Today was the day: she was set to get her new costume. Hopefully they could finish up the publicity photos and get the press release all sorted soon enough that she could go patrolling. It had been more than a week since she had given her approval on it. She had been going crazy waiting.

It didn't help that the investigation into HARP was still ongoing. She thought she had heard a PRT trooper gossiping something about how the homeless shelter kept discovering their surveillance somehow. It didn't entirely surprise Taylor now that she knew the truth about the place. That it had counter surveillance measures in place seemed obvious.

Last time she talked to Miss Militia the older woman had said that they were probably going to clear her to interact with HARP by the end of the week, but that she wasn't promising anything. It bought the woman a bit of goodwill with Taylor. Still the woman was deep in the hole. Her dad had had Hannah over for dinner last Friday. Ugh! It was creepy watching her dad date, and to be dating her boss… Sorry they weren't dating, he was just "being friendly". She rolled her eyes.

On one hand she wanted her dad to be happy. On the other it felt like on some level he was betraying mom. She knew it wasn't true, but still the feelings haunted her.

Anyways focus on the good. Not the bad. It had been her mantra for the last eleven days. Ever since they brokered the compromise. Focus on the good. She had exchanged a few messages with Layla via Mary. Yet nothing private or confidential could be said that way. So it had mostly been an update on where her status with HARP was.

Instead she had been spending a lot of her time at the PRT. A good amount of that had been going through documentation and training courses. The take down course had been interesting from a technical point of view. She enjoyed learning better ways to zip cuff people, and there were some words of caution on things to avoid in the class that she hadn't known.

The courses on legality were frustrating. They were as boring as stale bread. They would be useful and the information in them was definitely stuff she wanted to know, but god had the instructor just monotoned his way through reciting law after law. There had to be a better way to teach it.

She passed all the tests she had to take, and had received her certificates. Including the mandatory basic first aid class and the optional advanced first aid class she had opted into. Several of the courses she would have to repeat yearly, which was frustrating, but made sense on some level. Got to make sure you remember what you learn. Also the legal class had content that changed frequently.

Taylor made her way into the PRT, using one of the discreet entrances that were scattered in the area. She made her way down to her room and got changed into her temporary outfit. Really it was just jeans, a t-shirt, and a jacket. Along with her customary facemask. Technically she should have her goggles on, but she had given up on that and just wore her glasses on days she was hanging around the PRT. The goggles were just too uncomfortable to wear if she was sitting in a classroom working with an instructor.

None of the instructors had been anywhere near as bad as Fitzgerald, who Taylor hadn't seen since the class with Miss Militia. Some of the instructors had talked down to her, but at least they still taught her something. She could, begrudgingly, tolerate that.

She got up to the fifth floor almost bouncing with barely constrained excitement. She got to Johnathan's office and knocked. He opened the door with a big grin, "Looks like someone is excited."

"Just give it to me." Taylor demanded.

He laughed at her! Then he led her over to the photo studio area. There was a large green screen with lots of industrial lights. He pointed at a changing room to the side.

Inside the changing room was an armor stand. On the armor stand the armor she had seen on paper had been transformed into real life. It was amazing! Everything she had dreamed about since becoming a hero.

Beautiful gleaming lines. Polished bronze for the metallic parts, with a bright purple for the under suit, accents, and skirt. God it was perfect. Smack dab in the center of the cuirass was the symbol they had settled on. A sword with wings a symbol of her two most distinctive features.

She doffed her clothes and started putting the under suit on. Next came the cuirass. While the armor was traditional in appearance it had some high tech features to simplify it. Like a catch that when pressed caused it to split into two segments. She could then put the segments on and they pressed together with a only slightly noticeable seam.

She next pulled the metallic skirt on. The catch on this one caused it to come loose and then it would ratchet closed around her waist until it was nice and comfy. The boots and gloves also seemed to have ratcheted closures.

With far less effort than expected she was now in her armor. She did some test movements and could barely notice it was there. Oh sure it weighted a bunch, but it was well distributed and she had been training with weighted gear for the last week in preparation. Apparently this had been one of Johnathan's concerns and why he had originally pushed her towards power armor.

She pulled her hair up and then slotted the helmet over her body. The bottom sealed against her under suit's turtle neck. The inside wasn't a technological miracle or anything, but their was a HUD that displayed some simple information like waypoints, and a builtin radio that connected to the console.

Around the waist she pulled on a belt that contained a number of small pockets, and had a custom made slot for holding her hilt in place. She slipped her phone into one of the pockets.

She burst out of the changing room once again barely containing her excitement. "It's perfect!" she yelled as she grabbed Johnathan's hand and pulled him into an impromptu spinning dance.

