32

Date

2011 January 28th - Thursday - Earth Bet Time

Taylor leaned back in her beach chair and tried very hard to ignore the woman sitting next to her. She took a sip and spent a few minutes watching Admin trying to build a sandcastle with his stubby hands.

"Come on, Taylor! You can't stay mad at me forever!"

She took another sip.

"I apologized. What more do you want?" came the increasingly desperate words from her friend.

This continued for a few more minutes when she finally had enough of it.

"I'm sorry, but my friend would have called me to protect my father," she spoke up dryly.

"Not this one again, Taylor," answered Tess exasperatedly. "I was in total control. I had several drones ready to deploy shields, and he had that shield emitter you made him."

"I don't care. He is my father; I could've protected him. Plus, I still don't get why you let those druggies off…"

Tess's voice turned a little more tender. "I know, Taylor, and I understand that you worry for him, but if you had interfered, it would have caused you and your father an untold amount of problems." She took a moment to place a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. "It is admirable that you want to protect him, but please, trust me to protect him when he is at the Docks. I promised you I would do it, and I won't go back on my word. Okay?"

Taylor faced the woman and nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She still couldn't really put into words what it felt like trusting somebody. She wasn't furious at Tess; she was mostly angry at herself that she didn't trust her.

Still, the evidence showed the truth in her words. Her father was safely snoring away in his room without a scratch on him. Though he did spend a lot of time hugging her.

Seeing her nod, Tess leaned forward and brought her into a hug. She enthusiastically returned it.

"Sorry, Tess," she murmured.

The Tinker just chuckled good-naturedly.

"Let me tell you my plan for the Merchants…"

After the hugging and explanations were done, they spent some time talking about Tinker projects and Tess's new body.

It seemed she was almost ready to debut the first version. It would be equipped with realistic skin and hair, would be capable of eating and drinking, it even simulated the micro-movements of the human body.

She couldn't really wait for when she could go out with her friend and have fun in the actual world. The virtual space was awesome (when super-powered Nazi zombies weren't chasing her) but nothing could substitute the actual world.

After all, it was the only place where you could get a decent meal.

"What is the first thing you will do when the body is ready?" she asked the other woman, as they stood in a virtual workshop. The information was projected in 3D using holographic projectors, and the walls were full of monitors, showing the data Tess collected about the body before forking and joining the virtual space.

Currently, they were reviewing some parts of the body's next iteration. The 3D design of the body (rather creepily) was projected between them into the air. To Taylor, the entire thing looked like a set from a sci-fi movie.

"Probably eat a piece of chocolate," answered Tess with a chuckle while prodding the design with her finger and examining the changes. "I already bought a small selection of them."

"Pfft. Typical," answered Taylor sporting a grin. "At least you know you won't get fat unless you design it that way."

"Says, Miss I-Have-Perfect-Metabolism!" retorted Tess.

"You are welcome!" piped up Admin, appearing suddenly from nothing.

Taylor ignored the annoying slime. "Yes, but despite that, I still could get fat if I don't exercise or eat very badly."

Tess just snorted. "Like you would do that. I'm pretty sure you are turning into an exercise nut."

"Yes, well, some of us have to work for it!" she said while gesturing towards her body.

"Indeed. All hail the machine race! Join us and you won't need to exercise!" exclaimed Tess dramatically while grinning at Taylor.

Taylor couldn't help but laugh out loud at hearing that.

"You know, before getting my power, I would've totally taken you up on that."

"Oh, Taylor…"

Taylor just grinned ruefully. "I looked like a very tall frog… Now I look like a very buff frog."

Tess snorted at the mental image. "Try not to mention it too much, because Admin will make you spend time as a tall frog!"

Their subsequent laughter echoed around the room, while Admin watched them with a smile.

"Go Fish."

"Nine."

"Here."

"Three."

"Go Fish."

"Ace."

"Here."

