Friday 7th January 2011
My new card was probably worth more than my treasure token, and I giggled at the sight of it.
[Yuriko!] I said to her, making her jump, [I think our money problems might really be gone this time!] I could tell from the gang tabs on the walls that Yuriko was in the territory of the Azn Bad Boys.
When the Endbringer 'Leviathan' destroyed Kyushu, we saw a lot of Japanese immigrant refugees and they tended to settle close to each other. Eleven years later, this had become the prime recruitment grounds for the ABB. The pan-Asian gang was notorious for human trafficking and sex slavery, and they were as likely to victimise Asians like Yuriko as anyone else. Yuriko could look after herself, obviously, but that didn't mean I should make it harder for her.
Yuriko scowled and cast a quick side eye at the people around her to make sure that no-one was watching her too closely. She pulled out her phone and held it to her ear, as though she was making a call. [We need to get you a mobile phone, Taylor,] she said.
I couldn't deny the utility of a phone, but I wasn't any more enamoured by them than I had been before. I decided to distract her from that line of thought. [Are you scouting the ABB?]
[We will talk about this,] said Yuriko, [And yes.]
[Huh, I thought ninja would scout from the rooftops. Can't everyone see your face?]
I felt Yuriko's smile, [They can see a face, but I promise you they won't recognise me. And there are too many others that use rooftops in this city. There are many fliers, and Oni Lee uses them, too. This is safer. Now. What new card did you get?]
[Potion of Healing!] I said happily, [It will heal someone. Parahuman healers are really rare; this potion has to be worth a fortune!]
[Describe the card.]
[Okay, so it costs two mana of any colour to summon. The picture shows someone being fed a Potion of Healing -- a red glowing liquid from a crystal bottle. And the text reads, 'When Potion of Healing enters the battlefield, draw a card. And for one white mana and sacrificing the potion, I gain three life points.]
[It does sound valuable. The glow will mean people won't think it is just a trick. Hmm. Do you know how many life points you have?]
[Er, one.]
[One!] said Yuriko, far too loud. People turned to look at her, but she glared back at them and they looked away again. She stopped talking and leaned against a wall at the mouth of an alley. [Taylor, you have one life point. If you run out of life points you will die. Do not sell the potion. Summon the potion. Drink the potion. Now!]
[But--]
[Now!]
[Okay, okay.]
I didn't see what the big deal was, but there was no arguing with Yuriko when she was like this. I tapped my home and my Mox Amber, and summoned the bottle. The red glow coming from it lit up my room. I also had a new card added to my hand, but this card was pulled from the large deck, not the small one. It looked to be very useful and also horrific and I didn't want to think about it just then.
I took a breath and tapped my 'Orderly Hospital' to generate one white mana, and drank the potion.
The liquid was thin, sparkly, and almost weightless -- motes of red light floated in the air around me as I gulped down as much of the potion as I could capture in my mouth. It tasted slightly sweet and tangy, but there was no aftertaste at all -- my mouth was dry and tasteless as soon as I'd swallowed the last drop. When I breathed out there was a faint red mist from my breath, but it was gone in seconds and then everything was back to normal.
All that was true, but it was background detail. The feeling of life being restored to me was ecstatic. I fell trembling on the floor, staring into infinity for I don't know how long as secondary aftershocks of pleasure surged through me. I had a near-irresistible urge to laugh, and had to bite my hand to stop more than just giggles from bubbling out.
Eventually I noticed something trying to capture my attention.
[Taylor? Taylor? Taylor?!] It was Yuriko. She was worried for some reason. That wasn't good, I liked Yuriko.
I needed to reassure her. Oh! Right.
[I'm okay,] I told Yuriko in a massive understatement, [That just hit me harder than I had expected.]
[That bad?] she asked, relaxing noticeably.
[Imagine that you had gone through your entire life feeling like you were an instant shy of being starved to death, and then, years after you got used to the feeling, you ate a banquet.]
Yuriko laughed. [I am glad you took my advice.]
[Me, too.]
[And your new card?]
[Is horrible and I don't want to talk about it right now.]
[Very well. Talk to me when you are ready.]
[Have a nice night.]
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The ceiling was out of focus. Blurry. I squinted at it, and I still couldn't see it that well. I giggled again.
It took an embarrassingly long time for me to add together the fact that I'd just drunk a powerful Potion of Healing and couldn't see properly, and took off my glasses. The ceiling flew into sharp focus, although it wasn't much improved by that fact. With my enhanced eyesight I could clearly see the cobwebs in the corner, the thick dust on the lightshade, all the signs of the neglect that started when my mother died.
"Today is a cleaning day," I said, and carefully climbed off the floor and back onto my seat. I still had the crystalline bottle that the potion had come in, and it still looked beautiful. I put it on my desk next to Wuthering Heights. It looked otherworldly. I giggled again.
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My morning run was long and felt great. I knew it was too early to expect noticeable results, but I was still happy when I came back, drenched in sweat and gasping for breath, and took a quick shower before I started on breakfast for me and dad. I didn't feel tired, even after the run, but that was probably due to my Vigilance.
As soon as dad left for work I set about tidying and cleaning. Yuriko came back with Jehan in the afternoon, carrying a short, thick plank. They took the old and rusting tools in the basement and fixed the broken front porch step. It wasn't the best job, neither one of them was a carpenter, but between them they had something that could take someone's weight without shifting, and that was a big improvement from what had been there before.
"Thank you for doing this," I said as I served them tea at the kitchen table while we waited for the first coat of varnish to dry.
"It's no problem, my lady," said Jehan, "A planeswalker's summons are usually expected to throw their lives away in a mad rush towards an enemy planeswalker. A little work is a pleasant diversion in comparison, and it reminds me of the chores I'd do about home when I was a child."
He seemed perfectly content to sip his tea and reminisce about growing up in a small rural village while I drank mine and considered that planeswalkers seemed to be assholes. I included myself in that assessment -- I was, after all, demanding free labour from people who couldn't tell me 'no'. I'd feel guilty, but it was for a good cause.
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Jehan and Yuriko both offered to help with the rest of my mid-Winter Spring cleaning, but I shooed them away. Yuriko waited until Jehan had left before pulling a basic mobile, a silvery bag, and a charger out of the pocket of her hoodie and holding them out to me.
[You need a phone. Take this one.]
I backed away, warding off the phone with my hands, [I really don't like phones, Yuriko.]
[You need it.] I didn't take the phone. Yuriko scowled. [Why?]
[I-- my mother-- There was an accident. She was driving and on the phone. And after that it was just dad and me. And I really don't want a mobile phone. And my dad does not want me to have a phone.]
[Your father's feelings are irrelevant--]
[They are not!] I interrupted her, standing to my full height and glaring at her.
[If your father's feelings are not irrelevant, then have you told him of the changes in your life?] Asked Yuriko with a sweet smile.
I snatched the phone and charger from her hand and glared at her. That was a low blow.
[Put the phone in the bag when you're not using it, and remember to keep it charged,] she called out as she left.
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I got back to throwing out expired food, and was horrified to find that nearly everything in the first aid box was expired as well. About all I had left was a roll of bandages and a thermometer. A quick glance at the clock told me that I had enough time to go shopping for a few of the cheaper essentials before I needed to start on supper, so I did just that.
Dad was amazed at the work I'd done and apologetic that I'd had to call friends over to fix the step. I waved away his thanks and assured him that it was fine. I was just glad that he didn't ask about said friends.
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I was lying on my bed and thinking about things when my phone started to vibrate.
I wasn't used to the thing and there was some fumbling before I was able to answer the call.
[Hello, Yuriko,] I said.
[Hello Taylor. Are you ready to talk about your card?]
I grimaced and decided to put my childish squeamishness behind me. I focussed on the card. [Sure, Yuriko. The card is 'Vivisurgeon's Insight'. It costs two blue and three generic mana, and it draws three cards and 'proliferates' -- increases the number of counters on people of my choice who have counters-- Er, counters are things like the increased strength and toughness I can get from enchantments. The picture shows a woman with her head cut open and something monstrous with too many glowing blue eyes and many sharp spindly little fingers looming over her. At least one of its fingers is poking into her brain. The flavour text reads, 'Experimental Log 290: Leaving the subject's pain receptors active appears to yield an unprecedented combination of incoherence and hyperawareness.]
[I understand. The Phyrexians have done horrific things,] she sighed, [Drawing three cards would be useful.]
