I'm back guys! Haha, break over, it's time to get to work.
Disclaimer: I don't own Rising of the Shield Hero, nor do I own Worm. Original idea by Seerking.
Chapter 5 What It Means To Be Taught
[Glass Shield (Small)]
Attack: 35
Defense: 10
[Equipped Active Skill]- [Shatter Glass] (LV: 1)
Glass in the area shatters, becoming your force of will. Launches the glass in the area at target.
[Passive Skill Acquired]-[Glass Working]
Allows you to quickly and readily understand anything to do with glass making. Able to identify different types of glass, and possibly make it?
[Warning!]
Max Shield Limit Hit! Next Shield available in the next 24 Hours.
I hummed, taking a moment to get a good look at myself in the mirror.
My armor was skin tight, like a mix between spandex and leather. Green metal plated arm bracers looked good with the fingerless leather gloves I wore.
The lower half of my mask was covered in the same green leather, as was my torso and legs. Long dark hair spilled from my hood, and the upper half of my mask showed lenses trimmed in dull grey metal plating.
A bright red cape attached to my shoulders, offering a hood!
The cape was big enough to cover my whole body. Cape and cowl. Like that one old superhero, back from before capes showed up… Batman? I think it was Batman.
I stood tall, puffing up to look the part.
I looked good. Real good.
I could see that the passive effect [Light to Medium Armour Proficiency] was working it's magic.
I spun, trying out different poses, raising my dull grey shield in ways I thought looked cool. Like an actual superhero. Way better than the bundle of hoodies I wore against Kaiser.
Even now the thought made me feel uneasy. Like a rush of anxiety and cold thrill.
Kaiser would be looking for me. There was no doubt about that. I had to be prepared. But…
Limit on the number of shields able to absorb at a given time. Otherwise you'd suffer an influx of power that would kill you.
Yep. That.
I couldn't gather more shields for a bit, but the next one I'd be looking for would have to be a brick, a different type of rock, a gun.
I had to experiment with my power, learn if putting a different kind of rock would change the shield, not work, or give me a new one.
And maybe some kind of parahuman generated material. Like some kind of Tinkertech.
I'd have to wait a few days to even tackle something like that, at a guess. And that's if I could get my hands on Tinkertech.
A time manipulation device, or some kind of forcefield generator-Tinkertech would be a boon. Maybe it didn't even have to be Tinkertech, it could just be some type of material off of a parahuman that'd give special effects.
Just a small can of pepper spray turned into one of my strongest shields…. Between Glass, Metal, and Pepper Spray, my arsenal of offensive abilities significantly increased. Which is what I was aiming for for tonight.
"Alright… dad's knocked out, he usually sleeps pretty soundly after turkey, so… checklist. Armor, new shield, a map showing the outline of Empire territory throughout the city…"
I managed to find that one online. For some reason I was able to find it relatively quickly, and discern which pathing would be best to avoid any patrols or capes that would like to hunt me down.
All the notes and ideas about my power were in a small journal I bought, kept in a pocket in my leather armor in case I needed a quick review. A leather journal, cause it looked cool.
I had a feeling Kaiser wouldn't let what happened yesterday go. Luckily I had a few passive effects that helped me avoid danger, and plan for situations where I wouldn't be at a disadvantage if it happened again.
I blew out a breath looking through my journal. "Remember Taylor, three aspects."
I took some of what dad said to heart. If I wanted to be an effective superhero, then I'd need to figure out what I wanted to do.
Focus on defense, keep building up power and shields, while in the meantime I needed some form of self defense on a less physical level.
"It's the only way to survive." I muttered to myself, looking over some statistics I wrote down in my journal. "Independents have an astonishing death rate here in Brockton Bay, and with Kaiser on my ass I'll need the same level of protection as a Ward."
I had to focus on Utility and Charisma. If I could get a hold of expensive and rare materials before mass producing the shit out of them, I'd be too valuable to touch in the open.
And if I could get enough sway and goodwill, that'd eliminate reasons why people would come at me in the first place.
Of course I already wanted to help.
But after careful planning and consideration I figured out the best ways to really sell myself to public and media outlets.
Hopefully.
