Psycho. An insult commonly used by man and woman alike, usually to denote someone who's violent and out of their mind. Case in point, the three surrounding her while they crushed the laptop in front of her, a gift from him. Something she knew.
See, Taylor Hebert was a skinny and tall girl, with long brown hair and wide lips with glasses atop the bridge of her nose. She was the perfect victim for bullying.
The cruel laughter of her assailants cause an itch in the back of her hand. Always there, telling her to destroy them.
Yet, she didn't want to. It still hurt to hear her ex-best friend's cruel laughter among the other's. Emma Barnes, an attractive redhead and one of two people she could call her friends.
The other would fight her in broad daylight if he was here. Still, he left after their 'summer camp' led by Psycho. The muscle she got through it a memory of the past, even if the actions are still ingrained into her body.
The teachers ignored her looks and no one would do anything about it. It's been going on for so long, she's num-.
"Oh~?" Emma crooned, leaning against her and dropping her milk on the laptop she was stowing away. Ruining not only the laptop but everything inside the laptop. "My mistake, that must be such a shame since you probably can't even afford another one."
Taylor Hebert felt something snap before she stood up, Sophia Hess and Madison Clements who were also leaning on her stumbled at the surprising force she had when she got to her feet before she walked off.
Sophia Hess, a black girl with straight black hair and brown eyes smirked, watching Taylor pass by a group from Winslow's football team as they were about to tackle her, but they stopped when she did and they moved, fear in their eyes for a second.
"… What?" She asked herself, confused before she shook it off. It was a fluke, it had to be. Taylor Hebert wasn't a predator after all.
Taylor brought up a phone to her ear, unlike any out in the market at the moment, lacking any Tinkertech while she paced in the empty computer room. She was hoping, almost praying that the person at the other end wouldn't answer. That they were busy or that they were busy doing something else.
Probably the closest person she had at the moment who wasn't even there. She wanted him to pick up the phone but she also didn't want to get into details-.
"Taylor? What happened? You don't usually call me during school." The male voice on the other end asked and Taylor couldn't help the relief that flooded her body.
"Hey, Aiden, so, uh." She began, swallowing. "I might have gotten some milk on the laptop."
She could almost imagine the way her best friend would wave at the air when there was a problem he didn't see as 'big'. "Don't worry, we can just make another one and the app is nearly done anyway, so while it's a shame, I could finish things up."
"Um…" Taylor began but stopped when the door opened and she turned, panicked before it became shock.
At the door there was a teenager, slightly older than her with his brown hair cut short with a blue jacket over a black shirt. In his hand was a phone while on the other was a laptop. He wore jeans with sneakers, but Taylor was confused over something else.
"You…" She trailed off, "You're supposed to be in Illinois." She noted while Aiden Cruz rolled his eyes and stepped to her.
"We decided to move back." Aiden answered, a worried frown on his face while he brought out a bandanna. "It was supposed to be a surprise, though I'm not sure who's more surprised. Taylor, what happened?"
Using the bandanna, he wiped away the milk on her while she had trouble looking him in the eye. Aiden Cruz was the nephew of one of the Dockworkers and the son of her caretaker after her mother died and her father was still mourning. His uncle is Psycho, or Sebastian Cruz, an ex-Marine and the person who taught them some of the first things they learned.
Now that he was there and not somewhere else, it was hard to not break down. "I-It's no-."
"The electronic security in this school sucks." He warned vaguely amused, raising a brow while she stiffened. "We've worked against harder in summer camp Taylor."
Taylor couldn't help but snort. "Right, 'summer camp'."
Aiden returned it, chuckling while shaking his head. After all, the last summer camp the two attended before he moved from Brockton Bay was hosted by ex-Marines and former British SAS Operatives.
When there are two kids with a curious streak a mile wide with former Special Forces Operatives in the middle of nowhere, you tend to default to what the majority found interesting, which was running paintball simulations of combat and using actual guns on occasion while learning 'interesting' things.
"You've gained some weight." He noticed, poking her side and her mood immediately fell and, despite how hard she tried to hide it, Aiden still saw it. "Oh, oh. I'm so sorry."
"Don't." Taylor said, shaking off the feeling and the insults before smiling, still unfamiliar with the feeling of having a friend that jabbed at her with friendly insults. "You too, Aiden."
It was true, the only skills either really practiced during 'summer camp' and before haven't been used much beside programming. Both of them are fairly out of practice, but Aiden was always fairly bulky even if he was agile.
Slowly, he reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder and she stiffened before reeling. "You'll get milk on you."
"We've gotten worse, remember the oil?" He asked, Taylor blinking before laughing. He followed, but his was more wry, probably since he was the victim of the oil incident.
Though Taylor's face when he threw some at her was a close second.
The two were silent before he did so again and she flinched but didn't step back. Instead, she leaned into it, craving the warmth she hasn't had in so long.
