6.3

Things felt awkward between Dad and I lately. It all started on the Weekend when I asked him to drop me off at one of the libraries I hadn't been to before. He seemed overly worried and at first I brushed it off as him being overprotective father, the sort that never wanted to let their little girl go alone anywhere. I assured him that if anything happened I could always use my powers to get away, that in the worst case scenario I could just teleport away.

He laughed and called me Kiddo when I told him that. Dad only called me Kiddo when he tried to convince me that he was fine.

Still, with the revelation that the Undersiders had ambushed the Heroes during Browbeat's debut his behavior suddenly had gained a new meaning. I hadn't heard about it because I had purposely avoided any mention of it. Dad had no such restrictions so it wouldn't be out of the realms of possibilities that he had known about the event from the TV or even the Radio. The fact that I had gone so long without stumbling across that piece of news was a miracle.

It was why when he sat me down at the dining table to have a 'talk' I wasn't surprised to hear the contents of said 'talk'.

"Taylor…" He began uneasily. "You've…. I can tell you've been really happy lately." I scratched the back of my head unsure if that was just an observation or a compliment. "The Wards…. They seem dangerous, I just wanted to know if you feel safe?"

I knew this conversation was coming but that hadn't made it any easier. If Dad had his way then I'd be pulled out of it, rolled up in bubble wrap and locked into a vault. However considering we were chatting instead of him yelling at Armsmaster meant that I still had a chance to stay a Hero, to stay important, to stay as Vim.

"Of course I feel safe." I told him. "And yeah, being a Hero makes me happy."

He nodded, never looking my way once. He acknowledged my words but it was clear he was having a hard time believing them. There was another pause between us. As family such periods of silence should've been comfortable but with us? It felt awkward. I wanted to say more, to put him at ease. Even with our relationship seemingly getting better in recent times we still had remnants of our damaged history. Mom's death, Emma's betrayal, we just couldn't ignore these things despite how much time had past.

We had a hard time relating to other people. For all the things we could've had in common it had to be that. But we still loved each other.

"Dad?" I called out again. He looked back up, hope in his eyes. "I just want to make you proud."

He seemed to tear up at that. "Oh Taylor, I was already proud of you." He got up from his seat and walked over to my side. I was tall but sitting here while he stood made me feel small. He bent over awkwardly and wrapped his arms around me. "I just don't want to lose you." He whispered. "Not like-"

"You won't." I promised interrupting his words. I didn't want him to finish that sentence. "You won't lose me."

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Today was the day I'd return to school. The day that'd I'd finally visit Arcadia, a practical educational paradise from what I had heard. Honestly most of that was because of the Wards. Going to school where literal Heroes studied was one step below the fantasy of being one of those Heroes yourself! And I was living both fantasies at the same time! Well I was about to at least.

It all made sense to me. You could pretend that your friend that you met in maths class was a secret celebrity. Then of course your friends could believe the same to you, feeding the fantasy that you also had powers. On a more practical level the parents could rest easy knowing that their children were a classroom away from Heroic security. In a gang filled city such as Brockton Bay this was a huge selling point. It was quite frankly a win win situation.

Dad seemed to have calmed down from yesterday, his movements still seemed a bit forced but the edge had lessened. I was still worried that I couldn't read him that well honestly. While I had made some Sweet Rolls for him I was urged not to bring any to school. At first I thought he was just trying to hoard them for himself but apparently the idea of Sweet Rolls was already attached to the amazing Vim!

It'd be suspicious if talentless Taylor started to hand out baked ambrosia of the Gods to everyday mortals.

"MMMMmmm this is heavenly!" A student would say. "Hang on, did you call these Sweet Rolls?"

I would nod in response.

"Wait a second…. Vim makes sweet rolls!" Recognition would light their eyes up. "YOU'RE VIM!"

"WAIT!" I'd shout. "Please don't tell anyone! I'll do anything!"

"Anything?" They'd ask with a lecherous grin. "Be my Sweet Rolls slave and make me ALL THE SWEET ROLLS! MWAHAHAHAHA!"

