14: Applying Patch "Antaeus"
Nimodes
Weary Worldwalker
- Location
- Arizona
* June 12, 2007 *
The rumbling reached a crescendo, and Taylor was clearly out of it. Sagging back into the cushions of her chair, eyes wide and unseeing, and singing songs that ELO had done decades before she'd been born.
"The visions dancing in my mind,
The early dawn, the shades of time,
Twilight crawling through my window pane."
"It's seven pm," stated Emma, a bit annoyed if also worried.
[Patch running. Corrections, consolidations, and missing add-ons are being addressed. Please stand by.]
"Am I awake or do I dream?
The strangest pictures I have seen,
Night is day, and twilight's gone away."
[Perk: My Fashion Sense Is Tingling. Player Pins added. Allows telepathy. Flaw: Perfect/Arrogance. Abilities: Mental defense + line of sight telepathy. Brand: Dragon Couture.]
A small pin appeared on Taylor's blouse, depicting for whatever reason, a jade dragon.
[Overcoming the Flaw will grant ability: F This. You gain an aloof charisma and become incredibly fashionable. You become very famous and have a huge, loyal fanbase. If you choose to run a blog or any other kind of new media site, it'll receive over 100,000 hits a day. Your fans are mostly the gender opposite of you, but usually aren't creepy. You also have a huge influence over the masses- your endorsement is enough to instantly guarantee something or someone's popular success, and your condemnation is practically a death sentence.]
"With your head held high and your scarlet lies
You came down to me from the open skies
It's either real or it's a dream
There's nothing that is in between."
"I don't remember her having such a good singing voice," noted Alan Barnes.
"'Powers are bullshit,'" reminded Zoe Barnes.
[Perk: I am Iron Man. FREE: Tactical Suit: A standard bodysuit made of a polymer blend with ten layers of treated composite materials, allowing for state of the art protection. Default appearance of a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo and emblem, but you may choose a different style upon acquiring this.]
[FREE: Soundtrack of the Galaxy - What's a good act of heroism or villainy without some kind of music to back you up? This will ensure that you have a fine selection of music that you feel defines the moment, whatever it may be. Superb orchestra, rock music, even a hefty dash of songs from the 1980s if that's your thing. I'll even throw in this handheld cassette player that can work in deep space to listen to it from if you feel like it. Plan and act your day with style.]
[FREE: They Call me Star Lord: Using your real name can be so boring at times... or lacks the awe and intimidation you need. Fortunately, with this you can designate a code name or alias that people will know you by, and a great majority of people will associate that name with you. This does not guarantee they will call you that name, but they will know it's a name that belongs to you.]
"Twilight, I only meant to stay a while
Twilight, I gave you time to steal my mind
Away from me."
"I think I would've preferred 'Mister Blue Sky'," commented Danny.
[Perk: Cyber-Doc Equipment Package. FREE: One martial arts style.]
[Perk: Omnitool. FREE: M-3 Predator Pistol, Omni-blade, Hardsuit.]
[Perk: House of the Witch. FREE: Roman Holiday. Physical and magical upgrade. See descriptor.]
Taylor's mouth snapped shut for a second before speaking again. "I know kung fu. Well, T'ai Chi Quan."
[PERK: Garage. FREE: Fixer-upper vehicle.]
[PERK: Fingers of Silver. FREE: Singing voice upgrade, Basic Veritech, basic training, space suit.]
[PERK: One-stop Crafting Station. FREE: Mech combined with NMS Minotaur to upgrade.]
[PERK: Ancilla. FREE: Personal armor. Combining all space suits into single unit. Personal spaceship combined with NMS Exotic class starship "Bubble Tea". "Bubble Tea" upgraded. Lifeworker tools added.]
[PERK: Hangar. FREE: Pilot's license, Su-27 jet.]
"Ah?" said Danny before documents in a binder slapped down on the coffee table.
Alan picked them up and examined the laminated card. "She has a pilot's license. With a lot of qualifications on there. I can check and see if the documentation holds up."
[PERK: World Seed. FREE: Warehouse, storage, shelving, security system, lighting, bio-protection, cleaning supplies.]
"I have a warehouse," said Taylor, her eyes seeing something the others couldn't. "Storage containers. Shelving. Security System. Cathedral is already there. Lighting. Environmental and bio-protection fields. Cleaning supplies."
"Well, you've already got several tachikoma and those nier androids doing maintenance," pointed out Annette.
[Applying physical and magical upgrades as adjusted for operator's age.]
"Roman holiday?" asked Taylor just before she grew two inches, went from slightly to very buff and her loose clothing was not nearly so loose anymore.
"Looks like her potions kicked in," said Danny.
"I got a car!" declared Taylor as she tried to cope with the sheer amount of data giving her a headache. Sort of.
"What kind?" asked Danny, thinking a project car sounded about right for what his daughter's power was like.
"Don't know, I'll have to look..." Taylor's voice trailed off.
"Is it good?" Emma asked hopefully.
[PERK: Hand's Off. FREE: Ghost Visor, Vulture hoverbike.]
[PERK: Mundane Supply World. FREE: basic Research Lab. Moving research equipment to Research Lab. Mundane Supply World already upgraded to Supply System. Upgrading Supply System.]
"I have a transforming robot vehicle," said Taylor. "It can turn into a jet or go gerwalk mode for VTOL."
