Flying over the city, Taytum was laughing, holding onto Glory Girl a bit. Setting down at the PRT building, they were both let inside of the large offices.
"Wow! It's so pretty." Taytum said.
"Yep. Real nice place, Now, let's go inside, meet some heroes." Glory Girl said.
They would walk in and before they were at the desk, non other than Arms Master was stepping out of the Elevator.
"Glory Girl, I got the message from the field agents. This the cape from the boardwalk?" He asked.
"The board walk? I found this one Downtown." Glory Girl said, acting dumbfounded.
Arms Master was not impressed by her sass. Glory Girl took the girl and sat her down, before sitting next to her.
"You should stay here. Your parents are probably worried sick. We'll get you back to them real quick.
After a few minutes, the situation had changed just a bit. Glory Girl had to leave, after she answered a call from her mom. Before she left, she gave Taytum a few juice boxes, and some fruit snacks to eat.
Now Arms Master was watching the girl sit in the chair in the lobby of the PRT offices, drink her third juice box. She'd even eaten a small back of fruit snacks while waiting . She was content with just sitting and looking around, must be the first time seeing the PRT building. Glory Girl had dropped her off, but left shortly after due to a family meeting, without asking for someone to watch, Arms Master did, for safety. Dauntless got back from his latest fight with the ABB, bringing in a group of gang members, and entered the lobby to make his report.
"Had to fight off Oni-Lee, got him to retreat, were able to get some of the actuall ABB members. Now we are trying to remove the bombs in the hostage soldiers. What's with the kid?" Dauntless explained.
Arms Master was a more annoyed because he became a babysitter somehow, when he could be preparing to deal with Bakuda and the other members of the ABB, he could be saving them by finding a way to deactivate those bombs in them. Sure, 04 of the Zero Gang was tracking her down for them, and 05 was working on a way to disable those bombs but this was a distraction for him. He was a hero damn it, he was the leader of this branch of the PRT. The Wards that were present weren't busy, why couldn't they watch her? Because this was a cape with unknown power limits. Changer was confirmed, but what else could there be?
"That is what I am trying to figure out. I cross-referenced her with missing people's reports across the US and Canada, and I found nothing. I'm suspecting she may be a Case 53, as she suffers from memory problems, powers don't quite match normally see with them." Arms Master said.
The memory issues fit.....but the physical disfigurement and mutations don't, unless it was a very lucky case and the changes only activate with the powers. Arms Master sighed, it was annoying to say the least. This wasn't something he was good at, but he was present at the time, and he needed to take charge of the situation. Dauntless had just arrived and he was about to ask if he could take over the kid watching, so he could go back to being useful.
Piggot also joined Arms Master's observation, more curious at the case, because the girl was so.....normal, even if she was a case 53, dragon fly wings weren't exceptionally monstrous like the other known cases were.
"Has anyone sat down to ask her questions?" Piggot asked.
"I had, after she came in with Glory Girl. I wanted to see what she may know about how she showed up. She claimed that she didn't know, and my lie detector told me she was telling the truth. A few more questions and I was able to confirm she doesn't know anything really, her memory is messed up. What I was able to gather was she knows about bits and pieces from a few years back, but she thinks that they were very recent events that occurred. She thinks Ellisburg was a 2 months ago. The cut off seems to be around there. I don't know what we are dealing with here, if its the desired end goal of the case 53s, or if this is a Master, Stranger or something else. It bothers me that it they showed up here, now of all times." Arms Master said softly.
"We are looking at a child Arms Master. If no one claims her, we could have her be apart of the Wards, have her be placed in the Foster system and make the best of the situation, keeping her out of the way and have her with us rather than some villainous element in this city." Director Piggot said, ever looking for more resources in her fight against villains in the city.
"That....doesn't seem like a good idea. She's just a kid, and that.....would seem more like just us making a child soldier." Dauntless said, shaking his head.
The girl swatted at a bug near her, before she slapped the chair next to her and made a very loud slap that drew a lot of attention in the Lobby. Piggot left, returning to her duties. With nearly an hour passing, and not one call coming in about the missing child. Arms Master even glanced over PHO, seeing the video of her at the Board Walk. Most of the people commenting found her cute, some even called her "The Fairy of the Bay".
