Wednesday 12th January 2011
My new card was 'Experimental Aviator', and it was a little strange.
It read fine: 'Experimental Aviator, two blue and three generic for a 0/3 human artificer. The abilities read, 'Flying. Tinker: Affinity: Flying Machines.' The picture showed a square-jawed man with a weird and complicated helicopter-pack on his back that included a glass bulbous container of some kind of blue liquid. The man was flying through the air, chasing after two winged brass-and-blue-liquid flying objects that looked to be the result of a mosquito and a moth getting blind drunk at a steampunk convention and having babies. Kinda cute babies, but still weird flying things. The flavour text read, 'The little thopters seemed lonely up here, so I thought I'd join them.'
The weird thing was the whole 'Tinker' ability text. It was written in a different font, looked a little out of focus, and I could almost convince myself that there was something written underneath it. I got the distinct feeling that the card had been adjusted somehow, to fit with the Earth Bet plane.
Having a Tinker on my side would be a massive win, so I fully planned on summoning him, but I still needed to talk it through with my friends first. Tinkers were notorious for needing a lot of exotic resources, and paying for them, and hiding what we were doing with them, would not be easy.
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School without Yuriko was less pleasant, obviously, but it was not awful. Sure, the Duo continued their attacks, but I was past caring about Emma's insults and hurtful words, and I'd learned plenty of tricks to avoid Madison's petty acts of sabotage. I even ate lunch at a carefully chosen table in the cafeteria. Emma wasn't taking my lack of suffering well and was looking a little fraught, but I was sure that she'd somehow learn to survive.
What was even worse for Emma was that people were talking to me. She'd spent a lot of time and effort to make me a pariah, but now several boys talked to me over the course of the day. They were asking about Yuriko and when she was coming back, but Emma didn't need to know that. I just told the boys that she'd had family issues and might not be back.
Getting changed for P.E. had the usual Emma insults about my body, but the usual chorus of agreement from her minions wasn't as noisy at it had been. By the time I was putting on my (now a little too tight) shorts, they'd shut up.
I was pretty surprised when one non-minion asked, "Seriously, Taylor, are you dating Panacea or something? When did you get muscle definition?" because that was not one of the usual attacks, but I shrugged it off.
The real problem happened during soccer. I was picked last as usual, and put in defence, also as usual. I wasn't an idiot, and had been prepared to ignore the game as much as possible without attracting Ms Hardies' ire, but I then made the classic mistake of getting invested. One of Emma's minions on the other side was taking the ball down the pitch but she wasn't keeping good control; I kicked it away, some of my teammates congratulated me, and the next thing I knew, I was actually trying. And doing better than I expected; it is possible that Monday's upgrade was helping. Either that, or the theories about parahuman Powers boosting people's aggression had something going for them. Nah, it was the upgrade.
Either way, one time I intercepted the ball and kicked it away, I kicked it a bit too hard, and I was a bit too focussed on the 'away' to be too worried about 'where' and it hit Madison on the leg and bounced out of play. Madison went down with a shriek, and didn't get up again, even after Ms. Hardies shouted at her. Then they looked at her leg and saw the size and the colour of the bruise. Then a lot of people were shouting and glaring at me.
"She's cheating!" said Emma, "The b-- Taylor is cheating! She got Panacea to give her muscles!"
Her minions joined in to support her, and even a few non-minion added their own support. I, of course, denied everything, but my reputation as a liar actually played in my favour so people believed I was cheating somehow, rather than having powers of my own. Ms Hardies couldn't let a suspected parahuman-boosted human play with normal girls due to the risk of injuries (and lawsuits). Which is how I ended up being banned from team sports and forced into the track and field team. With Sophia -- P.E. next week was going to be so much fun.
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After I escaped school I made good time to the Boardwalk to catch the tail end of the Heartfelt Troubadours' set and then headed back to the house to touch base with them and Yuriko.
Yuriko had had a productive day, and was pleased to present her findings -- she had found proof of Principal Blackwell embezzling school funds. The evidence would be enough to trigger an investigation, and she could point the investigators exactly where they needed to look. She estimated that Ms Blackwell would be spending several years in prison when she was tried, but it could be months before she is arrested after Yuriko sent the email. The email was just waiting for my 'Go'.
"Go," I said.
Yuriko tapped away at her phone for a few seconds and then put it away. "Done."
"What's next?"
"We've asked around," said Perrette, "But we're too green to the scene for anyone to talk to us about anything you're interested in. When asking about Coil we were told to drop it, quite urgently, and no-one knew what we were talking about when it came to buying Powers. People thought it was impossible."
"Hmm, okay. Thanks. I guess we don't look like we have the kind of money where we could afford Powers. Maybe they approach you, rather than the other way around."
"Possible," said Yuriko, "They may look for those who try to acquire power through other means -- Tinkertech websites, mercenary companies, public fronts of criminal organisations..."
"Ah," I said with a grin, "Maybe we'll have a in with that sort of thing soon."
"New card?" asked Yuriko.
"Oh yes," I replied, "'Experimental Aviator'. His mana cost is not cheap, but he is a Tinker of flying artefacts."
Yuriko nodded, looking serious. "A valuable asset."
"If we can provide him with material to work with," said Guillaume, "We're doing well for buskers, but that won't cover the amount of material a Tinker needs."
"And many groups track the sale of material that a Tinker typically uses, because Tinkers are valuable," I agreed.
Jehan laughed, "So if we had a Tinker, we could afford to have a Tinker, but because we don't, we can't."
"Basically. Unless we associate with one of the big gangs, or the Protectorate, our Tinker won't be able to Tinker. And I hear that isn't good for them."
"Then maybe we should do that," said Yuriko seriously, "You do not trust the Protectorate, and wish to spy on them. I could get in, but it would not be quick or easy. A Tinker would be recruited quickly, and would eventually have access to their buildings. We would need to create an identity that will hold to close scrutiny before he applies though."
"Would your Tinker be a skilled spy as well?" asked Guillaume, stroking his beard in thought.
"Probably not," I said, "Based on the card text he sounds like an absent-minded dreamer. But I'd be able to see through his eyes, and if he sees notable people, my Power will often tell me interesting things about them via their cards."
"If he doesn't know that he's a spy, he might be quite good at it. He might be one to be lead by his curiosity, poking in all sorts of places..."
The conversation took some time. I didn't want to send someone in as an unknowing spy. Yuriko didn't want to send someone in who hadn't been trained and who hadn't memorised his identity. Guillaume recommended that he be allowed to acclimatise to Earth Bet and then see if he had the gifts necessary for undercover work. All this implied that we would need a lot of time, and Tinkers just don't react well to being cooped up without materials to work with.
I eventually decided on a different approach.
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Colin Wallis, or rather Armsmaster as he was in costume, walked into the interview room and nodded to the man wearing strange clothing that was completely unsuitable for the weather. Brockton Bay's winters were unusually light for the area, but even so, no-one would want to go outdoors in delicate silks. The thick brass goggles hanging around his neck would also be out of place anywhere other than a steampunk convention. Past his clothes, the man was tall, lean, square-jawed, olive-skinned, and had a shock of black hair. His expression was of one whose enthusiasm knew few bounds, but boredom may well be one of them.
