Gestation 1.6
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Gestation 1.6 is the sixth chapter of Gestation. In it, Taylor meets Armsmaster and they talk about the possible repercussions of a new hero taking down Lung.
Synopsis
With Lung presumably defeated, knowing a hero is on the way, a physically and mentally exhausted Taylor stays at the scene, in part to avoid being labeled a 'bad guy' by yet another individual.
The hero turns out to be Armsmaster, one of the top heroes in the United States, leader of the local Protectorate team and a member of the core group of the Protectorate members that deploys to major incidents. Armsmaster verifies that she isn't dangerous, accepting her assurance that she's a hero with a speed that surprises her. He checks that she is okay, and she verifies she is. After exchanging some words on the Wards and Taylor verifying Lung's successful capture, Armsmaster sheds some light on the group that Taylor had just encountered, the Undersiders; primarily that the local heroes know very little about them. They're elusive villains with a very strong track record, they've received little media attention, and the local authorities have no ideas about the powers of two of the four individuals.
Armsmaster raises his next concern - he urges Taylor to stay quiet about her involvement in Lung's capture, suggesting that she'd face retaliation from Bakuda and Oni Lee, or to join the Wards, in which case her team would be able to protect her. Taylor recognizes Armsmaster's true motives: that he wishes to take credit himself, and she reluctantly agrees, knowing it puts her in his good graces.
She ventures home, assuring herself that her first night in costume didn't go too badly, and bemoaning the fact that she would be waking up to face the same sort of day in school that she ran into at the arc's beginning.
Characters
Trivia
- Author's note: At this point in the story, I hadn't settled on a name for Taylor's costumed identity (and, as it happens, I didn't come to a decision until the interlude of arc 3). This is a case of real life writing the plot, and her comments to Armsmaster echo my own thoughts on the subject.
- Names that were considered included Bug and Myriad.
- The device Armsmaster talks about using to pin Lung to the sidewalk is the same device he uses in Tangle 6.6.