Outbreak
Taking a deep breath, Seyshara stepped off the bus and looked around for the man she was supposed to meet. Officer Flint wasn't hard to find, standing in the middle of a nearby parking lot with a few costumed Heroes-in-training standing around him. Seyshara turned and smiled at her cousin coming off the bus behind her and gestured toward the policeman.
"Looks like we're not the only ones assigned to this case, Leigh."
"It's Heaven Leigh when I'm on duty, remember?" the pyromancer replied. "I still think you should have picked a Hero name too. The Amethyst Kitten would have suited you."
"We've been over this," Seyshara said wearily. "I'm sticking with my own name because it's all I've got left of my parents. My real parents, I mean."
That had come as a surprise. Several months after moving in with Andromeda's Supergroup she had decided to look over her parents' files and discovered her adoption papers, dated shortly before her third birthday. No information was given about her true parentage, other than her given name, which Seraph and Spyne had chosen not to change. When she showed the papers to Andromeda, the Controller had admitted that she already knew about it. However she had not known who Seyshara's true parents were. Only that her father was an old friend of Spyne, and was likewise a mutant.
That was why Seyshara had chosen to become a Hero. Aside from the financial reward that provided a comfortable income for many professional Heroes, there would be many contacts and informants throughout her career. Several of those would have known Spyne and might even recall some of his earliest friends and team-mates. It was a long shot, but the public records had failed to provide any clues. Or indeed anything prior to his arrival in Paragon City from the USSR. Her brief reverie was cut short as her companion continued her criticisms.
"And you really should have chosen a proper costume, 'Shara. Sure, you've got the veil and the leather bodice, but a pleated skirt? That's just not … heroic."
"And I suppose I should have gone for a flame-red metal number that barely attempts to cover my assets, like you did?" Seyshara asked, sarcastically.
"Of course not. Red wouldn't suit your complexion." Leigh replied, playfully ignoring her cousin's tone. "Well, you can always change it later. I heard that Statesman gets those faceplates of his from Icon."
"Can Icon make me taller?" Seyshara's mutant genes had caused her to stop growing at just four feet tall, although the remainder of her physical development had proceeded normally. There was no way she could be mistaken for a child.
"Possibly…," She would have continued but a cough from behind her reminded the Controller that she was blocking the bus door. She quickly stepped aside as she turned to apologise to her fellow Hero.
"Thank you," replied the young woman in the black and purple jumpsuit, before passing them to join the group near the police officer.
"I suppose we should introduce ourselves to the officer." Seyshara said, taking the lead as she frequently had during their training. She didn't wait for her cousin to reply before crossing the parking lot. Flint glanced up as they approached and cleared his throat. The other Heroes stopped their quiet chatting to listen to him.
"Now that we're all here, it's time to explain what's up." He spoke quickly, with the practised ease of having given this briefing before. "You probably noticed the quarantine barriers as you were brought here. Well, some of the local populace have been contaminated by a designer virus codenamed Outbreak. Outbreak is derived from Rikti biological weaponry, but we've encountered it before, albeit a different strain."
He paused, looking around at the assembled Heroes. "We've identified the immediate source, and it's not contagious, so you don't need to worry about infection. However, the virus magnifies aggressive tendencies in the victims and suppresses the rational portion of the mind, turning them into violent psychopaths, who will attack anyone and anything. Even if their unfocused violence doesn't kill them, their bodies will shut down under the constant strain eventually. Our task is to develop a cure before that happens."
One of the other Heroes raised his hand to ask a question. Flint didn't seem to notice as he continued his briefing. "Since we've had some experience with this virus, we already have a good start. We have a cure for several previous strains of Outbreak. All we need is to learn how this strain differs from previous ones, so we need a number of blood samples from the Contaminated. You will go out in teams of three to various locations in the area to obtain the samples, which you will take to Doctor Miller at the field hospital behind me, and return here for further assignments."
