Corporate Restructuring

[Taylor]

The post-Leviathan meeting broke up quickly after my father and T left to grab Arsenal's armor. Both Alec and Brian left before he was back with Arsenal's suit, and dad didn't stay long after we moved the armor (and the van, actually) back inside, just long enough to make sure I was ok. Rachel and her dogs stayed in the corner for a while before she made her way out, leaving me with only Sveta and Lisa. T had gone with dad to make sure everything was fine at home.

"Well, I'm gonna hit the tinkering bench," I said as soon as the area below me faded, proof that T had built her own. I inclined my head toward my workshop as I did so. "Anything else you need to discuss beforehand?"

Lisa shook her head. "Taylor, you're a bad liar. I'm not gonna leave you alone to deal with that," she said gesturing towards the mangled armor, before obviously being struck by a new train of thought. "At least, not unless you order me out, oh fearless leader." I could easily hear the teasing in her voice.

"What?! I'm… I'm not lying!" I backpedaled.

"So you're not going to open Arsenal's armor, and see if it can be fixed?"

I sighed and hung my head. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?"

I had indeed been planning on opening Arsenal's armor, and trying to see if anything could be salvaged, however unpleasant it would be to deal with - my - remains. I'd learned some time ago from a TV show that dead material got more difficult to remove as time went on, so I planned on dealing with the issue as soon as possible.

I wasn't going to say I was looking forward to it, though.

Sveta reached forward and gave me a one-armed hug. "You don't have to deal with this alone, you know?"

"And I already know what's inside, anyway," Lisa pointed out while trying not to look queasy. "Seeing through objects does have its disadvantages."

A quick check revealed that, yes, I was missing Perception. T must have given it to Lisa, which made sense considering the situation.

And it's not like I had room to take it back right now, anyway.

I tried to dissuade Sveta, since Lisa already had seen the contents of my armor. "You don't need to see that, Sveta. It won't be pretty, I'm sure."

The girl shook her head. "It can't be worse than looking in the mirror was before I met you."

I cringed, and then nodded. I'd forgotten about Sveta's old body, and couldn't disagree that it was quite probably worse than anything we'd find. "Ok," I finally acquiesced. "If you're sure."

"I am," she said with a firm nod. "How are we gonna do this?"

Based on what little I know, I didn't want to open it here. Whatever smell was released might linger for weeks. "Let me grab a few tools, then I'll move you both, ok?" I asked while heading into my workshop for my tools. I added a lamp to my mental list of necessities, because I doubted the lights would have survived the Leviathan's tidal waves.

Less than a minute later we were a mile away in an underground parking garage. The place looked like either Leviathan crashed into it, or one of his waves pushed something through. Broken ceilings, dripping water and a few sections which had collapsed in on themselves entirely meant the site was sufficiently structurally unsound that it'd likely ward off any gawkers. The fact that one of the cars was still honking and flashing its lights due to its alarm going off would help cover any noise we might make, the debris and overturned vehicles would make it harder to spot us, and the area was more than large enough for the three of us and the armor.

"I'm burning these clothes afterwards," Lisa pointed out as she remanifested, but didn't take her eyes off Arsenal's suit. A waft of the stench from an overflowing sewer close-by made me suspect I'd want to do the same.

The armor wasn't made to be removed from the outside, so it took a few minutes before I was able to gain access. The smell hit first, mixing with the odors of overflowing sewer water, spilled car oil and gasoline. Not decay, luckily, but sea salt mixed with blood, along with other things best left unmentioned. I grimaced, as did Lisa, though Sveta seemed unaffected.

Then I had the front plate off, and got a good look at myself.

I was pale.

So pale.

I wasn't very tanned naturally, but my corpse was several shades lighter, especially when compared with my own hand. Worse was its face, stuck in a rictus of… something I couldn't describe. I stood there, shocked at the expression, while Lisa reached forward and closed its eyes and mouth. A part of me couldn't help but realize rigor mortis hadn't set in as she did that. Sveta simply hugged me, and I focused on that, trying to push back the creeping horror of my last moments in the armor.

Compared to that, the red tinted water now pouring out of the armor wasn't enough to have an impact.

Sveta was the one who removed my corpse from the suit, pulling it out with her enhanced strength, carefully avoiding to tear it or leave pieces of flesh behind. The back was where most of the wounds were, pieces of the armor having twisted inward, often with sharp edges. The biggest of those had made a three inch wide slash just above my pelvis, probably the reason I hadn't been able to feel my legs.

She dropped the body right beside me, and I gulped as I realized what the next step would have to be.

I was going to have to cremate my own corpse.

I forced the bile threatening to come up back down, and reached for my most powerful tool, the plasma blowtorch I'd made - what seemed like so long ago - for the bank robbery. It was powerful enough that it would leave nothing behind, no trace that could identify me.

Taking a deep breath, I brought the torch to life, the foot long blade shining far brighter than the lamp in the darkness of the garage. Inch by inch I lowered the blade toward my corpse's extended arm, deciding to start with the extremities.

Then the blade finally touched dead skin and ash exploded everywhere.

The hand vaporized instantly, burnt particles going every which way. I had some in my clothes and in my hair and, given my eyes were tearing up, clearly some had gotten there too. I forced myself to continue despite my watering eyes, pushing the blade closer to the elbow, when I realized I suddenly couldn't feel anything.

Why couldn't I feel anything?

The smell of seawater hit, and I found I couldn't move, couldn't feel my body. The darkness was total, I could barely breathe and I could feel water in my lungs and the pain in my head and…

"Taylor! Snap out of it!" Lisa yelled. Her voice seemed so far away.

I snapped back instantly, and realized I had somehow fallen in Sveta's arms. The torch was out of my hand, and it had burnt a gouge in the floor before deactivating.

"That..." Lisa said softly, and I realized just then her hand was on my shoulder while she moved in front of me. "That was what I was afraid of."

"What… What happened?" I forced out. My voice was slurred and everything seemed a little dark around the edges.

"You… you just went completely limp," Sveta replied, breathing hard. "I managed to push your torch away before it fell on your leg, and it did a number on the floor."

"You had a flashback, Taylor," Lisa added, completely serious.

Really? I was just…

I spent a moment just sitting there breathing, getting the unnecessary shaking under control. When did I start shaking, actually?

That done, I twisted my head to shoot a quick look back toward my corpse, and I couldn't stop the dry heave this time. I spat what little I brought up on the ground, as far from Sveta as I could manage.

Then I took a deep breath, sputtering for a moment as I accidentally breathed in more ash. I grit my teeth, as this had already taken much too long, before reaching for the blowtorch once more.

Lisa stopped me, grabbing my arm. "No."

"I can't… leave things like this," I forced out. "If someone finds it, there's gonna be lots of questions, and I can't..."

The Thinker shook her head. "I mean 'no, not that way'," she specified. "Isn't there some kind of grenade or something similar you could use? Bakuda had dozens of grenade types, and I'm sure at least a few of them would be perfect in this situation."

"I'm not like Bakuda, I'm…" But words Lisa had said interrupted my train of thought, possible methods flashing through my mind. Most weren't viable in the current situation, but some…

I turned back toward the suit, and started working my way into its guts. I'd already decided that I'd be making a new one, since this level of damage wasn't gonna be easy to fix, so ripping out a few parts here and there wouldn't set me back that much.

With the power supply out (and repaired), it was easy to make something that wouldn't leave anything behind. Just channel the power system into an easily destabilized energy containment unit, add a triggering module…

Using the components I had access to, I had the device built in less than thirty minutes.

I made sure the three of us and the remains of my suit were on the other side of the garage, behind an abandoned car, and that I had Sveta's approval before I triggered the explosion.

