Capítulo 2745: 3.4
For a moment Dad just sat there, his own cup of apple juice in his hands. Slowly and with great effort he put the cup down onto the table. Several emotions flashed through his face but mostly worry with a tinge of regret. I stayed where I was, arms spread out to display my costume, too afraid to move, unsure what to say. I had hoped for approval, some measure of pride but deep down I knew that his worry would overshadow everything else.
"Taylor." He started only to pause. He looked down and the dreaded silence returned. "Is this why you've been so happy?"
There was no condemnation in his words, no signs of judgement. Just questioning, cautious hope. He was unsure of this, just as I was. I nodded, not trusting my own voice. I also lowered my arms. He continued to sit there watching me. Then he grabbed one of the sweet rolls on the table and took a bite. His expression turned mischievous.
"So what? Your powers make you some sort of super cook?" It was clear that this was a joke designed to break the ice. To calm us both down and stop us from being too awkward around each other. He had no idea how close he was to the truth.
"I uh.. Actually yes." I told him. "My powers, besides letting me change clothes instantly also let me cook instantly, if you give me the ingredients I can prepare dozens if not hundreds of meals instantly." I never tried in that amount but if my brewing and smithing were any indication then I'd be able to replicate the feat with grilled salmon. I sat down to grab a sweet roll and in my nervousness I shoved the entire thing into my mouth through the mask. An entire Sweet roll that usually required three or four bites simply gone, consumed and presumably digested as if it had bypassed the chewing and swallowing process altogether.
My mind just like my stomach and the sweet roll processed all this very quickly.
"So not only does my power let me eat food through my mask but it also lets me eat it instantly." Not that I knew that before.
It took dad a bit longer to come up with a response. "So you're an 'Instant Parahuman?' like, you eat, change clothes and cook instantly?" That wasn't a bad way to put it. I nodded once again and Dad's discomfort replaced his joking nature as if something just occurred to him.
"Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad you told me but why now? Why not earlier?" The guilt twisted in my stomach once more.
"I just wanted to say that I was going to join the Wards, I kind of need parental permission."
"I mean, I guess that makes sense, you have powers, they have powers but isn't that kind of dangerous?"
"It's less dangerous than going out on my own to fight crime." I argued.
"You shouldn't have to go out on your own to fight crime."
"Which is why I'm joining the Wards."
"No I mean." He took a breath. "You shouldn't be going out at all to fight anyone!" Oh dear, here it came, his worry, the desire to keep me safe by locking me into a metaphorical gilded cage… admittedly 'gilded' was probably not the best description of home regardless of how fond of it I was. I mean, we had a computer that had a internet connection but there was a reason why I visited the library for their computer instead.
I squeezed my hands tight. "If not me then who?" I asked. "I have these powers, I can't just not use them!"
"Yes you can!" He was standing now, holding my hand desperately as if afraid I would run off. "The other heroes can do their jobs, you don't have to do it for them." He wasn't on his knees but he was still begging.
"Dad, this isn't about jobs that others can do, this is about me." I told him. "I have this power and I need to use it and if I have to use it I want to use it to help people."
He looked down at me in concern. "You told me earlier that you went out before, that Armsmaster was there and people from the gangs." He sat back down. "What happened?"
"I… I got into a fight, I used my powers and scared them all off." I left out the bit about Lung of course. "I used fire." Summoning flames to my hands he flinched before calming down. I put them away embarrassed at having caused such a reaction. "They were talking about killing kids, I couldn't just let them do that."
He stared at me for awhile longer, his look of worry soon turned to resignation. "You're truly your mother's daughter." He told me with tired pride in his voice.
The following silence from me wasn't just because I was terribly awkward around Dad right now. It was the realisation that he was talking about mom. He never talked about Mom! Not since she died at least. Still, the fact that he compared Mom to me not only filled me with pride but also hope, hope that he'd allow me to become a hero.
"So you'll let me join the Wards?" I asked him.
He paused again. Too many pauses in this conversation.
"It's what your mother would've done, you can join." I ran up to hug him and I felt his arms hug me back. It was a nice feeling.
"You still have to go to school though." He told me. "With your ability to change clothes and eat food instantly I expect you to be ready on time."
Well shit.
After he bid me farewell I found myself back in Winslow as Taylor, the armour was still with me inside my inventory. While I didn't expect any of the Villains to come attack me at school I wanted to be ready regardless.
The other students were the same, all mocking laughter but today I found that I couldn't care less. I was going to be a Ward, a hero. I was going to leave them soon and move straight to Arcadia! Another thought occurred to me. All Wards had a chance to be in charge since being the leader was based on age, not experience. It might only last a year, a few months or only a week but eventually I'd be the leader of the Wards!
"MOVE OUT WARDS!" I'd command them as Aegis flew into the fray with Gallant close behind. Wait. Aegis if I remembered correctly was older than me, he'd be out of the Wards by the time I was in charge. Well I'd still have Vista to command.
Emma tried to tell me how ashamed Mom would be of me but Dad's earlier words made it easy to ignore. I wasn't useless, I wasn't unloved I was a hero that would make any parent proud and nothing Emma could say that day would work.
Madison at this stage was a non-issue and quite frankly Sophia's physical brand of bullying was welcome. Especially when she tried to kick my shins and allow me to increase the power of my light armour. The most difficult part of the day was trying not to smile.
"Fucking freak." She muttered when she saw me grin. I suppressed it as best I could but for the rest of the day Sophia did not kick me once. Not just because she thought I was weird but because the school was dismissed, we had to leave early because of some sort of gas leak.
