Hope Through Overwhelming Firepower 6.4
"At least it isn't another Endbringer, right?" Danny Hebert let out with a sigh. "God... In the span of three days, you've gone from my little girl to... this. Famous Heroes are personally requesting for you to show up at meetings, you're on the news everywhere, and I am quite sure I do not want to know what's circulating on the internet right now." Another sigh. "And the worst part is, there's nothing I can really do about this. I know enough about life to understand that if I prevented you from going, I would shortly thereafter receive a 'meeting' from persons important."
Taylor stood up in shock. "Dad! I would never let that happen."
"It's not a matter of 'let' anymore, Taylor." Her father replied. "You think, with all the many and varied powers out there, that someone sufficiently motivated and in possession of enough resources couldn't convincingly stage my death?" Danny's face twisted into a bitter smile. "It's almost insulting that they even bother to send you to ask, give me a little illusion that I still have some form of power and authority in the process." His face twisted a little more. "I'm a rather pointless father, aren't I?"
"Don't say such things-"
"And why? Is it not true? The purpose of a father is to provide for, and protect the family. I can't do either of those things anymore. What would I protect you from? And what's there to provide that you can't get almost at will anymore?" He rubbed a temple. "Face it, I'm just superfluous."
Taylor wrapped her father in a hug. "Not to me. The only thing I need out of you is for you to keep being my Dad."
"...Thanks, Taylor."
They remained like that for a minute.
Taylor dialed the number Alexandria had given her. "Buster." Dragon's voice spoke up promptly.
"Dragon." Taylor greeted. "I'm ready."
"Indeed? Good to hear. I will send transport promptly." Dragon responded.
"Mmhm." Taylor hummed in replied. "So... where is this meeting going to be taking place?"
"The Guild headquarters; they've offered to host the meeting."
Taylor blinked. "Isn't that in... Canada?"
"Correct. I had to requisition a device from Mobius to get you there within a decent time frame." Dragon answered. "Mobius is a Tinker specializing in things that move incredibly fast. Normally, a human would be instantly crushed from the inertial forces involved in Mobius' machinery, but I would imagine you can take it." Dragon clarified Taylor's unasked question.
"Yeah, probably." Taylor agreed.
"The machine will arrive in approximately seven seconds." Dragon spoke over the phone.
Taylor was fairly impressed. "Pretty fast, that."
"You have no idea." Dragon mumbled.
Inertial Canceler: Online
Before Taylor could ask for clarification, a black streak blurred into form in front of her, followed by a rush of wind that would have certainly pulped the average human. Taylor supposed she was lucky there wasn't anything important nearby, it probably wouldn't have stood up to that kind of force.
Taylor finally got a chance to really look at the floating device, she paused. "Dragon, why does it look like someone haphazardly glued a cockpit on top of a very large rocket?"
"Because that's basically what I did." Dragon admitted. "I asked Mobius for the fastest thing she had, she gave me this. Claimed it was an attempt to create an ICBM equal to any conventional one without involving any explosives. According to her, she succeeded. Well, for a certain measure of 'succeeded', it can't really be considered a 'ballistic' missile anymore."
Taylor did some calculations in her head. "...That's really fast."
"She is a Tinker that specializes in rapid movement. Consider what Bakuda or Armsmaster can do in their specialties." Dragon reminded.
Taylor sighed. "Alright, alright. If I wasn't invulnerable..."
"Then we wouldn't even be having this conversation." Dragon replied.
Taylor grumbled slightly as she climbed on board the... 'Vehicle'.
She settled herself into the cockpit, and strapped in. "Ready?" Dragon asked.
Inertial Canceler: Online
"Ready."
A low hum began to sound, and Taylor found her point of view slowly lifting into the air. The nose angled up, and the rocket moved. There was no other way to describe it.
A thought hit Taylor. "Uh... how am I supposed to land?"
"I can slow this thing down, you know?" Dragon replied with a hint of amusement. "How would I have gotten it there in the first place, then?"
Taylor flushed slightly. "Oh, right." Another thought hit her. "Why make a kinetic kill vehicle capable of slowing itself down?"
"...Mobius believes in being prepared for every eventuality, no matter how unlikely." Dragon replied with some distaste. "Even when those preparations make the intended operation of the device worse, if not impossible." There was a story there. "You've arrived, by the way."
And so she had. The blurring of sky and land rapidly resolved themselves into the form of a mountain with a large door built into it. "The east coast to northern Canada in fifteen and a half seconds. Whatever else she may be, Mobius does good work." Dragon commented. "Welcome to the headquarters of the Guild, built by several Tinkers over the years; my own addition was actually sticking it into the mountain itself, it used to sit on top. And let me tell you, moving something as large as the Guild headquarters inside a mountain isn't easy." Dragon seemed rather proud of the fact.
"Do you build everything inside of mountains, Dragon?" Taylor asked, as the doors opened and the glorified KKV slowly moved inside a rather barren room.
"They make for a good base structure, you can just build inwards." Dragon defended.
The rocket landed. Taylor popped the hatch open, and pulled herself out. "Right. Well, where do I go from here?"
"Here already? I'll take her to Alexandria from here, Dragon." Nowhere walked into the room and spoke. He opened his mouth to speak further, and then stumbled slightly. "Is that... Mobius' glorified guided railgun she calls an ICBM? No wonder you get here so fast..."
"It is not a railgun! How many times do I have to tell you this, there's nothing even vaguely electromagnetic involved!" Dragon shouted over Taylor's phone.
"Details." Nowhere waved. "It goes fast, railguns go fast. Quod erat demonstrandum."
"... Goodbye, Nowhere." Dragon tersely replied over the phone and hung up.
Nowhere shook his head in amusement. "She'll learn, someday."
Taylor frowned. "You know, considering what just happened with the Birdcage, think you could let up a little on Dragon?"
"Fine, fine. Kill all of my fun." He grumbled. "Let's just get you to Alexandria, so you can plot how to murder fun together. This whole meeting is probably a plot by people like you to declare war on fun. Fun is the mind killer-"
Did he ever shut up?