Aiden stepped forward, his impassive face set in worry while she shook and he enveloped her in a one-armed hug. Taylor finally broke down, the warmth of a friend, the fear of betrayal, all leaving her to cry silently.
The two stayed like that for a while before he used the bandanna to wipe her tears. Offering it to her, she blew her nose on it. "How are you feeling?"
"Like shit." Taylor said, returning the bandanna to him. "Why me?"
Aiden raised a brow before asking, "You haven't figured it out?"
"I didn't want to think about it." Taylor answered, reaching up to her nose. "Let's go. I-I don't want to be here."
"Alright." Aiden said, reaching out to grab the laptop while leading her outside. "Let's go, we have some catching up to do."
Taylor nodded while the two stepped outside, her eyes on his phone as she saw him tap something and she could tell that the cameras would not reveal anything. After all, she made the program that does it.
Slowly, they made their way out of Winslow without anyone the wiser.
"Ctos, the future of tomorrow! With Brockton Bay, crime has fallen-."
Within a cafe by the Boardwalk, Aiden set down a foam cup, still steaming while Aiden say down in front of her, and she could see how much her friend changed. While once he was fairly chubby, he seemed more bulky now, his eyes were still as bright as ever and still with mischief to them. She couldn't help but wonder what he thought about her.
Grabbing the coffee, she sipped at it while the two fell into silence, sipping at their respective drinks at what is probably an unacceptable volume. They sighed in satisfaction, steam coming from their mouth simultaneously, to their surprise.
Slowly, they looked at each other before they began to chuckle, Taylor's previously horrid mood now gone while Aiden was simply happy to be around his friends. "Seems like some things never change."
Taylor nodded, perking up, "You're still the same as ever but… different." She added while Aiden's smile fell, leaning forward with a serious look.
"Taylor, what was that? It can't be bullying, we're the ones who went to that summer camp." He said, and Taylor had trouble looking her in the eye, the words of the bullies ringing out in her mind. "Taylor." He started again, while she slowly looked up from the table.
There was no judgment in his eyes, only worry, guilt, and fear. "Did I do something wrong? Did you not trust me? I would have dropped everything and come if you needed help, just like you did. Even if you didn't…"
"No." Taylor nearly surged forward but managed to stop herself, fixing her glasses. "No, it's not that, just… I didn't want to bother you. You were always so busy with that 'app' and school, so…"
The 'App'. A project that they've been working on ever since 'summer camp' with Aiden having the most interest in it. She did too, but not as much.
Aiden looked absolutely betrayed before he sighed. "… Taylor, I… fuck."
No, he looked like he was told the worst news of his life. Even the death of Psycho in Chicago didn't affect him as much. After all, he was their first teacher when they first met.
Both of them were silent, the tension thickening before Aiden sighed. "… What now?"
Taylor sent him a strange look. "… What?"
"What now? 'Cause I've been absent for way too long if you think I'm going to let you go back to Winslow after today. You haven't even-."
"Aiden. Please, drop it." Taylor warned while Aiden seemed confused before sighing, relaxing while he slumped in his seat. The two were silent for a while before he clicked his tongue.
"You know what? No." Aiden said, leaning forward. Grabbing Taylor, he asked again, "Taylor, please. Let me help you."
At that moment, Taylor understood what he was saying, after all, anything he could do she could do as well. Programming hasn't been a skill that's gone rusty, especially since it's the only class that'll let her do her homework early.
The whims of pre-teens with a bunch of eager soldiers were ingrained into their body. Yet so have the heroes around them, something Taylor took to better rather than Aiden.
She could figure it out, but did she want to? Would she like what she would find at the end of this string that interested her so?
Did she want to suffer more?
No.
"Da-. No, Emma. Ah…" She didn't know where to start, stumbling over her words while she was confronted with Aiden's care and worry. Almost like family with how close the two were before they separated, like Emma.
"Then, the good old days, right?" Aiden asked with a smile and Taylor understood what he was insinuating very well.
A secret for a secret.
Slowly, Taylor nodded, feeling horrible that the only way she could speak with a friend is when exchanging secrets. Aiden smiled before finishing his drink. "Let's finish up our drinks and I'll show you something cool, eh?"
Taylor slowly nodded, wondering what it was that Aiden would consider as 'something cool' since his definition of 'cool' when they were younger was figuring out the combination for Psycho's gun locker and bringing one out.
When Psycho found them, they were actually praised for their awareness of the gun, keeping the finger off the trigger and unloaded, but the three were then scolded by Maria.
They had one strange childhood.
Taylor followed Aiden through the Boardwalk and into the commercial district, bordering Downtown through the bus while she pointed out some interesting things that've changed since he was last there and what hasn't. Like the gang violence.
Thankfully, with it being winter, things were fairly peaceful at the moment while people were gearing up for the winter. There, off from the main area of the Boardwalk there was a tailor, atop it were the words 'Fine Silk' with a thread and needle while on the windows suits and dresses displayed. "…Those look particularly expensive." She noted, looking down at her baggier clothing.
