Taylor Shard Keeper Part 6 (Patreon)

Dave glanced at the PRT agent. "Do you want him?"

Richard pulled his attention away from the young lady that was floating three inches off the ground talking to Dave's partner and glanced at the perp that was in the back of the squad car. "No thanks, he's obviously high as a kite which means we'd probably just send him to the psych ward for evaluation."

"I'll let you know if anything useful turns up," Dave offered.

"Thanks, I'm a bit curious why he thought mugging an obvious cape in front of the PRT building was a good idea," Richard admitted, wondering what the idiot was on.

Dave glanced at his favorite donut and coffee shop across the street. "Or across the street from Sugar and Ink."

Megan glanced at her partner then smiled at the new cape. "Thanks for not doing any permanent damage."

"I'm just glad I had pepper spray and that you got here before I had to hit him," Taylor admitted, making a mental note to thank her mother for insisting that she take it with her.

"Just be careful of using it on capes, some of them tend to flip out and it's almost useless against most brutes or capes with goggles," Richard warned her.

"I'll keep that in mind," Taylor assured them. "Am I free to go or do you need anything else?"

Megan glanced at her partner. "We're good, right?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Dave focused on Richard. "Do you need Mystic for anything?"

"That depends, are you a new hero?" Richard asked.

"Reasonably new," Taylor admitted, trying to pretend that she'd been a cape for longer than a day so they'd be less likely to connect the dots without actually having to lie. "I've been working on my costume and making magic items."

"Magic items?" Megan asked with a raised eyebrow as she studied the masked cape that was wearing a shadowy cape that seemed to eat the light.

Taylor turned to look at the female cop. "I'm not sure what else to call boots that let people walk on air or rings that let people jump an extra couple of feet and land safely from any distance."

"You're like Dauntless?" Dave asked in surprise.

Taylor turned her head to look at the cop. "Sort of, I can hand my trinkets out to other people but I can't stack the effects once I've enchanted them."

"How long do they last?" Richard asked.

Taylor shrugged. "They haven't worn out yet."

"Do you sell magic armor?" Megan asked, only half joking.

"Provided I can get the PRT to sign off on the quality or at least effectiveness, that's the idea," Taylor admitted.

Richard stared at Taylor, wondering how long she'd been active and if she subconsciously recharged her 'trinkets'. "Have you considered joining the Protectorate?"

Taylor shook her head. "I've read the rules for tinkers, I'm not interested in being forced to mass produce gear for next to nothing."

"Can I talk you into heading to headquarters to run some tests?" Richard asked hopefully, knowing that the director would grill him if he let a trump walk away without at least trying to get them to come in.

"That's why I'm here," Taylor admitted.

"In that case, best of luck," Dave offered as he headed for the driver's seat of the patrol car. "If things work out, call the precinct, we'd probably buy some of your defensive gear provided it works and is reasonably priced."

"I'll keep that in mind," Taylor promised, glad that the officers had been pleasant and helpful unlike most of the police she'd seen at Winslow.

"In that case, let me call ahead," Richard said as he grabbed his radio, wanting to make sure no one got trigger happy or did anything stupid that caused her to decide they weren't worth working with.

"You're the expert," Taylor replied as she watched the police leave, trying not to look as nervous as she felt about walking into the PRT headquarters.

Richard swapped to the third channel and pushed the button on his radio. "Robbie, can you tell the geeks that I'm bringing in a potential trump for power testing?"

'Robbie?' Robert mused as he picked up the radio on his desk, knowing 'Robbie' was Richard's code for he was in public and to be careful about what he said. "What type of trump?" he asked after pressing the button.

"She can basically enchant items with a variety of effects and hand them out," Richard explained.

"I'll let the geeks know," Robert replied as he grabbed the phone to let the techs know so they could start calling the people they needed for the standard tests.

"Thanks, swapping channels," Robert said then swapped back to the second channel. "This is Agent Smith, I'm bringing a cape in for power testing."

