With Great Power: Good Samaritan

Taylor was having a really good time right now.

The brunette’s heart thumped in her chest as she swung from her webs, racing through her city faster and with more maneuverability than any car could ever hope to match. The buildings around her were her anchor points, keeping her high in the air as she used her webs to hold herself aloft and swing through the air like Tarzan swinging from a vine.

She let go of the web in her hand, using the momentum that carried her through the apex of her arc to flip herself in the air. Once, twice, three times she flipped, before shooting a web at the nearest building and swinging low, gaining even more momentum as she entered another deep arc that almost left her scraping the street below her.

Taylor had long since gone from normal swinging to actually having fun with it, testing the limits of her power. As she swung, she practiced flips and tricks, doing things that she would have thought were absolutely insane just a few days ago. Her body guided her through it naturally, and her danger sense helped her gauge when and how she needed to perform her next swing. It took a little bit of practice to actually get the hang of it, but she had more or less gotten it down by this point.

As she approached the edge of the block, Taylor took a turn so sharp that her body was practically parallel with the ground, slingshotting herself down another street with a whoop of exhilaration. The wind in her ears was deafening yet her danger sense let her know that she didn’t have anything to fear. She strayed close to a building, running along the glass surface to slow her momentum, before leaping off and onto the roof of a nearby hotel.

She rolled with her landing like she had done it a thousand times before, before kipping up to her feet and jogging the rest of the length of the roof to bleed off her remaining speed. As she slowed to a stop, her chest was heaving with her breaths and her skin was flushed with exhilaration, but she had never felt so alive.

“Guess I know why adrenaline junkies keep trying to keep themselves killed.” She said, not able to smooth the smile off of her face as she jumped up and onto the glowing neon sign above the hotel. The lights burning the other direction would make her practically invisible in tis darkness, so Taylor felt no hesitation to take off her mask and hood to let the cool air brush against her hot face. Her goggles would keep her face hidden enough if anyone saw her anyway.

She ran a hand through her hair, gently untangling the beginnings of knots forming in the dark strands, before reaching into her jacket and pulling out a small notebook. Opening it to the most recent page revealed a list of observations she had made about her power since she had gotten it. She pulled the small pencil out of the spine and put it to the page, continuing where she had left off.

“So far, all signs point to a minor Thinker power involving swinging and possibly acrobatics as well.” She muttered to herself, “Alongside my super strength and danger sense, I think I’m beginning to sense a theme. Not to mention the sudden brain blast I had making my web fluid. I was getting nowhere with that and the day I got my powers, I suddenly knew exactly how to make things fit together? I’m calling shenanigans.”

And that wasn’t even mentioning that other thing…

Pausing, Taylor reached down and pulled up her jacket, looking at the defined abs that were bulging from her stomach. Since she had gotten her powers, she had noticed that she was gradually becoming more and more muscular. She wasn’t exactly body-builder levels of built, but she was definitely a lot more toned than most of the track students at school. It was almost like she had been exercising and dieting regularly for the past few months, but she hadn’t done anything apart from web swinging. And as a matter of fact, she’d been eating even more than usual to keep up with the rapid gains.

It was pretty sweet, and Emma had been absolutely jealous when Taylor had told her about it. In her words, it was absolutely unfair that someone like Taylor, who had no interest in modeling whatsoever, just happened to get a power that would have made her any manager’s dream. In her own words it was, ‘a bigger waste of potential than someone with Taylor’s build refusing to run track’, which was made even funnier now that Taylor could probably dominate the sport with little effort.

Giggling to herself, Taylor finished her notes and stowed her notebook away for now. Slipping it back into her jacket, she sat there and took in the sight in front of her. By pure chance, she had landed on one of the few hotels around here with an actual view, and now she was in the perfect position to overlook the curling waters of the ocean just off the coast, softly illuminated by the moon glowing high above.

“I wonder what Emma’s doing right now.” She muttered as she stared off into space.

