Hi, my apologies for the delay in writing. It really was much easier to write the opening chapters of this since I had a concrete idea of what I'm doing.
1.7 - In Service of a Tattletale
Taylor found that she rather enjoyed swinging swords, alongside other blunt instruments of destruction. For a girl with so much experience in holding back her anger, the act of hitting the old tyre, or even her recently crowned best friend was rather cathartic. Sabah had been pleasantly surprised at how quickly she was picking it all up, taking to the knowledge like a camel who hadn't drunk for a month takes to a puddle of the cleanest water, so they had switched to a more spar-intensive schedule since she rarely needed to practice anything more than once to get it down.
They were presently dressed in thickly padded garments and fencing masks, her friend holding her favourite longsword in two hands while Taylor clutched her recently acquired sword in one hand, the other pressed to her chest and ready to spring out if the opportunity came for it. Initially, she'd tried a Polish sabre which her Sabah managed to loan from a friend for a few days, but she'd found it lacked reach and was really made for cutting, which meant that she'd either be lopping off limbs or hitting ineffectively, neither option appealing to her much.
What she held at the moment had been something of a last-minute addition which she'd elected to try after seeing it in a video on one of PHO's history forums; she'd been lent a similar sword by Sabah, albeit about two hundred years older in design being a Scottish backsword. Now, having made her choice, she held an 1845 pattern British infantry sword with a minimal handguard and a straight blade with some leaves or such etched upon it.
It was a wonderful sword that felt right in her hand, being particularly adept at thrusting while maintaining the capacity for slashing. She'd purposely gone for one with barely more than a plain bar for a handguard since it seemed unlikely that she'd face any other swords on the street, it also kept the profile and weight down, which would hopefully reduce the number of complaints she got about it from customers. She still needed a way to mount it at her side but that wouldn't take too long with her friend there to help pick out something that went with her costume.
She stepped widely to the side as Sabah swung, stepping into a guard with the blade pointed at her as soon as she realised, she'd be vulnerable on her left. Both thrust at one another and their blades met in the middle, her friend's two-hander being able to exert more pressure to try and push her sword aside and try for her torso, but with Taylor dropping low she was able to push up; allowing her to keep the longsword from coming down on her. Moving in one more step, she adjusted her blade as Sabah's own touched her guard and then suddenly shoved it to the right, her relative angle in the parry allowing her to exert more strength than she'd otherwise be able to, exposing the wrists of her opponent. Their match ended when she grabbed the woman's right hand with her own offhand and pushed her blade aside, moving her sword to threaten her face and chest.
"Good one Tay" Sabah groaned as they parted and she removed her mask "I don't think you need much more of this type of training. Let's be real here, anyone coming at you with a bat, pipe or whatever will probably just swing it based on instinct or whatever they've seen in the movies. You can handle that with no sweat"
"I suppose you're right" Taylor removed her mask and looked at her friend's longsword "Besides, if it's something like a pipe they're using, my guess is that it would be closer in length to one of the arming swords than what you're using"
As they continued to chat, she heard a window open and Danny popped his head out "I've made some juice for you. Come and get it"
Taylor had taken on a few more jobs and kept up with her studies while waiting for Sabah to work her magic, coming by every second day to clean and take a look at the new addition to her costume. She'd decided that it was probably best to keep her new sword blunt, considering that a stab from it was already quite painful even against their usual padding and she didn't want to risk running some gangster through and committing murder.
This would be her first time going to clean while wearing it, she was curious as to the reaction of her clients. It certainly fit well, with much of the sword belt concealed by her apron and the leather-covered steel scabbard blending reasonably well after some black leather dye, the only thing left to draw the eye to it being the golden brass of the hilt and grip; but she did like the look of it and so decided not to waste money in getting it plated in something less visible.
Her client was Tattletale of the Undersiders, a minor villain gang who based themselves out of the Docks. She needed her to clean up their base while the gang spent some time recovering from some job at a casino gone wrong, the girl had seemed earnest by her voice over the phone, but she was not yet at the stage where she'd walk into the heart of villainy without a second glance.
As the bus neared the address provided by her client and as she ignored the looks she was getting, Taylor thought back to her dad. He was certainly looking better after a month, if still unable to stand, but she'd hoped that Panacea's priority list would be cleared up enough to help him by now. Yes, she imagined that in a city like the Bay, there were accidents, shootings and whatever on the daily, but surely, she could make a few minutes for him? Knowledge of medical triage flashed in her mind and she frowned, her dad was not in a life-threatening state and could function without care, which meant that he was at the proverbial bottom of the pile for them.
