Wyvern Pt 8 (Patreon)

Parian's voice sounded from beyond the partition. “Okay, so how does it fit?”

I hesitated, then called out, “Uh, there's not much of it.”

“Just think of it as a swimsuit,” I heard Vicky respond cheerfully.

“I'm not much into swimsuits, either,” I replied.

“Are you decent enough for me to come back there?” asked the seamstress.

I looked down at myself. I was covered. Besides, she saw more of me when she was drawing those damn lines on my body. “Okay, sure, come on back.”

A moment later, she appeared around the screen. She paused to look over the swimsuit – that is, costume. “What's the matter?” she asked. “It fits all right, doesn't it?”

I fluttered my hands over my body. “I guess I don't like the idea of running around in something that's this … uh, well, skimpy.”

Her voice was sympathetic, even if I couldn't see her face behind the porcelain mask. “I can understand that. I feel much the same way. But there's not much more I can add that won't either hamper you or get torn the first time you Change.”

I grimaced. “Something, anything. I feel kinda almost undressed here. Below the waist, it's like I'm wearing just underwear in public. And up the sides, it kind of gapes. If I bend forward -” I demonstrated, holding it in, “- there's a good chance that people will get a lot more than a glimpse of side-boob, if you know what I mean.”

“Hm. That is kind of a problem.” She put her head to one side, resting her chin on her knuckles. “I had the idea that it would hang together more closely, but it's obviously not doing that. There are static-cling materials out there, but they cost an arm and a leg.”

“Which I can't afford and I don't want to put that on you or Lady Photon,” I replied.

“Wait a moment.” She snapped her fingers. “I have just the thing. How about zippers? Heavy zippers that can be pulled up the moment you change to human. And when you Change back, they get pushed down again.”

“That could work,” I conceded. “But what about down there?” I gestured at myself. “I keep wanting to cover myself. And guys will be able to stare at my butt. Or rather, see how skinny my butt really is.”

“Hm.” Her voice was serious, for all that I thought I heard a tinge of amusement there. “Well, okay then. Glory Girl wears a skirt over bike shorts. Why don't we put a skirt on this thing? Short enough that it won't hamper you when you're in wyvern form and long enough that it'll drape down and give you a little modesty when you're in human form.”

Looking down at the costume, I thought about that. “Okay, we can try that.”

“Well then,” she agreed, moving back to give me privacy. “Get back into the robe and I'll see what I can do.”

<><>

“Well, what do you think?” I asked, stepping out from behind the screen.

Parian's gaze was impassive, but the other three showed signs of interest. Lady Photon stepped forward and gestured in a circle. “Turn around,” she requested.

I turned in a circle; as I did so, Vicky and Amy stepped up, checking over every inch of the costume.

“Huh, I don't know what the fuss was all about,” Vicky snorted. “If that's a swimsuit, it's from about a century ago.”

“Yeah, well, your swimsuits could be made from the off-cuts from this one,” Amy sniped cheerfully.

“There were barely any off-cuts.”

“My point still stands.”

“Girls, shush,” Lady Photon chided them gently. Vicky stuck her tongue out at Amy. “Wyvern, how do you feel? Does the skirt work?”

I looked down at myself, at the skirt that now hung from the costume. It only covered me down to mid-thigh – less at the sides – but there was now the illusion of modesty, backing up the actual modesty of the costume itself.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “It does work. I like it.”

“The skirt does kinda finish it off, doesn't it?” Amy mused.

“I think it'll look kinda funny when you're in wyvern form and you're still wearing a skirt,” Vicky pointed out.

“Well, that's what we can find out now,” suggested Lady Photon. “Wyvern, would you like to Change for us?”

“Sure,” I agreed. “One second, I'll just go behind the screen.”

“Why?” asked Vicky. “You're wearing the costume now.”

“Yeah,” I replied, “but what if something, you know, goes wrong with it?” I gestured. “Riippp.”

“So what if?” She shrugged. “You'll be the wyvern.”

“Hm.” I considered this. “Good point.”

Putting the glasses on the table but leaving the mask in place, I worked at summoning up the dark memories. The endless tormenting. The flute. The locker. My blood ran cold, there was a lump in my throat and I wanted to cry.

