35 Canon Times!

April 11th, 00:30

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Flying through the sky under another's power isn't actually nearly as enjoyable an experience as she plays it out to be.

It's not that the flying itself isn't fun, because it certainly is, but there is a certain disconnect between herself and the gifted flight power compared to her actual power. Plus there's the knowledge that the flight will wear off whether you want it to or not.

Still, as Falcone she has to put forth a certain character, and pretending that Joan's power to give her flight is the best thing since Tetris is a good way to sell that character.

On a side note, she recently discovered an online website for competitive Tetris and has been having a blast with it, even if she can't seem to get higher than fourth place in the leaderboards. She'd be mad about that if she was losing to normals, but apparently there are a few exclusive gaming sites specifically tailored for Parahumans.

From what she's seen so far, there are servers dedicated to people with powers that make them unnaturally good, like enhanced reaction times, precognition and the like, and there are other sites specifically for cheaters. 

She tried out some games against the cheaters, but it's literally impossible to beat Tinkers who can freely cheat however they want just through skill. 

Still fun to just watch the games though. One of the Tetris games she watched somehow ended up turning into a first person shooter, and she's pretty sure they hacked into the pentagon mid-game.

Fucking Tinkers.

A plume of fire reaching above the low buildings in the distance drag her thoughts back to the real world, and she doesn't hesitate to speed up her flight in that direction.

They'd just got a call about Lung being out and about, so she was already on her way, with more backup incoming, but seeing the fire starting to spread over an entire city block, she's going to go ahead and guess that someone has already pissed off the dragon.

Which is annoying as fuck, because she highly doubts she can catch him off guard again, and Falcone certainly can't beat him if he's had any time to grow.

Once he passes eleven foot, he's pretty much already too powerful for her to deal with by herself. That's why she's made sure to 'coincidentally' avoid him since then, not wanting to tarnish her still growing reputation by taking a loss.

Of course, if anyone asks, it's Lung that has been avoiding her, not the other way 'round. Who's going to contradict her anyway? Lung would have to be an idiot to think the public would take his word over her own.

She's hardly been idle after all, her approval ratings in the Bay are through the roof, higher than anyone else who's ever served this branch of the Protectorate. So far, everything is going according to plan.

Well, there is one thing, but it's not really a downside so much as it is something she overlooked.

It's not even a bad thing, it's just that people have been, what do they call it? 'Shipping'? Yeah, they've been shipping her with Dauntless, as his power made him the previous Rising Star of Brockton, and her charisma alone isn't enough to outdo that, especially with her power lacking much of his Triumvirate level potential.

Still, she doesn't mind. PR has even convinced them to play up the power-couple act, or at least not outright deny it. The public would be less interested in the potential relationship if they confirmed it after all.

Stupid people enjoy thinking that they have figured something out, so keeping things vague enough excites them, and more importantly from the PRT's perspective, gets them to buy more merch.

At least she gets a cut from her merch sales, not that she needs it in truth, because frankly she is rich rich now, but still.

What was she doing?

A burst of fire explodes barely a hundred feet from her, the heat enough that she feels it even at distance.

Ah, right, that's what she was doing.

Honestly, a part of her just wants to wait until whoever pissed the dragon off either dies or runs, so that she can either deal with a smaller dragon, or leave enough time for backup to arrive. After all, it doesn't look as bad on her if The Protectorate fails than if She fails.

However, her worries appear for naught, as when she finally gets close enough to glimpse the scene, she is surprised to find Lung laying face first on the ground, unmoving except for his body shrinking as his power fades away.

Y'know, for someone so powerful, he sure loses a lot.

Gazing about, it takes a moment to find the likely perpetrator standing on a building above Lung thanks to their dark costume blending in with the night.

The mystery Cape seems to notice her not long after, and Mary decides that if they beat up Lung, then they probably won't try to fight her.

Gliding closer to Mystery Cape's rooftop, Mary gives them a once over, making note of the incredibly well made costume for a newbie. It covers them completely in black and dark grey chitin like armour, with a barely noticeable bulge at the back of their head.

So they probably have long hair hidden away, and going by the figure, they're female, and probably a teenager, both because most new Capes are teenagers statistically speaking, and because she just doesn't seem as grown as a woman.

So in other words, a freshly triggered teenage girl beat up Lung on her fist night out.

That thought alone is enough to sent her into a fit of giggles, because c'mon, that's funny as fuck.

