In Which Taylor Makes a Great First Impression
***
Taylor loved her new costume. Oh, sure, it was going to be a real pain putting it on and taking it off, but it looked awesome for something stitched together in under an hour. She kicked her feet, the tassels of her robes bouncing with every motion.
Next to her, Leviathan's head turned her way and his one eye focused on her for a moment before returning to the road ahead. "You look really good with that hat, Levi," she said, then she adjusted her own headwear.
{Affirmative.}
"Now, onwards!"
***
To say that the people gathered at the PRT headquarters were tense was something of an understatement.
Legend was used to seeing the men and women of the PRT trying their best, but those were situations where they were either in the thick of the action or at rest. Now, he took in the guards shifting from foot to foot and more than one of them had twitchy fingers that longed to hold a gun or a foam launcher or anything that they could use to protect themselves.
He did his best to comfort them, smiling and patting the armoured shoulders of the troopers he passed and he saw the way they straightened up and stood taller.
That was in the morning.
The afternoon came and went and with it the pressure and tension ramped up. Soon the capes that had volunteered, most of them locals, were pacing back and forth and the troopers were sweating in their armour. The office workers had been sent away except for a few key persons and the buildings around the headquarters had been silently and efficiently evacuated.
"I'm not sure whether I would rather she show up already, or pull a no-show," Emily Piggot said as she walked up next to him.
Legend glanced at her from where he stood on the building's roof and tried a smile. "I know what you mean. But it would be a shame to have flown all the way to your fine city only to spend the day perched on a rooftop."
She snorted. "Fine isn't the word I would use. We'll rebuild what we can, but this place was already dying before Leviathan hit, and if things don't go well with this Queen Administrator girl, well that might put the final nail in the coffin that is Brockton Bay."
He didn't want to give in to the pessimism, but he could see how alluring it was. "Did you see the report from the Think Tank?"
She nodded. Of course she had, she was the director, but he knew to stick to polite pleasantries when they cost him nothing. "What little they had available. 'Possibly suffering from shock.' 'Possible aversion to authorities.' 'Possible passive control over the Endbringer.' It's a lot of possibles and not enough concrete information."
He moved away from the edge of the roof. "They did the best they could with what little they had."
Emily couldn't say much to that. "I know, but I wish we had more. The last thing we need is a directed Endbringer, you can imagine why I'd rather she not be in my city."
"I can. If this were near my home, well, I'd have moved my husband and son out of the city already. I can understand your concern Emily, but wait until we've actually talked to her before jumping to the worse conclusions." He patted her on the shoulder and was about to go one when he felt the tension shift.
The other troopers on the roof shifted. Armsmaster and Miss Militia, both stationed not too far from him, tensed and the heroine's weapon shifted from a knife to a rifle as long as she was tall.
He walked to the edge and looked down and there was Leviathan, the monster slinking forward's with a predator's grace. "Alright everyone, to your places!" he called before backing away and heading towards the roof access. "And good luck."
"We'll need it," Piggot muttered.
***
Taylor was, surprisingly, rather bored. Oh sure, she was a little nervous about meeting the heroes, but that was still minutes away. So she contented herself with swinging back and forth on Leviathan's shoulder while humming a childish song. "The itsy-bitsy spider climbed up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed the spider out--"
{Secondary Directive: Eliminate all Arachnid lifeforms?}
"What? No! Spiders might be icky but that's no reason to hurt them all. Now... mosquitoes on the other hand." She contemplated that for a few moments, but it would probably mess with the ecosystem and make a mess of things. "Nah, nevermind."
{Affirmative.}
They were almost at the headquarters, a huge white building with the PRT logo on its front and a wide area cleared out around it. It wasn't the prettiest building but it didn't have to be pretty to be a symbol. She pointed at the entrance way. "That's where we're going."
There were surprisingly few people around, and that included the people who worked for the PRT. She waited until Leviathan was in the little parking area in front of the building, then hopped off. The dozens of layers of cloth that made up her costume fluttered around her for a moment before Leviathan's water echo wrapped around her waist and lowered her to the ground. "Thanks! You stay out here unless things go bad, okay?"
{Affirmative.}
With a nod and a deep breath to bolster her confidence, Taylor walked up to the front door.
"Girl!"
Taylor paused, a hand on the door. She turned and took in the shirtless man standing in the middle of the parking lot. He was a bug guy, his chest and arms covered in intricate dragon tattoos and his face hidden by a mask shaped like a dragon's mouth. "You are the one controlling that beast?" he roared, a calloused hand pointing at Leviathan.
