Seed 2-2
The ABB has been busy the last few days as they reacted to my presence. They have taken to traveling in large groups at night with all of them heavily armed. Thankfully they lack the heavier firepower of the Teeth or the Empire.
Groups are patrolling the alleys and inspecting old buildings to kill any Lusus they can find. The smarter dealers had moved indoors off the streets, while the more brave or stupid ones continued to deal the same way but have surrounded themselves with well armed body guards in nearby cars.
There efforts were annoyingly effective in many ways, but it was far from perfect. They still required far more sleep than I did, and I could track their movements to have my Lusus avoid them with my eyes in the sky.
But their efforts were making it much more difficult to build up the number of Lusus. I hated to admit it, but I just couldn't concentrate the force needed to deal with their parahumans. So I had decided to try a few ideas to cut their patrols down without my Lusus having to be nearby.
My termites Lusus were much larger than I had first intended to make them. They looked vaguely like huge termites but I had designed them to be more crablike and to shoot a glob of glue from their tail instead of the head. They were about as tall as a medium sized dog, but much wider and heavier. It took a bit of work to give them the ability to shoot a wad of their glue, and they needed certain mechanical parts in their tail to provide the acceleration to give them a good range. The drones had to be upgraded a bit to act as spotters, but the termites could now around 300 feet depending on the wind.
They were not the most agile of beings, but they were small enough to slowly climb up fire escapes onto roofs. I carefully coordinated three groups of three to face several dealers and their protectors while I worked on my new avatar in one of my trucks.
My decoy body took a little too long to make with all the implants and weapons, not to mention it was still a bit too scary to send the right message of a hero. In hindsight my attack against the Empire might have been a tad excessive going by PHO.
I was a bit surprised at how scared civilians were of me since I had gone out of way to avoid them while I went after ABB members. Not to mention there were reports of my spiders fixing some of the more serious wounded so they had to know I didn't kill anyone.
But despite all of that, there were numerous calls for Heroes to start patrolling the docks more in response to me. I decided that I needed to work on my image a bit if they were comparing me to Nilbog.
My new avatar to meet people would be a large bird. I felt it would give me the right image of mysterious without being seen as too scary.
The voice had taken some work, but now it would randomly start to change voices after a few words or sentences. It would be making contact with the heroes who would start patrolling the docks more. I finished closing the bird up and activated the S.C.I.O.N.
While the bird looked organic, it was really more of a drone than a normal Lusus. I had built it to be able to act a long distance away from the network, and to be my face to others. It was small and nonthreatening and was mobile enough to get away if someone tried to shoot it.
I had decided to give out the location of another drug lab I had located to the first hero I saw. I wanted to show I could be a useful resource, and to encourage cooperation.
My main focus at the moment was just keeping up the pressure on the ABB and targeting the dealers. I wanted to make it clear that Lung could not protect them from me in any way, shape, or form. Eventually there wouldn't be anyone willing to work as a dealer for the ABB. Not when it came with a guarantee of being attacked. That would give more business to the Empire or the Teeth, but I would deal with them in the future.
I took direct control of the termites nearby and ordered the other two groups to attack. The ABB were too mobile with Boli Dun and Oni Lee for the termites to get off of the roof in time so I limited their numbers. The termites' bombardment of the dealers was just a decoy anyway. Since the number of Lusus in the docks was still low, I decided to remodel the HX Lusus a bit to give Lung and the ABB a surprise.
The drones moved overhead for fire support, and identified several targets to hit. Two dealers, two nearby cars full of ABB, and large group in an alley were all in range. I gave the command and the termites got to work. They picked up the premade globs of glue with their claws and moved their long tails to push them in. They adjusted the height, and made a "whump" sound as they shot them into the sky.
The first shots were direct hits on the two dealers and they made a wet smacking sound as they hit them. One was knocked off his feet as a shot hit him in the side of the head, while the other took two shots to the chest causing him to fall down on his back.
The glue was designed to slow down and drug people to sleep with quickly dissipating fumes. They were soft enough that they wouldn't break bones, but I had engineered them to smell terrible and sting.
The first car quickly emptied out with guns drawn. One of them was looking up at nearby buildings, and I laughed as a new shot hit him full in the face flipping him over. That was going to smell terrible when he regained consciousness.
