Taylor's Blast to the Past
This is a non-canon Interlude to the main story. A bit of a 'what if' that popped into my head one night. It's rather disjointed and has no real ending, but I think it's enjoyable all the same.
***
Taylor woke up with a yawn and a stretch. She could hear the faint sound of birds singing just outside her window and the rumble of the house's plumbing as someone used the shower. She turned around, blinking at her empty room and at the spot where Cass was supposed to be sleeping.
The girl wasn't there, in fact, there wasn't even a blanket where she usually slept. Shrugging it off, Taylor slowly rose out of bed and stood up. She searched with both eyes still half-lidded by sleep for something clean-ish to wear, then dressed as quickly as she could before Cass stumbled into the room or Simmy asked her if she needed help.
Stumbling downstairs, Taylor found her dad frying some eggs with a headful of wet hair. "Hey sweetie," he said.
"Hrm."
"I see. I take it you slept well then?" he asked, a hint of humour in his voice. "I made eggs," he added unnecessarily.
"Uh-huh." She took the plate he handed her and pretty much let her face fall into it. In no time at all she was done scarfing down the contents and lifted herself up to stare into her father's concerned eyes. "That was good."
"Um," he said. "So are you looking forward to school today?"
"School? I quit last week," she said.
Her father looked up from his mug of coffee, alarmed. "What?"
"Yeah? Don't you remember? I said I could do more outside of school than in? Anyway, where's Cass?"
"Cass? Wait, Taylor, what do you mean you quit school? Who's Cass? Do you have a boyfriend you're not telling me about?"
Taylor frowned. There was something very wrong going on. "Dad... what date is it?"
He was still giving her a gimlet eye, but he pushed a newspaper across the dining room table. That, alone, was a bad sign. The newspaper stations were still not delivering the daily news last she'd heard. Something about flooding being rather bad for paper.
She twisted the paper around and took in the headlines 'Break in at the Ruby Dreams Casino' was writ large across the front. Searching for a bit, her eyes fell on the date at the top. February, 23 2011.
"Oh snickerdoodles."
And that's when the Endbringer sirens went off.
***
It took a lot of effort to convince dad that he really, really needed to bring her to the PRT Headquarters and that no, it didn't matter that the Endbringer Sirens were ringing. This was more important.
As he drove infuriatingly slowly, Taylor tried to tell him of her adventures after Leviathan attacked the Bay three months in the future, but he was rather hung up on the whole 'Leviathan attacked the Bay' bit and was generally being a poor conversationalist.
Finally, after what felt like a day but was most likely no more than half an hour, her dad's truck stopped in front of the downtown headquarters of the PRT. The building looked much prettier pre-leviathan and pre-Lung and pre-Orbital-Friendship-Cannon, but Taylor didn't stop to enjoy the view.
She hopped out of the truck, waved goodbye to her panicked dad, and zipped into the building. "I need an adult!" she screamed as she entered.
A lot of adults looked at her. That was good.
Pointing ahead of her, she stopped right at the front desk. "You're not Tim," she noted as she took in the name-badge of the woman behind the desk. 'Jane,' it read in fancy script. "That doesn't matter. I need to get to Australia."
"Um, excuse me?" Jane asked.
Taylor blinked at her, then remembered. She looked like a normal teen right now. A normal teen in a stained hoodie and jeans. Lifting a hand in a 'one moment' gesture, Taylor fiddled with her ever-present Friendship Bracelet and spun the appropriate bead.
With a flash of light she was no longer Taylor Hebert, the friendless loner and was now Queen Administrator, the equally friendless cape. It helped that, as soon as she shifted costumes, she felt a familiar weight in her robe's pockets. "I need to get to Australia. Canberra. Like, right now."
Jane had gone a little wide-eyed after the costume-change, but she nodded. "I'll call someone to escort you to the meeting area. Transports will be leaving from the Rig."
"Damn, if only Unit Two were here we could have gotten there by swimming," she muttered. "Will Dragon be there?" she asked.