Taylor wasn’t blind to how her best friend had been feeling these past few weeks. She hid it well, but Taylor knew her. She could tell that not being able to use her legs was absolutely devastating to Emma. She could see it in the way that she stared at her lap when she thought Taylor wasn’t looking. She could hear it in her speech whenever the topic was brought up, and she hated it. She hated seeing Emma so despondent. So… not Emma.

Taylor’s thoughts went back to that day in the alley, recalling the smiling visage of the scarred woman, burned into her mind like she had seen it just last night. Her fists clenched angrily.

The police had kept Emma’s family updated on the progress with putting the scarred woman behind bars. They said progress, but in actuality, all they have given so far was that they were ‘looking into it’, which Taylor’s dad had confided in her actually meant that they had all but given up on actually finding her, much less bringing her to justice.

The idea that that woman could possibly get away with what she had done to Emma boiled Taylor’s blood. She’d normally consider herself a rational person, but to hear that the police, the people who were supposed to protect them from people like her and bring those very same people to justice, had completely given up on even finding her, made her angry like nothing else.

That was part of the reason why she was even out here in the first place, though she’d never actually tell herself that. Some part of her hoped that she might catch sight of some shady ABB dealings going on while she was out swinging around. Something that might lead her to where the scarred woman was. She was probably the most visually distinctive person that Taylor had ever seen, so they had to know something, right?

If she could figure out where she was or eve name, the Taylor could give that information to the cops under the guise of Widow or something and get her arrested. Or better yet, she could do it herself. Someone like that didn't deserve to be on the streets anyway, and Taylor would be more than happy to risk her life just to bring her in.

But she'd have to find a lead first. And looking for one woman, no matter how distinct, in a city with a criminal underworld as expansive and Brockton Bay's, was a task easier said than done.

Taylor sighed, shaking her head, only to pause as a noise broke her out of her thoughts. It sounded like… yelling?

Looking in the direction of the commotion, Taylor froze at what she saw taking place in the parking lot down below, right underneath her nose.

She had apparently been thinking more deeply than she originally thought, because right there in front of her a man in a ratty hoodie had another person pinned in between two cars, using his body and the wall behind her to keep her from escaping. He loomed over her in a threatening manner, speaking too low for Taylor to hear, but it was easy to tell that whatever was going on wasn't good.

Taylor stared at the scene for only a moment before deciding that there was no way she was going to just stand by and let this happen right in front of her. She stood up, keeping an eye on the two of them as she pulled up her hood and stuffed her hair into the back of the jacket to keep it out of her face. Pulling on her mask, she crouched down and leapt off of the sign, jumping nearly the full length of the parking lot towards a light pole near the pair.

She landed on it almost with a thud that shook the entire pole. Luckily the man below was talking too loudly to hear her or pay attention to the innocuous pole a couple feet behind him. Though as Taylor listened, the words he was spewing left much to be desired.

Taylor crouched down, observing the situation before her. The man had cornered the woman in between the cars and was forcing her against one of them with his presence. He had one hand in his hoodie pocket and something inside was tenting the fabric. Likely a gun or at the very least a threat of one. Best to assume the former in this case.

She turned her eyes to the woman. She had dark skin and long, straight hair. Her clothes were well made and clearly expensive, explaining why she had been singled out like this. Judging by her words and the look of fear in her eye as she shied away from the man however, she wasn't carrying any cash on her, which made sense for someone wandering around this time of night.

Thebman didn't believe her and was quickly growing more violent. He jammed whatever was in his hoodie in her direction with more force, making her flinch, and Taylor decided that she had seen more than enough. It was time to take action.

Taking in all of the present conditions, Taylor's mind rapidly formulated a plan. One that would give the man the least chance of fighting back as possible. And as he moved forward another inch, only a centimeter away from actually jamming his gin against the woman's skin, she put it into action.

