Gonna put a violence warning on this one.
Maidservant 3.1
There was… a kind of silent, peaceful serenity to the world. A lack of motion and sound, everything still and quiet and washed out as though someone had taken a photo and desaturated slightly.
Taylor looked around, taking in the grayed out world with deadened eyes, hardening her heart so she would not feel fear, would not feel the helpless panic that overtook her mere moments ago. She swallowed thickly, forcing herself to calm her breathing, then flared her nostrils and breathed a ragged huff of air out, the icy panic in her chest transitioning to burning, endless fury in almost an instant- only just barely restrained by her rational mind.
She looked down at her hands, turning them over and observing how they left thin, almost imperceptible ripples through the frozen air. She was a lone bright spot in this world of desaturated color, watching everything in muted tones, stuck in mid motion.
The ABB gang members holding Emma, sneering and jeering, spitting and laughing as they gripped her friend's arms hard enough to bruise. The other thugs holding onto Alan- daring him to fight back, holding crude weapons like chains and crowbars, ready to beat him half to death and take his money. The thug who'd once restrained her, hands held on thin air as his expression stank of foul intentions- both murderous and lecherous.
She scowled.
She finally understood now, what she'd been doing this whole time. How she seemed to find time for everything that she did, how things she kept intending on doing manifested without her ever seemingly doing them. The newspaper in Alan's chair. The countless myriad of little actions that had piled up over the last year. Every time when she thought she'd just finished her work faster than she thought.
She flexed her fingers, holding onto the pocket watch her mother had gifted her all those years ago. It ticked silently in her hands, the seconds passing by without end even as the rest of the world stayed frozen in eternity.
She wondered, idly, how long she'd been able to do such things. Certainly, she remembered the times back in first grade where things seemed to pause in motion for only a second or two, just enough for her to catch something that she otherwise would have missed, just enough to see something ever so slightly strange… but that was neither here nor there.
What was here was the opportunity to do her duty. To protect and serve her Lady.
Taylor took a centering breath and focused, turning to face first the woman who held a knife to Emma's face- mere millimeters from cutting into the soft flesh of Emma's cheeks.
This would not stand.
A brief moment of disorientation and she was suddenly there, having taken a single step and found herself on the other side of the car, right next to the woman- no, her target.
She struck with a wordless scream, pouring all her negative emotions into a pair of palm strikes to the woman's gut- lashing out with rage filled kicks and punches as the momentum of her strikes moved the unaware woman down the the ground so she could better curbstomp this horrid bitch's teeth into her goddamn throat!
Ahem.
Taylor grimaced as she pulled back, wincing a bit at the amount of blood now staining her previously pristine socks and polished mary janes. With a shake of her head, she turned to the other thugs- she was a bit more gentle this time, removing them from Emma's personage first before immediately slamming the left thug's face into the rim of a dumpster, snarling in abject rage as she grabbed him by his poorly maintained mohawk and smash smash SMASHED HIS UGLY FUCKING FACE into the dumpster before reaching over and slamming the heavy lid shut on the man's neck. The other thug she bodily flung into a pile of trash bags, leaving him hanging in midair before Taylor reached into her skirt pockets, drawing forth a preposterous amount of knives and throwing them with wide, arcing sweeps of her arms, sending them all flying bullet straight at the man's vitals- she didn't turn around to see if they would hit, knowing that they would be stuck there in midair before time resumed.
The third man- one of the three that were restraining Alan, received a tire iron to the skull. Repeatedly. At length, just to make sure that he would truly receive the lesson Taylor was imparting. She continued screaming with near bestial rage as she tore the ruins of what was once a human from Alan's shoulder, flinging him away into the wall along with the tire iron she'd pulled from his grasp, then spun around to do the same to the fool's compatriots. Breathing hard, she tied the second thug's chain around his neck, slamming her foot into the small of his back, forcing him to the ground until something gave way with an almighty crack that resonated through the silent world like a gunshot.
The third thug holding onto Alan received a simple bullet (and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another, and another-) between the eyes, with Taylor's strength beginning to flag now that her panicked, burning rage had begun to die out to a bare simmer instead of a roiling inferno. She slipped the gun into her skirt pocket, wincing a bit as the hot metal brushed against her skin before it seemed to disappear wholesale. Taylor privately wondered how she'd squeezed twenty shots out of a poorly maintained six shot revolver, then shook her head, coughed into her hand a bit as the remnants of her injuries (still technically mending, but having had the casts removed months ago) twinged against her bones, and faced the single man who'd pulled her out of the car.
She blinked slowly, feeling a sudden chill wash over her body before she simply reared back, a knife- not one of the simple, crude knives she'd been throwing all summer long, but a proper, ornamented dagger with beautiful inlays and filigree work along the blade- appearing in her hand as if on a whim.
It plunged into the man's forehead with all the precision and elegance of a needle through silk.
Taylor sighed, ignoring the way her stomach began roiling, churning and twisting in on itself as she stumbled her way back around the car, wincing at the dents and scratches in the paint and body, the blood and viscera soaked into the tires, the shattered windows and glass covered seats. She leaned against it for support, wincing again as her head spun- two or three or five of everything overlapping in a dizzy haze that left her feeling as though up was down and left was right.
But she still saw clearly enough to push off the side of the car and into the embrace of Emma, ignoring her bloodstained clothes, ignoring her nausea and exhaustion, ignoring the burning pain of her bones protesting against her movements.
She leaned into the embrace, buried her face in Emma's shoulder, let her tears flow…
The world resumed.
Everything went black.
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Jsyrin
Oct 12, 2021
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Jsyrin
The CyberQueen
She/Her
Oct 13, 2021
#512
Just as a general warning this chapter and the next fought me super hard and actually made me stop writing this a few months ago, so keep in mind that I'm basically just glossing over a bunch of stuff out of general disinterest in writing that kind of thing
Maidservant 3.2
Emma sat quietly beside Taylor's hospital bed, gently brushing her fingers through her friend's hair as she tried and (mostly) failed to process the events that had happened not two hours prior. Taylor had some kind of powers, that much was clear, but what they were Emma couldn't say in the slightest.
She'd done some research in the few hours that they'd had to themselves- she knew Taylor's cape watching habit pretty well by now, and could more or less recite the power classifications on a whim by now just through osmosis from listening to Taylor. Her friend had, what, managed to brutalize (murder) seven people in an instant, crushing them with strength that shouldn't have been there, appearing in Emma's arms without even a bare second passing as the ABB thugs had found themselves suddenly turned into cooling corpses, splattered against the ground (and in one case, pinned to a wall). Was it super speed? Emma didn't know, but she didn't know of any other kinds of powers that could do all of that (where had all the knives come from, anyway? Emma knew for a fact that Taylor could only keep three or four knives on her person at a time without poking a hole in her pockets).
Emma shook her head as she continued to keep watch over Taylor, her hands almost tangling in the thick white locks of Taylor's hair, her usually pristine braids having come undone during the rush to bring her to the hospital.
"Oh Taylor…" Emma whispered, trying to find the words but unable to think of… anything that could properly express her emotions. She chewed her lip, swallowing thickly as her heart clenched, hands trembling and chills running down her spine as she remembered the utter fear that she'd felt mere hours prior.
And then-
A flash of movement, and a single aborted scream.
Taylor collapsed in her arms, her father stumbling to a halt on the curb. Seven dead. An independent vigilante landing upon the roof of her father's now vandalized car.
Her name was Shadow Stalker. She'd called the two of them survivors. Tried to say something else, but Emma had been distraught and screamed at the black-clad cape to go do something useful and find help instead of ranting at them.
