"Hrmmm." Armsmaster made a small noise and rubbed his chin as he examined the scene of my triple arrest. I noticed he did that often.
Uber, Leet, and Bakuda had already been taken away into custody but the storage facility was quickly becoming a temporary field hospital/quarantine site for the civilians who were operated on by Bakuda.
While Armsmaster observed the scene I rolled my last power I got from the confrontation. My Thinker power from Uber.
1d84=43=Roleplay
Thinker: RoleplayCost: 5 SPThis allows you to assume the skills of a single character or role at a time, attaining their peak human abilities. By immersing yourself in the role, you gain their expertise and excel in various fields.
That was a fun power. Doctor, engineer, military commander. It would definitely make my ability to infiltrate much easier. Not game changing like my Tinker power but still more than enough to make a difference. Assuming the role of a doctor might actually make getting those bombs out of the civilian's heads easier, mixing those skills with Tinkertech. And my opportunity to help them was probably coming up with how Armsmaster was shifting himself to face me.
"You said that Shard called you into this?"
I nodded. "Princess Powerful met Shard a few days ago and we exchanged information. She called me saying she needed help here."
"And where is Shard? Why didn't she stay to help secure the scene?" Armsmaster's statement didn't sound accusatory but it was hard not to take it that way, especially with how serious Armsmaster seemed to take everything.
"She said she was in the middle of a case or something like that. And that lives could be in danger if she didn't keep moving." Technically a life could be in danger since if I stayed here as Shard and didn't get Rachel out of here she would probably come into conflict with the Protectorate and who knows how that would go. "She also said to only tell you that she was here and to keep her involvement a secret." None of the civilians had seen me as Shard and a clone sent to forcefeed the ABB goons that had a potion to scramble their memories in a way consistent with head trauma.
"I'm not happy with not being in the know about her 'case'," I could almost hear the quotation marks around the word case, "but I'll respect her wishes and put down that an unknown Parahuman assisted. I'm even happy the two of you managed to come across the ABB here. From what the hostages have said they were here to ambush the Undersiders, in fact the troopers managed to find the stolen cash from Brockton Bay Central in one of the storage units." Everything Armsmaster said was the truth and I trusted him not to break his word. I'd rather not have Armaster know about my involvement as Shard but name dropping me as Princess Powerful would help establish her credentials as somebody trustworthy adjacent.
"Could we use the money as bait to catch the Undersiders?" I asked; already knowing the answer.
Armsmaster shook his head. "No. This bust was too big, the press is already planning on running stories the moment their photographers arrive to snap pictures. Any chance of using this place as a trap has been burned. I wouldn't be surprised if PHO already has a dedicated thread for tonight."
"Probably." I said. "I wish I could check but I haven't figured out how to connect my HUD to the internet yet. Not enough room to fit it all in along with all the essentials."
"That was one of my earliest roadblocks as well. I eventually got around the problem by learning how to fold multiple microchips into a single sheet at once. Of course my specialty revolves around cramming as much technology into a single space as possible." His tone became more affable, but in a way I knew was fake. The cape was obviously trying to fish for information about my Tinker specialty.
Playing along with his ploy would help build his trust in the short term, but even if he was one of the greatest Tinkers in the world I wasn't about to start our working relationship lowering myself for him. I had a fifteen SP power, if I was behind him it was only due to a lack of experience.
"If you want to ask Princess Powerful something, say it outloud." Keeping in character I kept my voice slightly petulant but amused.
"Fine. You promised these people assistance, and while the Protectorate is more than willing to offer it I don't currently have the tech to perform the careful surgery they would need. I can call on Protectorate Tinkers that have specialties that would make the process quicker but if you can help I would appreciate you assisting me."
"I'm willing to partner up with you for this. People are in trouble so Princess Powerful will help in the name of love and peace." As cringe as the Princess Powerful character was, it was actually a little fun to play her. Unlike with Cameron she wasn't an entirely constructed persona, just me play acting, so I didn't feel the disconnect in actions I did with the metallic cape. "My specialty is a little complex, but it will help here." Armsmaster nodded his head as if asking me to continue.
"I don't have a specialty with a hard focus like most Tinkers. Instead I specialize in making labs. Mostly labs for other Tinkers, elevating technology and research. I make them and then I sort of 'keep' some of the data I used to build the lab for my own projects. It also doesn't need to actually be built, and sometimes I even get inspiration for labs that aren't specifically for a Tinker but in those cases I get less info to work with for myself."
