12: Sunshine Supergal
* Outside Space/Time *
"Look, it's different, it changes lots of things, it lets me be both mentor to the protaganist and an antagonist, spreads mischief, and royally screws up the timeline," argued the dragon.
"Okay," said the cat.
"There's no reason for the usual insert when you're making Taylor the last daughter of Krypton, after all."
"True," agreed the cat.
"In fact, I... you said 'okay'?" The dragon blinked down at the cat.
"Honestly, you had me at 'different'," said the cat. "Away you go."
* Ellisburg *
"Fall back, fall back," said Emily Piggot, firing at the bone-shard-wielding creatures.
"We're cut off," said Trooper Anderson. "Damn it."
"Quick, through here if you want to live."
Her six troopers all looked. Emily slowly turned to look herself.
There was a guy standing before a circle of white that hung in the air. Within that circle was a view of somewhere else.
"I can't hold it open that long and Nilbog's little creatures are almost here," pointed out the obvious parahuman.
Emily Piggot glanced at the now-charging monsters and came to a quick decision. "Go!"
The other side of the circle turned out to be a machine on the back of a pickup truck on a feeder road for I-81. She recognized it from the trip to their mission location. "Who the hell are you? You're not one of the capes assigned to us."
"Professor Gizmo," said the labcoat-wearing guy as he shut off the transport device. "No particular affiliation."
"Wait, Professor Gizmo?" asked Trooper Garcia. "The Tinker?"
"Oh?" asked the Tinker, straightening his labcoat and grinning. "You've heard of me?"
"No, not at all," said Trooper Garcia.
"Oh," said the Tinker, drooping a bit.
"Well, I'm glad the PRT sent me some backup at least, the capes with me all bailed," grumped Emily Piggot. "Where were you when we needed you?"
"I'm not with the PRT, dear lady, I'm a villain," said Professor Gizmo. "I just saw what was going on and thought that while we may have some serious philosophical differences - you certainly didn't deserve THAT."
"You're a villain," said Emily Piggot, her hand twitching towards a sidearm.
"Oh, you're THAT Professor Gizmo," said Trooper Garcia.
"We already did that joke," grumped Professor Gizmo.
"You're the one who attacked that Taco Bell in New York, which led to the health inspection that got them closed down," said Trooper Garcia.
Professor Gizmo straightened up again. "Yes! That was me! Seriously, health codes like that benefit the public and I'm not sure WHAT that was growing in storage."
"You're the same Professor Gizmo who broadcast that Senator from Virginia's tryst with that foreign agent," continued Trooper Garcia.
"Yes, I did that too," admitted Professor Gizmo, looking proud of himself. "Seriously, I don't care how cute you think that guy is - if they're aligned with the Teeth..."
"Are you the Professor Gizmo who came up with the neo-kevlar plates we use in our vests?" asked Trooper Anderson.
"You mean the ones that the PRT claimed as their property since a Tinker came up with it, so that I would receive no money or claim to it?" asked Professor Gizmo. "Leading to me becoming a villain, albeit one that has a sense of honor and decency? Yeah. I'm that one."
"Oh," said practically everyone there as that was an understandable villain origin story.
"Anyway, you guys should be safe now," said Professor Gizmo. "Honestly, if it was up to me there's several non-nuclear options you could use against Nilbog. Fuel-air bombs for example."
"There may be innocents still in there," responded Emily Piggot, still eyeing the admitted-villain suspiciously.
"There aren't," said Professor Gizmo. He sighed. "All lifesigns have been converted to reading as nonhuman. Even the birds and other animals in that area aren't what they started out as."
"You're sure?" asked Trooper Anderson.
"Positive," said Professor Gizmo, slamming the tailgate of his battered-looking 1971 F-150 closed. "Gentlemen, ladies, a pleasure. Remember that I have more problems with your bosses than I do with you."
Watching the pickup drive off, Emily Piggot frowned but glanced back at her squad. She didn't have much respect for capes, but maybe they weren't entirely without use. Didn't mean she wouldn't arrest him if the chance rolled her way.
* PRT ENE HQ *
It had been years since the nightmare of Ellisburg. All six of her squaddies were still alive, though only Squad Leader Elizabeth "Don't call me 'Liz'" Anderson was in this very branch.
Going into her new office she was somewhat surprised to see a plastic duck sitting on her desk, but knew immediately where it had come from.
Looking at the ceiling for lack of any other direction as she was pretty sure this meant the office was bugged, Director Emily Piggot growled as she tried to spot any sort of spy equipment. "I am not amused, Gizmo."
The duck made a squawking noise before replying. "Well, I just wanted to congratulate you on your post. No reason not to be polite after all."
"What did you actually want, since I know damn well you weren't doing this just out of some attempt at politeness," said Emily Piggot.
The duck was silent for a moment. "What do you know about precogs?"
Emily Piggot regarded the little yellow duck for a moment. "Thinker ability. Tends to view things far off in time as vague, closer things more likely to pan out. Mostly unreliable."
"I have sources," said the duck. "There's a young hero going to show up sometime in your area. A very very important hero."
"Hmph," snorted Piggot. "Yeah, your tips have been good so far. That's why I'm listening. How important is this new cape?"
"If she reaches her full potential, and she avoids certain people who have spies in your organization? She could end the Endbringers. And possibly, with help, the forces behind the Endbringers."
"You shouldn't make jokes like that," said Emily Piggot to conceal the sudden sinking feeling in her stomach. Why did it have to be in HER jurisdiction?
"I'm not. That's one reason I'm using a duck that has an anti-eavesdropping field up. This is something to play very very close to your vest, Director. Most Thinkers will have problems with her because she's not a parahuman in the normal sense."
"She's a cape but not a parahuman?" asked Emily Piggot. "That makes no sense."
"She's a kid right now. She's not even beginning to be ready to be a hero," said the duck. "Oh, by the way, I'm doing the secret identity schtick now. If you spot me, try not to break my cover, okay? Bye bye!"
The duck exploded into confetti. Emily sighed. If it hadn't been for several years of tips and that rescue in Ellisburg... Still he was as close to harmless as a villain ever got.
A thumb on a button and an office cleanup was signalled, as well as a meeting with security about checking their various devices and procedures.
* Orbit *
The Simurgh checked. Time had done something even weirder than the previous times. She thought it had produced eddies going backwards from this point.
Earth orbit this time. Not a foreign planet. That was good. Not sitting in some cart, being taken to some execution area. That was even better.
Everything seemed to be in place where she was expecting it.
Maybe it was over? Whatever had been happening had stopped? Reality would stop breaking like a plate glass window and then reforming itself?
The Simurgh reached into her bag of popcorn, eyes wide as she looked for anything out of place.
* Taylor *
"M-Mom?!"
"Taylor? What's wrong, honey? Oooff!"
Having her daughter hugging her like she was afraid she was going to vanish was a little odd.
"How are you... what?" asked Taylor.
"What are you talking about?" asked her mother in reply.
"You... I..." Taylor looked around, letting go of her mother, and then finally just stared at the ceiling. "Cat?"
"Are you using your x-ray vision and there's a cat on the roof?" asked Annette Hebert. "I'm going to call Vic."
"What's going on?" asked Danny Hebert, arriving at the door.
"Something weird with Taylor," answered Annette. "I'm calling Vic."
"Good idea," said Danny.
"Mom's alive," said Taylor to her father.
"Yesssss?" asked Danny, not seeing the problem. "Is this some weird effect of Kryptonian puberty? Vic said there might be some odd effects."
"'Kryptonian' oh. Wait," said Taylor, sitting down and not noticing there wasn't a chair there. Just sitting in midair and ignoring gravity. "Dad? What happened a couple of years ago? Was Mom in a car crash?"
"Well, yes, and you panicked and that was the first time you flew and you got her to the hospital in time," said Danny. "First time you ever picked up a car too."
"Oh," said Taylor. "So... oh."
