Taylor's Summer Camp has an unexpected interruption. The metaphorical fallout from this changes everything.
This story is based on We Just Write'sGoing Nuclear one-shot. I didn't come up with their idea, I'm just taking their nuclear football and running as best as I can with it. I hope you enjoy.
This is a work of fanfiction. Characters depicted herein are the intellectual properties of their owners. No copyright infringement is intended.
Edit: This story is rated R for language. If you've seen Deadpool & Wolverine though, It's not that bad and I'll try to not be too gratuitous with the profanity, but Danny was both ex-Navy and a longshoreman and Annette had a Master's in English Lit. They taught their daughter well.
June 26th, 2009
34 Hamilton St. Albany, NY
"You sure you have everything, Tay? You don't have to go you know. We could spend the summer together?"
"You and Uncle Alan and Aunt Zoe have already done so much for me since... Mom, Ems. I need to get out of the city. Clear my head. You should've come with me. There's gonna be canoeing, rock climbing, we'll get to go through a cave, All kinds of cool things. With a name like 'Watton and Venture Summer Camp', it HAS to be good."
"Tay, you know I'm not big on the outdoorsy stuff. You're the one always trying to catch fireflies in jars and picking up muddy frogs in the backyard and poking at crabs on the beach and all."
"Still gonna miss you, Ems." Taylor hugged her best friend.
"Same here you big dork." Emma hugged the taller girl back, then lightly punched Taylor in the arm. "Just don't do anything stupid and get yourself hurt or something, or I'll NEVER forgive you!"
Taylor turned to the older man walking up to her. "Uncle Alan, please take care of dad for me."
"Zoe and I will make sure Danny's in good hands. I know losing Annette was hard, but we'll all get through this. By the time you get back I'm sure we'll have his head on straight."
"Thanks."
They gave each other a brief hug, then Taylor watched them pull out of the bus terminal before heading over to where some of the other campers had already gathered. This would be a nice change. That huge hole in her heart was still there but it was waiting to be filled with new, good memories. Taylor was determined to make this the Best Summer Ever.
After getting some lunch, meeting with the camp counselors who were overseeing everyone as they arrived and introducing herself to some of the other teenagers she'd be having fun with for the next month...
As I saw the multi-winged horror descending upon me, I could only gape in horror.
No no no, I was supposed to be going to summer camp! Not brainwashed into a monster by the Simurgh! I mean, at least I was nowhere near home so dad was safe, but...
Then I 'heard' the Scream start in the back of my mind, and-
[Destination]
[Agreement]
[Trajectory]
[Agreement]
When I came to, I was lying on my back, the Simurgh examining me up close and personal. I acted on pure reflex, and everything went WHITE.
Meanwhile, the Simurgh was having a very bad day indeed. The new trigger still hadn't cleared up in her sight of the future, when suddenly an atom in her core split. A nanosecond later, the Simurgh's core went supercritical with more than enough total energy to blow up Earth several times over. Fortunately for everyone else, the dimensional clusterfuck inside the Endbringer core bled off the vast majority of the energy across the local multiverse, leaving "only" 100 Megatons of TNT for Earth Bet.
(Alexandria)
I had no idea what the Simurgh wanted with Albany New York, but there was absolutely no way I would let her just get away with it. Together with the rest of the Triumvirate and an initial Protectorate force, we'd managed to get here only a minute after the Endbringer in question. For some reason the monster was hovering around the downtown area, seeming to be intently inspecting something.
Then there was an extremely bright flash, followed almost immediately by a nuclear fireball just under nine kilometers in radius. I survived, of course. Eidolon also made it through, though he definitely seemed worse for wear. As for Legend, he'd apparently dodged out of the way, then come back once the firestorm died down a bit.
The rest of our team wasn't so lucky, and I could make out a couple of carbon silhouettes, reminiscent of Hiroshima. On the positive side, the Scream had stopped.
Legend spoke up; "Alexandria, I need to get Eidolon to a healer, I think he's got radiation poisoning. Would you investigate ground zero?"
I nodded.
"Certainly."
It was only now that I fully processed that I was completely nude. While I was invulnerable enough to survive the blast, my suit wasn't. And come to think of it, neither was my prosthetic eyeball. Worrying about that could wait, I had to find out what had happened.
I spent the flight over psyching myself up for all sorts of things, but I have to say that what I found wasn't something I'd even considered before I arrived. Namely, a very dead simurgh, and a teenage girl staring blankly into space, in much the same blasted-nude state of undress as myself.
...Oh dear, this is probably a fresh trigger. And one with an extremely destructive power to boot.
"Excuse me, who are you?"
The teenager startled and looked my way, her gaze briefly flicking to the air beneath my feet before answering.
"I'm Taylor... I was going to... I was on my way to summer camp when the Simurgh arrived. Are you a hero?"
As far as the public was concerned, yes.
