Leaning against the rails of the deck of the Phoenix Dawn, Taylor couldn't help but smile a little. While they were rather high up, befitting of an airship, the view was still amazing. The crystal-clear ocean, and in the distance, the yellowish sand dunes of the continent of Elona, the Land of the Golden Sun.

When she was contacted by captain Kiel to head to Elona after the delegation, she was confused, but after a quick talk with Taimi, everything was cleared up, so she packed her stuff and hopped on the airship.

Though, even after some time has passed, she couldn't even help but feel a little melancholy.

The quest for the mysterious egg, then taking care of Aurene, and then the powerful connection that formed between them… Something told her that it would cause nothing but trouble…

The entire sequence of events, including the death of Mordremoth, still somehow baffled her. Most importantly, she was still bothered by one important question: Why her?

Yes, she participated in the death of Zhaitan and achieved a few other things, but raising Aurene was another level.

Even now, she could feel the emotions and feelings of the young dragon connected to her swirl around, spiking and dipping. It was a profoundly odd feeling.

Watching the scenery pass by, the small smile slid off Taylor's face as her thought process reached the death of Mordremoth and the death of Trahearne.

The slyvari's death was still being felt, and Taylor herself missed the leader of the Pact. She always enjoyed talking with the man, as he was a wealth of information about the world of Tyria, and always had a wise word or two for her.

The fact she had to strike down the man herself with his own weapon still caused her some nightmares. Though the fact she had rebuilt the Caladbolg has settled the turmoil in her soul, the memories she had met during her short journey for the reforging helped her to get through her issues (though talking with her Quaggan therapist also helped), but the hole in her heart wasn't that fast to close.

They never really talked about it, or even did anything about it, but Taylor felt that there was something between them, but now they will never know…

She was about to get absorbed in her memories of Trahearne when she was distracted by something in the distance.

Reinforcing her eyes with magic, she concentrated a little before spotting black smoke rising in the approaching banks of sand.

Reaching out with her magic, she tried to feel what was happening, even though the distance was too big.

After a few minutes of straining, she managed to touch the land with her magic and instantly recoiled.

Angry, fiery magic instantly tried to burn her magic, but Taylor sensed enough.

Death…

Showing herself off the railing and caught one of the deckhands walking behind her.

"Tell the captain to head for the smoke!"

The man looked at her for a second but didn't hesitate. He turned around and began running back to the control room. It was sometimes good to be a hero: people listened to her…

Not a second later, she could feel the airship turn under her, heading in the direction of the increasingly visible smoke raising from amongst the sand dunes.

She reached into her armory and retrieved her current favorite staff (Nevermore was rather annoying, even after Taylor taught it the entire poem, so she only used it when she felt like brooding) and began gathering her magic.

Knowing how things usually played out, Taylor knew she would need it.


There are a lot of things that amaze me about the world of Tyria, but the thing that do the most are the Quaggans. These peaceful, aquatic beings are a wonder.

I don't understand how they managed to stay alive in this world…

They would rather die than accidentally cause some kind of problem, and would hug their enemies while they were eaten alive instead of causing any harm to them.

Yet, they are still one of the cutest things I've met during my travels (excluding the possibility of them transforming into a horrible monster) and I took enough pictures that when I return to Earth Bet, I will be able to start a line of plushies. Basically, guaranteed infinite money!

Also, surprisingly, they are excellent therapists!

- Part of Taylor 'Vaporblade' Hebert journal, date unknown


Some-human make the disaster-woman gooOOoo away!

- Common Quaggan saying


Emily Piggot waited until the video on her monitor finished playing, then she turned towards the patiently waiting Armsmaster sitting on a reinforced chair.

"Your thoughts?"

"With all due respect, Director, I don't think it really matters what we believe." said the man in a calm tone. "In the end, they, or at least the girl, believes it true. What matters is: they want to join."

Emily hummed thoughtfully.

"How realistic is the situation?"

There was a moment of silence, as she watched Armsmaster think before the man spoke up.

"DNA matches, no exotic energy readings around the house or them. Basic analysis of Taylor Hebert's cells says that she is not 15 years old. In the absence of anything that could explain how this happened, I'm inclined to believe her."

Piggot nodded, as she already heard this explanation from a few other people.

"What if being aged up is just an effect of triggering?"