"Vic says he'll be here in a couple of minutes, he needs to spin up his teleporter," came the voice of Annette Hebert from downstairs.
"Who's Vic?" asked Taylor as she tried to come to grips with recent developments.
"Vicar Brunel, 'Uncle Vic'," said Danny. "You don't remember him? Do you remember his other identity? The one we're supposed to ignore?"
"He's not a dragon is he?" asked Taylor.
"No, Dragon is a Tinker from Canada, this is Professor Gizmo," said Danny. "Your archenemy when he's on the clock, your 'Uncle Vic' and a family friend otherwise."
"What?" asked Taylor. "That sounds needlessly complicated."
"Well, yes, but it apparently works," said Danny.
(FASH-OOOM!) went a noise somewhere nearby.
The man who came up the stairs with a handful of odd gadgets resembled Christopher Lloyd in his role as Doc Brown mostly. "Well, where is little Taylor?"
"Ah, I was expecting a dragon," said Taylor.
There was a brief smile and a nod before he turned to the concerned parents. "It's okay. I'm pretty sure I know what happened. I'll just need a few moments to make sure. Sit downstairs, we'll be there in a couple of minutes. You know how it is with some of my gadgets."
With the two outside and the door closed, Taylor scowled at him. "What happened? Why is my mother here? What is going on?"
"You were retconned for this," said Professor Gizmo. "You've always been the little Kryptonian girl because of dimensional shenanigans following the destruction of Krypton."
"From Krypton? That world that blew up?" asked Taylor. "Then..."
"Your father is Danny Hebert, who has been your father since you were born. A baby named Kara merged with a baby named Taylor. Like I said, 'dimensional shenanigans'."
Taylor was gaping at him.
"I showed up back a few years before that, did a few things here and there, made a reputation as a supervillain who never violated his word and was concerned with things like innocents getting hurt or property damage. Gets me a few places. Lung views me as an honorable warrior, though one he plans on crushing me like a bug if I cross his path. Kaiser regards me as yet another piece on the board, not one of his but one he might find uses for as long as he's careful. As I provide healing medications and treatments, I might be considered a villain but most people find me tolerable. Being polite and helping out in Endbringer fights helps."
Taylor blinked. "You've fought Endbringers?"
"Leviathan. I fought alongside Lung for a time. Thought we had a chance for a bit there, with my devices amplifying Lung's fires into a beam attack weapon. Well, it was interesting."
"So, your Tinker specialty is energy manipulation?" asked Taylor, wanting some familiar ground.
"No, I'm not a Tinker. Everyone thinks that, and it's deliberate on my part, but that's not it," said the Doc Brown-lookalike. "For purposes of this timeline and my role, I'm more a Mover."
"Mover?" asked Taylor, making a show of looking over the steampunk goggles and labcoat, and gadget-backed gloves and utility belt.
"Time and space travel," said Professor Gizmo. "Everything else I'm using clerical spells, runecrafting, some alchemy, and gadgets I've bought or made in alternative timelines."
"So that Star Trek tricorder?" asked Taylor, pointing.
"It is something I got at a Federation outpost, where it was fifty years out of date. Basically a garage sale." Professor Gizmo shrugged.
"That is SO freaking OP," complained Taylor.
"Hey, I have to be YOUR support and archenemy," pointed out Professor Gizmo. "Of a Kryptonian. Once you get the memories of this life sorted, probably take a couple of nights sleeping, you'll be able to bench press asteroids. Oh, and don't think your invulnerability will help against everything. There are capes capable of hurting you with their powers because powers remain bullshit."
"You have gadgets that can hurt me?" asked Taylor.
"You're vulnerable to magic, so runecrafting can affect you," Professor Gizmo pointed out. "A phaser on kill will disintegrate most capes but it can still cause you pain. It's just that you're more invulnerable than Alexandria or Glory Girl."
"Huh, so how does this friend-of-the-family and enemy thing work?" asked Taylor.
"In brief, the public recognizes me as a Punch Clock Villain. I villain around and hit the occasional ATM, vandalize the PRT building, break speed limits, melt parking meters, pave roads, repair buildings, fix bridges, be a public nuisance in general. That sort of thing."
"Wait. What?"
"Look, I'm fixing things without a permit or licensing, because I'm a villain there's federal funds available for the departments who basically just inspect my work and determine if it meets their regulations," said Professor Gizmo. "Meantime I give a typical villain motivation, such as having a bridge fixed because of my plan to drive tanks downtown or test out a new gadget. Sometimes Dragon investigates the new materials and figures out something that can be mass-produced. If she can, she then throws a bit of money at me for research purposes and everybody's happy."
* Downstairs, 15 minutes later *
"Yeah, it's a power thing," explained Professor Gizmo. "She's missing some memories but should regain them in the next couple of days. Sort of like a growth spurt. When she's over that she should do her official debut."
"I know she's invulnerable, but I can't help but worry when she's going to be facing serious villains," said Annette Hebert.
"Excuse me?" asked Professor Gizmo.
"Present company excepted," appended Annette.
"You're worried about Endbringer fights, and you should," put in Professor Gizmo. "One in four capes fighting Endbringers die. It is because of Endbringer fights and the truce that so many prisons do catch-and-release when it comes to villains that get caught. Why kill orders are so rare. On the other hand, your daughter is one of the toughest capes on the planet. When she's at full power, there are damn few parahumans on the planet that can match her in a straight-up fight."
"Hopefully she'll do better than Glory Girl, who apparently got hit in the face with a pie-gun and ended up going through a Dollar Thrift store while she tried to get whipped cream out of her eyes," noted Danny Hebert.
"Uber and Leet? I'll have to come up with something to top that," mumbled Professor Gizmo. "Pie-gun? They've upped their game. Maybe..."
"You had to say something," grumped Annette Hebert to her husband, who shrugged in reply.
"Well, whatever, I have an idea for Taylor's debut," said Professor Gizmo. "She still needs to select a name but how about if we..."
* Days later *
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Topic: Brockton Bay Debut
►Professor_Gizmo (Verified Cape) (Villain)br
Posted on Jan 20th 2011
My arch-nemesis has finally decided to grace us with her presence. She's young, inexperienced, and learning to control her powers so everyone cut her some slack for her debut - okay?
Just starting her hero's journey. Those of us in the cape business can understand that, right?
So it's planned for the 25th according to my sources. Just keep an eye out, get your cameras ready, and for the sake of all sanity keep your hands off the damn Endbringer Siren.
Honestly, if I catch whoever did that when I was just moving my giant mecha around they're going to end up on top of a glacier in their underwear. In Antarctica. In winter. I will bloody well arrange a damn blizzard.
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)br
Posted on Jan 20th 2011
You do know that threats are against the rules on the PHO board, and likely the only reason your post wasn't deleted is because the person who did make that decision is already in a monitoring station at the top of the Larsen Ice Shelf?
Or... are you saying that you had something to do with that?
►BrocktonBayMod (Moderator)br
Posted on Jan 20th 2011
Yes, that's why, though I did give the good Professor of Weird Studies a warning.
Gizmo, can you give any details that might help prevent panic?
►Professor_Gizmo (Verified Cape) (Villain)br
Posted on Jan 21st 2011
Sorry. I promised to keep details under wraps for now and you know how important keeping my word is.
Reputation is everything in this line of work.
On the other hand, I can give you a head's up on one of my own plans being just about ready. Soon everyone will learn to fear the power I can field as I remove an eyesore from the land!
Providing my archnemesis doesn't stop me, of course. One has to observe the traditions.
►EdBaccaratbr
Posted on Jan 21st 2011
You're solving an eyesore with something that has a large caliber? Have to say, I was a fan of the Battletech mecha you had and was sorry to see everyone ganging up to destroy a unpiloted giant robot that was just sitting in a field. Until it got shot up, you even had a sign up stating you were just letting the paint dry.
