1.10

1.10

I'm surprised for a few seconds as my brain tries to kick into gear, during which Shard helpfully gives me an image of my kidnapping with a suggestion of punting -this- guy into the bay. That kicks my brain into gear, I just need solutions.

Once I recover from my shock I put away the useless 'who would be following you' and whatnot, if she knew she'd have suggestions. "Taylor, I'm on my way. Should I suit up and play this off as a rescue or should we play it off as a date and hope he leaves us alone?" I tilt the receiver away from my mouth as I call out to mom, my voice dead serious, "Mom, can we let Taylor borrow your pistol and stun gun for a few days?"

She catches the tone, "Let me grab them". It's something I've never asked before, my father works security and can be a little paranoid so he made sure we had a firearm for home defense. She knew if I was asking there was a reason.

My mind is still running overtime, trying to figure out the best thing to do and who it could be but it's all useless without more information which we may not have -time- for. Oh, and Shard is convinced the ant men disguised one of their agents to bring their new queen to their subterranean stronghold. Oddly enough I can't say that conclusion is -illogical-, particularly with what Taylor's power is and the fact that there are bio-tinkers running around. So I humor her by listing it as 'possibility F'.

Taylor responds, still nervous, but with a little relief, "Thanks Will, um, I guess the fake date option. You can't exactly swoop in and accuse a van of committing a crime."

I stop for a moment, then figure I have time to argue that, since my mother is grabbing stuff. "Taylor, you seem to be underestimating the power of 'randomly doing what I want'. I went through town tossing high powered explosives into the sky yesterday, I don't think anyone's going to bat an eye if I randomly sit on a van. Besides, that calls all the cape geeks to stare at the 'non-descript van' trying to hide."

Shard helpfully adds an image of just lobbing a fireball through the passenger window and calling it a day. I list that as the solution to possibility F. She seems pretty happy with that.

I can tell Taylor is trying not to laugh at the mental image my suggestion brings up of the 'sneaky van' with a neon hero sitting on the roof and surrounded by cape chasers. "No, no. If this is some sort of leak or last ditch effort from Sophia it would just prove a link between me and Mr. 'O'. Better for Will to show up."

I wait a moment and when I think she's realized what she said, "So, how often do you meet Mr. 'O'?"

It takes her a moment, then she growls embarrassed, "Shut up Will, this is serious." Then she takes a deep breath before recovering "Alright, meet me at that diner off the corner of Ames and York, I'll save us a table."

I hear my mom's car start in the garage, "Alright, I'm on my way."

She sounds more relieved than nervous now "Thanks, see you soon."

I run out and jump in the car. Mom is driving. As soon as I'm in, she pulls out and asks for details, so I explain to her where to go and what's going on. She has a hard look in her eyes. She can be serious when things need to be done. She has me call dad and tell him as well, mom grabs the phone and tells him he's on backup duty and describes he's to watch the van and to bring his 'tools'... and that he's on his own for dinner. I think mom just doesn't want to cook at this point.

I see the van about half a block away from the diner. We're coming from the opposite direction so I don't get a chance to see anything inside which is a little irritating. We pull into the diner and I swear my mother is the best actor in the world. The moment she parks I'm amazed as her face instantly loses the seriousness and she just looks normal. Well, normal for her, meaning a mischievous glint to her eyes and the corner of her mouth quirked slightly like she's in on a joke no one else can see.

When she looks at me she shakes her head "You can't look like you're ready for a fight. We have to look like an innocent family or they won't come to us. I don't want to spend all night chasing down a van."

I manage a smile - mainly because my mother just told me 'if they don't fall into the trap, we'll push them in'. The fact that someone is after Taylor does -not- sit well with me.

We go in and get seated at Taylor's table. My mother had brought a large purse, which is a little odd for her since she normally carries her smaller one if she brings one at all. I assumed it was for the stun gun and pistol, though the bag is a bit large for that.

My mother grins at Taylor "So this is Taylor?" She turns to me, "I like this one, she's much better than the other one and she -willingly- spends time with you."

I confirm this is indeed Taylor with a simple "Yep" and give a small wave to Taylor "Heya T, thanks for inviting us out."

Taylor looks a little surprised, I guess she didn't expect me to get my parents involved. I don't understand the whole 'Cape Club' thing. Most capes are regular people with some fancy ability, it doesn't make them -immune- to conventional weapons. A fly lands on my cheek and Taylor raises an eyebrow...

