Once upon a time, there was a girl named Taylor Hebert. In the story of that girl there was betrayal of a friend so close they might have been sisters. In that story there was a locker.
Then again, time is not always what it was or could be.
* Ellisburg NY, February 2 2001 *
"Squad Two is down! Repeat: Squad Two is down!"
"Where did the capes go?!"
"Lightwave and Iron Maiden were killed and then these bastards started eating them! Remaining capes have fled!"
"Screw this! This is Captain Piggot, Squad Three! Fighting retreat! Any allied forces in area please assist!"
"Piggot? Director Emily Piggot?" The voice wasn't familiar.
"If you're not going to help, get off the line! This is CAPTAIN Emily Piggot!"
"Directive from Commander Hebert. Assist PRT forces and Director Piggot unless other contraindicated. Jump in four."
Captain Emily Piggot snarled but called out to her remaining team. "Hold position. Be ready for friendlies! Some sort of cape assist!"
The sound of guns firing, very very loud ones, cut off most of her third sentence.
Then they were there, leaping into the fray and firing really large guns.
"2A here! Where is Director Piggot?" said a woman with long hair who was holding some sort of Vulcan-style machine gun that had to weigh three times what she did.
"I said I'm CAPTAIN Piggot," stated Emily Piggot. "Can you assist?"
"Identification badges indicate PRT forces, cooperating," said the woman in the very-little-at-all black costume. The gun spun up and then a stream of metallic death started shredding the bio-constructs that were trying to approach them.
"Suggest human forces pull back," said a large guy who had a huge sword and equally huge shield. "For the PRT! For Commander Hebert!"
There was a scream of bloodlust and fierce anger as another four of the oddly dressed and equipped soldiers landed nearby and began shredding anything approaching the PRT troops.
The things from Ellisburg retreated temporarily, giving them a needed respite as Emily directed the remaining troopers to gather the wounded and retreat as quickly as possible.
She noticed 2A looking her over curiously. "Something wrong?"
"Arnie," said 2A. "Calculate possibility that temporal coordinates in error."
The big guy with the cleaver and shield looked around. "Unfortunately high. Explosion may have thrown off process."
"Emily Piggot," said 2A. "What year is it?"
Captain Emily Piggot was tired, angry, and wounded. She WAS paying attention though. "Get me to the evac point and I'll tell you."
"Acceptable," said 2A. "Fall back. For humanity!"
"GLORY TO MANKIND!" called out the odd troops.
* After Action hearing, February 4, 2001 *
"-and those signs led us to the arrival point of the reinforcements being 4km from Ellisburg as the damage to the ground matches up with the departure point directly outside Ellisburg. That was well within comms range with the repeaters even with the comms system failure."
"We tend to agree, based on analysis of the Ellisburg area, that better reconnaisance and intel could have kept this from being a complete dumpster fire," said the Director of ENE Operations. "That the reinforcements managed to devastate the enemy forces to the extent they did is another area of concern I'm getting a large amount of queries on from other Directors. We could have ended with many less survivors had they not appeared. You say they all began vanishing as soon as you stated the year?"
"Yes, they kept their end of the bargain, so I did my part," answered Captain Piggot. "They received the news, conferred amongst themselves, pulled out some sort of tinkertech device, adjusted and activated it. Clearly it was some sort of teleportation device."
"We've reviewed footage of the group. What is your analysis?" asked someone in a labcoat and other typical scientist-wear.
"Not human. Some sort of synthetic flesh and blood over mechanical innards," said Captain Piggot. "Similar in some ways to the Terminators from the Aleph films in construction if not attitude. It was obvious from wounds received during the extraction. Some superhuman strength and stamina, also toughness, but not bulletproof. From what I heard they are completely loyal to someone named 'Commander Hebert' and to humanity second. Though that may have been just an act, my gut says no. Apparently their teleportation device failed due to an explosion of some kind and they ended up near here and in this time. Since we haven't heard about them before this, I'd guess from the future."
There were a few nods from the egghead squad, so Emily Piggot felt this wasn't exactly a new conclusion despite how ridiculous or outrageous the statement would otherwise be.
"They called you 'Director Piggot' as well," said the Director. "Thoughts?"
