Chapter 2-6

While Dad and Director Piggot were busy with the paperwork, Armsmaster led me to a gym on the bottom floor for testing. Or preliminary testing, as the hero insisted.

"Any testing we now will only tell us what you're capable off today. The Wards will train you, which should increase the strength and control of your powers, or at the very least allow you to use them more creatively. I fully expect that in the coming months, we will have to test you again to reassign your ratings."

"What exactly do the ratings mean? For me, that is."

"On their own, not much. Powers are complex and varied. You can't boil them down to a few numbers and expect to have a complete read on what you're capable off."

"So what's the point then? Is it just short-hand?"

"Pretty much. Imagine if we have to send you over to another city to deal with some crisis. The ratings will give heroes who've never met you a reasonable understanding of your limits. I would like to stress that ratings do not indicate how valuable you are to our organization or how powerful you are in general. You will not use them to compare yourself to others." That last part sounded vaguely like a threat, but I wasn't sure if he intended it like that.

"You don't want us getting competitive over this."

"Exactly. None of us chose or earned our powers. We got them because we won some cosmic lottery. You shouldn't be proud of something that was given to you from on high. It's the training and effort you put in that truly matters." He sounded a little upset, but I chose not to pry. Armsmaster was The Boss, in a way. Unless you count Piggot. I wasn't sure where she stood in the superhero pecking order. Somebody would probably tell me when it's relevant.

The gym wasn't what I was expecting. For starters, there was something that looked like an industrial-grade press sitting in a corner. Probably for the people with super-strength. On top of that, it was large enough to pull double duty as a soccer field. Then there were the devices that looked like they came straight out of a science fiction movie. All in all, my sense of awe still wasn't fading. I had no idea if I was walking into a gym or a medieval torture chamber.

Better nip that train of thought in the bud.

There weren't many people using it this time of day. Then again, it was still morning, so I guess most of the Wards and PRT agents had other duties. Armsmaster directed me to two people: a friendly-looking elderly man in a lab-coat and a teenager in a rust and silver costume. "I will leave you in the capable hands of Dr. Jackson and Aegis. You and Aegis will spar so we can see the extend of your abilities and know which tests we have to perform later."

"You want me to fight my future teammate?" I asked, surprised. It sounded like a terrible way to make a first impression. "No offense, but what if I hurt him?"

Aegis smiled. "It's Taylor, right?" I nodded. "Well, you don't need to worry about me. I've got back-up organs and regenerate almost instantly. Being a meatshield is sort of my job. Don't take this the wrong way, but whatever you've got, I've probably taken worse. You won't need to hold back."

"If you say so…" I wanted to say: 'I bet that's what Lung thought too', but that'd sound too much like bragging and I was feeling far too nervous to be witty.

"Aegis usually acts as our front line in combat, Taylor." Armsmaster reassured. "There are very few people that can seriously injure him. Before I go, two things for my report: We found a large, circular hole melted into the ceiling of a nearby warehouse that the ABB uses as a staging ground. I will assume that is your doing?"

"I guess…If I try hard enough, I can use sound waves to break up wood and stone. It takes a lot of effort, though."

"Fair enough. Secondly, could you show me the weapon you used to eviscerate Lung?"

I blinked. Did he really just ask that? In public? In front of a guy I was supposed to fight in a few minutes and with a tone that sounded like he was talking about the weather? I could hear a strange sound escape Aegis' throat, like a small whine. He was probably reconsidering his previous statement right about now.

This had to be some sort of in-joke. There was no way someone like Armsmaster could be this blunt. "Taylor? Your weapon, please."

"Oh…oh, right." I snapped out of it and called the weapon forth. The familiar three-pronged glaive appeared in my right hand, as always.

Aegis stared at the weapon and with a look on his face that I couldn't quite place. Dr. Jackson stepped forward, took a pen out of his pocket, and slid it past one of the edges. The pen was sliced neatly in half. "Hmm, interesting." He said in a voice that sounded far too calm and fatherly for someone talking about something this deadly. It was rattling that someone could be so unfazed by a massive knife that grew out of someone's hand. "I suppose this is sharp enough to cause the injuries we saw on Lung. While we cannot be sure thanks to his regeneration, I'm willing to guess that this is the weapon you've been looking for. Is this the only weapon you can summon?"

"Yes. I tried everything, batons, tasers, guns, even regular knives. This is the only thing that comes out." I remember trying for weeks to get something else. Preferably something non-lethal and more heroic-looking. To my dismay, it never worked.

"And the same counts for your suit?" I tensed a little. The doctor shouldn't have known that.

"Yes." After a second, I added. "How did you know about that?"

"I read Armsmaster's preliminary report on Lung yesterday. I didn't know you were the same girl until Armsmaster informed us. As for the weapon, it looks like it's supposed to be thrown, like an overgrown shuriken. You'd have to talk to Miss Militia about that. She knows more about weapons than I do, for obvious reasons." The doctor said with a smile. He reminded me a little of what Dad was like before Mom died. "In any case, I think Aegis would appreciate it if you didn't use it on him."

"Please do." Aegis said. "I'm not sure if I can regenerate from being sliced in half."

"I'm sure it won't get that far." The doctor replied with a fatherly smile on his face. Armsmaster had already left. He probably had other things to do. "We'll just have to be careful. Let's start slow and work our way up from there." With that, he got behind a forcefield of some kind and started working on his equipment. "Alright. Taylor, Aegis, whenever you're ready, you may begin.

Aegis nodded to me and raised his fists into a fighting stance. I steadied my breathing and started thinking. Being the Wards team leader, he'd have a huge advantage when it came to experience. He'd fought supervillains in the past and had trained with other capes for years. I didn't have that. That said, I still have some advantages of my own. For one: I knew what Aegis' power was: flight and super-fast regeneration. He didn't know what my power was. I could catch him of guard with the right kind of move.