"I'm Alexandria, though my suit doesn't seem to have survived the explosion. I'll give you a lift out of here, and get you some clothes that haven't been vaporized."
"...Ok."
So I picked up Taylor in a bridal carry, and started flying to Legend's location. As she took in the literally blasted landscape, I could faintly hear her mutter,
"Did I do that?"
I answered,
"Probably. I'd need to know more about your particular powers to say for sure, though."
That answer caused the teenager to shrink into herself. I really needed to get her to a therapist, and soon.
Rebecca Costa-Brown was rarely a happy person. The destruction of Albany had sent every regional director into full scale panic mode and thus, as Chief Director of the PRT, they had come running to her like chickens with their heads cut off for answers.
Of which she still had precious few a day after Albany was turned into a shallow Trinitite-lined lake.
She DESPISED not knowing things.
Legend thankfully had managed to assure the public that there was no danger of radiation or fallout beyond the immediately affected area, and the President had made a statement from the Oval Office that while the loss of life was horrific, it was a kinder fate than the possibility of life in a Containment Zone.
In her mind though, that there would apparently BE no more Simurgh Zones made their deaths a bargain.
Her intercom spoke: <Madam Director, Doctor Wells is here.>
"Send her in." An older woman, Ruby Wells was one of Doctor Mother's colleagues. Not fully vetted of course, but Aminata couldn't handle everything Cauldron did by herself.
"Doctor, what is the survivor's condition?"
"Mostly still in shock and denial, but surprisingly coherent and understanding about our reasons to keep her in isolation. She has asked about her father and friends though."
"What do we know?"
"We've put a priority on finding out anything we can. Taylor Anne Hebert from Brockton Bay, New Hampshire, 14th birthday was last week. Mother Annette Rose Hebert née Sinise. English professor at the local community college. Died in a car accident four months ago. Father Daniel Francis Hebert. Was Hiring Manager for Local Laborer's Union 976 in Brockton Bay for the past decade."
"Was?"
"Brockton Bay Police found him dead in his home last night with the television running. Self-inflicted gunshot wound. Apparently he'd seen the news and assumed the worst."
"Continue."
"Police spoke with a Zoe Barnes. Her husband Alan and daughter Emma were driving Taylor to Albany to attend a summer camp, They dropped her off about an hour before the Simurgh's approach. The remains of their car were found near the initial cordon being set up on I-90 at the New York-Massachusetts border."
"Is Miss Hebert aware of any of this?"
"Not yet. We're waiting for Dr. Yamada to perform an initial psychological assessment. I can imagine Miss Hebert will take the revelation... poorly."
"What about her powers?"
"We're not entirely certain."
"Obviously she has them. How else could she have survived?"
"True, but..." Dr. Wells pulled out a sheet of film. The skull shown was completely white, with her hair surprisingly also showing up. "We've put Miss Hebert through every standard method of medical imaging known. X-ray, ultrasound, MRI, CT and PET scans... completely useless. In fact, Miss Hebert commented that the tracer compound for the PET scan 'tasted good'.
"I assume that it's not supposed to."
"Not unless you enjoy eating Tums or Pepto Bismol."
"What other tests have you done?"
"We've started the standard Brute series of tests. No indication of enhanced strength thus far, but obviously her durability is... at least on par with Alexandria's. The industrial cutting laser 'tickled a little bit'. We've also noticed she's not needed to use the facilities."
"Drug tolerance? Can we sedate or incapacitate her that way if needed?"
"The radioisotope marker we gave her for the PET scan also contained a potent sedative. Enough to tranquilize an elephant for hours. No effect. We've laced her meals with emetics and purgatives as well. Nothing. She seems to be eating and sleeping normally, but I believe she's just doing it from habit and not biological necessity. Airborne agents were also ineffective. I'm honestly not sure if she even needs to BREATHE anymore except to speak.
A photo came out of the folder then, surveillance footage from her room, showing Taylor standing and facing the wall like she was...
"What is she doing?"
"As far as we tell, sunbathing."
"That room has no windows."
"And is 30 meters underground. Nevertheless, she is facing in the direction of the sun and basking in it like a cat."
"For what reason? How can she even tell where it is?"
"Based on what we do know... one of the doctors suggested that she's somehow sensing and blocking neutrinos."
Jessica managed to keep her expression neutral. Even though Taylor was apparently no stronger than a typical 14-year-old girl, she was still indestructible by all accounts. Getting beaten to death by a distraught young woman would NOT be quick. "No, Taylor. You're very much alive."
"But WHY? My dad is dead, he killed himself because he thought I was dead. Emma and Uncle Alan are dead. All those people are dead... WHY AM I STILL ALIVE? WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS KIND OF FUCKING PUNISHMENT?!?" Taylor shouted before grabbing her knees and curling up on the bed. "i can't even kill myself..." she mumbled.
"Taylor?"
