And honestly, Taylor's powers made her particularly well suited for the task. Her stealth capabilities meant that she could track dealers back to supply distributions, and her Magpie's Eye gave her an edge at sussing out valuable merchandise. On top of that, the phones she'd recovered had given her a pretty good insight into the current distribution network, often providing her the next location to hit. They were getting more discreet, over time, but operational security was tricky enough for professional soldiers—the Merchants were a barely coherent collection of drug addicts and drug dealers who were more often than not high on their own supply. In fact, one of the phones that Taylor had grabbed the night before had pointed her at her next target, an abandoned warehouse near the waterfront.
Her continued assaults had netted her three more rewards, although given that she was doing the same thing as she'd already done she wasn't that surprised to find they were mostly considered Bronze difficulty quests. Her rewards were:
Bronze Reward: Shadow Perfume (Item)
A bottle of pitch black cologne that, when applied, erases all scent from the user and muffles their movements to an extent for 1 hour.
The shadow perfume almost felt unnecessary, but she still made sure to apply it before she went out on her excursions—after all, even if she could already muffle most of the sounds she made, she knew that the Merchants had a tinker, no matter how strung out and tacky the woman seemed to be. Masking Quixote's scent seemed like a reasonable precaution to keep a bloodhound-inspired monster truck from following her home.
Bronze Reward: Enhanced Strength (Trait)
Enhances the user's existing strength, increasing the physical force they can exert proportional to their own strength.
The second reward was more than welcome. From what testing she'd been able to do while lifting weights, it seemed as though the Enhanced Strength directly increased her strength by a factor of around 60%. Importantly, that increase seemed to stack with her Strong Legs trait, which meant that her legs could output a force over twice as strong as they would be if she was a normal human. It wasn't Alexandria levels of strength, not by any means, but it meant she could outrun an olympic sprinter while jogging and leap a good 8 feet vertically in the air. Again, not all that impressive compared to someone like Glory Girl, but in a fight it meant she could hit harder, move faster, and dodge easier—all of which gave her an even more substantial edge over her opposition.
Bronze Reward: Crow (Familiar)
A very smart and loyal crow companion with human-like intelligence, she can spy on people and relay the information to her master.
The crow was also something of a godsend, for all that her power seemed to view the summon as 'Mundane', which she'd pieced together was the lowest rank of power. Sure, a crow might not be as directly combat applicable as a tiger, but she was also far less conspicuous and capable of scouting places in advance of Taylor's own approach. After the way she'd orchestrated the downfall of Principal Blackwell, Taylor certainly wasn't going to be underestimating the value of information. Taylor named the crow Antonia, after the niece of Don Quixote, a sensible young woman who saw clearly the madness that had taken her uncle. It wasn't as perfect a connection as Rocinante, but something told Taylor that she'd want to save the name of Sancho Panza for a more valuable summon later. She had only gotten Antonia after her last raid, but she'd already proved her worth.
While she'd been sleeping last night, Taylor had used Antonia to scout out her next target. The crow had come back this morning and reported what she'd discovered, using the connection between Taylor and Antonia to directly convey her experiences into Taylor's mind once Taylor had laid her hands on the crow's feathers. It had taken a while to get the hang of understanding the sights and senses of a bird, but eventually she'd managed to put enough together to see that the warehouse definitely was a Merchant operation, and that they had clearly upped their security with the advent of Taylor's attacks on their hideouts. That was fine—Taylor was only growing stronger, and she was at the point where baseline humans posed little real threat for her. A feral smile started to spread over her face as she considered what she was planning for tonight.
A knock on the door startled Taylor out of her thoughts. "Come in," she said, after a moment.
"Hey, Taylor," her dad said, sticking his head in. "I was thinking of popping out for some lunch at Zaman's, maybe a gyro or a greek salad. How are things going?"
Taylor looked back at the screen, seeing that she'd gotten a 96% on the last quiz for the last section of her math course for the year. "It's going pretty good," she said. "Just the final left, for math, and like I said I'm going to take that tomorrow. I told Lacey I'd be here at 1:30 to help her, though."
Her dad just nodded. "That's fine, it's only 12:15 right now. Plenty of time. Zaman's sounds good?"
