7.4

"Dad, I promise, I'm fine!" I told him over the phone leaving out the part where I was roasted alive by Lung. "I had plenty of healing potions and I'm practically bullet proof." Well my shield was bullet proof at least and I 'HAD' plenty of healing potions. "I just want to head over to the Rig to make more potions." I wasn't technically lying about any of this. I was just… not telling him about the part where I was ever in any danger.

"I know you're fine." His distressed tone revealed his worry. "I just don't like the idea of you getting into fights at all." The conversation stalled for awhile at that point. I sat in the van across from Aegis and Clockblocker who awkwardly shifted in their respective seats. They were the only two Wards that opted to go back to the Rig instead of home. Though in Aegis's case it was because he was filled with bullet holes and missing half a leg. Going home in that state would've been disastrous, so the PRT wanted him to either stay at the Rig until he naturally regenerated or until my potions heal him.

The others had been transported to several discrete locations to get changed and leave. Shadow Stalker I noted had been most enthusiastic about it which made me feel kind of bad. It was clear that despite fighting side by side with her, she had yet to become comfortable in my presence. Then again, she probably got up to those sorts of adventures with the Wards all the time and they clearly didn't all get along either.

Long story short, sharing death defying battles with each other were not the relationship counsellors that movies made them out to be.

Dean was another odd case. Instead of going home Vicky simply grabbed him and dragged him off with her. No doubt to do kissy, boyfriend stuff with. The official excuse she gave was that she wanted Panacea to look over him one last time. As potent as my healing potions were, she just wanted to make sure.

"Dad…." I spoke into the phone again, unsure what to say. "I…"

"Taylor… I've...." He replied haltingly. "I just… well…when you get back we… I want to talk...just… stay safe, I love you." Despite all the progress we made with each other, it still felt like we were complete strangers sometimes.

Clockblocker and Aegis glanced at each other awkwardly. I appreciated their silence.

"I love you too Dad, I'll be back by tonight… I promise." I then hung up hoping that was enough. It was at that point that I let out a breath that I hadn't realized that I had been holding. That was stressful. Give me Lung any time! A distraught Dad on the other hand? No thanks! I could not deal with that at all!

"Sooooooooo." Clockblocker drawled sliding over to the seat next to me. I noted that the van was still moving as he did so. I would've scolded him for taking off his seat belt but his next words stalled that line of thought. "We still on?"

"On?" I asked wondering what he meant by that. I scolded myself for how long it took me to realize what he was talking about. "Th-th-the date???"

He yawned and with an exaggerated movement raised his arm before resting it around my shoulders. Aegis could only shake his head in amusement.

"Clock, buddy." Our glorious Ward's leader began. "Please don't piss off the girl who took on Lung."

Yeah! Don't piss me off! The red on my face wasn't me blushing! It was red because I was mad! Totally! No lie! No self deception! I was one hundred percent angry! Grrrrr!

"Uhhh ye-yeah!" I shook him off and to his credit Clockblocker backed off immediately.

"Oh uh, sorry, didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable." He told me. "But in all seriousness, what are we going to tell everyone at school tomorrow?"

"Can't we just... just tell them we saw a movie and ate at Fugly Bob's?"

"What if they ask about the movie? We didn't actually get to see any." He pointed out. "Hell, if you tell them that we weren't paying attention then they'll think we were making out the entire time haha."

Maybe I should take off my helmet. They say that the head released thirty percent of body heat and keeping it covered was a good way of staying warm. Frankly it was a bit too warm right now.

"Uhh, we can just say that we watched another movie, like an old one at your house or something?"

"At my place?" Right, that was no better, I could only imagine the rumours that would spread around me and my new friends.

Buzz was the athletic one.

Ash was the PHO nut.

Morgan was the overactive girl.

Me? At this rate I'd be known as the hussy of the group. All those rumours from Winslow about me being a whore and slut might even come back to bite me in the ass!

"Oooor." Aegis intervened. "You can just say that things didn't work out. You're both pretty weird, people will gossip and make up their own conclusions, bam your cover is solid and you don't have to go on any dates anymore!"

That didn't sound like such a bad plan.

"Me? Weird?" Clockblocker shouted back. "Well I never!... Still, I was kinda looking forwards to the date." He was looking forwards to the date? Turning towards me he scratched the back of his helmet. "I mean, you're pretty cool so I figured we should uh… hang out more at least." I wasn't so sure how to feel about this.

