Long summary: Taylor triggers with the power to project her soul outside her body. Her first trip is during the locker where, fleeing the hell she was in, her soul went far further than it was meant to. She ends up meeting the Titans. These powerful beings soon find the truth of the situation in Earth Bet, and destroy the parasite connected to Taylor before giving her the power and knowledge to truly make a difference. Now back at home, it's time for the world to see what a Titan can do.

It was a scene of fire, fury and controlled chaos. A week ago the Empire 88 cape villain Stormtiger had been captured by the Protectorate. Today was when he was being shipped to a secure jail out of the city to serve his sentence. And as was normal for Brockton Bay, the spies inside the PRT had leaked the details as soon as the leaders had decided on them. So we find ourselves looking at yet another super-powered fight spilling on to the streets as the full might of the E88 faced off against the Protectorate members involved in the convoy.

So far everything was in a stalemate, neither side making any great or permanent gains against the other. Armsmasters armour was scratched from an attack by Kaiser and Hookwolf, on the other side Rune had been forced to retreat to restock on debris to use as a shield after a number of strikes by Miss Militia's weaponry.

Meanwhile the duo of Fenja and Menja accompanied and protected Viktor as they moved to the stopped transport. Thanks to Viktor's stolen skills he would be able to unlock anything stopping their comrade from escaping, then they could all retreat to repeat the sequence of events ad nauseam.

Or, at least, that was what was supposed to happen. It was a familiar song and dance for all involved so far, despite the efforts of Armsmaster to tinker a tie breaker, or Dauntless to get strong enough to make a difference. No-one in the city expected anything but a jailbreak at this point. Especially with the redoubtable Valkyrie twins protecting the Othala gifted invulnerable skill thief.

So it was kind of understandable that the entire tableau came to a very sudden stop when Menja started to get close to the transport, but was stopped by the sudden appearance of a very large golden hammer on a collision course with her face. And, given the toughness of the individual involved, when that hammer smashed the woman backwards off her feet to land unconscious several metres away.

Into this pause strode the new player, her hammer already spinning back to slap into her palm. Reaching nearly 40 feet tall, the new cape was a massive metal woman. Her skin was platinum, she had a jade dress that left her shoulders bare but connected to a golden torque around her neck. The dress descended into a skirt that ended high on her right thigh, but fell in a curve to her left lower calf. As well as the dress she wore golden armoured boots, a large belt, shoulder pads and gold mixed with platinum gloves. Her hair was a darker gold, pulled back into a braid before it fell down her back.

It looked more like a statue had come to life than a flesh and blood woman, and everyone immediately suspected a tinker.

As the woman drew level with the stalled transport she paused to stomp on the ground with one armoured boot. Immediately a wave of golden light spread from the point of contact across the road, covering the van as well as two metres in every direction. With his current opponent backing away to regroup with the rest of the villains, Armsmaster was able to see the injured troopers from the cab healing at an accelerated rate, while Viktor was blasted back off the ground when he attempted to carry on and stepped onto the consecrated ground.

The woman tracked the tumbling villain with her eyes before switching to glare at Fenja, her mouth opening to boom, "Your behaviour will not be tolerated!"

Although the shouted message was enough to jar the various capes into action, none of them were quick enough to stop the giant from taking another swing at Fenja with the hammer. As it travelled in her hands it began to glow brightly, the effect of the glow was shown as the shield Fenja managed to raise shattered at the blow.

Reeling backwards the remaining Valkyrie tried to strike out with her sword, but a second stomp of the metal woman's foot and the resulting consecrated ground knocked her off balance enough that the swipe came nowhere close. The second hammer strike left Fenja's unconscious form laid out next to her sisters.

Seeing three of his allies taken out in such a short amount of time, Hookwolf howled angrily and charged the approaching woman. The changer cape forced himself forward as quickly as he could, the various hooks and barbs that had given him his name struck sparks of fire from the road as he charged.

As he approached the metal woman she shouted out, "Cast out your corrupt thoughts!" snapping the fingers of one hand to punctuate the statement.

From the woman's offhand the seemingly holy fire appeared in the air, this time as an expanding bubble with her at the centre. When the light hit the charging Hookwolf he came to an abrupt stop, but the light didn't stop there, reaching out across the street and freezing everyone it touched for several long moments.