"Don't worry, we're not here to buy." Aiden assured her while he opened the door, only for it to be locked. "Damn it." He tapped his phone against the side and it unlocked, to her surprise. "There we go."
"What was that?" Taylor asked, but Aiden just brought up a hand and invited her in. "But it was locked."
"All in due time, my young padawan." Aiden said with a deeper voice, and Taylor followed in before he could start bringing out the Yoda voice.
The place looked brand new, with barely any dust and a bunch of clothes strewn about. Her eyes did catch something interesting in the form of something that looked vaguely like a costume. "Aiden, what…"
"So, did you know that me and my parents have been returning quite regularly to look for a place to move in?" Aiden asked before he led her to the back of the store where she could see various machines. "I found this place a month ago during one of those trips."
"Aiden, what did you find?" Taylor asked while they reached a wall that didn't look different from normal. Beside the wall was a safe, fairly heavy one too. "Wait, what are you-?"
"Relax, the safe isn't mine and the secret only reveals itself through a signal rather than the combination of buttons." He assured her before turning to her, "Tell me, do you hang around the PHO forums much?"
Taylor will not admit that she's lost a lot of sleep scrolling through it. "I usually hang around the programming ones." She admitted and Aiden smiled.
"So, you probably know Parian, right? Kinda doll-themed Cape?" He asked and Taylor nodded and her eyes widened.
"Oh, you mean the camera-."
"Camera interference, yeah." Aiden confirmed, nodding while her eyes widened in realization.
"Wait, is this her shop?" She asked but Aiden shook his head. "Then, who's is it?"
"Depends on the time and who's doing what, but, let me ask again, do you know Marquis?" He asked again while Taylor narrowed her eyes. "'Course you do. So, let me ask you, how many of his safe houses have been raided?"
"All of them." Taylor said with the roll of her eyes, already aware that while there were a lot, not all of them were probably raided, much less found. Still, she couldn't help but wonder why he was asking…
Taylor was silent for a long second while Aiden grinned that same smirk he had when he found something that was genuinely cool and he knew she thought so as well. "You found one of them, didn't you?"
"Abra-kadavra." He said, tapping his phone against a wall before it dragged itself open with the only sound being the hydraulics she could hear hissing. "I did. The guy was a criminal with class, he had to get those suits from somewhere."
It made sense to Taylor, but watching it all unfold in front of her eyes… It was so much. "I-Huh?"
Slowly, the lights lit up on their own and revealed stairs going down while Taylor gaped. "It's awesome, right?"
"It is…" Taylor admitted before shaking her head. "But, wait, I don't get it." She said again, her friend looking so different in front of her eyes while he nodded in understanding.
"Come inside, I'll explain everything." He said, stepping in while Taylor followed reluctantly, but still excited. The two continued for a long stretch in silence, stepping down until they finally reached the bottom. There, Taylor's eyes widened, when she saw what was inside.
"… What?" She gasped in awe while stepping inside.
The area was well-lit, the size of a modest house's basement that seemed to be cut into 'sections'. The section they entered, the main one, had a bar to their right on the corner, some of the bottles still gathering dust while booths were set up near it. To her left she could see tools scattered about with a workbench and what looked like a robotic arm. No, it actually was.
Aiden continued leading her to the right by a door on the wall within the main section that he opened, where rows of servers were left inactive for years, almost a decade if she had the dates correct. They exited and continued further to the left where there was more of a 'cafe' that led to two doors. Opening the one to the right led her to an armory, rows of firearms all left unattended for decades as she began listing them off before closing the door and going to the other one. Inside was a long mahogany table, bereft of much while in front of it was a wall of monitors that displayed a map of Brockton Bay even if it was glitched.
"So," Aiden began, walking forward where the screens were, "this is my secret, my 'pet project' and what I've been making the 'app' for."
"Hacking." Taylor muttered in shock. "It's an app to use for hacking."
Aiden nodded, grinning wryly. "Exactly. I'm about done, and admittedly, I was doing it out of boredom and to challenge myself, but then I decided to try and bring this up to life. Now," he admitted with a stern frown, "I want to help you."
Taylor was still befuddled by all the events. "Wait, but Parian…"
"It's an agreement." Aiden elaborated. "I've never met the owner or Parian IRL, but it's a deal we have, the owner wants to turn over a new leaf, but with ctos he'll constantly be flagged for criminal activity, so he wants me to see if I can make some of them go away. Parian stops by, uses the shop to make costumes, I use this place and help make sure the security is up to standard. Win-win."
Taylor slowly made her way to one of the chairs before she sat on it while he stood up and joined her, sitting on the table instead of the chair beside her. "This is…"
"Insane?" Aiden offered with a grin while Taylor shook his head at him. "Well, this place isn't exactly operational, need to be a lot of work done to it before it is."
