Kapitel 579: 18
Date
2011 January 11th - Tuesday - Earth Bet Time
Taylor was rather surprised when Admin told her they are upgrading the difficulty level. At first, she thought he was joking. Then tried the same forest filled with slimes scenario. They almost demolished her.
The slimes were faster, stronger, and most importantly, smarter. In turn, she needed to react faster, be more accurate, and efficient with her power while using it to its fullest extent.
At first, she hated it. It reminded her of school. How no matter what she tried, she would be always just the butt of some joke. But then she got better and realized it was totally different. Here she could train and train until she could destroy anything that Admin put in front of her.
And that thought made her happy. Not because of the opportunity to destroy a lot of things (though it was a pleasant bonus). But because she could see how she improved. And if she couldn't, Admin was always there with some stupid or vague advice that would provide her with necessary hints to improve further.
It took only a few hours to get through the Forest scenario (including the metal T-Rex) while before it took her an entire night.
"What now, Admin?" she asked while sitting calmly on the surprisingly comfortable corpse of the slime dinosaur.
Admin floated around her in circles while whistling some catchy tune. "How about something serious instead of cartoonish?"
"Sure," she answered confidently.
"Then close your eyes and count to five."
Taylor glared at him, as a warning to him not to do anything weird. He just smiled back cheekily.
She then closed her eyes then and started counting.
"… Five." she finished and immediately opened her eyes.
She looked around in disgust in an alley that would be home in Brockton Bay. Apparently, she was transported to a dilapidated city. With dirty streets, crumbling buildings, smoke rising in the distance, and an assorted selection of ominous voices in the distance.
"What do I need to do here?" she asked Admin, who just showed up dressed, for some unfathomable reason as a Japanese schoolgirl. With pigtails. "And why on all that is holy are you dressed up like that?"
"It's thematic!" came the cheery answer. "And you have to survive. The same as always."
While listening to the explanation, she also heard movement from behind her. She whirled around, lightning already readied for striking whatever was coming.
It was human-shaped, but that was where the similarities stopped. It wore dirty and torn clothing, its face was deathly gray, the eyes were empty of intelligence, and was horribly smelly.
"A fucking zombie apocalypse?" she asked indignantly.
While taking a break from killing zombies that got stronger the more she killed, she asked Admin a question.
"When are we doing the mission?"
"Thursday." came the immediate reply.
"That soon?"
"Yes, time is of the essence."
"Anything else you could tell me?" she tried again. The curiosity was killing her.
Admin said nothing. But a zombie jumped up to the roof where she was resting. Sighing and taking that as a no, she got ready for another fight with a super zombie.
Date
2011 January 12th - Wednesday - Earth Bet Time
The next morning, she said goodbye to her dad, after another breakfast where they talked to each other. It was still surprising to Taylor that they did it.
Then she went out again for a quick run. According to Admin, the Brute power was halfway done, so the more she exercised the more gains she would get.
After a revitalizing shower, she reluctantly sat down to start her schooling. She didn't really want to do it, but this was the least she could do for her father.
It was rather boring. The first few lessons were tests that would gauge her knowledge and then suggest the appropriate lesson modules for later.
It was around lunch when she finished it. Surprisingly, she found the test much easier than she expected. By the end of her school life, she wasn't really trying, knowing no matter what she did, the Trio would find a way to ruin it, so she had expected little success.
After contemplating this while making lunch and preparing dinner for her dad, she realized that she actually got Thinker powers now. So that could explain her miraculous improvement. Consulting Admin just confirmed it.
Happy that thanks to these powers, Winslow wasn't a full waste of time, she spent the afternoon enthusiastically building things in her workshop.
The first thing she built, on the request of Admin, was a server with extra hard drive space and processors. She immediately connected it to her power source and new computer.
Using two old watches, one for her and one for her dad, she also constructed two communication devices. She wanted to make sure that they would be able to communicate, and this way she could ignore her father's 'no phone' rule.
