Good morning, day, evening or whatever. Just wanted to say that 'Realisierung (Worm/Signalis)' probably won't be my focus, rather that will remain this fic. Though admittedly I've had a ridiculous amount of demand for it considering it's currently a short thing of 5k words, it seems the Signalis fandom is thirsty AF for new content.


1.9 – In Service of Boundaries

It had been several days since her trip to the Rig. Even with her father's consolation, she could not help but feel a sense of betrayal from what Director Piggot had told her; she'd filed all the correct papers, upheld the law and paid her taxes. Hell! Even speaking purely from a moral standpoint, she could confidently say that none of the actions or jobs she'd taken fell below her standards.

So why? Why was she being spoken of like some soon-to-be criminal?

But as Danny said, for the ordinary person, governments and their byzantine halls of power were beyond their understanding. To continue such contemplations would be pointless at best and maddening at worst, so she would simply prove them wrong. Let them suspect her! She'd be such a good citizen that the Director would have to eat her words.

Servant turned back to the task at hand, fiddling with the rig she'd set up with a hose, a plastic bag, two zip ties and the problematic oil filter that had troubled her all morning; filled with harsh degreasing soap which would theoretically not damage the fibres of its membrane. She'd been contracted by a rather wealthy fellow to have a look at the engine of his vintage 1932 Ford Coupe, which all the significant garages in town told him was a lost cause considering how old it was and the lack of spare parts for its engine. It could barely start these days and the owner was desperate enough to go the cape route, though it probably helped that she'd only quoted him a few thousand for the job.

The main problem was this filter, a model so long out of production that it barely looked like the modern cartridge systems currently in use, so there was next to no prospect of replacement and though substitution with a newer filter was possible, the client insisted that he wanted to keep all the parts authentic.

So, there she was, running over to the outdoor tap, turning the screw and rushing back as the water flowed through the hose, coming through the filter gently through the output. She held it tight as the pressure increased and a flow of black soapy water began to fall into the bucket in front of her. She would repeat this process a few more times until the soapy water came back clear, leaving her with a bucket of black which she poured into the drain system outside; the oil being diluted enough that she wouldn't fall afoul of any laws, not that there was much more than a shot glass of actual oil in the filter when she removed it.


A few thousand richer, Taylor headed to her favourite hangout spot since the Library, 'Parian's Dollhouse' had almost become something of a second home to her and now she was coming by most days; that sofa Sabah had in the front always open to her, even if she insisted on cleaning the place for the privilege. But there was only so much cleaning and organisation she could do when she came by at such a rate, so most days they just 'hung out'; that was probably the right term for it.

Dad was also doing better, he still couldn't walk but with the aid of crutches, he could now move with some independence around the house, even go upstairs, though that took him a while. That was why he talked her out of using her newly obtained funds to purchase a stair lift for the house, he was stubborn like that. She'd set up a weekly sum of $500 to be deposited in his account, but when he first saw it, he demanded that the amount be reduced to just $200 since he didn't need much and still had some money coming in from Workers' Comp. That meant she was a fair bit wealthier than most girls her age.

Unlike most her age, however, she didn't really know what to spend it on. She'd bought a nicer laptop last week, with all the modern bells and whistles alongside being much faster than the fossil she'd been using so far; though she couldn't bring herself to throw it out since it was Mom's originally, so it would sit in their attic for now.

Thus, she resolved to invest in her cape career using the money. More flyers: larger, higher quality and laminated so the rain didn't damage them. She couldn't afford an ad on TV just yet but the local radio stations were quite happy to have her patronage and shout her out a few times per day between songs or programmes. She also decided to invest in a hand cart so she wasn't limited by the capacity of Dad's old toolbox, even if it was only half-full it would allow her to carry more and a wider variety of chemicals and tools for her work; saving her the trip to the nearest convenience store, assuming they even had any of the more specialised things she needed.

A van would be nice, she was 16 now and could technically start learning to drive, but it would also be comically easy to look up the plates of the vehicle Servant used and trace them to her. Sure, doing so would be against the 'unwritten rules' that Sabah had told her about when she first started, but she didn't want to risk it. Besides her friend, who would even care if something bad happened to a minor Rogue in the city, they'd probably just use it as an excuse to recruit her.

Passing through the front door, she lined up behind the customer Parian was currently talking to. For the first time since she'd initially come here, she'd decided to get a second costume; not a spare but rather a nicer version of her present one specifically for meeting important people and capes, since she seemed to be doing a lot of that these days.