This meant that the Empire were only able to watch as the metal being growled out, "Impure thoughts lead to profane actions."

Taking a double handed grip on her hammer the woman lifted it above her before bringing it barrelling down on the stuck Changer. The clang as metal hit metal resounded across the battlefield as Hookwolf was slammed into the ground beneath him, metal from his Changer form blew outwards, those pieces aimed at the woman pinged off her uselessly, protecting the ordinary troopers still behind her in the van.

The much flatter Hookwolf reverted to an unconscious, bare-chested, man moments later. Another cape out of the fight.

…

Realising just how badly the fight was going Kaiser charged forward, shouting out to Crusader as he went, "Crusader! Extraction!"

In response the ghost generating villain started pumping out as many of his copies as possible, in teams of three each one charged at one of the downed capes. Due to the distance they had been thrown the now much reduced Valkyrie twins were quickly gathered and the ghosts started running from the fight.

Kaiser was well aware that this fight had turned very strongly against him. In addition to the powerful being that had knocked out three of his people, and possibly injured a fourth, in such a short amount of time there were also the Protectorate capes to worry about. Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Dauntless and Velocity were on site after Empire grunts had stirred up fights across town to distract the rest of the do-gooders. With four of his capes now injured or unconscious, he was left with Crusader, Krieg, Cricket, Alabaster and Rune with Othala hidden nearby.

Fortunately, even if he expected a curb-stomp against the Protectorate, his people were well trained to be able to turn a situation around. By signalling Crusader to extract the downed people, Kreig also knew to pass the message to the rest of his people to play their parts for disengagement.

Rune was the first to move, lifting herself and her new ammunition above the building she had been sneaking around to try and flank the heroes. Immediately rubble was being shot at her enemies. At the same time Othala and her unpowered protection detail went to work. Each of the goons was geared up with tactical weaponry, and they quickly allowed the Trump to grant them invulnerability before charging onto the street and opening fire.

Kaiser's self-appointed task was to force the metal woman back from Hookwolf so he could be retrieved. He was banking on the woman only being able to consecrate one patch of ground at a time. It would mean leaving Stormtiger behind for the moment, but as long as they didn't lose anyone else he could be freed later.

Straining himself as much as possible Kaiser started to create masses of steel spears aimed at the metal bitch who had ruined his plans. Fortunately the woman moved backwards several feet from the force exerted, unfortunately she wasn't even remotely injured or even scraped. Whatever she was made of was obviously significantly stronger than steel.

With the woman occupied smiting every spear she could reach with her hammer, Kaiser pushed his abilities to their maximum to create a thick blockade between Hookwolf's unconscious form but keeping all of his enemies on the other side. Panting as he barricaded the street, Max stumbled backwards towards the rest of the Empire, trusting in Crusaders ghosts to have pulled Brad away from the fight. He was almost back with his people, ignoring Dauntless flying above his barricade, when he heard another declaration from the woman behind him.

"Your impurity must be cleansed!"

Turning around he was just in time to see the Hammer blaze into fire, bright, clear and golden. Using the new aflame weapon was swung in wide arcs against the thick steel fencing. Against whatever metal she was made of and the blazing heat the steel barricade didn't stand a chance and was being destroyed in short order. Sensing there was little more to be done for the moment, Kaiser shouted for Rune, "Rune! Get us out of here!"

Abandoning her shots at the heroes, Rune brought her current platform down to street level before hopping off. The smallish chuck of rubble was then thrown as fast as possible at Dauntless to keep him occupied trying to hold his ground with his shield. Rune quickly used her abilities to mark a piece of the street, the other capes gathering around her. Their unconscious fellows were passed from ghosts to the capes then the section of road burst out of the ground and everyone held on while Rune worked on the retreat.

The metal woman finished forcing her way through the barricade with one last swipe, stepping forward past the obstacle and launched her hammer at the fleeing villains, ignoring the unpowered grunts that were legging it around the corner as fast as they could go. Still alight, the heavy hammer flew directly at the group, but Krieg brought his aerokinetic abilities to bear, slowing the projectile enough that Kaiser was able to block its strike with a swiftly grown spear.

As soon as the group crossed over a building Rune brought her platform below the level of the rooftops to break line of sight & continued to book it away from the beating they had just received.

