With Great Power: Flash Forward

Taylor's feet dangled off of the edge of the skyscraper, hanging high above the pavement as she stared off at the silent city before her, deep in thought.

It was strange how much things had changed in such a small amount of time. And yet despite everything, the city still looked the same. It was incredible how no matter what kind of shattering events someone went through, it could have very little effect on the greater world around them.

Taylor's moody thoughts were interrupted by a tinny voice buzzing to life inside of her mask, “Taylor, are you brooding right now?”

Taylor stiffened, her cheeks feeling slightly hot, “I wasn't brooding, Emma!” She denied, “I was just… thinking.”

Her weak defense didn't fool her friend for a single second, “You do realize I can see you right now, right? And I know that when you stare off wistfully like that, you're usually brooding.”

Knowing that Emma wasn't easily fooled, Taylor sighed, giving it up, “Yeah, okay. I was brooding.”

“Well stop it. Only one of us can brood and it's not going to be the one who's not in a wheelchair and has the best view in the whole city.”

Pouting, Taylor crossed her arms, “Yeah? Well what do you have to brood about anyway?”

“You mean besides the wheelchair?”

“Obviously.”

“Well maybe it's because I have an essay due in the morning and a best friend who's out climbing skyscrapers instead of helping me. Oh, and don't forget the fact that I’m honor bound to keep an eye on said best friend when she inevitably almost gets herself killed.”

“Yeah well, uh…” Taylor's mind stalled, “You should have finished it last week when we got it! It's not my fault you like to put things off to the last minute!”

“Bitch, not all of us can be super nerds like you! Some of us actually have to study the topic we're assigned before we can write an eight-hundred word expose on it!”

Taylor silently conceded her point. She probably had a bit of an advantage there, especially since her topic was one she was already pretty knowledgeable on.

“You're right. I'll help you finish it in first period tomorrow.”

“Can you just write it for me? It'll take you like an hour, right?”

“No, because then you'll never learn how to properly procrastinate. It's a very important skill for people our age.”

“You're lame.”

“Maybe. Still not doing your essay for you.”

“Bitch.”

Taylor giggled at Emma's salty attitude, before looking over the city once more and deciding she had taken enough time off. It was time to get back out there.

She slowly stood, stretching her arms up high into the sky as she limbered up. The golden web patterns along her black spandex caught the light of the stars and the streetlights down below, glinting happily as she reached up to her face and pulled down her goggles. She then pulled up her mask and hood, obscuring her identity completely.

Breathing deeply, she looked out at the sprawling city before her, taking in the yellow lights of those who happened to be up this late, before stepping to the edge of the roof, stepping forward until only her heels were left on the solid concrete.

She waited for a single moment, staring down at the several stories between her and the pavement down below, and in that instant, Emma spoke up, her voice shaking slightly with nerves, “Taylor, don't you dare.”

Taylor grinned at her friend's fear, before leaning forward and letting gravity take control. The roof fell out from underneath her feet as she began plummeting downward, picking up speed at an incredible pace.

“Oh my God, Taylor! What the hell!?” Taylor giggled, knowing that the other girl was probably watching though the camera in her goggles. Her giggles continued even as her heart thumped in her chest and the wind rushed past her face, threatening to blow the hood right off of her head. The ground steadily grew closer, cold concrete seemingly reaching out towards her thanks to how fast she was falling, and Taylor wasn't sure she would ever get used to the feeling of a proper free fall. It was just as exhilarating as the first time she had done it.

Just as she crested the buildings, approaching the height where most people would close their eyes and shield their ears to avoid seeing the inevitable, she thrust an arm out, two fingers pressing firmly against her palm while the others splayed outwards.

A white thread emerged from a hidden seam in her costume just underneath her palm, attaching to a nearby building at its thickest point. The line snapped taut and her impossibly fast descent instantly became a swinging arc that left her feet skimming across the tops of the cars parked just below her, before flinging her upwards into the air once more.

Taylor let out a whoop of joy as she flipped in the air, exhilaration filling her like it always did when she came out of a dive at such incredible speeds. Buildings blurred past her and just above the rushing wind she could hear the few people on the street scream in surprise as they realized someone was above them. She gave them a wave, knowing that they probably couldn't even see her, before thrusting another arm out and attaching to another building, swinging into another arc.

