------------------

"Everybody, This is Taylor," Victoria said with a charming smile. Her group of friends all turned their heads to see the new girl Vicky had brought with her. "She's our new friend, starting now. Everybody say 'Hi'."

Victoria had no idea what she was doing when she took Taylor's hand. The girl was halfway to bolting off into the city and willing to start a cape fight on school grounds to get the rest of the way there.

It was a dangerous situation, like cornering a wild animal. The closer she got to Taylor, the more she found out about Taylor's history, the more she could recognise the pain behind her fear.

The girl even seemed like she had a mild panic attack simply walking into the cafeteria. Victoria was used to having everyone look in her direction, she was never one to 'flaunt' being the center of attention, yet she never had a problem with it either. Taylor on the other hand, hated being seen. That much was clear. Getting her away from the lunchtime crowd and tucked away at a table top priority.

Victoria didn't want to think what might happen if 'Skitter' had a full-blown panic attack while at school.

While Skitter might be a dangerous and terrifying villain, Taylor was a lonely and hurt girl that needed some friends. The plan remained. Introduce Taylor to her friendship group, and welcome her into the fold with open arms and a cheery smile. Show the would-be villainess that life can be good and that the world isn't an evil, rotten place. And maybe make a new bestie down the line.

Victoria could do this. Her friends were great, her friends are heroes!…

'Oh, god, all my friends are heroes.'

Taylor tensed up again upon spotting the table full of Wards. Granted, not everyone at the table was a Ward. Only Dean, Dennis and Carlos were the Wards at the table. Plus Amy, not a Ward but a hero nonetheless. The two other girls who sat with them were Jessica and Alice, they were standard civilians however Jessica liked to joke about being Vista whenever someone would ask. Not that anyone would take her seriously, the height difference alone made that obvious.

Taylor locked eyes with Amy and then Dean. It was pretty obvious to know that Dean was Gallant, it was a barely guarded secret around the school. Then Taylor looked towards Dennis and Carlos, the fearful worry across the girl's face made it obvious that Taylor knew, or at least had a good guess as to who they were.

Victoria gave Taylor's hand another affirming squeeze. As if to tell the girl that everything was going to be alright. Taylor's worried face dropped into a more neutral position yet her tight hand grip betrayed her poker face. She wanted to give Taylor some reassurance, some way to feel safe. Because Victoria could only imagine how difficult this situation must be for the girl.

She shot a pleading look towards the group, a look that said, 'Play along, be nice.'

The group shot into action, making space for the new girl and welcoming her onto the table.

"Hello, Taylor."

"Hola!"

"Hey…"

"Sup, Taylor."

"Hi."

Victoria turned back to Taylor with a gentle smile, hoping to ease the girl into a seat at the table. For all Taylor's anxiety that Vicky could feel in her hand, she did well at keeping a neutral face after the initial shock wore off. Now away from the large mass of students and only under the judging eyes of Victoria's posse, most people in the group only saw a quiet girl that didn't want to be there.

Only Dean could truly see the turmoil going on inside Taylor's head. The girl radiated fear, to the point that Dean would've assumed that Vicky had kidnapped the poor girl. He looked at Vicky as if to ask what going on. Victoria had built something of an obsession with this 'Taylor' the past few days and now here she stood, the mysterious girl.

Taylor sat down between Victoria and Dean. A supervillain casually sitting between Glory Girl and Gallant. Her obvious anxiety was understandable given the situation. The table went around introducing themselves.

"You finally found her." Dennis laughed, causing Taylor to flinch slightly. "So good to finally put a name to the mystery girl."

"Sorry about Vicky," Dean said, trying to calm Taylor with a smile of his own. "She can be a little intense, but she means well."

Taylor made an affirmative mumble as she tried to shrink down into her seat. One of the girls, Jessica was the first to launch into a question for the new girl.

"So, Taylor? How are you finding Arcadia? Did you transfer from out of town?"

"No," Taylor mumbled back, struggling to look the girl in the eyes. "I'm a local… came from Winslow… Arcadia is fine, I guess."

"Oh, Winslow? What was-" Jessica began before seeing Vicky shake her head with an intense stare. "-I mean, what do you like to do? Got any fun hobbies?"

"I like to read? Fiction novels and the like." Taylor said, speaking a little clearer.

"Oh, so we have another nerd like Vicky," Dennis joked before wincing with pain as Victoria kicked him, hard, in the leg. "What? Sorry. That's a good thing. Now you have someone to talk books with or whatever."

Taylor shrank down again after being called a nerd. Victoria glared daggers at Dennis and the rest of the table quickly understood the implication. Don't make fun of the new girl, lest you'll face Vicky's wraith.

Amy looked up at Taylor, inspecting her over. Then with a weary smile, she said, "So, we meet again."

Taylor squirmed in her seat. Believing that Panacea recognised her from the bank. Glory Girl might have given her some slack for being a troubled teenager but Taylor held a knife to Panacea's throat.

"Sorry…" Taylor mumbled again, preparing to bolt from the table. Victoria held her hand, this time a little firmer than when she led Taylor here.

"Amy met you a while back, during her work at the hospital," Victoria said quickly, making sure to explain what Amy meant.

Taylor blinked in confusion. It took her a few moments to realise that Amy didn't recognise her as a villain. She relaxed again in Victoria's hand.

"Oh?… I see." Taylor said, letting out a sigh. "I didn't remember."

Amy shook her head. "Doubt you would, I barely remembered myself." Looking over Taylor again, Amy tilted her head before extending a hand out to Taylor. "Do you want me to heal you?" She said it in such a casual way that it took Taylor a few seconds to understand what Amy was asking.

"W-what?" Taylor said, looking up to Victoria for confirmation.

"Your glasses?" Amy clarified, still holding her hand out. "Do I have permission to heal you?"

Taylor slowly pushed her hand out, contemplating Amy's offer before then pulling away. She shied away from the hand and stiffly shook her head. While the rest of the table was confused to see someone pass up on free 'magic' healthcare, Amy herself took no offence to the girl turning her offer down. Amy returned back to her food and didn't give Taylor much attention for the rest of the lunch break.

After a few more introductory questions at Taylor, the rest of the table eventually settled into a standard conversation among friends. Taylor herself shrunk into the background, more comfortable listening to the group rather than adding to the discussion. Victoria made sure to include Taylor along the way, often pausing to ask Taylor about her thoughts on whatever idle matter they were discussing.

Taylor would respond to this with one-word answers or short sentences that would've ended the conversation there. The girl was terrible at small talk, much like Amy in that regard. But whereas Amy avoided small talk out of disinterest, Taylor struggled out of her unfamiliarity with the new situation.

It was only the first meeting. Victoria knew if she kept at it, Taylor would eventually open up. She was determined to bring Taylor into the group, even if she had to have a firm 'one on one' chat with every member after this on how to approach Taylor.

Eventually, the topic of conversation turned to what everyone should do after school. Carlos and Dennis had 'work' and Dean was a little too forward in wanting to spend time with Victoria. Taylor picked up that they were currently 'on a break' as Victoria ignored Dean's suggestions.

"We're gonna go to the mall," Alice said with Jessica. "They've got that new antique store that I've been wanting to check out." Jessica

"Oh yeah!" Victoria chirped, "That place looked interesting. We should all go. Taylor? Do you want to come too? We can turn it into a whole 'girls day'?"

Taylor was only half listening at this point, she'd relaxed into her seat and was slowly beginning to realise that Victoria was serious about their 'deal.' She felt Vicky squeeze her hand again which snapped her back out of her thoughts.

"Huh, what? Sorry?" Taylor said, looking at Victoria and the two other girls.

"Want to visit the mall after school?" Victoria asked again, with her usual gentle smile.

"Oh… Sure, I guess." Taylor said with a half-hearted attempt at a smile. It was an improvement. Then Taylor let out a small gasp of realisation. "Oh, wait. After school, Today? Sorry. No. I can't I have… work?" She froze at that last word. To the rest of the table, it seemed like a perfectly valid excuse, students had part-time work all the time. Only Victoria knew exactly what Taylor meant.

"Oh, no worries then." Alice said, "What do you do for work?"

Taylor shifted awkwardly under Vicky's gaze. "Oh, y'know…" Taylor mumbled, trying to avoid Victoria's judgement. "A friend of mine got me a job. Admin work, at a construction company… It's just boring computer work and coffee making."

This was the given lie that Lisa had drilled into all the Undersiders. All their payment came under contract work from a 'Fortress Construction' and if anyone ever asked Taylor where she made her money, that was the excuse she was to give. Taylor had already had to tell her Dad about her 'new job' when she offered to help pay the bills.

"Oh, cool," Alice said, nodding her head.

"It pays the bills…" Taylor chuckled awkwardly, still avoiding Victoria's disappointed look.

Luckily for Taylor, the school bell rang. Signifying the end of lunch. Taylor wasted no time getting off the table and running to class. Leaving the group behind.

"Well, that was something." Dennis chuckled.

"She seems… nice?" Jessica added.

"She's a bit… skittish? Is she alright?" Carlos asked.

"She's… just not used to people. I think." Victoria said. "She had a bad time in her last school, she just needs time to learn how to have fun again. Amy can you look out for her during class. Since you're in the same grade."

Amy huffed to herself before looking up at her sister. "Yeah, sure."

"Great!" Victoria said with her usual smile. "And the rest of you. Can you 'please' be nice to Taylor. I know she's a little quiet but I think she just needs some coaxing out of her shell."

"Why are you so gung-ho about this girl?" Dean asked, "It's not like you to pick up strays."

Victoria didn't know how to answer that. She obviously couldn't admit that the girl was Skitter and that this was all the first step into reforming the girl from her villainous ways.

"Because she needed a friend," Victoria said, giving only the partial truth.

"It sounded like she already has friends," Dennis mentioned, raising a pointed finger. "The one that got her a job." Vicky shot him an angry look. "Not that a girl can have too many friends." He added in defence.

"Okay, what was that?" Dean asked, Victoria trying and failing to calm her emotions.

"Nothing," Vicky lied.

"You obviously have 'strong' opinions on Taylor's other friends, whoever they are."

"I just…" Victoria started, trying to think of the best way to explain it. "Feel, that Taylor could use better friends… in school… friends in school. That's all."

"Mmhmm… Sure." Dean said, not completely buying it but not wanting to start an argument.

--------------------------------------------------
End of School

With classes over, Taylor collected her bag and headed off for 'work.' This had been the single most stressful day of school Taylor had in Arcadia since her first day here and she wanted nothing more than to hide away in the Undersider's base.

She always felt more confident as 'Skitter.' Something about wearing the mask, wielding her power openly and the 'respect' people showed her. While Taylor would always have 'moral issues' with becoming a villain, she had to admit, it could be fun at times to let loose.

Taylor was honestly looking forward to hearing what new kind of job Brian and Lisa had picked out for them today. After the last job had gone south, the Undersiders were looking for a safe and simple job to make up for the lack of pay from the tech robbery.

Before Taylor could leave, she caught Victoria waiting for her at the entrance of the school. This set Taylor on alert again. She'd come to terms with accepting that Victoria did indeed want her to have a 'normal' school life again, but now that school was over, it was about to get complicated.

"Taylor? Can we talk?" Victoria asked, walking away from the group of students she was with. Leading the two into a private spot to speak.

"Uh, I'm kinda running late already..." Taylor said, letting herself get swept up in Victoria's movement regardless.

"So, you're going to work?" Vicky asked, Taylor had admitted that during lunch and the hero knew what that meant.

"Um… maybe?" Taylor said, trying to find a subtle way of sidestepping the hero. "Is that… a problem?" She wasn't sure if that was meant to come out as a question or a threat. Taylor was still ready to fight if it came to it.

Victoria sighed but shook her head. "I won't stop you from going. I meant what I said. No fighting while we're at school." Taylor relaxed again after hearing that. "I don't agree with it. But I also don't expect you to stop after a single lunch with my friends… Thank you for coming with me. I hope that you weren't too stressed out."

"It was… a lot," Taylor admitted. "I didn't expect to be having lunch with heroes today… But it wasn't terrible." Victoria took the little victory.

"They're all really great people once you get to know them." Victoria said, "Even Dennis, sorry about him. I'll tell him to leave the jokes to a minimum."

Taylor shrugged her shoulders. "It's alright."

"Also?…" Victoria asked, hesitantly. "I was wondering why you didn't accept Amy's offer? I know she can be a little… abrasive, but I hope you two can get along too."

It was Taylor's turn to hesitate. "Uh… I was worried that she'd… I don't know. Find out who I am if she healed me."

"Oh, Right." Vicky shook her head and explained. "No, her powers don't work like that. She'll know you're a parahuman, she already does. But beyond that, she'd have no idea."

"I see…" Taylor said then looked away. "Also, I felt bad… having her heal my eyesight after… the bank and all that." Taylor turned down to her feet, afraid of Victoria's reaction to mentioning the bank. "I'm sorry… for that day. I never… I didn't… It all happened so fast, and then you showed up and I thought that you'd… kill me or something so I panicked and grabbed her. I wouldn't… you know… I'm sorry."

Taylor tensed up, expecting some kind of retribution. She was surprised to receive a hug instead.

"What's this for?" Taylor asked confused. Accepting the warm embrace from Victoria

"No reason," Vicky said, ending the hug. "I was pretty mad at the time… okay, I was pretty damn furious. But the apology helps. Amy already explained to me that she didn't think you were going to hurt her, it's nice to have it confirmed by you." Taylor let out a sigh of relief. "I still don't get the whole 'villain' thing or why you do it. Not fully. But I've never had a villain apologise to me, so I guess you're not all that bad." Victoria chuckled to herself.

"So? You're not going to follow me are you?" Taylor asked, worried about the limits of their 'deal.'

"No," Vicky chuckled again. "You don't have to worry about that. I don't 'want' to arrest you, Taylor. Even if my job says otherwise." The implication in those words was clear, 'I'm still going to try to catch Skitter if I come across her.' "But that's not what I wanted to talk to you about."

Placing her hand into her pants, Victoria pulled out her cell phone and waved it with a smile.

"I forgot to ask for your number. Can't be friends if I can't call you every now and again."

Taylor looked at the phone and then felt the phone in her own pocket. She wasn't the greatest fan of them ever since her mother died. Lisa had bought her the phone during her first week in the Undersiders, so far she had only used it for 'villain business.' The idea of giving her number to Glory Girl seemed like a terrible idea.

Taylor was slowly picking up on a weakness she never knew she had, cute blonde girls who could break down her walls with a smile. First Lisa, the villain who welcomed her into the Undersiders, and now Victoria, the hero who welcomed her into her posse. Hesitantly, Taylor removed the phone from her pocket and exchanged numbers with the smiling blonde.

"Great!" Victoria beamed, "Oh, and we're going to the mall one way or another. Tell me when you're free from 'work' and I'll take you shopping."

Taylor thought for a moment, looking at the new contact in her phone. "Uh… I don't have any plans for Friday."

"It's a date!" Victoria said, jumping to a small hover off the ground. "We'll go after school. No backing out. I'll show you how to live it up, Arcadia style!"

--------------------------
Half an hour later

"I'm here," Taylor called out as she entered the Undersider's base. She was greeted by Rachel's dogs who did a quick sniff over the girl before returning back to Rachel. Taylor might not get on well with 'Bitch' but she was fond of the dogs, knowing which dogs to scratch in the right places.

Lisa welcomed Taylor with her usual grin and Brian gave a friendly nod. The two were already discussing the specifics of whatever job the Undersiders were planning to do next.

Alec waved Taylor over and threw a game controller at her. Taylor caught it in two hands and was quickly ushered onto the couch the boy was already lying on. He had a habit of making her play whatever shooter was popular at the time. Taylor wasn't great at video games, not owning a console of her own, so watching her fiddle with the confusing controls while getting shot was as entertaining to Alec as playing the game itself.

The difference between hanging out with Vicky's group and the Undersiders was night and day. Granted, today's session at lunch mimicked the early days of Taylor with the villainous team. It had taken a few days to really learn how to relax with the teens and understand each of their personalities. Learning the difference between what were outright teasing and just someone's usual behaviour.

Alec's insistence on making Taylor play his video games for example. Taylor didn't mind the game. When Alec had first done it to her, she was worried that the boy was making fun of her. Lisa quickly explained that he did this to everyone in the group. Lisa proved to be too good at the game to be interesting, Brian simply refused to play and Rachel is the reason why they only have one controller now. The fact that Alec kept passing the controller to Taylor was his way of saying that he liked having her around, without actually saying something mushy like that.

A lot of the 'crazy crime hi-jinks' the Undersiders got up to was actually a small part of Taylor's time with the group. Jobs needed to be planned, locations needed to be surveyed and everyone needed to prepare. The actual time spent committing crime went by pretty quickly. They'd spend three days getting ready to rob an apartment in ten minutes, whatever job they were planning wouldn't take place for a few more days.

Until then, Taylor's 'job' was getting to hang out with her friends while staying on call for their 'mysterious benefactor.' A much less stressful environment than sitting at a table with several heroes during lunch.

"Everything okay, Tay?" Lisa asked from the planning table.

"What?" Taylor said, turning away from the screen.

"Grenade, look out for the grenade! Never mind…" Alec laughed. Taylor turned back to see her character get blown up.

"You seem distracted," Lisa continued, "How was school?"

"Fine..."She lied, Taylor knew that Lisa picked up on that, so she added, "Made a new friend… I think?"

"On your left," Alec said, prodding Taylor. "Left left! The other way! And you're dead…"

"New friend, huh? What's she like?" Lisa said, implying more than her question asked.

"How'd you know it's a girl?" Taylor asked, looking at the controller and trying to remember which button to swap her weapon.

"Lucky guess," Lisa giggled, watching how Taylor blushed at the question. Whoever it was must have been cute to get Taylor to open up at school.

"You have to hit the glowing red bit. You're just wasting ammo." Alec continued, ignoring Lisa's conversation.

"So, have we got a new job?" Taylor asked curiously.

"Sure do."

"Actually, now might be a good time to explain," Brian said before calling Rachel from her room to join the rest of the group.

"Just in time." Alec laughed, looking at the bloody 'game over' screen.

Taylor put the controller down and climbed over the couch. Alec chose to stay on the couch but turned to listen. Rachel walked up with one of her dogs, leaning against a wall. Brain and Lisa took positions around the city map.

"Alright, clear your schedules, we got work this Saturday." Brian began, looking around the room. "Another smash n grab. Well, smash mainly, but we're free to take any loot we find."

Rachel huffed with a smile, she liked the loud jobs and smashing up a place was fun, and oddly therapeutic.

Lisa moved to talk, "This job comes from the boss themself, so make sure to be 'extra' smashy."

"I'll bring my good baseball bat, no worries," Alec said.

"Who's the target?" Taylor asked, hoping that it'd be another Nazi or someone of the like.

"Just some poor elderly man who selling junk," Lisa explained before noting Taylor's conflicted face. "Okay, it's not that bad. It's drugs, he's selling drugs from his store. However, he didn't go through the proper channels, old dude thinks he can set up shop as an independent and no one will know. Well, people know. We're trying to scare him out of doing business in the bay. Before someone worse, like the ABB, decide to give a more permanent message."

"Wait, we don't deal in drugs do we?" Taylor asked.

"No." Said Brian with a hint of anger in his voice. Taylor noted that drugs might be a touchy subject for him. "We don't touch the stuff, don't know why the boss cares, but I have no problem torching the place."

"Yeah, fire!" Alec chuckled.

"That was hyperbole…" Brian sighed, "We're not burning the place down, just smashing it up."

Alec looked genuinely disappointed. Lisa and Taylor giggled at his crestfallen reaction.

"Regardless, we need to scope out the place. It's still an unknown, we're told it's independently run but you never know. So, Lisa and Taylor will go first on Friday, and see if they can spot any hidden defence. If we're lucky, it will just be an idiot with his shop, it'll be easy money and we can call sleep knowing we took some drugs off the street."

"Oh, Friday?" Taylor asked, worried about her new deal with Vicky. "I kinda already made plans to go to the mall with that new friend. Any chance I can-"

Taylor wasn't sure what the deal was with asking for 'time off.' The Undersiders weren't exactly a standard job and she wasn't looking forward to explaining to Vicky how she'd have to cancel their plans to go commit crime. Even if 'scoping' a location wasn't a crime in itself.

"No worries," Lisa said, cutting Taylor off with a smirk. "I can join up with you and your friend. It's the same place after all. Some new antique store at the mall. We can make it a whole 'girls day'."

It took Taylor a few moments to register that comment.

"Oh… sure."

Taylor couldn't exactly tell the Undersiders that her 'new friend' was Glory Girl. She wasn't sure if Lisa picked up on her worry, if Lisa did notice anything, she didn't say a word.

"Great!" Lisa said with her vulpine grin. "It's a date!"

 

Undersiders Base

"I'm here," Taylor called out as she entered the Undersider's base. Lisa smiled as the girl walked in the door.

Comfortable with home base, thinks of it as a second home now.

Lisa watched as Taylor was greeted by the dogs who did a quick sniff over the girl. Taylor reached out and petted one of them.

Knows which dogs are safe to pet, wants the comfort of animal.
Stressed. Stressful school day. Something happened at school?

Alec waved Taylor over and threw a game controller at her. Taylor caught it in two hands and was quickly ushered onto the couch the boy was already lying on.

Accepted Alec's invitation without stumbling, looking forward to new job today, wanted distraction.
Something definitely happened at school today. Taylor more on edge than usual.

Brian kept trying to discuss details over the city map with Lisa but she was far too distracted at this point. She watched as Alec teased Taylor over her 'gaming skills.' It was a playful tease that Taylor had learned to enjoy rather than fear.

"Everything okay, Tay?" Lisa asked hoping to get some more info on what Taylor was trying to distract herself from.

"What?" Taylor said, turning away from the screen.

Fidgeting, nervous. School was stressful, wants to ignore it. Hang out with friends.
Considers us friends. Safe place. Needs safe place?

"You seem distracted," Lisa continued trying to hold her casual smile, "How was school?"

"Fine..." Taylor said.

Lying. Doesn't want to worry me. Worried? Afraid of something… someone?
Bullying? Taylor is being bullied again?

Lisa sighed internally, 'Alright, who do I have to kill?'

"Made a new friend… I think?" Taylor added with a small smile.

Not a lie? Unsure. Taylor doesn't know if true or not. Hopes it's true.
New friend in Arcadia, smiling involuntarily, blush forming along cheeks.
New friend is attractive? Reminds Taylor of me. Blonde? Charming? Girl?

"New friend, huh? What's she like?" Lisa asked, raising an eyebrow at Taylor.

"How'd you know it's a girl?" Taylor asked, turning away from Lisa,

Hiding embarrassment. Definitely a girl. Cute girl, forward. Extrovert. Taylor has a crush? Forming a crush? Early days. Just met her. Conflicting emotions. Scared of girl? Why? Unknown.

"Lucky guess," Lisa giggled, watching how Taylor blushed at the question.

"So, have we got a new job?" Taylor asked curiously.

Wants to change the subject, doesn't want me to know who new friend is.

"Sure do," Lisa said, letting it slide for now.

"Actually, now might be a good time to explain," Brian said realising that Lisa hadn't been paying attention since Taylor entered the room.

Taylor put the controller down and climbed over the couch. Alec chose to stay on the couch but turned to listen. Rachel walked up with one of her dogs, leaning against a wall. Brain and Lisa took positions around the city map.

"Alright, clear your schedules, we got work this Saturday." Brian began, looking around the room. "Another smash n grab. Well, smash mainly, but we're free to take any loot we find."

Rachel huffed with a smile.

Rachel in good mood, dogs like Taylor, make dogs happy, makes Rachel happy. Like's destructive jobs.

Lisa moved to talk, "This job comes from the boss themself, so make sure to be 'extra' smashy."

Lisa looked to Rachel for that last bit, she appreciated the not-so-subtle way of saying that Rachel was free to let loose on this job.

"I'll bring my good baseball bat, no worries," Alec said.

Alec happy with any job. Actually owns a 'good baseball bat.' Owns several for this specific type of job? Well prepared? No, just likes breaking things.

"Who's the target?" Taylor asked.

Needs reason to attack location. Must confide with moral code. Code flexible but won't admit it. Looking forward to job but won't admit it. Enjoys being a villain but won't admit it.

"Just some poor elderly man who selling junk," Lisa explained as a joke before seeing Taylor's conflicted face.

Too far for current moral code. Needs extra justification. Shouldn't tease too much when comes to crime.

"Okay, it's not that bad. It's drugs, he's selling drugs from his store." Lisa continued, watching Taylor relax. "However, he didn't go through the proper channels, old dude thinks he can set up shop as an independent and no one will know. Well, people know. We're trying to scare him out of doing business in the bay. Before someone worse, like the ABB, decide to give a more permanent message."

"Wait, we don't deal in drugs do we?" Taylor asked.

Drugs are a hard no for Taylor? No, just a 'strong' no? Could be persuaded if selling to right people. Moral code is 'very' flexible.

'Huh? Taylor's morals are more flexible than I thought. Note to self, never push Taylor too far. Could end up scary. Doesn't matter, Undersiders don't deal with drugs.'

"No." Said Brian with a hint of anger in his voice.

Hates drugs, Brian's mother is an addict. Will never work with drugs.

'Yeah, tell me something I don't know. Stupid power.'

"We don't touch the stuff," Brian continued, "Don't know why the boss cares, but I have no problem torching the place."

"Yeah, fire!" Alec chuckled.

Will start fire for any reason. Never give him matches.

"That was hyperbole…" Brian sighed, "We're not burning the place down, just smashing it up."

Alec looked genuinely disappointed. Lisa and Taylor giggled at his crestfallen reaction.

"Regardless, we need to scope out the place. It's still an unknown, we're told it's independently run but you never know. So, Lisa and Taylor will go first on Friday, and see if they can spot any hidden defence. If we're lucky, it will just be an idiot with his shop, it'll be easy money and we can call sleep knowing we took some drugs off the street."

"Oh, Friday?" Taylor asked, worried. "I kinda already made plans to go to the mall with that new friend."

New friend already taking Taylor out. On a date? Probably not? Worried about new friend's identity. Doesn't want Undersiders to know. Cute, Blonde from Arcadia, reminds Taylor of me. Parahuman? Cape?…

Lisa's eyes went wide with realisation.

'Taylor's new friend is Glory Girl.'

"Any chance I can-" Taylor was about to ask to postpone the job.

"No worries," Lisa said, cutting Taylor off with a smirk. "I can join up with you and your friend. It's the same place after all. Some new antique store at the mall. We can make it a whole 'girls day'."

Taylor afraid of us meeting. Doesn't want to worry Undersiders with personal issues. Worried we won't get along.

"Oh… sure," Taylor mumbled.

'What does Glory Girl want with Taylor?'

Unclear. Taylor is obviously afraid. Need to check her out. Make sure Taylor is safe.

"Great!" Lisa said with her vulpine grin. "It's a date!"

---------------------------------------------------
Friday After School

Victoria made sure that Taylor joined her for lunch every day while at school. It had been a few days since they made 'the deal' and Victoria was determined to be a positive influence on the girl.

Taylor was shy, that much was obvious. Throwing her into a large circle of people who didn't know her at all might not have been the best approach to start with. She didn't participate in the group conversations during the first days. Ending up getting talked over by some of the louder members of the posse. It didn't help that the rest of the group wasn't as dedicated as she was to including Taylor, that changed after the second day.

Victoria had sent out a group message to her inner circle of friends, explaining exactly why Taylor had become her 'new best friend.' Granted, it didn't explain 'everything' that was going on, but they all got the quick notes on Taylor's backstory. A shy girl, bullied out of her previous high school. Afraid of students her age and wallowing in misery over her 'unjust life.'

No one in the group except Amy knew that Taylor was a parahuman, and no one except Victoria knew what Taylor could do with her powers, or what Taylor did with her powers. Vicky really painted a picture that tugged on the heartstrings, while avoiding the mention that Taylor was also the new, infamous villain known as Skitter.

With everyone in the know, Victoria saw a quick turnaround with how friendly everyone was to the new girl. On the third day, Taylor was bombarded with care and friendship, much to Taylor's confusion as to what had changed. Alice and Jessica both started treating Taylor like she was something like an injured kitten that they wanted to see better, Dean had a good excuse for the conflicted emotions he could sense from Taylor, Carlos was always polite, to begin with, but he made extra sure not to talk over Taylor anymore, Amy acted like she didn't care but Vicky knew that she did and even Dennis held back from making jokes at Taylor's expense.

Victoria smiled at how well her plan was coming along. In just a few short days, Taylor had gone from being a social outcast to being surrounded by compassionate friends. It was a 'little' manipulative to use Taylor's 'tragic' history to speed things along, the girl might not like the fact that Vicky told everyone behind her back but Taylor was never going to open up on her own and it was 'for a good cause.'

Once Friday rolled around, Taylor had tasted what a 'normal' high school life should look like. There was always room to improve but it was a good first week. As the bell rang out for school to end, Vicky walked to the entrance of the school.

The next part of her plan was about to take place. Creating new, positive memories with Taylor, outside of school. No large group this time, just Taylor and Vicky.

Or so she had hoped…

Taylor had mentioned that a friend of hers had 'invited' herself along. At first, Vicky was happy to learn that Taylor had other friends. However, she quickly remembered that it was her 'friend' that gave Taylor her 'job' and that any other friends that didn't go to Arcadia were highly likely to be people she worked with.

Taylor's nervous expression when she told Vicky already gave away that fact. She had a terrible poker face. Someone from the Undersiders had invited themselves along to their outing. A villain.

Vicky wasn't sure what the plan was when it came to Taylor's 'friends.' She promised not to attack or try to arrest Taylor while in public, but did the same deal extend to her teammates? Victoria could justify letting Skitter's crimes slide for now but she knew nothing of the other members of her team. Victoria's moral compass could only move so far, for now, she decided not to start a fight unless first attacked. She was a hero, she would lead by example.

Victoria met Taylor by the school gate. Taylor greeted her with a small smile. It was a victory in itself, seeing the girl smile at her presence. Proof that Vicky was having a positive influence on the girl, causing the 'would-be' villain to smile involuntarily. Victoria shot back an even bigger smile, causing the girl to blush.

-------------------------------------------

"Ready to go?" Vicky asked, embracing Taylor in a hug. Taylor wasn't a big fan of physical attention. She'd often flinch at the slightest touch, an example of her mental state from being bullied, something Victoria was going to overcome through positive reinforcement.

"Yeah," Taylor mumbled, stiffened from the embrace. Victoria was the second friend to actively hug her in recent memories. Lisa also had the annoying habit of wrapping her arms around Taylor, although Taylor could admit that it felt nice after the initial shock. "How are we getting there? I'd usually take the bus."

"Don't worry about that." Victoria chuckled, letting go of Taylor. "I'll fly us there!"

"Wait, what?" Taylor stiffened up in worry again. "I-I don't know. That sounds a little scary."

"You'll be fine," Victoria said, casually lifting Taylor into a standard 'princess carry' position. "I fly Amy around all the time and she loves it."

Before Taylor could protest any further Victoria took to the air, soaring high above the school. Taylor held tightly to Victoria, afraid that the hero would slip and send her falling to the ground below.

Taylor expected to feel the freezing cold winds of a high altitude, or the intense g-force of shooting up at such high speeds but she felt neither. Only the slight breeze of the wind and an unusual warmth covered her whole body. She didn't even feel like she was being lifted by Vicky's arms, more like a force had picked up her entire body and lifted it along with Victoria. Taylor wasn't being carried while Victoria flew, they were both flying.

"Huh…" Taylor mused as she opened her eyes, shut tightly out of fear upon take off. She looked out over at the scene, she could see all of Brockton Bay from up here. Then she looked back and up at Vicky, the hero was also taking in the view. Her signature smile shined along her face as she gazed off into the distance. Golden hair gently flowing in the wind, somehow managing to stay together during the flight. Taylor couldn't help but comment on what she saw. "Beautiful…"

"I know right," Vicky said proudly. Still looking out over at the city. "I never get tired of this view, or this feeling."

Taylor blushed and mumbled an affirmative as she realised what she just said, thankful that Victoria thought she was talking about the city. She was only too aware now how tightly she was hugging the hero.

"So, uh… we should… the mall," Taylor mumbled in embarrassment.

"Oh, right." Vicky nodded, looking around before finding her target. "Let's go!"

The two shot off in a direction, the speed was incredible for Taylor. She'd read up on Glory Girl's capabilities online, but feeling it in person was a completely different thing. They reached the mall in no time, they'd probably still be waiting at the bus stop if they'd taken that route.

----------------------------------------
Brockton Bay Mall

"So, where are we meeting your friend?" Victoria asked as they walked into the mall.

"Not sure…" Taylor said, thinking to herself. As if to answer her question, her phone buzzed with a message. It was Lisa. Taylor read the message and then looked at Vicky. "Ah, she says she's running late. That we should go 'have fun' and that she'll find us when she gets here."

Victoria let out an internal sigh. She'd get a least a little time alone with Taylor before butting heads with a villain. Victoria made a quick mental note, Taylor was vague on who it was they would be meeting so Vicky tried to fill in the gaps herself.

'She?… So it's one of the girls in the group. That means it's either Hellhound or Tattletale… I don't know which is worse.'

Shaking her thought off, she turned back to Taylor who was looking around the mall with curiosity.

"Got any favourite shops?" Victoria asked, they didn't have a real plan once they got here.

