Note: Taylor had a big iron on her hip. We're approaching 100k words soon; I'm excited to say the least. PHO part may be a little broken. It's better on SB
-The Light of Brockton Bay-
- Taylor's POV
It's probably going to be a bit until I can start interacting with Angela. They don't yet have the level of intelligence required for proper thinking and learning, let alone emotion. I'm pretty sure them asking for a name was just a starter script my secondary brain made. I ended up leaving the room and going back to the main area
Currently I'm just sitting down and waiting on my secondary brain to get far enough into the process. Hopefully it doesn't take too long. I don't have much to do in here, but I wonder if I could make something. My secondary brain seems to have most of the processing power; I'm sure their attention could be split.
'Do you think you could link me with the internet?' As soon as the thought finishes, a little pointer arrow appears above a nearby office computer. I make my way to the computer desk and sit down. On it is the Google search page. 'Neat.'
I guess checking in on PHO wouldn't hurt. I wonder how much has gotten out since I've been asleep.
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Topic: Attack on the PRT? (Locked)
In: Boards Places Brockton Bay News
CapeWatcher97 (Original Poster)
Posted On Jan 12th 2011:
I'm currently walking home from work right now. I was just about to pass the PRT headquarters when I saw Velocity, Dauntless, Assault, and Battery all lining up to enter the PRT at once. The entire building is barricaded, but from the way they're positioned, they're barricading against something IN the building.
Does anyone know WTF is happening?
(Showing page 1 of 4)
Willowy Wanderer
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Holy shit, it's true - LINK
They just went in right now. What's happening in there that warrants this kind of response?
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Lmao, one thing happens in the PRT building, and the entire protectorate shows up. Meanwhile, the E88 can hold rallies, and maybe one or two show up.
JustJoking
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
They're making everyone stay away from the area. I really do wonder what's happening.
XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
The new cape obviously turned villain because of her mind-altering powers! She tricked the PRT under the guise of joining so that she could strike from within!
Catalyst_0
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Void, can you stop making wild theories on the new cape?
XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
I was right last time!
Antigone
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
My vote is on a tinkertech plague that was accidentally released by Armsmaster while he was studying it.
ArchmageEin
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Did they apprehend anyone recently? Maybe a villain escaped some of their deeper containment cells?
EchoBreak
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
I think the Wards got into a brawl, and the PRT needs the heroes to break it up.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4
(Showing page 2 of 4)
Alias
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Guys, they just carried Shadow Stalker out on a stretcher. - LINK
She's full of cuts and burns. Now I don't want to assume anything, but those injuries are consistent with Da'at's fire-themed power set.
Lo_Commotion
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Fuck, don't let this be true. I was really starting to like that new cape.
Obsidian Dream
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
That's not even the worst thing. If it's true, that would mean Void is right about something twice now.
Robby
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Bagrat, do you have any information about what's happening?
Morgan Sinister
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Am I the only one who saw this coming after the Merchants incident? I feel like I'm going crazy here.
Veneer
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
I mean, they didn't actually kill anyone during the Merchants breakout. But I do have to agree there were some warning signs.
Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
I can't get into the PRT's servers right now. They're on full lockdown right now. My sources aren't being told anything either, just that they need to evacuate. Whatever is happening, they don't want a word of it getting out.
However, one of my sources did confirm that Da'at had a Wards tour and power-testing booked for today. They also confirmed that there was no obvious incident in their section of the building, so whatever triggered this happened deeper within the building.
RainedOnParade
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Doesn't this practically confirm that Da'at is the one attacking the PRT?
Ryus
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Are we sure there isn't anything we could miss here? WE know nothing other than Da'at being in the PRT and that Shadow stalker was burned and cut with a sharp object. It's a little big of a jump to go straight to "Da'at is attacking the PRT."
3rdDegree (Verified Cape) (Verified Villain)
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Even if they are, I'll support them. Fire capes for the win.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4
(Showing page 3 of 4)
Willowy Wanderer
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Of course you will; you're literally a villain.
DigaWell
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
I mean, the evidence is a little damning.
Chaosfaith
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
What if Da'at had attacked in self-defence? Shadow Stalker isn't known as one of the friendliest capes.
Morgan Sinister
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Why else would she attack the PRT? If this was self-defence, why do they need most of the Protectorate to respond?
XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Tch tch tch. No one ever listens to me.
Laser Augment
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Void, all you do is make-up stuff that's so wild that I couldn't even try and copy you.
CapeWatcher97 (Original Poster)
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Guys, I just felt the ground shake. I'm starting to think I should get out of here.
JustJoking
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
You should watch what happens. No balls.
CapeWatcher97 (Original Poster)
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
I really would not like being near the PRT when whatever is inside breaks out.
Willowy Wanderer
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Just caught Panacea at the scene looking incredibly nervous. She's asking about what happened to Da'at - LINK
I didn't get a picture of it, but I saw Glory Girl heading in half a minute after the heroes.
I guess it's confirmed that Da'at is behind this?
End of Page. 1, 2, 3
(Showing page 4 of 4)
Veneer
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Well, that sucks. At least most of the PRT is here GG. I don't think she can handle their combined power.
JustJoking
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
I mean, it's been a couple of minutes now—at least 15 since they've gone in. Are we sure they're alright?
Chilldrizzle
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
I don't know. Da'at showed that she was dangerous during the Merchant breakout. Maybe she can hold off against the PRT?
Antigone
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
But why would she do this? People don't just attack others for no reason. She was playing the part of a hero before. I'm saying that something caused her to switch sides.
Space Zombie
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
For the love of Scion, do not let this be the start of Brocktons next big villain.
Willowy Wanderer
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
The PRT heroes are out! - LINK
They're battered, to say the least. All of them are being healed by Panacea right now.
Velocity's arm looks broken, Glory Girl came out unconscious, and the rest of them have some injuries. Dauntless looks relatively unharmed, though.
No sign of Da'at.
Tin_Mother (Moderator)
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
This thread has been locked under the request of the PRT until further notice.
I sit and stare at the screen in front of me. They just locked the thread? I'm sure they'll claim it's to "protect the identities of those involved," bastards. There doesn't seem to be any other threads about the incident. I guess that means they have an information block. Which is funny considering that the villains are probably the only ones who know the insider details. The only real people this helps is themselves.
They "investigate" and punish Hess, and by the time the information is completely out, they can claim that they've already punished the guilty party. I'm going to ignore this; I don't want to stew on this for any longer. I go visit a couple more threads; nothing too important, just a bunch of cape drama.
I mill about for what seems to be a few hours, going to various pieces of social media. Eventually I decide to check up on Angela's progress. I go back into the room where she's located and see that she's changed a little.
She seems to be around six to five years old. Her longlight blue hair fades near her scalp, making it a gradient as it goes down. She's wearing a white button-up shirt with a pair of black dress pants. Angela looks up at me with her large yellow eyes and a perfectly neutral expression. "[Greeting]."
She looks adorable. So professional-looking even when she's under four feet tall. Her voice is very flat, though. "Hey, how are you doing?"
Angela's expression doesn't change a bit. I wonder how long she'll be stone-faced. "[Status: Operational]."
Wow! She even responded to me this time! Let's give her a little quiz. "Do you know who I am?"
Angela gives a singular, tiny nod. "[Creator] [Designation: Taylor Hebert]."
My secondary brain must have given her my name already. "Do you know your own name?"
"[Designation: Angela]."
I want to give her a hug, but I'm afraid I'll squish her, even if that's not possible. "Where are we right now?"
Angela goes silent for a minute before replying. "[Location: Brockton Bay]."
So very smart, although I do wonder. "How do you get information?"
Surprisingly, Angela goes to speak but closes her mouth. Whatever answer she was about to give wasn't good enough. It takes her several minutes to come up with an answer. "[Data] [Location: Internet] [Parsed: [parser: [Taylor Hebert: Cyber Corp singularity] [Restricted: [censor: [Taylor Hebert: Cyber Corp singularity]."
Ah, that is a lot of concepts for her to put together at this point. "Let's see if I get what you're saying. You get your information from the internet indirectly, as it is parsed and restricted by my secondary brain."
"[Agreement]." Angela says before unexpectedly adding on. "[Communication: Taylor Hebert] [Parsed: [parser: [Taylor Hebert: Cyber Corp singularity]."
That causes me to blink. Parsing means to turn information into a different format. If the subject is our current conversation, then parse would mean my secondary brain is helping her communicate with me. "My secondary brain is parsing what I'm asking you into an understandable format for you?"
