Chapter Text
Lisa Wilbourn
“He’s awake” It was the new girl that said that. She had been nervously checking on Ale- Regent since we got here. According to her, being unconscious when ‘around her’ causes issues that only she could fix. What kind of power did this girl have? I’d been strictly forbidden from trying to get a read on her and she had an uncanny ability to know when exactly that was.
Then I heard a loud thump and looked over, it appeared Regent didn’t like a complete stranger staring down at him, who would’ve thunk it? “Wha- who is this?!” he demanded as he got up quickly and made a spirited effort to get to our side. It was a little uncharacteristic for Regent to get this flustered but given everything about this girl I didn’t blame him.
“That’s your saviour” I cooed and he stalled as if processing it, I sighed “She’s the girl we fought Lung early for-“
“I am sorry about ruining your plan” The strange girl was standing between the sofas. The rest of us had moved to the dining table by now, originally to keep a hushed conversation but it turns out she can hear us so instead it became an awkward silence. We couldn’t exactly form a plan without Alec’s input.
“Don’t worry about, your distraction still made the fight easier, we were just unlucky to have to fight Lung to begin with” Grue was being reassuring and sitting next to me at the table. Bitch was on the far side and was taking far more interest in her dogs than she was the new girl, the two of them have been acting skittish and agitated since that girl rode on their back. A fact that Bitch was aware of and not too pleased about.
“Anyways, she helped pile us on top of the dogs and we made it back home” I concluded to Alec who was trying to go over the information in her mind “She took out Lung all by herself, you know? Didn’t even knock him out of his dragon form”
“Really?!” That seemed to have gotten him enthused, it was no easy feat to knock down Lung, and it was pretty cool, if horrifying “How?” he turned to the girl and offered her a seat at the table, the girl hesitated a moment before taking it. The Dogs kept growling till she took a seat opposite the rest of us.
“I mean, I don’t know if I should say, I just, showed him things until his brain couldn’t take it and knocked him out” What did that mean? Taylor was fiddling with her fingers on the table. She was hiding her power, that was obvious but why? Is it too horrifying, well that’s a given, but is it more horrifying than what we can handle? It didn’t seem to be, not to me at least.
“Wasn’t your mouth fucked when you saved us?” It was Bitch who was talking I realized. That’s surprising, she normally didn’t care what was going on around her “Why’re you able to talk fine now, got a healing power?”
“No, well, kinda” she was still holding the cards close to her chest, I guess we are as strange to her as she is of us, from the looks of it she doesn’t even fight “A certain amount of damage from using my powers can get healed, if it didn’t I wouldn’t be able to use it and then… it’d be a useless power”
“And what is your power?” Grue was leading the interview now “Are you a shaper, a thinker?” The girl was going over something in her head; she wasn’t exactly sure what she was either but she seemed to have gotten curious about herself and looked it up previously. My powers were working fine on her and she didn’t notice? Was it her powers I was forbidden from studying then?
“Tinker” that was surprising, we went silent for her to elaborate “Um, you see… I have this language, well more writing system, in my head and when I learn the words I can, affect things about them” She wasn’t lying but something was off. She was glancing nervously away from our eyes, ah.
“Is that all your powers can do?”
The girl sighed and stared at the ground under her feet “Well, I can also communicate with somethings” somethings? There’s more than one “That’s not really what my power is intended for, but I can, make a deals and ask things from them, for a price obviously, that’s what I did earlier I had to ask a place to open up”
“So, the price was splitting your mouth?”
“No, it was about a liter of my blood” everyone went silent from the shock, Alec quietly got up and got the poor thing a cup of water. She drank it greedily. It’s impressive how much injury she shrugs off “Um, I can’t just say things I need to write the corresponding glyph… uh, here”
The girl got up and picked an orange from the fruit bowl. I generally bought the fruit for me and Brian; Alec still made a silent sound of protest before I elbowed him. This was way more important than something he’d never eat. She quickly set the orange on the table before pointing at it “Fm’latgh” nothing happened, what did that word me- “Don’t try to process the word, it’s not good for your health” buzzkill.
