With Friends Like These 3-7

Taylor sighed. The day could have gone better.

She was sitting in a conference room back at the PRT headquarters for a debriefing. After everything that had happened, all three of her Friends had been completely knackered, as Narwhal had aptly described it. Which was in itself unusual, as the three of them seemed to have unlimited supplies of energy. But then again, the morning had been much more exciting than most. She’d shed the overcoat layer of her costume, wrapping it into an approximation of a large nest, And at the moment the diminutive trio were fast asleep upon it, back in their miniature forms and curled up and sleeping in the seat of the chair to her right. For the moment, Taylor elected to let them all have a little nap, especially as she had more pressing matters to take care of.

She was also still reeling a little after… everything that had happened. Thinking back on recent events, Simmie had managed to teleport them, her siblings and half the local Protectorate halfway across the country, all the way to Michigan of all places. As she had discovered on the fly, a group of villains called the Dragonslayers, led by the appropriately named Saint, had attacked Dragon remotely, and the hero would have possibly been killed had it not been for Simmie’s quick thinking.

Oh, and Dragon was an honest-to-god AI. That had been even more of a surprise to Taylor. Simmie had shown her on her tablet and explained to her as best she could what Dragon was, and how she was being attacked by a villain. She wasn’t sure what it was exactly that Simmie had done, but she stopped the attack cold and even somehow fixed the damage. And then a lot of other stuff happened, before culminating in Simmie bludgeoning Saint into unconsciousness with a laptop computer. Taylor felt herself smile at the memory of seeing her friend standing over the defeated villain and angrily glaring daggers at him.

Simmie couldn’t get all of the credit though, her two brothers had also helped. The Dragonslayers had employed a small group of minions for, well, minion stuff, and Levi had quickly and efficiently restrained all of them with bubbles of water. Those few that tried to resist all quickly surrendered at the sight of Levi towering over them, Armsmaster’s presence notwithstanding. And Benny… had been Benny. The teleport had brought him directly to the Dragonslayers’ hidden workshop, where he’d promptly gotten to work on messily devouring their tinkertech suits of armor. And later, of course, a laptop computer.

Thinking of it, there was also the case of the strange piece of software that Simmie had somehow managed to copy onto her tablet. She had been interested in whatever it was, enough to make a backup copy at least, but that was a topic for another time. A topic that she and Dragon would have to talk about in detail, considering what Simmie had thought of it.

After everything had settled down and the villains had been arrested, an independent cape named Strider had arrived and teleported them all back to Brockton Bay. Apparently Narwhal had the man on speed dial. Taylor’s new boss had insisted on using his services, rather than Simmie’s untested and brand-new teleporter, citing the Independent’s hourly fee as an appropriate alternative to completely untested Tinkertech. Simmie had seen miffed, as she clutched the disc-shaped device to her chest during their return to Brockton Bay. After returning, Taylor had met her dad. She’d been relieved that he was fine, especially after everything that had happened. But no sooner had they reunited did Narwhal usher her and her friends off to a vacant conference room to talk.

Which, of course, led them to now.

“Well,” Narwhal spoke, “That could have gone a lot better.” The towering Guild leader and her new boss sat at the head of the conference table, strangely at home in the room. For what it was worth though, she didn’t seem angry.

“I disagree, I think it went splendidly.” Dragon’s suit, even the small one Taylor had spent the most time interacting with, was far too bulky to sit in any of the chairs, so she’d elected to stand off to Narwhal’s right.

“You’re only saying that because the Dragonslayers have been neutralized.”

“Among many, many other villains today.”

The Guild leader sighed. “That as well.” Narwhal looked to Taylor, her eyes boring into her own. She had taken her mask off, the object lying inert on the table in front of her. Instinctively, Taylor straightened in her seat. “You know Tiamat, this wasn’t how I expected today to go. You and your, ah, friends, managed to do a lot of good today. But.”

“But?”

“But, you all could have done a much better job.”

Taylor’s lips drew thin as she suppressed the urge to gulp. She couldn’t really argue against that.