The man left and Sabbah smiled at her once the door was secured "How are you, Taylor?"

"I'm good, just looking to take your advice and get a second costume made. Full price this time"

Her friend's eyes lit up with excitement and she led her to the sofa where they took a seat, pulling out their respective sketch pads "Working on your costume was fun last time, so I've drawn up a few designs for you if you want to have a look."

"Thanks, but I've settled on keeping the same essential design, just making it all higher quality and better-looking. So, I'm thinking thicker, lightly patterned cloth and perhaps the apron could get some lace and pockets on it."

"That's a shame, are you sure you don't want to have a look at any of these?" at her nod, her friend flicked through a dozen designs, ranging from one with a dress with a slit along one leg to one which showed off far more skin than she was comfortable with. Another was worse and had a skirt above the knee, highly impractical for her line of work and she was even less comfortable with it than the last. At least there were a few she somewhat liked the looks of, being alternative Victorian/Edwardian maid styles; she might actually consider them at some point.

"No thanks. I appreciate the thought but I'm settled on what I want for this costume."

Sabah nodded and invited her into the back to pick out some fabrics for it out of the shelves she'd organised many times already. As they picked out some rolls, she asked "By the way, how was your trip to the docks? Are you still going ahead with plan 'clean up the boat graveyard' or is that a bust?"

"I'm currently writing up the feasibility study but I think it's possible. We'll just need someone with underwater welding experience who is willing to take a job so risky they probably couldn't get insurance for it. That and something to lift the pieces out, sadly there isn't much of an oil rig industry nearby or we might have gotten use of some of their vessels for it."

"So, what is the plan then?"

"For now? The easiest would be to set explosive charges in some of the more problematic hulls, but that would also damage the marine ecology of the area enough that I'd be facing environmental lawsuits. The most realistic way would be for me to come in with a cutting torch, cut the tops off the more problematic ships and then find some vessel willing to haul the scrap somewhere deeper, though that still wouldn't clear the Bay enough for full Superfreighters, it would allow some smaller ones in."

"That sounds… risky" her friend concluded, giving her a side-eye "Please tell me you're not seriously considering doing that?"

"With my power, I could be about as experienced as an underwater welder gets combined with a ship architect; I doubt we could find anyone else to do it. All I'd need is someone with the authority to hire me for this job; probably the city Mayor, the Coast Guard or the local Environmental Agency."

"Taylor, I beg of you not to just go there with a diving tank and a cutting torch. I don't pretend to know the first thing about ships but even I can tell that cutting a ship apart from inside out might be a tad bit life-threatening. This city needs you, and I need my friend; healthy, wealthy and most importantly alive. Those ships have been there for decades, they can wait a few months more for you to get this organised properly."

Taylor sighed and nodded "Fine, but I'm not putting this off forever. Just until I can get everything sorted for it. Now that I think about it, the diving suit alone is probably going to be in the tens of thousands, let alone the cutting equipment. I'll also have to hire a boat to carry the generator and gas tanks for it. You've made your point."

Her friend smiled and got back to work on the dress of the costume "I'm happy to hear that. Now, you can come for this in about four days, but since you come by pretty much every day I'd be happy to show you how it's progressing; don't worry about the payment, we can settle that once it's done."

"No need. I'm good for the money now, the cleaning business is bringing in a fair bit" Taylor waved her off and produced her recently-obtained chequebook "I don't want to keep you waiting."

"As you wish. If you recall, the one you've got cost $760. Due to the more expensive materials, finer stitches and all the other nice upgrades I'll be adding to the design the price will be $1'200 plus tax. But hey, you're my friend and help me out at the store all the time so let's call it a thousand."

"Then I think I'll take two if you don't mind. After all, I'm going to be in the cape business for a good while if not forever, plus I can't help but want to repay the investment my good friend Parian the tailor-made back then" Taylor teased "And don't you dare give me another discount or I might just order a third."

"Damn you for pulling my own tricks against me. Not that I mind; rent does still need to be paid after all."


It was another ordinary business day when Taylor Hebert, in her cape persona as Servant, first encountered a fan in the wild.

She had lurked on some of the PHO threads discussing her and it made her happy to hear that people appreciated what she was doing, but that was about a month back when she was still starting out. Now there was a permanent thread about her up on the website and where she'd be mentioned once or twice a week before it was now a matter of dozens of posts per day.

