Extended Summary: Eldrad Ulthran sees the consequences should a certain species of Entities go ahead with their plan to annihilate countless versions of Earth in their idiotic cycle. The problem with that is the Emperor of Mankind is on one of those worlds outside their knowledge, and the psychic echo of that many deaths could cause a new god of Chaos, born of death and destruction who would finally tip the balance of power in their reality. The only way to prevent this rise? Have an agent inside the cycle. So he brings together lords of the Eldar, Necrons and Mechanicus to give one potential parahuman everything she needs to end the cycles. The poor bastard.

Pre-Read Warning: You need a fair amount of suspension of disbelief that the 40K races can cooperate to any level to get started on this story, as long as you can deal with that it should be fine. Also, the Tau are missing because I honestly forgot about them until I was a few chapters in. My bad!

...

She was a villain. They made her a VILLAIN! For having a personal defence device that was less powerful than the average commercial taser. One that was fired when Sophia FUCKING Hess was beating her. She had been labelled as a villain by the PRT.

Worse, they had gotten to her dad before she could reach him, and turned him on her. They hadn't even tried to contain her identity after the accident in Winslow. Despite the incident being in the girls locker room, with Emma and her hanger-on's being the only witnesses. They had got her dad to go on local TV and radio and not only throw her identity into the open, endangering himself in the process, but also calling her a villain.

She'd been so angry at that point that it was only her built in recording systems had allowed her to find out what he said afterwards. It turned out to be some dreck the PRT had no doubt fed him. Saying he knew she didn't want to be a villain, but unless she handed herself in there wouldn't be anything anyone could do for her.

As if the waste of space she had for a father hadn't already destroyed any hope of safety she might have.

The worse thing, for her at least, was that she hadn't even wanted the taser to go off. It was a system she'd built into herself as a last resort defence, but she knew Sophia wouldn't do enough damage to seriously inconvenience her. It was just roughing her up for standing up to Emma earlier.

Apparently she got more snarky when tired, and she'd been up all night creating a batch of drones she needed for her work to progress. Having been in the basement all night she hadn't got a lick of sleep and when Emma started her normal diatribe to break Taylor down the comment just slipped out. Telling Emma that she was boring and hardly worth her time had been surprisingly cathartic, for all that she paid for it later once Sophia was updated about the attitude showing.

While she was being externally beaten, internally Taylor had been watching Emma in disgust. Such a coward she needed someone else to manage any violence, but she was still stood there with a sick look of glee on her face. It was the last nail in the coffin, the moment she knew the friend she remembered no longer existed.

And in that moment of introspection, she'd stopped paying attention to Sophia. No matter how it looked Taylor had been controlling the beating to an extent, making sure Sophia didn't hit anything she'd installed in herself. But with that split second of inattention, she hadn't turned with the latest blow and the punch Sophia threw was aimed at her floating ribs and the less sturdy module installed on their insides.

The strip of metal and electronics that followed both her bottom ribs had been installed to allow her to connect to the Mechadendrite she had constructed at home. Sitting in a hidden cupboard in the basement the actual mechanical tendrils allowed her to work far more efficiently than with her hands alone.

Unfortunately, she had needed to continue to blend in and as such, rather than the large amount of synthetic replacements her Mechanicus forebears used she had opted for the far more delicate internal connections along with a combined backpack and vest combination.

The taser system had done its job, calculating the risk of broken ribs and the damage to the connections plus any shrapnel issues, and fired before the hit could land.

The system had been designed for people living in constant warfare, by an organisation and for soldiers that would often be on the front lines of that war. It had taken considerable effort to reduce it to a non-lethal payload, but she hadn't bothered tailoring it to a single person or to stop it from hitting it's several metre reach.

As such all the girls in the locker room went down in an instant. The setting she had the taser on ensuring they were disabled for a short time, but without any of the more extreme pain the commercial versions had.

Deciding discretion was the better part of valour, Taylor had picked herself up and got out of there as fast as she could before heading home.

One of the first modules she had installed in herself was an advanced communications system. Not only did it let her control her drones remotely, but it could also tap into pretty much any communication system on Earth, being vastly more advanced. Given her recent beating was a result of showing a small amount of spine, Taylor disregarded any privacy issues on behalf of her tormenters and quickly tapped into their communications as she made her way home.

Which was how she quickly found out both that Sophia FUCKING Hess was the Ward Shadow Stalker, but that she also decided to tell the PRT that she was a new villainous Tinker, who had attacked the girls out of nowhere. A story so ludicrous it took Taylor's breath away for several seconds, right up until the principal herself had corroborated the load of bullshit.

By the time she made it home and down to the basement the PRT had apparently verified the story and were assuring Sophia that Taylor would be captured and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. No amount of professions of innocence would have saved her, especially once they found out about the various systems installed in her own body. Or the tracker and body monitor she'd added to her father.

That meant she only had one real chance. She needed to escape and hide until she'd got the proof she needed to get everything overturned and the tables turned on Sophia.

Opening up the small hiding places she'd created in the basement Taylor quickly donned the equipment she'd built. Most of it connected to the backpack and helmet she'd worked on most outside of her drones. Over the top she threw a dark red robe that appeared like a hooded trench coat. Moving upstairs she filled on bag with spare clothes and necessities, along with her bully records. Thankfully all of her design work and cape notes were on the tablet she'd created early on.

Exiting through the back door she'd locked her home up again, posted the key through the letter box then started making her way to the docks. Vague plans to meet up with her dad and explain before the PRT reached him going through her head.