The Ward made the first more. He stepped forward, ready to attack. In the blink of an eye, I pushed and sent him flying. He hit the ground, rolled a couple of times, and went still.

Wait, what?

That didn't make any sense! The guy leads the freaking Wards! There's no way someone like Aegis would go down that easily. I hit normals with the same blast and they were still walking afterwards. It's not like the attack was lethal: his heart was still beating and his breathing hadn't stopped.

Dr. Jackson walked out of the forcefield with a shocked look on his face. "Good God, Taylor, you killed him…" There was something off about his voice, though. I didn't get the impression that he was being entirely serious.

"No, I didn't. I can hear his heart rate and his breathing. He's fine." The doctor suddenly laughed. Then it hit me. "You can stop playing dead now, Aegis."

I heard Aegis, alive and well, laugh. "She didn't fall for it at all. Great. So much for our official Wards initiation. Clockblocker will never let me hear the end of this."

"You should have seen Kid Win's." The doctor said to me. "He tried to improvise a defibrillator on the spot."

"'Mutant cattle prod from hell' would be a better description. That thing hurt more than his laser pistol did. Anyway, I think we can add 'Thinker' to the list too, right Doc?"

"Well, she's got superhearing, alright. How far does it extend, Taylor?"

"I can overhear conversations at least 30 feet away if I focus." I answered. "Any further than that, and it gets hard to make out words. I can remove sound too, by the way." With a gesture, I silenced myself and stomped the ground a few times before banishing the effect.

Aegis looked at me thoughtfully, probably thinking of ways to use it in the field. "Impressive. How about you show me what else you can do." He said, before taking a fighting stance again. "I promise I won't take a dive this time."

I smiled and nodded. Aegis lunged at me and I fought back. The first thing I noticed is that I still have a lot to learn when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. Aegis was a lot slower than I was, but he knew where and how to hit. I just wasn't skilled enough to dodge him, even if I could see the blows coming a mile away. Infuriating.

"Stop." He said. "Look at your hands. See how your fingers are covering your thumb? Don't do that. You'll break something if you punch too hard."

I nodded and corrected myself before taking another swing. I managed to hit him square in the jaw. Not that it did any visible damage. On top of that, I had the suspicion he let me hit him just to see how strong I was. Like I said, infuriating.

That said, I liked it. Sparring with an actual human being was fun, even if I was probably embarrassing myself. It made me angry, but in a good way. Having a regenerator around was a great way of blowing off steam.

Aegis dodged another one of my pathetic flailings masquerading as a right hook and landed a one-two punch straight in my chest. Hard enough for my shields to flicker into existence. The hero seemed surprised for a moment before tackling me and knocking me to the ground.

"You've got a forcefield?"

"Yeah. Tough enough to take a few of Lung's fireballs."

"Huh. Does it regenerate?"

"It does after a few seconds, I think. Haven't tested it much."

"Great. This is gonna take a while." In that, he was absolutely right.

I pushed Aegis off me and sent him flying. The hero reacted quickly, though, and used his flight to land on his feet. So much for that trick. I started thinking. What else did I have at my disposal? Aegis regenerated, so I couldn't really hurt him. I'd have a better chance breaking down a brick wall with my fists than to stop him. My pushes knocked him back, but his flight compensated for that and I didn't think it dealt any real damage. Silencing myself wouldn't help much: I was in clear view and it'd only screw up my concentration.

On the flip side, I didn't think Aegis could really do all that much to me either. When it came to raw strength, he still had human limits. My shield could take a hell of a lot of damage before going down; I didn't think the hero had the firepower to get through it, let alone cut through the armor as well. Still, that wouldn't help me beat him. Could I even beat him? I beat up Lung, after all. But I used my glaive for that. Right. That wasn't an option now. Miniature earthquake? No, I'd damage the facility. Attrition, then? I had excellent stamina. Maybe Aegis got tired? I couldn't think of anything else to do.

As it turned out, Aegis didn't get tired. Or at least, not fast enough. My arms were getting tired, my reflexes were slowing, and the hero showed no signs of exhaustion at all. Fucking regenerators.

Eventually, Aegis tackled me, slammed my body on the ground, and I couldn't bring myself to get up. "Okay, boss, you win." I wheezed. In spite of my morning runs, my stamina still left a lot to be desired.

"You lasted twelve minutes." Somebody said. Right, Dr. Jackson. "Not bad, I think."

Aegis smiled and asked me: "Just for the record: did that shield ever go down?"

"Not as far as I could tell." I replied. "Just for the record: do you ever get tired?"

"I can't. Part of my power. You tried grinding me down, didn't you?"

"Couldn't think of anything else. Punches weren't enough. Powers weren't enough. Couldn't use the glaive. You're infuriating to fight."

"Guilty as charged." Aegis snickered. "You got what you needed, doc?"

"Enough for a preliminary report. That is, unless Taylor has something to add?"

"No, I'm good." I said. If there was anything else to my power that I know of, I would have thrown it at Aegis already. Armsmaster already told him about the lethal stuff.

"Excellent. You kids go have fun now. I'll call you if I need anything else."

Aegis picked me up off the floor. "Good to have you on the team, Taylor."

"Thanks." I said, smiling. I actually managed to impress. "So…what happens now?"

"Now? Put on some civilian clothes. Most of the team is still in school right now, but I managed to get Kid Win and Clockblocker. We'll have lunch. Hang out. How does that sound?"

It sounded like something normal teenagers did with their friends. In other words, an utterly alien experience for me. I was looking forward to it.

"Sounds great."