Taylor and the Chaos Gacha (Patreon)

Taylor wasn't sure if it was the combination of people talking or the infernal beeping that woke her up but she didn't appreciate it either way as she felt like shit, which was perfectly understandable considering she'd been stuffed in a locker and left there for hours before the janitor finally admitted that she existed.

"You can't take her anywhere, she's a walking plague!" Amy snapped, glaring at the blonde haired teenage girl that was dressed like a Harlequin.

"I won her fair and square, she's mine," the Harlequin argued.

"What?" Taylor asked in a barely heard croak, thanks to her throat being as dry as the Sahara.

The tall, overweight man with a black trench coat and a theater mask of a smiling person turned to look at Taylor. "Tell this bitch that I own you."

"He owns me-" Taylor said, the words being pulled out of her despite her best efforts.

"Master!" Amy shouted.

"No shit," the man replied dryly. "So much for doing things quietly, time to grab a healer!"

"Stab him," the Harlequin ordered.

"Don't stab me," the man ordered as Taylor's hand went for the plastic knife on the food tray next to her bed. 

Amy froze as a pair of red glowing hands grabbed her arms. "Vicky!"

"No one can save you, I am-" whatever else the man was going to say was lost as Vicky crossed the distance from the open door to where the man was standing in the blink of an eye and hit him as hard as she could, painting the wall with his blood and brain matter as his head exploded.

"Shit," Vicky muttered, knowing her mother was going to scream at her.

Taylor's heart monitor started blaring immediately as her heart stopped and one of the collars around her neck opened.

"We need help!" Amy called out, wishing that she could actually heal the girl.

"What the hell?!" Taylor complained as she stared at her ghostly arms, finding herself floating next to the hospital bed, wondering if she was finally losing it or just dead. She turned and looked at her body which was lying on the bed unresponsive and not breathing, wondering why she was wearing two silver collars. 

"Fucking double dealing bastards!" the Harlequin complained as she took the bracelet off her wrist and tossed it to Amy. "Congrats, you've got a dead pet."

"What…" Amy trailed off as the strange teenager vanished as a doctor rushed into the room with a defibrillator.

"Get clear!" the doctor shouted as he ran over.

Taylor watched the doctor stab her in the chest with something then shock her body a couple of times. She blinked as she found herself back in her body, screaming as everything hurt.

Feat Achieved! Come back from the dead.

+1x Gold Random Gacha Ticket

"I thought we lost you," the doctor told Taylor, relieved that they hadn't lost the girl. "What happened?"

Taylor stared at the strange words that had appeared in front of her, that were strangely clear despite the fact that she wasn't wearing her glasses. 'Feat Achieved? Gacha?'

Amy sighed, knowing that she was going to have to deal with a lot of paperwork. "I was trying to figure out why I couldn't heal her when two annoying strangers burst into the room claiming that they owned the patient, one of them was a Master and she flatlined when he died."

"What happened to the other person?" the doctor asked as he handed Taylor a cup of water for her throat. "It's water."

"She teleported away when she realized that the patient had flatlined," Amy explained, wondering if she'd known how the man's power worked.

"What happened?" Taylor asked after sitting up and taking a drink, trying to make sense of the last couple of minutes.

"Some Masters have a built in kill switch," the doctor offered. "How are you feeling?"

"I like I got stuffed in a locker and electrocuted," Taylor replied as she rubbed at her chest, happy to be alive but not sure how to deal with the fact that she'd died and was seeing things.

"Beats the alternative," the doctor assured Taylor. "Can you at least make sure she's not going to relapse?" he asked.

"Permission to check your vitals?" Amy asked Taylor.

"That's fine," Taylor replied. "Is there a reason you can't heal me?"

"No clue," Amy admitted as she checked her vitals. "I can get a sense of your vitals and I can make some modifications but I can't actually heal you."

"Great, more paperwork," the doctor muttered.

"Do you think it has something to do with the collars she's wearing?" Vicky asked, figuring her sister wouldn't be as surprised if the girl was just a parahuman.

