Thanks to Temporal Knight for helping edit this thing, hope you enjoy the (I admit rather brief) introduction of Pride!Taylor and PseudoDoomSlayer!Madison as they perform the most holiest of tasks set forth by the great Mel Brooks in Spaceballs, 'The Search For More Money.'

An aside, yes, Madison is eventually going to have power armor that gives her a -1 Stranger rating because it is constantly belting out heavy metal as it casually ignores all incoming attacks via impenetrable hard light shields, Doom style.


Taylor's return to Winslow had been greeted with next to no fanfare, it was still the same dilapidated building with its outdated computers, off yellow plastic chairs, and sun faded posters lining the walls. There were still packs of gang members roaming the halls, graffiti tags on the lockers, and a general sense of malaise permeating the atmosphere.

One thing that had changed though was having a companion walking at her side, one who was very dedicated to making this strange friendship work and that alone helped Taylor convince herself that this was real, that it wasn't going to end like things had with Emma.

She could hope so at least.

Navigating through the crowded halls the parahuman pair was catching the occasional sideways glance from their surrounding peers which really, wasn't all that surprising. Taylor Hebert the long running social pariah of Winslow had returned to the site of her near murder beside one of her former tormentors. The fact that neither of them carried themselves as they had before the incident probably helped with that a bit, their wardrobe change likely also had something to do with it as well.

Taylor used to try and hide herself in baggy sweatshirts and cargo pants, covering as much of her face as possible behind overly large glasses and a curtain of curly hair; while Madison wore cutesy frilly dresses with her hair up in tails that she all but admitted had been a shield to prevent appearing as a threat.

Now though Taylor wore skinny jeans, heavy combat style boots, a Miss Militia t-shirt and one of her mom's old denim jackets festooned with patches and buttons, her new contacts and long hair pulled into a loose ponytail showing off the fact that yeah, she was not hiding anymore.

Madison didn't bother with the cutesy look anymore, she didn't need nor want it and thus dressed in a simple black skirt and leggings, a baby doll cut Iron Maiden t-shirt, and a fashionable red jacket, her brown hair pulled back into a tight braid hanging over her shoulder.

Taylor found the change in her companion amusing, and as long as she didn't start wearing black lipstick and writing trashy poetry she wouldn't comment on it.

Returning to reality Taylor sighed as she tilted her head to the side while muttering to the shorter girl, "So any last minute major changes that I should be made aware of?"

Madison shook her head in reply, "Nope, you've already gotten the most important notes, Sophia and Emma are gone, Blackwell 'retired,' and the gangs are still at it, speaking of which…"

A group of junior E88 skinheads approached them and Taylor couldn't help but wonder if calling them Hitler Youth would be insulting or giving the idiots more credit than they deserved, a conundrum for sure. On one hand the original Nazi war machine had been quite efficient and effective before their glorious leader decided to start a two front war, and on the other hand these were the idiots who seemed to forget who had actually won the Second World War.

She really did not want to deal with them either way but their path was now blocked and unless she wanted to eviscerate them with writhing shadows in front of dozens of witnesses she really didn't have much choice in the matter.

Bother.

Sighing Taylor met the leader of the group's curious gaze as she dryly stated, "May I help you?" Madison had tensed up beside her and slowly slid her hand towards her purse which, while endearingly over protective, was a bad idea all things considered. They really needed to get her kitted out with a weapon that's only setting wasn't 'Hilarious Amounts of Dismemberment.'

"You came back," he stated in a quiet tone, Taylor raised a brow at that honestly a bit confused.

"Yes I did, quite observant of you."

He nodded slowly at that, "Well, good, can't let the lesser races think they can kick a white girl while she's down and not expect her to get back up again. Respect," and with that he and his cohorts moved on while Taylor felt her left eyebrow begin to twitch.

Madison for her part found her gaze following the retreating forms of the Fourth Reich wannabes then shot Taylor an incredulous look while flatly stating, "Did…did you just get Nazi approval for surviving Sophia's 'prank'?"

Taylor pinched the bridge of her nose, shook her head, then continued on to homeroom while Madison followed, "I…can we just, pretend that never happened? Please, that was just too surreal and…borderline offensive for me to keep in my long term memory."

Madison let out a brief amused snort then nodded, "Agreed."

As it stood the school day passed at a snail's pace, the classes were just about as useless as they had been before, and by lunchtime Taylor had come to a simple conclusion that many a teenager before her had stumbled upon.

That conclusion being quite succinctly put, school sucked.

Entering Winslow's characteristically dilapidated cafeteria Taylor plopped down beside Madison at one of the handful of nearly empty tables while dropping her book bag before her shortly followed with Taylor burying her face into it, quickly sending a muffled scream into the canvas sack.

Madison, who had otherwise been occupying herself with dubiously poking her school supplied mashed potatoes with her spork, all while fully expecting it to react with sapient aggression turned towards the new arrival. Observing her obviously angsting companion for a few moments she eventually sighed out loud while muttering, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Raising her head Taylor glared at nothing in particular as she seethed out, "It's all so….pointless! Useless! We are not learning anything here!"

Madison nodded slowly in response to that as she dropped her spork and gave up on her meal, which she was fairly certain was sending her a hateful glare as she turned back towards Taylor, "I can't be a proper sounding board for your frustrations on this one since I am in fact in complete agreement with you."

Taylor frowned, paused, took in a deep breath, let it out, then deflated and sighed as she opened her bag pulling out a pair of pita wraps and handed one to Madison who blinked down at her newly arrived bounty in surprise.