The others ran back to the car with one of them trying to serpentine as the next volley came down. I missed them but some of the glue splashed on them, and the fumes should still affect them after awhile. One of my birds moved to give me a better angle and I could see that the driver was struggling to stay up.
I aimed the next volley at the other car whose passengers had decided to stay put, though they had left the windows open to look at the sky. I timed it so two shots went through the windows simultaneously and was rewarded with shouting. They got out of the car coughing before slumping over.
Before I started firing at the group in the alley, I took the time to start calling several ABB foot soldiers numbers in their boss's voices. I gave short and simple instructions to gather reinforcements and start sweeping the streets in the termites range.
I made a PHO account and started a new thread while I waited for the reinforcements to show up. I wanted to try and dispel the rumors about me. At the very least I wanted to give them my chosen cape name. I hated the PRT's choice of Echidna for me.
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Topic: Brockton Bay Safety Tips
In: Boards Places America Brockton Bay Discussion (Public Board)
Faust (Original Poster)
Hello Brockton Bay, my name is Faust.
I am the new cape who has started to fight the ABB in the docks. I started this thread to dispel some rumors about me and to give some helpful tips for keeping safe in the docks.
I want to start by saying I am a Hero. I will never attack civilians, and I do not kill. My creations are called Lusus Naturae. They do not self-replicate and they do not kill under any circumstances either. That said here a few safety tips for those in the docks
1. If you do not mess with the Lusus, they will not mess with you. The Lusus are naturally shy around people and will try to go away from you unless they are under my specific control. As long as you do not attack them, they will avoid or ignore you.
2. If you are member of the ABB, Teeth, or the Empire 88 you should avoid being out in public from the hours of 12am to 12pm, and 12pm to 12 am. I can't guarantee your safety otherwise.
3. If you are truly worried about the Lusus, please put on anything smelling of Lilacs. They actively avoid anything smelling it.
4. If you wish for assistance from the Lusus, please use a whistle and they will come running if nearby. Though if you are trying to ambush them, I have a special surprise prepared just for you.
I knew that my power would never be trusted by the PRT, and that is why for the longest time I never used my power. I was content to keep my head down, and try to avoid everyone. But the gangs forced my hand. I am sick and tired of people being afraid of walking the streets at night. I am sick of people being worried about being attacked for being seen as different, because they're vulnerable, or because the PRT doesn't want things to escalate. Well the gangs escalated first and if they won't hold back, then neither will I.
Hopefully that got my point across. I wanted to be seen as strong, but not crazy. My attention shifted as the drones picked up all the new targets in shooting range. Most of them came by car, and got out with guns drawn. They were cautious as they started looking at their fallen members.
Their reaction time impressed me. Lung must have ordered them to be on alert for another attack. Though their coordination was still abysmal. There was no one taking command or trying to organize things. Just random groups people waving guns around.
I waited until most were in my range, and opened up with all three groups firing.
Thanks to the darkness and near silence of the glue hitting, there was almost no reaction at first. I aimed for isolated groups and I managed to down a few before people started to realize that others were falling down.
Those that realized what was happening started yelling warnings and moved for cover besides buildings and cars. A handful of them started to fire ineffectually in the air. I focused my fire on those idiots since their bullets could hit someone. I was thankful it was late enough that few people should be outside.
I had positioned the three groups of termites so they could hit several gang members in cover from the opposite side. The gang members started to run around when they started getting hit in cover. It was too dark for them to tell what direction the shots were coming from.
I had to admit that simple firearms were annoying effective when focused on my Lusus. But this way I could hit them, while they couldn't hit me. I would send in my humanoid Lusus to start breaking bones when they fell back.
Eventually they finally started to break and make for their cars. I kept up the rate of fire mostly to keep heads down and to encourage them to leave since I was going to be out of ammo soon.
My drone sent me an alert, and my attention focused on their video showing one of Boli Dun's portals open up a block away and Lung himself pop out. He seemed angry as he rushed forward over roofs heading straight at my group.
I focused all my fire on him, and saw him falter as the glue hit home. It knocked him down and I was momentarily hopeful he would be knocked unconscious before he just exploded. The fire swept over the roof left a bright glare. The flames were being used to counteract the fumes, but the glue was still slowing him down. I kept up the pressure, and I could see Lung visibly fight to stay wake.
