A/N: You guys chose Taylor and Tyranids! It's a little cracky, but not in the total crack space of crack. More like having hidden hobbies that are cracky and slightly embarrassing for big manly men to have level of crack. Taylor is a little OOC but she's the Hive Mind now, and freaking happy to have friends and children who love her unconditionally, that she is in contact with at all times. So she's chipper, kinda perky, and a little silly.

XXXXX

I hummed to myself as I walked down the street, my eight 'dogs' (And Krampus, who trailed behind me, looking threatening) barely tugging at the leash. They wanted to go explore, but I wouldn't let them.

Master rating for the win.

And even if Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen weren't under my nigh-absolute control (I let them have some autonomy, they wouldn't be very good pets otherwise. They just had to listen when I said 'no') I think they'd be likely to go hide. But unlike Josephine, who I 'birthed' first; Spike, who was really big and really lazy; or Primus, who was content to read books all day and extend the range she had making sure no one did anything bad; the 'dogs' and Krampus needed exercise.

So we went for walkies.

Dad was fairly okay with the whole thing, I suppose. Except maybe the increased cost of feeding everyone, except the dogs. Who strangely didn't eat. But then I met Mr. Kenta and Mr. Lee and they brought over non-descript meat for everyone who wasn't me or Dad to eat. Because they were really swell guys.

XXXXX

"Lee, we must never give that girl a reason to strike out at the ABB. Make sure she and her creations are taken care of."

Oni Lee stood next to Lung, both in their civilian guises, just having met Ms. Taylor Hebert, and nodded slowly. He tilted his head and a ghost of a smile appeared. She had been rather upset at her inability to feed her 'dogs.' And Kenta was a bit of a softy at heart.

"Great Teacher Kenta moment, huh?"

Lung gave his second in command a sharp glare, before palming his face with a sigh.

"I never should have talked manga with you."

"You make me help you with your doujins."

XXXXX

It was right in front of Mr. Kenta's apartment building when someone dropped out of the sky and onto the tarmac with a crash. That person was quickly followed up by a individual on a glowing skateboard who 'landed' next to the first figure.

The rust red costume and the red and gold costume identified them as Aegis and Kid Win of the Wards. They started me and next thing I knew I was surrounded by the chitin of my dogs and Krampus.

"Alright, you Nilbog wannabe! Come quietly and we'll see about getting you some leniency."

Oh, wow. What assholes.

"Gerroff!"

I pushed Krampus off, much to his disappointment. He felt like he had failed me in some way. I gave him a pat to reassure him and began to straighten out my leashes, ignoring the assholes who interrupted our walkies.

"No, Vixen! Get back into ranks! Dasher! Stop tugging!"

"Uhhh, Nilbog-wannabe?" came Kid Win's tentative voice.

I gave him the best withering glare I could muster. From the way they flinched back, it must have been a good one. Oh, everybody was giving them one.

"And what does the nimrod who rudely dropped out of the sky want?"

"We, uh, want you to come quietly..." Aegis gulped.

"What for? Am I being detained?"

Sure, some of the Dockworkers were some shady guys, and Dad wanted me to stay away from them, but some of them had been activists when Dad and Mom were. They made sure I knew how to screw with the fuzz, when I wasn't doing anything wrong.

The two shared a confused glance.

"No?"

"So then I'm free to go?"

Aegis shook his head.

"No!"

"So I'm being detained?"

As I was about to start the cycle again, the door to the apartment building opened and a heavily tattooed (The detail in the dragons always amazed me) gigantic Asian man in jeans and sneakers walked out. It was Mr. Kenta.

"Taylor-chan, are these boys bothering you?"

I gave Mr. Kenta a bright smile as he walked over to me and began petting my 'dogs.' He, and Mr. Lee, always got the dogs snacks or gave them pets. A lot of the people on my walk route did. They were nice people. And he called me 'Taylor-chan' which gave me warm-fuzzies. Not, the illegal (because I was fifteen and Mr. Kenta was older) warm-fuzzies, but the kind of warm-fuzzies I got when Dad called me 'kiddo.'

"Kinda, Mr. Kenta. They've stopped me for no reason at all! They even called me 'Nilbog-wannabe!'"

Meanwhile, the two Wards, as best as I could tell given their masks, looked about ready to brown their pants. Mr. Kenta straightened, and Krampus fell in behind the man as he walked over to the Wards.

"That was a very unkind thing to do, wasn't it boys?"

I thought the two of them had broken necks from the way they nodded.

"I think that you should apologize and be on your way. Taylor-chan has been walking her 'dogs' and her guard for the better part of two months. She has done less damage to this city than you have in that time. Apologize. Now."