…

Carefully cutting down the last of the spears keeping him and his colleagues back, Armsmaster watched as the thrown hammer was pulled back into the hand of the metal being who had helped them rout the empire so thoroughly. The massive woman stared in the direction their opponents had fled, one hand in a fist & the other flexing around the grip of her hammer.

Organising his people, Armsmaster got Velocity speaking to the PRT base to get a second transport out and finish removing Stormtiger from the state.

Motioning to Miss Militia to accompany him, Armsmaster started approaching the large being, making sure to keep his halberd held in such a way so as to not present a threat.

"Excuse me? Thank you for the assistance, but can we get you to answer some questions?"

The delivered line, coded into his social model app and prompted by the situation, wasn't necessarily delivered with the greatest of tones, but it wasn't combative or demanding, so Colin considered it a good effort. Hopefully the being would respond well.

The metal woman looked around at the question before she turned to her questioners and knelt down to one knee, bringing herself closer to let out a query, "There are no more injured?"

At the nod from the two heroes the woman carried on, "Then the time for action is done, discourse remains. Ask your questions."

Glancing at each other for a moment, Armsmaster took the lead on the questioning, "The first thing that would help is a name for our records, what do you prefer to be called?"

Resting a hand on the large hammer she had settled beside her the woman replied in a formal tone, "I am named The Maiden of Virtue. You may address me as such."

Armsmaster looked more than a little confused at the name, at least for those that knew him well enough to pick up expressions form a small part of his face, so Miss Militia continued the questions, "Can we assume you are intending to be a hero, to help the city?"

The firm nod that came at that question was a relief to both of the veteran heroes, each one holstering their weapons shortly after.

Pulling a card from his armour, Armsmaster asked a question, "This may seem a little rude, but I'm required to ask, can you tell me if you have this symbol tattooed on you anywhere, and if you have all of your memories? Those parahumans labelled as Case 53's often have great physical differences and retrograde amnesia."

Carefully plucking the card from Armsmasters hand, the maiden brought it up to her face to look at the offset omega symbol carefully. "I do not have this symbol as part of my form, no. And I have full recall from the time of my creation."

That last word prompted another glance at each other from the Protectorate heroes before Armsmaster asked the obvious question, "Creation? Are you confirming you were built, you're not a changer or projection, but the creation of a tinker?"

Nodding again the Maiden replied, "Indeed, I was brought to life as the vanguard of Eonar, protector of life, nature and health. By my lady's will and my strength I will throw back the degenerates that threaten the people of my home."

This time both heroes were struck speechless. The statement from the construct was spoken with absolute surety. The sky was blue, grass does grow, and the Maiden of Virtue would throw the villains from the city.

Cautiously, Armsmaster asked his next burning question, "Is that decision yours, or is that what you were created for?"

Turning her head slightly, the large woman studied him for a few long moments before she replied. "I was created with a baseline focus, as a protector, how I now live my life and the path I take are of my own choosing. My lady merely provides me with advice, guidance and equips me to deal with the life I choose, as any good parents does."

At the end of that statement she patted the hammer sat next to her. From the way she was holding it there was obviously a lot of sentimental value to the weapon.

"Fascinating," came the slightly breathy comment from Armsmaster, before he continued speaking, "I believe that is all we need for the moment. It would make things easier if you could give a formal statement to the PRT. It will aid with our paperwork."

Standing up again the Maiden spoke as she hefted her weapon. "I will guard this area until your captured villain has been moved to new transport and is away to face his punishment. I can give such a statement while maintaining my vigil."

Nodding both heroes gave the woman their thanks before heading back to the rest of their team. Miss Militia stopped to set a PRT officer to take the statement before joining back with the rest of her colleagues.

A glance at Armsmaster had him giving a miniscule shake of the head, obviously he wanted to wait until they were away from the scene to discuss things. Instead the tinker spoke to Dauntless, "Final report?"

With Armsmaster distracted by the new player it had been up to Dauntless to check on all of the PRT officers and make sure they were either safe or active. "Well, we managed to avoid any casualties among the troopers this time. The only injuries were to Davies and Beck in the van. Actually, Beck's leg was crushed in the first impact and both of them probably had concussions. Whatever that golden light on the ground was, it not only healed the pair of them, but fixed the van enough that Beck's leg was free."

"Interesting. The Maiden of Virtue is, by her own admission, a tinker creation, but is able to produce a shaker effect." Glancing at the tall metal woman as she moderated her steps to allow for the PRT officer next to her, he turned back to Dauntless to continue the talk. "Is Stormtiger still subdued, and did he take any damage?"

