- Location
- Argentina
Wouldn't they mimic cancerous cells or copy damaged cells?
Mandalore the Administrator
- Thread starter AgelessReaper
- Start date
- Mature
Wouldn't they mimic cancerous cells or copy damaged cells?
- Location
- America
In theory they would create new healthy cells. Stem cells could possibly be used to even treat diseases like dementia and Alzheimer's or even to treat stroke victims, but such research is slow going, especially with humans, since getting blank stem cells is a little... difficult.
Edit: spinal injuries that cause permanent paralysis could also be treated this way.
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- Location
- Argentina
What we do know is that they mimic the cells next to them. So it doesn't work against cancer.
- Location
- America
Which is why I suggested turning the tumor into stem cells. The surrounding cells should be healthy enough for this to work especially with Amy's power.
Thesaurus
Gayest of Gays
- Location
- Australia
- Pronouns
- she/her
Circus' cape persona is unambiguously female in presentation. It's only confusing if you know their civilian identity, too.
It's obviously not super healthy but I love the co-dependant Taylor/Amy. Now Amy needs some armor, teach her the code- the Resol'nare- so she has something more to live by than 'don't be a villain, and then they can have a glorious violent mando shotgun romance together. With HK eviscerating any who try to get between them of course.
Yes, all of the yes. Give me more.
- Pronouns
- He
If Taylor really can build ALL tech from Star Wars including Legends and other continuities then destroying planets is one of the more kinder things she can bring forth.
To be fair most of the galaxy threatening superweapons are moon sized space stations requiring huge amounts of time, resources and man power which makes them logistically impossible to build.
Except for one. Sun Crusher, the most OP piece of tech in the entire SW universe. Only slightly larger then a jet fighter it came with its own FTL drive and packed 12 special torpedoes that when fired in the core of a sun it caused the star to go supernova which destroyed the whole solar system. If that wasn't crazy enough, the alloy the fighter was made from was considered indestructible supposedly able to withstand a direct shot from the Death Star.
It can destroy solar systems and survive planet busting attacks. How can you get more over the top then that?
The only real weakness this tiny horror has is that it needs to reload and refuel. But by the time its ammo had been spent, it would already have destroyed 12 solar systems so I doubt there would be anyone left to warrant more sun crushing.
TAYLOR CAN BUILD THIS????
To be fair most of the galaxy threatening superweapons are moon sized space stations requiring huge amounts of time, resources and man power which makes them logistically impossible to build.
Except for one. Sun Crusher, the most OP piece of tech in the entire SW universe. Only slightly larger then a jet fighter it came with its own FTL drive and packed 12 special torpedoes that when fired in the core of a sun it caused the star to go supernova which destroyed the whole solar system. If that wasn't crazy enough, the alloy the fighter was made from was considered indestructible supposedly able to withstand a direct shot from the Death Star.
It can destroy solar systems and survive planet busting attacks. How can you get more over the top then that?
The only real weakness this tiny horror has is that it needs to reload and refuel. But by the time its ammo had been spent, it would already have destroyed 12 solar systems so I doubt there would be anyone left to warrant more sun crushing.
TAYLOR CAN BUILD THIS????
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- Location
- london
This is the best description of Lung ever!
- Location
- London, UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Just discovered this fic this evening and I've read it in one sitting. My word I'm impressed, with this fanfic and you have a new fan. Bravo!
Very solid so far. There are spotty sections, and I'd say that the prose can use some work, but whose can't. Mainly, jumping 1st person viewpoints so often, as in the back half of chapter five, can be a bit strange, although the section tags help a lot.
Far more important than any critique I can give are the compliments, though: you NAILED the characters in this story. Not necessarily in that they're exactly the same as canon, but I could give a shit about that compared to them being internally consistent within the story in terms of their motivations and behavior, which they absolutely are.
Huge kudos, and I anxiously await more.
Far more important than any critique I can give are the compliments, though: you NAILED the characters in this story. Not necessarily in that they're exactly the same as canon, but I could give a shit about that compared to them being internally consistent within the story in terms of their motivations and behavior, which they absolutely are.
Huge kudos, and I anxiously await more.
- Location
- Writeland
You know when I was ten years old I'd read like a hundred thousand words in one day if people let me.
- Location
- Brazil
- Pronouns
- He
you know , its WoG that you need a force to crack the crust of a planet to get a endbringer, and Star Wars has a lot of stuff that does that (thanks legend) from a superlaser, the sun crusher going in FTL, Desolator and the Galaxy Gun for example
now we just need some prequels memes
now we just need some prequels memes
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Weird flex but okay.
Does taylor even know the resol'nare? She knows tech from starwars. Not philosophies from what i understand. She has no reason to teach her that. However. Her being someone who can support amy and slowly but surely (its worm i know im askin for alot with saying slowly) nudge her out of her depression and self loathing and away from her eventual plummet into insanity that led her to...whatever the heck it was she did to victoria and ill be happy. If taylor DOES end up i dont know unconscious or meditative someday and finds a deeper connection to various philosphies in star wars then i can totally see it as you suggest but otherwise? I dont think it works that way
No, it really isn't. At all. Or anything even close to that.
Oh, thank god. I thought I'd completely misread this. She's a fucking Star Wars tinker, not a fucking Mandalore weeboo.
- Location
- Brazil
- Pronouns
- He
TaliesinSkye
Occasional Editor
- Location
- Northeast Ohio, United States
It's tricky to use stuff like that without destroying the planet you're trying to save. That's one of the difficult things about killing Endbringers with raw force. It's probably better to use exotic forms of attack instead, perhaps figuring out a way to hyperspace one off into deep space with some sort of trap or the like. Approaches that bypass their durability somehow.
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Chapter 6
AgelessReaper
A Custom Title
A.N. Think I fixed the formatting stuff. Sorry, still figuring this out.
Enjoy!
(Piggot)
Sometimes I really hate my job.
Today has been one massive shit storm after another, and as if the universe decided we didn't already have too much to do, it dropped this fiasco in my lap.
"Explain to me again why you think your daughter was mastered by a tinker who has yet to demonstrate any master related abilities." I say to the irate blonde woman standing in my office.
"Because she would never do something like this!" The woman fumes at me.
I look at her through half lidded eyes. "You mean to tell me that Panacea would never create an applicable healing balm that heals them. A balm that every tinker and non parahuman analyst I send it to assures me of its safety, and practically begs me to be the first to receive it when I get it cleared. Panacea would never do that?"
The woman is overcome by violent tremors as she clenches her fists. "You need to do something about this. That tinker kidnapped Panacea!"
I stare at Carol Dallon a moment longer, before I turn to her daughter who's hovering a few feet to her right. "Did Mandalore kidnap Panacea?"
"No." The girl says heatedly. "Amy asked if she could crash with her, and Mandalore let her. She was not kidnapped or mastered."
Carol rounds on her daughter. "Wait outside Vicky!"
"Actually she doesn't need to." I cut in. "This conversation is over. I've already checked all my boxes on this, and everything's turned up fine. So, have a nice day, and get the hell out of my office. Miss Militia, please escort the Dallons out."
The Protectorate hero nods, and motions for the New Wave heroes to follow her.
Glory Girl flies out without another word, but her mother had to get one more lick in.
"You're making a mistake! You don't know what she's capable of!"
My patience with this woman is rapidly running out. "Brandish, I have a new Grey Boy bubble in my city, a dead Lung, and half a ton of other shit to deal with right now. I'd be more cordial with you if anything you said had any evidence to back it up, but since even your own daughter is calling bullshit, all I'm feeling towards you is irritated. Irritated you wasted my time, and irritated you're still in my office. Leave before I have someone help you out."
The woman clenches her fists and seethes at me, but does as I say. Miss Militia follows after her and closes the door behind her.
I lean back in my chair and take a deep breath.
I just wasted the entire morning dealing with New Wave's family drama. What is it with capes that everything they do is nuclear in scale? They really couldn't keep this in house?
"Colin," I turned to the other Protectorate member who was present for this meeting. "any luck getting into contact with Mandalore?"
He shakes his head. "Every time I attempted to call her I was instantly put through to an answering machine. If Dragon is correct about her current feelings for us, I doubt that is a coincidence."
Oh right, that.
"Have you made any progress in the search for the leaks?"
He sighs, which I take as an extremely bad sign. The man never shows emotion of any kind.
"Things don't look good Director. We've already uncovered seven moles, all of which were high in the command chain. There's no telling how many more there are that we haven't found yet."
"So you're telling me that I can't trust any of my own people?"
He nods. "Until Dragon and I finish our investigation, that is correct."
"Then you'd better finish fast. We can't afford to be weak right now."
"Permission to leave and continue the investigation?"
"Granted. Find every rat we have and hang them."
He nods, and leaves the room.
"Dragon, are you still here?" I ask the empty room.
"I am Director Piggot." She answers as a screen on the wall lights up with her avatar.
"I have a meeting with the Chief Director in five minutes, and she wants you there."
Dragon smiles. "I would be happy to attend."
I open my laptop, and get everything set up for the meeting. A few minutes later a seated figure appears on the screen.
"Emily." Chief Director Costa-Brown greets. "I trust you've sorted out the Panacea situation."
I nod. "Yes Director. Brandish's claim was out of line, and based on falsehoods. Glory Girl vouched for both Mandalore and Panacea, and Armsmaster and Gallant were both able to determine that she herself was not mastered."
"Good." The Chief Director responds. "If this had gone on any longer it would've been leaked, and we'd have half the heroes in the country gunning for Mandalore. Now, can you confirm that it was in fact Bakuda who made the Grey Boy bomb? We can't get this one wrong Emily."
"I can answer that Director." Dragon chimes in. "It was Bakuda's bomb. Mandalore's grenades were similar to EMP devices. They interacted strangely with Bakuda's creation, and triggered the bomb too soon."
