"All right, Thomas," Piggot said, glancing at the clock. "We've been in here half an hour, and I would like to have some time between this meeting and the one with Glenn Chambers where I'm not strapped to a dialysis machine. So stop trying to impress me with all the research you've done, and summarize your actual argument."
"If you insist," Calvert replied.
"And don't try and charm me, it won't work," Piggot added. "Do what I asked, don't dress it up."
Calvert nodded.
"All right," he said. "So, summarizing as you want me to do."
He rested his hands on the table. "Essentially my point is in regards to whether Azata should be in the Wards program or not, and relatedly to the deal we would offer her as the non-Wards option. Having her as an affiliate cape, that is."
"Get on with it," Piggot instructed.
"I think we should break with normal policy," Calvert told her. "By that I mean that normal policy is that affiliate capes are not really offered good deals, and we try to encourage them into the Wards because we have more control. And I know, Emily, that you would prefer to have more control."
Piggot made a face.
"Should I actually be here for this?" Renick asked. "It sounds like you two are reminiscing."
"About things that should be forgotten," Piggot grumbled. "But, no, despite what Thomas might be trying to insinuate, we were never an item. And I think we're both better off that way."
"I'm hurt," Calvert replied. "But that's a digression, and Emily told me not to do many more of those in this meeting… and what I'm getting at is that, despite those factors, I think we should make the offer as generous as feasible."
He shrugged. "Or, to be precise, you should. I'm only a consultant."
Emily's eye twitched.
"So why should we break the policy you've just described?" Renick checked. "I assume you have some kind of reasoning."
"Yes," Calvert replied. "Or, several, actually."
He raised a finger. "Point one. We know from Shadow Stalker that she's been bullied at school, and this is associated with her trigger event. She is unlikely to have much respect for authority figures, but allies are different – the less she's bound to them by rules which she's supposed to follow, the more she's going to be willing to be… flexible. Assault has already started that process, I think."
Pausing, Calvert glanced at Piggot, and she nodded reluctantly.
"A transactional attitude?" Renick asked.
"Not really," Calvert replied. "That's a mischaracterization. She helped out Hess before seeing who it was, in the video we have, and she didn't exactly ask for anything. But… think of it like New Wave. Brandish doesn't like us, but New Wave members will work with us when there's mutual benefit, and we can ask them for favours. It's just… not an account with a lot of credit."
He chuckled. "And now I'm falling back into talking about transactions myself. But you take my point, I hope."
"I think so," Piggot said. "So she's less likely to chafe, because we're not actually stopping her from doing anything – we're just making it easier for her to be a hero. And harder to be a villain, as well."
"Exactly," Calvert said. "But… it's probably best not to approach it as if you're manipulating her."
He ticked off another point. "Secondly, she's actually got most of the bargaining power here. The merchandising opportunities are quite major, and for the public there's not really much difference between 'Wards hero' and 'hero associated with the Protectorate' – they're still a hero. But she absolutely could handle merchandising herself by doing a deal with someone else… we want to give her the best deal she could feasibly get, because we have reasons besides profit for wanting her on side."
Piggot winced. "Sometimes I hate it when you make that much sense."
Calvert flashed her a smile.
"That didn't sound like a closing argument," Renick said. "It sounds like you have at least one more."
"Correct," Calvert replied. "I have a contact who's quite a successful Thinker… unusually clear analysis."
"Of course you have a contact," Piggot grumbled. "I suppose this Thinker isn't one we can independently verify?"
"Privacy issues, Emily," Calvert answered. "Watchdog is generally unwilling to act outside official channels, and this was strictly a personal consultation. But what I did find out is that her dragon, Aivu, has a peculiar Thinker-scrambling effect… it's minor, but it's there."
He looked up, with the expression of someone laying down a flush. "And my contact also indicated that Aivu registers as five years old to Thinker powers… which only brings this point into sharp relief. If she's independent, we don't have to deal with the problems that would cause with the Youth Guard."
Piggot stared at her old comrade for several seconds.
"Damn you," she replied. "I don't know what it says about our own internal affairs that that is a compelling argument… and I'm probably going to take it."
She stood up, with a wince. "Now, get out of my office, I'm going to get my dialysis sorted out."
Taylor, Danny, and Aivu arrived at the PRT building for their appointment a little after lunch, and the receptionist directed them to one of the meeting rooms two floors up.
"It's funny," Danny said, quietly, as they went along the corridor checking the room numbers. "I keep comparing this to the union headquarters, and how this is…"
"Better kept up?" Taylor guessed.
"No, ours is clean enough," Danny replied. "It's just… worn. And this place isn't."
He shrugged. "Never mind. Idle thought… here we are."
Taylor knocked on the door, waited a moment, then pushed it open.
"Azata!" a portly man said. "And Aivu! Yes, you're much cuter in person – I hadn't thought that was possible."
Aivu jumped up on the table, and posed.
"I like him!" she said. "He's got a good idea of what's important."
"Mr. Chambers, please," Director Piggot said. "Azata, it's good to see you've arrived on time. In case there's any misunderstanding, do you want to go through the purpose of this meeting?"
"I think I understand it okay," Taylor replied. "Broadly speaking, it's about… public image and what my role is going to be, one way or another?"
"That's a good enough summary," Piggot decided. "There's going to be more, but we'll get to it as we reach that topic."
She indicated the people around the table. "I am Director Piggot of the Parahuman Response Teams, East-North-East. You know Miss Militia, of course. This is Glenn Chambers, the Director of Public Image for the PRT and Protectorate."
"That's me," Chambers confirmed.
"Taylor Hebert," Taylor introduced herself. "This is Aivu, and this is my dad – Daniel Hebert."
Danny nodded, and took a seat.
"So!" Chambers began, without preamble. "Azata. Taylor. Whichever you would prefer. You might not be aware of this, but I don't normally give a consultation with every member of the Wards – let alone people who haven't joined yet."
"I…" Taylor began, paused, then counted under her breath. "Yeah, that would make sense," she admitted. "You'd have to do, what, ten interviews a day or something?"
"Exactly," Chambers said. "You'd be surprised how many people don't realize the scale of what's going on – but for you, well, you came with a substantial public presence already!"
He folded his arms on the table. "Which is good and bad."
"Good and bad for what?" Taylor asked. "You're speaking as if it's obvious what we're all aiming for, but that's not really true."
