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Fantasy Powers to the People

BestrJestr

BestrJestr

Junior Member

  • In the year 2020 the planet Earth was besieged by a hive-minded alien race called the Inheritors. During the invasion the Inheritors let loose a parasite of their own design that would take root within the host and subjugate it to the hive minds influence. This worked to turn the people against each other, and all hope seemed lost. However, an unforeseen side-effect would soon lead to the Inheritors downfall. The parasites also modified human DNA, giving the hosts a wide variety of superhuman abilities. At first this was used against the humans, as the host was still under the Inheritors control. However after the discovery that sufficient electric shock panicked the parasite causing it to flee the host, the tides of the war soon turned. The Powered People rallied around a single group of heroes, calling themselves The Final Force, consisting of five heroes: Innovator, Deus Volt, Druid, Rainier, and Jackdaw. Millions of people Powered and Unpowered alike died in this war before it's end in the middle of 2025. The Inheritors were destroyed after a daring mission to destroy the hive mind's source in the mother-ship hovering above Seattle. The mission was led by Innovator, Jackdaw, and Rainier, while Druid and Deus Volt carried the fight on the ground, and included a military demolition team. Halfway through the mission the demo team was shot out of an airlock, losing the explosive in the process. This led to the team trying to fight the hive mind instead. During the battle Jackdaw disappeared and the remaining two were losing the battle fast. It was then that Rainier decided to make the ultimate sacrifice. He shoved Innovator into the airlock and jettisoned him to safety, and then he erupted in a kamikaze explosion that destroyed the mother-ship and the hive mind all in one. The war was won, however an energy surge from the ship permanently altered the Earths atmosphere, causing more cases of Powered people to spring up randomly for years to come. The years that followed the war would allow for people to settle down and process the existence of Powered Individuals. Social anxiety and tension began to form leading to the establishment of laws and organizations to handle things as help quell public outcry. The next 25 years would bring about the formation of the Paragon Legion, the infamous Dominus Contentionem, the chaotic Anarkings, and most recently the Brotherhood of Outcasts. These four factions are only the most prominent of their kind, as more and more people try to form their own groups, tensions are at an all time high.
 
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I wasn’t always this way. Well, what I mean is I grew up “normal”. Actually, I guess that’s not true either. Let me start over. “My name is Eddie Winkler, and I’m a… 'Powered Individual'. I fucking hate that word... term, whatever.”

“Eddie!” My mom burst out, clearly disapproving of my language choice.

“It’s OK Martha, this office is a safe space. If Eddie here feels that kind of language is needed to express himself then he should use it. Well, it’s okay here I should say. You should still follow your normal rules at home.

"Sorry for the interruption Eddie but before you continue I just want to say how proud I am that you finally said the words. ‘Powered individual’. You shouldn’t be ashamed, you should be proud! It’s just another thing that makes you, you.”

He smiled, but that just pissed me off more. I wasn’t ashamed. I’m not ashamed. I’m just pissed about a lot of stuff. Having to go to group therapy with my parents and these other wierdos for one thing.

Anyway fuck these pricks. What I was saying is that I grew up a normal kid. Dad worked a lot and mom was a typical overbearing type. They raised me up right, and what I mean by that is the constant nagging and warning me about dangers and being careful made me a socially awkward mess. I had no self-confidence, little self-esteem and what friends I did manage to get by the time I got to high school were just as dweeby as I was, if not more.

So one day my dad tries to convince me to go outside or join sports or something.As you can imagine that conversation didn’t go so well. We got in one of those puberty fights where I think I’m grown up enough to talk back, so my dad puts his foot down and says he’s taking me camping that weekend.

Honestly, I thought he was bluffing, but come Friday we load up the car and head out to some nowheresville campsite up on the mountain, just the two of us. I guess it was about time he teach me how to be a man or something. Good luck dad.

It definitely didn’t go as planned though. A cougar showed up in camp and pounced on me, probably because I was holding a hotdog. Might have actually been because I screamed like a little bitch and ran away from it. Can’t be sure which, but I looked it up later and found out that experts say not to run from big cats, so now I tend to guess the latter.

You know those miraculous stories where a parent or grandmother does the impossible to rescue a loved one? Well that pretty much happened from what I ended up hearing, but I blacked out some point soon after the mauling began so I really can’t confirm.

Now from here on out I’m just working with what I heard during the court proceedings of the malpractice lawsuits, which my parents won by the way, so if I get some details wrong blame them, not me.

According to the doctors, I was dead before I even got to the ambulance. It severed my spine at the base of my skull, I bled out from my injuries, my heart stopped, and I died.That was all on record, but it’s the spinal injury that killed me according to the defense attorney, which according to them is why they shouldn’t be considered in malpractice for diagnosing me dead. Cats are super efficient I guess. Didn’t feel too efficient when it was tearing me up though.

From the diagnosis they let my parents know what happened, and they shipped me off down to the morgue for whatever the fuck they do down there before they send me off to the funeral home. Now, I don’t really know how long it took before the doctor responsible for that stuff got around to working on me, but apparently while my body was waiting it put itself back together. My spine reconnected, my broken bones fixed up, and my cuts sealed themselves up. Anything I was missing grew back too, which is nice, because that would have sucked.

In fact the guy who was supposed to work on me (or whatever) said he thought it was a prank since my body was perfectly intact. It certainly didn’t match up with what the chart said. He said he never had a situation like that before, and everyone he consulted in the hospital was just as confused as he was. They checked my vitals and ultimately decided that since I was still dead, they would just ship me off to the funeral home anyway and not worry my parents with them. Legally speaking this is probably where the judge decided to rule in favor of malpractice since, aside from this strange scenario, they followed every procedure correctly, and I can’t see why a judge would think that many doctors couldn’t figure out if a boy was dead or not. Well that or how persistent my parents can be, but I digress.

So they get me to the funeral home, and the guy trying to prepare me gets a bit of a surprise. He’s trying to figure out how to get my body prepared since none of his tools are penetrating my skin, and all of a sudden I wake up and start screaming.

This part I remember. I’m naked, in a strange place with a strange man holding scary looking tools, so naturally I freak the fuck out and start knocking shit over, backing myself into a corner because I’m freaking out too much to figure out where the door might be. Meanwhile, he’s freaking the fuck out because his corpse just came back to life and started screaming at him from nowhere.

Like most people would in his position he ran out of the room, shut and locked the door, and started making frantic phone calls to anyone he could. After he calmed down he assumed it was a prank as well, and after discussing things with the doctors and my parents, my folks came and took me home, and that’s when the lawsuit started.

Because of how traumatized my parents were, and they assumed I was as well, they wouldn’t let anyone do much to figure out what the fuck really happened with my body, so ultimately they won the case and my new powers were diagnosed simply as “healing factor.” I’m pretty certain there’s more to it than that, and after a little experimenting of my own I know for a fact that’s the case, I just don’t really know what else there is to know.

Aaaand that’s what brings me here. To my support group and to the years of therapy that I’ve been undergoing since the incident. The kidnapping a week after my “rebirth” didn’t help things either. Damn I hate therapy.

“…and I just want to add how brave you are for sharing that today Marcy.

"Now, that just about does it for today’s group session. If everyone could join me in saying our support group’s motto one more time please: I’m still me, I’ll always be me, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Oh, I didn’t mention the group chanting? My mistake. Creepy as fuck is what that is.

I stood up to leave but my dad grabbed my arm. He was still busy with work all the time, despite the retarded amount of money we got from the hospital, but he always made time for my group meetings. I didn’t know whether to feel loved or annoyed honestly.

Because I haven’t had a sense of touch since the incident, I really only realized he’d grabbed my arm by the fact that I didn’t proceed forward as planned.

“Eddie, we talked about this.” He said in a stern manner that was intended to also relay empathy.

I let out a groan.

“I thought I didn’t have to talk about that until my therapy session, plus it wasn’t a big deal anyway.”

My mother started choking on tears. So dramatic. My dad must have sensed my mood toward this because he gave me an even sterner look, without the empathy.

“Dr. Lang is your therapist, and we’re here now. It wouldn’t hurt to bring it up a little early if we can. Come on.”

I rolled my eyes and followed.

“Mr. and Mrs. Winkle, Eddie, how are you guys today?” he asked with the same creepy smile he always used.

As far as I knew Mr. Lang wasn’t a “powered individual”, but he was “sympathetic to the cause”. Actually he was one of those dorky hippy type protesters that believes he can make a difference. I didn’t know whether I should appreciate him for supporting us or punch him for appropriating our situation.

“We’re getting by, living life one day at a time just like you recommended,” Mom sniffled, wiping her tears away.

“but, there was an incident a few days ago.”

God dammit Mom.

“Oh?” Dr. Lang said in a tone that was, as always, too empathetic to me. “Is everything alright?”

“Well…” Dad chipped in. “We decided he should tell you himself.”

As I went to open my mouth, he crossed his arms and gave me a look.

God dammit dad.

I sighed before I began talking.

“Mom and Dad think I was trying to kill myself…” I muttered.

“Were you?” Dr. Lang asked patiently, looking as concerned as he possibly could.

I swear that man’s face is like play doh. Just when you think he can’t convey more emotion he just does. Maybe he does have a power. Ultimate cringe factor.

“Of course no-” I began, but mom interrupted.

“He was trying to cut his wrists with a kitchen knife!”

Why do I even try?

“Is that true Eddie?” Dr. Lang asked surprised, as both my parents nodded in response.

“I wasn’t-” I started again.

“If Randy hadn’t come home late from work that night, I don’t know what would have happened… We had already gone to sleep, and everything seemed fine!” Mom interjected. Again.

“What else are we supposed to think Son?” Dad chipped in.

Dr. Lang shook his head. “Let’s let Eddie finish telling us his side of things.”

I looked at both my parents, who were genuinely concerned, and then back at Dr. Lang, unsure what to think about his legitimacy.

“I just wanted to see what would happen, and I did, and I’m fine. It honestly wasn’t that big a deal.”

My mother went to speak again, but Dr. Lang cut in.

“Maybe to you it wasn’t that big a deal, but think about what your mom and dad must be going through. Don’t you think that might be a little selfish? They already thought they lost you once.”

Maybe I should have been more sympathetic, but I was just mad that he was taking their side.

“So what? I have a ‘healing factor’, that big cat couldn’t kill me so why get bent out of shape over a fucking knife! It’s my body, I think I should be able to… you know whatever. Besides, you guys weren’t even supposed to know about it. I’m FINE!”

There was a silence as tears crept back into my mom’s eyes, my dad putting his arm around her, them both looking back to Dr. Lang.

“Well,” He began. “At your age it’s perfectly natural to want to experiment with one’s own body, and for powered individuals it’s not uncommon to want to push your limits and see the full extent of your powers either, but you really shouldn’t do that on your own. If you really want to know, you should talk to your parents about making a doctor’s appointment.

"However, we also shouldn’t dismiss this as ‘not a big deal’ either. Cutting your wrists is a pretty obvious sign of either some serious emotions or a cry for attention. I might think if you were really just experimenting that you might do so somewhere there might be less harm.

"Are you sure there’s nothing you want to talk about Eddie? Don’t forget, this is a safe place.”

I shook my head. I didn’t like the mandatory sessions with him, I didn’t like group, I certainly wasn’t going to sit here and give myself and extra session.

“No, can we go now?”

“No you aren’t sure or no there’s nothing to talk about?” Dr. Lang reached, hoping for a ‘breakthrough’ I’m sure.

I just gave him a look that I hoped conveyed the lividity I suddenly felt, and my dad told me I could wait in the car. Apparently they wanted to talk to him a bit more.

So fucking sick of this shit.

I mean, I kind of get it. That whole fiasco at the hospital was a pretty big deal, and the kidnapping did scare the shit out of me, but it’s been three years. I’m fine now, and I’m not big on sharing, so shouldn’t it be my choice to go to therapy or not? My choice to go to support meetings?

I mean really I don’t need to sit around trying super hard to relate to people to feel OK with myself. I really don’t mind having powers, and it’s not my fault if people are assholes because of it.

Besides, I have bigger problems.

So, in order to get into this I have to give a little more context about what happened that night long ago, a week from my day on the mortician’s slab.

Now, the whole night was sort of scary as fuck, so I can’t give you all the details. Things get fuzzy in our memories when we panic, or at least mine does, so excuse me for lack of detail.

I was sleeping, then suddenly I hear a bunch of people in my room. I’m scared shitless, I’m going to scream but one of them covers my mouth as they grab me, says if I scream they’re going to cut my throat, so I shut the fuck up and hope for the best.

It was a pretty simple kidnapping. They took me to a warehouse at some docks, just like you’d see in the movies. There were other powered kids there as well, I guess they were planning to ship us somewhere.

Even though I was scared, the fanboy in me was interested to see three villains I recognized from Dominus Contentionum. Unsettler, Biohazard, and Hellhound. Luckily for me though Seraph showed up as they were loading the boat and started cutting people to pieces. It was truly horrifying, and I probably would have been scarred for life if it wasn’t for the fact that zir powers did something to us when ze cloaked us in light. It just made us feel better.

Honestly that’s one reason my parents never had trouble fending off curious people, and possibly why none of the various “groups” of “superheroes” have tried to contact me. My parents just had so much justification that if they pitched a fit pretty much anyone would leave them alone. Well, could also be that I’m not as interesting as I think I am, but evidently someone doesn’t think that’s the case.

See, what I mean is that even though I saw Seraph cleave him in half, Hellhound has been sighted several times in the years since the incident. Thing is, it’s always in a drastically different place. The part that makes that scary is my dad moves us around a lot from work, and the sightings are always near the places we’re living!

Now, that’s gotten me thinking lately, as well as shitting and pissing my pants in terror. Not literally mind you, but damn.

To put this in perspective for you, I’ll let you in on something regarding Hellhound. He’s kind of the Dominus Contentionum’s hunting dog. Not only is this organization the leading big bad name in super villain history, but that means if they need someone found, it’s him that sniff’s them out and kills them. Usually with brutal efficiency. At least that’s what they say in the media, well, and the internet.

As far as his powers go he’s been reported to be strong, fast, and have bestial qualities. Like Sabretooth from the X-men. But the kicker here is that he has fire powers too.

Right? Fuck that. So the last several months I’ve been re-kindling old friendships, pretending to rekindle others, pretending to make new friends, and creating for all intents and purposes, an active, normal, healthy, social life.

That’s why it sucked so much when dad walked in on me experimenting with the knife. See the social life isn’t about safety in numbers or trying to life what’s left of my life to the fullest. It isn’t even about finally getting over the social problems I’ve been having that has made me a “loner” in the first place.

It’s about misdirection.

I’ve decided if this mother fucker is going to come for me, I’m going down swinging this time. Literally.

I bought a spandex jumpsuit, a wig, a simple plastic mask, and a baseball bat a while ago. Entertaining the idea of trying to become a superhero. Then, when the sightings of Hellhound got reported, I got myself an axe and a machete as well, just in case.

I also got a knife, but that’s for utility and not self-defense or offense. Well, I mean unless I have to.

The point is that having an active social life allows my parents to believe that I’m out with a friend when I say I am, or that I’m tired and asleep from hanging out with said friends when I say I am. Even though I don’t actually sleep as much anymore. Sometimes I stay awake so often I hallucinate, which can be both fun and scary.

So anyway that’s why I had been experimenting in the first place. I was trying to see if I could chop off my hand. Turns out I couldn’t. I’d actually hacked at it about four or five times before dad came in and saw me about to come down on the next swing.

Silly me.

So that’s the whole story, catching everything up to me, here, just sitting in my dad’s car. Waiting for my parents to come drive us home and have an awkward dinner together at the table.

My folks are traditional like that. Dad works even though we have enough money to where he doesn’t have to, mom stays home and keeps house, and we all go through the motions of a typical god-fearing family.

They don’t even take super heroes/villains seriously. It’s all nonsense to them! Just a bunch of silly people playing around where they shouldn’t be. Super villains are just normal criminals to them, it’s dumb.

Normally I’d be all like ‘everybody can have their opinion’, but there’s one who might be literally hunting me, and we don’t even have a security system. Not even a dog! And I’ve already been kidnapped!

Now maybe it’s just me being a typical teen, but this seems really stupid to me. It’s like, no wonder I think I’m smarter than them.

As I was reflecting on all of this Mom and Dad came back into the car, started it up quietly, and began to drive home.

“You feeling any better honey?” my mom offered.

I thought about saying “Not really, I was fine to begin with.” But I knew that would only make them worry more. So I lied instead. “Yeah, thanks for making me talk about it. I think maybe it was just a onetime thing since I’m a confused emotional teen and all.”

I hadn’t meant for it to become sarcasm, but there we go. Mom and dad just gave each other a mutual look that I was all too tired of seeing.

“We were thinking about stopping for McDonalds on the way home. You want some McDonalds?”

“Sure.” I said as I looked out the window, placing earbuds in my ears and pulling up some classic rock music. I wasn’t in the mood for my stuff.

I could never really get into today’s music. I was more a fan of classic rock from the 60’s to the 80’s, as well as alternative rock and indie music from the 90’s and 2000’s, all the way up to some modern songs I guess.

I just didn’t share the musical tastes of my peers.

I really liked edgy shit like Linkin Park and Three Days Grace, but I always felt a little cringy for enjoying it so much. It wasn’t that I felt like I was dark or misunderstood all the time, I just liked it, but I definitely would have felt like I was crying from attention listening to it right after a meeting.

Helix City was actually my home town, and where I lived when everything started. We’ve been living here again for about six months now, and I’ve been in the ‘helping powers reclaim their real power’ support group for about five months. I’ve only really been exploring the option of being a vigilante for a couple months now and therefor have only really been social again for about a month and a half.

I’ve made a few new friends both in school and in group. I think the fact that the main headquarters of the most major group of government-supported superheroes is located here helps with me finding people more comfortable being my friend, and because of their group I think that some of them really want to be friends with me for normal reasons, though it’s impossible to tell for sure.

Some of them even have powers of their own, but I try not to get into conversations about it or hang with them exclusively because I don’t want things to feel cliquey.

The last couple months I’ve been exercising a lot more though. I used to be really chubby, then I stopped eating altogether after shit got really bad at school. After the lawsuit and the news and everything that happened I started getting a lot of hate and praise I wasn’t comfortable with. Some of it came from places I expected, but some came from completely out of nowhere.

You know how some people are racist but they can pass for not-racist? Turns out a girl I liked, who I was good friends with by the way, was like that. Apparently she was brought up to see powered individuals as monsters or something, so she freaked the fuck out when I came back to school. There was a fuck ton of drama, so much in my group of friends that I couldn’t tell who was legitimately trying to stand up for me and who was just doing it for bragging rights and brownie points with the SJWs.

Even being back home we live in a different neighborhood and I go to a different school now, but it’s still weird. I have a lot of anger and resentment toward a lot of people. Honestly I’m unsure if I’ll ever feel like I’ve made a real friend again.

That’s partly why I’ve decided to start blogging my adventures once I start going out on the regular. It’s probably going to be a while though since my cellphone and computer could probably be tracked. I figure I’ll see if I can make friends with a like-minded vigilante with tech powers on the streets and see if they can help me out there. Until then I guess I’ll just make notes for the blog in my mind.

As we passed where the space needle used to be my dad, as he always did, pointed it out. Apparently it’s where he and mom first met. I instinctively followed his finger with my eyes as he pointed, and then allowed my eyes to wander afterwards. They stopped, much like my heart in that moment, on a single large silhouette on the roof of a building nearby. It appeared to be hunched, perfectly still, its reflective eyes never breaking its gaze into mine. I rubbed my eyes and looked again, to find that it was gone now. Must’ve been a hallucination due to all of my late nights, or was it? I thought about telling my parents, but it wouldn’t do any good, it never does.

My parents were both in their forties and extremely annoying. I think all kids feel that way about their folks but still. We were always the “perfect family”. I think that’s part of why I never had any siblings.

Luckily for me the one good thing that comes from therapy or support group days is that if my parents let me have fast food I get to eat it in my room, by myself, away from them. Which gives me a good chance to cool down and start being less of a douchebag.

It also gives me an excuse to work on my costume, or more recently since my costume is finished, work on other things.

The last few times I went out, I didn’t make trouble with anybody. I just walked down the road, climbed a fire escape to the roof, and tried to psyche myself up to try to jump across to the next building. Honestly not sure how realistic the idea of that is, but it’s a large city and buildings are packed tightly enough together that I’m not sure it’s outside of the scope of realism.

Granted most super heroes and villains that do that sort of thing have powers or tech that help with that, but even still it would be so badass if it worked.

Plus what’s the worst that could happen? I might break my leg but I won’t feel it and I’ll certainly heal it which means I can pretty much keep walking on it if it can physically support my weight, limping as I might be.

That said my survival instincts have usually still kicked in and I’ve been too much of a pussy to jump. Other times I saw other shoddily costumed people on other roofs doing the same thing, and felt kind of cringy.

Tonight I decided I was going to plan a route and see if I couldn’t get myself into some mischief. So when we pulled in, I snatched my Mcdonalds from my folks, ran to my room and used my computer to do exactly that.

Tonight, I would try to do something.

When I sat down and logged into the computer I had a few messages via Discord already. Mostly from my old friends who were trying to use me to increase their own popularity or whatever. They were constantly up my ass. Always. I tended to respond once every few hours maximum.

As I was pulling them up to clear the notifications however, I noticed a message from Avery: a newer friend that I had made over the last month and a half.

I would call him my best friend, because of the way I felt about him but since his powers were actually that anyone who met him quite liked him I tended to store him in the category of ‘friends by necessity’. Not that it was his fault. I’ve actually heard him talk similarly to how I feel privately about people being friends with you for the wrong reason.

I have a feeling I’d at least approve of him for that alone even if not for his power.

Avery's profile pic for discord..png
LeftoverFriendship: Today at 6:21pm
Hey man what’s up?
I was going to say hi but I noticed your parents sat in again today. Is everything cool?

Great, just what I need. Now other people are buying into my parents’ drama.

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WalkingFred: Today at 6:22pm
All good. Just mom and dad freaking out over nothing. Tried something with my powers and they misunderstood.
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LeftoverFriendship: Today at 6:22pm
Ok cool. So what’s goin’ on?
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WalkingFred: Today at 6:23pm
Not alot, just doing some research for a schook project.
Lol I meant school. Hey, you got friends everywhere, anything interesting about the groups of heroes or villains that could help? The project is about the various groups of vigilante’s, criminals,
and approved heroes and their effect on society as whole.​

I lied, but I could use some Intel if he had any in case I did run into Hellhound or some other asshat while in costume
Honestly felt a little bad potentially using him like that, but I figured we both knew the struggle so if he felt insulted or something he’d probably say something. Especially since that was the way the support group recommended dealing with things like that for "happy, healthy emotions".

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LeftoverFriendship: Today at 6:25pm
Nothing you don’t already know that comes to mind
Oh but I did have something interesting happen recently. My friend in the villains faction accidentally told me about a blacksite they run where they’re experimenting on powered people…
freaky right?​

I didn’t really like that information, especially since I had been kidnapped by them before. Although it was probably better than being human trafficked as the world’s most durable sex slave.

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WalkingFred: Today at 6:25pm
Blacksite? Is that like one of those underground dark web websites where people watch snuff videos and sell babies for food?

I inappropriately joked.

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LeftoverFriendship: Today at 6:26pm
No, it’s just an unregistered location or something like that. Ohshit, I forgot didn’t they kidnap you once? Probably shouldn’t have brought that up…
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Walkingfred: Today at 6:26pm
Nah, it’s cool. I gotta go though. I’ll tty tomarrow or something.

Definitely didn’t like that he brought it up, gave me bad vibes considering I was potentially being tracked, but I was curious. I figured if it was already on my pc from the discord chat it would probably be passable for me to google around for it. Teenage curiosity and all.

After doing a little web searching I came up with nothing. I was about to give up and research a patrol route for tonight when I noticed another message from him.

Damn you, you charming bastard. I thought to myself.

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LeftoverFriendship: Today at 6:32pm
Alright, sorry again anyway. Just to be safe though he said the address to the place was at745 Boulin Road, so steer clear of that area ok?

I chose to not respond this time and let him know I got the message with a simple “k” in the morning.

What I did do is google the shit out of that address. Looked like a large unassuming apartment building, but not quite run down. Definitely an older building though. I didn’t realize there had been architecture that had survived the invasion. Then again it could just be molded that way for style and unkempt from neglect or abuse to the building, and considering what Avery had said it wouldn’t be surprising if that was the case.

The issue now was to decide if I was going to check it out myself, or give the info over to the “real heroes” at the Paragon Legion.

Damn.

On the one hand I’d risk getting kidnapped myself, on the other hand I really didn’t like that they required an agreement to video surveillance upon membership.

Don’t get me wrong, they did great things for powered individuals and even gave a legitimate way for us to help people, but to make it required rather than optional?

I mean you can always just not join, but there’s so much controversy over groups that aren’t backed by the city or higher government that giving the information over to them is almost like saying I’m alright with their policies.

A tough choice, especially considering the fact that Hellhound could be in town.

Ultimately I decided I would plan a short route, go walk around for a couple of hours and decide what to do at the end of my “shift”. That way I could enjoy the night I already had planned, and then just take a cab either to their headquarters or to Broulin Road.

Checking the clock I realized it was already pretty late, and mom and dad were probably asleep by now. To be safe I took a trip to the restroom (I had to go anyway) so that I could confirm, and since they were indeed asleep, or at least going to sleep, I quietly shut my door and went to work.

I reached into the closet and pulled out a shoebox containing a set of black full body spandex: the kind that even goes over your feet, hands, and head. Stripping down to nude I pulled the bodysuit over myself, taking care not to be too rough with the wig I had sewn into the top of the “hood”.

As silly as it might seem, doing this allowed it to appear as if my hair protruded from the top of the suit, giving people a misleading idea of what my hair color would be. It was a cheap enough wig, so it may not even have been made of real hair, but I hoped it would be passable. Looked fine to me anyway.

As the suit was fully donned I made sure to straighten the seams so it wouldn’t cause mobility or vision problems later. Typically you’re intended to be able to see through these suits, but for the sake of ensuring my visibility wasn’t hampered I cut eyeholes into the suit anyway.

Next, I would simply get dressed. I didn’t bother with underwear as things seemed to stay where they needed to be anyway with just the tights, and sweatpants were soft enough and zipperless enough to where I didn’t have to worry about accidentally zipping my bits inside.

Not that it would hurt, it would just be stupid and probably take a long time to undo.

No, just socks, sweatpants, long sleeved T-shirt, zip up hoodie, and a pair of work or gardening gloves. The kind that had the rubber grip.

Simply throw on some athletic shoes and toss up my hood and I’m almost good to go. The finishing touch is a simple, white, cheap plastic “doll mask”. The thing about this mask that appealed to me is that it was faceless, and inexpensive. To me it was a good symbol of the fact that we put our own identities aside to adventure in the night and help people.

I might have been romanticizing a bit, and was definitely being a bit edgy, but hey, it made me feel good, and I thought it looked cool. I had intended to paint the mask, and still did, but hadn’t quite gotten around to it. Doing a double take in a mirror on my door I decided to flavor it just slightly in case I did meet someone I thought was important tonight.

I took a red marker, and drew a long curve around the middle bottom of my mask, around where the mouth would be. I always liked the idea of having some sort of Joker style grin as part of the finished design, so this would work well enough.

Man I’m such a nerd. But I loved it.

Taking one last breath I snuck out my window, and into the night.

Because we own a house in a more suburban part of town, there was no fire escape for me to take advantage of like on many buildings, and I was two stories up, but I had this little trick I developed. What I did was I crawled onto the window sill, dropped down so that I was hanging from the window by my hands, and then dropped the rest of the way to the ground. Second story really isn’t that high up if you think about it, especially when falling on grass. For most people it just hurts as the shock of the fall hits their legs. I don’t really know how to fall correctly, but it doesn’t do enough actual damage to mess with me from what I can tell so since I don’t feel pain, or anything, I’m cool with that approach.

After hitting the ground I started walking down the street, mask and “wig-hood” off for now, but it didn’t take long for me to get into the thicker concrete jungle of a city. Ducking into an alley I put the rest of my “face” on, and headed into a convenience store. I never carried my wallet, ID, or cellphone on my when out like this, just in case I did get into a scuffle or arrested. Even though if the police grabbed me I’d be close to screwed, not having Id could buy me time to bullshit my way out or escape, so I figured.

I walked into a convenience store and was met with a response I wouldn’t quite call welcoming. People who work in gas stations really don’t like folks coming in with masks on, but after explaining I just wanted to buy a few things he was begrudgingly accepting of it.

Fuck. I thought.

I realized I had forgotten my “weapons”, which is probably why he didn’t continue to throw me from the store. I was really only in here to make change for a cab anyway. Speaking of, I had forgotten that although payphones are popularized on television, they really aren’t a thing anymore in real life cities, so all told it took me a good three or four hours before I made contact with a taxi.
Frustrating, but it wasn’t that bad. At least I was getting my “face” out there.

Between two and three AM the taxi finally arrived. The driver gave me a queer look as I entered, but shook it off.

“745 Broulin road please.”

It turns out it really did bother me. The idea of giving the Paragon’s the spotlight on what could be a grand debut. I may have forgotten my weapons but I did find a pipe in an alley that should work well enough, tucked neatly under the front of my hoodie.

I figured in all likelihood bigwigs in charge of the actual kidnappings probably wouldn’t be hanging out at the place they were keeping the other powered people, so I’d probably just run into bitches on babysitting duty. Besides, even if I decided It was too dangerous the least I could do is have a look and confirm the rumor before I sent them on what could very well be a wild goose chase.
My heart was racing as I pulled up, but I paid the cab driver and walked toward the building.

It didn’t appear anybody was outside, so I decided to try to sneak around the back and check the situation on that side of the building, looking for good entry points as I did. Noting once more that the place seemed to be an apartment building, I then started to wonder if they were using the whole building or just a single apartment inside.

Crap.

What if I snuck into some poor old lady’s apartment by mistake and gave her a heart attack?

Best not to worry about it now. I’m just getting cold feet. I told myself.

As I entered the alley to my left I noted the apartment buildings also had fire escapes.

S’pose that’ll do. I thought, beginning to ascend. It took me a few tries, but eventually I found a window on one of the floors that was unlocked, and began to open the window as quietly as I could.
 
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"Oy, Tag! We're waiting on you! I can't keep this thing charged forever," Machinimator's voice squawked from the radio.

"Right, I was waiting for the crowd to thin out a little more around the target. No sense hurting civilians and bringing extra heat on us for doing so," Tag mumbled into the handheld radio.

"Grow a pair! You sniv--sunnova!" Tag couldn't hear it but he knew Machinimator just got smacked by a cane.

"Enough. Let the boy handle it, if he screws up because he was rushed we all lose. You'll just have to be patient for once in your life," Flip interrupted and admonished Machinimator while simultaneously reminding Tag to get it right.

Tag took a deep breath as he looked through the binoculars at the quickly emptying bank, the parade had started and it was supposed to be a good one this year. Oh well. Tag disappeared from the roof of the bar and reappeared in the parking garage just long enough to place his hand on the metal monster containing his team and just like that they were just above the bar then inside the lobby of the bank.

Before anyone could react to the appearance of a three ton mechanical rhino everything and everyone in the building slid to the west wall in a in a pile, save the rhino and Tag, who had grabbed the hand holds on the inside of both front legs. The security shutters closed, trapping everyone inside.

Gravity returned to normal and Pwn stepped out of the rhino-bot shouting orders to the hostages with some kind of ray gun in his hand, Tag walked a short way away from the machine. The rhino-bot barreled through a wall to reveal the vault door, locked tight. The rhino-bot rammed it a few times to no avail, slightly denting its horn and nose.

"I've got the door, just stop hitting it," Tag appeared next to the door and suddenly it was gone and the vault lay bare before them. Everything in the vault started moving towards the rhino-bot as if it was being vacuumed in. Tag moved back into the lobby to stand on the vault door that was now laying on the floor. Pwn looked up from the computer he was typing away on and tossed a different ray gun to him, he had to teleport halfway across the room to catch it.

As Tag was switching the gun from 'wreck' to 'tickle' a loud boom followed by some of the security shutters flying across the room marked the arrival of a local hero or vigilante. Tag teleported to intercept the shutters before they hit the civilians, embedding the shutters into the ground near the east wall before moving back to his vantage point on the vault door and turning his attention to the powered arrival.

"O. Force on scene, I have visual on two masked individuals, engaging to subdue," the man spoke into an earbud as he walked into the lobby. He flicked a hand toward each of them and Tag moved to Pwn and took them both outside behind the man. A boom and a crash shook the building as they stepped on the street.

"How is that subdue?! The desk I was at exploded! Fuckin' n00bs," Pwn screeched at O. Force's back. Tag moved them again before he turned around.

"G-get the hostages out first before you start blasting like that," Tag said shifting them around the lobby as smaller blasts followed his voice. They landed on the vault door for a moment before it appeared above the hero. They moved inside the vault before it landed. The resulting crash was not what Tag had expected. It felt like the whole building lifted for a moment and a huge boom shook his vision. Tag heard the other man talking but couldn't make out what he was saying.

"...Everyone out!" The hero shouted the last bit as Tag wondered what he'd done with the vault door.

"I'm getting us out of here, that guy is way too strong," Tag whispered into his radio.

"Almost done here, keep him busy and quit moving the head dammit!"

"Fook you! I wanna p--" the radio shut off along with the building's lights, Pwn's gear stayed lit up.

"Move! He's trying to fry us, n00b!"

Tag moved them into the ruins of the lobby and saw the hole that had been punched straight through the roof of the building to show the sky overhead. The people were running out through the hole O. Force had made upon his arrival. Pwn fired his gun at him and the shot deflected off something making it miss, but it made O. Force turn back towards the lobby.

"Stop resisting, you are under arrest," he held both his fists at shoulder level but didn't follow with anything. They had the civilians directly behind them at the moment. They waited for a few seconds like that, none of them moving except the escaping hostages. The rhino-bot charged him from behind and shot into the air the moment it made contact, the hero not even bothering to look as he sent a second hunk of heavy metal through the roof.

Tag moved himself and Pwn through the first hole into the sky and then to the rhino-bot once he saw it. He and Pwn both fell flat against the machine as they entered the intense gravity field Flip was making around it to pull them back to the ground, but they were still climbing through the clouds. Tag moved them just above a building, but they flew another 600 feet into the air before Flip managed to slow them to a stop. The hatch on top opened and Flip poked his head out.

"Good job, kid. I didn't want to become an astronaut today. Pwn, did you finish your end?"

"Naturally. I even sent a bug to their ATMs, we'll have funds for the next project," he managed to sound condescending while struggling to hold on to the machine.

"Excellent. Take us home, Tag."

*****

Machinimator, Miranda without the mask, was aimlessly channel surfing sprawled out over the whole of a couch, an ice pack balanced over bruises on her upper arm, a bag of spicy chips spilled in front of her when she came across the news.

"Oy, cocksuckers! They're talkin' 'bout us!" Tag and Flip looked up from their pizza while Pwn continued clicking away at some game. She turned the volume up so they could all hear.

"--ity bank, where just an hour ago a battle took place between the controversial Legionnaire Overwhelming Force and at least two other powered individuals. We go now to the footage from the Legionnaire's camera when he entered the bank."

"Security shutters have closed, opening by force," Overwhelming Force announced over his communicator in the video.

"Stop. Stand by for assistance, you are not clear to engage solo. Do you understand?" an exasperated woman's voice sounded over the communication channel.

"Nearest backup is over five minutes away, Section 12 states--"

"No. This is a direct command from higher, 'Do not engage without assisstance.' Do you understand?"

He was still for a moment on the video, the camera slowly orbiting him. Then he punched the shutters eliciting a loud crash and a string of censored expletives over the communication channel.

The shutters were heading right for the pile of people who were untangling themselves from each other when the shutters just vanished. O. Force didn't give any indication that he had noticed in the video. He scanned the lobby and spoke.

"O. Force on scene, I have visual on two masked individuals, engaging to subdue." He flicked one wrist at Pwn in front of him and the other off-camera.

"Stop, we saw civilians, defend and evacuate immediately. Do not engage, please." Her voice was nearly drowned out by the rumblings from his use of power and Pwn's voice was drowned out completely. Tag's own voice was barely audible since he had been shifting away from the camera's focus, small dust clouds blossoming where he had been as O. Force tracked his voice.

"Get...hos...s out...st...rt blasting...ike...at."

A shadow appeared on the ground in the video a moment before something bumped the camera and there was an enormous crash. The woman spoke as debris fell.

"O. Force, what just happened? Something hit the camera."

"Targets pulled back to launch large object, presumed to be Flip's power. One target identified as Pwn, low level tech powers, currently working for Flip. Other target unknown, power seems to be super speed, Flip assumed nearby attacking with with heavy objects. Evacuating hostages while targets are inactive. Everyone out!"

He turned toward the people who had been watching in stunned silence and they started moving again. O. Force turned away from them, facing the camera and hole in the wall in front of the vault, he looked irritated.