"They're not mine," Taylor told them as she reached up and felt the collar with her fingers that she was still wearing, the other one having fallen off when she sat up.

Amy glanced down at the bracelet she was still holding that matched the collar. "The woman tossed a matching bracelet at me, they might be tinkertech."

"More paperwork," the doctor grumbled good naturedly as he pulled his cell out of his pocket and called the PRT's number. "Don't go anywhere, we're going to need the PRT to clear us."

"So much for getting out of here early," Taylor grumbled as the doctor walked out of the room to make the report. "How contagious am I?" she asked Amy.

"What? You're not, I was lying to the lunatic, trying to get them to leave," Amy admitted. "Other than some bruises and electrical burns, you're in decent health."

Taylor sighed in relief. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Amy replied absently as she tried to figure out if there was a physical reason her healing power didn't work on the girl, knowing it was going to bug her if she didn't find a reason.

"Any idea why a group of parahumans might be after you?" Vicky asked.

"Not a clue, maybe Sophia or Emma hired them," Taylor grumbled.

"Who?" Vicky asked.

"Sophia Hess or Emma Barnes, Sophia is the one that shoved me in the locket, not that anyone is going to believe me, they never do," Taylor complained, not noticing the look of recognition and annoyance on Vicky's face because she wasn't wearing her glasses. 

"Great, that bitch," Vicky grumbled.

"What?" Amy asked Vicky.

"That was the girl that was being a bitch at the photoshoot a couple of weeks ago," Vicky reminded her sister. "Her father works at the same firm as Mom."

"Ah, right, her," Amy replied absently, more focused on the girl's biology. "Permission to try to fix your eyesight?"

"That would be great," Taylor replied, hoping that she'd be able to ditch her glasses.

Amy made a couple of tweaks to the girl's eyes and genetics, giving the girl better than 20/20 vision, mostly just to prove that she could actually alter her biology. "That's strange."

Taylor blinked a couple of times and stared at the wall, surprised by the amount of detail she could see without her glasses. "I thought you couldn't heal me?"

"I can't but that immunity doesn't seem to apply to my power making changes," Amy explained, not sure why she couldn't heal the girl.

"Shouldn't fixing my eyes count as healing?" Taylor asked.

"They weren't damaged, they just weren't particularly good…" Amy trailed off as she actually looked at Taylor's eyes and realized they'd changed color on her. "What the hell?"

"What?" Taylor asked.

"Your eyes are yellow and now they're going red," Amy replied.

"Great, more shit the trio fucked up," Taylor grumbled. "Does that mean I'm a parahuman?"

"Not that I know of," Amy replied as she tried to find a biological reason that the girl's eyes were changing colors. "Parahumans generally have Corona Pollenti in their heads and you don't even have a Gemma as far as I can tell."

"If she's not a parahuman, why are her eyes changing like a mood ring?" Vicky asked.

"I don't know," Amy admitted. "It might be a side effect from the collar or the master ability, there isn't a biological reason."

"Can you turn them purple?" Vicky asked, curious if she could control it.

"It didn't come with a manual…" Taylor trailed off as a translucent status window appeared in front of her like a video game. 'Huh. Two Active slots, three cards, five powers, two traits and five curses? Great, I'm actually cursed.'

"What's the matter?" Vicky asked, having noticed the girl's eyes turn grey.

"Nothing," Taylor lied, not sure if she was losing her mind or if she actually had powers.

"Try that again, my power is a pretty good lie detector," Amy told her.

"Isn't that against the rules?" Taylor asked as she pulled her hand back.

"Normally, but you'd given me permission to check your vitals and you were mastered, there's a bit of wiggle room, what's going on?" Amy asked.

Taylor considered lying for a couple of seconds then decided that she wanted answers more than she wanted to keep her secrets, especially since her eyes were going to make having a secret identity hard. "When I said manual, a status screen appeared in front of me."

"Like a video game?" Vicky asked.

"Yes," Taylor admitted. "I know that sounds crazy."