But I didn't. Instead, I found myself Changing, altering form. My arms grew longer, membranes stretching out to match my elongating fingers. The zippers on each side of the costume came into their own now, sliding down and allowing the wing membranes to form naturally. At the same time, my emerging tail poked out through the slit in the costume just above my butt.

While my overall shape changed dramatically, my basic form did not; I ended the transformation still bipedal, still with two legs and two arms. My legs were wider; the material there and elsewhere had obviously been selected for its give. I checked as carefully as I could; nothing was torn, nothing damaged. The skirt, as Vicky had noted, looked faintly ridiculous, but I could live with ridiculous if it meant that I knew nobody could stare at my butt in a skin-tight costume.

Opening my mouth, I let out a triumphant squawk. Turning in a circle, I spread my wings wide so that they could all see the costume.

Lady Photon nodded. “Well, now. That works. It works very well.”

“Hell, yes,” Vicky agreed. “And the skirt doesn't even look as silly as I thought it might.” I turned my head toward her and made a rude noise; she grinned at me.

“Definitely, yes,” Amy stated. “I kinda like it.”

Vicky elbowed her in the ribs. “Maybe we should get you out of that burqa and into something more form-fitting too, sis. Show off that bod for the boys.”

“Yeah, no, I'll pass,” Amy demurred. “Me and my burqa are doing quite well, thanks.”

“Your loss.” Vicky turned to me. “So, uh, Wyvern, now you got your costume. Wanna blow this popsicle stand and go scare up some trouble?”

“Wait, wait,” Lady Photon interrupted before I could reply in any meaningful way. “We need to discuss options now.”

“Options?” asked Parian. “What do you mean?”

“Different colour costumes, for one.” Lady Photon pointed at the one I was wearing. “Basic black works well, but I was thinking of one in white, with maybe some sort of symbol, to fit in with the basic New Wave theme. Also, perhaps one that matches her scales.”

Now Parian was nodding. “I see what you mean,” she agreed. “Now that I've got the pattern, that'll be easy.”

“Also, because of her particular needs,” Lady Photon noted, “maybe a couple of pouches. One to carry a pair of glasses and one to carry a mask.”

“Phone,” blurted Amy. “A phone, in case she needs to call home.”

Lady Photon nodded to her. “Good thinking, Panacea. A third pouch for a phone.”

Parian didn't seem to be doing anything, but a pencil was scribbling on her notepad in midair. “Can I make a suggestion?”

“Of course,” Lady Photon agreed.

“If we put the pouches on a belt, she won't need to worry about what's being held on which costume.”

“A belt, yes, of course,” replied Lady Photon. “That should definitely work.”

“Wow, geez, and I wanted to get out of here sometime tonight,” groaned Vicky in a distinctly exaggerated tone of voice. “How long's this gonna take?”

Parian held up a finger. We couldn't see her smile, of course, but we could hear the satisfaction in her voice. “Give me ten minutes.”

<><>

“That was more like twenty minutes,” grumbled Vicky as we flew away from Parian's workshop. I wore the costume, slightly adjusted to accommodate the belt which Parian had whipped up on the fly. My glasses reposed in one of the pouches and the cloth mask in another. The third lay empty, awaiting a phone.

Lady Photon shook her head. “You do realise that patience is a virtue, right?”

“Yeah, but not when there's bad guys out there just begging to be Wyverned to within an inch of their lives.”

Amy, resting in Vicky's arms, frowned. “Did you just use 'Wyvern' as a verb?”

“And what if I did?” Vicky adopted a stuck-up tone of voice. “'Wyvern': verb. To inflict upon one's foes the absolute terror that rightfully comes from understanding that you've just pissed off a fire-breathing dragon. Also, to breathe fire on objects in such a manner that absolutely destroys them and leaves no doubt that a wyvern was involved. Halberds belonging to overly pretentious superheroes, for instance. Occasionally used as a noun. As in, Dammit, the wyvern just melted my halberd.”

I let out a screech of laughter, while Lady Photon smiled tolerantly.

“Okay, yeah, I'll give you that one,” agreed Amy, trying not to giggle. “That's a good one. I like it.”

