Summary: Alt!Power Taylor. Taylor triggers as a Tinker who focuses on aircraft or flying devices. Outed in the hospital, she is now under the authority of two of the best tinkers in the world. There are some minor crossover elements here, as some of the ships mentioned come from either Warhammer 40k or Star Trek, but you don't need to know squat about either.
Language is a wonderful thing. Just by stringing together the right noises a person can express such a wide array of thoughts, emotions, intentions and more. It is also an ever evolving process. The concept we didn't know we needed yesterday becomes today's buzz word. And that's just using the words alone. When added to tone, body language and other physical markers even the simplest of words can be used to convey far more than it should be capable of.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, both of them together should be worth a thousand times more.
Of course, words and meanings were nothing compared to the myriad and bizarre paths a person's thoughts could take them. But it was thoughts about words and their weight that were flashing through Assaults mind at the moment.
The Protectorate team had been called into a meeting, but unusually, it wasn't Director Piggot calling them together, but Armsmaster bringing them together with the Director for a spontaneous meeting. Not something the veteran hero normally bothered with. Colin's updates to the team were coordinated already, so it was normally Piggot calling them together to unload her latest heaping of vitriol.
Of course, the reasoning had quickly become apparent. Armsmaster had been called to Brockton Bay General Hospital earlier by the staff. There he found a newly triggered tinker taking apart medical equipment to build something. Well, trying at least. The young girl had been in pretty poor shape, injured and drugged, and her movements were hampered from the cables and monitors she was plugged into.
Based on the report Colin had been giving, with the help of the new capes father he had been able to coax the young woman into using one of this expandable tablets to do proper design work before she started on the creation side of things. It was a surprisingly subtle move from the man that everyone viewed as efficiency regardless of consequence.
In another surprisingly sneaky move (and Ethan would eat his boots if Dragon wasn't involved there somehow), the older tinker had first spent some time helping the young girl with her new toy, getting her into an almost meditative tinker design state before he started asking questions.
By allowing the girls mind to focus on her new fascination, Colin had been able to extract a lot more details than a recently traumatised teenager would normally provide. The girl, one Taylor Hebert, had provided him with a background of long-term abuse and bullying, and the details of the locker she had been shoved into, along with the suspected perpetrators.
She had also given up the existence of a journal detailing abuse going back to the beginning of the year, with notes that it had actually started from her first year, but she had believed the school faculty could put an end to it before she gave up and started the journal. With the permission and help of the father, one Danny Hebert, Armsmaster had gone to the family home with a couple of investigative agents and officially recovered the journal, had it copied, returned the original and kept the copy with added evidence notes.
All good so far, Colin had the material evidence needed to open everything wide and come down on people who caused a trigger event like a ton of bricks. Unfortunately, that was when the bad news started to catch up to them. Because one of the major players was named as Sophia Hess, otherwise known as the Ward Shadow Stalker.
Ethan had only just managed to bite back on the comment of "This is why we can't have nice things." He refrained though, because Piggot already looked like she would pop a gasket & his wife would hit him again.
With Sophia being on probation, Colin had nothing legally stopping him from accessing her electronic records to look into such a serious allegation. And thus came the first 'official' involvement of Dragon in the case. Between the two Tinkers they had quickly accessed her Wards phone, and realised how unused it was. A quick search found her personal phone, which blew everything else out of the water.
Not only had the stupid girl kept records showing her little terror campaign, she'd bragged about some of the notable offences as well. Worse, the budding psychopath had been going on unsanctioned patrols, taking her little redheaded sidekick with her and using live ammunition.
A little bit of work from the heroes had movements using the tracker in the Wards phone added to date triangulation on her personal phone, then matched up to violent assaults starting roughly two weeks after her Wards induction onwards.
It was easily enough to bury the girl several times over.
It was a bad situation for the Protectorate and the PRT ENE, but for once they were ahead of the problem. It should have been straight forward. Jump on Shadow Stalker and everyone that hid and enabled her behaviour with both feet, string the little idiot up and let them all hang. It would be a black-eye for them, but being proactive and fast would mean it would only last as long as it took Armsmaster and Dragon to get something flashy built by a new Tinker and distract everyone. With the victim embracing the PRT they could clear things up nicely.
And that was when it all went to shit. Because apparently Director Piggot was not only doing her best to stuff her head in the sand, she was also doing it while holding the idiot ball. Tuning in to the ranting that had so far lasted, a quick check of his watch, 8 minutes, had Ethan revise that opinion a bit. Piggot had not only grabbed the idiot ball, she'd taken over the factory and was hording all the idiot balls. Ever.
And that brought him back to the musings on language he started with, because the increasingly insane sounding Director was interrupted by one word from Armsmaster.
"No"
It was a nice word. Solid and implacable. That facet was even stronger with the tone Colin used. It was an absolute denial of everything before it. There was no doubt the speaker would not be budged for any reason. It also, fortunately, cut Piggot's rant off at the knees.
