FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
- Location
- The Internet
Yeah, that story is amusing. As is the fact that the pull cord in said phone only starts the radioactive particle scattering. Artist! Endbringers was amusing too.
On the subject of Skidmark and his snark: Perhaps Skidmark has been teaching his snark through examples of how not to behave. It ended up horrified at how its partner acted, the idiocy, etc and is overcompensating itself.
To those I had lunch with in the past couple of hours: I don't know anything about future plot points for Taylor Varga as I don't write that story, but your theories on the Simurgh here in Mauling Snarks were amusing. Wrong, but amusing. Sign up here or find me in Discord if you want to chat more. Oh, and next time I think I'll avoid sitting across from someone willing to pour barbecue dipping sauce on their salad.
To those I had lunch with in the past couple of hours: I don't know anything about future plot points for Taylor Varga as I don't write that story, but your theories on the Simurgh here in Mauling Snarks were amusing. Wrong, but amusing. Sign up here or find me in Discord if you want to chat more. Oh, and next time I think I'll avoid sitting across from someone willing to pour barbecue dipping sauce on their salad.
M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
That sounds horrific. Mind you, I like ranch dressing on hot dogs and hamburgers. OTOH, I'm actually not much of a barbecue sauce fan at all, and I'm more than a little burned out on ketchup.
- Location
- Europe
Just found and bing read this story this past week.
Well done, just enough fun to keep that Worm darkness away and managing to keep that up for all those chapters...
Again, well done.
Now some things I am wondering about, will Taylor find herself now also being a Canadian and a Guild member?
Will Danny & Jacob also find out they are now somehow, also Canadians?
Is Dragon going to arange piloting leasons for Taylor & Maul?
The new door opener, will it get linked to the home entertainment system?
Will a anti buglar security system be connected to it?
And what about Taylor her pranking tools?
Seems to me as a nice way to ad a non lethal weapon/trap option to it all.
Is that climate control room system going to be added too?
And if so, will Ami get one for her plants?
Is Vista going to enlarge that place for Ami?
All it needs, is a good internal coating on which Vista could anker her pocket enlargement trick on, like latex paint or so.
In canon Worm, Weaver had a bug controlled flightpack, is a more skeletal power armor variant (legs) with build in power bocking, going to be made for her, using/abusing Taylor secure bluetooth connection to the max?
Any S9 patron breaking, by them going after the Dragonslayers?
How often will Maul have a rolled up newspaper with her?
Will her first two tinker joinings be combined in order too not only enhance(?) Taylor her enhancements, but copy them for others?
Perhaps using Countdown/Bakuda for the delevery of the main nano-machine load?
So if Squeeler joins up, will she end up working together with Countdown, in order to improve her car engines their internal explosive reactions, that drives the driveshafts up & down?
And if so, will that result into a effect generator?
Either a single piston one or maybe a mag-lev barring(?) supported radial engine?
The original name for a Internal Combustion Engine was afteral, Internal Explosion Engine.
Which gives a funny meaning to Continues Combustion Engine, like it being a controlled & mastered reactor plasma blowout effect, for example.
That could explain Sci-fi STL engines like the Fusion Torch that most of those stories use.
One thing is sure, the chaos is still going strong.
Heh, as long as Lung is in Brockton Bay, I can't see Leviathan attacking BB.
Remember how Eidolon thinks about Lung, this is then filtered on to the Endbringers.
Lung solo'd Leviathan, I also believe he fough the whole range of high powered Protectocrate members when he first started setting up shop in BB, though that could have been fanon.
Still the fact remains, even Eidolon has trouble solo-ing a Endbringer.
....
Crap, thats where The Lung Interview is going to be used for, right?
Breaking Eidolon his perspective on Lung, thus opening up BB for Endbringer Attacks.
(Rematch of the Century!!!)
On a more positive thought track, did Kid Win ever though to make remote controlled hover drones?
Why?
Because it would open up his hover tech to Maul, if he ads in a secure bluetooth connection.
Also allows Taylor to use it for pranking, by arming such drones with her pranking tools.
Maul could put foam weapons on them, for controlling large groups of people and capturing dangerous parahumans.
Mmm, how strong is that hover unit mend for that suitcase?
O wait, she still has to get it.
On that, might I suggest a refridgerator(?) and a freezer, together with a power source of some kind, for that suitcase?
Maybe even some modular cooking gear?
It might make some things more easy too pull off.
Also, could Vista her pocket trick be used for armored insert, if needing a suitcase hover unit per insert, thanks to the insert its new weight?
On getting things, are those medical emergency treatment boxes for Maul, in yet?
Or would she need to take a first responder class before they can even be handed over to her?
And in that case, could it end up being more then original intended?
(Sailors, like the captain, first, second and third mate, need to be able to act as the eyes and hands of some doctor on the shore, using radio, in case of a emergency, out there on the open sea, far away from shore and no doctor on board, because the crew is too small for that, its thus a far heavier first responder training, since you need to replace a doctor)
And the best thing?
Same goes for fire, no responders out on sea, that could reach you, so you have to do it yourself.
What if Taylor acidentaly entered those class courses?
Sorry for the rambling, I know, wait & see.
Well done, just enough fun to keep that Worm darkness away and managing to keep that up for all those chapters...
Again, well done.
Now some things I am wondering about, will Taylor find herself now also being a Canadian and a Guild member?
Will Danny & Jacob also find out they are now somehow, also Canadians?
Is Dragon going to arange piloting leasons for Taylor & Maul?
The new door opener, will it get linked to the home entertainment system?
Will a anti buglar security system be connected to it?
And what about Taylor her pranking tools?
Seems to me as a nice way to ad a non lethal weapon/trap option to it all.
Is that climate control room system going to be added too?
And if so, will Ami get one for her plants?
Is Vista going to enlarge that place for Ami?
All it needs, is a good internal coating on which Vista could anker her pocket enlargement trick on, like latex paint or so.
In canon Worm, Weaver had a bug controlled flightpack, is a more skeletal power armor variant (legs) with build in power bocking, going to be made for her, using/abusing Taylor secure bluetooth connection to the max?
Any S9 patron breaking, by them going after the Dragonslayers?
How often will Maul have a rolled up newspaper with her?
Will her first two tinker joinings be combined in order too not only enhance(?) Taylor her enhancements, but copy them for others?
Perhaps using Countdown/Bakuda for the delevery of the main nano-machine load?
So if Squeeler joins up, will she end up working together with Countdown, in order to improve her car engines their internal explosive reactions, that drives the driveshafts up & down?
And if so, will that result into a effect generator?
Either a single piston one or maybe a mag-lev barring(?) supported radial engine?
The original name for a Internal Combustion Engine was afteral, Internal Explosion Engine.
Which gives a funny meaning to Continues Combustion Engine, like it being a controlled & mastered reactor plasma blowout effect, for example.
That could explain Sci-fi STL engines like the Fusion Torch that most of those stories use.
One thing is sure, the chaos is still going strong.
Heh, as long as Lung is in Brockton Bay, I can't see Leviathan attacking BB.
Remember how Eidolon thinks about Lung, this is then filtered on to the Endbringers.
Lung solo'd Leviathan, I also believe he fough the whole range of high powered Protectocrate members when he first started setting up shop in BB, though that could have been fanon.
Still the fact remains, even Eidolon has trouble solo-ing a Endbringer.
....
Crap, thats where The Lung Interview is going to be used for, right?
Breaking Eidolon his perspective on Lung, thus opening up BB for Endbringer Attacks.
(Rematch of the Century!!!)
On a more positive thought track, did Kid Win ever though to make remote controlled hover drones?
Why?
Because it would open up his hover tech to Maul, if he ads in a secure bluetooth connection.
Also allows Taylor to use it for pranking, by arming such drones with her pranking tools.
Maul could put foam weapons on them, for controlling large groups of people and capturing dangerous parahumans.
Mmm, how strong is that hover unit mend for that suitcase?
O wait, she still has to get it.
On that, might I suggest a refridgerator(?) and a freezer, together with a power source of some kind, for that suitcase?
Maybe even some modular cooking gear?
It might make some things more easy too pull off.
Also, could Vista her pocket trick be used for armored insert, if needing a suitcase hover unit per insert, thanks to the insert its new weight?
On getting things, are those medical emergency treatment boxes for Maul, in yet?
