Capítulo 1250: 11
Initialization 1.11
The PRT agreed to give us a ride slightly north.
"Do you enjoy making people think you're crazy?" Araliac asked me on the way.
"The world is full of incomprehensible things, " I said, shrugging. "Didn't you think I was crazy too? Did you change your mind already?"
"You've been right about a lot of things," she admitted.
"Were you serious back there at the end? That Eidolon—" said Skitter. I cut her off as soon as I heard "Eidolon".
"Don't say it! Not here." She stopped.
The rest of the ride was silent.
When we got off we waited a few minutes for the PRT car to leave and moved to a dark alleyway where we could avoid line of sight by anybody watching us.
The sky was still dark but with the huge distance from downtown, it was going to take an hour on foot to get back, even with the partial ride provided by the PRT. I really had to get a vehicle…or persuade Araliac to make a rideable monster. It was unfortunate that I couldn't have simply stolen the car from the ABB that attacked us a couple of days ago. I had no parking space and even if I did the car would have been too easily traced if somebody came upon it.
"Skitter, before we part ways I have some things to tell you," I suddenly said to her.
She nodded at me. "I'm listening."
"I know your civilian identity, Taylor," I declared.
"What?" She took a step back, suddenly very wary.
I put my hands up in the air to show that I meant no harm. She continued inching backwards and her bugs gathered towards us.
"Calm down, I'm not threatening you, we're heroes, remember?" I took my helmet off and revealed my face.
"I am Kaleidus out of costume. I don't actually have a legal civilian identity, so I can't fully reciprocate. It's a long story. Nice to meet you, Taylor," I put my hand forward offering a shake.
She didn't take it. "Why do you know who I am? Have you been spying on me?!"
I drew my hand back. "Don't worry, I understand your concern. Look, you've probably noticed that I know a lot of things, right? A lot of secrets, some small, some very big. I brought up your identity because there's something very important you need to know, and it concerns your civilian identity," I clarified.
"What are you talking about?" She asked.
"First, I have a limited form of precognition and postcognition. It gives me knowledge on certain events in the past and some events in possible futures. That's how I know all these things, and how I know about the bullies that have been tormenting you at school," I said.
"You expect me to believe that? You could have learned everything just by secret surveillance!"
"When you were younger you were a big fan of Alexandria and Armsmaster, even getting underwear that had their image printed on. Your power can control earthworms despite them not having an exoskeleton. You can offload emotions to your swarm—" I rattled off.
"I don't—"
"—you once saw a methhead freak out on a bus and you never got over that impression of drugs. You feel anxious just being around someone that's high. Your parents' nickname for you is Little Owl. Danny and Annette met in college. Your mom quit Lustrum's gang after she met your father." I kept going.
"Lustrum's gang?!" She blurted out.
"They hadn't gotten violent at that point. Your mom left because she didn't like where it was going and found a man worth loving," I answered her unasked question.
She was stunned into silence.
"Prior to last week, I was incapable of acting on any of my special knowledge due to certain personal circumstances. However, once I had the opportunity to act, I decided to deal with the trio as soon as possible. The BBPD now have absolutely incriminating evidence, including their attempt to murder you in January, and I will see that justice is served."
The insects around us froze along with Taylor.
"I want to be clear: you do not owe me anything. It was simply the right thing to do. However, I had to tell you because there is a complication that you must be warned of," I said.
"What complication?"
"Sophia Hess is psychotic and it's possible that she'll try to kill you when the investigation goes badly for her," I said.
Araliac turned sharply towards me, and said in an incredulous voice, "Did you just say Sophia Hess? As in…?"
"Wait, you know her? You go to Winslow?" Skitter asked in shock.
Araliac turned to her, "I…yes, I know her, but I don't go to Winslow. I know her from…something else."
"Look, never mind the unwritten rules. She's a serious threat to Taylor. Sophia Hess is a member of the Wards," I said openly.
"WHAT?" Taylor shouted. Her shout was accompanied by wave of buzzing from her insect swarm. It was not her swarm voice, but perhaps an unconscious precursor to it.
