Chapter 9: A little spying

Trumpaaurus - Taylor has no control over me, not even as Big Chill. The 'Command' to pick her up is literally mentioned earlier as 'If I get distracted, remind me.' It wasn't a command, it was her reminding him that he was going to do that.

As for using alien tech to circumvent the Link/Bond before meeting Taylor, that would require a fuckton of work and effort, and this early on I'm not going to go out of my way to do that.

Guest/Anyone else asking about Dragon - Yes.

Haunton - This'll be brought up in one of the chapters I'll be releasing.

After Taylor and I had our moment, we started our day. Sure it was before the ass crack of dawn, but we'd both slept enough that just going back to sleep would be lazy... Which I wanted to give into because I was a Sloth Type, but after the conversation we'd had, that'd be kind of fucking stupid. So I worked on some of my guys, mainly Arctiguana, Cannonbolt, Gravattack, and Echo Echo/Ultimate Echo Echo.

The first was one of my instinctual forms, I knew how to use most of his stuff, and thanks to making frequent use of Big Chill, both to use said powers as well as get used to being a 'Secondary Relay', I knew what to do with his powers. (Use one Cryokinetic you use em all.) Speaking of the moth, the Necrofriggian was stronger and could freeze things colder then the Polar Manzardill, but lost when it came to the ranged aspect of their ice. Arctiguana could fire his laser 250ft, and probably even further, but I'd only made the basement so big, so I didn't know his limit. Still, it was crazy how far it could go and still have the same potency. I could even 'Charge' my beams, making the ice lizard a crazily effective sniper if I used him right.

The second was one of the easiest forms to use... Because really, it's kind of hard to fuck up 'Zoom this way things go bing bang boom.' Interesting to notice though was how my Echolocation worked. While I moved and spun, I basically had a 3D map inside my mind. It was weird... But cool. Zooming around on the ice I made as Arctiguana was fun too. (Note to self, take Taylor ice skating. Watching her bust her ass will be awesome.)

|Excuse you?!| I mentally did the 'Innocent whistle', and pretended she didn't respond, but that earned me a mental narrowing of the eyes. |I'll remember this.| For a second I thought I saw a Telltale alert, and had flashbacks to The Walking Dead. |... I'm going to ignore the zombie game and just think about going ice skating. That's better for my sanity.|

I snorted. [Uhuh... By the way, we really need to figure out a day for our date.] Taylor paused, and I heard a low 'Thump' go out... And thanks to my Echolocation, I got the brief glimpse of Taylor landing face first on the living room rug. [... You good?]

The Embarrassment and Affection were the immediate responses. |Yeah... Just... Give me some warning when you're going to say something like that.|

A grin formed on my face at that, and I idly thought it'd probably scare the shit out of any normie that saw it. [But then I wouldn't get to see or feel you act all cute.]

|... I'm going on a run.| That was the most blatant 'I'm running away' thing I'd ever heard, and it was hilarious! |Hush you!| I sent over the 'No, I don't think I will' meme, and felt my other half burn with Exasperation and Fondness. She was just an adorableee cutie patootie. |Ugh! I will FIGHT you dammit!|

Sending over an image of Taylor in dominatrix gear, I pushed the button. [Mhm, kinky.]

The sheer amount of Mortified Embarrassment was fucking amazing. |UGHHH!| I cackled and went back to rolling around at the speed of sound while Taylor ran out of our home. She was feeling a bit better after last night/early morning, but keeping her mental health on the up and up needed effort.

And if said effort involved me teasing the fuck out of her, then who was I to complain?

Anyway, moving onto the next guy, I stood up and tapped the dial, turning into the Galilean... Which made me wonder about Doctor Who the first time I figured out the name of this species, and made me sad to see it was discontinued in this world after the creator got caught in an Endbringer attack. (This world really is a shit hole. They didn't even get to the Weeping Angels.)

My disappointment in this world aside, I clenched my hands and started training.