Taylor shook her head. "Not really… I don't really come here much since…" She didn't finish the sentence. "Sorry, I'm not exactly sure what teenagers do in a mall anymore. I'm boring like that." Taylor chuckled in a self-deprecating manner.

"That's alright, you're not boring at all," Victoria said, taking Taylor's hand. She didn't like the way Taylor put herself down like that.

"Oh! Well, my friend took me shopping a few weeks back." Taylor chirped up, remembering when Lisa took her out to 'live it up, 'Undersider's Style.' "At the Boardwalk, just clothes and stuff. I don't know much about fashion but that's something we can do."

Victoria smiled at the idea. "Sure, we can do that. I know just the place."

A quick walk later and the two girls were in a popular boutique. All manner of clothing was on display as Victoria looked on with wide-eyed glee. Taylor herself, true to word, didn't know much about fashion. She was comfortable wearing the same jacket and jeans combo throughout the week rather than picking a new outfit every day. Looking at the tops, skirts and dresses on display, Taylor couldn't tell much of a difference from one design to another.

Victoria on the other hand was obsessing over a particular white dress that was on display in the center of the store. It looked pretty enough but not enough to warrant the audible gasp Victoria made when she saw it.

"Look at this…" Vicky said with awe as she reached out and felt the fabric. "Isn't it so pretty?"

"I guess," Taylor said in agreement. While she didn't understand fashion, she enjoyed seeing Victoria's passion shine through. "It kind of reminds me of your Glory Girl costume, I'm assuming you have a preferred style."

"I'm that obvious, huh?" Vicky said with a chuckle.

"No, I didn't mean-" Taylor stammered, afraid that she made fun of her friend, "It suits you, is all…"

"Thanks." Victoria said with another smile that made Taylor blush, "I love this store, they always seem to have exactly what I want. Between you and me, I think they've caught on that 'Glory Girl' shops here and are trying to target me specifically." Vicky turned back to the dress to admire it again. "And it's working."

Taylor smiled at the hero's expression. It reminded her of something, something painful that made her sad again. Victoria picked up on the sudden shift of mood.

"You okay, Taylor?" She asked, a comforting hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Yeah…" Taylor lied, the hand feeling firmer as Victoria coaxed an explanation out of her. "Sorry, you got all excited about clothing and it reminded me of my old friend… She's kind of a model. All pretty and popular… like you."

"Oh?" Victoria asked, still confused. She figured that Taylor remembering old memories of good times would lean more toward a positive side, especially if Vicky was similar to this 'old friend.' However the way Taylor said those last words reminded her of their first meeting at school.

'I don't need anyone's pity. Especially not from someone like you.'

Victoria put two and two together. Taylor's old friend had obviously been involved in the bullying, not someone Victoria wanted to be 'similar' with in any way. She wanted to pull Taylor into a hug and promise not to betray her like that, but Taylor shook herself out of the mood first.

"Sorry, ignore me," Taylor said, waving her hand, obviously wanting to change the subject. "You should buy the dress if you want it. I think you'd look great in it."

Victoria let the topic drop as she turned back to the dress. Then her eyes drifted down to the price tag. Victoria gasped again, this time not in awe, but in shock.

"Are you serious?" She whined, pointing to the price. "There's no way I can afford this. But I want it… No fair. They even had it in my size and everything."

Taylor looked at the price and let out a small breath. It was a pricey dress, even by general fashion standards. Not a ridiculous amount, but not something Taylor would ever consider putting money down on. Then again, Taylor spent the last few years living with her father while he barely managed to pay the bills, so the price of dresses never even entered her mind until now.

"It's funny," Taylor said as she thought out loud. "I always assumed that all you New Wave heroes were…" She cut herself off and shied away from the comment before mumbling an apology.

"What, rich?" Vicky chuckled letting Taylor know she wasn't offended. "I guess my parents are pretty well off, comes with the fame and all. But me? I'm just a teenager with an allowance." Taylor raised an eyebrow at that comment, something told her that Vicky's allowance was much higher than the one Taylor's Dad used to give her. "And…" Victoria continued to defend herself, "I 'may' have built up quite a bit of debt from my superhero antics… that I'm still paying back to this day."

This made Taylor actually gasp with a chuckled surprise. "You have a debt? How? To who?"

"To New Wave…" Victoria said with embarrassment, "Well, to the city. But New Wave paid for it, so part of my allowance goes to them until I pay it all off. I have, uh, had a habit of tearing up the city while fighting bad guys, especially in my first year. Turns out you can't just chuck a car at someone without people getting mad." Victoria chuckled at the comment.

"You throw cars at people!?" Taylor asked in horrified concern.

"No!" Victoria said quickly, then mumbling to herself. "It was only the one time. And I missed it anyway. Point is, I'm not as 'rich' as people think I am."

Taylor shelved the idea of Victoria throwing a car at another human for the time being. Still, watching Vicky's crestfallen expression was something Taylor could sympathise with. The hero had been good to Taylor, even when she didn't need to be, so Taylor figured she could give back in return.

Leaning over, Taylor picked up one of the dresses on the rack and held it to Victoria. Once she was sure it was the correct size she started walking towards the counter.

"Taylor?" Victoria asked, following along. "What are you doing?"

"Getting you a gift," Taylor said, a little unsure of herself. Taylor was embarrassed enough without Victoria pointing out what she was doing for her. Taylor placed the dress down on the counter as the store clerk scanned it.

The high price showed on the computer screen. Victoria watched on in amazement as Taylor didn't even double-check the cost or look at her phone before paying for it. She just placed down the dress, whipped out her card and swiped away. The dress was paid for, bagged and handed to Victoria in no time.

"Uh, ta-da," Taylor said nervously. Handing the bag to Vicky. "I hope you like it. I mean… I know you like it, that's why I bought it, but… y'know."

"You didn't have to…" Victoria said before smiling. "Thank you, Taylor. But why? And also how?"

"You've been a…" Taylor paused for a moment, thinking on her words. "A good friend, these last few days. This week… school doesn't suck as much as it used to… I guess. So, I wanted to say thanks."

Victoria couldn't hold it in any longer, she pulled Taylor into another hug. They'd only known each other for less than a week and Taylor already considered Victoria a 'good friend.' Her plan was working, better than she ever believed it could.

"Also, as to how…" Taylor said, a little more hesitantly while in Victoria's arms. "I did kinda rob a bank when we first met…"

Victoria let go of Taylor, looking over the girl. It was the obvious answer but Vicky had been so caught up that she forgot all about it.

"Oh my god!" Victoria whined. "You just paid for this dress with crime money."

Victoria shot the girl a disapproving look. Taylor shrunk down but still couldn't help but smile at that statement.

"Uh, yeah... Turns out…" Taylor chuckled. "That crime 'does' pay. A lot actually." Taylor shifted nervously under Vicky's gaze. "Sorry… We can… return it if you're not… comfortable. I was just trying to be nice."

Victoria let out a sigh but shook her head. "No, it's fine." She said, "I didn't expect you not to spend your ill-gotten gains. Besides, this is a… nice gift. Plus, now I have an excuse not to feel bad when I make you pay for everything." Victoria laughed at her joke as Taylor relaxed, eventually laughing alongside her.

"Oh, that's adorable." A female voice said from behind them.

Taylor stiffened up first, taking a wide step away from Vicky as she turned around. Victoria turned as well to see another blonde girl watching them. A devilish grin across her face as she looked between Taylor and Victoria.

"L-Lisa!" Taylor jumped with surprise. "When did you get here?"

Taylor looked in alarm between Victoria and Lisa, Victoria stood firm in a somewhat aggressive stance, wearily eyeing the new girl. Lisa didn't seem to care in the slightest that she was face-to-face with Glory Girl, or that Taylor was associating with her. She sauntered over to Taylor, ignoring the glaring hero.

"A little while ago," Lisa said, giving Taylor a friendly hug. She let go of Taylor after a quick squeeze but kept one hand locked on Taylor's hand. "Saw you two talking over the dress, decided to wait till you were done shopping." She turned towards Victoria, "Cute dress b-t-dubs. I'm sure it'd look great on you." Lisa extended a hand towards the hero. "Hi, I'm Lisa. Taylor's 'best' friend. I've been looking forward to meeting you."

Lisa smiled the same smug grin that Victoria had seen before, at the bank. Holding the same hand out casually as when it was extended with a gun. This was Taylor's 'friend.' She'd arrived in plain clothes and showed no hostile intentions. Victoria didn't relax in the slightest, she knew exactly who this is, a villain from the Undersiders. Tattletale.

Victoria extended her own hand to meet the villains. A firm grasp as they shook. She pulled her best 'fake' smile, the one her mother taught her how to use while talking to the media. "Oh, hey. Nice to meet you too. I'm Victoria. Taylor's new 'best' friend."

The two girls eyed each other down. Judging each other while putting up a pretence of polite conversation. Both of them had an idea of what the other person's plans were for Taylor, it was evident in the way they interacted with the girl.

Taylor was completely unaware of the rivalry forming before her very eyes. To her, this meeting was going better than she ever imagined. Lisa didn't try to shoot anyone. Vicky hadn't punched anyone through a wall. Granted, Taylor was too distracted to notice the subtle mood shift in the air. Something about having two pretty blonde girls both claim you as their best friend had an effect on the poor girl.

Taylor smiled a genuine smile. She had friends, best friends. Ignoring Lisa's smug grin and Vicky's tense glare, Taylor looked down at the source of the warm feeling she had. She held a friend in each hand, both gripped tightly, not letting go of her. This gave her a strange feeling that Taylor had thought was once impossible.

She never felt more wanted than she did right now.

 

Lisa smiled as she walked alongside Taylor. The hero kept giving Lisa some side-eye as she walked on the other side of Taylor. Lisa didn't let it phase her in the slightest, she knew that Victoria wouldn't try anything stupid while they were out in public. The three of them walked through the mall, the two girls pulling Taylor along by the hand as they explored the place. Lisa turned back to Taylor and took a read of the girl.

Happy but conflicted. Doesn't usually like it when people try to control her movements, or touch her in general, but doesn't mind being led this time. She likes it, she feels… cared for.

Lisa gave the girl a knowing smile, causing Taylor to fluster and try to pull away. Lisa didn't let her, holding her hand tighter instead as she broke into a giggle that caught Victoria's attention.

"What?" Victoria asked, already on the defensive.

Thinks I'm up to something, hates me for pulling gun on her in the bank. Thinks I'm a bad influence on Taylor. Trying to manipulate Taylor? Partly?… Wants to 'save' Taylor. From people like me.

"Nothing," Lisa said, smiling smugly back at the hero. "I just thought of a good store to take Taylor to."

Victoria frowned as Lisa started moving off in a direction, taking Taylor along with her. While Victoria was hesitant to follow Lisa's suggestion, Taylor held tightly onto Vicky's hand, not wanting the trio to separate.

Enjoys being with friends. Happy that we both consider her best friend. Wants us both to get along. Feels guilty for never considering best friend, can't decide who best friend is, thinking about previous best friend, negative connotations, spiralling into negative mood. Needs immediate distraction.

"Here we go," Lisa said, giving Taylor's hand another little squeeze. "What do you think of this place?"

It was Taylor's turn to gasp in excitement as they approached a bookstore, hidden away in a back corner of the mall. It had a cosy, aged vibe to it even though the store itself was only a decade or so old. Taylor let go of both hands as she approached the shop, moving to pick up a book sitting on a shelf by the front.

Nostalgic book, used to own a copy. Read to her as child, probably by parental unit. Evokes feelings of melancholy and yet, grateful to see again.

Lisa watched as Taylor pocketed the book before moving on to another one. She left Taylor to her own devices, letting the girl work her way through the store. Victoria watched Lisa cautiously, eventually relaxing her guard after she saw how happy Taylor had become. She joined Taylor in exploring the little bookstore, picking through some stories that she found familiar.

The two girls made their way through the store, Taylor picked out various books, recommending a few to Victoria. Taylor became a lot more talkative when it came to her favourite books and it turned out that Victoria was also quite a bookworm, contrary to her appearance. Lisa watched on with a proud smile from the store's entrance, she knew this was a perfect place to help Taylor relax into their little outing.

Victoria noticed that Lisa was hanging back and waiting by the store's entrance. Taylor had collected a small handful of books and had started a conversation with the store owner at the counter. Lisa braced herself as Victoria approached, now that the two were out of Taylor's view there would be no holding back.

Relaxed, wary, curious, no outwardly hostile intent. Recognised how I helped Taylor relax. Giving me benefit of the doubt… for now. Still considers me… a rival? Will argue with me after small talk to break the ice.

Lisa smiled as Victoria took up a spot beside her. The two girls didn't speak to one another for a brief moment. Finally, Victoria opened her mouth to speak.

"Not interested in books?" She asked. A probing question, trying to work out what type of person Lisa was.

Lisa considered how she would respond to that. "I can't really get into books."

"Ah," Victoria chuckled, "One of those people who get too distracted easily, can't concentrate on books?"

"Not exactly," Lisa said with a small frown, flicking through a random book she picked up. "I used to like reading a lot as a child. I was a big Sherlock Holmes fan, wanted to be a detective and everything. But these days, my power kinda… spoils everything I read." Lisa let out a half-hearted chuckle. "I can get about a third into a book before I work out the ending, then I usually drop it. The same thing with most movies, but at least they have some interesting visuals and sounds, y'know?"

Victoria gave Lisa a sad frown.

Confused, thought I was a psychic. Doesn't understand my powers. Surprised I admitted to having powers, assumed I'd pretend not to be Tattletale. Sad that I can't enjoy books or movies.

Lisa broke into her signature smile, tossing the book back into a pile. Her grin put Victoria on the defensive again.

"So tense." Lisa chuckled, "What do you think I'm going to do?"

"Gee, I don't know. Shoot me?" Victoria said with a huff.

Lisa gave a faux gasp, "Me? Shoot the 'invincible' Glory Girl? That would be pretty stupid."

Victoria glared at her in response. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, Tattletale."

"Allegedly…" Lisa said with another smile.

"Cut the crap." Victoria said, "What 'are' you going to do? Are you spying on me? Making sure Taylor doesn't give up any of your secrets?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Lisa said with a huff of her own. "I came here to find out why 'Glory Girl' picked up a sudden interest in my friend. I half expected to find her led into some PRT trap."

"I would never," Victoria said with a gasp.

"Apparently so," Lisa said curiously. "Which makes me question your motives all the more."

"Hey!" Victoria said with a hiss, "I'm just looking out for Taylor. There's no 'motive,' she's a nice girl who needed a friend in school. A 'real' friend who isn't going to drag her down into a life of crime."

Lisa stared back at Victoria's scowl, sensing the truth in her words.

"Drag her down?" Lisa repeated, offended at the wording. "I lifted her up. She was damn near suicidal, taking on Lung when I found her. Now she has friends, a safe place to rest if she ever needs it, and more than enough money to fix any problem she'd ever come across. And now you come along thinking that she'd give it all up for what? A few good memories of high school?"

Lisa was surprised at how upset Victoria had made her, usually she was the one setting other people off with words.

"You're just using her!" Victoria hissed, both girls keeping their voices hushed so as to not arouse suspicion. "You saw some emotionally fragile girl with superpowers and baited her along with the promise of friendship and money. If you really cared about Taylor, you would see what's best for her, back off and-"

"And let you 'fix' her?" Lisa said with an annoyed chuckle, "That's what this is about, right? You caught a glimpse of the girl behind Skitter's mask and the 'hero' thinks she can fix her." Victoria looked away guiltily, fix wasn't the word she was going to use, but it was exactly what she was thinking. "You know, 'that' is exactly why I'm here. You don't care about Taylor, you've barely known her for a week. And when you realise that you can't fix her with a few more friends and some 'good times' during school. You'll get bored."

"No…"

"You'll give up on your little pet project." Lisa continued, "Then you'll drop her. Worse, you'll betray her. Like every other person in Taylor's life. And when that happens, you know what? I'll still be here. Her 'real' friend."

"Fuck you," Victoria said, a little louder. Both girls turned to see if Taylor had noticed, she was getting her new books bagged up at the counter. Victoria turned back to Lisa, returning to her hushed tone. "I would never betray someone like that. Especially not after everything she's been through. I just… want to show her that there are better options."

"Oh, like you? Glory Girl, the pinnacle of justice in Brockton Bay?" Lisa asked with her smug smirk returning. She chuckled, causing Victoria to frown. "You don't honestly believe that you're such a paragon of virtue do you?"

"Well… Yes." Victoria said, unsure where Lisa was going with her change of tone.

"Huh," Lisa said pretending to think aloud. "I wonder how virtuous it is nowadays to get your sister to cover for all the times you brutalise criminals?" Victoria looked at Lisa with a horrified expression. Lisa smiled back as she knew that she touched a weak point. "I did my own research on you, 'Glory Hole'. A lot of small-time Empire folks keep singing the same tune. That you beat them within an inch of their life and get Panacea to heal them back up again."

"That's not…" Victoria tried to explain herself.

"Hey, I don't judge," Lisa said, holding her smile. "Fuck those Empire types and all. But you wanna know the funny thing? Out of the two of us, you're the only one who almost killed someone… multiple times. And yet I'm the bad influence on Taylor? So why don't you get off your high horse before Taylor gets hurt, huh?"

Taylor wandered over towards the two girls, she looked as happy as she could be carrying a bag full of books. Lisa greeted her with a smile of her own.

"Had fun, Taylor?" Lisa asked, switching completely from her annoyed mood to a genuinely happy smile. "Get any good loot?"

"Yeah!" Taylor said, her eyes lighting up as she fished around in her back for the books she bought. "A lot of these books are ones I've already read before, but these are all first and second editions which is rare to find." Taylor showed the covers to Lisa who nodded along. Taylor then noticed Victoria who had turned away from the duo.

Legitimately hurt by my words. Doesn't want to hurt Taylor, worried that I might be right. Can't think of valid excuse for actions. Realising she might be a 'bad' person. Considering leaving us alone for now. Will cry when alone.

Lisa smiled to herself, she'd won this battle, perhaps even the war. It was foolish to pick an argument with a social thinker like herself. All Lisa had to do was sit back and watch the hero implode and Taylor would be safe from her clutches.

Then Taylor reached out and took Victoria's hand.
"You okay, Vicky?" She asked, gently tugging the girl back into the fold.

Noticed sour mood, concerned for friend. Won't let go until assured she's alright.

Victoria turned around, wiping her eyes which threatened to leak.

"I'm fine…" Victoria lied, attempting to pull her hand away from Taylor but relenting when Taylor didn't let go. "I was just thinking that I should…" She paused for a brief moment. "You called me Vicky."

Victoria broke into a smile as Taylor blushed in embarrassment.

"What?" Taylor said, "I guess? Sorry. Don't all your friends call you that?"

Victoria shook her head. "Don't be sorry. I just… It's nice to hear you call me that."

"Vicky?" Taylor asked, confused and still embarrassed.

"My friend," Victoria said with a smile.

Won't leave us alone. Won't leave Taylor alone. Doesn't care if I'm right. Considers herself Taylor's friend. Wants to help Taylor.

Lisa sighed audibly. She wasn't going to get rid of Victoria that easily. Taylor was already too connected to the girl to let her go and Victoria was now encouraged to stay.

"Where to next?" Victoria asked. Walking in a random direction with Taylor. Taylor reached out with the hand carrying the bag of books, looking towards Lisa.

Wants me to follow alongside. Wants to hold both our hands again. Doesn't know how to ask for that. Already carrying books, thinks it'd be awkward to try put hand in mine now.

Lisa smirked at Taylor's conflicted expression. The girl was silently debating whether she could manoeuvre the bag onto her shoulder or the like, just to free up her hand again. Lisa walked up beside Taylor and took the bag from her, replacing it with her own hand. Taylor sunk back into a more relaxed stroll, enjoying being led around by Lisa and Victoria.

"Well…" Lisa said, thinking out loud to Victoria's question, ignoring her side-eye. "Taylor did want to check out this antique store, right?"

-----------------------------------------------------------

The three girls stood outside 'Brockton Antiques.' A rather unassuming antique store in the mall that would be otherwise unremarkable if not for the fact that it was so new. Unlike other stores they visited, this one had a door separating it from the rest of the mall. From the window, Taylor could see all kinds of random objects from dolls to jewellery, kitchenware and mirrors.

Taylor looked to Lisa, and the two girls shot each other a knowing nod. They had a job to do, to scope out the location and determine if there were any unseen defences before the Undersiders hit the place tomorrow. A job that would be a lot easier to accomplish if Taylor wasn't holding hands with Glory Girl at that very moment.

It was one thing to spend crime money in front of Victoria, but to plan an actual crime right under the hero's nose made Taylor feel a special kind of guilty. Lisa went into the store first, followed by Taylor, Lisa was already spotting the three security cameras in the corner of the room. Taylor scratched her hair, letting several flies drop out and spread away to act as scouts while she took Vicky through the store.

Lisa needed to focus on what her power was telling her but Taylor could multitask without raising any suspicion. She 'oohed and aahed' along with Victoria as her bugs reached their way into the backrooms. The best part about this job was that Taylor didn't even need to fake it, she was interested in looking at all the baubles and trinkets that they passed.

Victoria caught her eyes on a plush raccoon that apparently looked a lot like her sister. After much internal debating on whether to buy it for Amy, Taylor offered to pay for it with her 'crime money.'

As they approached the counter, they caught eyes on the owner and soon-to-be victim of the Undersiders. A European man who looked to be in his mid-forties. Victoria placed the raccoon plush down on the counter and the man looked back at her with a stammered shock.

"Just that please," Victoria said, looking to Taylor who was already getting her card out.

"No." Said the man behind the counter in an accent that Taylor couldn't quite place.

It took Victoria a few seconds to process what the man had just said.

"Um, excuse me?" She asked.

"No." The man said again, taking the plush and putting it behind the counter. "Get out."

"What?" Victoria asked, even more confused.

"Out, out I say." The man said with a somewhat panicked wave of his hand.

"I just-"

"Out! What part of leave do you not get?"

"Do you even know who I am?"

"I know you." The man continued. "Glory Girl, superhero. You fly and you break things. Not in my shop. Very many expensive things. Get out."

Taylor gently tugged on Victoria's arm, nudging her from her combative stance that the hero had intuitively fallen into after being confronted. Victoria opened her mouth to think of another rebuttal but decided to let Taylor pull her away before she got into a shouting match with a stranger.

Lisa was waiting by the door, laughing at Victoria's confused and annoyed expression. The store owner called out something along the lines of 'Don't come back' by the door closed behind the girls before he could finish.

"Well, that was freaking rude…" Victoria said, still blinking in confusion over what had happened. "I just wanted a toy. Break things… I'll show him. I'll-"

"Throw a car through his window?" Taylor joked.

"Yes!" Victoria said with frustration. She wouldn't actually do it but it was a nice fantasy to have. "He's going to get a strongly worded review online at least."

Taylor watched as Victoria pulled out her phone and started searching for the store online. Sure enough, the girl was typing out her frustrations into the phone. Victoria immediately relaxed upon finishing the review, as if able to dump all her emotions into the message and return to being the happy, go-lucky gal that she usually was.

"Well since that was a bust, I pick what we do next." Victoria decided. Taylor looked towards Lisa, they both needed to discuss what they picked up on during their brief search but had no way to do so without Victoria overhearing. "Let's watch a movie!"

Taylor wasn't sure what type of movie the three of them would see, she hadn't kept up with what was popular. Vicky insisted that they all watch some murder mystery flick. Taking Taylor by the hand again, she led her off towards the cinema.

"Great!" Taylor said with a smile, just happy to be there.

"Great…" Lisa said, in a sarcastic and bored tone before jogging to catch up with Taylor.
-----------------------------------------
Two hours later

Taylor sat in the middle of the food court, sipping on an iced coffee. Lisa returned to the table with a drink of her own, sitting next to Taylor. Followed shortly by Victoria who sat on the other side of Taylor.

"This was fun, right?" Victoria asked Taylor.

Taylor smiled and nodded but Lisa spoke first.

"Great fun. So happy I got to meet you." Lisa said with her usual grin. "We should totes exchange numbers and hang out more."

Taylor smiled wider and looked between her two friends. Taylor wasn't sure when exactly she stopped looking at Victoria with distrust, somewhere around the third day if she had to guess, but Taylor was glad she did. This day had been fun, the most fun Taylor ever had since robbing a bank. And this fun was guilt and anxiety free. Mostly guilt free, she did a little bit of 'pre-crime' but she hadn't done anything wrong per-say, just some light spying.

Victoria put on a smile that Taylor could tell wasn't her usual smile but couldn't work out why it felt old.

"Of course…" Victoria said, holding out her phone. "I'd love that."

Taylor relaxed again as both girls shot each other a quick text back and forth. Confirming that all three girls were now in contact with each other. Her two best friends were now friends. That was something Taylor could actually say to herself. Two best friends, a massive upgrade from… her.

Lisa reached out and touched Taylor's hand, snapping her out of whatever spiral her thoughts was about to lead her down. She had the good habit of doing that, Taylor wasn't sure if it was even on purpose or not. Lisa was still talking to Victoria, making jokes about how she'll be sending her messages every day and yet she still had the awareness to grab Taylor's hand when her thoughts went askew. Eventually, they all finished their drinks and Victoria stood to stretch.

"Alright, I gotta get going to pick up Ames from the hospital," Victoria said, collecting her bag. "Do you need a lift home?" Lisa moved to raise her hand as a joke. "No," Victoria said flatly.

Taylor chuckled and shook her head. "No, thank you. Lisa and I will take the bus home. But I'll see you at school on Monday."

Victoria was looking down at Taylor was a gentle smile on her face. For the second time today, the same thought popped into Taylor's head, 'Beautiful.' Taylor couldn't deny it to herself, Victoria was attractive and Taylor was smitten. Victoria held the stare for longer than Taylor felt comfortable.

"What?" Taylor finally asked, feeling self-conscious again.

Victoria shook her head. "Nothing, you just have a cute laugh. You should laugh more."

Taylor looked away from the compliment only to see Lisa nodding her head in agreement. Victoria giggled before taking off into a hover. With a final wave goodbye, Vicky flew off from the food court.

"Show off…" Lisa mumbled, watching the hero leave.

"You're just jealous you can't fly," Taylor said, waiting for Victoria to leave their line of sight before breaking into their work discussion.

"Pretty sure you're the jealous one," Lisa said back with a smirk. "Although, the real question is whether you want to be her or be with-"

Lisa was cut off mid-sentence as a fly just 'happened' to land in her mouth. She choked and spat out the bug before giving Taylor a grossed-out gagging noise.

"You do realise how bad of an idea it is to associate with her, right?" Lisa said, stealing Taylor's drink to wash her mouth with.

Taylor shrank down like a told-off child. She knew exactly how dangerous the situation was but she also didn't have any good alternatives. Victoria knew who she was and was determined to be a part of Taylor's life. Taylor couldn't exactly tell her no, even if she wanted to. Which she didn't.

Lisa sighed, "I'm not saying don't be friends with her. Just… be careful. Okay? That goes double if your planning on dating her or whatever."

"I'm not!" Taylor said back defensively.

Lisa shot her a raised eyebrow. "Is this where you tell me that you have 'no' interest in her? Or that you're not actually gay?"

Taylor made a few flustered sounds before composing herself. She'd never told anyone of her interest in women, she didn't consider herself 'in the closet,' rather than just never coming out in casual conversation. Still, for Lisa to so blatantly call her out on it was… exactly what Lisa does best.

"So, you know?…" Taylor asked quietly.

Lisa giggled, placing another hand on Taylor. "Oh Tay, I knew you were gay from the second I caught you checking me out on that rooftop."

Taylor tried to shrink down some more but was already at her limit. Lisa tried and failed to hold in another bout of laughter.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Lisa apologised while still chuckling away. "It's fine, honest. I don't mind in the slightest."

"Wait? Are 'you' gay?" Taylor asked, surprised at herself with how high her hopes got in that question.

Lisa laughed again before falling silent into thought. Eventually, she returned with a friendly wink, simply saying. "It's complicated." Taylor was about to inquire more into that line of thought before Lisa moved on. "We should get some work done before Brian gets annoyed. I've already got four texts from him."

Lisa pulled up her phone showing some texts from Brian who was growing increasingly impatient with the girls.

"Initial scope seems fine," Lisa said, reading some notes off her phone that she had apparently written earlier. "More cameras than usual, doubtful that they're tied to the other cameras in the mall. Most of the products in the store were either cheap hand-downs or outright fake. Owner is very protective of the back door and of course. Did you see how he reacted after seeing Glory Girl?" Lisa giggled. "The dude is a total amateur, bet he'd freak out the same way if a cop came walking in. Probably how he got made to begin with."

Taylor nodded, thinking back to what her bugs picked up on when they visited the store.

"Yeah, I managed to get some flies in the backroom," Taylor said, now wishing she had the foresight to write down what she saw. "There was one armed man sitting by the door and several other people loading bags of… stuff into random pots and other antiques."

"So as expected. A small operation, selling antiques is the cover story. But no lab, so where are they getting it all?" Lisa thought aloud. Taylor shrugged. "Doesn't matter. I'll tell Brian. Looks like this really will be as simple as smashing up a store. I love easy jobs."

-----------------------------------------------
Brockton Bay Mall – 1:30 am

When Taylor was told that the job was going down on a Saturday, she assumed it would be sometime during the day, perhaps late afternoon. Unfortunately for her sleep pattern, Brian and Lisa meant the first thing Saturday.

The Undersiders all met up around midnight at their base, Taylor herself snuck out of her bedroom window an hour prior. Once dressed in costumes and geared up, they were waiting on the rooftop of the mall. Taylor was watching as three mall security guards did their rounds through the building.

Grue had already established an entrance and exit plan, the team held position around a skylight window that dropped relatively near the antique store. They were waiting for the guard to pass by which would give them the maximum time to smash up the store.

Regent was going around handing out a baseball bat to everyone. Most of the team had gotten a standard wooden bat while Regent kept the heavier metal baseball bat for himself. Taylor could admit that she felt pretty powerful holding the would-be weapon in her hand.

Bitch was practising her swings while on the back of Brutus, Taylor could imagine swapping out the bat for an axe or a sword, making her pretty intimating while riding into battle… more than she already was.

Tattletale looked to Taylor, waiting for her to give the all-clear and commence the operation. She ran through the basics of 'window entrances' letting Taylor know the best method of not getting covered in glass.

When the guard passed the corner, Taylor counted down from thirty as everyone readied themselves on a dog. Everyone knew what the job what to do. Smash and grab. Tattletale had already detailed where all the 'good stuff' was being held and everything else was set to be destroyed. There was an energy in the air that always came before a job.

The anxiety, the anticipation, that heart-pounding sensation that came when you knowingly were about to do something 'wrong.' Taylor would never admit it to anyone, but it was in these moments, when Taylor jumped through a skylight window and Skitter landed on the ground, that she truly enjoyed herself.

---------------------------------------------
Dallon Household – 9:30am

Victoria yawned as she exited her bedroom. Sleepily, she made her way towards the bathroom to find the door locked. She jostled it a few times before a voice called out from behind the door.

"Occupied!" Amy called out, causing Vicky to groan in annoyance.

Victoria waited a good ten minutes before she heard the toilet flush. She stood up a little straighter, expecting Amy to exit any second now, only to hear the sound of the shower turning on.

"For fucks sake…" Victoria sighed to herself. Amy always took long showers, Vicky was better off getting breakfast first and then coming back later.

She hovered down the stairs and into the kitchen. Her Mother was already making breakfast, unfortunately, she had only made enough for herself.

"What have I told you about flying indoors," Carol said, eyeing Victoria till her feet touched the ground.

"Sorry, Mom," Victoria said with another yawn. "Can I have some eggs and bacon too?"

"We're out of eggs, but help yourself," Carol said, leaving the frying pan on. She took her own plate of food and headed off to the home office.

Victoria sighed again, ready to take a double heaping of bacon for herself before realising that there would be none left for Amy if she did. Cooking up all the bacon, Victoria left half of it on a plate for Amy and took her share to the living room.

Her Father was watching the morning news, happily eating away at his breakfast. Upon sitting down, Mark scooched over and placed one of his eggs on Victoria's plate. Vicky gave her Dad a smile as the two of them ate in relative silence, only the news to fill the air.

"And to our latest story in the city," The newsreader spoke. "Locals were surprised to find Brockton Bay Mall was broken into late last night, with police on the scene at around three in the morning. But to all those people wanting to shop on this lovely weekend, don't you worry. It seems only one store, in particular, was the target of this destructive B'n'E."

Victoria choked on her food as the screen showed the aftermath of the break-in. Brockton Antiques was completely destroyed, it was just a hollowed-out store with rubble strewn about on the floor.

The newsreader continued over the images, "The PRT has been called in as the speed and nature of the break-in leads many to believe parahuman involvement. Particularly, small traces of dog hair and the overabundance of insects found at the scene indicate perhaps that the villainous team known as the Undersiders is to blame for this attack. As to why-"

Victoria struggled to chew her food as she reached for her phone. The news was giving a limited rundown on who each member of the Undersiders was and their known capabilities, they were particularly focused on the newest member of the team, Skitter, who was making waves recently.

"Did you hit the antique shop last night????" Victoria sent as a text to Taylor.

Her phone buzzed five minutes later. A response text from Taylor, a single word with a picture attached.

"Sorry."

Victoria wanted to be angry, she was angry. A crime was planned out right under her nose. After all the progress she made with Taylor, Lisa had turned their little outing into a stakeout.

So, why the hell could she not stop smiling at this text in her hand?