Suddenly there was a bunch of squealing tires as Armsmaster, and Miss Militia drifted around the corner, her riding on the back of his motorcycle. It came to a screeching halt, that made my ears hurt. The two of them hopped off and I heard a helicopter in the distance, along with sirens.

Was I in trouble? I felt the rest of my family, sans Dad, start moving to my position. They were pretty pissed that this was happening. That certainly gave me warm-fuzzies. I puked up Josephine and a few of the others. They were my kids/grandkids. And they loved me, just like I loved them. They were certainly willing to brutalize anyone who gave me trouble.

Like that mugger. I had gone for my morning jog, ignoring the fact that Krampus had ignored my order to stay home, when he jumped me. Krampus... lived up to his name. Put the mugger in an impromptu sack and beat the tar out of him.

So while the Protectorate and the PRT rushed to my location, I calmly undid the leashes on my dogs. Mr. Kenta walked unhindered into an alley way, pulling out a cellphone. The capes on scene were shooting him worried glances, but Mr. Kenta didn't care.

"Stand down," came Armsmaster's voice, "and come quietly."

"Why?" I shot back, "I haven't done anything wrong."

"You are an unauthorized bio-tinker creating creatures like Nilbog. You will come quietly or we will take you down."

"I guess you don't like making friends do you? You like having enemies. I. Haven't. Done. Anything. Wrong. Threatening me is only more likely to make me not want to go with you. What's next? You're going to threaten my dad?"

"We have been unable to reach your father."

Miss Militia shot Armsmaster a look from behind the sights of her... it was an assault rifle of some kind. It plainly said 'Are you TRYING to make it worse?'

Now, now I was upset. My dogs began to circle around me in a shifting shield of chitin, and Krampus moved to directly infront of me. The helicopter was really close now and I could see PRT vans being unloaded behind the heroes.

They would actually try to threaten my dad? Sure he might have fallen to pieces worse than me when Mom died and was distant until I came back from that locker... But he was trying now. He even taught Primus how to play chess!

Then Primus, Josephine, and Spike came thundering around the corner and into the street, with two of them coming to a halt behind me. Primus thundered even farther forward than Krampus before stopping. The roar that followed would have done Lung proud, it felt like the whole world was shaking.

I walked forward, my chitinous bodyguard moving perfectly in time, and laid a hand on a obviously raging Primus' chest-level knee.

"Sorry about Primus. He's a bit of a momma's boy," I said trying to keep everything calm, despite hearing Josephine heaving up fifteen more (long range) dogs in the back, who quickly joined the front rank between me and the PRT/Heroes, "Very protective. I don't know where he get's his devilish good looks though. Probably from my Dad. It's kinda 'eww' but my mom must've found him attractive for them to make me."

And that was about when Glory Girl descended, ahead of an arriving New Wave, from the skies and popped me good across the face. Even as I flew back a good long ways and tumbled up next to Josephine, she got 'dog'-and Krampus-piled. Her shouts quickly turned to screams as my new grand-dogs ran forwards, shooting globs of and into the heroes, and Spike thundered forwards in after them. Primus roared again in challenge, engaging Armsmaster.

I rolled over and began the one part of my power that I wasn't too fond of. Puking up a kitten sized monstrosity. They ALWAYS were so cute at that stage too. I just wanted to cuddle their still slick and goopy body.

But instead of one, I upped many. A writhing mass of tentacles and teeth and adorable-ness that nearly made me squee. I managed to grab one, perfectly huggable and cute, before the rest surged off, and swarmed the one PRT agent who had managed to break close to me. Well, they were babies and hungry.

So they ate him.

I didn't feel bad, he had an actual gun and was pointing it me. I also didn't feel bad when the bloody, missing-an-arm, form of Glory Girl burst out of her pile and flew away. Bitch deserved it for popping me in the mouth. I called back the writhing teeth.

"STOP! GET BACK HERE! MOTHER IS VERY UPSET WITH ALL OF YOU!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Quickly, my children pulled back, some of them limping quite heavily. Dasher was even missing a leg. Poor thing. The Heroes and PRT kept shooting/fighting/whatever for a second before Miss Militia gave a hold fire order.

Which was almost instantly counter-manded by Armsmaster, but she got right up in his face, shouting loud enough for me to hear, with a funny accent.

