Abandoned Warehouse, Docks Area, Brockton Bay

Looking at the mask on the table in front of me, I had to wonder what the heck I was thinking about. The power I had gained was, by all accounts, weak. The ability to control ribbons…Jesus Christ.

'You go through hell in a locker full of filth for hours and end up with a low-tier power like this…' I thought bitterly. 'If there is a god, he's using me as comedy material.'

Upon gaining my power (and after getting out of hospital) I had experimented with it. I could manipulate any kind of ribbon whether they be fabric or plastic. I could also create ribbons that I was familiar with. All of that includes bandages as well, for some reason.

Ok, so my power was broad. I could make the ribbons as strong as steel and selectively make the edges as sharp as a finely honed sword. I could trap people in cocoons, wrap them up like mummies and even form them into massive limbs to smash through solid concrete. I hadn't tested it yet, but I was willing to bet that I could make wings with ribbons to fly with.

And yet…my power had felt…incomplete, somehow. I had also found that I could merge my ribbons into an outfit for me to wear. I could make it look like anything I wanted, but it seemed to like a maid outfit for some reason and defaulted to it. Urgh.

I had also used my powers to make the mask before me, but unlike with my outfit, that I could scatter into ribbons and hide quite easily, I could only revert the mask into a single ribbon that somehow kept turning up wherever I went.

It had been funny to watch the frustration on The Bitch Trio's faces as I kept coming back to school with a ribbon that was seemingly exactly like the one they had 'stolen' and destroyed though.

The mask was primarily while, with thick red lines splashed across it. The eyes are outlined in gold and there's a yellow diamond-shape in the centre of the forehead that looks remarkably like an Indian bindi. The eyes were ultramarine blue and were somehow transparent when I wore it but were opaque when I looked at it from the other side.

Powers are weird.

When I had finished the mask, my powers had felt…completed, somehow, which confused the hell out of me. How could a power be satisfied? How could it feel incomplete? How could it feel point blank?

Putting that question to the back of my mind, I returned my regard to the mask. If I put it on while I was wearing my combat outfit, a faux-leather ensemble, I was committing to being a hero. To fighting crime.

I remembered the sneers and put downs of almost every person at Winslow. The humiliation and despair I felt every single day. I couldn't take much more without some reason to keep going, something that couldn't be stolen from me by the Trio.

Resolve firmed, I traced the mask's surface with one hand before picking it up, turning it around and placing it on my face. I generated ribbons that formed something of a helmet around the rest of my head and made them as hard as steel on the outermost three layers, while as soft as cotton on the inside.

Looking at the mirror that was set above the table, I straightened my pine. "Well then…let's go."

Later

Docks, Brockton Bay

Ask anyone you care to in the Bay and they will tell you that the most contested areas of the city are the Docks areas, aside from the Boat Graveyard. Despite the fact that the Protectorate Base, The Rig, sits out in the centre of the bay, the Docks area has lots of empty warehouses, unused since the collapse of most of the world's shipping trade due to the Endbringer Leviathan. These could be repurposed for all sorts of illegal purposes.

It was also the reason why patrolling the Docks area was one good way to definitely find crimes in progress. From Merchants hawking their addictive and destructive wares on street corners, to Empire skinheads trying to beat up anyone who didn't conform to their stupid creed, to the ABB trying to kidnap women for the brothels that they ran.

Yep. This was Brockton Bay, my home. At least, what it's become in the last decade or so. Things weren't always this bad, but with Leviathan screwing with the oceans and Ziz screwing up any flights that went too high (some of the time), the urge to travel was almost gone and the need to ship goods had fallen, resulting in the gradual decline of Brockton Bay, pa decline aided by the fall of Allfather, the last head of the Empire, the Caging of Marquis and the arrival of Lung and the pan-Asian ABB.

I stood on a rooftop, looking down at some Empire grunts making plans to raid a nearby house that held a Jewish family. These parasites were killing my city. I had to deal with them.

That being said, I would have to be careful. The PRT took dim views of lone Vigilante heroes exceeding their authority. If they were a part of a registered PRT Affiliated team, they had more freedom, but most of the time, we lone heroes were restricted to stopping a crime in progress. If we acted pre-emptively, the PRT used it an as excuse to try and strong-arm the vigilante in question into the Protectorate or the Wards, depending on their age.

