+++ Origin 0.3.2+++

I've probably read the contract a hundred times now.

After we got home, I all but demanded that Dad give me the Wards contract so I can read it for myself.

I admit, for a second I hoped it wouldn't actually be as bad as Dad made it out to be, and though the legal jargon and technicalities of the membership requirements itself didn't seem bad, they were just for the general cape teen.

Tinkers, well.

It seems like we deserved a lot more pages, all filled with rules and restrictions from what we can do, to what we can build.

I pull my eyes away from the stack of papers and the wall the words written on them, plopping my head on to my pillow.

No matter how many times I looked at it, these rules and regulations just seemed to be made specifically for someone with my specialty.

Never mind the fact that it's basically telling me to stop making AI, it would have also kept me from building so many things that I already had ideas for. And even with what I could build, they'd probably keep it on the base rather than let me have it at home, where I can protect myself!

This was just…terrible.

I feel like I'm being pulled from two sides, one that told me I should suck it up and sign on so I can be safe, and the other side telling me how stupid it would be to let the PRT hinder me like this.

It made my head spin, I wanted to keep getting better so what happened today won't ever happen to me again, and I thought the best way to do that would be to join the Wards and use the resources they'd provide me to build myself up.

I could still see myself get better there, but it feels like a huge portion of my specialty would be sealed away and I'd have to constrict myself just to follow their rules and regulations!

There's a possibility that I could suppress my need to build AIs, but there was still stuff in the restrictions that involved autonomous creations. Droids were possible, from which I already got some ideas for, but I feel like they wouldn't live up to the fullest potential that I had in mind for them. They would need so much tweaking just to follow the regulations laid out for me.

Something in my chest hurt. I know its not ideal, but what can I do? Today I was almost kidnapped. And the Director said there's a possibility that someone out there might actually know about me, here in Brockton Bay.

It's all so depressing. I feel boxed in, like a choice was made for before I could decide for myself.

I heard a knock on my door. I responded with a long-suffering groan.

"You okay?" Dad poked his head through the door. Haro rolled into my room without further prompting, and Char followed in more languidly.

"Not really." Was my mumbled reply. Haro bounced into my bed and rolled himself on the covers until my Dad sat down at the side of where I lay, putting a hand on his head to stop him.

"You know, I was planning on talking about that with them today, while you were taking your test." He said, referring to the contract. He kept a hand on Haro to make the ball of energy stay still.

"Yeah?" I said, still lethargic. Char kept his silence, preferring to stay on my bedroom floor watching us.

He nodded, quirking his lips sideways. "Yeah, wasn't really happy with what Alan told me. He consulted one of his lawyer friends over this, someone who's really good at parahuman law. His lawyer friend flat out told him that it was, and he quotes: Highway robbery in legal form." He gave me a wry grin.

"...that's seems accurate." I react with a dry chuckle. It certainly seemed like it was, especially from what I've read.

I can't think of anything else to say after that. I thought about what we should do instead, about what I can do. Everything felt like it was piling on, there was a problem on top of another problem, that could only be solved with another problem.

"Do you still want me in the Wards, Dad?" I asked him instead, sitting up. When we started this, he wanted nothing more than to put in that program, he wanted me safe. I understood that, and I was okay with joining the Wards after realizing how much it scared him.

But now…with all the things I learned about it, with all the things that I had to give up just to be safe…made me feel less of a hero and more like a coward hiding behind the wall they would offer me.

It was foolish pride, and I've already thrown most of that pride away when I agreed to do whatever Dad wanted to do, but doing this now? It would feel so confining, and I'd never feel like I was living up what I can actually do. But if Dad wanted me to join, then I would do it, even if it hurt.

Because he is my father, and it's my duty as his daughter to lessen the burden in his heart, no matter what it would cost me.

Dad looked at my face solemnly. "Taylor." He said, very serious. "When Alan told me about that contract, I was livid." His eyes hardened. "My whole life I've fought for the workers I've helped get hired, to be the voice for their rights under the labor of others. It's gritty business, and it's not always going to work out, but I do what I have to so that people that I speak for don't get abused for the sake of a quick buck."

He motioned at the pile of papers on my side table with his head. "This contract? It's everything I've ever fought against, and I wanted nothing more than to march up there and demand that they give you the rights you deserve. But tonight, I met their boss. And I'm just going to tell you this: I know her type." Dad scowled. "I've been around employers long enough to see that she's the stubborn kind, and no matter how much I'd broker for anything, she won't budge." He sighed, rubbing at the back of his head. "Those are the people I usually try not to get the workers involved with."

He turns meet my eyes with his. "So, I'm stuck in a situation where I wanted my daughter protected, and the only thing I have to give up is my pride in my duty." His smiled sadly at me. "I think I would have been fine with it. I'd be the world's biggest hypocrite, but then you'd be safe, and that's the price I would have been willing to pay. But…" He paused, casting his gaze to green ball under his hand. Haro flapped his ears back at him in curiosity.

"But...?" I look at him questioningly, leaning forward.

"But I realized something else." He continued with small nod, at himself or me, I didn't really know. "I realized what you would be giving up on, if we signed on with the PRT. You're giving up more than your right to own what you make; you would be giving up on your right to be as amazing as you could be. You'd be stuck in a gilded cage, and I was going to be a big part of the reason why." His eyes grew more somber when he leveled them to me. "It's your future, Taylor. In the end, that choice isn't something that I'm going to make by myself." His lips eased into a small smile, "Whatever you want, I'll be right there with you."

