Finally here with a new chapter for y'all. Once again, apologies for the wait. Enjoy.


Taylor Hebert sat in the library. After the unexpected encounter with Ben, she wasted a couple more hours in on the internet. When she was refreshing PHO every two seconds, she realized how low she had sunk. So she reluctantly gave up her computer and found a quiet corner in which she could work through her reading assignment. It wasn't hard to find one. Libraries were mostly comprised of quiet corners.

The Triumvirate biography was as idealized as she had assumed. Leave it to schools to brainwash children. She struggled to keep her attention on it for more than an hour. For that reason, the sparse crowd walking towards the exit easily caught her eye. That meant it was a reasonable time to leave. With far more than enough patriotic propaganda running through her thoughts, she said her goodbyes to the library and made it outside. Just in time to see the bus depart

The walk home would be bearable, especially with all the exercise of the past few months. On the other hand, the bus would take less time. As long as it wasn't late.

So she sat in the bus stop and read more propaganda.

Unfortunately, the bus was late. When it finally arrived, seven minutes past the schedule, Taylor jumped up to enter before anyone else. She picked a spot far from the door, but not quite at the back. She scooted into the window seat, and soon after a hispanic woman holding a bundled baby sat next to her.

The bus screeched and started.

It didn't take much deliberation to decide to leave the book in her backpack. The ride was bumpy, thanks to both cheap buses and cheap roads, and if she absorbed one more "fact" she was likely to scream.

As she stared out the window, at the cars that overtook her, she absorbed the fact that a monstrous, human-sized bug was zooming through the sky, just above.

She screamed.

And then she enjoyed the sight of every head in the bus staring at her.

Momentarily, she was distracted from the crisis of the giant bug. There had to be a way to play it off. To deflect the judgment of total strangers.

The baby wailed.

"S-sorry," She managed to croak out, to the mother and to everyone. The mother lifted her child and switched to the seat across the aisle. Taylor didn't meet her eyes, but felt the disapproval.

Leaning down and staring, she cringed at the last few moments. Stupid giant bug-

Fuck! The giant bug! Her attention was stolen by her own social awkwardness, but she still felt it with her bug-sense. It was falling, right on the-

THWUMP.

The bus-riders jumped, and their eyes converged at the ceiling. Taylor's did too, and what she saw was worrying. It was slight, but they could see it.

They could see there was a dent.

Taylor thanked god that she hadn't publicly debuted as a hero. If someone successfully saw the bug, associated the sight with the nearby screaming girl, and knew of the local teenage bug master...

Well, it sounded kind of far-fetched when she thought it out. Of course she would be known for bugs, but that wouldn't imply she was somehow responsible for this monstrosity. The panic was baseless.

She took a deep breath, and instead of worrying, put her mind to getting a look at the bug herself. She'd have to move it off of the bus first, but she could already sense that it was mobile. Her head lowered again. This time not out of embarrassment, but to facilitate focus.

First observation: It wasn't sleeping, unconscious, or dead. Rather, it's unexpected, unexpecting puppeteer had been too startled to issue any commands. "Fuck!" was not a command.

Second observation: There was much to be learned before she could bring it before her eyes. She could use her power to feel the shape of the body, in the way one naturally knew where their own arm was. The ability wasn't known as a sense, like the more famous five. But it was real, and she used it. She stretched the bug's neck, and knew that the head lay on its side. She wiggled the limbs, and knew there were six. Four legs, and two arms that ended in fingers, which she wiggled, and knew there were three on each end. She opened the mouth, and knew that surely enough, it had a mouth.

The eyes, however, surprised her. Not human, but not bug either. Still, past experience had left Taylor well ready to adapt to unusual ocular input. More challenging was operating the four tentacle-like appendages that each had an eye on the end. They could twist to see in any direction at all.

Where could the creature have come from? A tinker jumped to mind. Not one in particular, though she could think of at least one that worked with biology. Most people tried to keep them out of mind, so never mind that thought. A tinker may have created it. Hopefully a hero, or some kind of rogue. She'd hate to see beasts like that roaming the city, possibly attacking people. At least, if that were the case, her power could easily stop them.

The city bus shrieked and shuddered, as it slowed for the next stop. Whoops. Her plan had been to fly the bug away before some curious bus rider could snap a photo with their phone. Stupid-phone havers. Okay, maybe she was just jealous.