The girl then rubbed her face, then started to scratch at her eyes.
Dauntless walked over to her, checking to see what was wrong, and saw that in her hands were what looked almost looked like....deflated eyes balls. He placed a hand on the girl's head, lifting her head, expecting to see her eyes missing, but he was looking at a pair of compound eyes, much like an insect would have in place of her normal eyes. He tensed up as he say them, worried as the girl looked at him, confused.
"Are you ok?" Dauntless asked Taytum waving his hand in front of her face, there goes the illusion of the "fairy" powers now.
"Everything looks funky." She answered, blinking at him, then squinted, as if she couldn't really see.
"Yeah.....you have....bug eyes now. Do they hurt?" He asked.
"No....just everything is splotchy and blurry." She said.
"Here, how about we have you in a conference room. We can put on a cartoon, or some music for you. How does that sound?" Dauntless asked, holding Taytum's hand and leading her towards the elevator.
The girl nodded, before Dauntless stopped by Arms Master.
"See if we can make a few announcements. Amber Alerts, put something on the news, a report on the radio. Just....Let people in Brockton Bay know we have found a missing child and want her to be returned to her family safely.
Arm Master would agree with the idea, it was a fairly simple idea, but putting her face out might get someone who knows her to respond. He would return to his office, and make contact with local news stations.
"Hello. Yes. I would like to have the local evening news display an image, and have them report the child is staying here for now. I'll send the image over now. She is struggling with mental issues at the moment, memory problems." Arms Master explained.
Dragon must have listened in, as she called soon after.
"Thinking we can draw whoever is responsible for her care. Or see if any villain claims responsibility. Even if we did. Her public identity is known thanks to her show up at the board walk, and displaying her powers openly. We'd be putting people in danger when her parents claim her." Dragon noted.
"Yes, we would, even if she moved somewhere else, it wouldn't be hard with how PHO records things down. But I am also going to register her, so we have her in the data banks at least. If she shows up again, then we can at least know what to expect from her." Arms Master explained, before he entered down what he knew already.
He'd keep an eye on the girl through the day, see what powers show up and adjust the classification and ratings as it went.
Dauntless looked at the girl...he just felt uneasy, she was new cape, most likely second generation, she looked at him with the compound eyes, it was unnerving, it reminded him of the movie, The Fly. Was she going to molt and be a giant bug monster?
"What made you....do that with your eyes?" He asked.
Everything is.....busy....it's all too....different, too sharp, head hurt, I didn't like it, it was confusing, everything I remember before is fuzzy and messy, there are too many sharp edges, too many bright colors to track. My eyes started to itch and now I can't see very good. Do you think I'll be ok?" She asked.
"We can sit down and just relax, somewhere nice, quiet and where you can figure things out in your head. Maybe I can get you a blanket and a pillow, you can take a nap and things should feel better." Dauntless said, trying to remember all the advise for dealing with little kids who were stressed.
The elevator opened and the two walked to a conference room. Dauntless opened the glass door, only for Taytum to walk into the glass next to it, and fell down, rubbing her face.
"Ow, ow, ow, ow. What did I hit?' She asked, confused.
"Here, let me help you, sorry about that. How about you stay in here for a bit. When your mommy and daddy come here, we'll bring you to them. How does that sound?" Dauntless said, helping her up and leading her in the room.
The girl crawled under the table, and curled up in a ball, resting her head on a hand. Dauntless watched for a second. She must have been tired with everything that happened, and overwhelmed, she probably could use a nap about now. He sent a message down to the Wards.
"The new cape from the board walk is in Conference Room 9. Request pair to watch, going to discuss with Arms Master what should be done. Bring a pillow and blanket for her." was Dauntless's message to the wards.
It took a minute, but the elevator opened and out stepped Gallant, Vista and Aegis.
"So, just watch the kid? Anything you can advise?" Gallant asked.