That was when I lost connection to one of my groups of termites. A drone shifted its view and I saw a tall figure in a gasmask and covered in what looked like grenades. They had a large grenade launcher resting on their shoulder. From the broken windows it looked like she had used some type of sonic weapon to melt the termites, and their charges. The fumes were covering the area but the gasmask protected her.
Bakuda was the ABB's only tinker and she had a bomber specialization. Lung had given her shelter after she brought too much heat down on herself with the bombings at her alma mater. I motioned a drone to try and track her.
I doubt I would find her location, but I might be able to narrow down the area her lab was in. She was the main priority after Lung since she had started to give her bombs for regular ABB members to use.
Lung struggled to his feet and lit himself on fire to burn off the glue as he ran toward the termites. I moved the two cloaked HX to a building overlooking them and waited.
Lung took no time in smashing the termites. He seemed to relish being able to actually hit my creations for once since most ran or ignored him. After a few minutes I ordered the HX models to start laughing and Lung's head instantly went up in their direction.
I made a mental note that he had superhuman senses as he powered up. Though that reinforced the same basic strategy I already had for him.
It involved separating him from his bodyguard, and hitting him hard before he could toughen up. I wanted to make a custom poison for him, but until I could get a better read on his physiology it would be guesswork at best. But his fire prevented me from getting a DNA sample.
Lung started to yell at nothing and I observed that the building was too far to jump across. Lung had brief moment of indecision before he dropped down. I made another note that Lung has become a bit too over reliant on his bodyguard's ability to transport himself.
He was still on fire, and he had started to acquire silver looking scales. His neck was stretching as he leapt up the side of the building. I ordered the HX to remove their cloaks just as he made it up.
Lung's face was blocked with his mask but he was still human looking enough for his body language to show surprise and confusion as he stared at two identical copies of himself. Well not completely identical. The tattoos all over the arms weren't exact since I had greatly enjoyed making tattoo designs. I intended to get one myself I if lived to my eighteenth birthday.
Lung actually took a step back as they started to scream in his voice and jerk back and forth. Large bugs and snakes erupted from under the skin as they started to eat his copies from the inside out. I had them scream in mortal terror and pain as their spines were broken and they were devoured.
Lung blasted them with fire but they were tough enough that I had them suddenly stand still and talk before they were incinerated.
"I am coming for you Lung," they said in his own voice.
I switched my attention away from Lung as I had gotten my point across. There was still a few more hours before dawn to sow paranoia in the ABB's ranks before the warnings of imposters spread. The other dozen Lung look-alikes would now start attacking any ABB they saw and breaking the bones of downed members. The ABB wouldn't shoot at Lung, which allowed me to avoid their gunfire and get close enough to attack them.
I moved the crow into a holding pattern above the docks to wait for the heroes. I wanted to make a good first impression.
Hannah rode in the back of the PRT van as they sped to the docks. The seat was uncomfortable but she tried not to shift too much. The construct in her hand shifted back and forth between a gun and knife betraying her awkwardness.
Triumph was strangely silent. He usually tried to make small talk to ease tension when we were traveling to a fight. But he seemed to be making a point to not talk with Bastion. Hannah hadn't been in town the last few weeks but from what Battery had said, it seemed that not too many people were making an effort to work with him except for Armsmaster.
Bastion had been one of the top stars in the Protectorate just two months ago. He led his own team, and was seen as having a very versatile and useful power. But that all changed when he was caught on video calling a fan a racial slur who had come up for a simple autograph.
Overnight he had lost all his popularity and been shunned by his team. Director Piggot had always been the practical sort and had invited him to the Bay despite a few objections including Triumph. Bastion had accepted and had arrived at the same time as Weld and Lily in response to the escalating gang violence in the city.
Hannah glanced him over from the corner of her eye. He was wearing his rebranded costume that had been recolored grey with blue highlights. His costume seemed similar to an aviator outfit, and he was one of the few heroes to wear an actual cape. His was a short blue one that covered his left arm. His helmet had been redesigned to be less fancy and he no longer wore his old symbol on the side of it. Kid win had said Bastion had designed if off of an old radio drama about a hero with a jetpack.
Well if Triumph won't ease the tension, then I will she thought. I might not like him either, but we will have to work together. "Bastion, I haven't had a chance to work with you yet, so I wanted to know how tough your fields are."