The splotchy red face of the director was actually kind of worrying, given her health issues. Apparently no one had ever given such an absolute ultimatum before, or maybe it was just the first time a cape had done so, given her obvious fury.
Thankfully Armsmaster carried on talking a few seconds before the directors control could snap, "I will ignore your wilfully illegal attempt to bury a charge of at least assault, possibly false imprisonment or attempted murder. I will also leave aside the fact that you were trying to get us to put a newly triggered parahuman on the same team as the individual who deliberately, directly and without remorse caused that trigger, since I know you hold all such issues in contempt.
I will note for the record, however, that if you had made that attempt with any adult cape the best case scenario would be them laughing in your face.
Instead, I will simply say that you do not know what you are talking about. The absolute last thing we should be doing is to alienate Taylor in any way at all. Every rule that can be bent, every favour or perk that can be leveraged, every bit of money we can find should be thrown at her as the utmost priority."
At this point everyone around the table was gaping at Armsmaster. Not only for the out of character rant, but by the complete surety he had that they needed Taylor on side. Sure, the heroes were outnumbered and outgunned so they needed every cape they could, but Ethan was pretty sure the director was tempted to call Master/Stranger protocols on Armsmaster, it was that out of character.
In the interest of not being buried under a mound of foam along with his co-workers (it took forever to get his hair clean), Ethan used the silence to ask the question they were all thinking.
"That's pretty extreme, boss. What's got you so invested?"
Turning his head towards Ethan, Armsmaster gave a slight nod to acknowledge the dodge he was helping with. Then he turned on a monitor at his end of the room, plugging a small device into the side as he did. Again, this was a little strange as he had completely disconnected the room before starting the meeting, but he quickly started explaining. Likely understanding he was on somewhat thin ice as it was.
"Due to how valuable Taylor could be I have taken the precaution of having Dragon check this room and the connected systems for leaks. I should report that based on her screening all of our meetings within this room have been viewed and remotely recorded for some time, hence the changes."
Sitting back down he continued the explanation while doing something with the tablet in front of him, "The device I used on the screen will connect only to this tablet, that's one of my creations. Part of this is to prevent one of the gangs getting to Taylor first, but is also part because of her father."
This time it was Craig, or Dauntless that blurted out the question that point raised, "Her father? Is he going to be another problem parent like Vista's?"
Visibly pausing to consider the matter, Colin eventually came back with a slightly confusing answer, "He could cause us problems, but not in the way you are likely thinking of. He was, in fact, rather effusive in his desires for Taylor to join the Wards, although he refused to do anything without speaking to Taylor first." A few seconds pause came, during which Ethan suspected he was recalling something Dragon had told him before he continued, "That is, while Taylor was coherent and undrugged, of course."
"No, the problem comes from his usual job, where he negotiates contacts for the local dockworkers union. Mr Hebert was able to conclusively determine all of the designs were owned by his daughter entirely, and any attempt by anyone to use them without her enforceable permission would be a criminal act. Therefore, despite both the wishes of both myself and Dragon we are unable to use or start building anything Taylor designed, or anything directly related to them for the time being. Based on discussions I expect that to change as soon as Taylor is alert."
At that point the main screen came to life and synced up to Colin's tablet. Nodding to himself the veteran looked back at Director Piggot again before he started speaking, "This is why I am advocating my unusual approach for dealing with Miss Hebert. Based on the designs she has produced so far we are of the opinion that Miss Hebert has triggered as a Tinker with a specialisation of aircraft in various forms."
A tap of his finger had a technical document displayed on the screen. None of them were tinkers, and half of them were barely capable of using the various machines around the base, but they all recognised a design document, heavily annotated and looking pretty complete.
Speaking forcefully, Colin carried on with his explanation, "This, is one of the designs Miss Hebert created after I was able to get her to stop dismantling her room. It was labelled as a Mark 1 Thunderhawk gunship. It is an armed flying transport vehicle capable of orbital insertion and exit.
Both the hull and the frame are constructed from highly resistant and robust materials, none of which we will be able to create without Miss Hebert's help. It is, in fact, designed to be able to continue operations in spite of large amounts of damage. It also incorporates sophisticated sensory, communication and defensive systems that would mean the chance of it being destroyed once in the air are as small as possible.
The engines are strong, powerful and fast with a top speed of 2,000 kilometres per hour in atmosphere, but is also capable of operating outside the atmosphere. The ship is capable of transporting at least 40 men in full kit, but can operate just as effectively carrying vehicles. Entrance and exits include a large door that opens under the cockpit, or two side doors. The larger door is covered by the forward facing armaments, presumably for hostile insertions, but either can be used.
