In Which Taylor's Picnic Gets Slaughtered

Taylor slouched on her bed, back bent at an odd angle so that her head was upside down over the edge while her feet kicked against her mattress with a constant thump-thump-thump. She held her new-ish phone, acquired all of a week ago, and now an inseparable part of her body. The phone's display light illuminated her face and the letter discarded on the floor next to her bed.

PHO and most of the other national news sites not blocked by a paywall were still going on about the 'Great Brockton Bay Tsunami.' It seemed as though unleashing the biggest wave this side of the ice-age on a single city might have been a bit much for some people.

It had already been a week and the PRT was still 'advising' her to stay home and not order Unit Two to 'manipulate enough water to create tiny shifts in the planet's rotation.'

She figured they were all over-reacting. It was only water and no one got hurt. In fact, the entire city was a lot cleaner now. They should have called it the Great Brockton Bay... Spring Cleaning Waterfall of Happiness... Taylor huffed and pouted at her room. She wasn't very good at names.

Her eyes drifted up to the floor and towards the letter. She stopped kicking her legs long enough to turn herself over onto her stomach. It allowed her better read the letter and skip the address lines and get to the meat of it.

Dear Miss Taylor Herbert,

We, the staff of Winslow are happy to announce that the school will be reopening on Monday the 30th of May, 2011. All non-essential classes will be cancelled until the beginning of the spring 2011 term.

Please note that there will be additional security on-campus and that for the coming weeks the school day will be shortened from 8am to 1pm to accommodate the situation happening in Brockton Bay at the moment. No weapons will be allowed on-campus.

Thank you,

Susan Blackwell

Principal

That was tomorrow. Emma would probably be there, as would the rest of them. She shut her eyes and took in a deep breath. "I need to get out."

{Host-Queen_Administrator requires extraction?} A familiar and comforting voice spoke in her mind.

"Yeah," she said to the room. "But not the sort you can provide, big boy, I need a distraction."

{Unit-02 is capable of providing a distraction. Start Genocide protocols?}

Taylor giggled and flipped over and around. "No, no, it's alright," she said as she got to her feet. "Tell you what though, I think I've been stuck at home for long enough." She whipped out her phone and, with a few expert swipes of her thumb, opened the messenger app while her other hand opened a drawer and searched for a clean pair of jeans.

>>Queen_Adminstrator: Hey, Dragon, I'm going out in a bit.

>>Dragon: You mean in-costume, with Unit Two?

Taylor loved the way Dragon answered almost as soon as she hit send. She hadn't dared talk to the Tinker too much over the last week, what with her probably doing important Tinker-y stuff up in Canada, but she still felt a thrill every time she talked to the woman.

She pulled on a sweater over her shirt, then returned her attention to her phone.

>>Queen_Administrator: Yeah! In-costume. I can't stand being at home anymore and Unit Two hasn't gone for a walk in forever. I think he might be getting bored, you know?

>>Dragon: I can't tell you what to do, Queen Administrator, but I strongly suggest that you stay indoors. I believe the PRT would advise the same. What were you planning on doing anyway?

Taylor hummed to herself as she opened the door and made her way downstairs. It wasn't noon yet and she'd kinda skipped breakfast. Maybe she could go out for lunch? But she'd need money for that, and most restaurants were closed anway. Oh! She had an idea.

>>Queen_Administrator: I was thinking of preparing a picnic and going to the park with Unit Two.

>>Dragon: You do know that it's raining right now. It's hardly the kind of weather you'd want to have a picnic in.

Taylor blinked then looked outside. Dragon was, as usual, quite right. A light smattering of rain was coming down and covering the--very clean--streets in her neighbourhood. She shrugged and made her way to the kitchen.

>>Queen_Administrator: That's no big deal.

>>Dragon: Please don't ask Unit Two to change the weather again.

>>Queen_Administrator: You worry too much.

