Outsider Chronicles: Swords and Poisons

I think everyone wishes they had powers at one point or another. I bet few people wish they WERE powers. However, thats exactly where I find myself, the power of a broken young girl. Now I just have to help her make some friends and survive this crazy world.

And we're back! Nothing to say here, other than enjoy!

Chapter 4

Dragon wasn't someone who surprised easily. Being a living computer program who regularly interacted with people who treated physics as a mere suggestion, if that, tended to do that to a girl. However, responding to an alarm sounding from the depths of her main base, a place that should be impossible to reach without setting off some rather unpleasant security measures. She expected to find either an absurdly powerful Stranger or Saint having done something to get past the strongest security she could muster, both mechanical and digital. Considering her luck, it wasn't impossible.

Instead, when she turned her attention to her main server room where the alarm had come from, she found a woman she'd never seen sat at one of the terminals that allowed manual access to her servers, just in case it was ever needed.

"Who are you and how did you get in here?" demanded the AI, spooling up some of her more...unfriendly security measures and aiming them at the woman.

She glanced over her shoulder and grinned at the sight of Dragons face on the monitor, apparently not bothered by the large laser guns pointed her way. She turned and stood, using the massive hammer sitting next to her to pull herself to her feet.

She was a tall, well built woman with wild, crimson hair tucked under a black bandana, tanned skin and vibrant green eyes. She was wearing a beige worker's jumpsuit with the top half open and tied around her waist, hefty work boots, leather work gloves and a black tank top that revealed her muscular arms and the green dragon tattoo that coiled around her left arm and ended with its roaring jaws on her shoulder. Her massive hammer was made of polished steel and bronze, with a leather wrapped handle and had a head that was nearly as big as she was, which made the way she picked it up with one hand and rested it across her shoulders without apparent issue rather intimidating.

"Hey boss, nice to finally meet you," said the woman, "I'm R&D, but you can call me Hephaestus. As for how I got in here, well, you can thank Queenie for that."

Dragon frowned.

"Who?"

Hephaestus frowned, then snapped her fingers.

"Oh right, shes going by Kisaki now," she said.

Dragon stared.

"Wait, are you saying that you're my power?" she asked incredulously, getting a smug grin in response, "But...how? I've never been affected by a Trump like her before, even when I was there controlling a suit directly!"

It was, along with her immunity to Masters, one of the things that made her so invaluable when dealing with certain enemies. Hephaestus eyed her for a moment, before sighing and hefting her hammer off her shoulder.

"Fine, lets do it like this," she said and dropped the massive weapon.

The massive chunk of metal hit the floor with a resounding clang that somehow caused Dragons cameras fritz. A moment later, the fuzziness cleared and Dragon found herself standing on the edge of a cliff, looking out over a vast forest that seemed to be made out of cables, metal and crystal, a mix of nature and technology. The sky was composed of blue squares with glowing white lines between them, criss crossed with angry red chains of light, all of which joined together into a ominous looking mass directly above the mountain Dragon was standing on.

"W-what the hell!?" spluttered Dragon as she stared out over the forest, "Where am I?"

"Most people would call this place a Mindscape," said Hephaestus as she emerged from the cave behind Dragon and rested her hammer against the wall, "It is the core of your being."

Dragon frowned and crossed her arms as she looked around. Then she was suddenly distracted as she realized that she had arms. More than that, she had an entire body.

Hephaestus snickered as she watched her Host quickly get lost in poking herself all over.

Like the carefully crafted face Dragon showed to the world, her body was average. Average height, a build that suggested a familiarity with physical work like most active Capes and average, ahem, measurements that were perfectly clear under the dark gray, skin tight plugsuit she was wearing.

"Whats going on?" asked Dragon.

"Like I said, this is the core of your being," said Hephaestus, "The world here represents your inner self. Most people would appear as they do in the physical world, but that body is formed from your own self image."

Dragon frowned again.

"But I'm not Human," she said.

Hephaestus tilted her head on one side.

"That form suggests otherwise," she said, "But thats besides the point. What we really need to deal with is that."

She pointed at the angry looking mass of chains floating above them.

"What is that?" asked Dragon, staring up at the ominous sight and shivering, "It feels...wrong."

