I was trapped in my locker and I was being eaten alive by the bugs. I could feel the toxins seeping into my body... into my mind... into my very soul. Whatever biohazard the trio of bitches had created during the two weeks of Christmas break, was killing me. How did they get it into my locker? How did they fill it up so much without it spilling out? It didn't make sense!

My thoughts started to stutter and felt disjointed. Was I losing time? Was I finally dying?

I couldn't stop my mind as it seemed to drift away from the reality of the horror I was in. Things snapped into place and I was suddenly in a lush green valley. The light summer breeze felt like fire on my skin. The sun beat down and filled me with energy. The green glow of the grass... of the trees... of the world... it rose up and flowed into me.

I wasn't the only one dying. The world was dying, too. It had so many wounds, wounds that apparently matched mine. Chunks of myself were consumed by the bugs and the energy filled in those spaces. The toxins were all natural and instead of killing me, they fused into my bones and my flesh. I could feel their power and their versatility, if used properly, and knowledge filled my mind.

I welcomed it. I wanted to live and put this to use. I had to do it. I was needed. I was cherished. I was going to save the world and the world was going to help me. I felt the spirit of the world as it connected to mine and pure green energy filled me.

It gave me strength.

It gave me power.

It gave me life.

*

Sophia, Emma and Madison returned to the hallway where the weakling's locker was and laughed as they relaxed against the wall across from it. They spouted insults, called Taylor names, and said they hoped she was dead. The banging and shouting from her had stopped a while ago and they wanted to see if she would start up again if they taunted her some more.

The other students gathered in the hallway seemed caught between watching a good show and worrying about being a part of a girl's murder, even if they were only bystanders.

They were so focused on the scene that none of them noticed the tangling vines slowly sprouting through all the little cracks in the walls and floors and growing to a fairly good size. They also didn't see the small paralyzing needles hidden under the leaves.

When the bell rang for the next class to start, it shook them all out of their fascination. It was too little and too late to save them. Hundreds of vines shot out like grabbing hands and engulfed everyone in the hallway... except for one of them.

Sophia reacted instinctively and changed to her breaker state of dark smoke. When she reformed, she saw the shock on everyone's faces. “Aw, fuck!” She cursed, because her secret was out. She took out her cell phone as she turned to run.

Six more vines tried to grab her and she changed to smoke again until she reached the end of the hallway. She reformed and looked at the entire hall covered in tangling vines as she hit the emergency code on her PRT issued cell phone.

*

Armsmaster was the first on the scene and he brought his Armscycle to a stop in the parking lot of Winslow High School. He dismounted and turned to the school to start his investigation, only to stop when a sound like thunder cracked through the air.

He stood there and stared, completely stunned, as the roof of the school broke apart and the top of a gigantic tree rose up. A PRT van with a squad of troops pulled up and he didn't notice it at all.

Miss Militia jumped out of the van and formed a standard beanbag rifle with her power as she ran over to him. “What's the situation, Armsmaster?”

Armsmaster didn't react and Miss Militia let out a soft sigh as she turned to look, only to see the giant tree as it grew high and bigger.

“It's about time you fucks got here! I sent the alert ten minutes ago!” Sophia said and stepped out of the car she had hidden in. She was covered in tree sap, cuts, what looked like rope burns, and her clothes were little more than rags.

“Travel time.” Armsmaster said, absently. He was still watching the enormous tree growing as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.

“Dauntless can fly! Where is he?” Sophia asked, angrily.

“Busy.” Armsmaster said.

“HEY!” Sophia yelled and slapped his chest armor. “Stop fucking gawking and do something!”

Miss Militia shook off her own shock. “She's right, Armsmaster. We have to save the people trapped inside.”

“They're already plant food, you idiots! Just burn the fucking thing down!” Sophia shouted.

Just then, all the windows on the ground floor shattered and massive tree roots shot out and dove into the ground. The roots seemed to grab hold of something and then they expanded to ten feet wide and crushed the walls constricting them.

“It's over 60 feet tall and still growing.” Armsmaster said. “How is it not collapsing under its own weight?”

Sophia growled like an animal and turned to the troopers. “Does anyone have a flamethrower or something? We need to stop it before it kills anyone else!”

“Fire would cause untold damage with a tree that large. The smoke from the bright green leaves could cover half the state by the time the flames reached the canopy.” Armsmaster said and turned his head away from the awe-inspiring sight to focus on Sophia. “Tell us what happened.”

Sophia did. It was a highly edited version and didn't include the details that it was her that caused the whole thing, so his lie detection software in his armor couldn't catch her. When she told them that the vines paralyzed people and shoved them into the tree's trunk, which she barely escaped, Armsmaster called the PRT director Emily Piggot.