Today just kept on getting better! First I get told Mom would be proud of me, I get to unmask to Dad, I'm given permission to join the Wards and now I didn't have to deal with anyone's shit for the rest of the day! I was free to do whatever I wanted!
So I decided to go to the library.
So off I went. Catching the bus was boring and I simply blanked out, I must've fallen asleep. However I woke up at the exact time I needed. I shrugged at my good fortune and got off the bus wondering if that was another aspect of my power. Maybe the secret late nights out were starting to catch up with me. I'd have to watch my sleeping patterns more closely if I didn't want this to happen in the middle of a fight. Just because I didn't feel sleepy didn't mean I was.
Eventually I reached the library, the same librarian was there from last time.
"Hello again." Oh she recognised me, this would make things easier.
"There was a gas leak today." I shrugged. "What can you do?"
"Are you still looking for books on selling and buying? I just got this in." She pulled out a book from behind her. 'Marketing and you'.
"No but I wouldn't mind taking a look." I greedily plucked the book from her before opening up the first page. I felt Elation, the kind that allowed me to look to the stars. I made a showing of looking through the book thoughtfully before I returned it.
"Thanks for the help but I think I'll work on another subject today." She smiled warmly before going back to her work.
I grinned, looking to the stars. Now that I was part of a team perhaps I could make equipment for them?
Looking at the smithing tree I found that the next step up from forging steel was either elven armour or dwarven. I could also improve enchanted equipment as well.
Well that was no help.
I decided to check out my speech shard, I had been powering that up quite a lot recently. In between the books and talking to Dad it was getting pretty strong.
Allure and Bribery.
What the hell? If I had any doubts that the Speech shard was actually a Master ability it was now gone. It's not like any good guys had Master powers, I'd have to steer clear of the Speech shard from now on.
Perhaps I could do something about my Archery? If I got that strong enough I could slow down time. Or at least my perception of time. I shrugged and improved my bow skills along with my toughness. Satisfied with my power up I activated my Veil and proceeded to hit the books.
Before the day was done I got a bit stronger in Archery once again. While books on the subject existed I found that it hadn't increased my Bow skill enough that I could become Eagle Eyed with it. It was no time dilation but the ability to zoom in without binoculars seemed really useful.
Despite not getting time powers, I did gain enough power from the books that I could look to the stars again. I hadn't really thought about what I wanted to do now. I had everything I needed, all my goals were either completed or about to come to fruition.
I originally increased my potion shard to impress Armsmaster.
Smithing was to make me a better costume so that I wouldn't look like a thug.
All of that was to get me into the Wards which I was already going to join.
None of the shards I could grab onto would really change that. So I decided to hold onto that feeling, invest in it later when a more concrete goal presented itself.
"OH NO WE'RE TRAPPED!" Shouted the entirety of the Wards. "ONLY A VERY SPECIFIC ABILITY AND OR POWER CAN GET US FREE!"
"DON'T WORRY!" I'd yell out. "I HAVE THAT VERY SPECIFIC ABILITY AND OR POWER!" And there would be much rejoicing. "YAAAAY!"
At this point I began to make my way home, I'd make dinner, maybe go on PHO, talk with dad and go to sleep. Becoming a Ward was only one sleep away!
Also I'd probably slow down with the sweet rolls. As nice as they were, it's not like they were healthy and it might've been my imagination but I thought I was starting to see a bit of flab on Dad. He was a beanpole like me so I had doubts that he'd ever be fat but it would be best I stop it before it ever became an issue.
I got home around the same time as him. Apparently the trip to the library took longer than I had thought but I was still satisfied with the result. Normally I'd be rushing to put something in the oven but with my powers making dinner simply involved me grabbing the ingredients and focusing.
"Any Sweet rolls Taylor?" He asked me with a smile.
"Hmm not tonight, I'm saving them for the other Wards, I want to make a good impression."
"You don't need food to make a good impression, just be yourself and they'll love you." And so the night went on with me finally going to bed.
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Aegis Canon Omake:
Shit, shit, SHIT! While I believed that this was the perfect time to swear I held onto decorum regardless. With both of my arms being chewed up by two of Hellhound's…. Hounds I was pretty much out of commission. Still I was able to lead them away from the fleeing bystanders. Shadow Stalker had already disappeared into the bank, Grue's darkness made any attempt on figuring out what was going on inside useless.
While I was worried about her she had Glory Girl somewhere in there as well. I had no idea why she was here out of New Wave jurisdiction, but I was glad all the same. It's not like we had friendly Capes to spare today.
Armsmaster and the rest of the adults were at some sort of conference the next town over and the other Wards were still in school. If only intelligence had picked up on this heist earlier we might have had the entire Wards roster here.
Bursting out of the Darkness was a van. A sharp whistle later and the dogs let me go. I would've followed but I figured it would be useless, I was fast at flying but not that fast.
Glory Girl on the other hand was fast enough but just as she was about to punch the getaway vehicle Regent popped out of the side and made a gesture making her punch herself. Long story short it ended with Glory Girl and her other arm three feet in the road. The language she began shouting was not very becoming of a hero.
With a sigh I made a call with what remained of my mangled hands.
"Console, this is Aegis…" I paused, choosing my words very carefully. "We managed to keep all the hostages safe?" It was then I saw Shadow Stalker stumble out of the building before collapsing, one of her legs twisted unnaturally. "Uhh we might need some medical attention."
Status de energia semanal
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