"It was nice meeting you, Weaver!" Vista said as Verity and said Cape headed back to Director Piggot's office after getting a message from the director saying she and Danny had finished 'negotiating' Taylor's Ward Contract.
"It was nice to meet you as well Vista, glad to be on the same team as you," Taylor responded.
"Yeah my presence does immediately improve… Ahh, doesn't work as a response as well to that kind of thing," Vista lamented. "Anyway, I will be seeing you tomorrow."
"Yeah see you," Taylor responded.
"And you too Biggest V," Vista added.
"See ya Little V~."
At that the door closed and the two began to walk back to the Director's office.
"Sooo, whaddya think?" Verity asked after a moment (and a bit of distance from the Wards area). "About the team?"
"It's not what I expected," Taylor replied.
"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Good thing," Taylor replied. "They are just... nice…" She trailed off.
"I told you, right? They're good people." Verity said. "Oh, and before I forget, there's something I'll need to talk with you about later after my patrol, so keep an ear out, but if I'm not back by… 10-ish, don't sweat it, you'll need your sleep."
"Yes moooom," She responded in a complaining tone, like a standard teenager would.
Verity froze up at the word again for a moment.
"Verity?" Taylor asked as she turned around to look at the frozen snake-woman.
"No-uh-du-uhm, yeah, no, yeah, uh, eh, everything's fine, everythings good!" Verity said, words firing out at rapid speed with little coordination from her lagging brain. "Just, uh, had a, it's, it's… it's fine, everything's fine."
"...If you say so," She replied as they continued walking.
After a solid minute of awkward silence, Verity decided to break it after getting her mind back on the track from earlier. "So, uh, yeah, if I'm not back by 10-ish, we can talk about it tomorrow, is what I was trying to say earlier, since it's important but not too pressing."
"Oh okay, what is it then?" She asked.
"Something best discussed privately, like definitively." Verity said. "But I wanted to make sure I tell you about having this talk in advance and don't like, spring this on you, I don't want to mess with any plans you may have or anything."
"Okay," Taylor answered as they came to the door to Piggot's office and entered after quickly knocking.
"So how were the other Wards?" Danny asked.
"They were nice, so you've got it all sorted out now?" Taylor asked.
"Yes, welcome to the Wards ENE Ms. Hebert," Piggot stated.
"Thank you, so what do I do now?" Taylor asked.
"You go home with your father, and tomorrow after school you will be meeting with Deputy- Director Renick who will give you the full Wards introduction," Piggot answered.
"Oh okay," Taylor answered, still sounding very overwhelmed by it all.
"Well if that is the case, let's go home Taylor, talk to you some other time Verity," Danny stated.
"Seebert, Heberts." Verity said, deciding to mangle the English language some more.
Which elicited the expected groans she had come to expect from Taylor though this time around her Father joined her in the condemnation of her.
Verity grinned at their responses. "Get home safe now."
"Stay safe yourself," They responded together as they exited the office.
Once they left, and another beat after that, Verity turned towards Director Piggot. "So, what was this I heard about the Mayor's niece getting kidnapped?"
"So you managed to hear that didn't you?" Piggot asked.
"Yeah, superior senses." Verity confirmed. "But uh, empathometer's going off, is that even something we can help with?" She asked, very much so wanting to help.
"No, despite his wishes, there is no sign of Parahuman involvement, it's just him trying to use the fact his son is Triumph to mean that it gives him special privileges," Piggot answered.
"...Wait, aren't family members of Parahumans more likely to be Parahumans themselves?" Verity asked.
"Yes, though we have no confirmation of the possible fact that Dinah Alcott is a Parahuman, though her parents mentioned that for the last three months she been talking about numbers and having chronic headaches which are signs of a Thinker powers, but as long we do not have 100% confirmation there is little we can do, so in the meantime it's the police's job to find her," Piggot explained.
"Well… that sucks." Verity said, now suddenly struck with the urge to go out and try finding the poor girl herself.
"And you will undertake no Vigilante actions to try and find her on your own," Piggot stated.
Verity sighed. "Understood, ma'am. In that case, I suppose we should focus on the nazi attack that's going to happen today?"
"Yes we shall, do you trust the source of the information to believe that it is correct?" Piggot asked.
"Yes, for that sort of action is something Kaiser is not known to do," The voice of Armsmaster stated as he entered the office.
"Armsmaster you forgot to knock," Piggot stated.
"My apologies Director," The Tinker replied.
"Well, I have reason to believe the information is at least somewhat accurate, that some kind of retaliation is inbound from the 88, since even the street-level normie-members seemed to think Kaiser was planning something. And with the rising tension, the fact I took down one of their strongest members, who was able to hurt me, and the fact we haven't released the full details of what happened with Bakuda to the public, leads me to believe that something is going to happen, and the source's other information all proved accurate, so I believe they were telling the truth." Verity explained, her personal code of confidentiality sticking clear through the explanation.
"That is a logical assumption to make based on present data," Armsmaster stated.
"But as you said yourself Armsmaster it is not something Kaiser has done before," Piggot replied.
"No but it is something his father, Allfather did when the Empire lost strong members he went and deprived us of one our strongest members, to keep the balance of power as it were," Armsmaster stated.
"I remember reading about that in the files now, it was before I took office," Piggot stated. "So you think he is going to take a page out of his father's book?"