As they consulted about what to do and how to proceed, the second floor of the school had its windows blow out and more roots, larger this time, shot out to cover the first layer and plunged into the ground. One such root slammed right beside where they stood and they were all knocked off their feet. Before the troopers could stand, dozens of vines instantly grew out of the root and grabbed them.

Armsmaster, Miss Militia, and Sophia rolled away from the attack and Armsmaster grabbed his Halberd and sliced at the vines trying to grab him. There was an audible hiss from them when his overlarge sword severed the ends and they backed off. He moved towards Miss Militia and Sophia and the vines let them go and backed off without him doing anything to them.

Both he and Miss Militia made note of that and ignored Sophia's cursing about more burns and bruises. Armsmaster moved them away from the massively growing tree roots that easily pulled the squad of paralyzed troopers into itself. They sunk into the wood like it was made of jello and then it reformed to leave no evidence that anything had passed through. Even the grabbing vines had disappeared.

The trunk of the tree expanded and started to push the ruins of the school out of the way. The tree was over a hundred feet tall now and it was only getting bigger, despite it being January and trees were supposed to be in hibernation. It was also gaining a lot of attention, both physically and online.

“What do you recommend we do, Director?” Armsmaster asked and made her response audible to the other two capes.

“Back off and clear the area of anyone else for a least a block. This is a significant threat and we don't want to provide it any more fertilizer.” Emily said and both Miss Militia and Sophia nodded. “I need to contact the Chief Director to see what she wants to do about it. Dealing with an S-class threat is too far above my pay grade.”

*

“Excuse me?” Chief Director Rebecca Costa Brown asked the image of Emily Piggot on her monitor. “What did you just say?”

Emily's image smiled on the screen, amused that she had shaken the chief director. “Perhaps a live feed from Armsmaster's body camera will help.” She said and her face was replaced with a streaming video of an extremely massive Ash tree that had the remains of a building scattered around it. “By the way, it's to scale and not taken at an angle. Armsmaster? Add in the height and width chart overlay.”

“Sweet Baby Jesus.” Rebecca whispered when the measurements appeared. “How is this possible?”

Emily's face reappeared and her smile was smug. “Powers are bullshit.”

Rebecca opened her mouth to reprimand her, then sighed instead. “I assume you're clearing the area?”

“It's already done. A block in each direction has been evacuated and monitoring stations have been set up in case it decides 360 feet high isn't high enough.” Emily responded. “So, Chief Director. What should we do about it?”

Rebecca thought about ordering her to handle it on her own, since that was kind of the point of the Brockton Bay experiment. It was to let them deal with things themselves to see what would happen if no one there had any support except for what they attained for themselves.

“I'll talk to the head of the Protectorate. If she reacts like I think she's going to react, you can expect to see her shortly.” Rebecca said and ended the call. She took a deep breath and let it out. “Fuck.” She whispered and stood. “Door to Home.”

A glowing white doorway appeared and she stepped through it and smiled at her body double. The woman smiled an identical smile back and nodded before she stepped through to assume Rebecca's place at her civilian job as the head of the Parahuman Response Teams.

Rebecca went to her bedroom and opened the secret panel to dress in her superhero costume as Alexandria. “Door to Cauldron HQ.”

Another door appeared and she stepped through it. She sat down and waited for five minutes, which was exactly long enough for their Thinker to know what she wanted and to notify the other members of Cauldron that there was an emergency meeting. Legend, Eidolon, Number Man, Contessa, and Doctor Mother entered the room and sat down at their usual spots.

“Contessa?” Alexandria asked.

“The situation is even more dire than you think it is.” Contessa said and then explained what she meant.

Each of the others in the room grew pale as she kept talking, and talking, and talking. They could have done without the detailed explanations of how anyone attacking the new cape would be slowly torn apart and digested by her biotinker plant creations. They did need to know that if they didn't get a handle on her soon, she would take over the city and eventually most of the eastern seaboard.

“I'll take her out right now and save us all the trouble.” Eidolon said and stood. “Door to that giant tree.”

“Tackle him!” Contessa shouted.

Alexandria and Legend moved as one and jumped on the costumed idiot just in time. The three of them hit the floor as a foot wide tangling vine came through the door and slammed into the conference table. It bashed and thrashed the thing into splinters, scooped up the debris, and pulled it back through the door.

“What the fuck was that?!?” Eidolon exclaimed after the door disappeared.

“That should have been your death.” Contessa said. “Let him up.”

Alexandria and Legend let their friend go and stood, then helped him stand as well.

“We are very lucky that she is still gestating and only reacting to perceived threats. If she had been fully aware, she would have caught both you and Legend and we never would have stopped her.” Contessa informed them.