Shaking his head Dauntless replied in the negative. "He's all ready to be handed off, boss."

At that point Armsmasters comm unit beeped signalling an incoming call, his heads-up display identifying it as Director Piggot. Toggling the acceptance Armsmaster opened with a query, "Director?"

"Armsmaster," came back the brusque voice of the East-North-East PRT lead, "Miss Militia has briefed me on the source of help. Are you able to speak freely?"

Glancing at the patrolling Maiden, Armsmaster considered the question before deciding to err on the side of caution, "It is unlikely, Director."

Grunting unhappily, the overweight director was silent for a few moments before speaking, "Very well. Miss Militia considers this Maiden to be cooperative, would you agree?"

"So far, director."

"Right, well we need more information. Nothing we've seen in the past says that creating self-aware intelligences can lead to anything good, but we can't call in help without details to pass across. You are to see if you can meet her creator and determine how much we need to worry."

Considering the history the PRT had with self-aware creations, Nilbog and the Machine Army came to mind, Armsmaster had to admit she had a point. Hopefully the self-named Maiden of Virtue would be amenable. "Very well, director. I shall speak to the Maiden once Stormtiger is gone."

Apparently his concerns about the large metal woman overhearing him proved correct, as he noted her eyes shift to them for a moment before going back to surveying her surroundings.

Director Piggot only came back with a curt, "Agreed." Before signing off and leaving Armsmaster to his work. Moving to meet up with the higher ranked members of the PRT organising their men Colin signalled to Miss Militia to take the lead getting an audience with the Maiden's mother figure and creator. For now he had enough to do ensuring no one else snuck up and attacked the stalled convoy.

…

A few hours later Stormtiger had finally been transferred to a fresh transport and for the first time in a number of years the Protectorate and PRT had been able to successfully ship an E88 cape off to his prison.

With that problem dealt with the only work left in the area was loading up the damage truck to take it away for repairs, something the heroes did not need to stick around for. Now it was time to try and get ahead of the latest headache. With that in mind Armsmaster signalled Miss Militia and moved towards the Maiden of Virtue. The creation had stopped her patrol now that the villain had been removed, so both heroes strode across to where she stood vigil patiently.

Nodding his head at the large woman as she once again descended to one knee, Armsmaster spoke, "Thank you. Because of your help a villain has been successfully taken out of the city with no lasting injuries to our people."

"You are most welcome. I am truly pleased that such a dangerous individual will no longer be able to threaten innocent people again."

"Can I ask what you plan to do next?" Came the softer question from Miss Militia.

"You may. For now I will return to My Lady to let her know the results of my interference, afterwards I expect more of my brothers and sisters will weigh in to choose our path forward."

Deciding not to beat around the bush, Armsmaster gave voice to the collective worries of the PRT, "Would it be possible to meet with your Lady? The PRT is worried due to the natures and results of previous capes who have created a full life."

He would have continued to try and provide an explanation, in the hopes that it would not offend the powerful woman, but she interrupted him with a noise of realisation.

"I see, My Lady was correct to anticipate your reaction I see."

Pausing in consternation, both heroes exchanged a quick look before Armsmaster asked the obvious question, "Your Lady expected us to want to check on the process?"

Nodding slightly, the Maiden of Virtue explained further, "Indeed. My Lady explained the situation when we professed the desire to help this city. Any organisation that focuses on the defence of their people must, by the very nature of the position, have a certain level of paranoia. This aids in the preparation, although it can be taken too far.

Eonar also provided us with some real world examples of disastrous results that came from the creation of life."

Looking at each of the heroes in turn, she continued on gravely, "My Lady gave instructions to accommodate you, should the request come. I will add to this, that we all take the protection of our Lady very seriously. Speak with care and respect, less one among us takes offence. That said, My Lady has guaranteed your safety in her home. Do you know whom you would like to bring with you?"

Thinking through her small speech quickly, Armsmaster came to the conclusion that whoever this Eonar was, she was obviously fairly logical in her outlook on government and the Protectorate. While it was not a direction he had ever considered before, the constant need to be prepared and analyse new threats was a form of paranoia. Hopefully if she was aware of that necessity, and accepting of it, they could build a good working relationship, or get her signed up.

