In Which Taylor Exposes Herself and Does Books

Taylor felt like skipping as she walked out of the front doors of Winslow. After pondering it for a few seconds, she gave in to the urge and started skipping past the school, a giggle escaping her at the weird looks she was receiving.

At that moment, she couldn't care any less about what people thought of her. She was free. Yeah, sure, she could have toughed it out, or stayed in there to try and fight back, but it was just not worth it. She was sure her friends would be better teachers, and her dad would understand if she explained it right.

No, Taylor had much better things to do than stay in school. She was going to be a hero.

But first she had to visit the library.

Arriving at the corner nearest the school where a bus stop stood empty, Taylor flopped down on the dirty bench and bent her head back until she spotted a white shape floating high above. Leviathan was nearby too, she could tell, but he was being all sneaky-like and keeping out of sight.

"So, I need to get to the library," she said.

{Unit-02 can provide Transportation.}

[Flying!]

Taylor snorted. "I think I flew with you last time, Simmy, how about I go with Leviathan this time? Plus, we're really not in a hurry."

[Incentive. Have Gift for Host-Queen_Administrator.]

"Are you trying to bribe me?" Taylor asked, a note of incredulity in her voice.

[Affirmative!] her angel-like friend said as she dove out of the sky and came to a hovering stop before the bus stop. The Endbringer reached into the folds of her pleated skirt and Taylor was amazed when she noticed that the skirt had pockets. It must have been some sort of Tinkertech, the kind that normal people couldn't reproduce, otherwise all skirts would have pockets. [Excited. Have created Friendship-Affirming Bracelets!]

The Simurgh came to a rest before Taylor, her hands outstretched to reveal three bracelets. Two of them were way too big for Taylor. All of them were made of bands of some shiny metal interwoven like a twisting cord. They looked almost like double helixes, but twisted in on themselves with hundreds of tiny swirls and designs carved into the spaces between links. Every inch or so there was a bead made of a different material.

Taylor picked the smallest of the three and weighed it in her hands. It was actually pretty heavy, but it felt solid and tough. "It's pretty," she said.

[Joy! Host-Queen_Administrator should Wear. Activate Bracelet.]

Taylor slid the bracelet onto her left wrist, then started turning it around. All the beads were white; one of them looked like a bit of marble, another a diamond the size of her thumb knuckle with a hole bored through it, and yet another was a bit of albino coral. It should have been uncomfortable with all the bits sticking out, but it was actually a nice, if tight, fit. "How do I activate it?"

[Instructional. Turn bead.] Simmy placed one of the bracelets on her own hand, then spun one of the beads around.

A burst of brilliant white light flashed out and a beam shot into the sky. The Simurgh spun around in a tight circle in mid-air, her legs spread in a wide stance and her free hand going to her forehead with a V-is-for-victory sign. A few bursts of light flashed across her bust, hips and legs.

When the light dispersed, the Simurgh was dressed in a very short skirt and a similar sailor blouse, but it now had a huge white bow on the front and her hair was done in twin tails that reached down to her waist. [Sailor Simurgh! Chaos Powers Activated!]

Taylor was slack-jawed.

[Preen. Is Awesome.]

"Uhh," Taylor said. She looked down at her own bracelet. "Mine does the same thing?" she asked with a fair amount of apprehension.

[Affirmative. Diamond is Sailor Administrator Costume. Marble is Boring Queen Administrator Costume.]

Taylor looked at the bracelet, then at the third bead. What was the coral supposed to be then? With a bit of curiosity, she flipped the bead around.

She had been expecting a bright burst of light or something. She was not expecting to feel a warm breeze across parts of her body that were not supposed to be feeling any breeze, warm or otherwise.

She looked down.

She was naked.

With a speed that surprised even her, she flipped the marble bead around and almost giggled with embarrassed relief when her Queen Administrator costume weighed down her shoulders. "Oh thank god," she said. There didn't seem to be anyone looking at her on the street, or at least no one that could see her in the relative privacy of the bus shelter. "Why didn't you tell me the other one was empty?"

[Didn't ask. Room for Future Costume.]

Glaring at her winged friend, Taylor adjusted her robes and tried not to think bad thoughts about the Simurgh, especially since the Endbringer in question was grinning at her. "Thanks for the bracelet, it's really pretty," she said. "Now c'mon, we need to get to the library. I've a bunch of things to look up!"

Hopefully her face wouldn't be on fire by the time they got there.

***

They really, really, probably, shouldn't have been sent over to the library. In fact, Missy was super certain that sending the Wards to 'discuss inappropriate public behaviour' was either overkill or, in this case, really dumb.

But, she was just a little girl in the eyes of her superiors, and with Piggot a little under the weather, it somehow fell on her shoulders to rein in the Queen Administrator as she terrorized and assaulted... books, apparently.

Really, she huffed to herself, what was the girl hurting by visiting the library? It was a public place, probably during opening hours, and nobody actually spent time there. As far as Missy was concerned they should have been happy that she was there and not ruining another park or cleaning the streets again.

Of course, they didn't send her alone. Oh no, that would have been too easy. They sent her with backup in the form of the most inexperienced Ward on the whole team.

The van they were in bounced over a few potholes and finally came to a rumbling stop. "Alright, you've both read your briefing?" the trooper at the front of the van asked them.

Vista nodded sharply. It wouldn't do for the troopers to start treating her like a kid, so she always did her best to act mature around them. Browbeat was a little slower on the uptake. "Uh, yeah," he said.

"Alright," the trooper said. "The target is in the Washington Memorial Library. She was last seen on the second floor. We have had no visual confirmation on the location of the Simurgh, but the Leviathan is unmoving in front of the library. Remember, this is not a policing action. You are not to antagonize, threaten to arrest, or otherwise get into conflict with Queen Administrator. This is a meet and greet only, and as secondary objective, we want you to politely ask her to move her Endbringers away from the library."

