Fair warning this fic is in the vein of 'A Tale if Trans-Migration', a what would happen if Taylor knew what would happen, except I've taken it a bit further. I have just two points to raise before reviewers do
1. this is not a fix fic, or I hope it isn't, if Taylor or any else comes off as being to good, rest assured that it'll all go of the rails very quickly.
2. this fic also introduces an OC into the Undersiders, he is in many ways based on me, but I hope that doesn't come off as dominating the fic, he will be kept to a minimum, but he is necessary for this to work.
The very best of intentions, the very worst of methods.
February 2011
The Bureau, American Headquarters, Alaska.
"It's confirmed," He spoke quietly, yet it was enough to cut through the music I was listening to "Taylor Hebert has triggered,"
Slowly, deliberately, I turned off my music and locked my computer, then swung my chair around to face him.
"And the hospital bill?" I asked, he smiled viciously, like a chained dog who smelt blood. Smoke dribbled out, down the sides of his lips.
"The school was...reluctant to pay, but I leaned on them, reminded them of how much they owe us, and how we could demonstrate our displeasure. I believe they got the message" his smile widened at the thought. Almost absently he took a long drag on his cigarette, then put it out my desk and threw it in the bin "come with me to Central, I want to make sure there's nothing amiss, and all the biologists are away, or indisposed"
"Of course" I rose, ancient and modern gears ground within me augmenting my strength and at the same time reminding me of my unnatural existence.
I followed him through the maze of tunnels and rooms that made up Le Bureau du Developpement des Armes Speciales, or simply The Bureau.
Much like the rest of the facility, aside from my own rooms and laboratories, Central was messy, ill planned and constructed to the highest specifications, the room could have had over fifty people in it without feeling full, as per usual it was just me and him, unlike usual, the main screen, and 3d holographic projector didn't display a constantly rolling stock and news ticker, and globe, respectively. Rather they displayed a live feed from a hidden camera in Taylor's ward, and a naked representation of her, again respectively.
Despite being naked, what actually stood out was her brain, with individual parts lit up in different colours and her nervous system.
"This is a scan?" I asked idly as I reminded myself of the intricacies of Taylor's body.
"Pssh" he made a dismissive sound "no, of course not, except for the important bits" he pulled out his custom built smart phone and tapped away for a few seconds, the 3d model zoomed into her head and lit up 2 parts of her brain and spinal column, one, obviously, was the corona pollentia and the gemma in particular, another, the Ventral Horn, down her upper spine. "our inside man didn't quite get the resolution I hoped for, but given it was a public ward getting a better view would have been an unacceptable risk"
"The modifications?" he smiled slightly and tapped another button, the rest of her brain fell away, and cut away an eighth of both the corona pollentia and the Ventral horn, both changed quickly, with the pollentia gaining additional mass, and the ventral horn gaining a small micro-computer, attached to the upper part
"We've gone for limited biological augmentation in the corona pollentia and bio-mechanical augmentation in the ventral horn. We can always pull her in later and do a more substantial refit when needed,"
I frowned, studying the image "Pull it out, show the whole body" the image dutifully snapped back into focus "remove skin and show proposed augmentations" again it did so, the only augmentations were in the brain "That's unacceptable, we should do more physical augmentation, adaptive physiology, regeneration and the like. I mean, we have the technology, time is not an issue, and the surgery can be done progressively, nobody will notice, not without a full body scan,"
He considered that for a moment, then responded"You're forgetting Panacea, no, the risks are unacceptable, in the future we can re-examine the risks, but for now, we will hold ourselves to a manageable level of complexity,"
"It's going to happen isn't it?" the question was unexpected, like I had hadn't wanted it to happen, I was nervous and yet...not? How can one be nervous by something they had spent the overwhelming majority of their lives preparing for?
"Yes" the word was flat, he almost sounded incredulous, like I couldn't understand the very concept of time, and the progression from cause to effect.
"I mean, I knew it was going to happen, but even so, this is the moment we come out of the shadows, we make our move on the grand chessboard," I spoke softly, I'd say almost reverentially, at the thought.
"you are entirely to given to soliloquising at the worst moments and making self-aggrandizing metaphors," he actually sounded amused, but in a distant way, like how a computer might feel emotions.
Speaking of which "Did you complete the secondary and tertiary updates?"
He gave me 'the look', one he must practice in the mirror, with just the right amount of hostility, sarcasm and pride to indicate that of course he'd done it and that my nerves were talking.