"We thought about it, but while the father has an identifiable trigger event, Miss Hebert doesn't. The only event that comes close, by her own admission, is her mother's death, which happened years ago…"

"Delayed effect?" asked Emily hesitantly.

"Unlikely," came the curt reply.

"Could she be hiding a trigger event?"

Armsmaster shook his head. "No, Director. Trigger events leave a noticeable effect on the person. According to the staff psychologist who I asked to observe the interview, Miss Hebert doesn't suffer from the usual effects. Which, I might add, are incredibly visible on the elder Hebert."

Emily eyed the man for a moment then turned her attention back to the monitor which showed a father-daughter duo, sitting in a comfortable meeting room (as comfortable as a government institution could be) with the man clutching a cup of coffee, visibly stressed and unsure about the situation, while the woman leaned back in her chair and leisurely munched on a bright red apple.

When the call came that two people wanted to join the protectorate at the same time, she was briefly happy at the increase of the manpower, but then the realization that for sure they would be bringing trouble with them hit her and her mood plummeted to the icy depths. Emily Piggot did not get lucky.

And of course, she was right…

The young woman's story was as outlandish as it was ridiculous…

"What about Master effects?"

"Pardon?"

"Could she be some random Master or Stranger trying to infiltrate the PRT and Protectorate this way?"

Armsmaster looked at her, tilting his head a minuscule amount to the side as he contemplated Emily's idea.

"As I said, Director: DNA matches. Both with old samples and with Mr. Hebert."

"Shapeshifter?"

"Then what's the point of pretending to be older?" came the reply from the leader of the local Protectorate.

Emily huffed and crossed her arms in front of her. Finally, after a minute of contemplation, she relaxed and let out a long sigh.

"All right. For now, we shall take her word for it. But I want increased surveillance on her." Emily watched as Armsmaster nodded, indicating he was listening. "If she turns out some kind of shape-shifting mind-controlling alien, I want a plan to take her down."

"Understood." Armsmaster fell silent after acknowledging her order, but after visibly hesitating for a second, he continued speaking. "Director, I think it's worth accepting them. Both their powers are extremely useful, and their demands are not the worst I've heard."

Emily grimaced. The request to deal with the school for the young woman was quite normal, even if they wouldn't need to insert her into the Arcadia rolls. The request for making sure that her father was a non-combat parahuman was harder to swallow. PRT ENE needed all the warm bodies to keep the tide of racist, murderous, and drug-addicted gangbangers back from destroying what still remained intact in the city (and her sanity).

"Remind me again, what were their powers?"

Armsmaster nodded at her request and began speaking as if reciting a list he was reading.

"Daniel Hebert, 42, preliminarily Thinker 5, Brute 2. Comprehensive tests are waiting for their acceptance into the ranks of Protectorate, but based on his recollection, he has increased stamina, endurance, and strength, also a certain level of adaptability against harmful substances."

"Alcoholic?" spat Emily, not even daring to think about all the issues that came with that.

Armsmaster, however, shook his head.

"No, Director. According to the daughter, this was the first time he had more than a beer since his wife's death. Shall I continue?"

Emily just waved at him. The parahuman nodded, then continued his explanation.

"His main power is a powerful tracking and organizing power. He can track everything with one hundred percent precision in his range, except his daughter, the insides of humans and liquids."

Emily raised an eyebrow.

"And the girl wants to forbid us to field him?"

"Yes, Director," answered Armsmaster immediately. "According to Miss Hebert, her father is not a fighter, and she is willing to fight to stop him going out for patrolling."

"I see," replied Emily with an icy voice. "We shall see. Any drawbacks?"

"Yes, by his own admission, if he is prevented from organizing 'messes' in his range, he becomes irritable."

Emily leaned forward and looked directly into Armsmaster's eyes.

"How irritable? From zero to Accord murdering you for not combing your hair?"

"Around two, but as I said, no official power testing has taken place yet."

"Fine, at least that is good news. The last thing America needed was a second Accord…"

Armsmaster nodded, but said nothing, waiting for her to process the information.

"In your opinion, Armsmaster, how useful would Mr. Hebert be?"

"Very, Director. Just allowing him to organize the Protectorate would increase our efficiency. Making use of his previous occupation it is my belief that we should assign him a desk and allow him to sort through and organize information pertaining to the city. And also, we should make use of his power to do a thorough search of both the Rig and the HQ to find any bugs and unauthorized equipment."