Its standard weaponry are four twin-linked heavy guns. These guns fire .998 calibre rocket propelled, explosive head, armour piercing rounds as a standard, the design document called them heavy bolters. There were designs for alternate ammunition, including ones with mutagenic acid, bolts using chemical fire gel cores, as well as more exotic effects for specific needs.
Further armaments come from two lascannons located under the rear wings, which are heavy duty laser weapons capable of penetrating almost any armoured vehicle we can currently conceive of. The only downside being its much slower firing speed compared to the bolter.
Finally, a large, dorsal mounted battle cannon is on the top of the ship."
As he had been speaking the design documents were changing to show various parts of the ship, the weapons were really the only part that had caused the gathered people to twitch, most of them not understanding the instrumentation and needs of a flying vehicle. At the end though, there were slides of what Armsmaster and Dragon felt the actual working vehicle would like look.
"Director, this vehicle was one of the first, most simple and least exotic ship designs Taylor produced. Let me be absolutely clear, because I can say without doubt that there are no parahumans currently in or near the city that could survive being hit by any of those weapons.
If Taylor were to become a villain we would quickly be pushed out of the bay, if we get her onside we can secure the city like never before. Dragon has already prepared calculations, using the existing bolt rounds as a base we can easily create a confoam round that will still let us do the job without using lethal force.
This vehicle uses a four-man team to fly and fight, which means a short squad on their own could manage what we haven't been able to for more than a decade.
Finally, there are no currently available anti-air platforms capable of knocking this out of the sky. So if we switched to using a Thunderhawk to remove captured villains from Brockton Bay we wouldn't have to deal with a break-out again."
At that end of his speech, Colin's voice had risen to a level only just below shouting. It was obvious how strongly he felt about the subject. Ethan assumed it was likely there had been a lot of background discussion between Armsmaster and Dragon while he was investigating, given the advanced state of the plans the Protectorate leader apparently had.
It's not like anyone could blame him either, as he mentioned in his speech, if the girl went villain they could ultimately loose the city. Whether preparing for her joining them or the enemy, plans needed to be made. The description of the vehicle were almost spine-chilling as well. This wasn't anything like Squealer's monstrosities. This was something designed to rain down death and ensure safe delivery of whatever it was carrying by putting everyone else in the ground first. And that was the bottom of the barrel? Ouch.
Unable to help himself, Ethan just had to ask the question everyone was dreading, "If that's the least, what's the worst, boss?"
To anyone that didn't know him, there would have been no reaction to that question. To everyone in the room, however, it was obvious the man had hoped the question wouldn't come based on the slight sigh he let out.
Manipulating his tablet again a new design appeared on the main screen, "While both myself and Dragon believe Taylor is capable of escalating in size and destructive power, she has, so far, only produced designs for a typical air fighter jet, and several more air to ground assault vehicles. They are each as dangerous as the other, just in different ways.
However, the most troubling is one labelled as a Doom Scythe. It is, again, both an orbital and atmosphere capable craft but falls more into a fighter or fighter-bomber class as it does not have the capability for transport.
The primary weapon is called a Death Ray, it's an underslung turret which fires a narrow beam of energy. Anything that beam hits will be vaporised. Including people, vehicles or buildings. It also has a twin-linked tesla destructor weapon, which essentially fires lightning, aimed and directed.
Finally, the hull is made up of a material called Necrodermis. From the schematics we have this is a living metal which will remember it's form and function, then self-repair as needed."
That… that was pretty horrifying. Everyone in the room had stiffened as the report was delivered. If the Thunderhawk was capable of killing anyone in Brockton Bay, the Doom Scythe was even worse.
Ethan could only let out a very weak chuckle and comment, "Well, at least we can judge how dangerous the vehicles are based on how edgelord the names are, that's something?"
Before anyone else could derail the conversation further (although not before his wife planted her elbow in his ribs) Miss Militia spoke, querying her boss, "So part of the need to get Taylor signed up is to be able to veto or control what she builds?"
Nodding his head Colin replied, "Indeed, as I mentioned before the ballistic weapons on the Thunderhawk would be easily configured to provide overwhelming support in a non-lethal manner. And having additional lethal weapons could be reasoned and a worthwhile consideration, however the beams on the Doom Scythe are not something we could deploy unless there are exceptional circumstances."
"Fortunately," he admitted, "Taylor seems to be aware of that, as part way though creating the designs for this vehicle she started talking about how bad an idea it was, deleted and didn't finish several sections. Even if the designs we have are stolen no-one would be able to complete or build the weapon."
"But that does bring up my next important point." Putting down his tablet he linked his hands and gave them his full attention, causing the gathered group to tense slightly, "None of these designs are black-boxed."
It took several seconds for any of them to process that statement, but it was Piggot who proved quickest on the uptake, apparently over her rage enough to think properly at this point. "Are you telling me that we can build as many of these things as we want, and Miss Hebert doesn't even have to be involved in their use?"
"Precisely that-" Armsmaster was obviously gearing up to continue, but again the overzealous director bulled through to ignore him.