"Sounds great, Dad," Taylor said, as she logged out of the computer and initiated the shut down. For the first time in several years, Taylor really felt like things were going up for her, and she couldn't see anything changing that any time soon.
a/n: bit of a slower chapter, but what can you do. I ended up writing this chapter at the same time as the interlude which will act as the next chapter, and I actually completed that one before I wrote this, so that should be coming out pretty soon after this. I know that this might feel like a lot of minor rewards that weren't as narratively earned, but I have two reasons for that. First, we just had three fairly long chapters with a lot of action and plot but only two actual rolled rewards, and even given that I use milestone rewards that still felt bad to me. Secondly, every time I work on this story I do a roll for myself as a treat, and the bronze rewards were really starting to build up. We're ramping up here, though, and getting to some of the bigger fights. After the interlude we're getting to Taylor's first cape fight, so look forward to that.
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♦ Topic: video of new cape
In: Boards ► Locations ► Brockton Bay ► Capes
Throwaway2112 (Original Poster)
Posted On Jan 25th 2011:
Okay so im posting this on a throw away for obvious reasons, but this shit is too wild not to share. Also Im typing this on my phone so forgive any typos or whatever
Anyway remember that video of the glowing red eyes dude with the dancing skeleton that people were saying was probably cgi or whatever? yeah no, shes real. her name's Coyote or something like that, and shes got absolutely no chill. she's been on a warpath going after a bunch of the merchants drug stashes, and the first one she hit had a security camera cause skidmark's a paranoid f****** like that sometimes and doesnt want his people stealing from him.
From what ive heard the dude is fuckin pissed, plus a bunch of the dealers are pissing htemselves and running scared. skidmark sent the video out to like the whole group, and ive got a buddy in the group who showed it to me, but i stg it was too f****** wild not to post here. thats why im using a throwaway tho, cause im not looking to get tossed around by one of his stupid fields.
coyotekickingass.mov
Edit: So im stupid apparently her name is quixote like that knight dude from the mexican book. Like smh how tf am I supposed to know that?
(Showing page 1 of 6)
►BardAndBeards
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
I think I speak for everyone when I say, what the actual fuck. First we got a rage dragon, then a duo of nerds running around trying to turn the world into a video game, and now a knight with singing skeletons? What even is this city?
►Geodated
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
Holy shit that was brutal, did you see how she made those people go flying with a wave of her hand? And the tiger was insane too, who just has a tiger like that?
►Alien8 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
Her name isn't Coyote, dumbass, it's Quixote. The song the skeletons are singing? That's 'I, Don Quixote' from the musical Man of La Mancha. Y'know, from Don Quixote by Miguel Cervantes? The most famous book in the world?
►Coyote-C
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
>Alien8 hey now, don't go dissing on coyotes lol. As a member of the coyote committee, I'll accept her as an honorary coyote even if that's not her actual name.
But seriously, that was kind of kick ass, not gonna lie. Anybody know anything about her, or that skidmark dude? And is that seriously his name? Like, does he know what that means?
►Welliesworth
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
>Coyote-C Skidmark's been around for a while, bouncing between different small gangs. He's got some kind of force manipulation power, I think. Usually stays small time and he's good at getting away, but then he managed to pick up squealer (monster truck tinker) and they've been taking over a lot of the drug dealing in the docks. And I know the names are stupid but I think that's kind of the whole point. Like, nobody wants to risk fighting and losing to fucking skidmark, yknow?
His gang calls themselves the Archer Bridge Merchants (and yeah they're nowhere near archer bridge so don't ask me why) but everyone just calls em the merchants. Rip to OP if Skidmark ever figures out who he is, because from what I've seen the merchants don't fuck around with rats. Source: I live in the Docks so I've seen some shit, although I'm not part of any gangs.
►Lo A Quest
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
What even are Quixote's powers? Summons and projections? Classical elements? Some kind of martial art thinker bullshit? I can't see how it all connects
►S1lv3rst0rm (Wiki Warrior)
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
>Lo A Quest
My money's on either a grab bag or Quixote having a secret partner—maybe we'll hear about a Sancho soon? Quixote herself definitely seems to have some kind of elemental manipulation theme to her powers—her armor looks like it's made of stone, and she was shooting out blasts of air and whirlpools of water left and right. That all makes sense, as much as powers do, but I can't figure out how the tiger and the skeletons fit into it.
Unless, of course, 'Sancho' does exist and has some kind of ranged projection master power, like Crusader from the E88 or Splashpage in New Orleans. Then it would make a lot of sense for 'Sancho' to distract the targets with the skeletons and the tiger while Quixote goes in and f***s stuff up lol.
Other option is that Quixote's a grab bag with both a projection power and an elemental power, but she'd probably have more powers if that was the case. Although I guess she could have a stranger, tinker, or thinker power and we wouldn't have seen it here. Anyway, that's just my two cents.