Because Taylor looked too damn cute in her selfie, hugging a plush raccoon toy.

 

Arcadia – Monday Lunchtime

"Skitter is so creepy."

Victoria wasn't sure who among the crowd said it, but it caught her attention. She looked among her group of friends for the offending voice. Sure enough, it was Dennis.

"Like Insects? For real?" Dennis said, pinching his face up in disgust, "It's so gross."

Several people around the table nodded their heads in agreement. Vicky held her tongue, her first instinct was to defend the villain who was, unbeknownst to the rest of the group, sitting right alongside them. Victoria's eyes moved to Taylor to gauge how the girl was reacting to the conversation.

It wasn't uncommon for conversations to devolve into the topic of cape talk, especially in high school. It was an expected part of life in Brockton Bay. It was rare however for Dennis to bring it up during the lunchtime conversation. The rest of the Wards usually avoided talking about cape life in public, it was too risky, and one could easily slip up and mention something about their own life, and yet there he was, musing on the topic of the Bay's newest supervillain.

Taylor didn't react in any outward way that Victoria could see. Nor did she nod in agreement with the rest of the group. Honestly, it was hard to tell if Taylor was even aware that Dennis had started talking about her, the girl had a habit of zoning out when no one was interacting with her directly.

"And of course, she's a villain. Cause why wouldn't she be?" He continued, "Some people just have 'evil' powers."

This struck a nerve with Victoria. It was one thing to call Taylor creepy but to outright call her power evil.

"That's not really fair." A monotone voice called up. The whole table, except for Taylor turned to the opposing voice. Amy had thrown her opinion into the discussion in a rare display of interest to the conversation. "Regardless of people's intentions, you can't just assume people with dubious powers are evil." Amy had pushed herself up from her usual lunchtime slouch, the topic seeming to get on her nerve.

Victoria nodded her head in agreement, silently thanking her sister for speaking up.

"But she is a villain?" Dennis argued, not really understanding the point.

Amy sighed in a huff as she sat back down, turning back into her usually 'invisible' self at the table, obviously not wanting to get into a debate. Victoria's smile fell again, she didn't expect her sister to speak up in the first place, so she couldn't expect her to keep arguing the point. Resisting the urge to give Dennis another swift kick under the table, Victoria chose to be more diplomatic.

"I think what Amy was trying to say," Victoria said, nodding to a now uncaring Amy. "Is that the powers don't make a person bad. You can't blame someone for having 'evil powers.' That's a rude thing to say."

"But-" Dennis was about to bring up his original point of 'Skitter is a villain.'

"And we don't even know anything about this 'Skitter' character, do we?" Victoria went on, talking over Dennis. "We can't just assume she's a villain causes shes… evil. Maybe there's um… circumstances we don't understand? Maybe she's being forced into it. Or coerced by a third party?"

Every at the table, particularly the Wards, gave Vicky an odd look. It was very out of character for Victoria 'Glory Girl' Dallon to give criminals the benefit of the doubt.

"Riiiight," Dean said after a long and awkward pause. "Or maybe she just likes money?"

"I don't know?" Carlos said, thinking more like a Ward than a kid, "Think about it, they start with a bank job, then they fight in the streets, break into penthouses and smash up shopping centers. Wouldn't they just keep hitting banks if it was about the money?"

"That's just the Undersider's MO." Amy added, "They've been doing that long before Skitter showed up."

"Which is exactly why she might be being coerced?" Victoria said again, trying to get her point across. "Obviously, the Undersiders are using her. She's new to the scene and probably fell in with the wrong crowd. We can't go blaming her powers for that."

Alice and Jessica nodded along as if Vicky's word was law. Carlos and Dennis both couldn't debate the possibility that Skitter was forced or tricked into being a villain. Dean frowned, obviously sensing something from Victoria's emotions and Amy still didn't care about the conversation beyond the one comment of 'evil powers'.

"Or maybe she just likes it. Cause it's fun?" Taylor said nonchalantly, everyone turning again to look at the second quietest person at the table. Taylor held a pretty neutral expression as she spoke. The heroes at the table gave her a disproving frown, except for Dennis, who felt validated. "What? Haven't any of you ever thought about doing it? Uh, if you had powers, I mean?"

'Because it's fun.'

Victoria sighed at that explanation. Taylor had a multitude of reasons to be Skitter, some of them Victoria didn't even blame her for, couldn't blame her for. But committing crime because it was 'fun.' That didn't stick right with her. It made her annoyed and she knew exactly why…

Dean and Carlos looked hesitantly at each other. "Uhm, well, no," Dean said with hesitation, "I think most of us… kids I mean… think about being someone like Alexandria and fighting crime and Endbringers. Bringing peace to the world and all that."

Taylor chuckled briefly as she waived the comment away. "Sure, sure. How very political of you."

There was something odd about how Taylor was acting. Her neutral poker face didn't give much away but there was something in the tone of the chuckle, a small part of Vicky couldn't help but think that Taylor was… upset? Annoyed? In any case, Victoria figured a change in topic would be best.

--------------------------------

Dallon Household – A day ago – Sunday night

Victoria's phone buzzed shortly after she climbed into bed. She could've left it for tomorrow, it was getting pretty late and it was a school night but she checked the message regardless as her teenage-phone-addicted mind wouldn't allow her to leave it be. The message on the screen was unexpected.

LW: Had a gd weekend?

Victoria sat up in her bed and unlocked her phone, reading the message properly and sighing when she saw who the sender was. Lisa, also known as Tattletale. The villain currently responsible for 'corrupting' Taylor.

Victoria frowned, unsure how to respond to the message. Did she even want to respond to the message? She only added Lisa to her contacts because Taylor wanted her to. There was only one message sent back and forth on the Friday and it hadn't been a polite one.

VD: Why are you messaging me?

LW: I tld u.

LW: Ill b sending u msgs ery single day

VD: Please, don't.

Victoria sighed a little longer now. Having a villain know her phone number was the last thing she wanted… Besides Taylor, that was different. Taylor was her friend.

LW: Mnt 2 msg u ystrday but slpt in. soz.

VD: Because you were busy robbing the mall.

VD: Great work with that, loved knowing that I was being played the entire time.

VD: So how about don't message me at all???

LW: Wow, rood. U wound me

LW: Here I thought we were friends

VD: I'm friends with Taylor, not you. We will never be friends and don't pretend like you thought differently.

LW: Hy now I cn b friends too.

VD: What do you want, Tattletale?

VD: Why message me? Why even give me your phone number? I could give this number to PRT, I should do that tomorrow.

LW: Bt u wont. And who says its my #?

LW: this is but 1 of many phns

LW: as 4 Y I msg u? jst trying to figure u out

LW: 4 Tay's sake

VD: I already told you. I'm not going to betray her.

LW: I no. I belive u.

LW: I jst curious. Y her?

LW: u distrust villains, distrust me. But like her? Y?

VD: Taylor isn't a villain, she's just misunderstood.

VD: It's people like you who are corrupting her!

LW: What if I am also misunderstood?

LW: Then cn we b friends?

Victoria was surprised by how emotional she got, willing to throw all the blame at Tattletale. Yes, Lisa was a villain but Victoria knew almost nothing about the girl. Lisa was around the same age and had only been an active villain for a year or so, as far as Victoria could remember. Vicky leaned forward as she typed into her phone.

VD: Lisa? Why are you a villain? Why do you do the things you do?

VD: Is it just about the money? Or is there something else?

Vicky watched as the message box appeared and disappeared several times. Indicating that Lisa was typing and then deleting her text before sending it. Victoria realised what kind of landmine she might've just stepped in, possibly akin to asking a parahuman what their trigger was.

LW: Let's see… Triggered shortly after my brother killed himself. Parents blamed me, I partly was to blame. Dad realised I had powers, used me to make money. Got a little too stressful, ran away, changed my name. Used powers to scam people. Got caught scamming the wrong people, owed them money, else they kill me. Did side jobs for them, given name and costume. Making money, never enough to pay back. Never let me out of debt. Kept doing jobs for them. Year passes by, still doing jobs for people. Still making money. Still in costume.

Victoria read the message over and over again. Her heart broke, even as a short summary over a phone text, it painted an awful picture. A girl who suffered an awful loss, with awful parents, running away only to fall into an even worse situation that they could never get out of. But Vicky could help...

Her mother was a lawyer, she could bring this to her. Get her out from whoever had a gun to her head, turn her away from the path of villainy. Then Taylor could follow suit. It would be hard, but Victoria would do, she had to do it.

VD: Holy crap. I'm so sorry Lisa.

VD: Do you need help? I can get you out of that. Let me know who, we'll take them down together.

VD: My Mom's a really good lawyer, we can build a case for you and everything.

LW: I don't know. It's all really scary…

LW: You'd do that for me?

VD: Of course. Anything!

LW: Wow, I guess we can be friends after all?

VD: Yes, of course. I'm so sorry, I had no idea. Honest.

Victoria felt awful. She had judged this woman so harshly upon meeting her when Lisa was carrying all this pain. A plan formed in Vicky's mind. To save this girl, and Taylor. Bring them both over to the side of the heroes with friendship and a good lawyer. Of that, Vicky was-

LW: Isnt it amzin… that all it tks is 1 sob story to be friends?

Victoria froze upon reading that.

VD: Um, What???

LW: LOL savour complex much?

LW: Do all heroes do that or jst u?

VD: The fuck?

LW: I ws lying

LW: But cn we stll b friends?

LW: I thnk Tay wld lke that vr much

Victoria couldn't decide if she was more angry or outright surprised at the audacity of this bitch. Crafting a made-up story just to tug on Vicky's heartstrings. Making her actually care for the well-being of this lying cow.

VD: What the hell is your problem!?

LW: im sorry. U gonna arrest me now?

VD: I fucking will, you bitch!

LW: Course that'd probs mean arresting Tay 2

LW: Just fyi

VD: Screw you!

VD: I can't believe you.

VD: Like seriously? Why are you like this!?

LW: Cause Im the villain <3

LW: Also I ws curious about ur reaction.

LW: Very interesting

VD: So that's why you messaged me? Just to see how I'd respond to your stupid made-up sob story?

Victoria threw the phone down on her table, it buzzed again but she didn't read the message till the following morning. She was angry, frustrated and wanted to punch something. The next time she caught Tattletale in costume she'd… do something that wouldn't also upset Taylor. With a grumpy huff, Vicky rolled over in her bed and forced herself to sleep out of sheer spite. The following message waited for her in the morning.

LW: I messaged you for the same reason I do what I do. Because it's fun.

-----------------------------------------------

PRT Headquarters – Ward Level – Monday After School - Present Day

Victoria didn't spend too much time at PRT Headquarters these days, especially now that she was on a break with Dean. As a member of New Wave, the only times she would come in were either to transport her sister or whenever a major event was going down. But in the past, Vicky came through here all the time. The rest of the Protectorate treated her like an honorary Ward at this point and no one battered an eye as she walked into the Ward's meeting room.

Today wasn't a social visit. Choosing to sit down next to Clockblocker and Shadow Stalker, far away from Galant who was probably frowning under his mask. She was still on a break, this had now become the longest break from Dean since they started dating and Victoria was beginning to think it would be permanent this time. No, Victoria was here because her mother had told her to. The PRT had requested assistance and Carol had told the PRT that Victoria was free to join them.

This was probably a push to get Victoria and Dean working together, her mother was always working behind the scenes whenever it came to Victoria's relationships. Vicky tried to ignore it, she was here as Glory Girl, she'd do her job and then go home. Dean was just a friend now, nothing more.

"Alright, everyone's here," Aegis said, stepping up to begin the meeting. "Now, before we begin-"

"Who we fighting today?" Shadow Stalker asked over him, leaning back into her chair.

"Impatient and out for blood already. Classic Stalker." Clockblocker chuckled.

"Shut up, you know what I mean." Shadow Stalker snapped back. "We don't invite golden girl over here unless we plan on getting in a tussle." She prodded a thumb in Victoria's direction to make her point. "So, who we fighting?"

Aegis sighed but then chuckled. "I had this whole meeting speech planned out and everything. Alright, Okay." He pulled up a slideshow on the computer and clicked through a couple of slides, bypassing a lot of the speech he had prepared. "Long story short. Brockton PD uncovered a drug lab at the docks, it's not ABB or anyone else we know. PRT want the Wards to handle it, ourselves."

Shadow Stalker sighed and rolled her head back. "So we're taking on some small-time drug lab because it'll make us look good. While the 'real' heroes keep going after ABB and the Empire. This whole thing is a stupid publicity stunt." She sunk further into her seat. "Doubt they even have a cape with them. Such a waste of our time."

Victoria had to agree. When she heard that the PRT needed her, she imagined that some significant threat was going down. Maybe a raid on the remaining ABB strongholds? But this, this was just giving the kids a win just so that the PRT could advertise the Ward some more. Babies first drug bust.

"Hey now," Aegis said, trying to keep the mood light. "Don't look at it like that. This is still really important. Taking drugs off the street, stopping a new gang before they even have a name."

"More like before they even get wasted by a larger gang." Shadow Stalker muttered under her breath, only Victoria heard her.

"Stalker's right. This mission fucking blows." Vista said with a sigh.

"And language like that is why you're still on console duty." Aegis rebutted. Vista probably rolled her eyes as she too slouched in the chair. "Come on, don't act like this isn't exciting. Sure, it's not Lung or Kaiser. But don't act like we do that every day… or at all. We're here to make the streets safe."

A few of the other Wards nodded in agreement and stood up. Victoria didn't mind kicking down the door to some drug lab and taking it off the streets, she just wished she'd been called for a more important mission.

Vicky and the Wards all got ready. Aegis set up the plan of attack, entrances, teams, backups, supports and the like. "We make a perimeter around the warehouse, heavy hitters go in first, along with Shadow Stalker to scout the area. We need to know numbers before doing anything. Also, it's a drug lab, so expect chemicals and other dangerous materials. Be careful, we don't want to cause any explosions or the like."

"Oh no, Can't have too much fun." Shadow Stalker groaned sarcastically, Vicky laughed to herself.

"Alright, Wards!… And Glory Girl." Aegis said, trying to keep spirits high. "Let's get this done and be home by dinner. It's a school night after all."

"Yay…" The Wards said in unison. Half as a joke, Victoria knew 'most' of the Wards would take this seriously.

------------------------------------------------

Undersiders Base – Monday After school - Around the same time

"We have a new job," Brian said to the team. Taylor only just got herself in the door and was currently playing with the dogs.

"Already?" Alec asked with a tired yawn. "I don't know. As fun, as it was to smash up a store, I'm still pretty tired from doing the late shift."

"Alec, that was three nights ago," Taylor said, tilting her head in confusion.

"Yeah but I didn't sleep that night, so really it's only two," Alec responded.

Brian shook his head, "That's not how that works."

Lisa chuckled and added to that. "You're just tired because you stayed up watching TV last night. Doing the exact opposite of what we told you to do."

"Keeping the dogs up with all the damn noise," Rachel growled.

Alec slouched down into the couch again, out of view. Tiredly, he mumbled. "I plead the fifth."

Taylor looked up towards Brian and Lisa. "Does he even know what that means?"

Lisa shrugged and Brian sighed.

"Anyway," Brian said, ignoring the fact that Alec wasn't really listening. "As I was saying, we have a new job. From the boss again, following up on the last job."

"We smashing up another store?" Rachel asked. Brian, Lisa and Taylor all blinked at her in surprise. "What? Don't fucking look at me like that. It was a fun job."

"Kind of, not exactly," Brian said, smiling now with the rest of the team at Rachel's sudden interest in work. "We found-" Lisa coughed sardonically, "Lisa, found where the antique shop was getting its supply from. We still don't know who they are exactly but they're not one of the major players in Brockton Bay and the boss is paying us to take them out before they get ideas of becoming one."

"Take out as in, destroy their equipment, lab… whatever?" Taylor asked. Brain and Lisa both nodded in agreement. "So, where is it?"

Lisa grinned as she pointed to the city map. "Only the most cliché hiding spot you could think of." Her fingers touched down on the docks, primarily ABB territory in the past, but with Lung (hopefully) still in prison, the question of who ran that zone was up in the air these days. "A warehouse."

"So, we run in, find the stuff and smash it like before?" Rachel asked, punching her hand into her fist.

"Actually," Brian stepped in, making himself heard over everyone. "Because the boss really wants to send a message, and since this is in a secured, lone warehouse, away from the public. I was thinking we do a flashy, more noticeable job." Brian smiled in a way that almost matched Lisa's mischievous grin.

"Like what?" Taylor asked, getting excited at Brian's enthusiasm.

"I'm thinking, this time… we burn it."

Alec jumped up from the couch, gasping like a kid at Christmas.

------------------------------------

The Docks – Monday Night

Victoria smelled the smoke before she saw the fire. She was flying low to the ground to keep speed with the rest of the Wards as they were transported to the Docks. Upon smelling the smoke, Vicky flew up higher to get a better view of the scene.

A lone building burned with the intensity of a summer fire. As the sun fell over the horizon, the light of the fire was becoming all the more visible. A rumble signalled another smaller explosion, probably the effect of whatever chemicals were being held there going up in flames.

"What do you see?" A voice in Vicky's ear asked. Vista, talking via control.

"It's burning," Victoria said, picking up speed to get a closer look. The building itself was rather isolated, for a city. So there wasn't an immediate threat of damage to nearby property, so long as the fire was contained eventually. "What do we do?"

"Contain the fire, investigate the cause. Apprehend any suspects on the scene." Control responded.

Victoria nodded to herself and picked up speed, any Ward with mobility powers or gear did the same. As a unit, they all sped towards the flame, ready to dive into action at a moment's notice. This wasn't going to be the simple drug bust the PRT wanted to air on the news tomorrow.

Getting closer, the fire didn't actually look too bad. The main warehouse was completely ablaze, and some fire had spread about the docks, but it was all contained in a single location. What was concerning was all the people lying about the place.

Vicky touched down and inspected one of the bodies. Finger to the neck, she sighed with relief as the person was alive. Most of them had some form of firearm near where they fell, and some of them even had bullet casings, indicating that there had been a firefight. But no one had shot back, so what knocked them out? And were they still here?

"What did you find?" A voice asked out to Victoria. Kid Win hovered down on his hoverboard, Shadow Stalker riding with him, jumping down to land by Vicky.

"Signs of a fight. Recent, I think." Victoria responded. The people on the floor were still groaning and rolling. "Couldn't have happened more than five, ten minutes ago?"

"Same for the fire," Shadow Stalker said, looking at the burning warehouse. "Judging by the damage." She held up a crossbow and looked to Victoria, "What are the chances whoever did this is still here?"

Victoria smirked, she'd been meaning to punch someone recently.

"We should wait for the Aegis and the rest." Kid Win said, reaching out to Victoria but both girls started walking towards the main building. "Or we could run in ourselves… that works too."

Two gunshots rang out as Victoria moved closer, all three heroes stopped to duck before realising no bullets came their way. Inching closer, they saw the lone gunman, a man running from the burning warehouse, waving a pistol about behind him and firing blindly. He didn't even notice the heroes, tripping over his foot and landing face-first into the ground.

Victoria and the other Wards still couldn't see who the man was attempting to shoot at, they were all waiting to see who was coming out of the burning building, afraid of being hit by a stray bullet until backup arrived. The smoke was dense, it was impossible to see inside the building.

The man rolled around briefly in a pained dazed, Victoria could see that his face was scraped by the fall. He turned on his back and raised the gun again with shaking hands. The heroes were about to pounce into action when Vicky heard the 'clicking' of the gun's empty chamber. The man was out of bullets but still desperately trying to shoot into the warehouse.

When he finally realised no bullets were coming out, the man threw the gun, and it fell pitifully, barely half a meter in front of him. The smoke pulled back, in a very unnatural way and Victoria finally realised that the smoke wasn't caused by the aforementioned fire, she'd seen that kind of smoke before, so had Shadow Stalker, judging by the way she gripped her crossbow.

"No, no no no no!" The man on the floor screamed, trying desperately to stand back up. Always tripping before he could find balance. Victoria watched in horror as a swarm of insects shot out from the warehouse and covered the man, head to toe.

Skitter walked out and towards the man, now a pile of bugs that would thrash about occasionally. Shadow Stalker pulled up and took aim at the villain and Skitter spun with the same speed. The swarm stopped moving, holding as still as Skitter was.

It was hard to tell where exactly Skitter was looking. Her yellow-eye goggles pointed in the general direction of all three heroes. Which one, in particular, she was looking at was up to perspective. For each hero, it looked like they were the target of Skitter's attention.

Victoria knew exactly where Skitter was looking, and probably had a good guess on how Taylor was feeling. This was the first time since their deal that they had come face to face with their cape personas. Glory Girl was going to try and arrest Skitter, and Skitter was going to fight back.

Skitter tilted her head to the side in a manner that felt inhuman. She hunched down into a combat position. Bugs started crawling down from her hair as her swarm slowly moved closer.

The swarm spoke as Skitter spoke, their voice was one and the same. It echoed and jittered exactly like you'd expect hundreds of bugs to sound. She only said two words.

"Hello… Victoria."

The hairs on the back of Vicky's neck stood up. She knew it was Taylor under that mask, sweet, cute, nerdy Taylor. Who would talk excitedly about books and get self-conscious in crowds. Who had a nice laugh and took adorable selfies with stolen loot. Even still, Victoria could only think one thing.

'Skitter is so creepy.'

---

As of 27/05/23 You are now caught up with the Ao3 version of this story. I'll be updating this randomly as its just a fluff story i started to wind down from after writing Shadow Bug.

 

The Docks – Monday Night

Regent cackled like a madman as the fire burned. The warehouse went up in a blaze rather quickly, far quicker than Skitter had assumed it would. She watched from the sidelines as Regent played with his impromptu flamethrower made out of an aerosol can and a lighter.

“Dammit Regent!” Grue barked, dropping his jerrycan and backing away from it. “Warn us before you start torching the place. I wasn’t ready yet.”

“Burn! Burn!” Regent laughed as he set fire to more things. Ignoring anyone who told him to do otherwise.

Skitter and Bitch were busy piling the unconscious bodies outside, making sure no one would be caught in the fire. They were both on clean-up duty now that the fighting was done. The warehouse lab had some hefty security, however, none of them were capes, which meant the Undersiders had swiftly dealt with them upon arriving. Skitter and her swarm taking care of the bulk of the men.

Looking over towards Tattletale, Skitter watched as the last remaining man was being interrogated by the thinker. Tattletale wanted to be sure that this was the only and last criminal outpost that these people had in Brockton Bay, and also find out who they were and why they thought it would be a good idea to set up shop in this city. Skitter had to admit, being tied to a chair while your business burned down was an intimidating tactic, the poor man was begging to leave at this point.

A small explosion went off in the main lab. Fire mixing with chemicals, it was beginning to get a little dangerous to stay inside this burning building. With everyone else cleared from the building, Skitter and Bitch returned to the group.

“We good here?” Skitter asked, looking over the tied-up man, who was on the verge of tears. “Do we know who they are yet?”

Tattletale waved her gun around the man's face before turning to Skitter with a smile. “Yeah, we’re good. They’re nobodies. Got kicked out of their hometown by a large crime syndicate. Thought they’d try make it in America.”

“And they picked Brockton Bay to start?” Skitter asked in disbelief. Tattletale chuckled in response. The man on the chair finally looked up at the new villainess and promptly started backing away in fear. He didn’t get very far tied to the chair but it was an amusing sight nonetheless. “So, what do we do with him?”

“Not sure…” Tattletale said, thinking aloud. “If he had any superiors, I would’ve considered using him as a ransom, but since he’s just a small-time nobody, I guess we better just kill him.”

Usually, this kind of response would cause Skitter to tense up. As fun, as it was to play villain and beat up foreign drug dealers, Skitter was no murderer. But neither were the Undersiders. This was all a ploy by Tattletale to squeeze any and all information out of their hostage and Skitter knew that. Either the man secretly was working for someone else, in which he would finally spill his guts as Tattletale suspected, or Tattletale was wrong, in which case-

In a desperate attempt to escape, the man threw himself backwards as the chair broke under him. He rolled away, freeing himself from the binds and picked up a nearby gun that Bitch hadn’t removed from cleanup. Skitter dived at Tattletale and both of them fell to the ground as gunshots flew over their heads. Tattletale gave Skitter an apologetic smile as the rest of the Undersiders moved to strike back.

Grue pushed his smoke out onto the scene and blanketed the area, making sure that the man could not aim at any of them. Bitch whistled for her dogs and Skitter called her swarm back to her. Being the only one not in Grue’s smoke, Regent watched as the man waved the gun behind him, pointing a finger gun at his target, Regent said “Bang.”

The man barely made it outside as his leg spasmed, tripping over himself and landing face-first into the ground. Regent broke into another laughing fit as he watched the man roll over onto his back. Holding the gun up, he tried to fire again but was only met with the clicking sound of an empty chamber.

As the man pitifully threw his gun, Grue pulled back the smoke to allow the rest of the team to see. Skitter was already midway over to the man, her swarm acting as a shield in case more bullets came her way. Seeing how the man was out of tricks, Skitter stalked confidently towards her victim.

Skitter knew she was scary. She didn’t design her suit to be this way, it just kind of, turned out like that. It originally bothered her when Armsmaster assumed she was a villain, she built this outfit to be a hero. Nowadays, it didn’t bother her anymore. The Undersiders all agreed that she looked cool, looked badass, looked downright terrifying. And nights like tonight, when Skitter stood over some two-bit drug dealer, some stupid prick who thought they could come into turn her city stir up trouble…

Well then, Skitter would show them how downright terrifying she could be.

“No, no no no no!” The man on the floor screamed, backing away from Skitter, trying desperately to stand back up. Regent wouldn’t let him get away, forcing the man to trip over and over again. Not that it mattered anymore. The swarm was already upon him.

Skitter watched in satisfied amusement as her swarm of insects shot out from the warehouse and covered the man, head to toe. Directing them to bite and sting the man, avoiding any vital parts and holding back some of the deadly bugs. She didn’t want a repeat of what happened to Lung.

Walking closer to inspect her work, the swarm noticed the three bystanders before Skitter’s own eyes did. Turning quickly into a defensive stance, she recognised three heroes looking back at her.

The first was Shadow Stalker, a ‘hero’ who held a grudge against the Undersiders. Specifically at Grue, they’d faced off a few times, she held her signature crossbows aimed directly at Skitter’s center mass. The second was Kid Win, who Skitter had never directly fought with, but had seen in action enough times.

The third hero, and the one that caught Skitter’s attention the most, was Glory Girl. Another villain might freeze up upon seeing her because of her abilities. Boasting the ‘Alexandria package,’ anyone would be scared to go toe to toe with Glory Girl, but that wasn’t the first thought that ran through Skitter’s head.

Glory Girl knew Skitter. More specifically, Victoria knew Taylor, the two were friends, ‘best friends’ if Victoria was to be believed. They had a deal, Victoria wouldn’t try to arrest Taylor so long as Taylor participated in the ‘school experience.’

“Hello… Victoria.” Taylor said awkwardly as she readied herself for battle. She wanted to smile upon seeing her friend's face but the two other heroes staring her down made Taylor nervous.

There was another part to their deal, the unspoken agreement on what would happen if they were ever to cross paths. While Taylor and Victoria were best friends, Skitter and Glory Girl were-

“Glory Girl…” Skitter said, correcting herself with a bit more menace in her voice. A fight was about to break out. Between heroes and villains, there were no friends on this battlefield, Taylor might feel bad later, but Skitter wasn’t about to surrender.

Shadow Stalker fired a bolt, aimed directly at Skitter’s chest. The mini swarm emerging from Skitter’s hair caught it as the villain dived into action. The larger swarm breaking off to attack the three heroes.

The rest of the Undersiders weren’t far behind, getting the gist of what was occurring outside, they all sprang into action. Dogs launching out, one for each hero, giving Skitter room to fall back. The warehouse had quickly turned into a burning inferno, no longer being safe enough to run back into, all members of the Undersiders were forced out into the open.

“No playing around!” Grue ordered to the team, “There’s probably more on the way, disable and then disengage.”

“Keep them busy, backup is almost here!” Kid Win called out in counter.

Skitter told her swarm to run interference as she moved to find Tattletale. Her bugs picked up on Aegis, who was flying into the scene as the battle unfolded. With the leader of the Wards on the scene, the rest of the heroes wouldn’t be far behind.

“This doesn’t make sense, we only just got here. No way PRT act that fast.” Skitter said as she backed up to Tattletale's side.

“They’re as surprised to see us as we are to see them.” Tattletale said in return, “Probably aiming to hit the same warehouse at the same time.”

“Well, that’s some shitty timing.” Skitter groaned, splitting her swarm to cover Kid Win and Aegis.

“Ehh, to be expected really.” Tattletale chuckled, “If I could work out this location with a laptop and my powers, I’m sure they could do the same with their resources.” Tattletale’s eyes widened as she looked up behind Skitter. “Heads up, your girlfriend’s about to kill us.”

“My what?-” Skitter asked as Glory Girl landed down on top of her. Skitter had lost track of her during the fight, assuming that the dogs had kept her busy. As ‘all-seeing’ as Skitter could be if a hero flew up high enough, they could still get the drop on her.

Glory Girl could’ve ended the fight with a downward slam but instead landed on Skitter with the same force as a regular person jumping on her back. It still hurt as Skitter fell to the floor, Glory Girl stood over her, knee pressed into Skitter’s back. The hero was strong, and her forcefield could make her feel rather heavy. Skitter struggled to push up from the ground.

“Oh, hey. Glory Ho-” Tattletale said with a smile before being shoved away with force. Less of a super-strength punch, and more of a push as the purple-clad villain slid across the floor.

Thinking quickly, Skitter fished out a taser from her utility belt and jammed it into Glory Girl's foot. The forcefield took the blow but broke, turning the hero’s weight from inhuman to manageable as Skitter pushed herself up.

Striking out again, Skitter threw her baton arm out to clock Glory Girl in the shoulder. Skitter had to keep up the assault before the forcefield returned. She got two good whacks in before Glory Girl caught the third. Strength returning, Glory Girl chucked Skitter directly at Tattletale who had only just pulled herself up from the ground.

The two villains fell to the floor again, one over the other. “Owww…” Tattletale groaned, looking up at Skitter on top of her. They both turned to Glory Girl who was slowly approaching the two of them.

“Give it up. You can’t beat me.” Glory Girl said, taunting Tattletale more so than Skitter. Tattletale responded with her signature smile, pulling up her pistol and taking aim. The gunshot cracked through the air as Glory Girl flinched. Forcefield breaking again. “You… shot me? You bi-”

Skitter’s swarm moved to defend the two villains, slamming into Glory Girl. Using the distraction, Skitter pulled Tattletale away from the fight.

“We need to leave!” Grue ordered already on the back of a dog. He was making a beeline directly for Skitter and Tattletale, aiming to get the dog to attack Glory Girl.

Taylor panicked internally as the dog came towards them. Victoria was still vulnerable, if the dog attacked her it might cause some serious injuries.

Skitter slammed her shoulder into Glory Girl, the hero’s forcefield still not back, pushing her out of the way of the dog. Grue looked to Skitter, neither one able to read the other’s expression as they climbed onto the dog.

Skitter helped pull Tattletale onto the dog with them as Bitch whistled out. All three dogs moved to get as far away from the scene as possible. Through her bugs, Skitter could see Shadow Stalker attempting to aim a bolt in their direction. Sitting at the back of the dog, it was highly likely that she was going to be hit.

The bolt released and flew through the air, only to be intercepted by Glory Girl who had reignited her forcefield. It looked like bad timing as both heroes moved to attack at once, Taylor was left wondering if Victoria had done it on purpose.

--------------------------------

After several minutes on dogback, Grue let out a relaxed sigh. The Wards didn’t give chase and they were in the clear. “Well, that could’ve gone better.” He said, looking back at the smoke trail in the distance.

“I think it went pretty great.” Tattletale said with a smile, “We took out the lab and caused trouble for the Wards, that’s like, two jobs in one. I’m sure we’ll get a bonus for that.”

Grue huffed, probably smiling under his mask. “If you say so.” He looked at the other two dogs before asking, “Anyone hurt?”

The rest of the team shook their head. Any injuries sustained in the fight were minor and not worth mentioning, Skitter’s back ached from where Glory Girl landed on her but that would go away with a few night's rest.

“Skitter?” Grue asked, turning all the way around to look at her. “What was that about at the end there?”

“What?” Skitter asked, confused.

“Pushing Glory Girl out of the way?” Grue explained, “I was trying to disable her, you’re lucky she didn’t give chase.”

“Oh… that? Uh…” Skitter fumbled to come up with a response, while Tattletale knew about their friendship, the rest of the Undersiders were still in the dark about it. “Just want her all to myself is all… to take her… in a fight…”

Tattletale giggled at the response, ignoring Skitter’s probable glare shooting her way.

“Right…” Grue said, “Well try not to do that in the future. It’s usually a bad idea to tackle a brute.”

----------------------------------------

“What the fuck was that about at the end there!” Shadow Stalker yelled at Victoria. “I almost had them and you got in the way!”

“Yeah… well…” Victoria said back, thinking of an excuse. “You should’ve said you were firing, how was I supposed to know!”

Victoria didn’t exactly know why she took the hit for Skitter. She was still in hero mode, responding to an active crime scene and Skitter was a villain getting away. But Taylor had just pushed her out of the way of being mauled by a mutant dog so Victoria felt the need to return the favour.