As she swung, settling into a steady rhythm of slinging webs from building to building, Emma’s voice came through her earbuds once more, “You need to stop doing that. You’re going to give me a heart attack one day. Or miss the building on the way down.”

“Aww, you care about me!” Taylor said cheekily as she rounded a corner, using a web to fling herself into an alley without losing any speed.

As she ran along the wall, Emma responded, “Of course I do. Who else would listen to me bitch about school other than you? Sophia? We both know that’s not happening.”

Taylor frowned lightly at the mention of the girl but she didn’t say anything about it. Her attention had already been taken by something much more important.

She crouched down on the wall, moving forward slowly while making sure she stuck to the shadows, all the while keeping her eyes on several suspicious-looking men standing just outside the mouth of an alley across the street. They were looking around shiftily, as if they were trying to make sure they weren’t being watched, and that, alongside the fact that they were loudly and proudly sporting the ABB’s colors, drew Taylor’s interest to them.

“Taylor…” Emma spoke softly in her ear, and Taylor’s fists clenched at the trepidation in her voice.

“I know, Ems. I'll be careful.” She said just as softly as she watched the gangsters creep into the alley. She crawled to the edge of the alley, before using a web to zip across the street, landing on the wall of the opposite building in a silent crouch.

She crawled inside of the alley, being very careful to stick to the shadows and trusting that her dark costume would keep her hidden. She looked around, taking note that the alley was completely enclosed, with the entrance she had just come in being the only way out. That was good. Less chance of them getting away.

Her eyes locked onto her targets. There were three of them, each of them huddled around one another as they spoke in quiet tones not meant for anyone else to overhear. Too bad for them, she was here.

Taylor brought a hand to her ear underneath her hood, twisting a small dial on her earpiece and thanking Emma for her work. The hushed whispers of the three men slowly grew louder as the device fed the noise directly into her ear, letting her hear them talk even from her place high above them.

“...o stupid. We should be guarding that safehouse instead of just standing around here.” One of the men said in a heavily accented voice.

“There’s too many people there already. We can't all be there or else people might start getting suspicious.” Another responded, “But yeah, I agree. It's cold as shit out here.”

Ooh, so there was a stash house nearby? Taylor leaned in, listening in interest. Unfortunately, it seemed that they weren't going to expound any more on the topic, switching the topic of the conversation to the weather of all things. Taylor felt her eyes dropping as they began to exchange anecdotes, sounding eerily similar to her dad when his friends happened to visit.

Boring, in other words.

Right, well she wasn't going to learn anything else like this. Time to get in there and do what she did best.

“Excuse me! Don’t you guys know there’s a curfew in effect?” They startled, looking around at the sound of her voice, before one of them actually had the bright idea to look up, locking eyes with her casually lounging on the wall. She gave him a small wave, keeping up her casual demeanor, “I’m gonna have to ask you guys to clear out of here. If you don’t, I’ll have to report you guys to the proper authorities and I’m sure you don’t want that. You should skedaddle while you can.”

Instead of an intelligible response, the men responded with shouted words in a language Taylor didn't understand but was pretty sure was some form of Chinese. They pointed their guns at her angrily and Taylor, having a feeling she knew where this was going, responded in the way that came naturally to her recently.

With the proper amounts of drama and sarcasm.

She gasped theatrically, flinching back as if she couldn't believe what was happening, “Wait, are those real rifles!? Where'd you get those!?”

More shouted words, accompanied by angry posturing and something in the back of Taylor's head tingled powerfully, leading her to leap off of the wall as one of them pulled the trigger. Bullets whizzed by her face and Taylor's heart jumped into her throat as she came inches from becoming swiss cheese. Knowing that it was likely the difference between life and death, Taylor kept her cool as she flipped into the air above their heads, thrusting her hands out.

“I'm very sorry but I'm gonna have to confiscate these!” She yelled as she ripped the weapons from their hands with her webs, “Call it a hunch, but I have the feeling you guys don't have the proper permits to carry fully automatic weapons. You can have them back when you learn how to behave!