"She's a changer....from what we can tell at least. Dragon Fly wings when at the board walk, compound eyes now, like a flies. Pretty sure she's taking a nap right now, so it should be easy. Just be careful when she wakes up." Dauntless said.
"More people with Bug-related powers? Well that's two in two weeks. If a third bug cape shows up, I'm asking for a transfer." Aegis said, more as a joke.
The three walked into the conference room, Vista sitting on the floor to look at the girl while Gallant and Aegis sat in the chairs. They put the pillow under her head, and draped the blanket on her. A few minutes passed and Vista noticed the girl had little red flakes falling from her eyes, as she cried in her sleep. Vista reached over, and tried to rub her head. The girl slowly moved, lifting her head up, her eyes back to normal now.
"Hi. I'm Vista. What's your name?" She asked, smiling.
"They said it's Taytum. I'm still trying to remember if that's right." She answered.
"Why don't you remember your name?" Gallant asked.
"I dunno, my head hurts if I try and remember thing." Taytum answered.
"What do you know?" Aegis asked.
She closed her eyes, and laid back down, "I sleepy." She said, yawning.
"Can you turn the temp up Gallant? Bugs don't like the cold, right? Maybe she doesn't either. Let's see if that wakes her up longer." Vista asked.
Gallant turned off the AC and opened the door, letting the room's temperature rise a bit. Taytum woke up again, and climbed out from under the table.
"So she sleeps when it's cold. If she sticks around, she's good for 75% of the year. But.....hey, maybe her parents were just visiting here." Aegis said.
"Nope. I grew up here." Taytum said.
"You remember you grew up here, but not your name. Do you know how old you are?" Gallant asked.
"Ummmmmm, I remember being checked on a few times, said I was getting big, and I needed.....a few more days till I was ready. I saw something that read, 11/21/4." Taytum said.
"That would put you about 6 years old." Aegis said, "young trigger event for a generation 2 cape."
Taytum rubbed her head, "Yeah, 6, I think, I remember my 6th birthday. Ow, Ow, Ow, it hurts to remember. Everything is getting itchy again." Tatytum said, before she began to scratch at her arms and legs.
"What's wrong?" Gallant asked, kneeling down, reaching out.
The skin on the back of Taytum opened and her skin flaked and peeled off as she scratched her body. She had changed again now, having a segmented shells on her back, and head. She pulled at the skin and until it stopped peeling off. She then rolled up into a ball, showing no clear opening, as the layers overlapped around her body.
"Did she just.....make herself a pill bug?" Gallant asked.
"Ummmm.....maybe we should call Panacea...this....I don't know what to do at this point, and it's just...confusing, and worrying. I'm worried that the next thing will happen is she turns into a giant spider." Aegis said.
"She liked Victoria, maybe they can coax her out of her....shell. Oh god I'm sounding like Clock." Gallant said, shaking his head.
Victoria and Panacea would arrive as soon as they could, and got their visitor pass to go to the conference room. Stepping inside, Panacea looked at the table, seeing the large pill bug ball on the table, placed their by Gallant and Aegis.
"So.....that's Taytum?" Panacea asked.
"Yeah.....we saw her skin peel open and she now is.....that. But.....she hasn't unrolled and we don't want to force it open incase we hurt her. We don't know if you can really help, but....we didn't know what else to do." Gallant asked.
"Well let me give it a shot. I bet she's just scared cause let's face it, I'm awesome at comforting people, and she's basically been taken somewhere she doesn't know, with capes she doesn't know, asking her questions." Victoria said, smiling as she walked into the conference room.
"Hey there Tay. You ok?" Victoria said, sitting next to the rolled up girl on the table, and lightly tapping on the shell.
The shell opened a bit.
"Everything is confusing and my head hurts and they keep asking me questions I can't answer." Taytum said.
"My sister is here, she can help you. Can you unroll little bug? I'll be right, so you don't have to worry." Victoria said, holding a hand out.
