One More Trigger

Part Eight: Payoff

Two Months Ago

Emma lurched sideways as the shot hit her in the side of the head. Red splattered over Madison and Taylor.

She reached up and rubbed her temple ruefully. "That really stung!" she complained.

"Can't talk, Emma, you're dead," called her father from outside the maze. "Maybe you should work better together."

Emma felt her way over to the wall, her blacked-out goggles giving her no visual input at all, and sat down. She leaned against the wall, her hair pulling back to its normal length. "Go on, guys," she said resignedly, pulling her water bottle off her belt. "I'm dead. Avenge me."

Taylor nodded; she couldn't speak, as she was wearing a medical mask stuffed with rags. She could breathe, but no speech was possible.

Madison chose that moment to look around, and stared in shock. "Emma!" she said, her voice sounding slightly flat, and louder than normal. "What happened?"

Emma took a drink from her water bottle, and made one hand into a gun pointed at her temple. To the other two, the red paintball had made an amazing mess of the side of her head.

Madison nodded, the turned to Taylor. "What do we do now?" she asked. Taylor raised her eyebrows over the medical mask, then drew an arrow in the air with her bugs. The two girls hurried off in that direction.

Emma stretched her legs out in front of her and sighed. Superhero training is such a pain, she decided. But I guess it beats being shot in the head with real bullets.

Her father had leased the stretch of land on which the prefabricated maze had been constructed; Mr Clements had proven to be a very accurate sniper with a modded-up paintball gun. And Danny had come up with the 'three wise monkeys' scenario, to make them work harder at teamwork.

While wearing her blacked-out goggles, Emma could not see to use her tendrils effectively, although she could still use them to feel out her surroundings. Taylor could use her bugs to locate the goal, and other dangers, but could not speak to tell the others about it. And Madison could both see and speak, and use her air control powers, but heavy earmuffs stuffed with cotton wool, over industrial earplugs, rendered her as deaf as they could make her.

This forced all three girls to pay very close attention to what they could detect of their surroundings, as well as to each other. Madison was learning to watch the other two, Emma was learning to use her tendrils as an early-warning system, and Taylor was learning to use her bugs in more and more versatile ways.

While they grumbled and moaned about it – and threatened mock retribution on Madison's father if he kept shooting them in the butt, as he was wont to do – they did realise that their fathers were deadly serious about forcing them to become a solid, effective team. And the only way they could do this, and pose a real challenge to their abilities, was to hamper them in some way. Thus, the three wise monkeys.

The exercise ended soon enough. "You can come out now, Emma!" her father called. She pulled the goggles off her face, blinking at the influx of light, looked at the amazingly realistic splatter of red on them, and made her way back to the entrance to the maze.

"So, did we win?' she asked. The downcast looks on the faces of the other two were answer enough.

"Nearly," said Danny. "Madison came within ten feet of getting the prize out the door."

Madison rubbed her butt ruefully; the bright red splatter on the seat of her pants indicated why she had not made it the rest of the way. "You pick on me too much, Dad," she said, though her tone wasn't serious.

Mr Clements was cleaning and putting away his long-barrelled paintball gun. "If I don't, someone with a real gun will," he pointed out, paralleling Emma's own thoughts of just a bit earlier.

Emma hugged her. "Hey, you got shot in the butt. I got shot in the head, remember?' she said with a giggle.

Taylor rolled her eyes, the red mark around her mouth still showing where the medical mask had been in place, and gestured at her front. There was a red splatter right in the middle of her chest. "Direct hit," she said ruefully.

"You're getting better," said Alan Barnes encouragingly. "Working together better. Thinking faster, reacting smarter."

"Yeah," said Emma. "But we're still losing."

"Give it time, Emma," said Danny, and gave her a one-armed hug across the shoulders. "You'll get there. The PRT and the Wards have got their training centres. We've just got this." He indicated the prefab maze, the catwalks above from which Mr Clements could snipe down at them.

She nodded. "I know, Mr Hebert," she said. "I understand, and I appreciate it. But it's going to take forever to get this stuff out of my hair."

"Next time," said Madison's father dryly, "duck."

She stuck her tongue out at him.

One Month Ago

"Cover!" snapped Emma.

Emma could not see, but she knew that bugs would be swarming up over the three, in a living cloud that blocked all visual sight between the catwalk and the girls below. A paintball would punch through, but Madison's father had no direct line of sight to hit them.

