Taylor, Tinker, Thinker... Spider? Part 2 (Patreon)

"Any luck with Gallant?" Danny Hebert asked as he waited for the light to change.

"Nothing," Taylor admitted as she pulled her attention away from the information her HUD was showing her about Kid Win's power. "Maybe he's sick or homeschooled."

"Or he goes to Winslow, Immaculata or Clarendon," Danny pointed out as he twisted the wheel and turned onto 5th street, heading downtown.

"Seems unlikely considering the various problems Winslow has but I guess the other schools are a possibility," Taylor admitted. "At least I picked up an empathy power and Kid Win's Tinker ability is neat, it's all about building inventions that fit together."

"Knowing what people are feeling about a deal would certainly be an advantage," Danny mused, fairly sure that was a path he didn't want to start walking. "Seems a bit invasive."

"Yeah…" Taylor trailed off as she got another power. "Accelerated skill growth? Do you think that's Victor's power?"

"No, he's a skill thief," Danny replied as he checked the mirrors.

Taylor grinned when she picked up another power and the description appeared on her heads up display. "Power sensing, that should let me interpret parahumans through smell, including identifying powers and their general strength through intensity."

Danny shivered. "That sounds like a good way to get murdered."

"I wasn't going to tell people," Taylor replied as she watched the people walking on the sidewalk, wondering what it would be like to be able to sense everyone's emotions. 'Probably a confusing mess, especially around a bunch of teenagers.'

"Good." Danny took a breath then let it out slowly. "There are obviously more than a couple of independent capes running around that don't want to be found. I think your best bet is to focus on the tinkering side of things."

"Assuming I can actually find trustworthy people," Taylor muttered, thinking about Emma stabbing her in the back.

"Just because Emma went insane, doesn't mean you can't find people you can trust," Danny argued as he turned onto Lincoln, heading towards the market.

"I know, it's just hard," Taylor admitted.

"You could always use your empathy power to check your minion's loyalty, just avoid force choking them when they fail," Danny suggested.

"Funny," Taylor replied dryly.

"I thought so," Danny replied with amusement. "Joking aside, you're going to need a costume, something you can use to meet prospective employees."

"Do you have any suggestions?" Taylor asked.

"Do you think you can pull off power armor with Kid Win's specialty?" Danny asked thoughtfully.

"I'd need to build it in sections," Taylor mused, already getting a couple of possible ideas despite the fact that she hadn't actually used his powers. "If I make everything plug and play, I'd be able to swap out components."

"What are you going to need?" Danny asked thoughtfully.

"Beyond a metal shop and electronics equipment, no idea," Taylor admitted as she picked up a movement related Tinker power. "How far do you think we are from Immaculata?"

"Half a mile, why?" Danny asked.

"I just picked up a movement related Tinker power that might be useful," Taylor replied as she read over the description.

Danny checked his mirror. "Squealer?"

"Probably not, I don't think the power works with vehicles though…" she trailed off as she picked up another two powers. "Prototype Tinker and Technique Mastery." She stared at the description for the Prototype power. "Remind me not to piss Leet off."

"Why is that?" Danny asked.

"Because unless I'm mistaken, he can build damn near anything once," Taylor replied as she looked at Uber's power.

"Does his list reset when you give someone the power again?" Danny asked, wondering how much they could get out of his power.

"No clue," Taylor admitted. "We'll have to run some tests. Worst case, each invention damages my list, best case, I can just keep handing it out and refreshing it. Uber's ability to temporarily acquire skill tricks seems less useful than the quick learning ability."

"Unless you give someone a copy of Uber's power and have them teach people the techniques while they're using the accelerated skill growth power," Danny suggested.

Taylor checked the accelerated skill power that she could hand out. "I don't see anything about losing the skills when you swap the power out so it's probably worth running some tests."

Danny gently pushed on the brake, slowing to a stop when the light changed to red. "Have you picked a Thinker power yet?"

"Not yet, what are you thinking?" Taylor asked.

"I've already taken a day off and you're out of school until things are settled, one way or another, we might as well be productive. If you use the ability that lets you smell powers, we can probably be a bit more efficient than just driving around randomly," Danny suggested.

