Much to her effort, Lisa had repeatedly berated and nagged everyone that during any missions we partake, our utmost priority aside from keeping ourselves alive would be the prevention of drawing any kinds of attention ourselves. Even if the entire purpose of a mission was to cause a ruckus to divert the PRT or the BBPD's fury, she would still enforce the mentality of always treading our actions with caution and care. But seeing an entire entourage of Police officers with two kids in respective Red and Green costumes, I believe that caution was thrown right off the window when the store's clerk managed to tip off the Security alarm during one of Alec's lapses of attention.

It was 4-AM when we were just about done ransacking an electronics store for everything it has useful for my tinkering, that the loud blaring of sirens could be heard from outside the store's premises. Everyone just stood frozen, like children getting caught by our parents stealing the cookies from the cookies jar.

We, as professionals in a sense, snapped from our stupor and hastily gathered our loot to prepare for our escape. Grue flushed the windows with his darkness while the others took cover. But not before Alec delivered some payback to the guy that dropped the shoe on us, stomping him in his family's jewels with sickening force. Even Rachel felt bad for the guy.

Lisa briefly sneaked a peek at a clear spot through Grue's darkness and surveyed the situation. She relayed that there was a whole squad of police officers who stood on guard, ready with their weapons. She also said that they wouldn't hesitate to shoot anything that even resembles a person in Grue's darkness. Talk about Police brutality. And I thought they were the good guys.

She also noted that amongst the crowd of police agents were two kids in high-quality costumes. One's a petite girl wearing a green-tinted visor and padded skirt, while the other was a kid in red and gold armour riding a glowing hoverboard. Vista and Kid Win, fucking great.

Any other ward we could reasonably take, but dealing with Vista or Clockblocker is always troublesome, and annoying. We once almost left Grue behind when Clock managed to tag him while riding one of Bitch's dogs. It was comical to see a muscular teenager floating in midair, frozen in time while doing an awkward riding position. As for Vista, any escape attempt while she was around would be futile until she was dealt with. She can infinitely increase the distance we would have to travel to run away and can effectively block our path by looping them back around to another location, not to mention that she can instantly close the gap between us with just a snap. A truly terrifying opponent, good heavens she's not as brutal as she was later on in the story.

"Shit. This is bad," Lisa cussed.

"Golly. Wouldn't have known if you hadn't pointed it out," I joked, releasing some tension to the situation.

Alec piped in, "And I thought this would be an easy job. What did you say again, Tattletale? Mind reminding us, GB?"

I scratched my chin, "Hmm… it goes something like, "Our easiest job yet", or something like that. I don't know. Do you remember the rest of what she said, Grue?"

Grue ignored the idiotic antics of his teammates, focused on the problem outside, and thinking how to resolve the current situation. I've known Brian for all throughout my life, this broody, cool facade he's giving off right now indicates that he is actually internally panicking and is trying to find the most plausible way to book out of the situation.

I looked back at Regent, who just shrugged and headed off to bother Bitch. He'll probably get punched again, like every other time he annoys her.

"Well, whatever. Go be boring somewhere else, I guess," I looked to the window, but only darkness greeted me. No idea how Brian can see through this shit.

"So. Ideas? Anyone?" I threw out the room, approaching Tattletale, who was fiddling with her phone. It was a touch screen phone, similar to an iPhone. I gifted it to her when I saw her still using a flip phone, I also added some modifications to it, like an internet connection node and a multilayered IP backtracking blocker. It was not enough to block someone like Dragon or someone who specializes in Decryption and Hacking, but it's enough for the scale we were working with here on Brockton Bay.

"The backdoor?" Lisa replied, stating an obvious answer.

I shook my head, "Nay. We're surrounded, and it is too obvious. Brian?"

Brian turned away from looking at the window, "We need to break through them. It's the only plausible way we can get out of this situation," he leaned at a table and spread his hands through its surface. Then he started to outline a rough plan and the order of execution for said plan. Everyone added in their ideas and began building on a solid path.

