Nuclear Fire 24
A new day, a new week, and a new school for Taylor. This is the day where we'll see if all our efforts were worth a damn! And as we walk down the stairs it feels me with pride to see Taylor dressed in the clothes I made for her, carrying her scarab over her shoulder.
So proud I am that I barely see Danny waiting for us.
"Taylor? What are you wearing?"
Curious, shouldn't he have left for his job already?
"Oh, this? Just something I pulled from the closet." Taylor lies. "I haven't used it in ages."
I'm already thinking about refurbishing her entire wardrobe. It should be super easy.
"Reminds me of one of your mother's dresses."
"Yeah. But, dad, why are you still here?" Yeah, Taylor also notices the strange presence of Danny at the house.
"I'm going to take you to Rochester." He smiles as I have never seen him smiling yet. He actually looks happy.
Taylor's back straightens, her face going very pale at that.
"Rochester?" I ask.
"Yes, Taylor's new school." Wait, what? "It wasn't easy but I managed to get her a position there through my contacts in the Association."
My hair stands on end. Shit, we never told Danny about Arcadia, did we? What were we thinking?! Of course he'd notice!
Oh, but how could we have explained all the illegal hoops and loops we went through to get Taylor there?
Shit, shit, shit! This is what happens when you treat people as non-entities. They tend to wander off and take initiatives.
"You don't have to, dad. Seriously." Taylor sounds like a robot as she says that.
"Nonsense! Let your old man escort you there."
Oh, come on! Why did he choose this time to pull his head out of his ass and start behaving like a father?
"Mister Hebert," My tone is deadly serious, "No offense but if one of my classmates arrived escorted by her parents we'd all laugh our asses off."
Taylor emphatically nods at my side. "Yes, dad. I want to have a strong start, and arriving at school with my dad won't help there."
"Your old man embarrasses you, Taylor? But it's okay, I understand." Damn, he genuinely sounds wounded by that. But seriously, how old does he think she is? Oh, yes. The last time he interacted with her in any meaningful way she must have been twelve.
I must repeat myself: why did he pick this moment to start caring again?
Not in the best of moods -so, like always- he departs for the docks, leaving Taylor and me alone to drown in our panic.
"You knew about this?" I yell.
"I- maybe? Dad did tell me something while I was studying, but I didn't pay him much attention! We never told him about Arcadia!"
"I know!"
"What's going to happen when his school calls asking why I'm not going?"
We don't have time for this! Literally. If Taylor doesn't take the bus now she'll be late for her first day at Arcadia. "This is what we're going to do: you go and enjoy Arcadia. I'll come up with a plan."
"Okay. Yeah. Let's try that. Just try to not make it weird."
Why did she feel the need to add that part?
The pencil scratches the paper as I put the images from my head into drawings. It's the last break before lunch, and I'm using the chance to go over all the cards that I have at my disposal. I have 52 powers to consider, and that's without adding the Clear Cards, and the guardians Cerberus and Yue.
There's a lot for me to consider and I don't even know where to start.
If we go for infiltration, The Silent, The Song, and The Illusion will be exceedingly useful. We'll be able to mute an area, copy the voices of people, and make them see what's not there.
If we want personal combat prowess then what we need is The Fight, The Power, and The Sword. The Fight is basically Uber, a combat engine designed to know all forms of martial arts. The Power would allow us to lift a truck over our heads and throw it as if it was a tennis ball, and The Sword would improve the Psy Blade, allowing it to cut through exotic effects.
If, on the other hand, we want blaster powers then we're also covered with the Elemental Cards. I'm tempted to build The Earthy for its ability to control the element of earth, something that would greatly enhance my drones' digging power.
And then there's The Shield, The Mirror, The Lock--
Everything is so useful!
"Drawing sexy women in class?" With a swipe of her hand, Aisha steals one of my pages, the one where I have The Dark. "A bit too clothed for my taste."
She better not stain it with her greasy fingers. "If you want nudes you'll have to pay."
"Ha! I don't have money for new socks, much less for porn." She puts it down, her eyes finding a new source of entertainment. "Hey, I didn't notice you had a brand new backpack!" She lifts her foot and brings it down on my scarab, leaving an ugly shoe-mark on the black fabric.
Oh boy, does this remind me of my previous run through high school.
