Mist of Shadows
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Taylor Hebert Dungeon Girl Part 13
🕑 Added 2018-06-23 00:52:42 +0000 UTC Taylor twitched slightly as Kid Win flew up alongside her hoverboard. “Shit, don’t do that!”Kid Win shouted so he could be heard over the wind, “Sorry Alchemist, where did you get the board?!”
“I made it,” Taylor admitted as she slowed down so she wouldn’t be shouting over the wind.
Kid Win slowed down then hovered in place as he studied Alchemist’s overly thin hoverboard, it looked more like a skateboard than a proper hoverboard. “How did you get your board that thin?”
“Magic,” Taylor replied cheekily and truthfully. She was just glad that Amy had talked about the wards a bit and that Kid Win was a decent person, unlike Sophia.
“Trade secret?” Kid Win asked with a pout.
“Maybe...” she teased, her interactions with his dungeon clone coloring her reactions.
“Have you figured out your tinker specialty yet?”
“If I tell you is it going to find its way into a PRT report somewhere?” Taylor asked warily.
“Ah…” Kid Win trailed off as he didn’t want to lie but was honestly curious what the new tinker could do.
“In that case, let’s go with no.”
“In other words, you have,” he replied with amusement. He frowned slightly as he noticed the lack of air holes on her mask. “How can you breathe?”
“I’m an android,” Taylor lied.
“What?” He sighed as he realized she was messing with him. “You’re not going to tell me are you?”
“And ruin the surprise?” Taylor asked with a touch of amusement.
“Fine, how fast does your board go?” Kid Win asked knowing Armsmaster would want to know and also wondering if her board was faster than his.
“Faster than a bike, not as fast as a bullet?”
He rolled his eyes. “Right, trade secret.”
“That and I don’t have a speedometer,” Taylor admitted.
“You could always start at a mile marker and time how long it takes to get to the next one.” He might be bad at numbers but he wasn’t an idiot, he understood what you could do with math, he just couldn’t always make it work himself.
“Sounds like a plan when I get some free time.”
Kid Win winced slightly as Clockblocker’s voice came over his headset, “Is there a reason you’ve been stationary for three minutes?” He said, “Just a minute, I’ve got Clockblocker in my ear.” He activated his radio. “I ran into Alchemist.”
“Ran into Alchemist?” Clockblocker asked in disbelief as he rechecked the height indicator for the tracking device on Kid Win’s board. “A hundred and twenty feet above the ground?”
“Yep, she has a hoverboard.”
Taylor grinned as she pictured the other end of Kid Win’s conversation.
Clockblocker said, “Nice.”
Kid Win muted the radio again so Clockblocker wouldn’t hear him and said, “Sorry about that, I should get back to my patrol, maybe I’ll see you around?”
“Most likely, it beats taking the bus.” Taylor smiled then turned and headed in the general direction she’d been flying. She made a mental note to pay more attention to what was behind her as well as in front of her as the city had a decent number of flying capes.
“Have fun.” Kid Win turned his board and headed back to where he was supposed to be.
Clockblocker noticed that Kid Win’s tracker was moving again. “Back on task?”
Kid Win unmuted the radio. “Yeah, she flew off towards the harbor.”
“So, what’s she like?” Clockblocker asked curious about the new cape he’d heard about from Vicky.
“Frustrating,” Kid Win admitted.
“Frustrating?” Clockblocker asked with amusement.
“Yeah, her hoverboard looks like a skateboard.”
“So? So does yours.”
“No, I mean it’s about the same size as a skateboard, no idea where she put the components.”
“Miniaturization?” Clockblocker asked with amusement.
“If that’s the case, she’s got Armsmaster beat by a mile.”
“I thought she made potions?”
“And apparently hoverboards that shouldn’t work.”
“File it under Tinkers are bullshit, I do,” Clockblocker replied with amusement.
“This from the guy that can freeze things in time,” Kid Win complained as he continued his patrol.
“Just write up your report and let Armsmaster drive himself crazy trying to figure it out. Did you at least give her the recruitment speech?”
“I didn’t have time, someone interrupted.”
“You’re blaming me?” Clockblocker asked with a smirk in his voice.
“You interrupted me and she left before I could ask, so yeah.”
“I see how it is, toss me under the bus.”
“Of course, she’s a Tinker, Armsmaster is going to be pissed that I didn’t at least try,” Kid Win complained.
“Considering she’s selling stuff to the hospital, I doubt her joining was ever in the cards.”
