Hello! This is my first attempt at making a fic, so sorry if it's kinda bad. This was inspired by SeerKing's Worm - Waterworks, so go check them out! This is meant to be a one-shot because I have no clue how to make anything else. People are welcome to try and adopt my stories if they want! Oh yeah, this is Rated-T for swearing and blood, just so you know!
-Missy-
Missy Biron did her best to ignore the sound of her parents arguing downstairs for what was probably the millionth time, although the fact that their voices seemed to grow to near shouting did not help. Her mother was once again berating her father for god-knows-what, something about him being seen at his secretary's home this morning? Her father was now shouting back, saying her mother had embarrassed him, drank in public again most likely. They'd already been divorced, but seemed keen on arguing face-to-face rather than on the phone, frustrating their forgotten daughter.
Once the shouting match had started she slammed her bedroom door and flung herself onto the bed, covering her head in pillows in a vain attempt to suppress their shrieking. She grit her teeth, thinking about how shitty her life was. Home was awful. School was little better, always boring since she couldn't hang out with the other Wards there. And of course, superhero work seemed to infuriate her more each day.
She was Vista, the strongest Shaker in Brockton Bay, yet people still treated her as a child. Despite the face she had the most experience in the Wards, she was never taken seriously. They never even considered assigning her as leader of the Wards, just the thought of it seemed stupid to them. Her suggestions and opinions were almost always brushed off as if she were three. She was a Ward, she doesn't need to be babied!
Shadow Stalker had once again insulted her during patrol, calling her a 'goody-two-shoes'. For once, Missy thought, she could prove her condescending teammate wrong.
Her father left, slamming the door on her mother. Of course, she still screamed for a few seconds before most likely grabbing a bottle of wine and heading to bed. Missy tiptoed to her wardrobe, grabbing the spare costume she kept secret from her parents. Once done putting it on, she slowly crept out of her room and pressed her ear against her mother's bedroom door. Once she confirmed her mother was asleep, she snuck out the backdoor. After a few quick steps and a space-twist she was two blocks away on a rooftop, not a soul noticing her departure.
"Well then..." she muttered to herself. "I wonder what's going on tonight."
Later
Rooftops, Lower Docks Area, Brockton Bay
The answer to that inquiry seemed to be 'not much at all.'
She'd gone searching through the city for any crime, yet all was quiet. She was now in an area she was warned to stay away from, supposedly being a hotbed for gang-related activity that the PRT nor Protectorate had the time for. That burned her. She was a hero too! She had powers others didn't have, she could deal with the crime! And yet the Protectorate wouldn't let her!
'It isn't fair, I'm forced to do photo shoots and publicity patrols but I'm not allowed to even fight?' She knew some of the other Wards felt the same, but not enough to do anything about it. All except Shadow Stalker. The former vigilante was rude, condescending, and as arrogant as they come, Vista did not like her, which is why the fact she even slightly agreed with her on this subject mortified the space-bender.
She was snapped out of her thoughts by the sounds of dogs barking and snarling. It sounded like a pack of them, but seemed muffled. She followed the noise to a warehouse, one that should have been empty at this time, but it was far from it. Instead, it was full of men and women, crowded around a chain-link ring, with Empire 88 banners hanging on the walls above them.
'Hookwolf's dogfighting ring!' Vista easily recognized with a shiver down her spine. The E88 enforcer was known to be brutal and took pride in hosting the fighting rings and other bloody sports. 'Trust me to find one when I can't do anything about it!' Vista cursed in her mind. Through the dusty warehouse window she could see Stormtiger and Cricket, two of the Empire's parahumans. She eased away from the building, not wanting to get in what she knew would be a deadly encounter if she were caught.
All she could do was send an anonymous tip to the police about the location, although it still infuriated her she couldn't do something. 'Weird, didn't see Hookwolf anywhere...' she thought as she hopped to another building. 'Maybe he got sick or something, wouldn't that be nice.'
Just as her thought finished, the sudden sound of footsteps drew her attention behind her. She looked over her shoulder, and saw a topless, muscular man with a swastika tattoo on his right bicep, wearing a silver, wolf-like mask over his face, with blonde hair.
Hookwolf.
"So, one of the little pups from the Protectorate dares to enter the den of the wolves by herself." The Enforcer said, rolling his shoulders. "I'll have to thank Cricket for telling me someone was lurking out here. I'll enjoy delivering your corpse to the PRT."
Vista didn't hesitate to compress the distance between herself and the roof several buildings away, stepping over it before returning it to normal and making a break for it. All she could do as she ran was curse herself up and down for being this stupid.