The wings were all that were left to experiment with, anyway. She gave them an experimental flap, and -whoa!

Turned out they were like dragonfly wings. Very fast. They had to be, to keep such a large creature in the air. The bug shot up a few feet, before gravity did its job and slammed it back into the bus roof. People jumped again, and the dent deepened. The bus driver swore.

The doors had already begun opening. Taylor had to move fast. Or rather, the bug did. She immediately accelerated it to the skies. The wings were put to good use.

Taylor's pair of eyes stayed down. The bug's right pair of eyes stayed ahead, to prevent bird crashes. But the left pair twisted back, to watch the bus riders exit. By the time a line of sight was shared, the humans were but a blur. That meant it was a blur as well, to them.

Taylor and the bug were safe. She allowed herself a smile. Looking down, it was for nobody's pleasure but her own. The crisis was unexpected, but she handled it competently.

To be honest, it probably wouldn't have been a big deal. This was Brockton Bay. Capes were seen, and often too. Monster capes could be found in the alleys, if the rumors were true. Rumors did have to start somewhere.

Heh, she laughed to herself, knowing the joke before she even thought it in words. This was Brockton Bay. The baby across the aisle had probably already witnessed three Lung-Kaiser incidents, with a Hookwolf assault to boot.

Speaking of that. Her cape life. It could never really leave her mind these days, like how the bug couldn't really leave her range.

Things weren't… discouraging, per se. Worrying was the better word. Meeting Ben had motivated her. Both times, to be honest, as big of a dork as he was. But she could feel the shadows of inadequacy lurking in the corners by her conscience. She didn't do much against Lung. She got the heroes into a bunch of trouble. Her ass was basically saved by Ben.

But who knew. Maybe Ben would save her ass a few more times, and she could even return the favor. He had offered to work together. Maybe they would. He was a dork, but to be honest she was too. A team of heroes could only work when one member had the jokes and another snarked at each one. Okay, that sounded like a slightly cheesy Ben would say.

Of course, there were only two of them. A team? She was getting ahead of herself. But it felt more… comfortable, than the Wards did. She knew Ben. That made it better.

But speaking of teaming up…

Could she team up with the giant bug she had just found? It was still in range, sneaking above buildings so nobody would see it, two blocks perpendicular from the bus's route. Her initial thought was "AAAAAUGH!", but her second thought that it was some kind of monster. Tinker-made, maybe, but who knew? She had half a thought to make it her sidekick. Her mascot. Her main fighting force. She could become more than a support cape, who had to think cleverly to make a difference.

But what if it wasn't a monster, but a monster cape? Some unlucky bastard that triggered into a fearful creature, who was unluckier still and got into her range.

God, that made her feel… dirty, like she hadn't felt since before she got used to being with bugs all the time.

Well, she already planned on getting a close look at the bug. Maybe she'd try to apologize. Only, she couldn't talk with it, because it would be controlled within any reasonable distance.

Her mind wandered. What if that happened to every sentient being she met? God, it would be horrifying. Reigning dominion over anyone nearby, but nobody to talk to. And she'd feel so bad. Apologizing to everyone she controlled, but they'd be as unresponsive as bugs. She'd get birdcaged. She'd get a kill order.

That got depressing. She was glad it wasn't the story she lived. Though it made possibly-accidentally mastering a maybe-monster cape seem much more manageable. Controlling bugs was certainly weaker, but she could actually be a hero.

Time to get off the bus. Once again, it shook and screamed, but this time only a few minutes from her house. She stood up and kept her eyes forwards. Hopefully nobody was still judging her. All that thinking, and she nearly forgot about how she embarrassed herself.

She stepped out the door. "Good riddance," She imagined people saying.

As soon as the bus left, she ran. Away from the other bus-exiters, away from any hint of another person. She even reached out with her bugs–her normal bugs–to sense for people in houses, and whether those houses had open windows.

Finally, she made it to her house. It was only a block away from the bus stop, of course. There were a few people walking around at this hour, but she wouldn't have to worry about that in the backyard, thanks to the wooden fence. The neighboring houses were mostly empty, and with her bugs' limited sight, she could tell that the windows were all curtained. If that changed, or anyone moved nearby, she'd know.