Oh! that's what this is about, I subtly shake my head but say "Mom knows about me." Hopefully she understands that means 'they know about ME, not you'. The fly also buzzes off so I assume she got the message.

Mom nods saying "Yes, I know he's really been into that little game he's putting together. Now on to more important things. We'll offer a dowry if you'll take him off our hands. I want to turn his room into a test lab and the 'Agency' is covering rebuilding costs. If I wait too long they'll just make it a -room- and we can't have that."

Taylor gives me a -look- then turns back to my mom "Um, Mrs. Taylor, Will and I aren't dating."

I nod "Yeah, we're just BB's"

Mom gives me a look, then looks at my chest, then turns to Taylor who covers her eyes looking like 'I can't believe he just said that'. Mom asks her "Taylor, is there -something- Will has forgotten to tell me?"

Taylor keeps her eyes covered and what she says sounds strained "No... He's just an idiot."

Mom nods giving me a pitying look. I ignore it and look over the menu. Shard apparently wants shrimp... I -think- the reasoning is it starts with 'Sh'.

Taylor still looks a little confused after she drops her hands and looks between the two of us. she whispers "How are you two so... calm about this?".

Mom smacks my shoulder to get my attention and makes the motion of writing, so I produce my ever-present notepad, and hand it with a pen to her. Mom writes [They could be listening.] Followed by [Reasons for following] and a bulleted list of [Research, Kidnapping, Keeping watch, Protection] She puts a bracket by [Research, Kidnapping and Keeping watch] with a note of [Link to Will - possible leak from PRT/Sophia or revenge/leverage from Will's Thursday kidnappers.] I grab the pen and below all of it write [Possible unknown party involved for various reasons. Leverage on T's father? A Thinker for any number of reasons.] I give the pen back and mom turns the page and keeps writing [Plan of action: Order dinner, watch for suspicious activity. Receive dinner, call cavalry who calls police. Reaction gives info. Even if not jailed, get ID's and tech level. Low: random gang probably Thursday Kidnappers, High: well funded group - possibilities:?, Tinkertech: very well funded - possibly Organization. - could have hacked PRT servers?]

I nod, seems like a good plan of action. Shard wants me to write about the ant-men. When I don't she sulks but gets distracted when the waitress shows up. Mom passes the notes over to Taylor who idly orders some salad/chicken blasphemy while I get steak and shrimp and my mother follows my example.

When the waitress leaves mom smirks and says "So... What's this about Bosom Buddies? I thought Shard was a new thing?"

Taylor looks at me confused "What's shard?"

And now Shard is trying to bowl over my mind to yell out 'HI!', luckily she can't come out on her own.

I shrug "It's kinda a long story... Eh, it'll be easier just to show you." I whisper to 'myself' barely audibly "Shard, no mana, ok?" She excitedly agrees. My mother is cursing forgetting the camcorder. Taylor just looks even -more- confused.

I push Shard to the front, I can feel her giggling. When she's pushed forward my eyes change from emerald to teal but while the power is being diverted to my aura my eyes don't glow. Once Shard is up front she sits up straighter and I can feel her pull on some of the rest of my mind to get things like speech and how to move. She suddenly grins a beaming smile with wide eyes and waves my hand vigorously to Taylor, then gets distracted by mom. Shard instantly wraps her arms around -our- mother and chirps "Mom!" who hugs Shard back and pats her on the back. A moment later Shard disentangles herself from the embrace and attempts to jump forward to hug Taylor, banging my lower abdomen on the table and startling Taylor. Shard is confused for a moment and my mom laughs, then I grab Shard an push her back when she tries to gather mana for flight.

Shard is still excited from her first -real- time outside. As I sit back down I can see Taylor giving me a HORRIFIED look. I tilt my head "Come on, she's not that bad."

Mom just sighs and looks at me while motioning to Taylor "And that is the look of my opportunity of getting rid of you floating away on the breeze." Taylor looks at my mom with the same horrified expression.

Taylor seems to almost be hyperventilating, maybe some sort of anxiety? She closes her eyes for a moment to get her thoughts in order. When she opens them she almost looks angry and points to me saying quietly "What the hell was that!?" Then turns to my mother "And why aren't you more concerned!?"

