Disclaimer: I don't own Worm or anything else I reference
Chapter One
Greg looked at his target. The moonlight shining down on the building was the only source of light in the area. The people that lived in this area were not the type to keep the lights on at night. Instead they were more than likely to be the type that if you knocked on the door you would be lucky to just get a shotgun pointed at you. If you were unlucky if you knocked on the door you wound up getting shot.
The warehouse he was looking at was ugly and in desperate need of being torn down and that was without knowing what was truly happening on the inside. It was an ugly building that hid even uglier things.
It did not matter that much because Greg knew that by the end of the night that the building would be gone and all the people trapped inside would be free. He would have to hurry up because he wanted to get home and play some video games.
Justice and heroics came first however so despite how tempting it was he had to come here first and take down the gang that used this as a base to deal in human trafficking. Word on the street was that that ABB had sold a group of about twenty-five girls and they were soon to be shipped out of the country.
Obviously he could not let this happen.
Greg turned around and kneeled down checking his bag and turning away from the target to make sure that he had everything he needed. Pulling out a camera he took a picture of the target. This was part of his ritual. Before and after he hit a place he took a picture so he could post it on P.H.O.
He had to make two profiles because if he had posted it as Void Cowboy the P.R.T. could track him down faster than it would take eat a sandwich.
Greg shook his head to get him to focus back on the mission and away from delicious sandwiches. There would be time for all of that later. The captured people were first priority and games and food came second or third depending how he felt at the time.
With the picture taken Greg placed his camera in the bag and placed it down. The store roof that he was standing on would be closed for twelve more hours so no one should come up here and be able to spot it.
Seeing that everything was taken care of Greg walked to the edge of the store without a care. When he got to the edge he took another step and let gravity take care of the rest. In mid-fall Greg activated his powers and let his electrical powers act as thrusters to slow his descent and make sure that he did not make too much noise when he landed.
Since getting his powers Greg was a lot heavier than he used to be and while it was great to not get hurt as easily if he was not careful craters would be made. Depending how powerful it was the warehouse could fall down and crush the people he was trying to save.
Walking with determination Greg walked towards the door and gave a rather forceful knock. It took three tries and over a minute before someone slid a part of the door to the side and looked down at him.
"What do you want punk?" the voice behind the door ask annoyance clear in his voice and anger in his eyes.
"I want you to open the door." Greg said as he tapped the door with his gloved finger. Greg's costume was simple because he was working on a budget and had no idea on how to sew. He was dressed in leather pants and jacket with a hood. His hood hid the helmet that covered his hair and goggles with a one way mirror that let him see but prevented other from seeing his eyes. His boots and gloves were made of the same black leather.
It kept things simple even if it made him look like a biker.
His powers brought enough light to make up for all the black.
"Kid I am in no mood so I will tell you to buzz off before you get hurt." The owner of the eyes on the other side said completely ignoring him. Greg sighed. Normally in Brockton Bay when someone in what was clearly a cape costume told you to do something you did it without question.
This guy was obviously not used to dealing with capes. Greg felt a bit reluctant to hurt such an ignorant man but given the acts going inside the building he got over it fairly quickly.
"I am going to give you two options." Greg said as he looked at the brown eyes looking down on him.
"What options?" The voice said clearly mocking him. Greg would let him feel good for a few seconds while Greg built up power.
"Option one you open the door and surrender painlessly. The other option is the one I want and that involves me beating all of your friends up and walking away with the people you have trapped inside." Greg said feeling the energy coursing through his body.
Greg could not see his eyes but he knew that right now they were glowing purple.
"Screw off kid." The voice said closing the part of the door that he had opened. Seeing that the guy had chosen the second option Greg put his hand on the steel door and blasted through it with neon colored energy.
"Alright but don't say I did not warn you in advance." Greg said as he walked into the building.
"Damn it. You're a cape?" The guy he had been talking to asked. Looked like he jumped away from the door before it blew inwards.
"That is what the costume means." Greg said looking at him until he heard the sound of footsteps up above. Glancing up he could see five guys looking down on him with guns pulled out.
"You should tell your friends to stop. That is only going to make me madder." Greg said to the man standing in front of him. The guy looked to be a few years older than him with short black hair and a skinny build. The fact that he was handsome did not make Greg like him any more than before in fact that only made it worse.
"Shoot him dead!" Brown Eyes shouted and the men followed his orders and shot down at Greg. Not moving an inch Greg just let the bullets hit him. It was not like they were doing any actual damage.
"Take that bastard." One of the goons upstairs said as they finally stopped shooting. The moment they noticed that he was still standing up even after that barrage of bullets was when Greg knew that they knew that they had screwed up by not listening.
"You should have listened to me earlier." Greg said and the first one he punished was the man who gave the orders. With one hand extended Greg shot a cyclone of smoke at the man. The force blasted him into a wall and knocked him unconscious.