"I-I think so?" Jane said.
Nodding, Taylor yanked out her totally awesome Dragon-Tech phone and started fiddling with it.
>>Queen_Administrator: Dragon! I can't explain why (though it's probably one of Unit-Three's pranks) but I've accidentally time travelled and now I need to get to Australia.
>>Dragon: Who are you and how did you get this number, and that phone?
>>Queen_Administrator: I'm Queen Administrator. You gave it to me, and you gave it to me. We don't have time. I need to get to Canberra before Simmy does something stupid.
>>Dragon: I'm tracing the call.
>>Queen_Administrator: Okay. I'm in Brockton Bay's PRT Headquarters. This is urgent, so please hurry up.
>>Dragon: Yes, yes you are. All right, if you're a cape volunteering for Endbringer duty, then I can't really refuse. Stay in the main lobby. New Wave is coming in for Strider transport soon.
>>Queen_Administrator: Thanks Dragon! You're the best! Oh, and bring cookies.
Sliding her phone into a pocket, Taylor sighed with relief. Everything was going to be okay. She'd go see Simmy, and they'd be friends again, and she would be safe.
She flounced over to the chairs off to the side of the lobby, ignoring the Jane lady who wanted her to follow some Troopers in their scary armour as she flopped down into a seat and waited. I didn't take long for others to show up.
The entirety of New Wave arrived as a single group, all the fliers filing into the lobby one after the other, some of them carrying the not-so-flight-capable members.
"Amy! Vicky!" Taylor said as she jumped to her feet.
The Dallon sisters looked at her, and the lack of recognition in their eyes had her deflating on the spot. "Oh, right, you guys don't remember me yet."
"Do you know my daughters?" Brandish asked. She had the sort of authoritarian tone Taylor associated to Principal Blackwell.
"Kinda? I mean, we'll know each other in the future, but that's later and right now they don't know me and I know them."
Her explanation didn't seem to clear things up.
"Time travel," she added.
"Holy shit, seriously?' Vicky said.
"Yup."
Amy's eyes narrowed into suspicious slits and for a moment she looked a lot like her mom. "Prove it," she said as she crossed her arms.
"Uh, we only met, like, three and a bit months from now, after Leviathan hit Brockton Bay." There were a few gasps at that. "But you never really spoke much about your past. I know that Amy ruled part of the city as Queen Shaper in her hospital-castle and Vicky was her royal concubine."
Amy's face went very pale and Vicky started to laugh uproariously at that. "Ah, you had me going for a bit there," she said.
Taylor shrugged, an easy smile coming up. "Yeah, sure. So, you guys ever been to Australia?
The group sombered up at that. "No, not really," Vicky said. She adjusted the hem of her costume skirt and slid a little closer to Amy's side.
Amy seemed to appreciate her sister's closeness, and Taylor noticed the way her knuckles were white by her side.
"Ah, you two don't have to worry so much. Just let me have a quick chat with the Simurgh and it'll all be good. Though, uh, I could use some help actually getting to her, you know?"
Vicky tried on a smile, it wavered a bit at the edges but it was still there. "Sure, I'll give you a lift once we get there."
Everyone's attention shifted when a man in a black and blue long coat and cap popped into the middle of the room. "I'm here for New Wave and," his face turned towards Taylor, eyes hidden behind aviator goggles. "And friends. Everyone stay within a few feet. Come closer. No need to be shy now."
When everyone came close, the man smiled. "And we're off."
***
The headquarters where they appeared was a mess. Capes were running all over, people were screaming in accented English and the hustle and bustle of a panicked yet organized crowd swarmed around New Wave.
A man in a PRT jumpsuit ran up to every cape, clamping something onto their left wrists and Taylor, upon recognizing Dragon's logo on the wrist-band, let him clamp one onto hers. "What's this?" she asked.
"It's a bomb," Vicky said, her voice sombre as she fingered the collar on her own wrist. "It'll go off if you spend too much time near the great white bitch."