[PERK: Artificial Friends. FREE: Two schools of magic. Operator has selected Origin/Creation and Barrier/Abjuration, +5% magical affinity.]
[PERK: Auto-Factory. FREE: Matter Manipulator. FREE: Basic Mech. Basic mech combined with NMS Minotaur to upgrade.]
"YES!" said Emma, who had not been impressed with the construction Labor sort of thing. Those were not cool.
"Okay, it's bundling all my space suits into one suit, which has some nice armor," said Taylor. "Good, because what was I going to do with a bunch of space suits I'm going to outgrow?"
"Give them to NASA to research?" suggested Danny.
[PERK: Build Rome. FREE: Mobile Suit Leo, Beam Saber.]
[PERK: Removed From Context. FREE: Trophy Room added to Research Lab, appearance upgrade, costume upgrade applied.]
[Finishing Patch "Antaeus". Preparing for download of Patch 2.1.]
"It's combining the auto-factory mech to my Minotaur," said Taylor. "Oh! I have a Research Lab!"
"Well, now we know where she's going to spend most of her time," commented Annette.
"And I've got another construction Labor, but this is bigger and is more general purpose," said Taylor.
"Is it over?" asked Danny after Taylor seemed to calm down.
"I think so?" asked Taylor after a couple of calming breaths.
Taylor flinched a moment later. "Okay, apparently that got me a new perk. And why do I remember working under Desmond Llewelyn in Q Branch of MI6?"
"Seriously?" asked Danny. "MI6?"
"Yeah," said Taylor. "Did you know that they recovered some Time Lord DNA from some fight in the 60s? Spliced it into one of their agents. He's been regenerating every so often as a result."
"That would explain a few things," admitted Danny.
"Well, shall we... where did Emma go?" asked Zoe Barnes.
Taylor rubbed her forehead. "I have a feeling she's in the Hangar. Now that the security system's been updated, I think there's a few rooms I'm going to lock her out of."
"That might be best," agreed both of her parents.
* June 13, 2007 *
* Medhall Secret Level *
Max Anders, also known as the Nazi supervillain leader Kaiser, wondered if perhaps he should go on vacation.
Not Hawaii, certainly. Perhaps the Switzerland, there were places there in the wake of the Simurgh that had been destroyed and rebuilt after all the little "Ziz-bombs" had met their unfortunate but necessary demise.
"The newest recruits are this... Hookwolf? That's his cape name, it's two letters off from being Hookworm."
"He's pretty solid, his power is formidable, and his motivation is that he gets to kill things," said Krieg. "Man's not entirely stupid, but he has a habit of thinking with his fists."
"And what of this Gesselschaft recruit?" asked Kaiser.
"Porzellanpuppe," answered Krieg, putting the folder on Kaiser's desk.
"Porcelain doll?" asked Kaiser before opening it and studying the photo. "That's some kind of weird Victorian outfit?"
"Yes, and her power is quite interesting," said Krieg.
"Let me guess what the catch is," said Kaiser, sitting back and regarding his Gessellschaft contact.
"'Catch'?" asked Krieg.
"You admitted it yourself, we've been getting their rejects lately because they want to send someone but they don't want to waste any actual useful resources until we've got more successes under our banner," pointed out Kaiser. "Just looking at the photo I can tell. She's one of those who went through the brainwashing procedures and ended up with nobody home most of the time."
"Well... yes," admitted Krieg.
"So what power does she possess? Flatulence? Can she belch out Wagnerian opera?" asked Kaiser.
"No. Blaster 3," said Krieg. "Brute 2. She can throw lightning and has increased durability."
"I'm trying to woo Purity right now, so I don't have a lot of patience for this sort of thing," declared Kaiser.
"Look, we're lucky to get her after what happened to the last one," pointed out Krieg. "Even if it was just a freak accident involving -"
"No," interrupted Kaiser. "Don't. I want absolutely nothing to remind me of those pictures. It took me days just to get that image out of my head and I may never eat salt water taffy again."
* August 30, 2007 *
* 1700 hours *
"-all I'm saying is that it's not a sandwich," said Gunnery Sergeant Al Desmond.
"Flare up!" said Ortega. "Drone picked it up, tracked to residential address in... It's New Wave. Flower shaped, so Fleur."
"Displaying coordinates. Jump in 3, 2, 1," said Captain Cavill.
The Marine suits activated their jump jets, making a leap that took them several miles from their previous location. Inertial dampeners and anti-grav emitters could have ensured they landed without a noise.
They didn't do that. They were making a statement. Landing hard enough that the pavement shook from the impact and making a single loud bang was the statement that they had arrived.
"Five?" asked Captain Cavill, slipping into his role as "One."
"Door shows signs of forced entry, got one individual hiding in the living room. Male, late teenager, revolver. Highlighting. One injured, GSW to chest. Looks like he caught her unaware. Figure we've got seconds before she bleeds out."
"No time for delicacy then," said Cavill, lining up a shot and firing a single round. It went through the house's wood and stucco, the sofa, and the gunman before finally coming to rest in the concrete under the carpet. "Hostile neutralized. Begin treatment and extraction."
* 20:30 hours *
* Brockton Bay General Hospital *
"What's her condition?" asked Brandish.
