- Location
- Maryland, USA
Is that a one-time upgrade or a monthly/yearly fee?
Ship of Fools: A Taylor Varga Omake (Complete)
- Thread starter Derek M
- Start date
- Crossover
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
Figures that you of all people would be a cat-person. Figuratively speaking, of course.
FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
- Location
- The Internet
According to here it's a subscription thing. Just scroll up and click Account Upgrades to get more info. Or follow the link in this post, it leads to the same place.
- Location
- Maryland
I have this urge to think through plot-lines for the story of Inquisitor Solanum Tuberosum as he fights in the name of the Compost Emperor of the Veghammer 40k universe...
...and now I remember those horrible Veggie Tales Christian books for kids, and I'm back to thinking about Ship of Fools.
...and now I remember those horrible Veggie Tales Christian books for kids, and I'm back to thinking about Ship of Fools.
Books? Books? You think there were just books?
You are so lucky if you never experienced the videos. My parents gave them to my kids when they were younger.
I can still hear it... "Oh wheeere is my hairbrush..."
I've got a full bottle of vodka over there on the table. Maybe this time it'll get rid of those memories. It's never worked before, but... it has to sometime, right?
- Location
- Maryland
My kid had a book as a gift that was about vegetable pirates that found...a giant cookie floating in the ocean? I just remember thinking how frakked up that was, and how I couldn't read the lines about "God giving them a giant cookie," without cracking up. The whole thing was like some confluence of praise-shouting religion and hard drugs.
FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
- Location
- The Internet
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Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
- Location
- On the sofa. (Probably)
Once upon a time... childrens stories taught important life lessons about how to live and what to fear. The disney happened. Today we have empty fluff with lies about how everything works out in the end no matter what and that if you're beautiful you must be a good person.
No company today could produce a childrens story with an actually valuable life lesson because that would not be appropriate for children.
The original tales that disney stole from are infinitely more interesting than any of the crap that has been produced in the last 100 years.
No company today could produce a childrens story with an actually valuable life lesson because that would not be appropriate for children.
The original tales that disney stole from are infinitely more interesting than any of the crap that has been produced in the last 100 years.
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- Location
- A small blue dot
Heh, I liked those when I was younger. They're actually pretty funny if you just take them as a weird comedy and ignore the religious stuff and moral lessons, especially once they stopped trying to do Bible stories and just embraced making it a silly kids movie with a moral.
- Location
- England
I always liked the argument from one of the authors of The Science of Discworld that, the use of stories to teach children makes humans what we are.
Called "privilege", stories give our offspring a head start in life in the same way that the yolk of an egg feeds a chick (or lizard).
The book goes on to say that our taxonomic designation of homo sapiens sapiens - "seriously wise man" is very arrogant and we should be know as pan narrans - the storytelling ape.
- Location
- Maryland, USA
Actually, I just feel it's appropriate to try to help. Unfortunately, I'm an old retiree and am on a fixed income, so cannot afford any ongoing expenses. If there was a set amount for a life-time membership, I might be interested, if it wasn't too much...
Thanks. Followed the link and studied the 'benefits' and nothing there made me think 'I can't live without this'. Now if they offered a vulcan emoticon...
- Location
- On the sofa. (Probably)
What would that one emote? "I'm feeling calm and logical"?Now if they offered a vulcan emoticon...
- Location
- Beyond the Unknowable Veil
Chapter 14: Glory, Giants and Guessing
- Location
- Maryland
Chapter 14: Glory, Giants and Guessing
"It seems kind of quiet," said Miles as the group of them strolled through the streets of the Docks. It was fairly early on a Sunday, so few people were out and about. They had been passed by a couple of joggers, and only a couple of people who looked as if they were heading home from a late night. Overall, it felt more like a neighborhood that was on the verge of gentrifying than one home to a drug gang.
"Trust me," said Taylor. "Quiet is good for the docks." As they passed through the warehouses and industrial buildings, they kept catching glimpses of the bay. The absence of a massive hulk blocking the entrance was a constant reminder to Taylor that this wasn't her home city.
Ellen was looking around at the city. "The skies seem so empty," she commented.
"Yeah, that too," agreed Miles.
"Why is it that humans seem to take so long to develop flying cars?" asked Xander. "I mean, it's not like the ones on the street are much safer." 'Especially if a Slayer is driving,' he thought fondly.
"It actually has more to do with regulation than technology," explained Daniel. "That, and having the right infrastructure." At the looks from some of his companions, he said, "What? We ran into a number of advanced civilizations in the galaxy that had what were functionally flying cars, though they didn't call them that."
"You mean like those Asgard you were talking about at breakfast?" asked Jimmy.
Daniel shook his head. "They tended to teleport everywhere...even around their ships."
"They must have been seriously in need of cardio," joked Xander.
"What's that?" asked Ellen, pointing to a speck moving in the sky. As they watched, they could see that it was actually a flying teen-aged girl.
Taylor tensed up, and began building up a swarm out of sight in the nearby buildings. "That's Glory Girl," she said. "In my world, she and I were on opposite sides." That was putting it mildly. Glory Girl had a serious hate on for the Undersiders for taking her sister hostage at the bank.
"Remember that we're not in your world," suggested Harry.
"I'm not going to start anything..." said Taylor, but there was an obvious implication that she would be ready to finish anything the other girl started.
"I should have brought my web shooters..." muttered Peter in a low voice.
"TAYLOR!" yelled Glory Girl, clearly smiling. For probably the twentieth time since they arrived on this world, Taylor felt her world tilt at right angles away from her expectations.
"Glory Girl?" she answered hesitantly.
Victoria Dallon dropped down to the ground next to Taylor. "Hey," she asked, "have you seen Amy yet this morning? She was out way early, so I figured she headed right over to the Docks. Her truck was gone, at least."
"Um...no, I haven't seen her yet, but she's...probably at the DWU?" ventured Taylor.
"Well, if you see her, ask her to give me a call. She's not answering her phone again." She looked around and saw the group of strangers with Taylor. "Oh, I'm sorry, who are your friends?"
Taylor struggled for a plausible answer to that question that wouldn't sound crazy. "They're friends of my dad. I'm taking them over there now." She proceeded to introduce them...with only first names to avoid any risk of the Dallon girl recognizing any of the names.
"Hi, as you probably caught already, I'm Victoria Dallon, a.k.a. Glory Girl," she said cheerily. She peered at Ellen for a moment. "Wow, you know, you look a LOT like Sigourney Weaver. I totally wish I had your cheekbones."
"Thanks?" ventured Ripley.
"Anyway, I'm supposed to meet up with Dean. Say hi to your dad and the lizards for me!" With that, Glory Girl took to the skies again.
"Wow, the vitriolic hatred she feels for you was palpable," said Dresden sarcastically.
Unsure how to respond, Taylor just shrugged her shoulders and started walking again. The others quickly resumed following her. Her first sight of the DWU yard had her stopping short, both at the very visible security and the new double row of fencing. In between the two rows of fences were odd poles sticking up out of the ground without an immediately obvious purpose.
The group of them walked up the guardhouse, with Taylor in the lead. She didn't recognize the man inside. "Hi," she said to him, "this is probably going to sound kind of strange, but..."
