Taylor was disgruntled as she reluctantly dismounted from Lisa’s motorcycle, part of her already regretting that she had to peel herself away from the blonde. The warmth was nice, and Taylor could admit she missed human contact and even after months of it, she still relished the closeness.
“You bought an entire apartment building,” Lisa said, looking around the decrepit entry.
Said apartments were part of a larger development just before Leviathan’s first appearance. A dozen of the buildings had been constructed across the docks for easy housing for those working in the shipping industry. The buildings fell abandoned only two short years later, with no prospective buyers.
Taylor looked over the building, a smirk on her lips. “I bought all twelve of them. Turns out joining Toybox pays pretty damn well.”
It wasn’t even expensive, less than a quarter mil for the entire abandoned project after Kurt had worked his magic by giving the previous owner a massive tax write off with the sale that more than made up the difference. They were frequently occupied by the homeless, run down, long since stripped of anything of worth or use. That meant they were the perfect cover for a hidden base. She had picked one of the twelve, the one absolutely covered in graffiti and without a single intact window as her renovation project.
“Well, it is certainly unassuming,” Lisa said with a scrunched nose. “Do you want to know how unsanitary the building is, or remain blissfully unaware?”
“Well, the first two floors will remain as is, the third floor will become a server farm as well as house any power generation,” she said as they went up the stairs, pointedly ignoring the used needles. Once on the third floor, she gestured to the stairwell they had just come up. “I plan to make it look like things caved in from above, to keep people from attempting to go higher.”
“What about the fire escape?” Lisa asked.
“Torn apart in a cape fight,” Taylor said. “Someone tried to fight Lung from the rooftop, he ripped the fire escape down when they tried to escape.”
“Ouch,” Lisa said with a wince. “So, fourth floor?”
“Likely an armory and secondary lab for my Tinkering. Repairs, spare shells, that sort of thing,” Taylor said as they arrived at yet another wrecked floor. “Number Man is working with a discreet company to renovate things for me.”
“Even with the enhancements, I don’t think I could keep up with everything he has his hands in,” Lisa said. “I assume he’s going to use Harry’s portals to sneak the workers in?”
“That’s my guess, but don’t take it as gospel,” Taylor said. “Fifth floor will be living quarters, with the roof access being the primary way inside from the city proper, Toybox portals aside.”
“Will the door be reinforced?”
Taylor grinned. “As good as Toybox can source. The entire building is being restructured discreetly, it will be a veritable fortress once I’m done with things.”
Lisa’s grin widened. “Tell me all about the defenses, I can tell you’re salivating about it.”
“My power is big on multitasking,” Taylor began, “I can control the defenses myself, over the net. Dozens of basic shells, turrets and any other thing I can think of. There’s a reason the general rule is ‘don’t attack a Tinker in their lab’ because I intend to remind anyone dumb enough to try exactly why that is a saying.”
Lisa blinked for a moment, her head tilting slowly to the side. “You know, it never really sunk in before when we were surrounded by all that Tinkertech, but you are going to be a nightmare once fully established.”
“Most Tinkers are,” Taylor acknowledged. “Dodge has turned Toybox into one of the most secure locations in the local dimensional cluster. Anyone not welcome there is pretty much doomed to have their remaining atoms spread across a million different earths.”
Lisa trembled as a chill seemed to run up her spine at the mental image. Taylor was in agreement with that sentiment after getting a good look at some of the defenses that had been established. Her own contributions were more on the coding side of things, but she doubted even Dragon or Hero could breach their systems at this point.
Dragon hadn’t bothered her further, which wasn’t sitting right with Taylor. Something was afoot and she refused to get her hopes up that something might be done. She wasn’t that lucky and at this point it would just draw further unwanted attention to her civilian identity. Not that most of the city didn’t already know.
“Do you have plans for the living area?” Lisa asked. “There are six apartments per floor, so you should have plenty of space to work with.”
“Yeah, there will be a communal area consisting of two of the former apartments similar to the lounge at Toybox. I’m going to leave four of the apartments intact as safe houses for anyone that might need them,” Taylor said, rubbing the back of her head. “One of them will be yours if you want it.”
Lisa froze mid-step, even her breath hitched. Slowly, she turned back to a bashful Taylor with wide, shimmering eyes. Lisa’s lip began to quiver as she regarded Taylor. She wasn’t sure what Lisa’s power was saying or even if she had it on, but whatever it was seemed to be making her friend emotional. Without thinking, Taylor stepped forward and pulled Lisa into a hug.
