Caffeine Leader of the Seattle Protectorate
I was scared, we all were. Seattle didn't rate in the top ten when it came to capes, we didn't even rate the top 20, there were maybe 30 of us, including villians and rogues. Other heroes, villians and capes were coming in from around the country, from around the world.
"It's too soon."
Mocha was superfast, she had triggered while running away from a mugger, her face was horrified. We were all terrified, we had all seen what had happened to Japan.
"Why isn't it attacking?"
There were so many monsters of various types flying, standing but not one had attacked even with the occasional blaster jitters there was no attack, no violence. We were all on edge, then in one chorus they asked for Mr. Fucking Rogers. I mean fuck did anyone see this shit coming? We were given a week and the monsters retreated to Lincoln park. The PRT used the time to evacuate the city to get our people to safety, and when he showed up.
Well he was braver then me, we all thought he was going to die, but then he walks out right as fucking rain and the fucking thing surrenders. I thought it was over and done with then ya know? It would be someone else's problem, but shit rolls down hill. The Senate screwed us and we got stuck with it. I stared at it, the creature, the Endbringer.
"This is insane."
The photo the file.
"It isn't."
"He. He idenifies as male."
I glared at Director Lee, Lee was a known eccentric. The coffee them we all got saddled with was annoying this however just pissed me off.
"Army of monsters Lee, you and I were both there for that."
"No one died."
"It isn't human."
He shrugged.
"The orders come from president Powell himself."
"Fuck."
"Yeah I know, the president figures that he proved himself enough in France. So we're giving him a chance. One year as a probationary member, then he's in."
"But."
"National security trumps our personal feelings, we need every edge we can get in Endbringer fights, and then there's the fact that Ironwood can heal on mass, at range, and with extreme precision. You know how rare healing capes are, being able to put injured capes back on the street within a week is a crucial edge."
My boss shrugged.
"So suck it up."
Time passed and I watched the interview, it was well painful. I didn't have that much sympathy, but by the end of it I was slightly miffed about the rudeness of it all.
"Mommy, is everything ok?"
My son asked.
"Yes Sam, it's ok, now go to school."
I gave him a kiss on the forehead and he waved at me as he left, he looked a lot like his father, I didn't handle his passing... well I triggered from it. I sat down with some coffee and traced my finger around a photo of when he was alive. Before that accident killed him. It's an old story, he was on the football team and I was a cheerleader. We fell in love and got married straight out of high school. He became an electrician and died because of some faulty wiring.
I didn't remarry, I didn't want to date and I went into the Protectorate because I needed money to make sure I had enough to keep the house. Sam left and I went through my computer. June Zhu, a former San Francisco cape, just turned 18, asked for and recieved a transfer to Seattle, tinker with a specialization in cryo tech. Useful, aesthetically big boned but kept herself in shape with the mandated PT.
"Could be useful."
I wonder why she transferred, by all accounts her record was stellar, there were no complaints about her behavior. Maybe it was a college thing, I shrugged and put her record back into the pile. Then I concentrated on the file of our newest member. Ironwood, the Endbringer medic. I put aside my feelings and concentrated on the positives.
We now had the biggest gun in the room, the special district was full of capes now and though they had a different command structure, we had been able to call on them for help everynow and then. That gave us an edge, most of the smarter villians had bolted as soon as the news came down the grapevine.
Powerwise he could create and control an army of monsters, do mass healing and biomanipulation, for all intents and purposes if he was really on our side then our position was more or less completly secure, It was about to get really boring, really fast.
