Chapter 6: 6. Toybox

I open the door to the testing room, dragging my cart full of inventions behind me. Before I can get too far, I’m accosted by a familiar figure in his super suit. Burnout. My best friend, Dustin. “So, did you get the position?” His voice is hopeful as he’s practically bouncing in the hall. Reflex and Ballast stayed behind me in the room, saying that they had some things to discuss while I get acquainted with the base. They messaged Tempo, saying that she would show me to my new lab space. I hadn’t been expecting Dustin to be waiting outside the door for me.

I scratch idly at the back of my head, looking away. “They offered me a full time position, actually?” I say slowly, still digesting everything that happened.

“Oh my god, Seb, that’s-” Dustin starts saying, his eyes shining. I cut him off before he can finish what he’s about to say.

“But! I didn’t take it.” I explain. “Not yet. I need to think about it. I am an emergency hero for now.”

“Oh. Right, yeah. I guess that is a big decision. Still! Now we’re teammates!” Dustin says, practically bouncing in excitement. I smile sincerely at him. He may be six foot tall and incredibly imposing even when I’m not over half a foot shorter than normal, but he’s a big softy despite that.

“Burnout?” Dustin turns around, looking over at the person who’s just joined us.

“Hey, Tempo. Sorry, I’m about to finish up that paperwork. I just wanted to check up on my friend the moment his interview ended.” Dustin salutes to her, turning back to me briefly. “We’ll catch up later!” He dashes off, not using his power thankfully. Dustin has yet to tell me about what his fog trails actually do, but I’m fairly certain that it does more than just be hard to see through.

Tempo shakes her head at him, sighing deeply. “That boy…” She shakes her head and turns to me with a demure smile. “Hi, you probably know already, but I’m Tempo. You can call me Lily when we’re not on duty if you want.” She holds out her hand and I shake it gently. She winces slightly, but looks grateful that my handshake isn’t hand crushing like Reflex’s. She catches me looking at her hand, and offers an explanation. “Had a run in with a new villain the other day. Took a bad hit to my hand before I could use my power on her. Mostly okay, but that hand is still tender.”

I wince at that, a memory of barrelling into Tempo the other day coming to mind. I guess I had managed to do some damage before they caught me. “Ah,” I say simply, happy to let that topic die.

From up close, I can actually tell that Tempo’s eyes look distinctly reptilian. Looking at the section of skin showing at the end of her sleeves and between her gloves, I can actually tell that she has scales. I hadn’t realized before that Tempo had any non-human features.

“So, you’re the ‘best friend’ that Burnout mentions so often?” I quirk an eyebrow at that.

“He talks about me?” I try not to sound so surprised, but it is genuinely surprising.

She chuckles at that, “all the time. You’re his favorite topic.” I feel myself go a bit red in the face at that.

“That’s… flattering I guess.” I say nervously, unsure what else to say. I didn’t really think I was worth talking about. I clear my throat, shaking thoughts of what Dustin might be saying about me away. “You can call me Toybox. Or Sebastian, I guess.”

She nods at that, gesturing for me to follow her. “Toybox, huh? That’s your hero name?”

“Yup,” I explain further, “Random inventions, it felt fitting.”

Tempo looks over her shoulder at me, “That’s not all your power does, is it?”

I sigh, looking up at the ceiling in thought. “I thought so. Apparently my inventions can’t be affected by other people’s powers?” I look back down at her and she’s looking thoughtfully at me.

“I don’t suppose you’ve ever made a super suit for someone? Maybe black and green, with a skirt?” She asks, staring me in the eyes.

I can feel my heart rate increasing at that question. I keep walking, pretending to think about it. “Nope. Never made a suit.” I shake my head slightly for good effect.

She stares at me for a second longer before sighing. “Yeah, figures. Thought I should ask anyway.” We continue walking and she shows me several rooms along the way. A couple of recreation rooms, gyms for working out, a slightly sturdier sparring room, and several other rooms more commonly used by the non-powered workers of this base. The super team is only a very small portion of the staff at Wardens HQ after all.

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“Sensate, we’ve got company.” Tempo leads me into another recreational room one floor up. Sensate is chilling on the couch, playing video games. It’s such a domestic scene, I almost feel out of place seeing him like this. He gets up from the couch, stretching his wings wide as he does so.

