Taylor walked down the hallway, intent on at least getting her homework handed in early before she had to deal with anybody from the Herd. Personally, she thought that her original name was uncreative and a little bland. Just calling them the Trio gave them power in a sense. Cool or powerful things came in three's. The Triumvirate. The Holy Trinity. Those weird orange popsicles that her Dad always buys that tasted like blueberry but were delicious. No. Instead, she called them the Herd. Because that's what they were. A collection of dumb cows. Idly, she wondered if Ben's abrasive wit had been rubbing off on her. She grimaced at her phrasing. That's a yep, she thought as she opened the door to Mr. Salz's class. He was a math teacher. An old man that worked hard through the Civil Rights era as a police officer, and eventually became a teacher after he was injured in the height of his career. He was a nice guy though, he didn't treat anyone from the Herd extra-favorably, and didn't treat her any worse due to their rumors. Though, half the time she wondered if that was because he didn't care, or because he was so close to retirement he didn't want anything screwing up his pension. For a seventy five year old guy, he drove a sweet Camaro. Though, Taylor mainly liked it because it was hot pink. Apparently he let his husband choose the colors. That did lend more weight to the "Doesn't give a damn" theory, though. Walking into the age old Winslow classroom, she greeted him politely.
"Hello, Mr. Salz. I've come early to drop off my homework." He was a little bit on the overweight size due to his age, but not extremely so. Just slightly "muffin topping" out of his work pants. Overall, he dressed in khaki slacks, a black belt, and a white business shirt. He was cleanly shaven, with a neatly cropped top of curly gray hair.
"Very well, Hebert. You are dismissed." He nodded sharply, and accepted her work. He took a few seconds to flip through her work, before he looked back to her.
"Is there something you need Hebert?" His gruff tone cut an imposing figure, even if he had to walk with a cane these days.
"Ah, um, I was wondering if I could set up one of those revisionary tests for a few weeks from now? I just got a tutor, and was hoping I could up my score on an older test." She asked while wringing her hands. He was actually really forgiving with what most teachers deemed "Extra Credit". His tests and quizzes were harsh. But, he allowed you to retake them as long as you took a max score reduction of 10% every time it was retaken. He encouraged these tests, and as a result, most people got B's from his class and had an actually good grasp of the materials. The quiz she was specifically retaking had been given a score of 0 due to "absence". One of the Herd stole her normal clothes in gym, and while she was making a formal complaint, another "accidentally" dropped juice on her shorts. It was a sticky three hours. Salz nodded.
"You know the drill, Hebert. Bring back your copy of the quiz, fill out the required form, and hand me a list of dates that are available to you." He reminded her sternly. She nodded in response and thanked him. As she turned to leave, she was stopped.
"Hebert, according to my notes, this is the fourth retake in as many quizzes. Is there a problem?" Taylor turned around and simply shook her head. She was a hero now. She couldn't be bothered by simple bullying, even if it hurt.
"Very well. But please do remember, if you are enduring sacrifice, then endure for a worthwhile cause beyond your own pride. It doesn't end well. That's from my own experience." She nodded. He had confronted her about any "problems" she may have had twice now. She understood why as well. Given his history, discrimination, even from cliques probably sat badly with him.
"It's fine, Mr. Salz. I've got a new tutor now, and I just simply wanted to improve some test scores. No point in letting my grades go down because of pettyness." He nodded.
"That attitude will get you far in life, Hebert. But, do remember, I will be here from six o'clock to five-thirty, if you wish to discuss any issues with the course." She nodded, thanked him once more, and stepped out to make her way to her first period class. Maybe, in some other world, if the Herd had been allowed to get worse than before, she would have accepted any teacher offering help. But now, she was a hero. And being a hero meant you had to be stubborn, and unfaltering. Like Armsmaster and Miss Militia. A stray thought crossed her head. God damn it Ben!