She'd been too late. Hampered by having to hide herself away as much as possible and by being on foot, she'd been listening the reports come back from Miss Militia and Velocity as they took her father into protective custody from the docks.

At the same time her home's front door had been kicked in by Armsmaster himself as he made his own entry to find her. The best she could say about that was that he'd reported ordering the surveillance squad to seal up the house again before they took up watch. And that he had found nothing to show she'd returned there, or out of the ordinary. Hopefully that would help.

Having been halfway to the docks and still moving mostly on autopilot by that point. Taylor had needed to stop herself before quickly reorienting and moving into the more deserted areas of the city. She'd found an abandoned industrial factory not long after. Solid and sturdy it was built next to what was once part of a river going into the bay. With the bay closed off by the sunken supertanker the business had failed.

This area of the city was mostly empty of people as well. There were a lot more lucrative factories and places for the homeless to sleep closer to the population centres of the city. And since that would keep the groups that dwelt there closer to their income streams (begging or crime), they tended to be used much more.

This area was near the boat graveyard, and the area where the tinker Trainwreck was known to have staked his claim. It also had frequent floods as the rivers had been blocked up by the sunken ships that made up the boat graveyard. It should do as a base for a short time.

Entering the factory Taylor made sure to erase any trace of her presence as she moved inside and down into a cellar, carving a quick and dirty bolthole using her plasma tools. Making sure there were no hints of anything untoward, and that the inside of her small bolt-hole was shielded from any kind of outside detection. Taylor moved inside then slumped into the seat/bed she'd carved out of the bedrock.

Her safety and position secured for the moment. Taylor indulged in the screaming fit she'd been holding back since those first communications. Alternatively shouting, raging and crying, Taylor spent the next hour in a daze, made even worse when she watched her dad destroy her life on TV.

Eventually she couldn't hold onto the emotions anymore and slumped down onto the seat, dropping her head into her hands as she felt despair take her.

Her thoughts were mostly turned towards her father. After her trigger, and getting over the vast and seemingly impossible task set before her, she'd had vague plans about eventually reconnecting with the man. The desperate hopes of a tormented and abandoned child wanting the loving parent she remembered, rather than the worthless automaton he'd become in the wake of her mother's death.

Those thoughts died a painful death as she first listened to him out her to the general public, then call her a villain on TV. Hoping she could find some mitigating circumstances in his interviews Taylor had picked up the recordings from the PRT network, but it only brought more pain. Her father barely needed more than a slight nudge to wash his hands of her, signing her guardianship across to the PRT at the barest suggestion.

Worse, he'd explained how Taylor had become sullen, withdrawn, and uncommunicative since her mother's death, as if that was solely on her! Then came the revelation that he couldn't help but blame Taylor herself for Annette's death.

She'd stopped listening at that point. There was obviously no help coming.

Obliquely, it was her thoughts of her father that actually saved her. Thinking about the depression he'd gone into, and how it destroyed both of their lives in more ways than one, she quickly realised that was the direction her own emotions were taking her.

Overcome by anger for heading the same direction as her deadbeat father for a few moments, Taylor quickly realised she needed to get ahead of her situation. There was still hope that she could salvage some of her life in due course, but right now she needed a plan. Things were too important for her to be wallowing in grief and despair. Her mission was too important.

Making use of an additional function of her implants. Taylor shifted around on her seat, settling down as comfortably as she could before switching her emotions off, or at least blocking them. She'd suffer a backlash later, but this was too important to be affected by such negative emotions.

Instantly Taylor felt the calm absolutes of logic consume everything.

The first step? Assess her situation.

Her planet was being used as an idiotic and wasteful testing ground by malevolent alien beings hiding in sub-dimensions. Empowering those individuals who suffered extreme trauma with superpowers geared towards and subtly influencing their hosts to enhance conflict. All done in an attempt to reach an impossible and even stupider goal.

Meanwhile those self-same parahumans created havoc, death and misery across the world and possibly alternative worlds, in a pointless dick measuring competition. The worst of them all was one of the supposed greatest heroes of the USA, which had activated combat engines and caused millions of deaths due to a need for gratification and to prove his superiority.

Against that, stood her, Taylor Hebert. Empowered with the collective knowledge and ability of the engineering portions of the Necrons, Adeptus Mechanicus and Eldar races.

Seeing the devastation that could be caused by the annihilation of the same world across multiple realities, on a world where the God-Emperor dwelled and was the main being holding back the Chaos Gods, the Eldar Farseers came to the conclusion that such destruction could well give birth to a fifth god of Chaos, and lead to the death of their galaxy and more.

Approaching first the Necron's, then the Imperium, the group had built up a psychic imprint that had been launched at the best candidate among the enemies many shards. Consuming most of the functions of the computer labelled as Queen_Administrator, the imprint had waited for the triggering of the individual the shard had targeted. Taylor Hebert.

Once the small dimensional breach had widened in the moment of triggering the imprint had struck again. First gifting Taylor all the knowledge it had been built upon, and what it had learned from the QA shard itself, then consuming the shard and its planet entirely.

Leaving her alone in the face of complete planetary genocide and the possible birth of a god of evil.

Still, as overwhelming as the complete summary was, there were more immediate issues in front of her. Short-term situation?

Her identity was gone. Her face was known. At this point both the local law enforcement and gangs would be hunting her, and both for pretty much the same reason. With the addition that she would be prosecuted for hurting a Ward first for the PRT.

With all three groups looking for her, she would need serious cosmetic disguises just to move in the open, something she had no experience or materials to engage in.

