Waking Dream 1.2

49°43'55.0"N 122°28'45.5"W

Garibaldi Park, British Columbia

Weather: Cloudy

1230 Local Time

High above the snow-tipped mountains of British Columbia, Taylor was once more enjoying the freedom of flight. Yesterday she managed to install the radar set in just under three hours, and despite the test run she did nearby Kelowna, Zaitsev mentioned that she needed to keep calibrating it for a while. Something about it not being completely suited to her airframe, citing minute differences that could affect its performance.

Not about to argue with him on matters like that, Taylor just nodded before he could blow another fuse at her, a reaction she was well prepared for. However, something that she was not prepared for was Abby's reaction to her 'costume'. Normally Cape costumes went either one of two ways. A new Cape either spent the money to get it custom-made, usually for government-aligned or corporate teams. The other was that they made it themselves, usually shoddier in quality aside from the few who had the skills or the right combination of aesthetics to make it look good. All of that information was in a new Cape handbook she read on PHO a few months ago, but even after reading it none of its advice on costumes applied to her.

For she was in the rare category of having her powers 'supply' a costume to her. In the same way that Narwhal's costume manifested itself, when her airframe got summoned in 'rigging' form, a scarlet skintight bodysuit would appear over her, other parts of the airframe such as flaps and landing wheels locked in place like a magnet to the suit. Her wings were 'attached' for lack of a better word to her back, meaning that she controlled it like her arms or legs. Felt weird at first, but by now it had become second nature.

As far as she was concerned it wasn't Tinkertech, because her powers quite literally manifested it to be like part of her body. Along with an oxygen mask she used to hide her lower face, she was not far off from being straight out of some mecha-anime genre from Aleph. But seriously, how did Narwhal go out in public looking like…that? Taylor was always high in the air whenever she went out in public, and even then she was extremely self-conscious about her costume. The teasing that Abby did after revealing the suit to her did not help at all either.

Though considering Legend was basically the same as her, then it was fine. If anyone asked, Taylor would point towards Legend and Narwhal as examples since that was what got Abby to shut up about it. Brushing her red hair aside, another transformation that occurred with her airframe summoned, Taylor realised that she had flown to the edges of the national park.

"Knew I should have gotten that GPS…"

With ever-increasing revenue, she could afford most upgrades she wanted now, save for the really expensive things such as engine upgrade parts or a new holographic display system. Sighing to no one in particular, she thought about what she could do today. It was a Saturday, meaning that there was no school tomorrow, nor was there a lot of homework, nothing she couldn't copy from Abby anyway. Though she did want an autograph from Dragon, after finding out that Taylor was invited to the Vancouver PRT for a chat.

Looking to her right, Vancouver was probably just another twenty minutes south-west of where she was now. Not that Taylor had never been there, but it was always in her civvies instead, flying there as 'Scarlet' was going to be a first for her. A mixture of boredom followed by curiosity later, she said 'screw it' and began flying southward to Vancouver.

The wilderness below her slowly started being replaced by urban centres and more highways as she neared the city. Relying on intuition in lieu of a map, Taylor began wondering if she was nearing the border instead of-

"Dragon to Scarlet, is that you or are my sensors mistaken?"

Suddenly hearing a familiar accented voice on an open channel, Taylor's radar immediately began showing a blip approaching her from the West. Zaitsev turned out to be right, as this time her radar caught Dragon coming in from much further away, though not enough for the Tinker to detect her first.

Inwardly cringing at what could come next, Taylor swallowed as the dragonsuit in the distance came to cruise alongside her in no time. It was the model that she encountered during their last meeting, though much more decorated and complete.

"H-hey Dragon, been a while huh?"

"A week, yes. Not running away this time?"

Well, yes. She had no reason to do anything like that again; at least for now.

"Nah, heading to Vancouver. Actually hoping to find you there actually, but guess you found me first."

The dragonsuit's helmet turned to look at Taylor, no particular expression shown. Taylor knew that some of her suits could show them based on interviews, so not seeing could mean a few things.

"I guess so, is this about the video or something else entirely? Like meeting with Director Hui?"

Scratching the side of her head, Taylor's scarlet eyes looked away while responding. "Yeah, might as well meet with her or something, I have a free day today."

After a brief few seconds of silence, Dragon began turning, the wings on her suit arcing towards the east. "I've contacted them regarding your arrival. Do you need an airport to land?"

Taylor shook her head, she could use a runway to land, or she could land just like a helicopter as well. The latter method was much trickier, since the MG-29 wasn't VTOL-capable she had to carefully balance herself so that none of her engines spun out. A few trees in the forest near her house in Kelowna were destroyed that way, thankfully no one witnessed it save for her unimpressed Grandmother.

Deciding to follow Dragon, the flight there felt nostalgic. It was like she had a wingman with her again, no longer flying alone ever since getting powers. Abby was a good friend, but she couldn't exactly cruise several kilometres above sea level. A good wingman or even squadron was hard to come by and was near-unstoppable under good circumstances. Another few minutes later, and she could make out the familiar Vancouver skyline, tall buildings and the tourist-filled waterfront aside, she spotted a few cameras pointed her way as the two began their descent.

"PRT Headquarters is the skyscraper on the edge of the Waterfront, do you see the flashing helipad?"