"Possibly, for they lost Hookwolf, one of the few capes in the city that can survive for extended periods of time against Lung," Armsmaster stated. "But even if they don't we still have to be cautious as it is a hit on us."
"Yeah, so I was going to suggest having some of our people relatively nearby in case that happens?" Verity said, not stating she was pretty much 100% it would. "Like having Velocity within response distance or something… maybe more than just him, but the ones I was told were Fenja and Menja, Alabaster, Rune, and a hard 'maybe' on Purity, and you guys probably know how to strategize this way better than I do what with the 'significantly more experience' thing."
"Yes you're definitely not patrolling alone today," Piggot stated.
"And yes you're correct Velocity should be within response distance, with Miss Militia acting as your companion, which hopefully should be able to deter an attack," Armsmaster stated.
"I'm gonna prepare for the worst, hope for the best." Verity said.
"You should," Armsamster stated. "As your patrol starts in an hour."
"Yeah… do we have my new bag ready for handcuffs and stuff? My old one got blown up."
"It's in your temporary locker," Armsmaster answered.
"Alright, thank you… are we making any sort of strategy around this then, or are we playing this by ear?"
"By ear, as we do not know how or when the attack will occur or even if it will occur, there are simply too many variables to create a proper unified strategy to deal with a possible Parahuman ambush," Armsmaster answered.
"Dang, okay, good point." Verity said. "I'll just...read up a bit on the most likely ones from my source and a few others besides, I suppose."
"Though when it occurs- if it occurs the first response is to retreat from the scene, as a fight between you and the Valkyrie twins would level a city block if it were to occur," Armsmaster stated.
"Understood." Verity said. "Oh, quick moral/legal/PR question, am I allowed to go all out on Alabaster if necessary to restrain him, considering he can just reset? Or do we already have something in mind for that?"
"Alabaster's powers just change his body's state; it does not extend to his clothes, or cuffs," Armsmaster answered.
"Oh, okay, good, I misread that. I'll get ready then."
"You do that, Miss Militia and Velocity will be waiting for you when you're done," Armsmaster stated as he left the Director's office.
"Though speaking of PR, Miranda our local head of Image wants to talk to you tomorrow regarding your tattoo and PR Events," Piggot stated.
"Oh, good, good." Verity said. "Oh, and before I forget, if an attack does happen today, we're taking that as a sign the attack on Wednesday's gonna happen as well?"
"Yes, that will increase the credibility of that info," Piggot stated.
"Alright, then, have a good day, I'll get ready."
Xxx
"So Medusa now that you've been a Protectorate Hero for a week, what do you think of it so far?" Miss Militia asked her as she drove besides the slithering Verity.
"Busy. Veeeerry busy." Verity said, on high alert as she went along, all 10 snakes fanned out to hopefully give her an early warning system, Charlie in particular pointed upwards just in case. "But it feels good to finally be able to help."
"Yes it is a very busy job," Miss Militia responded. "And if you feel busy now, remember you work every other day."
"I know, I know, but stuff keeps happening off the clock, too."
"Yes, I've seen some of your exploits online," She stated.
Verity flinched. "Hopefully just the drunk part?"
"You shouldn't be ashamed about the wardrobe thing, you're not the first Heroine to strut around topless," Miss Militia stated.
"Aheheh, yeah…" Verity said, not admitting she was more embarrassed about potentially setting a bad example than actually doing it. "I'm guessing nothing like that's ever happened to you on the job, right?"
"Me no, but it has happened to Alexandria once and one time it happened to my friend Mouse Protector during our Wards days," Miss Militia stated.
"Mouse Protector?" Verity asked, immediately giddy at the name alone. "I didn't realize we could get great names like that."
"Wouldn't fly today, only Clockblocker got away with his as that was what he said doing his debut instead of his intended name of Clockstopper," Miss Militia stated.
"Still, I gotta meet Mouse Protector sometime." Verity said with conviction. "If you could introduce me to her sometime, that would be fantastic."
"She comes by once every two months to have a chat," Miss Militia said. "So she will be by next month."
"Fantastic." Verity said eagerly as she refocused her new surge of energy from the joy of learning 'Mouse Protector' was a person she could meet back on her surroundings.
"Ssss!" Charlie hissed.
"Militia, something's from above!" Verit said as she looked up herself and she saw a car plummet towards her face, quickly raising her arms and snakes to catch the car and arrest its momentum, feeling the shaking in her bones but quickly setting it down, to see within the car the white skinned and white haired form of Alabaster within. "Militia, move!"
"Hello animal I bring presents from Kaiser," He said as he pressed a detonator in his hand.
And a microsecond later Verity got bombed for the second time in her life.
"Fucking ow!" Verity screamed as she felt the shrapnel and metals of the car enter her body as the fire licked at her skin and burnt her clothing once again. At least she assumed so as right now she couldn't see, and she could feel that there were things in her eyes.
But as she went to remove them, Verity felt something wrap around her tail and then a second later she was swung by it and slammed into the concrete road over and over again.
"I'm not a toy you fucking Nazi fuck!" Verity yelled as she switched from slither mode to leg mode, her tail becoming significantly thinner and thus sending her flying out of the giant grip and rolling across the ground, blinking the residual shrapnel out of her eyes as she came to a stop in a low crouch, staring up at the foot that collided with her face and sent her flying backwards where she got kicked again sending her forward- right back into the foot that had kicked her first.