She sighed in relief as she opened her lunch. She sat alone, mainly because she didn't want anyone else to be forced to deal with the Herd, and because no one else in her grade was brave enough to stand up. A few seniors were sometimes willing to share their table when they saw the bullying get harsher than they accepted, but even then, that was only occasionally. She was pretty sure Mr. Salz tipped them off, because they were part of some of the activists clubs he ran. Apparently, the Herd still hadn't managed to figure out her pattern for walking to classes this week. Mainly because she hadn't been to her locker in two weeks. She had cheated a bit and used Upgrade, the Galvan Mechamorph, and her Galvan form, name not decided, to rig up a small storage cube, mounted to her backpack, to store all her books, notes, and personal belongings. It had happened under Ben's supervision, during one of their training sessions, and he approved. He said he personally would have pranked the hell out of them, even now as a professional hero. Maturity was overrated, he said. Taylor blanched. Yeah, maybe to the guy who could literally do anything, maturity would be overrated, she supposed. She took some of the time to do some research on her mentor. Apparently, even though he shouldn't exist, just like the PRT told her from their database, since he was born on Earth Gimmel, his non-cape name was totally legit. Ben Tennyson, lived in Los Angeles, went to Boston for college, now attends graduate classes as a nineteen year old in Harvard. Show-off. Even the tutor support program, which she had never heard of before, was magically created. Hell, it even had other members, and some seniors that she recognized walking around Winslow. She pulled out her phone, just to double check. It was an old flip phone brick Ben got her for normal use and emergencies. Not exactly appealing, but some good old Upgrade and Galvan cheats made it run as fast and work as well as any modern smartphone on the market. Another bright note, Ben literally punted it and it took no damage. He said he used to own two phones in case of emergencies. Being a hero had smashed a ton of his personal stuff, so he just carried around a smartphone for personal use and the brick for hero use. All of a sudden, her phone was swiped from her.
"Oh, what do we have here? Does the slug have a crush? And quite a handsome one too. Too bad you're too ugly to get a guy like him." A voice chimed in from behind her. She turned around. It was the three main cows. Sophia Hess, Emma Barnes, and Madison Clements. Sophia Hess was her nemesis. And Taylor was hers, for some reason. She was the star of the track team, and was fairly pretty. She had dark skin, and long curly hair, all pinned together by a trendy tight T-shirt and short shorts ensemble. The next leader, was Emma Barnes. Her ex-bestfriend. In the span of two weeks, she went from best friend to hated enemy. And Taylor didn't even know how. She wore a white cashmere tube sweater with the shoulders cut off, and had red hair, and impressive assets for a fourteen year old. Her dad was a high powered and successful defense attorney. The last one was Madison Clements. Not much political power, just a generically rich family. Brown hair, trendy outfit like the others. Slightly shorter, and had a pixie cut, and often used her "cuteness" to get out of trouble. If anything, she was only in the main three cows because they seemed to tolerate her the most. She noted that Sophia was the one who swiped her phone. Sophia took one more look and snorted, before handing it to Emma. Immediately, Emma's superior look was dashed from her face. She huddled with the other two, discussing something. From what Taylor could hear, apparently her sister had a crush on Ben, who often visited the Mr. Smoothie at the docks she worked. Anne mistook it as an interest in her, and not the food. She held in her snort. It would be funny, if Anne wasn't such a nice person. Taylor met her a few times when Emma and her were still friends. She should have Ben set Anne straight, or at least give her a chance. Eugh. Matchmaking. The Herd parted once more and faced Taylor. Sophia was apparently disgruntled by whatever they had discussed.
"So, how do you know this guy, Slug?" Emma asked. Taylor frowned.
"What's it matter to you?" She couldn't actually call her a cow. It would be flipped so fast, the Olympic gold medalist in Judo would be surprised.
"Just wondering why an A-lister like this guy would be caught dead around you." Emma faked a gasp.
"You aren't blackmailing him are you? That's illegal, and I wouldn't be surprised if you stooped that low to get attention." She sneered. Taylor frowned, and then it hit her. They wanted his number. Ha, she thought. And they took her phone in full view of the cafeteria supervisor, so they knew they had to return it. Taylor snarled back.
"As if. He's part of a tutor program for credit for his University, he goes to Harvard as a graduate student. Ben's a prodigy." That shut them up good. Apparently, confirmation that she actually knew Ben made them stall in their thoughts. Madison opened up fire next.
"Woe is him then. To be assigned to a little troll like you. Maybe you should cancel the tutoring and put him out of his misery." Taylor frowned. That one actually hit deep. She was chosen. She was chosen, because she was hero material, and Ben said so himself!
"Actually, he chose me." Taylor started. Damn, she thought. That opened her up to more questions, and she just wanted the Herd out of her sight.
"Huh, and why would this guy choose you, Slug?" Sophia again this time. Taylor frowned. Excuse, excuse. Anything that wouldn't somehow tarnish either of their reputations.
"Yeah, you spreading your legs for this pedo?" Madison threw out. Taylor almost gagged. She found Ben good looking, but after the past two weeks, he was a brother more than anything else.
"First of all, Madison, get your head out of the gutter. Second, he's my cousin. He was born in California." Why the hell did Emma look hurt, was the first thought that popped in Taylor's head. Oh, she's sorry that she didn't keep her in the loop after literally getting stabbed in the back multiple times by a lance. Taylor calmed herself down. This was not the time. She could vent later. Emma came up to her and handed Taylor back her phone. This time, she wasn't as confrontational.