"Completely," Vicky agreed with a smile. "I believe you, it's just strange."

"What can you see?" Amy asked, deciding to humor her while they waited for the PRT.

"Two active slots, some cards…" Taylor trailed off as she touched the platinum card icon, causing it to flip over, revealing a card that looked like something from a trading card game. "Budding? You're capable of granting people abilities by giving them buds of your own abilities that manifest as sidegrades…" she trailed off as she read the rest of the power, 'The buds cannot be stronger than Elite rank. The ability you budded is made weaker until they can fully assimilate the ability as their own, at which point you can retrieve the bud and restore your strength, leaving them with a copy of the power. You can retrieve buds anytime.'

"Are you saying that you're a Trump?" Vicky asked skeptically.

"I don't know," Taylor admitted as the ability appeared on her list of powers.

"What else do you have?" Vicky asked.

"Vicky," Amy warned her.

"What? We're stuck here until the PRT clears us, we might as well help her figure out her powers," Vicky argued with a grin.

"Fine," Amy muttered, figuring she might as well humor the girl.

"Some type of energy bar," Taylor replied as she tapped one of the gold cards, causing it to flip over. "Body Refinement, this allows you to refine bodies, though not precise enough to alter genetics it can help someone build muscles, get rid of impurities, increase body size and alter their body into a more ideal state."

"That would be nice," Amy admitted.

"Let me try something," Taylor said as she tapped the new power, causing a description to appear and a card icon next to it. She dragged the card icon over and dropped it in one of her active slots, giving her a decent idea of how to use the power. "I think my powers need to be in a slot to be used. Can I test it on you?"

"Sure, why not?" Amy replied, fairly sure the girl wasn't actually a parahuman.

"Less freckles?" Taylor asked, trying to find something noticeable she could change.

"Better breasts," Vicky suggested 'helpfully', causing Amy to glare at her. "What? I've seen you look at mine."

"Fine," Amy muttered, annoyed that Vicky had caught her looking and relieved that she'd missed the reason she'd been looking.

Taylor reached over and touched Amy's hand, causing most of her blotchy freckles to instantly clear up and her breasts to increase half a cup, while her stomach got a bit more trim, leaving the healer looking a lot better.

"Damn," Vicky exclaimed when she saw the changes to her sister. "You need a mirror."

"That felt weird," Amy admitted, having felt the changes thanks to her power. "So much for you not being a cape."

Taylor used the power on herself, causing her breasts to increase half a cup size and the extra weight she'd picked up because she'd been overeating to deal with her depression to vanish, along with some minor imperfections. "Did it work?"

"Less bed hair and you look in better shape," Vicky agreed. "You could probably sell that, assuming it's permanent."

Amy checked Taylor's biology and health. "Permanent enough, you should get a bit more exercise if you want to keep it."

"I'll certainly try," Taylor promised as she checked the description of the rest of her powers, trying not to think of the trio's campaign to ruin her life. 'Mirror? You can touch a target to copy their power in place of the mirror ability for an hour, abilities stronger than Legendary abilities can't be copied. Two hour cooldown. That's crazy, I could be a flying brick for an hour or a blaster or anything else I can find.' She focused on the next power in her list. "Greater Cure Wounds, huh, I can expend energy to heal people…"

"You're a healer?" Amy blurted.

"Probably," Taylor replied as she dragged the card icon over to her other active power slot and dropped it in place, giving her a decent idea how to activate her power. She focused on her injuries and activated her power, repairing all of the damage the locker and getting shocked had caused and leaving her feeling fantastic. 

"You're going to need a costume and a mask," Amy warned her.

"I'm not sure where to start," Taylor admitted as she looked at her next power. 'Bequeath, allows you to permanently grant your physical abilities to others, granting them percentages of your own physical statistics, such as giving someone 10% of your strength or 20% of your agility. This only consumes your current physical abilities and only works with your unaltered base physical abilities. The lost abilities can be retrained. Why the hell would anyone give their stats away?'

"Bulletproof vests are a good investment," Amy suggested, wanting to make sure she didn't get herself killed since she could heal.