She scowled, perhaps it was unfair of her to feel this way considering Panacea was a hero who saved hundreds of lives a month in the Bay, but her father was a good man, perhaps one of the few left in the city, if time could be spared for gangsters and villain capes after fights then surely, she could spare a minute for him.
She walked off the bus and walked to the indicated address, keeping her head on a swivel as she moved through the lightly populated streets. Walking about like this really did feel much safer, with many glances to the sword at her hip and at least one or two shady characters electing to walk away from the visibly armed cape walking down the sidewalk.
There she was, standing outside the warehouse she'd been directed to, built of red brick in the style of the 1950s it had probably been a telephone exchange or some such back in the day. Servant knocked on the front door and heard something along the lines of 'come in' from the inside, it was certainly odd to keep such a vulnerable door open so they must have left it unlocked for her arrival, though it still made more sense for her client to greet her in person; she was an unknown cape entering their base after all.
The first-floor interior was dilapidated and neglected, if not as bad as it could have been compared to what she'd seen in the DWA's warehouses. From up the central stairs, she could see lights on in the second floor and could pick up on movement. Placing her hand on the hilt of her new sword, she headed up and was met by a single open door, she could see several people including Tattletale lying down on the floor or on various pieces of furniture.
Their costumes were in a sorry state, being littered with small gashes and a few larger ones. Tattletale was the first to wave at her "Hey Servant, you can probably tell but, we've had to burn our old hideout and go to one of our spares, that's this one, I need you to clean this place up with priority on this room and then the rest of the floor; leave the mess downstairs as a disguise"
"That is well within my skills Mistress" Servant curtsied "Will there be anything else?"
"As you can probably tell we aren't doing too good right now, some medical care would be appreciated"
Electing to prioritise the latter order, Servant deposited her cleaning supplies on the floor and made her way over to where the Undersiders lay across the various furniture of the room; judging by its contents, it must have been a break room at some point, she guessed. Taylor began by giving each Undersider a look over, triaging them and looking for any injuries which might prove lethal or debilitating if left untreated. By the look of it, they had already received treatment and removing or replacing the dressings across their various cuts would only aggravate the wounds. Upon the insistence of 'Bitch' she also looked over her three dogs, her veterinary knowledge told her that they were fine, just a bit tired and bruised.
"Mistress, my advice would be to keep the dressings you already have on for the rest of the day, then replace them daily, for your bruises, they will take their own time to heal unless you wish to visit Panacea; though your status as villains would likely preclude you and lead to your arrest" Servant spoke as she poked around the girl's ribs "Your injuries appear entirely external and are unlikely to impede you in the future provided you give time for them to heal"
"Wow, spoken like a real doctor" coughed Tattletale "How come you go around in a maid outfit rather than a doctor one? Oh! Because you don't think the Medical Board would certify you and because you're underage. Yeah, that makes sense"
"Mistress" Servant frowned "While for the purposes of our contract, all of you are considered my employers. I would like to remind you that under paragraph 56 of our contract, there is a two-way nondisclosure agreement in force. Much like I am unable to disclose what I learn during my work, the same goes for all of you"
"Or what?" Regent snorted, having listened in to their exchange "You'll sue us?"
"No" Servant turned to look down on him "Paragraph 187 sets out a rather extensive enforcement clause, allowing the aggrieved party to seize appropriate compensation. Unfortunately for whoever chooses to betray my contract, 'appropriate compensation' is defined as 'whatever the aggrieved party sees reasonably fit', so if any of you were to, for example, reveal my civilian identity, I would be bound to do the same and more…"
"We get it scary lady" Regent raised his hands "You'll go all bad on us and we'll wish we'd never been born. Message received"
"Good" Servant smiled, turning back to Tattletale "Now then, I do believe there is cleaning to do. Would you like me to make you some tea or fetch some drinking water for you four before I begin?"
Cleaning the telephone exchange turned out to be a job of a more interesting sort. Sure, there was dirt everywhere as there would be in any abandoned place, but there were all sorts of old electrical machinery which her power would explain to her so she could clean it properly, though she elected to save that for later. The cobwebs were so extensive that she'd have to replace her duster since it looked more like a roll of cotton candy once she was done de-webbing the floor's rooms. There was no vacuum cleaner or the like in the building so she resorted to the mop and bucket she'd brought with her, regularly emptying the dirty grey water down the utility sink and working on the windows while the faucet struggled to fill her bucket with fresh water.