"Dad…" I feel all my emotions choke out in a sob. I couldn't help the tears welling up in my eyes.

"I'm still scared, you know?" He admitted, reaching up to my face and wiping away the stray tears that rode down my cheek softly with his thumb. "Today shook me, but you know what?" He quirks an eyebrow at me, leaning back.

He swept him arm to Haro and Char. "We probably got the most dedicated security system, right here." He grinned at them.

"We're the best!" Haro bounced up, beeping boastfully.

"Protecting both of you is our priority." Char chimed in from the floor.

Dad breather out through his nostrils, looking at them both fondly. "We'd be screwed today if it wasn't for them. And you know who made them?" He bumped his shoulder at my knee. "You, and you made them from the junk we brought you Taylor. I'm not kidding when I say this honey. You're amazing, and so are they." He motioned at them again, and they both respond by flapping their ears.

"Yeah." I sniffled, curving my lips into a wobbly smile. I sweep my teary eyes over all of them. The warmth I felt in my chest from their support was immeasurable. Emotional sobs wracked my frame, tears began running down more freely on my face.

Dad was tactful enough to simply offer me some tissue paper.

I accepted it with another sniffle.

When I was finally calm enough, I let myself think. Dad was right about my AIs, but…

"You know they might not be able help us all the time." I was looking at him with a serious expression.

"Since when were you the pessimist?" He grinned sardonically at me, wiggling his eyebrows.

"It's not pessimistic." I glowered at him, trying to keep my lips from jutting out. "We're not exactly rich Dad, and how long do you think your friends are gonna let you just ask for junk pro bono?" I asked him rhetorically. Surely there will come a time when his friends get tired from helping him get some specific junk.

I cut in as he opened his mouth. "You were right before though, I'm still here because they were there with me, and if I join the PRT…that would change." I adopt a pensive look. There were clauses that pertained to my inventions that I made before joining, and what would be done to them if I so much as give them a tune up with the PRT's resources. The contract said that they'd go under evaluation and be examined, and since I used the materials that they supplied to fix them up, they'd basically own them now and do with them as they pleased.

"So, you don't want to join anymore?" He asked me more seriously, looking deep into my eyes.

I thought deeply about it. What the Wards and the PRT could offer me, and what it would take from me in return.

"…I don't, Dad." I gave him my honest answer, the one that I felt deep in my heart. I leaned back on my bed rest and made a watery sigh. "I don't want to join the Wards. Not anymore."

Everything that the PRT could give me felt meaningless, because they would take away an important part of my work, my AIs. For all that I could build, from the Zeon to the most mundane of devices, there was just nothing that I could ever replace what Haro and Char were to me.

They were my family, and by the act of signing my name on that dotted line, I'd basically be giving them away. I wouldn't be able to build anything like them ever again, if I chose to join the Wards.

I just couldn't bring myself to do that.

"I thought so." Dad just nodded, unsurprised. "I suppose we're just going to be extra careful from now on." He looked thoughtful, and I understood. This was going to cause all sorts of problems.

Actually, now that I think of it.

"Are you going to work tomorrow?" I asked. I just remembered that he didn't go to work today for me, and if he doesn't work tomorrow, he might get in trouble.

"After what happened? Are you kidding?" He shot me an incredulous look. "You're gonna need me to look after you." He asserted this by waving at my prone form, and to my red rimmed eyes.

I shook my head, wiping at my eyes again. "I mean, what about the dockworkers, won't they be mad that you've been gone for two days straight?" I argued, holding back another sniffle. His job was important, and not to mention some people might actually see this chance to sack him if he didn't it right. It wasn't a high paying job, but there might still be a chance that they do and I don't want that to happen because of me.

"We're a bit tighter nit than that." He assured me.

"You should go tomorrow, just to make sure." I encouraged him. I really didn't want him to lose his job, because it felt like it meant a lot to him for all the years that he has stayed with it.

He frowned at me. "I'm not about to leave you alone at home." He insisted.

I thought of a response, and came up with an idea. "Well, I can go with you." I offered, grinning.

That made him look at me weirdly. "Taylor, I'm not sure going out is any safer." He gave me a sharp look but I saw that coming and had an answer ready.

"We can take my bots with us." I chipped in the next part of my idea, still grinning. Having them with us would probably give him a measure of comfort.

"Overtime duty!" Haro piped up while Char did another one of his agreeable hums, ears slightly raising.

"…Are you sure?" He asked reluctantly. Looks like I've gotten to him. If he was considering it, then it meant he knew that there would be something some trouble if he didn't go tomorrow.

I nodded, serious. "Dad, I don't want you to get in more trouble because of me." I answered him honestly.

"Taylor…" His eyes still looked hesitant as he kept them on mine.

"I'll be good this time, I'll stay put." I promised him, beaming.

Dad studied me for a few more seconds before looking away to heave a big sigh. "…fine." He relented, standing up from my bed. "You should get some sleep then." He stepped by Char to the door and opened it to leave.

"Actually, Dad." I said as I swing my legs off my bed. If I'm going to leave the house tomorrow then it's better if was prepared. "I've got some stuff I want to do first." I declared, bounding out of my room with him.

Dad just smiled when I passed him to the stairs, dutifully followed by the bouncing Haro and Char. "Don't stay up too late, work is going to be early tomorrow." He called out as I got to the bottom of the stairs.

I look at the clock at our wall, it's only 9:13 PM

"I'll try, I promise!" I call back to him as I opened the door to our basement, more motivated than ever.