She hadn't seen the other woman (girl, maybe?) since. Her father had needed to call a tow truck and a cab to the hospital instead- apparently Shadow Stalker had simply vanished into the night like a complete jerk instead of actually helping. What a jerk.
It was hard to keep her mind on the fear and terror she'd felt, not when it had only been a few short seconds of panic before- well. Before Taylor's presence had been in her arms and filled her nose with the scent of floral shampoo, filled her heart and mind with a warmth that was nothing short of safety and home.
"... I'd be… I'd be d-dead…. O-or worse if you weren't there," she whispered finally, drawing her hands from Taylor's hair before reaching down and grasping her hand, running her thumb along the back of Taylor's hand. Emma studied the slender digits clasped in her own hands, each one delicately calloused, though well maintained even moreso than Emma's. Delicate pink nails, long enough to be elegant but short enough to not be a hindrance, styled in a beautifully chic french manicure. Tiny, thin scars from the few times she'd slipped up and cut herself with a knife while cooking, or practicing. Emma chewed her lip, trying to push her thoughts past the static in her mind that kept her focused on irrelevant details even as she tried to speak. "I-I… I'm so glad… that… that you were there for me. For us. Me and dad… a-and…"
She took a shuddering breath, pressing her forehead against Taylor's limp hand, tears flowing freely for the first time in hours. "I-I'm… I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"
She sniffled deeply, her shoulders shaking as she almost lost herself to the sudden tide of guilt, of being so helpless that Taylor had to- had to force herself into a coma just for her, had to-
"... don't be…"
Emma blinked slowly, shocked out of her reverie as Taylor's hand twitched and tightened slowly, the other girl slowly sitting up and opening her eyes, bleary with sleep and hair mussed up (though, that was Emma's fault…) more than Emma had seen in years.
"T-Taylor! You're awa- your eyes!" Emma gasped suddenly, rocking back in her chair by Taylor's bedside as Taylor's eyes opened fully, revealing a bright flash of bloody, maddened crimson instead of the usual reflective, almost black, forest green her irises usually showed. "W-what happened to your eyes!?"
"H-huh?" Taylor blinked slowly, brows furrowing in confusion as she looked at Emma. When she opened her eyes again, the crimson tint had vanished as if it had never been there at all.
"Your eyes! They- they were red for a second there!" Emma spluttered, leaning in close and peering into Taylor's eyes, searching almost aggressively for any sign of the bloody, terrifying red that had flooded those irises mere moments prior. "A-and now they're back to normal!? What kind of superpower bullshit is that!?"
"... I… don't know what you're talking about," Taylor shook her head slowly, grimacing as she raised her free hand and pushed Emma away to gain some breathing room, then pressed said hand against her forehead and groaned. "Ah… migraine… I haven't had one in some time…"
"Are you okay?" Emma immediately surged forward again, fretting over Taylor with her hands all but dancing around Taylor's shoulders, as if she were a fragile thing of spun glass. "You should lie down- here, I'll pour you some water!"
"Emma- Emma, I'm fine. It's just a headache," Taylor grumbled, lightly pushing Emma's hands away with a quick wave of her own before reaching out and pouring herself a glass of water with only slightly trembling hands. "…. So…. What… actually happened…? I… I remember the alleyway and getting pulled out of the car, but… then everything gets… fuzzy…"
Emma blinked slowly, staring at Taylor as she sat back down and tilted her head a bit to the side to show her confusion better before recounting the events as they happened from her perspective.
"... Taylor, you did- you did something. I'm- well, I'm still not sure what kind of parahuman bullshit you pulled, but- well. All of the people who were… w-who were a-attacking us are…. T-they're dead. And… I don't know what happened exactly, but one moment, everything was terrifying and I was trying to do something, and the next- you were in my arms, unconscious, and… t-there was so much blood… A-and you kinda… re-fractured your arm and leg, apparently, I don't know how," she swallowed thickly as she came to the end of her explanation, trembling a bit as she remembered the sheer terror of being pulled through broken glass, the laughs and jeers of the ABB members as they threatened unspeakable things as they held her still.
"... Oh. Oh no."
Taylor went white- or at least, she went slightly paler than she already was, eyes widening slightly in sudden panic. "I- are we, am I in trouble? I- I don't… I think…. Oh dear lord…. What are we going to do!?"
Emma took a deep breath, chewing her lip thoughtfully swiveling around in her seat, staring at the door as a series of heavy footsteps began to draw near. She furrowed her brow, a bead of sweat beginning to trail down her neck as the footsteps- almost mechanical sounding, now that she thought about it, began to draw nearer and nearer, until they were stopped just outside of the room itself, a large shadow partially visible as it blocked the light trickling under the door.
"... I have no clue at all."
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Oct 13, 2021
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The CyberQueen
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Oct 14, 2021
#578
Maidservant 3.3
There was a certain awe in meeting Armsmaster, Taylor thought to herself as she stared up at the imposing figure clad in blue power armor before her- the one bit of vulnerability visible being his mouth and chin, with perfectly sculpted goatee jutting out below.
That she didn't know if she was in grave trouble or not turned that awe into a mild case of anxiety that gnawed away at her and made her wish she could crawl into a hole in the ground and hide away forever from her misdeeds.
Those misdeeds being multiple homicide in an alleyway with a parahuman power.
Maybe there was a good reason to be anxious.
"Easy, Tay, we'll get through this," Emma whispered quietly in her ear, squeezing her hand as Armsmaster pulled a briefcase from where it had been clipped to his back, next to his halberd, and set it down on the table by Taylor's bed, opening it and withdrawing a few documents before perusing through them.
"Good afternoon Miss Hebert- Miss Barnes. First and foremost Miss Hebert, I would like to make it clear that- while you did lash out and perform a severe act of violence in a stressful situation- you are not currently in legal trouble for what you have done," Armsmaster spoke, his voice level and projected out not quite forcefully, but for clarity and authority. "Your guardian will arrive shortly, but as I have discussed with Mister Barnes downstairs, the PRT and Protectorate are classifying this incident as what is known as a Trigger event- parahuman powers manifesting in the wake of extreme trauma and stress. I trust that you are familiar with the term?"
"Yes," Taylor nodded, pursing her lips and folding her hands in her lap with Emma's clasped securely between them, hiding her anxieties as she ran her thumb over Emma's and looked Armsmaster eye to… visor. "I've come across the term before, though I was not able to find much about it other than it being called the worst day of one's life."
"Indeed. All parahumans go through such an event, and in several cases, the manifestation of such abilities can cause any manner of deleterious effects," Armsmaster nodded sagely, still standing in a way that could have been called awkward if he wasn't a six foot tall man wearing a suit of power armor. "In any case, due to the extreme trauma and confusion that lies at the root of such events, there is legal precedent to, if not completely waive, then to lessen the consequences by filing them under self defense and/or acts of god, or uncontrollable events."
Taylor blinked slowly as Armsmaster continued talking- a lot of it was legal jargon that mostly seemed to boil down to the fact that, barring a few check ins with the local Protectorate for power testing and some legal red tape of this or that, she wasn't going to be facing many consequences for murdering several people in an alleyway, followed shortly by a pitch for the Wards along with promises of further power testing and training, monetary support, access to a counselor, etc etc.
Taylor frowned.