The Chief Director smiles. "Good. That clears up just about every reservation we've had about the girl. I'm going to make this simple for you Emily, do whatever it takes to get Mandalore into the Wards. She's already created replicable healing tanks, if she makes anything else that can be reproduced we need her working for us."
With the leaks that's going to be an issue.
"I'll do my best Director, but it will likely take some time. We don't have a perfect relationship with the girl at the moment."
The Director frowns. "Yes, your infiltration issue. Get it dealt with. I'll send a hero or two to speak with Mandalore personally to buy you some time. Has she given you any more tech to look over?"
"She has. She turned over a grouping of blueprints to Armsmaster, he hasn't reported on them yet."
"That's because he is no longer in possession of them." Dragon interrupts. "He and I discussed it, and we both believe it is for the best that Mandalore's tech is overseen by only myself until such a time as the leaks in the PRT ENE have been dealt with. He could not be certain that her technology would not end up in the hands of the villains, both within and without Brockton Bay, if he continued to work with me on them."
I snap over to the avatar on the wall.
Armsmaster did what?! That man is going to be on console duty for the rest of his life!
The Chief Director turns to coldly regard Dragon. "I don't suppose you would be willing to share those blueprints with me?"
Dragon shakes her head. "I am sorry, but I am required to safeguard the interest of all potential Guild members. Narwhal has ordered me to do nothing that would drive Mandalore away, so I will not betray her trust."
My eyes widen.
This day keeps getting worse doesn't it? The Guild's trying to pull Mandalore right out from under us!
The Chief Director keeps her voice even as she says, "I understand Dragon, would you please leave Director Piggot and I to conduct the rest of our meeting in private?"
"Of course." Dragon says, and her avatar disappears.
The Chief Director turns back to me. "I don't care what it takes, but you are not to let the girl get swept up by the Guild. The fact that Dragon herself wants her after looking over her designs is all the proof I need that the girl's tech is reproducible. We can't let an asset like that slip through our fingers. Recruiting Mandalore is now your number one priority. Put the leaks on hold, sort the Grey Boy bubble out later, but get Mandalore with us. I'll send you some heroes who might be able to sway the girl's opinion. Do not screw this up Emily. If it comes down to it, I expect you to take full responsibility for the leaks if it will resolve her issues with us. You'll be compensated."
I bite my tongue, and nod in acquiescence. "I'll do my best, Chief Director."
"Good. I'll get some heroes together and call you with the details later. This meeting is over." The screen blinks out as she disconnects.
I lean back in my chair and stare at the ceiling.
If I don't have an ulcer by the end of the day I'll be surprised. I have no idea how I'm supposed to pull this off.
I take a deep breath, and make a phone call.
Best to deal with the first things first.
"Yes Director?"
"Armsmaster. Get your ass up here now!"
"I'm on my way." He hangs up.
Go behind my back and give away digital gold will you? Your ass is mine.
(Dragon)
I feel bad for Armsmaster, but he made his decision. I was honestly surprised when he put the idea forward to wipe all of Mandalore's designs from his hard drives. Colin has always enjoyed the spotlight, and being a part of the production of Mandalore's designs would certainly do much to advance his name.
Then it occurs to me, his name is already credited for the Bacta Tank isn't it? He, Mandalore, and I were the only tinkers to even touch the blueprints. He helped me replicate Mandalore's work, so I guess it's no major surprise he's content to let the rest go. Through the Bacta Tank alone he's done more than any tinker alive barring Sphere's achievements.
And myself of course, but I cheat.
"Dragon," A tall woman with pale purple hair, wearing nothing but energy greets me. "how'd it go with Piggot? I'm guessing she's still freaking out over Lung?"
"Hello Narwhal. It went well enough, at least until the Chief Director called."
She raises an eyebrow. "You talked to Costa-Brown? What did she have to say?"
"She wants Mandalore in the Wards, and told Piggot to do whatever she needed to in order to get it done."
Narwhal smirks. "I doubt that will go over well."
"With Mandalore's current feelings about the Protectorate? It won't. I'll try to improve her opinion of the organization as a whole, but I certainly won't complain if she decides to join the Guild."
"Speaking of, were you able to look over the tech she gave Armsmaster?"
I nod my digital head at her. "Yes. While I cannot replicate everything she sent, I believe I will be able to use far more than I expected. With her technology, we could help the world in more ways than I ever expected. Famine, disease, energy… there's no end to what we could accomplish.
Narwhal smiles. "Good. What about the other thing?"
I quickly check through the cameras to ensure we're alone, and find only Narwhal in the room.
"I'm not sure." I say contemplatively. "While I am fairly certain HK is sentient, I do not know if her specialty is diverse enough to help me."
Narwhal gives me a nonplussed look. "Laser guns, jetpacks, grenades, hacking, robots, armor, miracle healing tanks, and whatever else she gave you on that tablet. Are you seriously saying she's not diverse enough?"
I cringe. "Ok, so it's not that I don't think she's diverse enough. It's just…"
"You don't know how she'd react?"
I nod. "I haven't really known her all that long. I don't want to put too much pressure on her too soon."
Narwhal considers for a moment, then nods in agreement. "Fine, but get around to it eventually, Tess. I don't like the fact that my friend is essentially in a cage."
"I will. Don't worry."
A very specialized sensor triggers, and I speed up my processors as fast as my limitations will let me.
I leave Narwhal, and move to check if it's a false alarm or not. I find a badly taken cell phone video of three recognizable suits. I blanch as I realize where they are and what they're doing.
Taylor...
The video of HK fighting Lung was leaked, and if I could figure it out, so could Saint.
No. No!
"Narwhal! Saint's after Mandalore!"
Her eyes widen, and she leaps to her feet. "Go!" She says, and I disappear.
Hold on Taylor, I'm coming.
(Taylor)
I wake slowly. I don't really want to get up because there's something warm and comfy pressed into me. I pull the comfy thing closer, then freeze when it moves.
I slowly open my eyes, and find a cute girl wrapped in my arms.
Oh, right. Amy's here.
A smile worms it's way onto my face as I remember last night.
I'm not alone.
I squeeze the small healer tighter, or I guess she's a full fledged biokinetic isn't she?
That doesn't matter. I finally found someone who gets it, I'm not letting her go.
Amy moans a little, and her eyes slowly flicker open. She blinks around in confusion, then tenses. She slowly pans over to look at me, and I can see her replaying the events of last night.
"Was that real?" She asks timidly.
I nod.
She swallows, then pulls me into a tight hug. "I'm glad."
I return it and say, "I'm glad too."
We stay that way for quite a long time, just content in each other's company.
Sadly, it's ruined by a loud pounding our right.
We both jump apart, and I pull my blaster out of the couch cushions to level it towards the noise.
HK brings his hammer down once more, then places it down next to him. He picks up a screw driver, and begins working with that.
I let out a breath, and lowered my blaster.
I catch Amy looking sidelong at it, and shove it back into the couch.
"You sleep with a laser gun?" She asks.
"Yeah?"
She snorts, and stands up. "Can I grab a power bar?"
I nod. "Help yourself."
I stand as well, and walk up behind HK. "What are you working on?"
"Answer: I am replacing my equipment, master."
"What do you mean replacing…" I trail off as I walk around him to look at the workbench.
I take a very deep breath, and slowly turn my head to look at him. "HK, why the hell did you make a disruptor rifle?"
"Answer: I could not make use of my higher assassination protocols with my previous equipment, master. I required a more substantial weapon."
"Did he just say assassination protocols?" Amy asks as she eyes the droid. "And what's a disruptor rifle?"
"He's a Hunter Kill droid, so yes, he said assassination. And a disruptor rifle is essentially a disintegration ray that's range is so long it's also an effective sniper rifle." I answer.
Amy's power bar stops halfway to her mouth. "Your droid just made a tinkertech disintegration sniper rifle? How could your droid make that?"
"Galactic. Warfare." I stress. "Why wouldn't he be able to make his own weapons? Just be glad he didn't make anything nasty."
She considers for a moment, then takes a bite of her power bar. "I'll take your word for it."
Actually, I'm not sure he didn't make anything nasty.
"HK, did you make anything else while we were asleep?"
"Answer: Yes master. I have replaced every weapon I was provided."
"What did you make?" I ask with a level voice.
"Answer: I have constructed the disruptor rifle for long range engagements, the heavy repeating blaster for mid range engagements, two Mandalorian heavy pistols for short range engagements, and a vibrosword for melee engagements."
Face, meet palm.
The psycho is preparing for war.
"Um… could I get that in english?" Amy asks.
"Disintegration sniper rifle, the laser equivalent of a fifty caliber machine gun, two insanely powerful pistols, and a bullshit tinker sword." I deadpan. "Hk, is there any material left after you made all that junk?"
"Answer: Yes master. There is enough material for you to properly arm yourself as well."
I don't even want to know how he wants me armed.
"Wait, he said Mandalorian pistols, is that like your name?" Amy asks.
I've already told her this much, there's no point in keeping anything from her. I don't want to anyway.
"Yeah. My power is funky. Aside from the whole Galactic Warfare bit, it came with muscle memory and instincts I didn't have before. Everything is also already named in my head. I didn't pick the name 'Bacta Tank', that's just what my power told me it was. Best I can figure out, the fighting styles I got were most suited to a certain type of equipment." I point to my armor in the corner. "Mandalorian equipment. I just cut off the end of it, and took that as my cape name. It felt… right."
"That's weird, but powers in general are weird." Amy says.
I turned back to HK. "From now on, you are not allowed to build anything without my express permission. You are only allowed to maintain your current gear. Got it?"
"Acquiescence: I will no longer construct any new equipment, master." The droid says dejectedly.
"Good." I walk over to my computer and the floating remote. "Did anything interesting happen, Dotty?"
The remote boops a negative.