“Point,” Kid Win admitted.
0o0o0
Victoria stared at the purple hoverboard that Amy had just pulled out of her coat pocket. “How the hell?”
Amy looked at her sister innocently as she dropped the board and it hovered a foot above the ground. “What?”
“Pocket, hoverboard?” Victoria sputtered.
“Use your words.” Amy had a hard time not snickering at the look on her sister’s face and the shocked looks on the couple of the students that were on the sidewalk.
Victoria glared at her sister. “Where did you get that and how how did you stick it in your pocket?”
“Magic?”
“Don’t give me that shit.”
“Ancient Chinese secret?” Amy asked with amusement.
“Amy,” Victoria practically growled.
“Fine, Alchemist gave them to me,” Amy replied as she stepped on her hoverboard.
“She gave you pockets and a hoverboard?”
“Technically the pockets are mine but she was nice enough to expand them,” Amy replied as she pulled her shades out of her pocket and put them on.
“How does that even work?”
“Magic?” Amy asked with amusement as she started toward the salvage yard.
Victoria blinked then flew after her sister hovering a foot above the ground. “No such thing.”
“If you say so.”
“There isn’t,” Victoria said uncertainly as she looked at the board her sister was standing on. It certainly didn’t look like tinkertech but she wasn’t sure what else it could be, maybe a power like Dauntless that they could hand out.
“If it makes you feel better, keep telling yourself that.” Amy grinned as she put on a burst of speed then ‘used’ a car to ‘jump’ into the air much to her sister’s shock.
Victoria stopped and stared for a couple of seconds in shock then zoomed after her sister. “How the hell?”
Amy snickered as she flew through the air over the various businesses. “Magic.”
“Fine, don’t tell me. Where are we going?”
“I’m going to a friend’s, no idea where you’re going.”
“With you,” Victoria replied firmly.
Amy frowned slightly as she realized that she probably couldn’t outrun her sister or at the very least wasn’t going to try without better safety gear and a parachute. “Didn’t you have a date with Dean?”
“Nope.”
“Clothes shopping?”
“No,” Victoria replied with amusement.
“Homework?” Amy asked hopefully.
Victoria snorted. “Now you’re just reaching, one might think that you didn’t want me to come with you.”
‘I need a cloaking device or an invisibility spell.’ Amy sighed. “Fine, suit yourself. You’re the one that’s going to be bored.”
Victoria smirked as she followed Amy, intent on figuring out what was going on.
Kid Win blinked as he saw Victoria chasing someone on a hoverboard. He turned and flew after them. ‘Weirdest patrol, ever.’
Amy landed in the scrap yard. “Okay, I’m here safely, you can go away now.”
Victoria snorted. “Oh, no, I want to know what’s going on.”
“Meeting with a friend?”
“Last I checked, you didn’t have any.”
Amy mock pouted. “That’s cold Vicky, some might even say cruel.”
“But truthful?” Victoria suggested with a smirk.
Amy sighed as she saw Kid Win come in for a landing. “Fuck, what is it with everyone following me today?”
“We’re nosey.”
“Amy?” Kid Win asked in surprise as he glanced between Victoria and Amy.
Amy stepped off the board. “Yes?”
“When did you get a hoverboard, and where did you get a hoverboard?”
“I got it from a friend.”
“Alchemist gave you a hoverboard?” Kid Win asked in surprise.
“More of a trade really but sure.”
“Trade?” Victoria asked warily.
“Sorry, that falls under the none of your business,” Amy said with amusement. She turned to look at Kid Win. “So, why are you here?”
“I saw Glory Girl chasing someone on a hoverboard. Why is everyone stealing my shtick?” he complained.
Amy picked up the hoverboard up and stuck it in her pocket. “Because hoverboards are cool?”
Kid Win blinked. “How did you do that?!”
“Magic,” she sang.
Kid Win sighed. “Great, so... how many boards did she make?”
“A few.”
Victoria said, “Don’t feel bad, she won’t tell me either.”
Taylor frowned slightly as she looked out the window at the extra capes. ‘Great, okay, maybe this isn’t so bad.’ She equipped her armor and her shadow cloak then used her mask’s power to change her hair to dark purple then walked out of the office.
Kid Win blinked as the second story office door opened and a girl in dark blue leather stepped out wearing a creepy shadowy cloak that seemed to eat the light. “Ah, please tell me you know her?”
Amy turned and waved to Taylor. “Yep.”