If not I had several different contingency plans in case my first five didn't work out.
I shut my journal. Put it away.
Sighed, slowly took off my glasses.
And really looked at myself in the mirror.
I was… fitter. Less an upright frog and more like a professional athlete. My armor didn't leave a whole lot to the imagination, and while I felt a little self conscious about that, there was this… certain dissociation between who I am, and the person I was seeing in the mirror.
It made me more confident. It let me fake being more confident.
"You got this." I whispered to the person in the mirror.
I took a deep breath.
Okay. It's time to get out there.
………..
Victoria Dallon
It was just another normal day really.
Dean and I were on and off again, Amy was working extra shifts at the hospital, despite my protests and attempts to get her out of the house and on a date, every once and a while I'd hear a scream or a gunshot, and swoop beat up a Nazi or a rapist.
All on the way to pick up my sister.
Brockton Bay was home. Maybe I wasn't the smartest blonde around, or the strongest cape in the city, but I had a loving boyfriend(sometimes), a loving sister, and freakin super powers.
There wasn't much to be depressed about, although I heard that wasn't how depression worked…
I jerked out of my random thoughts, seeing Amy standing patiently in the dark, dressed in her Panacea costume. Brown hair spilled from her hood, and I squealed internally at how cute she looked.
Dean's friend George said he liked mousy brunettes right? He seemed nice(from the two seconds I met him), maybe-
"Vicky." Amy called out to me as I started to hover closer to the ground. She looked up at me in her usual aloof tired way, and I flashed her a smile. She seemed a bit better after that.
"Ames." I smiled, floating down a few inches in the air. "How was work?"
"There were multiple accounts of proctalgia, due to people shoving cocaine up their asses. It was a group thing. Fucking Merchants."
"Oh." I hesitated, trying to find words. "That sounds… nice?"
"It wasn't."
She seemed extra irritable today.
"What crawled up you… nevermind."
"Some jackass new cape the PRT are looking for. I had to clear 4 hours of my schedule to identify any unusual effects of Trump induced biological changes. Which there were none. I told that skank ass bitch Piggot to fuck off and let me get back to my job. Honestly." She seethed.
Yikes. I haven't seen her like this in a while. The last time she was this upset was that uh… double date.
I winced remembering it.
It was a dark day.
I blinked, her words catching up to me. "Wait new cape?"
"Yeah. Apparently they fought off Kaiser yesterday, I don't really care. Look could you just pick me up? I've had a long ass day, and if I have to deal with one more idiot today I'm going to lose it."
I laughed nervously. "Right."
I turned around in a practiced motion, helping hoist her up on my back like we had done dozens of times over the last two years.
And then we were off.
Up high, Brockton Bay almost looked pretty. I didn't delude myself that it was, but from a observer's perspective, this would look quite nice.
Moving up a bit would mean fresher air, but tonight I wanted to watch the city life, in case there were any more people I needed to beat up savagely into the pavement.
"Oh hello."
"What?"
"New Indie. They look pretty good."
Whoever they were, they were a blur of green and dull grey metal, wielding nothing but a shield against a pretty big group of Merchants.
Granted they were Merchants, but it was still a group of drug addicted addicts wielding knives and low grade weaponry.
I set Amy down on a roof so she could get a better look.
"Huh."
I grinned to myself as Merchants unloaded shots into her chest plate, getting excited as the Independent didn't even flinch while ripping the gun from his hand.
A few sharp whacks with the shield on her arm and he was down.
This was a one sided fight, I could tell pretty easily. Still it was nice watching the teen(?) take apart the Merchants with decent accuracy.
I was taught a bit of martial arts myself, and even as a novice I could tell she had combat efficiency in spades.
She threw the last druggy on the floor, quickly pushing him on his back with her boot, grabbing his hands and tying them them together, just like the last thirteen guys groaning on the floor.
I decided to take the chance to get a good look at her.
She looked more like a traditional hero, complete with leather and spandex.
Dark green costume and armor, with hints of dull grey metal, with the body of a professional athlete. Strong coiled muscle, built for endurance.
She kind of looked like a slightly buffer basketball player, although that might have been her height and my bias towards the sport, having played on my school's team before I triggered.
