Current Energy: 8
Current Training: Warrior Monk 7/10 - 9/10
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
Hebert Household, Brockton Bay
The next morning you awaken to find your Master having not actually slept last night. Instead, you find her sitting in the center of the bedroom, surrounded by scraps of note paper with a variety of arcane drawing and illustrations on them. You are sure if you were currently emulating someone more mystically inclined, that you would be able to work out what at least some of them mean.
As is, your Master mostly just looks like a disheveled lunatic.
Slowly, you push yourself upright, and shift slightly towards Taylor, only to have her attention immediately snap towards you.
"Hey does Alchemy do para-sympathetic bonding or is that strictly an eastern magical practice? I ask because there are some hypothetical materials that would make really good talismans if I could tune them to their owner's soul." She blurts at you, bouncing excitedly on the floor while she waits for your answer.
"...Alchemy isn't Magic. It's science." You explain slowly, unsure of how else to answer the question.
"It's complicated chalk circles that reference the alignment of celestial bodies and the state of local ley lines in order to change the molecular composition of a material." She responds to you flatly.
"Yes, sci-" You begin to agree only to be cut off.
"It's magic Emmy. It takes the laws of physics out behind the house and puts them down like a dog with rabies." She counters instantly before blinking tiredly at you as if having only just remembered something.
"...what time is it?" She asks blearily.
You, still somewhat stunned by your Master's declaration, glance towards the clock, then back at the manic teenager.
"Time to wake up." You say with a shrug.
"What- no that's not right I didn't even get to bed last night! I've only been here for-" She pauses, doing some mental math. "...a few hours?"
"You have not." You say kindly, moving to crouch next to her and wordlessly picking her up.
"Hey wait, I wasn't done with that!" She protests weakly, making childish grasping motions at her unruly workspace and kicking her legs.
You both know that if she actually wanted to, she could force you to put her down - but it's nice to be able to take care of your Master now and then. When you had first started out, this was more the norm than anything else - you cooked and cleaned for her, and looked after her like family. But as she has grown more powerful and independent, opportunities to do so simply stopped arising.
You doubt either of you would ever admit it out loud, but this moment is actually somewhat nostalgic to you. And because of that, you cherish it with every fiber of your being.
Wednesday, March 9th, 2011
The Heap, Brockton Bay
Your Master's sleep deprivation aside, the rest of the morning goes about the way it always does - even if you're pretty sure your Master was sleeping instead of meditating. Your Master dozes on the couch while you put together breakfast for her and the kids, and when everyone is up and fed, she opens a Gap to the heap to drop Mem and Mun off with her Father to be taken to school.
Likewise, school is a non event. Your Master talks some more with Greg and Jamie, no major incidents occur, you all eventually make your way to the Heap.
It is only once she steps over the threshold of her Gap into the Garage that Taylor once more becomes energized and wakeful - having crept through the day in a barely awake state.
"Oookay. Jamie don't go anywhere. Wreck!" She yells into the depths of the Garage, snatching Jamie by the back of his shirt before he can disappear into his dojo as per his norm.
"What?! Do you know how fucking hard it is to make microscopic welds you crazy bitch?!" Trainwreck yells irately from out of sight, coming into view behind a mound of battered scrap metal only when he ceases crouching over his current project to tower over the room. His eyes are bloodshot, and he is clearly missing just as much sleep as your Master.
"Yeah that's why I asked you to do it, duh. Come on, I've got Wizard shit to do." She gestures at him, rolling her eyes at his overly crass tone and word choice.
"Boss, you know when you describe everything insane you do as 'wizard shit' you set a fucking precedent right?" Trainwreck sighs, one huge metal hand reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose.
"I'm a wizard, therefore, everything I do is wizard shit." She points out in an overly happy tone of voice that - nonetheless - manages to carry with it a hint of menace.
"Yeah but chuckles doesn't call everything he does kungfu." Trainwreck grouses.
"Actually, everything in nature is applicable to Kung Fu. It is the core of my style." Jamie notes as his body slowly expands into his more familiar pearlescent armored form.
"...Are you fucking contagious? No wait, don't answer that. I'm just gonna start calling everything I do tinkering, and no one is gonna argue with me about it." Trainwreck grumbles.
"I will collect Huntsman and Parian. Will we be meeting in the Ward room?" Aspirant asks politely, ignoring Trainwrecks ongoing grumbling.
"Nope," Your Master responds, making a popping noise on the 'p'. "I'm gonna need everyone to cram themselves into my workshop." She orders cheerfully.
And it is an order, not a request. She never seemed to have to make a distinction between the two. If she was talking to you, you just knew. You aren't sure if your Master did that on purpose, or if she was even conscious of it, but at times like this she certainly reminds you of how she gathered her team together in the first place.
