1.4
[Aegis]
"I'm Manifold. This is Myriad. And the lady in mufti is Merit, our primary support specialist. We're here to help."
Watching the video for the fifth time Carlos still could not believe how poised the new cape was when facing a hyped-up Armsmaster. Having worked with the tinker for almost two years, the Ward still preferred to avoid the older man's notice when he was as keyed up as he had been when confronting the new trio.
"Are you with the Empire?" Armsmaster had demanded.
"No!" Myriad rejected the idea quite vehemently. "We're heroes. We were …" She trailed off when the Protectorate leader turned his attention fully on her.
"Heroes?" the tinker asked.
"That's our goal," Manifold confirmed with a quirky smile. "But this," he waved his hand almost nonchalantly to indicate the calamity surrounding them, "cropped up before we were fully prepared. We could help, so we jumped ahead of our plans."
"You're minors, except for Merit." Armsmaster stated.
"Indeed. But we'll grow out of it." Again, the kid was willing to banter with the older man. "Speaking of which, it's almost past our bedtime so …" he stepped back and put a hand on each of his teammate's shoulders. Then the three of them vanished with a loud crack.
"Damn," Carlos muttered to himself.
"Indeed," Director Piggot said, the sarcasm obvious in her voice. "I was hoping you might have a more useful observation. You were, I believe, the first to encounter the mysterious trio."
"Not exactly," the Ward leader clarified. "Manifold was protecting a number of civilians that had been involved in a traffic pile-up."
"Traffic cameras have indicated that this series of accidents was initiated by Tattletale as she tried to escape in a stolen van with Hellhound and Regent," Armsmaster interrupted. "Likely in an attempt to distract us, if not Lung and the Empire."
"Uh, yeah." Carlos paused to try to figure out if he needed to respond to the older man. He decided he did not. "Manifold was trying to evacuate the civilians when Lung knocked me down almost in front of him. I did not see either Myriad or Merit, though I did see evidence of Myriad's insect swarm."
"Was that when he created the forcefield that was able to withstand Lung's flame breath?" the Director inquired.
"Yes ma'am," the young man continued. "One thing I noticed. He called something out when he created the force field, almost like in a fight game or cartoon. He did the same thing when he created the holographic hedgehog, though what he yelled was different."
"It was a badger," Sophia corrected with an eyeroll. Suddenly all eyes were on her. "What? Badgers are badass."
"Were there any other instances where he was observed to speak or yell when using his powers?" Piggot inquired of the larger group. Everyone involved in the battle was present in the conference room, even Battery who had come back from the hospital in good shape.
Several of the gathered heroes gave examples of Manifold using some form of speech along with his powers.
"But he didn't do it every time," Miss Militia pointed out. "He wasn't vocalizing when he was blasting Lung. Nor was he when he teleported. But he yelled particularly loudly when he changed the sidewalk under the dragon to water."
"Alright," the Director said, drawing the short discussion to a close. "To sum up, Manifold seems to be a grab bag, or more likely a trump, that has shown a variety of energy blasts, teleportation, healing, holograms, area effect force fields, possible telekinesis, matter transmutation or transferal, fire manipulation, vocal amplification, and water creation. Some of which, but not all, is accompanied by varied vocalizations that seem to be tied to certain effects. Anything else?"
No one spoke up.
"Start suggesting appropriate ratings for him, but for now we'll call him a Trump 5 with Mover, Blaster, Striker, and Shaker sub-ratings." She motioned on her tablet and a video of a swarm of insects attacking the ABB leader appeared on screen. "What do we have on the master Myriad and her minions?"
Carlos shuddered at the video. He hated bugs, but they had played several important roles in the incident. "While I was trying to evacuate the civilians during the battle, there were four instances where bugs were used to visually signal me and guide me to where one or more civilians were trapped inside vehicles or under rubble. I never saw Myriad or Merit during the actual attack."
"It wasn't until the girl had approached Manifold after the battle, with a small army of bugs following close around her, that we had any reason to suspect that the insects weren't another effect of Manifold's powers," Miss Militia added.
"Anything else?" the Director prompted.
"Given the several block radius in which the insects were active, and the breadth of different simultaneous actions in which they were involved, we have to assume that Myriad's control range and flexibility are both significant." The Protectorate lead sounded thoughtful.
"Are you suggesting a swarm of Biblical proportions?" Assault quipped. The team clown was more subdued than usual, even though Panacea had healed Battery of whatever wounds Manifold had not. But very few things could repress his sense of humor for long.
