Taylor and the Major worked side by side, putting the last touches on Lisa’s shell. Neither spoke, yet Taylor couldn’t help but see how they didn’t need to. They each acted as an extension of the other as they Tinkered. The tension between them was still high, which felt weird to admit, at some level they were the same person still, and yet.
It was too confusing.
The Major poked at the prototype cloaking device for a moment, setting it up for the next series of diagnostic tests. It was far more advanced than the original model, which was largely a collection of other Tinker’s works, this one was their own design. Taylor knew that it was important to make sure the device wouldn’t fail during a mission in the coming weeks and couldn’t begrudge her.
Riley arrived a moment later, having just finished with Lisa’s latest treatment. She glanced between the pair, biting her lip. “Um, why are you acting like you hate yourself?”
The Major dropped her tool to the table, pausing as she took a deep breath. “We’re not the same person, not anymore.”
Riley blinked, her eyes going distant. “Oh. Like Melissa?”
“Something like that,” Taylor agreed. “Each of us having our own bodies has certainly complicated things.”
“Can I poke at your brain?”
The Major stared at her, jaw hanging slightly loose. “Every instinct I have says to run.”
Riley’s face fell, and the girl curled in on herself.
Taylor moved, wrapping the girl up in a tight hug as she glared at the Major. “Happy?”
“Fuck, I meant that as a joke,” the Major said. “Sorry Riley, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m just... Look, obviously you didn’t know about our new arrangement, but I never agreed to join the Nine, Taylor did. Nobody asked me, and I’m... Let’s go with irritated.”
Taylor winced. She hadn’t realized the distinction yet when she agreed, and Melissa didn’t contest it, likely hoping to talk with them in private before she voiced anything. It was nice that she didn’t want to out them, even if she did give Jacob a pointed look at the time, but they were paying for it now.
“Are you not wanting to join?” Riley asked, her voice barely a whisper.
The Major smiled softly. “I didn’t mean that, but I can see how you might take it that way. I just want to have my own say in things that impact my life, that’s all.” She stepped forward, then knelt before Riley and held out a hand. “Hi, I’m Motoko, sorry I didn’t introduce myself sooner.”
Peeking out of Taylor’s shoulder, Riley looked at the offered hand. Slowly, she accepted it and shook once. The Major, or rather, Motoko, sighed and seemed to accept that she and Riley wouldn’t have the same relationship that Taylor enjoyed, which likely hurt given they had the same memories at their core.
Good.
Motoko’s budding relationship with Sophia fucking Hess showed how far that went. Taylor had always blocked out as much of the Major’s interactions as she could with her former tormentor, which might have helped the split between them grow in some way. Those weren’t her memories, even though she was able to recall them, but they didn’t feel like HER. They had unique memories and experiences as individuals, she could admit that the longer they existed as separate entities.
They were both taking opportunities to snipe at one another, get in things that would hurt. Kissing Sophia like that, she couldn’t tell how much of that was Motoko expressing her own individuality and what was meant to get Taylor back for signing her up for the Nine without her consent.
Taylor sighed, helping Riley back to her feet. “Motoko has a point. We should probably talk to your dad about this. Motoko deserves to be asked if she actually wants to join.”
Motoko looked at Taylor, almost as if she was looking through her and Taylor wanted to wilt, but she refused to back down. She had been through too much these past few months to fall back on old habits.
“Thank you,” Motoko said. “I mean, I intend to join the fight, but it’s nice to actually be asked rather than it just be assumed.”
“It’s my fault anyway,” Taylor answered. “Not understanding isn’t an excuse. I’ll try to keep that in mind going forward.”
“As will I,” Riley said with an endearing nod.
Motoko nodded, then returned to her work on Lisa’s shell. Taylor took that as a signal to do the same, and soon they fell back into that familiar rhythm. Lisa’s shell just needed a few minor parts to be finished, most of which were being fabricated. Once finished, she would start mass-producing parts that didn’t need to be made custom, just to streamline the process for repairs or new shells.
Taylor refused to be left unprepared even again.
Jacob would be back in the evening, apparently meeting with Legend to present some of the ideas they had during the initial brainstorming session. Some things would be too much, even with the cover of the Nine, but he did stress that she would be surprised by how far they could push things.
Motoko hadn’t sat in on those meetings, which likely contributed to her feeling left out of things. Hopefully that would be rectified in the near future. That brought other thoughts to mind. Taylor considered them to be family, but how did Motoko feel about them? Did she also consider Riley as a little sister, or Melissa as a... mother figure...
Taylor did her best to not break down, the loss of her father still stung, despite everything, and it only served to remind her of the loss of her mother as well. Melissa had two lives in her head that knew her mother, and those two were behind the all but adoption that Melissa had carried out. Yet, Melissa herself, even as part of their collective, was right there with them in treating Taylor well.