Danny nodded, and Taylor felt good about what she'd said.
Having an experienced negotiator around was really helpful, especially if it was her dad.
"Hmm," Chambers said. "Well, now… I'll be forthright, Azata. I'm not going to ask for an NDA or anything, but let's approach this as serious people."
"I don't like where this meeting is going," Piggot said.
"I haven't even started going there yet," Chambers replied. "Anyway… the Parahuman Response Teams are a lot like any police organization. The goal should not be to capture criminals, so much as it should be to minimize the impacts of crime. There's a difference."
He shrugged. "And public image is part of enabling that difference to be realized. The more that the PRT comes across as a group that can solve problems, the more that there are people who might otherwise turn to crime that don't. The more that being a hero is something that people aspire to, the less likely it is that a parahuman will end up a villain."
"I… hmm," Taylor said, thinking about that. "Neither of those really fits with my image so far, does it? I've stopped some crime in a school, but apart from that?"
"You've done a lot to help people out," Chambers replied. "But, more than that, you're approachable. And I don't mean in person. I mean that kids can look at you and see a role model – you've stopped bullying on camera. And you've got a very, very cute dragon as a sidekick."
Aivu fluttered her wings for effect.
"That's me!" she said, just in case nobody had realized it.
Miss Militia chuckled.
"What are your current thoughts on the Wards?" Director Piggot asked.
Taylor was silent for several seconds.
"I… don't know?" she admitted. "Right now, I don't think I'd want to be part of the Wards, because it feels like it would be rushing into it. And – well, I just don't know if it would work. I want to be a hero, but… being a hero doesn't automatically mean being a Ward. There's New Wave, for a start."
"And we don't know what the rules and regulations are," Danny added. "I tried looking them up, they're quite opaque."
"In my opinion, the strongest arguments for the Wards program are that it means a young cape has a base of support," Piggot began, ticking the points off on her fingers. "That they have help concealing their identity. That they have more experienced capes to learn from. And that they don't end up having to make difficult – or wrong – decisions from lacking those things."
She lowered her arms to the table. "But. In your case, some or all of those don't apply."
"And, in all honesty, I think there's an angle here where Azata not being in the Wards works better," Chambers took up the thread. "Have any of you heard of Starlight?"
Taylor frowned.
"I've never heard of them," she admitted.
"Me neither," Danny confirmed.
"They're an independent hero team based out of Savannah, including both of-age and underage capes," Chambers replied. "Originally it was underage capes only, but some of them have grown up. What about Spirit Walk?"
Both Heberts just shook their head that time.
"Independent team that operates all over the country," Chambers told them. "They only take people of at least some Native American ancestry… anyway, the point is, there's several teams of that kind, all around the United States. But barely anybody has heard of them. New Wave is a bit more well known, especially after Panacea started doing her thing, but even being an out cape team wasn't enough… but you, Miss Hebert, are already nationally well known."
He sat back in his chair. "There's an argument that the very fact that people consider the Wards the only realistic option for heroes has combined with… various other factors… to create an environment where the PRT organization is seen as trying to keep a stranglehold on heroic capes. NEPEA-5 hasn't helped with that, because what was meant to be protectionist legislation to keep the economy functioning has instead resulted in squeezing off avenues for capes that aren't either Wards, Protectorate… or becoming villains."
Aivu yawned, loudly.
"Aivu!" Taylor said, trying not to laugh.
"Sorry, Taylor," Aivu replied. "But I'm feeling all bored! I know this is really important, but still…"
She stopped, and began staring at a little red dot on the wall.
"If it would help, I can certainly keep Aivu occupied," Miss Militia said, holding something up above the table.
Her ever-shifting weapon had turned into a dagger… with a red-dot laser sight on the end, which was painting a dot on the wall.
"Can I, Taylor?" Aivu asked, crouching down and wiggling.
"If Miss Militia doesn't mind," Taylor replied, and Aivu sprang off the table to bat at the dot.
It moved, and Aivu giggled before pouncing after it again.
The pause had let Taylor think, and she looked up at Chambers.
"So… what you want me to do is to become… effectively, a nationally known symbol of how independent heroics can work," she said. "Getting help from the PRT, perhaps, but not actually part of the structure."
"All else being equal, I would certainly prefer any given cape be a Protectorate hero over being an independent one," Piggot said. "But I'm not a fool. I know that an independent hero is far preferable to even the kind of nonsense Uber and Leet get up to, let alone the Merchants, Empire Eighty-Eight, or Azn Bad Boys."
"Think about it for the next hour or so," Chambers directed. "Because now we need to talk about image. Specifically, what kind of costume you are going to want… because after that point we can move on to merchandising."
"How would that be managed?" Danny asked.
"We actually have a plan there, I may as well outline it from the start," Chambers answered. "I, personally, think the potential for merchandising with Aivu is already huge, and Azata could be the same if we manage this right – but the basic idea here is that the PRT marketing department manages the actual production and sales of the merchandise."
He pointed his pen at her. "You would be paid from the gross income up to twenty thousand per year, then from the net up to fifty thousand per year. After that point, it becomes the usual Wards marketing split into an independently managed fund."
"That seems very generous," Danny said. "I'm looking for the other shoe… we won't be agreeing to anything today, of course, and I'll want to get legal advice before we consider it."
"Naturally," Chambers agreed.
He shrugged. "I know it seems generous, and to be honest – it is. But it is very much in our interests to have you on board. You're the ones with the dragon!"
"Hey Brian," Lisa said.
Brian looked around, and did a double-take.
"Are you… okay?" he asked. "You look like crap."
"Yeah," Lisa agreed. "I have just spent way too long giving myself headaches and then thinking about dragons."
Brian blinked, then stopped pouring his drink before he overflowed the glass.
"...come again?" he asked.
"My power likes dragons," Lisa replied, in a sort of mumble. "And me, though with how my head feels I don't think I believe it."
She massaged her temples. "Anyway. Anyway, uh… I was coming out here to pick up something to drink. Because, I feel… thirsty."
"You are completely out of it," Brian said, impressed, then pushed his glass over to Lisa and went to get another one. "What do you mean, your power likes dragons?"
"My power likes dragons," Lisa repeated. "Cute ones. Because they're cute."
She downed the glass in a single long pull, then sighed.
"Good talk," she added, and went back into her room.
Brian stared after her.
"...what," he asked.