She tensing her legs, Taylor leapt from the light pole and interrupted the mugging by literally jumping on top of the man tackling him from the side and sending him sprawling to the ground. As she tackled him, she made sure to shove his arm out of line with the woman he was threatening, just in case the gun went off in the fall she wouldn't get hurt.

“Oh my God!” The woman yelled, flinching backwards as Taylor made her sudden appearance. The man let out a wheeze as the breath was knocked out of his lungs, and Taylor rolled off of him as he reflexively tried to get up.

Jumping to her feet, Taylor kept with her plan. She turned around and extended an arm as the man shook himself out of his daze, turning towards her with furious eyes, “Who-!”

He barely got the word out before there was a clump of webs stuck to his face, blocking his vision. He shouted, trying to rip the webs off with his hands, but he only succeeded in spreading them around.

Stalking forward a leg back while he was distracted, Taylor kicked him in the jaw. She made sure to hold back, knowing that her full strength would be more than enough to put him in a grave instead of a jail cell, but what little she used was still more than enough to do the job. His head jerked to the side and his eyes rolled back in his head as he went limp, slumping over right where he was sitting.

Putting her foot down, Taylor eyed him, making sure that he wasn't going to suddenly wake up and more importantly, that he was actually still breathing. The slow rise and fall of his shoulders let her know that he still was, and she slowly relaxed, before turning to the woman she had just rescued.

“Are you alright?” She asked. The woman just stared at her, before her eyes went wide and Taylor's danger sense exploded to life in the back of her head. Acting on instinct, Taylor whipped around, her arm already in motion and extended in front of her before she had even completed her turn.

There was a hiss and her web attached to the hand of the man she had somehow completely missed, covering his gun and keeping him from pulling the trigger. He made a startled noise, clearly not having expected his sneak attack to have failed so spectacularly, and Taylor capitalized on that surprise by jerking the gUn out of his hand, sending it skittering underneath one of the nearby cars.

She stared at the man who had appeared. Just like the other one, he looked like he had seen better days. This one though, was also clearly on something judging by his bloodshot eyes, sallow skin, and the tremors in his hands.

“Another one?” She said aloud as she eyed the man, “Why didn't I see you before? Were you hiding under one of the cars or something?”

“I'll kill you!” The man roared, running at her like a rushing bull high on opiates.

“Well that didn't answer my question at all!” She shot a web towards his feet, hoping to make him fall on his face, but he showed a surprising amount of mental acumen and actually jumped over her web. Her eyes widened under her giggles, “Uh oh.” She said, bringing her hands up as he reached her.

Luckily, whatever was in his system didn't make him a very good fighter. Taylor ducked underneath his flailing punch and responded with one of her own. It was fumbling and she nearly lost her balance as one of her feet tried to slip out from under her, but she managed to catch him solidly in the stomach.

He lurched, doubling over in pain from her hit and Taylor kicked him in the leg, doing the same move move that she had seen in all those action movies she used to watch with her dad as a kid.

Instead of just shouting in pain and falling over though, something in the man's leg gave with a sickening crunch, before it bent in the entirely wrong direction. He let out a shrill screech and fell, clutching the broken limb with both hands as Taylor watched, stunned.

“Ah!” He cried, “My leg! You broke my leg!”

Taylor just stared at him for a moment, realizing that she had forgotten to hold back her strength, and in that moment, the man let go of his leg and shoved a hand into his coat, pulling out a gleaming object and pointing it at her with rage driven by pain.

Her danger sense soured hee into action and Taylor ducked a millisecond before the gun went off with a loud bang. She flinched minutely at the sharp zip of the bullet passing by her face before shooting a web towards the hand holding the gun and webbing it to the man's chest.

“You had another gun?” She asked, stunned as she watched him try to free himself, “What the heck, man? Are you overcompensating or what?”

She added another layer of webs to the weapon for good measure, before moving to web up the mah himself. Her heart was beating fast in her chest as she realized that she was nearly shot, but the adrenaline coursing through her didn't let her feel any fear, letting her focus on the task at hand.