"Stable," said Doctor Phineas Rasputin (no relation) as he greeted the costumed heroes. "She had two gunshot wounds into her chest at point blank range. The Space Marines performed some high-tech wound closure method and got her to us fast enough that we were able to treat. Good thing for her too, if we'd had to rely on an ambulance she'd have died before they could arrive."
"So these 'Space Marines' shot her?" asked Brandish, already forming a ball of light.
"No, they killed her assailant. Apparently someone trying to curry favor in the Empire 88 according to the report," said Doctor Rasputin. "I'm hoping we can get more samples of this 'medi-gel' they used. It seems extremely effective."
"I still don't trust them," stated Brandish. "What do we know about them anyway?"
She might have intended that as a rhetorical question, but Manpower unexpectedly spoke up. "Ex-Marine squad hired by and supplied by Forgetech as additional security and a fast-response team."
"No such thing as an 'ex' Marine," commented Doctor Rasputin. "In any case, give an hour or so before seeing the patient. Nurse Pratchett will let you know when it's okay to do so. We're still monitoring and giving fluids to replace what she lost."
Brandish looked over at Manpower with raised eyebrow. "Where did you hear THAT from?"
"They have an entry at the ForgeTech website," said Manpower. "They put one up after inquiries from some game company over in the UK. Apparently the mercs really like the aesthetic of that power armor."
"Still don't trust them," muttered Brandish under her breath.
* September 8, 2007 *
"Great Lung, what are your orders?"
Kenta looked over the group of rabble he'd brought with him and settled into Brockton Bay. Which he'd been assured had a large Asian populace he could lord over and fight the Nazi group already entrenched here.
"Consolidate our power," said Kenta as the crew had begun to stir from their silence. He slapped a map of Brockton Bay against the wall and Oni Lee quickly threw throwing darts to the corners to hold it in place. After sweeping his gaze over his higher-up minions, he spoke. "We claim this area where our operations will be the usual businesses. Protection, prostitution, drugs, and a few legitimate businesses for the laundering of money. We will patrol the boundaries and any who try to take it from us will face my wrath."
"What of the Protectorate?" asked Tetsuo, a Yakuza from San Francisco who'd rallied to his call. After several of his fellows had been made an example of.
"I shall deal with the Protectorate," said Lung/Kenta. "I shall crush them as I have all others."
"And the vile Nazis?" asked Roger-something whose name he could never remember. Decent minion though, with contacts abroad for the distribution of some of the harder drugs.
"They are scum and shall burn," said Lung.
"Great Lung," said Ti, an accountant from this area. "The area your forefinger is resting on is controlled by the United States Marine Corps and the company ForgeTech."
Lung looked, then moved his finger one inch inward.
He did not miss the look of relief from the various locals.
"They kill Nazis," said Lung. "That makes them tolerable."
* September 12, 2007 *
Their opponents were just jarheads and eggheads. They were among the elite among the Empire. They could take these people and present a new front against the ABB menace.
Sammy gestured and Phil came running up with the boltcutters, making quick work of the chain holding the gate shut. None of those damn soldiers were around to see them.
"Protectron on duty! Intruder!"
One of those freaky robots stepped out from one of those charging stations.
"Take it out!" said Sammy.
As soon as they began shooting it, they could hear an alarm. Everyone knew what that meant and went for cover. They'd be able to ambush the idiots as soon as they arrived-
It was at this point that Sammy realized something had just hit him in the chest and he was on the ground. Why did his chest hurt so much? Why it so cold all of a sudden? Who turned out the lights?
* September 13, 2007 *
"How many of our rank-and-file did that idiot get killed?" asked Kaiser.
"Twenty-seven," answered Krieg.
"He led twenty-seven of ours armed with revolvers and knives, against a hardened military installation with advanced weaponry. I may have to invent a new word just to describe the level of idiocy involved," said Kaiser.
"They had six people with AKs and one rocket launcher," said Krieg before flinching at the look Kaiser had leveled at him.
After a few seconds of that look, Kaiser took a deep breath and began planning. "We do not fuck with the Marines. They do not do contain or try to arrest you if you get them riled up. They may give you one chance to surrender and after that they go after you with intent to kill. With ForgeTech weaponry that would go through my armor like it wasn't there. They have weapons which your kinetic control powers wouldn't protect you from."
"They do?" asked Krieg.
"They have reliable non-Tinkertech lasers," pointed out Kaiser, bringing up a report on a monitor then swiveling it around so that his lieutenant could read it. "Sonic cannon. Plasma bolters. Three weapons which we don't know exactly what they are that those damn mercs are carrying around except they don't shoot bullets."
"I... see," said Krieg, a little bit more tense-looking than before.
"If we can kite Lung into attacking their facilities, great," said Kaiser. "I don't know that they have a weapon capable of hurting him when he's ramped up but I also wouldn't put money on them not having something. If we do anything like that though, I have a feeling that the alphabet agencies who have an interest there would not be as easy to field as the PRT has been. Speaking of, how are our attempts at infiltration going?"
* September 15, 2007 *
Annette Hebert had wanted, along with her husband, some measure of personal empowerment as a hedge against being taken hostage to put pressure on her daughter. The bracelets keyed to her own personal bio-signature were nice and all, but she had to wear the delicate-looking things in order to get the benefits of a regeneration field.
