'Robert, there are insects gathering at the window.'

I looked up from projected augment blueprints and spotted the collection of insects on my window. They had landed in rather unusual patterns. It was only a few more seconds until enough insects had gathered that it became clear that they were forming the words. 'I am across the road.'

I had Aria dismiss the blueprints realizing that as I did so that the holographic interface would have been clearly visible to anyone that had entered the garden and walked by my window. The worry was brief, Aria would have noticed and turned them off before anyone could see.

'Aria, is everyone asleep?'

I had set up some high gain microphones from my kit and linked them through my computer to Aria. She could hear everyone's breathing within the house. I had advised her to keep most things she heard private unless there was a threat or danger to anyone. I was forever advising Aria on what not to tell me. So much information that I didn't need.

'Yes Robert. Everyone else is asleep.'

'Thanks' I replied but I still turned my SEP bracelet up to full before leaving my room. I left through the front door locking it behind me. I had already excluded Taylor from the SEP effect, so she quickly saw me and waved me over.

I admired her outfit, "Cool costume Bug. Though I'll have to agree with Armsmaster there, rather villainous."

Taylor sighed though it was barely visible through her costume, "That's not my cape name. I should never have shown you that message."

I smiled, "Got a better name for me to use then?"

She shook her head, "Nope, still no ideas there."

"I could ask Aria to put together a list of possibilities for you, she can also eliminate any that are already being used."

"Please. So where do you want to place your door? I found an empty house two doors down that way." She pointed off to her left.

I nodded with a sad little frown, "That'll work, was the Kim family's. The ABB kept demanding more and more protection money and then their restaurant got smashed twice during ABB and Empire fights. They closed their restaurant and moved to Pennsylvania two months ago."

The front of the house already had some broken windows and the door had been kicked open. Not the most secure but it did mean that we could just walk straight in.

The first door we came across that was out of site from the front door was the entrance to the garage. It worked fine with my key and I led Taylor into my base.

Taylor spots the newest addition immediately, "I don't remember those lockers being there."

I nodded as I started up the stairs, "They weren't. I have gained some weapons, some armor and a bunch of ways to modify them. I need to reverse engineer it a bit and then I will build you a set that includes your spider silk and your look. You'll be impressed."

Taylor had paused on the lower level but soon followed to the simulation room without further comment.

Taylor removed her mask and we both sat in the simulation chairs and entered the virtual world.

"Aria, please show Taylor the profiles we have on file."

"Of course, Robert." She answered in the virtual world. With her recent integration into all the systems she could also communicate audibly through the base which would make it a lot easier for Taylor.

One after another appeared the seven parahumans I had identified. Clockblocker, Gallant and Shadow Stalker from the Wards. Panacea and Glory Girl from New Wave, Triumph from the Protectorate and finally Rune from the E88.

"These ones I'm sure you all know."

After a moment next to them appeared the two generic figures as plain colours.

"Those two I'm not sure who they are and following your unspoken rules I had Aria hide their identities from us. I have no idea what power Green has; she doesn't seem to be a fighter so maybe a thinker. The dude in Gray looks to be a martial artist and a little beyond normal speed and strength but not too special." I frowned as I considered his actions in the simulations I had ran, "He's pretty violent though, so he maybe a Villain however Shadow Stalker seems just as a violent and she's a hero so I could be wrong there. Then again I'm not sure that they act just the same in the simulation as they would in the real world."

Aria waited till I had finished talking before the next two figures appeared. Taylor, wearing her full costume, and myself wearing the Hyper Guardian armor and wielding the biotic amplifier.

"That's me in the new armor. I haven't actually put it on yet but I think it looks good."

Taylor just nodded silently.

Behind them appeared a crowd of people.

"And we have gang members, bouncers, policeman, PRT troopers and normal civilians to you can simulate a lot of different scenarios. The facial features are all randomized so you shouldn't actually encounter any real faces outside the parahumans."

"That's really impressive Robert."

I raised my eyebrows at that, "Robert?"

"You prefer Sparky?"

I shrugged, "Eh… don't mind, just generally only parents, teachers and Aria that call me Robert. I guess it's okay."

Taylor nodded, "Sparky it is then until you come up with a Cape name."

I hadn't thought of that, but I guessed even if I was just supplying Taylor with gear, I'd need some sort of name she could use if she called me from the field.

"That's fair. I'll get Aria to come up with some options for me as well. She will also be able to assist you setting up scenarios, so I'll leave you be for the time being. I'm going to get to work on that armor. Do you mind if I work on your mask? You did you bring the spider silk, right? And the spiders? I should have asked before we entered the simulation."

