2011
"Dad. I'm going out again tonight."
Jacob Hebert leaned against the wall of the alley, fiddling with his cell phone in one hand and a butterfly knife in the other. "Yeah. Like I told you. For cape stuff."
A nice euphemism. He grinned at his new friend.
"Dad. Dad. Yes, I understand but-no, I'm not 'springing it' on you Dad. You know what I-...yes, yes but Dad, listen. I know you don't like me going out alone, but I'm careful. My power keeps me safe. I don't have to get close up in a fight. If I do it right then no one will even know I was there. Like last time. Nothing happened to me, I was fine.
"I saved a boy's life, Dad. I saved him from being shot up with drugs, addicted, enslaved, whatever nasty shit those Merchant fuckers were going to do to him that civilized people like us can't even imagine. Pardon my language. Don't you think that counts for something?"
"Yes, Dad, you're right. It is dangerous. I could get hurt. I could even die. It's still worth it. I went out for one night and I saved one life already. If I die today then it's an even trade. I won't die, though. I'll build up my skills, I'll find friends to cover my back, and we'll clean up the trash in this city until it's safe again for people like us."
The girl beside him nodded approvingly.
"Look, Dad. I have to do this. You know why. It's not about you or me. It's about Mom." He paused. "I know you don't want to think about it. You want to forget about the pain. It was so pointless, it didn't need to happen, it never should have happened.
"But I can't forget it, because I can't forget her. Mom was special, Dad. For anyone else death would have been the end, but she give me one last gift. The trigger event that gave me my power. That's why I can't stop thinking about her. Mom is always with me, Dad, every minute of every day.
"You can't ask me to throw her gift away. When you tell me to stay home and pretend I'm a normal human being living a normal life - what you're telling me is that Mom's death was pointless after all. That she really did die for nothing. Please, Dad. She gave me this power and now it's my responsibility to use it the way she would have wanted. To help people, to save lives, to save other families from the pain we went through."
"...okay. Thanks. Yes, I'll be careful. I promise. I'll tell you all about my adventures. If I won't be back in time for bed I'll give you a call...I love you Dad. Bye."
He hung up, adjusted the domino mask on his face, and turned to his companion.
"Eloquent speech, Jack Slash. Did you rehearse it?" said Rune.
"It's the same thing I told him before," said Jack. "He's a worrier. I'll have to convince him every time."
"Don't you find it irritating?"
"No." said Jack. "He thinks I'm going out alone, and he's right about the danger. I'm glad he cares about me enough to make me work for it."
"Good. Honestly, I'm getting sick of high school kids who join the Empire to get away from their parents. It's such a cliche. We can only carry the cause so far on the backs of disaffected teenage rebels."
"Hah. You get a lot of them, I imagine."
"Tell me about it. You'll see at your initiation. Shall we go?" She adjusted her rune-lined cloak and gestured down the alley. They started off together, walking toward the outline of a warehouse several blocks away.
Rune continued in a put-upon tone. "I keep telling Hookwolf we need to reach a wider audience. All he cares about is how the kids hold up in a brawl. That's all well and good for the Empire, but I'm the one who has to deal with the kids treating me like I'm their best friend just because we're the same age. Trying to win points with me by pulling stupid stunts to prove their loyalty to the cause. Then trying to win points with their buddies by being the first guy to bang the cape chick." She shuddered. "Honestly. They get in my face boasting about how badass they are, and I'm just thinking: am I supposed to respect you? You were lucky enough to have parents who care for you and you're throwing them away because you have a problem with authority. How far are you going to rise in our organization with that attitude? You'll never be more than a foot soldier."
Jack nodded. "My sympathies. I hope you don't lump me in with them because of the little demonstration I have planned for my initiation tonight. They're the ones I need to impress. After our fearless leader, of course."
"No, no, it's fine. I'm just ranting. It's good to have someone I can really talk to for once. It must be nice to have parents you can rely on for that. A parent, I mean. Sorry."
>> "Good girl," said Hookwolf. He clapped Rune on the back, his eyes less on her and more on the bad guys she had crushed. She bristled. She wasn't his pet dog-
<<
Jack hummed thoughtfully. "I understand. I'm thankful for my family. I imagine the Empire provides more of a commander-and-soldier relationship. Taking care of you the same way they keep their weapons well-oiled."
