The costume was a weird mix of white and green that made her look like some cheap superhero movie character, the type to skim out on the budget. The dress, boots and visor only made it worse. And they say it's for the sake of PR.
'PR my ass' Missy no, Vista thought with a scowl on her face, her hands tightly gripping her skirt, just barely able to contain her fury.
But she didn't, that would be a stupid thing to do. And it would have made her look more like a child in their eyes.
Then again, was she really going to be their barbie doll?
Definitely not, but then why was she being dressed up in such stupid looking clothes?!? They served literally zero purpose, beside making her 'cute'. And how would that help ?
Really Vista had asked for a weapon like a baton or a taser, she would very much appreciate it if someone gave her a weapon. 'cause she'd certainly be more useful if she had one. Combined with her space bending powers, she could hit anyone without even coming close to them!
At least that was what she had first thought when she had learnt the workings of her power. It had been quite a disappointment to see that her space warping speed wasn't that fast to be effective in combat. But eh, she can still train and become faster!
Would it really hurt to at least give her something? Besides, her power left much to be desired in the way of offense. The little blond finished putting on her costume, and with a frustrated sigh, she left her room.
...
It was her room, but she really couldn't live in here as if it was her actual room.
Her damned parents had made sure of that.
The PRT was simply an unfit place for her to be in, they said. Being in that kind of militaristic environment would affect her growth, they said.
As if living with them was any better.
Missy was just some trophy to them, proof that one of them was better than all the rest, she didn't know how that worked and she had no intention to.
Walking into the shared room of the Wards, a thought surfaced to her mind.
'Someone had come here yesterday with the intention of joining the Wards.' Naturally, Missy was excited. There was going to be another girl on the team!
Being the only girl in a group full of boys had been so awkward for her when she first joined the Wards.
She didn't get to see much of the new girl but it was okay, they could get to know each other better when she's officially a Ward.
And from the little time they spent together, she was quite a sweet person, though still a bit shocked from her trigger event. It was understandable, you wouldn't think someone would try to join the Wards right after triggering.
Lounging around the room was Dennis or er... Clockblocker
...Yeah, he thought that was funny. Well it was a nice pun, she wasn't going to say that to his face though.
He was playing some video game, with how hard he was mashing the controller's buttons, he was probably losing. Knowing what kind of person Dennis was, he would probably blame it on the controller or the opponent being a hacker.
Sadly, a little girl like Missy could never understand Dennis' pain of losing like a true gamer could.
If she remembered correctly then Dean and Carlos were still out there patrolling.
Dean was probably patrolling around with Victoria as Gallant and Glory Girl. It was no secret really, everyone knew they were a thing.
Missy couldn't help but get jealous whenever she thought about it. She had a crush on Dean, and it was perfectly understandable!
He was handsome and gentlemanly, and it was enough. But unfortunately, he was already taken.
Missy could wait though. Their relationship was often an on and off thing, so she just needed to bide for her time and strike! And then Dean will be hers!
Ahh, what a cute child Missy is.
She could have just walked on the footpath, but really travelling on rooftops was cooler. Everybody knew that.
It wasessential for capes to at least travel on rooftops once during their career.
And she didn't want to walk down there anyway, it would draw a lot of eyes on her. People would always coo at her appearance, gushing about how she is the cutest thing ever. Some even asked to pinch her cheeks!
If only they knew the things she could do, she wouldn't be cute in their eyes anymore...
Too bad that would never happen, if only because she would get in trouble with the PRT. That, and the prospect of a lecture from Director Piggot didn't quite sit well with her.
Vista really didn't like Piggot. She knew that the director was just doing her job, but did she really have to be such an ass about it? It almost reminded Vista of her parents back home. Not to mention she's kinda unpleasant to look at.
Feeling the metaphorical fingers of her power touch the tops of the building she was on and the one in front of her, she pulled them together, stretching and distorting the roofs, making some sort of weird bridge.
She leisurely walked on it, crossing from one building to another with Clockblocker following closely behind. His power didn't lend itself well to mobility, unfortunately, so someone else always had to be with him.
For a while, nothing really happened. They stopped a few crimes every now and then but there wasn't anything serious.
It was near the end of their shift when a big pillar of black smoke erupted near the Boardwalk.
It was visible, even from here. It was quite the sight to behold, that Vista and Clockblocker were stunned by it. But the duo soon snapped out of their haze, simultaneously activating their comms
"Console, I am seeing a huge pillar of black smoke, coming from near the Boardwalk. It is blocking out my sight. How do we proceed?" Dennis' voice rang out from behind Missy, nervousness practically dripping from it. She couldn't blame him though, they were still newbies afterall.
"Stay put and stick to your original route. This might be the work of an unknown parahuman, likely the case of a bad trigger event. You two aren't capable enough to handle this yet. We're sending in Armsmaster and his group to deal with it."
Missy didn't like it. Sure it looked scary, but she wanted to go there, to see what happened. It would be suicidal though, so she and Dennis acquiesced.
Armsmaster, and Velocity finally came to the scene. They stopped their PRT assigned motorcycles, got down from them and started assessing the damage, specifically the casualties.
Some houses were burning, there were two, no, three cars crashed against one another due to the obstruction of sight. Fortunately for the drivers, they only got a mild case of concussion and a few serious bruises, nothing really life threatening. The same couldn't be said for the ones that got ran over.
Armsmaster looked away, he had seen things in his career that one shouldn't ever have to see. That didn't mean he had to like it. Once again, Collin felt incompetent, like he wasn't doing enough. This wasn't his fault, he knew that. But he still felt guilty about it.
Some people triggered and came out unscathed. He and Robin had to spend quite a time consoling them, though one had to be restrained with containment foam. They weren't the parahumans they were looking for, sadly.
Their powers didn't exactly align with what he saw before, and given what he knew about the capes in this city, he might have thought it was Grue. Except Grue was a low-time criminal and this would be quite out of character for him. The cloud didn't look like his either, Grue's was pitch black. And one more thing…
There was something in the air, some form of energy. His scanning devices couldn't really give him an exact read of what it is. He didn't know what it was but the results were… fascinating.
Armsmaster followed the traces of this unknown energy to the place where it focused.
Lying face down, blocking his way was a body, presumably a young adult, dead from a stab wound on his back, near his left shoulder.