“For starters Tiamat, you are going to have to work with your friends on Teamwork, capital-T,” Narwhal began. “Yes, the four of you are immensely capable individually, but together as a team, you’d be much more effective. And in regards to your minions,” she glanced over at where they were napping, “They have an incredible capacity for collateral damage, something I think we all know far too well. You, we simply cannot afford to have them wander off, at least not yet.”

“You mean do their own thing, kind of how they did today?”

Narwhal nodded, “Exactly.”

Taylor nodded in return. She reflected back during the attack on the PRT building, when Benny had eagerly thrown himself off the rooftop at Hookwolf, before riding off into the city atop him like a jockey. Thinking back, she hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell him to stop. A little surprisingly, Dragon had seemingly no issue with getting him to listen to her, aided by a handful of confectioneries. Taylor had been relieved that the property damage hadn’t been as high as it could have been, and had a chuckle along with everyone else at the video Dragon had taken of the villain amidst the branches of an oak tree that Benny had chased him up. Even Armsmaster had managed a smirk, or so she’d been told. But Hookwolf had left a trail of destruction in his wake, one that started from the gaping hole in the plaza in front of the PRT building.

“So, don’t let them wander too far away from me, got it.” Taylor looked over at Benny, fast asleep. “Not until they work better together.”

“Among other things. Teamwork is one thing, but so is the training to best utilize it. We were supposed to begin working on a training plan for you. Well, all of you,” she gestured to Taylor’s friends in the chair to her right, “After the preliminary power testing that was supposed to happen today. But things clearly didn’t go to plan. And on a related note, we are going to need to work out a better method of communication.”

Taylor nodded. “I think Simmie might be able to come up with something.”

Narwhal raised an eyebrow. “Such as?”

“It was something I was thinking about,” Taylor began. “Maybe I can have her make some sort of earpiece that people could wear to hear them? Or, maybe she could make a speaker that translates her chirps into spoken words for other people? Benny’s too. Maybe Levi? He doesn’t really speak all that much though.”

A beat passed in silence before Dragon broke it. “Interesting. I was going to make a point some time today to see if they could communicate in more audible ways. Part of your power allows you to understand them, correct?”

“Yes ma’am, I was wanting to find out about how it worked today.” Thinking about it, she’d never really given it as much thought as she maybe should have. Simmie had a repertoire of chirps and squeaks, Benny had his own variety of low- and high-pitched grumbles and roars, depending on his size. Levi had… something. She simply understood them, and until basically that morning it hadn’t been as much of an issue.

“I’m almost tempted to wake her to ask her thoughts on the matter,” Dragon said.

“They’ve… had a long day.”

“As fascinating as a subject that it might be listening to Dragon and… Simmie, discuss tinkering, it would be something to set aside for another day.”

“I concur. On another topic, I should mention that there’s a certain elephant in the room we need to address in regards to the knowledge of the Endbringers’ continued existence that is beginning to filter out to the wider public.”

Right, about that. Benny had been rather… public, about how he’d manhandled? Wolfhandled? Hookwolf. Although to be fair to him, none of her friends had been too concerned about hiding during the attack. They had all been preoccupied with first dealing with one group of supervillains, before having to deal with an entirely different group. All told, a lot of people had seen the four of them.

“So, how bad is it?” She dared to ask.

Dragon shrugged. “Not as bad as you think.”

“Really?”

“There are shockingly no videos of the battle, well, battles, at least none that have been uploaded to the internet yet,” Dragon explained. “I have been checking regularly. However, between various witnesses and of course the villains that managed to escape, the news is starting to spread by word of mouth, especially on certain message boards on the internet, PHO most notably. And in all likelihood some sort of video exists, for instance in the form of CCTV of some kind so it’s only a matter of time, really.”

“The Guild is going to have to make some sort of statement soon,” Narwhal said. “Dragon, your input?”

Dragon nodded. “Tiamat, how do you feel about ‘creatively interpreting the truth?’”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, people know that there were somethings resembling the Endbringers present here earlier today. And technically speaking, they aren’t wrong.”