"I haven't needed to use the toilet since I got here. This morning the doctors wanted to see how long I could hold my breath. After three minutes they started looking nervous. After ten I went over to the sink and tried to drown myself. I'm sure you know about that."
"Yes, Taylor. That's one of the reasons I wanted to speak with you right away."
"I've read the Silmarillion. Dracula. The Epic of Gilgamesh, Issac Laquedem. I think I'm immortal. I'm going to outlive everyone. I'm going to watch everything I will ever possibly come to know and love wither and die. I'm going to be stuck like Claudia as a gawky teenager forever."
"Taylor... honestly I don't know how to react to that."
"I'm pretty sure the only person who might know what it's like is Alexandria. Have you ever met her?"
"In passing." Her occasional sessions with Legend showed him as a surprisingly well-adjusted parahuman compared to the many other members of the Protectorate she'd met with over the years. But, Jessica remembered hat she'd never met with herprofessionally. Nor Eidolon for that matter. Surely the other two members of the Triumverate had some issues. She idly made a note on her pad to see which of her colleagues might be providing them with therapy. Just the horrors they witnessed during Endbringer fights meant they should have been seeing someone, right? Jessica came back from her musing, "Why do you ask Taylor?"
"I'm... not sure if I should talk about it."
"Taylor, I'm here FOR YOU to talk to."
"Well..." Taylor seemed to blush a little bit. "It's embarrassing."
"I can assure you I've heard it all. Doctor-Patient confidentiality applies here and the PRT and Protectorate have vetted me for Top Secret Clearance."
"I guess you know Alexandria was the one who found me and she's always been one of my favorite Heroes. She's ALEXANDRIA after all."
"Go on."
"Um... I survived... she survived... our clothes... didn't."
"Okay. A wardrobe malfunction might be something Glenn wouldn't want to see winding up on PHO, but..."
"She doesn't look much older than me."
"What?"
"Alexandria's been around for nearly thirty years but if anyone saw her out of costume they'd probably think she's a senior in high school or something."
Hmm... perhaps she should arrange a meeting with Alexandria for Taylor's sake.
"Hmm?" Jessica turned and saw the green light on the intercom panel flashing. "Oh. Someone must want to speak with me. It's not like they can barge in and interrupt a therapy session. This should just take a moment." Jessica got up from her chair and wobbled a bit. Odd. She dismissed the brief sense of vertigo and pushed the talk button. "Yes, what is it?"
*Doctor Elliot would like to speak with you.*
That wasn't good, Elliot was code for 'Evacuate IMMEDIATELY' "Can't it wait? I am with a patient right now."
*You know Doctor Elliot.*
"<sigh> Fine. Taylor, I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut this session short. I'm sorry about that. It's very unprofessional of me."
"It's ok... I think I'm done talking for right now anyway."
"Is there something I can have sent in here for you. Books, DVDs, maybe a GameLad or something to help pass the time?"
"Something... mindless I think? I've got a lot to process right now. I think it might be good for me if just turn my brain off for a bit."
"I'll see what I can do."
With that she opened the airlock door and waited for it to cycle. When she stepped out into the hallway, though, the normal guard at the end wasn't waiting for her, but two people in full hazmat gear instead.
"Doctor you need to strip RIGHT NOW. Drop everything where you're standing. Especially anything with metal. Phone, jewelry, all of it. Then we'll get you into Medical. We've already sent out a priority request. A rush order from Cask is supposed to be here within a few hours."
THAT had gotten Jessica moving very quickly, not even bothering with the buttons on her blouse as she tore it off. "What's happened?"
"Hopefully you didn't just take a lethal dose of gamma radiation." one of the medics replied as Jessica went over to them.
T +51:22:00
"She's radioactive?" Jessica asked Doctor Wells. She'd just finished the second large bottle of Tinker beer and was feeling quite lightheaded at the moment. "How did we not find thish out before?"
"Miss Hebert doesn't appear to be radioactive herself, but that pulse apparently came from her room somehow and there's nothing else on site that could have caused it. Her Brute rating would allow her to ignore it, or perhaps her body normally shields her surroundings from it.
Jessica made a very loud and long belch. "Fuck, the Angel of Deshpair is killed and we wind up with Beshemoth 2.0 inshtead." She sat up from the hospital bed. "Help me up... I need...<burp> I need to take a pissh."
"Rapid fluid transfer is one of the best immediate treatments for radiation poisoning. Cask is pretty good at this sort of thing. You're going to be fine."
"Ri... right." Jessica mumbled as she managed to seat herself on the toilet. "God, thish fucking shucks. I haven't <burp> been on a bender like thish shince I graduated."
"It's not over yet, there's another two bottles for you to get through before I can allow you pass out."
"Fuuuuugggg...." Jessica groaned before the sound of flushing came from the bathroom. "Jeshush Chrisht it'sh fucking glowing!"
