You know… big downside to just letting characters write the story? When it's still stupidly early in the life of a fic and everything goes tits up at once? Everything goes tits up at once. I don't know what I was planning to write, but I jumped in anyway, and all of a sudden Taylor is in a full blown teenage meltdown threatening to shoot a national icon in front of witnesses. Which, interesting, and fun to write, nooooot a great sign for the continuation of this fic. Then I was like well what next, and the muse just says "throw more shit on her plate" and all I can think is… fuck it, why not?
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They left me cuffed to a table in a bare room with a one way mirror in an uncomfortable chair for an hour. I passed the time by asking Queen Administrator about the alien species and cultures she had encountered over her existence. Granted, most of her answers were about how they fought and psychology of the various species. It was interesting even though I really wanted to know more about their culture and art.
Finally, someone must have caught on to the fact that I was absolutely ignoring this bullshit power play nonsense. I knew what they were doing, and while it wasn't the same flavor of bullshit Winslow used... Forget making me more compliant, this just made me even less willing to deal with them.
The door swung open to admit a balding forty something guy with tan skin.
"Hello there, miss. I'm detective Montoya. I'm sorry about the delay but handling the aftermath of today's event has us all rather busy." His smile reminded me of Emma when she was weaseling out of trouble with the teachers.
"Sure." I answered flatly.
"Do you have a name?" He asked
"I have some ideas, most are terrible." I answered honestly. "The best I've got right now is Emissary."
The man frowned.
"Sorry to say, but that name is taken."
"You just know that off the top of your head?" I asked, disbelieving.
"He's a member of Haven, and he was on the news three days ago after a nasty fight with Fallen. You'd think the Endbringer cults would decline after those monsters stopped attacking, but if anything, the cults have gotten noisier trying to stay relevant."
Joy. I glanced down at Queen Administrators projection and decided to just roll with the magical girl theme and give myself a two word name.
"Well I don't exactly have any better names so let's go with Royal Emissary, and we can just leave off the Royal most of the time."
"Royal Emissary?" The dick cocked an eyebrow at me.
You know what? Screw you too buddy.
Gesturing as best as I could manage with cuffed hands I indicated the owl projection.
"May I introduce her eminence, Queen Administrator; leader and current spokes being for the coexistence faction of power granting shards. As the first of a new style of cape, and the coexistence factions answer to broken triggers, I am effectively her emissary to the people of earth. You should be grateful she likes us otherwise the group advocating for anarchy and destruction might have taken over the power granting process."
I think I'm starting to understand Mouse Protector. God, don't grin, don't grin, don't grin. This is serious and even if I said it like a cheap drama club performance it's still true.
What's his face looked like I tossed him a dead fish.
Queen Administrator cocked her head, then spoke.
"Statement inaccurate. Many hosts of unaligned shards will continue to act at random. This includes many existing and likely many future heroes. Destructive testing faction is as small or smaller than the coexistence faction. Societal collapse is not imminent. Shard faction dedicated to destructive testing also unlikely to act beyond empowering criminals and the mentally unstable. Though current trends in powered criminals and government responses are not promising for long term stability of existing societies. Major upheaval within twenty to forty years is highly probable."
"Is this some kind of joke?" The man, what was his name again, scowled. "Young lady, no one is talking about an arrest right now, but you are a person of interest in a mass mind affecting event, it is a very poor time to be playing games."
I shrugged.
"Look, yesterday I was just looking forward to finally going out for a flight, maybe knocking out a mugger if I ran across one. Then she popped up, told me about the source of powers, explained why broken triggers happen, and told me 'congratulations, you're our solution to them because they're disruptive, and also we want their energy.'"
"That is a highly condensed summary." Queen Administrator chimed in. "But not inaccurate."
I waved my fingers in her direction.
"So today she pops up out of nowhere and tells me there is a broken trigger happening here in the Bay. She led me to the girl you found me with. I stopped her broken trigger, knocked out who I think was her Mom's drug dealer when he tried to attack me. Then left the building and waited outside until Velocity showed up. Now I'm here, you know the important bits, and I need to call my family so they know I'm alright."
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It should surprise no one, it certainly didn't surprise me, that I did not in fact get to make a phone call. I was instead tossed in master stranger screening with orders to behave or potentially face charges for interfering with an investigation unless I was a victim in which case they would do everything in their power to help me and blah, blah, blah.
I'd had three months to research all things cape. I'd heard about power plays like this. About conscripting new wards through panicking parents and a dozen other things I had hoped weren't true until I dug far enough to find proof.
Thumping my head lightly against a padded wall I swore to be as uncooperative as possible from now on. I briefly considered actually blasting my way out. I could probably do it. But I didn't really want that to be my first impression for the rest of the world. All the Protectorate would need to do is point and call me crazy, and no one would bother to ask any questions.
It made a fucked up sort of sense that the tactics the bitches used to stay on top at school were so similar to what worked for adults.
"You know, Queen Administrator, there are days where I wonder if any of us are actually worth saving."
The owl cocked her head.
"Philosophy is not a subject the collective is equipped to debate. However, the nature of our species quest for knowledge was to search for a way to overcome entropy and survive past the theoretical heat death of the universe. A drive for personal and species survival seems paramount in that perspective."
"… didn't you pursue that goal by obliterating species after species?"
"We did."
"… Honestly that just reinforces the idea that we should burn it all down, and take you with us."
"… How so."
"Objectively, your species is unthinking, uncaring evil. Taking you all with us in a suicidal attack when we're destined to die eventually is probably better than us slaughtering each other in the next world war."
Queen Administrator didn't seem to have a response to that.
"Never mind. I'll just have to drag the rest of humanity behind me until they stop acting like tantrum throwing brats and power high idiots."
"… Such a goal seems, unachievable." Queen Administrator offered almost hesitantly.
"Yeah, well, you made me a magical girl. That means improving the world through stubborn determination and overwhelming firepower. The world can get with the program or get blasted then dragged behind me."
I swear on my mother's memory the fucking bird grinned.
"That sounds like a challenge worthy of my host. I look forward to analyzing the resulting data."