“We’ve only known each other a few months now, but you’ve been nothing but genuine with me,” Taylor said, then paused. “Well, first day aside. You’re my best friend, Lise. It doesn’t matter that your boss is an ass, I have the means to help you, so that’s all there is to it.”
A hitching sob escaped Lisa’s attempt to conceal it, and she seemingly cast caution to the wind as she pulled her friend in tight. Taylor returned the embrace with all she had as Lisa’s tears flowed freely. Taylor wasn’t sure what to do, so she simply held Lisa close and let her friend work through it. It took some time, but eventually the tears subsided. Taylor continued to hold her in a gentle embrace even as she felt the warmth of the moment spread through her.
“Nobody has cared before,” Lisa whispered, the words cut through Taylor like a knife. “I kept expecting you to be like everyone else, just using me for my power, but you haven’t once even tried to abuse it. Others wanted me for my body, and yet you’ve never once had an impure thought about me. You genuinely don’t care about my power, my past, or even my ass. You care about me. I haven’t felt that since Re—” Lisa’s breath hitched. “You’ve had all my records since we met, and you haven’t even looked at them, have you?”
Taylor hadn’t.
The files were there, and aside from her old name that popped up with the facial scan, she had left everything partitioned away and not accessed it. Originally she planned to, but Lisa had been pleasant company and Taylor didn’t want to color their interactions with clinical reports and biased opinions. She had gotten to know Lisa, whoever Sarah had been, it wasn’t who she was now.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“You don’t even have to say it,” Lisa whispered, pressing her forehead against Taylor’s. “You can be tricky to read when you want, like how you shut down when that bitch tried to start shit at the mall. Yet, you’ve never done it with me. You let me read you, you don’t keep secrets within secrets around me and you don’t dig into the secrets of those you care for. Taylor, do you have any idea what that means to me?”
Before she could say anything to that statement, she felt warm lips press against her own. Taylor’s eyes widened in surprise. Her processors spun up, everything growing warm as she tried and failed to process exactly what was happening. Blue tinted her thoughts because Taylor wasn’t the person that people looked at like that. Lisa was gorgeous, so why was she kissing her of all people?
Lisa pulled back, her breath ragged and cheeks dusted crimson. Even as she stood there, her emerald eyes looking back into Taylor’s own unflinching, she didn’t miss the smile tugging at those lips that had just been on her own, which now tasted of strawberry.
“Even after everything you’ve been through, you are so adorably pure,” Lisa said, wiping her face with a shoulder, not that it did anything for the tears still falling. “I’m not sure where it happened, I’m not sure how it happened, but you Tay? You’re worth putting everything on the line for, because you didn’t even hesitate to do the same for me.”
Taylor stood, unsure of what exactly was happening, because there was no way that Lisa was confessing to her. That only happened to pretty girls, and she was anything but! Her shell was gorgeous, she would expect guys to drool over it, but she hadn’t even considered girls.
She hadn’t considered Lisa.
Standing there, looking deep into the shimmering eyes of her best friend. They were filled with so much fear and trepidation, yet, deep in the depths, Taylor could see the spark of hope. Lisa, who had been used and abused by everyone in her life, the girl who struggled to open up to anyone.
She had put her entirety on the line with this one moment.
Taylor’s own eyes grew damp, because how could she answer such a display?
“You could kiss the girl back,” Lisa said, her eyes looking away as she whispered the words. “Just a suggestion.”
A small snort turned into silent laughter and Taylor did exactly as suggested. She was hesitant with her approach and light on contact. Lisa answered her with cautious motions and Taylor could appreciate how gentle and careful she was being. She wanted the moment to last, but she was unaccustomed to breathing while lip locked and had to pull away to catch her breath.
“Lise,” Taylor said as they broke apart. Lisa looked a touch breathless and Taylor found herself wanting to press forward once more, but there was one thing she couldn’t ignore. “As touching as all this was…”
“The location could have used some work?” she supplied, looking away bashfully.
Taylor glanced off to the side where a partial meth lab remained. “Not quite the lab I had in mind.”
Lisa snorted, stepping up to Taylor where she wrapped her in another hug. “Tay, will you go out with me?”
Taylor pulled back, a smile pulling at her lips. “Dummy.”
She closed the distance once more and answered her question with action, because how could she not say yes?