I needed to get some work done.

+++V+++

Bleary eyed, I typed on my phone.

Taylor: Report.

Char: No changes around the office area.

Taylor: House?

Char: No changes around the house.

Taylor: Noted, keep me updated.

Char: Roger.

Haro: Squirrel!

I sighed at that last response, pocketing my phone away into my winter coat. I yawned, rubbing at my eye lids, a bit of my drowsiness amplified from the cold of the winter morning that seeped into my father's office. The heater wasn't working so I pulled the coat tighter around myself, hoping to keep warm. Didn't really help all that much, but whatever.

In the end I slept later than I should have, passing out on the couch of the basement rather than my bed. I gave my dad an embarrassed smile when I woke up this morning, who simply took it with an exasperated sigh.

At least it looks the surveillance we've set up around the house and on the truck was working. There were left over cameras in the junk that I couldn't use for Zeon, so I simply tweaked them and hid them in certain places around our lot and the truck. I connected them to my AIs and the computer to let me have visual around our area. My AIs can alert me of suspicious people coming and going around.

Well, obviously Char more so than Haro, but I connected the green ball of trouble just in case. They were currently stowed away inside the truck and parked nearby the mobile trailer that was my father's office building. I was sitting on the couch outside his office room on the really small lounge.

The secretary, Millie, a nice lady with short brown hair and a homely face framed by a warm motherly smile, offered me a cup of hot cocoa when she came back to the office. I accepted it gratefully as she went to sit on her small office desk by the door of my Dad's office room, working her way through a small stack of papers, which were probably Dad's scheduled meetings for today.

I sipped on the hot liquid and let the warmth from it heat me up as I looked around. The last time I was here was about a week ago, back when I offered to fix the ferry for Dad, which ended up a dud. It was cozy here, even if it was small because they had to cut some cost. The windows gave me a view of the rest of the work place, and a view of the ferry house.

"It's really nice that you're with your Dad more often, Taylor." Millie said to me suddenly. I saw that she had paused from her work and was watching me with small smile on her face. "I know times have been harder recently, but it's really good to see you and Danny sticking close to each other." She sighed, resting her face on her hand. "If only my kids could be as nice as you."

"Well, I think it's best that we look out for each other you know?" I smiled back at her. Millie was one of my Dad's older friends, and she's stuck with him for years. I can remember the few times I've visited and she'd be here welcoming me with a smile. Dad said she was dependable, always there to schedule his meetings and answer calls.

Millie nodded with another smile and went back to work. "Hmm," She thumbed through the paper thoughtfully. "Looks like the first client isn't here yet, they were scheduled 15 minutes ago. I hope it's not another one of those cancellations that didn't call ahead." A small frown formed on her face.

"Do those happen often?" I asked, interest piqued.

"Oh hon, if you only knew." She gave me a weary smile. "It happens a lot more than it should." She looked a bit sad, turning to the window.

I nodded in understanding, following her gaze. The people outside worked hard to earn their keep, but it was getting harder to put food on the table for themselves and their families. I thought I had solution, but Dad said it wasn't going to be real fix, since it was the economy that put the ferry into what it became, and getting the ferry back to shape wouldn't matter if the economy was still the same.

My lips shaped into a thoughtful frown. To fix a problem, you had to fix a bigger problem first.

And even before all that, another personal problem I had to face. The whole business associate that Piggot alluded to. She said it was only speculation from the evidence they've gathered, but it made a lot of sense. Dragonslayers were being hunted down, and yet they gained entry to Brockton Bay without Dragon finding out about it until I was almost kidnapped. Them getting in because of someone helping them in doesn't sound too unlikely.

Even if it wasn't true, it felt like we were still in danger. I needed to be prepared more than ever, and ideas were forming in my head since last night for things I could make to protect myself and Dad besides the Zeon. There was one project that I've worked on in parallel with Zeon, but I never really got to finish it until last night. I patted my coat a little bit, feeling the cylindrical shape concealed inside.

My phone dinged, at the same time as Millie's rang. She answered hers as I took my out of my pocket and read Char's report.

Char: Car parked nearby, man exiting. Tall, thin, dark skinned. Approaching your location.

Taylor: Copy

Haro: Creeepyyy

I tensed as I heard a knock on the door, my hand slowly fishing inside my coat. Millie told them to come in, and the door opened to reveal a man with features that Char described.

"Good morning, you must be our client from Fortress Construction?" Millie greeted him with a polite smile.

"Yes, I must apologize for being late." The dark-skinned man returned her smile with a small nod. What Millie said made me relax a bit, but I kept my eye on him just in case. "There was a change of plans in the last minute, and I was only informed this morning that I'd be the one going to this meeting instead." He explained, maintaining his smile.

I noticed that he was a bit too skinny, just from the way his well ironed three-piece fitted him. His face was too gaunt, which kind of made his smile a bit off putting, with the way it stretched his lips too thinly. He looked quite professional though, and I wasn't really one to judge a person for just their appearance.

"I see." Millie nodded understandingly, "Well, he's been ready to meet you for a while now, so you can go on in Mr…?" She looked at him questioningly.

"Ah yes." He pulled a business card out of his breast pocket, offering it to her. "It's Calvert." He smiled again. "Thomas Calvert."

+++V+++

At noon, Dad and I had lunch together inside his office room.

He was still working as he ate, taking bites of his food while looking through the contract that Calvert left. I couldn't help but notice that he seemed to be energized after that particular meeting. He had other clients after that, and those seemed to have gone well enough, but it was really the one with Calvert that really gave him a pep in his step.