Emily listened, tapping her finger thoughtfully on the desk.

It was an incredible misuse of power preventing the elder Hebert from participating in the actual fights, but if his daughter's words were true…

"All right. Let's put Mr. Hebert aside for a minute. What about his daughter?" she asked, leaning back in her chair and letting out an exhausted sigh.

Armsmaster barely moved a muscle and just started speaking in the same almost monotone voice.

"Taylor Hebert, age 15 technically, actual age unknown," here his voice hesitated for the first time in their discussion before he reached over with his hand and prodded a few buttons on his other wrist.

The voice that came out from speakers she couldn't see wasn't Armsmaster's but presumably belonged to the young woman on her screen.

"What can I do? I can do whatever the fuck I want!" There was a pause, and Emily could practically hear the woman's smirk. "You know how you always wanted Eidolon to be prettier and better at everything? That's me!"

"Well, if nothing else, she is confident," spoke up Emily with a wry voice.

"Yes, Director," came the dry reply from the parahuman. "According to Miss Hebert, her power is basically magic."

There was a terse silence before Emily exclaimed.

"Magic? She thinks powers are magic?"

"Yes, Director. After requesting clarification, she explained unless we have a few uninterrupted years for her to explain the theory behind the workings of her power, then she will call it magic."

"She knows how powers work?" asked Emily incredulously.

"Miss Hebert knows how her power works," Armsmaster corrected her swiftly. "And according to her, she is not parahuman."

This time, both of her eyebrows rose in disbelief.

"And is she?"

"We need to scan her brain for the Corona and Gemma to be sure, Director."

"Fantastic…"

The room once again fell silent, Piggot thinking with closed eyes, and Armsmaster doing his best impression of a blowup doll. Finally, after a few minutes of contemplation, Emily opened her eyes, looked out of her window, eying the setting sun, and called out to Armsmaster.

"Call them and tell them to come in for power testing. I will start the paperwork on my end for their requests…"

Armsmaster, for once, understood the unsaid dismissal, stood up, said his goodbye, and left, leaving Emily alone with her thoughts, the pain in her body, and mountains of paperwork.

Altogether, she wasn't really keen to allow the father-daughter duo to join them, as she just knew that they would be a source of non-stop headaches, but the reality of the situation in Brockton Bay forced her hand.

They were losing, and they were losing hard and fast. Every new body she could throw at the gangs was welcome, no matter how much baggage they carried with them.

Returning her gaze to her screen and the young woman who was happily munching an apple, she just hoped that the price they would pay would be worth it in the end.


Ethan filled into the testing room after his wife, Miss Militia and Velocity, then, as the other, he also lined up at the wall as they prepared to witness the demonstration of their new teammate. Granted, they would be getting two new parahumans in the team, but he heard through the grapevine that the other one would be a non-combatant, so for now, they would only need to know one of their power sets.

Not soon after Sherry took a seat on one of the utilitarian benches present in the room, with Miss Militia joining her and with him and Velocity leaning against the wall, then the door leading to the room opened again letting in Armsmaster who was followed by today's guest star.

She was wearing some unknown branded shoes, black sweatpants (though from what he knew they were excellent quality), and a giant, bluish-white hoodie that declared that her other ride was a dragon.

Her lustrous black hair was in a loose ponytail, while her face was covered by a simple domino mask that, for some reason, was rainbow-colored.

All in all, it wasn't an impressive sight, yet Ethan, even from several feet away, could feel the young woman's presence. It demanded attention, respect, and some measure of obedience. For some reason, he could tell that it was not some kind of power, but how the woman held herself and how she walked.

As if she was used to being in charge and expected to be obeyed.

Moving his gaze from the young parahuman, he eyed his boss, as he was clearly irritated by the woman's clothing (he really needed to get her name), but as Ethan knew from experience, Armsmaster was also visibly holding back from expressing his opinion.

The door locked behind them, and he could see the eggheads up in the observation booth getting to their position, while at the same time Armsmaster began talking.

"Weaver, as we have finished with your father, it's now your turn for demonstration." He motioned for the middle of the room. "Please stand there, and warm up, and we will begin shortly."

Finished with his instructions, Colin began walking towards them, while Weaver started a series of warm-up exercises that caused Velocity to softly whistle, and even managed to attract his attention before someone pinched him. Ethan shrugged and smirked at his wife, who simply glowered at him before huffing and he turned towards their illustrious leader.