"Understood," a female voice replied.

"See, no worries," Richard said as he put the radio back on his belt and started walking towards the PRT building.

"Agent Smith? Is that a code word?" Taylor asked warily as she followed the agent.

Richard laughed as he pulled his wallet out of his pants pocket, 'casually' covering his address with his finger and showed Taylor his name. "Nah, my last name is actually Smith."

"Sorry," Taylor offered, feeling a bit silly.

"Don't be," Richard replied as he put his wallet away. "What else can you do if you don't mind my asking?"

"I can see in the dark, see things in the distance like I'm looking through a telescope, heal cuts and paralyze animals for a couple of minutes," Taylor explained.

"You can heal people?" Richard asked in surprise.

"Maybe?" Taylor offered, not wanting to sound like she'd tested a potentially dangerous power on people. "I've healed a couple of cuts on a cat without any trouble. That's one of the reasons I wanted to come in for power testing."

"Probably for the best, healing people is a legal minefield," Richard warned her.

Taylor sighed. "Sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about," Richard assured her. "We'll get everything tested and help you with certifications, we need all of the healers we can get." He opened the door and walked into the lobby, eyes scanning the room. He froze for a second when he saw Armsmaster walking out of the hallway. 'Crap, hopefully he doesn't piss her off because she's not a real tinker.'

Armsmaster glanced between the agent and the new cape that was wearing a cloak that seemed to absorb light and was walking a couple of inches off the ground, making her seem taller than she was. 'Judging by the way she's standing, she's walking on air rather than flying, she's at least Mover 1 if she can walk over hazzards, more if she can actually fly.' He studied her long sleeved blue leather outfit for a couple of seconds then glanced between her purple leather belt pouch and what looked suspiciously like part of a wand sticking out of a holster strapped to her arm. "No visible weapons?"

"Technically, my wand is a weapon," Taylor admitted, wanting to be clear so no one had an excuse to charge her with anything later.

"Focus?" Armsmaster asked, thinking of Myrddin's staff.

"No, enchanted," Taylor replied.

Richard glanced at the two agents working the desk then scanned the room to make sure there weren't any civilians around. "I'll explain in the testing room."

Armsmaster nodded, then turned around and started walking back down the hallway. "Let's start with testing room two, it has a decent amount of space."

"Sounds good," Richard replied as he gestured for Taylor to follow them as he headed for the hallway, hoping everything didn't explode.

Taylor kept silent as they walked through a couple of hallways to a solid metal door with a large 2 painted on the door. She glanced at the green and red lights over the door then followed Armsmaster and Richard into the room that was half the size of Winslow's gym. She glanced at the concrete floor and the mats someone had stacked up against the wall then looked over at the table against the wall next to a middle aged man wearing a white lab coat over his sweatshirt and jeans.

Richard closed the door. "I don't want this to spread as Mystic is an independent hero but she has the ability to imbue items with effects, only unlike Dauntless, other people can use them."

"How long do the effects last?" Armsmaster asked, hoping it was longer than a couple of minutes.

"They're permanent or at least I haven't noticed any of them fading," Taylor assured them.

Armsmaster stared at Taylor for a couple of seconds. "What type of effects are we talking about?" he asked, wondering how her power affected tinkertech.

Taylor jumped five feet up into the air and stood on the air like she was standing on the ground. "My ring lets me jump higher and land safely and my boots let me run about twice as fast as I should be able to and walk on air and water."

"Can you do that with any shoes?" the tech asked excitedly.

"Technically walking on water and air are two different effects and I can only get the third effect because I crafted the boots," Taylor admitted.

"Which means there is a tinker component to your powers," Armsmaster mused, glad that he'd been talking to one of the techs when he'd gotten called about the new cape.

"Just as an example, what would you need to improve my shoes?" the tech asked.

Taylor glanced at the lab tech's sneakers. "You'd have to take them off and hand them to me. I'd also need a minute."