“I'm putting you in time out!” She called as she began to web the man up. A few webs on his body and legs to keep him still and stop him from making the broken limb worse, as well as one on his mouth to keep him shut, and Taylor wss left staring at a white cocoon with a dark head of hair sticking out of the top, wiggling periodically as the man trapped inside tried to break himself free.

He looked kind of like a caterpillar actually, and Taylor giggled at the mental image, before putting her hands on her hips, giving the mugger a stern look, “Now you sit there and think about what you did. When you can learn to play nice and treat people with respect, I'll let you out, okay?” She paused, “Or I guess the cops will when they get here. Either or.”

Shrugging and ignoring the man's muffled shouts, Taylor turned to the woman she saved, only to find her staring at her like she had lost her mind.

Right. She had sort of been messing with them that whole time, hadn't she? She probably thought Taylor wasn't taking this seriously.

Taylor flushed, clearing her throat in embarrassment, “Sorry, I uh, I can't stop talking when I'm nervous. Or scared. Or happy.” Taylor blinked, “I talk a lot, now that I think about it.”

The woman continued staring at her before slowly turning to where the man was struggling in his binds. She pointed at him, “He's not going to suffocate in there, is he?”

Happy for the subject change, Taylor glanced back at the struggling criminal, “Nah, he'll be fine. My webs are breathable as long as they aren't layered too thickly in one spot. It'd take at least five or six layers to actually suffocate someone.”

She shook her head, “Anyway, that doesn't matter. Are you alright? Did they hurt you before I got here?”

“No, but they made plenty of threats. Enough to get a good picture of what they wanted to do to me.” The woman glared at the pair, “I was just on my way home from a late night at work and they cornered me in this parking lot. Money wasn't the only thing they were after.”

“Well you're safe now. They won't do anything to you.” Taylor said firmly, and the woman gave her a thankful look.

“No they won't.” She said, “I'm Sabah. Thank you for saving me.”

Taylor returned her smile, “I’m Widow, and you're welcome. I couldn't just stand by and do nothing while you were attacked.”

Taylor hadn't planned on stopping a mugging/rape tonight, but as she said it wasn't like she was just going to let it happen if she could stop it. That wasn't who she was.

‘Man, I've only been out for two nights, and both times I saved someone from almost dying.’ she mused to herself as the silence stretched, ‘I wonder if that's normal… Eh, probably.’

“Ahem.” Taylor broke out of her thoughts to find Sabah staring at her bemusedly. She gestured to the captive men, “You should probably call the police unless you plan to leave them here and let them catch hypothermia. I personally think that a bit of frostbite would be good for them, but you're a hero so I imagine you'd didagrre.”

“Not as much as you'd think.” Taylor answered cheekily, reaching into her pocket, before freezing as she realized that she didn't carry or in fact own a phone at all.

She looked at Sabah guiltily, “You wouldn't happen to have a phone, would you? I… left mine at home.”

Sabah gave her an odd look but complied, pulling out her phone and holding it out. Taylor took it thankfully and dialed the police, informing them of the situation and their location, before handing it back.

“Thanks. They said they're sending a squad car out.” She glanced at the trussed up men, before looking back at Sabah as she stored the device back in her purse, “So do you live nearby? I could make sure you get home safe and come back to take care of this. They aren't going anywhere anytime soon.”

Sabah shook her head, “I appreciate the offer, but no. I live less than a block away. It was only bad luck that caused me to get mugged so close to my apartment. This area is usually better about that.”

“It's Brockton Bay. No area is that safe anymore.” Taylor joked. Sabah smiled, though there wasn't much humor in it.

“Fair enough. Here.” Taylor blinked as something else was held right in front of her face. A small, black card with gold embossment.

“Take that as a thank you.” Sabah said as Taylor gently took it from her fingers, reading over it carefully. It was business card, complete with the address, number, and name of the business. Taylor's stared at the name, the word tingling something familiar in the back of her head.