"So, what's the deal, Armsy? Nobody was clear what's her power…"

"Good, that means the security measures worked." Before Ethan and the other could process this, their boss continued. "We are here to see a demonstration of her powers."

"Powers?" asked Miss Militia, voicing the same question all of them wanted to ask.

Armsmaster grimaced, but then answered.

"According to her, she is like Eidolon-"

"And prettier! Don't forget that!" came the yell from the target of their discussion, who was several dozen feet away, yet seemed to hear everything they just discussed.

Ethan snorted, while Colin just let out a sigh. He turned around, heading towards Weaver, leaving them at the wall watching what was promising to be an entertaining show.

"Very well, Weaver. Are you ready?"

"Yup!" came the energetic answer, which was accompanied by a confident grin.

Armsmaster nodded, then retrieved a tablet from somewhere, prodded it a few times, then raised his head and began speaking.

"We are here for you to demonstrate your claims. So, for now, we will go by PRT power classifications." Waiting for the woman to nod, he continued. "I will name a classification, and you will demonstrate a power belonging to that classification. Do you need for me to go over them?"

The young woman, grin still in place, just waved dismissively.

"No need, no need. I made sure to read up on them!"

"Good to hear," answered Colin, and Ethan knew he meant it. The man loved efficiency and hated explaining things. He looked down at the tablet and continued. "We will start with Stranger. If you would?"

There was no sound, no movement from Weaver. One second, she was there and the next second, she vanished from their eyes.

Glancing up, Ethan could see the techies paying attention and scrambling for the computers. Looking at Colin, he could see that the man was also looking at his own instruments. Finally, after a little frowning, he looked up to the side and spoke up.

"Very impressive, Weaver. Please take your place in the middle of the room again."

The moment he called out her code name, she appeared just as silently as she vanished, leaning against the wall with a satisfying smirk on her face.

"Of course, Armsmaster. Satisfied, or should I continue with the Stranger powers?"

"For now, this is enough for demonstration," answered Colin with a shake of his head. "Now how about Mover?"


They watched with interest from the sidelines as Weaver, looking out of place in her oversized hoodie, nonchalantly began to demonstrate power after power.

For the Mover power set, she simply hovered in the air and moved around. For the Shaker, she simply summoned shields that they all tried to break, but none of them managed. For the Blaster demonstrations, for a terrifying moment, she summoned a lance of plasma, then shot it towards one of the targets at the end of the room.

Even from afar, Ethan felt the heat radiating off it, and the less said about the target, the better.

For Changer, the impressive woman simply transformed into a bear. A bear with rainbow-colored fur, still wearing the clothes she was wearing in her human form. And while Weaver was rather tall, her bear form was way over seven feet tall, and as she loomed over them with a scary grin on her face, Ethan knew he wouldn't want to meet her in a dark alley.

After the researchers and Armsmaster were satisfied with the scans they took off her, she transformed back, her clothing also returning to its previous sizes, Weaver turned into vapor showing her Breaker skill set, then summoned several very cute balls of fire with cartoonish hands to demonstrate she had Master powers.

"Very well, Weaver. How about Thinker powers?" asked Armsmaster, as he made another note on his tablet as the fire elementals vanished after bombarding the ruined target with some basic fireballs upon the young woman's command.

Weaver pondered for a moment, raising her finger to her chin, then gave a nod and turned her attention to Ethan. Freezing for a moment, as those intense green eyes found him, he swallowed, wondering what he would have to do as a guinea pig.

"Assault, right?" asked the new heroine with a smile, waiting for his nervous nod as she continued. "How about you put your hand behind you and I will tell you how many fingers you are holding up." She shrugged a little. "It's basic, but we can go into more complicated powers…"

Relieved that he wouldn't be dissected, Ethan turned towards Armsmaster.

"That's alright Weaver, this is, after all, preliminary testing. Please proceed."

"All righty! Assault, you ready?"

He said nothing, just moved his hand behind his back and made a simple fist, then nodded. Weaver closed her eyes, then began speaking.

"Fist."

"One."

"Three."

"Four and a half."

"Scissor."

She opened her eyes and gave him a smirk, which he returned, then she turned to Colin.

"And finally, the bird."