The meeting wound on for a while, talking about lots of different things in a fairly general way, and sometimes going into specifics when someone thought it was important.
Director Piggot noted that being part of an affiliated hero team, even if of only one person, meant that she was expected to pay attention to Protectorate or PRT chain-of-command in a joint situation, even if she wasn't actually under their direct orders.
"The way to think of it is… hmm," she said. "Perhaps… well, there's two sides to it. Firstly, there's that we're doing our best to keep a handle on the situation, and if we know what you're going to do then it's easier to keep track of it. While if you're doing things without alerting anyone, or if you don't go where we might need you to go, then you'll be messing that up."
She shrugged. "And, secondly – the PRT, at least, has a form of qualified immunity, and that extends down the chain of command. But for you, that only applies if you're actually following the chain of command… otherwise, if something goes wrong, you could be held liable depending on how responsible you were."
Taylor thought about that.
"So… I don't have to follow orders, but it's generally a good idea," she summarized. "Or, if I do something that's against what the PRT guys or Armsmaster are saying, then I should have a really good reason."
"Yes," Piggot confirmed. "I mention the consequences not really as a threat, but as a warning – they could happen, and it's better for you to be prepared for them."
Taylor thought about that, as her father asked about how exactly Taylor was going to hear about that in the first place, and what came next was several minutes of… not quite arguing, but forcefully discussing Taylor getting an official Azata cell phone.
Unlike the Wards, she didn't need a separate one to disguise her official one, but it was still a difficult topic for a quite different reason. Her father had never liked cell phones after her mother's death, after she'd crashed the car she was driving from using a cell phone while on the move, and while he was eventually argued around he wasn't precisely happy about it.
Taylor decided it would be very important to not abuse the privilege.
Miss Militia contributed a bit of advice about each of the Wards and what they were like in person, just a little extra familiarity to help Taylor know what each of them was like. Then they spent a few minutes outlining the normal Wards merchandising split… which led inevitably into merchandising and marketing itself.
There was… a lot. From branded items, to deals with local shops, to TV appearances, Taylor could end up spending a lot of time just promoting her own image – even if Mr. Chambers did say that oversaturation was quite possible and it was important to pick and choose to some extent.
Taylor knew there was no way she'd be able to make any kind of decision about most of it that day, at least for the bits that required decisions, partly from the sheer volume and partly because they didn't have a costume design for her. They did have Aivu's design, though, and half-a-dozen mock up designs of different kinds of merchandise.
Including…
"Ooh!" Aivu gasped, as Chambers opened the briefcase he'd brought in – and revealed a plush toy version of Aivu, done at about one-to-one scale. "That's amazing!"
"How did you do it so fast?" Taylor asked. "It's not been that long, has it?"
"Five days is enough time to do some prototyping, especially since I knew this was coming," Chambers told her. "But yes, normally a one-off like this would take longer. However, Brockton Bay happens to have a delightful cape called Parian, and she does commissions."
He flashed a smile. "It's not the first time I've asked the young lady to help out, as it happens, but this is the first time it's been relevant in Brockton Bay itself. And I've heard it's important to support local businesses."
Piggot sighed.
Aivu walked around the plush version of herself as Chambers placed it on the table, lifting up a wing to inspect it, then reached up her paw and carefully booped herself on the snout.
"This is so great!" she said. "Can I have, umm… two? No, four! That way, it'd be… one, two, three, four, five-u!"
Taylor sniggered.
"But what if I can't tell which one is the real you?" she asked.
"Oh!" Aivu said, looking worried, then fluttered her dragonfly-like wings. "But you could ask, right?"
She directed a pleading look at Taylor. "Right?"
"I'm sure I could," Taylor agreed, relenting, and picked up the plush to inspect it. "This is really good quality… would they all be like this?"
"Probably not quite as high quality," Chambers replied. "It's simply not possible to do that with a mass production item. But the company I'm thinking of does quite good work, and there's going to be a life-sized one plus some smaller designs."
Aivu tilted her head.
"Life-sized?" she asked. "Does that mean it'll grow at the same time I will?"
"I doubt it," Taylor told her friend. "But maybe they shouldn't call it life-sized, or they'll end up out of date."
Chambers looked like he'd just had a revelation.
"She's going to get bigger," he said. "Of course! That opens up so many more possibilities!"
"Shadow Stalker," Armsmaster said, in what was either a greeting or a statement of fact. "You asked to see me?"
"Yeah," Sophia agreed. "So, I was thinking about this, and I think it would be a bad idea for me to meet Azata in costume."
Armsmaster frowned slightly.
"Why?" he asked. "You may end up working with her anyway."
"Yeah, I know," Sophia said. "But… I don't want to reveal my identity to her, and if I meet her in costume then she might make the connection."
"Hmm," Armsmaster said, thinking about it.
Sophia waited, folding her arms, then forced herself to unfold them again.
She did not want to be defiant in front of Armsmaster, not right now. It was a better idea to try and keep up her cover. She wanted something from him.
"That makes sense," the Tinker said. "It's a lost opportunity, though. If you had wanted to unmask to her, it could have been done while she was still in the building."
Sophia did not flinch, which she privately considered a significant achievement.
Despite Taylor not being an actual Ward, apparently Chambers – or his staff, or both – had decided that their interest in keeping Taylor associated with them even extended to helping with both costume design and costume manufacture.
By the sounds of things, it could have just been that the marketing department had loved the idea of getting to design an Azata costume. There were certainly more than two dozen designs, which ranged from the Disney-Princess to the Rock-Star to the circus acrobat.
For some reason.
Taylor rejected a lot of them quite quickly, going more on feel than anything, but when she got near the bottom of the pile she stopped, and slid one towards her for a closer look.
Unlike several of the designs in the pile, this one had actually considered both winter and summer looks. The winter look had an underlayer that added warmth, but which left her hands and head free – a rarity in a superhero costume – and had boots, but it was the summer one which didn't have any of those that actually caught Taylor's attention.
There was a green dress that reached down to knee level, made up of several individually-translucent layers, with shorts underneath to make sure there were no problems with modesty. That green dress continued up over her chest to form a blouse, but then on top of the blouse there was a kind of brown leather or leather-look-alike armoured vest, with more than a dozen belts of the same material around her waist and lower torso, and her feet had old-style sandals while her wrists had straps around them as well.
