Story Title: Village Hidden in the Bay

Crossover: Worm/ Naruto

Disclaimer: This is a fanfiction. No profit is made from the story. Just a fan's way of keeping the fandoms alive.

Summary: She was destined to be the saviour of her world. She was the fated antihero, coming into power on Jan 2011. Yet webs of fate could be altered. Realities away, a forbidden technique was used, and the web of destiny… was shattered.

Chapter Four – Change is Coming

Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 30th June 2010

Ashley Medina paused at the threshold of the job agency. She felt weary as she looked at the small ground floor office that she had been in and out of, for the past two weeks. Ever since her husband died after being stabbed by some Empire Eighty-Eight gang thugs, she had been finding whatever jobs she could, just to keep the bills paid, and to keep her son fed.

Selling off her two room apartment while getting a smaller place downtown had kept the family going for four months, but the funds were running low again, and if she did not find work soon, she might have to pull her son Trevor out of school. It was a situation she would rather not have occurring. Her son needed to be educated, so he would have a prospect in future. But a Hispanic women with only High school education had very few job choices in Brockton Bay.

She had been rejected for jobs more time than she could count, but she had to keep trying, if only for her son. Gathering up her resolve, she stepped into the office. The receptionist gave her a dismissive look after taking down her details. Ashley waited for several minutes on the dusty red couch which had seen better days. Surprisingly, someone came to get her faster than her usual wait.

She was led to an interview room. Her heart sank as she saw the job agent she was paired to sitting next to a beautiful young white woman who was most probably the employer. She knew what would happen. The young woman would reject her because of her skin colour or some other faults, she would be sent back home to wait for another call…

"Ah so you are Ashley Medina." The young woman said, getting up, clasping Ashley's hands with a warm smile. Ashley paused in surprise, usually her agent would introduce her, and she had never seen any of the potential employers being so warm and friendly. Her agent blinked, apparently similarly surprised.

"Ashley, this is Ms. Helena Roberts, she is a stall vendor at Lord Street Market. Her business has been booming in over just a week, and she had decided to hire more help." The job agent introduced as all of them sat down. "She has finished hiring the help she needed for her new warehouse. You are called here today because you are one of four women Ms. Helen has selected to be her stall assistants."

"You will be paid fifteen dollars hourly. Eight hours work day, five days a week. Rest days are on weekdays, on rotation with other workers." Ms. Helen stated, causing Ashley's eyes to widen at the sum of money offered. On a good day, she might earn five dollars an hour, compared to that, the sum offered was huge. "I will be renting two stalls in Lord Street Market starting tomorrow. You will be managing one of the stalls with another woman I will be hiring. The contract is for one week, but as my business grows, I will be able to offer you a permanent position, with the related medical benefits. Are you fine with this offer?"

"Wait… you are offering the job to me now? Without an interview?" Ashley asked wide eyed, she had never expected the white woman to hire her in the first place.

"I have seen your resume as well as the two commendations your past employers have given you." Ms. Helen said with a smile. "You are a hardworking worker, I need someone like you. Will you take up the job?"

"I…" Ashley said in surprise before quickly recovering. She needed the job, especially if it paid this well. "Yes! Of course!"

"Good Mrs. Medina, I will need you to sign this contract." The job agent said pushing a stack of forms towards her. "Work will begin tomorrow at the stated location. As stipulated in the contract, you will be doing the following tasks…"

The agent droned on as she explained the contract to Ashley in detail. In a haze, she signed it at the end.

"Good Ashley." Ms. Helena smiled at her. "Welcome to the team."

OoooO

It was afternoon by the time Taylor reached home. After nine days of hectic sales in Lord Street Market and a morning of planning for future, she could finally take a break. Her business had doubled and tripled following the days after her TV interview in Helen Roberts' persona.

In total sales, she had made nineteen thousand, five hundred and thirty five. It was an unbelievable sum of money that even she had trouble comprehending. But of course, unlike normal businesses, she had no production costs or overheads, which explained her enormous profits. The amount of goods she could make was dependant on her chakra, and her chakra reserve was slowly increasing every day, which meant more goods and more potential sales.

More than half the profits she made were gained once she began fulfilling the furniture sales. "Hand crafted" furniture cost a lot out in the market, and hers were a lot cheaper, yet sturdier and made of quality wood. Once her reputation began to build, more furniture orders started coming in. A portion of her profits had went into hiring a mover truck team of four men and to rent a warehouse near Lord Street Market after the fifth day. The furniture would be deposited by Taylor into the warehouse, after which the mover team would access the warehouse to ferry the furniture to the buyers.

