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After a few days of hard work, Taylor Hebert had managed to create a piece of Tinkertech.
Unlike most Tinkers... she did not need rare materials to work with, just a couple of pounds of pewter. Indeed, Taylor had managed to get everything she needed from an old antique store, although finding the hammers and chisels she needed afterwards had been a bit more complex.
The results of her hard labour was a hand bell.
Said bell was, of course, made of pewter... there was no sudden transmutation to some wondrous high-tech material, unfortunately. The lip of it was not circular, but instead formed an octagon, and on its long waist was etched and inscribed writing. By the looks of it, prayers or some ancient invocation for assistance and help from beyond, appealing to 'ancient spirits rendered unto ash'. The handle was long, and all in all, the bell could fit in her hand with ease, and even if a little heavy, it was not exactly difficult to lift.
The depressing thing was, now she had made it... Taylor had no idea what else she could make
Maybe it was only this bell?
She hoped it did something cool, because as it was, it was a little disappointing that for all her trauma, all she had from it was this bell.
She gave it a ring, and something miraculous happened.
There was a burst of white mist or flame, and something appeared... a giant jellyfish---
Used to summon a Spirit Jellyfish
A floating spirit that illuminates its surroundings.
Prone to tears, the jellyfish girl searches for her distant home. Will bravely spew poison at foes on her summoner's behalf.It seems her name is Aurelia.
The information came into mind automatically, as if it was second nature, and Taylor stared for a few seconds at the four and a half foot tall, luminous cnidarian floating in her bedroom.
The jellyfish had a name... and could cry.
Did jellyfish even have tear ducts?
She had so many questions right now.
'Aurelia' gently bobbed in the air, floating closer. A long tentacle moved out as if in greeting, and warily Taylor watched. Jellyfish were safe to touch on the top, right? It was only the tentacles that were dangerous... and if her bell had summoned this seemingly friendly jellyfish, then it had to be on her side, right?
Slowly, carefully, she reached out and poked the large bell of the jellyfish.
It was soft and squishy.
Very squishy.
A small sound filled the air, which she could only interpret as contentment.
“... Aurelia?”
Said jellyfish bobbed in the air, giving a little spin as if in greeting.
Great. She could summon a ghostly, crybaby jellyfish with a sad past.
This was... certainly a power.
Summoning ghostly sea-life... it just about summed her life up at this point. Frankly, she was disappointed. She couldn't even be a rogue and find a way to make money out of this, or be a hero or anything cool at all.
“Well... maybe I'll find something useful out of this...”
It was difficult to keep a bit of bitterness out of her voice.
After a few seconds, ghostly droplets began to fall from Aurelia as the bell on the jellyfishes head narrowed, and it slowly sank in the air until its tentacles touched the floor.
It took a moment for Taylor to realise, perhaps with some degree of guilt, that the jellyfish was crying, clearly having understood her lack of enthusiasm.
“Sorry, I didn't mean it... don't worry I'm not abandoning you,” she gave Aurelia another pat, rubbing a particular spot of the squishy creatures head. After so long on her own, she really was not good at this. “It's just that things have been a bit rough, and I wasn't sure what to expect. “
Aurelia gave her a little bump.
Okay, maybe the jellyfish was kind of cute.
Like a big squishy, levitating, venomous puppy.
Okay, nothing like a puppy at all, but the idea was there!
In the grand scheme of things, Aurelia did not allow Taylor to become a superhero.
The idea of weaponising her summoned jellyfish who was searching for her lost home just felt wrong on some level... if Taylor's bell had summoned a psychopathic giant spider who lusted for the blood of drug dealers or Nazis, then maybe she would have considered it.
Aurelia did have a few uses at least.
Like providing a very pleasant, soft glow whenever Taylor was on her bed reading.
Or acting as a big squishy pillow.
It was rather nice to come back from a nasty day at school, constantly looking over her shoulder, to find Aurelia waiting there excited to see her again... she would count her blessings.
In Brockton Bay, one's chance of accidentally running into a cape fight is never zero.
Perhaps it was a curse, or perhaps it was just a freak even, but Taylor successfully made her way through the day and into earshot of just one such Cape fight, a skirmish between the local Protectorate and members of the Empire. Crusader, up against Armsmaster and Miss Militia, the ghostly apparitions of the former versus the teamwork and tinkertech of the latter.
Taylor was making every effort to be precisely wherever the superhuman skirmish wasn't... aka, deploying that most potent weapon of all, common sense. Accidental civilian casualties from Cape fights were no joke, and like hell was she getting into the middle of that!
