5.2

After an even longer hour of testing the weight of what I carried along with a series of other items that weighed more or less we found that my mass was no different regardless of what I carried. The current theory on why I was walking so slowly was my 'Manton Limit'. Normally that was based around not affecting either live or inanimate objects.

Sort of why Vista could bend space but not people's spines from hundreds of yards away. My limit just made me stop running. You'd think I'd be frustrated with my powers by now but I was used to their arbitrary limits already. Or at least, that's what I told myself as I carried literal tonnes worth of bricks, sand and other miscellaneous items. They even got me to carry a door at one point. Odd how I couldn't carry around a literal car despite its total weight being lower than EVERYTHING I had on me right now.

"Hmmmm." Armsmaster seemed deep in thought, his attention away from me. "She could be a great boon to relief efforts Dragon." Wait, was Dragon watching this? Well duh! Of course she was. "Load her up with food, building materials and suddenly we have the storage capacity of a warehouse that can be carried by a sonic jet." Don't talk about me like I wasn't here! "And those are just initial estimates, optimistically there might be no limits!"

"Uhh, I'm standing right here sir." I made sure to add the 'sir' to hold onto my manners, hopefully reminding him that his were absent.

"Yes, yes I know." He dismissed me at which point he paused, no doubt having Dragon scold him for my poor treatment. Ah Dragon, I can always count on you. "Sorry Vim, I just got caught up in my own thoughts, I didn't mean to ignore you."

Caught up in his own thoughts! That's all he had to say? My displeasure must've been clear because he raised his hands in a pacifying gesture, acting like I was some sort of rabid animal.

"MORE CONTAINMENT FOAM!" He screamed in fear as I tore away his Halberd with my razor sharp teeth before leaping for his face. "OH GOD! THE GOGGLES! THEY DO NOTHING!"

Screams would echo through the Rig as the pitiful mortals fled from Vim! The great world eater!

"Flee peasants!" I would cackle. "Flee and pray that my hunger will be sated before I hunt you down!"

I repressed my malicious giggles before they surfaced of course.

"Anyways, we'll have to reschedule you for more in depth power testing another day." I groaned at the thought. "For now we'll send you back home for some rest. I'll be working with Dragon on another project." He told me putting away his tablet. Working with Dragon on another project? Was that doublespeak for something? I grinned under my mask. "You have a busy day tomorrow." Oh right, the PR meeting.

It didn't sound so bad, just a few suit wearing office workers telling me how to talk, how to dress and what kind of action figures I'd be selling. It might be annoying but it wouldn't be as terrible as Clockblocker described right?

Right?

"Hey Vim!" I remembered him saying. "If PR is worse then power testing then you owe me ten bucks got it?" Without thinking I agreed instantly.

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Dad had cooked up some lasagna and while it was delicious, it still confused me on why he put so much effort when I was around.

"You do know that I can literally make a meal in seconds right?" I asked him as I slowly went through my food. While I could consume the entire plate with just a thought, I wanted to savour the flavor.

"I know, but sometimes your old man wants to let you know how much he appreciates you." I smiled at that, I was glad. It felt like we were closer these days. "I'm still not sure about the whole Wards thing but Colin seems like a solid guy." It was still weird to think that they were friends. I mean, I suppose they were both workaholics so they had that in common. "He's given me a special bracelet to keep track of you during emergencies." I raised an eyebrow at that. "Don't worry, I'm not going to spy on you with it. Like I said, only for emergencies."

"Oh it's not the spying thing, I was just under the impression that he wasn't supposed to give civilians Tinker Tech." Someone poor getting super advanced technology would look super suspicious!

"Well, it's more for me then you." He began. "He told me about the Undersiders and I didn't want to move to a different city, so we came to a compromise." He chuckled at that. "The Merchants, Empire and ABB don't scare me so a bunch of two bit thieves won't either." Well I was glad that he was being protected at least.

"So what's the bracelet look like anyways?"

"Apparently it's a prototype to these bracelets that the other Heroes wear in Endbringer battles so it's a bit bulky." He explained to me. "I've just stashed it away in the car." That still felt odd.

"Why not give you something slimmer? I mean, something easier to hide?" I asked. "Why the prototype and not the final version?"

"They run out of power too quickly apparently, only supposed to run for a day or so." Dad shrugged at that taking another bite out of his dinner. "Makes sense to give me the longer lasting version, wouldn't want the leader of the Protectorate coming to our house every time the battery goes flat."

Sounded like a lose, lose situation to me.

"So your choice is either, get something easier to hide but more fragile or something hard to hide but tougher." While I hadn't made anything electronic yet, I wondered if I could help with that?

"Well, like I said, I keep it in the car so it's not so bad." So we now had a glorified car tracker?

"What if someone tries to steal the car?"