All the straps and belts had little heart-shaped buckles, and as she looked closer Taylor noticed that there was a clasped piece of jewellery at her brow – holding back her hair – while it also looked like the leather mostly-concealed fine chainmail that covered her from shoulders to waist.
"I was wondering about that one," Chambers said, smiling. "The designer who drew that up said they were leaning heavily into the fantasy-hero side of things… you know, a bit Lord of the Rings, a bit classical fairy tale and a bit of historical armour design, and taking the opportunity to provide some armour because it fits with your theme."
"That looks pretty!" Aivu declared. "Do I get something like that, too?"
She looked at her tail. "I don't think I could wear a dress. But I could wear straps so I can carry things! Oh, and so I can carry Taylor, too, once I'm big enough. I'm not big enough yet though so maybe not that bit yet."
Chambers got that contemplative look in his eyes again.
"Maybe we can get something stretchy," he said to himself. "Or, no, of course not – buckles with plenty of slack. How much flex can we get in sizing before we need to go a size up?"
"And we've lost him," Director Piggot said.
"You've got to admit, it's a novel thing to think about!" Chambers said. "And do check through the rest, Azata – even if that one's the one that really speaks to you, it's good to have a back up…"
"Parahuman law is weird," Taylor summarized, once they were out of the meeting.
"You're telling me," Danny agreed, snorting. "It's so bizarre to me that it's going to be legal for the dockworkers – or whoever – to make money from that forest you sung. It seems like that's exactly the kind of thing that NEPEA-5 would prevent."
"So long as what I did was charity," Taylor said. "Or… even if it wasn't, but I wouldn't be hit with absolutely massive tax bills. Right?"
She glanced over at her father. "Do we want to get someone to sort that out? Taxes in general, I mean?"
"I don't know," Danny admitted. "Maybe if there's a lot going on by April, but not yet – right now we can get your taxes prepared at the same time as mine, as we're in the same household."
"Taxes sound boring," Aivu said. "Are we going to do more experimenting with your powers, Taylor?"
"Maybe," Taylor replied.
She glanced down at the phone in her pocket, then shook her head. "Maybe tonight, or maybe not… there's something I want to check, actually, which is whether I can use more than just that one poem for each of my powers."
"It depends on what's in your heart," Aivu assured her. "So if you feel like a different song really works for you, that's what will work!"
She tilted her head. "So now we know that, what about trying out healing more of the land? The boat graveyard looked terrible!"
"I think we'd need to okay it with the PRT first," Taylor said. "It's probably not great for how people think of me if I'm doing random acts of forestry."
"Excuse me, miss Hebert," Danny began, officiously. "Is that your forest?"
"No, sir," Taylor replied.
"Oh, it fell out of someone else's pocket, then?" he said.
Taylor sniggered.
"More seriously, though, we do need to find out a few important things about it," Danny added. "Like, can you control the size, and what happens if there's something that people want to keep in the area. I know the car was fine, but what happens if there's a house? The concrete certainly vanished."
"That's a good point," Taylor admitted. "And we don't even really know what happens if there's existing plants. That bit of the docks was just… it didn't have anything important, not really. Except us and our car."
She checked her watch. "Do you think we've got time to see if I can make it smaller, at least? It would be nice to have a really good garden."
"Ooh, I bet you could do that!" Aivu said. "Plus, making more lovely lush forest or things like that is good, isn't it?"
"There's a few ways it could be a problem," Danny frowned. "The fact that the forest is so warm even in winter is probably going to bring in homeless people, which…"
He paused. "...actually, now I think about it, that's not really a problem, is it?"
"Dad?" Taylor asked.
"People end up homeless because they don't have homes to go to," Danny pointed out. "I know that sounds really simple, but it's true. And there's a lot of vacant buildings in this city, or buildings occupied by squatters, but… in cold weather like this, people die in winter. All the time."
"And it took me five minutes to make something that could save dozens of people," Taylor realized.
"Exactly," Danny said. "Maybe if there's just one, it'd get swamped, but you can make more. Maybe repair them, too. Actually… come to think of it, I might need to see if I can get in touch with the Mayor, because if you can get the area smaller then there's some fairly sizeable patches of urban decay that could be turned into warm parks. Or, if you can make it small enough, just… little places."
He chuckled. "Though maybe not doing that this weekend. And it might need to wait until we know it's safe, or something…"
"Yeah," Taylor said. "Don't want to rush too much… but I like the idea of making things better for people."
"And you've got a lot of opportunity to do just that," Danny agreed. "Who knows, you could even do it in costume."
Azata
alias Taylor A. Hebert (n.b. Azata is a public cape who outed herself)
Age 15, female
(n.b. this dossier also includes 'Aivu', who is by all appearances an aspect of Azata's power)
Azata triggered on 3 or 4 January 2011 and outed herself at school 4 January 2011. She attends Winslow High School in Brockton Bay and is resident in Brockton Bay along with her father, Daniel Hebert.
Azata has a visual tell of her power and is constantly surrounded by a corona of green-and-blue 'butterflies' which are most similar to hard light constructs. She cannot control these butterflies consciously. This appears to have been a primary driver of her decision to not attempt to maintain a separate cape and civilian identity.
In personality terms, available evidence suggest that prior to her trigger event Azata was withdrawn and antisocial. Her actual trigger event appears to have made her somewhat more cheerful, though this is difficult to tell and may be the result of her (presumed) projection, Aivu.
Azata has a substantial public presence that appears to have been gained largely by accident and several videos including her have been widely circulated. Some of these videos were apparently filmed without her foreknowledge, though confirming this would be difficult and the PRT ENE currently considers this to be unnecessary.
Her personal philosophy as currently described is that helping people out is the right thing to do, though this may change over time as she has not been a cape for long.
Azata and Aivu underwent power testing in the PRT building the same day as her debut. See attached files.
Oddly, Aivu appears to act as a kind of manual for Azata. The descriptions given are not very detailed but on at least one occasion included identification of powers Azata had not yet demonstrated. This description subsequently turned out to be correct.
Power ratings (Azata)
Mover: see Aivu. Azata has no Mover rating.
Shaker: 6. Azata's Shaker powers rely on songs to manifest. The displayed effects thus far are:
- Song 1, provides extra luck to nearby allies (scale unknown, description given by Aivu). Estimated radius is between 30 and 100 feet. Effect not tested or demonstrated directly.