"Then we don't need the idiotic little trouble-maker, pass the designs to the technical teams and get them building the weapons. Miss Hebert won't be able to match or exceed our speed with their resources. And put a watch on their house, the first time a gang-member comes calling we can arrest the lot of them and push her into the Wards that way. That solves the whole damn problem since we can make sure all of her designs belong to us legally!"
Sighing heavily Colin reached hand up to massage his forehead in exasperation. "First of all, there is nothing illegal about just being approached by gang member, otherwise we would have arrested the entirety of this city by now. Second, if they were approached there is nothing we can do if the gang member in question buys or steals the designs Taylor produces, and they certainly have all the infrastructure they need to build things themselves.
Third, all that would do is produce a parahuman that resents all of us and the PRT, even I can see that. Finally, the problem I mentioned with her father is that he does actually know something of the value of the designs, which is why we had to sign forms acknowledging Taylor's ownership before we could even see them, so if we attempt to make anything from this we would be committing an illegal act!" At that last point Colin's hand came down and slammed into the table, making several of them jump at the uncharacteristic show of anger.
"Director, you are attempting to demonise a young woman for apparently having the audacity to suffer at the hands of one of our Wards, and all she's done since that came to light is get strapped to a hospital bed and pumped full of drugs. You need to stop attempting to attack an innocent and realise just how much we stand to gain with her full cooperation."
That apparently twigged something with Battery, as Samantha asked a question while Director Piggot tried to get over the rage she felt at being dressed down by a parahuman. "Sir, you make it sound like there's more to this than just these aircraft?"
Looking at Samantha, he eventually nodded after obviously considering the question for a few moments, "Yes, there is. Considering that most of her designs are not black-boxed like average Tinker-Tech, myself and Dragon believe there is an amazing amount of synergy with Taylor's powers. From what I've seen the actual Tinker-tech she builds will be the devices to build the aircraft themselves. That leaves all of the technology and materials inherent outside of that open for collaboration and modification."
Working with the tablet again, Colin brought up a few parts of some of the designs, including a much sleeker and slim looking ship. "This ship uses a rather unique form of shielding that blurs its position to its enemies. Anything trying to shoot the craft down will never be aiming quite right. With Taylor's help I believe I can miniaturise this into a device as small as a mobile phone. For yourself and Ethan, combined with your powers, the ability to obfuscate your position could raise your threat level significantly."
Turning to Velocity he added to the shocks, "Robin, you would have been in the same situation. Not only because you could use the same device, but because some of the designs would be enough to give you a direct combat ability. One of the craft used a device that essentially gives it a monomolecular cutting edge. With that useable in your breaker state, combined with a obfuscation device and the next time Hookwolf or Lung caused problems you could be capable of taking them apart enough to stop any rampage. There are also various shields that could be brought down to the personal level. Not only can we use Taylor's work directly, but by applying it indirectly we can raise the threat level of every Parahuman in the Protectorate, as well as the PRT troopers themselves."
Turning back to the Director he bulled forward to make his point, "Those are only some of the direct benefits we could see by gaining a true and willing partnership with Taylor. Obviously it would massively help my technology base, as well as Dragons more than most, but we would all stand to benefit. If the worst came to pass, and all the Protectorate were unavailable, the troopers themselves would be capable of holding the city."
With that declaration the entire team took a few moments to let the knowledge sink in. It was a depressing statistic, but the ones that most often paid the price in a cape fight were the normal humans, and all of the team had at one point or another had to deal with the outcome of their troopers being killed. Given the variety of technologies Armsmaster had already brought up it sounded like that trend could be broken.
Ethan was also watching the Director out of the corner of his eye. Mentioning the increased strength of the non-cape contingents of the PRT was an inspired move to get the bigoted woman on side. Already he could see the flush of her rage disappearing as she finally started to think rationally again.
Hopefully there wouldn't be further issues from whatever challenge to her authority Piggot had decided Taylor represented. From the sound of things the young girl had suffered enough already, she deserved to have a clean and healing break.
Eventually the director was calm and decided to broach the silence. Everyone else in the room seemed to have decided to let her recover and take the lead. "I will admit that it does sound like there are a lot of positives. I assume you have a plan?"
Nodding his head the hero spoke, noticeably without touching the tablet, that was unusual. "Obviously the first step is getting Taylor signed up as a Ward under the best conditions, although Dragon informs me that there may be a number of psychological issues that would make that difficult. Namely trust issues with both authority and people near her age.
After talking it over we feel it's worth the attempt, but to do so softly. There are a few conditions that can be added to her joining that will help, I'll cover them later.
Failing a Wards contract, Dragon and I feel the next step is to get her signed up as a Protectorate affiliate. The contract for that would need to be more stringent, but it's a viable option to gain access to both designs and eventual construction facilities.
