Interlude – Chariot

Trevor took a moment to check the perimeter before entering. First time he dropped by, he walked right in while Mars was helping Jess out of the shower. That had been embarrassing. So embarrassing. Like most of his interactions with girls. Somehow, they always went wrong.

Except for Charlotte. Somehow, he managed being around her without humiliating himself.

A quick look in the windows confirmed that wouldn't happen today and—"You're peeping through the windows, Trevor." He shook his head and sighed. "How is that better? It's creepy!"

Returning to the front of the cabin, he elected to knock and wait.

The cabin boasted a nice view. He wasn't sure why anyone would sell it for bottom dollar. A few meager plumbing and heating problems weren't that hard to fix. He did it in an afternoon. It was out of the way though, about fifteen miles from Brockton Bay and two from the next nearest home anyone actually lived in.

After all that stuff with Façade, Trevor wasn't so sure about not handing the three remaining Travelers to the PRT. If Taylor insisted they'd be killed if anyone turned them in though… Well, Taylor didn't play with people's lives. If she said someone was in danger, they were in danger.

Creepy Simurgh mastering stuff aside, killing them or locking them up didn't feel right.

So tucked away it was, off to the side where no one would bother them and they wouldn't bother anyone else.

The door opened, and Trevor turned. "Hey, Luke. Brought the stuff." He kicked the box at his feet.

The big guy towered over Trevor, but he wasn't nearly as scary as he looked.

"Thanks," he said. Trevor bent down and Luke stopped him. "With your knees man. Gonna hurt your back doing it like that."

"It's not that heavy."

Luke rolled his eyes. "I got it."

He crouched and lifted, but the box really wasn't that heavy. Was it? Trevor looked at his right arm, then his left. Maybe all that working out really was paying off.

Luke carried the supplies into the kitchen and Trevor cautiously followed. "Hi, Marissa."

The blonde raised her head from the Dragonboy in her hands. "Hi, Trevor." She glanced at Luke for a moment, then quickly turned her eyes back down.

"They've been like that all week," Jess called. "They'll get over it."

Neither Luke nor Marissa commented on that declaration.

Jess sat in the small den area beyond the kitchen, a Helper at her side. Trevor left it with her after everything. Limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. From what he read, she was lucky in that it only affected her hips and not her shoulders. The disease could progress though, and being wheelchair-bound came with potential complications.

Having a Helper to keep an eye on her seemed a good idea. Not like the Travelers could call 911.

Trevor helped Luke unpack the supplies. Basic stuff. Cereal. Eggs. Milk. Juice. Some steaks. Taco kits. Veggies.

"Isn't this a bit much?" Marissa asked.

"It's fine. Taylor set aside money. She really doesn't want a situation where you guys don't have what you need and go…wandering."

Putting it like that, it almost sounded like the Travelers were prisoners. Taylor called it quarantine. They couldn't know what the Simurgh did or didn't do, and doing nothing didn't help. So, tuck them away and keep them uninvolved. Best thing to do that didn't involve a more literal prison than a cabin in the woods.

"It's fine," Luke said. "This is fine."

After the food came the other things.

"Alright." Trevor pulled out the DVDs. "I grabbed a bunch of collections. 007. Godzilla. John Wayne. A few TV shows. Tried to pick long ones. Law and Order has like twenty seasons. Psych only has six but they're great so who cares?"

Jess raised her head. "Wait, on Aleph, Psych has eight seasons. What happened here?"

"Oh. Someone decided to pretend they actually were psychic and they actually were hyper-observant. Managed to pretend they were a cape for a little bit until a villain came along and um, pulverized them. So yeah. Show got canceled."

Jess' jaw dropped. "So, you never found out why Jerry shot Henry?"

Trevor shook his head.

"That… That's just wrong."

"Kind of a bummer, yeah." Trevor fished into the box and pulled out another case. "On the bright side, Deep Space Nine got an eighth and ninth season here. You guys only had seven, right?"

Mars dropped her game and grabbed at the cases. "There are two more seasons?!"

"Yeah. Though I don't know who Ezri is. I checked and the person who replaced Jadzia on the show is named Harry Kim."

Mars' enthusiasm turned into something Trevor could only call revulsion. She looked at the cases, then at Trevor again. The cases. Trevor.

She shrugged and set her lips into a line as if forcing herself to be happy. "I'll take what I can get."

That's good. Hopefully that much TV would keep them entertained until he managed to pirate cable. Comcast did not play around but he'd figure out something.

"You realize we don't have a TV." Luke held up the DVD's. "Like, at all."

"Oh." Mars glanced around the cabin. "Right."

Trevor grinned. "You don't have a TV…yet!"

With that, he moved toward the wall of the dining room. The cabin wasn't large. Four bedrooms and two baths were suitable for two girls and a boy—even if the boy was dating one of the girls—but the cabin was clearly meant more as a place to sleep than live. It only boasted a small kitchen, den, and dining room. The den was too small, but the dining room wall was wide enough.

He pressed a button on his wrist.

The room flashed with a momentary light, and a large plasma screen rested against the wall.

"Now you have a TV!"

Jess rolled herself into the kitchen to look. Her eyes went wide while Trevor pulled a screwdriver from his belt.

"Luke, help me set this up?"

