Taylor POV
Black?tea bitterness burned the back of her throat in the instant before her memory caught up.
Lung’s molten scales, a stranger’s blade, millions of insects boiling out of the gutters—she jolted upright on the living?room couch and almost sloshed her mug. Quilts slid to the floor.?Sunlight cut bright oblongs across Dad’s favourite armchair, where he sat hunched forward. Elbows on his knees, as if he hadn’t moved for the three hours she managed to sleep.
“Easy,” Danny said, reaching to steady her cup.
His voice was gentle, but the dark half?circles under his eyes—and the way his free hand shook—made something inside her twist.
“I’m okay,” she lied automatically, then flinched at how hoarse she sounded.
Everything hurt: knees, ribs, shoulders, even the roots of her hair.?Bug?handling always left a mental ache, but last night had been an iron shackle on every nerve.
Danny didn’t push the lie.?He settled on the coffee table, close but not crowding.?The chipped teapot steamed between them. He’d brewed her favourite Ceylon and over?steeped it until it could strip paint.
She loved him for that.
He waited until she’d taken a second sip before he spoke.
“Taylor, you came home wearing a mask and half a costume. You were bruised, shaking. I didn’t ask questions then because you could barely stand. But we need to talk now.”
She nodded once.?Fingers clenched around the mug.
“I know.”
He drew a breath.
“I— I watched the newsfeeds last night.?People thought an Endbringer was coming.?A swarm blacked out downtown. A winged cape turned the sky into a blast furnace. Then I see my daughter stumble in, looking like she fought a war.”?His voice cracked on the last word.
Guilt stabbed.?She’d wanted to protect him from her world as long as possible, and last night she’d shattered that in seconds.
Danny rubbed his palm across his mouth, composing himself.
“I’ll ask it straight: you’re a cape?”
“Yes.”?The word came out small but clear.?“Since the start of the semester.”
“Since—” He stopped, shook his head at the months of secrecy. “What can you do?”
She swallowed.
“I control insects.?Sense them.?Direct them.”
Danny’s brow furrowed.?“All insects?”
“Everything without a backbone, basically.”
“That explains the swarm.”?He closed his eyes for a beat and then opened them.?“Why now? Why last night?”
Taylor set her mug down before it rattled itself empty. She pulled the quilt into her lap, picking at a stray thread. “ABB foot soldiers—maybe a dozen—were going to kill children to ‘send a message.’ I couldn’t walk away.”
Danny nodded. Lethal gangs he understood.
“And Lung?”
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“He was there, he gave the order. Then, when I sent in my swarm, he went for me. I was… holding my own.”
That was technically true until Lung climbed onto the roof, “Then the winged cape appeared.”
“Describe him.”
She did. Dark blue?black armour, fan?like wings, sword giving off an eerie light–and his aura. As she spoke, the living room faded. She smelled burning throat scales, heard Lung howl.
“His sword went straight through Lung’s chest.?It didn’t kill him—just made him… smaller.”?She rubbed her arms at the memory.?“Then he turned toward me and there was this—pressure.?Like my lungs were too small for my body.” She met her father’s eyes.?“I think it was his power.?It pushed fear right through me.”
Danny’s jaw tightened. “You couldn’t move?”
“I barely stayed standing.?He asked if I was hurt—like he cared—but I was choking.”?She looked down.?“He lifted his hand and… did something.?I’m still not sure what it was. But I felt… full.?Like every nerve overloaded.?Then the fear snapped and I could control the bugs again.?They—” She forced herself not to flinch.?“—they went after him.?I didn’t think; I just needed him away from me.”
Danny pictured a biblical plague pouring over rooftops—that panic playing on an endless loop in social media.
“And the fireball?”
“He flew up. I chased him with the swarm. He… incinerated them.?All of them, in an instant. Then he dove into the bay.”?She wrapped arms around herself.?“I barely made it home.”
Silence stretched.?The kettle clicked off on its own.
Danny broke it first.
“You said his sword made Lung smaller?”
Taylor gave a small nod.
Danny leaned forward to get her attention, “Kiddo, I need you to try and remember. You said his sword was made of light?”
“No,” she denied, “it was like it was surrounded by light. At least it was when it stabbed Lung.”
“And was this light doing anything”
Taylor paused, brows scrunching in concentration.
“Yeah. It was connected to the other cape. And it was moving-flowing, from Lung to him…”
Her eyes widened in realization and Danny’s next words gave voice to her suspicions.
“He was draining Lung. He was draining Lung and then–”
“-pushed that energy into me,” Talor finished in a whisper.
Danny, eyes hard and face grave, nodded.
“He did. Unasked.?Something only a callous or careless person would do, considering how little we know about how powers work. There’s a reason why capes aren’t allowed to just heal people on a whim.”
Taylor felt the word villain settling like wet clay around the winged parahuman’s silhouette and found she couldn’t scrape it off easily.?Still— “He aimed the fire upward, Dad.?Away from rooftops.”
“Maybe restraint… or arrogance,” Danny sighed, leaning back.?“What matters is that his presence crippled your free will and set off your power spike.?That’s villainous enough for me until proven otherwise.”
Taylor’s throat tightened.?She looked at her hands—knuckles scraped from rooftop gravel—and whispered,
“I lost control, Dad.?I made sure that my bugs wouldn’t hurt anyone but it could’ve been different.”
He reached over and squeezed her shoulder.
“You’re alive. No bystanders died. We work from that.”
She nodded, blinking heat from her eyes.
Danny straightened.
“We need next steps. First, a doctor—today.?Second, a counsellor who knows parahumans.?Third…” He hesitated.?“There’s the Wards program.”
She opened her mouth—closed it.?Last night’s echo tugged at her range and she saw again the streetlights blacked out.
“Not yet,” she managed.?“I need… control, first. If the PRT sees me as the girl who panicked the docks, they’ll cage me, not help.”
Danny exhaled slowly.?“Then we buy time. But time with guidance. I’ll find someone unofficial—a retired cape therapist, maybe. We’ll keep options open.”
Relief and fear mixed in equal parts. “Okay.”
He stood, joints popping.
“I’ll call the school today, tell them you’re sick and staying home,” his eyes regarded her with warmth. “You get some more sleep. I can’t imagine how exhausted you must feel.”
Taylor smiled with appreciation and rose to give her dad a brief hug, wobbling only slightly.?Before heading to the stairs she closed her eyes and reached.?Insects within one and a half blocks answered.?On the fringe, she felt the whisper: a sensation like a tide poised to rise.?She pulled back, her heartbeat quickened, and it vanished.
Not gone. Dormant.
She’d master it. She had to, especially if the winged stranger returned.?Villain or not, he held the key to whatever had amplified her power.?Until she knew why, she couldn’t risk joining the Wards—or fighting him again.
She grabbed the quilt, folded it, and placed it on the couch.?Then she climbed the stairs, each step stiff, but lighter than the guilt she’d carried down them hours before.