Taylor nodded, and Narwhal was listening as well. “Go on.”

“I was going to talk to you eventually about this later today, but, well, things happened,” Dragon shrugged. “In brief, you aren’t a Master but a skilled and resourceful Tinker that wanted to stay independent for your own reasons. You made several tinkertech automatons, modeled after the Endbringers because, in your own words, ‘you wanted to scare any villains you fought.’ However, the Guild approached you with a recruitment offer and you decided to accept.”

Taylor glanced down at Benny, resting in her lap. They had probably done exactly that today, scare a lot of villains. She’d heard that more than a few of the Empire 88’s unpowered roster had tried to turn tail and run the moment they saw her and Levi descending from the PRT HQ’s roof. “That sounds, I don’t know, kind of flimsy?”

Dragon shrugged. “For what it’s worth, I consulted with one of the PRT’s best public relations experts. It’s not someone you’ve heard of, but he seems to have taken a keen interest in your situation. I dare say he views it as a challenge.”

“Glenn Chambers?” Narwhal asked. “You’ve heard back from him already?”

“I have. As I said, a keen interest. Although I may have called in a favor as well.” Dragon looked at Taylor. “As I understand it, he’s going to want to talk to you eventually either way. Besides suggesting a better costume for you, I can only begin to imagine what else he might have in mind to discuss.”

Taylor grimaced. That didn’t sound foreboding at all. “What’s wrong with my costume?”

“A ‘blank slate’ is the term he used. He views heroes as a canvas, more so than anything else.”

“Oh.” Taylor had noted that her outfit was rather plain, especially compared to some of the more flamboyant outfits she knew some heroes wore. But Simmie had made it for her, and she wasn;t complaining about it so far. Besides, she could change it to look like anything - or anyone. “When can I… expect to meet him?”

Dragon shrugged. “His schedule is… fluid, to say the least. While he’s based out of New York, he floats around the various branches on a contingency basis. But I imagine sooner rather than later. In all likelihood he’ll make a house call, so to speak.”

Taylor nodded. “So, what now?”

“A good question. Considering the current situation with the PRT here, secondary operations are currently being put on hold until the security of the local branch can be reassessed.”

“In other words, until they fix the giant gaping hole in the side of the building,” Dragon quipped.

“That too.”

“So I take it any more power testing is out of the question for now then?” Taylor asked.

“That it is.”

“All right.” There was a question that Taylor was wanting to ask. Something that, besides the PRT’s and Legend’s willingness to trust her, was mostly unanswered.

“There’s something I’m wanting to know,” Taylor began. “It’s about, well, us.”

“Us?”

“Well, them really,” she gestured with a hand to the chair next to her. “All the suffering their past selves caused, and yet you’re willing to, well, work with them?”

“Ah.” Narwhal chuckled. “I suppose amidst everything that’s happened in this last day or two, certain topics fell by the wayside.”

“Taylor,” Dragon said, “Have you ever heard of a group called Watchdog?”

Taylor nodded. “They’re a group of Thinkers that the PRT employs, right?”

“Correct, although their focus tends to lay in the economics and geopolitics of the parahuman world. That said however, Watchdog is called upon from time to time to consult on other matters.”

“Like me?”

Narwhal nodded. “Yes. I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the entirety of Watchdog, for a moment in time, was focused solely on you.”

Taylor blinked. “Oh.” She didn’t know what to think about that, but it made sense to her. “What did they have to say?”

“That you weren’t a threat to the human race, so long as you were left alone.” The Guild leader chucked. “Well, that was their consensus at least.”

“Taylor, the Endbringers have a reputation of being notoriously difficult to precog,” Dragon explained “However, most predictions regarding topics adjacent to but not directly related to them have, how could you say, improved?”

“I won’t bore you with the details, but the general consensus amongst a group of the best and brightest of the PRT seems to be that you aren’t a threat unless you want to be.” Narwhal glanced over at the pile of Endbringer in the chair. “Hopefully I can help things remain that way. Aside from that however, there’s a couple of other matters I would like to get to before the day gets any later.”