What followed was an intense flash as a sphere of light and heat bloomed in the parking lot for an instant, the air cackling in answer, only to be gone the next.

There was now a three meter wide crater where my body used to be, and nothing but dust in the air remained. The floor was still smoldering, but given the dampness I doubted it would be an issue for long.

Lisa whistled in appreciation at the damage done.

"I didn't think it would be that easy. Thanks for the idea, Lisa," I said once everything was done.

"My pleasure," she replied. "Much better than getting all that ash everywhere in my hair." Beside her, Sveta simply nodded.

I shivered at the reminder. I would need a shower after that, for sure. The two then put their hands on my shoulders while I grabbed the armor, and we were back to base within moments.

"Taylor, you said that powers change depending on the person, and you're clearly not Bakuda," Lisa said, looking straight into my eyes. "So spill, how were you able to build a bomb like that?"

Even Sveta looked like she wanted an answer.

"I can make Tinkertech energy generators, right? Well, I just tweaked the one I had on hand so it would fail explosively. I… hadn't actually realized I could do that." I'd be a lot more careful building power supplies in the future, that's for certain.

The toughest part was done, at least.

Lisa started preparing to leave, then stopped. "I'm going to hit my own place," she said, looking back at me. "Want to come with me and borrow my shower?"

"I'll be fine," I replied. I had a lot of work to do.

Lisa then looked at Sveta, who slowly nodded. "Then, I'm gonna wash away all that sea water. Toodles!"

I waved in answer, then I shadow-dragged the remains of Arsenal's armor to the workshop, built a power zone to free up T, and started working. I saw Sveta sit down in the corner of the room, but focused elsewhere.

It would be easy to dive directly into making a new suit of armor, but I quickly realized there were other devices I needed more urgently.

Like communications.

I'd tried calling home to gain an idea of what the state of the house was, only to get an out of service warning. Given that T and I would have to trade areas for the foreseeable future, that was a priority.

I thought about dropping some powers instead, but couldn't find a way to go about it. I doubted one of my combined sparks would mesh well with Sveta, Brian or Lisa, which meant only two possibilities remained among my social circle. Rachel was already going to be a hard sell about changing her power, so dropping a spark in that direction without extensive testing backed by analysis enhanced by dad's power wasn't recommended, and a single open slot wouldn't fix the fact that T and I needed an active Area just to counter the headaches anyway.

So communication tools it was.

It actually went easier than expected. It took but fifteen minutes before I had an acceptable blueprint; the first three ideas I'd gotten were either too invasive, too unwieldy, or too expensive in terms of resources. The model I selected was easily made, and while simple it had enough security that hacking wasn't going to be an immediate issue.

The first one took the longest, at a couple of hours, but once the coding, prototype and testing were done the rest took twenty minutes apiece. Before the sun went down I had enough for the entire team with some to spare, with Sveta in the corner already having hers.

Then I started planning for version two of Arsenal's armor. If it wasn't for Sveta bringing lunch and coffee, along with T interrupting me at eleven, I might have worked through the entire night without noticing.

But I felt much better now, so I counted that as a win. At least, after I finally got my shower.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

[Taylor]

"Ahh, trouble sleeping?" Lisa asked, concerned. She then turned her head and added, "Alec, if you say what I think you're about to, I will hurt you. Bad."

"I wasn't gonna say anything," he replied with a disingenuous smile. Of course, nobody believed that.

I simply nodded. While falling asleep hadn't been much of an issue, I'd woken up drenched in sweat multiple times due to barely-remembered dreams. I had a good idea what those were about, and I was glad not to remember them.

It was near 2 o'clock the next afternoon when everybody met once more at my base. Power was still out in a lot of places throughout the city due to blown power substations and downed power lines needing replacements, but the generators I had built with that at least.

"So, does anybody have anything urgent to bring to the table before we start?" I asked, looking around at the seated capes. My gaze went from Dad on my left to Sveta standing at my right, looking at everyone in turn.

Nearly everyone shook their heads, not saying a word.

"Weren't we getting new powers?" Regent questioned... with an unusual degree of interest, "'cause I can't wait to stop having to walk everywhere."

"That's why you want to fly?" Sveta asked, turning toward the lackadaisical Master.

"Yeah, and?" he countered.

I shook my head. "That's for later," I pointed out. "There's a few steps necessary before that, and even then Brian will be the first to have his power changed."

"I will?" he countered, while Regent inched forward. "Why Brian?"

"Given his situation," I explained, "he's the one who needs the most solid cover. As such, I plan to have him go out as a vigilante cape before being 'recruited' to Arsenal's group. Given that I plan on that happening before the Undersiders' last sighting, that should help muddle the tracks."

Brian and Lisa nodded in agreement.

"So, what steps are necessary?" My father wondered.

I sighed. I didn't like the idea, but it was the only way I'd figured out that would let me go forward. "People," I said. "We need more people. I have too many powers right now to do anything, and I need to give some away before I can work things out for the Undersiders. So, I need people without powers who wouldn't mind joining this group."

"More combatants?" My father asked.

"Not necessarily," I replied. "I just need people who can hold my extra powers while I work on those who need their power changed, and maybe a few powers I can't match to anyone once I'm done. I'm fine with them being part of our group in name only, and not fighting at all."

There was a moment of silence as everyone digested that.

"Five would be best," I added, "given that this would free all my extra slots for sure. Three is probably the least I'd need to actually work things out."

"Slots?" Regent drawled in a querying tone while lazily raising his hand as if to get a teacher's attention.

"Um, that's kind of a complex topic," I stuttered. "It has to do with how my power works."

"Mind if I field this one?" Lisa interceded with a grin. "I think I can boil it down to the basics pretty fast."

An affirmative gesture from me and Lisa got into the meat of things, "Taylor has five slots for stolen powers, which manifest differently when transferred to new people. Going over that limit is unpleasant. Skidmark's power allows Taylor to make an invisible zone that enhances powers, including her own capacity to hold powers, so that lets her safely hold ten powers so long as one of her bodies stays in the zone. Powers can also be jigsaw puzzled together into bigger powers, so Taylor can fit one super-power into a single slot provided all the pieces fit together. The problem is that Taylor is holding way too many powers Frankensteined into too little room to properly sort them out."

"About that," Regent interjected with a bit more animation than normal, "I thought Slenderman needed to touch his victims? It didn't look like our creepy crossdresser was touching anyone when she had her little freakout yesterday. And it certainly would've made the news if a whole bunch of capes got Slenderman'd at the Endbringer fight."

"That was kind of a shock to me as well," I admitted. "Apparently I automatically gain the powers of any cape that dies near me, even if that takes me over my limit."

Everyone digested that bit of information for a moment before Sveta raised her hand. "I… might have a possible. I'll have to see him beforehand to make sure he can be trusted to keep our secrets, but given what I know, I wouldn't be surprised if he was perfectly happy with getting powers."

"I can probably find a good four also, at least," my dad pointed out. "Leviathan's water shadow did a number on the dockworkers' union building, and I'm not sure it'll ever be rebuilt, given the city council's opinion of the union..."

"That would be perf…" I started, then noticed Brian thinking. "You have someone in mind?" I asked him.

"You… can control what powers you give, right?" he sought to confirm.

"Somewhat…" I replied. "It's not an exact science, but given the number of options I have, whoever joins up will have a lot of choices."

"Your sister," Lisa said with a nod.

"Yeah, Aisha," Brian replied. "I don't like the idea that she might get mixed up with cape stuff, but I'd feel a lot better if she had something to protect her from whatever my mother and her boyfriends could end up doing to her. It would be a weight off my back."

I nodded. "As long as she passes through our screening…" I waved at Sveta, who nodded. "I have no issue with that."

Brian thought for a moment, then nodded. "That makes sense."

