PRT THREAT ASSESSMENT FORM

CAPE NAME: Commander

CIVILIAN NAME: Unknown

CURRENT AFFILIATION: Independent/Rogue/Vigilante

GENDER: Observed to have a gender-neutral body type, but firmly declares herself to be female. This is confirmed by Protectorate Thinkers.

OBSERVED POWERS: Commander has been judged by Protectorate ENE Leader ARMSMASTER to be a Master, with the ability to summon projections of soldiers bearing arms and body armour. These soldier-projections are all human in appearance, with next-generation body armour superior to that currently worn by the United States military, while their weaponry is only slightly in advance of current conventional weaponry.

Commander has been observed to only summon four to six soldiers at once by ENE Protectorate Ward CLOCKBLOCKER and ENE Protectorate Member MISS MILITIA, but has shown that her limited numbers are not indicative of her combat strength, as shown by her takedown of ABB Villain ONI LEE and E88 Villain HOOKWOLF.

None of Commander's projections have shown any indication of being any faster, stronger or more resilient than a baseline human, but Commander seems to have the ability to control them almost intuitively, leading to the tentative assignment of a Thinker Rating.

The weapons utilised by Commander's projections include large-bore pistols, Assault Rifles, Combat Pump-Action Shotguns, High-Impact Sniper Rifles and Light Machine Guns, as well as fragmentation grenades and rocket launchers. Thus far, Commander has been observed with a pistol holstered on her hip, but not using it, leading Thinkers to speculate that she cannot or will not use it.

POWER RATINGS: Master: 7 (Soldier Projections) with a sub-rating of Blaster 3 and Brute 1 to take into account the offensive and defensive capabilities of Commander's projections' weapons and armour.

Thinker: 3 (Tentative). It is uncertain, but believed by many Protectorate Thinkers that Commander has the ability to look through the eyes of her projections or even see them in third person remotely.

Shaker: 1 (Tentative). Again unsubstantiated, it is nevertheless the opinion of the Protectorate Thinkers that Commander's costume, or at least her weapon and mask, are projections created by her power.

THREAT ASSESSMENT: Currently, Commander has been judged to be non-threatening towards the PRT and Protectorate. She has had, to the best of our knowledge, no contact with the members of New Wave and is presumed to be neutral towards them.

Her actions towards the gangs of Brockton Bay speak for themselves, with obvious antagonistic behaviour towards the Azn Bad Boyz, Empire Eighty-Eight and the Archer's Bridge Merchants. The non-powered members of these gangs are of little to no threat towards Commander's soldier projections unless present in vastly superior numbers, while the Capes are either outclassed by the unifying teamwork of the soldier-projections or possess powers that neutralise their weaponry.

It is the assessment of the PRT to assign Commander a High-C Threat index rating, as she can be neutralised by local Protectorate Parahuman forces, namely ARMSMASTER and DAUNTLESS, without any casualties.

RECRUITMENT: Commander has thus far not responded favourably to attempts to recruit her into the Protectorate Wards. She has expressed a willingness to work with the PRT and Protectorate, but not for either entity. Thinkers have yet to explain why this is, but as ARMSMASTER was the one making the recruitment attempt, it might explain things somewhat. Members of the Protectorate and Wards are encouraged to approach Commander and build camaraderie with her, with the intent of discovering her reasons for not wishing to join the Wards, as well as possibly recruiting her. No attempts at strong-arm tactics are permitted until and unless Commander commits an unequivocal crime with plenty of evidence to support it in a court of law.

Docks District, Brockton Bay

The gang of E88 thugs were nervous.

Ordinarily, they would be strutting down the sidewalks in one of their own neighbourhoods and throwing their weight around. This time, however, they had been ordered by Kaiser, via Rune, to raid an ABB storehouse. While this had been done in the past, there was actually less chance of them being hurt now that Oni Lee was in jail, although that would last about as long as Lung let it. He would break the tele-duplicator out easily, as he had the past dozen times that he had been captured.

What was really ramping up the nervousness of the thugs, all armed with bats and handguns, was the little issue of the one who had accomplished the deed of capturing Oni Lee, the mysterious Cape known only as 'Commander'.

Commander had fought and defeated Oni Lee and then gone on to defeat Hookwolf not half an hour later. Two of the strongest and most experienced Capes in Brockton Bay, taken down in a single night by a complete unknown!

Most vigilante Capes chose to go after a single gang at a time, not two, and they chose the two biggest and most powerful gangs to poke to boot! Either they were confident or they were suicidal and the thugs of both gangs didn't know which was worse. All they knew was that until the idiot was brought down, they had a high chance of being beaten unconscious by the vigilante.

