Reality Bites Worm
3.1
Kate drove up to the gate and got a visitor's badge, she didn't know it had a tracker in it. She parked in front of the Union Hall, took her duffle and went in. She was wearing a domino mask. She was shown to a room and changed, then went down the flight of stairs to the ground floor and into the conference room she had been shown.
Thy looked at her "Mouse Protector."
Kate nodded "In the flesh."
Thy nodded "You are a successful independent."
Kate sighed "Ravager, a nemesis, put a hit out on me to the Nine. Eidolon chasing them around is the only thing keeping them from killing me like they did her."
Thy nodded "Any idea why he is chasing them and when he might stop?"
Kate shook her head "No clue."
Thy nodded "I see. OK, let me take you over to the training tower for evaluation and testing. You are in luck, we have a group of ten Protectorate capes just starting this afternoon so you can start your six weeks with them. I think you know Miss Militia." Kate smiled broadly. Thy nodded "This does not mean we are accepting you, but the Watch will get you trained while we decide. We have enquiries in with the Triumvirate."
Hannah looked up as their last member came in and smiled at the distinctive mouse ears on the helmet "Mouse Protector!" She hugged Kate lifting her off her feet.
Kate returned the fierce hug "Miss Militia!"
Leslie cleared her throat "OK catch up on your own time Ladies. The purpose of this exercise is to-"
RBW
Kate lay on a bed in the dorm later "Fucking ouch."
Hannah laughed, Janet, Battery groaned. "What the hell, we tried the logical way."
Kate nodded "Who the fuck were those people? Were they the class in front of us?"
Hannah shook her head "The evaluators and instructors. The class ahead of us was spread out along the first floor waiting. I thought the speed run would work."
Jennifer, Rime, nodded "I did as well. Damn those people hit hard."
Hannah sat up "Hang on a few minutes. Skitter and Panacea will be by to check and optimize us."
"That's what happened to the wards?" Janet asked.
Hannah nodded "They didn't know it at the time, but them laying hands on together lets their powers synergize in you. You will be the best you can be in six weeks. Stronger, faster, your powers will settle if they haven't already."
Jennifer arched a brow "That by itself might be worth the ten K per hero."
Janet turned on her side "Vista is going to switch to the Watch. She and Shadow Stalker nearly came to blows in the ward dayroom."
Hannah sighed "Shadow Stalker was a mistake. Without her we might have had three of the Watch in the wards."
"It's better they stayed out here and dreamed this up. Besides, you know the Protectorate and PRT were gunning for Hecate. All bad information and deception by the local police and PRT contacts of theirs, but still. She is better off out here. And I want a Hellhound. I saw a Hecate walking a beautiful Husky." Jennifer said.
Hannah shook her head "Don't fall in love. Hecate watches us train, and if you ask at the end she matches you to a dog. If she approves of you. The matches take one hundred percent of the time. Then Skitter and Panacea do stuff to the dog."
Kate asked "Stuff?"
"Make it live longer, be healthier, optimize it like they do us. Apparently, if it is going to fight with its partner, they do improvements to it. Subcutaneous armor, increased strength, like that. Those dog's metabolism is amped way up. Somehow their mental capacity increases. The K9 troops and cops swear the dog is the smartest partner they ever had. Then they go back into training for a week. Mostly to show the handler what the dog can do. All of them are bomb, drug, tracking, scout, search and rescue qualified. The dogs are ones in human terms. In dog terms they are tens.
"There was one case of one's handler getting taken down and the dog went full hellhound. It got about thirty feet long. Hecate had to go get it and keep it until the handler was healed by Amy and Skitter." Hannah supplied.
"I heard about that. I thought it was bullshit." Kate replied.
"I can show you the PRT file. Its heavily redacted. The handler triggered because she couldn't save her dog, or so she thought. Brute five." Hannah shrugged and winced. "The pair of them mauled Cricket, Storm Tiger and forty bangers. Cricket and Storm Tiger lived, lots of bangers didn't."
Jennifer nodded slowly. Janet smiled "I can't wait until we get Parian costumes. Supposedly the bras are great."
"Built in to the underlayer I thought?" Jennifer asked.
Kate smiled "Inventory says seven bra and panty sets."
Janet snickered "Bullet proof to .338 Lapua, flame resistant, bra and panty sets."
Jennifer sat up and dug in the packet of paperwork "Holy crap. That's ten thousand dollars of Parian clothes right there. Oh wait, wow, the Protectorate pays for the clothes too." The others laughed and groaned more.
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Taylor drummed her nails on the table. Legend expected sparks, or chips, of the glass covering the table, to fly. "So, Eidolon is attacking the Nine constantly. He has taken them all down, but Bonesaw puts them back together when they wound him enough to escape. Now bounty hunters, capes and normal, are getting in on the action. Hanging at the periphery of his fights with them and trying to pick them off. They have gotten Chuckles, Hatchet Face, and Cherish, whoever the fuck she is."
