A Side C
Trevor whispered as he descended the stairs, muttering the words to himself. It was a simple pitch. Taylor would love the idea.
Right?
Was he thinking too much?
It was a good idea and one Taylor would like. Or, he thought she'd like it. Lately it seemed a bit harder to pin down her mood. He expected her to be panicky after the Empire attacked her in broad daylight. That's how he felt after he got unmasked.
She hid it well, but Taylor hated not knowing what would happen next. She liked having an idea where things were going and got flighty when she didn't.
But Taylor seemed okay with being unmasked. No panic or fear. Just Taylor.
Just another thing that changed while he wasn't looking.
Trevor couldn't quite put his finger on when things changed so much, but they'd changed. A lot.
He'd seen some lawyers the other day. Carol Dallon was with them. Taylor said they were talking about making a contract with a big company to sell the models she was making. That sounded pretty big.
And it was the first Trevor heard of it. Taylor never told him everything, he usually knew most of what went on. It was just the hero stuff he didn't know about.
New guys hung around the factory and the area nearby. Asian kids, most of them his age. At first he worried the ABB was out to take revenge. Then he noticed the coats and symbols they all wore and thought it was a new gang. Then he saw Taylor talking to one of them and didn't really know what to think.
They called themselves Tekkadan. Private security. Another one of Taylor's moves to help former gang members make an honest living?
They seemed kind of young to run a security company.
Or to work at one.
Or to have jobs at all, given how young some of them looked.
He also didn't think some of them could read but he didn't want to be a jerk.
"—unexpectedly hard."
Trevor slowed slightly at the sound of Taylor's voice.
"She described some of the ones she saw. They're all different."
Who was she talking to?
"Past Butchers," another voice said. StarGazer. Or Veda? Trevor overheard the name once or twice. "We believe the nature of the Butcher is interfering with Forecast's power."
"That could make sense," the third voice agreed. An older woman Trevor didn't recognize. "From what you've described, Forecast's power can include other realities different from our own. The nature of the Butcher as at least fifteen distinct persons in a single actor might be confusing it."
"Yeah," Taylor said. "We're not sure if she's seeing different Butchers in one reality, or if she's seeing other realities where a particular Butcher is still alive."
"In either case," StarGazer proposed, "he or she has been appearing more frequently in headlines"
"Unfortunate, but expected."
Trevor stepped into the workshop. Taylor sat at her arrangement of monitors and computers. A woman's face looked at her from one monitor, and the others displayed her array of schematics, simulations, maps, and Taylor-things.
"We knew it was only a matter of time," the woman warned. "I don't know how much it'll be worth but I'd like to suggest you not become involved."
"I don't intent to do anything direct," Taylor replied. "I think Butcher is a particularly bad match-up for us. If they die and the power transfers to me or Lafter—"
"Disaster," the woman said with a nod. "The last time the Butcher overtook a Tinker an entire Protectorate team needed to take him down within a week."
Taylor nodded in turn, saying, "And Lafter's power is just a giant fuck-you field so…Yeah. Have attempts been made to imprison Butcher before? I can't find much online and without Piggot around I apparently can't get authorized to look at any PRT files."
"We have tried," the woman offered. "Unfortunately, by the time we realized what the Butcher was, they'd already passed through six capes. It is…Not easy."
"Especially when one misplaced hit kills them," Taylor mumbled. "If I were Butcher I'd use that."
"The Butcher is certainly willing to be reckless," the woman agreed.
Trevor stood awkwardly, not really wanting to eavesdrop but also not really wanting to interrupt. If he just left would that seem like he was snooping and didn't want to be caught? Or should he just wait patiently? He'd already heard so much just mulling what to do and…Why is it always like this?
Finally, he decided to leave and come back later.
But behind him, Green, Purple, Orange, Navy, and Black—there's a black one now? all stared up at him.
"Stalker, stalker."
"Peeper, peeper."
"Pizza, pizza."
Trevor opened his mouth, closed it, and then said, "I don't think we have a Little Caesar's in Brockton Bay?"
"Disappointing."
Trevor looked at the black one.
"Did you just not repeat yourself?"
"Stop teasing Trevor," Taylor called. "You're all still grounded for waging a secret prank war!"
Trevor stiffened and turned.
So much for a quick retreat.
"Chariot?" the woman asked.
Trevor glanced around.
"Um. Yes."
