this was one of the original concepts for what was chapter 14 of Worm Turns, but then i ran across "Scaling Up" and decided it was too close. Wrote it out a bit here.
WARNING: there's a lot more errors in this story than i usually allow. my computer is doing something weird where the cursor jumps around and sometimes deletes parts of sentences and puts punctuation in where I didn't want it. Trying to figure out what's doing it.
LONG LIVE THE QUEEN
"He had dragons," noted Taylor aloud.
"Yes?" asked Toltiir. "He IS a dragon, though he didn't start out that way. He's spent more time as a dragon than he has as a human or anything else - unless you count celestial agent-slash-catspaw."
"Is THAT why you usually look cattish?" asked Taylor.
"What, me? Do a long-running pun? Surely you jest," answered the cat.
"I haven't known you for very long, but I'm thinking yes and don't call me Shirley," responded Taylor. "So how about if I was a dragon?"
"Okay, that could work," admitted Toltiir. "Though someone's already done that in another timeline where things were Scaling Up."
"How about a different kind of dragon then, with minions?" asked Taylor.
"Something with minions, okay, something..." Toltiir stopped and its cat body performed a grin that was not anatomically correct for a cat. "Queen Administrator. Oh yes. And that particular dimensional line doesn't have them."
"Why am I getting concerned?" asked Taylor.
"Well, you were originally getting the Queen Administrator shard, it's just that your world-setting is much better off with things like dragons and elves and fae - right?" asked Toltiir, looking about as innocent as an Elder God-Thing in a rough approximation of a cat-body could. Which, just for the record, was not very.
Taylor looked very very uncertain, but finally went with the seeming obvious answer. "Right?"
"Well, let's see, you'll need some abilities at reduced levels in your base form," mused the cat-like being. "Isn't it nice that the elven gods, the dark elven gods, and the gods of dragons don't exist at all in this dimension?"
"I suppose..." hedged Taylor.
"There," said the cat, throwing something that looked like a gaming miniature at Taylor.
"WHAT?!" exclaimed Taylor as a five-headed miniature suddenly became huge.
* Brockton Bay General Hospital *
"Okay. What. The. Hell?!"
The doctor, the nurse, and Danny Hebert all stared at Panacea as nobody really expected that reaction.
"Her DNA is completely alien! There's amino acids I've never heard of! The DNA isn't just a spiral staircase, it extends in ways that makes my power hurt!" Panacea dropped the patient's hand. "This person is NOT a parahuman. She's not human. It's like she's a Case 53 except she looks human. If you exclude the little horns, fangs, pointed ears, and those eyes!"
Panacea began walking back and forth. "I've never seen anything even close to her and now my power is curled up in a corner gibbering about angles-that-aren't and extensions of n-dimensional superstructures into normal space-time and DRAGONS. Seriously, what the... excuse me."
"So... what does that mean?" asked the concerned father.
"It means I can't do anything," said Panacea. She stopped. "Oh, and now my power just fainted. In a corner that doesn't exist. I'm going home. Maybe this will make more sense after I get some sleep."
* PRT ENE HQ, January 4, 2011 *
"...attempts to draw blood were initially unsuccessful, but were accomplished by using a diamond-tipped drill. The wound healed almost immediately but the blood was extracted," said Doctor Ikari. "It dissolved the plastic vial, but glass seemed able to contain it."
"So, Brute?" asked Director Piggot.
"Based on tissue density, the muscular definition that's developed, and the skin toughness - yes," agreed Doctor Ikari. "She was apparently 5'9" prior to her trigger. Currently she's 6'4" and her measured weight and observed mass don't match. On the bed scale she weighs one-fifty-five, which is much too low for observed physiology."
* Winslow High School *
"Hebert's in the hospital. Toxic shock diagnosis." Dolph set his books to the side of his tray.
"Those three are untouchable, you know that," said Otto. "That they can get away with everything they've done means connections."
"You know I work as transport in the hospital," said Dolph. "Pick up stuff."
"Yeah," said Frank. "What's 'toxic shock' anyway?"
Dolph finished chewing the mystery meat loaf before answering. "Means there's diseases. Use bleach wipes on stuff you've got in your lockers."
"What, that stuff could spread? I can still smell that. Can of air freshener they used don't cut it," complained Otto.
Dolph grunted. "Gets worse."
"Worse than them three thinking they're queens of the school and shoving a girl in her locker? What happens if she dies, who's their next target?" asked Otto.
"You're Empire," pointed out Dolph.
"Hey, you've got your career track, I've got mine," said Otto. "Won't say it's a good track, just not a lot of other options. How's it worse?"
Dolph considered as he finished off his milk. "Can't say. Unwritten Rules. Also HIPAA."
The two Empire mook-wannabes looked at their bigger associate. "Oh," said Otto, who might be overweight and not the brightest person at Winslow, but he could read between those lines. "That could be bad."
Dolph raised a shoulder briefly. He wasn't about to jrisk his job much over this, but he was very concerned himself.
"Geez, what if she ends up like Barbara Boom in New Mexico last week?" asked Frank. "You know, the one that was thrown down a flight of stairs and ended up blowing the place up? Gal can only do explosions."
"Duck & Cover?" suggested Otto.
Dolph shrugged again. In Winslow it was easier to act like you were at least somewhat allied with a gang if you didn't have much else going for you. He played football and worked as a volunteer at the hospital, so his case was different.
It didn't mean he didn't worry though.
* Brockton Bay General Hospital *
Armsmaster entered the room, having received notice that the patient was awake and responsive.
"-and that's why I think I should undergo some training," said the girl sitting up in her bed.
Armsmaster looked down at the crushed section of metal pipe that was part of the bed and put a checkmark next to Brute rating. As the crushed part clearly bore the imprint of a hand, it was time to go into the benefits of joining the Wards. "If you register with the PRT we can make suggestions as to that, and if you join the Wards then training in the use of your powers is available. It's early, but do you have a cape name?"
"Tiamat," answered Taylor Hebert.
"The... Mesopotamian goddess of the sea?" asked Armsmaster.
"Not quite," said Taylor, making a waving motion. "Different universes, different Beings, even those that are altered reflections of the same thing."
"Ah, so... power testing?" asked Armsmaster, not entirely sure what to make of this.
"Sure, my base form could use a workout. Okay with you, Dad?" asked Taylor.
"I have to admit some curiosity myself," answered Danny Hebert.
* PRT ENE HQ. January 5, 2011 *
Emily Piggot lowered the form in front of her. "'Base form'?"
"She states she can't shift forms yet, as her power hasn't..." Miss Militia looked to Armsmaster.
