BattleForge Act 2 Ch 2
The busy PRT lobby cleared out when the stationed troopers escorted the visitors off to one side as a PRT van pulled up. Out came six battered Wards and two shaken New Wave heroes. Aegis, their leader, looked battered and flat, with his body bending in weird ways with every step. Bandages covered both him and Gallant rather thickly, which was surprising considering Panacea rode in with them. But she was too busy muttering about evil hands and the thick surgical gloves that covered them, stopping anyone from asking. The large red imprint of a hand still on Glory Girl's cheek said even more about Panacea's mindset.
Their eyes settled on a stern, heavyset woman with a blond bob waiting to meet them. She was Director Piggot, head of PRT ENE, and she wasn't happy with the Wards based on her deep frown while inspecting them.
"Glory Girl, Panacea, your mother will arrive soon. Try not to break anything."
With that out of the way, she wordlessly gestured for the Wards to follow her deeper into the fortified building. The group passed through three sets of double doors, each guarded by a duo of heavily armed troopers.
Once through the last set of doors, the group spread out in the spacious but occupied meeting room. A convenient plastic wrapped chair was waiting for Aegis to sit in to not stain the fabric with his blood covered body.
"DiReCtor PiGgoT. Ma'Am," Aegis said through a cascade of sound that emitted from many spots on his body.
"Good god, Aegis," She stepped away from the horror show, as did most of the occupants. "What the hell happened?"
"Don't!" Vista said before he could respond. "I don't want to hear it again!"
"Neither do I. Please refrain from speaking again, Aegis. Would someone else like to explain his current state?"
Most of the Wards shrugged as they were dealing with different battles, but Vista hesitantly raised her hand. Director Piggot gestured for her to speak.
"Yes, Ma'am! The two unmasked unknowns that kidnapped the villain caught Aegis by the arm and threw him across the street when he tried to stop them. He hit the wall pretty hard."
"Yes, I've heard reports of that. Now, please tell me why you choose to interact with unknown kidnapping capes? For all we knew, they were Masters and we'd be down six wards! Villains are not a priority!"
The Wards took on a shocked look, and Vista looked especially green around the edges, as she was an extremely tempting target with such a high Shaker rating. If they were kidnapping capes, they wouldn't be taking some no-name villain; she wouldn't be here at this meeting.
"I- I- talked to one."
"We know and you're lucky to have passed the master screening; otherwise, you would be detained for the next 48 hours awaiting us to ascertain what happened. Now, what did she say?"
"She threatened me to stay out of their way! Saying that they were saving the villain from a life of crime."
"You thought it was a good idea to oppose it? Need I remind you that the villains heavily outnumbered us, and any off the street is good for us?" Director Piggot said before walking towards Browbeat. "I heard you also confronted the unknown man. Explain."
The overly muscled young man wrung his hands together under the scrutiny of the entire room. "I, um, felt an urge to, ah, flex at the man, and he returned it."
Director Piggot glared at him until he looked down at the table. "What happened next?"
"The man won, and I retreated to support Vista." Browbeat said, a hair above a whisper.
"Good! Browbeat took the most sensible actions out of everyone here! He engaged them in a harmless gesture that had no chance of spilling over and earned him some goodwill. Now onto you, Gallant," Director Piggot moved over to face the ragged man in wrecked Tinker tech knight armor, "Anything to say?"
"Yes, ma'am. We lost,"
Director Piggot snorted at the understatement. "Lost? That happens, but the horrendous property damage caused is the problem. That damage is your responsibility, even that caused by New Wave's golden girl, who you invited along without my say so. Now we have two traumatized New Wave girls and their banshee of a mother breathing down our backs!" She took a deep breath after that rant and continued in a calmer voice. "The group of you are lucky that the anomalous introduction of two unknown capes shifted any blame. Otherwise, you'd be looking at docked pay over the incident."
Silence fell across the room beside Director Piggot's heavy breathing and Aegis's whistling breaths.
"Do you know what we cared about during this confrontation? I care about the perception of PRT, not the money in that bank, nor the capes running away. You needed to look strong, confident, and trustworthy. That keeps our funding coming in. Without that, everything falls apart."
"Director-" Vista started, but Director Piggot cut her off.
Vista looked on with hate-filled eyes, and she clenched her small fists at being told they didn't care about what made heroes, Heroes.
