(TAYLOR HEBERT) CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Taylor had not expected that finding her father would be the easy part.

With Lady Photon at her side, it took only minutes to locate Danny Hebert among the crowded interior of the Endbringer shelter. Lady Photon moved through the press of people with the confidence of someone who had done this countless times before, drifting just above the floor so she could be seen without looming, stopping to greet and hug where she could, and calling out reassurances in a calm voice that carried through the din.

She told them that the Simurgh had been driven off, that the worst had passed, and that they would soon be allowed to leave the shelter. She repeated the words again and again as she went, until they began to ripple outward through the crowd, easing shoulders and loosening the palpable tension that had settled over everyone since the sirens had first sounded.

Taylor followed as best she could, keeping to the fringes, her alien form crouched low and still whenever they had to pause, acutely aware of how much space she took up and how many people stole glances before quickly looking away or raised phones to take hurried pictures, curiosity warring with fear at the sight of her strange, unmistakably inhuman shape.

She did her best to make herself even smaller, tail tucked close and claws held tight, though she knew there was no way to truly blend in when she looked like this. There was no doubt in her mind that it was only Lady Photon’s presence, her familiar face, white bodysuit, and unmistakable emblem, that kept the situation from tipping into outright panic. With a hero like her wordlessly vouching for Taylor simply by standing at her side, most people seemed willing to keep their mouths shut and their emotions in check, no matter how much they stared.

Thankfully, it was not long before she saw her dad.

He was near the back of the shelter, seated against a concrete support pillar with a blanket draped around his shoulders, speaking quietly to an elderly man while a woman moved through the row offering bottles of water. He looked smaller somehow, his shoulders hunched and his hair more disheveled than usual, his hands clasped together in front of him as though he were afraid to let them rest. But he was unmistakably alive, and from what she could see, unhurt.

Relief hit Taylor so hard then that her legs nearly gave out beneath her, her tail twitching as she fought the overwhelming urge to rush forward, to throw her arms around him and never let go. For one irrational second, she forgot everything else and took a step in his direction.

Then reality caught up with her.

She froze, staring down at her black claws and the wheels embedded in her feet, at the unfamiliar lines of a body that had no place in this shelter full of frightened people. She could not go to him like this. And she could not simply turn back into herself either, not here, not in front of dozens of civilians who would panic at the sight of an alien suddenly becoming a teenage girl in a space where fear still clung to every breath.

Yes, her identity was already compromised among heroes and villains alike, but this was different. These were people who had not signed up for any of this, people who just wanted to survive and go home. She could not add to their terror, and she could not risk tying her father to her in such a public, undeniable way. So she drew back, her heart sinking as frustration and helplessness bubbled up inside her.

Lady Photon noticed immediately.

She drifted back to Taylor’s side, studying her posture, the way her tail had curled inward and her claws flexed helplessly at her sides. Understanding seemed to dawn without a word needing to be said.

For a moment, Taylor feared she would insist anyway, so she shook her head sharply. “I can’t,” she said, the words coming out as a breathy rasp that suited the alien throat she had now. “And I can’t change back either. I don’t want to scare anyone, and I don’t want to… I don’t want everyone else to know he’s my dad too.”

Lady Photon followed her gaze back toward her dad, then let her eyes sweep across the shelter, taking in the whispered conversations, the drawn faces, and the way people still flinched at every sound, nearby or distant. After a moment, she nodded. “You’re right,” she said gently. “This isn’t the place for that.”

For a few seconds, Taylor could not see a way out. She had found him, finally, after all the fear and running and not knowing, and now she was stuck just out of reach, close enough to see him breathe but not close enough to touch.

Then Lady Photon smiled, a small, reassuring curve of her lips. “Go home,” she said. “I’ll take care of this.”

Taylor blinked, genuinely thrown for a loop. “Home?”

“I’ll go to your father,” Lady Photon continued. “I’ll tell him that you’re safe, and that you’re waiting for him back at your house.”

“But…” Taylor hesitated, her claws flexing. “Won’t that draw attention to him?”

“It won’t,” Lady Photon replied with easy confidence. “Not if I do it properly,” she added, gesturing vaguely around the shelter. “I’m already making the rounds, sharing the good news that the Simurgh has been driven off and that people will be allowed to leave soon. That way, when I finally speak to him, it will just look like one more stop, not like I singled him out for any special reason.”

Taylor stared at her, hope flaring despite herself. “You’d really do that for me?”

“Of course,” Lady Photon said, as though it were the most natural thing in the world. “You’ve done more than enough for today. Let me handle this part.”

Emotion swelled in Taylor’s chest again, sharp and sudden, and she had to look away, nodding quickly before she did something embarrassing like cry in front of a hero. “Thank you,” she managed. The words felt inadequate, but they were all she had, and they were sincere. “Really.”

Lady Photon gave her a gentle nod in return and squeezed her shoulder briefly. “Go on, Taylor. I’ll make sure he gets there.”

Then she turned away, already calling out to a group nearby.

Taylor waited just long enough to be sure, watching as Lady Photon spoke to a few people first, laughing softly at something someone said, and moving naturally through the crowd. Only after several minutes did she finally approach her dad, kneeling slightly so she could speak to him at eye level.

Taylor did not wait to see more. If she stayed any longer, she might lose the nerve to leave at all. So she slipped out of the shelter and into the street beyond, and once she was clear of the immediate crowd—those brave enough to venture out immediately instead of waiting—she let herself move.

At first, she kept her pace just fast enough to put distance between herself and the shelter without startling anyone nearby. Then, as the streets opened up and the familiar emptiness of post-Endbringer Brockton Bay spread out before her, she leaned forward and let instinct take over.

The world blurred.

Wind roared past her, the city stretching into streaks of light and shadow as she accelerated, her feet barely seeming to touch the ground as she raced along pot-holed pavement and empty roads. Fear finally loosened its grip, replaced by a lightness she had not felt all day, so Taylor let herself enjoy something.

She took the long way home.

She cut through side streets she had never bothered with before and along the edge of the docks, leaped over barricades and skidded around corners, laughing and hearing the sound torn away by the wind almost as soon as it left her. The scent of salt from the bay mixed with the usual city smells, and for a few precious minutes she was not a frightened girl, not a living weapon, not a problem the world did not know how to solve.

She was just moving, faster than anything she had ever been, faster than she had ever imagined, with nothing chasing her and nothing she had to fight.

It felt nice, and more than that, it felt freeing.

By the time she reached her street, the sun had dipped lower toward the horizon, and her heart was still pounding with exhilaration as she slowed to a stop in the shadow of her house, the familiar shape of it a small island of normalcy in a world turned upside down.

Her dad was safe.

He was on his way.

So she transformed back and made her way inside.