Hammer Time

Powers, I decided, are weird.

Not all powers were weird, some made sense. Armsmaster was a tinker that could build stuff. That was nice and straightforward. But on the whole, most powers made no sense. Miss Militia could use her power to make guns. What if someone had gotten her power 200 years ago? Would they be able to make anything beyond ye olde muskets? If the answer is yes, how come I've never heard of Miss Militia using her power to make phaser guns from the future? If the answer is no, how the heck does a power know what guns are even available in the world?

My power in particular makes no sense. I have super strength, sort of. And I'm incredibly tough, sort of. The best I can figure is that my power operates on cartoon logic. When I first got my power I busted out of my locker using only a pen that I happened to have in my hand, yet I somehow wasn't strong enough to lift the couch at home. I had gone out late at night to walk to the Boat Graveyard so I could conduct some tests and on the way there I had gotten run over by an SUV driven by a drunk driver. I had gotten up with barely had any scratches on me. Deciding that becoming a speed bump had been test enough for a night, I had turned around and headed home and when I was climbing into bed I had banged my toe on the corner post, that had hurt.

If I wanted to be a hero (and I did) I needed to figure out my powers' strengths and limitations before I went out to try and stop crime. So I had gone back to the Boat Graveyard to make another attempt at testing things out. I had brought a baseball bat and found out that I could do serious damage with it. One of the baseballs I had smacked in the metal hull of a boat had basically disintegrated on impact. But I was also capable of hitting the balls so that they were pulverized as soon as the bat touched them. Near as I could figure, when I hit something hard it was either going to take the damage from me or from whatever it hit when I sent it flying.

At least I learned something about my powers today that I didn't know yesterday, I thought to myself as I began the walk home.

One of the more straightforward aspects of my power was the increased endurance. I could run for ages without getting tired and my body had recovered in the hospital a lot quicker than any of the doctors had been expecting.

Walking through the docks was always dangerous. It was primarily ABB territory but the Merchants would show up whenever asian presence was light. So it was quite a surprise when I stumbled across a cape fight between the Protectorate and the Empire 88.

Well, it wasn't a cape fight at the time I turned the corner of an abandoned construction site to see Assault and Battery squaring off against Krieg and Rune. Rune was floating about ten feet up on a chunk of concrete while Krieg stood beneath her with Assault and Battery on the opposite side of the villains from myself. There was construction materials, I-beams, bricks, et cetera, scattered all around. It looked like they had been fighting and were now taking a breather to talk to each other.

Why didn't I spend more time on PHO looking up what powers the local villains had? I chastised myself. I knew that Rune was a telekinetic and that Krieg was a different kind of telekinetic, but what the difference was I had no idea.

Should I try and help? Sneak away? Stay quiet and only get involved if it goes badly?

"I know as 'heroes' you're morally obligated to stick your nose into everyone's business but don't you think fighting us this far into ABB territory is just asking for trouble?" Krieg said, the disdain clear in his voice. "How long before Oni Lee or Lung decide to investigate?"

"There wouldn't be anything to investigate if you two would just surrender," Assault said with a chuckle.

"And I find myself curious just what you two are doing in ABB territory," Battery added.

"Unfortunately, I cannot provide the lovely lady with an answer that will satisfied her," Krieg responded.

For a guy with a German military style costume, I would have thought he'd have an accent.

"Then it seems like we're done talking," Battery said and then darted forward, moving far faster than I had expected her to.

But then that's her power isn't it? She can charge up to be strong or be fast or be tough. Her name isn't just a pun to go with Assault.

One of the telekinetics was ready for her though. A swarm of bricks interposed themselves between the heroes and the villains, blocking Battery's charge.

The bricks did nothing to stop Assault though, who simply plowed straight through them. What's his power anyway? I think he absorbs energy or something?

As Assault barreled forward and engaged Krieg in a fistfight, Rune floated backwards, closer to where I was hiding, and began pelting Battery with pieces of masonry.

Guess she was the one controlling the bricks then.

Krieg seemed to be getting the upper hand in the fight against Assault but Battery couldn't help him without turning her back on Rune, who was staying high enough that Battery couldn't fight her either.

Okay, unless the heroes pull a trick out of their hats, I'm going to have to help out. What are my options?

My only weapon was the baseball bat. All my baseballs were destroyed during testing. I could trying hitting something at Rune but my aim wasn't very good and I did not want to accidentally hit one of the heroes. So that left...close quarters combat.