"Taylor, have you seen the car?" Right, the old rust bucket. It still could putter around so it wasn't all that bad. It just needed the occasional bit of elbow grease, luck and sacrifice to start. Okay, I was exaggerating but I saw dad's point. It wasn't worth stealing.

"So what? You have a Tinker Tech bracelet in the car now?" I asked him. "What if someone sees it? Won't they steal it and figure out that you're connected to Armsmaster?"

"Well I've hidden it and I'm not too worried." He smiled, trying to dismiss my concerns. It struck me that his posture was very similar to what I used when trying to make him stop worrying. "It was one of his earlier works so even if someone finds it, they won't connect it to him." Right, Armsmaster was a Tinker that specialised in miniaturization so anything that looked bulky wouldn't be linked to him.

"Does it look like Tinker Tech though? Those things are expensive." Someone might steal it but Dad brushed me off.

"Nah, like I said, too bulky and not enough blinking lights, your new phone looks more high tech and expensive." It seemed like this conversation was going nowhere, I should trust dad more I told myself.

Besides, it wasn't just the tracking bracelet, Armsmaster had also set up some sort of 24/7 watch on the house. I looked around for hidden cameras and secret agents and saw none. Well, if I saw them they wouldn't be hidden cameras and secret agents now would they? I decided to test a theory as I finished the rest of my dinner.

"Hey Dad, can you turn around? I want to use my power for something."

"Uhhh Okay?" He agreed hesitantly.

Crouching down I activated my Veil and found that the 'eye' in my mind was half open indicating that someone was looking for me. I could totally use this power to check for spies! Wait. What if the half open eye thing was happening because Dad was here? What if it was because he already knew I was in the room?

I decided to slowly make my way to my bedroom just to test my theory.

"Uhh Taylor? Are you still there?" Drats! Now that Dad was wondering where I was, I couldn't tell if the eye thing was him or the secret agents! I stood up dispelling my power.

"I'm right here Dad." I told him defeated.

He turned around to face me. "Had me worried there for a moment Kiddo." I'd have to test out how this 'Eye' power thing worked at a later date.

Oh god! I was still power testing! I must never let Armsmaster know what I was doing lest he gets me to do it in another hundred different ways… with even more paperwork! Oh GOD The paperwork! Just remembering it made me queasy.

When using X power, how would you rate the level of concentration required to maintain it?

How did you feel before, during and after the use of your power?

What made you decide to call this aspect of your power Elation?

Seriously, it was like being in an exam! How thorough did he have to be? And why did it have to take place AFTER all the tests? By the time I got to the question about my fire powers it had already been more than an hour since I used it! All I could remember was how annoyed I was! For someone like Clockblocker or Shadow Stalker, it'd be fine I supposed. But with a grab bag cape with a million powers they should've done it in between powers! My only consolation was that Eidolon would probably have gone through a similar if not worse trial then I.

Bureaucracy was stupid! Hopefully PR tomorrow wouldn't be that bad.

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The next day I decided that PR was pretty bad.

That was me putting in lightly. I was almost tempted to go back to power testing. That's how bad it was.

"For the millionth time." I began. "I can't just change my outfit!"

"Come now, I know you Tinkers get hung up on designs but some minor aesthetic modifications can't be out of the question can they?" The current PR manager was one Taylor William. The fact that we shared the same first name failed to endear me to him. His hair went past his shoulders, bundled up into a ponytail. His button up pink shirt and feminine demeanour all but shouted 'Stereotypical fashionably chic, gay best friend' the kind of person Madison or Emma would be if they were born as boys.

I expected there to be more people, an actual meeting between a dozen industry experts. Maybe even a movie producer. Did that make me naive or vain? Probably both. Instead I just got Taylor. Clockblocker said I was lucky that I didn't get someone named Glenn.

"Look, my costume is literally made with my power, I don't have any input on what they'll look like!" It just happens.

"Ahh, but we can chisel bits off, maybe weld or nail on some extra accessories?" Seriously?

"My leather armor is LITERALLY indestructible, not even Armsmaster's Halberd can cut it!" Did he not get the memo? I mean, it didn't make me indestructible but armor was still armor.

"Well, perhaps we can glue something to it or paint it up?" He stood back considering my leather. "How do you feel about a short cloak or a tabard? Ooooh maybe we can make it look like a skirt! I'm thinking pink."

"What?" Knowing me, I'd trip over it.

"Well we have Aegis in red, Vista in green, Clockblocker in white, Kid win with yellow, Gallant covering the blues to a small degree and Shadow Stalker in black." He listed the Wards off. "All we're missing now is pink."

"Uhh you forgot Browbeat." I pointed out.

"Right, he's also got blue which was the best we had for him. As I said, Gallant covered blue already even if he's mostly silver."

"Can't I be silver? I'm going to upgrade my armor to steel eventually."