She knew where the PRT headquarters were. Though often described as an eyesore, the building that housed the North-West PRT department stood right in the centre of Vancouver, placing itself right in between the Southern and Northern parts of the city. It was by far one of the tallest buildings around, and its bright holographic logo plastered in front of its glass mirror exterior made it impossible to miss. Dragon used one of her mechanical hands to point at a helicopter landing pad on the roof of the building. Though seemingly innocuous, Taylor had once read that PRT buildings often housed secret missile batteries in plain sight. The large concrete structures with vents attached above were where she guessed those SAM sites were hidden.

On their final approach, Taylor saw someone already there waiting for them. Though the distance made it a bit hard to make out, she soon realized the one standing there and waving towards them was none other than Castle, the leader of the Protectorate North-West team.

Reducing speed alongside Dragon, the Tinker cleared away from Taylor, giving her ample room to land. With a practiced motion, her wings arced to face the ground, and at the right moment, turned off for her to land with a light thud on both legs.

"Huh, didn't think you could do that, y'know, with the whole jetgirl thing you're known for. Don't jets usually need a runway to land?"

Despite seeing him on television and online many times by now, seeing Castle in person was a completely different vibe. The degree of separation that came with seeing something through a screen was no longer there, and details that she couldn't make out before were now fully shown to Taylor. His Renaissance-esque costume complete with an ornamented bandana covering his lower face was much more detailed than she initially thought. Weren't PRT Capes supposed to have simple outfits? Something about it being easier for costumes to be made and kids to draw them in merchandise, not this ornate and gaudy piece straight out of a Shakespearean theatre.

Walking forward, Taylor thumbed to herself while replying. "Not this one."

"Hmph. At least you got a sense of humour. I'm Castle, but you probably know who I am already though."

He held his right hand out, and Taylor shook it. Dragon landed next, much gentler than she did, must have been nice to have dedicated equipment for hovering instead of having to use stupid techniques.

"Castle, good to see you-" Her voice began coming out of the suit, this time lacking the thicker newfie accent in favour of a much more neutral one.

"Yeah, yeah, at least this time you're bringing us something that isn't bound for the 'cage this time around." He referred to the Birdcage, the shadowy maximum security prison for Capes run by Dragon somewhere far north of Vancouver, its exact location kept a complete secret from the public. How did Canada even get 'chosen' to have something like the Birdcage anyway?

For some reason, even though Dragon's suit wasn't capable of emotion she could sense that it was directing a very nasty glare towards Castle, the glowing green eyes probably the biggest tell. "Whoops, can't tell the newbie what we do in this department? Dang. My bad-"

"Castle-"

"Oh wow, would you look at the time! The director probably wants to see her now, I'm sure you're busy as hell back at the Guild anyways, see ya around!"

Grabbing Taylor's wrist, Castle began leading Taylor into the building itself, all the while under Dragon's stare. Realizing what was happening, she broke free from his grip quite easily and stopped. "Wait, I was here for Dragon as well-"

"The meeting with the director is more important, I'll find you after it's done, Scarlet!" The world-renowned Tinker assured her, cutting Taylor off in the process.

"You hear her? Come on, I'm freezing my ass off out here!"

Taylor's retort to that died as Dragon blasted off again, leaving her covered in smoke from her dragonsuit. Blinking a few times at the now quiet helicopter pad, she shook her head and followed Castle in, having to tuck in her large wings just to fit through the door.

"Careful, don't want you to gouge out our walls or anything. Actually, could you remove it and store it somewhere? We have a hangar with specialised Tinker bays-"

"I'm not a Tinker, the wings are quite literally part of me."

Castle looked at Taylor with an eyebrow raised high, clearly not expecting that answer. "Well, I think I just lost a bet. Just make sure you don't gouge out anyone's eyeballs with that."

Taking an elevator down, at several points the door opened to reveal office workers or troopers that wanted to head down as well. But with the elevator being small already, her wings had taken up a majority of the free space, even Castle had to tuck himself tightly in one corner just to make sure he didn't get poked by anything. It did make for some amusing reactions, however, not something that they probably saw in the building every day.

At ground level, the door finally opened, revealing the main lobby of the entire building. "And here we…are. Headquarters of the Protectorate North-West, or as I like to call it, the Bastion."

Despite the ominous-sounding name, the lobby was actually nothing like what Taylor expected based on the exterior. The decor was actually very homely, with wood, or at least what she thought looked like wood being used for a majority of its walls and structures. Totem poles that she guessed were from the local First Nations tribes made up a lot of the support structures, seats and sofas made from leather-like material made up the waiting areas and so on. The entire lobby seemed more like a lodge in the forest rather than a government law-enforcement headquarters.

"Yeah, a lot of people are surprised by the look of it. Unless you've been to a lot of PRT HQs, then you probably didn't know many of them are designed with local architecture and landscape in mind. The one in Austin looks straight out of an old spaghetti western I'll tell ya."

Stepping out of the elevator, she immediately felt many stares levied at her from all around the lobby. From civilians who seemed to be there for a tour to what she assumed were PRT agents, every step she took garnered more attention. No one stopped her of course, but a few phones were pointed at her-

"Alright, Director Hui has been notified now, just head on through security…" His words trailing off after staring at Taylor's wings, he looked back and forth between the security gate and her. "Right, could you walk in sideways? I think you have just enough clearance to make it through-"

"I get it."

It wasn't her fault that her wingspan was that big! Honestly, the nerve of some people…


AN:

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