Dauntless:
Dauntless could use a lot of different words to describe Thomas Gawain Harper. Violent, inhuman, shapeshifter, ignorant, amnesiac. Even now he glanced at Thomas, a featureless ugly gray, human-shaped figure. If one had only heard of Mannequin they would think Harper was the infamous villain. But the worst part was the way he acted, there was no extra movement, he stood perfectly still, no breathing either. Like a sculpture, another word to describe the thing that wanted to be a hero.
Wanted to be a hero. Based on the way he acted when Dauntless confronted him about killing, he seemed indifferent about it. Only agreeing and making an empty promise. The hero knew that if given the chance again Thomas would kill.
Dauntless' only chance was that if he stuck with him he would learn. He was amnesic after all.
Usurper, even the name he had picked as his cape name was wrong. A name that a villain would choose, but it was fitting. The ability to usurp another's appearance was an important factor. Dauntless knew that if the Protectorate got a hold of him, they would surely neuter his power. Only allow him to take certain forms, just for PR. The hero was well aware of the current stance on master and stranger powers.
"How much farther?" Thomas' even emotionless voice broke through the silence. That was the other thing, his voice, it wasn't human. It was the voice of something mimicking a human. But when he shifted into a human, the mimicking was perfect, gone were all the telltale signs of him being alien-like. That's what bothered Dauntless so much.
The hero brought up his mental map of the bay, "Not much farther, two blocks."
There was no answer, another thing Dauntless disliked; the silence. Usurper could be completely silent, even his footfalls made only microscopic sounds. While that could be useful it wasn't in this particular setting. All it did was unnerve the hero.
Dauntless didn't want to think of the PRT threat classifications he would have. Most likely a brute six, changer five, and a stranger sub-classification. High enough to gain attention, especially in those categories. Something told the hero those numbers would only rise as more time passed. Only because he was sure Thomas could do more.
Looked both ways before crossing an empty street. Somer's Rock was fairly close now. Close enough that he would have to table his wandering thoughts. He had to have his head fully in the game.
And hopefully, Thomas wouldn't do anything stupid during the meeting.
Armsmaster:
The video restarted once again. Starting from the beginning, Armsmaster watched as the parahuman Thomas Harper shapeshifted in his cell. The change was fast, almost to the extreme, change of skin color, the growing of the hair, the adding of the facial features. It didn't matter what it was, it all happened in the space of a few seconds.
One moment, an ugly human-shaped figure, the next a human.
The tinkertech sensors in the cameras picked up all the internals of the body. What they had put in the cell wasn't human, but at that moment he was human. It suggested some sort of breaker/changer power, in addition to the brute power already observed. But Armsmaster disregarded that thought when he saw the next part. Whatever the thing was, he seemed to realize he was naked after a short joyous celebration. In a single moment, clothes began to grow from his body. Once again a very disturbing image, clothes forming on a body. Thomas stood up in his cell, taking a practice step forward. A completely normal step, despite being completely silent. Armsmaster used the word normal because before taking the appearance of a human Harper most certainly didn't act normal. Before the transformation, Harper could have been mistaken for a statue for how still he was; no extra movement.
The next part of the clip firmly planted Thomas as a very strong changer cape. Harper looked down at his hand, which then shifted into a blade, even going so far as to change into steel. Or at least that's what the sensors picked up, a total monomolecular change to a specific part of the body.
Thomas stood for a moment with the blade hand, and then he shifted back to his pre-human appearance. A body that consisted of stainless steel, it was the same as normal stainless steel in most respects; except it had a high nickel content. Attributing to higher density and strength than normal steel.
But then again, if his body really was stainless steel it should not be moving the way it should. Armsmaster wrote it off as another occurrence of parahuman abilities affecting the natural world strangely.
He would probably have more information on the new parahuman if he had interacted with him during his meeting with the cape and Dauntless. A meeting that ultimately failed due to Dauntless not seeing reason and the Director specifically ordering him not to arrest Thomas Harper. An order that while Armsmaster found strange but did not question it. And truthfully Armsmaster wasn't sure about taking on the cape that killed a ramped up Lung; especially one that did so through brute force.