The watches were simple. If not in use, the watch face showed a real working clock face that worked as an actual clock. However, if an authorized finger touched it, the face changed to a simplistic screen. Where the user could select the call, accept, and refuse options.
Sound worked by directional microphones and speakers. Communication was completely unblockable according to Admin, and listening to it was also impossible.
After that, she made a handheld listening device detector out of an old Geiger counter. She immediately went through the house, happily noting that nothing could be found. Just to be sure, she also added a device to the phone line that would tell her (probably) if someone was listening in. But most importantly, it allowed redirection to the watch communicators if needed.
When her father arrived home, exhausted, she was beginning the work required to connect the house to her energy source.
They were eating the prepared roasted chicken and talking about their days - mostly about Taylor's Tinker creations and Danny's therapist appointment - when the phone rang.
Danny was the first one to stand up, so Taylor remained in her seat but stopped eating to listen in.
"Hebert household," Danny spoke.
Taylor couldn't hear who was on the other side, but her father's next sentence immediately answered it and gave her a clue what the conversation was about.
"Hello, Zoe." came out of Danny in a flat voice. Taylor knew her father enough to know that he was suppressing his anger.
She continued to listen to the one-sided conversation, which her father didn't make easier with his rather simple and short answers. She tried to imagine what Emma's mother was talking about but came up short.
A few minutes later he came back to the kitchen with a weird look on his face. He sat down and just stared at his food for a few seconds.
Before Taylor could ask him about it he spoke up. "They arrested Emma."
"What?"
"Yeah, according to Zoe, they had to sign a few things, so she couldn't really talk about specifics, but she still wanted to apologize."
Taylor just snorted.
"I know." he smiled sadly at her in understanding, "But get this, one of the girls called Madison gave up herself on Monday."
"Madison?"
"You know her?"
"She was always hanging around Emma and Sophia, helping them!" she answered angrily.
"Well, apparently she had a change of heart or something because thanks to her evidence, they arrested all of them."
"That's good. They deserve it."
Danny just patted her hand sympathetically.
"I will call Steve tomorrow morning, to see where this puts us on the school front."
"Good." she simply answered. She couldn't really express how she felt about this. The fact that everything played out so fast and easily sounded really suspicious to her. Yet she was thrilled that the girls who tormented her got what they deserved.
In the end, she decided to try to forget about it and concentrate on things she could understand. Or destroy with glorious lightning.
She stood, taking a breather from fighting, overlooking the dystopian cityscape, when a thought occurred to her.
"Hey Admin?" she called out.
"Yeees?" came from behind her.
"How would you rate me against an Endbringer?" she asked.
The only answer she got was laughter.
"That bad?" she grimaced.
"Yeah," he answered, still slightly chuckling. "You need much more practice and experience with your power to even survive."
"Oh." She didn't know what she expected, but after all the practice she had with her power, she thought she could at least put up a good fight against it.
"Want to try?"
"What?"
"I could simulate an Endbringer attack."
"Really?"
"Yeah. How about Leviathan? That's the easiest to fight against."
Taylor could feel herself getting excited. Destroying the Endbringers was one of her dreams (she was probably not alone) and she wanted to see how she could do against one.
Soon she stood on the beach of Brockton Bay, battered by torrential rain. When asked why the Bay Admin's answer was motivation.
She could feel the pressure. Even though it was a virtual recreation of her home, she still felt the need to protect it.
She was dressed in the gray cape and featureless white mask that she used for the city simulation. She would have been drenched by water if her lightning armor hadn't evaporated every drop of water that reached her.
She was vibrating in place when a flat voice announced the Endbringer's arrival.
"Leviathan approaching Brockton Bay, ETA 240 seconds."
She prepared herself, conjured several dozens of lightning balls and clones, ready for anything. Then searched for Leviathan, using everything at her disposal. Sadly none of her powers showed it.