“Okay,” Vicky decided briskly. “Once we've got you home, Ames, me and Taylor can go out and show Brockton Bay that there's a new hero in town.”

“Don't stay out too long, dears,” Lady Photon advised. “It is a school night after all.”

At the mention of 'school', I let out a disapproving screech. She must have picked up on it, because she looked over at me. “Now, Taylor, don't worry too much. Winslow will be closed for at least a day while they make sure that the building is still structurally sound. Maybe more time than that. In the meantime, you'll be working on your Change control, as Carol suggested.”

Oh. Right. Yeah.

“Hey, I got a great idea!”

We all looked at Vicky. I wasn't sure what was going through everyone else's minds, but the thought that crossed mine was Uh oh …

“And what is this idea, Vicky?” Lady Photon's voice didn't betray any trepidation at all; that made her braver than me. Or maybe she was just a really good actor.

“Taylor can come to Arcadia with me and Ames,” Vicky responded enthusiastically. “She can meet everyone.”

There was a long pause while each of us tried to fit our heads around the concept. I stopped flapping and glided for a few seconds.

“Uh, Vicky …” That was Amy. “Taylor's going to kind of have a secret identity, remember? Bringing her to school is not the best way to maintain that sort of thing.” Gliding alongside, I nodded to show that I agreed.

“No, no,” Vicky protested. “She can come to the school as Wyvern.”

<><>

Staring at her, I let out a startled screech. Half a second later, the other two joined in; Lady Photon was a fraction ahead of Amy.

“What?”

“You've got to be kidding!”

Lady Photon got her composure back before Amy did. “Victoria dear,” she began again. “How is that a good idea?”

“Well, it gets people used to her,” Vicky pointed out. “She gets used to being the wyvern among people. I'll be there to slap anyone down who wants to be mean to her. But it'll still be just a little stressful, so she's unlikely to Change back in front of everyone.”

“So it'll be more of a show and tell than actually Taylor attending classes,” Amy decided. “Admit it, you just want to show off the fact that we've got a dragon on the team.”

“Wyvern but hell, yes,” declared Vicky. “I mean, seriously, Ames. Isn't this about the coolest thing that's ever happened to the team?”

Amy sighed. “Yeah, it is pretty cool. I mean, I'm not as dragon-mad as you are, but I like them pretty much. And Taylor? I like you as a person too. Even if, the first time we met, I thought you were making moves on my sister.”

<><>

There was a stunned pause, then Vicky started laughing. Taylor joined in, making odd screeching noises, apparently trying not to lose control of her flight and tumble from the sky. Aunt Sarah took the initiative and landed on a rooftop below; Vicky landed with me then let me go and bent over with her hands on her knees, still laughing. Taylor's arrival was more of a controlled crash; she sprawled on the gravel then rolled on to her back, still making those odd screeching sounds.

“My goodness,” Aunt Sarah commented to me as we watched the other two cackle with mirth. “You really thought that?”

I flushed. “Well, yeah, kinda,” I admitted.

“I see.” Her eyes searched mine; not for the first time, I was glad of the scarf that I habitually wore over the lower part of my face as part of my costume. Still, she seemed to see something. “Hm.”

“What?” I asked defensively. Please don't ask. Please don't ask.

“ … nothing,” she replied after a pause so long that my heart nearly stopped. “But Amy?”

“Uh, yeah?”

Her eyes seemed to bore into mine. “If you ever need to talk to someone about anything, anything at all … you know you can talk to me, right?”

“I … yeah, okay. Thanks.” I turned away from her, not at all sure what she'd seen in my face, heard in my voice. I didn't know if I'd ever take her up on it. But the fact that the chance was there, the option to tell someone … I felt just a little of the hard knot of tension inside me loosening up, ever so slightly.

“All right then!” Aunt Sarah's voice cut over my thoughts as she clapped her hands. “It wasn't that funny, you two. Come on, Amy's still got to get home before you two delinquents go on patrol.”

Tears were running down Vicky's face when she straightened up. “Me and Taylor talked about that, up in my room. But she was worried about me making moves on her, so I explained that I was a lot more interested in boys than in her skinny butt. It just sounded so funny when Ames mentioned it too.”