Overall, Victoria was upset. Taylor hadn’t pulled any punches when it came to the fight, her shoulder told her that much, still stinging from where Skitter struck her. Not to mention how Lisa actually shot her. Victoria was still in shock from that. Her forcefield took the bullet, but there was no remorse, just Lisa’s usual smug smile as she fired the gun.

“We should go after them.” Shadow Stalker continued, changing the focus of her rage to Aegis. “They’re getting away!”

“Stalker,” Aegis said, authority strong in his voice. “We need to contain this fire, make sure these people are alive and safe.”

A few more Wards showed up and quickly began moving into action. Pulling unconscious people further away from the fire. Aegis looked towards the burning warehouse and sighed, this wasn’t going to look good in his report and Piggot was sure to give him hell for it. He turned back to Victoria and gave a tired shrug.

Victoria didn’t know why it bothered her so much. She knew Taylor was Skitter, they had fought before, but it felt different now. She had to go to school tomorrow and have lunch with the girl, knowing full well that they had just fought. She didn’t want to fight Taylor, she wished Taylor hadn’t shown up at all. What the hell was Taylor even doing here?

She looked towards the blazing fire and the man who had ran out of the warehouse in a panic. He was unconscious now, bug bites covered him all over. Victoria remembered the fear in his eyes, the horror she herself felt as Skitter appeared.

Burning a building down, scaring the hell out of a drug dealer. Hospitalising multiple people. What was Taylor thinking when she did this? Why did she do this?

‘Because it’s fun.’

Victoria shook her head. She knew that Skitter is a villain. But Taylor wasn’t like that, there was more to this, there had to be. This was… revenge on the world that wronged her. An unhealthy coping method that Lisa had pushed her into. Vicky knew the joy of breaking things, but she also knew the consequences, Taylor was new to this and the longer it went on, the higher the chance she would run into those consequences. Victoria had to do something, she had to save-

“Are you going to fucking help or what!?”

Victoria looked up at Shadow Stalker and realised she was standing around like an idiot. The Ward watched her suspiciously before Victoria quickly moved away to see how she could deal with the fire.
-----------------------------------------

Arcadia High – Tuesday – Morning

Victoria caught her eyes on Taylor as the taller girl entered the building. Vicky moved through the crowd of students to reach the girl. What surprised Victoria the most as she approached wasn’t how awkward the girl was after their fight, it was the complete opposite. Taylor waved hello and smiled as she locked eyes on Vicky.

It was a weak and small smile, Taylor wasn’t the most expressive girl, but a smile nonetheless. However, it was such a casual greeting, as opposed to the last time they met in person after fighting in costume. Victoria had expected to find Taylor being jumpy, maybe even afraid to show up to school again. Vicky had even written out a draft text letting Taylor know that their deal was still in place on the occasion that Taylor didn’t show up to school today.

Seeing the girl casually stroll up to her like this annoyed her. It wasn’t that she didn’t like Taylor, she did, she was happy to see her friend in school, but surely the girl could show ‘a little’ bit of guilt over what just happened last night.

‘She didn’t even send me a cute apology selfie this time.’

“Good morning, Vicky,” Taylor said, tilting her head curiously at Victoria’s conflicted face. “Do you need something?”

“Can we talk?” Victoria said, taking Taylor by the arm and pulling her into an empty classroom. Taylor flinched at the touch but moved with her.

“Sure, what’s up?” Taylor asked, less annoyed at the touch, more confused as to why.

“What’s up?” Victoria asked with a hushed tone. Closing the door behind her. “I haven’t seen you since we… y’know… And you just say ‘good morning’ like it’s nothing?”

“...Um, what would you prefer I say?” Taylor asked back, even more confused.

“I don’t know, what about ‘sorry’ for one?” Vicky said with a little more edge to her voice.

“For what?…”

“Gee, I don’t know.” Vicky sighed sarcastically, “Burning a building down, getting into a fight with the Wards, hitting me with your stupid baton thing.”

Taylor paused for a moment, opening her mouth a few times, unable to think of a response. Finally, she spoke again. “Okay, but you attacked me though…”

“Because that’s my job!” Vicky hissed, exasperated.

“Well, that’s ‘my’ job.” Taylor rebutted. “But fine. I’m sorry. Can we move on?”

“Taylor, you burned down a building. Your team put seventeen people in the hospital.”

“And what were you going to do with them?” Taylor said, getting annoyed. “Ask them nicely to stop making drugs.”

“We wouldn’t have burnt the place down, for one.” Vicky snapped back.

“No, you would have captured all the product, sent it to lock up only to have someone else steal it and put it out on the street later. We made sure that shit stayed gone.” Taylor snapped back harder. Taylor really had a low opinion of Brockton Bay’s law enforcement and it showed. “Why are you getting so hung up about this? I thought we had a deal.”

Only then did Victoria notice the bugs that were forming around the room, barely a swarm but still there. Taylor was backing away from her, looking at Vicky with a mixture of annoyance, and sadness.

‘You’ll give up on your little pet project. Then you’ll drop her. Worse, you’ll betray her. Like every other person in Taylor’s life.’

Lisa’s words rang through Victoria’s head. She could see it in Taylor’s eyes, darting around the room, looking for exits, avoiding meeting her eyes. The first week had gone so well, she could almost forget that Taylor was a stressed-out girl with trust issues. She didn’t expect Taylor to change in a day or a week. It was so easy for Victoria to fall back on her old ‘black and white’ worldview after fighting.

Victoria lifted up her hands in surrender. “We do, Taylor.” She held her voice calm and steady. “The deal stays. I’m not…” She sighed at herself. “I’m new to this, okay? But you’re still my friend. I promise.”

Taylor held back for a moment, eyeing Victoria. Eventually, she let out a sigh of her own and relaxed again. The bugs moving away again.

“I’m sorry,” Victoria said, walking slowly towards Taylor. “I’m just annoyed… at the situation. Not at you. I don’t like fighting my friends.”

“Neither do I,” Taylor mumbled, looking away guiltily. “So, we’re still… friends?” There was a hope in that voice that saddened Victoria, the fact that she made Taylor question that fact made her feel terrible.

“Of course!” Victoria said, pulling Taylor into a hug. “I told you, I’m your new best friend. I meant it.” Taylor made a few grunting sounds which Vicky thought were just her usual anti-social self trying to pull away from the hug until she recognised the pained flinches Taylor made. Pulling away, Vicky looked over Taylor with concern. “What’s wrong? I didn’t squeeze too hard, did I?”

Taylor shook her head and put a hand on her upper back. “A little, my back's still sore from last night.” Victoria gave her a confused look. “We don’t all have a personal healer. In our house.” Taylor chuckled, rubbing her shoulder.

Victoria understood, the kneeling kick from above, Taylor was still in pain from the attack. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Vicky jumped in surprise at the realisation. Pulling her phone from her pocket. “I’ll get Amy to look you over.”

Taylor jumped in surprise this time. “Oh, no,” Taylor said, shaking her head. “I’ll manage.”

“Please!” Victoria begged, taking Taylor’s hand. “It’s the least I can do.”

“Won’t she get suspicious?” Taylor asked, “How am I going to explain the damage?”

“I’ll make something up,” Vicky said, already midway to dialling Amy.

-----------------------------------

Taylor was more than a little apprehensive about receiving treatment from Amy. But Victoria was persistent as she pulled through, forcing the girl into a meeting with the healer.

Class was starting in a few minutes, they quickly found Amy and hurried off to a relatively empty section of the school.

“Vicky? What’s up?” Amy said once everyone stopped moving and pulling her about. “It’s been five minutes, what’s this emergency?”

“Taylor’s been hurt,” Vicky said, gently pushing Taylor closer to her sister. Taylor waited for the excuse that she said she’d ‘make up’ but it never came. Vicky knew Amy well enough that she didn’t need to give a reason.

“Oh, okay…” Amy said with a sigh, holding her hand out towards Taylor.

Taylor looked towards the hand then back to Vicky. Victoria nodded, pressing Taylor on to take Amy’s hand. With a hesitant shake, Taylor finally placed her hand down.

“Oh. Wow…” Amy said, staring off into space as she ‘read’ Taylor’s body. “How’d you do this?”

Victoria’s eyes widened in surprise, Amy never cared about that before, damn that traitorous and curious sister!

“Uh, I hit her. Accidentally” Vicky said with an awkward laugh. “Yeah, I snuck up behind her and slapped her on the back a little too hard. Super strength, y’know?” Victoria tapped her head with her knuckle, trying to make a point of what a ‘klutz’ she was.

“Vicky…” Amy said, looking back at her sister in what Victoria hoped wasn’t suspicion. “…Are you a fucking idiot? You could’ve broken Taylor’s back? Seriously what is wrong with you?” Amy shook her head and muttered a few more insults under her breath.

Victoria shrank down like the fool she was. As long as suspicion was away from Taylor, she could deal with her sister thinking she was a complete and utter moron.

“Alright, all done,” Amy said after a few minutes. “Did most of the injuries around your torso and hands, did you want me to fix your eyesight while I’m at it?”

Taylor pulled her hand away the second Amy said she was done. Shaking her head, Taylor looked away in a panic and said, “NothankyouI’mgoodthanksforthatbye.” And took off to class.

“She’s very shy…” Victoria added, trying her best to smile. Amy hummed in response. “Thanks for that Ames, you’re the best.”

Amy waved the compliment off and gave Vicky a hug.

“So what’s up with her anyway?” Amy asked, looking up from the hug.

“What do you mean?” Victoria asked back.

“Taylor had a lot of little injuries. The spine was sore, sure. But her arm looked like was burnt to hell, she had scratches all up and down her legs.” Amy explained, listing out some of the obvious injuries she picked up. “Is she getting into fights or something?”

Victoria froze in a panic. “Uh, no… she was uh… bullied, remember? From her old school?”

Amy thought about it for a moment. “Wasn’t that months ago now? Pretty sure that burn scar is only a week or so old.”

Victoria panicked a little more, internally.

“Do you think?…” Amy began as Victoria feared the worst. “Should we ask her about her home life? Y’know…” Amy took a quick look around before whispering. “Does she have mean parents?”

Victoria let out a sigh of relief. “Uh, I don’t think… but we should… ‘I’ should check with her. I’ll do that. Don’t worry, I’m sure Taylor’s fine. And uh, thanks for caring.”

Amy shrugged, “She’s nice enough. Plus she’s your new friend, so I’ll look out for her and stuff…” She said as if Amy needed an excuse to care about someone. Amy broke off the hug and also left for class.

Relaxing again, Victoria moved to leave for her own class before noticing that another person was watching them. Dean was waiting by the corridor.

-----------------------------------------------------------

“Everything okay?” Dean asked as Victoria walked by.

“Yes,” Vicky said as casually as she could sound. “Why wouldn’t it be?”

Dean looked back at Vicky with a very deadpan stare.

“Because I just sensed you freak out several times during that conversation,” Dean said, nodding over to where Amy was earlier. “What happened to Taylor? I thought she didn’t want Amy’s help.”

“Nothing happened to Taylor,” Victoria said quickly, denying everything.

“Mmhmm,” Dean responded, giving Victoria the same deadpan look. “What’s really going on here, Vicky?”

“What do you mean?”

“You get obsessed with this girl all of a sudden.” Dean explained, “You’re just… laser-focused on becoming friends with.”

“Yeah, and?” Victoria argued back.

“So you ‘kidnap’ her and force her to be friends with all of us.”

“Taylor needed more friends…” Victoria paused for a moment before letting out an accusatory gasp, “Don’t tell me you’re just pretending to be friends with her!”

Dean held up his hands in surrender. “No, I like Taylor just fine. She’s a little… skittish, but a nice girl. But I do pick up on some things… And judging by the way your panicking, I’d say you’ve picked up on it too.”

“I don’t…” Victoria began, trying to calm herself. “Taylor is a nice, normal girl. Who’s had a few rough experiences. Any violent thoughts she may have, are just… just by-products from not having enough friends.”

Dean looked back, confused. “You do know I read emotions, not minds? And I’m not talking about her depression. I’m talking about the other thing. Isn’t it a little mean to string her along like this?”

“String her along?” Victoria repeated confused and upset. “I would never-”

“Come on Vicky,” Dean said, attempting to pull a ‘winning smile’ that Victoria might have fallen for in the past. “Think of it from her point of view. A girl, down on her luck, shunned by the world and then along comes Victoria Dallon, Glory Girl, to lift her up and become her ‘bestest friend.’ Becoming the one bright light in her life. It’s no wonder she feels that way.”

“Feels what way?” Victoria asked, already knowing the answer but waiting for confirmation.

“Vicky…” Dean said with as much care as his smile could manage. “The girl has a ‘major’ crush on you. Or she’s afraid of you?… It’s hard to tell sometimes. Taylor’s very… closed in. But she certainly doesn’t have any strong feelings towards the rest of us. And look, I’m completely fine with girls crushing on girls, more power to them and all, but you should really talk to her before she gets the wrong idea.”

“Huh…” Victoria mused, she already picked up on Taylor’s ‘wandering eyes’ at times, but it was another thing entirely to know that attraction came from a full-blown crush. Victoria didn’t know exactly how she felt about that. She didn’t feel negatively about the crush, she just never considered it properly. If made her feelings… complicated. Of course, Taylor was a complicated person in general, a villain whom she hoped to convert, a girl that Victoria had only barely known if she was being honest.

“So yeah,” Dean continued, trying to be sly. “You should let her know where you stand. Sooner rather than later… Wouldn’t want another girl at the table to be jealous when we start dating again.”

“When we what?” Vicky asked, snapping out of her thought.

Dean let out an awkward huff, “Y’know. When you’re done with the break.”

“Dean… It’s been months.” Victoria said bluntly.

“Well yeah, but we always…” Dean said, breaking into a mumble.

“I think it’s time we call it. This wasn’t going to work out between us.” Victoria said, as gently as she could. “Just so you know where I stand.” Vicky awkwardly patted Dean on the shoulder, she’d still be friends if he wanted, they’d always be friends.

As for Taylor? She wasn’t sure how to approach that. It was still early days, and obviously, she still needed time to come to terms with her villainous side job before they could ever… ever what? Date?

She was single now. Not exactly looking to jump into a new relationship. Then again, it had been months since she was unofficially single. And Taylor was nice, Vicky never really thought about women in that way before but it… wasn’t a terrible thought.

Could Vicky see herself doing that in the future? Going on a cute date with Taylor, the book reading, raccoon plush stealing super villain?

Victoria didn’t need to think of the answer, the smile on her face said enough.

 

Noon – Undersider's home base

Lisa lay across the couch, flicking through the different channels on the TV. Today was a slow day, there was no job to be planned, nothing was even in the works. She'd go out later and see if she could find something 'fun' to do, but until then, all Lisa could do was relax until the call came in.

Brian was out, playing parent for his little sister. Something about shopping for furniture for their new apartment, their 'fearless leader' worked himself to death to support that girl. Someone needs to remind the poor guy one day that he's only seventeen.

Rachel was working at the dog shelter. It took Lisa far longer than she'd ever admit to realise that the shelter was an actual shelter, with volunteers, employees, and bills. She always assumed that Rachel was hoarding dogs under some bridge like a troll. She really misjudged that woman, Lisa made a mental note to apologise. Not that Rachel would know why Lisa was apologising.

Alec was out doing… God knows what. Lisa was almost afraid to ask what Alec got up to in his spare time. The curiosity she had was outweighed by the lack of effort to find out. So long as Alec stayed out of trouble, she didn't care what he got up to.

Taylor was at school. The only Undersider to bother attending high school. Probably the only supervillain in the world that bothered with such pedestrian things as homework. Reading online threads on her phone about the 'terrifying Skitter' was made extra amusing when paired with her phone's wallpaper. A selfie of Taylor holding up some plush raccoon to her face.

Taylor originally took the photo as an apology to Victoria after she discovered that their little shopping outing was a prelude to another smash-and-grab. Taylor then sent the same photo over to Lisa, seemingly for 'no reason'. Even looking at the photo days later, Lisa's powers could tell her exactly why Taylor sent it.

Taylor thinks she looks cute in this photo. Wanted your opinion on the photo. Values your opinion, wants to look cute for you. Wants to look cute for Victoria. Doesn't usually consider herself 'cute.' Likes how the photo hides half her face, not confident taking photo of entire face. Hopes plush toy distracts from actual face.

Her self-confidence aside, the photo made Lisa smile. It was cute, this was partly the reason why Lisa had made it her phone's wallpaper, for her personal phone anyway, she wouldn't have a picture of the Undersider's faces on her work phone.

The apology photo was a stupidly cute idea. Lisa was actually jealous of Victoria for getting it first. She'd been jealous of Victoria for a lot of things this week. It took Lisa weeks to get Taylor to start opening up to her. Between Taylor's hesitancy to become a villain and general anxiety when it came to being social, it took time for the girl to consider her an actual friend and not just 'that scary extrovert who won't leave me alone'. Then Victoria comes along, and speed runs the whole process in a week.

And of course, Taylor developed a crush on her, it's freaking Glory Girl, even Lisa couldn't look away from those legs of hers… and she's not even interested in that.

But who could have a chance of fighting against that, when presented with the option? Skitter was a cold and logical villain, Skitter knew how bad of an idea it is to associate with Victoria Dallon. But Victoria didn't corner Skitter during school. No, she cornered Taylor Hebert. And Taylor is a useless lesbian who stood no chance.

Lisa chuckled at the thought. It still annoyed her how easily Taylor fell for the hero. All it took was some pretty blonde hair and a charming smile and the hero had her eating out of the palm of her hand. The bitch stole a play right out of Lisa's own rule book and acted like she was a genius for doing so. Worst of all, the attraction was mutual. Taylor hadn't picked up on it yet, but once Victoria figured out that the real reason she was giving the villain the benefit of the doubt was because 'she's cute,' then it would be all over.

Naturally, there was an easy fix to that. Lisa could easily up her game and turn her charming smile into outright flirting. Taylor would jump at the chance, Lisa's power told her that almost every time they saw each other.

Taylor wants stronger friendship. Wants romantic relationship. Wants to be closer to Lisa Wilbourn. Interested in romantic relationship with Lisa Wilbourn. Interested in romantic relationship with Victoria Dallon. Unwilling to make the first move. Doesn't believe either woman is interested in her.

Taylor had already asked Lisa if she was gay, Taylor's not-so-subtle attempt to form that desired 'romantic relationship' and all Lisa could say in return was, 'It's complicated.' In truth, Lisa panicked. Was she gay? No, not exactly. Lisa was… Ace? At least, Lisa assumed she was a few months ago. She never really thought much about her sexuality, she could pick up on when people were interested in her, but never really found any interest in other people.

Lisa always knew when people were attracted to her, it was the downside of having a noisy power. It could come in handy at times, people were always more likely to talk to a pretty face than to punch it if given the option. As a social thinker, it gave her an edge to use on the job. As a girl living in Brockton Bay, however, it could be awkward as all hell.

From teenage Wards she fought, to the Mercs worked with, to the skeevy politicians and businessmen she bribed for information. Getting a brief insight into every person who ever looked at her funny could get tiring and made the whole concept of sexuality feel… disgusting at times.

Her teammates were no exception. Brian, for all his good intentions and gentlemen-like nature, couldn't resist the odd perve when he thought Lisa wasn't looking. Lisa didn't even need powers to know what Alec thought of her and even Rachel would sometimes give Lisa a look when she was, 'in heat.' It made her feel gross, even if she never brought it up.

So why then, when Taylor did the exact same things, did Lisa find it endearing? Partly because Taylor was more interested in hand-holding over ass-grabbing but mainly because Lisa liked Taylor.

She liked Taylor…

Lisa frowned at that statement. It felt like an understatement, Taylor was her best friend. Lisa had other friends, work friends, social friends and the like, but it had been years since Lisa had a 'best' friend. Even still, Taylor was special. Lisa didn't like Taylor, she 'liked' Taylor.

And that scared the hell out of her.

Lisa didn't 'like' people, she was never interested in all that nonsense. She didn't think it was possible. Sure, Lisa could tolerate a certain level of physical closeness, but romance and love? That was just a myth to the girl. She was too busy trying to survive her life in the city to care about romance or feelings. So why was she suddenly considering her feelings for Taylor?

When she first recruited Taylor, she just wanted a powerful parahuman to join their crew. Skitter was a certified powerhouse, taking on Lung by herself. Easy to manipulate, morally flexible, Lisa was the luckiest thinker in the world to stumble upon her. It was Taylor who needed the friendship and Lisa had no problems offering that friendship. Her whole plan hinged on making the new friend. A gal pal, a work buddy, a partner in crime and it worked… A little too well. Lisa didn't realise how much fun it would be to just 'be friends' with the girl.

The moment she realised how much Taylor meant to her, it scared Lisa worse than anything. Because she trusted Taylor, this business was no place for trust. Taylor was now wrapped up in Lisa's shit and the girl didn't even know it yet.

So when Taylor asked if she was gay, interested in forming that 'romantic relationship' that Taylor craved so much, Lisa wanted to say, "Sure, I'm gay… for you at least. I never considered forming romantic relationships before but I'd be interested in dating you. But I've never felt this way about anyone before and I'm scared that I won't be able to give you what you want. Also, my boss will likely use our relationship as another gun to my head and I have an inkling of what you're capable of if you ever found out how much danger I am actually in, which makes me feel incredibly guilty for pulling you into this life."

This was why Lisa panicked and instead said, "It's complicated." Changing the topic as quickly as possible that day.

Lisa looked back at the photo of Taylor on her phone and sighed. Of all the problems in her life right now, she was lying on the couch, worrying about her feelings for a friend. It seemed so… pedestrian.

What did she plan to do about Victoria? The hero obviously wasn't going to back off, as much as Lisa wished she would. It bothered her that that 'Glory Hole' was all over Taylor. Not just because of how dangerous it was for Taylor to be so close to a hero, but because… Lisa was jealous. Taylor really liked Victoria, her crush was obvious and yet, Taylor wanted the two girls to get along.

When they got back from burning the warehouse and fighting the heroes the other night, Taylor pulled Lisa aside to talk to her. Lisa pulled a gun on Glory Girl that night and shot at her, nothing lethal, or even painful for the hero, but a bullet was sent in her direction. While Skitter didn't say anything in the moment of battle, Taylor was not happy. When they got back to base the girl was pouting at Lisa… Actually pouting. It would've been adorable if Lisa didn't feel so bad.

Lisa promised to make it up to Taylor, somehow. Which meant that Lisa had to play nice with the hero. Since Victoria wasn't leaving anytime soon, it made an unfortunate amount of sense. With another audible sigh, Lisa flicked her phone open to her contact list and scrolled to Victoria. She might as well extend an olive branch and she knew exactly how to do it.

-----------------------------------------------
Arcadia High – A few minutes later

Victoria's phone buzzed in her pocket. She was currently in class but that didn't stop her from sliding it out under her desk. It was a message from Lisa which caused Victoria to sigh internally. Lisa had promised to send her a text each day and so far Lisa was living up to her promise.

Today it was a small message with a photo attached. Vicky looked at it in confusion. She didn't know if she should be angry, shocked, or laugh at the absurdity of it. Victoria did want an apology for the fight, she just never expect Lisa to actually go through with it. Whether Lisa was genuine or not is a different question entirely. It looked to be a parody of Taylor's earlier apology for robbing the antique store. Victoria settled for huffing in disapproval while rolling her eyes.

"Sorry for shooting you. Hope we can still be friends." The message read while showing a selfie of Lisa. The girl was cuddled up, with an orange plush fox held over her face. A recreation of Taylor's selfie.

"Fuck you," Vicky responded into her phone.

She was still upset with the villain for actually shooting her. Victoria didn't actually think that they were friends, but she still was shocked to see Lisa actually shoot her. She was more than entitled to be angry at Lisa. Still, Victoria had to admit, begrudgingly, that getting the message did make her a little happy.

Her phone buzzed again and Victoria pulled it out again to see the response. A single heart emoji. Victoria fought her lips as they pulled into a smile. As infuriating as Lisa could be, it was a cute photo.

----------------------------------------------

The bell for lunch rang out and Victoria made her way to the cafeteria. She spotted Carlos and Dean midway through the trip, it had been a few days since Vicky had 'officially' broken up with the boy. So far, no announcement had been made. Victoria didn't feel the need to as in her mind she'd been single for months now.

Carlos perked up with a wave as Victoria got closer but Dean barely managed a smile. Vicky knew it was going to be awkward between them for a 'long' time. Hopefully, they could return to being friends in the future, but for now, Victoria let him have some space.

Vicky's usual posse formed as each member left their respective classes, the only odd ones out were the two socially awkward juniors who were already waiting at the table when the rest of them arrived. Amy and Taylor looked to be sitting in silence, neither girl was interested in engaging in conversation with the other. Victoria couldn't work out if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

She wanted Amy and Taylor to get along. They were both in the same grade and shared some of the same classes. Victoria and her friends would be graduating at the end of the school year leaving both girls behind. In the past, she'd worried about what Amy's final year at school was going to be like, with her entire table of friends gone. Amy acted like she didn't need anyone, but Vicky suspected that wasn't the truth, everybody needs a friend.

Taylor was the answer to this problem. As both girls were in the same grade, the obvious answer was to have them both become friends. But neither girl was particularly sociable, Taylor had the habit of only speaking when spoken to and Amy never had a reason to speak to Taylor directly. Watching the two girls sit in silence painted a grim picture of what their final year of school would be like.

Although, Victoria also had hope. Taylor and Amy had obviously come together from class. They were sitting next to each other, instead of on opposite sides of the table. While they weren't talking to each other, they didn't appear to be bothered by one another. Victoria knew that if Amy actually tried to talk to Taylor, Taylor would respond. Maybe this was just how asocial people socialise?

Her sister just needed coaxing out of her shell, they both did. Everyone in the group often remarked that Amy was something of a 'grumpy raccoon' but Victoria had seen her smile. Victoria wished more people could see the side of Amy that she saw. Amy could actually be very sociable, and not just for her Panacea work. She'd often spent hours talking to Amy, on those rare days where neither of them had any plans, back before life got complicated with school, capes and Dean. Not to mention how damn cuddly she got while they were alone. Amy seemed to crave hugs from Vicky, but only when the two of them were alone. Victoria assumed Amy was just shy like that.

Either way, Victoria still had time. Before school was over, she'd make sure that Taylor and Amy were the best of friends. Both girls gave small smiles as Victoria sat down across from them. The rest of the posse took seats around the table. They all broke out into conversation, Amy sighing slightly as her quiet was now ruined. Dennis told a crass joke about a rhino that caused everyone at the table to roll their eyes with a chuckle.

Victoria noticed that Taylor joined in with the collective group laugh. Not outwardly, just a little huff with a smile. That might as well have been an open-belly laugh for Taylor. It was such a joy to see how relaxed the girl was in this group now, especially considering how short of a time span it'd been. Victoria's beamed with pride, at both Taylor and herself. The girl had spent months alone in this school, treating it like a challenge to survive, and even longer at her old school living through hell when this was exactly what she needed all this time.

Vicky wanted to keep the momentum going. Getting Amy and Taylor to become friends was part of that but she tried to think of more things she could do for Taylor. Victoria wanted to see more of that smile, the one that Taylor tried to suppress. She made it her mission to see Taylor pull a smile as wide as Victoria usually did. Perhaps it was a selfish wish, but if Amy could secretly smile in her presence, maybe Taylor could too. But what could entice Taylor to smile wider?

'The girl has a 'major' crush on you.'

The thought had been going through her mind ever since Dean said it. Taylor had a crush on her, Taylor had a 'major' crush on her. Victoria was used to people finding her attractive. She'd overhear people talking from time to time, and come across several threads online about her. Most of which ranged from the 'kind of flattering' to the 'I never want to show my face in public again.'

She also knew that some women would occasionally crush on her too, but Victoria never gave it much thought. It was just something she lived with, being a celebrity and all. Having some random fan make a post online was completely different to know that the girl sitting across from you had 'feelings,' doubly so when that girl is your friend.

Victoria hadn't told anyone about Taylor's crush. She still wasn't sure how to handle it. The last thing she wanted to do was 'string Taylor along' like Dean had implied. Usually, Vicky would go to Amy when it came to talking about her dating life. Amy was always happy to listen and even if her 'advice' consisted of jokes to 'break up with him,' it was nice to have a sister to vent to.

The only reason she hadn't gone to Amy was that she wasn't ready to 'open the can of worms' about the topic of her growing sexuality. Victoria was still coming to grips with being… Bisexual? Bi-curious? Vicky didn't even know and she wasn't sure how Amy would react to her 'new interests.' She was afraid of having Amy think she was weird, not that she thought Amy would be homophobic or dismissive, she just felt an unexpected anxiety about making the subject public knowledge.

'Wait, is this what it's like to be 'in the closet?''

She shook off the tangential thought and looked back at Taylor. Taylor already smiled softly at the sight of her 'friend.' Victoria could almost imagine it, How much wider would that smile be if it was more than a crush? The vivid thought of Taylor breaking into a wide smile was stuck in Vicky's mind. Particularly, when the cause of that smile was Victoria herself giving Taylor a kiss…

Vicky blushed, hiding her face at the table even though no one else knew what she was thinking. That was an odd thought. It came out of nowhere and cemented itself in Vicky's brain. Victoria had only started considering adding women to her dating pool a few days ago and now she was fantasying about kissing one. Kissing her.

She'd had thoughts like these before, back when she used to crush on Dean. Looking back at the guy now, she felt no strong attraction towards him. There was history between them and she loved him, as a friend. Turning back to Taylor she felt… something building. Victoria couldn't decide if it was her desire to help Taylor, see her smile or just curiosity on what dating a woman would be like in general.

Taylor looked up at her, finally taking notice that Vicky had been staring at the girl for some time. She tilted her head in confusion. "What's up?" Taylor asked, shrinking down as if trying to hide from Victoria's sight. Victoria felt bad for making Taylor self-conscious again.

"Uh, nothing," Vicky said, shaking her head in embarrassment. Quickly thinking of an excuse, both for staring and to spend alone time with her, she followed up with, "Just wondering if you're free to hang out after school?"

Victoria fought another urge to blush. She was simply asking Taylor to do something outside of school yet her heart was beating like she'd just asked Taylor out on a date. Taylor smiled again briefly then paused to think.

"I have plans after school," Taylor said, more to herself as she remembered.

"Oh," Victoria said, a little disappointed. Then she raised an eyebrow but tried to keep a casual tone. "You mean work?" Victoria resisted sounding accusatory as she said 'work.' She didn't want to make the same mistake as the other day.

"No," Taylor said as she shook her head. "Was just meeting Lisa at the boardwalk." Taylor thought for a little longer then broke into another small smile. "You should come. If you want…"

Victoria weighed the option. She wasn't exactly keen on seeing Lisa again. She was still annoyed at the villain for shooting her, among other things. At the same time, it would be a responsible thing to go and make sure that no crime was about to take place. She could watch Lisa like a hawk and stop whatever break-in they were planning next. Plus, showing up unannounced was sure to annoy her, that in and of itself was a good enough reason to go.

"I'd love to," Vicky said with a smile.

----------------------------
The Boardwalk – After school

It was Taylor's second time flying with Victoria and she still wasn't used to the feeling. She still fought against her ingrained fear of heights that any human would have if they found themselves miles in the air with nothing but a forcefield holding them. Taylor kept her face forward, trying to look out to the sea instead of directly down to the ground.

As terrifying as it could be, flying was also exciting. Once she finally relaxed and realised that she wasn't going to 'suddenly drop at any moment,' it became a rather relaxing experience. Her heart was still beating a million miles a minute, but that was only because the very attractive blonde woman was holding Taylor in their arms.

Another reason Taylor was looking forward was because she was afraid that Vicky might catch her gawking at her face. Victoria was beautiful, but the immense joy on her face when she flew brought it to another level. Not to mention the closeness that came from being held while they flew.

Taylor was averse to hugging and touching. Her Dad rarely if ever hugged her and for the last two years the only physical interactions with people had been from getting shoved, kicked or tripped. On top of that, anytime Taylor was squeezed in by a crowd of people, she'd remember her time in the locker and be brought to the edge of a panic attack. Lisa was the first person to give her a genuine hug since her mother died. Taylor didn't realise how touched-starved she was by that point.

Sitting in Victoria's arms, she fought the urge to lean in and hug back. Because if she did that, Taylor would lose all restraints. She'd probably try to recover years worth of unreceived intimacy in a single hug and make a complete fool of herself. Victoria was just a friend, she didn't need to see Taylor break down in tears while in her arms and Taylor certainly didn't want to do that in front of anyone. She'd rather Victoria drop her before it came to that.

Her feelings for Victoria were more than complicated. She was afraid when Vicky cornered her. Afraid and upset. Victoria was the one who suggested the deal in the first place and yet it was her that got angry at Taylor for keeping to the rules. Taylor expected this to happen, Victoria reminded her of Emma after all. And Emma turned around and stabbed her in the back.

But, Victoria didn't betray her. She calmed down, apologised, and even took Taylor to go get healed. She actually cared about hurting her. The deal remained, and at the end of the day, they were both friends. A small part of Taylor's psych still refused to believe it, there would always be a part of Taylor that was ready for betrayal. That didn't mean Taylor wanted to be distrustful. She wanted to be friends with Vicky, friends with everyone in her posse, not just to avoid fighting and jail, but because she liked Vicky. Taylor really liked Vicky… to a stupid degree.