It took her a minute to spot it under the water, heading towards her with frightening speed. Within the same second, she launched herself at it, firing everything at once, hoping to surprise it.
Only for everything to fade to black.
She came back to consciousness on the beach without the rain and a giant bloody 'You died' sign in front of her.
She blinked in surprise. "What the hell happened?"
"You weren't fast and strong enough. The water it launched cut you into two."
That stopped her cold. It was that strong? Granted, she wasn't going all out with her reinforcement, expecting it to work against the Endbringer just as it had against everything else.
"Again!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!"
"As you wish."
The next time she tried to max out her protection, and thanks to it, she lasted long enough to land a hit on the Leviathan. Just to drown (according to Admin, the screen went dark before it) when it forced her underwater.
After a few tries, she managed to always evade Leviathan and protect herself. However, her attacks rarely landed and even if they did, they barely did any damage. And it took Leviathan a few minutes to sink the Bay into the ocean and leave her hovering over the murky waters.
"I get it. I'm not strong enough," she told Admin. While she was refreshing herself with a cup of virtual tea on a warm beach, to chase away the desperation she felt after her experience.
"Not yet," said Admin. "You just need to practice, and you will be able to kick its scaly ass to the moon."
She smiled at his attempt to cheer her up, but she couldn't really believe it. After all, while she survived, she couldn't really do anything to stop it.
"Plus, you were at a serious disadvantage," he continued. "You were alone, without any other heroes."
Taylor nodded, acknowledging his point.
"And I didn't turn on the power that would give you a true edge."
"What?" she exclaimed indignantly. "Did you just let me suffer for no reason?"
"No, I just wanted to show you how you stack up against something like an Endbringer."
"If you've turned it on, would I have won?" she asked hopefully.
"No."
"Why?"
"I'd rather not say. You wouldn't like it." warned her Admin. Something in his voice told her that he wasn't lying.
"I don't care. I can take it."
Admin looked at her for a few seconds, but she just glared back confidently.
"The Endbringers are sandbagging. What you know about them is barely a fraction of the capabilities. If it saw you could hurt it, it would stop playing around and would use its true power."
That was not what she expected. The Endbringers full power? They were already horrifically strong, capable of altering landscapes, and that was with them just playing around?
"Do other people know?" she asked in a whisper.
"To my knowledge, no." he answered, "There are probably a few people who suspect it, but keeping silent."
"Why?" she asked, feeling like crying.
"Imagine the panic…"
That made sense, but it didn't help her feel better.
Admin smiled at her, then spoke in a reassuring voice. "Don't worry, Taylor, if you follow my plan, you will be able to take them on, and out."
She gave a shaky smile and nod, but didn't answer.
"How about we watch a few recordings of your mother?"
Taylor couldn't help but nod. She really needed something that would cheer her up.
So they spent the remaining time watching scenes of her mother from the past.
The next morning, she immediately sought out her father and gave him a tight hug.
To his question, she just told him she had a terrible nightmare. She didn't really want to share the information about the Endbringers.
Danny just hugged her back and told her everything will be alright.
Date
2011 January 12th - Wednesday - Earth Bet Time
He read the reports, watched a few interrogation videos, and frowned.
This would upset a few things, and he would have to delay a few things.
Still, ultimately it was just another thing he could use for his plans. That didn't mean he wouldn't examine it from every angle. He was so close to the endgame that he was making sure to be extra careful.
Just a few months and he would have it all.
Date
2011 January 13th - Thursday - Earth Bet Time
All over the world people woke up confused and anxious. These people, with parahuman powers, felt and knew that something was going to happen. Yet none of them could point out where, when, and what.
The most powerful of them could see that it would have far-reaching consequences, but not why. Or how.
Due to this, there was an undercurrent of panic all over the world. Yet paradoxically nobody did anything, because they feared they would change it for the worse.
So on this day, the world sat up and watched.
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
-- Power-
Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein