1.14

-- Taylor Hebert --

The flight was... surprisingly boring. Not just boring. Comfortable. Well, physically, anyway, socially it was still awkward as hell. But physically? Smooth acceleration, none of the absurd maneuvers I'd seen the mages do in combat or even what I'd gotten used to riding Bitch's dogs. Closer to a motorcycle ride, maybe. Before Leviathan made the local street topology so much more interesting.

I was held securely in place by a forcefield, slick yet soft, somehow both cushioning and unyielding, in tight enough that I wasn't jostled around. I'd had a moment of claustrophobia as it closed in around me, but being able to see through it and move my arms freely had been enough to get a handle on the feeling while hidden bugs physically vented my agitation. Now it felt somewhere between a roller coaster seat harness and wrapping up in oddly textured, very breathable blankets. In bed, I mean. While spooning a man I'd hardly met. A man who was tall, and very muscular, and half again my age. But I wasn't thinking about that.

The forcefield really was incredible. The light evening drizzle just slid right off it. It didn't block the wind: it reduced it to a pleasant breeze. The interior stayed at a comfortable temperature and the field even shielded us from the notorious Brockton summer humidity. Though maybe the climate control was another power. Spell. And that difference was important. Sure, the 'mage shell' could stop missile strikes and detect Aisha while she used her power, but powers are good at that sort of thing. The little comforts? The small conveniences? Powers just don't do that.

The difference was that spells were designed. Even Cauldron, while they could grant powers, clearly couldn't control how they turned out. The kind of precise control over effects implied by the toggleable 'insect filter' I'd discovered when I'd asked why I couldn't get tracking bugs on them implied a vastly different paradigm. (I'd remained able to sense and control them after they were through the forcefield, to Tanya's visible confusion and annoyance.) All and all, it made a sharp contrast to my last flight, Laser Dream dragging me through torrential rain in desperate pursuit of Leviathan.

My thoughts were interrupted by a quick exchange in German, Argent's voice emerging from the air without warning. I felt Lisa twitch a little in surprise, but the mages seemed to have expected it. Each of them descended a little and spread out before continuing along parallel, gently curving paths. It was clearly a search pattern, but...

"We're too high. I can barely reach the ground here."

Apparently, the magic radio(?) was still running, because Argent responded.

Made sense. A couple minutes passed in tense silence as we described a quick, precise spiral centered over the suspected location. Feeling useless and exposed as the others searched, my range bloomed, giving me a decent circle on the ground. Still not enough to accomplish much, even if I had wanted to take the risk. Finally, Major jerked under me, coming to a sudden stop. He said something in German, pointing towards a small bar with boarded-up windows, well within my current range.

"Siberian is in there?" I confirmed.

He nodded.

Two thousand four hundred twelve bugs in the building. Nine thousand seven hundred eighty one more I could quickly slip in unseen from the surrounding area. Ninety two thousand three hundred seventy three total in my range. Many, many more if I were at ground level. Three hundred eighty hornets, mostly in their nest in the attic of a building across the street. Two black widows. I made no effort to control any of them. I wasn't going to fuck this up.

Instead, I concentrated on what I could feel from the ones already there. It wasn't much. Two thousand four hundred twelve points of reference sounds like a lot, but even a small building has many surfaces to map out, and the bugs weren't very usefully distributed. The bulk of them was in the walls and floor, and another big chunk was swirling around a puddle on the floor in the backroom. Blood? It could as easily be juice.

Out of all two thousand four hundred twelve, though, there was one bug that was more useful than all the others combined. A mosquito, low to the ground, moving in a rhythmic pause-swing-pause pattern. Trying to get through a thin sock to the ankle underneath as its victim walked. Short stride length.

"I've found Bonesaw in the building. Backroom, walking west seven feet from the south wall."

"Jack?" Major asked.

"If he's in there, he doesn't have any bugs on him right now. Don't want to move any around them."

"Good call," Argent broke in. "Siberian is the priority right now. We can mop up the others afterward. Weiss, descend to one fifty and hover. The camouflage illusion should be harder to spot while stationary. Still, put up an active barrier between yourself and the projection. Everyone else--" More German, though the way they readied their rifles was a pretty good hint. "Skitter, you can start searching the nearby vehicles. Do your best to keep it subtle, but let's not take too long here."

"If he's using her senses, his should be dampened," Tattletale spoke up. "Don't be completely blatant and we should be fine."

At my new height, my range covered the whole block and then some. Two lots and a small underground parking area, over a hundred vehicles. I sent thousands of tiny scouts scurrying, climbing, and flying through all of them. Two occupied. A sedan with a couple holding hands -- no. A commercial van with a stick-thin man in the back.

Got him.

... In the underground area. With low ceilings and clear visibility.

Fuck.

A\N:

On Taylor's range: 13.06 describes 1000ft as "three city blocks, give or take," which gives about 100m/block. Her baseline range gradually grows over the story. I'm calling it 270m now, just to have a number on hand, though I doubt it'll come up; when is she ever not feeling stressed and trapped? Her top end is around 650m.

On magic sensing range: Mage abilities are generally going to have much longer ranges than parahuman abilities, given their operational context. Normal infantry in WW1 had an effective range over 300m. Aircraft mounted guns, like the Lewis gun, had ranges measured in kilometers, though scoring hits at that range on anything smaller than a zeppelin was more a matter of volume of fire than deliberate aim. And radar, once it came about, could typically detect aircraft 100km away. I'm thinking mages should be able to detect other mages well outside engagement range, which should be a kilometer or so at the outside. (That'd be a difficult though not impossible shot with their rifles for a normal marksman. Mages can cheat with homing formulae and a few other tricks, so I think it's a reasonable standard.)

Maybe 3km is reasonable? Siberian at rest doesn't put off as much magic as a mage in flight, though, and she's under a roof, which would attenuate the signal. Still, at ~300m, one tenth the distance, the inverse square law says the signal should be 100 times as strong, which should be plenty to make up for that difference. Would have to be much closer on the ground with more stuff in the way, though. And bear in mind powers give off less magic than mages do in general, so other parahumans would be harder to track down this way.

Thank you to Readhead for help editing!

Edit: Clarified that Weiss did in fact sense Siberian in the bar.