Taylor strode into the familiar workshop and spun around, Harry opting to bring Amy to her own workshop directly, rather than through the front entrance given people were already planning to meet up to help with her shell. Amy wasn’t far behind and quickly began to take it all in with wide eyes. It was easy to forget just how impressive the laboratory space was to an outsider. Just a month prior she had been the one standing in awe of what was on offer.
Granted, Taylor was a Tinker and her power was essentially dancing a little jig in her head once she had gotten to work. Taylor stepped away as Amy slowly walked, looking around at all the different technology that looked as though it had been ripped from the pages of every sci-fi show ever.
“Surgeon will be arriving shortly,” Taylor said, having sent a quick message to Riley and Jacob. “Prepare for ballistic pre-teens.”
Harry snorted, stepping through the rip in reality. “Melissa’s going to kick herself for missing this.”
“She did mention an errand this morning,” Taylor said absently. She wished her mentor could be there, but it was rather last minute notice and she didn’t want to disturb Melissa’s own work if Amy backed out.
She was just about done with her cursory check of her shell when a second portal opened and as prophesied, Riley came running in, with no costume or mask to speak of, took one look at the room and barreled right into Amy who was knocked to the floor even as Riley hugged her tight.
“Oh my god, oh my god, you’re actually here!” Riley exclaimed. “I can’t believe it, this is amazing! I can’t wait to Tinker on something together!”
Taylor couldn’t help but chuckle at the display, nor at the stunned expression stuck on Amy’s face. Riley continued to run her mouth a mile a minute even as Jacob joined them, but another figure stepped out of the iris before it shut. She smiled, not having seen Kurt in a bit.
“She is certainly enthusiastic about things,” he said as Amy tried to squirm free. Kurt shook his head fondly and turned towards Taylor. “Thank you for this, Riley’s been wanting to meet Amy for a while but keeps getting stonewalled.”
Taylor frowned. “Amy said she put a request in for me to be visited by Surgeon, but that I would only get to see her if I joined the Wards.”
“That request was never filed,” Jacob said. “I’ve looked into it, and even passed word up the chain that legitimate requests are falling through. It’s being looked into.”
“Forgive me for my lack of optimism there,” Taylor said.
Jacob sighed. “Not all of the PRT is as corrupt as the ENE seems to be.”
Taylor wanted to scoff, but a high pitched squeal broke the tension as Riley continued to fangirl over Amy. It was adorable and brought a smile to Taylor’s face. Riley just got so enthusiastic about her work and anyone that could help her with it. Kurt chuckled then turned back to Taylor, looking all business.
“I must say, you truly are living up to the expectations we had for you.” Kurt offered a welcoming hand. “As you know, I’m Kurt, but you may know me best as the Number Man. It is a pleasure to finally introduce myself properly.”
Taylor accepted the offered hand with a smile before his second name fully registered, prompting a double take. “Wait, you’re the shadow broker of the cape world?”
Kurt chuckled. “I am indeed, and I must say, the reactions are always a delight. I must thank you, that information software you developed was invaluable to my work.”
“It was just a basic tracking and obfuscation system,” Taylor said sheepishly. “Your request actually surprised me, I figured someone like you would already have better.”
“I had software, yes,” he admitted. “All of which was replaced with the suite you developed for me. I wasn’t expecting your program to be as comprehensive as it was, but I wanted to support you in getting your feet under you, and giving you business was a good way to stimulate your finances so to speak.”
Harry nodded in agreement. “Toybox encourages all our members to do the same when bringing someone new on board. That is a big part of how you got your initial cyber brain project off the ground as quickly as you did, and I must say, that investment has been paying off in dividends.”
Taylor couldn’t help the blush response that followed such praise. She knew that her catalog was becoming rather popular, but she wasn’t aware of it doing that well. “Out of curiosity, how well are my projects selling? I haven’t been tracking the numbers as well as I could be given how close I am to completing my first shell.”
“There’s a reason I wasn’t too put out to offer you a million just for getting Amy in the door,” Harry said. “Your security software alone has been adopted by dozens of companies, never mind the rest of your catalog.”
Kurt nodded. “Your account with me currently stands at just shy of a hundred million.”
Taylor’s jaw involuntarily dropped.
Jacob chuckled, patting Kurt on the shoulder as he stepped over and all but pried Riley off of the struggling healer. “Surgeon, what have I told you about glomping people that you want to work with?”
“Oh,” she said, standing up straight and offering Amy a hand. “Sorry, I just got so excited to meet you that I couldn’t help myself.”
Amy glared at her, but accepted the offered hand only for her vision to go oddly distant.
“Just what have you done to yourself?” she asked as Riley picked her up with almost no effort.
Stolen story; please report.
“Lots of things,” she said cheerfully. “I replaced my entire skeleton as well as used artificial stimulants to increase muscle density and even installed a sub-dermal mesh to make me bulletproof! There’s lots more I want to do, but it’s a bit much for me, but your power should be perfect!”
“I have no idea what to say to that,” Amy admitted.
Taylor shook her head, getting her thoughts back on the matters at hand. She could worry about her new-found fortune later. “I offered to make her a shell, but aside from the cyber brain, she wasn’t interested. She’s a Wet Tinker, she would go stir-crazy without a proper body to mold.”
“Yeah, the cyber brain was all kinds of neat,” Riley said with a nod. “It really helped with one of my recent projects.”
“Crazy Tinkers,” Amy muttered. “I’m not sure how useful I can be in that regard, but I guess I would be willing to look into it since I’m apparently going to be working in a legal gray area.”