"According to Tiamat, the bulk of her power and Changer abilities can't be accessed until she's adapted more to this universe," said Armsmaster. "It may be some form of coping mechanism considering her trigger."
"Ah hah," said Emily Piggot as she went back to the report. "Brute... 8+?"
"She used the electromagnetic weight emulator and managed a deadlift of seventy-five tons," said Armsmaster. "Impact testing indicates she could likely tank a typical RPG round. Also shows signs of regenerative abilities similar to Lung."
"I see," said Director Piggot, returning her attention to the report. "Thinker 2? Enhanced senses?"
"Sense of smell and hearing," said Miss Militia. "She also apparently no longer needs glasses."
"I see," repeated Director Piggot, again looking down. "Possible Blaster and Shaker? Why aren't you certain?"
"Again, she states that her powers aren't fully there yet," explained Miss Militia. "When she attempted anyway, she managed to breathe out a tiny amount of flame. This was followed by a spit of acid and a few sparks. She was quite disappointed."
"That's still a pretty good Brute rating, did you ask her about Ward membership?" asked Piggot.
"She was receptive until Miss Militia joined us. Tiamat then stated that there was a familiar scent being carried by Miss Militia and she needed to verify what it meant. She was joking and light-hearted one moment, but oriented on Miss Militia and seemed quite irritated thereafter." Armsmaster inclined his head slightly, prompted by a cue in his helmet's display.
"She's not Empire-material is she?" asked Piggot.
"No," said Armsmaster. "I believe it was in reference to her trigger."Details on page 2."
"Hmmm," hmmmed Director Piggot. She began reading the second page, coming to a stop almost immediately. "Is this confirmed?"
"We're confirming it now," said Armsmaster. "Her computer and phone are being checked."
"Good," said the Director. "If we DO manage to get Tiamat into the Wards, I think someone needs a personnel transfer at the very least. For all Youth Guard's comments about 'child soldiers' - expectations of professional military discipline from two teenage girls is a bit much."
"There is one bit that's odd but hopeful," said Miss Militia.
"Oh?" asked Director Piggot, thinking that everything involving parahumans ranged from odd to just flat out impossible. "What's that?"
"She has a 'stun' setting," said Miss Militia. "Though apparently it's labelled 'slapstick' in her head. No idea why."
* January 6, 2011 *
"I'm going to need a bigger test machine," said Armsmaster as Tiamat held the bar up over her head.
"One hundred tons," said Dragon's voice from a wall display. "Monitoring lifesigns shows no strain. Impressive."
"Changer form, stage one, shows increased strength and durability by a factor of at least 150%," stated Armsmaster. "That's in keeping with increased mass of Tiamat's form. She said she was now at 16% of full power. "
Tiamat's scales shifted from black to red, the horns becoming more prominent, before she roared at a target. The first few seconds of flame seemed weak and spread out, but Tiamat apparently figured it out and the last became more focused and reached the target thereafter.
Tiamat shifted again, this time to a blue coloration, and lightning hit to the left of the next target. Growling, literally, Tiamat tried again and this time managed to hit the edge of the target. Similar attempts accompanied by minor color and scale-shape variations demonstrated a cold and an acid discharge ability.
Dragon decided to point something else out. "I'm not sure whether to consider this a Breaker or a Changer state."
Armsmaster considered his displays for a moment. "According to this, she's gotten a letter for Winslow regarding her absence."
"If you send Taylor back to Winslow, how much of the school will still be intact by the end of the day?" asked Dragon.
"Depends on the average intelligence of the students and faculty," mused Armsmaster, mainly focused on sensor readings.
"Winslow," stated Dragon.
Armsmaster blinked, seriously considering that. "Ah."
"Indeed," said Dragon.
* Taylor *
My ears twitched as they discussed my return to Winslow. I couldn't help the reaction, my senses were different in the various forms. Blue seemed to have the highest visual acuity, while red had better hearing and the sense of smell in all forms seemed a lot better than base. On the other hand, the sense of touch was blunted quite a bit in every form except white. Likewise the slightly cool testing room felt wildly different to red and blue (quite chilly) to white (stuffy-warm) and terribly dry to her black-scaled form.
Fortunately I had the "Slapstick" setting which seemed to have varying effects but didn't seem likely to permanently injure people. Much as she'd like to punt Sophia Hess to the moon, that would have legal consequences she wouldn't want to face. Since transforming she'd felt violence much more a likely response, but outright killing someone was still a couple of steps too far in the response department.
Going through options, I found something under the innate spellcasting tab that sounded interesting. Shapechanging.
I tried to picture myself as I had been. Plain old Taylor Hebert pre-locker. Except the frog belly could go away, that was something I'd never cared for. And maybe a little more up-top, since the flatness there had been a sore point. Maybe if the mouth wasn't too large, it was something else that had bothered her from time to time. Maybe if she could just tweak this a bit too.
A bit of effort and it worked. I was back to being good old Taylor Hebert. Nobody would notice a thing.
"Miss Hebert, if you could avoid adding more powers to your profile for a little while at least?" complained Dragon's voice.
* January 24, 2011 *
Taylor Hebert walked towards the school, seemingly unconcerned with anything around her.
She was watched. Xiao Li, local leader of the recruiting for the ABB within Winslow, had some connections. One of which had told her that the white girl had Triggered. There was no sign of such, so the information might have been bogus, but he would watch and evaluate.
Otto Bergman, local recruit for the E88, knew he wasn't particularly smart or clever or even believed the whole spiel the upper-levels paraded. He knew that the girl had Triggered but was back to looking normal. That didn't mean much as she could still have some weird parahuman ability that could level the school. Which would be great if he wasn't IN the school at that given point. He wasn't particularly brave either, so he'd just watch from way over there.
Three girls stepped out of the school doors, apparently waiting.
The various groups watching continued to watch, with several prepared to duck behind the nearest object that could provide cover.
Just in case.
Several also had phones out and live-streamed or recorded. Just in case.
"Oh, look, she's back. I don't know why she would show up, better if she'd just crawled away and died."
"I don't know why she even tried to make herself look presentable, you can't do art with a deformed canvas."
Taylor kept walking, apparently not paying attention as she read a book.
"Look at the loser, reading and walking. Mind you, I'm surprised she can do both at the same time."
Taylor turned a page as she walked, almost at the trio by this point.
"She's even stuffing a bra. I suppose that's the only way she's got some reason to even wear a bra."
"She should just die. Do the world a fav... HEY!"
Taylor brushed past Emma and Sophia as if she hadn't even noticed them.