'If I ever get out of this mess, I am never breaking protocol again!' she swore to herself.
The sound of running feet behind her gained a metallic ring, and she chanced a look over her shoulder to see a large metallic wolf, made entirely out of razor-sharp blades.
Lovely.
Gritting her teeth, Vista bent space again, stepping off the roof and onto solid ground before restoring the building to its proper height. She was too exposed on the rooftops. She'd need the cramped streets and alleys to get away from the large wolf, and use her small build to it's advantage.
She continued running.
Hookwolf howled as he leapt off the building behind her and landed with the sound of metal breaking concrete, continuing his pursuit. She stretched the distance between them, but he'd leapt over it, swiping at her with a sharp and deadly claw. She barely managed to stretch space between them to prevent it, but forgot about his other foreleg. It batted her through the air and across the wall, grazing her head and making things spin for a moment. She spread the distance between them to the length of a football field before staggering up and running.
'This isn't good.' Vista thought fuzzily. Getting hit in the head was very bad for a parahuman if you weren't a Brute; the Corona Pollentia and Corona Gemma, the speculated source of a Parahuman's power, was located in the brain. Damage to the head could send your powers out of control. She probably got a concussion from the airtime a second ago.
Stumbling out of the alley, Vista held back a groan as Hookwolf followed her. She once again tried spread the space between them and so she could retreat, but her power was not fast enough. Maybe if she had more time, she could twist things into a pretzel around the Empire Cape.
Sadly, it didn't look as if she'd get that time.
Just as she thought that, a beam of powerful blue light slammed into Hookwolf and sent him flying back into the group of trashcans and dumpsters along one side of the alley.
"What the-?!" Vista yelped, gawking at the sight of Hookwolf sent sprawling like a ragdoll. The trashcan was embedded on his face. She looked around for who the hell had helped her, but it didn't look like-!
No, there! Her eyes widened as, on top of a nearby building, three giant figures stood facing her direction. They each stood side by side, barely visible in the night. She couldn't make out much, mostly their outlines and what looked like glowing blue visors.
The figures jumped down, the concrete under them cracking with the sound of metal. Now that they stood in the lampposts range, she could see them better, and her eyes widened even more at the sight. The one on the right was painted green, next to it's head appeared to be a machine gun, with more of them along its arms, legs, and hips, seven in total, with large missile launchers on its shoulders, an angry sneer on it's metallic face.
The figure on the right was the tallest, painted blue with a few yellow springs in its arms, and its 'hair' looked like blue deadlocks. Mounted on its shoulders were two smoking laser cannons, most likely what sent Hookwolf down. It had machine guns on its arms and upper thighs, with what could only be described as metal lobster claws just above the hands. Large smoke stacks protruded from its chest and ended near the shoulders. It's mouth was set on a thin line, giving no hint of emotion.
The figure in the middle was the shortest, painted red, on it's fat metallic belly was a white target. It had three machine guns, two on its arms and one on its right shoulder. It's head was rounded at the top, and its face looked to have a metallic beard, and seemed to be frowning.
Vista stared at them in shock, and realized that they were all looking at her! Fear gripped her, her senses screaming at her to run, but before she could get her legs to move the three giants approached, the ground shaking with each step they took.
The red one approached her, flanked by it's two taller comrades. It spoke to her in a gravelly voice full of concern. "You okay, miss?"
She was stunned by the concern she heard in the voice, but before she could speak an angry howl interrupted her, and she snapped her head back to see Hookwolf was already getting up.
The three giants tensed, forming a wall around Vista, surprising her even more. 'Heroes?' she thought.
Just before Hookwolf got to his feet, the short red robot shouted. "Wreckers, kill em!"
At the order, the blue and green robots began firing their machine guns at the metal wolf. The green robot's arm changed shape, forming into a metal chainsaw, and spoke in a young scottish accent, "This is going to hurt, a lot!" and stabbing the giant wolf with it, while the blue robot held him down with it's lobster-like claws.
Hookwolf struggled, grabbed the blue robot's arm, and threw them at a nearby building. The impact sounded with a loud crash, shaking the ground beneath Vista, before the red robot shouted at her. "Get out of here, quick!"
In a daze, Vista ran, the crashes and machine guns growing more and more distant, and once she got home she collapsed in bed, not believing what she'd seen.
The next morning, mangled, ashen body parts were found in a destroyed alleyway, when it was learn they were the remains of Hookwolf, Vista didn't comment. She wondered what happened to the beings who saved her.