"I think Dad only agreed to drive us around because he thought this was a fake date." I told him. "If uh… if he knew that you were a bit more serious I don't think he'd be too happy about it."

"Wait…. That's it!" The van came to a stop as Clockblocker yelled out. "We can just say your Dad doesn't like me! Which I think is true anyways, no date means no movie! No movie means no need to mention the plot! No plot means our alibi is bullet proof!"

"Sooo what? Just tell everyone that you met Dad and got kicked out of the car?"

"Pretty much, we can do the date thing some other time!" He told me. "Uhh, that is if you're still up for it."

And that was the issue wasn't it? Was I really up for a date? Was I really even looking for a relationship?

Dennis was a nice enough guy sure but we had only known each other for a short while. He was funny and kinda nice looking in a dorky sort of way but he didn't have the sort of body that I usually admired. If Clockblocker had the abs of Aegis would I have said yes straight away?

Did that make me shallow? A vapid bitch that placed value on only appearance?

Maybe I should try dating him. If it didn't turn into an actual relationship then at least I could say that I tried. Another part of my mind whispered that this was my only chance at romance, that no one else would want me.

It was right as well. No one else wanted to date me. At best I had Clockblocker who only wanted to try because we were friends… wait a second…

Shadow Stalker wanted to date me!

I burst into laughter, the stress having finally destroying my sanity. I didn't care about the strange looks I got for my sudden outburst, I just laughed. It may not have been the same thing but realising that Shadow Stalker had a thing for me was a real ego booster.

Dennis wasn't the exception. It meant that there would be other people out there for me.

It meant that I could date him because I chose to.

So the question remained. What did I want to choose? Well, might as well try. What did I have to lose?

"Sure thing." I told him. "We'll get some dinner in the Rig, that can be our date."

"That's not a date!" He told me in mock horror. "That's suicide! You better brew me up some Brute potions if you want me to eat anything at the cafeteria!"

"It's not so bad." I told him remembering the burger I had with Armsmaster. "We can get Aegis to play the violin and maybe light some candles for us if you want."

"I'll get the bow tie." Aegis answered with some mirth.

It wasn't the most romantic thing but it'd do for now.

==============

I expected the Rig's entrance to be flooded with PRT troopers as they returned back to base. However it was pointed out to me that the Rig had multiple entrances. Hell, the Wards even had their own super secret entrance which suited me just fine.

Since it was too early for dinner I decided to take Armsmaster up on his earlier offer and go check out the potion ingredients. I was practically salivating at the thought. Tonnes! Enough potions to last a lifetime! Or more realistically to outfit the local PRT with healing potions! Honestly either option was good.

Finding him was easy enough, he was in his labs as always, this time working on a Halberd. At first he hadn't noticed my presence, however a soft buzz later from his helmet solved that little issue.

"Oh Vim?" He asked absently. "I apologize, I would've come to get you personally but I got sidetracked." He admitted. I leaned to the side to get a better look at what he was working on. "Just a prototype." He told me motioning towards the cable attached to it. "The power usage makes it impractical right now, it's more of a proof of concept. If I had more time I may have made it portable by now."

"Oh, well I don't want to interrupt you or-"

"Nonsense." He waived my concerns off. "I can always make time for you." He escorted me not to the roof where I assumed the shipment would be dropped off but rather the storage area. Turned out that the staff had already put the stuff away by the time I had arrived. Pressing a button he revealed the shipment.

"These aren't healing ingredients…" I noted out loud. When Armsmaster told me that he had tonnes of potion ingredients I thought I'd see a giant metal box filled to the brim with flowers, wheat and butterfly wings. What I got instead was a bit more mundane.

"I should've been more clear." Armsmaster apologized again. "In the heat of the moment…" aka me screaming at him. "I misspoke. When I said tonnes, I referred to the combined weight of not just the ingredients but also the containers and various ingots sent your way."

I imagined a giant shipping container filled to the brim with flowers. Instead I got shelves of various sized plastic boxes. All clearly labelled. Bugs, plants, food stuffs, woods, ores, animal bits, exotic items that my brain had no reference for were also included. It was a smorgoss board of miscellaneous items. How many garage sales did they have to go through to find all this stuff?

"I was uh… kinda hoping for just ingredients for health potions." I noted about three boxes that contained such items. "I mean, not that this isn't good or anything, it's just not what I expected."