"NO! They will hold fire! YOUR shitty attitude and basic inability to deal with people made this worse! And FUCKING GLORY GIRL started all of this! Its HER fault seven people are dead and four trucks are destroyed! Not this girl's! She re-acted to a punch that would have killed a normal person! The girl is obviously lucid! She is open to diplomacy! DON'T make Brockton Bay the next Elisburgh just because you can't keep your halberd in your pants! I swear to High Heaven I will pull every favor I have to get you stuck in a tinker pit, only to be taken out when Lung or an Endbringer shows up!"

She was huffing and puffing and still very obviously angry but trying to calm down. Armsmaster turned slightly and croaked out a 'hold fire.'

I, on the other hand, was naming all of my new 'dogs' and my living teeth.

"Annnd you can be Sarah. You're Joseph. You can be Danny, just like dad. Stop acting so tough! You can be Kenta, like Mr. Kenta who acts tough but we all know is a big softy."

Mr. Kenta gave a cough, reminding me he was there. I gave him my best smile, which he sulked at.

Miss Militia stalked away from Armsmaster towards me. She stopped, briefly, and gave a great big shuddering breath. After moving forward a bit more, she stopped a respectable distance away from my horde. I was still in the process of naming the last one. And I just couldn't figure out a good one.

"Hello there."

"Hi!" went back to the older woman, cheerily, "Do you know any good names? I can't seem to figure out one for this little guy."

I held up the teeth-tentacle for show. She gave me a wooden smile. Well, I couldn't actually see her mouth but her eyes seemed to go from 'try to put me at ease smile' eyes to 'hoo, boy gotta keep smiling' eyes. Then those eyes got a gleam in them.

"How about 'Colin?'"

I gave her a happy nod.

"Colin is a good name! How can I help you today Miss Militia?"

XXXXX

A tent was set-up for the interview. Because I couldn't be too far away from my children(They would go nuts), and they didn't want me in the PRT or Protectorate building. We, myself and Miss Militia, made some small talk while waiting on my dad.

"You name all of them?"

I nodded.

"Makes me feel closer to them. I don't have any other friends."

Now, I was sure Double-M was frowning.

"How does a cheerful girl like you not have any friends?"

"Oh. Um. Emma Barnes used to be my friend, but then I went away for summer camp after my mom died and she met Sophia Hess. Those two and Madison Clements have been bullying me since I got back that year, and making sure I had no friends. They even went as far as to get someone to fake befriend me. So they could take it away," which I stated with as little inflection as possible. I really didn't like talking about it. But Miss Militia was one of those people you wanted to open up to.

"There should be a police report about the time they shoved me in a locker. Which is where I think I got my powers, 'cause it was weird and then a week later I started growing scales," I pulled down my turtleneck and showed her where the scales had grown up the back of my neck, "and puked up Josephine. She's the one who spawns the shooty dogs. Primus was the next day, and then the eager eight, as I like to call them, came out in pairs, all in one afternoon, the day after that. Spike and Krampus came later."

"Why didn't you call the PRT or the Protectorate?"

"I was afraid you'd take my babies from me, and lock them up in a lab or something. It took me two days to get Dad to agree to not to do it himself. Besides, other than the range issue, and other than when people attack me, they're perfectly well behaved and in control."

The American themed heroine raised an eyebrow.

"So when people attack you they go out of control? You called them back quickly enough."

"I was startled, and they protected me. My will is absolute if I want it to be. The first time it happened it was a mugger. Krampus wrapped him up in his coat and banged him good against the wall a few times. He was still moaning when I left him there."

"And you puked them up? A couple of them are huge!"

I nodded happily.

"They start out small, but then I fed them and they got bigger. Except the eager eight. I don't think they really eat. They don't poop or anything that would make me think they eat. The others," I frowned and my nose wrinkled, "They can be messy. But as best as I can tell, my stomach is some sort of genetic cauldron. Or my stomach acid is, because I keep getting these passing thoughts about digging a big pit and puking alot into it, and then piling food in there. Which is like a tinker urge, I guess. I read up on cape classifications and distinctions on PHO."

"How did you find out about your range and how do you deal with it when you're at school?"

My dad walked in at that exact moment, and quickly moved to embrace me. After we exchanged some soothing words, he answered for me.

"I came home and found her picking up garbage and the couch was ruined. Not any worse than a regular dog. But when there are more than one of them... 'Luckily' Primus came next, and both he and Krampus are a bit different when it comes to this range thing," he looked back at me, "How did you explain it, Kiddo? Like raido towers that can pick up and rebroadcast your signal?"

I nodded.

"So, I COULD go to school, or anywhere in the city. But I don't want to go to the PRT building so you can disappear me."

At that Miss Militia looked taken aback.

"We wouldn-"

Dad cut her off in a sharp and cold tone that let me know his temper spiked.