She heard paintballs splattering to the left and right of them, and grinned. The 'bug-cover' idea had been Madison's, and Taylor had tried it out. And it worked.

They moved on, coming to an intersection. Emma had her hair tendrils extended in all directions, lightly brushing all obstacles, including her two teammates. Even though she couldn't see Taylor, she looked at her questioningly. Taylor hooked her thumb left, which Emma picked up and Madison saw clearly.

And just then, several bundles fell into the maze around them. As they fell through her network of hairs, she figured that they were made of cloth. And then the smoke hit her nostrils, and she felt the tiny impacts against her hair tendrils as Taylor's bugs faltered and began to fall to the ground.

Oh crap, thought Emma. They figured a counter for Taylor's bugs. She reached for the bundles with her tendrils, intending to toss them over the nearest wall.

And then she felt a deluge of cold water, soaking her from head to toe.

... and my hair, she amended, as all of her extended tendrils retracted back to her head.

"Guys!" she said unnecessarily. "My hair's down!"

Either Madison was watching, or Taylor pointed it out to her fast, because no sooner had she said this that she felt the air around her head swirling in a tight vortex, blasting the moisture out of it.

And then the wind picked up dramatically, probably to blow away the thick, choking smoke.

Emma felt her hair revive and reached out to grab the bundles; this time, the tendrils snared them and tossed them over the nearest wall. Madison's wind was dispelling the smoke, but paintballs suddenly started hitting around them.

But they were surprisingly inaccurate; Emma grinned. It was another trick that Madison liked to use; Taylor had thought of it. If she induced a strong vortex in a thin layer of air, any projectiles wound be spun off course.

Though paintballs rained all around them, and Madison's father did his best to disrupt their powers and capabilities from above, they kept moving through the maze. Fifteen minutes later, all three emerged with the 'prize' – a house brick with a ribbon wrapped around it – held between them.

Danny Hebert moved forward and hugged his daughter. "I'm proud of you, kiddo," he said. "I'm proud of you all. You really pulled through."

Taylor removed the medical mask and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Dad," she said with a grin.

Emma pulled her goggles off, blinking at the light. "So wait ... we won?" she asked. "Without losing anyone?"

Her father nodded, and gave her a hug as well. "You did," he agreed. "And very handily too. You're really learning to work together as a team."

Madison pulled off her earphones, and took the plugs out. "We won?" she asked, unconsciously echoing Emma.

Emma nodded. "We did," she confirmed.

Madison squealed and hugged her father, who had just descended from the catwalk. He hugged her back. "You did real good," he told her. "I wasn't holding back. You did all that by yourselves."

She smiled and held him close. "Thanks, Dad," she said. "That really makes me feel good."

Emma grinned and shared a high-five with Taylor. "We rock," she said.

"We really do," agreed Taylor.

"So what's next, Dad?" asked Emma.

"Well, we keep training you, of course," said Alan, "though we'll cut it down to once or twice a month. And you've about got your costumes up and running. So you'll practise carrying them in public and changing in a hurry. Also, using your powers without people noticing."

Emma ruffled Taylor's hair; the latter giggled and swung a mock punch at her. "Taylor's got that down, for sure," she grinned.

Danny nodded. "Though a little more practise never hurts. Taylor, I want you working on those bug-clones and on speaking and hearing through the bugs. Emma, you can use your tendrils quietly and sneakily if you need to; practise that. And Madison ..."

"Yes?" said Madison brightly, springing almost visibly to attention.

Danny shook his head and grinned slightly. "Try to work on not using your hands so much when you're directing your air movements. If an enemy sees you doing that, then they might target you."

"I've been trying," said Madison, "and it works so much easier when I can move my hands."

Danny nodded. "I get it. But keep at it. Someday it might save your life."

She nodded seriously and hugged him. "Thanks, Mr Hebert."

He hugged her back. "Anytime, Madison."

She smiled. Superhero training was so much fun, the six of them, even when her dad was pelting her ass with paintball pellets.

"So, Taylor's mostly gotten your costumes in order, right?" he asked.

"That's right, Dad," said Taylor strolling up and slipping her arm through Madison's. "Got a little bit to finish on the Aerodyne costume, and almost done with mine. Emma's was dead easy."

"Dead easy, my perfect butt," Emma retorted, taking Madison's other arm. "You try standing absolutely still while two hundred highly poisonous spiders run all over you, when you're just wearing underwear."