Taytum slowly unrolled and Panacea walked over, slowly. Amy was trying hard to not seem threatening, but, she was....dealing with a few stressful situations, like how her actual families were made up of villainous capes, and her supposed half sister was now threatening to kill members of New Wave in some revenge scheme, so, she looked a bit rough now. Amy sat down next to Taytum, so the girl was between the two Dallons.
"This is my sister, Amy, she makes people better." Victoria said. Amy reached out and Taytum held her hand
Amy held Taytum's hand and used her powers, biologically, everything was a mix of normal and the girl's changed biology. However she also noted everything was mixed between developed and atrophied, layers of skin had small spaces where chiton cells were. The muscles were barely existent, so it was amazing she could remained curled up without any issues. New muscle groups formed and connected to her skeleton, she was actively creating new limbs in her body and was restructuring itself to have the limbs work. Her powers did also indicate she basically was starving right now. Her body must have used the muscles to form what she needed to created those new limbs.
Amy only took a peak at her brain, not changing, just looking to see if there was damge, and realized, her brain had basically all super fresh and recent connections. Barley a week at best of making any connections, and then there was this super dense, force neural connection made. It was like a person who got memories from Cranial, it was a dense patch of fresh connections made over blank ones.
Amy moved her hand away, and looked at them. Thinking. Was this Toybox? Pieces fit, but.....why drop a creation off in Brockton Bay? Or was it someone bought her, and they got away before everything could be done. She would tell the PRT what she undertood, but....immediate situation came first.
"Taytum. You have some wings forming in your back. The shell is in the way. How about you and Victoria go out and eat something nice, you must be hungry." Amy said.
Taytum looked at Amy and Victoria.
"I was told to stay here by a hero, and you're suppose to listen to heroes. But your also heroes, and-" her stomach growled loudly almost to held her make up her mind.
The shell peeled off in sections, dropping as a set of Butterfly wing pushed against the skin, then the skin layer tore open, and a set of butterfly wings opened up, ones that were a brown on one side, but a vibrant blue on the other. They slowly opened wider, flapping a bit, but not unfolding.
"They feel numb." Taytum said.
"Maybe hold her so her wings are down. Butterflies leaving the cocoon do it to let blood in." Amy said.
Victoria looked and picked up Taytum, letting her wings hang down, as she floated up.
"Feeling better?" Victoria asked.
Taytum nodded, wrapping her arms around Victoria's neck as she was held up.
"I can come with. Make sure she's ok and let the PRT know where she is." Aegis said.
Taytum fluttered her wings and began to fly. The three would head out, Victoria holding Taytum's hand as they flew next to each other.
-Hours later-
Taylor and Danny were in their home, watching the news, when the station played a bulletin form the PRT, this was rare.
"We have been asked, along with other area stations, to inform the public of a lost child having been found. The girl has no recollection of the last few years, and was found at the Board walk here in town. Glory Girl was seen with her and brought her to the PHQ building intown, where she is staying for safety. They have asked that if anyone knows who she may be, to call the PRT, so that she may be returned to her family as soon as possible." the news broadcaster stated, and showed the image of the girl, smiling.
Danny looked at both the TV and then to his daughter. His memory knew the image already, that was exactly how Taylor looked when she was little. Taylor on the other hand was confused and sat up, looking at the TV surprised.
"Dad....I don't have any siblings I'm not aware of....right?" Taylor asked.
"I loved your mother, and I would never of betrayed my vows to her, even after everything that happened. She was the woman I ever loved," Danny said, mystified as he looked at the tv, before it moved onto the next story.
He got up and went to the next room, dialing the PHQ number.
"Hello. Ummmm, my name is Danny Herbert, I am a Brockton Bay resident, calling about the news bulletin you ran just now. This is a weird statement to say, but you showed an old image of my Daughter on TV, claimed she was missing girl found, at the boardwalk. I can try and come in tomorrow." Danny said.
Taylor was looking at the TV, watching it. If anyone who knew Taylor when she was younger was watching, they may end up calling and asking questions he didn't really know the answer to.
CZYTASZ
Worm: Children of Zero
Akcja9 people, connected in a strange way, All capes, some heroes, some villains, and some who are far between. How does their involvement change the story?