Sophia lashed out, kicking at the knee to cause Taylor to fall down. At least that was the intent. Instead Sophia briefly hopped around on one foot as if she'd kicked bricks.
Naturally, Sophia wasn't about to let that stand.
"Body armor? That's not allowed in school. Hey, you!" Sophia grabbed at Taylor with one hand, smacking away the book with the other.
"Huh?" asked Taylor innocently. "Oh, was that you, Sophie? All I registered was some annoying buzzing. Like from a fly or something."
"Don't forget your place, PREY!" said Sophia, punching Taylor in the solar plexus. Then cradling her hand, which hadn't broken but felt like she'd just punched a post.
"Awww," said Taylor, patting Sophia on the head. "That's cute. Don't flirt with me though - I'm not interested in joining your little lesbian S&M club."
"Misplace something, Taylor?" asked Emma, having scooped up the book.
"Yeah, but you need it more than I do," said Taylor. "See you in class."
Emma Barnes checked the cover. "Miss Manners Guide to Polite Behavior? Wait, what?"
"Prey doesn't just get to walk away, bitch!" Sophia tried to legsweep Taylor, then tried a throat-spear. Taylor simply seemed to grab Sophia's wrist as if Sophia was moving in slow motion. THere was a cracking noise. Sophia screamed.
"What's going on here?" asked Mister Gladly, hurrying up.
"Oh, Mister G," said Taylor sweetly. "I was simply telling Sophia that I'm not interested in joining her little lesbian love-fest. Not that there's anything wrong with that lifestyle, I just don't share it. She just needs to learn that 'no means no'."
"Let her go," demanded Mister Gladly.
"Oh, sorry, Sophie," said Taylor letting Sophia's arm go.
"Mister Gladly, Taylor just attacked us with no reason!" declared Emma.
"No I just didn't want to join your little clique," said Taylor. "I didn't realize that Sophie was so frail..."
Sophia's eyes widened and she actually growled.
"...and weak..." continued Taylor.
Sophia started twitching.
"...and, well, delicate that I might have accidently injured her while rejecting those little love taps of hers," Taylor turned an innocent looking smile at Sophia.
"ARRRGHHHHH!" yelled Sophia as she leapt forward and started hitting and kicking at Taylor with every limb that hadn't been broken.
Three teachers were present at that point.
"Taylor Hebert! Detention!"
"Seriously," said Taylor dryly, as she let Sophia push her around some though she seemed strangely unhurt by any of the blows.
Emma threw the book at Taylor, which bounced off but also didn't do more than have Taylor blink in response.
Principal Blackwell arrived as she watched Emma Barnes pick up a thick hardcover book and begin trying to smack Taylor Hebert around while Sophia Hess continued to punch and kick without using one particular arm.
"Taylor Hebert is apparently assaulting Sophia Hess' left fist and feet with her body while hitting Emma Barnes' book with her back," said Mister Fenton, the shop teacher's voice conveying his skepticism. You could almost hear the accompanying eyeroll.
Principal Blackwell looked at where the apparently-bored (if one judged from expression) was now being beaten on by three girls. "Uhhh. Right."
"Miss Hebert, stop this at once!" demanded Mister Gladly.
"You want me to stop this?" asked Taylor in a voice so innocent and cheerful that anyone with any sense would carefully consider their next words.
"Yes! Stop this right now!" said Mister Gladly.
Taylor's head was rocked back a few centimeters by a particularly hard hit from Sophia, who was now using a metal thermos as a blunt trauma weapon.
"Okay!" chirped Taylor.
Many of those who had not been recording, were now fumbling with phones as they thought this might be worth it.
* Taylor *
I checked. Just to make sure. Despite the provocation, the three would quickly escalate things and even leaving permanent injury would be likely to invite a lawsuit or worse.
[Slapstick: ON]
I found myself grinning even as Sophia dropped the now-dented and leaking thermos away and was apparently looking for something harder.
"Oops, I slipped." I flailed my arm, "accidently" backhanding Sophia in the process, which spun her around three times before she smacked up against the lockers and then slid down them with a silly smile on her face.
"Wow. I guess she IS into this," I mused aloud.
"You stay awAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!" I grabbed Emma's arm as she tried to smack me as she was moving between me and Sophia. She actually dopplered as I spun a quick circle, still acting as if my feet were slipping in the tea spilled from the broken thermos. She slammed into the unmoving Sophia and the two ended up in a position I had absolutely not intended but was nonetheless amused by.
Madison took one look and surprised everyone by squeaking like a mouse and running away.
"Huh," I said, apparently regaining my bearings. "Oh dear. Sophia and Emma, well, I suppose the only thing surprising is that Emma's on top. You'd think it would be rather the other way around, wouldn't you? Not appropriate in school though, right Mister G?"
* PRT ENE H *
Dolph was bigger than most of the students. The only one that was actually taller than him was the shop teacher, Mister Fenton. Dolph was fairly muscular, and above the average intelligence level for this particular school. It was that last part that had him nod as he made a mental note to be very polite to Hebert from now on.
"School's still standing. Surprised they gave her detention."
Dolph looked down at Otto. "Are you?"
Otto hmphed but continued filming. "No, not really. There's something about Sophia though, or Emma. Even if her Dad's a big-shot lawyer from what she's bragged and Sophia's a track star. Sophia's only the fastest on the team because the last gal who outran her ended up with a broken ankle."
Dolph and Frank both nodded.
Frank spoke up after a few seconds. "Sophia's got that whole thing about 'winning at all costs' and gets away with ambushing competing teams before a match. Wouldn't be surprised if she had dirt on someone high up."
Otto's face went thoughtful for a moment. "Makes sense. Leverage is a thing."
"Not only who you know, but what you know about 'em," agreed Dolph.
"Well, if nothing's gonna happen, we got to get to class," said Frank, starting forward. "She ain't messing with anyone who ain't messing with her, so that's good enough for me."
* PRT ENE HQ *
The Dragon-supplied surveillance device uploaded footage every half-hour.
"Well, that was certainly illuminating."
"Analysis software indicates that the higher percentage she taps into, the more aggressive Tiamat becomes."
"You'll note though that Tiamat caused no lasting harm. Initial scan indicates that the 'Slapstick Effect' field reinforces the structural parts of human targets while leaving things carried or worn fully affected. Might be worth checking into how it might be used to blunt attacks in situations like Endbringer attacks."
"No lasting harm? Sophia Hess was struck with enough force that her skull could have been crushed."
"Yet her skin wasn't broken, no bruising is showing, and detailed scan now that she's in the infirmary indicates no signs of even a concussion."