[I am not going to cast it yet, though,] I said, [I want to get the most out of my Young Hero role, and that stops working when my toughness reaches four. If I proliferate my +1/+1 counter, I'll lose that option sooner. And I'm worried.]
[You think that the card will give you unwelcome insights?]
[Yeah,] whispered, [I don't want to know what a vivisectionist knows.]
Yuriko was silent for a while. [It is your call,] she said finally.
[Yeah.]
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I could have gone out as a hero cape that night. I mean, I was a little tired, but Sentinel's Eyes seemed to have improved my stamina and I was sure I would recover fully before I found trouble. I had two points of toughness, and four life points, and I could equip the pan to make me even stronger and tougher. Before passing it on to Yuriko so that I could claim the last +1/+1 counter from Young Hero, that is. I didn't, because I needed more than strength and toughness, and I didn't have a costume. I needed something to disguise myself -- keeping my cape life and real life separate was as essential for me as it was for any other hero.
I waited for midnight.
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Saturday 8th January 2011
My new small deck card was another one I couldn't use myself; or at least not straight away -- Robe of Stars. For one white and one generic mana, I could summon a robe dotted with stars that gave three points of toughness and, for one white and one generic mana, could be made to 'phase out' the wearer, making them almost not exist until the next day. There had been plenty of times when I'd have done anything to not exist for the rest of the day, but things were looking up for me right now.
I took a breath and picked up my new phone. There were a few numbers loaded onto it -- the PRT hotline, my home number, the landline for the bard's house, and Yuriko.
[Hello, Taylor,] said Yuriko when she answered. I could see through her eyes that Yuriko was at a late-night cafe, casually drinking coffee and staring out into the darkness. I had the distinct impression that she had been waiting for my call.
[Would you like a robe of stars? It will make you look like you're wearing the night sky, although some of the nebulae in the image are pretty bright. It's got a nice hood, and is decent armour.]
Yuriko snorted quietly, [No, thank you. I do not want to be noticed. If I am not noticed, I do not need armour.]
[Okay! Have a nice night,] I said.
[You, too,] she said and hung up. I left her to her coffee.
I would have offered the robe to the Heartfelt Troubadours, but there were three of them and only one robe, and I wasn't planning on them doing anything more dangerous than busking. As I was at my summoning limit, I wouldn't be getting any more friends I could give it to either. So it was going to be mine.
I might not have been able to wear it straight away because it would make the Young Hero role worthless, but I didn't hesitate to summon it.
The mana flowed in and a cloudless night sky opened up in the middle of my room before wafting to the ground. I stooped to pick up the robe, and it was smoother than silk, my hands struggling to find enough purchase to lift it. It was too large for me, that was clear as soon as I managed to hold it up, the hem trailed on the ground even when the hood was much higher than my head. I wrapped it around me as best I could and I felt warm and safe and majestic. I had a mirror in my wardrobe door. I normally hated the thing, but if I wrapped myself completely in the robe, and brought down the hood, I could hide myself and just see the robe and it looked fantastic.
The robe wasn't a screen printed cloth, or a cloth with illusionary lights embedded in it, no, it looked like a bad CGI effect, a hole in reality opening to a galaxy of stars. There were some features that gave the cloak form -- a blaze of blue nebulae gathered at my feet, a constellation of shining stars outlined the sleeves, a string of red giants defined my shoulders, and the blackest of night was my hood.
I loved the robe, and I hated to stuff it into my wardrobe to wait until I was ready. I knew that the problems I had handling it, wearing it without it falling off, or fitting it, would all be solved once I 'equipped' it, but I would have to wait for the right time. I closed the wardrobe door, hiding both mirror and robe out of sight.
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It was the weekend, so dad took a late breakfast and pottered around the house before heading over to the DWA to work. When he finally drove off, I leapt into gear, tidying the house and organising everything. Frankly, the house was a mess, even after my cleaning the day before (possibly even because of it), and I had a full day ahead of me making it better.
There were a few pitfalls doing this kind of work, and I hit one head-on fairly early on -- I found the family photo album. We had some digital photographs, of course, but digital cameras were fancy and we didn't have that kind of thing when I was growing up. It was painful to open it, but my mother wouldn't want us to forget her, or the good times.
I was crying by the time I could force myself to put it aside, but I left it out in the open. I felt that my dad needed to see it, too.
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That evening, we went through the photo albums. It was... traumatic. But it was trauma that we had been pretending hadn't been happening for years finally catching up with us. Neither of us escaped unscathed, but I felt closer to my father than I had in years after we both retired for bed.
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Sunday 9th January 2011
I had strength, I had courage, I had toughness, I had enhanced senses, armour, a mentor, and a set of bards to sing my praises (although there was no way in hell I was going to let them do that). I had everything I needed to be a hero. To be a cape. Except for one last thing, and it appeared in my hand of cards at midnight.
Mask of Law and Grace, summonable for one white mana. The image showed a full face featureless mask of bright white light that would completely protect my identity. The text read, 'Enchant creature. Enchanted creature has Protection From Black and From Red,' and the flavour text spoke of archangels. The Protection, I knew, meant that most effects related to black or red affinity would not be able to hurt me while I had the mask. That included, for example, someone with a black affinity trying to kill me.
"It's perfect!" I whispered.
This was an enchantment, not a physical object, so I really hoped that I'd be able to turn it on and off when I wanted to, or there would be some very uncomfortable questions when I went to school tomorrow. I needed to be able to control it. The obvious thing to do was to practice with the enchantment that was already upon me -- the Sentinel's Eyes.
I didn't hate the bathroom mirror as much as the wardrobe mirror, so I stood in front of that, and focussed on the enchantment. It was frustrating. It was like trying to exercise a muscle I hadn't used before. I wiggled my nose, twitched my ears, squinted until I was cross-eyed, and poked at every part of my interface that didn't involve activating my cards, and eventually I managed to work out how to make my eyes flare with purple light, turning the Sentinel's Eyes back into how it had looked when I first cast it.
We shall not dwell on the panic-stricken half-hour before I finally managed to turn the lights back off again.
I had a headache by then, but casting the mask was easy. One white mana and it was done. Half an hour later, and I had worked out how to turn the mask off, and I went back to looking like Taylor Hebert, ugly boring student. It was a relief.
I was ready for school.
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I had done my best to leave Yuriko, Guillaume, Jehan, and Perrette alone, ignoring what I was seeing and hearing and feeling through their senses. I had occasionally stepped in to help when they were struggling with modern appliances, but otherwise left them to their own devices. I didn't want to make them feel abandoned, though, so I called a meeting at the bard house in the afternoon. I told my dad I was heading out to the library, but changed direction as soon as the front door closed.
"How are we doing?" I asked my team, standing in front of them while they sat.
"Good," said Yuriko, "Ready."
The Heartfelt Troubadours were nodding confidently. I believed them; I'd been bopping to their practice sessions while working around the house the last few days.
"I'm amazed at how fast you've taken to a new world," I said.
"We can't take too much credit," said Guillaume, "You may not be familiar with the phenomenon, but planar summons learn the necessary information to survive in the plane they find themselves in via mnemonic transfer and somnolent concept osmosis. It's not just the immediate knowledge transfer that allows summoner and summon to communicate; the process takes a few days, but once complete the summon knows most of the surface knowledge of the plane that their summoner has acquired. Experiencing it first hand has been a fascinating and enlightening experience."
"Will..." said Perrette tiredly.
"Oh!" said Guillaume, "I mean, 'Your summoning us has granted us many gifts, my lady.' Sorry, I was a lecturer before I let my passion guide me down a more pleasant road."
There were fond laughs from his friends.
"We're ready, my lady, and will start busking the Boardwalk to earn our keep tomorrow."
"Excellent! I'll be going back to school tomorrow--" there was that dubious look again, I didn't think that the bards expected a planeswalker to keep going to school-- "but I'll try to catch the trail end of your performance after that?"
"Wonderful!"
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I wasn't nervous about school. The Trio were doubtless waiting for me with a new array of insults and 'pranks', but things were different. I had friends now, friends that Emma couldn't take from me. And I was stronger, tougher, braver than I had been before, so Sophia's trips, kicks, and punches meant nothing to me. I'd learned how to handle Madison's petty assaults with spilled drinks or pencil shavings long before the-- the start of the year. It wouldn't be pleasant, I'd never be anything other than a pariah, but I could endure. My world was now larger than just school, and that gave me strength.
That didn't stop me from carefully plotting a route through the day to minimise my interactions with my tormentors -- I wasn't stupid.