"You are not going to train with me?"

I shook my head, "Maybe next time. I think setting up your armor is more important; I have a plan there. Have Aria give you a simulated version of a few weapons for you to try out including the biotic amplifier. She can show you how to use it."

Taylor looked thoughtful for a whilst but finally nodded, "Go for it, I'm having the spiders pull out the silk now. Lead them to where you want them to set up. There is a drawing with what I believe the best sized boxes for them to work in will be."

I couldn't resist a faint shudder that went through me when I realized that Taylor was controlling a large number of spiders in the real world next to my semi-comatose body.

"Got ya, good luck. If you need anything can ask Aria to get me."

I barely waited for Taylor's acknowledgment before I disconnected.

The spiders were obediently waited for me in neat rows next to Taylor's mask, a small pile of silk cloth and a drawing. Thankfully the spiders didn't bother me when I could actually see them, if was more the thought of them when I couldn't see them under control that had made be a little nervous. Arachnophobia could have been a real pain when working with Taylor.

The drawing wasn't just dimensions but included a shaded sketch. Taylor could have made a decent artist.

Knowing roughly what I would need from our previous discussions I already had gathered a bunch of scrap wood from our shed and elsewhere, so it didn't take long at all to put together up a few boxes for the spiders in the tailoring room.

Whilst I confirmed that the spiders were all working, I turned my attention to disassembling both the Hyper Guardian helmet, the motorcycle helmet and Taylor's mask. I added to the resultant components various pieces of electronics gathered from the spare cell phones, assorted parts from the shed, and a few of previously disassembled augments.

I leveraged my thinker level intuition for recreating existing solutions and my ability to substitute inferior parts to end up with two different working helmets both with all the capabilities of the original Hyper Guardian helmet. Using my powers built in a significant amount of black boxing by using strange materials and it wasn't hard work to just push that further to where I wasn't worried if someone spent time looking over my tech.

Taylor's helmet had with a front based on Taylor's original mask and the bug eyes but included both face armor and a small kinetic shield. The kinetic shield only covered the face, something that would be corrected once it was integrated with a chest piece.

The rest of the helmet was matt black sections sleeved in black spider silk that I thought resembled beetle chitin. Several of the sections were inset from the others. When I had Aria model it, it did look a little oversized next to her near skin-tight original costume. But when modelled against the Hyper Guardian armor it looked correctly proportioned.

Even without the Kinetic Barrier I was quite sure that the helmet would stop anything short of a high-powered armor piercing round.

There was also fake hair that came out of what looked like an opening at the back of the helmet. I had chosen to imitate Taylor's hair but have it a slightly different shade and a few inches shorter to add to the disguise. It was also fire resistant.

The very last thing I did was clip in light blue panels into the insert sections to give the costume a less villainous look.

It took me a couple of hours to get it to a point where I was happy with it.

"How is Taylor going Aria?"

"Lycaeni is doing very well. She has determined that Green is Parian and believes that Gray may be Uber which I agree with."

"Lycaeni. That's cool. So, is her working out who the other two are, how did she do that?"

"She set up simulations which allowed each cape time to prepare for battle. This allowed them to gather resources and Parian gathered cloth and created large creatures to fight for her. Uber attempted different things depending on what was available for each simulation, she asked me to randomize locations, time of days and weather conditions. In each instance the longer he had to prepare the greater his skill level using whatever tool he found. I also confirmed that the body type of each matched those seen in public."

I was impressed, I hadn't considered any of that.

"Is she up for a break? I want to show her the new helmet."

"She should be finished with the current simulation in about five minutes, and she is very impressed the helmet and has tried it out in a number of simulations."

I blinked, "How? I only just finished it."

"When you created the design, I incorporated in the list of possible costume options she could choose from in the simulation. If this was not intended, I can exclude new designs until you have approved them."

I shook my head, "No that's fine. Happy she's already had a chance to test it. Ruined the surprise but I guess better this way. In fact, I think we should test all designs in the simulator before I build them. Happy accident there. Were there any issues with it?"

"No Robert, she did note that it looked a little strange with the rest of her costume but after viewing it beside your rough outline for both the final armor and the temporary upgrade she was quite pleased."

I refrained from saying anything about running the rest of my surprises as I cleaned up the workshop and went upstairs to meet Taylor as she left the simulator.

After a short break for drinks Taylor tried on the helmet for real.

"Wow, very impressive Sparky. This is even better than the version in the simulator. Heads up display, camera, communications, and shield. You do fantastic work."

