Justice For All: First Arc Epilogue (Original chapter Chapter 78)
That Night
Living Room, Hebert Residence
So then. I had been kidnapped by an insane, vengeful and immoral Parahuman, been forced to fight for my life against giant rats and human projections, not to mention the big rat king, and it had all culminated in a life-or-death duel against the mastermind Hamelin himself, in which I had used Kid Win's Laser Pistol to Indiana Jones the bastard.
All of that had been scary in and of itself. But I had also just been forced to undergo something even scarier than all that combined…I'd had to tell my Dad the whole story.
Rather predictably, he was currently pacing a path in the carpet, trying to keep his temper under control.
"Of all the…! Could've been killed…!" I heard him muttering. He wasn't going to be talking to me any time soon until he worked all that anger out of his system, so I decided to focus on something more practical; my stats.
Name: Taylor Hebert
CapeName: Justitia
Gender: Female
Level: 10
Title: None (*)
Job (s): (1) Swordsman (LV6)
(2) Maceman (LV2)
(3) Gunslinger (LV2)
EXP: 273/700
Embryo: Maiden of Justice Iustitia
Embryo Type: Maiden with Arms
Embryo Forms Achieved: 3/7
Stats
HP: 840
STA: 2800
MP: 425
Strength: 52
Toughness: 50
Endurance: 52
Dexterity: 35
Intelligence: 80
Wisdom: 85
Luck: ?
Overall, I was kinda impressed with my stats here. My HP, Stamina and MP had all risen dramatically; for some reason the normal bonuses from my attributes going up hadn't been applied to them until after I had left Hamelin's Dimension Pocket, but Iustitia had told me that it was a small bug caused by my kidnapping by Hamelin and that she had corrected the problem, so it was good with me.
My mental stats were, bluntly put, awesome. I could almost feel smarter than I was before, and I hadn't exactly been weak there in the first place. Physically, I was much improved, so much so I was going to have to be careful not to hurt people without meaning to.
'As an Embryo Master, you only possess the strength of your stats when in combat or when you focus on them, Mistress.' Iustitia informed me. 'You could no more harm someone with your strength than you could unmake the sun.'
Huh. Good to know.
As for my new skills, the one I got with my brand new Gunslinger class, [Quickdraw] was something like a mental speed boost skill that let me snap off the first shot against the enemy quickly and with precision, basically letting my mind move fast to target the enemy and boosting my Dexterity for the duration of the first shot. Dexterity, as it so happened, was the stat used to determine accuracy, as well as all sorts of other minor things like bonuses to hit with close combat weapons and slightly increased chances to inflict critical hits.
[Improved Accuracy] was only active if I had a projectile weapon equipped and it granted me a small bonus to my Dexterity dependent on my Gunslinger class' level. Like Swordsman and Maceman, Gunslinger was a common job, with the Rare Jobs being Cowboy and Deputy, while the Superior Jobs were Lone Ranger and Gundancer.
"…aylor! Taylor!" Dad's voice interrupted my thoughts and I looked up at him tiredly.
"Hmm? Sorry, I'm exhausted." I said yawning briefly.
The anger and anxiety on his face softened, and then broke completely as he reflexively yawned too. It was one in the morning, after all, and neither of us had had anything approaching a normal day thanks to Hamelin.
"OK Little Owl, to bed with you." He said with a sigh. "I'll call in sick for you tomorrow and when I get home, we are going to have a talk about all of this…OK?"
Translation: A lecture on 'Why Taylor's going to join the Wards as soon as the paperwork can be signed' by Daniel 'Danny' Hebert.
I wasn't necessarily against the idea for the most part, but…
"OK Dad. Thanks." I smiled up at him and staggered up to my bedroom, stopping off in the bathroom to clean my teeth and perform the usual last minute ablutions before going to bed.
'The Wards, aside from Aegis, seemed to be nice people.' Iustitia noted as I happily snuggled into my bed. I was never going to take soft sheets and a warm duvet for granted again. 'Why are you so hesitant about joining them?'
