Displacement
[Worm /Arpeggio Of Blue Steel]
One would have thought, that seeing a walking, talking, kung fu slinging teddy bear would have been something that sent someone running. And, admittedly, that was what everyone else in the hall was doing- this was Brockton Bay after all.
Me though, with my twisted leg pinned painfully under me as it was, that wasn't really an option. All I could do was watch as the little stuffed bear I'd picked up on my way to school that morning thrash Sophia like she was some thug. The difference between me and them though, was that all I could do was smile.
:Displacement:
It was something of an odd coincidence, but at that moment you couldn't help but remember one of the words that was going to have been on your vocab quiz in English that day.
Escalation: an increase in the intensity or seriousness of something, an intensification.
And right now, coincidentally, Escalation was the perfect word for the situation you'd found yourself in as you watched the now fully formed, trenchcoat clad human version of Kirishima grin viciously as she relieved Armsmaster of his halberd and straight kicking him into and through a boarded up storefront before following after him.
Ah, Armsmaster, leader of the East North East Protectorate and your main recurring customer thus far besides his not-girlfriend. Really, under normal circumstances and if it weren't for the fact that you were practically fighting for your life at that point, you would have been horrified at what the Changer Woman-cum Teddybear had done.
He was a Hero with a Capital H after all, even if he'd attacked you without provocation… Well, legitimate provocation. You'd been in the company of the Teddy Bear that had brutally beaten down one of his Wards after all, so that may have counted.
As it was however, you literally had your hands full just fending off attacks from the local Heros and PRT to care all that much. And seeing a black hazmat suited trooper pop stand up from behind a parked car, you brought your hands up as the trooper fired off a salvo of containment foam grenades at you.
Really, at this point, you would have thought they would have learned that coming at you from range was an effort in futility. But nonetheless, they kept at it anyway. And while you couldn't really fault them for trying, you suspected that it may have become personal after making the pinch of thioacetone- which in retrospect may not have been the best idea, despite it being the least lethal.
But no matter, it was already done and not something to dwell on; as the moment the first of the grenades entered your field you twitched your fingers this way and that to swap around the internal and external construction of the grenades to release their payload back onto the street. Using your hands wasn't quite necessary, but gesturing helped somewhat with your stamina.
Feeling another, much larger intrusion into your field, you swept your foot back so you were facing the new threat and threw your hand skyward; forcefully re-arranging the the asphalts aggregate to rise up and create a thin barrier to intercept a stream of containment foam. A feint.
Narrowing your eyes, you followed the trajectory the foam had come in at; even as it expanded and hardened. Fortunately, you locked onto the source quickly, unfortunately for the sprayer wielding trooper though, they thought using the raised edge of a warehouse's roof as a barrier would be enough to protect them.
Fool on them though, besides me few enough gave a care about the docks and even fewer cared what happened to the buildings within it.
Curling your fingers into a claw, you sent the mass of containment foam back at the trooper on a thin column of asphalt and dirt that crumbled and broke apart even as it crashed into them. Escalation, it was certainly the name of the game today; and hearing the shouts and exclamations behind you from your new display, you spun back around and took a knee to slap your hands onto the cracked surface of the street. No need to hold back now.
It took a second of concentration, and in the next moment your field of control disappeared as you shifted from radial to contact control. You were defenseless and vulnerable to the troopers in front of you, technically. But a second later they became a non-factor as you brought up a wall between them and you that reached to the rooftops and stretched the width of the street.
The exertion was fairly minor compared to when you'd initially started out, barely able to turn a locker door back to its base element. But nonetheless, a small ache was spawned from the exertion and as if on autopilot you reached into your back pocket and extricated your repurposed Tic-Tac container. Popping it open with a flick of your thumb, you re-established your radial field as you shook out two of the faux-mints and threw them back; relief coming within moments of swallowing the bitter medicine.
Absently you wished you had some water to wash them down, but discarded the idea of making a glass as frivolous when you heard a crash of metal from behind you and a victorious shout of glee.
Looking back over your shoulder you saw Kirishima, standing over Armsmaster with the capes halberd still in her possession and resting casually against her shoulder a little ways away. Glancing at Armsmaster, in his battered armor, you had to wonder just how strong Kirishima was; strong enough evidently.