She ran onto the porch, and into the door. At this point, she could hear the buzz of the bug's wings, but didn't look. As she darted through the kitchen and out the back door, she flew the bug over the roof.

Outside, she lowered the bug onto the messy grass.

It had a long, white body. Or thorax, to be precise. She knew the term from all her insect research. But there was no thick abdomen, as most insectile creatures had. Instead, the thorax tapered off into a narrow tail, before ending at a thick, black… stinger? She hadn't noticed that when feeling with her power.

The limbs she knew were a dull green, though the hands were black. Speaking of color, the body had a few black stripes across the front. The head was black too, though the eye tentacles were the same green as the limbs.

The green of the wings, however, was lighter. Yet dull still. What came unexpected, though, was the shape. Giant cavities stole from the possible surface area. That couldn't be efficient for flight. Though it made the speed at which they oscillated more impressive still.

That silliness barely held her attention. Instead, she stared, no, glared at the center of the head. The eyes came out of the side, but the normal spot still housed something. A symbol. A circular symbol. A symbol with a bright green hourglass shape, on a black background.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me, Ben."


Ben Tennyson awoke with a headache. He kept his eyes shut.

What was he doing that left him with pain? And not just in the head. Oh, he ached in many places.

He reached back into his memory. Flying over buildings, close to the roofs. Wait, no, that was a dream. And a stupid dream, anyway. The right way to fly was in open air, so that onlookers could gaze at their hero and know that he would always save the day.

Before that, then. He crashed into a city bus. No, that was still in the dream.

Or was it?

Ben had crashed into his fair share of city buses over the course of his career. It was an occupational hazard. Most of those crashes had happened while he was in alien form, and many of them were as aliens with flight. Enough were as Stinkfly for him to know he was hurting in all the right places, for a city bus crash to be the explanation.

But no, that was definitely a dream. The images, the sounds, the pain all felt more vivid the more he thought about it, but he did not make those decisions. No, something else was going on.

He opened his eyes and saw nothing but a dark green. It was probably grass, considering how it brushed into his face.

He turned himself over, and saw a backyard. A messy one, with little in it. No toys, bikes, tables, or even trees. A tarp covered something by the side of the house, probably a grill.

That house was wooden, with boards coated with peeling blue paint. It was tall, and had squarely arranged windows. The design was colonial, or something like that, that a house expert or Gwen would probably know the word for.

From within the house, something bumped. Loudly.

Still sitting, Ben leaned forwards to hear it.

It sounded like somebody running down a staircase. Then quickly turning around and bumping against all sort of walls and furniture, in order to get somewhere in a hurry. The knocking almost made it to the back door, about to reveal its image to Ben, when it abruptly stopped. Very abruptly. He could hear the skidding on the floor, as whoever was running decided they weren't ready just yet.

Well, Ben had time to spare. There weren't any video games he was meaning to finish, as they were all back in his home universe. And that fact had caused him serious turmoil last night.

There was another bump, though the person didn't reveal themselves just yet. It occurred to Ben that whoever was responsible might be a villain. After all, villains could live in perfectly ordinary-looking houses.

He jerked his right arm to rest over the Omnitrix, just in case, and tried to scuttle backwards, though it was hard to do so while sitting and with only one arm on the ground. He was already on the opposite end of the yard, but every inch might help.

The figure emerged, pushing the creaky door open. Too slow, to be honest. Was he going for drama? The creaking killed any of that, and was really annoying.

Ben's first thought, upon seeing her, was that she did not look like somebody who was just haphazardly rushing and making noise. Her movements were controlled, as she stepped down the concrete stairs, not partaking in the railing. She must have been taking a moment to calm down before exiting. It was a tad hard to take her seriously for that, but judging off of first impressions was rude.

That was moot, however, because it wasn't his first impression. Because his second thought was that he recognized that mask. Dark, with the large glossy eyes, above the skin-tight but thick, gray suit, with darker plates of armor.

"Hey!" He said, genuinely smiling, "It's you! Mistress Insect!"

Mistress Insect's mask's mouthpiece might have moved downward a centimeter, but before she could say a word, Ben was already correcting his statement. "No, it wasn't Mistress Insect, sorry. Queen Bee?"