►Professor_Gizmo (Verified Cape) (Villain)br
Posted on Jan 21st 2011
Thank you, Baccarat. At least someone appreciates the beauty of great big mobile gun platforms.
►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)br
Considering your stated purpose when you were trying to get them to stop wrecking your walking tank was that it was for anti-Endbringer use, that everyone kept using it for target practice was kind of...
On the other hand, maybe that it was a giant walking tank built by a self-admitted villain made it inevitable.
* Madrid Maersk *
As soon as the ship started lifting, with the sound of metal against rock echoing through the corridors, there had been reaction. Cursing. Yelling. Also gunfire as someone panicked and started discharging their Uzi at metal corridors. Followed by more cursing and yelling as the ricochets did what ricochets did.
"Wait till Skidmark hears about this!"
"Shut it, keghole. John, you go shooting off that Uzi when you don't have a target just one more time - I gonna make you eat it."
"You shut it, hoser."
"Katey, Sylvia. Can you two stop making out for a minute? The boat's rocking, it ain't just you."
"Damn it, door's stuck."
"I got signal, can't get too far from this gap though. I'm callin' the boss."
"Yeah, he'll show whoever the hell this is what for."
"I hope he doesn't attack while we're in the air though. I mean we're a couple hunnert feet up."
* PRT HQ ENE, Jan 25th, 2011 *
"It's begun," came the quiet voice from her intercom.
Emily Piggot glanced down at it, sighed, and got up from her desk and its unending supply of paperwork.
A quick look around from her window turned up the change. A huge cargo vessel that had been blocking the mouth of the bay and was now visibly rising into the air was sufficiently obvious that no further explanation was necessary. Slowly it moved through the air, acting more like a balloon than a large chunk of metal.
"There's some sagging of the metal, though not as much as you would expect," said Armsmaster as he entered the room.
"Knock. Remember?" asked Emily Piggot, wincing as Armsmaster turned around and knocked on the door he'd just entered from. "How heavy IS that?"
"The Madrid Maersk is listed as having a deadweight of 192,672 tons," answered Armsmaster.
"Tons," repeated Emily Piggot.
"Yes, length of 399 meters or 1312 feet," answered Armsmaster.
"Someone is lifting almost 200 kilotons," responded Emily Piggot.
"Yes," agreed Armsmaster. "Impressive. Especially as that would be structurally impossible to lift from a single point of contact. I wonder if we can get her to join the Wards."
"You are NOT to try and recruit this young lady," stated Emily Piggot.
"Why not?" asked Armsmaster.
"Because you can be irritating and frequently have trouble relating to others," said Director Piggot. "I have no wish to see you punted through any walls. Let Miss Militia do the talking. You stay in the background and scan. She has a much better chance of relating to someone."
Armsmaster frowned but didn't say anything as he stared out the window.
"What do you think, Alexandria-package?" asked Director Piggot.
"I think we'll find out more as she's being attacked," stated Armsmaster.
"What?!" asked Director Piggot, turning her attention back to the ship. "Who the hell is THAT stupid?"
* Docks *
Skidmark used his powers, letting his minions feed ammunition to his power so they ended up high speed projectiles heading towards the cape who was lifting the damn boat out of the water. Nails, loose bricks, bucket of human waste products, brick of heroin...
"You bloody idjit! Don't throw product!"
Skidmark waited until after one of his subordinates had slapped the other subordinate for their poor choice. Back to accelerating things towards the obvious cape, even though she was barely visible at this distance and most of the projectiles weren't going anywhere near them. Had to be that gal who was making her premiere today, but she should have chosen another target besides one of their secret stash-houses. And lab. They cooked meth there after all.
Dildo, toilet seat, rubber duck, empty Pringles can...
"Oh for crying. Are you idiots even trying? Get some stuff that'll hurt the -"
"Ahem."
Skidmark blinked and looked towards the roof of one of the warehouses, and the labcoat-wearing guy with the large blinky-lighted gadget. "Inspector Gizmo?"
"Professor Gizmo," said the guy. "Skidmark. You dare to attack MY archnemesis?"
"F_ you and your f_ing nemesis and -"
(KA-BOING!)
* PRT HQ ENE, Conference room A *
"Yeah, he's been streaming it since things started on the official Professor Gizmo channel on YouTube. Didn't any of you think to check that?" asked Dragon, sincerely not understanding why nobody else thought of doing it.
Armsmaster grumped something. Director Piggot merely facepalmed. Several of the troopers and analysts all started inspecting the walls or floor for some reason.
"Someone mind dispatching a team to pick up Skidmark and Squealer since they're currently in one of those rubber bubble containment fields?" asked Dragon.
There was a moment of silence before several people snapped out phones and then began snapping out orders.
Director Piggot waited until Armsmaster was at the door before she spoke again. "Colin. Do NOT get into another pissing match with Professor Gizmo. Just thank him for containing the dangerous villains in a nonviolent manner and carry on. Understand?"
Armsmaster paused at the doorway, nodding his head slightly.
"Dragon? Keep him from getting into another Tinker-pissing contest with Professor Gizmo, please."
"I'll certainly try, Director."
* Docks *
Danny Hebert and most of the dockworkers waited as the huge cargo ship settled slowly into place.
Watching his little girl, who he had known and raised alongside his wife since she was a very little girl, move a ship that size merely brought home how incredibly powerful she was.
According to Professor Gizmo, this was just the beginning of reaching her full potential. Danny admitted in some ways that was frightening.
A blue blur and there she was, hanging in midair with her cape fluttering in the breeze. The blue stretchy material with the red cape made of some material that Professor Gizmo had provided.
Danny Hebert understood the whole villain thing. Just fixing potholes without government licensing and permits and layers of bureaucracy was illegal. As a supervillain, Professor Gizmo just went ahead and did it. Building about to collapse? Oh, he was just testing out one of his new superweapons. Bridge rusted through and unsafe? Well, he had to fix that or his next tinker-tanker couldn't get through. High speed traffic through that section of warehouses from the scavengers and druggies? Speed bumps to cut the noise a bit and so his Robot Legions Of Doom (tm) could get across the street. People sleeping on the street in nasty weather? Homeless shelter built to keep them from wandering into his field tests.
Just don't call him out on the whole villain thing publically. That didn't go well. At all. Then he'd have to do something irritatingly villainous like hit ATMs or turn giant chickens loose downtown. (Though the barbeque after that last one had people talking about trying to get that to happen again.)
"There you go, Mister Hebert," said Supergirl, indicating the ship. "Need to get some of the gangers out before I start cutting the ship apart."
"SO THERE YOU ARE, MY ARCHNEMESIS! OH, HANG ON. VOLUME CONTROL, WHERE DID I PUT THAT? OH YEAH! Ahem. So there you are, My Archnemesis! Supergirl!" proclaimed Professor Gizmo, standing before a big sign that literally welcomed Supergirl to Brockton Bay.
"Professor Gizmo! My... what the heck do I call you?"
"Head of your Rogues' Gallery? Nemesis, archenemy, you villain, there's a number of possibilities there," advised Professor Gizmo.
"Right," said Supergirl. "You fiend!"
"Nice," admitted Professor Gizmo.
"What nefarious plan are you, uh, planning?" asked Supergirl.
"You want I should get cue cards until you're more comfortable with this?" asked Professor Gizmo.
"No, I think I'll manage," said Supergirl.
"Ahem," said the supervillain, straightening up. "YOU CANNOT STOP ME! Already, a small American town will be completely scoured from the face of the Earth by my newest Weapon Of Precise If Massive Destruction!"
"You fiend! Which one?" prompted Supergirl.
"Ellisburg, New York! You cannot stop me! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
* PRT HQ ENE *
Director Piggot had paled and prepared to call in a strike against the supervillain as this had played out over the streamed video. Then she'd come to a complete stop and she glanced over at Vice Director Renick. "Did he just say 'Ellisburg'?"
"Yes," agreed Renick.
"Going to 'scour it from the face of the Earth'?" asked Director Piggot.