"Excellent, Weaver. Just for clarification, what is your range on this power?" he asked while making copious notes on his tablet.

"Ehh, depends how much I concentrate," answered Weaver with a shrug. "Anything from a few feet to miles…"

Ethan knew he wasn't the only one who had their jaws hit the ground. That kind of awareness in that kind of range…

"I see…" said Colin hesitantly, making one last note on the tablet. "How about Trump powers?"

Weaver's grin grew.

"How about some simple strength enhancement?"

"To parahumans?"

"To anyone," came the answer.

Armsmaster thought a little, then turned towards the watchers.

"Velocity, you don't have super strength-"

He couldn't even finish before Velocity simply vanished from his place against the wall and appeared before Weaver. Ethan couldn't really blame him, he had to listen too many times to the super-fast parahuman lamenting the fact that he couldn't really punch out the bad guys…

"Thank you, Velocity," spoke up Armsmaster after clearing his throat. "Weaver, proceed please."

The woman nodded, then simply snapped her finger. The result was a simple white light enveloping Velocity for a second, then vanishing. The man looked down at himself, clenching his fist in confusion.

"That's it?"

"Yup," answered the woman, her grin never leaving her face. Then she waved her hand and an honest to god punching bag appeared next to her, suspended on its own frame. The only unique thing on it was the snarling face of some kind of cat-like animal in the middle of the bag.

Ignoring the noises of surprise around him, Velocity simply nodded, took up a simple boxing stance, then, after a moment of hesitation, let loose a simple punch.

Watching the heavy frame holding up the punching bag slide backward only after one simple punch, and from what Ethan saw, not even full-strength punch was impressive. The implications alone…

It seemed Armsmaster arrived at the same thought, as he called out to Weaver with an intense focus radiating from his entire body.

"Weaver, how long does that last, and how many people can you give it to? And can you do anything else?"

Weaver smiled at them, then turned to Colin, as Velocity made use of his enhanced strength and continued to pummel the bag, which, for some reason, this time refused to move even an inch.

"Around half an hour if I don't renew it. But they have to be near me for that. As for how many?" She fell silent for a moment, then shrugged. "Don't know, an army?" Ethan swallowed heavily hearing that imagining what an army of regular men enhanced with that strength could do, and he could see Armsmaster also tense. "And yes, I can do other effects. Speed, defense, regeneration…"

Weaver then fell silent and watched them smugly, then reached into the completely flat front pocket of her hoodie and pulled out a plump, red apple and bit into it, the room echoing with the crunches as they tried to process what she just said.

Finally, after an entire minute silently watching as she munched on her apple, Colin finally managed to speak up.

"Understood, Weaver. We will test it later. How about Striker?"

The young woman finished her apple, threw the core behind her, and before anyone could call her out for littering, it vanished in mid-flight. She then clapped her hand together, and the scariness of her smile intensified.

"How about a spar? I can show off Striker and Brute together…"

Armsmaster hummed a little but then nodded.

"Logical," then he made a few notations on the tablet and called out. "Velocity, Battery, and Assault, you are up. Miss Militia please watch the spar for a later report."

Miss Militia nodded and took a few steps to the side to get a better vantage point while his wife stood up with a groan, probably knowing that they stood as much a chance as a fart in the wind against their new teammate. Velocity stopped his pummeling and stepped back, while the punching bag vanished just as fast as it appeared, and Ethan also stepped forward, already feeling phantom pain from the future butt-kicking they would surely experience.

It wasn't like he was not confident in his own and teammates' power, but just from the minuscule samples that Weaver showed off, he just knew they were barely the top molecule on top of the iceberg.

He didn't know where she came from (or why) but he knew she was powerful. That was clear to anyone with at least a working eye.


A minute later, three of them stood across the unconcerned parahuman, her hands in her hoodie pocket, looking over them leisurely, while her entire stance suggested she was a hundred percent sure she could take them.

Armsmaster on the side raised his voice, causing all of them to look over.

"Three on one spar, only Brute and Striker power from Weaver. Start on my signal!"

There was a tense moment, as the three of them prepared for the fight, Battery charging up, Velocity tensing his legs, then Armsmaster continued.

"Go!"

Several things happened in quick succession.