“Like?”

Narwhal smiled. “How about I take the honor of introducing you to the greatest threat any hero will ever face: paperwork.” Her smile had flashed into something that verged on the inhuman, only enhanced by the shimmering nature of her power. “We can start with the after-action report. Why don’t we start from the beginning, when the local neo-nazis attacked this building earlier?”

Taylor grimaced. She was suddenly envying her friends for their nap.

----

After everything that had happened that day, Taylor felt that she desperately needed a walk.

Sure, her friends had managed to nap through most of the rest of her time with her new boss and teammate at the PRT HQ, but she herself had to be awake for… all of that. Narwhal had wanted her report about what had happened between herself and the Empire gang members. Step by step, word for word, and to the best of her ability to recall. And then the same for her actions at the Dragonslayers’ base after. Fortunately, this time she’d been okay with a spoken report, but future Taylor would have to learn how to write proper reports.

Taylor suppressed a shudder at the thought of that. Her dad was fine with paperwork, but the thought of having to spend so much time on stuff she felt was inane at best? It was almost terrifying to her. And then Dragon had even floated the idea of trying to figure out how to teach her Friends how to write reports. Narwhal actually laughed at that, and suggested it would have probably been an exercise in futility. Although the idea of the three of them scrawling or drawing all over official looking documents and submitting it as paperwork made her smile. Assuming it survived to make it that far, that was.

Afterward, Narwhal and Dragon had let her and her dad leave the PRT for the day, considering the ongoing situation. She’d obviously have to come back tomorrow of course. Before she had left however, Dragon had given Taylor a new cell phone. It was a smartphone, and for someone who had never owned such a thing, Taylor couldn’t wait to try it out. The Tinker had explained that it was a custom model, functionally a really fancy work phone that was like the ones issued to all Protectorate heroes, which had a few extra bells and whistles added on.

So after all that had transpired, it had come as something of a surprise that it was only mid-afternoon, and she had plenty of time to think and reflect about not just the day’s events but on everything else that had happened in her life in the past few days. There was also something else that she wanted to think about, something that had been happening to her friends over the last day or so.

They were getting smarter, and Taylor didn’t know what to think about that.

In hindsight it was obvious. Prior to a few days ago, their main communication had come to her in the form of ephemeral emotions and impressions. Happiness, sadness, hunger and the like. And then since her first real outing with them, the three of them had gotten more… verbose. A part of her wondered whether it was them actually learning how to understand others, or if it was actually herself who was learning to understand them better. They seemed to understand spoken English, if Benny’s interaction with Dragon was anything to go by.

Her friends were currently tucked away neatly in her backpack, just in case she encountered anyone unexpectedly while ‘out of costume.’ The three of them were quietly riding along inside her backpack, now restocked with various small treats and snacks from the break from vending machines. Taylor had a place in mind, a secluded little spot that she wanted to go to. An old oak, surrounded by overgrown bushes next to the bus stop she typically used when going to school from home or really anywhere else.

While it was technically private property, said property had been abandoned like so many other homes in the suburbs in and around the Docks, the owners having long left the place empty. It would give her a place to think, away from the heroes, her dad and anyone else. Just her and her Friends, at least for a little bit.

No one stopped her when she slipped through the gaps in the bushes and peeked through into the abandoned front yard. The old house in the corner lot there was as derelict as ever. Taylor made her way toward the base of the old oak tree at the center of the space, before taking off her backpack and sitting down beneath its canopy. As soon as Taylor unzipped her backpack, all three of them came bursting out, tumbling onto the ground next to her. Simme was off at once, dashing around the clearing and darting between the branches above. Levi glided up her arm to his usual perch on her shoulder, while Benny clambered into her lap.

“You guys,” Taylor started, patting Benny on his head, “You’re getting smarter, aren’t you?”

Smart? Levi asked, nuzzling the nape of her neck.

“Well, you’re getting better at talking?” She explained. “Earlier when we were fighting the Empire, You and Simmie seemed, I don’t know, a little more…” Was eloquent the right word? “Better spoken.”