Or would she need to take a first responder class before they can even be handed over to her?
And in that case, could it end up being more then original intended?
(Sailors, like the captain, first, second and third mate, need to be able to act as the eyes and hands of some doctor on the shore, using radio, in case of a emergency, out there on the open sea, far away from shore and no doctor on board, because the crew is too small for that, its thus a far heavier first responder training, since you need to replace a doctor)
And the best thing?
Same goes for fire, no responders out on sea, that could reach you, so you have to do it yourself.
What if Taylor acidentaly entered those class courses?
Sorry for the rambling, I know, wait & see.
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Dantalion
Insight: 365
- Location
- A Guest Room at the Brass Embassy, dying of Frenzy
- Pronouns
- Any
What, as in 'I am Dragon, you are now Canadian'? Doubt she'd really care too much about nationalism, being an AI, though she might help expedite citizenship if she felt it would be helpful.
Guild membership would probably be a standing offer, same as the citizenship - Taylor's already a Ward, and one with barely any of the restrictions that would cause the chafing that would drive her away in the first place, so flat out taking her would be poaching, and probably would cause a fair bit of general tension for no real benefit, but leaving the option open harms nothing.
- Location
- In My Parlour like a Good Arachne
- Pronouns
- She, her
One thing I kinda have to ask though:
Isn't Narwal head of the Toronto Protectorate and the Guild Leader? Just some food for though methinks.
Isn't Narwal head of the Toronto Protectorate and the Guild Leader? Just some food for though methinks.
Epsilon Rose
The King of Unrest
If I recall correctly, and things are the same as in canon, the guild mostly focuses on taking down s-class threats, so Dragon might not want her to join.
Not sure how that would interact with the established way various S class threats are set up in this fic... Lung is much more likeable, the S9 are a therapy group etc...? If the Guild is indeed focused on S class threats... (then again, I thought S class threats were a Naruto thing).
As I understand it, the Guild focuses on International threats, even those outside of the normal range of the Protectorate. I suspect that they don't normally accept underage capes at all due to how they normally function.
If those threats happen to be high-level issues, then they probably bring more members. If they only need a single person to deal with then only the single person bothers showing up.
Interestingly, Lung and the Slaughterhouse Nine would normally not be considered International threats, and thus wouldn't be a problem for the Guild in the first place. Very dangerous locally, not so much crossing borders.
If those threats happen to be high-level issues, then they probably bring more members. If they only need a single person to deal with then only the single person bothers showing up.
Interestingly, Lung and the Slaughterhouse Nine would normally not be considered International threats, and thus wouldn't be a problem for the Guild in the first place. Very dangerous locally, not so much crossing borders.
This is one sizable response for @Vianca, so I put it off until after the comment on the Guild I felt was a good thing to get out there sooner. That and I only had a couple of minutes at the computer earlier. But my errands are done, so I had time to read through and write a response.
I don't anticipate them applying for Canadian citizenship anytime soon.
Why would they link the door opener to the entertainment system?
They don't feel they need a security system at this time, with or without prank tools attached.
The climate control system is single-room...what kind of system are you even thinking about here?
I imagine the greenhouse is designed to not need something like a climate control system, but that would be an option for an indoor version if she ever needs one.
Vista has no plans to enlarge the greenhouse for Amy. And if the glass is solidly connected to the frame there would be no need for paint (which destroys the concept of a greenhouse anyway).
The Slaughterhouse Nine will not be targeting the Dragonslayers.
The first two tinker fugues combined would probably not do what you are hoping they would do, assuming that Armsmaster and Kid Win could be cleared to know about Bonesaw in the first place.
Of course, now that I have written that you have to do the "is he trolling us? or trolling by not trolling? Or trolling by trolling instead of trolling by not trolling? etc..." dance.
And visits to places that won't be providing food and/or areas to prepare it will probably be rare, so why would she need a kitchen in her suitcase?
As I mentioned in my post about the Guild, I doubt they accept underage members at all. As for being a Canadian, she is officially seen as working for the Canadian government already, regardless of citizenship. Jacob has that as well. Danny not so much.
I don't anticipate them applying for Canadian citizenship anytime soon.
Why in the world would Dragon make Mommy fly around on her own? That isn't going to keep Mommy comfortable! Right up until Mommy wants to learn how to fly, of course, should that ever happen...
Why would they link the door opener to the entertainment system?
They don't feel they need a security system at this time, with or without prank tools attached.
The climate control system is single-room...what kind of system are you even thinking about here?
I imagine the greenhouse is designed to not need something like a climate control system, but that would be an option for an indoor version if she ever needs one.
Vista has no plans to enlarge the greenhouse for Amy. And if the glass is solidly connected to the frame there would be no need for paint (which destroys the concept of a greenhouse anyway).
Maul has her jump harness. The flightpack was repurposed from a villainous tinker, I think? Not sure how likely that is to happen here at all.
The Slaughterhouse Nine will not be targeting the Dragonslayers.
Maul will carry a rolled-up newspaper whenever she decides to purchase one instead of reading the news on her phone(s). Given how easy she finds the latter?
The first two tinker fugues combined would probably not do what you are hoping they would do, assuming that Armsmaster and Kid Win could be cleared to know about Bonesaw in the first place.
I figure that Squealer uses combustion engines out of "that is all she has to work with". What she makes when that isn't her only option? Who knows!
I figure that half the reason the Endbringers pick a given target is Eidolon being aware of things happening thanks to making the news, in or out of the Protectorate. And Brockton Bay has made the news multiple times recently, and that is without Eidolon spotting other details in the Protectorate systems. That, and what better excuse to visit Brockton Bay to talk to Maul than an Endbringer attack?
Of course, now that I have written that you have to do the "is he trolling us? or trolling by not trolling? Or trolling by trolling instead of trolling by not trolling? etc..." dance.
Half the headache of stuff like that is the maintenance requirements. The jump harness is almost but not quite maintenance free, until it takes damage. Drones like that would be more likely to take damage, which would eat up Kid Win's and/or Armsmaster's time maintaining them. Not a desirable thing for something neither of them is using.
Maul isn't planning on getting such a unit. But they only have a couple hours before they run out of juice, so using them to make armor usable would be a horrible idea. "Ooops, you got crushed by your own armor because the hover units ran out of juice. Our bad. We'll pay for the funeral?"
And visits to places that won't be providing food and/or areas to prepare it will probably be rare, so why would she need a kitchen in her suitcase?
I don't mention everything that shows up. See some of her certificates for another example. That said: She has her first aid kits already, she just hasn't needed them.
Epsilon Rose
The King of Unrest
If I recall correctly, it was a gift, by way of apology, from Arms Master when Taylor joined the Wards.
- Location
- <CLASSIFIED>
Nope. It was built by Dragon and Dickmaster and maintained by Buttmaster as apology for the outing at Arcadia and Beardmaster general arseholeish behavior before that.
It was given to Taylor on the way to the Behemoth fight in New Delhi.
Edit:
Damn! Imp'ed...
It was given to Taylor on the way to the Behemoth fight in New Delhi.
Edit:
Damn! Imp'ed...
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Drone 23.5 said:
It was a combination of their own stuff (Kid Win's hover panels, for example) and confiscated tech from a villain. The former of which may not be mass-produced yet and the latter may not be confiscated yet.
- Location
- Europe
That way Dragon could give Taylor her own Dragon-craft, for way more speedier flights.
So they could tie in a security system and use the entertainment system as a master control view screen.
Whole house, thus every room.
Paint, coatings and so on, like that see true wood protection stuff, it would turn the inside of that greenhouse (or a wooden closet), into one whole, giving Vista more to work with.
And as for that climate control, every greenhouse has a heating system, so they can use them in the winter.
Now how costly is this heating system versus that climate control thing?
Maul will carry a rolled-up newspaper whenever she decides to purchase one instead of reading the news on her phone(s). Given how easy she finds the latter?[/quote]
So no using a newspaper as a blunt object with which too hit people with?
Am more thinking about the repair system, if even a part of that could be inserted, that could greatly change things.
Selonianth
Writer of Words
Both Wrong. Well... one of you is wrong, the other just left something out.
Was armsy and Kid Win, who wanted to thank Maul for helping him figure out his specialty.