"What I'm suggesting is that we not underestimate her because of her age and the seemingly mundane nature of her minions," Armsmaster snapped. "Initial reports are that the amount of various venoms she managed to inject into Lung's system had almost overloaded his regenerative capabilities, making him significantly more vulnerable to our attacks. It is entirely uncertain if we would have been able to subdue him without her involvement."
"A very important point," Piggot acknowledged with a nod and a note on her pad. Is that all?"
"Given the quality of the obviously related costumes and alliterative names, it would suggest that both the boy and girl are affiliated with a team that the PRT didn't even know existed," Miss Militia offered. "A team with some level or resources and training. And at least one experienced support cape."
"Merit?" Piggot asked.
"Just the way she moved, her comfort with her weapon, and her tactical awareness suggests an experienced operative," the former child soldier responded.
"And her powers?" the Director inquired.
"My best guess would be a Thinker of some sort, possibly a combat thinker," Armsmaster interjected. "Although, given her costume was makeshift and she was introduced as a support specialist, direct combat may not be her focus."
"Ratings?" Piggot prompted.
"Myriad should be considered at least a Master 5," Miss Militia suggested. "I would hate to see what one of her swarms would do to a PRT squad without airtight gear. We don't know enough about Merit to make any assumptions. She could be anything."
"Any disagreements or additions?"
"The way Myriad was pointing me to hidden or trapped people suggests some sort of sensory component at range," Carlos added. "She may be seeing through her bugs' eyes or something else entirely. We might want to add a Thinker 1 or 2 for that. She could be hard to sneak up on."
"Noted," Piggot nodded at him, a form of high praise from her. She looked over her pad as the conference room settled into silence.
Finally, she raised her gaze to the heroes at the long table. "You took Lung down tonight. If we can keep him long enough to get him to the Birdcage that is a good thing. On the other hand, you needed the help of the Empire Eighty-Eight and a team of unknowns to do so. That's not good. The fact that half the Docks and a good portion of Downtown were damaged to one extent or another in the battle is particularly bad."
"We have to plan to both assist in cleanup efforts and find ways to contain the chaos that is sure to erupt after Lung's incarceration. His people will try to rescue him, and the Empire will try to press their advantage and take territory from the weakened and distracted ABB. They may even attempt to destroy the Asian gang altogether."
"The third thing we have to do is find out more about these new capes and what their plans for my city are. If they're villains, I want them brought in before they can expand and entrench. If they're heroes, I want them in the Wards or the Protectorate. We don't need another New Wave muddying the waters. Aegis, I want you and your team concentrating on that while you assist in the clean-up efforts. Armsmaster, it is up to your team to keep a lid on the city until Dragon can send a transport for Lung. I don't want to risk sending him by road or commercial air."
"Affirmative," Armsmaster replied.
"Yes, Ma'am," Carlos echoed. He almost sighed. Even with his redundant physiology he still felt mental fatigue and he knew he and his team were in from several long days.
"No rest for the weary people," Piggot barked. "We've got too much to do."
[Danny Hebert]
Danny was going crazy. All Hell was breaking loose in the city, and he couldn't find Taylor. She was supposed to be visiting a classmate somewhere in the suburbs. With her out for the evening, he had gone into the office to get a jump on the week's work.
Shortly after eight, when he was starting to wrap up to go home, loud roars and reverberating booms started echoing through the area. Like any long-time resident of the Docks, Danny recognized the sounds of a rampaging Lung. It didn't happen often. Few people were foolish enough to anger the dragon, but everyone knew when you heard the roars they would soon be followed by crashes and explosions, and inevitably by fire.
Knowing it was the only thing he could do; Danny hunkered down in the building's shelter and searched his memory desperately for the name of the family Taylor was visiting. Once he thought he remembered it, he flipped through the phone book looking for any Finches. All the while he was cursing himself for letting his grief over his wife's death lead him to banish cell phones from his and Taylor's lives. That bit of misplaced paranoia was costing him.
Finally, he found what he hoped was the number and called.
"This is the Finch residence; how may I help you?" The voice was masculine and very courteous.
Danny had no time to appreciate the refinement. "I'm looking for Taylor Hebert. I'm her father, Danny. Is she there?"
"Good evening Mr. Hebert. I'm Jack Finch, Justin's father. Taylor was here, but she left for home about twenty minutes ago."
"Damn!" Danny snapped.
"What's wrong?" Jack replied.