They made surprised noises as she relieved them of their guns, flinging them away and deeper into the darkness of the alley where they wouldn't be able to easily reach them. She landed at the mouth of the alley in a crouch, and smiled as ABB gangsters turned to look at her in surprise as they realized they had been disarmed.

She slowly stood, cracking her knuckles loudly and feeling a guilty satisfaction at the flinches the action produced. “So, do you guys want to do this the easy way, or the fun way? I'm feeling nice tonight, so I'll let you guys choose.”

They looked at one another and Taylor was unsure if they even understood what she was saying, before one of them yelled out a war cry and charged towards her. The other two followed suit, and suddenly Taylor had three grown men charging at her with the intent to beat her to death.

Instead of being put out or afraid however, Taylor grinned, lowering her stance a bit, “Fun way it is!”

As the first reached her, she sidestepped his punch, responding with a knee to the gut that immediately took the wind out of his sails. She stepped around him as he fell to his knees and jumped up in the air as the second one approached her.

She put a hand on his shoulder, flipped over him, before turning a sweeping both of his legs out from under him in one fell swoop. He fell into his friend, wrapping his arms around him in an attempt to keep from smashing his head on the ground, and Taylor couldn't help but make a comment.

“Aww, look at that! I didn't think you guys were capable of caring about anyone, much less each other. Way to prove me wrong!” She thrust and arm out, webbing the two of them together before they had the chance to get up, “There, now you can hug it out until the cops get here. I’d go ahead and get comfortable, you'll be there for a while!”

She turned her head as footsteps approached, expecting another attack, only to blink as the third gangster ran right by her, booking it out of the alley and leaving his friends at her mercy.

She watched him go, a little stunned by his actions, before she burst into action, following after him, “Hey! Where are you going? The party's back here!”

He sped up at the sound of her voice, running even faster. She reached out, but before she had a chance to chase him down or pull his legs out from under him, Taylor looked up as a white-clad figure suddenly dropped from the sky into the fleeing man’s path. As he ran into them, he bounced off of their body as if he had run face-first into a brick wall, falling on his ass with a noise of pain.

Taylor grinned as she recognized the person who had just appeared, and Glory Girl looked down at the fallen gangster with a raised eyebrow, “What's the rush, buddy? You seem like you're in a hurry to get somewhere.”

Taylor zipped out of the alley, landing on a nearby light pole. She crouched down just above them, making herself known to the other superheroine, “He must have been in such a rush to get to the police station that he didn't want to wait. I can understand his impatience. Booking times are killer these days.”

Glory Girl looked up at the sound of her voice, grinning massively as her eyes alighted on Taylor sitting on top of the pole, “Spidey! Fancy meeting you here. What are you doing out so late?”

Taylor shrugged as she jumped to the ground, “I couldn't sleep and had nothing better to do so I figured I'd come out here and see what I could find. Evil never sleeps and all that.” She crossed her arms, “And my name's not Spidey, it's Widow.”

“Hmm…” Glory Girl made a thinking face, “Nah, I think I'll just keep calling you Spidey. It's more PR friendly.”

“Why do you care about how PR friendly my name is?”

“We're friends, duh. It's my job to make sure that you keep that public image up. Especially when you don't seem to really care about it.”

“I think my public image is fine, thank you very much! It's just the Protectorate who doesn't like me. Well, Armsmaster specifically.” He really didn't like her for some reason.

“And the ABB.”

Taylor's good mood immediately soured, “They don't matter.”

“Right. I forgot about… that.” Glory Girl looked slightly uncomfortable, before she turned her head down the street, “Speaking of which, you wanna take care of that or should I?”

Taylor looked in that direction to find the gangster who ran into Glory Girl had made a break for it while they were chatting. “Ah. Yeah, I'll take care of it.”

Holding an arm out, she aimed carefully before letting off a thick spray of webs. It wrapped around the fleeing man's legs, sticking them together and tripping him with a yelp.

Glory Girl made a face, as Taylor applied thicker webs, making sure he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, “That's still so gross.”

“You're just jealous I don't have to carry zip ties.” Taylor said as she walked back into the alley.

Glory Girl shrugged, floating alongside her as she began pulling the struggling gangsters out of the alley, “Fair. So what are you gonna do with these guys? Ooh! Are you gonna do that thing?”