- Song 2, removes effects of fatigue to nearby allies. Estimated radius is between 10 and 40 feet, effect did not interfere with normal sleep schedule but also permitted those affected to stay awake for a further 16 hours (as if they had just woken up).
- Song 3, creates area of verdant wild forest including out of season plants and plants or animals previously rated as endangered or extinct. Observed radius approximately 2500 feet.
The only known expression of this power so far was created on January 8 2011.
The forest does not display any special animation or otherwise act abnormally, except that the temperature within the forest area remains consistently at a warm 50F night to 65F day despite near-freezing temperatures externally.
Brute: see Aivu. Azata has no Brute rating.
Master: 4. See Aivu. Azata's Master rating is assigned entirely as a result of her presumed projection, Aivu.
Blaster: see Aivu. Azata has no Blaster rating.
Thinker: 5. Azata has an enhanced ability to perform any learned skill or use any piece of equipment. Rather than being a master at everything this appears to amount to a level of reasonable competence – the equivalent of having passed a qualification course, for a weapon, or attained college-level training for a field of study. This process is instant.
Aivu
(n.b. this dossier should not be viewed separately from Azata. If it has been disseminated separately this is an error.)
Aivu is described in female terms and describes herself as female.
Aivu is a purple western-style dragon with a torso approximately 14 inches long, with a neck and head approximately 16 inches long in combination and a thin tail 30 inches long. She has a pair of iridescent wings similar to those of a dragonfly, around 18 inches in length and 6 in depth, and can use them to hover. Her weight is around ten pounds.
She first appeared in the public eye alongside Azata on 4 January 2011.
Mover: 4. Aivu can run at 50-60 miles per hour and can fly at the same sort of speed, and is highly agile.
Brute: 5. Aivu possesses enhanced damage resistance and is extremely strong for her size, able to overpower most non-Brutes in a contest of strength. Her claws are also harder than normal for animal claws.
She is also completely immune to projected sound effects.
Blaster: 2. Aivu can shout in such a way that it produces a conical blast of sound, able to knock targets over. In the only known case of this used on a person, they were otherwise unhurt, but this may not always be the case.
Thinker: 4. Aivu's vision is highly precise, able to function almost unimpeded in dim light and she can see over a hundred feet in complete darkness, along with being able to sense humans within 50 feet even if she is not looking. The extent to which this ability is blocked by intervening objects or is diminished by having to keep track of multiple objects is not known.
In addition, Aivu appears to possess an intuitive knowledge of Azata's power.
Stranger 1: some Thinker powers react oddly when analyzing Aivu.
Addendum: on consistent comments from Chambers in PR, and under protest, Aivu has been assigned a rating of Cute 4.
Rebecca Costa-Brown looked over the report again, to make sure she'd read it right – a hard habit to break, despite her own excellent memory – then mentally checked her schedule.
She didn't have anything important in the next ten minutes.
Setting her status so that she would show as occupied on critical matters, she stood up. "Door to Cauldron."
Stepping through the doorway that opened in the air, Rebecca took two turns through the Cauldron base before entering the Number Man's office.
With her customary perfect timing, Contessa stepped through another Door just as Rebecca entered the office.
"Ah, I see it's time to ambush me," the Number Man said. "Is there something wrong?"
"I want to check this new cape in Brockton Bay," Rebecca explained. "Azata. She's got an unusual combination of powers… the report gives her and her projection Mover, Shaker, Brute, Master, Blaster, Thinker and Stranger between them."
"That is a strange combination," the Number Man admitted. "Low probability, but not impossible… we're sure she's a natural trigger?"
"No vials unaccounted for," Contessa said, after a moment.
"Since it's such a strange set of powers, I'd like you two to give me a quick report," Rebecca said. "I know you're both busy, but… just spend a few minutes on it. Is this Azata important to our plans?"
Contessa inclined her head.
"Door," she said, vanishing through it, and the Number Man got to typing.
Rebecca waited, as the mathematically-focused Thinker ran the numbers… which meant a lot, for someone for whom everything was numbers… and as Contessa did whatever it was she did to gather information.
It was the most efficient way, at least. You could be sure of that.
Then a door opened in the air again, and Contessa stepped back through.
"I have examined her from a distance," she said. "I also spent time checking various important Paths, factoring in Azata or not, and I have come to a conclusion."
"Well?" Rebecca asked. "Out with it."
"Azata and Aivu are extremely marketable," Contessa said. "That is my main conclusion."
Rebecca blinked.
"...really?" she asked.
"Yes," Contessa replied. "That was the main conclusion I came to. There was a substantial decrease in the number of steps and time involved in Path to Good PR. Most of the other Paths were entirely unaffected."
"That's more or less what I've come out with as well," the Number Man reported. "Based on available information, the merchandising opportunities are better than normal even given the deal she's been offered."
He tapped a finger on the desk. "There are secondary benefits from her displayed powers, but it's far too soon to make any definitive judgement on them at this point."
"Well, I did ask," Rebecca admitted. "Thank you, I won't take up any more of your time… Door to my office."
The dimensional portal opened in front of her, and she was gone.
For a second, there was silence.
"Path to collector's edition," Contessa said, quietly.
Tired but happy, Taylor and Aivu followed Danny back to the car that evening.
They'd done some more experiments with Taylor's nature-singing power, this time leaving the car more than a mile away, and walking around to do the experiments had been tiring but not completely exhausting.
It seemed like Taylor's energizing song didn't really work on tiredness from her own abilities, even if it did work on the walking between them. And they'd found that the nature song was able to remove things that Taylor didn't want to stick around – but that whether or not it got rid of things she did want to keep was unclear, because they hadn't yet found something that Taylor could honestly say she wanted to keep around.
She could at least get the size a bit smaller, but it wasn't really something she could control so much as whatever seemed to feel right. Still, there were several splodges of verdant green peppering the Boat Graveyard, now, along with fewer boats, and simply being around such lovely wildlife had given Taylor a real boost.
"That's really impressive," one of the dockworkers said, as they passed the building.
"Thanks," Taylor said, then yawned. "Phew… long day."
"Long week, by the sounds of it," the man replied. "Actually, Mr. Hebert, a word?"
"Sure," Danny decided, after a moment. "What's on your mind, Mayhew?"
Taylor took the opportunity to sit on a nearby length of wall, massaging her thighs, and stretched.
"I hope we get to have dinner before bed," Aivu said. "It'd be terrible if we didn't!"
Taylor sniggered. "Is it dinner you're thinking about, or dessert?"
