1.3 Val

It doesn't take long to finish cleaning up the basement. Taylor spends some time explaining the world to Val. The descriptions are odd, much stranger than any world that she's been summoned to previously. Val is young by her people's standards, but she's accepted Contracts with far less discretion than any of the others. She's visited more worlds than most.

The claim that magic doesn't exist also remains strange to Val: She's seen a couple worlds where magic was uncommon, but nonexistent? It would be a first. The fact that magic was introduced some thirty years earlier with the arrival of a flying golden man sounds downright farcical. Val might normally have argued more with Taylor's insistence that capes weren't using magic, but she finds the argument academic in nature and decides it's easier to just move on.

Taylor seems to be obsessed with capes in general, happily going off on tangents on what she knows about the local 'cape scene'. Val soaks in the information, knowing that it's going to be important down the line. Taylor's apparent goal is to clear out as many of these villainous capes as possible and, according to her, it's not going to be easy. Personally, Val withholds judgment.

There's a passion to Taylor's voice as she goes on and on about capes and powers, hands waving around and gesticulating as she rants, and Val can't help but smile to herself. The words are spoken freely, casually, but Val can sense – she doesn't know, relief, of a kind? Like Taylor's finally found something worth her effort. Like she's been granted a clarity of purpose after a long time without. She can relate to that – it reminds her so much of-

Reminds h-

She.

Val muses that the irregularities of this world at least match up with how her summoning also makes no sense. Val shouldn't have been able to have been summoned from where she had been imprisoned. Not only that, but Taylor is completely ignorant in the practicals of magecraft and would certainly have been unable to summon anything at all without the guiding hand of her "power", as she calls it. Val suspects whatever is feeding Taylor information is what's behind the impossible task of stealing Val away from her prison.

Being honest, she has no idea what to think about any of that. The who, the how, the why. Val has always been good at ignoring things that make her uncomfortable, however, and thusly resolves not to think about it.

Basement sufficiently cleaned and rearranged to her standards, Taylor leans against the wall next to the basement door and takes a moment to think.

"My foster parents are going to know it's been cleaned next time they come down here. I didn't think of that, for some reason. I guess if they ask, I'll just have to say I felt like cleaning the basement. Because that's not weird."

Val remains silent, thoughts heavy for a reason she can't place, and waits for Taylor to continue.

"Right. Well, we should probably find you some less conspicuous clothing. We're about the same height, so you can probably get away with using some of mine for now. What about your eye coverings? I know you said it's a cultural thing."

It's not a big deal if she ends up having to not wear her wrappings, but she definitely prefers them. She knows it'd be ridiculous to try to wear them around while pretending to be a civilian. In most of her Contracts, it wasn't necessary to hide her unusual origins. Maybe she can work them into her 'cape' persona, since that seems like the logical continuation in Taylor's plans that she hasn't explicitly stated yet. Val idly wishes she could just call them mages, but knows the importance in using the correct phrasing to blend in.

"I prefer to keep my eyes covered, but it's not necessary. There's times I've had to go without."

"You could probably get away with a pair of dark sunglasses, and just keep your eyes closed behind them? Or otherwise rig something up, if it means a lot to you. Doubt anyone would care enough to ask, and if they did, you could just say it was a medical condition. Up to you."

Satisfied with the potential solution, Val shrugs and replies, "That could work."

"Okay. Um, just follow me upstairs to my room real quick and I can let you pick out some clothes. Shoes, too, if they fit. I don't think I have any sunglasses, though."

Taylor continues to talk as she leads Val up the basement stairs.

"There's a corner store not too far, and I think they sell some of those cheap tacky pairs. You can pick out a couple of sets of cloths from my wardrobe while I run there to grab you one."

She's led through the basement door, around a corner, up a staircase, and through a winding hallway. The house is pretty bland, Val thinks, and she sees that the walls are covered in family pictures. She notices that Taylor isn't in any of them. Arriving at her destination, Taylor opens the door to her room and waves her in.

"It shouldn't take me more than 30 minutes. The walk will give me some time to think on what needs to be done."

Opening her closet, Val gets her first glance at the selection of clothes. They're… definitely not her style. Taylor seems very fond of blacks, grays, and otherwise dark, muted colors. At least Taylor is sensible enough to own mostly pants and shirts. Trying to move quickly in skirts and dresses can be… annoying.