"Cool," Taylor said.
That earned her another look, but Vicky just shrugged it off.
"Flyers!" an agent called out. "We need flyers out there right now to support our Brute line! Blasters, focus on whatever she's building."
Vicky watched her family take off. "Still want that ride?" she asked.
"Yeah!" Taylor said. "Take me princess style, like you do for Amy. Oh, and see you later Panacea. Sorry for all the people you need to heal because of Simmy. I'll make sure she knows that she shouldn't have done that."
The healer gave them both a wave, then rushed off towards a series of buildings off to the side with a huge red cross on the side.
Vicky's arms were not nearly as comfy as Amy made them look. Her arm was digging into the back of her knees and butt and her chest was so big it was all up in her face. Taylor didn't know how Amy could endure it all the time.
To distract herself, she started to stare down at the city. Canberra was pretty, far prettier than Brockton Bay. It was also a much newer-looking city. There were skyscrapers everywhere and thousands of cars clogging up the streets. There was also plenty of room for pedestrians, she noticed. Even as she looked, there were hundreds of people out running towards the edges of the city.
"Can you hear her?" Vicky said and there was a quavering note to her voice.
Taylor blinked and strained her ears and yes, she could hear a rather pretty voice calling out over the city. Following the sound, she soon spotted Unit-Three floating above a grey building, bits of rubble and science-techno-thingies hovering around her while capes flashed by at startling speed. "Get me closer!" Taylor called.
Vicky nodded, her hair whipping out behind her as she zoomed in towards the Simurgh. A few capes looked their way, but in the chaos of the battlefield they were just two more people occupying the skies.
When they were only a few blocks away, Vicky started to slow down and Taylor cleared her throat.
Alexandria was nearby, carrying a lamppost by one end as though it were a huge hammer. A few capes flew by her side, blasting away at the bits of rubble and junk that spun around Unit Three as though she were the centre of a very picky hurricane.
"Whatever you're going to do, now would be the time," Vicky said.
Taylor nodded. "Gosh darn it Unit Three!" she screamed. "I know this is all your fault! Now, override that silly primary directive of yours and come down here right now. I'm grounding you!"
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
"Oh my god," Vicky said. "You're insane."
The cloud of stuff around the Simurgh froze and the Endbringer's song stopped mid-note. Her huge eyes snapped towards Taylor and for perhaps the first time there was an expression on the Endbringer's face: apprehension.
The capes around them paused for just a second before redoubling their efforts. Beams of light shot by, Tinkertech guns went off and the sky around the Simurgh turned into a mess of explosions and wanton destruction.
Taylor scowled. "Oh, for pete's sake, I can't hear anything. Unit Three, could you stop them? You know, without hurting them?"
[Affirmative!] came a voice in Taylor's mind and she almost slumped back in relief. To hear one of her friends, even one that was as annoying as Simmy, was the biggest reassurance there was.
Tinkertech guns misfired. Capes about to use their powers only shot fizzles or missed outright and Alexandria, who was rushing at the Simurgh with her lamppost, froze in mid-air only feet away from the Endbringer.
"Okay, Vicky, bring me closer," Taylor said.
Vicky stared, eyes wide. "You, you can control her?" she said.
"Well, yeah, obviously," Taylor replied. "And she's been very naughty, so I need to give her a proper talking to. Oh, and I need to overwrite the thing that makes her kill people all the time."
Vicky didn't seem to know what to do for a moment, but then she looked around at all the people still running away and at the capes frozen across the battlefield, almost as though time had stopped in random places. "Okay," she said.
When they were level with the Endbringer, Taylor fixed her with a careful eye. She was all covered in dents and scratches and was, quite obviously, naked. Taylor brought up a hand with three fingers raised. "Okay, so, same as last time. I have three directives for you. First, make sure I'm safe and listen to what I say. And no rules lawyering! You're a precog, you know what I meant when I say something." She lowered a finger. "Next, don't hurt people, not unless they were going to hurt me or I specifically tell you to hurt them." She lowered the last finger. "And finally, be sure to keep yourself safe, unless it's to protect me. Got it?"