Taylor grinned across at her. "You would ask for a skintight outfit. Having them weave it on your body was the best way I could think of to make it absolutely form-fitting."

"Any more form-fitting," said Alan Barnes dryly, "and I'd be making you wear another costume over the top of it, just for modesty's sake."

"What?" protested Emma. "I wear a coat over the top."

"Which makes you look like a flasher," grinned Taylor. Emma stuck her tongue out at her, while Madison giggled.

"Well," said Madison's father, "that's that. We're done here for the day. Tonight's a school night, so you girls should get to bed early."

"Hey, we won today," protested Emma. "Shouldn't we celebrate a bit?"

Danny glanced at Alan, and they both looked over at Mr Clements. After a moment, all three shrugged.

"Don't see why not," said Alan.

"They've been keeping up with their grades," pointed out Danny.

"You mean, Taylor's been keeping up with hers, and helping Emma and Madison keep up with theirs," retorted Madison's father.

"Or that, too, yes," agreed Danny with a grin, giving his daughter a squeeze on the shoulder.

Taylor turned pink with pride. "It's not all that hard –" she began.

"To you, maybe," interrupted Emma. "I look at those problems, and I just fall in a deep hole, and then you're the one lowering the ladder."

Taylor stepped around Madison to hug her. "You're my best friend," she said. "How could I not help you?"

Emma hugged her back. "Don't know," she said softly. "Don't want to know."

"Hey, hey," said Madison. "If Emma's your best friend, what does that make me?"

Taylor grinned and opened her arms to include her in the hug. "My other best friend, silly," she said. She rested her head on Emma's shoulder. "I love both you guys."

"Yeah," said Emma, also including Madison in the hug.

"Me too," said Madison.

Danny grinned as the three girls embraced. "They did real good today, didn't they?" he asked quietly.

Alan nodded. "Yeah," he agreed. "Not much more that we can do."

Madison's father also nodded. "Just keep supporting them," he said quietly. "Any way we can."

The girls opted to go bowling,, which all three enjoyed immensely. Madison won at first, until the others told her firmly to stop cheating. She giggled; she'd wondered how long it would take them to notice.

They played individually, in father/daughter teams, and in fathers versus daughters. A good night was had by all, and they went to bed tired but happy.

When the costumes were finished, it was decided that the girls would carry them around in their bags, and practise changing in and out of them in public restrooms, timing themselves and trying to get the time down to something under ten minutes.

Emma, of course, had the easiest time of it. Her costume could be worn under anything that covered her arms and legs. Madison's costume had lots of flaring silk, but it folded really small, and only took a little time to get into. Taylor had the most problem; she had opted for a helmet and a more bulky costume, padded out to give her a more mature appearance, incorporating more silk than the others' for more protection.

But they carried their costumes to school, and to other public places.

Such as the Weymouth Mall.

As they had been doing on one quiet afternoon, when things started happening.

Now

"So what do we have?" asked Emma quietly.

"Big bunch of people in the centre stage area," reported Taylor, just as quietly. They slowed from a jog to a walk – all three fathers had insisted on an exercise program for their daughters that included a morning run – and she formed a map of the mall from a swarm of insects that hung in midair. A bunch of yellowjackets made up the group of hostages. "Someone with them, someone big," she added, causing a large beetle to join in with that group.

"Anyone else?" asked Madison.

"Yeah, two more," said Taylor. Other brightly coloured bugs appeared elsewhere on the ad hoc schematic. "Here and here. This one's a teenager, maybe as skinny as me. She was in the security area. And there's a woman, muscular, coming down from the manager's office. She's got a pistol." She paused. "The manager's tied up in his office, but he's breathing."

Emma had a good look at the map, then nodded. The manager wasn't a priority, not right now. "Got it," she said.

"I've got 'em both tagged, plus the big guy," said Taylor. "We're getting close."

Emma nodded tensely. "Ma- Aerodyne?" she asked.

Madison nodded. She exerted her will, and the same shield that had protected her from fire, once upon a time, formed around all three of them. It wasn't at anywhere near full strength, but she could bolster it very quickly indeed. If the bad guys started shooting as soon as they showed their faces, she didn't want to have to spend time thinking about putting it up.

Mayhem crouched on the balcony, waiting. In fact, she crouched on the balcony in several places, making use of one of her little tricks.