"Okay. You can take your time picking out something you like."

Taylor stands around for a second, awkwardly. She says, "All right. Be right back, then. Try not to set the house on fire," and leaves.

/*-*/

When Taylor returns, she looks excited.

"Good news and bad news," she begins, "which do you want first?"

Taylor hands over a pair of large, black-tinted sunglasses while Val lets out a hesitant, "Bad?"

"The bad news is that I still don't have any idea what to do with you in the short term. You could hide in the basement, but that's obviously not ideal. I guess you could just fend for yourself, but it feels a little rude to just send you off."

Personally, she couldn't be happier being given free rein on the city. "That's fine with me. It'll be good for both of us if I start scoping out the city, anyways, and I should start learning what things are like here as soon as possible. Can't exactly do that cooped up in a basement."

Taylor nods, probably expecting something along those lines. "You'll probably be fine hanging out in the city, but you should definitely try to stay hidden. Nights in Brockton Bay can get pretty chilly, are you going to need a jacket? Do you even get cold?" Val shakes her head. In some of the harsher environments she's visited, the biting cold can become uncomfortable, but based on the thin clothing she's seen in Taylor's closet, she's confident she'll be fine. "Okay. Almost anyone you could run into wont pose much of a threat, but you should still stay low so you don't draw the attention of any local capes, hero or villain."

She isn't at all concerned about the danger of running into these capes of hers.

Something must have shown on her face because Taylor responds, "I know you think they won't pose a threat to you, but you need to be careful. There's some genuinely dangerous powers out there. From what we've talked about, I'm sure you could handle the brute force capes fine, but most of the really dangerous capes have powers that can't be fought so directly."

There's truth in what she's saying, but Val has fought all manners of dangerous mages, and remains unconcerned.

Taylor hesitates as if sensing her lack of caution but decides it better to not push the point. "Anyways, the good news. While I don't have any short term plans for you, I might have come up with something brilliant for the long term. I should explain some things first. I've told you about the various capes in this city, but I didn't exactly explain the politics."

"Simplifying, the major players can be broken down into 3 alignments: The heroes, the rogues, and the villains. You can assume the motivations behind the heroes and the villains, and rogues will swing either way. Most of them are just trying to make money or live their lives separate from the Heroes versus Villains drama."

"The parallel to the gangs in Brockton Bay is the Protectorate. The Protectorate is composed of both a non-powered policing force and a collection of heroic capes. They have a junior branch, of sorts, called the Wards, for sheltering and training capes under the age of 18. Now, I've already told you what my motivations are, and the typical path for someone in my shoes would be to join the local Wards branch."

"I've already decided against this for a couple of reasons, personal and practical. Namely, that the Wards don't actually do much. The purpose of the wards is protection and training, and Wards are kept far away from anything that could potentially turn lethal, except in the most extreme circumstances. That doesn't work for me. I want to start helping now, not in three years, and joining the Wards would lock away my options."

"Now, here's where the plan comes in. The benefits of joining the Wards are undeniable – You'll be provided protection, a stipend, and a team to support you, as well as up-to-date information on the current cape politics of the city. You said that you'd like a way to integrate with the city so that you could explore what a life here is like, and this would provide that to you."

"It's probably one of the only possible ways for us to get you a legal identity, too, when you have absolutely no background. You can probably just claim amnesia and try to join. It'd be stupid suspicious to them, but it's not entirely unheard of – The Case 53's all have amnesia, although they have some other identifying details that you don't."

"There's no way they turn down a potential powerful cape, regardless. The villains outnumber the heroes 7 to 1, the Protectorate just doesn't have the option to be picky and will almost certainly give you the benefit of the doubt. That you'll be joining the Wards instead of the Protectorate will only help to make things less suspicious – As a Ward, you won't be included in the seriously classified meetings, so there's not much of a reason for you to be a plant from one of the gangs when it would mean losing out on the firepower of a cape."

As Taylor's explanation goes on, Val is doing her best to commit what she's learning to memory. Something in particular has stuck out to her, and she asks, "Case 53s?"