He'd called about getting his dad's garage cleaned out and she quoted him a reasonable $200 for the job plus tax. Then when she'd arrived, she did not find the hoarder's nest she'd been expecting but rather a mildly dirty garage and a small gaggle of men and a few women just hanging out in the front yard. One of them was even wearing a full-length maid outfit just like her own for heaven's sake!

"Greetings, would Master Ronald be available? I've been contracted by him to clean up the garage here" she inquired as all eyes turned to her.

"Yeah, that's me" a young man raised his hand "Please just clean it all up, dust and all that. If you think anything should be thrown away just put it out onto the driveway and I'll have a look."

She attempted to ignore their glares, curtsied and went to get to work, flicking on the light switch and setting up her rags and dusters for easy access as she went through the shelves of tools, old bikes and other signs that a person once resided here.

As Servant turned away, they began to whisper in hushed voices excitedly, bringing out foldable and ordinary chairs and a folding table on which they had glasses of something and a few plates of snacks. Her employer sat down among the rest and they began to watch her clean like she was some reality TV show.

She managed about an hour of their staring before the garage was mostly cleaned and she finally turned to her audience "Master, while I do not particularly mind your associates. This is getting somewhat distracting for me, could you please explain why you are all watching me work like this?"

Ronald smiled awkwardly "Ah, sorry for not introducing my friends. We are the Brockton Bay Maid Enjoyers; BBME for short. We're something of a recent formation but ever since you've started working in the city we've gained almost twenty members, though sadly the rest couldn't make it today."

Servant stared at them, her veneer of professionalism slipping momentarily "What?"

"We pooled our money to hire you to clean my garage, that way we could meet you in person and get some autographs, even have you sign some merch" he explained nonchalantly.

"I have merch?"

"Well, it's a bit unofficial but John has made some posters out of the fanart he's been drawing and Jane has been working on a prototype Servant Fumo plush. They were hoping to have you sign them."

Taylor was utterly beyond words. Yes, on some level she'd guessed that she had fans; all capes had fans and groupies depending on how well-known they were, some like Glory Girl even had an official fan club supported by the cape in question. But since when did she, a small maid-themed cape from the far-off city of Brockton Bay, which also happened to have many more worthy heroes like Gallant, have a fan club more than twenty strong producing bootleg merchandise of her? For that, what kind of name was BBME? Could they not have come up with anything better?

It was all she could do not to tear a nice chunk of her hair out and to answer with a neutral "I see" when she herself didn't know how to respond to this development.

"So" Ronald turned to the rest of the gathered fans "As the Chairman of the BBME, I hereby motion to hand over my chairmanship to the only one truly worthy of it, the Maid of Brockton Bay herself! All in favour?"

She was met with cheers as Servant was crowned Chairman against her will, the jammed gears of her mind trying to push themselves back into something approaching a normal motion.

Then Taylor had a thought. What was she going to do about this whole fan group? Beat them black and blue, burn their merchandise and threaten them to stop stalking her? No, because she was not that kind of person; not like Sophia. But she could still use this. If she got a say in the kind of stuff her fans were doing then she might be able to keep the worst of their excesses under control enough that one didn't try to follow her home, or try to kidnap her, or try to propose marriage to her or whatever else they'd come up with.

"Alright Master Ronald, I accept the position of Chairman under three conditions."

"Of course, what can we do for you, my lady?"

"Firstly, I want to change the name, it is rather crude, no offence to whoever came up with it. You will instead be named 'Servant's Servants'" she thought for a moment "Actually, best not that; the abbreviation could be problematic. You will be called 'The Maids of Brockton Bay', shortened to MBB. Is that acceptable?"

To his nod, she continued "Secondly, I'd like veto rights over any merchandise, official or otherwise. If it's being sold, I'd better have approved it."

"Does that mean you're going to let us sell official merchandise?" asked Jane, holding up a plushie that looked a whole lot like her Servant attire.

"Yes…" she tried not to sigh "Subject to my approval. Thirdly, none of you are to try to unmask me, follow me home or anything like that. I take my privacy out of costume very seriously, I warn you that, fans or not, anyone doing so will regret it; so I swear."

"That's quite fine by us Lady Servant" replied Ronald on behalf of the newly christened MBB "Personally, I think it's half the appeal not to know who's behind the mask. Those that try to look deeper tend to get disappointed anyway."

"Very well. Then I suppose you've all got things for me to sign" she beckoned them to her "I am willing to sign one item for each of you. Also, in the future, we'll be holding dedicated monthly meetings for me to meet fans like yourselves, please do not call me for a job just because you want me to sign something."