She, and her husband, had discussed getting the X-Gene therapy. Powers on tap whenever they wanted? Useful, but she was pretty sure the moment she demonstrated them in any public venue that the PRT would be knocking on their door. There were enough agencies around she wasn't inclined to draw in any more of them.
As she drove to work, she twitched just a bit as there were indications that Taylor had once again been working on her car. Ever since she'd gotten that spy-tech upgrade Taylor had been "upgrading" things around the house.
She just hoped there were no ejector seats or other somewhat silly surprises included.
* Taylor *
Bored, bored, bored, bored.
What was a twelve-year-old certified super-genius to do in school when her mother insisted that she at least had to attend three days a week in person instead of via clone.
Well, besides design clothing in her math notebook.
"Doctor Hebert?"
Taylor sighed and glanced at the board. "3x^2 - 11x - 4 = 0."
"Very good, Doctor. Nice to see you're paying attention after all."
Huh. A rumble. Technology Crafting constellation. Would it be another dud?
No, this one latched on. It was getting closer! And...
Whoa. A massive productivity boost. As long as she was personally involved in the process, even if it was just loading a hopper or setting the controls on her factory? She'd be moving things along really damn fast.
That could be really damn handy.
Though what the heck was a "twin tail" and what did it have to do with engineering speed?
Shrugging mentally at the weirdness level of her power, she decided to light an incense in that cathedral thing.
It couldn't hurt after all.
* December 12, 2007 *
Taylor leaned back in her chair, wiped a bit of sweat off of her forehead, and admired the latest gift she'd created.
No special properties, of course. Just normal clothing designs using normal materials. Jewelry was good for some people, especially women like Aunt Zoe.
Okay, maybe one little function, but an automatic distress beacon was so very minor.
Christmas presents ready to go.
And... another "age limit" message on a failed roll.
Too bad, she had a lot of points at this stage.
Oh, and for her associates over at the PRT - they were getting some containers of medi-gel. That fight they had with Lung looked awfully painful.
Lung hadn't come over their way though. Just as well, the photon cannons and infra-knife projectors would have made a mess as they'd started tracking that fifteen-foot-tall thing (that didn't look very dragon-ish to her) every time he'd cleared the lines of buildings.
"Message from Dragon," said Jarvis' voice.
"I'm finished here anyway," responded Taylor. "On speaker."
"Hello?" asked Dragon's voice.
"What's up, Miss Dragon?" asked Taylor, curious.
"Can I see that design again?" asked Dragon.
"Oh, the YorHa model?" asked Taylor. "It's finished, by the way."
The holographic display rotated around, showing all angles.
"Why does it look like a lingerie model?" asked Dragon after a few moments.
"Hell if I know," said Taylor. "Mother's commented on that too. The guys are all pretty boy types too. Those are the basic designs I have for them. Besides, don't you want to look attractive?"
"I'd rather blend in, actually," answered Dragon.
"I'm sending you the design parameters, you can change the appearance however you like and send it back to me," said Taylor. "Be the work of a half-hour at most to change it. Oh, and have you seen the pets?"
"'Pets'?" asked Dragon, wondering why she continually felt like the girl was perpetually ready to unleash some new sort of technological headache.
"Something a friend suggested about genetically enhancing pets. Giving dogs a longer lifespan, heightened intelligence, for example. Winged lizards, maybe small dinosaurs? Got the basics of a microraptor about 75% ready, it's an insectivore flying dinosaur about the length of an adult human forearm."
Dragon was silent for a very long time, especially considering that she was an Artificial Intelligence.
"You're making dinosaurs."
"Just the groundwork and modeling, deciphering the DNA from bird specimens until I found one descended from them. Should have some lovely plumage."
"You're designing a dinosaur pet."
"Yes, an insectivore. Two feet from tail to head. I've also got some robot pets that should be quite useful."
"I see. I'll get back to you about the human suit."
"Anytime, Dragon." Taylor was silent for a few moments. "Do you think I should have mentioned the bottweilers?"
Jarvis merely sighed and continued what he was doing.
After all, the day of the removing of the Fairweather Journey was coming up.
"Oh dear," said Jarvis aloud.
"That sounds like a problem. We don't want any problems," pointed out Taylor as she glanced at another Taylor (clone) that was Giga-Multitool.
"It appears that there's some interest in the little event planned on Saturday the 22nd," said Jarvis.
"How bad?" asked Taylor as she'd picked up on something in the voice.
* Perks This Chapter *
32.19.1-From Q With Love (200CP)(Smash Up)(Appearance):
Taser in the keyfob, laser in the watch, grappling hook pistol that looks like a cellphone? You are the undisputed master at disguising weapons and espionage gear as ordinary items. Just try not to get them confused with the real thing, and do bring the car back in pristine condition.
FREE: Spy Lab, includes micro-manipulator computer-enhanced toolkit. Does not include test subjects or BMW product placement.
29.18.1-Gimme a Tic (400CP)(Gonna be the Twin-Tail)(Technology Crafting):
They ain't never seen an engineer like yourself. You're not just able to keep up with some of the best and brightest in this world, such as creating teleporters that can be carried in your palm or energy shields that can offset a rocket launcher yet are contained within small pieces of jewelry, but you are also able to outright make what you design too. You work fast and hard, enough to do the work of dozens of skilled men working constantly over weeks of time in just a single night. You could construct a fully outfitted underground base beneath a house, excavating and manufacturing and coding all the gadgets and rooms and devices needed, within a single night and not leave anyone above ground aware of it.