"The entire point of sending one of my stealth drones to accompany Tiamat was to corroborate her being harassed and who was doing the harassing. We now also have evidence that staff at Winslow are enabling this behavior."
"Dragon is quite right, and thank you for your assistance. Anything regarding Miss Hess' handler at this point?"
"I've gone over her phone records and PRT laptop. She's been doing this for years now, faking reports to make herself look better while there's also indications she's working for someone else and forwarding information to some source outside of the PRT. I have filed for a warrant to examine Principal Blackwell's bank records as I have found evidence that funds sent for use at Winslow have been diverted."
"Good. When Tiamat next does a check-in, relay that the investigation is ongoing. What percentage of her full power is she accessing?"
"With her Changer Stage 1 or Dragonoid Mode, she states that is 8%."
"If and when she gets to a higher percentage, I really want her to regard the PRT and our organization as allies even if she ends up not in the Wards program. In fact, it may be best if she is NOT in the Wards program."
"Director?"
"Can you picture someone with this power level relegated to console duty and standing down when confronted by someone like Hookwolf? In fact, I'd love to see video footage of her fighting Hookwolf when she's over 10%."
"...she'd demolish Hookwolf just in Dragonoid form."
"Your point is?"
"Understood, Director."
* PRT ENE HQ, January 25, 2011 *
Director Emily Piggot rarely smiled. When she did, it was usually not a nice smile. The occasion where it was genuinely a nice smile, people in her vicinity usually had a hand near where a Master-Stranger protocol could be triggered - it was that rare.
The smile on her face as she read the report would have been accepted as her "someone else is going to have a Very Bad Day" smile and everyone who worked with her would have just been glad that it wasn't them under the crosshairs.
Judge Anderson generally was a night worker, and was regarded as soft on petty crimes. Corporate crimes and high level corruption was an entirely different thing. A philosophy more along the line of "how high can we hang 'em" had been shown in the past. When evidence of fund diversion was present he'd signed off on the warrants and politely asked if anyone else was in the firing line and if he could just sign those now.
Dragon was thorough and oh so many heads were going to roll in the figurative sense. Just the suggestion of cooperation had had the maintenance man telling tales. People tended to overlook janitors and maintenace people when they were doing their dirty deeds but those very individuals saw and heard a lot. Cutting their budget was a good way of getting their ire, and making threats of replacing them for any complaints only reinforced their resentment.
Which brought this particular smile out on Emily Piggot's face. She didn't trust capes, had sworn not to rely on them after they'd bailed on her and her troops in Ellisburg, and didn't particularly care for Tiamat herself. One bad day giving someone powers wasn't exactly a recommendation in itself, after all. If she HAD to deal with capes, someone who was powerful and would actually listen to instructions would be the best of potentially bad options.
Here she had the opportunity to: a) show that the PRT could be competent, b) make other people who absolutely deserved it have all sorts of repercussions coming down on them, c) get in the good graces of someone who Dragon had speculated could be an S-Class asset, d) smack down a cape who'd betrayed the PRT and abused their powers.
She absolutely loved win-win scenarios when she was on the winning side.
* Coil *
Perspiring heavily, Coil sat back in his chair as he tried to come to terms with what the Bad Timeline had just revealed.
Things had been going fine, he had been getting the new cape in town under his control. Then - eyes in the dark. Teeth. Big sharp pointy teeth. Crunching noise. End of timeline in a flash of pain.
Pain was one of those gifts he'd rather give than receive. Pain was nature's way of telling you to stop doing that.
Controlling Tiamat directly was off the table. He'd try blackmail or controlling her through her father or those dockworkers later. Right now he had to get a sudden case of the shakes under control.
Another concern was the feeling he was being watched. By something hungry.
It was a very unsettling feeling.
* Dragon *
Tiamat. Babylonian goddess of the ocean and chaos. Understandable because the ocean was affected by a number of factors that even the most learned individuals in that ancient society wouldn't be able to track them. The whole turned-to-evil because her husband had been killed was a matter-of-fact of life in that era. Completely understandable to that society. Nothing observed though connected Tiamat-the-cape to the ocean.
The other source for information about Tiamat seemed more fitting. Fiction dealing with the dragon version fit. A five-headed dragon whose heads could spit out attacks, called breath weapons, that matched up what Tiamat-the-cape had demonstrated. At roughly eight percent of what she stated her full power was.
Yeah. This could be very very bad, but Dragon had to admit the idea of a full-power Tiamat going up against Leviathan could be a case of hungry-cat meets mouse. That was very intriguing.
* Cauldron *
Contessa sighed. "Great. Just great."
"Problems with dragons?" asked Eidolon.
"Eight percent of a problem," said Contessa. "Pathing Tiamat directly doesn't work. At best I get the equivelant of an error message. At worst I get teeth."
"Teeth?" asked Eidolon.
"Five smiling sets of teeth saying that ketchup is over-rated and ranch dressing is better," said Contessa.
"True," said Eidolon. "Whatever the problem is with Thinker abilities, it has good taste at least."
"Leaving questionable dietary habits aside," said Doctor Mother, "you've been trying indirect methods?"
"Yes," agreed Contessa.
"And?" prompted Doctor Mother.
"If Leviathan attacks Brockton Bay, have popcorn ready," said Contessa.
"That's awfully specific for something you can't directly path," noted Eidolon.
"Something Dragon came up with, running a simulation on Endbringer attacks," said Contessa. "Not that that's at all likely."
* Winslow *
"She's coming," said Madison, ducking back along the stairs.
"Ammunition ready," said Emma, the water balloon in her hand being gently squeezed.
Madison took a quick look again. "She... damn it she stopped. She's going to the exit? Is she going to skip class?"
Sophia's voice was speculative. "This is the third time she's changed direction when we've tried to ambush her."
"She's got to come this way to get to next class." Emma was certain, or at least her voice was.
"Do I?"
Madison, Emma, and Sophia slowly looked behind them. Taylor was on the stairs above them.
"Fire!" said Emma, turning and thrusting the balloon out as fast as she could.
Taylor pulled back and disappeared around the corner with a little laugh.
Sophia actually growled and began stalking forward, dropping the water balloon as soon as she realized she was still carrying it.
Unfortunately, Madison had been just below her on the stairs.
* Tuesday. February 1, 2011 *
"So there's a new Ward showing up today?"
"Not a Ward, an affiliated independent."
Leet looked up from his soldering. "Think it's this 'Tiamat' we've heard about?"
"Think so, about time they gave her some official debut," said Uber. "She's been showing up and helping the police for over a week now."