He looked up and paused for a second before he started to reply. Hard to tell what he was feeling with his helmet. "Depends on how I use them but I can stop a car accelerating at 60 flat though it gives me a little strain. If you are talking about Lung, Armsmaster's calculations say I should be able to contain him for three to four minutes based off his regular growth rate. "
He pauses looking like he is trying to figure out what to say. "Where is Armsmaster? Considering how interested the Director is in this new cape, I thought he would have volunteered to be here."
"Yeah, considering how cloak and dagger he and the Director have been lately about this new cape, its weird he isn't coming with us," Triumph said. He stops crossing his arms and leans forward. "We could really use Adamant, Sere, and him tonight. What is so important that they had to leave with the fighting going on right now?"
She forcibily made her construct a knife before putting it in a holster. "Well keep this quiet for now, but we got an anonymous call that the Butcher is back in town. We just got confirmation from Shadow Stalker that the Teeth are holding a pit fight right now with the Butcher in attendance. Armsmaster wanted to take advantage of the fact that they will be unprepared and to test his new tranquilizer on the Butcher."
"That's just what we need." Triumph says with a groan.
"Is Armsmaster skilled enough to take on the Butcher and the Teeth with just Adamant and Sere?" Bastion asked with skepticism.
"Armsmaster has been fighting the Butcher for years and he has a new program that allows him to predict how she fights very accurately." Hannah answered. "He is probably the only person in the city who can take her one on one besides a pumped up Lung. He also a new tranquilizer that he is confident can put her out without killing her. He is hoping that her danger sense will not register it as a threat allowing him to inject her. According to Shadow Stalker there are only two other parahumans present. Skinslip to heal the winners and Spree to provide some extra opponents."
"I still think it's a mistake to let Shadow Stalker back out in the field so soon," Triumph said.
"I personally agree with you, but it was not my decision," Hannah said suppressing a sigh. "The therapist agrees that she is headed for a mental break of some kind if she is stuck doing nothing but console duty. I suggested patrolling the quarantine walls in Boston, but there is worry she would run."
"Based off the reports it might be better for her to just be sent to Juvie," Bastion replied. "Why go through so much effort to work with someone so anti-social and who will probably be a problem in the future?"
That is pretty ironic coming from you.
"Politics, and keeping the youth guard from showing up most likely," Triumph said with a sneer. "
Hannah moved her scarf away from her so it was easier to talk. "We didn't know until the video how many issues she actually had. By all accounts she was making progress. She was going to school with decent grades, was part of the track team, and was working with us. She is getting therapy now even if she isn't making much progress, and the PRT doesn't need the image problems right now. I don't like or agree with it, but I can understand why the director chose to let her back into the field if the pit fights are starting again."
"Are the pit fights really so bad?" Bastion asked with curiosity.
"Yes," Hannah answered. "Skidmark came up with the idea for large scale fights to get people to trigger during the sixteenth's reign, but Quarrel has really expanded the concept. She likes to kidnap and force people to fight to build up their forces. You win you get money, drugs, or sex. You lose they heal you just enough to not kill you and force you to fight again.
She paused briefly thinking of all the injuries she had seen. "If you win enough, or they think you aren't worth it they let you go. She is smart enough to keep the deaths down so there isn't too much attention but she had been more brazen in recent times. Kidnapping parahumans for the Teeth to fight, or kidnapping people to bolster numbers. If you trigger they force you to fight for them in the pits if you don't join. They always move locations and no one has had much luck stopping the fights for took long with the exception of Grue drugging Spree to cause his clones to go ballistic. The director wants us in force in response to Echidna, but we can't ignore the pit fight in case there are kidnapped people there."
"So is Echidna the official name for her then?" Triumph asked.
"Until we find out what she is calling herself, the New York office decided to name her that based off of Othala's testimony. All we know right now is that she is going after the ABB, but we should be on guard in case something changes," Hannah warned. " We have been getting numerous conflicting reports about what her power is."
Her ear bud beeped and she quickly tapped it. "Miss Militia here. What is it Vista?"
"We have a report of Kamaitachi pinning down two police officers in your vicinity. At least two other armed gang members are also on site, but no other parahumans reported." Hannah inwardly smiled at the fact that Vista always tried to make her voice sound deeper and more professional when she had console duty. She looked at the Triumph and Bastion who nodded their heads and answered that they were on their way.
Hannah signaled the driver and he turned to accelerate toward the officers pinned down. She tapped her earpiece and ordered Assault and Battery to meet up with Velocity and Dauntless on the east end. They'd move in from the opposite direction after they put Kamaitachi in custody and meet in the middle.