"So, since Brian's going first…" Alec said after a moment. "I call dibs on second!" he exclaimed.

I automatically began to counter Regent's assumption, then thought for a moment. Brian was first for certain, but the order after that wasn't something I'd thought about. Sveta didn't need her power changed, since she'd barely been seen three times with the Undersiders and her powers weren't the flashy kind. Dad's power needed not to change, given he was already known outside the group.

Which meant three candidates for second.

Rachel was in no hurry. In fact, I was certain she feared what could happen. Making her go second didn't seem like the right idea.

And about Lisa… I thought, turning to her.

"I'm fine with going third or last," she said, clearly having guessed the thoughts going around in my head.

"Fine," I sighed. "You're second, Alec."

"Nice!" He exclaimed, extending his hand for a high-five.

"Anything else people want to discuss before I start?" I asked, ignoring his shenanigans.

This time, nobody said anything.

"Ok. First, communications," I said, taking out five of the devices I'd built yesterday. That was enough for everyone, given that Sveta, T, and I already had ours. "With the phone networks down for the moment, we need to be able to reach each other in case of emergency. These are water-resistant, inconspicuous, and have a large enough range to cover the entire city." If not the entire state.

I then explained how to work them for the next ten or so minutes. Lisa, of course, caught on near-instantly, and Brian wasn't far behind. The rest had more issues (or were less interested).

"Next..." I started, only for Lisa to interrupt me.

"Sorry," she said, "But how are you planning for the Undersiders to 'go out', per se?"

"I was about to get to that," I replied. "Everyone here agrees that Coil won't let the Undersiders fade away without a word?"

"Coil?" Brian said, surprised. He then turned toward Lisa. "Coil was our boss?"

I cringed as Lisa nodded. With all that had happened, I'd forgotten that Brian and the rest of the Undersiders hadn't been aware of their Boss' identity.

"We weren't the only ones," the Thinker added. "The Travelers are also under Coil's thumb, and I know for sure that he has moles in the PRT, if not in all the groups in the city."

Brian took a deep breath, then continued. "Based on the man's reputation on the Boardwalk, I'd say no. I wouldn't risk it, anyway." Sveta also nodded to that, and none of the others said anything against.

This launched a good hour-long discussion on how to go about it, along with when and where to do so. Lisa ended up in charge of the last, as per Slenderman's usual pattern he needed to be seen on camera.

The meeting broke up shortly after that, with everyone going their own way. T claimed the base's workshop, which was fine with me.

I had something else planned.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"Good day Dragon," I spoke out to my laptop using Arsenal's gruff voice. Rebuilding my suit's voice modulator had been the issue of ten or so minutes, even if as a separate part.

Checking the state of Arsenal's Lab had taken longer. It was much closer to Leviathan's path of destruction than my base had been, and I'd found the place had an inch of water covering most of the floors. No power, either, though whether that was due to the water or the ruined state of the surrounding street was something I didn't know yet.

One advantage of all this was that I had no fear of Dragon seeing what I looked like; my laptop was the only object with power in the building, and I'd physically covered its camera beforehand.

"Good day to you also, Arsenal. Glad to hear from you. Judging by the tone of your voice, your recovery is going well."

"Somewhat," I answered. "Still not back to one hundred percent." That was the truth, though not in the way the Tinker probably expected.

"I have at least some good news for you," Dragon offered. "Your mace has been found, and seems to be in relatively good shape considering what it was used for." Indeed, I would have been surprised if it wasn't damaged in some way at least; blocking Leviathan's attacks wasn't conducive to remaining in good shape.

"Indeed, that's good to hear," I replied. "Anything else? I've been pretty much cooped up at home so I could recover a bit, and it's not like my place currently has power." Another incomplete truth: my father's house currently had neither power nor phone, but my base was in a much better state.

The Canadian Tinker sighed. "Nothing good, unfortunately. Most of the eastern side of Brockton Bay is in ruins, and close to two-third's of the city is currently without power. The sewers are also not working, and most of the city's water purification facilities are offline."

"On the cape side, even worse news: the Teeth have returned to Brockton Bay," Dragon continued. "They've made their presence known by impaling Kaiser in front of the Medhall building, and taking over the skyscraper as a base of operation. They've already hit two of the convoys carrying supplies from Boston, and the last was taken over by Hookwolf and other members of the E88."

I shivered. While the Teeth hadn't been an issue in Brockton Bay as long as I'd been alive, I'd read enough about them to know that they made most of the gangs look nice in comparison. Kaiser and the Empire at least pretended to possess civility, and even the ABB were more about controlling territory than fighting. The Teeth, from what I'd read, were the equivalent of the Merchants, if the Merchants' prime drug had been violence, and were led by a monster that somehow survived his own repeated deaths.

"Yeah, that won't… help the current situation much," I replied.

"I'm sorry," the Tinker said. "I forgot to ask for the reason why you contacted me." She visibly thought for an instant. "You require materials, I suppose? Metals, electronics and the like?"

"I do."

"Unfortunately, given the current state of Brockton Bay, sending valuable materials is a risky proposal. Between the gangs and damage to the infrastructure, I doubt I could get anything to your workshop reliably."

I scowled, then something came to mind. "Do you have any warehousing company that you've used and trust close to Brockton Bay?"

She typed a few commands. "The closest one to Brockton Bay I've had business with is in Boston. Would that do?"

I grinned. "Perfect. I was planning on going to Boston in the next few days anyway, so receiving my order there wouldn't be an issue."

Dragon smiled. "I'll be waiting on your order then. Anything else?"

I thought about discussing the Leviathan battle, but decided not to in the end. She'd been close to Armsmaster from what I'd seen, and his death was probably too fresh. "That will be more than enough. Thanks."

"Glad to hear from you, Arsenal. Take care of yourself, and good tinkering."

"The same to you," I replied. "See you."

The window showing the Canadian Tinker faded to black, then closed. I quickly shut the laptop down, given that I didn't currently need it, and it wasn't like I could plug it in to recharge.

Anyway, I had work to do. This place needed quite a bit of applied elbow grease, and it wasn't going to fix itself without help.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I unfortunately didn't do as much as I expected. My father called me an hour into my cleanup operation, and asked for me and Sveta to come home in the next thirty minutes. I wondered for a moment what he wanted at my base, before I understood he meant our house.

Realizing that I felt more at home in a formerly-abandoned building than in the house that I'd been living in for all my life was a bizarre feeling.

Still, I shadow-traveled to the base and grabbed Sveta. She was unsure of herself, given it would be the first time she'd be at my father's place. I told her not to worry, given that it wasn't any place special, and we made our way there using my Shadow abilities, dodging all the broken streets and the enormous puddles therein.

We both appeared in a shadowed corner of the back porch, and quickly made our way inside. "Hi, Dad!" I called out as I entered, suspecting he wasn't alone. Sveta added, "Good day, Mr. Hebert," as she stepped inside behind me.

"Hello Taylor, Sveta," he called out from the living room. "I expected you both later."

Oh, right. He had said thirty minutes, and that was barely ten or so minutes ago.

"And, Sveta, no need for the mister treatment," he added. "Call me Danny like everyone else."

Sveta nodded as we entered the living room, which was illuminated in candlelight. As I'd suspected, my father wasn't alone there; four more people were seated on our couches, three I recognized and another whose name I could guess. I turned to Sveta beside me, who nodded after a good look around the room. No risk there, at least.

"Hey Taylor," Kurt called from his spot, while his wife Lacey waved. "It's been a while, hasn't it. Ever since the…" He then stopped, realizing what he'd been about to say.

Ever since the funeral, I completed mentally.