"You know," Tess spoke up while looking at her hands. "I always wanted to try this game, but it's not really stimulating. Plus, both of us have enhanced minds, so it's easy to count cards."

Taylor just shrugged. "I told you it's a children's game. I haven't played in years, but I remember it's better with more people."

Currently, they were having a break between two of Taylor's training sessions. Usually, they just chatted, but Tess this time mentioned that she had never played 'Go Fish' so they tried it out.

"How about something more important?" spoke up Admin, again appearing out of nowhere.

Taylor turned towards him and lifted one of her eyebrows questioningly.

"Oh, what is it?" asked Tess, laying her cards down.

Admin floated in front of them and spoke. "As you know, I can link other parahumans to this virtual space, like with Tess here." Hearing this, both women nodded, wondering he was going with this. "Though it's difficult and requires special conditions to be fulfilled."

"And I'm very thankful," said Tess and shot a smile towards the younger girl, who returned it. "I made an excellent friend. Not to mention the other things."

"I'm glad you feel that way because it appears that two other parahumans fulfilled the conditions, and I was wondering if you would like to have them join you two?"

That made both of them sit up straight, their attention fully on the slime.

"What conditions?"

"Which parahumans?"

Taylor looked at Tess, who spoke up at the same as she. But before they could work out who would go first, Admin continued to talk.

"I can't tell you the conditions and the parahumans are Assault and Battery."

"Assault and Battery? But I have never met them. How could they fulfill any conditions?" she asked incredulously.

Tess was, however, far less surprised. "Probably the area effect of your power is bigger than you thought, and they were unknowingly there when they fulfilled the conditions. That I can accept, but why are the conditions secret?"

"That's secret too." came the answer from the slime.

"Why?"

"Yes, why?" added Taylor, glaring at Admin.

"Because you are not ready to hear it, just like…"

"… the Plan." chorused the two women. "We know."

Taylor crossed her arms in anger. "I hate when you do that."

"I'm sorry, Taylor," spoke Admin reproachfully. "But it's simply how it is. When you are both ready, I will tell you everything. I promised that, and I intend to keep my word."

Tess scowled but didn't really say anything. After all, there wasn't anything she could do yet, that wouldn't hurt Taylor too. She still vowed to herself that she would do anything to figure out the secret of the powers.

After a few seconds of heavy silence, Taylor finally spoke up.

"So Assault and Battery? What do you know about them, Tess? Would they keep our secret?"

"Assault definitely. He is rather trustworthy. Battery, on the other hand, you would have to convince. Though probably if they join us at the same time, Assault would do the convincing for you."

"And why do we need to have them join us? Will every parahuman I ever met have to join me in this place?" she directed her next question towards Admin.

"Not really, just those who fulfill the conditions, and you decide to allow them. The permission can be revoked anytime too."

"Do I have to decide now?"

"Oh, no. Take as much time as you want."

"That's good. I want to meet them first, before making a decision."

"I can arrange that!" volunteered Tess.

"How?"

Tess just shrugged. "I tell them that Danny Hebert's daughter is a fan of them and ask them to visit the facility. Assault rarely gets called out by fans, so he would immediately say yes."

"Let's talk about it later, I just wanted to bring it up as a possibility." said Admin. "Taylor, your time is up. Ready for the next scenario?"

"Ugh, why not? Hitting things is easier than making decisions!"

Date

2011 January 29th - Friday - Earth Bet Time

In the early hours of Friday, at a remote facility deep into the Canadian wilderness, a facility was alive with all manner of equipment.

Factories occupied a large part of the facility, continuously churning out all sorts of products, but one part of the facility was special.

This was where Dragon was performing some of her experiments by creating a body for herself. And this was the place where she did create one, based on the design Taylor gave her.

She surveyed the room where the last steps were taking place. The room was devoid of any decoration, only contained a high-tech bed that looked almost like a surgical table and countless mechanical arms that came out of the walls.