"Uh," Queen Bee said. Whatever composure she had was treated like a bug was when it flew into a glass window.

By this point, Ben's hand was at his chin rather than the Omnitrix, and his mouth was curled in confusion. "No, it wasn't Queen Bee either. Stinger Machine?"

Stinger Machine's restricted body language was gone, replaced by resting, slightly hunched shoulders, and dangling arms. She wouldn't say it, but she honestly wanted to see if Ben would get it right.

He continued. "No, that one doesn't even make sense. You're not really a machine. Hmm, Bug Bomber? Hive Queen? Venom? Sorry, I kinda hit my head a few times in the last few hours, and the ache is killing me. Wait a second. One of those sounded pretty close. Was it… Bug Bomber? Was that it?"

The teenaged girl cape with many names finally spoke, exasperatedly. "No, it's Hivemind."

Ben clapped. "Hivemind! I should have thought of that."

"You did think of it, remember?" Hivemind answered. She might have been smiling, but the mask revealed nothing.

"Heh, I did, didn't I?" Ben remarked. "So, what brings you here? Or actually, what brings me here? The last thing I remember doing was flying around, then I woke up with aches all over me."

Hivemind started walking towards him. "It's kinda obvious when you think about it. You were that bug thing-"

"Stinkfly, and he's an alien," Ben interrupted her.

"Uh, sure. You were the alien Stinkfly, which is a bug. I control bugs. You kind of," She shrugged, with her hands facing upwards, "flew right into my range, and, uh, crashed into a bus. That I was riding."

"I see. Well, can't blame you for that," Ben said. Hivemind made it to him, and extended a hand down. Ben took her up on the offer, and pulled himself up onto his feet. She was slightly taller than him, which, as he remembered, was also true the night before.

He continued. "But next time, maybe keep me in the air. Or could you just fling me out of your mind control area? I wasn't really today, but I could be in a hurry somewhere?"

Ben still couldn't see a smile on her face, but it was definitely present in her voice. "Well, I was surprised. You don't usually see giant bugs flying around, even in Brockton Bay. I daresay it threw me for a loop."

Ben smiled. She continued. "Also, it is not a mind control area. You're just a weird exception."

This time, Ben laughed. Hivemind hesitated, then quietly joined in chuckling. As the conversation paused, Ben looked around at the scenery. Something caught his eye.

"Wait a moment. You found a weird, giant bug flying around, and you took it to your house?"

"Uh," she said, "You don't know that it's my house."

"Well, it's got to be either that or your secret base. And nobody would pick a place like this to be a base, no offense. Though I guess it's unassuming enough."

Hivemind looked at him. "Fine, you got me. This is where I was riding the bus to, and I knew it'd be empty. Also, my costume was in here. Forgive me, but I'm not quite ready to let anyone know who I am, just yet."

Ben suddenly leaned inwards. He raised his arm, and waggled his finger in the air. "Ah, but if you were worried about that, didn't you think of how I could use your house to find you? I could just knock on the door and see who answered it. And then ask them what teenage girl lives here, if it's someone else who answers."

Ben lowered his finger as he realized that Hivemind froze. And he became distinctly aware of the nearby bugs, and their steadily rising buzz. He resisted the urge to palm the Omnitrix.

"But…" He said, "I'll just not do that, sure. I don't even know the address, though I guess I could just go around and look… which I definitely won't do either!"

The buzzing died down, and Hivemind started to move again. "Okay, I'll trust you on that. I'm not really comfortable with people knowing, yet, not even-"

"Taylor!" Somebody shouted. The voice was mature, male, and came from inside the house. "Taylor! Are you there?"

Hivemind suddenly froze again, and the bugs buzzed harder. Then she lowered her tense shoulders, made the bugs go silent again, and said, "Shit."

She stepped towards Ben, and spoke in a hushed voice, "Listen, we just started talking, but I really don't want-"

"Say no more," He said, already browsing the Omnitrix's display, "I'll get out of here. Telling parents about your hero life is the worst. Though I don't think my dad was quite as bad about it as my mom, but don't get caught anyway. Let's meet up another time."

Hivemind seemed momentarily distraught, then nodded. "Thanks. I'll just go in- No, I can't do that dressed like this. I'll, uh, sneak around the house, then try to get in to get changed without him seeing me."