It was about half an hour later that she first began to hear something going on outside, many car doors opening and hushed speech interrupted by cars passing outside. Taking a moment to sip from her water bottle, she glanced outside to see the car park of the building rather packed for what should be an abandoned and dilapidated building. The men that exited wore ABB colours and some appeared to be armed, chatting quietly among themselves as they appeared to gather by the back entrance with a malicious intention.
Servant re-entered the room where the Undersiders were resting, walking up to her employer and shaking her awake "Pardon me, mistress, there appears to be a crowd of rapscallions of the ABB at our back door. How would you have me welcome them?"
Tattletale looked frazzled, then scared, then suddenly she laughed "You really think you can take them on?"
"I do hope we do not have to resort to violence mistress, I'll simply request that they depart. If they do not, then I suppose I have the means to deal with them and the mess they will cause"
"Alright" her employer smirked "We'll just stay here and enjoy the tea you made, though I notice there isn't a plate of snacks to go with it. Isn't that what they usually have in period drama?"
"Understood mistress, I shall prepare some appropriate snacks for your tea party once the men outside have been dealt with. I only ask that you remain away from any windows and lock the door to this room until I am finished with my task" she curtsied "Any preferences by the way?"
"Shortbread would be good; I don't know if any of the stores here stock it but I do enjoy the stuff"
Servant left her employer behind the locked door and headed downstairs, grabbing a bucket and mop along the way. She went to the back door and opened it "Excuse me, gentlemen, might I ask that you cease this ruckus? You are disturbing my cleaning"
The twelve men outside turned to look at her, one putting down a battering ram they were presumably going to use on the door "Who the fuck are you" demanded their apparent leader, a beefy man with a red and green sash demanded.
"My name is Servant; I am charged with the cleaning and restoration of this telephone exchange. Might I have your name?"
"My name is Lee Kim Wong, and if you know what's good for you, you'll fuck off somewhere else girl"
"There is no need for profanity sir. I simply need you to leave so I might continue with the cleaning of this establishment"
"Erm, boss?" one of the gangsters behind the man spoke up "Maybe we've got the wrong place? It's pretty dirty in there, maybe they're at some other place?"
"Shut up Ping, the info said the Undersiders are here and the Great Lung has demanded that they be taken to him. I'm not going to let some cleaning girl get in the way"
"That is most unfortunate, I had hoped to solve this peacefully" They looked back at her, their eyes widening as they only now noticed the scabbard at her side "Unfortunately, it seems that I must do as a servant does, and tidy up"
"Get the bitch!" the leader shouted and his men charged, shooting pistols and brandishing weapons.
Servant ducked in, allowing the bullets to fly past her as she kicked the filled bucket over, covering the polished granite of the foyer in glimmering water. The first man to come through slipped and fell, the back of his head coming down hard on the floor with a crack. The second had enough foresight to slow down and not slip on the wet floor, but he was met with her mop, the hard poke into his forehead sending him skidding back and against a wall, causing the man to stumble and slip like his processor.
The third entrant had a long shotgun, a Miroku 3000 if she saw correctly. Not allowing him to point it at her, she used her broom to shove the barrel up and away from her, then delivered a kick with her boot to the man's stomach, sending him falling back into the other men outside. Taylor knew that holding this position against ten-odd armed thugs was probably a bit beyond her, even if she had her sword now. Allowing the mop to fly into the face of some gangster or other, she moved upstairs, concealing herself in an alcove and finally drawing her 1845 pattern sword.
Now less surprised and more enraged, Lee Kim Wong stomped through, baring his pistol at the room, soon to be followed by the other goons as they entered behind him "Right, you six check upstairs, the rest of you with me. You see that bitch, you shoot her!" he ordered as his little squad could be heard walking off downstairs.
She allowed the first few men to pass by her as they began to check the rooms upstairs. Then she sprung out, using the guard of her sword as a sort of makeshift brass knuckle to hit one of the men with a pistol in the side of his head. As he fell, she turned to the next, still on the stairs she kicked him hard as he tried to line up the sights on her, sending him tumbling downstairs and ending up in a heap at the bottom. The remaining four had no firearms she could see, so Servant moved in to face them head-on, striking the first to swing at her on the wrist and causing him to drop the crowbar in a yell of pain before poking him in the chest, sending him back crying in pain. The other three were similarly dispatched, they hardly knew how to swing, let alone fight someone with actual training in such matters.