[Hello!] said the man, rising to his feet and bowing to Armsmaster, [Prakash Haradas the fifth! It is a pleasure to meet you! You must be a fellow artificer! Do you happen to speak Avishkari by any chance?]
Armsmaster did not speak Hindi, which is what Mr Haradas seemed to be speaking, but Dragon had been her usual miracle-worker self and had created an interface that would translate for them, and it even worked with Colin's prototype lie detector software. That meant that Mr Haradas was indeed happy to see Armsmaster enter the room, which was nice.
"Not as such, no, but I do understand you," said Armsmaster, and Prakash's face lit up with joy as his armour translated for him.
[Wonderful! A translation aetherwork! A magnificent achievement! I congratulate you!] He reached for Armsmaster's hand, presumably to shake it. Enthusiastically, if his attitude about everything else was anything to go by.
Armsmaster freed himself from the handshake as quickly as possible and redirected them to the chairs, and Mr Haradas reluctantly took the hint and returned to his seat.
"Thank you, it was a joint effort with a colleague of mine, Dragon."
[Dragon?] said Haradas, looking a little alarmed.
[Hello!] said Dragon, activating one of the screens in the room and waving to the fellow, [I call myself Dragon.]
Prakash leapt to his feet to stare at the display, [My word! Such marvels! This plane is amazing! And you are the first dragon I've heard of who is comfortable in human form. There must be quite the story there!]
[Oh, I am not a dragon,] said Dragon, [I just call myself that. I'm a parahuman, and we usually give ourselves a second name so that we can interact with others without endangering our personal identities.]
[What a strange concept,] said Prakash, cocking his head to one side before brightening up, [Well, I may not be a parahuman, but you may call me Aviator if you wish!] He seemed pretty happy with the name.
"If you made your flying machine, I believe you are a Tinker," said Armsmaster, "And that would make you a parahuman. Hello, Aviator."
Armsmaster nodded at what looked to all the world to be an ornithopter backpack. The contraption of brass, glass, shining blue liquid, and tubes was certainly not any form of Earth Bet technology, and the man handled it with the casual confident care of a Tinker.
[Thank you,] said Prakash with a bow, [And yes, it is my own work. I saw the thoptors in the Avishkari skies, and could only think that they looked lonely. So I made my wings that I could join them!]
[Avishkari?] asked Dragon. Armsmaster would have preferred to discuss the technology more, but there would hopefully be time for that later.
[Oh yes!] said Prakash, [I come from the plane Avishkar!] He took in Colin and Dragon's blank expressions, and said more hesitantly, [You might know it by its old name, Kaladesh?]
Colin shook his head slowly, "We are familiar with other worlds, but all of the ones we have been in contact with have been different Earths. This is Earth Bet."
[The one who summoned me suggested that you might not be familiar with the other planes! Very unusual!]
"The one who summoned you?" asked Colin, suddenly a lot more focussed on the man than his tech.
[Oh, yes. I was in my workshop in Freejam in Ghirapur, when I was summoned by a planeswalker! Very exciting, I can tell you. The offer was too good to pass up, so I agreed, and found myself, or rather my copy, you understand, here! The planeswalker was very polite, and she suggested that I might find friends here, so here I came.]
[What can you tell us about the 'planeswalker'?] asked Dragon.
[Oh, not much, sadly,] said Prakash, [She was dressed in a robe that showed the heavens, and her face was masked with bright light. She was young, I think? She said to call her, 'Walker'. I certainly didn't recognise her, and she told me that she was newly triggered. Very skilled, though, to call someone they never met from a distant plane.]
"Newly triggered... She was probably a parahuman, with a strange Power."
Prakash shook his head firmly, [No, no. Only a planeswalker could summon someone from a different plane like this, and my deal was with a planeswalker, I am certain.]
"Your deal?"
[Yes. This is normal for planeswalkers,] Prakash started pacing, his hands held behind his back. His voice took on a lecturing tone, [Planeswalkers summon copies of something or someone from another plane, and I can tell I am a copy of Prakash Haradas V. As I live and when I die, my memories of this plane are shared with him, and some mana, too, paying him for his contribution.]
[You are a copy?] asked Dragon, looking confused.
[Oh yes, it is easy to tell. We copies must obey our summoner and have a reduced sense of self-preservation, you see. It makes it easier for us to be called upon for dangerous, or fatal, activities.]
[You have less self-preservation?] said Dragon, horrified.
"Why would you agree to that?" asked Colin a second behind.
[Oh, it is a good deal, I assure you. It's like asking, do I want to live? If there was no deal, I, the copy of Prakash Haradas V, would not live. As it does, I do, and it is good. I might not live for long, but it is much better than not existing at all. And I get to experience a life that my original never could. I am quite content with this arrangement.]
[And what activity did this 'planeswalker' call you for?] asked Dragon, suspicion laden in her voice.
[Oh, she explained that quite clearly. She wanted to know if the 'Protectorate' and the 'PRT' are trustworthy, and how you would treat me and similar copies she might summon. I am to talk to you, explain who and what I am and answer any questions you might have, and see your responses! If I am asked to depart, I may make my own way in this plane, however I choose. If I am 'Birdcaged', I think the word was, she will send me home as soon as possible. If I am made welcome, I am to work for you honestly as a 'Tinker' of flying devices. She has promised to not give me any orders that countermand yours, so if you'll have me, I shall be at your service.] He bowed, smiling.
"So you are effectively a Mastered slave, have no free will, and your mistress could kill you at any moment?"
Prakash looked quite offended at that, [Oh, I have free will, thank you very much. I am responsible for all my actions. As a copy of Prakash Haradas V, one of those actions was his decision to agree to serve a planeswalker, and I may suffer consequences for that, but I stand by that decision!]
Armsmaster could feel a headache coming on. Dragon looked more distraught than he'd ever seen her.
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Listening through Prakash as Armsmaster and Dragon wrestled with the moral dilemma on free will, Mastering, human rights, and the concept of consent that I had gifted them was delightful. I was pleased to see that I wasn't the only one who worried about such things, and while I wasn't sure what conclusion they would come to, I was sure that morality would at least factor into it, which was a relief. After seeing so many lies and deceits coming from the PRT, it was nice to see some people who seemed honest.
My Power as a parahuman was still new to me, and I was amazed to find that I could follow along with the argument while I inspected all the fascinating new unsummonable cards that my friends had found for me over the course of the day.
'PRT-ENE Headquarters -- Artefact Land, Tap for one colourless mana. If the PRT-ENE Headquarters does not have a shield counter at the end of the turn, give it a shield counter. Creatures you control have 'Tap to gain a shield counter' and 'Remove a shield counter from this creature when it untaps'. The PRT headquarters was set out in the bay on a modified oil rig protected by a tinkertech forcefield. A shield counter prevented damage being applied to a creature, but was removed in the process of doing so.
'Armsmaster -- Obsessive Hero', one blue, one black, one white for a 2/2 Legendary parahuman hero. The flavour text identified Armsmaster as 'Colin Wallis'. His Shard was 'The Severance' with an affinity towards eliminating waste.
I also had cards for a lot of his tinkertech creations, including an enchantment that acted as a lie detector. I was suddenly very glad that I'd told Prakash to be completely honest with them.