Slipping her phone into her pocket, Taylor scanned her kitchen, then started preparing sandwiches and shoving cans of pop into a cooler. Ten minutes later she had enough food to feed an army as long as that army had no more than three people in it.

Nodding to herself, Taylor grabbed her cooler, slipped on a raincoat, and went outside.

The air still smelled of saltwater even a week after Leviathan's little cleaning wave, though it was better than the smell of trash and whatnot that had been stinking the place up before that.

The Endbringer in question was in his hiding spot next to a gas station a few blocks down. "Hey!" Taylor said as she slipped into the alley.

{Unit-02 greets Host-Queen_Administrator.}

"How have you been, big guy?" she asked as she dropped her cooler next to the box that hid her costume. "Oh, and turn around. No peeking while a girl changes."

The Endbringer shifted until his four-eyed gaze was firmly locked onto the entrance of the alley, anyone trying to peek on her would have to get by him first. {Unit-02 is combat ready.}

"You're always combat ready, I wanted to know how you were," Taylor said as she slid out of her coat. A few droplets of rain slid down her neck and she shivered. "Oh, and can you make it not rain around us. Just around here though, Dragon doesn't want us messing the weather too much."

{Complying,} Unit Two said a moment before the rain shifted and started falling everywhere but where the two of them were standing. {Unit-02 is performing at standard operating levels.}

"Good!" Taylor said as she adjusted her costume and brought her hood up. "So, I'm going for a picnic at the park. Wanna come?"

{Unit-02's capability to carry out the Primary Directive will be facilitated by nearness to Host-Queen_Administrator.}

"Awesome!" Taylor cheered before making grabby motions at Levithan's shoulder. The Endbringer lowered himself until she was able to climb up. "Oh, and could you grab the cooler? Since you're so big and strong?" she teased. Leviathan's hand wrapped around the cooler, sharp claws biting into the off-white plastic. "Okay, so, I was thinking the park near Lincoln Ave. Any objections?"

{Negative.}

"Well then, off we go!" Taylor said. She watched the dreary, wet world around them for a few blocks, noting the way cars swerved around whenever they caught sight of her and Leviathan making their way along the sidewalk while ducking under power lines. After a bit though, she got bored and pulled her phone out again.

>>Dragon: Queen Administrator, could you wait a moment before leaving with Unit Two? I'm sure we could find something less disruptive to do.

>>Dragon: Queen Administrator? The PRT would really appreciate it if you allowed them to escort you to the park.

>>Dragon: Hello?

>>Dragon: Queen Administrator?

>>Queen_Administrator: Hey, Dragon, Unit Two and I are heading out for that picnic I mentioned, want to join us? I made ham and cheese sandwiches!

>>Dragon: I really can't. But I'm sure someone from the local Protectorate would love to join you!

>>Queen_Administrator: Nah, it's okay. I'll find someone interesting on my own. You don't need to get anyone to come with me.

Taylor shifted on Levithan's shoulder. She had really just extended the invitation to Dragon to be nice, she didn't actually expect the Tinker to be able to accept from all the way in Canada.

Did Dragon really have to send someone from the Protectorate over? It was like having someone set up a playdate. She couldn't quite pin down what she felt about that, but it was something close to embarrassment, like when someone brought their parents to school and they tried to act cool and help them make friends. She didn't want the other capes to think that she couldn't make friends on her own!

The problem was, she realized, that she didn't know how to make friends on her own. "Hey, Unit Two, how do you make friends?"

{Unit-02 is currently allied to Unit-01 of 20 and Unit-03 of 20 as well as all currently inactive Units. This alliance was created on the basis that all Units would share Primary Directives. Initial Primary Directives were installed at time of Creation.}

"Wait, you have two friends," Taylor said. An Endbringer had more friends than her. She huffed and drew herself up a little. "Okay, new objective, make some friends."

{New Objective added.}

"Cool. So, uh, I guess I'd need to actually meet someone. It's a good thing I brought extra sandwiches," she muttered before casting her gaze across the street in search of potential friend materials, but that was silly, she wasn't just going to spot someone who would become her friend. Not unless... "Hey, Unit Two, could you find someone interesting for me?"