"Attempting to block escape route with electrically charged air and shut down tech gear with strong EM interference, comms will be interrupted."

There was white noise for a moment as the woman tried to respond, Pwn could be heard but it was too distorted by the static to make out.

The camera suddenly spun wildly to the left and up, flashes of red and white were visible as it spun. It stabilized facing the lobby, showing Pwn pointing his ray gun towards the camera, Tag with a hand on Pwn's shoulder looking up at a hole in the ceiling where light poured in. There were people moving behind them, out of a hole in the front of the building towards the street. The camera moved backwards, to behind O. Force, now facing the pair as he commanded them from a fighting stance.

"Stop resisting, you are under arrest."

"Do not attack! There are civilians in your line of fire!" The woman shouted as he spoke.

Tag looked at him, then back at the hole people were escaping to. Pwn didn't move at all. The camera shot forward, passing by Pwn's gun hand to strike the wall behind them, another enormous crash sounding just after the camera started moving but before it hit the wall.

"Wha-impact registered from behind camera, what happened?"

"Another large object launched, presumed to be Flip once again. Momentary distraction allowed Pwn and unknown to flee. Verifying escape."

The clip ended there and it was back to the reporter in front of the bank, a flood of small robots roving over the building. The reporter raised her microphone and spoke.

"All this damage in just a few moments and the villains barely had to attack to achieve it, we are thankful it was a Legionnaire as effective as Overwhelming Force who responded, or this could have been another tragic day for the Paragon Legion. Oh, it looks like Innovator and his Repair Mites are here to fix the building," She gestured behind her to a man floating above the building observing the robots and tapping at a display held in front of him. He gave a half-hearted wave to the camera without looking away from the screen.

"The villains were able to get away with an estimated $50 million from the vault, but members of the bank don't need to worry about losing their money. And surprisingly, there is only one reported injury from the incident, some of the witnesses even say they think the unknown villain protected them as the Legionnaire made his entrance, but we all know a Legionnaire wouldn't put innocents at risk, ha ha ha. Back to you, Bill."

"Thanks, Carol. In other news--" Miranda muted the t.v. and sat up to look at Flip.

"50 mil, eh? Wot are ya gonna use that for, boss man?" She gave a crooked smile over the back of the couch.

"That is our take for the job, even split after it gets counted and cleaned, it took all of us to succeed. Maybe Lance here gets a bit of my cut for saving our butts from orbit. You should thank him too, Mir."

"Yeh, I'll think o' somethin'," She winked at Tag, at Lance. "Well, now I feel pumped, I'm gonna go 'elp the bots repair the big fook. Ta~!" She jumped off the couch and spun out the door towards the garage, more of a hangar really with the size of it.

"You protected the hostages, did you?" Flip's voice, Nikolai's voice, was smooth and deep.

"Uh, yeah. I thought we might get blamed for it and--" He turned back to the older man.

"I'm not upset, impressed if anything. You managed to stay off camera doing it and they might have the wrong impression about your power. We can use that, for a while at least. We'll work on something. Get some practice in. But for now we rest after a successful job," Nikolai stood and his cane jumped to his hand. He gave Lance a pat on the shoulder as he walked by, the cane helped support him where his injured leg couldn't. He'd told them it was an injury from a fight with the Inheritors, and he was certainly old enough for that to be true.

Miranda had listened to him tell the story with more attention than Lance had seen her give to anything else, but she grew up during the war, Oscar and Lance were both born after. The four of them: Nikolai, Miranda, Oscar, and Lance; made up the gang that Nikolai was calling Flip-side, as in the flip-side to the Legion. Two sides of the same coin: powers being used for good. Lance wasn't sure robbing a bank counted, but Nikolai obviously had some goal in mind. For now he was content to be able to have a safe place to stay and people he could trust. He'd worry about morals later.
 
I hear a voice call out to me. "Hello? Lin? Come on are you there?"

I open my eyes slowly and wipe the sleep out of them looking around confused about where the voice came from and where I am. I see no one in the room, there is a massive server farm/supercomputer in the room with me and I am on a "bed" that's really just a table with minimal cushioning. There is a clear glass door leading out of the room and I can see an almost space suit looking thing sitting in a display case. I have an IV in my arm linking me to the standard coatrack looking bag stand. I see my WMSCL (It's pronounced whimsical and it stands for Wrist Mounted Super Computing Lifeline) on the table flashing with a blue light. I also have a strange helmet on that's hooked up to the servers.

*where the heck is this... This is not my room... I feel so weak*

"Pick up goddamn it. we don't have a lot of time!"

I sit up slowly and hobble my way over to the table where my WMSCL is bringing the I.V bag with me. It's still flashing as I picked it up opening it. I see it has the words call from Damian. I press the button.

"Hello?" My voice came slightly above a whisper. I rub my neck a bit.

"Oh thank fuck"

His voice was kinda panic which made me panic. I look around the room scared

"whats going on... where am I?"

"There isn't time to explain, the short version is you were in a coma and you aren't safe here. Quickly put that suit on"

A hologram arrow points at the spacesuit looking thing. I look at it confused the back at my WMSCL even more scared.

"um...what.. coma?! uh ..ok"

I pulled the I.V out of my arm and walked over to the suit. It is really baggy on me but it shrinks to my size. I put the helmet on getting my hair out of the way. Witch to point out is pretty long for some reason.

*how long have I been in a coma?*

"ok its on .. uh now what bro?"

"Follow the arrow I'll see if I can get into the suits functions from here"

I follow the arrows to the door. I opened it slowly and peak out. I see a hallway with other doors. The arrows look like it leads me down the hallway that L's off to the left. I step out leaving the door open a little and start walking cautiously. holding the walls so as not to fall a thought popped in my head.

"Hey if I was in a coma where the hell am I? shouldn't I be in the hospital or something..?"
when I turn left I hear Damian shout "HAHA I'M In" Then a robotic voice saying "Administering metabolism stabilizer".

"I know sorry, keep following the arrow we're almost out"

I frowned and continued down the hall to the elevator doors when I start feeling a little better. I let go of the wall then the elevator which opens to reveal two military-grade sentry bots. They point their Gatling arms at me and say "HALT!"

I put my hands up in the air worried "uh...don't shoot.. plz?"

"Fuck we were too late, hold out your arm"

I lowered my arm slowly pointing to the robots with my hand out like a stop motion. as I do I hear a low whirring hum and a laser shoots out of the suit and puts a hole in one of the sentries it collapses and the other opens fire. I drop down the floor covering my head

"shit man.. wtf !?!"

Damian lets out a short, yet crisp "AAH" and a robot voice says "deploying hard light shield"A shield made of light manifests between me and the bullets and Damian says "Uh, I meant to do that"
I sat up slowly looking at the light between me and the shooting robot. I then get kinda mad.

"sure u did wtf is going on!!! is this one of ur fucked up programs !!" I stand up slowly looking at the sentry.

"No, hold your arm out again dumbfuck, this guy is in our way"

"well, ass butt if u tell me wtf is going on. wheres dad.? wheres u? where am I?"

I put my arm out again and blast the bot which was destroyed like the other one.

"Again, time crunch, we need to scram before ACTUAL villains show up, now get your identical-to-me ass moving double time"

"fine" I walk onto the elevator and push the button it comically does that thing where it closes and opens over and over again because of robot-guts. I groan in frustration and kick the guts out of the way and shut it. as the elevator ascends it plays normal music, but then there is static and Never Gonna Give You Up starts playing I make a face looking at the WMSCL
" Damion.. is that u?"

I see a : D appear on the screen on my arm and I laugh a little as the elevator opened.
 
The window squeaked open with the sounds of stealth failure, causing me to dive for the “floor” of the fire escape to hide underneath the window wall, which caused and additional clang.

Flawless…

My heart racing, I rolled to my side and pressed my back against the wall, looking up toward the window. No immediate response. I reached forward to grab the pipe I had brought along with me, so that I could be ready for when a villain did peek through the window, but accidentally pushed the pipe off the edge of the fire escape. I could hear it scraping against the metal as it rolled off, as well as hear it clanging on the sidewalk below.

Fuck.

Still nothing though. Were they all out? Was it a prank? I slowly sat back up and peeked through the open window. There was an older man asleep in a chair in front of the television.

Oh. I thought.

I crept quietly into the window, but opted to leave it open as not to make further noise. Either my previous guess about only one of the rooms being used for this project of theirs was right, or someone was letting their granddad crash here.

I guess he could also be one of the villains but I’d assume they’d retire the more… infirm. I mean, I wasn’t trying to be rude, but this guy looked like he could be eighty five years old. Even for someone with powers wouldn’t that be too old?

Maybe not. They are evil after all (so it’s said), so forcing grandpa to put in a couple more hours of nefariousness didn’t seem too out of the question.
Quietly I poked about the apartment. Seemed normal for an old dude’s apartment. There was even yogurt in the fridge. I shrugged and reached for a banana, this guy probably couldn’t keep track of his weekly pills, let alone properly count his fruit.

My hand went through it.

My eyes widened in response and I attempted to take the banana again. It was a hologram of some kind! Holy shit an actual hologram! Never got to see one in real life before. I reached for other foods, also a hologram. I opened the freezer and tried to get some ice cream: hologram.

I picked up some random junk on the counter: real. I looked over and gramps in the chair, “sleeping”. I threw a roll of duct tape at him. Hologram.

“You clever bananastards.” I muttered more for my own benefit than anything else. I shut the fridge door and started looking around for a camera or something that I could use to document the scene. Nothing. No prisoners or kidnap victims here either. Time to move on. I left the room and looked down the left and right side of the hallway.

If gramps is a hologram, every apartment not occupied by a villain is probably also set up the same way. Having tech like that does make me a little worried I’m being watched though…
I looked at the corners of the hall and above the doors. Nothing overtly suspicious… better be sure though.

I stuck my middle finger out on both fists and waved them around in the direction of the corners, where cameras usually seem to be placed for maximum view or whatever in the movies. The point is if there were villains here they should know I mean business.

I started opening doors as quietly as I could. None of them were locked. There were old people like gramps, families, bachelors, and hot younger ladies living alone. Some even had big boobies; now that’s what I call fake breasts!

I stood around one’s apartment, hoping to catch her taking a shower, but it was night time so no such luck. I did find a gross married couple “getting busy”, but that wasn’t worth watching.
Every room, for three floors. A clever ruse I guess. I did find a crowbar in the janitor’s closet, so at least I wasn’t unarmed anymore. I was about to give up on the whole thing, since there were no prisoners here, and I had pretty much chalked it all up to the experimentation being a hoax, when I realized there was one door I hadn’t checked.
The door was on the bottom floor, at the end of the hall, and read “laundry”.

A basement, of course! All nefarious deeds happened in the basement. How could I be so stupid?

I walked cautiously down into the basement, I began to hear music. As I got closer and closer, I realized that Rick Astley’s famous “Never Gonna Give You Up” was playing faintly. I checked every washer and drier, every cupboard, trying to find the source of the dreaded rick roll. Still nothing. Then I noticed something strange.
In the basement, there was a small closet with no door. Sort of like a pantry with the shelf above and everything. There were various types of laundry detergent, fabric softener, and other cleaning supplies on the shelf, but the wall in the back was slightly ajar.

The wall… was ajar.

I walked over and pushed the wall further to the left revealing an elevator door, but before I could say “looks like this quest just elevated me to the next level”, the doors opened: revealing what could only be identified as a killer robot.

My scream was short and crisp, I leaped about three steps back, wound my crowbar arm back and upward, and moved my open hand forward in an “open handed stance” toward my attacker.

“Flaghlambalghum!” I cried unintelligibly.

The robot, who sounded like a girl talking into a fishbowl by the way, backed away quickly toward the wall of the elevator.

“Damian, there’s a villain here! What do I do?” She asked frantically.

Confused, my deadly battle stance was replaced with a much looser one as my arms dropped to my side.

“Wait, you’re not a bad guy?” I asked.

“Wait a minute…” another voice said from the robot, before yelling something unintelligible, which I realized was just him replaying my attempt at words prior.

“I know that language! He said: ‘Hi I’m the reckless interpretive dance looking mother fucker that tripped every silent alarm in the building, wanna hang out before the Villains get here AND WE ALL FUCKING DIE?!?!”

Unsure if he was referring to my outfit or the fact that he could probably do the robot, I decided to respond.

“Sure, but the ho hos are a no go bro. All the food here is holo.”

The robot-er girl? Stood up.

“God dammit Damian, I knew this was one of your VR tricks. Did you strap me to the bed? Is that why I can’t take it off to get out of this stupid world you put me in?”

Kinky. I thought.

Wait, silent alarms? Oooh no wonder they didn’t have anyone here. They didn’t need to.

Fuck.

“NO! YOU DON’T FUCKING GET IT OK? THE BUILDING IS JAMMING THE DISTRESS SIGNAL SO JUST FOLLOW THE GODDAMN ARROW ALRIGHT?” The mail voiced screamed, clearly not fucking around.

“Ow… that hurt my delicate princess ears. What arrow? I mean there’s a ton of exits if you just need to leave. It’s right upstairs.”

“Wait,” I added. “Are there people wherever that goes? Prisoners?”

Clearly unhappy with the dilly dallying, the robot screamed again.

“I WASN’T TALKING TO YOU, SPOOKY-SCARY. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT MANY ALARMS MEANS TO THE DOMINUS CONTENTIONEM? IT MEANS LEGION INVASION, AND THAT IS MET WITH EQUAL FORCE!”

A hologram arrow appeared in the room as it/he shouted.

“ARROW! NOW!”

Wait, that means Hellhound might show up. FUCK.

Before I reacted properly, the girl voice spoke again.

“I didn’t pass any doors, I think I was the only one down there. I want to go home to my dad…”

She definitely sounded upset, but for some reason was much calmer than her “boyfriend” or me.

“Fuck, ok yeah.” I said, bolting to follow the arrows, the robot running directly behind me.

We scrambled up the stairs and out the front door with no resistance, but stepping onto the sidewalk I could see a figure in front of us. The street lights are out, so it’s too dark to tell who it is, but I began to feel nauseated.

Shit… Is this my fear making my tummy churn or something else?

“YES, okay the beacon is transmitting, it should only be… oh no…”

The male robot sounded distressed, which made me upset.

Partly in hopes of intimidating the new arrival, and partly to not look bad in front of the new audience, I straightened my posture slightly and put the crowbar over my soldier.

“Yeah… uh, see I’m just here to facilitate the warranty replacement on your computer?” I used my thumb to point to the robo-girl/guy behind me.

“It’s got two artificial intelligences and they’ve both become self-aware. What with world domination being imminent, and likely something *you* guys wanted to do, I figure I’ll take this one in for scraps and bring you a furby in the morning. Deal?”

I wasn’t sure what the play was here, but I’d hoped if it was Hellhound he would have pounced by now.

C’mon robo-hobo, please have better weapons than me. I thought.

There was a silence for a moment before the figure spoke up.

“Oh, is that all?” It said, clearly amused.

“Stand down Anubis.” It said as the lights came back on, revealing a second figure I hadn’t noticed before.

The new figure wore a very similar “robot suit” to the one my new tag along was wearing, however instead of the fishbowl style helmet/head, his was designed like some kind of robotic dog. I’d guess a jackal based on the person/robot’s handle.

The man that spoke however was much more alarming. Not because of his black formal attire, that actually seemed to be made up of little nano-bugs like the Innovator from the Legion, and it wasn’t because he was some grotesque monster.

No, it was because his alarmingly handsome face was the same face that belonged to Jackdaw. Jackdaw was here.

The robot ladyboy grabbed my arm, squeezing tightly, clearly he/she was defragging her underwear about as hard as I was right now.
“Damian what do we do?” She said, clearly terrified and crying a little bit.

“I’ll figure it out, and don’t call me Shirly.” I whispered back, fully aware she was probably talking to dude-voice again.

“Uhh, yeah.” I said, moving my arm in such a way as it might seem like she was hanging off of it like a date or something, and using my other hand to motion before me.
“So, no need to be mad or do something silly like, oh I donno… suck out my life-force?”

I tried.

“Besides, I can see I can hook you up with the “Gizmo” one. Who doesn’t want a little gremlin maker?”

I then tried to take two steps to my left, just to see if they moved to stop me. Had they really bought my “oh so clever” ruse?

Anubis moved himself into my path, not quite hostile… yet. Jackdaw walked slowly toward us.

“Do you know what the Jackdaw represents?” He asked. “Most people think it’s death,”

As he said this he ran his hand along the bumper of a nearby car, causing it to turn into dust. “but it actually symbolizes reincarnation.”

He stopped about ten feet away from us and held his hand out, causing the dust from the bumper to float over and turn into a long metal rod with a barbed tip. Like a harpoon. He then promply launched it into my leg.

Although the harpoon didn’t pierce my skin, it did hit with enough force to break my leg, causing it to bend incorrectly, and causing me to have to react quickly to avoid falling on my face. Luckily since the girl was holding onto me, she was technically also helping hold me up.

Fuck this. I thought.

In desperation I attempted to turn and run the opposite way of Anubis, seeing no smarter way out.

“I thought it meant ‘Jack’d off!’” I shouted, grabbing the girl/boy bot’s hand just before freezing in place.

“Well this is awkward.” I noted.

He/she stepped in front of me. Well, not in front of me in front of me. Between Jackdaw and myself. I think I’m just going to assume it’s a girl now since she talks more than the guy voice.

“Please stop this… I don’t know what you want from me, I just want to go home. Who are you people?” She pleaded.

“You are important girl,” Jackdaw replied. “It’s a good thing I got to you before you had a chance to mess with your contraption.”

The girl froze in place as I did, unable to move I assumed.

“And you, boy, that was impressive.”

It wasn’t sudden, yet I was still surprised to find myself floating toward Jackdaw, still unable to move as he looked me over.

“Not a terribly impressive costume but we could fix that.” He added, my head turning to face him.

“You know I once had a boy with your powers on my dossier,”

I floated back to my original position as he waved his hand dismissively.

“It was a shame to lose such a valuable asset, though I suppose this makes up for it.”

“Impressed?” I nervously choked out, hoping that I could buy time for whatever the robot boy said was coming if I just kept the conversation going.

“Buddy you want impressed you should know that I also play the banjo.” I lied of course, but I really couldn’t think of much.

“What happened to the other kid?”

Jackdaw opened his mouth, most likely to respond, when suddenly a beam of light rained down from the sky. When the flash cleared I could see Innovator, a member of the Paragon Legion.

Yay! I thought.

“Daddy!” She cried out.

“WHAT!?” I blurted.
 
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"You disobeyed a direct order" said Deus Volt, snapping Innovator out of his thoughts,

"With all do respect sir Section 12 states that if the situation is dire enough-" O-Force interjected, being cut off by Deus Volt

"DON'T INTERRUPT ME BOY" Deus Volt bellowed, his voice like thunder, "I WROTE THE BOOK I DON'T NEED YOU TO QUOTE IT TO ME"

O-Force fell silent, awaiting the rest of his lecture.

"It's true the situation was dire, but given the number of hostages and the destructive nature of your powers, the council unanimously agreed it would be best to send a damage control crew to assist you" Volt was quieter now, but still just as grave.

Innovator zoned out again. He knew he should be paying attention, he was the senior most council member, but Amadeus was better at these sorts of things anyway. He couldn't focus, or perhaps that wasn't correct, he just couldn't bring himself to care. It had been 12 years since his Inter-dimensional Portal Generator malfunctioned and killed his wife and eldest son, among others. He had just started to become his old self again when the Dominus Contentionem kidnapped his remaining children, the twins Damian and Lindsay. That was three years ago and since then he's just been a husk of a man. Volt was about to officiate O-Forces punishment when a message rang out through the council chamber.

"Distress Beacon from Lindsey Located"

The room fell silent as Innovator shot into a standing position looking at his Holophone. He looked at Deus Volt with a mix of bewilderment and joy, and then his brow furrowed as he saw the key word "Distress".

"Derrick it could be a trap" said Deus Volt, knowing full well that was a weak counterpoint.

Innovator held his gaze with a mixture of fury and understanding in his eyes, that was when Bulwark interjected, speaking for the first time during the meeting.

"It's not gonna be big enough for all of us, go. I'll rally a team"

Innovator gave Bulwark a nod and a grateful look as he broke off into a sprint towards his lab.

He grabbed his Controlled Atomization Gauntlets and stepped into his teleporter, transporting himself to the source of the Beacon, 745 Boulin Road.

Upon arrival he noticed four people, two of them appeared to be in modified IUSS prototypes, one was in a homemade costume, and the fourth, was Jackdaw.

"Daddy!" cried the dome headed IUSS, that was Lindsay, he could see her WMSCL.

"WHAT?!" cried what Innovator could only assume to be an amateur vigilante.

"Jackdaw spotted at my location be advised he is in the company of an unknown villain with a modified IUSS" Innovator shouted this as he re-atomized his LaserBolt in his hand and opened fire on Jackdaw.

This caused him to drop concentration on Lindsey and the amateur, and the amateur promptly fled the scene.

"Dammit," Jackdaw shouted, clutching his side where he was tagged, "Anubis get the boy!"

The Jackal headed IUSS started after the amateur, leaping high into the air, digging his suits claws into the side of a building, and then launching himself off of it towards him.

"Unknown villain is fleeing southbound after an unknown masked vigilante, suspect is in a modified jackal-headed IUSS prototype, deploying an EagleEye to maintain visual" Innovator called out, retrieving a small tennis ball sized metal orb and throwing it towards Anubis, still firing on Jackdaw. It expands to the size of a bowling ball and begins to pursue.

A medivac arrives and escorts Lindsay to an open teleportal. She doesn't resist but seems keeps her eyes on the fight the whole way. They go through the portal and it shuts.

Innovator stopped firing after Lindsay was gone. He stared at Jackdaw angrily.

"What's the ETA on that backup?" he asked, never breaking his gaze with Jackdaw.

"Something closed the Teleportal and we can't get it back up," Bulwark responded, "We have to take a shuttle, be there in 5"

"Shit" Innovator mumbled.

He couldn't read Jackdaw's mind either, he must have some kind of tech.

"It's been a while Derrick," Jackdaw began, "I haven't seen you since O'Connor-"

Jackdaw cut himself off to dodge a new barrage of blasts from Innovator. The barrage continued for about a minute, the two circling each other as Jackdaw dodged and parried intermittently. He faltered on his last parry and took a blast to the shoulder. This caused Innovator to cease fire as Jackdaw staggered back a few steps.

"As a member of the Paragon Council I urge you to surrender" Innovator stated with emotionless authority, "However, as a father, I pray you'll give me a reason to use lethal force" Innovators voice held a cold hatred for that last part, a tone that would frighten any normal man.

Jackdaw laughed. Not a maniacal, supervillain laugh, but a genuine laugh of amusement. If this infuriated Innovator, he didn't show it. His face conveyed no emotion.

"Where is my son?" Innovator asked, in a calm tone.

Jackdaw's pained expression twisted into a sinister smile.

"I assume you mean the one you didn't vaporize with quantum energy?" Jackdaw baited, "I suppose the answer is the same anyway. I had Hellhound gut him, his abilities were...lackluster"

Innovator's expression changed now. Fury wouldn't be an understatement. He was so distressed in fact that he nearly didn't notice the figure sneaking up behind him. Almost.

Innovator materialized his MechBracer and pivoted on his right foot to stand side facing either opponent, emitting a Hardlight Shield on his MechBracer to the left towards the new challenger and switching his LaserBolt to whip mode, lashing the car Jackdaw had launched at him in half. Razor tipped icicles crashed into the Hardlight Shield as a pillar of ice sprang up from the ground beneath the new figure, launching him over the now halved car, to land back onto the pillar moving through it to the ground as the ice from the pillar crawled onto the figure to form armor. It was Frostbite.

Frostbite was a relatively new villain who had sprung up just one year prior. He seemed to be related to Hellhound in a way, boasting the same powers as him save for Ice instead of fire. Now that he had gotten a better look at him, he even seemed to resemble him somewhat, perhaps he was his son? Not that it mattered, his presence was still an issue. He was supposed to be in a Null Prison.

"Frostbite is here, anyone wanna tell me how that's possible?" Innovator said over comms.

There was nothing but static on the other end. That wasn't good, whatever Jackdaw was doing was getting stronger.

After a moment of silence they sprang into action, Frostbite slammed his foot into the ground sending a shock-wave of Ice at Innovator, at the same time Jackdaw hurled the harpoon at him and moved in to strike. Innovator spun 180 and lashed the shock-wave while parrying the harpoon with his shield, then he switched the LaserBolt to grapple mode, grabbed Frostbite by the ankle, and flung him into Jackdaw, causing them to fly backwards about 10 feet. Innovator turned to face them ready for their next move. A portion of Frostbites armor began to disintegrate, and Jackdaw spread the dust into about a dozen different jagged shards, sending them forward at Innovator, as Frostbite hurled a ball of ice that missed, impacting the side of a building, freezing the wall. Innovator was in the middle of bracing his shield when Frostbite threw another ice ball at a wall next to him, jumped through it, and came out of the wall behind Innovator, hurling more ice spikes.

Innovator activated the jump jets on his boots and dove to the side, causing his enemies' projectiles to whiz past one another as they frantically tried to evade, Frostbite taking hits from the majority of the scraps. Not that it mattered with his healing factor. Innovator didn't quite stick the landing, and rolled painfully on his side until he hit the side of a parked car. He slowly stood up.

"Ah, MAISI what's the damage look like?" he said to seemingly no one, as he propped himself up on the car, cautiously eyeing his enemies as they regrouped.

"some minor bruises and scrapes, and a sprain in your right wrist" replied a robotic woman's voice, "Administering painkillers, I would recomme-"

She cut out slowly as if something had powered her down, this worried Innovator, as his enemies moved in to attack. Frostbite pounced him, digging his claws into his shoulders earning a pained scream as Innovator planted both his feet on Frostbite's stomach and turned his jump jets on full blast, launching Frostbite 30 feet into the air, to land an the ground head first, snapping his neck. As a side affect he was launched back into the car, denting it heavily and shattering all of its windows. He blacked out for a moment, but when he came to, he noticed Frostbite crumpled on the ground. That'll stop him for a while, he thought as he slowly pulled himself up. Then he felt a sudden sharp pain through the right part of his hip, and screamed once more. Jackdaw's harpoon had him pinned to the car, he looked up to see Jackdaw walking nonchalantly towards him.

"You fought well, you may have even beat us both in your prime, but at your age even Frostbite is quite the accomplishment," Jackdaw looked towardFrostbite, clearly amused, "Though even that won't last long now will it?"

Jackdaw gripped the harpoon, wrenching it out of both Innovator and the car, Innovator screamed once more. Jackdaw dropped the harpoon on the ground next to them and leaned Innovator back against the car. He looked weak, yet still somehow angry. Jackdaw looked at his face.

"Oh come now Derrick, you don't want to die mad now do you?" Jackdaw said facetiously. He awaited a response.

"I...i..." barely uttered, causing Jackdaw to lean in.

"What was that?" he grinned.

"I won't." he whispered, as he gripped his arm with his right hand, and turned the MechBracer onto Plasma Cutter mode, severing his arm at the shoulder with a plasma blade protruding from the bracer.

Jackdaw staggered back howling in pain and anger. He turned to Innovator to see him smiling to himself, as he held his hand forward and the harpoon beside him went through Jackdaw's heart.

Innovator started laughing as Jackdaw crumpled to the ground. His arm fell weakly to his side and he spotted the Legion Shuttle approaching, just before the life left his body.
 
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I bolted.

Innovator was here, there would definitely be others on the way, and I didn’t see my options getting better. He was one of the most senior members of the Paragon Legion, and he was there when the invasion came.

He was also a super genius so there’s no way backup wasn’t about to show up. No need for me to stick around and become a hostage or for me to end up getting dragged to the Legion building, lectured, and then have ‘the talk’.

It was my first night doing something worth noting, and I wanted to leave it on a high note, and seriously reorganize my priorities.
Only problem with that is an Egyptian god robot was launching toward me like a comet.

I dove toward traffic as Anubis landed where I had been, claws digging into the concrete of the sidewalk and launching forward toward me again as I scrambled up and away.
Every time I looked back, he was either invisible, with claw marks or floating debris signifying the gravity of his landing and sliding, or he was partially visible where directly light would catch him.

Holy shit!

Zigzag dammit zigzag! I thought to myself frantically.

Every move I made was a series of small jogs, panicked leaps, or rolls all resulting in barely successfully near misses that could only be explained away as divine intervention.
He was obviously a lot stronger than me, and about ten times fucking faster than that.

Unfortunately there was no traffic at this time of night, in this area, at least tonight, so I couldn’t even use that as a way to distract or disrupt this guy chasing me.
Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run, I found myself doing something stupid.

Desperately I leaped toward a parked car, I think it was a hummer or something: the kind that sat high on big tires, looking like it guzzled more gas than fit in the tank.
Rolling from one side to the other, I got up and ran into a nearby alley, as well as I could considering the limp.

No idea what I was thinking, getting myself cornered was about the worst idea imaginable. Wait, I do know what I was thinking.

I was thinking this guy, or robot, was moving the exact same way I had seen Hellhound moving when he and the other villains had squared off against Seraph.

Could he be? Could he be Hellhound under that? That would help explain why I wasn’t caught yet. Was I really that lucky or was he just toying with me?

Fuck.

No exit to the alley, he’d run up the wall faster than I could climb the fire escape, and it wouldn’t take long for him to peek around into the dumpsters. I was fucked.
Plus he was already in the alley.

I guess he knew as well as I did how grim my situation was, because after what part of him I could see cast the vehicle away like a discarded chew toy, he faded invisibly into the unlit alleyway.
Rather than continuing to leap or scramble at me, claw marks could be seen being carved into the brick building that made up one of the alley walls. He was definitely toying with me.
Well, fight or flight responses right? I couldn’t run anymore so time to go down swinging.

I put both hands on my crowbar, positioning it over my shoulder like a baseball bat.

“What do you want from me!?” I yelled.

My back literally against the wall, as far away as I could possibly be from him, the unexpected happened.

Looking like the special technique of an anime dinosaur, a large ball of flame fell from above, crashing into Anubis and exploding into the alleyway, causing me to raise my arms in defense of the heat wave that followed.

A large figure then plummeted from the rooftop and landed on Anubis, striking him a surprising number of times in the small amount of time it took for him to go from a standing position to his back from the force of the attacker’s fall.

Both now visible, the figure then lifted Anubis and threw him against the wall of the alley building, cracking it, and then throwing him again behind him, across the alley and into the window of a shop, where would have likely vanished if it wasn’t for the attached flames.

I quickly began to pat myself down as small flames had caught a portion of my sweatpants and hoodie on fire as well, along with the majority of loose or bagged trash in the alley itself.
I would have been grateful to have put myself out, and maybe even thanked the mystery man had it not been for what followed.

As the new combatant turned to look at me my blood ran cold, and my heart stopped. Both figurative of course because of my powers, but damn was I scared.

I was looking at a tall, muscular, Asian man with Jet black mid length, messy hair. The man was Hellhound, which thwarted any suspicion that Anubis might be a re-branding of him. It wasn’t just the fact that he was there though, it’s what he said to me.

“Run along home now boy, I’ll be there soon.”

I’ll be there soon? Had he known where I lived this whole time? Was he following me? I mean I knew he was probably looking for me, or trying to stalk me, but was he actually following me around?

Before I could finish evacuating my bowels, he turned back toward Anubis, who hand’s quite finished picking himself up yet , and leaped onto him again, they were trading blows quickly and ferociously, like a couple of animals inside one of those cartoon smoke puffs.

Unsure if I was memorized by the scene itself, what had just happened, or just scared frozen, I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the sound of stone on stone, or perhaps metal on stone scraping from below, but nearby.

“Eddie, down here!”

Sort of wish I had gone the “Who’s Eddie?” Route, but hey, it was my first day. I looked down at the voice to see Avery’s head popped up from a manhole cover.

“C’mon man! Before they see you.”

Avery began moving quickly down the latter to make room for me, and without hesitation I followed, shutting the manhole behind me.

Avery wasn’t alone though.

“Fuck man how’d you know it was me? And what the hell!?” I gestured toward the stranger, indicating my clear dissatisfaction for him outing me without my permission. It also surprised me to see that they had some sort of vehicle. It was a hovering motorcycle-like contraption with a sidecar attached to it.

Avery Gestured for me to either get on, or into the sidecar, which I did. The stranger poked the manhole before catching up to us.

“Yeah because the poorly dressed teenage looking vigilante at the address I only told you about the night I just told you about would be a total coincidence right?”

Honestly I was baffled.

“Wait, how was this on the news already?” I asked, unsure if my voice was displaying desperation still from recent events, or just heavy irritation.

“It wasn’t. I was sitting around with a bunch of my friends- oh shit sorry. Eddie, this is Freedloader. Freedloader, this is Eddie.

“Anyway all the heroes in the Paragon Legion have a personal camera. We were sitting around watching the council member’s channel when we saw shit going down. I knew it had to be you so I borrowed the hover cycle from a buddy and got Freedloader to come with me.”

I sighed.

“Fine, but can you call me 'Misfit' when I’m in costume from now on? I was planning on making a ‘superhero’ blog to talk about powered people and the issues with our rights to privacy and bullying and stuff and I really don’t want that to bite me in the butt in my ‘civilian’ life.” I explained.

“Also, if you guys have code names does that mean you guys are in one of those vigilante groups?” I asked.

“We only made up our code names for fun. Mine’s ‘Friendzone’. We’re not vigilantes either, we’re just a group of guys who want to show people that just because we have powers doesn’t mean we’re not part of the community, so we do a bunch of stuff to help out around the city or neighborhoods or whatever. Anything from planting trees in the park on Arbor day to doing fundraisers and canned food drives.”

“Gross.” I said. “Don’t get me wrong, that stuff’s cool and all but ‘normal people’ don’t even do that half the time. It’s like the begging version of being a vigilante to me, no offense. I’m not saying it’s lame to help people that way rather than trying to be a superhero but… shit, maybe that is kinda what I’m saying. Is that douchey?”

Freeloader seemed heavily insulted, which told me that it probably was a sort of douche thing to say.

“Well, we just don’t really have good powers for vigilante work. Plus, isn’t blogging just kind of the lazy way to do what we’re doing?”

I think he was joking, but it also sort of made a good point, but I wasn’t sure I agreed it was the same thing.

“Maybe, but if I’m out there showing people that not all vigilantes are psychos, and spreading education about powered individuals at the same time it’s almost like hitting two birds with one stone isn’t it? Where are we going anyway?”

Honestly that last bit was more about changing the subject than wondering where we were headed. I pulled my hood/wig and mask off; stowing the mask in my pockets and tucking the wighood into the back of my neck portion of the costume as well as i could. I then let the crowbar drop behind the vehicle as we went.

“Just getting you to a more populated area of town so you can get home bro.”

I was sort of quiet the rest of the way. Maybe I was more worried about fame or glory than I was about actually doing something good. Maybe I was just another cringy little kid for playing hero and almost getting us killed tonight. At least I did something good though.

I got out of the hovering vehicle and climbed the ladder. The manhole let out in another alleyway, where only a sleeping homeless man seemed to be.

I walked out into the street and after a little time found a phone to borrow for a cab ride home. I didn’t take the cab right to the house, but a couple over so my folks wouldn’t hear me arrive.
I still wasn’t feeling great, and climbing up to my window was more of a pain in the butt than I remembered it being, but I was home. I undressed, balled my stuff up and tossed it into a plastic grocery bag under my bed, then left my room to take a shower.

As I left the shower I was sure to wrap the towel around my waste so that it hung over my leg. Although it was healing rather quickly bruising was still very visible, and there was no way my folks needed to see it. I don’t think “I fell down the stairs” quite covered the way my leg broke, and I didn’t want them to caudal me again.

“Honey, what are you doing up so early?” my mom asked worriedly.

See what I mean?

“I didn’t sleep very well and I was sweating a lot, so I thought I’d have a shower and see if it made me feel better.” I lied. Well I guess it wasn’t technically a lie. Not sleeping at all isn’t sleeping well and I did feel crummy.

“Do you need to stay home from school today?”

Honestly I considered it. Playing hooky was always fun, plus I didn’t like school anyway.

“Sure.” I said.

Upon returning to my room I threw on some pajama pants and sat at my computer desk, fidgeting with my leg in case it needed straightening. Not that I knew how or could even feel it.
Then I decided to leave Avery a message.

Eddie's profile pic for discord...png
WalkingFred: Today at 4:57am
Maybe I’m not as much of a bigshot as I think I am yet… You think I can come along next time you guys are doing community work?”

After leaving the message I collapsed on my bed and went to sleep, too tired, or maybe just too scatterbrained to remember Hellhound’s warning.
 
I was so overwhelmed that my dad had shown up I wasn't really paying attention to the first part of the fight.
It wasn't until they tried to make me leave that I really snapped out of it.

“No! I don’t want to leave my dad!” I resisted.