She had interacted with Aowen and Kimmie several times, and she could tell that Melissa was right there with them through all of it. It was strange, figuring out the tells of the various personalities, and it did help her reconcile the fact that she wasn’t the only personality within her own mind. It was a learning process, to be sure, but she knew it was better to be on good terms with the other voices in her head, and now that she was joining the Nine, there was a chance that she might one day share that space with the past Butchers as well.
“You’re thinking rather loudly,” Motoko said. “Want to talk about it instead?”
Taylor pulled up a readout for one of the fabricators despite knowing that it wouldn’t be ready for another six hours. She needed to spend more time talking rather than brooding, she knew that, but that didn’t make it any easier.
“Just the usual,” she said. “Trying to come to terms that we share a mind and all.”
Motoko hummed but didn’t look up from her work. Lisa’s shell wasn’t going to be a total combat model like Motoko ended up with, it would be more general purpose. That wouldn’t stop her from kicking ass by any means, but it did mean that she was going to be weaker than she could have been.
She needed to do something, say something, to break the ice. The only thing she could think of was Sophia, and that didn’t sit well with her to talk about, especially without someone to deescalate the situation. The Major’s shell was built to be a combat model, and even with Riley and Amy enhancing her flesh, Taylor would get destroyed in a fight. Hell, Motoko could just disable the connection between them at will. She didn’t like some other personality having that level of control over her.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Yet, she hadn’t. So maybe she should reach out before things got bad enough between them for her to consider it.
“So... You and Sophia.”
Motoko hummed. “To be fair, she kissed me first.”
“THAT’S NOT THE POINT!” Taylor yelled, then paused. Calming breaths. “You know what she did to me, to us. How can you stand to look at her let alone kiss her?”
“When you first came up with the idea of the Major as a cover persona, what did you want from me?” Motoko asked. Taylor blinked, a bit confused by the segway. “Someone strong enough to deal with the problems we were facing head on. The quintessential badass mercenary who can be a stone cold killer when she needs to be. And I am. And you aren’t.”
Taylor swallowed heavily, unable to come up with a rebuttal to the vehemence in her words.
“If I gave you a sniper rifle, could you put a bullet through someone’s eye at a thousand meters? Would you even know how to use it?”
She stared at her other self for a long moment before admitting the truth. “No.”
Motoko nodded, turning back to Lisa’s shell. “You get to keep some of your innocence. I’m the price you paid for it.”
Taylor considered that, almost afraid she was about to step on another landmine. “This is you lashing out at me like…”
“...a typical teenager?” Motoko finished, shrugging as she did. “Probably. I’ve got my own reasons to be pissed at you, some of which you’ve addressed and I thank you for that.” She then sighed, setting her tools aside as she leaned back. “I was terrified Sophia would look at me and only see you. That she wouldn’t even consider giving me the sort of thing that you and Lisa have. What... we used to have with Emma.”
Taylor wasn’t sure she would agree about Emma, but in retrospect, maybe she was a little gay for her former best friend, much as that pained her to admit. “We are so fucked up aren’t we?”
Motoko smiled softly. “We’re capes, I think that’s part of the package.”
“Can’t argue with you there,” Taylor said. “So... What do we do now?”
Motoko reached out. “Hello, I’m Motoko. Nice to meet you.”
Taylor snorted, then sat up and took the offered hand. “Hi, Motoko. My name’s Taylor. Good to meet you too.”
The pair stared at one another for a moment, that odd sense of familiarity bleeding over before both started laughing. It really was humorous, and didn’t truly fix anything, but it felt like it was a start.
“Look, I know you’re not happy about me dating Sophia,” Motoko said, bringing the mood plummeting back down in a flash. “I’m not going to stop either. I will say this, Sophia’s trying to be better. I think that those first few patrols really lit a fire under her to try and do better. I don’t know if she regrets what she did, and I’m not sure she’s ever going to, but I at least trust her to not try any further shit.”
Taylor blinked, her lip curling into a snarl. “And that magically makes it better?”
“No, it really doesn’t. I feel like we’ll be going in circles on that subject for quite some time,” Motoko conceded. “Not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, but—”
She cut off, and for a moment Taylor was puzzled until she checked the incoming messages. They each had their own system now, and while either could access the other’s due to the interconnected nature of their minds, it did add a veil of privacy to things.
“Sophia’s squaring up with Brian,” Motoko said even as she tossed her tools down and took off.
Taylor cursed, doing the same as she moved to follow. The Major was far faster, flying down the halls with an ease that Taylor couldn’t hope to match. To make up for that, Taylor tapped into the security system and pulled up the cameras and wound them back to the start of the incident.
She watched as Brian and Sophia yelled at one another, then wanted to scream when he was the one to throw the first punch. Sophia did her best to hold her own, but Brian was better trained and he was using his power. The room blacked out for a moment and Taylor fast-forwarded through the footage until it returned.