"Um, well, yeah," she said.
"I am Lung, the Dragon of Kyushu, and I demand a battle!" he said even as his back started hunching and he grew a few inches.
Taylor shrugged. "Okay, but can it wait, like, ten minutes? I've got some paperwork to fill out."
"Your insolence knows no limits, girl. We will fight now!"
She sighed, then turned to Leviathan. "You wanna spar with him?"
{Unit-02 is combat ready. New Objective" Eliminate Host-Escalation_Engine?}
"No, no, don't kill him. Just, you know, a friendly spar. Don't hurt him or anything, and don't break the buildings. I'll be back in a few. Got it?"
{Affirmative. Allow Host-Escalation_Engine to resolve Conflict upon Unit-02. Secondary: Do not harm Host-Escalation_Engine. Tertiary: Do not destroy local structures.}
"Right, have fun Lung." Taylor stepped into the PRT Headquarters.
***
Timothy was an intern. Timothy had been working for the PRT for about three months. Timothy probably should have gone home when they told everyone to evacuate the building, but then Deputy Director Rennick had asked for some printouts of some forms and then the troopers had all asked for coffee and then he got to meet Legend and then they needed someone to make sure the conference room on the fourth floor was clean and then he made his way downstairs and started talking to Jessica, the cure girl who worked at the reception desk.
He taught he was on the verge of getting digits when Jessica asked him to watch the desk for just a minute while she went to the little girl's room.
In hindsight, he should have refused. That was probably against protocol.
In fact, he should pick up the phone and call someone. Maybe the Deputy Director. Maybe Legend. Maybe his mom. Instead, he opened his mouth and squeaked.
"Um, I'm here to register as an independent."
She was very tall for someone who sounded so young. Or maybe that was the costume emphasizing her height. It was made of hundreds of pieces of cloth, all draped one over the other in a flowing robe that reached all the way down to her feet. The edges of the cloth looked water-stained, as though they'd been sitting in murky water all day. Her hands were mostly hidden, but they came up to adjust her headpiece, a hood made of the same blue-green material that dipped way down to hide the top half of her face. The top of it was twisted and cut to look like a crown was sitting on her head.
That was fine. One of the reasons Timothy joined was the opportunity to meet capes. It was one of the big draws the PRT had for him. What was less fine was the creature dancing around Lung's wild blows just outside the building.
She tilted her head to one side. "Are you okay, mister?"
The building shook.
Timothy opened his mouth, then closed it. He tried again and this time managed to squeak out a "Yes."
She smiled. "Great! So, do I have to fill out any forms or anything?"
"I, I yes, one moment." He reached out and fumbled with the phone before finally picking it up on his second try. Shaking fingers dialed the Deputy Director's number.
"This is Rennick."
"S-sir. There's a cape at the front."
"Yes, we were expecting her. Were there any complications?"
He swallowed hard. "No? I mean, uh, where do I send her?"
"You send her? Tim, why are you the one talking to her?" the Deputy Director asked, his voice a lot harder that usual.
"I have no idea,' Timothy admitted.
There was a sigh on the line. "Send her, politely, to the conference room on the fourth floor. Politely."
The entire time he had been on the phone the cape was twisting from side to side, the pleats of her robe swirling around her legs with every motion. She was eyeing the gift shop off to the side, though he couldn't tell if it was out of curiosity of longing.
"Um, miss, there's a room for you on the fourth floor. Just, take the elevator there and there should be someone to escort you up."
Her beaming smile returned. "Great! Thanks mister." With that she was off and almost skipping towards the elevators.
Timothy sank into Jessica's seat.
He should have gone home.
"Mister?"
Timothy nearly jumped out of his skin. The cape was still there, standing just across from him. "What?" he squawked.
"Do you think I can visit the gift shop before going upstairs?"
For just a second, a tiny second, Timothy almost told her that no, she couldn't do that. She had to follow their instructions and go upstairs where some very important people were waiting for her. Then Lung, now twenty feet long, fired a beam of fire so thick it looked solid right towards the PRT building only for it to ram against a wall of ice that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. "Sure!"
***
She walked into the gift shop with her head turning left and right as if to take in every little detail. There were new Triumvirate action figures prominently on display next to T-shirts with the logos of local wards and dolls of various popular members of the Protectorate. One wall had a replica Armsmaster halberd above a section filled with Tinker-like gadgets and gizmos apparently endorsed by the local Protectorate leader.