"You want to know how to get to the BBFO offices?" he said plainly.
"Uh...yes. How did you know?" she asked.
He smiled and said, "Saurial stopped by earlier and mentioned that you would be by, and that you wouldn't remember how to get to the office."
Unable to stop himself, Jimmy asked, "Did she explain why?"
"Nope!" he said. He then proceeded to give them instructions on how to get to the BBFO building on foot, then wished them a nice day.
As they walked in through the gate, Harry said, "For a labor union, these folks have a LOT of security."
"They always had some security," replied Taylor. "The Merchants were based in the Docks, and you could also get Empire or ABB trying to push into the territory. The Dockworkers always fought for their neutrality and to keep the gangs out. They had the numbers and the skills...a lot of them are ex-military. They do seem to be a lot more blatant and open about the security in this world, though..."
She paused as she saw a very familiar, stocky woman taking a group of dogs for a walk on the other side of the street. "Rachel?" she said.
The woman didn't stop, but she did look at Taylor, give an acknowledging wave, and say, "Hi, Taylor." That...was positively extroverted for the girl, at least in Taylor's experience.
When they finally got to the BBFO, they stopped to ponder the sign. Daniel recognized the language, though it wasn't one he could readily translate. Xander was the only one to comment, saying, "That's not at all wigsome."
The knock on the door by Taylor was answered by a black-scaled head poking out. "Ah, good, you're all here," said Metis. "Dragon is here already, so come in."
As they walked into the BBFO office, Miles noticed the material of the walls and doors. Running his hand along one wall, he asked, "What kind of metal is this? I don't know if I've seen it before."
Metis grinned at him. "It's possible that you have, given your background, but I doubt that you would recognize it in this context. The walls are lined with electron-degenerate matter. We usually just call it EDM."
"Or just 'good stuff'," added Saurial from where she was sitting at a conference table on her tail. Raptaur, Ianthe and Dragon all already had places as well, and there were seven empty seats sized for humans at the table.
"Electron-degenerate matter? How on Earth do you keep it stable, and light enough not to sink into the ground? Do you have some kind of gravity field around it?" asked Miles.
"Something similar to that," said Raptaur. "It's based on principles closer to Harry's magic than pure science, however. You needn't worry, though, because the effect that lowers its apparent density and stabilizes it is permanent."
"What's so special about this stuff?" asked Xander.
Miles replied with a touch of awe, "Well, normally you only find it inside a white dwarf star or a neutron star. These walls are stronger than our starship's hull. A phaser wouldn't even scratch it. Hell, I'm not sure a quantum torpedo would pierce the skin of this office."
"It wouldn't, but the radiation and heat would be uncomfortable for any humans inside," said Raptaur. Miles noticed Raptaur didn't say it would bother the lizards.
"Would any of you like anything to drink?" asked Saurial. Everybody declined, as they had all just eaten a short time ago and there was a pitcher of water already on the table with glasses. Once everybody had settled, she continued, "We've discussed what we learned yesterday, and I believe we can help you. In fact, we want to make you an offer, with one of the key stipulations being that we agree to return each of you to your home universes no later than seven days after your departure."
"Can they do that?" asked Miles, looking to Daniel. He had been getting a checkup while Daniel spoke to Saurial in the engine room, and they had already spent longer than that away from home.
Daniel nodded. "I believe they can. They have a much deeper understanding of multi-dimensional mathematics than we do -- likely on par with the Ancients from my universe."
"Isn't time travel really hard, though?" asked Jimmy. He knew people did it in his universe, but they were usually eccentric geniuses with hidden agendas.
"Once the math gets complex enough, it isn't especially," answered Saurial.
"It is not to be used lightly, however, as the nature of the universe is directly tied into our perception of it, and vice versa, and paradox can have...unpleasant...consequences." said Raptaur seriously.
"A guy I met once said it also makes plot-lines hard to follow...but he's kind of crazy," added Peter. Wade had a unique way of looking at the world, but he had been reminded that some of his rambling was a little too on point with their current situation.
"Metis, why don't you walk them through the details of our offer," asked Saurial, nodding toward the black lizard.
The lizard in question nodded back and began to speak. "BBFO offers each of you short-term employment contracts, with a charter contract for the Ship of Fools." Some of the audience began to look alarmed, so she quickly followed up with, "One piece of your compensation will be the aforementioned guarantee of return to your home universe, someplace safe for you personally, no later than one week after your departure. The time gap is to allow for unusual circumstances related to safety, location, etc. Your term of employment is not to exceed six months, and we actually expect it to be significantly less than that."
Ellen, who was used to negotiating employment contracts, said, "You said, 'one piece,' of our compensation. What else are you offering?" Other than warning the Earth about the xenomorph threat...she didn't really have much reason to go back to her universe.
"Additional compensation will include two plants capable of producing one-use healing symbiotes to take back with you to your universe, BBFO-standard health care for you and your immediate family for life, living expenses for the reality of current occupancy, and five hundred kilograms of any substance upon separation," lectured Metis.
Xander raised his hand. "So, we get a way to produce those little squeakers that heal everything...and healthcare for life? How is that going to work once we're back home?"
"We will provide you with a way to contact the Family in an emergency, as well as ensuring you and your loved ones' perfect health upon return to your universe," explained Saurial.
"Wait, we're going to have, like, a signal beacon built into a wrist watch to summon the family?" asked Jimmy. He used to have a watch like that for Superman back when he was a cub reporter.
Dragon, who had been quiet until now, said, "I'm going to produce BBFO smart phones that will be capable of reaching the Family from anywhere. I've already spoken to Leet about it. He's a local cape who can make anything."
"Anything?" asked Peter.
"His limitation," explained Metis, "is that he can only make one of anything, and he fails if he tries to make something too similar to something he's made previously."
"But that doesn't make sense," said Miles with a degree of exasperation. "If he follows the same steps as he did the first time, he should get the same result. That's a primary foundation of science and engineering!"
"Tinkers in our universe have limiters built into their powers, "explained Dragon. "Think of it this way...Tinkers have a mental link to a database of technology far in advance of current worldwide tech, usually with a focus on a set of related subject areas. That link also affects their behavior, though. It creates a need to build things, and it can put constraints on what they can build. Leet's constraints tended to result in flaws that would destroy the device he was building if it violated them...sometimes rather explosively. His power created a blind-spot in his perception to those flaws until it was too late."
"You're a tinker too, aren't you?" asked Peter. He had thought that it was similar to folks like Reed Richards, but apparently there was more to it.
"Dragon's famous for being able to reverse engineer the work of other tinkers and turn it into things anybody can build and maintain," said Taylor, who was familiar with the reputation of Dragon from her own reality. "Normally, tinker tech can only be built and maintained by tinkers."
Daniel spoke up. "It almost sounds like somebody wanted to give you access to advanced technology without actually uplifting your society."
"We have had that same thought, as well, although we don't understand the reasons for it," agreed Raptaur.
"We're getting a little off topic, here," interrupted Ripley. "When you say five hundred kilograms of any substance, what kind of substances are you talking about?"
