Chapter 2
Armsmaster drove down the streets at a fast, but not breakneck, speed. Reports had started coming in that Lung was fighting someone in the docks. The most likely culprits were the Empire 88. The Merchants, drug-addled as they were, were at least smart enough to know they couldn't beat Lung. The Empire had so many capes that, combined with their racist view of Asians, meant they were bound to make periodic attacks against the gang leader.
So it came as quite a surprise to Colin when he screeched around a corner and saw Lung in the middle of the street, squaring off against Hellhound's three beasts. Actually, there as another figure in the street, and it wasn't Hellhound. It was a teenager, stick thin, with the burnt remains of clothing barely hanging on her body and exposing parts of her anatomy. The girl seemed to be the focus of Lung's ire but he kept having to shift his attention to fight off the dog monsters.
If Hellhound is here there's a strong likelihood the rest of her group is nearby. Regent can momentarily master my muscles and Grue has darkness creation. Still haven't figured out what Tattletale's powers are, some kind of Thinker is the most likely probability given the group's timely escapes. Lung is a known entity so that leaves the new girl as the biggest mystery.
"Armsmaster to Console. Lung is currently fighting Hellhound's dogs at the corner of Baker and Johnson. Undersiders are likely nearby but I don't have a visual. Unknown parahuman is also on scene, fighting Lung."
"Roger that, Armsmaster," said the nameless PRT employee on the other end. "Velocity and Miss Militia are inbound to your location.
Armsmaster quickly parked his motorcycle and grabbed his halberd off of his back. It unfolded with a snap and began humming with energy as it powered up.
"Stand down Lung!"
Lung glanced over at Armsmaster and gave a snort of disinterest and turned his attention back towards the girl.
The dismissive attitude that Lung showed towards him annoyed Colin more than he would ever admit to himself.
Lung breathed deep and exhaled a torrent fire. One of the dog's scrambled out of the way but the girl didn't even attempt to dodge.
When Lung ran out of breath and the fire ceased, the girl remained standing in the exact spot she had been, giggling.
"Is that the best you can do? I've gotten worse burns than that using a hair straightener!"
Some kind of fire immunity so she might be a Breaker. A lot of fire-based Blasters tend to be resistant to heat but I haven't seen her shoot anything at Lung yet. Whatever the case, I don't have to worry as much about Lung killing her...unless he gets his hands on her but the dogs are doing a good job running interference. Is she a new member of the Undersiders?
Armsmaster ran forward, while keeping an eye on the three dogs, and interposed himself between Lung and the gang leader's quarry. He brought his halberd up into a guard position.
"I said, stand down Lung."
The leader of the ABB didn't answer, instead, he barreled forward. Given that Lung had already reached eight feet in height and was covered in hard scales, it wasn't a terrible tactic. If the half-dragon could shove past Armsmaster he would be able to get his claws into the girl and kill her in short order. Luckily, Colin had developed predictive combat software and had been studying Lung extensively so he knew exactly what to do in response.
Armsmaster flipped his halberd around and, from the bottom of the pole, launched a minor explosive charge. It had originally been included for quickly knocking down doors or walls in the event that rapid entry to a room was required. In this case, it served perfectly adequately in tripping Lung by blowing out his kneecap.
Not that I would try that trick with anyone that wasn't a Brute.
Lung got his good leg under him and tried to rise to his feet but this gave Armsmaster the opportunity he had been waiting for. Stepping forward, he jabbed the end of his halberd into Lung's shoulder and injected a specialized designed tranquilizer serum that Colin had developed with help from Dragon. It should target specific areas of the brain to induce feelings of apathy and tiredness in the subject. Theoretically, it was the perfect counter to Lung's powers. It would take a little bit of time to kick into effect however.
Armsmaster stepped back and twirled his halberd around in his hands like a cheerleader baton. Personally, Colin thought it was a waste of energy but repeated studies (both from the PRT's PR department and personal favors from Dragon) had shown that people thought the motion gave him an air of authority and professionalism.
"Ma'am, are you alright?" Armsmaster asked the girl behind him while Lung struggled to his feet.
"I'm fine. Lung tried punching me, kicking me, choking me, and burning me. I healed right through it all. Hurt at first but I got used to it." The girl paused. "Is it bad that I'm a little disappointed you showed up? I'm curious what he had left to try on me."
Colin resisted the urge to chastise the girl. She sounded new to her powers and was probably eager to test her limits. He remembered what it had been like when he was still learning about his specialty and he wanted to tinker all the time.
"That's a discussion for another time, I think."
Lung shook his head back and forth, clearly attempting to fight off the effects of the tranquilizer.
A sharp whistle cut through the air and when of the dogs lunged forward and slammed into Lung's back. The gang leader stumbled forward and Colin slammed his halberd straight into Lung's sternum.
This was a careful balancing act. They needed to hurt Lung enough to keep him off balance so the sedative could kick in but not so much that the pain kept him awake. With his combat software Armsmaster was confident he could manage that on his own but with Hellhound's dogs here all the information being provided to him was more-or-less useless.
On the other hand, the dogs seemed to be waiting for something.
Just what kind of Thinker is Tattletale? Could she know not to hurt Lung too badly and is relaying that to Hellhound?