No doubt the boss and his men downstairs heard the commotion, she confirmed it as the sound of footsteps reached directly underneath her. Swinging herself silently over the railing, she slammed down onto one of the gangsters, sending him to the floor with a groan. Before the rest could turn, she delivered a solid strike to the head of Mr Wong, causing him to fall and then turned to the rest, prioritising the ones with firearms before moving to those without.
Now she was surrounded by the pained groans of 12 men in various conditions of incapacity. Servant sighed and got to work, hauling them into a neat pile in the car park outside alongside their various weapons. Some of them were out, others were awake but clearly smart enough not to provoke her by trying to run. She flipped out her phone and called the police, a few minutes later walking off to buy some ingredients from the nearby convenience store once the BBPD showed up to take care of the perpetrators. Exiting with the ingredients necessary to make some shortbread.
"Excuse me, ma'am, you are the cape who apprehended these men. Could I have a statement please?" She was just about to re-enter the telephone exchange before an Officer intercepted her "You are not under arrest or suspicion; it is simply procedure for us to ask"
"Of course, Officer, the law has my full support, please ask away"
"Firstly, your name for the record, then what you were doing at the time of the attack"
"I am Servant, currently operating under Foremost Cleaning Ltd, I was asked to clean up the telephone exchange back there when I saw several cars pull up into the car park and the men you have in your custody step out, weapons in hand and approach the building"
"Alright, what happened next?"
"I opened the back door and spoke with them, requesting that they leave and did not disturb my work"
"And then?"
"Then I proceeded to defend myself and the property of my employer to the best of my abilities"
"I see, and this resulted in all twelve being downed"
"Yes, at which point I dragged them and their weapons for you to collect"
"Are you aware that interfering with a crime scene is a crime?"
"My apologies for that, but they would have interfered with my cleaning"
The Officer sighed and nodded, putting his notebook away "Right, thank you for your assistance, Servant" Clearly, he had better things to do than to question the mental state of an obvious parahuman.
Unfortunately, just as she began to walk back another man came up to her. Clad in blue and white power armour and a halberd in one hand, Armsmaster himself stood before her.
"Greetings Armsmaster, I do not believe we've been introduced" she curtsied.
"Servant, I'd like to ask what happened here" The eyes of his helmet looked down at her.
"I was working when these twelve gentlemen tried to break into the building I was cleaning. I simply took care of the mess. I'm sure the Constabulary would be happy to provide you with their report"
"Very well. I would like you to report for power testing on the Rig, and to join the Protectorate"
"I am already registered as a Rogue sir, and I much prefer my current work to fighting crime and punching capes"
"Nonetheless, I must insist on the power testing"
Servant sighed and handed him her card "I am currently working. Perhaps we can arrange some time to do it when I'm not?"
"That would be acceptable. We will be in touch" he took the card and left. Taylor was finally alone with her thoughts and the bag of ingredients she was still carrying.
"Your shortbread mistress" Servant put down the teapot as well as a plate of baked goods. As it turned out, it only took some half an hour to make them, so she did so and continued to work as the baking was completed "The second floor has been cleaned to your specifications and the second has been left dirty. All evidence of the altercation with the ABB has been thoroughly erased.
Tattletale stared down at the plate, then back up at her. She took one, gave it a short dip in the tea and bit into it "Fuck me. It's one thing to hear about the sort of work you can do, it's really something else to see it" She turned to her team "Just look at this. Cleaned our safehouse, stopped a break-in and protected us from 12 ABB gangsters, kept the Police and Armsmaster from finding us" she lifted up the piece of shortbread "And found time to make us some damn shortbread, you know I asked as a joke, right?"
"I did notice, but you made a good point about tea not being as good if no snacks are served beside it. I shall endeavour to carry some shortbread in my tool bag from now on for just such occasions" Servant bowed with a smirk on her face.