There was one other pair of cards from the Headquarters, and it surprised me. I didn't think I'd be able to get a card from one of my summons seeing someone on a screen, but apparently it was sufficient for Dragon. Which was probably because she was a very special case.
'Dragon -- Shackled Benign AI', one white, three colourless mana for a */*+1 Legendary Parahuman Artefact Hero. 'Dragon -- Shackled Benign AI's power is equal to the number of artefacts she controls. Her toughness is that number plus one. She had Haste and Vigilance. The image showed a suit of power armour being dismantled by a man in a suit of similar armour. The flavour text read, 'The Dragonslayers have Ascalon, which can slay the benign AI, but they choose to torment Andrew Richter's creation instead.'
Her Shard was 'Compressor', with the affinity of simplification and comprehension.
Here was another conundrum, which opened up many questions. I wanted to help Dragon, but I was a fifteen-year-old girl, and Dragon was Dragon. I was sure that the world's greatest Tinker was more competent to solve her issues than I could ever be.
I had no idea where the next Sorcery card came form:
'Endbringer Prediction Software' -- 'Learn the nature of the next catastrophic threat.' Three blue to draw three cards seemed like a very good deal to me, in comparison to the Vivisurgeon's Insights.
The other hero cards I got were from the Heartfelt Troubadour's busking: Vista (I squeed when I saw that I had her card) who was called Missy Bryon and triggered due to her parent's fighting (thank you, Dad, for being better than I deserve), and Miss Militia, another one of my personal heroes, who was Hannah Washington and came across as surprisingly sane for someone whose home village was slaughtered by soldiers.
Vista had predictably loved and hated the song that the Merry Bards had made for her, but she still thanked them for it personally, which I thought was great of her.
They also got me the card for Parian (Sabah Nazeri), the famously pacifistic cloth manipulator cape. The woman had a fantastic and popular Power-animated puppet show on the Boardwalk which I'd seen (and adored) a couple of times.
I had two other capes -- the villains Lung and Oni Lee. The two men were the ABB's only two capes, and the gang didn't need more. Lung was generally considered one of the strongest capes in the world -- his Escalation Power meant that whenever he fought he grew increasingly strong and tough. He gained an aura of fire, fast regeneration, scales, the ability to fly, and slowly transitioned into a literal dragon. Of course, that had only happened once in Brockton Bay's history, and that had been when he drove off the entire Protectorate. People knew better now than to get him going. It took him hours to ramp up to that point, but even a few minutes were enough for him to be nearly unbeatable.
Oni Lee was the world's only serial suicide bomber -- he could teleport, leaving behind clones of himself (and anything that he was carrying) that lasted a few seconds. Those clones were perfectly happy to pull the pin on the grenades that he carried.
Both men's cards only hinted at their abilities, but I'd been reading up on the capes of Brockton Bay.
There were a lot of cards to review and to think about, but Yuriko was a harsh taskmistress and didn't give me the time. She took my training very seriously.
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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
Experimental Aviator (Assigned to the PRT)
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
Graveyard
Potion of Healing
Thursday 13th January 2011
I was currently being given random cards, and I thought it would be hard to find a card more random than the one I got that midnight:
Wrath of Oko. The casting cost was two blue and two generic mana, and the text read, 'All creatures lose all abilities and become green Elk creatures with base power and toughness 3/3. (This effect lasts indefinitely. Just like Oko. Unfortunately)' It wasn't just the card text that was weird -- the card had no picture and was missing the usual marks and flourishes that the cards usually had.
As I had no temptation to permanently become an elk in a city of elk, I had no intention of ever casting this card, even though the wording implied that I'd keep my artefacts and enchantments and so become the world's only noctis elk.
I asked Yuriko about 'Oko'. Apparently he was an planeswalker and an asshole, liked turning people into elk, and was legendarily self-conceited. He was also big on rebelling against those in power, which made me more sympathetic with the PRT by proxy. Just not very much.
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At school I found that Madison was limping, and using a crutch. She avoided me, wouldn't meet my eye, and when Emma tried another barrage of insults against my person she didn't join in and tried to pull Emma away. Emma started arguing with her and I walked away.
Greg Vader, being one of the few students who would talk to me, even if he'd never helped me against the bullies, told me that half the school was gossiping about the falling out between Emma and Madison, and whether I'd attacked Madison or Emma or Sophia.
I ignored it, and tried to focus on pulling my grade back up from the pit it had fallen in over the last year and a half. It wasn't going to be easy.
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After school, I met up with Yuriko, and headed over to the Boardwalk.
We were so busy chatting about my day and her scouting of the ABB that I didn't notice when she led me down the Bateman Street until it was too late. I didn't say anything, of course. It was fine.
I was strong.
"So, Commander," said Yuriko, "I request your permission for me to patrol, and intervene as appropriate. I will adhere to your strictures on non-lethal intervention."
"Sure," I said absently, "No problem," looking towards her and away from a certain shop.
Maybe I was a little distracted. Maybe Yuriko's hyper-acute ninja senses spotted this.
"Is everything okay, Commander?" she asked.
"Sure, sure," I lied.
She wasn't fooled -- darn hyper-acute ninja senses. She raised a questioning eyebrow.
I sighed. "Look, I'm on a budget alright?" I said defensively, "And being a noctis cape is cool and all, but it can get a little boring sometimes, and I've read all my books too many times, and at least drug dealers have the decency to not pile their wares on a stall in the middle of the street to lure in victims." I waved an arm at Mr Harrison's 'Pre-Loved Books', the bane of my allowance for years.
Yuriko laughed at me while I squirmed.
She then proved that she was my best (and, admittedly, only) friend and dragged me inside. She paid for my fix, despite my protestations. She even offered to carry my bag of books for me, but I still had some pride. Plus I was power three -- I could barely feel the weight of the bag, despite the number of books in it.
"So," said Yuriko, after she'd realised that I wasn't going to escape the gravitational pull of Mr Harrison's shelves without help and dragged me out of the shop, "Patrol?"
"Okay," I said, "I mean, I was hoping to get a little stronger before I took on the gangs--"
"No," said Yuriko, "I do not mean to offend, Commander, but we would not pair well together when patrolling. You cannot sneak. I cannot fly."
"Oh," I said, trying not to let my hurt show, "Um, okay. Go ahead and patrol. Don't kill anyone. Please keep a low profile?"
Yuriko snorted, "I am a ninja, remember? But thank you."
"No problem. Be safe. Please. If you run into trouble, I'm either teleporting over to help you, or teleporting you out."
"Thank you, Commander," said Yuriko with a smile.
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So, for the first day in a while, I had sufficient mana to cast Vivisurgeon's Insight and nothing better to do with it.
Part of me wanted to not cast it because of the memetic damage it could inflict. Part of me wanted to not cast it because only giving myself a +1/+1 counter and Prakash a Tinker counter (the PRT had asked him to make something for them) would be a waste of the proliferate. The larger part of me didn't want to be a coward. That part of me was an absolute fucking idiot and cast the spell.
I'd waited until after my training with Yuriko, and dad had gone to bed long ago. I had a nasty suspicion that I would find the insight disgusting and prepared accordingly. A lined wastepaper bin for vomit, a bottle of water to wash out my mouth, and an apple to eat afterwards. Yeah, like that was going to make a difference.