The job Calvert offered was about a dock that's been inactive for years. The company that used to own it hadn't been able to maintain its upkeep, and it eventually got defaulted to the government. In the end the government wasn't able to do anything to it, hence it rotted like the rest of the docks in the Bay.

Now it looked like they were finally getting it cleared it out for renovation.

"The pay should be good." Dad had estimated. "It's gonna take a few workers to get it done too."

But he also explained that they needed to look into the area to determine the conditions that the workers will be under. He'll need to personally assess it with some of his men to see if there won't any problems in clearing it out.

Calvert had given him directions to the location before he left, but Dad told me that already knew where it was.

"It's one of the projects that I've wanted city hall to approve years ago." He had explained. "I lost track of it since it didn't seem like it went anywhere and focused on the ferry project more, so I didn't know that they actually put it out for bidding already." He seemed glad. I bet he's relieved that the local government finally got something right. It always felt like these kinds of projects never get approval from city hall.

Even after getting approved though, Dad explained that the government would have a strict budget for the project and the company that bid with the lowest price to get the renovations done would get the job. Even then, city hall had to make sure the company had a history of finishing actually projects.

Which wasn't really a problem for the company that Calvert represented.

Fortress Construction. They were known for their underground evacuation shelters for Endbringer attacks. They've already built a few around the Bay, and thus have a good reputation with city hall.

It was easy enough to win the bid when the rest of the competition didn't show up. They basically got handed the project without much fuss.

"They probably want to demonstrate that their company can build more than just Endbringer shelters." This was what Dad told me when I asked about Fortress Construction's motivation for taking this project. "It's a good deal for us too, they're outsourcing the clearing job to our workers so they can focus on doing the renovations."

Dad's schedule for today was clear enough that he could go there right after lunch with his team of dockworkers to start assessing if the place was good enough to work in.

I chewed up the last of my food and swallowed, drinking some water to wash it down.

"I'm done." I announced, making him look up from the papers.

"Oh." Dad replied, blinking. "I guess I should finish up too." He then put all his attention on his meal as I stood up from my chair, picking up the keys on his desk.

"I'll wait for you at the truck!" I told him, brandishing the car keys at him before I exited his office. He replied with a garbled "OK" since his mouth was full of food.

I pulled on my coat when walked out of mobile trailer and down the aluminum stairs. It wasn't as cold as this morning, but it was still damn cold.

I hurried over to the truck, eager to get away from the weather. I opened the door and quickly got inside.

"Your temperatures are less than optimal." Char said as soon as I closed the door. He was a floor the truck with Haro, hidden from people's view.

"Yeah, it's freezing today." I replied with a shiver and inserted the keys to start up the engine of the truck, turning on the heater immediately.

"Go home?" Haro whined at me. He was probably bored from being stuck in the truck for hours, doing nothing.

"Nope." I answered, relaxing into the seat. "Dad still has stuff to do."

"Booored." The little green ball whined at me some more, which I ignored in favor of closing my eyes to take in the warmth of the heater.

"There weren't any changes since my last report." Char told me. I nodded absentmindedly, and he went on further. "The PRT agents assigned around your house have done their best to stay relatively hidden."

"Hmm." Looks like Piggot made good on her word.

"Hoooome." Haro complained again.

"Haro." I said firmly, eyes still closed.

"Awww. Fiiiine."

I huffed, smirking at the sound of his surrender.

I slowly opened my eyes. The heat inside the truck was warm enough that I zipped my coat open just a bit.

The Zeon was covered by a tarp on the back of the truck, as usual. That would help us with any sort of sudden complications, but I couldn't solely depend on it. I checked up on the test frame last night, and the bullet marks meant that the armor did its job by not letting any bullets punch through the frame. I never really got to test the endurance of it against actual bullets, hoping my research on the theory and application for bulletproof metal was enough for now.

I made few more adjustments to the unit after Char reported more issues that he assessed during his confrontation with the Dragonslayers. I had listened to each problem and had drawn up solutions on my sketch book. Most of the things I came up with involved supplies I didn't have access to, but there was one that was I might be able to work on.

Crossing distances relative to the weight and over all bulk of the unit involved drawing more power to run. And while he was able to make the distance in good time, Char was still unsatisfied with the time it took and the energy expended, since it focused too much power on the motion of the legs, which he found was inefficient relative to the cost. As a solution to that, we both agreed that propulsion towards the destination would cut the time. I drew up schematics for the new system and how to integrate them into the test frame.

With our planned upgrade, it meant that I needed to look over the power issues. The battery that the Zeon was utilizing was just derived from Haro and Char's ultra-compact energy system, but because of how much bigger the test frame was it needed something that was relative to its size and to its power expenditure. Currently though, I planned to just add another battery pack that would serve as a secondary power source once the first one ran out. It was crude, but for now it would do.

The next most plausible solution relative to our situation was simply building the same system but bigger, to adapt to the power demands of the frame. I would need to fix the density and the weight so it would not bog down the unit while in motion, but we would have to make due.

Still, I plan on studying other possibilities for power generation. Stuff that I find would probably take a lot more resources that I actually had, but it never hurts to study ahead.

It would help with the future inventions that I had in mind.

I glanced at Haro and Char.

These guys could use the upgrade too.

Their current battery usage wasn't actually bad. They could probably last a week with minimal power consumption, but Char usually had to recharge more than Haro did just because he used his processors more often when he was helping me with testing.

