- Wake 1.4 -

I might have a problem.

This was the longest I had ever been in my armored form and I was... itchy? Yes, under my plates was this niggling sensation of something, a bizarre tingle as though all my limbs had fallen asleep and were just now starting to wake back up. I had initially chalked it up to dealing with Mush - I did dig through a literal pile of garbage to get to its juicy junkie center, after all - but the feeling had lingered after I took care of Skidmark.

It was... odd.

My trip home was uneventful - for the best really, given that the closer I got to my house, the longer and more intense the itching became. I could still jump with the best of them, though, and cleared the fence in a single graceful leap, snagging one of my ropes to slow my descent. I had to go I through the back door rather than my bedroom window for a number of reasons, not the least of which was my... girth. Looking at myself in the glass of the window, I noticed that I was bigger. Almost a foot taller from where I started, unless I've suddenly become very bad at noticing details. The plates on my chest and shoulders were thicker, textured with odd striations I could have sworn weren't there before. My arms were almost sectional now with the same striated plating and small nubs that felt like the beginning of... spikes, maybe? My claws were longer, wicked sharp, and a tiny spike tipped each knuckle...

I need a real mirror.

Kneeling down, I reached beneath the rocking chair on the back porch for the spare key, the odd sensation of my claws retracting accompanying my search, allowing me to grip the tiny chunk of metal without shredding the wooden chair - something I was fairly confident I could do by accident at this point. The itching sensation was back and was nearly unbearable now.

What the fuck?

I was so caught up in the weird changes to my body that I didn't notice the lights were on in the living room - light really having little meaning considering how much I can see now, my vision adjusting on the fly for how much light was in any given area. Between the itching and the fascination with the fact I had built-in knuckle-dusters, I almost missed a scent. A very particular and important scent.

Lavender Vanilla. Bits of it tickled my nose and I realized something very, very important.

My mother keeps a lavender vanilla candle in her room.

"Taylor, where have yo-OHMIGOD."

Crack!

My armor plates split, steam and greenish fluid gushing out from the seams. I fell to my knees as my not-quite-eyes retracted back into my forehead, leaving me with a literal hole in my face until more of that strange ichor burst out of what was left behind. My claws flaked and fell away, the remains of my armor sloughing off like a cocoon and I opened my mouth, gasping for air. It wasn't painful, exactly. More like stretching a sore muscle, getting energy and circulation back into long ignored joints. The feeling of popping your back after sitting in a car for eight hours.

Satisfaction.

"Ahhh..."

"T-Taylor? Is that you?"

I looked up, the lenses of my formerly orange eyes sliding down my face as I emerged completely naked from the broken pile of insectoid chitin that was my Changer form, "Um... hi?"

Mom stared at me blankly, her mouth opening and closing with no words for just a second before she composed herself, her eyes growing wider and wider...

"What the fu-"

one month ago

"Hey, kiddo."

I... I knew that voice. Somewhere in the background, I... I heard lightbreathinghmmscrubsalcoholnomakeupooohcandyatecandyforbreakpeanutsstrawberrydelicious-

Beep! Beep! Beep!

"Taylor, Taylor! It's me, it's Anne!"

The beeping was so strong and loud and I tried to raise my arms and felt... tied, who's holding me, why am I TIED DOWN?

BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!

I hear muttered cursing, smell MmmlipglossstrawberryImissedyouIKNOWYOU-clanking noises and suddenly release as strong hands grab my shoulders and-

"Taylor!" A voice, female...

Anne, "Taylor, listen to me. It's Anne, it's me, kiddo. I'm here with you-" I felt warmtharmsaroundbreathingohhthatisniceIrememberyouImissyouEm- "You're in the hospital, I'm here with you, breathe, Taylor. Please."

BEEP! Beep! Beep.

I opened my eyes and my vision was partially blocked by an unruly mop of blonde hair.

Anne.

