A/N: I'm not dead! Neither is the fic. I've been struggling to write for a while now. Mostly just because I started painting Warhammer again, and Helldivers 2 had an effect. But I've been re-reading my stories to try and get inspired again, and this one suddenly started flowing, so I hope people enjoy it. Although there isn't a lot going on, it's more a set-up for the future.

I have also gone back and done some corrections on the previous chapters to improve the grammar etc.

Finally released from the testing areas of the PRT Headquarters with the news that it was safe to move elsewhere, the four teens had swiftly departed and headed to the Wards quarters. In front Vicky and Kid Win were talking enthusiastically about various parts of their school, or coming up with ideas for mythological creatures that would be useful in the city, or just for a tourist attraction.

Taylor herself was walking alongside Amy, or Panacea, having a similar discussion in a much quieter and subdued fashion. Taylor was also using the opportunity to enquire about Arcadia and what the school was like.

Pax was currently sitting on Amy's shoulder and enjoying the scratches the usually acerbic healer gave out. Oddly, the company seemed to actually be improving her usual poor mood, so the discussion was moving along fairly amicably, although there were several sarcastic comments. Taylor had also been warned about Clockblocker's sense of humour, and the likelihood of Taylor experiencing a power-induced time-out.

The two girls giggled together slightly at the conniving look Pax had on his face at that news, and both expected the prankster to get a bit of retaliation coming his way from the indignant dragon.

A beep, then a warning sound brought Taylor out of her contemplation that she may have just made a friend and looked ahead for the first time instead of following the older heroes. The group was currently standing in a short hallway with a mirrored window on one side and a tough-looking door in front.

Looking over his shoulder Kid Win explained the situation when he saw her confusion. "It's a warning for anyone inside the quarters that visitors are incoming. Gives them time to mask up or get out of the common room. It's standard when anyone other than a Ward is entering, even though Vicky and Amy know all of us."

Letting out a small noise of understanding, Taylor nodded along and fell silent as they waited while the alarm sounded.

Eventually, the tones died, and the door opened to reveal another short corridor. The group moved through and the door closed behind them, only then did the door ahead open up and Taylor took up the rear as they exited into a large common room.

Chairs, beanbags and tables littered the area. There was a fairly large kitchen in one corner, but the rest were relaxation spots, or places set up around an entertainment centre as well. All in all, the place looked comfortable and lived in. Still looking around curiously, Taylor followed the group to a series of sofas set up away from everything else. A low coffee table was placed in the middle of three large sofas.

Settling down, Taylor was briefly distracted by the view out the large windows, the slightly darkened tint hinting at the protection to stop anyone looking in. Pax jumped off Amy's shoulder to walk in a tight circle on a cushion between the two before settling down with his head forward. Both of them began stroking or scratching the dragon shortly after.

Now that they were in a safe zone, Vicky quickly got the conversation back on track. Or at least as on track as her interests lay. "So, do you have any plans for what you'll start on next?"

Tucking her folders between her leg and the sofa arm, Taylor contemplated the question briefly, but quickly shook her head. "I'm not sure it will be up to me. Director Piggot seemed to think I'd have a lot more oversight than most PRT Tinkers, which makes sense. So they'll make the choice."

"You think they'll go with something to try and ensure you're a hit with the public you mean?" Amy asked, even as Kid Win winced.

"Ouch," He commented a little quietly, "Oversight is bad enough for the Wards as is, being under increased scrutiny is going to be a pain."

Nodding her head to acknowledge Kid Win's point, Taylor replied to Amy, "I'm pretty sure that will be the plan. That was a lot of the reasoning behind choosing a Fairie Dragon to begin with, as well as needing something I can work on sensibly."

Turning to face Kid Win properly, Taylor replied to his comment, "I knew coming in that it could be pretty overbearing. Unfortunately, it's not like I have a real choice either. Firstly because I would have never been able to get my hands on all the material I need to make anything without tripping all kinds of watch lists."

"And Nilbog," Amy cursed, "Bonesaw and Blasto, too. Bio-Tinkers are all bad news, and big news as well, if there was a hint that one was in town the PRT would have come down like a tower of bricks before the situation could escalate."