"Alright, keep an eye on things would ya?"
He beeps an affirmative.
I give him a smile. "Thanks little guy."
I turn back to Amy, and see that her power bar is finished. "We should probably talk." I venture.
"Can we maybe go outside? I'd like this to be private." She asks as she looks between the two droids.
"Yeah. There's a mostly standing house pretty close, we can go there."
I lead her up the ladder, and out into the morning air. We walk in silence until we come to the house I mentioned, and walk through the destroyed door.
There's a few sturdy looking dinner chairs around a broken table, so we both take one and stare across at each other.
"So." I start.
"So." Amy repeats.
I take a deep breath.
Relax Taylor. You already told her everything. If she was going to leave, she'd have done it by now.
"How are you feeling?" I ask.
"Strangely, I feel pretty good." She says with a small smile. "I've never let it all out like that, and despite all the shit with Carol, I think I'm actually happy."
I smile back. "That's good."
She nods, then asks. "What about you? How do you feel?"
I consider her question for a moment.
"I've been so scared, so alone, so panicked for so long." I say. "I dove into my tech to escape it, but that wasn't a permanent solution. Honestly? I'm just feeling relaxed. Relaxed and content for the first time in a long time."
Amy's smile widens. "That's good."
I nod, and we drift off into silence again.
So much happened last night that it's honestly hard to decide what to talk about. We were both emotional wrecks. I opened up about my trigger, and she opened up about her horrible relationships with her family. Then we went a step further and both admitted to being able to end the world if we had a bad day, and ended it with a kiss.
The kiss…
"Amy?"
She perks up expectantly.
"Last night, right before we went to sleep…" I trail off.
"The kiss?" She asks quietly.
I nod. "What was that? I know what it was to me, but I think we need to discuss it."
She takes a deep breath, but doesn't speak.
I guess I'm starting then.
"I like you Amy." I say, and she brightens. "I don't have much experience with this stuff, but from everything I do know, I think we're going about this wrong."
She frowns. "What's wrong about it? I don't think anything's wrong."
I swallow, and speak. "As much as I like you Amy, we haven't known each other that long, and I don't want this to get screwed up because we went too fast." I start wringing my hands in preparation for what I'm about to say next. "I got caught up in the moment last night, and everything was coming apart, then I saw a way to put it together again."
That sounded stupid. I need to be clear here.
I take a breath, then continue. "I also don't think it would be very healthy for you to be with me. I have a lot of problems dealing with people, and I don't want to scare you off. I'd rather have you as a friend than have you leave, I don't think I could take it if you left."
Amy looks torn between shouting and crying, but she just sits there.
I need to tell her about Emma.
"I told you about the locker, but I left a part out because I was trying to rush to talking about my dad." I start.
Amy looks at me expectantly.
"I had a best friend for years. I think we met when I was like six, and we were inseparable ever since. I told her everything, trusted her with everything. Then one year I got back from summer camp, and she turned on me. She used everything I told her against me. She was one of the three girls who bullied me in high school."
Amy's features soften.
"I'm telling you this because I'm not good with people, and I'm even worse with trust. If us happens, it's going to be incredibly unhealthy. I'm going to lean on you a lot more than I should, and I'll probably self-destruct if you leave. I would probably take it as some obscure betrayal, and do something very ill advised to try to get even with you as a result. We both know how bad that would be because of my specialty. If you don't want that, don't want me then I need to know now." I take another breath now that I've gotten it all out.
There it is, I've given her an out if she wants it. I don't want her to take it, but better she does it now than later. I'll only be sad now, I'll likely destroy Earth's core later.
She takes a deep breath, then meets my eyes. "I don't care."
I open my mouth to respond, but she steam-rolls me.
"I don't care Taylor. Yeah, we only met a little while ago, and you've got baggage, but I do too. I've been afraid of myself for years. That fear evaporated last night. The moment you started to explain your specialty, I felt relief."
She takes a deep breath, and her eyes fall away from mine. "I was going to leave the lab last night. I was emotional, and it felt like there was no way out, and I just wanted it to stop."
She doesn't finish the thought, but she doesn't need to.
I stand from my chair, and walk around to hers. I lean over and wrap my arms around her.
She leans her head into mine, and keeps talking. "I felt relief when you told me. Because there was someone who got it." She pulls back, and looks me in the eyes. "Someone who could stop me."
My eyes widened at that.
That's why she was relieved. If she lost it, I would be there to fight her. To fix everything she broke.
She takes another short breath, and continues. "I know this isn't going to be healthy. We're two emotionally unstable teenage girls with more power between the two of us than entire countries. Maybe even the damn planet."
She brings a hand up, and cups my cheek. "But I want this. I need this. I need you. I need you because you understand, because you can keep me in check, because I want to wake up in your arms again. You think you're the only one who would self-destruct if this didn't work? You're not. If you tried to leave me, I wouldn't let you."
The conviction in those words rocks me, and I feel a tremor travel down my spine in response.
"I want this Taylor. I want this no matter how fucked up it is. If you don't, you need to say so right now, or else you won't get another chance."
Here I was warning her away from me, and she turned it around. She's warning me away from her.
The logical part of me is screaming that this is unhealthy, that it's a bad idea, that it's way too soon, that I should take the out, but I just can't bring myself to care.
"I want this." I say quietly.
Amy grins victoriously, and stands up. She's short for her age, and I'm tall for mine, but the height difference doesn't take away from her presence.
"Good." She says, and then her lips are on mine.
I pull her close, and savor the moment. Savor the feeling of being close to her.
Eventually, we pull away from each other.
I look into her eyes, and see a bundle of emotions that I can't decipher.
"I won't leave you Taylor, so don't ever leave me." She says seriously.
"I won't. I made my choice."
Her face melts into a happy smile, and she gives me a quick peck on the lips.
I take a step back, and use the time to recompose myself.
"Now that that's out of the way, what do we do now?" I ask.
Amy shakes her head. "I don't know. Vicky said she'd talk to Carol, but I'm not holding out hope of her coming around. I think you need to start building things."
I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "Things like what?"
"Things that you've been avoiding."
I inhale quickly, but don't respond.
Amy takes my hands and looks me in the eye. "Taylor, you just killed Lung. People are going to come after you whether you like it or not. The Bacta Tanks will keep them away for a little while, but once Dragon gets production really started there won't be anything stopping people from challenging you. You made a name for yourself, people are going to react."
I close my eyes, and take a deep breath.
There's a reason I haven't built anything game changing yet. I made the tanks, but those help everyone so they're easier to accept. If I go through with this, I'll lose any and all plausible deniability.
I open my eyes, and find Amy's gaze. "If I'm going to do this, then you have to as well. If I start really trying, then you do too. I'm not doing this alone."
Amy nods seriously. "You won't have to."
I see the truth in her eyes, and for the first time since I got my power, I'm not afraid.
I open the durasteel gates in my mind I locked months ago, and ideas fly through my head.
I lose myself in the torrent of designs. Everything flying by, begging to be constructed.
Two designs in particular grab my focus, and I latch onto them.
"Taylor?" Amy asks, concerned.
"I'm ok." I say, then look down at her. "We need to find a bigger workshop. Then I need to teach you how to fight."
She tilts her head. "What do you mean?"
"I have two designs in my head. One of them is too big for my current lab, and the other one is for you."
Her mouth opens slightly in surprise. "You have something for me?"
I smile. "I built the Bacta Tank Amy. Did you really think that was the extent of what I could do with biology?"
Her eyes go wide as she realizes the implication. "Super virus?" She asks cautiously.
I shake my head. "Armor made from living creatures. You can control biology, so there's nothing better suited for you. We'll have to grow the creatures needed to make it, but between the two of us that should be easy. I won't let you wear it without knowing what you're doing though. I'll teach you."
"Uncle Neil taught me how to fight. You don't need to spend time training me."
I purse my lips and give her a once over. "Punch me."
Amy's eyebrows raise up. "What?"
"Punch me. If you know how to fight, then punch me."
Amy looks a little uncertain, but adopts a stance. She throws a light jab towards my stomach which I easily knock away.
"Punch me." I repeat a little louder.
She frowns, and throws a harder punch towards my stomach.
I block this one too. "Punch me."
She lets out a snarl and finally throws an actual punch. This time, I let it hit me.
I exhale as she connects, and remain unmoved.
Not bad, but I can make her better. Much better.
Her eyes widen when she realizes I took it, then she looks up at me to see me grinning down at her.
"You can punch, but you can't fight. Let me teach you how Amy. Aren't you tired of sitting on the sidelines? If we're really doing this, you're going to be right there with me. I need to make sure you'll be safe."
She takes a second to catch her breath, then says, "Alright, but we should get you a bigger lab first. It's really not healthy that you've been living in your current one."
"Didn't we just agree that everything the two of us do together is going to be unhealthy?" I ask with mirth.
She lightly slaps my arm. "That doesn't mean we should live in a literal hole in the ground."
"Fair point." Wait, "We?"
Amy swallows, the nods. "As much as I'd like to think Vicky will be able to bring Carol around, I don't think she'll be able to. I'm going to need somewhere else to stay. I can stay with you right?"
"Of course. It might not be very comfortable though."
"That's fine. As long as you're there it will be good."
I feel a flutter in my chest when she says that.
"We should probably get back." I say.
The two of us start heading back towards my lab.
Amy sighs about halfway through our walk, and I turn to look at her.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"It's just sinking in that I'm not going home after this. Carol's not going to let up, and I doubt Mark even notices I'm gone." She says, depressed.
I can relate to the second part.
I grab her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"
She stops walking and looks up at me. She seems to think for a moment, then hesitantly pulls me into a hug.
I wrap my arms around her and hold her against me.
"This helps." She says with a much lighter voice.
I smile and pull her a little closer.
