章 2756: 5.3
The photoshoot ended earlier than expected. Apparently there was to be another one at a later date when the other Wards and Heroes were free. Normally the idea of a group photo with other Heroes would've made me smile. As it stood, I felt that it would only highlight how stupid I looked.
"Since you were brought in by Armsmaster we plan to do a few shoots of you both as well." As much as I hated these photoshoots the idea that I would be cemented as Armsmaster's sidekick was nice at least for now. They told me that the Wards weren't sidekicks, that we weren't supposed to be but I didn't mind the term.
Still, one of these days I'd be kickass on my own! Speaking of kicking ass on my own I really had to do something about this outfit. I mean, I'd probably have to reshoot all the photos but screw them!
Entering the Tinker labs I found it was empty and soon realised that I had no idea where anything was. Last time I was here, Armsmaster gave me the stack of Iron bars and I produced my own anvil. I was now hoping to get access to a chemistry set.
"Hello?" I called out just in case he was around. "Armsmaster? Kid Win? Uhh…" There weren't any other Tinkers on site as far as I knew. I would've called for Gallant but the revelation that his suit was second hand and not made by him had not escaped my memory.
"Hello Vim." A familiar and feminine voice called. It was Dragon! "How can I help you?"
"Oh uhh hi?" I knew that she was probably calling me over the phone or something. The fact that she had an open line to the labs here gave more clues to how close she was with Armsmaster. "Uhh like I said, just looking for Armsmaster."
"He's currently in a meeting with Taylor Williams." A meeting with that PR demon? "I can show you if you'd like."
"Uhh isn't that private or something?" I approached the featureless bench in the middle of the labs.
"This meeting was penned as being open to all Protectorate Capes on site." She began. "Technically you're a Cape and also on site."
"Uhh sure, show me then." A projector lit up revealing Armsmaster in full armor seemingly glare at Mr Williams.
"She looks like a joke!" He cried out slapping his palm onto the table. I noted that there was a picture of me on the whiteboard to the side. Not a photo but a hand drawn sketch complete with terrible yellow triangle.
"That's the point sir." Taylor William despite being yelled at by the leader of the local heroes seemed calm. "Your reports said she was valuable but had little in the way of combat powers, we didn't want her to stand out too much." Not to stand out? Clearly he failed then. "I was told to make her look ineffectual."
"That makes no sense! Why go the extra distance to do that?" He began. "Panacea has no such restrictions and PR works fine for her."
"I can't say more. I'm just following orders, if you have a complaint, take it up with Director Piggot." Armsmaster practically stormed out of the meeting room. "Come on sir, she's doing what she thinks is best!" It was at that point that the screen shut off.
I stood there open mouthed. They sabotaged my image on purpose?
"I don't believe this." I mumbled. At first I thought it was mere incompetence, that this might just be stage one. Nowhere in my thoughts did I think that it would be on purpose.
"If it makes you feel any better, at least Armsmaster was just as offended as you were." It was a foreign feeling, to have someone other than Dad get upset on my behalf.
"What can I do? I don't want to be a joke, I want people to take me seriously." Dragon responded with a chuckle.
"I can see why you and Colin get along." Colin? She and him were on a first name basis? Wasn't it dangerous to say it out loud? Well I guess we were in a high tech Tinkerlab. "You're both so driven to prove yourselves."
"So any idea on how to stop this?"
"I understand how you feel but I can't give you any advice on how to break PR protocol."
I groaned.
"However I can show you a video to cheer you up…." The projector came back on, this time revealing a newsreel from a while back. Labelled below it said 'New Wards reveal.' The Heroes all looked slightly different. Younger if I had to guess. In the middle stood Clockblocker who had the mic.
"Hello Brockton Bay!" He announced. "I'm your newest Ward, call me…. CLOCKBLOCKER!" There was silence as the crowd tried to process what he said. Then laughter erupted. The camera then cut out but not before I saw the shocked expressions of all the heroes. I think I even saw someone dive for the mic.