There was a moment of silence as no one knew what to say. My father was looking down, Kurt was holding his mouth as if he was afraid of saying something else, clearly kicking himself for ruining the mood, and Lacey had just slapped him on the shoulder.

Luckily, Alexander came to the rescue. "Your father is saying you're looking for workers?"

I nodded, happy to have something else to talk about. "Yes."

"What kind of job can a girl your age offer?" The last person in the room asked. Judging by the voice, this was Mike, who'd been Dad's secretary for the past two years. "You're what, fifteen?"

"Nearly sixteen," my father countered before turning to me. "As you probably guessed, this is Mike Johnson, who's been answering the phone for me for a good while."

"I recognized the voice," I pointed out.

"Can I echo that question?" The curiosity was thick in Lacey's words.

I took a deep breath and thought. How do I bring the subject up?

"It's not anything… illegal, is it?" Kurt asked during the silence as I worked out how to tell them.

I shook my head. I wasn't even planning on them fighting or doing anything other than maybe some clerical or janitorial work around the base. The main qualification they needed was trust. "Nothing illegal. Actually, I could pretty much get anybody for these positions, but the fact that my father trusts you all is a big bonus."

"I did notice however that you didn't actually say what these jobs were," Lacey pointed out as the others watched.

"Uhm-" I responded as eloquently as I could.

"Just spit it out Taylor," Alexander said, exasperated at my reluctance and hesitancy, while dad, traitor that he was, rolled his eyes and laughed at me being put on the spot like this.

I took a deep breath as Sveta put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I'm a cape," I finally said.

I could see Kurt and Alexander blink. Lacey stopped in the middle of what she'd been about to say. "Huh?"

Mike, however, was thoughtful. "The locker, I suppose?"

I nodded, surprised. I wasn't expecting a non-cape to know this kind of thing. The Protectorate and PRT tried to keep mum about such information as much as possible, and capes didn't like talking about it.

"You want us to join a gang?" Kurt exclaimed.

"No, not at all," I quickly retorted. "When I said a job I meant a job. With how my powers work, I need a number of non-cape assistants to help me manage things."

"That's bizarre," Lacey pointed out.

Mike sat forward, his gaze piercing. "What is it your powers do? We need to know this if we're going to be helping you with whatever it is you need help with."

"Go ahead," Sveta said in support from her place beside me.

"I can take and give powers," I quickly explained, watching the four dockworkers stop as if frozen. "In fact, I can even grab powers without wanting to, when a cape dies close enough from where I am."

"Leviathan," Mike muttered, realizing the cause of the problem.

I nodded. "Yes. I have a limit, and Leviathan's visit means that I'm currently overloaded. I need to give away powers right now."

"And that's not something you can just drop on anybody," Danny pointed out.

It was surprisingly Kurt who responded first. "I can see why you'd want to keep that part secret. If the gangs heard..." he let the words hang.

Lacey's eyes went wide as something clicked in her head. "Taking powers... Holy shit, you're Slenderman!" she exclaimed.

I cringed, somehow expecting the world to crumble around me.

But no such thing happened. "You're the boogie man of all capes?" Alexander replied, covering his mouth to hold back laughter. "The number one most feared cape in the entire Bay is Taylor Hebert?!"

"Fifth in the entire US actually," Sveta said with a smile.

I couldn't help but drop my head in my hands and mutter.

Everyone had a good laugh about that, even my dad. I just blushed and hid my face.

This wasn't the kind of thing I wanted to be famous for!

Still, that one comment lightened the atmosphere. There were smiles all around when the laughter faded, and the panic I'd been fearing was nowhere in sight.

Mike was the first to get back to serious stuff. "OK. Levity aside, how is this going to work?" he asked. "I mean, I really wouldn't mind helping, but with the state of the city we need real jobs, jobs that'll pay enough for our families to live on." He shook his head. "I like you kid, always have, but I have my own children to think of. And I don't see either you or Danny here…" he waved in dad's direction, "having the money to hire the four of us long-term. And right now, that's the kind of jobs we dockworkers need."

Kurt and Alexander nodded to that, and Lacey clearly wasn't disagreeing.

I turned to my father. "What's Mike's yearly salary?"

"A little more than thirty thousand dollars a year," he quickly answered. "A little more for Kurt and Alexander, a little less for Lacey."

"Hey!"

"I'll give you a raise to fifty thousand a year to work for me," I quickly put on the table. "And include whatever health benefits you want with that." I could pay that for two years just using my share of the bank job, and that was not even talking about the money from my contract with the Protectorate and PRT.

"What," both Kurt and Lacey exclaimed in chorus. The two others said nothing, clearly having no words, though Mike had this look on his face as if he realized there was more here than what was said. Alexander was just sitting and watching, curious and kind of anticipating what was coming next.

Of course, I wasn't going to point out I'd attacked a bank. "I have more than one identity as a cape, given that I can't go out as Slenderman all the time. I'm working with the Protectorate as Arsenal, and I have a contract worth millions with them to provide tinkertech medical devices for their use."

"You fought Lung," Alexander pointed out.

I nodded. "I wasn't alone, and I wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for the Ward present or the Protectorate heroes arriving. But, yeah, I fought Lung."

"Girl, if you weren't underage, I'd buy you a beer for that alone," Kurt said, and was glared at by my father as Lacey and Alexander laughed. "You don't know how bad it was when the ABB came calling in the docks, and I've seen the guy once; I wouldn't want to take him on even if he wasn't a cape." All the dockworkers nodded at that.

Then something clicked in Mike's head. "Wait, didn't you grab and take that singer's power over in Boston? On the same day?" I nodded. "Sheesh, you work fast kid."

I couldn't help but smile at that.

Lacey looked around at the rest of the group, who nodded. She then turned to my father. "Danny, we've trusted you about salaries for years. Tell it to me straight; can we trust Taylor to put her money where her mouth is?"

He looked at her straight in the eyes, and nodded seriously. "I've seen the device she built, and the hospital workers nearly fought me to keep the one I'd brought. I was there when Leviathan attacked; because of those and Panacea, every person who arrived still alive at the triage table survived the experience."

"Damn," Lacey whistled.

It was Alexander's turn to figure something out. "You're a cape, Danny?"

My father did pretty much as I had, and hid his face in his hands.

"What do you..." Lacey started.

"Would Taylor have gone to us if there was a better choice available even closer? Would Danny be in on it and so sure of himself if he hadn't already gone through the process?" Alexander explained. "Hell, what was he doing outside a shelter during an Endbringer battle if he wasn't a cape?"

The dockworkers turned to Danny in an instant.

I decided to rescue my father from that. "I'm to blame for that," I pointed out. "I learned I could give powers to non-capes by doing so, and I don't think you need three guesses to figure out how that happened."

"When was that?" Kurt asked as the rest sat forward in curiosity.

"Weeks ago," my father muttered, head still in his hands.

The four union members looked at each other. "I didn't see any difference," Mike pointed out.

"Same here," Kurt confirmed, and Lacey beside him nodded.

"The process doesn't have any effect that anybody noticed," I explained. "Dad didn't notice he had powers for more than a day after I gave them to him by mistake."

"More than a day?" Lacey exclaimed. "Danny, what kind of power did you get? I don't see how someone could manage to miss punching out walls, firing lasers or flying around."

"His power only works on parahumans," I added as an explanation.

"I boost capes, okay?" my father exclaimed, still hiding his face. From this angle, I could see him blushing up to his ears.

Payback, I thought with a smile.

"I suppose that's rare," Mike pointed out. "I've never heard on anything like that, at least."

"Very rare," Sveta added. "He's assuredly in the top ten Trumps in North America. Maybe even worldwide. Especially as his power doesn't include the sort of drawbacks normally seen in similar powers."

"Gee Danny! You're moving up in the world!" Kurt exclaimed.