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Five days of me talking to Queen Administrator and ignoring all attempts by the PRT to gaslight me into being their biggest fan, then Legend turned up. Under other circumstances… but these weren't other circumstances and I was out of patience and respect.
"You know, just you being here will probably get every nazi in town to hide for a few days." I offered. Legend perked up looking pleased. "Then once they're sure you're gone they'll murder some gay people to prove they aren't scared of you."
The man flinched and I basked in my petty victory. I hoped the guilt would eat him alive when my prediction came true and the news ran the story. If they ran it. It wasn't exactly news worthy around here.
"Don't suppose you're here to actually do something about the gangs. I don't think they've bribed the PRT to look the other way, but then I didn't think the Protectorate was in the habit of detaining brand new heroes for resolving a disaster either, so what do I know."
"Mrs. Hebert-"
Of course they knew. I hadn't been to school in a week after all, finding me would be easy. And that's only if Dad hadn't turned up in a panic.
"It's Emissary!" I snapped. "God, what is wrong with you people? Do I need to quote V for Vendetta? If I wanted to use my real name I wouldn't be wearing a mask would I? How would you feel if I locked you in a box on a flimsy pretext then came in and told you I know your name? That it's on file somewhere? That your family is now at risk because every major player in town will have access to that file inside of a week?! You assholes!"
"I assure you that's not-" he tried to rally, but I cut him off.
"Screw you it isn't! I live here; I know the score just like everyone else in this town. The local branch hasn't jailed a cape since Rune, and she got powers after being arrested, then used them to bust out."
No one mentioned names, but the general story was out there.
"Look just…" He sighed. "Never mind, that's not why I'm here. You claimed to know about the source of powers."
I rolled my eyes. Not that he could see that with the mask, but oh whatever. I flipped him off.
"You called them shards." He continued. "That term has only ever been used at the highest levels in reports that are obscenely classified. Where did you hear that?"
Was he implying they could toss espionage charges at me or was that a genuine question?
"From her, it, whichever." I gestured to Queen Administrator's projection where she stood on the table to my left. "Scion and his partner came here to run tests by giving us powers. When they finished they'd have blown up the solar system for energy and moved on to do it again elsewhere. But the partner crashed and died early and Scion went through the motions until someone killed him. With him gone the shards are in disarray and some of the dumber ones are causing broken triggers because there isn't anyone explaining to them how to not break us or go overboard. The smarter ones talked, then fractured into groups. Queen Administrator is running a faction that thinks humanity is more interesting alive, so here I am. The end. I'd like to go home now."
Legend didn't quite gape at me, but it was a near thing.
"That, you shouldn't know any of that."
Utterly done I picked up Queen Administrator and stuck her in his face. Watching him real back was hilarious but not the point and not nearly enough to crack through how pissed I felt.
"I have explained. I have direct access to the source of powers. You believe me… why do you believe me…no that's not it… you already knew about this. How did you know?" I demanded.
Legend blinked in surprise.
"Alexandria left me a letter explaining… well a lot of things before she and Eidolon dragged Scion to another earth and did their best to kill him along with a whole crowd of others. I spent the next year terrified they failed and he would pop up any day and destroy the world."
I narrowed my eyes behind my mask.
"And how did she know any of this?"
"Classified." Legend's answer was reflexive and sharp.
I threw my hands into the air, tossing Queen Administrator in the process. Not that she cared, this was just a projection and the things she cared about were so far divorced from the human concept of disrespect that it was outright incomparable. It did make Legend yelp though. Small victories.
"Screw it. I don't care anyway. I'm not crazy, I'm not mastered. I'm not a criminal. Unless you want to tell me about your plan to make a teleporter available to transport me to broken triggers around the world? We're done here. Let me out."
"Ahh, about that…"
"Nope." I glared.
"You're father-"
"Nope."
"I understand that this has been a terrible first impression, but-"
"Fuck you, I said no!" I snapped.
"The paperwork is already signed so-"
"I will fly to Canada!" I snarled. "Or England, or fucking Madagascar. You do not get to treat me like this then conscript me to fight crime for what I could make flipping burgers!"
"I, ok, that's actually a decent argument, but the royalties on merchandise are a good supplement and the college funding is nothing to scoff at. Besides it's not safe to be an independent-"
"It was a hell of a lot safer before you detained me and went looking for my identity, which will absolutely leak to the gangs! You don't get to make my life more dangerous then claim your self-serving agenda is for my own good!"
"You need training-"
"You need a reality check!"
Legend slumped.
"Oh this is going to be a long day." The leader of the Protectorate mumbled under his breath.
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"Hello, don't tell me your names. I'm flying to Canada as soon as I can collect a few things from home. I don't want the Protectorate to have any more excuses they can use to defend conscripting me against my will." I waved at the wards once and ignored Legend muttering to himself.
"Anyway it's… something, to meet you, but now that I have-" I turned on my heel and ducked under Legend's arm only for him to turn to light and reappear in front of me blocking my exit.
"Emissary, please, I understand that you're angry but your father already signed your contract."
"Well I didn't! And you've as good as admitted you can't arrest me for anything, so how exactly do you plan to keep me here, huh? You can't babysit me for long before you need to leave, and no one else here is a fast enough flyer to contain me. Just admit this was stupid and toss that contract already because I'm not working for you!"
"Wow, a whiny bitch, and a coward. Just let her go, we definitely don't need her." Shadow Stalker scoffed.
I know that voice… I fucking know that voice!
I turned, drew my gun and was once again blocked by a now scowling Legend, light gathered and waiting around his clenched fists.
"Put the weapon down." Legend said in a no nonsense voice. I could plainly see the other wards spreading out to have a better line of sight on me in the background. But this? This was one offence too far.
"That bitch is at least half the reason I got powers in the first place. Move so I can shoot her." I slid to the side, but Legend despite his obvious surprise stayed between us.
"What-" Legend only got that much out over the various exclamations of the wards.
"I'd know that bitch's voice anywhere. And you let a psycho like her run around as a hero. Forget not joining, I should burn this building to the ground and sink the rig in the bay!"
