Taylor watched on with a small smile as Lisa hummed a familiar tune. Dinner was almost finished, and Lisa was just wrapping up a delightful salad to go with the chicken parmesan they had spent the last hour preparing. The table was set, the poultry seared and pasta prepared to power assisted perfection. Lisa could cheat, and Taylor wasn’t about to complain.
She was there in her original body, but the Major was on standby. Having two bodies for one consciousness had become normal to her in a way that kept her up at nights. At least she still needed sleep, otherwise she might truly have come to feel more machine than woman.
It was one of the reasons she had ensured the Major would be able to experience things as close to human as possible. The original design wouldn’t have been capable of eating, but she had changed that to ensure one more connection to her roots. She might not be entirely human anymore, but she refused to forget those roots.
“I can hear you thinking,” Lisa whispered.
Taylor raised an eyebrow, then moved to hug her girlfriend. Lisa tended to keep her power off more often than not when it was the two of them, but even without it she could read someone with frightening accuracy.
“Just another existential crisis,” Taylor answered. “I’m treading uncharted waters with this whole dual existence thing and sometimes it scares me.”
“I hadn’t noticed,” Lisa said with a weak smile. “I know how you feel though, when my power is on, it now feels like he and I are one, and the entire net is our plaything.”
Taylor shivered at the depiction. It wasn’t entirely different from her own feelings when she dove deep into the internet, but it was too underdeveloped to be so consuming to her. Something her power seemed eager to correct, much to her horror. The software she was selling through Toybox would slowly correct those deficiencies too.
They held one another for a long moment, and for once they were just two girls that were in over their heads. It was a soft and tender moment, so of course it had to end abruptly with the front door being opened. The pair broke apart and resumed the final preparations for the meal.
Taylor pulled the chicken and pasta from the oven, plating it as she did then sprinkled the mozzarella cheese over it. It was a simple meal, which was the point. She didn’t want anything complicated to get in the way of the conversations to come. This would be the last chance she gave her father, and if it didn’t work, well, there was a reason the Major was sitting somewhere with sight lines on the house and an anti-material rifle.
Contingencies, just in case Militia tried something funny.
Hannah stepped in first, and there wasn’t any doubt that she was Miss Militia when one looked at her. No doubt everyone in the damn city could put that much together. It only served as further proof that secret identities were just a polite fiction and nothing more. The smile she gave Taylor at that moment was unsettling. The woman presented herself with her mouth covered, so she had learned to be more expressive elsewhere, but had she not noticed the effect that had when her face was on display?
Taylor was reminded of some of her earliest tests with facial expression reconstruction for her shell and how uncanny it could be. That was not a good thing and only served to tickle that primal part of the mind that suggested something was out of place.
If the two stayed together, a mirror would be a fitting gift for the woman’s birthday, Taylor decided. It was a bit mean spirited, but no doubt Lisa would approve of the thought behind it.
“Hello, you must be Taylor,” she said while holding out a hand.
Taylor accepted it. “Hannah, I presume?”
Her smile grew just a bit wider, sending a shiver through the Major rather than herself. Being able to choose which body displayed involuntary reactions was a trick she was still figuring out, but it was already proving useful, and this dinner was sure to be good practice.
“Your father has told me much about you,” she added, looking back as he entered the room. “Most of it good, I assure you.”
“But not all of it,” Lisa answered as she stepped forward. “Shall we save the pleasantries for after the meal? I would hate to see it go cold.”
Lisa’s smile was a sharp thing, and Taylor could see Hannah gauging if it was worth pushing matters, but in the end she relented, taking a seat at the chair that her father pulled out. Taylor wanted to protest, because how dare Hannah sit where her mother had once sat, but she held her tongue. Lisa rolled her eyes and took her own seat, because she was independent like that. Finally, Taylor claimed the final seat at the table.
The tension was thick, but everyone ate in silence. The food was pleasant, and reminded Taylor ever more how important the small things could be. Unfortunately, the food eventually ran out and they were left seated around the table with a bottle of wine between them. Her father had frowned when she poured Lisa a glass, then outright scowled when she poured her own. Not that it mattered, neither of them could get truly drunk thanks to their cyber brains, but Lisa could get tipsy if she allowed it.
Taylor wouldn’t feel a thing, since her flesh and blood body had no brain to truly suffer the effects and Riley had performed enough upgrades on her to remove many of those weaknesses. Not that her father was aware of many of her upgrades, or of her ability to pilot two bodies at once. She had started leaving him out of the loop after he had reacted poorly to meeting Lisa, and now knowing he was talking to the local heroes, that seemed to have been the right call.
It wasn’t good for them, she knew it, but the fact that there was a hero sitting in their kitchen just solidified it as the proper decision. Taking a sip of the bitter wine, Taylor leaned back and let herself savor that last moment of silence.
“Shall we drop all pretense?” she asked.
Hannah was the first to frown, then she sighed. “You haven’t been subtle with your identity, Cyber.”
Three blocks away, behind the scope of her rifle, the Major smirked.
“Not due to any fault of my own,” Taylor said easily. “Armsmaster lit a beacon that drew just about every group in the city to me. That day he hounded me outside of Winslow? The Empire was waiting for me on the damn bus.”