"Oh. Some capes are found with strange mutations that make them monstruous in appearance, and always with amnesia and some kind of tattoo on their body. I think there's a few extremely rare cases where the mutations either don't happen or aren't noticeable, but either way, it's not worth trying to sell you as one. We'd have to… brand you or something, which isn't happening. The important part is that there's a precedent for capes with unexplainable amnesia and other odd circumstances." Taylor grins as she thinks of something. She shares, "If you confuse people enough, you might even get your own case number."

Satisfied with the answer, and a bit amused, Val nods for Taylor to continue.

"Now, I'm not sure if it's smart to just walk you into the PRT HQ as soon as possible. Although the Case 53's have amnesia, I don't think that extends to forgetting the details of how the world works. You'll need to spend some time in the city so you have at least a passable understanding of things here."

Adopting a considering expression, Taylor hedges, "But then again, maybe it'd help sell your 'unusual case' scenario if you walk in with no idea what cell phones or cars are. I'm not sure." Shaking her head, she continues, "Regardless, there's a few things that I need you to get done before we start dealing with that mess."

As Taylor says this, she's unfolding a piece of paper.

"I bought this map at the gas station. I know maps are kind of outdated, but you don't have a phone, and it'd be kind of silly for you to not be able to find me after wandering off. Here, I'll write my address in the corner." Taylor quests off, presumably looking for something to write with. Val adds the phrases "cars" and "phones" to the growing list of things to look into later and follows.

"So, some details on what my plans are. Initially, I was planning on handling all of this stuff on my own, but I had to wait until I had some kind of protection since it could potentially get pretty dangerous. Got something much better than protection, though. You should be able to handle most of this stuff on your own, which is honestly a huge relief. I've been feeling pretty overwhelmed trying to figure out what to do."

"I'm kind of flying blind when it comes to my power, but it's telling me about resources and tools that I'll need to accomplish certain things. Honestly, it feels kind of like how people describe tinker powers, but I cant say there's been a tinker with the… magical… connotations that I'm dealing with. Either way, I need to set up a base of operations away from home so that I can stay under the radar without the Protectorate or worse falling onto my head and trying to 'recruit' me."

"I'm also, well, broke, and need a way to make money. I don't want to resort to crime, but there's probably not another way right now. The solution that leaves me not feeling morally compromised is dispensing a bit of poetic justice. Rob the criminals. It probably wont be difficult to just wander around the bad parts of town and find crimes in progress," Taylors face is darkening as she goes on, "so I won't feel too bad if you push them around and take their money as an asshole tax."

"If you have difficulty finding anything, you could probably just walk down the street in one of the bad parts of town. In a place like Brockton Bay, it'll attract crime like flies to honey. It shouldn't be an issue for you to not get caught," she says this with a question in her voice, and the snort that Val lets out seems to reassure her, "and you can probably rack up some money to start buying some supplies. We should get you a phone as soon as possible."

Taylor starts with a realization, "Oh! Are you going to need food or anything? I really am sorry I have to just send you out to fend for yourself, but I don't have much of a choice."

Val shakes her head, "I feel like I should remind you that I'm decidedly not human, whatever my appearance. I'm not going to need warm clothes, food, water, or even sleep. By most standards, I'm not even technically alive." She thumps her chest with her fist a few times as a prelude to her next statement. "This thing doesn't even work anymore." She hasn't had a heartbeat for as long as she can remember. Neither does her family. Part of the transition.

Taylor seems taken aback for a second, but a thoughtful expression takes over. Val is struck not for the first time by how put together this teenage girl is. Taylor is young, yes, and inexperienced, much more than almost any of her previous Contractors, but this seems immaterial when faced with the girl's quiet intensity. She speaks as if the future isn't at all uncertain, its right there, and all she needs to do is just, reach out.

Val knows that such attitudes don't come from happy beginnings. She feels a pang of empathy for the girl but knows better than most the value of the crucible.

Taylor digests her statement with quick acceptance and plows forward. She continues detailing her plans for Val. She has the map laid out on a table, now, and is explaining which parts of town have the highest crime rates, and where to start scouting for a potential base of operations. As the explanations and planning drag on, Val finds herself quietly moved by the honest earnestness in Taylor's voice.

She thinks, maybe, she won't mind helping Taylor find this future she's looking for.