"The Wards will be attending remediary classes regarding public image and how to present yourself during hostile action. A tour group will be by your quarters in an hour. Make yourselves presentable for the cameras. Aegis, do not show yourself until you have healed up. Dismissed."
The six Wards stood up and left the room as the screens came to life. Whatever was happening threw the room into a frenzy, a frenzy that was happening before they arrived and only stopped for them.
"DeBrIeF," Aegis said, making the Wards jump back.
He then pointed at both Gallant and Clockblocker, followed by gestures that only confused the rest. "Decide… who…"
"Ahh, not it!" Clockblocker said.
The group piled into the fancy tinker elevator that scanned and secured the passengers, as well as impressing the tour groups with the unnecessary and expensive ride. Complicated interlocking metal sheets slid closed behind the group as they rode down to the Wards' living quarters. Most never noticed the elevator moving with the smoothness of the ride.
They exited the elevator and walked towards the end of the tunnel, where the automated security checkpoint blocked entry. Aegis pointed at both Clockblocker and Gallant.
"What? Why me?" Clockblocker asked.
"Really?" Vista said. "Do you see the guy? I'll make your life hell if you get me foamed after today!"
"Yeah, you do look a bit floppy, Aegis."
Before either of the selected parties could scan themselves, Vista took one space-compressed step forward and scanned her eye. The fortified steel doors slid open without a sound, letting the group into their headquarters.
The whole fortified compartment, shaped like a dome, was inherently modular. This let the area be quickly changed based on what the Wards needed. It went from individual rooms for team members as needed in locker rooms and meeting areas. In one side room, the walls were full of computer monitors showing various views of the city, with a large map highlighting police and PRT patrols. One such monitor showed the bank they had just fought at, but it was full of suits that canvassed the area with special equipment.
Sitting in the chair watching the screens was Shadow Stalker, or Sophia Hess, in her civilian identity. She stared at the screen with a frozen picture of the two unknown capes with a complicated look on her face. To be honest, it surprised the group that she was present with her school so far away from Arcadia, and it was still midday with class in session.
"Stalker, we're debriefing. Get into the meeting room." Gallant told her as they walked by
"Fine." She agreed without even a threat to push her along.
Aegis waved them off as he peeled his costume off, a little at a time, on his way to the showers. Blood dripped down to the shiny floor and discolored it.
"Aegis, really? We need to clean that up before the tour group arrives!" Clockblocker bemoaned.
"SoRrY."
"Jesus Christ, dude, just go. I'll clean it up."
Clockblocker threw his hands up and went to the supply closet for cleaning supplies. Gallant waved over to Vista while in the meeting room.
"Could you get us three white boards?"
"Sure." She said, and warped space around her and disappeared down the hall with a single step.
Seconds later, she popped back up with a white board before vanishing again. It was odd for her to use her powers this often, but with how stressful the day had been going, the rest wrote it off.
"Does this often happen?" Browbeat asked Gallant. "I don't know if I want to stick around if this is how it is."
"Suck it up, pussy! At least you got to be there!" Stalker said as she slipped into the room.
"Shadow Stalker! Keep it to yourself. And no, this doesn't happen often. Wards aren't meant to face villains until we graduate."
"A fucking shame!"
"Not the best way to start as a Ward, huh?" Clockblocker asked while mopping up Aegis' blood.
"I'm just glad I didn't bring in my cannon. I don't know what I was thinking." Kid Win said while sitting down at the table.
"Kid…" Gallant started before rubbing his helmet. He took it off after, just to get at his face while freeing his sweat filled blond hair. "Why would you bring in an unapproved cannon designed for an A-class emergency during a bank robbery?"
"I don't know. It seemed like a good idea!"
"You could've been kicked out of the Wards for that!"
"Not like he's a good hero…"
Gallant gritted his teeth and shot Shadow Stalker a withering glare, as Kid Win looked down at the table, meeting no one's eyes.
"She's right. I still don't know my specialty."
"No! You saved me from being tased!" Vista said after pushing in the last whiteboard.
"She's right, Kid, you're still a hero, and you've plenty of time to figure it out." Clockblocker patted him on the back.
"Thank you Vista," Gallant said, "Now, before we get started. I just want to say that today ended up pretty good, all things considered. We stopped the robbery. They hurt no civilians beyond a few scrapes, and were all in one piece, disregarding Aegis."