“Don’t forget that I had been asked to make contact as well,” Lisa chimed in. “Good thing you were so pissed, otherwise I would have fucked up any chance of us happening.”
Taylor chuckled, mostly because it had been the truth. That Lisa had shown tact that day was one of the reasons Taylor gave her a chance, and she was grateful to her past self for having done so.
“True, but I blame your boss for that,” Taylor added absently. “Let me guess, you take issue with the fact my services are available for villains to buy?”
“You have aided villains in their activities,” Hannah said. “You openly associate with a villain group, you even purchased a firearm illegally with the aid of a villain who is sitting at this table with us.”
“To be fair, the Protectorate wasn’t doing anything about the obvious Nazi front and we stole the money back and then some,” Lisa said cheerfully. “Don’t get pissy just because I made sure my bestie at the time was better protected from people pestering her in civvies.”
Taylor nodded. “My identity isn’t the issue here, as since I made it known I was with Toybox, most have respected that. What I take issue with is that the Protectorate refuses to honor my affiliation while letting villains like Kaiser sit in their glass tower even as his butchers walk the streets freely. The heroes continue to pressure me using shit means, like sending the hot Protectorate second in command to seduce my father so he’ll sign me up for the Wards. Fat chance of that after Arsemaster held justice hostage in an attempt to force me to join.”
This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.
“What do you mean?” Hannah demanded.
“You genuinely don’t know,” Lisa said, then she chuckled. “Oh goodie, this is all Armsbastard giving out orders. That makes things easier.”
Before Hannah could continue, Taylor pressed on. “January third, I was pushed into my locker, which had been filled with rotting tampons and pads, never mind all the vermin that are attracted by such things.” The wince that followed was just a bit satisfying. “So, naturally I expected the heroes to at least look into that after approaching me. That had been all I asked for, but Armsmaster was quite clear, the investigation was contingent upon my joining. Imagine my surprise when I figured out why?”
Nothing but confusion showed on Hannah’s face. That the second in command of the Protectorate was that out of the loop was more than a little concerning. It meant Armsmaster had things going on that he didn’t want to get out, and was just another mark against the man.
“I had wondered, on many occasions, how the trio got into my locker despite the lock. Turns out, something like that is easy when you have the ability to phase through physical matter,” Taylor said coldly. “A hero for a hero, that was the price he demanded, I just didn’t know it until much later.”
“Armsy refused to sacrifice a useful hero unless he stood to gain another,” Lisa added. “Even if she does dabble in murder on the side. Grue was almost a statistic thanks to her, back in December.”
“That can’t be right,” Hannah said, aghast. “Armsmaster is an honorable man, he would never stoop to such unsavory recruitment tactics.”
“Yet he did,” Taylor said softly. “Why would I choose to join a corrupt organization? This isn’t new, the PRT has always been corrupt, they just have better PR than the villains.”
A hand slammed on the table as fire seemed to ignite deep within Hannah’s eyes. “You’re just twisting everything to suit your views.”
“I’ve learned a few things since coming into my power,” Taylor said, ever the picture of calm. The Major however was seething. “Take Lustrum for example. Did you know my mother was one of her lieutenants? Funny thing about those, they all had powers.”
That time, even her father flinched. That she had kept that secret from even her husband had been something that surprised Taylor while reading her journals. That Annette had been a biotinker was the best kept secret of Lustrum’s entire movement. Taylor had only shared them with Lisa so far, and it was clear her father had never bothered to actually read them.
She felt bad about springing it like this as it didn’t feel like her secret to tell, and yet, across from her sat the woman who had been instrumental in ending the movement. That particular tidbit was what infuriated her, because how dare the woman that would have put her mother in the Birdcage dare sit in her seat. So, it would all come to light tonight.
“Lustrum was a monster,” Hannah hissed. “She mutilated my friend, and countless others.”
“Twenty three,” Taylor said. “That was the number of gender reassignment surgeries performed by my mother, the cape known as Hirschfeld.”
“Annette?” Her father said softly. “She told me she got out before things got bad.”
“A merciful lie,” Taylor acknowledged. “Everyone in the movement was wanted and she was pregnant with me, so Lustrum and Fester both hatched plans to draw attention away from her. Kimmie actually triggered when she was doing one such castration, on Richard Anders no less, and it ended with his murder, and the death of Allfather. Kimmie went to the Teeth shortly after that, intending to join them only to become the fourth Butcher by accident. Lustrum also decided to embrace the image that the media was giving her by targeting rapists with extreme prejudice.”
Hannah’s chair scraped across the floor as she stood abruptly, the knife that had been strapped to her back was now a gun in her hand. The Major had a finger on the trigger, ready to let a round fly. Even Lisa had let a hand drift below the table, no doubt grasping her own weapon.
“Lies,” she hissed. “Lustrum did unholy things to those innocent kids. There was nothing good to be found in that den of sin.”
The Major sighed for her, because of course the woman that had come to love everything about America had also adopted its unofficial religion and dove into the deep end of those beliefs. Lisa didn’t have much to go on when she had discovered that, but it fit the pattern and how severely she had reacted back in the nineties.