"Welll…" Aivu began, then flicked her wings. "Both? But more dessert, because I don't know what dinner is and I like more desserts than dinners."
"Can't argue with that," Taylor said, then listened in to what her dad and Mayhew were talking about.
It sounded like they were talking about the homeless thing, and Taylor thought about that for a bit before speaking up.
"I don't know what would cause trouble for you," she admitted. "But I feel like the best thing is to just let people in there if they want to be in there?"
She frowned. "I guess… it's more of a problem if they're trying to stop other people, but… I just don't feel like it's something where we should keep people out if it would help them."
"Even if it's the Merchants?" Mayhew checked. "Those places could end up being full of drug dealers and drug addicts."
"So?" Taylor asked.
She looked over at the green forests again. "It's… kind of hard for me to see how it would make the drug problem in the city worse, even if they do all end up in one place. And it's kind of out of the way."
"They might cause us trouble," Mayhew pointed out. "It's not all that far from here… not inside the union compound, though."
"I just…" Taylor shrugged. "I feel like it would be wrong for us to stop people going into there, when it would make things better for them, and not worse for us? If there's a good reason, then, sure."
"And I bet Taylor could do it all over the city, once she's better at it!" Aivu said. "Lots of forest! Then there'll be too much to argue over!"
"Or we'll all end up living in the trees like elves," Danny suggested. "That's something elves do, isn't it?"
"They sail, too," Taylor replied. "Into the west, usually."
They all looked west.
"Might be a bit hard," Danny said, critically. "Unless they can sail through the air."
"I… think there's one that can?" Taylor asked, sounding doubtful. "It was in one of the poems I read from the Lord of the Rings… hold on."
She got out her notebook, paging through, then nodded. "Yeah, I think that's what this is… it's a bit hard to parse, but I think he's sailing around as the morning star."
"Hmm," Aivu said, then sighed. "I can't think of a way to do it! So we'll have to just wait until I'm bigger."
Monday at school went about as Taylor had expected it, but then on Tuesday she had a bad day.
"What is it?" Aivu asked, when Taylor groaned halfway through her third period of her ongoing detentions for refusing to stop bringing that very same dragon to school. "What's the problem?"
"Quiet, Miss Hebert," the teacher told her.
"I just found out," Taylor explained. "I ran out of textbooks… I should have seen this coming, but I forgot to bring in a different one. I'll just have to bring in a different one from home tomorrow or something."
Aivu looked upset. "You don't mean… you're going to be bored?" she asked. "I was bored, but for you to be bored too would be terrible!"
Taylor sighed. "Sorry, Aivu," she said. "I should have thought about how you'd be bored too."
"I didn't want to bother you," Aivu explained.
"Miss Hebert, I must insist," the teacher said.
"Or what?" Taylor replied, glancing up. "Are you going to give me detention?"
The teacher glowered at her, and Taylor thought for a moment before holding out her arms.
"Come here, Aivu?" she asked, and the purple dragon padded across the desk before stepping into Taylor's lap and sitting there like a content cat.
"This is nice," Aivu said, tail flicking.
"I had an idea," Taylor explained. "What about if I tell you what's in some of the books?"
Aivu made a face. "That sounds too much like it could be something boring," she replied.
"Well, it's going to be less boring than sitting there," Taylor pointed out. "Hold on, I've got… there we go, that's the cape studies textbook. That means it's got lots of examples to go through."
"That does sound okay," Aivu admitted. "But only if you help make sure it's less boring! I've heard about textbooks and they always seem really dull."
"I think there's some kind of thing where Texas always decides what school books get used in the US," Taylor replied. "I'm not really sure why, I just remember hearing about it once. But I'll do my best to make it less dull?"
"Great!" Aivu decided.
Aivu's cheer was a bit diminished by some of the examples they went through, because there was no real way to avoid the Endbringers coming up, and attacks by giant monsters that wrecked cities and killed hundreds or thousands of capes every time they attacked was always going to be a depressing topic.
But not everything in the textbook was that sad, and some of the case studies were much better stories. Like the first time a really serious Stranger had infiltrated the US government, and had eventually been caught because of his enormous collection of stolen pens from every government office within twenty miles of Washington DC back in the nineties – or how there was actually case law about the recent trend of flying capes crashing into buildings while texting.
That helped, and going through the textbook with Aivu might have helped – or it might not, because Taylor hadn't really had the chance to test out how her Thinker ability handled learning yet – but it made the day go faster, either way, and by the end Taylor had decided to bring in some other textbooks next time.
She wasn't going to store them in her locker, though. She was quite sure she never wanted to open that thing again.
"After a week she's got to be starting to let her guard down, right?" Emma asked. "Wrecking her homework is an old favourite, that's got to have a chance."
"She's got a dragon," Sophia replied, dully.
"So?" Emma asked. "She can't go around with the dragon all the time, and maybe if we make her look as pathetic as she is then we can show that dragon that she should ditch Taylor for one of us."
"The dragon's part of her power, isn't she?" Madison checked.
Sophia nodded, absently.
"That's what everyone on PHO says," she agreed, after a moment. "And it isn't like there's another explanation. If you think you can get someone's power to turn on her, then you're thinking about something that won't work."
"What about Leet's power?" Madison said, then shrank back a bit at Sophia's venomous look.
"Just saying," she defended herself.
Sophia shook her head. "I guess his power fucks up all the time, but that's not really the same – if a power could leave someone and jump ship, you don't think it wouldn't have done that before now? The number of times he's survived something exploding…"
She tutted. "Whatever. It's a stupid idea."
"I don't see you having a better one!" Emma shot back. "We need to come up with something soon, or-"
"-or what?" Sophia demanded. "We leave this alone and it might eventually blow over, but if we keep stirring this up then eventually it's going to explode and we'll all be in deep shit. Do you have any idea how important the PRT – the PRT must think she is?"
"It can't be that bad!" Emma insisted. "And if she tries to get us in trouble then Dad will get us out of it!"
"She might not even need to try," Sophia said. "They might do it all by themselves without her even asking. I… look, I know a bit about cape power ratings, okay? Like, how powerful someone has to be, how important they are, whatever."
She made an expansive gesture with her arms. "Taylor – Azata, whatever the fuck you call her when she's working, I don't even know – she did something over the weekend where she carpeted about a third of the Boat Graveyard in forest. That's big Shaker stuff, it's not combat or whatever but it's still big."