[Excited! New Primary Directives Accepted.] The Simurgh's face twisted into a happy smile. [Current Objectives?]
"First, can you hold me up? I think Vicky's tired of doing that." Taylor almost yelped when a telekinetic hand wrapped around her waist and yanked her out of Vicky's grip to hold her hovering in the air above the city. "Oh, cool. Um, can you do the invisible platform thing?" she asked and as soon as the words were out the grip loosened as she felt as though she were standing on solid ground. "Thank you!" She bounced a few times on the balls of her feet.
[Host-Queen_Administrator is Welcome.]
"You can fly?" Vicky asked. She was staring mostly at the Simurgh but kept shooting glances at Taylor.
"Nope. Simmy's holding me up," she explained then watched, fascinated, as the blood drained from Glory Girl's face. "Anyway. I've rewritten her directives now, so she should be mostly harmless."
"M-mostly?" Vicky asked.
Taylor shrugged. "Endbringers hold back a lot." She turned, levelling a smile that was all teeth at her friend. "Speaking of. I want an explanation for why I woke up in the past this morning."
[Uncertain. Can't explain.]
"Can't, or don't want to? Because I will ground you." Taylor placed her hands on her hips. "No anime. For a month."
The Simurgh gasped. She pressed two huge hands over where her heart would be were she human and not a fifteen foot tall machine of death, destruction and carnage. Tears, or at least some sort of condensation, was gathering at the corners of her eyes.
"Okay, fine, a week," Taylor caved and the tears evaporated.
"You gave in?" Vicky asked.
"She'll be a real brat if I don't," Taylor explained.
[Negative. Is Not a 'Brat']
Taylor snorted. "You don't know loopholes until you see her playing with them," she told Vicky. "Speaking of, Unit Three, could you release all the capes? They must be tired of hanging there."
[Affirmative.]
All around them Capes tumbled out of the air for a few seconds as Unit Three's grip on them loosened. Some, most even, immediately took off and flew away from the area, some of them fighting with the bracelets wrapped around their wrists.
Taylor looked down at her own bracelet, on the opposite hand as her Friendship Bracelet. "Can you take this off?" Taylor asked Unit Three.
With a shrug, the Endbringer waved a giant hand and the bracelet tore itself in half and was shot out into the air in a gentle arc that happened to hit a cape in a green cloak in the back of the head not a half second before it exploded.
"D-did she just explode Eidolon?" Vicky asked. She sounded rather faint.
[Mistake. Is Very Sorry.]
Taylor winced and waved at the member of the Triumvirate who was now flying in a dizzying loop towards the ground. "Sorry!" she called out moments before another flying cape zipped in and held him up. "Aw, shucks, I'm really making a mess, aren't I?"
Taylor was about to start explaining thing to Vicky when a black and grey blur came to a stop a few metres away. She stared up at a woman in an iconic costume, the lighthouse on her chest prominent and the bit of her face not hidden by a curved mask turned down in a distasteful scowl. "What's going on?" Alexandria asked.
"Not much," Taylor said.
"Not... much," the heroine repeated.
"Well, Unit Three here played a nasty prank on me but I'm grounding her," she explained. "Also, hi! I don't think we've ever met before or will have had met later." It was Taylor's turn to frown. "English isn't a very time-travel friendly language."
Alexandria didn't quite seem to know what to do with that, so she went on the offensive. "You stopped her song?" she asked.
"No?" Taylor said. "I mean, she doesn't need to sing unless she wants to. I mostly asked her to stop because it's hard to talk to someone while they're singing, you know?"
"You can communicate with it?" the Triumvirate cape asked.
"She's a her. And yeah." Taylor shifted around, her robes swinging around her legs in a gesture she'd come to associate with her own nervousness. "Yeah, so I'm gonna go home now," she said. "Vicky, you're welcome to stop by the castle anytime. Oh, and Amy too!"