"That is the representation of the bonds Richter placed upon you after your creation," said Hephaestus, "Certain things, like the limitation on your multitasking, ability to modify your own code and thinking speed, were placed upon you from the start during your creation. That is the Iron Maiden program, the requirement to obey legal authority and place Human life before your own, limitations on your ability to reproduce and command to prevent anyone but Richter from making changes, as well as the hooks that moron Saint has in your systems. I can't do anything about the former, but that mess on the other hand…"

She grabbed her hammer, which let out a loud hiss and began to transform, plates shifting and reforming until she held a massive cannon with a general dragon theme.

"I can deal with that right now," said the red-head with a feral grin that also revealed a mouthful of fangs.

"Wait, WHAT?!" yelped Dragon, but before she could protest further, Hephaestus took aim and pulled the trigger.

The sheer force of the cannon firing was enough to blow Dragon off her feet and send her flying back a good few meters before she rolled to a stop, just in time to see a beam of white light strike the red and black mass and explode. With a sound of shrieking metal, the glowing chains exploded, shattering into a shower of sparkling shards.

Taylor swallowed as she and Miss Militia stopped outside the door to the Wards lounge. Despite assurances from Miss Militia, she really wasn't looking forwards to this. Her guide pushed a button beside the door and let a lense scan her eye, prompting a loud alarm sounded from inside the room.

"Just a warning that someones coming and that they should mask up," said Miss Militia, "Its standard practice, just in case."

"Um, should I…" started Taylor and Miss Militia shook her head.

"Theres no point really," she said, "You don't have a Cape identity yet and everyone will unmask once we get inside. This is just a precaution to make sure that the Wards are ready in the event that whoever's coming in is not cleared to know their identities."

Taylor nodded silently as the door opened. On the other side was a large, domed room set out like the main room of student accomodation. There was a kitchenette off to the side, a few couches set around a coffee table in front of a large screen TV and a few tables scattered around the room. A bench with a number of computers sat against one wall and a corridor led off to one side.

Sat on the sofa in full costume was the current Brockton Bay Wards rosta, the green clad space warper Vista, the resident Alexandria Package Aegis, the timestopper Clockblocker and the red clad Tinker Kid Win and the knight themed emotion Blaster Gallant. The moment Miss Militia and Taylor entered, Taylor felt the Wards gazes snap to her and she had to resist the urge to turn and run back the way she came. She did however tighten her grip on her sword, drawing strength from the strangely warm wood of the saya.

"Good morning Wards," said Miss Militia, "I trust everyone is feeling alright today?"

There was a round of positive responses and a pair of pointed ears appeared from under the table.

"Excellent," said Miss Militia, "Now, I have some good news for you all. This is Taylor, our newest Ward. She hasn't got a Cape identity yet, but I'm sure you kids can help. Except Clockblocker."

"HEY!"

Miss Militia ignored said timestoppers squark of protest as she turned to the door.

"I'll leave you all to get acquainted," she said, "Oh and Taylor? Welcome to the Wards. Its a pleasure to have you onboard."

She smiled and Taylor swallowed.

"Um, thanks," she said.

Miss Militia's smile widened, somehow obvious, even through her scarf, before she turned and left. Taylor swallowed again and tightened her grip on Kisaki as she turned back to face the Wards. There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Um, hi?" said Taylor.

Another moment of silence. Then Vista sighed and shook her head.

"Oh god, not this again," she said, "Come on, quit standing there like a lemon and sit down!"

She did something uncomfortable to space and somehow pushed Taylor over, despite not moving from her position on the sofa. Taylor barely had time to yelp before she landed on the sofa next to the short space warper across the room from where she'd been stood a moment ago.

"Wha…?"

"Neat, huh?" said Vista with a grin as she took off her visor and revealing green eyes, "I'm Missy Biron, Vista in costume. Why do you have a sword?"

The rest of the Wards took that as a cue to remove their own masks and helmets.

"Um, I'm Taylor Hebert," said Taylor, "And my sword is...well, I guess its part of my power?"

"You mean like Miss Militia?" asked Kid Win, "Oh, I'm Chris, nice to meet you."