Taylor knew she was gay from the beginning. There was never any questioning about her type. In a city like Brockton Bay, that was something you kept close to the chest, lest you find the Empire knocking on your door. Still, that didn't stop Taylor from being stupid in the presence of a 'pretty girl.' Her friendship with Emma, wanting to be a hero like Alexandria, joining the Undersiders for Lisa and now flying in the arms of Victoria. Every dumb decision Taylor made could be traced back to her 'thinking with her loins.'

Here she was, landing down in the most popular section of the city. Carried by Glory Girl, publicly announcing that they're friends while she goes to visit her other blonde crush, all because Taylor liked the idea of spending time with two attractive blonde women.

As they touched down, Victoria was swarmed by a collection of tourists. Victoria quickly made a path out for Taylor before directing the crowd away from her. The hero would be stuck signing autographs for a good ten minutes. That gave Taylor enough time to text Lisa and organise a meeting spot.

Lisa was waiting by a random juice bar, sipping off a drink. She was dressed in what Taylor would call Lisa's 'rich bitch' disguise. Dressed up in designer jeans, shirts and sunglasses. With a matching handbag to top it off. Lisa had just finished making her 'rounds'. Taylor wasn't exactly sure what that entailed but it had something to do with pretending to be a wealthy, spoilt brat to meet with other wealthy business types. Lisa was basically shopping for new clients, seeing who among the boardwalk would be interested in the Undersider's services.

Lisa smiled at Taylor, waving a second drink as she offered a seat. Her smile broke as she noticed Victoria, walking behind.

"Oh, you brought Golden Girl," Lisa said with a half smile. "Great."

"Hope you don't mind. I invited her." Taylor said, picking up on Lisa's discomfort. Taylor completely forgot to inform Lisa about the change of plans, she felt guilty.

"No, no. Not at all." Lisa said, the full smile returning. She handed Taylor a drink, "We're all friends here, right?" She directed her smile at Victoria.

Vicky frowned and crossed her arms. Taylor looked back to Victoria in concern but Vicky broke into a similar smile. "Yes, Of course." She said, taking a seat. "The best of friends." She looked around the place for a bit, probably judging how much privacy they had to talk in before saying her next thought. "So, Lisa. How have you been? Robbed any banks today?"

Lisa chuckled. "Robbing banks!? Well, I never." She said in mock alarm. "What kind of monster do you think I am? I'll have you know, I only burned down three orphanages today."

"Only three?" Victoria retorted in mock amazement, "And here I thought you were a heartless bitch."

"Wow, that's rude," Lisa added, sounding a little more genuinely offended.

"I'm sorry." Victoria continued, still in a mocking tone. "How about I just shoot you and we'll call it even?"

Lisa looked to Taylor for some moral support. Taylor held up her hands in surrender. "Hey, I told you to apologise the other night."

"I did apologise!" Lisa exclaimed with a whine. "I shot her a cute apology text and everything." Lisa pulled out her phone and showed Taylor the message, "To which she so rudely told me to get fucked."

Taylor looked at the message and then at the photo. It was a parody of her own apology to Vicky. She didn't even know that Lisa owned a plush fox let alone one so cute. Taylor made a mental note to ask Lisa for the photo later.

"Apologised my ass." Vicky laughed. "Like you're actually sorry. You 'shot' me."

"And you punched me in the chest." Lisa riposted, "What did you expect me to do? Roll over and die?"

"Oh please," Vicky huffed. "I shoved you. If I'd actually punched you, you'd be dead."

"And if I'd actually wanted to shoot you-" Lisa said with a grin.

"Alright, enough," Taylor said, cutting the conversation off in a rare display of annoyance. Holding both hands out to quiet the girls. "Please stop fighting, for me?"

Both girls went quiet, glaring at each other before looking back to Taylor. Silently, each girl reached out and took one of Taylor's hands in confirmation. Taylor's confidence quickly drained as she wasn't expecting either woman to actually hold her hand, she was just trying to avoid an argument.

Lisa smiled in her usual 'all-knowing' smug way before looking at Victoria. "I'm sorry," She said, looking first at Taylor and then at Victoria. "I wasn't planning on hurting you… that way. I'd never shoot you for real." Her free hand extended towards Victoria, "Friends?"

Victoria hesitated for a moment, looking at Taylor who nodded subconsciously. "Friends…" She said, not as confident as Taylor would've liked but her hand met Lisa's all the same. Lisa held her grin and Victoria resisted the urge to squeeze down on Lisa's hand.

Eventually, they all relaxed and Victoria got a drink of her own. The three girls settled into idle chatter, both about their personal lives and cape lives. Lisa and Vicky would occasionally throw barbs at each other, usually in the form of a biting joke. However, both girls kept smiling, it didn't devolve into throwing insults or the like. Taylor could really see it, the three of them as friends, perhaps she was just hopeful but she wanted to believe it could be done.

An intense, challenging look was shared between the girls that went right over Taylor's head. She was too focused on the circle of hand-holding that had taken place at the start. Taylor already knew that she felt all 'warm and fuzzy' when both girls held her hand, but watching the circle be completed…

An… idea formed in Taylor's mind. To seduce both hero and villain with the promise of friendship and affection among each other. She had no idea how exactly she would accomplish that. But it was a rather nice fantasy to have.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Taylor Hebert is planning on being in a throuple with Victoria Dallon and Lisa Wilbourn

Lisa choked on her drink as her power pulled that little tidbit of information out of nowhere. It took several seconds of coughing before she could breathe again. Both girls looked towards Lisa in alarm.

Taylor Hebert is concerned for her friend. Victoria Dallon is concerned for Lisa Wilbourn

"I'm fine," Lisa said, coughing a few more times.

"Try not to inhale it next time," Victoria said with a chuckle.

"You alright?" Taylor asked, reaching a hand out to Lisa. Lisa nodded in response, patting Taylor's hand to let her know she was okay.

Lisa looked back up at Taylor and grinned. She already knew that Taylor had a crush on both women but for her power to just come out and 'say' that. Lisa held in the laughter that was teasing the edge of her lips.

She couldn't blame Taylor for having the thought. Not that Lisa knew it was what Taylor was thinking, she wasn't a mind reader. But you put two and two together and you have a good guess at what the blushing Taylor was contemplating. A fun thought experiment but it would never work. Victoria would never work with Lisa and Lisa… well she was still fifty-fifty on the whole Glory Hole situation.

"I'll get you a water," Taylor said, standing from her chair. She was still concerned about Lisa choking on her juice. Lisa was about to speak up and stop her but Taylor was already moving towards the convenience store down the street.

-----------------------

"She does know that this place sells water, right?" Victoria asked as she looked behind her. Taylor had left in a hurry to help her friend.

"Apparently not." Lisa chuckled.

Victoria sighed as she faced forward again on her chair. She was alone with Lisa. The two sat in relative silence while they waited for Taylor to return.

"So," Vicky said, breaking the awkward silence. "What was so funny earlier?"

"Huh?" Lisa asked, looking up from her now empty drink.

"You choked in a way my friend does after a funny joke," Victoria explained, pointing to Lisa's lips. "What was so funny?"

"Oh," Lisa chuckled, "Uh, nothing much. My power telling me the obvious. I guess."

"The obvious?"

"Yeah," Lisa explained, "That Taylor wants us to… get along and such."

"I see…" Victoria nodded, she could tell that there was more to it but Lisa didn't say anything. "You know, I still don't actually know what it is you do."

"I rob banks and burn orphanages," Lisa said with a straight face.

Vicky frowned, "Ha ha, I mean your powers. What is it? Do you read minds?"

"Yep, pretty much," Lisa said with a grin. "Does it bother you that I know all your secrets?"

"Bullshit." Vicky scoffed. Lisa held her smile and didn't back down. "Alright, prove it. What am I thinking of?"

"Let's see…" Lisa said, leaning in. She closed her eyes and placed two fingers on either side of her temple. Completely hamming up her performance. "You think… that I'm insufferably annoying but also… adorable as hell." She dropped her hands and opened her eyes, tilting her head with a smile. "How'd I do?"

"You're half right," Victoria said with an unimpressed stare.

"So you do think I'm adorable." Lisa chuckled, "Taylor is gonna be jealous."

"Shut up," Victoria huffed, a smile of her own cracking on her face. "Still hate you."

"Course you do." Lisa said casually, "That's part of my charm."

Victoria rolled her eyes, "Wow, you are so full of yourself."

"Says the literal celebrity. Did you sign any autographs on the way here?" Lisa broke into a laugh as she read Victoria's face, "Holy shit, you actually did."

"Shut up, they asked me," Vicky said defensively.

"But you enjoy it." Lisa added, pointing at Victoria, "Helps with your super-inflated ego. That's why you do the hero gig, right?"

"Fuck you," Victoria said, offended. "I do this to help people."

"There I go again, pissing people off." Lisa gently tapped the table with her fist and huffed. "It's bad a habit, I'm sorry."

"Have you tried not being a bitch?" Victoria asked.

"Yeah, but you make it really hard." Lisa said, Victoria opened her mouth in offence but Lisa held up a hand, "I'm trying. For Taylor's sake."

"You can't just say that." Vicky grumbled, "You know, I seriously can't get a read on you. Do you just fuck with people for kicks or is it like some cry for help?"

"A little bit of column A, a little bit of column B," Lisa said, mimicking a scale with her hand.

"See, this is exactly it," Victoria said pointing at Lisa. "I can't tell if you're serious or not? Like, do you need help or-"

"Yeah, shut up for a second," Lisa said, looking behind Victoria. Lisa's eyes went wide as she stood up from her chair, "Oh, fuck…"

"Fucking rude. Where are you going?" Victoria asked, turning in her chair to watch Lisa walk off.

Victoria looked past Lisa and spotted Taylor. She smiled at first but then noticed Taylor was currently in a discussion with three other girls, and she did not look happy. Taylor had the body posture of a turtle trying to retread into its shell. She knew Taylor could be shy but this was a new extreme.

Then the girls laughed. Not a friendly, jovial laughter. But a cackle, like hyenas. They kept walking away from Taylor, laughing all the while as the girl stood completely still. As if trying not to be noticed.

Victoria recognised one of the girls, the taller girl with dark skin. That was Sophia, the Ward. Shadow Stalker. Did Taylor know Shadow Stalker? Lisa was moving with purpose and Victoria felt the need to match pace.

Taylor found her footing and moved away from the trio of girls. Her head was locked down to her feet, not looking up at anyone as she walked. If not for her abilities, Victoria would've assumed that Taylor would run into someone walking like that.

Victoria caught up to Lisa just as Taylor was a few meters out. At this distance, Victoria could see that Taylor was crying. She was sniffling and rubbing her face as she moved, still refusing to look up.

"Taylor? Are you okay?-" Victoria asked gently, Taylor barrelled through both girls and kept on walking.

"I'mgonnagohome." Taylor mumbled under a sob. Not slowing down for either girl as she kept on walking.

Victoria was torn. On one hand, she had to follow after Taylor. She was not letting her walk home like that. But on the other hand, she needed to know what happened. Taylor was in a good mood when she left, not to mention that Taylor was a little more confrontational than she appeared to be. Often appearing ready to fight Victoria when cornered. To shrink away socially was one thing, but how she shut down and was now running away from those girls...

Does she know that it's Shadow Stalker? And why was Sophia there? What did those girls say and how did they know Taylor?

Lisa was looking in the direction of the three girls. They were still laughing away at whatever 'joke' they found so funny. Victoria knew in that instant who they were to Taylor.

"So, that's them?" Victoria asked, glaring at the trio.

"Yeah, looks like it…" Lisa said solemnly.

Victoria always blamed Lisa in her head, Lisa was the girl who was corrupting Taylor. Lisa pushed Taylor into a life of chaos and crime. But that was because Lisa had a face. Taylor's bullies were nameless entities, a collection of random students. It was a lot harder to lay blame on them.

Now they had a face, she even had a name for one of them. Shadow Stalker, Sophia. Victoria had never gotten along with the grumpy Ward, no one did. In the past, Vicky used to wonder what Shadow Stalker sounded like when she laughed. Now… She fucking hates it.

Vicky clenched her fists and drew in a breath. She wanted to hurt them, Badly.

For now, Taylor was the priority. They needed to find her and make sure she was alright. But Victoria wouldn't forget. Neither girl would forget. Victoria looked at Lisa, and Lisa nodded in understanding. Both girls turned to find their friend.

A plan formed in both of their minds. To destroy the women who made Taylor's life so miserable. On that, they both agreed.

 

The Boardwalk – After school

Taylor was snapped out of her daydream by the sound of Lisa choking. She inhaled her drink in a strange way and started sputtering at the table. Lisa tried to wave the concerned looks away as she continued with her coughing fit. Pounding her chest a few times before taking a proper breath.

"I'm fine," Lisa said, coughing a few more times.

"Try not to inhale it next time," Victoria said with a chuckle.

"You alright?" Taylor asked, reaching a hand out to Lisa. Lisa nodded in response, patting Taylor's hand to let her know she was okay.

Taylor couldn't help but worry. In the three seconds that it took for Lisa to catch her breath, Taylor was already thinking of how to do the Heimlich. She'd done a basic first aid course back at Winslow, but so far hadn't had to use it.

Looking Lisa over, it was obvious to see that she was fine. The girl was blushing in embarrassment, giving Taylor an odd look but her usual grin held across her face. Lisa was good like that, able to take anything in stride. If it had been Taylor who accidentally choked on her drink, she would've shrunk away to hide.

Victoria was still chuckling, taking great amusement at watching Lisa make a fool of herself. There was a brief window where, she too, looked concerned for Lisa's well-being which made Taylor happy to know.

Taylor knew that the two girls didn't exactly like each other. Taylor wasn't blind, just optimistic. Deep down, Taylor had hope that the two girls would find in each other what Taylor saw in both of them. If they could consider her their best friend, then it wasn't impossible for them to think the same about each other. And if they all became best friends, then it wouldn't be impossible for all of them to become… something more? Right?

"I'll get you a water," Taylor said, standing from her chair. Lisa tried to stop her but Taylor was already on her feet and moving towards the convenience store they passed on the way here.

Taylor knew that the juice bar sold water. Any place that sold food and drinks in the city also sold water. Taylor picked the convenience store because it was all part of her 'evil plan.' Both girls had been acting a lot nicer with each other after Taylor intervened the first time. She'd proven to herself, that subconsciously, that they could get along. This was their chance.

She'd leave them alone at the table and use her bugs to watch over the pair. If both girls could continue to play nice, even outside of Taylor's presence, then there was a chance they could become friends, and if they became friends then there was a chance Taylor's 'dream' could come true…. Possibly? Maybe? Taylor was 'optimistic'.

Her bugs couldn't pick up on sound, so Taylor had to infer context through visuals alone. Both girls sat in silence for a painful amount of time. Then Victoria opened her mouth to speak. Lisa responded with a smile of her own, wider than Vicky's and the two started talking.

'They're both smiling or smirking at least. That's a good sign, right?'

Taylor was content to sit on a bench to spy on her friends. It wasn't really spying, more like, supervising in case they broke into another argument. She'd let both girls spend some time with each other and only step in if it looked like they'd get into another fight. Taylor thought she was a genius… until she was caught off guard by someone else calling her name.

"Hebert?"

Taylor jumped off the bench and spun around. She was so caught up in watching Lisa and Vicky, she didn't pay attention to what was around her. Amateur move, the Skitter side of her would be very disappointed.

"Holy fuck, it is you. Look who it is."

It took Taylor a few panicked seconds to get eyes on the approaching voice, but she already knew who it belonged to. Only one girl ever called her by that name. Sophia Hess was in the crowd of people passing by, pointing towards Taylor. Standing next to Sophia were Emma and Madison, both of which regarded Taylor with surprise and sadistic glee.

Emma's face dropped to her usual bitchy confidence as she started making her way over to Taylor, the rest of the trio following closely behind. In an instant, Taylor was taken back to Winslow. The fear and insecurity from seeing those three women approaching her.

Only this time it was different, it was worse. Taylor hadn't seen the trio since that day. The last time she saw those smug faces, the last time she heard the name 'Hebert' uttered in disgust, was the day Taylor was shoved into that locker.

The three girls encircled Taylor, constricting her movements, locking her in, covering her. She felt filthy, she could feel the trash pushed against her skin, smell that awful scent through her nose, taste the residue that was forced into her mouth. It was too much, she wanted to throw up.

"-listening to us?" Madison asked the trio. Taylor only caught the end of the sentence.

Emma clicked her fingers in front of Taylor's face. "Anybody home? I said I thought you left town? What the hell are you doing here, Taylor?"

Taylor's eyes flicked up to Emma's, she held her confident and judgemental stare, looking down at the taller girl. Taylor tried to speak back but her voice caught in her throat. Her hands felt clammy and her legs refused to move. The logical side of her brain screamed at her, she'd faced down far worse people and been able to function, she'd taken on Lung twice now and lived. Yet here were three ordinary girls who were able to break Taylor down just by getting up into her face.

"Say something you stupid freak." Sophia spat from the side.

Taylor tensed up, expecting to be hit, shoved tripped or pushed. All of her combat training with Lisa just crumbled in her mind. She wasn't Skitter right now, nor was she, Taylor. She was nothing, the girl in the locker that had nobody, that couldn't fight back and would die alone.

"Jesus Christ, is she crying already? Madison asked in disbelief. "We haven't even done anything yet?"

Taylor hadn't realised that tears were leaking down her cheek. She was too busy trying to keep deadly still, in the vain hope that they would simply get bored and leave.

"Guess that goes to show how weak she really is. Whatever, let's go. She's boring me." Emma added, with a pompous smile. "Taylor, I'd say I'm disappointed, but that would imply I thought better of you."

Emma broke into a laugh which was quickly echoed by the other two girls. The sound of their cackling rattled through Taylor's brain as she shrunk down into herself. She wanted to run away, far away from her, from everywhere. She wanted to disappear and die. She shut her eyes tight but her bugs wouldn't allow her to be blind to the world.

As the trio got further away, Taylor found the strength the start moving. She still couldn't face the world, looking straight down at her feet and relying on her bugs to look out for incoming people.

Home. She needed to go home. Nothing else mattered anymore. Taylor passed two blonde women who reached out to her, she clenched up again, not wanting to be touched right now. She might've mumbled something to them as she passed by Taylor wasn't focusing on herself.

Her body was simply a vessel, numb to the world, an empty husk that didn't exist. She let her bugs guide it away from the disgusting mass of people. Taylor had a vague idea of where she was going. Home was ahead of her, somewhere in the direction she walked.

The bugs picked up on Victoria and Lisa. They flew close to ground level, Victoria carrying Lisa while Lisa directed. They found Taylor in no time, landing down beside her as she kept walking. Taylor made no reaction to the girls, they might've tried talking to Taylor, but the bugs couldn't hear anything and Taylor never responded. Victoria tried reaching out to Taylor but Lisa stopped her, shaking her head.

In the end, both girls walked beside Taylor in silence as she went home.

Once they got to the house, Taylor didn't even turn to say goodbye. She simply strolled in through the front door, leaving both girls to wave awkwardly from out the front. Taylor ignored her father's words, whatever he said was lost on her as she marched like a zombie into her room.

Closing the door behind her, Taylor returned to the world. The irony wasn't lost on her that Taylor somehow felt safe locking herself up in her bedroom when it was being trapped in a confined space that brought her to this point.

Sliding down to the floor, with her back to the door. Taylor pulled her knees into her chest and let herself go. Breaking into a silent weep.

While she was aware of her body and surroundings again, she still had control over her bugs. Lisa and Victoria waited outside for another fifteen minutes. They spoke to each other, no insults, no barbs or pointed jokes. Taylor could tell that much through body language. They were probably speculating on what had happened, Taylor wasn't ready to talk about it. Both girls pulled out their phones as Taylor's own phone received two quick buzzes. Lisa then turned to Victoria and made sure she got whatever other message she sent before finally leaving.

----------------------------------------------
The following day – Lisa's apartment

Lisa stood up from her desk as she heard the knock at her front door. Her phone buzzed shortly after.

Impatient, wants to get inside quickly. Probably doesn't want to be seen.

Strolling out of her office and towards the door, Lisa made a final check to see if there was anything incriminating that was left around the place. With her safety satisfied, Lisa opened the door.

"Looking a little hot there, G-money?" Lisa chuckled as she looked Victoria over.

Victoria was dressed in multiple layers. She wore baggy jeans and a jacket with the hoodie down. Her face was covered by sunglasses and her hair was tied up in a ponytail that was covered in a cap. It was as if Victoria went out of her way to cover up as much of her body as possible, thinking that would hide her, not taking into account that it was the hotter side of the year and Vicky would stand out in public with that getup.

"Just let me in already." Victoria hissed, trying to keep quiet even though no one else was there to overhear them. Lisa stepped to the side and invited the hero in.

Lisa noted that Victoria was less 'angry' and more nervous. Not exactly the emotion she wanted to see for this revenge mission, but Lisa could work with it. With a sigh, Lisa shut the door and turned to the hero. Victoria pulled her cap and jacket off. Sighing as she discarded the extra layers, she ignored Lisa who simply chuckled at how ridiculous she looked.

"What's with the getup?" Lisa asked as Victoria piled her extra clothes on a spare dining chair.

"Oh, I don't know." Victoria said sarcastically, "I figured it would look bad if anyone recognised me entering the Undersider's evil lair."

"So rude." Lisa continued in mock disappointment, "Does this look like a lair to you?"

"What?" Victoria asked, actually looking around the place. "Well, no. I assumed you all hung out... It looks like a regular apartment. Didn't expect your lair to be so… domestic."

Assumed Undersider's lair was located in the sewers or a similarly dark place. Still struggling to understand villains as 'people'

Lisa laughed, "As if I'd invite you to the 'lair.' Grue would have my head for that. Not to mention Bitch's dogs would eat you alive."

"Wait?" Victoria cut in, filling in the gaps in her mind. "So this is… your place?"

"Sure is," Lisa grinned.

"Nice place." Victoria continued, unsure of what to say.

Victoria Dallon did not expect Lisa Wilbourn to trust her with this information. Considers herself honourable, will never use Lisa's address against her. Believes that Lisa trusts her more than she realised. Willing to trust Lisa more than she planned to.

"Do you have a parent or a roommate I should look out for, or?..." Victoria continued.

Lisa waved the comment away and started walking. "Come on. We have work to do."

Lisa moved back into the office she was just in and Victoria followed closely behind. Victoria was gawking at the apartment in amazement. It wasn't a particularly fancy apartment, the entire place was smaller than the Dallon's living room and kitchen combined but the mere fact that Lisa owned it all to herself was reason enough to be impressed.

"How do you afford?…" Victoria began before stopping herself. Lisa turned back with her usual smugness and Victoria frowned.

Victoria Dallon doesn't approve of Lisa Wilbourn's career choices.

'Ha, tell me something I don't know.'

Lisa reached her desk and sat down. Kicking up her feet and offering the spare chair to Victoria. The office was hardly ever used for 'work.' Lisa tried to avoid bringing incriminating evidence home with her and certainly never invited strangers over. So far, the only other people who knew about her apartment were Taylor and Brian.

"So…" Lisa drawled, she assumed that some level of small talk needed to be achieved before the pair could start working on their new 'project.' They might have a common enemy but that didn't immediately make them friends. "How was school? Learn anything fun?"

Victoria was silent for a few seconds. She sighed and leaned forward on the table. "Taylor didn't come to school today. I sent her a message and all she said was, 'I'm not feeling well.'" Victoria looked up and met Lisa in the eyes. "No time for bullshit, what's the plan?"

Lisa smiled and pulled her feet off the desk. She was glad that they could skip the awkward bullshit and move right into the fun things.

"Great," Lisa said, pointing to a pile of papers on her desk. "So I've compiled twelve plans of attack we could use against our targets. I've arranged them from harmless prank to lethal revenge." Her finger trailed up the stack of paperwork.

"Woah!" Victoria said, pulling up her hands. "Look, I'm pissed off at this cunts, believe me. But if you're talking about killing anyone then I'm out of here."

Victoria Dallon is regretting coming to Lisa Wilbourn for help. Losing trust in Lisa.

Lisa put her own hands up in surrender. "Hey, I was joking." Lisa chuckled. "Mostly... I wouldn't kill anyone over this. Jeeze Glory Hole, I assumed you thought better of me."

Victoria Dallon feels bad for assuming the worst of Lisa Wilbourn. Readjusting her trust in Lisa… and herself.

Victoria looked away in guilt. "Right, sorry. Yeah, I know… I'm just… Still getting used to this."

Victoria looked out the window for a few seconds to relax. During that time, Lisa took the top three plans from her pile and quietly dropped them in the bin.

"Alright then," Lisa said to Victoria, coming up with a new plan to convince the hero, "Let's start with what we know." Lisa pulled out a folder from her desk, it held dossiers on each girl. "So here's what I've been able to find out about them so far. Three girls, all from Winslow. One Emma Barnes, amateur model. Father is a lawyer, which might cause some issues. Definitely the leader of the bunch. Everything about her screams, Queen Bee Bitch. Not to mention this is Taylor's 'Ex' best friend, the girl who stabbed her in the back."

Victoria Dallon recognises photos. Knows more about Emma Barnes.

"I know her," Victoria said before Lisa could even ask. "Met her a few times when I went in for model shots." Lisa stifled a giggle, typical 'Glory' Girl doing modelling on the side. "Shut up. I first met her at a charity photo shoot I did with the Wards. She and her friends were bitching about having to wait for this other girl… who was disabled." She said that last part with disgust in her voice. "They kept whispering their 'jokes' all throughout until I had enough. Told all of them exactly what I thought about their jokes. Saw this bitch a few more times, we didn't talk after that."

Lisa nodded her head in understanding. Standard heartless bitch, Lisa was very familiar with the type. She moved on to the second dossier.

"Second girl is a Madison Clements." Lisa continued, "Honestly, not much to be found on her. Not that she's hiding anything. She's just a pretty boring gal. Appears to be more of a follower than anything, if I had to guess, she'd be the weakest link of the three. Ripe of exploitation."

Victoria didn't have anything to add to her file, although Lisa could tell that the hero was concerned with how much idle information Lisa had collected in less than 24 hours.

"And finally, Sophia Hess." Lisa sighed, pointing to the final dossier. "The muscle of the operation. Track team star, all-around athlete. Single mother, possibly having trouble at home causing her to act out in school. Taylor once said that Emma just…" Lisa clicked her fingers, "Hated her one day when Sophia showed up. So, this bitch had something to do with that."

Victoria Dallon recognises photos. Knows more about Sophia Hess.

"How did you get so much information about them in a single day?" Victoria asked, looking over Emma's dossier.

Ignoring Sophia Hess's file. Wants to focus on Emma Barnes. Hiding information.

"I've been collecting this ever since Taylor told me she was bullied." Lisa clarified, giving Victoria a raised eyebrow. "So, what else do you know about Sophia?"

Lisa slid the file on Sophia closer to Victoria. Victoria looked at it again, back to Lisa then away out the window.

"Hmm? Nothing. Barely know the bitch." Victoria said, turning back to Emma's file.

Lying. Knows Sophia Hess. Protecting her? No. Still angry. Most angry at Sophia? Knows Sophia personally? Held Sophia to higher standards? Lying to Lisa Wilbourn, knows Lisa is Tattletale, Tattletale is villain, Hiding information from villain.

Victoria turned back to Lisa, Lisa was staring off into space while her powers pulled an idea in her mind.

Victoria hiding secret from villain. Hero identity? Sophia Hess is a hero? A ward? Vista too short, blonde. Shadow Stalker? Right height, grumpy, violent, athletic. Matches Sophia's profile. Coincidence? Doubtful.

"Sophia Hess is Shadow Stalker?" Lisa said out loud. Victoria looked back in horror and stood up. "Dammit, this changes things." Victoria was busy spouting excuses and reasons why Lisa was wrong but every argument simply solidified the truth in Lisa's mind. Pushing most of the revenge plans into the bin, Lisa picked up the remaining paper on her desk. "Plan 5?… Yeah, I'd have to rework it but… that could work. Oh, I could even ask Grue-"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Victoria butted in, finally talking loud enough for Lisa to pay attention. "Look, I'm already very uncomfortable in having one villain know a Ward's identity. I mean, not that this is what it is… This is… fuck!"

Victoria Dallon is conflicted. Hates Sophia Hess, but knows not to reveal heroes identities to villains. Won't admit Sophia is Shadow Stalker. Might leave to solve problem on her own.

"I definitely don't want Grue or any of the other Undersiders going after Shado- I mean Sophia. Fuck!" Victoria was having a mini-crisis of conscience, "Leave Soph- Shadow Stal- the Ward to me. I'll handle this. Just don't tell anyone. I'll do this the proper way. Go through the PRT. And don't tell Taylor. I don't want her to know that a hero of all people did this to her."

Victoria Dallon retreating from Lisa's house. Regrets asking villain for help. Wants to do this 'by the book.' Will talk to PRT. PRT unlikely to do anything meaningful. Victoria Dallon's plan will fail. Will be back by tomorrow.

"Yeah, that would be bad. She might end up killing her." Lisa said to herself. "Good luck with the PRT, I'll be here when you need me."

Lisa waved Victoria off as the hero left. She didn't even watch her leave, Lisa was too busy making revisions to 'Plan 5.'

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PRT Headquarters – Later that day

"Well, this is a serious accusation," Armsmaster stated to Victoria, looking back in what probably amounted to disbelief.

Armsmaster sat across from a very annoyed Victoria. She'd barged into the front door and demanded to speak to the Director to 'right a great injustice in the Wards' only to be ushered into a meeting room and told to wait. After a full hour of waiting, Armsmaster showed up to listen to Victoria's complaint.

"So far all our reports about Sophia from school have been positive." Armsmaster continued, "I know she isn't the friendliest Ward around, but are you sure this isn't an over-exaggeration? You two did have an argument on your last mission together."

Victoria looked offended. As if she'd come all this way over some pretty nonsense, their 'argument' took only thirty seconds and consisted of Shadow Stalker complaining that Victoria got in her way. Which she technically did, but that was beside the point.

"No, haven't you been listening?" Victoria said back, trying to keep her anger in control. "Sophia and her friends are psychotic, they tortured and traumatised my friend over two years and have been getting away with it the entire time!"

"And this friend is?" Armsmaster asked, "You've been very vague on the details there."

"She doesn't want to be named, she's been through enough trouble already," Victoria said, it was a half-truth, Vicky was specifically trying to keep attention away from Taylor and entirely on Sophia.

"You do see how that's an issue for me?" Armsmaster said, "We have no reports about bullying, no victim to question. All we have is your word against Sophia's. I'm afraid without anything to go on I can't-"

Victoria sighed in exhaustion, "She shoved my friend into a locker filled with trash, locked her in until she broke down and had a goddamn trigger ev-!" Victoria placed a hand over her mouth, she hadn't intended to say that much.

Armsmaster stared at Victoria for a short while and then spoke again. "Right, I've pulled up the report here. Your friend, Taylor Hebert I presume? Wait, there's more here. Trigger evaluation report from an Agent Greene."

Vicky shrank down in her seat. She'd just shined a spotlight on Taylor, and now the head of the Protectorate was reading Taylor's file through his helmet.

"Huh…" Armsmaster said, frowning to himself. "Did Miss Hebert tell you about her Parahuman capabilities?"

"Uh, what? No?" Victoria stammered, realising how terrible of an idea this was. She needed to bring the focus back onto Sophia.

"Odd, the medical report stated that she was still catatonic when Agent Greene visited her. So how did he ask her?" Armsmaster was deep in thought, "Does she have an obvious ability? Do you know what Taylor can do?"

"No!" Victoria said, a little too loudly. "I mean, she hasn't said anything directly about her powers. I only know because my Sister told me."

Armsmaster frowned again. "You're lying. Partly." Victoria froze up, Armsmaster's helmet had an inbuilt lie detector.

"L-look, I don't want to talk about Taylor. She has a right to privacy." Victoria fell back onto mimicking her Mother, skirting the truth like a lawyer.

"Shit, I think I know what's going on…" Armsmaster said with a disappointed sigh. Victoria could feel her heart beat a million miles a minute. Armsmaster was a tinker, he was intelligent and had access to every spec of PRT intel behind his mask. He could figure out who Skitter was with enough information. "Did?… Did Panacea reveal Taylor's Parahuman capabilities in hospital without consent?"

"Uh? Maybe?" Victoria said it wasn't a lie. She had no idea, she didn't give it much thought at the time but thinking back over it…

Armsmaster let out a breath, "Oh, boy. Right…" He cleared his throat. "I'm just gonna put Taylor's file under a higher clearance for now. I also need to make a few phone calls with legal…" Armsmaster stood up, looking like he was doing three different things under his helmet at once.

"Wait, what about Sophia?" Victoria asked, slightly worried that she might've gotten her sister in trouble for something.

"We'll look into it. As I said, I have a few phone calls to make." Armsmaster said, holding the door open and gesturing for Victoria to walk through. "There isn't much evidence I can see, but you're not lying about it, so something will be done. I assure you."
-----------------------------------------------

Arcadia High – The next day

Taylor didn't come to school again. A quick text confirmed that Taylor was still feeling 'ill.' It hurt Victoria to know that Taylor was sulking in her room right now. Vicky offered to swing by after school and try to cheer her up but Taylor never responded.

Victoria was deep in thought, sulking in her own right when Carlos approached her. Carlos gave a quick look around before he motioned for Victoria to talk somewhere quiet.

"Vicky?" Carlos asked with a hushed whisper, there was only one reason for the confident boy to act so cautiously. He wanted to talk about hero business.

