March 7th, 2011 - Monday
Afternoon
Bored, bored, bored.
Taylor got out of her chair and paced a few laps around the room, then fell back into her seat. Chronic boredom was the last thing she'd expected when she signed up with the Elite, but it was her reality now. She hadn't gone on that many jobs with them, the training sessions were only a few hours twice or thrice a week, she couldn't spend her days wandering the city without risking too much attention, and there was only so much time she could spend browsing the Net before she got bored. Not that she wasn't glad to leave Winslow behind, but leaving did add an extra eight hours to her day that she had to find something to do with.
She idly wondered what Arcadia's reaction to an unmasked villain trying to enroll would be, and smiled. I'd be painting a target on my back even if I got in, though. Which she'd probably have a better chance at now that the Trio weren't there to sabotage her studies. An online course, maybe?
She turned her laptop back on and started searching. There were certainly options, but the amount of personal information required for most of what seemed like the good ones was likely to lead anyone trying to find her straight to her place. Unless she used a fake identity, at least, but as she understood it the thrown-together "Rose Ellison" identity was only intended to exist as a name on the rent contract, with the entire apartment block, along with many others, belonging to a company that had a "mutually beneficial understanding" (the term Jennifer used) with the Elite.
Hm. Maybe I should ask Jennifer about it. The Elite can't all be adults with no interest in further education, can they?
~o~o~o~
March 8th, 2011 - Tuesday
Late Afternoon
Taylor got her chance to ask on the way to the next training session. Jennifer was driving again.
"So, I've been thinking..." she started.
"Anything in particular?" Jennifer asked, mild curiosity in her voice.
"Mostly that I've been crawling up the walls with boredom for a while now. The teenage dream of living in your own place with no parents and a lot of free time isn't what I imagined it would be."
"Just to be clear - you don't literally crawl up walls, do you? Because that would be a neat trick." She sounded like she wasn't entirely joking.
"Not literally, no. Who would do that?"
"You'd be surprised what some people get up to. I've heard of a Tinker who got told by a girl she'll sleep with him when pigs fly. So he built a few antigravity flight packs and trained some pigs to fly in them. This was back in '03."
"...Seriously? That's trying too hard," Taylor said while trying not to break down in giggles.
"It gets better. He released them right in the middle of Times Square. Apparently the first few calls were dismissed as pranks by the police, so the pigs made quite a mess there before he had the flight packs detach and fly back to him. Rumor has it, he even got what he wanted in the end," Jennifer finished, though Taylor was laughing too hard to hear her by then. She was smiling too, but kept her eyes on the road.
Once Taylor calmed down, she remembered there was a point to the conversation.
"This was great and all, but I did want to ask something. Any chance you can arrange courses or something for me? It would be nice to have something to keep myself busy with, but everything I found seems like an open invitation to have someone kicking down my door."
Jennifer's brow furrowed. After a few moments, she answered.
"I know for sure there's foreign language courses. Not sure about other subjects, or high school level stuff - I'd have to look into it. I'll send you a message about it later?"
"Sure, thanks."
"It's no problem. Actually, there was something I'd rather talk to you about as well."
"Hm?"
"I've mentioned that we'll need to find some unpowered people too. For working with Parian, mostly - security, deliveries, other errands. But we can't take in just anyone when the other gangs and maybe even the PRT will try to send spies our way. I've come up with an idea, but I'd rather run it past you first, just in case." She started turning to look Taylor in the eye, but caught herself and returned her attention to the road.
"I don't really know much about hiring..." Taylor answered hesitantly. Sure, it was a part of her dad's job, but she never planned to follow in his footsteps.
"You don't have to. Your father does. We don't need college diplomas here, Taylor. Just a handful of trustworthy people with some brains in their heads, and he could probably point us to a few. There'd be decent pay involved, of course - for him and for them. I thought just sending in the bugs to talk to him might send the wrong message, and he's apparently been opposing gang influence in the DWU for a while - think you could talk him into at least hearing me out?"
"I don't know. I can try, I guess?"
"That's all I can ask. Anyway, we're here," Jennifer said as the warehouse came in sight. They pulled over and went inside to find Cameron, Lim and Martin. Martin had several sets of his powered gauntlets laid out on a table and seemed to be comparing them.
"Hey, Boss. We're not inviting Marty's little friend?" Cameron asked Jennifer, flexing.
"Not yet. Maybe next time, depending on..?" the latter answered, shooting Martin a questioning look.
"I'll say no. Can't tell for sure how long the kid had his powers, but it wasn't 'around a month'. Even if he isn't a spy, he's hiding something."
Jennifer grimaced and Taylor felt her get angry, but the woman calmed herself down in a moment.
"We're not letting him near anything important, then. Try not to tip him off, and if there's anything of yours in the shared workshop you don't want to risk, start transferring it elsewhere. Preferably after sweeping for bugs, that is. Not my kind of bugs," she finished, glaring at Lim and Cameron.
"Not a rookie, Jen. I know the drill," Martin replied, slightly annoyed. "Hey, Taylor, get in your costume, there's something that needs testing."
Ten minutes later, a slightly confused Taylor was standing in front of Dynamic, both in full costume. The Tinker raised one of his gauntlets.