Lung swayed where he stood. He took a step forward to steady himself but then his head lulled and he fell face forward onto the pavement. Colin could already see the scales retracting.
Suddenly, the three dogs bolted from their positions on the street. They climbed their way up a nearby building until they reached the roof. Colin could make out the Undersiders climbing onto the backs of the beasts before they monsters leapt out of sight.
"So what were those things?"
Colin turned back to look at the regenerator. Now that there wasn't a fight going on he could appraise her in a bit more detail.
After giving her a once-over glance Colin kept his eyes firmly above her shoulders. The girl's clothes had been threadbare when he arrived, now they were nonexistent. She had more soot on her body than she did cotton. Her face was covered in splotches that indicated she had been wearing a mask of some synthetic material that had melted onto her skin. Whatever hair she had had before was simply gone. Colin had thought her skin had a strange sheen to it, but he didn't want to look down to confirm that.
"Those dogs belonged to a criminal known as Hellhound. She is part of a small group of parahumans known as the Undersiders."
"Wonder why they helped me fight Lung," the girl wondered aloud while she tapped her chin.
"Are you a villain?" Colin asked as he activated his lie detection software.
"What? No, I'm a hero! Or I'm planning on being one anyway."
TRUTH flashed across the HUD of Colin's visor.
"You're telling the truth." Colin relaxed his grip on his halberd. Just because she had been an enemy of Lung didn't automatically mean she wasn't a criminal but now he had confirmation. "Excuse me a moment while I secure Lung."
Armsmaster walked over to where he had left his motorcycle and pulled out a different halberd. This new one was less of a hassle to refill the containment foam in so when given the option, he used that instead of his standard halberd.
After spraying Lung with a liberal amount of foam, Colin turned back to the new girl, making sure to keep his gaze locked on her forehead to prevent it from wandering.
"Do you have a name miss?"
"Ta-oh wait you mean a cape name," the girl frowned. "No, I don't. This is only my first night out."
TRUTH
Seriously? Are new Triggers getting stupider or am I getting that old? "Your first night out and you got in a fight with Lung?"
The girl chuckled, it was a nervous laugh. "When I left the house tonight I had no idea I could heal this much. It took a couple seconds to heal from small knicks from a knife when I first discovered I had powers. Taunting Lung was the stupidest thing I've ever done. Only reason I did it was because I heard him telling his gang to shoot kids."
TRUTH
"He was probably referring to the Undersiders. Rumor is they robbed one of his casinos a few weeks ago. Would explain why they helped you out against him."
"Oh."
The conversation stalled out. Colin wasn't sure where to go from here so he settled for a safe conversation topic.
"Have you considered joining the Wards?"
"Not really. Like I said before tonight I thought my power was pretty weak, too weak to be a hero." The girl's voice got a lot quieter. "Only reason I went out tonight was because I was tired of not having anything good in my life. Thought if I stopped a mugging or something I'd have something I could be proud of."
TRUTH
The girl made a motion as if to run her fingers through her hair but then got a look of confusion on her face as her hand found only air. Using both hands, she began patting her scalp. Colin saw the girl's expression morph into what could only be described as terror.
"MY HAIR!"
Colin winced. He had heard victims of gunshot wounds scream quieter.
"Ohbadisit? ItfeelslikeIhavenothingthere!" The girl shrieked a second time. "My clothes!"
I am so not equipped to deal with this. Actually…
"Armsmaster to Console."
"Go ahead Armsmaster."
"Lung is unconscious. I'd bring him in but then I wouldn't have room for a new parahuman, temporary designation...Voorhees. She needs a set of clothes to wear."
"Miss Militia is enroute to your location in a helicopter. Could Voorhees ride in that?"
"Stand by." Armsmaster turned towards the girl who was frantically moving her arms in various patterns as she attempted to figure out the best way to cover herself. Colin made sure that his head was pointed upwards so she wouldn't think he was peaking. "Miss Militia will be arriving shortly in a helicopter. They'll have blankets of some kind for you to cover yourself with. Would you like to ride back with her to the PRT building? We have plenty of extra clothes there you can wear."
"Y-yea, that sounds like a good idea. I don't think I should walk home stark naked."
TRUTH
"Armsmaster to Console, that is a go for Voorhees riding in the helicopter."
"10-4."
The girl seemed to be have settled on how to cover herself and was now paying attention to what Colin had said. "...did you just make up a cape name for me?"
"Oh, needed a name for the paperwork I'll have to fill out later. It's just temporary, don't worry."
"Okay."
The two parahumans stood in awkward silence. Colin kept an eye on Lung while the girl seemed to shrink in on herself. When the noise of an approaching helicopter could be heard she headed over to an alley, presumably because she didn't want to flash any more people than necessary.
When the helicopter touched down on the road, Miss Militia hopped out along with two PRT troopers. Colin's second-in-command approached him while the troopers took positions next to Lung's fallen form.
"I was told you met a new parahuman we'd be taking back to the PRT building?"
TRUTH
Damn it. Forgot to turn that off.
"Yes, she's back there." Colin jerked his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of the alleyway while deactivating his lie detector with a flick of his eyes. "Her clothes were destroyed in the fight so she's hiding. I hope we have something in the chopper to lend her?"
Miss Militia's brow furrowed as she thought about it. "Should have some fireproof blankets."
"I shall leave her in your capable hands then."