Roof of Building opposite ABB Storehouse

"Central, report." The figure kneeling on the roof ordered in an undertone. She wore a deep blue uniform with officer's epaulets, black boots designed for function over form and a blank full-face mask over her face, with a helm covering the rest of her head. A holster on her right hip held the form of a pistol.

'The scans show that there are thirty Nazi scumbags on route to your location, with the same number of gangbangers in and around the building, Commander.' The voice in her head reported, 'The E88 grunts are armed with improvised close combat weapons and last-gen handguns, while the ABB are equipped with martial arts equipment, with two having last-gen assault rifles.'

Commander Taylor Hebert grimaced. "That sounds like a bloodbath waiting to happen; none of these criminals have any kind of body armour. Dr Vahlen, has the research been completed?"

'It has Commander, and the schematics have been sent to Engineering.' The female Germanic voice replied.

"Good. Doctor Shen? Fabricate six copies of each design." Taylor ordered.

'Already halfway through the order, Commander.' The elderly male voice answered easily, 'Another five minutes and they will be ready.'

"Good. Central, keep me updated on the progress of the E88 group. Let me know when they are five minutes out." She ordered.

'10-4, Commander.'

Taylor sighed. Waking up after the locker to discover that her mind was host to an entire base of people calling her 'Commander' was a shocking experience for anyone, let alone a fifteen year old girl. Still, it had helped that the 'people' in her head had known what was going on.

They were her power; a vast base full of people and resources aimed at fulfilling her goals of clearing up and securing Brockton Bay from villains.

It had taken three months to learn how to summon her soldiers for a mission, as well as learning how to utilise the sight-sharing ability that she possessed with those soldiers. The fact that all her troops were armed with lethal-force weapons was something of a hindrance, but the soldiers obeyed her orders to use non-lethal force unless absolutely necessary. The fights against first Oni Lee and then against Hookwolf had forced her to relax those orders, as they were just too lethal themselves to hold back against.

While her soldiers were projections, they could be 'killed' and their collective experience lost if they took too much damage, plus there would be mental feedback that would give Taylor herself a serious migraine, if not outright knock her out if that happened, so she was always erring on the cautious side of things. Not that she'd risk her men's lives unnecessarily even if their deaths didn't cause her pain, but it was nice to see that the Bitch Trio hadn't crushed her spirit to that point.

'Commander, the fabrication is complete and the men have been issued with the equipment.' Shen reported, 'Strike One now awaits your orders.'

Almost at the same time, Central chimed in, 'Commander, satellite imagery shows that the E88 are five minutes out from the ABB storehouse.'

"Shen, excellent work. Central, tell the troops to prepare for combat; they'll be coming in hot." Taylor said, her eyes fixed on the ABB thugs milling outside the building opposite her. They were undisciplined, unruly and utterly stupid thugs…yet they had plagued Brockton Bay for five years.

Well, not any longer.

With a concerted effort, Commander summoned her six soldiers. Appearing in an instant, the six helmeted figures took in their surroundings in an instant. Three were men, three were women. All of them wore lightweight armour made of a rare alloy, with a bulge in the left arm.

The Skeleton Suit was what had taken over a month for the base to manufacture, although that was insanely fast by conventional standards. First they had to make the alloy, then they had to make heavyweight suits, called Carapace armour, then they had to design the lightweight version and integrate the grappling hook into the left arm.

For urban combat that might require chases over rooftops, a way to swiftly traverse them was needed. The easiest solution had been the Skeleton Suits, while the theoretical 'Archangel Suits' would need at least another couple of months to make a reality, more likely to be six months if the difficulties Shen had reported were accurate.

"Alright people. This is Operation Midnight Swarm." Taylor said softly, "The enemies are the building full of ABB grunts there and the thirty-odd E88 thugs heading this way. Adams, Smith, you two will be on overwatch up here with your rifles."

"Yes Ma'am." The two mentioned soldiers responded. They were the sniping specialists, armed now with long range Taser sniper rifles. It had only taken a week for Vahlen to devise an entire range of Taser-based weaponry. These new sniper rifles, known as the mini-thunderbolts by the troops, had an effective range of 600 meters and were laser-delivered Taser weapons. It was designed for urban engagements, where range was generally speaking not much of a concern.

"Jenkins, Hagen, you'll be the main assault troops." Taylor continued, "Get in there and take 'em out as fast as you can once I give the signal."

"Ma'am!"

The assault troops were now armed with shotgun-type weapons, although they didn't fire any physical projectiles anymore. Instead, they fired a blast of electric energy that acted to numb limbs and knock out weakened enemies. They were absolutely non-lethal and had been tested extensively by Vahlen.