I'm not going to dwell on the memories, the thoughts-- my fingers carefully probing someone's brains while listening to my victim scream, and then pressing them in deeper to see-- No! Mapping out the fragile nerves of a shrieking fae, burning each one in turn, trying to determine how they controlled their-- No no no no no no no! A digestive system laid out on a table, with windows cut in it at regular intervals, various pre-masticated food and non-foodstuff inserted through the jawless and trunkless mouth of a wailing loxodon to observe the effect of-- Please! NO!
Yeah, the next solid thought I had was being held by my father as I sobbed and he stroked my hair and murmured about it just being a nightmare, when I was very confident that the memories that card gave me were far worse than that.
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It took a long time before my sobs ended and I drove my father from the room so he could sleep and I could tidy up as best I could.
While I worked, my mind was flickering between different thoughts from, 'Huh, I guess I'm a vegetarian now,' to 'Sure, that was ugly but also kinda interesting,' (I couldn't throw up again -- there was nothing in my stomach left to void -- so I was left dry heaving over the waste basket) and, 'When I come into my Power and am at my full strength I will raise an army fit to shake the Planes, and I will scour from them every last fucking vestige of the Phyrexians.' That last thought was the most comfort I could take from the experience.
I needed a distraction. First I proliferated, increasing Prakash's tinker counters from three to four (PRT had top quality materials and tooling, so he was really raking in the Tinker counters), and giving myself another +1/+1 counter. I now had four power and nine toughness. From that and Yuriko's training, I would probably win a fist-fight with someone, I felt, should I end up in one. Probably best avoided though.
Next I reviewed my three new cards. First was Carrier Thrall, a vampire victim of a different horror -- something called an 'Eldrazi'. I didn't feel the same shuddering hatred for the Eldrazi than I did for the Phyrexians, but I didn't know anything about them other than they were mean to vampires. I'd withhold judgement. The card didn't seem particularly impressive, and I wasn't keen to let an 'Eldrazi scion' onto my homeworld, even if I could convert it into mana immediately. Then there was Shield-Wall Sentinel a 1 / 3 'Defender' -- that is, a creature who could not launch an attack, but could defend against them. This was an artefact creature, and I had no idea how smart that meant it was. When cast it would let me search my deck for another creature card with Defender. The thought of being able to search my deck definitely intrigued me. The third card was a Jade Bearer, an unremarkable merfolk shaman who could empower another merfolk, if I had one, which I didn't.
So, I had mutilated my mind and all I got for it was two dud cards and a maybe. The Sentinel cost four mana to cast, so I would have to wait until tomorrow if I wanted to cast it anyway.
Midnight was hours away, and my mind kept flickering back to the horrors I'd inflicted on it. I wasn't tired, physically, but I lay down on my bed and slept.
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Friday 14th January 2011
I woke up around six AM. I'd had a strange dream of a massive, many-legged creature tenderly comforting me and stroking my hair, which should have been yet another horrific thought, but I'd woken refreshed, alert, and with the Phyrexian memories faded into the distance. I wasn't so stupid to try and think of them, but I had expected flashbacks. I didn't look my gift horse in the mouth, and sent a mental hug in the direction of whatever creature had salved my mental wounds. I had a sneaking suspicion it was 'Queen Administrator', but, well, how do you thank the mountain range living in your head?
I was now less certain that vegetarianism was for me (bacon exists, you know), but Phyrexia was still going to burn.
I had slept through midnight, and my card draw for the day was waiting for me -- Skyblinder Staff. It was a staff that prevented its wielder from being blocked by flying creatures and gave a point of power. It was cheap to summon, so I did, tapping my Mox for the mana. The staff was long and white, with wings at the end, like Hermes' caduceus, but without the snakes. It was also very bright when activated, which I guessed was how it was supposed to do its thing. I didn't equip it straight away; it wasn't as if being able to dodge flying enemies or hit harder was going to be much use at school. I stuffed it under my bed, where it could wait until I was ready to deal with it.
I prepared breakfast, told my dad that I was feeling a lot better, and went to school.
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I survived school. I was still a pariah, but I was being ignored more than anything, and the gossips didn't seem to be talking about me behind my back quite so much. Someone jostled my arm when I was carrying my lunch tray, but it wasn't very hard and I was able to keep my food.
Overall, I called it a win.
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"You are going to summon a large metal golem right here?" asked Guillaume with a mix of enthusiasm and trepidation. I admit that I hadn't planned out exactly where I'd summon the Shield-Wall Sentinel; I didn't need it, it was just a means to an end. I suppose that the Heartfelt Troubadour's living room might not be the best place for it.
"Well, I'm not sure how large 'large' is going to be, but is there a problem? I really want to summon this guy, because he will let me search my deck."
"Getting it outside once summoned may be hard," said Yuriko, "Maybe the garage?"
This is why Yuriko was the boss; I was just the figurehead, really. We all decamped into the garage, and I summoned the Shield-Wall Sentinel.
"Unit Alpha-Six awaiting orders." The metal man was slightly shorter than me, but its shield made up for it, tall, thick, and shaped to interlock with adjacent identical shields. It's other arm ended with a blaster of some kind.
I wondered if the golem felt lonely without its shield-mates.
"Er, hello?" I said.
"Unit Alpha-Six awaiting orders."
Right. This one was going to be even less chatty than Yuriko, I could tell.
"Guard this garage?" I tried.
The golem slammed its massive shield into the concrete with a resounding clang and saluted with its other arm. "Unit Alpha-Six will guard 'this garage'."
Now for the actually interesting bit. I went home, rushed through supper, and my homework, and then I activated the option to search my deck.
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I was shown literally hundreds of cards. Not every card in my deck, but presumably every one that had 'Defender' in its keywords somewhere. I mentally broke them down into three groups, 'Walls' -- that is, summons who could block attacks, and could even sometimes hit attackers back, but could not attack themselves, 'Changers and Breakers' -- that is, summons that could lose the 'Defender' keyword if certain conditions were met, and 'Other' -- a small number of oddities that I wasn't comfortable categorising as either. The 'Changers and Breakers' tended to be quite powerful, from what I could see, slow to ramp up but quite formidable when they got there. I was also a little pleased to see that my toughness of '9' was actually pretty good, if this selection of my deck was anything to go by -- only four of the hundreds of Defenders were tougher than me. I wasn't quite in the top 1%, but I'd take it. We won't talk about my power rating though.
I had planned on writing out each card, but there were far too many of them. I made some notes on the more interesting ones, and left the majority, which were mostly pretty boring walls of one type or another, alone.
I got to pick one card for me to put in my hand, and I drew up a shortlist of candidates. Okay, most of them weren't really in the running, but I'd probably summon them if their card came up again. Roving Keep was particularly useless, but the idea of an animated castle of my very own amused me. Loyal Gyrfalcon was a beautiful white bird and I liked the idea of having a loyal pet.
Jeskai Barricade would let me instantly pull one of my summons from the world and back to my hand, potentially saving them from grief, and I'd only need to hold onto one white and one generic mana to keep the option open. Explaining what had happened to all the witnesses afterwards would be awkward, but it'd be worth it. Wall of Reverence would give me life points each turn equal to the highest toughness of creatures that I controlled, and I could definitely do with more life points. Golden Guardian could fight me, if I paid it two mana, and if I won (which I should based on the stats) it would convert into land called 'Gold-Forge Garrison' which would give me two mana of any colour a turn. That one was very attractive, even if I didn't want to be attacked by my own summons.