"I've tried NOT to think about that," admitted Captain Piggot. "I likely can't continue to serve with this degree of damage. Could have been worse though. Much worse."
"We can arrange a prosthetic leg. The one called 'Arnie' is the one who carried you out?" asked one of the other eggheads.
"Yes, only three of my squad were able to walk out on their own," admitted Captain Piggot. "Three others beside myself were carried."
"So we're looking at someone named Hebert knowing you in the future, who is some sort of Tinker most likely," said the scientist-type who'd spoken first. "Someone who works with you or knows you and has some degree of respect for you. If you encounter someone like this, I think you should try to keep that in mind."
"Sirs. No current Tinkers named Hebert?" asked Captain Piggot.
"None. We're keeping this as quiet as possible, but we have checked the most obvious clues," said the Director. "Nothing has come up at all. I think we're done here for the moment, Captain. Dismissed."
* May 10, 2005 *
* PRT Conference Call, Level 5+ Security *
"Everyone keep in mind that discussing this outside of this group is considered an S-Class breach of conduct," said Rebecca Costa-Brown. "This is due to concerns about violating the timeline and potential consequences of paradox effects. Does everyone understand this?"
There was a chorus of agreements and one person who started to argue and was immediately ejected from the conference.
"James Tagg is one of those people whom, if I ever met him in person, I would have an immediate and hard-to-control desire to smack him," growled Director Armstrong.
There was a second chorus of agreements.
"Enough," said Rebecca Costa-Brown, the Chief Director of the Parahuman Response Team eyeing all the others on her own display. "The aftermath of the Leviathan sinking of Newfoundland - we're still gathering reports and data. Therefore the focus of this meeting is specifically the Terminator Squad."
"I really don't think they'd like the comparison," opined Director Nova.
"I am NOT going to call them 'Hebert's Heroes'," stated Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown.
"The androids appeared, performed search and rescue operations, and then gathered at a point near the command center at which point they vanished," stated Director Nova. "Total number: Six. There was a reference to someone else, some hero or villain named 'Bakuda' whom they blamed for their current displacement in time. There was also a reference to 'getting back to the others' which may indicate that there are more of them not displaced in time."
"I'll need those audio files," stated Chief Director Costa-Brown.
"I've got one of my people cleaning up the files and trying to eliminate some of the extraneous noise, will forward that to you after this meeting," said Director Nova.
"Any further data from what we had previously?" asked Director Lee.
"The weapons are from a variety of timeframes with no real pattern that we could immediately determine, the earliest being a German rifle that was used in World War II. Several, including the minigun, were of similar design but had a number of details that were not historically correct." Director Nova checked something offscreen. "The energy weapons were high-energy lasers for the most part with the notable exception of the plasma sword."
* July 10, 2010 *
"Okay, I'm here what the hell's the big... deal?"
Shadow Stalker's voice had trailed off as she entered the conference room, mainly because it wasn't just Deputy Director Renick here. No. Director Piggot was also here. And Armsmaster. And Miss Militia. Even then, it wouldn't have been too big a deal. No. ALEXANDRIA was standing there. And two others in costume she couldn't immediately place.
"Shadow Stalker, we need to impress upon you an additional long-term mission," said Director Piggot, looking as serious as she ever did. Not angry though, so there was that much.
"Yeah, okay, okay," said Shadow Stalker. Didn't sound like something in her past had come to light. So far so good.
"There's a girl in your school we need you to keep an eye on," said Director Piggot. "Do you know a Taylor Hebert? Are you okay?"
"Gak! Uhm, no?" asked Shadow Stalker.
Alexandria was frowning but spoke up. "Think Tank gives her a 33% chance of being someone we've been looking for."
Like a criminal? Sophia thought that was likely it. No, Hebert didn't have nearly enough spine to be a criminal worthy of this level of attention. Maybe turning tricks for druggies but that was about it.
"It still could be the father," grumbled Armsmaster.
"Only given an 8% chance at this point," said Alexandria.
It still sounded more likely than HEBERT to Shadow Stalker. According to Emma, Hebert's dad was a lush of some kind but maybe he was less pathetic than the daughter.
An image appeared on a monitor before Armsmaster spoke. "This is Taylor Hebert. She attends Winslow. Report at the end of the week on activities when school starts again."