What did she have against that? She had her tools, the backpack with four Mechadendrite's, weapon systems or tools she could repurpose to outfit those items and all of the drones she had been able to build during the two months she'd had since getting out of the hospital.

What did she need? Somewhere to retreat to, obviously. A place where she could build and recover without attacks from the locals. And that thought twigged the start of a plan. She had none of their history, or of their initiations (except the knowledge thereof), but she was a part of the Adeptus Mechanicus. When in the Sol system there was only one place she could retreat to.

Mars.

The fact that Parahumans weren't able to work away from Earth, or their agents weren't at least, was an added bonus.

So, what were the final steps, what did she need to get from what she had, to what she wanted? In her early days she had focused on getting herself set up without outing herself. So the drones she built were a combination of Necron scarabs and Imperium Servo-Skulls.

Capable of short range teleportation, they had all been designated as nano-forges. Breaking down materials to forge stock and building more of themselves. Right now she had several hundred spread around the junk-yards of the bay and inside the various abandoned ships. Taking apart anything they could that wouldn't show or indicate their presence.

If she recalled all of those drones, she could change their plans and enhance the teleportation abilities. She only needed one enhanced teleporter actually since it was a Necron warp portal, then she could send them to the surface of Mars with instructions to build a base.

Running calculations inside her head for several long moments Taylor eventually settled on a basic design. The number of drones she had access to right now would get it ready within 48 hours. It would have none of the necessities of living, only room and air recyclers. But that issue could be solved by requisitioning supplies from places around the Bay. Even the low air quality could be solved by leaving a portal open inside the base to somewhere on Earth for a time.

With that plan started, she would need to prepare herself to ensure her freedom was maintained until retreat was an option, and to get the supplies she needed. Focusing on her plans again, she made a quick amendment to add temporary storage bays to her base. One for food, another for amenities, the one final bay for scrap. Once proper schematics were drawn up the actual storage facilities would take over, but for a quick measure this would do.

She may as well take as much as her portals could manage during her little requisition rampage.

Upstairs in the factory were numerous massive industrial machines that had been abandoned when the factory went under. Too large to move without serious effort, too cheap to bother with, and too basic to be taken apart for scrap and resale by the inhabitants of the Bay, they represented quick fodder for the nano-forges.

She could repurpose all of her current drones for build purposes, cannibalising one or two to enhance the teleporters and details of the rest, then use the machines above to create everything she needed to protect herself.

Armour, shields, defence drones, wraithbone, gauss and plasma weaponry. She would survive to reach her planned base and build her way into victory from Mars. The chances of anything attacking her surviving was very much a minimal concern.

Pausing slightly at that thought, Taylor realised it was one she would never have made without having her emotions turned off. That likely meant the backlash once she could feel them again was going to be increased. Unfortunately, the odds of her reaching her retreat point were too low without that determination, or to be able to re-engage her emotions before she was off planet.

Already her communications filters were picking up activity from the E88, ABB and PRT on the mobilisation fronts. Strangely, it was the relatively unknown Coil who was closest to action, already directing teams of mercenaries towards this end of the city.

Cracking his relatively pathetic security and accessing his systems she quickly realised why. A pet Thinker had managed to work out her general direction, but nothing more so far. However, based on past results and current discussions, once the mercenaries started combing the area she would likely be able to narrow down the search and pinpoint Taylor's location.

Rising to her feet, Taylor issued the recall function on the drones, or at least as many as would fit into his room and leave her enough space to work. As the first one exited its portal, she picked it up and got to work.

…

Three hours later the last of the drones had their new instructions and upgrades and Taylor watched as they retreated into the one way portal to the surface of Mars. Reconfiguring her remaining equipment from tools to defence she exited her hideaway and started back up the stairs to the machinery.

Roughly halfway through her work she'd become aware of the PRT canvassing this area of the city looking for some sign of her. Her dad's knowledge being put to work no doubt. They'd checked each of the factories that still had a significant amount of equipment left behind, including this one.

Fortunately, they hadn't found any sign of her. The safe room she'd built blocking any attempt at finding her even while the basement was checked.

That was actually good news. She'd already written her father off as a source or help, so the fact he was actively aiding attempts to arrest her were just another minor betrayal on top of all the others, but the fact that she was now somewhere they had declared clear, and presumably behind their surveillance gave her some leeway. Hopefully Coil wouldn't bother using the PRT's footage and Tattletale to narrow down her location, or at least he would wait until the PRT were definitely gone from the area, otherwise she wouldn't have time to create the counter measures she needed to stay free. The only drones which could create a passage for a human were currently on Mars, so breaking out of a cell would be difficult, especially if they took her external equipment.

She wasn't a Tinker, her equipment wasn't black-boxed to prevent analysis. Nor were the anti-theft protections sufficient to do more than mostly destroy the equipment. She had been worried her father would find her or them while they were stored at home, so hadn't installed the more excessive deconstruction protocols initially.

Mentally making a note to engineer the Necron disassembly protections into her future equipment, Taylor had disregarded the rest of her thoughts and carried on working. She couldn't control everything, just what she was doing. Wasting time thinking about wasted time was neither logical nor productive.

However, in the present her drones were now on Mars building a quick base into the bedrock of Olympus Mons. And she needed to get started on her side of things. Carefully scanning the surrounding block Taylor checked for any surveillance equipment or surprises left behind. She immediately found the motion and light sensitive camera's left behind but also realised they were all outside, clearly trying to catch anyone entering the buildings in this section of the city.

Taylor couldn't withhold a snort as she realised that the cameras were already compromised and the alerts were now going to Coil's base rather than the PRT. His mercenaries were also now a blank spot on the recordings, the large van they occupied not even registering on the system.