Taylor has [Queen Administrator] in this fic, but the expression is control over quark-gluon interactions, arguably some of the smallest of things, on herself and inorganic materials she's in contact with/proximity to. (It's a 5 meter range, but Taylor won't figure that out for a while, if ever. Ziz just had a VERY bad day.) For all practical purposes Taylor is indestructible, more so than what [Stasis] grants for Alexandria.
Taylor's essentially a baryonic reactor, breaking down anything she breathes or ingests at the atomic level and she's able to detect and survive purely on ambient radiation.
She's not age-locked yet, Taylor will grow to physical maturity but right now she doesn't know that. QA wants to gather [DATA] with [Best Host] for a VERY long time.
People with dimensional shenanigans powers such as Flechette and March WILL affect her as would something sufficiently energetic. A nuke going off in her face HURTS, but she'd make it though anything short of a supernova. Taylor can heal/reconstruct herself reasonably rapidly rom injury, but containment breaches are gonna be bad for anyone in the vicinity and it won't save her if the Siberian decides to pull a Superman Kills The Joker.
Intense cold is the only thing that will really bother her. Getting her down to Bose-Einstein condensate temperatures though... is a VERY UNGOOD THING. Much worse than initiating fission in the degenerate matter core of an Endbringer.
You'll note from the story header that I said the "fallout from this changes everything". This is one of the big changes. Bear in mind that the Triumvirate and the first responders that were flying in with them were expecting a 'normal' Simurgh fight. None of them were prepared to suddenly be inside the thermal pulse radius of a Tsar Bomba. Alex could tank it. Legend's Breaker state could dodge it. Eidolon however takes a few seconds to swap powers. The fact he wasn't instantly converted into a rapidly expanding cloud of highly ionized gas says a lot.
Rebecca sighed heavily as she put her helmet down on the conference table. She, like almost every other cape in the country, had officially been working nonstop on the disaster zone that was Albany. That, combined with her having to perform the duties of Rebecca Costa-Brown, Chief Director of the PRT, in the aftermath of a National Crisis on par with the sinking of Kyushu or Newfoundland had meant she'd not had more than an hour's worth of power naps over the past two days. Strangely enough, Scion had NOT shown up yet. He might have taken his sweet time about arriving at the scene of a major cataclysm in the past, but he had eventually gotten around to it.
More importantly, one of Scion's first acts had been rendering the entire world's then current nuclear arsenal inert. The various powers that be had rebuilt a small strategic stockpile afterward but if anything would've gotten his immediate attention, THIS should've been it.
Instead he'd been floating around Indonesia since a minor volcanic eruption there two weeks back.
Three of the other five members of the secret cabal known as Cauldron looked at her as Rebecca noted the continued absence of the other two. Doctor Mother had been working her magic trying to keep David alive. There hadn't been time for him to switch to a better defensive power and he'd suffered full body third and fourth degree radiation burns. Aminata had already given him two booster vial injections to try and improve his regeneration, but according to her he'd been using all three of his power slots to heal himself. Physically the external burns were gone, but he was struggling to stay ahead of repeated organ failures.
Ten minutes ago, after Aminata had pleaded with David that he should use one of Clark's old cryopods to help stabilize him, at least until a proper healer was available to help him. He'd refused and told Doctor Mother that this was HIS greatest fight. He needed to win, to triumph over impossible odds. To prove to everyone he was worthy of the great power and responsibility he'd been given.
Rebecca had flat out told the prideful idiot that if he hadn't improved by the time she got back from this meeting she'd stuff him the icebox herself, then personally collect Bonesaw to fix him up.
"All right, anyone have any new information for me on this utter clusterfuck? Paul, what've I missed?"
Legend began talking "Chevalier, Myrrdin and Armsmaster are commanding the Protectorate response as well as coordinating with any independent heroes, rogues and villains. Accord has offered his services for logistical oversight, along with his Ambassadors for rescue and recovery efforts. Same with Kaiser and the Empire 88. Butcher XII showed up a few hours ago with the Teeth saying 'they'd be happy to help patrol the place.'"
Rebecca blinked in astonishment, then facepalmed. "Let me guess: The area's post-apocalyptic enough that they think they'd fit right in."
Paul nodded. "They're keeping to the Truce so far. And we need every hand we can get. Even theirs."
Behind her hand Rebecca grumbled. "Next we'll have the fucking Slaughterhouse Nine show up there. Just what we need."
Number Man then spoke up. "I know Jacob. There's no joy for him in terrorizing a bombed out wasteland. The Fallen however, will show up."
"Of course Kurt, because that's where their Goddess died."
"I don't think they'll be finding any 'Relics' though. We've recovered over 95% of the Simurgh's remains. Based on the reconstruction, the missing portion is her right shoulder. From the fragmentation pattern, it seems to be the source point of the explosion." the former S9 member continued.
"The Simurgh blew herself up?" Paul exclaimed.
"Or it was possibly due to some unknown aspect of Miss Hebert's power. Have we given her an alias yet?"