"Do you have any other powers?" Vicky asked, wondering if the girl was going to be the next rising star in the Bay.

Taylor glanced over the descriptions of her last two abilities, deciding to keep the Cement Manipulation ability a secret in case she wanted to fix a bunch of potholes that the city wasn't going to pay to fix in the docks. "String Manipulation, it lets me generate and manipulate supernaturally durable strings with supernatural precision."

"You have a weird collection of abilities," Vicky mused.

"Yeah," Taylor agreed as she tapped the last card, causing it to flip over. 'Shut Off: You're able to shut off powers by making physical contact with the user. The amount of energy you need to expend to do so depends on the power difference between you and the target. Strong enough targets may only be partially affected. Yeah, I probably shouldn't mention that, I don't need it ending up in a database.'

"You should heal Amy, she can't heal herself and she's been a bit stressed," Vicky suggested.

"Vicky, that's going to complicate things," Amy argued.

"You checked to make sure there wasn't anything wrong, right?" Vicky asked.

Amy rolled her eyes. "On her, we'd need to do more tests on other people and we should wait until we deal with the Master/Stranger stuff before we complicate things, the other power was bad enough."

"Sorry," Taylor offered, realizing that she should have been more careful.

"It's fine," Amy told her as a group of PRT agents and Armsmaster walked up to the door.

"Is everyone alright?" Armsmaster asked as he scanned the room, trying to get a read on the situation and hoping that everything was under control like the doctor had said.

"We're fine," Vicky assured him. "It's just been a weird day."

"What happened?" Armsmaster asked, wondering about Amy's lack of freckles and physical alterations since his HUD had flagged the changes.

"Amy screamed Master and I heard him talking about kidnapping my sister so I hit him before he could use his power on us," Vicky explained.

"Noted," Armsmaster said as he glanced around the room, wanting to make sure his camera got a recording of the entire room in case they needed it.

"I was just finishing up healing the patient when two capes teleported into the room and started arguing about which one would get to keep her as a pet." Amy gestured at Taylor. "She flatlined when Vicky killed one of them and the other cape took her bracelet off and tossed it at me, saying something about congratulations, you can have the dead pet then teleported out."

"Some type of control collar?" Armsmaster mused as he pulled a scanner out of his bag.

"Or a focus for their powers," Vicky suggested. 

"Thankfully, the doctor was able to jumpstart her heart," Amy offered as Armsmaster moved over and started scanning the collar on the pillow, figuring it was safer than the one she was wearing. "I checked to make sure there weren't any lingering medical issues."

Armsmaster relaxed when his scan came up negative for any electrical activity or signs of technology in the collars. "The collars don't seem to have any tech inside so they were probably just focuses for their power." He glanced at Amy. "Is there some type of sensor in the bracelet?"

"Doesn't seem to be…" Amy trailed off as she slipped the bracelet on and realized that she could sort of feel the girl's emotions. "Weird." 

"Weird?" Armsmaster asked.

"I can sort of feel her emotions," Amy admitted as she focused on releasing the collar, causing the collar to open and fall off Taylor's neck.

Feat Achieved! Escape Magical Slavery.

+1x Gold Random Gacha Ticket

Taylor stared at the words that were floating in front of her face for a couple of seconds then glanced at the section for cards on her window and smiled when she noticed the card waiting for her. 'Does this mean I'm a trump?' she mused as she touched the card when Armsmaster and the agents turned to look at Amy, causing the card to flip over. 

"Did you release the collar or did the power wear off?" Armsmaster asked.

"I sort of focused on it," Amy replied as she took the bracelet off. "But it might have worn off."

"Thank you," Taylor told Amy as she started reading the card, 'Ditto, Familiar: An amorphous purple blob with a dopey face, Ditto has the ability to transform into any creature they can see and adopt their special abilities except durability. They also do not take on the memories or the intelligence of what they transform into. They are also genderless and can breed with any race.'

"I'm going to have to confiscate that," Armsmaster told them.