Gravattack... He was weird. I knew about him because of some clips and stuff I'd randomly seen, but I didn't know what he did. The first time I turned into him, I was confused. Thankfully, the instinctual knowledge of his species helped me figure out what he could do. The issue was training his abilities so that I could actually use them. How does one train turning into a planet? And don't even get me started on gravity. Manipulating gravity was like... Holding Jello was the best comparison really. It constantly wobbled, it shifted, and while I could force it to do what I wanted, if I wasn't careful then I'd distort or destroy everything around me. So yeah, I had to devote all of my attention to his training.

Then there was Echo Echo... Simple enough. Divide, divide, SCREAM. There were also clone tactics, but those were easy. Ganging up on our enemies was basic human instinct. The Ultimate form was simple enough too, and I even cracked how to duplicate myself as Ultimate Echo Echo, though the process was slow and needed my full attention to make one Ultimate clone after 4 minutes. Hopefully I'd be able to cut the time down to 3 minutes, then lower until it was instant, but it'd take time.

While I managed that, what I was trying to work with him on was the cloning my de-powered self thing. No matter how I tried it, no matter how I used Brainstorm to mentally replay the episode where Ben did it, I just couldn't clone myself. I couldn't even do it with my normal or Ultimate Echo Echo clones either, trying to have one clone change into something else would just pull us back together and make me transform.

Even through solid objects like walls meant nothing. If there was a solid barrier in my way, the clone(s) would just de-spawn and I'd turn into whoever I picked. It was weird, and annoying, because if it would just work then I could get a Think Tank of Brainstorms and Grey Matters to set up Win Conditions and beat this death world. Hell, I could probably figure out a doom laser or some shit by the end of the day with 50 Galvans working together.

My disappointment aside, I'd finished my training session, and was making my way back upstairs, when I got an alert from the VI. Taking out my phone, I haven't figured out how to link my Ultimatrix to my phone or computer yet, I looked at the alert and blinked. "Huh, this'll be interesting."

The PRT was having a meeting about Shadow Stalker, Winslow, and it us apparently. Thinking about it for a bit, I nodded. [Hey, listen!]

Annoyance flickered over to me, as well as my other half's attention. |Phoenix...|

Whistling, I ignored the threatening tone. [PRT'S meeting up to talk about the shit show they're stuck in. Wanna watch and laugh at them?]

She was silent for a bit, but I felt her Interest. |Sure. Are we going to eat snacks or actual food?| I thought about it for a second, then remembered that we had Oreo's and sour cream and onion chips. |I still don't get how you like those things. They taste horrible and make your breath stink.|

[Le gasp!] The deadpan coming from her would've frozen fires. [How could you besmirch the divine snacks that are my sour cream and onions chips?! Blasphemy I tell you! Blasphemy!]

I made my way into the livingroom, and saw Taylor sitting on the couch in her workout clothes, a baggy white shirt and sweatpants, closing a water bottle and giving me the 'Are you dumb?' Look. "Non believer, remember?" Ah, she had a point. Her lips twitched. "Of course I do you goof." Rolling my eyes, I went to the kitchen, searching for my snacks, and paused when I felt a pulse of Mischievousness. |By the way, if you even try to kiss me after or while you're eating those things, I AM going to fill your bed with roaches.|

I shuddered. [No kisses until after I wash my mouth or use gum, got it.] While the Embarrassment was expected, the Eagerness wasn't. [Hoh? Does a certain someone want a kiss?] I got a brief flash of my face, specifically my lips, then it was gone.