Victoria asked, “Are you going to introduce us?”
Taylor jumped off the second story landing and landed with barely a sound on the gravel. “You can call me Neverland.”
“Neverland?” Victoria asked curious why someone would call themselves that.
“It works well enough.”
Kid Win studied the cape’s mask. “Let me guess, you got the mask from Alchemist?”
“She does good work.”
Victoria glanced at Amy. “How many new capes do you know?”
“Lots, I’m a healer.” Amy smirked at the look on her sister’s face.
Taylor turned to look at Kid Win. “Anything I can help you with?”
“I don’t suppose you know how her stuff works?”
Taylor laughed. “Not a clue, Tinkers are bullshit.”
Kid Win sighed. “Figured I’d ask.”
“The boards are pretty neat. Speaking of, Alchemist made a board for Vista, she’s a fan. I don’t suppose you could give it to her? Or should I just drop it off at the PRT?”
“I can take it,” Kid Win said quickly.
Taylor pulled a green hoverboard out of her pocket as she walked over to the group. “Here.”
“How much stuff do you have in your pockets?” Kid Win asked in surprise.
“More than a little, less than too much,” Taylor replied as she handed him the board.
“I’m almost afraid of what she’s going to do with this. How do you stay on your board?”
“Don’t go too fast, it’s also got magnetic plates so you should be able to build something for her boots.”
“Gotcha.” Kid Win sighed as he realized he needed to get back to the PRT. “I need to get back, I’ll let Vista know Alchemist is a fan.”
“Best of luck.” Taylor grinned as he left with the green hoverboard. She had a feeling Armsmaster was going to drive himself a bit crazy trying to figure out how the board worked. She just hoped he didn’t cut it apart or anything.
“So now what?” Victoria asked.
Amy waved goodbye at her sister. “Bye?”
“That’s not how this works,” she said smugly, lying on the air like she was prepared to wait around forever.
Taylor had to resist the urge to snicker. “How what works?”
“My sister is acting weirder than normal and I’m curious what your powers are.”
“Trump yes, bullshit tier,” Amy said in a deadpan voice.
Victoria snorted. “Fine, don’t tell me.”
Taylor shrugged. “Honestly, the less people know about our powers the safer we are, gangs like to grab Tinkers, I’d rather not have to rescue her if I don’t have to. Besides, I’d rather not have everyone prepared to counter us if they do come after us.”
“I’m not going to tell anyone, I can keep a secret.”
Amy fake coughed, “Dean!”
“I don’t tell Dean everything,” Victoria defended herself.
“True enough,” Amy admitted.
Taylor had a feeling her power was going to get out eventually and they could use her help. “Okay, you have to promise not to tell anyone.”
“Promise,” Victoria replied.
“Okay, I’ll show you. Follow me.” Taylor walked into the building and headed for the bathroom.
Victoria smirked victoriously at Amy then followed the strange cape.
Amy sighed as she followed her sister into the building. ‘She’s going to tell Dean or Carol, nothing good will come of this.’ She looked around the freshly cleaned shop. “Looks nice.”
Taylor focused on her Gummi Bear dungeon and opened the door. “Yeah, it should make an awesome lab once we get stuff moved in.”
Victoria blinked as she looked at the blue film that covered the doorway. “You can open doors to forests? That’s the big secret?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that.”
Amy piped up, “She makes dungeons, you can get your Collateral Damage Barbie Girl mojo on and no one will care.”
Victoria turned to glare at her sister then blinked as she processed the rest of the sentence. “Wait, what?”
“She makes dungeons, we can walk in and kill the monsters. It’s great for training.”
“Okay, this I’ve got to see.” Victoria smiled as she thought about being able to stop holding back.
Taylor walked into the dungeon then looked at the table and blinked as two more bear costumes appeared as Victoria and Amy walked in.
Victoria frowned as she looked at the bear costumes on the table. “Weren’t there two costumes to start with?”
“One costume per person.”
“Wait, you expect us to wear these?” Victoria asked disbelief.
Taylor pointed at the wooden sign that said the costumes were required. “If you want to get into the forest so you can smash ogres, yeah.”
“If this is a trick, you’re so walking to school for the next month.” She flew toward the forest then frowned slightly as she bounced off an invisible wall. “How the hell?”
Amy shook her head as she walked over to the table and grabbed a costume. “It’s not a trick, her dungeons have rules and themes.”
“Fine, but no pictures,” Victoria grumbled as she floated back over to the table and worked on putting the bear costume on over her clothes.