Nodding her head, Taylor showed her agreement with Amy. "The chances were if I did manage to make any progress it would have been destroyed quickly on the off chance that the PRT disapproved. This way I get to help people eventually. It just needs to be slower than I'd like."

"Anything you're hoping to make then? I mean, you can make creatures with powers, so is there anything specifically you'd like?" Gesturing at her sister, Vicky quickly kept on talking, with rising excitement, "The world could always use more healers for instance!"

Absently noting Amy perking up at the comment, Taylor thought about the designs in her folder before reluctantly shaking her head, "Nothing wildly useful, some stuff that can heal if needed, like a phoenix, but not a dedicated healer as… far… as I know."

Trailing off at the end of her sentence, Taylor ended up staring absently at something only she could see, her fingers starting to twitch as ideas came to mind. Kid Win surged to his feet, recognising the signs of a Tinker in design mode and dashed to another set of chairs in the room, then to a cupboard of supplies.

Coming back to the group he pushed a lap desk into Taylor's hands, then a pad of the technical paper the rest of her designs had been done on as well as a series of pens.

For her part, Taylor barely recognised his movements, but her hands took the stationery and started moving to set things up on automatic. Seconds later she looked down and her hand danced across the pages with a mechanical pencil. Soft mutters came from her as she was swiftly lost in her work.

Returning to his seat, Kid Win explained to the New Wave capes as he settled back, "Sorry about that. I recognise the signs from watching Armsmaster, and talking with the others when I get like that, she'll be completely out of it for a while."

Leaning over slightly, Amy commented to the others as she studied the drawings, "Looks like some kind of bird. Maybe a Phoenix?"

Vicky immediately shook her head, "No, there was one of those in the folder already. They can heal, but only the pure of heart. Not going to find a lot of that in Brockton Bay outside of the kid's wards."

Huffing slightly in laughter, Amy replied sarcastically, "And not a lot even then in some cases. Kids can be little monsters on their own, even without the gangs."

Laughing slightly, the other two agreed before lapsing into thought. "I can't even come up with any other mythological birds, to be honest." Kid Win said a little later.

"Let alone any healing ones" Vicky agreed, before immediately questioning the others, "Google search it?"

Considering the matter for a few moments, Amy eventually shook her head, "No, let's just wait to see how long it takes. We're not in a rush at the moment. So, Kid, did Taylor's work downstairs give you any ideas?"

Sighing slightly, the only male in the room shook his head slowly, "Not really. I couldn't get anything off the process, and her machines are really solid. They use their space well, and look scalable as well, but other than thinking of things I could make that a creature could use I couldn't do anything to them directly."

Giving the upset teen a pat on the hand, Vicky quickly diverted the conversation back to school and distracted the other two.

The trio were quickly absorbed in discussing the latest gossip (reluctantly for everyone but Vicky), the latest classes or their homework as the fourth member of the group remained lost in her work.

Taylor didn't return to her senses for most of an hour. It was actually at the point that the three teenagers were discussing whether to get some help or speak to one of the adult heroes, but before a decision was made Taylor let out a sigh of relief and slumped back in the chair. Dozens of pages of the technical paper were now filled with small and neat writing, as well as numerous technical drawings from what they could see.

Hearing the movement of the others, Taylor looked up in time to see Kid Win head over to the kitchen area, returning a few moments later with a drink which he passed to Taylor. Giving him a smile in thanks, Taylor focused on drinking as her hands were a little shaky to begin with.

Once she finished the water she spoke up, "Sorry guys, I got some new designs and needed to detail them."

Smiling wryly, Kid Win responded for all of them, "No problem, believe me, I know what that's like. I'm just lucky I've been able to work so much outside of school or I'd have outed myself ages ago."

Chuckling quietly, Taylor acknowledged the point with a nod and a soft, "Thanks."

Fortunately, any awkwardness was quickly dispelled by the queen of enthusiasm, Vicky. "Soo, what did you design? Is it healer stuff? That's what we were talking about beforehand."