So lost in her humour, she forgets to keep count of how long Joan's buff has left, and right before she reaches the rooftop, her flight disappears, causing her to fall face first into the side of the building with a yelp of surprise.

Damnit, there goes her cool entrance.

///

Taylor

///

When she decided that she was finally going to take her powers out and start her first patrol as a Hero, this is not at all how she saw her night going.

She figured that she'd just start small, maybe stop a mugging or two and then go home. Testing the waters, so to speak.

But then she overheard some ABB gangsters meeting up and figured she's see what's going on at least. Then freaking Lung came out, and she was just about ready to leave.

She might want to be a Hero, but she doesn't want to die, and really, what can she do against the raging flame dragon when her power just lets her control bugs?

However, her plan changed once again when she overheard him say how they were planning on killing kids. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she let children be killed just because she was too afraid to act.

So she attacked.

Frankly, it was terrifying, because Lung is terrifying. He's fought the entire Protectorate twice and he only barely lost the second time thanks to Falcone having balls of tungsten. Seriously, there are still videos out there of her putting putting a flaming Lung in a chokehold even while she was literally getting melted.

Taylor isn't much of a punk kid, but she's overheard plenty of people at school talk about how metal that was.

Of course, it turns out that Taylor's dedication to at least delaying Lung was pointless anyway, as those 'kids' he mentioned showed mid-way through the fight.

Turns out, he wasn't talking about assaulting an orphanage or something equally evil. Those 'kids' were actually just a group of teenage Villains.

So not only did she go out of her way to protect Villains, but those same Villains mistook her for one and helped her out, thanked her, and then left so fast it took her a minute to properly register the blonde Villain's parting words about an approaching Hero.

Which lead her to now, watching one of her favourite Heroes waving and flying down to meet her clad in red and blue, only to suddenly plummet and crash into the side of the building with a muffled oomph.

The unexpectedness of the situation leaves her frozen, long years of social isolation making her unsure of what to do. Should she peak over the edge and see if Falcone is okay? But Falcone is a Hero and a Brute, so she's probably fine.

Should she check on Lung? She stung him with a lot of bugs and plenty of them were venomous. Or should she just leave so she doesn't get in the way of the professionals?

Apparently she was standing there lost in her mind for longer than she thought, as what feels like only a moment later, Falcone comes arcing over the lip of the building, landing on the roof in front of her without a sound, followed by a meaty thunk as Lung lands besides her, unconscious in her grip.

You don't really appreciate what 'super-strength' means until you see a woman shorter than you are leap onto the roof of a three story building from the street with a muscly, six and a half foot tall man held casually in her grip.

And as Falcone drops lung and hops closer to her, she also recognises how disconcerting it can be watching someone walk on a gravelled rooftop without making a single sound, like the world has just put her on mute.

It's really weird, and it only gets weirder the more you focus on it, so she's pretty happy when Falcone gives her something else to focus on.

"Hello!~ Stranger!~ You're a new face, I assume you're not a Villain right?"

It's only the fact that she figured out how to push all her emotions into her swarm that stops her from sputtering at the accusation.

"No." However, being calm doesn't suddenly make up for her recent inexperience with social interaction, and she mentally curses herself for being so curt.

Luckily, Falcone takes her poor response in stride and doesn't even blink at the cold reception, a friendly grin clear on her face.

"Awesome! Just had to check, I'm legally obligated to ask," that does make her feel better. Getting confused for a Villain by other Villains is one thing, but if one of her Heroes thought she was a Villain she wouldn't know what to do. Probably cry. "I love the costume though, it's super cool, and way better quality than most Capes get on their first night out, did you make it yourself?"

"Yes, though it did take me a while to finish, and it came out edgier looking than I intended."

"Nah, I think it's cool. I mean, sure it doesn't scream peace justice and the American way, but I figured you were going the Shadow Stalker route y'know. More about scaring the criminals into not continuing to do crime, rather than inspiring the civilians not to start. I hope at least your name isn't as edgy as Stalkers though?"

It's only after being asked her name that she A, realises that she totally forgot to think of a name, and B, she's actually holding a conversation with a real life Hero right now!

With Falcone's question, she finds herself starting to think that the best part about her power is the ability to regulate her emotions, because that is the only thing that stops her from making an embarrassment of herself as she admits her lack of foresight.

"I haven't actually thought of a name yet. It's kind of hard to come up with a bug-themed name that doesn't seem incredibly Villainous."