"You're welcome. You should be a lotter safer now."

"Thanks, this is... yeah" Taylor took of the helmet and examined the outside again, "What's your plan for the rest? No rush, just this is excellent."

"Well, the full armor is going take a lot of time. Maybe a week if I dedicate all my spare time to it and I'll also need to spend some-time gathering more resources. The lite version will provide a lot more protection that your current armor will allow me to extend the kinetic shield over your full head and chest, but it won't include the jump jets or increase your strength or speed like the powered suit will. That I could build you tonight, only take me a couple of hours."

"Please. I'm happy to practice more." Taylor looked keen to get back in the simulator.

"I'll need to repurpose the silk of your existing suit. Do you have a change of clothes?"

"Sure, be right back."

Taylor returned shortly after and handed me the rest of her suit. She was back to wearing the drab clothes she normally favored at school. I wondered if that style was by choice or something that had been forced on her by her parents or the bullying situation. I decided it was not my place to ask.

It didn't take quite two hours, but it was still around one in the morning when I pulled Taylor out after her most recent simulation finished and presented her with the completed slim armor version.

The chest pieces were about half as thick overall as the final version but with a larger back piece where the shield generator was installed. The other pieces were a little thicker than plated motorcycle armor.

A quick web search of her chosen cape name had led me to pictures of the Large blue butterfly, and I had used the coloring of that to style the slim suit. Unlike the helmet and her final suit, the color segments were not swappable, but I had modelled the layout of that suit to match what the final armor would look like. I wanted it to be obvious that it was the same cape. I had also replaced the light blue sections of the helmet with the new color scheme.

Those sections hadn't seen any use at all. I'd put that down to proof-of-concept work and refused to think about how that could have been easily simulated. Still, a few minutes of laser cutting, silk printing, hot steam pressing and assembly of the 3d printed parts wasn't too wasteful.

The base color of the clip-on pieces for the helmet and colored sections of the rest was a pale blue, not that different from the light blue I had before. That pale blue faded into white highlights in some areas and darkened into near black where it came up against the matte black sections of the armor. These sections would be black metal in the final version but in this version were just padded cloth or spider silk wrapped around hard plastics and wire grids. Black roughly oval dots surrounded the upper arms over the pale blue and ran down the leg with thin black lines imitating the wing sections of a butterfly. I thought it looked quite good and hoped Taylor would approve.

"Oh wow. I love it." She announced as soon as she saw it.

I couldn't stop smiling. I'm not embarrassed to admit I was quite proud, "Go try it on. I want to see you wear it."

She grabbed the costume off the rough frame I had built for it.

I noted her weighing it in her hands, "Yeah, it's a bit heavier than a good suit of motorcycle armor. The final version will actually be much heavier, but it'll be powered so you won't even notice the weight."

Nodding she disappeared into one of the workshops whilst I started updating my list of what I would need to build the final version.

When she returned, I was impressed and somewhat intimidated by her presence. She defaulted to very strong pose once she was costumed up. I would have almost thought it was a different person.

"Aria, please generate a mirror image for Lycaeni."

A life sized 3d image of her was projected from my bracelet. It was obviously a projection and was see through, but it did a good job of showing Taylor what she looked like especially after we dimmed the lights. After a moment I had the image rotate so she could see every side.

"This is brilliant. I think I'm ready to start patrolling again."

"Isn't it a bit late?"

"Yeah, I mean tomorrow night." She turned away from the image to look at me. "Do you want to come with me?"

I froze. I had been toying with a new name for my cape persona, but I didn't have a proper costume. I could wear the armor, but I hadn't built it, so it didn't really feel right to call that my costume, also the helmet and chest both needed to be reassembled.

Still, I could fix that quickly and with the SEP bracelet I could be stranger support. I'd feel bad if something went wrong with the outfit on her first outing and I was unable to help. I could feel myself talking myself into going out with her.

"Okay. I can run the SEP bracelet on full. I know part of patrolling is to wave the flag but I'm not ready for that."

Taylor nodded, I could see her resisting the urge to smile, "Then we just need a name for you. I can't be calling you Sparky over the radio."

"Quartermaster," I declared it had been at the top of my short list for an hour, "It's not taken, and it could just as easy refer to a cape that has communications powers as to a Tinker."

"And you are a big James Bond fan." She laughed.

"Never denied it." I grinned back.

We did a little testing to confirm that the spiders would be fine when she went out of range before she wished me good night and jog southwards towards her home. I added a reminder to ask for her address later.