The tail end of his words, clipped, formal, and rigid though they were, sounded like a threat- or some kind of blatant propaganda. A statistic of how long independent new capes lasted in Brockton Bay before dying or being pressed into one of the gangs, but no mention of how many of said capes ended up being brought into or just outright joining the Protectorate or Wards. It was worded like a cautionary tale, but…
"No." she said
"No?" Armsmaster sounded like he was raising an eyebrow behind his visor.
"No?" Emma almost shrieked, looking at Taylor incredulously. "Why would you say no? You could be a superhero, Taylor! You could save people and learn how to use your powers!"
"I swore an oath, Emma," Taylor answered, turning a serious, steely gaze towards Armsmaster, who mostly just seemed confused at the sudden turn of events. "That I would stay by your side as your loyal maid forever. Being a Ward would break that oath, as I would have to spend far more time away from you than is acceptable."
"I- Taylor that's…." Emma pinched her brow, letting out a shallow breath and groaning as she realized that, yes, Taylor was entirely serious about the maid oath, and no, she wasn't going to make any headway with that line of inquiry. "... Nevermind, I know damn well I can't change your mind. But at least consider it?"
"... I won't pretend that I understand the context of such a decision, but regardless- these information packets will provide everything you need to know about being a parahuman. That said, if you choose not to join the Wards or sign on to be an independent hero, there is also the ability to be considered a Rogue, should you prefer to use your abilities for economic purposes," Armsmaster spoke up after a few seconds, placing a folder onto Taylor's bedside table before abruptly turning towards the door. "Think about it. The contact information for the local branch of the PRT is in there as well, should you choose to join the Wards. Please use that, and the included pass phrase to set up an appointment for your power testing."
With that, he left the room, armored boots clomping down the hall and eventually fading away into the distance.
Taylor frowned, then looked down at her hands, no longer stained with blood, but still prickling as though they were dripping wet.
"... Emma?"
"... Yeah?"
"... Am I a bad person?"
Emma blinked.
"I- uh. What?"
Taylor took a deep breath, brow furrowing as she flexed her hands, a knife appearing between her fingers with but the tiniest flex of her will, a subtle warping in the currents of space and time depositing it neatly in her hand in perfect position for her to grip and throw. "... I killed those people. I- I stopped time, and… I was just so angry, and I don't know why. They- they were threatening you and your dad, but… I just- I slaughtered them. I killed them all so brutally and I didn't have to. And… the worst part is… I don't… I don't feel anything about it."
"..." Emma was silent, looking down at the knife in Taylor's hands for a moment before gently pulling it out of her friend's fingers and setting it aside. "... Taylor. If you hadn't stepped in, hadn't… hadn't used your powers, I don't know what would have happened to us. We could have been robbed, raped, murdered- I don't know. And- I don't know what it is that made you flip out like that, I don't know if it's your powers or some weird mental thing, but…"
She paused, staring into Taylor's eyes as they flickered from dark green to burning crimson again and again, swirls of color appearing and disappearing as Taylor wrestled with some internal problem Emma could only make the faintest guess at.
"... The fact that you're telling me this- that you're aware of what's wrong. I think- well. You saved me and dad. And as long as you don't k-kill anyone again. And that you recognize what you did was wrong… I think you're fine," Emma smiled- a weak and tenuous thing, one that was full of shaky trust as she raised her hand towards Taylor, pinkie extended. "So, pinkie promise me that you won't do it again?"
"... Yeah. Pinkie promise."
Their pinkies met, curled around each other as Taylor smiled once again, eyes dark and green and with no trace of the maddened redness they'd had before.
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Oct 14, 2021
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Jsyrin
The CyberQueen
She/Her
Oct 15, 2021
#666
Maidservant 3.4
Were it ever so simple, that things could go back to normal so quickly.
Things had changed, and not always for the better.
Taylor's father had, naturally, been outraged and driven to frantic worry at the news that Taylor had been taken to the hospital, almost apoplectic with silent, impotent rage at the contracts that the PRT had delivered to the Hebert household the next day. Taylor had withdrawn slightly in the face of her father's simmering rage, even though she still rarely saw him except on the weekends.
The elder Barnes' had become slightly fearful of her, in the aftermath of the alleyway incident.
Taylor wasn't surprised- she had murdered several people in cold blood, brutalizing them in a way that was frankly near inhuman thanks to the strength of her powers. That she'd managed to escape any consequences other than a stern talking to from Miss Militia during her power testing (which she had, of course, lied about in the extreme to avoid too much scrutiny and yet still somehow managed to rank as a Shaker 5/Mover 4/Blaster 3) and several firm insinuations that she should join the Wards or face legal problems in the future should she so much as step a toe out of line again, well.
They still seemed to trust her, but Alan moreso than Zoe tended towards making sure that she wasn't carrying anything sharp whilst in the same room. At least she was getting paid now, in the wake of the Incident.
On the positive side, Anne had taken the revelation of Taylor's powers in stride- she'd suspected, of course, that something strange had been going on with Taylor for some time now given that she should have otherwise been unable to fit all of her activities into a single day's worth of time with all of the extracurriculars she assigned herself. Plus, Anne's interest in battle manga and anime lead mostly to Anne deciding that Taylor needed to pick up even more skills that maids were apparently "supposed to have".
Emphasis on the airquotes.
Taylor wasn't sure in the slightest as to how being a pro skateboarder, or being able to hide an improbably large arsenal of oversized guns on one's person was related to being a Victorian style maid, but she did agree that learning skate tricks was great for her leg strength and dexterity, and being able to hide lots of big things on one's person was helpful whenever Emma decided she wanted to go shopping for clothes.
Emma.
Taylor's relationship with Emma had become… interesting, so to speak.
In one way, nothing had changed at all- Emma was still her Lady, and she did whatever Emma asked of her, even if it was strange or potentially embarrassing for Taylor.
Case in point, the "superman test" that Emma had tried to do, in which Emma had attempted to figure out if Taylor's ability was actually time manipulation or just moving at extreme speed while ignoring physics by… having Taylor change outfits in the middle of a phone booth, with the reasoning that if it was superspeed, then she'd see a flash of bare skin or Taylor's body holding still for a fraction of a second before blurring again or something like that.
Fortunately for Taylor's dignity and privacy, it was the former ability, instead of the latter.
The change in their relationship, though, was much in the way that Emma had almost started acting as if she was Taylor's manager… or coach. Or trainer- she'd even worn a tracksuit and blew into a whistle at some point during their power testing.
In the days following the Incident, as they called it, Emma had begun pressuring Taylor to experiment with her abilities, even with the PRT vans inconspicuously listening in around the Barnes and Hebert households for any sign of trouble. Taylor agreed, of course- hers was to do as her Lady commanded, and she'd have been lying if she didn't want to figure out the extent of her powers just as much as Emma did, but she had taken the extra precautions of doing so in the Barnes' basement, far away from the listening devices pointed towards their home.
So far the two had learned that Taylor's ability to stop time didn't seem to have a limit- while she couldn't quite get up to strenuous activities at the moment due to her arm and leg being re-splinted in the wake of the Incident (with, thankfully, the PRT being willing to cover the cost of the treatment… this time), she could still maintain that strange period of stopped time for… seemingly as long as she wanted.
The way they'd tested that was that Taylor had ended up cleaning the entire house top to bottom while in stopped time- taking breaks to not strain herself too much, and all told the entire process of cleaning every room (attic and basement, the small backyard pool, the shed, the garage all included) took nearly eight hours, and Taylor's only strain was from her natural stamina causing her to stop and rest.
And, it was time stopping, near as both Taylor and Emma could figure- not that the test was very conclusive, but moving the family computer's mouse while in stopped time didn't cause the actual pointer to move on the screen, which Taylor certainly thought mean that it wasn't just superspeed- that would have caused some movement… probably.