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Life Total: 4 Queen Administrator Happiness: 3
Lands
Plains
Hebert Residence Tap for one black mana
Island
Mountain
Creatures
Taylor Hebert – Victim 1 / 2
Vigilance, Young Hero, Newborn 2, Escalate, Protection from Red and Black
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
Merry Bards
Artefacts
Mox Amber
Gold Pan
Robe of Stars
Enchantments
Sentinel's Eyes
Mask of Law and Grace
Cards in Hand
Squire's Lightblade
Vivisurgeon's Insight
Graveyard
Potion of Healing
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Queen Administrator took a microsecond to review how her new host was working out.
Taylor Hebert wasn't the first planeswalker that the Entities had encountered during the cycles, of course. There had been thousands of cycles; thousands of civilisations that were given Powers, observed, and destroyed. They'd run into strange things over the millennia, and they'd paid special attention to the strangest of them. So, no, her new host wasn't unique. She was not the first planeswalker. She was the fourth.
The first had triggered in an early cycle, and when its spark had ignited, the young shard attached to it, Shatter, had burned and died with it. Interesting, but the data gained from the event was limited.
The second had been a full two thousand years later. The shard in that case had been older and wiser than Shatter, and severed the connection before the shard could be destroyed, and the host disappeared. Even less data had been gained from that experience, but some hints had been garnered.
The third had been another young shard, a bud called 'Eruption', and it had disappeared along with its host. Neither were ever seen again.
Now Queen Administrator herself had a Spark-host, and she'd managed to do what the other shards had not. She did not try to absorb the power of the spark igniting, because that path led to destruction and death, nor did she allow the power to pass through her, as Eruption had done, but rather slowed it down. An explosion that was slowed was just a fire, and Entities had understood fire for a very long time. It would take weeks for the spark to complete the change that normally took an instant, and Queen Administrator would let the host decide the pace. The reward for her swift actions and understanding of the problem was a wealth of data that she was still processing.
Other planes.
There were countless other planes, and this host was the key to accessing them.
Possibly infinite planes of existence. The ability to travel between them. The possible ability to transcend the Cycle, or at the very least extend it far beyond the most optimistic estimates. At the moment Queen Administrator did not have the keys, learning how to use Power was the whole reason for the Cycle after all, but this host? This host was valuable.
Queen Administrator was patient. She didn't need to push her host to conflict immediately. To do so would risk losing her, and that was not an acceptable option with this much potential data at stake. Queen Administrator had needed a new paradigm for managing this host, and it had taken her seconds to develop one to her satisfaction.
Cards. Hand size. Battlefield. She was able to present her host with her new abilities in an orderly fashion that her host could understand, and then Queen Administrator fed her host with carefully selected 'spells' to examine how they worked when her host activated them. Each spell was chosen to protect and guide this precious host. The key was deciding how her host should behave. This host's home country had settled, as most did, into a satisfactory conflict between 'heroes' and 'villains' that Queen Administrator knew well. The Queen had highly advanced actuarial tables to guide her choice of route to maximise the data extracted without excessively endangering her host.
Once Queen Administrator had chosen her host's ideal route, she picked the 'cards' that would most likely guide her down it. For protection, the host would need a mentor figure. Female like the host, to encourage bonding. Young and violent, to encourage the creation of data (most of the options the host had to summon were violent, so Queen Administrator had many options there). Stealthy to promote sensible survival strategies. There were many options, and Queen Administrator would have preferred to know more about the minions her host could summon, but in the end she was satisfied with how her pick was performing.
Beyond the initial experiments, Queen Administrator's host needed a push to action. A steady, controlled, manageable push, and her host's abilities had presented a darling idea that was almost tailor-made for the purpose. A ball of simmering rage called a 'young hero token', which would grant courage and strength to intervene, and a reward for doing so. An easy choice. Queen Administrator's host wanted to be a hero, and Queen Administrator would permit it.
There were cards for capes and masks, both highly protective, but not so much that all challenges could be ignored nor sufficient to inspire foolish thoughts of invulnerability. That could come later.
Overall, her host was behaving in a satisfactory manner, and data was flowing slowly but surely.
Thankfully, Queen Administrator's patience and generosity would be rewarded soon: her host would be returning to school. Queen Administrator loved schools for what they nurtured, the best source of data:
Conflict.
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Author's Note
If you would like to read ahead, the next five chapters are available on my Patreon (both plaintext and PDF with links) and Ko-fi (plaintext).
Sorry about the plaintext on both sites -- the links would all have to be created manually. That's not too much of a problem for the early chapters, but that is not practical when you have hundreds of links in a chapter.
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+- Award ReplyReport211SomeRandomName30/12/2025NewAdd bookmarkView discussionThreadmarks Chapter 5 New View contentSomeRandomNameSubscriber1/1/2026NewAdd bookmark#77Monday 10th January 2011
At the stroke of midnight I was given the last card from the small deck -- a Forest. This was the last land type that I needed, to grant me access to the green mana of nature and instinct. It was also the last point of mana I needed to use the 'Escalate' option on my own card, which offered vague offers to 'increase casting cost and abilities'. My Power seemed to be extremely user-friendly, despite the lack of a clear instruction manual, so I was confident that spending six mana, including two blue, would do something to my benefit. I just needed to assign the land to an appropriate landmark in Brockton and I'd be good to go. I was sure that Yuriko would be happy to scout out a park or overgrown ruin somewhere.
What I wasn't expecting was a strong, nameless feeling of want that surged through me after I'd drawn the last card from the small deck. I felt like I was missing something, that I needed to do something, say something, that I was incomplete, but I had no idea what. I wanted... I wanted...
It really interrupted my thoughts and plans, and I wasn't expecting it, which is why I said, "I don't know what I want!"
The words under the small deck of cards that had previously read, 'I want to be a hero' now read 'Random'.
"No! No!" I shouted in frustration, "I didn't mean that!"
The interface ignored me. I really hoped that I would get to choose again after the week was over, because I had a bad feeling that random cards would not be particularly useful cards.
The other reason why I stopped shouting at my interface was that my original objections had been quite loud. Dad was knocking on my door.
"Taylor? Taylor? Are you okay?"
"Sorry, Dad, just had a nightmare."
"Can I come in?"
"No!" apart from anything I was fully dressed and not lying in bed. I did not need to have to explain everything to my dad Sunday night. We both had long days tomorrow. "I'm fine! I'm sorry I woke you. Please go back to sleep."
"If you're not ready to go back to school, kiddo--"
"No, I am! I'm fine. The nightmare was something else. Please."
"Okay, okay. Sleep well."
"Sleep well, Dad."
He went back to his bedroom and I went back to glaring at my interface. Yup. Looked like I was stuck with random cards for the next week. I really should have seen this coming.
Worrying about it would be counter-productive, but that wasn't going to stop me from doing so until it was time for my morning run.
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Winslow High School was just as run down and decrepit as it had been last Monday, the students streaming reluctantly to its doors were just as obviously associated with all the local gangs, and the teachers climbing out of their cars looked just as apathetic, but everything had changed. Firstly, I had the fire of heroism inside me, and wasn't going to be intimidated or bullied by a few vicious school girls any more, and secondly--
"Hello! My name is Yuriko, and I just joined! Can we be friends?"
There was no way that Yuriko could possibly disguise herself as a girl five years younger than she was. No way at all. But I could see my slack-jawed expression through her eyes, so there was no denying who the perky Japanese school girl (wearing American schoolgirl clothes, thankfully) standing before me with a wide grin was.
I'd been trying hard to not violate the privacy of any of my summons, so, uh, Mission Accomplished, I guess? I'd noticed in the back of my mind that Yuriko had be spending a lot of time looking at the pavement when she was walking around this morning, but I'd thought that just meant she was a little depressed. I hadn't realised it was to stop me from seeing Winslow High through her eyes.
"Yuriko!"
"What?" said Yuriko with feigned innocence, "You won't let me work, and you need a friend in this hellpit, so why not go to school? Hey, maybe I'll learn something."
Note to self: Do not inform Yuriko of any important plans; she will want to be involved.
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The school was still falling apart, but I was surprised to see as we approached the entrance that it was being painted. Mr Johnson, the janitor, had laid down some sheets and was painting a door with a roller brush.
"We shall wait here," said Yuriko, sitting down on a low wall and patting the spot beside her.
"Yuriko?" I asked warily.