“Hannah, sit back down,” her father said sharply. Slowly, she did as he had ordered, and for just that moment she thought she had seen a glimpse of the man that her mom had married. Her gun cycled briefly before returning to a knife which was returned to her hip. With that crisis averted, her father’s attention shifted back to the conversation at hand. “I thought Marquis killed Allfather.”
“Another fiction,” Lisa said. “Looks like there were lots of those surrounding that time period. The supposed hundreds of mutilations of children were all cases of puberty blockers and HRT, as not one surgery was performed on a minor, were they?”
“Not one,” Taylor agreed. “Over the years, her supporters faded into the background, hiding in plain sight while she took the fall. Fester had no idea she would become the Butcher when Sabertooth was killed, and she implemented a policy of no sexual assault that lasted until the gang was dismantled by the Nine back in ninety eight.”
“You’re lying,” Hannah seethed. “Ravager was brainwashed and mutilated by those butchers, Lustrum deserved all of it.”
“Ravager was transgender,” Taylor said with conviction. “Number seventeen of the surgeries my mother performed and only did so after Ravager turned eighteen. She even made a joke that Mouse Protector would be disappointed it wasn’t number eighteen on her eighteenth.”
“That does sound like a joke she would appreciate,” Hannah said begrudgingly. “That still doesn’t explain everything, and goes against all the evidence we gathered, including eyewitness reports.”
“Reports compiled by Empire affiliates,” Lisa said. “The Empire is responsible for a lot of the problems in the Bay, like all the scabs Danny here has to contend with when trying to get his union boys work. It’s all intentional, like when they slipped Carol Dallon the home address of Marquis, or tipped off the Protectorate to Lustrum’s safehouse.”
Another set of sucked in breaths followed, from both her father and Hannah. She could see the gears turning behind her father’s eyes, as little things clicked into place with that confirmation. Hannah however just turned distant, as if everything she believed had been upended and she was desperately reaching for excuses and justifications.
It was oddly satisfying, using information as a cudgel, and it seemed the plan was working. Running Hannah off would have been easy enough, but sowing proper doubt was the true goal. They wanted her to go poking into things that she shouldn’t and hoped she would turn up something juicy enough that someone would stick their nose out and expose the sources allowing such corruption to run rampant.
“That Marquis was taken down, then despite the chaos that brought with it, Lustrum was mysteriously located and arrested? Well, only a fool would consider that a coincidence,” Taylor said softly. “The Empire pulled the strings on all of it, and they did so with Protectorate backing.”
That had been the crux of it all, someone was helping them from the inside, responding to every report they made with absurd speed and accuracy. The records had been muddied, and Lisa wasn’t quite sure she could trust how her power had come to the conclusion, but it had still managed it from two entirely different directions. It was why they were adjusting their plans for Coil to include bloodying the Empire. The level of corruption on display needed to be addressed.
“That can’t be,” Hannah said. “Alexandria herself brought me in for the Wards program. The organization is good and just, we’re heroes.”
“You’re super powered cops,” Lisa countered. “Subject to every bit as much corruption as the regular ones. No need to remind you that most of the cops in this city are on the Empire’s payroll. The phrase ‘all it takes is one bad apple’ is apt here, because if the good apples do nothing, all that remains are bad ones.”
“Ask questions about why the investigation into the attempt on my life was dropped,” Taylor said. “Ask why the Protectorate leader causing a girl’s trigger wasn’t considered a bigger deal. Also, let your superiors know that Uppercrust is considering taking back his tech at the rig if you persist in targeting a known Toybox affiliate.” Her attention drifted from the thoroughly discombobulated Hannah to her father as she stood. “Dad, don’t forget that this woman almost put Mom in the Birdcage. Is she really someone you want in your life?”
“Oh, and Danny?” Lisa added cheerfully. “Taylor is worth millions thanks to Toybox. She could leave whenever she wanted and you couldn’t stop her. Don’t be like my parents and drive your daughter away.”
With those parting words, she and Lisa left her home. Her father didn’t meet her eyes, but she could see the shame behind them all the same. It would be up to him to decide what he wanted to do about everything, but she had expended all the effort she had to spare on the Protectorate cape.
Even if nothing came of it, that had felt like a win. Looking off in the distance, she met her own eyes through the scope of a rifle and smiled. The Major wasted little time packing up and heading back for their base while Taylor walked hand in hand with her girlfriend.
“Your plan worked,” Taylor said once they were down the sidewalk. “I didn’t think it would be that easy to get her off balance, but I should have known better than to doubt you.”
“Hey,” Lisa said with that smirk of hers, “we all have our strengths, and putting people off their game has always been one of mine, even before I got powers. She’s gonna go snooping, and I’ll be watching to see who responds when she does.”
“We aren’t going to like the answer, are we?”
Lisa’s face turned grim at that question. It was rhetorical, but she still felt the need to ask it. Instead, her girlfriend leaned in close, resting her head on her shoulder. Taylor couldn’t help but notice how it was just a bit heavier than a normal flesh and blood head would be due to the brain case under her skin.
“No, we certainly won’t.”