Taylor grabbed her costume and starting putting it on. She was hoping that Glory Girl could distract the ogres long enough for her to collect enough gummi berries to make gummiberry juice.
Victoria blinked as she finished putting on her costume and changed into a Gummi Bear. “What the *bleep*? Bleep? *Bleep?*”
“Yeah, sorry, Gummi Bears can’t swear.”
“*Bleep?* What the *bleep!* *Bleep!... *bleep*, *bleep?*”
“What part of can’t swear don’t you understand?” Taylor asked with amusement.
“I can’t even say *bleep*.”
“Yeah, the Gummi Bears are from a kids’ show.”
Victoria sighed. “Fine.”
Amy snickered as she finished putting on her costume and changed into a Gummi Bear. “*Bleep*, *bleep*, bleepity, *bleep*!”
“Bleepity?” Victoria asked with a touch of annoyance.
Amy just smirked at her sister.
Taylor shook her head then headed into the forest. “Hopefully we can grab enough berries to make juice.”
“Juice?” Victoria asked.
“Yep, Gummiberry Juice lets Gummi Bears bounce like rubber balls.”
“This is a good thing?” Victoria asked unsure why she’d volunteered for this crap.
Amy snickered. “Not all of us can fly.”
Taylor snickered as she jumped to the first Gummiberry bush to start grabbing berries.
“Where are the ogres?” Victoria asked as she glanced around the forest.
“Deeper, in the forest.” Taylor pointed toward the deeper part of the forest where she’d seen the ogre the last time she was in the dungeon.
“In that case, I’ll be back.” Victoria grinned as she flew off to find an ogre to smash.
“How dangerous are the ogres?” Amy asked as she watched her sister fly off.
Taylor continued picking the bush as she replied, “Eh, you reappear at the start of the dungeon if they hit you, which is good because they’re not all that easy to hurt.”
“That’s good to know. I don’t suppose you brought an extra container?” Amy asked absently as she glanced around at the various bushes.
Taylor pulled a berry container out of her pocket and held it out for Amy. “Several.”
“Thanks.” Amy grabbed the container then started picking berries.
“How long do you think she’ll play with the ogres before she gets fed up?” Taylor asked curious about Victoria’s level of patience.
“It depends on how the dungeon counts hits, if all it takes is having her force field hit to send her back to the start, she’ll probably be ready to leave in a couple of minutes, if she can just mindlessly bash on things, we’ll probably have to drag her out.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Taylor agreed as she switched to the next bush.
Amy shook her head. “Nothing says therapy like smashing things?”
Taylor grinned as she thought about her Winslow dungeon. “Or shooting them with arrows or lightning. Speaking of lightning, I’ve got some resistance armor and lightning gloves for you when we get out of here.”
“Cool, have you heard from the guys about what they want to do for their show?”
“I talked to them last night, they have some vague ideas. We also steamrolled the first two levels of the Diablo dungeon with the lightning resistance armor I made.”
“Sweet, did you get anything interesting?” Amy asked curious what they’d picked up while she’d been at the hospital.
“I managed to get part of the recipe of an elixir that permanently increases magic and a healing spell so I’m calling it a win.”
Amy turned and stared at Taylor. “You found a healing spell?”
“It only heals a little damage, about as much as a single stab wound, but it’s a start.”
“We’re going to have to farm that book, a lot.”
“I know, I’m just trying to figure out how to avoid getting pressed ganged by the PRT or one of the gangs,” Taylor complained.
“The easiest is probably finding a way to teleport. If you can teleport between your house and somewhere in town, the chances of you getting caught would be a lot less.”
“It would certainly help,” Taylor agreed then turned to look as Victoria stalked out of the starting zone carrying a large wooden club.
Amy winced as she noticed her sister’s scowl. “What happened?”
Victoria complained, “I got benched for excessive violence.”
“Excessive violence? Against what?” Taylor asked in surprise.
“Against the ogres, I knocked out the first two ogres without a problem then they cheated and got back up after my back was turned so I used the club one of them dropped and cracked his skull open which was when I got teleported back to the start for a time out.”
“At least you have a new club,” Taylor offered.
“I guess.” Victoria glanced down at her wooden club, surprisingly cracking the ogre’s skull open hadn’t damaged it. “Do you have any dungeons where I can just kill the monsters without getting dropped in a timeout box?”
“Most of them, this one is just weird.” Taylor put the container of berries in her pocket then grabbed another container and switched bushes.