Unfortunately, they weren’t going to listen to me, and I wasn’t going to go so far as to hurt them just to stay either.
They guided me through a portal that brought me back to what they said was the Paragon Legion Headquarters, the place my dad worked.
The room looked a lot like a police station, but much, much larger. There was also a ten-foot tall hologram of a man-shaped entity seeming to be made entirely of lava.
They began to lead me to the infirmary, and I heard my brother’s voice from my WMSCL.

“Hold on…”
A robotic voice followed his.

“Initiating Glamour Protocol.”

Immediately my suite turned into a stylish ball gown.

“Ha,” Damian added.

“What the hell Damian? Why did you put me in a ball gown?” I ask irritated.

“Ha ha ha…” He chuckled.

“Hold on, let me fix it.” He added

The robot voice spoke again.

“Glamour Protocol Altered; Casual Wear Selected.”

My dress turned into a hoodie, along with sweatpants, tennis shoes, and socks.
*That’s more like it.* I thought.

The doctors gave me the checkup and left me to rest. As they turned the TV on, I could see my dad, still fighting the bad guys.
As I sat down to watch the transmission, I could see that my dad was still fighting alone.
Dad had just finished whipping a car in half with his LaserBolt and had a Hardlight Shield erected toward a villain who wasn’t there when I had left.

*Another one? Why wasn’t anyone there to help him yet?* I wondered worriedly.

I started to bite my nails nervously, watching as really sharp looking icicles crashed into the shield just before a big chunk of ice came from beneath the new villain to launch him out of the way of what was left of the car.

Then, dad said something, but all we could hear was static. I was surprised at how unclearly the camera picked up his voice. Knowing Dad, his gear probably should have had the mic integrated in such a way as to send an audio feed or record his voice directly rather than relying on the microphone on the camera itself. Maybe they just didn’t let him do it that way.

“Say again? There’s some kind of interference.” Is what dad got in response?

There was a small pause as the three of them waiting for someone to make a move, then the ice-powered guy stomped toward dad, sending a wave of ice along the ground toward him. Seeing an opportunity, the creepy guy who showed up to stop us threw a harpoon at dad: the same kind he hit that masked boy with.
Quick as a snake, dad spun around the other way, lashing the ice apart and blocking the spear with his shield, quickly following by switching the LaserBolt to grapple mode.
He grabbed the new guy on the leg and threw him back at Mr. McCreeps, moving them just out of the camera’s range.
Dad turned to face them and the camera moved positions to get everyone in the shot again. The new guy’s armor stated turning to dust, and with the same trick he used to make the spears, the creepy guy sent sharp junks of the material forward toward dad.
As the creepy guy did during the new guy’s shockwave, the new guy reacted quickly by hurling a ball of ice toward dad at nearly the same time, missing him as the ice continued out of the camera’s view. Dad had braced for the attack, but there was a follow-up ice ball thrown at a wall next to himself, which he jumped through, and suddenly the stranger was behind Dad, shooting, or maybe throwing, even more, spikes of ice. Nearly caught in the crossfire, dad’s jump jets thrust him away, turning the enemy attacks into near misses that whizzed toward each other as they scrambled quickly to get out of their way.

"Ah, MAISI, what’s the damage look like?” Dad asked, we could hear him now, maybe there was just something wrong with his communicator.

“Some minor bruises and scrapes, and a sprain in your right wrist.” A robotic woman replied. “Administering painkillers, I would recomme-”

Apparently, Dad was distracted enough by his attempt to communicate, because the new guy succeeded at hitting his mark as he leaped onto Dad and dug his claws into his shoulders. Luckily dad hit back with equal, or maybe even greater force as he launched him off of him and outside of camera shot with his jump jets.

*I think there’s something wrong with dad’s suit…* I thought worriedly. *It sounded really funny… this is bad, really bad… where’s his backup?*

The sounds of a car alarm followed the crashing and crunching of glass and metal with what I could only assume was the resulting impact.
Dad slowly pulled himself up, but he didn’t notice the creeper had thrown another harpoon at him. It hit his hip on his right side, pinning him to a nearby car. The man walked slowly toward dad.

“DAD NO!” I screamed. “Why isn’t anyone there to help him!?” I looked around panicked, giving voice to my earlier concerns.

“You fought well,” The creepy man began. I really hoped that he was about to monologue and that it would give him enough time for help to arrive.

“You may have even beat us both in your prime, but at your age, even Frostbite is quite the accomplishment,” The man looked toward where the other guy had landed.

*So that’s his name…*I thought, hoping to commit it to memory.

“Though even that won’t last long now will it?” The bad guy pulled the harpoon from the car and out of dad, causing him to scream more.
I couldn’t stand hearing and seeing him like this, I might even have rather stayed kidnapped.

“Damian is someone going to help him…?” I asked, hoping to god he would tell me everything would be alright.

“Hold on, lemme try something…” Damian responded as I saw the guy drop the harpoon and push dad back against the car.

“Ok, I managed to hack the nano-medics to give him some adrenaline. Hang on, I’ll be right back.” He added, but then it sounded like a call disconnecting.

“Damian? Damian, please don’t leave me alone!” I begged.

I was in tears, bawling, blubbering, which began when the fight turned south but had become much more drastic now. I knew Damian couldn’t hear me, but I begged anyway.

“Please be enough…” I muttered.

The creepy guy looked dad right in the face.

“Come on Derrick, you don’t want to die mad now do you?” He taunted.

“I… I…” Dad stammered, causing the villain to lean in.

“What was that?” he asked.

The camera swiveled around to get a better look, but neither hero nor villain paid it any mind.

“I won’t,” Dad whispered, barely audible. He grabbed his arm with his right hand and severed it, apparently, he had shifted his MechBracer into the Plasma Cutter setting at some point.
Jackdaw staggered back, howling in pain and anger, now one armless.
I blurted a laugh between sobs that likely sounded like an insane goose honking.
I could see dad smiling, which gave me hope, just before lurching his hand forward to launch the spear into the evil man’s chest.

“YES! Daddy you’re going to be ok!” I crawled hastily toward the edge of my seating area, closest to the TV screen and placed my hands, balled into tight fists on my knees, squeezing so hard I could barely feel my fingers.
Dad went limp.

“No dad, its ok help is coming, help is coming!” I started to stammer, as a Legion Shuttle pulled into view.

“I… I… I… couldn’t…” I heard my brother’s voice reconnecting.

“He’s gone lin.”
My heart stopped as the lights began to flicker.

“But they’re there now… they’re there!” I began shaking the screen, crying uncontrollably.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” I shrieked, and everything went dark.
 
I didn’t wake up until around noon, but that’s more sleep than I sometimes get so I wasn’t too worried about it.

The first thing I did was double check to make sure my parents were out. Mom was always a stay at home since my dad made decent money, especially when the settlement came through, but since I was older and more withdrawn, she tended to spend time with various hobbies when I was at school. She probably wouldn’t be home until around three.

As I suspected she was gone. Probably at the library with her study buddies from her online courses, cluckin’ away at the day like them old hens tend to do. It was really weird seeing her moods shift almost back to high school when talking to her friends on the phone. Eerie even, but whatever.

I retrieved my costume from the sack under my bed and tossed it in a load of laundry with my other things, careful to wash the mask by hand in the sink instead. Surprisingly, other than some char marks on the outer clothes it was just dirty from dust and sweat. Mostly. I didn’t see where there was any blood or anything, but I took minimal damage, if any to the core of my costume. The hoodie and sweatpants would be easy to replace. Since I had plenty of similar clothes.

Once I had that taken care of I decided to get online and see if Avery had responded yet. I was really hoping I’d get to do something today since last night was such a fiasco. Turns out he did.

Avery's profile pic for discord..png
LeftoverFriendship: Today at 8:53am
Sure. The more the merrier.
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WalkingFred: Today at 12:37pm
You guys doin anything today?
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Avery's profile pic for discord..png
LeftoverFriendship: Today at 12:42pm
We were gonna go and help clean the park where Solar Flare fought Half-Life, they’re saying the radiation is at safe levels now.
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Eddie's profile pic for discord...png
WalkingFred: Today at 12:43pm
What time? Do you mind if I show up in costume?
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Avery's profile pic for discord..png
LeftoverFriendship: Today at 12:45pm
Around 4:00, and go for it, though you could meet us at our hangout at 3:00 and we could help you make a better one if you want.”
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Eddie's profile pic for discord...png
WalkingFred: Today at 12:46pm
Maybe, honestly I made it cheap so I could avoid getting ‘traced’ or something, plus if it gets damaged like last night it won’t be too hard to replace. Also, I was wondering if you know any tech smart powereds? It would be nice to have this conversation scrubbed and to be able to record and
upload for the blog without being tracked back to me somehow…​
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Avery's profile pic for discord..png
LeftoverFriendship: Today at 12:47pm
Nah man sorry, any techies that come through our group end up falling in with other crowds, I’ll introduce you if we meet anyone new though.
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Eddie's profile pic for discord...png
WalkingFred: Today at 12:47pm
K. C u there.
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Avery's profile pic for discord..png
LeftoverFriendship: Today at 12:51pm
K hangout is at 925 Elmwood street

After working the details out with Avery I printed out a map from the internet, as I still didn’t want to have my cellphone on me when in costume. I figured I’d be home a little late, but I could just leave a note with my folks saying I’m out with different friends, and that I’d be back a little after dinner.

It was a small gamble, but my folks didn’t really have my friend’s numbers and I figured they’d forgive me since they were stoked that I just had friends.

After preparing the note and tacking it to the fridge, I sat down to watch some TV while I waited for my clothes to finish going through the wash.

My heart sank.

It turned out that backup didn’t arrive in time last night, and not only had Jackdaw gotten away, but Innovator had been killed.

According to the footage, and the reporters, Frostbite had showed up and turned the tables on him. but the big question for me was, if they were having a trial when they heard the news, why didn’t he have any backup?

Was this my fault? Maybe I could have done something if I stayed…

Who was I kidding, I was a coward for fleeing in the first place, I should have stayed and helped him protect the girl, but honestly would I have made a difference?

I wasn’t sure whether to tell myself I would have made it worse if I stayed or that I could have made a difference but both sounded like excuses for one thing or another. There was just no way to get around the guilt either way.

“…and with Frostbite successfully behind bars once again, we can’t help but wonder how safe our streets really are. With increasing reports of Hellhound sightings in the area, his presence was confirmed tonight as his scuffle with an unidentified powered individual caused even more damage to nearby buildings.

“Although the identity of this individual is unknown, he was seen briefly fleeing the scene of Innovator’s fight with Jackdaw, travelling with, or perhaps chasing another unidentified figure present briefly as the camera arrived.

“With Hellhound being a known affiliate of Dominus Contentionum, one wonders if perhaps this new powered individual was with Jackdaw at all, and if so, perhaps things aren’t so chummy within the villains’ ranks…”

After a little more wordplay, it was also reported that both Hellhound and Anubis had also escaped the scene, even though Dues Volt had apparently attempted to bring them in. More bad news for me I guess...

I leaned my head back and groaned, turning the TV to a cartoon channel, which was one of the few that weren’t still reporting the incident.

That’s the problem with the news, they repeat everything all day for several days just to make sure everyone has heard about it.

Eventually my laundry finished, I collected any loose wig hairs from the washer and dryer to dispose of them, and I had successfully killed enough time to head over to Avery’s hangout.

I made sure to dress as I had toward the end of the night before, turned my phone off, and put it under my bed so that it would seem as if it had honestly been forgotten.

After arriving via city transit, and a bit of walking, I donned my mask and hood, put on my gloves and knocked on the large garage style doors of the warehouse building, not realizing at first that there was a normal door just to the right of me.

I was greeted warmly by Avery and his friends, and the place actually looked like a really fun place to kick back. There were couches and cushions and a loft area, I actually sort of wondered if he had been lying about the vigilante part.

Maybe one of them was just rich or something.

I felt kind of shy and awkward, but Avery did introduce me as Misfit and everybody seemed happy or indifferent enough to have me along, so it was alright. I was pretty distracted though. The fact that Innovator died really hit me hard.

Honestly a there were more than a few members of the Legion who were personal heroes of mine, who I looked up to, and it was just a shock to see that one had died, especially since it may have been my fault.

I decided that after I helped around at the park, I would stop by and see if I could help by giving more information about what I saw in there, or things Jackdaw had said before he had shown up. It was the least I could do.

Besides, I was pretty sure they couldn’t force me to reveal my true identity legally unless they arrested me, and I hadn’t really done anything illegal.
I mean, there was a little breaking and entering but they weren’t there for that, so I should be able to get by with “innocent until proven guilty”.
The park was a fuckin’ mess by the way. There were fallen tree, shards of wood, glass, plastic, and tile everywhere.

From park benches and sidewalks, to trashcans and kid’s playground toys, there was a lot that was broken or in disrepair.
We mostly just picked up some trash as we went.

I stayed for about an hour, then excused myself, explaining that I had forgotten to tell my folks where I would be, and that I should get home before I got in trouble.

One of the guys there let me use his cellphone, which was good because I needed to call cab to get to the Legion building. I had memorized the number early on for this particular cab company, in case I needed transportation, since none of my powers actually increased my mobility.

The cab ride was short, but it felt like a while. Would they blame me? Would they think I was just looking for attention? I mean I sort of was also, I had to admit, but that’s not why I was going in to talk to them...

Why do I even consider myself a good person? Even when I’m doing something that seems right I usually have an alternate agenda. Like the blog idea. Should I try to be more stoic? Can you even be called stoic if you’re trying to be?

Whatever, I’m a kid who probably has some serious mental disorders from dying and being kidnapped. I probably get a pass on some of that.

But there’s my excuses again…

“Excuse me.” I said when walking into the front desk.

“Uh, can I help you?” the man asked suspiciously.

“Well, uh, I was wondering if I could talk to a member of the Paragon Legion. I was kind of there at the beginning of last night and… considering how things turned out I thought I should come by and give some information… My name is Misfit by the way.”

The man motioned for me to hold on a moment and I let out a sigh of relief.

Turned out that was premature.

Soon, a couple of police officers came over and placed me in handcuffs.

“Hey, what gives?” I blurted.

“You’re not under arrest son, we just need to ask you a few questions and hopefully you should be on your way. That is of course unless things are worse than we think they are.

“Why do you have to cuff me? I can just walk with you!” I argued.

“Its standard procedure, we’ll remove the cuffs once we get you settled.”

This was bullshit! I bet they wouldn’t have cuffed someone without superpowers!

I sat around in the type of room you would suspect to have a two way mirror for about an hour, maybe more, when finally another officer came in. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that the superheroes wouldn’t be contacted, at least yet, but I was.

I guess I didn’t realize that they kept real law enforcement on hand as well.

“First thing’s first kid, we need your name, and we need you to remove the mask. Then we can take your statement, match it up with others as well as the eyewitness reports, and go from there.”

“What!? I don’t have to do that, I’m exercising my right to privacy and all that. I still plan to cooperate, and I’ll answer any other question you have, but you can’t make me take the mask off or give you my real name.”

“Actually that’s not true at all. We can, and we are asking you to do that. In fact, legally it’s your obligation to comply with that request since you’re being questioned. We’re not registering you, we just need to know who you are so that we can make a statement and so that we can contact your parents if you’re a minor.”

They were definitely just bluffing, I saw it on TV all the time.

“No, I think you’re bluffing about that. Unless you charge me with something you don’t need my identity.”

“Look kid, I don’t want to do it, but if you don’t comply we’ll definitely be charging you. Just right now we can charge you for obstruction of justice, and hold you on suspicion since you fled a murder scene. You really don’t want us to go that route, especially given that it was a council member who got murdered. The charges are way more serious than you realize, so take off your mask and quit playing games.”

That really pissed me off.

“You think this is a game for me? I have every right to go out there and try to make the world a better place, same as everyone! I’d even be trying to join the Paragon Legion if it wasn’t for your bullshit surveillance rules!

“Fuckin’ eh, you guys are just threatening to charge me with all that crap because you know I have powers, and you’re scared I’m going to become one of the bad guys. Fuck you, that’s not fair, I came here myself to help you guys! I want to talk to a lawyer now. I know for sure you can’t continue bothering me without a lawyer present.”

The officer shook his head and sighed, then left the room.

Fuck, maybe I overdid it. I thought.

What felt like a few hours later, a sharply dressed older man came into the room.

“Hello, my name is Ronald Potter, I’m the attorney the state is providing the council you from here on. It’s come to my attention you’re refusing to cooperate, which means you may face some serious charges. I have to be honest kid, I don’t know what you’re thinking turning yourself in and making trouble like this, but I suppose it’s a better way to make a name as a ‘villain’ than hurting someone.”

Seriously?

“Isn’t it like against the law for them to make me tell them who I am if I haven’t done anything wrong? I’m literally being arrested just for being there last night, what happened to innocent until proven guilty!”

The lawyer shook his head as I spoke.

“Sorry kid, you’re mistaken. Now, you should definitely tell me who you are so I can adequately defend you. The confidentiality agreement us lawyers have prevents us from spreading that information so it’ll just be us. The cameras are even off right now.”

I was pretty sure he was telling the truth, so I took my mask off, lowered my hood, and sighed.

“That’s better. How old are you kid?”

“I’m seventeen…”

The lawyer didn’t seem too surprised, and just jotted that information down on his notepad.

“Now, you realize that because you’re seventeen, we need to contact your parents to continue right?”

My eyes widened as my face shot up to see him looking quite serious.

“What? No no no, you can’t do that, c’mon there has to be some other option here. I’m almost eighteen, can’t you just leave them out of it?”

He shook his head.

“Sorry kid that’s the law. I’m not even sure I can technically represent you until we get their permission. Here’s my advice, we can ask them to agree to a nondisclosure, keep their report only for eyes that need to see it, and anyone else that asks this information was given anonymously.

"Given that you’re a minor we should be able to reduce the gravity of the situation, especially if you cooperate but you have to start now.”

Great, so I’m a cringy nerd and a moron.

“I really have to tell them who I am? That’s really the law?” I asked, to be certain.

“Sorry kid that’s the law.”

“Fine, I’ll talk to them but can you sit with me?”

The lawyer nodded and left the room. After another several minutes a different officer entered with him. Ronald sat on my side of the table, and the officer sat across from us with his notepad.

“So, who are you?” he asked.

“My name’s Edward Winkler-” I started.

“Parent’s phone number?” he interrupted.

I looked at the lawyer and he nodded, indicating that I had to give the information.

“360-555-4283, But I’d rather be called Misfit, or at least labeled Misfit where possible. I’m trying to keep my life as a… um, helping people separate from my normal life. My folks would freak out for one.”

The officer nodded and another officer came into the room. He left for a moment then came back with the notepad still in hand.

“Alright kid, let’s start with this: Who tipped you off about villainous activity at that location?”

Shit.

“Nobody,” I lied. “Well, not nobody per say, I remembered the address from when I got kidnapped forever ago. I was around fourteen and I had just gotten out of the hospital about a week prior, so even though I was really freaked out it was important to try to remember everything. Survival instincts or whatever.

“One of the villains there asked if they were going to take me to that address, but the others said I was getting shipped off instead. That was before Seraph showed up and killed them all. Last night was my first night in costume, but I had been working up the courage to go there in case there were other people who were kidnapped.”

The officer gave me a stern look.

“Look, I know I should have given the information over to you guys but what if I remembered the address wrong? Or they weren’t there anymore? Honest to god I was just going to see if something shady was going on, then bring you the information. Then all that stuff went down. I just didn’t want you guys to think I was pulling some prank. I heard you can get in serious trouble for falsely reporting emergencies… you guys don’t seriously have to call my parents for this right?”

The officer didn’t press the issue more, he wrote down the information I gave him and then spoke.

“They’re already on their way actually. Normally we would wait for them to arrive before questioning you now that we know for certain that you’re a minor, but they’ve given us verbal consent over the phone so we’re good.

“Did you have anything else you wanted to add?”

I was dead meat. I was tenderized, ground hamburger style dead meat.

“Oh man!” I groaned. “Fuck! I should have just sent an email or something…” I shook my head.

“Yeah, I thought you should know that Jackdaw said that other villain was called Anubis. They’re together for sure. He works for him or something. He’s invisible unless he’s in direct light I think, otherwise he’s pretty darn close to Hellhound and what that Frostbite guy had going. Beast powers wise. At least from what I can tell… I thought he maybe was hellhound until Hellhound attacked him. Honestly I have no idea why they were fighting, but as far as I know they’re both still with Jackdaw’s group.”

I definitely didn’t want to tell them about Hellhound promising to come over and play or something, but I probably should have. I felt right now I was barely passing through the skin of my teeth to avoid being outed as Misfit to my friends, and if it wasn’t for the fact that my parents will likely be embarrassed by it, they’d probably out me themselves. Although I guess they will probably try to make me tell my therapist about it.

“Jackdaw also said something about his name standing for reincarnation. I’m not sure I interpreted it right, but whatever he’s up to has something to do with that I think. Like, maybe with that time powered guy he’s got working as a cyborg. I don’t know if it helps but… there it is… am I really going to get arrested for just being there…? I really only came down here to help and give you my name for incident reports and stuff… my ‘Misfit’ name I mean…”

The officer sighed and shook his head.

“No, we’ll let you off with a warning this time. Just no more shenanigans alright?”

I nodded, still feeling pretty grim about everything, I definitely wasn’t looking forward to what would come next.

When mom and dad arrived dad was nearly purple. He began tearing into me immediately, verbally, savagely, not abusively in any way of course but I could safely say I had never been lectured so thoroughly in my life.

I was pretty much grounded from everything, pretty much forever, and he even made me change out of my costume at the station bathroom so he could throw it in the trash there.

Fuck my life.

From his arrival, to the car, and even the whole way home. I almost wondered if dad had just discovered that his superpower was the ability to scold without breathing.

Mom, by stark contrast didn’t say a peep. Honestly I was a little scared I might have broken her. She just seemed… I don’t know disappointed. It was like the ultimate game of good cop bad cop in away.

I couldn’t help but feel bad, especially with dad reminding me how they’ve been letting me get away with basically anything because of my issues. He also said I was going to have to go to support groups more often, and double therapy, including adding family counseling to the list.

How did I get myself into this mess?

He was still going at it when we arrived home. I even almost didn’t notice that the front door was open. I guess they left in a hurry.
 

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Martha stared distantly out the window of the car as they drove home from Legion HQ. Her husband was laying into their son something fierce after finding out about his vigilante debacle. She felt guilty. She knew he had been sneaking out, hell she had even helped hide it from his father more than once, but she didn't think that he would meet any actual villains let alone Jackdaw himself. And then walking directly into the Legion HQ, while in full costume no less, she never could've imagined he'd be this bad at it...

They pulled into the driveway and Randy shut off the car. He was still lecturing as we approached the front door, only to find ajar.

"Randy shut your mouth" Martha said quietly, but fiercely.

"Martha!?" Randy began, clearly taken aback, but then noticed the door and went silent.

He motioned for them to stay behind him and crept forward, reaching through the doorway and immediately right to grab an umbrella from the stand. He then moved into the house, holding the umbrella like a bat. He moved through the entry and into the hallway in front of the doorway that leads to the living room. He moved into the living room and stood facing a tall imposing figure that was sitting in his lounge chair, enjoying a nice glass of ice water. It was Hellhound.

"G-g-get out of my house before I call the P-police!" Randy yelled, shaking with fear.

The figure looked up from his book, "10 Easy Steps to A Happier You" and smiled an oddly, and quite unnervingly, genuine smile.

"Ah," the figure began warmly, "Welcome back Winklers, you have a lovely home"

He set the book down and stood up, walking slowly towards them.

"I-I'm warning you," he croaked, as he swung the umbrella at him, bending it on his unflinching face.

The man kept moving forward, moving past Randy, who helplessly froze in horror. As the man brushed past Randy he swung his arm, knocking him across the room and into the wall, breaking it and knocking Randy unconscious. Arriving in front of Martha and Eddie, Martha wordlessly pushed her son behind her, staring daggers at the man.

"DAD!" Eddie shouted as he darted out from behind Martha and stood between her and Hellhound. "Please, leave them alone. I know I can't outrun you, and i know i can't overpower you. Just please, don't hurt them because of me."

Martha wasn't surprised, Eddie had her youthful rebellious spirit, why not her headstrong protective instinct too. Hellhound laughed and grabbed Eddie by the throat, lifting him up to his height.

"Typical teenager," he remarked, "Not everything is about you"

Martha clenched her teeth and tilted her head, still glaring daggers at the man. Alright, it was about time anyway. She stepped forward, grabbed Hellhound's arm at the wrist, materialized a blade of pure light energy, and severed his arm at the elbow. She then threw a kick straight to his gut, causing him to stagger backwards a few steps, and took her original place in front of her son.

"Get out of my house mutt," she declared, "Eddie go upstairs and pack your things, if I'm not done by the time you get down go somewhere safe"

A beam of light wound it's way from Martha and wrapped it's way around Randy, then snaked it's way back over to Eddie and did the same. Martha then began to glow until all that could be seen of her was a blinding ball of light.
 
Coughing harshly, I wrenched Hellhound’s severed appendage from my neck and threw it to the side.

MOM??? I couldn’t quite find the words. I darted as quickly as I could toward the stairs, dodging to one side on the way by in case Hellhound tried to reach for me.

I don’t know if he did, I didn’t check.

Darting up the stairs I burst into my room. I grabbed my backpack, and dumped the contents onto the floor. School wasn’t essential right now. I then began grabbing handfuls of clothing from my dresser and closet, indiscriminately, along with my laptop, charger, and Nintendo 3ds case.

Was the charger in there? Didn’t matter, wasn’t thinking about that. I zipped it up the best I could, grabbed my aluminum baseball bat, and ran back down the stairs, leaving my cellphone and all of my other belongings behind.

I was about to exit the front door when I realized something.

Dad!

I shoved the bat upside down into the already overstuffed backpack’s still not-quite-closed zipper, and donned the familiar straps, sprinting to the wall dad had been so carelessly thrown into.
I tried to glance at the battle, but found myself blinded by close proximity of my mother, who looked startlingly familiar.

“Dad, c’mon get up! Dad wake up!” He didn’t respond to my voice or the light patting on his face. He didn’t respond to my attempt at shaking him either.

Fuck.

I reached down and grabbed his arms, pulling him as quickly as I could from the rubble. Unfortunately I still had no real muscle mass to speak of, so the going was slow, but I did find I was able to heave him over my shoulders and carry him from the house that way.

It took longer than expected to fumble the door open and position him inside the car in such a way as to allow the door to close, but looking up toward the house I could tell from the flashing lights that the fight was still going on.

Can she do this? I stopped myself momentarily from searching my father’s pockets. I had personally seen Seraph rip apart not only Hellhound, but two other well-known villains just a few years ago, but I had also made the mistake of overestimating the notorious powered individuals just last night.

I struggled with the thought of leaving her to do this alone, but also with the thought of giving Hellhound the edge by remaining. After all, what could I do against someone who outmatched me in every way? He had powers like mine and then some.

It probably wouldn’t have been a farfetched comparison to equate a fight between Hellhound and myself to a bobcat trying to fight a tiger. Care to guess who would win that one?

Ultimately my concern for my mom caved in comparison to what I later decided was simply cowardice disguised as reason. It was her job to protect me as my parent right? It wasn’t like she didn’t have the means.

I slammed the car door shut beside me as I struggled to calm myself enough to work the key into the ignition slot. I then started the car, and pulled quickly out of the driveway, speeding my way away from the scene.

I could see smoke billowing from my house, and various flashes of light as I pulled away, but those eventually faded from sight as I made various turns along the way. No longer distracted by the sight of the situation, I began focusing my efforts on calming myself down enough to ensure my speed was reasonable, and being mindful of traffic.

With some effort, and what I believe to be quite a bit of luck, I was able to pull myself together enough to drive safely away, and toward the only place I could think of.

The dynamic of my household was such that I never really saw relatives outside of my parents very often. I wasn’t sure if it was the nature of my father’s busy life, some unknown rift between us and them, or a lack of family to visit to begin with, but either way I had nobody like that I could think of to safely take us in. Although it was probably for the best considering family was likely where they would expect us to go in a situation like that.

Instead I drove us to what Avery had called their group’s clubhouse.

After roughly a half hour journey, I parked the car near one of the large bay doors, leaving my dad inside and immediately running for the normal sized door just to the side of the building, pounding loudly and frantically.

What am I doing? Is anyone even here at this hour? I considered during the short pause that followed. Thankfully there was.

A young man, close to my age answered the door. He was roughly six feet tall with short, light brown hair. He was fit, but not in such a way as to where you would assume he worked out, more so just that he seemed active, and he definitely looked surprised to see me.

“Sorry, uh, shit. I know we just met earlier, but my dad and I really need some help…”

Fuck. I thought, realizing I wasn’t wearing my mask. Would he know it was me?

“It’s Misfit, and uh, I might need to move some furniture so we can hide my dad’s car…”

At first he didn’t say anything, he just moved aside to let me in.

“Yeah, Rebecca can help with that if you need it.” He nodded toward a pretty cute looking redhead around our age, who stood by as requested.

“What happened?” Someone asked.

I turned to see that it was Avery, not surprising since the voice did sound familiar. “Do you want to talk about it?”

I shook my head, not sure what to say exactly. I knew I didn’t want to tell him about my visit to the legion, because that would have just made me look even more foolish than I did right now.

Looking around the room for the first time a wave of anxiety washed over me. It seemed the whole crew was here, seeing me in my vulnerable and unmasked state, in both the literal and emotional sense.

I wasn’t sure if they were celebrating or just hanging out after today’s park cleanup, but I was positive that seeing me freak out wasn’t going to do much for my image.

“Not much to talk about.” I managed to croak out, my throat knotting up from the whirlwind of emotions I was experiencing.

“Hellhound showed up at my house and Mom turned into Seraph… Do you guys think Dad’s gonna be okay?”

The furniture had been moved, and they had just finished pulling open the garage doors. There was a small pause from the group after my explanation of what happened, then the boy from the door spoke.

“Well if your mom is Seraph she has healing powers, so depending on what happened before you took him here he should be fine.” He explained.

A feeling of relief joined the party my other feelings were having inside me.

“Oh good…” I thought for a moment as they stood there, possibly waiting for me to move the car and help me with my dad. Then I had a thought.

“Can I like, lay low and live here for a while? Maybe take dad somewhere else? I kind of fucked up in a big enough way to where I don’t want to go home.”

Avery looked to the other boy, and then I remembered that this was the guy who Avery had said owned the place. They called him Lunge or Loom or something like that. Still didn’t remember his real name though.

“It’s fine with me but you should talk to your folks about it first. None of us want to get arrested for ‘kidnapping’.”

At first I thought he was joking but then I realized he was serious.

“Uh, It’s fine, I’ll be eighteen soon and nobody needs to know I’m sleeping here. I’ll probably just sleep during the day and do my patrols at night for a while…” I began. “As far as Dad goes I just need somewhere to put him so people don’t know where I am, but if you’d rather not let me crash here without parental guidance or whatever it’s cool, I can find somewhere else to squat. You guys really don’t know me very well anyway and I know it’s a lot to ask.”

After some consideration the boy said I could stay, but suggested taking my father to the hospital since they really didn’t know of anywhere else to put him. So that’s what I did.

I drove my father to the hospital and parked near the emergency room entrance. I know I wasn’t allowed to park there, and I knew they’d tow Dad’s car, but I needed close proximity to the door so that I could take him inside without too much trouble.

I took him into the emergency room, yelled for help, and bolted as soon as two of the hospital staff took my dad from me.

Truth be told I know the entire night was handled poorly. I marched my cocky ass into the Legion building, started an argument with the authorities that almost got me arrested, severely disappointed and worried my parents, and even got them almost killed by a maniac who I knew was on his way to my house.

I didn’t even warn them! How fucked up is that?

To make matters worse I showed up unannounced at my friend’s friend’s private property, stirred up ruckus and even begged for them to let me squat at their place.

I reflected on the events of the night over and over as I walked back to the clubhouse from the hospital, and no way I mulled it over in my head did I come out a good guy. Or even an okay guy.

I just seemed like a spoiled and lost child, expecting everyone else to clean up my mess. I didn’t even think to call the police and get my mom some backup, I just left.

Things had died down when I had gotten back. They had even put the furniture back in place. The furniture I asked them to move for what turned out to be no reason.

Exhausted, I plopped my bag onto the floor next to one of the couches, and laid down to fall asleep.

The next morning, I woke up startled to realize I wasn’t home. It took me a moment to remember the events of last night, as if my brain had been hoping to store the bad thoughts away, pretending they never happened.

In addition, I found that everyone was still present. They seemed to be going about various morning routines. Did they have a big sleep over? It was Friday, didn’t they have school?

As I looked around closer at everyone, I realized I recognized some-no, all of them from school. They all went to my school? Even the tall guy I recognized as a senior. Eric, that’s right. His name was Eric, and not only did he attend my school but I had also seen him attend the support group meetings that I met Avery at. How had I not noticed this all yesterday when I came by for the park cleanup?

Perhaps it’s because I hadn’t been thinking of school, or that I was distracted by feeling responsible for what happened to Innovator.

“Hey, sorry to bother you man but I gotta confess something… Yesterday I had a lot on my mind and I don’t really remember anyone here. I mean, I’ve seen them at school and I know some of them were around yesterday and stuff but can you help me out here?”

Avery smiled and nodded.

“Oh, no problem fam.” He started by pointing at Eric, the owner of the building and doorman from last night.

“That’s Eric, AKA Lounge, our ‘group leader’ so to speak. He has the ability to conjure chairs and chair adjacent things. I.E. Sofas or stools.”

I almost laughed, but felt that would have been quite inappropriate. Luckily I was able to keep it inside. It did explain how they had gotten such good furniture though.

He then gestured to a kid that was about a half a foot or a foot shorter than Eric, with medium length well groomed, jet black hair. He was kind of skinny but not as bad as I was when I had stopped eating after my powers came in.

“Then of course we have Trevor, AKA Virtuoso, with the ability to play any instrument he picks up masterfully. We aren’t entirely sure he’s even powered but inexplicable musical prowess isn’t the weirdest power I’ve seen.”

Moving on from Trevor, Avery pointed out another boy. The one he had introduced to me the other night. He was around five feet tall, shorter than the rest of the bunch and a little on the chubbier side of things, but he was cleanlier than some heavy kids. He did however seem to have a dandruff situation, which seemed apparent in his shoulder length blonde hair.
“We also have Gilbert here, AKA Freeloader, with the power to alter the weight of anything he touches. Don’t worry, he can control it.”

The final member of the crew was the redhead from last night who I had as of today recognized from school. Although she was wearing loose fitting clothing now, and it was difficult to tell, I had previously noted quite the ample chest and a body that certainly put her toward, if not at the top of my school hottie list. She was taller than Trevor and her hair was long enough to reach the middle of her back.

“And last but certainly not least Rebecca, AKA Becca AKA Slipknot, with the astounding ability to control thread, and by extension, many a fabric made thing.”

“Oh yeah, and then there is me, Avery, AKA Friendzone with the power of friendship. Hooray!”

Avery of course I was very familiar with. He was about Gilbert’s height but had a fitness more comparable to Eric’s, and short black hair.

As I looked over each one I could remember a few distinct situations I had witnessed in school, and none of them were pleasant. The main reason for this, is that I didn’t recognize them because I shared a class with them, or because some of them had been friends of mine before my powers ruined my social life, I recognized them because I had seen them struggle with their own bully problems.

First I just want to clarify, that yes I know the right thing to do would have been to step in and help them, but let’s be realistic here, would you have done anything different? If the answer is yes, then good for you. You’re one of the few people worth a shit on this planet, but for the rest of us I blame human nature.

For one thing, I was dealing with my own problems, and just passive-aggressively muttering when things got too close to my vicinity was enough to draw attention toward me and make those problems worse.

I had my own bullies, although most of them were the prejudiced kids who bullied me because I had powers at all. Their bullies were powered kids who targeted them because they felt superior. Different situation, same outcome.

Honestly I was just so caught up in my own drama that I didn’t see room to help them out. Maybe it was an excuse to succumb to human nature and chicken out of confrontation, or maybe it was justified, but it was still wrong.

Not Eric though, he had no problem what so ever getting between another kid and a bully. Honestly I think that’s why I remembered his name after seeing him this morning.

I tend to ignore people or make snide remarks, others turtle, and I’d even seen Rebecca once or twice run away from a group of kids bawling, but Eric was something else.

If the attention was on him, he’d just ignore them and take the abuse, or pretend to have a phone call or text and walk away. If someone else was getting bullied though? Even non-powered kids?

He’d rip into them with a flurry of sharp words that could leave you speechless, but it would get him a beating or two though. Even in situations where the bullying wasn’t going to escalate originally I think.

“Thanks Avery… Uh, why is everyone here anyway?”

Avery took a moment before responding, as if choosing his words carefully.

“We live here. Nowhere else to go.”

Honestly I was astonished. Here I thought I had it bad with my “Friendship problems” and overbearing parents, and these guys were all basically homeless. I mean, I knew Avery’s folks were in prison, but I just assumed he was staying with a family member or had a job and lived at his folks house or something.

Wow. I really am a tool. I thought.

