"You actually found Oni Lee's remains?" Armsmaster asked Assault.
The ex-villain nodded. "Whatever that head cannon the giant robot used shredded him across two roofs. Crazy accurate."
Armsmaster nodded at that. "Probably designed to shoot down missiles."
"Whatever you say, boss," Assault said with a grin on his face. "So are we going to try and recruit her? I have to say that I would not mind that much firepower on my side."
"Recruit or ally with, yes." The blue and silver armored figure turned towards where the anti-endbringer weapon was busy demolishing buildings to keep the fire from spreading, following Miss Militia's instructions to the letter.
High up in the air, a spark of fire could be seen approaching, then suddenly went evasive.
"Oops, sorry!" the giant robot called out. "I've deactivated my auto-targeting system."
Dragon then curved around the huge mecha, only to skid to a halt next to Armsmaster and Assault. "Armsmaster. I see why you wanted me here."
"I figured I'd get your feedback on estimating the effectiveness of the new player. How hard a lock did she have of your suit?" he asked the eight foot tall power armor.
"LIDAR and RADAR locked through all my maneuvers and jamming. So 100 % locked on. It appears that mass and size has a quality all of its own," Dragon replied even as she started planning ideas to counter that. "On top of the weird jamming going on... No, that doesn't appear to be correct. The 50 % degradation in radio waves appear to be a side effect of the power plant. Interesting."
"It appears the fires are under control and the PRT has secured Lung for transport to prison. Looks like the only Undersider that got away was Hellhound. We captured Grue and Regent." Armsmaster noted the status of the most injured member. "And we managed to keep Tattletale alive long enough for Panacea to stabilize."
"One less gang, then. Hellhound is no way a leader, so she'll probably just go solo," Assault said. "Looks like Battery and Dauntless are finished with their side."
"Come on." Armsmaster started walking towards the giant robot.
Taylor saw them coming and sighed. She turned her private communication suite on. "Well, I guess I have to pay the piper for being a hero now, Dad."
"We knew the first time that you went out it would happen. Keeping it hidden while being built was a minor miracle. Just remember, they can't force you to do anything. And I'll be here if you need me," Danny said on the phone.
"Right. Love you," Taylor said. She walked out the RX-72 to a level section of the road. She then started to lock down the mecha. The hatch opened up on the center of the main body. She extended the zipline arm and then put her left foot in the stirrup and triggered it to lower her down at a quick pace.
Most of the heroes (Protectorate, Wards and New Wave) had shown up by this time. She kept the air mask part on with her helmet. It should allow her to keep her secret ID and muffle her voice.
She hopped off and looked around. That was a lot of heroes. "Um..."
"What should we call you?" Miss Militia asked in a calm voice.
"Newtype," Taylor blurted out. She had just found out yesterday that the 'Innovator' name was actually taken. And Coordinator just didn't sound quite right.
"So just a Tinker?" Glory Girl said almost dismissively.
"Why the hostility?" Newtype asked in consternation, as she was getting deep hostility from the girl in surges.
"New Wave, thank you for the assistance with the wounded," Armsmaster said. The unsaid message was that it was time to leave.
Glory Girl and Panacea both gave him a glare at that, but followed their parents away from the meeting.
"So how old are you?" Gallant of the Wards asked, getting eager nods from his team.
"Oh. Um. I'm almost sixteen," the pilot said.
"Whoa, new Ward and a Tinker! We scored big time!" Kid Win crowed almost dancing in place.
"I'm not sure I'd do very well in the Wards. They expect patrols and media events. And the really horrible oversight to verify every single bit of equipment. The RX-72 here would have taken a year to build with having to deal with all the paperwork." Newtypes voice was steady and sure as she explained her reasoning.
"So why bother coming out?" Battery asked.
"There was absolutely no way that you guys were going to leave me in peace once you saw the RX." Newtype shrugged her flightsuit covered body. "Come on, no way were you letting me walk around with something with that much firepower."
"Yeah, that robot really kicked ass," Shadow Stalker said. "I'd love to have that much firepower on our side."
"Um..." How was she supposed to explain this?
"Ah, man? Don't say that it was a one-off like Leet's stuff that you can't rebuild?" Kid Win asked petulantly.
"Nooo... It's more that this was the minimum firepower for urban conflict," Newtype explained.
"Minimum firepower?" Miss Militia exhaled out in surprise, barely being able to be heard. Her eyes widened at that.