"Lung is on a rampage and our house is in the Docks. Not in the middle of ABB territory, but he can spread death and destruction far and wide when he really goes at it. I hate the thought of her getting caught up in anything. I'd be a lot happier if she were still at your house."
"Where are you?"
"Dockworkers Association."
"Isn't that closer to the dragon?"
"It sounded like he was going the other way, towards Downtown." Danny said.
"Hold on, let me see if there are any reports on the news." Danny could hear the other man doing something. He assumed he was pulling out his smartphone to look for information. After a minute he heard a sharp intake of breath from the other end of the line.
"What! What's happening?"
"There's a major running battle in Downtown - Lung, the Protectorate, and the Empire, maybe some others." Jack reported. "Shit! Melissa would have been taking the kids right through there to get to your neighborhood. Give me a second. I'm going to call them."
Again, Danny could hear action on the other end.
"Shit!" Jack exclaimed. Several seconds later Danny heard another "Shit!"
"What's wrong?"
"It's going to voicemail, for both Melissa and Justin. Either they're both already calling someone, or the service is down wherever they are."
"And Taylor's with them?"
"She was when they left here. Could they already be at your house?"
Danny heard some more tapping.
"No! The car's downtown and it's damaged."
"No! Not Taylor! Please God, not Taylor too." Danny could feel his heart breaking.
Crack!
Danny heard a sharp sound through the phone, almost like the report of a gun.
"Who are you? What are you doing in my house?"
"Sorry Father. It's us."
"Justin! Melissa? Taylor? You're alright? What's going on? How did you get here? Why are you wearing costumes? What in the hell is going on!"
"Jack!" Danny yelled into the phone. "Jack is Taylor there!"
"Danny, they just appeared in our living room. Justin and Taylor are in costumes, like cape costumes."
"Keep her there!" Danny barked. "It's not safe around here. I don't even know if our house is still standing. I'm coming over."
"Do you know where we are?"
"173 Crestview?"
"Right."
"I'll get there as soon as I can. Just keep her there." Danny could feel the tears stinging his eyes. "Keep her safe."
"I will."
It was crazy to try to drive across town with the damage Jack was reporting. Knowing that most routes would be blocked, he went north along the coast and up into the hills, almost circumnavigating the valley that held the city. Just over an hour later he arrived at the Finch mansion.
For the entire time Danny kept reviewing what he had heard. Taylor in a costume. Taylor was a cape? She must be. No one plays around like that and according to what he heard they just appeared in the middle of the room. Teleportation was a known cape power. If the boy, Justin, was also in costume he might be the teleporter, but Taylor probably had some power.
During the drive Danny forced himself to move past the initial anger. He'd always had a bad temper and he'd learned early on how to either control it or use it constructively. Yelling at Taylor about her gaining powers was not going to produce anything positive. Demanding that she ignore those powers and not become a cape was going to be hard, given how disconnected he had become from her and her life since Annette's death. He had, to a certain extent, given up his authority when he failed in his responsibilities.
He could try to force the issue, but she would almost certainly push back. She was both his and Annette's daughter.
He had also heard many times that parahumans could not just ignore their powers. 'Powers wanted to be used' was the common wisdom, though he had no idea how true that might be or what mechanism might cause that drive.
This meant he would need to work with her to try to guide her into the safest situation where she could use her powers. That probably meant the Wards. Unless he could convince her to work as a rogue in a safe situation - if any such existed in the Bay area.
He felt he was ready to face the new reality.
When he was led into the living room by a stocky brunette in a dark suit, Danny realized he might not be ready after all. Taylor and an older woman were watching spiders weaving a swath of cloth while an older man was watching a boy about Taylor's age create multiple-colored balls and send them floating around the room. Both teens were wearing costumes, without the masks.
"Dad!" Taylor rushed to him and almost threw herself into his arms. But she stopped short and looked up at him through her bangs, her hands grasping nervously.
He stepped forward and wrapped her in his arms and squeezed. He was so relieved. He'd almost lost her. "Taylor, I'm so glad you're ok. You are ok, right?"
"I'm ok." She stopped and tried several times to continue.
"I understand you're a cape," I said gently, still holding her, but loosely enough he could see her face. "I'm not mad about that, or anything else. Worried, scared shitless, but not mad."
"But …" she started, then stopped.
Yeah, we're great at this communication thing, Danny thought. Annette had always been our bridge. Without her the links collapsed. I let them collapse.
"Danny?" the older man came to him and offered his hand. He was tall, well-muscled, and clean-shaven with styled sandy blond hair. "I'm Jack. Glad you made it here alright. You need to see what our kids got involved in."