"Ah, I get you. You don't have to overthink it though, I just named myself after video game character. I'd recommend thinking of one though, otherwise the PR people will come up with one for you, and since you're not under the PRT they'll give you a really crappy name like Bugcatcher."

"That sounds..."

"Like the PRT gives preferential treatment to its Capes while doing everything it can to make independents join up, even if it's just sticking them with a crappy name until they do?"

"Uh, yeah."

Falcone gives her a smile and a shrug as if to say 'what can you do'. "On that subject, I am also legally obligated to invite you into the Wards. There are plenty of benefits to joining if you would like to hear them?"

The Wards. Basically the junior division of the Protectorate, even if she's read somewhere that Wards were never actually supposed to be doing patrols or getting in fights originally.

On one hand, if she ever tells her dad that she got powers, sending her off to The Wards would be the first thing he'd want to do. But on the other hand, she's quite tired of dealing with teenage drama, and very much does not want to escape high school drama just to jump into Wards drama.

Because adding superpowers to the mix can only be an improvement to teenage drama. Her eyes almost roll out of her skull at the level of sarcasm her own thoughts possess.

"I'm not really interested at the moment, I figured I should at least get a reputation before approaching you guys."

Her words get a snort out of Falcone, who lightly swings her cane at Lung's head. "I don't think you'll be having issues reputation wise," she drolly points out, making Taylor flush beneath her mask, "the only other person to beat Lung in their first fight is me, and I had a bunch of help with me. The fact you took him on by yourself is honestly kinda amazing."

She can't help but think her swarm must be incredibly confused by the sudden influx of pride and joy they are abruptly suffocated by. But despite the warmth in her chest from getting praised by one of her idols, Taylor somehow manages to keep from making an embarrassment of herself.

"Thanks, but I mostly just got lucky. I was honestly pretty terrified, I-" her words catch in her throat as the events of the night catch up to her "..I thought I was going to die."

She doesn't notice Falcone approach until she feels herself get wrapped in a pair of strong warm arms. She stiffens at the sudden contact, but quickly melts into what might just be the first hug she's received in years, resting her head on Falcone's shoulder as she rubs soothing circles on her back.

She doesn't know how long the hug lasted, but all to soon Falcone pulls away, holding her by the shoulders and giving her a warm smile. "Would you mind telling me about it? From the beginning?"

"Ah, sure," is all she can say as she is led to the edge of the building and sat down next to Falcone, their legs dangling over the edge. "Um, shouldn't you do something about him though?" She asks, gesturing to Lung.

"If he starts waking up, I'll put him back to sleep," somehow she feels like Falcone just winked at her, but she can't tell through the blindfold. "Now, Ungoliant, how'd you end up fighting Lung?"

"You've read Tolkien?" Is what she says instead of answering the damn question. But she can't help herself, her mother was an English teacher in a university, so she's been raised on books.

"Yup, Ungoliant was the first fictional bug I could think of," Falcone admits with a carefree shrug, and she honestly feels a lot more at ease knowing that the older woman shares in her hobby, at least somewhat.

As a matter of fact, the unexpected turn in conversation manages to give her enough confidence to do something she hasn't done in ages. Banter. "Can we not name me after an ancient evil spirit?"

"Sure, how about Shelob instead?" Falcone answers with a playful grin, and she can only squash down the suspicion that the friendliness is fake because she is not Taylor right now, she is...

"Arianwen! No that's dumb."

"The Snow Spider?" Falcone asks, genuinely surprising her that she would get the relatively obscure reference. "Bit of a mouthful for anyone who isn't Welsh. But if you want to stick to fictional bugs, then maybe Cavatica? Cav for short?" Seeming to notice her confusion through her mask, Falcone continues, "that's the name of the spider in Charlotte's Web."

"Oh. Well, I guess it's good enough for now, better than just Bug," she grumbles slightly, remembering what the blonde Villain called her. Which reminds her, "right, I should probably give my statement now, right?"

"If you don't mind," Falcone answers, and everything about her tone and posture manage to assure her that Falcone isn't annoyed at her, which is something of a relief.

"Right. So, I was just planning to do a simple patrol, maybe stop some muggers or something, then I ran into Lung and overheard him saying he was going to kill some kids."

That gets Falcone's attention, making her raise a brow and turn briefly to glance at Lung, but she doesn't interrupt and simply gestures for Taylor to continue.

"Turns out, those 'kids' were actually a group of Villains who'd recently robbed him. They came mid-way through the fight riding these giant lizard monster things, two of which saved me from Lung and took him down to the street."

"That would be The Undersiders then."