"That he did," agreed Vice Director Renick.
"As a demonstration of his newest weird science invention?" asked Director Piggot.
"He HAS come up with some unlikely but horribly powerful weapons before, which usually only work once or he shelves for one reason or another and never uses again." Vice Director Renick paused. "Kind of hoping he unleashes the giant chickens again. The city-wide barbeque party with his Robot Legions of Doom (tm) manning the grills. As long as he doesn't do the noodle thing."
"We do not speak of the Noodle Incident," said Director Piggot, shuddering.
"Except to warn him NOT to do that ever again," added Vice Director Renick.
"Wait. What did he say?" asked Piggot.
"He said the the Slaughterhouse Nine are in Ellisburg? Seriously?!" asked Vice Director Renick.
* Docks *
"What?!" asked Supergirl.
"Yes, the Slaughterhouse Nine are in Ellisburg, and when I put out that you were off-limits for killing or subverting they responded that they would do it anyway," said Professor Gizmo. "I have put it out there that you are not to be maimed, killed, or anything else that is normally against the Rules. They responded that they lived to break rules and you were going on their list. This is my response," said Professor Gizmo. "Oh, the first missile is about to hit. Hang on, I have to switch the feed."
"First missile?" asked Danny Hebert.
"The second missile is a bit off and is a camera missile, it's just there to show what's happening to the audience. Top THAT, Uber and Leet." Professor Gizmo sounded smug.
"Please don't taunt the crazies," said Danny, facepalming but also checking the video now being displayed on everyone's cellphones.
* PRT HQ *
"What is that insane man doing now?" asked Rebecca Costa-Brown as she strode into the Command Center. She'd practiced it often enough that her cape billowed out dramatically just right.
"The second missile is a slower moving drone that is streaming video," said one of her Nameless Flunkies. "Currently approaching Ellisburg... oh my god."
The video showed a green dome that almost reached the lines of fortifications surrounding Ellisburg. As the probe approached, other colors swirling across it could be seen though green was dominant. When the missile had gotten close enough that it was now tracking in a curve around those fortifications, shapes were vaguely visible within that dome.
Then the dome vanished and the shiny smooth surface revealed that it hadn't been a dome but a sphere. Anything within that sphere was simply gone. From the dust and wind, even the air had been eliminated.
Rebecca Costa-Brown's eyes were wide as she took in the very neatly scooped-out section of land. "What?"
"And THAT," said Doctor Mother from where she'd been watching events unfold, "is EXACTLY why I have stated all along that Professor Gizmo is to be ignored and treated like a joke. When he gets serious, you get THAT. When he's his usual bumbling self you get Robot Legions Of Doom marching in protest of the lack of a decent fish and chips place in Brockton Bay."
"Confirmed by ground observers, Slaughterhouse Nine was seen going into Ellisburg at 0500 hours this morning," said a Nameless Flunkie. "No observation of them leaving."
"Do you want to send the bounties to his Capeon account?" asked the Nameless Flunkie who'd been watching the screen earlier.
"I think he owns and runs the Cape Patron website, under a pseudonym," mused Doctor Mother. "It would certainly make it easy but wait a reasonable time for confirmation of the deaths."
"Computer estimates the hole is 80.2 miles across, 40.1 miles deep. Local police and PRT forces are moving to enforce barricades on nearby roads," said a third Nameless Flunkie.
* PRT HQ ENE *
(glug glug glug glug klink)
Vice Director Renick blinked as he realized that the Director had just poured two drinks and moved one of the glasses closer to his end. Then she took a big drink and let out a very satisfied sigh. Then she looked at the two troopers at the door. "And THAT is why we tolerate Professor Gizmo and let him be a joke character if he wants to be. Because he very very rarely even hurts anyone by accident, and because he's capable of being scary as all hell when someone violates those rules. He doesn't hurt us, we don't hurt him, and occasionally he can be a very helpful individual. We do NOT want him to get serious about fighting us."
* Medhall *
"AND THAT," indicated Max Anders, "is why you are NOT going to start anything with the Docks. You are NOT going to go after Supergirl 'and teach her her place' and we do NOT antagonize Professor Gizmo unless you are DAMN sure he's dead and even then I'd wait to make sure he won't pop up out of his grave like a daisy! He's crazy enough to do that sort of crap! He HAS done that crap before - I was raising a toast to his memory and realized he was attending his own funeral party."
Hookwolf looked a bit nervous. "But I-"
"No. No buts." Max shook his head. "This is a guy who built a gun that turned Lung's fire into a coherent energy beam that nearly killed Leviathan. This is a guy who built a giant war machine that could have turned you into bloody scrap. This is the damn Tinker who built a time destabilizing ray gun to break Grey Boy bubbles when nobody else could do anything with them. This is the same Tinker who just played Nilbog and Slaughterhouse Nine so that he could disintegrate all of them in one move. We treat him as a joke because he is - and because we WANT him to be a joke."
"So what if we run into this Supergirl on a job?" asked Hookwolf.
"You fight, you put up resistance, you run away - whatever. You play by the Rules. Whatever you do, she's an underage hero cape. I heard you made some lewd references to Vista. That was wrong. If you do that to Supergirl, she apparently has ties to the DockWorkers Union. They'll get involved, they were something Allfather didn't mess with because they can be a bigger threat than the damn Merchants. Professor Gizmo has declared her his nemesis. You even threaten to do something like you said you'd do regarding Vista? If he killed you, it would mean he was being merciful."
Hookwolf made a noise he knew would be taken as agreement. Soon though, he'd show that girl that all her strength wouldn't matter against HIM.
* Docks *
"Wasn't that... overkill? I mean that's going to drop water levels pretty quick," pointed out Danny Hebert. "There's only a few feet of mostly dirt and then a great big pit."
"Oh, good point. Hadn't thought about that," said Professor Gizmo. "Hmmm. Let me check my bag."
"You're kidding," said Supergirl. "Unc... Gizmo."
"Let's see 'Instant Flower Garden', 'Ton of Dirt', 'Big O Watch', 'Lightsaber', AH! There it is. 'Insta Lake' I knew I had one for just such emergencies."
"What does it do?" asked Danny despite the facepalm he was currently performing.
"You push this button and throw it, just like any grenade," pointed out the Professor. "Three seconds later it releases an entire lake of electrolyte rich fresh water. Just in case I needed a getaway at some point you know. Or visited an area under a drought."
"That you just happened to bring with you," said Danny.
"If only we had a way of getting it there fast," mused Professor Gizmo.
"If only," said Danny Hebert, giving Supergirl a completely flat look.
Supergirl growled a little then just floated closer and held out a hand. "Fine."
Watching her fly off, Danny turned to the Professor and spoke quietly. "I take it your camera is going to show her releasing the lake."
"Yeah," said Professor Gizmo also speaking quietly.
"And there's a camera that will record some of her adventures for posterity?" asked Danny.
"I already discussed this with Annette, she'll be editing the videos before they get posted," said Professor Gizmo. "She didn't tell you?"
Danny sighed. "Camera's in the belt?"
"No, those little 'S' symbols holding her cape to her costume. Both record and then merge the images digitally. Belt has an 'SOS' to flag me if her vitals go funky," said the Professor.
"Good," agreed Danny before pitching his voice a bit louder. "So you're building up her reputation - why?"
Professor Gizmo posed dramatically as he had gone back to broadcasting voice at Danny's signal. "Of course. As Supergirl is MY archnemesis - her reputation reflects upon my own!"
Danny nodded and went back to the Dockworkers who were now securing lines to the derelict. Sounded like Taylor was going to have fun and be able to cut loose for once.
* Supergirl *
Flying was freaking AMAZING!
Oh, there had been little flights before, her memories of this timeline had shown her that much. Always where nobody could see her. Always slow and close to buildings to use to hide. Keep it all secret.