She may be a Parahuman and probably had some sort of civic duty to help... and sure, she had her bell on her, but like hell was she sending Aurelia in there!
If only she could summon something else, something more useful for right now. She had plenty of distance from the fight, she could just turn and run, but she wanted to help, she couldn't just be the world's most useless summoner (due to her own refusal to hurt Aurelia) alright!
Wait---
Information came to mind, a new summon, or perhaps, one that had always been there, but she had just been unaware of it beforehand;
Use to summon the spirit of an Ancestral Follower.
A spirit of the horned folk who eschew letters and metalworking.
Brawny, and versed in distinctive spiritual arts, this particular tribesman wields a heavy bow.
... Well...
It was something different, and didn't have a tragic backstory like Aurelia. She had rather wondered whether she could summon other things, and it was gratifying to know it was the case. Curiosity overtook her, she paused and ducked into an alleyway, a block or two away from the battle and nervously took out her bell.
Nobody was watching her, at least, nobody was looking her way, right?
There wasn't much harm in trying it... Well, no harm so long as she immediately got somewhere safe afterwards.
She gave the bell a ring... and then had to look up at the figure she had summoned. The giant, horned man was built like a brick shit-house, clothed in furs and skins... and carrying a bow longer than she was tall. Welp, maybe those arrows would distract and take the heat off the heroes a bit?
“Shoot the guy with the spear!” she said, turned to run, then paused. “Not the blue guy, the other one!”
She ducked off to the side, she could pretend to just be a civilian who had hid from the fighting going on.
The 'Ancestral Follower' dutifully ran out into the street beyond the alleyway, raised its bow and took aim, placing a glowing arrow in place.
She rather doubted that the spirit would be able to do that much, it was up against Parahumans after all, but from a hidden corner she watched as for a moment or two, some manner of blue light gathered around the arrow before---
It was less an arrow then a damn rail gun.
One moment the spirit was taking aim, the next, the arrow was gone, leaving a trail in its wake, the missile adjusting in the air with a faint turn to strike true. Being sized for the giant humanoid, said arrow was more akin to a ballista bolt that impaled Crusader's side all the way through and threw him off his feet. Had he been close enough to a soft wall, then he might have been pinned to it like in a movie.
Taylor only realised that her jaw had fallen open after a few moments, closing it with a snap even as her summon promptly drew another arrow and took aim. Shouts of surprise and panic went up, no doubt the heroes were searching for the source of the giant arrow that had come out of nowhere.
She...
Okay, she had not been expecting that, and in her gut she felt a faint, rising panic as the Ancestral Follower promptly took aim again.
She more mean't to distract the man!
Then again... what had she been expecting a giant archer to do if not shoot at a given target?
Maybe this hadn't been the best choice she had ever made.
No denying its effectiveness, though. In many ways, she should pat herself on the back after all, with her summon and one arrow she had defeated a villain, and a Nazi villain at that! But on the downside---
She hurried along as quickly as she could without looking too suspicious, putting up her hood and trying not to look too out of place. She used a back alley to make it to the other side of the block, hoping against hope that there were no CCTV cameras present that could be used to backtrace her movements.
Once she had moved a good distance away, she felt her summon fade away, dismissed.
Quite how she knew, she had no idea, only that she had an utter certainty that it had happened.
Good to know.
She made it home, safe and sound, without the police chasing her, which was a plus.
The official news report that night had a drawn-from-description image of her Ancestral Follower. It was... a little inaccurate.
“Well, even if they look like Satan, at least they targeted the Nazi,” her father murmured, brow furrowing. The image looked more appropriate for something out of a movie, playing up her summons muscles and giving it an almost square, Clark Kent jawline and horns large enough to probably dry a small families weekly washing on.
“Yeah... that's good.”
Well... at least it seemed that she could be some sort of hero?
She just needed to find out what other summons she could make use of...
“I don't know Aurelia... I am not sure that I can really be a hero, I know I have you, and you're great...”
The Jellyfish gave her a boop, squishing against her head like an overly affectionate puppy. Reaching up, she patted the homeless jellyfish.
“But my only other summon is the Ancestral Follower, and people might escalate the moment I begin summoning him everywhere, I heard that Crusader barely got to medical attention in time...” Some enterprising reporter had gotten an image of Crusader on a stretcher, gigantic arrow sticking out his side and all.
“Just gotta hope I can find something a bit less... um... escalatory? Is that the right word?”