“Yep. It's basically my calling card at this point. No point in fixing what's not broken.” Taylor gave her a grin, “Wanna help?”

Glory Girl responded with a smile of her own, “Duh!”

~~~

Taylor hummed to herself as she stood on the edge of the building, watching Glory Girl walk to the cops about the goons currently dangling from the light pole wrapped in a giant cocoon.

“Probably not my best work, truth be told.” She said aloud as she noticed they still had some wiggle room in the cocoon, “I think next time, I'll add some artistic flair or something.”

“What are you talking about now?” Emma asked, apparently done being silent, “Did you take care of those guys?”

She could hear the clinking of silverware in the background, indicating Emma was probably in her kitchen, away from her computer and thus, her camera feed.

“Yeah, I dealt with them. Actually got some pretty good info off of one of them too. One of their stash houses.” Taylor said, looking at the phone she had lifted from one of the gangsters, “It might actually be a lead to Her. I'll have to check it out before I head in for the night.”

She could hear Emma pause in the background, “Be careful Taylor. I know you want to get revenge for what happened to me, but if you get hurt, I'm not sure what I'd do.”

“She paralyzed you, Emma.” Taylor said, clutching onto the phone. The plastic creaked in her grip, “She nearly killed both of us.”

“I know, Taylor. But I'm getting better. We even have powers now because of what happened! You don't have to keep looking for her just for me.”

Taylor breathed deeply, “I’m not just doing this for you, Emma. I'm doing it for me too.”

“...Right. Well still, be careful alright? I'd literally lose my mind if you got killed, and this city doesn't need another villainous Tinker. I'd probably start calling myself the All-Seeing Eye or something stupid like that.”

Taylor smiled, happy for the change of topic, “I've heard worse names.”

“Worse names for what?” Taylor looked over to find Glory Girl floating up to her with a curious expression on her face, “By the way, why don't you ever talk to the cops?”

“Oh, it's her. Guess I better get ready to be ignored for the next thirty minutes. Gives me a chance to eat my cereal, at least.”

The clanking of silverware against a bowl followed by deliberate crunching entered Taylor's ear making her eye twitch. She did her best to ignore it, knowing that Emma was being as obnoxious as possible on purpose.

“I'm just talking with someone about cape names. Nothing too important.” Taylor shrugged as her friend touched down beside her, “As for why I don't talk to cops, I'm usually just gone before they show up. No reason to stick around when I could be helping people somewhere else.”

Glory Girl tilted her head curiously, “So why'd you stick around this time?”

“Because you're here.” Taylor said casually, missing the way that her friend paused at her words, “I also have something I wanna ask you. It's cool if you don't want to, I just figured I should ask.”

“Wow, you're forward, aren't you? Too bad you're dense as a brick.” Emma said in her ear, confusing her.

Glory Girl got a weird look on her face, only adding to her confusion, “Uh…huh. And uh, what is that?”

“I've got to deal with a stash house nearby.” Taylor said, pointing her thumb behind her, “There should be a few of these guys there and they have some info I want. You wanna help out? Could be fun.”

Glory Girl floated in front of her silently for a second, and Taylor could hear Emma sigh in her headset, before the heroine came to life once more. She shook her head as she came out of her daze, giving Taylor an odd smile, “Sure, I'm always down to crack some heads. Especially with my favorite partner in crime.”

Taylor gasped, putting a hand to her chest, “Favorite!? You mean you have other partners!? Are you cheating on me, Glory Girl!?”

“Oh, this poor girl…”

Glory Girl paused again, “I-... Let's just go. Where's this place at, anyway?”

“I've got the general location. Just follow me.” Taylor said, before swinging off into the night, followed by the city’s resident flying brick.

~~~ Later, Inside The Stash House ~~~

Thanks to her power set, dealing with stash houses like this was practically Taylor’s forte at this point. It came naturally to her, like Emma with her tech or Glory Girl with her… being almost bulletproof.

She crept through the halls, sticking to the shadows or simply crawling along the ceiling where nobody would think to look, all the while using stealth and common sense to thin the herd of ABB gangsters one by one. Her costume was dark enough that she practically melted into the shadows, making her almost unseeable unless someone was actively looking for her.