Alexandria was surprised by that statement. “What do you mean? Isn't there always a chance for...”

Contessa shook her head and her large brimmed fedora hat hid her eyes from being seen. “My power said if she gets either of them, it's over. We should give up at that point and let Scion kill us all.”

Complete and utter silence filled the meeting room.

“Thankfully, I interfered and there's still several paths to victory for us to take.” Contessa said and looked at Alexandria. “You need to wait for exactly sixteen hours to appear in proximity to the anomaly and then walk... yes, walk... from the northernmost corner of the old school grounds towards where the school used to be.”

“Why do I have to walk?” Alexandria asked.

“If you fly, she'll see you as a threat and will command the tree to swat you to the ground. You'll have to walk after that, so starting on the ground saves you a lot of embarrassment.”

“Good point.” Alexandria agreed.

“There are two distinct paths after that. Both have risks and rewards. Neither are better than the other, except for how the people and heroes view the interaction.” Contessa said.

“What about the indistinct paths?” Doctor Mother asked.

Contessa tilted her head slightly. “Six of them could end up slightly better than the distinct paths, except there is a higher chance of failure, with one stand-out. Percentage-wise, if Alexandria murdered Sophia Hess in front of the new cape and fed her tree the body, she would choose to follow Alexandria with devotion, as long as we don't blatantly create or contribute to environmental disasters.”

Again, silence filled the meeting room and Contessa waited it out as they all thought about what she said. It was a lot to take in, especially the murder of a PRT Ward.

“What are the two distinct paths?” Legend eventually asked.

“One is assigning Sophia Hess to a containment zone deployment permanently and the other is to send her to the Birdcage for her crimes. Any other choices drop the success percentages by 20% to failure.”

“No slapping her on the wrist to keep her power at hand.” Alexandria said with a sigh.

“Sophia Hess used her powers as Shadow Stalker to torment and torture the new cape and caused her to trigger. Seeing her be punished for that and the year and a half of bullying, will make the new cape very happy.” Contessa told them.

They all sighed, even Doctor Mother, and she created the Case 53s.

“Suggestions?” Alexandria asked the room.

“Send her to guard Nilbog's compound. The PRT don't have any capes stationed there to protect them. Idiots occasionally attack the walls to try and free the prisoners, so she won't be sitting idle and it will keep her available to be used against Endbringers.” Number Man suggested.

“Birdcage.” Eidolon voted and didn't explain why.

“I agree with Number Man.” Legend said and Doctor Mother nodded.

“Contessa?” Alexandria asked.

“Don't let the new cape know you are doing it for that reason. Only say you're sending Sophia Hess there. Do. Not. Elaborate.” Contessa warned them.

Alexandria nodded. “If I'm not needed at the site until tomorrow morning, I'm going to head to Brockton Bay to meet the Director there and check a few other things out.”

Contessa nodded and then wrote out a note. “Door to Coil's office.” She said and tossed the note through and the door closed.

“What was that?” Eidolon asked.

“A warning. If he forgets about our deal, he won't be alive to deliver on his promise.” Contessa said.

“You would kill him for that?” Legend asked, a little upset.

Contessa smiled at him. “No, his own hubris will.”

Legend opened his mouth and then sighed. “He already chose to, didn't he?”

“Twice. He's trying the third and fourth times now and...” Contessa let out a soft laugh. “...never mind. He chose poorly and will pay for it.”

Alexandria shook her head. Why did people always think they were smarter than someone that could path a victory to anything? When someone like Contessa warned you, you listened or you paid for it.

“David, do not try to go there again.” Alexandria warned Eidolon and the man crossed his arms and pouted behind his mask. “We need you more than you need to fight every new thing that pops up, all right?”

Eidolon waited for a few seconds before he sighed and nodded.

“Door to PRT ENE parking lot.” Alexandria said and a door appeared beside her. She nodded to the others and stepped through. She had a few things to do before she had to confront a giant tree about wrecking a school and eating hundreds of students and teachers.

*

I became aware that I had a physical body once more. I couldn't remember when or how I had lost that feeling, though. Being a part of the life of the planet was so all encompassing that it was really easy to become lost in it. My mind wasn't really constrained by its container anymore, either. I could see and feel all of the things around me without opening my eyes.

Life surged all around me and I knew that it wasn't just the tree I was inside of. No, not a tree. The tree. The World Tree. I was to be born again from the seed of Yggdrasil and I was overjoyed at the thought. I was a part of it and it was a part of me. It was just as alive as I was and it was so massive and powerful that the seasons of the weather couldn't affect it.