Parian’s Dollhouse
Tailoring and Children's Entertainment

“Go there and mention me by name. I know the owner, and she should be able to get you a halfway decent costume at a reasonable price.” Sabah said, shouldering her purse. She glanced at Taylor, “Oh, and make sure you wear your… costume. That'll really help get you a good deal. Trust me.”

Taylor was sure all the discounts in the world couldn't let her afford whatever prices someone with this kind of business card put up, but she stored the card away anyway. Just in case. “An actual costume does sound nice. Thank you.”

“Really, it's the least I could do..” Sabah smiled one last time as she turned to walk away, “Have a nice night, Widow.”

“Bye Sabah! Get home safe!”

As Sabah disappeared, Taylor turned back to the would-be-muggers. The one that she had knocked out was conscious again, staring at her dazedly. He probably had a concussion. Taylor felt no sympathy for him.

“Now then,” She said, slowly stalking towards them, “What to do with you? I can't just wait around waiting for the cops to show up, but I also can't leave you sitting here where some poor innocent bystander might come by and decide to take pity on you. You might try to mug them too!”

Taylor made a thinking face and as she did so her eyes strayed up to the light pole. And just like that, a metaphorical light bulb flashed to life above her head as an idea came to her.

It wouldn't be easy, but it sure would be funny as heck and sufficiently humiliating for these two lowlifes.

~~~

A couple of minutes later, Taylor put the finishing touches on her work. She patted the sack full of squirming idiot,m firmy, making sure that her webs weren't in danger of fraying.

“Yep. That ain't going anywhere.” She said, before jumping off of the lamp post she was hanging from and stepping back to admire her work.

To make it a bit easier on the cops, Taylor had strung up the two muggers like her namesake, suspending them from the light pole by her webs. They were covered in webs, dangling from the high metal pole and illuminated by the bright light so that they were impossible to miss. They were also, as you could imagine, not very happy with the arrangement.

Unfortunately for them, they couldn't do anything about it. Their weapons were webbed to the ground nearby and unless they had a really sharp knife hidden up their sleeves, they weren't getting out of there any time soon.

She tilted her head, watching them swing back and forth in the wind, “You know, for a first attempt at making human wind-chimes, I’d say I did pretty good.”

She then called up to the men dangling upside down, “Hope you guys are comfy in there. Those cops haven't shown up yet, and it takes quite a while for my webs to dissolve without the reagent. You might be in for a long wait.”

Muffled shouting was all she got back in response, and Taylor glanced at her wrist, “Yeah I know. And I'm really sorry to leave you hanging like this but I've gotta get home and get some sleep for school tomorrow. If I don't get good grades, I might flunk out and end up strung up to a pole after trying to lug some poor woman. Imagine being that kind of lowlife.“

The men's struggles renewed and Taylor gave them a cheeky wave, “Have a nice night, you two.”

Just before she could leave however, Taylor's danger sense burst to life in the back of her mind. Tensing, she looked around the empty parking lot wondering if she had missed another one of them, only for someone to clear their throat directly above her.

Looking up, Taylor's caution died in her throat, replaced by awe as she witnessed a blonde teenager in pure white and gold attire float down from the night sky. Her dress and golden cape fluttered in the wind as she stared down at Taylor with a curious expression on her face, and Taylor was struck silent at the sight.

People had always said that heroes seemed larger on the TV than they did in real life, but Taylor realized that that couldn't be further from the truth. Because she had seen Glory Girl on the news dozens of times and she had always seemed like a normal teenager, albeit one with superpowers. But now, as she watched the girl descend upon her like an angel from on high, she was forced to take her words back.

This was the kind of hero she wanted to be? She had her work cut out for her.

“It's a little early to be decorating for Christmas, don't you think?” The costumed blonde stopped just in front of Taylor's home-made wind-chime, staring down at her with curiosity tinged with vague hostility, “What's with the ornaments?”