I sighed as I felt the warmth and the touch and oh god I'm crying, "I missed you."

There was a... shift next to me and I could feel her smile without seeing it, her breath tickling my ear a bit as she made a sound halfway between a giggle and a sob, "I missed you too."

I was sitting in the living room, freshly showered and in my pajamas, the giant pile of what used to be my armor having been shoved unceremoniously out the back door - if it didn't degrade on its own soon, I might have a problem the next time I went out.

My mother was sitting on the sofa, a cup of hot tea in her hands as she studied me.

If I went out again.

"Taylor," Mom's voice was calm, steady in that artificial way I could feel she was forcing herself to be, "I thought... I thought we had an agreement. If you were going to go out and... do something with your powers, we were going to discuss it first."

She took a sip from her cup before continuing, "And about your powers... I know that your eyes got better, but I thought you were just strong? I know you've been pushing yourself recently, but-" Mom waved her arm in the general direction of the back yard, "-that wasn't just strength or good eyesight. I don't even know what to call it!"

"I can get really strong?"

My mother raised an eyebrow at that, "I suppose 'getting really strong' may fall under that purview, but that's not everything, is it? You looked like someone tried to make a bodybuilder out of half of a giant cicada and half of a Cadillac."

That... is an accurate description, considering how I looked before I shed my armor in the absolute messiest way possible. I don't know if we'll ever get that spot out of the hardwood floor, "It doesn't look like that normally. And-" I mimicked her arm waving towards the backyard, "-that is new. I've never done that before. The last time I used my armor, it just kind of... slid back inside me? Melted into my normal skin? That was weird, even for me."

I closed my eyes for a second and felt my heartbeat, slow and peaceful within. I shifted for just a second and felt the beginning of new armor just beneath my skin. Huh, cool.

"Did you get into a fight tonight?"

"Um."

My hesitation was apparently all my mother needed to see. She put her tea cup down and started rubbing her temples., "Taylor. You know what this means, right?"

Ah.

"The PRT."

Shit.

one month ago

"Where's Mom?"

Anne was sitting back in the single chair the hospital saw fit to provide, her hair combed back into a loose ponytail, "She's talking with The PRT right now. They... they have a system. Something that tracks events that might result in-"

The PRT? I took a deep breath and smelled oldbloodsogoodnottoolongohnextdoorIcansmellohpissandshitandblood-

"Parahumans. They have a way to figure out who might be a parahuman."

"Yeah." Anne pulled at her scrubs a bit before looking my way again, "It's supposed to be a secret, but Annette told me what happened. What's been happening and... I'm so sorry, Taylor."

I smell saltandtears- ugh, I can't have that happening all the time, "You didn't know?"

"Dad didn't tell me anything," There was a bitter smile on her face as she reached over to hold my hand ohsoftskinlotionusesthesameasEm- "And Emma. She never said anything, even when I asked. Just that you stopped coming over and I was at school and barely heard from anyone and-"

"Anne," My heart felt a little lighter for the first time since... well, in a year and a half, really, "I believe you. And I'm glad you're here."

I did believe her. I could feel her heart rate and how heavy it got when she talked about her Dad and Em... her sister. Steady, strong with a slight increase as she became more and more upset.

No one can lie to me. Not anymore.

Anne smiled and for a minute I'm reminded of why she was my first crush. The first girl I ever looked at as... a girl, really. College had been good to her, considering I still got a bit of a blush on my cheeks when our eyes met, "So why the scrubs? I've... not been in touch either."

Her eyes brightened at the question and I felt her heartbeat quicken a bit in her excitement, "Oh! I've been accepted into the nursing program at UMass! It's the holiday now, so I applied as an aide to get some patient experience in and... well, I found you and Annette here."

It was almost normal, the two of us chatting like the last few months had never happened. Seeing my mother's smile when she finally walked in, the two of us still talking, made the day a little less bleak.

For all of us.