Either way, Taylor knew that time stopping wasn't quite the extent of her abilities- she could feel something about them, twisting and churning deep within, just beyond her grasp, and knew deep in her heart that stopping time was just one part of her entire breadth of power, and both she and Emma were quite determined to figure out all of it, no matter how long it took.
Among all the other things that followed in the days and weeks following the disastrous alleyway Incident, there was… one more thing. An annoyance, really, but one that was recurring and honestly starting to grate on Taylor's nerves.
And that was…
"Fight me."
Her.
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Oct 15, 2021
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The CyberQueen
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Oct 16, 2021
#792
Maidservant 3.5
August third, 2009 was a day that started off like any other… and then completely went off the rails the moment that Taylor began walking home from the grocery store in the early afternoon.
"I said fight me!"
Taylor sighed, pinching her brow as she shifted the basket of groceries at her hip, frowning at the other girl standing across from her. Privately, she wished that they weren't outside doing all of this, but then again, if the other girl had been confronting her on the front step of the Barnes household, she would have been leagues more irked than she was now.
The girl in front of her was… athletic. Fairly muscular. About average height for a girl in their approximate age group, dark skinned, curly hair pulled back into a ponytail, and wearing all black in some kind of manner that looked like she was either a punk music fan or very edgy.
Probably both.
"Ma'am, I apologize for my rudeness, but I don't even know who you are, let alone have a reason to fight one such as you," Taylor spoke, her voice level and calm and carrying across the distance between them. The street was, residential and sort of suburban as it was, not really occupied on a Monday afternoon, which thankfully meant that the scene the other girl was making was much less of an actual scene given that the only people around were quick to go about their business and walk away from the two teenage girls standing in the middle of the sidewalk. "Please leave me alone."
"Fuck that, I know your secret you frilly bitch!" the other girl spat, gesticulating with her arms as she stepped forward, eyes smoldering with some mix of rage, condescension, smugness, and aggression. "So fight me!"
Taylor paused, pursing her lips as she folded her hands in front of her, grocery basket vanishing into the depths of her hidden skirt pockets as she matched the other girl's stare. "Perhaps you should at least introduce yourself first, ma'am. I'll go first- my name is Taylor Hebert, Head Maid of the Barnes household. And you are?"
"... Sophia Hess." the girl bit out, looking for all the world as if she'd rather be doing anything other than introducing herself to Taylor. "Now fight me, you spineless coward!"
"Such insults are…" Taylor frowned, furrowing her brow as Sophia grit her teeth and stepped forward again, fist raising up before-
Sophia froze.
A shiver ran down her spine.
The tiniest prick of pain tingled against her throat, prompting her to swallow thickly as she beheld the knife now clutched loosely in Taylor's hand in a reverse grip, sharp and gleaming and polished to a mirror finish… and pressed so finely against her throat that she could feel it shaving the tiniest flecks of skin there, a delicate kiss of steel that reminded her that the woman in front of her (when had she moved!? When did she pull out a knife!?) had killed seven people in an instant.
"... unnecessary," Taylor finished, staring into Sophia's suddenly fearful eyes, as her own flashed red for an instant, crimson bleeding into forest green before vanishing as quickly as it came. "Now, care to explain exactly what you mean by secret, miss Hess?"
"I-just- you-" Sophia stuttered out, stepping back with an indignant hiss as she clenched her fist, glaring even harder now as she rubbed her throat with her free hand. "Fuck you, you creepy maid bitch!"
"Ma'am, you are making a scene," Taylor sighed, then rubbed her forehead and frowned some more, recognizing Sophia's brand of bluster and realizing that, just as the girl hadn't left her alone the last three times she'd just walked away, she wouldn't let it go now. "Nevertheless, if you absolutely must fight me, then I suppose I can spare some time from my busy day. Come along."
Without giving Sophia a chance to respond, she turned and began walking away towards a secluded spot in the local park- a fenced off area that was supposedly off limits due to lack of land development, but the area was basically barren and surrounded by thick bushes so no one would really see two teenage girls duking it out.
Whether they would hear was a different matter, but Taylor had no intention of drawing attention by screaming.
"H-hey! Don't you just walk away!" Sophia shouted back, storming up behind Taylor and matching her pace, the perpetual scowl on her face only deepening as she started walking backwards in front of Taylor. "Who are you anyway? You can't be any of the new capes wandering around, none of them have freaky teleporting bullshit like you do. And you clearly didn't Trigger in that alley so you have to have been around at least a while now."
"I am a Maid, miss Sophia. That is all I am, all I aspire to be, and all I will be," Taylor answered, subtly guiding Sophia out of the way of pedestrians as they continued on, freezing time and nudging her path such that she unconsciously missed the telephone poles and sign posts along the sidewalk as they passed out of the small shopping area in the neighborhood and began heading towards the residential parts again.
"You're shitting me."
"I am not shitting on you."
"A fucking maid!? Really!?"
"What's wrong with that?"
Along the way, Taylor paused and walked into the convenience store at the gas station, tutting under her breath as she read her grocery list- more specifically, the additions that Emma had snuck on before she'd left.
"So unhealthy," Taylor sighed, ignoring Sophia's confused pacing outside of the convenience store as she picked up a few liter bottles of Emma's favorite orange soda, paid for them, and slipped them into her pocket as well. "But as the lady wishes… so the lady gets."
(She felt it was odd that she could do such a thing with her pockets, but it sure was convenient for carrying large amounts of groceries without needing a car)
"Thanks for waiting, shall we continue?"
"This better fucking be worth it, or I swear I'm going to stick a-"
"So, you asked for my cape identity, lacking as it may be, it only seems fair I get to know yours… and how I seem to have agitated you so much that you wish to fight me," Taylor interrupted Sophia's words, cutting her off with a raised eyebrow before leading Sophia to the aforementioned inconspicuous patch of barren land and hedges, making a show of stepping forward, stopping time, and appearing on the other side of the fence after a quick climb over the wooden slats.
"... Fucking teleporting weirdo. Fine, you want to know who I am? This oughta give you a clue," Sophia snarked, stepping through the fence as her body rippled into a cloud of shadows, reforming in front of Taylor a moment later.
Taylor paused and stared, squinting at Sophia for a moment before shaking her head. "... I don't recognize you at all. Are you a vigilante?"
"Wh- I'm Shadow Stalker you stupid bitch!"
"... Ah. The… 'weirdo that jumped off a roof and started talking about strength and predators' that Emma spoke of, correct?"
"Wh- I- Weirdo!? I... Whatever, are we doing this or what?" Sophia sighed, deciding to just drop that topic in favor of dropping into a ready stance- one that even Taylor's not quite professionally trained eye could tell was rough and built more for street brawling than actual technique.
Frowning, Taylor turned and stepped a few paces away from Sophia, settling into her own ready stance a moment later- favoring her right arm and leg, seeing as they were still weak after the Incident.
"Let us begin."
Last edited: Oct 16, 2021
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Oct 16, 2021
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Oct 17, 2021
#889
So this is the last of the chapters I have on backlog. When's the next one coming out? Who knows! But keep the thread alive and I'll definitely feel motivated to keep writing! And hey, it's a fight scene this time so hopefully this appeases some of the bloodlust that y'all have.