Strangely, it made me feel even more compelled to do what I was doing. I just needed to do it better.

Instead of parading around like a kid playing dress up, and acting like a scared toddler, I needed to man up. I couldn’t feel pain, as far as I knew I couldn’t die, and obviously I was bulletproof in some ways. Why should it be hard for me to be brave?

It was like a fish being afraid to swim. It just didn’t fit.

I pat Avery on the shoulder and gestured to the couch, letting him know I was going to be chilling over there for a while, and booted up my laptop, hoping to pass the time by making plans for tonight while also burying my nose in something to distract me from Avery’s friends.

It was just past five thirty AM. No wonder everyone was home. Luckily for me they would be going off to school after all and I could make my plans without feeling excessively awkward.

I’ll give it a few days, then I’ll apologize to everyone for making a scene and taking up space. Hopefully they don’t pity me or think I’m a lunatic or something. I thought.

Ultimately my computer was acting up so I decided to just lay down and pretend to sleep until they were gone. They must have turned everything off when they left though because I ended up sleeping until around noon, and there wasn’t a single light on.

Honestly as comfortable as this place looked, and as safe as I had felt last night, it just seemed eerie now. I wondered if Hellhound would find me.

I had hoped that he had been pinpointing me based on research and not actually by my scent, but then I had another thought. What if he was never tracking me?

“Not everything is about you.” He had said.

Was he… was he after Mom? Did she have something as Seraph that they needed, or do something to him in the past? Maybe he was holding a grudge because she had cut him in half those years ago.

Damn… I really wish I had a way to find answers.

Looking through my clothes I found a new hoodie and pair of sweats that should work for tonight, and made myself useful. I located their laundry machines and took a shower, then when I was fully dressed in costume I grabbed my bat and set out in search of things to do.

The daylight hours were sort of uneventful. I still didn’t know what had happened at the house, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to, so avoided situations where I might catch the news and walked sidewalks and alleyways well away from home.

Checking my wallet I found I still had some cash, so I offered some guy five bucks to borrow his cell in an attempt to call my mother. No luck. That didn’t help me suppress my anxiety.
Most of the day I took to helping the elderly and giving directions to tourists. I even hung out in parking lots offering to help people with their groceries or put carts away for them, at least until the management asked me to leave.

It was slow, and it wasn’t big, but it was something.

Toward five or six in the evening I decided to finally try the roof tops again. I still felt a little silly but I figured at the very least I could call it “bravery training.”

I found that it really wasn’t a realistic option for me. Realistically there were plenty of fairly small buildings spaced fairly close together, but with the variety of building placement and size, as well as other obstacles and barriers it just didn’t seem practical to me.

What was I going to do anyway? Run roof top to roof top looking down into alleys for trouble? It would be faster to just walk in or hop a fence most of the time. I could see where it might be useful for folks who could jump any distance but since a kid with normal movement like me could fuck up on even a normal jump, I figured id forget it.

Maybe someday I’d make friends with someone who could hook me up with a grappling hook or a suit that could enhance my abilities, but until then I’d settle.

As night fell I got a little more nervous. The last two nights had been pretty stressful, but I kept reminding myself that I was in another part of the city, and that until I broke into that building everything had gone fine the first night.

If the night had gone uneventfully, I probably wouldn’t have complained too much, but as it turned out I did get a little bit of action.

It wasn’t anything spectacular, and I didn’t face down any more super villains, but I did something I felt I could really be proud of.

Around roughly one thirty AM, I noticed a couple of girls exiting what seemed to be a popular night club. Well, truth be told I should have described them more as women, because they were certainly fully grown if you get my drift.

They seemed to be having a good time, and had definitely had one too many, and that’s probably why they didn’t notice the guy who started following them from the corner just a few yards from the club.

A guy following a couple of pretty drunk women? Seemed right up my alley to me. I took to a jog to keep an eye on the situation. I stayed behind and out of sight for a few minutes, just to try and confirm my suspicion if I could. After all, as unlikely as it seemed it could have just been coincidence that they were headed in the same direction.

Unfortunately for him he took every turn they took, and even seemed to be actively trying to avoid drawing any attention to himself. Did I have enough “evidence” to step in? I wasn’t sure, but soon enough he began “adjusting” himself, likely in anticipation. That was enough for me.

I picked my pace back up to a jog and slowed down to a crawl again directly behind the man, tapping his left shoulder, then ducking around his right side to his front as he turned that direction. I was facing the way we had come, and took two steps back for a little distance. As he looked forward again I spoke.

“Hey buddy, if you wanted a date you could have just asked me. I’ve been lookin’ for a good time all night.”

Looking pretty pissed, he tried to brush me off and get past me, but I wasn’t having it. I stepped backward to his forward and my left to his right, then my right to his left.

“Wha- Fuck off kid!” He said.

Knowing he could probably bowl me over, I swung the bat to fake him out as he began moving with less patience, stopping short before hitting him. I didn’t want to give him the chance to walk through me.

“What the fuck!?” He blurted. I couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Oops silly me. Sometimes I get a little ahead of myself.”

It only took him a moment to really size me up, and realize that even with the bat, he could probably teach me a lesson. So he tried.

As he moved forward at me, trying to grab the bat, I ducked down and to my left, choosing to spin about and bring the bat down on the back of his right knee. He didn’t like that.
“FUCK!” He shouted. “Little punk, you want me to call the cops?” he threatened.

I really didn’t, and now that the girls were out of sight he probably had the upper hand on that one, but I held my ground.

“You try to reach for your phone and I’ll club you again. You get up and walk away, back where you came from, I’ll go about my merry way. Your choice.”

I was unsure of the reason, but he decided to back off after all. I didn’t want to assume he was afraid of me, since that clearly didn’t seem the case. He might have just decided it wasn’t worth it anymore.

Then again there is this old saying about bullies, and people who prey on others, and it’s that at their heart they’re cowards. So maybe just standing up to him, and not showing weakness was enough.

Either way I was glad to have not had to get into a real fight yet, even if it was just with some non-powered creep.

I kept my distance but I followed the girls the rest of their way, just to be sure they made it. They only lived a block or two further from where I had stopped the man, so I was glad to have stepped in sooner than later after all.

Maybe next time I’ll step in right away and make a scene so the potential victims know that there might be danger.

It was a long walk back, but I was happy with myself. I had to get someone to let me in, which made me feel bad considering the time, but all in all it was a good enough night followed by a decent night’s rest.
 
I wake up hearing low beeping and I look around. I saw injured people on the other beds asleep still. I sat up and I was in the bed covered up and in a hospital gown. I saw my suit on the chair and my WMSCL on my arm off. I push the button to turn it on.

"AAH!" Damian screamed as it finished booting up, making me jump a little.

"Why are you screaming?" I asked.

"Sorry... what happened?" He replied.

"I don’t know I screamed and I woke up in the bed in different clothes,” I explained.

"Oh, um one sec," he said. The nurse button lit up and a few moments later a nurse came in.

"Oh, you're awake what did you need?" She asked.

"I didn’t call you,” I said, looking at her confused.

"Oh." She looked to make sure she was in the right place and then said. "Well, who pushed your button then?"

"I think it was my brother Damian" I pointed at my arm.

"I did." chirped Damian.

She then looked confused, and then Damian said: "Can you tell us what happened last night?"

She said, "Oh, there was a power outage and a few people escaped from their cells. We have Legionnaires on their trail though so everything is fine."

"Did you say your brother?" She added.

"Yes, my brother has been talking to me on my WMSCL," I answered.

She looked confused, but in a good way, and she said: "I'll be right back, well not me, but I have to report this to the council." She then left.

"Well okay then," Damian said, then he said I should hold on, followed by his call disconnecting.

A nearby computer lit up, saying there was a call from Damian. I stood up to answer it.

"Alright,” he said. “You see that EKG machine next to you? Not the one you're hooked up to but the unoccupied one?"

"Yea." I grab it after responding, then sat down on the bed crossing my legs and pushing my hair out of my eyes.

"Ok, your gonna want to open that up an-WAIT unplug it first." He instructed.

"I know what I’m doing Damian, god I’m not stupid." I retorted.

"Fuck fine, just get the EMP buffer and attach it to the WMSCL." He said.

I open up and modify the WMSCL relaxing and talking to my brother a bit. As I was finishing the council walked in. Deus Volt, Bulwark, and Solar Flare all present. Deus Volt chuckled before speaking.

"Like father like daughter, it's nice to see you again. How are you feeling?"

I smiled at him, closing it up to put the screws back in.

"Hello, again Uncle Connor I’m… sad but I feel fine."

I twitch and sparks shot out from my body, almost showering the computer that Damian was in.

"HEY WATCH IT!" Damian shouted.

"Hmm, are you sure you feel okay?" Deus Volt asks

"Yes I feel ok... but that has never happened before," I said.

I twitched again and he moved forward to put his thumb on my forehead. I felt a rush of energy before he spoke.

"Hm, you seem to be generating electricity. If you go too long without releasing it, it will build up and your body will try to get rid of the excess. I've absorbed all of it, for now, it should be a while before it gets dangerous again"

"Hmm it might have happened cuz I was hooked up to a computer." I wondered.

"Huh, we can fix that. Hey, Lin, you see that defibrillator over there?" Damian started before being cut off by Deus Volt.

"Ah, we can't have you taking apart any more of our infirmary equipment. Put your clothes on and then meet me outside. I'll take you to your father's workshop." He offered.

The council then left the room. Damian zipped back into my WMSCL. I stood up and put my suit back on, holding the helmet under my arm as I walked outside.
I followed them down the hall, passing people along the way.

"Where’s dad’s... bo…" I could not finish that word. "Uh… where is he at?" I asked.

"His body is in the morgue" Deus Volt said solemnly.

"...Oh... can we see him?" I hoped.

"Unfortunately he is being autopsied, and after that cremated as per his wishes, so you won't be able to see him." He replied.

Deus Volt seemed saddened by this, but also seemed determined to uphold his decision. As we arrived at the workshop he spoke.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. I'll come back and check in in a little while." He said before he and Solar flare left the workshop. Bulwark, however, stayed behind.

"Heh, the old man must be losing his wits" he chuckled.

"What do you mean?” I asked.

"He forgot to ask you about your brother." He said.

He looked at the WMSCL and sees where it says Call from Damian.

"Where are you calling from Damian?" He asked.

"Um… so… that's the thing..." He started awkwardly.

"I'm kinda... dead..."

Bulwark seemed confused

"No you’re not, you’re talking to me," I said.

"So I had powers that I never told anyone about, I could turn myself into pure energy and go into the computer systems, so when Hellhound killed me I did that, but with just my mind." He explained.

"So my body was killed, but I jumped out of it and into the WMSCL..."

"Uh..." was all I could manage. I didn’t know what else to say.

"Surprise..." he said weakly.

"Hmmm,” I said, looking down in thought.

"So you're in the system now?" Bulwark broke the silence.

"Uh, well, yeah" Damian responded.

"I don't know, I was stuck in the WMSCL. Speaking of actually," the call disconnected and I got a call from Damian on Dad's workshop terminal.

I answered it and sat down in the chair, putting my helmet down on the desk.

"How long have u been in there?" I asked.

"Uh, hey Bulwark, what year is it? Wait never mind it's in here, I have been in the WMSCL for about a year and a half." He answered.

"So… how did that happen and how long have I been… ‘Asleep’ for?" I asked.

"You've been asleep for three years," Damian answered.

"Oh…" I said as I slumped down in the chair.

"So I’ve missed school... Dad and you…" I continued.

"Heh, happy 15th, 16th, and 17th, birthday," said Damian sheepishly.

"Yea same to u bro…" I spin around in the seat "Soo who am I going to stay with if Dad… is gone…?" I asked Bulwark.

"Well since you're still a minor you'll have to be placed under somebody's care, I'm sure Amadeus would be more than happy to accommodate you." He said.

"Uh no that’s okay he’s way too religious for me to deal with alone," I said.

"Ow, my soul," Damian said.

I laughed "You know what I mean, Damian, I have to have him talking my ear off about god and u can play a game and not be rude about ignoring him."

"Mmhmm suuuure." He said, hopefully joking.

"Don’t be so sour bro." I put the WMSCL on the desk and opened it

"...So uh when is Dad’s funeral…?" I asked.

"You're gonna want to rig the WMSCL to leech power off of you instead of the power source it has, and also to hold a reserve charge for when you're out of juice," Damian said, clearly trying to change the subject.

"They'll be holding a ceremony next month to have his remains placed in the Hall of Heroes alongside Rainier..." Bulwark answered.

"What? But I want his remains with us..." I kind of mumble that but I knew that I was being selfish. After all, it was an honor to be put in the Hall of Heroes.

"Ok then, I understand…" I caved.

I was quiet as I worked on my WMSCL, letting everything set in.
 
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Nikolai had encouraged Lance to get creative with his powers and try something new. This certainly counted for that. He looked at the drone Pwn handed him; it was loaded with sensors and cameras and probably other stuff Lance didn't want to think about. Pwn was triple checking his helmet seals and the connector hoses leading from the helmet to the oxygen tanks on his back. When he was satisfied with them he reached out for the drone. Lance gave it back and checked his own helmet and tanks one last time. They climbed into the golf cart Machinimator had charged with her power and Tag looked into the early morning sky at their destination, the moon.

Easily farther than he'd ever tried shifting before, but the part of him that recognized possible targets had always felt it was possible. He felt the monster golf cart with his power, felt himself and Pwn. And then they were gone. Machinimator and Flip stood on the roof in silence for a moment, looking up at the moon.

"$2K Pwn does somethin' stupid an' Tag leaves 'im up there."

Flip just laughed in response.

The golf cart took a few seconds to land and it kicked up a huge dust cloud as it did, they began moving forward as soon as they landed; it seemed like Machinimator still had some control or it was following an order she gave just before they shifted. Tag looked at the foreign landscape and laughed. Pwn ignored him and fiddled with the drone for a moment before tossing it out the side of the cart. It landed and began rolling alongside them while Pwn spoke to it.

"Greetings from the moon, n00bs! I'm up here searching for the fabled colony the Inheritors supposedly left behind. If I find it then we'll have to see how their tech holds up to the likes of the late great Innovator's, and if not then whatever, I made it to the frickin' moon and I'll have to search Mars next time. Maybe leave a laser up here while I’m at it."

"Not sure we can get to Mars so easily," Tag interjected.

"Hush, we'll burn that bridge when we get to it. My associate here was expressing doubt about our ability to find something like that so easily. Clearly they forgot who I am," he pressed a series of keys on his bracer computer that so many techy people seemed so fond of and the drone launched dozens of projectiles up and away from them.

"There, now we'll have LPS, Lunar Positioning Satellites for the uninitiated, and away you go. We'll see you again if you find something interesting." The drone made a sharp turn and sped away from them. The golf cart was losing the effects of Machinimator's power; the charge must have run out, they were using their fuel now.

"And upload that to the channel. That'll give 'em something to worry about."

"Do you really think anyone is going to believe that you and Machinimator built a rocket capable of going to the moon and back without anyone noticing takeoff or landing?"

"Eh, cloaking exists, and it's not like the normies are going to think about that. Besides, I did launch that missile Flip bought."

"Did he buy that just for this? I know we got that beat up old tank with it too, but that was still really expensive just to look into a rumor."

"Well, he had me take out the warhead, so he probably had plans for that too; and obviously he wanted the tank for her. Maybe he just didn't have anything better to do with it and he thought this would be lulzy," Pwn shrugged.

"I guess so. Shall we shift around to save fuel?"

"Yeah, just don't drop us; Flip ain't here to catch us if we end up sideways.."

*****

"So, then the merc captain has me in his "office" giving me the death glare like you've never seen. Like, somehow it was my fault that there were three teams of Legionnaires just around the corner and his guys started shooting before confirming anything. Of course I was going to bail on that job; money doesn't do any good if you're dead.

"I guess Flip heard about the botched job and he knew the mercs so he swung by to check on them and spent some time talking the captain down from gutting me, something about me being an asset, not many tech villains willing to work with others and that whole spiel, anyways, he offers the merc captain a fat check if he'd be willing to let me walk. Merc takes a minute to think about it, like gutting me might be worth more than his last ten jobs combined. Fuckin' prick. But yeah, he takes the money and lets me go.

"Well, Flip is waiting there looking over the gear they took off me, I try to get to it but he points the beam cannon at me and tells me I work for him until I pay off what he just spent. Obviously I'm not one to argue with 10 million joules of directed death ray, so I agree and here I am months later. Close to paying him off with that bank heist, but I might stick around if you do. Job is so much easier with a reliable means of escape, y'know? And it isn't too bad having an actual base. But what about you? I know you've been pinned with assassinating some Legionnaire flunkie, that true?"

"No, I didn't kill him, I just moved him. No clue what happened to him after that. I don't know how they didn't catch me after that though; the camera followed me for at least 10 minutes. But it just dropped right before I was about to reach their meeting point for the money."

"So, you just got hired to teleport a guy?"

"Hired would be the polite way to put it. They hounded me for weeks to help them out with something, got me fired from my job, kicked out of my apartment. I tried to go to the cops, but one of them was in uniform guarding the door anytime I went, couldn't call about it either; they had something screwing with phones around me. I caved, like, what else could I do?

"They said they'd pay me for the trouble they caused after it was done. I didn't see another option at the time so I did what they asked. When they paid me they tried to force me to join them, I ran instead. I should have run in the first place, but I...I don't know, I guess I thought they'd give up if I held out long enough.

"I spent some time on the run, the Legion had me on video as the only lead into the guy that disappeared and the people trying to recruit me obviously knew who I was. It seemed like no matter where I went I couldn't get away from them; cities, forests, a cave in Mexico, they found me in less than a day no matter where I went. Them or the Legion, it was impossible.

"When Flip approached me I was tired of running, tired of losing hope that this was the safe place. I'd already been resigned to just go with whoever found me first at that point. I assumed he was with them until he told me he could make them leave me alone, and that he would help me get the Legion off my back and on to the real culprits."

"You keep calling these other people "them," do you not know who they are?"

"No, I saw a lot of them but I never really followed any of the news about the super powered individuals. I figured my power would let me get away from anything that didn't immediately kill me so it wasn't worth worrying about. I didn't really have any plans to use it for anything but personal convenience or fun anyways. Oops," Tag gave the best shrug he could in the modified radiation suit he had on over his normal clothes and the sweat suit.

"What did they look like? Any of them seem more important?" Pwn was leaning forward with his torso turned so he could look at Tag's mask with the restrictive suits they were wearing.

"Uhh, well there was a blonde woman who was in casual clothes and no mask that had a group with her both times I saw her and they all got quiet when she spoke. She had a big guy in a suit and domino mask with her that stayed really close to her the whole time I was around. There was a guy that looked like a kid in an old military suit, a dressy one, but he had that silver-grey hair that some old guys get instead of going white. Maximum creepy vibes from him, I saw him the most, I think his power was really well-suited to chasing me, he found me in the most remote places."

"Hmm, nobody that rings a bell for me. We should try to figure out who they are though," he leaned back into his seat.

"Why? It's been weeks and they haven't bugged us. Flip took care of it."

"Think about it, n00b. How did Flip take care of it? He clearly knows who they are; he could work for them or vice-versa. You should--" a buzz from both air tanks interrupted Pwn.

"Only a few minutes of breathing left, let's go. We can finish this later."

"Right, we're leaving the drone?"

"That was the plan, it'll keep searching and send a signal if it finds anything."

"Okay, we're outta here then," Tag shifted them back to Earth's atmosphere and in moments the golf cart was perfectly parked in their garage. Pwn started stripping the protective suit off while Tag shifted out of his simultaneously making his way towards the farther bathroom, leaving the garage's for Pwn. When Lance came back to the common room Nikolai tossed him a sorely needed water bottle.

"The air tanks were only supposed to last 3 hours, you were gone for 5," he left the question unasked but expected the answer all the same.

"I guess the air went a little further under lower gravity,"

"Mm, makes sense. I guess I was worried for nothing."

"Sorry, I thought Oscar was keeping track of the time with his HUD."

"You're back and safe now, it's fine. Any luck up there?"

"No, but the drone might find something," Oscar chimed in.

Nikolai tossed another water bottle past Lance, it bounced off Oscar's hand and hit the door behind him. He made a noise of annoyance and picked it up, taking a swig before continuing.

"I'm going to set the drone to avoid the areas we covered ourselves for now and search elsewhere. Should take a few weeks for it to finish that and maybe 2 months for it to backtrack over where we looked."

"How will it know where you were?"

"Ad-hoc GPS, the LPS. Launched the trackers on arrival, tracked our position and the drone's with it once they were in place. Gonna beam our position log to the drone now, with the new instructions."

"Hmm, clever. Good work, gentlemen. Ah, yes, we should have the laundered funds tomorrow. Let me know if you want any gear or materials and I'll see about getting them in ASAP."

"Thanks, Nik," Lance smiled while Oscar mumbled something into his drink and went to his computer.

"I'll be in my office, door'll be open. Let Miranda know too."

Lance nodded and moved upstairs to do so. The dull thud of music greeted him at her door, he knocked. The music stopped a moment later and a falsely deep voice spoke.

"Enter, if you dare! Mwahahahaha!"

She was still laughing when he entered the room. It was messy as always: clothes and magazines littering the floor, empty cans and bottles populating shelf and table space not taken up by oversized electronics, stacks of old magazines on the floor around the bed and balanced on top of cans, empty and nearly empty bags of chips on and around the large plush chair and ottoman, and Miranda cross-legged under a thick blanket with a magazine in hand.

"Nik, says we'll get the money from the bank tomorrow. He'll be in his office to take gear requests."

"Oh! Good, good. The horned bastard could use a few upgrades. Say, ya still need a real costume right? Hows abou' ya lemme handle that for ya?" She was rubbing her hands together like she was plotting something. Lance pondered her "costume" for a moment; black leather combat-style boots, heavy jeans with knee pads, black fingerless gloves, a tank top and flannel vest, and a motorcycle helmet with a welder's mask built into the front rather than the visor.

"Oy! Thinkin' about it that 'ard makes it sound like ya don't like my style. Bah, I was gonna change mine anyways now that we 'ave somthin' like a team, but now I'm reconsiderin'. "

"Sorry, I guess I just hadn't thought about it, aside from the masks you and Flip don't really have costumes, and Pwn's is more about being able to have his gear load out. I guess I just figured I'd be fine to go plainclothes too. It's not like my power needs anything to be effective."

"Nah, ya gotta protect yerself, ya know? Can't always get outta the way," she pointed at his bruised hand. He moved it behind his back.

"I don't intend to do something like that again, especially not if he is the one causing the trouble. We can't fight him, it'd be better to just get out of there as soon as he shows up," Legionnaire Overwhelming Force lingered in his mind's eye.

"Yeah? Well, what if that's not an option, eh? All kinds o' crazy powers out there, maybe someone blocks yours and we can't run; what then? Face him inna t-shirt and cheap plastic mask? Just lemme get some armor or somethin' for ya. And c'mere so I can take some measurements." She twitched her fingers in the air for a moment and pounced off the bed. He was downstairs before a thud marked her crash to the floor.

"Spoil-sport!" she yelled out her door. Lance just shook his head.

"Hey Oscar, I'm going for a walk, you need anything?"

"Mountain Dew," he didn't look away from the blueprints of whatever he was working on as he answered.

"Alright, be back later."

He wandered around the area they had based themselves in, thinking to himself.

Maybe I should have a costume and armor. I'm not tougher than any average guy, faster in a way, but not tougher. As for a costume...that's probably a good idea too. Don't want to have to buy new outfits anytime I happen to use my power where a camera might see me. I'll have to talk to Miranda when I get back.

He let his thoughts wander over possible costume design and aesthetics when a familiar voice called his name. He looked to the side where it came from, and across the street he saw the white haired boy in the formal military suit, hand raised in greeting and wearing a casual grin. Fuck.

The boy floated up in a lazy arc to cross the street, people who had been around him jumped to get away while people near Lance cleared an area around him. The boy stopped an arm's distance away feet dangling a few inches above the ground, still grinning.

"It's been so long, how have you been?"

"Leave me alone."

"Now is that any way to greet a friend you haven't seen in a while?" He faked a pout but broke it with a chuckle.

"Why? Why do you people need me?"

"You are strong, we want the strong."

"What do I have that you don't? You had no problem keeping up with me."

"True, but I can't be everywhere at once; well, not easily at least." A second chuckle paused for a moment as he stared off in space before finishing it and continuing to speak.

"Oh, lucky you! Boss wants a word with you! Come with me." He reached towards Lance when another familiar voice shouted at the pair.

"Limitless! Leave the civilian alone!" Legionnaire O. Force landed a few feet from both of them carrying a dazed looking woman in a Legion outfit with long black hair. He set her on her feet and chopped his hand at the boy, apparently called Limitless. Limitless's hair and suit flapped violently, caught in a blast of wind that wasn't touching the surroundings. He moved his mouth for a moment and frowned, seemingly nonplussed about the wind.

The boss says you broke the terms of protection Flip bought you. You are free to leave today, but you-- A voice in his head other than his own spoke. It cut off as a translucent purple bubble appeared around Limitless, the wind also died out at the same time. The woman had a hand extended towards Limitless, concentrating. Limitless grinned again and the woman closed her eyes and brought her other hand up before speaking in a strained tone.

"O., evac! Can't hold," the bubble was fading, growing dimmer by the second. O. Force walked to the bubble and placed a hand on it. After a moment she gasped and dropped her hands while O. Force pushed at the air between himself and Limitless again, Limitless looked briefly confused before laughing.

"Haha, cancelled out my storm, huh? Cancel this!" O. Force buckled under some unseen pressure falling to the street and shattering it upon landing. Another purple bubble appeared around him and seemed to block the pressure.

"Interesting, you block whatever he can't handle while he goes on the offensive? Looks like I need to take you out first, girl," Limitless pointed at her but a second bubble appeared around her. Something Lance hadn't seen behind her exploded into a collection of metal and electronics that showered her bubble and seemed to stick to it and vibrate. It looked like whatever he was doing was working; she doubled down her concentration falling to her knees in the process.

Overwhelming Force stood inside his bubble; Limitless saw the movement and looked for a moment before a car flew into his bubble bursting in a similar manner with the shrapnel clinging to the bubble. Lance tried shifting into her bubble to get her out but whatever the bubble was, it blocked his power, he tried on O. Force's bubble to no avail. Instead he moved to where he could see both Legionnaires at once and waited. O. Force grabbed some metal spikes from a pouch and held them in each hand, pointing both at Limitless; Limitless saw that and positioned himself directly in-between the two Legionnaires forcing O. Force to reconsider the attack he'd been preparing.

Lance concentrated on his other sight as he jogged around a corner with some other civilians. He saw everything around him in a jumbled mess of images and perspectives, some confusing, some gross, but one thing-one person he saw made his blood go cold. He'd need to deal with that later. Now his power told him he could go anywhere around him that his body would fit, including inside the bubbles. They were fading more slowly than the first bubble but she was on her hands and knees now, blood pooling under her face from her nose.

He hung back from the fleeing people and shifted his outer clothes away while shifting his mask on. Then he shifted into her bubble, where Limitless had his back turned. He touched her arm and brought them both to the other bubble, tagging the other Legionnaire and moving them all out in an instant as the bubble collapsed. They landed in the sky for a split second, the woman in her partner's arms and Tag behind him, one hand on his back, then they were on the ground again miles away from the boy with white hair; across the street from the Legion HQ.

"Gah! Shit!" Overwhelming Force fell to the ground on top of the female Legionnare. They both made sounds of pain, hers short-lived, his lingered.

"Ugh, my head. Force, you ok?"

"No, broken bones, ribs," he managed to cough out.

"Shit, where are we?" She looked around and wiped at the blood coming from her nose.

"Legion HQ, I thought they would have someone who could help." Her eyes snapped to him as soon as Tag spoke, making him feel very aware that he was now in an undershirt and boxers with a mask.

"You, from the bank? Why-- Never mind, get us over there if you can."

"Right, I thought he was in better shape." Tag shifted with them across the street and into the building's lobby. His head felt like it was being torn apart after only seconds of his other sight, but he had little choice after coming this far and seeing how bad the damage was. Guards immediately took notice and advanced on the group before they recognized the Legionnaires' suits.

"Medical, now. We've got broken bones and potential internal bleeding here," the woman barked to the nearest guards.

"Yes, Legionnaire Mantlet." Some rushed away at that.

"As for you, would you mind staying to talk?" She turned to Tag.

He didn't hear her, the pain was building in his skull, everything was too bright and too loud. He brought a hand to his face, over his mask and he was dimly aware of something grabbing his arm. He made a noise that started a mumble and ended somewhere between a moan and a roar. More noise from around him made the pain spike momentarily. Someone grabbed his other arm as it moved reflexively, and another set of pain bloomed in his mind as there were shouts around him, some right in his face. He wrenched his head out of his hands and forced his eyes open choosing the furthest target near the ground he could.

He hit the roof hard and spent what felt like hours quieting the storm that raged across his mind. Eventually he stood and shifted back to where he left his clothes, then back towards the base. He was most of the way there before he remembered to grab some Mountain Dew. When he made it to the base he set the box near Oscar's desk and shifted away while Oscar tried to speak to him. He just wanted to be somewhere dark and quiet for now.

"So, we jus' gonna ignore tha' 'e was 'alf naked an' smeared with blood?" Miranda asked the room after Lance made his silent retreat.

"He got mixed up with some Legionnaires fighting one of the strongest villains from Japan. Video on the big screen in a sec," Oscar hit a few buttons on a remote before popping open a soda.

They watched what the cameras captured before Limitless broke them and switched to clips from some people at the HQ from then to their arrival in the lobby.

"That explains the blood, but what happened at the end there? Did he go crazy?" Oscar looked to Nikolai.

"He must have used the other half of his power, he has a migraine and they were shouting at him. Lights out; no music today or tomorrow. I have some calls to make, lock everything and stay here." He put emphasis on those last words, making sure to make eye contact with the other two as he said them.

"Wha? Other 'alf, what's--" Miranda started questioning Nik as he turned to leave the room but he stopped to cut her off in a strained whisper.

"Quiet! His power is useless until he feels better and he needs to rest in a dark quiet place. So unless you think you can take on two of the most dangerous Powered Individuals in the world without any powers on your side then I suggest you help him out by shutting your trap so he can still provide an escape route. Is that clear?"

Miranda mimed a zipper on her lips. Nikolai nodded, then floated to his office and gently closed the door behind him. Miranda looked at Oscar who was moving into the garage/hangar, lights and electronics powering off in his wake.

They were talking, so was Nik on the phone, but Lance couldn't tell what they were saying any more. He pulled the pillow tighter to his head as he ducked further under the blankets and waited for the darkness to close him off from the outside again.
 
Maxwell stood watching the young Winters girl work on her arm gadget. She was precise, focused, and purposeful, just like her father. He felt a wave of guilt overtake him. He should've gone with him, let someone else scramble the team. Maybe then he would be alive, and these kids wouldn't be orphans. Maxwell pondered, he had forgotten that there were two of them, Damian was just energy now, unable to leave the confines of a computer. That's some heavy shit for a kid to have to deal with, although...

"So Damian, you're in the system right now?" Max said curiously.

"Sure am," Damian replied, "nice and roomy"

Gotta give the kid props for a positive attitude, Max thought as he pulled out his Holophone. He typed a quick message and sent it. The workshop terminal rang and a message appeared briefly, but disappeared before Lindsay could read it.

"Oh, uh...yeah, I could probably" Damian said, "right now?"

Max simply nodded in response and Lindsay looked at them both confused. Just then, a floating orb about the size of a bowling ball began appearing and disappearing behind Bulwark and then dropped to the ground sparking. Max looked at the Legion Camera with a surprised expression, he didn't expect it to be so quick, the kid was good.

"What is that?" Lindsay asked.

Max ignored the question, walking towards the door.

"Alright come on kid" he said, gesturing for her to follow.

"Are we going to get food?" she asked.

"No kid," Max chuckled, "I'm taking you to see your Dad's body"

"REALLY?!" She nearly screamed.

"Yep, we have to hurry though before they deploy a replacement camera to find me"

"Okay" she said as she hopped down from the stool.

"Uh...you go ahead Lin, I'll finish the WMSCL" Damian said as two robot arms protrude from the workbench.

"Are you sure?" Lindsay asked him,

"Yeah I got this" Damian replied, clearly bothered by something.

"...But don't you wanna see dad for the last time?" she asked

"I...I already did Lin..." Damian said quietly.

"Oh.. okay then sorry" she replied, following Max in silence.

When they arrived Maxwell told the two coroners who were present to take a break, to which they promptly, and gratefully left the room. Lindsay ran over to her father's body, hugging it and crying a bit. Maxwell stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to say to comfort the young girl. Eventually he decided that there wasn't anything he COULD say and decided to leave her to say goodbye.

"Well I guess I'll leave you to it" he said simply, "I should get back to the workshop before the replacement camera arrives"

"Okay," Lindsay said, looking at him with tears in her eyes, "Thank you"

Max nodded as he turned to the door and opened it. He stopped and looked back, to say one last thing.

"Your father was a great man. I'm gonna find Jackdaw, and I'm gonna make sure he stays dead this time"

Then without waiting for a response he left the room and headed back to the workshop. While on the way back to the workshop he heard a commotion from the entrance hall. He peeked out slowly to avoid being seen by other Legion cameras. He saw O-Force and Mantlet, both in bad shape, and another man. half naked and wearing a mask he recognized from the bank robbery the other day. He was about to rush out, sneaky antics be damned, when he noticed Solar Flare and a Medic crew running over. She could handle it, she was better at this whole leadership thing than he was anyway. He lingered long enough to see the masked man disappear and then headed back to the workshop to wait for the replacement camera. When he got there the robot arms weren't working on the gadget anymore, but they were just moving. Bending, straightening, closing, opening, all slowly.

"Uh, Damian?" Maxwell called out.

The arms quickly retracted back into the table.

"Huh, uh, who-uh what's up man?" Damian replied in a panic.

Maxwell chuckled.

"You miss it huh kid?" he asked.

Damian sighed.

"Yeah.." he said.

Max thought for a moment and then looked over at the workbench arms that were once again moving about.

"You know," Max began, "A couple of months ago your dad perfected a prosthetic interface that allowed the prosthetic to feel things like a normal arm does"

"Really?" Damian asked, surprise clear in his voice. "He'd been working on that since before I was born"

"Yeah," Max replied, "Between all the science jargon he explained to me, in English, that he was working on a schematic to make a full prosthetic body to put an A.I. into"

"Wait, Dad was working on androids?" Damian began, giddy with excitement, "Oh yeah, here are his schematics...hmm...they're unfinished..."

Maxwell smiled at his reinvigorated excitement.

"I figured if anyone could finish what the Doc started it'd be you two" he said.

"I..." Damian replied, "Thank you Mister Bulwark"

"My name is Max kid, and don't mention it" Max chuckled.

"Got it, don't mention your name"Damian quipped.

"Haha smartass..." Max retorted, as the replacement camera arrived.

"Paragon Bulwark, Report!" said a voice from the camera.

"A mishap in modifying the WMSCL shorted out the Sentry Bot's primary systems" Max lied.

"Really?" the voice asked, clearly suspicious, "And what was that message you sent the workshop terminal just before the malfunction?"

Max gritted his teeth, clearly irritated, as he pulled out his Holophone and brought up his last sent messages, revealing a set of schematics.

"It's schematics for the coolant distribution system Innovator developed last year, I figured the WMSCL was a little outdated in that department all things considered" Maxwell said, "And I'll thank you not to take that tone with me"

He added that last part gravely. He felt insulted. After all the hoops he jumped through daily plus his spotless track record in regards to protocol he thought he'd have at least a scrap of trust.

"M-m-my apologies Paragon Bulwark" the voice replied sheepishly, "Innovator's murder has the higher ups on edge, so they are micromanaging pretty heavy today"

"It's alright," Maxwell sighed, "You're just doing your job"

"Speaking of, Paragon Bulwark, press conference will begin soon" the voice said.

"Damn it," Max sighed, "I forgot, I'll be right there"

Maxwell waved goodbye to Damian as he left and walked down the corridor to the council chamber.

"Time for another busy day of fucking politics..." he grumbled as he opened the chamber door.
 
3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640628620899862803482534211706798214808651328230664709384460955058223172535940812848111745028410270-

The sound of foil wrapped pastries colliding flat with the desk before him jerked us out of our auto piloted work routine.

“Breakfast kid-er, Sir.”

He looked up from the series of stacking magnifying glasses within the viewing device on the desk to address “the help”. A tall, well-built man with an odd helmet. A helmet designed not by the man wearing it, but him. Us.

“Give us a shake?” He said, smiling at the man. The man grunted, a sign of displeasure, but wobbled his head from side to side anyway.

Music. To him at least. Coin scraping against coin. Maraca’s of the best design. True art.

Personally I found it disgusting. Loose change with a deadly purpose.

There was a moment of silence after. Silence always made me nervous.

3.14159265-

“The boss-er, your ‘contact’ said we’re going out today. That true?”

Are we going out?