"Yeah, healing animals. I don't think two of them will work though." Taylor comments absently, flipping through the designs.

Now truly interested, Amy leans sideways slightly to look at the papers, still scratching Pax as well. "Why not?"

Finally organising them to her satisfaction, Taylor puts the lap desk to one side with the papers still clipped down, then adds her folder on top. "Well, the Caladrius is a pure white bird that can take any sickness into itself and relieve the sufferer. However, it then flies off and disperses that sickness. Which I think will mean that anyone near where it rejuvenates itself will become sick. And it can only work for a single patient each time."

Nodding her agreement, Amy points out the issues there, "Too much of a chance of an infection spreading rapidly if you can't police the victims at all. And you'd need thousands to manage anything in the current world."

Taking a sip of her drink, Taylor nods her agreement. "Yeah, not ideal. The second one is the Ibong Adarna, from a Filipino poem. And while that bird heals kind of similar to a phoenix, it also sings people into comas. So that one will likely go on the banned list. Too much potential for collateral damage with all the cars on the road, to name one issue."

"Ouch," Kid Win exclaimed, "PR is really not going to like that."

"And it could be the worst thing for the patient in some cases," Panacea added.

"Right, bad options all around. Unless you use it specifically for that ability I suppose. If you could control it, sending the bird into a hostage situation or a static location could be useful." Vicky mused.

"I think I have better options in those cases though," Taylor mused, glancing at her folder for a few seconds before shaking her head. "Regardless, the one I think will be the most help is actually the last option. Heiðrún. A goat from Norse Mythology."

"A goat? Really?" Vicky exclaimed in surprise. "They don't feel like they're really associated with healing."

Taylor just chuckled to herself, obviously enjoying a joke. Seconds later she calmed down again enough to speak. "Actually, she isn't directly in the original mythology. Heiðrún is the goat that stands above the halls of Valhalla in the Norse afterlife. Instead of milk she produces mead, which the dead consume in their nightly feasts after fighting, training and dying in the day. The link is kind of tenuous, but the warriors are constantly reborn and healed to carry on the next day, so I was able to make it so that instead of mead, Heiðrún will produce a healing elixir. Diluted in milk, a single drop should be enough to fully heal an injured person."

Snapping forward in her seat, Amy immediately bombarded Taylor with questions, "Seriously?! What kind of injuries will it heal? What method does it take?"

Waving her hands in front of her, Taylor tried to answer as best she could, "I don't really know the method. I just know the abilities she will have. But it should heal any wounds, diseases or sicknesses at all."

"That's brilliant!" Shouted Vicky, bouncing in her seat with glee, "You'll finally be able to take some time off from the hospital, Ames! Or at least only have to deal with the specialised cases."

Looking utterly gobsmacked, Amy slumped back in her seat, unable to comprehend such a big aid in her work. Reality caught up with her seconds later though as a thought occurred, "Maybe, but how much could one goat produce?"

"Well, I don't know about normal goats, but Heiðrún is pretty consistent as long as she's fed properly. And she should produce up to about 9 litres a day." Taylor replied.

"Oh," came the soft exhale from Amy as she tried to work out how many drops would be in nine litres of liquid. At the very least it could completely remove her work on small cuts and injuries in the ER department of Brockton Bay Hospital.

Seeing that Amy was out of the conversation, Taylor looked at her other two companions and, realising that Vicky was looking to speak to Amy, decided to try and help. "Kid Win, can we scan these designs in anywhere here? I want to get them across to the Director so they're in the list of designs they want me to look at next."

Quickly seeing the out he was given, Kid Win immediately popped up from his seat, "Sure, we can do that in my lab. I don't always work on paper, but it is useful sometimes."

Following the red and gold-clad Tinker, Taylor left Vicky and Amy to a low-voiced conversation. Hoping that Director Piggot would like her new option.

…

Wrapping up her meeting with the group, Director Piggot led the way out of the room, Armsmaster and Glenn following behind her as they moved to an actual meeting room. Miss Militia and Rennick heading off on their own assignments.