Which kicked again.
"I'm not a soccer ball either!" Verity said as she again arrested her movement, this time by using her snakes to pull herself towards the ground and then stare up at the two Valkyrie-themed giant fuckers.
"More than you deserve to be, you subhuman creature," Either Fenja or Menja said as the two twins were identical to one another so Verity didn't know -or really, care- which was which. As they brandished their spears at her, and struck in tandem to skewer her.
Verity quickly moved out of the way, the fact they were moving in tandem actually making it easier to dodge combined with the fact they weren't very fast, as she quickly took in her surroundings, seeing Miss Militia trying to deal with who she guessed was Rune, floating on a concrete boulder, while Velocity was pinning Alabaster to the ground.
Making a snap decision, Verity decided to focus her assault on the one who grabbed her first, who she decided would be Fenja for ease of thinking about it, as she quickly decided to climb the giant neo-Nazi, quickly swapping back to tail mode and wrapping around her leg and climbing like a python, using her claws to assist and hopefully cut through the seemingly regular cloth stockings and inject some venom awhile. "Always wanted to climb a giant, never thought it'd be like this!" She said as she continued upward.
"Filthy beast, you don't belong in this world," Fenja said as she dropped her shield to try and grab a hold of Verity.
"It was not by hand I was given- flesh!" Verity said, before biting down on said exposed flesh and pumping as much of her paralytic as she could.
"Argh!" She shouted in pain as she stomped her leg up and down to shake her off.
"Sister!" Menja shouted as she rushed over and tried to grab at Verity's tail.
"I ain't done yet!" Verity said as she decided to, despite rather not wanting to, quickly climb up in between Fenja's breastplate and body and start cutting with her claws, knowing it wouldn't do much lasting harm, but more so trying to inject more of her venom and hopefully take down at least one of these two.
"You, you perverted beast!" Fenja shouted as she tried to grab at her breastplate from what Verity could tell going by the knocking.
"This is the problem with over-complicated, impractical costumes!" Verity shouted up as she continued her climb upwards towards the face, leaving lacerations as she went. "Can't take it off when you need to!"
"Argh!" She shouted as she tried to grab Verity again, stumbling backwards as she did so. "Huh what's happening? My body? What… you...do?" She asked as she collapsed onto her back.
"I'm a snake, bitch, you think I don't got venom?" Verity asked as she quickly left the now downed Fenja to try and avoid-
"Got you!" Menja stated as her hand managed to finally catch Verity, her fingers wrapping around her torso. And she started to squeeze, causing Verity to wrap her tail around her wrist and squeezing back. "This is what you get, you removed Hookwolf the greatest defender of the good people of this city, against the chinks and the n-,"
Verity cut her off as she bit the finger closest to her and pumped the last of her paralytic in, knowing it wouldn't do much but that it was better than nothing, her snakes mimicking her and biting across her fingers to try and get Menja to drop her.
"Arghh!" She screamed but her grip didn't lessen. "This pain is nothing compared to the humiliation the proud Aryan ra-" Menja was cut off again as her head was engulfed in thick foam.
"Be quiet you Nazi bitch," Came Miss Militia's voice.
"Oh thank god." Verity said as she was let go by Menja, who immediately took to trying to rip the foam off her face, Verity taking the ride up before letting go and getting at Menja's neck area and beginning to scratch. "Hopefully I've got enough left on these to take you down…" She muttered.
Verity only got muffled screaming in response as she fell to the ground just like her sister and ceased to move.
"Well, that's two more giants than I ever thought I'd take down in my life." Verity said as she got off the neck and took a quick survey of the area to see if anything was still active.
She saw that both Rune and Alabaster were covered in containment foam, and while the street was damaged it was localised to the rather barren road that had a few holes from where she had been puny god'd, and the smoldering wreckage of the car bomb.
"Thanks for the save, Miss M." Verity said as she took the moment to catch her breath at seeing all the threats were taken care of. "I was actually struggling pretty hard there for a moment."
"That is what teammates are for Medusa… and you lost your costume again," Miss Militia stated.
"It's not my fault people seem to like blowing me up!" Verity said as she checked and confirmed that, yes, most of her costume was gone, but this time it was at least enough to cover some of herself as opposed to none. "Did we spot any sign of anyone else?"
"No that seemed to be it," Velocity said. "And PRT Prisoner transport eta is five minutes." He told them with his back turned to Verity.
"Okay, good, good, Miss M, your stuff still intact? I think I need that spare we brought."
"Managed to save it with your warning," She answered as she pointed at her bike which was on the other side of the road.
"Yay, anti-nudity plan was a success!" Verity said. "And the anti-nazi one too, I guess."
"That it was," Miss Militia responded, while Velocity just sighed.
Xxx
After Fenja, Menja, Alabaster and Rune had been picked up by the PRT Prisoner Van, Medusa and Miss Militia continued their patrol that didn't see any further action, mercifully enough.
And after it had ended she had written up her after action report and headed back home to face the potential blowout that could happen with Taylor.
"Welcome, congrats on the Nazi capture," Sabah greeted Verity from the livingroom a few seconds after she had got down washing her hands, an instinctual first thing upon entering her house.