He smiled and nodded frantically, excitedly. My neck almost hurt.

Not so hard! I thought. He slowed down.

“Got plans today, BIG plans! Get everyone ready.”

The man left and he picked up the pop tart laying on the desk, peeling back the shimmering packaging.

Cinnamon. Yuck. We could both agree on that. With a scowl he threw the pastry into the trash.

Burns our throat.

We double checked every detail of our work over the course of the last several days. The work was amazing, even I had to admit that, even knowing what it was for.
I shuddered. This pleased him and he began to cackle again. He did a lot of cackling.

I hadn’t known Emery long, but we had been sharing my body for a while now. We had a lot in common, similar interests, similar tastes, but there was a big difference between us.
I hate violence.

Growing up I had always been called a pussy, a coward, or worse because I would rather take a beating than defend myself. I don’t like hurting people, it’s wrong.
Emery doesn’t have this problem.

I always thought I would be curing cancer or inventing eco-friendly self-sustaining power sources for the masses. Maybe even end world hunger by inventing 3d printed food.
I always hoped my inventions would do away with the need for money so we could all live free in a world without want. Instead I was stuck inside my own body watching Emery basically worship money.

He gathered hundreds of tiny disks, all varying in size, insulated, and encased in an outer layer that perfectly resembled your average coin.
The casings were even made of the same metals, the major differences being that instead of serial numbers and dates they just had odd alien-like symbols, stolen from a language I invented in the middle school.

He loaded the coins into a harness. Something like you might have seen back in your grandpa, or maybe great grandpa’s day when you went to a fruit stand and had to receive back change. Or maybe it was trains…

Money changer. Coin dispenser. Coin changer.

He got dressed in his money suit. Honestly I thought it was a little derivative of The Riddler from Batman, but it definitely looked good.

It was designed to be a mixture between a tuxedo and old time formal wear. The kind with the tailcoat and fluffy neck piece.

From top to bottom there were athletic shoes for comfort and function, completely black to somewhat mimic formal dress shoes, with an “aesthetics only” buckle fixed to the front over the laces to give a “pilgrim” look.

Dark green socks with money print pulled up to the knees, and held up by those old fashioned straps one used to prevent them from falling.

Dark green dress pants down to the ankle, and jacket, designed to look as if it was made of money sewn together. The cummerbund, under shirt, vest, and “scarf” were all either a copper or silver color to represent the coloration of coin, with silver gloves and gold cuff links.

There was also a gold colored Columbina style masquerade mask fixed to a cloth cap. The mask itself was originally a female only design, meant to be a counter part to the bauta meant to be worn by a woman bold enough to show off their shining personality, but later became acceptable for men to wear as a lighter alternative.

The cap was woven with a magnetic material, and also fixed to a dark blue wig that would give the appearance of no cap at all, while still allowing the top hat, also designed to look like sewn money, and also woven with magnetics in the correct portions of the hat, to stay fixated to our head. This would avoid it from being left behind when running, flying, or riding around or away.
The outfit, in addition to the coin dispenser and a couple of coin launching devices on the wrists, beneath the sleeves of the suit, came with a dapper looking “cane” or scepter with a high voltage stun gun hidden inside the head.

Perhaps the outfit was less a derivative of The Riddler, and more Regent from the popular web serial “Worm”, as not only did he have a masquerade mask and a suit that was, at least in part, old fashioned, but the rod was admittedly directly based on his weapon of choice.

What can I say? We’re a fan.

All dolled up and ready to go, we double and triple checked that we had what we needed, and grabbed our remote device before walking out to the main room of the hideout.

Truth be told it was nothing but a simple warehouse, outfitted with internet service and electricity spirited away by our old mentor Assimilator. Over the last few weeks though? It was home.
The Registry of Doom, or Registry, as we called them, were an elite gang of henchman provided to us. They were a group of eight men and three women so far, most physically fit mercenaries hired by Assimilator to get us started. The rest were still a work in progress, and most of them were kidnapped off the street like I was.

Unlike myself however, none of them had super powers and therefor none of them were useful for anything other than chores and cannon fodder.

We like to think of ourselves as cautious, and although I was against the idea, Emery bullied me into agreeing with a rather rude failsafe.

That is they all had brain implants. The implants didn’t control them directly of course, Emery couldn’t get me to agree with removing their freedom entirely… yet. The implants were simply designed to explode if they died, we gave the command, or if we adjusted the settings to activate when they were unconscious, which he did upon getting up this morning.

Of course Emery wouldn’t allow anyone to take prisoners of our henchmen and get information about where we’re from or what we’re doing. They were also designed, in theory, to prevent mind reading, and as with all of our devices, installed with anti-hacking defenses.

Put simply, The Registry was mine and only mine, and none of them could ever betray me.

“Sir, we await your orders.” Said Register #1. Read “register number one” by the way. The transformation of the pound sign to being abused as “hashtag” in social media disgusted Emery and I both. One of the many things we did agree on. It bothered me how much we had in common. It was eerie.

What can I say, we love numbers. I was never really sure why I loved numbers, but I did. Maybe it’s because no matter what fluctuations or changes occurred in life, they were one constant. Maybe it was because my powers made my brain function on such a grand level that they’re easier to understand and put together than they could be. Or maybe it’s because being a nerd pissed my dad off. I’m not sure I’ll ever settle on the true reason.

Realizing we forgot an important piece to our plan, we re-entered our work shop and came back out with a basketball sized robotic orb. It had many small tube-cameras like you would see in use for surgeries, and one large central camera “eye” in the center. I called it: The Beholder.

A 360 degree camera wasn’t unheard of, but they usually weren’t this fun either.

Assimilator didn’t like my Beholder. I think he was jealous that I made improvements to the Dominus’ camera design. Even insisted that I call it a spectator instead to diminish the value of the art. He also argued that it had been done before, and I was merely re-using an old idea, but I had never seen any hero or villain cam use the 360 degree videos, so Emery and I agreed that he was just a sour old man.

Currently inactive, Emery held the Beholder under our arm and stood tall and proud.

“Members of The Registry, we thank you all for your continued loyalty in these trying times. Many of you, as we’ve noticed, are not fully content to take orders from someone so young, and inexperienced, but trust us when we say that by the end of tonight, you will be proud to call yourselves one of our true and faithful cohorts.

“We will be equipping ourselves with some weaponry from the armory this morning, and we will be making a long drive to the Bank of Security located in our sister city of Elemoin. From there, we will proceed to stick up the bank, and rob them blind!”

It took a moment, but they began to applaud. I could tell their enthusiasm was false. Perhaps it was because of the famous recent bank robbery that Overwhelming Force made a mess of recently. It wasn’t about being original, it was about being grand.

Emery waved our hands dismissively to signify that we would begin loading up. I checked once more that I had everything he needed, and proceeded to enter the large van we would be using for transport.

I had decided we would only need six for this job, so I took volunteers and we made due. Perhaps it would have been better if I made the masks removable, but the windows and license plate on what appeared otherwise to be a simple satellite dish installation van were tampered with in such a way as to make that worry unnecessary, and the van itself was fitted with a cloaking device.
Besides, Emery found a strange satisfaction in the permanent change assumed by our registry.

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“Sir, we’ve arrived. Orders?” Register #6 interrupted.

Emery smiled and stood up. “Showtime boys and girls.”

We activated the Beholder and let it go. As we opened one of the back doors it darted outside into the street, positioning its central eye so that it could perfectly capture our next dramatic movement.

Shutting the door again, we used both hands to push the doors open simultaneously, a grand entrance into the streets.

We began shouting orders to our henchman, who all flooded out of the vehicle and into the street, some first lagging behind to activate the vehicle’s cloaking device, and place charges made to look like quarter rolls in various points on the walls above and around us.

Armed and ready, their posture was perfect as they knew their performances were being graded. The reward? Continued service with The Registry.

Emery skipped and hopped my body forward, dancing and twirling our cane while whistling no song in particular, making a grand march toward the bank just across the street from the alley in which we had parked.

Registers # 3 and # 7 rushed forward to open the doors for me, followed immediately by the Beholder and registers # 6 and 2.

The beholder rushed in before everyone else, shooting a nearby teller at random with a ball of electricity and paralyzing them, causing the patrons and employees of the bank to gasp, and initiating immediate movement from security.

I shouted quickly, hoping I was fast enough to stay the hands of the remaining tellers.

“Raising an alarm at this time would be against your best interests.” I began, putting on a slight accent that you might hear from someone trying to appear stereotypically cultured or rich. I hoped I didn’t lean into it too hard, I wanted something formal and fun, but not too stuffy or drastically different from my normal voice.

As the rest of my registry followed behind my stride the security officers thought twice about their choice to advance. They were nowhere near as armed as my men, and unlike the robbers in the recent news, the registry had no problem taking out hostages, which I had hoped was apparent by their automatic weaponry.

“Now, I will be deploying a drone to determine if you have raised your alarm. Try not to be alarmed yourselves as the drone does its job, it might not be able to tell the difference.”

Emery smirked as we hoped the joke translated well, and pulled out what appeared to be a stack of bills. Pressing on Grant’s face, the bottom two bills detached and arranged themselves into small propellers, dropping the “stack”, it spun upside down and began to fly as the propellers quickly rotated. A window opened on one of the “sides” of the construct and a small antenna popped, blinking red. As it darted around the room, hovering in place for a moment near various groups and singular people, a high pitched chirping could be heard, emulating winning fanfare from the popular Final Fantasy video game franchise.

“Excellent!” We cheered as we danced our way deeper into the room. “It seems our lucky penny is at it again, because Fat Stack has yet to detect any distress calls. Now we can get down to business.”

We pointed to two of our henchmen, three and six I believe, and set them to work collecting cellphones and other devices from the personnel.

“Today is a very sad day for us all… not as sad as the night he died of course, but sad just the same as the media exploits it for their own personal gain.”

I continued to twirl my cane as the bank staff and customers seemed increasingly more confused.

“I’m sorry for your loss…” Started one of the tellers, an old woman whose name tag read Bridgette. I guess she was hoping to employ the old empathy trick on us.

One of the registry quickly moved toward her, intent on hitting her with the butt of her rifle, but I raised my hand and she stopped.

“Are you really? No, it’s ok. I appreciate that Bridgette, but it’ not my loss. It’s all of our loss. You see, today at this very moment, the Paragon Legion is feeding the lions, cleverly putting together a façade of regret and mourning as they try to explain away Innovator’s death. A death that, in truth, could have been prevented with just a little bit of help from his so called friends.

“Remind me, wasn’t innovator one of the founders of the Paragon Legion? You would think that they’d do less covering of their own asses, blaming technical difficulties or bad timing for the tragic incident, but I think we all know they could have arrived with him if they had wanted to. After all, they have the means.” We tilted our head as we looked at Bridgette, who seemed more, rather than less confused.

“Y-yes, m-maybe-” She was interrupted as we flipped a small coin her way, which she caught reflexively.

“Consider that hush money.” We stated, just before the small device exploded, tearing Bridgette apart and sending portions of her own flesh and bone, as well as surrounding materials outward, splattering anyone or anything within ten feet of her. I even had to hop back to avoid getting splashed.

“Forgive us!” We shouted to the remaining bank occupants. “It’s still a sensitive topic.”

3.1415-

Just then Fat Stack began making sounds we had stolen from the Star Wars franchise. R2D2 in distress is what I had called it.

It signaled not only a warning that authorities were on their way, but also a message being sent along with the distress signal notifying authorities not only of the address where the crime is being committed, but a personalized message making them aware of the presence of powered individuals.

What the warning didn’t broadcast is that it wasn’t the bank employees, finally calm enough to send for help anyway, it was myself who had programmed Fat Stack to make the call. I wanted things to get interesting.

“Alright people it seems we’re going to have company, so if you don’t want to get trampled by debris or O. Force himself, or perhaps caught in the crossfire between the Legion and the Registry, I suggest you all do your part!”

The Registry understood what was to be done at this point. The citizens and bankers were put to work helping us rob the place. Everyone “doing their part” rather than just watching in terror as we did the deed ourselves.

Some were incapable of helping, but that was fine. They weren’t a threat to us, Beholder would keep an eye out as The Registry and the occupants of the bank did what they would do.

3.1415926535-

Suddenly there was an unexpected explosion as change burst from Register #3’s now vacant headspace, littering the room and various members of The Registry, as well as the hostages with coins that were now embedded in walls, furniture, human flesh, and other such things, even going so far as to destroy Fat Stack as it grazed the hard-light aura integrated into my change-dispenser harness; which was programed to activate just before implant detonation.

Although we were protected, we couldn’t help but shield ourselves with our arms anyway, laughing with a mixture of nerves and delight as we lowered them.

The figure responsible, who had at the time been at speeds unobservable to the human eye, was on the ground against one of the walls, cradling a mangled arm that we presumed had been used to punch the aforementioned Register.

A girl, who I presumed was his partner, was crawling toward him. She had apparently been riding him into the bank, and had gotten the wind knocked out of her as they collided into the wall. I had no doubt they intended to get the jump on us with his power.

Clearly not Legion.

“Sprinter! Sprinter are you alright!?” She asked frantically. It was clear that he was pretty fucked up. Although the coins for the most part hadn’t done much to pierce what looked to be a cheap but effective body armor, the explosion itself going off on his arm did quite a doozy.

His costume wasn’t much more than an attempt to emulate riot gear and “futuristic style” goggles. Hers was much the same, but it was a lavender color and had a florescent yellow pattern painted in it to mimic circuitry.

I motioned to The Registry to leave her alone. Based on her gear she seemed to be a tech based hero, and I wanted to see what she would do. Was this the arch nemesis we were hoping for?
She stood up and turned around. She was a little chubby, and from what I could see of her face she wasn’t super cute either, but we could work with that.

“I-We’re members of Junior Legion, stop what you’re doing now and cooperate and we can tell them you did just that. Looks like you could use all the help you can get in court considering the high levels of violence you’re committing during the robbery.”

She pulled out a small device that reminded me of a cartoon ray gun. I loved it.

“Tell you what.” I started, fully aware that the Junior Legion was not an affiliated with the paragon legion. At best they were a fan-group hoping to make a name for themselves as a young version of the official heroes. Like young justice to the justice league.

I opened my jacket more to reveal my change dispenser.

“This is a bomb, programmed to go off the moment I am arrested.” We lied.

“If you can hack into it successfully, and neutralize it, or alter its programming in any way, then I’ll surrender.”

My registry all snapped to attention, looking at me with what I could only assume was rage for some and confusion for others. This wasn’t a game, to them. It wasn’t a game to me either, I would have been telling the truth about surrendering if I was the one in charge of my body.

The heroine looked unsure, but after glancing back to her partner, who had passed out from either shock or blood loss, she flipped open a panel on one of her bracers and began to type away.
The occupants of the bank stood by and watched in suspense, until finally the device on her arm exploded, removing her hand from her body, and effectively erasing everything from the wrist to the elbow, splattering what would have been in that place around her.

Her screams were chilling.

“Look, now you match!” Emery said excitedly, bending down slightly and opening our arms.

Beholder shot the heroine with a stunning ball of electricity as she reached for her ray gun, rendering her incapacitated.

“Alright I’ve had my fun here, see if you can get things finished up despite being down one register would you?” Emery said, removing our attention from the hostages and the registry as we danced toward the pair of helpless heroes.

Kicking the ray gun aside we sat between them, pulling each of them over with my arms and putting them around their shoulders “buddy style”. Beholder focused his central eye on us as we did this.

“Well, not exactly the interaction we had hoped for, but it serves its purpose I suppose. See, the lesson here is you really should have kept innovator alive. He was one of the few truly good people out there, and we need more of those each and every day. Now that he’s gone, there’s gonna be a whole new generation of people reminding you that you needed him.

“Now, we know he wouldn’t really approve of what we’re doing… what can I say, we’re not a perfect fan, but maybe, just maybe someone out there knows him better… and you’d better hope that’s true, because that’s what it’s going to take to stop me.

“Let me make that more clear, only innovator could rival my brilliance, and now that he’s gone, we’re gonna be very bored. And when we’re bored, bad things happen, so send me playmates.
“We’ll see if they can’t be more entertaining than these two.”

We dropped the heroes and stood back up tazing each of them with my scepter before walking to the center of the room. Beholder backed away from us as we did so, central eye turning its attention from us, to the vault that was currently being locked by the remaining members of the registry, with all hostages inside.

Emery threw our hands up and outward, throwing handfuls of harmless confetti bombs around us, anticipating the climax of the event. “I AM CHA’CHING!”

I knew the police were outside, I could hear the sirens, but I didn’t really take them too seriously.

“Shields out!” we shouted. The Registry each retrieved a device from their belt and pressed a button, each folding out into a large wallet shaped shield.

Emery did the same, our wallet design depicting our costumed self, lounging on a golden sofa, throwing money into the air, floor covered in bills.

As we motioned our scepter forward, The Registry rushed out, shielding themselves as best as they could while holding the doors for the rest of us.

Much of the following was a blur of adrenaline ecstasy as we and our highly trained soldiers ran from the building. Emery threw several flash bombs toward the officers as we made our way back to our vehicle. In the end two of our registers fell to police in the crossfire.

As we reached the van we triggered the previously placed charges, toppling parts of the surrounding building to block the police entrance into the alley as one of the registers drove the van away, back doors still open.

For a few moments, beholder lingered unnoticed, high above the police forces, watching them scramble into their cars in hopes of giving chase, before turning its central eye back onto the bank, just in time to record it exploding with enough force to devastate not only the surrounding buildings, but the police force outside as well.

Narrowly dodging the majority of it as it shot backward, shooting through the sky like a well-trained falcon, Beholder made its way back to our van and bolted inside, nearly knocking me over as I caught it in my arms.

As the doors shut I smiled. We were too far ahead of anyone who might pursue us, and too well disguised.

Most importantly, with a little work I would soon have my present for Innovator.
 
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Sharon heard shouting and panic coming from the entry hall and started a jog in that direction. She had been on her way to check on Max after his camera went down, but this seemed more pressing, Bulwark could hold his own. When she arrived she saw a hectic sight, O-Force and Mantlet were injured, and there was a medical team approaching what appeared to be one of the Powered's that robbed the bank the other day, only he was clothed a little less. There seemed to be something wrong with him but he disappeared before the medics could get to him.

"Legionnaire Mantlet, report!" she shouted as she arrived on scene.

"Paragon Solar Flare," Mantlet said, a bit surprised she arrived so soon. "O-Force and I encountered Limitless harassing civilians and engaged him, he gained the upper hand so we retreated tactically"

"Why was the bank robber here?" Sharon asked, then after a short pause she added, "and why was he half naked?"

"He showed up while we were engaging Limitless" Mantlet replied.

"Were they working together?" Sharon asked, concerned a bit.

Limitless is more than powerful enough without being in league with a teleporter.

"No, er, at least it doesn't seem that way" Mantlet replied. "He seemed to be trying to help"

"Alright well head to the med bay and get patched up," Sharon directed, "And keep your eye out for him"

Sharon looked around the entry hall carefully, taking in every little detail. She spotted Max peeking around a corner at the commotion, but played it off and kept her sweep going, smiling inwardly to herself. He was smarter than anyone gave him credit for, most of the higher ups thought of him as the big dumb brute type, but this wasn't the first time she had caught him sneaking around without a camera escort. At first she was tempted to report him to the council, back when they weren't on it, but the more she got to know him the more that feeling faded and was replaced by a different one. That feeling caused her to trust his judgement, and turn a blind eye to his off-camera shenanigans.

Eventually her eyes came to stop on the skylight, and a small, almost imperceptible smudge on it. She made her way out the front door and looked towards the roof. She closed her eyes and concentrated, remembering Innovator's lessons. 'With focus comes precision, your emotions may dictate how strong your power is but if you concentrate, you can tap into versatile reserve of abilities that far out-value sheer firepower, no pun intended'. She smiled and opened her eyes. They flashed momentarily, as she manifested wings made of fire, that she referred to as her "Phoenix Wings", and shot into the air and over to the skylight. She bent down to briefly examine the faint red smudges. She then held her hand up to her ear.

"Is there anyone in the Lab?" Sharon asked over comms, and after a brief moment she got an answer.

"Uh...yeah. What's up my dude?" a young voice replied.

"Who is this?" Sharon asked suspiciously.

"I could ask you the same thing lady" the voice asked slightly offended.

"This is Paragon Solar Flare" she replied, clearly irritated. "Now I'll ask again, who the hell is this"

"You know," the voice began,"you're awful bossy for someone who's named after what is essentially the sun 'Hammering the GoGurt'"

Sharon was about to respond, when the voice continued, imitating some kind of old time-y gangster.

"You come to me, on this, the day of my fathers cremation, and you start tellin' me what to do?" the voice acted mock offended.

"Listen up you little shit" Sharon began, clearly furious, "this is no joking matter, so unless you're going to start taking this more seriously I suggest you put an adult on"

There was no less than a seconds pause before the voice responded.

"Well everything sure looks like a joke when you seem to be life's punchline, what the fuck do you want" the voice replied flatly, clearly displeased with her outburst.

"I need someone to initiate a building-wide scan for unauthorized personnel, think you can manage that?" Sharon asked, semi-condescendingly.

"Bitch please," the voice chuckled, "I wrote that code half asleep, after a fever dream that had me thoroughly convinced that devil-mice were sneaking into our pantry at night and eating all of our Cheerios"

Sharon went to respond but was once again cut off by the voice.

"No unauthorized personnel on site, your majesty" the voice quipped.

"Good" Sharon responded, "Now give me your name"

"Damian Axolotl Winters" the voice said before hanging up.

Damian Winters? Sharon was perplexed, she thought that Lindsay was the only one found.

"Paragon Solar Flare" someone on comms cut off her thought process, "What are you doing? The press conference has already begun"

"Shit" Sharon replied, "I was investigating an incident in the entry hall, I'll be there shortly"

Sharon then jumped off of the roof and floated softly to the ground below, dismissing her Phoenix Wings as she landed. She then jogged briskly towards the Council Chamber to attend the press conference. When she arrived Deus Volt was already addressing the public, so she quietly took her seat next to Bulwark. He gave her a questioning look, to which she replied with a smug grin, eluding to the fact that she knew of his shenanigans. Amadeus announced Innovators funeral and induction into the Hall of Heroes. He was in the middle of explaining the incident, when an alert sounded, and a Holo-Screen popped up showing that someone had hacked the web browsers to hijack the broadcast. The oddly dressed man was broadcasting a live robbery, with various platform themed mockeries, one of which was a spoofed live news report with the villain, in costume, dressed in a reporter's suit, talking about the robbery in real time on the news channel website.

Sharon could feel her anger rising. She clenched her fist, and it began to heat up and steam. It was moments away from bursting into flames, taking the table with it, when she felt another hand grasp hers firmly. It was subtle, subtle enough for the camera's not to notice, as occupied as they are. It was Max. She felt his grip tighten as the man talked about Innovator, as he used their mentor's memory to cause a spectacle and hurt innocent people, as he paraded himself about as Innovators equal. He was the one who taught her to control her powers, and was helping Max to find his brother. In many ways he was a father figure to them both. She could hear Deus Volt barking orders and mobilizing units, but she needed to focus. Focus on breathing, on not combusting, on anything else than the maniac on TV.

The broadcast ended and there was a short silence, then the room of reporters burst out with questions. There was a cacophonous uproar, chaos and flashing of lights, all very distracting. Sharon could feel herself slipping, losing control, heating up, if she didn't get her temper under control the whole room could go up. Max tightened his grip on her hand, urging her to focus. She began to breath, in through the nose, out through the mouth, steadying her temper. The doors to the chamber opened and a few Legion Officers stepped in, accompanied by a mortician.

"Oh no" Max said, causing Sharon to look at him.

"We have an issue!" one of the officers spoke.

"Yes we're well aware of-" Deus Volt began, but was cut off by the Mortician.

"No, sir not the robbery," the mortician said shakily, "It's Innovator sir...he...well...his..."

The room fell silent, and all eyes were on the mortician.

"His body is gone"
 
Bulwark shut the door behind him and I looked back down at my dad. He still had a smile on his face which makes me smile. He was covered up so I don't see his wounds from the fight. I pull up a chair next to my dad and sit down in it grabbing his hand rubbing my fingers on the back of his hand. I sit there quietly for about 30 mins till I heard the door open which I looked behind me seeing two morticians walk in.

"...I don't wanna leave..." I say sadly

They both walk over to me but one of them guides me off to the side, away from the body.

"I know kid... but you don't want to be here for this trust me" he said

" I have been asleep for three years... I want to stay with him.." I said

I heard a clattering sound and a thud behind me where the other mortician is. I turned to see what happened but as I was turning A soft whistle sound zip past me and the other guy fell down by my feet. He laid there motionless I turn around and see this guy standing over the other guy also on the ground and my dad.

I looked at him, glancing at the door and looked back at the guy again.

I need to pass time for someone to come I thought

" Uh... hi there...you..uh.." I say walking towards him slowly "um.. who are you" I asked the strange man.

"you weren't supposed to be in here..." he says.

His voice is deep and scratchy, but somehow also whispery, it sounds like he is using a voice changer.

"yea well... I wanted to see my dad before they cremate him..."I retorted

I walk up to my dad looking up at the strange man. He was at least over Six feet tall.

"so cool voice changer sir..?" I asked more than said.

he tilts his head to the side shifting his hood a bit and looks at me when I arrive next to him.

"You...aren't afraid?'' He asked surprised

"nope" I exclaimed

I smile up at him looking at his mask curiously.

"I don't know who u are. till you tell me. I mean ur freaking huge compared to me but I've been thru some shit man" I say

He looks at my dad and puts a hand on his head, and he glows black for a moment tilting his head back slightly. which concerned me I smake his hand away from my dad.

"Hey! Stop that don't you hurt his body" I say angrily

He moves his hand and looks at me again. It was kinda quiet for a minute

"He was a great man. that is fact, not opinion" he said

"yea... Idk why no one was there to help him..." I said looking down at my dad's body sadly.

"He led an army to fight off invading forces and succeeded, then he proceeded to advance your worlds technology immeasurably," he said

"yea uncle Conor said I'm just like my dad with technology... I miss him..." I say

I grab my dads hand then what he said went through my head and I looked up at him confused.

"wait.. my world are u not from earth"? I asked

he tilts his head again as I grab my dad's hand.

"What would you say if I told you he could be brought back?" he asked

"I would say your lying cuz if he could, uncle Conor would know and do it or dad would have made something for that"I retorted back

"They never had the ability, but I know someone who does, they asked me to come to retrieve him," he said

I kinda narrow my eyes at him.

"...Is it that...uh... death guy"? I asked him

"no...not Jackdaw," he said, contempt creeping into his voice when he said his name.

"Hmm, you hate him too... good.. who wants my dad's body.. and was you just going to take it?" I asked

"I had planned to yes, would you like to come with us?" he asked me

I stared up and him with mixed feelings.

"...uh but.. my brother I need to get my WMSCL..." I say

"I can wait here while you go if you like," he said

I bomb him with questions that I have been wondering after he said that.

"...hmmm will dad remember me...u also never told me who u are so how would I know that u won't leave..with my dad," I asked

"He will, and you don't," He said, "But I'm leaving in the next 20 minutes so make your choice" he added.

"...mmmm... plz don't leave ill be right back..don't take my dad without me... ok?" I asked

I didn't wait for an answer. I ran out of the morgue and down the hall to my dad's lab. I burst into the lab breathing hard.

"Damian get into the WMSCL now. I know a way to get dad back hurry we only have like fourteen mins." I say excitedly

"What? How? er...hold on" He asked

WMSCL lights up with, a call from Damian. I run over grabbing the device and answering it while putting in my arm.

"it's hard to explain so you'll see when we get to the morgue, " I said

I ran back down to the morgue with time to spare. The man is once again touching dad's head and glowing.

"ok were here mister lets fix my dad," I say

walking up to him happily but he doesn't seem to notice me.

"your soul screams for vengeance doesn't it Derrick..." he asked my dad

I looked at him confused and walked up to him pulling on his arm.

"uh sir..i don't think dads a revenge type," I say

he stops glowing and looks down at me.

"Most aren't until they are violently killed...Are you ready?" he asked

"uh... ok yes were ready. ready to help dad Damian?" I asked my brother

"Who the fuck is this creepy motherfucker?" He asked cautiously

"I don't know he never said, but he can bring dad back," I say

"Brace yourselves children, this will not be pleasant," he said

A rift opens to reveal a black, jagged, rocky hell-scape full of wispy black energy, yet it somehow is still bright enough to see. He steps in I look at the place then up at the man.

"what is this?" I asked

The table my father is on floats into the portal alongside the man.

"This is The Void child, stay close, the things that live here are inherently violent" He stated

I follow in after the man grabbing his arm looking around kinda scared but curiously. The portal closes behind us and he walks onward, leading me across the desolate wasteland. Every once in a while I see a creature staring at me angrily from a hole or precipice, but the man snaps his head towards it and it begrudgingly slinks away. The creatures come in various shapes and sizes, some vaguely humanoid, some shaped vaguely similar to various animals I have seen on Earth, but all adorned with a black, obsidian-esque crystal. He leads me for about an hour when we come across a few cases of equipment from our father's lab, and a large machine. Nearby there are a few long piling of medium-sized jagged rocks, each with a rebar pole sticking upwards out of it, each adorned with a lab coat with a different name, one of which is Delilah, the same name as my mother.

"is..is this mom's?" I asked

"These graves have been here longer than I have" he replies

He begins fiddling with the machine. I walk up to it looking at the coat.

"damian..could this be moms?" I asked

"Dad said that everyone was vaporized in the accident Lin, I think it's just a coincidence..." he said.

"...oh.," I said sadly

I walk over to my dad's body grabbing his hand again

"so how are u going to fix dad.. wheres the other guy"? I asked

"One moment child," he said

he continues fiddling with the machine and there is a beeping.

"Stand close to me," he said

I got a little closer to him not letting go of my dad. A beam of light shoots from the machine and scans us all, and I'm being blinded by it momentarily. I shield my eyes with my other arm. when I open them again we are in a lab, there are people in lab coats going about there business. I looked around at the people working then up at the man.

"Um... where are we?" I asked

"We are in the Outcast Sanctuary," the strange man said

" whats that... damian do you know?" I asked

"Wait, Outcast? as in BROTHERHOOD OF?" Damian said excitedly.

"Damain what is that?" I asked

"They are a faction of Anti-Heroes and Vigilante's," he said

"...so there villains?" I asked looking around worldly

"Not technically," says the man

"Think Chaotic Good Lin," said Damian

"...oh okay... um so now what.. I just realized that we are kinda missing. now, uncle, Conor is going to have a fit" I rub my tummy "also..im hungry" I added

"They'll get over it," the man says, "for now I'm gonna take you to the person who can help your father And then you can get some food," he said

"yay cuz I haven't eaten real food since forever and I hope u can bring dad back. are u excited, Damian?" I asked him

"I can't eat Lin," he said

"no, I meant about dad silly I know u can't eat," I said laughing

"Oh, I guess..." he said

"then we can fix you I can't wait to hug both of you," I said

I'm following the strange no named man threw the building.

"I don't know if we can fix your brother," the man says "He has nobody to speak of, and he has been dead for far longer"

"oh..." I said

I frown and look down at my feet.

I'm going to make sure he gets better I think to myself

"We are here," he said

we are in front of a pair of solid metal double doors I look up at it

He opens the doors to reveal a bunch of people standing around a Holo-Map of Helix City. I see a 40 something year old woman in casual clothing leaning against one of the support pillars in the room, A tall man dressed in a strange combination of plant life and animal furs, and a man in a black cloak, and some kind of lightweight armor made of a combination of current level tech and that strange black crystal from The Void. That last man is wearing a gas mask. I stare at the random people confused and kinda in awe I don't move to walk in cuz Idk if it would be okay. I'm also admiring the holo map thinking how it works taking it apart in my head and putting I back together imaginary. I noticed them all look at me.

"uh...hi" I wave at them awkwardly

"I've held up my end of the bargain," the man says

As he floats the table with my father over to the man in the gas mask. The man in the gas mask lays a hand on the side of the table and looks at dad for a second, and then looks back at us.

"So you have Revenant," he says

His voice is muffled by the gas mask, but otherwise unmasked "you'll get no interference from us on your next 'mission'"

the man chuckles, unnervingly so, and replies, "pleasure doing business with you"

Revenant looks at me and says "goodbye child, stay out of trouble, or you WILL fear me" and then he opens the door you came in and steps through, closing it behind him

I watch him walk through the door. I look back them and laugh nervously "uh...so hi..um.. I am Lindsay um.. he said u could fix my dad"

"Holy shit Lin, that's DRUID!" Damian said excitedly.

"I don't know who these people are Damian god ur such a nerd" I tease him

"Druid fought with Dad in the war, and he used to be on the council," he said, "I don't know who these other two are though..."

"... oh.," I say looking at them again getting more nervous cuz there are not saying anything

"I'll uh, give you guys the room." Druid says, "Call me when he wakes up yeah?"

The man in the gas mask nods and Druid leaves

"I should go to." the woman says, "My friend found a lead on Eddie"

The man in the gas mask nods once again as the woman leaves.

"..um hi there sir," I say

"Hello Lindsay," he said

"um and you are?" I asked

"In a moment, I think he's slept long enough don't you?" he says as he gestures to my father.

"Oh yes yes he has"I smile and walk in a bit more

He puts both his hands on my father's chest and he begins to glow black. Beams of dark energy pouring out of the man, wisping and ribboning their way over to dad's body and swirling around him like a whirlpool. Eventually, the light dies down and the man staggers backward, grasping the edge of the Holo-Map for support. Dad snaps awake and sits up, flailing his arm around as if to slash at someone with his Plasma Cutter, which he notices is missing, and regards his arm with curiosity, then he falls limply back onto his back and closes his eyes. I run over to my dad and look at him.

"it.. worked omg dads alive Damian,!!" I say excitedly

"WHAT THE FUCK!" Damian shouts, "I THOUGHT THEY WERE LYING! HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THIS WHOAREYOUISTHISYOURPOWER!?"

The WMSCL sparks a bit and shuts off.

Then it reboots and lights up, with a short yet crisp "AAH!"

"are you ok"?! I asked him

"Yeah...I...I'm cool..." he says

Damian is panting, despite his lack of lungs

"thank u so much sir you are so cool. Are u ok"? I asked him

"It isn't my power," the man said with a pained groan, "I just borrowed it..."

"u should sit down" I go to help him sit in a seat if he lets me

"Borrowed it? From who?" Damian asked

The man waves his hand at me and sits in a folding chair that was nearby

"Seraph, her healing powers can resurrect recently dead things, but using it on a person could kill her, so I borrowed them to bring him back," he said

"wow," I say

He painfully lifts his arm towards the back of his head but lets it fall to his side after a couple tries.

"do you want help"? I asked him

"Why didn't it kill you?" Damian asks.

"I'm a bit more durable," he chuckles, "Yeah Lin, I could use a hand getting this mask off..."

I walk over and take off his mask carefully handing it back to him "are you going to be ok "?

"Heh heh, yeah I just need to go back into The Void..." he says, leaning forward in his chair, the hood still obscuring his face. His voice, now unmuffled, sounds a bit familiar.

"hmm you sound.. have I met you before I remember your voice from somewhere," I asked

"You could say that..." he says.

He looks up at me, letting me see his face for the first time. Though a bit older, and more scarred than I remember, it's undoubtedly Marcus.

"Marcus!?!" I screamed

I leaned down and hugged him as he hugs me back. I'm crying a little.

"OMG, you're alive.. how..when.. I'm so confused but I don't care I'm happy"

"It's a long story, and I'm too tired to tell it today, but I promise I will explain everything," he says

"HUG!" shouts Damian from the WMSCL

"u better" I move my arm so Damian could see him better

"HUG!" Damian shouts again

"Why do you keep yelling that Damian?" Marcus asked

"cuz he wants to hug you, dummy," I say

"I uh...can't ACTUALLY hug so..." says Damian

"Heh heh, ouch..." Marcus utters, "I can't laugh right now"

His eyes begin to close and he starts falling out of his chair. I catch him wondering what to do I kinda shout at the door

"uh hey some help in here," I say

He snaps awake and stands up. I let him stand and I stand up

"you should go sleep Marcus," I say

"I need to do that in the void, otherwise I won't wake up..." he said

"ah ok well hurry up and go then what's stopping u"? I say

"I have to...to get Dad to the Med Bay...an- ow... make sure you get food... and then make sure you know where your room is..."

Marcus says as he stumbles towards the table dad is on and tries to levitate it, flinching in pain and dropping it back on the ground, and starts wheeling it towards the door.

" no you need to go to sleep now we can't lose you now that we got youu back ill just have someone else help with that I'm pretty sure I can find that stuff out. now go mister" I point out the door

He looks at me and chuckles and then winces

"Alright, help me get Dad to the lab, the Med Bay is on the other side of it, and that's the only way in and out of the Sanctuary"

"ok" I follow my brother out helping push dad

After a little bit, we get to the lab and Marcus approaches the strange machine we used to get here. He points to a door on the other side of the room.