She took a second to get herself together, then hummed. |Well... You flirt and talk about stuff like this alot, but you don't really act on it. I mean, you like hugging me, and don't get me wrong, I like them too, but w...- I mean you haven't done anything else.| Humming, I admitted she had a point. I was very huggy with Taylor, but aside from that I didn't do much... Not counting when we sle...- |Stayed in the same bed!|

Rolling my eyes at her, I replied. [Anyway, I don't do much else because you haven't asked for more.] Feeling the Confusion from her, I went on. [I'm a very simple person Taylor. If you said you wanted a kiss then I'd give you a kiss. If you wanted to hug or cuddle then I'd go for it.] By the time I got to the livingroom, Taylor was blushing like wild and not looking at me, Embarrassment and Affection radiating off of her. Seeing that, I smirked and sat down by her side as I sat my stuff onto the table in front of us. "Besides, as active as I am now, I'm still a passive person in general. I'll take the lead every now and then, like when I do THIS!"

"Do whaaa...-" Before she could react, I grabbed her by the waist with my left, and her leg with my right, and brought her up a bit, then dropped her onto my lap. "PHOENIX!" Despite the shout, and wide eyed look she was giving me, she didn't try to move, and leaned into me when I wrapped my left arm around her waist. The Contentment radiating off of her, and me too probably, "You are." That was good to know, cause this was nice. "Mhm... It is." I grinned and reached for my phone, idly wondering where I was going with this... "Something something Passive person..."

I internally laughed at the way Taylor was practically melting into me, Too comfortable to care at the moment, and got back on track. "But yeah, aside from when I'm jumping over steps like they're on fire," She snorted, "I don't really care about speeding up or slowing down shows of affection/our relationship. Though if you want to do something or slow down, just lemme know."

She hummed at that. If I want too... The image of us in bed flashed through my mind, and I felt my lips curl up when I noticed neither of us had a to...- Taylor flailed, her arm hitting my nose as she panicked. "FORGET YOU SAW THAT!"

Despite the pain, I soldiered on. [No, I don't think I will.] She grumbled at me, looking away as I rubbed my nose. [Don't worry honey,] I snickered at the way she shivered. So far that was what I was going to call her, it could change later but that was a future me issue. [We can do all the lewd things whenever. You.] I brought my lips to her ear. "Want." Taylor had a moment where her whole body shivered, and I felt a pulse of Lust hit her.

Moving back, I watched as my partner blushed, freaked out, and mentally conked out as she became a jumble of emotions. One day she'd get used to being teased... Too bad for her that that day wasn't today though.

While Taylor blue screened, I checked for the app I made that held all the cameras in the PRT building, it took me a few minutes as Grey Matter and Upgrade to make, but I had it. Opening it, I hummed and connected it to our TV, a bunch of feeds popping up, but I deselected everything aside from the meeting room, and blew it up. With the feed suddenly up, Taylor broke out of her haze, and gave me a look mixed with Warmth, before making herself comfortable by grabbing the Oreo's I'd brought.

With us both comfy, we turned to the TV and watched the scene play out.

[3rd Person POV]

Glancing at the capes gathered before her, Emily Piggot used every ounce of self control she had to not openly snarl at them. "Armsmaster," The Tinker twitched, knowing that being the first to be addressed, as well as the tone used, painted a picture of how this was going to go. "I'm only going to ask this once, and only once. How, in the ever loving FUCK, did you miss this?!"

The Heroes all knew they were in for it now. The reveal of Shadow Stalker's actions in her civilian identity had been something of a sour point amongst themselves. They'd all seen the signs, heard Vista, Clockblocker and Kidd Win's complaints, but had set them aside. They'd assumed the Wards were just exaggerating or that Shadow Stalker would grow out of it...

And now they were dealing with the fallout of their inactions.

Being the one who was meant to oversee the Wards, Armsmaster had been the one this reflected on the most. Granted, PRT ENE would be getting raked over the coals either way, especially Director Piggot given this had happened on her watch.