With a huge grin splitting her face, she ran over and started picking through the shirts, then she skipped over to the dolls of the wards which all had oversized heads filled with soft fluff.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
She was hugging a Vista doll to her chest when she heard a cough from behind her.
She turned, face going red as she hid the doll in the small of her back, then her eyes locked on Legend, floating an inch above the ground and holding a beige file folder in one hand. She froze.
He looked at her, taking in her rather professional--if strange--costume and the crown-like hood above her. "You must be Queen Administrator," he said, his face twisting into a smile. It was too soon for him to know if her reaction was one of fear or--
"Oh my god, oh my god! You're Legend!" Queen Administrator squeaked.
His smile grew wry. "I take it you recognize me," he said before gesturing at the doorway behind him. "I know you're just here to fill out some things, but I was really hoping we could talk a little. I'm not sure if this is the best place for it."
"Why not?"
"Well, this is a gift shop," he said.
She nodded and waited for him to continue. Her eyes flashed with recognition then pity. "Are you shy because your dolls don't look like you?" she whispered. "Don't worry, you're much handsomer in person."
"No, no that's not it--"
She reached over and pulled a pair of panties off a rack and Legend, who had always thought of himself as somewhat charismatic, spluttered to a stop. His face was on the undergarments, smiling for all the world to see. "I'd be pretty embarrassed too. I mean, uh, that's a pretty bold place to have your face." Her face scrunched up. "Aren't you gay?"
"Yes?"
"Then why have your face on panties, you don't even like girls!"
Legend tried to find the right words to slip out of that particular conversational trap while the back of his mind made a note to call Glenn Chambers about certain marketing choices. He was saved by seeing Lung fly backwards across the parking lot to ram into a PRT van hard enough to send the vehicle skidding sideways.
Queen Administrator jumped at the sound, then looked over to see what was going on outside. "Oh, shucks, I told him not to hurt the buildings but I guess the cars don't count."
Leviathan walked over to Lung a clawed hand reaching into the crumpled can only for a dragon to come tearing out of the vehicle and tackle him back out of sight.
"So, Mister Legend, sir, you had papers for me to sign?" she said before pulling out a stool with a grinning Clockblocker on the seat and plopping herself down. Her star-filled eyes never really left him, though they did wander across the forms tucked under his arm.
Legend licked his lips. Part of him wanted to be out there fighting with Leviathan. Another part told him that it might be best to let sleeping dogs lie. He pulled out another stool and stared at how low it was before sitting down. His knees were almost hitting his chest but it brought him level with Queen Administrator and, he had to admit to himself, it was a rather non threatening stance to take. "I heard from Battery and Assault that you're not interested in joining the Wards?" he asked.
She nodded. "Yeah, that's right. I didn't think I'd be getting an offer from you though, of all people." He could tell she was resisting the urge to clap and move, the chair barely able to contain her excitement.
His smile only grew. Maybe Rebecca was too pessimistic. All he saw was an excited girl who might have been a little starstruck, but she didn't seem to have a bad bone in her body.
The building shook and a massive dark form moved across the window. He turned in time to see a top-hat move by, then four green eyes were staring into the room from just meters away. His every instinct, honed in half a dozen battles against Leviathan, told him to run, to fight, but he reigned them in.
Leviathan lifted his arm and held up Lung by the scruff of his neck. The dragon's mouth was open and his tongue was lolling out, though he was still breathing.
"Darn it, Unit Two," Queen Administrator huffed. "Now I'll have to apologize to the nice ABB people for hurting their dragon." She turned to Legend and bowed, cheeks reddening the whole time. "I'm so sorry. Would it be okay if I left mister Lung with you guys?"
"It's fine? He's... docile?" he asked. The Leviathan had paused just outside the window and was staring. He had never seen the monster unmoving and it unnerved him to his core.
"Oh, yeah, he's just a big softy," she said.
He taught on that for a second. No one had ever called an Endbringer a big softy in his presence before.
Queen Administrator stood up and walked to the window, then placed a hand on her hip and pointed at Leviathan with the other, like someone about to scold a disobedient child. "Get your dirty claws off mister Lung. You're going to get them all angry at me. I wanted to make a good first impression, not wreck their cars, and hurt mister Lung."
Leviathan leg go of the supervillain and he flopped to the ground like a sack of potatoes. A half second later the building shook again as the Endbringer stepped away.
"I'm so sorry, Mister Legend, sir," she said as she turned around and bowed again, the tassels of her dress flopping around her..
"It's fine," he said. If anything, it at least gave him a more accurate picture of the way she behaved. "Please, sit, there's no need for all that."