"We could but that would clash, we can't have two similar looking heroes in the same precinct unless there's a shared theme, think partners if you will."

"What about the fact that we both wear medieval armor?" I asked. "Hell, Velocity and Assault wear red!" Hang on. "Kid Win isn't just yellow either! He's also red!" Everyone had red! We could be Red team! I began to wonder why I was here.

"Details, details." He brushed my concerns aside as if they were worthless. "I'm the expert here." Doesn't give you an excuse to ignore what I want! "Fine, we'll give you yellow. Now, if we put some sort of tabard or short cloak on you then we can have a consistent image."

"Consistent image?" On one hand I hoped he would clarify but on the other, it meant he would keep talking.

"Tinkers usually change and upgrade their gear over time. You seem like an odd case in the sense that you don't upgrade your look slowly but rather change your outfit wholesale." He explained. "But if we gave you some sort of material to drape on top then we can display your symbol, something to stay consistent regardless of how your costume changes." He paused and for a moment neither of us spoke. It struck me that he was waiting for my input.

"Oh oh!" I knew exactly what I wanted. "What about a fire breathing dragon! Because, I'm medieval!" He shook his head at that. "Come on, I have this cool design in my head, it'll have wings that form a diamond shape! We could totally put it on a badge to sell in the gift shop and everything!"

"We don't want people to think you're a poor man's Dragon." He walked over to the white board and began sketching up a few images. "We want you to be your own person, someone unique and powerful in their own right."

Unique huh? I remembered how Armsmaster spoke about getting me into the public eye, it was about trust I supposed. Wait a second.

"Kid Win literally looks like a shorter version of Hero!" That was a bit mean but it wasn't untrue. Maybe I should give him some sweet rolls as an apology later.

"Well, that's different, Hero was a symbol that people would go to for help, something to give them hope. As someone younger it's clear that Kid Win intends to be a legacy character." Character? He spoke about us like we were simple props in a story. "How about we make your symbol look like a potion? Your name is Vim so it stands to reason that a potion bottle should be your icon."

One of the drawings that he put on the whiteboard looked like one of my flasks. It wasn't bad, but it was boring. "We can pretty up the design if you'd like? Add a bit of flair?"

"Maybe I can just wear a big V on my chest?" He waved that idea off.

"No, people might mistake your for Vista then." Seriously?

"How? I'm like twice her height and she's blond! Hell our costumes aren't even the same color!"

"People see things that are obvious only to them, we have to separate everything as much as possible."

"Like how Velocity and Assault wear red?" I brought it up again. "Who knows, maybe folks will mistake Aegis for one of the adults."

"Let's just stay on track and talk about you Vim." I rolled my eyes at him. Classic adult deflection. I knew I didn't like this guy for a reason.

"Fine, what if we make the V more abstract than?" I offered. He made a motion towards the white board, inviting me to try something.

I grabbed the marker and thought about it before coming to a conclusion. Drawing a curved, upside down V, I then added a line to the top along with a dot in the middle hoping that it looked magical enough to convey the fact that I essentially had magic potions. Which I assumed had plausible scientific reasons on why they worked the way they did.

Honestly I was rather proud of how the symbol turned out. I wouldn't call myself an artist but I liked to think I could make some cool stuff if I put my mind to it.

"Nope, terrible idea." He interrupted my thoughts. "Looks too much like a Rune, I shouldn't have to tell you who that makes people think about." Nazis are why we can't have nice things!

"AHHH SCREW IT!" I gave up. "Just give me a stupid, big gold triangle then!"

"Hmm that's not a bad idea, simple yet easy to see from a distance." I WASN'T BEING SERIOUS! It looked like I owed Clockblocker ten bucks. "Now the question is if we'll have it be an acute triangle or an obtuse one, what do you think Vim?" A triangle? That was more boring than a bottle! What happened to being identifiable! There had to be a dozen heroes with triangles!

"Just… just do what you want."

"Oh, and while we're on the topic of adding things to your costume, what do you think of this?" Reaching into a box he pulled out a mask with yellow goggles with what looked like a metallic trim. It was large enough to cover my nose but left my mouth free which was something that I didn't really need considering I could eat through a mask.

Honestly it was more a visor then anything else. The mask, the triangle, it was all so stupid!

I then realized he had been talking. "I'm more of a fan of blue for eyes but you really pulled off the yellow goggles in your original outfit, makes you look idealistic." I didn't wear yellow goggles by choice! That was the only pair I owned! "Also, we'll be putting a black undersuit on you to contrast with everything." I wasn't going to wear any of that! I refused!

By the end of the day I was wearing it all for a photoshoot.

"This time, smile a bit more and spread your arms out!" The photographer called out. "I want a whimsical feel for your poster!" I did as he asked but internally I wanted to scream.

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Bonus Image below