This was full on, breaking sound barriers, sky the limit only because she wasn't sure about fighting the Simurgh at this point, unfettered unassisted not hiding at all flying. And it was glorious.
Getting to the former site of Ellisburg, she pushed the button, dropped the grenade and watched as hundreds of gallons of water started gushing out before the thing had hit bottom.
It was kind of amazing to watch as the thing continued to pour out huge amounts of water that looked absolutely clear to her in a way the nearest lake did not. How the hell had he put that much water in a fist-sized sphere?
Then, since she pretty much had hours before dinner and homework taken care of, she lifted up to a nice altitude of about 5000 feet. High enough to avoid bug splat while flying. That was another memory she had gotten, arriving at the hospital with Mom's car only to find her face had been obscured by bugs that had splattered against her as she high-speed flew through them. "Let's see. How about... Thataway!"
(BOOM!)
She wondered exactly how fast she could go, but decided to avoid aircraft lanes. The problem was, what exactly were they?
Oh, that's right. Telescopic vision. She could look for them and then avoid those altitudes. Right. (BOOM!)
Oh wait. Cat stuck in a tree. Hey!
Oh. Traffic accident. She could do that. Jaws of life! Or hands... whatever.
* Wards *
"You suppose we could get her as a team-mate?" asked Vista as they watched the reports of Supergirl. Supergirl flying a smashed-up car to a hospital and then ripping the door off so that paramedics could reach the injured parties. Supergirl interrupting a human trafficking ring in London. Supergirl eating fish & chips on the roof of an Irish pub. Supergirl rescuing the crew of a sinking fishing boat. Supergirl flying alongside a pod of whales. Supergirl putting an overturned tractor-trailer upright.
"For the first time in my life, I feel my power-set is completely inadequate," said Clockblocker.
"We feel that all the time about you," said Vista.
"I don't think it's likely she'll join," said Gallant. "Unless it's for the company."
"She has LASER EYES?!" asked Clockblocker as the next segment on the news came up.
"So she's got flight, speed, strength, some pretty good invulnerability, and fricking laser beams," summed up Kid Win. "Got to admit, she'd be interesting to have on patrols."
"Nice of CNN to edit together all the videos so they can have them playing in the background while they talk about villain escalation due to the threat of an overpowered cape on the hero side," commented Clockblocker. "If it isn't something like that, they're going on about team romances or something."
"You remember when Time Magazine's 'Person of the Year' was Slaughterhouse Nine?" Gallant slumped down on the couch. "Heartbreaker got a movie crew following him around that one year, showing what a great guy he is. Of course, everyone figured he just Mastered the people involved but there are some people who actually buy into that crap."
"Enough of this," grumbled Kid Win. "It's time."
"Ah," said Vista, changing channels. It was "Dukes of Hazzmat" night after all.
"Just two good ol' boys, cleanin' up the place, don't matter the spill, they ain't leavin' no trace..."
* Coil *
If he got that power under his thumb, he'd be unstoppable. Coil considered ways and means, dismissing the threats of that insane Tinker. He quickly spun off a timeline where he'd go after the Dockworkers, plant subdermal bombs in them, then use the threat of exploding innocents to get a certain Supergirl under control.
Huh. That timeline ended abruptly, going dark within moments of his troops subduing the first group of that union. Whatever had happened there, he hadn't seen it coming.
Coil prepared to try again when a small circle appeared in mid-air. From that fluttered a single piece of paper before the circle disappeared again.
Curious, Coil checked it to find that it was a note.
"Don't." A single word printed in large lettering.
The implications, Coil decided, were troubling.
* Hebert Household *
"Sorry I'm late!"
Danny looked up as his daughter entered through the backdoor. "It's okay, kiddo. We kind of figured you would be since it was the day of your debut. Still, England?"
"Turns out I can fly really fast when I get some altitude," admitted Taylor.
"Have you considered braiding your hair?" asked Annette.
"Huh, why..." Taylor blinked. (ZOOM!)
* Protectorate HQ *
"That's it," said Contessa, sounding quite pleased. "That's the symbol."
"That's the 'wisp of smoke in a diamond'?" asked Alexandria. "It's an 'S' for Supergirl."
"According to the Q&A session with Professor Gizmo, it's a case of similar designs used for different cultures. According to him, that is a family name with the ideogram for 'hope' in a different language. Kryptonian." Eidolon frowned at the paperwork in front of him, momentarily wishing that he had heat-vision himself. "And that she calls herself 'Supergirl' because she needed something to go with that coincidence."
"Which network was carrying that interview?" asked Contessa. "I missed it."
"Brockton Bay TV 8," answered Eidolon. "One of the other networks will probably excerpt bits of it soon considering her power levels will make her popular."
"There isn't always a correlation between power and merchandise sales, look at Mouse Protector," pointed out Contessa.
* Professor Gizmo's Hidden Lab *
Danny Hebert stared, stepped outside, looked over the building, walked around to check the back, then went around again to go in through the front. "It's bigger on the inside."
Professor Gizmo shrugged. "Saves on property taxes and the like."
Danny looked around. "I can see why you don't give tours though. Are those... giant robots?"
"Mecha," corrected Professor Gizmo. "Bit of a collector, I admit."
"Is that the Flying Sub from 'Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea'?" asked Danny. "I've seen the early morning reruns. You can tell the writers and set designers never set foot in a ship much less a sub."
"Yeah, but the Flying Sub concept was cool," said Professor Gizmo.
"Are you sure you should give your archnemesis a tour of your secret lab?" asked Taylor.
"Meh, it's cool. And this way you know not to go crashing through one of the walls and end up in some other universe," said Professor Gizmo. "Besides, my D&D group cancelled for tonight so I had a gap in my schedule."
Annette inspected one of the video-game-like devices next to the Gundam. "Is this..."
"Pilot training device," answered Professor Gizmo, not even looking as he led the group deeper into the complex. "Oh, and don't touch that."
Danny flinched an arm back from the display. "Is it dangerous?"
"No, it's a sex-change-ray-gun, thought it would be funny and possibly useful for relationship therapy for couples. It works, but there's stability issues if you try using it again within twenty-four hours. It also wasn't nearly as funny as I thought it would be." Professor Gizmo led them past the Wall Of It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time to where a golf cart was plugged into a charging station.
"So what did you want to show us?" asked Danny.
"Oh, my next diabolical plan for dealing with my arch-nemesis once and for all," said Professor Gizmo. "For this week anyway. How's Saturday evening look?"
"I'll have to check my calendar," said Taylor dryly.
"One of your problems," explained Professor Gizmo, "is you're too powerful. People tend to get frightened over things like that and make stupid decisions when they're frightened. Well, they tend to make stupid decisions, but frightened people make it a shorter drive."
"Okay..." said Taylor.
"Also, while you are very very powerful - there are attacks which can hurt or kill you," Professor Gizmo. "The Siberian was one of those and would have eviscerated you in seconds if you had tried to fight her hand to hand."
"The Siberian's dead, isn't she?" asked Danny. At the Professor's nod, Danny thanked him for that act.
"They were being obstinate, even most of the Nazis listened to my threats and they aren't exactly the sharpest bunch of crayons in the box."
"'Most'?" asked Annette.
"Yeah, I expect Hookwolf to challenge you at some point," explained the Professor. "Maybe Alabaster. The ABB might see you as a challenge and that putting you down would be worth whatever I could do in retaliation."
"What would you do in retaliation?" asked Danny.
"Kenta is fairly reasonable to be around when he's not in his guise as Lung," said Professor Gizmo. "He has to be mean, hair-triggered, and nasty as all get out when he's being Lung to retain control over the various groups he's melded into the ABB. I retrieved his family's honor blade for him at one point, so he owes me a favor. He's big on repaying whether it's good or ill. He might challenge and fight you for the title of strongest or something, but he's not likely to try and kill you unless you make it a personal honor issue. Oni Lee is Yakuza, and they often have a sense of honor too."