Levi was quiet for a moment. I am smart, he stated.

Very smart! Simmie chirped, setting down atop a flat stone next to Taylor. In the brief moment she’d been flitting about, she’d gathered an assortment of objects. A short length of rope, a bit of wire, and a particularly shiny pebble. At once she set about making something with them, and considering Simmie’s record so far of making things, she had little doubt of it being anything less than amazing.

Come to think of it, she’d never paid much attention to Simmie when she was making something. Either her brothers’ antics had kept her distracted, or she was asleep when her littlest Friend took to Tinkering. Right then, Taylor tried to focus on the project, for a lack of a better word, in front of Simmie. It seemed to have the same strange visual artifacts that her Friends themselves had when she adjusted their sizes, with the added benefit of being headache inducing. Was this something all Tinkers could do, or was it something unique to Simmie, Taylor wondered?

She chuckled, averting her gaze. Besides, it would look better when done. “I mean, you did manage to help Dragon and stop what that Saint guy was doing to her. Oh, and you made a teleporter too!” Taylor remembered that Dragon had wanted to analyze the device, and had asked to keep it at the PRT HQ for study. She had also explained that Tinkertech needed to be thoroughly vetted and tested before usage, although the Guild as a whole was more lenient compared to the PRT in some cases. If Taylor wanted to continue wearing her costume, she’d have to have it tested in depth as well. Something for tomorrow.

Taylor was fine with that. She supposed it was all a part of being a hero. Besides, she had faith in her Friends’ joint creation. She idly toyed with the idea of calling Dragon to ask about it. She had her number after all, right there in the contacts below her dad…

The absurdity of it dawned on her, having the personal phone number of one of the world’s greatest heroes in her contact list. “My life has gotten ridiculous,” she chuckled.

Snacks? Benny asked. Taylor glanced over at the little guy, who was in the process of tugging free one of several granola bars from her backpack. They were the chewy fruit-filled ones, and a bit more expensive than what she was used to. She helped him out, opening the box and fishing out several of the bars. She set one down next to Simmie, who accepted it with a happy chirp. Simmie didn’t miss a beat as the wrapper was peeled open with her telekinesis and a piece broke off, floating into her mouth as she tinkered. She handed another bar to Benny, who meekly roared as he bit into the bar, wrapper and all. Finally, she took one for herself.

Taylor didn’t forget about Levi though. Besides the granola bars, there were a few cups of chocolate pudding. Taylor took two, one for herself to go with her granola bar, and the other for Levi. Her quiet friend gripped the cup with floating beads of water, deftly peeling away the lid with more beads before plunging his head into the chocolatey morass. Taylor also pulled free a bottle of water for herself. She smiled, relaxing for a bit. She bit into her own granola bar, thinking about what her future would entail.

That was when she heard the mewling, coming from the nearby bushes. A low, pained sound tinted with loss.

“Is… that a…”

New friend! Simmie chirped, her newest creation seemingly complete. At once she darted off, dashing into the nearest bush that was the source of the sound. Taylor could only watch and wait for Simmie to re-emerge.

Her question was answered when Simmie, covered in dirt and twigs, led a small, shivering kitten out of the bushes. She flashed back to a couple of days prior, to seeing a dead cat lying in the street as she patiently waited for the bus at the nearby stop. Taylor put two and two together, and realized that that cat… had been the kitten’s mother.

Oh.

Slowly, Simmie led the mewling orphan over to where Taylor sat. The kitten looked awful, with how it was wet and shivering. Taylor carefully reached over to scoop up the poor creature, easily cupping it in its entirety with both of her hands.

“You lost your mom huh?” Taylor asked.

The kitten mewled.

“Yeah, I lost my mom too.”

“Friend!”

“Simmie?”

“Friend!” she repeated, holding aloft her latest creation: a simple pet collar, perfectly sized for the kitten Taylor now held. Although knowing Simmie’s stuff, it was anything but simple.

“Yeah,” Taylor said as she scritched the newest addition to their family, “I think we’ve made a new friend.”