M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
Actually, it looks like @Epsilon Rose and @MDK are talking about Weaver's flight pack from canon, rather than Maul's jump harness.
Selonianth
Writer of Words
... I read "Jump harness" and a questionabout where came from.... and completely missed them talking about the canon jump jet... though in fairness... why?
M. H. Fuzzball
Aperture Science-certified Horrible Person
- Location
- Sector 2814
They were, I think, discussing the commonality of the Kid Win-supplied components of Weaver's flight pack to the systems of Maul's harness.
- Location
- <CLASSIFIED>
I was talking about the canon flight pack because of this statement from @CmptrWz:
Which I unfortunately forgot to include in my post despite having it marked for quoting.
And since @Epsilon Rose did actually quote that part I think it safe to assume that is/was same for him/her/it.
Chapter 50
Taylor woke up feeling somewhat confused. It took her a moment to realize why there were so many snarks around. As she connected to her phones and tablet she noted that it was early, just after five in the morning. Which was probably why nobody else seemed to be moving.
Ten minutes later she had dealt with her pressing biological needs, and had made note to add a robe or two to her civilian clothing set. And maybe a 'Maul' robe for when she was dealing with overnight stays with people who didn't know her identity? Figuring she wasn't going to get back to sleep anytime soon, since she no longer felt tired, she poked at the message alerts on her phones.
Looked like she was, in fact, cleared to head home if she wanted to, as of almost an hour ago. A Wards meeting had been requested for half past nine, and some of the official notices for 'no patrols' had come through as well. Apparently the Wards weren't patrolling, in general, until the seventh due to 'recent indications of gangs targeting parahumans on patrol'. It would probably have been the sixth, but they had a group training that afternoon. Her own 'no patrols' was extended clear to the next Friday, giving her just over a week.
On the personal phone side of things, her father had sent her a message shortly after she went to sleep last night. Apparently at home they had power, but no running water, so he was going to use the cot in his office. At least there he could flush the toilet and take a shower in the on-site facilities, two things he couldn't do at home currently.
Hmm, given today's date, maybe she should take advantage of being the only one up? She did have some barely-tested toys that could be put to good use, after all. And plenty of time, even if she popped home for some civilian attire. She could probably hit the gym after that without issue too.
A quick change of clothes later she gathered three of her new toys. She set up and tested each one, then headed for the garage and her moped.
An hour later Taylor had returned in exercise clothing, carrying a bag full of civilian clothing. The latter she extracted a swimsuit from but otherwise left as-is in her room before she headed over to the gym. She found evidence of the locker room being used by a number of people, which didn't surprise her as this one was probably less crowded than some of the other ones in the PRT building. Otherwise it was currently deserted, so she was able to get her workout done in peace.
By the time she was done her workout, having finished it off with a quick swim, Miss Militia was in the building. But likely in her office, based on positioning. Taylor made note of it, but didn't act on it in any way. Instead she headed back to the Wards area and changed into her costume, then made her way down to the junkyard. She spent half an hour experimenting with the best way to hit certain things with each of her weapons before she was distracted by Amy entering her range.
She cleaned up some of her mess a little, somewhat happy that her focus had been using her power so she hadn't even worked up a sweat. Once that was done she made her way back to the Wards area. She kinda hoped that something breakfast-like had been delivered, otherwise she was going to head to one of the cafeterias. After a quick check of today's menus she thought maybe she'd do the latter anyway. Mainly because it looked like french toast and pancakes were available, depending on which cafeteria she swung by.
"Morning Chris," she said as she entered the Wards area. Chris was eating a donut, which didn't sound as appealing as the cafeteria options right now. He was also looking up at the ceiling. "Sleep well?"
"Good morning to you too," Chris replied. "And I slept fine, thanks."
"So, what's so interesting on the ceiling?"
"A beep, I think, every few minutes. One of the lights, maybe? But I don't know what could be causing it, since I don't think it's happened before. Then again, it could be something new?"
Taylor very carefully kept her inner smirk from showing. "Well, I haven't heard anything." And she wouldn't, as her phone was in range and connected now, so the 'debug beep' on that one wouldn't be triggering. "But I'll keep an ear out."
"It's probably nothing anyway. So, want a donut? They showed up a few minutes ago."
"I was thinking I'd go grab pancakes. Or french toast. I think I would prefer the french toast, but that is being served upstairs so I would need to be identity-conscious. The pancakes are being served in the cleared for parahuman identities area down here, so I wouldn't have to worry about it as much."
"She makes good points on both options," Missy said, coming out of the personal rooms hallway already in costume. "I have no compelling desire for either, but think both would be better than donuts this morning. Thing is, we are starting to get close to meeting time, so maybe we should just go pick some up and bring them back with us?"
"That would unlimit the conversation nicely, wouldn't it. I'm game. French toast, then?"
They were kind enough to check with Carlos and Dean as well before heading off to the cafeteria. On a whim, Taylor also checked with Inference Engine and fired a message off to Amy. Inference Engine indicated that Lisa would like some french toast, and by the time they reached the cafeteria Amy had replied saying that she wouldn't turn some down either. That, and she was apparently going to be attending their meeting anyway.
Somehow Taylor and Missy ended up with an entire cart to bring back to the Wards area. The cafeteria had loaded it with french toast, bacon, several types of syrup, a selection of bagels, a pitcher of orange juice, and a large bowl of scrambled eggs.
They had then kicked the two Wards out before any attempt at either of them authorizing a charge to their personal accounts could be made. Taylor suspected that this was going under some form of meeting expense account or something.
They arrived back at the Wards area with the cart as Miss Militia was leading Amy, Brian, and Dennis out of the hospital area. And, for that matter, as Lisa was entering via the ice cream parlor. Carlos and Chris helped them get everything off of the cart and onto a larger table that hadn't been there when they departed.
"The table pops up out of the floor and unfolds into position," Chris commented, apparently having noted Taylor looking at the table oddly. "At least when it works and isn't jammed due to dirt getting into the mechanism."
"Huh," was Taylor's elegant response. She grabbed a stack of plates, cups, and utensils from the kitchen area and put them down on one corner of the table. That done she prepared a large plate of food and a glass of orange juice before sitting down on a stool to start eating.
A few minutes later Lisa came in, forgoing getting into costume in favor of grabbing food. Dean came back out into the common area at about the same time, having changed out of what was apparently his sleepwear and was now in jeans and a t-shirt. Really, only Taylor and Missy had bothered to get into costume so far.
"Hello everyone," Miss Militia said as she led Amy, Brian, and Dennis in. Brian and Dennis had, apparently, gotten out of costume themselves since the day before. Amy had a bag with her and one of her Panacea robes on, leaving Lisa as the exception to costumed females and uncostumed males. "So, Maul, Vista. Any reason you two are in costume this early?"
"This isn't early," Taylor retorted. "I've already been home, worked out in the gym, and then costumed up to play in the junkyard for a bit."
"I just felt like it," Missy answered, shrugging before going back to her breakfast.
Amy snorted before grabbing a plate and filling it. Brian and Dennis followed suit, though when Amy sat next to Taylor she poked at a bit of exposed skin. "If I didn't know better I'd assume you had a nice relaxing night at home last night."
"Last night was nice and relaxing," Taylor replied. "It was the afternoon that sucked."
"That is a very good point."
"Maul," Miss Militia said, having come over to where she and Amy were sitting. Taylor turned to look at her. "Armsmaster and I would like to apologize for yesterday. We got too complacent on that particular patrol route and our use of it became predictable. We should have noticed before even considering taking you on it."
"Mistakes happen," Taylor replied. "I suspect I would have been much better off if the motorcycle didn't have issues at higher speeds, though."
"Funny you should mention that, as it shouldn't have had those issues. But sometime in the past two weeks someone appears to have sabotaged that particular motorcycle. There was a short in the limiting electronics thanks to two wires having had part of their insulation burned off, which caused the engine to refuse to shift into higher gears. We don't yet know who, or why. A very thorough investigation has been started since those are intended for Wards, local or otherwise, to use on joint patrols."
"Do you think they were targeting me in particular?" Taylor asked, curious.
"It would likely have been the next one any Ward would have been using, and we believe it was sabotaged while you were still tentatively scheduled for Monday's joint patrol. So we aren't certain."
"I'd argue that it would have been targeting me," Dennis said, shaking his head. "But they don't let me ride those things anymore."
