A Dragon's Hoard Chapter 2 Surprises

<<<Taylor Hebert>>>

Taylor didn’t consider herself a ‘foodie’ or any sort of connoisseur of what is good and what isn’t. Granted between her parents she was well fed, but she never actually had proper ‘fancy’ food outside of very rare occasions. While she loves… loved her mom’s lasagna she was always more of a burger girl herself.

That said, she would never turn down food when offered, she loved discovering new tastes.

So, being forced to subsist on an entirely liquid diet while trapped in her own body? That was a special sort of hell she wouldn’t wish on anyone! Not even a nazi! So to say she was eager to test out her new taste buds would be an understatement. So a very amused Dragon led her to a rarely used but well maintained cafeteria.

“Oh god…” Which led to where they were now.

A very amused Dragon watching her eat (which was creepy if you didn’t have any context), though Taylor was too busy just trying to wrap her mind around how everything tasted! She never had what you’d call a ‘refined’ palate, honestly she liked to give everything a try before deciding whether she liked it or not (and she did NOT like horseradish in the slightest), so the fact that she could practically dissect what she ate?

It kinda left her amazed.

Seasonings used, probable optimal cooking temperature, the method of cooking, and dozens of other factoids that she didn’t really need to know but were fascinating to learn regardless. She even tried some fancy filet mignon with horseradish somethingoranother.

She still didn’t like horseradish, even if she didn’t physically react the way she used to.

“... did I go too far?” Dragon asked after a moment, “I put in some systems to give you a breakdown of chemical composition too… and an internet connection?”

“It’s definitely overwhelming,” Taylor admitted, “Interesting though! And an internet connection huh…” Did that mean she could shitpost and focus on her reading at the same time?

Granted, she didn’t do it much since she got into high school and her and Emma drifted apart. But it was still an amusing passtime… plus this was essentially a fresh new start wasn’t it? Why not?

“There are parental controls on it,” Dragon warned with a knowing smirk, “I know what you people get up to. Speaking of knowing…” Her body language shifted into something more serious, “While the government knows about your powers and your new status, your classmates will not unless you tell them.”

“New classmates…” Honestly now after getting a working body she found herself wondering… if she really wanted to go back to the Bay.

While she did have a few friends there, she didn’t know if she could live in her old house again surrounded by memories. Even if the Bay was recovering after some heroes removed the ships blocking the bay (pretty sure it was Iron Man and some robots) the city wouldn’t probably ever return to what her parents remembered.

That said… the thought of going back and punching some nazis sounded appealing, but not too much.

“You’ll be fine,” Dragon said with a knowing grin, “I have it on good authority that there is at least one person in the school I enrolled you in that will understand you.”

“Where did you enroll me?” Taylor asked curiously, “And honestly, after all that time in VR I’m pretty sure I can graduate high school with honors now.”

“Midtown,” She replied, “It has an extensive AP program that I think you will excel in. If you don’t, we’ll reconsider.” Then she shrugged, “But you going to school is something I want you to do regardless, socialization is very important for mental health. Even I do it, in my own ways.”

Taylor wanted to argue but really couldn’t, so instead she decided to change the subject, “Did anyone back at the Bay like… well…” She trailed off not sure who to phrase it.

“Send you well wishes, and get well soon cards?” Dragon asked, “Of course. I had all the cards and letters stored in your room and sorted. Some might even surprise you,” She added with a kind smile. “And some might not. I thought it best to remove you from the Bay anyway because… everyone knew what happened and I didn’t think it was safe.”

Taylor didn’t disagree, the idea of everyone in the school knowing she was a parahuman… better to not risk anything.

“Now then, you can either get ready for school now, we could just show up suddenly and scare the facility, or we could explore around the city,” Dragon continued, “Well, I say ‘we’ but I’ve actually, ah, borrowed someone from an ally of mine. You’ll like them.”

Taylor scratched her cheek, not that it did anything (more of a psychosomatic response than anything), as she considered. Despite all her subjective time studying already, it didn’t change the fact that she genuinely loved learning. Not even the bullying could stifle that (even if it didn’t do her self-confidence any favors), but… it would probably be a wise move to learn about where she was now before going to school wouldn’t it?

“Maybe… explore the city first before going to school?” Taylor suggested.

“Your choice,” Dragon’s voice was soft and understanding, “Want to meet your, ah, ‘escort’?”

“Sure,” Taylor said, curious who her… adoptive parent had gotten help from.

With a wave of her hand a far door opened revealing a very nice looking redhead… one that looked vaguely familiar, but she couldn’t place where she saw her. “Hey, you’re Taylor, right? I’m not at the wrong house again?” She joked, smirking, “I’m Nat, nice to meet you.” Her hand went out for a shake.