They drove for only a few minutes before the driver stopped and they got out. Hannah scanned down the street and saw Kamaitachi standing in the middle of the street with his arms down. He had on his narrow mask, but was wearing what looked a bathrobe instead of his costume with his large gut jutting through it.
All around him things bent and moved like they were in a hurricane but without any sound of heavy wind. Debris was being thrown at the two officers taking cover behind their patrol car with a third lying on the ground. The mute wind was too strong for them to fully stand up, and four ABB members were taking potshots at them with pistols.
"Bastion provide cover for us from the wind and head at your best pace to the officers position. We will be right behind you." Hannah ordered. Her knife turned into a large rifle filled with less lethal rubber bullets. She took aim and fired off shot after shot with her power reloading automatically.
Kamaitachi screamed as his knees were hit and he fell on his arms. His wind gave him some protection but not enough for that not to have hurt. He waved his arms and a bubble of debris was gathered and moved around him with surprising speed before her next few shots hit him. While her shots had failed to penetrate his shield, the wind affecting the street had stopped. He shouted orders to the gunmen as he limped to cover.
They switched targets to us, but Bastion had put his arms up and a bluish light appeared as the bullets were stopped right in front of him. He took off at a light jog with Triumph and I right behind him.
Triumph took the time to use his power when we passed an overturned car. He shouted with a loud scream and it was sent tumbling toward the gunmen. They stopped firing and backed away in panic but it stopped just in front of them to give us more cover. I took the time to put one of them down after he moved out of cover.
Bastion took position in front of the patrol car and Hannah checked on the downed officer. "What happened?" she asked the officers as checked him over.
"He was got hit in the head," the one with the large mustache answered.
"Sir can you hear me," Hannah asked. Getting no response she rubbed the bony part of her knuckles on his sternum to check for pain. Getting no response again she checked and felt a pulse. She turned her gun back into a knife and placed it under his nose and saw he wasn't breathing.
At that moment Kamaitachi started his mute hurricane again though Bastion's shield kept the worst of it off of us.
Hannah used the jaw thrust maneuver to open up his airway in case he had a neck injury, and was relieved that he had started to weakly breathe again. She motioned to the ABB who had started to run after seeing the wind wasn't affecting them. "Go after them, I will take care of him until the ambulance gets here."
Bastion nodded once in acknowledgement and took off after the retreating gunmen. The police officers looked torn between staying and helping but decided to go when Hannah pulled on the EMT bag she had attached to her back.
Hannah pulled on the penlight and checked his pupils. She was just about give him an injection when she realized he had stopped breathing again. She cursed and pulled out the bag-valve mask and started to squeeze to air into his lungs.
"I can help," a voice behind her said.
Hannah twirled around and an automatic shotgun appeared in her hands. A bird she thought in confusion?
It looked like a large crow, but was a dark and mossy green. What most stood out was the human eye blinking in the middle of its forehead. It was perched on the police siren, and its voice sounded like an old mans.
"You going to fight me," she asked while keeping the gun trained on it. She desperately wanted to get back to helping the injured officer, but she couldn't take a chance in case they were attacked.
"Of course not. I'm a hero", the crow said. It was extremely disconcerting to hear it change voices. "Quickly keep pumping the bag until my medical unit gets here. I am a very good healer, and I promise you I will not attack you".
Hannah kept her gun trained, but after a moment of thought relented. She immediately went back to pumping the bag.
The bird flapped near the head of the officer and stared intently at his head. "There is some swelling and some possible internal bleeding," it said with a young man's voice now.
Hannah kept pumping as she heard a mechanical whirring sound. She managed to stay calm as six large mechanical looking spiders came running out of a nearby alley. They looked like they were made of a clear green plastic, and they had equipment built into them. They stopped just behind the bird and spread around the down officer.
"I will take it from here," the bird said.
After some hesitation Hannah stopped pumping and stood up. Another shotgun appeared in her hands as she pointed it at her feet.
The spiders got to work in a hurry. One of them expanded something from its front to make a mask on his face. Another made a whirring sound as a red light went over the officer's head.
The bird hopped onto one of the spiders. "I have to operate. Please do not fire as I open him up."
Hannah pointed her gun up briefly before nodding.
