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Post by dragontamer22 on May 17, 2015 12:29:20 GMT -4
Today is a very important day: The day Taylor decides which side she's going to join...
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Post by dragontamer22 on May 17, 2015 14:10:22 GMT -4
Taylor stared at the two numbers she was given. She needed to make a decision soon. There was no way she was going to remain neutral forever, not if she wanted to make friends with the other capes. She found herself in a conundrum: On one hand, she really liked Lisa, probably better than she did Shadowstalker (She had no opinion on Vista), but on the other the Wards did hero work... Even if they were an organized institution. Taylor didn't completely trust organized institutions, not after her school did absolutely nothing to stop the insistent bullying. Okay, maybe she needed some air. Taylor stuffed the two phone numbers into her pocket, grabbed her cellphone, fed her ants, put her costume on, equipped something that she could use to tie-up criminals with, and headed outside.
It was evening, she told her dad she’d be home for dinner. Taylor found herself scanning the alleyways for any signs of trouble, from the top of a building of course. Don’t ask how she got up there, even she doesn’t know for sure how that happened. In all honesty, she was getting pretty bored. On the rooftop she practiced some self-defense techniques she’d learned from Youtube. It wasn’t the same as getting one-on-one instruction from a master. Maybe the Wards had a martial artist who’d teach her? But with the Undersiders, she’d be able to just steal the money she needed for a tutor of her choosing, and in whatever style(s) she pleased. If she was going to go out and help people (or cause mischief and neutral mayhem with the Undersiders), she needed to learn to fight/defend herself better. She couldn’t just rely on her bugs all the time, what if she had to face knives and guns? Lisa or the other Undersiders probably all knew some practical street-smart stuff they could teach her, too.
A block away, one of her spiders sensed trouble. Taylor half-jumped, half-climbed down to the ground (she jumped to the fire-escape, climbed down some of it, and jumped the rest of the much safer distance). She ran towards the person in trouble, only to see three guys… forcing themselves onto some poor girl! Two held her down, one for each side of her body.
Rage filled in Taylor’s heart, and in the heat of her emotions, the arthropods in the area –venomous or not- all scurried towards the three men.
”Hey, leave her alone!” She shouted, running over to them.
”What the fuck are you supposed to be, some sort of Cape?” One of them spat, getting up to attack her. Taylor dodged a jab from his knife, twisting his wrist, and disarming him. The cockroaches were crawling up the body of the main attacker, the one on top of the girl. Spiders were biting him, regardless of their venom levels, ants and beetles were making their way up the pants of the other two.
The main asshole was freaking out, and who wouldn’t when they had a hundred different things crawling all over them and chomping down? Mosquitos were flying in by now, sucking the blood of all three of them, and each were spazzing out at everything coming at them. Disarmed Asshole the First was put into an arm-lock while the other two were pre-occupied, and promptly bound his arms, making him unable to escape. Disarmed Asshole the Second was taken care of next, and with only one object to focus on, Main Dickface faced the full wrath of Taylor’s swarm. Deep down, Taylor felt it was too bad that there weren’t more types of venomous insects available. That’s okay though, a good ol’ fashion fright would work just as well, especially for her purposes. With all three assholes taken out and disarmed, Taylor went to the girl’s side and began to comfort her. The bugs dispersed. Nobody was having an allergic reaction, good.
The girl was crying. Taylor held her, cradling her in her arms. She had to have been her age.
”Ssshhh… They’re gone now… They’re not going to hurt you anymore…” Taylor cooed, letting the girl’s tears soak through her uniform. She called 9-1-1.
”9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
After the call finished, and the police were on their way, Taylor helped the girl put her clothes back on. As much as she wanted to help her clean up, get her into a shower and some fresh clothes, she knew that that would destroy the evidence. She hoped that the boys spent the maximum sentence in prison.
At the police station, Taylor told them what had happened, and the girl –apparently named “Annie”- gave hers after a few hours of calming down. She texted her dad, letting him know she might be a little late to dinner, and that she was really sorry. He sent back saying it was alright, so long as she was safe. Annie was in fact going to press charges, and Taylor would be her Cape witness and hero. Speaking of heroes… Taylor still needed to make up her god-damn mind. Annie was insistent that Taylor stay with her until her parents picked her up from the station, to which she complied. She was happy to help in whatever way she could, even if it was just being there to comfort a traumatized rape victim. It gave her time to think about her options.
She pulled one of the numbers out of her pocket and dialed it into her cellphone, ”… Rrrrriiinnggg… Rrrrriiinnggg… Rrrrriiinnggg… Rrrrriiinnggg… Rrrrriiinnggg… Rrrrriiinnggg… Rrrrriiinnggg… Yes? Hello, Shadowstalker? This is Bug…”
When she finally returned home at midnight, she changed into her old clothes, and then went back outside to enter through the front door. Her dad was waiting for her, dinner still on the stove.
Just great.
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danny
New Member
Posts: 3 
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Post by danny on May 17, 2015 14:43:51 GMT -4
"That was more than a little late," Danny struggled and failed to keep the edge out of his voice, "Is everything ok?"
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Post by dragontamer22 on May 17, 2015 14:51:48 GMT -4
Taylor's heart sunk, knowing just how worried her father must've been.
"Hey, dad... Sorry to make you worry. Yeah, I'm okay... I uh... Just helped somebody out, and I stayed with them until their parents could pick 'em up. Don't worry, I'm fine." It wasn't lying, she was telling the truth! She just left out the important details about her being a cape and fighting crime.
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danny
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by danny on May 17, 2015 15:01:00 GMT -4
Danny let out a deep sigh, he got the impression his daughter wasn't telling him the whole truth. "You should have something to eat. There's pasta left over, go ahead and microwave it. Then get some sleep." As Taylor started to move to get the now stone cold food off the stove his resolve broke and his worry began to show through. "I just need you to tell me that you're alright, you're not in any danger," he asked, his eyes silently pleading with her to tell him everything was ok.
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Post by dragontamer22 on May 17, 2015 15:11:07 GMT -4
Taylor nodded her head, heating up her pasta. "Dad, I'm all right, really. No one's after me, no one's coming to get me. Someone just needed some help, so I stayed with her." She hugged him tightly. "Really, I'm okay."
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danny
New Member
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Post by danny on May 17, 2015 15:25:37 GMT -4
Danny stared down at his daughter's curly black hair, it was so much like her mother's it was hard not to make the comparison. He was afraid he'd been worrying about Taylor too much ever since Annette passed, forcing her away from him. It was just such a fucked up situation. He was her father, she was supposed to be able to come to him with anything and he'd fix it, but when it mattered most he was letting her down. Did he give his daughter space or should he force his help upon her, he was so terrified that he really didn't know what was best for Taylor and he'd make the wrong decision. He needed Taylor as much as she needed him he realized as he stood their holding her in his arms. She was all he had left, and he was too afraid of pushing her any further away from him. So he decided to let it go. planting a kiss on the top of her head his only reply was "I love you."
Danny hurried from the room, pretending to be exasperated so Taylor wouldn't notice the tears welling in the corners of his eyes
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