The rumbling reached a crescendo, and Taylor was clearly out of it. Sagging back into the cushions of her chair, eyes wide and unseeing, and singing songs that ELO had done decades before she'd been born.
"The visions dancing in my mind,
The early dawn, the shades of time,
Twilight crawling through my window pane."
"It's seven pm," stated Emma, a bit annoyed if also worried.
[Patch running. Corrections, consolidations, and missing add-ons are being addressed. Please stand by.]
"Am I awake or do I dream?
The strangest pictures I have seen,
Night is day, and twilight's gone away."
[Perk: My Fashion Sense Is Tingling. Player Pins added. Allows telepathy. Flaw: Perfect/Arrogance. Abilities: Mental defense + line of sight telepathy. Brand: Dragon Couture.]
A small pin appeared on Taylor's blouse, depicting for whatever reason, a jade dragon.
[Overcoming the Flaw will grant ability: F This. You gain an aloof charisma and become incredibly fashionable. You become very famous and have a huge, loyal fanbase. If you choose to run a blog or any other kind of new media site, it'll receive over 100,000 hits a day. Your fans are mostly the gender opposite of you, but usually aren't creepy. You also have a huge influence over the masses- your endorsement is enough to instantly guarantee something or someone's popular success, and your condemnation is practically a death sentence.]
"With your head held high and your scarlet lies
You came down to me from the open skies
It's either real or it's a dream
There's nothing that is in between."
"I don't remember her having such a good singing voice," noted Alan Barnes.
"'Powers are bullshit,'" reminded Zoe Barnes.
[Perk: I am Iron Man. FREE: Tactical Suit: A standard bodysuit made of a polymer blend with ten layers of treated composite materials, allowing for state of the art protection. Default appearance of a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo and emblem, but you may choose a different style upon acquiring this.]
[FREE: Soundtrack of the Galaxy - What's a good act of heroism or villainy without some kind of music to back you up? This will ensure that you have a fine selection of music that you feel defines the moment, whatever it may be. Superb orchestra, rock music, even a hefty dash of songs from the 1980s if that's your thing. I'll even throw in this handheld cassette player that can work in deep space to listen to it from if you feel like it. Plan and act your day with style.]
[FREE: They Call me Star Lord: Using your real name can be so boring at times... or lacks the awe and intimidation you need. Fortunately, with this you can designate a code name or alias that people will know you by, and a great majority of people will associate that name with you. This does not guarantee they will call you that name, but they will know it's a name that belongs to you.]
"Twilight, I only meant to stay a while
Twilight, I gave you time to steal my mind
Away from me."
"I think I would've preferred 'Mister Blue Sky'," commented Danny.
[Perk: Cyber-Doc Equipment Package. FREE: One martial arts style.]
[Perk: Omnitool. FREE: M-3 Predator Pistol, Omni-blade, Hardsuit.]
[Perk: House of the Witch. FREE: Roman Holiday. Physical and magical upgrade. See descriptor.]
Taylor's mouth snapped shut for a second before speaking again. "I know kung fu. Well, T'ai Chi Quan."
[PERK: Garage. FREE: Fixer-upper vehicle.]
[PERK: Fingers of Silver. FREE: Singing voice upgrade, Basic Veritech, basic training, space suit.]
[PERK: One-stop Crafting Station. FREE: Mech combined with NMS Minotaur to upgrade.]
[PERK: Ancilla. FREE: Personal armor. Combining all space suits into single unit. Personal spaceship combined with NMS Exotic class starship "Bubble Tea". "Bubble Tea" upgraded. Lifeworker tools added.]
[PERK: Hangar. FREE: Pilot's license, Su-27 jet.]
"Ah?" said Danny before documents in a binder slapped down on the coffee table.
Alan picked them up and examined the laminated card. "She has a pilot's license. With a lot of qualifications on there. I can check and see if the documentation holds up."
[PERK: World Seed. FREE: Warehouse, storage, shelving, security system, lighting, bio-protection, cleaning supplies.]
"I have a warehouse," said Taylor, her eyes seeing something the others couldn't. "Storage containers. Shelving. Security System. Cathedral is already there. Lighting. Environmental and bio-protection fields. Cleaning supplies."
"Well, you've already got several tachikoma and those nier androids doing maintenance," pointed out Annette.
[Applying physical and magical upgrades as adjusted for operator's age.]
"Roman holiday?" asked Taylor just before she grew two inches, went from slightly to very buff and her loose clothing was not nearly so loose anymore.
"Looks like her potions kicked in," said Danny.
"I got a car!" declared Taylor as she tried to cope with the sheer amount of data giving her a headache. Sort of.
"What kind?" asked Danny, thinking a project car sounded about right for what his daughter's power was like.
"Don't know, I'll have to look..." Taylor's voice trailed off.
"Is it good?" Emma asked hopefully.
[PERK: Hand's Off. FREE: Ghost Visor, Vulture hoverbike.]
[PERK: Mundane Supply World. FREE: basic Research Lab. Moving research equipment to Research Lab. Mundane Supply World already upgraded to Supply System. Upgrading Supply System.]
"I have a transforming robot vehicle," said Taylor. "It can turn into a jet or go gerwalk mode for VTOL."