"I remember that!" Everyone spoke about it for days. "By the time it ended, no one could think of him as anything else but Clockblocker!" It reminded me of what Armsmaster said when we first met.
"You should come up with a name soon." He mentioned. "The Protectorate are fond of saddling people with one and as soon as it gets into the public consciousness it becomes impossible to dislodge."
Wait a second… names were one thing but what about image? What about appearance? I already appeared in the public eye without the triangle, what if I did it again? But this time, in front of cameras?
"Dragon? Do you know where I can get some steel bars?" I looked around the lab for anything that could be a container. "Also can I get a chemistry set?"
"Hmmm, well there's a shipment of steel coming in this afternoon if you want to pick it up and…" The wall to my far left folded out revealing a series of bunsen burners, beakers and test tubes. "There's a chemistry set without the chemicals, I assume you can supply your own."
I nodded before realising that she might not be able to see me, as far as I could tell there were no cameras here and if there were, they were hidden. "I'll check for sure!" I promised her. "Thanks for everything."
"I'm glad I was able to cheer you up… and nothing else." She told me with humor in her voice. I grinned. If I didn't like Dragon before then there was no doubt in my mind that I wouldn't now. She struck me as a reasonable authority figure. Which was a pleasant surprise since my life had been bereft of them in recent memory.
Okay. that was unfair, I had Armsmaster. He was my boss and he tried to stand up for me.
It still made me wonder why Blackwell or the rest of the teachers ignored me. Were they just lazy? Why would Emma turn on me then? Why was the whole school perfectly fine with my abuse. I would never return to that. I simply couldn't do it. I refused.
Director Piggot had ordered Taylor Williams to sabotaged me, to bully me and make me look bad on purpose. In my mind she was no better than principal Blackwell.
I'd show them that they couldn't do this to me, that I'd push right back! I wasn't the same old Taylor Hebert, I refused to be that person any more. The kind of girl who let her best friend stab her in the back, the kind of girl who let her mother's flute get destroyed, who let herself be pushed into that locker…that dark place… I shivered...
No.
I was Vim! And I wasn't never looking back!
"Dragon?" I called out again.
"Yes Vim? I'm still here."
"When are they going to reveal me like they did Clockblocker?"
"No set schedule has been released yet, however it's been determined that your official reveal will come at the same time as Browbeat's." She told me. "Assuming of course there are no complications most Ward reveals to the media occur after roughly two weeks of induction."
So I had a fortnight to prepare then. Wait a second…
"You said that I'd be doing it at the same time as Browbeat, how long has he been on the team?"
"Twelve days." She answered and I swore internally. Twelve days had passed for him which meant that it was likely that we'd be revealed in two. The fact that it would be the weekend by then amplified that theory. However, this didn't change my plans. Even if they were rushing my release date, it didn't mean that I would let them walk all over me.
"Thanks Dragon." I called out.
"Any time Vim." I looked down at my golden chest in disgust. Well, I wasn't out in public yet so maybe I'd be okay with taking it off now. Not only that but I felt that it made me one big target, something that would make my Veil useless.
"Vim!" Armsmaster would yell, ducking around the wall into cover as his previous spot was riddled with bullets. His armor might be bulletproof but it didn't cover everything. "Try to sneak around the side, I'll keep them distracted!"
"Yes sir!" I'd reply before crouching down. Making my way through the battlefield I would pull out my sword, ready to cleave evil in twain!
"Hey look boss!" A random thug would call out. "It's VIM!" Then the bad guys would turn to stare at me. "HAHAHA your costume looks so dumb!"
Then I would die from all the laughter, slaughtered and torn apart by their mirth.