He stood next to the whiteboards and looked at his five teammates, even if one of them liked to pretend they weren't. Most looked back at him with disbelieving eyes and a scowl from Stalker. Gallant wrote Undersiders on the first board, unknowns on the second, and Wards on the last. Then he filled out the names involved.
"First, who was the guy with the bugs?"
"It's a girl, and they had no name." Vista said.
"How do you know? The outfit was pretty androgynous except for the long hair which Regent also sports." Gallant questioned.
"The unknown woman identified them as her when speaking."
He wrote, 'Bug-Girl,' with an underline under it. "We can't give a name yet with the unknowns involved with her departure. Now the two unknowns: Vista?"
"Emperor and Empress."
Shadow Stalker snickered at the name. "What a bunch of douches."
Vista slammed her hands against the table rather forcefully for a small girl before jumping to her feet. "You weren't there! Just my small conversation with them intimidated the fuck out of me. I swear that I almost wanted to bow to them and do whatever was asked! They had glowing crowns, for fuck's sake! Hookwolf felt like a god-damn puppy compared to them!" She huffed before sitting down.
Stalker looked taken aback at the outburst from the normal goodie-two-shoes and didn't respond. Gallant gave Vista a side eye, looking at something only he could see before writing their names and, below them, commanding aura.
"Are the names taken?"
Clockblocker typed both into the computer before shaking his head. "Surprisingly not."
"Okay, good. Now the animals. Browbeat, you were closest to Emperor. What was that animal on his shoulder?"
At the mention of the unusual animals, the already focused Wards sat even further upright. Bio-tinkers produced some of the worst disasters outside the Endbringers, with Nilbog and Bonesaw at the top of the list. The two animals rose the severity of the two capes.
"It looked like a six-legged cat with hands for feet. Bigger than most, but I saw nothing wrong with it."
"Here, let me." Clockblocker said as he typed on the computer terminal.
A zoomed in picture of the cat taken from the bank's footage appeared on a larger screen mounted on a wall. The group examined the image, with Shadow Stalker being transfixed by the cat.
"Play the clip." She demanded.
Clockblocker kept the screen locked on the cat and played the minute-long clip.
"That cat is a predator. See how it has eyes on everyone in the bank, examining, then dismissing them as beneathem." She said, passionately, like none of the other Wards had seen before.
The group shifted their focus to her, wondering what had happened.
"What the fuck are you looking at? You wish you were as majestic as it was!"
"There she is! You had us worried. I was going to hit the Master/Stranger button." Clockblocker half joked while pulling his hand away.
"Anyway, Vista, can you tell us about the animal Empress had?"
"She had an animal with her? I just saw furry straps and a weird-looking backpack."
Clockblocker snorted while she looked around and saw the disbelieving eyes looking at her.
"I'm not telling her." Browbeat said, while shaking his head.
"Hold on! No one say it! I'm going to put it up on the screen!"
A still image of the massive spider appeared, and it was bigger than Vista. It played, showing how it climbed up onto Empress' back before wrapping its eight furry legs around her.
"Eep! That was right next to me and I didn't know?"
Clockblocker laughed at her. "What did you think it was? They were practically naked, and you thought wearing furs straps fit? Do I need to take away computer access?"
"No! It's nothing like that!" Vista denied, while shooting Gallant glances with a blush.
"Guys, can we please get back to the report?" Gallant asked while ignoring the emotions he was picking up from Vista.
Vista violently nodded her head. "Yes!"
The little show helped raise the rest of the wards spirits a hair, except Stalker, who stared down the spider on screen, ignoring the commentary.
"Okay, now we need to brainstorm powers for both the three unknowns and the Undersiders. This is how we're going to win next time and make this fight that much less of a loss. Empress, don't hold back."
Shadow Stalker looked like she wanted to say something at the image of Empress, but held back. Gallant gestured for her to go, but she shook her head.
"Brute, she jumped through the hole with the spider on her back, with a commanding aura."
"Um, mover? They left quicker than a normal person."
"Anything else?"
"There was a glowing spiderweb crown above her head. I don't know what it does, but maybe a negative stranger rating, depending on if she can remove it?"
"Good, good, that's it?"
"I guess, they didn't fight, so we saw little."
"Emperor?"
"The same, but with DNA for the crown." Browbeat said.