One by one, they lined up and Servant found herself signing an interesting array of items from fairly ordinary things like photos to the more esoteric such as the poster John had made of her holding a broom like in that one 1977 Star Wars poster for 'A New Hope' and the 'Fumo' Jane had hand-made. It was actually rather cute, so once Taylor had signed its apron at the request of the maker, she'd given her permission to make up to a hundred of them and sell them to other people in the MBB who were interested. She should probably have charged some IP licencing fees for the rights but it felt wrong to demand money from her eager fan's face. Besides, if it ever got that big then she could start charging fees, for now, let them have their fun.

They had a Facebook group as their main place of congregation, she really needed to hurry up on establishing her online presence before someone snatched up her username and took advantage of her fans.

Her final attendee was that woman in the maid outfit modelled on her. She'd originally hoped it was simply a Servant cosplay of some kind, but that was quickly dispelled when the woman announced that she'd quit her job as an accountant to become a maid in her honour. Eventually, Servant talked her down from quitting completely and just doing maid work part-time on weekends to see how she liked it first. Taylor prayed that the rest of the 20-odd who hadn't attended were more normal.


In another jarring course of events, her next job came from the Empire 88 more directly than the last. Still not criminal activity but getting a bit warmer, they wanted her to clean their 'clubhouse', a beer hall's second floor which was often used by Empire higher-ups to host parties and the like. It was not so much different to cleaning up that bar but was drawing her deep into their territory. Perhaps she should enquire if the ABB had any work, lest they start thinking she was somehow an affiliate of the E88 instead of a mere contractor.

Servant was guided past the tables of the first floor and into an elevator that led up to the second. Based upon a glance, there had been just such a party around a day ago and even though no furniture was broken, her eyes could make out the shine of beer stains on the mahogany flooring. For a bunch of Nazis, they didn't seem to respect their red-white and black banners much since at least two had splashes of this or that which she'd have to scrub out to complete this job.

In the corner sat Rune, enjoying some video on her phone as she sat on one of the cleaner sofas in the room, seeing her enter she waved at Servant "Hey there, we meet again."

"Not by chance I take it?" Servant raised an eyebrow as she began to take out her cleaning supplies, selecting a Sodium Hydroxide solution to begin on the beer stains.

"Nope, the boss told me to keep an eye on you; you aren't one of us after all and there are some capes upstairs that'd be pissed if you walked in on them out of costume. But personally, I'm just happy to get out of patrol duty and spend some time with my favourite Servant."

"Charmed," Servant replied and began to work "I take it you have some other cautionary tale about the evils of the ABB to tell me?"

"Not this time, besides, you hardly need cautionary tales when one of their human trafficking rings got busted last night, it was all over the news. What they won't admit was that we were the ones who hit it," the Empire cape smirked "We're doing real good for the Bay, I thought knowing that might interest you."

"It is certainly good that the ABB is being hit" Servant admitted, lowering herself to work on some wooden chairs "though I cannot find myself too happy that your Empire will gain power from it."

"What's so bad about it? With more territory under us, we can protect more people from those Asian bastards, maybe one day we'll drive them all the way out of Brockton Bay!" Rune declared.

"I imagine anyone who isn't white won't be enjoying the 'protection' in question, even if they don't want anything to do with the gangs."

"Eh, they're a bunch of sympathising fifth-columnists who'll run into the arms of whatever nigger offers them their drug fix."

Servant did not dignify that with an answer and continued to work.


"Hey Servant, tell me a story" Rune looked down from her phone "There's nothing good to read at the moment."

"I don't believe that was part of the job description," Servant noted as she returned to cleaning a stain off one of the flags "Though if you wish to hire me as a storyteller then my hourly rates are publicly available information."

"Oh, come on. You're bored, I'm bored; you tell me one and I'll tell you one."

Taylor considered the offer, perhaps whatever Rune replied with could contain useful information, but there wasn't anything interesting which was comfortable sharing with the Empire cape.

"No thank you. I find that cleaning is the opposite of boring, why I could hardly find myself bored while doing this job."

"Now you've lost me…" Rune stared at her as she finished up the last flag and moved onto the counters "How the hell could wiping countertops be interesting?"

"Come here, I will show you."

Rune looked bewildered but came over anyway, clearly having had enough of whatever literature she'd been reading.