Taylor moved her hand between the seat and the door where she was sure it was out of sight then conjured a spider with the parahuman sensing power in the palm of her hand. She shivered when the spider crawled over her hand and up her arm then bit her arm. "This would be easier if it wasn't the middle of winter."

"It would certainly be less annoying," Danny agreed as Taylor pushed the switch on the door until the passenger window dropped an inch. "So much for being warm."

"Give me a minute." Taylor mentally pulled up her list of granted powers while she waited for her new power to kick in, glad that grabbing the new power hadn't messed with the power in her Tinker slot, which despite her head’s up display she hadn’t been sure of. She grinned when she started 'seeing' scent trails in the air and over the sidewalk. She inhaled deeply, trying to get used to the confusing mix of 'scents' that she could sense. "At least I can 'see' the scent trails, they look like lines of colored fog floating over the ground."

Danny took his foot off the brake and gently pushed the gas when the light changed. "Do you have a direction?"

Taylor grinned when she caught the 'scent' of a strong Thinker power. "Second star to the right and straight on 'till morning."

Danny glanced at his daughter. "You're horrible at directions, you know that right?"

"They're going straight, I'll let you know when you have to turn," Taylor replied with a grin, catching other 'scents' over the buildings and on different streets. "We have a lot of capes."

"We have a decent amount," Danny agreed.

Taylor blinked when she picked up another Thinker power. "Huh, I just got a precog power that lets the user simulate a split timeline and pick the result they like the best."

Danny hit the horn and tapped his brakes when someone pulled out right in front of him in an expensive car. "Do you think you could build a teleporter?"

"Probably," Taylor replied, thinking about the Movement Tinker power she could hand out. "Sadly, I think people would be a bit suspicious if you started arriving at work without your car."

"Curses, foiled again. How about car mounted laser turrets?" Danny asked, only half serious.

"Overly noticeable and probably illegal," Taylor replied as she picked up another Thinker ability. "Weird, we have a skill copier in the Bay."

"New power?" Danny asked without taking his attention off the idiot in front of him, half expecting them to do something stupid.

Taylor read the description of her new power. "Yeah, it's line of sight and I can permanently copy skills if I use it on a person for twenty seconds."

"That takes care of training your henchmen," Danny said thoughtfully.

"Employees," Taylor replied, fairly sure only villains were supposed to call people henchmen or minions. "Take the next right."

"Sure," Danny replied as he flipped his turn signal on and turned right on the next street, happy that the annoying idiot that kept hitting his brakes at weird times went straight. "Do you think Leet's power could build an anti-gravity belt?"

"Probably," Taylor mused, looking forward to testing his power. "It goes straight for a while."

"Good to know," Danny replied.

Taylor kept an eye on the various 'scent' trails that crisscrossed the city. 'Spacial warping, that's probably Vista. The other one is probably Aegis.' She grinned when she picked up a Thinker power to make connections, intuit data, and basically put things together that would probably come in handy for figuring out if people were trustworthy. "We probably don't need to track the Thinker down, I just picked up their power."

"Do you want to hit the secondhand shop before we grab some lunch?" Danny asked, figuring it would be a decent place to get the start of a costume.

"Might as well. Do you want one of the Tinker abilities?" Taylor asked, unwilling to swap out Panacea's power before she tested everything to make sure she could get it back.

Danny grinned as he thought about flying through the air like the old Iron Man comics. "Let's start with the Movement Tinker and the ability to copy skills."

Taylor banished her power sensing spider back to wherever her power had gotten the material and created two new spiders. "Don't worry, you'll just feel a small pinch."

Danny glanced at the two nickel sized spiders that were skittering towards him. "On second thought, let's wait until we get to the parking lot in case there are side effects or an adverse reaction."

"Good point," Taylor admitted as she mentally stopped her spiders from moving. 'Take a breath and calm down, you don't have to rush things.'

"Have you come up with a cape name yet?" Danny asked.

"Not really, most of the names I came up with are either taken or ridiculous," Taylor admitted, fairly sure calling herself Doctor Crazy, Forge or The Mad Tinker wouldn't work out. "I don't think the people that came up with the random name generator for capes put that much effort into things."

"We've had capes for close to thirty years, a lot of the names are already taken. How about Prometheus?" Danny asked thoughtfully.