Another boop, and Taylor gave a small chuckle.
Oni Lee had a problem.
Well, many problems really from a broad perspective, but in terms of the immediate, the problem came in the form of a spear that kept trying to stab him.
Now, for those who understood his power, the solution was simple.
Teleport away, allow the headless, spear wielding apparition to destroy his clone, and then shoot his opponent with a gun or blow it up with a grenade. Unfortunately, he had a problem actually doing so.
Teleporting behind the armoured ghost, he raised his gun as the spearman destroyed the ashen after image he had left behind---
Only for it to fade away instantly from where it was, and the bullet to instead impact the wall opposite.
Oni Lee teleported again, making distance even as a second or two later the headless spearman impaled the clone he had left behind.
Truly, a battle between two Movers (and teleporters specifically) was an absolute mess to watch.
His opponent was by no means smart, but it was canny enough to know that if it killed one of his clones, it needed to teleport away immediately before he could react. And more than that, it was getting faster and more used to the tactic.
When he used a grenade earlier, it had endured the blast with the giant shield it was holding without concern.
This little engagement had only been going on for a minute or so but in that time both of them had teleported dozens of times, the battlefield was constantly shifting and moving as both sought the superior position to ambush the other, only for the next movement to invalidate any progress made.
And thus this high intensity battle between them continued as, in the distance, police sirens sounded.
Meanwhile, Taylor Hebert, the master of the spear wielding warrior, was crouched nearby doing her best to hide from the chaos happening.
The depressing side effect of her power was that, whilst she could summon things... it did nothing to actually protect her.
The best she could do was perform the summoning and then sit her ass somewhere safe, secure and hidden away from the conflict at hand. Was it cowardly to fight crime this way? Probably, but then again, it was also pretty cowardly to lean so heavily on one's powers to punch downwards at normal people, so it all balanced out, right?
Yeah, let's go with that.
As she did so, and whilst gunshots, explosions and other sounds of battle occurred around her, she focused on the exact summon she had called upon.
Use to summon the spirit of Lhutel the Headless.
Spirit of a headless knight who leads the mausoleum soldiers.
Wields a lance enrobed in Death and hurls spectral lances at foes.Lhutel sacrificed her life so that in Death she could continue to protect a soulless demigod until their revival, earning her the hero's honour of Erdtree Burial.
Taylor had to wonder what the backstory behind her various summons was... the knowledge that came to mind whenever she found a new one she could call upon always implied a lot. Be it Aurelia and her sad backstory, or this one and a number of concerning words... like 'demigod.'
It was probably just her power being dramatic, right?
Right?
Well, either way, when she heard about what was going on, she had been sceptical that she could help much. Calling up a giant man with a rail gun bow had been useful against an unaware opponent in the form of Crusader (still in intensive care, apparently) but Oni Lee was a different kettle of fish, right? But still, her power had come up with a solution.
A headless knight with a big-ass shield, a spear, and the power of teleportation.
Taylor really should have more faith in her power.
She just wished that she could predict what it would summon a bit better each time!
Oni Lee got away in the end.
Really, what were you supposed to do against a teleporter like him? Find some sort of Cape who could 'lock down' an area? Hope for a good stray bullet to kill them before they could escape? It seemed like a right hassle, but then again... wasn't that probably the case with plenty of Capes?
Lhutel had remained just long enough for the Protectorate to arrive and begin demanding answers from the visibly headless knight.
Getting up from her sheltered, if rather cramped hiding spot in the alleyway, Taylor began making her way home.
If nothing else, this time there was no critical injury caused by her summon!
Okay, so Jellyfish, demonic sniper and teleporting headless ghost.
She really was not seeing a theme here, but if nothing else, there was some variety!
Maybe being a hero wasn't completely out of the question...
“How do I look, Aurelia?”
Unintelligible jellyfish sounds ensued, and Taylor nodded.
She couldn't actually understand Aurelia, but what mattered was that she evidently approved. It was sad that her main moral support consisted of the spirit of a dead, lost jellyfish girl, but she would take what she could get at this point.
Her costume was a hodgepodge, she didn't really have much to work with in terms of materials and to be honest, being easily forgotten or looking like a bystander was probably the way to go with this, right?
Fade into the background, let the summon do its work, and most importantly, stay alive.
It had been quite a few unsuccessful nights out, her debut was not as exciting as she had imagined.
Unsuccessful, in that she had only achieved a small amount. Dramatic and flashy Cape battles wern't exactly something common, or at least, it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack half the time... Taylor had just been quite lucky thus far with running into such things.