"Yes?" Victoria asked back, finding a spare room for the two to talk quietly in.

"Can I ask what's going on between you and Sophia?" Carlos asked, he sounded more like a concerned manager.

Victoria was surprised at how quickly word had spread around. Armsmaster obviously got something done yesterday.

"Why? What happened? Did she get arrested?" Vicky asked, naively hoping that Sophia would be sent far away from Brockton Bay, and from Taylor.

"Arrest-what?" Carlos balked in confusion, "No, I got a message this morning. Apparently, you filed a complaint against her? Now I have to put her on console duty and anger management for a month, or something? I'm not looking forward to that conversation with her later today"

"That's it!?" Victoria said in disbelief. "Console duty? For a month?"

"Look," Carlos said, raising his arms to calm Victoria down. "I don't know exactly what's going on. All I was told is that the legal team wants to deal with this 'in-house.' So, just run me through what's going on and I'll talk to Sophia later today. We'll work on some strategies on how to make everyone happy, you could even come for some team building exercises. Oh, I'll even get her to apologise. I know she can be a bit… grumpy, but I know how to talk to her. Trust me."

Carlos gave a confident, heroic smile. Only caring about keeping the peace in his team, oblivious to how vile his teammate actually was. Victoria simply looked back at Carlos in disbelief. The PRT legal team had simply swept it all under the rug and elected to give Sophia a slap on the wrist.

She opened her mouth to complain, but Carlos was only one man. He might be the leader of the Wards, but he held no real power in PRT decision-making. If Armsmaster wasn't going to do anything more when he believed her, then Carlos was going to achieve even less.

"Vicky?" Carlos asked, noting her lack of response. "Victoria? Everything okay?"

Victoria simply strolled off angrily. Her Mother had warned her once that the PRT would always try to protect their image above all else but it still hurt to see. This was exactly the type of thing Mom would love to sink her teeth into. A hero's abuse of power that caused a trigger event.

But that would also mean throwing Taylor into the spotlight of a legal battle, and that was the last thing Taylor would want right now. Not to mention that whatever Amy had done was also problematic, judging by Armsmaster's reaction. If her Mother got into a legal scuffle with the PRT, there was now a chance that they'd throw that back in her face. Possibly? Victoria wasn't sure, but she wasn't going to find out.

With the legal option out of the way, Victoria fell back on her backup place.

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Later that day – Lisa's apartment

Lisa stood up from her desk as she heard the knock at her front door. Her phone buzzed shortly after.

Impatient, wants to get inside quickly. Angrier than usual, plan didn't work as predicted.

Strolling out of her office and towards the door, Lisa didn't bother to check her room this time. Victoria knew what she was about. Unlocking the door, she opened it with a smug grin.

"So, plan 5?" Lisa chuckled as she looked Victoria over.

"Plan 5," Victoria said, stomping through and towards Lisa's office.

Lisa watched as the hero radiated with anger, the perfect emotion for revenge. With a villainous smirk, Lisa shut the door and got to work.

 

Lisa's Apartment – Late Morning

"Kidding. I'm only kidding." Lisa chuckled as she scrunched up the page into a paper ball and tossed it into the bin.

The paper ball hit the side of the overflowing bin and landed on the floor, rolling towards Victoria's foot. Victoria held a stern, disappointed pout at the thinker.

"But it would work…" Lisa said once she finished giggling. "I'm just saying."

Victoria sighed, placing a hand on her forehead. "For the last time, we're not kidnapping Emma and dressing her up as Grue." They'd been over this point several times today, Vicky pinched her fingers together and gestured to Lisa as she hammered her point home. "Shadow Stalker might 'literally' kill her."

"And what could be a better revenge than accidentally murdering your best friend in a fit of rage?" Lisa mused with a smile.

"I said, no killing," Victoria said back with a deadpan tone.

"I know, but 'We' don't kill her in this scenario." Lisa retorted. Victoria was unimpressed by her loophole logic. "Fine, fine. No killing. We'll use the mannequin instead." Lisa sighed as if it was such a big ask from the hero. There was a long pause of silence while Lisa thought to herself, and then she spoke up again. "But if we gave the suit a double layer of protection?…"

"Oh my god." Victoria exhaled, before breaking into a chuckle of her own. "We're not kidnapping anyone."

She looked down at the villain with a smile, the girls had been working on their revenge plan for almost two days now. Victoria had showed up at Lisa's door shortly after school and the two worked well into the afternoon, then Victoria returned again the following morning. At some point in the planning phase, suggesting incredibly violent ideas became something of a joke for Lisa. Trying to get a rise out of Victoria, however, she caught on to the ruse after the third suggestion.

'Plan 5' originally involved a face-to-face meeting of the Undersiders, believing that a group of supervillains would, in Lisa's own words, 'Scare the living crap' out of the trio. Now that Lisa knew that Sophia Hess was Shadow Stalker, she had reworked plan 5 into a trap for the hero.

The problem came down to what was acceptable once the trap was sprung. While Lisa would've loved to trap the entire trio in an elaborate deathtrap, the plan had been heavily modified due to Victoria's 'heroic sensibilities.' Victoria still wanted to be able to call herself a good person after this was all said and done, much to Lisa's disappointment. In the end, they decided on a simple 'frame job' that would destroy Shadow Stalker's reputation and most likely end her in jail. That didn't stop Lisa from suggesting more 'fun' ideas while they waited for information to come in.

Lisa's phone buzzed and she looked at the message before spinning around in her chair. She picked up a pin on her desk and stuck it to the wall behind her. Lisa was thorough with her information gathering, she had a map of the city behind them with various pins attached to it. Tattletale's underworld contacts had been keeping track of any sighting of Shadow Stalker and they had her general patrol route down.

"And that makes twelve sightings last night," Lisa said, moving back to the desk. "All centred around the same location. Girls not very varied with her movements."

"Well, she can't really go far," Victoria added, looking at the map. "She's meant to be stuck on console duty for a month. So these off-book patrols have to be in areas that the PRT don't usually go."

"Probably her old route from her vigilante days." Lisa theorised, "She did try to murder Grue right around there one time." Lisa pointed at a section of the map. Victoria moved to look to where she pointed, sitting on the desk and looking over Lisa's shoulder.

"Still can't believe she actually tried to murder someone." Vicky shook her head in disgust. "I'm all for beating down villains, but to actually hunt them down. And Grue of all people… he's hardly Lung or Kaiser."

"Doubt it's her first time. Wouldn't surprise me if Stalker actually did kill someone and just hid the body." Lisa said in thought before shaking her head. "Anyway, we know where she'll be and a general idea of when she'll be there. So, if we're 'not' kidnapping anyone and keeping this plan as PG for GG as possible. Then…"

Lisa brushed away all her draft plans and joke plans. Laying out the current 'Plan 5' to write down the updated positioning and possible locations where it would go down. Victoria wasn't quite sure why Lisa still called it Plan 5, at this point it was Plan 32 but she wasn't going to argue with the girl.

Victoria was surprised at how easily she got along with Lisa once they actually had a common goal and a common enemy. Lisa was interesting. Victoria had often found herself at odds with the villain, being the target of the social thinker's insults, but now that they weren't fighting each other, Victoria had to admit that the girl could be… fun.

Lisa was a mischievous girl. The girl was definitely 'evil,' not in the traditional definition of the word, but the villain had no mercy for anyone who got in her way. Someone that Victoria, or anyone for that matter, would hate to have as an enemy. But Lisa was also fiercely loyal to her friends, willing to work herself ragged to help the people she cared about. Victoria could respect Lisa, even if her methods weren't ideal for the hero.

'Taylor would be so happy to see us working together like this.'

Victoria hadn't spoken to Taylor since her meeting with the trio, not for a lack of trying. She'd sent Taylor several messages to check in on the girl and had only gotten simple messages back. Vicky had originally planned to swing by Taylor's house the other day but Lisa informed her that Taylor simply needed space and that she'd reach out to Vicky when she was ready.

Victoria didn't like waiting around for Taylor. She wished she could just comfort her, hold her and let her know that the trio would never touch her again. But Lisa was right, Taylor was stubbornly proud about dealing with her problems herself and probably wouldn't respond well to an overly protective 'Glory Girl Hug.' Lisa predicted that Taylor had already stopped sulking after the first day and was actually just using the solitude to relax, possibly caught up in one of her books.

Lisa's confidence in Taylor, and how she'd bounce back was inspiring but it also made Victoria jealous. Lisa was Taylor's best friend, they'd been literal partners in crime for months. Vicky was just some hero who butted into her life in the naive hope of 'saving' her. Now she'd turned her heroic obsession into an infatuation with the girl, and while Dean did say that Taylor had a crush on her, she could also see the way Taylor looked at Lisa. And judging by how hard Lisa worked to get revenge, she probably felt the same way about Taylor.

Vicky couldn't even blame her. She could see what Taylor saw in the girl. Lisa was smart, beyond her parahuman powers. Creative, in a villainous way and charming as all hell when she actually wanted people to like her. Not to mention how attractive she was now that Vicky actually took the time to look at her. Lisa radiated the 'Manic Pixie Dream Girl' energy that Taylor probably fell for, hook, line and sinker. No wonder Taylor succumbed to villainy, there was something so enticing about the girl-

Lisa looked up at Victoria and shot her signature smirk at her. The smile that screamed, 'I know what you were just thinking.' Victoria turned away in a blush, hoping to all hell that Lisa wasn't actually a mind reader. The jury was still out on her powers since Lisa still refused to explain it properly.

"S-so, are we good?" Victoria asked, desperately wanting to get back on track with why they were here.

"I don't know? Are we?" Lisa asked back, holding her smile.

"I mean with the plan," Victoria said, tapping the paper on the desk. Lisa chuckled softly and turned back to the plan in front of her.

"Yeah, we're good." Lisa nodded, looking it over one more time. "I'll have to make some phone calls, but I'm pretty sure I can get everything ready. Are we doing this tonight?"

"The sooner the better." Victoria said, "I can't stand knowing that she's out there for a second longer."

"Alright, Let's go over this from the top," Lisa said, reading what they had written down. "Grue, some hired mercs and I will be waiting along Sophia's illegal patrol route. She'll engage with us, we'll lead her into position and you'll be waiting… here."

"Right." Victoria agreed, looking at the location Lisa pointed to. "And you're completely sure that-"

"Yes yes." Lisa waved the question away before Victoria finished it, "Both Grue and the mercenaries will have no idea who Shadow Stalker is and I 'personally' promise that none of us will commit an actual crime… at that time."

Victoria held a disbelieving look at Lisa.

"What? Don't you trust me?" Lisa said, fluttering her eyelashes in 'innocence.' "I'll be good. I promise."

Victoria opened her mouth to retort with a snarky remark but her phone buzzed several times before she could respond. She took her phone out and read the message.

TH: Hey Vicky. Sorry for not messaging sooner. I'm fine now.

TH: We can hang out now.

TH: If you want?

TH: No pressure or anything.

TH: You're probably busy, it's cool.

TH: I'll see you at school next week.

"That Taylor?" Lisa asked, already knowing the answer. Victoria was already typing away a location they could meet before Taylor could convince herself to return to solitude. "Told you she'd reach out to you."

"Yeah, gonna meet her for lunch. I'll see you tonight then. Let me know if the plan changes." Victoria moved to gather her things before turning back to Lisa with a smile. "Do you?… Do you wanna join us?" Vicky asked.

Lisa smiled back at the question. It wasn't a smug smirk, but a gentle smile. A few days ago Victoria was hesitant to spend time with Lisa and now she was inviting the girl to come join her. Did that make them friends now? Victoria wasn't sure.

"Thanks, but no," Lisa said, shaking her head. "I've got some phone calls to make, need to convince Grue to do this without him asking twenty questions, not to mention setting up the scene. Tell Taylor I- actually best not to tell Taylor what we're doing. So… have fun, Victoria."

Vicky waved goodbye, leaving Lisa to her work. They'd meet later tonight to enact their revenge on Taylor's behalf, but right now she had a more important job to do, check in on Taylor and be there for her friend. She took off to the sky to meet Taylor, not anywhere as public as the boardwalk this time, Taylor had invited her to a local park in her neighbourhood. Thinking back to her last interaction with Lisa, Victoria couldn't help but smile.

'She called me by my name this time.'

--------------------------

Victoria caught her eyes on Taylor as she hovered towards the ground. Taylor was waiting on a park bench, already waving at Vicky, her bugs had obviously caught sight of the hero. Victoria touched down and looked the girl over.

"Hey, Vicky," Taylor said with a tired wave. She was dressed in her running gear, judging by the way she was sweating it was a fair assumption to say she had been jogging. "I'd shake your hand but I'm all sw-"

Victoria pulled Taylor from the bench and into a hug, much to the taller girl's surprise. Taylor responded by gently patting Victoria on the back.

"Hey, Taylor…" Vicky said as she gave her a squeeze. Lisa told her that she needed to give Taylor space. But Vicky knew that she would give a hug the second she laid eyes on Taylor. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm good," Taylor said, nonchalantly. Vicky couldn't pick up any trace of her lying beyond her general nervousness from receiving a hug. Victoria pulled back and looked Taylor in the eyes, she wanted to be sure that Taylor was telling the truth. "I'm fine. Honesty." Taylor said, giving her weary smile.

"Good," Victoria said with a concerned smile. Victoria released Taylor and both girls sat down on the park bench."That's good. I was really worried about you these last few days."

Taylor blushed and looked away with a sad face full of remorse. "I'm sorry," Taylor said, not looking back at Vicky. "I know you were trying to reach out. I just needed-" She trailed off.

Neither girl spoke for a few moments. Once Victoria realised that she wasn't going to continue, she placed a comforting hand on Taylor's shoulder. She needed space, just as Lisa said.

"It's okay," Victoria said, gently shaking her head. "There's no need to apologise to me. Anyone would need space after dealing with… that." Vicky winced internally, she wasn't sure if she should bring up the trio around Taylor, judging by her previous reaction. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright. Whatever you need, I'm here to help. Be it some space or someone to vent to."

Taylor smiled a little more then her face dropped again. She looked directly forward and then shook her head.

Taylor brought her hands together and twiddled her fingers while she thought. Victoria chose to keep silent until Taylor was ready to talk. "Seeing them again… it brought back memories. I'd spent so much time at school… life in general being on my guard. Waiting for them, or people like them to strike at me. But these last couple of weeks, with you and your friends. I kind of… not forgot, but convinced myself that it was all in the past. Y'know?"

A butterfly came down and landed on Victoria's hand, the hand that was resting on Taylor's shoulder. Several other insects were currently moving around the park in an oddly uniform pattern, not doing anything specific but being controlled by Taylor all the same.

"It was a shock to see them again." Taylor continued, "I'm usually so aware of my surroundings. So having them just… walk up to me like that, well you saw how I reacted." Taylor scrunched her face up into a frown. "It's so stupid. I thought I was better than that. Stronger than that. I've had panic attacks before but this one surprised me. I just… shut down. Fell back on my bugs."

"You can't blame yourself for having a reaction like that," Victoria said softly, giving Taylor's shoulder another gentle squeeze. "And it's not stupid. It isn't a bad thing to convince yourself that the bad days are behind you. You're not… weak, or whatever for having a panic attack and needing some time for yourself. And you certainly don't need to apologise to me for it happening."

"That's not-" Taylor started before pausing to think. "I mean, thank you. Really. I did need some space to think it all over. But that's not exactly why I'm apologising." She let out a deep breath as if readying herself for a deep confession. "I wasn't… sick or anything. When I took those days off school." Victoria was about to bring up her previous point before Taylor cut her off. "What I mean is, I wasn't exactly brooding around in my room the entire time. Or at all for that matter. I went home, I cried for a bit, wallowed in self-pity until I got bored and then… I had a really bad idea."

Victoria realised that Taylor's inability to look her in the eyes wasn't from any kind of depressed state but out of a sense of guilt.

"What kind of a bad idea?" Victoria asked, bracing herself for whatever Taylor was about to say.

"I was angry. At myself, at them. At everything. I'm not usually one to hold grudges, even for them. I've… thought about it a few times. Once I got my powers, it was easy to daydream about 'using them.' But I never gave it any serious thought. I was out of Winslow, they were gone from my life and I wasn't going to…" Taylor let out another sigh, it was shaky with the nervousness in her voice. "This time though. I was angry at the state that they left me in. How easily they did that to me, I wanted to feel strong again. So I may have planned out… revenge… of a sort."

Victoria could sympathise, obviously. She and Lisa had spent the last few days planning revenge of their own. Taylor had tried to enact her own brand of justice without asking for help. She couldn't help by being worried about what Taylor had done.

"I didn't…" Taylor said, holding up a hand in protest. "The following day, when you messaged me and I said I was ill, I was actually scouting out Emma's house. Uh, she was the girl with the red hair. Used to be my friend until… Anyway. I figured that I'd pay her a visit… as Skitter." Taylor turned away from Victoria and scrunched her first into a ball. "I wanted to… I don't know. Hurt her? Scare her at least. Make her feel how I felt every single day while I was at Winslow. I was gonna use my bugs to unlock her bedroom window, come back in the middle of the night and… Fuck… I probably would've killed her at that point. I was so mad."

Taylor reached out and gently placed a hand on Vicky's leg. Victoria jumped slightly in surprise, not expecting Taylor to willingly touch anyone. Her face was still turned away in shame as she spoke.

"But then I decided against it," Taylor said, about to remove her hand before Victoria placed her free hand on top of it. "I didn't want to hurt her. Not because I stopped being mad or anything. But because… I thought of you. I was afraid that if I went to see Emma and did, whatever I was going to do. That you'd be… disappointed in me. Hate me even. That felt worse than anything Emma and the rest could ever do to me. Honestly, the reason I didn't come to school on the second day was because I was ashamed of what I had almost done. I couldn't risk looking you in the eyes knowing what I had planned to do. So, I'm sorry."

"Taylor." Vicky sighed as she held tightly onto her hand. "It's alright. I'm not disappointed in you. I'm glad you didn't murder anyone of course but I'd never judge you for fantasying about revenge." Victoria moved her hand from one shoulder to the other and pulled Taylor in for another hug. This one Taylor accepted without any complaint. "And don't think for a second that I didn't have the same thought. When I realised what those girls did… well I wanted to throw a garbage bin at them right then and there."

Taylor giggled. A relaxed and open laugh that she never made at school. The idea of the trio being smashed into a red paste by Glory Girl was a rather humorous image. Vicky joined in with the laughter.

"Right, I forgot," Taylor said with a smile, an honest to god smile, Victoria lit up in delight. "You're not the girl scouts the media paints you out to be. Throwing cars at people and the like."

"Hey, I never throw cars at people." Victoria chuckled back, "Only at Nazis and anyone mean to the friends I care about. None of them are people in my book."

"Well, I'm glad that you care about me," Taylor said as she rested her head on Victoria. "Really, it means a lot knowing that I have friends who care about me again. Especially ones who are willing to throw cars and bins at my enemies."

"It's the perks of being friends with me." Vicky said with a mischievous grin, "You get the full Glory Girl protection package. Next time you see those bitches, I'll lob them into space."

While Victoria was joking about the excessive use of force she would use, she wasn't joking about her protection. Vicky was going to make sure that nothing bad would happen to Taylor again, it might have been a gaudy and naive goal to make, but Victoria pledged to protect her new friend.

Taylor laughed again, looking up towards Victoria. "Well, look at that. It feels nice knowing that I have my own personal superhero to protect me."

She turned slightly and put her full weight on Victoria. Taylor had moved to give her a hug, turning Vicky's shoulder hug into a full cuddle. Choosing to initiate instead of just waiting for someone to grab her. She felt safe at this bench, comfortable with Victoria and smiled in contentment. This moment was perfect, Victoria could sit with her forever.

--------------------------
Brockton Bay Streets – Night

Nervous. Ready for combat. Doesn't like waiting around. Not happy with plan but willing to trust Lisa. Would trust Lisa Wilbourn with life. Considers Undersiders as second family. Loyal to family.

"What are you smirking at?" Grue asked as he leaned against the wall. Tattletale chuckled as she was called out.

"Nothing," Tattletale said, "Just thinking about how much of a scary villain you are."

"Shut up." Grue huffed in jest. "Are we doing this or what?"

"So impatient." Tattletale huffed back. "We're already doing this. Just stay there and act the part."

"You still haven't told me why I'm 'acting the part?'" Grue replied sarcastically. "I hate Shadow Stalker more than anyone on the team, but baiting her to attack me is just asking for trouble."

"Trust me, this will all make sense tomorrow." Tattletale waved away the question. "You two ready for your part?" She asked the other two people waiting alongside them.

Minor and Dimitri both nodded confidently at the villain. Both men were hired mercenaries who worked for Coil, they often did odd jobs for Tattletale whenever she needed hired muscle. They were only loyal to the dollar and Tattletale made sure to pay well for each and every job that she needed them for.

"I do agree with the boy." Dimitri added, "Is it wise to pick a fight with Stalker?"

"Shut up," Tattletale whined with a smile. "No one's fighting Shadow Stalker. You're just set dressing, remember? Stand around, look tough. Don't do anything illegal and run away when she inevitably shows up. Easy money, don't complain."

Minor nodded in agreement and Dimitri shrugged and moved back to his position.

"Still, this plan feels oddly simple. And pointless." Grue grumbled.

"Well, I did have this whole second part to it, with kidnapping, bloodshed and tears." Tattletale explained with a sigh, "But apparently that was 'too extreme.' So we keep this simple and boring. Does everyone know what to do?" Tattletale pointed at the mercenaries.

"Pretend to be making a shady deal in this alley." Dimitri said, "Don't say or do anything incriminating, get into an argument with Grue and promptly run away when the hero shows up."

Tattletale nodded and spun around to point at Grue. Grue huffed, probably rolled his eyes under his mask and spoke up, "Act like an intimidating supervillain, don't do or say anything illegal. Have Shadow Stalker attack me and lead her down that direction… assuming I don't already have a bolt through my head."

"Perfect. Then we spring the trap and exit out the back." Lisa said with a smile.

"And how does this trap does anything other than piss her off?" Grue asked. "And why is it worth possibly getting shot for."

"That's for me to know and you to find out, Sweetcheeks," Tattletale said, patting Grue's helmet.

Glaring at Lisa Wilbourn. Hate's being patronised. Want's to look tough in front of hired help. Would never attack Lisa to establish dominance, will act passive-aggressive later tonight.

Tattletale's phone buzzed and she looked at the message.

VD: Stalker on her way. ETA 12 minutes… probably?

"Alright boys!" Tattletale said as she clapped her hands. "It's showtime. I want to see everyone's game faces." Everyone stood up straighter and moved around a makeshift table. "And Dimitri? Remember I still need you for that other thing soon."

Dimitri nodded in understanding before placing a briefcase down on the table. It opened to several white bricks.

"I thought you didn't want us doing anything illegal?" Grue asked, looking at the case. "Why do you have a case filled with what looks like heroin?"

"It's flour," Tattletale said casually. "I wasn't gonna fill it with cash or anything that we'd actually want to lose. Now shut up and say your lines."

"What the hell is this?" Dimitri said, acting the part of a disgruntled 'possibly but not confirmed' drug dealer. "I thought you Undersiders were professional?"

"Hey, you get what you paid for," Grue said back, acting as well but with the awkwardness of someone who wasn't good at improvising lines. "What were you expecting?"

"I was expecting to see fucking Grue of the Undersiders. Terror of the shadows. With your big scary mask. Not some damn child."

Actually annoyed by the comment. Trying to remember it's all fake. Can't help but be offended. Want's to prove himself to the mercenary.

Tattletale smiled to herself as Grue fell into his 'method acting.' This part of the plan was rather childish all things considered. Grue and Dimitri would have a constant back-and-forth argument that would be heard by any noisy hero climbing around on rooftops. Dimitri simply had to keep repeating keywords like 'Grue' and 'Undersiders' while Grue simply had to play himself trying to salvage a bum deal.

It took all of five minutes before Tattletale's phone buzzed again. Three quick messages, Tattletale didn't even need to read them. It was a code that Lisa and Victoria came up with for the plan. One message meant that something went wrong and that Lisa should actually check the message. Two would mean that Shadow Stalker was on the scene and three meant-

Tattletale tackled Grue to the ground as two bolts embedded themselves into the briefcase. Judging by the angle, Stalker was behind and above them. Aiming directly for Grue.

"Shit!" Dimitri yelled out, backing away from the bolts that appeared. "Fucking capes. We're done here."

Half acting. Actually surprised by Shadow Stalker's attack. Will claim danger pay when next discussing business.

Tattletale pulled Grue up as another volley of bolts rained down onto them.

"Get to cover!" Tattletale called out, pushing Grue into a nearby building.

Shadow Stalker landed down in the alley behind them as they closed the door. Rushing through the storeroom of a closed store. Stalker phased right through the wall and pointed her crossbow at Tattletale. She ducked again, pushing Grue to the right as another bolt pieced into a nearby shelf.

Lethal bolt equipped. Aiming for head and center mass. Out for blood, no regard for our well-being.

They ran into another room, slamming the door behind them even though they knew that it wouldn't stop her. A bolt passed through the door, phasing like her power, glancing off Grue's arm. His costume blocked most of the impact but he couldn't take a direct shot at close range.

Grue pushed Tattletale forward and shot out his smoke. Blocking Shadow Stalker's approach. They had almost made it to their planned trap. Just in time for another bolt to fly out through the smoke.

Tattletale turned around to check in on Grue as the smoke fizzled out. Looking at her partner, now collapsed on the floor with a bolt lodged in his back, Tattletale screamed.

"Gruuue!"

--------------------------------------

Shadow Stalker didn't even need to hear the scream to know that she hit her prey. The loud thud of a body dropping combined with the dispensation of the smoke. Walking into the room, Shadow Stalker spotted Tattletale looking back at her fallen comrade. She shot a look of pure hatred and horror at Stalker which the hero relished as much as the hunt.

Tattletale turned to run, Shadow Stalker fired another bolt in her direction but didn't bother to give chase. She'd gotten her prey. A single bolt through the back wasn't enough to kill the villain, but judging by where the bolt was lodged, she'd gotten him directly in the spine, probably paralysing him for life.

Stalker thought on that for a moment. Perhaps that was a worse fate for the annoying worm, to spend the remainder of his life in prison, unable to walk, unable to even shit without help. The thought was amusing to imagine. However Shadow Stalker had made herself a promise, she had no plans to capture Grue alive. He was prey and she was a predator.

She stalked closer to the paralysed villain, removing a knife hidden from her belt. Kicking the body over onto its back. It was a shame that Grue had passed out, most likely in shock due to the pain. Stalker would've loved to hear him scream, she would have to settle on remembering Tattletale's cry when she looked back on this moment. Knife in hand, she plunged it directly into Grue's chest.

This was no methodical kill, she could have slit his throat and been done with it. But Stalker had been hunting this particular beast for over a year now. Combined with the anger she already felt for the PRT wasting her time with console duty. Stalker needed a release and this kill was the perfect time for it. Sophia jammed her knife back and forth into the villain's chest, and blood spurted out over her mask. She was violent, psychotic even. Sophia didn't care, she'd clean it up later, make it look like a drug deal gone wrong. No one would believe Tattletale. Grue was dead. The elation she felt, after all this time, she could taste his blood-

This wasn't fresh blood?

Shadow Stalker jumped off the body and touched some of the blood on her mask. It was blood, but not human blood, and certainly not fresh blood. She looked down at the supervillain's body. It had several stab wounds but none of them bled like a fresh cut. Whatever Stalker had stabbed into was filled with some kind of animal blood and made to feel almost human at a glance.

She moved her hand up to Grue's mask. Only now noticing that it was wearing a crude motorcycle helmet that almost but not quite matched Grue's actual look. It had the shape to it but none of the finer details. Lifting the visor, there was a note addressed to Shadow Stalker inside.

A poorly drawn picture of Tattletale giving the finger with the words, 'Fuck You. Look up and smile. ' written along with them.

Looking up from the note, Sophia spotted a camera looking down upon her. Recording her violent outburst. Sophia screamed in rage. She'd let Tattletale run away. And now the villain had blackmail material on her. What would they use it for? Could she catch up, hunt her down again?

Before Sophia could think of a plan, she heard multiple footsteps rushing in from all angles. Sophia watched as a single smoke grenade flew through a window, looking down as it spurted its contents across the room.

"Hands! Everyone show us your hands!" A voice yelled out as the door behind her burst open. "PRT, everyone on the floor. Now!"

"On the scene now. Once contact in the building." Another voice said, talking into a radio.

"PRT, responding to an active threat. Everyone stay calm and get on the ground." A third voice said in the smoke.

"Is that?… It's a body! Contact is standing over a body! Confirm! Primary target identified." The first voice said.

Sophia looked down at the fake body and at her blood-covered hands. "Fuck you…" She hissed to the camera.

"Step away from the body. On the floor!"

"Get on the floor! Interlock your fingers!"

"Don't even think about running!"

"It's Shadow Stalker?"

"It's a cape? Why is she covered in blood!?"

"She's not meant to be here."

Sophia closed her eyes as she assumed the position. All the voices merged into a mess of yelling and screaming. Eventually, someone managed to place handcuffs on her. The body might be fake, and the Undersiders might have planted the camera but that didn't change anything. Sophia was fucked, regardless.
--------------------------

Victoria landed down on the rooftop beside Tattletale. Surveying the scene below as the PRT escorted Shadow Stalker into the back of the van. Victoria couldn't help but grin at watching the chaos down below.

"I love it when a plan comes together." Tattletale huffed, quoting an old movie Victoria's Dad had once enjoyed.

"One Sophia Hess, life destroyed. Heading to prison for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, among a pile of other charges, I'm sure." Tattletale said proudly, looking over the scene. "And nobody was killed or kidnapped. So you're moral compass can rest easy tonight." She turned to Victoria. "Still, didn't expect her to surrender. Was kinda hoping for a death by cop scenario." Vicky raised an eyebrow. "Kidding. I'm just kidding."

"So that just happened," Vicky said as the truck started to pull away. "Think it'll stick?"

"Course it will," Tattletale said, typing into her phone. "Especially after this…"

"After what?" Vicky asked.

"Just uploaded a preview of the footage onto PHO." Lisa explained with a smug grin, "I'll edit the high-quality footage and post the full video when I get home but this is enough to spark outrage."

"And what about Grue?" Victoria asked, "Did where'd he go?"

"Oh, look at you. Actually caring for a villain other than Taylor." Tattletale chuckled. "Grue got pissed when the PRT showed up. I didn't tell him that was part of the plan. He stormed off home but he'll be happy when he sees the news tomorrow. Great job with that B-T-Dubs. How'd you get the cops to show so quickly?"

"There may have been an anonymous sighting of Oni Lee a few blocks down," Victoria said proudly. "Making them in the neighbourhood when the actual call came in." Tattletale chuckled and gently fist-bumped Victoria on the shoulder. "Honestly, I feel like I didn't do much. I just trailed Shadow Stalker and called the PRT on her."

"Don't sell yourself short, Vic." Tattletale said, "None of this would've happened without your intel on Sophia, nor your knowledge on PRT strike teams which I promise I'll never abuse for any future crimes." Tattletale held up a grin to show she was joking. "Plus, my 'Plan 5' just involved using my team to scare the crap out of three civilians. Your 'Plan 5' ended up with a hero going to jail."

"You do realise that the numbering system doesn't work if it ends up being a completely different plan, right?" Victoria pointed out but Tattletale ignored her. "Also, when you said that we were using a mannequin, I assumed it was going to be a regular mannequin, not a?…"

"A meat mannequin?" Tattletale finished her sentence. "Wouldn't have been as believable. We needed to sell it. Luckily I already knew a guy who specialises in them. It's all just pig guts under the suit but it looked pretty damn good, right? Still… would've been more fun if Emma was inside the suit instead."

Victoria ignored the obvious bait, partly because she agreed with it. "Speaking of which…" Vicky turned to Tattletale. "That's one out of three down. What are we doing about the other two girls?"

"So eager." Tattletale teased. "Already looking forward to the next evil plan. We'll make a villain out of you yet."

"Shut up," Vicky gasped, "I'm not a-" She caught eyes on Tattletale's smirk. "I'm doing this for Taylor. That's all."

"Right, not because you have a taste of the power. Not because it's fun." Tattletale said, prodding a smirk out of Victoria.

"Alright, It was a little fun," Victoria admitted. "But this still was only about Taylor."

"Ah, I knew it." Tattletale chuckled. "You had fun. You had fun hanging out with me." Victoria didn't bother hiding behind a lie. She did have fun, not despite Lisa, but because of her. "I had a lot of fun too." Tattletale extended a hand to Victoria, "Friends? For real this time?"

Victoria hesitated, only for a second. Then she reached out to Tattletale, not to shake her hand, but to envelop her in a hug. "Friends." Vicky agreed. She could extend the same deal to Lisa.

"Taylor's still my best friend though," Tattletale said into Victoria's ear as she hugged back.

"Mine too." Victoria chuckled.

"I guess we can share, I don't mind." Tattletale chuckled back. "Though it might get awkward between us if we decide to ask her out."

Victoria broke the hug. "W-what? Why would I? I mean, I'm not even into girls. Pfft. What gave you that idea? I mean, has she said anything to you?"

Tattletale stifled a laugh while watching the gay panic roll over Victoria. "Oh, goody. Guess you don't mind if I ask her first then?"

"W-wait!" Victoria said, "I didn't say that."