Velocity vanished as he always did, but before either Sherry or he could do anything, Velocity reappeared on Weaver's side. His hands stretched out in a punch, his entire body lightly over the ground as Weaver's delicate hand was clamped on his throat, shining with eldritch gray light, holding him up effortlessly.

She said only one word.

"Sleep."

The gray light flowed from her hand to Velocity's body, and the moment it made contact with their friend's eyes closed, Weaver let him go and he crumpled to the floor unconscious, presumably fast asleep.

Weaver then turned towards them, took her other hand out of her pocket, and took up an unfamiliar martial art stance.

"Speed is not everything," she said with a smirk, then looked directly into their eyes, causing a chill to go down his spine. "Come, Assault, Battery. Let's see what the finest of the Protectorate can do!"

Ethan glanced at Sherry, who nodded at him resolutely, causing a feeling of pride and love surge in him, before he refocused on their temporary enemy, trying to ignore the crumpled form of Velocity. Making a quick decision, he tensed his legs, and then he was off, hopefully not to make a big fool of himself.


Waking up, lying on the cold floor of the testing room, was not pleasant. Ethan groaned as he sat up, his body aching, then looked around for Sherry, who was similarly also waking up crumbled next to a wall that had an indent of a body on it, showing where Weaver had thrown his wife.

He gathered himself, then went over to help Sherry up, while in the corner of his eyes saw Miss Militia helping Velocity up, while Armsmaster was making notes at incredible speeds on his tablet.

The fight went as well as he expected.

Weaver handed their asses to them so fast he could barely do anything. And she just used body strengthening powers according to her. But that paired with her very obvious experience with fighting made sure that she won hands down.

He hobbled over to the bench where they started out watching the spectacle and sat down with Sherry and Velocity next to him, all of them feeling the pain of defeat, while Miss Militia hovered over them worriedly.

Then Ethan saw Weaver check if Colin was finished, and when she saw he was still writing, she approached them.

"Good fight," Sherry scoffed, but Weaver ignored it. "Sorry for the pain. If you want I can heal it?"

"You can also heal?" asked Hannah incredulously.

Ethan even saw Colin perk up hearing that, proving that he was paying attention.

Weaver just raised an eyebrow that was somehow visible through her rainbow-colored mask.

"What part of I can do anything I want didn't make sense, Miss Militia?"

Preempting any argument, he spoke up. As much as he wanted to see a catfight between the strong-willed and beautiful women, even he knew this was not the place for that.

"I would say, please do so. My leg is killing me."

Velocity grunted in agreement, still massaging his throat. Weaver at least had the presence to look ashamed. Then she raised a hand that glowed in a bluish-green light, which then washed over them, erasing all the aches and pains that resulted from the one-sided beat down.

Looking down in wonder at his body, and the absence of the pain, he looked at the parahuman and spoke up echoed by his teammates not long after.

"Thanks, Weaver!"

"Thank you!"

"Thanks…"

"No problem. After all, it was me who caused the issue…"

He was about to ask a few questions that were burning holes into his sides when Colin spoke up.

"Weaver, I'm finished with my notes about the fight. We only have Tinker category left."

Ethan and everyone else could hear the undisguised curiosity in the man's voice.

Weaver smirked again, then once again for one second, there was nothing in her hand, then in the next second, she was holding a very futuristic-looking gun, glowing with eldritch blue light and also humming lightly.

Wondering where she was pulling things, he watched as she did a few poses with the gun, then fired a few test shots at the very abused targets.

"Did you make that?" asked Armsmaster after a few seconds of examination of the weapon.

"No, I'm more for programming," answered Weaver with a calm voice. "But I know the basics. And seeing as the one who built this belonged to a race that considered quantum mechanics an amusing kindergarten exercise for the slower children, and they made sure my education was up to par, I'm sure I can explain at least some of it."

"That is…"

Armsmaster looked at the loss of words, while Ethan wondered about the mention of another race. When did that happen?

He was sadly prevented from acquiring further information as Colin began peppering Weaver with questions about the weapon and the knowledge behind them, and became extremely lost as more and more complicated technical terms began flying over his head.

He watched as Armsmaster and Weaver walked out, animatedly talking about something that probably made sense to them. Then Ethan looked at the others, who were still staring at the woman in confusion.

"Well, that was interesting…"


Taylor returned to their house after a quick grocery run, placed the bags on the kitchen table, then walked into the living room where her father was seated at the table staring in exhaustion at extremely precisely arranged piles of documents and a brand-new tablet, courtesy of the Protectorate.