Well, it'd go something like that maybe. God knows how bad it'd get if it was one of the Undersiders who figured out who I actually was. Tattletale and Grue had seen me in the alley awhile back but I think I had put on my mask quick enough that they hadn't actually seen my real face. I was afraid they'd get me to commit crimes with them or have me sell out the other Heroes.

Now that I thought about it I actually knew quite a lot of the real identities of the Wards and of course Armsmaster himself. If I ever got blackmailed, captured and tortured then I'd be the sole reason for the downfall of the Heroes in Brockton Bay. The thought didn't help me settle down at all. No, I couldn't think like that. Vista was even younger than I and she never got kidnapped and interrogated. In fact, there had never been a case of any of the Wards being captured for information.

Did this have anything to do with the revenge thing that Assault spoke about back in the helicopter? No, not revenge, he called it something else. Or was that Shadow Stalker? Something about escalation and the Villains not wanting to piss off the entire PRT. A sort of unofficial rule? Don't touch our kids or we'll throw the Triumvirate at you?

There had to be a better way of describing all this, where was Armsmaster when you needed him?

That would explain why the Wards, despite how vulnerable we were could grow up to be proper Heroes despite Villains like Lung or Kaiser running around. If there was a kid that was worth kidnapping, it'd be one that could tell the future or poop gold.

"Taylor?" A voice called me. "Taylor? You okay?" It was Dad. We were in his truck on the way to Arcadia. He had work today but had called ahead to say he'd be late. I insisted that I could use the public transport to get there myself. He wanted to make sure I would be alright on my first day there and frankly a part of me was thankful for the support.

"Yeah I'm…. I'm just a bit worried." I admitted. "What if I get bullied again?"

"I'm sure they'll love you." Our car slowed to a stop at the red lights. "You're amazing."

"I… I hope so." Popularity hadn't even entered my mind, honestly it was almost a forgone conclusion that I'd be bottom of the totem pole again. Previously I thought of Arcadia as a fresh start but now it felt like a place that I had simply fled to, a place to escape Winslow.

"I was thinking more about keeping a secret identity." I lied.

"Well…." He mumbled accelerating as the lights turned green. "I guess I don't know much about being a Hero but if the other Wards can do it, then so can you!"

I suddenly imagined Dad wearing blue just like Armsmaster. His bald head shining in the sun. All fear the might of Chrome Dome! I smirked and let out a chuckle.

"Taylor?" He called out in confusion rather than worry this time.

"Nothing Dad." I denied with a smile that I had failed to hide. While he hadn't understood the source of my mirth he simply took it in stride.

Rounding the corner Arcadia's building revealed itself to us. We stopped by a drop off area where other parents and students had gathered. We stuck out like a sore thumb in our beat up truck. Every other family here had a shiny new car. I almost worried that a Villain would appear out of nowhere to steal them all.

"Taylor?" Dad called out to me again before I left the truck. "I know I worry too much, but I uh… get out there, don't worry about me, have fun and be happy okay?"

It was then everything in my head clicked. Dad wanting me to be safe was nothing new to me but it was more than that.

He wanted to pull me out of the Wards. Browbeat's parents had done just that so why was I still around then? For what reason had he done all this? Why not just pull me out and be done with it all? Because as much as he worried for my safety he still wanted me to be happy and to him I was most happy when I was a Hero, when I was Vim.

I leaned over and hugged him, it was the only thing I could think of doing. "I love you Dad." I told him before getting out of the car and leaving. A few of the other kids around began whispering, leaning over to each other, gossiping. I turned back to Dad who gave me a short wave before driving off.

I groaned.

I just entered school right after hugging Dad in public. There was no way I wouldn't be considered Daddy's little girl after this. Here I was, ready to throw off the terrible reputation of Winslow and now I was ruining my chances with my terrible introduction. I took a deep breath and strode into the school. The office I think was this way? I scanned the area totally lost. As much as I wanted to go in myself and search I also wanted to go in prepared.

I decided to bite the bullet and approach one of the students for directions.

As I came closer I noted that the group of girls were gossiping. Not having a conversation but gossiping. In my mind there was a clear distinction.