"Several Masters have been noted to go willingly into the PRT or Protectorate only to never be seen again, especially when their master ability is in a moral grey area or worse. Like there was... 'Beating Hear,t' who was a Heartbreaker kid who managed to get away, who could control six willing people or one or two unwilling, with sharing vision and other senses with Beating Heart as the filter. He was open about it on PHO and openly photographed going into the PRT building, then never heard from again."

Aegis walked into the tent, unnoticed by any one but me, since Fido spotted him on the way in.

"The PRT and the Protectorate have 'disappeared' law abiding or redemption seeking masters before. And given Taylor's power's resemblance to Nilbog, I looked up all notable Masters of her caliber on PHO and public PRT records. Every single one who went to the PRT is never heard from again. Any masters on the PRT or Protectorate's dime do something like the rogue here in Brockton Bay do.

Also, I'd like to know how it took two months for the PRT to even notice. Its not like we hid them. Spike and Josephine sleep in my driveway during the day and curl up in the alleyway at night. Christ, Taylor takes the dogs for walks!"

"Dogs need their exercise," I chimed in.

Aegis announced his presence to my dad and Miss Militia with a cough.

"Preliminary interviews with the locals, including a 'Kenta Eikaiwa' and a 'Chao Lee' who spoke vehemently in Taylor's defense, say that Taylor was always pleasant and cheerful, and despite the appearance of the 'dogs,' they were always friendly and playful, somewhere between dogs and cats in their mannerisms. They saw no need to inform the PRT as it wasn't a problem. There are a lot people who live along the route Taylor walks her 'dogs' who are volunteering to be character witnesses. We only found out today because we saw her on patrol."

Miss Militia let out a huff.

"Most of the locals are Asian," she stated.

"Yes, ma'am. Dragon tattoos are very common as well."

"Are you implying that the ABB has been sheltering me? I mean, I've going on walkies in the fringes ABB territory because I'm less likely to be jumped for just being on the street, and druggies are hard to predict."

XXXXX

Later that night, after all the phone conferences and preliminary interviews with the Heberts were all done, Emily Piggot sat in her office staring off into the distance.

Glory Girl had been successfully wrangled into the Wards since she punched, for basically no reason other than to be the glorious heroine, the new parahuman, codenamed 'Broodmother,' and inadvertently caused the violent reaction that killed seven people.

All members of Broodmother's brood had their own instincts, first amongst them was to protect Broodmother at any cost. So when Broodmother was startled or disoriented, they reacted according to those instincts(When Broodmother slept, anything requiring more input than 'move from where I am because something is annoying me' would wake Broodmother into a half-awake state for the member to have a reference, her brood entering combat while she slept hadn't happened yet). As much as Emily wanted to punish Broodmother for those deaths, she couldn't justify it. The one death she could have pinned on Broodmother, who Emily wanted to go away at first, wouldn't make it through the courts, unless it was railroaded.

And if it were railroaded, Shadow Stalker (who was on her way, as Emily sat there, to juvie and pending several new charges) would be outed. The PRT would look like monsters attacking a potentially anti-Nilbog traumatized teenage girl. Then Lung had the balls to call Director Piggot and tell her in no uncertain terms the destruction he would wreak on Brockton Bay if Taylor-chan was mishandled.

And it was decided that, with Broodmother's tentative agreement, Broodmother would replace Nilbog as 'Mayor' of Elisburgh, wiping the Goblin King off the map. It would give Broodmother a place to keep her brood, and through Movers, have a brood large enough to combat Endbringers. Given that 'Spike' had just moseyed through anti-vehicular fire and destroyed a few trucks, they had a very good chance of hurting the Endbringers without ever having a single Parahuman casualty.

And so Emily sat in her office unsure of whether to squeal with joy at giving Nilbog his, or cry in that she had to let another Nilbog live.

Just to top it all off, Broodmother acted like a mother to all of her creations and thought each and every single one of those nightmare inspiring monsters was cute.

Emily dialed her secretary.

"I'm going to get very drunk in the Director's suite. I will be in at nine tomorrow."

And hung up.

Getting drunk was a good plan. With that done, Emily stood up and waddled off to her private rooms to get twice the legal limit drunk without having anybody listening in to the state secrets she might babble.

She snorted in amusement as she locked her office. The 'Eager Eight' were named after Santa's Reindeer. How silly. Such a terrifying power, and she names the little monsters after reindeer.

XXXXX

A/N: I hope all of you enjoy your Emperor's Day gift! Enjoy your holiday and help me enjoy mine by leaving a review?