Entering the room, Piggot noted that her set-up instructions had been followed and requested that Mr Hebert be sent up. Inside the room were two reinforced chairs, one for her medical issues and one for Armsmaster's armour. There were also some refreshments and small sandwiches from the on-site kitchen.

Settling in to her seat with a sigh, Piggot started sorting through folders and documents in the few minutes before their guest arrived. Glenn, for his part, was looking through the dossier the PRT had pulled together on Danny, trying to get a feel for the man and how much of a problem he would be.

Something he noticed pretty quickly prompted him to speak to his companions, "A quick warning if you will. Mr Hebert is a blue-collar worker. He isn't going to be pleased with the authority figures in the city, given where he works. He could be partially hostile to us to begin with."

Letting out a tired sigh, Piggot nodded to acknowledge the point. Making a mental note to keep Armsmasters authoritarian tendencies in check.

Not long after a knock came from the door and a trooper opened it up while staying outside, speaking to a tall, thin and balding man behind him, "Here you are, sir."

Thanking the trooper absently, Daniel Hebert entered the room and moved to the desk. The three PRT employees stood and Piggot introduced them, "Good Morning, Mr Hebert. Thank you for coming so quickly. I'm Director Emily Piggot, with me is Armsmaster, and Head of Public Relations Glenn Chambers."

"Morning, your message said it was urgent. I'm Danny Hebert. What's this all about?" Danny queried in confusion.

"Please, have a seat first." Piggot said, hoping to get him sat down before she broke the news about his daughter. Thankfully, he pulled the chair out and sat, allowing the rest of them to do the same. Although he still looked pretty bemused, he was also starting to look slightly worried.

"Alright," Piggot began, "There's no easy way to do this, but you should be aware that this morning your daughter came in to the PRT offices to register as a parahuman."

Given Danny had been around since the early days of capes, he instantly caught on to the fact that his daughter must have gone through a trigger event. His whole body stiffened up and the confusion dropped as anger settled on his features instead.

To his credit, he didn't start shouting or screaming, but after a few moments of reigning in his temper he managed to grit out a terse word, "How?"

Armsmaster was the one to answer him, figuring that talk of triggering would be better received coming from someone who had gone through their own, "Miss Hebert triggered at the beginning of January, Mr Hebert."

"The locker." Danny gritted out.

Nodding her head, Piggot confirmed his fears, "That's the one. I should also say that Miss Hebert has provided us with enough information to be able to properly pursue the case. We're confident that we have already identified the guilty parties. I don't doubt you will want to know more, or get involved, but I would ask you to leave this to us. Any involvement in the situation by someone personally involved could hurt the case."

She said the last hesitantly, having been made aware of the old friendship of Danny and Alan Barnes. And that Danny hadn't known that Emma Barnes had turned on his daughter so completely. Taylor had warned them about her father's temper, so they were hoping to head it off before he built up any steam.

Fortunately, Danny was able to keep a hold of himself, although it took several seconds of deep breathing first. Eventually, though, he nodded in a despondent manner, "Alright, I can see the sense in that. Are you sure you'll be able to do something though? The police were unable to do anything."

"Ah, and there comes my next piece of news," Piggot replied. Personally, she was uncomfortable with this situation. Years of government work had drilled into her head that admitting to fault was not to be done, but Miss Militia, Rennick and Glenn had all argued that giving Danny all of the information up front was a much better idea than if it came to light later on.

"I regret to inform you that the reason the police were unable to make any headway with the case was because they were pulled off it." Piggot explained, "As it turns out, one of the instigators of the entire affair was Shadow Stalker, in her civilian identity. Her handler, who has been arrested already, was covering up her crimes alongside Principal Blackwell."

This time Danny's face went entirely red, his hands coming up to grip the table so hard his knuckles went white. Again, he was able to bring himself back under control, but there was an undercurrent of anger still in his voice when he spoke, "Let me guess money fraud?"

Nodding her head again, Piggot agreed, "Unfortunately so. Both of them have already been arrested for fraud, and we will have the actual people who acted against your daughter in custody shortly. Shadow Stalker is already in the cells."