►buckowbuck
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
I can't get over the singing skeletons. Do you think those are actually human bones, or is it just like a projection? I'm leaning on the latter, because of the way they seemed to just appear, but I wonder if we'll hear about a bunch of graves being robbed lol
►Poiuy92
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
>buckowbuck pretty sure they're projections because of the way they just popped in, with the clothes and instruments and everything. The alternative is that Quixote has been going around exhuming dead bodies, buying them clothes to fit their figures, and also buying a bunch of drums and brass just to teleport them in right then. Which seems like… way too much effort if I'm being honest.
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
(Showing page 2 of 6)
►TwoBrains (Unverified Cape)
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
Damn did you see that force push thing she had? I know it was probably some kind of wind power (you can see how people's hair was fluttering in the breeze) but it really looked like some jedi master stuff at first glance
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
I know a guy in the PRT who said that it's actually just Stormtiger and Crusader doing a false flag operation. Trust me guys, I can't tell you his name because he's not supposed to tell me but it's legit!
►Willow_87
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
>XxVoidCowboyxX Right, and how do you explain the singing? Or the jungle cat? Or the fact that she used water as well? Seriously, if you don't know things just shut up. Speculating's fine but don't act like you know for sure, especially when you're accusing a new cape of being in the Empire. That kind of shit can cause damage.
►MoxieEpoxy (The Guy in the Know)
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
As someone who actually does have some contacts at the PRT, I reached out for a statement. I got told, more or less, 'no comment but let us know if you hear anything.' I'm guessing their either on the backfoot or there's some kind of investigation going on that they need to keep quiet about. I will say that if she was a known villain they likely wouldn't be that shifty though.
►sax-n-violins
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
Did you guys see that part where the whirlpool hit the money and shredded it? Isn't destroying money like that a crime?
►Bigboi69
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
>sax-n-violins i mean so is assault with a parahuman power but that doesn't stop vigilantes from doing that shit all the time. newsflash, capes get away with all kind of shit that normal people wouldn't
►StepOnMeNarwhal
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
I'm honestly more worried about what's going to happen with all those drugs. You think the merchants are just gonna write it off as a loss, or are they gonna try and scrape it up and sell it to people anyways? That kind of contamination could be dangerous.
►Meepmoop83
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
Lmao like the merchants arent gonna be sucking those drugs out of the carpet
►4teenz8ate
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
Always good to see those animals get put in their place
►Willow_87
Replied On Jan 25th 2011:
>4teenz8ate nice dog whistle asshole. Don't act like the empire doesn't spread just as much poison as any of the other gangs
End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
~*~
Hannah was leaning back in the break room chair and fidgeting with her power, currently taking the form of a balisong or butterfly knife. As she waited for Colin to arrive, she flicked the knife through a series of movements that she'd learned as a teenager, back when she'd first seen someone doing knife tricks and had promptly decided it was just about the coolest thing ever. Admittedly, Hannah had a bit of an advantage here—for all that her power summoned a very real knife, a lesser known aspect of her projection was that she couldn't actually use it to harm herself. As far as Manton Limits went, she knew that she'd gotten pretty damn lucky, and she was more than willing to abuse the shit out of it. People often thought that her power made her automatically good at any weapon, but that wasn't true—it gave her an edge, to be sure, and she had the advantage of being able to train for longer than most people due to being a Noctis cape, but she still had to put in the hours to learn all of her arsenal. The fact that she didn't have to worry about accidentally hurting herself just meant she could be a little more reckless while learning than most people.
At this point in her life, Hannah was good enough with the balisong now that, even if she had been able to hurt herself, it was incredibly unlikely that she would. That hadn't been the case when she was first learning, of course, but now it had just become an almost unconscious fidget—albeit one she did her best to keep in check when in public, since Hannah really didn't want to be responsible for a bunch of impressionable kids chopping their fingers off. Still, she'd entered a few balisong spinning competitions in her civilian identity—using a regular balisong, rather than her power construct—and she had the trophies to prove it.
The door opened and Colin stepped in, wearing his 'casual' outfit—which for him just meant a domino mask and a stripped down bodysuit that was only heavily loaded out with tinkertech, as opposed to his full armor which was jammed with as much tinkertech as he could physically fit. And, considering his speciality was miniaturization, that was a fair bit. "Hannah," he said, as he entered.
"Hey, Colin," she said, giving him a tired smile. "Hell of a week, huh?"
"It could have been worse," he said, and she knew him long enough to know that he meant it literally—he'd had plans for dealing with a worse fallout, and was glad they hadn't been needed.