Victoria glanced between Amy and Taylor. “How many berries are you going to pick?”
“Just the rest of this bush then we can grab Amy’s armor and hit a more interesting dungeon.”
“Amy has armor?” Victoria asked in surprise.
Amy snorted. “Of course, I’m not going to run around exploring dungeons without armor.”
“Wait, how dangerous are the dungeons?” Victoria asked warily.
Taylor dropped another handful of berries in her container. “Depends on the dungeon, the dungeon I’m thinking of hitting has demons that toss lighting.”
“Like actual lightning or electricity?” Victoria asked a touch concerned about her shield holding up.
“More like streams of electricity.”
“Ah,” Victoria muttered nervously.
Amy said, “Don’t worry, I’m sure Neverland has an extra set of resistance gear you can borrow.”
Victoria turned and looked at Amy. “Amy?”
“What? I’ve seen the monsters in the other dungeon, without the resistance gear, there’s a good chance of you dying, we’re not doing that.”
Victoria sighed as she realized that her sister was probably right. “Fine, let’s see the armor.”
Taylor gestured at her armor. “Pretty much what I’m wearing, other than the mask.” She’d rather not let Victoria borrow an extra theater mask and figure out that it gave her a minor changer rating.
“I could wear that,” Victoria admitted.
“Good,” Amy snapped.
Taylor made a mental note to ask Amy about her sister’s vulnerability later but she didn’t have a problem spending a couple of minutes and making her a suit of lightning resistance gear. “That’s enough berries for now, let’s get you outfitted.” She turned and bounced back toward the exit.
Victoria frowned slightly as she walked out of the dungeon and her club didn’t vanish unlike her bear costume. “Why didn’t the club vanish?”
Amy laughed. “You didn’t think we were risking our lives for nothing did you?”
Victoria turned and looked at Amy. “What?”
“Loot, we get to keep anything that drops off monsters.”
Victoria blinked. “That’s insane.”
“Pretty much yeah, so no telling anyone.”
Taylor said, “I’d rather not have everyone know that I can kill monsters for stuff, it’s far too valuable. The PRT would want to stick me in a cage, I’m sure it would be a very nice cage but yeah, I’d rather avoid that.”
“To say nothing of what the gangs would do,” Amy pointed out.
Victoria winced as she thought about the lengths some of them went to in order to get useful capes. “Yeah, I can see that.”
Taylor closed the door to the dungeon then focused on her workshop and opened the door. “Okay, I’ll show Amy her armor then I’ll work on making you some armor.”
“How long will that take?”
“Just a couple of minutes. Alchemist makes potions, I make armor and gear.” Taylor walked into her workshop and headed over to the chest she’d put the extra suit of armor in.
“Cool,” Victoria replied as she followed her sister through the door into a workshop that should by all rights lead to a bathroom. She glanced around the shop. “If your power gives you a workshop, why do you need the shop?”
“Some of the stuff I can build needs more space.” She pulled Amy’s armor out then handed it to her. “Here.”
Amy grinned as she started putting her armor on. “Thanks, this is going to be awesome.”
Victory asked, “Do you need to take measurements?”
“No, my power deals with that.” Taylor opened her crafting menu and started crafting Victoria’s lightning resistant armor. “I think we’ll just go with one of the glass helms rather than use the mask.”
“That’s going to give me helmet hair, isn’t it?” Victoria asked warily.
Amy snorted as she finished pulling her greaves on. “And keep what passes for your brains in your skull, nice and safe like they’re supposed to be.”
“Fine….” Victoria trailed off as Neverland’s hands blurred and a pair of nice leather boots appeared out of thin air in Neverland’s hands. “Holy shit. You can just conjure stuff?”
“No, I just turn materials into a finished product.” Taylor tossed the boots to Victoria then started on her greaves.
Amy smirked. “Really quickly.”
Taylor grinned.
“So you’re a Tinker?” Victoria asked as she started putting the boots on.
“I make stuff, does that make me a Tinker?” Taylor asked with a touch of amusement.
“Pretty much.”
“There you go,” Taylor replied as she finished the greaves. She dropped them on the ground then started on the chest piece. She was looking forward to hitting the Diablo dungeon and maybe the lightning cats if things went well with the demons before the guys showed up.
Comments
Mist of Shadows
Fixed.. thanks.
Jason N. Lundquist
Like the story very much. Noticed a spelling error - parachute not parashoot when Amy thinks about trying to outrace Victoria.