Still-Room Maid 4.1
The moment Taylor spoke, Sophia burst into action, leaping forward with an agitated growl of effort as she flowed into her shadow state. Using her weightlessness to her advantage, she flung herself at Taylor at speeds not even those goddamn E88 pit fighters could evade and-
Whiffed past the maid in a whirling dervish of limbs as Taylor seemed to stutter in place, appearing off to one side faster than Sophia could change directions. She had her hands folded in front of her, the very perfect picture of an elegant maid if not for her modernized, almost cosplay-like outfit.
Sophia snarled and caught herself on a dime, flinging herself back at Taylor and stopping before she ran past this time, shifting in between her shadow and physical forms in a dizzying manner to kill and augment her momentum bit by bit as she spun around and-
Whiffed her backwards roundhouse kick into thin air as Taylor leaned back just enough to make Sophia's foot pass right over where it had been previously.
"Fight back you coward!" Sophia spat out, growling beneath her breath as she flung a wild haymaker at Taylor, attempting to force the maid to block or do anything that wasn't just dodging, her fist flying directly at Taylor's face and-
Was caught in a single hand as Sophia massively overextended, Taylor's left hand wrapped gently around Sophia's right as the maid spun around, eyes flashing red for a moment and-
Sophia's back hit the fence with a loud CRACK of splintering wood, the old fence almost giving way beneath her spine as the hedgerow's leaves scattered around her. Her chest throbbed with sudden agony in the shape of a size 9 perfectly polished mary jane, and her wrist felt like she'd just had someone give her an indian rope burn, the skin there throbbing with stinging pain for a few seconds before she shook herself out and winced at the sudden rush of twinges and aches manifesting themselves in her right shoulder and spine from where she could only assume Taylor had done some kind of judo throw and flung (kicked?) her into the fence with at least some kind of low level Brute strength.
"Had enough?" Taylor raised an eyebrow, still picture perfect and staring at Sophia with an expression of bored, thorough disinterest- as if Sophia was an ant to be crushed beneath her heel, as if there was nothing in the world that Sophia could possibly do to stop her if she so chose to attack, to kill. A single knife gleamed in her hand, a long stiletto shining in the dappled sunlight, perfectly proportioned and with a bright red enameled cross guard, bobbing lightly as she moved her arm back into a throwing position, slowly and deliberately making a show of it to prove a point.
"Just because you have one trick up your sleeve doesn't mean you're stronger than me!" Sophia responded in protest, rolling her shoulder as she prepared to charge forward again and-
Knives.
A hundred thousand knives, gleaming in the air in front of her.
Each one pointed directly at her.
Each one glimmering in the sun, light blazing from their razor sharp edges as they slowly started moving forward.
Sophia gulped, a shining spark of fear slamming up her spine as some part of her hindbrain realized that Taylor had been toying with her the entire time- had been humoring her with the barest pretense of a fair fight. Could have killed her without a second thought if she so chose.
Sophia shivered, mind working in overdrive as the knives inched closer and closer, gaining momentum as they seemed to strain against some invisible force until it broke and-
She shrieked in open panic, curling into a fetal ball on the ground as she shifted into her shadow state, wincing and almost screaming as what felt like thousands of knives buried themselves into the dirt behind and around her, cutting through her gaseous form and almost tearing her apart from the sheer force and speed each carried, the wind kicking up a cloud of dust and-
"I say again, though I hate to repeat myself- had enough?" Taylor asked, watching Sophia impassively, blinking slowly through burning crimson eyes as she rubbed her aching wrist, frowning a bit at the shuddering, shivering, slightly ashen looking girl before her.
Sophia trembled, looking around at the pristine dirt in disbelief. "Wh- what the fuck was that!? That- was that a hallucination or something!? What did you do!?"
"A maid must keep her secrets," Taylor responded evenly, striding forward with purpose until she loomed over Sophia, eyes almost glowing as the sun overhead shadowed her face and made her seem a thousand times taller. "Now. You've had your fight. You've worked it out of your system. Please, refrain from approaching me again on this frivolous line of inquiry-"
Pausing for effect, she delivered a single, sharp flick to Sophia's forehead.
"-or a flick to the forehead will not be the worst thing I do to your pretty little skull," Taylor finished, smiling a sharp, deadly smile full of teeth as she stepped back. Sophia nodded slowly, paralyzed on the ground from the sharp, acrid stench of fear that bubbled into her heart from the few seconds there that she thought she was going to die.
Oh, no, that was the smell of lost bladder control.
"I'm glad that we understand each other now," Taylor nodded decisively, her smile taking on a more gentle air as she stopped showing quite so many teeth, eyes fading back to that dark, dark green as she turned around and took a deep breath. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've spent rather more time on this diversion than I should have, and am running out of time to prepare my Lady's afternoon snack. Do clean yourself up before you leave. Goodbye."
And with that parting shot Taylor vanished, leaving Sophia behind in a puddle of her own urine, heart jackhammering a mile a minute, cold sweat beading on her skin and staining her shirt even darker than it already was, with a single red handled stiletto buried blade first in the dirt before her, gleaming in silent threat of horrific, violent retribution.
"... Fuuuuuck me," Sophia whispered out finally, after several minutes, in the tone of voice of someone who had gotten in far over their heads and kept digging until they hit bedrock.
She shivered again, trying not to think of those cold, dead, blood red eyes. How close she had come to death. How her entire survival had depended on the good nature of the girl she had been antagonizing for the better part of two weeks.
"Fuck."
She'd never been so grateful to be alive after a fight.
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Oct 18, 2021
#979
Still-Room Maid 4.2
"Okay… test number…. Uh," Emma paused, looking down at the notebook in her hands and quickly flipping through the well worn, completely filled pages before returning to her previous place. "... Two hundred and thirty six. Wow we've really been tearing through these huh?"
"Indeed," Taylor nodded, blinking slowly as she withdrew a dagger from seemingly nowhere, frowning as she turned it over in her hands. She still didn't know where the knives came from, just that they appeared when she wanted them to, disappeared when she didn't want them to, and sometimes when she pulled one out of thin air, one of her janky home-made knives vanished from its position in her knife chest.
Given that her powers had something to do with time, Taylor could only surmise that perhaps her control of time extended to more than just stopping time. Perhaps she was also doing some kind of space warping since space and time were supposedly linked? It certainly would explain why she could fit so many things in her pockets without otherwise seeming to take up any space at all.
Then again, space warping didn't exactly cover the whole "make thousands of knives appear in midair" thing that she and Emma had figured out back in test one hundred and five, and that she'd subsequently used to scare the daylights out of that Sophia Hess girl.
Maybe… hm.
"Okay so, for this test…" Emma tapped her chin, thinking over what they already knew of Taylor's abilities and what they'd learned of her ability to "sense" her own powers. "Hmmm… Hey so if you can make the insides of your pockets bigger… what about something bigger? Like a bucket or a barrel or something?"
Taylor blinked, pausing as the knife in her hand vanished and was replaced by a plastic bucket that she'd clearly pulled out of the storage shed- hell, it was one that Emma remembered playing with back when the backyard was a patch of grass and toys and a sandbox instead of a knife throwing range slash combat practice area slash mini skate park. "I couldn't find a barrel on short notice, milady, but this should suffice?"
"... Taylor, how many times do you stop time while we're talking?" Emma asked, pursing her lips as she took the bucket from Taylor's hands and turned it around to fidget with it. "It's kinda starting to feel like you spend more and more time just- y'know, stopping time instead of just walking around normally."
"... I use my abilities as much as is necessary, milady," Taylor answered back, raising an eyebrow as she folded her hands in front of her and tilted her head. "And if I stop time in order to do the chores and work around the house, then that means I spend more real time by your side."