"Well, you've proven you know him. And I know you heard us talking about my sister. So we're willing to strike a deal. We'll leave you alone, if you give us his number and get him to go out with Anne." At this, Sophia literally growled before being shushed by Madison. Well, now Taylor knew who the main aggressor was. But, she still frowned. Could she actually throw Ben under the bus figuratively? Even after all he's done for her? The teaching, the actual tutoring that somehow always stuck, the companionship? A memory of her first day out on the job resurfaced. Five seconds later Taylor handed over the number, and some tips that Anne could use to get him to open up. Payback was a very delicious dessert, Taylor noted as she finished her lunch. Emma thanked her politely, and Sophia reminded her that this was only temporary before being dragged off.
Taylor was sitting at home working on her homework in the living room. Her dad was passed out on the couch from a food coma. He came home early today, to try and salvage a little of their relationship. Taylor though absentmindedly noted that it was a fun night, but it only worked because her mom was involved. They spent the entire afternoon shopping and making her mom's awesome lasagna. After they finished eating and reminiscing, the silence started up again. She jolted in shock as the front door flew open. What the hell? How did Ben get in without any keys?
"I jimmied the lock." Well, that answered that. And it answered why he jimmied the lock instead of just knocking. He was mad. Not actually angry Taylor could tell, but definitely uncomfortable with something that happened earlier today. She smirked.
"Hey Mr. Hebert, me and Taylor are heading the library. That cool?" Taylor shivered. This was not going to be fun. Her dad woke up slightly before nodding. Ben built up a fairly good rapport with her dad. Apparently having someone who had an "in" with the upper class by virtue of education helped a lot with his work, and got him some connections that normally he wouldn't be able to get. Heck, Taylor was pretty sure her dad and Ben were having a meeting with the mayor next week to discuss possible policies on where to place the "structurally unemployed" dock workers. Ben had used that term at the first discussion, and the mayor immediately tuned in, because apparently it was a fairly solvable problem if properly managed, and would get him a fair amount of clout for re-election. Taylor followed Ben out of the house, and turned around to lock up. Once the door was locked, she turned to face him. He was leaning on his car. A green muscle car with black racing stripes. She couldn't put an exact thumb on the make and model, but she was pretty sure it was some sort of Mustang.
"Are you kidding me Taylor? You actually gave that girl my number?" His voice came out exasperated. Taylor frowned. What was the problem? At the very worst, he just had to go on a date with a very pretty girl once. She voiced as much. Huh, so that's how he looked at idiots, she noted. Very condescending. Man, her confidence really shot up in the past few weeks now that she took inventory of her thoughts. Ben fished out his phone, and showed her the message screen.
"So what, she sent 16 messages? I mean, that's not exactly normal, but I'm pretty sure she's crushing pretty hard. Anne's super quiet, and doesn't talk to guys much." Taylor told him from what she remembered. Ben sighed.
"Move your thumb." Oh. Oooooh. Taylor was pretty sure she made a grave mistake. Ben had only responded to the first few messages before apparently ignoring her. For good reason.
"One Hundred and Sixty?! What the hell?!" And now that she got a closer look. What the hell was wrong with Anne? Some of these messages are plain weird. Was that a marriage proposal?! Well, there was only one thing to do then, thought Taylor. She puppy pouted at him.
"Pwease go on a date with Anne. Emma will make Sophia stop buwwying me." Ben sighed, like a man walking to death row.
"Three weeks." He held up three fingers to punctuate his response.
"Yay, you're the best brother ever!" Taylor clamped a hand over her mouth. Ben looked at her quizically before smiling.
"Yeah, yeah, just get in the car brat." Taylor let out a sigh of relief. She had no idea where that came from. Well, she knew, but there was nothing on Earth that would get her to admit it. Wait. Aliens were real. Damn it all.
"Come on, you're about to find out about the most boring and exciting part of being a hero!" The false happiness in his voice was only offset by the twitching corner of his mouth. Taylor raised an eyebrow in response.
"We're going on patrol." And with that, he clicked his keys. Taylor watched as the car transformed. Plates shifted out of the way, thrusters were formed, and even blasters came out of the hood. When it was done, it looked like it came out of some sci-fi show mixed with that Mad Max movie her dad loved. She watched as this time, Celestial, not Ben, jumped in the front seat and snapped his fingers. Why were her clothes so heavy all of a sudden? Taylor looked down at herself. Her plain jeans instead became some form fitting white pants made out of some smooth cloth with a green stripe running down the sides. Her sneakers changed into green and white patterned high tops, and her shirt was replaced with a black t-shirt. She was also wearing a somewhat dense green jacket, similar to the one Ben wore, with a large emblazoned ten on the right side. She quickly touched her face, searching for her glasses only to find a domino mask. She checked it out on the polished side of the car, it was white. And, she noted, she looked amazing. Even though she wasn't a looker, somehow she now looked at least like a solid seven out of ten.