Activating her powers allowed her to grow to twelve feet tall, increasing her volume and thus mass by a factor of eight. And each time she doubled in mass and volume, her strength and durability doubled again.

Once she was enlarged, she could separate into two or more versions of herself, strictly conserving the new level of volume and mass. Fortunately, clothes grew and shrank with her form, and multiplied with her bodies. Unfortunately, weapons did neither thing; nor did anything else of significance that she carried.

Currently, she was separated into four bodies, each body was seven and a half feet tall, and about four times as strong as her normal, unpowered, form. Which, as she worked out religiously, was plenty strong.

Synth, with her keyboard, which had a small screen slotted into it, had moved to near where the hostages were gathered. She and Creeper were the first two that the intruding capes would see. The last thing that they'd see would be Mayhem, falling on them from the balcony above.

She allowed herself a little grin. They might be tricky, but they had to be untried, novices. She'd never heard of a cape with a ladybird – ladybug, whatever – theme. Insect control, hah. What could you do with that?

She never even noticed the fly on her shoulder.

Taylor and Madison had evolved some basic hand signals during their 'three wise monkeys' exercises, and these paid off; Taylor was able to tell both Emma and Madison about the impending ambush without either Synth or Creeper knowing about it.

So when the four oversized women leaped from the balcony, Aerodyne took the two on the left, and Sparx took the two on the right. A howling wind picked two of the Mayhems up and tossed them across the centre court area, while the other two were caught by tendrils of hair that lashed out, grabbing them by their arms and legs.

But Mayhem was strong. She pulled her one arm free from her bonds and wrenched the gun from her holster.

Sparx didn't hesitate; she sent a surge of electricity through the tendrils, pouring through Mayhem's body.

And Mayhem didn't drop the gun.

On the other side of the food court, one of the duplicates convulsed and collapsed, but the one that Sparx held was not in the slightest bit inconvenienced. She struggled to bring the gun into line, while her twin took advantage of Sparx's distraction and began to wrench her way free.

Ladybug snapped, "Bugs!" and Aerodyne responded immediately by smacking one of the hanging ceiling panels from its mount with a gust of air.

And the swarm arrived in force.

The Mayhem with the gun was engulfed, insects crawling into her face, wasps repeatedly stinging the underside of her wrist, where the tendons ran. Her hand flexed without her conscious intent, and the gun clattered to the floor.

Ladybug also took note of Creeper. He seemed to be an obese man, dressed in a huge coat and a hat pulled low over his head. She formed a swarm-clone between him and the hostages.

"Back off," it buzzed.

Synth was rapidly typing on her keyboard; Ladybug landed bugs on the small screen, and burrowed more down under the keys so that they jammed and could not be forced down.

"Oh, fucking come on!" yelled the skinny Tinker. She mashed the Enter key – along with half a dozen bugs – and alarms started sounding. Lights also started flickering alarmingly.

"I've shorted all the electrics!" she yelled. "This fucking place will burn!"

The one Mayhem that had been thrown across the centre court and was still up, jumped forward and yanked a woman from the group of hostages. "Fuck that!" she shouted. "Fucking give it up or I tear her limb from limb!"

Aerodyne hesitated. Ladybug hesitated. Sparx sent a massive jolt of electricity through the two Mayhems she still held.

And the other Mayhem dropped, releasing her hostage.

She transfers damage, Emma thought. Hoped it worked that way.

Ladybug sent her bugs roaming, looking for electrical shorts. Found them. The bugs found the incipient fires, smothered them, snuffing the sparks with their own bodies. Spiders began to weave webs to cover the shorts until someone could pull the breakers.

Creeper shed his coat and hat. He was gross, misshapen, malformed. His body sprouted tentacles, uncomfortably phallic in appearance. These waved, moved, dribbled unclean substances.

"I touch you," he giggled, "you can't struggle." He made perhaps the most obscene gesture she had ever seen. "I do you, you're mine. A Creeper, just like me." His voice was ugly, echoing his body. "Bugs can't hurt me. I eat bugs. And rats. And cats. And dogs. And little girls who think they're superheroes."

He started toward the three girls and their two captive Mayhems, ignoring the swarm clone.

It leaped at him, collapsed around him, stinging, seeking mouth and nose.

He had too many orifices, horrifying, pulsating, too large to block. He kept coming.

Sparx was busy with the two remaining Mayhems; she had to build up a good charge before she could zap them again.