Taylor – or rather, Wyvern, in that form – scrambled to her feet and nodded in agreement, adding one of her weird sounding lizard chirps. I had to admit, she was very cool looking indeed, especially when she spread her wings. I didn't know if I was as smitten with her as Vicky was – in a good way, of course – but I was a tiny bit envious that I hadn't met her first.

Of course, I could never show this. For years I had followed Vicky around like a shadow, doing everything she did, until I realised how I really felt about her. So now I was trying to prove that I could have my own likes and dislikes, be my own person. Maybe if I didn't shape my world around Vicky, I could stop being quite so jealous when I saw her with Dean.

Well, I could hope.

<><>

Lady Photon and I took to the air while Vicky and Amy were still getting organised; they caught up shortly afterward, given that my top flying speed was nowhere near Vicky's, even when she was laden down with her sister. I felt better as I sculled through the air; having a good laugh was quite therapeutic in its own way.

If I wasn't much mistaken, I was actually getting better at flying, too. As far as I could tell, I was getting where I wanted to be with less wasted effort, my wings moving more efficiently. I still wasn't much faster, but I'd be able to fly farther now. Which was definitely a good thing.

Still, I had the obscure feeling that Lady Photon and Vicky were cheating somehow; while I had to expend actual energy to get up to altitude and stay there, they just cruised along effortlessly. On the other hand, I could use the large surface area of my wings to do things that they couldn't, at least not easily. Flaring my wings, I pulled a hard barrel roll, ending up on the other side of Lady Photon from her two nieces.

“Hey, wow,” the healer exclaimed. “You never told me she could do that.”

“Ignore her,” Vicky advised her sister. “She's just showing off.”

“Showing off or not, that's quite impressive,” Lady Photon pointed out. “I suppose that because you have to work harder at flying, you think more about it and what you can do with it.”

I nodded; that seemed to be about right. Plus, although I couldn't convey this, there seemed to be an instinctive flying capability that allowed me to pull off complex manoeuvres with relative ease. Or maybe I was just talented; who knew?

We glided down to a landing outside the Dallon household; from above, it was easy to pick out the row of dark spots caused by my destruction of Armsmaster's halberd. I was torn between regret that I'd done it and pride that I'd managed to pull off something so impressive.

<><>

Dad greeted us at the front door; he looked my costume up and down with some bemusement. “And this fits you when you're human?” he asked.

I nodded, chirping agreement.

“It really does,” Vicky told him. “It looks like something you'd wear to the beach if you had no sense of adventure. Or to the mall, even.”

I shook my head. I would not be wearing it to the mall. Vicky, apparently divining my thoughts, grinned at me. “Wuss.”

Ostentatiously, I ignored her, turning to Amy. Holding out my wingtip to the healer, I made an inquiring chirp.

“Oh, you want to Change back?” Amy took hold of my wing, but waited until I nodded. Then she seemed to concentrate very slightly; I felt the soothing waves spreading through my body as the Change began. It went smoothly enough; when I was fully human, Amy let my arm go and I pulled the zippers up on either side of my body.

“Thanks,” I told Amy, then turned to Dad. “See? It works.”

“Huh, so it does,” he agreed. “I wasn't sure how it could, but Parian obviously knows her stuff.”

“And get this,” I told him. “Belt pouches.” Opening one pouch, I pulled out my glasses and put them on, then opened the next one and showed him the cloth mask that Parian had made up for me. “See? All equipped and ready to go.”

“Except for a phone,” Lady Photon reminded me. “We've still got to get that for you.”

Dad nodded. “I can sort of see the reason why,” he conceded, turning to her. “I don't like mobile phones – personal reasons – but as a superhero, Taylor will probably need one.”

“Well, to be honest, I won't even be able to use any of this unless I'm in human form,” I pointed out. “But if I am in human form, I'll almost certainly need it.”

“And you'll be able to wear the costume under your clothing if need be,” observed Mrs Dallon; she had emerged from her study just in time to see the transformation. “That's good. Very useful.”

“Oh, hi,” I greeted her. She was Vicky and Amy's mom and she was nice to me, so I wanted to be polite, but she still didn't come off as approachable as Mrs Pelham. “Thanks. I'm still getting used to it, but it seems to work. Parian says she'll be making a couple more in different colours.”