These arms, under her direction, were currently applying the final touches to the skeleton, and soon would start to apply the fake skin and hair. In honor of Taylor, she decided to go with the same color her friend sported.

While that proceeded along, she reviewed the progress with the Facility in Brockton Bay.

The construction was finished; the building was ready to receive the first batch of metal. She was also done with the survey of the Graveyard. The only thing she needed now a few people who could help her out, but that could be solved by the Union. They seemed to have people for every job.

She was already designing a factory with Taylor's help that would create medi-gel. It was an excellent business opportunity and would help a lot of people. Win-win in her book.

She was also sure that many people were planning on doing the same thing. Luckily, nobody could beat her building speed and automaton levels. Plus, while it was not public yet, the government was planning on issuing laws on the quality of medi-gel. This would prevent random people from selling dubious quality medi-gel.

She foresaw a lot of paperwork related to that.

She was also finalizing buying up the still available properties. Unfortunately, when she started building her facility savvy investors saw an opportunity and also began to buy up land. Still, she and technically Taylor owned around sixty percent of the land in the graveyard and a good part of the docks.

As a hobby, she began to design an entire science facility that she could build in the Bay. Maybe in a few years, it could the center of scientific innovation!

But that was far away. For now, she needed to pay attention to her new body. There was, of course, a fork of her dedicating every drop of their attention to the task, but she felt that the main consciousness should pay attention at this momentous occasion.

The first thing she noticed, how weird everything looked from this point of view. It was one thing to experience in the virtual space and another in the actual world.

She tried out blinking and breathing, noting that everything was working perfectly before she raised one of her new hands.

After a few more minutes of simple tests, she slowly sat up on the bed, turned sideways with her dangling on the bed's side.

She slowly eased herself off the bed onto her new legs until she was standing fully erect.

She took a slow, shaky step, and with the same movement, she fell on her face.

"Ow."

It seemed the balance needed some work.

Date

2011 January 29th - Friday - Earth Bet Time

"Colin?"

"Yes, Dragon?" answered the man without looking up from a device he was constructing. It appeared some kind of injector. Dragon was pretty sure it would be used with medi-gel.

"The latest batch of equipment arrived at my new facility, and it is actually ready for operation. Do you want a tour before I begin?"

He carefully finished the section he was on, put down the complicated tool in his hands, and looked at her. "Of course. And it would allow me to create a report for the Director. She is rather worried about what effects it will have on the city."

"Well, based on the Merchant attack a few days ago, I would say she is right." came the reply from the screen affixed to the wall.

"Exactly. She was also rather cross you didn't detain them."

"They are small fries. It wasn't worth it."

"You do know that they almost immediately went back to Skidmark, right?" he asked while packing a bag for his examination of the facility.

"I'm counting on it." came the reply from a chuckling Dragon.

He nodded his head in understanding and added another backup halberd to his armor.

Just in case.

As he approached the building on his bike, he noted the shiny new and very sturdy-looking fence around the loading space. It seemed she improved the defenses. Though what it would do against the heavy hitters of the city, he couldn't really tell. Probably slow them down for a few seconds.

As he approached the gate, it automatically opened just enough for him to slip in, and then closed as soon as his bike cleared it.

He carefully parked the bike next to one of the personnel entrances and head right in after inputting the security code Dragon gave him.

He walked through the corridors, following the rather helpful floor plans affixed to the walls, towards the office where he would meet Dragon.

They would then go through the facility for him to examine and maybe get some ideas for tinkering.

After about a minute of power walking, he finally reached the office.

When he entered, he immediately surveyed it for hidden attackers and escape possibilities. The room was an average-looking office, with desks and computers and one altered to serve as a break room.

The only thing that stood out in the room was the black-haired twenty-something woman, who was sitting on the couch and reading a magazine.

He cleared his throat and waited until the woman looked at him. "Excuse me, Miss, could you tell me where Dragon is?"

The woman looked at him with a flat face for a few seconds, then replied with an oh-so-familiar voice.

"Colin. It's me."