While the Undersiders fleshed out their plan, the authorities and the heroes outside did not remain idle. Vista, with the aid of the authorities, cleared out the streets of any passersby and curious onlookers, while Kid Win took an advantageous spot in the rooftops in front of the electronics store, his hand on his laser gun aimed at the shop's direct line of fire. The police also took a perimeter around the area, with the focal point being the front door of the electronics store entrance.

Everyone was tense, as they knew a cape fight can happen at any time now. They knew the dangers posed by superpowered individuals, but still actively faced death in order to serve their duty. The air was thick with fear and anticipation.

Suddenly, the door opened and a wave of darkness flooded the entirety of the area, covering the frontal whole of the electronic shop with an incomprehensible void of roiling abyss. Everyone was already tense, but now their coil has been sprung.

Yet nobody did anything... Nobody was dumb enough to blindly shoot at a new, unknown factor without further information. For all they knew, there was a whole line of civilians standing at the door's entrance just behind that cover of darkness. These are villains, after all, it was not as far-fetched for them to do something like it.

Vista stuck on the sidelines, raised her arms, and used her power to contain the darkness creeping ever closer. It was a fickle thing, but it was enough that she didn't notice when a small object flew from the darkness and exploded with a deafening flash of white light.

The authorities did not expect it and were caught off guard, resulting in almost every police officer in the vicinity of the explosion being blinded and deafened by the thrown device. Including Vista, who was clutching her head.

Through the darkness, three monstrous creatures broke the front of the building and leaped through the shadows, taking the doors and walls with them. The creatures were big and grotesque, appearing more of a spiky hellish demon more than any dog anyone had ever seen.

The dogs landed in the street with a sickening crack, their combined weight producing spiderwebs throughout the asphalt. Vista and the Police were still dazed on the ground from the flashbang, but were already recovering. We need to get out of here or soon-

Bursts of blue plasma barraged us from over our heads. I recognize those shots belonging to Kid Win's pulse rifles. A single shot of those has enough punch to knock out a grown man while simultaneously electrocuting their entire nervous system. I know this because I got fucking hit by one of them once, it was agonizingly painful.

The dogs reacted quickly, jumping to the side and shielding their riders from any of the pulses. The shots dispersed harmlessly to the dog's hardened skin, with some landing on the ground and creating shallow potholes in the road. God, those things are way too dangerous for a Ward.

Judas, the dog carrying Grue and Regent, got hit at the back of one of his legs, causing his hind to jump forward unpredictably. It gained control of their leg soon enough, but that moment of chaos was enough to throw Regent off to the side. Grue reacted and made a quick attempt to catch him by throwing out his arms to grab the falling Regent, but he was unsuccessful and missed his hand by literal inches. Regent thudded in the ground, just a few meters away from Brutus.

Looking back, I realized that Vista was already standing and had somewhat recovered from the explosion. Before I could think more, her left arm was raised towards Regent and pulled.

I tried to shout, but it was for naught as right before my eyes, in what seemed to be an impossible tear in space, the spot where Regent sat had suddenly stretched and elongated a dozen meters towards where Vista and the Cops were standing. In just a few seconds, our teammate was taken so effortlessly. Fuck.

Tattletale, Grue, and Bitch also noticed what had happened and seemed to realized that the situation had gone awry. Grue threw his arms out and flooded his power once again to create a wave of Darkness that engulfed us and the Authorities. But just before the darkness completely enshrouded the area where I was, Tattletale, who was sitting right behind me, pointed and signalled towards our fallen teammate.

"Gearbox!"

"On it!"

What? Don't judge me for picking that name, it was either that or something stupid like Utility Kid or Gizmoshtick. My powers aren't really that specialized for any unique name. As a Tinker with the broad specialization of "Equipment", the pool of words I could scrounge up in the Thesaurus is quite limited. However, if something ever happens and an opportunity arrives for a name rebranding, I would definitely take it posthaste, and hopefully, I had come up with a better name for me in the future. I was getting exhausted of Toybox's constant recruitment attempts. Just because my name was perfect for your group, doesn't mean I would automatically join you.