Crouching high above one such member, Taylor eyed the woman below her, looking around to make sure that she was alone. Her nose tingled with the acrid scent of nicotine from the cigarette she was smoking as it drifted up towards the ceiling, but Taylor didn’t let it bother her as she ensured that nobody else was around.

“I’m not detecting any heat signatures nearby. You should probably still make it quick though.” Emma mumbled in her ear, and Taylor nodded firmly.

Bending backwards on the ceiling, Taylor shot a pair of webs onto the back of the unsuspecting woman below her, pulling her upwards towards the ceiling faster than she had time to yelp. She slammed into the roof with a dull thud, and another flick of Taylor’s wrist alongside a quick application of webs ensured she stayed there.

Taylor slowly crawled towards her, locking eyes with the woman behind her goggles. The woman gave her a shocked look, opening her mouth to scream out, but Taylor reached out and clamped a hand over her mouth, shutting her up before she could say a word.

“Shh… Don't scream. We wouldn't want anyone to come and ruin this little chat we're about to have.” The woman's pupils dilated with fear as they locked onto Taylor's masked face, and Taylor was sure that she could see nothing but the yellow lenses of her goggles peeking through the darkness of her hood.

“Now the only reason I haven't knocked you out is because I need to ask you some questions. I could change that if you don't want to cooperate. There's more than enough people in here that I could question instead.” The woman shook her head quickly, and Taylor grinned, “Wonderful. Now then, I'm looking for someone very specific.” Taylor reached into the belt at her waist, pulling out her phone and holding it up to the woman’s face, “Do you recognize her? Nod if you do.”

To her delight, unlike all of the people she had questioned before, this woman actually nodded. She kept a lid on her excitement, though she did lean in just a bit to keep the intimidating act up, “That's good news. I was worried I might have to go through this whole place just to find someone who had what I was looking for. Now I'm going to let go, and you aren't going to scream. What you are going to do is tell me everything you know about this woman, got it?”

The woman nodded again and Taylor slowly let go, prepared to put her hand back at a moment's notice, “I-I don't know her name, but I seen her hang around some of the Lieutenants! I think she's being trained as one of them, o-or something!”

A Lieutenant? Of course someone like her would be rewarded for her heinous actions. Taylor leaned in even closer, staring into the woman’s scared eyes, “And? Where’d you see her last? Where do the Lieutenants usually congregate?”

“I-I don’t know! I'm just a runner! I don’t know nothing!”

Taylor frowned, moving to demand an answer that she actually wanted to hear, only to freeze as a voice called out from below them both. She looked down and her eyes widened as she was met with a bearded Asian holding a pistol in her direction, clearly unhappy about what she was doing to his comrade.

Yā, min'na! Kotchi ni kite!” The man shouted behind him, jamming his pistol in Taylor’s direction, “Kēpu ga aru yo!”

Taylor didn't have a clue what he was saying but she could get the gist. She flipped back down to the ground, twisting and shooting a web at the man in the same motion. He pulled the trigger of his gun, but nothing happened as her webs did their job of preventing the trigger from actually moving, rendering it useless.

Knowing that she didn’t have long before his friend’s joined the party however, and so she beat a hasty retreat back through the house, bringing one hand up to her mask as she ran.

“Hey Glory Girl! I’m headed your way! Get ready cause you got company!” She spoke, skidding around a corner and listening as several footsteps followed behind her, accompanied by shouts of anger, “Maybe quite a few of them!”

“Okay, Spidey, I’m ready. Just let me at ‘em!”

Taylor rounded the corner of a long hallway, and her eyes immediately locked onto the large window at the end of the hall. Hearing the footsteps behind her draw steadily closer, Taylor shot webs on either side of the walls, pulling back on them with all of her strength. Her webs strained and the walls creaked, threatening to break with the amount of force she was pulling on them with, and just before they gave up, she let go, rocketing herself towards the window at incredible speeds.

She smashed through the window with a loud crash, wincing as she felt some of the glass cut through the arms of her costume. She flailed in the air for a moment before reorienting herself and angling herself towards the nearby buildings, reaching an arm out to gain some semblance of control on her fall.