He looked down at his clipboard, and read out the first three names. "Moonglove, Heaven Leigh and … Seyshara Sanjiyani?" The hesitation was obviously through trying to work out how to pronounce it correctly, which he had. The two cousins stepped forward, as did the woman who had followed them off the bus.
"It says here you have medical training, Moonglove." The woman nodded, although it wasn't a question. In any case, he didn't look up from the clipboard. "We need at least ten different blood samples. I assume you know how to get them. Heaven Leigh will contain the Contaminated for you to do your job." He frowned at what he was reading, and looked up to Leigh. "I've got Fire Control listed here, but no secondary focus…"
"I can't seem to get the hang of using fire defensively," the Controller replied, embarrassed. "And I don't seem to have much talent for anything else."
"Perhaps you should have trained as a Blaster, then." Not the first time that advice had been given, but Leigh had never liked hurting people. "Probably good that you didn't, though. Control is more useful here. Seyshara, you're designated Tanker. I'm sure you know what that means."
Seyshara nodded. "Keep the opposition away from my team-mates." Like Leigh, she'd had a choice of which Archetype to register as. The offensive option was called a Scrapper, and she might have taken it had her Strength been a higher class than her Invulnerability. Not that either was particularly weak, according to the scale employed by the Federal Bureau of Metahuman Affairs, and further training would only increase her powers.
"Exactly," Flint nodded. "Head down the street and get your Medicom patches from Doctor Miller. Then Sergeant Hicks will show you the district to which you've been assigned." He turned to the other Heroes and read three more names from his clipboard. Moonglove started toward the ambulance visible a few hundred yards away, stopping several paces away and looking back at the cousins. Leigh and Seyshara hurried to join her.
"So, medical training, huh?" Leigh asked cheerfully. "Does that make you a Defender, then?" That was her mother's Archetype, although she rarely consciously used her powers. Neither cousin knew exactly why, only that it had something to do with how she'd gained them. Moonglove laughed and shook her head.
"Hardly. We don't fall into the standard classifications."
"We?" Leigh asked, confused. Then she realised what the other woman must mean. "You've got a Kheldian in you?" Kheldians were alien beings composed of energy. In order to exist outside their home dimension for any length of time, they had to merge with a living creature, which usually caused the host to gain energy-based superpowers. Such joined beings were known as Peacebringers.
"Nictus technically," replied Moonglove, "although she prefers the term Warshade. A Nictus uses its host with no regard for the original personality. A Warshade is a Nictus who's realised that's wrong, and exists in symbiosis with its host, like Peacebringers always have. There's more to it, of course, but it's mostly old history."
"That's interesting," said Seyshara, as her cousin spoke up with a smile. "As long as you're one of the good guys, that's all that matters, really."
When the trio reached the field hospital, Doctor Miller smiled at them. After giving Moonglove a medical kit, he handed what looked like a nicotine patch to each one, explaining its purpose.
"These are emergency transponders. They monitor your health and will activate a teleportation system should you be in any danger of dying. You'll be transported to a regeneration unit within the ambulance for recovery. These are only temporary, with a very short range. If you decide to complete your registration as a Hero, you'll get a permanent Medicom transponder implant, with a much larger range."
"How large?" Moonglove asked.
"Anywhere in Paragon, and we have a few reception antennae out in the Rogue Isles. Not many, though. They'll all bring you back to the nearest hospital so you won't waste much time getting back to wherever you fell."
"Where do these patches go?" Seyshara asked, looking down at it and wondering how they were going to get an implant through her skin.
"Over the heart." He looked at the three woman, before addressing Moonglove. "You can use the ambulance for privacy." Leigh and Seyshara exchanged quiet grins. Their costumes were revealing enough that they didn't need to be removed to place the patches. Indeed, Leigh's costume would probably get her arrested for indecency if she weren't a trainee Hero. Heroes could get away with more than normal citizens could, although they also had far greater responsibilities.