"Take Dad through there and ask for Darci, she'll help you find stuff," Marcus said

"ok get better bro," I say

I push dad to the door and looked around and ask a guy for Darci. The guy points to a tall brunette in a lab coat and goes back to fixing a pipe. I walk over to her wheeling my dad

"uh excuse me, Darci," I ask

"Oh! You're here! Hello, welcome to the Sanctuary!" she says beaming,

"uh wow your cheerful thanks and hi," I say awkwardly

"No problem," she says smiling, "We'll get your dad straightened out no problem!"

There is something familiar about her.

"..do I know you? damian does she seem familiar?" I ask

"Oh! Um... I used to work for your dad, back before the accident..."

She seems like she's awkwardly avoiding something.

"...hmmm"I look at her "and?" I asked

"Umm...aaaaaaaand I have to get your dad hooked up, so you should probably go, nicetoseeyouagainhaveanicedaygoodbye!" she explained

She flushes red and wheels our dad to an empty bed, I don't even remember her moving but they are already on the other side of the room, there is a gust of wind that blows my hair back.

"That was sudden did I offend her"? I asked

"Wait a minute..." Damian says, "I remember her now, she used to DATE Marcus!"

"..oh "I laugh a little bit "awww shes shy"

"hey Darci Marcus said you could help me find stuff," I say

I walk over to her and tap her shoulder

"Marcus had to go to the void so Idk, where to go eat or, sleep he said you would help us, "I say

She turns to someone a couple beds over and says, "Hey Dennis! Come to get Innovator hooked up, I have to show his daughter around!"

"Alright let's go..." she says,

She brings me to a room and lets me know that it's mine, then she brings us to the mess hall and straight into the kitchen, waltzing right over to a tall chubby black man in a chef's hat.

"are you mad at me"? I asked

"Er, no..." she says, "I just um...have had a long day..."

"you don't need to lie. I don't care or won't make fun of you because you dated Marcus... I don't remember a lot of stuff cuz my heads been messed with for 3 years sooo yeah.." I say

She gets red again and begins stammering incoherently, hearing this the chubby black man chuckles and walks over.

"you know you just about as red as any of these tomatoes if you ain't careful I might put you in this salsa I'm making Darci," the man said

"AH Mordecai," Darci blurted out "Perfect timing, Lindsay hasn't had real food in over 3 years!"

Mordecai dropped his ladle and looked over at me with a horrified look on his face.

"uh... I was in a coma for 3 years while my brain was being a storage... I had a bag and a tube feeding me...so.." I say awkwardly

He grinned and looked at Darci

"Darci you can go ahead and head back to work, this kid ain't leavin' till she eaten just about everything in this damn kitchen!" he said

Darci laughed and said, "well sounds good to me, Mordecai will take care of feeding you andyouknowwhereyourroomissoseeyalaterbye!"

She nearly shouted that last part as she zoomed out of the room, again leaving a gust of wind, this time scattering ingredients and utensils willy-nilly. Mordecai leaned out the door after her

"HEY WHAT'D I TELL YOU ABOUT ZOOM IN IN N' OUT OF MY DAMN KITCHEN!" he yelled
He walked back over to you mumbling to himself, "damn zippy bitch almost made me drop my croissant..."

I stand there looking at the mess on the floor.

He smiles at me. "You hungry kid? I'm the best Chef in the city, guaranteed!"

I smile back "yes I am thank you"

"Oh, you gon' LEARN today!" he says in an exaggerated accent.

He cooks you food until you are full, and then keeps cooking your food. I am pretty tired by the end of it. I lean back in the chair rubbing my stomach.

"I can't eat anymore I'm tired I'm going to go to my room. thanks for the food it was great" I say

"Hey no problem kid, next time you're hungry come to me, I'll let you skip the line!" he said

"ok" I laugh waving bye to him headed to my room.

"these people are nice huh Damian," I asked

"That Lasagna looked SO GOOD!" he exclaimed

"it was. don't worry we can try and make you a robot body that can taste and feel stuff like a real body. I promise and with your help, it should not be hard" I say reassuring him

"Yeah..." he says

"I promise brother," I say

I open my door and walked into my room. there is a small bed on one side of the room a dresser on the other side. There was also some wall shelves and a door. I opened the door and it was a closet. I smile turning off the light sitting on the bed falling onto my back looking at the ceiling. I lay there thinking of a way to fix Damian I soon fall asleep with blueprints in my head.
 
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If Avery hadn’t woken me up I probably would have slept the morning away. Apparently the gang of warehouse teens took to rising earlier than later, which was odd to me considering their lack of adult supervision.

Avery was sitting on the couch I had crashed on, shaking my shoulder.

“Mmwhat…?” I asked groggily.

“You missed some stuff yesterday, and Rebecca’s been waiting to ask you about a better costume. Thought I’d get you up for a chat.”

I sat up and rubbed the gunk from my eyes, looking around to see Rebecca was sitting on a chair nearby. She waved.

I waved back, a little embarrassed.

“So, first thing is some nut job blew up a bank a couple towns over… might be a new supervillain problem to keep an eye out for. He dresses in money clothes and uses explosives. I guess innovator’s death had something to do with it.” Avery explained. He held up his cellphone which portrayed a picture of the villain.

“Costume’s not exactly original…” I commented, secretly a little jealous of his ability to customize his attire.

“Speak for yourself ‘Hoodlum’.” One of the other’s comment, I looked up to see who but they had apparently gone about their business.

“Ok, so now we have that out of the way… what did you want to ask me about the costume? I mean, you don’t have to make one for me, I’m fine…”

I still felt quite awkward with the way things had played out so far, I didn’t want them to feel like I was some charity case.

Rebecca shook her head.

“It’s cool, it gives me something useful to use my powers on.” She explained.

“Uh… okay then. Do you guys have any Kevlar or spider silk?” I asked.

Avery laughed and Rebecca looked a little confused.

“We’re not a military base man, sorry.” He said.

“Besides, I can only effect thread…” She mentioned.

“Well, technically spider webs are made from threads… they’re just threads of spider silk… actually that gives me another idea, would you be able to work with metallic threads? Kinda like super tiny steel cables?”

She looked a little surprised at my query.

“Uh… I don’t know, I never really tried. I mean we don’t have any of that stuff anyway, I just have normal clothing materials. We do have foam though, like cosplayers carve for their armor, it could help cushion you a little and give you whatever look you might be trying to go for.”

I couldn’t tell since I didn’t know her very well, but based on how she was speaking I thought maybe I pricked a nerve or made her feel self-conscious about her powers.
Stupid me, here she was trying to do me a favor and I was asking for every drink that wasn’t in her fridge.

“Oh sorry, I’ll just order some of that stuff some time and see if you can work with it… for now denim would be fine. Well, maybe not really denim, that heavy strong denim-like stuff that’s on those tough work coats.”

“Oh, cotton duck?” She asked.

“Sure.” I said, more of a guess than a confirmation.

“So what did you have in mind?” she asked, floating some of the requested material toward her.

“Well, I’m really durable myself, and I don’t have a sense of touch, so I’d like it to be rugged enough where it counts, but also be nimble enough for me to move without it getting in the way, and breathable enough to where I won’t just be sweating all the time. Like, with those coats: probably withstand a dog bite or a brush against some nails without tearing but they weigh you down and you sweat like a pig. Does that make sense?” I explained.

“Mmhmm.” She said, still waiting for an official answer on the design.

I suppose the main costume could be made of the same stuff sweat pants are, cotton or whatever, and then you can make a sort of vest-like attachment for the chest and back area out of that duct stuff-”

“Cotton duck.” She corrected.

“Yeah, the cotton duck. Kind of like a scarlet spider hoodie but made of that, and attached to the shirt rather than just worn over it. But like, also separate. Does that make sense?” I asked.

“Mmhmm.” She nodded as she got to work on the portions of the costume I was describing.

I’d like the hood to be made of the duck as well, but it would also be nice if I had a sort of built in ski-mask type deal with just eye holes for my head. If it could just be one big bodysuit for the pants and shirt instead of two pieces that would be cool too. Sleeves and pants going all the way down to my wrists and ankles of course… actually can u make footie pajama-type booties for the feet? It would be nice to have that built in in case something happens to my shoes… Oh, and on the elbows, knees, and base of the feet you can put more… cotton duck? Kind of like knee and elbow pads. Other than that I just need some durable gloves and a cool belt and mask. For now I’ll just use my old mask though, I can order one of those riot gear masks or something when I get some money, and for now these are super cheap and easy to work with.” I hold up my mask to show her.

“Normally I work with fingerless gloves because I don’t like the way gloves get in the way when I do certain things. Dexterity restriction I guess, but you can make me some fingered gloves if you think you can do away with that problem, I can always cut off the fingers after if I need to. Oh, and if u can use the cotton duck for the back of the hand, knuckles, and the part of the glove under the hand itself as well that would be awesome. I’d like them to extend like, down to here if that’s ok.” I gestured to about half way down my forearm toward the elbow.

It was surprising how fasts he worked, the costume seemed almost done to me, usually sewing things took hours of work but she was able to move each individual thread at the same time, weaving them together not only through the plates of material she already had, but also to create the material itself.

“Woah…” I blurted.

“If you want I can put some padding in the forearm and put more cotton duck there as well in case you do get attacked by a dog or something.” she suggested.
I nodded in agreement.

“Try it on.” She suggested after it was complete. I took the costume into the restroom and changed. She had placed the opening at the back waist, and included a few of those little hook mechanisms to keep the bottom and the top from slipping away from each other when I bent. I knew she couldn’t control things like buttons or zippers, so I figured she must have had some that had been manually attached to pieces of fabric or something. As far as coloration went, the main fabric was a simple black color, and the duck was a dark brownish red color. It reminded me of dried blood. Maybe it was meant to be more of a chocolate? I was no expert.

It looked awesome.

I pulled my mask up and put it on, looking at it in the mirror. It was still a little smudged and sooty from its previous adventures, and the marker mark was faded. I was alright with that though.
I walked out of the bathroom and held my arms out once I reached Avery and Rebecca.

“Thanks Beck, It looks awesome!”

“Sure does,” Avery agreed. “Nice work girl-friend.” He held a fist out and she accepted the fist bump. “As far as a belt goes, I don’t know if you want it for a permanent solution, but we have some of those homemade seat buckle belts with the stretchy waist.” Avery suggested.

“Actually that’s perfect!” I exclaimed a little more excitedly than I had intended to.

“Wow, you’re really very into this aren’t you?” Gilbert laughed a little as he commented. Probably making fun of me. I got the impression that he was still irritated at me for talking down about their community work the other night.

Ignoring the comment I collected my belt and attached it promptly.

“Hey, do you guys have acrylic paint?” I asked.

“Why acrylic specifically?” Avery asked, curious.

“I don’t know, I like it better I guess.” I shrugged.

“Yeah over here.”

He led me to a draw with some loose art supplies laying around. I got the impression that they were less for costume stuff and more for typical art hobby. They were kind of disorganized as if they didn’t get much use. Like maybe they’d been using the same tubes of paint over the course of several years.

“Nice.” I stated, grabbing some red and some black. The gloves didn’t really seem to restrict my ability to manipulate things to my surprise. Perhaps Rebecca’s powers allowed her to work in finer detail or something than one would if they crafted them by hand or used a machine, or maybe they just fit tighter than most glove I’ve worn. Didn’t matter.

They actually seemed to have more spray paint than anything when it came to paint, at least in this area. I found a nice metallic silver looking spray paint and used it to coat the face of the mask. It would look cool, but it would also act as a base for the decorative parts I would also add.

I took a brush out and painted the mask. As I proceeded I would eventually add a red spade beneath the right eye of the mask, point facing up and a black heart beneath the left eye, point facing down. I would also paint a big toothy smile on the lower portion of the mask, using black to border the mouth and the teeth just to be sure it was clear that that is what it was. I decided to go with triangular teeth for a symbol of mischief or trouble.

While I worked on painting and drying the paint, Rebecca had gone about her day. Avery however, was still near me.

“So, I was wondering… not to pry but do you intend to fully drop out of school or…?” He started.

Honestly I hadn’t thought of that.

“Uh, maybe… I don’t really know yet. I’d like to go back to school at some point but right now things are a little hard with hellhound and mom being seraph… I figure when I’m finally ready to go home to my folks that’s when I’ll probably go back. Why?”

Avery shifted his position so that he sat on the arm of the couch.

“Also wondered if you had your license or know how to drive or whatever.” He asked, dodging the why for now.

“Yeah, both.” I said.

“Cool. If you want I should be able to get you a job at the Courier Company that Eric and I work at. One of our drivers just died from wounds sustained outside of the bank that got blown to hell the other day so… they’re hiring.” He said.

“Jesus Christ… What are the hours like? I gotta be able to keep to my hero schedule.” I asked.

“Clock in at 7:00am, clock out at 4:00pm. Pays $13.40 an hour.” He replied.

“Not bad at all… plus, if I’m in the right place at the right time on my route it would help. I should have my ‘stume with me at all times anyway. So do I go online to apply or…?” I asked.

Shit, I’d need to sneak back into my house and look for my social security card though…

“Nah, I’ll just bring you straight to the boss for an interview.” He said.

“Oh, that’s odd. Is he hurting that bad for applicants or are you guys just that chummy? What am I talking about… ‘course you’re chummy.” I felt a little silly for forgetting his power for a moment.
Maybe making you like him didn’t make the friendship any less real than a normal one. Liking him and relating to him, or being able to have a conversation with him, were different things after all. Weren’t they?

Avery chuckled in response, explaining that the guy in charge of the business is actually Eric’s adoptive father, and he tends to trust Eric to make good choices when it comes to hiring.
“Oh, cool…” I responded. “When can we do that?”

“Whenever you’re ready we can head over there.” He said.

“Job interview on a Saturday? Bold move. Actually I’m not completely sure I want the job just yet. Just in case though I’m going to head over to my old place and see if I can find my creds. I doubt I have all the stuff I need in my wallet.”

I got up and thanked Avery and Rebecca again, then headed out. I was already running low on cash, so I opted to walk back to my old house instead. I kept close to the buildings and even took some alleys just to be safe. It might have been pretty early in the day, but I wasn’t willing to risk that Hellhound or other members of the Dominus stuck to the old cliché of criminal activity primarily taking place at night.

I reached the property undisturbed and found the place had been charred from the fight. It was cautioned off with security tape, but there weren’t any personnel there. I tore down some of the caution tape and made myself a silly little scarf, which actually gave me an interesting idea for my costume. I’d have to ask Rebecca if she minded making some adjustments later on.
I walked through the entrance where the front door used to be, and was going to head to my room when I saw a man hunched over some of the debris in the living room. He had dark hair, and was dressed in all black. A leather jacket with a hood attached, Cargo Pants, Athletic shoes, and some leather gloves.

I should consider having her add pockets too. I thought.

The man didn’t look familiar from what I could see. Could be a detective, could be a member of Dominus. Either way I wasn’t fixing to find out.

I attempted to sneak around him to the side of the room, cautiously and quietly moving to my bedroom. I looked in the drawer where I kept my important papers, and the card wasn’t there.

Fudge.

I figured things might have gotten moved around in the fight, considering half the house was either burnt or broken, so I poked around for a bit before finally giving up.

Either some lucky looter is planning ID theft or it’s one of the things that burnt up… great. I guess I won’t be taking that job after all.

I figured maybe the guy down stairs could be robbing the place. He did look a little hoodlum-ish, even though his clothes weren’t horribly different from my old costume.

I guess Gilbert had a point.

I decided instead I would make use of the fact that I was here to leave my mom and dad a note.


Mom, Dad,
I hope you're both ok. I don't know what Hellhound meant by things not always being about me, but I felt like it was me he was tracking. Was he really after you mom? Either way, just in case I figured I’d keep my distance for a while. I know dad’s really against what I’m doing but I want to make a difference. I feel like there's plenty of people fighting for others, but I don’t feel like they're doing enough to show that people like me are still just like people without powers. Maybe that's not really It, maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I don't think I’ll find out by watching from the outside like society expects us to. I love you guys, and don't worry, I’ll come back eventually. I just need some space. If dad's ok tell him I’m sorry he's disappointed with me, but using our powers to help people isn’t nonsense when there's people using their powers to hurt people. The police can't do it all themselves.
- Eddie.​

After leaving my note I headed down stairs to talk to the man, in case he did steal my stuff, but he wasn’t there anymore.

Oh well, one less thing to worry about I guess. I thought.

I took a walk into town and entered the local arts and crafts store. I may not have had much money left over, but I felt bad about having to dig around my friends’ “lair” to find interesting stuff for my costume: Like the paints.

I purchased a small bag of metal rings that I had planned to use in the costume, as well as some paints of my own, then headed back to Eric’s warehouse.

It was unlocked and most of the crew were still here, watching hero cams, doing chores, or otherwise occupying their time.

Nervously I walked over to Rebecca. Man she was cute.

“Hey, Beck.” I said. She looked at me.

“Is the costume okay?” She asked.

“Yeah it’s great, I just thought of something else it could use if you don’t mind. Since I’m going for sort of an outcast theme I thought it might be cool to add a scarf-thing around the neck area and put some of these little rings in the hood around my face. I don’t know why but I thought that might look a little gypsie-ish and I kind of like that.” She agreed to help out again and I changed, putting my new stuff next to my backpack by the couch I had been sleeping on.

Gilbert and Trevor were sitting there watching what appeared to be the footage from the money guy Avery had told me about.

“Holy shit…” I muttered. Trevor looked over his shoulder.

“Oh hey. Misfit right?” He asked. I nodded.

“Wanna watch with us? We’re looking at other versions of the footage broadcast on Youtube. A lot of the footage is off the internet now though because he blew some people up, but you can still find censored stuff.”

“Thanks but nah. What’s this guy going by anyway?” I asked.

“Ching I think?” Trevor guessed.

“Cha’Ching.” Gilbert corrected. “Like the sound of a type writer resetting or an opening cash register. Considering.” He gestured to the guy’s henchmen.

I blurted out a laugh and they both looked at me funny.

“Sorry, those guys look hilarious…” I offered.

“Misfit, your costume’s done.” Rebecca said, floating it back over to me.

“Thanks. Hey, what time is it?” I asked the boys.

“Uh… like one thirty I think.” Trevor responded.

“Alright, is it cool if I grab a shower? I think I’m gonna start my patrol.” I asked.

“You gonna eat anything first?” Trevor asked.

“You were kind of gone for hours last time and your mask doesn’t really give you mouth access.” He noted.

“Nah, I still have a little money left. Ill grab something while I’m out and eat somewhere private.”

With that I showered, changed back into my costume and left.

There honestly wasn’t a lot to do around town during the day, but liked the idea of being out and helping people where they could see my face. I made sure to introduce myself as Misfit to get recognition in costume, and I was extra sure to leave areas when asked and explain to police officers I was only doing community work when suspected of ‘vigilante activity’ or ‘prowling’.

In all I wasn’t hassled too much by law enforcement. Costumed helpers were a somewhat normal thing since the Paragon Legion made heroism even more popular than the comics.

I did manage to get heckled and harassed by a few anti-costume folks, but nothing too serious.

As the sun eventually set and night fell on the city, I once again got to see it transform from the glorious busy town of citizens to a desolate wasteland of the homeless and depraved. Maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration but I’m down with that.

The night seemed fairly slow. I stopped by the club in case Creeps McCreeperson was lookin’ for more love tonight, but nothing was going on there from what I could tell, so I set about doing other things.

At one point in the night I decided to climb the fire escape to an apartment building to get a good view of the alleys nearby. Doing so, I had a pretty clear view to some kids hanging out. They were just playing basketball though. They weren’t standing around looking like thugs or anything.

On the other end of an adjacent alley I saw a couple who seemed to be on a date or something. They were pretty well dressed at least. I walked over to the edge of the roof that was closest to the alley so I could see them better, but I didn’t see anybody else in the alley or the intersecting streets that might bother them so I figured they would probably be ok. I was about to turn around and head back to the fire escape when I heard a voice.

“Stalking your prey I presume?”

The voice was deep and no doubt belonged to an older man, but it was slightly muffled.

As I turned around I was taken completely by surprise by what I saw.

The man was around seven feet tall and bulky as fuck. He was also decked out in some Dark Souls lookin’ medieval fantasy type armor with tattered cloth hanging here and there from underneath.

“Shit…” I muttered.

This guy called himself Executioner, and he was actually pretty famous for murdering people he thought were criminals. I guess you could consider him a “mid class” Vigilante who typically acted solo.

“Uh… hey. No, I was just making sure there were no shenanigans going on in the alleys nearby. I’m Misfit by the way.” I extended my hand cautiously, hoping to receive a handshake and see him go on his merry way.

My hopes were dashed.

“I know who you are, slug, and you won’t fool me. I saw you fleeing the scene on the news when innovator showed up, and I’m not so naïve to believe your story now. You were definitely going to prey on those people. Or perhaps the kids playing in the alley, you just hadn’t decided which yet.”

As he spoke he pulled out the largest of his three black metal axes. They weren’t quite medieval looking per say, they were the type of axe you might buy in a survival catalogue or from the internet. Sweet ass looking utility axes or something. Awesome but frightening.

“What? No, you got that wrong. I was fleeing from Jackdaw… I’m a good guy, honest! Also my costume is different how’d yo-”

“Enough talk!” he interrupted. “You might have improved your costume but you’re look is the same. I’m no moron, now die!”

Just like that he lunged for me with his axe, and I dove to my left, looking back to see him prying the axe out of the edge of the building he had just cleaved into as I stood. I didn’t mention the super strength?

He came at me again, and I ran. I went half way across the roof and stepped aside, reciving a forceful bump from his shoulder for my troubles.

“Damn you’re fat!” I said as I landed on my back. He hit hard.

“Raahh!” He lifted his axe and tried to bring it down on me again, I scrambled to my feet and pulled out my bat, moving to the right and swinging it against his helmeted head. Apparently I don’t hit that hard.

“Nice try kid.” He swung at me again, this time from his right, my left, I dropped backward onto the ground and rolled away, missing another strike as he used the momentum from his swing to lift the axe up again, this time electing to charge forward and kick me, launching me about three feet into the air, causing me to land about six feet away from him.

How the FUCK am I supposed to fight this guy? I thought.

From there I had a realization. Executioner tended to be an offensive fighter. He used his super strength and lethal weaponry to keep people on the defensive, which tended to make them want to keep them distance.

Being that I’m unarmed, much smaller than him, and most likely now had a cracked rib, I doubted he’d expect what I did next.

When he went to bring his axe down the next time, I dropped my bat and turned my body right, spinning toward him instead of away from him, I grabbed one of his arms mid-swing and used his momentum to throw him forward, bracing my shoulder against his body to pull him off his feet. Because I was using his strength against him, so the fact that he was large and heavy didn’t really matter.

I was no martial artist, but I’ve heard of this before. I was pretty sure it was referred to as a “judo throw”, since it was a type of throw from the martial art of judo.

His axe still collided with the ground, but his body flipped over me and he landed hard on his back on the roof, cracking it a little and sliding. I had planned to follow up by grabbing my bat again quickly, and wailing on his head in hopes of hitting him just hard enough to knock him out through his helmet, or at least denting it in such a way as to impair his vision, but my bat was currently folded over his axe’s blade.

“FUCK!” I had no choice, time to run now or I wouldn’t get another chance.

I turned around and ran straight toward the edge of the roof. Pushed by desperation I figured either I’d make it to the other side or I’d fall and make him think I had killed myself. It sure beat seeing if he could take off my head.

My foot hit the edge of the roof and I leaped with all I had, and I was surprised to see that I had made it across.

“Oh… cool.” I muttered. I began to run forward, but before I got half way across the roof I heard Executioner shout behind me.

“Nice throw little man, you won’t get another.” He threatened, still picking himself up from his fall, I could hear my bat clatter against the rooftop as he pried it from his weapon.

I quickly looked around for a new strategy, when I saw the man who had been rooting around the remains of my house. He was dressed the same, but now I could see his face more clearly. Whoever this person was, he obviously didn’t need a costume. He was standing in front of the door that allowed this building access to the roof, likely for maintenance and repair, watching me.

“Watch his feet when he brings is axe up for the down swing.” He instructed.

“What? Why?” I asked, confused and slightly irritated.

Had he been watching the whole time this guy had been trying to murder me?

But my questioning was interrupted by the loud crash of Executioner botching what I was sure was supposed to be a smooth landing.

“Gah!” I blurted, turning my attention back toward my attacker.

He ran for me, stopping short and heaving his axe, now bat-less, above his head. This time I kept my eyes on him, noticing that his toes lifted as he swung the axe up.

He was heaving it too far back. I quickly formed a new plan, and ran toward the fire escape. He completed his swing and gave chase again, attempting again to hit me, and I ran beneath his arms and to the other side of the large man, turning to face him and squatting down, placing my hands over my head as if to shield it.

“Please, don’t hurt me! I’m just a boy!” I shouted dramatically.

“Heh, giving up already? You’re old enough to know better just the same.” He turned as he spoke, raising his axe above his head once more, tilting back toward the edge of the roof, I continued to watch his toes from my position.

The moment they left the ground I sprung into the air, kicking out with both of my feet. The soles of my shoes colliding with his chest plate he was pushed backward off of the edge of the roof.
I scrambled to the edge of the roof as quickly as I could, in time to see his shoulder collide with the fire escape below, spinning him into a collision with the fire escape across the alley, and tumbling down onto and through the closed lid of the dumpster below.

His lack of movement after meant he was either unconscious or dead. I hoped for the former.

“Crazy motherfucker… Hey dude, you wanna call the cops?” I asked, turning back to glance at him momentarily before climbing to the uppermost fire escape platform to retrieve Executioner’s helmet, which had apparently fallen off of him upon collision.

“Nice job, though you let him land far too many hits.” The man complimented as I climbed back onto the roof.

“I didn’t let him do shit wise guy, I’m not exactly Bruce Lee.” I retorted.

“Maybe not, but I’m not here to critique your form. You still got the job done.” He stated.

“Okay, cool… Then why are you here? And what were you doing at that house today?” I asked.

“You mean YOUR house, right kid?” He replied.

I was shocked. Maybe he’d seen me there but how would he know who I was? Maybe he was Dominus. I tried my best to move into a defensive stance, raising the helmet up and to the side as if planning to use it as a weapon.

“Uh… how would you know that? I’ve got a new costume and everything…” I asked, confused and concerned.

“Don’t worry, most people won’t, I just noticed you beeline straight to your room like you knew what went where in that charred mess.” He answered.

“Wait, you weren’t looking though, I was pretty sure I snuck around you.” I accused, standing up straight and pointing dramatically at him.

“I’m more observant than you think.” He stated. “Anywho, I also saw that note you left.”

Damn, I could have sworn he was gone then. Rookie move I guess.

“Oh… are you following me? Wait, you still didn’t tell me what you were doing there!” I felt like he was dodging the question, maybe he wasn’t, but I wanted to be sure.
“Your mother asked me to find you and I owed her a favor so, here I am.”

His answer did satisfy me a little. No doubt my mother made friends in her secret life.

“I gave her your note and she told me to give you this.” He held out a manila envelope, which I took.

“Oh…”

I sighed and held the envelope at arm’s length, deciding to open it from further way from my body in case of some sort of trap shenanigans. When death powder failed to explode from the opening in the package I brought it closer to look inside.

The envelope had all of my personal documents. My birth certificate, a current transcript from my high school (although incomplete due to the fact that I hadn’t graduated), and even my social security card was among such documents.

So that’s where it went… I thought.

There was also a normal envelope inside with only my name in my mom’s hand writing.

“Take care kid.” The man said, leaving through the roof access door.

I waited a moment, looking around to make sure nobody would see, then I put the helmet under my arm and retrieved the envelope, opening it to see what was inside. It was a letter from my mother.


Eddie,
This wasn't the way I wanted you to find out about me. I had hoped to tell you myself and to explain why I had to hide this from you and your father. But I suppose that's moot now so I owe you an explanation. I was rebellious when I was your age, and I guess in a way I still am. I always thought the system was flawed, that it was unfair, and that people would rather turn a blind eye than see that the very way they led their lives was, at its core, broken. That only amplified when the war started, when I got my powers. I fought in it you know, the war, I never told you or your father to help hide my past. After the war I thought things would be better, but I was wrong. Powered and Non-Powered alike shed blood and tears together in that wretched war, and yet even after all that we were treated like shit. All I wanted to do was use my powers to heal people, but every day they would trash my clinic and vandalize my home. So I left. I changed my name, moved to Helix and hid my powers. I tried to live as a normal woman, found a normal husband and settled for a normal life. And I hated it. I hated denying who I was, hated playing the perfect suburban housewife, and above all I hated your father. But he was the perfect cover. I'd like to say that having you fixed all of the problems in my life, but it just isn't true. I love you with all of my heart Eddie, and if I had to do this all over again I would, without hesitation, because you are the most important thing in my life. But your father is a bad man Eddie. I hate myself for not leaving him the moment you got powers. This may shock you but you deserve to know. Your father has been looking for a way to get rid of your powers since the moment you got them. His feelings towards people like us go far beyond thinking heroes are nonsense, Eddie, he thinks we are abominations. A disease that needs to be cured. That's why he kept pushing support group meetings, that's why he insisted on therapy, and that's why I overreacted when we found you trying to cut yourself that day. Last week he confessed to tampering with your food. He had been putting an experimental drug in your food that is supposed to rewrite your DNA back to how it was before you got your powers. I checked with the Brotherhood's top scientists and they assure me that your healing factor is strong enough to fight off the effects, so you shouldn't have to worry about that, but it was the final straw. I had begun arrangements with Carbon Copy to get us moved into the Outcast Sanctuary, and far away from that wretched man. Though recent events have put a dent in that plan. I would still very much like you to join me there, but I can understand if you can't forgive me for all of the lies. Enclosed in the envelop is all of the documentation you'll need to start your life without me should you decide to, as well as contact information for Daniel, the man who brought it to you, should you somehow forgive me and wish to join me. I'll never know if my family would've accepted me for who I am, they all died in the war, I never lied about that, but I want you to know that I am so proud of you Eddie, and the man you are becoming.
-Mother​
I felt overwhelmed, not just by the information but the emotion that came with it. I couldn’t help but start crying, and I cried for a good several minutes. I removed my mask to that I could properly wipe my eyes when I was done, and I headed home. Climbing down the rickety fire escape and taking to the streets to make my way back to the ruined house.

It took time but I got there without being disturbed, and made my way straight to my room. I knelt down beneath my bed to see if my cellphone was still there, and since it was, I took it.
I then turned on the cellphone and selected my dad from the contacts list, dialing the phone.

“Hello, Eddie? Are you alright?” He sounded genuinely worried… how could what mother claimed be true? Maybe she lying… she had already lied about who she was and how she spent her time… it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch.

“I’m alright dad…” I answered, choking back the tears that were once again welling up.

“Where are you? Do you need me to come get you? Is your mother with you?”

I couldn’t do this. Not like this, not if he kept sounding worried about us.

“I know Dad. Mom told me about the drugs, and what you think about people like me.” He went quiet. Quiet usually meant guilty. Shit…

“Eddie, I can explain! You’re sick, I was trying to help you get better.”

I shook my head.

“No dad I’m not sick, I can’t get sick, I can’t be sick. You know that. You’re sick.”

“Eddie-”

“NO DAD! Powered people aren’t sick we’re just different! You don’t get to decide if I need fixing or not. If I was gay would you try to fix me?”

“Son, it’s not-”

“YES IT IS DAD! It’s fucking the same! It’s how I am, it’s who I am, and you don’t get to decide if it’s right or wrong!”

“Son… I love you... I just… I love you Eddie please… let me come get you.” There was an awkward silence as we both tried to figure out what to say next.

“Eddie… are you…?” It took me a moment to catch what he meant as he trailed off.

“God dammit dad that’s not even the point!” I responded angrily.

“Because if you were I-” He started again.

“DAD!” I shouted. There was another awkward silence.

“Dad I love you too… but this is how things are… and this is how things have to be. I’m going to hang up now, if you call me I’ll throw the phone in a toilet. I’ll call you when I want to talk okay? Read a pamphlet and get your head out of your ass.”

I hung up. I waited a moment to make sure he didn’t try to call me back, then I pulled out the contact information mom had left me.

There was a phone number and address on the card, which was labeled “McCloud Investigations”.

I dialed the number, standing up and looking around for my charger as I did so. I found it, as well as my 3ds charger, and carried them with me as I left the house, headed back to Eric’s.

“McCloud Investigations, McCloud speaking.”

“Uh hey… It’s E-er, Misfit. I guess you can bring me to see my mom.” Honestly I was moved that she seemed to be treating me like an equal. Well, maybe not like an equal but like a real superhero and not just her son. At least that’s how I saw it. From what I could tell she wasn’t asking me to come home at all, in fact she gave me everything I needed not to come home, and that meant she was asking me to join their team.

Honestly I wasn’t one hundred percent sure I would join. Axe-guy may not have been one of theirs but they did have some pretty hard core vigilantes that could be just as crazy. My mom herself kind of seemed to be pro-killing and she didn’t even seem nuts. Aside from the whole using my dad to pretend to be normal thing I guess…

The point was that if someone on a real team with real renown was asking me to join, it would be really dumb to say no. At least without doing them the courtesy of checking out what they had to offer and seeing if they aligned well enough with my ideals.

Besides, maybe they paid their heroes or had access to a techy-type that could hook me up with some cool shit. I honestly had abandoned the idea of blogging after feeling like such a child before, but considering what I just learned about my dad maybe it was more important than ever to show life from my perspective. Who knows, maybe I was just falling back on my old mentality. Either way it didn’t matter.

“Alright then. Come to the address on the card and I’ll take you there.” He hung up after giving me the instructions. I was unsure if he was being rude or he just didn’t want to tie up the line, but I shrugged and continued walking.

The last call I made was to the police to let them know they had a dumpster baby waiting for them in a certain alley in a certain part of town. I respect other vigilantes, but this guy was straight up trying to murder people.

It didn’t take too horribly long to get back, and I hadn’t been out super late tonight, so it was really only about 11:46 or so at night when I got back to the warehouse. I checked the door and found it to be unlocked this time, which was nice.

I changed my clothes and was in the middle of putting my things together in my backpack when Avery approached.

“You’re back early. What’s up?” He asked.

“Gotta talk to my mom about some things, might not have to crash here after all. I’ll message you tomorrow and let you know what’s up.”

Avery nodded.

I picked Executioner’s helmet up off the floor and set it on the coffee table.

“Gift for you guys, a thanks for being so cool.”

This drew the attention of the rest of the gang who sort of half-gathered around the coffee table to see what I had brought them.

“Uh, nice helmet I guess… thanks?” He said confused.

I noted that the rest of them seemed equally confused about the gift except for Eric, who seemed surprised.

“That’s Executioner’s helmet…” Eric stated.

I wouldn’t call the reaction explosive, but everyone except Eric pretty much immediately began asking how the hell I took him down, as well as some of them asking for details on the fight.

When I opened my mouth to speak however Eric interrupted.

“Wait! We need atmosphere…”

At what apparently translated to the rest of them as a command of some kind, the rest of the gang scrambled about the room to perform various specific tasks. Honestly it made me wonder if they had done this sort of thing before.

Gilbert scurried into the kitchen and began to make popcorn, Trevor began setting up his amps and other musical equipment, Avery dimed the lights and started a fire in the fire place, and Rebecca used her powers to make a kingly cape complete with floofy spotted boarder and a crown of golden colored thread woven tightly enough together that it stayed stiff in form. Eric, for his part, conjured a regal (and quite comfortable) throne for me to sit in.

The group then gathered around in front of me, except for Trevor who was standing at the ready with his musical arsenal, presumably to help set the tone. The throne itself was positioned near the fireplace, which actually quite resembled the stereotype study you might see a pipe smoking narrator sitting in at the beginning and/or end of a tale told on television.

I laughed and accepted the kingly adornments, sitting on the chair and crossing one leg over another before beginning my re-telling of tonight’s relevant events.
Honestly how could I not embellish a little?

For the most part I told the true story, of how he cornered me on the roof, assuming I was a villain or a mugger of some kind, and how I was very much outmatched in the fight.
What I also told them however was that he essentially couldn’t touch me due being both smarter and faster than he was, that I had landed more hits than I really had, and that I had discovered the flaw in his fighting form myself.

In addition, I left out the fact that I was afraid of “roof hopping”, or that I pretended to cower in fear like a child before springing my final blow on him.
All white lies to give them what they wanted of course: atmosphere.

As I told my story Trevor played along perfectly, yet without overtaking the story in his musical performance. The perfect complement to any oratory piece I’d imagine. I would have considered a desire to trade powers if not for the fact that his powers would have been no help whatsoever when I had been attacked camping.

“Have you guys ever considered opening your own theatre? You’d be amazing at all the behind the scenes stuff.” I asked.

Eric just shrugged and said, “We help out small time productions sometimes.”

As cool as I thought that was, I kept that thought to myself.