"Pretty much any substance, as long as I have or have had access to a small sample of it. One of the powers of my branch of the Family is matter creation," explained Saurial. "We can sample pretty much any element, alloy, chemical compound...and recreate it at will. All of the EDM you see here in these offices was created that way."
"What you're saying," said Daniel, "is that if I wanted half-a-ton of weapons-grade Naquadah, you could produce it as long as you had a small sample?"
"Easily," replied Raptaur. "We can also reproduce any device we can understand, although in some cases it is easier to build the components. We could, for example, provide Harry with basic technology that was immune to his magic, in addition to the phone Dragon already mentioned."
"What if we wanted information instead of a big hunk of gold or platinum?" asked Harry. If his life was a work of fiction here, then they might know some very important facts that he needed to know. They might even know how to avoid having to serve as Mab's errand boy.
"As contracted staff of BBFO, you will automatically have access to any knowledge we have about your home universe. That's included as part of the job description, as we expect part of your role to be validation of what we think we know, and clarification of things that may be common knowledge in your world, but not ours," said Metis.
"What else would be expected of us?" asked Xander. Signing contracts with non-humans was one of the things Giles had warned them to avoid on multiple occasions.
"Apart from validating information, you would be expected to assist as necessary in the refit of the Ship of Fools and provide crew while we try and fix some things in your respective universes," said Metis.
"What things are you trying to fix?" continued Xander. "Like, there are some things, like that whole, 'humans aren't enslaved by demons,' thing, that I don't want to see fixed."
Ianthe scoffed. "Why would we want to enslave humans? You're far too entertaining when left to your own purposes, and we already have the ability to create anything we want or need."
"Plus, the locals tend to get cranky when you start throwing around things like, 'slavery,' or, 'income tax,'" said Saurial with a smug smirk.
"Do we have to pay taxes on what we earn?" asked Jimmy, having an odd thought.
"We'll take care of the local paperwork, but you'll have to resolve any issues in your home dimension," said Metis, smiling. "We aren't planning on reporting your income in your home reality, though."
Ripley frowned. "Do you have standard paperwork for cross-dimensional employment?"
Dragon answered, "Superpowers and tinker tech mean you end up with a lot of paperwork targeted at exceptional circumstances."
"I found out that my government actually has standard paperwork for transferring U.S. citizenship from a United States on an Earth in an alternate dimension," said Peter. "I would guess Jimmy's world probably has something similar." The redhead just nodded. Jimmy didn't know the specifics, but there were enough space aliens, time travelers and dimension jumpers wandering around to merit having standard procedures for all sorts of odd cases.
Miles wanted to go back to something else that had been mentioned in passing. "You said you were going to refit the Ship of Fools? What did you intend to do with it?"
Saurial replied, "Let's wait until Linda, Kevin and Randall get here to go over all of the details, but we have a number of ideas that we think you'll all appreciate. We also have an option for you where, since you come from a society with replicator technology, we would be willing to turn the ship over to you and Starfleet R&D rather than provide you with rare materials once we're done getting everybody home." Not everything was easy to replicate, but the wormhole drive by itself would be a boon to Federation science.
"My world could use some of that technology. We're still dealing with the Goa'uld. We've been lucky so far, but if we were explicitly targeted by somebody like Anubis, then we wouldn't stand much of a chance," asked Daniel. Toward the end, his voice became slightly pleading.
"Some of the information we have access to includes the location of an Ancient weapons platform on Earth, as well as the location of the Ancient city of Atlantis," said Raptaur. Taylor and Varga had watched all ten seasons of Stargate: SG-1 shortly after they had built their own wormhole facility.
"Atlantis is real?" asked Daniel, amazed. His inclination to sign the contract offered had just increased exponentially.
Before Daniel could start asking what would likely be an unending litany of questions, Xander interjected, "What happens if we don't sign the contract? Specifically, how do we get home?" Xander wasn't stupid. He could see the value of the squeakers to the Slayers and their support, and a huge chunk of precious metals would provide a welcome injection of funds. Contracts were dangerous, though, and he wasn't convinced that this wouldn't turn out to be a Monkey's Paw scenario.
Saurial looked at Xander, and her face became serious. "We'll still help you get home, Xander. We already discussed this among ourselves, and helping you is the right thing to do. Metis and I came up with the employment contracts simply as a way of making things easier for everybody. It gets everybody's expectations out in the open, provides a legal way to satisfy people in authority, and soothes any egos that might object to taking charity."
"Are the contracts going to be mystically enforced?" asked Harry.
"We had not intended to do so, but we're willing to negotiate a mutually binding enchantment if you so desire," said Raptaur. "Such is well within our abilities."
"This sounds a little too good to be true," said Jimmy Olsen. "I mean, do you actually have the technology and ability to do everything you're promising?"
"We've prepared some demonstrations of everything," said Ianthe. "You all saw the BBFO office as you got here, yes?"
There were general nods and acknowledgements from everybody.
"Good," said Saurial. "Let's go into the next room."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The reveal of the gigantic open space through the door was a shock to everybody, and actually resulted in a bit of a pile-up at the entry as each new person would notice the impossibly vast space and stop, blocking the person behind them. The general reaction was summed up by Xander's response. "Your office is a TARDIS."
"It doesn't travel through time and space..." said Saurial.
"Yet," interjected Metis sotto voice.
"...but it IS bigger on the inside," Saurial finished, holding her arms out wide.
What followed was a demonstration...or possibly a DEMONstration, of matter-creation abilities. Once O'Brien was satisfied that they weren't actually in a holodeck, he used his tricorder to confirm the materials that Saurial and Raptaur created. Starting with large blocks of platinum and gold, they moved on to substances they had sampled surreptitiously on the ship such as transparent aluminum and tritanium. The "taking requests" phase was amusing, and the inside of the room was soon littered with a bronze statue of SpongeBob Squarepants (not everybody understood the reference), a twenty-foot-long above-ground pool filled with hummus, a flywheel storage device capable of powering a warp engine, a shipping container filled with Twinkies, a small bag that looked to be about 10 cm deep, but which Peter could fit his whole arm into up to the shoulder, a takeout order from Fugley Bob's, a three kilogram block of room-temperature semiconductor that neither Ellen nor Miles recognized, a sealed container of hydroflouric acid, a chunk of unprocessed bauxite, and a creepy monkey cymbal toy with glowing eyes that had Xander moving away until Saurial made it vanish.
Ianthe then demonstrated her healing symbiote plants, and explained their care and the limitations built into them. Xander offered to cut his palm with an organic knife provided by Ianthe so that the others could watch it heal after the application of one of the squeakers, as Xander insisted on calling them.
Raptaur then offered to take them flying around the room on a platform that was powered by water jets. Peter and Miles offered to go first, the former because he was used to great heights and the latter because he was fascinated by the concept of water being spontaneously created so that it was already under high pressure. Raptaur studiously avoided anything mirroring Saurial's test flight, avoiding harm to either the room or the passengers. Everybody eventually opted to give it a go.