"Oh god."

Everyone laughed at that, even my father a little.

Then there was a moment of silence. Thankfully it wasn't one of those awkward silences though.

"How does this… power transferal process… work?" Lacey finally said, pointing out the elephant in the room.

Danny's head rose, and he had a mean smile on. "What, afraid?" he said, looking right at her. "It's literally indescribable," he added, faking a shiver.

She gulped. This clearly wasn't the answer she'd been hoping for.

I shook my head at my father getting his own revenge, and strode forward. "Tag, you're it," I spoke as I poked her in the forehead. I instantly transferred my Earth/Horde/Spectre trio, which I supposed was the least lethal powerset I could currently grant her.

"Wait, wha-"

I'm Slenderman

"You're now a cape," I exclaimed.

There was a moment of silence. "That's all?" Lacey asked.

I nodded.

"Well, can you describe it?" my father pointed out with a smile.

"There wasn't anything to describe!" she countered as she glared at dad.

"Exactly," he replied.

Lacey quickly figured out she'd been had. "You… You mean, mean man! I should hit you for that!"

"I offer you a better, higher paying job and this is all the thanks I get?" My father muttered out loud. "I'm so disappointed."

"I also feel very disappointed," Alexander said, interrupting the two. "I was expecting flashy lights, explosions, maybe even confetti."

"We could always go with ominous gestures, monks chanting in the background, gothic costumes and the like if you prefer," Sveta said, smiling brightly.

I turned to glare at the former Case 53. Clearly, she'd been playing too many videogames lately. Either that or spending time with Alec. Yeah, I could always blame Alec for things like this.

"No need, no need," Alexander quickly added. "I was just… expecting different." He turned to Lacey. "Any issue?"

"I can… feel something below us, but nothing outside of that," she quickly replied. "Nothing that's a deal-breaker, at least."

"Mike?"

"I trust Danny," the man answered. "And I can't say I couldn't use an extra twenty thousand dollars."

Alexander nodded. "We're all in then," he confirmed to the nods of everyone.

I released a long sigh. That was a lot of pressure off my chest, right there. "I'll need your help tomorrow, when I'm modifying the powers of the rest of my team," I explained. "I'll have your first paychecks, in cash, ready by then." I hadn't placed the money from the bank heist into a bank account yet, especially given that I had no way as Taylor Hebert to explain where I got it. After the payout from the Protectorate, it had remained in the base as a hidden slush fund.

I then gave them an address and a time to meet, waved and walked out. Last thing I heard behind me was Kurt asking his wife, "What is this new power of yours anyhow?"

Maybe I should grab back that last power before I leave? Another day at full slots wouldn't be an issue now.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I was barely out of my father's house when Brian's voice rang out through my comm gear. "Taylor, are you busy?" His voice rang out, sounding a little uncertain.

I shook my head, then remembered Brian couldn't see me. "Not really," I admitted. "I have a lot of tinkering I need to do, but nothing that needs to be done right now."

"Is Sveta with you?"

"I am," the Changer beside me replied on her own comms, joining the conversation.

"Mind passing by my place?" He asked, and his voice sounded somewhat uncertain. "I have Aisha here."

That explained things. With the legal path now out of mind, giving Aisha powers was the best idea he had. Still, it was clearly the least bad option, and I could understand his reservations.

"You're quick with that," I replied.

He sighed. "Well, with the state of the city, I'd prefer to… solve the issue rapidly." He paused. "Do you think waiting would help?"

Now that I thought of it, not really. I wasn't planning on grabbing more sparks and, while I was planning on giving some out, that wasn't anything that would lead to having more options. "No," I admitted.

"Any problem with doing this now, then?" Brian asked.

I sighed. I'd already done this once today, and I didn't really feel like going over things again. Still, I couldn't deny that Brian had a point; there wasn't really any good reason to wait.

I turned to Sveta, who nodded. Well, everyone was in agreement.

"What's your address?"

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Normally, a place like the one Brian had would have looked better than it did now. Placed close to downtown and right opposite to a police station, it was the kind of place that managed to ignore most of the issues Brockton Bay had.

But not Leviathan.

While the building was in good shape compared to some on the same street, it still had visibly suffered from the hydrokinetic's presence. There were gouges in the walls, trash spread on the lawn, and an overturned car right against the walls of the place.

Also, there was no power.

Still, we managed to make our way inside easily. Someone had jimmied the doors open, when normally one would need either a key or a passcode to go in. The elevators were unusable, so we ended up taking the stairs to the fourth floor.

And we didn't have to wait long before Brian answered.

My first opinion of Aisha was jealousy. For a second, I felt like I often had with Emma; an ugly chicken right beside a swan. Like Brian, Aisha was a prime example of beauty, just the opposite way. Where Brian had the look that a lot of men aspired to have, Aisha was the kind of person that made women jealous.

She was, what, two, three years younger? And she already had a cup size on me, at least.

So unfair.

Brian had already spoken multiple times of how she was in her rebellious phase, so the trashy clothes and the dyed hair didn't come as a surprise.

"So, you're the two latest Undersiders, then," the younger Laborn exclaimed.

Her words, however, did.

I turned to Brian. "Did you…"

He shook his head. "No, I didn't," he quickly replied. "I did tell her that I had powers, but nothing else. She figured out about the Undersiders on her own."

I raised an eyebrow at that. She might look like a trashy rebel, but she clearly wasn't stupid.

Aisha turned to her brother. "So, now that your backup is here, you finally gonna talk?" Brian went to say something, but his sister ignored him and continued. "Now that the ABB and the Merchants are gone, you finally gonna start a gang? Is this a recruitment pitch? Do I need to prove myself? Shank a nazi? 'Cause, you know, there's this asshole in my class that…"

Brian covered his face with both hands. "Aisha, shut up. Please."

I ignored the byplay. I was pretty sure most of it was all about getting a reaction out of Brian, something it was succeeding very well in. I turned to Sveta instead.

"Not unless we betray Brian," Sveta said.

I nodded. It made sense, and I wasn't planning on backstabbing Brian.

I could work with that.

I stepped forward. "Well, you're partially right. This is a recruitment pitch in a way, but no need…" I stopped.

I'd been looking at Aisha ever since I'd gotten in, but now that I was less than an arm's length from her, there was a… distortion around her. It was difficult to see, but there was something like a bizarre lensing effect a millimeter or so around her.

I looked closer. What was that?

"Hey, what are you doing?" Aisha said, clearly uncomfortable about how I was looking at her.

I ignored her, and put my hand on her shoulder. I could instantly feel a power there, but it was somehow… faded? distant? "What's this distortion?" I said, mostly to myself, and pulled on this power, just to see what it was.

But instead of joining my slots, it simply clicked into place.

"Taylor, what are you doing?" Brian asked, looking down at me.

I straightened myself. What had I been looking at?

Well, that wasn't important now. "Where's this sister we're supposed to meet?" I asked instead of answering.

Brian opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it. "She was here a second ago. Did she go to the bathroom?" He asked himself aloud. "Aisha?"

He moved to what I supposed was said bathroom, whose door was wide open. Clearly, Brian's sister wasn't there.

"Aisha?" Brian repeated.

The was a pause as Brian looked around, and as he did so I felt something step on my shadow.

Brian was nowhere close when that happened, and Sveta wasn't moving. I scowled.

"Something just stepped on my shadow," I told everyone.

Brian didn't react, but Sveta did. She had a quick look around the room, then jumped back to cover the door. "There's an invisible person in the room!" She exclaimed.

Brian's reaction was instantaneous; his shadow surged out to fill everything in sight.

"I confirm," Brian said a second later through the comms, which had already been tested to work in Brain's shadow. "I'm draining someone close."

