So last Madison exclusive chapter with Taylor's somewhat belated introduction, hope you all enjoy. Once again I cannot thank Temporal Knight enough for being an amazing sounding board and offering to help clean up several lines that I felt would otherwise be essentially unreadable, you rock. Anywho, while a bit shorter I decided to end this one on a high point leading to our lovely Queen of Escalation taking front stage.


Nominally Madison didn't actually enjoy Coheed and Cambria as a band, tying their music to a highly convoluted and to be blunt confusing as hell comic book was just…weird. That being said some of their songs really got to her; quasi semi-orchestral undertones with appropriate guitar riffs accompanied by sufficient bass elements that had her head rocking all while keeping her focus on the project at hand were much appreciated..

They'd ended up on her shuffle for a reason after all.

As the smell of burning flux wafted past her nose while she moved the soldering iron away from the final circuit of her project, Madison couldn't help grinning as 'Welcome Home' wound down from her earbuds as she took in the sight of her creation.

It was done, she'd built her first Tinker-tech weapon and… nonono it wasn't done yet, she had to put it all together first, do not assume that the metaphysical black boxing super science fuckery of Tinker-tech worked before you actually tried it. Many a dead client could be claimed from that short sightedness according to her admittedly limited contacts with Toybox via PHO.

Sighing Madison turned off the music, stuffed her earbuds back into her hoody pocket, and began assembling the project that had cost her poor dad a VCR, an outdated tablet, a blender, a security Maglite, and a secondhand overhead projector.

There was a salvage yard involved with that last bit and she was fairly certain she'd tipped her hand to her old man over it but…science must be done and he hadn't said anything implicating he knew what was going on when he saw her dragging the thing home so...

Shaking her head from further banal distractions she let the converted flashlight's last components click into place as she screwed the head down, and sighed in satisfaction as the resonating crystal aligned with the focusing lens.

After a moment of trepidation she double clicked the ignition button, and grinned.

With a distinct *SNAP-HISS* a meter long molten gold blade ignited from the hilt in her hand, the brilliant light casting shadows across the room and the only reaction Madison found appropriate at the moment was a near giddy, "Powers are complete bullshit."

That didn't mean she was not grinning like an idiot as she dragged her new blade's point across the garage floor, leaving a shallow smoldering furrow in the concrete before her in the process.

"Fucking. Awesome."

Wow, totally living up to her self-perceived superior intellect there… and fuck…her dad was so going to wonder where that small gash in the floor came from…still though…

The blade hummed as she swung it about and her grin only grew wider in the process as the shadows danced around her.

Still, she had made a lightsaber out of scrap, and that was just…

Her grin began to fade, and she quickly deactivated the lightsaber while running her free hand through her hair sighing slowly in the process.

Yeah, this was amazing and all that, but…still, Taylor had to literally die for her to have the ability to make this thing and… she was not ok with that. Ruminating over her situation for a few minutes Madison decided to clean up her work space, polish up her first creation a bit, and soon prepared for her daily trip to the hospital.

Making sure her Converted Maglite of Doom (CMD!) was secure in her purse Madison went to the kitchen and began filling her thermos with the French onion soup she had left simmering on the stovetop. Humming to herself Madison let out a quiet 'Eep!' when her dad walked up behind her and grasped her shoulder while muttering, "Smells good."

Relaxing and letting out a huff Madison nodded slightly while turning back to the task at hand, "Yes it does dad and there is plenty left for you too, and yes I bought you some sour dough rolls to dip into it as well. They are in the basket above the microwave."

He smirked at that and nodded as he muttered, "You spoil me," before heading off to collect his bread and broth soon shuffling back to the living room, leaving Madison to stare down at her hands in contemplation as she muttered to herself.

"What's worse Taylor, your mom dying on the phone while talking with you, or her leaving your family behind for a younger man? I kinda get where my dad is coming from when he says adulting sucks… and…"

Clenching her fists Madison sighed, closed her eyes and refused to cry before moving to seal up her thermos, snatching up a roll while spinning on her heel, and a moment later prowled towards the front door. Tossing her burdens into her beaten up backpack she stepped into the foyer and paused only long enough to fish out her earbuds, after screwing them in and tapping 'Shuffle' on her phone she moved to open the front door and readied herself to confront the real world yet again.

Madison felt the tension bleed from her nearly immediately as Mastodon's 'Oblivion' started sounding in her ears. She couldn't help smiling a bit; good music, completed tinker work, good soup...today was looking up. Snatching up her purse - and refusing to acknowledge the fact that she was actually hoping someone was dumb enough to start shit with her now that she had her new CMD (Patent Pending) - Madison bobbed her head with her music and made her way to the bus stop.

No one tried to talk to her today as she waited for her ride to arrive, this was a first and a quite welcome change. Seriously, any day that she didn't have to fake being a well adapted member of society was a good day.

