I walked out the school gates, the noise that my schoolmates were making was nothing more than a nuisance. I walked down the street past multiple stores when I heard someone speaking my name. I wasn't one to fight but I was certainly pissed when I figured out who spoke it.

Emma Barnes. The school's resident bitch. There was no good way to describe her and the two cronies she had with her. In fact, she was indirectly responsible for my 'trigger'. I decided to ignore them as confrontation would only put me at a disadvantage.

I walked to the Boardwalk, not like there was anything there but my mother worked late until the point she'd basically lived in her office and my father was oversees and would not be coming back any time soon. I pulled out a notebook and pen and started working on my costume and such. The tourist were flowing everywhere so it was a risk doing this but I knew what I was doing. I stumbled into a bookstore and I decided to look around. Not like I had enough money to buy anything but since I was here I might as well. The bookstore had nothing I wanted and after catching a death glare from an enforcer, I made my way home.

I went to the basement and lied on my bed. Yup. My room was literally the basement. It was rather clean and bright despite what you might think. The walls were white and the floor was white marble tiled. I went to the wardrobe and push aside the clothes I had a drew out a costume that I had been working on. It was a dark crimson with dark purple armor pieces that could survive a few shots before breaking. The eyes were covered with one-way black lens and the back of the head was exposed. It was a risk but I decided that it looked cool and kept it. The fabric was stretchy and would stop a knife or bullet. Daniel really knew how to craft things.

Oh. Daniel is a parahuman who could make any clothes or suit you need. He kept identities really well so if you knew him and had the money to pay for it, you could get any suit you need.

I glanced to the clock. 7pm.

No time like the present. I pulled on the costume and the plates, stowed a knife and other items into the spaces between the plate and the fabric and headed out to the docks.

The docks were a special type of ruined. With the homeless and gangs roaming the place, no one came here unless they're desperate, hiding or stupid. I walked through the alleys, always keeping to the shadows.

My power gave me a yellow, viscous fluid I dubbed 'ichor' that melted through most inorganic materials and a green flame that I dubbed 'Greek fire' that only worked on organic material, plus physically I was twice as good as the average adult male so there was that. I heard of powers breaking the Manton effect but I'm pretty sure I'm the second person who could do it.

I heard someone speaking. I peered over the corner and saw the leader of the biggest gang in Brockton Bay, Lung. I nearly cursed but I knew they would hear me or at least Lung would. He was easily 6 feet tall and had ornate tattoos of Eastern Dragons of every kind. He was the leader of the 'Azn Bad Boys' or ABB for short. From what I heard from the news and the internet, this guy grew stronger the longer he fought. He went up against large Protectorate teams and won, or at least not lose.

I saw bugs crawling over me and instinctively flinched. There were wasps and even some black widows. Why the fuck is black widows here? There wasn't enough prey to feed on here so… Then I saw her, crouching on the rooftop. She was looking at me but judging by her body language, she didn't see me or think of me as a threat.

I refocused on Lung and only caught the last few sentences. "…the children, just shoot. You see them lying on the ground? Shoot the little bitch twice to be sure…" At that point I just stopped listening and was already making my way to them. I was not in control of myself. The bugs washed over them before they noticed me. That girl must be controlling them. The goons that Lung was addressing was pulling out guns and knives. I opened my hand and ichor sprayed in a fine mist. Slowly melting away and weakening anything they had.

Cars pulled up behind me and I turned around. There was about 20 or so men coming at me with weapons. I let out a wave of ichor at them, melting away their weapon and clothes.

Whoops. Didn't think that'll happen.

I erected a wall of Greek fire right in front of them. The heat gave them a pause and when it died down no one was behind it. I turned back to Lung. Metal plates were already piercing from his skin. Bugs were still swarming him and his men. I sent a wave of ichor and amazingly enough it melted the metal plates he was creating.

I could see black widows and brown recluses, fire ants, wasp and bees stinging him. I circled him. Bug girl was dealing most of the damage but I could help by melting what armor he had. Lung let out a roar that shook me to the bones and I nearly wet myself. He was pissed and frustrated. Two things that made an already beast even more deadly.

Then, Lung exploded. He literally exploded with fire and heat, incinerating the bugs around him and the metals plates shot out and covered his body. I let out more ichor and started melting his armor and he grabbed me or at least tried to. I moved out of the way and saw that his eyes were pretty much fucked. He was running on what he could feel and touch. I blasted him with ichor at an angle. He swiped at the general direction of where the ichor was hitting him and melting his armor.

He set himself on fire from head to toe. Not like that was stopping my ichor. Silver liquid ran off of him and he was lashing out at everything. I backed up really quick. The brute was swatting at all the insects and burning them.