There was a weighted silence as she panted slightly, looking slightly primal as she stood over the dozen or so bodies.
"Wow." I commented.
Her head jerked up slightly, giving a slight nod to show that she knew I was there as she caught her breath.
After a few seconds she let out a deep sigh.
"Sorry. I'm not really used to fighting."
"Could have fooled me." Amy muttered.
I was able to take a closer look, and the girl actually seemed 15 or 16, instead of around 18 like I thought. It wasn't the way she looked, more the air around her. It betrayed her mature looks. Long dark brown hair, the beginnings of abs. I could tell she definitely worked out hard. But she still managed to come off a bit shy.
"You didn't really waste any movement." I commented, floating down with Amy. "That's pretty good for a newbie. You have training?"
"Not really." She rubbed the back of her head slightly. "I just debuted yesterday actually."
Oh. Uh oh.
Ames scowled darkly. "Really now?"
The new cape seemed to sense the new hostility, shifting awkwardly. "Um… yeah?"
Even as Amy opened her mouth a terrified scream rang out, along with the sound of an explosion.
"Oh thank god." I blew out quickly, floating higher into the air. "Come on, let's check that out!"
"Vicky you're my ride!" Ames growled heatedly, although, it uh, might have been lost in the wind! Yeah.
Anything to take her mind off the crappy day she had today, hopefully whatever was going on in this direction would be enough to distract her from thoughts about the new cape!
I paused, brows furrowing at the scene.
Parahumans. Two of them.
Two… B-rated villain looking old dudes.
They were fighting in the middle of the street, kicking up dust and dirt as a pirate looking guy smashed up the pavement around the other cape. His hands in his pockets, a phantom image of something large and bestial looming over his upper body and head, looking more like a twisted version of a half man half lobster.
Meanwhile the person fighting him was even more bestial and savage looking.
Dirty, in a, stank greasy unhygienic way, with average height and frame. In his 30s maybe? Crusty brown skin and ugly snarl.
Whenever the claw'd guy got close, this warped space around the dirty guy pop'd, revealing clones of himself that'd savagely beat at the bestial projection.
It was a pretty epic scene from that description, but…
"You've lobstered yer last o' free breath!" The pirate wannabe cackled madly from the shell of his projection.
"Rahgh!" The other man snarled and bit at the air, spitting everywhere. "Wahr ga!"
"Yargh!"
I'm dealing with two idiots here. I glared flatly, before closing my eyes with a sigh.
"That's Captain Claw." I brought my attention to the two people just running up.
Ames looked hot and sweaty, which was fair, considering she probably just ran 2 blocks. Oops.
The other girl looked okay though, if slightly pale as her eyes searched the two capes fighting down the street kicking up rubble.
"You know him?"
She frowned worriedly. "He's part of The Taught. Teacher's group."
I felt my blood freeze a bit, a sudden anxiety making itself known.
"Teacher?"
"I've been reading up a bit." She muttered. "Captain Claw was a hero before he was abducted by the group."
That only made my anxiety worsen.
Teacher was a bad guy. On par with the likes of Heartbreaker or the Fallen. Evil. Ruthless and apathetic, he'd corrupt your mind. Control you like… urgh! I hated the thought. If this villain was here, then Teacher might not be far behind.
"I'll take him on." The shield hero narrowed her eyes, steel in her face as she frowned darkly. "Pull some information out of him, I know his powers, I think I can beat him. Don't know much about the other guy, but it looks like his power is just clones?'
I smirked uneasily, trying to shake off some of my anxiety. "A couple of normal dudes against an invulnerable Brute? I'll handle him easily."
"Don't get cocky." She warned. "He's definitely a brawler, and Captain Claw hasn't advanced on him yet either, for whatever reason they're fighting for."
"Got it."
"Alright let's do this!" She brandished her shield, charging in.
I grinned excitedly, following behind her. "I like your style!"
It's time to mop the floor with these two old dudes.
……………..
Taylor Hebert
I had no idea what I was doing!
Even as I rushed Captain Claw I had to psyche myself up to keep running.
Holding off Kaiser was one thing. And I almost died.
Facing off against a monster lobster man that could crush pavement like a sand castle, while I was equipped with unreliable abilities, was entirely another.