"Thanks, it hurt like a bitch." Verity said, definitely tiredly, but also to some degree, proudly. "But no casualties, no fatalities, took down one and a half giants on my own, pretty good results honestly."
"That sounds pretty good, the less Capes the Empire have the better," Sabah replied with a proud smile.
"Exactly." Verity agreed with a smile. "Less super-Nazi's in the wild is always a good thing."
"That it is, just continue the good work dear," Sabah replied.
"Of course, dear." Verity said back, savoring the word for a moment like a rare delicacy. "Speaking of good work, I'm not done for the night yet, need to have a chat with our friendly neighborhood Spidergirl."
"Why would that be good work? Is something serious?" She asked.
"Uhhh, well it was, it's just about, uh, hero stuff." Verity said. "Serious, but not like… immediately threatening, so to speak? And definitely something that's not my place to share without her permission."
"I understand," Sabah replied. "It's either Ward, Protectorate or PRT stuff, meaning my ears are closed to that."
"Exactly… so maybe head to the basement for a bit? It sounded like you had already started to set things up down there, right?"
"I am, and speaking of work, got some good news, my insurance is able to cover the damages," Sabah stated.
"Oh, awesome! Are you going to be rebuilding or buying a new place?"
"I am going to be buying a new place that is just going to be a workshop, as I have a lovely home right here at the moment," Sabah answered.
"Aww, babe."
"Well somebody has to give compliments, anyway I'll head downstairs, because I believe that is Taylor ringing the doorbell," Sabah spoke at the same time the bell began to ring.
"Right, right, see you in a bit for dinner then." Verity said, quickly planting a kiss on the top of Sabah's head before heading for the door.
"Hi hello!" Verity greeted cheerily as she opened the door to see Taylor standing there, before quickly ushering her in. "Come on in, come on in, can I get you anything to drink? I have more to offer now."
"No thank you," Taylor replied. "So what was it you were being all weird and hush, hush about?"
"Uh, well, ummm, hmm, you should probably sit down first, get comfy." Verity said, motioning towards the sofa.
"Oh this is serious then," Taylor stated as she sat down on the sofa, her hands on her lap as she awaited Verity's words.
"Yeah, unfortunately so." Verity said as she sat opposite Taylor, once again using her tail as a chair. "It's something I literally could not tell you before 3:00 pm or so today, but is in fact very important for you and your future."
"Okay, does it have something to do with me being a Ward now?" She asked.
"Yes, completely so." Verity confirmed. "Uh, before we get into that, and trust me this is related to what I'm getting to, what were your thoughts on the Wards based on today?"
"They are all nice and open, Vista is cute especially when she tries to act more adult, Aegis and Gallant behave's like fairy tail heroes almost, Browbeat was very ordinary compared to the rest, Kid Win is nice but a little to enthusiastic about Tinkering, and Clockblocker is a prankster, but not the mean kind. And Shadow Stalker, she is definitely the anti-hero, lone wolf like you said. She didn't say a single thing the entire time, just giving me weird looks… I think it was hard to see due to her mask," Taylor answered, giving a much deeper first impression of the Wards.
"Okay, yeah that's all pretty accurate, but that last one is actually the reason we're having this conversation." Verity said. "Um. There is no easy way to break this to you, but due to Non Disclosure Agreements that I signed to become a member of the Protectorate, and the potential security breach of saying this information to a civilian, which as of today you are not anymore, I was literally unable to tell you before today that Shadow Stalker… actually knows you. And you know her."
"Really?" She asked in surprise and confusion as it didn't seem to click who Verity was referring to."
"Yeah, um… what I'm about to say is…" Verity stalled for a moment. "Um. Can you promise me that if you get mad, you won't take it out on anything in the house other than me? I don't think you're a violent person or anything, but you have super strength now, hitting anything in this house that is not me will result in it breaking."
"Verity you're kinda scaring me right now, why would I hit you or anything else really?" Taylor asked.
Verity closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Just… promise me, okay? That you won't repeat what I'm about to tell you to anyone, and that you won't take out your feelings on anything in here but me."
"I promise, I promise, seriously you're freaking me out now," Taylor stated.
Verity took another deep breath, and forced herself to look at Taylor. "The name you know Shadow Stalker by is Sophia Hess."
"What?" Taylor said in a high pitched voice, that was also a very low whisper at the same time.
"Sophia Hess has been a probational member of the Wards as Shadow Stalker for excessive force since July of last year. Before I met you, I had begun the process of trying to help rehabilitate her towards being a better person. When you told me what she was doing to you… Well, currently, the important bit, is that she will not be interacting with you unless you initiate contact, on the rare instance in which you are scheduled for the same time and day working as Wards. Sophia is currently on the edge of being put away for most of the rest of her life, and is only not in jail indefinitely right now because of her age. You will not ever have to interact with her in your capacity as a Ward beyond an actual emergency, and if she does anything at school all you need to do is tell me immediately and she will be put away. She is, effectively, only one straw short of the last." Verity said clinically, simply making sure all the information was laid out.
"Did they know?"
"No." Verity said. "From what I understand, your principal smoothed everything over before it got high up enough, presumably because she wanted the funding."
"Old Principal," Taylor corrected her.