Sokrates, Athenian Teacher seemed to be a direct planar analogue to the Ancient Greek philosopher; summoning him would let me read and speak fluent Ancient Greek, let me speak with one of the most famous philosophers in history, and he could answer so many questions. It wasn't to be: I had bigger problems than slaking my curiosity. I'd just have to hope that his card came up at some point when I had more time.
Sylvan Caryatid could generate one mana of any colour for me, without having to be beaten in a duel first. I just didn't think she'd like to live in Brockton Bay for very long. Grozoth was a 9/9 'Leviathan' costing nine mana to cast who would give me any number of 9 mana cards once I had cast him. He wasn't the Endbringer Leviathan, thankfully, just a massive nightmare of claws and mouths. Grozoth was tempting, but he looked a little high-maintenance -- what do you feed a leviathan? Can you afford its diet with the money from three buskers and a (hypothetical) paper round? I had my doubts.
Crystal Barricade was a solid defensive choice -- it would give me 'Hexproof' (i.e. resistance to spells and abilities, which sounded like it'd block a lot of parahuman problems) and it would 'Prevent all noncombat damage that would be dealt to other creatures you control'. That sounded promising, I had to admit.
The card I chose wasn't any of them, despite the temptations. I went with a card that was actually tougher than me, and stronger, and I didn't pick it for either its impressive combat ability nor its indestructibility. When I was mulling over what to pick, I had to ask the question, 'What do I want', and my answer to that was the same today as it was a couple of weeks ago -- I wanted to save Brockton Bay.
The Colossus of Akros would be a terrible option for most fights, because it was a 130 foot high 10/10 metal golem which would be better suited to levelling buildings than punching someone, but it had a few winning features. Okay, one winning feature and a few nice-to-haves. The winning feature was that this towering metal Spartan warrior would make for a great tourist attraction for the Bay. My home town was dying, but tourism revenue was most of what kept it afloat and in the public eye. Sure, we were famous for being the cape capital of the US (the most capes per capita, easily, even if they were mostly villains), but having a massive metal golem walking around would only help pull people in. I didn't want something that might help me win more fights later when I could get something more useful now.
The nice-to-haves included that he was probably low-maintenance, he might be able to do something about that darn tanker blocking the Bay, and he had an option to make him 'monstrous', which in this case meant giving him another +10/+10 to power and toughness. Which would almost certainly get him into 'even Endbringers couldn't ignore this chonky boy' territory. He came with a spear and a sword (hopefully he was ambidextrous), a big helmet, and photogenic abs. He cost eight mana of any colour to summon, and I wasn't there yet, but he'd be waiting when I was.
I put him into my hand.
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Yuriko's clan called her 'The Tiger's Shadow'. She earned that name by stalking the great and powerful close enough to touch their heels. Sometimes close enough to end them. Despite all her renowned skill, stalking the ABB was a challenge.
Individually, the members of the ABB were nothing special. A few were alert, but many were bored, distracted, drunk, or high. The part of the problem was that you could not bet your life on someone's inattention or insensibility very many times before you lost both bet and life. The other part was that there were so many of the thugs. The ABB sustained a gang ten times larger than it needed to control its territory, in a response to its arms race with their arch-enemies, the Empire Eighty-Eight and because it had no shortage of recruits who wanted protection from the E88 or the ABB. Hundreds of pairs of eyes were a problem, no matter how unfocussed most of them might be.
Yuriko was making a foray into the outskirts of the ABB's territory. Often the best way to sneak into an area was to avoid the shadows and stroll in the light; it helped that people were prone to underestimating women and the young. The problem was that she was stalking those who looked for all those things in their victims. Going out in the open was a little too dangerous, so Yuriko took to the rooftops.
It wasn't as dangerous as she had initially thought, despite the number of flying 'capes' in the city, and the Oni Lee. Most of the fliers kept fairly low to the ground, to stick with their ground-bound compatriots and to avoid long-range snipers, but they also kept inside the boundaries of their domains. The New Wave, who had the most fliers, stuck to Downtown and the Towers. Wards like Aegis and Kid Win were not permitted to patrol far from the Boardwalk. Even the PRT weren't so stupid as to let fly Dauntless in ABB territories. While Lung could escalate to the point where he could fly, you absolutely knew when he was going to do that, because of all the fire and screaming that would accompany a fight of sufficient magnitude to make him that strong. That just left Oni Lee, and avoiding one pair of eyes was much easier than avoiding hundreds.
The ABB territory was mostly two- and three- storey buildings, and packed together close enough that Yuriko could navigate them with relative ease. Tonight was more about exploration rather than any attempt to save lives -- she needed to learn the territory. So she shuffled and jumped and sidled and climbed and watched what was happening below her.
A young couple being mugged. They were walking down a busy street street, being followed by three younger men with all the swagger of idiots and tools. Up ahead were another three idiots. Only, the ones in front of the couple waited before approaching their victims, timing it so that the two lovers were at the mouth of an alley when they noticed the men in front of them. The couple turned sharply, and found themselves caged by the three other men. They were pushed into the alley, robbed, beaten, and the thugs walked away, laughing amongst themselves, as they counted their slim pickings. Yuriko called an ambulance for the couple on her burner phone, but didn't hang around.
An older shop keeper being shaken down for 'tax' by four men. Two standing guard at the doors, two to bully him into handing over his earnings.
A drug dealer, doing business in a cafe, with two slouching men standing guard by his side. He greeted children who approached him with smiles and jokes; took their money and gave them poison.
A troop of six ABB gangsters coming out the back door of a run-down boarding house, carrying a woman's limp body between them. The leader gave the boarding house landlady a few banknotes before climbing into the van the woman had been taken into.
Yuriko had seen enough. She turned to head back to her base, and thought about what she'd seen.
If she were permitted to kill the problems could have been solved easily, but Yuriko could not fight large groups of thugs non-lethally. She would be killed, or enslaved like that poor woman, almost immediately. The gangs were too organised, too experienced.
Non-lethal was just not going to work.
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Coil put aside the report on Aviator and steepeled his fingers in thought. Aviator himself wasn't worth too much thought. A valuable Tinker, certainly, but enslaved to be loyal to his mistress and the PRT. Coil would have a brief meeting with the man, to sound him out, but from the report he came across as being enthusiastic and without a devious bone in his body. Almost certainly not worth recruiting, even if he could. But the cape who 'summoned' him?
A person who could effectively create parahumans? Ones who would be unquestioningly loyal to their summoner? That was potentially someone with the power of Glaistig Uaine, or Eidolon. And if she was willing to throw away an aviation Tinker for the sake of a test, then summoning Tinkers was probably the least of what she could do. Coil wanted her.
A young woman or girl -- smart, certainly, but arrogant and judgemental, based on how she handled Aviator. Untrusting. She would be difficult to work with in any capacity, but, oh, that power! That could change everything.