"Considering what they're into criminal-wise, I find that difficult to believe," said Annette.
"Different cultural values," said Professor Gizmo. "I don't approve, but I understand the concept. That leaves the most likely to attack you as the Merchants."
"So how is my power level going to cause fear when there are Alexandria and Eidolon and Legend?" asked Taylor.
"You're stronger than 90% of the capes out there," said Professor Gizmo. "The other 10% have powersets which don't overlap yours at all. Anyway, I needed something to show you had your weak points, so I came up with glowy rocks."
"'Glowy rocks'?" repeated Taylor.
"Kryptonite is a substance that can kill you," I told her. "There is no Kryptonite in this universe though. The specific radiation of Kryptonite interferes with your ability to absorb solar radiation causing pain and weakness and eventual death. It's also radioactive so can cause regular human cell damage. As recreating Kryptonite is less than desirable I came up with something. Ersatzite!"
"Ersatzite?" asked Danny. "Seriously, that's what you named it?"
Professor Gizmo stopped the cart, getting out in front of a large machine. Pushing a button caused panels to retract. "Work in progress. May just go ahead and call it Kryptonite. Anyway, this is a substance that will have an effect on you but is 100% safe for humans. Mostly. Also works as an insect repellant and comes in grape and bubblegum scents. The official story is that it's meteorite fragments of your original timeline/planet."
"AHK!" yelped Taylor as a purple crystal came out of a spot on the machine. She immediately started yawning and swaying on her feet.
"Purple Ersatzite causes you to feel tired, sluggish, and want to take a nap," said Professor Gizmo. "Essentially the Kryptonian equivelant of having a sugar crash."
"Uh huh," sleepily indicated Taylor in the middle of a yawn.
The purple crystal withdrew and a pink crystal extended.
"Pink Ersatzite on the other hand," said Professor Gizmo. He stopped when Taylor literally fell down laughing. "Okay, that wasn't supposed to happen."
"BWAHAHAHAHAHA!" laughed Taylor.
"Huh, so Pink Ersatzite is ticklish and not irritating," said Professor Gizmo. "Might be even more useful."
"Stop it, stop it, BWAHAHAHAHA! I can't, I can't..."
"Uhm, right," Professor Gizmo said as he pushed another button and the pink crystal returned to inside the machine.
"HAHAhahehhee," wheezed Taylor.
"So you're going to demonstrate that Taylor isn't completely invulnerable by making her fall over laughing?" asked Danny.
Annette suddenly snorted, then looked mildly embarassed. "You're going to have villains scouring the Earth for glowing pink meteorites?"
"Well, yes, that IS part of the plan," admitted Professor Gizmo.
"Will they find any?" asked Danny.
"Why, Daniel Hebert, are you insinuating that I, Professor Gizmo, professional supervillain, would be so sneaky and underhanded that I would plant fake pseudo-Kryptonite in order to make rival supervillains look like idiots?" asked Professor Gizmo. "Possibly including pink quartz or other similarly colored minerals just to have them look like they didn't do the homework? Possibly selling fake glowy stones under different pseudonyms on the internet?"
"I'm not insinuating anything, I'm outright stating it," said Danny.
"Well, as long as you're not insinuating," agreed Professor Gizmo.
"I nearly peed myself," complained Taylor.
"I'll show you how to cover for that," said Taylor's mother.
* That Saturday *
"NOW, Supergirl, you face my GENIUS and you shall FALL!" said Professor Gizmo, holding up a box.
"A lead box? Besides, it's almost five, and we all know you keep to business hours," responded Supergirl.
"Try THIS!" said Professor Gizmo, unleashing a pink crystal.
"BWAHAHAHA!" (SPLASH!)
"Huh. Maybe I should have waited till she wasn't over water," said Professor Gizmo, scratching his head. He shrugged and put the crystal back in the box and closed the lid.
There was a brief burble and then Supergirl rose back up into the air, just a lot more water-logged and dripping. She moved hair out of her face. "Okay. What exactly WAS that?"
"Pink Kryptonite!" proclaimed Professor Gizmo. "When your timeline with your homeworld was destroyed, causing you to merge with a human of this reality - pieces of that reality crystalized and rained down on this world! Because of your that shared origin, the extradimensional radiation affects you - in the case of pink kryptonite causing a tickling sensation. You are helpless before my scientific might!"
The alarm clock went off.
"Well, phooey. I didn't even get to use the Bubble Prison and force you to watch JoJo's Bizarre Adventure," said Professor Gizmo.
"I'm still going to arrest y-ah-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" (sploosh!)
* PRT HQ *
"So we've got supervillains checking various meteor craters and sites?"
"Confirmed. We've got supervillains coming out of the woodwork for this."
"Is Woodwork one of them?"
"Uhm, yeah, sure enough. She just hit a museum in Chicago for meteor fragments."
* PRT HQ ENE *
Emily Piggot swept the room with her gaze once. Then she uttered the phrase she was becoming known for in the flat delivery the line demanded. "Skidmark and Squealer escaped. Seriously. Is there anyone here who is actually competent at their job?"
The Transport Division looked somewhat nervous.
"You know, the joke among the various gangs is that they're arrested by the PRT and put in jail and then they get a stamp on their card. Ten arrests and you get a free meal at Shanghai Steakhouse." Director Piggot looked over the assembled group with a face that seemed to be amassing darkness despite the lack of any parahuman ability. "See how funny I think that idea is? Well, Do You?"
"No, ma'am," ventured someone in the crowd.
"Which makes me wonder something," said Emily Piggot. "Is this incompetence, or is this someone getting paid to leak transport times and security passcodes and procedures? Skidmark was unconscious. Sedated. Propofol drip level of 'in the blessed grip of Morpheus'. Squealer was secured, under four point restraints,and muzzled. The only reason she wasn't sedated was that it was felt that she was too screwed up from her drugs for typical sedation. So, does anyone want to bring up how the Merchants sprung their boss? Anyone?"
One of the Troop Leaders finally broke the uncomfortable silence. "Someone broke secrecy. Someone let someone else know about which transports were actually carrying the capes. Someone communicated routes. At which point Mush attacked from ambush. He was able to overturn one transport. Roadside mines disabled the second transport. A second group, mercenaries armed with tinkertech lasers, provided support. Officers Fish, Dietrich, Harris, Wojciehowicz, and Yemana were acting backup from BBPD but their service revolvers were insufficient to penetrate the body armor used by the mercenaries. Officer Fish was killed, Harris and Wojciehowicz were injured and are in stable condition at the hospital. Officer Dietrich was successful in killing one of the mercenaries but has been disciplined for carrying and using a non-standard issue firearm."
"Go on," said Director Piggot, watching Troop Leader Hamilton as he gave his report/analysis.
"The PRT vans were torn open by use of some tinkertech chainsaw of unknown manufacture," continued Hamilton. "We lost three Troopers: Starsky, Hutch, and Dobey. Officer Kaplan was severely injured and is currently in critical condition. We have requested Panacea as otherwise she's likely not going to be able to walk again. Squealer and Skidmark escaped during this process."
Director Piggot swept the group with her gaze again. "So, Hamilton has summed up the operation. Do I need to mention why I have problems with the way things developed?"
"Ma'am, are we sure that someone leaked the information? Could our computer networks have been hacked?" asked Hamilton after a few moments of silence.
* Hebert Household *
"I'm really surprised that you're allowing me to go out and fight crime," said Taylor as she washed dishes. She could have done it all at superspeed, but this was kind of family time.
"We have resigned ourselves you are going to do it, dear," said Annette Hebert. "Besides, with Endbringers and the four gangs here in the city - is anywhere actually safe?"
"'Four'?" asked Taylor.
"The Merchants, Empire 88, ABB, and the PRT," answered Annette.
"The PRT isn't a gang," responded Taylor.
"Low level members, a few capes, tendency to go jumping in with guns blazing?" countered Annette.