She grinned at him and returned to her seat, then began twisting from side to side, the chair squeaking with the motion. "So, I wanted to register as an independent," she began.
"I see. So Battery was right that you're not interested in joining the Wards?"
"Not really, sir."
"Do you mind if I ask you why not? We would give you training and support and would help you make new friends. We can also help you financially, if that's what you need."
She laughed, though it was rather weak. "Ah, no, that's not it. There're two reasons, really. I'm kind of afraid that you'll hurt Unit Two and try to poke at him and stuff. I, I don't want you guys to do that."
He had to admit that the scientific department would probably jump on the opportunity to study a non-aggressive Endbringer. "I see, and the other reason?"
"You guys failed." She stared down at the Vista doll she was still holding onto. Her fingers were absently running across the doll's hair.
There was a long beat of silence in the room. "We failed?"
Queen Administrator nodded, then gestured out of the window. "The gangs, the city. I really love Brockton Bay, it's where my family is, it's my home, but it was getting worse and worse. The gangs kept growing and no one was helping. Then the Endbringer attack happened and I... well, you know. But I can't recall you guys ever doing anything to really help. I know that it's scary to fight the bad guys, but it was supposed to be your job and you never did it. And so things got worse. I don't want to be part of that."
"You want to fight?"
"No, I want things to get better. I have powers and I should be able to use them to help. I have Unit Two, and he's pretty strong. Why can't I just clean the ships out of the bay, or help protect convoys of food, or clean up the streets and make people feel safer? I know you guys are trying, but it's not working." She was staring into the grain of the table in the end, unable to meet his eyes. "I'm sorry."
Legend fell back into his seat. What she said was, probably, true. At least to a civilian girl who didn't see the whole picture. They couldn't take out all the villains, not without huge casualties or without losing a large portion of their support during Endbringer battles. But then, of all the people to use the Endbringers as an excuse, Queen Administrator was maybe the last one it would work on. "I think you're right."
Her head snapped up. "Really?"
He nodded solemnly. "We try our best, we really do, but sometimes it's just not enough. If you think you can do more good as an independent then I won't stop you unless you start hurting innocents or go too far trying to hur--" he stopped mid-sentence as a sound like a thousand pressure hoses firing at once came from outside.
Leviathan was still staring at them, but behind him a dozen tendrils of water, as big around as a man's waist, were picking up the bits of PRT vans that had been tossed around and were ramming them back into place on the frames of the cars. In short order, the Endbringer was fixing the van while standing completely still.
"Oh, that's clever!" Queen Administrator said before she giggled at the Endbringer's antics.
Legend approached the window, then looked down to where a crater was being torn into the parking lot by the jets of water that were even now coming out of the sewers. At the rate the water was coming it would soon turn the PRT headquarters into an island.
"Um."
"Oh, darn, he's making a mess again, isn't he?" she said. "Maybe we should get on with the paper signing and whatnot?"
"I think that might be for the best." He sounded faint.
What followed was ten minutes of Legend trying to guide Queen Administrator through increasingly difficult paperwork while cursing the lack of proper tables in the gift shop. He should have asked one of the aides to stay with him, but he was loath to put a normal person at risk. "And, we need your signature here," he said, finally pointing to the last box on the last page. "You can sign with your cape name, of course."
"Awesome!" she said as she wrote her name with a flourish. She looked up and grinned at him. "So, do I need to do the same for Unit Two?"
"The same?"
"You know," she said, gesturing at the paper, "Sign him up as an independent."
"I think we'll be okay. He already has a file." He stood a across from her, then extended his hand. "Welcome to the light side."
Queen Administrator laughed and stood up before shaking his hand. "Thanks!" She looked past him and to the door, then back. "Hey, uh, you think I could get you to sign one of your action figures?"
Legend blinked. "Sure, I don't see why not."
He saw the way her face turned a deep red and she looked away. "Well, I, uh kindaforgotmywalletathome."
He smiled then crossed the room and took one of the better figures off the wall and started rummaging for a sharpie behind the counter. In no time he handed Queen Administrator a signed figurine that she hugged to her chest. "Thank you so much!"
"No problem."
"Can I keep the panties too?" she said, lifting the underwear.
"Uh."
"Would you sign them?"
"I think the action figure is enough," he said, his smile straining at the edges.
She shrugged then started walking away. "Fair enough! See you around, mister Legend!"
"Bye," he called back. Then the girl was out the door and climbing onto Leviathan's shoulders while a few fearful PRT troopers foamed down Lung's shrinking body. Legend took it all in. "Well, that was something," he told the empty room.