Before my mother answers she gets a call, I'm pretty sure it's dad, "Hey hun. Alright. Not yet. Huh... that's odd. Yeah. No, not yet, let us eat first. Fine. Yeah, I'll make it up to you. Love you!" She hangs up and motions Taylor for the notepad.

Taylor looks surprised at herself, like she forgot -why- we were here but slides the pad and pen over only looking a little guilty. Mom writes on a clean sheet [They have gotten 2 short calls. Don't seem to be moving. John is sabotaging, then calling police. - if asked, it is not our rat trap.] at the confused look from Taylor mom continues writing [A rat trap is a pocket sized quick deployed tire spike]. Mom then pulls a can of mace and the stun gun out of her purse and hands them across to Taylor. She then says "Taylor, when we finish, call your parents, you're coming to our house for about an hour."

I've gotten pretty good at reading Taylor's expressions. The one she's giving my mom is 'Who ARE you?'... and the one she's giving me is 'THESE are your PARENTS?'... that one is 'Oh, that's why you're the way you are.'... and that one is just pity. I look to my mom for support, but she's giving me the same look. I ignore them, this isn't a fight I'll win and 'discretion is the better part of valor'.

Our food arrives shortly after that. Everything goes back to fairly normal conversation, though I get some looks when I let Shard up front to eat the shrimp since -she- ordered them and I didn't see any harm in it.

Roughly halfway through the meal Taylor tenses up and a few seconds later my mother gets another call "Hey hun. Alright." She hangs up and whispers "They've gotten out of the van, let's get ready to go." She motions to the waitress to get the bill.

A minute later I can see three guys standing across the street, two of them have outfits that look bulky and almost military. The third guy is dressed somewhat normally but he stands tensed - he looks ready for a fight. They're far enough away I can't make out weapons. I put away my notepad and the waitress comes back, Mom pays her and tells her to keep the change. That way we're not running her over if we have to run outside.

As the normal-dressed guy is about to cross the street he gets a call. After a short conversation he says something to the other two then holds a hand up to his ear and says something. Mom gets another call shortly after and I see the guys running back toward the van. I assume they got word of the police call. Probably a scanner. When mom gets off the phone she's glaring out the window "The driver got a message on his earpiece, then got out and found the rat trap. Will, go get changed, I'll call you when you need to show up, but we need you ready. And be careful, just try to slow them down. Police can handle it from there. I'm calling the PRT, I don't care if they think I'm crazy or paranoid, something's wrong here."

Shard helpfully points out I could add fake muscles if I strip to my boxers again to which I roll my eyes. I catch a look from Taylor but I wave her off "I'll be fine." besides, she's trying to keep her secret so she can't really be backup.

I stand and head outside and around the building so I'll have some privacy to layer on my spells. Once I get my light coating and flight spells up I hear the screeching of tires as the van takes off, luckily they can't go -too- fast here if they want to make any turns. I don't think I can keep up with a speeding car for more than a few seconds. Shard wants to help so I have her fly to follow the van and I mentally give her access to some of my resources, just enough to keep pace, I don't trust her not to screw up the shield spell. I keep a vague eye on where we're going but focus on building up my Force Shield. Once complete I push shard to the back and wait for the expected phonecall. The van takes a right, which luckily is the side I'm on.

I get a call a few seconds later, it's dad. He sounds frustrated "I have Bill up further figuring they'd want to hit Main street if this stuff didn't work, but they're going around him. I don't know what's going on but your mother's plan is falling to hell. See if you can slow'em down kiddo."

I nod "Got it." I put the phone away and stay flying fairly high to try to avoid getting seen by the mirrors. Hard to miss seeing the glowing guy if he's in your line of sight after all. Then I get Shard to help me build six half powered Mana Bolts to attempt to pepper the base of the van to get a tire. At this range it's a long shot. I release the volley and most *ping* off the side of the van, apparently it was bulletproof, but one shot misses entirely, luckily the last one manages to catches the back right tire.

When the bolt dissipates from lack of power an instant after puncturing, the tire blows out and the van starts to slow down and veers to the side for a moment before the driver gets it back under control. "That should be good enough." Shard disagrees and suggests fire, just to be certain. I laugh and shake my head "Not this time."

I call my dad back "Alright, took out a tire, they're still limping along though. What do you want me to do?"