"Good, good, she will literally never work in childcare or education again." Verity said with a vicious grin, which quickly faltered as her gaze drifted from Taylor. "But um… I am deeply sorry for not telling you about this first. I… my mother was-is, she is, a nurse, and confidentiality has been one of my core values. You have every right to be mad with me for not telling you this sooner, but I… god I'm going to sound like the worst kind of adult right now, I felt it was in your best interest to have some kind of support group like the PRT and peers that you could interact with instead of being a solo vigilante who wouldn't be able to call anyone for help other than this lying snake."
"That you are," Taylor said. "You kept pushing for me to join the Wards, despite, despite knowing that Hess was a member-"
"To be a little bit fair, she is barely a member of the Wards. She does not interact with her teammates unless necessary, and I wouldn't go so far as to say they all hate her, but she isn't exactly liked there. And currently, she is only on Console Duty indefinitely." Verity said. "Which, again, you can feel however you wish on this, and I will understand, I just want you to know everything now that I can tell you."
Taylor continued after Verity had finished seemingly unmoved by her words. "-Which I am absolutely furious about," She said in a seething rage. "But what makes it worse… is that you're right. It is the best option for me, I read my contract and it has given me options I didn't even think of, and made things I want to do much easier. But even so that just makes me angrier, but, but…" Taylor's words froze as the rage and anger left her voice replaced by sadness as she started to cry.
"...I understand I may not be the best person for this right now, but...can I hug you?" Verity offered after a moment, opening her arms to Taylor.
She responded by hugging Verity. "You were the only one who cared, you were the only one who tried to help me. You saved me."
"Oh, don't say things like that." Verity said as she brought her into a proper hug. "Your father cared, he just didn't know. I was only able to help you because you took the first big leap and opened up to me."
Taylor just cried harder at that. "I hate it, I hate it, I hate feeling like this. Why does this have to be so complicated?" She asked seemingly no one.
"That's just how life is sweetie. It's messy, and it's complicated, and the only real way to do anything with it is to put your best foot forward and try something." Verity said soothingly as she rubbed Taylor's back gently in slow circles. "Reaching out… you're not alone. You are not alone, Taylor. And you won't be, won't really be alone, ever again. As long as you're willing to reach out."
Taylor didn't respond to that verbally.
Verity continued to say soothing words as she held Taylor tight, and shed a few tears herself to wit, until she would be done.
As long as Taylor needed.
Xxx
And that time had been until the morning as Taylor had simply cried herself to sleep.
Which had resulted in her having to call Danny and tell him that she was staying with her through the night, as she didn't have the heart to rouse the girl from her slumber on the sofa.
"Morning Verity," Danny said after she had opened the door to greet the man after he rang the bell.
"Morning Danny!" Verity greeted, a bit quietly but still enthusiastically, the energy rush from having woken up with someone else in her bed for the first time in about 8 years having immediately and fully woke her up about ten minutes ago. "Taylor's still sleeping."
"Yeah it's still early I just came over with fresh clothes for her and her school bag, as I have to go early to work today," He stated as he held up two different kinds of bags.
"Damn, Daniel, you are really on top of the 'being a parent' thing." Verity said, taking the bags. "You wanna come in and check on her or you good?"
"I am good sadly, and I have to be after not being one for over two years," The man answered.
"?" Verity 'asked'.
"You know that my wife died in a car accident right?" He asked.
"Uh, yeah, but from what I understood you've been doing your best for Taylor since then." Verity said, not stating the 'but also struggling with depression' bit, that was too personal to say.
"No I didn't, I only did the bare minimum at best, if I had given her the slightest attention I would have seen her being bullied and that Emma had abandoned her," He stated. "I was just going through the motions, too absorbed by my own grief to notice my daughter's sufferings."
"...Okay, yeah, when you put it like that, you're right, you were rather emotionally distant and neglectful these last few years." Verity sentenced.
"I know, but I am done with that now," Danny stated.
"Good, if you weren't, I'd have adopted her by now." Verity said 100% sincerely, and at least 10% threateningly. "Put your best foot forward and try to be there for her, Daniel. She may not have reached out to you before, but you should make sure to reach out to her from now on. Aka, communicate with her. Please."
"You truly care for her don't you?" He asked.
"I get attached easily." Verity said with a shrug. "And as you already know, I'm willing to do a lot of things for the people I care about."
"I do, then take care for now, neighbour," Danny said as he handed Verity the bags and walked off the porch and back to his car.
"Have a good one!" Verity said, before soon closing the door and sighing before heading back in, setting the bags down next to the sofa where Taylor was still quite soundly sleeping.
With about three more seconds of thought, and the realization she had no cereal in the house, Verity decided to make some pancakes (normal ones) awhile for when Taylor woke up.
"Who was that?" Sabah asked as Verity walked by the seamstress on the way to the kitchen.
"Taylor's dad, he has to leave around now so he was dropping off Taylor's stuff to save her time."
"That was considerate of him," She replied as she unfurled the newspaper. "Oh there is an article about your fight with the Empire."
"Ooh, what's it say?" Verity asked as she started to get out the things she needed to make pancakes. "Did they get my good side?"
"Just used pictures from your debut, it talks about how the Empire tried to assassinate you with the Alabaster Car Bomb Maneuver and that it failed to take you down. And that you then managed to beat down Fenja and Menja, while Miss Militia took down Rune. And that Kaiser, put out a statement saying he did not approve of the operation and that they will be punished. But that is just Kaiser covering his ass as usual when things don't go right."