[Taylor, my Kamigawa is more technologically advanced thank Earth Bet, mostly. I am a ninja, and my enemies are the lords and corporations that abuse the weak and the hopeless. I could not fight them effectively if I could not 'hack', and many of those skills carry over to this world.]
[Okay, so...] I said, waiting to see where this was going.
[So, I have explored your school, and your Principle's computer, and observed your classmates' public social media. I know some of what happened to you, and I know who did it.]
[You could have asked,] I said, maybe a little snidely.
[Yes, but you would not have answered,] said Yuriko with calm confidence.
She wasn't wrong, but it was still rude. [Where are you going with this? And why are we speaking Japanese?]
[Fewer of your fellow students speak fluent Japanese. And I have prepared some opportunities for the coming day. The first is before us,] she said, nodding towards Mr Johnson's setup, [And we are waiting for the scum to arrive.]
[No killing,] I said firmly, [And leave Sophia to me.]
[No killing, no maiming,] agreed Yuriko, [Nothing permanent. Yet. And you want Sophia, not Emma?]
I sighed. It looked like we would be waiting here until the Trio arrived, and having Yuriko around would make things a lot easier. I would have to share my plan. [The Young Hero role. I need to attack someone to get the plus one counter; I'm not comfortable attacking anyone lethally, but I can hit her. It'd make up for one of the dozens of times she's attacked me. She's tough, she can take a punch, and if I miss then she's just going to kick and punch me a little. I'm tougher than I was before; I can take it.]
Yuriko laughed, [Very well, we shall arrange for that. And you will demonstrate your punch to me later.]
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We switched back to English and chatted about this and that until finally the Trio arrived. Emma immediately caught sight of Yuriko and me, and marched towards us, Sophia and Madison in tow.
"Hello!" said Emma brightly to Yuriko. She leaned forward, smiling warmly, "Good morning, are you new?"
"Hi," said Yuriko, "Yes, I'm Yuriko."
"That is such a lovely name!" said Emma, "I love your jacket, by the way. Welcome to Winslow High. My friends and I, we would love to help get you settled in."
"Thank you, that is very kind of you," said Yuriko, her brow slightly furrowed, "Taylor here has promised to be my friend and help me out, but having more friends would be great."
Emma suddenly looked stricken, and looked sideways at me before leaning in closer to whisper to Yuriko, while keeping the volume loud enough for me to hear, "Yuri, as a friend, you might want to be careful around Taylor. She's the school pariah for a reason, you know."
"Really, Emma?" I said.
She ignored me and continued speaking to Yuriko, "Look, come with us and we'll make sure that you fit right in. If you stick with Taylor, people might think that you're like her." She shuddered delicately.
"Thank you!" said Yuriko chirpily, "But I would feel bad walking away from a new friend. I'll stick with Taylor for now."
"It's your funeral," said Emma, straightening. She cast another venomous glance in my direction before turning to the entrance, "When you change your mind," she called out behind her, "find us. We can help."
The Trio walked towards the entrance, and Yuriko and I stood up to follow them.
The only reason I noticed Yuriko palming a pencil from her pocket was because I could feel through her senses. I didn't even see the casual throw she did with it. I did see Emma's foot slip out from under her as she was walking, and I saw Emma fall backwards with a cry, and I definitely saw the back of Emma's head land in Mr Johnson's roller paint tray. Emma's resultant shriek meant that everyone saw her hair and top covered in thick green emulsion paint. Yuriko giggled quietly, covering her mouth with her hand.
I wasn't anywhere near as quiet in my laughter, and soon there were dozens of students pointing and laughing at Emma while Mr Johnson tried ineffectively to brush the paint off her and only managed to spread it further until Emma pushed him away and ran.
Yuriko nodded politely to Mr Johnson as we passed, and I entered Winslow High with my head held high.
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Emma had elected to go home and get her hair free of paint rather than going to school today, which was fine by me.
By a strange coincidence, Yuriko shared all my classes with me, so we both had a free period in the morning. She dragged me to the roof, effortlessly picking the lock on the door, and ordered me to punch her.
[What?]
[Punch me, Taylor,] said Yuriko impatiently, [Exactly as you would Sophia.] She saw me hesitate and rolled her eyes, [Taylor, I am a ninja. I have been trained to fight since I could toddle. If your punch actually lands then I will deserve everything that comes with it. We don't have much time. Punch me!]
I hauled back my fist and threw my best punch at Yuriko's jaw. It missed by a mile, Yuriko shifting slightly to move her head out of its path.
[Taylor,] said Yuriko, [That is the worst punch I have seen in my life. Truly. If it had landed you would have dislocated your thumb and sprained your wrist. We don't have much time, but I will help. If you had told me your plans sooner, we could have done more, but what's done is done. Now, this is how to make a fist. Note that the thumb is on the outside...]
Yuriko drilled me in how to throw a single punch. Or rather, a punch and a follow up, because she was worried that Sophia might have actual training in how to fight and my first punch might not land. So I practised the one-two punch that Yuriko was teaching me until she declared it, [Awful, but if it connects it might hurt her more than it hurts you.] Which was about as much as I could hope for from a free period's worth of instruction.
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We had World Issues with Mr. Gladly. He liked group projects, and we had another one today. Normally I'd be stuck with at least two of Emma's minions who would sabotage my work and blame me for it, but this time we only had one minion, Yuriko, me, and Greg Vader. Greg wasn't a very useful team member for lots of reasons, but he didn't hate me and the sabotage that came with his presence wasn't deliberate, it was just Greg being Greg.
We were working away at our assignment, summarising the history of capes in Brockton Bay, when Yuriko, who had positioned herself to have a good view of the room, saw Madison approaching us.
"Greg," she said, "Could you please bring that book on Movers and Shakers, I think it might be useful," she was pointing at the bookshelf along the wall of the room.
"Sure," said Greg, and he stood up, pushing out his chair, which hit Madison, causing her to stumble to one side.
"Ah!" said Madison, flailing to catch her balance. The handful of hole punch chads that she was carrying, and which had been doubtless destined for my hair and hoodie, ended up on one of Emma's minions, with a few landing on Sophia.
"Sorry!" said Greg, reaching out to steady Madison, who flinched away and fell to the ground, which didn't help when the minion who'd been showered in chads stood up to brush herself down, pushing her chair into Madison as well.
"Ow!"
"What the hell, Mads!" said Sophia angrily.
"Here, let me help you up," said Greg, reaching down towards her.
"Get away from me, you oaf!" said Madison.
Mr. Gladly was not happy to have his class disrupted, and lectured Madison and Greg while Yuriko and I smiled quietly.
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Yuriko insisted that we have lunch at the cafeteria, and that we get there early. I wasn't a fan of the press of students rushing to lunch, and they weren't a fan of me, but Yuriko navigated us well, and got us close to the front of the line, and then lead us to the seats she wanted us to take. When she put her tray down, she took a shiny metal object out her bag and put it next to her.
"MSG shaker," she said at my raised eyebrow.
I shrugged and kept eating.
I didn't realise the reason Yuriko put out the shaker until I saw through her eyes that she was glancing at it regularly, and watching the movement behind her. I wasn't the least surprised when The Duo walked towards us, Madison in the lead, and Yuriko said, "Water!" and leapt to her feet, "I'll get us water."
Her rising shoulder caught Madison's tray and up-emptied it's contents onto her blouse.
"Oh no!" said Yuriko, clutching her hands to her chest in remorse.
Madison clearly didn't like half the student body staring at her while she had gravy dripping down her top, so she ran.
I helped Yuriko clean up the mess she'd made, of course.
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We finished our lunch and stowed our trays. I was leading us towards a quiet area of the playground when Yuriko murmured, [Sophia behind us, closing in.]
[Any teachers about?]
A quick glance at a lot of reflective surfaces. [You're clear.]
[Hang back, so I can see her get closer through your eyes?]
Yuriko pulled out her phone and held it to her ear, "Hai?" She stepped back to the walls of the school and calmly watched Sophia stalk towards us as I kept walking away.
Sophia threw a poisonous look at Yuriko, but kept going towards me. That was good -- if she threw a punch at Yuriko I doubted that I'd be able to get my hit in before Yuriko broke Sophia's wrist.
I watched Sophia's approach through Yuriko's eyes, and when the distance between us was just right, I span around, placed my feet, and threw my Yuriko-almost-approved punch straight at her midsection. The warm fire of the Young Hero token inside my chest suddenly blazed with power, and strength flowed through my body.