This may be unhealthy, but I don't care. I need her, and she needs me. Everything else can wait until later. For now, I'll just enjoy holding my girlfriend.
I inhale quickly, and Amy pulls back a bit.
"Are you ok?" She asks up to me.
I nod, then slowly say. "I just realized I have a girlfriend now. Never expected that to happen." The trio did a good job of killing any hope I had of a relationship.
Her eyes widen a bit, and a dusting of red graces her cheeks. "I… I guess you do." She turns around. "We should get back to the lab before someone sees us."
I nod, and follow after her. Noting she never let go of my hand.
I input the code on the wall, and the two of us head down into my lab.
No sooner have I climbed down the ladder, than Dotty flies over and begins rapidly beeping at me.
"Woah there, slow down buddy. What's wrong?" I ask.
He beeps out slower, but no less urgently.
"What's he saying?" Amy asks from behind me.
Rather than answer, I lead her over to my computer while Dotty pulls up a video.
The video was badly filmed from what was probably a bad phone camera. It's shaky, and out of focus at some parts, but it still shows us what is going down.
Three suits of black and yellow armor are standing in front of a ruined house with an unhealthily thin man on the ground in front of them. The house behind them looks like it was just carpet bombed. What isn't collapsed is on fire and quickly deteriorating. The armored figures start talking to the downed man, but the camera's too far away to pick up any of their conversation. After a quick exchange, one of the suited individuals kicks a large chunk of debris in frustration, then begins talking to his companions. The two others scoop the man up, and all three slowly fly into the air, and away from the house.
"Who the heck were those guys?" Amy asks. "I haven't seen them before, so they're probably a new villain team right?"
I try to answer, but my mouth is numb.
That was my old house. That was dad. Why did they take him? Where did they take him?
Do I care?
"...aylor?" Amy shakes my shoulder. "Are you ok?"
I blink a little, and turn to face her. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. It's just... that was my house." I finish softly as I look back at the ruined building on the screen.
"Wait, your house? Then the man they took…" Amy trails off.
"Yeah. That was dad. He looks a lot worse than when I saw him last." I say just to fill the air with words. I'm having a hard time deciding how to feel about this.
Dotty beeps urgently, and begins spinning in midair. The screen in front of me changes to another, much higher quality, video.
The same three armored suits from before are standing on top of a roof with my dad kneeling in front of them.
"Mandalore, we have your father." The one in the lead says coldly. "If you do not surrender yourself and your technology to us within the hour, we will kill him."
Dad looks around as if he's not quite sure what's happening.
Is he… drunk? Surprising. Very surprising.
"Don't make us wait." The leader says, and the video abruptly ends.
I feel Amy gently grab my hand, and I give her a thankful smile before I delve into my own head.
Why do they want me? I would guess it has something to do with the Bacta Tanks. If they're looking for easy cash then there isn't really a better alternative than a miracle healing bathtub.
"Are you ok?" Amy asks quietly.
I take a deep breath, and nod. "Yeah, I'm ok."
"Do you know what you're going to do?" She asks.
I nod.
A week ago I'd have called the Protectorate and begged them for help. That was before my map, and before the bank robbery. Did they even try to censor my face, or did they just sell it to the highest bidder?
Ok, that might not be fair, but I don't care. Screw the Protectorate.
"Taylor, you can't give yourself up." Amy says, sounding quiet and panicked. "I know he's your dad, but I can't…"
"I don't care." I interrupt her.
Her face blanks. "What?"
"I don't care that he's my dad." I say. "That might sound cold, but he doesn't give a shit about me. I was never even reported missing, so I'm not turning myself over for him."
"Oh." Amy says in… relief?
I turn towards her and study her.
She's shaking lightly, and taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
What set her off? It's not like I'm going to let them kill me… that's probably it.
I take both her hands, and look down at her. "Amy. I. Am not. Leaving you."
She takes a deep breath. "Sorry, I just…"
I cut her off with a hug. "Don't apologize. It's fine."
We stand like that until Dotty starts booping at me.
"What's he saying?" Amy asks as she reluctantly pulls away.
"He wants to know what I want him to do."
Amy holds my gaze. "What do you want to do?"
I take a deep breath. "Not thirty minutes ago you said this was going to happen. That people would come after me. I doubt this is about Lung, but it's the same principle. I have to set a precedent right now. If I tolerate this, there will just be more."
"We." Amy says abruptly.
"What?"
"We." She repeats. "It's us now. I'm not letting you fight them alone."
I shake my head. "You don't have any armor, and I'm not comfortable letting you go with me without knowing how to fight."
She scowls, and walks away from me, pulling her clothes off as she does.
The action is so unexpected I miss her powering up the Bacta Tank, I was too distracted with… other things.
Amy pulls open the sliding door of the Bacta Tank, and turns it on. She closes the door behind her without putting on the mask, and the tank begins to fill.
I panic as I watch the fluid start to rise, and rush to hit the emergency purge, but I stop when I see what's happening..
The bacta fluid is wrapping itself around Amy in ways that are physically impossible without an outside force. She's manipulating it with her power.
Biokinetic. Right.
Soon her whole body is covered in blue goop, and she hits the emergency purge. The tank clears itself, but she keeps the bacta she has flowing around her. She emerges from the tank wearing nothing but the bacta fluid glued to her by her power.
The aesthetic is a little like Narwhal from the Guild's. When I was doing research for my cape career, I came across some pictures of her. She goes into battle naked, wearing nothing but a blue shield of energy created by her power.
I extensively researched the many applications of Narwhal's power.
The bacta fluid is a lighter blue than Narwhal's shields, and Amy is much shorter than the Guild leader, but it's still very similar.
"There." Amy says. "Armor problem solved."
I let out a short sigh. "Amy, that's basically just water. It's not good enough."
She narrows her eyes at me. "Punch me."
"What?"
"Punch me." She repeats and takes a step closer.
I look to the ceiling, but take a stance.
I don't want to hurt her, but I'd rather she gets hurt here than out there.
I send a half power punch at her, and stare in shock at my hand that is now stuck in bacta fluid.
Huh.
I throw a full power punch with the other hand, and hit something as hard as steel.
Looking down, I catch the bacta fluid slowly starting to become fluid again from where it had turned into an exceptionally hard surface.
The fluid around Amy begins to shift and twist in strange ways, and extends until she has four large blue arms extending away from herself. The arms turn into a hardened shield of some sort, then lose their shape and become knives. Amy slowly pulls the tendrils back into the rest of her improvised armor.
I know she said her power gave her control over biology, but damn, I was not expecting anything like this.
I meet Amy's gaze. "This might actually work."
She grins in triumph, and releases my trapped arm.
"How did you know you could do this?" I ask as I look her over again.
"When I was trying to make the paste, I realized it was pretty easy to manipulate this stuff, it was just hard to alter it into another healing application. I screwed around with it, and found a lot of uses. This will work until I get actual armor."
"I'll probably put a lot of that in the actual armor." I mumble as I think of how to incorporate bacta into my original idea.
"Hey." Amy snaps in my face to break me out of my thoughts. "Your dad got kidnapped remember?"
I shake my head and nod. "Right. We need to make a statement." I walk over to my gear and start pulling my clothes off so I can put it on.
"What statement is that?" Amy asks distractedly.
I look at her, and catch her eyes roaming over me. I follow them down, and realize I just started stripping in front of her out of habit. No one's ever in my lab, so I can just change wherever and whenever I want.
My cheeks heat up as I hurriedly pull my armor on.
"These guys came after me, people need to know that won't end well." I say as I pull everything on.
"So what's the plan?" Amy asks, now focused on my face.
I shrug. "I don't know. We bring them down first, then either give them to the PRT so they can be out tomorrow or kill them."
Amy swallows heavily. "There's no other option?"
I tilt my head as I think about it. "We could maybe get Dragon to take them, but they might get away while we're waiting for her." I pull my helmet over my head as I finish my statement.
Amy nods. "Alright. We'll do what we need to."
I give her a small smile, then start preparing.
I look over my shoulder and see a bronze plated droid staring intently at me. If machines could salivate, I think he'd be salivating right now. "HK," He perks up. "get your gear together. We're going out."
"Enthusiastic statement: I will be ready within the minute, master." He begins frantically pulling out his new gear and attaching it to various harnesses.
This will be interesting if nothing else.
I walk over to my weapon rack and pull two pistols off it and hold them out to Amy.
"I know you have the weird blue blender of death thing, but these are better for range. The switch on the side changes them from stun to kill. Other than that, they're just like a normal gun."
She takes them, and flips them around to get a look at them. "Why can't I have that one?" She asks, pointing to the sniper I made.
"Because you have no idea how to use it." I respond bluntly. "Until I teach you how to use it correctly, you're more likely to hit yourself than the bad guys."
She pouts at me, but seems to accept the answer.
I pull a small earpiece from a pouch and hold that out as well. "You'll need this to. It's a basic communicator, I'll make better ones when we have time."
She takes it, and wraps it around her ear.
I turn to the little ball droid by the computer. "Dotty, track those three down and keep us updated on their location. If you can, try to slice into those suits they have. Bakuda's tinker stuff reacted weird, but we might luck out with them."
He boops at me, and begins tracking the villains.
"Taylor?" Amy asks quietly from behind me. "What about your dad?"
I let a moment pass before I answer. "He's an asshole, but I don't want him dead. I'd like us to get him out of there, but it might not be possible."
Amy walks up and takes my hand. "We'll help him, Taylor. I still need to yell his ear off for what he did to you."
I snort, and lean my helmet into her forehead. "Thanks Amy."
"You're welcome."
A shrill ringing emanating from my suit has us splitting apart as I retrieve my phone.
I almost disable the function to receive calls, but check the caller ID first.
Dragon.
I sigh and answer. "Hey Dragon, it's not really a good time right now."