For one, my own strength didn't measure up to his.
Based off my stats, my strength had been raised way above the norm. Half a punch was enough to send a grown man to the harsh concrete.
And while I could smash bricks with the force of 5 sledgehammers, it didn't add up to actual Brute strength.
The person who I was gearing up to fight could probably lift a few tons of weight. Hit me with hundreds of pounds of brute force. My armor, which amounted to about four times the toughness of leather and metal, wouldn't hold up to that. My body wouldn't hold up to that, no matter what my Hp said.
Secondly, my offensive capabilities.
Half of them weren't tested, and I hadn't thought about going against another cape so soon, that wasn't the point in investing in my two new offensive shields, Metal and Glass.
The point in having them was the same reason the best defence was offence.
If I got between any large gang fights and needed a real parahuman move to attack, and if any Empire cape decided to attack me having some form of retaliation while I flee'd it would have upped my chances of escaping.
Not actually fighting other parahumans.
I got lucky last time, and now I was actively looking to fight a villain, a villain apart of The Taught. One of the most insidious groups out there.
Focus!
I needed to come up with a plan to beat Captain Claw, and quick!
Glory Girl had barreled into a clone, smashing its face in. I winced, a bit disturbed at the brutality, but reminded that they were just clones.
Deciding that it was the best plan of action(and because it looked cool) I quickly switched to my [Rock Shield], activating Rock Wall in my head.
I was launched into the air by the force of my wall pushing up at my soles, balling my hand into a fist.
[Metal Shield] I gritted my teeth. Metal Spikes!
My fist hit the ground with all the force of my strength and fall, cracking the pavement as jagged thin metal spikes burst from the ground in front of me, throwing Captain Claw and the projection around him back a few dozen feet.
"That's enough Captain Claw!" I scowled. "Get the frick out of my city."
Oh god that sounded so fuckin terrible. I withered internally.
My face heated up a bit, although not past the point of where it wouldn't be mistaken for physical exertion or a flush of anger. Thank goodness.
"Frick out of my city?" The man inside the giant lobster man taunted condescendingly, still taking with his really bad pirate voice. "What are you 8?"
"15 actually." I put my hands on my hips. "I know you're with Teacher. While you mock me about my inability to say cuss words why don't you go into an evil monologue about why you're here?"
"Think again." His smile bordered on a tad deranged. "I think you'd be a great student to bring to the Teacher."
A shiver ran down my spine. "Over my dead body."
"That can be arranged!"
He lunged at me again, and I hit the ground again to unleash another Metal Spikes from the pavement.
This time his projection took the full force of my attack, and I cringed as the thin metal scratched against the claws of his monstrous form.
Even so I put in motion my plan. I still needed to buy enough time for it to work, and lure him into a spot where he could fall for my trap.
Blinding Heat Spray takes a lot out of me. I mused. Leaf Storm is the most cost efficient of all my shields, but also the weakest.
The higher the defense rating is for my shield, the higher my overall armor rating is. Metal is my highest in defense, duh. But in order for my plan to work I need to have Rock on for at least 80% of the fight!
I'll need to conserve my use of ability attacks, which means I need to play keep away. If he gets his hands on me and knocks me out… then there's a good chance I wouldn't be myself afterwards.
The thought scared me, frightened me. The threat of having my own mind being used against me, being turned into something I'm not… I needed to go all out in order to beat Captain Claw.
I brought up my Leaf Shield. "Leaf Storm!"
As leaves obscured the area, I could hear his slightly unhinged laughter.
"Hide and seek now? Not confident in your strength? You were so cocky earlier!"
"A 15 year old girl vs a 30 year old man?" My eyes widened as my voice was thrown around in the ripping leaves. I grinned as this new feature was made known to me. "Doesn't sound like a fair fight!"
"It is when the girl is a Grabag little shit!" He snarled, whipping his head about trying to find me in the leaf storm. My eyes narrowed as I felt it dying down. In a couple of seconds he'd be able to see me again. I'd need to move.
The storm died down, and he could see again. I panted lightly, switching to my [Rock Shield] as I hid behind a sizable piece of rubble.