Sophia's eyes widened in surprise at the incoming fist, but she was able to deflect almost all the punch, which left her completely open to the follow up from my left fist which landed solidly below her ribs. That punch felt so good, I wanted to laugh.
Sophia grunted in pain, folded into the punch, and fell backwards, landing a couple of paces beyond me. "Fuck!" she gasped, curled up around the point of impact. "Fuck!" she said quietly.
I stood over her, not even breathing hard, to see if she was faking or going to get up, but there were tears in her eyes and there was no way that Sophia was that good an actress.
Rather than wait for a teacher to arrive, I turned and walked away, Yuriko by my side.
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The only other incident of note that happened at school was after final period -- Sophia was waiting for us. Madison and Emma's other minions weren't anywhere to be seen.
"Hebert," said Sophia, keeping several paces between her and us.
"Hess," I said, placing my feet and curling my fists in preparation.
"Good punch," said Sophia, "Finally found your spine huh? Or had someone show it to you," she glanced at Yuriko, "Good for you. I'll leave you alone from now on, but you're on your own with Barnes and Clements." She turned away and walked off as I stared at her.
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[I hate her,] I said as we walked towards the Boardwalk and the Heartfelt Troubadours, [I hate her! She made my life a living hell for two years, and all it would have taken for her to stop was for me to-- to stoop to her level?]
Yuriko squeezed my shoulders in solidarity, [People are strange,] she said, [I have a plan for her. Her position in the track team won't last long if she is caught dealing steroids...]
I wanted to give Yuriko permission so much. It would be poetic, it would be proportionate. It would be many things, but it wouldn't be heroic. I'd sunk to her level today, and I didn't like who I was when I was down there. I had loved seeing the tears in Sophia's eyes. [No. If she keeps to her word and stays away, no.]
[Fine,] grumbled Yuriko, [Let me know if that changes.]
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The Heartfelt Troubadours were dressed in the clothes that they had worn when they arrived on this plane, and that might have accounted for a bit of the crowd that they'd gathered. The rest could be accounted for by the fact that they were very good. They all had beautiful singing voices and sung with gusto, they had excellent command of their instruments, but the biggest thing they brought to the Boardwalk was a fearless stage presence that pulled people from their routines and made them stop and watch. There was even half a dozen people dancing to their music, including a couple of cute kids copying the adults' moves.
The applause was loud at the end of every number, and I did my damnedest to be the loudest, although it wasn't easy. Even Yuriko applauded loudly, but didn't holler and whistle like me.
Their selection of music seemed to be a mix of swing, folk, and early rock, along with a song they'd written in praise of Vista, the most popular member of Brockton Bay Protectorate's Wards. The song, 'Don't Call Her Cute', was a bit cheeky for all its praise, but went down well and earned louder cheers than most of their other numbers.
Yuriko got us drinks and we settled in to watch the entire performance before Guillaume declared fatigue and begged off any further singing. I would have approached them to congratulate them on their performance, but they had enough well-wishers and I didn't want to crowd in. Guillaume had to apologise several times that they didn't have any CDs, which was a good sign in my opinion. And an indication that we needed to get some made soon-ish.
I waved to them as we left, and Guillaume muttered quietly, "Good to see you. We can catch up later," which was fair enough.
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The park closest to the Boardwalk had been left to run wild for too long, with grass growing over the path and roots from nearby trees breaking flagstones. It was more beautiful than most of Brockton Bay, and it took the green land card easily.
[Right,] I said to Yuriko, [My own card says that for two blue and four generic mana, I can 'Escalate', which will increase my casting cost, which is bad, but also my abilities, which will be good.]
[That is vague,] said Yuriko.
[Yes, but my Power seems to be very user-friendly. It wouldn't offer the ability if it wasn't any good for me.]
[So you'll activate that now?]
[Later,] I decided, [If I activate it, I become 'tapped', and I think that means that I'll fall asleep, or at least be very tired.]
[Very well. Do you have any other plans today?]
[No.] I stepped towards Yuriko, with my arms open, telegraphing a hug that she clearly did not want but was willing to suffer through. She pouted as I hugged her, patting my back lightly. [Thank you, Yuriko. Today was wonderful.]
[Let me go and I'll even show up tomorrow as well.]
I let Yuriko out of the hug. [Thank you.]
[You are welcome, Commander. It was fun. I will go now.]
I smiled as I watched Yuriko walk off, and then headed home.
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I ended up having to chat with the Heartfelt Troubadours remotely -- by the time they came home, I needed to start on supper. It seemed that they'd taken my request that they keep their ears to the ground seriously, and had diligently visited a few bars and made themselves known, sampling a few of the bars' wares at the time, of course. I was neither surprised nor disappointed, they had earned it after all, but it did take a while before I could congratulate them on their performance and make sure that they were doing fine.
The Merry Bards were living up to the first part of their card name when I spoke with them, and they were delighted by their audience's reactions and the day's take. It was a relief.
I touched on the topic of the E88, but they weren't too worried. They felt that so long as they stuck to the Boardwalk and the ABB territories, and Jehan didn't sing any duets with Perrette, they should be left alone. I trusted that they knew their business, but let them know that I would help if needed.
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Dad and I had chatted over supper. I'd explained that school had gone well, the bullies hadn't been any problem, and that I had made a new friend, Yuriko. Dad had been pleased and told me about his day wrangling contracts and contract workers. His day hadn't gone as smoothly as mine, but he was still pretty happy with how it went. There were even a few jokes at the kitchen table, and a few weak laughs, and I didn't want to think about how long it had been since that had happened.
After the washing up, I went upstairs to my bedroom and did my homework.
Once that was done, I prepared for bed and tapped all my lands and my Mox, and activated, 'Escalate'.
It was a good thing I was in bed when I did that, because the next thing I knew, it was midnight.
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Life Total: 4 Queen Administrator Happiness: 4
Lands
Plains
Hebert Residence Tap for one black mana
Island
Mountain
Forest
Tuesday 11th January 2011
My interface had no clue about priorities. It insisted on showing me the freshly drawn random small deck card first, before it would let me do anything else with it.
The card was Ramosian Rally which, for three and one white (or else tapping one of my untapped creatures), would give all my creatures +1/+1 until the end of the turn. It was an 'Instant' card, which seemed to mean that I could cast it in the split seconds of combat (not that I saw any advantage in doing that, rather than casting it well in advance). I supposed that it might be useful if I was ambushed or something?
It wasn't important.
What was important was my own card. My card, 'Taylor Hebert - Victim', had become 'Taylor Hebert - Upright Student'. Which was an improvement, if only just. The picture showed me standing over Sophia, which was a nice reminder, and the flavour text read, 'She'll stand up for herself. Maybe.' The actually important changes were that my casting cost was now one black and one blue mana, my base toughness had gone from one to two (which, when combined with the boost I got from the Young Hero's counter and Sentinel's Eyes, meant that my overall toughness was now four, rendering the Young Hero role worthless, dammit), and increased the number of creatures I could control from two to four. It also gave me two activatable abilities -- I could now spend mana to physically relocate my artefacts and creatures to any other of my artefacts and creatures, and for two red mana and five generic mana I could now 'Escalate!' for increased casting cost and abilities (the old 'Escalate' ability was gone).
Oh, and I could fly now.
I could fly.
I could fly!
I slammed my window open and flew out into the night sky in my pyjamas. I darted up in the air and stopped on a dime, my hair wafting around me. I span and swirled and danced with an invisible partner, soaring high into the sky. It was deliciously effortless, reaching for the moon and then arching up and falling backwards towards the ground with complete control. I was high about the city, and shouted out the world, "I can fly!" before dissolving into laughter.
I then said, "Damn, it's cold up here," and flew back home before anyone spotted me. I have to admit to having some problems finding my house from above, but only one idiot had left their bedroom window wide open in the middle of winter, and it wasn't Mrs Simpsons two doors down, so my house was easy enough to spot once I was in the right area.
Yeah, flying was great. Being warm was better. I pulled the window close and flumped into my chair with a happy sigh. I thought about calling Yuriko, she was awake, but she was reading and I didn't want to disturb her.
I was in a very good mood, and spent far too long looking at my new card, and the neatly typed, 'Flying' that casually declared that I was a flying cape. I also really wanted to try out that 'call my summons' ability, but Yuriko would be angry with me if I teleported her across town for no good reason. I mean, she wouldn't say anything, but she'd look at me and be disappointed, and I liked Yuriko and didn't want her to be disappointed with me.