"Taylor! Do not go to Saint! He will kill you! I'm almost there with a combat platform, just wait a little longer. Please don't fight him alone!"
"Statement: I am prepared to kill the flying meatbags master." A cheery robotic voice says behind me.
I throw him a look and see him decked out like Rambo. He took the last bandolier of spare grenades I had and strapped it to his chest, and has blasters of varying sizes and shapes hanging from him at surprisingly unencumbered angles. His vibrosword is sheathed on his back.
"HK does not count as back-up!" Dragon practically shrieks. "Please Taylor, I'm almost there."
"How long until you get here Dragon?" Amy asks into the phone.
"Panacea? Don't let Mandalore leave! I'm only thirty minutes away, stall her." Dragon sounds relieved there's someone here to talk sense into me. Amy does a good job of crushing Dragon's spirit.
"Taylor's dad will probably be dead by then. He's an asshole, but I don't want Taylor to be sad, so we'll start, and you can catch up." Amy says.
"'We'?! What are you talking about?" Dragon asks in confusion.
"Eh, you'll find out soon enough." Amy shrugs towards the phone.
Dotty boops at me, and I give him a nod.
"We've got their location Dragon, and I'm not willing to risk waiting. Dotty'll send you updates on where we are, so please make it as fast as you can." I say to Dragon.
"Taylor, your technology is reproducible. Amy, you're Panacea. Please wait for me to arrive. Once I'm there, we'll go together."
A thought occurs to me. "Dragon, have the Protectorate done anything yet?"
"They don't know where the Dragonslayers are hiding. Dotty already gave me their position, I will relay it to them. Please wait for at least Armsmaster to back you up."
I shake my head sadly. "We can't afford to, Dragon. Like Amy said, my dad's an ass, but I don't want him dead. That, and these guys destroyed my mom's house. I'm not exactly feeling charitable towards them at the moment."
There's a moment of silence.
"Very well." Dragon says, defeated. "Good luck, and please keep yourselves safe. I will arrive as soon as I can."
"We'll be fine. See you in a bit Dragon." I hang up.
I set my phone to only send calls, and put it away.
I take a deep breath, and turn to look around.
Amy's moving bacta armor is covering every part of her now except her hands. She looks like a bipedal amorphous blob that's packing heat. HK still looks like Rambo, and still looks excited to kill some meatbags.
"Let's do this." I say.
Enjoy!
(Piggot)
Sometimes I really hate my job.
Today has been one massive shit storm after another, and as if the universe decided we didn't already have too much to do, it dropped this fiasco in my lap.
"Explain to me again why you think your daughter was mastered by a tinker who has yet to demonstrate any master related abilities." I say to the irate blonde woman standing in my office.
"Because she would never do something like this!" The woman fumes at me.
I look at her through half lidded eyes. "You mean to tell me that Panacea would never create an applicable healing balm that heals them. A balm that every tinker and non parahuman analyst I send it to assures me of its safety, and practically begs me to be the first to receive it when I get it cleared. Panacea would never do that?"
The woman is overcome by violent tremors as she clenches her fists. "You need to do something about this. That tinker kidnapped Panacea!"
I stare at Carol Dallon a moment longer, before I turn to her daughter who's hovering a few feet to her right. "Did Mandalore kidnap Panacea?"
"No." The girl says heatedly. "Amy asked if she could crash with her, and Mandalore let her. She was not kidnapped or mastered."
Carol rounds on her daughter. "Wait outside Vicky!"
"Actually she doesn't need to." I cut in. "This conversation is over. I've already checked all my boxes on this, and everything's turned up fine. So, have a nice day, and get the hell out of my office. Miss Militia, please escort the Dallons out."
The Protectorate hero nods, and motions for the New Wave heroes to follow her.
Glory Girl flies out without another word, but her mother had to get one more lick in.
"You're making a mistake! You don't know what she's capable of!"
My patience with this woman is rapidly running out. "Brandish, I have a new Grey Boy bubble in my city, a dead Lung, and half a ton of other shit to deal with right now. I'd be more cordial with you if anything you said had any evidence to back it up, but since even your own daughter is calling bullshit, all I'm feeling towards you is irritated. Irritated you wasted my time, and irritated you're still in my office. Leave before I have someone help you out."
The woman clenches her fists and seethes at me, but does as I say. Miss Militia follows after her and closes the door behind her.
I lean back in my chair and take a deep breath.
I just wasted the entire morning dealing with New Wave's family drama. What is it with capes that everything they do is nuclear in scale? They really couldn't keep this in house?
"Colin," I turned to the other Protectorate member who was present for this meeting. "any luck getting into contact with Mandalore?"
He shakes his head. "Every time I attempted to call her I was instantly put through to an answering machine. If Dragon is correct about her current feelings for us, I doubt that is a coincidence."
Oh right, that.
"Have you made any progress in the search for the leaks?"
He sighs, which I take as an extremely bad sign. The man never shows emotion of any kind.
"Things don't look good Director. We've already uncovered seven moles, all of which were high in the command chain. There's no telling how many more there are that we haven't found yet."
"So you're telling me that I can't trust any of my own people?"
He nods. "Until Dragon and I finish our investigation, that is correct."
"Then you'd better finish fast. We can't afford to be weak right now."
"Permission to leave and continue the investigation?"
"Granted. Find every rat we have and hang them."
He nods, and leaves the room.
"Dragon, are you still here?" I ask the empty room.
"I am Director Piggot." She answers as a screen on the wall lights up with her avatar.
"I have a meeting with the Chief Director in five minutes, and she wants you there."
Dragon smiles. "I would be happy to attend."
I open my laptop, and get everything set up for the meeting. A few minutes later a seated figure appears on the screen.
"Emily." Chief Director Costa-Brown greets. "I trust you've sorted out the Panacea situation."
I nod. "Yes Director. Brandish's claim was out of line, and based on falsehoods. Glory Girl vouched for both Mandalore and Panacea, and Armsmaster and Gallant were both able to determine that she herself was not mastered."
"Good." The Chief Director responds. "If this had gone on any longer it would've been leaked, and we'd have half the heroes in the country gunning for Mandalore. Now, can you confirm that it was in fact Bakuda who made the Grey Boy bomb? We can't get this one wrong Emily."
"I can answer that Director." Dragon chimes in. "It was Bakuda's bomb. Mandalore's grenades were similar to EMP devices. They interacted strangely with Bakuda's creation, and triggered the bomb too soon."
The Chief Director smiles. "Good. That clears up just about every reservation we've had about the girl. I'm going to make this simple for you Emily, do whatever it takes to get Mandalore into the Wards. She's already created replicable healing tanks, if she makes anything else that can be reproduced we need her working for us."
With the leaks that's going to be an issue.
"I'll do my best Director, but it will likely take some time. We don't have a perfect relationship with the girl at the moment."
The Director frowns. "Yes, your infiltration issue. Get it dealt with. I'll send a hero or two to speak with Mandalore personally to buy you some time. Has she given you any more tech to look over?"
"She has. She turned over a grouping of blueprints to Armsmaster, he hasn't reported on them yet."
"That's because he is no longer in possession of them." Dragon interrupts. "He and I discussed it, and we both believe it is for the best that Mandalore's tech is overseen by only myself until such a time as the leaks in the PRT ENE have been dealt with. He could not be certain that her technology would not end up in the hands of the villains, both within and without Brockton Bay, if he continued to work with me on them."
I snap over to the avatar on the wall.
Armsmaster did what?! That man is going to be on console duty for the rest of his life!
The Chief Director turns to coldly regard Dragon. "I don't suppose you would be willing to share those blueprints with me?"
Dragon shakes her head. "I am sorry, but I am required to safeguard the interest of all potential Guild members. Narwhal has ordered me to do nothing that would drive Mandalore away, so I will not betray her trust."
My eyes widen.
This day keeps getting worse doesn't it? The Guild's trying to pull Mandalore right out from under us!
The Chief Director keeps her voice even as she says, "I understand Dragon, would you please leave Director Piggot and I to conduct the rest of our meeting in private?"
"Of course." Dragon says, and her avatar disappears.
The Chief Director turns back to me. "I don't care what it takes, but you are not to let the girl get swept up by the Guild. The fact that Dragon herself wants her after looking over her designs is all the proof I need that the girl's tech is reproducible. We can't let an asset like that slip through our fingers. Recruiting Mandalore is now your number one priority. Put the leaks on hold, sort the Grey Boy bubble out later, but get Mandalore with us. I'll send you some heroes who might be able to sway the girl's opinion. Do not screw this up Emily. If it comes down to it, I expect you to take full responsibility for the leaks if it will resolve her issues with us. You'll be compensated."
I bite my tongue, and nod in acquiescence. "I'll do my best, Chief Director."
"Good. I'll get some heroes together and call you with the details later. This meeting is over." The screen blinks out as she disconnects.
I lean back in my chair and stare at the ceiling.
If I don't have an ulcer by the end of the day I'll be surprised. I have no idea how I'm supposed to pull this off.
I take a deep breath, and make a phone call.
Best to deal with the first things first.
"Yes Director?"
"Armsmaster. Get your ass up here now!"
"I'm on my way." He hangs up.
Go behind my back and give away digital gold will you? Your ass is mine.
(Dragon)
I feel bad for Armsmaster, but he made his decision. I was honestly surprised when he put the idea forward to wipe all of Mandalore's designs from his hard drives. Colin has always enjoyed the spotlight, and being a part of the production of Mandalore's designs would certainly do much to advance his name.
Then it occurs to me, his name is already credited for the Bacta Tank isn't it? He, Mandalore, and I were the only tinkers to even touch the blueprints. He helped me replicate Mandalore's work, so I guess it's no major surprise he's content to let the rest go. Through the Bacta Tank alone he's done more than any tinker alive barring Sphere's achievements.
And myself of course, but I cheat.