"Isn't using a titan's name a bit arrogant?" Taylor asked, fairly sure the name would cause more trouble than it was worth.

"Probably," Danny agreed. "You're also giving out Thinker and Tinker powers which is sort of like giving out fire."

Taylor shook her head. "I'd rather go with Impossible Girl, Spidergirl, or Impossible Tinker."

"How about the Doom Tinker," Danny suggested.

Taylor stared at her father. "Are you trying to get me to become a villain?"

"No, I'm just thinking about some of the names off your mother's list of capes," Danny admitted.

"Tinkerville?" Taylor asked thoughtfully. "It's sort of a play on words for Tinkerbell for her pixie dust and a village of Tinkers."

"Tinkerville, Tinkerville, Tinkerville. It rolls off the tongue well enough," Danny admitted. "We'll have to check to make sure it's not currently in use but it's probably workable."

"Good enough," Taylor agreed as she grabbed her notebook and started making some sketches of costume ideas.

0o0o0

Carol glanced up when Amy walked into her office. "Need something?"

"Hypothetically, is there any legal protection against having your powers copied?" Amy asked, trying to sound like it was just a hypothetical question.

"Hypothetically?" Carol asked with a raised eyebrow. "Hypothetically, your powers aren't protected from being copied by a Trump."

"Are you responsible for anything they do with your powers?" Amy asked, wanting to make sure she didn't have to report Taylor.

"That would depend on what you thought they were going to do with your powers and any agreements you made, why?" Carol asked, getting the feeling that Amy wasn't asking because of idle curiosity.

"Before you start screaming, I checked their heart rate and biology to make sure they weren't trying to trick me," Amy said, not sure how else to start explaining things without her mother coming unglued.

Carol felt her stomach lurch when she realized what Amy was implying. "Did someone copy your power?"

"It was an accident," Amy assured her.

"That sounds like a yes. Is it temporary?" Carol asked, trying to stay calm.

"I don't know," Amy admitted. "I'm pretty sure she can hand out copies of my power that last for a week."

Carol took a breath then let it out slowly, trying to treat everything like a legal matter and not something that involved her daughter. "When did you run into them?"

"Can we skip any question that you could use to track them down or get me in legal trouble?" Amy asked hopefully.

"Hospital?" Carol mused, fairly sure her daughter wouldn't and shouldn't admit to a specific day or time though it was probably recent. "What do they want?"

"Once we figured out what was going on, they wanted a list of nurses and doctors that are trustworthy enough to get my power for a week," Amy admitted, not seeing a point in mentioning the offer of trading upgrades.

Carol blinked, not expecting that answer. "Why?"

"Because they seem to think I need a break!" Amy blurted before she could change her mind, knowing she was close to snapping.

"Do you?" Carol asked, thinking about the holiday rush at the hospitals.

"Probably," Amy admitted. "Except taking a break without someone to help would be more stressful. I'm not sure that makes sense."

Carol took a couple of seconds to really look at Amy, noticing the lack of sleep and signs of stress and her tense muscles. "And you think having someone taking your place would help?"

"Maybe, it would make me feel less guilty that I'm not at the hospital saving people and patching up idiots so the hospital can profit," Amy admitted.

"What type of powers can they hand out?" Carol asked, making a note to talk to her sister about getting the team some time with a shrink.

"Thinker and Tinker or at least that's what they could give themself, one of each, my power counts as a Tinker power to theirs," Amy explained.

"Your power isn't…" Carol trailed off when she realized they might have made a mistake in how they dealt with Amy's power. "Do you get," she paused and changed what she was going to say when she realized that asking her if she got urges probably wouldn't get a straight answer considering the guidelines they'd set over the years, "do you ever want to upgrade someone's organs so they'll work better?"

Amy considered lying then decided that she was already in trouble. "Every time I've cured someone's cancer or fixed something caused by faulty genetics and every time I have to deal with an alcoholic, I want to tweak their liver so they can't get drunk."

"We're going to need to talk to Sarah about getting everyone some time with a shrink that has experience with capes, we might need to get a garden," Carol admitted, wondering what else they'd missed and if seeing a shrink would help the kids.

"A garden?" Amy asked, confused by the topic change.