Speaking of the leader of the PRT ENE, Armsmaster was rather irritated and even somewhat mortified at the entire thing. He'd known his career had stalled, and had intended to figure out some way to return to prominence. Ideas had been flowing, and thanks to recent capture of Skidmark, he'd had the idea of creating something that'd solve the issue with Lung. The leader of the ABB hadn't been much of an issue, mainly just being in the background. If it hadn't been for the briefing he'd received upon the Cape settling down in Brockton Bay, he would never had known the gang leader was capable of fighting Leviathan to a standstill. (I'm pretty sure it's Canon that the whole 'Dragon of Kyushu' thing was something that only Alexandria saw, and that Lung wasn't recognized as a big threat because that wasn't spread around.)

The gang leader aside, because of the situation with Shadow Stalker, Armsmaster knew he'd most likely have a hard time getting support for the idea of taking out the head of the ABB. Especially now with the leader of the Archer's Brigade Merchants in custody. He thanked the federal presence however, since they would deter the gangs from inciting a government response, which would most likely end with Triumvirate intervention. "Shadow Stalker showed signs of calming down and acclimating to her role as a Hero. The drop off of complaints about her behavior reinforced that idea." Which were all true...

Taylor snorted at that. "Yeah, she was being a 'Hero' alright. Really showed how she was 'Acclimating to her role as a Hero' when she was stealing from me and being an abusive bitch. Idiot."

Phoenix raised a brow at his partner's irritation. "Want me to go take her other arm off?"

Surprisingly, Taylor went still. "Don't tempt me." The response earned her an amused huff.

Yet not for the reason he believed.

The snort that came from the other side of the table caught the Heroes' attention, finding said source to be Assault. "Oh please, you're the only one that thinks that Armsy." Normally, that would've been the point where his partner would've elbowed or kneed him, but Battery seemed oddly despondent. "The kiddies just stopped trying. Aegis, bless the kid and his tenacious soul, has been trying to keep things as good as he could, while Vista's been doing YOUR job to keep Kidd and Clock from lashing out or complaining. Girl knows whatever complaints come up are just going to be ignored." Now don't get him wrong, Assault was all for redemption and all that good stuff, but he didn't exactly like Shadow Stalker.

As a former Villain, Assault knew the difference between being a Hero and a Villain. The PRT had been trying to put a square through a triangle with that girl, and knew it'd blow up in their faces. Though he didn't exactly expect the FBI and CDC to be involved in said blow up... Maybe he should've said something...

Nah.

Piggot took a breath at the Cape's words, then let out a breath as she glared at the capes gathered around the room. "And no one saw fit to notify myself or Armsmaster?"

The Heroes shared a look, and like before, Assault was all too happy to stick his foot in the door. "I tried. Though when I did, Armsy blew me off to go play with his rod," Battery elbowed her partner/husband, but he didn't mind. "And I told you, but you thought I was huffing hot air and said 'I'll keep it under advisement.' And now we're here."

"I like him."

Taylor didn't even bother looking at her other half. "Gee, I wonder why."

Sighing, Miss Militia pinched the bridge of her nose. "While I'd rather not add onto Assault's point, I'd like it to be known that I passed my complaints to Armsmaster, as well as yourself. I was given similar responses as Assault, and left it as it were." The aforementioned Hero grinned at that, shooting finger guns at his colleague. Sure she literally said she didn't want to add fuel to his fire, but she did it anyway.

Said colleague ignored him.

Assault aside, Battery, Velocity and Triumph didn't have much to say. They shared the occasional patrol with Shadow Stalker, but they hadn't exactly given her behavior too much mind. The result of their inattention made them somewhat guilty, especially that her actions had been bad enough to warrant FBI and CDC intervention.

Hearing this, Piggot grit her teeth and wished she could get a drink. "Noted. All complaints will be gathered and sent off to PRT HQ for review." She knew she should've transferred that bitch out, but with no one wanting to offer aid to Brockton Bay, she had to make due with what she had. And now here she was, the FBI and CDC breathing down her neck. Still, she could potentially give HQ a bloody nose if she worked it right. "Well because of this shit show, we've got a quarantined High School, who knows how many infected students and faculty, and the FBI ready to ship a Ward out to federal prison." Seeing nearly all of the Heroes straighten up, Piggot scowled. "How many of you read the files sent by the FBI?"