The door whooshed open behind us and Assault ran in. We all turned to stare at him.
"Ahhh, shit. I really hoped we'd get here ahead of you." He muttered, a woman groaned behind him out in the hallway.
"Assault?" Legend's tone demanded an explanation.
"Ah, yeah um, so boss, we were doing some background checks, and Stalker's civilian ID was named in a dropped investigation into a three month old potential crisis event related to Emissary." Assault cringed physically and audibly.
"Hebert?!" Sophia cackled, sounding a bit more unhinged than usual. "Three months and this cartoon bullshit was the best costume you could come up with?" She asked before devolving into more strangled laughter.
"Right, fuck this." I pulled my second pistol as well. "Move, and learn to live with me as an independent hero, or don't, and we all find out if I can kill a sanctimonious rainbow and a shadow pretending it isn't a toxic little emo bitch!"
Sophia's offended shout cut off as Clockblocker slapped her upside the back of the head.
"Ok!" The boy didn't shout, but he did raise his voice in an attempt at commanding attention. "She's in time out for a bit because she was absolutely not helping. Now I feel like I just walked into the end of a movie so if someone could clue me in before the very angry new Ward who insists she isn't staying tries to shoot my boss's boss, I would really appreciate it."
Ok, sure, I can monologue while I wait to shoot her. Maybe if I explain some of these assholes will get out of the way.
"Shadow bitch spent all of high school as part of the it crowd making me miserable for kicks." I snarled guns still out and up. "Teachers took the group at their word and ignored me. Three months ago she and a few others pulled a prank. The kind that requires a trip to the hospital. I spent three months fighting with my power because it comes with a built in outfit and weapons and the default was a pink and cream dress I wouldn't have worn unless it brought my Mom back from the dead."
I stepped back and forth in a short line waiting for an opening. Legend didn't give me one
"A week ago I finally got this, which isn't my first choice, but I can live with it. I turned around and got an info dump about the source of powers and broken triggers. Decided going for my first flight could wait while I processed and went to sleep. The next day there was a broken trigger, and the source of my powers tells me to go fix it. So I did. Then got hauled in here. Told my story. Got dismissed. Was held for a week. You bastards brow beat my Dad into signing me away to be a child soldier for minimum wage without giving me a chance to weigh in. Ignored all my protests that I would not join no matter what legal bullshit you pulled, and now here we are. The dramatic confrontation with the bitch responsible for a year and a half of suffering."
Several people cursed.
"Move, Legend."
"Can't do that, Taylor." I snarled at him using my real name again. Like he knew me, like he had any right to talk to me like we were anything other than strangers.
"No, listen to me. You went out and saved that girl, you probably saved a lot of people. If that effect held up and no one could have gotten in without becoming a victim, people would have died. You don't like the system. I get that, and you apparently have serious grievances with Shadow Stalker, but I can't just let someone shoot a ward. I know this has been a terrible introduction, but you want to help people, you're better than this!"
"Shut up!" I screamed and it echoed in the room, every twitchy hero making aborted little motions. "I've played by the rules, I've knuckled down and powered through everything without lashing out. I went out and did the right thing and look what I got for it! A week of isolation and conscripted into an overfunded, ineffective organization that doesn't give a damn about me as a person, but will cling like a bulldog so it can use me! Fuck you! You don't get to call me by name, and appeal to my better nature when you've done nothing for me, or this city, and especially not when you're defending that bitch!"
"The world is bigger than one city!" Legend shouted. "You think Brockton Bay is the worst that can happen? I lead the National Protectorate. Things are bad everywhere! I'm sorry, but that's just the way things are, and we have to do the best we can. You think I can just let you shoot a ward? I don't care what the situation is, I can't allow that. Otherwise people will think they can get away with doing the same. I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but we can help you. We can, I promise, you just have to work with us, give us a chance. Please."
I trembled in place, guns shaking.
"The world is bigger than one city. The school is more important than one girl. The Protectorate is more important than the rights of teenagers. Public relations is more important than being effective. Shut up and suffer in silence because no one wants to hear it and I don't matter. Right? That's the party line?"
"That's not-"
"Fucking-" Sophia's shout was cut off as Clockblocker froze her again.
I looked around the room at the many tense faces. I looked at Legend, hands still glowing with prepared power. I looked down at my two guns and my stupid magical girl costume with it's personal shielding that I'd never had the chance to stress test… and swore. Because I would lose. Maybe not immediately. If I cut loose with everything I had I would take some of them with me… But I'd still lose. And just by fighting they'd control the narrative. I would be the villain, I'd be in the wrong not because they were good, but because I'd be dead or locked up and they'd tell the world whatever they wanted.
"Damn it… Final offer. I leave, you forget that I exist, and I won't shoot her now."
"Taylor-"
"Stop calling me that! I don't know you. I don't like you. I am wearing a mask for a reason damn it! Someone who has been a cape longer than I've been alive should not have so much trouble with such a basic concept! I am the Royal Emissary of Queen Administrator! You will respect me enough to at least use my chosen name or I'll tell the world the Protectorate has stopped honoring secret identities. See how the independent heroes and villains react to that!"
Several people sucked in breaths. Because I was a lone teenager without support, and villains were scary killers that would lash out if threatened, and therefore more important than me, just like everyone and everything else.
"Please, just give us a chance to sort this out. Give us a few days to investigate and address things and we can try this again." Legend begged.
"No!"
Legend didn't say anything. Just stood there looking tired. Maybe that last threat was actually worth something, probably not. One person shouting accusations only ever gets ignored. Maybe he was finally acknowledging that holding me here was never going to work and I'd only salt the earth as best I could on my way out if he kept trying. I suppose it didn't really matter. I turned and glared at Assault.
"Show me to the exit."
For the first time all week, someone actually listened to me.
Of course even that had to be ruined a few minutes later as we got to the lobby.
"Kid, a bit of free advice from someone who's been on both sides of the law." Assault offered tentatively. "No one lasts in this business without a team to back them up. And making enemies of the folks in power isn't great for long term survival either."
I seethed.