"It's an experiment of sorts." He admitted. "Your pool of materials is limited due to where you live. With this we'll be able to determine the most potent ingredients and base future purchases on that." That made sense I supposed. I could turn people into pseudo brutes already, what's to say that I couldn't just give them Alexandria packages flying and all?

"Okay then." I told him. "First things first…. If I'm taking all of this to the chemistry station, I'm going to need my Vimobile!"

"..... Yes... your Vimobile….. Let's go grab it now..." Didn't he like the Vimobile? As he walked off I moved to follow him.

"Wait, what's wrong?" I asked him. "You don't like the name?" I continued. "Come on, using a Hero's name and adding mobile to the end is a tradition."

"I'm…. I'm painfully aware…" He didn't elaborate and his posture made it clear that I should not did any further. Maybe I should ask Dragon when he was out of earshot? Regardless I'd have my potions and when I did, I'd be invincible once more!

==============

"Hey uhh Vim?" A voice called out to me. I ignored it of course, I was working after all. While I had my own work space by now Armsmaster had asked me to work in the original lab first so he could run some scans while I worked. "Hey Vim!" The voice continued. "VIIIM!" Okay, this was getting ridiculous. Pulling away from the chemistry set I stared at Clockblocker.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. "Why are you yelling?"

"Sorry, you just zoned out, I uhh, wanted to tell you that it's like Seven…. Pm." What? I'd been tinkering for how long?

"That's impossible." I told him. "I make all my stuff instantly!.... One at a time instantly…." Huh, had I really been working for that long? Three whole hours. In that time I had felt Elation again and again to the point where my potion brewing skills had reached a peak. I even had enough Insight (and that's what I was calling perks now) to invest in other shards!

On one hand I was disappointed that I had a limit to my powers. On the other it was almost a relief. Now that I had a taste of being a real Hero with all the expectations that involved, it meant that people wouldn't think I was the next Eidolon. That was too much pressure for me. I was happy of just being the Brute version of Panacea thank you very much.

"Where's Armsmaster?" I wondered out loud. He had been watching the scanners earlier but his work space was now both clean and empty.

"Dunno, maybe he went to grab dinner?" Replied Clockblocker. "Speaking of which, I ordered pizza!"

"Sure, just let me pack up." While I did make my potions instantly, a tonne of ingredients was still a tonne of ingredients. Without the Vimobile I wouldn't be able to move around quicker than a slow walk at best. "Let me just…" Wheeling the Vimobile around I positioned myself in front of a series of crates.

All of my potions, regardless of effect were visually identical. With my inbuilt Thinker power I could identify what they did, hardly helpful for the unpowered trooper though. So to compensate I would normally label the potions, however with the sheer quantity I had it would simply take too long. So they went into a bunch of boxes that had marked beforehand (or in some cases as soon as I found a new effect or combination of effects). No doubt the potions would be individually labelled later by some poor intern and then shipped off for testing.

Still, I kept a good stock for my personal use. Grabbing an errant piece of paper I left a note telling Armsmaster that I went for dinner.

Clockblocker waited patiently for me to finish up but as soon as I hoped off the Vimobile he figuratively exploded.

"I hope you're a fan of meat lovers pizza!" He announced. "We also have supreme if your Dad asks about veggies as well." He added.

"Two pizzas?" I asked. "Isn't that a lot for the both of us?"

"Well we technically have three since Aegis had to stick around remember?" That was still a full sized pizza for each person. Well, I supposed Aegis was a brute, he'd probably burn a lot of calories to use his power. Especially with all the injuries he had. Wait, the injuries. The injuries that I had to help him with that required my potions. I scratched the back of my neck embarrassed that I had forgotten about it. I could've just made one potion and helped him hours ago.

"Soooo not really a date if Aegis is involved." I added.

"Don't worry about him, he's just here for the healing. Besides he's a real bro, I'm sure he'll leave us alone." I nodded as we moved back to the Ward's common room. Hovering there was Aegis, this time without the costume. Instead he wore a domino mask in addition to a generic PRT bodysuit wrapped in bandages. By the looks of things they were less for his benefit and more to keep the blood off the ground. The fact that he chose to fly rather than walk supported the idea.

"Here." I handed him one of my more powerful healing potions. "Try this."

"Thanks Vim, bottoms up." Bringing the bottle to his lips no change was visible. Then again all his broken bones had already set and any wounds were covered up. There was no telling what the actual damage was before.

