Interlude - 7.1 Taylor
February 7, 2011, Docks - Brockton Bay, 11:43 PM
Taylor was having fun labeling each downed ABB thug based on whether they were stung with or without venom using firefly alphabets. Initially, the PRT troopers arresting the goons were spooked, but they recovered fast and currently there was a dedicated trooper noting down each label as the arrests progressed. She was also entertaining a toddler whose parents weren't home with some butterflies in a nearby apartment. And of course meeting the Undersiders, putting the Swarm Avatar in the confident posture that Lisa had named 'Benevolent Overlady Mode'.
It was during all this that Tattletale dropped the bomb, "Guys, meet our new bosses."
Grue's mouth opened and closed a few times, Taylor could tell from his skin mites.
Regent muttered "Shit."
Bitch just shrugged as if she'd merely been told that water is wet. Taylor was quite impressed with her composure.
"Uh..." Grue was yet to recover it seemed.
"Yep, the new tech and gear we just used is courtesy of Maker. And we had advance warning of today's attack due to Swarm's effort." Lisa mentioned casually.
"A...And your speedster power?" Grue had regained his voice it seemed. Taylor found it amusing that such a well built, good looking... Ahem, she was digressing... Such an imposing and serious man was fumbling around for words... Compared to his behaviour when she was keeping an eye on the loft, and the memories Lisa had shared for basic profiling, this was very uncharacteristic of the usually polite yet firm, handsome and... Uh, she was digressing again... Whatever, for once she didn't have any complaints about the amount of information the skin mites gave her.
Lisa nodded and paused to draw a deep breath and gave Maker a pointed look. Taylor was sure they were passing messages, Maker nodded back.
Lisa addressed the others, "Um, guys, Maker is not just a healer, he's a biotinker too. I've consented to undergo some experimental biomods that synergize with my power."
Grue went back to doing the fish impression.
Regent muttered, "holy fucking shit..."
Bitch looked confused, "What?"
"He made me faster and stronger by changing my body." Lisa explained. Taylor could tell how hard Lisa was trying to keep condescension out of her body language.
Bitch frowned and grunted "Then just say so."
[Concern]"Is Bitch always like this?" Taylor messaged Lisa. Her profiling memories didn't account for either antagonism or retardation.
[Reassurance]"Not really, consider it more like a form of autism. I'll explain in detail later."
Taylor tracked the PRT prisoner van carrying Oni Lee as it left her range. They'd been smart and not taken his blindfold off. A couple of the ABB thugs managed to run before the BPPD and PRT had arrived near the loft, Taylor had to let them go to avoid disclosing her range.
"Ahem." Grue took the reins of the conversation again, "I'm assuming you're already aware of our identities since you're helping with my custody issue?" Maker nodded, Grue continued, "Then you have my gratitude both for saving my sister's life and scaring her to stay out of villainy."
Swarm smiled as warmly as a glowing insect apparition woman could. Maker shrugged, "I thought she needed the warning, you should also thank Panacea when you get the chance, she was the one who healed her, I could only stabilize her."
Grue nodded, "If I get the chance, I will. So, since you're funding us and have not shut us down yet. What exactly do you want from the Undersiders?" His spine straightened as he continued, "No offense but I find myself very curious about the motivations behind two vigilantes controlling a villain team." Taylor was quite impressed with how well spoken he could be when he needed to.
She got a message from Lisa, [Amusement]"He's so your type isn't he? Let me see if I can arrange for Taylor to meet Brian."
What? How did she even? Argh!
[Indignation]"!"[Embarrassment] She didn't bother replying with words, instead made a mental note to make more of an effort to not let her unconscious thoughts leak into the Swarm Avatar's body language.
Maker nodded at Grue, "Good question. I'll be clear with you. Our goals are to help people, have fun and profit from our ventures - in no particular order. So consider us more like altruistic rogues than vigilantes. As for you guys, I don't consider you a villain team to begin with. For now, all I want you to do is keep targeting gang establishments for your heists and we insist that you avoid civilian and collateral damages. Once your reputation has grown to incorporate these factors, we can jointly decide which direction your team should take from there."
"Aw man! Don't tell me you want to turn us into heroes!" Regent almost whined.
Maker suddenly took a menacing step towards Regent, and replied with vehemence, "And do what, make you prance around in colourful costumes and give rousing speeches? What good would that do? And which part of 'fun and profit' do you fail understand?"
Regent backpedalled immediately, raising his arms in surrender, "Hey hey! You know the best, boss! 'Fun and profit' are like my middle names! I'm in!" He managed to come off as mostly jocular and nonchalant but the twinge of nervousness was quite apparent. Taylor personally thought it apt, Regent needed to learn to be a bit more professional when in costume.
She removed the butterflies from the toddler, his mother had come home.