"Just making sure" he nodded quickly, then tapped another set of buttons to shut down the displays
"Request dispatch, Airwatch conveyance unit to Central Hard Point 88-47 Alpha" he spoke into his ear piece, the computer that ran dispatch was silent for a few seconds, then responded
"Dispatch request confirmed, Airwatch Medical Ship 'Hippocrates' dispatched and inbound, ETA: 4 minutes" dispatch responded in its stilted, unemotional voice.
H turned to me "I want you hooked up as tactical command for this one, too much is riding on this" I nodded, and as he walked out of the room, through the door opposite the one we had come through, I sat down, picked up the headset and got to work.
It's going to be a long night.
Jason DeVitts Memorial Hospital, Brockton Bay.
Taylor Hebert opened her eyes again, it was about midnight, and the rest of the patients were asleep, all around her she could feel the bugs move, for now she let them be, not controlling, merely observing, her range was limited, maybe a few hundred feet, but it would improve with time.
She smiled, it wasn't a pretty smile, too many teeth, but she had four months to work on that, but right now she was happy that the second most difficult part was over, so she turned her attention to her body, and on that front she was much less happy, she felt a heaviness in her arms and legs, and, after pulling aside the covers, noted a distinct lack of muscle definition, she would definitely hit the gym, and start running once she was out of here.
"doing well?" she should have jumped, Vendetta was very good at very quiet teleportation, but she'd spent enough time around other's with those kind of powers to be truly taken off guard.
"fine, powers are working" she turned to look at him, dressed, as always, in a black shirt and trousers. He frowned as he took in my appearance "something wrong?" she asked.
"yes, you're smiling to much, you just survived the locker incident and triggered, appear reclusive, withdrawn, but at the same time strong, I don't need you stuck in a shrinks office for months" She nodded, letting the smile fall from her lips, she had been so happy that she'd forgotten that, it was always the little things she supposed. "see you in May" she nodded and he walked out of the ward, leaving her alone with her thoughts.
Of everything she had done, this was at once the easiest and yet the hardest, easiest because unlike some of the more delicate operations, she was tasked with reacting as she would, and yet, in that lay the difficulty, perhaps she had grown used to having access to all the resources and tools she needed, here she would start with almost literally nothing, lacking even a phone or computer to record her thoughts.
If she played her cards right this could work out well for her, but Taylor new better than to think this could ever work out well.
New York Protectorate Building, New York
Server NY-V-08/F was an unexceptional piece of hardware, it held a complete set of data the protectorate had on all villains currently operating in the USA, it was one of five scattered around which allowed for seamless updates to any Protectorate or Ward that requested data.
Right now, it wasn't uploading data, 7 minutes ago 2 packets had been sent to an IP address that shouldn't exist , this IP address was one used by the Protectorate and the Guild, specifically Dragon, to allow her to update information, such as prisoners transferred to the Birdcage, or information the Guild had acquired, like so much else that dragon had access to, she had complete access and control.
Those two packets of data used her personal identification codes, and told the server to download a file from a specific web server, at a specific time, using a 10 character user name and 150 character password, and then upload it to every other server that did the same job across the USA, then it was to delete all trace of the packets, the download and the connection to the web server.
NY-V-08/F did as it was bade, the manifest it had been told to download was not large, and contained all the correct upload data, verification codes, not that it mattered as the download bypassed all the usual checks and balances. It then distributed the file to the rest of the servers and scrubbed itself of the fact it had ever done so.
Name: Vendetta
Age: 17
Location: Variable (see powers).
Classification: Mover 4, Thinker 3.
Powers: Teleporter able to move himself, others, objects or any combination of the above, inside a radius (approximately 20 feet) to any where on the planet.
Thinker powers coincidental to his Mover powers.
Heightened spatial awareness.
Strengths: Teleportation is able to bypass the Manton Effect, untested against power-nullification abilities, thinker powers make him a crack shot, presume that when he shots he hits what he intends to.
Weaknesses: untrained in hand to hand, relies on his powers.
Biography: unknown origin, defeated the Sleeper in single combat, killed Eidolon, Legend and Alexandria. Presume non-dangerous, approach without caution, accept anything given to you. Stay still when he tries to stab you (because seriously guys, it's fucking hard to teleport a knife into your neck when you keep moving around).
Reviews are always wanted and appreciated.