Only it turned out, she didn’t have to bother. Taylor grunted as she slammed into someone’s body in mid-air, and arms immediately wrapped around her torso, bringing her securely against the person who she had run into.

She looked up and Glory Girl grinned down at her as she adjusted her haphazard hold into something more comfortable for Taylor, “Well hey there. You come here often?”

Taylor wrapped an arm around her friend’s neck as she began to descend, “Eh, only if you’re around. Nice catch, by the way.”

“Thanks. I knew those family practices would be good for something.”

She set Taylor down on the sidewalk just outside the house, and the moment Taylor’s hands unlatched from around her neck, the door burst open and nearly a dozen men and women charged their way into the night, only to freeze as they were met with Taylor and Glory Girl, neither of them looking particularly impressed.

Taylor looked over at her friend who looked oddly eager to throw down, “You wanna take the lead on this one? You look like you’re rarin' to go.”

“Oh I am. I’ve been looking for something like this all night. My ex is being a pain in my ass and I’ve got some stress to work out.” She grinned widely, and a few of the ABB members flinched backwards at the sight, “And I think I’ll lead on this one.”

Taylor cracked her knuckles loudly, “Sounds good to me. Let's get to it.”

Between the two of them, the gathering of random thugs and ne'er-do-wells didn’t stand a chance. Taylor set them up and Glory Girl knocked them down, following up on the acrobatic cape’s leads as if they had been working together for years, while Taylor made sure that the gangsters didn’t get a bead on her blonde friend and destroy her shield.

When all was said and done, the Taylor and Glory Girl were standing among nearly a dozen groaning bodies. Some of them were unconscious while others were merely tied up, stuck to the ground with an ample amount of webbing that wouldn’t be going anywhere anytime soon.

Glory Girl dusted her hands off, looking around at their work, “Well that was fun, but I think I’m gonna head in for the night. I’m not even supposed to be out right now but Dean was texting me a bunch of stuff and… Yeah.”

Taylor didn’t really get it but nodded anyway, “Alright. Thanks for the help, Glory Girl. I probably could have done it by myself but it would have taken way longer.”

“No problem. Teaming up with you is always a blast.” Glory Girl gave her a smile which Taylor returned easily.

“Oh, one more thing.” Glory Girl suddenly leaned forward until her lips were right beside Taylor’s head, causing the brunette to freeze. She then whispered a set of numbers into her ear, her warm breath caressing the side of Taylor’s face.

She then leaned back, giving the brunette a grin, “You get that?” Taylor nodded slowly, memorizing the sequence of numbers in an instant, “Good. That’s my number. Do me a favor and call me if you want to do something like this again. It was super fun. Beating up thugs is a much better form of stress relief than venting to Amy.”

Taylor laughed, shaking off her surprise, “Sure thing. Though if we’re turning this into a therapy session, then I should warn you I’m pretty expensive. My time’s very valuable these days.”

“I’m pretty sure I can afford it.” Vicky said, raising above the ground and giving Taylor a small wave, “See ya, Spidey. Don’t be a stranger.”

Glory Girl lifted into the air, blasting away into the night and proving once again that she was one of the fastest flyers in the city. Taylor watched her go, a happy smile on her face as her friend flew behind some buildings and disappeared from sight.

“You’re a real lady-killer, aren’t you?” Emma spoke up, making Taylor remember that her friend was even there.

She blinked as her mind registered what her ears just heard, “I’m sorry?”

“Oh nothing. It’s just that I usually make boys put in a lot more effort before they get my number. Glory Girl must really like you. Good for you. I mean, she's a bit too blonde for my tastes and definitely too heroic, but good for you.”

Taylor blushed crimson as she ran back her and Glory Girl’s interactions. She was just being friendly and bantering like she always did, but now that she thought about it, they did have a bit of a flirting undertone, didn’t they?

“Hey, you should invite her out tomorrow night!” Emma continued to rib Taylor as she began to swing away into the night, “Maybe the two of you could brood on rooftops together or something. Actually, I doubt someone like her is really a fan of brooding. Maybe frolicking through a field of flowers or something?”

“Hey Ems?” Taylor said as she flipped over a building.

“Yeah, Tay?”

“Shut up or you're gonna be on your own with that essay.”