Speaking carefully after another short silence, Glenn highlighted part of the reason for their request of Danny, "We'll need you to sign an NDA since you should be able to work out her civilian identity with a little work. But we'll ensure that it's void in the case of any disruptions on our side. Unfortunately, a lot of people in places of power have a vested interest in cape names becoming known. The NDA will keep them out of our hair, stop them from using that against you and ignoring what Stalker has done."

Huffing a reluctant laugh, Danny just groaned, "Bureaucrats."

All three of the government employees just nodded wearily at that.

This time, the silence around the room was much less angry, for all that it lasted longer than previously.

The three PRT members noticed when Danny's expression changed, slipping from angry to thoughtful to upset. Soft words coming out after a few seconds of that, "Why didn't she tell me?"

Armsmaster leaned forward at that, knowing the situation from Miss Militia's assessment, "She was scared, Mr Hebert. Your daughter has triggered as a bio-tinker. Given the bias against them in both government and the general public, she feared what would happen if she was discovered trying to act alone. She didn't tell you because she was afraid you would prevent her from coming to see us."

Now Danny looked absolutely gobsmacked, whispering in disbelief, "A biotinker?"

Glenn leaned forward, knowing he had to calm the man down before his fears ran away with him, and privately acknowledging that Taylor's worry had a good basis given the way he was reacting. "It's not that bad, Mr Hebert. Taylor can create solutions from actual chemical resources, then use hand-built technology to eventually turn them into mythological creatures. She's not doing anything like Nilbog or Bonesaw."

Now almost hyperventilating, Danny was able to start calming down with the reassurance that his daughter wasn't going to start cutting people open for parts. Once he was thinking properly again he commented mostly to himself, "She did always love mythology stories."

Pushing a couple of buttons on her screen, Piggot pushed and twisted her tablet across the table so Danny could see. "This is what she did as part of her power testing earlier. This is the chemical solution, then this was turned into an egg using this machine, and finally, the egg became the creature Armsmaster has named Pax."

Showing different pictures for each comment, Piggot led him through the process in short-hand, ending up with a picture of Pax sitting upright on a table looking at the camera and showing off his colourful body. Even through the picture, you could see the happy and slightly smug look on the little dragon, Taylor stood next to him in her mask with a small smile on her face.

Staring at the picture for a few seconds, Danny eventually shook himself slightly before looking back at Piggot and nodding in thanks. "OK, so what do you need from me?"

"Taylor has decided she wants to join the Wards, especially given her powers. We've already had the power testing as you know, the next step is, unfortunately, the paperwork." Piggot explained, dropping a fat folder on the table causing all of them to wince a little. "Did you want to speak to Taylor at all before we get started?"

Immediately, Danny nodded his head, "Yes, please. I'd like to get her take on any contracts with the Wards anyway."

Tapping her pad, Piggot looked up after checking the message, "Done. She was in the Wards quarters but will be on her way soon. While we wait we can talk through the standard contract for tinkers."

Straightening his shoulders, Danny agreed. Contracts was his bread and butter, and in this case he wasn't going to let his daughter down again.

…

The talk Taylor had been having with Kid Win didn't last long as Vicky and Amy tracked them down soon after the duo gave the two sisters some space. Not long after they'd migrated to the consoles set up and been quickly absorbed in a Mario Kart tournament. Having been completely out of practice Taylor had expected to be completely outclassed. Fortunately, it turned out Amy was a much worse workaholic than expected because she was just as bad.

The top slot ended up being a fierce competition between Vicky and Kid Win, with Amy and Taylor delighting in causing havoc whenever they got close enough. Or, as was more often the case, when they got lapped by the other two.

The entire event was surprisingly cathartic and enjoyable to someone who'd kind of assumed she would never be comfortable socialising again. It also proved a wonderful distraction from the upcoming meetings once her father turned up.

Still, the alarm wailing in the Wards room put a stop to the fun as everyone looked over at the door. Kid Win paused the game (after shooting a shell at Vicky) then checked his watch. "Strange, none of the other Wards should be here for a few hours yet. I was only pulled from school because of the testing."