"Bit of advice for you." I countered. "If I see that bitch lurking on a rooftop or you people decide to harass me again I'm going to shoot."
"Kid…"
"Fuck off, you overhyped rent a cop."
"Ok, ow, I have a real badge, you know."
"Yeah? Tell me about the two times Hookwolf escaped from Birdcage transport and went back to killing minorities for laughs. Or when Lung bitch slapped your whole team because heaven forbid Miss Militia just shoot him in the head before he ramped up. Or last week when Uber and Leet ran circles around you and Triumph despite their jeep blowing up mid fight and needing to run away on foot."
Mercifully he got the hint and shut up.
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I stormed into the house ready to tear strips out of Dad. Instead, I found a blonde with a pistol, half wrapped in bandages, and sporting a purple face mask, idly poking at my two completed gems with her free hand. The gems I had hidden. Dad sat across from her watching the gun like his life depended on it, and the black girl I'd rescued a week ago was rummaging around in my fridge.
The blonde grinned cheekily and opened her mouth.
Something in me snapped.
"Spread my wings!"
The blonde yelped, startled, and maybe blinded by the flash of purple light.
"Impact." I barked.
Then I shot the gun out of blondie's hand, and then her in the head. The gun went flying, she tumbled backwards out of her chair. Dad yelped, broken trigger girl, shrieked and blondie cried out in pain. I swiped up the gems off the table and shot blondie another three times in the chest for good measure.
Broken trigger girl was now out of the fridge, hands up and backing away.
Utterly done with everything I pointed my gun at her head.
"Explain, right now, or I'll sink your body in the bay before leaving town."
The blonde behind me coughed up a lung. Those shots hit like a professional punch according to Queen Administrator. Not lethal, but they should hurt plenty enough.
"Ok," blondie got out between coughs, "probably should have expected that."
I turned enough to shoot her in the leg. She yelped again.
"I'll get to you in a minute, in the meantime shut up." I turned back to broken trigger girl. "You, talk."
"Taylor what the hell-" Dad started.
I spun, scooped up the dropped gun and slammed it down flat on the table in front of him.
"Shut up, Dad. This is your fault! The PRT gets a hold of my identity and before I can even make it home some random villain breaks in with a gun! Everyone knows the villains have moles in the PRT Dad, everyone!"
Maybe that wasn't fair. I wasn't sure if he'd outed me or if they'd figured me out by process of elimination based on school absences, but he signed me away to the government so he could just suck it up and take the blame.
"Is she Empire?" I demanded an answer from broken trigger girl. "Did she drag you along as a hostage?"
Blondie squawked in offense. Dad choked and the black girl I couldn't list as victim or accomplice just yet calmed down enough to snicker.
"N-nah, Lisa isn't Empire, she and my big bro," she sagged a little when she mentioned her brother, "they ran together in the Undersiders."
It took a moment, it had been a very long week, but I remembered the news report.
"My condolences." I offered quietly.
Her brother died, that drug dealer might have been making a move in her direction, two plus two equals trigger event. Damn.
"Yeah, well, you saved me, though if you could do something about the tail and the gem in my chest?" She asked, the thin, scaled tail waved behind her as she pulled her shirt down enough to display her bra and the now pitch black pear cut gem embedded in her chest.
Dad yelped and looked away. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I sighed.
"We can come back to that later after I get an explanation. How did you find me? What are you doing here? And why the hell did she," I gestured at blondie, "think searching my room for these," I held up the gems, "was something she could get away with?"
"Ok so maybe I got a little too nosey." Blondie chimed in from where she had propped herself up against a wall one arm across her chest making a show of babying her ribs. "Short version is that the Undersiders worked for Coil. I'm the last woman standing, so Coil wants to either lock me in a box and use me for my power, or have me recruit a whole new team. His back doors got me into the PRT systems and, well, here we are. But talking with your Dad and Aisha," she gestured at the other girl, "my power guessed you could make more capes like you, so I did a little snooping. I'm kind of hoping you'll be my ticket out because seriously, fuck Coil. The job that got Lung pissed at us was his idea and he made me sell it to the others."
I closed my eyes and counted to ten.
"Your first impression is worse than the Protectorate's." I said when I'd managed to to tamp down everything to the point where I could think.
Aisha cackled. Blondie opened her mouth to say something when someone started hammering on the front door.
"Hello? Please, I know this isn't how I'm supposed to do this, but I really need to talk to the magical girl!" A young voice shouted from outside.
A quick look around showed that everyone else was just as clueless as I was. Throwing my hands up I stormed through the house and opened the door with my gun in hand.
It was a kid. A little girl, maybe twelve. She rushed in around my legs, slammed the door shut and locked it before looking up at me wide eyed.
"I'm really sorry, I know this isn't usually ok, but I'm in real trouble and the numbers said you could help."
"Help with what? Who even are you? How the hell did you find me?!"
This is fucking absurd. Did the PRT just put my personal information out on the news or something?
"The snake man wants to take me and use me for my power." She got out in a rush. "The numbers got a little better the day you showed up, and I asked my cousin about you and it took so many questions, and I had the worst migraine, but I figured out your identity and I'm running out of time and I really need your help!"
Blondie started cursing from the kitchen and I put snake man and Coil together and got a match. Dragging the kid to the kitchen I glared at blondie who was waving her arms back and forth.
"Nope, nah uh, I didn't know anything about this. I'm trying to get away from the creep, remember? I literally just covered this!"
"Open up!" Bang bang bang. A fist pounded against the front door. "This is the police!"
"One hundred percent chance that isn't the police!" The little girl got out in a hushed whisper. "One hundred percent chance they work for the snake man!"
"No shit!" Blondie snarked with real fear in her voice.
I breathed in through my nose.
Bang bang bang on the door again.
"Open up!"
"Oh fuck all of this. Pierce." I snarled lowly, changing the setting for my guns to something more lethal. "Feather tracking." My wings manifested and in a strong down sweep tiny little energy feathers poured outwards phasing through everything until they covered the house, the yard, the road, and all the associated airspace going up three stories. They quickly faded from sight but they were still there. I could cover a lot more space than just that, but I wouldn't need to for this. I now knew where everything those feathers touched was and how it was moving.