"Haha, I'm glad. The hip and chest padding should match what you had in your previous costume."

Taylor hadn't even noticed, she dipped back into the changing room and took another look in the mirror. It definitely didn't look like her in either department, without her looking absolutely foreign. Perfect.

She came back out and then the photographer took over. Ordering her into various poses. Some involved her standing with her leg up on a platform. Others involved her looking sternly out with her fists on her hips. It took a good two hours of constant photos in different poses.

"The photos should be ready by tomorrow and then we can publish the release. Then you will have PR's clearance for patrol."

"Thank god!" Taylor exclaimed.

"An armor stand should already have been put into your room." Johnathan then went on to explain the general care for her armor. "If the armor is good without any changes for the next couple of weeks we will order you a backup costume."

Taylor thanked him one more time before heading down to the Ward's area. Time to go get some practice in with her armor in the Ward's gym.

She was finally cleared for patrol. The press release had gone out, and PHO seemed to be having a bit of a field day with it. Both her finally having a new costume that didn't make her look like hobo-hero and her joining the Wards.

"So Triumph… who am I going out with today?" She asked with way too much excitement in her voice.

"Vista and Gallant." The older boy said.

Neither of which were currently around. Grrh, she would have to wait for them to arrive before they could go out. Technically they had another fifteen minutes, but she was so desperate to get out, to maybe make this whole Wards thing work.

Instead she sat down and tried to mediate. It was somewhat hard when the Symphony was constantly going in the back of her head. Made it that much harder to push her thoughts away when she was constantly noticing something in the music. It was like never being able to turn off background music, never having a moment of silence. Still she wouldn't trade its beauty for anything.

The more she was meditating the more she was able to instead let the Symphony take her, instead of being pushed and pulled by her. Maybe with time and practice it would become a boon to her meditation instead of an encumbrance. The thought of it made her think of the Jedi from Star Wars. Of having the Force and using it to meditate. The comparison made her feel kinda cool.

She had stopped sleeping most nights. Particularly when she realised sleep was something she was doing out of habit than anything else. Which gave her plenty of time, time she couldn't use super productively at the moment. When she wasn't finishing homework, reading, or browsing PHO she spent on trying to develop new skills. Meditation so far had been the easiest to make progress on.

She heard Vista's voice and brought herself out of her meditation. She looked up to see the small girl looking at her.

"Hey! You okay there!" The girl said waving her hand in front of Taylor's helmet.

"Just meditating. A useful skill, helps focus the mind." Taylor explained, before standing up and stretching. "You and Gallant ready?"

"Gallant is just suiting up now." Vista explained, while taking a good luck at Taylor's armor. "Nice armor. Although how did you get away with a full cover helmet?"

Taylor hmmed at this before responding, "PR guy owed me one. And thanks, I'm really happy with how it all turned out. Should hopefully help any future dismemberings from happening so easily."

The small girl turned a bit green at the reference. Which left Taylor wondering. Was she being a bit to blasé to the whole losing an arm situation? It wasn't like it kept her down, and it was healed easily enough with Panacea's assistance.

It felt good to be out and about. The armor added a nice hefty weight to her body, but she was rapidly getting used to it. Vista was shortening space letting them get around quickly despite being on foot for the patrol.

Taylor figured since her two companions were both foot bound she would save the essence and keep her wings away, unless they became necessary.

They were doing a fairly safe route through downtime, up the Boardwalk, and then back. Apparently since it was her first time out as a Ward they wanted something simple and safe. A PR tour Vista had called it.

"Console, this is Vista, just reached checkpoint 3," the smallest Ward said into her radio.

"Is it always so quiet out?" Taylor asked as she looked around trying to spot anything of interest.

"Ehh, its a mixed bag." Gallant said as he stepped across from one house to another via a Vista bridge. "This particular route is notoriously quiet, but most routes aren't too bad."

"How often do you arrest someone?" Taylor asked.

"About every week or two." Vista piped in.

That seemed very low. Was this going to be another major point of contention for her. She didn't see action every night she went out when she was indy, but she would normally come across something every three or four days. To make it worse they were traveling in groups of three.

"Ready for the fun part?" Vista said sarcastically. She warped a bridge down to an alley. Upon stepping out of the alley Taylor could see exactly where they were. Just on the southern tip of the Boardwalk. As they stepped out into the crowd they were quickly mobbed by people.

"Everyone say hello to our newest Ward." Gallant yelled above the crowd. A round of cheers went out.

Taylor rolled her eyes behind her mask and did a little bow like a cast member after a show.

"Can I get an autograph!" "Let's see your sword!" "You going to go berserk on us like you did the wolf?" "Will you marry me?" "What color are your panties?" "Sign my shirt!" "Carry my baby!"

