What... What just happened. I am confusion? Annete, what did you do? Heavy machinery, gulls, sunlight seen through the tank... Is Khanivore!Taylor on the beach? I NEED ANSWERS.
 
I think she was kidnapped. Don't know by who.
Coil would know that heroes are on Taylor's case, so he would avoid that heat. And the location implies by the ocean. Assuming a known location that's either the Boat Graveyard or The Rig. The Graveyard has no working machinery and is the first place people would look for a runaway tinker that couldn't have gone far. The Rig does have machinery and I'd bet Vic & Amy would contact the PRT if shit got real with Annette. So I'm guessing Taylor is on the Rig in Protectorate custody now.
 
Coil would know that heroes are on Taylor's case, so he would avoid that heat. And the location implies by the ocean. Assuming a known location that's either the Boat Graveyard or The Rig. The Graveyard has no working machinery and is the first place people would look for a runaway tinker that couldn't have gone far. The Rig does have machinery and I'd bet Vic & Amy would contact the PRT if shit got real with Annette. So I'm guessing Taylor is on the Rig in Protectorate custody now.
That would be a pretty sudden resolution to the Annette situation. Also, why would she have forgotten the entire evening if the Protectorate had gotten ahold of her and had her on the Rig?
 
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You are going to give diabeetus and rot my teeth right out of my skull with how sweet the date was, right up until Annette did something...stupid? Smart? I suppose we will find out soon...hopefully.

Curse your cliffhangers!!!*shakes fist*

Well done as always! Kudos
 
So if Taylor is with the PRT (I could be wrong) then this doesn't necessarily mean she's safe. Iirc Taylor's a copy patterned off of Taylor's brain rather than a transplant. The PRT may well label her a tinker creation and not a full person. So a PRT capture could be an out of the pan into the fire situation for her. Annette was possessive as fuck but at least she'd acknowledge Taylor's personhood.
Edit: plus, if Taylor is declared not legally a person then Annette hasn't really commited any crimes here. So she may well be allowed to come onboard as a hero and keep Taylor. So now she'd have two entities holding her.
 
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So if Taylor is with the PRT (I could be wrong) then this doesn't necessarily mean she's safe. Iirc Taylor's a copy patterned off of Taylor's brain rather than a transplant. The PRT may well label her a tinker creation and not a full person. So a PRT capture could be an out of the pan into the fire situation for her. Annette was possessive as fuck but at least she'd acknowledge Taylor's personhood.
Edit: plus, if Taylor is declared not legally a person then Annette hasn't really commited any crimes here. So she may well be allowed to come onboard as a hero and keep Taylor. So now she'd have two entities holding her.
PRT ENE has its tinker-tech assessments made by Armsmaster.

Who has certain opinions about the personhood of sentient tinkertech.

D&D is best ship.
 
PRT ENE has its tinker-tech assessments made by Armsmaster.

Who has certain opinions about the personhood of sentient tinkertech.

D&D is best ship.
I agree that D&D is wonderful, however Colin doesn't know about Dragon. And at this stage is very much toeing the party line with the Protectorate. And Piggot likely has far more say in Taylor's status than he does.
 
PRT ENE has its tinker-tech assessments made by Armsmaster.

Who has certain opinions about the personhood of sentient tinkertech.

D&D is best ship.
according to WB, if Armsy hadn't learned humility from Skitter being Skitter in the leviathan fight, when Dragon came out to him as an AI, he'd turn her into a tool. so...
 
according to WB, if Armsy hadn't learned humility from Skitter being Skitter in the leviathan fight, when Dragon came out to him as an AI, he'd turn her into a tool. so...
Ah, no, that's if Coil had been fucking with him for a while.

People forget that part of that WoG.
 
PRT ENE has its tinker-tech assessments made by Armsmaster.

Who has certain opinions about the personhood of sentient tinkertech.

D&D is best ship.
Armsmaster didn't find out that Dragon was an AI until the S9 showed up. This is quite a bit earlier than that. I'm not certain he would have been so supportive of sentient tinkertech if he didn't already consider said tinkertech a close friend/potential partner, either.

At this point in time, Armsmaster is primarily focused on his career. And since Piggot also has certain opinions about the personhood of biotinker creations, I doubt he feels strongly enough to the contrary to go to bat for Taylor, especially when it would mean going directly against someone who is functionally his boss. Dragon might be able to do something to help Taylor, but her personal influence has limits. I'm not sure she could get Armsmaster on her side here, either, if he feels it might be damaging to his career (which it very well could be).