Still, the first step was finding more information to pass back to the various Thinkers, and maybe appease the director, "Do you have a limit on how many people we should bring?"

Visibly considering the question, the fingers of the living statue drummed against the hilt of her hammer for few moments before she replied, "I do not believe we will have issues with any reasonable number of people. Arrange enough to ensure you are happy with your safety and I will speak should the number be excessive."

Nodding decisively, Armsmaster listed who he wanted to take, "I think myself, Miss Militia and Velocity should be adequate."

Tilting her head to consider him for a moment, the Maiden of Virtue queried the veteran hero, "Do you not wish to bring any PRT members along? As I understand the situation they are technically a separate organisation."

That brought Armsmaster up short for a few moments. He was much more used to new parahumans dismissing the normal PRT employee's, enough that he tended to lead with capes first and foremost. Raising a hand to his helmet Armsmaster used the gesture to indicate he was speaking to a third party as he connected back to Director Piggot.

"Director? We have received an open invitation to travel to the Maiden of Virtue's base and tour the facility. Do you wish to send any of the PRT officers with us? Our safety has been guaranteed as long as we don't attack our host."

The director was silent for a few moments, before the sounds of muted talking filtered through from the other end, eventually she came back with an answer, "Assuming safety is guaranteed I would like Deputy Director Renick and Captain Michaelson to accompany you. They both have skills and experience that will help determine how much trust to extend. They are both on their way to you now. ETA is 15 minutes."

Turning back to the construct, Armsmaster spoke to her while ensuring both sides of the conversation would come through to Director Piggot, "The director would like the deputy director and one of the strike team leaders to accompany us. Is this agreeable, and are you happy to wait for their arrival? Also, would it be acceptable to keep a video and audio link open to the director during the visit?"

Nodding her great head again the Maiden agreed, "I have no objections to your requests. I will note, however, that our home is both isolated and protected so I am unsure how your link will fair once we arrive. If there are any precautions you can take they would be wise."

"Thank you for the warning, I will add some strength to the signal while we wait." Suiting words to action, the tinker strode over to his bike to grab some tools and parts to improve his connection to the PRT base. Meanwhile the rest of the party took the opportunity to rest a little, leaning against walls or vehicles to pass the time.

Within ten minutes Armsmaster was back with the group, fixing a widget to the side of his armour. Five minutes later a PRT van pulls up to the group, the rear doors facing away from them. The doors open and the deputy director and a tall, well-built man with close cropped brown hair moved around the van to join the group.

Unknown to the Maiden, however, the main reason for the van to have parked without showing the inside is not due to the way the traffic is directed, but instead to conceal the Ward Gallant sat in the back.

This was something the director had decided on, but not informed anyone on the scene about for fear of the construct finding out. Looking through a small gap in the barrier between the driver and the back of the van, Gallant observed the Maiden and was ordered to find out if she had emotions, and what they were.

With their unknown companion watching, the team heading out with the Maiden gathered around her so she could give some final explanations. "Be warned, we will be teleporting into the entrance hall of our home. There are defences to stop anyone unauthorised from moving from the entrance into the rest of the complex. As long as you don't attempt to leave the entrance hall before I give notice nothing will happen. The hall is quite large, so it is unlikely anything would have happened even without my warning, but it always best to be thorough.

There will be more of my brothers and sisters inside, if you want to speak to them please let me know and we can stop, not all of them are as human shaped as me, nor are all of them at a sentient level of intelligence, but you can observe and speak as you wish. My Lady holds the protection and rights of guests as a paramount concern, so even if you voice dissent, you will not come to harm. Are there any questions before we go?"

The gathered people checked amongst themselves with quick looks before a chorus of denial's came out. The massive metal woman nodded her head and rose to her feet a smile growing on her beautiful face, "Well then, let us away to my home."

Seconds later another golden glow spread out from the woman, when it disappeared the group was gone.

As soon as the group were confirmed as gone Gallant switched on his communicator, tuned straight to Director Piggot only and spoke, "Director? I can confirm she had emotions and I could see them." He paused for a moment as a question came through, before continuing his report, "Well, she was calm but serious while giving out the warning, but that changed when she announced they were leaving. There was a lot of love and happiness, as well as a bit of pride. Yes, director, returning to base."

Moments later the van pulled away and drove back towards the PRT building.