Part of her profits also went into extending her current stall lease. As of yesterday, she had renewed the contract of her stall for another week. She had also taken over the rental of the stall beside hers, renting it for a full week as well. This morning, in her Helena Roberts persona, she had hired four stall assistants for her two stalls. Each of them would work in rotations, with their off days being on weekdays. Thus there would be a minimum of three women working the stalls on weekdays, with all four present on the busy weekends.

By the time she paid off the job agencies, the movers, the rental for the stalls and warehouse, she had ten thousand, seven hundred and thirty five dollars of profits left. That lump sum of cash was sealed into a special seal array drawn on her left breast. It was easily concealed, yet constantly on her body. Of course, her father would have a coronary if he thought Taylor had started tattooing her body.

Taylor did have to admit that while looking for an easily accessible spot on her body to draw the storage seal, she had chosen her current seal location mostly out of a hint of naughty thrill. The old Taylor would not have been caught dead with a "tattoo" drawn on her breast, but the new chakra wielding Taylor was a totally different girl.

She had changed a lot over the past weeks, becoming more confident of herself, and all of this was because of Hashirama. In over a month, with the awakening of her past self, Taylor finally felt that she had grappled back the reins of her life again. She had powers now, powers that were growing stronger with every day of training. She felt in control of her life. When she was acting as Helena for the past few days, she even managed to break out of her shell of solitude, playing the role of a cheerful beautiful young woman who had the world at her feet.

Hashirama never forced or instructed her to do anything she did not want to do, unless it was related to the training of her powers. Instead for the decisions she made with her life, he was just there to support and be a guiding voice. Sometimes it was like having a big brother hovering at the back of her head. He would be there to catch her if she falls, and sometimes, he could be a pain in the arse as well.

Like now.

You know I have been thinking. Hashirama was saying, as Taylor went over the business plan she had drawn up in her notepad with Hashirama's occasional help. Now that you have begun your plans for business expansion and have hired more help, you don't have to be in the market every day. And you have been doing quite well with your chakra training, you should take a few days' break, go out into the world, find new friends and have a life!

"I do so have a life." Taylor said mulishly. "Training and running a business is having a life. And I have to be around the stalls for the next few days to settle the new assistants in."

Well the stall assistants will need some guidance at first, but after that, there's no reason for you to manage the stalls every day. The whole point of hiring stall assistants is for them to run the stalls while leaving you free to do other things. Hashirama pointed out. And please don't tell me you want to do more training. Even the Genin in Konoha have rest days to avoid burning out. You have been training none stop for a month after I gave you your chakra system. You need a break. Surely you have some hobbies other than training and selling things?

Taylor bit her lips. Memories of sleepovers with Emma in the past raised out of the depths of her mind. Emma had been her one and only friend, and after Emma betrayed her… well, Taylor had no one else. "I have other hobbies." Taylor stated, though even in her mind, she sounded uncertain. "I can go to the library."

No. Hashirama said firmly. No conducting research on rest days. You already spent three evenings in the library researching the parahumans of Brockton Bay. That's not rest, that's work. Pick something else.

"I thought you said you will let me live my own life and make my own decisions." Taylor said grouchily.

I did. Hashirama said with the equivalent of a mental shrug. It just doesn't apply to this matter.

"What!" Taylor said narrowing her eyes. "You promised to only guide me except in terms of my training! How can you just change your promise like that?"

This is a unique circumstance. I am breaking the promise. Hashirama said simply in a voice of amusement. You will take a few off days after the sales assistants are settled in and do things that are not related to work or training.

"Or what?" Taylor said with a hint of challenge in her voice.

Or… I will sing in your head. Constantly. Hashirama said in a very smug mental tone. In high notes. I will even whistle. Mito once told me I could crack glass with my whistles.

"Argh! You are impossible!" Taylor said growling, shoulders slumping in defeat. She had never heard Hashirama sung before, but she had no doubt he could be extremely annoying if he put his mind into it. Especially since his consciousness… is in her mind. "Fine! I will have a few rest days where I do other things, after I trained up all the sales assistants, and make sure the business can run without me."

Good. Hashirama said in satisfaction.