He gestured to a big screen on the wall that was showing video of the battle Downtown. Danny watched in horror, Taylor's hand clutched in his, as the giant dragon razed buildings and destroyed vehicles. There were so many clips from so many sources that no one had been able to make a coherent timeline. It was all a chaotic mix of blood and fire.
Occasionally Danny caught a glimpse of either the yellow and black or, less often, the blue and bronze of the kids' costumes. It looked like they had both fought Lung.
With that realization Danny's knees gave out and Taylor helped him into a chair that had suddenly appeared behind him.
"Mr. Hebert? Danny?" The voice was a woman's not Annette or Taylor's. He felt a hand on his cheek.
"I think he's going into shock." That might have been Taylor. He wasn't certain.
Someone laid a hand on his shoulder and suddenly he was calm, then he was awake and aware. "What?"
He looked behind him and saw the kid, Justin, standing there. "Are you ok?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Danny slowly responded. "What did you do to me?"
"A quick application of healing. It calmed you and boosted your energy temporarily with the effect of waking you," Justin replied. "We didn't want you going into shock."
"Danny," the teen was interrupted by the older woman, his mother Danny guessed. "You may not remember me. I'm on the City Council and we've met a few times. My name is Diane Finch."
"Certainly. You were on the last ferry committee." Danny had met her, but she had not made much of an impression as she had not been terribly supportive of the committee's supposed goal.
"I hope you won't hold that against me," she replied with a smile. "It seems our children have gotten involved together in a few things in the last week, all of which we'll need to talk about both among ourselves and with them."
"What sort of things?" Danny asked, shifting his eyes to his daughter.
"Dad, I'm sorry I did not tell you this before. When I started Winslow last year, Emma and some of her friends started bullying me ..."
[Shielder]
"Be careful and try not to wear yourself out?" Mom said.
"We got it," Eric answered, annoyed that she felt it necessary to remind them. He had been an active hero for almost three years, and Crystal for four. "We know what we're doing."
"Eric ..." Dad called him up short.
"Sorry, Mom," Eric quickly replied. One thing his usually easygoing father would not stand was any sign of disrespect to his mom. He was probably more protective of her than she was of her kids.
"Alright," Mom replied. "We'll plan to meet back here at four. Contact us if you need anything before then."
"Got it, Mom," Crystal cut in before he had another chance to piss off the parents. She floated into the air. Eric launched himself after her.
Crystal was the fastest flier - then Vicky and Mom then Eric. He was not only the slowest flier in the family, he was possibly the slowest flier in the whole city. But he was a flier, and still thought nothing was cooler than sailing through the air with nothing below you but the clouds.
"Why can't you talk to Mom without going all teen angst on her?" Crystal asked after a few minutes.
"I don't know. She just ... she's always babying me. I know I'm the youngest, but that doesn't mean I'm an idiot."
"She doesn't think you're an idiot or a baby. She's just always gotta mom. She does it to me. She does it to Aunt Carol. She'd do it to Dad too, but they've got a different dynamic going on."
"What do you ... Oh god, kill me now. I don't even want to think about my parents that way."
"Besides, it's probably genetic. You've seen how Grandma Ferkel treats Mom and Aunt Carol, even Uncle Mike."
"Like they're the babies, at least sometimes."
"See, it's not just you. And it's not likely to stop anytime soon. So stop getting so het up over it."
"Het up?" Eric guffawed. "What have you been reading? You sound like a redneck from the back woods."
"I reckon," she replied with a giggle.
"Damn!" Eric cursed as they rounded the hill and he saw the extent of the damage to the city center. "It looks like the aftermath of an Endbringer attack."
"How would you know?" she almost snapped.
While Amy volunteered for most attacks, it was usually the parents that went to protect her. Crystal had, against her parents' wishes, volunteered for the first Endbringer attack after her eighteenth birthday. It was Leviathan attacking Hamburg. She was sent out with the other ranged attackers and had been injured pretty badly. It wasn't even Amy who had healed her, though her cousin had checked up on the other healer's work.
She had told Eric about it, but he doubted he had really understood the depths of the nightmarish experience. He did know it was one she was not anxious to repeat. Any mention of the monsters was a sore point for her.
"Sorry," he said, thinking that if Endbringers did more damage than this, he could understand why she did not want to go back.
"It's ok. Let's report to City Hall. Mom says the PRTis coordinating with HSEM and BBEM."
"Why do you love acronyms so much? Can't you just say that the Feds are coordinating with state and local emergency management?" Eric grumbled.