The crowd went wild with questions. More than a few of them were inappropriate even ignoring the whole underage thing. She didn't even know if human/angel relations could work. Could an angel and a human cross breed? She also assumed she had been human until she could hear the Symphony, but she really didn't know. Maybe she had been an angel all along but only "matured" into it? More questions to go into her celestial notebook.

"Patience, patience. I'm sure the illustrious Paladin will be willing to do a few autographs if people behave." Gallant said unwillingly volunteering her.

She sighed, but took the permanent marker that Vista was holding out towards her. Looks like these two knew what was going to happen and had conspired against her. She'd find a way to get them back. Vista just stuck a tongue out at her. So much for "Wardly behaviour in public".

They got back to the PRT building and Taylor was exhausted in a way she hadn't been in a while. Sadly it wasn't a good exhausted. She just felt drained, she hadn't felt any essence recharge. She didn't feel like she had accomplished anything. Sure her body was physically fine, she could go for a twenty mile run at this point without feeling 'tired', but mentally… mentally she was drained.

The being chipper and cheerful with the crowds of idiots. The having to make sure she was extra expressive with her voice and body language since she was otherwise unreadable. All of it had just drained her mentally, and she didn't even have the knowledge that she had helped people to make it worthwhile. She wasn't sure how much of that she would get as a Ward. So far being a Ward gave the impression that it would be like trying to swim while in manacles.

Maybe it would get better in time. She tried to console herself with that. That this was just her first patrol, and future patrols would be better. They wouldn't all be PR tours, but Vista's words about arrest rates still echoed through her head.

She debated if she should talk to someone. The person to talk to was Miss Militia, but their relationship was tense to say the least. It had improved since the time they sparred, but that wasn't saying much considering it was pretty close to rock bottom before that.

Taylor checked her official Ward's phone while she was doffing her armor. Looks like a message from her father. Hannah was coming over for dinner, apparently to celebrate her first patrol. Great, looked like she was going to be having that discussion sooner than she'd like. Also did Hannah go to every Ward's house to celebrate their first patrol or just hers?

Taylor reached home. She was rather nervous entering the house. Things had been better between her and her dad since their big fight, but tension still existed. Particularly around HARP. Him wanting her to cut all contact, and Taylor insisting that she wasn't going to. Add in Miss Militia to the mix and the drama was high at the moment.

Militia's civilian motorcycle was indeed sitting outside their house.

Taylor steeled herself before opening the door and walking in. She could see through the open archway into the kitchen where Hannah was sitting at the table peeling potatoes while laughing at something dad had said. God they were already making goo-goo eyes at each other. This dinner was going to be insufferable.

"Hi Dad, hi… Hannah" Taylor said. Putting a bit of an inflection on Hannah's name.

"Oh welcome home Taylor. We weren't sure how much longer you were going to be."

"Not long enough." Taylor grumped. Then seeing her dad was about to tell her off she quickly continued. "Feels like I need longer patrolling to see any essence regeneration." There that should hopefully get him off her back, while still at least partially being what she had originally meant, even if it would be a lie to say she wanted to be here right now.

Her Dad just pursed his lips and went back to checking on the vegetables. Looked like they were having a roast dinner, which was nice. They rarely did that since… since her mother's passing, while growing up it had been a weekly affair.

"Hello Taylor." Hannah said with a bit too much cheer for Taylor's taste. "I'm sorry to hear about your essence." The older woman seemed to find the word strange or distasteful. She wasn't sure if that was because she just disliked the word, or if it was that she disliked how Taylor was different. How she stood out both in good and bad ways from parahumans.

Taylor had decided she probably wasn't a parahuman. Now that she knew about angels, that her powers were that of an angel, she could rule out being parahuman.

Still she would have to maintain the facade of being a parahuman. Otherwise she might out angels to everyone. Maybe? Maybe angels had powers that would allow them to erase it all from others minds. She really didn't know. Another reason she desperately needed to talk with Layla.

"How are you… Hannah?" she asked at least attempting to be sociable with her boss.

"Busy, for the most part. Every time I catchup on paperwork more of it sneaks up on me." The woman joked.

Taylor chuckled along, but it was forced.

Instead she turned the conversation to something safer: Motorcycles. "When did you learn to ride a motorcycle?"

"Not too much older than you. It was originally part of my kit as a Ward. But I enjoyed it so much that I got one for my civilian life as well."

The woman continued on reminiscing about her early days of riding. Danny seemed to enjoy the conversation, asking questions and piping in commentary throughout. Luckily for Taylor it was a pretty palatable conversation all things said.