Muttering angrily to show Hashirama how displeased she was, Taylor stalked down into the basement, making her way to the underground bunkers. She had a few chakra intensive plans scheduled later during the day, but now that she was fully annoyed, she decided to settle those tasks first.

One of the major task for today was to build a new underground bunker. This new bunker would be her "Cape Cave" a place where she could create armour or weapons for herself, or store any future equipment she would be buying to make her own cape costume. Taylor was not planning to be a Hero, or out her existence to the local cape community anytime soon, but she was going to start preparing for the eventuality.

The cape cave would be constructed on the other end of the training bunker, with a path leading to the surface. Based on her plans, the upward path would be situated between the cape cave and the training bunker. The secondary surface entrance would come out of her own backyard, on the ground right next to her back door which was facing the side road. It would take several Genjutsu and Protection seal arrays to secure the new entrance from any unwanted sight or entry. The bunker would also need its own set of Chakra Shield seal array to prevent any spying attempts from above ground. The whole project would occupy her for several hours at least.

As she began to work, Hashirama started humming a happy tone.

OoooO

Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 1st July 2010

The new job was… interesting. May Jihoo thought as she tended to the stall that she and her partner was in charge of. The stall she was handling sold a wide variety of bottled spices, traditional medicines and sweet smelling lotions. She and her partner also had to assist in taking down furniture orders based on a furniture catalogue placed next to the rosewood stall table.

The furniture listed in the catalogue was obviously hand crafted and of the highest quality. May had taken a look at the furniture catalogue during the down times, and had already spotted a few nice pieces she wanted to order for her place.

To be honest, there was no need for the petite dark haired woman to work. Born to a rich Korean-American family, her father left her with quite the inheritance. Her husband worked as an attorney in Leigh and Bayle, one of Brockton Bay's most prestigious international law firm. Her only son Park Jihoo studied in Immaculata High, a prestigious private school in the nicest part of Brockton Bay. She was basically a rich man's wife, a rich woman in her own right.

But there had also been a streak of rebelliousness within her. She had been the good daughter, the good wife all her life. The stay at home wife who dolls up, look pretty for her husband, and greet the guests. She gave up her ambitions for a career because that was not an appropriate role for an upper class daughter and wife.

Then her father died. She discovered her husband had been having a long term affair with his secretary. Something within her had died. For a period, she had been broken, but she had come out of it stronger. To maintain the appearance of a healthy marriage, for her son's sake, she and the scumbag of her husband had agreed not to divorce.

Her husband had continued his dalliance, while May had decided that since her son was able to take care of himself now, she would begin living her own life, the life she wanted for herself. It was too difficult for her to begin any sort of career at her age with no working experience. Even if she had the capital to set up a company of her own, she had no idea what business she should start-up or invest in. And she was not going to accept any pity favours from her friends by taking up jobs at their companies, or spurge her money in investments that would not work.

In the end, she decided to take up part time jobs that would strike her interest, it would occupy her time and distract her from her husband's affair. Not to mention it would shame her husband once news of her "acting out" spreads. Sure some of high society wives might snub her when they found out about her "eccentricities" but honestly after what she had been through, she could care less. She was going to take charge of her life and do what she wanted. This particular job falls under the category of "very interesting".

Her new "Boss", the stall's owner was in fact getting quite a reputation in the higher echelon of Brockton Bay's blue bloods. In part, it was because of the super model looks of the young owner. But a large reason was actually due to the quality products the young woman sold. Her beauty creams were rumoured to be one of the best smelling products in the market. Those who used it had claimed that their skin looked healthier and softer. Now that May was selling those products, she could at least attest to the fact that the creams and lotions smelled really good.

When May first met Helena Roberts at the job agency, the middle aged woman had been prepared to hate Helena just on the principles of the woman being prettier and younger than her. But May had never been a petty woman, and when Helena had showed her a display of friendliness and sincerity, May had changed her mind about the young woman. Helena was no blond haired bimbo, in fact May knew that there was a brain in that pretty head, considering the young woman's business success in a little more than a week since the start of her business.

The morning crowd had stunned May, but she was able to get on with the rhythm shortly after. The goods have been carefully tagged with prices so there was little chance for May to make a mistake. And after a while, May realised she was liking the banter with the customers while promoting her products. Especially since the products she was selling was already well received by the crowd.