Armsmaster, Miss Militia, and Battery raised their hands. Assault looked surprised at his partner, but Piggot didn't care. "So you all know that Hess WILL be getting a decade or two at the minimum without counting the triple homicide she committed yesterday." If she weren't near her breaking point, Piggot would've been amused at how the Heroes recoiled liked they'd been slapped.

"Wait, what?! When did that happen?" Triumph was shocked at that, not having known about that considering he'd been on patrol around Merchant territory. The addicts were going a little crazy with the loss of their leadership, and weren't doing better now that Mush had taken the helm.

Miss Militia scowled behind her mask, and answered. "Shadow Stalker's trail was mapped out a few hours ago, and one point of interest was where Khepri showed up and disabled the vehicle that Shadow Stalker commandeered. Searching around the area, for signs of both Khepri and where Shadow Stalker went afterwards, the bodies of three E88 members were found. Two of them had bolts sticking out of their heads, while the third succumbed to a slashed throat."

The reminder of the corpses caused Taylor to lock up, emotions such as Fear and Revulsion coursing through her. In response, Phoenix held her and did his best to sooth her.

Grimaces were seen all around at that reveal. And yet she wasn't done. "The Empire caught wind of this." And there was another issue. "The only good news is that because of the FBI and CDC they won't be making any overt moves. The bad news is we'll need to prepare for whatever they may do once the situation is resolved. The even worse news is that because of Shadow Stalker's actions, they will have the 'Moral high ground.'" Miss Militia hated saying it, but it needed to be out there.

Scowls were seen all around, and not even Assault could say something to that. Nazis being the offended party? Who woulda fuckin thunk it?

Piggot grit her teeth, knuckles going white as she clenched her fists. This was not something she needed, but now she had to deal with it, all the while down a somewhat effective Ward.

Fucking wonderful.

Huffing, she decided to hurry the damn meeting along, and brought up the last topics. "Now, Khepri, Anubis, and Sun Wukong."

Taylor blinked, and turned towards her partner, brow raised in a silent question. Seeing that, Phoenix rolled his eyes. "Remind me to introduce you to SMITE when I figure out a way off this shit hole."

She blinked, then tilted her head as he sent her a few images of himself playing the game... Seeing her namesake being an actual giant scarab was interesting. Plus, gods and mythology were things that intrigued her, so she was fine with that.

"Knowing what we know now, what should we label/rate them?" That was the question wasn't it?

Prior to the incident with Shadow Stalker, the threat rating for Khepri had labeled her as a Independent Hero with Master 5*, Shaker 3*, Thinker(?)*, Brute(?)*, Tinker(?)*, and Stranger 4-7 depending on environment. Yet with the incident, her Master rating could easily be bumped up to a 7* given the fact she controlled thousands of bugs over a quarter mile radius.(Training and incorporating Big Chill boosted it.)

Thankfully, they could most likely drop the Tinker rating due to the presence of 'Anubis.' There'd only been a brief glimpse, and it was only because the Cape themselves confirmed their existence on PHO that they knew of them. But with that confirmation, they knew who the Tinker of the pair was... Well, they hoped they did, because if there were two Tinkers together then that could be an issue should they get caught by the gangs. At the moment they were labeled as a Independent Hero along with their partner, but those labels were subject to change.

Then there was Sun Wukong. The Changer was labeled a Villain after the incident, the amount of property damage and burst eardrums was enough for that, and had three known forms... And seemed to be adamant about what they were called, as well as insulted at the name the PRT had assigned to them.

The first one had been Skyrider, and renamed to Jetray. After the incident, it was labeled a Mover 9-10*, creating sonic booms was enough of an explanation. Blaster 4*, and Brute 5*.