"I..." Taylor blinked as she overheard something. "Uhm, I think I need to hear this." Superspeed to finish up the dishes, dry and stack them, then off to see the television.
Danny gestured at the TV news report. "Friend of yours?"
"What's HE doing here?" asked Taylor.
* Ranma Saotome *
"Look," explained the pigtailed martial artist turned dimension traveling fighter, "I heard that there were some really tough guys around here and that you were among the strongest. I didn't mean to interrupt your game of 'Candy Crush' and you could'a just said you were busy."
Lung bellowed, flames licking around his body.
"You really don't want to do that," said Ranma. "It'll make this a lot easier than it needs to be. I just wanted to see how tough you really are."
"I will kill you slowly," said Lung. "You can dodge well, little cockroach, but you can't dodge forever."
"Actually, yeah, I can," answered Ranma. "I can even dodge while running around you in a spiral, just like this."
Now over fifteen feet in length, Lung roared again and tried to swat the annoying insect.
"Hiryu Shoten Ha," announced Ranma as he uppercut.
Then Supergirl was there, moving things out of the tornado which had appeared right around Lung.
Lung quickly became a dot in the distance almost looking to be a twinkling star as soon as the tornado shut down.
"What are you doing here?" asked Supergirl.
"Sounded like some interesting fighting here from what dragon-guy said, so I thought I'd look around," said Ranma. "Guy didn't even know martial arts though, just all 'raar smash' and stuff. Boring."
Taylor focussed her telescopic vision in order to follow the falling Lung, who was not coming straight down due to various factors like wind. "So are you sticking around?"
"Nah," said Ranma. "If this superpower stuff is like that guy, then it's not martial arts at all. No point."
"Good, this is just trying out a powerset," said Taylor. "So far though - got to say this is fun."
"You ought to try martial arts skills, those are always useful. Well, if you're as good as me," said Ranma. "Nothing valuable where that guy's going to come down?"
"Looks like he's going to land in Merchant territory," said Supergirl. "One of their drug labs."
"No big loss then," said Ranma with a shrug before making a double slash with one hand and ripping a hole in space/time. "Good luck."
Taylor shook her head as the dimension traveler left and prepared to go on patrol since she was out anyway.
* PRT HQ ENE *
Director Emily Piggot was different, though she was unaware of that or that the timeline had been altered. That she and the team she'd led into Ellisburg had been rescued by a parahuman shortly after things had gone pear-shaped had been a domino falling that had continued to throw things off as it went.
Without the debilitating effects on her health from that experience, she was much more fit and continued to exercise. Without some of the mental scars from that event, she didn't hate parahumans to the same level she would have. Still didn't trust them entirely, but she didn't have quite the distaste she would have had.
That it had been a villain, or at least someone who called themselves a villain, that had saved her and her troops still stuck in her craw a bit. Though everyone knew that Professor Gizmo wasn't much of a villain, and not a villain at all if you compared him to Slaughterhouse Nine or that end of the villainy spectrum.
"Canberra?" asked Director Piggot.
"Apparently Professor Gizmo has some potential monitoring program and he'd just indicated the Canberra facility is now showing a better than 80% probability of Endbringer attack in the next month," said Dragon.
"What's in Canberra?" asked Director Piggot.
"There's a top secret facility involving multiple tinkers, though I don't have any details," said Armsmaster.
"Professor!" said Director Piggot to the ceiling. "What's in Canberra?"
There was silence for a few seconds.
"I thought we swept for surveillance devices on Monday," mused Armsmaster.
Emily Piggot sighed. "Of all times for our security measures to actually work."
"Well, put the word out through secure channels that we have intel that Canberra might be the next Endbringer target," said Director Piggot.
* Super Secret Base *
"How did you even GET our number?" asked Leet of his cellphone.
Uber glanced over at his friend and wondered who was calling that would garner that sort of reaction.
"You what?" asked Leet. "Eighty-seven percent chance? What's the next leading one? Oh crap, what percentage?"
Uber waited, noting his friend was getting more agitated as things went on.
"The Simurgh?" asked Leet.
Okay, NOW Uber was getting worried.
"Well, even if there's an Endbringer Truce, we're not likely to get... You do? You have? It's functional? Well, yes, but still. And it plays music?"
Now Uber was getting a bit confused.
"Well, of course. I'll have to confer with my associate but it's possible we can assist. Reply on PHO? Very well."
"Who was that?" asked Uber as Leet touched the phone to end the call.
"Professor Gizmo. He wanted to know if we wanted to borrow a couple of mecha for an endbringer fight."
Uber crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Nope. You know the fatality rates on endbringer fights. One-in-four die and that's with an insane number of capes responding. And those are the low-point fatality numbers."
* Australia *
Mad Scientist, which was actually his cape name, was a Western Territories Tinker whose specialty was what could best be called Weird Science. He couldn't fix a coffee maker or program a VCR but he could build a shrink ray or atomic jetpack inside a few hours.
Mad Scientist also suffered from the same limitation as Leet from over in the States. He couldn't make the same thing twice or else he ended up with something that exploded.
He was counted as a villain, though more of a nuisance than anything else. Yes, he stole all the jewelry from a couple of jewelry stores using his Sleep Ray - but he seemed to genuinely take care that nobody got hurt as he planned his felonious little plans. And the people who had recovered from his Sleep Ray robberies had reported that they'd never felt more rested.
He was one of a few that had reasoned out that Professor Gizmo was NOT a Tinker.
Also he was one of the few that had heard his fellow villain needed a place to store a few gadgets for a month or two - he was all for it.
Not that he was going to try and back-engineer some of it. His power wasn't all that cooperative and studying Gizmo's gadgets before hadn't produced any useful information.
Gigantic guns with metal-ceramic crab legs weren't his style anyway.
A clown car that was bigger on the inside was MUCH more intriguing. Especially when you could get clown minions that were currently out of a job because their former villain boss was currently in jail.
Not so much the crab-artillery. Why would you even NEED Terawatt laser cannon?
* Coil *
It had been simple. Most powerful precog kidnapped and under his thumb. Simple. Attack them away from home as the father and mother were out at some "game night" where they played for several hours.
Turned out it wasn't poker that Mister and Miz Alcott were playing. It was some weird nerd crap called Dungeons & Dragons.
It also turned out that the two Alcotts had their daughter playing in a room with several other children of the rich and/or powerful.
It was when his mercenaries did a forced entry on the house that things started going horribly wrong.
"It's smaller on the outside!" was followed by "Robot Legion of Doom?!" was itself followed by several different phrases all of which amounted to "oh crap" but rather more vehement.
Which meant that the nice little building was one of Professor Gizmo's labs because who the bloody else would have a Hall of Giant Robots and a Robot Legion of Doom (even outfitted with Roman soldier armor) shooting the hell out of his mercenaries?
Still, now that he knew the location of that lab, he could dismiss that timeline and nobody would be aware of him until he stole some of that tech.
A paper fluttered down off his desk, but he wasn't sure what "strike two" meant.
* Colorado *
"Yes?" came the voice from the intercom next to the door.
"Dakka, I presume?" answered the mad scientist-looking individual.
There was a brief silence. "Nobody here by that name."
"Look, I understand you're retired, that stuff hit the fan, that you want no part of that life back," said Professor Gizmo. "But I wanted to test something and see if your power worked."
"Don't know what you're talking about," came the intercom answer, though there was perhaps a tiny amount more interest in the voice.
"Dakka had the ability to store and materialize any weapon he owned," said Professor Gizmo. "Limitations being it had to be a weapon and you had to have clear ownership. It couldn't be something you just borrowed."
"I think I read something like that about this guy who is definitely not here," said the voice on the intercom.
"So, anyway, if you check your backyard, I've already drawn up the paperwork for ownership transfer," said Professor Gizmo.
"My... backyard? What do you..." The voice went silent.
"It's exactly what it looks like, I'll leave the operator manual here on the doorstep," said Professor Gizmo.