That Taylor has a nonfunctional brain in her human body's skull and that her memories are imperfect are other factors that don't work out in her favor, here. If Annette had transplanted her brain into the Khanivore body, I could see a case being made that Annette saved her daughter however she could within her specialty. However, there's enough evidence to the contrary here that I could see the PRT arguing that Taylor isn't the original, so much as an imperfect replica. Meaning that, in their view, Annette is an unstable biotinker who, in her grief, built herself a creature and convinced it and herself that it was her daughter. Which really isn't a good look.

Agreed that D&D is definitely up there in Worm ships, though.
 
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Breathe, Abigail. Deep breaths.
Oh, Abigail POV? Something's likely to go wrong...

Holy shit she looks like a lesbian plaid vampire with that winged eyeliner, bite me.
Damn, that sounds hot. Nice job Vicky!

I woke up in the tank, sunlight streaking through a window, the unfamiliar sounds of heavy machinery moving around outside and the calls of gulls.

What?
GOD FUCKING DAMN IT. WHAT?!
Okay...
Okay, calm down people. This could be Taylor's POV again, and she got mind wiped. I'm thinking so because it says
I woke up in the tank
'The tank' not 'a tank' meaning she knows what's going on, so it's likely Taylor. I'm not going to break down the possibility of this being Abby, since that's highly unlikely. Too many risks of Annette pulling something like that.
Taking a look at the other info we have, looks like someone moved her to the beach? If it's just on the coast, it's likely an ally who is preparing to help her escape, but that's not part of the plan. It could be Annette, who made Taylor an upgrade that lets her live in the ocean, and there was an accidental memory wipe in transit. Or it could be intentional and instead of on the beach, she's in a warehouse somewhere and can't escape now that Annette knows Taylor knows. (Another option I forgot about was the Rig. If it's the rig, she must have lost a damn long amount of time to get all the way there in a tank without waking up.
Regardless of what's actually happening, there wasn't an official fade to black, and she definitely wasn't expecting to be there, so something has gone wrong, and someone dropped the ball.

I for one welcome our Monster overlords as New Wave teams with Taylor to raze the city in search of Abby and Annette.
 
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Excellent rug pull. I hate you for stopping the adorkable PDA's but loving the story so far. My bet its Bakuda bombing a popular spot, but afaik Lung hasn't been caught yet.
 
Tay has leave her mother unchecked too long and with the induced idea of combat-pit and Ann has go all in with the fighting monster pit at the docks (help of the DWU?) and in the removal something came out cutting the conection between drone-pilot... or she/they are been attacked and Ann pull the plug so Tay can help them...

Did Annette know of the date?
 
Hmm... Ah wait, I get it. We're supposed to channel Taylor's inner bookworm and read this chapter like we're analyzing a high school English text.

So in this scene, ascending the stairs is symbolic of rising up to heaven. Taylor's meat body had a sudden gay aneurysm and took a tumble. The tank represents the weight of social pressure on lesbians, while the water inside it represents a symbolic return to the womb, and seagulls represent angels. But by remaining in the tank with the birds flying free outside, we can surmise that Taylor remains trapped by social pressure and her mother's suffocating love, but did not die and was thus denied freedom. The sound of heavy machinery represents communism.

I'll take my A++ to go, thank you.
 
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Whatever happened, happened during the missing sequence of 2.6. Best guess is that Ann reviewed Taylor's memories, and decided to move her to a more secure location, then wiped the move from her mind.
 
*reads last chapter after a binge of the whole thing, jumps off the cliffhanger*Urgh...It's so good. Just in general, though I will enjoy when/if her monster body starts walking around town.
 
The Grand Pizza Conspiracy: Playing with your Food
I feel like these get goofier every time I write one but given what just happened in the actual fic, a little goofiness didn't feel out of order. Obviously, this no longer lines up with and pretty directly contradicts how things played out in the actual fic. Also, a few people might be out of character for the sake of silliness—Victoria, in particular, at a few points.

Oh well, I guess.

Wait, What? Part 3

"Okay, this is the plan."

"That," Amy said, staring down at the plate Victoria had pushed into the middle of the table and was now pointing at, "is a slice of pizza." She frowned at the sudden smell of salt and fish wafting in her direction. "With anchovies."

And pepperoni and onions and peppers. But the anchovies? Gross.