"Well, yeah. I didn't want to destroy the city to save it. A 60 cm heavy particle cannon would have totally wrecked the whole area and even large skyscrapers. I'm not even sure what my hyper-bazooka would do. And those were only what I could make with limited resources."
"Most Tinkers start with small handheld weapons. Maybe some body armor. This seems... excessive," Armsmaster said. Not that he disapproved.
"Most of my ideas that were human portable were... well, underwhelming? Regular guns and body armor for the most part." Newtype gave them another shrug.
"I have no idea what sort of specialty that is," Kid Win said. Then it dawned on him like a lightbulb. "I see what you mean. Patrolling in that thing would be massively overkill, but you are pretty much a normal girl outside of it."
"Right. So where do you want to secure my mecha so that Squealer or Leet doesn't steal it?" Newtype asked Armsmaster.
"Mass?" was the curt question.
"Should be right on sixty-two tons."
"Then it stays at our Protectorate's base out in the bay. Miss Militia, escort her there. I'll see you after making sure that Lung is safely contained," Armsmaster ordered them both, turning and walking off without waiting for a response.
"Is he always like that?" Newtype asked.
All the Wards nodded.
She then turned to Miss Militia. "There's room for two in the cockpit, but it'll be cramped. Come on."
The swaying of the RX-72 as it slogged through the water was not terribly loud. Newtype had made a call to her robot workers to pack everything to be shipped off.
"What was that? I could barely understand them," Miss Militia said as she crouched next to her control seat.
"Oh, some automation drones that I made to help crank out things faster. There's no way I could have built this without their assistance. They aren't the brightest little AIs though," Newtype explained as she continued controlling the mecha.
"Very handy. Is that the underwater supports for the base? Watch out-"
The RX-72 slammed into the forcefield, staggering backwards from the rebound.
"Are you alright? Luckily the auto-stabilizers kept us vertical," Newtype said.
"I'm fine. Let's just head to the south side where the heavy crane is located," the Protectorate heroine said in guidance.
Newtype nodded her helmeted head, tromping through the gloom that was only pierced by some waterproof spotlights. She panned the head sensors left and right. "Guess it's time to do my impression of a monkey." This would be tricky.
The RX-72 then slowly started to climb out of the eighty feet of water on one of the oil-rig's pylons. Once it was out of the water, they could see that a platform cage had been lowered down to the water level."
"Those guys up above are on top of things. Could you get them to lower it down to the bay floor?" That would be the absolute easiest.
"Yes. Let me use your radio," Miss Militia said. Once it was switched to the standard PRT channel. "Harry? This is Miss Militia. I need you to lower the cage to the bay floor."
The reply was quite distorted. "Roger that, Miss Militia."
It made a splash and started sinking. The RX-72 jumped into the bay after it. A judicious use of verniers allowed Newtype to land the mecha right next to it and walk in. The right hand of the mecha yanked (lightly) on the cable and it started to pull up into the night sky.
The landing light were on, showing the top of the oil rig as a large landing platform even as the forcefield snapped back into place. Newtype tromped it to the center of the helipad and knelt the mecha down on one knee. She powered down everything and then locked it up. She let Miss Militia go down first, then took the winch down again.
"Now what?" Newtype asked, stifling a yawn.
"We call your father and make arrangements for the PRT to pick up the rest of your equipment." Miss Militia gave her a shrug. "So you don't think being a full Ward will work for you. What are you looking for?"
"Associate? Ally? Really, I'm looking for more resources so I can build a proper anti-Endbringer weapon." Newtype unclipped the air mask part of her helmet. "Oh, that's much better."
"Now we have to do the hard part of being a hero." Miss Militia watched the girl's eyes through the bubble visor. "Paper work."
"Now I have extra homework, don't I?"
"No," Danny said as he looked over the contract as he adjusted the mask he was wearing. "My daughter's inventions are not going to be solely owned by the PRT and the United States of America."
Director Piggot stared at him in a cool, almost cold way. "Why not?"
"First, because it limits her choices very much so. Second because it would let you dictate prices for her inventions, as you are the only buyer and third... because Mo' Stuff of Toybox told me it would be incredibly bad idea." He was in full negotiation mode, something he'd had to use less frequently at the Dock Worker's Union.
"And who else were you going to sell any of these designs to?" she countered.
"Boeing, Lockheed-Martin or US Robotics. These are all companies that might want to license some of the technology to help recover and rebuild," he replied in a calm, bland tone.