"The entire outfit is made out of Galvan nanoweave. Not a single Earthling firearm will pierce it, but the concussive force behind the bullet won't be fully absorbed, and you're not wearing a helmet, so you still gotta be careful. There's a small stun baton strapped to your back, it's for when you run out of charge." Taylor nodded gratefully. That was how she was first caught afterall. She had no clue that the Omnitrix needed to charge. It wasn't a debilitating drawback, in fact it charged stupid fast, and lasted nearly eight hours on one charge. She jumped in the shotgun seat.
"You figure out your hero name yet?" Taylor smiled sheepishly. She hadn't, she had actually been planning on just using XLR8, since it was her favorite form anyways. Celestial sighed.
"Well, you better figure one out soon, or else I'm just going to start introducing you as Astro-girl, sidekick to the all powerful, handsome, and amazing Celestial." He stated. Taylor gagged on the cheesiness.
"Hey, what happened to the dual voice?" He raised his eyebrow at her before nodding in realization.
"I only use it when I want to make an impression. I actually forgot to use it during our meeting with Miss Commando." Taylor blushed.
"Could you stop calling her that to her face?" Celestial floored the gas and Taylor totally forgot all her complaints in favor of screaming at him to slow down. All she heard was the blast of the engine, her own screams, and his roaring laughter as they sped down the street.
"Gallant, reporting in." Vista sighed. When she first heard that she would be going on patrol with Gallant, she couldn't be happier. Shadow Stalker was apparently in a bad enough mood that she snapped at the Director, leaving her on monitor duty for the next few weeks. Meaning, that instead of Shadow Stalker, Gallant had to roll onto patrol duty and cancel his date with Glory Girl. Win-Win right? Wrong. Gallant had spent the last hour pretty much sulking. And occasionally shivering when he stared at the night sky for too long. Vista had no clue what the second thing was about. She played with her green wave patterned dress and helmet while she thought. Gallant's metallic fingers snapping in front of her woke her out of her daydreaming.
"Look alive, Vista, we've got capes down on Eisler avenue." He whispered, ducking into the alley nearby, intending to shortcut his way towards the fight and make use of its cover. Vista followed, debating on whether to use her powers for a faster response, or to save it for the fight.
"Who do we got?" She asked Gallant. She watched him press his helmet, and she could tell he was frowning.
"Two on one turf fight. They called in the big boys. Oni Lee's duking it out with Hookwolf and Stormtiger. Think you could get us there faster, Vista?" Missy nodded, her blond pigtails batting back and forth. While she couldn't compress space with living beings in it, due to the Manton Effect, she was able to allow living beings to cross the compressed space threshold. In about three steps, they covered about six blocks. Gallant pulled her, once again, into a nearby alley once he got a hold on the situation.
"I see them, they're duking it out. I think Lee's stalling for backup, cause both of the E88 capes are trying to wail on him." Gallant said as Vista peeked out. Vista nodded in agreement and frowned. While Gallant was a fairly powerful Blaster and Vista was a very powerful Shaker, their actual powers didn't lend them well to being actual frontliners. If anything, they were both extremely powerful support types, allowing BrowBeat and Aegis to take down enemies with little to no risk, due to failed return fire thanks to Vista, or a distracted opponent thanks to Gallant. She had no idea how they would fight them. Hookwolf was a high rated Changer. He could convert his body into a mass of steel and blades that converged into any form, normally he chose a wolf. Stormtiger, on the other hand, was a Striker. He had a fairly encompassing aerokinesis ability that let him even have empowered sense and hearing, along with extreme concussive air blasts. Oni Lee was the worst however. He was a powerful mover, capable of teleporting anywhere within line of sight, and leaving a fully independent ashe clone behind. Combined with the concussive and explosive grenades on his vest that got copied with him, he was literally a walking, teleporting all-purpose blast. She turned to Dean.
"How are we gonna deal with them, Gallant? You know we can't fight them head on. One of them's Oni Lee, and the other two are some of the strongest E88 frontliners!" She shout-whispered. She watched as Gallant hummed in thought. Then his head shot towards down the street. Vista watched as Stormtiger said something to Hookwolf, and both backed off from Lee, stopping the fight. What was going on? Wait. Vista could hear it now. Was that... an engine? Her head snapped towards down the street. She could hear it loudly now. A green car rounded the corner, drifting across the street at high speeds. It was covered in what was obviously Tinker tech, modified engine, thrusters, and even blasters mounted to the front. She watched as, in the middle of the drifting maneuver, the driver calmly stepped out of the car from the driver's seat, letting it spin around him before perfectly parking itself parallel to the street in an open spot by the corner, and the door slamming shut to centrifugal force. What. The. Hell. Did she fall asleep watching an action movie!? Was this a god damned dream?!