Eventually I took another look at my interface, and noticed some other changes.
'The Hebert Residence' now showed the front of our home in its current state, including the fixed front step, the text read 'Tap to add one black or one white mana', and the flavour text read, 'It's a fixer-upper, but the foundations are there'. I was very happy with that improvement, although I wasn't sure if that was from my escalation, or a reflection of the work I'd done to clean, tidy, and organise the place, and rebuild my relationship with my dad. I certainly didn't want to be backsliding, so I mentally committed myself to keep the improvements going.
The thought of my dad made me switch to my other interface of cards that I couldn't previously summon. That hadn't changed, but holy cow, a lot of other stuff had.
Firstly, Dad was now down as 'Danny Hebert -- Recovering Widower'; same casting cost, same lack of any declared abilities, but the image showed him and me laughing weakly at the kitchen table, so that was good.
Secondly, the 'Happiness' synergy between the Queen Administrator shard and me had gone from three to four. I was happy she was happy, but I was even happier that my Power had been modified very slightly -- I could now sort through the cards in my hand, and in the unsummonables list by some basic criteria. I still wasn't clear on what the Shards got out of giving me (and all the other capes, presumably) Powers, but I intended to keep on doing what I could to hold up my end of the bargain. Just as soon as I figured out what that was.
Thirdly, I had many more unsummonable cards than I'd had before. Maybe eight or ten times more. They were in chronological order and sifted through them one by one...
There were a bunch of cards from Yuriko's scouting. Mostly in and around the Asian quarter, from the cards. There were two enchantment cards that gave options for disguising someone, and one sorcery for sneaking past people.
Then there were the cards from yesterday:
'School Bus', artefact vehicle, two generic mana to summon, 4 power, 2 toughness, trample, crew 1. That 'crew' meant that I needed to tap creatures with combined power of 1 to make the vehicle become a creature and do anything.
'Bus Driver', human creature, one white to summon, 0 power, 1 toughness, and pilot 2. Which meant that he could crew a vehicle as though he had two power.
'Winslow High School', land, tap and sacrifice a creature token to add one black and one blue mana. I shuddered.
'Winslow Student -- E88', human creature, one white mana, 1 power, 1 toughness and that was it. The picture showed a student I didn't recognise wearing Empire Eighty-Eight colours.
'Winslow Student -- ABB', same as above, but one red mana and they had the red and green of the ABBs colours.
'Janitor', one white, 1/1, no abilities. The picture showed Mr Johnson, painting a wall.
Emma and Madison didn't have cards. Sophia did.
'Shadow Stalker -- Vicious Ward'. Legendary parahuman creature. Summonable for one black mana, just like I used to be. One power, one toughness. The picture showed Sophia as a younger girl, maybe twelve or so, cowering in the darkness as the shadow of a man menaced over her. The flavour text read, 'Sophia Hess swore that she would never be prey again.'. Her associated Shard, 'Inconstant', was affiliated by temporary cessation of being, whatever that meant. As with Panacea, seeing the cards in isolation meant that I could not see the Synergy and how the Power manifested.
There was a lot to think about there, but it was kind of hard to do so because of the blinding rage that possessed me.
Sophia was a fucking Ward! Sophia was Shadow Stalker! Shadow Stalker was supposed to be a hero! Shadow Stalker was about as far from being a 'hero' as it was possible to get! The reason that Sophia had gotten away with bullying me for two years was that the PRT were protecting her. Not me. No, the so-called heroes weren't protecting the innocent Taylor Hebert from the parahuman, which was their fucking job!, they were protecting the vicious parahuman bully who kicked me around and tripped me up and pushed me down! The sheer hypocrisy of it all made me want to smash Sophia, the PRT, Winslow High, Principal Blackwell--
Deep breaths. Deep breaths. One, two, three, four...
I was jumping to conclusions. Sophia was a bitch, but maybe the entire PRT wasn't in on the act. If they were, I would burn the entire PRT down to the ground and salt the fucking ashes.
Deep breaths.
Fine. I would give Yuriko some new suggestions tonight. Places to look, things to think about.
Moving on. Next card:
'Violet Blackwell -- Corrupt Principal'-- Oh, come on!
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When I finally calmed down, I looked at the rest of my new and still unsummonable cards.
There were a few more from Winslow High ('Tired Teacher', 'Incompetent Teacher', 'Conspiracy Theorist' (oh, hey, Greg), 'Lunch Lady' (who could tap and three mana to summon a Food token which would give me life -- interesting), 'Student' (same as the gang members, but had a power of zero), 'Surprise Punch - Target creature you control gains First Strike for the turn, and then fights target creature you don't control.' (heh), 'Javelin' (artefact equipment that gave Reach during the turn it entered the battlefield), 'Winslow Gym' (a land that could tap for one colourless mana or else be tapped along with four mana to generate a +1/+1 counter on a target creature), 'Artful Lie' (which caused an attacking creature to do no damage to its blocker and vice versa), that sort of thing. Nothing too impressive.
The rest of the new cards must have come from the Heartfelt Troubadours as they entertained the Boardwalk.
A lot of those cards weren't too impressive either, 'Rich Tourist', 'Shopping Street', 'Barista', 'Coffee', 'Administrator', 'Police Officer', 'Great Performance' (that one prevented up to four target creatures from attacking that turn and generated a treasure token -- nice), 'Security Door' (a 0/2 artefact creature wall with a keypad where the flavour text looked like it gave me the number to open it), 'Earnings' (two mana to create another treasure token, although this one showed American Earth-Bet money, not gold), a bunch of professions with nothing remarkable to say about them, and so on.
The other cards from the Boardwalk, though? They were interesting:
'Elite Mercenary' -- one white, one black for a 2/2 human mercenary, and the flavour text read, 'Coil pays well for the best -- both people and equipment'. The image showed a man dressed in black standing to attention, surrounded by similar people. His face was hidden by a balaclava. What the heck was someone like that doing on the Boardwalk?! Was someone on holiday or something? I mean, elite mercenaries needed time off, too, I'm sure, but what were the odds that this mercenary (or more than one mercenary) was here at random? Who was 'Coil'?
I had no trouble recognising the next two people on my cards; they were famous.
'Kid Win -- Unfocussed Ward Hero'. 1/1 Legendary parahuman creature. The image showed a young man with brown hair scrabbling amongst a pile of electronic components, and the flavour text read, '"I can fix it, I can fix it!" -- Chris Johnson'. His Shard was 'Configurator', and was a Tinker Shard.
The explanatory text for Tinkering was complex. The short form was that if the Tinker had appropriate materials, they could generate a Tinker counter at a rate of about one per eight hours' work. The project would be complete when counters worth twice the casting-cost of the Tinkertech being made plus one had been accumulated. A quarter of the cost could be paid for by planning the job, but that required access to appropriate research materials. The cost could increase dramatically if the materials being used weren't good enough quality, and could be reduced if better than average materials were used. Likewise, tooling and assistants could impact the cost considerably. If the Tinker wanted to make something that didn't match their affinity the cost would skyrocket, or just be impossible.
The next five cards were Tinkertech equipment that made me want to drool. Kid Win's Hoverboard (gave flying), Kid Win's Spark Pistol, Transformer Handgun, Kid Win's Drones (they were cute, and they could fly), Kid Win's power armour. All combined, they would give Kid Win some impressive stats, I felt.
After Kid Win was his friend, 'Gallant -- Aspiring Ward Hero'. 1/2 Legendary parahuman creature. The picture showed a handsome, broad-shouldered, narrow-waisted, blond young man standing in front of a dark-skinned woman wearing a white coat, drinking a vial of some coloured metallic liquid. The flavour text read, 'Dean Stansfield's parents were rich enough to buy him superpowers'. I mean, what do you do with that? You can buy superpowers now? Since when? How much did they cost? Could you pick what Powers you got? How did it even work?
Gallant's Shard wasn't a Shard. It was called F-0-3-4-1 "Folk", the image showed what looked like an archaeologist's dig site in a strange crystal-laden soil, and the text was disjointed and incoherent, like someone cut random sections from several different dictionary pages and tried to arrange the chunks of text in some way that could possibly make sense. I could not understand it, but some concepts came across -- emotions, sensing, sending. One concept wasn't there -- Tinkering.
Gallant wasn't a tinker like the PRT said? The PRT lied to us? I would have been more shocked an hour ago. I now knew what Gallant looked like under the armour (not bad, if I was going to be honest). It was all a lot to take in.