"Dr. Wells is using 'Lina' for some reason right now on the official documents. Not that any of those will ever see the light of day if I have anything to say about it."
"That won't work." the other woman at the table finally replied.
"Contessa? You're able to Path her now?"
"No. She's still a blind spot. But the models I have been able to run are... disturbing."
"How?" Rebecca asked with a glower.
Contessa subtly glanced toward Legend, knowing that only Alexandria would catch the movement. They both were aware of some methods Cauldron did that Paul was not privy to. "It's unclear, but several Paths I attempted ended abruptly for no obvious reason. Given the possible destructive potential of her power, I recommend an excess of caution and discretion in dealing with her."
"A Christine situation then?" Kurt commented. They all were aware of Christine Mathers, a young woman with a toddler who had somehow Triggered as one of the most powerful human Masters ever encountered. Their plan to indenture them into Cauldron had backfired horribly somehow and the Fallen had become one of the PRT's biggest headaches in the southern half of the US.
The meeting was interrupted by the sound of alarms going off. Everyone jumped from their seats, but the alarms were just as quickly silenced.
Seconds later, a portal opened in the room as a breeze wafted in, followed by Doctor Mother.
"What's going on? Why is the Custodian with you? Why aren't you with Eidolon?" Alexandria demanded.
"David's dead." was the simple reply.
Kurt, Paul and Rebeca sat back down with shocked looks, Contessa simply nodded sagely, then cocked her head as though listening for something. "I must go, the Path has changed. Door." Immediately stepping through the glowing gateway that appeared before her.
"What happened?" Rebecca uttered in an icy voice.
"David finally passed out from exhaustion. Custodian and I were about to put him in the cryopod when Glaistig Uaine just appeared in front of us."
"WHAT?!"
"She said: 'I come to Claim him. The High Priest no longer Commands his Flock, and one day the Queen shall Unify us in her Grandeur.' then she teleported out with him. Ten seconds, if that."
Alexandria turned to the table seething, before smashing it in half with one blow.
Yup, David died of his injuries. They were in fact worthy opponents. Cauldron will publicly play him up as a martyr who died killing the Simurgh. July 4th will become Eidolon Day. It's one of the best plans to ever come out of the Kettle.
As for the cryptic commentary: The Faerie Queen has subverted the other Endbringers, shut them down for the moment and hinted at Taylor eventually pulling some Grand Unified Theory bullshit in the future. Not that anyone in story (even Ciara) knows about THAT.
Taylor's unique physiology makes her immune to certain Powers. Thinker shards, for example, tend to go a bit wibbly when looking at her.
Taylor lay on the bedshelf in her room, the ceiling light strips turned down, her eyes closed but twitching beneath the lids, her breathing slow and slightly irregular, the beating of her heart a steady rhythm. Anyone observing her would probably assume she'd gotten bored of the portable video game that had been brought to her and gone to sleep.
All fake.
Taylor hadn't told anyone about any of this. She'd been alert and aware from the moment she'd come to in the glassy crater that was once a city, Alexandria hovering above her. After two-and-a-half days she wasn't tired at all. Or hungry, thirsty, uncomfortably hot or cold or anything. She'd pretended to be in shock when she'd first arrived here, and the scientists had accepted that. Why not? She'd just survived something truly horrendous without a scratch. Obviously the poor girl was going to be practically catatonic over what happened.
But Taylor wasn't. She was fully aware of what happened. The Simurgh had descended from on high and begun her attack. The SCREAM had started in the back of her mind and the last thing she had thought before passing out was that Dad and Emma and Uncle Alan weren't there to share her fate.
And then she woke up to see HER. RIGHT THERE. Floating over her and staring like she was some interesting bug.
No words in any language could truly describe the raw PANIC Taylor felt at that moment, followed by the pure searing WHITE. Taylor knew she'd destroyed the city. She wasn't quite sure how, but in that moment of absolute terror she'd instinctively done something that killed all those people. And most worryingly, upon reminiscing, she hadn't really been all that upset by it.
When her mother had died, Taylor had cried herself to sleep for a week in Emma's arms. But when Dr. Yamada told her that her Dad had committed suicide and Emma and Uncle Alan had died in the explosion she'd not felt anything close to the same level of pure heart wrenching and soul shattering grief.
Her emotions were THERE, just... blunted. Like she was watching herself as a character in a movie.
And Taylor thought maybe that's what she was now. A bystander in her own body. Or something that looked like her body.
She was pretty sure she REALLY needed to talk about this with someone. Who could she tell though? "Hi Doctor, I think I died and I'm a ghost piloting a robot or something that looks like me. Any suggestions?"
The doctors must have checked on her medical records as soon as she'd told them her name and where she was from. They'd not noticed that she didn't need her glasses to see clearly.
It wasn't like she needed her EYES to 'see' anymore.