"Do you mind if I check some things with a geiger counter first?" the tech asked, wanting to make sure her gear was safe to use.

Taylor shook her head. "That's why I'm here."

'Even if the boosts only lasts a couple of days, being able to run between buildings would change how we could do patrols," Armsmaster mused, hoping her gear wasn't radioactive or otherwise harmful as it sounded like it could improve his team's combat potential a decent amount.

Richard watched Franklin grab a high tech 'geiger counter' off the desk and walk over to check Mystic. "She also has some degree of ability to heal cats and possibly people, plus the ability to see in the dark to a degree that is beyond human and distances like she's looking through a telescope. We'll also have to test her paralyzing glare to see if it's safe to use on criminals."

"Have you noticed an increase in strength or durability?" Franklin asked as he waved the geiger counter over Taylor, rather pleased with the result.

Taylor shrugged. "I'm a bit stronger than someone my build should be and I'm a lot more durable."

"We'll have to stop by the weight room," Franklin mused as he set the geiger counter on the table and picked up a stopwatch. "Please run to the other side of the room and back as fast as you can."

Taylor turned and sprinted towards the far wall, pushing herself.

"What do you think, Mover 2?" Franklin asked thoughtfully.

"Between the speed and the fact that she can walk on air a two seems reasonable," Armsmaster agreed.

Taylor stopped in front of the tech, causing him to push the button on the stopwatch.

"Do you mind if Agent Smith borrows your ring?" Franklin asked.

"Mine or one of my extras?" Taylor asked as she pulled a mithral ring out of her belt pouch and handed it to the tech.

"Either works," the tech replied as he examined the ring. "This feels lighter than silver, what is it?"

"Mithral? Tinkertech B.S?" Taylor pulled one of the mithral knives she'd forged out of her bag and held it out towards the tech handle first. "I'm not actually sure, I just know it holds an edge and is extremely sharp."

"How sharp?" Armsmaster asked as the tech carefully took the knife.

"I was using it to carve a chunk of carbon steel without screwing up the edge," Taylor admitted.

Armsmaster stared at Taylor for a couple of seconds as he tried to process that sentence. "Do you mind if I run some tests?"

"That's why I'm here," Taylor replied as she pulled a fist sized chunk of mithral out of her belt pouch and set it on the table.

Franklin handed the ring to Richard. "Do you want to be a test subject?"

"For the ring? Sure. For the dagger? Not a chance," Richard replied with amusement as he put the ring on, surprised that it fit perfectly. "Check the time."

Franklin grabbed the stopwatch. "Go."

Taylor watched Richard sprint towards the wall, not surprised that his technique was better even if he wasn't going nearly as fast. "I'm going to have to work on my technique."

"It certainly helps," Armsmaster agreed as he grabbed the geiger counter off the table and ran it over the strange lump of material, wanting to make sure it wasn't radioactive. "Nothing."

"That's a relief," Taylor admitted.

Franklin hit the button on the stopwatch when Richard got back. "How do you feel?"

"Fine, we run all the time," Richard replied, rather impressed by the ring. "It's certainly interesting and I think I might have broken a couple of records."

Franklin laughed as he showed Richard the timer. "You did a lot better than I would have."

Richard grinned when he saw the time. "That's about double my usual time."

"Which lines up with what Mystic said," Armsmaster mused as he grabbed a label off a computer cable and walked back several feet. "What does the bottom line say?"

"No idea, it's in Spanish and I don't want to butcher the pronunciation," Taylor replied. "The last line I can read says, 'Do not chew on the covering."

Armsmaster blinked when he realized she'd read the annoyingly small fine print from six feet away. "Is that natural or one of your trinkets?"

"It's not my trinkets but my vision wasn't this good before I got powers," Taylor admitted.

Armsmaster nodded. "It's not uncommon for capes to have a collection of small powers that goes with their main power."

"It's especially common with trumps," Franklin added as he set the stopwatch on the table, carefully unsheathed the knife and picked up a chunk of cable. He carefully carved into the steel cable, more than a little shocked that he could cut into it like it was a chunk of wood. "That's sharper than I was expecting."