Her bus weirdly enough arrived on time, and her ride to the hospital proved to be uneventful and soon she found herself going through the process of signing in. The nurse at the station glanced up at her and raised a questioning eyebrow, huh, was it out of curiosity or a desire to impersonate Teal'c and or Spock?

Madison had to actually stifle her own laughter at that last thought as she met the nurse's eyes evenly while stating, "Yes?"

The nurse shrugged as her gaze shifted back towards her computer monitor while muttering, "Nothing really, just the first time I've seen you smile since you've been visiting her."

Said smile faltered, fell, and died as Madison nodded slowly, "Yeah…ok…"

The nurse looked up in surprise, Madison's now despondent look causing obvious concern as she stuttered out, "Wait I-"

"It doesn't matter, have a good day," Madison muttered as she made her way to the elevator hoping beyond hope that this wasn't going to set the tone for her weekend. She chuckled mirthlessly at that thought as the elevator doors opened and she quickly entered while shaking her head slowly.

"Yeah…that'll happen…"

Honestly, being a realist sort of sucked, especially when you were consistently correct about shit you really didn't want to be.

Sighing she left the elevator soon entering Taylor's room and she smiled wanly at the vacant eyed girl as she spoke up, "Hey Taylor, today has been… a thing. Built a lightsaber if you can believe it, only just hitting me now that I really can't use it on anyone who isn't a Merchant since…who gives a shit about the Merchants and them getting dismembered after all? Oh, I made you French onion soup, it won't be the same without the cheese but it's still good how it is, just…oh damn what's the term…right! Less robust, heh, wow home ec was actually useful for once despite being chauvinistic as fuck…"

Shaking her head Madison drew her thermos out and filled the cap mug with soup, pressing it to Taylor's lips she smiled sadly as the other girl sipped it down, all while doing her best to not hate herself more for her part in this situation. A few minutes later she sat down and reached into her bag to draw out 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' and cracked its cover while a brief smile brushed across her lips.

"I do believe we left off when Arthur and Ford hitched a ride, let's see here…"

She read, and despite what conventional logic told her she thought she saw Taylor react a few times as the corners of her just slightly too wide lips crooked up as she read off the misadventures of Arthur and Ford.

That kind of made it worth it, honestly…

Then the door opened causing her to pause her reading and she took in the tall man who entered the threshold with a quite unimpressed gaze.

He was very thin, had wispy hair that was leaning towards balding, a weak chin, and had a nervous gait as he walked into the room.

Madison stared at him coolly for a few moments before he finally noticed her.

"Oh. Madison. You're back."

Really? She had been here every day for the past week and….ugh…

"Mr. Hebert. You're...here. For once. Nice of you to show up, I am sure Taylor appreciates the effort."

He stared down at her blandly for a moment before slowly stating, "She is my daughter after all."

Madison couldn't help snorting at that, "Funny, you seemed to have a hard time remembering that she existed for the past few days. When was the last time you visited her?"

Growing annoyed Danny growled out, "I have been rather busy lately Madison."

She scoffed at that, "Busy with what? Getting drunk?"

Danny was actually angry now, "I don't see how you have any right to comment on the current situation considering that you were one of the people who put my daughter in here!"

Madison jumped to her feet sending her book to the floor as she glared up at the angered man from her very impressive 4'11" height, "Yes I did and I am trying to make up for that every fucking day! What are you doing?! You're abandoning her again and again and again! At least I'm trying to do better! To be better! To do something! You're never here and she's your daughter! FUCK!"

She had not meant that last bit to sound so… angry…but it was… She sighed, and deflated, and Danny ran a hand through his hair and sighed before he glanced about the room.

"I…can't do this right now, I'll come back later when she's alone, good day, Miss Clements…"

"Good day Mister Hebert," Madison muttered as she picked up her dropped book, sat on her chair, and began shivering as the adrenaline left her system.

"Why are people such...people!? He was so…he was so…so…so!" she muttered this out as her genuine anger weaved in on itself, then much to her shock a tired chuckle echoed out from her right causing her to pause.

Snapping her head to the side she met the weary gaze of Taylor Hebert, who shot her a sad, exhausted smile, "Yeah… Dad can be like that when he is well and truly pissed off, the Hebert Rage is…a thing…"

Madison's throat ran dry as her eyes widened and her lips began to tremble, "Ta-Tay-Taylor? Yo-You're awake?"

She expected condemnation, revulsion, hatred, what she had not expected was for the waif of a young woman to spread her arms and mutter out, "Damn girl, you look like you need a hug, come here."

Madison jumped onto the bed, wrapped her arms around the near emaciated girl, and barely kept her shit together until the moment that Taylor returned the gesture and muttered a single sentence she had never expected to hear.

"Shh…It's alright, I get it, and I forgive you."

Madison froze for a moment, and then broke down crying into Taylor's shoulder.