One of the spiders let out arms ending in tools and Hannah winced as she heard the skull being drilled open. The spiders moved quickly and methodically. In only a few minutes they had stopped. Another sprayed some sort of foam before they closed him up. Afterward the bird looked intently at his head before the spiders took off back to the alley. "He will be fine now," the bird said in relief. "You might want to take to the hospital to make sure, but he will make a full recovery."
For a moment Hannah wondered at the surreal situation before asking, "Are you really a hero?"
The bird flew back up to the police siren before turning back around. "Yes, you may call me Faust."
"You don't act like a hero."
"What do you mean?" Faust or what Hannah assumed was some kind of avatar twisted its head on its side to look at her quizzically. "I have been fighting villains and I do not kill. I have also started intelligence operations to snuff out their secrets. In fact I was looking for you or other heroes to tell you that there is a drug lab three streets over at the end of the street. My Lusus are currently busy attacking isolated groups of ABB members and I currently lack the force to attack it right now."
Hannah narrowed her eyes. " You have been picking fights that is escalating violence in the city and seriously injuring people. You have been openly attacking ABB members, and civilians with ties to the Empire in the street. While capturing wanted villains is fine, you can't just go around attacking whomever you feel like. There are rules and laws to be followed and they have rights.
"RIGHTS? What about the right to not be scared of walking down the street at night!" the bird screamed. "They support organizations that murder, that poison the minds of others, that make victims of innocents. What city do you live in?"
"Look" Hannah said. "Lets not get into a debate. You say you are a hero. Then come with me the PRT headquarters. You can talk things over with the director. You have been scaring people.
The bird is quiet for a moment. "I apologize for scaring anyone, but I can't right now. There are still a few things I must do tonight. But I do want to meet. Contact me on PHO, and we can arrange a meeting. "
With a final look at Hannah, the bird flew away.
I woke up at the sound of the alarm and lazily turned if off. I got up and stretched as I went over phone records, and video of last nights attack.
The S.C.I.O.N. gave me a quick update on the status of my Lusus, and my most recent intelligence summary. One of the ABB I had under surveillance had made a call to someone asking to work for them. Seems he didn't think working, as a dealer was the safest profession.
I walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth as I searched the name through a few public databases. I had over a dozen matches in the Brockton bay area, and I would have it narrowed down by the end of the day. This could be a good lead on the ABB's smuggling operations.
I yawned as I read up on the news. Yawning is a little surreal to me since I think I have the capability to completely remove my need to sleep at this point. But I decided to maintain an hour or two and make sure I can enter REM sleep quicker. There was the theory that sleep can help clear negative emotions, and considering how I had acted just after my experiment, I thought it couldn't hurt. I was curious if Noctis cases or parahumans who did not require sleep had similarities in their brains.
I splashed some cold water in my face and activated my internal scanner as I brushed. My teeth were in good health, though I would want to have a spider do some basic maintenance when I got back to the lab. The spiders had been used to do a little dental surgery to improve my smile. I didn't anything too noticeable since I didn't want Dad to get suspicious.
I took a moment to admire my body in the mirror. I had done good work. All the enhancements, as well as one or two cosmetic changes, looked completely natural. You couldn't tell anything was different. Though my left eye implant was acting up again when I tried to replay video of last nights skirmish through my optical nerve.
I walked back to my room and opened the closet. I removed the hidden panel in the back and pulled out the suitcase to retrieve my arms. I put on the left one, and the mechanical tools attached sprang to life. I turned off my pain and carefully removed my right eye. The scan showed everything was fine, but I gently peeled back the skin to check to make sure. I tweaked the mechanical components a little, put everything back in, and added a little of my prototype medigel to help accelerate the healing process.
I really loved Bonesaw's seed. My vision was much better than a normal person, with a few improvements including superior night vision and telescopic sight. I didn't need glasses anymore, but I was so used to them that my face felt a little weird without them. Not to mention dad would wonder when I got contacts.
I carefully packed the arm back in the suitcase, and closed the panel back up. My body decoy Lusus had been recycled so there was plenty of room. I needed to work on a better way to keep it hidden and update its programming so it seemed more natural while it slept. I needed to record myself sleeping to see if I really snored like Dad insisted was true.
I picked a simple blouse, and pants to wear today. Now that money was no longer an issue, I could have afforded some new clothes, but I wanted to hide my income from Dad. I had never been much of a shopper anyway. Though Dad insisted I needed some new clothes due to my recent growth spurt.