"The who?"

Falcone gives her half a smirk. "They're a pretty new group, small time thieves mostly, good at getting away. We don't actually know much about them. They're really good at getting away and always seem to be two steps ahead."

"One of them, they called her Tats I think, she said something about having to get away before the Heroes arrived and they left barely a minute before you arrived."

"That would be Tattletale. We've had her pegged as a Thinker, and going by what you just said it seems we were right. Did any of them say anything you think could be useful to know?"

"Not really. I think the only reason they even stopped to talk to me was because they thought I was a Villain." She tried not to let her bitterness out through her voice, but apparently something still got through for Falcone to pick up on it.

"Don't worry about it. A good costume and name are only really important if you don't want to achieve much. After all, if you have a good image then you don't need to do a lot to be recognised as a good Hero. Take Legend for example, the name is perfect and the costume just screams Hero, no one would doubt that looking at him. Then look at Eidolon. The costume is ambiguous at best and the name is weird, but his deed dragged his weird name up to the likes of Legend. So if you're worried about your costume or your name not giving off the right image, all you have to do is show the world who you are through your actions, and eventually it won't matter what you're called."

Falcone chuckles slightly and rubs the back of her head in embarrassment once she finishes her impromptu inspirational speech. "Well, anyway. Transport for Lung will be here in a few minutes, do you want to stick around until then or will you be heading home? It's pretty late after all, and I'm pretty sure you've got school in the morning~."

Ah, right, school.

With the reminder of how late it is, she suddenly feels how tired she is after all the adrenaline earlier, and figures sleep is probably a good idea.

"I think I'll just head home now."

"In that case, here," Falcone hands her a thin card with a number printed on it. "I'm gonna call you Cavatica in my report, and we'll probably be doing a press release about Lung's capture tomorrow afternoon, so if you come up with a name you'd prefer before then, or if you need help with something or just want to talk, give me a call, m'kay?"

"Uh, sure," is her intelligent response as she accepts an actual Hero's phone number. She's glad she was given a car as well, because she really doesn't want to have to explain why she doesn't own a phone.

"You want to drop down with me or are you taking the fire escape?" Falcone asks, and she doesn't hesitate to take the fire escape. Holding a conversation is one thing but she thinks she'd die if Falcone actually picked her up to jump off the roof together.

"Goodnight Cav!" Falcone shouts after her as she walks away, still sitting on the roof and waving at her.

"Goodnight, Falcone."

Tonight definitely didn't go as planned, but all in all, she'd say it went pretty well. Sure, she nearly died, but she also met and talked with Falcone, so she'd say it kind of evens out.

For the first time in a long time, she feels a genuine smile stretch across her lips that just won't seem to go away.

///

Maryam

///

Watching the odd girl skulk away into the darkness, Mary hums to herself.

That girl sure is an interesting one.

For one, parahumans are inherently driven towards conflict, that has been scientifically proven, even if the public remains mostly unaware of the fact. But it doesn't take much detective work to figure that Cav is that girl Amy treated a couple months back.

Whenever there's a case as bad as hers in the hospital, there's a crisis point protocol that basically amounts to sending some PRT personnel to harass a typically underage person who has just been through something incredibly traumatic in an effort to find out if they triggered, and then bully them into governmental occupation if they have.

However, in little Taylor Hebert's case, she was catatonic when the crisis point people came to investigate, and was released before there was any follow up.

What that means, is that Taylor has had her powers for months and seemingly has only used them to make her costume, not getting into any fights until today.

Not very often for parahumans to have that kind of restraint. More than that though, her power is clearly stronger than just bugs would suggest if she can take down Lung, with or without The Undersiders getting involved.

Still, that's nothing she needs to think about right now. She's sure little Taylor will be a wonderful pawn for her plans, but for now, all she has to focus on is waiting for the transport to arrive for Lung.

With that thought in mind, she turns around to face the fallen dragon, and with a casual swing, brings her cane down on his head, hard. 

There, now he won't be waking up to annoy her. It's not like he'll die since he's a regenerator, and as a matter of fact, she doesn't want him to die, because she's just had an amazing idea.

For a moment, she allows a wicked grin to grow on her face. Indeed, Taylor will make for a wonderful pawn. Perhaps more of a Knight, though? Or maybe a Queen?

Eh, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that she has plans for little Taylor.

She can hardly wait~.

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A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

it's one minute till midnight so I still technically finished this by Wednesday and didn't fuck up my schedule by procrastinating!