"Any news on Sophia?" she asked. They'd both been busy the past week, and Hannah had been needed both to help the other Wards deal with the situation and to maintain patrol schedules while Ethan and Beth were on vacation. She probably could have looked up what was happening with Sophia, but she'd rather hear about it directly from Colin or the director.
He grimaced, sitting across from her at the table and grabbing one of the donuts she'd brought. "She cleared Master/Stranger screening yesterday, which means we can proceed to arrest." he said, his voice tight. "I pulled the data on both her phones, and Judge Clearway approved a warrant for the emails between Blackwell and Williams. It confirmed what Quixote sent us, and more besides. From Hess' personal phone records, I'm pretty sure that we'll be able to clear up at least three of BBPD's cold cases too."
Hannah couldn't stop the small gasp. "Wait, you mean…" she trailed off, not wanting to actually say it and make it real.
Colin had no such hesitation, though. "I cross-referenced her GPS data, texts that she sent to one Emma Barnes, and the BBPD violent crime database. There were at least twelve matches between her movement and suspected acts of violent crime, and three deaths that according to autopsy happened at a location and time that matched up with her location. They all died from piercing wounds, and examining the autopsy images show clear signs of her phasing signature, although it seems like she went to lengths to disguise them as stab wounds or bullets instead."
"Jesus fucking Christ on a rollerblade," Hannah muttered, because one of the first American things she'd picked up as a young girl was creative swearing. And, much like her balisong tricks, it was a vice she only allowed herself in private. "I'm guessing Sophia's gone, then."
"It's unclear," Colin said, grimacing. His donut finished, the man grabbed some square sheets of paper that he kept in one of the break room's drawers. He took one sheet of paper and sat down across from Hannah, working on folding it into a crane. Origami was one of Colin's own form of fidgeting, she knew, and she didn't begrudge him for it—she was well aware he was still paying her attention, it was just easier for him to do that when his hands were occupied. "I know that Emily is pushing for her to be tried as an adult, but she's getting pushback from higher up. She might get transferred to a containment zone instead."
Hannah grimaced as well, because that meant either the Chief Director or a member of the Triumvirate. She'd been a hero long enough to know how the sausage was made, and how sometimes justice took a back seat to practicalities, but that didn't mean she had to like it. "At least she'll be out of the Bay in any case."
"There is that," Colin acknowledged. He creased the paper, using a fingernail to turn it into a sharp fold with one delicate motion. "What was your impression of Taylor Hebert?"
Hannah startled. "Why do you ask?"
He hesitated for a moment, then said, "I have a suspicion, although not one I can act on."
It didn't take long for her to put the pieces together. "You think she's Quixote," she said.
"It wouldn't surprise me," he said, looking down as he completed a fold that turned part of the paper inside out, forming the body of a new crane. "When I was looking into Blackwell, I discovered that I wasn't the only person investigating her. I ended up having a very interesting conversation with a member of the FBI, specifically the white collar crimes division. Apparently, he'd received an email with evidence that Blackwell was embezzling the money that the PRT was sending to support a Ward, and that email was signed 'Quixote' as well. The woman was arrested yesterday, and unless she's got a very good lawyer she's looking at five years in federal prison at a minimum."
"That's not proof of anything regarding Quixote," Hannah said, although she knew she was playing devil's advocate.
"It's not," he readily agreed. "But I also got a better look at the incident on the 3rd, and it's about as textbook for trigger event material as it gets. Miss Hebert has motive in spades, and if she did trigger then she has means and opportunity as well. And when you put that together with a girl who, by all accounts, had no formal training in fighting or martial arts suddenly being able to fight a trained Ward and former vigilante to a standstill, well. It's not proof, as you said."
She took his meaning, though, and what's more Hannah found she couldn't really disagree. "It's not conclusive."
"You said that Miss Hebert withdrew from Winslow, right? Do you know what she's doing for schooling?"
"Online school, I'd guess.
"I can't say I blame her. I had a… rough time at school, too," Colin said. He was rarely vulnerable, rarely felt safe enough to be vulnerable, but Hannah had known him long enough that he would sometimes feel safe with her. "Not as bad as some of those reports, but it was hard. I would have jumped at the chance to switch to online schooling."
"What do we know about Quixote?" Hannah said, because Colin was starting to look a little uncomfortable. She flicked her balisong through a full twirl, sending it whirling around as it danced down her fingers and then reversing the motion to bring it right back, before doing it all over again.