While talking to Mr Hebert he raised a number of concerning points. Points I feel are actually quite valid. To whit, Mr Hebert feels there are too many points of failure in his daughter's case. The idea that a single agent within the PRT and authority figures within the school would collude to hide the behaviour of Miss Hess is not outside the realms of possibility. But the fact that nowhere else was this even considered, no suspicions or second looks by anyone else within the building is troubling."
At that point Craig, or Dauntless leaned forward to speak, "You think it was purposefully kept from everyone else? They had additional help?"
"I do. There were enough reports from the Wards themselves about her troubling behaviour to raise an alarm with the Youth Guard if no one else. Alongside that you have to consider that the agent overseeing Miss Hess would not have been in the building all the time, there were enough issues for something to have happened during time off at least.
Then you have to add on to the number of times we are now aware when Miss Hess went out on an off the books patrol. The injuries she bragged about inflicting were too numerous to have also not raised flags within either ours or the BBPD system. Miss Hess wasn't even smart enough to truly disguise the wounds caused by broadhead bolts.
While it is possible the full extent of her flouting the rules could have been hidden, the fact no one picked up anything is suggestive of something much more troubling. Mr Hebert also explained just how much people with their ear to the ground believed the PRT had been infiltrated by the gangs. The conclusions I've drawn from that are… worrying, and formed the basis for my change of plans with his daughter."
"Coincidentally I have asked Dragon to begin a quiet investigation into our systems to start looking for moles and weaknesses."
That caused the group to gape (again), Colin was notoriously territorial when it came to anything he could have been able to catch. Even if Dragon got more leeway than most due to being a friend he had still rebuffed her on any help with security before. That change, more than anything, underlined just how serious about the new tinker he was.
"Regardless, that is something we will need to cover later. What I am proposing to do with Taylor and Dragon will avoid the issues as long as we get it right. What I believe is the best way forward is for myself and Dragon to buy and create an entirely new property in which we will build Taylors workshop. All three of us will work on the security together, so while there will be troopers stationed there initially, these will be removed once the facility is operational."
Seeing the director begin to interrupt, likely to protest the special circumstances or the cost, Colin raised his hands in a gesture as if to fend her off, "If you give me a few more moments to explain, I think you will see why I've chosen this course."
Nodding grouchily, the director conceded unhappily, "Alright, but I'm sure you know it's going to need a very good reason. We'd have to get such a facility through the city planners, the Youth Guard and the central offices, ignoring that we'll be stretching our people thinner than ever."
Grimacing slightly, Colin carried on outlining his plan, "True. However, the reasons for this set-up are the threats that would be directly aimed at Taylor once she was either known, or her designs appeared. Based on my analysis there are four main direct threats, ignoring threats that would cover all parahumans such as the Endbringers attacking the city or various villain gangs."
Leaning forward, Colin interlaced his hands again before speaking, "The first, and top most threat, is the Slaughterhouse 9. If anything I have undersold how much of a change Taylors craft could tip the balance of the country in our favour. Jack Slash and Mannequin will certainly attempt to put a stop to that.
The second threat is the Dragonslayers. With Dragon as part of our team she will inevitably start fielding Taylors weapons. The Dragonslayers have only kept out of jail by frequent theft and repurposing of Dragons technology. They will need to do the same here to stay ahead of her. If all of those suits or weapons are in Brockton Bay they will have no choice but to come here.
The third threat are the gangs themselves. Given the extent to which most of the citizenry believe we are compromised, and the examples they given to show why they think that, any designs or weapons held by our current staff stand a very strong chance of ending up in the hands of the Bay's gangs. Even without that they are again faced with the fact that they will need to either remove Taylor, or convert her.
Finally, one of the trickiest threats to deal with is the Butcher. Assuming we get far enough that Taylor's vehicles are available to other cities, there is the very real chance that if the Butcher is killed by a trooper, their power will pass to Taylor, much like it did to Damascian after the previous Butcher was killed with one of his knives. This chance increases if we deal with the local gangs and the Teeth attempt to return to the bay."
"And your plan to deal with these threats?" Came a soft-spoken question from Hannah, one hand resting on the large knife her power was currently manifested as. The other hand on the table showing her agitation at the thought of the danger being aimed at one girl.
"The most problematic issue is that of the Butcher-" Was as far as he got before Ethan felt he had to interrupt.
"Wait, the S9 aren't the most difficult to deal with?! We've been trying to get rid of them nationally for years!"
In an uncharacteristic display, Colin's lips definitely twitched into a brief smile at that outburst. "Indeed, due to how his power works we are unable to kill the Butcher. Containment is similarly difficult due to the powers he commands. Hence the difficulty. Despite these obstacles he will need to be captured, then sealed in a permanent prison and kept alive and unconscious. There are a few plans that may work, but actually capturing him will be the most difficult part. Although we may need to consult with Toybox to build a suitable prison."