The final examples of more explicit technological capability came when Metis demonstrated some inventions created by engineers at the DWU. The pokeball containing a functional mech was a big hit, as was the functional Tron lightcycle. Miles thought that concept was brilliant, and wondered why Starfleet had come up with holographic officers but not holographic emergency shelters or escape pods. The lizards then played a variety of classical music on a version of Leet's sound system that Dragon was still reverse-engineering for mass production. Interestingly, every single one of the dimensional expatriates recognized works by composers like Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Chopin, implying at least some parallel history. More modern musical styles were clearly divergent, although again, there were some commonly known artists like the Beatles. Miles didn't recognize them directly, but the melodies and lyrics were familiar enough to him that it was likely that they existed in the distant past of his universe.
By the end of the demonstrations, the entire crew found that they had enjoyed themselves. Furthermore, they were fully convinced that a) the Family could do whatever they said they could do, b) their demeanor and actions thus far were nothing but friendly and helpful with a thin layer of smugness, c) the healing symbiotes alone would be a huge boon to their home realities, and d) the Family could also do whatever they wanted to do, and it was rather unlikely they would need their help even if they had nefarious purposes. Raptaur had made it clear that creating a critical mass of weapons-grade plutonium was just as easy as making a simple hand tool, and all of the travelers understood the ramifications of that.
The groups broke up to separate tables scattered across the room to discuss the specifics of individual contracts. Metis took Xander and Harry. Raptaur and Dragon went with Miles, Ellen and Daniel. Ianthe grabbed Peter and Jimmy. Taylor asked if she could talk to her father about the contracts, and Saurial left with her to do so.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The reptile and the girl walked through the buildings on the DWU campus, heading for Danny Hebert's office.
"Before I forget," said Taylor, "I ran into Glory Girl on the way here. She told me to tell Amy to give her a call, and to say hi to you and dad. You guys are really friends in this world, aren't you?"
"Vicky has a very exuberant personality. Our first meeting was interesting," said Saurial. "She had just had a fight with Dean, as usual, and she called me an overgrown newt."
"A newt?" asked Taylor, incredulous.
"I got better," said Saurial with a terrible English accent.
Taylor gave her a slight glare. "Stop that. In my world, GG hates the Undersiders for putting her sister at risk when we took her hostage during a bank robbery."
"She is protective of her sister. She was pretty outrageous when we first met, too, but she did apologize to me...admittedly after fretting about it and realizing that I had video of her acting like a total witch, something that was a huge concern to Brandish and the others in New Wave because of the PR issues," said Saurial. "She's also calmed down a bit. She doesn't really like being called Collateral Damage Barbie."
Taylor snorted a laugh. "That's actually pretty funny."
"It is, but I sympathize with her." Saurial then shared a little of her experience with flying the first time, including going with a literal hat-in-hand to beg forgiveness.
Taylor laughed at that, but then she grew thoughtful. "You're an absolute menace, but you seem to be having a lot more fun with your powers than I have."
"A lot of that is Varga, honestly," replied Saurial. "He has been an amazing friend and support. It was terrifying when I got powers for the first time, knowing how vulnerable dad was, and not having any way to protect him except secrecy. Of course, I originally thought having a tail would make that difficult."
"But you can turn back into your human form?" said Taylor, confused.
Saurial changed back to her default human form and dropped the portion of the Assassin's Cloak that kept the other Taylor from seeing her tail. She kept up the portion that allowed the two of them to walk unnoticed through the DWU campus. "This is my default appearance, and how I looked right after the locker."
Taylor stopped walking forward, staring at the Taylor of this universe. "You have a lizard tail," she said simply.
"Yes, I do, and it's quite useful." The Taylor with a tail proceeded to sit down on it.
"You have an actual tail, growing out of your backside...and it is a lizard tail," said Taylor slowly.
"I do. I could ask Amy to give you one. I expect they'll become quite popular eventually," said local Taylor. She figured Lucy would definitely want one, and Lisa would probably come around eventually.
"I don't want a tail...and besides, I have bug powers, not lizard powers," said Taylor, unsure if her local version was joking or not.
The local copy transformed back into Saurial. "Well, we could give you an insect tail...maybe something with a stinger? Ooh, or maybe spinnerets so you could shoot webs like Pete?"
"That would make having a secret identity kind of hard, and I don't really want to shoot webs out of my butt," said Taylor with an exasperated tone.
"True," said Saurial as she started walking again. "Well, think about it. You can always change your mind."
"So, it's true that Ianthe and Metis are actually...?" questioned Taylor.
"Amy and Lisa...Panacea and Tattletale, by cape name," answered Saurial. "They're also my best friends, apart from dad and Varga."
"Lisa was my best friend on my world too, at least until what happened... I'm not so sure any more," said Taylor sadly.
"Knowing my Lisa, she probably does consider you a good friend...and she has her own reasons to help somebody as obviously troubled as you are, Taylor," explained Saurial. "She never wanted to work for Coil. He forced her into it at gunpoint, and that's part of the reason we helped take him down in this reality."
"So you know about all of that?" said Taylor. "You know about how he kidnapped Dinah Alcott?"
"We managed to stop him from doing that," explained Saurial. "Dinah's a Ward now in our world."
"With Shadow Stalker?" said Taylor, wondering what happened to her nemesis. In her world, Sophia Hess had outed herself accidentally during an incident in a shopping mall. The revelation had made Taylor even less trusting of the Protectorate, while the kidnapping had alienated her from the Undersiders, leaving her alone and without support from either the heroes or the villains. Then Leviathan had shown up.
Saurial shook her head. "No, Shadow Stalker had all of her extracurricular activities exposed. Dad actually rigged me with a camera, and got evidence of it all. She was under house arrest, but she escaped during the take-down of Coil and is on the run. I guarantee you that she will get a very unpleasant welcome if she chooses to come back, especially if she threatens any of our friends and family." Saurial was showing teeth again, and not in a friendly way.
Taylor shivered a bit at the cold and predatory tone coming from Saurial. She asked a question that had occurred to her before. "Can you tell me something honestly? How much of you is still Taylor, versus Varga?"
Saurial considered her for a moment. "I'm still Taylor Hebert at heart, Taylor. Merging with Varga gave me a ridiculously comprehensive set of powers, though. Enough to give even me confidence...confidence to assert my Hebert protectiveness. Tell me you wouldn't do anything to protect your friends from harm?"
Taylor knew that before things fell apart, she would have gone out of her way to protect her team and her dad. Even now, she considered Lisa part of the group, and maybe even Brian.
"Another thing you have to remember is that Varga is ancient. He has memories crossing thousands of years. He's protected me from being overwhelmed by them, but I am learning. My body is different now. I'm literally stronger and smarter than I was, and I have access to knowledge that you wouldn't believe. I have changed greatly from the person I was just a short time ago," said Saurial thoughtfully. "As a consequence of that, we've taken down Coil and the Merchants, put the E88 and the ABB on notice, unblocked the bay, and improved dad's health and our relationship with him dramatically. I've got good friends, I'm attending school at Arcadia, and Brockton Bay is starting to become a nice place to live again."
"I saw Rachel with her dogs at the DWU. Since Lisa's there too, I assume you're sheltering the Undersiders?" asked Taylor.
"I rescued them from Lung, and we cut a deal with the Protectorate to keep them on site until all of the legal issues were resolved," explained Saurial. "They're part of the DWU."