I really wish I had a costume before I got into my first cape fight. I was wearing a hoodie, a pair of old jeans, and some ratty sneakers. I had a bandana tied around my lower face to protect my identity. Heroic looking, I was not.

I began slowly inching my way around the side of the battlefield. Idealy, I would run in and catch Krieg by surprise before they noticed me. My power might be strong enough that I could deflect something they sent my way but I still needed to be able to wind up and hit it with the bat. If they threw too many things at me I could be in trouble. Or maybe I was tough enough that it wouldn't hurt. That was the thing about having a power that only protected me some of the time, I didn't exactly want to test it out in a life-or-death situation.

Krieg had had Assault in a sleeper hold but the hero managed to get enough leverage to fling the Nazi off of him and in my general direction.

Won't get a better chance than this.

As Krieg was pulling himself to his feet I ran forward and brought my bat down on him. He had heard me coming and brought his arm up to block the swing, which I was fine with, I didn't want to kill him, just put him out of the fight. I certainly wasn't swinging as hard as I could be.

I was very surprised with what happened after my bat connected with Krieg's arm though. I knew I was strong so I had expected to hurt him, maybe break a few bones. I was not prepared for his entire body to slam into the ground as if some giant invisible hand had decided to slap him like an annoying bug.

Krieg let out a garbled gasp of pain as he bounced slightly from the impact and then immediately started coughing up blood.

"Kreig!"

I whipped my head in the direction of the voice. It was Rune who had spoken and if the anger I could hear in her tone hadn't tipped me off, the fact that several large I-beam were now heading my way proved that she wasn't happy at my treatment of her…

Boss? Coworker? What do you call someone who has more seniority than you in a gang? Wait, not the time for idle thoughts, Taylor. Focus on the metal flying at your face!

I brought my bat back and waited till the nearest I-beam came within hitting distance and hit it as hard as I could. Turns out my power trumped Rune's as the I-beam shot off and smashed through one of the nearby half-built walls.

Huh, I hit it on the end but the beam didn't spin when it when through the air. My power must be doing something to momentum.

Rune clearly hadn't expected me to knock the I-beam that far away (to be honest, neither had I) so there was momentary pause in the battle as she looked at the wall before turning back to me. She gestured with her arm and the I-beams resumed their trajectory straight at me.

I did a backhand swing up that send one I-beam flying skyward and that allowed me to easily reverse the swing and bring the bat down on another beam, which embedded itself in the ground. Unfortunately, I was unable to bring the bat up in time to avoid getting struck square in the face.

There was no doubt in my mind that that would have killed me if it wasn't for my power because that blow carried me back a good fifteen feet and I skidded along the ground for another few. My nose stung a little but other than that everything appeared to be in working condition.

I sat up and realized that I was no longer holding my bat. Glancing around frantically, I saw it lying on the ground in basically the spot I had been hit.

Good to know Rune can't hurt me, but she can keep me out of the fight if she keeps knocking me away like that, I thought as I ran towards my bat.

I grabbed my weapon and brought it up in a defensive position, ready to deflect Rune's next attack, only to realize the fight was over. In her focus on me, Rune had completely forgot about the Protectorate heroes. I didn't know what they had done but I could see that Rune was currently unconscious and, except for her head, completely covered in containment foam.

Battery was crouched over Krieg. It looked like she was trying to administer first-aid to him while talking to somebody. Since she wasn't talking to Assault I assumed she had a radio headset in her costume.

Speaking of Assault...the large hero had moved to stand between Battery and myself. He was grinning though, so that was good.

"Hey, Sports Fan. Rune hit you pretty good there, you alright?"

"Yea, I'm fine. My power keeps big things from hurting me….um, is Krieg going to be okay? I didn't think I hit him that hard…"

"Puppy's well trained so she'll keep him alive until the ambulance gets here."

I nodded. I really didn't want to have accidentally killed someone, even if they were a Nazi.

"So Slugger, that looks more like street clothes than a costume and I don't recognize your powerset. How long have you been at this?"

"This is only my second week," I admitted. "I'm still trying to figure things out."

Assault looked behind him at Krieg and then over at Rune. "Not bad work for your second week of patrol-"

I interrupted him. "No, this isn't my second week of patrol. This is my second week of having powers. I've been going to the Boat Graveyard at night to test things. I didn't want to go on patrol until I had a better idea of what I could do but I then I stumbled up your fight on the way home…" I trailed off.

"And you didn't want to leave two heroes to fight the villains when you knew there was a chance you could help," Assault finished for me with a smile. "Sounds like you'll make a fine hero. Got a name or should I keep coming up with nicknames for you, Louisville?"