Twenty minutes later, the lot of you have moved to your Masters workshop, and Aspirant arrives shortly afterward with Parian and Huntsman in tow. Parian is dressed in casual clothes, and is seemingly moving around the Heap under the premise of being her own personal assistant, and Oliver is… dour looking.
Oliver has been many things in your time together. Sad. Unsure. Concerned. Afraid.
This is the first time you have ever seen him angry. When he strides into the room behind Aspirant and Sabah, there is a notable moment of awkward silence as his intense air, rigid posture, and fully equipped form step into view. He doesn't give off the unsure outward appearance you are accustomed to from the boy.
He gives off the aura of a soldier. And as much as you are happy that he has found something to motivate him, you also recognize that intensity. It is entirely too familiar to Scar, a man who waged a one man insurrection against a global superpower using only his bare hands and his wits in the name of revenge.
It is the face of someone getting ready to do unspeakable violence in the name of revenge.
"Taylor, Emmy, Trainwreck." Sabah greets you each in turn, breaking the momentary silence as she picks her way across the - admittedly now quite messy - room to stand near you all. Oliver… doesn't say anything. He just nods at you and then goes still just inside the doorway - like he is anxious to leave.
Taylor glances at him with a furrowed brow for a moment before carefully wiping the look from her face and turning to everyone else.
"Okay, you guys know the situation. There's a Master in the city and they - apparently - really like me. I don't know what they might do next, but I'm not willing to wait on it. So!" She says, suddenly becoming cheerful and reaching out to grab one of several stones piled atop the center island of the workshop.
"I spent the last few days thinking about how I can protect you all from being Mastered, and this is what I came up with." She continues, grasping the stone loosely in both hands as her tattoos spring to life across both her arms, and an electrical charge begins to build around her. The stone in her hand then slowly begins to glow and change shape until it has become a uniform rectangle of silvery material roughly six centimeters in length. Upon closer inspection it becomes obvious to you that the object is also covered in miniscule text - most likely runes - and has a tiny hole in its top as though it is meant to be held on a keychain.
She then throws the object to Oliver, who snatches it out of the air with much more grace than you would expect from him.
"What does it do?" He asks flatly.
"I can only charge them up so much, but it should do two things. One, if it detects someone trying to Master you, it puts you in a temporary stasis where you can't be affected by the outside world. It'll probably be uncomfortable, but it works a lot like Clockblockers power so you shouldn't really notice the lost time." Taylor explains, rapidly creating one for each member of her team.
"And?" Trainwreck asks curiously, holding the object up at eye level to examine it.
"Hm?" Taylor says innocently.
"You said 'one' which implies a 'two'." Sabah points out in amusement.
"Oh. Yeah don't worry about-" She tries to brush the question off.
"I'm worried about it, Taylor. I'm very worried about it." Sabah responds, instantly wary.
Taylor and Sabah stare at each other for a second, neither one speaking, until Trainwreck interrupts.
"Five bucks it explodes." He says blithely, still eyeballing the thing.
"It-" Taylor opens her mouth to counter.
"I've got ten on laser." Sabah adds offhandedly. Taylor turns a betrayed look on her.
"Just tell us what it does." An exasperated Oliver interjects before things can get out of hand.
"...Okay so it does kind of explode. Just a little bit." Taylor admits eventually, continuing when Trainwreck reaches out to take a bill that Sabah withdraws from her pocket.
"To be more specific, it shoots an attack at whoever it determines was the origin of the Mastering, reducing their weight to nothing and then causing a small explosion under them, which should launch them into the sky where they will hover for the next hour." She blurts out.
"...So your plan to resist Mastering is to hurl anyone who tries it into the sky?" Trainwreck asks incredulously.
"Well some random person hovering in the middle of the city would be pretty noticeable right? So I'll either catch the Master, or I won't notice and they'll eventually fall several dozen feet. Either way, problem solved!" Taylor says easily. What she doesn't mention is that Master effects are so varied that it's almost impossible to create a perfect defense against all of them. So instead, your Master has chosen the time tested strategy of 'respond with overwhelming force'.
"Will it kill them?" Oliver asks, suddenly interested.
"Oliver." Sabah warns him, obviously only willing to put up with his bad mood so far.
"The fall. Will it kill them?" He asks again, ignoring her.
"No? It'll definitely hurt though, unless they're a Brute, which I doubt." Taylor admits.
"Hm." Oliver grunts absently, hitching the metal tab to his belt along with all his other equipment. Then he turns and walks out of the room without another word.
Trainwreck frowns at him, then sighs.
"I'll talk to the little piece of shit later." He says.