"Yes, well," Missy said, obviously holding back giggles. "Apparently if you freeze part of a motorcycle on three different occasions, ruining the entire thing due to the non-timestopped parts disliking that, they tend to stop letting you use them."
"Still not sure how I froze the fuel in place that last time," Dennis grumbled, in a voice low enough that Taylor figured nobody else heard him. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear that particular story, but she was so curious.
…
Screw it. How in the world did he freeze the fuel in place?
[Data]
Huh. "You froze the gas tank and the fuel in it when trying to panic stop, and instead of freezing the motorcycle's frame the effect followed the fuel because you were distracted and the gas tank was a bit loose."
Everyone turned to look at her, apparently Miss Militia had just been about to speak.
"That makes a disturbing amount of sense," Dennis admitted. "Also, I feel I am obligated to point out that your ears are bullshit."
"Moving on," Miss Militia said, claiming everyone's attention once more. "As you likely know, the Wards aren't going to be patrolling for a few days. This is because the Merchants set an ambush up for a Protectorate patrol. Because of that obviously premeditated interception of a patrol, regardless of whether or not Maul had been there, we are needing to activate new procedures for the Wards. To start with, for the time being patrol groups are to be three or four Wards at a time instead of patrolling in pairs. The downtime is so that we can run tests on your console station to ensure that dual-console mode is functioning properly. Whenever a Ward is on console the PRT will be jointly monitoring the console in real-time so as to be able to better respond to emergencies."
"Will that be a dedicated monitor or will the normal PRT or Protectorate operator be doing double duty?" Taylor asked.
"Dedicated, in fact when a Ward isn't on console there will still be a dedicated PRT console operator for the time being. Further, active tracking will be enabled while you are on patrol, instead of being activated on demand. You are also barred from accepting unofficial patrol participants for the time being, regardless of who they are. If they are not on the schedule and are not approved by the current PRT officer on the console they cannot join the patrol. No exceptions."
"Not even anti-hero exceptions?" Brian asked. Taylor had been half-wondering about that, but wasn't in the mood to break this particular rule either way.
"Not even those. Also, we will be adjusting your patrol routes to be less predictable. Now then, the other thing we would like to do is to have each of you checked over by Panacea here, who has been authorized to do the check-ups the Youth Guard requires when these conditions are activated. Obviously Brian and Dennis were looked at when she was healing them, and I noticed that Maul already got poked. Will the rest of you consent to a quick checkup?"
The others all agreed, and Amy wandered around to poke each of them. They were all quickly declared to be healthy, and Amy signed off on some forms Miss Militia had with her.
Miss Militia nodded at Amy as she sat back down next to Taylor. "Thank you. With that taken care of, have you filled out the forms for common area improvement requests yet?"
"Er, we hadn't actually gotten Taylor's input," Carlos replied. "She wasn't really around most of the week and all. We should probably take care of that today."
"You do that. Panacea, would you like to stick around or shall I bring you out?"
"I'm good staying here," Amy replied. "Water is an issue at home right now and all, and the Boardwalk is without power. I'm sure one of the Wards will help me when I'm ready to leave. I might even convince Dean to bring me home later."
"Alright, have fun." Miss Militia started to head out, before stopping. "Oh, right. Maul and Vista, you should get notices shortly, but I'll give you a heads up now. We've arranged to attempt to get the rest of your gun safety class in this afternoon. Provided no mishaps occur you should be done with the course afterwards."
"Yeah, yeah," Missy grumbled. "I won't play with my powers this time."
"Have a nice day, and remember that you have even less of an excuse to not have your homework done on Monday then you had before."
Miss Militia left even as Dennis groaned. Apparently he had homework to do. Carlos got up and grabbed a folder of papers from a drawer in the kitchen area, dropping it next to Taylor.
"So Taylor," Carlos said, gesturing at the folder. "These are the forms and our notes from earlier this week. Take a look and see if we missed anything, would you?"
Taylor collected a second serving of food before opening the folder. So far it looked like they had focused in two areas. The first was the TV area, where additional single-person seats were desired, a second low table to put things on, and additional games for the game system. The other was the kitchen area, where a proper oven and stove top and a selection of cooking stuff that looked like it might be good for baking.
"Does someone want to bake?" Taylor asked, looking at the kitchen list.
"A couple of us figured we might try our hands at it," Dennis admitted. "Doubt we'll be any good at it initially, though."
"In that case I suggest adding a vent for smoke."
Missy snickered at the look on Dennis's face at that one even as Taylor pulled a pen out of a pouch to note that down. She added an additional couple of potential games to that list too, then paused. That sound system information looked familiar. A quick poke at the PRT store with one of her phones showed she was right, and the available addons gave her an idea.
"So," she said aloud. "Anyone think adding headphone support to the sound system upgrade for the TV is a good idea?"
"That would make sense," Dean admitted after thinking about it for a moment. "Then if things get too noisy we could have those using the TV put on headphones."
"Which means we should look at headphones too," Missy said, pulling a phone out. "Because that is going to be something each of us will need to figure out for ourselves, more so than the whole chairs discussion."
"If we go with a Bluetooth system I don't need a pair," Taylor added, writing the store number of the module she felt would work down. "Though the addon I found will work with wired too, if we want."
"Speaking of chairs," Carlos said, having pulled his own phone out. "I did place a general requisition request for some additional console chairs. I also included two general use computers, so we have a place to sit down and work on stuff that isn't the console or the TV, and a printer. I also asked if the computers could be placed in a little cubicle each so that we could have some privacy on them, and for two additional semi-private-ish areas to be made available for sitting down with laptops or similar. That way we don't have to go hide in our rooms."
"That makes sense, I suppose I tend to just stick my visor on and use my phones that way when I have wanted privacy."
Taylor finished her second serving and handed the forms back to Carlos, then turned to Amy.
"I hear you have a very fancy suitcase," Amy said, preempting Taylor's question. "Any chance I can get a look?"
"I'd show her my new one but I think I need to cut back on it," Missy admitted. "Even I get vertigo when I open it right now."
"What is so special about a standard-issue suitcase?" Brian asked, obviously curious. Though several people turned to look at him. "What? I learned to read up on things just to avoid feeling like an idiot around Lisa."
"Maybe I should just bring it out here," Taylor admitted, looking at Missy.
"I'm the one that blabbed about it to Amy," Missy admitted. "Then forgot to mention we hadn't told the others. My bad, might as well show it off."
The rest of the Wards were looking confused as Taylor walked down the hall to her room and grabbed the suitcase from her closet. She noted that she still had to deal with the civilian clothing she had brought from home, but figured that could wait until later as she dragged the suitcase out to the common area.
"That looks like a standard suitcase," Carlos said, walking over and circling it. "Not really all that fancy, honestly. What's the catch?"
"Well, there is this," Taylor said, dropping the suitcase on its back and opening it up. She then jumped in, vanishing from sight. She heard several gasps, then looked up at the opening from the inside as several heads appeared.
"Holy shit," Dennis muttered. Several others nodded at that.
"I suggest backing away, unless you want me to hit you in the face when I jump out anyway?"
The opening was quickly clear again, allowing Taylor to jump up and out. She grabbed the edge of the opening to control her exit, but hadn't bothered with the jump harness.
"Missy did that?" Dean asked, poking at some of the pockets on the lid. He reached into one, only to have his entire arm fit in. "And the pockets too, I assume."
"I did indeed," Missy replied. "The pockets are harder."
"What do you charge?" Lisa asked, looking curiously into the expanded suitcase. "Because this looks incredibly useful."
"Less so without the antigrav unit like Missy should have or enhanced strength like I have," Taylor said. "Weight isn't negated, after all, unlike when she compresses space down temporarily."
"I haven't actually figured out pricing," Missy admitted. "Taylor pushed me to figuring it out in the first place, plus she keeps giving me ideas or sharing the fun things she finds. The only other person I've expanded things for is Armsmaster, who got me a suitcase with the antigrav unit addon now instead of after my parents authorize out of town trips. I haven't actually done this for anyone else yet."
"Figure something out then," Amy said, checking a couple of the expanded areas of the lid. "Because this would be incredibly useful for a lot of things."
"So, now that people have seen the suitcase," Taylor said, moving to close it up. "I think I'll put away a few things I brought in from home earlier."