PRT Chief Director Costa-Brown was no fool, and had immediately recognised the potential, of course. She'd ordered Director Piggot to play along and give Aviator materials for a test, and hadn't Emily's expression been a delight after that conversation. But if 'Walker' didn't want to work for the PRT, she might be on the look out for a less problematic sponsor. Coil could fake that with ease.
The Aviator gambit told Coil a lot. She was still independent. She didn't trust the PRT, but didn't discount them out of hand, and if the PRT didn't meet her standards, then the Empire and the ABB stood no chance. If Coil could find her... he had a project in mind for some time. Having a cape as a pet. Not a frontline cape, obviously, but a support cape like a thinker or tinker who would be obedient to their master. That brat Tattletale had been close, but not good enough. This new cape, though? If he could get her addicted to the right Tinkertech drugs, drugs that only he could supply...
Risky, but so, so, attractive.
Coil opened a new file and started to scheme.
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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 4 / 9 (Two +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
Experimental Aviator (Assigned to the PRT)
Shield-Wall Sentinel
Artefacts
Mox Amber
Gold Pan (Taylor Hebert)
Robe of Stars (Taylor Hebert)
Skyblinder Staff
Enchantments
Sentinel's Eyes (Taylor Hebert)
Mask of Law and Grace (Taylor Hebert)
Cards in Hand
Squire's Lightblade
Ramosian Rally
Carrier Thrall
Jade Bearer
Wrath of Oko
Colossus of Akros
Saturday 15th January 2011
The day of my confession had arrived. I'd discussed plans for it with Yuriko and the bards (Alpha-Six wasn't a great conversationalist), but we hadn't come up with much. Yuriko had offered to be there for the conversation, but I didn't think, 'Hey, Dad, here's a woman I've Mastered' would be the best opener. We agreed to meet up later.
Daggermaw Megalodon was my new card. It cost six mana to summon -- two blue, four generic -- and was a 5/7 shark with Vigilance. If I wanted something nasty to drop in the Bay to deal with any rebellious lobsters then I was onto a winner. As I didn't want to destroy the local wildlife, or drop a creature in the water that could probably eat the support legs of the PRT-ENE Headquarter's refurbished oil rig, I was far more interested in its other ability -- I could pay two mana and discard this card, and I would get an Island land card. Since I was in the need of more mana, getting a new land card was definitely better than having a pet megashark. 'Cycling' the card was a no-brainer, so I did just that.
'No-brainer' could be applied to me, as well, it seemed, because I hadn't understood the mechanics of the option. I didn't just get a land card put in my deck after I spent the mana; I got a full list of Island cards to choose from. There were only about forty of them, rather than the three-hundred-plus defenders, but it was still a pleasant surprise. The list was even short enough that I could write them all down in my note books.
Short form: there were a few 'snow' lands that I might have wanted, a 'Gate' that sounded interesting, and a couple of lands that were also creatures, but most of the options were the islands that could had the option to tap for some other colour instead if I preferred, just like the Hebert Residence and my Mox Amber. My 'Escalate' mechanic seemed to like two mana of specific colours, so having more ways to get different coloured mana sounded really useful to me. As I didn't need the mana immediately (I didn't have much to spend it on today), picking a land that arrived already 'tapped' but which could be tapped for one of several different colours tomorrow seemed like a solid choice.
The Ketria Triome could be activated for blue, green, or red mana, and that was what I was looking for. It just left me the difficulty in finding a place to place it. I didn't have time to go scouting before my outing with Dad, but I was able to get Yuriko to agree to a trek. There was a river, north of the city, which passed by some wooded hills that didn't really have a name. It was a bit of a way, even on bicycle, but Yuriko didn't complain and instead made it a day trip, with a picnic amongst the trees, looking out over the city. Thankfully, the Triome allowed itself to be placed there, although it took a while to settle.
I soon had another option for exploration, although I didn't want to use it -- Prakash had made a prototype Thopter for the PRT. It called itself a Spotter Thopter, and it could hover over the city, feeding information back to the PRT (and me) over what it could see. It wasn't quite a satellite view, but it was smart enough to direct attention to points of disturbances, and it could see about a quarter of the city when it got high enough. I could seize control of it with a thought, but I didn't touch it because I considered it the property of the PRT. That ownership didn't stop it from 'Scrying' two cards for me when it 'entered'. 'Scrying' let me look at the next random cards I would draw from my deck, and decide if I wanted to draw them or not.
I was happy when I saw the first card I was scheduled to draw -- Whip Silk. It was a cheap enchantment that gave the person it was bestowed on the keyword, 'Reach'. They would then be able to intercept fliers even if they were not able to fly themselves. I didn't need it, as I could already fly. Yuriko considered the option, but decided that she wouldn't be needing it either -- the various flying parahumans of Brockton Bay were generally out of Yuriko's weight class. I sent it back to the bottom of my library.
The other card I kept on the top of my library-- Taiga Stadium. It was a land that tapped for green or red mana. On one hand, great! I needed more lands. On the other hand, if I'd been a little less 'oh, cycling this megalodon is a no-brainer', I would have known that this card was coming and I would have made a very different pick out of the various islands I'd been given to choose from. The thing is, I'd read Sun Tzu, I knew it was best to wait before making a choice, but--
Yeah, I stewed over that mistake for a long time, even if I couldn't have reasonably seen it coming. At least it distracted me from the upcoming conversation with my dad, when I would tell him I was a cape. And a planeswalker.
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The time finally arrived. After a late breakfast Dad and I headed out to the Lord Street Market. The Market was a strip of asphalt that had been assigned to be an open-air market. There was an ever-changing array of stalls, from people trying to clear out their garages to hobby crafters to people who sold suspiciously cheap goods. It was outside of the city proper, and driving out there had always been a fun outing when there had been three of us. I'd rush between the stalls and try to persuade my parents that nothing could be more important than buying a singing bass, or a flamingo lightstand, or an Alexandria plushie. They actually gave in on the plushie.
They were happier times, and I wasn't a giggling chatterbox anymore, but Dad and I could walk through the stores and give our opinions on the produce to each other. Having a rough goal in mind, of some sort of decoration, helped keep focus. If we were treating it more like a mission than an outing, well, that was my fault, but I wasn't going to apologise for it.
By lunchtime we'd purchased a couple of tools that I happened to know needing replacing, but found nothing that really said, 'This house is a happy home'.
Lunch was at Fugly Bob's, a fast food restaurant at the edge of the market that served grease alongside burgers, fries, and the other usual suspects. They didn't have vegetarian options, so I went for a cheeseburger with a side of guilt.
Fugly Bob's was packed, so no-one would think anything of us taking our meal to eat at some benches outside. It was winter on the east coast, so eating outside wasn't going to be ideal, but Dad would survive and other people were doing it too. I barely felt the cold any more, so I was fine. The spot I chose was by itself enough that we could have a quiet conversation, but not so isolated that we could have a loud one. As we put down our trays, I said, "So, how about a really awkward conversation that is probably going to include some arguing and shouting?"
"I've been looking forward to it all week," said Dad drily, taking a few chips.
"Okay," I said, after taking a fortifying bite of delicious burger, "Let's start with the bullying."
"Yes, let's," and I could see Dad's anger was already building at the topic.