"How do you think the trio kept stealing assignments from you? Your flute? How did they get that stuff into your locker without breaking your lock?" I said.
"Shadow Stalker…!" Taylor said in an enraged voice. Her fists were clenched and the insects were buzzing again.
"She almost killed Taylor with the assistance of a parahuman power in that locker. Taylor needs to know what she's capable of to defend herself properly." I told this to Araliac, knowing that she would be concerned about my disregard for the unwritten rules. I had previously explained to Araliac some of Taylor's background and described the locker incident in some detail before we went out to save her from Lung, so Araliac knew that Taylor could have died from the toxic biohazards and did get sent to the hospital for a week. I didn't explain who exactly Taylor's bullies were though, at the time.
"That bitch! Why hasn't the PRT done anything about this? She's on probation isn't she? Why didn't Gallant report anything?" Araliac snarled. Indeed. One had to wonder how the emotion-sensing do-gooder didn't realize what a terrible person Sophia was. That was mainly because she didn't act that bad in front of him or the Wards. I could have just openly blamed him and played on Araliac's personal biases against Victoria's boyfriend, but I was going for the wise Saruman act. These two could reach their own conclusions.
"It is the nature of man to see what he wants to see; few are the wise that can see beyond. The power of empathy is a double-edged sword. It can build the bridge of understanding…or bind the chains of solidarity. Do not blame Gallant over much, Araliac. He knew not what Sophia did on her own time. What could he have seen but a misguided comrade suffering in the throes of anger and hate?" I said gravely.
"As for the PRT…" I turned to Taylor, "Despite her unsavoury habits, Sophia is very effective at finding and defeating criminals. If the school staff refuse to report anything incriminating, the PRT has little reason to scrutinize such a valuable asset."
"That…that's bullshit! He barges in my privacy but won't even use his shitty therapy on the actual psycho on his team?" Araliac rejected my advice, just as planned. It's amazing how predictable teenage minds are.
"Two years…I've had to suffer this torture every day for two fucking years…all because weak little Taylor was less valuable?!" Taylor screamed hysterically. The bugs were swarming around buzzing ominously and moving in circles like a storm. Okay, time to help her calm down.
I walked right up to the angry girl surrounded by bugs and handed her a high-powered taser stun baton. This thing could kill someone in two seconds flat. A lot of tasers were actually very lethal in untrained hands. "While I've done what I can to put Sophia away, the future is never set in stone. She may escape and come for you. When she does, remember that electricity disrupts her shadow form. This taser stun baton might be useful to you. I have seen her try to assassinate you in some futures so you should be on guard," I explained, helping to curl her fingers around the baton and patting her arm. Unlike with the guns there was no need to give her instructions on safe handling of the stun baton.
"What the fuck…and with her power she's really dangerous!" Araliac exclaimed. "Shit, this is serious! She can make any weapon go into shadow form and it'll go through armor to hit you directly!"
"Taylor, if you feel that your life is in danger and need help, call us. I will try to keep tabs on Sophia as well. I know you don't have a phone yet, so here you go. It already has Araliac and me as contacts." I handed her a new burner phone.
Skitter looked at the phone in my hand for a bit before the bugs settled down. Then she put the baton away into her armor, took off her mask, put on her glasses, and grabbed the phone before shaking my hand.
"Thank you, Kaleidus. And it's nice to meet you too, I'm Taylor Hebert," she said with an earnest look.
"Well, if you guys are both taking off the masks…I guess I should too," Araliac said.
Taylor turned to look at her as Araliac removed her helmet.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you Taylor," she said with a slight smile and shook Taylor's hand, getting a smile in return. Then she continued, "I'm Amelia Lavere, formerly known as Panacea."
"What?" Taylor's eyes widened and her hand froze in the act of shaking. She blinked a few times and stared at Amelia. "You're Panacea?! Bu—I thought you were a healer! "
"I am," Amelia said with a satisfied smirk. "But I can also do a lot more than that."
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