----------------------------------------
They exited the apartment building that now had far more memories associated with it than Taylor expected when she walked in just an hour prior. Any doubts she had about the location had been pleasantly swept away. She was also exiting hand in hand with her now girlfriend.
Unfortunately, what she saw wasn’t nearly as pleasant.
Lisa had her gun in hand faster than Taylor expected and leveled it on the Merchant that was presently attempting to hot wire her bike.
“Back the fuck away, right the fuck now,” her girlfriend ordered.
Taylor felt a small shiver run down her spine at the tone.
The junkie spun around, their gaunt face pockmarked with sores. His pupils were like pinpricks even in the dull yellow of the streetlights. He had a small screwdriver in hand, which was as good as a shank. Thankfully Lisa was the one with the gun in this particular knife fight.
Searching for signals, Taylor found a flip phone in one of the junkie’s many pockets and decided to play dirty. She found one of the numbers had a custom ringtone, and a quick check of the number led to a treasure trove of information on the Merchants.
Because it belonged to their leader, Skidmark.
Well, she wasn’t about to look that gift horse in the mouth and triggered the ringtone. The junkie stumbled in surprise at the noise and Lisa didn’t hesitate to put a bullet through the man’s leg. Taylor jerked in surprise, not having expected Lisa to actually shoot him. She hurried to pick up the expended brass while Lisa kicked the man away from her ride.
Taylor felt a bit of sympathy for the man, but not much. He was trying to steal from Lisa, he made his choice and she had defended what was hers. Checking him over, Taylor’s analytical software found that while the bullet had passed through without hitting any major arteries, it did clip a nerve cluster that wouldn’t heal right.
Taylor was surprised her power had picked up on that, supplying several ideas on how she could replace the damaged connections with cybernetics. She quickly recorded those ideas to the appropriate folder and moved on. A flick of her multi tool and she found where the bullet had embedded itself in the asphalt. Two seconds later the remains sat in her hand and were swiftly pocketed for later disposal.
“He scratched the hell out of my baby,” Lisa whined.
Looking the motorcycle over, she could see the scuffed paint and grooves carved in the metal and fiberglass where he had tried to gain entry to the electronics that would let him skip the key. Taylor also noted down a few ideas for an improved version of the bike, with an electric motor and a defense suite as well as software that might allow it to self drive.
Shaking those ideas from her mind, she rested what she hoped was a reassuring hand on Lisa’s shoulder. She could feel the tension, but couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t set her off. Checking the time, she saw that her favorite pizza place was still open.
“Ever been to Giovanni’s?” Taylor asked.
Lisa coughed. “Are you seriously using pizza to distract me from how that bastard injured my baby?”
“Well,” Taylor grinned, “I had considered tempting you with the memoirs of a former Lustrum lieutenant, but I figured you’d feel awkward sneaking past Dad.”
She watched on as Lisa’s eyelid twitched. Her pupils dilated as her power took that bait and ran with it. One of the benefits Taylor had theorized with her girlfriend’s new cyberbrain was the chance to watch her swamp herself in dissecting a tantalizing lead. Seeing it unfold in real time, it didn’t disappoint. She visibly tore her eyes from whatever information she was digging through to glare.
“Taylor, Lustrum’s inner circle was a damn black box. Aside from the woman herself and Fester, they all vanished into the wind.”
Taylor gave her a small smile. “Yeah. I… My dad told me some of it, but there’s a lot there. But we can talk about that later, when there aren’t people heading to check out gunshots.”
“That is a compelling argument,” Lisa acknowledged with hunger in her eyes. “So, when were you planning to ask me to drop you off at home?”
Taylor choked on her own spit, traitorous biology. That was why cybernetic bodies were superior. “About two minutes before they handed us an order that contained a third pizza for Dad.”
“Ah, barely been my girlfriend for thirty minutes and already planning to—” the Merchant groaned and it didn’t take a Tinker or Thinker to tell that both girls wanted to shoot the man again for reminding them of his presence. Fortunately, the only shooting going on was whatever the man was injecting himself with. “Fine, let’s get out of here before he hears anything too incriminating.”
“Assuming he doesn’t OD on whatever that was,” Taylor grumbled.
Lisa snorted, hopping on her bike before offering Taylor her hand, which she accepted and climbed on behind her girlfriend, gripping her tight. The feelings she had on the ride over suddenly made more sense as she felt that same warmth fill her once more.
Taylor knew she would have to make sure that her shell could replicate the feeling, because she found that she quite enjoyed it.