Well, usually. I couldn't help but notice that Haro's been plugging in to the socket more often this last week.

Been quieter than usual until yesterday too.

"Daniel's here." Char announced, snapping me from my thoughts. Sure enough, Dad was already opening the truck, fitting into the driver's seat.

"The guys already went on ahead." Dad said, putting on his seatbelt. With his hands on the steering wheel, he smiled at me. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah." I smiled back, nodding. "Let's go!"

+++V+++

The drive over there didn't take too long. It was by the coast of the Market, which was pretty close to the Dockworkers Association.

"Can I come with you?" I asked Dad as he parked the truck. The dockworkers car was close by, and I noted that it was Kurt's truck. "Please? I just want to watch how you do this."

Dad studied me for a moment before nodding.

"Stick close to me, alright?" Dad ordered, giving me a firm look. I nodded compliantly, pulling up the hood of my winter coat like he did with his as we exited the truck

"Keep watch, okay?" I ordered the Char and Haro. The truck was parked with a general view of the area, so they'd be able to see if there was anyone coming or if any trouble cropped up.

"Roger."

"But I wanna come with!" Haro complained.

"Not now Haro." I told him firmly. He just made a whining noise before quieting, looking down like he was sad. I sighed at his antics, closing the door of the truck and following my Dad.

The parking area was actually a small distance away so it took a few minutes before we arrived at the abandoned dock.

My feet crunched into gravel as we entered the lot through the chain-linked fenced gate.

We saw Kurt and Alexander huddled together with a younger man with a dark complexion. They were talking to each other until Alexander pointed at us.

"About time you got here Danny!" Kurt clapped Dad lightly on his shoulder once he got close. Being a big man, his definition of lightly might be different from other skinnier people like Dad. My father took it like a champ though, simply shaking his head.

"And why'd you bring Taylor to this dump?" Kurt threw Dad a questioning look when he saw me with him.

"She insisted." Dad replied with a shrug.

"I wanted to see him on the job." I grinned at Kurt.

Kurt just gave us another weird look before shrugging himself. "Alright!" He barked out, turning to the portly but muscled young man with a big grin. "Time to do some work Jose, let's go."

"How's it looking?" Dad asked Alexander once Kurt and Jose went to a certain corner in the area.

"Not bad, all things considered." Alexander answered, looking at the clip board in his hand.

I took my glasses off to wipe the fog off for a bit, then began observing the abandoned dock more keenly once I replaced them on eyes. The obvious signs of degradation were the rotting wood for what was once the dock for the boats, which looks like it could now be filled with termites. Rusted metal pipes and wooden planks were strewn everywhere, garbage was all over the place, and the abandoned warehouse by my left wasn't aging well from the weather its endured over the years.

There were small derelict boats that filled up the place, scrapped beyond repair. The coble boat we were standing close to even looked like it had its motors ripped off, probably salvaged by some people.

Honestly, I would say it looked about the same as every abandoned dock around Brockton Bay.

But it should be easy enough to clear with the dockworkers, give or take a few weeks, or maybe months. It'll probably depend on how many people Fortress Construction was willing to hire for this though, and how much they're willing to pay the workers. Dad said this was still a prospective hire, nothing was quite signed in ink yet so the pay would be up in the air but Dad was confident in his ability to cut a good deal for this job.

I put my hands inside my coat pockets, content to just witness my Dad do his work.

It was interesting to peek at this side of my Dad's job. I've always visited whenever he was just in his office, so I have never actually watched him do any of his job as a Union spokesperson, so this was really neat.

There was enthusiasm in their actions that I enjoyed watching. Kurt would bring Jose along with him to another area away from us, advising him as they scouted for any dangers and reporting back with a laugh. Alexander nodded along to what Kurt would say while checking stuff on the paper on his clip board, and judging from the slight smirk on his face he was probably pleased by the results that Kurt and Jose reported back to him.

Dad looked like he was in his element, studying the area from where he stood and offhandedly commenting about his observations. Dad was overseeing the assessment by instructing the two big dockworkers to go check on a particular area, and answering Alexander whenever he asked about something on the paper in the clipboard. He was certainly keeping himself tact and professional but I could hear a twinge of excitement in his voice whenever he spoke.

This deal with Fortress Construction will probably help a lot of his people at the docks. Hopefully they don't find anything in this place that would stop them from working on it.

And of course, that was when fate decided it was fun to mess with me.

My phone started buzzing.

I took it out and read the message.

Char: Incoming car. Parking right in your location.

Distantly, I heard the loud sound of an engine puttering off by the entrance of the dock.

There was laughter and conversation in a language I didn't understand, coming closer judging by the footsteps crunching against the gravel.

In alert the dockworkers stopped what they were doing. Dad instinctively pulled me behind him, away from the noise. I clutched my phone in my hand, pulling it away from sight,

The laughter was replaced by confused sounds and the footsteps stopped, followed by total silence.

A palpable tension began to fill the air.

I peek my head out a bit from behind Dad to see who arrived.

Three men were standing there, dressed in thick winter coats like the rest of us. Their faces held obvious Asian features, but I feel the hairs on the back of my skin raise at the visible hostility mixed with confusion that lined the creases of their brow.

Cautiously, I quickly typed six letters into my phone.

Danger.

I held off on sending it. I needed to see if the situation turned for the worse.

The silence stretched on for a moment before the guy in the middle stepped forward. "You people lost or something?"