"... Well I guess that's one way to put it. Just don't forget how to talk to people along the way, okay?" Emma shook her head and held up the bucket in her hands. "Now! Back to what I was saying before- can you make the inside of this bucket bigger?"
"Hmm…" Taylor looked down at the bucket, her fingers twitching slightly as she traced the plastic rim and pursed her lips thoughtfully. Although what she had done to her pockets was largely instinctual, she could still… feel space twisting around her fingers at her whim- not that she entirely understood how it worked, but she knew that she could, if she so desired, grab ahold of the concept of space and time inside of the bucket and stretch-
"Whoa!" Emma cried out as the inside of the bucket expanded massively, stretching off and branching into what seemed like infinity, going from a simple plastic bucket into a labyrinthine mass of tunnels and hallways big enough for a person to walk inside, time itself curling and splitting and creating new material inside and-
"Okay wow that hurts to look at- you can stop now, Taylor," Emma winced, rubbing her eyes and shoving the bucket out of her lap, space and time untwisting back to normal as Taylor ended the effects of her powers. "Well, that's confirmed. Ow."
"Indeed it is, milady," Taylor nodded, gently pressing an ice pack to Emma's forehead before handing her lady a glass of water, the bucket vanishing back into the storage shed a bare moment later. "And there was no strain either- once I created the labyrinth, it seemed to be self-sustaining for the most part."
"... Well, that's interesting," Emma nodded, then chewed her lip thoughtfully as she crossed her legs, idly moving the ice pack away as the headache subsided. "And now I know not to look into an infinite abyss of displaced time and space. Yowch."
She shook her head and jotted down some more notes into the notebook, humming under her breath as she wrote out everything they'd learned from the most recent test, with Taylor adding her own observations and notes after Emma finished.
"Now that our testing is done, shall we head upstairs for lunch, milady?" Taylor asked, closing said notebook and slipping it into her pocket as she stood by Emma's side, awaiting orders as the aromas of freshly cooked food began wafting down into the basement. "I've prepared a meal for you, as well as our afternoon itinerary."
"Yeah, sounds good- also… one more thing," Emma paused for dramatic effect as she stood, idly setting her chair back against the basement wall as she turned towards Taylor. "How're you holding up? I mean- it wasn't so long ago that you re-fractured your arm and leg, y'know? You doing okay, Tay?"
"... I'm doing well. Between the breaks I take and spending most of my cleaning hours in stopped time, my body is healing quite well. I believe I will be completely back to normal by the time school starts, milady," Taylor nodded, smiling ever so slightly at Emma's concern.
"That's great! Then you'll be able to really go all in on all the weird stuff Anne keeps buying you instructional guides for," Emma laughed, jogging up the stairs towards the kitchen. "Now c'mon! What's for lunch?"
Taylor shook her head again, chuckling under her breath at Emma's enthusiasm as she fell into step behind her Lady.
Life was good.
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Oct 19, 2021
#1,047
Still-Room Maid 4.3
Arcadia.
Considered by some to be the most prestigious high school in all of Brockton Bay, with a number of college level courses and extracurriculars, along with a schoolwide average GPA on par with even some of the richer boarding schools in the greater New England area.
How much of that was because someone was fudging reports to the government and how much was actual academic excellence spurred on by having enough money to actually pay for good teachers was entirely up to debate, in Taylor's opinion, but all the same, there was something to be said about Arcadia's campus that just made everything seem… well, not good, nothing in Brockton Bay ever felt that good what with all the parahuman crime, but definitely better than everywhere else.
It helped that Arcadia was firmly located closer to the richer downtown areas of Brockton Bay, she supposed, and the fact that several of the richer families in town sent their kids to Arcadia meant that it could afford functional security systems, of which one was quite the annoyance when it came to her daily garments.
The metal detectors strewn about every entrance around the school.
Oh sure, she knew the rules of the school inside and out and nothing said that she couldn't bring in a pair of knitting needles if she wanted to work on her knitting during her lunch period, but at the same time, the school rules forbid students from carrying any knives sharper than a butter knife outside of maybe the shop and art rooms and/or anywhere that required a knife of some description.
Taylor had no intention of breaking the rules, of course, but not having her knife holster strapped snugly to her thigh felt… wrong. How was she supposed to protect her lady from any and all threats if she didn't have her knives?
Beside that, though, Arcadia was a perfectly fine school- open study areas, a secure fence to keep out intruders, a proper parking lot for student and staff vehicles, a cafeteria that sold actual food instead of whatever was in the slop back in middle school, etc etc.
It also had one of Brockton Bay's newest superheroines in attendance- Victoria Dallon, the newly crowned Glory Girl of the New Wave movement. She was tall, blonde, pretty, and a magnet for attention despite being only a sophomore.
Taylor supposed it helped that she had a literally awesome presence and could fly and was surprisingly developed for her age.
Victoria Dallon also had a habit of "collecting" new friends by zooming over to anyone who caught her eye as a person of interest and badgering them until she drew them into her orbit.
Fortunately, as Emma and Taylor were freshmen and didn't share any classes with Victoria, they managed to avoid such a thing by dint of sheer anonymity (despite Taylor's… interesting… mode of dress).
Unfortunately, Victoria Dallon was also a loose acquaintance of her and Emma, given that Emma's father worked with Victoria's mother, and thus the three girls already had a loose knowledge of each other due.
Which culminated in…
"There you are! Hi! It's so nice to finally meet you!" Victoria gushed, shaking Emma's hand with a brilliant smile on her face, Taylor wincing as some kind of ephemeral feeling flared around the blonde girl and gave her almost a hypnotic presence added on top of her already overwhelming extroversion. "I'm Victoria- Victoria Dallon? You're Emma Barnes right? You're the only one here who has a girl in a maid outfit following you around, and my mom- that's Carol Dallon, she works with your dad? Anyway she said that your dad said that it'd be nice if I could keep an eye out for you and that you'd be the redhead with the white haired maid- oh right!"
And with that, the runaway blonde bullet train jumped tracks and focused attention on Taylor.
She gulped.
"You must be Taylor right? I don't know as much about you, sorry- mom said Mr. Barnes didn't talk that much about you since you're not his kid- anyway I love your hair! How'd you get it so white- did you dye it or something or like is it a wig? And your outfit is super cute too! What made you choose to be a maid anyway- isn't it kinda weird being li-"
"No." Taylor interrupted, expression shifting from a strange sense of awed befuddlement to a cool, collected, almost frosty expression- somewhere in the range of a half lidded glare, without the malice. "It is not strange. I am my lady's maid, and that is what I have always been. I made the choice as a child. And my hair is naturally white, I do not know why."
"... Oh. You're kinda scary when you make that face, y'know that?" Victoria chuckled, her grin looking a bit brittle as she backed off ever so slightly. "But hey! It's nice to meet you, sorry about calling you weird. Anyway! Hey, here's my number- since we're friends now, I figure a pair of freshies like you oughta have someone you can talk to if you need help with anything!"
And with that, the two were summarily dragged to the newly formed Victoria Dallon Popular Kids' Table, which was pretty much just so because it was Victoria (and to a lesser extent, her boyfriend Dean Stansfield who was pretty much the Rich Kid at Arcadia along with his friends) holding a group of roughly twenty or so people in her orbit through sheer force of personality and, Taylor was shocked to note, surprisingly deep and broad knowledge on a wide range of subjects that Taylor wouldn't have thought Victoria would have known about. Apparently, despite being physically the poster child of a dumb blonde, the lawyer's daughter was actually really smart. Who knew.