"Girl!" He slurred, sounding less like a pirate and more like a deranged psychopath. "Come out girl!"
I quieted my breath, squeezing my eyes shut as I concentrated.
"It's not as bad!" He yelled out. "Not as much as you think!"
I heard him flip over something heavy, hearing the crash made me flinch.
"You'll start to enjoy it even." My breathing picked up as his voice got closer. "Being one of The Taught."
My hairs raised.
I rolled forward quickly, raising my shield up.
His projection's large lobster-like claw grabbed the edge of my shield, claw as big as my torso as his other claw, in a quick and efficient method, grabbed me by the throat.
"Gotcha you little… vermin."
"That's-" I choked out, gripping and tugging hard at the claw around my throat crushing my windpipe.. "That's southern."
"I can talk however I want to talk yer pest." He gave me an ugly snarl. "Your little blonde friend isn't gonna come save you."
"I don't-" I managed to pry his claw easier on my throat for a few golden seconds. Take in enough air to back sass his evil rambling. "I don't need her to beat you!" I gritted out in a hissed breath.
My shield rapidly changed to an ordinate white with gold trimmings, and a feral grin lit my face.
Blinding Heat!
A bright white flash lit up the area.
"Gah!!" He snarled out, reflexively letting me go. "Son of a bitch!"
I was already down the street by the time he finished biting out that curse, rushing up through an abandoned building.
It was a rapid sprint towards the door to the stairs, even as I gritted my teeth when the front of the building exploded and the sound of angry psychopath became clear.
I had never moved this fast up stairs before.
It was a weird thought to have considering death was approaching, in the form of a misshapen and malformed lobster-man, but it did keep my mind off the overwhelming fear that threatened to take over my motor functions.
His projection must have shielded him partially from my blast. I thought with a frown, scrambling up through the second story stairs.
He wasn't supposed to recover that quickly.
Then again the general plan was just to distract him. As long as-
A lobster claw burst through a staircase door as I was passing by, gripping at my front in a harsh and painful hold, which would have probably broken a few bones if I hadn't been pushing back against it.
The door frame busted, splintering and cracking as the monster form of Captain Claw's projection burst through the rest of the door, Captain Claw himself sneering hatefully at the sight of me.
"You bitch." He seethed, horrible accent gone, replaced by a low condescending and slightly unhinged tone. "But it's okay, Teachers' gonna help you. He is, yes he is."
He jerked his head up-suddenly a wide and unnatural grin encompassing his face.
"But first you need to be punished." He hissed, laughing crazily under his breath.
His grip tightened tenth fold, and if I hadn't had the air being crushed out of my lungs I would have given a loud painful scream as I felt my bones cracking and twisting under his grip, tears in my eyes as I felt one of my ribs snap.
And then he threw me out the window.
My arms flailed helplessly as colors blurred and distorted, my body flying fast before-
……
……
……
I felt my left hand… tense.
-3,200 Hp!
[1,100/4,300]
Yes, thank you power. I griped, wincing.
I definitely broke a few more things during the fall.
"Well this wasn't part of the plan." I muttered to myself, trying to get up.
I yelped, almost collapsing back into the rough concrete, the feeling of my broken bones…
Still I gritted my teeth, slowly moving up. Soon I was able to get a foot to the ground, and then the other. After that I shakily stood up, my legs wobbling, as I stumbled a little. Blood running down my face as I settled into a stance.
Although it was more of a squat, sluggish slouch. The pain was too much to stand up straight.
"Hurts, doesn't it?"
I blinked a few times, tiredly glaring up at the tall figure slowly walking in view, still inside the building, but in the light.
"I know it does. He… did things. Teacher. Things so I would behave. It hurt like I hurt you."
I glared, switching my shield to Rock.
"But after it hurts it feels good." He continued. "I want… to share that with you. With that freak Blister. Teacher's not that far behind. Once he gets his hands on a few more capes… the plan will be put into motion. And he'll take over this city."
"What plan?"
"You'll find out soon." He shook his head, stepping forward. "After all you'll be a student shortly… very shortly."
"[Rock Wall]." My eyes narrowed.
He tensed, looking ready to break something.
But he was never prepared for a ten inch thick slab of rock big enough to fill the lobby come crashing down on his projection's head.