"Along with Über and Leet?" said Taylor with a knowing grin.
Saurial chuckled. "Noticed that, did you? Randall at least has a very distinctive voice. They're also good guys. Dragon's helping Leet market some of his tech. Those tricorders are just part of it."
Taylor grew introspective. As they came up to the building with Danny's office, she said out loud, "Your universe is like the good version of mine. Everything you touch seems to go in your favor. But me...I tried to be hero. I tried to help my friends. I tried to keep dad safe. Everything just turns to shit, though. It's like my universe has it out for me. With my luck, even if the city survives Leviathan, we'll probably get visited by the Slaughterhouse Nine or something..."
"Huh, so they're still alive in your universe?" mused Saurial. "Regardless, you've forgotten something very important."
"What?" asked Taylor slightly sullenly.
"You're here now, with us, and we take care of our Family," said Saurial with an enviable degree of certainty. With that, the two went into the office to find Danny.
"It seems kind of quiet," said Miles as the group of them strolled through the streets of the Docks. It was fairly early on a Sunday, so few people were out and about. They had been passed by a couple of joggers, and only a couple of people who looked as if they were heading home from a late night. Overall, it felt more like a neighborhood that was on the verge of gentrifying than one home to a drug gang.
"Trust me," said Taylor. "Quiet is good for the docks." As they passed through the warehouses and industrial buildings, they kept catching glimpses of the bay. The absence of a massive hulk blocking the entrance was a constant reminder to Taylor that this wasn't her home city.
Ellen was looking around at the city. "The skies seem so empty," she commented.
"Yeah, that too," agreed Miles.
"Why is it that humans seem to take so long to develop flying cars?" asked Xander. "I mean, it's not like the ones on the street are much safer." 'Especially if a Slayer is driving,' he thought fondly.
"It actually has more to do with regulation than technology," explained Daniel. "That, and having the right infrastructure." At the looks from some of his companions, he said, "What? We ran into a number of advanced civilizations in the galaxy that had what were functionally flying cars, though they didn't call them that."
"You mean like those Asgard you were talking about at breakfast?" asked Jimmy.
Daniel shook his head. "They tended to teleport everywhere...even around their ships."
"They must have been seriously in need of cardio," joked Xander.
"What's that?" asked Ellen, pointing to a speck moving in the sky. As they watched, they could see that it was actually a flying teen-aged girl.
Taylor tensed up, and began building up a swarm out of sight in the nearby buildings. "That's Glory Girl," she said. "In my world, she and I were on opposite sides." That was putting it mildly. Glory Girl had a serious hate on for the Undersiders for taking her sister hostage at the bank.
"Remember that we're not in your world," suggested Harry.
"I'm not going to start anything..." said Taylor, but there was an obvious implication that she would be ready to finish anything the other girl started.
"I should have brought my web shooters..." muttered Peter in a low voice.
"TAYLOR!" yelled Glory Girl, clearly smiling. For probably the twentieth time since they arrived on this world, Taylor felt her world tilt at right angles away from her expectations.
"Glory Girl?" she answered hesitantly.
Victoria Dallon dropped down to the ground next to Taylor. "Hey," she asked, "have you seen Amy yet this morning? She was out way early, so I figured she headed right over to the Docks. Her truck was gone, at least."
"Um...no, I haven't seen her yet, but she's...probably at the DWU?" ventured Taylor.
"Well, if you see her, ask her to give me a call. She's not answering her phone again." She looked around and saw the group of strangers with Taylor. "Oh, I'm sorry, who are your friends?"
Taylor struggled for a plausible answer to that question that wouldn't sound crazy. "They're friends of my dad. I'm taking them over there now." She proceeded to introduce them...with only first names to avoid any risk of the Dallon girl recognizing any of the names.
"Hi, as you probably caught already, I'm Victoria Dallon, a.k.a. Glory Girl," she said cheerily. She peered at Ellen for a moment. "Wow, you know, you look a LOT like Sigourney Weaver. I totally wish I had your cheekbones."
"Thanks?" ventured Ripley.
"Anyway, I'm supposed to meet up with Dean. Say hi to your dad and the lizards for me!" With that, Glory Girl took to the skies again.
"Wow, the vitriolic hatred she feels for you was palpable," said Dresden sarcastically.
Unsure how to respond, Taylor just shrugged her shoulders and started walking again. The others quickly resumed following her. Her first sight of the DWU yard had her stopping short, both at the very visible security and the new double row of fencing. In between the two rows of fences were odd poles sticking up out of the ground without an immediately obvious purpose.
The group of them walked up the guardhouse, with Taylor in the lead. She didn't recognize the man inside. "Hi," she said to him, "this is probably going to sound kind of strange, but..."
"You want to know how to get to the BBFO offices?" he said plainly.
"Uh...yes. How did you know?" she asked.
He smiled and said, "Saurial stopped by earlier and mentioned that you would be by, and that you wouldn't remember how to get to the office."
Unable to stop himself, Jimmy asked, "Did she explain why?"
"Nope!" he said. He then proceeded to give them instructions on how to get to the BBFO building on foot, then wished them a nice day.
As they walked in through the gate, Harry said, "For a labor union, these folks have a LOT of security."
"They always had some security," replied Taylor. "The Merchants were based in the Docks, and you could also get Empire or ABB trying to push into the territory. The Dockworkers always fought for their neutrality and to keep the gangs out. They had the numbers and the skills...a lot of them are ex-military. They do seem to be a lot more blatant and open about the security in this world, though..."
She paused as she saw a very familiar, stocky woman taking a group of dogs for a walk on the other side of the street. "Rachel?" she said.
The woman didn't stop, but she did look at Taylor, give an acknowledging wave, and say, "Hi, Taylor." That...was positively extroverted for the girl, at least in Taylor's experience.
When they finally got to the BBFO, they stopped to ponder the sign. Daniel recognized the language, though it wasn't one he could readily translate. Xander was the only one to comment, saying, "That's not at all wigsome."
The knock on the door by Taylor was answered by a black-scaled head poking out. "Ah, good, you're all here," said Metis. "Dragon is here already, so come in."
As they walked into the BBFO office, Miles noticed the material of the walls and doors. Running his hand along one wall, he asked, "What kind of metal is this? I don't know if I've seen it before."
Metis grinned at him. "It's possible that you have, given your background, but I doubt that you would recognize it in this context. The walls are lined with electron-degenerate matter. We usually just call it EDM."
"Or just 'good stuff'," added Saurial from where she was sitting at a conference table on her tail. Raptaur, Ianthe and Dragon all already had places as well, and there were seven empty seats sized for humans at the table.
"Electron-degenerate matter? How on Earth do you keep it stable, and light enough not to sink into the ground? Do you have some kind of gravity field around it?" asked Miles.
"Something similar to that," said Raptaur. "It's based on principles closer to Harry's magic than pure science, however. You needn't worry, though, because the effect that lowers its apparent density and stabilizes it is permanent."
"What's so special about this stuff?" asked Xander.
Miles replied with a touch of awe, "Well, normally you only find it inside a white dwarf star or a neutron star. These walls are stronger than our starship's hull. A phaser wouldn't even scratch it. Hell, I'm not sure a quantum torpedo would pierce the skin of this office."