The woman smiled.
"Dragon."
Trevor stared.
"Yes. That Dragon."
"Um." Trevor raised a hand and scratched the back of his head. "I didn't mean to—"
"It's fine." Dragon smiled. "I don't really bother with a mask due to my condition. It would be quite the coup for anyone to actually attack my civilian identity."
Taylor didn't like something about that. Trevor noticed things after hours of sitting next to her in computer class. The way her brow just slightly furrowed when she heard something she didn't like for example.
"We were just finishing anyway," Dragon assured him. "Taylor was passing information to the Guild about the Butcher's imminent return."
"I heard." Trevor quickly added, "Not that I was trying to eavesdrop or anything."
"It's not a big secret," Taylor said. "And we were just finishing. StarGazer can send you the next set of predictions for Behemoth."
Behemoth?
"Armsmaster and I can incorporate it into the engine," she suggested. "Given Behemoth's tendencies, extra time may be even more valuable than it was against Leviathan."
Taylor nodded. "Here's hoping."
Trevor waited while they finished up their talk. He noticed some of the schematics on the monitors. One seemed very familiar.
"Is that Squealer's reactor?"
And he said that out loud.
"Oh, yes," Dragon answered. "I've been working to reverse engineer the design. Its power output and safety are exemplary."
"Kind of surprised Squealer came up with it," Taylor admitted. "Which sounds mean, but the drugs and all."
Trevor looked at the design more closely, his power buzzing in the back of his head.
"Did you fix the problem where it turns all the lights off?"
"Not yet," Dragon replied. "But in some situations it won't be a problem."
Oh.
"Endbringers?"
"Yes. My suits have often been limited due to safety concerns. But the design of this reactor is virtually impervious. Even if the outer casing is damaged, the interior maintains integrity due to spatial folding."
Trevor nodded.
So she could put a bigger reactor in one of her suits and not worry about it exploding. Right. That made sense.
"Have you tried putting it inside an energy field that shoots the energy waves right back into the casing to make it even more invincible?"
Taylor and Dragon stared.
Trevor ran a hand through his hair.
"Just a thought."
Taylor looked at the monitors.
"Huh."
"That could work," Dragon said.
"It's how Kid Win solved the heat problem for his reactor," Taylor revealed. "And sort of how I got Trans-Am to work."
Trevor wasn't sure how much sense it made but, Tinkers were bullshit.
"So what did you need?" Taylor asked after Dragon took her leave.
"Oh. Right."
He forgot his pitch. "Um. I had an idea for something we could mass produce beside the Helpers."
He pulled a small notebook from his pocket and flipped through the pages.
"E-Carbon."
"E-Carbon?" Taylor asked.
"Yeah. I was looking at it and it's lighter and stronger than steel. It would be amazing for construction. Buildings. Boats. Vehicles. Not to mention you can recycle the stuff, make it with way less environmental impact. It's like, a wonder material."
Taylor leaned back into her seat.
"I"—Trevor tensed, waiting for the reasons it was a terrible idea—"hadn't thought of that. Been so busy with other things."
Or not.
"Yeah," he said quickly. "And you can't patent it, but you can sell the formula to someone else and then make it for them. I was doing some research. I wrote it down here."
He flipped back and forth trying to find where he chicken scratched it.
"It is the same process Dragon has used to produce chips for phones," StarGazer stated from somewhere, "and how the PRT bought containment foam and contracts Dragon to produce it."
"Yeah that!" Trevor agreed. "She has a contract with GM and GM pays Dragon Works to produce containment foam. She has contracts with a bunch of tech companies too."
"Yashima," Taylor mumbled.
"Yashima?"
"They're the ones I'm trying to sell my models to." Ah, he remembered after she said it. They'd gone to that business thing about it weeks ago. "That's why Carol Dallon and some lawyers from her firm were here the other day. Yashima is invested in Japan's reconstruction. If we sell them E-Carbon—"
"They could move it and build with it a lot easier than steel and concrete." Trevor blinked, thinking through the implications. "You want to help rebuild Japan?"
Taylor shrugged. "And the rest of the world." He wasn't sure why that kept surprising him. "We'd need a shit-ton of space."
"There's an entire city of empty warehouses," Trevor pointed out. "And the Trainyard is basically abandoned."
They could rebuild the train yard. Shit. His grandparents worked the yard, back when Brockton Bay's port kept trains coming and going twenty-four seven.