Helena in the meantime was running between the two stalls she had rented. She would stay with May and her partner, Leia for a while, before moving to the next stall which was a fruits and flowers stall, that took orders for high grade fertilizers on the side. There were two other women operating the stall which was doing quite a brisk business as well. May could certainly understand why. The fruits and flowers Helena were selling had a remarkable wholesome and vibrant appearance, and several gardening enthusiasts had already placed orders to try out the new fertilizers on sale. In fact all the products Helena put on sale had a certain high quality feel to them.

Though the stall she was working in had a shelter, May managed to work up a healthy tan by late afternoon. The crowd might have lessened, but a large number of tourists and locals still dropped by the stalls. A few were apparently regulars, like the stern faced Chinese looking man that just walked up to the stall. The man was tall and lanky, scars decorated his bare arms, and he gave off an intense presence.

"The usual." The man said, after looking at the stall and its sister stall beside it.

"Oh." May said quickly taking out a notepad where Helena had written out instructions and orders earlier in the day. Helena had just left for a toilet break, she or her partner would have to deal with the customer. "My apologies, this is my first day here, you are Mr…?"

"Hao. Just Mr. Hao." The man said curtly.

May quickly glanced down the notepad, finding the man's name and his regular orders. "Alright 6 bottles of saffron, 10 bottles of pepper, 10 bottles of cinnamon powder and 10 bottles of chilli coming right up." May said, smiling at the man as she quickly packed his orders. "That's a big order. You are a cook?" May asked, making small talk as she worked. At the other end of the stall, her partner Leia was attending to someone else, although the woman was shooting skittish looks at her.

"No." The man said bluntly, seemingly hostile and not willing to indulge in any small talk. He also glowered at her, most probably to shut her up. The look was fierce enough to cause May to stiffen for a moment. Then her hackles began to raise as she glared back at the man. Mr. Hao was acting as though she had offended him or something.

"My sister runs a restaurant, I just helped her pick up the spices." The man finally relented when May refused to back down from the staring contest.

"Well that's ninety two dollars in total." May stated as she handed over the package. As Mr. Hao passed her the money, she added candidly. "You might try shaving your eyebrows a little."

"What!" Mr. Hao said, giving her a stunned look at her off-hand comment.

"You seemed like someone that frowns a lot." May said, still feeling upset over the antagonizing attitude the man had given her, putting a bit of bite in her comment. "You might want to try shaving your eyebrows a little so that they don't look like giant caterpillars when you scrunch your face at people."

"…" The man stared at her wordlessly before turning around and stalking off into the crowd.

"Wow May… that was very brave of you." Leia said, walking towards her, the woman's eyes were wide as saucers.

"Brave?" May stared at her in confusion. "I was just telling off a rude customer."

"You were just telling off… didn't you see the tattoo on his left biceps?" Leia said gaping at her. "He's from ABB!"

"Oh!" May said, suddenly feeling a little faint. ABB was one of the two most powerful villain gang in Brockton Bay, even the Protectorate had difficulties dealing with them. "Oh dear, I didn't see that tattoo."

"Do you think we should tell Helena?" Leia asked nervously. "In case ABB send some of its members to cause trouble?"

"I… I don't think they would dare do anything here in broad daylight." May said feeling a chill down her spine. "But yes, I think it is best for me to talk to Helena when she gets back…"

OoooO

Hao Yi, better known to the world as the cape Oni Lee, stalked through the crowd, finally reaching the western end of Lord Street Market, where his siblings ran a small Chinese restaurant. There was a small crowd dining in when he entered. His younger brother, officially the owner of the restaurant, was at the counter when he entered. The two brothers nodded to each other as Hao Yi made way for the kitchen, where his older sister served as the restaurant's head cook.

"Er Di!" Lai Hua smiled as he entered the kitchen, depositing the package of spices on her table. She put down her ladle as she turned to greet him in Chinese. It was an endearment she had called him by since young, because he was the second child in the family. "Have you eaten? I came up with a new hot and spicy recipe with cubed pork and chicken."

"I can't stay." Hao Yi said, looking around the crowded kitchen. "I need to leave for work after this."

Lai Hua stilled, the smile dropping from her lips, her right hand latching on his arm tightly. Then without a word, she began pulling him after her, towards the storage room. Pushing Hao Yi in, his sister entered, closing the door, shutting out the noises of the busy kitchen. She stared at the floor, not facing Hao Yi as she spoke with a tone of resignment.

"Can't you just not go?" Lai Hua asked softly, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "I saw the news last week. Fifteen people. The news were saying fifteen people were killed by your bombs and knives. Please Hao Yi, it has been more than a year. You have helped Lung set up his drug empire. You've long repaid our blood debt to him. Please brother… just leave the gang."