Slowly, Taylor looked around before sitting up, after all if she said anything about this place, the owner, Parian, and Aiden might all find themselves serving time behind bars.
Forget the fact that she doesn't know neither the owner or Parian, she didn't want that for Aiden. "So, what do you think?"
Finally, Taylor broke. "It started when we returned from training with the Dockworkers." She should see that he wanted to joke about it, but he kept quiet and waited. "Emma, my best friend, she… betrayed me. She found a new friend while we were away, and said horrible things. Basically told me to never talk to her again. I almost wished I listened."
It was hard, talking about the two years of torture she went through with the person she trusted the most and who she probably knew better than herself. He listened, nodding and asking for clarification on parts, but that's all he did. He listened.
Finally, once she was done, he sat down. It was a dull and repetitive knocking at first, his fist hitting the table before his face turned into pure unadultered rage and he slammed his fist against the table. "Fuck! No, there-. What!?"
Sadly, Taylor nodded while Aiden was silent. The two taking this information very differently. He stood up and began to pace for a few seconds before she brought out his laptop. "Taylor, I-." he cut himself off, too angry to do anything else but try to do everything at once.
Finally, he was calm, or at least calm enough to be able to formulate complete sentences. Still, he was silent for a long while until he sat up. "Taylor, wanna do something about it?"
"What?" Taylor asked, turning to him in shock. Then, she stopped, her mouth closing.
Because despite herself, she knew Aiden, and she knew that if she didn't do anything, he would. Even beyond that, she could feel it return.
That spark of curiosity, a resolve that led her and her best friend to train with ex-military for an entire summer in various subjects. She's cried, she's tried, and nothing has worked in school.
In school…
Aiden grinned, and she returned it, hesitation clear in it and fear in her form, but, even so, she couldn't help it.
She had a friend again. Someone who'd stand by her in thick and thin as he did before.
Before she could stop him, he enveloped her in a hug and carried her, laughing joyously. "Yeah!" His voice echoed in the empty room while he spun her around, and despite how uncomfortable she felt, Taylor couldn't help the chuckles that bubbled up.
Aiden gave her the new computer he had prepared and the two got right back to work, the two looking through the code of the app and trying to make sense of it. "So, the way it works is that anything within a network we have access to can be fiddled with by a few pre-determined programs?"
"That's the gist of it." Aiden said, nodding. "Should be fairly easy, right?" He asked with a sarcastic grin that had Taylor sighing.
Both of them knew it was gonna be anything but. Between the both of them, Taylor was always the better programmer.
So, the two got to work, or Taylor got to work, Aiden was working on something else.
Since Aiden had already done most of the work, all Taylor had to do was debug it and make sure that everything was in working order. "Here." Aiden said, placing a singular phone on the table, different from the one they used. "Should be a better one." He said while Taylor nodded in thanks.
"Thanks for the phone." Taylor said while Aiden shook his head.
"No, you're wrong Taylor." He said, pointing at it. "See, this is a Profiler. Big difference."
"How so?" Taylor asked with a confused look. After all, the 'Profiler' looked like a smartphone.
"See, this nifty thing?" He asked with a grin, patting the Profiler. "It has two modes. Once the software is uploaded, it'll be able to switch from a normal phone to a tool at the press of a button."
Slowly, Taylor nodded. "Right…"
Rolling his eyes, Aiden slid them to him. "Let me just get it all set up." He said while tapping away at his computer while Taylor waited. After a few minutes, he passed it to her. "Done. We can keep our old phones, but for now, we'll have this," he said while brandishing the Profiler, "if we ever need it."
Taylor inspected it, seeing the Profiler as a normal phone until she spotted the software. The screen went dark and the options popped up in the form of images. "I should see if I can do something with goggles, maybe a HUD."
She found the connection for the screen and Taylor pressed one of the options, for it to flicker. To their surprise, it did.
The two grinned at each other before they raised their hand and brought it together in a high five.
By the time it was getting late, the two exited out of the second entrance of the hideout, one among many. They walked through the market district and began testing it out, tapping into calls, watching texts, and more. Mostly innocent things.
They did stop before they could get into real danger while they stepped into the bus, kicking off the snow while they went to the back. "How's Maria and Anthony been?" Taylor asked and Aiden shrugged.
"They've been fine. As nosy as ever, but they'll be overjoyed to hear that I saw you." He said, leaning back. "Turns out that I'll be going to Arcadia instead of Winslow."
"Then, what were you doing in Winslow?" Taylor asked, a bit jealous while Aiden pushed her gently.
"Dummy, I was checking up on you." He assured her while she blushed but smiled. "What about Danny, he's gotten any better at least."
Taylor didn't answer immediately and Aiden huffed. "Honestly…"
"It's… been the same." She admitted, "We haven't spoken much."
"Not even about…" He trailed off while Taylor shook her head.
"No, Emma's father, Alan Barnes is our friend and a divorce lawyer." Aiden opened his mouth in silent understanding, but didn't seem very happy. "Still… I wonder… I haven't spoken to him in a while. Did he know…?"