She then produced a quill from her pocket; it was an odd thing. It was an iridescent black that shimmered under the light of the room in a vast array of purples and greens. It wasn’t a quill originally, what did that mean? What was it then, and how did it become a quill? Apparently, the girl didn’t notice my meddling this time as she wrote something on the orange and carefully ensured everyone but me could see it “Fm’latgh”
The orange at once erupted into violent purple flames, everyone jumped back in shock and Brian event went to the fire extinguisher but was halted by the girl “Sorry, uh, the flames aren’t going to spread, it can only burn what I’ve written on” she answered calmly before leaning into the flame and whispering something, the flames died down immediately leaving only an ashy crust where the orange used to be. The girl took a seat and we joined her.
“How does this split your mouth open?” Alec was rather curious, it was unlike him but then again, she can make anything catch fire, so it’d be the kind of thing he’s interested in. The girl hesitated again before answering.
“I, well, I wrote the glyph for the opening of the gate, in the back of my mouth?” What? Why would she do that? “Well, if I went around with the writing on the outside of my body everyone would notice and also, given what it does the spell would’ve flashed most of the city and everyone in it, so I needed to find something, smaller, so it didn’t cause everyone to go comatose”
Brian nodded, mostly trying to cover up the fact that the knowledge she could wipe out the whole city put us all in shock “I see, and what is your name?”
“Uh, Tay-“
“Sorry, I mean what is your cape name? You are a fledgling villain, right?”
“Uh, n- wait your villains?” everyone got awkward including the girl “Well, I mean you did save me so” she was speaking more to herself than us “Oh, no I don’t have a cape name I just… have my name”
“Then what were you doing at that alley”
“I was told to, they said I needed to go there and wait for Lung, that I’d be happier if I did” happier? The same thought ran through everyone’s mind: Was Taylor a spy from the PRT, I mean we weren’t exactly on the map of villainy yet, but the PRT isn’t above squashing an insect early, right? I carefully studied the movements of her face, she was nervous, and afraid, but she wasn’t nervous and afraid of being caught out, she was nervous and afraid of being… kicked out?
“Hey, where do you live?” it appears I caught everyone off guard with that question. If it’s not the PRT then it’s probably the things she communicates with, right? If she can open a gateway to somewhere else, then speaking to them shouldn’t be out of her ballpark.
“Um, no…where” she was embarrassed about it “I uh, don’t have a home and it’s too dangerous for me to just live at a shelter so I just, on the streets?” it was a meek offering, she was homeless, wonderful. Grue was carefully hiding his expression behind his mask, Regent was the only one without his, needed to remove it to make sure he was ok.
“Then why are your clothes so… richy?” that was a rude way to put it Grue.
“Well, um, they sort of just grow on me? I mean no matter what I wear it ends up like this, I’m not really a fan of dresses but, yeah” she was indifferent to her appearance and only tugged lightly at her clothes. She would probably look nice next to Regent, same kind of aesthetic.
Grue went silent and so did I, there was so much to process and in so little time. We brought her to our hideout so no matter how this ends we need to make sure she doesn’t tattle when we kick her out- Regent is staring at me with a spark of excitement in his eyes, what was he- oh no “Hey, do you mind giving us a moment?” he asked in his most gentlemanly voice, the girl nodded and walked to the other side of the house and just… stood there, awkwardly.
“Ple-“
“We have to let her join” I bit back my begging when he beat me to the punch. “I mean come on, she’s a powerful cape who took down Lung, she’s homeless and all alone, it’s the perfect catch! We convince her to join us, and we’ll be running every single gang out of Brockton by next week!”
“There’s more to consider!” Grue was whisper-shouting, I glanced to the girl to see if she was having a reaction, she wasn’t.
“Like what?”
“She can call up who knows what? Is clearly lead by who knows what to us for who knows what reason?”
“She said it herself; it was for her ‘happiness’”
“And you believe that?”