"Li Sun, O'Malley, you two will be firing the barrage that opens the engagement; Hughes with a smoke rocket and O'Malley with a Shock Grenade. Once that's done, switch to your primary weapons and Overwatch for any Capes that might come. If you spot Lung coming, let us know so we can disengage soonest. He is not someone I want to face until Vahlen figures out how to incapacitate a regenerator."

"Can do, Ma'am."

"Easy as pie, Ma'am."

Her heavy troopers were the hardest to outfit for non-lethal operations. The Light Machine Guns that they used as their primary armament were not conductive to being switched over to such a stance, so Taylor had focussed on their secondary weapons, rocket launchers and grenade launchers. Creating a rocket that covered an area in smoke had been child's play for Vahlen, as had creating a grenade type that had a larger but similar effect to the new shotgun type. The rest of the time, Taylor tasked them to keep an eye out for enemy capes with orders to suppress them while the rest disengaged.

The Empire and ABB had to be getting irritated with her, as she had hit them both hard for weeks now, costing them millions in illegal weaponry and drugs. The cash she had found had been taken by her and used to fund the creation of her physical base. She had managed to contact a local who specialised in setting up accounts under false names. She felt uneasy about such illegal activities, but Shen, Vahlen and Central all agreed with her that it was a necessary evil.

One useful aspect of her powers was that she could manifest part of her mind-base into the real world along with the techs needed to run it. Once she did, and as long as she used materials from the real world, they could leave things behind once she dismissed the room back to her mind. She had done this with Engineering and Shen's men had outfitted the place with enough security to make even a Cape nervous.

There were disadvantages to this aspect of her power, of course. First and foremost was that she couldn't summon any soldiers, aside from two basic security guards, while she had part of her mind-base manifested. Second was that it was very draining to do. She could summon Engineering, the Research Labs and the Situation Room, but no other part of the base as of yet. From wandering the base in her dreams, she could see that it had several parts of it that were, simply put, massive. Such as the Hanger and the Command Centre.

To offset this, she had felt her power expand as she had practiced with it, making the available 'room' in her mind-base grow and allowing Central to organise the expansion of the base. Adding a power generator had eased the strain on her mind when she had summoned her soldiers next and Taylor had quickly realised that the rooms and facilities had an effect on how her powers operated. Power generators allowed her to summon soldiers with greater ease and even summon more of them, satellite uplinks allowed her mind-base to access the few remaining satellites in orbit, workshops allowed her soldiers' equipment to manifest as fast as they appeared and labs increased her ability to think analytically. Central had hinted that there were other rooms that could be built once she had completed the perquisites for them but not what they were, which was irritating for her.

"Here they come." Taylor said softly, "Wait for my signal, then attack. Vigilo Confido."

"Vigilo Confido." The soldiers echoed. I am Vigilant. I am Relied upon. The motto of the XCOM, of the soldiers who she had gained control over.

Adams and Smith took positions on her flanks, kneeling down and readying their new weapons for their first live test outside of a mock-up in the labs, while Jenkins and Hagen fired their grapples into the concrete roof of the building, readying themselves to rappel down to the ground and subdue their targets. As they did that, Li Sun and O'Malley stowed their LMG's and pulled out their rocket launcher and grenade launcher, inserting the correct type of ammo into them and getting ready to fire on Taylor's command.

Down on the ground the ABB spilled out of the building at the shout of their lookout spotting the approaching E88 thugs. The latter group closed in and started tossing around racial slurs. Taylor, with the ease born of long practice thanks to the most useless high school in existence, tuned them out and concentrated, waiting for the one moment that both groups of criminals were focussed solely on each other and not their surroundings.

The exact moment they started to attack one another.

"Strike One, weapons free!" she ordered just as the two gangs surged towards each other. Immediately, the two Heavies fired their weapons, a rocket slamming down into the middle of the street between the charging gangs and unleashing its cargo of smoke while a grenade flew into the air and unleashed a wave of electricity at the front ranks as it descended between them, dropping them into a pile of twitching limbs.

As one, Jenkins and Hagen smoothly leapt off the building and quickly rappelled down to the street. Unhitching their Electro-shotguns, they charged into the fray, blasting the gangers with liberal doses of Taserfire, going to close combat via the butts of their weapons when necessary. As they moved through the melee, Adams and Smith coolly lined up their shots and started eliminating those on the outskirts of the battle line, occasionally sniping at an enterprising ganger who tried to attack the two Assaults from behind.

When the last of the smoke dispersed, there was a pile of unconscious and twitching thugs and skinheads lying on the street while her two Assaults stood in a relaxed stance above them.