"Now then, have a look." She showed the girl her bottle of cleaner, sprayed some onto the counter, allowing it to sit for a bit before wiping it down "Do you see now?"

"See what?" the girl growled "You just wiped it, there's nothing to see. Are you trying to play me for a fool or some shit?"

"Compare it to this uncleaned patch. Come closer and take a moment to examine each patch. As you can see, the crystalised patches of sugar from whatever beer was spilt here has been completely dissolved by the sodium hydroxide solution I'm using. However, if I were to use such a harsh solution on the flags back there, you'd likely have the red parts discolour and some of it might bleed onto the white." Servant pointed out.

"I still do not get it."

"I don't expect you to. This is the subtle artistry of a painter, the delicacy of a dancer and the expertise of a chemist combined into a single, subtle art form known as cleaning. Lesser cleaners will use a single method to clean everything, a journeyman cleaner will know what to use to clean a specific thing and the techniques to do so, a master will not merely do that but take into account the condition, history and needs of the item. I know that this place will be used for further parties, which is why I'm applying a quick-drying varnish over the old one which has been degraded by the specific mix of Alkali I'm using right now. This is a more modern formulation that will be more robust against everything bar physical damage and should last you almost a decade with the proper maintenance. It also has greater resistance to UV light which should keep it smooth longer so long as you insist on keeping the curtains regularly open.

"You're weird" Rune mused and returned to her spot on the now-cleaned sofa, clearly having given up on talking to the maid.

"I am myself" replied Servant and returned to her duties.


Taylor was just about to leave when she had a thought, a somewhat distant one that did not seem likely to work, but given that she was in the room with the object of said thought she decided to try it anyway. As Dad had always said, what she didn't ask for, she would not get.

"Say, Rune. Would you be interested in doing something good for the Bay?" Servant asked as she finished packing her cleaning supplies to leave "I believe there is something only you can do that would make Brockton Bay much better."

"I thought you were against us kicking out the minorities? Not that I'm complaining about you seeing some sense but it seems a bit sudden with how you were advocating for them a few minutes ago."

Taylor had to breathe in to avoid punching the girl "I'm currently working on the early stages of a project to clean out the bay next to the docks enough for freight vessels to be able to dock again. The plan involves me diving down, carrying the upper parts of the sunken ships into pieces and then having them be retrieved by a vessel above, but if I understand correctly, you could simply touch such a piece and then move it over to land. If you were to help me out, you'd make my job easier and help bring prosperity and hope back to the City."

Rune had been prepared to give her usual reply of sarcasm mixed with racism when she stopped and thought for a moment, eventually looking back to Servant "Really? Do you think that would work?"

"I've gone down there and written up a feasibility study. All I need is to get a diving certification, someone to man the boat above to power the cutting tools and someone like you to move the stuff I cut up. If you're not interested that's fine, but if you did help it would move up the timetable dramatically."

"I… I think I'd like to help with that. But I'd have to run it by the boss, you understand? It's probably going to be a multi-day affair and I don't want my friends worrying about me."

"That's fine, I'm happy you're willing to help. You have my phone number so just message me when you can." Servant curtsied and left as Rune waved her goodbye, lightly blushing at the praise.


Ho! Taylor fixes a car, is getting a new costume, will soon be certified for underwater welding and has her own Fumo and fan club! I'll tell you what, if this story ever reaches 100k words, I'll draw art of the Fumo, I haven't drawn anything in years and what I have looks like chicken scratch but I'll do it for you lot.

My plans for the MBB are non-existent at the moment but I can imagine a lot of funny situations involving them, particularly the merch situation.

Also, Rune is now (probably) on board with the plan, though she has her reasons for doing so. Perhaps not all of them are altruistic. Originally, it would be Othala who was to be sent to watch Servant and try to feel her out for recruitment, but it made more sense for Rune to be sent again since Othala would be useless without someone else there to apply her buffs and Rune already having a rapport with Servant.

I've actually had an idea for an alt-version of this fic a few days ago, where things go bad for Taylor and her father dies, then she sees Parian's store burned down by the ABB thugs and triggers with a more combat-oriented version of her current power as well as a somewhat more unhinged mindset.

Though this wouldn't be a 'Lord Doom' sort of fic where she is just unhinged in a funny way. No, it would probably be more of a Batman-style where she feels the need to clean up the city one criminal, gangster and fly-tipper at a time.

Obviously, I could not handle writing three fics at the same time, so this is purely a theoretical effort. I wouldn't start it until 'In Service' is completed fully.