"The PRT keeps a watchlist and a signed and unfiled kill order on most biotinkers, just waiting for them to go crazy and make another Elisberg, machine army, or gray goo plague. They're a bit more lenient towards capes experimenting with plants as long as they're being careful," Carol explained.

"It's worth a try," Amy said, surprised that her mother wasn't throwing a fit about getting her power copied.

"Back to the other cape, are there any side effects of accepting one of their powers?" Carol asked, thinking of Teacher.

"Not that I noticed or at least not that I noticed on the cape in question, it might be different on other people," Amy admitted.

"Do you have a way to contact them?" Carol asked.

"I gave them my PHO handle and I know their name in case I have to track them down," Amy admitted.

Carol frowned as she thought about their mistake with her father that had almost resulted in Amy's death. "Their real name?"

Amy shifted uncomfortably. "I'm reasonably sure, don't ask."

"I'm not going to ask," Carol assured her. "Can you talk them out of handing out your powers?"

"Probably. I'm not sure if I should or if I should just make sure the people that get the power are trustworthy," Amy said, knowing she needed a break.

"How does she acquire more powers, touch?" Carol asked, fairly sure it wasn't a static list of powers if adding Amy's power was an accident.

Amy shook her head. "I walked through a field before they could warn me because it's invisible and they were freaking out about the field outing them which means they should be able to add powers to their list. I'm not going to go into the process they use except that I can probably duplicate the marker their power uses to target the people her power gives powers to."

"Does that mean you could give Eric or Crystal a copy of your power?" Carol asked, skipping over Vicky because she didn't trust her with Amy's power.

Amy shrugged. "In theory."

"Something to consider,” Carol said thoughtfully. “It’d certainly take a lot of the stress off you, but then so would having a few trusted doctors gaining your ability. This will take some thought.”

“I wouldn't mind picking up the ability to Tinker if I can make sure there aren't any side effects," Amy admitted, not sure how much proof she'd need that Taylor couldn't control people, before her mother would allow her to request a power, “it’d be a safe outlet for any urges I have… and that just sounds wrong.”

Carol tried to keep herself from laughing, but muttered, “Fusion power Rampant Rabbit,” and the two both burst out laughing, the tension they’d felt dissipating for the moment.

0o0o0

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Taylor asked as she followed her father to one of the Union's workshops, not sure if showing an interest in machines considering her future plans was a good thing or a bad thing. 'Nah, they'll probably notice eventually, it's better to have a reasonable cover if I get noticed in a machine shop.'

"You're not the first teenager that got parked with Jim to help clean up some of the equipment and work on a shop project while their parents are taking care of something," Danny assured her, not particularly worried about anyone reporting anything or even thinking that parking a kid with Jim for a couple of hours was strange.

Taylor glanced at some of the Union members wandering around the complex that she vaguely recognized from visits or barbeques. 'At least I already made sure I could swap powers without losing anything permanently.'

Danny stopped in front of the open door to the workshop and knocked on the doorframe to let his friend know he was there, knowing better than to startle the old vet.

Jim looked up from cleaning the custom boat part that he'd just finished milling and smiled when he saw Danny and Taylor. "You're taller than I remember or I'm shrinking."

"A bit of both," Danny replied with a grin.

Taylor smiled at the solidly built white haired man in overalls that was a bit over six feet as she worked on copying his mechanical skills with her skill copying ability. "Nice to see you too."

"What brings you by?" Jim asked.

"Taylor ran into some trouble at school, I was hoping you could show her how to clean some of the machines while I make some calls and take care of some paperwork," Danny explained.

Jim glanced between Danny and Taylor. "Is she in trouble?"

Danny shook his head. "No, a couple of psychopathic girls hit her from behind and stuffed her in a locker."

Jim stared at Danny for a couple of seconds when he realized he wasn't joking. "If you need help moving bodies, let me know."

"I called Castle," Danny replied.

"Poor bastards," Jim muttered then looked at Taylor. "Let's get you a hard hat and some gloves then I'll show you around. I can also show you how to make a disposable silencer."

"Jim," Danny warned him.

"Don't worry, I'll find her some ear muffs," Jim assured Danny, giving Taylor a wink.

'Note to self, copy his combat skills,' Taylor thought as she followed the old vet into the shop, knowing her father had to collect some names and numbers for vetting.