All Aiden did was flash his Profiler and Taylor knew what she could do. Sadly, it'd be some time before that. "It's the weekend." Taylor noted with a bit of resignation while Aiden hummed.
The two were silent for a while until he asked, "Wanna go back there and clean it up?"
"Just us two?" Taylor asked, raising a brow. "Isn't that gonna take a while?" Not to mention expensive if they want to replace some of the things in there.
"Whole place looks like it isn't Tinkertech." He muttered, "It's not like we can do much but our best."
Taylor nodded in agreement, the two falling into silence. A comfortable one while she leaned back. "Sure." She relented and Aiden smiled.
"Awesome, what are you gonna tell your dad?" He asked while she shrugged.
"Shouldn't take too long to clean the whole place up. It's more maintenance…" She grimaced while Aiden agreed.
"Servers looked pretty high-tech." Aiden pointed out loud while the two went back and forth, noting more and more things that caught their attention. Pointedly, neither spoke of the guns as it wasn't something they could do much about.
Getting off at her stop, she couldn't help but skip her way to her home, opening it to see her father.
"Hey Little Owl." He said, smiling fondly. "You were out late, hanging out with Emma?"
Taylor barely managed to suppress her reaction before she shook her head. "No dad, actually, did you know Aiden and his parents are back?"
Danny turned to her in interest. "Really?"
"Yeah, I hung out with Aiden today. He's going to Arcadia, actually." She said and he blinked, leaning against a wall with disbelief on his face. "Dad?"
He didn't answer for a second while he rubbed his face, "Aiden? Arcadia? I mean, he's not exactly dumber than you, but…"
Taylor paused mid-stride, realizing that, as smart as Aiden was, he wasn't exactly the smartest when it came to school work. Or motivated.
She could only hope for the best.
Adrien was a simple man, he liked to do things so he did them, and if there was one thing he didn't like was anyone messing with those he cared about, so to hear what Taylor went through…
It was hard not to act rashly, but he managed to stop himself, instead, he focused on other things. He looked at the mirror, looking at his features, the light brown skin with short brown hair and same brown eyes, but with a goal this time.
Grinning, he pushed off the sink and made his way out of the bathroom and to his room. Since they recently moved in, it was sparsely decorated, but unlike Taylor's room and her love of Capes, Aiden enjoyed music a lot more.
Still, his Profiler rang and he got two different messages. One was from Taylor through the chat feature of the Profiler while the other was from a different application.
Taylor was asking if she could access the hideout while the other was asking whether he had time for some raiding online. He answered Taylor that she could before answering his friend and hacing to refuse since he has to clean after his move.
Which wasn't a lie, or much of one. Still, he had to get some things prepared.
"Mom, where's Psycho's stuff?" He asked in Spanish while his mother sighed.
"Sebas' stuff is in your stuff. Have you even started unpacking?" She asked but Aiden was already moving in the direction of his room with a wave. He could hear his mother sigh before returning to the stove.
Quickly, he found his uncle's gun maintenance kit and stowed it away in a bag, loading it up with some clothes and other odds and ends before slinging it over his shoulder. When he first got there, he got the light back on fairly easily, probably isn't connected to the city's power grid.
He grabbed some more things to help with cleaning before he waved to his parents and stepped out, snow crunching under his foot with each step while he shifted with his bag. It was fairly early, so not many people were out, once he stepped out at the stop, he made sure no one was watching before he slipped into an alley, using the Profiler to open the lock on the door before slipping in and no one being the wiser.
Making his way through the passage, he finally came to the main area and took a deep breath. This is going to take a while. The first thing he did was inspect the damage done to the server room, which wasn't as much as one would think, a few connections and replacements that he had on hand made it easy.
After a quick inspection everything seemed fine and he ran a systems check, coming mostly green if not with corrupted memory and missing servers.
Turns out Marquis still has more safehouses and hideouts in the area and he only has a vague idea at the moment, which sucked, but not much he could do about it.
Stepping out of the server room, he moved to his personal favorite room. The Armory.
Stepping inside, he was still in shock at the amount of weapons inside, from grenades to assault rifles and military grade weapons. Clearly, the first thing he had to do…
Was clean the other sections, because as much as he wanted to, the weapons were best left for last where both of them could work together on making an inventory.
So, grabbing what he brought with him, he began to clean the area.
"Aiden?" Taylor's voice rang out in the middle of his cleaning. "You here?"
"Yeah." Aiden said, finishing wiping down the tables of the bar while Taylor stepped in with an actual mop and broom. "Where'd you get that?"
Taylor shrugged. "Told Dad I was going to go help you and the others clean up." She said before looking around. "Is there any water around here?"
"Well…" Aiden began before going to the sink near the bar while he turned it on.
It sputtered for a second but came to life, the water coming out dirty at first before it became clean while the dirty water sunk away. "Yeah, I think it'll be fine.