I rubbed the back of my neck self-consciously. "I don't have a name….or a costume. I don't even know if I know all my powers yet."

"Don't know all your powers?" Assault repeated with a raised eyebrow. "That's not something I hear often. Especially for Brutes."

"Well I guess I'm just unlucky like that," I grumbled. I could feel my cheeks burning in embarrassment. "Not that I'm surprised."

"Oh hey, don't take it personally. I didn't mean anything by it," Assault quickly said. "All that means is you've got an unusual power, that's a good thing. If it takes you this long to figure out your powers imagine how annoying it will be for any villains that try to fight you."

"I guess that makes sense…."

Assault raised a finger to his lips. "Shhh, don't let Puppy here you say that." He grinned conspiratorially. "If she finds out I'm capable of logical reasoning her whole worldview could implode. Our entire dynamic is built on her being the mature one."

I couldn't help but chuckle at his irreverent attitude, which was probably part of why he was acting that way. It was taking a lot of the tension out of the situation.

It was around that time that I caught the sound of sirens. Assault must have heard it too because he cocked his head to the side.

"Well that's our backup," he said, turning back to look at me. "Feel like riding down to the PRT base with Puppy and myself? You don't have to but I know the boss lady will want to hear your perspective of the fight."

"Boss lady? I thought Armsmaster was in charge?"

"Armsmaster is the head of the Protectorate," Assault clarified. "Director Piggot is the boss of the PRT."

The next ten minutes were a flurry of activity. A truck that reminded me of a SWAT vehicle showed up and PRT troopers poured out of it. They 'secured the area' and loaded Rune's containment foam covered form into the truck. Krieg was a bit more complicated. An ambulance did arrive but it wasn't like a couple of EMT's would be enough to subdue the supervillain if he woke up and decided he wanted out. Apparently, the PRT normally had an ambulance specifically designed for transporting injured villains but it was currently out of commision at a repair shop. Eventually, it was decided Assault would ride along to keep an eye on Krieg while Battery and I would join the PRT troopers in the truck.

The ride to the PRT building was uncomfortably awkward. The seats were designed to fit a full grown adult kitted out in PRT gear, my skinny butt ended up getting banged around a lot. The troopers themselves weren't rude but they also didn't have much to say to me beyond one-word answers to my questions. Battery was (somehow) sleeping. I didn't blame her for that, I didn't know how long she had been fighting before I showed up but she was probably exhausted.

Eventually, we arrived at the PRT building. When I got out of the truck I saw that we were in an underground parking garage. I tried to stay out of the way as Rune was unloaded and taken to a prison cell. Once that was taken care of, Battery lead me through a veritable maze of hallways until we came to, of all things, a break room.

It's so normal looking. They even have a coffee machine, I observed as Battery poured herself a cup of said coffee.

"This has already been a long night and it ain't gonna end anytime soon. Coffee?"

I shook my head. "I'm more of a tea drinker."

"Don't think there's any communal tea here, sorry." Battery took a sip from her cup and then grimaced. "Ugh, Armsmaster built a tinkertech machine on the Rig, makes a phenomenal cup of joe. Problem is, now I'm spoiled and all other coffee tastes like sludge."

"That's….a surprisingly mundane use of one's powers."

Battery smiled knowingly. "I know that when most people think of Protectorate heroes they picture us fighting other parahumans but that is actually a small percentage of how we spend our time, like how cops aren't usually engaged in high speed pursuits on the highway. Only makes sense we'd start figuring out ways to make our lives easier with our powers."

"Oh."

"Don't worry about it. I overheard part of your conversation with Assault. You're still learning about your own powers, nevermind everyone else's." Battery paused, as if considering something important. "So I don't want to pressure you, but have you considered the Wards program? One of its primary objectives is teaching young parahumans how to use their powers in a safe, controlled environment. I was in it myself up in New York."

"I….I have enough trouble at school. I don't want to have to deal with more people that don't like me that also have powers," I said meekly as I stared at the floor.

I was sure Battery was frowning at me so I didn't lift my gaze from my shoes. However, before she could respond a familiar voice called out from the hallway.

"Puppy! Batgirl! There you two are. Boss lady was walking into the building as I got dropped off so we should probably start heading over to her office now."

The walk from the break room was rather benign. Assault chatted aimlessly to which I only half paid attention to. Battery kept glancing at me when she thought I wasn't looking, something she hadn't done on the walk to the break room. Maybe she didn't like that I had turned down the idea of joining the Wards.

I hope she doesn't bad mouth me to the Director because of that, I worried.