"So, for the last year and a half I was being bullied at school. By lots of people, but mostly 'The Trio': Sophia Hess, Madison Clements, and Emma Barnes."
"Emma!" said Dad, "Alan's daughter Emma? Your best friend?!"
"Ex- best friend, Dad, yes," I said, "I don't know what happened, Emma's never said, but I came back from summer camp and she hated my guts. Made new friends, turned those friends against me. Attacked me, and anyone seen speaking with me. Did everything she could to hurt me. I'm the school pariah right now."
Dad was speechless. Eventually he recovered enough to say, "Two years? Two years? Why didn't you say anything?"
I looked at Dad, looked away, "Dad... You've been struggling, with the DWA, with everything, since Mum died. I wasn't going to add to that. I could take it."
"Taylor... I'm sorry. I hadn't realised that I was letting you down so much!"
"It's okay! You weren't! We were both dealing--"
He reached out to take my hand, "It's not okay! I should have been there for you, and I wasn't--"
"You were. You came home--"
"No. Taylor, just no. Are you still being bullied, or has that stopped after the locker?"
I shrugged, sipped my soda, "Most of it has stopped. I, uh, have a new friend, and she is a literal ninja. The Trio couldn't get anything past her. They tried, but Yuriko was there for me. Then I punched Sophia--"
"Taylor!" Dad hesitated, "Okay, so I didn't get called in, so it couldn't have been that bad."
I smirked at Dad, "Sophia was the one who punched and kicked. She's an expert at attacking where there aren't any witnesses. Darn near professional at it. So I waited until she was ready to make her move, and then I made mine first." I mimed the one-two punch that Yuriko had drilled into me. "Knocked her down. I mean, I'm not planning on becoming a professional boxer, but that punch felt good."
Dad laughed awkwardly, "You know that I would support any career choice you make, but not boxing, please."
"Spoilsport."
"Comes with the Dad card," said Dad with a grin, "Has Sophia gotten revenge for your punch yet?"
"No. She caught up with me after last class the same day to congratulate me on the punch and said that she'd stop bullying me. So far, she's been true to her word."
Dad shook his head, "That kid sounds messed up."
"Oh yeah. Anyway, then there was soccer where I accidentally kicked a soccer ball into Madison, and it was an accident, but she seems to have decided that she didn't like it when things got physical if she didn't have Sophia to protect her, so she's stopped doing her stuff, too."
Dad ate his burger, nodding in understanding. He swallowed and said, "And Emma?"
"I don't think Emma is well, Dad," I said, "She hasn't stopped. She seems almost desperate, but I can ignore her now, and people are starting to look at her funny."
"I should go speak with her, with Alan," said Dad.
"Please don't, Dad," I said, feeling a little sad about putting my revenge fantasies behind me, "What's done is done. She can't hurt me any more."
Dad shook his head, "I might anyway. It sounds as if she needs help. Has needed help for a long time."
"Maybe."
The conversation kinda floundered at that point, so we ate a little more. I was trying to work out how to get onto the next topic when Dad did it for me.
"So," he said, "how hard did you kick that ball to get Madison to back down? I said 'No' to boxing, but if you want to take up soccer..."
I laughed, "Yeah, that is not going to happen. I've been banned from contact sports, because they think I might be a cape."
"What! Those idiots! I'll speak--"
I touched my father's hand, "Dad? They're right."
Dad gaped at me for a few seconds.
I sighed, "It was the locker. I triggered -- uh, trauma can cause people who are predisposed to become parahuman to get Powers. I-- I would have told you sooner, but you've already got enough to deal with. So, yeah, secret number two. I'm a cape." I couldn't look my father in the face.
There was a pause of a few seconds that felt like a dozen eternities.
"... So, what is your Power? Is it cool?"
I looked up my dad and smiled weakly, "Uh, kinda cool, kinda terrifying. I can't show you here, but I can show you when we get back. But, um, it's really versatile? And I kinda self-buff over time? So I'm now a mid-tier brute, can fly, and am a noctis cape. And I can know a lot about other capes when I see them. The big thing, though, is that I can summon copies of stuff from other planes. As in, items. And, um, people. And I can cast spells!"
"Whoa! Roll it back a bit, Little Owl. You can summon people?"
Yeah, I was hoping that he wouldn't notice that bit. "It's voluntary! They can say, 'no'! But, um, yeah. I get a copy of a person who will work for me."
"Uh-huh? And they're happy to work for a fifteen-year-old girl?"
"Yes! Yes, they are!" I said, and then more quietly, "Partly because they have to obey me as terms of the deal."
"What?! You're Mastering them?"
"No! I mean, I could. But I don't. But I try not to give, you know, orders. Just suggestions? To be honest, they tend to be really happy to be summoned and they might argue with me on some stuff, Yuriko doesn't like that I won't let her kill ABB bodysnatchers--"
"Yuriko?" Dad looked at me suspiciously, "Your new friend Yuriko?"
"Yeah," I said with an awkward grin, "When I said that she was a literal ninja, I wasn't speaking figuratively. She's from a plane called Kamigawa and is really nice."
Dad dropped his head into his hands and groaned.
"Right, let's see if I've got this right. You, Taylor, are a cape who can summon people. Those people have to obey you. One of those people is your friend Yuriko who wants to go out killing kidnappers, but you won't let her?"
"Right. I mean, I let Yuriko go out, but she has to keep it non-lethal. And she does!"
"Are you going out yourself?" asked Dad, dreading the answer.
"No!" I said, and then hesitated. "Not yet. I-- I'm a lot stronger than I was when I kicked that ball. And the gangs in the city are really complex and I don't want to mess things up and make things worse or kill anyone. So I wanted to get proper control over my Power first. And get more information; that's what my people are doing."
"Your people. How many have you summoned?"
"Um, Yuriko. The Heartfelt Troubadours, there's three of them. If you've been down on the Boardwalk you might have heard them? They're bards? And Sentinel Alpha-6, he's a golem? I'm not sure how sentient he is, so he might not count. And there's a Tinker called Prakash, but he's on permanent loan to the PRT, because I don't trust them, so he's scouting them out for me."
"I've heard of the Troubadours -- Kurt was telling me about them on Monday. They work-- Wait, you can summon Tinkers?"
"Probably other parahumans too. I get a new card -- uh, a thing I can summon or spell I can cast -- every day and each one is a one-shot. They're very random."
"Right. Okay. On Monday, you're joining the Wards. The PRT can sort this out."
"No!" I said, the loudest I'd been so far, loud enough to attract attention from other people nearby. Thankfully they saw a teenager arguing with her father and looked away, but I did quiet down. "You can't! I can't! I don't really trust them, and--" I sighed, "Darn it. You remember Sophia?"
"One of your bullies. The one who stopped when you punched back."
"Yeah, her. She's already one of the Wards. I will not work with the PRT if that is who they chose to work with."
"WHAT?!" Okay, now a lot more people were looking at us, and I was struggling to calm my father down.
It was struggle, but he took a breath and started eating his now-cold burger with a vengeance, tearing off bites with his teeth. I ate my burger, albeit more daintily.
We'd finished eating, and my dad had thrown our rubbish into the bin with furious force before he had cooled down enough for him to speak.