Returning to the situation. I threw my right hand forward, and a black cable shot out of my wrist in a burst of compressed air. The cable flew through the stretched space towards Regent's location and attached itself a few feet just beside him. Once the connection has been established, the device on my wrist began to vibrate as it reeled in the cable with blinding speeds. I jumped from Angelica's back and rode the cable's pull, effortlessly riding the tug of the role. It only took me two seconds to reach the end of the line. I pulled out a baton from my back and readied in for a strike.

Vista saw and reacted quickly, elongating the distance between herself and me while trying to call on Kid Win, who was focused on suppressing the other Undersiders from leaving. The Police were pointing their guns straight towards me, but I didn't feel any concern about it. The BBPD never interferes during a live cape fight, it is only when they absolutely have to act in self-defence or have been ordered by a high official that they would move. The presence of two wards also made them reconsider any action they had fancied in their head. No one wants to step on the toes of the PRT and the Protectorate.

I turned towards Regent, who was now up and about padding his clothes nonchalantly as if he didn't almost just get caught by the Authorities. I pointed a hand to the distant Vista and told him to cover me while I try to take down Kid Win. He nodded and made a come at me bro gesture towards the East coast's highest-rated shaker.

Shaking my head, I ran towards Kid Win, who was still shooting towards the dark wall of Grue's power. I was confident that any of his plasma shots won't damage much of my team. For one, he's a Ward. Wards don't permanently cripple people, barring Shadow Stalker. And secondly, Grue's power would protect them from the worst of his attacks.

I've experimented extensively with Brian's darkness with the reluctant but intrigued help of Tattletale, and had managed to extrapolate a few things about his power. His darkness drains energy. More precisely, electrical and heat energy. It also dampens kinetic energy, but it's not as efficient as the first two types.

Aiming my wrist hook to the rooftop where the Red-clad Ward was shooting, I flew to the edge and landed with the ease and subtly of a trained assassin. Or someone with noise-dampening shoes.

While I was indeed quiet and as stealthy as I can possibly be, Kid Win still noticed me and turned in my direction. His earpiece, I thought. Vista must have notified him just before confronting Regent. No matter, this would just give the others time to breathe.

I rushed while brandishing my baton, electricity crackling through its body. Kid Win turned his guns to shoot, but I already reached him and swatted his left pistol to the side. He shot with his right, but I rolled to the side, dodging the pulse with ease.

He rose back with his hoverboard, clutching his remaining spark pistol. "Gearbox! Lay down your equipment and surrender!" he yelled.

Amused, I replied, "Really? You do guys know that never works, right?"

"I, I have to try," he glanced towards the now visible Undersiders, then back to me, "The PRT is on their way, you can't escape now. Please, surrender, and you might be offered leniency by the Protectorate,"

I raised an eyebrow, "Leniency? Don't you mean forced recruitment?" I mused, "You know, I've read about a thing or two related to Shadow Stalker's case and I have to say that it doesn't really give me a great impression about you guys,"

Kid Win ignored my words as if I hadn't talked at all, he continued to spout about his cease and desist justice nonsense, "You cannot escape! We already have you all surrounded. Running away will only make it hard for everyone!"

I smirked under my mask, "Is that supposed to be a threat? That sounds more like a challenge,"

Kid Win was taken aback at first, but just gritted his teeth while pulling something out of his back and threw it at me. The thrown object was a small box with holes on their faces and gold circuits engraved to the sides. I tried to dodge out of the way, but the box opened and exploded into thousands of metallic pellets. Huh? I tried to analyze it with my tinker power, but I got nothing.

My confusion was answered when a sudden bolt of electricity jumped from the box to one pellet, then to another pellet, then to another, until it all chained together into a net of electricity in just a fraction of a second.

I knew it took a fraction of a second because it also took a fraction of a second for that net of electricity to explode and envelop the whole area alongside me. The impact wasn't actually that much, but it was enough to catch me off guard and rooted on the spot for Kid Win to hit me with a blast from his Spark Pistols.