"It wouldn't, but the radiation and heat would be uncomfortable for any humans inside," said Raptaur. Miles noticed Raptaur didn't say it would bother the lizards.
"Would any of you like anything to drink?" asked Saurial. Everybody declined, as they had all just eaten a short time ago and there was a pitcher of water already on the table with glasses. Once everybody had settled, she continued, "We've discussed what we learned yesterday, and I believe we can help you. In fact, we want to make you an offer, with one of the key stipulations being that we agree to return each of you to your home universes no later than seven days after your departure."
"Can they do that?" asked Miles, looking to Daniel. He had been getting a checkup while Daniel spoke to Saurial in the engine room, and they had already spent longer than that away from home.
Daniel nodded. "I believe they can. They have a much deeper understanding of multi-dimensional mathematics than we do -- likely on par with the Ancients from my universe."
"Isn't time travel really hard, though?" asked Jimmy. He knew people did it in his universe, but they were usually eccentric geniuses with hidden agendas.
"Once the math gets complex enough, it isn't especially," answered Saurial.
"It is not to be used lightly, however, as the nature of the universe is directly tied into our perception of it, and vice versa, and paradox can have...unpleasant...consequences." said Raptaur seriously.
"A guy I met once said it also makes plot-lines hard to follow...but he's kind of crazy," added Peter. Wade had a unique way of looking at the world, but he had been reminded that some of his rambling was a little too on point with their current situation.
"Metis, why don't you walk them through the details of our offer," asked Saurial, nodding toward the black lizard.
The lizard in question nodded back and began to speak. "BBFO offers each of you short-term employment contracts, with a charter contract for the Ship of Fools." Some of the audience began to look alarmed, so she quickly followed up with, "One piece of your compensation will be the aforementioned guarantee of return to your home universe, someplace safe for you personally, no later than one week after your departure. The time gap is to allow for unusual circumstances related to safety, location, etc. Your term of employment is not to exceed six months, and we actually expect it to be significantly less than that."
Ellen, who was used to negotiating employment contracts, said, "You said, 'one piece,' of our compensation. What else are you offering?" Other than warning the Earth about the xenomorph threat...she didn't really have much reason to go back to her universe.
"Additional compensation will include two plants capable of producing one-use healing symbiotes to take back with you to your universe, BBFO-standard health care for you and your immediate family for life, living expenses for the reality of current occupancy, and five hundred kilograms of any substance upon separation," lectured Metis.
Xander raised his hand. "So, we get a way to produce those little squeakers that heal everything...and healthcare for life? How is that going to work once we're back home?"
"We will provide you with a way to contact the Family in an emergency, as well as ensuring you and your loved ones' perfect health upon return to your universe," explained Saurial.
"Wait, we're going to have, like, a signal beacon built into a wrist watch to summon the family?" asked Jimmy. He used to have a watch like that for Superman back when he was a cub reporter.
Dragon, who had been quiet until now, said, "I'm going to produce BBFO smart phones that will be capable of reaching the Family from anywhere. I've already spoken to Leet about it. He's a local cape who can make anything."
"Anything?" asked Peter.
"His limitation," explained Metis, "is that he can only make one of anything, and he fails if he tries to make something too similar to something he's made previously."
"But that doesn't make sense," said Miles with a degree of exasperation. "If he follows the same steps as he did the first time, he should get the same result. That's a primary foundation of science and engineering!"
"Tinkers in our universe have limiters built into their powers, "explained Dragon. "Think of it this way...Tinkers have a mental link to a database of technology far in advance of current worldwide tech, usually with a focus on a set of related subject areas. That link also affects their behavior, though. It creates a need to build things, and it can put constraints on what they can build. Leet's constraints tended to result in flaws that would destroy the device he was building if it violated them...sometimes rather explosively. His power created a blind-spot in his perception to those flaws until it was too late."
"You're a tinker too, aren't you?" asked Peter. He had thought that it was similar to folks like Reed Richards, but apparently there was more to it.
"Dragon's famous for being able to reverse engineer the work of other tinkers and turn it into things anybody can build and maintain," said Taylor, who was familiar with the reputation of Dragon from her own reality. "Normally, tinker tech can only be built and maintained by tinkers."
Daniel spoke up. "It almost sounds like somebody wanted to give you access to advanced technology without actually uplifting your society."
"We have had that same thought, as well, although we don't understand the reasons for it," agreed Raptaur.
"We're getting a little off topic, here," interrupted Ripley. "When you say five hundred kilograms of any substance, what kind of substances are you talking about?"
"Pretty much any substance, as long as I have or have had access to a small sample of it. One of the powers of my branch of the Family is matter creation," explained Saurial. "We can sample pretty much any element, alloy, chemical compound...and recreate it at will. All of the EDM you see here in these offices was created that way."
"What you're saying," said Daniel, "is that if I wanted half-a-ton of weapons-grade Naquadah, you could produce it as long as you had a small sample?"
"Easily," replied Raptaur. "We can also reproduce any device we can understand, although in some cases it is easier to build the components. We could, for example, provide Harry with basic technology that was immune to his magic, in addition to the phone Dragon already mentioned."
"What if we wanted information instead of a big hunk of gold or platinum?" asked Harry. If his life was a work of fiction here, then they might know some very important facts that he needed to know. They might even know how to avoid having to serve as Mab's errand boy.
"As contracted staff of BBFO, you will automatically have access to any knowledge we have about your home universe. That's included as part of the job description, as we expect part of your role to be validation of what we think we know, and clarification of things that may be common knowledge in your world, but not ours," said Metis.
"What else would be expected of us?" asked Xander. Signing contracts with non-humans was one of the things Giles had warned them to avoid on multiple occasions.
"Apart from validating information, you would be expected to assist as necessary in the refit of the Ship of Fools and provide crew while we try and fix some things in your respective universes," said Metis.
"What things are you trying to fix?" continued Xander. "Like, there are some things, like that whole, 'humans aren't enslaved by demons,' thing, that I don't want to see fixed."
Ianthe scoffed. "Why would we want to enslave humans? You're far too entertaining when left to your own purposes, and we already have the ability to create anything we want or need."
"Plus, the locals tend to get cranky when you start throwing around things like, 'slavery,' or, 'income tax,'" said Saurial with a smug smirk.
"Do we have to pay taxes on what we earn?" asked Jimmy, having an odd thought.
"We'll take care of the local paperwork, but you'll have to resolve any issues in your home dimension," said Metis, smiling. "We aren't planning on reporting your income in your home reality, though."
Ripley frowned. "Do you have standard paperwork for cross-dimensional employment?"
Dragon answered, "Superpowers and tinker tech mean you end up with a lot of paperwork targeted at exceptional circumstances."
"I found out that my government actually has standard paperwork for transferring U.S. citizenship from a United States on an Earth in an alternate dimension," said Peter. "I would guess Jimmy's world probably has something similar." The redhead just nodded. Jimmy didn't know the specifics, but there were enough space aliens, time travelers and dimension jumpers wandering around to merit having standard procedures for all sorts of odd cases.