"Oh, so you do want to ask her out?" Tattletale teased her. "Hmm, already straining our new friendship, how rude. Guess we'll go back to fighting."

"I don't want to fight you," Victoria said, trying to keep up with Tattletale's jests.

"Hey, I only offered to share a best friend, but if you wanna go deeper then I'll tell Taylor the good news." Tattletale continued.

"I didn't-" Victoria was growing increasingly flustered and Tattletale's jokes were only making it worse. Abandoning this train of thought, she returned back to the work that needed to be done. "Anyway. Back to my previous question. What are we doing about Madison and Emma?"

"Honestly, we're probably done." Tattletale mused, "Here me out. Madison is more of a follower than anything. We could go after her but I already picked up on some deep seeded guilt in her. Emma on the other hand. This is the fun part. She's heavily co-dependent on her superhero friend. Her entire worldview is rooted in Shadow Stalker. So now we've shattered it and by that, shattered her. All the mental walls she's put up over the years will fall and leave nothing but a crumbling mess of a girl behind."

Victoria raised an eyebrow at that. It felt so anti-climatic, but Tattletale was confident in what she was saying.

"Are you sure?" Victoria asked, wanting to be certain that Taylor was safe now.

Tattletale returned her mischievously evil grin, "Victoria, I personally guarantee that Emma will never bother Taylor again."

--------------------------
Brockton Bay Streets – The next day

Emma Barnes was reading the news on her phone. Leaked footage online of Shadow Stalker's brutal takedown of the fake Grue was making waves along with the news that the Ward had been arrested and placed into custody.

"Stupid girl," Emma muttered. She'd warned Sophia on various occasions how her blood feud with the Undersider was going to get her into trouble one day. Emma was concerned for her friend, but in the same way, you were concerned for a friend who repeatedly jumped off buildings every night, eventually, you stopped staying up at night stressed with worry and the inevitable happens.

Emma would contact her father later and look into Sophia's case again. She wasn't sure what legal magic her Dad could work but she was sure that Sophia would get out of this. Sophia is too tough to be brought down by anyone. Emma had to believe it.

Bumping into a man who stepped out in front of her, Emma dropped her phone. "Excuse you," Emma said with a glare, looking up at the tall man.

"Apologies, Miss." The man said.

"You better not have broken my phone," Emma grumbled, bending down to pick it up.

A van drove up beside them and the side door opened. "Dimitri, is this the girl?"

Emma froze in fear as she realised they were talking about her. She looked up to get a better look at the man she bumped into.

"Dah," Said the man to the van, before a black sack was pulled over Emma's head.

-----------------------------------

Emma was kicking and screaming the entire ride over. It didn't matter at all. Her hands and feet were tired, along with something to muffle her mouth. She could do nothing but struggle as her kidnappers drove her to god knows where.

She wasn't so much as placed in a chair rather than dragged into one. By this point, Emma had lost all strength from the earlier struggle and was being tossed around like cargo. She was placed down in the uncomfortable chair and left alone with her thoughts.

This was how it ended. Tied up, kidnapped by some Russian creeper and turned into somebodies sex slave or whatever fucked up shit criminals did. Even after everything she worked through to get over the ABB attack, she was right back where she started.

A bucket of water splashed over the girl. The sack over her head absorbed the liquid and threatened to suffocate her. She tried again to scream but she only choked down water. The sack was pulled from her head and her eyes adjusted to the light.

Two people stood on either side of her, she couldn't see who they were but guessed one of them was 'Dimitri' who had picked her up. A third person, a woman stood directly in front of her.

"Do you know who I am?" The woman asked, Emma's eyes scanned around the room for any kind of identifying marks or locations that would tell her where she is and how to escape.

The woman moved closer and grabbed Emma by the cheeks. "I said. Do you know who I am?" Emma tried to talk but there was still a gag over her mouth. "Nod or shake your head." The woman said as she slapped Emma across the face.

Emma knew who the woman was, now that her eyes had adjusted. She'd never met her before but Sophia had more than enough to say about her. Tattletale of the Undersiders. Emma nodded obediently.

"Good." Tattletale said, "That'll make this all move so much easier. Now, do you know 'why' you're here?"

Emma shook her head, afraid to look away from the villain out of fear of getting slapped again.

"A friend of mine got hurt the other day," Tattletale explained, walking around Emma's chair. "Someone I really care about. Deeply. And I've been racking my brain around how to… make sure it never happens again."

Emma was confused. Was this about what happened to Grue? She thought the video was fake? But did they know about Shadow Stalker, about Sophia? Was she being targeted because of that?

"To answer your questions," Tattletale said like a mind reader. "Yes. I know all about Sophia Hess. And I know all about you. Emma. I know where you live. Where you go to school, Your sister, your parents. I know every naughty thing you've ever done and all your deepest darkest fears. For instance…"

Tattletale pulled out a switchblade. Emma tried her best to lean back but she could only move so much. She would've broken out into more screaming if her gag wasn't still in place. Tattletale reached out and felt a lock of her hair.

"I know that the very idea of having someone cut your hair with this knife throws you right into a panic," Tattletale said with a callous grin. "Why is that I wonder? A bad history? Maybe you've been in this exact situation before? Yes… I see it now. That makes sense. Probably how you first met."

Tattletale put the knife away before Emma broke into tears.

"You see, I had this idea. This plan. It was really rather simple." Tattletale went on, ignoring Emma's muffled scream. "But then some things happened, and it got a lot more complicated but it was still kinda fun if I was honest. Now Shadow Stalker… Sophia if you will, is in jail and I can't touch her due to all this legal bullcrap. But you… I can touch you."

Emma tried her best to talk. To plead for her life. She would give this woman anything to make her go away. Tattletale smirked back and wiped a tear from Emma's eye.

"Shh, hey. Hey." Tattletale cooed, sounding oddly caring for the situation. A gentle hand cupped Emma's cheek. "Don't worry. I'm not gonna kill you. Today at least. This little meeting is more of a reminder of things." Tattletale's hand moved around to the back of Emma's head, gripping her hair tightly to the point where it hurt.

"I'm here to remind you of a lesson that you really should've learned last time you were in this position. A reminder of your place in this city. In this world." Tattletale said, holding Emma's head so that she couldn't look away. "You're not a predator, you never were. You're just a scared little girl who clung to her shitty worldviews and treated everyone like trash just to make herself feel good. A better person would tell you to go get therapy and do something meaningful with your life. I'm not that person. I'm here to tell you to stop being such a fucking bitch. Now I'm going to be watching you. You won't know it, but the second you decide to be a bitch again, I'll know. And I'll come for you.

Tattletale looked up to one of the nearby men. "Get the van ready. Drop her off near where you found her." Emma heard the sound of footsteps as her chair was dragged off towards the car. Another bag was thrown over her head leaving Emma alone in the dark again.

The car engine started and Emma could hear movement around her. The van started moving, driving back to the place it all started. As terrified as Emma was, she was glad that was soon going to be over. The first thing she was going to do when free was run to the nearest police station. Maybe even go directly to the PRT. They needed to know what a psychopath Tattletale was.

The warmth of another human radiated in front of Emma. Someone was standing over her. "And remember," Tattletale whispered into her ear. Emma stiffened, not even realising she was there, to begin with. Her bindings were being cut as the villain spoke. "You don't have a superhero to protect you anymore." Emma felt a chill run up her spine before she was promptly thrown out of the vehicle.

 

Undersider's Base – Morning

Taylor approached the door and fumbled for her keys. Being a Monday, Taylor found it odd to be called into 'work' so early in the morning. She was dressed for school with her backpack over her shoulder, hoping that whatever meeting the team was having would be over fairly quickly. She'd received several messages on her phone to get over to the base for an important meeting.

The first message was from Lisa, simply letting her know that something was in the works and that Taylor should come on by. A second message from Brian told her that the entire team was waiting for her, and a third message from Alec told her to 'move her ass' and that she was missing out on 'the fun.'

The door opened before Taylor could find the correct key. Alec swung the door open with a smile.

"Heyyy. Skitter's here!" He cheered as he looked Taylor over. Several whoops were coming further in from the living room. "Come on, Bugs. You need to catch up."

"Catch up for what?" Taylor asked, stepping in and noting Alec's odd behaviour. The kid was loud, obnoxiously so. Calling her 'Skitter' for the entire neighbourhood to hear.

Taylor's bugs already picked up on the other Undersiders. While no insects were currently in the living room, the vibrations from whatever music they were playing could be felt in Taylor's terrarium. Entering the main room, the rest of the team turned to Taylor and cheered with a collective 'Taylor!' The source of the odd behaviour was evident in everyone's hand.

"Sit down, have a drink." Alec slurred as he landed on the couch. "You look like a cider girl."
Alec fumbled around on the other side of the couch before offering a bottle to Taylor.

"Uh…" Taylor hesitated as she looked at the bottle in his hand. She hadn't expected to be offered alcohol, especially not so early in the day. Taylor never had an alcoholic drink in her life and never had much interest in it. Alec continued to wiggle the bottle towards her.

"Taylor," Brian said in a huff, looking at the exchange while sipping on his own drink. "Don't feel pressured to drink if you don't want to. We have sodas in the fridge."

"What? If she wants to be boring like Lisa…" Alec said while rolling his eyes, "At least give me a chance to pressure my peers."

Taylor turned from the bottle in Alec's hand to look at Grue. "Yeah… thanks. What's all this about?"

"We're celebrating," Lisa said, exiting the kitchen with a red cup in one hand and a can in the other. She chucked a cola in Taylor's direction. Taylor caught the canned drink after the third fumble. "You're just in time. The news is about to start."

"The news?" Taylor asked, holding the can away from her as she opened it. It fizzed out and over her hand, causing Alec to chuckle at her.

Brian pointed his drink towards the television screen which was currently muted. It was showing some morning yoga program that Alec was a little too hypnotised by but had a countdown for the morning news that was about to begin.

"Lisa and I had our own private op the other night," Brian explained with a grin. "While I wasn't particularly happy with how it went, I certainly can't argue with the results."

Taylor looked at the time on the television and guessed that she had enough time to watch it before school started, still feeling slightly uncomfortable by the casual drinking around her.

"Show starts soon," Lisa said across the room. "Grab some snacks and get comfy."

Taylor found a spare seat off to the side and sat down. Brian offered a bag of chips to her before taking a seat next to Alec. Lisa stood behind the couch and unmuted the television. Before Taylor could see the logos of the morning news her view was blocked out by someone standing over her.

Rachel looked down at Taylor with her usual intimidating glare. For a moment, Taylor was worried that she had somehow sat down in Rachel's chair. Out of all the Undersiders, Taylor got along with Rachel the least. She was brutish, violent, and angry. The woman reminded Taylor a lot of Sophia at times and generally avoided her when she could. Now she stood over Taylor, inebriated with a drink in one hand and in the other… a puppy?

"Here," Rachel said, dropping the pup in Taylor's lap. "Be gentle with him." Taylor caught the dog with her free arm and settled the animal snuggly on top of her. The puppy immediately stood up and assaulted Taylor's hand and face with licks. "And don't feed him anything. I'll be watching," Rachel added as she sat down on the arm of the couch.

"Wh-what's this for?" Taylor asked, trying to keep her face clear of the dog's relentless attempts to lick her. Rachel looked back like Taylor had asked the dumbest and most obvious question in the world.

"Heard you had a fucked day. All unhappy and shit cause of some bitches." Rachel explained, looking at the television that was currently reporting the morning traffic. "Offered to sick Brutus on them but Lisa said you'd prefer this."

Taylor looked over to Lisa but was simply met with Lisa shrugging. She looked at the puppy in her lap and back to Rachel. "Oh, thanks. He's great." Taylor said, still confused by the entire exchange. She never expected Rachel of all people to do something nice for her.

"Yeah, whatever," Rachel said, ignoring the looks the entire team were giving her. "It's only temporary. Shelter needed someone to look after him this week. I'll take him back end of the week."

Alec shushed everyone. "I think this is it. Turn it up." The team turned their attention fully to the television as the news reporter spoke.

"And to our top story for the day. Brockton Bay Ward, Shadow Stalker, was found covered in blood the other day, during a bust gone wrong. While no apparent murder has taken place, video footage of the scene leaked online has sparked public outrage and a call to action. Beware, this footage may disturb younger viewers."

The news cut to a highly censored video of Grue hitting the floor as Tattletale cried out in the background. Taylor turned from the TV to Lisa, who bowed where she stood, acting as if she won an award for her acting skill. The footage then showed Shadow Stalker standing over the 'body' kicking it over and pulling out a knife before kneeling. From there, the footage was pixelated to all hell, but the audio alone said enough to paint a picture. Taylor looked between Lisa and Brain in concerned shock as both returned a smug smirk.

"Investigators have confirmed that while the body was modelled after notorious Brockton Bay Villain, Grue of the Undersiders." The news report continued, Alec chuckled at the description. "It was in fact, a fake body stuffed with animal meat and pig's blood. It is believed that the actual Grue remains unharmed and still at large."

"Hear that. You're a wanted man." Alec laughed, punching Brian in the leg. Brain didn't bother responding with the obvious point that the whole team was already wanted.

"While it is obvious that this was a ruse devised by the Undersiders, the fact of Shadow Stalker's blatant violence cannot be ignored, with many people calling for her immediate arrest. 'The Wards should be a beacon of hope in this city, not violent thugs' one mother commented on the now-viral video. A sentiment shared by many. We go now to PRT Director Emily Piggot's statement from earlier this morning."

The screen changed over to a PRT conference that took place sometime very early in the morning. The PRT had set up a podium where a very tired Director Piggot spoke to the press.

"Shadow Stalker's actions were not only reprehensible, but she went completely against the core values of the PRT. Piggot said in the small snapshot of the press conference. "Heroes are here to protect and serve the community, not to brutalise those they deem criminals. We will continue to strive to instil in our remaining young Wards with knowledge and values that will keep the people of Brockton Bay safe. As for Shadow Stalker, she shall remain in PRT custody pending a thorough investigation. Rest assured, Shadow Stalker has been retired and will no longer operate in the Brockton Bay area. Many of you have called out for an immediate jail sentence for the ex-Ward, however, due to article 21 of the Parahuman Cape Privacy Act, we cannot comment on if and where Shadow Stalker will be sent."

Lisa laughed with a short snort. "Will be, not could be." She raised her cup to the rest of the team. "Shadow Stalker's in prison. You can bet on that."

The rest of the Undersider's joined in, Taylor included with her canned soda. Everyone cheered and whooped, loudly enough to startle the puppy that was still in Taylor's lap. She petted the dog a few times until it relaxed again.

"Man, I wish I could've seen her face when you two fucked her over like that." Alec chuckled, turning towards Brian and Lisa.

"How the hell did you two pull that off? And why wasn't I invited?" Rachel asked, also looking at Brian.

Brain shrugged and raised his hands in surrender. "Don't look at me." He said, pointing to Lisa. "It was all her idea. I was just along for the ride."

Lisa looked over the team proudly. "What? Me? I did nothing." She said, badly acting casual. "Just used some insider knowledge of Shadow Stalker to finally nail that bitch is all. She hurt the people I care about, so I hurt her right back."

"Don't get all soppy on me now Lise," Brian said, acting somewhat bashful at the comment, "But seriously, thank you. I feel a lot better knowing I don't have to be looking out for her anymore."

Lisa continued to smile, but only Taylor realised that it was her that Lisa had looked to when she spoke. Taylor wasn't exactly sure why but she enjoyed the attention from Lisa all the same.

The Undersiders broke from the couch to either turn the music back on, grab more food or get another drink. Taylor used that moment as an excuse to leave. Picking up the puppy
in her lap and sadly handing it back to Rachel she said over the group, "I'm seriously gonna be late for school if I stay here any longer. I'll see you all later today?"

The rest of the team made over-exaggerated cries about how 'Taylor was ditching them' and that she should stay for a little while longer. "A real villain would skip school and drink with the cool kids," Alec called out, offering a drink to Taylor again before promptly being smacked over the head by Brian.

"Glad you could make it Taylor." Lisa said with a smile, walking over to her, "You sure you don't want to stay a little longer?" Lisa shot Taylor her own brand of 'puppy dog eyes' to which Taylor struggled to find the will to resist.

"I… Really have to go…" Taylor said, hesitantly. She didn't want to go but she promised her Dad, and Vicky that she wouldn't skip school. She'd already taken a few days off, it was beginning to look bad.

"Alright, alright," Lisa said, mock disappointment in her voice. "I'll walk you out. Slowly."

The two girls moved away from the general party down the short hallway just before the main door. Lisa took the smallest of steps each and every way as a ploy to keep Taylor here for as long as possible. Taylor knew what Lisa was doing but simply smiled as she slowed her pace to match Lisa's.

"This was a nice surprise," Taylor said as they shuffled to the door. "The party, and what you did for Brian."

"Oh, I didn't do it for Brian," Lisa said quietly, looking into her cup. "I did it for me. Because I care too much." She looked up to meet Taylor's eyes. "I wanted to throw this whole shindig last night but I got caught up with some other work and you were... busy. Plus it was a school night anyway."

Taylor had spent her Sunday hanging out with Vicky again. After catching up in the park on Saturday, there were several times while hanging out with Victoria that Taylor felt like 'something' was going to happen. Taylor pushed down the feeling and labelled it as her overactive imagination but that didn't stop her from daydreaming.

Now, walking with Lisa, her 'imagination' was yet again running wild. With every sip of her cup, Lisa's lips looked more and more alluring.

"Speaking of surprise." Lisa chuckled, snapping Taylor out of the embarrassing thought, "The puppy Rachel gave you. I had no idea that was a thing. When Brian asked if we should bring you along to the Stalker bust, I idly mentioned that you were feeling down due to… y'know. I didn't even think anyone else heard me. Rachel kicks her door down and tells us that we should all just maul them with her dogs, so I said, 'Chill, relax. Just give Taylor a puppy to play with and she'll be better.' Next day, Rachel actually brings a puppy here."

She burst into a quiet laugh which Taylor joined in with. Both turned to look at Rachel who was handing the dog to a very curious Alec.

"Come on." Lisa continued, "Admit that you'd rather stay here and play with that adorable thing."

Taylor whined softly, looking at the dog and all her friends having fun. "I want to. I really, really do." Lisa was gently pushing on Taylor, away from the front door and back to the party. "But I can't. I know it's silly. But school's important… To me. It's what my Mom would want me to do. Plus… I'm sure Vicky wouldn't like it if she found out I skipped school for the Undersiders. Kinda goes against my whole deal with her."

Lisa sighed as Taylor turned back to the door. "That girl is always getting in the way of my plans of late," Lisa mumbled to herself.

"What?" Taylor asked, not hearing what she had said.

"Nothing," Lisa said with her smile returning.

Taylor frowned, looking a little sad. "Look, I get that you don't like Vicky as much as I do but-"

"Oh, no. I like her just fine." Lisa said, raising her hand to calm Taylor down. "Honest, we've been talking and everything. Good friends. She's just…" Lisa gestured with her hands as she tried to think of the words. "She's very competitive, and I can't help thinking that I'm in a competition with her… and that I'm losing. Y'know." She took another sip from her cup and mumbled into her drink. "I just had this whole plan in my head and it's not working which is frustrating."

"Lisa," Taylor said with concerned care in her voice. "You're my best friend. You won't lose me. I won't let that happen."

"I know…" Lisa said, looking into her cup. "I was never afraid of losing." Lisa looked up at Taylor again and licked her top lip. "Doesn't mean I won't try anything to get ahead."

Before Taylor could ask what she meant, Lisa leaned in and kissed Taylor. Lisa wrapped one arm around Taylor's waist and pulled her close. For a brief moment, Taylor stood frozen on her feet but then melted into Lisa's touch. The kiss lasted only for a few seconds, before breaking apart and leaving Taylor breathless.

They both stood in silence for a moment, just staring into each other's eyes. Taylor's face burned redder than ever before and she began to stumble backwards. Becoming too shy to look Lisa in the eye, Taylor took a quick look down the hallway.

Brian and Rachel were in the middle of an arm wrestle, Rachel was winning, and Alec was acting as a referee while simultaneously playing with the puppy he was now holding. The other Undersiders weren't aware of what just happened. Taylor looked back to Lisa who held her usual smug smile as if fully expecting and relishing the fact that Taylor turned into a flustered mess.

"Wh-what w-was that f-for?" Taylor asked, still trying to make sense of the last few seconds. One moment they were talking and then she just-

"Don't quite know." Lisa mused with a smile, "I've been thinking about doing that these last few days now. Especially after dealing with… stuff." Lisa chuckled, shaking her now empty cup. "But I guess the drink's getting the better of me."

"I-I-I…" Taylor stumbled while touching her lip. Lisa continued to giggle as she watched the nervous girl go through several different emotional states, all good ones. Taylor's face flicked between trying to smile and being completely bewildered.

"You have school, right?" Lisa asked as casually as she could. "I'd hate to distract you, so don't let me keep you waiting. We'll talk more after school." Taylor's hand had somehow reached the door even as her eyes held on Lisa, or Lisa's lips specifically. She wanted Lisa to ask her again, to stay and skip school. To explore whatever the hell that kiss was, Lisa simply held her smug grin and waved Taylor goodbye.

-----------------------------------

Arcadia High School – Midday

Lisa was cruel. A cruel, mean, no-good villain. Taylor knew that she wouldn't get any schoolwork done today. She was too caught up on that kiss and Lisa just let her go after that. All of Taylor's thoughts now turned to Lisa's lips, her arms, or her hair. Taylor couldn't focus. Not right now. Her mind kept spinning with thoughts of how Lisa just suddenly made that move.

What did it mean? Was Lisa interested in her? She blamed it on 'the drink' but Lisa wasn't acting any particular way… at least until she did that. Was Lisa even gay? Taylor had questioned her once and all she ever got was an 'It's complicated.' How did she feel about the kiss?

Taylor loved it. She'd been fighting her stupid smile the entire day. Everyone had been looking at her oddly. The awkward, shy, quiet girl who usually tried her best to be invisible now sat with a dorky smile on her face and Taylor couldn't hide it.

Even Amy, who usually didn't give Taylor so much as an obligatory head nod, gave the girl a raised eyebrow when she saw her in math class. Now it was coming up to lunch and Taylor would have to sit with Vicky and co, grinning like an idiot for the world to see.

Every time Taylor calmed her face, resetting to a neutral position, she'd remember the experience and crack a smile all over again. A girl could only slap her cheeks so many times before people got suspicious. With the bell to lunch ringing out, Taylor took a deep breath, hoping to keep a steady expression for the next hour.

Amy waited by the door, the two had a habit of walking to the cafeteria together. Taylor wasn't sure exactly when it started, they both silently decided that since they were heading in the same direction anyway, they'd walk together. Between Taylor's general shyness and Amy's tired demeanour, the duo barely spoke a word to each other. Taylor liked to think they had a mutual understanding of each other, but in truth, she had no idea.

Amy continued to give Taylor some concerned looks as they walked but elected to remain silent the whole way. Taylor was all the more thankful for that. If Amy did decide to ask what was on Taylor's mind, she'd once again break into a smile that would never fall from her face. Both girls found their table and took their seats. Wordlessly digging into their meal while they waited for the rest of the posse to join.

Carlos, Dean and Dennis sat down together. Notably not with Vicky in tow. All three boys had a glum look on their faces like they had all received the same bad news and were processing it individually. Taylor thought it was strange until she remembered her assumption that they were all Wards and were probably reacting to the news of Shadow Stalker going to jail.

Victoria and the remaining girls joined shortly after, looking like her usual cheery self. She was in the middle of describing the dress that Taylor bought for her the other week back, both Alice and Jessica being enthralled by the photo on Vicky's phone. She sat down across from Taylor and shot her usual smile at the taller girl, then froze briefly as she took a good look at Taylor.

"Hey, Tay. Everything good?" Victoria asked, looking back to Taylor with an even wider smile.

"Yeah? Why?" Taylor asked as casually as possible.

"You're smiling," Victoria said, with a bright smile on her face.

Taylor wasn't
even aware that she was doing it again. She fought the urge to smile, trying to pull her lips back to neutral but that only made her more aware of what her cheeks were doing. Face reddening, Taylor covered my mouth with her hand and shied away into herself.

"S-sorry," Taylor mumbled, as the rest of the table was beginning to take notice.

Victoria shook her head. "Don't apologise, it's a good look on you." She said reaching out to pat Taylor's own hand. "Any occasion?"

"N-no." Taylor lied. Victoria raised her eyebrow, not believing her words. "J-just something unexpectedly good happened… is all."

"Well, I hope your day gets even better from here," Victoria said, her smile radiating in all its charming glory, or that could just be her aura, Taylor was getting used to feeling it in Vicky's presence.

A part of Taylor felt a little guilty. She knew she had a crush on Victoria and yet here she was thinking about Lisa and the kiss they shared. While spending the weekend with Victoria, Taylor had several moments where she had wished that Vicky kissed her but they never happened. Victoria claiming to be her 'personal hero' was a standout moment where Taylor's legs felt like jelly and yet it stayed in her imagination.

However, the more she looked at Vicky, the more that little pit of guilt swelled up. Lisa had kissed her, a literal dream come true. Taylor never believed that either girl would be into her, it felt silly to be guilty over a one-sided crush. What was she planning on saying to Vicky? 'Sorry, you probably didn't know I had a huge crush on you but my other huge crush gave me a kiss and maybe it'll turn into something more.'

Should she tell Vicky what had happened? Her immediate thought was to keep quiet about her life as usual but then she remembered Vicky. Her new best friend, who used to date the boy at the end of the table. Victoria could surely give Taylor advice on how to deal with her feelings.

She shook her head, Taylor didn't even know what she and Lisa were. They planned on 'talking more' after school and Taylor couldn't stop thinking about how that conversation would go. What did people even say in those situations? She had no idea how to proceed. She'd never been in a relationship. She didn't know how they worked. In short, Taylor was a nervous wreck.

"Taylor?" Vicky asked, looking at her in curiosity. Taylor snapped out of her thoughts and looked back to Victoria. Taylor usually retreated into her bugs when she didn't feel like participating in the daily lunchtime conversation, content to just sit and listen to the world around her. Victoria often got annoyed by that habit of Taylor's, wishing that the girl would engage more with the people around her. She'd gotten a little better over the last few days before she was 'ill,' but today Taylor had completely zoned out for the bulk of lunch.

"Sorry," Taylor said, hiding her face again. Too shy to let herself embrace the good mood she was in. "What did you say?" Taylor quickly tried to remember what the table was currently talking about.

Vicky shook her head with a huff but continued to smile. "I asked if you were doing anything after school. We're all getting ready to study for our exams. Want to join us?"

The school year was coming to an end in another month, while Taylor and Amy wouldn't be worrying about any exams for another couple of weeks, Vicky and her grade were preparing for graduation. The thought made Taylor a little sad when she dwelled on it, with how much time she spent alone in Arcadia before Victoria cornered her.

"I-I… I can't." Taylor said with a sad sigh. Now conflicted. On one hand, she did want to spend as much time with Victoria before the school year ended. But on the other… "I already have plans. With Li- Uh, my work friends." Taylor took a quick look to see who else was listening to their conversation. Taylor was still cautious of talking about the Undersiders with the rest of the table, keeping it vague as 'work friends.' Victoria nodded in understanding, frowning as she did.

"Oh… Okay." Victoria said, her smile faltering a little before she shook herself off. She turned back towards Taylor. "In that case. Can I talk to you about something?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Taylor said, noting the change in Vicky's mood. She leaned in and waited but Victoria shook her head.

"Not here," Victoria said, looking back to Taylor with an even more determined grin. "Follow me."

Standing up from the table, Vicky ushered Taylor to do the same and follow her. Taylor assumed this was code for, 'I want to talk about cape stuff' and quickly hurried after her. She wasn't sure what exactly Victoria wanted to talk about but perhaps this would make a good time to get her opinion on how to approach Lisa.

"Where are you two going?" One of the boys asked, the table taking notice of them leaving. It sounded like Dean but Taylor didn't turn around.

"Girl talk," Victoria said with a wink. "See you in class." She waved the table goodbye as she took a confused Taylor by the hand and led her away.

----------------------------------------

Taylor was led away from the cafeteria and into one of the corridors, which lead to a small classroom. Similar to the room where Vicky confronted her after their 'fight.' Admittedly, this made Taylor a little worried. She was sure that Victoria wouldn't betray her but the nerves came to her anyway.

Victoria closed the door and leaned in towards Taylor. Vicky was hovering off the ground slightly, a telltale sign that she was in a good mood which helped Taylor relax even more. "So," She said as she clapped her hand. Taylor noted the unusual nervous energy that she held in herself "I should've said something the other day but I kept postponing it because I was… I don't even know."

Taylor was getting the feeling that this wasn't just a simple chat about cape stuff. Victoria was trying to work her way up to something, and thinking back on the lunch she zoned out of, Victoria had been looking at Taylor far more than usual.

"You see really happy today." Victoria continued, changing the subject with a smile. "It's good to see. I like seeing you smile, you shouldn't try to hide it as much. You said something good happened today?"

Taylor froze briefly as she tried to organise her thoughts. Victoria had given Taylor the perfect opening to ask about relationships and how to approach them with Lisa.

"Yeah…" Taylor began, thinking up how to tell Victoria what happened, she figured it was best to tell the story from the beginning. "I woke up with a message to see the Undersiders. They were celebrating the arrest of…" Taylor realised that celebrating a hero being arrested might paint a bad image for Victoria.

"Of Shadow Stalker," Vicky said, finishing the sentence with a smile. "Yes, I heard she got caught the other night. Serves that bitch right."

Taylor was surprised to hear that from the hero. Vicky shrugged with a grin and Taylor matched her own smile. Victoria wasn't a girl scout, Taylor kept needed to remember that.

"Anyway. I show up there. And Al- uh Regent offers me a drink. And it's eight AM or something. Not to mention the kid is younger than me. So that felt a little weird. Then Bitch drops a puppy in my lap. I was pretty sure she hated me or something but apparently not. And we sat around watching the news-" Taylor continued, working her way through what happened as a smile grew on her face. Victoria was enthralled, not by the story but by how Taylor was telling it.

Victoria hovered closer to Taylor, the taller girl unaware of how close the two had gotten. Victoria was only barely an inch off the ground but they were now face to face with each other. Taylor stopped talking just as Victoria's face encompassed her entire view.

"Oh. Sorry." Taylor mumbled, embarrassed at how much she had been talking. "You brought me here because you had something to tell me and here I am…" She chuckled softly.

"So, a party?" Victoria asked with a chuckle. "Drinking underage and in the early hours. That's villain behaviour right there." She was obviously joking but it still caused Taylor to look away in guilt. "Honestly, I'm jealous. I've been trying to get you to smile like that all weekend, if I knew all it took was a party I would've thrown one ages ago."

"Well, actually it wasn't until Lisa-" Taylor said before Victoria sighed audibly.

"Of course, Lisa is to blame." Vicky chuckled.

"She said you two were friends now?…" Taylor asked wearily. Lisa had said so earlier today, but then again, Lisa was a lying liar who lied.

"Hmm. I guess." Victoria admitted, rolling her eyes. "Doesn't mean I stopped considering her my rival or whatever." She added with a smile.

"R-rival?" Taylor asked, suddenly aware of just how close Victoria was to her face.

"Don't worry." Vicky giggled, "Just a bit of friendly competition for our shared best friend."

"Oh?…" Taylor chuckled nervously. "You know I'm not going anywhere, right? Whatever happens between the three of us, we'll still be best friends." Taylor was sensing an extreme level of déjà vu, that was making her feel things.

"I know," Victoria said, her arm wrapping around Taylor's back. "But I still prefer to win regardless."

For the second time today, Taylor was pulled in for a kiss. Vicky's lips were pressed into hers, sending shivers down her spine. This kiss was different from the ones she shared with Lisa. Where Lisa was just a sweet chaste kiss with some mischievous intentions behind it. This one felt almost possessive as it lingered between the two girls. There was defiantly an experience in the kiss which she found as intimidating as it was enticing.

Taylor couldn't think of which kiss she preferred, mainly because she couldn't think at all.

The bell for class rang out as Victoria pulled away from Taylor. The taller girl was left dumbstruck by the kiss, it took half a
minute before Taylor made an actual sound. A part of her felt incredibly guilty because of Lisa, Vicky not knowing what Lisa had done and now Lisa not knowing what Vicky had done. But that still didn't stop her from smiling like an idiot. Taylor mumbled something about 'bad timing' to which Victoria responded with a giggle.

"Sorry," Victoria said still chuckling. "I had this whole thing planned in my head after school. I really like you… and I'm pretty sure you like me. But since you already had plans, I had to improvise." Taylor nodded her head in somewhat understanding, still awestruck by the events that just passed. "Look, I've gotta get to class. But uh, I don't really want to rush this. Can we talk, later today? I don't mind if it's late."

Taylor nodded again, a building state of panic inside her that Victoria took for general first-kiss nerves.

"Great," Victoria said, giving Taylor a hug before moving for the door. She turned around again and shot Taylor a bright smile before floating off.

------------------------------------------

Taylor was already distracted as all hell when she came into school today. Now for the final third of the school day, her mind had checked out. Both girls had kissed her, and both her best friends had expressed interest in Taylor. Boring, ugly, shy Taylor.

What was she to do?

When she woke up today, she thought that there was no chance in hell that Victoria Dallon thought of her that way, and Lisa was an enigma all in herself. Now both blondes had decided that today of all days was the time to kiss her and that left her with a choice that she really didn't want to make.