“That's probably a good idea,” she replied. “Now, I'm going to need to see your log of events at Winslow before I can do any more preparation. And you're all going to need to not contact the Barnses or anyone else regarding the matter until I'm ready for the case to move ahead. Is that understood?”

“Perfectly,” Dad assured her. “They'll probably be closing the school for a few days anyway, so Taylor won't even need to see Emma.”

“Actually, about that,” I observed. “Vicky wants me to come to Arcadia with her and Amy. As the Wyvern, not as me.”

He blinked, startled. “Is that really a good idea?”

Mrs Dallon rubbed her chin gently. “Actually, it's not a terrible idea. Vicky, you know the Wards, right?”

“Uh, yeah, some of them,” admitted the blonde. “The ones that go to Arcadia, anyway. I don't know who Shadow Stalker is yet. Or Vista. I think they go to different schools.”

“Well, we can't have everything,” Mrs Dallon decided briskly. “If you weren't already thinking of doing so, you could introduce Wyvern to the Wards -”

“Uh, wait,” I interjected. “I don't know if I'm comfortable with finding out their secret identities.”

She shook her head. “You don't have to. Vicky has many friends at Arcadia; the Wards are a small number among them. Unmasking to you is their choice. But doing this will go a long way toward integrating Wyvern into the team as far as the Protectorate is concerned.”

“Oh, okay.” That made sense. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“Good. Excellent. Cool.” Vicky stepped up. “Can Taylor and me go on patrol now, please?”

Mrs Dallon frowned. “I'm not so sure about this. She's a very new trigger. We haven't really explored the ramifications of her powers yet.”

Vicky rolled her eyes. “Mom, she flies and she breathes fire. You should've seen how she dealt with those perps at the shop today. Scared the living crap out of them and only gave that one guy minor burns.”

The frown deepened. “She burned someone?” She turned to me. “You burned someone?”

“Uh, yeah,” I admitted. “He had a gun, so I hit him with a really weak exploding fireball. It knocked him on his ass and set his shirt on fire. It went out pretty quickly, though.”

“Hmm.” She rubbed her chin again. “And nobody else got hurt?”

“No, Mom,” Vicky insisted. “Nobody else got hurt. Taylor's good at this. And you should see her fly.”

I felt the beginnings of a feeling of love and awe toward Vicky. It puzzled me for a second, but then I twigged; she was using her aura, consciously or otherwise, to influence her mother. Clearing my throat, I nudged her; she blinked and the aura receded.

Mrs Dallon showed no signs of having noticed it, though Dad was looking a little stunned. “ … fine,” she told Vicky. “Take her for a familiarisation flight around the city. If you see anything happening that you can't handle, don't assume Taylor's up to the task. Call the rest of us in. Do you understand?”

“Yeah, yeah, got it,” Vicky agreed, nodding rapidly. “Okay, Taylor. Ready to rock and roll?”

I took a deep breath. “Sure. Just give me a moment to Change first.”

“I can help, if you want,” Amy offered.

I shook my head. “No, I've got to learn to get this down pat. Thanks for the offer, though.”

“That's okay,” she replied. “Any time.”

Removing the glasses, I tucked them into their pouch, then made sure that the one holding my mask was securely closed. Then, taking a deep breath, I closed my eyes and concentrated. I knew the form that I wanted to be in; the Wyvern, strong and powerful. Nobody would tease or torment me in that form, for fear of my fire breath, my teeth, my claws. Nothing Emma or Madison or Sophia did would be able to affect me.

As I touched on their names, I recalled things that they had done to me; small matters to them, no doubt, but big problems for me. Juice on my chair, causing people to make jokes about wetting myself. Being pushed down the stairs, causing me to break my glasses, but nobody was willing to say who did it. Being reminded of my mother's death in the cruellest ways possible. They had done all of these things to me and much more. Each incident had been another straw added to the pile on the camel's back.

But now, things would be different. Now, I would be different.