"Doesn't sound nearly as cool."
"Fine."
There were several groups gathered in the park in front of City Hall, a building that had not escaped the destruction entirely. A swath of second story windows were broken and there was a bus on its side blocking half the street in front of the building. A few trees in the park had suffered burns and lost a lot of their leaves. The people were mostly split into three groups - the city police and fire departments, local and state engineers and contractors, and the capes.
As the siblings landed, Eric noticed another pair of teens standing on top of City Hall. A moment later they had teleported to the street. "Hey LD, you see that?"
"What?"
"Those two by the overturned bus." Eric pointed.
"Oh yeah. I wonder who they are. Haven't seen them before." Crystal replied.
As they watched the boy walked up to the overturned bus and bent down as if to lift it. He pulled, but the bus just shifted. He paused then said something. A glow spread from his hands to encompass the entire vehicle. As soon as the glow faded the boy tried lifting it again. This time the bus easily came off the ground and flipped onto its wheels.
"Looks like Vicky may have some competition," Eric teased his absent cousin.
"What's he doing now?"
Half the bus was badly crumpled and most of the windows were shattered. The engine had leaked fluids all over the street. The boy in black and yellow waved his hands and the bus started to revert to its former state. Dents smoothed out. Shattered glass flew from the ground and filled the window frames, fusing into unbroken panes. Even the fluids flowed back into the engine compartment. After several seconds the bus looked pristine, better than any similar conveyance Eric could remember on the city's streets.
Another wave of the boy's hand and even the oil stain on the street disappeared. The girl in a matching blue and gold costume standing next to him was staring at the boy, probably with the same astonished expression Eric and Crystal had.
"What the actual …" Eric began.
"Eric! Language!" His older sister snapped automatically.
Eric knew better than to curse in public. Aunt Carol was always on them about maintaining their image and setting a good example. But that guy just turned back the clock in a way he'd never even heard of, much less seen.
"I've got to meet him." Eric started moving towards the unknown pair, his sister following silently in his wake.
"Manifold, Myriad," Miss Militia's voice cut across the park. "I had no idea you were coming."
"We thought we might be of some help in the cleanup," the boy said in a carrying tone, the girls silently nodding along with him.
"Glad to have you," the Protectorate hero assured the pair. "Come on over and we'll get organized."
"But …" Eric started only to be cut off by his older sister.
"Let's go, Shielder. It's time to get to work."
The siblings joined the group of capes. Other than Miss Militia and Dauntless they were all teens. Basically, it was the Wards, the two from New Wave, and the two unknown newcomers. Vicky and Amy were resting after pulling an all-nighter at the hospital dealing with the flood of casualties.
"The fire department and the engineering crews can handle most of the search and rescue and heavy lifting. Our task is to help out in the specific spots where the rest of the teams can't," Miss Militia clarified. "I want you to work in pairs. We have a couple of new heroes, who I had the opportunity to meet last night, Manifold and Myriad. If you're willing, I'd like to pair each of you with one of our more experienced heroes. They're familiar with our procedures and capabilities."
The two looked at each other, Manifold waiting for his partner to agree.
"Sure," she said sounding uncertain. A small cloud of bugs buzzed around her.
Eric thought that was cool. He liked bugs, at least the interesting ones. As cool as the bugs were though, he really wanted to meet the time reversal guy. He decided to jump in.
"I can work with Manifold," he offered before the Protectorate hero could assign the newcomer to a Ward.
Miss Militia looked at Eric, her bandana covering most of her expression. He didn't think it was a happy one. "Alright," she finally said. "And Vista can work with Myriad."
Eric nodded to the only cape in the park he knew was younger than him. She missed it as she moved towards the new girl.
"Pair up and count off," Dauntless ordered. "That number will be your channel for communications. Miss Militia and I will be Channel 9. Please use that to contact us with questions. We'd also like you to report in at least every thirty minutes. Got it?"
Eric joined in the general nodding.
"Hey, I'm Manifold," the new guy offered his hand. Eric shook it, noting both the strength and the restraint in the grip. New Guy was better at holding back than Vicky who always managed to mash any hand she shook.
"Shielder, from New Wave."
"I've got an idea," Manifold said, sounding like a cross between your best friend and a really good car salesman. "Why don't we wander and do repairs while we wait for the government types to call us. Better than sitting around, and no one here really has a handle on what I can do."
"You mean like you did to the bus?" Eric asked.
"Just like that, and maybe a little more," Manifold offered with a winning smile.
"Cool!"