The obvious thought popped up in her head. Date them both. It was a dream that Taylor had come up with a few days ago. She never in a million years expected it to work, shaking the idea from her head even now. Even if she might be willing to do that, there was no way in hell Vicky and Lisa would agree to it. She had to be practical and stay in reality.

That left her with a choice. Either Lisa or Victoria. She tried putting them into mental boxes, pros and cons. Taylor quickly dismissed the idea, not liking the thought of 'who is the better person.' They were both wonderful, beautiful and different. Even the obvious cons like 'Dating a superhero would be suicide' would be countered by 'Dating a villain isn't any safer.' No, Taylor couldn't solve this debate on logic alone. She had to rely on her feelings.

How did she feel about them? Did she care for anyone over the other? She was attracted to each of them individually, she had enjoyed their conversations and had grown fond of their company. The guilt over being so indecisive ate away at her. She wasn't going to let this continue, by day's end, a choice would be made that would change their relationship forever, and that scared the hell out of Taylor.

She knew from the beginning what she had to do. With a sigh, Taylor pulled out her phone and sent a message to both girls.

-----------------------------------
Brockton Bay Streets – After school

The three girls sat around a private cafe table, a few blocks down from Arcadia. Taylor hadn't explained the nature of the meeting, even when Vicky asked her by the exit of the school. Both blondes looked at each other and then at Taylor expectantly.

Taylor knew she had to talk fast before Lisa's powers worked it out anyway. Wanting to avoid any confusion or misunderstandings, Taylor took in a deep breath and then started talking.

"OkaysoLisaactuallykissedmeinthemorningbutthenVickykissedmeatschooltodayandnowIdon'tknowwhattodobecauseIlikeyoubothandI'msosorryforthat."

Both girls looked at her in concern. Taylor mumbled the entire sentence at light speed to the point that neither girl actually heard what she said. Lisa was gesturing with her finger while she thought about the jumble of words they heard, replaying it slowly in her mind before giving Victoria the side eye.

"Wow…" Lisa drawled, turning to Vicky. "You just had to go in for the steal in the final minutes."

"What?" Vicky asked confused, turning to Taylor. "Tay? Could you say that again for me? I didn't quite hear you."

Taylor took in another breath and tried to speak normally this time. "Y-you both… kissed me today. And I don't know what to do. Or… I do know what to do, but I'm afraid to say it."

"Wow…" Vicky drawled back to Lisa. "Barely two days after calling us friends."

"You said you didn't mind if I asked her first," Lisa said with a smug shrug.

"I did not," Victoria said back. "I specifically said that I didn't say that. And you know that."

"You're not even into girls, remember?" Lisa said sarcastically.

"You knew damn well I was into Taylor," Vicky whined back, both girls on the edge of a full-blown argument.

"Please!" Taylor called out. Holding out her hands. "Don't fight. I don't want any of us to fight." Both girls quieted down and looked at Taylor. Taylor lowered her hands back to the table. "Look. I was… I am really happy. For today. Knowing that both of you of like me, like that. I never imagined…" Taylor looked between each girl, she could see it, both of them were waiting for an answer, the answer. Who would she choose, who gets to 'win.' "I haven't had a best friend in a long time. I'm so… happy to have two now. And I'd rather all three of us get along than complicate it. I'm sorry. That's how I feel. Can we all just?…"

Taylor struggled to look at either girl. Choosing to look down at the table while she waited for a response. She'd gotten everything she'd ever wanted today, twice over but it wasn't worth risking what she already had. Hoping that neither girl would be upset with her rejecting them in favour of their continued shared friendship.

Victoria nodded. She understood exactly what Taylor was saying. She didn't like it as much as what could've been, but if Taylor wanted all three of them to stay as friends, then that's what she would do.

Lisa sighed in an overly sarcastic manner. "Fine, I guess we are sharing after all." Placing her hand on top of Taylor's. "A throuple might be fun too." She added, causing the other two girls to look up in confusion.

"Wait, what?" Taylor asked, looking up at Lisa who smiled. "I meant the three of us as fr-"

"You drive a hard bargain." Lisa chuckled, "But I suppose I can tolerate her for you." Lisa turned over to Victoria, ignoring Taylor's confused and reddening face. "Whaddaya say? Think you could date me? For Tay's sake?" She extended a hand towards Victoria, who looked just as shocked as Taylor.

"I-I… what?" Victoria asked, looking at Lisa's hand. "How would that even work?"

"Don't know." Lisa chuckled, "That's half the fun."

"I think Taylor was just asking us to be friends," Vicky said.

"Yeah. but isn't that such a boring alternative?" Lisa responded.

"Would Taylor even want that?" Victoria asked, looking back to the bewildered Taylor.

"Oh yeah." Lisa giggled, also looking at Taylor's increasingly shy demeanour. "Look, either. It doesn't work out, one of us starts feeling jealous and such. In which case we all go back to being friends. Or…" Lisa looked back to Victoria, not even bothering to ask Taylor for approval, she already knew that Vicky was the only one here who actually needed to be convinced.

"Is that even allowed? It's not exactly normal." Victoria asked, it was clear that she'd never considered the idea until Lisa purposed it. Lisa laughed a little louder.

"Vicky," Lisa said, raising an eyebrow at the hero. "You were ready to start a gay relationship in Brockton Bay. Y'know, home of the freaking Empire Eighty-eight. It's already not that 'normal' around here." Victoria looked as if she just remembered the fact that she beats up Nazis for a living. "Besides, who the fuck cares what's allowed. We're villains remember." Lisa gestured between herself and Taylor. "Now come be gay and do crimes with us." She held her hand back out for Victoria to grab.

"I'm not a villain," Victoria whined, unsure of herself.

"Yes, yes." Lisa said as she rolled her eyes, "You're a hero to the people. Now are you in or out?"

"Shouldn't this be more of a romantic thing?" Victoria said with a pout. Her hand slowly inched towards Lisa's.

"Let's just all agree to it first, then I'll woo you later." Lisa chuckled. "I promise."

"W-what's happening right now?" Taylor asked in disbelief, finally finding words to say. Both girls held hands with each other and with Taylor.

"Good news," Lisa said with a grin. "We all get two girlfriends today." Taylor was already blushing like a tomato and Victoria wasn't that far behind. "Taylor's still my favourite." She added while looking at Victoria.

"Mine too." Vicky teased back to Lisa. "I guess we should make sure this can actually work, right?" Victoria asked, still sounding nervous but not wanting to be talked over by Lisa again.

"Oh, and what do you have in mind?" Lisa asked, curious about Vicky's building confidence.

"Well..." Vicky said, a little more sure of herself. "You wouldn't mind if I gave Taylor another kiss? Seeing as she's my girlfriend and all."

Lisa shook her head and gestured to say 'By all means' as Victoria turned back to Taylor, gently moving closer to the girl. Victoria moved in for a quick kiss, less passionate than the one during school but no less desired. A simple peck before looking back to Lisa for confirmation.

The question of 'how' this happened was still running through Taylor's mind. One moment, Taylor was telling them how they should all just stay friends and now Lisa was moving closer around the other side of Taylor to promptly give her a kiss of her own. Both girls kept their 'competitive spirit' alive regardless of the fact that everyone had already 'won.'

"What was that? You're first kiss?" Vicky teased Lisa, proving that she was comfortable with the arrangement.

"Second, actually." Lisa said, still smiling
smugly but a little red in the face.

"That was only my forth..." Taylor mumbled, not wanting to be left out of the banter.

All three girls chuckled. There was still an air of awkwardness to it all, but all three were willing to try.

Between the warm feeling in her hands and the constant beating of her heart. Taylor was pretty sure she died and went to heaven last night. It was almost perfect, although Taylor wasn't sure how she felt about being in a relationship with 'favourites.' It was a little scary knowing that her two best friends, her two girlfriends, were fighting over her still. Taylor could only hope that, in time, Vicky and Lisa could grow to care about each other the same way Taylor felt about them.

---

A/N: 13 chapters and the title finally makes sense!
I knew I'd get there eventually

 

Dallon Household – Morning

Coffee.

Amy needed coffee. The poor girl stumbled through the empty hallway in a tired daze. Barely awake, Amy marched like a zombie down the stairs, her nose already picking up the delectable scent of lightly caramelised and almost nutty Ambrosia.

The warm mug was waiting for her on the kitchen table, taunting her sleep-deprived mind with every inhale. Reaching out, Amy pulled the mug close with two hands and held it to her face, Blowing on it gently until it was at the perfect temperature to drink.

Extra strength, black. Just how she liked it. It didn't matter that summer was right around the corner, the warmth held in her hand was more comforting than almost anything Amy could imagine. Second only to the loving embrace of Vi-

"Are you awake yet?" Carol asked, sipping on a coffee of her own. Amy jumped slightly in surprise, she had such tunnel vision for morning coffee that she didn't even question who made it, or why. "Good, we still need to finish our talk." Carol continued, gesturing for Amy to sit down at the table.

Amy rolled her eyes, what was left to talk about? Everything had been talked about already. Carol just wanted to complain to her some more, probably taking pleasure in the fact that she had yet another reason to control Amy's life. It was too early for this, Amy had been lured out of bed by some quality coffee only to be trapped in a conversation that didn't need to happen.

Carol had picked her up from school yesterday and driven her straight to the PRT. It was bad enough that it wasn't even one of Amy's assigned hospital days, but she wasn't even being called in to heal some hero.

"Well? What do you have to say for yourself?" Carol asked in her usual bitch tone. No amount of coffee was worth dealing with this so early and on a school day of all days. What the fuck was she expecting her to say?

"I'm sorry?…" Amy responded, confused. Trying her best to bite down the annoyance in those words. This obviously wasn't the correct answer because Carol's frown doubled down on her face.

"Sorry? Sorry isn't good enough Amy." Carol said as she began to sing the same goddamn song she's been singing ever since Amy was cursed with powers. "You have a responsibility to be better. You can't make mistakes like this. We taught you to be careful with your gifts. You're lucky no one is pressing charges. New Wave can't handle the media backlash it might bring. You're a fucking monster Amy and I wish I never had you."

That last part might have been exaggerated but Amy had long since stopped listening to whatever the fuck Carol was saying. She needed to at least finish her mug before being able to comprehend anything. With a satisfying gulp, Amy placed the mug down on the table and looked her 'Mother' in the eyes. Finally listening to what was being said.

"Why in gods name did you treat a patient without consent AND reveal her parahuman status to a complete stranger? In a room full of other patients no less." Carol asked, huffing as she finished whatever rant Amy had completely ignored.

"He said he was PRT. Showed me the badge and everything." Amy said, annoyed that it was the exact same answer as when Carol had asked her the last seven times. "It was like, midnight. I was tired as fu- hell. I'd been working non-stop for hours and he just asked me for some help. He's a cop, I'm a minor, what else am I meant to say? No?"

"He was a low-ranking investigator, basically a glorified intern." Carol spat back. "If he was a cop, he would've known what he was asking you to do was illegal. And you of all people should've known that it was… And what the hell were you doing at Brockton General at midnight?"

"Healing people. You know, my job that you make me do." Amy said in a tired, deadpan tone. What else was she to say? I wanted to get out of the house because Vicky was with her boyfriend and seeing that made me want to both kill myself and Dean. Carol would 'love' to hear that.

"I'm sorry okay. I fucked up." Amy said, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Carol gave her a shocked and disapproving look at the expletive language. "I won't do any more late-night sessions, so you don't need to worry about it happening again, alright?"

"Of course, I'm going to worry." Carol huffed. "Which is exactly why you'll be spending this weekend reviewing medical law and ethics with me."

Amy couldn't hide her annoyance at that. Her entire fucking weekend was taken up, memorising stupid laws, most of which didn't even apply to her. Not to mention it means a weekend stuck with Carol, probably in her stupid office.

"What the fuck!?" Amy moaned, "All because I made one mistake. It was almost six months ago!"

"Amy!" Carol growled. "Don't you speak like that to me. We can't afford to make another mistake like this. Do you think I like spending my weekend this way either? Well, I don't, but it's something we have to do."

Amy was about to retort, she wasn't sure what she would say but she was sure it would be biting. Carol looked up behind Amy and stood, her attention pulling away from the argument as she called out.

"Vicky, no flying in the house."

"Sorry, Mom." Victoria yawned as her feet touched the end of the stairs.

"We'll finish this later," Carol said quietly to Amy before walking off. What the hell was there left to finish? Did she just want to argue some more later? Amy watched as she walked over to Vicky and kissed her forehead, giving a few gentle scratches on her head before leaving the kitchen. Vicky broke into another hover the second Carol left the room.

"Morning, Ames!" Vicky beamed, far too happy for the morning. Amy didn't know how the hell Vicky did it, able to wake up with some much energy, as well as being able to wake up looking like a goddess. Of course that was the reason why Amy loved her so much, one of the many reasons.

"Morn" Amy mumbled, she looked down at her empty mug. "Did you want some coffee? I think there's still some in the pot."

Victoria scrunched her face up for half a second and shook her head. "No thanks." She said, "I know how you and Mom like your coffee. I prefer mine sweeter."

"Right, I forgot. You like having a little bit of coffee with your sugar?" Amy said with a wry smile.

Victoria chuckled at the comment as she got some juice from the fridge, along with a collection of fruit. Amy noted how during the entire process of collecting, pouring and placing it all on the table, her feet never once touched the ground.

It was no secret that Vicky liked to fly. 'No flying in the house' was probably one of Carol's most common sayings in the Dallon Household. However, some things were objectively harder to do while floating in the air. Getting the apples from the bottom of the fridge, for example. It was a lot easier to simply crouch down and pick up rather than Vicky's maneuver of almost hand-standing to get a single piece of fruit.

Amy watched in astonishment as her sister would rather do a cartwheel than spend ten seconds touching the ground. It was an impressive level of commitment and not something Vicky would do on a normal day. Which put a thought into Amy's head.

Okay, Amy had two thoughts in her head.

The first was, 'Don't look at her legs. Don't look at her legs. Don't look at her legs. Don't look at her legs. God, I wish she'd wrap those around my- Dammit.'

The second was, 'She only flies this much when she's happy. So what's making her so damn happy today?'

'What was making her so happy? She was happy yesterday too, and most of the weekend really. There was a down period at the end of the week but perked right back up on Saturday. She'd spent her free time with the new girl at lunch at the table, Taylor.'

Taylor Hebert, that girl was strange and that said a lot coming from Amy. A part of Amy blamed Taylor for the predicament that she was in with Carol, but that would be callous. Amy felt genuinely bad for violating Taylor's privacy that night, no amount of 'sleep-deprived excuse' changed that fact. On top of whatever the hell was going on in her home life to cause all those wounds Taylor had. Vicky said she was fine but no one is that quiet without some form of trauma, and Amy remembered her being catatonic post-trigger event. She understood completely why Victoria was giving the girl the whole 'abandon puppy' routine. That's just how kind Victoria is to people.

Amy also knew that Vicky was trying to get her and Taylor to become 'friends.' The constant prodding from Vicky to be nicer to her and watch over her in class. Amy could admit, she had a point, next year Victoria would be gone and only Amy and Taylor would remain. It wouldn't hurt to have someone she could tolerate for a whole other year. And she could tolerate Taylor. The girl was fine, respected Amy's desire for quiet, didn't bug her about cape life or healing, didn't ask for healing period. Probably the first person in their grade who didn't immediately ask for an autograph or a selfie. Amy could respect that and could imagine it was more or less the same for Victoria, probably why she liked her over all the other random dregs in school.

Still, that didn't account for this level of flying. Amy had seen this level of flying before. She braced herself for the disappointing truth that she already knew. Vicky was back with Dean again. It had been entire months since they last were dating and Amy had hoped that this time was different. She'd been avoiding him, ignoring his advances and simply too busy to deal with the boy.

So what changed? It was that damn study session Vicky had planned with her friends yesterday. Amy didn't pay attention to it because she had a meeting with Carol and the PRT Legal Department. At the very least, Victoria's latest obsession with Taylor should've kept her busy.

"What's up?" Vicky asked through a mouthful of fruit. "You're spacing out more than usual?
Did you have another argument with Mom again?"

Victoria frowned at the thought, Amy snapped back to reality and decided to bite the bullet. Better to have her heart smashed in the safety of her own home than be backhanded by watching her slobber all over Dean at school again.

"No," Amy said while pouring herself a second cup of coffee. "Well, yes. But that wasn't what I was thinking about. You seem extra happy today? I'm assuming that means something good has happened to you?"

"Damn, am I that obvious to you?" Vicky giggled, "Guess I should expect you of all people to know me so well."

Amy smiled at the comment, she knew her sister better than anyone. Which only made her follow-up question hurt all the more to ask.

"So I guess you and Dean are back together?"

Vicky laughed. Not in the 'girly teenager with a crush' kind of laugh that Amy was expecting to hear, but as if Amy had told a funny joke.

"No, no no no," Vicky said with a smile, shaking her head. "No, Dean and I are done. That's… yeah nah. Just friends now. Which is for the best, though I don't know when he'll be ready to talk to me again."

Amy lit up. Hope. Genuine hope. They were 'done,' 'just friends.' Music to Amy's ears. If she could fly right now, Amy would be zipping around the room… And then come to a screeching halt. What if there was another boy? Vicky hadn't mentioned anything but…

"So what then?" Amy asked with as best of a smile she could manage. Paying that whatever came out from Vicky's lips wasn't the name of some other boy, like… Dennis? Eww, could she imagine that? That'd be worse.

"I…" Vicky began then stopped. She turned back towards the way Carol left before turning back to Amy and leaning in. "I sorta… found something out about myself. And I'm still… It's hard to explain. So, don't tell Mom, okay? I'll tell her when I'm ready."

"O-okay," Amy replied, having no idea where this is going. Usually hearing Vicky saying the words 'Don't tell Mom' is usually followed by 'Please heal these Nazis I beat to a pulp before they die.'

"Alright, so…" Vicky said before taking a deep sigh. "I think I'm… Okay, so I know I'm… Fuck, why is it so embarrassing to say out loud." Vicky took yet another sigh, Amy was about to give her the whole 'you can tell me anything spiel' before Vicky just said, "I like women." Amy stared back, wordless to it all. "W-well I still like men. I like both… I think? I mean I do, but who knows maybe I-"

Women. Vicky liked women. Vicky was gay. Since when? Doesn't it matter, Vicky is gay? Victoria likes women. Amy's a woman? Amy's a girl. Amy likes women. Amy likes Vicky. Two plus two is four. The maths adds up. It was possible, right? It was certainly more possible than it was yesterday. Sure there was still the slight hiccup of possibly not being her type, not knowing that Amy was also gay and of course, being sisters. But that didn't stop Amy from being happy. From imagining what could be. Learning that a factual impossibility was now just an… improbability.

"That's amazing, Vicky," Amy said while Victoria was still in the middle of her confused ramble about her new sexuality. "I'm so happy… for you. I'm happy for you. And proud… and stuff."

Vicky stopped talking and shot Amy the biggest smile. Before Amy could say anything else, Vicky lunged over and picked her up. Wrapping Amy into a tight hug as they spun around the kitchen. The second mug of coffee spilled across the table but Amy didn't mind. She was being hugged by Vicky, her beautiful, caring, strong and apparently now gay sister.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," Vicky said into the hug. Amy tried shaking her head but with snugly trapped in her arms. "I wanted to be sure before telling you all about it. I didn't know until only recently, I still don't know how I feel about everything. Y'know? Do I prefer one over the other, what are my types? But yeah… I'm so glad you're so cool with it. I mean, I knew you would be but hearing it from you just makes me so happy for some reason. I could almost cry."

Amy embraced the hug as her feet dangled from the air. At this moment, she understood exactly why Vicky preferred to fly all the time. This moment was perfect, whatever bullshit Carol said to her this morning was now washed away by the knowledge that Vicky was gay. There was a chance, however small, that Amy's dream could be accomplished without her powers. A goal to strive for, somehow, someway.

"And it just feels so different." Vicky continued, "Like, Dean was always kinda… I wouldn't say pushy, but he always tried to act 'manlier' than he needed to be around me. When I kissed Taylor, it was like… cute and soft. And you know how much I like cute things." She chuckled awkwardly at the joke.

"I'm sorry when you what?" Amy asked in disbelief. Cruel reality smashed back into her. Of course, Vicky already had a girl in mind. Of course, she already kissed her. Vicky realised she liked girls because she had a girl to like, how could Amy be so stupid? Gay, Straight. It didn't matter, it never mattered. Vicky would never love Amy like that.

"Oh, right," Vicky said with embarrassment as she gently put Amy back down on the ground. "Yeah, I might've kissed Taylor during lunch yesterday… And then again after school… A few times. We're um… Dating? It's kinda complicated, there's this whole thing and this other whole thing I can't even talk about with you. But suffice to say, Taylor is my girlfriend now."

Vicky smiled with all her heart. The damn girl was in love, or whatever the hell you call it when young people start a relationship. How the hell did someone like Victoria fall for someone like Taylor? Was that her type? Sad, socially awkward and emotionally dead inside? That was Amy! That was Amy to a T.

It's like Vicky went out of her way to pick the one girl in school who was most like her just to rub it in her face. This was Dean all over again except it was worse because it was Taylor. Couldn't Vicky see that? How easy it could be. Placing a hand on Vicky's head and making her see exactly that, make her feel the same way instead. Even give a spare hand to Taylor and make sure she 'never' touched Vicky.

Amy forced herself to smile. A broken smile that held back her true emotions. Vicky didn't notice, for all her love, Victoria had never learned the difference between Amy's smile and her fake one.

"I'm so…" Amy began, pausing to find the right words. "Happy for you, Vicky. I hope she makes you happy too."

--------------------------------------------------
Brockton Bay Streets – Yesterday, After School

"So, we're all girlfriends now?" Victoria mused. "That's not how I thought this day would go."

Lisa and Taylor chuckled at the thought. Taylor more so.

"So, how does this work?" Taylor asked, still bewildered by the current situation.

"Like most other relationships I suppose." Lisa said, "Just with three of us."

"Yeah but…" Taylor said, "I've never… y'know. Been in one."

"Neither have I." Lisa chuckled before turning to Victoria.

Victoria put up her hands in surrender. "Woah, hey. I've been on and off with one guy for a few years but this is completely new territory for me too."

"Still makes you the most experienced out of all of us." Lisa chuckled. "Tell us what to do… Mistress?"

"Shut up." Vicky scoffed as Lisa giggled in return. "Let's just go at our own pace. No need to compare relationships to each other. We'll discover how this works together. Like a couple… a throuple? That's what you called it right?"

Lisa nodded as she gave a salute, causing Vicky to roll her eyes.

"But we should have ground rules or something, right?" Taylor asked both girls. "So none of us do anything the other isn't happy with it."

"That's a good idea." Victoria said, "I mean, I prefer relationships to be more spontaneous but rules are good for something like this."

"Oh, I got one." Lisa chirped, raising slightly onto the table. "No arresting any of your girlfriends. Huh? Huh? Good rule right?"

"How about, neither of my girlfriends is allowed to commit any crime?" Victoria said back in a deadpan tone.

"Yeah… This relationship isn't gonna work out." Lisa said with a sarcastic sigh. Taylor made a quick move to bite Lisa with a mosquito. "I'm joking. I only joking." Lisa whined as she shooed the bug away.

"I meant real rules," Taylor whined. "I don't wanna make anyone upset, okay? Like, school. Lisa's not there so is it fair for us to do couple things together? And the same for when I'm at work? Or do we stick to dates and things like this?"

"It'd been boring if we didn't." Lisa said, "Besides, I wanna see the look on Grue's face when his teammates start 'fraternising' with each other." She chuckled again before looking over to Victoria. "So yeah, I don't mind one bit. Make out under the bleachers or whatever it is you do at school."

"We don't have bleachers in school. At least not any we can go under." Vicky said back with some snark. "But thanks. I'll do just that." She turned back to Taylor. "And I don't mind at all what you do with Lisa, just so long as I get the same amount of attention."

"O-oh," Taylor said, blushing for the millionth time today. "I guess that makes things easier. And I don't have any problem with you two… kissing and stuff either."

Lisa and Vicky gave each other a look while Taylor was busy flushing in embarrassment. Victoria thought about that idea while she stared at the girl.

'Pfft, like that'll happen. Just look at her, she's… oh no. She's actually beautiful. And we did just agree to be girlfriends. Oh shit, I could actually see myself…. Mind reader, mind reader!'

Victoria looked away first which caused Lisa to laugh in amusement. "No problems here," Lisa said, taking great pride in watching the hero squirm.

"Good," Taylor said, still not looking up. "Cause I don't want this to be a one-sided thing or anything. And the idea of
you two actually makes me happy…"

"Taylor Hebert wants to see Victoria Dallon and Lisa Wilbourn kiss," Lisa said with a smug grin. "It's always the quiet ones that are the most adventurous."

"What?" Victoria asked, still reeling from embarrassment.

"It's not like that." Taylor whined, "Don't make me out to be some kinda…" She waved her hands up as the mosquito returned to bite Lisa. "I just wanna see my bestfri- girlfriends get along."

Victoria laughed as Lisa tried and failed to swat the bug. "It's okay, Taylor," Victoria said, ignoring Lisa's cries for help. "I understand what you mean."

Taylor smiled back at Victoria. "Thanks. It's not like I'd specifically enjoy that-"

"My powers say you do- oww!" Lisa called out before two more mosquitoes descended upon her

"-I just want us all to be happy," Taylor said, ignoring the comment.

"I know I am." Victoria chuckled as she watch Lisa wave about the place. Taylor pulled the bugs away again after a short time.

"Well sorry" Lisa drawled, scratching an itch on her neck. "As long as you're happy, then I'm happy." She stopped to think briefly. "Although, now that I think about it, this might be a problem long term. What do you plan on telling people?"

"What do you mean?" Taylor asked.

"Glory Girl is kinda a public figure," Lisa explained, pointing to Victoria. "Does she need to make a public announcement if she starts dating? Is New Wave comfortable having a gay member? Are paparazzi going to be following us home? Are people going to ask how we all met? We certainly shouldn't flirt in costume. Or we could, it'd be fun but y'know. Reputation and all."

"I don't… know?" Victoria said. "Again, this wasn't how I was expecting this day to go. I guess I'll tell my friends and family and go from there?"

"Grue is gonna flip when he hears about us with GG." Lisa chuckled, gently slapping Taylor on the arm. "Us, with a hero. I can't wait to see his face."

"Yeah, I don't plan on telling anyone about your day job." Victoria mused. "My Mom would literally kill you."

"I haven't even told my Dad I have powers. Not that I plan to." Taylor said. "Nor have I told him I'm a cape or spending my school lunches with Victoria Dallon."

"Look, not to be a downer or anything," Lisa said, getting a bit more serious. "But there are some people I work with who… know my face. So, keeping me out of the spotlight might be best. I mean, Taylor's fine, only people who know who she is the Undersiders and my boss-"

"The boss knows who I am?" Taylor asked in concern.

"-Yeah. No big deal. Point is, you can publicly date Taylor and I'll just be on the side-"

"That wouldn't be fair." Both Taylor and Vicky said before looking at each other.

"Look," Victoria said, gently knocking the table with her fist. "I know there'll be challenges. Especially with what you two do. But we'll work them out. Together. That's what coup- throuples do." She took both girls' hands and gave them a gentle squeeze before thinking to herself. "Though, I may drip-feed the news slowly to my Mom. I don't wanna overload her all at once. Maybe give all our friends at school a day or two to wrap their heads around us before we mention Lisa? I'm already anxious about telling Amy I'm gay or whatever I am."

"Wow, that's a turnaround from never hearing of a throuple before." Lisa chuckled. "Guess that's what we can expect from our 'mistress,' experienced in all things love and romance."

"Shut up," Victoria whined as she rolled her eyes.

"Make me." Lisa teased, knowing exactly what she was asking for.

Victoria tugged on Lisa's arm and pulled her close, enveloping her in a kiss. Taylor gasped in delight as Lisa kissed back happily.

The two girls pulled away, both cracking a smile as they wordlessly agreed that this was 'weird, but a good weird.' Victoria mused to herself once again. "Not at all how I thought this day would go."

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Arcadia High School – Midday

Someone was watching her. Taylor couldn't get the feeling out of her head. The entire school day she felt on edge. It wasn't a non-stop feeling, it came and went as she passed the halls. But now before lunch, she could feel the pressure drilling into her head.

Taylor chalked it up to anxiety jitters. She was a few minutes away from announcing to the table and therefore the whole school, that Taylor Hebert and Victoria Dallon were a 'thing.' It also might just be her usual anxiety. It did remind her of when she was convinced everyone stared at her with a burning hatred, although this felt more like one singular beam of hatred rather than a hundred tiny ones.

Her bugs couldn't spot anyone in class behaving oddly. No one was staring at her from the back of the classroom, the teacher was busy helping the other students. Most everyone was paired up to work on their assignments and the only other person who even looked at Taylor was her 'kinda, sorta maybe' friend Amy, who sat quietly next to her as they worked as a pair.

She still felt guilty for holding Amy hostage at the bank. She never planned to hurt the girl but that didn't change what had happened. Worst of all was that there was no way for Taylor to ever apologise to Amy without also revealing who she was to her.

Taylor turned to Amy who held her usual tired expression as they worked. While they were technically partners on this assignment, Amy had barely spoken to Taylor during the entire period. Both girls were competent enough in their studies to do the work by themselves, only partnered out of necessity, they wordlessly split the work between themselves. Every now and then Amy would stare at her. Glare at her to be more precise. It was sometimes hard to tell if the healer was upset at Taylor in particular or if she just had a sour mood in general. Taylor chose to believe the latter as Amy had been the one to approach her in class after all.

That made them friends, right? They ate lunch together, they walked through the halls together and now they did school work together. Amy was less energetic than her sister but who was Taylor to complain about that? They're friends. Taylor was sure of it. 70% sure of it. Vicky wanted them to become friends the same way she wanted Vicky to be friends with Lisa…

Okay, maybe not the same way. But Taylor would put in the effort and could already see Amy doing the same.

Still, what could Taylor say to her? She knew almost nothing about the girl beyond what little Vicky had already said about her. How did she make friends again? She thought back to all her recent friendships only to realise that in every single circumstance, there was a charismatic extrovert dragging her along. When it came to interacting with introverts like herself and Amy, Taylor had no idea how to proceed.

"So, Amy…" Taylor began, "How's the work going?"

"Fine," Amy said back before continuing to scribble away at her paper.

"Need help with any part?"

"No," Amy replied casually.

"Did you get up to anything fun yesterday?" Taylor asked, cringing at how forced that felt coming from her.

Amy kept writing. With the same deadpan tone that matched her face, she said, "No."

'How is this so hard?' Taylor thought to herself. 'Just find a topic you have in common and talk. What do you know about Amy? She's a cape, I'm a- Nope, what else? Does she like any books? I don't know. What could Lisa do? Exploit weakness and aggravate? No, why am I so bad at this? What about Vicky? We both like Vicky? Obviously, she doesn't like her like I like her, Idiot. Still, it's a start, right?'

"Did you know I'm dating your sister?"

Amy stopped writing and looked at Taylor for a solid few seconds. Then Amy let out an audible sigh through her nose.

A pang of regret shot up through Taylor. 'Why did I say THAT of all things? Wait, did she not know? Had Vicky not told her? Did I just out Vicky before she wanted? And to her own sister no less? But we're meant to be telling the table at lunch, aren't we?'

Amy's face made an approximation of a smile. The teeth were clenched shut like she was biting down something painful but the lips were tipped in the upwards direction.

"I… heard," Amy said. "I'm so… happy. For both of you."

Taylor relaxed again. She hadn't outed Vicky without her consent, she was just a socially awkward dork who had zero conversational skills.

"Right. Of course." Taylor chuckled awkwardly. "Thank you. Hope you're happy too. Uh, for whatever makes you happy." She turned away from Amy and sighed. How far away was the lunch bell?

Taylor spent the rest of the class in total silence. They completed the assignment in record time, Taylor compiling the paper together and checking over Amy's work before handing it in. The work was amazing, even better than Taylor's in some aspects. The only odd thing Taylor could see in Amy's work was the handwriting on the final pages, it was like she was gripping her pen differently or too tight. Regardless, the assignment was done and Taylor was certain they'd both get top marks.

Taylor waited by the door as the bell rang out. As per usual, the two girls walked together to their table for lunch. Once again, Taylor felt like someone was watching her, wishing something awful would befall her as she walked through the halls. Anxiety aside, Taylor wasn't worried. She had a constant vigil of bugs watching her every moment and was walking beside Panacea of all people. She was as safe as she possibly could be.

Taking her seat, they waited for the rest of the posse to arrive. Before Taylor could finish her homemade sandwich, everyone had populated their seats. The Ward boys were still acting glum which honestly made Taylor giggle inside, the other two girls were debating about a question in whatever practice exam they just took and Victoria silently grabbed Taylor's hand under the table.

"You ready?" Vicky whispered to Taylor.

Taylor nodded back but honestly wasn't ready at all. She made a complete fool of herself to Amy and now was going to do it all over again to the rest of this table. Vicky squeezed her hand again which reminded her that Vicky was just as nervous, if not more so. Taylor squeezed back even tighter in a show of solidarity. With a deep breath, Victoria knocked on the table and stood up in her seat.

"Everyone," Vicky said looking around at her friends. She looked back to Taylor who also stood up, both girls holding hands for everyone to see. "We have an announcement to make."