"Uh, HQ, looks like the two new independents are here. And Celestial just broke Vista's perception of the world." Gallant stated into his receiver. Vista quickly recuperated after being called out like that. Unlike the girl who was stepping out of the passenger side. She watched, as the hero, Celestial, calmly walked over to the parking meter, and whip out his wallet from somewhere, and start feeding quarters into it. This was so god damned surreal.
"How. How did that even work?! The laws of physics don't work like that!" Vista could hear the shouting of what she assumed to be XLR8 from across the street. Preach it sister. Vista strained her ears to hear Celestial's response.
"They do for me." He shrugged. Vista was ready to go home now. This, was just too much. XLR8, however, apparently wanted to continue berating the universe for the affront to the world her mentor just pulled off.
"Why are you putting quarters into the parking meter?" XLR8 asked deadpan. Vista watched Celestial stare at her. And he was radiating what seemed to be disappointment from his glare.
"We're capes. Not savages." Huh, it looked like XLR8 was done too. And it looked like Celestial ran out of quarters. A loud coughing sound rang across the silent street. Apparently, Oni Lee had been trying to hold in his laughter the entire time, and was losing the battle.
"Oh right. Villains. Sidekick, Vista, and Chivalry you three deal with Oni Lee. I'm going to go play with the puppy and the kitty." Vista was shocked. For a multitude of reasons. One, the sheer insanity of the statement. Two, the fact that Celestial somehow knew she and Dean were here. Three, the sheer speed that Celestial moved after the statement, and finally, four, what he called Hookwolf and Stormtiger.
"Puppy!? I'll show you a fucking puppy you motherfu-" Hookwolf was blindsided by a black blur along with Stormtiger. The next thing Vista knew, both villains were pinned against a brick building by their throats by Celestial. The next moment was even more chilling. She watched as Celestial stared into the "eyes" of Hookwolf. Then he started speaking. A dual toned voice carried his words through the streets.
"You know, I don't like gangs. There's only a few I can actually tolerate. Hell, to be honest, I actually somewhat like the ABB! They don't even kill non-gang members. I mean they're brutal, and an illegal operation, but they have honor and courtesy backing them up. Their boss can even be loosely construed as a hero for his actions against Endbringers." He stated. His grip tightened around the two villans' throats before he continued speaking.
"But you. You guys do some pretty nasty things. I mean, drug rings, forced prostitution, assassination, the whole nine yards. The E88 is the worst of the bunch. Money, I can understand. Greed is a powerful motivator. Power, I can understand as well. But your gang, is founded on nothing but a combination of anger and misplaced hatred." He paused once more. This time, leaning in close to Hookwolf's face.
"I'm going to enjoy breaking you." He finished in a whisper, that was heard by all that were there. Vista honestly thought Stormtiger just soiled himself.
"Mommy." Hookwolf meeped out. Then all three of them were gone. Vista gulped. She now knew why Gallant was so scared of that guy. Speaking of Gallant.
"Dean, pull your god damned thumb out of your mouth, we have to fight!" Vista didn't know how, but somehow, Gallant had managed to suck on his thumb THROUGH power armor. Dean nodded, but did not pull out the thumb. His life was flashing before his eyes, he deserved some form of safety blanket! Screw it, he'll just hug Vista!
Vista looked around. Oni Lee was still there apparently, laughing his ass off at the entire absurd situation. Gallant was hugging her tightly, in a way that she did not appreciate. And XLR8 was staring at them like they were idiots. Vista sighed, this was going to be a long night.
Taylor sighed to herself. This was going to be a long night. Immediately after Celestial had pulled that insult to Isaac Newton, he ditched her! Well, not exactly. Rather, he put the fear of a wrathful and angry god into two of the most dubious capes in the E88. Then ditched her! She rubbed her temples. She had been hanging around Ben for too long. She'll just vent on Oni Lee, she supposed, maybe after a good fight the world would return to normal.
"Oi!" She called out. Immediately, the villain's back straightened, any sign of his previous cackles disappearing. Taylor noted that Vista had finally calmed down Gallant, both of them walking up beside her to provide support. Vista leaned close to her.
"Do you have any frontline forms? Me and Gallant are mainly support based power sets. That fire Blaster form that you call Upgrade would be useful, or even XLR8." She asked. Taylor frowned. She accidentally turned into a Pyronite on her first night out and accidentally called out Upgrade. She'd have to fix that misconception eventually.