"Those people were from Empire Eighty-Eight, they are white supremacists!" Hao Yi said as Lai Hua glared at him, tears in her eyes.

"They are still people. Living breathing people with families of their own!" Lai Hua hissed at him, anger and a hint of horror at what he had done showing in her eyes. "Why can't you just scare them off? You are a god damn cape! They are just ordinary people, like me… and Dai Men." She said sternly as she mentioned their younger brother.

"I am Lung's main enforcer I have to show our enemies that ABB is not a force to be tangled with. There can be no mercy. Everyone I kill attest to the power of the ABB, it keeps the vultures from targeting the gang." Hao Yi said, his countenance unyielding. He loved his sister, he would do anything for his siblings, but there were some matters he could not cave in, even for them. This was one of them. "Lung rescued us from China. He kept me free from the Yàngbǎn. Our debt to him can never be repaid. Please Lai Hua, don't ask this of me."

Lai Hua shuddered at his words, tears dropping silently onto the floor as Hao Yi moved passed her. Giving one last look at his sister, he walked out of the storage room. He could not afford to be affected by his sister's conscience or tears, for he had made his path long ago. He had given away his heart and morals, for the safety and freedom of his family. To him, that was a fair trade.

His hands wept with the blood of more than a hundred people by now, but there was no room for regret, for his fate was already set in stone. Lai Hua could not understand that. Once you were in ABB, the only way to leave the gang was in a body bag, buried six feet under. And the families of the gang deserters suffered worst fates than that, not to mention the other threat Lung still held over his family.

Lung held a set of documents that must never fall into any governments' hands. For should the truth about his family be revealed, he and his siblings would be hunted by all the governments in the world. And there would be no hiding from that.

His siblings were all that he had left. He had to protect them.

In the end, his sacrifice… was necessary.

OoooO

Reality 8757-A41, Brockton Bay, 3rd July 2010

Lisa Wilbourn was intrigued.

She had made her morning rounds, spotting a few rich and careless marks in the crowded Lord Street Market, and lifted enough cash off them to last her for another few days. She had tried getting jobs at first to get some steady form of income, but not many people wanted to hire a sixteen year old for serious jobs. She could not exactly tell everyone "Hey I am a Thinker. Let me work for you! I can tell you everyone's secrets in less than five minutes!"

Her brief stints as a dishwasher, a newspaper girl, and a cleaner, taught her that it was much easier for her to use her powers to start a thieving career, rather than to do manual labour for a pitiful sum of money. There was also the fact that the more she uses her power to observe and analyse her surroundings for easy marks, the more control and understanding over her ability she began to have. It was as the saying goes, practice does makes perfect.

Lord Street Market had been her hunting grounds for the past two week, though Lisa knew she needed to find another area to pickpocket soon. Probably somewhere more high end with a lot more pickings? Lisa had been noticing an increased number of security officers patrolling Lord Street Market recently. A few of them seemed to be looking for someone specifically. Lisa doubted she had appeared on anyone's radar yet, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Though she knew she had to stop hunting in the market area soon, the catch had been good while it lasted. The market area was where Lisa first supported the mystery that had been eating at her for the past few days. She still remember what happened clearly. It had been the third day since she came to Lord Street Market to hunt for easy marks. She had been lifting the pockets of a portly young man when she had spotted Her.

Helena Roberts, allegedly a beautiful young stall owner who had rented a stall in Lord Street Market. She gained quite an online reputation on the internet after a video of her facing off a rogue cape got onto the parahuman forum. Her business had literally bloomed within a week, and she apparently made enough profits to rent two stalls side by side to hawk her wares. She even hired four assistants to assist her, which spoke of how well she was doing for herself.

Fruits, flowers, spices, herbs, traditional medicine, lotions, fertilizers and hand crafted furniture. All of those were products Helena was selling or promoting, and all of those products were of the highest quality Lisa had ever seen. But things just did not add up. With just a look, Lisa could tell that the rows of watermelons on sale were the biggest and sweetest watermelon she had ever seen. She had no idea how she could tell how the watermelons taste with a look, but she guessed that the vibrant colours of the watermelons actually meant something to her power.