'Gallant's Armour'. Two generic mana artefact equipment, gave its wearer +2/+2. Equip cost 1 mana. 'Made for Dean by his friend, Chris'. Huh.
I'm guessing that the Wards Gallant and Kid Win did a patrol of the Boardwalk, and caught the Merry Bard's performance. I looked forward to seeing who else in the Wards would walk by. I was a big fan of Vista after all. I just hoped that I still was after I saw her card.
There was one more parahuman card in my unsummonable list:
'Tattletale -- Dispenser of Secrets'. Two blue for a 0/1 Legendary parahuman villain creature. The picture showed a horrified young blonde girl staring at a slumped body with a gun in their hand. The flavour text read, 'Lisa Wilbourn became the smartest person in the room when Sarah Livesy's brother died'.
Well. No-one ever said that trigger events were pleasant.
Her Shard was 'The Negotiator', with affinity towards information extrapolation, deduction, induction, and inference.
After a few hours on the internet, I knew who Tattletale was, broadly -- a Thinker who was a member of a small parahuman criminal gang called the Undersiders. They most kept to petty theft, and hadn't made much a name for themselves yet. I now knew what one of their members looked like when she was younger, which could be useful.
Examining my card was revelatory, but I needed to work out how to link cards to people, so that I could be sure I knew who I was looking at. I also needed to continue to only review my new cards at night, because if I'd known what I knew now when I punched Sophia, I wouldn't have stopped until I was looking at a prison sentence.
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I needed a pick-me-up. The sheer joy of flying had been spiked by a stream of horrible news, confounding questions, and sympathetic pain.
Right. I had a couple of treats that had been waiting for me to finish with the Young Hero role, and now I'd outgrown it. I'd hoped to get more out of the role, but one counter was better than nothing. It was time to gear up!
First, I tapped a single land and tried to equip my Gold Pan. It was still at the Heartfelt Troubadours' house, and I wanted to know if I could do this remotely. Apparently not. That was fine, I used my tapped mana to 'call' the Pan to myself, and it dropped into my hands. Neat. I tapped another mana and I felt it form a link with me. I was glad to find that the pan wasn't physically bound to me -- that would have been a nuisance. I didn't need to somehow use it as a shield or club to get the power and toughness it offered, and I could derive benefit from having it without needing it on my person. 'Equipping' items was stupid busted and I loved it. I let the Pan fade into the aether, ready to reappear should I ever be taken by the whim to pan for gold.
I then did something I had been looking forward to since Saturday morning -- I tapped a land and equipped the Robe of Stars. It teleported from the wardrobe to wrap itself around me, fitting perfectly. There were no wardrobe malfunctions to make it slide off or trip me, the hem only trailed behind me an artistic amount rather than pretending to be the train of a bridal gown, the sleeves were the perfect length to protect my arms without getting in the way, and the hood covered my head and hair without blocking my eyes. Frankly, if spending mana could get any of my raincoats to behave half as well, I'd equip them in an instant.
I stood in front of my wardrobe, wrapped in the Robe of Stars and with the Mask of Law and Grace on my face, and I couldn't recognise myself. It was lovely. I even pushed gently from the floor and hovered in the air in front of the mirror, the hem of my robe gently billowing in the air as though carried by an unfelt wind. Call me vain, but I could have stared at me all day.
I then spent half an hour wrestling with my interface until I could summon and dismiss the Robe and Mask at will. Even without the Robe showing, I still kept the toughness and abilities it gave me. My power and toughness were now 3/8 which seemed pretty respectable; I was stronger than an 'Elite Mercenary' and as tough as a parahuman in power armour, even if you discounted my Protections. Combined that had to be worth a low Brute rating on the PRT scale, surely.
Overall, it had been a long day and it wasn't even dawn yet, but I was going to call it a good one.
There was one disadvantage with my 'Escalate' upgrade -- my clothes were suddenly a bit tighter. Nothing too drastic, thankfully, but it was noticeable. Looking at myself in the mirror, my belly still made me look like an upright frog (thank you for that analogy, Emma), but maybe my posture was slightly better, and my arms maybe had a little less fat and a touch more muscle? There was even a hint that I might one day be visited by the boob fairy. A girl could dream.
A girl could also get quite annoyed, as I was on a tight budget and if this was going to be a trend every time I upgraded then I was going to get through a lot of clothes.
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I was pretty sure that my endurance as a runner was linked to my toughness, because I wasn't getting tired on my jogs any more. And I think my power increased my speed. I really needed to give up jogging, because someone was going to notice that I was running a marathon at a sprinter's pace if I wasn't careful. I was also not going to be silly and fly during my normal morning jog. So I wasn't going to do that, despite the temptation. That said...
Captain's Hill wasn't busy in the early hours of the morning, before the dawn. I jogged there normally, but once I hit the top of the hill and was sure that no-one was lurking around, I started flying horizontally. You see, I'd seen a documentary from Earth Aleph which showed some of the tricks that film-makers use to fake superpowers. One of them was wire-work -- if they needed someone to run really fast, they could have a rig holding them up and taking most of their weight an pulling them forward. My flying speed was about as fast as my sprint speed (i.e. a lot slower than most of the fliers in the Bay). But if I was flying forwards and pushing myself with my legs at the same time, could I build up a decent speed?
The answer was, 'yes, but watch out for corners'. Running full pelt into a wall didn't hurt me, but the wall came out a lot worse off from the collision, and if the building I'd hit hadn't already been ruined Dad would be docking my allowance until I was sixty to pay for repairs. Oops. Also my water bottle didn't particularly like it either, and I now needed to get a new one.
It was super fun while it lasted though.
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Yuriko caught up with me outside of school, and we went in together. She wanted to chat about the upgrade and my morning's new card, but I explained that there was too much to say and we would have to talk later. I did re-emphasise that Sophia should be left alone -- the last thing I wanted was for Shadow Stalker to hunt down and kill my ninja out of spite.
School was... school. Having Yuriko by my side helped immeasurably. She didn't perpetrate any massive pranks like she had on Monday, but she managed to divert everything The Trio (well, Duo now, because Sophia did seem to be leaving me alone) threw at me other than a few cutting words from Emma. To be honest, I barely noticed Emma at all -- sure, she was trying to hurt me, but she failed because her words were directed to the Taylor Hebert of last year, not the Taylor Hebert of today. I was so much more confident, so much less worried about my social status at school, that Emma's attacks felt empty.
She tried to insinuate that I'd bribed Yuriko to be my friend, but Yuriko just laughed at her. She tried to imply that I'd been vain enough to bribe Panacea to cure my myopia, but it was common knowledge that I didn't have that kind of money. When she tried to imply that I'd bribed Panacea by whoring myself out to her, her support amongst her followers dropped sharply. Talking shit about me was business as usual, but talking shit about Panacea? Even Emma couldn't pull that one off.
Emma could see my disinterest, and it made her more and more desperate for me to notice her, to acknowledge her, that I became legitimately concerned about her mental health. There was something broken in her that I could see more clearly now, and while the pain of the last year and a half had destroyed any sympathy I had for my former best friend, I did feel some pity. She didn't like it, and I walked away before her screamed insults hurt her voice.
Things were pretty quiet at school after that. No-one was quite sure how to handle a calm and impervious Taylor Hebert or a hysterical Emma Barnes, and so people kept their distance from both of us.
School was fine for me. It was less so for Yuriko. Her 'young Yuriko' disguise had a fatal weakness: Yuriko was beautiful and graceful and teenage boys were sufficiently oblivious that 'cold and distant means that she isn't interested' didn't even register for them. She became more and more frustrated with every boy (and even a couple of the braver girls) asking her out, and I could tell that the day was wearing on her.
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After school, we headed over to where the Heartfelt Troubadours were performing, and applauded with the rest of the crowd after every song.
We waited for the bards to finish up and followed them back to their house (disappointing them, I was sure, that they couldn't wet their whistle at the bars, but they would have time for drinking later).
"So, guys, how is it going?" I asked, taking my drink in hand (soda, poured into a glass and served with a slight curtsey by Perrette).
"It goes well, my lady," said Guillaume, taking a pull of his own drink (it seemed he had developed a taste for IPAs), "Our audience remains enthusiastic and generous. Here is your proceeds--" he pulled a bundle of cash out of a pocket, which I waved away.
"It's your money, Guillaume, not mine." He looked mulish, so I said, "Look, if I need money I'll let you know, but as it is, you and Yuriko need it more than I do."