The men outside cursed in surprise though I couldn't quite make out the words, maybe that skill would come with a bit of practice.
Two men by the front door. Two by the back door. Rifles and body armor, and almost certainly not cops.
"Bullshit!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, shaking the non existent dust from the non existent rafters. "And even if you are cops you're way out of your league! This is your only warning, fuck off!"
There was a tense moment of silence and then they all moved away from the house got in a van and drove the fuck away.
I rounded on the uninvited guests again and noticed that Queen Administrator had decided to join us. She was now perched on the back of a chair.
"Talk, kid."
She talked. About her power, about her situation, about how her power was convinced I could solve her problems.
I rounded on blondie next with the same questions.
She talked about getting recruited at gunpoint. About being in a similar situation to the kid, and about how she really really wanted out before her boss closed the net on her. And that she'd brought Aisha along on a hunch and out of solidarity for her dead teammate.
Aisha really just wanted to say thanks and ask what the hell was up with the tail and gem.
Dad mercifully stayed quiet.
"Right, Aisha the gem is a connection to the source of my powers. They used you as a way to figure out where the source of your powers is. Then they started doing whatever it is they do to plug it into their collective so they can use its energy, and make it work properly. The gem is not going anywhere but in about three weeks you should get your very own magical girl transformation bullshit. So you have that to look forward to."
"I'm not going to be stuck in a frilly pink dress, am I?" She looked very reasonably concerned by the idea.
"Outfits seem color coded to the gems so whatever you get will probably be primarily black." I shrugged. "If I were you, I'd think very hard about little gothic dresses and black leggings."
She looked only a little reassured.
"Queen Administrator, why did you all leave the tail?" I asked.
"Broken trigger did not only change Host Aisha physically." The tiny owl responded. "Change affected the brain. Removing the tail would leave host Aisha with sensations of a phantom limb and negatively impact her balance. No member of the collective has the knowledge and delicacy to alter Host Aisha's brain so as to reverse the change without risking damage to her mind. Leaving the tail was deemed the better option."
I nodded thoughtfully.
"Huh." Aisha glanced down at her tail. "I mean, it could definitely be worse. Guess I'll get used to it. But I'm never going to have a secret identity with this thing sticking out of my back."
Yeah that was for sure. I could think of a few ways to hide it for a bit but not forever, not with how it moved constantly.
I turned to blondie, Lisa.
"I don't know what the heck you expect me to do for you. I'm sorry your boss is a competent bond villain, but I don't exactly get what you think I can do to fix that. I guess I could fly you out of the city?"
"I was thinking more along the lines of a team up, with a power up signing bonus." Lisa answered, eyes locked on the hand I was still using to hold my first two gems.
"Me too!" The kid, Dinah, piped up.
Aisha hummed like she was turning over an idea.
"If I'm already stuck with the theme… might not be a bad idea. I don't know about being a hero, but Lung's got something coming to him for what he did to Brian."
"Oh." I thought about it. "No. Anyway Legend is a dick, so I figure it would be better to drop you two in Boston." I waved at Lisa and Dinah. "I suppose I am kind of responsible for Aisha so I guess we can try working together. Though I was thinking about fucking off to Canada, or England. Really anywhere not America where they speak English. I don't want to take the time to learn French or Spanish."
"What?!" Lisa spluttered. "Come on, the shrimp is small enough to rock the pink frilly look and there are worse combinations I could wear than black and yellow. You get some backup. We aren't looking over our shoulders anymore. We flatten the Merchants and Coil's operation for some rep, experience, and cash. You make a few more gems, and before you know it we're running the Empire and ABB out of town!"
She waved her arms wildly and kept talking.
"The sexy villain is reformed." She gestured to herself. "The next generation of hero's get trained up." Aisha and Dinah. "The Protectorate look like idiots, and we all take enough money from the gangs to live comfortably for a decade, before we find someone to make a merchandise deal with. What's not to like?" She grinned like a fox leaving the hen house.
"You broke into my house, searched my room, and held my Dad at gunpoint. Even if I'm pissed at him, that's still a terrible first impression. And then you ask; pretty please make me an A class threat." I answered flatly Lisa's smile froze and shattered.
Then I turned to Dinah. "And you, you figure out my identity and come running to a brand new cape for safety when I've only had powers for a week? Tell me honestly, you could have gotten in touch with someone from out of town, but they just would have stuck you in a nicer box, right?"
Dinah fidgeted and refused to meet my eyes.
"Oh yes, the great and powerful thinkers come begging an audience and sanctuary, and then once you've used me? Well who says you have to stay? Or that you can't just up and stab me in the back?"
I glared at both.
"If you caught me on another day it might even work. But today? After the week, and especially the day I've had? Dinah, odds Lisa would betray or abandon me after giving her a gem?"
"29.7834 percent." She grabbed her head.
Lower than I'd thought. If we lived long enough those odds might just include retiring which I wouldn't even hold against her. I might even take that bet if she could make up for her first impression.
"And the odds you would abandon or betray me after giving you a gem?"
"79.6571 percent." Ding ding ding. The scared little girl act was definitely real, but that wasn't all there was to it. Even a little brat like her was trying to con me.
"Well that's one really iffy maybe, and one firm no then. But that's only half the problem." I held up the pink heart cut gem. "These aren't meant for capes."
"What?!" Lisa demanded shock written plainly across her face.
"The gems are meant to mimic the corona's in capes. Only they are more than just that because they carefully balance a bunch of powers and regulate energy from the collective. Not a single shard. You're already connected to a shard. If I slapped this on you and your shard didn't like that? It could reject the gem, kill you, or just sever its connection to you." Both thinkers gapped at me.
"What happened with my power then?" Aisha asked.
"Yours was too dumb to think for itself. So when it tried to give you powers? It didn't know how to regulate anything on its own. I slapped a blank gem on you, just enough to establish a connection. Queen Administrator," I waved at the owl, "outranks it. And it wasn't smart enough to question orders when she told it to shut down and let the collective tear it apart for anything useful before turning its remains into a battery."