"I'm feeling stupid for not thinking of this," Taylor said.
"You have been busy," StarGazer noted.
"And it's not like a business of this scale could run with the gangs in the city," Trevor added. "But if they're gone"—and it again hit him the gangs were gone—"then we can totally do it."
"Hundreds of jobs," Taylor mumbled. "Maybe even thousands."
Trevor nodded. "And with Medhall—"
"Medhall will be fine," Taylor interrupted. "I've made arrangements to keep the company going."
Trevor's jaw slackened. "You did?"
"Yeah. Turns out Kaiser's son is one hundred percent anti-Nazi and very pro screw-my-dad."
"Oh. That's…Nice?"
"Yeah, it was really convenient. The backup plan was a pain in the ass and I'd feel like an ass if I did it."
Trevor did not ask for details on the backup plan.
Taylor got scary when it came to plans. Scary enough Trevor figured the people speculating she had a thinker power were onto something. Though, they didn't have any good evidence for it.
Still though.
Taylor started looking at properties on her city map and Trevor tore a page from his pad.
"You already looked at properties?" she asked, taking it between two fingers.
"It's like a big tinker project." Trevor shrugged. "A new, big, super cool tinker project."
"I get that."
Taylor started looking at the addresses he scouted in his free time.
Meanwhile, Trevor glanced around the workshop.
It seemed a paranoid thought. It's not like Taylor locked the door or anything. Still, it felt like he wasn't quite as welcome in the space as he used to be. Taylor was always a bit uncomfortable and he got that.
A tinker's space is sacred. Trevor understood that.
And yet…
The recliner in the little living room area was new, but otherwise that looked the same.
Taylor had built more of the new printers. She had twelve now, arranged in a line on the back wall, six on the floor and six above them mounted in racks. She'd cleared out the space she used to store spare parts. Boxes and crates of raw material occupied half the area, and the other half lay empty.
Exia, Queen, and Kyrios hung in their alcoves. Haros went back and forth, assembling a leg on one of the long work tables between Taylor and the suits.
Trevor expected Trans-Am to be taxing when Taylor finally put it to use. Wrecking every joint and breaking her big fucking sword was more than he thought would happen. The printers meant that wasn't much of a hindrance though.
Didn't even stop her from building a fourth suit.
Three of the Haros had gone back to assembling it.
She didn't have a GN drive. The empty locker above the alcove confirmed that. She wouldn't have one for months.
Why did she need another suit?
"This is a good idea, Trevor," Taylor said.
He turned. "Hm? Oh. Yeah. I think if we make it a certain way, it'll prevent anyone trying to weaponize it as armor or anything."
"That would be good. The world doesn't need another arms race right now."
Taylor reached over to a tablet on the desk and lifted it.
"While you're here"—she turned, holding the tablet to him—"I was hoping for some help?"
Trevor took the device.
Help?
"There's some stuff I've been working on, but I can't seem to get it. Guess my power doesn't do teleportation."
Trevor opened the files one by one.
He saw the teleportation stuff, which was mostly a rough sketch and some math he didn't understand. Not consciously anyway. As he stared, Trevor felt his power working in the back of his mind. Ideas and pictures mostly. Parts and pieces but he didn't know how they came together.
He worked better with his hands.
"Maybe," he thought. "I've never tried."
"Well I have, and it's not working."
There were other things. A laminate he could definitely make. Taylor included schematics for how she'd use it on the Gundam's joints to make their movements smoother. He used something for his skates that should work.
Trevor glanced to the suit the Haros were building, and then to Taylor.
"What about that reactor? The one Squealer built?"
"That?" Taylor looked at the monitor displaying the schematic. "Not sure. I've been looking for something that can be built faster than the GN drives, but this is a bit too intensive for my needs."
Intensive?
So she wanted something expendable.
Trevor glanced to the unfinished suit.
"Well, I'll um, go work on this." Trevor held up the tablet. "I've always wanted to try teleportation."
"May you have better luck at it than me. I'll come up in a bit. We might be able to test the Helpers soon."
She turned her attention to the monitors.
Trevor hesitated for a moment, told himself he'd actually ask this time instead of walking off. Then he started to walk off. He felt awkward leaving but standing around would be more awkward.
And fuck.
"Hey, Taylor." Trevor turned to look at her. "Is there anything going on?"