"What kind of things?" Missy asked.
"Civilian attire and better sleepwear, mainly."
"Boring stuff. Gotcha. I think I'll look up rules for advertising and/or selling applications of my power."
"You could just see about purchasing things, expanding them, and then reselling them with the modifications too. I know there are a couple of tinkers that are doing that with weapon components."
"Not a bad idea, I'll check that too."
Taylor grabbed the now-closed suitcase and headed for her room, noting that Amy was following her. "So, Amy, what are you up to today? I thought you'd probably end up at the hospital or something."
"I stayed there overnight after healing people injured in the battles," Amy admitted. "They told me to not come back for a couple of days unless they called me. I'm due to make a visit to Medhall Sunday morning, but otherwise I've got very little to do this weekend. Though I do have a couple of things I wanted to ask you about."
As Taylor entered her room she noticed Dennis heading towards the couches. She smirked a little, and queued up a sound clip. As his snark's position dropped, thus indicating he was sitting, she triggered the sound clip to play on the prank device she had hidden in the sofa. This resulted in Amy giving Taylor an odd look, since Taylor broke out in giggles as Dennis obviously jumped up in surprise.
Taylor shut the door to her room behind them, then decided she might as well have fun with the other active device. She threw a sound clip at it as well, then turned back to Amy. "I hid some Bluetooth-controlled sound devices in the common area this morning, and played a fart sound through the one hidden in the couch as Dennis was sitting down."
Amy snickered at that one, then shook her head. "Right. So, I had Carol, Mark, Vicky, and Sarah fill out the forms for being informed about the Nine. Sarah was rejected fairly quickly, but the other three were tentatively approved for full disclosure."
"Tentatively?"
Amy pulled three pieces of paper out of her bag, handing them to Taylor. Who took them and looked, seeing that all three said the same thing. They could be informed of things regarding a specific security ID, and if that didn't go poorly they would be read in on the rest. "You see, though I am cleared to know about them, I don't know what that security ID refers to, and don't know how to find out. I was hoping you might be able to do so for me?"
"Did you punch it into the PRT app?"
"Don't have full access to that, and that security ID isn't on my list of clearance checks."
Taylor shrugged and pulled said app up, punching the ID in. Her phone switched to a high-security connection before downloading the relevant files. A quick check showed that it appeared to be a selection of biological enhancement items? Oh, this must be some of Riley's work, and for some reason she recognized some of it as the base for how some of her own enhancements were done. A quick check showed that Amy was cleared for the information, and for that matter that it actually said 'Bonesaw' in the filename.
"So," Taylor finally said, taking her phone out. "I think I need to copy this over to your phone for you. Do you have this app?" She indicated a secure device-to-device copy program that could check clearance levels for this kind of thing.
"Let me see," Amy said, poking at her own phone. "There it is, what do we do?"
"Open it up and hit receive." Once Amy had done so Taylor held her phone up to Amy's and hit her own 'send' button. A minute later both phones beeped, indicating the transfer was complete. "There, I think they are basically saying you can tell the others that those are the base of my enhancements and who came up with them, based on the filename. In fact, I suspect if you use the same app with them it will let it copy over."
"Thank you," Amy said, poking at the information. "And yes, I recognize this, though I had to use a PRT-provided terminal the last time I was shown it. No wonder the New Wave liaison couldn't help look it up."
"So, anything else before I occupy myself with putting clothing away?"
"Any chance you can tell me about these sound things? They sound amusing if they can be controlled from my phone or something."
Taylor grinned, sorting and putting away the clothing even as she described how she had constructed the two different kinds of noisemaker out of 'replacement parts' and basic cables. Halfway through Amy had stopped and asked for help finding the pieces so she could make some of her own.
Amy opted to tag along with Taylor and Missy to see what the firearms class was like. She got away with it by virtue of being able to play emergency healer if something went wrong, even if she was stuck on the other side of an observation window and unable to leave without an escort. The two Wards made their way through things for a few hours, with no mishaps, and were finally told they were done with the class.
Afterwards they found out that Amy had gotten bored half an hour in and spent most of the remaining time looking for more bits and pieces like Taylor had used for the noise making items, which necessitated explaining to Missy what they were talking about. Followed by all but carrying Missy back to the Wards area, because she was laughing too hard. Apparently the other sounds Taylor had played when talking with Amy had confused the crap out of everyone.
"Er," Taylor said, looking at the mess the Wards area was in as they returned. Missy had stopped laughing, wondering what the hell was going on. It looked like the ceiling had been torn apart, as had one wall. Colin was on top of a lift unit that had been rolled in, poking around in the ceiling. And the other Wards were largely sitting around watching.
"Maul, Vista, Panacea," Colin said from the lift. "Please watch your step and try to avoid walking under the gaps in the ceiling, in case loose components fall through them."
"What's going on?" Taylor finally got out.
"We believe someone has deployed electronic surveillance on the Wards area. I found three inactive listening devices in the ceiling, but so far I have been unable to identify the device in the wall nor the active one in the ceiling, leading me to believe they may have cloaking measures of some kind."
Taylor had a sneaking suspicion she knew what was going on. "So, er, would your evidence of their existence be, say, beeping every few minutes?"
"Yes, though the one in the wall seems to only do so when the monitor is active, leading me to believe it is producing interference."
Taylor looked, and the monitor was indeed on, so the noisemaker plugged into it was active. "Yeah, I think we need to classify this as a prank gone wrong."
"What do mean by that?"
Taylor 'connected' her subvocal audio input to all three noisemakers she had set up before answering. "I installed three Bluetooth controlled noisemakers this morning."
Everyone other than Amy and Missy stared at Taylor. Amy was doing a horrible job of holding her laughter in, and Missy had given up and had fallen to the floor in the process.
"I find myself curious as to how you hid them from me," Colin finally said, looking up at the ceiling.
Taylor told her phone to push test tones out of the noisemakers as she walked over to the monitor, since she had to all but pass it to get to the kitchen area with the mess. She then reached behind it and pulled the noisemaker out from behind it, showing it was plugged in there. "Two of the three have point-projection speakers attached, pointed elsewhere." Turning the noisemaker caused the test tone to 'move' around the room.
Colin waved his arm in front of where the test tone in the ceiling was coming from, and then looked at the refrigerator. He apparently spotted the noisemaker there, because he groaned and facepalmed. Meanwhile Dennis had gotten down on the floor and pulled a battery powered noisemaker out from under one of the couches.
It took an hour to reassemble the wall and ceiling, even with the Wards helping. Finally everything was put back together, and Colin had the Wards gather around. Taylor was, however, curious about where Amy had gotten the bowl of popcorn she was eating.
"So, Maul," Colin said, gesturing at the three noisemakers. "I did not think you were a tinker."
"No tinkering required?" Taylor replied. "I mean, the bluetooth audio boards are fairly standard even if I needed to order the specific cables to connect them to the speakers. The ability to attach to a battery, USB port, or wall outlet was easy enough to deal with due to standardized adapters. Then I just needed to add the magnets or adjustable clamps to attach to things and aim the speakers."
Colin picked up one of the projecting noisemakers and examined the components. He hummed for a moment, then put it down. "That is an interesting application of replacement and upgrade components. Unusually effective in this case, and the only thing you did wrong was not submitting the forms for a practical joke being played inside the building to avoid technicians being called in. That can be balanced out by the dormant listening devices I found, which were a pre-existing problem you accidentally revealed. So I think I will restrict your punishment to documenting exactly how you made each of these and the uses you put them to today for general distribution. I do not believe they are novel enough otherwise, since all you seem to have done is make standalone versions of existing systems."
"I honestly didn't know there was a form for pranks. I'll try and remember to find and fill it out the next time I decide to do something like this." In fact, she was already looking for the form. "Is there anywhere in particular I should be submitting the information on how I made things?"
"You can use the general submission form."
Taylor nodded and pulled that up, apparently searching for 'prank form' had been enough to locate the other one. Ten minutes later she had finished writing things up, since it was all fairly straightforward.
"With that taken care of I will take my leave," Colin said, directing the lift he had brought out the door. "Maul, we'll be conducting Lung's power testing in the Docks area, so a van will be bringing you over."
"Thanks for letting me know," Taylor replied as Colin made it out the door.