"I don't know who he's even trying to convince with that, he's a fucking Nazi. The other Nazi's probably don't care whether it was approved or not, they just see me as worse and worse of a monster."
"People who aren't Nazis, he tries to portray himself as a just and righteous man, and the only man who can defend Brockton Bay from those that do it harm I.e every other ethinic race in the city that there is a minority of," Sabah stated.
"Ah, right, Nazi, he's completely fucking delusional." Verity noted. "Also, isn't the world majority Asian right now? Or approaching it?"
"Yeah, I think so," She replied.
"Yeah, so he's just extra delusional."
"Inherited his father's idiocy, I mean he still calls his organisation E88, at least every other white supremasist group in the country at least tries to not make themselves too attached to that imagery."
"Really, what they should all do is just… stop. Like, existing." Verity said. "I know that's not very likely to happen, but ugh I hate the fact we have to deal with superpowered white supremacists of any flavor."
"Yeah," Sabah sighed in disappointment. "Though I just wish all the gangs would end up and vanish from the face of Earth, make our lives so much easier."
"Yeah, but you know how people are, new gangs would just spring up." Verity said. "We'd have to deal with the source cause of them to do anything about it in the first place."
"Yeah, it's the economic downward spiral that Brockton Bay is suffering from that is responsible for most of it, but sadly that is not a problem you can laser eye away."
"Yeah, there would be a lot more jobs if the boat graveyard just vanished," Came the sleepy voice of Taylor as she woke up due to their talking.
"Good morning sleepyhead." Verity greeted.
"...So yesterday did happen."
"Ah… yeah, yeah it did." Verity said, grin faltering a bit. "Uh… you like pancakes?"
"Yeah… still pissed though," She stated. "But that will make me feel better." Taylor stretched her limbs as she stood up resulting in her bones 'cracking' in response. "Is that my school bag?"
"Yeah, you're dad stopped by a bit ago to make sure you had your stuff for school. The other bag has a change of clothes, he said." Verity said, accepting the anger but also happy on some level that it wasn't enough to make Taylor immediately leave.
That meant she had a chance to fix their relationship.
"He did?" She asked. "That was nice… I will be taking a shower then," Taylor stated as she took the bag with clothes and headed for the bathroom.
"Alright, breakfast will be ready when you're done." Verity said.
Taylor didn't reply as she closed the door.
"Damn, that conversation must have been worse than I thought," Sabah stated in surprise.
"Uh… yeah." Verity admitted. "It went significantly better than I expected, to be fair, but there was a, like, zero percent chance of her not being mad at me. Justifiably, even."
"Well that is good, I think, definitely make those pancakes extra sweet, dopamine is a good way to deal with anger. Don't quote me, I am not a chemist or doctor," Sabah added.
"Ohhhh, trust me, I understand the value of dopamine." Verity said, adding a smidge of extra honey to the batter. And maybe some sugar. "...Sabs, do you know what's popular with the local kids? I'm trying to think of things to do to… help ease this, I suppose."
"You might be better asking Danny about it," She stated. "As I don't think Taylor is one to take part in what is popular and probably avoids it."
"Yeeaah probably." Verity agreed after a moment. "Wait, is there a museum around here?"
"There are three, the Local History one, the ship one, and then there is the Brockton Bay Art Museum, attached to the Forsberg Gallery," She answered.
"Hmm. Noted, noted." Verity said as she flipped the first pancake.
And so the silence reigned as Verity prepped breakfast with the only disturbance being Taylor exciting the bathroom and taking a seat at the dinner table.
And a bit after that Verity placed a plate in front of her and Sabah, one of the honey bottles and the syrup already on the table.
"So uh, do you want anything to drink Tay? I've got water, apple juice, or milk." Verity asked.
"Just water," She replied.
"Okay." Verity said, getting her a glass of it before taking her seat. "So, uh, bon appetit."
Taylor didn't respond as she just started to eat the pancakes.
For a moment upon tasting them, there was the tiniest smile on her face which was quickly murdered as she, rather visibly, was trying to remain angry.
Which, again, was fair from Verity's perspective, but it also cued her in again that this was something she could 'fix' with time.
"So, uh, do you need a ride to school Taylor, or?" Verity asked to break the awkward silence that had been dragging on.
"I will be taking the bus, I don't want to impose too much," She replied as she continued to eat.
"There is literally nothing you could do to impose too much around here, Taylor." Verity said sincerely. "...Unless you super-imposed an image on something, but that's just being pedantic."
Taylor just stayed silent.
"Are you, uh, heading to the PRT after school today?" Verity asked after another pause. "I can definitely give you a ride then if you need one."
"I am," Was all she said back.
"Sooo do you need a ride, or?" Verity asked. "Also, I'll stop talking for a bit if you want me to."
"I will be going now," She stated after having finished her plate. "Thank you for the food."
"Yeah, of course, no problem, have a good day at school!" Verity said.
She stood up and picked up her school bag and left for the door leaving with the slightly shouted words of. "Fuck you Verity for being nice."
"Have a good day!" Verity said back, before wincing as the front door slammed shut. "...God, I hate myself so much right now." She said after a moment, putting her face in her hands.