[PERK: Artificial Friends. FREE: Two schools of magic. Operator has selected Origin/Creation and Barrier/Abjuration, +5% magical affinity.]
[PERK: Auto-Factory. FREE: Matter Manipulator. FREE: Basic Mech. Basic mech combined with NMS Minotaur to upgrade.]
"YES!" said Emma, who had not been impressed with the construction Labor sort of thing. Those were not cool.
"Okay, it's bundling all my space suits into one suit, which has some nice armor," said Taylor. "Good, because what was I going to do with a bunch of space suits I'm going to outgrow?"
"Give them to NASA to research?" suggested Danny.
[PERK: Build Rome. FREE: Mobile Suit Leo, Beam Saber.]
[PERK: Removed From Context. FREE: Trophy Room added to Research Lab, appearance upgrade, costume upgrade applied.]
[Finishing Patch "Antaeus". Preparing for download of Patch 2.1.]
"It's combining the auto-factory mech to my Minotaur," said Taylor. "Oh! I have a Research Lab!"
"Well, now we know where she's going to spend most of her time," commented Annette.
"And I've got another construction Labor, but this is bigger and is more general purpose," said Taylor.
"Is it over?" asked Danny after Taylor seemed to calm down.
"I think so?" asked Taylor after a couple of calming breaths.
Taylor flinched a moment later. "Okay, apparently that got me a new perk. And why do I remember working under Desmond Llewelyn in Q Branch of MI6?"
"Seriously?" asked Danny. "MI6?"
"Yeah," said Taylor. "Did you know that they recovered some Time Lord DNA from some fight in the 60s? Spliced it into one of their agents. He's been regenerating every so often as a result."
"That would explain a few things," admitted Danny.
"Well, shall we... where did Emma go?" asked Zoe Barnes.
Taylor rubbed her forehead. "I have a feeling she's in the Hangar. Now that the security system's been updated, I think there's a few rooms I'm going to lock her out of."
"That might be best," agreed both of her parents.
* June 13, 2007 *
* Medhall Secret Level *
Max Anders, also known as the Nazi supervillain leader Kaiser, wondered if perhaps he should go on vacation.
Not Hawaii, certainly. Perhaps the Switzerland, there were places there in the wake of the Simurgh that had been destroyed and rebuilt after all the little "Ziz-bombs" had met their unfortunate but necessary demise.
"The newest recruits are this... Hookwolf? That's his cape name, it's two letters off from being Hookworm."
"He's pretty solid, his power is formidable, and his motivation is that he gets to kill things," said Krieg. "Man's not entirely stupid, but he has a habit of thinking with his fists."
"And what of this Gesselschaft recruit?" asked Kaiser.
"Porzellanpuppe," answered Krieg, putting the folder on Kaiser's desk.
"Porcelain doll?" asked Kaiser before opening it and studying the photo. "That's some kind of weird Victorian outfit?"
"Yes, and her power is quite interesting," said Krieg.
"Let me guess what the catch is," said Kaiser, sitting back and regarding his Gessellschaft contact.
"'Catch'?" asked Krieg.
"You admitted it yourself, we've been getting their rejects lately because they want to send someone but they don't want to waste any actual useful resources until we've got more successes under our banner," pointed out Kaiser. "Just looking at the photo I can tell. She's one of those who went through the brainwashing procedures and ended up with nobody home most of the time."
"Well... yes," admitted Krieg.
"So what power does she possess? Flatulence? Can she belch out Wagnerian opera?" asked Kaiser.
"No. Blaster 3," said Krieg. "Brute 2. She can throw lightning and has increased durability."
"I'm trying to woo Purity right now, so I don't have a lot of patience for this sort of thing," declared Kaiser.
"Look, we're lucky to get her after what happened to the last one," pointed out Krieg. "Even if it was just a freak accident involving -"
"No," interrupted Kaiser. "Don't. I want absolutely nothing to remind me of those pictures. It took me days just to get that image out of my head and I may never eat salt water taffy again."
* August 30, 2007 *
* 1700 hours *
"-all I'm saying is that it's not a sandwich," said Gunnery Sergeant Al Desmond.
"Flare up!" said Ortega. "Drone picked it up, tracked to residential address in... It's New Wave. Flower shaped, so Fleur."
"Displaying coordinates. Jump in 3, 2, 1," said Captain Cavill.
The Marine suits activated their jump jets, making a leap that took them several miles from their previous location. Inertial dampeners and anti-grav emitters could have ensured they landed without a noise.
They didn't do that. They were making a statement. Landing hard enough that the pavement shook from the impact and making a single loud bang was the statement that they had arrived.
"Five?" asked Captain Cavill, slipping into his role as "One."
"Door shows signs of forced entry, got one individual hiding in the living room. Male, late teenager, revolver. Highlighting. One injured, GSW to chest. Looks like he caught her unaware. Figure we've got seconds before she bleeds out."
"No time for delicacy then," said Cavill, lining up a shot and firing a single round. It went through the house's wood and stucco, the sofa, and the gunman before finally coming to rest in the concrete under the carpet. "Hostile neutralized. Begin treatment and extraction."
* 20:30 hours *
* Brockton Bay General Hospital *
"What's her condition?" asked Brandish.
"Stable," said Doctor Phineas Rasputin (no relation) as he greeted the costumed heroes. "She had two gunshot wounds into her chest at point blank range. The Space Marines performed some high-tech wound closure method and got her to us fast enough that we were able to treat. Good thing for her too, if we'd had to rely on an ambulance she'd have died before they could arrive."
