So that was a thing.
"Holy shit, we just beat the Simurgh's ass like a Cherokee war drum!" While not the most eloquent way of putting it, Taylor thought it was quite fitting regardless.
"Indeed. I'm maintaining the field of Tachyon particles surrounding her so she cannot find us - I do not know enough about her abilities to safely say our location won't be found even if we use a similar tactic to render us unplottable." Logic's voice was as calm as ever.
"Sounds good to me, you probably know best. What are we going to do with her now though? I mean, the entire reason she's so scary is because she knows everything there is to know. If we keep this up, I can only imagine she'll do something crazy to try and shake things up or something..." If the Simurgh was effectively useless now, at least in her apparently God-given task at ruining humanities collective lives, then what was her purpose?
Taylor would rather not find out whatever the false angel decided was the best course of action to remedy her predicament.
"Assuming patterns remain the same, another Endbringer attack will not occur for another 3-4 months. Currently, the Simurgh is sitting in orbit as per usual, although it appears, she has to keep on correcting her position based on gravitational drift. Without extended foresight it seems she struggles to operate at full capacity." He paused for a moment.
"If I may, I would hypothesize we have at least a few days before any drastic action is taken, though I will continue to monitor her regardless. If any changes begin emerging, we may engage her at once. The Voidpiercer proved its effectiveness." Indeed, it had.
"That sounds like a plan to me. What options to we have beyond building up our current ship count? And how is our first and bestest little drone doing out in space?"
Taylor only got a few updates regarding the first Engineering drone she helped create, as the reports mostly consisted of 'currently building 3rd metal extractor in nearby asteroid belt' or something like that. It was incredibly boring, for something that was so groundbreaking and theoretically exciting. It was kind of like launching a program that refused to start - it finally launches, and instead of immediate satisfaction, a loading bar pops up. Well, it was still pretty neat, regardless of the lack of action.
"To address the first question, my blueprints contain a number of schemata pertaining to stationary defenses. Normally it appears they are meant to be constructed as a stationary defense platform - on average they can be worth anywhere from 10 to several hundred ships worth of firepower."
Her mind temporarily whited out. "Did you just say several hundred ships worth of firepower? What monstrosity packs that much of a punch?" Seriously, what did they need to punch through that involved that much firepower?
"Well, many of the turrets are meant to be built decent numbers, but due to their cost and energy use even those are limited in scope. The larger turrets would normally be limited to 2-5 in a localized area and are capable of much greater destruction. One example of a smaller turret is the Hailstorm Turret. It launches canisters designed to detonate near or around smaller craft and shred their shields and hull. Individually, it doesn't amount to much, but with twenty in a near vicinity, they can cover a significant amount of space." That was pretty impressive, it was effectively a flak cannon like they used in the original World Wars, except... If they were in space things would naturally be a lot further apart, right? Just how much space was this thing covering?
"Uh, Logic, how big of an area does one canister cover?" Taylor feared the answer to her question.
"A single canister would cover an area similar to the size of... I think one of the mid-sized states of the USA would be close."
Taylor blanched. "Jesus... how fast does it shoot those things out?"
"Hmmm... If my calculations are correct, it launches a cluster of canisters... about once every 10 seconds, or slightly under? Something like that. Apologies, it is difficult extrapolating the rate of fire from just the blueprints, but I think that's accurate."
Taylor was too busy internally freaking out to worry about Logic's struggles. Multiple canisters that detonated in an area the size of a state. He said mid-sized, so like Kansas or something? She didn't know and she didn't want to find out. One by itself was bad enough, but the damn thing shot several out at once every 10 seconds.
"Uhhhhh..." Luckily Logic continued on, ignorant or ignoring her mental breakdown.
"Luckily it is similar to our ship tech in that it can be scaled down, a full-sized turret would... Stand out. Anyway, that was one of the 'smaller' turrets I was talking about. A larger example would be a Beam Turret. Due to energy costs they would be very difficult to field large quantities of, but I doubt anyone would ever need to. They charge a beam of hyper-condensed plasma at just under FTL speeds to pierce shields and armor - it doesn't detonate so its destructive capabilities are more measured in how many individual targets its capable of hitting. Nearly nothing is capable of actually stopping the beam itself, and while it is large it lacks the same oomph a single canister from the Hailstorm Turret could do if place inside a ship, its penetrating power makes up for it."
"Ohhh..."
"To address your second question - expansion goes well. Drone #1 has successfully left several zones with other, lower tier engineering drones to continue expanding metal extractors in metal-rich zones. It is currently having to explore farther than is economically efficient so we may want to being pursuing more options. Other planets or already known asteroid belts."
"Uh-huh..."
"Also, we may want to establish communications with the Protectorate soon so they can stop freaking out. If I have to listen to one more encrypted communication detailing how badly they want to talk to us I'm going to leave a strongly worded letter in the Directors email inbox. I swear, these institutions have more control issues than a Armsmaster and his tinker-room."
"Uh-hu... Wait. I know you have access to like, all the internet, but where did that reference come from?"
"Well, since we live here, I was doing... In-depth research on all the local heroes and villains. Well, all the capes really. Did you know Armsmaster hasn't slept in the past 53 hours? Its impressive really. The average human's will to resist sleeping would have given out much sooner, usually."
Taylor tried to ignore the implications of the worst kind of privacy-violator she'd released onto the world. "And you've been watching them all to learn more about them?"
"Oh yes. Another fun fact!" Taylor wasn't sure she wanted to know. "Did you know Armsmaster spends a... significant amount of time touching his halberd behind closed doors?"
She gently placed her face into her palm. She took a deep breath in, counted to an arbitrary number, than slowly exhaled. "Logic... Are you trying to make another poor joke?"
