“I’m telling you, the laser output is fine,” Chris said, making several notes on the graph paper they had been going over for the past twenty minutes.
Taylor had continued to sit at their table for the past few weeks, because Dennis was often humorous in a way that reminded Taylor of the Dockworkers, crass and offensive as hell, but owned it. Chris on the other hand was in an AP science course and could actually talk shop with her at a level that wasn’t boring.
“Is this how nerds flirt?” Dennis asked.
“You would know,” Amy said, taking a seat beside Taylor. She wanted to frown but she was too caught up in the current conversation to complain.
Taylor grunted but turned her focus back to Chris’s notebook. “That’s all well and good, but you’re going to have energy issues at multiple stages,” she said, taking a red pen to several points in the plans. “Better to reduce power output, make the parts likely to fail modular for easy replacement, or reinforce the failure points.”
Chris frowned, pulling his notebook back as he stared at her notations. “This is…”
“You have a good grasp on the theory, but you—” Taylor paused as something in her mind clicked. She immediately booted her recognition software and entered him into it. Seconds passed and she had her answer.
Chris was Kid Win.
Well, that explained how he could hold a decent conversation at least. Tinkers tended to be pleasant interactions if her time with Toybox was any indication. There was something truly satisfying about a proper collaboration, and their talks had been scratching that itch surprisingly well.
Having a sneaking suspicion, she turned the software upon Dennis and the results were far less conclusive. There was a chance he was Clockblocker, but it was sub-sixty percent versus the usual eighty plus. She needed more samples but it did explain why Dennis hung out with him if that was the case. She hadn’t run her recognition software on anyone at Arcadia out of caution for outing people, but clearly being proactive would be better, at least with those making friends with her. Maybe she should rectify the situation regardless and figure out which Wards actually attended the school.
“Amy,” Taylor said sharply.
The girl in question shrunk back in her seat, hand jerking away from where she had touched Taylor’s arm, while Dennis and Chris looked on in bewilderment. It was an unfortunately common occurrence, and she was having to get onto Amy at least once a day and often in public.
“Did we miss something?” Dennis asked.
Aside from the fact that Taylor had somehow sat down at a table with two Wards at random and become friends with them? Chris no doubt recognized her from when he had visited at the hospital, but he had never once tried to use it to his advantage that she could recall. Armsmaster hadn’t made another attempt to approach her since Winslow, and Chris wasn’t trying anything.
Yet.
What wasn’t fine, however, was that Amy had joined the table each day since their talk, much to her annoyance. Worse, the girl kept trying to touch her at every turn. She knew it had something to do with her lack of a normal brain, because Amy was obsessing over it. She had tried to keep quiet, to tolerate the annoyances, but she was tired and annoyed.
Riley had been stopping by Toybox almost daily to help with her shell, which should be ready for a test run within the next two weeks. Even better, once it was complete, she could start manufacturing a replacement for her current body posthaste. Maybe then Amy wouldn’t be interested in touching her at all.
“I feel like we are,” Chris said with a shrug. “I just don’t want to pry. Feels like a violation of privacy to me.”
Taylor sighed, unsure of how much should be said. Finally deciding on a near truth, she gathered her thoughts and put them to words. “I was injured in a way that Amy couldn’t heal completely. I was also fortunate that Surgeon was willing to help fix it. Amy can see what she did with her power and apparently she likes looking at it.”
Amy looked away, not wanting to make eye contact. “It’s not what I see, rather what I can’t.”
Chris and Dennis glanced towards one another but didn’t say a word to that.
Taylor sighed, because it was already turning into an annoyance she didn’t want to deal with going forward. “Can you two keep a secret?”
“Uhh,” Dennis said, rubbing the back of his head. “We’ve kept a few secrets before.”
“I’m aware,” Taylor said, getting at first surprise, then narrowed eyes. “Chris, when talking shop, be careful with your notes. It was obviously Tinkertech after a point and I’m a bit upset with myself for taking so long to notice.”
His eyes widened and scanned his notes before he began to curse under his breath and dropped his head to the table.
“Are you going to out him?” Dennis asked.
“No more than I’m going to clock you,” she answered. “Plus, I’m outing myself in return.”
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Heads whipped fast enough that she was glad Amy was on hand for once, if only to help them with potential whiplash. She pulled out her phone and set it on the table in front of them and began to type text onto the screen.
“Hello, I go by Cyber and work with Toybox.”
The text vanished after a moment and she retrieved her phone. Her identity was already about as flimsy as it could be, and it was better to be proactive than reactive to problems. Chris could have been asked to observe her, but he had taken no efforts and never seemed to pry. Whatever Armsmaster’s dysfunction happened to be, it didn’t seem to extend to the Wards across from her.
If Taylor was going to attend Arcadia, it was better to go about things in a way that cast her in a better light. It was a bit manipulative, but if someone tried to out her in public, again, it would be better to have friends in her corner than enemies all about. Given her recent history, she had little doubt others would approach her in civvies and Taylor was determined to keep ahead of them.