"You are going to make me call in my lawyers to negotiate this contract, aren't you?" Piggot asked, sounding not terribly pleased.
"A lawyer I've retained is already on her way and should be here in about twenty minutes." One that was going to eat most of the money Taylor was getting from her little robot that she had been selling.
God dammit. It was going to be one of those mornings, Piggot thought to herself.
Strangely, that same thought was percolating through Taylor's mind as she shambled in to her first period class of the day. Oh, great. Sophia's back. Though she looked as tired as Taylor herself felt.
"You look like crap, Taylor. Did your pimp sell you out all night to make ends meet?" the ex-track star said in a disparaging way.
"I was just up because of that fight near the docks. It was pretty close to where my dad works," Taylor replied with a roll of her eyes. She had gotten better about defending herself ever since Sophia had been kicked off the team and suspended. The girl had not escalated and made things worse.
For some reason.
"Yeah. I heard that Lung was captured by some giant robot. One less racist asshole in the city," Sophia said to Emma and one of the boys in the room.
Jerry nodded. "All the Japs and Chinks are going to flip their shit about him being caught. He's like some sort of Robin Hood to them fuckers..."
Taylor just shook her head. It was so dumb complaining about racists while using racist names. She kept herself calm as she let Sophia and Emma bombard her with stupid comments about her looks and clothing. Like they weren't the problem about her having to buy the cheapest and most sturdy clothes she could afford.
"Hey, guys? Did you hear? That new cape in the giant robot killed Oni Lee," a fatter boy called out as he ran into the room. "Just heard it on Channel 4."
"So two less racist assholes. Now if someone could only make the Empire go away and Brockton Bay might not be as much a shithole any more," Sophia said, then snorted in amusement.
"So this new guy is a miracle worker? I thought he just had a giant robot?" Taylor couldn't believe she was almost having a civilized conversation with Sophia of all people.
Sophia almost corrected Taylor on Newtype's gender. "Just a damn Tinker though."
The bell rang as three teens hustled in the door. The teacher stood up and started the lesson.
The door cranked open with the sound of electric motors, admitting a group of people. Three people with masks or helmets and one civilian.
"As you can see, this is a little more secure than your dock was," Piggot explained. "We'll have PRT security outside, but internal security is your own concern."
"Not bad for only a week. How did you get the RX here anyways?" Newtype asked curiously. Wearing a mask under her helmet sucked, but she had been advised to wear a mask at all time.
"The Protectorate sent some capes over to lift it here while another couple of them made it effectively invisible. As far as the rest of the world (and most importantly, Leet and Uber) are concerned, your suit is still being 'investigated' out on the oilrig," Armsmaster stated simply. He and Dragon had looked it over with minimal invasive investigation.
"All right you guys! We're on the clock!" Newtype called out.
"CLWOCK! CLWOCK!" a horde of distorted electronic voices called out two crates started shaking until one fell over, spilling a dozen multicolored balls.
"Blue and Red, let the others out. The rest of you suit up and do maintenance on the RX while I start checking supplies!"
"FRWEEEEE!" the red HARO called out, rolling over to an actuator suit.
"DWARK BLWUE! DWARK BLWUE!" the darker blue colored ball shouted out as it bounced at her, showing its agitation.
"Sorry, Dark Blue. Get moving," the girl said.
"I think that is my cue to leave." Piggot had no idea and wanted no idea of what sort of insanity would create those robots.
Armsmaster waited until she was out of sight. "So you made them cute and annoying so that they don't make people think they are a threat?" he asked.
"Close. I made them cute and annoying so people understand they are not a threat. They are very simple, actually," the younger Tinker explained. "Ooh, I can do a more advance laminate armor that's twice as tough and half the weight."
"So you have most of an Anti-Endbringer weapon, but how did you plan on deploying it?" Armsmaster asked.
"Eventually a dedicated ship or a transformable mecha, but for this guy I was hoping that someone would be able to help with getting it there fast enough," Newtype said.
"I'd be happy to consult with you on that. We could use some better aircraft locally. It's not my speciality, but we don't have the best response time because of the lack of a proper vehicle." Armsmaster nodded. "I'll introduce you to Dragon some time, she's always happy to meet new Tinkers."
Newtype's father coughed. "We need to be getting home, Newtype. School, remember?"
"Dad!" the young cape cried out.