"You lot are next." Greg said as he charged for the stairs. A trail of pink neon and bluish electricity trailing right behind him. He appeared on the same platform as them before they could do anything.
"You should blame your leader and yourselves for what happens next." Greg said as he charged the group. He barreled right through the lot of them at the speed that he was going. They fell like bowling pins. He gave a wince as he looked at the sprawled out bodies of the men that fell to the ground level.
That was definitely going to leave a bruise in the morning. At least it would have healed while they are in prison. So there was an upside even if they would not see it.
"Now to save the girls." Greg said whistling as he walked to the room the men carrying guns came out of. If Video games had taught him anything at all it was that checking all the rooms in a building were important. Never knew what was hiding where.
Looking in the room he found the girls terrified and and handcuffed to a rail in the in his head he saw that all girls were accounted for but it would still be good to look around the building before he destroyed it.
"Have no fear I am a hero. My name is Conduit and I save the day making it brighter along the way." Greg said giving them all a smile. It helped very little but they did not jerk away when he approached them to break the free of their handcuffs. All it took was a small neon energy blade and ten minutes.
"Is there anyone missing?" Greg asked the group and the oldest looking about twenty-two answered. She had dyed green hair and blue eyes.
"No we are all here." She answered him. Greg nodded and helped them leave the room they were trapped in.
"Let's go then." Greg said as he led them out of the room. Of course nothing was ever easy because as he got ten girls out of the room a car pulled up.
"What in the world happened here?" a voice asked as four people got out of the van. They were clearly evil given the dark suits and glasses they wore. The gun they pulled out also helped with the distinction.
"Yeah I happened." Greg said from above the lot of them.
"You will pay for this!" The man in charge of those four said pulling out guns that scared the girls behind him.
"I don't think so and do you know why I think that?" Greg said to them calm as could be.
"You're insane." Another man in a suit said aiming his gun.
"Hurtful but no that is not why. Anyone else want to make a guess?" Greg asked.
"Why don't you tell us smart guy." Another guy said.
"Because I have the high ground." Greg said before extending his hands and arcs of electricity flew at the men holding guns shocking them into the lands of unconscious.
"Are they dead?" Another girl asked him. She looked about a year or two older than him. She had short brown hair and hazel eyes.
"Nope Paragon for life." Greg said with his hands gripping the rails and soaking in the moment.
He had wanted all his life to have powers and now that he had them he wanted to help clean up the city. Moments like these were just the start and even though they may get more difficult he wanted moments like these to be the backbone of his resolve.
"All right girls you should wait outside." Greg said as he pushed off of the rails and began to walk further into the warehouse.
"Where are you going?" Another asked him.
"I am looking for loot." Greg said as he opened another door. These guys were criminals and that meant that they had mad money. Since he beat the group their money belonged to him now.
His logic was sound and no one could tell him otherwise.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"You okay girls?" Greg asked as he walked out of the warehouse carrying three duffle bags full of money. He had cleaned the place out and now he was fine with tearing the place down.
"Yeah as good as we can be. We were waiting for you before calling the cops." Green hair said to him as he nodded along.
"You move the thugs?" Greg asked looking at the thugs lying on the sidewalk. Their hands and legs were handcuffed with the same ones they had used. Greg was not sure if that was Irony but it was funny and helpful.
Now he didn't have to do it himself.
"You want to make the call?" Green hair asked it looked like she was the leader of these girls. Greg hoped that they got some therapy. His friend Danny said most of the problems in this world were due to people not getting therapy.
Greg dialed the number and talked to Mary. She was sued to him calling them about criminals to pick up. She was still trying to get him to go join the wards. Greg told her when he was ready. By now it was their thing.
Mary was sending cops to the location and once he knew that Greg hung up. The phone belonged to one of the criminals so he tossed it at one of them. It did not really matter to him if the person was the owner or not. They would all get one phone call eventually.
Once he saw that the building was clear and that all the people were a safe distance away Greg used his powers to sprout digital wings and took to the sky. Looking down at the building Greg charged a phosphorus beam. It took seven minutes to charge but was powerful enough to bring the building down.
He would have used a skydive drop with smoke but that could have put the girls in danger.
The beam cut through the building like a knife through butter. Greg took a picture of it but had to struggle since he was using only one hand but he was able to accomplish it.
Greg flew home as fast as he could. Usually he would change between flying and running around for a while to make sure no one followed him but tonight he was too happy to be super cautious.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Greg walked through his house and would have walked up to his room had he not seen his mom asleep on the couch.
"I'm home mom." Greg said as he shook her awake. She gave a jump of fright as she saw him in his costume but calmed down when he lifted his goggles.
"Are you okay sweetie ?" His mom asked as she tried getting up.
"I'm fine mom. We can talk later in the morning." Greg said giving her a kiss and walking up the stairs to his room. Greg was so happy that he did not think he would fall asleep until later tonight.
Good thing he had his video games.
They always could keep his attention.