"So these 'Space Marines' shot her?" asked Brandish, already forming a ball of light.
"No, they killed her assailant. Apparently someone trying to curry favor in the Empire 88 according to the report," said Doctor Rasputin. "I'm hoping we can get more samples of this 'medi-gel' they used. It seems extremely effective."
"I still don't trust them," stated Brandish. "What do we know about them anyway?"
She might have intended that as a rhetorical question, but Manpower unexpectedly spoke up. "Ex-Marine squad hired by and supplied by Forgetech as additional security and a fast-response team."
"No such thing as an 'ex' Marine," commented Doctor Rasputin. "In any case, give an hour or so before seeing the patient. Nurse Pratchett will let you know when it's okay to do so. We're still monitoring and giving fluids to replace what she lost."
Brandish looked over at Manpower with raised eyebrow. "Where did you hear THAT from?"
"They have an entry at the ForgeTech website," said Manpower. "They put one up after inquiries from some game company over in the UK. Apparently the mercs really like the aesthetic of that power armor."
"Still don't trust them," muttered Brandish under her breath.
* September 8, 2007 *
"Great Lung, what are your orders?"
Kenta looked over the group of rabble he'd brought with him and settled into Brockton Bay. Which he'd been assured had a large Asian populace he could lord over and fight the Nazi group already entrenched here.
"Consolidate our power," said Kenta as the crew had begun to stir from their silence. He slapped a map of Brockton Bay against the wall and Oni Lee quickly threw throwing darts to the corners to hold it in place. After sweeping his gaze over his higher-up minions, he spoke. "We claim this area where our operations will be the usual businesses. Protection, prostitution, drugs, and a few legitimate businesses for the laundering of money. We will patrol the boundaries and any who try to take it from us will face my wrath."
"What of the Protectorate?" asked Tetsuo, a Yakuza from San Francisco who'd rallied to his call. After several of his fellows had been made an example of.
"I shall deal with the Protectorate," said Lung/Kenta. "I shall crush them as I have all others."
"And the vile Nazis?" asked Roger-something whose name he could never remember. Decent minion though, with contacts abroad for the distribution of some of the harder drugs.
"They are scum and shall burn," said Lung.
"Great Lung," said Ti, an accountant from this area. "The area your forefinger is resting on is controlled by the United States Marine Corps and the company ForgeTech."
Lung looked, then moved his finger one inch inward.
He did not miss the look of relief from the various locals.
"They kill Nazis," said Lung. "That makes them tolerable."
* September 12, 2007 *
Their opponents were just jarheads and eggheads. They were among the elite among the Empire. They could take these people and present a new front against the ABB menace.
Sammy gestured and Phil came running up with the boltcutters, making quick work of the chain holding the gate shut. None of those damn soldiers were around to see them.
"Protectron on duty! Intruder!"
One of those freaky robots stepped out from one of those charging stations.
"Take it out!" said Sammy.
As soon as they began shooting it, they could hear an alarm. Everyone knew what that meant and went for cover. They'd be able to ambush the idiots as soon as they arrived-
It was at this point that Sammy realized something had just hit him in the chest and he was on the ground. Why did his chest hurt so much? Why it so cold all of a sudden? Who turned out the lights?
* September 13, 2007 *
"How many of our rank-and-file did that idiot get killed?" asked Kaiser.
"Twenty-seven," answered Krieg.
"He led twenty-seven of ours armed with revolvers and knives, against a hardened military installation with advanced weaponry. I may have to invent a new word just to describe the level of idiocy involved," said Kaiser.
"They had six people with AKs and one rocket launcher," said Krieg before flinching at the look Kaiser had leveled at him.
After a few seconds of that look, Kaiser took a deep breath and began planning. "We do not fuck with the Marines. They do not do contain or try to arrest you if you get them riled up. They may give you one chance to surrender and after that they go after you with intent to kill. With ForgeTech weaponry that would go through my armor like it wasn't there. They have weapons which your kinetic control powers wouldn't protect you from."
"They do?" asked Krieg.
"They have reliable non-Tinkertech lasers," pointed out Kaiser, bringing up a report on a monitor then swiveling it around so that his lieutenant could read it. "Sonic cannon. Plasma bolters. Three weapons which we don't know exactly what they are that those damn mercs are carrying around except they don't shoot bullets."
"I... see," said Krieg, a little bit more tense-looking than before.
"If we can kite Lung into attacking their facilities, great," said Kaiser. "I don't know that they have a weapon capable of hurting him when he's ramped up but I also wouldn't put money on them not having something. If we do anything like that though, I have a feeling that the alphabet agencies who have an interest there would not be as easy to field as the PRT has been. Speaking of, how are our attempts at infiltration going?"
* September 15, 2007 *
Annette Hebert had wanted, along with her husband, some measure of personal empowerment as a hedge against being taken hostage to put pressure on her daughter. The bracelets keyed to her own personal bio-signature were nice and all, but she had to wear the delicate-looking things in order to get the benefits of a regeneration field.
She, and her husband, had discussed getting the X-Gene therapy. Powers on tap whenever they wanted? Useful, but she was pretty sure the moment she demonstrated them in any public venue that the PRT would be knocking on their door. There were enough agencies around she wasn't inclined to draw in any more of them.