"Yeah, I've got two or three that I can use. As soon as I transform, I'm going to rush him, make sure he doesn't get too far away from me got it?" Vista and Gallant nodded in response. Taylor flipped through her choices, before slamming the activator down. Out of a flash of green light, came the speedster reptile. Taylor knew Oni Lee could teleport, but Taylor was faster than he could react. In two seconds, she was already attempting to knock lee out at five hundred miles per hour. Her clothesline move caught him in the throat. Only for ashe to take his place. Crap, Taylor thought. She knew he couldn't have gone far, his PHO page said that his highest recorded leap had been around fifty feet, and that he had to have a breather depending on the distance. It was powerful, but costly, according to the researchers that studied his ability. She slowed herself down to a normal pace, and the world started moving again. She turned to Gallant and Vista, both on edge.
"Okay, we know he couldn't have gone far, is there anyway we can track him?" She asked the two. Vista nodded.
"Yeah, I'm a Shaker remember? I can weed him out using the Manton Effect." Taylor nodded. That was actually really smart. If she tried to compress certain areas where only humans could be, and she couldn't compress it, it would lead them right to him. And, he wouldn't even be able to know they were on to him. She watched Vista close her eyes in concentration, before turning around.
"There. I can't compress a ten by ten block of space in the second room of that building." Taylor nodded, before Gallant cut in.
"You sure it's him? Might just be a homeless guy." He pointed out. Vista shook her head.
"This is a deserted housing district that the ABB uses to store weapons and occasionally heavily injured gang members. They keep this place under heavy lock and key. If it's not Lee, then it's Lung." Vista confirmed. Taylor nodded, her mask slamming over her face.
"I'll meet you and Gallant outside the room. We'll catch him by surprise." Taylor rushed off, prepping to fight her first cape. She ran around a multitude of houses before stopping in front of the building Vista pointed out. She quickly ran up the wall and through the window on the other side of the building. She slowed herself down, sneakily moving up to the door. As soon as she got there, Vista and Gallant popped into existence. If it wasn't for the mask, Taylor was almost one hundred percent sure she would have blown their cover right there. Taylor turned to Gallant.
"On three." He mouthed. He brought up his fingers. One. Taylor tensed. Two, she focused on her senses, bringing time up to as slow as possible for her. Three. She was already in the door, going for another clothesline maneuver, this time using her tail to take him out at the legs, ensuring he would be caught. Her tail caught, and he was ashe again. Damn it. She slowed herself down, and turned around. Oh no.
"First day, huh?" A rich baritone streamed out from the demon mask. He was holding a japanese short sword in his right hand. His left arm however was more important. It was wrapped around Vista's throat. Taylor could hear Gallant's growl as he primed his blasters.
"No wrong moves, got it, loverboy?" The accentless voice rang out again. It was almost like he was conducting a business venture, Taylor noted sourly. Taylor nodded at Gallant, who lowered his arms. She started negotiations.
"I thought you guys don't kill innocents, especially not kids." She put forth. Pulling in his honor would go a long way towards saving Vista she hoped. She watched Lee nod.
"We don't. The ABB is like the yakuza of old, we don't even threaten our...constituents with any truly lasting harm. Honor and family are truly important to us, as well as the proper rights of battle." He paused and hummed a bit, blade tilting side to side.
"But, you are not innocent, are you?" Taylor's breath hitched, and she could tell Gallant's did as well. Oni Lee laughed.
"But, you are still children. I won't kill her, no. But, if my demands aren't met, she'll be short some pieces." He threatened. Taylor growled. This was bad. This was really bad. She had no choice, and she knew Gallant came to the same conclusion.
"Fine, what are your demands?" He asked, putting on the front that the PRT teams taught him when dealing with hostage situations. Oni Lee nodded.
"You will both power down. Then, you will open the window. As you both know, my power lets me independently control ashe clones that I leave behind after teleporting. One wrong move before ten seconds after my escape, and I'm not sure if I could keep my clone's hand from slipping." He stated. Taylor nodded, and so did Gallant. She tapped the dial on the Omnitrix. And Gallant turned off the small defensive measures in his suit, before removing the stun blaster Kid Win had installed. They both held their hands up, away from their respective weapons. Oni Lee nodded at Gallant and motioned towards the window. Gallant slowly walked over, and pulled it up.
"To be quite honest, you could have beaten me fairly easily if you had experience. Especially you." He said as he motioned towards Taylor.
"You move faster than people can even think. Yet, I still outpaced you. Would you like to know why?" Taylor scowled. She nodded reluctantly. He cleared his throat.