"Kirishima. How much farther do we have to go?"
Glancing over to me, the Changers eyes went a little blank as a pair of curving green markings appeared under her eyes. It almost looked like she was spacing out, something Armsmaster tried to suddenly capitalize on in a flurry of movement, but a harsh stomp of her booted foot onto his back said otherwise.
Frowning in consternation, she suddenly began grinding her heel against Armsmaster back and only stopped when the metal bucked sharply and the green markings flared before disappearing altogether. "It's not much farther, c'mon."
Nodding I stood and walked up to stand next to her as she stepped off Armsmaster. "The others still have a few things to get ready," she muttered quietly once we'd began walking. "We have to keep the attention on us so no one interferes, are you ok with that? You can still turn back."
"She's… right." You stopped in place, and apparently either Kirishima wasn't as quiet as she thought she'd been or Armsmasters' armor had better listening devices. Considering the amount of microcircuitry I could feel in the armor it may have been the latter.
"It's… not too late to turn yourself in, Refinery." His breathing was laboured as you looked over your shoulder to watch him struggle against his damaged armor to push himself into a sitting position.
Eyes narrowing, you stared hard at the Hero and thought of times you'd worked with him after your initial sales pitch. You had to wonder if he'd known.
It was a train of thought that had nagged at you since you'd watched Sophia try and turn into black mist in order to escape what you'd initially thought to just be a curio that you'd found on your way to school. You knew about hard decisions and the concept of sacrificing for a greater good, and from a logical standpoint you could admit its importance to an extent. The problem was that it was considerably more difficult to reconcile understand that when you were the sacrifice.
"I think... I think I can still respect you Armsmaster. I rather enjoyed working with you and Dragon, you taught me a lot- and I'm grateful for that. But at this point it's too late, you have Hess to thank for that."
Shifting around a bit of my mask so the man could see my bittersweet smile I dipped my head in respect one final time. And without another word, I turned away from the Hero and stepped alongside Kirishima as we headed farther into the docks.
:Displacement:
Lips pressed thin, you watched as Hebert and the Unknown turned down a corner a ways down the street and disappeared; heading further into the docks at an all too casual pace. Not that it would have really mattered otherwise. With the capabilities that the Unknown had displayed, the two of them were nearly untouchable from range and them taking their time just served as a means to an end.
What a mess. You would have to look into what she meant about Hess, but from the connotations were disturbing. The thought that one of the Wards under his command- albeit indirect -caused what he'd wanted to prevent happening was not a pleasant thought.
Matter Transmutation, that's what her power had been classified by the Thinktank after her her offer of working with them on a contractual basis. You hadn't needed to read the potential threat assessment that they'd put together though, it hadn't even taken you a minute after considering the potential applications of what she'd shown.
On the surface, her power was somewhat weak compared to most. Looking at it deeper and even assuming- rightly so as was clearly evident -that she was holding things in reserve it was clear to see how dangerous she could be if she took on the right mindset. And now, thanks to their potential failure- his failure -she was now siding with an unknown… no, maybe not an Unknown, but maybe a changer. Maybe. Hopefully.
Blinking away a stack of error messages on your heads up display, you accessed your suits local memory and went back several weeks to the night you'd gotten a report of Lung fighting someone. It had ended with you arriving to find Lung bound and unconscious. With the culprit standing over him in her oversized overcoat. You remembered the disinterested stare she given you when you'd shown up, like she'd been expecting you. And pulling up a still of her, you accessed your combat footage from the last half hour and brought up a picture of the Unknown cape that Hebert had called Kirishima- a name that had already been confirmed by Control and Dragon to match no one in any of the available databases.
The Unknown girl, later designated Dreadnaught thanks to her overcoat and Assaults humor, had- except for the yellow coloration -shown the exact same markings under her eyes as the Unknown that had started this whole mess with Hebert.
Staring at the two images in growing worry, you opened a channel to Control. Hopefully, if you acted fast you could head things off before they escalated even further than they already had.
Part one of a two-shot(thus far). Not quite sure where this would go after the ending. Was kinda thinking it could be the start of a quest, hence the 'You' but I don't really have much experience on that front... also got a group report I should be working on due monday so... yeah.