"So uh, are you okay?" Would my potions even work on a Brute? They worked on Dean so I knew they worked on other Capes besides myself. Did Fenja count as a Brute? "Any weird side effects or…."

"No, no it's fine." He answered. "Just, kinda weird not having any wounds so suddenly, not even Panacea is this fast." He landed and began to take off the white bandages. "They even cleaned up all the blood… huh… powers are weird." He told me with an easy smile. "Anyways, I'm gonna go sign out now and leave you two lovebirds to your date." As the doors shut behind me the lights were flicked shut. However instead of blinding darkness, the area was instead illuminated with candles, something I hadn't noticed until now.

I stared at Clockblocker… no Dennis as he took his helmet off with a sheepish grin. "Like I said, Seven O'clock, I got bored." He pushed a button on a CD player which began playing violin music. "So, romantic enough for you?" He asked pulling out a chair.

"It would be if the pizzas weren't still in boxes." I told him with a smirk. Still, that didn't stop me from accepting his help to be seated. "Thank you kind sir." I told him with a hoity toity voice.

"Well I've never gone on a date or had a candle lit dinner before." He defended himself. "Baby steps."

I opened up a box to reveal meat lovers before grabbing a slice. I contemplated using my powers to eat it instantly but decided to savour the taste. "Well, it's no Paris but it's acceptable."

"Hey I put a lot of effort into this!" He clutched his heart in mock offense. "I'll have you know that it took all of my willpower to avoid putting a whoopee cushion under your chair!" I bit into the pizza, noting that it was still warm. How did pizza get delivered to the Rig anyways?

"For the lack of farts, I am grateful." I told him taking another bite. Whoopee cushions huh? With my ability to store and produce them with my Inventory power I could be a real terror with them.

"You know, you don't have to eat with your mask on." He told me. "We're in the Wards common room, if anyone who doesn't know our identity wants to get in, the alarm will go off."

"Oh… right." Honestly I forgot I was wearing it at all. It just felt so natural to me. In an instant it was back in my Inventory as my hair cascaded down my back. I suddenly felt smaller as Clockblocker studied me in the admittingly dim candle light.

"There ya go!" He cheered biting into his own pizza. "So onto tonight's entertainment!"

"Entertainment?" I asked glancing around. Were the other Wards and Heroes secretly hiding? Or did he organise a squad of PRT trooper to break out into the Can Can?

"I meant video games." He told me pointing at the wide screen TV. "Usually I have to share the controllers but with just the two of us we can totally keep playing!" For a first date, this was nice. After finishing off a few slices we made our way over to the couch to bask in the unhealthy glow of the TV and it's glorious video games.

Just like the Tinkering I had done with my potions, it was all over before I knew it.

"Vim." An authoritative voice called. Pausing the video game I glanced up to see Armsmaster. How he sneaked in here without us realizing was quite the feat. "It's almost curfew time, your father is no doubt worried about your presence…. Also why are there candles in here? That's a safety violation, I'm surprised that the fire system hadn't kicked in yet."

"Uhhhh." Dennis helpfully provided.

".... I'm assuming it was your idea." He glared at my date. "We'll have to put you through some punishment duty-"

"It was my idea!" I called out trying to defend Dennis. "I uhh, wanted to save power?"

Armsmaster paused for a moment before sighing. "Even IF I didn't have a lie detector built into my helmet I would've seen the lie from a mile away." Wait he had a what now built in his where now? He glanced at Dennis again. "I'll leave punishment duty for your next training session, for now you both have to get home, I'll clear up the candles myself."

With that we were ushered out of the base and onto a boat. The trip was mostly silent. Honestly it didn't feel like a date at all. We spoke a bit, ate food and played video games. It wasn't really romantic despite the candles and violins in the background. It just felt like two friends hanging out. Was that such a bad thing though? Did it bother me that I had little to no romantic feelings towards Dennis?

Not really. I mean, if he actually did like like me then perhaps I'd feel bad in the same way I felt guilty that I couldn't return Shadow Stalker's feelings but I didn't get that vibe from him.

"Hey Taylor?" He asked. I glanced at him, showing that he had my attention. "Thanks for trying to stand up for me back there." He smiled. "You're a good friend."

Even he called me friend.

Not girlfriend, not honey, not babe or any other cute nickname. Just friend.

I was okay with that.

"Thanks man… you too."