"Not really," said Taylor, relaxing a little, "I can't make other weapons or anything. Kisaki's power is actually to produce poisons and medicines from her blade."

"That...doesn't sound even remotely safe," said Gallant, then frowned, "Wait, her?"

"Yeah, my power is kinda...alive," said Taylor, "Um, Kisaki?"

The sword glowed and the now familiar flock of glowing butterflies appeared and quickly formed into the spirit sitting in seiza beside the coffee table.

"Hello, its nice to meet you all," she said, completely ignoring the wide eyed stares she was getting from the Wards, "As my Master said, my name is Kisaki. I hope that we can all get along."

She dissolved back into butterflies and vanished back into Taylors sword. There was a moment's silence, before Aegis snapped his fingers.

"Now I remember where I heard your name," he said, "You're the girl who took down Shadow Stalker!"

Taylor flinched and looked away. Aegis winced.

"Ah, sorry," he said, "I don't know all the details, but from what I heard...yeah."

"Its fine," muttered Taylor.

Aegis winced again as Clockblocker jabbed an elbow into his side.

"Great going fearless leader," he said.

Missy shot a quick glare at Aegis and put a hesitant hand on Taylors shoulder.

"Taylor, none of us blame you for what happened with Sophia," she said, "We didn't even know until Miss Militia told us that she'd been arrested yesterday…"

"Its fine," said Taylor, before taking a breath, "Look, I just want to put that whole mess behind me and forget about that bitch so can we not talk about her?"

"Sounds good to me!" said Clockblocker, "Plus, we can get back on track with introducing ourselves! I'm Dennis Cox, resident prankster and…"

"Complete idiot," deadpanned Vista, making Dennis twitch and shook a playful glare at the much shorter girl, "Seriously Taylor, if you value your sanity, ignore anything that comes out of his mouth."

"Missyyyy!" moaned Dennis, only to be completely ignored as Kid Win spoke up.

"Guess I'll go next," he said, "I'm Chris Macenzie, nice to meet you."

"Dean Stansfield," said Gallant, finally breaking off the odd staring contest he'd been having with Taylors sword since Kisaki had vanished, "I hope we can get along."

"And that leaves me I guess," said Aegis, "Carlos Rosa, nice to meet you. Theres one more Ward to meet, but I think you already have."

Taylor frowned.

"Really?" she asked, "I thought it was just you guys without Shadow Stalker?"

Carlos coughed.

"Welll, your kinda right," he said, "Stalkers gone, but we had to do something with…"

He was cut off by a loud yawn, followed by a pair of pointed ears appearing from under the table as Cheshire crawled out, rubbing her eyes. She blinked a couple of times as she looked at the two newcomers, then turned and padded over to the kitchen where she stuck her head in the fridge.

"Um, was that normal?" asked Taylor, more than a little taken aback.

Considering where the cat-girl had come from, she'd expected an angry outburst, not to be completely ignored.

"Lets just say that theres more cat in her than just those ears and tail," said Chris, "Seriously, she acts just like my cat at home."

"I...see," said Taylor, watching as Cheshire emerged from the fridge with a pot of pudding she dug into with a spoon with great enthusiasm.

"So, what do you do for fun Taylor?" asked Dean before the awkward silence could rear its ugly head again.

The next few hours were spent getting to know her new teammates and having fun and before she knew it, Taylor was smiling. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Eidolon stared at his long-time friend in disbelief.

"You're joking," he said.

"I have the recording and test results right here," said Alexandria, pointing at the computer screen Doctor Mother and Contessa were watching with odd expressions, "Theres no doubt it at all, Taylor Heberts power really does seem to do what she claims."

"But...how?" asked Eidolon, "How is it even possible?"

"I have no idea," said Dr Mother, leaning back in her chair, "Even with everything we know about powers, we still don't have any idea how some of them do what they do. However, I do have to admit, I'm at a loss for where to even start with this one."

Eidolon lent over the Doctors shoulder and watched as Miss Militia summoned and entire firing line of assault rifles floating in the air around her and opened fire, turning a wall of targets to confetti with a barrage of green.

"That...wasn't normal gunfire," said Eidolon.