Suddenly, he stopped. The sudden silence was so surprising that I nearly gasp. He looked towards the rooftop and jumped on it. I was out of the woods. I gave an quiet exhale. Things could have gone worst I suppose. Lung could've grabbed me and snapped me in two but all in all a okay sta-

Lung was sent flying from the roof by something. It was too dark to see it but I could figure that A. It was really, really big and B. It took out Lung no probs. I saw 4 figures sliding off from a mount of the roof. I was curious and decided to move up the fire escape and onto it.

"…gonna feel a helluva lot worst tomorrow and our friend can get onto the roof with us."

Shit. I made my way onto the roof and saw the bug girl from before and the 4 figures. One was wearing a motorcycle garb but it's visor was that of a skull. He was entirely black and I couldn't make such else from him. There was a girl wearing black and purple probably and a eye mask. She had long, blonde hair and that 'know-it-all' smile I've seen to often. The other girl had not much of a costume, except a Rottweiler mask. The last person had a white mask, reminiscent of carnivals in Venice or Italy in general though not as detailed. Along with a coronet and a white shirt with skin-tight leggings tucked into knee-high boots, very renaissance fair like. Maybe as a dancer.

"Introductions would be nice." I told them.

The purple girl nodded and spoke up. "I'm Tattletale. This is Grue," she pointed at the motorcycle guy. "and Regent," pointing to the dancer. "And also Bitch but for the Protectorate to keep things PG they dubbed her Hellhound."

I nodded and told them "I'm well…. Corroson. It's stupid but works well with my abilities."

"What the fuck? That's the stupidest sounding name ever!" Regent laughed.

I didn't speak but just sprayed his front of the suit with ichor, melting it away. He instantly shut up and ran, trying to get out of the stream and wipe off the ichor to only get it on his hands.

Tattletale, Grue and Bug girl laughed at him.

"One tablespoon of my ichor will melt away one tablespoon of any inorganic material." I called after Regent.

"Yea. Fuck you." Regent snapped at me.

Tattletale spoke "A Cape is coming. Thanks you two for taking down Lung. We owe you guys one. Got any contacts?"

We shook our heads.

"How unfortunate. I'll contact you guys by some other method I suppose. Guys! We're leaving."

The four horsemen rode away. Despite everything I was still pretty pump and energetic. It was pretty awesome fighting Lung, even as a support. Guess my powers are pretty versatile for offense and support. I heard the sound of a motorcycle coming into the area. I turned around to see Armsmaster seemingly flying onto the rooftop. His distinct halbert shuddering as the grappling hook retracted into it. Armsmaster was the leader of the Protectorate of Brockton Bay.

The Protectorate. The single biggest global organization employed by most government to protect the villains from screwing around with societal norms and Endbringers. Each city with a large enough population of superheroes had a Protectorate team and a central base. Brockton Bay was officially 'the Protectorate of East-North-East'. They had a forcefield shrouded island that could be seen from the Boardwalk. Which was one of the reasons why the Boardwalk was built there in the first place.

Armsmaster wore his normal armour, a dark blue with silver highlights along with a v shaped visor that blocked the top half of his face. A immaculately trimmed beard and his posture almost regal. I heard that his tinker ability was spatial distortion devices but it doesn't seem likely now that I'm viewing him in person. His halbert was literally his only weapon which made his dangerous since he has everything he needed at all time but easily taken away with enough trickery and skill. It had a grappling hook, plasma ejectors, blades, EMPs and who knows what else.

This was a man you would not want to fight unprepared.

He looked at the two of us "You are gonna fight me?"

I had the idea and plan of taking him out by myself if it came to it but I'm pretty sure I'm dead if I said that.

"No. I'm not that stupid." I replied. Bug girl then said the most idiotic yet hilarious reply I have ever heard.

"I'm a good guy."

Jesus, I cannot even. I cannot even. I doubled over laughing before I could stoop myself. Just the most stupid comment ever. I could feel Armsmaster judging look and Bug girl's confused look behind their masks.

"Oh man. So sorry. It's just have you even look at yourself?"

"Shut up! I was halfway done with the costume before I realised it was too 'edgy' so I just decided to roll with it."

Armsmaster nodded "You're telling the truth."

I just recovered from my outburst. "Lie detector in your armor? That's new. Never heard about that."

Armsmaster looked at me and Bg. "You two are new faces. What are your names."

Not a question. An order. "Corruson." I replied. Bg didn't give a reply so I helped her along. "She doesn't have a name yet." I nodded to her.

"I haven't gotten a name because you know how hard is it to think of a bug-themed named without sounding stupid or evil?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't have a bug themed power so I don't know."