"Thanks," Moonglove said somewhat sarcastically, climbing into the ambulance and closing the door behind her. She stepped out a few minutes later, and turned to the others. "Let's go find Sergeant Hicks, then, and find out where we're supposed to working." She sounded irritated.
"He's over there," Leigh pointed to a police officer approaching them, having seen him as they'd neared the ambulance. "At least I think that's Hicks." She glanced quizzically at Doctor Miller, who nodded as he readied a second set of syringes and patches for the next group, which was approaching from the parking lot.
Sergeant Hicks directed the trio to a run-down section of the city area. Dozens of men and women roamed the streets wielding knives and pipes, picking fights with anyone who came close. If there wasn't anybody close enough, they attacked cars, mailboxes and traffic lights.
"Looks rough," Leigh commented.
"If they didn't think we could handle it," Seyshara responded, "we wouldn't be here. Let's get to work." Without another word to her team-mates, she ran forward to a pair of Contaminated who hadn't actually started fighting each other yet. "Hey there! You guys think you're tough enough to handle me?" she shouted at them, as they became aware of her presence. One of them grabbed a rock and threw it at her, hitting her on the shoulder, before pulling out a knife.
"That all you got?" Seyshara taunted with a grin. The other Contaminated dropped his pipe and pulled out a gun. "That's more like it. Let's play!" She jumped in the air and backflipped before rushing into melee range of her foes. She focused on the gunman as the greater threat. Not so much to her, but her team-mates could get hit by a stray shot. A cloud of hot smoke materialised around the head of the other man, causing him to choke uncontrollably.
Seyshara jabbed out at what was chest height for her, expecting the Contaminated to crumple. Being only four foot tall, her fist struck the man in a somewhat vulnerable spot, although it seemed the virus dulled his pain receptors, as he barely flinched. Instead he clubbed her across the face with his pistol. Even with her Invulnerability, it hurt quite a bit, almost stunning the Tanker.
"Gonna take more than that," she replied almost automatically. Not much more, though. This guy's stronger than the training bots. Unwilling to use too much force on an innocent victim, she hit the man a little higher, with a similar result. Did Monolith reduce the power on them for me? Monolith was Andromeda's Tanker, taking his Hero name from the Stone Armour his magical talisman summoned. Have to ask him about that later.
As the thoughts flashed through the small Tanker's mind, a bolt of dark energy passed over her shoulder and hit the Contaminated, knocking him back onto the street. He didn't get up. The other one had passed out due to lack of breath from Leigh's smoke. Seyshara looked around to see if there were any more Contaminated closing on them as Moonglove approached, looking at her hand in wonder.
"Either I'm getting stronger, or you hurt him more than it seemed," remarked the Warshade, taking a pair of syringes from her medical kit, and kneeling next to the knifeman to check he was still alive.
"Hopefully both. I'd hate to think my punches were that ineffective." Seyshara replied, still keeping an eye out for trouble. "I think we need to talk to Monolith about power settings, Heaven Leigh. These guys hit harder than his training bots, and this is basically just a proving exercise."
"That's what I was thinking," the Controller said. She looked down at her cousin curiously. "Your blood's purple?"
"Blood?" Seyshara touched her forehead where the man had hit her. Her hands came away smeared with a lilac fluid. "Wow. Haven't seen that stuff for years." Moonglove stood and took Seyshara's head in her hands, examining the wound and staring intently into the Tanker's eyes.
"Not concussed," she concluded. "And the cut's not big enough to bleed much more than it already has." Nevertheless, she dug a plaster out of her medical kit and fixed it over the cut.
"Thanks."
"Can't let the Tanker fall. Not when she's keeping us Squishies safe." Seyshara smiled at the term she'd heard Monolith use frequently during her training. Many Tankers used it to refer to most of the other Archetypes. Only Scrappers were exempt, their role being up close and personal like Seyshara's. She found herself wondering how the other Archetypes referred to Tankers. Meat shields, probably.
"Better get on with it," the Tanker said. "The sooner we find a cure, the better."