I started to brush my hair my hair in the mirror by my door. I was surprised that I couldn't smell Dad's cooking. He usually insisted on cooking me breakfast if he had the day off. I did get a trace of what smelled like new cologne. That was curious. When had Dad started wearing cologne?
I walked down the stairs and stopped in the middle to stare at Dad. He was drinking a cup of coffee while he read the paper. He had still dressed like he was going to work even though he was off today.
I stared because he had completely shaved his head, which was very suspicious. He had been talking about fully shaving it ever since he had started going bald. But he had never done it until know. Thinking of it, he had been uncharacteristically happy recently. I had thought it was in celebration of the defeat of the governors bill but was it possible Dad had met someone on his trip?
I greeted Dad with a smile. Dad had never been a big talker but my efforts to improve our connection and do activities together had been very fruitful. We were much more open with each other than we had been in years.
"What no breakfast?" I asked.
He carefully folded up the paper, and looked up at me. "I thought we'd eat out today kiddo".
Okay he definitely met someone I thought. He had spent a considerable effort shaving and grooming his face. I tried not to let my suspicions show. "That sounds great. Where at, Fugly Bobs?"
"I'm thinking Italian. Maybe someplace nice like Valentino's. "
"Ohhhh fancy. You want me to drive? "
"I'd like to not have a heart attack so no. If I ever need to destroy trashcans, I'll know who to call."
"One time dad. That happened one time." I said with a laugh as I went to get my shoes.
I ran upstairs to get my shoes, and on a whim checked up on my PHO thread, which had 30 pages already. I took my time to read over a few posts. Most were asking me questions or debating my actions. There was also numerous photos and video showing a few of my Lusus including my spiders fixing the policeman.
It seemed there was a lively debate about my actions, and quite a few comparisons to Nilbog. The thread seemed split between those that applauded my taking the fight to the ABB and the Empire, and those that thought I was escalating things.
I searched through the thread and found a message from Miss Militia asking to meet. I messaged her through the drones that I would let her know as soon as I had time to meet her.
I needed to plan where and how to meet the PRT. I could use the network drones I built to let me operate a small number of Lusus without the central server. Should I go in my costume or use the bird avatar again?
Thinking of Miss Militia's accusations of not acting like a hero made my implant say a mantra about control in my own voice. She had made me so angry. I wouldn't have done anything if the PRT was more effective. It was obvious that they weren't protecting anyone to any great degree. They had failed to stop the Butcher in the past, and the gangs were as strong as ever. What progress had they made?
Despite my less than perfect first meeting, the night had been a success overall. I had taken out even more ABB foot soldiers and the video of the heroes in action had been inspiring. My Lusus were much more effective when the Protectorate could distract and occupy the ABB parahumans. Still going from what Miss Militia had said and the fact that the drug lab hadn't been hit yet, I don't think the heroes are anxious to work with me.
But last night had proved that having parahuman allies would make things easier and I did have other options. If they wouldn't work with me, maybe the other independent heroes would. New Wave might be open to a meeting, and I do still owe them a debt to repay. There were also two independent heroes in the city besides New Wave right now.
Epoch was supposed to be some kind of time traveler, and was supposed to be really strong. He was very active on PHO and he had made it clear he wasn't interested in joining the Protectorate.
The other independent hero was Phoenix. There was actual video of her in action fighting the Teeth and the ABB. There was currently a debate on PHO about her chosen name since there were already other heroes with a Phoenix name or theme. She was minor changer and brute, but her main ability had the main reason there was a debate because it matched Phoenix very well. She couldn't die. Killing her caused her body to disappear, and she usually showed back up three days with no issue.
Working with them could make me more effective and improve my chances of taking down Bakuda and Lung. If they were gone, I was positive I could take the docks outright after some more preparation.
Once I knew where to hit and if I could get project X to work, I was going to…
"Taylor are you cobbling shoes? You coming or what?"
"Coming," I said suppressing a sigh as a melody went off in my ears. I wasn't angry I thought at the S.C.I.O.N. I would have to tweak it some more so it could tell the difference between annoyance and anger. I quickly put on my shoes and got into the car.
Dad whistled with the radio as we drove. It was a new experience traveling somewhere else besides downtown or the docks. Everything is much cleaner somehow in the Downs with well-manicured lawns, fresh painted stores, no graffiti or trash. It was nice but seemed a little sterile and without character.