"When it comes to the gangs the fact that the new facility will not be connected directly to the PRT will mean they have to come to us. Adequate defences will ensure any of their plans do not work. Finally, for the Slaughterhouse 9 I am proposing a pre-emptive strike."
Unfortunately, what exactly this pre-emptive strike consisted of would have to wait, as everyone in the room started making noise. From Velocity's shout, the Director's growl to Miss Militia's quieter questioning, they all mixed to ensure no-one really got to say anything. The idea of attacking the S9 has been proven as a bad idea when Hero himself, one of the greatest tinkers ever died at the hands of the Siberian in the first and only major attempt.
Eventually the Director realised nothing was getting done and clapped her hands together loudly, quieting the room. "I sincerely hope this isn't an attempt to win some personal glory, and that you have actually thought about what can be done about the nine. So explain, before I skip being reasonable and start getting annoyed."
Nodding his head, Armsmaster outlined the rest of his plan with a remarkably calm demeanour, considered the panic his previous statement had caused. "What we're proposing is the creation of a single Doom Scythe and a shuttle craft with advanced sensors. Following a successful operation both vehicles will need to be locked down. I would suggest a joint process requiring myself, Dragon, Taylor and the PRT director to unlock them at minimum."
That statement confused Ethan enough to interrupt. "Hang on, I can understand the big Doom needing to be locked away, but why the shuttle as well?"
"The issue with the shuttle is twofold. First of all the sensors are too good. They represent the ability to completely and accurately map out the Rig and all of its systems, for instance. Just using them in an inhabited area would constitute a major breach of privacy. The second reason is that it incorporates a teleporter with enough range to liberally cover the solar system. This forms part of my plan, director." He replied, turning his attention back to Piggot at the end.
"Taking each member in turn, starting with the leader, Jack Slash. While his power allows him a great deal of leverage over the mental state of any parahuman, and his ranged knife attacks keep most from closing with him, he is still a baseline human. Although we do know he has been augmented by Bonesaw, he has no inherent additional durability. That means, as long as the crew of a Thunderhawk are normal humans, we remove his ability to affect them at all. The standard rounds for the Heavy Bolter will kill him. If the augmentations are of much higher quality than our worse case scenario the Lascannons will flash heat him beyond any survivable level.
The same can be said for Bonesaw herself, although I would advise striking her with the Lascannon first, as it will destroy any plagues or pathogens she has held in reserve. Burnscar is slightly more difficult due to the mobility her fire abilities give her, but she cannot outrun a Heavy Bolter indefinitely. Again, this is matched by Shatterbird, her normal advantage will be absent due to the lack of glass in any of the designs shown.
Mannequin will be more problematic, but a strike from the main battle cannon will destroy him, the additional weapons will likely need to be used to limit his mobility first.
Hatchet Face, while possessing a potent brute aspect to his power, will not be able to survive direct strikes from the Lascannon. It is possible the Bolter will also damage him, but it's academic really. I should note, however, that there are rumours Hatchet Face is dead and has been replaced by a new member.
The only truly problematic members of the nine are the Siberian and Crawler. By using the fine sensors on the shuttle on the Siberian we should be able to find exactly how to deal with her, the range on them is more than enough that they will be unaware we are doing so. Given the specifications I know of the Death Ray, it will utterly vaporise both of them. However, if that does not work, the shuttle craft itself is able to teleport unwilling individuals. I suggest teleporting any who give us trouble to the surface of Mercury."
Again, the entire room was silenced, this time at the sheer audacity and planning involved.
Samantha was the first to react, simply muttering "Holy shit," while still thinking furiously.
The main culprit in breaking the deadlock was the director herself, "That could work. That could definitely work. If we used the shuttle sensors to check the area for anything Bonesaw created, and used the Death Ray to destroy any residue. This could damn well work!"
"The shuttle craft teleporter is sufficiently sensitive enough that it could, in theory, also transport any biological material off planet as well."
Starting to grin viciously, Piggot spoke again, "So not only have you factored in multiple avenues of attack and containment, but this will all be done by normal PRT Troopers? The most infamous parahuman threat in the world annihilated by ordinary humans with the right equipment."
"I do have one warning, Director. Due to the analysis myself and Dragon have been doing in preparation for speaking to you, I believe we should not announce or plan this with anyone outside the ENE aegis until after we strike. I also think the troopers involved should be investigated to the fullest extent to assure ourselves of their trustworthiness, before they are brought in to train."
Staring at him in stupefaction, the director slowly responded, "That's a very troubling statement, Armsmaster."
There was a few moments pause before she folded her hands carefully on top of the table and spoke with an air of forced calm, "I'd like to hear your reasoning."
"Starting with the easiest first. Due to the possible influence Jack Slash is said to have when in contact with capes, the mission itself will ideally be carried out excluding any Protectorate parahumans from the area of operation.