"You, like the other two, are predictable, because you are young. If you truly thought about it, you would have acted differently. My power, is to teleport within line of sight, and leave a decoy. I do need breaks for long distance jumps, yes. Had you not rushed in, and the other two positioned better, we would not be in this position. You are faster than me in all forms, besides short ranged movement. You could fight me yourself. Loverboy over there has no reason to be in the room with you, and not protecting the girl. Or, you could have thought it through, and entered alone, without the other two in line of sight. I know the girl can manipulate space with but thoughts and senses, she does not need to be in the room to help you. And neither does the Blaster. He even has armor, so even if he was visible to me, I could not harm him without risking killing him. Is this all not true?" She gritted her teeth. He was right. Had they made a plan, instead of blindly rushing in, they could have at least fought back. Now, they were at his mercy. Lee chuckled to himself.
"Ah to be young. Cocksure that your powers proved your superiority. I miss the feeling. But, I digress, I have reminisced and stayed here for too long. Lung is expecting me. Sayonara." And he collapsed into ashe. Taylor rushed to Vista's aid, calming the young girl down with a hug. Gallant had put his metal covered arm through the wall in a fit of anger.
Miss Militia sighed. This had been a long night. She was pretty sure she was about to grow gray hairs at the age of twenty one. She turned to the two E88 members they had picked up.
"Not the litter box! NOT THE LITTERBOX!" One was screaming. The other was in much the same position.
"OH GOD THE SQUIRT BOTTLE. IT BURNS!" She sighed. The worst part about it, was that Hookwolf was afraid of the litterbox, and Stormtiger was afraid of squirt bottles. It made even less sense than what had already occurred. She turned to the one responsible for their sorry state.
"What did you do to them?" She wasn't entirely sure she wanted the answer. He shrugged. Well, at least she wasn't Armsmaster she supposed. The headache of actually dealing with him, had to be less than the headache of finding information on him. She nursed her coffee, hoping that it would give her strength. Celestial turned to face her.
"How did Armsmaster like the T-shirt?" She frowned and sighed, before rubbing her temples again.
"There are now eight computer shaped holes in his steel lined laboratory wall. How do you think he liked it?" She asked, deadpan. He shrugged again. Maybe she should have done the background check. There's no way that website could be as infuriating as actually dealing with the man. She sighed. She turned towards the Wards and Celestial's protege, drinking some coffee and hot chocolate out of the back of a PRT van, draped in some blankets.
"They're pretty shook up." She said, more to herself than anyone else. Celestial nodded. She frowned. That seemed out of character.
"Shouldn't you be consoling her, or mentoring her?" She asked, accusingly. She actually thought she saw a glimpse of a frown ghost across the other hero. He motioned with his chin towards the Wards again. Hannah watched more carefully this time. It seemed, that out of the three, XLR8 was the least shook up. She was supporting Vista, who was leaning her face into her side, and chatting with Gallant to distract him from taking out his anger on anything.
"She'll be fine. She's made of tougher stuff than you think." Hannah nodded, in agreement. He was right, she supposed. This time, he sighed. It actually startled her a little bit.
"When I was first started, my first major loss shook me up pretty bad. In fact, I wouldn't even be surprised if she's just hiding the pain of her loss by trying to support others. But, she'll pull through." He said nostalgically. She nodded. But, his statement did pique her interest.
"How old are you anyways?" He looked at her in surprise.
"I started being a hero at ten years old. I'm currently nineteen, almost twenty." Hannah choked on her coffee. The man who could be more professional than Armsmaster was her age? Oh god, she realized. He wasn't some random older guy that knew about her "preferences", it was actually someone her age. That all of a sudden made it feel a fair bit more real.
"That's surprising. Did you have a team then?" He nodded, but didn't continue. Hannah wisely backed off. There was a quiet silence, fairly comfortable if she thought so herself.
"Would you like to play a word game?" This time, Hannah DID spit out her coffee. No way in hell was she getting trapped in that Thinker trick. If anything, there wasn't a Thinker rating high enough or a hole deep enough for this guy.
"I watched the recording of your last word game." She said, leaving no room for response. She would rather not be humiliated in front of peers and superiors like his sidekick.
"Pink. Unexpected, but not unappreciated." She flushed. How. She literally bought those on the way to work this morning!
"Somewhere, out there, there is a hole, that not even you can escape. And I will find it. And drop you in it." Venom laced her voice, her true intent showing through.
"That's the closest thing to threatening I've heard all day. Cute." How the hell does nothing faze him!?
"Are you two flirting?" A young girl's voice cut through their banter. Immediately, XLR8 was the focus of both of the senior heroes. They were not flirting!
"You know, Celestial, you shouldn't do that to Anne." This time, her voice was teasing. Hannah was actually excited about this. She would get to see the Thinker power of humiliation in use, without actually experiencing any of it. Hooray for unknowing sacrifices.