<><>

I opened my eyes; nictitating membranes flashed back and forth over my eyes. My wings flexed and opened slightly as my tail moved behind me, balancing my stance. I was aware of all this and more, aware of the fire roiling in my gut. For now, it was banked, but it would be easy to call on it when needed.

“I think that was even smoother than the last time you did it,” Amy noted. “Though it looked kind of painful.”

I shook my head; there was no real way I could explain the emotional trauma that I needed to recall in order to force the change. Instead, I turned toward Vicky and let out an interrogatory chirp.

“Right, sure, let's go,” she agreed, moving toward the door.

I followed her, pausing by Dad and awkwardly wrapping my wing around him in a kind-of hug.

“Take care out there, okay?” he asked, putting his arm around my shoulders. I nodded and made what I hoped was a soothing noise.

“It's okay, Mr H,” Vicky assured him. “She's tough. And I'll take care of her.”

Letting go of Dad, I headed to the door; Vicky opened it and I stepped outside. It was early evening by now and the street-lights were just starting to come on. I spread my wings and took a deep breath of the chilly air. Mrs Dallon and Mrs Pelham came out on to the porch, while Dad stayed discreetly inside.

“Come on then, slowpoke,” Vicky called to me, launching herself skyward. I flapped my wings, lifting off of the ground, gaining altitude and speed with every stroke. As on the trip back to the house, the costume moved easily on me, neither hindering me nor being damaged by my movements.

Finally catching up to her, I moved alongside Glory Girl and we set out on our first patrol together.

<><>

“You know the Boat Graveyard, yeah?” she asked as we soared over the mismatched collection of ships. Some were large, some were small and some were half-sunken at their moorings. All were showing signs of disrepair.

I nodded and let out a screech, hoping to get across the meaning, Yeah, doesn't everyone?

“Okay, I'll take that as a yes,” she replied. “But what you probably don't know is that there are people living in the various hulks. Some are capes, some aren't. Homeless people, villains who are new to town and yet to establish themselves, vigilantes looking for a convenient lair, people on the run from the law or from a particularly vindictive villain … of course, when everyone else has already taken up the good positions nearest the shore, there can be some pretty intense shoving matches. But they keep it down so the Protectorate and the PRT don't take much notice.”

I tilted my head. Huh.

“But nobody usually gets hurt, so I generally just do a flyby once in a while, let 'em know that we know they're there.” We swooped lower; I peered down at the ships, now cloaked in dusk. I thought I saw one or two people moving around, but I couldn't be sure.

“Okay, so how are your wings holding up?” she asked. “If you're tired, we can land for a bit.”

I shook my head and gave a negatory screech. To emphasise my point, I flapped harder, gaining a little altitude.

“Okay, you're fine,” she conceded, easily matching me. “So where do you want to go now?”

My screech managed to put across the question why are you asking me? fairly effectively; she grinned sheepishly. “I keep forgetting you can't talk,” she replied apologetically. “Let's see; the ABB are fun to play with, but Inago and Oni Lee are both raving mad nutcases and Aunt Sarah would make Mom ground me for a week if I even risked meeting them on your first patrol.”

She paused, hovering in mid-air while she thought about the situation; experimenting, I found that I could hold steady as well. “The Empire Eighty-Eight are racist douches, but they've got some big hitters. I've heard rumours that Purity's split off from them, but I'd hate to find out that's wrong the hard way.”

“I know.” She brightened. “Let's go roust the Merchants. They're douches and they don't have any fliers, so you should be pretty safe.” So saying, she turned in mid-air and started off.

I followed, flapping my wings harder to keep up. From what I recalled, the Merchants were in the northern area of the city, so we didn't have too far to go, overall.

And then, from below, there was a tremendous BOOM as the side of one of the rusting hulks exploded outward. Startled, I back-winged and looked down; Vicky stopped also.

“What was that?” she exclaimed.

I shrugged as best as I could while flying. My screech was intended to convey how would I know, along with it wasn't me this time. Finally, I thought, there was destruction in the vicinity and it wasn't my fault.

“Well, whatever it was, there's something going on down there,” she decided. “Let's go see.”

Suiting action to word, she dived. For a moment, I paused, wondering if this was the best plan of action. What the hell. I folded my wings and followed Vicky down. 

Part 9