"Are you selling knives or blades?" Armsmaster asked hopefully, rather impressed by the blade being able to carve a steel cable.

Taylor shook her head. "Not currently but I'd be willing to trade if you're willing to do some research."

"What type of research?" Armsmaster asked, biting back his initial response about being far too busy.

"I don't have a degree in material science, you're a tinker and you have connections. I'm curious if turning mithral into an alloy would improve its performance but I don't know where to start," Taylor explained.

"I'd be willing to run some tests and share the results," Armsmaster offered as he picked up the extremely lightweight chunk of metal, looking forward to seeing if he could use it to improve his armor.

Richard jumped eight feet into the air and grinned when he landed softly. "How much are you selling the rings for?"

"I'm not sure," Taylor admitted. "I'll probably make the ones I want to sell out of silver but fifty to one hundred dollars sounds reasonable and affordable."

Richard shook his head. "I think you're underestimating how much people will pay for the ability to land safely or jump an extra five feet in the air. I know at least a dozen agents that would happily give you a hundred for a ring out of their own pocket without even hesitating."

"Same with heroes," Armsmaster added, thinking about how much just her boots and rings would change Endbringer fights if they didn't have to worry as much about unstable footing or falling.

"How much for the boots enchant?" Richard asked.

"No clue," Taylor admitted. "Being able to fly or at least walk up to the second floor of a building has some security concerns. It's one thing selling to the fire department, PRT or heroes, it's another selling to civilians. I'd be more inclined to sell boots that let people walk on water or run fast but I'd want to avoid letting people cheat at races."

"We should probably test to see if you can enchant tinkertech," Armsmaster mused.

"Let's start with regular shoes first," Franklin suggested as he started taking his shoes off.

Richard turned to look at Armsmaster. "Can you send Panacea a text asking if she wants to help test her ability to heal and make sure there aren't any side effects? It would cut the paperwork down to almost nothing and speed things up by weeks."

Armsmaster glanced at the clock on his HUD. "We've got twenty minutes until they turn off the jammers at Arcadia, we might as well grab some of the lab rats and run some initial tests."

Richard grabbed his radio and flipped it to channel 4 then pushed the button. "We need a lab rat in room two."

"Do you do this type of thing often?" Taylor asked Richard.

"Often enough," Richard replied.

"Actual rat or intern we don't like?" a female voice asked over the radio.

"Actual rat," Richard replied with amusement, fairly sure Marsha was joking. "Preferably one that has wounds or cuts already."

"On my way," Marsha replied as she picked up one of the rat cages and headed for the door. "Sorry Charlie, looks like your number is up."

Franklin finished taking off his shoes and handed them to Taylor. "Here."

Taylor smiled at the tech. "Do you want to be able to move faster or just walk on air?"

"Both if you don't mind," Franklin replied with a grin as he pulled a sensor off the table and turned it on, curious if it could detect whatever Mystic's power was doing.

"Please don't interrupt me." Taylor glanced at the strange box that vaguely resembled the geiger counter then focused on the shoes and started enchanting them with air walking and improved movement speed.

Armsmaster glanced at the clock on his HUD, curious how long the process took. 'I need better sensors, I should be able to detect something unless she's just tagging things and her power is doing all of the work," he mused, curious if there was a range limit on her items.

Richard turned his radio down on the off chance that someone tried to reach him then slowly moved over to the door and hit the button for caution, testing in progress. 'At least Armsmaster is being reasonable, now I just have to figure out how to talk the director into being reasonable.'

Taylor finished enchanting the shoes and checked them with her magic detection ability. "And we're done, air walking and fast movement speed."

Richard pushed the button again, causing the light outside to stop flashing red. "Are you feeling drained or anything?"