Ten minutes later she had dealt with her pressing biological needs, and had made note to add a robe or two to her civilian clothing set. And maybe a 'Maul' robe for when she was dealing with overnight stays with people who didn't know her identity? Figuring she wasn't going to get back to sleep anytime soon, since she no longer felt tired, she poked at the message alerts on her phones.
Looked like she was, in fact, cleared to head home if she wanted to, as of almost an hour ago. A Wards meeting had been requested for half past nine, and some of the official notices for 'no patrols' had come through as well. Apparently the Wards weren't patrolling, in general, until the seventh due to 'recent indications of gangs targeting parahumans on patrol'. It would probably have been the sixth, but they had a group training that afternoon. Her own 'no patrols' was extended clear to the next Friday, giving her just over a week.
On the personal phone side of things, her father had sent her a message shortly after she went to sleep last night. Apparently at home they had power, but no running water, so he was going to use the cot in his office. At least there he could flush the toilet and take a shower in the on-site facilities, two things he couldn't do at home currently.
Hmm, given today's date, maybe she should take advantage of being the only one up? She did have some barely-tested toys that could be put to good use, after all. And plenty of time, even if she popped home for some civilian attire. She could probably hit the gym after that without issue too.
A quick change of clothes later she gathered three of her new toys. She set up and tested each one, then headed for the garage and her moped.
An hour later Taylor had returned in exercise clothing, carrying a bag full of civilian clothing. The latter she extracted a swimsuit from but otherwise left as-is in her room before she headed over to the gym. She found evidence of the locker room being used by a number of people, which didn't surprise her as this one was probably less crowded than some of the other ones in the PRT building. Otherwise it was currently deserted, so she was able to get her workout done in peace.
By the time she was done her workout, having finished it off with a quick swim, Miss Militia was in the building. But likely in her office, based on positioning. Taylor made note of it, but didn't act on it in any way. Instead she headed back to the Wards area and changed into her costume, then made her way down to the junkyard. She spent half an hour experimenting with the best way to hit certain things with each of her weapons before she was distracted by Amy entering her range.
She cleaned up some of her mess a little, somewhat happy that her focus had been using her power so she hadn't even worked up a sweat. Once that was done she made her way back to the Wards area. She kinda hoped that something breakfast-like had been delivered, otherwise she was going to head to one of the cafeterias. After a quick check of today's menus she thought maybe she'd do the latter anyway. Mainly because it looked like french toast and pancakes were available, depending on which cafeteria she swung by.
"Morning Chris," she said as she entered the Wards area. Chris was eating a donut, which didn't sound as appealing as the cafeteria options right now. He was also looking up at the ceiling. "Sleep well?"
"Good morning to you too," Chris replied. "And I slept fine, thanks."
"So, what's so interesting on the ceiling?"
"A beep, I think, every few minutes. One of the lights, maybe? But I don't know what could be causing it, since I don't think it's happened before. Then again, it could be something new?"
Taylor very carefully kept her inner smirk from showing. "Well, I haven't heard anything." And she wouldn't, as her phone was in range and connected now, so the 'debug beep' on that one wouldn't be triggering. "But I'll keep an ear out."
"It's probably nothing anyway. So, want a donut? They showed up a few minutes ago."
"I was thinking I'd go grab pancakes. Or french toast. I think I would prefer the french toast, but that is being served upstairs so I would need to be identity-conscious. The pancakes are being served in the cleared for parahuman identities area down here, so I wouldn't have to worry about it as much."
"She makes good points on both options," Missy said, coming out of the personal rooms hallway already in costume. "I have no compelling desire for either, but think both would be better than donuts this morning. Thing is, we are starting to get close to meeting time, so maybe we should just go pick some up and bring them back with us?"
"That would unlimit the conversation nicely, wouldn't it. I'm game. French toast, then?"
They were kind enough to check with Carlos and Dean as well before heading off to the cafeteria. On a whim, Taylor also checked with Inference Engine and fired a message off to Amy. Inference Engine indicated that Lisa would like some french toast, and by the time they reached the cafeteria Amy had replied saying that she wouldn't turn some down either. That, and she was apparently going to be attending their meeting anyway.
Somehow Taylor and Missy ended up with an entire cart to bring back to the Wards area. The cafeteria had loaded it with french toast, bacon, several types of syrup, a selection of bagels, a pitcher of orange juice, and a large bowl of scrambled eggs.
They had then kicked the two Wards out before any attempt at either of them authorizing a charge to their personal accounts could be made. Taylor suspected that this was going under some form of meeting expense account or something.
They arrived back at the Wards area with the cart as Miss Militia was leading Amy, Brian, and Dennis out of the hospital area. And, for that matter, as Lisa was entering via the ice cream parlor. Carlos and Chris helped them get everything off of the cart and onto a larger table that hadn't been there when they departed.
"The table pops up out of the floor and unfolds into position," Chris commented, apparently having noted Taylor looking at the table oddly. "At least when it works and isn't jammed due to dirt getting into the mechanism."
"Huh," was Taylor's elegant response. She grabbed a stack of plates, cups, and utensils from the kitchen area and put them down on one corner of the table. That done she prepared a large plate of food and a glass of orange juice before sitting down on a stool to start eating.
A few minutes later Lisa came in, forgoing getting into costume in favor of grabbing food. Dean came back out into the common area at about the same time, having changed out of what was apparently his sleepwear and was now in jeans and a t-shirt. Really, only Taylor and Missy had bothered to get into costume so far.
"Hello everyone," Miss Militia said as she led Amy, Brian, and Dennis in. Brian and Dennis had, apparently, gotten out of costume themselves since the day before. Amy had a bag with her and one of her Panacea robes on, leaving Lisa as the exception to costumed females and uncostumed males. "So, Maul, Vista. Any reason you two are in costume this early?"
"This isn't early," Taylor retorted. "I've already been home, worked out in the gym, and then costumed up to play in the junkyard for a bit."
"I just felt like it," Missy answered, shrugging before going back to her breakfast.
Amy snorted before grabbing a plate and filling it. Brian and Dennis followed suit, though when Amy sat next to Taylor she poked at a bit of exposed skin. "If I didn't know better I'd assume you had a nice relaxing night at home last night."
"Last night was nice and relaxing," Taylor replied. "It was the afternoon that sucked."
"That is a very good point."
"Maul," Miss Militia said, having come over to where she and Amy were sitting. Taylor turned to look at her. "Armsmaster and I would like to apologize for yesterday. We got too complacent on that particular patrol route and our use of it became predictable. We should have noticed before even considering taking you on it."
"Mistakes happen," Taylor replied. "I suspect I would have been much better off if the motorcycle didn't have issues at higher speeds, though."
"Funny you should mention that, as it shouldn't have had those issues. But sometime in the past two weeks someone appears to have sabotaged that particular motorcycle. There was a short in the limiting electronics thanks to two wires having had part of their insulation burned off, which caused the engine to refuse to shift into higher gears. We don't yet know who, or why. A very thorough investigation has been started since those are intended for Wards, local or otherwise, to use on joint patrols."
"Do you think they were targeting me in particular?" Taylor asked, curious.
"It would likely have been the next one any Ward would have been using, and we believe it was sabotaged while you were still tentatively scheduled for Monday's joint patrol. So we aren't certain."
"I'd argue that it would have been targeting me," Dennis said, shaking his head. "But they don't let me ride those things anymore."
"Yes, well," Missy said, obviously holding back giggles. "Apparently if you freeze part of a motorcycle on three different occasions, ruining the entire thing due to the non-timestopped parts disliking that, they tend to stop letting you use them."
"Still not sure how I froze the fuel in place that last time," Dennis grumbled, in a voice low enough that Taylor figured nobody else heard him. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear that particular story, but she was so curious.
…
Screw it. How in the world did he freeze the fuel in place?
[Data]
Huh. "You froze the gas tank and the fuel in it when trying to panic stop, and instead of freezing the motorcycle's frame the effect followed the fuel because you were distracted and the gas tank was a bit loose."
Everyone turned to look at her, apparently Miss Militia had just been about to speak.
"That makes a disturbing amount of sense," Dennis admitted. "Also, I feel I am obligated to point out that your ears are bullshit."