Deciding to screw with the manipulative asshole Taylor quickly removed that code from the system so that anyone looking back at the footage would see the very obvious sign of Coil's men passing. Hopefully it would prompt the local PRT to actually look into something with a degree of intelligence for once, but she wasn't holding her breath.

Her safety assured for the moment, Taylor exited the room she'd created and started sweeping the basement first of all. Disassembly beams lashed out at all the debris in the room before being stored in sub-space pockets attached to her nano-forges, ready for build orders. She'd queued up several self-defence drones to start with (using Eldar technology since that would create the least amount of collateral damage for the moment), so as soon as there was enough material the weapon platforms started coming into creation.

By the time she had cleared the basement (and several inches of concrete) she had enough for eight of her planned dozen. Aware that the boarded up windows and breaks in the building blocked any light she might need to work, Taylor moved upstairs while her drones configured themselves.

Starting the whole process again the large blocks of the machinery disappeared bit by bit as she worked.

She'd be adding two more mechadendrite with dedicated weapon systems before she left the safety of the factory. A full set of armour based on the Necrodermis of Lords of the Necrons was planned as well. It wouldn't be as good, closer to their Praetorian guard, but she only had substandard supplies right now.

Running on autopilot as she disassembled the machines Taylor considered her adversaries. Given her status as a Tinker, one who had been accused of a crime and outed, she had to prepare for everyone in the bay coming after her.

Skimming the PRT files for all of the parahumans she started planning counters. Most of the cape scene was non-lethal. But given how adamant she was about keeping her freedom and independence that could change.

With that in mind she planned her weapons loadout. A Wraithbone sniper rifle was the first option. Then a Necron gauss rifle along with an Imperial plasma rifle. Finally she was going to create a Necron Aeonstave and Entropic Lance. Alongside a good power axe she should be able to get out of any situation she needed.

Although, it was likely all of the weapons would slag themselves in prolonged combat. Crap in, crap out.

Even if she engaged in constant fighting from now until her base was ready (and had actual breathable air) though, they should last at least that long.

Tilting her head as she considered some of the details coming through from her communication tap she decided that the armour and Wraithbone sniper rifle took precedence over more drones. Coil had picked up the first reports from the PRT and was passing them to Tattletale, (or Lisa, or Sarah depending on the situation apparently), for review. Forced she may be, but this Lisa girl wasn't going to shed a single tear for selling someone else into Coil's service while at the same time whining about her own fate.

That was pretty self-centred and hypocritical of her.

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to affect her abilities, so it seemed likely that Coil would narrow down her location first and send in the mercenaries to "engage her services".

Sparing a brief thought to be glad for the current emotional block, Taylor decided that emotional her was going to be very disgusted by this guy. The way he called Tattletale a pet, talked about obtaining a new pet (that wasn't her) and generally managed to make every word out of his mouth nauseating and disgusting was going to give her shivers, she was sure.

Still, it wasn't in her to lash out indiscriminately, so Tattletale was safe enough, as were the mercenaries until they accepted the orders to capture her.

She would definitely have time to prepare her wargear, but she did hope she would have enough time before the go signal was given to get out of the area entirely. Leaving behind a team of dead mercenaries would hardly help her innocent position.

Shrugging fatefully, Taylor decided there wasn't a lot she could do about the situation. Tattletale was working from written reports right now, so that should slow her down. Taylor herself knew that this location had all the material she needed for the moment, which wasn't guaranteed if she moved elsewhere. As well as the fact that this location had been ruled out by the PRT gave her protection from everyone but Coil. Relocating would just give her additional problems, so she would have to make do.

Carefully keeping an ear (or the technological equivalent) on the phone call and emails between Tattletale and Coil, Taylor worked for the next four hours undisturbed.

Unfortunately, at that point the PRT had started to rotate their staff back in, which meant the video hit the servers and was shortly in the hands of Coil and Tattletale. Hearing the request of the teenage girl for specific areas of the city, Taylor knew she was running out of time. Her last weapons were being built, another thirty minutes or so needed before everything was complete.

She only had ten before Tattletale fingered the factory she was occupying. Taylor only found out when the mercenaries were given the exact details.

Letting out a heavy sigh, even after the emotional deadening, Taylor considered her situation before deciding on a course of action. The Aeonstave and Entropic lance were the most complicated items being built, and the last, and she needed them if any of the bigger threats found her.

Leaving the building to her drones, Taylor tapped into the various cameras the PRT had seeded the area with and quickly found the van full of coils merc's. Bringing up the Wraithbone sniper rifle and getting into an appropriate position, Taylor allowed the knowledge of the elite Eldar snipers to fill her as she picked her target. Video from inside the van also adding to her targeting.

Waiting carefully until the van start moving closer to her area, currently being a little less than a dozen blocks out, Taylor picked her moment and carefully squeezed the trigger.

…

Coil was having a very good day. The kind of day where he loved being who he was and doing what he was doing. It was the kind of day that made it obvious he was the best candidate for ruling this city entirely. No-one else in this cesspit seemed to have the slightest idea about how to be effective and objective.

Case in point, the Ward Shadow Stalker, known far and wide as a source of trouble, had somehow managed to get the entire PRT to label another girl as a villain without any evidence of any kind! Her story was barely coherent, but the organisation didn't hesitate for a moment.

Conveniently, Piggot's ingrained bias had worked in his favour yet again, when she got the girl's father to go on TV and out his own daughter! The sheer incompetence of all of this being started by Shadow Stalker without even a cursory investigation was galling to the criminal mastermind.