I rushed off to the kitchens for supplies sans the yellow triangle, the visor however stayed on. I needed potion ingredients if I wanted to get stronger to enhance my armor. I had run out of iron already so potion making was the only way that I'd feel the 'Elation' again. Maybe I'd be able to find an ingredient to make Tinkering easier. Crouching down I activated my Veil, hoping that the cameras wouldn't catch me until it was too late.
Luckily the 'eye' in my mind remained closed and did so even after I made my way into the cafeteria area. I swore under my breath realising that while I had been given the tour of the Rig, I still didn't know where the kitchen was, I was still unfamiliar with the area. If only I had a map!
I could still explore though, maybe find useful supplies. It wouldn't be stealing if it was from my own organisation right? Wait no, the phrase 'dumbass keeps stealing office supplies' from Dad went through my head enough times that it told me it was a bad idea.
Well, they wouldn't hold it against me if I just borrowed some of the stuff right? It wasn't like I was going to use it for my own benefit. The potions would be used to help people, you couldn't fault me for that could you?
Anyways. Kitchens!
As I continued to creep around my phone rang. I flushed with embarrassment. Fumbling with the device I managed to answer the phone.
"Vim!" It was Armsmaster's voice, he sounded somewhat angry. I froze, worried that I had been caught. "Where are you?" It was then I saw him appear around the corner, scanning the area, the 'eye' in my mind slowly getting larger.
"Uhh I'm still in base." I told him. "Right in front of you in fact." I stood up and he froze upon seeing me. Turns out sneaking around was a terrible idea.
"Vim, I almost thought you teleported again." He came closer, examining me for injuries. "If it weren't for the fact that your tracker told us you were still here I would've called your father." I winced at that and it struck me that while I approved of the two's friendship, I was still unprepared to discover what it would feel like if they both were upset with me at the same time.
Wait tracker?
"You've been tracking me?"
"Well of course." He began, turning to the side he spoke into his wrist. "Cancel the lock down order, Vim has been found." Lockdown order? I hadn't heard any alarms or seen any squads of grim faced troopers running past.
"Why track me?"
"Wards security is one of our highest priorities." Yeesh, I knew Dad and him were alike but I didn't want him to be overprotective either. I imagined having a boyfriend getting the 'Talk' from two men, one of which with a terrible temper and the other with a plasma knife. Well, considering Legend came out as being gay, having two dads was probably a lot more common these days.
I wondered if Legend had a kid? Maybe we could complain about overprotective father figures together.
Not that I thought about Armsmaster that way. Wait a second. If I had two dads, then what would Dragon be? That sounded like a complicated relationship and I endeavoured to avoid thinking about it too much ever again.
"Armsmaster." I began. "Can I get into the kitchens?"
"You're hungry?"
"No, I'm looking for ingredients." I told him. "Things like raw eggs, wheat and mushrooms."
"For your serums I assume?" He produced a tablet, seemingly from nowhere. "We can certainly requisition such items, it'll barely make a dent in your Tinkering budget." I had a Tinkering budget? I vaguely remembered it being mentioned. I endeavoured to find out how much it was, though considering that he offered me thousands of dollars for my potions awhile back, I had no doubt that it would be a significant amount of money since only I could make said potions. Supply and demand!
It was explained to me once by Armsmaster that my potions were empowered by some sort of unique energy signature. Similar to Dauntless but not. The idea being was that his own energy could be pumped into an object where my energy simply unlocked hidden properties within mundane ingredients. A catalyst compared to the outright power up of Dauntless.
"So kitchen?" I then asked.
"No, we'll need you to fill out some paper work first." I groaned at that. "Don't worry Vim, it'll be worth it, I promise." Maybe sneaking around wasn't such a bad idea after all. I promised that I'd talk to Clockblocker when I next saw him. If his PHO persona and what little I saw of him was accurate, then he'd know how to circumnavigate all the rules. If I was going to beat Taylor William I'd need the king of pranks on my side.
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Alternate name for 'Radiant Quests': Taylor Vs Taylor
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