"DNA for the crown? Does that mean he is a bio-tinker? But what does the spider web crown mean?" Vista asked.
"Hold up!" Gallant said. "We can't just label a person a bio-tinkerer because something looks like DNA." He wrote on the whiteboard the crown meanings, but with a question mark at the end. "Bug-Girl?"
"She has very fine control over insects." Clockblocker said with a shudder.
"Anything else? No? Now the Undersiders."
Back in the meeting room the Wards visited, the analytic staff were still going over every video clip they had. In the middle were Director Piggot, Armsmaster, and Miss Militia, looking at three large screens in the center of the room.
Armsmaster was still in his Tinker armor, fully decked out and ready for anything, with his halberd strapped to his back. Miss Militia stood next to him in her own cape uniform, with her power-generated gun locked in the holster.
The first screen played back the unknowns' first appearance across five different points of view, frame by frame. Each camera had a different refresh timer, and they used that to find the exact emergence time, but not the act.
Next, they had complete images of all four unknowns, where the computers stitched together multiple view points to build as accurate a model as they could.
The last screen showed the whiteboards for the wards room and the information they gathered. Normally, the cameras only saved the footage for later use if something happened, otherwise it was deleted, but Piggot overrode that measure and displayed an active feed.
"Armsmaster, update?"
"Dimensional Travelers, Watchdog predictive Thinkers, all suffered a hiccup at the exact arrival time. Issues cleared up within minutes and no sign of interference continues. We have assigned a tentative Case 93 to the group of unknowns."
"Code name Empress has displayed numerous powers shared with code name Emperor. Glowing crown, enhanced bodies, signs of nonverbal communication, aura of command, and a slight shaker ability. Primary hypothesis is on a group trigger with Emperor and Empress as the only surviving members, Kiss/Kill, handled the rest."
"Appraiser labeled them yellow for long-term stability but black if any member is killed. Eleventh Hour rates them at a nine and attached a do not disturb, but orders above rescinded it."
"And what did facial recognition turn up?"
"I have officially lodged a formal complaint regarding your orders."
"Yes, yes, I know. Get on with it."
"Yes, Ma'am, there was a close match for Empress. One Annette Hebert, deceased, and her daughter, Taylor Hebert, Alive."
"Preform full background reports on both. With the bio-tinker out there- we can't let any stone remain unturned, and if their dimensional twins give us a base idea on personality, I'll take it!"
"Please note that projected age does not match, and it's unknown how a group trigger affects personality."
"I know, and I don't care. You saw those abominations? There's no telling what they could do loose in this city! Put the pictures next to Empress."
"Yes, I can see the resemblance. Miss Militia, I want the surviving daughter picked up and brought in once the background report is done."
"Yes, Ma'am," Miss Militia said, her generated gun switching to a rifle before she willed it back into a pistol.
"Now, whose hair does that remind me of?"
Armsmaster adopted a decidedly constipated look as if he knew the answer, but he would not say it. He knew of Bug-Girl from when she took down Lung and their brief, if horrible, conversation. When he saw the picture of Taylor Hebert, the hair matched up too well to be a chance, including the fact that a dimensional twin landed on her. Revealing her to Piggot would be far past the point he was comfortable with, not to mention it broke the unwritten rules.
"Never mind, now where have they been spotted?"
"Emperor and the kidnapped villain, Bug-Girl, were spotted heading towards the docks after splitting away from Empress. Who rescued the mayor's niece from kidnappers before kidnapping her. We have spotted neither since, and the original kidnappers killed both parents before leaving. There was little in the way of evidence after Empress disposed of them, but based on trends, it was Coil's men."
One of the on-call consultants violently twitched in the background, but everyone ignored him. He had been doing that since he was called in without an opinion on the matter.
"Fantastic. That will add the mayor to the growing list of people after Emperor and Empress. Please issue a warrant for questioning for both Emperor and Empress. Add in a bounty for either of the abominations. Communicate that to Brandish, and she will no doubt take the matter into her own hands."
Armsmaster looked displeased with the actions Piggot was taking. No one knew how competent these dimensional travelers were, and the one thing this city didn't need was more villains. He had a guess based on his incomplete predictive software, and it didn't look good. Only a nod indicated he understood Piggot before and turned around and left the room.
"Do you have an issue with your orders?" Piggot asked Miss Militia.
"No, ma'am."