"What about your sister?" I replied.

"You saw, she wasn't…" Brian started, the his shadow quickly vanished.

"...the hell, bro," a voice said, coming straight from behind me.

I turned to find someone I supposed was Aisha behind me. I forced down the pang on jealousy at her looks; even dressed as she was, she was clearly a better example of a woman than I was.

Brian sighed. "Aisha, this isn't the time to play at hide and seek. There's someone…"

Sveta shook her head. "There isn't anymore."

I looked down at the rising Aisha. "Did you step right behind me?" I asked.

"Whoa whoa whoa, time out everyone!" The younger Laborn exclaimed. "What the hell are you all talking about?!"

Brian wasn't having any of it. "Where were you hiding, Aisha?"

"Hiding?" The girl replied, clearly incensed. "I've been here for the last twenty minutes, bro! Right in this room!"

The elder Laborn present shook his head. "Are you sure? We were looking for you earlier, and you…"

"I was right here!" She exclaimed, point right next to where I'd been standing less than a minute earlier.

Sveta, who was still blocking the door, stepped forward. "What do you remember happening?" She asked.

Aisha took a deep breath. "Brian called me up, like, forty minutes ago, and I didn't have anything better to do. We talked a bit, something about a mysterious 'job' he didn't want to say anything about. He then stepped out for a moment to call someone, probably you two."

"Both you and tall girl came in," she continued, pointing at me when she said 'tall girl', "and then she stepped forward with a bizarre face. She said something about 'distortion', put a hand on my shoulder, and then everyone started ignoring me. I waved my hands in your face, Brian, and you didn't even react," she said as she turned to her brother, "and you nearly tackled me off my feet when you went for the bathroom. I wasn't having fun, so I went to leave, but you jumped in front of the door and called out about an invisible person. Then bro used his power, and I called out for him to stop."

"And here we are."

Distortion? I didn't remember that.

"And she's not lying," Sveta added.

I looked at her more closely, and now that I paid attention I realized she was now glowing to my eyes.

She was a cape.

I turned to the man in the room and asked. "Brian, how long has your sister been a cape?"

"She is?" The Undersider Shaker replied.

"You mean, that's the thing in my head that I feel?" Aisha added.

Brian looked at me. "One of yours?" He asked.

I counted, to make sure. Nope, still fifty-one, same as last time I counted, which I had earlier today when I grabbed back Lacey's power. "It's not. I have all of mine. I think… I think I made her trigger, or something similar. Awakened? Activated?" I sounded out, trying to find the right word.

"For God's sake," Brian moaned, looking to the sky.

"Well, we were going to give her a place on the team anyway," I pointed out.

"I was mainly thinking about how much damage she could do with a memory-wiping power," he explained.

I cringed in sympathy. A rule-breaker with the ability to wipe her tracks? Yeah, dangerous.

"Could you change it?" Brian asked.

"Whoa whoa!" Aisha exclaimed, stepping back. "The hell you talking about, Brian!?"

"I should be able to," I replied, only for Sveta to hold me back.

"No," she said, shaking her head. "Better to get her to base and have your father present."

I nodded. She had a point; we had no clue on the specifics of her power, only that it affected memories and perception. Better to get more information before trying anything.

"Uh, does that mean I get to be part of the Undersiders?" Aisha asked, her hand raised.

Brian sighed again. "Yes, it does."

"Yeah! Finally!" Aisha exclaimed, jumping in joy.

"At least, as long as you don't use that power of yours," Sveta added.

"Hey, that's unfair!"

Sveta smirked. "If you do, we might 'forget' you ever were one," she pointed out. "And I'm pretty sure you don't want to explain this all over again two or three times, right?"

Aisha scowled. "Uh! That would get boring real fast."

Brian stepped forward, putting his hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Secret villain base, here I come," she exclaimed. "It has all the classics, I hope? Pit traps, shark tanks, flamethrowers…"

"Why would you even think that?" Brian replied, clearly exasperated.

Yeah, she was going to be a handful.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I sat at the table in my base and sighed. Aisha's testing had come and gone, and it hadn't gone the way anyone had hoped, especially for Brian.

He'd mainly hoped for Aisha to have some form of defensive power: brute endurance, forcefields, or even regeneration if I could swing it.

But she ended up with a Stranger power instead.

And, no, I couldn't change that.

It turns out that, whenever I grab someone's power, my spark first shuts down whatever active power effect they have, regardless of what it was.

Only, for Aisha's power, anyone remembering her existence was due to an active effect. Her power was always on otherwise.

As such, grabbing her power made me forget her, which made my power grab attempt fail. I tried it a couple of times and gave it up as a bad job.

Aisha's power was now fixed, whatever anyone wanted or not.

It didn't help that Aisha and Alec got on like peanut butter and jelly. The first wasn't satisfied at the Undersiders' base, mainly at the lack of the so-called classics, and the latter had no issue playing along. The two as a pair moaned over the lack of electrified prison cells and metal slabs with lasers pointing at them. "What if we need to torture someone?" They asked.

I hoped I never had to figure that out.

Also lacking in the help department was the fact that, when dad came, he had Lacey, Kurt, and Alexander with him. Sure, I wasn't planning on keeping them separated from the team, but some preparations would have made things go down much easier.

Because, whatever complaints she had with the base, she approved of having minions.

It didn't think of the former dockworkers that way, but try telling Aisha that. Brian and I made sure she knew I disagreed, but it was clear it hadn't stuck.

Surprisingly, Alec was a lot less interested in minions, at least based on his limited reactions. I'd have suspected he'd have appreciated having people wait for his orders on hand and foot, but even I could tell it brought a bad taste to his mouth, for some reason.

Strange.

Still, in the end, we managed to get everything done. With my dad's help, we figured out the details of Aisha's newly-acquired power.

Turns out her spark affected what it counted as memory, and memory only. She vanished from sight not because you didn't see her, but because her power didn't allow her presence to get into either short or long term memory.

It didn't limit itself to humans, either.

While her powers didn't affect cameras or other such electrical sensors directly, it did even have some limited effect on those. Over time, records of her would decay while her power wasn't disabled, slowly corrupting them to uselessness.

And its definition of records was generous.

Computer data, pictures, long-term memories, even possibly things like statues or engravings were fair game to her power.

I tried, with her approval, to shut down her power and remove it, but that also ended up being unfeasible. A completely negated power was one I couldn't remove, and even at the highest I could limit her power without completely disabling it, she still shut me down whenever I tried stealing her spark.

Well, at least for now, there wasn't anything I could do about it.

Brian and Sveta joined me at the table, the former with a cold beer he was pressing against his forehead. "Sorry about Aisha," he said as he fell into his seat. "I didn't think she would be such a pain about it."

I shook my head. "It's not on you," I replied. "I learned details about my own power today, so it was all good." Knowing that some powers couldn't be stolen was very important; better to learn it now in a situation like this one than in a battle where a detail like that could be the tipping point between victory or defeat.

"Same here," Sveta added. "I can notice her when using my power for general 'threats', but going specific to Aisha doesn't give me results. I wouldn't have wanted to learn something like that in the middle of a fight, that's certain."

"Still, keeping her occupied is going to be a major chore," Brian pointed out.

"Which is going to be your job, given I'm planning on you being the team's face," I added.

"Yeah, I expected…" he started, then paused. "What do you mean by the team's face?" He asked. "I thought you were going to be in charge."

"I will," I answered, "but there needs someone to be the public contact for the team. Someone who can talk to other groups, and is a visible representation of the lot of us."

"Why me?"

"Who else? Aisha is a bad idea, Alec is a worse one, and while her powers clearly have something to do with her issues, I doubt Rachel will suddenly be more social with a modified spark. I like Lisa, really I do, but she can rub people wrong with her power."