The pulse impacted directly into my chest, hitting me with immense kinetic and electric force. My chest padding had absorbed most of the damage, but if it hadn't, I would have already dropped into unconsciousness. Instead, I only experienced intense pain and it knocking me down on one knee.

He shot off more pulses, but I immediately rolled to the side to avoid his volley. The action caused me to wince and clutch my chest. This motherfucker! I was going to go easy on him, but now it's on.

Grabbing a flash bead in my belt and threw it high into the air. The bead exploded, but I was already halfway towards him before it even activated.

Brandishing an electric baton in my right hand, I jumped towards Kid Win and struck it directly into his chest. Lightning crackled as metal meet metal. The impact and electricity were dispersed through his body armour, but it still caused him to scream in pain and clutch his chest.

Now spooked, shocked, and temporarily blinded, Kid Win panicked and flew out of bounds from the rooftop. He hovered a few meters from the ledge, floating directly above the streets rather than the building I was currently on.

Piggy-backing on his shock, I shot off my grappling hook, causing it to fly right between Kid Win's knees. He tensed, but eased in relief, thinking that I had missed my target. Rachel please, I never miss.

The reeling system revved up, causing the hook to fly back and snag itself to Kid Win's Hoverboard. It took him a second to register what just happened, but when he did, all that relieved expression on his face was suddenly replaced with that one of terrifying realization, as the situation began to dawn onto his face. Smiling madly now, I used all of my strength and pulled with a mad fervor.

The hoverboard alongside Kid Win flew back to the rooftops and straight towards me. Kid Win was panicking and still trying to regain his balance. I let go of the rope and activated the reel again, causing the both of us to accelerate together until we met in the middle. I disabled the grappling hook with a button on my base index finger and grabbed for the other baton in my back. Kid Win, powerless against my advance, could only watch in horror as two electric rods slammed directly into his head.

He crashed down to the rooftop with a loud thump. His feet detached from his hoverboard as I flew past his head.

With Kid Win finally unconscious and lying on the ground, I surveyed the battlefield for the situation of my teammates. Regent was accompanied by the other Undersiders and kept Vista and the Authorities suppressed. It seemed that we have things all under control.

I heard a groan beneath my feet and noticed Kid Win already regaining consciousness, albeit a bit dazed and concussed. I was surprised about how fast he woke up, I guess I hadn't hit him that hard. Leaning down, I increased the pressure of my feet in his chest, which made him groan in pain.

"Hey Loser," I slapped his cheek a little, making his hazy eyes to focus on me, "Why are you so weak? Even Leet is better than this,"

While he ignored the first jab, he couldn't ignore that latter statement. Throughout the American North-Eastern Cape community, it was widely known that Leet is, if not, one of the worst Tinkers known to the public. Crowned one of three Tinker kings of the East coast. The other kings were a Waste Tinker and a tinker who specializes in Non-Reactive Gasses. He's categorized alongside people that literally work with shit and gas. Of course, being told that he's being compared to one of these people would absolutely strike to any Tinker's pride.

"You! Shut up!" he yelled, suddenly sobering up.

"What? Did I hit a nerve?" I said in a smug tone, "Did you actually see yourself in such a low state that you automatically deny the accusation? What even is your specialty, I wonder. Oh, wait! You don't have one," I mock laughed, causing him to grit his teeth.

"It's better than yours will ever be," he said trying to struggle beneath my foot, I only deepened the pressure of my feet to stop his attempts.

"Well, do pray tell. How would a third-rate tinker that does not even know his own specialty compare to someone who had effortlessly beaten them with their more superior technology?" I asked, genuinely curious. I let him think for a moment while gazing back at my team.

Grue's power covered the streets with whisky tendrils of darkness, but I can sometimes catch glimpses of my teammates riding on Bitch's dogs. Man, that Darkness really is an eyesore. Kid Win was about to open his mouth, but I quickly put a finger to shut him up.