"I'll do it," chimed in Shadow Stalker. Keep an eye on Hebert in case she was doing some kind of criminal activity then she could beat the snot out of Taylor and arrest her!
Weird that Alexandria was giving her a stare that really didn't seem all that friendly, but maybe it was her time of month.
"Just keep an eye on her and report if anything strange happens," said Director Piggot.
* Thursday, September 9, 2010 *
* Emma *
What was going on? This didn't make sense.
Sophia kept watching Taylor. Not with hate or smug or contempt like she had previously. As if Taylor was a puzzle she was trying to figure out or something.
This was wrong. Taylor was just Taylor. Something that had to be put down so that she, Emma Barnes, could move on to better things.
She was strong, she was not a child anymore, and she had to put this constant reminder of her past down into the dirt where she belonged.
It was the only way to move forward.
* Sophia *
She didn't get it. On the other hand, because there was something definitely up with the situation - she was aware that things weren't necessarily as cut-and-dried as she would otherwise have thought.
Hebert was walking-wounded. That was prey behavior. Well, mostly.
She had some strength though. She never snapped. Never fought back. Probably had some weird idea about "moral high ground" or something else that Piggot and the others would chat about. It obviously didn't exist, but it was one of those ideas that stuck around long after its time had come and gone.
No criminal activity, Sophia knew because she'd gone through the skinny queef's stuff enough, so that little bit of satisfaction wasn't likely to come.
So what was she supposed to watch for?
Sophia frowned and glanced towards Emma. Why was Emma getting twitchy anyway?
* Emma *
Finally, her chance. Her chance to prove she was strong. Her chance to discard the past and move forward!
Taylor hadn't spotted her and was just slouched over and hurrying out towards the bus stop.
Just come out of the bushes and push!
Taylor landed just in front of that car, screaming in the moment before the car hit her. A tragic accident!
Except Taylor never landed after the initial bounce, vanishing in the moment between car and pavement.
But Sophia had seen her do it so things would be fixed between them now.
* Resistance Camp, City Ruins *
"Incoming Android. Looks pretty damaged. And scrawny."
Anemone snorted as she went to a lookout point to get a better view. Stumbling down the road, bloody, limping, no weapons. Weird clothing. "Get Popola and Devola. We have a visitor. Perhaps that pack of hers will have some barter to pay for the services."
She went down to check on the newcomer, noting however that the camp was going silent as she did.
Chet was carrying the stranger, and he had a strange expression on his face.
"So what's up? She have anything good on her?" asked Anemone.
"She's... human," said Chet, staring at her.
"That can't be..." said Anemone, scoffing.
"They've returned," said Arnold, staring at the newcomer. "They... they didn't abandon us."
A-2 stumbled forward, the combat unit looking like she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Popola and Devola came at a run, Anemone waited for them to denounce the rogue unit.
"PUT HER DOWN! CAREFULLY! SHE'S INJURED YOU DOLT!"
"Everyone give her some room!"
Wait. What? Anemone twitched. Those two would know if anyone would. And if THEY thought this was...
Oh.
* A2 *
A human. An actual, living, breathing, human.
She'd been sure. They were all dead. It was all a farce. All the fighting was for nothing.
Except there was one. Badly injured. Hurt. Maybe dying.
She didn't say or do anything about the crowd that was all suddenly there as the scent spread. Distinct. Unique. Human sweat.
Even the weapons dealer with his bum leg was here.
Afraid to approach. Afraid to speak. Afraid that this miracle would die here before their eyes.
Popola and Devola began calling out orders and they all rushed to it. No. If they had anything ANYTHING to say about it this would not be the last time they'd see a human. One of the creators. One that they had been built to protect.
Boiling water. She had no idea why she needed to boil water, but if it was to save the Last Human she would find an ocean and boil it!
HOW? How had a human showed up after all these centuries?!
Frozen in cryosleep? Maybe a ship from the moon had crashed? Possibly there was a hidden underground bunker or vault or something? Time travel?
The male pleasure unit, Chet, rushed past her with handfuls of clothing.
Buskirk, the old creaky 1st gen, was also boiling water for whatever reason.
A2 felt that the world had changed and she had absolutely no idea what it all meant at this point.