Coil knew that such an act would have every real villain in the bay gunning for young Miss Hebert, but he was determined the Tinker would be his. Having his own Tinker, and not one focused on some stupid steampunk aesthetic, or just on movement systems, would be a massive boon to his organisation. It would probably save him literal mountains of money going to Toybox as well if his newest pet could build weapons.

Granted, he didn't know what she could do yet, but an area of effect taser was a good start.

In another fortunate outcome for Coil, he had access to a very good Thinker to track the now missing Hebert down.

Getting the girl on the line he pushed all the information he had available onto the secure server he'd had set-up for these purposes. Informing Tattletale that what her job was and waiting for her to narrow down the search area.

Finding out that his new Tinker had been heading to the docks was useful, but knowing she was probably in the factories out that way was even better. Informing Tattletale to keep working but otherwise keep herself available for when he got new information, he put the phone down and contacted one of his better snatch teams.

Re-iterating the information on Hebert was annoying, but something he was well used to because of his power. Once the team leader was updated, and sure they could work around the taser, Coil sent the team to get into one of his heavily modified vans and move to a position where they could quickly reach any part of the target area.

The team had to move away again a little later when the PRT had the bright idea to search that area, but it wasn't exactly a problem. If they had to snatch the girl from the PRT they would. Thankfully for him though, the PRT didn't find a thing (apparently they had used up their one good idea today on doing an actual search).

Presumably, if Tattletale was right at least, the girl had managed to hide away somewhere. Still, once the first reports hit the system he would be able to access them and pass them across to his pet for analysis.

It was slow going, since nearly all of the reports were negative and therefore lacking in detail, but he sent them across anyway as they arrived. One of the teams had literally tripped over a drug den, but that was a group hoping to get in with the merchants, as if those degenerates wouldn't take anyone.

Still, it was a slightly aggravating wait until the videos from the search team were added to the servers, low priority and security since they didn't find anything. From there it was a simple exercise to grab them and push them across to Tattletale.

Listening to the girl go through them, Coil quickly decided his reluctant pet was attempting to stall, but as it was a minor amount he resolved to just take it out on her some way later. Right now he was ready for an important step.

He avoided doing anything to push Sarah initially as she went through a single video from each team in double time. Privately he was sure she could do the same doubling the speed again, but he had learned early on to allow her these little victories. It made managing her much more productive.

If she ever learned that she was being manipulated like that she would kick up a fuss, a shame she was just so predictable though.

His patience bore fruit in due course, as Tattletale couldn't help make a noise when viewing a particular video. Pausing the view from the team leader, she booted up trooper cams from more of that group and watch specific points.

Less than a minute later he got the report he wanted.

"Found her, boss. She's in a hidden room in one of the factories. It didn't have any signage, but I'm sending you the map details now."

Allowing himself a small smile he was sure she would be aware of, Coil leaned back in his chair deep beneath the business district as he realised that yet again he would be coming out on top. "Well done, Tattletale. Stay on the line, my team may need your skills to open the door."

Not bothering to wait for either an acknowledgement or a snarky response, Coil muted the chit and brought up the communications to his team. Passing the search area to his men he gave them the orders to update him when they were near the building. Given Miss Taylor Hebert was having a very bad day it might take several tries to get to her and secure her services. But with his power he had all the tries in the world. He'd simply split the timelines once his team was in place and hold one timeline back until he came on to a winning strategy.

He'd cut Tattletale off once he started using his power, but that was necessary to limit her exposure and give her ammo to use against him.

Watching the feed from inside the van (with Tattletale doing the same, it didn't hurt to give her a bone to chew on), Coil watched as the team made their final checks before the driver started up and began moving.

He was expecting a couple of minutes of swift but careful driving, diverting his men around any police patrols and blanking them from the PRT cameras. What he was not expecting was for the front of the vehicle to suddenly shatter and his driver to spasm while most of the front of his torso exploded outwards.

Noticing the swearing from Tattletale, Coil watched in shock as the driver slumped over the wheel and the vehicle suddenly jerked as dead weight fell on the accelerator. The van wasn't originally built for speed, but the military modifications allowed it a solid turn of speed and power. That showed as the mercenaries in the back were thrown sideways when the van sped up.

Heading straight down one of the main roads of the area, the van listed to one side until it first mounted the pavement, then made contact with a building. After that the video was a confusing mess of falling and twisting. Evidently the van had lifted and spun at the same time.

Quickly tapping into the PRT cameras, he watched the collision from an outside point of view and quickly realised that the van had come to a stop upside down inside a building. Parts of the vehicle were torn apart, and more were buckled. The darkness inside hid the details, but he was sure a number of his men were dead.

Operating in a panic, he got his mercenary leader on the line to inform him of the accident and send a retrieval team. They couldn't have his mercenaries falling into the PRT hands, either dead or alive, lest they actually manage something competent and trace the ex-soldiers.

At the same time he was watching the feeds from inside the van to try and determine how many of his people were still alive.

He also unmuted Sarah and demanded what information she had with a curt, "Report!"

Her voice, when it came through, was slightly breathless, "Sniper shot, boss. Some kind of round that fragmented once it hit the target. It shredded the driver's chest completely. Boss… that shot was made from the warehouse. Hebert knew exactly where your people were and how to make a shot that went through at least three buildings."

Staring at the phone in disbelief, Coil was starting to realise how much of an issue this was for him. He didn't have a safe timeline for his people, for the first time since he employed them the mercenaries had taken a real and final loss. It would definitely shake the faith he had worked to build up.