Ben was still staring at the Omnitrix. "Not Stinkfly again, no… oh yeah, sure. Good plan, but be careful."

He slammed down on it. And the next thing he knew, he was XLR8. Hivemind had covered her eyes with her arm, but was already lowering it, and staring at his alien form with (he assumed) wide eyes.

"I'll see you around," He said, before pausing, "Taylor," He finished.

"Wait, you-" She said, her name revealed.

Then he sped off into the city.


Danny Hebert had gotten off of work relatively early enough. It could have been earlier. For the next big job, there was not much more to do but wait, for the Mayor's decision. And that meant not much work for the guys who managed the Union. But while he had been wrapping up his business, he got a call from an old colleague, who had, thanks to the bad financial situation, resorted to joining the Merchants. He seemed to be out of that gang, finally, and wanted to know of the jobs were any better.

Danny wished he could have given him good news, but they had to make do on hopes, and some meaningless promises. Nevertheless, one less man in the gangs, and one more looking for honest hard work, was always something to be happy about.

As that nagged on his mind, he finished driving home, parking the car in the driveway. He unlocked the door, and entered to find Taylor's coat hanging in the closet.

School was out, so it wasn't out of the question for her to have come home. He called out, "Taylor?"

He was answered with silence, as he walked into the living room. There, her bag was home too. He called out louder, "Taylor! Taylor! Are you there?"

There was no answer. Until he heard what might have been people speaking. From the backyard. He walked to the kitchen and pushed open the back door.

"Taylor?" He called out, once more. But there was nothing, to his ears or his eyes.

Well, perhaps she went out. Maybe she was spending time with friends. That'd be good. Or at least, she might have gone over to the library. She would certainly show up back at home soon enough, or call. He trusted her.

He shut the back door, and locked it. Strange. It hadn't been locked when he opened it. No matter.

Settling down on the comfy chair in the living room, he turned on the TV and set it to a classic sitcom, one he remembered watching with Taylor when she was young. Haha, Joey was being a goofball once again. And Chandler, always with the laughs.

Danny adjusted his rear and got more comfortable.

A few minutes later, he heard the door slam open. Then loud running, up the stairs, above him.

He leaned forwards to get up. Taylor was finally home. With a skip in his step, he climbed the staircase and arrived at her room. Strangely enough, it was locked. He knocked.

"One sec, Dad!" Taylor said, with an air of franticness.

"No problem, Taylor," Danny answered. He waited. Less than a minute later, she opened the door.

Her hair was slightly disheveled, but otherwise she looked normal. Her hands grabbed each side of the doorway. "Hey dad, sorry I wasn't home when you got here."

"Don't worry about it. But were you out? Partying on the town?" He had a silent laugh. Silent, but plenty mirthful. It was just funnier if he spoke intensely. Parenting 101.

"Daaad," Taylor whined, "No, I wasn't doing anything. I did actually make a new friend, though."

"Oh really? What's her name?"

"His name's Ben."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "A boy? I hope nothing scandalous is going-"

"Stop it, dad. I've got some homework to do."

"Alright. Dinner's gonna happen in a couple hours. I've got plenty of time, so I'm thinking something a bit fancier than normal."

"'kay," Taylor said, already shutting the door.

Oh, kids, Danny thought. But a boy, that was interesting. Probably as unimportant as she wanted him to believe, but that was just what she wanted him to believe.

He went downstairs and began planning dinner.


Done, at 4300 words, which is a lot more than I expected to put in for this chapter. Many of you predicted that Stinkfly would run into Taylor's range. The odds of that are actually quite low, as in this point in canon Taylor's range is only 2-3 blocks. But I had it as an optional plan from the start, and decided to go for it because despite it being hard to write, the other option was even harder. Too bad that the other option still has to happen. I have merely delayed the struggle.

Taylor seems to be more relevant in this story than I planned, but I've got no problem with it. I think she has a lot of chemistry with Ben in their conversation here, which I didn't plan either. It just flowed out of me. I hope it reads well.

A lot has happened in one in-story day, eh? Next chapter, we'll move forwards in time a bit. It's probably obvious where we'll go next.

Please read the chapter, but if you're reading this, you probably already have. Please review the chapter, which you may not have gotten around to yet. And tell me what you thought of it.