Taylor turned to look at him, and she didn't look surprised.
If anything, he'd say she looked expectant?
"You said you didn't want to be a hero, Trevor."
"Well, I—"
"I'm trying to respect that. That means I'm not going to tell you some things."
Trevor tried to parse that out.
He knew something was going on. Something bigger than Brockton Bay. He didn't know what it was but he knew it. He wasn't stupid. Taylor was getting into something—and glancing again at the suit she was assembling—he knew it was something big.
She was arming herself.
"I—"
What? His voice trailed off.
"I will if you want, but it's not something I can take back."
Right. "Okay.".
He turned to leave because…
He was a coward? He didn't like describing himself as such, but he knew he wasn't brave. Not like a hero or anything. Still. It felt like something other than being afraid, not that he liked it any more than not being brave or something.
"And Trevor." He stopped at looked back at her. Her face was a little red. "Don't do anything because…"
She looked away.
"Do it for you," she said. "Don't make any choices because of me. Or anything about me. Please?"
Trevor blinked and then he quickly looked away.
Shit.
Trevor made a quick exit, feeling a bit foolish.
Of course she noticed. Even if she hadn't before, Taylor wasn't dumb. She was bound to figure it out eventually.
Trevor greeted a few of the ex-Merchants as he got to the factory floor. They weren't so bad, mostly. Not as bad as he expected. They were going to run a full production run test tomorrow. Weeks of practice and prep were paying off.
Trevor turned to the factory and did a quick walkthrough. Anything to not think about how embarrassing that was. A little tinkering always cleared his head.
"Looking good?" Trevor asked.
Yellow stood on a bar stool, his little perch for directing things.
"All good, all good!"
Yeah. It was. Even a quick check didn't turn up anything.
He'd been tinkering with the line for so long it seemed kind of sad to be basically done. A thrill in a way, but sad too. It didn't need tinkering anymore. Just maintenance.
"Girl troubles?"
Trevor raised his head. He'd stepped out into the lot beside the warehouse.
Red hung from the shoulder of a broad shouldered boy, one of the new guys who'd been walking around as security. Three or four of them went back and forth between the factory and the building across the street every couple hours.
"Um, hey. Sorry I don't—"
"Oh"—he raised a hand and pointed the thumb at his chest—"Norba Shino."
"Chariot. Girl trouble?"
Shino smiled and walked over. The two other boys remained by the side entrance. They'd been camped out there in groups of two or three most of the past week. They wore coats in an olive green with a sort of trident symbol on the backs and 'security' on their shoulders.
Taylor did say they were a security company, but Trevor didn't see why she needed to hire one. Unless she just wanted to give people jobs. Which she might.
"I can tell by the look on your face." Shino grinned and narrowed his eyes. "Crushing on the boss lady, right?"
Did everybody know?
"Yeah." Trevor smiled through the embarrassment. "I think she noticed and it's a little awkward. I don't think she likes me back."
"That can be rough." He crossed his arms. "Been there done that."
"No you haven't," one of the other boys called.
"Have too!" Shino shot back, turning around.
"No"—the boy had a small scar on his face, running from his cheek to his jawline—"you haven't."
"I'll have you know I'm looking for the kind of love that can't be bought with money!"
Trevor tilted his head. "Um. What?"
"Long story." Shino turned back around. "Don't worry about it. Point is, there's all kinds of girls out there, right? You just gotta find the one that's into you!"
"I guess."
He did like Taylor…But it was just a crush. He knew that. Taylor was cool and pretty and frankly the only girl who really seemed to give him the time of day. Well, the only one who didn't seem like a groupie stalker. No one should be that desperate.
So, just a crush and if she didn't feel that way…Yeah. The embarrassment at being found out felt a lot worse than any disappointment or anything. He found that a bit odd. He'd seen others get all teary and heartbroken, or angry when their crushes didn't feel the same way.
He just felt 'meh'. Disappointing, but maybe he had too much on his mind? And fuck that just felt like more of the same didn't it?
Taylor always knew what she wanted to do. Or at least, she seemed to. Why couldn't he be like that? Why did everything just roll by? Being that cliche boy pining for a girl who just wasn't interested wasn't what he wanted to be but even subtle rejection should have a bigger impact than this, shouldn't it?
The girl he liked didn't like him back.