I would not put up with more teen drama than I had to. Winslow every weekday was bad enough. I couldn't imagine how screwed up teen drama could be with powers thrown into the mix. I had no desire to find out. And so, I would have to stalk these morons until they actually launched their attack on the house.

Stealthily, I followed the gang of skinheads from the rooftops as they moved along and girded their loins to actually launch their attack. I snorted quietly. Like any group of bullies, they were cowards and weaklings, even in a group, and actually doing anything required them to steel their nerves and build up a mob-like attitude so they were unconcerned with what they were actually doing. That actually worked in my favour, however.

A person was smart, people are stupid. And no group of people are stupider than a group that falls into the rabble-rousing attitude of a mob. When they were lost to their senses and making their first couple of moves on the house, I'd strike.

My heart sank as I spotted Cricket, one of the Empire's Capes, joining them for a moment, but she only staid a moment, getting into a nearby car and speeding off with who looked like Alabaster. I was very much relieved that they hadn't chosen to stay. Both of them were ruthless fighters who had large body counts attributed to them and I had no wish to fight either of them separately or both of them together until I had more experience under my belt.

Using ribbons with the same strength as professional climbing rope to cross to the next rooftop, I scoffed at the group beneath me. They never looked up on the odd occasions that they looked around. Even although there was a family full of flying Capes in the city, they never thought to look up. Idiots.

Reflexively, I looked around (and up) to double check that no one was pulling that on me. Thankfully, I was safe. The number of unfriendly fliers in the Bay was limited to a handful of Capes; Purity from the Empire was one, with Stormtiger being another. Technically anyway. Rune could fly on stuff using her telekinesis. Crusader's ghosts could fly. That was it though.

At last, the skinheads had riled themselves up to actually get on with it. They swaggered down the street to the house in question and started posturing. I silently glided on wings of ribbon to the top of a nearby streetlight and waited.

I hated watching them break down the door of the house, but it had nothing on the family being dragged out, a father, mother and two daughters. When they started kicking the family, with the parents protecting their daughters with their own bodies, I had had enough.

Spawning a hundred large ribbons, I sent them flying down to wrap around the bodies and limbs of the skinheads, binding them where they stood. Cries of surprise were muffled as I gagged them as well. To add insult to injury, the ribbons all had the Star of David on them.

"Y…you saved us! Thank you!" the mother babbled as I landed on the ground.

"I'm only sorry that I didn't arrive sooner." I said, not willing to tell them that I had been here from the start. Dishonest, but hey. "How are your injuries?"

"Eh, a few kicks to the stomach aren't going to do much to me." The father shrugged, with a hint of Russian in his voice, "I'm an ex-boxer. How are you, dear?"

"A bit…sore." His wife said with a wince.

"You'd better get checked out at a hospital after this." I advised, "Call the police and the PRT to collect these…scumbags."

"Dear, take the girls inside and pack some essentials." The man told his wife, "We'll have to stay elsewhere until we can get the door fixed."

Before they went inside, the two girls, pretty black-haired little things with warm brown eyes, came up and stammered their thanks to me for saving their mommy and daddy.

"Hey, no problem." I said with a nod. Kneeling down, I pulled a pair of ribbons from out of nowhere, "What're your favourite colours?"

"B…blue?"

"Red."

I turned one red and one blue and handed them to the girls. "Have a present. Don't tell the PRT where you got these or they'll try to confiscate them."

A pair of firm nods were sent my way before they were hustled into the house.

"Making ribbons. Wouldn't have thought that would be an effective combat power." The man remarked, "Anyway, the name's Sergei Estrin. What's your Cape name?"

I smiled to myself. "I hadn't actually thought of one. A bit silly to make a costume and not think of a name. Call me…yes…call me Tiamat, the Crown and Sash of Fantasies and Dreams."

"Nice name." Sergei nodded, "You were here before they started, weren't you."

Evidently my surprise was visible, as the man nodded. "Thought so. I understand why though. You're a vigilante, right? That means that you can only stop crimes in progress without the PRT getting on your back."

"I…I am sorry your family had to go through that." I said in a subdued tone.

"Njet." The ex-boxer said firmly, "You have legal limits that you have to abide by in order to stay independent, da? It cannot be helped. Next time though, stop them when they are dragging the family out though."

"I promise." I said instantly.

"Good. Now, Tiamat, you should be off." Sergei said with a smile, "There are undoubtedly more people who need your help in the Bay tonight."

"Thank you, Mr Estrin." I nodded, "Good luck."