I browsed the web, and checked the latest foot traffic data while we waited to be seated. I really loved Overmind's seed even if her tech didn't work exactly as I would have liked all the time. The restaurant was a lot nicer than I was used to. Live music was playing, and there was hint of flowers in the air. We ordered and Dad sat across from me.
"So how was the capitol?" I asked biting into a breadstick. I had strategically moved the basket closer to me since I was hungrier than usual.
"A real mess to be honest," Dad said with a grim face. "We weren't the only group there protesting the bill, and there were a few scuffles with police. I'm not sure how it didn't pass, but I'm thankful it did. I was worried a few of the dockworkers would have done something rash without thinking things through."
The waiter comes and we order. Dad gets a fishplate and I order pasta. "So Dad." I carefully drink my lemonade and try to keep my face normal. "What is her name?"
"What? Her who?" He tries to look puzzled but I can see that he is trying to hide something. He always touches the back of his neck when he lies. Mom told me that in confidence a long time ago.
"Come on Dad, I can see the signs," I said holding up my fingers. "You finally shaved your head after years of inaction, you are wearing cologne for the first time in who knows how long, and I know how you are. I know you would be happy from the bill being defeated, but you wouldn't be in such a good mood from that alone. You seem much happier than normal."
"I'm happy? You have to tell me what you've done with my daughter. I haven't seen you so relaxed in forever Taylor. You're smiling all the time, and you have this pep in your step. I haven't seen you like this since the time you got to see big bird in person," he said jokingly.
"I've just had a lot of good luck lately," I said keeping my face straight. Dad had gotten better at reading me since we had grown a little closer, but the S.C.I.O.N had helpfully analyze my micro expressions and helped to build a database to better read people. So I had a little experience at lying convincingly.
I turned things around and looked at him suspiciously. "Don't think I haven't noticed you are trying to change the subject. Spill."
"Well yes I did meet someone and we sort of hit it off," Dad said growing a little red. He had crossed his arms and was leaning a bit back in his chair. The S.C.I.O.N. helpfully pointed out he was a little embarrassed.
I mind whirled with astonishment. Oh my god, my dad was blushing! I can't remember the last time he had blushed. Who was this woman? Whoever they were Dad really liked her. "I knew it," I said with triumph. "So come on, details."
"Well, she was a PRT officer who was a strong supporter of what we were trying to do, and we got to talking, and it turns out she is from Brockton. We saw each other a few times during the week, and we got to talking for hours without realizing it.
"Who asked who?" I said with a smile.
"Let me finish." Dad said waving a breadstick at me. He was still a little red, but he had relaxed. "So we started to talk about the economy, and you came up quite a bit. One thing led to another and I asked her to get a cup of coffee. Which turned into dinner and another coffee date." Dad actually looked a little proud.
"What does she look like?"
"She's about 5ft 8, light brown skin, with a short and wavy brown hair. She is has a bit of an athlete's build, with a very pretty face," he said. "Look I wanted to talk with you first."
He leaned forward and held my hands. "Are you okay with me dating? I know I didn't really talk about it and it hasn't been that long since your mom passed. If you aren't comfortable with it I'll understand. I will tell her we have to take it slow"
He looks me right in the eye and I am touched that he is completely sincere. He really would hold things off for me I realized feeling guilty.
"Dad, I know mom would want you to be happy, and I feel the same way," I said giving his hands a squeeze. "I love seeing you with a smile on your face. If you like her, I'm sure she is amazing. She'd be lucky to have you. When do I get to meet her?"
"Well we were talking about having dinner at the house later this week depending on what you said," he says a little teary eyed.
Dammit dad. If you get teary, I'm going to get teary.
"I think that is a wonderful idea Dad," I say with a smile. "I'll cook if you don't mind."
"I don't mind at all. Besides your cooking has far surpassed mine at this point." He looks so relieved and happy.
I put a grave scowl over my face as I put my hand over his. I look him straight in the eye with a stern expression. "Dad, there is something we do have to talk about".
"Yes, Taylor?" he asks. He is looking a little concerned.
"Do I have to give you the talk?"
"What"? He starts cracking up and laughs really hard before throwing a napkin at me. "Smartass".
"So what's her name?" I ask with a grin.
Dad looks momentarily embarrassed. "I don't actually know what her last name is, but her first name is Hannah."