"And from the sophisticated armor you are wearing." Armsmaster allowed me to finish the thought.
"Yes. Princess Powerful has helped build labs for other Tinkers. Before settling in Brockton Bay to fight for love and peace I went through the territories and states taking jobs building labs. Both for the data needed to construct my suit but also for money to actually fund my designs." At Armsmaster giving me a look I continued. "I only did work for heroic or neutral Tinkers. Never villains. That would be wrong no matter how desperate I was. I also cannot tell you my clients, that would be a breach of privacy and wrong."
Armsmaster stared at me for a moment before relenting. "So have you previously built a lab for a medical facility?" He asked, carefully working around the taboo word 'biotinker'.
"No, but I am getting inspiration right now for one. Like Princess Powerful said I don't always need to have a Tinker to build a lab around. Sometimes it comes from need."
"I'll choose to trust you, for now." Armsmaster said. "And even use some of my personal funds to fund construction of a lab, but I will be with you every second you spend working on either the laboratory or a civilian. Understood." I nodded, and I truly did understand the deeper meanings behind his words. More than the civilians, Armsmaster needed to test us out as a trustworthy Tinker and hero. My power was slightly understated compared to my true system, but a Tinker that could learn that quickly from other Tinkers while also boosting up their own skills was truly a catch. I didn't miss the tightening of his jaw when I talked about making labs for Tinkers. He was tempted by the possibilities of a new lab and was willing to put some of his own reputation on the line to test me out in an environment where he could still control most of the variables.
Just like I assumed he would.
"I look forward to Princess Powerful and Armsmaster's first teamup!"
Let's Play
"Morning dad!" I said as he walked into the kitchen where I was cooking up a full breakfast. "Sit down, I made your favorites!"
He sat down, a cautious look on his face. "What did you do?"
I laughed maybe a little too loudly at his question. "Nothing! I promise." He looked at me and I relented. "Okay last night there was an incident and everything is okay and I'm safe but I got some new powers, specifically some Tinker ones."
"That's good, right?"
I nodded. "Yeah, I got a power that's…well it's absolutely the most powerful thing I've ever gotten and I need some space to Tinker."
"Don't you have that uh…the Scrapyard? Yeah, don't you have that to build your Tinkertech?"
"I do, but this power is…biological in nature. The Scrapyard has some things like mold, fish, and a few birds but it's not enough to do serious TInkering. Plus since I'm using Princess Powerful's powered armor pretty heavily I don't have a lot of energy available to bring tech to the real world. So if I want to make a proper setup I'll need access to material in the real world."
"Okay okay." Dad nodded and seemed to be considering things. "I'm guessing you want to use the basement?" I nodded. "What sort of Tinkering will you be doing?" His voice was even but I could tell he was struggling with our new normal.
"It's making creatures. Genetic engineering and cloning stuff." I winced expecting a bad response to touching near Biotinkering but his face was still even. He seemed a little confused, but not to the level I expected. It was then I realized it was due to my changing perspective. Dad never really cared about cape stuff and so while he was maybe vaguely aware of things like Bonesaw and Nilbog he didn't really participate in the cape scene's fear of Biotinkers. "I already have a few cool ideas in my head, but I need to create a lot of support architecture."
I reached under the table and pulled out a file folder I had filled up over the course of the last night. "Check it out! The basement is a little small, but for my initial build I can repurpose the chemistry set I had back in the day. I'm going to be making my first lab build very analogue, which will be necessary eventually but they'll cost a bunch of money to buy the parts for and scavenging them will take a lot of time, so I can repurpose a ton of the old stuff down there. Thanks by the way for never throwing away appliances." I shot him a smile as I pulled out a few sketches I made. "The focal point of the lab will be this biomass pool, I can use that to combine different genomes together and then pour the genetic sludge into gestation pods where they'll cocoon." I pulled out a sketch of what the cocoons would eventually look like.
I knew my dad wasn't following along but just getting to sit at the table and show him my plans felt nice. Like we were doing real father daughter bonding.
I eventually ran out of designs to show him, and despite the fact his head had to be spinning he was happy. "Okay, you've convinced me. You can use the basement for your Tinkering."
"Yes!"
"We will need to start seriously cleaning it up though." He started clearing out the plates of the breakfast we had eaten over the course of my explanations. "I know you said you could use most of it, but there's still things we need to keep stored safely. Tax documents, photo albums, our winter clothes. I'm free for the rest of the day if you are?"