"Exactly right. I know I'm supposed to tell you the Empire is your new family, but it's good that you have someone on the outside to fall back on for support." She paused. "Don't get me wrong, they're all good people. The veterans are good guys, I'll introduce you, and Hookwolf and his lieutenants look out for me when they can. We're just stuck in a military mode because that's what it takes to win the war with the gangs. Things will calm down as soon as we finish mopping them up. It should only take a few months now that the ABB is dead and we don't need to worry about the balance of power anymore. We'll go ahead and crush the Merchants, the Undersiders, the rest of the riffraff. Then we can switch to the politics and business side of things, recruiting for influence instead of brute force. Not that I've seen it happen myself, but I hear that's what it's like in the Gesellschaft."
Jack smiled. "I see you have it all planned out. I'm glad to be joining the winning team, then. Ah, speaking of taking care of your weapons." He reached into his jacket and handed her a smooth black shape. "Your taser. I appreciate it. My power isn't the best for a takedown without leaving a mark." He looked down at their captive.
Sophia Hess was prone, gagged, arms and legs tied with thick cords to a metal frame hovering a foot above the ground, kept afloat by Rune's telekinetic power. Sophia glared at Jack as best as she was able.
"I don't think she's appreciating our heart-to-heart conversation." said Jack.
"No?" said Rune. "No sense of mitfreude?"
"No." said Jack. He stopped and crouched, looking Sophia in the eye. "Not content with taking Emma away from me, are you? You're drooling at the idea that I've made another friend for you to fuck with. I won't let you. From now on you're nothing more than the raw material for my initiation."
He withdrew a small device from his pocket, pressed a button. Sophia clenched her teeth, hissed as a humming sound filled the air. Jack waited until she finally gave in and let out a yelp of pain before relenting.
"That's neat. Where did you get the shock collar, Jack?" said Rune.
Jack grinned. "A pet shop. I figured it would be appropriate for keeping a bitch in line."
"I didn't think they sold ones that hurt humans."
"True. It took some creative wiring to get the current high enough to discipline a bitch as big as her. It was worth it, though. She was on her best behavior while we waited for you to show up."
Rune laughed. "That's great. I didn't realize you were an inventor. Are you sure you're not a tinker?"
"No. Just ordinary human ingenuity."
"Damn. Nice work, anyway. You'll have to show me how it works later. Let's go, we shouldn't keep Hookwolf waiting." They resumed their walk, their prisoner floating behind them.
"I've been waiting for us to get a tinker," Rune continued. "Everyone else is lucky enough to have powers that protect them in a close quarters fight. Wind shields or bullet-dodging reflexes or being a giant fucking wolf made of swords. If I can get a good suit of power armor then I can convince Hookwolf to let me get in close quarters too. I can end a fight in an instant by touching a bad guy and levitating him by his clothes. Nothing says 'surrender' like the threat of your friend being dropped from a hundred feet in the air." She regarded Jack for a moment. "I suppose we'll be working together as long-range artillery types. Any ideas, Jack?"
"Ideas?"
"For how to use our powers together. You're an intellectual type, you must have thought about it."
>> Rune hated herself for blushing as she asked Crusader the question, hated herself even more for having deluded herself about his affections. She could already see it on his face. "I'm not interested in little girls," said Crusader, and-
<<
Jack turned to study her. Rune was the youngest cape in the Empire. She was clearly enjoying playing the role of the experienced veteran - mentoring the new recruit, judging his mindset, testing his intelligence and his potential on the battlefield. But she was also a teenage girl. One who had a power and an Empire affiliation that set her apart from the rest of society, and who was now speaking with one of the few boys her age she could see as an equal. He had impressed her with his attitude and skills. Now she was hoping for his approval in return.
"Of course," he said at length. "I've thought about how well we'll fit together ever since we met." He was rewarded with a slight widening of her eyes, a flinch as she ducked her head to hide her expression, momentarily forgetting that she was wearing a mask. He smiled.
"I'll start with the obvious." said Jack. "When we take cover you'll make a barrier with slits for me to slash through. When our enemies take cover you'll levitate me on a platform to give me a line of sight to cut them down."
She nodded. "Yes, good. I did that once with Stormtiger when his air currents weren't enough to get him to high ground."
"Next idea. You can reshape the things you levitate, can't you? When you lifted a chunk of pavement the other day you were turning it into a shield."