"Was that necessary?" I give her the flattest look I can muster.
"Of course! It's like pulling the film out of a new cell phone!"
"Whatever you say." I wave my hand in dismissal. It's not like it'll cost me much to wash it, I just need to give the order and the Scarab will do that on its own. And thinking about it, Aisha might help Taylor and me with our conundrum. "Say, if someone wanted to abandon their school and not have the faculty call their parents, what would they have to do?"
"Keep missing school until they get tired of calling your family and they just give up! At least that's what worked for me in Winslow. If you figure out how to make that work here, let me know."
Well, so much for that idea. "I'll keep you informed."
As if smelling that we're talking about something illegal, Missy walks into our classroom.
"Peter. Aisha." Her eyebrows knit into a frown as she looks over my drawings.
Aisha picks The Watery and offers it to Missy, "Do you want a topless mermaid?"
"Hey!" I do
not like when people touch my things without my permission. Thankfully Missy doesn't accept the drawing and pushes it away.
"No, thank you. I'm here to talk to you, Aisha." She is? Now that's different.
"Of course you are. You're boring like that, miss cop."
The Ward pinches the bridge of her nose. "Look, I'm trying to be nice here."
"So am I! And I'm failing!" And to accentuate her point, Aisha puts her feet on the desk.
Oh, boy, I can almost see the throbbing vein on Missy's forehead.
"Maybe you should hear what she has to say first?" I offer an olive branch.
"Fine, fine. Speak up, miss cop."
Missy clears her throat, going into what I have come to recognize as her 'professional' persona. "I want to know how things are in your neighborhood. With the gangs getting more active it can't be safe."
"It never was safe and it never will be." Aisha shrugs. "But we're tough bitches. We'll survive."
"Still, if you need help tell me because the gangs are a threat to all of us."
And like that, Aisha's ever-present smile is gone. "Oh, please," She says as she puts her feet back on the floor. "What can a pretty white girl like you fear? Eidolon himself will descend from the sky if someone as much as looks ugly at you."
She shouldn't have said that. Not to Missy.
"You don't know me." There's an edge of menace in Missy's tone.
"What's there to know? You'll never see a gang member in person. You're nothing but a spoiled rich brat whose main concern is where mommy and daddy will take her for the holidays."
It's like watching a trainwreck in the making. I should be backing away but I'm too terrified to move.
"This is what I get for trying to be nice to you." Thankfully Missy decides to de-escalate the situation and walks away, leaving me sweating profusely.
Well--
That was a mess. And I refuse to believe that Aisha didn't know what she was doing because there's no way for her to have pressed every-single-one of Missy's buttons by accident!
"You know that Missy isn't like that, right?"
"Of course I do." Of course she bloody does! "Did you know that she has a knife scar on the side of her chest? You can barely see it, but it's there." I wonder how she knows what a knife scar looks like, but I might not want the answer. "And I'm sure that she'd kick my ass in a straight fight. Not like I'd give her one."
"Then why antagonize her?"
"Because seeing her throw a fit is hilarious!" She laughs. "And, look, this entire shit pisses me off. I grew up with the gangs. They were always a problem for my family, and the PRT did nothing. It's only when they become a problem for the rest of the city that they start caring about us. Only then they remember that, yes, Lung kidnaps girls like me for his whorehouses, and that Kaiser hunts us for sport. But what can you do?"
The tip of my pencil snaps as I press it against the desk. "Kill them."
"Ha! See? That's why we're friends." She passes me a sharpener and soon the bell rings.
Returning to our old routine, I arrive home way before Taylor does. First I fill Long John's bowl, and then I ready my equipment to start working on the cards tomorrow at the earliest. Lastly, I check on the progress of my drones. Another half a dozen have been built, and the second construction zone has almost been depleted of useful material. The exploration tunnels I ordered have expanded, and at the end of the next week, my drones should be reaching the docks, giving me access to abandoned containers, and then the graveyard.
Soon I'll have access to that treasure trove of materials!
Sadly the units I sent Downtown haven't been lucky finding Coil's base. Not like I can blame them, it is a big area to cover after all.
A dilemma now is what direction to take the hive in: should I keep the focus on economy, or should I start building some military units? I could build some Zerglings now, useful against any normal human, but not so much against capes. I need Hydralisks for that. The problem then is that I can't build those without a Hydralisk Den, and that will be costly.