Electro, re labeled Ampfibian, was a Blaster 5*, Shaker 5*, Mover 2*, and Breaker (?)* - 12, solely because of the ability to go intangible.

Then there was Wraith, re named Big Chill, was rated Breaker (?)* - 12, Shaker (?)*, Blaster (?)*, and Mover 3 - (?)*.

Just three forms and all of them had atleast one category where they neared the tip of the scale. Sun Wukong was said to have 72 forms... Piggot would go out and drink herself to death if the Changer had even half of that.(Poor piggy.) But, without knowing how many forms the Changer had, they'd simply put them down as a Changer (?) - 12.

The discussion lasted for a few minutes, but it was eventually decided that Khepri would keep the Tinker rating, just in case, while Anubis was given a Tinker 6* for the weapons and armor, and the same Brute, Mover and Stranger ratings because of said armor.

Groaning, Piggot dismissed the Heroes, unwilling to have them in her presence for much longer. She'd only have a short reprieve before she had to address the FBI and supply them with Shadow Stalker... Then deal with the Director's Meeting... "Never should've accepted this goddamn post."

[Taylor's POV]

After a minute or two of the director not doing anything interesting, Phoenix un linked the feeds, turning the TV back to normal. Though, I wasn't really paying too much mind to the feed after the Heroes left... Mainly because I was the most comfortable I'd ever been. "Nice to know I make a good chair."

I rolled my eyes at the tease. "Chairs don't talk, return to being comfy." The Amusement and Humor that rolled into me was just making this better. Hmm... We're definitely doing this more often. I nodded at that and turned to smile at my partner. "Atleast three times a day."

Phoenix smirked, his eyes locking onto mine as I felt a surge of Mischief from him, making my eyes widen as I caught the tail end of one of his thoughts. "And at night?"

Remembering how I woke up yesterday and this morning, how Warm and Safe and WHOLE I'd felt... I felt conflicted. I wanted that, I wanted that every day. Waking up knowing I wasn't alone, knowing I was wanted and cared for... It was everything I wanted...

And it was addicting. It honestly scared me how much I wanted to just spend everyday and morning waking up with those feelings. It felt like I was drowning in them, and I wouldn't mi...- I was poked in the cheek, and I blinked as I saw the look on my partner's face. He'd given me a soft smile before, but the look in his eyes and the Calm he was radiating just made me want to pay attention. "You're overthinking." Huh? He rolled his eyes and held me closer as he pulsed with Soothing Affection. I was pretty sure I was turning into a puddle at this point. "You are." Ah. "And it's adorable." I was going to die from overheating at this point. "Anywaaay, like I said, you're overthinking. Do you want us to sleep together? Yes or no Taylor."

My mind had an instant response to that. (Of course I do!) A response my mouth was only moments behind. "Yes!" Then I realized what I thought/said. "Bu...- Ow!" A flick to my nose cut me off, and I glared at him for it.

Adorable. I huffed at him, ignoring the way he grinned at me. "Then we'll sleep together, simple as that." My EVERYTHING froze. "Sometimes you've just got to not think, and do what you want. You want this, I want this, so we're going to go for it, simple as that. " I was trying to process that, to try to make some sense about how simple he was making this, when I felt the pulse of Mischief and a bit of Lust hit me. "Plus," I didn't notice when his lips reached my ear again. "Just think about it, the two of us all alone in bed." My heart hammered in my chest and my pulse raced. "You getting to do A.N.Y.T.H.I.N.G you want."

I didn't know which one of us thought of it, but the image of us in bed flashed in my mind, neither of us wearing anything while I laid against him... Feeling something growing under me, I snapped out of my thoughts... And slowly looked down. Recognizing what it was, I stilled, my cheeks burning. (Ah... Fuck.)

An amused scoff went off behind me. "Eventually."

When I realized what he meant, I passed out.

The last thing I heard was a cackling laughter.

I had a feeling Phoenix would be the death of me, and for some reason I didn't think I'd mind.