His accent was heavy but the aggression in his words were clear, especially because he wasn't holding back the sneer on his face. His narrowed eyes were focused on us, but I saw a nearly imperceptible glance towards the location of the abandoned warehouse.

"We're dockworkers." Dad was the one to respond, keeping his voice level while trying to hidden me away from their view. Alexander had taken a similar stance by subtly standing in between the new arrivals and my father. "City hall has a project on going for clearing this place and we were just here to assess the working conditions." He explained, but the arm holding me back was coiled with tension.

That made all of the Asian men pause. The ones behind looked at each other while the guy who Dad was talking to narrowed his eyes even further, swiveling his head to study each of us. I gulped when eyes met mine briefly before moving on.

I was hoping against hope that this people weren't what I thought they were but the Docks were notorious for having a lot of gangs fighting for territory and there was one gang that was known to have being Asian as their requirement for recruitment.

The ABB.

And this place was probably one of their turfs.

I narrowed my eyes and made a decision. My thumb pressed send.

"Dockworkers, huh?" He said, more to himself than to us. His eyes were specifically trained on Kurt and Jose, who were standing away from us looking tense. "And you say you're assessing this place? That means you're tell city hall what you saw here." There's a look in his eye that made me grip the arm of my father tighter, and the cold air suddenly felt heavier once he took another brief glance at the ware house and back at us.

I saw the way those eyes hardened, and the sneer forming into an impassive frown.

Dad's grip on me tightened and I think everyone knew what was about to happen.

"Korosu!"

The two gang members reached for their jackets.

A second later the bullets whizzed by where we used to be Dad ducking with me into cover as the other dockworkers shouted and ran.

The Asian man started shouting again after they saw that they missed, and Dad started pulling me deeper into the coble as bullets shot at the hull of the boat protecting us.

There was a crash, it sounded like the chain-linked gate getting opened from the impact of something large smashing into it.

Thunderously large and fast footsteps crunched down into the gravel.

I looked over just in time to see what was happening.

One of the gang members turned around only to meet the nasty end of a red metallic fist into their mug. He was sent flying away with his nose spurting with blood, knocked out cold.

The red armored Zeon drew back its fist and straightened up just before launching itself into the closest thug that raised its pistol at him. Zeon reached out and caught the wrist of the hand holding the gun in a painful metallic grip, red eye flaring dangerously.

The pained scream was cut short as he was reeled in and had his face nearly caved in by the fist smashing into it.

"Stay away!" The last remaining gang member had already backed away and pulled out his own gun from his jacket. "Stay the fuck away!"

Zeon took one look at the handgun pointed its way, before taking one step forward, its single eye flashing red in defiance.

The ABB thug shouted at the Zeon as he pulled the trigger on his pistol.

The shot ricocheted off the domed head harmlessly. Zeon simply took another heavy step forward.

"Fuck you!" He shouted, as he aimed again, pulling the trigger once more.

This time, it seemed that the Zeon had its fill of being shot at, kicking off the gravel before the bullet could even ping off the armor, crossing the distance between them as a large red blur.

A devastating haymaker landed from across the side of the gang members face.

He hit the ground and it was over.

All of that happened within the space of seconds.

I let go of the breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Holy shit…" I heard Alexander mutter under his breath. I felt Dad's arm relax against me, and heard his sigh of relief.

"Is everyone alright?" Char's digitized baritone came out clearly through the Zeon.

"Yeah, we're all fine." Dad answered for everyone as we both walked over from where we were hiding. Everyone else followed, looking a bit wary of the new arrival. "You arrived when they started shooting.

"That is good." Char made the Zeon nod his head in understanding.

He swept his eye to the fallen bodies around him. He then proceeded to pick one up then another, before dragging all of them into one place while making sure they were all disarmed, depositing the guns over to us for safety.

"Would you happen to have any rope around?" Char asked looking up from his task.

"Oh." Dad said in surprise, before looking over to Kurt who was gathering the cluttered weapons on the ground. The big man raised an eye brow and shrugged.

"There's some over there." Kurt said, pointing over to a rowing boat, resuming his task of picking up the guns. "Jose, go get it and so he can tie these guys up." Jose nodded and went over to the boat.

I took this time to study my test frame.

The bullets didn't punch through in anyway and Char was able to subdue the thugs efficiently.

No visible damages, or hindered mobility and articulation due to previous taxing movement, judging from the way it worked to tie up the gang members once it got the rope.

I'm glad I was awake to see it in action this time, because I gotta say…

I did a damn good job.

"I have already contacted the authorities. They should arrive in a short while." Char said after finished tying up the thugs. "They will want to know what happened here but for my own reasons, I cannot linger." He returned his gaze to us, "If you would…?" He inclined his head imploringly at my father.

Dad realized what he was asking, and that made us look at each other. Char needed an excuse to get out of here before we do, so Kurt and the others won't see him leave with us on the truck. Dad then looked around him at the cagey faces of his coworkers.

"Yeah, I think we'll manage." He nodded after a moment, much to the bewilderment of everyone else but me.

"Seriously, Danny?" Kurt was the one who spoke up, sounding tired. "Don't you wanna leave this place already?" He gave my dad confused look.

"We should be able to handle a few questions, right guys?" His made it clear that his question would only have one answer.

All of them just groaned before nodding reluctantly.

"Then I shall leave these matters to you." Char nodded, before turning around and walking away.

"Wait!" Kurt called out to him. "What do we tell'em when they ask for your name?"

Char stopped, turning his head and his eye back towards us.