It did little more than disgruntle him, making him stumble a bit. But that was more of a precursor, something to keep him in place. In my trap.
"Are you done with your monologue yet? While you were mouthing off I was able to finish my trap. If you didn't toy with me maybe you could have won, dipstain. I am not becoming one of The Taught, and you will not hurt anyone else!"
Rock Wall!
I felt my connection to the walls I had built in the building, almost 12 slabs of walls stacked on top of each other, dozens of tons all together, separated by different floors to spread out the weight.
Pushing out the power to manipulate those walls, I was able to make each slab heavier, and I could feel the floors crack under the combined weight.
-200 Mp!
Five slabs hit him square on hurting his projection. I gritted my teeth.
-200 Mp!
10 slabs hit him dead on, crushing his monster form. A claw burst from the rubble, parts of it missing.
"You're lucky I didn't bring the whole building down on top of you." I growled. I poured more energy into my power, making the five or so slabs on the next floor heavy. "I'm ending this!"
-300 Mp!
I thrust my hand out in concentration, and just as he dug himself out 5 slabs of rock hit him dead on.
I panted, stumbling forward a bit, feeling… better. Now that I was focusing on it, I could subtly feel my bones mending and shifting. My head injury had already sealed up, and I guessed it was part of having a power that thought it was a game.
A healing factor.
Mp: [7/2,000]
My eyes searched the ruble, darting around.
Before my arm shot out, digging the man out of the debris.
"Captain Claw." My eyes narrowed. "You're under arrest. I'm not a cop, but I'm sure you know what happens next."
He chuckled, wincing as his hand went to feel his side.
"I get put in jail. I get out. I get you. That's what will happen."
"If it does I'll be ready for you." I wasn't intimidated. "I'll be stronger. And make you wish you would have stayed in custody."
Shaking my head, I gave him a punch slightly harder than the one I gave the ABB member yesterday.
His head snapped to the right, before he fell unconscious.
And like that it was over.
Calculating… 10 EXP earned.
And that put a real damper on my mood. I glared flatly at the screen, subconsciously tying up Captain Claw.
My first villain capture. Me! Capturing a villain.
Glory Girl.
I scanned the area, noticing with a wince how the whole street was practically ruined.
Some of it wasn't me, some of it was.
But no sign of Glory Girl.
Her or her sister, Panacea.
I heard PRT sirens in the distance, frowning as they got closer.
[Investigation] Activated!
Wait what? I thought it was a passive skill.
You can sometimes trigger passive skills in ways that would be considered active. I.e, using it to track two sisters and an enemy through the city.
Okay… I commented, hesitating.
Accounting for slight elevation, number of people in the given area, the direction and clusters of people that had, or have their phones out at any given time between now and right before the fight started.
Downtown. Being led further downtown, in order to restrict Glory Girl's movement and succeed in hindering her. Opponent has a sharp intellect geared towards combat and fighting. Left 13 minutes ago.
I reeled at the sudden influx of knowledge, brows furrowing as I debated what to do with it.
Captain Claw would be out for a while. I regarded. I don't care or not if I get credit for this win, he's already incapacitated, Panacea and Glory Girl might need my help.
Whoever that parahuman was he was able to hold off Captain Claw with nothing but clones. I was barely able to beat Captain Claw. With how cocky Glory Girl was acting they might be in danger.
Feeling the last of my wounds heal up, and the PRT sirens getting louder, I made my decision.
...
Victoria Dallon(Glory Girl)
I wasn't much of a hero if I couldn't stop a cape. I wasn't much of a sister if I couldn't protect Amy.
Right now I wasn't much of both.
The feral hispanic man in front of me snarled crazily, even as I punched off another one of his stupid clones, while he and I both knew I was being worn down.
Early into the fight I underestimated him and Amy paid the price by being knocked out. That blinded me, I got so mad… by the time I snapped out of it the man was used to the way I fought, and none of my punches landed.
Mom taught me how to always be aware of my surroundings. He led me through the more abandoned parts of town before knocking out Amy. Poked at my defenses, and quickly found a weakness. Just because he looked deranged I got cocky… damnit.