"Yeah!" I finished the dishes while dad went upstairs to get his gloves and we went to the basement to start our work. The layout was deceptively large, but most of the space was taken up by towering boxes of junk we needed to get rid of. "Okay!" I clapped my hands together. "We should separate everything into three piles; trash, electronics, and stuff we keep. Electronics just put in that corner and I'll get around to disassembling them tonight. Trash I'll lug out to the backyard. And then we can move stuff we keep to the living room before figuring out where to store them."
"Sounds like a plan Taylor. Let's get to work." And to work we got. Between my superstrength and dad's willingness to let me carry the heavy boxes we made incredible progress very quickly. We even found some old ceramic plates dad didn't have any attachments to that I could eventually turn into a prototype gestation pod. Eventually though his stomach rumbled and he got up from where he was separating out boxes and started to stretch.
"I'm going to go grab some food. Do you want me to get you anything?"
"No, I'm good." I said offhandedly opening boxes. "Actually wait! If you could also stop to get some eggs and protein powder while you're out? I need them to make my first batch of genetic sludge."
"Okay… I'll stop at the store." He hesitated but eventually his desire to help his daughter won out.
As he left I opened up another box to figure out what pile it went to and froze.
Almost an hour later dad came home and saw me still sitting over that box looking through it. "Hey I got what you asked for. Also a burger since even you have to… eat…" He trailed of when I held up what was in my hands. "Our old photo album." He put down the greasy burger bag and sat next to me. "I remember this one, from when you were just six years old."
The album was open to a page showing a series of five pictures. First was of me and Emma racing around the park, next was of us on the swings and dad pushing us, me on Emma's big sister's shoulders for a piggy back ride, of my dad and Mr. Barnes trying to get the public grill working, and lastly one of me and mom. We were both facing the camera, her fingers on my cheeks pushing me into a giant grin. Her eyes were bright, like she was just so happy to be there with me, and her smile matched mine in how wide it was.
"We went to the park to celebrate Alan getting hired at the firm. You and Emma ran around for hours and we ended up just gorging ourselves on hotdogs." There was fondness in his voice. "Your mom chased you two through the whole park, I honestly have no idea how she did it."
"I look a lot like her. It shouldn't shock me but it does, every time I see her photo I remember that we share the same hair, the same mouth, I always see how much of myself she gave me."
"Maybe…" Dad hesitated, his voice still happy but tragedy was slipping into it. "Maybe we should put some of these up around the house again. So we don't ever forget what she gave us."
"Y-yeah." I whipped the tears forming from my eyes and pulled out a second photo album. "This one is from before I was born. Back in college. Maybe we can put up one of these?"
Dad didn't even try to keep his tears from falling. "That sounds great kiddo. We can finish the basement later, let's figure out which of your mom's photos we want to display."
Let's Play
Cameron was chewing on her non-existent nails as the other Undersiders were panicking. Grue was pacing the perimeter of the living space, checking the windows often just waiting for something to show up. Regent was in full costume, his taser at the ready, and despite looking nonchalant was obviously expecting trouble. Tattletale meanwhile was in the other room arguing with Coil.
"Listen, we did the job, we got it done! You're the one who was holding the money when it was taken! No! I'm not saying you have to replace it all but you have to be understanding here! You agreed to double our haul, and we got a haul. We're willing to let the forty thousand the PRT took go, but you still need to pay us each eight thousand. Deal?" There was silence as the conversation continued on the other end of the line. "Okay, six thousand is fine. But in exchange you need to give me access to some of your moles in the PRT. We need to know how much they know about us and fast." Coil must have agreed because Tattletale sighed in relief. "Okay, send me his info and I'll get started on him. Thanks boss."
She walked back into the main room. "Any movement outside?" The Thinker asked Grue.
"None so fa-wait! It's Bitch, she's back." He responded as he was peering out a window blind.
"Thank god." Tattletale let out a deep breath. "I still hadn't gotten any confirmation on what actually happened to her. The PRT really needs to get it together."
The girl then went downstairs to unlock the door and let Bitch in.
"Bitch," Grue started. "What the hell happened last night." Just from a glance Cameron could tell something big had happened. Her lip was split and both her eyes had been bruised.
"Got jumped by the ABB." She said simply. She looked like she just wanted to take her dogs to her room but she appeared to have more sense than that. "They followed me to where the money was being kept, tortured me to try and get info on where you guys were." She glared at us all as she said the next part. "I didn't say anything though. Not a word."
"How the hell'd you get out then?" Regent was the one asking.