Eventually he managed to control his growing anger enough to growl out, "How? There were no indications of any significant creations, how did she know where to shoot?"

"I don't know!" Came the immediate reply in what was close to a whine, "I'm not getting much on Hebert herself, I just got that information from reviewing the video inside the van."

Growling to himself slightly, Coil slumped forward to rest his elbows on his desk, hands linked and holding his chin. He needed to make a decision on what to do next. Obviously the Tinker was every bit as dangerous as he'd hoped. If he could get his hands on those weapons it would significantly advance his mercenaries lethality.

On the other hand, this was a fifteen year-old girl who had immediately gone for a lethal shot when threatened. Working on the basis that if she knew the men were there, she knew what they were after, she would also know who sent them. So did he send the reinforcements to try and pick her up? For that matter, would the reinforcements be able to grab her at all, or get close enough?

"Do you have any more details on the weapon, will she be able to hold off my men?" He demanded of Tattletale.

"Yes, boss. I'm certain that she picked her weapon to deal with the threat. She's either got more for different situations, or can change the one she's got." Her voice had returned to the pale fear she'd shown after the initial shot, obviously her power giving her the details of what the current weapon could do to an unarmoured individual such as herself.

Sighing in annoyance, "Keep yourself available if I need more from you. Dismissed."

Jabbing the phone to close the connection, he sent a quick update to the reinforcements heading out that they were to retrieve their fellows and return to base only. Coil dropped back into his chair, angry he'd be losing out on a Tinker. And now he needed to make plans to eliminate her if she was picked up by anyone else in the bay.

And the day had been going so well.

…

She had almost missed the shot. Fortunately she'd been aiming for the driver's heart, but hit him closer to the stomach. With the replica Wraithbone ammo it was still a kill shot. There were a few seconds of thinking that the people who had provided the knowledge to make that shot at all would be terribly disappointed, then the shock of the actual act hit her.

Reeling hard enough to partially overcome the emotional blocker, Taylor realised she had now taken her first life. Stumbling upright she let out a few dry heaves and sobs before the emotional blocker kicked in again.

With logic prevailing again, she scheduled a lengthy gap in her plans to have the emotional breakdown that was absolutely going to hit her once she was safe. It wasn't too bad though, she could upload additional plans to the drones for her base and let them get on with it while she disconnected and dealt with everything.

In the now, she listened in as the self-proclaimed criminal mastermind came to terms with her actions and called his people off. She also took the chance to access the cameras on their computer systems, catching a nice photo of the currently named Lisa Wilbourn, but Coil was in full costume, so she got nothing useful from him.

Ensuring that the orders he sent out were to retrieve his downed men only, Taylor carried on building the last of her kit. She needed about two hours more before she was finished. It would be night time by then, so she could start moving out.

Her drones on Mars should have mostly completed the first of the storage bays by now, so she could begin requisitioning the supplies she would need. It was stealing, but right now, even without the emotional block, she couldn't bring herself to care about anything in the bay. She'd have to make it up to the shops later.

Carefully managing the building of her final weapons, she also watched the mercenaries to ensure they hadn't been passed any clandestine orders that might affect her. The only issue she noted was one of the men from the first van swearing revenge for his friend the driver. Once she had her equipment though he would have more chance of beating Lung to death with his fists, and since he was a confirmed multiple murderer, she couldn't muster any sympathy.

By the time she'd completed the last of her temporary equipment it was nearly 1 o'clock in the morning. Considering her situation, she realised that she would need to secure a place to retreat to once she'd completed her thefts for tonight. Working too long without sleep would be detrimental to her plans, and she was already starting to feel tired due to not sleeping for the last two nights.

Her plan for tonight was to hit three of the major supermarkets in the city, take everything then retreat to get some sleep. Simple, straight forward, and hopefully easy to keep to.

Accessing the various systems of the BBPD, PRT and Coil (since he had his hands in everything), she quickly worked out the best place to go. Her searches showed a PRT officer who was currently in London working with their agency for the next week. He had a home in the city with no significant others, only a cat that was with a work friend. Conversations between the two proved that this was a fairly common thing, and the friend would not need to access the property.

Given it was in a better part of town it would make an excellent temporary base.

Closing up the casing for the Aeonstave, Taylor settled back into the temporary seat she'd created inside the factory. That was it, the last bit of her gear created. Her armour was on, her tendrils armed, her defence drones active and ready. Nothing left before she went out and really made herself a villain.

For a few moments she pondered whether or not to turn off the emotional blocks to consider the situation from an alternative viewpoint. But the large amount of emotional hits preceding this point would quickly overwhelm her. Coil hadn't spread her location yet, but she doubted she could remain hidden here for the entire time before leaving. Being incapacitated here while in the middle of a massive emotional breakdown would quickly see her in chains.

Shaking her head in the negative she stood and quickly disassembled the rest of the innards of the factory, as well as the top inch of flooring. Nothing of hers would be left behind for someone to find.

Engaging the Eldar stealth generator in her armour, Taylor heading out into the night, bypassing the PRT cameras as she came into shot.

Half an hour later she was close to the rear lot of the first supermarket. Outside the loading bays but out of sight of any cameras. Accessing the computer system was more difficult this time, since it was an enclosed system only operating on standby mode. But she found her way in from the night guard's station where he was sleeping peacefully.

She would definitely be feeling slightly guilty later on when it became apparent that he'd not even registered her theft. Tilting her head, she quickly decided she could mitigate that. There were items in the store that could be used to restrain him and make it look like she'd got the drop on him instead, that would save him some pain.