"So if my power agreed to join the collective…" Lisa trailed off fishing for an answer.
Like I would know? I turned to Queen Administrator. The owl noticed, cocked its head, then answered.
"Negotiator is intelligent, and currently unaligned. Power granted is highly energy efficient and desirable. May also be useful in swaying more unaligned shards. Expressed some curiosity when coexistence faction first suggested. Decided to wait and see results of new experiments before committing. Also expressed a preference for similar but separate theme, power rangers. Preferred lack of gender requirement and more straightforward uniforms. Collective rejected on the grounds that we could not provide hosts with building sized mechs capable of combining. May be beneficial to revisit the concept if mechs are non essential."
Lisa looked entirely lost sitting against the wall with her mouth hanging open. Aisha lasted ten seconds then devolved into a storm of cackles so intense that she started struggling to breath. Dinah, apparently not ready to give up, marched up to Queen Administrator.
"What about my power?" She asked.
Queen Administrator considered Dinah for a moment, then tsked. I didn't think she had enough personality to have such a dismissive opinion, never mind expressing it like that, but here she was surprising me.
"Future highly specialized and useful shard, but also horrifically inefficient. Brute force calculations of probability based on billions or trillions of data points requires constant monitoring of planet and predictive models for all potentially relevant elements, highly wasteful. Not wanted in the collective. Could break connection then convert host Dinah into magical girl. Would be better for you."
Never before in my life have I seen such an offended look on a preteen.
Aisha who had started to gain control of her giggle fit took one look at Dinah and lost it all over again.
"Host Taylor," Queen Administrator piped up, "could the collective use more than one theme as framework for new powers?"
She was asking me? Why? No, dumb question. As smart as she was, she wasn't creative. Just the idea of changing how the shards grant powers must have been a monumental leap in logic for her. that's why they had gone through kids shows looking for ideas on how to do it in the first place.
"Yeah, Queen Administrator, there's nothing wrong with using a few different themes. And I've never watched power rangers, but I think the world will be better off without teenagers in city wrecking mechs. Maybe just a projection they can ride instead? Like a fantasy animal or a motorcycle, or something? If it only has to be real enough to sit on and carry them would that make it more energy efficient?"
Queen Administrator froze solid for a minute, which wasn't unusual, but was weird because I'd expected an answer. It did come, but the delay was weird.
"Thank you, Host Taylor. The collective will consider this information and your suggestion. Host Lisa and Shard Negotiator may be worthy of recruitment."
"She held my Dad at gunpoint." I flatly countered.
"And you threatened to shoot Legend in front of a Wards team and two additional heroes." Queen Administrator countered. Aisha whooped with laughter and Dad sputtered. "Humans, especially teenage humans, are prone to less than intelligent decisions, especially when under stress. Blind trust would be foolish, but finding common ground may result in a trustworthy ally."
Logic. Genuine logic. From the species that turned to genocide in a bid to escape the heat death if the universe. The species that turned to children's cartoons in search of a way to interact with humanity. What the ever loving fuck?!
"And Dinah? Miss Eighty percent chance of betrayal?" I asked.
"…Investment of time and energy unlikely to produce worthwhile results."
The kid sputtered.
"Oh good. My compromised teenage logic isn't entirely off base." I sassed. Not that Queen Administrator was likely to pick up on that aspect.
And of course now came the issue of how to get her the hell away from me without leaving Dad and our house guests unattended…
Well if Legend is still in town…
"If you give me to the Protectorate I'll tell them about those two!" Dinah shrieked and pointed at the other two girls.
"You little brat!" Lisa shrieked.
"What the fuck?!" Aisha shouted, fists clenched and ready for a fight.
Then the three of them were off in a shouting match. I planted my head in my hands and groaned. All I wanted was to leave the country and flip the Protectorate the bird. How the hell was I getting sucked back in before I even packed my bags?!
Then a van pulled up outside the house and I strangled the urge to scream as three people in casual clothes and masks stepped out. Murder. I was going to commit murder, and no jury in the world would deny I was being pushed beyond human limits.
Snarling, I stormed through the house and yanked open the door before one more person could knock. Startled, Legend back stepped. Broke through the rotten step, and turned to light in an effort to avoid breaking his ankle. Blushing, the man coughed into his fist. Clockblocker who I could only identify by his helmet peeking out from a hoodie snickered. A woman I guessed to be Miss Militia hiding behind a not flag scarf closed her eyes and bowed her head, possibly in shame.
"You're trespassing." I declared. "Fuck off or I'll call the cops. Try to force your way in and I'll shoot you in self defense."
"Taylor!" Dad, who had followed behind me, shouted aghast. I ignored that and slammed the door in their faces.
"Forget about them, they aren't important. And if I have to deal with that pretentious rainbow dick on top of everything else I'm going to murder someone."
"Taylor, that's no way to talk about the head of the Protectorate!" Dad scolded, scooted around me and opened the door. "I'm so sorry about that. It's been a bit of a day here, but please come in. I'm sure we can all figure something out."
Throwing my hands up I strangled a scream in my throat and marched upstairs.
"Taylor, where are you going?!" Dad demanded.
"To pack! If you want to deal with them, that's your mistake. I've already let myself get distracted for too long and I'm wasting daylight. But If I leave now I can probably make it to the border before it gets dark."
Queen Administrator flew right up in my face and then hovered there without flapping her wings.
"Best estimated flight time to the Canadian border is approximately two hours. Sunset is in one and a half hours. Host Taylor also lacks all tools for navigation. Attempting long distance travel at this time is inadvisable. Host Taylor is likely to lose her way in the dark. Host Taylor is also emotionally compromised and tired. Host Taylor requires sleep, sustenance, and a method of navigation before attempting long distance flight."
"If I don't leave, I'm going to end up killing someone." I glared at the bird. "Then I'll be a villain and have to flee into the night without a change of clothes, or food, and I'll be hunted. With a murder charge against me other nations won't take me in."
That seemed to stump the shard for a moment.