"Can we get a receipt?" Vicky asked.

"What?" Armsmaster asked.

"The villains basically gave the collars to her and the female villain gave the bracelet to Amy., if they're not actually illegal, they look expensive, so can we get a receipt?" Vicky asked.

"Fine," Armsmaster agreed then turned back to focus on Taylor. "Do you have anyone that would want to harm you?"

"Just the girls that shoved me in a locker with used tampons," Taylor replied, figuring she might as well mention their names as it might lead to something. "Sophia Hess and Emma Barnes."

"What?" Armsmaster asked, forgetting about the collars for the moment as he realized he was going to have to have a rather pointed discussion about Sophia's caseworker.

Taylor scowled and started explaining, her eyes turning blood red as she talked about the trio and the locker, hoping that he could actually help since he was a hero.

0o0o0

Danny Hebert let his head flop against the headrest in his car, trying to get his mind in the right place to actually drive home. "I could have helped."

"I didn't want you to end up in jail," Taylor admitted.

"I wouldn't…" Danny trailed off as he realized that things might have escalated. "Fine."

"Fine?" Taylor asked, surprised that her father was letting it go.

"You're my Little Owl," Danny told her. "I just thought things were getting better."

"They were for a bit," Taylor assured him. "And then they started back up, reporting it didn't help, trying to avoid them just sort of pissed them off…" she trailed off, not sure how to explain her thoughts about the whole mess.

"Armsmaster said that it would be dealt with," Danny said.

"Do you think that will help?" Taylor asked, feeling sort of hopeful now that she'd told a hero about the whole mess.

"It can't hurt," Danny offered. "Either way, you're never going back to Winslow as a student, you can do homeschool or something."

"Good," Taylor admitted, knowing that she'd need the flexibility in her schedule if she wanted to be a proper hero. She turned her attention to the Curse section on her floating interface, giving her father a chance to get his thoughts in order before he started driving. 'Do Not Resuscitate, no third party healing items or healing abilities work on you, just your own. That explains why Panacea couldn't heal me but doesn't explain why they could resuscitate me. No Data? You've got a hidden curse, great. Story of my life,' she grumbled, wondering if that had something to do with why her eyes were changing colors.

Taylor glanced at the last curse. 'Wrath of Flesh? Your physical stats are locked; whatever your strength was when you got this trait is how it will always be. Even if you get a mythical strength boosting ability, it will do nothing, nor will training or traits. How the hell am I supposed to be a hero when I can barely lift fifty pounds and can't run for shit?'

"How long do you think your eyes will keep changing?" Danny asked as he started the car.

"It might be permanent," Taylor admitted.

"Cape?" Danny asked, studying her face in the mirror.

"Apparently," Taylor replied, thinking about what Panacea had said about not having the right nodes in her head.

"What can you do?" Danny asked.

"I know kung fu," Taylor replied sarcastically, causing her father to snort and crack a smile despite the situation and the insanity. "I have two slots for active powers and a weird list and I can apparently summon some type of shape changing minion."

"You're being serious, aren't you?" Danny asked, not sure how to deal with the idea of his little girl running around the city trying to save people and fighting villains.

"I was joking about the kung fu part but I was being serious about the rest of it," Taylor assured him, surprised that it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

"Okay, do you have any powers that give you extra durability?" Danny asked, trying to figure out how much he was going to have to worry about his daughter running around the city trying to save people.

"Not yet," Taylor admitted. "That just means I need a costume that will keep me safe."

Danny's knuckles went a bit white as he squeezed the steering wheel. "Do you have any powers that will let you make a costume that will keep you safe?"

"Maybe, I can make supernaturally durable string," Taylor replied with a grin.

"How do you know that?" Danny asked.

"Can I cover that after we've gotten home?" Taylor asked hopefully, trying to come up with a decent argument for being a hero without a brute rating. "I want another shower and I want some ice cream."

Danny took a breath and let it out slowly, trying to relax so that he'd be safe to drive, since the roads weren't the best and the traffic wasn't great. "Fine."