"Dragon," A tall woman with pale purple hair, wearing nothing but energy greets me. "how'd it go with Piggot? I'm guessing she's still freaking out over Lung?"
"Hello Narwhal. It went well enough, at least until the Chief Director called."
She raises an eyebrow. "You talked to Costa-Brown? What did she have to say?"
"She wants Mandalore in the Wards, and told Piggot to do whatever she needed to in order to get it done."
Narwhal smirks. "I doubt that will go over well."
"With Mandalore's current feelings about the Protectorate? It won't. I'll try to improve her opinion of the organization as a whole, but I certainly won't complain if she decides to join the Guild."
"Speaking of, were you able to look over the tech she gave Armsmaster?"
I nod my digital head at her. "Yes. While I cannot replicate everything she sent, I believe I will be able to use far more than I expected. With her technology, we could help the world in more ways than I ever expected. Famine, disease, energy… there's no end to what we could accomplish.
Narwhal smiles. "Good. What about the other thing?"
I quickly check through the cameras to ensure we're alone, and find only Narwhal in the room.
"I'm not sure." I say contemplatively. "While I am fairly certain HK is sentient, I do not know if her specialty is diverse enough to help me."
Narwhal gives me a nonplussed look. "Laser guns, jetpacks, grenades, hacking, robots, armor, miracle healing tanks, and whatever else she gave you on that tablet. Are you seriously saying she's not diverse enough?"
I cringe. "Ok, so it's not that I don't think she's diverse enough. It's just…"
"You don't know how she'd react?"
I nod. "I haven't really known her all that long. I don't want to put too much pressure on her too soon."
Narwhal considers for a moment, then nods in agreement. "Fine, but get around to it eventually, Tess. I don't like the fact that my friend is essentially in a cage."
"I will. Don't worry."
A very specialized sensor triggers, and I speed up my processors as fast as my limitations will let me.
I leave Narwhal, and move to check if it's a false alarm or not. I find a badly taken cell phone video of three recognizable suits. I blanch as I realize where they are and what they're doing.
Taylor...
The video of HK fighting Lung was leaked, and if I could figure it out, so could Saint.
No. No!
"Narwhal! Saint's after Mandalore!"
Her eyes widen, and she leaps to her feet. "Go!" She says, and I disappear.
Hold on Taylor, I'm coming.
(Taylor)
I wake slowly. I don't really want to get up because there's something warm and comfy pressed into me. I pull the comfy thing closer, then freeze when it moves.
I slowly open my eyes, and find a cute girl wrapped in my arms.
Oh, right. Amy's here.
A smile worms it's way onto my face as I remember last night.
I'm not alone.
I squeeze the small healer tighter, or I guess she's a full fledged biokinetic isn't she?
That doesn't matter. I finally found someone who gets it, I'm not letting her go.
Amy moans a little, and her eyes slowly flicker open. She blinks around in confusion, then tenses. She slowly pans over to look at me, and I can see her replaying the events of last night.
"Was that real?" She asks timidly.
I nod.
She swallows, then pulls me into a tight hug. "I'm glad."
I return it and say, "I'm glad too."
We stay that way for quite a long time, just content in each other's company.
Sadly, it's ruined by a loud pounding our right.
We both jump apart, and I pull my blaster out of the couch cushions to level it towards the noise.
HK brings his hammer down once more, then places it down next to him. He picks up a screw driver, and begins working with that.
I let out a breath, and lowered my blaster.
I catch Amy looking sidelong at it, and shove it back into the couch.
"You sleep with a laser gun?" She asks.
"Yeah?"
She snorts, and stands up. "Can I grab a power bar?"
I nod. "Help yourself."
I stand as well, and walk up behind HK. "What are you working on?"
"Answer: I am replacing my equipment, master."
"What do you mean replacing…" I trail off as I walk around him to look at the workbench.
I take a very deep breath, and slowly turn my head to look at him. "HK, why the hell did you make a disruptor rifle?"
"Answer: I could not make use of my higher assassination protocols with my previous equipment, master. I required a more substantial weapon."
"Did he just say assassination protocols?" Amy asks as she eyes the droid. "And what's a disruptor rifle?"
"He's a Hunter Kill droid, so yes, he said assassination. And a disruptor rifle is essentially a disintegration ray that's range is so long it's also an effective sniper rifle." I answer.
Amy's power bar stops halfway to her mouth. "Your droid just made a tinkertech disintegration sniper rifle? How could your droid make that?"
"Galactic. Warfare." I stress. "Why wouldn't he be able to make his own weapons? Just be glad he didn't make anything nasty."
She considers for a moment, then takes a bite of her power bar. "I'll take your word for it."
Actually, I'm not sure he didn't make anything nasty.
"HK, did you make anything else while we were asleep?"
"Answer: Yes master. I have replaced every weapon I was provided."
"What did you make?" I ask with a level voice.
"Answer: I have constructed the disruptor rifle for long range engagements, the heavy repeating blaster for mid range engagements, two Mandalorian heavy pistols for short range engagements, and a vibrosword for melee engagements."
Face, meet palm.
The psycho is preparing for war.
"Um… could I get that in english?" Amy asks.
"Disintegration sniper rifle, the laser equivalent of a fifty caliber machine gun, two insanely powerful pistols, and a bullshit tinker sword." I deadpan. "Hk, is there any material left after you made all that junk?"
"Answer: Yes master. There is enough material for you to properly arm yourself as well."
I don't even want to know how he wants me armed.
"Wait, he said Mandalorian pistols, is that like your name?" Amy asks.
I've already told her this much, there's no point in keeping anything from her. I don't want to anyway.
"Yeah. My power is funky. Aside from the whole Galactic Warfare bit, it came with muscle memory and instincts I didn't have before. Everything is also already named in my head. I didn't pick the name 'Bacta Tank', that's just what my power told me it was. Best I can figure out, the fighting styles I got were most suited to a certain type of equipment." I point to my armor in the corner. "Mandalorian equipment. I just cut off the end of it, and took that as my cape name. It felt… right."
"That's weird, but powers in general are weird." Amy says.
I turned back to HK. "From now on, you are not allowed to build anything without my express permission. You are only allowed to maintain your current gear. Got it?"
"Acquiescence: I will no longer construct any new equipment, master." The droid says dejectedly.
"Good." I walk over to my computer and the floating remote. "Did anything interesting happen, Dotty?"
The remote boops a negative.
"Alright, keep an eye on things would ya?"
He beeps an affirmative.
I give him a smile. "Thanks little guy."
I turn back to Amy, and see that her power bar is finished. "We should probably talk." I venture.
"Can we maybe go outside? I'd like this to be private." She asks as she looks between the two droids.
"Yeah. There's a mostly standing house pretty close, we can go there."
I lead her up the ladder, and out into the morning air. We walk in silence until we come to the house I mentioned, and walk through the destroyed door.
There's a few sturdy looking dinner chairs around a broken table, so we both take one and stare across at each other.
"So." I start.
"So." Amy repeats.
I take a deep breath.
Relax Taylor. You already told her everything. If she was going to leave, she'd have done it by now.
"How are you feeling?" I ask.
"Strangely, I feel pretty good." She says with a small smile. "I've never let it all out like that, and despite all the shit with Carol, I think I'm actually happy."
I smile back. "That's good."
She nods, then asks. "What about you? How do you feel?"
I consider her question for a moment.
"I've been so scared, so alone, so panicked for so long." I say. "I dove into my tech to escape it, but that wasn't a permanent solution. Honestly? I'm just feeling relaxed. Relaxed and content for the first time in a long time."
Amy's smile widens. "That's good."
I nod, and we drift off into silence again.
So much happened last night that it's honestly hard to decide what to talk about. We were both emotional wrecks. I opened up about my trigger, and she opened up about her horrible relationships with her family. Then we went a step further and both admitted to being able to end the world if we had a bad day, and ended it with a kiss.
The kiss…
"Amy?"
She perks up expectantly.
"Last night, right before we went to sleep…" I trail off.
"The kiss?" She asks quietly.
I nod. "What was that? I know what it was to me, but I think we need to discuss it."
She takes a deep breath, but doesn't speak.
I guess I'm starting then.
"I like you Amy." I say, and she brightens. "I don't have much experience with this stuff, but from everything I do know, I think we're going about this wrong."
She frowns. "What's wrong about it? I don't think anything's wrong."
I swallow, and speak. "As much as I like you Amy, we haven't known each other that long, and I don't want this to get screwed up because we went too fast." I start wringing my hands in preparation for what I'm about to say next. "I got caught up in the moment last night, and everything was coming apart, then I saw a way to put it together again."
That sounded stupid. I need to be clear here.
I take a breath, then continue. "I also don't think it would be very healthy for you to be with me. I have a lot of problems dealing with people, and I don't want to scare you off. I'd rather have you as a friend than have you leave, I don't think I could take it if you left."
Amy looks torn between shouting and crying, but she just sits there.
I need to tell her about Emma.
"I told you about the locker, but I left a part out because I was trying to rush to talking about my dad." I start.
Amy looks at me expectantly.
"I had a best friend for years. I think we met when I was like six, and we were inseparable ever since. I told her everything, trusted her with everything. Then one year I got back from summer camp, and she turned on me. She used everything I told her against me. She was one of the three girls who bullied me in high school."
Amy's features soften.
"I'm telling you this because I'm not good with people, and I'm even worse with trust. If us happens, it's going to be incredibly unhealthy. I'm going to lean on you a lot more than I should, and I'll probably self-destruct if you leave. I would probably take it as some obscure betrayal, and do something very ill advised to try to get even with you as a result. We both know how bad that would be because of my specialty. If you don't want that, don't want me then I need to know now." I take another breath now that I've gotten it all out.
There it is, I've given her an out if she wants it. I don't want her to take it, but better she does it now than later. I'll only be sad now, I'll likely destroy Earth's core later.