"And we're out of school because of an emergency case in the hospital," Amy added on, explaining how Taylor's situation was being hidden.

Letting out a noise of understanding, Taylor quickly came to a different conclusion, "Maybe my dad is here. It's been long enough that he could have been reached and travelled by now."

Sure enough, once the alarm stopped and the door opened a PRT officer entered the room. Dressed in the casual uniform of an office worker rather than armour, the man nodded at the group in greeting before speaking, "Miss Hebert? Your father is in a meeting with the Director and I was sent to show you the way."

Checking with Kid Win briefly, Taylor got a nod that this new person was known, then headed over to follow him as he left the room. Waving goodbye to the three others she was quickly being led to an elevator, then down a series of hallways after they changed floors.

Coming up on a meeting room, Taylor was waved forward with some words she didn't really hear, instead she just stumbled through the door. She only got a brief chance to see Director Piggot, Armsmaster and a larger man she didn't know before her dad caught her in a hug.

Babbling apologies, Danny held on to his daughter tightly while she stiffened in shock before starting to hug him back.

After a few more repetitions, Taylor tried to break Danny out of his babbling. "Dad, it's alright! I'm the one that should be sorry. I should have talked to you."

Finally releasing her a bit, Danny pushed Taylor back a little so he could see her properly, "Oh, Taylor. Everyone explained why you made that choice. It's alright. I don't like that it happened, but I understand why you chose it."

Feeling entirely too wobbly, Taylor smiled at him tearfully, "Thanks, Dad."

"Now, let's have a look at your Wards contract, shall we?" Danny smiled back at her, finally feeling like he was starting to make up for months of neglect.

Suddenly, Taylor's eyes popped wide in surprise, "Oh!"

Turning to the director and Armsmaster, she explained her sudden realisation. "While I was in the Wards room with Panacea, and Glory Girl made a comment that gave me a few new designs. The biggest one is a goat that produces a healing product instead of milk. It can produce several litres a day, and you only need a few millilitres to heal all sorts of diseases and injuries. Kid Win helped me upload some schematics to a secure server."

For the first time in her presence, Glenn spoke up, his voice eager and excited. "Oh? That sounds very interesting. What form does it take?"

Without looking at her he was already leaning sideways to be able to look at Director Piggot's tablet, the only one on the room that could access the secure server, outside of Armsmasters armour at least.

Pulling away from her dad fully, Taylor stepped into the room properly and was quickly seated. Her dad holding her chair out for her in the process. "Well, there are three new designs, but two of them have issues that limit how useful they can be. The one I think would be best is based off of Heiðrún from Norse mythology. Heiðrún stood on the roof of Valhalla and produced mead for the warriors to drink from for all eternity. But the story was close enough that I was able to change the mead for healing, although it is still mead flavoured."

"Is that because of the restoration of the dead each night?" Asked Armsmaster, showing a stronger knowledge of the mythos than Taylor expected.

Nodding her head, Taylor confirmed his idea, "That's right. Because they get healed up to full health I was able to associate the two and create Heiðrún. She will be a nanny goat, roughly four feet high. The general colour is brown, but her horns, hooves and teeth are gold. There are also runic designs in her coat which are gold as well. She's very placid, as long as she has plenty of food nearby, she won't want for much else. No real clean up as no bodily products, but very calm and peaceful."

Finally seeing the renderings of the animal that were part of the file, Glenn let out a noise of appreciation. "Wonderful colouring, the dark brown with the lighter gold will work really well. If we get to the point of merchandising for this one that will work excellently as a plush."

Letting our her own noise, although this was just of agreement, Piggot spoke up straight after, "I'm more interested in the healing, we'll need to go through a lot of testing to figure out how exactly it functions."

"Agreed," Armsmaster said, not currently appearing to look at anyone in the room, "We've had trouble in the past with accelerated regeneration-type healing. In certain illnesses, it just sped up the issue."

"Ohh," Taylor responded, quickly writing something on the pad she'd brought with her. "I guess anything where the healing function is the problem would fall under that umbrella."