"Not as much as I'd like," he said. "She seems to have a strong sense of justice, if little respect for privacy laws—I'm fairly certain she gained direct access to either Blackwell's or Williams' computer, and I very much doubt it was done legally. Her series of assaults on Merchant distribution centers and drug labs suggests an escalation typical of new vigilantes."
"And powers?" Hannah asked. "I watched the recording of her attack that was leaked, but I'd like to hear your take on it."
"It's largely speculation," he replied, setting a completed crane to the side to join a small flock of them that he'd already folded, grabbing another sheet of paper to start again. "From first hand accounts and what little video has been recorded of her, we know for certain that she has some kind of classical elemental manipulation, encompassing at least water, wind, and stone. There are some suggestions that she might have a combat thinker or low brute rating, but I haven't been able to conclusively come down on one side or the other. The secondary aspect is the summons—and they do seem to be projections, rather than reanimated corpses or a mastered and stolen tiger—although it's unclear whether those are being directly projected and controlled by Quixote herself, or if she might have an ally with a projection power. Given the dissimilarity of her displayed powers, as well as the strength of both the summons and the elemental abilities, I'm inclined to believe the second option is more likely."
"That tracks with my gut reaction," Hannah said, nodding. "If it is Hebert, and we're right about her trigger, then that makes a grab bag situation less likely, and I can't easily see another connection between summoning and elemental manipulation."
"Exactly. That said, her pattern of escalation is concerning, if unsurprising," Colin said. "So far she hasn't done anything egregiously illegal—she's been surprisingly consistent with using non-lethal force, and even the tiger summon seems to be keeping its claws sheathed for the most part. Quixote seems more focused toward destroying product and funds than taking out her anger on unpowered members of the gangs. Technically, destroying money like that is a federal crime, but I understand her reasoning."
"I imagine the BBPD isn't too happy with her," Hannah said, sending the balisong into a back aerial before catching the bite handle and flipping it into an aerial Chaplin, and then bringing it back shut before repeating the motion all over again.
Colin looked up briefly, giving her a tight smile. "No, I don't think they are. She seems to only call them well after her raid has already taken place, and I know some of the forensic investigators are none too pleased that she's rendered the evidence less than useful. Given that they rarely launch any kinds of raids on suspected Merchant stashes out of fear for parahuman retaliation, however, I don't know how much of a leg they truly have to stand on. There was some concern over contamination after her first attack, but she seems to have found a solution to that problem, likely to do with her elemental powers."
Hannah considered the situation for a while, spinning her balisong into a rising helix and then dropping it back down again. "I'm worried she'll end up biting off more than she can chew," she said, after a moment. "Do we have any way to contact her?"
Colin just shook his head. "Short of speaking directly to Ms. Hebert about our suspicion, no. I even managed to backtrace the anonymous email she sent us, but that signal ended at a local library well after closing. It's possible she works there, but I find it far more likely that she broke in to send the email without giving us any solid bread crumbs. Quixote has demonstrated a degree of computer literacy and competence that makes it hard to find much on her digitally."
"Damn," Hannah said. "Still, it might be worth it to send some more patrols through that part of the city—just in case."
"I take your point," Colin said, as he made the last few folds to the last sheet of paper. Nine other neat origami cranes sat next to him. "I'll bring it up at the next schedule meeting." He carefully picked up the cranes one by one and then dropped them into the trash as he left the break room, likely to go back to whatever tinker project he'd been working on before his algorithms forced him to take a break.
Hannah spent a few more minutes spinning the balisong between her fingers and thinking over the conversation. Taylor Hebert had definitely made an impression on her—the girl had been quietly furious from the moment Hannah had first laid eyes on her, and based on what she'd heard in that meeting and later discovered, she couldn't say that anger was unjustified. It was hard to say whether or not the girl was their new vigilante, but Hannah's gut said she was. There was something quietly broken in the girl, the same thing that was broken in all parahumans, and even if that was far from concrete evidence Hannah felt pretty confident in that conclusion.
Finally, Hannah finished one last trick with her knife before letting her power flicker and reform as a taser on her waist. She stood up with a faint groan as her knees gave a little ache—her body wasn't as young as it had once been, and a life of heroics hadn't exactly helped with that—and then she made her way out of the break room. She was scheduled to do some training with the Wards in half an hour, which meant she needed to get a move on now if she wanted to get there in time. Not for the first time she regretted that the Wards were kept so far from the Protectorate HQ, even if she understood the reason for it. What happened with Sophia still felt like Hannah's own personal failure, and she was doing her best to be more available for the Wards and keep something like that from happening again. Never again, not under her watch. She would make sure there were no more Taylor Heberts staring at her with that quiet betrayal in their eyes.