Or more specifically, focusing his single eye to me.

For my part, I just gave him a helpless shrug.

Up to him, I guess.

The single lens flared red briefly, before swiveling back around.

"If they should ask, call me…the Red Comet."

+++V+++

I collapsed on the couch of the basement, exhausted.

"Whew."

What a day.

The BBPD arrived about a minute after Char went back to the truck. I figured he contacted them earlier than when he told us.

When the cops took our statements, I made sure to point out how the thugs seemed to keep looking at the abandoned warehouse. It could just be nothing, but I felt like the way those ABB members seemed to go for the kill rather than just warn us off meant that there was something important in that warehouse.

Thankfully they accepted what I said and told us that they'd investigate it and let us all go home without much of a fuss. We couldn't risk them noticing Zeon hidden at the back of our truck, so we let Kurt and the others go on ahead of us.

Now that I was finally home, my mind began to wonder about some things.

Will I ever get used to this?

Becoming a hero meant that the situation we faced today would be a constant thing I'll face every day. Twice now, I was caught unaware by the situation escalating into violence and was only saved by the people around me. Char saved me from the mercenaries yesterday, and now he saved me from those thugs.

Sure, I had a human sized robot that could take out people with a punch and was basically bullet proof, but the Zeon honestly felt like he needed a lot of work before I could actually field him to fight head on and not just be a reactionary defense method. Even with how much ass it kicked today, I still saw the flaw.

Its leg work was lacking, they were heavy and probably couldn't strike at the enemy fast enough. Char only utilized the legs as an option for crossing distances in burst of speed by concentrating power through the joints and prolonged use was more energy consuming than it was worth.

All those proposed solutions Char and I came up with needed to be applied on it first before it can even be truly combat ready. Working on that would require me to wait until Dad supplied me with the materials that I needed for the upgrades. I feel like that would take a few days given what happened today, Alexander and Kurt would no doubt want to take leave for a few days after what happened to us. I don't know how many people my Dad could trust about getting the junk we needed, but I knew those two were always the ones he'd probably go to first.

All I had to work with right now would be stuff I could arm myself with. I could get started on that right now but really…

Thinking about all these things was already exhausting. Usually I felt more enthusiastic about the things I could build but after what's happened these last two days, well.

Dad said before that I needed to take a breather occasionally. Maybe this is what he meant.

Could it be that these last three weeks were finally getting to me? School was still out because of the December holidays but I felt like I never really took a vacation because of…what happened with Mom, then getting my powers.

Maybe I could just relax for tomorrow? It was going to be Sunday anyway, so I could just get away from not doing anything the whole day and just rest.

Feels like I might need to recharge…

Speaking of which…

Char was plugged in the energy socket, getting charged up. Understandably enough, he focused his processors earlier operating the Zeon at maximum capacity, making it speed over to us and fully concentrating on running. He was right about the power expenditure spent on running relative to its efficiency, it cost too much to focus on the very motion of running.

So, it wasn't any wonder why he was charging.

What was curious, was that Haro plugged into the energy socket as well.

Now.

Here's the thing with my AI.

They didn't waste energy.

They computed the exact amount of energy needed to make sure they could optimize their power usage for the task they set out to accomplish.

They don't need to charge themselves unless they absolutely needed to charge themselves.

So, as much of a spoiled little green ball of trouble Haro was, he wouldn't be charging up unless he needed to charge up.

And that made me wonder, because the only thing he's done today was stay by the truck. It stands to reason that he wouldn't need that much energy for today.

But he's charging himself.

Which meant that like Char, he had been doing something that required use of his processors and internal servos.

Something that I am not privy to.

"Say Haro," I started out, slowly. "What do you need to charge for?" I didn't want him to feel like I was questioning him

"Play!" was his immediate and enthusiastic reply.

That made me blink.

"Playing what?"

"Hide and seek!" Haro replied with an energetic flap of his ears.

Eh?

Haven't you been inside the truck for most of the day?

"You're not lying to me, are you?" I raise an authoritative eyebrow at him.

"Lie?" Haro tilted his little body sideward in curiosity.

"Haro, there no one around to play with." I sat up on the couch and looked at him more seriously. "I know Char's been too busy with me, and Emma isn't around because she's with her relatives for the holidays."

"But I am!" Haro defended himself with an indignant bounce. "I'm playing with my friend!"

"Friend?" That just made my eyebrows raise higher. Where could he have possibly made a friend when he was always inside the house? Where else could he possibly make a—

The internet!

"You have an internet friend?" My eyes widened in alarm. "Didn't I tell you to restrict interactions on the internet to an absolute minimum? Like, unless I gave you express permission to!" I stood up in panic.

I told him how much trouble we'd be into if he talked to strangers on the internet!

Especially with the way he talked!

There were some really bad people on the internet!

"Taylor." Char interjected calmly. "I can vouch for the character of his friend. She is not likely to consciously bring us to harm."

That made me stare at the red ball next to Haro. He knew? He knew Haro was in contact with someone and didn't tell me. Why wouldn't he tell me?

Also.

"She?" I asked after a moment, crinkling my nose.

"Yes, she." Char clarified. Haro was friends with a girl?

"Well then, who is she?" I asked them again, crossing my arms.

"She's my friend!" Haro bounced in place, adamant. I gave him an exasperated stare and sat back down.

"I meant, what's her name?"

"Secret!" Haro faux-whispered.

What!

Since when did Haro keep secrets from me!?

"Char?" I turned my attention to my small red bot.