"Then we just need to get her into big trouble somehow!" Emma said.
Sophia groaned, and Emma's expression twisted slightly.
"I'm surprised at you, Sophia," she said. "You've changed your mind about her just because she faked saving you? I thought you were stronger than-"
Sophia's eye twitched, and Emma shut up.
It was probably a good call.
"School takes up way too much time," Aivu said, hovering alongside Taylor as they walked home.
"I guess," Taylor replied. "I never really thought about it, it's something I have to do… and it's a lot more fun now I've got you to enjoy it with."
Aivu giggled.
"It still means you can't practice with your powers," she said. "Or with my powers! Or both. Oh – do you have any ideas for what to use as weapons when we go out and fight crime? If we go out and fight crime instead of just singing to fix problems, but we've done it already once."
"I was, yeah," Taylor admitted. "I might not even need proper weapons, because I did okay with other stuff… I did think about bean bags or tennis balls or something. Plus we could play catch with them, so that would be nice."
"Yeah, that's true!" Aivu said. "Ooh, you could have a special Azata frisbee! Or a musical instrument."
Taylor briefly imagined carrying a guitar around and using it to hit people, and snorted.
"I'm not sure what instrument that would be," she said. "Mom had a flute, but that's… not really an option any more."
Aivu fluttered ahead a bit, looking at Taylor's expression, and nodded understandingly.
"Emma?" she asked.
"Yeah, Emma and the others," Taylor agreed. "I was stupid, I brought it to school, but…"
She sighed. "I don't like thinking about it."
"Well, umm…" Aivu said, tilting her head. "You should be pretty good with just about any instrument now! So you could use any of them, it could be a flute if you wanted, or it could be something else."
She giggled. "Not a piano though! I don't think you're that strong yet."
"Yet?" Taylor asked.
Aivu giggled again. "Or ever," she said. "It's sort of up to you, but in a funny kind of way. It'll be a fun surprise if it happens!"
Taylor shook her head. "My own dragon's keeping secrets from me," she said. "How terrible."
"I'm only five," Aivu said. "But at the same time, I'm five! So I'm old enough to do rebellion, right?"
"Maybe," Taylor hedged.
Then Aivu's head turned, and she dropped to the street with a thump and skitter of claws on pavement.
"Is something wrong?" Taylor asked.
"I heard a funny noise," Aivu explained, pointing. "Up there."
Then there was a sort of soft whoosh, and a man in a black bodysuit and a leering demonic mask appeared in front of them.
Taylor recognized him easily enough – Oni Lee, from the Azn Bad Boys – and tensed up a bit. Aivu tensed as well, wings half-raised and ready to take off, and for a moment there was a singing tension that could have turned into violence.
"You are the cape known as Azata," Oni Lee said, addressing Taylor. "Correct?"
"Yeah, that's me," Taylor agreed. "I'm confused – why are you approaching me?"
"Lung wishes to talk," Oni Lee replied. "Specifically to your dragon, but you are welcome as well. Come with me."
"Why does he want to talk to us?" Aivu asked. "And isn't it a bit rude to just tell us, instead of asking?"
Oni Lee paused.
"Yes," he said. "It is a bit rude. Excuse me a moment."
He collapsed into a cloud of ash, and Aivu looked confused.
"That's weird," she said. "I heard a sound up on the roof, and then he did that!"
"I think that's… supposed to be a thing he can do?" Taylor said. "He can teleport, but he's supposed to be able to blow himself up with grenades and then reappear again."
She looked up, but couldn't see a sign of Oni Lee.
"I think he's on a phone," Aivu whispered. "But I can't hear what he's saying."
Then the cape appeared in front of them again.
"Lung wishes to talk," he said. "He invites both you and your dragon to a discussion. I can promise you safe conduct both to and from the meeting, as well as while there, so long as you do not start a fight yourself. Is that acceptable?"
"So long as this doesn't delay my walk home by more than an hour or so," Taylor decided, after thinking about it for a bit.
Oni Lee was supposed to be really violent. He was being polite enough, but talking was probably the safer decision.
While she wasn't quite sure what she'd expected, what actually happened was that Oni Lee led them through the streets for about ten minutes before stopping in front of a three-story-tall house.
It didn't look like much on the outside, but Taylor was smart enough to work out that that was… sort of the entire point. Whether this was a long-term ABB safe house or something that had been set up just for this meeting, it wasn't something that should be connected with the gang in any obvious way from the outside.
There weren't any gang members inside, once Oni Lee opened the door, and less than a minute later they were in the same room as Lung.
He looked… interesting, at least at first glance. His characteristic dragon-styled mask was on, and he was tall and muscled but not hugely tall or muscled – well within what she'd expect of a man who spent a lot of time working out, or doing strenuous physical work. Were it not for the mask, Taylor wouldn't really have noticed him if he was in the DWA.
Except for the fact that he only wore a pair of jeans, and was shirtless with dragons and dragon-themed tattoos covering his chest and arms.
"So, um," Aivu began, jumping up onto one of the spare chairs, as Taylor sat down on another one. "You're Lung, right?"
"I am," Lung replied, then turned to Oni Lee. "Keep watch."
Oni Lee nodded, slightly, and left.
For a moment, there was silence.
"Do you know why I invited you here?" Lung asked, eventually.
"Oni Lee said that you wanted to meet us," Taylor answered. "The way he said it, it sounded like it was more to do with Aivu than me?"
"That is part of it," Lung agreed. "I was curious to see who was claiming the title of dragon, in Brockton Bay. Someone who claimed that title without a very good reason might have me to answer to."
"But… I am a dragon," Aivu said, a bit uncertainly, and looked back at herself in case she'd somehow changed shape in the last few minutes.
She fluttered her wings and flicked her tail, then turned back to Lung. "Unless you're talking about the kind of dragons there are on your chest, without the wings. I'm not one of them."
"So I see," Lung said, sounding… amused?
Or confused. Taylor couldn't really tell.
As she wondered about that, Lung looked Aivu over for several more seconds.
"Can you breathe fire?" he asked.
"No," Aivu shook her head. "I can breathe sound, though! I'm more of a sound dragon than a fire one. In fact, I'm super a sound dragon, and not at all a fire one."
Lung nodded, a little.
"Is this meant to be a conversation?" Taylor checked. "I'm saying that because I don't know what you'd consider rude."