"You shouldn't have to sweetheart, I don't know the details obviously but I can tell you did what you thought was best for her," Sabah stated.
"I pushed for her to join the Wards when the absolutely fucked up bully she's been dealing with for more than a year was on said team as a probationary member without telling her beforehand because I can't break NDA's." Verity explained as she dragged her nails down her face in aggravation, old habits kicking in.
"Verity you're drawing blood, and wow that is more fucked than I thought, no wonder she is pissed at you," Sabah stated.
Verity looked at her hands in confusion, shocked to see blood for a moment before remembering she had claws now. "Oh, shit, gotta clean this up…" She said as she immediately went for the kitchen sink. "And… yeah, her anger is utterly justified, no doubt about it." She said as she quickly washed the blood off her hands.
"And now you've gotta make it up to her," Sabah stated.
"I know, I know, the problem is I don't know how." Verity admitted. "I've never… I've never fucked up like this before, where I can't even say I would do it different if given the chance, because joining the Wards is so much better than what she was planning it's not even funny, but at the same time I didn't want to ruin the other kid's life permanently, but…. Agghhh!" She growled in frustration, her snakes joining with hissing.
"Yeah but she will come to appreciate it later, I certainly did then my parents taught me a harsh lesson that hurt me in the short term," Sabah stated. "But for now I think you should actually just stay away from Taylor for a few days and just let her think, you know you have to do the same thing a few times as well to deal with issues."
"...Ugh, you're probably right." Verity admitted as she quickly wiped her face off. "I really don't want to do that, but you're probably right."
"Of course I am," Sabah replied smugly. "Now listen to your girlfriend and relax a bit, this is not the end of the world. You two are going to be right as rain in like a week or two."
"I mean, hopefully." Verity said. "And… to be honest, I don't think I can relax now. I feel like I need to do something to make up for this."
"What you need to do is give her some distance, give physical stuff later," Sabah stated firmly.
"I'm not even talking about physical… fine, fine." Verity said. "You seem to be the resident expert on how to do things around here, what should I do in the meantime then?"
"Go and do your job, but in between that… You can pamper your queen," She told her.
"Oh, wow, okay, uh, little fast there."
"Just messing with you, now, do you want to do some modeling of dresses? I want to try some new patterns," She asked.
"Now that sounds like a good time." Verity said with a grin, trying desperately to push down and hide the panic at the line from before.
Xxx
"Hello, It's good to finally meet you face to face, I am Miranda, the head of Image here in Brockton Bay," Miranda introduced herself to Verity, she was an elderly woman in her sixties at the earliest and seventies, and dressed like it.
"It's nice to meet you too, Miranda." Verity greeted. "I heard you wanted to speak to me?"
"I did, just to discuss a few PR related things, and your behavior," Miranda stated in a calm grandmotherly tone of voice.
"Ah, yeah." Verity said. "Which behavior? The Palanquin or the combat stuff?"
"Your off duty behavior," She stated. "Your fights are rather in line with what is expected from a Brute Cape such as yourself. I just wish to warn you with alcohol, as there was no incident this time around. We never know about next time, as your actions reflect back on the PRT and the Protectorate, Medusa."
"Ah, yeah, I've definitely learned my lesson with that." Verity said. "Going to avoid it for the most part, and no more than like, a cup at a time."
"I think you might have misheard, I didn't tell you couldn't drink, I want to tell you to be careful and keep it to your home, and the Rig to avoid any public embarrassments, well further embassaments," Miranda informed Verity.
"Ah, yeah, constraint in general, got it." Verity said with a nod.
"Good, now Director Piggot informed you that the Rogue affiliate No Face put his services forward to alter your Case 53 brand, which was a good idea on your part, as I find that thing disgusting and believe it should be altered and erased as it makes you look like branded cattle that belongs to somebody," Miranda said with a tone of disgust.
"Good to hear other people think the same." Verity said. "And yeah, she did. I'm guessing that's part of what we'll be talking about today?"
"A bit, now he will be arriving on Friday, though before that he wants a proper picture of what you want the new tattoo to be, you wanted it to be the Eye design you made with Mr. Chambers?" She asked for confirmation.
"Yeah, my logo." Verity said with a nod. "Mr. Chambers and I designed it together for the explicit purpose of being used for it, so yeah."
"Figured as much, good to see my student hasn't lost his touch," Miranda stated.
"Ah, so you're even more of a veteran in this than Mr. Chambers, that's pretty good for our team then."
"I do my best, but he has surpassed me in talent I believe, which is why he is now the Head of Image and I no longer am, well between me and you I didn't like it very much, to large scale, I like to get to know the Capes I assist which is why returned to my home here. Now enough about me, this is about you Medusa," Miranda said as she turned the conversation back on track.
"Okay." Verity said, easily accepting that. "So, on the note of 'me', has my request to do an AMA been approved? I feel like, especially after my recent showings, it would be pretty good for helping the people of Brockton Bay know more about me as a person."
"Good you already have ideas, that makes easier to plan PR Events for you, as I've come to learn with Capes, make them do the PR stuff they want to do, and it will be an AMA is what one would call baby's first PR Event besides the debut interview, which you handled amicably," Miranda praised her.