“Less gray than you think,” Kurt said. “You would be surprised how many capes on both sides of the divide use my services. The Protectorate routinely purchases services from Toybox as well.”
“Why am I not surprised,” Amy said with a sigh. “It isn’t like the heroes are much better.”
“They really aren’t,” Jacob said softly. “If you haven’t figured it out, I’m a cape therapist that works with the PRT. Believe me, I’ve been made aware of many cover-ups over the years and seen far too much for my own sanity.”
“I’m just tired,” Amy admitted. “Of healing, of covering for my family’s mistakes… I’m just tired of it all. Sometimes I wonder if things might have been better if I was raised by my actual father.”
“Marquis was an interesting one,” Kurt said. Amy sucked in a breath. Apparently that was news to her as much as it was news to Taylor. “He did leave a trust in the name of one Amelia Claire Lavere, if you are interested in claiming it.”
Amy licked her lips while wringing her fingers at her side. “How much are we talking about?”
“About fifty million,” Kurt said. “Many of his assets were seized by the state before anyone knew what had happened, hence how few assets we were able to secure for your trust. The Brockton Brigade moved off the record and rather illegally so we were unable to offer him a warning. We weren’t even aware he was in custody until he was being remanded to the Birdcage and it was too late.”
“Sounds like you have hands in everything,” Taylor noted. “Why protect big villains like that?”
“Marquis wasn’t a good man, but he maintained order. There was minimal risk of losing a city to civil disorder with him around as a stabilizing element. Without him, the Empire became the stabilizing element, which I shouldn’t have to explain why that is problematic.”
Taylor grimaced even as Amy shrank in on herself.
“No wonder Carol treats me like she does,” Amy said. “I’m the daughter of someone she despised. Why the hell did she even adopt me?”
“Technically she didn’t,” Kurt said. “Amelia Lavere has been missing for a decade. Amy Dallon is an assumed identity which I helped New Wave secure for you once it was clear the damage was done. I can easily reactivate your former identity and assets, just say the word.”
“Maybe once I’m of age,” Amy said. “I am sixteen, aren’t I?”
“Seventeen, actually,” Kurt said. “Carol insisted you be a grade lower than Victoria on paper just to help preserve the illusion. Not that anyone truly believed that, but hey, she paid extra.”
“So, I’m only four months from being able to legally remove myself from her influence,” Amy mused, tapping her chin. “Better than sixteen months. I’ll take you up on that offer. Have my identity ready to go on my eighteenth.”
“Yes, this is all very interesting,” Riley interjected, “but I want to see what we can do! I have this idea for a mesh to protect blood vessels, but my power doesn’t let me do fine detail work like that!”
“Patience, poppet,” Jacob said fondly, “I’m sure Amelia will be happy to play with you since it appears she will be joining, or am I mistaken?”
“No, I’m joining,” Amy said. “It’s not ideal, but it looks like the best option available.”
Taylor grinned, glancing over to Harry who whispered something in Kurt’s ear. Looked like she was soon to be another million richer, not that it was that big of a deal anymore given her current nest egg. Perhaps she should start putting that money to use. Her coming cape identity would need a place to call her own, as well as a secure base. There were likely hundreds of locations in Brockton that could be used for such things, and the Number Man was her best bet for securing those.
She quickly added a secure and discreet base of operations to the list she was preparing for Kurt and decided to go ahead and send it in. Better to get started sooner rather than later. Maybe once Amy was settled in and the initial excitement had begun to wear off, she could get Lisa in for a cyber brain consult.
Solving her Thinker headaches was the priority, but if that was figured out, getting her wired into the net would lead to Lisa being one of the most potent information gathering capes in the world. Just thinking of having her as a support staff on cape matters sent a shiver down Taylor’s spine. Add in Amy and Riley on medical support and there was the potential for one of the most dangerous cape teams just lurking under the surface of Toybox.
Granted, it wasn’t part of how they usually operated, but it was fun to daydream. Riley led Amy over to her usual work area in Taylor’s lab, discussing some intricacies of biology that Taylor didn’t quite understand, but that was fine. She was nearing the completion of her shell and had some things to work on, like that cloaking field idea she had. A short request saw the schematics for the sound dampener system delivered, the cost of the request a drop in the bucket now, and she began to look into ways to combine it with the optical camo systems she had requested previously. Then she had to decide if it was to be man portable or integrated into her shell.
Her civilian line pinged with a message from Lisa, which brought a smile to her face. She wanted to know if Taylor was free over the weekend to go see a movie. Taylor sent an affirmative almost immediately, then she added a request for a consult with Riley, Amy, Cranial and herself for Lisa.
She would pay for it out of her own pocket if it meant helping her best friend.
“Taylor,” Kurt said, startling her out of her thoughts. “No need to jump, I just happened to see your request and wanted to discuss things with you about this new cape identity you have planned.”
“That isn’t a problem, is it?” she asked.
“Not at all,” he confirmed. “I was just wondering if you had some other details in mind beyond a former military background.”
Taylor nodded, setting some things aside mentally. “I was thinking she could have been active military, hiding her combat Thinker abilities until she was outed by a power suppressor or something and swapped to traveling mercenary work.”
“With a trail of activity that wouldn’t make Brockton look out of place as a destination?”
Taylor waved her hand back and forth. “More so enough to get Coil’s attention. He’s been bothering a friend of mine and I’d like to get in his good graces for a potential strike against him if he decides to hurt her.”
“I can understand the sentiment,” he said with a soft smile. “Let me see what I can do and I’ll get back to you on pricing, but I think I can manage something convincing.”
Taylor smiled back. “I would appreciate it.”