Dad thinks for a moment then sighs "We don't really want Oblivium attached to this, head back to the diner and let the police and PRT handle it from there. I got some photos when they opened the van, looks like they have some solid backing. I recognized the suits two of those guys were wearing, it's a bare bones tinker built power suit. I saw a demonstration once, things are expensive as hell... which isn't a good sign."

I start heading back to the diner as I see signs of that ridiculous power, the one that makes physicists cry, shrink the distance between a couple of buildings. Looks like Wards are on it. They must have been in the area, it hasn't been -that- long since mom was supposed to call, just eight or ten minutes I'd guess.

I dismiss my spells when I land at the diner and go around the front to find my mother, father and Taylor. Mom is on the phone, sounds like she's talking to the PRT and dad is interrupting to add information in regards to some of the equipment. When Taylor sees me she looks a little overwhelmed. This had gone from 'People are watching me' to 'some huge organization has me in its sight for a reason none of us know.'

I walk up to her and put a hand on her shoulder to whisper "Calm down, they put this many resources in and were stopped, they'll think twice about trying it in the future, and if they do try again I'll use some of Shards ideas." Taylor looks a little curious so I explain "She wanted me to knock on the window, and when they rolled it down, hand the driver a fireball."

She tries hard not to laugh and seems torn between the image of casually handing a ball of fiery death to someone and the fact that it would result in horrible death to said people. She settles for an even amount of both saying "That's -terrible-!"

I nod "But it's what's going to happen if they try again." I hand her my phone. "Now call your dad and tell him you're visiting your friend's place for an hour or two"

The rest of the evening was much more calm. My mother and father teased Taylor a bit, but when we got home they turned serious and drilled her over gun safety, how the gun works and why the rules are important. Occasionally adding in stories of idiots that have shot themselves doing stupid things. Another thing drilled into her was situational awareness, people behind your target can be hit, etc. I listened in for a refresher course and to put in my own comments I thought she should know, such as she is NOT going to be a good aim to start with, this is only going to be effective at fairly short range. Luckily that's about the range kidnappings occur by their very nature.

I also 'suggested strongly' that she tells her father about this incident and that she has a pistol in the house for self defense, I somehow doubt she'll listen though. By the time she left it was almost ten so I walked her home. My excuse was "You know where I live, it's only fair I find out where you do."

She was silent most of the walk but after a while she spoke up "Your parents are kind of amazing you know?"

I shrug "If that's about tonight, mom's a planner, she tries to think of everything, goes over all the options the opponent can take and tries to counter them. NO ONE beats her at chess. She turns it off most of the time because she prefers just going all 'happy go lucky', but never piss her off. Dad works for a security company, they hire out personnel as guards so he knows about a lot of the companies that equip mercenaries and whatnot." I laugh "Actually I'm pretty sure my mother is pissed that she had to rely on me as a trump card to stop the guys."

Taylor laughs at that but shakes her head "Not just that... it's just, you can tell them anything, I mean you told them about your power and what you plan to do. You say, 'hey someone might be after my friend!' and they're up in arms and on their way and have a real plan and everything. My dad... he'd explode if I told him I want to be a hero. He'd probably lock me in the house for a month too."

I nod "So, one of the overprotective types that want to protect you from life. Which then makes it harder for them to protect you at all."

She agrees then stops in front of a house "Well, here it is. I'll see you later Will"

The door opens and what I assume is her father is glaring at me as I say "Bye T, see you later" and I nod and wave to her dad "Mr. Hebert" to which he grunts, but continues glaring as I turn and head back home.

Once home nothing much out of the ordinary happens, right up until I flop onto the couch and go to sleep. As soon as I try to sleep I find myself in the teal sky empty Brockton Bay. Shard appears next to me and raises a brow sending me an image of combat.

I think for a moment then nod "Sure, if I can practice while I sleep and develop new skills like last time that'd be useful... but can you turn down the pain some? Maybe do a game system and when I take so many hits I go to a safe zone?"

She nods and disappears, a small orb of white light about 10 yards across appears and feels 'safe'. Then there's a whistling sound and a metal pod shaped almost like a bullet crashes into the ground and unfolds, inside is a mechanical suit with tinker guns all over it. The guns have a similar design to the one I caught a glimpse of back when Glory Girl threw that pajama tinker through the wall.

The guns orient on me and start to glow red. The lasers luckily stop at the white 'safety zone'. "Well, level two here I come" I say with about as much enthusiasm as a cat knowing a bath is coming.