"... I am merely stating an interesting factoid I learned while observing Armsmaster. Nothing more."
"Uh-huh. I totally believe you." She mentally forced the issue out of her mind - Logic's terrible/terrifying jokes weren't worth considering any further. "Back to the first issue - I suppose we should contact them before they have a mental breakdown. It's not every day an armada of scary ships appears and mauls an Endbringer half to death."
The news hadn't been running for long, but already reports were emerging. This was the first Endbringer battle in which not a single cape's life was lost. There were casualties, of course, even with the several Riot Control ships they couldn't save every single pedestrian, but the numbers overall?
Well, when you look at the lowest recorded casualty rate of any prior Endbringer attack, Canberra's numbers amounted to barely 0.5% of that. They'd taken a battle that had been lauded as one of the heroes best efforts ever at driving back the monsters, then surpassed it with such ridiculous proportions it was nigh unbelievable.
"How would you recommend we initiate said contact?"
"Well first do you have a name picked out? I already referred to us as 'we' and I have no doubt they'll want to know who the other member of our dynamic duo is."
Shoot. She had started thinking of names but had been interrupted by the Simurgh. "Gimme a minute... if you have any good ideas, I'll take 'em too."
The last thing she remembered thinking was Legion. And that was just ominous, no matter how cool it sounded on paper. While not as applicable in modern cape culture, it would still get its name tied back to its origin in the Bible as being quoted by a demon, if she remembered right.
That's not the kind of rep she wanted right out of the gate. She didn't want something calm and peaceful either - Taylor had already shown her fangs. She had the power to change the world for the better, and she was going to use it.
She thought back to her mother, and the warm memories of cuddling on a couch, reading excerpts and text that went far above her head at the time. In particular, a goddess who was revered for not just her remarkable intelligence, but her fierce nature as well. One who, in times of peace, was called upon by those who wanted to change the world, make it better, find some way to improve it when base human intelligence just wouldn't cut it.
In times of war, she was also called upon to guide and direct the generals and leaders, helping them make sound decisions even in the heat of battle.
Athena, Goddess of both wisdom, and war. A benefit to all in peacetime, and the bane of an enemy's existence in conflict. That is what she wanted to be. Not only did Taylor want to eradicate the true evils from the world, she wanted to make it a better place... and she had the tools to do so. It would be complicated, messy. It would be the farthest thing from easy. 'Herding cats' was a phrase she'd heard several times, and she imagined that was exactly what getting humans to agree on things was like.
Well, she could certainly help get rid of some of the... distractions they faced.
That same text she remembered reading on a cold winter's night with Annette came back to her. It was remarkable, the things a human brain was capable of holding onto that hid just under the surface, waiting to be recalled at an opportune moment.
Her mother had loved the epic, not just because of the grandiose tales it spun, but the duality behind its name.
The Iliad. Either a series of tragic events or a sequence of events suitable for an epic. Not that being suitable for an epic meant anything good happened per say, but it wasn't limited to merely being something terrible.
In a way, it was akin to human experience. When compared, one might say a string of tragedies was the worst thing to have occurred to them and they couldn't go on - life was simply too much, too hard. To another, it could be struggle of their life, but once they came out the other side they would look back and say 'Life threw its worst at me and I came out on the other side battered and bruised, but alive. I am strong, I have learned, and I will fight and claw my way to the life I deserve.'
One falls into a depression and never comes back. The other, acknowledging their struggle and deciding to become better for it.
How does it go? It's not how many times one gets knocked down, it's all about how you stand back up. What to one is simply something terrible, never to be thought about, is to another a tale of struggle, sorrow, but ultimately triumph. To survive is to struggle, but to struggle is to live. To live is to experience everything - the good. The bad.
Everything in between.
The Iliad. All dependent on how one views it - either it's just a series of miserable occurrences, or it's an epic tale of strife that leads to... Something. Growth, scars, a life well lived with all its ups and downs.
It was difficult not to compare her line of thought with her own experiences. It was easy to say life dealt her a shit hand and give up, receding within herself, never making new connections to people. But when comparing the two substantially different meanings in that one simple word... Taylor knew she would much rather take the second option. It would be hard. Oh God, it would be agonizingly difficult but...
Logic was easy to trust - anything he did was on her. She programmed him and created him. Everybody else was a wildly unknown variable that could backstab her without a moments notice.
But Annette hadn't raised a narrow-minded person incapable of growth, no she hadn't. One of her greatest gifts to Taylor was a love of reading, and there were plenty of tales involving turncoat friends and betrayals. Did the heroes of her stories simply give up, never letting anyone in again? No, at least not the ones that remained heroes. Looking back, it was plain to see - there WERE examples of characters who took the 'easy' route. Looked at everything that happened to them and said, 'fuck the world, nobody can be trusted!'.
But inevitably they were forgotten as unimportant nobodies or became villains. And she didn't want to be a villain - that would just spell the end of the human race itself, as far as she was concerned. Taylor also refused to become a nobody. That... THAT was letting them win. The Trio. The traitors.
The ultimate form of revenge was to live a good life, was it not? Prove them wrong with actions, not words. Becoming what they claimed of her certainly wasn't heroic, nor desirable, so she would not listen to them anymore. Their nasty lies attempting to crawl through and infect her brain would be expunged, cleansed with fire and she would start her life anew.
Taylor was still there... but now Athena would also exist, bolstering the flagging form that was herself. Giving up was easy, after all, but what would she rather be; a sad story, warning others of what not to do, or be the cause of a chain of events and actions worthy of being immortalized throughout time?
Not to be trite, but Taylor couldn't help but feel by the time everything was said and done... it would make for quite the epic tale.
Maybe she would read about her exploits in a book before she passed on.
Wouldn't that be something?
She only hoped it would say something nice.