Miles wanted to go back to something else that had been mentioned in passing. "You said you were going to refit the Ship of Fools? What did you intend to do with it?"
Saurial replied, "Let's wait until Linda, Kevin and Randall get here to go over all of the details, but we have a number of ideas that we think you'll all appreciate. We also have an option for you where, since you come from a society with replicator technology, we would be willing to turn the ship over to you and Starfleet R&D rather than provide you with rare materials once we're done getting everybody home." Not everything was easy to replicate, but the wormhole drive by itself would be a boon to Federation science.
"My world could use some of that technology. We're still dealing with the Goa'uld. We've been lucky so far, but if we were explicitly targeted by somebody like Anubis, then we wouldn't stand much of a chance," asked Daniel. Toward the end, his voice became slightly pleading.
"Some of the information we have access to includes the location of an Ancient weapons platform on Earth, as well as the location of the Ancient city of Atlantis," said Raptaur. Taylor and Varga had watched all ten seasons of Stargate: SG-1 shortly after they had built their own wormhole facility.
"Atlantis is real?" asked Daniel, amazed. His inclination to sign the contract offered had just increased exponentially.
Before Daniel could start asking what would likely be an unending litany of questions, Xander interjected, "What happens if we don't sign the contract? Specifically, how do we get home?" Xander wasn't stupid. He could see the value of the squeakers to the Slayers and their support, and a huge chunk of precious metals would provide a welcome injection of funds. Contracts were dangerous, though, and he wasn't convinced that this wouldn't turn out to be a Monkey's Paw scenario.
Saurial looked at Xander, and her face became serious. "We'll still help you get home, Xander. We already discussed this among ourselves, and helping you is the right thing to do. Metis and I came up with the employment contracts simply as a way of making things easier for everybody. It gets everybody's expectations out in the open, provides a legal way to satisfy people in authority, and soothes any egos that might object to taking charity."
"Are the contracts going to be mystically enforced?" asked Harry.
"We had not intended to do so, but we're willing to negotiate a mutually binding enchantment if you so desire," said Raptaur. "Such is well within our abilities."
"This sounds a little too good to be true," said Jimmy Olsen. "I mean, do you actually have the technology and ability to do everything you're promising?"
"We've prepared some demonstrations of everything," said Ianthe. "You all saw the BBFO office as you got here, yes?"
There were general nods and acknowledgements from everybody.
"Good," said Saurial. "Let's go into the next room."
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The reveal of the gigantic open space through the door was a shock to everybody, and actually resulted in a bit of a pile-up at the entry as each new person would notice the impossibly vast space and stop, blocking the person behind them. The general reaction was summed up by Xander's response. "Your office is a TARDIS."
"It doesn't travel through time and space..." said Saurial.
"Yet," interjected Metis sotto voice.
"...but it IS bigger on the inside," Saurial finished, holding her arms out wide.
What followed was a demonstration...or possibly a DEMONstration, of matter-creation abilities. Once O'Brien was satisfied that they weren't actually in a holodeck, he used his tricorder to confirm the materials that Saurial and Raptaur created. Starting with large blocks of platinum and gold, they moved on to substances they had sampled surreptitiously on the ship such as transparent aluminum and tritanium. The "taking requests" phase was amusing, and the inside of the room was soon littered with a bronze statue of SpongeBob Squarepants (not everybody understood the reference), a twenty-foot-long above-ground pool filled with hummus, a flywheel storage device capable of powering a warp engine, a shipping container filled with Twinkies, a small bag that looked to be about 10 cm deep, but which Peter could fit his whole arm into up to the shoulder, a takeout order from Fugley Bob's, a three kilogram block of room-temperature semiconductor that neither Ellen nor Miles recognized, a sealed container of hydroflouric acid, a chunk of unprocessed bauxite, and a creepy monkey cymbal toy with glowing eyes that had Xander moving away until Saurial made it vanish.
Ianthe then demonstrated her healing symbiote plants, and explained their care and the limitations built into them. Xander offered to cut his palm with an organic knife provided by Ianthe so that the others could watch it heal after the application of one of the squeakers, as Xander insisted on calling them.
Raptaur then offered to take them flying around the room on a platform that was powered by water jets. Peter and Miles offered to go first, the former because he was used to great heights and the latter because he was fascinated by the concept of water being spontaneously created so that it was already under high pressure. Raptaur studiously avoided anything mirroring Saurial's test flight, avoiding harm to either the room or the passengers. Everybody eventually opted to give it a go.
The final examples of more explicit technological capability came when Metis demonstrated some inventions created by engineers at the DWU. The pokeball containing a functional mech was a big hit, as was the functional Tron lightcycle. Miles thought that concept was brilliant, and wondered why Starfleet had come up with holographic officers but not holographic emergency shelters or escape pods. The lizards then played a variety of classical music on a version of Leet's sound system that Dragon was still reverse-engineering for mass production. Interestingly, every single one of the dimensional expatriates recognized works by composers like Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, and Chopin, implying at least some parallel history. More modern musical styles were clearly divergent, although again, there were some commonly known artists like the Beatles. Miles didn't recognize them directly, but the melodies and lyrics were familiar enough to him that it was likely that they existed in the distant past of his universe.
By the end of the demonstrations, the entire crew found that they had enjoyed themselves. Furthermore, they were fully convinced that a) the Family could do whatever they said they could do, b) their demeanor and actions thus far were nothing but friendly and helpful with a thin layer of smugness, c) the healing symbiotes alone would be a huge boon to their home realities, and d) the Family could also do whatever they wanted to do, and it was rather unlikely they would need their help even if they had nefarious purposes. Raptaur had made it clear that creating a critical mass of weapons-grade plutonium was just as easy as making a simple hand tool, and all of the travelers understood the ramifications of that.
The groups broke up to separate tables scattered across the room to discuss the specifics of individual contracts. Metis took Xander and Harry. Raptaur and Dragon went with Miles, Ellen and Daniel. Ianthe grabbed Peter and Jimmy. Taylor asked if she could talk to her father about the contracts, and Saurial left with her to do so.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
The reptile and the girl walked through the buildings on the DWU campus, heading for Danny Hebert's office.
"Before I forget," said Taylor, "I ran into Glory Girl on the way here. She told me to tell Amy to give her a call, and to say hi to you and dad. You guys are really friends in this world, aren't you?"
"Vicky has a very exuberant personality. Our first meeting was interesting," said Saurial. "She had just had a fight with Dean, as usual, and she called me an overgrown newt."
"A newt?" asked Taylor, incredulous.
"I got better," said Saurial with a terrible English accent.
Taylor gave her a slight glare. "Stop that. In my world, GG hates the Undersiders for putting her sister at risk when we took her hostage during a bank robbery."
"She is protective of her sister. She was pretty outrageous when we first met, too, but she did apologize to me...admittedly after fretting about it and realizing that I had video of her acting like a total witch, something that was a huge concern to Brandish and the others in New Wave because of the PR issues," said Saurial. "She's also calmed down a bit. She doesn't really like being called Collateral Damage Barbie."
Taylor snorted a laugh. "That's actually pretty funny."