"[Agreement] [Language Model: Incomplete]."
I give her a warm smile. "Well, I hope I can talk to you directly soon."
I swear I could see a small smile, but when I look closely, I can't find it. "[Agreement]."
I give her a wave. "I'm going to be going now. Because your data is stored on this identity, you're going to be inactive while it's unequipped. I'll try to find something for you to be on sometime soon."
"[Dismissal]." With that, I walk out of the room. That shouldn't have taken long. If my first time was accurate, then this should have only been 20 seconds max. A piece of paper flies towards me. "Turned down time dilation to reduce the chance of insanity from boredom."
Wait, my secondary brain can do that. 'What time is it?'
A nearby computer screen turned on and showed about an hour and a half had passed. I hadn't planned on staying in Cyber Corp's singularity this long. In a bit of a panic, I quickly turn off Cyber Corp's singularity, and most emotion leaves me. I stamp down the little bit of disgust I feel for Angela. 'I've dealt with worse impulses.'
I unequip my beholder identity and put on Seven Association. I stretch my limbs from the phantom feeling of being a living box. It's almost noon now, and it sounds like everyone is now awake and moving around. I give the door a knock and wait for someone to respond.
A minute later, Lisa is the one to answer again. "You done with whatever you were doing?"
I wasn't finished exactly; Angela still needed something to inhabit outside of my beholder identity. "For now. Can I go out right now?"
Lisa just shrugs. "You're the guest. You can leave whenever you want." She turns around. "Guys! Get your masks on."
Lisa gives them a moment to prepare before getting out of the way. I make my way towards the living room. Bitch is missing, with both Regent and Grue sitting on one of the couches. Regent is playing on the gaming console hooked up to the TV; it looks like some Earth Aleph shooter game. "Hey, you wanna join?"
I wasn't expecting him to be so forward. Why would he want to play with me? This isn't even my self-esteem hitting me; he's offering to play split-screen. I don't even play video games, and I know that's taboo. "What kind of person asks to play split-screen?"
Regent doesn't miss a beat. "I'd endure it to play with a beauty like you."
"Bwuh?" Is... is he flirting with me? At 11 AM? I feel my cheeks get a little hotter. He probably would've gotten a bigger effect if it wasn't so unexpected.
Lisa puts her face into her palm. "Regent, stop being a hedonist."
I quickly recover my focus. "No. Maybe I'll play later."
Regent turns back to his game. Lisa faces me. "Our boss has a location for you to use your powers. Apparently, they've commanded their capes to be 'hands off' for the moment. If you do run into trouble, you're on your own to run away, but you can teleport, so you're probably going to be fine no matter what. I'll send you the location to your phone."
I take out my phone. I turned it off when I got here. I don't have my charger, so I didn't want it to die. I turn it on and find several messages, all from an unknown phone number. My heart aches when I look at my only contact, only to find no messages waiting.
I go check the messages from this unknown. "TAYLOR YOU OK?" "Its Victoria btw" "The PRT just left New Wave a 'warning' message that you had escaped." "Where are you?" "Cmon I know this number is yours I got it from Ames." "I'm not angry"
The final message reads. "Listen, I just want you to know that I am not angry with what happened. I've been in worse fights, honestly. Ames is a little mad at you for beating me up, but just give her a bit, and I'm sure she'll forgive you, she's nice like that. I might not know you too much, but you're like a good person who's been put in a bad situation out of your control.
The PRT has put a gag order on everyone to keep your's and Sophia's identities from getting out. New Wave knows what happened at the PRT. My mom's a lawyer who specializes in cape-law. If you ever need legal advice, you can probably ask her. Just give me a call or text or anything just so that Amy and I know you're ok."
I can feel the tears forming in my eyes. I'm trying really hard not to cry. Lisa senses something is wrong and puts her hand out, but ends up retracting it awkwardly. I take a few deep breaths in and out. "Sorry about that. Just got a message from a friend."
Lisa gives a slightly painful expression. "Was it not good?"
I shake my head and sniffle. "It's better than what I was expecting. Did you send that location yet?"
Lisa taps her phone. "Just sent it right now."
A smile forms on my face, and I go walk towards the exit. "Thanks. I'll see you in a few hours."