"You saved my family, Tiamat. Just call me Sergei." The man chuckled. "And good luck to you as well."

With that, I launched myself into the air and used my ribbons to spring to the top of the streetlight and then into the night.

Later

Director's Office, PRT Building

"So then…what do we have?" Director Piggot said, lacing her hands together on the desk in front of her."

"We have a new vigilante Cape in the Bay." Miss Militia reported, "She goes by the name of Tiamat, the 'Crown and Sash of Fantasies and Dreams' as she called herself to the first family she saved tonight."

"Where did she pick that name from?" Piggot muttered.

"Tiamat is the Primordial/Chaotic Deity of the Ocean in Babylonian Mythology." Armsmaster said gruffly, "She is referred to as the 'Glistening One' and is often portrayed as a dragon or a sea serpent. She supposedly created life through a sacred marriage with Abzu, the Primordial Deity of Fresh Water."

Taking that in her stride, Piggot focussed again. "Right. So what has she done?"

"She has apparently only been active for a single night and she has stopped a family of Jewish Russians from being brutalised by Empire thugs, captured several ABB grunts robbing an electronics store and saved a teenage girl who was in the middle of being kidnapped by a trio of Merchants." Miss Militia recited, "In each case, she was at the scene beforehand and waited until it was beyond reasonable doubt that the perpetrators were committing a crime before intervening."

'Translation: nothing we can use to get the girl into the Wards.' Emily thought sourly. It was irritating when the fresh Capes in the city were actually smart enough to look up the Vigilante Limitation Law put in place a decade ago.

Emily Piggot did not like Capes. She did not trust Capes. Miss Militia was the closest to liking a Cape since the Elisburg Debacle, more commonly known as either the Fall of Elisburg or the Rise of the Goblin King. In her opinion, all so-called heroic Capes needed to be under the strict supervision of the PRT as members of the Protectorate. It was why she had ruthlessly forced Shadow Stalker into the Wards the moment the bloodthirsty fool had stepped over the line.

"So what powers has she displayed." She continued after a beat.

"Ribbon generation and control." Armsmaster stated.

Emily paused. "I'm sorry, what?"

"She can create and control ribbons, Director." Miss Militia said clearly, "Armsmaster had to cut the Empire thugs out of the ribbon…cocoons…they were trapped in. The same applied for the ABB and Merchants Tiamat apprehended. The ribbons were as strong as rope, at the very least, despite keeping the same thickness and flexibility as any other ribbon."

"The ribbons are a mix of organic and synthetic fabrics, with some plastic thrown in for good measure." Armsmaster added, "One member of the ABB also tried to shoot her, with the gun being crushed after she ripped it from his hands. She seems to have very precise control of the ribbons she generates, and she, according to Dragon, has a…sense of irony. The ribbons binding the Empire thugs were marked with the Star of David in yellow."

Piggot blinked in disbelief. That would make the Empire furious when they heard it. Deliberately mocking them, they'd see it as. Which it was, to be fair.

"Ratings?" she asked simply.

"A Blaster rating, I would say." Miss Militia offered, "While she can create a lot of ribbons, they all come from her, either her hands or her mask. Say, Blaster 4 or 5, with a sub-rating of Shaker 3 for manipulating beyond just firing them once they're in existence."

"A Mover Rating is apropos as well." Armsmaster added, "She has been witnessed using the ribbons as a mode of transportation at least twice. The almost kidnap victim reported that Tiamat glided down on wings before dissolving them into ribbons to attack the Merchants. Additionally, several cameras spotted her travelling over the rooftops using the ribbons as extra legs. Mover 3-4, I'd say."

"Very well." She said, not seeing anything amiss with the way the two had laid out their reasoning. "Let all members of the Protectorate and Wards know that they are to engage in conversation with this…Tiamat if they come across her and to invite her to the Wards or Protectorate depending on their age. Emphasise the good things about the Protectorate; the training facilities, the pay, the safety in numbers, the works."

"Noted." Armsmaster said, "And if she refuses?"

"Find out why." Piggot ordered, "Try to convince her. If she still refuses, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

So this is, as you may have recognised, based off of Wilhelmina Carmel, the Specialist of Everything/Manipulator of Ten-Thousand Ribbons from Shakugan no Shana. I could have gone with Margery Daw or Tenmoku Ikko, but I like Wilhelmina, so I chose her. No power table this time, as Armsmaster and Miss Militia hit the highlights. Happy Halloween!