"Why not," Lung allowed. "I'm curious about what you could want to say, though."
"Well, if you knew then you wouldn't need to have the conversation in the first place," Taylor said. "But, uh… it sounds like you have an idea of what a dragon would have to be. But does Dragon fit with that?"
Lung shook his head.
"She is not in Brockton Bay, so I have no need to consider it," he told her. "But this little dragon here… yes, I think I can accept that she is a dragon. I will not consider her to be unjustly taking the name."
"That's good, right?" Aivu checked quickly. "I know I'm a dragon, but it's a good thing if you know too."
"It sounds like it's a good thing," Taylor agreed. "Though I don't know what I'd do if one of the other gang leaders asked for a meeting like this."
"It is unlikely you will be asked, I think," Lung said, and this time he definitely sounded amused. "If your dragon had called herself Fafnir instead then you may have had more trouble."
Aivu looked puzzled. "Who's that?"
"A dragon from Germanic legends, I think," Taylor explained. "I last read the story a while ago… but I'm surprised you know about it. Aren't you from Kyushu?"
"My origin is complex, and the unwritten rules are not the only reason I am unwilling to go into the details," Lung said.
"That's fair," Taylor decided. "I'm an out cape for reasons which are my own. Well, that and the butterflies."
She put her hands together. "But I want to ask, actually… you're a famous cape. One of the ones everyone's heard of. So… how do you deal with it?"
Lung actually didn't seem to know how to respond, at first.
"That is a difficult question," he admitted. "But I tend to find that making an example of people who ask stupid questions saves a lot of time and stupid questions."
"Not really an option for me," Taylor said to herself, under her breath.
"That is all the insight I can really give, on that topic," Lung told her. "Now, I must know. What are your intentions towards my gang?"
"I…" Taylor began, then stopped, and reconsidered.
"What is your gang?" Aivu checked. "I don't know a lot of the details! I haven't been here long."
"My gang is the strongest in Brockton Bay," Lung said, firmly. "Because I lead it. I am Lung. No other cape in the city is as strong as me. No other gang can match that."
"I mean, what do you do," Aivu clarified. "And, um, what you're called, as well, because I don't know that bit."
That led to another pause.
"The Azn Bad Boys," Lung said, after several seconds. "And I will not say anything about what my gang does. I am not ashamed, but I will not confess to specific crimes in this situation."
"That makes sense, I guess," Taylor said. "But since your gang does do those crimes, I guess the obvious answer is that it depends how much trouble your gang actually causes?"
She shrugged. "I'm one girl and I'm not even out of high school yet, and you fought and drove off Leviathan. But, if your gang is hurting people and I'm there to stop it, obviously that's what I'm going to try and do. Apart from that I don't really know? And I'm not going to promise anything in this situation."
Aivu stifled a giggle.
"Sorry," she said, as they both looked at her. "But the way you said that was really neat? Or, it was like it rhymed, or something."
"...I just realized, I have another question," Taylor said. "Why aren't you in the Protectorate?"
Even through his mask, Lung managed to give the impression that he was looking at Taylor as if she was not particularly bright.
"I am a gang leader," he said, slowly. "A gang lord. Why would you even ask that question?"
"Maybe because it's a good question?" Aivu suggested. "I don't actually know why Taylor asked it either but I bet she's got a good reason!"
"I'm probably not going to be in the Wards," Taylor said, in the hope of explaining a little more. "And I know why I made that decision. And it's obvious why someone like Kaiser wouldn't, because he'd have to work with people that he as a Nazi just doesn't think are worth working with. But I don't know why you aren't, because you're… one of the strongest capes in the world. And I was born here, I love it, but… it's not a great place."
"Taylor!" Aivu gasped. "You can't mean that! You're from here, that's got to be worth something!"
"You've seen Winslow," Taylor pointed out.
Aivu made a face. "Um… yeah, okay, that bit is a bit yucky…"
Taylor sniggered.
"Anyway," she went on. "You're so strong the PRT would probably have given you a really good deal, it'd be great for their PR, but instead…"
She shrugged.
"I had no desire to submit to the orders of someone else," Lung told her, firmly and with conviction. "Being part of the Protectorate would mean just that. And I see no interest in being a prize fighter against the Endbringers, either."
That was an odd enough statement, given who Lung was, that Taylor blinked in surprise.
"You don't understand," Lung declared. "I can understand why not. But… understand this. The Endbringers cannot be killed. They are a force of nature. It is better to just accept that."
Taylor looked down.
"I can't accept that, not for myself," she said. "I don't know if I'd ever be able to help with a fight, but my powers are… odd. Maybe I will be able to, some time. And if I can… I don't know if I'd be able to live with myself, if I decided not to because I wanted to feel safe."
Lung snorted.
"If you're trying to shame me, it won't work," he said, then paused. "But… no, you're not, are you? That is just how you feel, yourself."
"Yeah," Taylor agreed. "And – I understand what you mean about wanting to be free of anyone else doing anything to you. But even so, I don't really get why you have the gang?"
She spread her hands. "I mean, uh… why you've got a gang and do all the, well, crimes. Instead of, not having a gang."
"I don't really have a choice," Lung said. "Not to live a comfortable life, as a cape, as my own master. And I rule my part of Brockton Bay without question. You said it yourself – to everyone, I am the cape who fought and drove off Leviathan. Kaiser's entire gang does not dare to fight me, because I will win. My territory is mine because I am unstoppable."
"And then what?" Taylor said. "Is there ever a time when you'll say… this is enough? When you'll be happy?"
Lung regarded her, levelly.
"More odd questions," he said. "So I will be honest. For me, being content is being secure in my power. In being the master of my gang. And in having enough money to buy what I actually want to spend money on."
"Oooh," Aivu said, nodding. "I get it! So you're talking about having a hoard!"
She sat back on her haunches. "I get it now. Very dragony!"
"...thank you?" Lung replied, definitely just a bit baffled.
Taylor waited a moment.
"Is there anything else?" she asked.
"I cannot think of anything," Lung said. "Except to say… I understand what you said about what happens in front of you. I will not change the whole course of my gang just to match what one hero considers acceptable behaviour. I will not declare revenge on you if any of my men are idiots."
"And what would that mean?" Taylor checked.
"Idiots get caught," Lung told her.
AN:
Merchandising makes the world go round!
Taylor's getting a good deal here, but I don't think it's unreasonably good.