"Think we ought to crash her debut?" asked Leet.
"No. Better let her have her day, we can always work something out later," said Uber. "Besides, she's just a low level Brute right?"
"From the video clip, I'd say Changer-Brute," said Leet. "Yeah. Something dragon-themed we can pull out. Kidnap Glory Girl, she can be a princess."
"Tricky, but she does wear the crown," said Uber. "Eh. We'll have to think about that. See how Tiamat's debut goes."
* PRT ENE HQ *
"Why at the Docks?" asked Director Piggot.
"Water. She's been meditating underwater and thinks she can manage 65% for an hour or so if she comes straight from that. She also requested it because she wanted people to get used to the idea of her being 'big enough that some idiot will hit the Endbringer siren' if they don't have warning." Miss Militia shuddered at the end of that.
"How big could she get?" asked Director Piggot.
Miss Militia told her.
"Shit," said Director Piggot.
"I nearly did when she briefly did it underwater," admitted Miss Militia.
"So when she gets to the point she can tap into this freely," said Director Piggot.
"How's the case against Shadow Stalker going?" asked Miss Militia. "Because we really want Tiamat on our side."
"I have a feeling if I put it to the roadblocks that Tiamat is requesting it, they'll be more likely to move after the debut," said Director Piggot.
"That would be good," agreed Miss Militia.
* ABB Base *
"Someone calling themselves a dragon is debuting? Time to teach them that there is room for only one dragon in Brockton Bay," declared Lung.
"What about Dragon, Great Lung?" asked Xiao Li, not looking up from his spreadsheet.
"Doesn't count, power armor Tinker," said Lung.
"Ah, of course," said Xiao Li. "Looks like the revenue of the pachinko parlor on Dogbert Drive is up. Increased foot traffic. Possibly due to less muggings in the area."
"Good, you crunch the numbers, I'm going to see to this 'Tiamat' and her education," said Lung.
* Wards *
"Why the hell are we here anyway?" asked Shadow Stalker.
"Ah," said Clockblocker, nodding. "Why ARE we here? Is this all just chance and random bullcrap coming together over billions of years to form a single moment that we call 'The Now'? Is there some cosmic being responsible for all this, like some clockmaker who put things together and is just letting things run to a conclusion? Are we just some side-characters in someone else's story? Unusually deep for you, Shadow Stalker."
"What the bloody fuck are you talking about, you moron?" responded Shadow Stalker. "I mean here. Waiting for some affiliate lame hero to make a showing?"
"Oh. Never mind," said Clockblocker.
"Huh, is that Lung?" asked Gallant, pointing.
"He's ducked past the cordon and is going to the area marked off with caution tape," noted Vista.
"-and now," said the announcer voice over their earbuds, "the newest hero of Brockton Bay. Tiamat!"
"-the fuck is this new cape? Do they dare face Lung?!" yelled Lung from where he was standing, the voice being picked up by drone-based microphones.
Which was when a claw erupted out of the water and slammed down on Lung.
"I... I'm not sure what would have a paw that big but I'm pretty sure I don't want to see it," said Clockblocker.
The clawed appendage was pressed down hard enough that concrete cracked all along the outline. Then a shape began heaving itself up to stand alongside the dock.
A white dragon's head large enough to fit a full-sized car within it crested first. Then a green head with a fin atop it. A black-scaled head was followed by a blue head which itself was followed by a red dragon's head. The head of the red dragon was the largest and looked as if it could fit a city bus in there.
Sophia Hess styled herself a predator. She was immediately reminded of the old adage that there was always a bigger one. She was now appreciating that old saying in an entirely new way and was glad that she was wearing the panties that had a bit of absorbtion because she was pretty sure she'd just peed herself.
* Undersiders Base *
Lisa repeated what her power was telling her, despite the impression that it was curled up in a corner and trying to hide under a blanket. "Not full size."
Heads whipped around to regard the very pale Thinker and then back to the TV.
"THAT is not full size?" asked a horrified Grue.
"No," said Lisa/Tattletale after she swallowed to get her suddenly dry mouth operating again. "That's what I got from that. Not full size. Dangerous. Very dangerous."
"I think all of us got the 'dangerous' part," said Grue. "Something like that could eat our base while we're in it."
"Maybe we should relocate? I hear there's some less dangerous places to villain. Like North Carolina." Regent wondered what bus tickets would cost.
* Medhall *
"How the heck is something that big able to move? She's got to be two hundred feet long!"
"Are you counting the tail? And she has a barb on the tail. Wanna bet that's poisonous?"
"That is two hundred feet of Nope!"
"She just spread wings. Wings. What the hell man!"
"Tiamat OP please nerf!"
"I didn't want to be a villain, I wanted to be... a lumberjack."
"And... the red dragonhead spit out a torrent of fire. Blue does lightning. She just turned the black head there at one of those wrecked boats and liquified it. Gone!"
"GAME OVER, MAN! GAME OVER!"
Max Anders twitched and swallowed, trying to pull off his usual suave in-control look. That his hair had erupted in wild cowlicks did not help.
* PRT ENE HQ *
"That's 56%?" asked Director Piggot.
"Yes, ma'am." Miss Militia verified, holding out a glass of bourbon. "If it helps any, consider what the villains are thinking at this point."
"Would it be along the lines of 'don't make her angry, you wouldn't like her when she's angry'?" asked Director Piggot.
"I believe so, yes," admitted Miss Militia.
"Well, there's one good thing about having a potentially pants-shittingly terrifying cape around," said Director Piggot.
"What's that?" asked Miss Militia.
"I have a feeling those individuals who were roadblocks to Shadow Stalker's transfer are going to rethink those positions," said Director Piggot.
"She's shrunk down to her Dragonoid form," noted Miss Militia. "Wait. Is there a little crater with someone in it?"
Director Piggot used her binoculars. "That's Lung."
"I hope she had the 'Slapstick' field on," noted Miss Militia.
"His hand just came up enough to flip the bird at her before he collapsed, so I'm thinking that's a 'yes'," observed Director Piggot.
"Well, there's that at least," admitted Miss Militia.
"She has wings, so she can fly?" asked Director Piggot. "At that size?"
"We haven't experimented due to her only being able to hold that form briefly, and because it would have been slightly noticeable."
* Tiamat *
Slapstick had been On for quite awhile, but that was fine.
"Hello. I'm Tiamat. I've been going for a couple of weeks here in my base form. Thanks to Officer Empi and Officer Kryslin for their assistance on my first night out. As the PRT said I'm kind of an independent Hero, but mostly I just help out when I can and where I can. Oh, and the road repair guys are great. I got to practice my Arabia Carnival spell on that section of road. I've just been wandering around, helping where I can, and I hope you all out there will keep giving me a warm welcome."