"Thanks, I've always been really interested in PR stuff." Verity said, accepting the praise and slotting back into the mindset she'd gotten into with Mr. Chambers. "So I'm assuming the AMA's going to be fine, what about the Daycare thing? Which, if you don't know, was that I wanted to just… do some volunteer work at a daycare center every so often. To be clear, I don't want to advertise it in any way, I'm just bringing it up due to potential PR repercussions."
"Good thing you brought up possible volunteer work as that is something most Protectorate heroes, as it's not just their job to stop crime but to also help the community in small ways to keep it safe," Miranda stated.
"Yeah, so like, is that in particular a possibility? I've already looked into gloves that will deal with the claws thing, to be clear." Verity asked again. And she had, Sabah had been glad to provide once she had everything up and running.
"It is, just have to find one that is willing, which will hopefully be easy enough as you're rather popular, surprisingly so if I am being honest, going by internet search trends," Miranda told Verity.
"Ahh, yeah, that's the hmm." Verity started. "Uh, is this uh, is this level of, wait no you just said it's not, uh, do you know why I'm so popular? I… don't, and I've been kind of uncomfortable with it this whole time actually." Mostly because she was worried it came from… less than savory sources of popularity on the internet.
"Probably due to your effectiveness, you brought in Lung, humiliated Hookwolf, a known mass murderer, your handling of Bakuda, and then immediately helping out people despite your state of dress, and now having taken even more Empire capes, though I believe that is only half the reason for your popularity, the rest well that is obvious. You make a lot of super models look inadequate, and there is a surprising, or perhaps not a lot of porn of you," Miranda said as she turned her laptop around and Verity saw a tag and a number.
Medusa_(Cape): 3467.
"...That last one was what I was trying to get at when I said I was uncomfortable." Verity said. "Like, I know my appearance is technically public domain, but like, I'm a real person? And it makes me really uncomfortable that there's porn of me."
"Well not all of it NSFW if that is any comfort that is just the number of image posts with your name tagged to it on PHO, and yes that is a sad truth though one will just have to accept."
"Mhm. Is there any way to even discourage the NSFW stuff? Like, would trademarking my body work here, or would that just cause more problems?"
"It is already trademarked with us, which is how you get royalties for posters and action figures. We can't stop fanart, but we have removed any photos and videos of you topless from the Bombing Night. Well technically we can as it is based on your likeness but that is a terrible idea," Miranda stated.
"Okay, I guess… I guess that's better than what I was thinking was going on." Verity admitted.
"You can't stop the internet from being horny dear," Miranda said. "Just limit what material they are allowed to be over. Now speaking of, action figures," Miranda moved below her desk and returned a second later and placed…
A Funko-pop of her on the table, alongside a more barbie based one that was kept in place by its tail.
Verity stared at the toys blankly.
"So these are the prototypes of your first set of toys, with one being obviously the Funko-pop, and the next one being made by Mattel," Miranda stated.
Verity continued to stare blankly at the toys, in particular the Funk-pop that she carefully placed in her palm and continued to stare at. "...So, I'm gonna be able to get like, 20 of these, right?"
"You get copies of every single piece of merchandise that is made of you," Miranda told her.
"Yeah, so this one's absolutely approved, 100%." Verity said, carefully placing the Funko-pop back down. "The… is that literally a Barbie?"
"Well it is made by Mattel, what do you think?" Miranda asked.
"Just checking." Verity said, carefully picking it up and examining it. "Mhm-hmm, mhm-hmm. One suggestion for this one, maybe some sort of sleeve thing that you can fit the legs and tail into to represent my own different modes? It'd be a fun gimmick."
"That would be a different model, this one is designed to have different dresses and various kinds of snake hairs, your lamia mode would probably be a bigger toy," Miranda responded.
"Ooh, yeah, yeah that makes sense." Verity said. "In that case, this one's also approved, though maybe make it a bit less… stick thin? I don't want to be responsible for giving some kid body image issues."
"You do that by living dear," Miranda stated. "But I get what you mean."
"Okay, good good." Verity said, carefully setting it back on the desk. "What other merch has already been made? I heard something about temporary tattoos?"
"There are those, and t-shirts with your scale color scheme alongside pants and shorts, more figures and plushies are being planned, that is all I can say for now," Miranda answered.
"Okay, that's cool, that's cool." Verity said with a nod. "In the future, not right now obviously I don't have anything ready to go yet, could I… would it be possible to release a cookbook, or would that be better off done on my own?"
"We can just slap your image on one and have you do some commercials, but do you know enough personal recipes to make at least a small one?" Miranda asked.
"Yeah, I've got enough to do like, a 20-pager." Verity said. "Small, I know, but my actual family recipe book is uh, you know. Not exactly available to me."
"We can do a limited release of that as an addition to another product," Miranda said back after mulling it over for a few seconds.
"That could work, like I said, it's definitely not something for the immediate future, still re-confirming all my recipes, cause memory, but it's just something I wanted to pitch."
"Take your time, your career is still very much young," Miranda told her. "Now that is all for today Medusa, just continue with what you have been doing so far while out on patrols."
"Okay, well, it was really nice meeting you ma'am, have a good day."
Xxx
A/N: If you like this or any other of my stories, you can donate to my P A Treon. com (slash) StreamingViking and read commissioned stories. Along with voting for which stories will be updated next via Polls. And chapters before they are released here.