The hushed whispers, the conspiratorial glances and hunched backs? I had enough of that back at Winslow to identify it. The fact that half of those glances had gone my way boded badly. I hesitated, worried that my reputation from Winslow had transferred here.

Emma was popular, she had a modelling job as well. It wouldn't surprise me if she had friends at Arcadia. Did these girls recognize me? Were they going to be my new bullies? My new tormentors? My stomach dropped.

Even here at Arcadia, she continued to haunt me. Why couldn't she leave me alone? Why did she have to do this to me? Was I doomed to a life of isolation? Would I only find peace alone? At first I only felt despair but soon another feeling began to take over. It took me a moment to place it. I thought it was frustration, a feeling of hopelessness but soon I realised it was anger. The girls noticed how I was glaring at that and took off, not meeting my gaze. That's right, you better run.

"Taylor?" A voice called me bringing my thoughts back to reality. It was a masculine voice, not something that came from the gossip mongers in front of me. I turned my head and found myself looking at a familiar face.

"Dean?" Wait a second, crap! I called him by his real name! To everyone else we were suppose to be total strangers!

"Ah, you recognize me from the news? Yup I'm Glory Girl's boyfriend!" He smiled, flawlessly covering my mistake. I blushed but then realised that he had also called me by my first name.

"Wait, how do you know my name was Taylor?" I replied pretending that we were total strangers.

Wordlessly he showed me the clipboard he had been holding revealing a series of photos.

"You're one of the new students attending?" He asked. I nodded in response, noting that he had two other girls behind him, one with shoulder length hair and another that could be called a buzzcut. Both of them wore glasses just like me.

"Come on, I know school hasn't started yet but I figure I should give you the tour early." He announced. I jogged over to the group wondering what was going on.

"Hey Taylor!" The one with the buzzcut greeted me. "Name's Jessie but my friends call me Buzz."

"Because of the hair?" She shook her head with a grin.

"Because I want to be an astronaut." She flexed her admittedly large bicep. I wouldn't call her ripped but she was certainly fit. A runner's physique at least. I began wondering how practical her dream was, it was a commonly accepted fact that the Simurgh put a stop to that sort of thing.

"Like Buzz Lightyear?" She sighed at that, it seemed like a practised, defeated but amused response. Mentally I slapped myself once I realized which Buzz she was talking about.

"Buzz Aldrin, as in one of the first men to walk on the moon." She explained, shrugging at our tour guide. "I guess you must be a real Cape geek if you recognized Dean so quickly, you'll get along just swell with Ash over there." Buzz pointed at the other girl in our group, I nodded dumbly in reply. Ash's hair only came up to her shoulders and her glasses were a bit thicker than mine. She also dressed conservatively, wearing a sweater despite the current heat. In other words she looked like the stereotypical library girl.

Opening her mouth…. "You're Vim." She accused me.

"What?" My secret was already out? How did she? When, what? HOW?

"Ignore Ash." Dean came to my defence. "I bet she's actually Vim and is trying to throw suspicion off herself by accusing everyone else."

"She claimed I was Vim when we first met." Buzz admitted. "If I was blonde I bet she would've called me Vista." I raised an eyebrow, she was twice as tall as Vista, even if she was blonde there was no way to confuse the two!

Ash simply shrugged, not denying but not confirming her plan to reveal Vim.

"You can't just do that to people!" I told her. "What if I was the real Vim? A bad guy could've overheard and then attacked me, kidnapped my Dad and my dog!"

"Do you even have a dog?" Ash replied.

"No but it's AHHH!" What the hell was this? "Why are you asking around for the Ward anyways?"

Suddenly there was a glint in her eyes, possibly just a flash of light that bounced off her glasses. Whatever the case, there was no hiding the smirk she suddenly sported. I had a feeling that I had made a terrible mistake.

"Well, everyone knows that the Wards go to Arcadia." Ash began and it was at this point that something in her posture changed. "Every time there's a transfer in the middle of a school year a bunch of people that look kinda the same get entered despite the long waiting time to enter Arcadia, therefore is it not logical to think that most of those new students are a smoke screen for the Ward? To make it more difficult to discern who is who?"