"No, I'm fine," Taylor replied as she handed the tech's shoes back. She turned to look at the door as it opened and a woman wearing a lab coat walked in with a black rat in a metal cage. She glanced at the obviously injured lab rat that looked to have gotten mauled. "What happened to the rat?"

"One of the interns put him in the wrong cage," Marsha grumbled.

"Just set the cage on the table." Franklin pulled a digital camera out of his pocket and took a couple of pictures of the rat once Marsha set the cage on the table. "That should be good, go for it."

Taylor gestured and used her minor healing spell on the rat, causing all of its wounds to close up and vanish as if they'd never been, if you ignored the places where the rat was obviously missing hair. "That should do it."

"At least we know it's not limited to cats," Armsmaster mused as he turned to look at Marsha. "We're going to need you to run some blood tests and keep an eye on the rat for aberrant behavior for at least a week."

"No problem," Marsha replied as she studied the rat. "Do you need anything else?"

Richard glanced at Armsmaster then focused on Marsha. "I'd appreciate it if you can keep things under wraps until we finish all of the tests and figure out how we're going to keep her from running into trouble with the gangs or if her ability is limited to animals."

"No worries," Marsha agreed as she picked up the cage. "We don't need any of the gangs causing trouble."

"Thanks," Richard replied.

Armsmaster waited until Marsha left then looked at Richard. "Do you have any suggestions on how to keep her from being kidnapped?"

"That depends on her power. Do you get any feedback?" Richard asked Taylor.

Taylor shook her head. "No, I just focus on removing minor poisons or healing and my power does the rest."

Richard nodded. "That's comparable or worse than Othala's regeneration and not something that Kaiser would be willing to go to war over as long as he doesn't find out about the rest of her powers. Lung regenerates and doesn't care about his minions enough to bother going to war with the Protectorate over a healer."

"Which leaves the Merchants and Coil," Armsmaster mused.

"It's a consideration but we can probably mitigate the problem if we assign some agents as guards for the first couple of weeks," Richard suggested.

"That's an option?" Taylor asked in surprise.

"Just because you're independent doesn't mean you can't have a working relationship with the Protectorate or the PRT," Richard pointed out, fairly sure he could spin things to the director as a PR boost and an investment considering her trump abilities.

Taylor sighed in relief, glad that someone was willing to help without trying to give her orders. "I'd appreciate the help, I've been focused on making things so I haven't spent a lot of time figuring out how to be a hero."

Armsmaster smiled. "I can understand the desire to tinker."

Franklin finished tying his laces then took a couple of steps. "How do I get this to work?"

"You just concentrate on standing on a solid surface or walking, it takes a bit of practice," Taylor explained as she took a step backwards and 'floated' above the ground.

Franklin focused and found it surprisingly easy to step on the air though it was a bit disconcerting. "It feels like I'm standing on a stiff mat."

"What's the next step?" Taylor asked.

"I'm curious about your wand," Armsmaster admitted as he pulled his phone out and started working on a text message for Panacea. "What type of energy does it use?"

"My current wand? It shoots lightning or at least a blast of something that looks like horizontal lightning. If you have a target that won't catch fire I'll show you," Taylor offered, hoping they could tell her how dangerous her wand was.

"I'm going to need a couple of minutes to rig up some sensors," Franklin said as he walked over and grabbed the target dummy that was under the table. "How far away do you want it?"

"At least ten feet in case it explodes," Taylor replied as she took a couple of steps away from the group.

"The target or your wand?" Armsmaster asked warily, thinking about Leet's tech.

Taylor shook her head. "The target, I'm not Leet."

"Sorry," Armsmaster replied as he headed for the door. "Let's head to the weight room while Franklin sets up some targets."

"Sure," Taylor agreed as she followed Armsmaster, wanting to have a better idea of how much she could lift, beyond a vague idea. 'At least they're more reasonable than I was expecting, with any luck I'll be back home in time to listen to the agent talk to Mom.'

'At least Shadow Stalker left for L.A.' Richard followed Armsmaster and the new cape, wanting to make sure they didn't run into any problems.