After “story time” I laid my costume face up on a table and retrieved a can of red spray paint from my things. I sprayed a stylized “M” with a face and “top of head” attached to the middle top of it as sort of a make shift logo. Truth be told it was pretty crummy, and the costume Rebecca made me was pretty bitchin’, but I thought it would help me look more “pro” for my upcoming interaction with The Brotherhood of Outcasts.

Finished, my friends wished me the best of luck, making sure I was well aware that I could come back any time and stay if I needed to. I found myself wishing that everyone could be like them.
 
Lance felt a soft push on his back, then it let off and he fell back with it until it pushed again, only to let off again. This continued in a rhythmic pattern. It was dark and warm with a comforting pressure on top of him and around his stomach. He took a moment to just enjoy the pleasant feeling before attending to whatever woke him. He was aware of the minor headache that was still present after the rest he'd had. That wasn't what had woken him though, he was just extremely thirsty. He pushed a hand out from his chest to move what was on him.

The blanket dragged across his face until his head was free. He had a sideways view of the common room T.V. with some black and white movie playing, the 'mute' symbol at the top corner of the screen and captions he didn't bother reading scrolling along the bottom. An arm poked out of the blanket, the hand hanging limp in the air off the side of the couch. He tried moving it and found it numb and unresponsive, must have slept on it wrong. He shifted to his feet and off he couch. He raised his arms up in a full-body stretch, letting out a pleased note.

"Mmm, best sleep I've 'ad in ages."

Lance spun around to look at the couch where Miranda was stretching out of the blanket. She looked up at him and winked with a cheeky smile.

"We'll 'ave to do it again, champ."

"Nothing happened, Lance. You came down and mumbled something about water before stumbling onto the couch and her," Oscar explained from his workbench.

"You jus' gotta ruin my fun, don'cha?"

"Shut up, Miranda. Lance, are you feeling better?" Nikolai's voice was quiet, he was peeking out of his office, phone in one hand, the other braced against the door frame.

"Uh, yeah, Nik. Just a little groggy."

He was surprised at how raspy his voice was. Nikolai nodded and ducked back into his office, the door clicking shut behind him. The sound of heavy feet on the stairs marked Miranda's ascent. He walked to the fridge after deciding to ignore whatever she was going to do. The second refill of the water bottle made him feel better. He looked towards Oscar who had been quietly working on something.

He had what looked like a computer monitor carefully disassembled and laid out on the table he used as a workbench. It looked like it had multiple screens but only the one casing to put them in.

"Hey, Oscar, what are you working on?" His voice was back to normal after the water.

"Hmm? Just tweaking my monitor while you were out since I couldn't really use the computer. I think I've got it though. I'll show you once I have it together, I think you'll like it," the smile he showed Lance looked off somehow, like he was nervous or annoyed and trying to hide it.

"Oh, sorry about that. I guess I'll leave you to it. Good luck?" Lance gave his own uneasy smile back paired with a set of thumbs up. Oscar just grunted in response as he focused back on the parts. Lance made a mental note not to bug him when he was doing his tech thing.

He walked back towards his room until he saw the dried blood on his arms and turned towards the bathroom instead. After a refreshing shower he went to his room to grab fresh clothes rather than the pajama bottoms and t-shirt he'd put on at some point. Upon entering his room he saw a figure in body armor lounging on his bed their face obscured by a stylized riot gear helmet with the mask tinted and painted to have a smiling robot face.

"Miranda, What are you doing?" Lance opened his closet to find clean clothes.

"I was waiting for ya ta come 'n' claim the gift I got ya," the bed groaned as she shifted position.

"What gift could--" the thought terminated as he turned to look at her again, noticing the skin showing between the armor, and the dots connected. His face flushed red and he turned back to the closet.

"Oh ho ho, finally noticed? Well, yer wrong. I was 'opin' ta string ya along a bit. Ah well, I got my kicks. Nah, you've got armor in these boxes," there was a thump as she hit a box to punctuate the sentence. "I'll let'cha 'ave yer privacy to try it on."

She clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder as she left, closing the door behind her. Lance looked at the boxes then back to the closet, he opted to check the boxes first. The armor was similar to hers but in a different sleeker design and his was dark blue and black where hers was black and chrome with red accents. The helmet looked like a full-face motorcycle helmet with a black visor, but putting it on revealed the visor to be clear from the inside and there was a device that moved 2 frames on either side of the visor towards the middle when he moved his chin as well as a compartment on the bottom edge of the backside opened to reveal a bundle of wires. There was also a pair of bodysuits made with thick material in matching colors, which a tag identified as ballistic weave kevlar. And 4 sets of boots in different colors; one all black the other the dark blue and the remaining two a mix of both with different patterns.

Lance tried moving around while fully bundled up and found it a little constricting but not too bad. The visor still let him shift around with his power, so no issues there. It all seemed to fit fine. It was a bit on the heavy side and warm, but he could deal with that for the protection offered here. There was a belt with a selection of holsters and sheaths, but he didn't put that on for now. He looked in his mirror and felt just a touch silly that it was him dressed like some special forces goon or villain henchmen out of a kids show until he realized that's pretty much what he was, not a cartoon but it didn't feel as real before now.

He changed into normal clothes and brought the helmet downstairs with him. Oscar had put his monitor back together and must have been playing something important on it since Miranda and Nik were both leaning over to look at it.

"I can kinda see wha's in there, but my eyes feel like explodin' after lookin' for a few seconds."

"Yeah, this doesn't look usable, Oscar; you think it will work though?"

"90%. It doesn't look quite right to me either."

"Hey guys," Lance jumped in. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh, come check this out, Lance," Oscar answered as all three turned to Lance. Miranda moved to let Lance have a closer look at the screen. It showed a camera view of the garage, a few drones moving about between the Rhinobot and workbench.

"Oh, a security system? Cool. I thought we would have had one already?" Lance adopted a questioning tone.

"No, man, not security. We do already have that covered. Take a close look, notice anything strange?"

"Why not jus' tell 'im wot it's fo--ook!" Miranda stopped and Nik placed his cane back in position to lean on.

"Uh, I guess the image is really clear? Umm, wait. What the?" Lance stared at Oscar.

"Yeah?" Oscar smiled wide. "Try it, dude." Lance nodded and shifted to the garage. He heard Miranda shout. He looked around and saw a drone standing near the wall holding a camera like the moon drone had. He waved to the camera before walking back into the common room.

"Good work, Oscar. Do you need supplies to make more?"

"Yeah, I'll email the list for that. I'm guessing we want more cameras too?"

"Of course, I'll put the order in once you get me the list," Nik turned towards his office.

"Well, that was fun but I got readin' to do. Ta~! Oh, wait, d'ya like the armor?"

"Yeah, Mir, it's great. Heavy, but I'll have to get stronger anyways. I have to ask though, what are the frames in the helmet for?"

"More screens like this one," Oscar thumbed at his monitor still showing the garage.

"That, and I'm glad ya like it. Hopefully ya won't need it, but it's nice to have jus' in case," She gave him a pat on the shoulder and skipped upstairs as she spoke.

"Oh. Oh! Wow, alright. Then we don't need the mechanism to move them in front of the visor, I'll be able to see them on the sides and keep my peripheral open."

"What do you mean? You can't turn your head inside the helmet."

"No, but I can see a few feet around me all the time. If there is light. And the screens should be bright enough inside the helmet. It's as far down as I can push that sight. I can't turn it off and if I let it go free it gives me a migraine pretty fast."

"Can we take the mechanism out without needing a new helmet?" Nik looked at Oscar.

"Yeah, but I think I want to design one that can hold more screens at the back too. Maybe I can mod that one. May I?" Oscar held his hands out. Lance handed him the helmet and he took it to his workbench.

Lance took a seat on the couch and flipped through some channels, still on mute. A local news channel had scenes of a riot on one end of town, so did the next one, so did a national channel.

"Guys, we've got something big going on!" Lance called out as he unmuted the T.V.

"...-cal gang leader Sporadicus and his Anarkings have initiated an enormous riot today in Helix City with the apparent goal of a massive looting spree. They are joined by the notorious Limitless who made news earlier this week with a thwarted assassination attempt on Legionnaires Mantlet and Overwhelming Force. Reports say that there are already 12 dead and 80 injured with those numbers expected to rise as the group begins to engage with Paragon Legion forces. We go now to our eye in the sky with Jamie Looper."

"Thanks, Brett. I'm here in channel 72's chopper looking down at the scene and it is chaos as the Anarkings tear through the city, Paragon Solar Flare is engaging them on the west end with some other Legionnaires while we have the remaining Legionnaires holding out on the north end--" The image shook and a rumble bellowed out of the speakers. The reporter braced herself on a handrail in the helicopter. "What was that?!" she shouted as the image stabilized. Someone must have answered in her earpiece. "It seems Paragon Solar Flare just defeated Limitless with..." she dropped the microphone she'd been holding as her face fell into terror mouthing the word "no" once.

"Now, that just isn't true, Jamie. I haven't been defeated yet." The camera jerked to one side settling just as quickly on Limitless; one hand near his hip, palm towards the camera, the other hand gingerly reaching towards Jamie. He looked towards the camera. "Greeeeeetings, world. You all know who I am, but you don't know why I'm here. Someone close to me has a message for you all, and these fine folks are going to help me help her deliver it." The buildings in the background lurched as alarms started blaring and people near him started screaming. "Stop that. I just-" one side of the helicopters interior was splattered with bright blood. "There, now we can land safely without that pesky pilot. Jamie. Hey. Jamie! Oops." He had looked at her and swept the hand he'd held towards her. Her screaming grew fainter until it was drowned out by the alarms. "Well, camera guy. Ralph. I just learned how to work this thing from you and as thanks you get to live for sure. I wasn't planning on killing your boss just there, but eggs have to crack to make omelettes, you know? Anyways, you'll probably want to jump now, this thing is leaking fuel and I'm landing it in a fire. Bye!"

The image crackled with static for a moment but it came back with Limitless in his ancient uniform standing near the blonde woman in ripped jeans and a loose top and her bodyguard in his suite and mask with a man on his knees in front of the woman. The man was in a Legionnaire outfit. She looked at Limitless and he gave a small nod. She cleared her throat and looked into the camera as it zoomed in on her.

"Paragon Legion, my name is Kara and I was created by the Inheritors to destroy you. You are powerless to stop me, literally. Legionnaire Token here has been trying to duplicate himself to escape since we captured him, but you can't can you?" Her voice was a somewhere between a shrill 5 year old girls and an 80 year old chain-smoking professional wrestler. She bent down to look at him from the side of his face as she asked him the question.

"Screw you! The Legion is going to crush you!" he barked out at her, but something was holding his body in place, only allowing his head to turn.

"I doubt that very much, even the exploding one is only barely able to escape Limitless here while he is trying to capture. What hope do they have when he is going for a kill? I think I'll let him cut loose to remind everyone just why they won't want to protect the so-called heroes. Maybe. But first!" she pulled a baseball-sized round object out from somewhere behind her and held it in front of him. "Allow me to force some hands. Do you recognize this device, Token? You should, it is something you were carrying, something designed by Innovator."

"The SHY bomb? You're insane! That'll take out the whole block!"

"No, I'll be blocking most of the damage with my body, you might not be so lucky," the image froze for a moment and cut out as a rumble could be felt through the room. The image flickered back in a moment later. The Legionnaire was gone, along with a portion of the street and some of the buildings they had been near. Kara, Limitless, and the tall man in the suit seemed untouched but for the blood and gore swiftly slaking off them as though they were friction-less. Kara had leaned back to face the sky, feet set wide apart with her hands raised to shoulder level in claws. It took a moment for the audio to return and deliver the sound of her shrieking laughter that sounded as though she'd never heard laughter before. She stopped and dropped her arms to hang limply behind her then slowly faced the camera.

"I'm too tough for any of your weapons or powers, if I get close to you you are powerless, and clearly I am not afraid to kill. Surrender and I may let you live, Legion dogs. And to anyone who helps them, I will destroy you the same as I will them. This is your only warning."

The screen switched to an image of a computer in bed with an ice compress and thermometer with a "technical difficulties" caption.

"Bastards..." Nik muttered as he moved to a chair and flopped in it, wincing at the impact.

"Are they stupid or are they really just that strong?"

"Why couldn't it be both, Oscar? You've seen the videos of Limitless, and he follows her orders," Nik sounded hollow as he replied without bothering to look at Oscar.

"What the hell can she do that could make one of the arguably most powerful SPIs bend the knee?" Oscar demanded.

"Nullification, powers just don't work near her. Ranged powers fizzle out or drop, physical changes revert, et cetera. The only thing she seems not to like are the tech that people like you can make. I think she was waiting for Innovator to be gone or to get Lance on board."

"What can I do if she nullifies powers? I'm just a below average guy without mine," they both looked at Lance when he spoke up.

"Either you are immune or she can choose not to affect you, same as Limitless, though I have to think she can affect him for him to stay loyal," Nik explained with a sigh.

"So, what do we do boss?" Oscar asked. Nik closed his eyes and thought for a minute before responding.

"Get Miranda in here, this affects all of us."

After she joined the meeting Nik answered Oscar's question.

"We tell the Paragon Legion anything we know that may help. We also find out if the Brotherhood or Dominus will help out with this. The more other factions or independents we can pull into this on our side the better. It looks like she is only working with the Anarkings for now, so they are going to be our targets until we destroy her. All other operations are on indefinite hold until this resolves."

"So, wot's goin' on? I feel like I missed somethin' big. Wot 'she' are we talkin' about? I'm all for bustin' up the Anarkings, jus' wanna know why."

Oscar and Nik both started talking, Nik motioned for Oscar to explain when they both stopped.

"Some lady just started a huge riot with the Anarkings and used the chaos to execute a Legionnaire and declare war on the Paragon Legion. Apparently, she's the one pulling Limitless's strings and she was the one hounding Lance across the country. I guess she wanted his power for this war to get around Innovator, but she doesn't need him for that anymore, obviously. Wait, you didn't feel that rumble?"

"I figured Flip was doin' somethin'. We plannin' on fightin' 'em with the heroes?"

"No, we plan on eliminating them with help from everyone. This is too big for just the Legion or us. Oscar, can you rig a two second timer to the warhead?"

"Uh, wow. Yeah, but that will screw the whole city, and we just saw her take an explosion to the face on purpose and be just fine."

"That felt like a bluff to me, she could have just shot the Legionnaire if she wanted to make her point, the bomb was more than that. Something like 'I'm too tough to kill, so don't bother', a scare tactic and shock value. Limitless could have shielded her from that."

"I could have stopped her," Lance mumbled. "I had a chance and I was too scared to take it."

All three looked at him and each other but it took a moment for anyone to respond.

"Lance," Nik commanded. "That was months ago, you couldn't have known what she was going to do."

"Yes, I could! She told me when she wanted my help with more, she wants to kill all the people with powers. The Inheritors want to start over or something. She just wants to start with the Legion, I guess."

It was silent for a moment as they all looked at one another, digesting the words.

"Oscar, send word to the Legion now. If you know of any way to contact anyone else, then send it to them too. Miranda, I want all your gear at 100%. Lance, are you up for a jaunt over to Legion HQ?"

Oscar's keyboard clacking was soon joined by the sounds of power tools and machinery coming to life. Lance grabbed his helmet from the workbench and answered with a nod.
 
Our eyes hurt. I’d been crying for what seemed like days. I barely ate, I didn’t sleep as hard as I tried. The nightmares playing in my mind as vivid as the day of the deeds they spawned from.

“Emmery…” I pleaded.

“Emmery please answer me, I know you can…”

Yes my love?

I began to sob more, unable to form the words any longer I turned to thought.

Why do we do it? I know you know it’s wrong, I don’t understand… we didn’t have to hurt anyone.

The laughter was so loud in my head I could almost hear it.

It’s alright my love, we’re making things better. Besides, you know you like it.

No, I don’t! I hate it, I feel so bad all the time… this is worse than the torture... I want to go home!

No, you don’t mean that my love…. Trust me, I know you wish you did, but I can feel everything you feel… I know you better than anyone my love… and that’s why I love you. We’re the same.

Same

The accusation cut deep. The worst part is, I knew that on some level he was right. There would be no point in arguing. The savage nature of the human race, the primal urges and desires that go against every rule written into society’s traditions and functions.

The snake in the garden if you will. The temptation was there in every one of us and always would be, what separated us from the animals is our knowledge of this temptation and our sense of right and wrong guiding us to choose a better life. Choose to love and help one another rather than prey upon those less powerful than us.

I had violated everything I ever wanted to be, and the worst part was I couldn’t even pass the blame… not if I was being honest with myself.

No… I don’t want this… I can’t live like this…

I could feel the touch of our hand against my skin as he spoke, slowly, gently.

Shhh… Its okay my love… I can make you feel better…

I knew it was wrong, I knew I would hate myself for giving in, and even as it happened all I felt was shame, but there was so little of me left anymore… such a primal emotional distraction was all I had to help dull the pain.

I couldn’t explain it, but even though everything was so twisted and wrong I felt a connection. I thought back to television and the idea of couples who had grown from hardship. The husband and wife who were brought together in their teens to flee from their oppressive and abusive families only to be trapped themselves in the same cycle of resentment and abuse. They had nowhere to run to because being with each other was all they knew, no matter how damaging.

Emmery claimed to love me, and as horrible as I knew he was, as terrible and as weak as I knew I was for doing so I couldn’t help but feel I loved him back.

When we had finally finished composing ourselves we made our way out of our sleeping area and to our computer terminal. I had insisted the registry shift to “on call” hours and try to find a way to enjoy themselves, despite their permanent alterations.

Although I didn’t fully agree with our tactics thus far I did agree that if we were to play the part of a criminal master mind we shouldn’t appear weak, and I certainly wasn’t in a mood to hide my weakness at the moment.

I could always let Emmery take the wheel and recluse myself in my mind, but I was certain he would behave even worse if I wasn’t watching.

As I sat at the terminal and began to check on things I noticed something interesting. Emmery was livid.

The email was clearly a dummy, but the fact that anyone had found a way to message us at all was impressive. Perhaps a response to Emmery’s claims of being innovator’s equal?

The designs I gave you were flawless you fuck up, what did you do wrong?

“Please stop shouting at me, you know I don’t have powers… I’m looking now ok?”

Fuck that, look at the email first, then we can double check your code. I want to see what these morons have to say.

I could see in my mind more instructions, more blueprints to meticulously follow.

“Emmery please, I’d rather not focus on so much at once…”

Just check the damn email these are for later. Jesus.

I hated when he got in a sour mood. It would probably be all day with this now.

Examining the email it had seemed there was a small group of Powered individuals that were hoping to band as many groups as they could together to take out a bigger threat. The context was missing so I had searched for a video of the referenced target to update myself.

The results frightened me.

Oh boy does she know how to have a good time.

I couldn’t help but feel weirdly jelous at Emmery’s comment.

Don’t worry lover, I was only looking. Now be a good little boy and see if you can plant a worm in their system, and don’t forget to try to fuck with those other emails they were sent to as well.

I sighed and began working as instructed, referencing the codes, formulas, and other instructions Emmery had pulled into my brain as I did so. For the email reply to the senders I simply put. “click me for response” which would have a code attached that would attempt to plant a bug in their system that would act to transfer information from their computer to ours, while simultaneously pulling up a notepad and keying in the words “Interested to see how that plays out for you all, good luck.”

Thankfully they had taken measures, and the email had been sent from a burner phone that had likely been tossed in the trash after use. Emmer was less than thrilled by this, but at least I wouldn’t have to worry about us trying to murder these people as well.

For the targeted emails I simply created a dummy email of my own from the same email host, as similar as I could to their dummy email’s address, with a subject of “follow up information regarding my request”.

It most likely wouldn’t work on all of them, and the legion would more than likely avoid the link inside altogether, but the purpose was to persuade those ignorant enough to take the attached file under the impression that it was needed to help with the “Kara situation”.

I didn’t particularly care to babysit that, so elected to check on it later on or tomorrow. It wasn’t important to have any information we would collect from that right now.

I stood up and made myself a microwaved burrito with a reminder from Emmery to feed us, then set out to my work bench to continue phase two of “operation make it rain”.

“Emmery… can I ask you…”

I don’t know why you bother asking when I can feel you my love. I know everything you know before you know you know it. Don’t worry, the bombs really are just meant to scare this time.

“Really, no killing?” he knew not to get his hopes up too much, and he knew he couldn’t hide his pessimism from Emmery either.

He hated getting laughed at.

I didn’t say that my love, but once people start getting hurt those who haven’t will get the idea and run. We aren’t trapping anyone this time.

He really wasn’t looking forward to their upcoming plans either. Aside from the follow up here, where he was attaching tiny explosives to the stolen cash, his plans going forward seemed like they were doing quite a bit more harm than the bank job in the long run.

He was glad to know that Emmery was competitive, he was afraid at first that he would be punished for bringing up the idea of trying to attract an arch nemesis.

The work was tedious but luckily they didn’t need to attach explosives to all of the cash, just enough to have at least a few in each bag that would be released.

Once he was finished he organized the piles of money into ten or so sections for each city he planned to hit, then had Emmery set his drones to work gathering it up for the release, sending his drones flying outside to “spread the wealth” as he had called it.

Each “flock” of drones had one “lead drone” set with a loud speaker and a screen with a pre-recorded video from Cha’ching. The plan would be to alert the public in populated city streets that he was gifting his ill-gotten funds to the needy and greedy, and that they had better gather what they could before the authorities could arrive and claim it as evidence. The drones would then rain the money down on the citizens, waiting to detonate the explosives until an acceptable number of people had gathered into the area.

He didn’t really set a way to monitor how many people would be present, he just trusted human nature to do the work for him. Who isn’t tempted by free money? Besides, he was pretty sure something like this hadn’t been done before so why would they be afraid of it?

He wasn’t sure why, but he felt a desire to talk to Assimilator. Maybe he just didn’t want to be alone with Emmery anymore today. When he was finished with his work he sent an email to his old mentor asking him to swring by.

“Excuse me sir, I hate to bother you but I was wondering if you could come by and see me today, if you don’t mind.”

Sent.

My feelings are hurt Emmet, what’s wrong with being alone with me? You do know I’m only doing this for you don’t you?

He knew he was lying. He knew Emmery knew he knew as well. I guess that just made the mind game even more fucked up.

Honestly he could probably use Assimilator’s advice anyway. His upcoming plans relied on abducting people, and Emmery really wanted to make sure some of the Paragon Legion members were among them. He planned to take at least a couple from a few larger cities in the area, this one included, and wasn’t exactly sure where to begin.

Emmery knew he should be more frightened of Assimilator. He was a cold man and had threatened on many occasions to turn him into a construct similar to Clockwork, but he couldn’t help but shake the feeling of fear in place of a curiosity. He almost thought Assimilator could be fond of him considering he never made good on his threats.

He felt guilty for hoping someone so wretched might like him.

When he had arrived he seemed as distant and uncaring as ever, preferring to stand rather than sit and seem comfortable.

“Welcome Sir… you can sit of you’d like…” I offered, but he just stood, waiting to see what I wanted.

“Alright, uh, on to business…” I started, clearing my throat.

Don’t fuck this up Emmet, we need this gear.

“First I want to address an email I was sent regarding a woman named Kara who’s threatening people at large. There’s a group of people trying to form an alliance between powered groups and I was wondering if the Dominus was going to get involved…”

“Involved with whom, boy?” He asked in response.

Turning to my monitors I pulled up the email and the video regarding the situation for his observation.

“I don’t really know them.”

He scoffs after reading the message. In hindsight I probably should have been more worried he would be angry at me for “allowing” them to track me through my previous hacking of the media, but it didn’t come up.

“Arrogant fools…” He seemed to get lost in thought as he commented. I didn’t push for a response.

I hadn’t planned to get involved either way, so perhaps it didn’t matter if they did or not, but it would be nice to know if I risked losing my current supplier of parts.

“Moving on then I guess, I need some medical supplies and things to rig up a life support system for a game Emmery wants to play with the local heroes… I have a list compiled that I’ll send you when we’re finished here if that’s alright, but I also wondered if you had any input on abducting members of the Paragon Legion since you had done it before...” I sort of let the question trail off. I felt I was leaving most statements feeling half-finished lately.

“He seemed to snap out of his trance, looking around briefly as if he wasn’t sure where he was. “Ah, Emmet my boy, how long was I… er … occupied?” He asked.

I smiled, somehow being called ‘my boy’ validated my desire to connect with him emotionally.

“Not long,” I answered.

“Ah, good, good…” He looked around a moment again before he continued. “What was the question again?”

I straightened before responding, this time presenting more confidence. “Emmery wants to capture some of the heroes for one of his games, preferably a few of the Paragon Legion from a handful of cities. Did you have any advice? If I understand correctly you’ve done it before.”

“Hmm. Indeed I have. The first pointer I would give is to target some Legionairres outside of Helix, The council has been antsy since Derrick. The next thing I would do is blindside one who is already preoccupied with a mission, preferably one that has them ill equipped to handle your own skill set. Lastly I would bring a Null Collar Launcher, the easiest place to get them is from the armory of any police precinct in Helix, though it would probably be better to just make your own. Oh, and be sure you know the extent of your target’s powers, wouldn’t want any unpleasant surprises.”

At the suggestion Emmery pulled up a few schematics on file, one of which being the designs for the Null Collar and Launcher.

“Yeah, I can do that, thanks. Maybe I can still get lucky and get someone from Helix but you’re right, I shouldn’t risk it if it seems too ambitious.”

Emmery wasn’t altogether pleased with my caution, but he didn’t say anything. It didn’t help that I could feel him seething though.

My final question for Assimilator was regarding the prison system for powered individuals. If I was going to proceed with my theatric comic book villain routine I would need to know what to expect in case I was ever apprehended, and try to plan against it. Assimilator informed me that in addition to incarceration in a guarded facility, like a normal prison, inmates were fitted with both a Null Collar as mentioned above, and an implant that was designed, in such a way as to cause a fatality on the implanted individual if removed. So far there was no known way to bypass that.

That certainly gave me some considerations. After making Assimilator aware my questions were complete, I was surprised to learn he had a question of his own for me.

“Innovator has gone missing, was that your work?” I was confused.

“Missing… you mean when he died? Wasn’t that Mr. Jackdaw?” I asked.

“His body, you fool. Was it you?” He asked again, a little more harshly. My heart sank.

“His body is missing…?” I asked.

Ooooh that’s too bad my love… I bet you wish it was us. It’s a shame, I totally would have let you indulge yourself with him; we both know you would have wanted to. I have a celebrity crush list too you know….

Gross Emmery, can you not?

In this case he really wasn’t right. I wasn’t that depraved.

Assimilator held out his robotic hand and displayed a holo-screen depicting footage from Solar Flair’s camera footage.

“Oh… no Sir, that wasn’t me. Emery and I can’t get into the Paragon Legion’s systems yet and we wouldn’t risk trespassing without being able to, at the very least, bypass their security measures. Besides, if we could get into their systems I think we would have done something flashy and obviously to show them that we could.”

The idea of Innovator’s stolen remains pained me. He had always been someone I had seen as a personal hero, although I was sure that could be said of many, and the most likely thief would typically be considered to be Assimilator himself. For someone else to take a body… it just seemed even more ghastly somehow.

Assimilator seemed suspicious of my answer but he had agreed to provide me with what I needed once he received the email, and he left.

I know honey, I miss him too. Emmery teased, partially truthful. Despite his clearly sadistic nature Emmery did genuinely share a respect and admiration for the fallen hero. This mutual feeling and desire to break away from Dominus some day is what lead to the birth of Cha’ching.

Oh enough of your sulking Emmet, we have work to do.

No longer distracted, despair began seeping through the cracks once more as I continued working toward our goals.
 
Chaos. I suppose that was the point, it was their gimmick after all. The explosion had sent blood and viscera everywhere, people scattered, regrouped, some cheered, others puked, someone dropped a stolen speaker, breaking it on the ground. Time slowed to a halt as it connected with the ground. People were frozen in place, still as the grave in their positions. All but one, they were running. They appeared to be male, average height, thin, yet muscular build. He wore some kind of lightly armored bodysuit, ski goggles, and a half mask respirator. He carried a couple of duffel bags and an above average sized backpacks, all modified with some kind of tech, and a battery pack hanging on his lower back. He ran down the street and into an alleyway.

Daniel stood up and looked at the rubble around him. There were clean up crews everywhere trying to clean up the mess from last night's riots. Daniel held the speaker and walked down the street in the direction the man had headed. He passed the foreman of one of the clean up crews and gave him a nod.

"Thanks Joe" Daniel said in passing.

"No problem Danny" Joe replied, "Hey, this means we're square on that bill yeah?"

Daniel gave him a thumbs up in confirmation as he turned into the alley. He stopped a few feet in and crouched back down, clutching the speaker and concentrating.

Fire, shouting, gunshots. The sounds of fighting echoed throughout the alley and the streets. A couple of Anarkings were mugging this kid, couldn't be more than 16, when their thuggery slowed to a stop. The man came running around the corner and ran past the three still figures only to stop, causing them to slowly resume action until they were finally moving at full speed. The man turned his head to look at them, they looked up. They vaguely threatened the man as they nonchalantly went back to their business. Time slowed to a halt once more as he ran forward slamming his shoulder into the man in front of the boy, sending him flying into the street, or rather on a course too, as he stopped once more where the man had been standing. As time slowly resumed the man flew out of the alley, across the street and collided limply with the building on the other side. The Anarking looked at his friend briefly, and then turned his attention to the man, scowling at him. He punched the brick wall behind him, releasing his hold on the boy, and pulled a mallet made of brick out of the wall, leaving a mallet shaped indent in it. He swung the mallet at the man, but slowed to a halt as the man began moving once again. He held his hand out straight, in "knife hand" fashion, and drove it into the mallet where the head met the handle, breaking it, causing the Anarking's swing to fall just short, as he stood still once again letting him return to normal speed. The Anarking regarded his mallet with curiosity as he looked back at the man, a mixture of fear and confusion in his eyes. As he dropped the mallet and put his hands up he slowed once again as the man rushed forward, grabbing the man and phasing him through the wall behind him, into the clothing store on the other side. He stopped again allowing the Anarking to return to normal as he let go with a slight shove, sending him stumbling back a few paces. The Anarking barely had time to register his new surroundings as he slowed once again and the man spun around, planting a firm kick across his face, shattering his teeth and sending him on a collision course with the large display window that was miraculously unbroken as of that moment. The man noticed a wallet floating in front of him and grabbed it, looking in it to see a drivers license belonging to the boy in the alley. Curious he opened the main pouch to see about ten dollars in assorted bills inside. The man chuckled, and reached into his duffel bag, pulling out a band of cash. He removed the band and began counting. $1000 in 20 dollar bills, he regarded the duffel, full to capacity with such bands, and it's twin on his other side, filled in similar fashion, and put the entirety of the band in the wallet, folding it once finished. He then phased back through the wall into the alley, and stopped in front of the boy, who had dropped to the ground and leaned against the dented dumpster next to him. As the boy returned to full speed the sound of glass shattering could be heard faintly from around the corner among the other riot sounds. The man made a remark about the boy dropping something, and urged him to hurry home. The boy then slowed back to a halt mid thanks as the man continued running. He ran straight a ways, towards Uptown Helix.

Daniel stood up and regarded the dented dumpster, and the mallet shaped indent in the wall. He chucked the broken speaker in the dumpster and picked up the handle of the broken mallet. Turning towards the direction of Uptown Helix. He began walking in that direction, using the mallet handle as a walking stick. Daniel reflected on what he had learned. Blink was a man, one with a penchant for thievery, but not so bad a man as to react lightly to Token's demise, or to help a young boy from losing his life to thugs. He was also not so attached to money as to grasp at every bill, seeing as he gave that boy a good amount, though not even a fraction of what he had gathered. Perhaps he believed it negligible overall, or perhaps he didn't want to encumber the boy too much, and make him a bigger target. Regardless his actions added depth to his character that Daniel hadn't considered. Perhaps he wouldn't out him to the police, but that depended on the rest of his actions on his journey home, and of course their initial meeting. He continued following his trail Uptown, periodically checking to see any changes in his course. Eventually he arrived at a penthouse in Uptown Helix and knocked on the door firmly. He could hear movement from inside and shortly after the door opened, revealing a young man, early twenties in casual, yet expensive looking clothing.

"Hello," the man began, "Can I help you Mr..."

"McCloud" Daniel replied, "Daniel McCloud"

The boy visibly paled, but held his ground offering his hand to shake.

"Hello Daniel," he offered nervously, "My name is-"

"Blink right?" Daniel interjected.

Upon hearing that Blink grabbed Daniel, phasing through the door and throwing him into his apartment, shutting the door behind him. To his surprise Daniel reacted in time, landing on his hands and pushing off, twisting through the air to land facing him. Blink ran at him causing him to slow to a stop. Blink grinned as he threw a running punch at Daniel's face, only to have his grin disappear as Daniel grabbed his arm ad fell backwards, planting his feet on his pelvis as he landed on his back, rolling on it to throw him backwards across the room, and into a wall. Blink scrambled to his feet fearfully and got into an amateur fighting stance, as Daniel kipped up and landed facing away from Blink, turning calmly to face him. Daniel held his hands out in a calming manner.

"Easy man, I'm not here to hurt you" He said calmly.

"Yeah maybe not," he replied shakily, "but I know you, you're that P.I. that helped bust that lady beating serial killer, and that drug-lord peddling the Helios downtown you'reheretobringmeinandIdon'twannagotojailsoBRINGITON!!"

That last part was almost incomprehensible but Daniels enhanced senses helped him get the gist.

"I'm not here to bust you," Daniel retorted half irritated, "I'm here on personal business"

Blink let his guard down a bit as his fear turned to confusion.

"What personal business?" he asked.

"You have something I need" Daniel answered seriously.

"W-w-what?" Blink asked fearfully.

Daniel pointed across the room to Blink's loot pile.

"You took my TV" he stated simply.

Blink blinked silently.

"Th-that's it?" Blink replied in disbelief.

"Yeah man, I'm behind on rent and I can't afford to get a new one right now," he explained, "so I'm just gonna take my TV and be on my wa-"

Daniel cut himself off and stood quietly, tilting his head slightly.

"What do you want?" he asked angrily.

Blink's fear returned at the sudden attitude change.

"Uh...um...what?" blink asked,

Daniel held his hand up to silence him, which promptly worked, as a growly yet whispery voice replied from an indeterminate location.

"Hello to you too Daniel" it quipped, as it stepped out f seemingly nowhere.

Mystery.png

"JESUS CHRIST WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Blink shouted in fear.

"That's Revenant" Daniel replied dismissively, "Now what do you want Revenant?"

"The Brotherhood sent me to ask a favor" Revenant said amusedly.

"They sent you for that, why not Seraph?" Daniel asked coldly.

"Seraph was busy," he replied vaguely, "and it's too important to wait"

"Alright," Daniel sighed, "what is it?"

"Someone sent messages to all of our contacts offering an alliance against Kara and her doomed troupe of future corpses" Revenant stated maliciously.

"And I suppose they want me to find who?" Daniel replied.

"And gather as much information as you can on them," Revenant continued, "They want to be sure they can trust whomever it is before they agree"

"Alright, I'll need as much information as you have so far to start with" Daniel said, defeated.

"Follow me then," Revenant gestured with his hand and a Portal to the Void opened up.

They both stepped through and Revenant closed it behind them leaving a terrified, and confused Blink standing in his apartment alone.

"Um...uh...you forgot your TV..."
 
I woke up in the morning and changed my “clothes” to emulate a sweater and jeans that I thought would look cute on me, then left the room to find Marcus.
I walked out of the room and wander through the halls, trying to remember where I last saw him, knocking on the door as I reach my destination.
As the door opened I saw that Marcus was not in the room, only Druid, who was sitting on a chair and holding a little red ball of fur.
“…uh… hello Druid.” I said shyly.
“Oh, hello Lindsay, Damian. Good morning.” He replied.
“Good morning to you too,” I said, walking over him.

“Do you know where Marcus is?” I asked.

“He’s picking up a potential recruit, would you like to pet Tilda?” He offered.

I was confused. The only ones in the room were us.

“Who’s Tilda?” I asked.

Druid picked up the ball of fur to reveal that it was actually a baby fox. I squealed in excitement and gently took the animal from the man.

“Oh my god, you are the cutest thing ever! So tiny.” I sat on the floor and began petting the fox slowly, smiling as I did so. “Look how tiny it is Damian…”

Damian paused for a moment before responding.

“I will protect it with your life.” He stated. I laughed and continued to pet the fox.

“Is she yours or…?” I asked druid as I looked up. “Are you a vet or something?”

“I’m no vet, and she isn’t mine. My powers allow me to communicate with and control the forces of nature. Tilda’s family was killed by hunters so I’m gonna care for her until she can survive on her own, then I’m going to release her in my homeland.” Druid explained.

“That’s so cool,” I said, looking down at her before handing her back to him.

“I’m going to see if Daddy’s awake yet. It’s nice to meet you, Sir.” I said politely.

“Nice to meet you too Lindsay, goodbye you two.” He responded.