Feeling amazingly proud of his daughter, Danny patted her hand and bumped shoulders with her while the three government employees discussed things in quiet voices for a few moments.

Before the father and daughter could speak though Director Piggot redirected things, "Regardless, we can start looking at that properly after we get through all of this. First of all, for the record, Menagerie, I am officially offering you a place in the Wards. Will you accept?"

"Yes, director," Taylor replied instantly. She was happier with her choices now that she wouldn't be disposed of, and her main issues were being taken care of.

"Excellent," replied Piggot, "I can confirm that your evidence has been corroborated, and Shadow Stalker is now in custody. We will need to sort NDA agreements to protect her family shortly, but that can wait. We have also discussed the request you made for your schooling. We have agreed to work on your transfer to Arcadia. I understand from everything we've already uncovered that Winslow is completely unsuitable, but would you consider homeschooling in the interim?"

At that point, Glenn cut over here to give more of an explanation, "Too many people associate Arcadia with the Wards. If a new Ward is announced and a new transfer starts under unusual circumstances you're basically announcing your real identity."

Glancing at her dad, Taylor checked if he had any thoughts, and at his slight headshake responded to the director, "I don't have any problems with it, no."

Ticking something off on the tablet, Piggot nodded before carrying on, "Excellent, that will make things easier. Next on the list then, are you happy with the name Menagerie?"

This time, Taylor just gave a definitive nod. It might not be the greatest name, generally tending to feel more negative in the current age, but it was her choice and she liked it.

This time Glenn spoke up again, "It's a decent name. My team can definitely work with it. Any ideas on a costume to go with it?"

Looking a little wrong-footed, Taylor considered the matter for a few seconds, "Do I really need one? I mean, I will be able to go on patrols and such eventually, but I'm not going to do any more than the average trooper, less even. Can't I just have some kind of vet or doctor-like outfit for any public relation things? I'm guessing I will spend most of my time on base while the people with actual knowledge work with my stuff."

Using a computer pen, Glenn quickly started making marks on his tablet, drawing with sharp motions and sweeping presses to the screen. "Not a bad idea, actually. We need to be careful that you don't come across as a mad scientist. Change the colour from white. Go with soft blues, maybe. Give you a full visor so we can avoid the surgical connotations of a facemask. Maybe a helmet. Your hair is very distinctive."

Finally descending into mumbled works, Glenn carried on working while the rest stared at him for several seconds.

"Right, well. Let's carry on while he does that." Piggot suggested. "While the exact costuming can wait, we can have a look at the contract."

On hearing those words, Danny perked up immediately. Contracting was something he was heavily involved with. This was something he could truly help his daughter with.

What followed was hard fought negotiation between the director and her father. Each part of the contract was reviewed, critiqued and argued over extensively. Although it was a little hard to work through all the little changes and disputes as they happened, it quickly became apparent that her dad wasn't happy with the basic contract as it was re-do on the fly.

Not that it was entirely one-sided. Parts of the contract remained absolute and strict. Wording required to provide Taylor with oversight was looked at, but ultimately remained both because of the need for it, but also because of other people being afraid of Taylor's power and the reassurance such provisions could provide.

Eventually, though, the two agreed and Armsmaster and Taylor, who had been working on a large tablet the former had unfolded, ceased their work to rejoin the conversation.

Pouting a little, because they had been working out requirements and designs for her very own lab, Taylor slid her seat back around next to her dad.

"Alright, that's the contracting taken care of." Piggot stated, "Are we ready to sign everything off?"

Checking with her dad, Taylor received a nod of approval, so stifling a grin she nodded at the director. A few taps on her tablet and a printer to one side whirred to life spitting out copies of the new contract.

With all the (lack of) speed of the average office printer, the group soon had copies of the contract in front of them. Her dad flicked through one of their two copies quickly before pushing on in front of Taylor.

With a quick stroke of a pen, Taylor Hebert, Menagerie, was now a Ward of Brockton Bay.

…

A/N: Going to leave this chapter here. I think if I aimed for my usual word count this would sit on my PC for the next few years ago go nowhere.