Victoria scoffed. "Well, we can't exactly draw a map in the middle of the cafeteria," she said. "This is a covert operation! If Target One walks past, we need plausible deniability."

"Target One?" Amy asked. "You mean Tayl—"

"Target One," Victoria said. "Call her Target One. Covert, remember?"

Amy stared at her. "No," she said after a few seconds of silence. "That's dumb."

"Is it, Sis?" Victoria asked. "Is it dumb?"

"Yes," Amy said. "Very."

Victoria raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "Oh? So now it's dumb to want to allow someone who might be a parahuman a secret identity?"

"That's not—" Amy cut herself off, rubbing her forehead with one hand. She was pretty sure she was starting to get a headache. "I just think you might be getting a little too into this."

"For once, I'm with Amy on this one," Dean said, pointedly ignoring the look she shot him. "Vic, we don't even know for sure that there's anything wrong with that girl. I'm fine with looking into it, but I'd rather not get more involved than we need to be. She looks weird to Amy's powers and mine, but there are plenty of explanations for that."

"Such as?" Victoria asked, raising an eyebrow. When no answer was forthcoming, she continued. "Best case scenario, she's a cape. A Changer or a Case 53 or something. And that's fine. The last thing I want is to out her. But worst case? She's mastered or been experimented on or something like that. In which case, she might be in desperate need of help!"

Amy shook her head. If she had known this was where things would lead, she never would have tried to find the girl again. Maybe she wouldn't have minded if Dean stuck his nose in where it didn't belong. But he had and now here he was. The last thing she needed was to spend more time around him and Victoria.

Not that she had any objections to spending more time with Victoria. But with Dean? No. Not so much.

"Or," Amy suggested, "we could just mind our own business and all go our separate ways."

"Are you serious, Ames?" Victoria asked. "We can't walk away from this. We're heroes! We help people. It's what we do."

Amy rolled her eyes, choking back a bitter retort. Telling Victoria that she could spend her time helping fifty times as many people if she went to the hospital wasn't helpful. Victoria would just use it as an excuse to tell her that she was spending too much time there, again.

Instead, Amy just weakly muttered, "I already do plenty."

"Being a hero isn't just something that's one and done," Victoria said, giving Amy her most soulful look. "It's a mindset. An acknowledgement that whatever happens, wherever you are, you will always put the wellbeing of others before yourself." She paused, looking as though she was trying her best to hold back a laugh. "Or… something like that."

Something like…

The words tickled at a vague memory in the back of Amy's mind. For a moment, there was silence as she tried to place it. Then Dean snorted. "Quoting old Alexandria cartoons, again?"

Victoria's expression cracked.

Dean's face split into a wide grin. "Oh, you totally are! Aren't you?"

"Hush, You!"

Oh my God…

For about the twentieth time in that lunch alone, Amy felt compelled to roll her eyes. "Ugh, fine. But we still haven't even confirmed whether Tay—"

Victoria shot her a warning look as she interrupted. "Target One."

"…whether…" I can't believe I'm about to say this. "Target One is even the girl I bumped into."

"Hence the plan," Victoria said. She turned her attention back to the slice of pizza sitting in the middle of the table. "So. These"—she pointed to a pair of anchovies at the pointy end of the pizza slice—"are Target One and… uh… friend."

Amy glanced back over her shoulder. Oh. Chris was sitting with the scarred girl. Since when were they friends?

Victoria continued, now pointing at a cluster of toppings near the pizza slice's crust. Two chunks of pepper and an onion bit. "And these are us."

"Let me guess," Amy said dryly. "I'm the onion."

"Sure, with that attitude," Victoria said, smirking. She reached out a finger and uprooted the onion and two peppers from the mess of oily cheese they were embedded in. Amy would have blanched in disgust if she didn't know for a fact that Victoria was using her forcefield to keep her fingers clean. Still, the cheese made an awful, sucking sound as the toppings came popping free.

Couldn't we have used salt and pepper shakers?

"Now, the problem," Victoria continued, "is that I didn't exactly make the best first impression on Target One. And she's sort of been acting like she hates me, ever since."

Dean blinked. "What? Why? What happened?"

Victoria looked shame-faced. "I may have been startled by her scars." She took a breath, clearly disappointed in herself. "And then acted like I was about to punch her."

Dammit, Vicky.