This means that we will be entrusting the troopers with at least three vehicles capable of vast amounts of damage. As has been pointed out to me, we have been heavily infiltrated. The possibility of their existence getting back to the gangs must be removed. Even if we could ensure the designs or vehicles themselves are locked down away from the crew there is still the possibility of an enemy agent deciding to remove the possibility of using them and using the vehicles themselves to attack the lab when given control for training purposes."
Sighing slightly, Colin rubbed the bridge of his nose before he continued. "The information black out from the rest of the PRT is a bit more difficult to provide conclusive proof for. Partially it's because we don't have the authority to properly investigate staff from another branch, but if I'm honest that's only part of it, Director."
"You're aware of my work to create a predictive software for both combat and to pre-empt an Endbringer attack. With the help of Dragon we advanced that software and applied it to the problem of the nine. While the software is not complete, and suffers from the same social limitations as both myself and Dragon, some of the results are… disconcerting."
The rest of the people traded looks while Colin's explanation drifted off. This was very unlike the man, but it looked like he was still trying to come to terms with something difficult. Eventually however, he looked back up and continued, "There were two major areas of concern highlighted by the software. The first is the lack of aid incoming to the ENE from the greater organisation, the conclusion reached was that something was trying to isolate us for an unknown reason. The second conclusion was that the Slaughterhouse 9 are too successful."
Looks were again traded after that bizarre bit of news. Colin carried on before too much thought could be put to the statement though, "The Slaughterhouse 9 are one of the most successful murderous groups in the US. The only ones that match them are Heartbreaker, Nilbog and the Machine Army. The difference, of course, is that all of those threats are static, they have holed up and we are unable to approach or bring enough firepower to bear to topple them, mostly due to excessive numbers of minions or special circumstances."
"In the case of the Slaughterhouse 9, however, they are entirely mobile. They are also the most prolific killers in the country. Jack Slash is known to play extreme games with his foes, and his preference is for parahumans. Given he is not adverse to hitting cities, the prediction software calculated that he should have been killed long before this, if only in a suicide attack by an aggrieved party.
While the group have lost members, most of those have been internal changes, rather than external successes. Furthermore, we know Jack Slash often has a target, some kind of goal with his attacks. He has, without fail, succeeded in his attempts. Even with the contribution and enhancement from Bonesaw, and the threat of released plagues, the group should have lost an important member, or faced serious opposition by now. The fact that we don't even have viable information on the Siberian after more than a decade is another data point. We know more about the creations of Nilbog and the Machine army, and both of those haven't been engaged by our forces in longer than that."
Looking directly at Piggot, Colin finished, "Apologies Director, but that is the most I can articulate. You would need to know the workings of the prediction software better to really see it, but that's what it's giving me. There are too many points of failure for the group which didn't work. As such, while I do not doubt our colleagues, the more secrecy we can shroud the operation in prior to it working, the better I believe the possible outcome."
Leaning back in her chair the director considered Colin for a few long minutes. One hand drumming a broken rhythm on the tabletop. "The idea that such a notorious group is getting external help is difficult to believe, but I can see the reasoning for excluding other branches without that. Do you have an explanation for the increased funds and build up though?"
"With the help of Dragon, again. I do, Director. What we propose is to tell a partial truth. Although Taylor's designs so far have been primarily piloted aircraft, she isn't nearly so limited. She also produced designs for significantly improved drones. I would suggest we convince anyone outside this room that Taylor is designing drones that can be used in search and rescue, especially for Endbringer fights.
It's not a lie, as Taylor has shown an interest in designing such creations, and having such an efficient option during any fight will ensure injured capes can be removed swiftly. They can also be used to police a fight and watch for escapee's, meaning we can sell them to Simurgh isolation groups, as well as Nilbog and the Machine Army's guards."
"It sounds reasonable." Velocity put in, "There are always casualties during Endbringer fights that could be avoided with more movers and getting people out of the way of the ongoing fight. Just that would be enough for a minor amount of interest coming through for Taylor. Just enough to warrant the favourable treatment with Dragon, but not enough to have every last PRT director involved."
"We could hide parts of the deal with Dragon as well," commented Piggot, "Make it look more like something put in place so that Dragon is involved enough to mass produce the designs and avoid issues with Taylor being stuck in a workshop too small to properly build things. We would need to be careful with the Youth Guard though. They will want to ensure socialisation and personal development."
Miss Militia spoke up at that point, "If we allow Kid Win to join the others using Taylor's new workshop that would solve the immediate issue, he would be worried and upset if he was totally excluded anyway. And from the sounds of things having Taylor moved to Arcadia where she can join the other Wards will give us something to tempt her with, as well as increasing security on her."
Nodding his head, Colin agreed, "Indeed, I was having trouble working out how to avoid alienating Chris during this, but that would solve the problem neatly. I suspect any move to remove Taylor from Winslow would also be taken well."