Grue quickly adds in from the couch. "Don't get caught; I don't want to risk the team's safety by breaking you out of a PRT cell or worse."
"Got it." I exit the room and walk down the spiral staircase. The location Lisa sent me is close by; it shouldn't be more than a 30-minute walk. On the way, I manage to send a small "I'm ok" to Victoria. It eats at me knowing that Amy is angry with me, but Victoria says that she'll forgive me, so I have hope.
The walk is boring. I'm sticking to only alleyways if I'm able to. There are noticeably fewer druggies mulling around. With the Merchant capes gone, they'll have to buy from sellers outside of Merchant territory. Also, without the protection that comes with the capes, the police are better able to take calls from here.
The area is an abandoned building, much like the Undersiders' lair. The walls are thick, meant to keep the sound of machinery inside. There are a few rusted machines that I can use as targets too. The perfect place for testing.
I equip Small Bird's identity. It looks the same as when I first equipped it. All white clothing, a bolero jacket with feathers, some pants with chaps that have feathers, a circular hat with feathers. My shirt has a red splotch in the middle, and attached to my side is a holster holding a white and red pistol. 'Wait a minute'
Am I a Wild West vigilante? I have a cowboy hat, chaps, and a pistol strapped to my hip. Hell, I can even feel Small Bird's influence in the back of my mind telling me to punish evildoers. I'm literally a cowboy vigilante. The only thing that doesn't fit is the type of gun, which looks more modern instead of being an old six-shooter.
I take the gun out and aim it. The sights aren't the best, but I can feel it slightly helping my aim to offset that. I fire a couple of shots into a nearby brick wall. It's a lot quieter than I was expecting. The shots land into the wall and hit with a little more force than would be expected of a gun this size. Not enough to blow someone's hand off, but it's heavier than normal.
During my testing, I found that I could do a "controlled breakdown" and temporarily get a boost to Scorched Girl's power. A way to breakdown like I did with the Merchants, but not lose myself. I had to put myself in the mindset of the identity I was trying to use. With Scorched Girl, I thought about the friends I had lost and embraced that feeling of hopelessness. I guess I was resonating with Scorched Girl. I guess I'll call it "resonance."
I try to resonate with Small Bird. I can definitely think of some evildoers that need to be punished. I think of all the people who have wronged others and how they deserve to be punished. Protecting others by keeping the terrors away, even if I have to use force. But no matter how much I try, I can't get myself worked up enough.
I'm missing something, at least for Small Bird. I have a sense of duty to protect the innocent and punish the wicked. There isn't anyone here that deserves that punishment, though. I'm missing a key feature, retaliation. I feel like it would be much easier to do this in retaliation because of harm done to myself or the innocent.
I sigh and unequip Small Bird. It's still a good ranged option. A gun is still a gun, and nowhere near as lethal as a cannon. There's only one other identity I have to test. I haven't made a name for it yet. All I have to go off of is the dream of a three-headed wolf stalking an alleyway.
I equip the wolf identity, and the feelings slam into my mind. My senses heighten, my eyes sharpen, my ears can hear farther, and I can smell multiple different people. The scent is far enough that they aren't nearby; most likely they're prey that doesn't know I'm here.
I look at my figure. I'm covered in black fur as hard as metal. I can feel the electricity jumping underneath my fur, waiting to be discharged. I look at my reflection in a piece of broken glass. My legs are now digitigrade like a true wolf's. My coat is fierce and jagged, like countless daggers were forged to make my pelt.
The fur comes up around the sides of my neck in thick bunches as extra protection. My human ears are gone and are replaced by a pair of much better ears sticking out the top of my head. My tail swishes behind me idly. It looks big and fluffy, but I know I could slam this into my victims as a weapon. Barbed wire wraps around me loosely, further increasing my conductivity
I summon my weapon to my hand. A pair of wodden claws form around my hands, and I can feel a savage grin on my face. Each individual claw had barbs of metal sticking out of it. Some might call it barbaric, but I would call it fierce.
Suddenly, I smell something in the air, something familiar. It's one of the Undersiders, and they're close. I can't tell which one it is; I haven't had a good whiff of them yet. They're getting closer, though. Are they... hunting for me? No, probably not. They let me in their pack; I don't want to jump to conclusions. It wouldn't hurt to stalk them to make sure, though.