"I know," Victoria said, seeing her expression. "I know, I know. In my defense, I got into a fight with Cricket when I was out on patrol the night before. So, seeing the scars all of a sudden…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "Not really an excuse, but the association was there and they caught me by surprise. I tried to apologize, but I think the damage was done, at that point."

"Don't be too hard on yourself," Dean said, nudging her gently. "Mistakes happen."

"Yeah." Victoria smiled sadly, then leaned over to put her head on Dean's shoulder. Dean put an arm around her, then tilted his head so that his cheek was resting against the top of her head.

Amy turned and made sure to look just about anywhere else.

"Alright," Victoria said after a few seconds. When Amy looked back again, she had thankfully separated herself from Dean and was now leaning over the table again. She was thoroughly tempted to look away again when she realized that Victoria was picking out pizza toppings and rearranging them. "So, here's the plan."

Oh. Right. I forgot that we're apparently playing with our food, today.

Joy.


Amy leaned back in her chair, barely listening as Victoria launched into a plan that Amy didn't really care to make heads or tails of, using the pizza toppings as props. It probably would work fine. Along with her many other good qualities, Victoria actually pretty good at this sort of thing. But the subject matter, and the fact that Dean was sitting there, apparently listening attentively put a major damper on things.

This, she decided, was a waste of time. A stupid waste of time when the whole issue could be solved within the space of thirty seconds, after which she could move on and do something better with her life.

She looked over at Dean, who was still sitting a lot closer to Victoria than she liked.

Yeah. There was no way she was going along with this idea.

"Amy?" Victoria asked as Amy stood. "Amy, what are you doing?"

"A covert mission," Amy said, her tone as deadpan as she could manage. "Obviously."

She turned and made a beeline for the table that Taylor—because there was no in hell, she was going to call the scarred girl 'Target One' within the safety of her own brain—and Chris were currently occupying, ignored Victoria's increasingly alarmed calls as she left their table behind.

Chris and Taylor always sat at the same table. It wasn't quite in the corner of the cafeteria, but it was out of the way and on the opposite end of the room from the serving line. Very few people were likely to walk past it, accidentally. Taylor's eyes were on Amy the moment she came within fifteen feet of the table. Chris, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice until she deposited herself at the head of the table, almost directly between the two of them.

"Oh," Chris said, clearly not quite sure how to handle her sudden appearance. "Amy. Hi! Taylor, this is Amy. Amy, this is Taylor."

"I didn't realize you two knew each other," Taylor said, her expression openly suspicious.

Chris laughed, nervously. "Oh. Uh. Amy's more like a friend of a friend."

Taylor frowned. Clearly, she had no idea that the boy she was hanging around was a ward, but she could definitely tell that there had been something off about his explanation. "I see," she said slowly. "Um. Hi."

"Hi," Amy said, holding out her hand.

Taylor only hesitated a moment before taking it. The moment their skin touched, Amy knew she had the right girl. Part of her was actually relieved. The same part of her that had convinced itself that maybe she hadn't seen anything, after all.

The rest of her was deeply, deeply disturbed by what she could see of Taylor's physiology.

"So, uh, can we help you with something, Amy?" Chris asked as Taylor retracted her hand. "Not that you're not welcome to sit with us, but normally you're over there with Vicky." He glanced back over his shoulder at Victoria and Dean's stricken faces. "Seems she wants you back over there, too."

"My sister can wait," Amy said. "Actually, I was hoping Taylor could answer a question, for me."

Taylor's eyes darted down to her right hand. She paled. Paler even than she already was, which was definitely a feat deserving of some kind of record. Amy smirked, inwardly. Yeah. She definitely already knew what was about to happen.

"So," Amy said, leaning in close enough to whisper. "Why don't have a brain?"
 
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"So," Amy said, leaning in close enough to whisper. "Why don't have a brain?"
Taylor paused for a moment. It was painfully obvious that she was trying to think of something witty to say. "... um. I'm an american highschool student. Are you telling me that's not par for the course?"

Amy just stared at her.

"Turns out Mom was right when she said I'd forget my head if it wasn't screwed on?"

Amy continued to stare at her.

"... I mean come on, I had PE last class, it wasn't like I was using it."

Amy had to actively keep a straight face now, but she was actually kind of interested in how many excuses the girl could come up with.

"Um... Chris? Help?"

"You're a pretty z- um. Pretty well-kept zombie?"

Taylor and Amy both stared at him.

"I don't know, I can hardly even use my own most days, it honestly sounds like it'd be more efficient to leave it at home!"
 
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