Shrugging off another clone I tried blurring at him again, before quickly being sent flying back as space distorted and popped. Like the last dozen times, it burst and I was sent back.
A sharp pain ran down my wrist and I yelped, pushing off the ground with my other hand, cradling my left and wincing.
My aura wasn't immune to inertia, and he's been using it to beat me like a pinata.
I grinned. It was all teeth. No matter how long it took he'd pay for hurting my sister.
The solid ring of metal against flesh wrung out, a shield hit his face, hard, making the villain crumble to the ground, the figure standing over him didn't waste any time knocking him the fuck out.
"Woah, that was kind of anticlimactic." The hooded girl muttered. I felt her eyes land on me. "Hey, you alright?"
"I, uh-yeah."
"Cool." She frowned. "It looks like you hurt your wrist."
"Yeah." I sighed. "He got Amy and I just-lost it. Weirdo played me like a fiddle."
She nodded. "New cape. Uh, Heraldry Shield."
I grinned, calming down. "That's cool. Thanks for the save."
"He was just distracted." She said awkwardly. "Also, I'm pretty sure feral. I've had a bit of practice knocking out squishy humans." She kicked the dude with a glare.
I heaved a sigh. "Most Brutes learn how to."
"How's your sister?"
I walked over to where I put her unconscious body, scowling lightly to myself.
"She'll be fine." I took a closer look at her head injury. "Ames hasn't really been in a fight like this before, and the little training she had didn't prepare her for taking on a 30 year old, feral man." I growled. "But I think she'll wake up in a few minutes."
"Thank goodness." She breathed a sigh of relief. I noticed quite a bit of blood on her costume.
"You okay?"
She winced.
"I wasn't. Now I'm better. It… sucked."
"Yeah." I rubbed the back of my head. "Lot of regenerators have to learn how to deal with coping with that. I have a invulnerability so I'm fine."
"Lucky you." She rolled her eyes good naturedly. "I was right by the way." Her mood sobered up. "Teacher isn't far behind, and he's looking to recruit."
My fists clenched, I gritted my teeth.
That was horrible news.
"We'll have to alert the PRT." I finally responded. "Let them take care of things. Teacher's no joke, they might bring in members of the Triumvirate."
"One can only hope." She muttered. "This city's a mess."
I didn't disagree with her.
The girl hummed, looking around.
I took a moment to get a good look at her. Her armor was skin tight, and had tears in it. Green metal plated arm bracers looked a bit beat up. The lower half of her mask was covered in the same green plating, as was her torso and legs. Although they were bloodied.
Long dark hair spilled from her hood, and the upper half of her mask showed lenses trimmed in metal plating. Her hair looked amazing, if a bit covered in dust.
"I like your outfit." Was she a rogue? I haven't heard of a cape like her joining the PRT.
I couldn't see her blush, but her body was very expressive. "Thanks." She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "I uh, made it myself."
"How did you find us?"
Ames and I got pretty far away from the original spot. If 'Captain Claw' was as big of a threat, how did Heraldry find us so quickly?
"Minor Thinker. It lets me track people and things easily."
That sounded useful as fuck.
I jerked slightly as I finally noticed the sound of PRT sirens in the background.
"They should have picked up Captain Claw by now." She muttered. "What a psychopath."
If he was Taught by Teacher, then I believed it.
"You gonna stay here for the debrief?"
"I'm good." She hesitated. "Don't really have the biggest trust with authority. I might snap and go crazy if someone asks me a question. I hope Panacea will be okay."
"She will." I nodded. "Just… she's had a real bad day."
Heraldry Shield waved, starting to walk off.
My eyes widened slightly, focus straying to the sway of her hips.
Damn maybe I should start wearing tight leather. If I wasn't in an on and off relationship I'd totally tap that-
Wait she's like 15.
Nevermind.
Hope you guys liked the chapter!
If you read any of my other fanfics, I think I'm almost done with the lastest OGLL.
Speaking of which...
Thanks for telling me about the um-well I posted a little thing, saying a new chapter was coming out soon, and apparently I wasn't supposed to do that.
Haha... sorry guys.
Anyways, I coming out with two new kind of stories, if you want to check that out, bye guys!