{Unit-02 is capable of actively scanning the environment for any organic lifeform.}

"Could you find someone interesting? Preferably between here and the park, and on their own? You know, someone my own age and kinda like me, I guess."

{Affirmative. Scanning.} Leviathan paused a bit, and when they approached the next intersection he turned left instead of keeping straight like she thought he would.

She was about to ask him where he was heading when she noticed a girl standing on a sidewalk a little ways ahead. They were in what had been Empire territory only a while ago, a more upscale part of town where the streets were lined with italian and greek restaurants and the apartment buildings had little gardens out front.

{Target 'Interesting Human matching approximate characteristics of Host-Queen_Administrator' found.}

Taylor watched the girl as Leviathan came to a stop half a dozen meters away. She didn't cower or shake or run away, she just stared at Taylor with an expression she couldn't quite decipher. It was something between terror and, if Taylor wasn't misjudging the girl, panic. Awe, maybe.

She waved almost shyly from her perch and watched the girl's eyes go wide. Something was almost familiar about her but Taylor couldn't put her finger on it. "Hello there!" she called down.

Taylor noticed that she had been pulling a wheeled luggage bag behind her. "Um, hey?"

"Are you alright?" Taylor asked.

"I'm fine, super, awesome, fan-fucking-tastic," the girl said, her voice rising in pitch with every word.

"You sure?" Taylor pushed while tilting her head to one side.

"Yup," the girl said. Her eyes snapped from Taylor to Leviathan then back. "Uh, have a nice day?"

"Thanks!" Taylor said. She wanted to kick herself. She wasn't this bad when she was talking to Legend the other day, or with Dragon, why was it so much harder to talk to someone her own age. She said the first thing that came to mind and hoped that she didn't sound too weird. "Hey, do you want a sandwich?"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The girl opened her mouth, then closed it. "What?"

"It's ham and cheese,"Taylor said weakly. She wondered if Leviathan could dig a big hole that she could bury herself in.

"I... if I say no will you kill me?" she asked.

Taylor scoffed. "Don't be silly. I wouldn't kill anyone over a ham and cheese sandwich." She cringed at her own words. It seemed as if she had only grown more awkward since school had closed down. "I meant, do you want to go to a picnic, with me? Um, unless you're busy. You're busy aren't you? Damn. I'm sorry."

She saw the girl take a deep breath and look down for a few long seconds. "I, thanks for the invite, but I'm not hungry. Uh, I'll just..." She pointed off down the street. "Be on my way, okay?"

"Okay, bye!" Taylor said as she waved again. "C'mon Unit Two, we should go."

She slumped against his side. That had been a mess and a half. Maybe she could ask Dragon for help? But no, she doubted Dragon of all people needed help talking to people. Dragon was just awesome like that. Maybe she could find a book about it?

Just as the Endbringer started moving again, she heard the girl muttering to herself. "Fuck, she even looks like the fucking Fairy Queen now."

A jolt of recognition shot through Taylor and a half-buried memory came back. "Rune?"

The girl, who might have been Rune, tripped over nothing and stumbled a few steps before stopping. "I'm sorry, what'd you say?"

Taylor stood up on Leviathan's shoulder and spun towards the girl. "You're Rune, aren't you? From the Empire. Hey, didn't I get you arrested?"

"No, nope, that wasn't me. I have no idea what you're talking about." The Girl-Who-Might-Be-Rune shook her head violently from side to side, her knuckles went white over the handle of her luggage.

Taylor looked down with narrowing eyes, the girl fidgeting under her speculative look. "You know, if you were Rune, not that I'm saying you are, then maybe I might be willing to forgive you if you came with me to the park and had a proper picnic."

"You want to hold me hostage, in a park? To have a picnic?" Maybe-Rune said as if testing the waters of Taylor's sanity.