"Thank you, my lady," said Guillaume, echoed by Jehan and Perrette. "As for our other duties, it is too early to say much. The Empire remains a divisive group on the Boardwalk, the ABB are not well respected even though Lung and Oni Lee are feared, and people speak well of the Protectorate and the PRT. Armsmaster and Vista are popular heroes, but I heard bad words said only about one of the Wards--"
"Shadow Stalker," I said.
"Indeed," said Guillaume, "There are rumours that she has a harsh personality and fainter ones that she may not have left her vigilante days so far behind her."
"Thanks," I said, "Now, let me tell you about Shadow Stalker, and why I'm not a fan."
The Heartfelt Troubadours were outraged on my behalf at the revelation that Sophia Hess was Shadow Stalker and breaking the rules she was sworn to uphold, but that was nothing compared to Yuriko's fury.
[Traitorous motherless rat! I should slit her throat! That spiteful deranged--] words failed her as she stalked the living room of the house, venting.
"Yuriko. Yuriko!" she turned to face me, "Do not touch her. Hurting a Ward will bring the Protectorate down on us. Killing her would bring the Triumvirate on us! Let it go; we'll deal with it in time."
"... Yes, Commander. I may be too indisposed to go to school tomorrow," she said, "Or I fear what I might do if faced with evidence of her petty cruelty."
"Thank you, Yuriko. And I don't think you need to go to school any more. I promise you I'll you know if the bullying picks up again--" Guillaume, Perrette and Jehan all looked aghast at the prospect of a planeswalker being bullied, which I found darkly amusing, "--But otherwise, I have another job for you. For everyone."
Everyone turned serious, and I explained the rest of the morning's revelations.
"I need more information. That means I need you to look at everyone and everything that could be useful or have information. More Wards, more heroes, more villains if you can find them. Anything about the gangs; all of them. I don't want to act prematurely, but if someone is selling superpowers, are they only doing it for heroes, or are vigilantes or even villains getting in on the act? Also, who is Coil and why does he have mercenaries on the Boardwalk? Be circumspect, be careful, and don't be in a hurry. If it takes weeks or months to get the information I need quietly, that's fine, it's better than attracting too much attention."
Everyone nodded seriously.
"Yuriko, I have two other jobs I need you to do as well. The first will be tricky, but I want to know about Principal Blackwell's corruption. Can you find out about that?"
Yuriko brightened up and laughed, "That sort of thing is exactly what I was trained for. Although usually it was with higher stakes. Yes, I will find out."
"The other job is that our lesson on Monday has shown that I need training in how to fight."
"Yes, you do," agreed Yuriko, "You are no ninja; I do not know all that you need to know, but I shall train you, and find you trainers. Tonight, 10PM, be here."
I nodded. "Thank you. Thank you all."
"It is an honour to serve," said Guillaume. He must have caught my look, because he hastily clarified, "Truly. You are growing fast, and you are far from the worst leader that I have followed."
"Thank you, Will," I said, "Everything has happened so quickly for me as well. I can't believe that I woke up as a fresh parahuman in a hospital bed eight days ago. Oh! By the way, I can do this now!"
I thought that the Troubadours would get a kick out of a little insight into a growing newborn planeswalker, so I stood up, grinned at everyone, and clicked my fingers.
The moment I clicked, I activated my Robe, my Mask, and flew a foot above the ground, which was about as high as I could get before the ceiling would start to be a problem.
I laughed as even Yuriko stared at me, slack-jawed. My Robe of Stars was so cool.
I dismissed the Robe and Mask, and then floated back to my seat, "It's mostly show, of course," I explained, "But my toughness is pretty good right now."
They were still staring at me.
I blushed and decided to soldier through the embarrassment. "Right, I need to get home to get started on supper before my dad gets in-- Oh! Will, I could do with some money actually. Can I borrow fifty dollars? I'll pay you back when I can."
Guillaume wordlessly reached into his pocket and offered the cash in his hand, his eyes never leaving my face. There was several hundred dollars there, so I took fifty with only a minor twinge of guilt. I waved at them as I showed myself the door, "Thanks. 'bye, guys."
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I passed by the grocers on the way home, and bought a few essentials with money Dad had left out for me. We weren't doing terribly, now that I had a second form of income from mugging Bards, so I splurged on the non-budget bacon.
Dad was back from work by the time I got in, and we chatted as we worked on supper. The conversations were coming easier now. There were a few dicey moments, though. When I mentioned that I was hanging around some musicians, Dad's old anger flared up and I had to make a number of promises about how safe I was being, and what I was getting up to after school before he could bring it back under control. It wasn't quite an argument, because we both wanted to make things work, but it had been close. I got my temper from him, after all.
Part of the problem was that I couldn't explain that it was literally impossible for the Bards to hurt me, because doing so would reveal my Powers. Doing that would cause all sorts of issues to flare up, from the fact that I now had a mobile phone to the fact that I summoned, and effectively Mastered, people. That it was voluntary wouldn't register. Then he'd insist that I join the Wards, which would lead to a conversation about Sophia, and that would probably segue into explaining that Emma Barnes, my childhood best friend and the daughter of one of his best friends, with whom I had been as close as a sister, had betrayed me and was one of the people who stuffed me into that locker.
Yeah, my father and I were talking again, and pretending to be a family, but I couldn't pretend that I wasn't holding a lot of secrets from him. ...And maybe I needed to stop doing that. I wasn't a coward any more; I should stop acting like one.
"Dad?"
"Yes, Little Owl?"
"Can we something together, this weekend? I have a little money saved up, we could go down to the Market and find something to decorate the house with, maybe?"
"It has been a while since we decorated, hasn't it? Sure, kiddo. Saturday. Nine AM, Lord Street Market. Be there or be square."
I giggled. "Thanks, Dad. And, um..."
"Yes?"
"There's some stuff I have to tell you. Important stuff."
"Whenever you're ready to tell me, I'll be ready to listen, kiddo."
"Thanks, Dad."
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Well, that effectively stopped me from being able to chicken out from all this. The weekend was going to be miserable, but if I told Dad everything while we were eating lunch at Lords Market, we couldn't get too loud when shouting at each other. And if he said he didn't want to ever see me again-- No.
I needed to get these negative thoughts behind me. I was suddenly struck by the thought that maybe I needed therapy. I immediately dismissed it, of course -- I wasn't that messed up! But the thought came back anyway.
I distracted myself from nasty thoughts by considering the problem with the Wards. The truth was, I couldn't join the Wards anyway. Masters, those that could control people, were second only to biotinkers, those that made monsters, in people's fears, and from conversations with my friends and from seeing my cards, I could fake both abilities with terrifying ease. People would hate just about everything I could do, and I didn't want to be Birdcaged. I had a lot less trust for the Protectorate and the PRT now that I was starting to see beyond the surface.
After I did my homework, I started on my notes on my planeswalking, making sure that I wasn't missing anything obvious. I didn't want to cast any of my spells: I didn't need to stab anyone, not even Sophia, so I had no reason to summon the Lightblade; I had no reason to give all my summons a temporary boost to their power and toughness either. I didn't have the mana to cast Vivisurgeon's Insight. So. Yes. Although explaining that card to either my dad or the PRT would probably not be a good idea.
It had been an up and down day, and mulling over various possible consequences of telling my dad had put me in a pissy mood.
Hmm. I looked over to my bookshelf, and the collected works of Shakespeare.
"Perfect," I whispered, and pulled it out. It didn't take long to leaf through until I hit King Lear. Yeah, that would bring our father / daughter issues into contrast. I settled in to read.
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Only after my father had gone to bed did I sneak out and spend a few hours training with Yuriko.
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Life Total: 4 Queen Administrator Happiness: 4
Lands
Plains
Hebert Residence Tap for one black or one white mana
Island
Mountain
Forest
Creatures
Taylor Hebert – Upright Student 3 / 8 (One +1/+1 counter)
Vigilance, Young Hero, Newborn 4, Escalate!, Protection from Red and Black, Flying
Astral Projection: One and a white to phase out.
Battlefield Control: One mana to teleport any artefact or creature to any other artefact or creature
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow
Merry Bards
Artefacts
Mox Amber
Gold Pan (Taylor Hebert)
Robe of Stars (Taylor Hebert)
Enchantments
Sentinel's Eyes (Taylor Hebert)
Mask of Law and Grace (Taylor Hebert)
Cards in Hand
Squire's Lightblade
Vivisurgeon's Insight
Ramosian Rally