I paused. I hadn't considered that to be honest but it made a lot of sense. I think I read something similar on the PHO awhile back? The thread was shut down quickly as trying to discern real Cape identities were against the rules.

She kept talking. "Of course that in of itself could be a double bluff, for all we know the Wards are all home schooled. The PRT could just be spreading the idea that the Wards attend Arcadia as a way of endorsement, like a celebrity drinking a specific brand of drink." That was one idea I could shoot down, at least in regards to me and Dean here. "How do we even know the Wards even go to school? Public record on their real age is kept secret, for all we know they could all be very short adults or adults covered in Illusions by a friendly Trump!"

"But why would they pretend?" I asked.

"For security reasons!" She announced proudly. "Arcadia houses the children of many wealthy parents, imagine if you were a Villain looking for a quick buck, just swoop in, kidnap a bunch of kids and demand ransom!" She continued. "BUT if some of those kids had super powers? Well that's a deterrent in of itself, no way you'd risk tying up little Timmy if he could breath fire all over your face!"

"You browse the PHO a lot don't you?" She nodded, confirming my suspicions.

"OKAY!" Dean called out, grabbing our attention. "I still have to find our last student for the tour." It didn't take him long to find her. Was he using his emotion sensing powers? "Oh there she is! MORGAN" He called out.

It was another girl with glasses, her hair was around my length but it was hard to judge since it was also in a set of pigtails.

"See?" Whispered Ash. "Wears glasses just like all of us and her hair is also black, like I said, identity smokescreen."

"I dunno, looks kinda brown." Argued Buzz. "Almost red in a certain light."

As we approached her, she waved. "HI!" She shouted. "I'M MORGAN!" Uhhh… yes, we already knew, Dean just said that.

"You're Vim." Ash accused her in the exact sure tone that she had used on me. Silence once again pervaded the area as Dean tried and failed to summon up the words to continue our tour.

Eventually Morgan broke the silence. "Who's that?" I almost cried right then and there.

"Anyways! Let's uhh, continue the tour hey? Just follow me." Dean took back control of the group once more.

"YEAH TOUR!" Morgan cheered. "I love tours!"

"You're… a happy one." I tried, with nothing better to add.

"Of course! I lost my map of the school so this way I can make a NEW ONE!" She revealed that she was holding a notebook. In contrast to her immature demeanour, that seemed rather responsible. Then I took a closer look at the notebook and realised that it was hot pink with flowers, smiley faces and glitter.

"AND" Dean interrupted us. "If you had been paying attention, you'd know we just passed the cafeteria, down on our left." He patiently waited for us to catch up. A gentle if somewhat suffering look upon his face.

As we walked through the halls of Arcadia guided by Dean I began evaluating the other three girls.

Jessie, or Buzz as she preferred seemed like the confident and active sort.

Ash was the generic, paranoid PHO poster but in real life.

Morgan? Well, she seemed loud, naive and a bit too hyperactive.

With all the gloom and doom I had been through lately, I hadn't realized such people existed.

Ash leaned over to me conspiratorially. "Morgan and Buzz could be Vim." She whispered. "Morgan certainly has the personality for it but Buzz is fit, like all Heroes should be."

"What about me?" I asked. "Could I be Vim?" I wasn't fishing for compliments, I was genuinely curious.

"Anything is possible I suppose." She shrugged. "You're the least obvious option, which makes you the most obvious! A good hero has to know how to hide their identity… unless this is some sort of double bluff…."

"Yeah, anything is possible I suppose." I whispered as we walked down the halls of Arcadia.

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Author Notes:

There we have it! At long last, Taylor has now entered Arcadia High!

One of my discarded drafts had Armsmaster or Professor Wallis transfer in as a teacher to provide extra security to the Wards after the whole Browbeat/Undersiders mishap.

However I decided against it, fearing that it would take too much away from the story line I wanted to present. It's a fun idea though and I might make a non-canon spin off just to play around with it in the future.