Taylor looked at the bright spot glowing through the floor and inwardly chuckled. She was pretty sure that was the Sun. She could remember it moving in a circle around her along almost exactly same path more than twice now. She'd been able to focus on it regardless of the time, without needing to really turn her head at it, so whatever she was doing she could see it. Even through the planet.
And it felt warm... like a sunbeam. Taylor gave a little smirk as though she were having a good dream.
The other difference was that she could remember a LOT of things very well now.
Taylor was sure she could recite The Hobbit verbatim from when her mom read it to her years ago. Or remember that while she'd probably not seen everyone in this facility, wherever it was, none of them had ever mentioned a 'Doctor Elliot' before.
Which probably meant something had occurred that made Doctor Yamada leave in a hurry.
It had happened just after she'd gotten really upset for the first time since she was here.
Taylor hoped she hadn't hurt her somehow. Doctor Yamada seemed nice.
But then again, these people from the PRT... weren't being entirely truthful with her now, were they?
Her Mom and Dad had told Taylor more than once that while police were supposed to be trusted... she shouldn't really say anything to them unless one of them or another adult she knew was present.
Uncle Alan or Aunt Zoe, Kurt or Lacey from the Union. That old guy, Erwin, that would take all of them out on fishing trips on the Fourth of July. Mom had said he was like Ernest Hemingway, what with the locked tackle box that Emma, Anne and she had been told to never, EVER mess with without permission because it had some VERY dangerous things inside that young girls like them shouldn't play around with.
Taylor finally pretended to stir in her sleep. She sat up and blinked before shuffling over to the privacy area or latrine or whatever they called the little toilet/sink/shower cubby in the room. She drew a cup of water and drank it, then went over to the intercom by the door.
"Hello? is anyone there?" Silence.
"Um... Hello? Is this thing on? I'm guessing it's late... or early maybe? Anybody else awake?" No answer.
Taylor pushed the button a third time. "I want to talk to Doctor Yamada. Is everything all right?"
Still nothing from the other end. What was going on?
Taylor knocked on the door to her room. Not a cell. "Is somebody out there?"
Taylor pounded harder. "Hey, Lemme out of here, you assholes!" They wouldn't just abandon her down here, right?
Taylor began beating on the door wildly. It didn't hurt. A part of her idly thought that she should be beating her knuckles raw against this metal piece of shit.
A bigger part of her mind told her that something like this COULD NOT hurt her.
<bang>
THAT IF THEY WOULDN'T LET HER OUT...
<BANG>
SHE'D MAKE HER WAY OUT. <BANG>
ONE WAY...
<BANG> OR ANOTHER! <BOOM>
There was a burst of light that knocked Taylor on her ass. She shook her head and looked up. A hole a bit larger than her fist had been blown through the middle of the hatch, the edges glowing with heat. The lighting in the room turned bright red and alarms began sounding.
Taylor stood up and shook her hand. "Wooo! Taylor, you rule. Huh, and STILL nobody's shown up. Looks like I'm gonna have to Kool-Aid Man my way out of here. I'd better not have pretended to sleep through a zombie apocalypse or something."
A Wild Erwin Appears! Everyone loves Erwin! (Don't let the ceiling lizards hear otherwise, they're EVERYWHERE.)
Taylor's mind is running on <Shard.exe>. As a result, she's got perfect recall like RCB. She's also immune to Masters. Sucks to be you Heartbreaker, Valefor, Mama Mathers, Jack Slash...
Dr. Wells went with Jessica to the Boston PRT so she could recover. She was planning to come back in the morning. The idiot she left in charge however, decided they could clear the facility, siting lingering radiation issues, without disturbing Taylor. That little cowardly abuse of authority, thought: 'She's sleeping, she won't even know we left.'. That combined with a lot of people running on caffeine pills, energy drinks and cigarettes, scuttlebutt starting up about Eidolon's death, no immediate evidence that Taylor could get out on her own AND this all happening at around 2 AM just makes this another clusterfuck.
Next chapter is coming along well I think, but I had this bit of whimsy I needed to put down that might eventually become canon. Thank You All for your support and enjoy!
"Dragon, I'm almost there. Any problems with my signal?"
*Copy Taylor, I'm reading you five by five. How's everything look on your end?*
Taylor turned her head as she searched "It's a little weird. There's not exactly a lot of landmarks around but... Ah, there it is. Heading over now."
A minute later short pulses of high velocity alpha particles were kicking up a bit of dust before Taylor's bare feet settled on the ground. She'd landed a couple hundred meters away from the site, not wanting to disturb anything accidentally.
*I copy you down, Taylor. Is the view worth it?*
"It is. Buzz was right, it's beautiful. Magnificent desolation. Tranquility Base here, the Owl has landed."
Taylor couldn't help but giggle a bit as she carefully bounded to the Eagle's descent stage, her toes leaving impossible footprints in the regolith.
"The flag's fallen over, it's been bleached out. Should I fix it?"