"Some cape attacked them, got loose and beat the shit out of them, grabbed the dogs and left. I felt like shit so I had to crash at my shelter, it was closer than here."
"And the reason you came back so late? Do you have any idea what we've been going through? All we heard this morning was that the Protectorate arrested a cape at the same place we stored our money. Then even when we found out that it was the ABB who was arrested, Tattletale's network let her know that apparently you were name-dropped by a bunch of concussed gangbangers." Grue was angry.
"I have a fucking concussion!" Bitch barked at him. "I had to go to a doctor and they didn't let me keep my fucking cellphone when they were torturing me!" She seemed genuinely angry, and Cameron couldn't blame her, but just in case something happened she moved behind Grue.
"You're right you're right." Grue held up a hand to bring the energy of the room down. "Sorry for freaking out, we didn't know where you were and we had no idea what had been exposed. What did the doctor say?"
"Concussion and the same old shit. Gave me some meds and said to not do anything for a week. Fucking bullshit though." The dog cape said.
"Alright. We can go over what happened later. Go rest for now, Tattletale is figuring out what the PRT does and doesn't know. Until we're absolutely safe though we're staying on base and have to be ready to bounce at a moment's notice."
"Whatever." Bitch brushed past the team and went to her room with her three dogs.
"Okay, I'll keep up watch." Grue said. "Tattletale, keep pressing your sources and figure out what's been leaked and what's good."
"You got it oh fearless leader." She then turned to the metal girl. "Tin Girl, come with me. I want to show off and you're a better audience than Regent."
"Hey! I'm a great audience."
Cameron ignored the comment and instead nodded and followed Tattletale to her room. "So what's up first? Hacking? Blackmail?"
"No, what's up first is that Bitch is lying." Tattletale said bluntly, her mouth forming into a thin line.
"Huh?" Cameron was confused at the sudden shift.
"Bitch is lying about something, I can tell."
"What is it?"
"Not sure. I've been using my powers all morning and neurodivergent people like Bitch are hard to read, especially with my migraine coming on." The girl was already running her temples trying to stave off the pain of overusing her powers.
"So how do you know she's lying?"
"Her wounds. They're too fresh. It's not an exact science but even using my power slightly I could tell her injuries only came from maybe seven to eight hours ago."
"And the ABB were arrested late last night."
"Exactly." Tattletale said. "Plus she's being too light on the details about her escape. Bitch is laconic by nature but there's no way she didn't have more to say about what happened last night. She's hiding something."
Cameron took in what Tattletale was saying. There were very few reasons for somebody to hide the details of what happened last night, and to cover up with false wounds. The Undersiders were her team now and she had a duty to them. "What do you need me to do?"
"Keep an eye on Bitch for me. I'm not around the base nearly as often as you are and if your uninterrupted jaunts into the city are to be believed you're pretty good at getting around unnoticed."
"I'm decent at it." Cameron humblebragged.
"So just keep an eye on her and let me know if she does anything suspicious."
The metal cape gave a salute. "You can count on me!"
Let's Play
I grimaced as my fears were realized. I was worried that Tattletale would notice Rachel was holding information back, but the girl in question wasn't worried and just had me rough her up a bit so she had marks to show for her capture. I needed to keep an eye out for how that developed. Right now though I have other things to worry about.
While dad and my main body were looking through old photo albums and Princess Powerful was drafting up an early parts list for a surgical lab I had a spare body from last night not doing anything. I was tempted to just put on my Shard outfit and get to work, but there were other parts of my life I was ignoring that I had to focus on.
"Taylor!" Emma waved at me as she approached. This morning when I woke up I called Emma and asked if she wanted to grab lunch. I was still in the process of forgiving her, but between Madison having switched over to my 'side' and Emma's fight with Sophia being bad enough that Sophia occasionally didn't even eat lunch with us I was starting to feel bad that Emma didn't really have anybody to be her friend. There were still hangerons, people that flocked to Emma's natural beauty and charisma but they were still distant, more acquaintances or lackeys than anything else.
"Hey Em." I pulled up a smile. It wasn't that hard. "Glad you could make it."
Of course! She moved in for a hug but stopped when I took a step back. We weren't that close. "I had, like, nothing to do so you calling me was a godsend. Plus I've wanted to come here for a while!" Here being some trendy sandwich shop that apparently had locations in Boston and New York. My enhanced senses told me that at the very least the food smelled very very good so it was a good choice.
"No time to waste then."
