I couldn’t help but picture it.  My dad finding out I was a villain, what I’d done.  Forevermore having doubts about me.

You’re talking to the person who just prevented you from having to explain how you lost the use of your legs.

“I’m sorry,” I spoke, my voice low.

“Maybe you are.  I doubt it.  I’m sorry to leave you wondering what happened to your teammate, what the big name capes are going to say to you, but I have others to help.”

Fair enough. See ya around, I suppose.

She didn’t sound sorry at all.

Yeah, no, on some level she clearly enjoys it.

“Hey!”  I raised my voice again, “Come back here!”

She turned her head to give me a dark look as she walked away, “Good luck with Armsmaster.”

Maybe she needs it. Maybe not. I’m honestly leaning towards not.

Either way, Panacea is still oozing with insincerity.

She leaned close, so her mouth was by my ear, “Not so fun, is it?  Let me tell you, this isn’t a hundredth of the mind-fuckery that your teammate was pulling on me, back then.”

Ohh, yeah. Nasty tactics from Tattletale back then. Effective, but nasty.

“That wasn’t-” I stopped.

“What?  Wasn’t you?  You stood by and watched it happen, played along, took advantage of it.  Or maybe you were going to say it wasn’t that bad?  You really don’t know.  

Yeeah, Taylor doesn’t really have the perspective to understand the full extent of how nasty that was. And given that we were looking at it from Taylor’s perspective, neither do most of us, for that matter.

Well, at least at the time of first reading.

You don’t know me, you don’t know Glory Girl, you don’t know what Tattletale was saying, how she was threatening to ruin my life.

I guess she’s talking about the deeper meaning of what Tattle was saying… although there might’ve been something that was presented as Tattle whispering to Panacea, or Taylor not hearing it. I don’t remember.

Imagine the person you care about most, finding our your darkest secrets.  Secrets that, even if they eventually came to accept it, you know they would taint and color every single conversation you have with them afterward.”

The true horror of the name “Tattletale”.

She could’ve gone for a name that indicated her knowing people’s secrets. Instead she went for one that indicated that she would spread them.

“Hey!” I raised my voice again, “Give me an answer!  Stop fucking with me!”

She lifted her finger from my throat, and many of my smaller bruises and scrapes began making themselves felt once more.

Huh. I guess her power subdues the pain while in use. Makes sense – a lot of the procedures her power can stand in for would be rather painful without some sort of measures against the pain, even if they’re supposed to fix things.

I could breathe without a problem.  I wiggled my toes experimentally, felt them move against the soles of my costume.  I moved my left arm, felt no pain.  Tugged on the chain with it and felt everything working as it should, no pain.

Excellent. Shame your right arm turned into a cactus, though.

“All of us?”  It wasn’t just me.

“A slip of the tongue.” She smiled slightly, as if enjoying stringing me along.

Oh, she does. She absolutely does.

…

Headcanon that Amy arranges surprise parties for her family.

“Do these others include Tattletale?” I asked, “Did you heal her?”

She quirked an eyebrow.  “No.  I can tell you I didn’t.”

Ouch. Yeah, no… Sorry, Taylor.

“You didn’t.  Because she didn’t need your help, or because she was already dead?  Ow!”

My leg jerked again, a muscle in my thigh clenching hard, not unlike a charlie horse.  It subsided.

“I think we’re done here.”

Yeah, that’s definitely not her concentration breaking.

“According to the woman from the PRT that I talked to, it will work best if all of you are kept in the dark for as long as possible.”

Ominous… we might be dealing with…

*thundercrack*

…a surprise birthday party!!! *dun dun dunnn*

(The Protectorate doesn’t know Skitter’s birthdate, so they just guessed that it was today. It wasn’t.)

Also of note: “all of you”. Whatever this is, it’s not exclusive to Taylor.

…man, what if we’re getting both routes? What if all the remaining Undersiders (or maybe Brian and Alec, leaving Rachel out to dry – though I have a hard time seeing Brian accepting such a deal if he knows it’ll break up the group even further) get picked out as well as potential Wards?

A third option would be Taylor becoming a solo hero (or less likely, villain), but that seems unlikely, especially with how much Taylor craves company.

“Why?”  I had a growing suspicion as to why, helped by her glance to my restraints.  If they were arresting me, they couldn’t have me agree to any deals or plea bargains while I was drugged up, or it would be thrown out of court.  I was pretty sure.  One semester of a law class didn’t exactly leave me an expert.

Hm.

Maybe we’re looking at a Shadow Stalker type deal here.

I feel like this is a good spot to put some of the thoughts from further back in my mind over the course of the last few paragraphs into words:

What if Taylor does end up as a Ward? It’d be a quite legitimate way to continue the story. It’d allow Taylor to see (and Wildbow to show) some of the game of capes from that side of things too. She’d also end up getting to know her fellow – surviving – Wards better, too, including Clockblocker and (I think) Weld.

Honestly, I’m not sure which way I’d like it to go more. Going back to the remaining Undersiders has the benefit of continuing the thing with Taylor being a villain who originally meant to be a hero, and allowing her to mend her relationships, but her ties to them have been cut rather dramatically – with Brian’s rejection and the loss of Tattletale, among other things – and we lost my favorite Undersider.

…and besides, this event is one that by all means should cause a change to the status quo.

I think I might like Taylor becoming a Ward or otherwise part of a hero team.

“Ow,” I muttered, as one line of pain drew itself from my hip to my ankle.

“I’ve got to test your nerves as I re-establish the connections, but I’m too tired to do it all with my power, and I can’t dope you up with endorphins because Armsmaster, Miss Militia and Legend will be coming to talk to you in a bit, and I’ve been told you need your head one hundred percent clear for that.  So some of this is going to hurt.”

…

Well that’s an intriguing tidbit. Unless they’re going to everyone (which would take quite some time), it seems the higher-ups have taken some interest in Taylor. Not entirely undeserved, after her actions at the shelter, though I don’t know how much they’d know about that at this point.

There’s also a chance Armmaster told the other two about his previous encounters with Taylor, and about her supposed undercover recon mission. It’ll be interesting to see what Legend has to say about that if he did.

“Wait, what?  Why do I need my head clear to talk to them?  Why are they talking to me?”

“Mmm.  I can feel your emotions in your body, hormones and altered chemical balances.  You’re scared.”

Yeah… First she’s been worried that she’s getting arrested, and now the leader of the organization that would do the arresting wants to talk to her in person?

I’m more optimistic about it, but I understand why Taylor would be a bit concerned.

“Damn right, I’m scared – ouch.  Fuck, that stung.”  My leg jerked.

“It’s going to happen any time my concentration slips.  Best to stay quiet.”

Heh. I can’t tell if Pan’s being sincere here or she just wants Taylor to shut the fuck up already.

“Broken arm, broken spine, fractured ribs, small perforations in colon, kidney and liver, some internal bleeding.  This will take a minute.”

Lots of nasty stuff right there.

I nodded.  It was more severe than I’d thought.  That unsettled me some.

Yeah, I’m no medical professional but I’m fairly sure at least three of those things are potentially lethal if left unchecked.

A part of me wanted to apologize for what had happened at the bank robbery, but the tone of our earlier conversation made it feel like I’d be trying to dissuade her from doing something malicious with her power.

Fair enough.

Relief overwhelmed me as sensations began returning to my legs.  They were quick, like being shocked, but they ranged from hot to cold to the unfamiliar, running from my abdomen to the tips of my toes, tracing every internal area of my legs.

Yay! You can have sex with boys “the natural way” again! Eh, Taylor? 😉

I mean, unless that’s the one thing Panacea decides to mess with.