"Err…"

Taylor scoffed as she began unwrapping her own meal while dryly stating, "As if I'd let my only friend suffer the indirect insult of Winslow High's lunch menu. A sautéed chicken pita wrap with pico de gallo, spinach, and crumbled blue cheese with a light raspberry vinaigrette dressing. Enjoy the bounty of Casa de Hebert."

Madison took a tentative bite out of her wrap, as the differing flavors combated each other while they lavished her tongue she couldn't help letting out a loud enough groan of satisfaction that she immediately felt a glowing blush that was red as a tomato spread across her cheeks, and when she glanced at her clearly pleased companion Taylor simply grinned knowingly while whispering, "Yup, that's the good stuff."

They ate in silence after that for a time, sated after she had finished her absolutely delicious wrap Madison patted her mouth with a napkin, folded her trash in the wraps foil, sipped her milk, then let out a sigh as she glanced towards her companion, "That was delicious."

Taylor smirked and nodded in acknowledgment, "Mom always knew how to make a feast out of next to nothing, one of the few 'girly' things we both learned to excel at considering dad always had a pretty simple palette. Swear the man could live off her lasagna and nothing else…"

Madison scoffed at that and they remained in comfortable silence for a time before she let out a tired sigh and muttered out, "I need to Tinker."

Taylor for her part tilted her head to the side shooting Madison a wry smirk while drawling out an amused, "Sounds kinky."

Madison sputtered a moment nearly choking on her carton of blandly chalky Winslow supplied 2% milk then punched Taylor's arm while sputtering out, "Bitch!" which only earned her a delighted cackle in return.

There was a comfortable silence, and then Taylor eventually spoke up, "So, we need to scavenge parts for you to fiddle with right?"

Madison nodded sullenly as she replied, "Yeah the problem with being a Tinker is that while we are incredibly dangerous, Armsmaster and Dragon are proof of concept on that by the by, we have a massive disadvantage when we first enter the cape scene. To put it simply we're targets, every gang wants a personal Tinker to trick their minions out with crazy gadgets and…it never ends well for the Tinker in question.

"Locally you just have to look at Squealer, she never wanted to be a drug addict whore enslaved by a junkie prick like Skidmark, I mean really who fucking would want that to be their life goal? What she wanted doesn't matter though because he kidnapped her from her home in the dead of night, drugged her up, and now she is a Merchant; all while the Protectorate did nothing to save her from what is essentially enslavement."

"Anyone trying that with you would burn, simple as that," Taylor muttered near silently, though Madison heard it regardless and it made her feel…something warm.

Shaking her head Madison took in a deep breath as she dropped her gaze to the table before her soon shifting it back up to meet Taylor's now slightly glowing green gaze, "I'd rather die than suffer that sort of fate, I won't be some drugged out waste of flesh's tech whore, but I have to tinker, it's like an itch really. If I search out parts to Tinker with, I'll draw attention to myself and…I don't know what to do…"

Taylor took her hand then, and grinned, "Well then, tonight, we're going shopping."

Madison felt a chill trill up her spine as the shadows along the walls swirled about for a moment before settling down, then she nodded in assent, "Yeah…lets go shopping, but first, we need money."

It would be a night Brockton would long remember.


Madison ran her thumb up and down her lightsaber hilt's length while eyeing the unwashed wastes of humanity riding the bus alongside her with a wary eye and not a bit of trepidation. The only thing keeping her from fidgeting was Taylor sitting beside her looking completely unconcerned by the fact they were being eyed by a bus full of gangbangers, every time one of them looked at the ravenette she simply returned their stare with a gimlet gaze and a rictus grin.

Oddly enough by the time they had reached their stop Taylor had managed to unsettle a bus full of ABB wannabes to the point they didn't follow the two teenage white girls stepping out into the ghetto without escort. Sighing Taylor pulled her balaclava on followed with pulling her hood up over it while cracking her head to the side marching forward with a purpose, Madison followed suit and chased after her companion who began twirling her fingers at seemingly random but…it wasn't random in the slightest.

"Light it up Mads, no time like the present to announce our arrival yeah?" While she couldn't see her face it was quite clear Taylor was smiling, and for the life of her Madison couldn't figure out why she was mirroring it as she ignited her lightsaber.

Golden light flooded the abandoned street, junkies, vagrants, vagabonds and the other varied detritus castoffs of a flagging civilization ran away while swearing, all as the brilliant beacon cast fathomless shadows that crawled along the buildings following the girls towards their destination. Roiling teeth and burning green eyes flickered in the oily blackness cast by Madison's blade, and she really had to do her best not to hyperventilate as her friend began giggling, her eyes now simmering with an unnatural green glow as more shadows gathered in their wake.

Approaching their destination Taylor pushed Madison behind her and with a flick of her wrist a tendril of shadow slammed through the front door sending dry rotted wood flying into the enclosed space. There was indignant yelps, and screams of pain. All followed with a nauseating wave of contaminated air rushing out of the now vented domicile, and even Taylor, who seemed to rather be 'in the zone,' gagged for a moment at the onrushing wave of body odor, alcohol, and drug sweat.

Shaking her head and coughing, the still grinning girl turned towards Madison while saying, "Hold her up high Mads, we are not going to hide ourselves tonight!"

Madison gulped, and raised her saber high all while her hand was shaking perceptibly, the dancing shadows filling the room writhed with angry eyes, hungry teeth, and anxious tentacles, Taylor for her part stepped into the building, took in the various junkies with an uncaring glare, then she laughed a moment before yelling out, "OY SKIDMARK! TRICK 'R TREAT!"