With that, the two returned to work in silence with Aiden's music playing in the background. By the end of it, things were looking fine and Aiden even managed to repair the monitors so it showed the map of Brockton Bay and organized what files were operational.
Quickly, Taylor and Aiden got to work obscuring the location and setting up a firewall with various security measures. Will it be Tinker-proof? Aiden isn't looking to find out any time soon.
Suddenly, there was a bar that filled up when Taylor was working on it, and before they could stop it, it filled up and the map changed to show a generated map of the 'territories' of various gangs along with altercations and similar, but they quickly returned to their work.
Finally, the two sat at one of the booths, Taylor sighing. "Finally, I think we're done."
"Are we?" Aiden asked and Taylor slumped.
"Yes, yes we are, 'cause I'm not touching those guns. Who knows how many murders' they've been used in." Taylor pointed out, exasperated.
Aiden turned to her and began, "C'mon Taylor, I like guns, but most of them are probably rusted, right?"
"You're lying and you know it." Taylor accused, sitting up. "We had the same training by the same people, those guns would need a bit of cleaning and they'd be fine."
"Then would you rather we sold it?" Aiden pointed out before bringing his hands up. "Look, we can maintain them, then we can start making rubber bullets or something. If nothing else, it'll be good to know what's there and if it works or not in case this place is found out."
Taylor paused for a second, panic on her face. "You don't think…"
"Neither would say anything." Aiden assured her before slumping back. "But someone is gonna fuck up, and I'd rather be ready if something does happen."
Taylor was quiet for a long second before releasing a long breath. "Fine." She said while Aiden clapped but stopped once Taylor added, "But, neither of us will touch them, alright?"
"Not like we're going to go around being Capes." Aiden pointed out. "Why are we going to need them? I just feel like they'll look better if they're clean."
Aiden knew the look in Taylor's eyes, it was one of resigned acceptance while the two stepped out of the lounge and into the Armory.
Even Taylor seemed impressed when she grabbed a shotgun off the wall. "These have got to be military-grade."
Aiden grabbed a pistol and ejected the magazine with a tug as he inspected it, pulling the slide to reveal no bullet in the chamber. "Wonder where the bullets are."
"Probably used them all." Taylor grumbled before she noticed something. Crouching down, she slid open a section and coughed. "Nope, found 'em. Under the weapon wall."
Aiden opened his section and brought up a hand to cover his mouth while he inspected it. "Sweet."
There was a table in the middle and the two sat down in silence, jazz playing in the background as they returned to the lessons they were taught all those years ago. The Internet too, can't forget about that.
Slowly, they toiled through the weapons in silence, with the occasional conversation that had nothing to do beyond catching up in the time they've lost. To their surprise, the weapons were, in fact, perfectly fine without many problems and the ammunition as well.
They even found tasers, like the ranged ones that use a laser to direct the surge of electricity. Or that's what he thought it was. Still, Taylor told him to leave it before they moved to the main room to get to the main matter.
They also found a laser pointer, red string, and a part where there were holes that made it look like an idea board of sorts. They used it immediately and began using the printer immediately to print images of Sophia Hess, Madison Clements, and Emma Barnes along with Winslow.
Taylor stopped once the images were pinned, "Do you think this is too much?"
Aiden sent her a flat look before answering, "We have our own lair, I think 'too much' was reached when we found this place."
"When you found this place." Taylor corrected him while he nodded. "So, what do we know?"
"We… figure this shit out before it's too late." He muttered, trailing off with a sigh. "Wanna try making an AI?" He asked while Taylor sent him a raised brow and he sighed. "Worth a try, not like we'd know where to even start."
"Yeah…" Taylor trailed off before glancing at him. "But we can work out together, it's been a while since I even tried, it'd probably be easier to do it with someone else."
Aiden nodded, smiling. "I don't see a problem with it, first though," he said, knocking on their board, "investigation."
"Right." Taylor nodded while the two stepped back and stared at it. The two fell into silence while humming and hawing, neither saying anything until Taylor broke the silence. "So, where do we start?"
"Well, we've got a victim," Aiden said, pointing at Taylor, "we have the perpetrators," he pointed at the image of Sophia, Emma, and Madison, "and we have the location. All we need now is a motive."
"From who?" Taylor asked, dragging a pair of chairs to her and sitting on one, her shoulders practically hiding her head. "None of them have one, it's unreasonable, and Emma…"
Aiden paused and frowned, after all Taylor had two best friends of varying importance, while Aiden and Taylor were close to the point that Aiden considered Taylor family, Taylor and Emma were closer. Everything Aiden knew, Emma probably knew twice as much, so for there to be a heel-face turn like she did was… unprecedented.
"To make your life a living hell, but… why?" Aiden asked, leaning against the table. "You told her about the summer camp and it's not like you didn't call her weekly, the only time you couldn't was during the end when our activities were ramped up. So something had to have happened in that time-frame."