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds kinda weird," Taylor said. "Uh, nevermind. This was a bad idea."

Maybe-Rune stared up at her for a long time, so long that Taylor began fidgeting on the spot under her scrutinizing gaze. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"About what?"

"The picnic thing. You really want to have a picnic with me. Just ham and cheese sandwiches, in the rain, at the park, because why not?"

"Well, I was talking to Dragon, and I realized that eating at the park all on my own would be kind of boring."

Maybe-Rune's face shifted from confused to incredulous. "So what, you just asked the first person you saw to go with you, while riding on Levithan's shoulder?"

"No! I didn't ask just anyone. I had Unit Two look for someone... like me, I guess." Taylor hunched into herself. Wow, admitting that made her look like such a dweeb.

"Fuck it." Maybe-Rune turned around and slapped the extendable handle of her suitcase down until it was flush with the luggage. She then pressed a hand against the side of case and let it go, only for the case to float up into the air and hover at about head-height. With a grunt of effort, Definately-Rune jumped onto the box and made herself comfortable on her makeshift chair. "Lead the way, Endbringer girl."

"Really?" Taylor asked.

Rune shot her a strange look. "Look, I've got about a million reasons to say no and bugger the fuck off and maybe like, three to say yes. Let's just go out there, eat some sandwiches, then I can get the hell out of this shithole city."

With a tap on his shoulder, Leviathan started walking again while Rune floated just off his shoulder. "You're leaving Brockton Bay? Why?"

Rune sighed and pressed her face into her hands. "Your trigger must have really messed you up, I swear," she muttered. "Okay, so let me list it out for you all simple like: The E88's fucked. My family's fucked. My home's fucked. There was a giant fucking tsunami last week that scared me shitless. There's an Endbringer living in the city, which happens to be fucked." She sighed. "I'm just getting out of here while the going is good. Hell, I'm surprised you're not trying to leave."

Taylor shrugged. "I don't know. Brockton Bay is just home. And I don't think most places would be very accepting of, well, me."

Rune snorted. "Yeah, no shit." She glanced over at Taylor as if to see her in a new light. "You got it rough, huh?"

"A bit, I guess. The PRT don't want me to do anything so I'm pretty much stuck at home all the time. I got bored with that though, that's why I'm here. Just a picnic, you know, something to get out of the house."

"Just a picnic and a bit of kidnapping?"

Taylor laughed and looked away. "Ah, that wasn't part of the plan. Sorry?"

"Uh huh." Rune might have been something of a risk taker, and maybe she wasn't the wisest as far as teenaged girls went, but she knew how to weasel like the best of them. "Tell you what, you don't try to arrest me anymore, and I won't comment on the whole kidnapping thing on PHO."

"You use PHO?"

Rune snorted. "Yeah, I use PHO. And I know that you use it, they won't shut up about you on there."

Taylor smiled and looked down, focusing on the road as it passed below her. "It's kind of nice and most people are more honest on PHO then in real life, you know?"

"You mean they're bigger assholes?" Rune barked a laugh. "Yeah, I get you."

"What's your name?" Taylor asked suddenly. "Not that you have to tell me or anything, I just--"

"Cass."

"I'm Taylor," Taylor replied. She beamed over at the other teen who just rolled her eyes but the corners of her lips were twitching up. "Ah, there's the park!" Taylor said as they arrived next to a deserted playground. There was a sandpit off to one side with brightly coloured jungle gyms installed through while the rest of the little park was dominated by a hill surrounded by trees. "Get us on the hill," she told Leviathan.

Moments later Taylor landed on soggy grass and looked around her. The view from here wasn't great, but they could still see a good ways into the city, enough to see the dozens of cranes poking out of the cityscape and the cargo ships waiting out in the Bay.

"Urg, this is really shit weather for this, you know," Cass said as she landed next to Taylor and her sneakers sunk into the ground.

"Oh, right," Taylor said. "Hey, Unit Two, could you dry the top of the hill for us?"