"A new trick I've finished building. Spy or not, the kid knows his stuff - it was just the breakthrough needed. Since I know the technical details will only get blank stares, here's the deal: The new gauntlets should be able to bypass non-living material, letting me punch armored opponents as if they weren't such. I'll start off on a low setting, just in case, and it'll be even better motivation for you to work on your dodging. Three, two, one, go!"
Taylor's sore sides after the training session reminded her of the first days sparring, before she had her armor. Martin's new invention seemed to work as advertised, and his arm had fully healed, while Taylor had had to hold back a lot more against her other teammates, so they were both rather enthusiastic during the sparring.
~o~o~o~
March 8th, 2011 - Tuesday
Late Evening
Taylor dialed her dad's number and waited. It didn't take long for him to pick up.
"Hello?"
"It's me, Dad."
"Taylor! Is something wrong?" He sounded genuinely worried. Taylor had to admit he had his reasons to be.
"No, nothing's wrong. They just asked me to pass on a message."
"I won't like hearing it, will I?"
"Probably not. Web wants to hire some Union people, and if what she told me she'd have them do is true I'm not sure if that'll even be illegal."
"Which is?"
Taylor hesitated for a moment. Technically Parian working with the Elite wasn't public knowledge yet, but if the recruiting worked then whoever got the jobs would have to know about it anyway.
"They'd work with Parian. Deliver her wares and guard her store, as I understand. That's the part she told me, anyway."
"I don't know... it doesn't seem too shady if she's honest, and the guys really do need jobs, but I'm not sure this is a good idea."
"I'm not asking you to do it, Dad. I just promised I'd ask you to hear her out."
"...Fine. Tell her to get in touch so we can discuss things. But I'm not making promises."
"I will. Enough business talk for tonight?"
"Yeah. Enough. How have you been holding up, Taylor?"
"Bored out of my skull, actually. A lot more free time than I thought there'd be. I'm trying to find online courses or something, see if I can make use of it."
"I'm glad to hear it. Even if you have a career lined up already, I think you need something in your life that isn't about being a cape."
Taylor took a few moments to answer.
"Yeah. I do. Even if I won't get to work a normal job, it's..."
"Something she'd have approved of. Maybe the only thing in this about this whole situation she would have. I know."
The conversation dried up quickly after that. Taylor eventually hung up after promising Dad she'd stay safe.
~o~o~o~
March 14th, 2011 - Monday
Evening
Taylor was doing streches when her phone beeped. They'd found out during training that while her power was excellent for speed and strength, flexibility and balance were apparently beyond its purview, and it was a way to pass at least some time.
Looked into the courses. There's definitely languages - my recommendations are French for dealing with our Canadian colleagues or Spanish/Japanese for the major local foreigners - though beyond that we're not really looking at a high school curriculum - I found the hard sciences, programming, psychology, economics, accounting and law. Anything strike your fancy?
Well, that's not the worst selection out there, Taylor thought before her brain did a double-take with the accounting. She tried to imagine Webweaver in full costume filling out tax forms. She looked through the options again. Better pick not enough at first than too much.
I'll take French and law to start, I think.
Done. By the way, we're arranging for new costumes with Parian. Would you be okay coming to her workshop Friday afternoon?
Sure. Where?
The next message was an address, and Taylor got back to her exercises.
~o~o~o~
March 18th, 2011 - Friday
Afternoon
The doors closed behind Taylor as she stepped into Parian's new workshop. The rogue herself was nowhere to be seen, but there was a familiar face right in front of her.
"Kurt?"
"Who are- Taylor?" he exclaimed, confusion giving way to a broad grin.
"It's me, Kurt. What are you doing here?"
"Working, as you may guess. Danny wanted someone he trusted on this job, to see if anything shady's going on or if it's legit. Didn't expect to run into you only a few days in, though."
"Find anything?" Taylor asked.
"If I did, I couldn't tell you, could I? You are technically on the side I'm spying on," he said in a mischievous tone.
"I suppose not. How many people do you have working here?"
"A few guys, though usually only one on duty at a time. Alexander's on lunch break. Say, that thing with Alabaster..."
Taylor facepalmed.
"I'm never going to hear the end of it, am I?" she asked in the most exasperated tone she could muster, over Kurt's chuckles.
"Neither is he, for that matter. I think you'd break the Internet if you got filmed doing it again."
Taylor was about to respond when she noticed Parian watching the exchange. Her posture was a little tense, but not as much as when Taylor last saw her.
"Here for the new costume, I take it?" Parian's tone was polite, if not entirely friendly.
"Yeah. Web's arranged everything, right?"
"Most of it, really. There's a few designs for you to pick from, then I'll need your measurements."
They spent a few minutes going through Parian's designs. They'd eventually settled on one rather similar to the old one, though less bulky, which Parian promised didn't sacrifice protection. When the time to take measurements came, Kurt excused himself without being asked.
At least this can't be worse than Jennifer's methods, Taylor thought as several tape measures started circling the air around her.
~o~o~o~
March 21st, 2011 - Monday
Morning
Strategy meeting today. Might be our most important job so far.
Taylor looked at the message on the screen, the sense of foreboding chasing the last remnants of sleep away.