"It is, but I sympathize with her." Saurial then shared a little of her experience with flying the first time, including going with a literal hat-in-hand to beg forgiveness.
Taylor laughed at that, but then she grew thoughtful. "You're an absolute menace, but you seem to be having a lot more fun with your powers than I have."
"A lot of that is Varga, honestly," replied Saurial. "He has been an amazing friend and support. It was terrifying when I got powers for the first time, knowing how vulnerable dad was, and not having any way to protect him except secrecy. Of course, I originally thought having a tail would make that difficult."
"But you can turn back into your human form?" said Taylor, confused.
Saurial changed back to her default human form and dropped the portion of the Assassin's Cloak that kept the other Taylor from seeing her tail. She kept up the portion that allowed the two of them to walk unnoticed through the DWU campus. "This is my default appearance, and how I looked right after the locker."
Taylor stopped walking forward, staring at the Taylor of this universe. "You have a lizard tail," she said simply.
"Yes, I do, and it's quite useful." The Taylor with a tail proceeded to sit down on it.
"You have an actual tail, growing out of your backside...and it is a lizard tail," said Taylor slowly.
"I do. I could ask Amy to give you one. I expect they'll become quite popular eventually," said local Taylor. She figured Lucy would definitely want one, and Lisa would probably come around eventually.
"I don't want a tail...and besides, I have bug powers, not lizard powers," said Taylor, unsure if her local version was joking or not.
The local copy transformed back into Saurial. "Well, we could give you an insect tail...maybe something with a stinger? Ooh, or maybe spinnerets so you could shoot webs like Pete?"
"That would make having a secret identity kind of hard, and I don't really want to shoot webs out of my butt," said Taylor with an exasperated tone.
"True," said Saurial as she started walking again. "Well, think about it. You can always change your mind."
"So, it's true that Ianthe and Metis are actually...?" questioned Taylor.
"Amy and Lisa...Panacea and Tattletale, by cape name," answered Saurial. "They're also my best friends, apart from dad and Varga."
"Lisa was my best friend on my world too, at least until what happened... I'm not so sure any more," said Taylor sadly.
"Knowing my Lisa, she probably does consider you a good friend...and she has her own reasons to help somebody as obviously troubled as you are, Taylor," explained Saurial. "She never wanted to work for Coil. He forced her into it at gunpoint, and that's part of the reason we helped take him down in this reality."
"So you know about all of that?" said Taylor. "You know about how he kidnapped Dinah Alcott?"
"We managed to stop him from doing that," explained Saurial. "Dinah's a Ward now in our world."
"With Shadow Stalker?" said Taylor, wondering what happened to her nemesis. In her world, Sophia Hess had outed herself accidentally during an incident in a shopping mall. The revelation had made Taylor even less trusting of the Protectorate, while the kidnapping had alienated her from the Undersiders, leaving her alone and without support from either the heroes or the villains. Then Leviathan had shown up.
Saurial shook her head. "No, Shadow Stalker had all of her extracurricular activities exposed. Dad actually rigged me with a camera, and got evidence of it all. She was under house arrest, but she escaped during the take-down of Coil and is on the run. I guarantee you that she will get a very unpleasant welcome if she chooses to come back, especially if she threatens any of our friends and family." Saurial was showing teeth again, and not in a friendly way.
Taylor shivered a bit at the cold and predatory tone coming from Saurial. She asked a question that had occurred to her before. "Can you tell me something honestly? How much of you is still Taylor, versus Varga?"
Saurial considered her for a moment. "I'm still Taylor Hebert at heart, Taylor. Merging with Varga gave me a ridiculously comprehensive set of powers, though. Enough to give even me confidence...confidence to assert my Hebert protectiveness. Tell me you wouldn't do anything to protect your friends from harm?"
Taylor knew that before things fell apart, she would have gone out of her way to protect her team and her dad. Even now, she considered Lisa part of the group, and maybe even Brian.
"Another thing you have to remember is that Varga is ancient. He has memories crossing thousands of years. He's protected me from being overwhelmed by them, but I am learning. My body is different now. I'm literally stronger and smarter than I was, and I have access to knowledge that you wouldn't believe. I have changed greatly from the person I was just a short time ago," said Saurial thoughtfully. "As a consequence of that, we've taken down Coil and the Merchants, put the E88 and the ABB on notice, unblocked the bay, and improved dad's health and our relationship with him dramatically. I've got good friends, I'm attending school at Arcadia, and Brockton Bay is starting to become a nice place to live again."
"I saw Rachel with her dogs at the DWU. Since Lisa's there too, I assume you're sheltering the Undersiders?" asked Taylor.
"I rescued them from Lung, and we cut a deal with the Protectorate to keep them on site until all of the legal issues were resolved," explained Saurial. "They're part of the DWU."
"Along with Über and Leet?" said Taylor with a knowing grin.
Saurial chuckled. "Noticed that, did you? Randall at least has a very distinctive voice. They're also good guys. Dragon's helping Leet market some of his tech. Those tricorders are just part of it."
Taylor grew introspective. As they came up to the building with Danny's office, she said out loud, "Your universe is like the good version of mine. Everything you touch seems to go in your favor. But me...I tried to be hero. I tried to help my friends. I tried to keep dad safe. Everything just turns to shit, though. It's like my universe has it out for me. With my luck, even if the city survives Leviathan, we'll probably get visited by the Slaughterhouse Nine or something..."
"Huh, so they're still alive in your universe?" mused Saurial. "Regardless, you've forgotten something very important."
"What?" asked Taylor slightly sullenly.
"You're here now, with us, and we take care of our Family," said Saurial with an enviable degree of certainty. With that, the two went into the office to find Danny.
Last edited:
UnfortuWatcher
(Verified Lovecraftian Horror)
- Location
- Genellian
*Puts on Italian accent*
"Welcome.... to the Family. We take care of our own."
- Location
- brazil
Yep everyone of the "bad guys" in the "canon" timeline just got a shudder and a sense of foreboding doom .
FaerieKnight79
Verified Pixie
- Location
- The Internet
But... Danny has been trying to get the Godfather jokes to stop. Why would he be making any himself?
Is it weird that I can totally see the Lvl 1 Grunt and Lvl 100 Mafia Boss meme work here with Saurial being the Lvl 100 BOss and Taylor being the Lvl 1
AnubisUzumaki
(Not a God)(Not an Uzumaki)
- Location
- Kentucky
"a creepy monkey cymbal toy with glowing eyes that had Xander moving away "
If that monkey is anything like the ones in Fallout 4, I don't blame him.
Almost always shot the things, their damn creepy, especially in low light areas and using real darkness mods.
If that monkey is anything like the ones in Fallout 4, I don't blame him.
Almost always shot the things, their damn creepy, especially in low light areas and using real darkness mods.
- Location
- Maryland
I'm a big fan of Fallout 4, so yes, you can assume that they are exactly like them, except that they don't summon post-apocalyptic monsters unless Saurial is feeling particularly cranky with somebody (like Coil).
- Location
- Beyond the Unknowable Veil
Do they summon pre-apocalyptic monsters?
Lycanthromancer
The Arcane Fuzz
- Location
- USA
Well, they're pre-apocalyptic until they get there...