"And, even if I was a more social-adjusted person, I'm too young to be taken seriously," Sveta added.

"What about your dad?" He asked.

I shook my head. "He doesn't have the right kind of power to be taken seriously. And, anyway, he's a beanpole. You're clearly fit in a way he isn't, and presentation counts for a lot for public relations."

Brian lowered his head at that. Did he just blush? I couldn't tell.

"So," he said after a minute, "given today's new recruits, I suspect you're going to work on our powers soon?"

"Tomorrow," I replied. "The earlier the better."

"Should I…" Sveta asked, "still try to recruit my candidate? I haven't been able to contact him yet, but given the state of Brockton Bay that isn't so surprising."

I nodded. "Go right ahead," I confirmed. "Better more than too few. It might allow me to spread my remaining powers wider if there's any left, and that should help make sure to limit what dangerous powers there are."

"Ok."

We all fell to silence as we all digested what was happening. It had been a good run, but it was now nearly over.

Tomorrow was the beginning of the end for the Undersiders.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

[Brian Laborn]

I was a man who planned.

This wasn't new; ever since my parents had separated, I'd turned to planning and rules to ensure the world didn't overwhelm me, to keep control over what little I could. I'd made what plans I could, hoping to get Aisha out of the hands of the addict I had to call mother, and only added to that plan as time went on.

Triggering had mostly added possibilities to the table. Given the Empire, some complications also, but still more options and paths that could be taken.

At first, my plan was simple, as the best plans tended to be: get a lot of money, take Aisha, and run. With enough money, getting new identities wasn't impossible, and Brockton Bay wasn't the best place to live in anyway.

And it wasn't like there was any better solution to be found.

Getting recruited by whom I now knew was Coil was a blessing in a sense, since I wouldn't have to abandon my identity this way. I was already a criminal by that point, so dealing with others like me wasn't an issue.

Only they hadn't been like me.

I knew I wasn't really a professional, but I tried my best to act as if I was. I planned heists as meticulously as I could, trying to account for all possible issues.

And found I was alone in that.

Lisa was the one who came closest. She had no issue with the planning part, but she took it all as a game, as if there wasn't anything important on the line. Worse, to her, knowledge was a weapon, and she used it all the time on everyone, even teammates. I couldn't count the number of occasions I'd had to resist punching her for a comment she'd made.

At first I thought Alec was the same, treating it as a game, but over time I realized it wasn't like that.

He just didn't care.

There was clearly something broken in the boy, and he just… took life as it came. He was a follower, through and through, one who liked the comfortable life money brought. He didn't make waves, didn't push the limits much.

His sense of humor could definitely use a lot of improvement, though.

Rachel, on the other hand, took the job seriously. I thought at first her aggressiveness would slowly fade as we worked more as a team, as we figured out what worked and what didn't.

It never really did.

She was the one who pushed the limits, who made issues. She took everything as a fight, and wanted to win it all. And, to her, all battles were physical.

I took charge because there clearly wasn't anyone else who could do it. Alec didn't care, Lisa didn't take it seriously, and Rachel would have us bite off way more than we could chew.

Still, I couldn't say I hadn't gotten to like them. Lazy as Alec was, he did his part, and could always be trusted to make inappropriate jokes about everything. Rachel was fearless, and fought like the devil. Lisa always had a solution or idea, even if I wanted to make her swallow her grin most of the time.

And we'd had a good run.

Sure, it wasn't all sunshine and roses, and I couldn't count the number of near-misses we'd had (and the one time Shadow Stalker hadn't), but we worked well together and made a good pile of money out of it. Taylor and her own little group joining the rest of us only made us more effective, and I'd forever remember our victory over Faultline. We'd gotten her back for poaching from our team, and everyone knew about it.

Then, the boss dropped us like a hot potato.

I still had no clue why he'd done that. Outside the Empire and the Travelers, we were the top group in the bay.

I'd barely slept for days after that. I talked to Aisha, but she wasn't having anything to do with running away. I couldn't find any way out of the situation, and Lisa for once didn't have much to bring to the table.

At least, until we talked to Taylor about it.

Taylor had always been someone I'd respected in the business. While she clearly had fun, especially with the tinkering part, she took the rest seriously unlike most people I knew. Her plan for the bank run had been perfect and to the point, and she had a good tactical sense of combat. T was similar, though she took things less seriously.

I supposed being temporary must have had its impact.

I wouldn't say I would really like working under Taylor, but I knew myself well enough that I could tell it was because I'd already been burned once. I hadn't had any real issue with the boss until he'd burned us, and I couldn't deny Taylor had proven herself multiple times, more than Coil ever had.

Which was why I was standing here, putting my power and my very identity in her hands.

"So, how is this going to work?" The black man to my left, Mike, asked.

"I just need you three to put your hands on the table, within reach," Taylor explained. "I'll be dropping some powers on you to make space for me to work."

"That's all?" The woman at the table said, inclining her head.

Taylor nodded. "That's all."

"Mind if we play some poker while we do that?" One of the men asked.

"Kurt!" The woman, clearly his wife, replied.

"What?" Said Kurt countered. "It's not like we need to stay rigid and silent on our chairs, do we?"

"Go right ahead," Taylor answered. She then turned to me. "Any idea what kind of power you want?" She asked, poking my hand to grab my original (improved) power.

That's one question I'd never expected to be asked seriously.

"Something… protective," I finally replied after some thinking to the sound of shuffling in the background. I understood that my fields of darkness were too recognizable, but I'd liked being able to hide from attacks, to be difficult to hit. I didn't see myself as a Brute, wading in and tanking everything.

And I liked the idea that I could cover for others as well.

Taylor inclined her head in acquiescence. "I'm pretty sure I can figure out something that'll work." She paused for a moment. "Let's see… Annul… doesn't match. Endurance… no. Solid…"

"I see." "Fold." "Raise 20."

"You're… using my power as a base, right?" I questioned.

She turned to look straight at me. "Yes."

"Why?"

"I'm trying to reduce the number of powers I have at the same time as I change yours," Taylor explained. "And I can't be sure your powers will match with anything I have. It's best if I try adding to yours at first," she pointed out. "I'll go with completely new stuff if we can't find anything, though I doubt that."

"Queens over twos." There was a groan as cards were tossed away.

I paused for a moment. "I know you have ten slots, but how many individual sparks do you have?"

"Fifty-one," she pointed out. "Fifty-three with your own."

I sucked in a breath at that. Yeah, there probably had to be some combination that worked well in all that.

"And Field matches!" She exclaimed, and put her hand on my arm. "Try it!"

I tried flexing my power the usual way, and failed. Still, it wasn't the first time my power had changed, so I at least had an idea what to try. It took a minute before I had anything, but when I did, a black plane of… something… appeared a few inches from my hand.

"A forcefield," I said with a smile. "I can live with that." A thought made it vanish, then appear farther from me. Again and again I made it appear and disappear, trying to figure out its peculiarities.

"You following, Danny, or do you fold?"

"It still has the draining abilities of your previous power," Taylor pointed out. "So constant, low power attacks would actually make it stronger over time."

"Even better," I cheered. I tried for two separate ones and succeeded, then three without issue. "Any idea about limits," I asked.

"Total surface," Taylor replied

I tested it out for a few more minutes, then turned back to Taylor. "That took a lot less time than I'd thought," I said.

She smirked, poking my hand and grabbing my set of sparks again. "We're not done."

"Really?"

Her grin grew. "Now we see how much I can pack on this power of yours."

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

"So, now what?" I asked Taylor. She'd just transported the both of us straight to Boston in Shadow form, reappearing physically in some warehouse district. To me, it was like I'd just vanished from our base to appear in Boston.