"Moving on," Miss Militia said, claiming everyone's attention once more. "As you likely know, the Wards aren't going to be patrolling for a few days. This is because the Merchants set an ambush up for a Protectorate patrol. Because of that obviously premeditated interception of a patrol, regardless of whether or not Maul had been there, we are needing to activate new procedures for the Wards. To start with, for the time being patrol groups are to be three or four Wards at a time instead of patrolling in pairs. The downtime is so that we can run tests on your console station to ensure that dual-console mode is functioning properly. Whenever a Ward is on console the PRT will be jointly monitoring the console in real-time so as to be able to better respond to emergencies."
"Will that be a dedicated monitor or will the normal PRT or Protectorate operator be doing double duty?" Taylor asked.
"Dedicated, in fact when a Ward isn't on console there will still be a dedicated PRT console operator for the time being. Further, active tracking will be enabled while you are on patrol, instead of being activated on demand. You are also barred from accepting unofficial patrol participants for the time being, regardless of who they are. If they are not on the schedule and are not approved by the current PRT officer on the console they cannot join the patrol. No exceptions."
"Not even anti-hero exceptions?" Brian asked. Taylor had been half-wondering about that, but wasn't in the mood to break this particular rule either way.
"Not even those. Also, we will be adjusting your patrol routes to be less predictable. Now then, the other thing we would like to do is to have each of you checked over by Panacea here, who has been authorized to do the check-ups the Youth Guard requires when these conditions are activated. Obviously Brian and Dennis were looked at when she was healing them, and I noticed that Maul already got poked. Will the rest of you consent to a quick checkup?"
The others all agreed, and Amy wandered around to poke each of them. They were all quickly declared to be healthy, and Amy signed off on some forms Miss Militia had with her.
Miss Militia nodded at Amy as she sat back down next to Taylor. "Thank you. With that taken care of, have you filled out the forms for common area improvement requests yet?"
"Er, we hadn't actually gotten Taylor's input," Carlos replied. "She wasn't really around most of the week and all. We should probably take care of that today."
"You do that. Panacea, would you like to stick around or shall I bring you out?"
"I'm good staying here," Amy replied. "Water is an issue at home right now and all, and the Boardwalk is without power. I'm sure one of the Wards will help me when I'm ready to leave. I might even convince Dean to bring me home later."
"Alright, have fun." Miss Militia started to head out, before stopping. "Oh, right. Maul and Vista, you should get notices shortly, but I'll give you a heads up now. We've arranged to attempt to get the rest of your gun safety class in this afternoon. Provided no mishaps occur you should be done with the course afterwards."
"Yeah, yeah," Missy grumbled. "I won't play with my powers this time."
"Have a nice day, and remember that you have even less of an excuse to not have your homework done on Monday then you had before."
Miss Militia left even as Dennis groaned. Apparently he had homework to do. Carlos got up and grabbed a folder of papers from a drawer in the kitchen area, dropping it next to Taylor.
"So Taylor," Carlos said, gesturing at the folder. "These are the forms and our notes from earlier this week. Take a look and see if we missed anything, would you?"
Taylor collected a second serving of food before opening the folder. So far it looked like they had focused in two areas. The first was the TV area, where additional single-person seats were desired, a second low table to put things on, and additional games for the game system. The other was the kitchen area, where a proper oven and stove top and a selection of cooking stuff that looked like it might be good for baking.
"Does someone want to bake?" Taylor asked, looking at the kitchen list.
"A couple of us figured we might try our hands at it," Dennis admitted. "Doubt we'll be any good at it initially, though."
"In that case I suggest adding a vent for smoke."
Missy snickered at the look on Dennis's face at that one even as Taylor pulled a pen out of a pouch to note that down. She added an additional couple of potential games to that list too, then paused. That sound system information looked familiar. A quick poke at the PRT store with one of her phones showed she was right, and the available addons gave her an idea.
"So," she said aloud. "Anyone think adding headphone support to the sound system upgrade for the TV is a good idea?"
"That would make sense," Dean admitted after thinking about it for a moment. "Then if things get too noisy we could have those using the TV put on headphones."
"Which means we should look at headphones too," Missy said, pulling a phone out. "Because that is going to be something each of us will need to figure out for ourselves, more so than the whole chairs discussion."
"If we go with a Bluetooth system I don't need a pair," Taylor added, writing the store number of the module she felt would work down. "Though the addon I found will work with wired too, if we want."
"Speaking of chairs," Carlos said, having pulled his own phone out. "I did place a general requisition request for some additional console chairs. I also included two general use computers, so we have a place to sit down and work on stuff that isn't the console or the TV, and a printer. I also asked if the computers could be placed in a little cubicle each so that we could have some privacy on them, and for two additional semi-private-ish areas to be made available for sitting down with laptops or similar. That way we don't have to go hide in our rooms."
"That makes sense, I suppose I tend to just stick my visor on and use my phones that way when I have wanted privacy."
Taylor finished her second serving and handed the forms back to Carlos, then turned to Amy.
"I hear you have a very fancy suitcase," Amy said, preempting Taylor's question. "Any chance I can get a look?"
"I'd show her my new one but I think I need to cut back on it," Missy admitted. "Even I get vertigo when I open it right now."
"What is so special about a standard-issue suitcase?" Brian asked, obviously curious. Though several people turned to look at him. "What? I learned to read up on things just to avoid feeling like an idiot around Lisa."
"Maybe I should just bring it out here," Taylor admitted, looking at Missy.
"I'm the one that blabbed about it to Amy," Missy admitted. "Then forgot to mention we hadn't told the others. My bad, might as well show it off."
The rest of the Wards were looking confused as Taylor walked down the hall to her room and grabbed the suitcase from her closet. She noted that she still had to deal with the civilian clothing she had brought from home, but figured that could wait until later as she dragged the suitcase out to the common area.
"That looks like a standard suitcase," Carlos said, walking over and circling it. "Not really all that fancy, honestly. What's the catch?"
"Well, there is this," Taylor said, dropping the suitcase on its back and opening it up. She then jumped in, vanishing from sight. She heard several gasps, then looked up at the opening from the inside as several heads appeared.
"Holy shit," Dennis muttered. Several others nodded at that.
"I suggest backing away, unless you want me to hit you in the face when I jump out anyway?"
The opening was quickly clear again, allowing Taylor to jump up and out. She grabbed the edge of the opening to control her exit, but hadn't bothered with the jump harness.
"Missy did that?" Dean asked, poking at some of the pockets on the lid. He reached into one, only to have his entire arm fit in. "And the pockets too, I assume."
"I did indeed," Missy replied. "The pockets are harder."
"What do you charge?" Lisa asked, looking curiously into the expanded suitcase. "Because this looks incredibly useful."
"Less so without the antigrav unit like Missy should have or enhanced strength like I have," Taylor said. "Weight isn't negated, after all, unlike when she compresses space down temporarily."
"I haven't actually figured out pricing," Missy admitted. "Taylor pushed me to figuring it out in the first place, plus she keeps giving me ideas or sharing the fun things she finds. The only other person I've expanded things for is Armsmaster, who got me a suitcase with the antigrav unit addon now instead of after my parents authorize out of town trips. I haven't actually done this for anyone else yet."
"Figure something out then," Amy said, checking a couple of the expanded areas of the lid. "Because this would be incredibly useful for a lot of things."
"So, now that people have seen the suitcase," Taylor said, moving to close it up. "I think I'll put away a few things I brought in from home earlier."
"What kind of things?" Missy asked.
"Civilian attire and better sleepwear, mainly."
"Boring stuff. Gotcha. I think I'll look up rules for advertising and/or selling applications of my power."
"You could just see about purchasing things, expanding them, and then reselling them with the modifications too. I know there are a couple of tinkers that are doing that with weapon components."
"Not a bad idea, I'll check that too."
Taylor grabbed the now-closed suitcase and headed for her room, noting that Amy was following her. "So, Amy, what are you up to today? I thought you'd probably end up at the hospital or something."
"I stayed there overnight after healing people injured in the battles," Amy admitted. "They told me to not come back for a couple of days unless they called me. I'm due to make a visit to Medhall Sunday morning, but otherwise I've got very little to do this weekend. Though I do have a couple of things I wanted to ask you about."
As Taylor entered her room she noticed Dennis heading towards the couches. She smirked a little, and queued up a sound clip. As his snark's position dropped, thus indicating he was sitting, she triggered the sound clip to play on the prank device she had hidden in the sofa. This resulted in Amy giving Taylor an odd look, since Taylor broke out in giggles as Dennis obviously jumped up in surprise.