Even to this day, the bruises gathered in those last weeks still manifested as phantom pains in their bodies every time they thought about it. While they learned a lot after Annette's death with their 'training' with the various Dockworkers, that month and a half of 'summer camp' solidified their knowledge that even if they were out of practice, they could still pull off what they did.
Admittedly, the two haven't seen their 'mentors' in a while, so they'd be disappointed in how far they've fallen, but a little bit of working out should fix that. Hopefully.
Taylor answered a second later, nodding, "Yeah, it… I just don't get it. When I told the teachers, they didn't even do anything."
"Not even the teachers!?" Aiden yelled, bringing a hand to his head before looking back at the board. "Fuck me."
Taylor nodded wordlessly while Aiden fell into silence with her, Aiden glancing at her and Taylor doing the same. The same idea crawling through their heads, "You wouldn't think…"
"Can't be… right?" Taylor asked, tapping her foot while Aiden shook his head.
Slowly, he grabbed a paper and a marker, writing one word on it. The word 'Ward'.
Pinning it to the wall, he grabbed some red string and tied it to Sophia and Taylor was visibly angry. "No! That-They-" She tried justifying it, but they've both read their fair share of declassified documents, they were both taught by the same people, they know how far the ones up top will go for power, and the ENE branch of the PRT is in desperate need of some.
For Aiden, this never bothered him, Capes were always too big for him, too dangerous, and, most importantly, too stupid for the most part. Even the older ones have a strange habit of being a bit too… immature.
For Taylor? Who was the Cape fanatic between the two, it was like watching her reality crumble before her eyes. Gently, he stepped by her and placed a hand on her shoulder, gently pulling him to her side while she stared at the floor.
"I ain't gonna say I like the PRT or even the US government, but even they'd smell something is off here." Aiden reassured her while stepping to the side, "No, it can't be the Director or anyone higher-up, it has to be someone in the middle, if not lower in the chain of command, someone who's in charge of Sophia Hess directly."
"But…" Taylor said, her eyes wide, "what about the teachers? And who could it be?"
"Wouldn't that be the hunnid-dollar question." He asked, tapping his Profiler against his chin. "Already, Spohia Hess is a well-known athlete, so they'd want to keep any problems away from the people, but the only way everyone would be quiet is through one of two ways, the Principal. Personally, I don't know about you, but I saw a fairly expensive car in her parking space."
The two were silent for a long second and Taylor grit her teeth. Still, the remnants of the training kicked in, calming herself down as she usually did when any of her bullies tried to push her. "Well, what can we do?"
"That's where we come to tour choices, tell me ABB or E88?" He asked and Taylor paused, turning to him.
"Excuse me?" She asked and Taylor shifted.
"Which do you like better, we can throw in the Merchants if you'd want." Aiden added, to Taylor's confusion while he sighed, "Taylor, a black girl was pushing you around like a food cart and beating you harder than our 'counselors' usually did us, and Doc had to patch us up multiple times. If we expose her, the E88 is going to get an influx of members, whether she is a Ward or not. In return, the ABB is gonna get more members, fights will break out, and people will die."
"Oh…" Taylor muttered, frowning as her hands twitched. She could fight, she wouldn't against her bullies, and maybe if she had powers she could fight against the villains of Brockton Bay, but… "Well, what do you suggest we do?"
"Ignore this," he said, pointing to their board, "and just burn down the school. It shouldn't be too hard, the Principal isn't exactly supposed to have a nice car. Or, at least as nice as she does."
"Figuratively, right?" Taylor asked and Aiden shrugged, to Taylor's mounting worry.
"Taylor, you're my best friend. That said, you're someone I'd like to see alive so I can help your father give the shovel talk to whoever you decide to get with." He said, to her embarrassment and his amusement, "I will stop you from doing dumb shit, join you in that dumb shit, or destroy anything that fucked with you. Right now? Whatever we do, it's on you. Just remember what I said."
The two were in silence for another stretch before Taylor sighed. "Let's get that school shut down."
"Awesome, now comes the next part. Getting evidence." He sighed, leaning back against the table while they look at the board. "Should be easy, especially with the Profiler, but I… don't think we'll be able to do it alone."
"… What?" Taylor asked while Aiden looked at her. "Who can we ask?"
They heard it a second later, something opening before Aiden reached out and threw a plastic domino mask at her. "Here, put this on." She did so, slipping it over her head and eyes to hide it in confusion but then a muffled voice rang out.
"Hello?" The voice spoke, older but not that much older than them.
"Over here!" Aiden called, pulling up his mask and slipping a hat over his head while the two waited, with Taylor being extremely anxious. Enough that she tried to slide away and behind Aiden, but before she could do so completely, the door opened.
A doll peered in, with large black eyes and an unmoving face, one that Taylor recognized, "Parian?"
"Oh." The woman said awkwardly. "Are you Slim Jane?"