"Okay. Taylor, you won't need to join the Wards. But! Be careful; you nearly outed a Ward to me. There are 'unwritten rules' about that sort of thing, and those rules are doing a lot of heavy lifting protecting you right now. Don't push them, or things could get very bad."
He nodded towards a path that circled the Market, and I stood and followed him as we walked.
"How do you mean?"
"I mean, people at school think you might be a cape, but they're not pushing past that. If someone does take it further, you could be in trouble."
"Oh, yeah. Speaking of, do you have any suggestions about P.E.? Because I'm now in the field and track group, and I don't think I can fake being tired after a run any more. My capedom is going to be pretty obvious."
"That won't be a problem," he said confidently, "I can write you a note to excuse you from sports."
"You can?!"
Dad turned his head to grin at me. "Those unwritten rules pulling their weight. Parents can excuse their children from school sports, no questions asked. I'll have to sign a document saying that I'll make sure that you stay fit and healthy, and that's it. You'll do half days on sports days."
"Wow. People are really working hard to not out capes."
"Hard-learned lessons, kiddo. It's like health and safety laws -- despite the name, the unwritten rules are written in the blood of people who were outed before. Or their victims."
"Victims? Oh! 'Carrie'."
"Yeah, there have been real-life examples. No-one wants to piss off an emotionally immature cape who thinks that they have nothing to lose while they're in a building full of children. Your principal really messed up when she didn't deal with your bullying."
"There was a reason for that," I admitted, "She is corrupt. We've reported her, given evidence to the authorities. She should be arrested sometime next month, we think."
Dad stopped and stared at me. He took my hands, "I'm so proud of you, Taylor. So many people in your position would do something terrible. But you've found a way to do the right thing, without violence."
There wasn't much I could say to that, other than, "Thanks," in a really quiet voice. Dad pulled me into a tight hug and I leaned into it.
"Um, violence might be on the cards, though," I said when we broke apart, "Because I hate what is happening in the Bay, and I'm not going to stand aside and do nothing."
Dad looked away, and then started walking again. There was a stick on the path and he kicked it away viciously, "... I understand. Just promise me? You'll be safe?"
"I promise."
Dad said, "See? This wasn't so bad. We only got a little mad, and I barely shouted at you at all."
"You say that now," I said back, a grin in my voice, "Just wait until I tell you this is all a lead up to me telling you that I now have a mobile phone."
Dad's shoulders shook with laughter.
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We didn't find the perfect decoration for home at the Market and Dad was keen to meet my summons and see proof of my Power, so I went to a stall we'd passed before lunch and bought a 'You don't have to be mad to work here, but it helps' poster and told him we were putting it up in the living room. He didn't argue with me.
Normally, introducing your Dad to your unpaid employees would be incredibly embarrassing, but I was already numb to all that after the conversation we'd just had.
"Hi guys," I said to everyone, who I had asked to assemble while we were heading over, "This is my dad, Danny Hebert. Dad, this is Yuriko, Guillaume, Jehan, Perrette, and Alpha-Six."
Yuriko nodded to Dad. Guillaume stepped forward to shake his hand and say, "An honour to meet you, Sir. You've raised a remarkable daughter."
"Thank you," Dad replied, "Her mother was a remarkable woman."
Fortunately, the bards were highly charismatic and had no problem keeping the conversation flowing. Unfortunately, the bards were highly charismatic and also had no problem angling for embarrassing stories from my childhood and Dad was not resistant to their charms.
Rather than suffer ritual humiliation, I distracted everyone by showing Dad my Power. He was very impressed that I could fly, and could dress myself in stars with a bright white face mask. Which is good, because I didn't have many other ways to prove my ability right then -- I could summon a knife or I could turn everyone into the city into elk. I didn't think that either one was appropriate to show my Powers to my dad, and anyway I was holding the knife in reserve -- the Squire's Lightblade had special abilities on the turn it was summoned.
After I showed off, I checked that everything was okay. Yuriko was unhappy that she couldn't stop the problems in the ABB territories, and took the repeated instruction to not kill anyone in poor grace. Guillaume, in comparison, had good news.
"After our set on Friday," he said, "We were approached by Parian! The parahuman puppeteer? She does shows on the Boardwalk, and wondered if we would be interested in providing musical accompaniment. She is offering good money for a couple of hours' work."
"That's great!" I said, "How are we doing for cash?"
"Not well," said Yuriko, "This will help."
"Money is a problem?" asked Dad, looking at the less-than-ideal house that the five of them lived in.
"We're working on it," I said, "I had a spell that let me summon some gold, but we had to use it for something else. I'm hoping that I'll get another spell like that soon, and that will make our money issues much easier to handle."
"Be careful, kiddo," said Dad, "If word gets out that a parahuman can summon gold, it could cause worldwide problems. There are plenty of people who would kill to prevent that."
"It's only a little gold," I said, "But we'll be careful. Promise."
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I had one other project to discuss: my newest plan to help the Bay. I was really glad to have my dad there, as he knew a lot about the problems I was facing.
"The MV True Purpose is a double-hulled tanker, Taylor. The tanks were drained of oil long ago, but the hull hasn't been maintained. It might not be strong enough for your 'colossus' to pick it up -- if the tanker falls to pieces it might make an even bigger mess."
"He has a sword. Can he chop it into pieces?"
Yeah, it was a long conversation. No-one outright vetoed the plan, and Dad approved of the idea of another tourist attraction for the Bay, but he insisted that he and Kurt and Lacey look over the wreck that was blocking ship traffic to and from the Bay before I did anything. That was fine; I couldn't summon Collie the Colossus until I'd Escalate!d anyway -- I was at my limit of people I could summon.
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We had takeout with my summons (except Alpha-Six, of course), and got home fairly late. Dad made arrangements for Kurt and Lacey, colleagues from the Dock Workers Association, to be at the Docks on Sunday. I agreed that they could know about my identity -- they were longstanding friends of my father. I then explained that I needed to 'Escalate!' to upgrade my summoning limit, and that I'd be conked out until midnight.
"In that case, good night, Little Owl."
"Thanks, Dad. Good night. Sleep well."
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Yuriko had spent most of the day walking the city, or at least the safer parts of it. She needed to think, and she always thought better on her feet. So she now laid back on her camp bed with a sigh, propping sore feet in the air, ate her chicken and rice, and tried not to think too much about what she'd decided upon.
The conclusion she'd reached during her walking meditation was not happy one. She had a plan now, an answer to the dilemma of the gangs of Brockton Bay. It would be quick, efficient, effective, and Taylor would hate it.
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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
Ketria Triome
Creatures
Taylor Hebert – Upright Student 4 / 9 (Two +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
Experimental Aviator (Assigned to the PRT)
Shield-Wall Sentinel
Token Creatures
Spotter Thopter (Prototype assigned to the PRT)
Artefacts
Mox Amber
Gold Pan (Taylor Hebert)
Robe of Stars (Taylor Hebert)
Skyblinder Staff
Enchantments
Sentinel's Eyes (Taylor Hebert)
Mask of Law and Grace (Taylor Hebert)
Cards in Hand
Squire's Lightblade
Ramosian Rally
Carrier Thrall
Jade Bearer
Wrath of Oko
Colossus of Akros
Graveyard
Potion of Healing
Vivisurgeon's Insight
Daggermaw Megalodon