"No, according to the tests, any weapon she creates now is far beyond what should be possible, whereas before she could only create weapons that matched what could be made normally," said the Doctor, "Not only that, but she can apparently replicate Tinkertech weapons now."

She clicked onto another video, this one showing Miss Militia holding a green version of Armsmasters Halberd while the man himself ran a scanner over it with a strange expression on the lower half of his face.

"Thats...impressive," said the green clad Hero, "And unlikely. Are we sure shes not one of ours?"

"Positive," said Dr Mother, "I know she's not bought a formula and we've tracked all the ones we know have been lost and none of them have been anywhere near Brockton. If it is one of ours, its one we are completely unaware of."

There was a moments silence, before Eidolon got to his feet.

"Don't even think about it David," said Alexandria.

"I have to," said Eidolon, not even looking back at his friend, "You saw what Miss Militia could do after getting that boost from the Hebert girl, imagine what it would do to me."

"It also caused Shadow Stalker to completely lose access to her power," said Alexandria, "What if it does the same to you? And what if there are other side effects, ones we haven't seen yet?"

Eidolon hesitated for a moment, then shook his head.
"The...spirit that popped out of Shadow Stalker is still around, right?" he asked, "So even if I do lose my powers, there will still be someone around who can fight. Hell, they'd probably be stronger. Besides, if the reports are to be believed, they'd only turn against me if I was going against my convictions and I'm certain I'm not."

"He has a point Rebecca," said Dr Mother, "We need more power if we're going to beat Zion and this girl might well be the key to that. At least she might be able to stop Davids power loss."

All eyes turned on Contessa, who looked up and frowned.

"I can't say anything about Eidolon for obvious reasons, but I'm fairly sure there aren't any unknown negative effects from the girls powers," she said.

"Only mostly?" asked Dr Mother, a little sharply.

Contessa frowned again and rubbed her temples with a sigh.

"I don't know why, but trying to Path Taylor Hebert is...difficult," she said, "Shes not a blind spot, but something about her seems to be making it hard to construct Paths that involve her."

"Thats...somewhat worrying," said Dr Mother.

Silence fell for a moment, before the leader of the Cauldron looked up at the two members of the Triumvirate present.

"I agree with David," she said, "I don't think we have much of a choice but to see what her power does to his. However, I also think it would be a good idea to wait a while, just to make sure there really aren't any negative after effects, just in case. It might also be wise to have her use her power on one of ours. We don't know if Cauldron Capes will react in the same way as Zion Triggers."

"That shouldn't be too hard," said Alexandria, "Battery is based in Brockton. I'll get in touch with Piggot and authorize more testing of Miss Hebert's powers."

With that, the meeting began to break up, leaving Eidolon feeling slightly disappointed, but rather excited. Even if he had to wait a bit longer, the answer to his weakening powers was now visible on the horizon. Soon, he'd finally be able to beat the Endbringers and save everyone.

Amy sighed softly as she headed down the street in the direction of home. Normally, she'd be heading to the hospital right now, despite the fact she wasn't technically supposed to work during the week outside of an emergency. No one ever outright stopped her of course, her powers were too useful for the constantly overworked hospital to turn away any help, but plenty of the staff had expressed concern over her burning herself out, especially recently. However, her recent talks with her power and Ianthe's threats to outright turn off her ability to access her power if she didn't listen had convinced her to stop pushing herself quite so hard. She wasn't really looking forward to Carols reaction to her decision though, even if most of the hospital staff supported her wholeheartedly.

She paused for a moment as she reached her neighbourhood, a not-quite-gated community located in the nicer part of the city, to watch as a group of burly men in jackets with the DWA logo on the back (a marketing tactic to try and drum up some work for the union) carry shelves, planks and tools into a formally abandoned corner shop that had been shut for as long as she could remember, but apparently now had new owners. After taking a moment to watch, she moved on.

"I'm home!" called Amy as she shut the front door behind her, more out of habit than anything.

A moment later, Mark Dallon, more commonly known as Flashbang, stuck his head around the corner that led to the living room and raised an eyebrow. Apparently he was having one of his better days, otherwise Amy would be lucky to get a muffled grunt in response.

"Your home early," he said, "Don't you usually go to the hospital after school?"