Emma took to being part of the popular crowd like a fish to water- she'd been one of the more popular girls back in middle school, and it seemed that trend would continue here in Arcadia. Taylor, meanwhile, felt far less comfortable being dragged into the spotlight, and simply did her best to stay in position behind Emma, all but ignoring the people telling her to come sit with them instead of standing all lunch and not speaking unless spoken to- even going so far as to stop time and eat her own lunch so as to have fewer reasons to actually sit down at the table and abandon her post.
And as Taylor took in the sounds of her peers and fellow highschoolers chattering and laughing, throat beginning to go dry from having to actually talk to people who seemed interested in her choice of dress and occupation, she smiled internally- it was nice seeing Emma making more friends, even if she hadn't managed to hang on to most of their acquaintances and friends from middle school after coming to Arcadia.
Oh, and she would probably be friends with those people by proxy, she supposed, but that would be something to think about another day. For now, she would just enjoy the weather, enjoy the company, and enjoy being her Lady's loyal maid.
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Oct 19, 2021
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Oct 20, 2021
#1,143
Still-Room Maid 4.4
"Tell me again why we haven't done anything about the girl with an instant kill radius?" Director Piggot groused as she sat behind her desk, hands folded in front of her as she leaned her weight on her elbows, glaring down either at the report on her desk or Armsmaster himself, pondering the thorn in her side that was one Taylor Hebert, provisionally given the designation "The Victorian" by the hacks in the PR department who thought it would be funny to make a Siberian joke on an internal document.
"As the report states, ma'am, given Gallant's testimony and Victorian's lack of secret identity and cape activity, there seems to be no indication that she requires a heavy hand at this point in time," Armsmaster responded, calmly reading through his own copy of the report on Director Piggot's desk before flipping to another page. "Speaking of Gallant's testimony- while it is not a replacement for a proper psych evaluation, it is generally consistent and a reliable measure of a person's general mental state once translated to proper terminology. He agrees with the preliminary evaluation given upon Victorian's power testing- she is definitely hiding the full extent of her abilities from us, but otherwise maintains a calm, almost placid emotional state at nearly all times, with spikes of happiness and interest around her… employer, Emma Barnes."
"She killed seven people in an alleyway, how do we know she isn't waiting around for an opportunity to kill more?" Director Piggot shot back, visibly simmering as she imagined the consequences of a powerful, possibly murderous parahuman rampaging through her city with no oversight and the ability to kill just about anyone in an undefined radius by turning their own weapons on them…. Or whatever bullshit it was that she fed to the power techs back on the Rig.
"At the moment there is no guarantee, but the surveillance teams placed at both the Barnes and Hebert household report nothing that could lead to further instability- in fact, barring any complications, she seems entirely content to be the maid she acts like she is," Armsmaster almost made a shrug, but paused and cleared his throat instead. "Additionally, at your request we've checked Emma Barnes for any signs of being a Master, but nothing has yet appeared."
"Which means either the teleporting murder maid is doing this entirely of her own volition, or the effect is subtle beyond belief," Director Piggot groused, frowning and wishing she could slam a fifth of vodka right then and there if it weren't for her kidneys. "And as much as I hate to say it, I'm starting to think the former is more likely than the latter if the story her father told us is correct. Speaking of- how the hell has CPS not gotten on his ass for letting his kid be a literal live-in maid for some other family?"
"I assume it's because no one has yet bothered to report such a thing, given that she was, according to the neighbors, like this for the last eight years, even when both parents were alive," Armsmaster deadpanned. "They likely see nothing worth calling in about, given that they're quite used to such things already."
"Touché," came the equally flat response.
Armsmaster nodded, and the room lapsed into silence for a brief moment before an alert audibly chimed on Armsmaster's visor. "If you don't mind- I have a patrol scheduled. Is there anything else to discuss about Victorian?"
"Keep an eye on her- Tell the Wards to monitor her activities in school, and if she goes anywhere near a patrol route I want whoever is there to give her the soft sell," Director Piggot answered after a few short moments of consideration, tapping the report in front of her with a heavy frown. "The hard sell would almost certainly be a detriment at this point- especially now that she's gotten good and ingratiated into the Dallon group."
"Understood. Now, if that'll be all?"
"Dismissed."
And with that, Armsmaster turned and left the Director's office, tromping through the halls of the PRT building and emerging out into the parking garage, idly sending out a memo to the rest of the on-duty Protectorate heroes regarding the Director's orders. As he strode over to his bike, he sat down heavily in his seat and, after leaning back slightly and getting comfortable, called the one person in the world he regularly confided in.
"Ah- Colin! It's good to hear from you again," came the synthesized voice of Dragon, her avatar appearing in his helmet's HUD as he rolled his bike free of its parking spot and out of the garage. "So, what brings you a'calling this time?"
"It's regarding Taylor Hebert," Armsmaster responded, the microphone in his neck armor picking up his voice even as it was lost to the wind, his bike rolling loudly through the midday traffic as he began his patrol route. "Specifically, how to handle her."
"Ah- the Victorian, right? I do hope they change her official name to something else soon, it's a bit insensitive, don't you think?" Dragon chuckled a bit, then paused as her avatar pursed its lips to show her emotions. "So what's so special about a teenage girl that you need my help to handle her recruitment? Couldn't you send the Wards at her, do the same recruitment speech as any other young parahuman?"
"Unfortunately no- I'm sending you her unclassified file now, but the gist of it is that instead of doing anything regarding heroics or villainy, she intends to make a living as not even quite a Rogue," Armsmaster paused at a red light, rolling smoothly to a stop and making the necessary microexpressions and movements to transfer the file over to Dragon. Technically he wasn't supposed to send parahuman files to non-Protectorate or PRT sources without permission, but given that he was the local leader of the Protectorate and Dragon was Dragon, he didn't think anyone would be able to say anything about it. "It's fully outlined in the report, but the gist of it is that for some reason she's been playing the part of a Victorian maid for the last eight years, and has stated no intention of changing that anytime soon. I believe she directly called costumed heroics a 'frivolous waste of time and effort' directly to Miss Militia's face during her power testing trials."
He pulled a face at that, not quite agreeing with the paraphrased words and biting back a surge of irritation at the thought of all of his work and efforts being frivolous just on the words of a teenager who wanted to spend her life picking up after someone else.
"Well, there's no accounting for people's opinions I suppose. I can see why it'd be difficult to recruit her- It'd be a long process to even start to change her mind, and forcing the issue would be… disastrous, I would imagine."
"There's no guarantee of that, actually, but we have no idea of how she would respond to legal threats- not that we can make good on any right now, but sooner or later there's bound to be an incident that the Director will try to push us to capitalize on as hard as possible. Regardless of her immediate reaction, such an act would only breed long term resentment," Armsmaster nodded, then paused as a shock of white caught his attention off to the side as he drove down near the Boardwalk- it appeared as though the subject of his conversation was in the middle of a pack of teens, following behind the Barnes girl as they flitted from store to store, stall to stall. How serendipitous for him that he'd find her so quickly, but at the same time…
"Speaking of Victorian- I think I see her now. Would it be socially acceptable to approach or not?" Armsmaster asked, sending a live feed from his helmet cameras to more accurately display the scene before him, zooming in slightly and revealing a bit more detail about the group- it appeared that it was Victoria Dallon's friend group on a shopping trip, as he could see both Dean Stansfield and Amy Dallon tagging along, the heroine herself floating along at the front of the group, with several other civilians tagging along in a group of just over ten children- twelve, to be exact.