Taylor shut the door to her room behind them, then decided she might as well have fun with the other active device. She threw a sound clip at it as well, then turned back to Amy. "I hid some Bluetooth-controlled sound devices in the common area this morning, and played a fart sound through the one hidden in the couch as Dennis was sitting down."
Amy snickered at that one, then shook her head. "Right. So, I had Carol, Mark, Vicky, and Sarah fill out the forms for being informed about the Nine. Sarah was rejected fairly quickly, but the other three were tentatively approved for full disclosure."
"Tentatively?"
Amy pulled three pieces of paper out of her bag, handing them to Taylor. Who took them and looked, seeing that all three said the same thing. They could be informed of things regarding a specific security ID, and if that didn't go poorly they would be read in on the rest. "You see, though I am cleared to know about them, I don't know what that security ID refers to, and don't know how to find out. I was hoping you might be able to do so for me?"
"Did you punch it into the PRT app?"
"Don't have full access to that, and that security ID isn't on my list of clearance checks."
Taylor shrugged and pulled said app up, punching the ID in. Her phone switched to a high-security connection before downloading the relevant files. A quick check showed that it appeared to be a selection of biological enhancement items? Oh, this must be some of Riley's work, and for some reason she recognized some of it as the base for how some of her own enhancements were done. A quick check showed that Amy was cleared for the information, and for that matter that it actually said 'Bonesaw' in the filename.
"So," Taylor finally said, taking her phone out. "I think I need to copy this over to your phone for you. Do you have this app?" She indicated a secure device-to-device copy program that could check clearance levels for this kind of thing.
"Let me see," Amy said, poking at her own phone. "There it is, what do we do?"
"Open it up and hit receive." Once Amy had done so Taylor held her phone up to Amy's and hit her own 'send' button. A minute later both phones beeped, indicating the transfer was complete. "There, I think they are basically saying you can tell the others that those are the base of my enhancements and who came up with them, based on the filename. In fact, I suspect if you use the same app with them it will let it copy over."
"Thank you," Amy said, poking at the information. "And yes, I recognize this, though I had to use a PRT-provided terminal the last time I was shown it. No wonder the New Wave liaison couldn't help look it up."
"So, anything else before I occupy myself with putting clothing away?"
"Any chance you can tell me about these sound things? They sound amusing if they can be controlled from my phone or something."
Taylor grinned, sorting and putting away the clothing even as she described how she had constructed the two different kinds of noisemaker out of 'replacement parts' and basic cables. Halfway through Amy had stopped and asked for help finding the pieces so she could make some of her own.
Amy opted to tag along with Taylor and Missy to see what the firearms class was like. She got away with it by virtue of being able to play emergency healer if something went wrong, even if she was stuck on the other side of an observation window and unable to leave without an escort. The two Wards made their way through things for a few hours, with no mishaps, and were finally told they were done with the class.
Afterwards they found out that Amy had gotten bored half an hour in and spent most of the remaining time looking for more bits and pieces like Taylor had used for the noise making items, which necessitated explaining to Missy what they were talking about. Followed by all but carrying Missy back to the Wards area, because she was laughing too hard. Apparently the other sounds Taylor had played when talking with Amy had confused the crap out of everyone.
"Er," Taylor said, looking at the mess the Wards area was in as they returned. Missy had stopped laughing, wondering what the hell was going on. It looked like the ceiling had been torn apart, as had one wall. Colin was on top of a lift unit that had been rolled in, poking around in the ceiling. And the other Wards were largely sitting around watching.
"Maul, Vista, Panacea," Colin said from the lift. "Please watch your step and try to avoid walking under the gaps in the ceiling, in case loose components fall through them."
"What's going on?" Taylor finally got out.
"We believe someone has deployed electronic surveillance on the Wards area. I found three inactive listening devices in the ceiling, but so far I have been unable to identify the device in the wall nor the active one in the ceiling, leading me to believe they may have cloaking measures of some kind."
Taylor had a sneaking suspicion she knew what was going on. "So, er, would your evidence of their existence be, say, beeping every few minutes?"
"Yes, though the one in the wall seems to only do so when the monitor is active, leading me to believe it is producing interference."
Taylor looked, and the monitor was indeed on, so the noisemaker plugged into it was active. "Yeah, I think we need to classify this as a prank gone wrong."
"What do mean by that?"
Taylor 'connected' her subvocal audio input to all three noisemakers she had set up before answering. "I installed three Bluetooth controlled noisemakers this morning."
Everyone other than Amy and Missy stared at Taylor. Amy was doing a horrible job of holding her laughter in, and Missy had given up and had fallen to the floor in the process.
"I find myself curious as to how you hid them from me," Colin finally said, looking up at the ceiling.
Taylor told her phone to push test tones out of the noisemakers as she walked over to the monitor, since she had to all but pass it to get to the kitchen area with the mess. She then reached behind it and pulled the noisemaker out from behind it, showing it was plugged in there. "Two of the three have point-projection speakers attached, pointed elsewhere." Turning the noisemaker caused the test tone to 'move' around the room.
Colin waved his arm in front of where the test tone in the ceiling was coming from, and then looked at the refrigerator. He apparently spotted the noisemaker there, because he groaned and facepalmed. Meanwhile Dennis had gotten down on the floor and pulled a battery powered noisemaker out from under one of the couches.
It took an hour to reassemble the wall and ceiling, even with the Wards helping. Finally everything was put back together, and Colin had the Wards gather around. Taylor was, however, curious about where Amy had gotten the bowl of popcorn she was eating.
"So, Maul," Colin said, gesturing at the three noisemakers. "I did not think you were a tinker."
"No tinkering required?" Taylor replied. "I mean, the bluetooth audio boards are fairly standard even if I needed to order the specific cables to connect them to the speakers. The ability to attach to a battery, USB port, or wall outlet was easy enough to deal with due to standardized adapters. Then I just needed to add the magnets or adjustable clamps to attach to things and aim the speakers."
Colin picked up one of the projecting noisemakers and examined the components. He hummed for a moment, then put it down. "That is an interesting application of replacement and upgrade components. Unusually effective in this case, and the only thing you did wrong was not submitting the forms for a practical joke being played inside the building to avoid technicians being called in. That can be balanced out by the dormant listening devices I found, which were a pre-existing problem you accidentally revealed. So I think I will restrict your punishment to documenting exactly how you made each of these and the uses you put them to today for general distribution. I do not believe they are novel enough otherwise, since all you seem to have done is make standalone versions of existing systems."
"I honestly didn't know there was a form for pranks. I'll try and remember to find and fill it out the next time I decide to do something like this." In fact, she was already looking for the form. "Is there anywhere in particular I should be submitting the information on how I made things?"
"You can use the general submission form."
Taylor nodded and pulled that up, apparently searching for 'prank form' had been enough to locate the other one. Ten minutes later she had finished writing things up, since it was all fairly straightforward.
"With that taken care of I will take my leave," Colin said, directing the lift he had brought out the door. "Maul, we'll be conducting Lung's power testing in the Docks area, so a van will be bringing you over."
"Thanks for letting me know," Taylor replied as Colin made it out the door.
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- Location
- Somewhere
this gonna be good
hey, can a person stay in it while it's closed? if so, with an anti-grav unit/a brute, you could sneak a team into somewhere easily
i was right, this was good
ScottotheUnwise
Verified Crack (fic) Dealer
- Location
- Mulberry, Fl
All she needs is a suction cup option to cover bases and these
Leave one pointed behind a barricade making a whispered. "I'm out, anybody got ammo... psst, hey I'm out <click>"
or the ever popular " Okay, everyone charge in fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine eightsevensixfive go for it!"
could be a field usable tactic.
Leave one pointed behind a barricade making a whispered. "I'm out, anybody got ammo... psst, hey I'm out <click>"
or the ever popular " Okay, everyone charge in fifteen, fourteen, thirteen, twelve, eleven, ten, nine eightsevensixfive go for it!"
Never allow Dennis to know this exists.
- Location
- Somewhere
Armsmaster: Clockblocker already knows, I showed him the much longer version of the paperwork as a prank. For which I of course submitted the proper paperwork for. I also did this to Assault, with Battery's help.