Grue came to the rescue, "Please ignore him. His mouth runs ahead of his brain at times." Regent merely shrugged at that. Grue continued, "Anyway, I don't think we have any problems with going after gang owned businesses. I hope we can count on your backup if we run into capes we can't handle?"
Swarm nodded, "Of course, ensuring your well-being is our responsibility."
Tattletale's grin gained a few levels in smugness. A fly dove into her mouth, she spit it out and glared at Swarm. Taylor made sure the Avatar did not mimic her giggling.
A PRT officer addressed the floating letters above the last ABB grunt, "Thanks for the help, is this the last one?" Taylor changed the lettering from 'WASPS, NO VENOM' to 'YES, LAST. GOODBYE' and dispersed them.
"You can also count on us for healing whenever you need it." Maker added.
"Can you heal dogs?" This was the first time Bitch had addressed the gamers.
"Sure, do any of them need healing now?"
Bitch nodded, one of the dogs started shrinking. "Wait. Shrink her when I say so." The dog stopped shrinking. Maker walked over to the dog, it shifted uneasily, Bitch made a clucking noise, the dog stilled. Maker touched the dog and it started glowing blue, Taylor reasoned he just wanted scans of the transformation process. Maker nodded at bitch, who had a puzzled expression but she complied. Strips of meat and bones began sloughing off, then vanishing in blue flashes, Bitch looked all the more confused.
In the end, all that was left was a terrier, hairless and missing an eye and an ear. Taylor could feel no fleas or ticks on the dog, Bitch must groom them pretty well.
"I'm going to sedate Angelica so that she isn't spooked by the healing process, okay?"
Bitch nodded, then frowned, "How do you know her name?"
Tattletale interjected, "He's the boss. Of course he knows their names."
Bitch nodded and watched intently as the glowing dog laid down, then her eyes went wide as the scars on Angelica healed, the missing ear regrew and finally a smooth coat of fur appeared. Bitch's face was sporting an unconscious grin behind the dog mask. Maker picked Angelica up and handed her to bitch, who accepted her like she was being handed the keys to Brockton Bay. "She'll wake in a few moments." Then he turned to the others, "Speaking of healing, I need to scan all of you so that it's easier to restore you if you're injured later. Bitch, no need to shrink the others, I can scan them as they are, also, wait before you grow Angelica again. Guys, touch here please." He extruded a tinkertech looking panel from his arm.
Bitch was the first to comply, still grinning and cradling a freshly woken two-eyed and two eared Angelica. As she flashed blue, she spoke in much milder tones than before, "Thanks boss." Maker just nodded at her and motioned for the others to follow. Grue went next, then Regent, finally Tattletale came over and theatrically touched the panel. Maker chuckled and shooed her off.
"Alright guys, your loft has been made. Tattletale will help you relocate to a new base. We'll get in touch with you in a while. Now, I believe we're all on the same page, if there's nothing else to discuss, we'll take your leave."
The Undersiders murmured assents and farewells, Maker scanned Angelica as Bitch regrew her. As they mounted up, Maker dropped into an ID and Taylor dispersed the Swarm Avatar.
The Undersiders didn't leave immediately. Taylor listened on as Regent pantomimed wiping his brow, "Phew, well, that just happened."
Grue nodded distractedly, then turned towards Lisa, "Tattl..."
"Yes, they were being honest. No, they'll not double-cross us. Just take his warning not to hurt civilians seriously. Yes I'm close friends with them. No you may not ask for details, it's personal."
Grue sighed and nodded again. Bitch issued some commands and they were on their way. Taylor tracked them towards the loft as she waited for Maker to come and pick her up from inside the barred up shop she was sitting in. She continued to study the tinkertech code of their phones while keeping an eye on PHO for leaks on the night's events.
February 9, 2011, Beach near the Rig - Brockton Bay, 9:58 PM
Taylor sat on one of the benches, there were some tourists lazing around, this was one of the ends of the boardwalk, the tour boats for the Protectorate HQ left from the jetty here. She finished creating her mini-map of the Rig and shared it with Aveek.
Armsmaster was sitting in an area with a ridiculously low insect count, must be his lab, most of the other heroes that she could identify from their skin mites were at different places all over the Rig. Velocity's mites were special, the information she got from them was fast-forwarded though unlike the first time she noticed it in the hospital after her trigger, her upgraded neurology could now parse that info somewhat better.
She'd done this exercise yesterday too once Aveek had confirmed the meeting with the white-hats. Lisa had helped plan things out, her terminology was contagious.
Well, things were looking as good as they ever would, she messaged Aveek.
[Confidence]"Alright then, let's get this show on the road. Ready when you are."
Maker rose up from one of the rooftops nearby and started flying towards the Rig, a spherical cloud of bugs followed him.
A/N: Back in my country, not home yet, but chapters should start flowing. Next up, Armsy.