“The so-called rules are complete bullshit, if you haven’t noticed,” Taylor continued. “I’ve now met seven capes in civvies, and of those, five were involved in incidents that could have outed me.”
“That counting Toybox?” Amy asked.
Taylor shook her head. “No, as those were planned meetings with future members of my team and so on after I joined. I’m only counting unplanned meetings while I was just going about my day.”
“Who were the two that didn’t out you?” Dennis asked.
“You for one,” Taylor said. “Don’t let me down on that. Chris is only on the list because he was with Armsbastard in the hospital, and before you ask, yes, that was me.”
“Fuck,” Chris hissed. “You triggered because of him, didn’t you?”
Taylor squeezed her eyes closed, taking deep and steady breaths as she did. She wouldn’t lash out at Chris for the role he played. He wasn’t there to be malicious unlike the Protectorate leader. She would control herself, show that she was a better person.
She nodded, her motion stilted and jerky.
“No wonder you looked elsewhere,” Chris said. “I wouldn’t have joined up either.”
“Toybox is always recruiting,” Taylor said. “Most of the work is on contract, we have active heroes working with us too.”
“That’s how you met Surgeon?” Amy asked, blinking slowly. “How does that even work? Do her fathers know?”
“Wait, plural?” Dennis asked.
“Amy…” Taylor said in a warning tone. “Things like this are how people get outed. Her fathers are fully aware of what she was doing and often accompany her on her visits.”
Amy was frowning as she crossed her arms and seemed to fall deep in thought. Taylor turned her attention back to her lunch, letting everyone mull over her answers. She sent a message to Lisa asking if she could keep an eye on Protectorate communications, explaining that two Wards were now aware of her identity. There was no reason she had for making Lisa use her power to fill in the gaps, she didn’t want to give her friend a headache after all.
She was just about done with her chicken salad when Amy spoke again. “Do you need parental consent to work for Toybox?”
Taylor paused, surprised by the question. “Nope. My dad is aware of the work I do for them, but I only told him after I got my brain fixed and upgraded.”
“You aren’t actually considering this, are you?” Dennis asked.
Amy chewed on her lip, eyes looking to and fro. It wasn’t hard to notice that she kept settling on her sister across the room. That went on long enough that Taylor managed to finish her sandwich with no resolution. Lisa sent a message, promising to keep an eye out for any alerts mentioning her name, or Arcadia in general just to be safe.
A warm feeling filled her, knowing that Lisa had her back. She missed that feeling, of having someone she could trust and rely on. Riding that warmth, Taylor decided to be a bit bold and sent Lisa an invitation to meet up after school.
----------------------------------------
The last bell finally sounded and Taylor made her way to her locker. Putting her books away, she grabbed her homework folder and put it in her backpack. Amy still hadn’t given her a definitive answer about being introduced to Toybox, but she had Taylor’s number if she did come to a decision.
On her way out the door, she saw Chris and Dennis waiting for her. Frowning, she walked over to them. Chris took a hesitant step forward, eyes downcast as he played with his hands. Taylor was in a bit of a hurry, but she was willing to hear him out. There was a chance he could be a friend and she didn’t want to waste it.
“Sorry about not saying anything,” he began, but Taylor waved him off.
“I don’t blame you at all for not outing yourself,” she said. “Just don’t report my identity to your superiors and I’ll consider us good. That work for you?”
“Yeah,” he said, a weak smile returning to his face. “Say, now that the big secret is out, would you like to maybe do some collaborative work sometime?”
Did… Did he just ask her if she wanted to Tinker with him? That was a new one. The Toybox Tinker sessions tended to be a bit spontaneous or scheduled across half a dozen people. Looking closer, she could see a slight redness to Chris’ cheeks. Her eyes narrowed, trying to fill in the blanks.
“Taytay!”
Taylor spun at the sudden shout, and found herself stunned by the sight.
Lisa stood, leaning against a purple motorcycle, leather jacket fluttering alongside her blonde ponytail in the breeze. Her freckles stood out in the afternoon sun, dusting her button nose and framing those emerald eyes that Taylor found so captivating.
Taylor couldn’t help the grin that split her face as she hurried over, leaving a gaping Dennis and Chris behind. Lisa caught her in a hug, glancing back at the boys before she grinned wickedly. A wink followed and Lisa planted a quick kiss on Taylor’s cheek, setting it aflame. Before she had a chance to process what had just happened, Lisa mounted her motorcycle.
“Don’t blue screen on me now, Tay. You asked me to show you a good time, remember?”
Snapping out of it, she shook her head in exasperation with a slightly delirious chuckle. “Lise, you’re horrible.”
“Nah, you love me.”
Taylor paused again before shaking her head and hopping on the bike behind Lisa. Holding her friend tight, the two sped off from Arcadia and Taylor found she had far too much time stuck within her own head.