* Mayor Christner *
"'Arabia Carnival'?" asked Mayor Christner.
"The road crew she assisted thought it was 'Abra Kadabra' but apparently it's not," Margaret Dumont shrugged as much as her bursitis allowed. "Something that causes what is essentially Roman-style cement to fill cracks or holes in a structure."
"Permanent? Not some sort of projection ability?" asked Mayor Christner thoughtfully.
"Yes to the first, no to the second," answered Dumont. "The road crew tried sanding it and were able to do so. It's pretty tough but not some cape supermaterial. We've sent samples out to be checked but the preliminary came back that it's essentially the same material the Romans made to make things like their coliseum with."
"So... stuff that can last centuries even?" Mayor Christner nodded. "Remind me to give her a medal at some point if she continues to be a benefit to the city and doesn't go all 'dragon rawr' and knock down buildings."
"Might need five medals, one for each head," quipped Dumont.
"If it keeps a two hundred foot long five-headed dragon happy, that sounds like a good investment to me," responded Mayor Christner.
* Wards Area *
"She seems nice," said Vista. "I've met her a few times. I didn't know she could change that much though."
Shadow Stalker's head slowly moved to face Vista, but it wasn't clear if she was actually seeing the shorter girl.
"Yeah, Tiamat's cool and all, but her Dragonoid form is scary enough," said Clockblocker. "THAT is another level of terrifying altogether."
"You suppose I could get a ride from her? That'd be neat!" said Vista.
* New Wave *
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
Amy Dallon ate a cracker as she looked over at her sister before answering. "A five-headed dragon."
"...wait. 'Tiamat'? Wasn't there a voice mail..." asked Vicky.
"Someone who wanted to join New Wave and left a message last month? Yeah." Amy grabbed another cracker, dipping it into the guacamole before munching away.
"We could have had a dragon on the team?" asked Vicky, now looking less in shock and rather more despondent.
"Maybe," hedged Amy. "We can still be allies, you know."
* Cauldron *
Doctor Mother looked at the assembled people and, uncharacteristically for her, had to think of the best way to tell them something. Maybe just say it. "Tiamat is neither a human or parahuman."
"We already know that from the hospital blood sample they were able to collect," pointed out Eidolon. "They had to use a diamond-tipped drill to get a sample."
"That was when she was apparently less than 5% of her full power," said Doctor Mother. "Her biology continues to change and adapt to wield the power she's tapping into. The so-called Dragonoid form is still less than 30% of that. The five-headed dragon we saw in the recording is the real Tiamat. Whatever happened to Taylor Hebert last month, it transformed her utterly and as time goes on there is less of the original girl left."
"So, it's taking her over? I haven't seen any evidence of that," said Alexandria. "We've had footage of her forwarded for psychiatric analysis ever since we discovered she has an anti-Thinker effect."
"Because normally we rely on Thinkers to analyze cape behavior," realized Eidolon. "Still - what's new about your findings?"
"Tiamat is able to access some unknown energy field in order to manifest effects that she calls 'spells' - these are usually set effects that can emulate powers to some extent." Doctor Mother checked her notes. "Apparently this is something she is pulling up from memories that are not her own."
"Somehow I doubt a 'dragon goddess of wickedness' is the sort that has been going around repairing damage from cape attacks and assisting repair crews and emergency responders," said Alexandria dryly.
There was consideration of that with finally a grudging nod from Doctor Mother. "We should remain vigilant anyway."
* Coil *
"Well, what do we have here?" asked an impossibly deep and growly voice.
At that point one of his walls shattered and he was grabbed by a dragon's mouth.
In seconds he was hanging suspended, a white-scaled head holding his left leg and a black-scaled head holding his right arm.
"Make a wish!" declared a blue-scaled head.
The two heads holding him increased the distance between them in a swift jerk.
It REALLY hurt.
The timeline went dark very abruptly.
Coil sat back in his lair and closed his eyes for a few brief moments before going to the whiteboard he'd set up and crossing another method of getting control of the five-headed dragon off the list.
* Winslow High School. February 2, 2011 *
"There she is! Get her!"
Taylor blinked and looked as she walked towards the bus stop. There was Sophia pointing. Five boys running towards her.
Not long ago, she would have turned and run. Not long ago, she would have thought them a threat. Not long ago a thought that was pretty pathetic would have been a completely alien thought.
Not long ago the idea of being able to throw her attacks entirely over the school with her bare hands would not have been an impulse she had to squash.
One in the lead leapt at her, a roll of duct tape in one hand and the tape stretched out to the other hand.
She stood there, braced a little, and grabbed the youth by one arm, spun in place, and launched him back the way he came. The second boy managed to dodge his incoming ally, which was actually slightly impressive.
That two police cruisers pulled up as the other four tried to grab her had been duly noted. That the police immediately made their way to her was also noted. That the police officers then proceeded to arrest five boys was a welcome change of pace. That Sophia had vanished as soon as the police had shown up was entirely predictable.
Strange that they showed up that quickly though.
Taylor just gave her statement to the police, indicated that she was afraid for her life (lie) or that they might have been trying for something else. That she now wasn't stick-thin and had a figure developing might have been too much for them was hinted.
The five boys immediately began denying it and fingered Sophia Hess as the instigator. Taylor had no doubt that she would deny and that someone would provide an alibi. Didn't matter though, there was now an official record with her name in it.
* PRT ENE HQ *
"Miss Jones, you just deleted a report from BBPD showing that Sophia Hess was involved in an attempt on sexual assault on a fellow student. Your job isn't to call the police and suggest they drop an investigation. Your job isn't to falsify reports showing Sophia Hess is a model student. Your job is not to delete or bury forty-seven other notices of misconduct in order to make Sophia Hess sound like she farts rainbows and craps gold. Is there anything you want to say about this?"
Sophia Hess' handler/social worker looked around at all the people gathered in the Director's office who were looking at her. She swallowed nervously before speaking. "Shouldn't I have a lawyer present?"
"You will, eventually," said Director Piggot. "We've compiled quite a case and now caught you directly managing the information instead of managing the individual you're responsible for. I just wondered if you had some excuse before we put you in a cell and under Master/Stranger protocols."
* Tiamat *
I was doing a patrol in Dragonoid form. That part was fine.
Flying was a chore and not nearly as easy as Glory Girl made it look.
Generate buoyancy with magical energy, use wings for lift, shift body and wing surfaces to turn. Lots of little complicated bits.