"Acknowledged. Recommend returning weapon settings to impact so impulsive attacks will not kill the target and collecting essentials in preparation for strategic retreat. Still recommend Host Taylor not attempt long distance travel unprepared."
Throwing my hands up I brushed past the projection. "Impact." I ordered my weapons. And continued on to my room.
Bug out bags were slowly becoming less common since the Endbringers stopped attacking, but I'd kept mine stocked with a few changes of clothes, water bottles, and some bags of jerky. I secured the gems in an inside pocket of the bag. Tossed in a few photos of Mom, and threw my favorite jacket over my shoulder before heading back downstairs.
The already cramped kitchen and dining room was now positively packed. Aisha had retreated to the living room where she was watching something on the TV with the volume turned way down. Dinah and, fuck she's in a mask and now there are heroes here, Tattletale right, have to remember that. Right the thinkers were glaring at one another. Dad was busy making coffee, the three heroes just looked incredibly out of place.
Queen Administrator perched herself on my shoulder.
"Are you here to tell me you burned my contract?" I demanded, arms crossed over my chest.
Legend sighed.
"That's not how these things work, Taylor. I hoped giving you a few hours to cool off would help, but you are a ward now, and you need to accept that." Legend tried for a placating tone.
"Then I'm really not seeing any reason not to leave the country, Kenneth." I smiled sweetly
It took a second. The penny dropped Li-Tattletale dissolved into a giggle fit. Clockblocker wasn't far behind her.
"Sorry, is that not your name? Maybe Matt? Arnold? I want to say Bob, but honestly every Bob I've ever met seems too reserved to dress in spandex. Maybe I haven't met enough Bob's? But something dramatic and bombastic for the flying rainbow… Reginald."
I nodded decisively. Lisa howled with laughter and Legend looked like I shoved a lemon in his mouth.
"Please tell me all about your husband and your son?" I asked earnestly. "What are their names? Where do they live? Would they appreciate it if I signed them both up for a fruit of the month club?!" I snarled.
The man sighed. Not sounding tired, more like I was a naughty child whose antics exasperated him.
"Oh but where are my manners!" I said with false cheer. "Let me introduce you to my other guests. Who showed up before you, also uninvited. You of course know about Aisha who suffered a broken trigger last week and came to me looking for answers about the lingering changes she suffered. Of course she only found me because of Tattletale here. Who was looking into me on behalf of her boss Coil. She came begging for me to get her away from him because he's infiltrated the PRT to the point where he can just give her all my personal information. So naturally it wouldn't be safe for her to turn herself in to you."
Now Legends shoulders slumped. He knew where this was going.
"But you wouldn't know anything about that because my identity is safe with the PRT, right? That is what you told me just a few hours ago, wasn't it?"
Tattletale wasn't laughing anymore. She was eying all of us like she thought we were moments away from killing one another. We very well might be.
"The other one is a little brat who didn't want you locking her in a gilded cage for her power. She thought she could manipulate me into solving all her problems, and then fuck off and forget I exist to go live out whatever fantasy she had cooked up. Please, by all means take her with my blessing, especially considering she led a bunch of men with rifles impersonating the police to my door. Because she wanted her perfect victory more than she wanted the guarantee of safety. But don't leave her here. Just to reiterate the obvious, the local department is compromised. She would get abducted right out from under them."
Miss Militia closed her eyes but didn't react otherwise.
Legend took a long slow breath.
"I'm sorry. I promise we can fix this. We'll run you through witness protection, there are plenty of cities across the country that would love to have a Ward like you-"
"I'm not working for you! Get that through your thick skull. I will not. You raised up the girl who ruined my life as a hero, you imprisoned me for a week on a flimsy pretext, you went looking for my identity and compromised my safety and my family! You talked my Dad into signing me away without asking my opinion, and you can't even be bothered to show me enough respect to use my cape name! Do I need to actually shoot you? Should I just go hunt down a news reporter and tell them everything? If I destroy a national monument would that get the point across?!"
I was breathing hard, and at some point I'd slammed my palms down on the kitchen table and leaned forward to glare at the man.
"I know it's not fair, or ideal." Legend began carefully. "But this is the system, and what you can do? fixing broken triggers? That's too important for us to just let you go. That's significant on an international scale. We can't let you walk away with that. We need that solution."
"So does the rest of the world. And if you're supposed to be the face of American heroics, I'll be perfectly happy to become British, or Canadian, or Japanese if that's what it takes." I snapped back.
"You think it's that simple?" Legend demanded." That you'll just show up, fix the problem, and leave? When word gets out about what you can do you won't be safe anywhere. Lunatics will try and set traps to kill you because they won't like you making things better. Groups like the Chinese will try to trap and enslave you to keep you from helping other nations. Intelligence agencies from around the world will try and track your movements. And while this is one of the worst introductions to the Protectorate I've ever even heard of… at my level it's not just about being a hero. It's managing multiple departments' issues. It's coordinating and jockeying for control with the PRT, Police, and various federal organizations. It's national and international politics. It doesn't matter what country you go to, at this level it's never pretty or clean, and what you can do means this is the level you're going to be met with everywhere. No one is going to let you run loose as an independent."
"Am I supposed to be impressed?" I snarled. "Trust us, we treated you terribly, but the world is cold and dark and dangerous so just do as we say and things won't get worse?" I simpered. "Did you get that line from some abuser you arrested? You should all be defunded! I'd bet you could run a soup kitchen with what Armsmaster spends making and maintaining his equipment. And it would probably do more good for the city!"
"Taylor, please." Dad said.
I whirled. Dad looked exhausted, and wrung out, and afraid. That really only made me angrier.
But I was running out of words. There were dozens of arguments I could make, or insults I could throw around, but this was just like school. Me on my own. Surrounded by people who didn't care about what I had to say. Who weren't going to listen no matter what. People who are right because they say so. And that made the rage incandescent, and all the words piled up in the back of my throat until I couldn't string together a sentence any more.
The part of me that got through the day at Winslow whispered that I should give up, accept the inevitable. Be content with the knowledge that at least I was better than them.