The flowers were of the brightest and sweetest smelling bunch Lisa had ever seen outside of digitally enhanced images. The spices were of the highest quality and cheaper than normal market prices, the bottles that contained them were also made of high quality oak. Who the hell use expensive oak bottles to contain products without taking into account the price of the actual bottles' production?

And the thing was, all of those products… were similar in nature, seamlessly uniform in shape and variety. All the watermelons were of the exact roundness and pattern, exact duplicates of each other. The flowers had the same bright colours and petal arrangements, exact duplicates again. The oak bottles were seamless and duplicates of each other. All the other products were exact duplicates of each other except for the spices, medicine and lotions. It was as though someone had invented a plant Xerox machine and had created duplicated copies of almost everything!

Then there was Helena herself. The first time Lisa had set eyes on her, her power had only screamed one word to her. FAKE!

FAKE! what? Lisa had no idea. Her power could tell her if someone had gotten a nose job with just a look. She could tell if a guy had liposuction, or if that woman had breast implants, but every time she looked at Helena with her power activated, there was only one word. FAKE!

The mystery of what Helena really was had eaten at Lisa from the first day she spotted the woman and her stall(s) of Xerox plant goods. Lisa literally could not sleep most nights because she kept wondering what was wrong with the woman. What does FAKE! means?

She could of course let her curiosity go, after all she was trying to keep a low profile. But a part of her wanted to discover the real answer to her question. Her power had never failed her before, this was the first time she actually went up against someone she could not understand instantly with her parahuman ability.

It became something of a personal affront and challenge to Lisa that this woman could hide her true self from her. That was part of the reason Lisa ended up tailing the woman. After all she had a lot of free time these days, unveiling the mystery of Helena Roberts seemed like a worthy entertainment for the afternoon.

She perched on a container in a side alley, where she had a clear view of Helena's stalls while remaining hidden in the shadows. The woman was currently bustling around the two stalls as she and her assistants coped with the lunch crowd. Lisa narrowed her eyes at the woman, eyeing each part of Helena's body, wondering which part of the woman was FAKE! She could not even get a clear read of Helena's body movements with all strange mental interference her power was giving her.

Based on the information she had gathered with her power, Lisa knew that Helena was most probably a cape, a parahuman with special powers just like her. Helena's powers was most probably plant related if Lisa was to use the stuff the woman was selling as her baseline deduction. Of course, Helena's powers might have nothing to do with plants, it might be some kind of duplication ability instead.

Then there was the FAKE! response that Lisa's power kept telling her every time she looked at Helena. That most probably implied Helena was a Changer, maybe she could change her appearance or something? She had done significant online parahuman research ever since she got her own powers, Lisa knew that there were actually records of cape abilities that allows one to transform part of his/her appearance or their whole bodies entirely.

Of course most Changers tend to be Case 53 as well. Known most commonly to the public as the "monster capes", they were a category of parahumans that apparently had very traumatic trigger events to the point where they lost all their memories after they triggered. Case 53 had special marks on their bodies, and most of them tends to have some inhuman features. They were classified under Changers not because they could transform their bodies, but because parts of their bodies were permanently altered.

There were a few infamous cases throughout the years, like the pitiful Slug man, the maniac Scorpio lady, the Human Amoeba… but from what Lisa could tell, Helena did not seem to be one of them. Every part of Helena seemed human in nature… just FAKE!

Lisa was sticking to her first Changer theory, that Helena had some kind of body transformation ability. She had actually started trailing Helena after the woman closed the stalls for the evening, and was beginning to come to the conclusion that the beautiful twenty year old model face and figure was not Helena's true appearance.

Trailing capes to uncover their identities was a big No-No in the cape scene, it was one of the many 'hidden cape rules' she discovered through her online parahuman research. But what she was doing now was just for fun, it was not as though she was going to reveal Helena's real identity once she figured out the stall owner's mystery. Lisa just wanted the sense of achievement when she discovered the answers. Not to mention it would proof that nothing could remain hidden from her power. It was arrogant, but well, she had time to spare, and very little to do for fun.

Time passed quickly at her stakeout, by the time evening arrived, Lisa was ready. To be safe, she trailed a distance behind Helena so that she would not be spotted. As what Lisa had observed of Helen's pattern during the past two days, the woman would enter the nearby toilet shortly after closing the stalls. A few minutes later, a wizened old lady wearing a solemn dark gown stepped out of the ladies together with a group of working class women. Unlike the first time when Lisa had trailed Helena, Lisa had kept her power activated the entire duration. The old lady was instantly pegged as FAKE!