I'll need more drones, and more construction sites to farm.
I order the excavation of some exploratory tunnels to the north and then go to Taylor's room.
Ugh. Her closet's a tragedy, but one that's perfectly salvageable. Recycling several of Annette's old dresses, I put my scarab to start sewing new clothes. Soon she'll have a different dress for each day of the week!
That's enough clothes to satisfy a girl, right?
I'm almost done remodeling her wardrobe when she arrives.
"Welcome home, Taylor! How was your day?" I greet her.
"It was fine." She mumbles, sounding more tired than she looks. "It was just fine."
"You don't sound very convinced."
She puts her backpack on the table and then lets herself fall on the sofa. "I don't know." She grumps. "The teacher picked me to answer the questions."
That sounds-- normal? "Did you know the answers?"
"I did," Ok, that's good, "Same ones from the entrance exam. She must have been checking if I hadn't cheated. They did the same back in Winslow whenever I got a high mark."
As if Taylor would cheat! I did offer but she refused.
Thinking about it, good thing that she's as stubborn as a mule about that.
"The food was good at least. Better than Winslow." She continues, "The door to the roof was locked but I managed to take my lunch at the library. They have a section there for people who want to study during their lunch break. That was nice. The library girl was nice to me too."
"Were Emma and Sophia there?"
"They were, but they didn't talk to me. Sophia acted as if she didn't even know me, so that's something."
Sophia must be worried of Taylor talking, or Emma dragging her into an attack against Taylor and having all their lies uncovered. For much of how Sophia likes to talk big, she's a coward at heart.
"And Emma?"
"Oh, she looked furious," Taylor says with a slight smile of satisfaction. "But also avoided me. I'm fine with that."
It sounds like she had a normal day, but she doesn't sound happy about that. "Do you want to keep going?"
"Well, first day at Arcadia and no one threw anything at me. Or tried to trip me. Not like they could because I had my bugs checking everyone around me, but I think that I'll be staying for now." She puts the dog down and then gives me a very serious look. "So, have you thought about what to do about Rochester?"
Oh, of course.
"I did." I nod. "And I have several ideas."
"Let's hear them."
I search from my backpack and pull out my drawings. The first one I show Taylor is that of a long-haired girl holding a mirror. "Idea one: I make a clone of you, and send them to Rochester in your place." The Mirror can take the form of any person. She doesn't get their memories or their powers in the case of parahumans, but that's something we can work around.
Sadly Taylor doesn't look as excited as I am. "What?! I told you-- Don't you have something, I don't know, less weird?" She rubs her forehead as if massaging a headache.
I don't know what's so weird about it but I wouldn't mind doing something less expensive too. I need to work on more attack and defense options. "Okay, okay. I guess that cloning Danny is out of the question too," The next drawing is that of a girl in a dress that resembles a harp, with a headdress in the shape of a treble clef, "So what about mimicking his voice and calling Rochester telling them that the deal's off?"
"That the deal's off? Why do you have to make it sound so criminal? And won't dad have to go in person at some point?"
"Oh, I already have that covered." The Illusion isn't humanoid. Instead, it resembles a kaleidoscope. "I can use a holographic disguise to look like your dad, and together we go to have this sorted out."
"What if someone tries to shake your hand?"
"I tell them that I'm a germaphobe."
I can hear Taylor's heavy breathing as she sets both drawings aside. "Let's put that in the 'maybe' pile. What else?"
"Well--" What else do I have here? Ah, yes, The Dream: a woman with a massive hat that obscures her eyes. "I don't think you'd want us to go into Danny's dreams to implant a subconscious command to make him forget about this whole ordeal, would you?" If looks could kill, the one Taylor's throwing at me right now would have left nothing but a crater where I stand. "Yeah, I have nothing. My only remaining option is hiding underneath a desk and waiting for everything to fix itself."
Taylor sighs. "Let's go visit some hospitals. I want some fresh air, and maybe the exercise will help us think of a better solution."
"Sounds good to me. I can always feed my drones more data on human biology." I whistle and my backpack transforms into my scarab, a twin of Taylor's own, only differentiated by the fact that it's black instead of red. I put it over my head and it unfolds into my helmet: one that resembles a gas mask with its wide porthole-like lenses. And now it's time to say something that I always wanted to say, "It's morphin time."