That nickname caused her to nearly kick Aiden in the back of the knee, it was the nickname she got when one of their 'counselors' caught her eating a Slim Jim and with her being slim, the nickname stuck. "Just… Slim is fine."
The Cape nodded, stepping out of the door to reveal her dress, "Rico told me about you."
Now, Taylor had to stop a giggle, since there was a stretch of time before camp where they were training with one of the soldiers and Aiden got his jaw dislocated which made his words sound unintelligible. They were also watching some Earth Aleph movie about Penguins, so the name stuck.
"Introductions." Aiden noted out loud, clapping his hands. "So, Slim, you've heard of Parian, right? Cloth-based Independent Cape, does some shows on the Boardwalk for other stores, but, generally happy to stay out of conflict. Parian, this is Slim, name still pending, she's the second person involved in this little… hangout."
"It's a pleasure to meet you." Parian said with a slight curtsy while Taylor nodded. "Especially since this time it wasn't through hacking."
"Rico!" Taylor scolded him, swatting at his side.
"What? It was an accident, the security is shit and I was bored, so I happened to find someone who was flagged as a Cape in their system. I scrubbed it clean, so she should be fine." He added before scratching the back of his head. "I already shared my name, not yours." He added, "So, no problem."
Behind him, Parian nodded. "He has been helpful, especially with finding this place, so it's water under the bridge."
Slowly, Taylor nodded, "Do I-?"
"No." Parian quickly interjected. "You shouldn't, after all you two aren't Capes. I don't stick my nose into your business and same thing for you."
Taylor nodded slowly in acceptance before she reached behind and brought out some boxes. "Also, Rico, I finished up those orders orders you made. If you want, I could start adjusting them to her size."
"Wait, what?" Taylor asked, turning to Aiden as he grinned.
"It was supposed to be a gift." Aiden admitted before pausing and adding, "Not this whole thing, obviously. I just thought it'd be cool to have it and map it out, but the clothes were supposed to be a gift."
"Rico…" Taylor trailed off, looking at the boxes with some trepidation, "I don't know what to say-."
"They were expensive." Aiden admitted, interrupting her with his eyes looking far off. "Just accept them and put them on." He said while Taylor shook her head, a wry grin on her face. "Besides, two of them are for me." He added, grabbing two of the boxes and making his way out. "Remember where the lockers are?"
"Yeah." Taylor said while she watched Aiden go.
Beside Parian, strips of measuring tape began to float while she muttered, "He's a good friend, it seems."
Taylor nodded, "A bit overbearing, at times, but yeah. I wouldn't trade him for the world."
Soon, Taylor and Parian finished adjusting the clothes and went to the lockers to change into them. She stepped out a few minutes later with Aiden seated in front of the laptop. He looked up and paused, the mask around his face hiding his expression while his eyes roamed over her. "You look good."
Taylor couldn't help the blush that peeked out of the edge of her mask while Parian appreciated her work on Taylor and Aiden.
Taylor's was a charcoal trenchcoat over a gray hoodie and black gloves that didn't strain too much. She wore jeans that she believed shouldn't be as tight as they were and shoes. Helped her blend in quite a bit, in her opinion, but still slightly suspicious.
Meanwhile, Aiden's was far subtler, his was a dark brown waxed cotton jacket with black gloves like hers that was slightly longer than usual, reaching mid-thigh while he was standing and a red shirt that went lower than that, peeking out. He also wore dark jeans and his usual sneakers.
The other set they had was similar to what the other was wearing, so Aiden had his own trenchcoat and Taylor had her own jacket. "Yes, this works well." Parian said, looking at them. "You both look very dashing."
"Thanks." Aiden said with a smile while Taylor had trouble looking her in the eye out of embarrassment.
"Then, if you ever need them repaired me or Mr. Wayne can fix them up. Though if you want them modified, Wayne is the one with experience." She said with a curtsy before stepping back.
They watched her go, waiting for her to leave before they removed their masks. "So, when should we do it?"
"Tonight." Aiden suggested, "I'll stick around here and you find their server. We download all the data we can and leave. So?"
With a sigh, Taylor nodded. "Sure, let's get this over with."
A/N: So, hello everyone, and welcome to a… summary of my first ever Worm fic. I'll be posting this on Hanged Man and, at some point, post the first chapter of the actual story. As you can see, there are a few differences between Canon, and that is that Taylor is not alone, Taylor is also trained, if out of practice, and one last thing that I will rectify on the first chapter. Basically a mix between the various Watch Dogs, but mostly the first one and Legion.
There will be Escalation, it will be fun(hopefully), and I hope you enjoy it.
Keep in mind, when I post the story, there will be a lot of things that were shown here that won't be shown immediately in the story along with a few details I'm fixing up. Regardless, I hope you will enjoy this when it does come out.
That said, the chapters will be shorter than what I usually do, most of the time, and whatever is shown here is subject to change, most likely.