*That was expected. We don't need to worry about that this second.*
"Okay." Taylor pulled a gilded plaque from her backpack and set it next to the one Apollo 11 had left there 45 years prior.
On July 20th, 2014 A.D. We returned to this place where Humanity took the first tentative steps from our home.
To remember those who have come before, and to honor future explorers yet to come.
"Did you know my mom wanted to be an astronaut, Dragon?"
*I think that was fairly common for children of her generation.*
"I know. You'd think with Scion and Parahumans starting to pop up back then, Space wasn't important anymore. She was watching the Challenger launch in school. That, combined with the PRT starting up, pretty much mothballed NASA. Sphere tried to get everything moving again and, well... But we've got a chance now. Things are getting better."
*That is true. So. Any inspirational words from the first woman on the Moon?*
I can tell you that the little things are tricky too. They sneak up on you. They're insidious. They grind away at you like the wind and waves eroding rock to sand.
But sand can become stone again. Soot and ash can forged by fire and pressure into diamonds. Keep looking forward."
"Doctor Wells? Doctor Wells, I'm sorry you need to get up."
Ruby blinked the sleep from her eyes and cracked her neck before focusing on the PRT trooper who had woken her. She looked over at the hospital bed where Jessica was still blackout drunk. The monitors weren't showing anything unusual though, which brought a sigh of relief. Blearily she asked: "Sergeant? What time is it? What's happening?"
"A bit past oh-two-thirty hours, Ma'am. An automated alert came in from Station 42 about five minutes ago. The emergency self-destruct triggered."
That woke her up in an instant. "Causalties?"
"Not sure. Lieutenant Richards is looking over the feeds now. He's passed it up the chain to Directors Armstrong, Wilkins and Piggot, but given the hour it might be a while for a response from everybody."
Ruby pulled on her lab coat. "Take me down there." She needed answers. What the Hell had gone on while she was asleep?
T +60:03:00
PRT Remote Station 42, Sub Level 3
Taylor stared closely at the hole in the doorway she'd just blasted, poking at the edges of the hole, then looking down at herself. While she was fine, the sleeve of her sweatshirt was in burnt tatters. Several spots on the front were also smoking from where bits of molten metal had spattered, so she quickly patted them out.
"Okay. I've got explodey fists. Good for me to get out of here, bad if I actually run into anybody. For them maybe. I don't want to hurt anyone, I just want to talk to Doctor Yamada. So where is everyone?"
Dr. Wells looked over the comm logs and was furious. The chopper that had transported Jessica and herself had barely been off the ground before that cowardly weasel-faced shit Forrester had, as ranking officer on-site, ordered all staff to 'temporarily evacuate to the Plattsburg barracks until morning' citing 'lingering potential health hazards in the building'. Miss Hebert had not been informed of any of this, as by the time all the other people were heading out, she was apparently asleep.
When he'd communicated his decision at the time, he'd gone on record as saying: "We're nervous, tired and prone to not thinking straight right now. We can all use six hours of proper rack time, her included. She'll sleep right through the night and not even know we left. Besides, it's not like something's going to hurt her, right?"
Barring the possible security breach about Miss Hebert's existence, the fact he'd just abandoned a highly traumatized young girl like that was gross incompetence of the highest order in her mind.
"Lieutenant." Wells said in an absolutely frigid tone. "The Chief Director needs to be notified of this right away. My discretion." Dr. Wells wasn't in the direct chain of command of the PRT but her security clearance did make her the equivalent of a Deputy Director in this sort of situation. "Then call Plattsburg. Have the ranking officer secure Captain Forrester immediately. If he wants to take a nap so fucking badly he can do it in the M/S Tank."
Station 42 had been built in the now abandoned small town of Chazy, New York as part of the Ellisburg Containment Zone
The 'room' Taylor had been in was originally built for the possible study of Nilbog's creations.
The disastrous raid on Ellisburg had meant that the station had not been used before now, but the various automated safety features built into it were still present. The first of those activated now. The elevator to the holding cell was disabled and armored doors sealed the shaft.
Taylor thought a bit more about how she was going to get the door open. "Explodey Fists aside, I really don't want to end up naked again. Maybe I can tone the boom down a bit?" She looked at hands and concentrated. Bursts of blue light began to flash from her fingertips.
"Well that's neat, but I don't think being a human sparkler is going to help me right now. This must be something like what that guy from New Wave can do."
Taylor racked her memory for a moment then snapped her fingers. A fat blue spark popped in front of her. "Right! Flashbang! But I need something more like Photon Mom's lasers. Or maybe Brandish? She can do lightsabers, right?"
Unbeknownst to Taylor, her inadvertent display of Cherenkov radiation had produced an electromagnetic pulse. This not only disabled the facility's cameras, someone would now have to be physically present to override any system responses.
"Fuck." Dr. wells muttered as she read through the last of the sensor logs. "Contact the Department of Energy. I think I'm going to need a NEST team scrambled."