He steps forward, holding his hand out for me. There sure is a lot of handshaking involved in this whole meeting my new coworkers thing. “Hey, you must be the new emergency hero I heard about. The Tinker.”

I grimace, shaking his hand. “Yeah. Name’s Sebastian. Hero name is Toybox.”

He smirks at that. “Cute.” I scowl at his back as he walks over to the couch. Next time I’m out as Soft Paw I’m going to need to make sure to kick his ass a bit. “Nice to meet you, Tinker.” Before he can sit down, his watch beeps and he clicks it. “Aw, hell, I’m needed at the mall. Unpowered incident.” He grunts, immediately heading for a door on the opposite wall. He presses a button and it opens up to a balcony. The door closes as he pumps his wings, lifting off of the ground and flying off towards the incident.

Tempo taps my shoulder softly, “Sorry about him. He can be a bit much sometimes. Come on, I’ll show you where your lab is before I have to go out on my patrol.”

I nod, following her out into the hall, picking up the handle of my cart and dragging it after us. “Eh. I’m used to snide comments.” I respond, somewhat bitterly. She blinks at that, looking over at me.

She seems to debate over whether to say anything, but she chooses to say something. “You are?” I nod, humming affirmatively. “But, you’re a Tinker?”

I let out a breath. “Yeah, I am. Thanks for reminding me.” She winces at that and I sigh slightly, shifting apologetically. “Sorry, I just… I can’t seem to do anything without people talking about my family. Without being compared to them.”

She frowns at that, looking at me thoughtfully. “I’m sorry. That must be hard.”

I shrug, “I deal. I try to stay out of the spotlight. The less I have to hear people talking about me, the better.”

“Is that why you became an emergency hero and not a full time one?”

“It’s part of the reason.” I say, looking back at my cart I’m dragging along. “Another part is that I didn’t know my inventions had a resistance to powers. People might look at my power differently if they knew that.”

Tempo nods, the two of us walking in silence for a few seconds. “You didn’t seem to mind when I told you that Burnout talks about you,” she notes, looking over at me curiously.

I sputter gently, waving a hand. “That’s different. Dustin and I go way back. When Dustin talks about me, I know that he’s talking about me. Not whatever the media seems to think about me.” I explain, feeling slightly warmer than before. She just hums in response, returning to looking straight ahead.

Tempo stops us at an unmarked door near the end of the hall. She swipes a card and it opens up. “Well, Toybox, here we are. Your permanent room. It’s actually next to the room your mother uses if she has a reason to be spending time at the base.” She hands me the card, looking me in the eye as she does so. “I hope that’s alright. If not, I’m sure that Reflex would be willing to find you a new room.”

I shrug again, looking around the room. “It’s fine. Nearly the same as when I’m living with her. I doubt that we’ll be spending extensive time here around the same times.” The room is simple, but I note with approval that there’s a small lab area set up. Welders, Soldering guns, a collection of nails and bolts, and some other standard inventors equipment. I drag the cart over to the table, leaving it there.

“Well, if that’s all, please take some time to get acquainted with the facilities. Here is a communication device.” She reaches into her pocket, handing me a bracelet. I slip it on my left wrist, the wrist opposite the bracelet containing my Soft Paw Suit. “Reflex said that he’ll message you in a bit to set up a suit fitting with one of the Wardens designers. He’ll also probably have you sign a bunch of papers regarding the position and go over the rules related to being an Emergency Warden.” I nod slowly, taking her words in.

“Boring stuff then.” She smiles at that, nodding in response. I’ve already had most of it banged into my head when I was younger, and he must know that. It’s a formality if anything. At least the suit designing should be interesting. I hope it looks nice. “Thanks for the tour, Lily. Good luck on your patrol.” I give her a kind smile. Out of the Wardens, she’s been the most friendly and helpful so far. Not counting Dustin.

She nods, turning for the door. “Thanks, Sebastian. And, welcome again to the Wardens, Toybox.” The door closes automatically behind her and I look around my new room. I flop down onto the slightly hard cushion and slightly softer pillow of the bed connected to the far wall. This bed could never compare to how soft I can make the bare ground with my new power. I sigh, thinking through the events of the last few days in my head.

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