Winslow wasn't nearly as foreboding as it used to be. I was used to the smells now, that ever present scent of fear and loneliness bleeding from every person I passed. Boy or girl, skinny or fat, popular or not... it didn't matter. They were all the same, trying to survive with the sense that something awful was going to happen, never knowing where it was going to come from. It would be easy to dismiss them... but they couldn't help it. Not really. It's hard to exist when you feel like the entire world might get pulled out from under you, the vultures always waiting to swoop down and prey on the weak.

"Why the fuck are you even here today, Hebert?" I feel Sophia a heartbeat before I see her and I move just a bit to the left, dodging her hand by a hair's breadth and smiling at her indignant squawk as she's thrown off balance when I'm not there to hit.

"School, studying, working hard so I can eventually get the fuck out of here." I said with barely an inflection to my voice, "What about you? Lose a fight to a door lately?"

Sophia's eyes widen at my words, her gaze both utterly furious and hilarious given the gigantic foam bandage taped to the bridge of her nose. She swiped at me again, fruitless given her game was so easily thrown off. I might even have dodged that one without my powers.

Why was I ever scared of this tool?

mmmlipglosslotionboughtitforvalentinesdayIREMEMBER-

I'm distracted for half a second by Emma in the corner of my eye and Sophia catches the sleeve of my hoodie, forcibly dragging me to face her, "WHAT DID YOU JUS' SAY TO ME, HEBERT?"

I see Sophia wind up and-nostrilsflaremuskoohweLIKETHATheavydownstepmovedontmovewhattodo-and decide in that instant what I'm going to do.

I'm tired of this bullshit.

She connects, my face rolling with it enough so she doesn't break her knuckles against my bones.

I don't move an inch, the tiniest trickle of blood oozing out of the corner of my mouth where she connected. Her feral smile melts into shock at my non-reaction, "Ow."

Sophia yanks at my sleeve again and I roll into her, my shoulder planting firmly-mmmsoftsheissofterthanshelooksfeelwarmheartracingnowsweetbloodmuskweLIKEIT-into her chest and pushing her away, bending low and letting her pull my hoodie off completely. She's off balance again, staring incredulously at the empty jacket in her hand as I stand up straight and look her right in the eye. Sophia is tall for a girl, but I've got a few inches on her yet and for the first time she looks... uncertain. It's almost alien compared to how I've seen her for the last nineteen months.

Nineteen months.

Nineteen. Fucking. Months.

I see red.

"I'm done."

She looks absolutely dumbfounded for a moment before her brows contorted in fury, an inarticulate roar of rage escaping her lips as she lunges for me, tossing my hoodie to Emma as I start backpedaling to avoid her. It's a screaming, messy kind of anger, something I can feel washing over me in waves as I scoot and back away from every punch, roll with a surprisingly agile side kick, and I smell mmMDESPERATEWARMFEELHERHEARTMUSKEARTHWANTSYOUCANTASTEIT and finally let her grab me, her face inches from mine and every intoxicating scent in the air leaving me giddy, "The fuck do you mean you're done? We aren't done! Not till I SAY we're done."

We had a crowd now, shouting and jeering, a powder keg in the truest sense. Emma was off to the side, her eyes wide and mmmexcitedsmellssogoodmissyouWANTSyou-

"I said," My hands brush against Sophia's chest mmwarmhot-reaching between her arms and I pulled, slowly breaking her grip on me as that same uncertain look crossed her face again, "I. Am. Done. This whole thing? The fighting and you kicking my ass and all the bullshit you've done to me? It's over."

I look at her face and feel our wrists touching, her heartbeat erratic and... somethingonedgeohohOHSHESJUSTLIKEUS-

We push apart at the same time, identical feelings of surprise and... fear? Both breathing heavy, chests heaving, and something... odd passes between us.

She's a parahuman. We're parahumans.

Behind her, beyond her, I see Emma.

She's smiling.