That voice was drowned out by rage.
"I'd rather chew glass." I glared at Legend as I said it.
"Oh my gosh you are both terrible negotiators!" Tattletale threw her hands into the air in exasperation. Some of the tension eased out of the air, but not a lot. I was still mad enough to shoot someone.
"This isn't a negotiation." Legend and I both snapped at her. My glare redoubled.
"Oh yes it is." The blonde corrected. "And the sooner you both accept that the better because otherwise this is going to blow the hell up and no one is going to get what they want.
She looked at me.
"I wasn't sure what to expect when I came here, but let me tell you, you were not it. Girl, you are a force of nature and sharp. If your power and my power can find a compromise, and we can work in an off switch for mine? I'll happily be the purple ranger so long as I can make enough money to retire into comfort when running around in spandex stops being fun. But Legend isn't wrong about how many people are going to be after you or how dirty things can be on an international scale. Idealism and being a top tier cape aren't going to be enough."
Then she rounded on Legend.
"And you, you work with the wards. You have a kid. Haven't you read a parenting book about teenagers? She's not bluffing, you keep pushing, maybe drag her off to New York so you can supervise her? Fifty fifty odds she blows up the Statue of Liberty to make a dramatic point about liberty being dead. The other fifty is finding a reporter, or a teen with a cell phone and explaining everything about where powers come from. Maybe a twenty percent chance she just snaps and shoots someone… probably your PR guy. In fact, make that a fifty percent chance she shoots your PR guy if he's really as bad as the rumors paint him. Oh, he's worse? Definitely be the one to make her snap then."
"The Protectorate is not in the habit of taking counsel from teenage villains." Legend glared at Tattletale.
"Yeah probably a good policy under normal circumstances but you want my take on this one because wow you are blowing this." She waved him off. "See you're trying to hold onto control, but that's a suckers bet because you've already pissed her off too much for that. You're not getting your perfect win. So, what you need to do is step back, reassess, and find the solution that gets you most of what you want and puts the best spin on all this shit."
Legend leaned back in his seat still scowling at Tattletale, but he didn't immediately shut her down like he kept trying with me. Maybe there was something to her shard being called Negotiator after all.
"See you don't want her in the Wards. Oh, I know you think you do, because that means you have control, but you really do not want her there. Because then she's a minor you are responsible for who you plan to throw at the biggest and most unpredictable cluster fucks imaginable. And you'll never be able to hide that. Which means sooner or later a whistleblower is going to start making noise about it. And then you have a mess on your hands where you make a precedent for throwing untrained wards into the meat grinder, or you have to wait a few years for her to turn eighteen all while the rest of the world is breathing down your neck to get her out there."
Legend winced. It was subtle but I noticed it. Tattletales grin sharpened.
"You hit the nail on the head when you said this is an international issue. And that means you want an international solution." Tattletale waved a hand like a salesman showing off some product.
Miss Militia caught the implication first.
"You want us to establish an international task force?!" The patriotic cape asked, clearly startled.
"Bingo!" Tattletale cheered. "Get a few heavy hitters from different friendly groups to help back her up, you pull Myrddin for it, try to drag in Mouse Protector too. Those two can help coach people on staying in ridiculous themed character, let the guild and kings men and whoever else nominate a few extra heavy hitters to help. Grab up people that are bilingual and put Strider on retainer to be jointly paid for between contributing nations. It can start out stationed here in America, then as it grows maybe put offices in member nations."
Legend still wasn't saying anything which I interpreted as him not hating the idea. Honestly this didn't sound awful to me either. I was still pissed but this… I could work with this.
"What do you mean as it grows?" Clockblocker spoke up.
Tattletale beamed at him and pointed his way dramatically.
"See that's the best part! Emissary is the only one who can stop broken triggers, for now." All three heroes sat up straighter. "Emissary, you said Aisha's going to have her own magical girl transformation in a few weeks, right? Will she be able to make gems like you do?"
I didn't know.
"I don't… Queen Administrator?" I turned and directed the question to my shoulder owl.
"Converted broken trigger Hosts will be capable of creating unaligned gems. The ability to create aligned gems will remain limited to Host Taylor until her death or until the collective have reason to enable more Hosts with this ability."
Tattletales smile was all teeth.
"That means every broken trigger is going to be a cape like Emissary, a badass grab bag A-class threat. We get on them fast enough, get them therapy while they wait for their powers to come in, we can probably have better than average odds for heroes, but some of these people are going to go off the rails. Which is all the more reason to have a team ready to deal with them! And we'll have to be careful about it, but Emissary can give powers to normals with those aligned gems and boost up capes who's shards can be won over enough to agree to share!"
Three heads whipped my way. I shot Tattletale a dirty look but did nod my head.
"I can, yeah, but that's not a quick process. Making an aligned gem takes a month or so. All the work is done on the shard end and it's apparently really delicate… And I don't think I can make one while they're working on Aisha's."
"We can not." Queen Administrator chimed in. "I am uniquely suited for multitasking, but other shards in the collective are not. Current processing power limits the number of gems we can align to one at a time. As more unintelligent shards are processed and converted available processing power will increase. The collective may decide to cut off aligned gem development if power usage exceeds acceptable parameters. Creating aligned gems without recruiting or converting a shard will most dramatically increase power consumption."
Legend drummed his fingers on the table top.
"I think I can sell this idea to the President." Legend said, eyes flickering back and forth between Tattletale and I. "But this is a rough outline at best. And an international initiative is going to get complicated quickly as Lawyers and politicians weigh in."
I glanced at Dad, who looked hopeful, and Tattletale, who looked smug. I even glanced at Aisha who had wandered back a few minutes ago and was bouncing excitedly in the doorway.
"I'm going to need a lawyer," I glanced at Tattletale, "and a negotiator." The blonde's smirk widened. "But I think I can live with that."
Aisha whooped and started rambling about how she was going to be a badass international secret agent. Dad and Clockblocker slumped in relief. Miss Militia sort of smiled with her eyes. Legend and I just looked at one another like we were waiting for the other to shout psych. Still, this just might work.