"OK Strike One, mission isn't over yet." Taylor said firmly, "Jenkins, Li Sun, enter the building and confirm no one is left inside. Confiscate any cash you find, leave any drugs or weapons if they have any. Adams, Smith, you two are on search and restraint duty. Tag 'em and bag 'em. Hagen and O'Malley, you two are on overwatch. Do this by the numbers people. We aren't out of the woods yet."

"Roger."

With that word, the soldiers followed her commands exactly. Taylor herself walked down the fire escape with her Snipers and started to look through phones on the ABB and E88 until she found a working one. Calling it in would be the last thing she did before leaving the scene. She didn't mind working with the PRT and Protectorate, but they were so pushy, demanding to know what the details of her power were, especially Armsmaster. She had endured one sermon on how Independent Capes didn't last six months in Brockton Bay and decided that avoiding them would be best until they got the message.

Closing her eyes, she synced up with the view from Jenkins, revealing a room full of drugs and illegal weapons, all either packed in boxes or without ammunition. That didn't make sense…why store the ammunition in a separate location?

Moving her perspective to Li Sun, Taylor saw the missing ammo on the top floor, behind a locked chain-link door. Stupid. Directing the two in the building to expedite, Taylor opened her eyes and checked the progress of her other soldiers. Adams and Smith were zip-tying the gangers and skinheads, emptying their wallets of cash as they did so. Taylor didn't know that she approved, but it did divest the criminals of any cash to try and bribe the police, so she let it go.

Her other soldiers were keeping an eye out for any incoming Capes, which was good. The last thing she needed right now was for Capes to com barrelling in while her forces were scattered hither and yon.

"Jenkins to Commander, over."

"Commander here. What's the situation, Jenkins?" Taylor answered over the radio in her helmet.

"I've discovered some unusual explosives, Commander." The man reported, "From descriptions found by Central, they greatly resemble Tinker-made explosives."

"Pack them up carefully and deliver them to Doctor Shen and Doctor Vahlen upon completion of this mission." Taylor ordered instantly. If she could reverse engineer Tinkertech and produce it in limited numbers for her soldiers, her troops would be far more powerful.

"Roger that." Jenkins replied, "ETA for Li Sun and me finishing up is three minutes."

"Copy that. Central, any sign of Protectorate or PRT movement?" Taylor asked.

'Negative, Commander. They seem to be either wilfully ignoring the chaos or blissfully unaware of it.' Central replied disapprovingly. The ineffectiveness of the PRT offended his sense of professionalism.

"Bad for them, good for us." The Commander stated firmly, "We'll be pulling out in about five minutes. Alert Vahlen and Shen that they'll have some potentially volatile explosive samples delivered to them for study after this mission."

'Solid copy on that, Commander.' Central replied, 'They'll be excited about this; they've heard a lot about Tinkertech, so getting some will be a great boost to them.'

Taylor shook her head in bemusement. Vahlen and Shen were like an old married couple sometimes, but they were both eager to learn new things and adapt them for their troops.

"Hostile spotted!" O'Malley warned, "It's Lung! ETA five minutes!"

"Sonofabitch! Commander to all units of Strike One!" Taylor radioed, "Lung is on approach! We have five minutes to bug out before we have a Rage Dragon breathing down our necks! Move it people!"

Flipping open the phone she had taken from an ABB ganger, she dialled the PRT hotline.

"Hello, this is the PRT Hotline, how can I be of assistance?" the bored voice of a man said in a monotone.

"This is Commander. I have sixty gangers, thirty ABB and thirty E88, zip-tied and unconscious outside a building near the edge of the docks." Taylor said after turning on her voice changer, "My squad and I are pulling out ASAP as Lung is on his way here. You might want to get the Protectorate here to stop him from killing the Empire thugs."

"Commander, please hold while I transfer you to Miss Militia." The man on the other end said far more alertly than before.

"No time. I'm out of here." Taylor said firmly before hanging up and dropping the phone to the ground. Looking around, she saw her squad was all present and ready to move.

"Move out!" she ordered. As she and her squad withdrew, she looked over her shoulder and saw the form of Lung stalking towards the building. Fortunately, until he had ramped up, he was restricted to the speed of a man of his size and weight.

'Definitely hitting and Empire place next time.' She thought as she turned and sprinted away with her squad, 'Getting this close to Lung is way too close for comfort.'

So this is something that hit me when I read a fic called 'Standing Resolute' by Azralan. It's a good fic, so I look forward to the writer resuming it. Anyway, the basic synopsis for this story is that, at the end of XCOM: Enemy Within, the psionic shockwave from the death of The Volunteer and the Temple Ship essentially copied XCOM, EXALT and the Ethereals into the minds of three different Parahumans on Earth Bet. Obviously, one is Taylor. The other two could be an OC or even a different Trigger of a Parahuman or even Emma. Up to you. Read and Review!