"Now, time for you to make a new name for yourself. You found one, at least?" She asked.

I nodded. "Ancile," I replied. Outside training my new power and what little time I'd spent with Aisha, that was the main activity I'd done in the past four days. Finding a good name for a forcefield user wasn't easy, as a ton of them were already taken.

And calling myself Black anything would have been crass and, while valid, would have too many racial connotations to be taken seriously.

"I'll have to look that up," Taylor noted.

"How long do I have?" I asked.

"What do you think is best?" She countered.

"I don't know… two weeks?" I hadn't studied the Boston cape scene much. I had thought I'd break out my new identity in Brockton Bay, though I had to admit Boston would make it harder to tie Grue to Ancile. Most of what little information I'd researched was finding a good place to stay, and I'd need a few days at minimum to start making sense of the cape scene.

Taylor nodded. "That should be enough to start being a local name at least." She paused. "You have a plan?"

The beginnings of one, at least. "Something like that," I replied evasively.

Taylor let it pass. "I'll leave you to it, then," she answered. "Just remember this place."

"Why?"

"I've rented this warehouse, and that's where we'll 'meet' when you feel you've built your new cape persona enough," she explained. "That'll give most people enough to go with that they won't question you being part of my team."

I simply nodded at that. I was eager to get started, actually.

"Anything else, boss?"

Taylor smiled but shook her head. "No 'boss' here, please; I'd think someone was looking for my dad. Outside that, no, I'll leave you to it. Keep to the comms and keep the rest of us posted, but it's your show."

"Will do," I answered, waving.

She saluted then was gone, one more shadow in the darkness of the night. Trying to track her was useless, so I simply turned and started walking.

I had work to do.

*-*-*-*-*-*-*

It took three days before I felt ready to step out as a cape.

All of that was spent on the Net, preparing myself, tracking gangs I barely knew anything about using the motel room's wireless internet.

And, one of the first things I learned was that Boston was in flux.

I was in the South part of the city, the part unofficially controlled by Accord and his Ambassadors, who were now the strongest gang in town.

And had been that for only a couple of weeks.

Before, the Teeth were the main ones calling the shots in the city, but they'd crawled back to Brockton Bay less than a month ago, which caused a power vacuum here in Boston.

And, as usual, there were villain groups trying to fill this gap.

Accord hadn't thrown his hat into the ring, but a number of smaller gangs had. The Boston threads on PHO tended to call this the Boston Games 2011 after a similar event in the past that I ended up studying for an entire day.

And, yeah, that was a pretty valid comparison, with the big names being unchanged, with Blastgerm leading the charge.

Some of the smaller groups were even showing up again, with Damsel back in Boston again, Soldat reprising his previous role, and The Four once more trying to control part of the city. Dark Society had never left, only faded in importance, and they too wanted a piece of the pie.

Which meant there was fighting in the streets.

It wasn't the fighting I was used to as a Brocktonite, Brockton Bay being a lot more violent than Boston was, but there were still numerous cape conflicts all over the city.

Which was perfect for me.

So, on my fourth evening in Boston, I stepped out in costume for the first time as Ancile.

While Taylor had worked up the basics of a new costume for me, said basics had stayed in Brockton Bay. I was now one of those lucky capes that could use their power as a costume, and I did so gladly.

And, as such, came out of an alley looking like a humanoid made out of darkness.

It wasn't the same darkness as my previous shadow; it lacked the billowingness my former power had. It was straight lines in the shape of something like a Greek hoplite, with a sizeable round buckler on my arm.

And, yes, I was still wearing a bandanna, black featureless clothes, and a mask underneath. Power negators were a thing, and the Teeth had one. As far as the Net knew, Animos was in Brockton Bay, but that wasn't a reason to take risks.

Most of the fighting was in the center of the city, along with the northeast end. Blastgerm still held the west and was expanding eastwards in the former Teeth territories, with the other groups being less predictable in their actions.

So I parked myself close to MIT, and patrolled.

Appearing as someone new wasn't difficult; my powers were very much a recent thing compared to what I had before, and less than a week of training wasn't enough to make me less of a rookie. I could now fly (or, rather, I could move my forcefield constructs regardless of gravity, and lift something this way) and used this to patrol, but doing only that required a level of finesse that would unfortunately be the result of experience.

Experience that took time I did not fully have. So rather than flying around in style as Alec would put it, I was stuck walking around most of the time, with hops here and there to better see the situation.

My first fights were very much the same, not helped by the fact that Soldat had two teleporters. I played hit and run with them for a good fifteen minutes before they decided they had enough, and I hadn't even landed a blow on them.

Comparatively, fighting 'members' of Blastgerm was easy. In cape terms, they were brutes, and with the selective permeability of my fields I could easily approach them without risk.

And that led to my first meeting with members of Boston's Protectorate.

While I'd long known that Boston had more capes than Brockton Bay, the increase in crime meant I'd been in Boston for a week before I actually met them.

Or, rather, him.

"Hey, nice work!" A man on a bike said as he dismounted a few meters behind me. I hadn't noticed him arriving, but I did recognize him: White Mirror, second in command of Boston's Protectorate.

I simply nodded in his direction, keeping an eye on the three cages I'd formed. Inside were three remarkably similar brutes, and they continued trying to force their way out relentlessly.

And uselessly, given their hits were only strengthening my fields.

The Protectorate member pulled out what I knew from previous experience was a foam grenade. "Can you make a hole in them for this?" He asked.

"No need," I answered. "Just toss it."

The man looked at me with clear uncertainty, then shrugged and did just that.

He was surprised when the grenade sailed right through my field, exploding once inside. I wasn't; making my constructs permeable one way was one of the first tricks I'd figured out.

Two more grenades followed and, after a few seconds of waiting, I modified those three cages to be transparent, or at least to stop absorbing the light as much as I could.

"Aw! More of these?!" White Mirror exclaimed as he saw the heads of the now trapped brutes.

"You know them?" I asked.

"Yeah," he replied with a sigh. "Blasto's work. The PRT has a warehouse full of those by now, and they don't last more than a week regardless of what we try. They're also no more intelligent than a dog at best."

"What happens, then?"

"I'll call it in," White Mirror answered. "We have a PRT team specialized in dealing with Blasto's work." He paused for a second. "You want a ride, Blackguard?"

I turned to look straight at him. "What did you call me?"

The professional cape raised his hands up. "Nothing, just the name that's going around on PHO."

I sighed. I'd focused on learning the intricacies of Boston on the Net, not tracking my own information the same way. Rookie mistake. "Call me Ancile, please," I answered.

"Ancile, you said?" He asked, pulling out his phone. "Can you spell that for me?"

I did so with another sigh. I would have expected a senior Protectorate member to be more educated.

"Thank you," the man said as he put his phone back in his pocket. "I'll make sure both my reports and the PRT and Protectorate have the right info."

Well, that was at least a win.

"Want to come with me to base?" The man continued. "I can show you around, if you want."

I shook my head. I knew where that would lead, and I wasn't interested in dodging blatant attempts at recruitment.

"You planning on doing more of this?" White Mirror asked.

"For the moment, at least," I offered.

Given what little I could get of his body language, I guessed he smiled. "Then I guess I'll see you again another time!"

I nodded, then pushed myself upwards. Given the look White Mirror gave me, he hadn't known I could do this, and I suspected he was envious.

I have to admit I felt good about that.

I ended up fighting four more of those creations a few streets north, then another pair two hours later.

While I waited for the PRT for the third time, I couldn't help but think. Nine in a few hours? That couldn't be a coincidence. There was something more happening here, and getting to the bottom of it might be just what I needed to make my new reputation rock solid.

As such, as soon as the PRT had things in hand, I made straight for my motel room.

I had plans to make.