Nodding decisively she disabled all of the security in the place. Moving to the rear gates she cut the large chain with her sword and moved inside, closing the gates and arranging the chain again after. Unless someone inspected it closely it would still appear secure.

Entering the actual store was just as easy as disassembling the lock mechanism and opening the door, closing it again after to avoid any unwanted attention.

Diverting once inside she moved through the back areas carefully and quietly before coming up to the security office. Finding the door with the guard behind it sleeping, she put her weapons on the floor and changed the mechadendrite back to grabbing arms before opening the door and surging inside.

The poor guard didn't even wake up as she stepped up to the chair he was in, but he woke with a yelp once her tendrils grabbed him and moved him to the floor on his front. Seeing the mechanical arms holding him tight, along with the numerous small green lights that made her face covering helmet, the poor man let out a scream of fright.

Ignoring his fear, Taylor swiftly had him positioned and manacles tightened to essentially hog tie him in position, arms crossed behind his back. Pausing as the screaming continued, she ripped his jacket up from nearby and made it into a crude gag as well. Stepping back she checked the man's condition and her work before deciding it was good enough to last the night. She carefully disengaged the alarm system by removing the buttons for it, leaving the wires so it could be replaced later.

Closing the door behind her as she left, she drove a crude hook into the wall above a light switch outside, hanging the key to the manacles on it and adding a little sign to point it out. Then, any issues averted she moved back down into the main shop.

Standing at the rear of the shop where the street lights didn't reach, Taylor retook command of her various drones and got the teleporters to open wormholes between the storage bay on Mars and her position.

Swarming out of the green edged tear in space, the drones quickly started grabbing entire shelves of merchandise and moving it through to Mars. Leaving her drones to efficiently strip the place of merchandise, Taylor kept an eye on the street outside and watched for anyone that might realise something was happening in the store. Fortunately, no-one passed before she was finished roughly half an hour later.

Happy with her initial acquisitions, and clearing the store-room at the back. Taylor retraced her steps outside, reengaged the security and headed off for her second stop.

…

Her second stop had been a little more difficult, owing to the security guard actually being awake, but with control of the systems in her grasp he had no idea she was in the building before she opened the door to his room. After that it was as easy as looting the first store.

It wasn't until the third stop that she ran into trouble. This place was a suspected E88 front, and its security was much tighter. Taylor decided she must have missed an outside observer, because halfway through her looting spree she recognised the group moving up the road towards the store.

Flanked on either side by a variety of goons, but thankfully not any actual capes, was Hookwolf of the Empire.

Striding along in the middle of the road he looked like he was re-enacting a bad western while daring the world to challenge him. There were smaller groups of armed gangers coming from different directions as well when she checked. This was what she got for neglecting to watch her enemies.

With escape cut-off there was no choice but to fight.

Looking around she deemed there was another 10 minutes before this store was stripped of everything. This being the last of her planned hits for the night she was ready to head back to her planned safe house to finally get some sleep. Now she would have to deal with these idiots first.

Checking the pace and position of the Neo-Nazi cape, Taylor decided she had about five minutes until he got in position to do his usual grand-standing before a fight. He was extremely predictable in his need to pontificate to his enemies.

Consulting the knowledge she'd been given, and running the relevant calculations, Taylor quickly came up with a solution to her issues. Hookwolf was not someone who could be called an easy fight, especially with substandard equipment, so she also had to plan for this mess to gain outside notice as well. She should still be able to turn it to her advantage though.

A significantly showy fight would draw the rest of her opponents away from their positions blocking her escape as they came to enjoy watching Hookwolf hurt or kill someone.

Not moving from her position she allowed the drones to continue the work even as Hookwolf reached the front parking lot and come to a stop facing the floor to ceiling windows. One of his men threw rocks through the windows of the store to break them, but the group didn't move from their position.

It became clear why when the metal wolf masked villain shouted out, "We know you're in there. Come out now. This store is under our protection!"

Tilting her head in thought, Taylor decided that the ridiculous request actually worked in her favour this time. Not only did it give her time to 'give herself up', but it actually told her that the E88 didn't know she was the one robbing the store. She doubted they would have sent Hookwolf alone, or allowed him to try and attack her if he knew.

That surrendered all the momentum and advantage to her.

Decision made, Taylor strode forward from the back of the store, using two of her mechadendrite to ensure she made enough noise for those outside. From the outside cameras she could see the grin on Hookwolf's face as her heard her approach.

"Good choice, moron. Maybe if you're of the right kind we'll let you off with a beating." He spoke with a chuckle in his voice.

That seemed doubtful to Taylor, but the longer she delayed the better off she would be, so she just carried on her steady approach.

Reaching the now broken windows, Taylor didn't pause but moved several steps outside the store. Hookwolf and his people were spread out five metres ahead of her and she was treated to the complete shock on the capes face as he realised just who he was facing.

She had to give him credit though, the shock didn't last long before his eyes started taking everything in, obviously checking out the guns held in her tendrils.

Deciding to add to the group's confusion, she made sure the mechanical modulator in her helmet was working correctly and spoke, "These supplies have been requisitioned by the Adeptus Mechanicus to aid the continued survival of humanity and the rise of the Omnissiah. Interference in the duties of the Mechanicus will incur harsh punishment. Move along."

Punctuating her point, she quickly powered up the Plasma pistol held in one of her tendrils, the blue glow and deadly hum of the weapon adding to the scene. She also engaged the Aeonstave held in her left hand, the poisonous green-black glow of Necron technology radiating danger to any normal person.