He looked up from his work and smiled at her. She returned it happily.

"What's up, dad?"

"Welcome back, Taylor. I was just finishing up with the contracts."

"Anything new?"

He shook his head.

"No, they are very straightforward if you exclude the legalese. They even added in everything we asked."

"Makes sense," said Taylor with a satisfying nod. "I made sure to impress them. Any competent government entity would want us on their side."

Danny just snorted hearing that.

"With the amount they are preparing to pay you, I think you did little more than impress them…"

Taylor chuckled a little.

"What about Winslow?"

"You are already out, but they will want you to get GED at least just so they could say you have an education."

"Good to hear. What about you? How did the power testing go?"

Danny had been in power testing for the last week, as the PRT and Protectorate went over his power with a fine-toothed comb.

"Exhausting, but we are finished," answered Danny, and he sunk even deeper into the sofa. The old one was thrown out after Taylor sat on it for the first time since she had returned, exchanged for one from her own storage. Danny only complained until he sat on the new sofa for the first time. Ever since then, when he had some paperwork, he did it sitting on the sofa. "I'm going to go over past information and data, seeing how efficient my power is at organizing it. While also cleaning up the archive. In the meantime, I will be trained in using the Monitor station. With my multitasking, I'm the perfect man for the job. I heard Armsmaster was even planning to build a new monitoring station tailored to me…"

Watching Danny talk animatedly, unlike his previous apathetic self, Taylor couldn't help but smile a little.

"That's great, dad. I'm proud of you. And happy that you won't fight…"

Danny grimaced a little.

"Director Piggot wasn't happy according to the people I talked to, but someone was powerful enough that I'm not really needed…" he said with a playful glare at her.

Taylor just gave him a gallic shrug and sent her air elemental servants to put away the groceries while she sat down in the armchair.

"What about your work, dad?"

"For now, I'm still working at the union, but the Protectorate wants to shift me slowly to their office," he explained with a frown. "They want to mimic the process of me looking for a new job and finding one at the PRT."

"Sensible," replied Taylor. "But it seems you're not entirely happy with it…"

Danny gave her a small smile.

"I'm happy, Taylor. I've you back, I'll be making more money and so on… But I still worry for my friends…"

Taylor thought back to her activities for the last week with her drone that was connected to the internet and chuckled.

"Don't worry, dad. I'll take care of them…"

Danny looked at her for a few seconds, then closed his eyes and leaned even further into the sofa, letting out an exhausted sigh.

"I don't even know I want to know…"


Sophia stood as far away from the other wards as possible. They were all fully dressed in their costumes, as the word came down that a new parahuman was joining the Protectorate and they will be having a meet and greet.

Not that she had cared.

It was probably some helpless fool who thought having power was the answer to everything. Also, probably had some inane power that was perfect for PR, because, over the last week or so, she saw the PR people running around either agitated or excited.

Not that she cared.

As long as they left her alone to her job to cleanse the city, they could parade around naked for all she cared.

Ignoring the other Wards as they annoyingly chattered about the new parahuman, she watched the clock tick down until the meeting time. It was only a few minutes, but Sophia was itching to go and do something else. Something useful.

Finally, the clock struck five o'clock, the warning alarm buzzed, which they all ignored as they were all fully dressed and covered, the useless ones simply lined up as if begging for praise, while she waited, leaning against the wall, her thoughts already on her route for the nightly patrol.

The doors opened, and in walked Assault, followed by Battery, all of them smiling and talking with a tall, beautiful woman, with eerily familiar hair.

Assault stepped forward and exclaimed.

"Attention, munchkins!" he motioned towards the woman wearing a hoodie of all things (with a cartoonish clock on it, written under it: 'Chronomancy is the greatest magic'), tight pants that caused several of the boys' eyes stray (not that she cared), then he continued. "This is Weaver. She just joined the Protectorate recently, so give her a warm welcome."

Then Assault began to idiotically clap, which was followed by Clockblocker, the idiot, while Gallant, the ponce, stepped forward.

"Welcome, Weaver," he said with his stupid voice, pretending to be a gentleman. "I'm Gallant, this is…

Sophia listened to the ponce introducing the other Wards, while she kept herself preoccupied, wondering why the hair and the new parahuman were so familiar to her.