Whereas Glory Girl and seemingly every other flyer made it look effortless. Cheaters.
Yeah, maybe I was generating a magical field that basically made my weight near-zero and someone without that might regard that as cheating, but it was not cheating nearly as much as someone who could break sound barriers without having any wings or concerns about aerodynamics.
What really brought this home was when I would do a patrol and freaking Glory Girl LAPPED ME. "On your left" indeed!
After the second time I accessed my magic in order to spellcast.
"Dimension Door." It was basically doing what Vista did. Take Point A and Point B and collapse the distance between them. Problem was that it was a 4th level spell and it only did 500ft. Great for popping up past a door, or going from one roof to another. Not so great for doing a patrol and avoiding having to hear-
"On your left," said Glory Girl as she zipped past me again.
Good goddess of magic she sounded SMUG.
A lot of my spells seemed to be awfully limited as far as usefulness in an urban environment. Clairvoyance for example - see some place or person you're focusing on. Sounds super-useful, right? No, it had a range of 1 mile. One puny mile. Even as slow (compared to Glory Girl) as I was a flier, I could be there in the ten minutes that it took to cast the damn spell.
Haste or Expeditious Retreat might help, but I had my doubts either would get me to Glory Girl's top speed.
Okay, maybe this...
"Conjure Item: Pillow."
I smacked Glory Girl in the face during the next attempted pass.
"Did you... oh it is ON!" indicated Glory Girl.
I smiled and dove.
"You're not getting... oh, a mugging."
Having noticed what I was heading for, we put aside the pillow fight for now. The muggers noted that they had Glory Girl and an angry dragon incoming and did the second most sensible thing they could - ran as if their lives depended on it. The most sensible thing would have been to present themselves for arrest. The least sensible thing would have been to start shooting and the whole throwing-the-gun thing at two people who could be shot in the face and it would simply piss us off.
It is really surprising how many people immediately go to the least sensible option. There are times when I wonder why evolution wouldn't put a higher priority on having some common sense or at least rapid evaluation of potential threats.
* Taylor, February 23 2011 *
School without the trio anywhere nearby was different. Better.
I was still mostly shunned. Reasons didn't matter, nobody approached when I claimed a table in the cafeteria. The others would leave or pull back, shifting to give me space. There were whispers. Mostly sticking with my physical appearance. Some would suggest I had plastic surgery. Some would suggest I had "bloomed" like I was one of those onions at an Outback Steakhouse or something. Some suggested I had ties to the E88 (as if!) or ABB (despite that I did not look Asian in the least) or the Merchants (even most of the students pshawed THAT one) or some villain group. I actually considered further muddying things by claiming that I was a minion-in-training for Uber and Leet because that would confuse EVERYONE. Probably including Uber and Leet. Decided against it because that might draw some attention to my home life.
As for PHO and Tiamat, it was what you might expect. Void Cowboy would invade a thread, post some sort of vaguely-paranoid or puerile nonsense, and apparently watch the resulting commentary. The regulars did their thing with some of them coming up with the occasional interesting insight. AllSeeingEye in particular seemed to have some theories which were either completely insightful or completely off-base in the threads which mentioned me.
At least without homework getting stolen/trashed - my grades were making an extreme improvement. Some teachers threw the cheating charge into their little talks, but I could prove that I did the work and turned it in on time and knew the bloody material. When Gladly did the group-project thing, people still tried to be in some other group but the group I was in usually did well. Greg Veder was still a gullible idiot, but that was just proof that the universe around me hadn't changed.
I had a routine. Get up, do some exercises, prepare for and go to school, get home and drop off some work, go the PRT Wards room and do homework while patrol schedules and training duties continued in their little scheduled slots. Get home and fix dinner for myself and Dad. If it was a patrol or console night, go there - otherwise I was on-call.
Unfortunately, schedules and routines are subject to interruptions big and small.
An Endbringer Alert was definitely on the big side.
Which led to a further surprise, I wasn't allowed to go.
Dad was relieved. Incarnation of a goddess of draconic fury to the side, I was his daughter. I can understand that - family is important. It was, however, extremely frustrating. I could help. My presence could make a difference. I was up to 60% of full power now though in Dragonoid form I wasn't all that different looking. I could go full dragon for much longer though. Even if the PRT had told me NOT to go to patrols in full five-headed dragon form.
Vista was quite disappointed as she'd wanted to dragon-ride her patrols and go about.
In a completely different development on that subject, I had managed to get Vista a trial number of containment foam grenades. Which she could throw through her little spatial distortions and foam the hell out of individual targets or use for area denial by blocking alleyways and doorways.
Vista wasn't going either.
Which led to us playing an Aleph game called Smash Brothers during an Endbringer battle while we tried not to think about what was going on in Australia.
We were on-call because there were always idiots who would take advantage of any crisis to try and enrich themselves. It's oddly enough like in those movies about some end-of-the-world scenario where there are people rioting. Zombies are overwhelming the city and tearing down civilization in a tide? Time to go loot me a plasma high-definition extra-large TV!
This does actually happen during Endbringer battles. People who should have evacuated are going door-to-door grabbing whatever loot they can to take home. There's footage from 2003 when Leviathan trashed Seattle and a fair amount of video from New York in 1994.
So it happens, and if it happens in cities where the Endbringer is attacking then you know it's going on when almost all the heroes are pulled off to try and fight off something that does a good imitation of an Incarnation of Destruction.
As I was now that literally, naturally I wanted to see if I could end an Endbringer. Would that make me a Endbringer Ender? Would that be a hell of a title to put on my PHO account? Hey, if you accomplish something you should definitely take every perk it can bring you.
It didn't help that Vista beat my socks off in Smash Brothers.
When it was all over, it was bad. Canberra was lost and well on the way to becoming a quarantine zone within hours of driving off the Simurgh.
At some point, while we bored, we looked around on the internet and found something horrible. Really really bad. No, 'horrible' as in something to inspire horror on the part of the reader was quite appropriate.
There was fanfiction. Tiamat fanfiction. Where Tiamat was being paired up with... basically everyone in one story or another. Including Vista, who could and did point out repeatedly to me that she was NOT old enough to even think about doing that and that the writer who described that scene should be thrown into a Simurgh containment zone. Or Ellisburg. I pointed out that my dragon form had five heads and necks and a distinct lack of five anything elses. And that the writer of that particular story did a bad thing and should feel bad and if I had a name and address I might accidently do something very very hurtful to them.