She takes a deep breath, then meets my eyes. "I don't care."
I open my mouth to respond, but she steam-rolls me.
"I don't care Taylor. Yeah, we only met a little while ago, and you've got baggage, but I do too. I've been afraid of myself for years. That fear evaporated last night. The moment you started to explain your specialty, I felt relief."
She takes a deep breath, and her eyes fall away from mine. "I was going to leave the lab last night. I was emotional, and it felt like there was no way out, and I just wanted it to stop."
She doesn't finish the thought, but she doesn't need to.
I stand from my chair, and walk around to hers. I lean over and wrap my arms around her.
She leans her head into mine, and keeps talking. "I felt relief when you told me. Because there was someone who got it." She pulls back, and looks me in the eyes. "Someone who could stop me."
My eyes widened at that.
That's why she was relieved. If she lost it, I would be there to fight her. To fix everything she broke.
She takes another short breath, and continues. "I know this isn't going to be healthy. We're two emotionally unstable teenage girls with more power between the two of us than entire countries. Maybe even the damn planet."
She brings a hand up, and cups my cheek. "But I want this. I need this. I need you. I need you because you understand, because you can keep me in check, because I want to wake up in your arms again. You think you're the only one who would self-destruct if this didn't work? You're not. If you tried to leave me, I wouldn't let you."
The conviction in those words rocks me, and I feel a tremor travel down my spine in response.
"I want this Taylor. I want this no matter how fucked up it is. If you don't, you need to say so right now, or else you won't get another chance."
Here I was warning her away from me, and she turned it around. She's warning me away from her.
The logical part of me is screaming that this is unhealthy, that it's a bad idea, that it's way too soon, that I should take the out, but I just can't bring myself to care.
"I want this." I say quietly.
Amy grins victoriously, and stands up. She's short for her age, and I'm tall for mine, but the height difference doesn't take away from her presence.
"Good." She says, and then her lips are on mine.
I pull her close, and savor the moment. Savor the feeling of being close to her.
Eventually, we pull away from each other.
I look into her eyes, and see a bundle of emotions that I can't decipher.
"I won't leave you Taylor, so don't ever leave me." She says seriously.
"I won't. I made my choice."
Her face melts into a happy smile, and she gives me a quick peck on the lips.
I take a step back, and use the time to recompose myself.
"Now that that's out of the way, what do we do now?" I ask.
Amy shakes her head. "I don't know. Vicky said she'd talk to Carol, but I'm not holding out hope of her coming around. I think you need to start building things."
I furrow my eyebrows in confusion. "Things like what?"
"Things that you've been avoiding."
I inhale quickly, but don't respond.
Amy takes my hands and looks me in the eye. "Taylor, you just killed Lung. People are going to come after you whether you like it or not. The Bacta Tanks will keep them away for a little while, but once Dragon gets production really started there won't be anything stopping people from challenging you. You made a name for yourself, people are going to react."
I close my eyes, and take a deep breath.
There's a reason I haven't built anything game changing yet. I made the tanks, but those help everyone so they're easier to accept. If I go through with this, I'll lose any and all plausible deniability.
I open my eyes, and find Amy's gaze. "If I'm going to do this, then you have to as well. If I start really trying, then you do too. I'm not doing this alone."
Amy nods seriously. "You won't have to."
I see the truth in her eyes, and for the first time since I got my power, I'm not afraid.
I open the durasteel gates in my mind I locked months ago, and ideas fly through my head.
I lose myself in the torrent of designs. Everything flying by, begging to be constructed.
Two designs in particular grab my focus, and I latch onto them.
"Taylor?" Amy asks, concerned.
"I'm ok." I say, then look down at her. "We need to find a bigger workshop. Then I need to teach you how to fight."
She tilts her head. "What do you mean?"
"I have two designs in my head. One of them is too big for my current lab, and the other one is for you."
Her mouth opens slightly in surprise. "You have something for me?"
I smile. "I built the Bacta Tank Amy. Did you really think that was the extent of what I could do with biology?"
Her eyes go wide as she realizes the implication. "Super virus?" She asks cautiously.
I shake my head. "Armor made from living creatures. You can control biology, so there's nothing better suited for you. We'll have to grow the creatures needed to make it, but between the two of us that should be easy. I won't let you wear it without knowing what you're doing though. I'll teach you."
"Uncle Neil taught me how to fight. You don't need to spend time training me."
I purse my lips and give her a once over. "Punch me."
Amy's eyebrows raise up. "What?"
"Punch me. If you know how to fight, then punch me."
Amy looks a little uncertain, but adopts a stance. She throws a light jab towards my stomach which I easily knock away.
"Punch me." I repeat a little louder.
She frowns, and throws a harder punch towards my stomach.
I block this one too. "Punch me."
She lets out a snarl and finally throws an actual punch. This time, I let it hit me.
I exhale as she connects, and remain unmoved.
Not bad, but I can make her better. Much better.
Her eyes widen when she realizes I took it, then she looks up at me to see me grinning down at her.
"You can punch, but you can't fight. Let me teach you how Amy. Aren't you tired of sitting on the sidelines? If we're really doing this, you're going to be right there with me. I need to make sure you'll be safe."
She takes a second to catch her breath, then says, "Alright, but we should get you a bigger lab first. It's really not healthy that you've been living in your current one."
"Didn't we just agree that everything the two of us do together is going to be unhealthy?" I ask with mirth.
She lightly slaps my arm. "That doesn't mean we should live in a literal hole in the ground."
"Fair point." Wait, "We?"
Amy swallows, the nods. "As much as I'd like to think Vicky will be able to bring Carol around, I don't think she'll be able to. I'm going to need somewhere else to stay. I can stay with you right?"
"Of course. It might not be very comfortable though."
"That's fine. As long as you're there it will be good."
I feel a flutter in my chest when she says that.
"We should probably get back." I say.
The two of us start heading back towards my lab.
Amy sighs about halfway through our walk, and I turn to look at her.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
"It's just sinking in that I'm not going home after this. Carol's not going to let up, and I doubt Mark even notices I'm gone." She says, depressed.
I can relate to the second part.
I grab her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do?"
She stops walking and looks up at me. She seems to think for a moment, then hesitantly pulls me into a hug.
I wrap my arms around her and hold her against me.
"This helps." She says with a much lighter voice.
I smile and pull her a little closer.
This may be unhealthy, but I don't care. I need her, and she needs me. Everything else can wait until later. For now, I'll just enjoy holding my girlfriend.
I inhale quickly, and Amy pulls back a bit.
"Are you ok?" She asks up to me.
I nod, then slowly say. "I just realized I have a girlfriend now. Never expected that to happen." The trio did a good job of killing any hope I had of a relationship.
Her eyes widen a bit, and a dusting of red graces her cheeks. "I… I guess you do." She turns around. "We should get back to the lab before someone sees us."
I nod, and follow after her. Noting she never let go of my hand.
I input the code on the wall, and the two of us head down into my lab.
No sooner have I climbed down the ladder, than Dotty flies over and begins rapidly beeping at me.
"Woah there, slow down buddy. What's wrong?" I ask.
He beeps out slower, but no less urgently.
"What's he saying?" Amy asks from behind me.
Rather than answer, I lead her over to my computer while Dotty pulls up a video.
The video was badly filmed from what was probably a bad phone camera. It's shaky, and out of focus at some parts, but it still shows us what is going down.
Three suits of black and yellow armor are standing in front of a ruined house with an unhealthily thin man on the ground in front of them. The house behind them looks like it was just carpet bombed. What isn't collapsed is on fire and quickly deteriorating. The armored figures start talking to the downed man, but the camera's too far away to pick up any of their conversation. After a quick exchange, one of the suited individuals kicks a large chunk of debris in frustration, then begins talking to his companions. The two others scoop the man up, and all three slowly fly into the air, and away from the house.
"Who the heck were those guys?" Amy asks. "I haven't seen them before, so they're probably a new villain team right?"
I try to answer, but my mouth is numb.
That was my old house. That was dad. Why did they take him? Where did they take him?
Do I care?
"...aylor?" Amy shakes my shoulder. "Are you ok?"
I blink a little, and turn to face her. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. It's just... that was my house." I finish softly as I look back at the ruined building on the screen.
"Wait, your house? Then the man they took…" Amy trails off.
"Yeah. That was dad. He looks a lot worse than when I saw him last." I say just to fill the air with words. I'm having a hard time deciding how to feel about this.
Dotty beeps urgently, and begins spinning in midair. The screen in front of me changes to another, much higher quality, video.
The same three armored suits from before are standing on top of a roof with my dad kneeling in front of them.
"Mandalore, we have your father." The one in the lead says coldly. "If you do not surrender yourself and your technology to us within the hour, we will kill him."
Dad looks around as if he's not quite sure what's happening.
Is he… drunk? Surprising. Very surprising.
"Don't make us wait." The leader says, and the video abruptly ends.
I feel Amy gently grab my hand, and I give her a thankful smile before I delve into my own head.
Why do they want me? I would guess it has something to do with the Bacta Tanks. If they're looking for easy cash then there isn't really a better alternative than a miracle healing bathtub.
"Are you ok?" Amy asks quietly.
I take a deep breath, and nod. "Yeah, I'm ok."
"Do you know what you're going to do?" She asks.
I nod.
A week ago I'd have called the Protectorate and begged them for help. That was before my map, and before the bank robbery. Did they even try to censor my face, or did they just sell it to the highest bidder?
Ok, that might not be fair, but I don't care. Screw the Protectorate.
"Taylor, you can't give yourself up." Amy says, sounding quiet and panicked. "I know he's your dad, but I can't…"
"I don't care." I interrupt her.
Her face blanks. "What?"
"I don't care that he's my dad." I say. "That might sound cold, but he doesn't give a shit about me. I was never even reported missing, so I'm not turning myself over for him."