"You know, you could probably give Alfred a run for his money if you ever found a full-time job as a butler, or whatever the woman equivalent of that is" Regent noted, seeing as nobody got the reference he elaborated "From the Earth Aleph comic series 'Batman', he's this super-butler who is amazing at everything"
"I prefer to be independent" answered Servant "I'm sure there would be plenty of rich people who'd pay to have a parahuman maid on permanent retainer, but that's not the sort of thing I want to do. My goal is to make the world a better place by cleaning and fixing up this city over time, not to pamper some rich oaf in his alpine mansion somewhere"
"Well, you keep this up and perhaps in ten years there won't be a sport of dust left in Brockton Bay" Regent joked "You'll be out of a job and then you can find us. I certainly won't say no to an Alfred super-maid having our back"
Taylor left the telephone exchange with a hefty cash bonus for taking care of the ABB, it felt good to be recognised, and it would also allow her Dad to finally relax. Despite all the money she was bringing in, he still felt concerned at the state of their finances and was clearly looking for an excuse to return to work well before he was done recovering.
Then, her eye saw a familiar costume flying by "Hey, Glory Girl!" she shouted suddenly, walking over as the cape turned to her and beamed.
"Hey, Servant! It's been a while. How is Parian doing these days?"
"She's doing well. Listen, I don't like to ask but, could you put me in contact with Panacea? She is your sister right"
"I mean, yeah, but what's up? Are you hurt?" she landed to stand and looked her up and down.
"It's not for me but for my father. He was in a workplace accident a bit over two months back which left him with two badly broken legs and he's really struggling to do much even in a wheelchair. The hospital said that they put him on a waiting list to see your sister"
"Oh, sure. Panacea doesn't want me giving out her phone number but I could bring her down to Parian's shop while you're around"
"Tell her that if she does this for me. I'm willing to provide 20 hours of my services to her, for her to use as she wishes"
Glory Girl beamed at that "Really? I know she'll probably refuse payment on principle for the healing, but I'll tell you now that our house is a bit of a mess these days. I'd certainly appreciate having someone to tidy it all up"
It was the day after that she received another call on her business number "Foremost Cleaning Services Limited, this is Servant speaking, how may I assist you today?" she said from her desk, having been doing some studying.
"Hey Servant, this is Panacea, Glory Girl said you wanted to speak to me about your father and I'd seen one of your cards so I decided to call"
"Oh" Taylor did not know how to respond, the girl was a hero to everyone in the Bay including her, even after talking to Glory Girl she did not genuinely expect to hear from her "Thank you for calling me then. Has your sister explained my situation?"
"Yes" a sigh could be heard over the line "Listen, I understand that you care about your dad and want the best for him. But every day the hospital gets tens of life-threatening and priority patients, and I've got my hands full with them. When there's time for me to do anything else, I look at the waiting list and do what I can"
"Have you thought about my offer? I'd be willing to double it to 40 hours if you'll just see him"
"And if I were to do that, have you considered what the consequences would be for me?" the hero sounded annoyed over the phone "It would become quickly known that if you've got money, you can skip the queue and I would quickly become a luxury for the rich to enjoy, for them to heal whatever minor ailment inconveniences them at that moment while the people who really need me languish in bed or die"
"Then why do all those people get to skip the queue? The capes, the stupid gangsters who got in a shootout and are somehow worthy of your services? Why doesn't my Dad get that? He's a good man, a hard worker who's a big part of why the Docks have managed to keep out most of the gangs. Does he not deserve treatment?" Taylor exclaimed, "If you really cannot make an exception, then why do you keep making exceptions?"
The line was silent for a moment, then Panacea's voice resumed "There's an arrangement between my family and the PRT. They get priority treatment because of that; I don't like it but it's out of my hands. Those gangsters that come in are often in critical condition, when I'm around I take care of them because otherwise, they'd take up the operating theatre for the next few hours to the detriment of everyone else. Your father will get my help eventually, in a month perhaps, and he will get it for free because that's what the people of this city deserve. You will simply have to wait that time"
The line went dead. Taylor wanted to shout at the phone, but Panacea's words resonated with her. She had her reasons, and it's not as if her father was being denied treatment. Dad would have to wait, but in the meantime, she would be there to look after him.
An interesting thought, what a coincidence that the Undersiders call on Servant having just pissed off Lung, then their location gets leaked at just the right time so the gangsters arrive while Servant is still there working. A certain sneaky snake appears to be up to something!
More fights and sword stuff too. I was originally hoping to write more detail about what she actually does, but I realised that most people wouldn't get the terms and so have decided to stick to the sort of language that would be widely understood while maintaining the mental image that you've all come to enjoy.
As for why I elected to have her go with an 1845 pattern British infantry sword, it is a lightweight weapon built for thrusting which makes it good for defence, but there is still enough blade for her to use in cuts and the weight is not so light that she stands no chance of parrying something as heavy as a baseball bat. Plus, it looks cool, that's also important.