Land of Confusion

Parahuman Response Team.

Ray reread the words over and over. The words were machine stitched on the patches of Officer Innocenti's jacket. He had raided all the vans for materials to keep the officers warm and comfortable as they waited for medical help to arrive.

~~x

Hours passed in the conference room in the heart of the PRT headquarters, Ray was interviewed by two seperate officials. Youth Guard was the first by which he'd received attention for the additional cuts on his face, a new set of stitches to avoid touching. Also the bumps on his forehead turned out to be organic growths, the skin was scraped off during the wrestling with Negalodon and now he sported two short, for lack of a better term, horns. The second interview was a trauma counseling session, as a minor and unaffiliated cape Ray wasn't trained or sanctioned to tackle a fight with Negalodon and with his past history at the loss of his family it warranted a long talk and the promise of follow up session with Dr. Yamada.

It was quieter with the doctor gone, too many questions from her and most of his answers felt anything but genuine. Alone after so much in one night Ray's thoughts drifted. Grandmother had half the neighborhood keep tabs on him over the years so it became normal to crush any errant impulses with the threat of la chancla hanging over him. Out there in the street with anonymity and being treated as an adult, a hero even, made him act differently. Cocky, mouthed off more - swore like his grandfather on the job, but most of all it felt scary in a thrilling way. And he was helping on a big scale, the city lost too many good guys recently, bad guys were pulling horrific things like the carnage at the restaurant.

One of the big monitors recessed into a wall lit up with a woman's face. Average features with a slight smile she spoke, "Hello, Ray."

"Dragon? For reals?"

"Yes, I wanted to talk to you in person but my duties have me working remotely at present. I wanted to apologize for the risk I took exposing your identity. I assumed Negalodon was simply causing mayhem as per his usual M.O. but being rescued by an as yet unidentified parahuman is cause for alarm."

"At first I was scared for my grandmother. If anyone knew who I was, they could just jump on the internet and boom! But - she's - I got no one, Dragon. I'm alone and I just - I just, mierda. You didn't do nothing wrong cuz I got nothing left to lose," Ray carefully dabbed at both his eyes with his hoodie's sleeve.

"I understand, and what you did tonight is commendable. You did as you were asked by both myself and Officer Innocenti, many of those officers will be able to go home to their families tonight because you stepped in."

"That's good, I'm glad. But I kinda gotta question, okay?"

"Sure, go ahead, Ray."

"How'd you know I could do that thing with my hands, ya know, when you had me buzz my hands near them? I don't remember doing that before."

Dragon smiled a little bigger, "I studied your testing results submitted by Senior Technician Kuznetsov, I also reviewed your footage in the arena test, and remember I did spar with you via the drone so I do have direct knowledge of your present known capabilities."

Ray froze for a moment before he spoke, "Ahh, sorry bout the whole not liking bots thing."

Dragon laughed politely, "I am always improving my designs so I did not take it personally, Ray. To address your question, your power appears to involve the ability to space out your molecules via rapid, controlled movements at a molecular level. Not to get too technical but if you took every atom in a human body and removed all the space between them and collected them they would fit at the tip of a ballpoint pen."

"Damn, that's crazy", he picked up a pen off the table and eyed the tip.

"Well, the atoms of your body form molecules, and those molecules string together into pro- am I losing you?"

"It's been a looooong night, and, let's face facts, I never made the honor roll to begin with, Dragon."

"Well, essentially you can manipulate your molecules with some form of bioki- a form of energy, and that energy control is so fine you don't just turn into dust and blow away."

"Sure feels like it when I float off to places I think of but I think I get it so far", as Ray spoke he rolled the pen across the table between his hands.

"Now, part of this control can be isolated to just parts of your body, and so you vibrate your hand and by rapidly moving it you can also transfer that energy to the molecules in the air generating heat. That's how you concentrated like I requested and were able to warm the air around each officer and helped stave off the hypothermia afflicting them."

"Concentrate, huh? I should practice that more, see what else I can pull off."

"I also must apologize that we have been keeping you so late when you have work tomorrow."

"Big Sister is watching, huh? How'd you know I got work?" Ray leaned back in his chair and hung an arm over the back rest.

"Big Sister?"

"I'm no genius but when you gotta Abuelita who makes you read books to get any spending money for school trips, you better believe I'm all about those classics."

"Interesting, any favorites beyond 1984, Ray?"

"Tale of Two Cities, War and Peace, Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, Ragged Dick, Moby Dick... the bigger, the better, mas dinero."

Dragon smiled and shook her head before her monitor swapped from her visage to an array of photos of various Protectorate heroes and heroines, "PRT and Hero patrols are often requested by construction contractors for sites across the city as it rebuilds, your name appeared as one of the worker rosters, and speaking of Tom Sawyer. The Protectorate is interested in offering you work, more specifically your cape self, Dogfight. Here the PRT can offer training and mentorship, something akin to a crash course in Powers, Protocols, and Public Relations. Things typically a Wards member receives over several months or a couple years will be condensed into a few weeks before you are patrolling with a Protectorate member and, most likely, a Ward."

The pictures of heroes changed from the familiar faces he'd seen hundreds of times on posters, tv appearances, and video games to unfamiliar ones.

"Would this interest you, Ray?"

Thoughts raced through his head, what had happened tonight was unreal, exhilarating, and Dragon - the Dragon with giant robot suits is personally inviting him to join the Protectorate. Not the Wards, not New Wave, not any corporate teams the girls in school paged through and drooled over like Boundless or Capricorn. No, this was the big leagues, the kind that meet the President and most of all, fight Endbringers.

If Ray was going to go through with his plan he had talked to Bunny and Shadow about, he needed training and resources, and The Protectorate had that in spades.

"Orale, Dragon, I'm more than interested. Who do I have to talk to to sign up?"

Dragon's smiling face reappeared on the screen, "You just spoke to her. I wish this was a happier time to welcome you but crime is escalating in Brockton Bay and we need as much help as we can get, Ray."

Ray stood up back straight, chest puffed up and saluted Dragon, but flinched when his horn poked his hand, "Oy, gonna take getting used to these things, anyway that's why I came back home - this city is my home, and I'm going to strive to make a difference."

"Excellent, I have notified PRT personnel to escort you to a bunk in the barracks. We typically use these to house out of town Protectorate members, for now you will stay there until we make further arrangements for your accelerated training. In the morning, breakfast and then - paperwork."

"I was about to say thanks but the way you said paperwork sounds like I'm going to need something stronger than one of these pens."

"I merely implied your cape name may provoke the PR and possibly the Legal departments, but otherwise, good luck. I'm going to watch your career with great interest, Dogfight."

The door to the conference room opened up and a PRT officer beckoned Ray. During the walk and elevator ride to the barracks Ray's thoughts wandered to how he would tackle the criminals of the city. But his grandest thought was how he'd use those victories and experiences fighting villains to prepare him to fight Endbringers.

Yes, he'd face Leviathan and get a shot at some revenge.

~~x