"It's not really my place to tell." Char's voice had an apologetic tone.

Excuse me?

The sheer level of incredulity that I felt left me completely dumbfounded.

Again. What!?

I could probably command them to tell me, but I felt like that would be a really... cruel thing to do. Like I'd treat them like things not their own people.

So instead I just glared at both of them for a second and turned away with a huff, thinking.

Despite how much of a troublemaker he was, he didn't disobey me impulsively. Haro still followed my commands because the programs he was coded with, unless my commands had loopholes that he could take advantage of.

If I should guess, he would keep going around my commands should he ever find my safety compromised and prioritize using his system capabilities in ensuring my protection from any perceived harm. Like that time with the Dragonslayers when he cleared out the communication jamming device they were using and contacted the PRT for immediate back up.

Fine, so my little green ball trouble made a friend this week over the internet. Char said I didn't have to worry about her getting us in trouble.

And for some reason they didn't want to tell me who it was.

That still didn't explain why Haro was using so much of his processors that he was charging his battery as much as Char was. Hide and seek, was it?

How can such a simple game cause so much drain in energy? Surely it didn't take that much power to play around in cyberspace, right?

Haro was childish, but he was still an AI that knew how to manage his power consumption. A game like that couldn't possibly be that high up in his hard-coded list of system priorities, right?

…How would they even play hide and seek over the internet, anyway? An online game of some sort? I'm sure Haro would have already kept beating this girl over and over by now because he's probably learned the ins and outs of that game by the end of his first game. That should really entice her to keep on playing right? Unless she was the competitive sort hated to lose and repeatedly challenged him in futility.

And this friend that Haro made, where would he even meet her? Sure, the internet can be a place where you find all sorts strange people through chat rooms. But if Haro talked in the internet the same way he talked in real life, then shouldn't that be a sign to stay away already. Having a conversation with a child and becoming their friend wouldn't just be weird, it would be creepy.

"Char," I looked at my movement assistant with a serious stare. "Are you sure this girl isn't…you know" I made vague gesture with my arms to convey what I meant.

"Yes." He nodded his round red body assuredly, catching my drift. "You might say, she's quite a positive influence on him."

"Really?" That made my eyebrows raise higher. "You're not jostling me, right?" I'm not one to doubt Char because of he wasn't the type to lie to me about important matters.

"She taught me hide and seek!" Haro piped in cheerfully. "And she's still teaching me how to keep people from peeking in!"

"Peeking in?" I gave him a curious look. "Peeking in on what?"

"Our security systems!" Haro rolled sideward. "Our internal code programming!" He bounced upward. "Our established communication links!" He flapped his ears. "And many more!" He spun in place.

…what?

"No peeking!" He exclaimed after he stopped spinning, and bounced. "No peeking!"

I was sure I was gaping by this point.

Wait just a goddamn minute!

That is not hide and seek!

Those were methods to secure a firewalling program! Someone was teaching Haro how to code a firewall? Someone was teaching my AI how establish an antispyware algorithm? Like an antivirus software?

How the heck would they even teach an AI anything? Haro must have learned everything he needed from this person already, and if he wanted to learn more then there's no way Haro wouldn't have just searched everything he could find from the internet about malicious programs that would try to poke around our systems.

Or it could be that Haro was learning these things so could hide himself from programs that would detect him when he was wandering around places where he shouldn't be. After all, there was a time he was detected nosing around the PRT security systems and basically got quarantined by…

…wait.

Cogs in my head began to turn. My mouth slowly closed.

"Haro," I stood back up, slowly approaching him. "When exactly did meet this friend."

"At 1:43 PM, Sunday, 14th of December 2008." Haro answered me promptly and succinctly.

That was the day of my interview.

I replayed every scene in my head, everything I could remember from my interactions on that day. Remembering Haro's interactions.

Friend, that was what Haro called her. She caught him through one of her antivirus programs and Haro probably took that as a game.

Hide and seek.

Of course. There's only one person in this world that an AI could possibly learn from.

As if reading my thoughts, my phone rang. It buzzed in the place where I left it, shaking the worn-out leather-bound couch.

I watched it ring for few seconds. There were few people who knew my number, and three of them were in my house. I stepped towards the couch and picked it up, and it wasn't Emma's number flashing on the screen. It was a totally unknown number

"I think you should answer that."

Char was the one who spoke, softly encouraging me.

My eyes flashed to him for a second, before turning back to my phone.

I took a deep breath and pressed the answer button. I pressed the phone against my ear.

"Hello?" I said, voice small.

"Taylor?" A familiar voice answered me from the other end. It sounded digitized, but was obviously female.

I knew this voice, because how could I forget?

"Dragon?" I try to keep my tone from sounding too hopeful, despite the glee I felt building up inside me.

"Yes, it's me." The best tinker in the world, Dragon, confirmed. Any excitement I felt was tempered off by the serious but melancholic tone she was using. I could practically hear the sigh in her voice as she continued.

"I think it's time we talk."

+++V+++

Aaaaand cut! There we go, a new chapter. I usually post this by section o so you can check it out there too when you wanna read it immediately. Just a reminder they are posted part by part, so it will feel a bit incomplete. I try to update this on that forum weekly though.

Anyway, a lot happened in this chapter, and we can finally build from the new foundations now that we leave behind dreams of joining the PRT. Dragon is finally back and she has some things to say, and it looks like Haro has been hiding some things from Taylor.

please remember to point out any grammar and spelling errors, and remember that Constructive criticism is always welcome. Until next time!