The line was long, as to be expected on a Saturday afternoon, but Emma filled the time talking about her next modeling gig. She had actually landed something serious this time, serious enough that Emma wasn't technically allowed to tell people about the details.
"And I can't say exactly who but apparently the photographer is an actual pro. Like, knows people kind of pro. If I impress him I might actually manage to have a career and not just do a little modeling on the side."
"Is that something you want? A modeling career?" I asked my friend.
"Maybe? I mean it's not like I have anything else going on. Plan A was…well I never exactly had a plan A. Modeling makes a decent amount of money if you get good enough at it, and hell, maybe I could even give acting a try."
"Acting?"
"Yeah. Another model I work with, an older girl, said that when modeling gigs are low she does acting for student films. Apparently it pays an okay amount and they usually buy you dinner afterwards. I was thinking about trying that out during the Summer."
"Emma Barnes, hot shot movie star." I teased and Emma actually blushed. "I can see it now, going to Hollywood, red carpet premieres, scandals with married costars." I could probably make a decent killing in Hollywood with my new power, but I genuinely could see Emma making it as an actress. "Plus I remember you killing it as the tree in our school play. Brought a tear to my eye."
"Shut up!" She shoved me and I continued to tease her until it was our turn to order.
As usual Emma ordered something small while I got what seemed like the most calorie dense option on the menu. Less than nutrients my body more just needed just raw biomass to continue to improve. Although I quickly remembered this was a clone body and so none of said biomass was going to end up in my main body. Which itself barely needed more than a burger a week to operate a peak efficiency. Wow for a technically smart person I was really dumb.
"Is that part of your whole deal?" Emma asked as we sat down at our table.
"What do you mean?"
"Eating whatever you want. You eat basically tons of food and you just end up getting more lean than anything." That's what she was asking about. My powers.
"I don't want to discuss these kinds of things with you." I said plainly.
"Sorry." Emma at least had the decency to be ashamed. "It's just…I wish I knew what it was like."
"Being able to eat whatever you want?" I asked dismissively.
"What it's like to not be afraid." And with that she went silent.
Afraid. I wondered how often I'd been afraid since I got my powers. The last time was probably when I was against the Simurgh. Even in the tightest of spots I'd never really been afraid.
"Do you feel scared often?"
"Almost every day since the alley. I have good days and bad days of course, but I just…" Her hands started to tremble before she caught herself and hid them under the table. "I feel like at any moment something could happen and I can't do anything about it. All I've ever wanted was to feel like I was in control of my life for once." She turned away from me. "Sorry. I shouldn't have brought that up."
"No, no. It's fine. Just…it isn't all control. When you're like this things have a way of spiraling. I don't necessarily feel scared anymore but in control? I don't think I've felt any less in control than these past few weeks. I honestly have absolutely no idea what's going to happen to me next."
"Grass is always greener huh? I wish we could just live like when we were kids, when we didn't have the past or the future hanging over our heads." Emma slunk down in her seat, a defeated look in her eyes.
"Tell me about it." The two of us ended up in uncomfortable silence until our food arrived.
Name: Taylor Anne HebertCreature Creator LVL 16SP Cap12Loose SP4Tier 1 Powers(31)Mover(1)Shaker(4)Brute(4)Breaker(2)Master(3)Tinker(5)Blaster(1)Thinker(2)Striker(2)Changer(3)Trump(3)Stranger(1)Tier 0 Powers(79)Synergy Powers(29)Power Upgrades(6)April 16th
A.N.
For this chapter I took a bit more time on and in general I'm pretty proud of it. I mean for sure there's probably a dozen typos and malpropers I put in but in terms of content I am happy.
It feels like it's been way too long since Emma and Danny appeared in a meaningful way. I need to show that Taylor is still making progress on rebuilding the friendship Emma tore down and Danny is healing as a father in mirror to how Taylor is healing as a daughter.
Armsmaster is an autistic king as usual and because this is pre character development Armsmaster so he has a second agenda that will benefit him and his standing in trying to see if getting a lab from Princess Powerful would be worth it.
On the Undersiders part of the plot this came about as a natural consequence of my thinking through the actions I had my characters perform. I mean, since the PRT arrived at the storage facility then the loot from the Bank job would be confiscated. Plus the captured ABB gang members and the civilians would have basically no reason to not say anything about Rachel. The lack of injuries would bring scrutiny, but so would injuries that don't match up with the timeline. What explanation for her escaping would fly with the other Undersiders? All in all Rachel is sus.