It didn't take long. Trevor assembled the wall mount and placed it. Luke lifted the other end of the TV with him. Once it was secure, he plugged it in and then teleported in the DVD player, a Playstation, and a Wii.

"Now it really is too much," Jess commented.

Trevor smiled. "Taylor doesn't care about money."

Taking the last items from the supply box, Trevor revealed some books, hygiene products, and a few games. Taylor had wiped the Playstation. She didn't want anyone tracing it or the accounts they used to use.

"She said Noelle asked her to look after you guys. I think she wants to do this herself...but she's not sure if any of you want to see her." He didn't get an immediate answer. "But I don't mind. This is the kind of hero stuff I'm good at!"

Mars looked down, angry. She returned to her game at the kitchen table and Luke busied himself with cords and plugs.

"Maybe someday," Jess whispered as she rolled toward him.

Trevor nodded. He hoped talking it out might help all of them. He wasn't clear on everything that happened, but whatever it was, it hit Taylor hard. She never wanted to kill anyone. She couldn't even kill Cranial and Cranial was legitimately insane and hurting people. Plus, Trevor got the sense Taylor kind of liked Façade. There was meaning in her death beyond just the fact Taylor killed her.

That made it hard for her to look after the other Travelers. Trevor really didn't mind. He just didn't like how hurt everyone got whenever Façade came up.

"It'll be okay," Jess assured him. "We just need time."

"Yeah. Guess so."

"Thanks for coming by. We'd probably go stir crazy with just the three of us. Getting out and taking a walk around the woods helps Mars and Luke. Bit harder in my case."

"Figured. There's really nothing you could ask for Taylor would refuse, short of the obvious. Just let me know. I can get it."

"Thanks. It helps. Really it does. Newtype doesn't have to worry. I don't think any of us want to put on a costume and go gallivanting around anytime soon."

Trevor nodded. Not much else to say then, though the air felt uncomfortably tense. "Well, you can text me. I might have to deal with stuff, but anything you need I'll try to get to you."

Jess nodded and glanced up at him. "Could you do one thing for me?"

"Sure."

A few minutes later, he sped along the roads on his skates back toward Brockton Bay. At the city line, he followed the highway north into Captain's hill. The cemetery was one of the oldest in the city. How Taylor managed it, he wasn't sure. The PRT took possession of Façade's body.

That didn't stop Taylor from giving her a tombstone and a plot. She felt guilty, and Trevor guessed the small token place to rest was another way to make up for it.

Trevor crouched before the simple stone. No date. No cape name. Just a name.

Noelle Meinhardt.

"Jess says hi," Trevor whispered. "She's sorry she snapped at you and she misses you."

And it felt weird.

"Sorry. I think she'd tell you herself but this whole Simurgh thing has everyone paranoid so your friends are going to be sitting things out for a bit. They'll be okay. Taylor does her best to keep her promises."

Not much more to say than that. Felt a bit weird talking to the grave of someone he never met, but his mom still went to talk to his dad. Jess couldn't come herself so, he could do that. It only took a few seconds.

Rising to his feet, Trevor looked one grave over and noted the fresh flowers.

Taylor or her father must have come by recently.

Rubbing the back of his head, Trevor shrugged and turned from the stone.

"Sorry, Mrs. Hebert. Just, um, passing by."

And it felt weird, again. He sped off before he could embarrass himself further. It's a good thing ghosts weren't real, or the whole cemetery would be laughing at him.

He got back to the factory in time to oversee the first shipment out.

"Shino, did I miss anything?"

The tall boy turned and shook his head. "Nah. All quiet. Boxing the last of the basketballs up for the first delivery."

Trevor nodded and looked over the robots as they went into their packaging and that packaging into boxes.

Brockton General ordered one hundred Helpers as a trial. Taylor's price point was just above the cost of production and shipment. Turns out a lot of medical equipment sold at horribly inflated prices in the current economy.

The Helpers were going to the terminal ward. Few patients actually died there, but doctors were always worried about complications overnight and staff could barely cover the shifts.

The Helpers' second real job—Jess being the first—would be watching over the patients while they waited for Panacea to drop by.

Trevor smiled at that.

It took months of labor, planning, redesigning, and tweaking, but they'd finally done it.

The Helpers were going to help people.

"Good job, Trevor." He turned, watching Taylor walk over to him. She had one of the Helpers in hand. "You do it."

"Last one?"

"Last of the first."

Trevor couldn't help but grin. Even Taylor was smiling, and she hardly ever smiled.

He took the robot and packed it into the box. Stu closed it up and handed it off to Gerry who put it into a box with eight others. Then Shino hefted the big box with a hand jack and hauled it into a truck.

"We're already getting more inquiries," Taylor said. "The orders will come. People are just waiting to see if they actually work."

"They work," Trevor said confidently.

"Then we'll be busy."

"Yeah."

He'd drop by the hospital tomorrow to show the staff how to work them. It wouldn't be too complicated. They mostly worked themselves.

From the corner of his eye, he watched Taylor.

He hadn't asked for explanations. That was the arrangement. Taylor was trying to save the world and fight bad guys, and he contented himself keeping the factory running. Helping Jess and her friends? He didn't have a problem with that. They needed it.

Yet…

He looked out as the truck pulled away, wondering how long he could really pretend to be uninvolved.

It was pleasant. Nice. Easy.

Maybe some things aren't worth it if they're easy.