We were told that such discussions are not appropriate by one of the troopers stationed nearby. PR is always a concern, apparently. Even in the Wards' common room. During an Endbringer Alert. While Vista was beating me in Smash Brothers. Again.
Which was when an idea came. A horrible terrible idea. Director Piggot would hate it. There could very well be panic in the streets, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
"Hey, Vista. I got an idea."
Was that Dramatic Thunder? Nah, there was a cape with that power but she was pretty sure they lived in New York.
"What?" asked Vista.
"I'm the Dragon Queen, right?" asked Tiamat.
*PRT ENE HQ, February 24, 2011 *
Director Piggot went through the e-mails, paper documents, and reports. Tedium, but it was the bulk of her job.
There was a brief darkness from the window as something blocked the sunlight. She ignored it. Probably just a cloud.
Another brief dimming of the light and the window rattled.
"Storm?" asked Director Piggot to herself, glancing towards the window. There hadn't been anything in the weather forecast.
There was a flash of scales going past the window as the light dimmed again and the windows rattled.
"Tiamat. What's that girl doing now?" grumped Director Piggot as she got up and crossed to the window, then looked out. She held that pose for a moment which stretched almost to three. At which point she closed her mouth which had fallen open at some point, rubbed the bridge of her nose as if she felt a headache incoming, and then made her way back to the desk.
* Brockton Bay, the skies *
"THIS IS AMAZING!" shouted Vista.
Her dragon twisted his neck enough to look at his rider. "You're amazing. Can you do that space-twist thing to put us over the bay?"
Vista did, her line-of-sight range being vastly increased when flying above the city. The dragon tucked wings to fly through the distortion and reappeared at a greater height and miles away.
"Woohooo!" shouted Clockblocker as his dragon flew by the Medhall building.
"This is definitely how we should handle patrols from now on," said Vista to her dragon. She could just imagine spotting some purse-snatcher. They'd begin the dive as the perp ran, the perp would look over their shoulder to see the oncoming dragon, Vista would laugh and nobody would call her cute and/or harmless as their prey screamed in horror to see onrushing DOOM!
Even that mean old Hookwolf might crap himself at such a sight, Vista felt, which led to a brief wonder that if Hookwolf transformed and crapped himself - would he crap knives or skewers or something like that?
* Medhall Building *
"Those are the Wards," noted Max Anders.
"Right," agreed James Fliescher.
"On dragons," noted Max Anders.
"Right," repeated James.
"Flying over the city," further explained Max Anders.
"True," said James.
"Huh. Well, that's a thing," said Max Anders with a shrug. "I find myself wondering if unicorns will show up next."
"Hopefully we can get ahold of some, it would do our image a lot of good," noted James.
"As long as they're not sparkly," said Max Anders with a shudder.
"We all remember what happened with Rune and three boxes of glitter," agreed James.
* Streets Below *
Jack Slash looked up and frowned at the distant sight of dragons swooping about. "There's more of them?"
He'd been halfway across the country but this 'Tiamat' had been on the news and the idea of recruiting a 'goddess of discord and destruction' was entirely too tempting.
It shouldn't take long, the identity of the cape in question was easily figured out from clips on the media.
"And the Unwritten Rules never bothered me anyway," said Jack as he rung the doorbell of a typical house in the neighborhood. The door opened. "Mister Hebert. I'm-"
The shotgun fired at point blank range. There was a chik-chunk noise and a second blast fired.
Jack Slash didn't even have time to wonder where he'd made a mistake.
"Erwin? Who was that and why did you shoot them?"
The old man with the shotgun answered. "It was Jack Slash. Recognized him from TV."
"Oh," said Danny Hebert. That answered both questions actually. "Let me get my Uzi."
"That's a trash gun, get a better one - something with a decent caliber," remarked Erwin as he looked around as he stepped to the side of the doorway. "If Jackie-boy was here, that means the rest of the Nine are too."
* Skies *
"What the hell is... oh shit." Vista pulled out her phone and pushed a couple of buttons. "Console this is Vista. I have eyes on Crawler."
"Confirm Vista."
"THAT is one ugly monster," rumbled the red dragon Vista was riding. "Gibbering Mouther maybe?"
"Hush please, Baron," Vista said to the dragon. "I'm transmitting. Sending coordinates and screenshot."
"Tell your dragon I agree with his assessment, and Crawler is confirmed. Sending alert that Slaughterhouse Nine is visiting Brockton Bay. Existing kill orders on all members of S9."
"Do you mind if I try something?" asked Baron, the dragon's rumbling voice easily carrying as they were now doing a lazy circle at 1000ft.
"Please do," said Vista. "Recording."
"I take it that beast there is fireproof?" asked Baron.
"Probably," agreed Vista.
"It's never an easy kill," said Baron. "I've always wanted to try this though."
The dragon folded wings, beginning a dive that it then turned into a high speed flyby. The target creature began lashing out with limbs, obviously anticipating battle.
A ring on one foreclaw glittered as the face was pointed towards Crawler. "Disintegrate."
A patch of darkness formed on Crawler, and then spread.
When Baron flew past at high speed, dust scattered.
The dragon looked back at the swirling column of dust and ash. "That was weird. It almost looked like it was welcoming the attack."
"Supervillains can be kinda weird," explained Vista. "Let's look for other targets."
* PRT ENE HQ, February 25th 2011 *
"On the bad side, I did NOT authorize the Wards to go around riding dragons," said Director Piggot. "Mind you, I didn't forbid it because it wasn't something I considered even vaguely possible before yesterday. It still falls into the end of things that everyone involved should have known I wouldn't approve of."
"On the other hand, with two exceptions, they were able to eliminate the Slaughterhouse Nine," pointed out Miss Militia.
"Seven of Nine dead at the hands of the Wards or their temporary allies," said Director Piggot, looking almost cheerful for a brief second. "Though the Wards are supposed to be kept safe."
"On the backs of flying magic-using armored carnivores who were summoned by Tiamat," said Clockblocker. "Come on, tell me there aren't times in your life where that sort of thing wouldn't have been handy!"
"That's beside the..." Director Piggot's voice trailed off momentarily, thinking about what it would have been like to have those dragons show up during Ellisburg and how it might have gone differently. She shook it off a moment later no matter how enticing the concept of Nilbog getting melted down to goo the way Mannequin had been when drenched in black dragon acid. Eight of Nine dead. One captured and in the highest level of biohazard containment that Tinkers could design. It was a victory and victories were a difficult thing to punish.
"Director?" asked Aegis.
"Oh, just thinking up suitable punishments," said Director Piggot.
* Outside Space/Time *
Toltiir sighed and rewound time. Too close to other timelines. Again.