So for the last few attempts to go out and be a hero, at best all she had managed to do was stop a mugging by sending Lhutel to chase away the perpetrator.
She had to imagine that being chased by a suddenly appearing, teleporting headless knight would be rather frightening.
All that changed when she was (un)lucky enough to chance into a fight between the Protectorate and the Empire... again.
Specifically, it was Dauntless and Miss Militia fighting with Hookwolf.
Taylor had no idea quite how such a situation came to pass, to be honest, did heroes and villains just happen to congregate together at times to have a throw down?
Either way, she was not so sure how useful her Ancestral Follower or Lhutel would be against a giant mass of ambulatory blades.
Fortunately, her power came to the rescue.
Hiding away as usual, Taylor took a moment to consider the new summon that had been provided.
Use to summon the spirit of Black Knife Tiche.
Tiche was one of the assassins who, on the night of the plot, imbued her black knife with the Rune of Death and slew Godwyn the Golden.
She was the daughter of the Black Knife Ringleader, Alecto, and was killed protecting her mother during their flight from the royal capital.
With nothing to lose, she quietly rang the bell.
'Tiche' was a very... very tall woman, about four metres or so.
Why were so many of her summons god-damn giants! Well, it attracted attention away from her, at least, within a moment the woman was leaping into action, sprinting with not inconsiderable speed in the direction of Hookwolf.
Taylor could only watch with a sort of morbid curiosity from her position of (relative) safety, wondering just what this newest summon was going to do. The description did not imply much beyond the whole 'Rune of Death' business.
But the last time she underestimated one of her summons, it put a ballista bolt through a man from a block away.
Drawing her hand up, Tiche then made a motion as if throwing something, and a reddish blob shot forward, leaving a trail in the air and struck Hookwolf---
The screaming was horrible.
It was like dragged out metal being dragged against itself, Hookwolf reared back and absolutely howled with agony as his body burst into horrible red flames.
Taylor was pretty sure that the Breakers alternate form was supposed to make him immune to things like pain, like, if you turned into metal than, how could you feel it? But evidently such was not the case from the horrible, tortured sounds that were coming from the giant mass of blades and hooks across the street.
The attending heroes had actually paused, backing away to observe the spectral newcomer, even as she promptly launched another blob of the red... flame? Mist? Whatever it was, at Hookwolf, only worsening it all. The flames were burning and eating away at the mass of metal far faster than it was being replaced, it was as if the man's fearsome Brute rating meant nothing whatsoever to the hungry flames.
The screeching was going to haunt Taylor until her dying day, and she could only watch with mild horror as Tiche continued the barrage.
And so, with the chorus of agony in the background, things came to an end soon enough. On the Protectorate side, Dauntless and Miss Militia had their weapons trained on Tiche but were keeping their distance, which was probably a wise move.
The summon in question stood there for a moment, watching the smouldering pile of warped slag that had once been one of the most fearsome members of the Empire 88 in Brockton Bay, and then glanced towards the pair.
They both tensed up.
Silence for a moment more, and then---
“Are you in cooperation with the person who shot Crusader, and who fought Oni Lee?” Miss Militia called out, a first attempt at diplomacy.
But of course, Tiche could not respond... and then the summon looked over at Taylor's position, giving her position away rather spectacularly, both heroes at once glanced over in her direction.
It would not be hard for them to chase her down if she tried to run.
Taylor swallowed thickly.
Her summon had killed somebody, but it was Hookwolf, which made it alright, right? Okay, she could salvage this, she needed to.
Taylor rang her bell, and Tiche disappeared in a cloud of pale fog.
The pair of heroes focused on her as she emerged, somewhat struggling to get past a bin that had been partially blocking the entrance of the alleyway.
“Hey there, um, sorry for that, it looked like you needed help?”
It was most certainly not the best introduction she could have managed, judging by the way Miss Militia's gun was shifting between forms.
“Are you the person responsible for the 'ghosts'?” it was Dauntless who asked, Arclance visibly cracking in his hand.
“Yeah, listen, I didn't know she would kill him! I thought Tiche would just... distract a bit, sorry. I'm, uh, Spirit Caller, I'm still learning how my power works. I'm trying---I'm a hero!”
There were glances between the two heroes as, in the background, the ball of slag and warped metal that was formerly Hookwolf continued to gently smoulder.
“Well then, Spirit Summoner, would you mind coming with us to Headquarters to try and get things sorted out? We have a few questions, and it would be best not to do so here."