“Should I?” Regent turned his attention to me. He was looking for a clear answer, and I ran through it in my head, she hadn’t been lying that much was certain “See! She’s homeless and from the sounds of it, alone, if the voices are real, they probably didn’t want her wasting away with depression or something”
“My dogs don’t like her” Bitch was voicing her opinion before she was drowned out “if they don’t like her, then I don’t like her”
“At least give her a chance! I mean for crying out loud she saved us and helped bring us here instead of running from Lung of all people” he looked rather beside himself with how this was turning out “I mean, if we just throw her on the street than what is she going to do? Someone is going to figure her out eventually, right? Then we might have to be facing her on the field”
“You just want her to join because you think she’s cool”
“She is cool!” Alec protested, Grue glanced between Rachel and Alec before sighing and finally turning to me.
“What do you think?”
I went quiet. Grue wasn’t absolutely certain and would fold to the overall decision, Bitch was more certain that she didn’t want her on because of the way her dogs were reacting to the girl. What did I want? She was dangerous, that much was certain, but beyond that she was a mystery. She admitted that her power granted more than ‘it’ intended, and that meant she knew more about her power than most people knew about theirs. How did she know that? Who was she talking to? She’s shielding me from the knowledge, why? Is she hiding something, or is it for my protection? It was like looking at a puzzle made in the fourth dimension, I slowly smiled.
“Alec is right, it’s more dangerous to have her wind up in someone else’s hands than with us” Bitch scowled at me, gotta get her on side too “Look, with how the dogs are reacting to her it’s clear that something is up, it’d be better if we knew what exactly was wrong with her and deal with it then, otherwise it might come to bite us in the ass and we don’t need whatever happened to Lung happening to us”
Grue groaned, he really didn’t want me to come to that answer. He looked to Rachel, who grunted in response, she’s conceding to my logic for once. That’s rare. “Ok, ok fine, let’s invite her in” he moved back to the table “Excuse me, sorry, you can join us again” the girl had a pep in her step as she approached.
As the leader and really only sane person it was up to him to handle the introductions “We, the Undersiders, would like to offer you a place to stay and for you to join us, at least until you get into a better situation” the girl was stunned by the answer as she glanced nervously down to the floor.
“A-are you sure?”
“Yes, I know that there is a lot of things we don’t understand… about you, your past and your powers but we’ve decided to… take the chance to get to know you better and see if you fit in along with the rest of us, would you like that?” Obviously, we can’t make her join, she needs the option to decide that for herself, but if she refused things might get hairy and I might have to call the boss.
The girl was indecisive, why? She wasn’t sure if it was safe, for her? No. She wasn’t sure if it was safe for her to use her pow- no. She wasn’t sure if her presence was safe for us to be around, now? No. Extended period of time. She was scared, why? Well wouldn’t I also be scared in her shoes? A frown was forming across my lips, was it because she thought it was dangerous or because I found her situation pitiful?
“O… Okay” she looked up suddenly when she answered that, it was like something distant from her flashed across her eyes, courage? “Um, I’ve never… joined a supervillain team, what do I do?”
“Well, I guess the first thing to do is introductions” Grue began, knocking me out of my thoughts before removing his mask “I’m Brian Laborn”
Regent was next “Just call me Alec”
My turn “I’m Lisa Wilbourn”
Bitch grunted and almost refused before getting the stinky eye from Brian, she removed hers with an angry tug “Rachel Lindt”
“They were speaking about you on the news” The girl suddenly interjected, I guess Rachel was the most famous member of the Undersiders “I tried following your work after but it’s hard, you helped a lot of dogs, I like dogs, even if they don’t like me” she was watching Judas and Brutus who were still hiding behind Rachels legs. Rachel herself was unmoved and was about to say more before Brian cut it off.
“So, what about you, can you take your veil off?”
“Oh, sorry I can’t, my eyes are evil” what? “I’m Taylor Hebert, it’s nice to meet you” she smiled slightly, out of nerves more than anything. Alec had a wide smile at the comment while Brian and I merely shared a nervous glance. ‘My eyes are evil’ what does that even mean?