"Well, I can't exactly tell you how to do your job, Colin, but I would say that approaching her while in a group like this probably wouldn't do wonders for any secret identity she might be trying to maintain- maybe if she's alone, but for now it's probably best to leave her be and let her enjoy her day out."
"... Very well then. Another time, maybe," Armsmaster nodded decisively, then, after taking a few moments to ease back into traffic, hit the gas and raced back off into the city to resume his patrol.
Last edited: Oct 20, 2021
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Oct 22, 2021
#1,224
Haha! Sneaky 2:30 am update!
Still-Room Maid 4.5
November fourteenth, 2009 was a day that started off like any other, and then took a pleasant turn as noon came and went, as Emma and Taylor had been invited on a casual outing by Victoria Dallon to the Boardwalk that day. The plans had been made previously, of course, with texts flying furiously back and forth across the groupchat as people dropped in and out of the scheduling session, with a final total of twelve people hitting the Boardwalk around one in the afternoon, with stragglers allowed to come and go as they pleased depending on how much interest they had in hanging around.
Emma and Taylor, of course, stuck to each other like glue. Even as Victoria dragged them around- with her sister and boyfriend of course- all along the Boardwalk, Taylor maintained a constant, unhurried, endlessly patient presence beside Emma. They wove between storefronts at a pace that was both quick and yet unhurried, each person deciding whether or not to go in as the rest took their time browsing the store's wares before returning either empty handed or with a quick purchase made on a whim- Emma acquired a sunhat and a large pair of novelty sunglasses (of which neither were appropriate for the weather and time of year but were fun to have anyway), while Taylor bought a fresh set of hair ties in glimmering emerald green. Victoria, of course, took endless pleasure in her advantage of having a rich boyfriend, and strutted around with paper bags full of clothes that she would no doubt wear once or twice and then forget about for several months.
Amy, meanwhile, mostly just skulked around in the background, occasionally buying a few things but otherwise not doing much at all beyond letting herself get dragged around by Victoria.
"Oh! Taylor, let's go in there!" Emma spoke up after about an hour's worth of wandering around and over the Boardwalk, pointing to a coffee shop that seemed to be fairly busy at the moment. "Let's take a break from wandering around, yeah? It's getting kinda cold, too."
"Of course, milady," Taylor answered, still as demure and elegant as always, despite the winter chill almost certainly creeping up her legs due to her refusal to wear anything other than slightly thicker than usual stockings, her normal maid outfit having been swapped to a slightly longer dress with actual long sleeves to compensate for the time of year. "It would do you some good to stay out of the cold."
"Me? What about you?" Emma muttered incredulously, just loud enough for Taylor to hear- indeed, Emma was dressed quite appropriately for the weather, with a thick jacket and seasonally appropriate leggings, along with a warm pair of boots and a scarf- all suitably fashionable, of course. "You're shivering like you're about to keel over and die!"
"I am not, milady," Taylor responded calmly, an ever so slight smile on her face as she trembled in place, following alongside just behind and to the left of Emma, hands folded before her as she spoke. "I am utilizing my abilities to remain warm- the air is quite warm while time is stopped."
"... What." Emma blinked, really looking at Taylor for a moment and noting that, yes, instead of actually shivering, it just looked like Taylor was… flickering between positions, in such a subtle way that it only looked like shivering. "... Taylor, has anyone ever told you that you're kind of ridiculous?"
"Several times, milady, mostly you whenever we do power testing," Taylor answered, her smile remaining perfectly in place as she opened and held the door for Emma, both of them being blasted by a wall of warm air and sound as they entered the coffee shop proper. "Please, find a seat- shall I order your regular coffee choice?"
"... Hmm… actually, I kinda wanna try something new today- see if they still have pumpkin spice, though? I know it's out of season by now, but we're not even halfway through November yet so…" Emma shrugged then paused and looked at the menu above the counter. "Are you gonna get anything? It'd be nice to actually share a cup of coffee with you for once, instead of you cheating and stopping time to chug your coffee down."
"... I shall think about it," Taylor murmured, pursing her lips as Emma sat down and ensuring that she was all sorted before taking her place in line and considering the menu. The coffee shop had a wonderful ambiance, Taylor decided- the Thanksgiving decorations were tastefully and not too loud, the air had a wonderful aroma of both freshly brewed coffee and tea, the selection of pastries in the case by the register seemed quite nice as well, and overall it was an experience that, had Taylor been anyone else, she would have reveled in and just enjoyed the ambiance of being in a coffee shop for several hours- kind of like those college students typing away on their laptops over in the corner tables.
Taylor blinked, frowning suddenly as she paused time. College.
She swallowed and shook her head, driving away the sudden fuzz of memories that clouded her mind at the sudden flash of remembrance that her mother had been a professor at the very same college those students over there attended.
Her heart ached for a few brief moments, sending a spike of sympathetic pain through her body before she took a deep breath, pinched her forearm, and smacked her face a few times to get rid of the bad thoughts.
None of that, now. Now was a happy time. She could cry about her mother later.
Tearing her gaze away from the college students, she allowed time to resume, taking in the sights of the other teenagers scattered around- some of them having been part of Victoria's group before heading off early after buying what they wanted, some of whom were entirely unknown to her. There were a few people wearing some gang colors as well, though they largely stayed separate and didn't make a fuss with each other- the Boardwalk was effectively neutral, after all, and nobody wanted to start a fight with all the trigger happy Enforcers wandering around.
She pointedly avoided looking at the gang members, and instead resumed her attention on the menu, stopping time every so often to make sure that Emma didn't look like she was in need of anything, and after a few minutes of waiting, finally came to the counter.
Tea, for herself. A cup of matcha- probably not at all within her standards that she could make at home, of course, but probably fine enough for now, and a sugary, pumpkin spiced latte for Emma, with some additional flavorings included for a bit of variety. She paid and waited, continuing to do as before- stopping time and occasionally making sure that Emma didn't need anything, then just people watching in case anyone did anything suspicious, then waiting some more.
After retrieving the drinks, she brought them to the table and sat down across from Emma- not drinking her matcha yet, and instead just holding it in her hands while watching Emma sip at her drink.
"Ahhh~ Nothing like a hot cup of coffee on a cold day," Emma sighed, smiling gently as she basked in the metaphorical glow of her coffee's warmth, having taken off her coat and scarf while waiting for Taylor. "Mmm…. it's not as good as yours of course, but you just can't beat the feel of a nice coffee shop, eh?"
"Indeed," Taylor nodded, sipping her tea before frowning at the paper cup in her hands, shaking her head before stopping time once more and pouring the hot liquid into a proper porcelain teacup, retrieved and wiped clean from within the depths of her apron, the inside space of the cup stretched out just enough to encompass the entire volume of liquid without spillage. "As much as the quality is inferior, the ambiance more than makes up for it. It's quite a lovely atmosphere, I think, especially so close to Thanksgiving."
"Mhmm… Say, do you think we should get back to Victoria an-" Emma blinked and cut herself off in mid sentence as a sound that every Brocktonite knew by heart rang out- three staccato bursts of sound, sharp bangs that petered out with a slight echo.
Gunfire.
And then- screams.
Emma jolted to her feet, pulling on her coat and scarf haphazardly before they shuffled instantaneously into proper position, Taylor taking her place by Emma's side once again as the two sprinted out of the coffee shop and out onto the Boardwalk proper.
People were running in every direction, but there was a flow, a point of origin. Emma ran. Taylor followed.
There was blood in the snow.
804
Jsyrin
Oct 22, 2021
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