A grin tugged at Lisa's lips. There was no doubt about it, the old lady was Helena. Carefully, she trailed the woman again. Letting the crowd separate them for a distance, Lisa managed to get onto the same bus as Helena this time round. Helena stopped after five stops, close to the eastern suburb of Brockton Bay. The district she stopped in contained rows of houses that had seen better days. The area was quiet and idyllic, almost peaceful. It was obviously not the richer part of Brockton Bay, but it was better than the neighbourhoods in downtown areas.

Helena, wearing the guise of an old woman, disappeared into a small busy diner, entering the toilet. Lisa waited outside, peering in discreetly through the restaurant windows. She was rewarded when a young girl close to her age stepped out of the ladies. Tall, dark haired, lanky and cute in a lost waif kind of way, the young girl was as different from supermodel Helena, and old grandmamma Helena, the way the sky was different from the ocean. Yet somehow Lisa's power registered the young girl's apparent confidence, the way she walked and moved. Somehow Lisa knew, the girl was Helena Roberts.

Age 14 or 15. Body transformation power confirmed. Active transformation hinder analytic ability. Her power whispered as Lisa observed the girl walking through the crowd in the diner. Afraid of attracting attention to herself, shy away from contact with people instinctively. Have been bullied in the past. Stronger now. Changed. More confident. More self-esteem. Has recently gained a friend, or friends, someone/somebodies she could confide in. Someone that is there to support her.

Lisa blinked, a sly grin appearing on her face. Now that was more like it. Her power was working again.

Movements firm, brisk and concise. Received training, have been training. Martial Arts? Lisa's power deducted. Poor situational awareness. Mild crowd phobia distracting her. Uncomfortable in her own skin. More confident when she was transformed. Self-confidence increased with the "fake appearances" she wore. Trust in her transformation ability to hide her identity. Guard is down, relaxed. She is on her way home.

The young girl walked out of the diner, down the street, not knowing that Lisa was trailing behind her. At the back of her mind, Lisa knew she should stop. She had proven to herself that Helena Roberts was really a cape with transformation power. She had already proven that her power, as always, had given her the answers again. Although it did take more work this time for her to uncover Helena's life story. There was really no need for her to follow Helena back to her home and uncover her real identity.

But Lisa's power pushed tantalizingly. There was an urge within Lisa to know more about the strange girl. She had already put in so much effort in uncovering Helena's mystery, surely following the girl some more, getting more information about her would not hurt? As long as Lisa stay out of sight, there was no cause for the girl to discover that she was being followed, no reason for Lisa to end up in any confrontation with the mysterious cape.

She would just follow the girl back to her home and that would be enough. Lisa promised herself. The cape's identity and home location would be her little secret. Something which she did not plan to tell anyone, although it was not as though she had anyone in town to tell, being a runaway and all.

The girl slipped onto a back road where there were less people. She stopped behind a run down two storey house and walked past a row of trees. Lisa picked up the pace. She had found the girl's home. Reaching the row of trees, she looked past to see nothing…

The back door of the house before her was closed. At first glance, it might have seen like the girl had entered the house, but her power was telling her something else.

Helena never entered the house. Rusty hinges on door, should have screeching sound if opened. Heard slight thudding sound before rounding the corner. Wood. Thump. There is a trapdoor. Lisa's eyes scoured the small and barren backyard of the house. As far as she could tell, there was nothing of interest except for two dried up rose beds. Dirt disturbed to left of backdoor. Faint impression of shoe print leading up to patch of barren dirt next to house. Possible trapdoor location. Trapdoor hidden from normal sight.

Lisa's eyes widened at the information her power had provided her. What sort of powers did that mystery cape have? Was she a tinker of some kind? Able to create devices that hide things from sight? Or was she able to create illusions?

Illusion based power higher probability. Fits in with the theme of Transformation ability. Lisa's power provided intuitively. In a way that answer made the most sense. Capes with multiple superpowers always have a "theme". A cape that could create forcefields might have a secondary ability of energy blast or energy manipulation, while a cape that slow down time, might also be able to hasten time or create a time bubble.

There were few capes whose main and secondary powers were vastly different, in fact Lisa could not recall any that fit the category, except maybe Eidolon, one of the most powerful human cape in the world. And the legendary cape was a notorious exception to all power categories, being one of the few high level Trumps in the world.