“Well” Brian coughed to hide how nervous he was “Taylor, um, a lot of us have our own places but we use this apartment as a shared space and for planning, we have a spare bedroom you can take-“ Alec suddenly shot up and ran out of the apartment, from the glance I could tell he was excited “Wha- was that?”
“I don’t know” I admitted flatly “He’s not afraid, I think he’s going to get something”
“Get what?”
“I don’t know, something”
“You were saying?” It was Taylor asking the question, she was nervous, why? Alec running off startled her, why? She thought he was afraid of her, why does that scare her? She thought that she was going to live on the streets again. It was a reasonable thing to fear I guess, Brockton’s never a nice place and quite a few of Lung’s men got an eye on her.
“Right, we’ll be having to take some extra precautions with you, since you’re… unable to go out much given your circumstances, you know, with Lung’s men seeing you there’s bound to be people who want to get you, so it’s probably for the best that you stay here for a little while with us rather than eat out or go shopping, everyone comes here at least once a day and food is normally just hot pockets an-“ Taylors stomach grumbled at the mention of food, the most human thing she’s done so far.
“Um, I haven’t today”
“Today?”
“I was distracted” by what? Before my power could kick in Taylor turned her attention to me “Please don’t, you’ll get hurt” was that a threat? No. A warning? Yes. From her? No. I would ask from what, but Taylor would probably ask me to stop again. I shifted in my seat uncomfortably, people aren’t normally able to tell when my powers are working, even I don’t know that.
“Can’t help getting curious now, can I?” I gave her a small smirk, she lit up. Cute. I turned my attention to the fridge and got up to check it “Well, we have… spoilt milk because Alec left it in the sun” Taylor made a disgusted face, infinitely powerful jaw, not an infinitely powerful gut “We have whip cream, but Alec chugs it straight from the can” she made a more disgusted face “and… off puttingly old carrots, what a grand feast~”
“I can go to the store” Brian offered but I waved him off.
“Text Alec and tell him to get some food along with whatever he wants to bring” I told him, Brian shrugged, recongising the logic and fiddled away with his phone. Rachel was giving Taylor a long stare, the poor girl was going to say something, but Bitch lived up to her name and trotted off.
“Let me show you to your room” I offered and Taylor took the invitation readily, carefully lifting herself out of her seat and walking alongside me as we made our way to the rooms “So, generally speaking there’s a rule, you can’t enter anyone’s room without them being present and without their say so, except for emergencies” Taylor was pleased about that, why? She didn’t want people to enter her room; did she already assume we’re going to steal from her? No. Safety. Great. “This is mine, and Brian’s and Alec’s and Rachel’s, keep them in mind in case you need anything, we’re not always here, especially overnight and Alec has a habit of sleeping on the couch” I took her to one end of the hallway “And this, well it’s your room”
Taylor looked mesmerized by it, was the concept of having a room foreign to her, No. Yes? My powers weren’t giving me a clear reading. Taylor seemed to have lived in a house, but she didn’t understand living in a house “We’ll discuss things such as payment and your exact needs in the morning, we got our asses handed to us by Lung and need the rest” Taylor nodded eagerly.
She touched the door gently and was about to push it forward when we got interrupted by Alec running back through the door. Brian was bewildered “I had only just told you to get food”
“I was getting food anyways!” his declaration was followed by the unloading of various snacks and treats, meat pies and small sausage rolls from the gas station mostly, the noise brought Rachel back “And most importantly!~” Alec declared with dramatic flare as he held up to the skies a cake. Raspberry, Rachel didn’t like chocolate.
“Honestly you three! Introducing a new Undersider without a party?! Whatever could you be thinking” he teased us as he offered Taylor a seat. He proudly and lavishly cut the cake and gave her a slice “So, Taylor! Welcome to the Undersiders!” he clapped her back, which almost made the poor girl jump out of her seat.
From under her veil, I could see Taylor taking in the slice of cake as a concept rather than a taste. Glancing curiously as Alec rushed back and forth to make sure everyone got their slices, then bickering with Brian as he tried to take a quarter of the cake for himself. I only just got my slice when I saw it, something tugged at her lips and then a small smile formed.
This was certainly going to get interesting.