"If it's what it looks like, it looks like..."
Professor Gizmo nodded to the video monitor. "A HWR-00 Mark II Monster? Because that's what it is. There's a number in the cockpit if it works that you can store and summon it. Because that is a weapon and it is owned by the cape known as Dakka."
"IF he comes out of retirement, I might mention it, just to get it out of my backyard if nothing else," confessed the voice on the intercom.
"I've got one more stop here, just in case," said Professor Gizmo. "We have a pretty good idea where the Simurgh is next going to attack and I'm trying to find a few capes I can kit out a bit."
There was some amusement in the voice from the intercom. "Just a bit. Right."
* Orbit *
She did NOT want to go.
Since she DID have to go, she was determined to go in fast and hard and teach these humans not to bloody mess with her.
Wait. She started her descent at 1/4 speed. Because she had a feeling this was going to hurt.
* Canberra Assault Point *
"Here she comes, flying down the street," sang the voice over the loudspeakers. "Got plenty of mind-screw, for everyone she meets. Hey hey it's the Simurgh, people say she's coming to town. We're not too busy singing, cause we're gonna put her down..."
Crews dove into their crab-tanks, their Magic The Gathering cards scattering as they reached their posts, activated the psi-dampers, and their mecha threw off the dust (and one magpie nest) that had accumulated over the past couple of weeks.
Strider popped in with groups of heroes and then back again.
Dakka gestured and a giant war mecha appeared and began lumbering forward.
"I thought he was retired."
"Supergirl incoming."
"This is the song. We're using it to coordinate attacks. When the light matches the border on the wristband - that's when you attack. Orange group - you're ranged fire. Blue group - you're containment. Red group - tanks that can take a hit. Remember to withdraw if you feel a mental influence, otherwise your wristband will buzz and vibrate when the color changes. When it does, disengage and retreat and recover. White band - you're hospital and recovery, the white tent is set up for that. Search & Rescue - work around the fight scene."
Glory Girl rubbed her wristband and nodded to her sister before Panacea started towards the medic tent.
Another song began playing over the loudspeakers.
"Wait, is that..." said Glory Girl.
"Hold back, Supergirl is intercepting," said the loudspeakers before the music restarted. Dah dah dah, dee daht dee dee dee dee.
"...Rasputin?" finished Glory Girl.
* Simurgh *
Why was there music? There had never been music before. Were they trying to appeal to her better side or something? Because if they were, it wouldn't work. She was going to wreck their day and-
"HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!) HEY!" (WHAM!)
The Simurgh finished tumbling through the air, a little trail of drifting feathers indicating where her direction and speed had drastically changed with each impact.
"There was a certain man, in Russia long ago," sang the woman's voice.
The Simurgh's eyes widened as she realized that there were railgun rounds and missiles fired in patterns that indicated they were keeping the beat. She reached for the debris field that would protect her.
"He was big and strong, in his eyes a burning glow," went the song.
Things started exploding. She stopped one missile in mid-flight only to have the sides pop open and now there were hundreds of smaller missiles arcing towards her.
Yeah, this day was going to suck.
* Supergirl *
She soaked up the sun's rays in the upper atmosphere, on the very verge of space. It was strangely pleasant here where sound was a memory and one was almost completely weightless. The sun seemed to warm her entire body and she felt more energetic than she could remember in a long time.
And the lyrics scrolling on her wristband indicated she was almost at the time where she'd fly around in those high speed loops and build up speed in order to repeatedly slam into the Simurgh.
Taylor Hebert smiled. Yeah. Somebody's day was about to suck.
* Armsmaster *
"Got it," said Dragon.
"What weapons system is staggering the Simurgh?" asked Armsmaster.
A display came up, showing a familiar figure.
"Supergirl?" asked Glory Girl, staring at the still frame.
"She's making loops of well over one hundred miles, altering the path slightly to strike the Simurgh in passing, then making another loop and striking again," said Dragon. "The burning trails are because the air is literally igniting around her from her speed. At those points she is striking at least three times per second."
"Mom wants me to assert myself as her rival," said Glory Girl in a voice that was lacking a good portion of her usual confidence.
"Supergirl then switches out to go into the upper atmosphere and await her next turn, which is the ranged attack phase, coming up in three, two, one..." said Dragon before her interface with the now-recharged railgun artillery began its own barrage.
* Simurgh *
The group trying to contain or corral her were up and that was bloody well IT! She was out of here!
She made for upper atmosphere and a bit beyond and tallied things up. She was missing four wings and two more were broken. She was also literally down an arm and a leg. Her outer casement was damaged and something in one of those artillery attacks had started messing with her regeneration abilities.
Three minutes. Three minutes where she'd not wanted to be there in the first place, and was now trying to lick her wounds from orbit. There was little doubt in her mind that if she'd tried to last the usual length of time involved, she'd be literally taken apart.
If she was pulled into her usual duty and facing this sort of thing again she was going to nope the hardest nope in the history of nope.
* Protectorate HQ *
"Eidolon collapsed and is foaming at the mouth."
"What the hell happened? We've got to get to Canberra now."
"Uhm, about that..."
"What?"
"It's over."
"What? How many dead?"
"One. Apparently Wildcard Bill tried to steal a mecha and was ejected from the cockpit by some automatic theft deterrant. Unfortunately the ejection path took him right in front of one of Djinni Di's aerokinetic discs."
"Wait, one casualty? From a Simurgh attack?"
"Yeah, right now there's apparently a massive barbeque party going in Canberra. We could still make that I suppose."
"Well, I suppose that's a possibility."
* Supergirl *
"Wait," said Professor Gizmo as his watch started beeping. "Someone's attacking the Docks?"
That was all she needed to hear as she was then gone, her speed steadily increasing as she raced back home.
* Professor Gizmo *
"Dang it! I DO TELEPORTS!" Professor Gizmo grumbled a bit, opened a teleport circle and walked through. "Kids. Never listen to ya."
It was said that the safest place when Merchants were shooting was directly in front of them. This wasn't actually true - but their aim was almost that bad.
"Merchants," said Professor Gizmo out loud as he checked the batteries on his force-field belt and the charge on his omni-tool. "And that big pile of moving garbage must be Mush and the tank is probably where Squealer is. Inertial shields to maximum."
A pattering noise indicated a large number of bullets had just impacted his forcefield.
"Instant swamp grenade," said the Professor, throwing a small object towards a group of Merchants. "Power at 25% and dropping, so let's get this over with fast."
* Supergirl *
It had been easy to forget how dangerous the world was when you were as close to being invulnerable as it was possible to get.
That her parents would be at the DWU Admin building during an Endbringer event was certain - better evacuation route in a worst case scenario and better communication equipment than they had at home.
She was halfway across the Atlantic when she remembered that Professor Gizmo's main schtick was teleportation circles.
She began her descent, not caring about the way she now resembled a comet due to the way the atmosphere compressed and ignited around her invulnerable body.
She was close enough to see the Dockworkers Union HQ explode into fragments.
"CANCEL!"
Everything faded.
Professor Gizmo sighed. "Why?"
"Ah, my parents," said the now non-super Taylor.
"I got everyone to safety you know," said the former Professor Gizmo as he reverted to the old guy mentor figure she knew.
"I might have... jumped the gun a bit," defended Taylor. "Not like you could do better."
"I'm not the hero, I'm just a mentor or guide, and not likely to show up in the finished product. If I do, I expect I'll die early on because that's a whole part of the Hero's Journey thing."
Taylor was silent for a moment, regarding the old man and then the bored-looking kitty talking to four giant lizard-like beings. "You know, I find myself wishing that you DID have to deal with my life. Then you'd see how difficult... why is everyone looking at me like that? Why are the lizard-people facepalming?"
i've got some mandatory Continuing Education i've got to get through for work, and go figure that they're not willing to give me time AT work for doing the stuff they're assigning me. So it's liable to be at least sometime in September before i can add the next chapter.