"Shhh. I need to call someone," I said, much to the Ward's Annoyance. Clicking on my left ear, I waited for a second before a beep came through, and I could hear Tattletale's voice.

"Situation?" I asked.

"Handled. We managed to knock out Vista, but the PRT's on their way in thirty minutes. We need to retreat right now!" her voice came out with a calm tone, but I could hear the faint sense of distress in her words.

"Shit. Should we use the D-Dick?"

"It's D-Disk, and yes, we can't handle the entirety of the Protectorate," She replied.

"Double shit. The entire Protectorate is coming!?" I semi-yelled into my ear. Beneath me, Kid Win was surprised, then turned into a smug smirk on his face.

"What!? No!" She yelled back, "Velocity and Dauntless are off their shift, and the other Wards are either home or in their Base. It's likely that it's only Armsmaster and Miss Militia who's coming here. Either way, we need to get out of here,"

I sighed in relief, while Kid Win deflated a bit, he still had a small smirk, "You're fucked," he mumbled. Unfortunately for him, I heard what he said, and slapped him. Not too forceful, but enough to leave an impact. Psychological impact.

Slap!

His face was an image of utter shock, processing that a Villain just slapped him like an actor in a drama show. He turned towards me, and we just stared a few awkward moments at each other, before Kid opened his mouth.

"Did you just-"

Slap!

"... I-"

Slap!

"... STO-"

Slap!

That continued for a few more times until Kid Win fell unconscious with a bruised cheek and crying face. Lisa beeped into my ear. She was probably listening to the conversation the whole time and had already extrapolated what had happened.

"Gearbox. I swear to god if you don't come down here right now and activate that teleporter, I will personally make what you did to Kid Win like a paper cut compared to what I'm about to do when I get my hands on you." She said with an oddly serene voice, filled with finality. Naturally, my spine chilled and every hair on my body rose, forming goosebumps.

"C-Calm down Tattletale. Everything's handled already! No need to be so tense, we could just escape out of here easy-peasy!" I tried to placate Tattletale.

I've always like tattletale as a character, even before I met her. She's strong-willed, determined, and somehow manages to always come out on top, even when she has a "weak" power. Not to mention, when I first met her, she was pretty cute. Her fan art depictions did not do justice to her appearance. Of course, she's jail bait right now, and I ain't touching her without a two-foot pole until she's 18 next year.

But after actually getting to know the girl, I realized she's actually batshit insane and scary sometimes. Thankfully, I built a Thinker scrambler just for the possibility that I managed to meet her. She never stopped nagging me about it, though.

Women are scary, and I was only talking about Lisa.

Rachel was… Oddly docile towards me, only ever gotten aggressive when I first joined the group. Totally unlike the character I've read in the story. But I've long accepted that not all things are what it seems from the story to this new reality. Still, her odd behaviour greatly worries me.

Women are scary, but most of them aren't that bad.

I was broken by my musings when a loud yelp rang from my earpiece just as a monstrous form which I recognize as one of Bitch's dogs crashed right to the building I was on. Making the whole thing shake and leaving cracks to the side.

A wave of powerful force slammed into me, just as a slowly rising, terrifyingly beautiful angel rose into the air. Her dreadfully luscious golden hair waved behind her back with a radiant aura of beauty and death. Her tiara sat atop her frightening gorgeous face, every feature of her perfectly terrifying in every way. Likewise, her clear white and gold-trimmed dress was covering her perfect horrifying perfect wrathful body-

"GEARBOX! USE THE FUCKING TELEPORTER, GLORY GIRL'S HERE!" Lisa's voice cut right through me like a hot knife through butter.

Looking at the murderous and wrathful expression etched onto Glory Girl's glorious face, I briefly reconsidered my earlier statement about women.

Women are scary. With almost no exceptions. Should have listened to dad's relationship advice. I can just hear his words in my ear.

"Remember son. Never argue with a woman when it comes to anything. It never goes good for us men."

I could only wish I had listened to him earlier.