"Don't worry about it Wreck. I'll handle it." Taylor says with a sigh of her own, before her expression brightens again.
"Now, how are we doing with those welds Wreck?" She asks, setting the matter aside for a moment.
"Aisha, I'm saying it now but the only reason I'm giving you this is because if you get one of my girls killed you'll wish you went with them." Taylor says in a straightforward and blunt manner as she leads the entire Bratpack into the Garage.
"What? That's not fair I earned it! I trained with you and everything! There's no way-" Aisha starts to complain but Taylor speaks over her.
"And I swear to god, if either of them ever comes home wearing fishnets and short shorts I'm blaming you." She continues, gesturing rudely at Aisha's preferred method of dress which is - as always - just a little bit on the trashy side.
"You're only like two years older than me! Stop acting like you I'm stupid!" she continues.
"She's just blowing off steam. It's been a stressful week." Dinah comforts her, patting the taller girl on the shoulder.
"Chances she corrupts the rest of you with her terrible fashion sense?" Taylor interjects before Aisha can answer her erstwhile friend.
"..thirty four point five percent." Dinah says reluctantly.
"That's not zero Aisha." Taylor notes frigidly.
"Mom, stop - you're embarrassing me in front of my friends." Mun says in a flat entirely emotionless voice that gives the lie to the statement.
Not that it matters, because Taylor's steps hitch slightly the minute she hears the 'M' word.
"S-sorry but I'm just really worried about you four. Please don't go anywhere or patrol until I handle this situation okay? I'm only giving this to you for self defence Aisha." She apologizes, her gaze snapping to a put upon looking Aisha at the end of the statement.
"I get it! Team DAMM isn't going anywhere for a while, geeze." She grumbles.
"Please tell me you aren't going to name yourselves that." Taylor deadpans as she finally arrives at their destination.
"Mem said it was tradition." Aisha defends instantly.
"Tradition is important." Mun adds in hurriedly.
"You just like it 'cus it's a swear." Dinah points out, earning a point from Mun.
"Why are you such a narc? Come here you!" Mun blurts out, jumping at Dinah and getting her in a headlock before starting to tickle her. The uncontrollable laughter of children rings through the garage, and for just a minute watching it, your Master smiles.
Then she turns to look at Aisha again and frowns, before reaching behind her and pulling the ragged cloth covering Aisha's new weapon free, and allowing the monstrosity beneath it to be made visible.
"This is Guardian Angel - the Ever Vigilant Steel." Taylor says proudly, gesturing down at the blade. Aisha's gaze - previously focused on her arguing friends, immediately whips around to stare at the weapon.
Guardian Angel is - among many other things - obscenely large. From hilt to the blade tip the weapon is nearly seven feet long, taller than even your Master. The blade is a full handspan in width, and is lined by chainsaw teeth shaped like fluffy white feathers. Tiny runes line every possible surface of the weapon, except for several clear patches along the center of the blade where larger japanese characters sit. The combined effect is an almost scaled texture that seems to shift and change as the blade moves.
"Oh. Yes." Aisha croons, immediately trying to reach past your Master towards the thing only to be stopped when Taylor steps between them, earning a pained whine from Aisha.
"It's got seals. Under normal circumstances, it's just a very light, very sharp sword. You will not try to break those seals unless your life is in danger. Do you understand?" Taylor orders her.
Aisha nods rapidly at her, then tries to move past her again and gets stopped - again.
"You will not hurt, maim, or kill anyone with this weapon. I have trained you at least that well. Do you understand?" Taylor continues sternly. Aisha nods again, but doesn't try to step past Taylor - a fact that seems to disappoint your Master for a moment, much to your amusement.
"And you will not patrol with this until I say you can, okay?" She states, and though it's a question, it comes out with a certain finality.
"Mhm." Aisha grunts.
"Say it, Aisha." Taylor says in exasperation.
"...Fiiiiine. We won't go on patrol until it's saaaafe." She says in the manner of put upon teenagers everywhere. Taylor eyes her suspiciously for a second, but finally does step out of Aisha's way to allow her to claim the blade.
Which she does.
Immediately.
As you stand with your Master, watching Aisha heft and swing the inhumanly large sword around like it weighs no more than a feather, you smile - and despite it not being in character for Scar, you can't help but congratulate your friend.
"Congratulations, Aisha. You're on your way to being a Hero." You call to her, which earns you a bashful blush from the otherwise boisterous girl.
"Um. Thanks." She says, as the rest of the Bratpack rush to surround and chatter with her.
"Hang on. One last thing. Dinah, Aisha, come here. I've got one more thing for you, then I have other work to do." Taylor says tiredly. The two younger girls quickly step forward - and as she did with her Oathbound before, she unlocks their Aura's.