My civilian clothes disappear and are replaced by my costume, one that makes me look like a Skitarii ranger with its hood and wide sleeves. My clothes are pitch black, and while I designed Taylor's costume to carry her implants underneath her clothes, mine are on the outside, connecting to my skin through several openings in the robe. With my implants painted red, I share Taylor's color scheme, mirroring the robes of a Machine Priest of Stygies VIII instead of one from Mars. Thematically appropriate, considering their obsession with xenotech.
"So, what do you think?" I ask her, striking a pose with my hands at my waist.
"It suits you. It's definitely very 'you'."
Taylor changes into her own costume and we depart into the city.
"Is it just me, or was that too easy?" Taylor says as we hop from roof to roof, on our way back home after a productive afternoon. I know we shouldn't expect to face any major problem every time we step outside the house but, as I look at the moon high in the night sky, I find myself agreeing with her.
We focused on the critical cases: pneumonia, heart problems, and infection, leaving the rest to heal by natural means. In total, we visited some thirty people across half a dozen hospitals and clinics. There were some PRT officers keeping an eye outside the patients' rooms, but it wasn't like they could stop us. We just teleported in and did our thing. We did see Glory Girl patrolling around one of the hospitals but it was because Panacea was working in it.
It was a very good day!
And yet it feels like the calm before the storm.
Even when they aren't doing anything criminal, it's normal to see people dressed in gang paraphernalia, but today we didn't see even one person with a swastika. The streets are calm. Unnaturally so. The silence is only broken by the PRT cars and motorbikes keeping the peace, followed by the odd hero.
The gangs must be keeping their head down, gearing up for something big.
Taylor stops me the moment that home is at range. The reason for that becomes obvious the moment I look at it with my visor: Danny's in the living room, seated on a couch. That shouldn't be anything weird, but normally he's with his nose buried in a mountain of papers. This time he's seated next to the door, glancing at it as if he was waiting for us.
Well, let's stop thinking about the problems of the city and focus on our own personal ones.
"Too late to send in the clones?" Taylor asks with a dash of fatalistic humor in her words.
We find an alley to change into our civilian clothes and make the rest of the way on foot.
What could this be?
Did Danny find out we're capes?
Did he find my hatchery?
Did he find Long John?
I'm not particularly fond of any of those options. I take Taylor's hand for courage, and together we get ready for whatever it is that fate has in store for us.
"Dad, we're ba--" Taylor calls as we enter, but gets interrupted when the man in question rushes to her and locks her in a hug.
Okay, the good news is that Danny doesn't look angry. The bad news is that I'm just as confused as before.
"Taylor! Why didn't you tell me?"
"T-tell you what, dad?" Taylor stutters, as confused as I am with the unexpected outburst.
"That you had taken Arcadia's entrance exam!"
"Eh?"
Full of pride, Danny goes to the table where he has an opened envelope. He picks the letter up and shows it to us.
It reads:
Miss Taylor Hebert, from Arcadia High we congratulate you for--'
Oh.
Ohhhhhh.
Taylor had remained after taking the exam waiting for the result, but apparently it's the faculty's policy to formally congratulate the students by sending letters to their families.
"Ah, yes, that." Taylor's cheeks turn a deep shade of red as she scratched the back of her head. "I wasn't sure if I'd pass, so I didn't want to give you false hope."
"False hopes? As if there could have been any doubts you'd ace the exams!" He laughs, shaking Taylor in his euphory. "But how did you get in? Those exams cost a small fortune."
"Peter helped me with that. With the entire Winslow mess, Arcadia opened its exams for more people. There was a vacancy and I took the chance."
"This we have to celebrate! And don't worry about Rochester, I already called them and told them you wouldn't be going." Seems that the problem fixed itself! Not like I hope for that to happen again. I slowly try to back away but Danny grabs me and forces me into the family hug. "And you too, young man. You're part of this family too."
I can't move. We have barely interacted. I know nothing of him.
I don't like this. My useless struggles against his adult strength must look like the petty tantrum of an embarrassed teenager.
But Taylor laughs.
And it's nice to see Danny and her behaving like a happy family again.
For her sake, I endure.
It's just a pity that this relationship has been built on a messy entanglement of lies, but what can you do about it?