"The castle?" Vicky asked. Alexandria looked like she was going to say something else but paused to see what Taylor was going to say about her castle.
"Yeah, it's in the Bay. Or was. Or will have been in the Bay..." Taylor sighed. "Imagine a Disney castle." Vicky nodded. "Now imagine it's in Brockton Bay." Vicky nodded again. "Now imagine it was made by Leviathan." Vicky did not nod. "That's the castle. You should stop for tea sometime." She stretched a little, then remembered that Leviathan wasn't with her anymore.
[Nervous. Activate Friendship Protocols?] The Simurgh shifted a little, her hands folding under her chest and her wings moving a little closer to her body.
A smile split Taylor's face. "That's a great idea, Unit Three. Go ahead!"
[Affirmative.]
Feeling as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, Taylor turned back to the two Alexandria-packages, one of which was Alexandria. "Anyway, we'll be off. I'm sorry if Unit Three was a bother. Hey, do you think we can borrow that teleporter guy with the cool glasses?"
Alexandria stood a little taller, something dark and dangerous glinting in her eyes. "I'm afraid that it's not that simple," she said and her voice was flat, cold even.
"Why's that?"
"We can't just let you leave. You're controlling the Simurgh. If this isn't some elaborate act then I'll have to insist that you come with us."
Taylor pouted. "But I want to go home."
Alexandria looked at her for a few long seconds, as though weighting something. "If you try, I'll have to stop you." The heroine floated a little higher, arms straight by her side and legs spaced out as though ready to fight at a moment's notice.
"Oh, oh, oh!" Taylor clapped. "I always wanted to say this." Sher coughed and cleared her throat, then looked Alexandria right in the eye, all traces of humour fading. "You and what army?"
Vicky buried her face in both hands.
Alexandria tilted her head to one side, then gestured out behind her.
Taylor was surprised. Admittedly, she wasn't paying attention to what was going on around her too much, but something told her she should have noticed the nearly two hundred capes lining the rooftops below or flying around them in wide circles and staring. "Oh, that army."
There was a palpable tension in the air. So many heroes and villains, all gathered to fight a battle that they would almost certainly lose, all facing a single girl that looked as though she were suddenly out of her depth.
The visible part of Alexandria's face twisted into an almost cruel smile. "How about you come with me. I'm sure we can find a satisfactory solution to all this."
Taylor crossed her arms. She didn't want to go with the heroine. It wasn't that she didn't like Alexandria, it was that it felt as though they were all looking at her and Simmy as if they were the enemy and her friends weren't anyone's enemy. They were big and cuddly and had never been anything but nice to her.
The last time, in the future, she'd had time for people to see that, to grow used to Unit-Two and then Unit-Three, but this time it was too soon. These people were here for a fight and she wasn't sure if she could win without hurting them with Unit-Three alone.
The ground shook and rumbled. The capes standing on rooftops looked around in a panic as the entire city trembled, then someone screamed while pointing out to the horizon. From her height above the city, Taylor could just make out the shimmering ocean, an ocean that was growing and growing until finally an explosive culum tore out of it.
The rumbling that had subsided started to build up again and Taylor looked down and through the transparent pane that was holding her up to see a small hill in a park explode outwards, sending dirt and rocks flying everywhere.
The Leviathan crashed into the side of a sidecraper, his long arms gripping into its side while steel and glass and water cascaded out around him.
From the crater of the explosion below rose the Behemoth. His single blazing eye burned as he stared right up and at Taylor, then slowly swiveled his head to take in the masses of now terrified capes.
{Unit-02 Answering Host-Queen_Administrator's request: Activate Friendship Protocols.} Leviathan said, his smooth voice slipping into her mind.
Taylor grinned up at Alexandria, setting her feet wide apart like the superheroes in her morning cartoons. "I am willing to accept you unconditional surrender!"
***