She didn’t like what she saw. By the time she reached the room in question, the Major had already stepped in between them. Brian had a bloodied lip to show for it, but Sophia clearly caught the worst of it.
Her nose was positively gushing, and one eye was quickly turning red with the blood of a burst vessel. Sophia spat a gob of blood to the side and Taylor could see remnants of Grue’s darkness receding. She wasted little time, stepping between Motoko and Brian, gesturing towards Sophia.
“Go check on your girlfriend, get Amy if she needs it,” Taylor said before turning back to face Brian. “What the FUCK Brian?”
“She tried to kill me,” he said, wiping the blood off his face.
“Today?” Taylor demanded. “As in ‘she just tried’ and you defended yourself?”
“No,” he said, begrudgingly. “Last September, she put a bolt through my back.”
“Only because you covered me in your fucking darkness!” Sophia snarled. “I was twenty feet in the goddamn air when you did. You nearly killed me, so you’re damn right I took the fucking shot!”
Thinking back, Taylor could remember that Sophia took over a week off in September, which struck her as odd at the time, especially with how early in the school year it happened. Granted, Shadow Stalker joined the Wards less than a month later, which only served to make the bullying worse, but that reprieve had been welcomed enough to stand out in her mind.
“Motoko, get her out of here, I’ll deal with him,” Taylor said.
“Fuckin’, she’s gonna let him off,” Sophia muttered and Taylor realized she was listening in with the Major’s ears.
She pushed those senses away and turned back to Brian who had grabbed a towel and was cleaning the blood away. “That was damn near a year ago, and it sounds like she was pretty justified in doing so.”
“Why are you taking her side?” Brian asked, looking over his shoulder. “You told us your history with the terrible trio of Winslow as Lisa dubbed them. How can you even stand to look at her? Hell, why are you having the Major act so cozy with her?”
“What Motoko does is her own damn business,” Taylor growled. “I don’t care for Sophia, hell, I’m pissed I’m having to defend her right now! But Motoko does care, and that’s all that matters. So, you can put all this shit behind you or you’ll have both of us to contend with.”
Brian stared at her for a moment, and she waited for him to find a new avenue of attack or something fresh to poke at. When he finally spoke, it wasn’t quite what she expected. “Who the hell is Motoko?”
Taylor’s shoulders slumped. She really did need to have a group meeting about things, but she wanted a better handle on it all first. “The Major. After I got gunned down, something happened that split our personalities. We’re two distinct people now, despite sharing a mind. We’re still figuring shit out, but it’s a work in progress.”
“That sounds absolutely batshit,” Brian said. “You sure you aren’t just crazy?”
“By some legal definitions I’m sure we would all qualify,” Taylor said. “We’re not the only plural existence within Toybox, and we’re by far the least dangerous, so keep that in mind.”
Taylor didn’t wait for an answer, as she just didn’t want to deal with him any further. She followed after Motoko and Sophia, tracking them back to the infirmary. Stepping inside, she had to fight down a snort at the sight that greeted her.
“Hold still,” Motoko said, trying to swab at one of the cuts on Sophia’s face. The girl hissed at the contact and swatted her away, both of them laughing as they did. “Sophia you brat, I swear to the goddess.”
“That shit burns,” Sophia said, sticking her tongue out.
Motoko tapped the alcohol soaked gauze on the extended tongue and sent Sophia into a gagging fit. That allowed her to get a hold of the girl and get to cleaning her injuries. “See, that’s not so bad, now is it?”
“Dick move,” Sophia said between coughs. “Remind me why I like you?”
Motoko chuckled, leaning in close to Sophia. “Something something, my tongue has multiple settings.”
“Didn’t need to hear that,” Taylor grumbled.
Both girls startled, pulling away from one another. Motoko cleared her throat. “Taylor, I didn’t notice you joining us.”
Taylor rolled her eyes, doing her best to not take her lingering anger out on someone her other half truly did care for. “You were obviously distracted.”
“Try saying that again without all the venom,” Sophia huffed. “You want to get your own shot in, clear the air between us?”
“I’m not like you, Sophia,” Taylor said. “I don’t need to punch down to feel better about myself.”
“Besides,” Motoko cut in with a pointed look. “We have Nazis to kill before we even consider fighting amongst ourselves. Let’s focus on that first, shall we?”
“Right,” Taylor said, spotting a notification. “Huh, looks like we just got permission to read people in on our little project. Jacob’s coming by, along with Legend.”
“Legend?” Sophia said, sitting up straight. “The hell is he coming here for?”
The Major sighed. “Probably because he’s in charge of the task force that will be deploying to take care of the corruption in Brockton Bay. A task force that I’m joining.”
“Huh, always figured the PRT had something like that,” Sophia said. “This taskforce have a name?”
Taylor smiled, unable to resist. “Section Nine.”