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Vista didn't roll her eyes because that would have been unprofessional. "Understood," she said, then poked Browbeat in the shoulder while gesturing at the door with a shake of her head. "We'll keep in contact," she said.

The door slid aside and the two Wards hopped out. They were being dropped just around the corner from the library, out of sight from any windows that might have allowed Queen Administrator to see them.

That was, if the Simurgh didn't see them coming.

Vista took the lead, Browbeat following on her heels. "So, uh, what do you, um, think is going to happen?" Browbeat said.

"I think," she began, "That we're either going to meet her, talk a bit, then be dismissed, or something really weird is going to happen and we're both going to end up in Master-Stranger quarantine for the rest of our lives."

"Really?"

Vista didn't roll her eyes because that would have been rude. "No."

They came around the corner with only a bit of help from Vista's power and saw the library building. It was a nice enough bit of architecture, located on a bit of a hill between a fire station and a fancy apartment block. The building was three stories tall, with glass walls stretching all the way up from the bottom and allowing them a good view of the dozens of shelves filled with books within.

The architecture was nice, but it wasn't nearly as attention-grabbing as Leviathan. The Endbringer was lounging across the front of the building, using its front steps as a headrest while the rest of his body was sprawled out across the lawn. His tail was thumping against the ground with a constant boom-boom sound that shook the entire neighbourhood.

Vista swallowed and waited just out of Leviathan's range. He didn't seem concerned about her. The opposite was not true.

"Okay, we can do this," she said mostly to herself. She felt, rather than heard, Browbeat standing closer.

With a bit of a twist, Vista scampered past the Endbringer and found herself standing right at the entrance of the library, her partner for the afternoon right next to her.

The booming thump paused for a second, then it resumed with the same slow cadence.

Exhaling, Vista opened the doors and slid into the main lobby area of the library. The entire place was well lit thanks to the huge windows allowing sunlight to stream in, and the air around them held the faintly musky scent of bound paper.

Vista looked around, but it was pretty clear that Queen Administrator wasn't on the first floor. After a bit of searching, it was also pretty clear that she wasn't on the second floor either.

They finally found her on the third floor, standing next to a long table covered in books. They weren't simple books either, but huge tomes with old leather bindings that looked like they weighed a ton. A few were opened up before Queen Administrator and she was bent over them, reading the fine print while murmuring to herself.

They must have made a noise because the cape looked up from her books, then pointed a finger right at Vista. "Vista, from the Wards!" she said.

Vista tried a welcoming smile. "That's me," she said. "And this is Browbeat, also from the Wards. He's new."

"Brilliant!" Queen Administrator stabbed a finger at the opened book before her. "Vista, would your power allow you to transport stuff across state borders with more ease than a normal person?"

The youngest cape in the room froze at the question but answered anyway. "Um, yeah?"

"Did you send a letter to the secretary of commerce about that?"

"No?"

Queen Administrator's eyes narrowed. "115 U.S.C. §§330a states: Any person or persons having the ability to transport large quantities of fish across state borders must, within 48 hours of developing the ability, contact the secretary of commerce by letter to inform them of such." Queen Administrator stood taller. "Vista, I'm afraid I'm going to have to place you under citizen's arrest for the act of potential fish smuggling."

Vista felt her heart sinking. They were right, they were right all along. She was crazy.

***

Taylor tried to keep in the giggles, but the look of slowly dawning horror on Vista's face cracked her up too much and she started to laugh. When Vista looked confused instead of horrified it only made it all the worse. "I'm sorry," she said between fits of giggling. "You should have seen your face."

Vista huffed and stood as tall as she could, almost as if she wanted to look bigger than she was. It was, frankly, adorable, but Taylor chose not to comment on it. "W-well, you shouldn't have done that," she said.

Taylor nodded. "I shouldn't have," she agreed. "So, how can I help two fine Wards of the government?"

Vista's shoulders slumped. "Ah, we were sent to ask you what you were doing," she said.

"Oh, that's an easy one," Taylor replied. "I'm looking up a few things. I wanted to do the whole heroing thing, but I'm not sure what's legal or not. So I came here." She lifted one of the heavy books, then let it thump back down. "Honestly, it's been more trouble than I thought."

"Oh," Vista said. "Yeah, I can imagine. The Protectorate has a whole legal team that makes sure that everything we do is okay. It can get really bothersome sometimes." The Ward shrugged. "Honestly, most independents or new heroes just... go out and do whatever. There are a bunch of laws that make it hard to pin anything on someone wearing a costume."

"That sounds kinda counter-intuitive. What's to stop just anyone from picking up a mask and doing whatever?"

Vista nodded, as if she'd expected the question or at least had heard it before. "Capes. If you try to stop a crime in costume, there are good chances that you'll attract the attention of a cape. That's not a problem if you're one too, but if you're just a normal person, then you might not be ready or able to fight a cape."

"Makes sense, but that's not the case here. I'm pretty sure I'm a cape. So what would happen if I try to do the hero thing and accidentally, I dunno, smuggle fish across state lines?"

Vista cracked a smile. "Usually, if it's something small, or done while defending yourself or others, the PRT would look the other way. If it's not, well, that's why the Protectorate and PRT exist."

"Cool," Taylor said. She was grinning as she slid the cover of one lawbook closed, then placed it atop another. "So, I know you're just here to make sure I wasn't doing anything illegal, like fish smuggling, but I'd feel pretty bad if I just left you behind. Wanna come with me?"

"Um, where are you going?" Vista asked. She seemed uncertain, and a lot smaller.

"Oh, I'm going out heroing."

Somehow that didn't make Vista look any more confident.

***