Rune turned to Jack, her eyes bright. She touched the brick wall of the building they were passing by. With a sharp cracking sound, a chunk of ten bricks separated from the wall and hovered in the air. In the span of a few seconds, fissures grew between the bricks until the mortar broke apart and the individual bricks were set free. They spun end over end, whirling around each other in an elaborate dance.
"Beautiful," said Jack. He watched the dance for a minute, then reached out and touched a brick as it floated by. "My power works as long as I'm touching a knife, even if I'm not the one swinging it. I had Dad help me test that one. If you build a thirty foot long sword and levitate it to help me swing it, then..."
She sighed. "I can make the sword, but my power has a speed limit. If I could move things faster then I'd throw knives at the bad guys instead of dropping cars on them. This is as fast as I can go." The bricks reconfigured themselves into a line, forming a mock blade that swept through the air making lazy slashes at an imaginary opponent. As an afterthought Rune had them swipe at their prisoner's face, making Sophia flinch as the bricks stopped a inch short of breaking her nose.
Jack smiled. "Ah, but we can work with that. I've found that my power works even if the force of the slash comes from gravity. We'll stand the sword on its handle and let it fall under its own power. With a three ton sword the edge will have enough force to break through the walls of a building, and I can project it halfway across the city. A siege weapon. Imagine the look on the face of that shitstain Squealer when she brings out her next tinker truck and we cut it in half right in front of her eyes.
"That's only the beginning, Rune. I haven't found any limit to the number of blades I can use as long as I'm touching them all at once. With your power you can be a weaponsmith, make me a gauntlet from a single piece of metal joined with a hundred razor blades. I won't need to slash, I'll gesture and a crowd of our enemies will turn into a fine red mist."
>> Rune staggered back, wide-eyed, pulling chunks of the floor into the air to block Cricket's whirling sickles. The woman was crazy! Was this what she called a spar? They had to learn to be ruthless to their enemies, true, but Cricket's eyes were gleaming with nothing more than bloodlust directed toward the nearest target-
<<
Jack stopped. He couldn't see Rune's reaction behind her mask. Was he pushing it too far? "That will be more for intimidation than everyday use, of course." he said. "When we take the city we'll make sure the PRT knows what we're capable of. They won't dare show their faces to interfere in our business."
"Very good." said Rune. "I was right. You are an intellectual type, thinking ahead to see the big picture. I can make you weapons like that, but you'd probably do better asking Kaiser." She paused. "Your power works well with a lot of us, actually. We have a lot of capes who make knives. Me, Kaiser, Crusader's ghosts. Maybe Night counts, if you close your eyes. Oh, do you think...?"
Rune chuckled.
"What is it?" said Jack.
"Do you think you can use your power on Hookwolf? I'm imagining you putting an Empire banner on him and riding him into battle like a war horse."
Jack laughed. "I don't think he'd like the idea. I appreciate the thought, though."
"Ah, speaking of whom." said Rune. They arrived at the edge of the warehouse in front of a high wall topped by barbed wire. Rune tapped two corrugated sheets of metal that were leaning against the wall. The sheets flipped and hovered in the air in front of them. Rune and Jack each stepped onto a sheet and were ferried over the wall. Rune floated their prisoner over as well, flipping Sophia upside down at the halfway point so that her face nearly grazed the barbed wire. Sophia gave out a muffled cry. Jack gave Rune a smile, then turned to face his soon-to-be superiors.
The capes stood in front of the loading dock of the warehouse. A large man in a tiger mask with his bare chest decorated with metal chains, a woman with a metal cage around her face and a pair of sickles at her sides, a wolf-masked man idly shifting his right hand back and forth between human flesh and a massive metal claw. Stormtiger, Cricket, Hookwolf. The other capes he'd met on his first night out, the ones who had offered him a place in their Empire.
"Hello, sir." said Jack.
"Welcome back, boy." said Hookwolf. "This is the nigger you told me about?"
"Yes, sir. Sophia Hess."
Hookwolf leaned over to look at her. Sophia glared up at him and spat an unintelligble curse from behind the gag.
"A troublemaker. Still sure about this demonstration of yours?"
"Hah. She's a bitch like that, sir. I'm looking forward to it," said Jack.
Hookwolf nodded. "Good. Come inside, then. Kaiser is waiting."