Ladybug put a swarm around Synth, started binding her with spider silk. The Tinker swore like a champion, but was nevertheless bound solid.

Creeper bore down on Madison, his wide lipless mouth open and wet.

"You wanna have you some Creeper, girl?" he asked, horribly suggestively.

His entire being emanated creepy sex. This was the very distillation of the terrors she had undergone, ever since she had triggered. And he was coming for her.

He was almost within arm's reach. She saw more and more bugs pile on him, stinging, trying to wrap webs around him, failing. Failing.

It was up to her to stop him.

She hit him with a tornado-blast, but that only forced him back a step or two.

Grinning wetly, he came at her again.

She screamed.

And did the worst thing she could think of.

Pulled all the air from around his body ... away from him.

All of it.

He stopped, choked, soundlessly. He was in a vacuum, could not breathe, could not speak. His flesh swelled dramatically, developed spontaneous spots of blood as capillaries burst. He tried to step out of the area, but she had surrounded it with her patented shield, in reverse. He could not push through.

He was in a cage of air, but he could not leave it. He was suffocating, dying, inches away from life-giving oxygen.

His eyes bulged from his head, bloodshot. He screamed soundlessly, his huge, misshapen tongue protruding from his gaping, lipless mouth.

And then she let it all go.

From a range of three feet, the air all around Creeper smashed into him at the speed of sound, with a pressure of fifteen pounds per square inch. Given his gross size, it was the equivalent of dropping a five-ton weight on him. Knocked cold, he slumped to the ground.

At the same time, Sparx mustered enough power to give Mayhem and her duplicate one more jolt. This finally sufficed to knock them out.

The three girls looked around at each other, then at the supine villains. The only one conscious was Synth, and she looked mad enough to chew through the webbing around her.

Taylor turned to Madison. "You okay?" she asked, taking the shaking girl in her arms and holding her close.

Madison nodded, as her trembling slowly died away.

Emma joined in the hug; they held Madison between them, comforting her, letting her know she was protected.

"Well," she said, "you sure as hell did a number on him."

Madison nodded shakily. "It was the only thing I could think of," she said.

Taylor kissed her on the forehead. "It worked. You won." She gave Madison one last hug, then nodded to Emma. "Now, let's go get that guy you zapped, and call the cops."

Calling the police didn't work until Taylor went to the manager's office to free him, found the Tinker device on his desk, and turned it off. Then she freed the man, cutting his bonds with a box-cutter she found on his desk. He pulled the gag off himself, letting out a groan of agony as it took his moustache with it.

Despite that, he was profuse with his thanks, and gave the police and PRT a glowing report when they arrived. All three girls had to stand by and accept the praise heaped upon them by the thankful hostages, while they made their statements.

When the Protectorate transport arrived to take away the captive supervillains, Armsmaster stayed behind to speak with them.

Behind her mask, Taylor gulped. This was Armsmaster! She had underwear with his emblem on it, somewhere.

He studied them for a moment. "You did well," he said briefly. "No hostages harmed, all villains captured. Property damage kept to a minimum."

Ladybug had, of course, alerted the manager to the ongoing short-circuits. Breakers had been pulled, and the danger averted.

"From the reports of the fight, you acted intelligently and responsibly," he went on. "I am authorised to offer you a place in the Wards program. It will allow you the chance to work with other teenage heroes like yourselves."

Taylor sucked in a sharp breath. To be a Ward! She didn't glance at the others; she didn't need to. Her hand found Madison's, squeezed it. Madison's hand found Emma's.

They had discussed this, many times. And always, they had come to the same conclusion. But the very thought of the offer excited them.

However, each of them knew what the answer must be.

"We appreciate your offer," said Emma firmly. "But we're going to have to decline. Respectfully, of course."

Armsmaster's tone did not alter. "That's your choice. I presume you will be forming a team, then?"

It was Taylor's turn to nod. "We are," she replied.

There was a moment of silence, which Armsmaster eventually broke. "Might I know the name of the team?" he asked patiently.

Madison smiled. "The Samaritans," she said proudly.

There would be more, of course. Giving statements to the police could take forever. But even with all of that, even later when talking over the action with their respective fathers, thrashing out what they'd done, what they hadn't done, what they could have done better, there was no moment finer than when Armsmaster paused. He nodded.

"A good name," he said. And then he turned and walked away.

And that was how it all started.

End of Part Eight