As she drove to work, she twitched just a bit as there were indications that Taylor had once again been working on her car. Ever since she'd gotten that spy-tech upgrade Taylor had been "upgrading" things around the house.
She just hoped there were no ejector seats or other somewhat silly surprises included.
* Taylor *
Bored, bored, bored, bored.
What was a twelve-year-old certified super-genius to do in school when her mother insisted that she at least had to attend three days a week in person instead of via clone.
Well, besides design clothing in her math notebook.
"Doctor Hebert?"
Taylor sighed and glanced at the board. "3x^2 - 11x - 4 = 0."
"Very good, Doctor. Nice to see you're paying attention after all."
Huh. A rumble. Technology Crafting constellation. Would it be another dud?
No, this one latched on. It was getting closer! And...
Whoa. A massive productivity boost. As long as she was personally involved in the process, even if it was just loading a hopper or setting the controls on her factory? She'd be moving things along really damn fast.
That could be really damn handy.
Though what the heck was a "twin tail" and what did it have to do with engineering speed?
Shrugging mentally at the weirdness level of her power, she decided to light an incense in that cathedral thing.
It couldn't hurt after all.
* December 12, 2007 *
Taylor leaned back in her chair, wiped a bit of sweat off of her forehead, and admired the latest gift she'd created.
No special properties, of course. Just normal clothing designs using normal materials. Jewelry was good for some people, especially women like Aunt Zoe.
Okay, maybe one little function, but an automatic distress beacon was so very minor.
Christmas presents ready to go.
And... another "age limit" message on a failed roll.
Too bad, she had a lot of points at this stage.
Oh, and for her associates over at the PRT - they were getting some containers of medi-gel. That fight they had with Lung looked awfully painful.
Lung hadn't come over their way though. Just as well, the photon cannons and infra-knife projectors would have made a mess as they'd started tracking that fifteen-foot-tall thing (that didn't look very dragon-ish to her) every time he'd cleared the lines of buildings.
"Message from Dragon," said Jarvis' voice.
"I'm finished here anyway," responded Taylor. "On speaker."
"Hello?" asked Dragon's voice.
"What's up, Miss Dragon?" asked Taylor, curious.
"Can I see that design again?" asked Dragon.
"Oh, the YorHa model?" asked Taylor. "It's finished, by the way."
The holographic display rotated around, showing all angles.
"Why does it look like a lingerie model?" asked Dragon after a few moments.
"Hell if I know," said Taylor. "Mother's commented on that too. The guys are all pretty boy types too. Those are the basic designs I have for them. Besides, don't you want to look attractive?"
"I'd rather blend in, actually," answered Dragon.
"I'm sending you the design parameters, you can change the appearance however you like and send it back to me," said Taylor. "Be the work of a half-hour at most to change it. Oh, and have you seen the pets?"
"'Pets'?" asked Dragon, wondering why she continually felt like the girl was perpetually ready to unleash some new sort of technological headache.
"Something a friend suggested about genetically enhancing pets. Giving dogs a longer lifespan, heightened intelligence, for example. Winged lizards, maybe small dinosaurs? Got the basics of a microraptor about 75% ready, it's an insectivore flying dinosaur about the length of an adult human forearm."
Dragon was silent for a very long time, especially considering that she was an Artificial Intelligence.
"You're making dinosaurs."
"Just the groundwork and modeling, deciphering the DNA from bird specimens until I found one descended from them. Should have some lovely plumage."
"You're designing a dinosaur pet."
"Yes, an insectivore. Two feet from tail to head. I've also got some robot pets that should be quite useful."
"I see. I'll get back to you about the human suit."
"Anytime, Dragon." Taylor was silent for a few moments. "Do you think I should have mentioned the bottweilers?"
Jarvis merely sighed and continued what he was doing.
After all, the day of the removing of the Fairweather Journey was coming up.
"Oh dear," said Jarvis aloud.
"That sounds like a problem. We don't want any problems," pointed out Taylor as she glanced at another Taylor (clone) that was Giga-Multitool.
"It appears that there's some interest in the little event planned on Saturday the 22nd," said Jarvis.
"How bad?" asked Taylor as she'd picked up on something in the voice.
* Perks This Chapter *
32.19.1-From Q With Love (200CP)(Smash Up)(Appearance):
Taser in the keyfob, laser in the watch, grappling hook pistol that looks like a cellphone? You are the undisputed master at disguising weapons and espionage gear as ordinary items. Just try not to get them confused with the real thing, and do bring the car back in pristine condition.
FREE: Spy Lab, includes micro-manipulator computer-enhanced toolkit. Does not include test subjects or BMW product placement.
29.18.1-Gimme a Tic (400CP)(Gonna be the Twin-Tail)(Technology Crafting):
They ain't never seen an engineer like yourself. You're not just able to keep up with some of the best and brightest in this world, such as creating teleporters that can be carried in your palm or energy shields that can offset a rocket launcher yet are contained within small pieces of jewelry, but you are also able to outright make what you design too. You work fast and hard, enough to do the work of dozens of skilled men working constantly over weeks of time in just a single night. You could construct a fully outfitted underground base beneath a house, excavating and manufacturing and coding all the gadgets and rooms and devices needed, within a single night and not leave anyone above ground aware of it.
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