“Nice to meet you too…” Taylor said as she carefully shook her hand, not wanting to accidentally break any bones, “I’m sorry but… why do you look so familiar? Have we met?”

She laughed. “Do you really want to know?” Her voice had a touch of warning, “Or would it be better if we ignored what we do or don’t know? I can’t ignore your… new body, but I think we can forget other things, right?” Nat winked at her. “That said, if you have some good mosquito repellent I wouldn’t mind getting some, they’re a bit killer this time of year.”

“... Message received…” Taylor said, still curious but she was willing to ignore it, “And I think I could spare some.”

“Just think of me as a friendly shield agent,” She acknowledged, “Tomorrow is Clint’s turn to help you out, he might give you a bit more to work with. But as for today… what did you want to see? Stark Tower is open for visitors right now, I think.”

“Anything.” Taylor said, “The furthest I’ve been away from Brockton Bay is Boston. And… well, wouldn’t Stark want to examine me or something? His reputation is pretty… well…” She just trailed off getting a laugh from Dragon and a faint snicker from Nat.

“I don’t think that’s a risk,” Nat replied, “First, he does have a policy of not touching jailbait,” Taylor blushed, “and second he doesn’t exactly kidnap people for experimentation. He is a hero, after all.”

“... He really needs a PR manager or something,” Taylor said.

“He has several,” Nat drawled, “For some reason, most of them take to drinking before retiring.”

“... Well I hope they get paid well, you think working PR for him qualifies for Hazard pay?” Taylor… only slightly joked, Dragon out of the corner of her eye was just giggling violently while glitching out every few seconds.

“I have it on good authority,” Nat started, “That it does count. At least partially because supervillains occasionally hold Stark Tower hostage and the other half of it is that it’s Tony Stark.” Nat’s grin was wide, it almost reminded her of Emma’s on occasion but more… friendly, somehow.

“... Now I have to see this place…” Taylor said, logically knowing it wasn’t actually a mad house but with someone like Tony Stark as the CEO? She wouldn’t be surprised if his employees were eccentric in some manner.

Nat laughed, “Alright then. Let’s get there before the crowds do. We might even be able to get a meeting with the big man himself, if you wanted?” She was clearly trying to do… something, but Taylor had no idea what she was trying to manipulate her into.

But she couldn’t see the harm in it, it might be interesting, and just nodded.

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Taylor knew Nat was smirking as Taylor darted around the Tower’s showroom, but it didn’t register as anything mocking; more that she found it adorable. Taylor also didn’t let it stop her from looking over the old systems, weapons, and civilian quality of life innovations and trying to figure out how they were put together.

She blamed Dragon.

All the programs Dragon had downloaded, installed, whatever kept feeding her a steady stream of information. The purposes, composition, mechanical workings, and so much more. If she wasn’t what she was she’d probably have a migraine of legendary proportions! Or her brain would be leaking from her ears.

Worse, it seemed to get even more detailed over time. It was never overwhelming, but it was a lot to get used to.

“It adapts to you,” Dragon said into her ear, “I’m… honestly surprised you’re keeping up with all of it at once, they’re meant to be used one at a time.”

“I think it’s related to my powers.” In the past year she had plenty of time to test and experiment with it, “I’m fairly confident that I’ve got a secondary Thinker power. Something related to multitasking… considering I can control every bug in ten blocks individually and give them my full focus while maintaining my focus on other things.” At least that was her working theory anyway, and a damn good theory in her opinion!

“So, that’s Dragon’s protege, huh?” A familiar voice said as he walked into the room, “Surprised she’s so interested in the rocket nozzles there, the patent’s been out for a while.”

Taylor just looked, mostly unnecessary due to a combination of her powers and just how extensive her sensory capabilities were, and blinked in surprise.

“Well, I think the way they were put together was clever,” Taylor retorted, only slightly on the backfoot as her… whatever just fed details of who she was speaking to.

Tony Stark, Iron Man, nodded, “They were designed by some of my engineers in their off time. They sold me the design after and are now retired. I think they live in the Bahamas…” He shrugged as he walked over and started pointing at bits she hadn’t noticed before, “You can see some of the machining marks here; they used their own CNC machine for the prototypes. It caused… problems in initial testing, but once I let them use the company’s systems it worked far better. They’ll always be more expensive than our properly mass produced systems, but Nasa loves em.”

“While cheaper is nice, sometimes you need quality despite the price tag,” Taylor commented, “Oh, um… I’m Taylor Hebert. Nice to meet you, sir,” She added, realizing she didn’t introduce her, though he probably already knew her name, “And I’m more Dragon’s ward than protege.”

“Could have fooled me with how much she was gushing over your academic results under her,” He replied with a grin, “It was cute, she doesn’t usually act like that.”

Taylor just blushed, even Nat smiled, “Um… uh…” She honestly didn’t know how to respond to that.