{Affirmative.}

The grass rustled as a layer of water lifted from the ground and floated a few inches in the air, then it shot out in every direction, scattering downhill. "Tada!" Taylor flopped to the ground and ran her fingers through now-dry but still soft grass. "Hey, toss the cooler over," she told the Endbringer and squeaked when he did just that.

She caught the plastic bin with an oomph and fell onto her back. Then she started giggling while hugging the box. "Oops."

"Christ, he took that literally huh," Cass said. She eyed the Endbringer warily as she sat down cross legged near Taylor. "You okay?"

Taylor let her laughter die down and sat up straighter. "I'm fine," she said before placing the cooler next to her and opening it. A few minutes later and the two girls were munching down on ham and cheese while staring at everything but each other.

She knew that she had to break the ice, but she didn't know how to actually do that without being too strange. So, she did the next best thing and just asked the first thing that came to mind. "So, how's school?"

Cass choked on her ham. "Seriously? 'How's school.' What are you, my mom?"

"Sorry," Taylor said.

"Nah it's... okay, school is lame as shit, but it's closed down so who gives half a fuck? You know?

Taylor nodded. "Yeah. I'm really, really not looking forwards to going back."

"Then don't. Just... say fuck it and do your own thing. You've got the Endbringer to do shit for you, so I doubt you'll be aiming for a steady job in the future. And I'm pretty sure you could just go to whatever university or college or whatever you want as long as you're masked. Seriously, who's gonna stop you? Eidolon and his happy buddies?"

"But if I don't go back they'll win," Taylor said with a tiny voice.

Cass chewed on her sandwich for a bit, her attention on Taylor before it drifted away. "You know, you're pretty strong right now. Might not last forever. If I were in your shoes I'd use that power for everything it's worth."

"Imagine letting Unit Two sit on the school's front lawn while classes are in session," Taylor said and she couldn't stop herself from giggling at the mental image. It helped when Cass laughed along with her.

A scaly hand wrapped itself around Taylor's waist and before she could ask what was going on she was torn aside, claws digging into her sides hard enough to knock the breath out of her.

Looking up, she saw that Leviathan was holding her close to his chest, all four eyes focused on the hill she had been sitting on only seconds before.

A noise, like a bag of trash being pelted at a wall, drew her attention back to where she had been. Cass was now floating a dozen feet off the ground, eyes wide and panicked as she too took in the mess that their picnic had turned into.

Trash was strewn all over the hill, empty bottles next to tin cans and rotting food, all scattered with the spot she'd been sitting in as the epicentre. "What?" Taylor asked.

There was movement near the treeline, then a man shambled out from between the trees. His face was twisted in a rictus of laughter while his eyes twitched from where Taylor now was to where she'd been. "Shit. You little knob-licker sure move fast. Much fucking fast. No hit but trash like you trash fuck."

He stumbled forwards another step, his long trench coat, covered in grime and dirt, dragging along the ground. "Shit piss. Not going to miss, no!" he screamed. Raising a hand, the man made grabbing motions and all the trash on the hill peeled itself off the ground and rushed back to him, coating his arm and torso before it all glowed a bright blue.

Leviathan moved again, his arm shooting out to bat a ball of junk out of midair.

"Holy crap, that's Skidmark!' Cass said.

The man, Skidmark, screeched a single long, incoherent note. The ground around him started to glow with bands of bluish purple while all the trash rushed back to him and splattered onto his body.

There was a single clap from nearby and Skidmark paused, his scream cutting off with a gurgle. Another man stepped out of the treeline, this one wearing a simple rain coat and smiling as if he was about to greet a neighbour and wasn't just barging into the start of a cape fight. "My my, what a hideous specimen. Bonesaw tried to clean up his vocabulary but I think she might have made it worse. It was something of a patch job, you see?" His smile grew and he turned his full attention Taylor. "Hello, Queen Administrator. I had something of a proposition for you."