Curiosity overwhelmed her caution. It was foolish, but with this new mystery presented to her so soon after she resolved the first mystery, she needed to know… more. She needed to know how Helena disappeared. She moved towards the location identified by her power as the most probable position of the hidden trapdoor.

A STRONG URGE TO LEAVE THAT AREA ALONE CONSUMED HER. THERE IS NOTHING THERE. NOTHING TO SEE. WALK AWAY.

Momentarily, Lisa's mind went blank, her body turned to move, and then her power blared at her, wrestling back control of her body. Mental Compulsion! Mental Influence! Foreign. Artificial. Attack! It cried. It strained. It struggled.

Lisa's head pounded as if she was beaten by hundreds of hands. Her power was straining to understand what just happened to her. She gasped, her head was splitting. She tried to deactivate her power but discovered with a chill of horror than she could no longer sense the instinctive access to her gift, as though something was blocking access to her power while trying to get her to LEAVE. Her power continued its analysis in full blast, like an unstoppable ram. Trapped in a sea of information she could not comprehend or escape from, she froze in place.

A STRONG URGE TO LEAVE THAT AREA ALONE CONSUMED HER. THERE IS NOTHING THERE. NOTHING TO SEE. WALK AWAY.

Her mind went blank again. Her brain throbbed. Lisa whimpered. She could not think. She felt weak, as if her entire body was rebelling against her, caught between two titanic forces. The strange OVERPOWERING URGE was telling her to move away, her power was fighting against that urge, that compulsion.

Her power was screaming danger, theorising a high level of danger to someone of her own analytical ability. Her power of intuitive analysis was vastly ineffective to deal with a threat it could not even begin to comprehend. Yet unable to deactivate, it continued to analyse the incomprehensible. Lisa just stood motionless, staring blankly before her, drool escaping from her gaping mouth, unable to complete any of her thoughts, unable to do anything. Her legs weakened, and suddenly she was falling.

The air rushed passed her as she suddenly found herself collapsing onto the ground… Sensation, wood. Visual, dirt. Trapdoor found. Visual illusion. Sensation of hand and face on wood. Designs of some sort were crafted on the trapdoor. Detect mild heat. Energy from design… Burning her. Unable to hide from touch. Unnatural. Not comprehendible. Not of this world. Never before encountered. Resist. Fight. Attack!

A STRONG URGE TO LEAVE THAT AREA ALONE CONSUMED HER. THERE IS NOTHING THERE. NOTHING TO SEE. WALK AWAY.

Lisa felt her stomach rebelling, bile raising to her throat. She felt sick, horribly sick. Her mind was a cesspool of information that did not make sense. Something within her brain stretched, screamed, trying to adapt… and tore…

Stars filled her vision. Blackness of space. Large objects. Beings. Sparkles, shards. She could almost understand what was happening… The cosmos infinite… the entities… pulsing crystals…. other worlds…. desert… ocean… mountain… forest… sucking energy… worlds dying… crystals, shards… growing… changing… gestat…

…

…

Her mind went blank again. She had no recollection of what just happened. Why was she here lying on the ground again? Her mouth taste sour. What… happened?

She tried to focus, but there was only the mental pain in her head. She felt sick, like dying sick. Vomit came out of her mouth. It was this afternoon's lunch. She felt hot, as if she was running a high fever. In a confused and sickish haze, she clawed at the engraved wooden surface below her, she felt an invisible latch, almost instinctively she pulled…

Cold harsh energy surged through her body. Her hand let go of the latch as she gave a small scream. Physical pain erupted, adding to her mental agony. Her body locked up and she collapsed onto the wooden trapdoor. She hurt everywhere. She felt like she was dying. Tears formed in her eyes. She was going to die.

HELP! She sobbed, wrecked with physical and mental pain. Her throat refused to work, even though the words were there in her thoughts. For a moment, she felt a vast connection with many… things? Beings? Many felt alien, some were familiar. It was as though she was floating in a sea of darkness, surrounded by pinpricks of coloured lights. Those lights were speaking, but she could not understand them. She felt even sicker as the strange sensations engulfed her. She screamed, her voice refusing to work. PLEASE! HELP ME!

Lost in overwhelming agony, she did not hear the sudden total silence descending in the surrounding area. As darkness consumed her, her last sensation was of herself sliding to the side, as the door below her was lifted. She saw a shadow being cast over her. There was a soft horrified gasp, a scent of roses, firm hands lifting her up…

And she fainted.