I suddenly felt it was time and gave myself over to the feeling of emergence. The fluid-filled cocoon that my physical body was inside of, slid forward through the tree without resistance, as if it was made of water, and the bark split and my cocoon stopped halfway out of it.

I was nearly 200 feet up and I felt the sun hit the cocoon and I shivered at the mild photosynthesis process. I couldn't wait to feel the sun on my skin directly and pushed forward through the thick fluid that was the sap of the tree and my cocoon bulged out and then broke open. I didn't want to waste the sap, so I used my power to keep it inside and stepped out of it onto a 30 foot wide branch, clean and dry.

I gasped when the sun's rays hit me and I closed my eyes and lifted my head towards it as the cocoon closed and retreated inside the tree. The energy the sun contained gave me more power and I knew I could use that power to make more wonderful things to help this world heal from all the damage it has suffered.

Ideas flowed through my mind unbidden and unhindered, so I let my senses go and they flowed out and over everything. I could see and feel through everything that could be considered a plant, including the grass, and I felt someone step on my domain in the far northwest corner. I focused on the spot and my eyes widened as I saw Alexandria herself carrying a bound and gagged Sophia Hess.

I almost had an orgasm at the terrified look on Sophia's face when she saw my birthing tree. She knew it was her fault and whatever happened from here on out was on her. I smiled as dozens of tangling vines swarmed over me and attached leaves in appropriate places to cover me up.

I wasn't ashamed of my reformed body with green skin and supermodel proportions; but, I wasn't going to give everyone free show, either. My blood red hair was also quite the statement that I was deadly and I shouldn't be messed with.

A massive vine slithered around the tree and a huge leaf unfurled for me to stand on. I patted it as a thank you and I stepped onto my living elevator. It slithered down the outside of the tree to deliver me to the ground where Alexandria had just finished walking to. It was smart of her to not fly in, because the defense mechanism of the tree would have smacked her down for invading its space.

“Good morning, Alexandria. I see you've already cleaned up the trash.” I said with an evil smile. I also mentally had a needle thin vine slide up behind them and put a tracking spore onto Sophia's skin. It sank in and became sub-dermal. She didn't feel it because of the slight numbing of the slow-acting poison it injected her with.

“Good morning...” Alexandria said and paused.

“Gaia will do for now.” I said and looked into her eyes. “What are you going to do with her?”

“Now that we know what she's been getting up to, that her PRT handler and the Principal have been covering up for her, she'll be sent to the Ellisburg Containment Area.” Alexandria said.

“HMMF! HMFFF!” Sophia yelled through her gag and tried to squirm out of her bindings.

I knew what that meant. “I think that's quite appropriate for a big bad predator like you, Sophia.”

Sophia growled at me and I smiled.

“Perhaps I should give you a going away present?” I asked and a deadly looking flower grew out of the ground at our feet. “One poke with the thorns or one sniff of the pollen, and you'll be high for weeks.”

Alexandria stepped back with a loudly protesting Sophia.

I laughed and plucked the flower, showing that I had jabbed the thorns into my fingers and then I took a deep sniff of the flower that left a dark dust of powder on my nose. “Freshly plucked is the best.”

Both Alexandria and Sophia had wide eyes as I took another sniff, then I made the thing wilt and then crumble into ash.

“You better hope you never see me again, Sophia. If you do, it will be the last thing you ever see.” I warned her and grew a wicked-looking wooden staff out of the tree behind me. I pulled it free to swipe at a nearby brick and split it in half, which showed off that the end was razor sharp.

Alexandria turned and waved towards the far side of the school's lot and a PRT van drove in. It stopped when several vines tore out of the ground and grabbed it.

“They're here to pick Sophia up. She doesn't need to be here for us to talk.” Alexandria said.

I let her sweat for several seconds, then mentally ordered the vines to gently let the van go. The van drove the rest of the way, opened the side door, and Alexandria passed Sophia inside. The van took off like a bat out of hell and I held in my laugh.

“If we are going to talk, step into my office.” I said and waved at the leaf underneath me.

Alexandria glanced down and then up, then shrugged and stepped on. The giant vine slithered back up the side of the tree to the spot I had emerged from. A table and chairs grew out of the 30 foot wide branch and I motioned for her to sit across from me. A wooden bowl grew up from the table top and then stems of different fruit appeared and grew to fill the bowl and broke off.

“I just love eating peaches.” I said and picked one up, then slowly bit into it and the juice gushed out. I slurped it up and savoured the flavor, making sure she saw that I did. I may have used a bit more tongue than I should have, too. Oh, I think Alexandria just blushed!

That was very interesting. Very interesting indeed.

*

Back at the Cauldron base, Contessa let out an uncharacteristic giggle.