He laughed, musing her hair, “Maybe in a few years you’ll be working for me, huh? If your grades keep up anyway.”

Taylor just rolled her eyes, though her cheeks remained all blushy against her wishes! And she knew she could turn them off, but for some reason she couldn’t! And a part of her was blaming the Canadian woman giggling in her ears.

“Actually,” Tony started, pointing at her, “You want to see something cool?” Nat suddenly looked very nervous. “It’s not an ironman suit or weapon,” He said to the redhead, “Do you like space, squirt?”

She nodded, space always interested her especially when she learned of the former Sphere’s attempts to create a space colony before he ran into the S9 and was twisted. Thankfully for the man who he used to be, he was put down before he could do anything insane like… she didn’t know? Try to poison the entire western coast?

“Awesome, we’re making something for the ESA right now and I think you’ll like it,” He said, starting to walk out one of the ‘employee only’ doors, “I don’t think that body of yours has dandruff or loose hairs, right?” He asked even as he put on scrubs and a hairnet for himself.

“Pretty sure,” Taylor said, “Not even sure if I can sweat yet… something to find out later…” She added thoughtfully.

Could she get the full schematics of her body? Yes, but she’d like to discover the little things that didn’t impact her… ‘health’ such as it was. 

He nodded, “Normally I wouldn’t bother wearing these, they make me look ridiculous,” He confided with a smirk, his beardnet looking slightly askew from it, “but in this case I spent way too much money making these lenses to mess them up from some stray bits of hair.”

That made her blink as they walked deeper into the facility before…

“That’s a big satellite,” She mumbled in surprise, earning a laugh from Tony.

“The biggest ever made, in fact,” He agreed, “This is just the preliminary stage of course, it’s not going to be launched fully constructed but we need to know that it can fit together right on Earth before sending it up to orbit. It’s going to go up in three sections and we’ll just slot em together like legos.”

Taylor nodded, “That makes sense. The lack of gravity would make assembly a breeze,” She said as she tilted her head, “It’s… not, hmm… not a spy satellite. Clearly communications with observational abilities but… perhaps to serve as an early warning system for invasions?”

“Close,” Tony said, “But it’s meant to look a little closer to home. The ESA wanted an asteroid early warning system. This will look for ones in the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. We have smaller ones being built elsewhere for the asteroid belt and rogue objects closer in. Once a space rock is seen intercepting Earth’s orbit, it sends a signal to people that can do something about it,” He explained, “Those secondary lenses you see around the central ones are a combination of laser range-finders and some UV, IR, and Alpha particle detectors for various other reasons; mostly asteroid composition detection.”

“That’s… pretty impressive really.” It certainly explained the size, thankfully the terms and phrases she didn’t fully understand were explained to her.

She’d probably never need it explained again, but still… learning like that was pretty interesting. 

“They went to us for a reason,” He snarked, “I think they went to Hammer first, but they couldn’t beat my specs or price. Helps that part of the cost went to some Avenger things that you aren’t cleared to know about. But, I can feel Nat glaring at me so I’ll let you two… do whatever it is that you were planning to do with the rest of your day.” Tony shrugged as he pulled up a holographic tablet device to look over his own schedule before grimacing. “Hey Nat, can we trade? I have a meeting with the UN in… three hours, I’d rather babysit a kid. Or fight Hulk again.”

“Sorry Tony, you’re on your own there,” Nat replied with a grin, “I think Cap’s available?”

“He’s not, he’s over in Austin doing a charity event with Eidolon,” He replied, shaking his head, “Maybe Thor? It would be funny, at least.”

“... Mr. Stark,” Taylor started with a cough, “I know I’m… not qualified to give an opinion, but even I know that’s a terrible idea.”

He pouted, “You’re Dragon’s kid all right, spoilsport,” and then sighed, “I have a plane to catch, don’t do anything I would do!” He said as he left.

“... That… happened…” Honestly she wasn’t sure what more she could even say, “Is he… always like that? She asked though she felt she already knew the answer.

“He likes when kids show interest in engineering,” Nat explained, “He has his moments of… well, he’s an ass a lot of the time, but there’s a reason he and Captain America are both considered leaders of the Avengers. Lunch sound good?” She offered, “There’s a good pizza place nearby. A little expensive, but I think I can splurge a little bit for one day.”

“Yeah… that sounds good,” Taylor replied, voice thoughtful as she followed Nat out. Tony was far too open with Nat for them to be anything other than… “Oh, that makes sense.” The redhead’s eyebrow rose, but didn’t say anything.

“Well… I can’t say I expected to meet three superheroes today,” She thought to herself, “Dragon, Ironman, and Black Widow apparently. If there’s a fourth, I might just explode.”

Dragon just laughed, the traitor.

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