"Desk, second drawer, fake bottom. Under bed, third floorboard is loose. I'll tell your father." His grimace was directed at his apprentice, and immediately Miss Militia could see her light up like a Christmas tree.
"I'll be good." He nodded. He then turned towards Hannah.
"Send my regards to Armsmaster." She snorted.
"He'll be more likely to drive his Halberd through your stomach after what you put him through." She mused aloud.
"Yep. Now come Astro-girl, sidekick to the amazingly handsome, all-powerful and stylish Celestial, we need to make our first appearance on the news, and you need to fill out my paperwork." Miss Militia actually laughed this time. Mainly due to the dawning look of horror on XLR8's face as her mentor approached the small crowd of reporters who were working the late shift and looking for a juicy story.
"Bye Miss Militia! Celestial, you can't be seriously introducing me as that! That's cruel and unusual punishment!" XLR8 shouted as she ran after the man.
AN: WOOO FIRST FIGHT. Some Spoilers pertaining pacing ahead.
So, the main thing about the fight, is that Ben's part was totally absurd. That was intentional. They're literally bugs to him. Less than single cell organisms even. So he pretty much does everything he can to spice it up. Which includes being totally absurd and surreal for the situation. Now, onto the actual fight. The thing about the aliens, is that they're actually really powerful compared to their worm counterparts, but only if perfectly used. For example, XLR8's mover rating is just one step short of being able to just straight up fight the Triumvirate with mover alone. As it is now, she could stall for time against Eidolon or Legend assuming XLR8 is used perfectly. But, as you can see in this chapter, Taylor doesn't have the experience. She has extreme powersets, but she can't fight them on even ground because many of the capes in Worm are entirely focused on tilting matchups into their favor as much as possible.
Spoiler part over. Read and Review. And to the guy who wanted a retcon about the T-shirts, here it is.
Armsmaster's True Nemesis: The Background Check
Colin was normally a calm man. In fact, it would not be unfair to call him stoic. For he was the mountain in the face of the oncoming evil. Which was why Assault was getting worried after the third computer flew through the wall that connected their Protectorate offices. Oh, there goes the fourth. Oh, it actually crashed through Velocity's office next door. Huh, he didn't know Colin was a brute. Calmly getting out of his desk, and walking towards the door, careful of any flying electronic debris, Assault turned to his right and knocked on Arsmaster's office door.
"Hey Armsy, you alright in there bud?" He asked. A loud groan of misery was the response.
"I'm assuming that's a no. I'm coming in, don't throw a calculator at me." He turned the knob and stepped into the office. He whistled. Trashed office, shredded furniture, smashed desks, heck, even the lights were flickering. A ten out of ten office in a zombie apocolypse movie. And, laying on the ground, for some reason in only his boxer briefs, was Colin.
"Uh, explanation?" Colin pointed to the freshly unwrapped computer monitor. Assault strummed over. On the desk was the file of the new independent, Celestial, and a couple bolded lines from the transcript of the interview. He turned to the monitor.
"Omnitrix the website , home to the great and almighty Celestial? Colin, how the hell does this cause that?" Assault asked as he waved out to the rest of the room. Colin mumbled something through the carpet. Click the symbol? Eh why not. A half an hour straight of clicking later left Assault no longer pondering the issue.
"So, you're throwing a tantrum because this guy, who is from a different dimension by the way, has the heroing career of your dreams?" Colin nodded on the floor.
"Well, might as well drop this info off at the Director's office." Immediately, Armsmaster shot up in all his semi clothed glory, and slapped Assault in the face with his electric underwear baton. Then, he hip threw him through the wall, into the chair in Assault's original office. When he wakes up, he'll be none the wiser, thought Colin. No one must know.
A couple hours later...
"Hey Colin, this t-shirt with that hour glass symbol you-"
"Underwear Baton, Hip Throw!" Armsmaster shouted as he tossed an unconcsious and memory cleared Velocity through two walls. He took the T-shirt and piled it on with the others. No one must know. Now, to delete that website. This time, Colin made it through five minutes before he tossed the computer through the wall again. This was going to be a long night. And there was no way Colin was going to ask for Dragon's help. Just the thought of that space themed bastard woo'ing her made him want to snap his halberd in half. He started unwrapping the ninth computer of the night. Instead of the normal Dell symbol however, that cursed hourglass appeared again! Torch it! He must torch it all!
And that is why Armsmaster's lab and office is now in the PRT offshore HQ. The general consensus was that there was no living way in hell that Colin could burn that to the ground in a fit of jealousy induced rage. No one besides Miss Militia knew why he was so jealous however, only that mentioning Celestial made him stroke his halberd in glee.