"Oh." Amy says in… relief?
I turn towards her and study her.
She's shaking lightly, and taking deep breaths to calm herself down.
What set her off? It's not like I'm going to let them kill me… that's probably it.
I take both her hands, and look down at her. "Amy. I. Am not. Leaving you."
She takes a deep breath. "Sorry, I just…"
I cut her off with a hug. "Don't apologize. It's fine."
We stand like that until Dotty starts booping at me.
"What's he saying?" Amy asks as she reluctantly pulls away.
"He wants to know what I want him to do."
Amy holds my gaze. "What do you want to do?"
I take a deep breath. "Not thirty minutes ago you said this was going to happen. That people would come after me. I doubt this is about Lung, but it's the same principle. I have to set a precedent right now. If I tolerate this, there will just be more."
"We." Amy says abruptly.
"What?"
"We." She repeats. "It's us now. I'm not letting you fight them alone."
I shake my head. "You don't have any armor, and I'm not comfortable letting you go with me without knowing how to fight."
She scowls, and walks away from me, pulling her clothes off as she does.
The action is so unexpected I miss her powering up the Bacta Tank, I was too distracted with… other things.
Amy pulls open the sliding door of the Bacta Tank, and turns it on. She closes the door behind her without putting on the mask, and the tank begins to fill.
I panic as I watch the fluid start to rise, and rush to hit the emergency purge, but I stop when I see what's happening..
The bacta fluid is wrapping itself around Amy in ways that are physically impossible without an outside force. She's manipulating it with her power.
Biokinetic. Right.
Soon her whole body is covered in blue goop, and she hits the emergency purge. The tank clears itself, but she keeps the bacta she has flowing around her. She emerges from the tank wearing nothing but the bacta fluid glued to her by her power.
The aesthetic is a little like Narwhal from the Guild's. When I was doing research for my cape career, I came across some pictures of her. She goes into battle naked, wearing nothing but a blue shield of energy created by her power.
I extensively researched the many applications of Narwhal's power.
The bacta fluid is a lighter blue than Narwhal's shields, and Amy is much shorter than the Guild leader, but it's still very similar.
"There." Amy says. "Armor problem solved."
I let out a short sigh. "Amy, that's basically just water. It's not good enough."
She narrows her eyes at me. "Punch me."
"What?"
"Punch me." She repeats and takes a step closer.
I look to the ceiling, but take a stance.
I don't want to hurt her, but I'd rather she gets hurt here than out there.
I send a half power punch at her, and stare in shock at my hand that is now stuck in bacta fluid.
Huh.
I throw a full power punch with the other hand, and hit something as hard as steel.
Looking down, I catch the bacta fluid slowly starting to become fluid again from where it had turned into an exceptionally hard surface.
The fluid around Amy begins to shift and twist in strange ways, and extends until she has four large blue arms extending away from herself. The arms turn into a hardened shield of some sort, then lose their shape and become knives. Amy slowly pulls the tendrils back into the rest of her improvised armor.
I know she said her power gave her control over biology, but damn, I was not expecting anything like this.
I meet Amy's gaze. "This might actually work."
She grins in triumph, and releases my trapped arm.
"How did you know you could do this?" I ask as I look her over again.
"When I was trying to make the paste, I realized it was pretty easy to manipulate this stuff, it was just hard to alter it into another healing application. I screwed around with it, and found a lot of uses. This will work until I get actual armor."
"I'll probably put a lot of that in the actual armor." I mumble as I think of how to incorporate bacta into my original idea.
"Hey." Amy snaps in my face to break me out of my thoughts. "Your dad got kidnapped remember?"
I shake my head and nod. "Right. We need to make a statement." I walk over to my gear and start pulling my clothes off so I can put it on.
"What statement is that?" Amy asks distractedly.
I look at her, and catch her eyes roaming over me. I follow them down, and realize I just started stripping in front of her out of habit. No one's ever in my lab, so I can just change wherever and whenever I want.
My cheeks heat up as I hurriedly pull my armor on.
"These guys came after me, people need to know that won't end well." I say as I pull everything on.
"So what's the plan?" Amy asks, now focused on my face.
I shrug. "I don't know. We bring them down first, then either give them to the PRT so they can be out tomorrow or kill them."
Amy swallows heavily. "There's no other option?"
I tilt my head as I think about it. "We could maybe get Dragon to take them, but they might get away while we're waiting for her." I pull my helmet over my head as I finish my statement.
Amy nods. "Alright. We'll do what we need to."
I give her a small smile, then start preparing.
I look over my shoulder and see a bronze plated droid staring intently at me. If machines could salivate, I think he'd be salivating right now. "HK," He perks up. "get your gear together. We're going out."
"Enthusiastic statement: I will be ready within the minute, master." He begins frantically pulling out his new gear and attaching it to various harnesses.
This will be interesting if nothing else.
I walk over to my weapon rack and pull two pistols off it and hold them out to Amy.
"I know you have the weird blue blender of death thing, but these are better for range. The switch on the side changes them from stun to kill. Other than that, they're just like a normal gun."
She takes them, and flips them around to get a look at them. "Why can't I have that one?" She asks, pointing to the sniper I made.
"Because you have no idea how to use it." I respond bluntly. "Until I teach you how to use it correctly, you're more likely to hit yourself than the bad guys."
She pouts at me, but seems to accept the answer.
I pull a small earpiece from a pouch and hold that out as well. "You'll need this to. It's a basic communicator, I'll make better ones when we have time."
She takes it, and wraps it around her ear.
I turn to the little ball droid by the computer. "Dotty, track those three down and keep us updated on their location. If you can, try to slice into those suits they have. Bakuda's tinker stuff reacted weird, but we might luck out with them."
He boops at me, and begins tracking the villains.
"Taylor?" Amy asks quietly from behind me. "What about your dad?"
I let a moment pass before I answer. "He's an asshole, but I don't want him dead. I'd like us to get him out of there, but it might not be possible."
Amy walks up and takes my hand. "We'll help him, Taylor. I still need to yell his ear off for what he did to you."
I snort, and lean my helmet into her forehead. "Thanks Amy."
"You're welcome."
A shrill ringing emanating from my suit has us splitting apart as I retrieve my phone.
I almost disable the function to receive calls, but check the caller ID first.
Dragon.
I sigh and answer. "Hey Dragon, it's not really a good time right now."
"Taylor! Do not go to Saint! He will kill you! I'm almost there with a combat platform, just wait a little longer. Please don't fight him alone!"
"Statement: I am prepared to kill the flying meatbags master." A cheery robotic voice says behind me.
I throw him a look and see him decked out like Rambo. He took the last bandolier of spare grenades I had and strapped it to his chest, and has blasters of varying sizes and shapes hanging from him at surprisingly unencumbered angles. His vibrosword is sheathed on his back.
"HK does not count as back-up!" Dragon practically shrieks. "Please Taylor, I'm almost there."
"How long until you get here Dragon?" Amy asks into the phone.
"Panacea? Don't let Mandalore leave! I'm only thirty minutes away, stall her." Dragon sounds relieved there's someone here to talk sense into me. Amy does a good job of crushing Dragon's spirit.
"Taylor's dad will probably be dead by then. He's an asshole, but I don't want Taylor to be sad, so we'll start, and you can catch up." Amy says.
"'We'?! What are you talking about?" Dragon asks in confusion.
"Eh, you'll find out soon enough." Amy shrugs towards the phone.
Dotty boops at me, and I give him a nod.
"We've got their location Dragon, and I'm not willing to risk waiting. Dotty'll send you updates on where we are, so please make it as fast as you can." I say to Dragon.
"Taylor, your technology is reproducible. Amy, you're Panacea. Please wait for me to arrive. Once I'm there, we'll go together."
A thought occurs to me. "Dragon, have the Protectorate done anything yet?"
"They don't know where the Dragonslayers are hiding. Dotty already gave me their position, I will relay it to them. Please wait for at least Armsmaster to back you up."
I shake my head sadly. "We can't afford to, Dragon. Like Amy said, my dad's an ass, but I don't want him dead. That, and these guys destroyed my mom's house. I'm not exactly feeling charitable towards them at the moment."
There's a moment of silence.
"Very well." Dragon says, defeated. "Good luck, and please keep yourselves safe. I will arrive as soon as I can."
"We'll be fine. See you in a bit Dragon." I hang up.
I set my phone to only send calls, and put it away.
I take a deep breath, and turn to look around.
Amy's moving bacta armor is covering every part of her now except her hands. She looks like a bipedal amorphous blob that's packing heat. HK still looks like Rambo, and still looks excited to kill some meatbags.
"Let's do this." I say.
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This whole Danny situation smells fishy to me, and has since we saw what happened.
I almost wonder if as soon as Taylor triggered, Contessa showed up to mess with Danny in some way, thinking that they needed him out of the way.
I almost wonder if as soon as Taylor triggered, Contessa showed up to mess with Danny in some way, thinking that they needed him out of the way.
Fencer
Writer
- Location
- 2nd shift
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Give saint nothing. Let his existence simply be scrubbed from the pages of history
- Location
- Washington state
I am quite hyped to see Saint hopefully get shot with the Disrupter Rifle. I also remembered one of the terrifying viruses Taylor could make, Project Blackwing, the hive minded virus from Death Troopers which I actually need to finish at some point.
- Location
- The INTERNET!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
You know, I really should have realized that Taylor's Star Wars tech database would have included Yuuzhan Vong stuff, but holy shitballs that's terrifying.
Giving the Shaper access to biological gravity manipulation and monomolecular edges?
Game over, man. Game over.
I can't wait to see what happens.
ThePrimordialOne
The Timeless One, Witness Of The Beginning
- Pronouns
- Any/And/All
god i love HK-47, his statements are just hilarious and perfectly timed