Shouldn't that be a little upsetting? Not like, creepy guy upsetting but just a little bit something?
The teleporter idea kept coming together. Maybe he should—
"But she still kind of likes you right?" Shino asked, leaning in. "Maybe not like a guy to date or anything but you're the guy running this place while she's off doing big time hero stuff."
Trevor shrugged.
"I guess?"
"Yeah so it's not all bad." He laughed. "Could be worse!"
Well, that was true.
"Yeah, so chipper up, eh? How is anyone supposed to get any work done if you're moping!"
Trevor couldn't help the smile, though his fingers did squeeze down on the pad in his hands.
He did like working at the factory.
He loved tinkering. Finding a way to make something mass producible? Tinkering times ten and ten times as fun.
And they'd done it.
Through mountains of trial and error, they did it.
And Trevor felt like a complete flake because it was only after doing it he wondered what else they could mass produce.
E-Carbon?
Quantum processors?
Gundams?
And he shouted at Taylor that Toybox was just trying to survive when they sold weapons. He felt like a complete flake now. It didn't seem like such a big deal before. When only a tinker could build it and the parts to keep it working, a laser gun didn't seem so bad. Better than a normal gun sure, but there'd never be that many of them.
Unless someone found a way to make them by the hundreds.
And Taylor wanted to build more suits. The printers removed the limit she'd had before. She could build and maintain…A dozen suits? More? If all she had to do was keep the printers running the Haros could do everything else. Even maintain themselves.
When did she stop and just live? Part of him worried that might be a bit selfish, but no. She should get to live, shouldn't she? As cool as she was he couldn't help but feel a little sad watching her.
And he felt like a flake again, stuck between two directions and picking neither.
Trevor inhaled quickly and then slowly breathed out.
"Thanks. I should get back to work though."
"Yeah." Shino glanced around and waved back at him. "I won't tell your boss we were slacking off as long as you don't tell mine. And chipper up! Life's pretty good right now, you know?"
He wasn't wrong.
No more gangs. Trevor didn't think he'd ever see that. More would come. More always came. Villains from the woodwork. That kind of thing.
Still, though.
Trevor walked back through the factory toward the lab they'd built for him in the corner. Not as spacious or glamorous as Taylor's but he liked it.
When he entered, he couldn't help but look at it.
The reactor sat on the table. The one he'd grabbed off the street months ago from one of the wrecked tank things Squealer built.
Took him weeks to figure out how to build in a proper way to contain the waves it gave off. He didn't really know why they messed with regular power but Taylor's factory was running off the GN drives.
It was the only place he could really work on it without the lights going out.
Setting the pad, down, Trevor went flipping through some of Taylor's requests. His hands moved on their own while his eyes read.
The laminate would be easy. Less exciting than the teleportation tech, but he could hand it to Taylor quickly.
A few people online mocked him for being 'Newtype's tinker' but whatever. He liked it. He liked helping. Doing something worthwhile. It was better than building things from scraps in his closet and raiding hardware stores at night.
That really had been kind of dumb of him.
But Taylor wanted to build more suits. How many? Would he be okay with where that went?
The Helpers were…helpers. They'd make people's lives better. It was noble, right? And making E-Carbon, helping to rebuild Japan and other countries? That was even better.
But weapons…Why did it bother him now?
I really am a flake.
His hands stopped, and he glanced back to the reactor.
Trevor crossed the room and took the reactor between his hands. It was smaller than the big one Taylor ripped from the robo-tank. The size of his chest, maybe a bit smaller than the solar furnaces, but heavier.
Shino was right. So Taylor didn't have a crush on him. Well, life goes on. What next then? Taylor did say not to make any decisions because of her. That would be the smart thing to do. He liked the factory. He liked tinkering. He liked the guys he worked with.
She'd start going to Boston? Providence? New York? The Gundams could reach almost anywhere.
Maybe she wanted to change the whole world but she'd already changed Brockton Bay.
Taylor said from the beginning that she needed someone to protect all of it while she was away, doing big time hero stuff. She'd really start doing that soon, wouldn't she? Three suits. No more gangs in Brockton Bay.
He couldn't be a flake forever.
Kept making him feel dumb.
Somehow, being a flaky teenage boy who went to school, loved his mom, and tinkered in his free time felt like letting himself down.
He turned the reactor around, pieces coming together in the back of his head.
So what do I want to do?