"…and this is Shadow Stalker."

Hearing her name called, she looked up, seeing how the woman would react, but Weaver just nodded at her, then returned her attention to the rest of the Wards.

Sophia froze.

The Wards, Assault, and Battery might not have seen it, but she clearly saw the woman roll her eyes when she looked at her. At her!

Fuming at the clear dismissal, she was so into her rage, that the next thing that broke her out of her thoughts as she imagined standing over the woman's defeated body (as she was clearly brought on to be pretty), was an excited yell from the same parahuman that occupied her thoughts.

"You're so cute!"

Looking up, she saw Weaver lean forward (and Clockblocker aiming to get a look down in her hoodie) in front of the brat, Vista, with a giant smile on her face.

Vista just looked affronted.

"Excuse me?"

"You are excused! How cute!" gushed the idiotic woman. "Can you show me how to warp space for me?"

Based on how the small girl's face twitched, Sophia knew that if Vista could have affected humans, Weaver would have been a stain of blood and gore stretching for miles.

Instead, the littlest ward simply sighed in defeat after sending imploring looks at Assault and Battery, who just motioned for her to perform, like a good little government pet. Letting out another sigh, Vista raised a hand, and soon a part of the room was showing what happened when someone without consent did things to the local space.

"Amazing!" Weaver's voice was starting to grate on her. Why would she impressed by something so lame? "You are pretty strong, huh?"

Sophia saw Vista swell with unearned pride and nod. Her previous indignation was seemingly forgotten.

"How is your arm's strength?"

Thrown by the unexpected question, it took Vista a second to answer.

"I work out regularly. Why?" The annoying girl even had the temerity to flex her pasty white, flappy arms as if they were something impressive. The other Wards, true to their talents, watched on confusedly, while Sophia saw Battery with an expectant face, and Assault watching with undisguised glee.

Wondering what they knew, she refocused on the annoying pair, where Weaver was humming thoughtfully and prancing around Vista, while the little girl stood there helplessly.

Then Weaver stopped in front of Vista, reached out with an arm, her hand vanishing into thin air for a second before it reappeared, this time holding a giant Warhammer of all things, then spoke up.

"Then you need an awesome weapon, to complement your awesome power!"

The hammer was gigantic, around five feet long, made from some kind of dark metal, with its symmetrical head decorated in the middle with some kind of symbol that held a precious stone in the shape of a heart in the middle. Sophia saw Weaver frown for a second and the red stone changed to green.

Then, to everyone's surprise, she held out the gigantic weapon to Vista.

"Here you go, perfect for you! After all, every girl needs a warhammer!"

"Uhm, thank you, err… Weaver, but I don't think I can even lift it…"

Weaver just gave her a small smile and continued to hold the warhammer in one hand, showing no strain on her as if it was made of marshmallow.

"Don't worry about the weight, Vista! Just give it a try!"

The useless little girl gave an uncertain look at the adults, once again showing how weak she was, as she couldn't even make a decision without those idiots telling her what to do, then after seeing Assault eagerly nod, followed by Battery's more sedate nod, she reached out and slowly grasped the hammer's handle.

The moment her hand fully grasped the handle, Weaver let go, and to the surprise of everyone, the hammer stayed in Vista's hand. Emboldened, the little girl grasped it with another hand, raising it over her head and then slowly bringing it down, as if coming to terms with its weight.

"So, light!"

Soon, she was waving around the giant weapon like it was nothing. The only thing hinting at its true weight was the air as it moved with each swing. Sophia watched as the Wards and Assault cheered her on as she made a mockery of every weapon user ever with her swings, while Weaver watched on with a grin next to Battery, who was watching with a tired expression.

For a moment Sophia's eyes met Weaver's, and she saw something pass in those eyes, but before she could even try to figure it out, Weaver once again rolled her eyes and looked away.

Sophia watched as Weaver clapped her hands once, gained everyone's attention and she began instructing Vista on her new weapon.

Huffing a little, she turned around, heading for her room. She needed to inspect her tools before patrol, as it wasn't like people were showering her with amazing weapons…

Not that she cared.


A/N: The title is a reference to The Twelve Tasks of Asterix (Les Douze travaux d'Astérix), where, in the eighth task, Asterix and Obelix have to brave a government office that drives people crazy. I love that cartoon. It means 'The house that drives you crazy'