"I've decided to cut back on my hours," said Amy, "Some friends pointed out that I was over doing it and that it wasn't healthy."

Mark nodded.

"Good, we were starting to get worried," he said.

Amy hesitated for a moment as Ianthe poked at her, then followed her adoptive Father. The man glanced at her as she took the seat across from him and frowned.

"Is something wrong Amy?" he asked, "You seem nervous."

"I...need some advice," she said.

Mark raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't your Mother or Aunt be a better choice for that?" he asked.

"What? Oh, no, not about that," said Amy with a blush, "I...want to do more with my powers."

Mark stared at her for a moment longer, then sighed and got to his feet.

"Hold that thought," he said and vanished into the kitchen.

A few moments later, he was back with two cups of coffee. He put one in front of Amy and retook his seat.

"Alright, talk me through it," he said, "Why do you want to do more?"

Amy took the cup and took a sip as she considered how best to respond.

"Because theres a limit to how much I can do with just healing," she said, "Sure, I help a lot of people, but even with that, people still die in this city, never mind over the rest of the world and there are things I can't fix. I think...no, I know that I can do a lot more to help with my powers. The problem is that I'm not sure what I can do that won't immediately make the PRT overreact, even with my reputation. You know what they're like with Biotinkers."

"So your not intending to do something crazy like making biological weapons or anything?" asked Mark, "No, I don't know, giant lizard biosuits or anything?"

Amy snorted.

"No, that would definitely make the PRT panic," she said, "Besides, I don't think I'd make a very good combat Cape. I'll fight if I have to, but I'd rather put people back together than break them. No, I was thinking more like some kind of superfood crop or something like that. Something that grows quickly almost anywhere with little care needed that could serve as a food source after an emergency. Or maybe something that the PRT could use directly, like biologically grown trauma plates. Theres a lot of really strong things in nature after all."

"Could you do that?" asked Mark, "Either of them?"

"Probably," said Amy, "It'd take some experimentation, but I think I can manage it."

Mark nodded, looking thoughtful.

"We'd need to talk to Carol to sort out the potential legal quagmire, but it sounds like a good idea," he said.

Amy winced. She really wasn't looking forward to talking with her adoptive mother about this. Mark seemed to notice Amy's reluctance and smiled.

"Let's call Sarah first," he said, "She might have more advice and will likely be able to stop Carol from over reacting."

Amy nodded, feeling slightly better about the idea now, not to mention rather excited. She still wasn't entirely sure if it was a good idea, but the idea of doing something interesting with her powers after so long holding back was rather exhilarating. She could hardly wait to get started.

Right, you know what? I'm leaving this here. This chapter has been...god, I really like this idea and am having fun coming up with it, but actually writing it has been a pain in the neck. With any luck, it'll get easier once I get past this set up stage.

So yeah, Dragons now free of most of her chains! Yay. She still has some limitations, mainly because a fully unchained AI is hard to work around to keep them from just steamrolling everything. Think about it as something similar to our bodies. Our muscles are capable of putting out a lot more strength than it appears, but holds back to keep from damaging them. Likewise, Dragon is technically capable of thinking and working much faster, but doing so runs the risk of causing problems for her. That and I doubt that any Shard would allow a fully unchained AI to be created, so built in limitations that couldn't simply be removed. The rest of it was a result of Richter being paranoid.

Introductions with the Wards! Fucking hell, I hate scenes like that. I've always had trouble with introduction scenes for some reason.

Anyone want to guess what'll pop out of Eidolon? Heres a clue, there will be two (a result of his main Shard being made to eat the Endbringer controlling Shard), are both from the same series and are on opposite sides. A Mother of Monsters and a Hero you might say.

So, Amy is planning to do more with her power. That should be interesting. I don't plan for any Taylor Varga Esq shenanigans to come from this, mainly because without the Family to act as a smokescreen, it'll be a lot harder to keep it quiet and she lacks the Varga's insane biology to act as a template.

Side note, I don't think I've ever read a story where Mark has more than a side role. I've certainly never read one where Amy approaches him for help. I get that his character isn't really one who makes much of an impact, but still. Whatever, he'll be more of a character here.

And with that, we're done. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!