Deciding to add some of his wisdom to the conversation Ethan added a point he felt they hadn't considered, "I wouldn't frame the move to Arcadia as a bribe. If Taylor finds out about Shadow Stalker we want her as happy with us as possible, straight out offering her the option to help her would go down better."
Holding one hand up to stop any further conversation the Director spoke, "These are all good ideas, but we've wondered off track. Let's start getting details decided. After listening to your proposal, Colin, I agree this is the best way forward."
Pulling her pad of paper around, Piggot opened up her pen to start taking notes, "With that in mind, the first task is getting rid of Shadow Stalker. Colin, once this meeting is finished pass everything you have to Hannah. Hannah, get that idiot buried and out of here, call on any resources you need. I will call Glenn Chambers and get something put together to get ahead of this. In the meantime we get her on base and confined to quarters. We don't need her doing a runner. Battery, Assault, that's your job once we finish."
A quick glance had the two in agreement and nodding to Piggot while she watched to make sure they understood, "Good. Next we need to get Miss Hebert signed on as soon as possible. Colin, do you have an estimate for when she will be released from hospital?"
"Given the possibility of serious infection and diseases held within the sludge added to her locker, it could be up to a week before the various tests are dealt with and she's released."
Grunting sourly, the director considered the situation for a few moments for speaking, "Too risky. Get Panacea in to have a look at her, Craig, I want you to handle that. Colin, you and Dragon need to vet a protection detail before she's out of the hospital. Keep it totally off the books for the moment. Robin, you will be part of the security details first shift, so keep in contact for that."
The mentioned heroes nodded to agree with their roles as the director proved just why she had been given her position and the organisational skills needed to handle the situation. Minutes later she had a ream of notes in front of her with a plan to ensure that Taylor was both protected and hidden as well as possible.
Looking around she checked to make sure everyone was on board and had the information needed to fulfil their roles. "One final thing, Armsmaster. Looking at your plan I want you to prioritise getting the shuttlecraft built and operational, even if it's the three of you piloting it. Given what you've told us about its distance scanning that needs to be aimed at the Nine well in advance of the other builds and plans. The information might change the gear needed. Also, the teleporter will give Taylor and her family another option to remove themselves in a worst case scenario."
"A good plan, director. I will start looking at properties we can use once I have Taylor's protection in hand." Came the absent reply from the Tinker as he carried on making notes.
"We have a plan then. We need to move as quickly as possible on this to avoid disrupting patrols as well. That will tip off the gangs just as much as their moles will. And remember, keep everything off the system until we can secure it." The director's closing statement had all of them nodding before they gathered their equipment and started heading out.
Before he could escape to start his portion of the work ahead though, Assault had one final question he was dying to ask Armsmaster, "So, Colin. You never told us what Taylor was trying to build before you got there. I wouldn't have thought she could be looking to build a full aircraft from the contents of a hospital room."
Glancing warily at the door Director Piggot had already left from, Colin noticed that the rest of his team had also paused to hear the answer. Sighing at the lack of escape available he finally answered, "It was the first design she produced as far as we can tell. It was a combination surveillance and defence drone. It was capable of tracking individuals over a wide area, allowing for unusual movement methods but also included a silenced long-range taser weapon."
Everyone exchanged glances among each other at what that statement implied, but it was Miss Militia that voiced the question, "Is Taylor aware that Shadow Stalker is one of her bullies?"
Shaking his head, Armsmaster gave a quick denial, "No. Nothing we saw or heard seemed to indicate she was aware of that as yet. However, she may have realised some details subconsciously that would give her the information. There was a lot of determination to build something that could catch the bullies in the act and protect her. I only managed to divert her to designs by promising she could build it during power testing and posting a discrete protection detail in the hospital."
Sighing unhappily, Miss Militia shook her head at the foolish actions of Sophia, "Such a shame, if only she had paid attention she could have been a great hero. We will need to get everything ready for Taylor as soon as possible though if she's already worried about her safety."
Smiling at both of the glum looking heroes (although it was a little hard to tell with Colin), "It'll be alright guys. We'll get Taylor safe and sound, then on side, then she can start recovering and overcoming this. You'll see."
Snapping his fingers suddenly in realisation, Assault continued on trying to cheer his colleagues up, "You didn't mention it before, Armsy, but have you thought of a provisional Name for Taylor we can use outside the room?"
Looking up from his double check of his tablet, Colin couldn't help but feel his lips twitch upwards a little as he replied, "I did, actually. With a little help from Dragon we have settled on the name Aviator for now."
Authors Note: Apologies to those who were waiting on a second chapter for my other stories, but this popped into my head & was mostly done pretty quickly after. I have been working on second chapters for this and other stories though. Specific updates are on my profile if you're that interested.
Also, the Thunderhawk is the space marine transport from Warhammer 40k, the Doom Scythe is the Necron ship, and the shuttlecraft will be based on Start Trek.