I smiled at him and the fox squeaked cutely as I pet her one last time before walking out the door to find my way to the med bay.

“Oh my god I want her,” I said to Damian as we exited the room.

As we entered the med bay I could see that Dad was still recovering and was unconscious.

Disappointed, I sat down next to his bed and grabbed his hand, staring at him.

“I can’t wait till dad wakes up. Right, Damian?” I said, hoping he agreed.

“He dreams of… cucumber…” He responded, which made me laugh.

“Why cucumbers?” I asked.

“I don’t know, I’m not even telling the truth. Just guessing.” Damian answered.

“Weirdo… do you wanna explore the base?” I asked him.

“Yeah I guess, wait, do you hear that?” Damian said.

“Hear what?” I asked confused. As I listened I could hear a large whirring in the lab. It sounded just like the machine Marcus used to leave yesterday.

“I think Marcus is back!” I said, standing quickly and kissing dad on the cheek before walking out to the lab.

When I arrived I could see my brother wearing a gas mask, he had someone with him.
 
Waking up, I found myself to still be pretty tired from the night before, despite having stayed out for less time than usual. In general I didn’t get too tired too often, and as a rule I tended not to get much sleep as well, but something about the revelations regarding my parents made me feel a sort of emotional exhaustion that lingered even after the events that had caused the initial stress.

I rubbed my eyes through my ski mask-like cowl-mask-hood thing and let out a yawn. I really needed to consider a mouth hole so I could eat without removing the costume, but for now. I didn’t want to head back to “the lounge” and ask for alterations, both because of my meeting and the fact that I had already had alterations done to the costume.

I put on my mask, double checked that I was presentable using the bathroom mirror, and ensured I had all my belongings in my backpack before slinging it over my shoulder. I then sat on the couch and examined the room as I waited.

Daniel wasn’t home, he must have gone off to do some work or something, which was nice because I wasn’t exactly in the mood for small talk with one of my mom’s secret friends. Which I guess was silly because everyone I was about to talk to today was likely one of my mom’s secret friends, and I supposed small talk was unavoidable to a point.

I was just about to piece together that something important was missing from Daniel’s entertainment center, when a small black hole expanded in the middle of the room not far from my left. I stood, readying myself for a possible assault when I saw a man, dressed in some black and grey post-apocalyptic looking getup step out from the hole, complete with a gasmask and cloak.

“Well you’re cool as shit.” I stated, dropping my guarded stance.

“You got a portal? We gonna use a portal? I thought we were gonna drive or some stupid ass shit like that.”

What do you want from me? Portals are indisputably cool.

“You must be Ed- I mean Misfit yes?” The man asked. I probably would have been a little irked that everyone seemed to know my ‘secret identity’ if it wasn’t for the fact that I was heavily distracted.

“I’m just thinking of the guys from the Paragon Legion and their hour commute through rush hour traffic every day to get home from work and I’m over here lookin’ at a guy with a portal.”

He stood there for a moment before I realized he asked me a question.

“Oh! Soitenly your poitle-ness.” I said, bowing.

“Good. Follow me.” He said, gesturing for me to do so.

It was hard to tell if he was unamused or just being professional, either way I wasn’t too concerned. It would have been fun to break such a serious looking character from his formalities though.

“Is the gas mask because it’s a portal-tentially hazardous to breathe in there, or because it’s cool as shit?” I asked as I began to follow him.

“The latter, it’s also practical in combat.” He answered.

Nice, at least he can admit it. Points in The Brotherhood's favor thus far, but more remained to be seen.

“Practically cool as shit maybe.” I responded.

“Is that how we can tell this is the anti-hero group? Gasmasks and chromatics instead of primary colors and capes?” I inquired jokingly. I should be asking more pertinent questions, and getting serious about finding out about them, but I was nervous and this would be a good way for me to distract myself.

“Oh shit, he’s got a cape! Nothing against capes, just saying.” I added.

“It’s a cloak, and that’s a common misconception. Most of The Brotherhood don’t do anything worse than what heroes do, we just don’t want our enemies to know our whereabouts 24/7.”

I measured his answer as neither pro nor con. If he was being honest then they weren’t as bad as people think, but he could also just be playing the ‘they aren’t better than us’ angle or something.

“Makes sense. Not gonna lie, I was kind of worried about what I was just getting asked to get into since Executioner tried to off me not too long ago. Now, I know he’s not one of yours but on a scale of Normal Norman to Daffy Duck, how special are your members on average?”

“Eccentric Eddison, on average.” He answered. “I’d say our worst member is Revenant. He’s kind of our team Hulk. He plays along most of the time but every once in a while we have to stop him from going berserk.”

That seemed like a point against to me.

“Not sure how I feel about him being compared to Hulk rather than someone like Wolverine, but that works. So you guys don’t tend to kill people? That would be a relief if I didn’t clearly remember Mom murdering a few people when she rescued me from being kidnapped. So, what are the other perks besides hanging out with the breakfast club?”

I still wasn’t sure I was interested. We had gone through the portal and had been walking through this wasteland looking space for a bit at this point, and so far I wasn’t getting a great vibe from him.

“I want to be clear that plenty of us kill people, we just don’t do so on a whim, and it’s never our go to move. Perks for you include a room in the main HQ, which can be customized to fit your needs, access to people who can help you with gear, a place to train your body and mind, access to trained medical staff should the need arise, a place to mingle with other Outcasts-In-Training, and of course there’s our mess hall. Mordecai is the best Chef in the city, guaranteed.”

Why was it I felt like I was looking at colleges? They kill people, minus a point, mentioning resources for training, plus a point, mentioning socializing with others and referring to them as ‘outcasts in training’ was another minus. Pushy-seeming comment about their chef, minus two points.

“Really going for that hard sell aren’t we?” I commented. “What’s so special about me that you want me recruited anyway? Or is it more that my mom cheated by being related to me? Plus, if you guys do kill people, doesn’t that mean the Legion basically wants to arrest all of you for murder or manslaughter? I never really paid attention to inter-super-grouper politics.”

I wondered if I was throwing too many questions at him at once, but I had a lot of questions and it seemed easy enough to chain them together.

“I’m glad you brought up the legion, I forgot to mention that they won’t come after you as long as you’re an Outcasts. As for why we want you, sure your mother’s recommendation goes a long way, but taking down Executioner is really what caught my attention, a few of our novices have tried and failed to beat him several times. You did it first try, and when he had the upper hand I might add.”

We reached a bunch of makeshift graves with a machine nearby them. He stopped as he neared the machine.

“Uh… that what you do with your dead…?” I asked nervously, staring at the marked mounds.

“No. Those graves pre-date the brotherhood.” He replied.

Looking closer I could see some boxes of gear with Innovator’s seal on them. Interesting.

“Alright… Full disclosure on that Executioner thing though, It was more of a fluke than anything else. Danny boy told me to pay more attention to him and the only reason I did instead of getting creamed is because I… was pretty sure he can’t kill me the way he operates. If it wasn’t for that giving me some pseudo-courage, he probably would have caught up to me and crushed me like a whoopee cushion full of grapes.”

He didn’t seem too concerned with my explination.

“I’m aware. Daniel told us when we told him we were recruiting you. He also told us he was impressed that he didn’t have to step in. He may not be a Hero or Vigilante, but he’s still one of us, and he knows potential when he sees it. Now stand still.”

Wasn’t sure what to think about that. No points added or deducted.

Suddenly a strange light shot from the machine and I was blinded.

“Gahh!” I flinched and threw my arms up in a protective stance, then lifted my facemask so that I could rub my recently flashed eyes.

“The hell was that?” I asked, almost accusingly.

As my vision came back to me I could see that we were no longer in the place we were before. We were now in a rather sophisticated looking lab-esque building.

“Oh, fancy.” I said, a bit confused.
 
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Lindsey bolted across the room and threw herself into Marcus’ arms in a great big hug.

“Yay, you’re back!” She exclaimed.

“I saw Druid with a baby fox, and he let me hold it!” She added happily.

“Hot daughter. One point for the Pro-column.” Misfit blurted before he could stop himself.

Oh well, It couldn’t hurt much. He thought.

Misfit was more used to seeing girls on the average, or average-pretty side, like with Rebecca, and usually, at least to Eddie, he felt that anything other than ugly was pretty much cute or hot in its own way.

This girl was something else entirely. In his opinion she could easily have been a cheerleader or queen bee in whatever high school she went to by looks alone, perhaps even attractive enough for modeling.

Honestly it should have made him nervous just being around her, as he was no good with girls. For some reason however, he was able to keep his cool and act a bit uncharacteristically. Perhaps it was because he was deep into his snarky alter ego, or maybe it was because of the mask. It was difficult to say really.

Lindsey blushed in response to his comment. She felt an awkward mix of embarrassment toward the complementing remark and confusion as to whether or not the stranger was being serious.

“This is my brother…” she stated, letting the word trail off awkwardly.

“In that case, please don’t hurt me.” Misfit added, feigning a protective stance as if to defend from the gasmask wearing void walker.

“I’m fragile like a baby bird!” He added.

“You think I wouldn’t hurt you if she was my daughter?” Marcus retorted.

“Marcus, who is he…” Lindsey interrupted.

Marcus turned to his sister.

“He’s a potential recruit.” He stated.

Misfit thought for a moment. “Well, maybe you would still, but she’d defend me instead of watch and whine theoretically. At least that’s the contrast I interpret from T.V.”

He was of course referring to Marcus’ question toward him, and the idea that when a girl brought a boy home, she somehow seemed to have an amount of control over her father’s actions toward the boy, whereas the brother wouldn’t care less about the sister’s feelings and would be a much more threatening adversary. At least that’s how he interpreted those scenes on T.V.

Misfit was beginning to think this line of jokes was a mistake, yet this wouldn’t be the end of it.

“Yeah, maybe if you were her boyfriend.” Damian chirped in, his voice broadcasting from the WMSCL speakers.

“Hey, I can dream can’t-Hey, you’re that robot voice from the apartment place!”

Misfit now realized who the girl was, and immediately felt silly for thinking she might be a robot. Then again she technically could still be a robot, but more importantly that meant that this gasmask guy was also one of Innovator’s children. Why weren’t they part of the Paragon Legion instead?

He then began to wonder if they would blame him for their father’s death.

“Wait what?” Damian asked.

Lindsey looked at Misfit a little more analytically than she had before, taking in the features of his costume as she began to recognize his style, despite his wardrobe update.

“Hey, it’s Spooky Scary.” She observed. “I remember you, even though you look different.” She added.

In an attempt to shrug off his guilt, Misfit decided to pursue his current line of behavior, as it didn’t seem to be causing him any serious trouble.

“More like ‘Spooky Handsome.’” Misfit closed his eyes and angled his head down, crossing his arms over each other and placing a hand over his chin to imitate a contemplative or confident anime character.

Lindsey was lost. “Um… what are you doing?” She inquired, looking perplexed.

“Trying before I buy mostly.” Misfit remarked, intentionally deflecting the question while also referring to the fact that he was being given a tour so that he could decide if his future would be with The Brotherhood.

“What does that mean?” Lindsey asked. So far she mostly thought he was strange.

“Means I don’t wanna get roped into something if it’s going to suck.” Misfit answered, gesturing to the lab around them.

“This place doesn’t suck, the food here is amazing!” Lindsey offered, still pretty jazzed herself about being with her family in this strange and interesting place.

“Well, two pros then.” Misfit responded, winking at the girl and clicking his tongue as he made gun shaped finger points toward the girl in a mock-attempt to be cool.

Lindsey, flustered, opted to look away as she blushed.

In response, a robotic voice, not Damian’s, could be heard coming from the WMSCL as Lindsey’s clothing transformed into the familiar tech suit from their night escaping imprisonment.

“Initiating combat mode.”

Misfit almost fell on his behind as he stumbled backward, a truly genuine version of the flinch he had mocked before during his baby bird joke, he threw his arms up to defend his face-area.

“Ohmygoddon’tkillme!” He said, half shrieking the words.

“Damian what are you doing? Stop it!” Lindsey ordered her brother, more confused still than anything.

“Oops, my finger slipped.” Damian said sarcastically in his own voice as he turned the suit back into the clothing she had been seeming to wear.

Lindsey was unconvinced. “Mhm. Sure.”

Misfit composed himself, choking slightly as he commented. “See? Sideline whining.”

An awkward moment followed the mess of an interaction, and the silence was broken by an unrelated observation.

“Dad’s not awake yet, Marcus.” Lindsey said, directing her attention back at the gas mask wearing Outcast member.

“He’ll probably be recovering for a few days.” Marcus reassured.

“Are you feeling better?” Lindsey asked her brother, aware that the revival had, at the very least, winded him somehow.

It took a moment for Misfit to catch the implication.

“Recover… Wait- From being dead!?” Misfit asked.

“Dad’s alive.” Lindsey confirmed.

“Yes to both questions.” Marcus interrupted to answer, referring to both his sister’s query about his wellbeing and misfit’s recovery question.

“There’s a cure for being dead? Besides me?” Misfit asked again in disbelief.

“Marcus brought him back with someone else’s powers.” Lindsey explained.

“From being dead?” Misfit asked again. He had put emphasis on the word ‘dead’ each and every time, trying to convince himself he had not heard them. He knew some people with powers could regenerate or recover from a state of death, like himself, and others could resist it, also like himself, but he had no idea someone else could revive people.

“Yes.” Lindsey answered.

“Night of the living Dad?” Misfit joked, still confused about the situation.

“Wanna see him?” Lindsey offered.

“So long as they’re got too in time.” Marcus commented, referring to the ability to revive someone. The teenagers were so chatty that he couldn’t help but consistently fall behind in conversation.

“Depends on how dead he still looks…” Misfit said, unsure if he could stomach viewing a corpse.

“He’s in the med bay. Come on!” Lindsey grabbed Misfit by the hand and pulled him along as she began walking through the facility.

“Uhh… Do I still get my tour?” He asked, looking back at Marcus, who had begun to follow them as she dragged him off.

“Yes, you still get a tour.” He confirmed.

After a bit of distance, the group reached the med lab. The room looked to be decked out with not only the latest and greatest gear available to your average hospital, but a few other bits and bobbles that might even be more advanced.

Innovator was lying on a bed.

“See? Alive and well.” Lindsey said, unaware that Misfit wasn’t fully convinced.

“So if you guys saved him, why did the news say he died? Is he like, covertly retiring?” Misfit’s mind raced with memories of fleeing the fight with Jackdaw and being chased through the streets by Anubis. Being saved by Hellhound, and the attack on his home. He shook his head.

“I mean, I know he did die, but… Feel like that’s an important detail.” He added.

Lindsey shook her head. “Uh… I don’t think so. No one else knows yet.” She answered.

“I’m going to try to get him to join the Brotherhood.” Marcus explained.

Lindsey looked concerned. “But Revenant only took him from the morgue yesterday. I think Dad needs rest first. Do you really think dad will join?” She asked surprised.

She didn’t know as much about her father as she would have liked to, but she did know he was a hero and she did know that he was one of the founding members of the Paragon Legion, and that he had been involved with them for a very long time. It was possible that he would have a fundamental bias toward their way of doing things, and might not agree with the Brotherhood’s methods or take them seriously as a group. They were certainly a group that could be considered rivaling or equal to their abilities, but because of their vigilante style and looser morals, as well as their lack of involvement in government regulations and approval by the authorities, there were some who might look down on them. All Lindsey knew is that she wanted her family to be together.

“Wait, you guys stole him?” Misfit asked surprised. He thought maybe they were working with the Legion. “Is he gonna be mad? Wait- I’m sure that’s a stupid question. Is it gonna make the Legion mad?”

Misfit was now quite concerned about the idea of joining up with a group that potentially pissed the Paragon Legion off royally. He knew he was a good guy, and he was certain that many members of the Brotherhood were also good guys, but the Legion basically got to decide if you were a hero or a villain, and could toss you in cuffs for just about any reason. Whether they would or not was debatable, but they still could.

Lindsey was unconcerned. “So what if they’re mad? Uncle Connor will be fine and he doesn’t even know we’re missing yet. I’m sure it won’t be a big issue.”

Misfit was less confident about this.

“Also, why aren’t you guys part of the Legion instead of the Brotherhood if that’s where Daddy worked? I mean, I get that they suck, but wouldn’t shacking up with those guys have made things easier?”

“Because the legion is full of Dominus spies.” Marcus revealed.

Lindsey added her own answer to the question. “I don’t know anyways. I left as soon as I was told Dad could be brought back.

“Oh shit…” Misfit commented, more to Marcus than anyone.

“Don’t get me wrong, but that sounds a little wack-a-doodle. I mean, I don’t agree with the surveillance and some of the other things they enforce, but I don’t know if I’d go full ‘foil hat’ about it.”

“It isn’t foil hat if it’s true.” Marcus retorted.

“I did not know that.” Lindsey added. “Who’s spies?” She asked Marcus, still not caught up on all the groups of powered people and other current events.

“The bad guys.” Damian responded from the WMSCL. “The people Jackdaw works for.”

An awkwardness entered the room, at least for Misfit, and there was a small pause as Lindsey balled her fist.

“…I hate him…” She uttered, electricity shuddering over her as she twitched upward in a jerky but quick bodily movement, sparks and electrical arcs leaping off her body briefly before surging into the WMSCL. She backed away suddenly, worried she would electrocute someone.

The ‘glitch’ as she had come to call it, was fairly quick, but still lasted a few seconds before It hand finished.

“Woah.” Misfit said, eyes widening in reaction to the abnormality. “I mean, they say sparks are sposta fly, but this is redickerus.” He paused for a moment, contemplating whether his joke was finished. “Literally hot.” He added.

Lindsey blushed and looked down at her hands, messing with her fingers nervously.

“It’s not that… it… uh… I have… um… too much electricity in my body… and I kinda… fill up with it and it has to go… somewhere else…”

Truth be told she was more embarrassed that she glitched so badly in front of them than at the boy’s comments, which were at best a half assed attempt at flirting. She wasn’t used to being around strangers anymore, and she wasn’t usually shy, but she also usually didn’t have her trait, one she was unsure how she felt about, commented on.

“So do you like, never have to charge your cellphone?” Misfit asked before thinking of a better, and possibly more important question. “Ever electrocute someone with it?”

“Are you volunteering?” Damian asked.

Misfit wasn’t sure if he was being defensive of his sister or if he was goofing around, but based on their previous interactions he was inclined to believe the former. He decided he’d try a more serious response to this question.

“Sure, I mean if it won’t kill me or you can bring me back as a not-zombie why not?” Since Misfit didn’t feel things physically he really didn’t mind being experimented on to some extent if they were serious, plus he figured if he agreed to the idea it might make him look tougher, or possibly crazy, which both worked for him when encountering someone who might want to mess with him for one reason or another.

“Um, I don’t have a cellphone. I have my WMSCL, and my suit charges with my body. And no, I never did that to someone before.” Lindsey explained.

“I’m basically a phone, take me off Lin.” Damian suggested.

“Bro-nana phone?” Misfit joked. “Plus, if I did let you shock me I’d know what to expect if I got a zap while smoochin’.” He added.

Lindsey looked to Marcus nervously, unsure what was going on at this point in the conversation, or perhaps more unsure of where to go from here. She was definitely more uncomfortable now though than she was before and hoped her brother could give her some guidance.

“I would have gone with Cell Bro-ne but to each their own…” Damian commented.

“I uh… don’t know how to do that.” Lindsey mentioned, referring to the idea of purposely attempting to use her electricity.

“It’s like whistling but with someone else’s face in the way!” Misfit continued to joke.

“Uh… what?” Lindsey asked.

In response, misfit made a hand-puppet mouth shape with his thumb and fingers on each hand, and began silently smooshing them together as if to pantomime them making out.

“Uh… I don’t think that’s how you shock people…” Lindsey responded. “I don’t have control over my powers.” She said.

“That’s how defibrillators do it.” Misfit said.

Lindsey felt quite put on the spot, and was unsure how she felt about the strange boy’s comments. Therefore she was beginning to get quite flustered and looked to Marcus again for help.

“I don’t know how…” she said again.

“You could at least introduce yourself to my sister before you make her uncomfortable with your advances.” Marcus finally chipped in, less than amused at how distraught his sister seemed to be getting, as well as the types of comments coming from the boy.

Misfit immediately felt embarrassed for himself. Clearly he had pushed his jokes too far and it most likely was going to wear on his reputation.

“Hehe, sorry, I’m mostly just nervous about being in a potential lion’s den. I didn’t mean anything by it.” Misfit defended. He then pointed to himself using his thumb.

“Misfit. I go by Misfit.” He said.

“Hi…” Lindsey responded nervously.

“You still want that tour?” Marcus asked, bringing things back to business.

“Yeah,” Misfit answered. “But I thought we had to see innovator first or something.”

“Lindsey pointed to her dad’s resting body. “He’s right here.” She stated, unsure how the boy could have missed or forgotten that part of their conversation.

“Oh yeah,” Misfit began clarifying. “I mean I thought there was a reason we had to see him first. My bad, yeah you can continue showing me around. How do you guys get the funding for this stuff by the way? Do you rob criminals or send powers to rich dudes for merc work or something?”

Misfit began trying to organize his thoughts in hopes of remembering every concern he had thought of when considering the Brotherhood’s offer to come by.

“We’re self-funded. More than a few Outcasts have lucrative jobs in their personal lives. Part of our tour stops by our main benefactor.” Marcus explained.

“Can I go?” Lindsey asked, hoping to see more of the place herself.

“Is it Broots Waymb?” Misfit joked.

“Yes to both, you’ll see when we get there.” Marcus answered.

“Lead the way Mr. Portal.” Misfit said, bowing as he did so.

“Carbon Copy.” Marcus corrected.

“I like mine better.” Misfit said, patting Carbon Copy on the shoulder.

“I don’t have a cool nickname.” Lindsey stated, slightly disappointed.

“Shock Sister? Electric-Cute? Electric-Cutie? I’m clearly bad at this.” Misfit offered.

“That’s ok Ed, we’ll get our nicknames somday.” Damian reassured her.

Misfit froze up momentarily. He could tell he was talking to his sister when he said it, but using the name Ed… was this a subtle threat? He knew Marcus knew his name, and he knew that Daniel fellow had figured out who he was, but he had assumed his mother perhaps only told Marcus due to the recruitment. How did the boy in the armband know? Had she outed him to everyone like a mom who would show baby pictures to her friends? Or did Damian have access to information on him somehow? These thoughts and more raced through his panicked mind as he attempted to play things off smoothly.

“Wait, her name is Ed? I thought she said it was Lindsey?” He asked, heart still racing.

“It’s Lindsey, or Lin, but not Ed. Why you being weird bro?” Lindsey said.

“I thought Ed would be fitting seeing as we’re the Elric brothers and all.” Said Damian, clearing up his Full Metal Alchemist reference.

Lindsey laughed heartily upon his explanation. “Okay Alfonse.” She replied.

“I guess that makes me the Chimera.” Misfit added, referring to the fact that he had previously made them uncomfortable. “Onward with the tour?” He asked.

“What? No!” Lindsey exclaimed. “That’s messed up dude.” Lindsey commented.

“IF YOU TOUCH OUR FOX I”LL KILL YOU!!!” Damian shouted.

“What?” Misfit asked, surprised at the gravity of the response. “I didn’t say I was the chimera’s dad.”

“He won’t touch the fox Damian.” Lindsey reassured.

“I’m not really a fan of pets…” Misfit said, flinching momentarily before putting his hands up in an open stance to show a lack of hostility before amending his statement.

“But like, in a ‘don’t worry I won’t bother it’ way and not in an implication of murder kind of way. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

“Let’s just go before Damian wants to kill him more.” Lindsey said to Marcus.

“Yeah, that.” Misfit agreed.

Marcus continued his tour of the main headquarters where they noted the mess hall, living area, gym, library, training room for powers, virtual reality bay for danger simulations, and an armory.

“So, you never really answered about whether there’s people who train you to fight or not, and do you guys have techy peeps to build you gear willy nilly or how does that work? It’d be nice to have a good way to get from place to place, and/or an encrypted cellphone or some actual protective wear or something.” Misfit both asked and commented.

“Oh, I bet I can make you one misfit! Damian and I made the WMSCL.” Lindsey said excitedly at the idea of a chance to tinker. “Do you have a lab room like Dad’s Marcus? I wanna build something to help my suit a bit anyway.”

Misfit was unsure about letting the girl make something for him, and she definitely seemed to be, at least to him, getting ahead of things.

“I donno. If your brother is the one helping you make my stuff I’m half scared it’ll blow up on me.” Misfit commented.

Lindsey laughed at the idea. “He won’t.” She said, not quite convincing enough to change Misfit’s mind. He looked to Marcus for answers to his questions as well as to see if he would answer her’s.

Marcus then walked his guests into a lab that was separate from the one they had entered through.

“I’m not Damian, I don’t build things much anymore.” He began, misunderstanding the intent behind Misfit’s attention.

“Damian’s on my arm.” Lindsey clarified.

“I was more still wondering what the answers to those questions were… also, is it nice to always have a guy on your arm? I’d love to get a girl one of those if so.” Misfit said.

“I can make you an A.I. and have it have a girl voice.” Lindsey suggested. She seemed as if she was about to begin a large technical monologue regarding the potential design and manufacturing of such a device when Marcus finally spoke up again.

“I’m about to show you the R&D Lab, and as for someone to train you you’ll have to see if someone wants to. Another common misconception is the idea that we’re a warrior making machine. We aren’t. sure, we recruit people we think could be strong additions to the Brotherhood, but for the most part people come to us at one of our bases on earth, not the other way around. We’re more than just a faction of powered, we’re a community of people who have nowhere else to go.” He explained.

Misfit was surprised at how similar he made them sound to Lounge’s group.

“Sort of reminds me of something a friend of a friend said recently. Seems like someone should be teaching people who don’t know how to fight properly what they’re doing though if those people are planning on fighting crime or whatever in general.

“I appreciate you offering to make something for me by the way Lindsey, but I’m not sure if I’m even staying or whatever so let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. I’m mostly just trying to figure out what I would and wouldn’t have access to.”

Before she or Marcus could reply, a burst of unfamiliar laughter followed by a similarly strange voice swept over them.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! RATS! RATS, COME QUICK! IT’S FINISHED!”

“… what was that?” Lindsey asked confused.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you.” Marcus said.

“Sounds like Willard…” Misfit joked dryly as they followed their guide.

“Or Dr. Doolittle I guess.”

Lindsey looked at Misfit confused. “I don’t know those people.” She stated.

“Really? I should introduce you some time. They’re cool dudes. Willard’s kinda a mama’s boy though.” He was surprised at how in the dark she was about his references, or at least in the dark about the fact that he was making references of some kind. He had to remind himself that she was basically a prisoner the majority of her life so far, at least that’s what he could recall from things thus far.

“So…?” Lindsey responded, unsure why that would be bad.

“Well, hanging out with him can get a little sad.” Misfit said, still unsure if he should be drawing a line in the sand or not he opted to just continue rolling with it.

“Well,” Lindsey started. “My mom’s dead, my brother’s body is dead but his soul is in my WMSCL, my dad died and then I found out my other brother is alive…” She was likely going to be pointing out how important family is, and that it might be ok for Willard to be a mama’s boy. Maybe Misfit didn’t understand what that was like, and should be giving Willard the benefit of the doubt, but she went quiet and looked around as her thoughts were interrupted by another mystery voice.

“Tragedy…” It said.

The room seemed to largely possess a variety of combat vehicles and gadgets. On top of what seemed to be a large pile of metal scrap, there stood what seemed to be the silhouette of a man.

Misfit thought a little about what she said. Her family mostly, both figuratively and literally have all come back from the dead, just like he had.

“So looks like I got something in common with your fam then… Jesus it is Batman!” He exclaimed.

“…Damian, are all boys… this weird…?” Lindsey whispered to her WMSCL.

The man on the garbage heap jumped from the pile and landed on a piece of scrap metal conveniently shaped similarly to a snowboard, skating his way down the pile until he neared the bottom. At this point, he lept off of the scrap and flipped sideways, as if cartwheeling through the air, going over the heads of the visitors and landing dramatically in a super hero style pose. Slowly, he stood up to reveal a rat themed costume similar to Batman, but sporting a rat-like tail instead of a cape. He stood straight and crossed his arms, regarding us without expression.

“It would seem so Lin…” Damian responded.

Lindsey stared at the man with a confused look, whereas Misfit stepped forward and hugged him, resting the side of his face on the man’s chest.

“You’re adorable.” He remarked.

“Yeah… I think you’re right…” Lindsey said to her electronic brother.

“Wrong, I’m Packrat.” The man responded to Misfit.

Misfit stopped hugging him and stood back up.

“Because you’re rich and you own way too much shit? Or does it have to do with the powers you might have? I say might have because if you are trying to be a Batman knockoff I assume you might not have any also.” He asked curiously.

“Wow, starting right on insulting one of the higher ups in an organization, you were just told represents a home for the wayward, not to mention one of the only people that can help you get the better equipment you so desperately were clawing for. You must really not wanna be here…” said the first mystery voice again, now very close to Misfit.

Misfit snapped his head in the voice’s direction, a bit irritated by the statement, but also concerned about not being able to see the voice’s source. He decided he would go the apologetic route for a change rather than arguing the point.

“Just nervous, sorry. It’s my process.” He said. “My mouth starts before my brain does, and I wouldn’t say I’m desperate.”

After a momentary lack of response, and still being unable to see the voice’s owner, Misfit looked a few directions before reaching out again verbally.

“Alfred?”

“Fair enough, can’t say I haven’t been there, digging the mask thing by the way.” The mystery voice spoke again, this time from behind Misfit.

Misfit turned again, but still saw no one.

“Nice to meet you Packrat, I’m Lin or Lindsey and this is my Brother Damian.” Lindsey introduced herself and her brother, gesturing to her WMSCL before holding her hand out to shake his.

“Thanks, these shitty plain doll masks are super cheap so… considering. I’d like to get Kevlar some time in case I get shot in the face though.” Misfit continued, still looking for the source of his conversation.

After a moment, and a blink of his eye, a lone floating smiley skull mask appeared in the air before him. “Getting shot in the head build’s character.” Said the voice.

Packrat shook Lindsey’s hand, but maintained his emotionless face.

“Is that invisibility from powers or gear?” Misfit asked curiously, looking at the mask that he assumed was the source of the voice.

Misfit blinked again and the mask was gone once more. Whatever it was, he thought it was quite well timed.

“Gear.” The voice stated. “People call me Death Guy.”

“Ah, well that’s an ominous name…” Misfit said, more thinking out loud than commenting to him directly. “So… this is the rich guy right?” He asked, pointing to Packrat. “Wanna elaborate?” he added, addressing Marcus.

“I mean, at least the tours at museums have narration…” Misfit knew there was a lot going on, and perhaps Marcus was just patiently waiting for them to settle down before speaking again, but Misfit was less patient and he wanted to know things sooner than later so that he could make a decision.

“This is Packrat and Death Guy, they’re a Non-Powered vigilante duo. Packrat provides some of our funding and Death Guy runs the R&D lab.”

Misfit nodded, and Damian spoke up again.

“Alright, I’ve snooped around everything in here and I have several questions. First and foremost, why are there ejector seats in the Helicopter?”

Lindsey looked surprised toward her WMSCL. “Damian, what the fuck?” She asked.

“That’s an important question.” Misfit commented, imagining the carnage of a pilot being launched into the whirling blades above.

“You can’t just snoop around!” Lindsey added.

Packrat looked over in the direction of some snickering that would presumably be Death Guy and quickly broke his cool façade.

“GOD DAMN IT DEATH GUY I FUCKING TOLD YOU NO! NOT AFTER THE LAST TIME, AND THE TIME BEFORE FUCKING THAT!” Packrat lectured, clearly exasperated and angry. He leaned up against a workbench and pinched his sinuses.

“I mean, I’m trying so hard to commit to my persona and you’re making it very difficult man.” He added.

“Personas can be hard man, I feel you bro.” Misfit stated. “I mean, keeping the sex appeal turned up to eleven alone is so exhausting.”

Lindsey stood looking around the room as she listened to their conversation.

“THANK you, I tried to get Death Guy to try it out, so he can appreciate how hard it is, but noooooooo, he’s got that Combat Jester shit straight cranked to 11 24/7…” Packrat continued.

At this comment a man appeared in a black cloak, wearing the skull mask from before. However, the skull mask turned out to be a full helmet. The man also had white and black combat armor that spanned his whole body, shaped like the rest of the skeleton he was clearly representing. He was currently doubled over laughing, clearly happy with himself.

“Damn, you guys already got a Combat Jester? I mean I don’t kill people, but I thought it was pretty obvious that’s what I was going for with my humor. I guess if I do join I’ll have to settle for Spider-Man.” Misfit said.

Lindsey stared at Death Guy’s costume.

“Wow, you’re cool looking.” She complimented.

“We have multiples of everyone.” Packrat stated.

Misfit smiled, enjoying how real these guys seemed to be so far, and their whole dynamic. It was a step up from the grim stone faced sales pitch he was picking up from Marcus, who admittedly had done a slight bit of joking. It was nice to see someone like Packrat who understood the whole idea of presentation when it came to the mask and costume. Being a hero was as much about appearances and theatrics as it was about helping people, after all, how else are they going to make people feel safe in an unsafe situation?

“And here I thought I was special.” Misfit said. “So if I did join, how does getting some gear work? Do I just get it for asking or do I have to do some job or pay for it or something?” He asked.

Death guy struggled to answer between chuckles.

“Depends. We’ll generally hook members up with the basics, to keep them from getting killed by the standard thugs and mercs, but custom gear will cost people, either in money or favors. By custom I don’t mean your brand by the way, that’s pretty easy. I mean like any gimmicky shit like my mask.

“That’s just through me though, if you find a techie for your crew they can set up a workshop in their room and they’ll have access to supplies for their own creation. I’m assuming you aren’t a techie since you’re in need.”

“Wait, ‘for your crew’? We get teams?” Misfit blurted. Suddenly his pro list looked much heavier than the cons.

Lindsey sat down on the floor to mess with her WMSCL.

“That’s up to you. You can fly solo if you want, but even he had a co-pilot.”

“I like how you said had. Is that from the seats?” Misfit asked, only half joking. “And the clarify, the techies get access free but others pay in cash or favors?”

Marcus stepped in to answer.

“We are very hands off. A lot of members of the Brotherhood don’t even flaunt affiliation. Many of the freelance heroes in the news are Outcasts. We act as a team when massive threats arise, but even then you aren’t required to help.”

Death Guy interrupted with further explanation.

“Techies have access to the supplies necessary to make gear for free, not the gear itself, technically anyone does really, but without the skill set all you have is a bunch of fancy looking paper weights…”

Misfit liked what he was hearing more and more as they spoke.

“Huh, you know the media kind of makes you seem like a ‘rogue Paragon Legion’. I guess you’re more like… I donno a resource. I don’t really know what to compare you to if my line of thinking is correct, but I’ll give it a try. It’s like when colleges are scouting kids, so they send them fliers and swag in hopes of recruiting them. Only, being recruited is what gives you access to the swag and there’s no real ‘team’ or ‘school’ that you end up being stuck with… does that sound right?”

“The Inner Circle operates like a “Rogue Legion” and they’re really the only ones who get media attention as Outcasts, so that makes sense.” Death Guy commented.

“Yeah I guess that basically sums it up.” He added.

“So what happens when one of your guys does shitty stuff then? You just leave them be? Like the executioner for instance, that guy may masquerade as a ‘hero willing to kill’ but he’s a fucking nutjob. If he had been yours would you guys have taken him down or left him alone?”

“I personally vet every Outcast candidate to make sure they’re the kind of person who can stay straight, but in the event of someone going rogue we do step in, yes. I go personally to be sure they are stopped.” Marcus answered.

“Hey, Damian… Should we add anything else to this or do you think it’s okay?” Lindsey asked, hoping she could make improvements to her WMSCL. “Like, what if we make it so when I use my electric the WMSCL won’t be messed with?”

“I already zap proofed the WMSCL back at the Legion remember? You could try and finish the AI interface so that you don’t have to talk to me through the call function anymore, you could even put a little hologram projector in so I could make a little holo-body.” Damian suggested.

“Ohhh I should do that. Hey, Mr. Packrat, do you have any spare stuff I could use?” Lindsey asked.

“That’s my area kid, follow meeeee!” Death guy responded, turning invisible as he did so and maintaining his ‘note’ so that he could still be heard as he walked.

Lindsey laughed and stood back up. “How am I supposed to follow you if I can’t see you.” She said, trying to follow his voice with her eyes.

“So, are any legion members also brotherhood members? I’m done with the R&D stuff if there’s more to see by the way.” Misfit continued, speaking to Marcus.

“We can move on. Lin, you wanna stay here?” Marcus asked.

“Yes, I need to improve this.” Lindsey said. “Do you want to go with Marcus Damian?” she asked.

“Nah, I’ll snoop on my own.” Damian responded, hanging up the call on the WMSCL.

Lindsey nodded and turned to follow Death Guy as Marcus led Misfit out of the R&D lab and onward with the tour.
 
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