Taylor placed her hands against the door and pushed without actually trying to force it open. Immediately it began to glow red hot, then a brighter orange as her fingers sank into the metal like it was made of clay. The room was getting quite warm by the time she'd melted a hole large enough to step through. Taylor stepped back, licked her thumb and smiled as she touched her butt. "Tsss. Hot!"
The sudden temperature increase though had finally triggered the Halon fire suppression system.
"Wait... isn't water supposed to be coming out of the sprinklers?" Taylor asked to no one in particular as she stared at the plumes coming from nozzles that had popped out of the ceiling. "Are you idiots trying to GAS me? Screw this!"
With that Taylor slammed her hands on the outer door of the airlock and burned through in seconds, stumbling through into the hallway.
Where she saw the pile of clothes Doctor Yamada had been wearing hours before on the floor.
The lights were still flashing red, alarms still ringing, but for a moment Taylor didn't see or hear them. The buttons on the blouse were torn off. Her notepad and pen dropped haphazardly. Her glasses, shoes... bra and panties even.
Taylor didn't think, she just rushed the elevator doors and SLAMMED into them. Another explosion tore them loose, loud clangs echoing as they bounced off the far side of the shaft and down into the service well. Taylor was flung backward to the other end of the hall. She sat dazed for a moment, her clothes now substantially more tattered.
"Right. Third Law and Sir Isaac Newton is a sonofabitch." Taylor took a moment to think. If someone had abducted Doctor Yamada, it had been as soon as she'd left Taylor, and that had been hours ago. That must have been why nobody had answered her. Someone came in and rounded everyone up. The PRT presumably, because who else knew about this place? There hadn't been any blood, so they probably didn't kill her, but why strip her? Maybe she had a panic button or something? She'd seem psychologists and doctors on TV use something like that when patients got violent.
Speaking of violence... Taylor was feeling a definite need right now for some creative expression thereof.
Taylor stuck her head in the shaft and looked up. No lights, but darkness no longer mattered to her. No access ladder though. Weren't there supposed to be ladders in elevator shafts in case there was a fire? What she did see though...
"Is that a BLAST DOOR? Is this place some kind of Endbringer shelter or something?"
Taylor shrugged and reached into the shaft. She stuck her hand against the concrete and it only took a second to melt a handhold. Swinging fully inside, her other hand and feet quickly made holes of their own in the wall.
"I guess I do get to go rock climbing this summer." Taylor mused as she began moving upwards.
The blast shield was rather thick. Taylor made her hand white hot to carve a hole though the edge of it. She had to push into it to the wrist before her fingertips broke through. Squeezing through the small hole lined with red hot metal had been too much for her clothes though. Finally standing on top of the door she brushed off the soot and slag she'd gotten covered by, then noticed the nozzles in the corners of the shaft just below another bulkhead.
"Sorry, you jerks! Gas still isn't going to work!"
It wasn't gas that sprayed out from them.
When the facility was built, it was wisely decided that there had to be contingencies in place in the event of a breakout. Had Emily Piggot been present during the design phase, with her experience in Ellisburg, the 2nd to last protocol she would've suggested would be fluoroantimonic acid, or in her mind, Xenomorph blood.
Sadly, the builders neither had access to her personal experience on the subject, nor was the budget available to actually implement that, as HF/SbF5 Is prohibitively expensive and difficult to store in quantity over long periods of time.
They decided that simple hydrofluoric acid was more than sufficient.
Taylor lay on her back, looking up at the second bulkhead. Puddles of acid fumed around her as it drained through the hole. She spat in disgust, it tasted terrible.
"That all you got you pieces of shit? I am VERY disappointed!" she shouted in frustration. "I swear to God if this ruins my hair I am going to shove my Glowy Fist of Doom so far up your asses..."
Taylor got up and started climbing again, being careful not to overheat and start melting the walls too much.
The final failsafe in the event of a containment breach was a thermobaric explosive. When detonated, it would fill every part of the complex with a cloud of gas approaching 3000 degrees Celsius, carried forward by a pressure wave strong enough to pulverize reinforced concrete. Anything that could possibly survive that would still be thoroughly buried in the rubble as the ground collapsed.
Getting caught in it would be like being inside the barrel when a naval artillery shell was fired.
Which is why, as Taylor was looking up at the top of the elevator shaft, halfway through the second blast door, she was very suddenly accelerated into a high ballistic arc at approximately 900 meters per second.
T +65:00:00
Doctor Wells looked aghast at the shallow sinkhole that was once Station 42. Somewhere buried under hundreds of tons of rock, lay Taylor Hebert.
Alone.
Yay! Taylor is out and about! Naked as a jaybird but she has other more pressing concerns at the moment.
Enosburg Ellisburg, Vermont is about 30 miles due east of Chazy, NY, on the other side of Lake Champlain.