Armsmaster chuckled a bit. It made him more human instead of a imposing figure of absolute authority. "I wouldn't know either. I got into the early enough that I didn't have to worry about missing out on all the good names."

An awkward silence followed.

"I almost died." Bug girl told us, her voice was quiet.

When was she in any danger? She was on the…. oh. She was on the rooftop that Lung jumped to. That's why he jumped over there. He thought that I ran off and instead went after Bug girl when she was moving. So Lung had superhearing? Huh.

"That's why we have the Wards program."

The Wards program. It was a Protectorate subdivision that houses the 18-and-under superheroes. They had the backing of the entire Protectorate of their city and lo and behold Brockton Bay had its own set of Wards with naming ceremonies and such. Oh damn. I just realised that my appearance and name would be inputted into the Protectorate database so if I went full villain then… Oh well I suppose. Too late to do anything now.

"What about Lung?" I asked.

"Bruised, beaten and battered on the street when I arrived. I pumped him full of tranquilizers and restrained him with a steel cage that I bolted to the ground. I'll pick him up when I leave."

"That's great! With him in jail (read: Birdcage) we can feel like we accomplished something am I right?" I faced the Bug girl. She nodded her head.

"To be honest, I only engaged because I heard that he was gonna kill kids." I muttered.

"I suppose you didn't hear since you came up later but the 'kids' were those villains you saw." Bug girl told me.

"Wait what…." Behind the mask I had the most half-assed look ever in the world.

She nodded her head. "I engaged for the same reason but seeing you walk up to them gave me the courage to attack as well."

"These villains… They knew I was coming?" Armsmaster questioned

I nodded my head.

"That explains a lot." He paused, continuing after a few seconds. "They're slippery, we have some information on Grue and Hellhound since they worked before joining but Tattletale… She's the problem. If she has some way of tracking and detecting us it could go a long way of explaining why we haven't caught them."

"Despite, my short interaction with them I don't think Tattletale has that type of power." I offered.

Armsmaster looked at me with a slight frown. "What do identify as?"

It took me a moment to process his question. Then it clicked, he wasn't talking about sexuality. He was asking whether I was hero, villain or rogue.

"Rogue for now." I replied firmly.

"They don't seem to hardcore as villains. They were joking around and Grue said that they were panicking when they heard Lung was coming after us and he also made fun of Regent." Bug girl spoke up.

"They said this in front of you?"

"I guess the costumes made them think we were villains." I guessed.

"Could either of you win in a fight?" Armsmaster continued prodding.

"Probably not. Bug girl had most of her insects burned when facing Lung and Hellhounds dogs looked like they could rip us to shreds in a moments notice."

Armsmaster nodded.

"Now after all of this we must think of what we're doing after this." Armsmaster spoke. "Who gets credit for Lung's capture?"

I wanted to respond but he raised his finger, cutting off any arguments for now.

"Hear me out. What you did here was spectacular. But think of the consequences. Lung is the leader of an extensive gang in Brockton Bay and the neighboring cities. More than that, he was two superpowered flunkies. Oni Lee and Bakuda."

"I know about Oni Lee, and Grue mentioned fighting him. I've never heard about Bakuda." Bug girl told him

"Bakuda is a tinker right? She specialises in bombs and explosives from what I heard. She held up Cornwall but was forced to retreat by the New York PRT." I remembered.

Armsmaster nodded his head. "Now those two have two goals right now. To free Lung and take revenge on the one who did it. I suspect you're now aware… these are scary people. In some ways, even scarier than their boss."

"We shouldn't take credit. If we do we have two very scary and very dangerous killers after us." I concluded.

Armsmaster shrugged. "Close. You have two options. Either join the Wards where you'll have support and protection against them or don't take credit fly, under the radar."

A few moments passed. I could face of against Oni Lee but Bakuda? No way. I'll be dead along with several hundred other people.

"No credit taken for me." I answered.

"Please keep my involvement in Lung's capture a secret."

"I think you'll look back on this and see that it was a good decision." Armsmaster told us "If you're ever in a pinch, call me at the PRT Headquarters."

He step off the roof and fell out of sight. The motorcycle revved up and drove off, taking Lung away to an indefinite stay in the birdcage. 'Ever in a pinch'…. He owned us one. By taking out Lung, he owned us one. As useless as it seemed, it was a tactical advantage. I had one of the most important heroes in the city in my debt.

I made my way back home. It was well past 10 and about 20 mins from 11. I pulled off my costume and shoved it so far into the back of the wardrobe it was basically in Narnia. I went to the shower and washed off, still giddy with adrenaline pumping through my blood vessels.

Let's fucking go.