Legend sighed and nodded "Cherish was a new recruit, we think."
Taylor tossed up her hands and walked off.
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Taylor listened to the alarm and put on a pair of Oakley's. Dragon being in their net was a good thing as well as a mental exercise for Lisa. The other girls followed her lead. The Wards blinked recognizing the Oakley's and got out their own. They were all in the cafeteria for lunch.
Lisa sighed "Simurgh. Madison Wisconsin."
Lucy nodded "What the fuck is she doing though. She isn't singing and she doesn't look like her tampon is sideways like she normally does. The girls wrinkled their noses but still snickered. The Wards looked a little green drawing more snickers. The sirens died and everyone relaxed. Lisa shrugged "Life's so good she wanted to check it out?"
Taylor shrugged as they gathered up their things. "So, Mouse Protector?"
"I see benefit and the Nine are a bit busy, plus they were going to come for us eventually anyway, they always hit powerful teams. Or individual capes. Jack has an inferiority complex or something. We will have to work on some plans for the fuckers though." Lisa shrugged. Then she smiled "The bounty hunters might be crimping his style though. I heard unpowered folks are getting in on the act. Just Joe average with his deer rifle and his friends style of a thing. Somebody added up the dead rewards on them. If you get them all, between the government and private rewards, it's a hundred million dollars."
Lucy smiled "Drop them in the ocean and Skitter can have some real predators introduce themselves."
Vicky nodded "Shatterbird? The real predators might have a little trouble with her."
Amanda sighed "Still working. Polycarbonate instead of glass is as far as I got so far."
Taylor shrugged "That new parcel we bought has an oil refinery on it. I guess we need some chemist."
Lisa gave out hugs "The University has a chemistry department and engineering school." She waved and headed off to class leaving the others thinking about it.
RBW
The other women on the floor were drawn to the laughing and stuck their heads in. Everyone was wearing domino mask. The first floor of the Union Hall was now the women's floor, with open bays accommodating eleven women per bay. The Second floor was the men's with the same kind of arrangement.
Kate looked at the Watch as Skitter and Panacea went around and did their recovery "What happened to 'pain is weakness leaving the body'?"
Taylor laughed "Patrol after two a day training sessions while we were on our periods. Mark and Leslie got a little carried away in zombie land. Oh, you are on with us. Come on over here and let's tune you up before we go to the rock drill."
Kate smiled broadly "So I'm a Watchman now? Yay!"
Vicky grunted "Yeah yay, patrol of Weymouth mall on Christmas eve. I'm going to kill L33t. Those fucking automatronic things hit hard and quick. That last one was so fast my shield hadn't recovered. I had to take that hit on my forearm."
Lisa snorted "That's freaking Uber studying us and then studying how to beat us, oh, hey, he can learn how to make polycarbonate and tell us!"
Kate shook her head "OK, I have to go get in costume."
Amy waved her down. "Sit. Parian is bringing your new one over."
Amanda nodded "We got a whole lot of tinker tech toys for you too. L33t has opened up finally, like Toybox said he should. I don't know if his power was trying to kill him before, but it loves us now, or something. He will have paid off in two years at this rate."
Sherrel nodded "Still can't build it but one time. Dragon can take it apart do the design so humans other than tinkers can figure it out though, Armsmaster optimizes and shrinks it, and then we build it, or she does in the shops with those remotes. It's crazy. We license a lot of the stuff. L33t is designing stuff all the time."
Jennifer stuck her head in and walked in "You are taking Mouse Protector on the Watch? You are all crazier than I thought." She was smiling though. "So Simurgh is enjoying Christmas in Madison and we are all just going to go about our business?"
Hannah walked in behind her "She is just hanging there at twenty-five thousand feet. We can't affect her and she isn't doing anything that anyone can tell. No emission at all. I'm not going to put my life on hold until she gets her panties out of the bunch they are in."
Sherrel huffed "I want to know how she emits nothing and just hangs there. Sure, powers are bullshit, but that's bullshit." The others laughed. Simurgh was emitting something. Frustration for every tinker on the planet.
Sherrel changed the subject "Every idiot who waited too late is going to be at the freaking mall. This is going to be a pain in the ass. How did we draw this shit detail?"
Lucy blushed "We drew cards in ops for it. Hey, at least we don't have border patrol. You know E88 is going to kick off Weinacht with a bang like always."
Hannah chuckled "Calvert's team got it. He was pissed."
Rachel growled "Fuck."
Jennifer nodded "Concur. He needs to retire."
Janet came in "Tell me about it. I'm on ready reaction, we always get called with him. Assault and Triumph as well. Armsmaster is taking the wards around the outside of the fence."
Sherrel shook her head "Maybe the mall ain't so bad. The City side of the fence is fucking awful. I think it got worse as we cleaned our side up."