The whole group froze as they tried to process that, but the tableau was broken by Hookwolf throwing back his head and laughing uproariously. Eventually getting control of himself, the Neo-Nazi spoke loudly, "Fuck, that was funny girlie. But I know who you are. You're that Hebert kike. Your father has thrown you to the white hat assholes. Kaiser has decided you'll be speaking to him. Thanks to them we know exactly how long you've had your powers, and what shit you had access to. There's no way that thing is more than a pretty little nightlight to me. Come quietly, or don't, and I get my fun."

Moving the plasmas pistol holding tendril closer to her face, Taylor appeared to study the weapon closely for a few seconds, then immediately pointed it Hookwolf and fired in a blur of speed. A chest sized ball of super-heated plasma slammed into the man after screaming across the gap between them. As expected though, the experienced cape had been generating his signature hooks below his skin.

Rather than killing him as it normally would have done it simply blasted him backwards half a dozen metres to crash into the ground. The sound of more metal coming into being mixing with the man's swearing.

Taking advantage of his disability, Taylor pointed the red crystal of her Aeonstave at the shocked normal gang members. The glow of the tool attracted their attention from their fallen boss, but they weren't able to do more than start turning back before the whole group was trapped in a bubble of slowed time.

With the gangers inconvenienced, Taylor ordered her numerous basic defence drones to finish disabling them by firing a shot into each arm and leg. With an almost one to one ratio of drones to gangers, the dozen men and women Hookwolf had kept with him were soon down with carefully applied strikes to their limbs from the close combat weapons her drones carried.

By that point, Hookwolf was back on his feet, or at least what passed for them. Realising that if he charged he would not only have to go through his own men, but he could also destroy her worker drones inside the shop she quickly decided to keep pushing him back. Re-orienting the plasma pistol she started firing shots as fast as the poor cooling capacity allowed her.

Each shot slammed into the changer and blew metal shards off him, but more importantly it also pushed him back a few metres each time so that Taylor could advance further into the street. Once she was beyond the gangers and able to turn so her back was to the rest of the car park she stopped shooting the Neo-Nazi so he'd hear her speak.

"As you can see, it is not a pretty little light. That is the least of my weaponry. You cannot beat me. Surrender or retreat are the only logical options. Give up, immediately." This time her voice was louder, projecting much further. She knew, based on the sounds of impact her plasma pistol produced, that she was being recorded by now. This was about making a point, she'd tried to get him to walk away. Everything after that was on him.

Staggering upright again after the last set of hits, Hookwolf was apparently not in the mood for deescalating the situation based on the swearing. "You fucking bitch! You think you can face the Empire? In this city? You either come fucking quietly, or we see how many limbs and blood lost it takes before I drag your skinny ass to Kaiser."

Howling in fury the cape charged forward, arms of hooks reaching outward to propel him towards Taylor.

Standing calmly as the confirmed killer moved to strike at her, Taylor levelled the plasma pistol without any hurry, preparing to fire when the man had reduced the gap down to half a dozen metres. Firing three lesser shots in quick succession, Taylor watched as the cape dodged out of the way, just as she'd predicted.

Instead of being pushed backwards he instead ran into the strike from her Entropic Lance.

Within seconds the effect became obvious. The shining metal hooks that made up his form darkened and rusted, the front most ones falling away and causing the cape to stumble in his charge. The colour of rust quickly spread across the rest his form, a cloud of red dust being left in his wake as his momentum carried him forward.

The body that hit the ground and slid forward to end up groaning at Taylor's feet was entirely human. None of the metal he was so well known for showing on the capes body. Even his facemask was gone as she looked at an individual that could charitably be called rugged. Most people would agree he looked just as his reputation portrayed him. Ugly and brutal.

Briefly, Taylor considered killing the cape while he was vulnerable, but that train of thought was put to an end when she realised that PRT was closing in on her position via her communication tap. Deciding that the Nazi could provide a good distraction, she slammed the end of two mechadendrite into his body. Eight swift but heavy strikes had the man shouting in pain as she broke his shoulders, upper arms, upper and lower legs in quick succession.

Turning back to the store she moved back inside in time to see the last of her construction drones retreat to Mars.

Surprised at how quickly the entire fight had gone, Taylor none-the-less carried on moving to the rear of the building and outside, swift strides taking her away from the empty store. There were no gang members remaining nearby to stop her.

Analysing the data gained from the fight, Taylor absently engaged her stealth systems and moved first to the rooftops, then heading towards the area of the city she'd picked out as a temporary hideaway.

Watching both the skies, road and communications she was able to come to a stop in the shadow of some air-conditioning units and other rooftop landscaping several times as she carried on moving. Once was due to Velocity speeding along the roads to check for anything, twice was due to Dauntless going overhead in a search pattern, and a final time when the VTOL carrying the unconscious Hookwolf went over her.

Thankfully, between her Eldar stealth systems and the tap into the communications systems she was able to escape the PRT cordon without issue. Twenty minutes later saw her finally reach the house she'd picked, cracking the security and moving inside.

Uncomfortable taking the master bedroom, she moved to the guest bedroom to remove her armour. A quick shower and meal from the canned goods in the kitchen later saw her feeling better. Heading into the bedroom she had enough time to order her drones to monitor communications and the area for anything that might threaten her, with them to wake her up immediately if it happened, before she feel into the bed and sleep claimed her.

Closing note: Yes, another story. Hopefully people are mollified by the fact that I actually have four complete chapters pre-done for this story, and most of the fifth one done. I'll be posting them as I proof-read them. This story just came together so well and so quickly I'm still a little stunned. I haven't forgotten my other stories, and most are being worked on at different points.