I was not in a good mood.

I had briefly been labeled a Villain by the feds, which was bullshit to begin with considering if I had actually gone said route everyone would know about it in such a visceral manner that they would all be collectively running away screaming.

Thankfully that narrative was short lived, but it didn't stop the Protectorate and PRT near completely glossing over what had led to my altercation with them in defending my friend to begin with, which was irritating to say the least.

Regardless both Shadow Stalker and, ugh, Geist, fuck you Armsmaster, were labeled as villains just long enough to get the online weekend warrior chuckleheads to start spewing out random theories and I was not in the mood to humor them.

So I did something stupid, and openly admitted to programming an Artificial Intelligence and constructing the Hunter/Killer Droid that would house it, out of pure honest spite on an open forum just to fuck with peoples heads.

Force I needed to work on my impulsiveness...

Sensei sensed my thoughts, and laughed.

Asshole.

"The ironic point is that the said droid would appreciate your vitriol, HK had a sense of humor that had to grow on you. It was sort of like a fungus, that was self sustaining and highly combustible."

"Sensei?"

"Yes Taylor?"

"Please stop talking."

Staring down at the Holocron in my lap I did my best to ignore the women that walked into my bedroom a short time later.

Sophia, still strung out from her close encounter with the law, eyes flicking about the room in worry.

Emma, looking pensive and tired, wringing her hands while trying not to meet my gaze.

Mom...

She sat on the bed next to me and with no prompting of her own I found myself curled on her lap and wrapped in her arms.

Emma and Sophia sat on either side of us and we just sat there in silence for a time, eventually I felt centered enough to speak.

Twirling Revan's Holocron between my fingers resting in my lap I sighed, then nodded, "I fucked up with the Heroes."

"Language," mom and Emma muttered, Sophia just muttered out an, "Eh, fuck 'em," which had me chuckle.

Emma got my attention by gripping my chin forcing me to meet her gaze as she shot me a wry smirk, then kissed me, which was nice. Breaking away she shook her head then flatly stated, "How did dad put it...they reaped the whirlwind Tay. I...know things haven't been great lately so taking it out our problems on them is, well understandable."

Did I? Emma's clinginess was annoying, but really I didn't think that was what I was channeling when I tore my childhood heroes apart. Thankfully mom seemed to have caught that vibe.

Mom sighed then spoke up while stroking her fingers through my hair which was nice, "That wasn't what had you snap like that, was it little owl?"

Sophia snorted then flatly stated, "Hell no, Broody was annoyed and was willing to walk away if they did so first. Then Beardmaster basically called her a Nazi which was an automatic asskicking waiting to happen. Even then she held back, I was there, she didn't draw first blood after that but when the pigs struck she did as a Hebert should."

Mom hummed then pulled her arms around me again, "You escalated matters to the point they couldn't retaliate back. Outside of feigning ignorance while mocking the government sponsored idiots online, you did what needed to be done."

Emma took Revan's Holocron from my hands and tossed it on the bed then threaded her fingers through mine, "Taylor, we love you, seriously. Now though? You're on the radar and we're worried."

Sophia sighed while shaking her head, "My bad on that one, I really had no idea they were that intent on bringing me in..."

Mom and Sensei's teachings percolated in my mind for a time, and eventually I came up with a response to all of this.

"You are too effective Trip. You don't fit their idiotic 'Cops and Robbers' narrative, I in turn fit the same mould. The Protectorate and PRT look at Parahuman conflict as a game, you and me? We're honest with ourselves..."

Mom then muttered, "We're at war."

I snuggled closer to her while pulling Emma into a hug, then Sophia's head landed in my lap staring up at me with wry grin while flatly stating, "And we are winning that war, so instead of womaning up the feds tried to get rid of us because we make them look bad."

Well, there it was, the honest truth, public relations at its best...

A few moments later I perked up as an idea hit me, and my out of the blue giggling didn't terrify my family in the slightest, thank you.

Then mom simply stated, "Taylor, no."

"I didn't even sa-"

"No!"

Now everyone was yelling at me...so unfair...


If I were to be completely honest with myself, my current actions were fueled primarily by annoyed spite. Mom nixing my plans to finish HK-47 ASAP to make him my new head of PR just to see what happened without even letting me voice the idea irked me.

A lot.

So I improvised.

I decided to do the rational thing, and find a much worse method to carry out my plans to wave the flag so to speak just to see what happened for my own personal amusement.

I of course miscalculated things since while mom seemed placated by my abdication Emma and Sophia saw right through me and just knew I was about to double down with the PRT just because I could.

Those two...

Seriously I honestly could not be luckier having such perpetually exasperated yet loyal friends who were willing to back up my amazingly poorly thought great ideas, they were a goddess-send.

"This is such a bad idea," Emma muttered as she shuffled her Mandalorian styled armor about, which I didn't blame her for in the slightest. The training Sensei and I put her through in the Force assisted martial Matukai arts really didn't help at the moment. It was just that like Sophia, she needed to look intimidating, who unlike my girlfriend was pulling the new look off like a boss.

Her own fault for insisting to be involved with this mission, she'd have to learn to deal with it.

Sophia then snarked out with, "Aw just deal with it Red, this is going to be amazing. Just stand back and look pretty while Broody and I make things with the heroes...err...thesaurus me here Broody, really good?"

I let out a laugh and then flatly stated, "How about copacetic?"

Emma and Sophia both snarked out, "Nerd!" while I in turn shot the finger at them over my shoulder in genuine amusement.

Approaching the PRT building the soldiers at the gates froze, raised their guns, then fell to the ground as I flicked a finger and sent their weapons flying while keeping them pinned in place. The three of us walked past them without a word, all while the automatic doors slid open the lobby filled with random civilians, CSR drones, and school tour children froze as we made our entrance.

I then announced the reason for our presence, "Hello everyone! I'm Sentinel, and my companions here are Hotshot, and Shadow Stalker. We're here for the scheduled tour and really want to meet the Wards considering by age they're our peers so...who do we talk to in order to get guest passes?"

I was so getting grounded for this one, and it was so totally going to be worth it.

I also flatly ignored sensei groaning in lamentation from his holocron in my pocket, something about do as I say not as I did.

Thankfully my mischievous smirk was hidden by my helm, this was going to be fun.