I struggled with that for a moment, trying to put my confused feelings into words. 'Because…because the Wards aren't really Capes. They dress the part, sure, and they do get flung into the thick of things every now and again, as today proved, but the main reason they're Wards is twofold; protection and training. Protection from being strong-armed into joining the gangs or killed by them, and given training in how to use their powers. We don't need training in how to use my powers, so the last one's flop for us.'
'But alone, against the combined might of the lawbreakers in this city, we are vulnerable.' Iustitia pointed out softly. 'They would overwhelm us with weight of numbers.'
'If we strode into battle against them as I did against Hamelin's monsters, then yes.' I conceded as I stared at the ceiling thoughtfully. 'But unlike in that dimensional pocket, we don't kill here, Iustitia. Not unless they have a Kill Order on their heads or it's to protect innocent lives. Plus, the gangs are disorganised unless a serious threat shows up. All we have to do is spread our actions out across all of them so it doesn't look as if we're going after them fanatically.'
'You have put a great deal of thought into this, Mistress.' My Embryo said without any surprise in her mental 'voice.'
'When my life's gonna be on the line, of course I'm going to.' I scoffed.
'There's something more, isn't there?' the Maiden Embryo pressed.
'Yes.' I admitted. 'The Wards, as I noted, are not combat Capes by design or intent, usually. They fight every now and again in other cities, but they get more than their fair share of combat in Brockton Bay. That still means they are kept away from actually fighting crime as much as possible. I want to make a difference, Iustitia. I want to uphold justice. But the Protectorate has been failing at it from lack of manpower for years. In this case…I think justice needs to stand alone in order to be effective.'
There was silence for a moment before Iustitia started to laugh.
'Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Indeed! Let us stand alone and enact justice on this city, Mistress!'
[Embryo Evolution! Third Stage Evolution Confirmed!]
Mapping all 504 evolutionary paths…
Selecting best possible evolution for Embryo Master's will and determination…
…Completed.
Third Form: [The Lone Gun and Star of Frontier Justice]!
…what?
Blinking in disbelief, I materialised Iustitia's Third Form in my hand. It resembled an old six-shooter revolver from the Old West, except it was blocky and rectangular as opposed to cylindrical. The only exception was the revolving cylinder. Also, the whole thing was shining with silver light.
I also felt a slight weight on my chest and looked down, seeing a five pointed silver star pinned to my pyjamas over my heart.
'OK…so what can these bad boys do?' I asked my Embryo.
'Each possessed two abilities, for a total of four.' Iustitia replied. 'The star has [One Riot, One Ranger] and [Always Alone, Never Put To Flight], while the revolver has a standard ability to automatically reload ten seconds after the last chamber is emptied, as well as [Silver Bullet to Strike Down Villainy] and [The Bullet Strikes True].'
[One Riot, One Ranger] was similar to [Order in Court] in that it let me deal extra damage when faced with multiple enemies. The main difference was that it was a set amount that was granted whenever I was faced with any more than a single enemy at a time. It also raised my defence and Dexterity at the same time.
[Always Alone, Never Put To Flight] was a Passive Skill that applied subtle pressure to those who fought me. The more enemies I faced and the longer I fought them, the greater this pressure would become until they would eventually break down and run…at least those who weren't strong minded or strong willed. Or even just plain stubborn. The secondary effect was that if I aimed at someone touched by this Skill, I would gain a bonus to my Dexterity and damage.
[Silver Bullet to Strike Down Villainy] could only be used once per day, which kind of sucked, but its effect was quite powerful. In order to use it, I had to successfully shoot the enemy I wanted to target with the skill at least once before invoking the skill. Once active, all of my attacks against that target, for the rest of the day, would deal triple damage against it, even if I switched to another Form of Iustitia. The downside was that if I did use it, I was then prohibited from attacking the target for five minutes afterwards and it used exactly half of my Stamina, regardless of the actual amount of Stamina I had, in order to invoke the skill.
[The Bullet Strikes True] was a rather useful skill as well. I could spend Stamina or MP in order to make trick shots that would strike only what I wanted them to strike. I could designate the weapons, even a specific part of the weapons, and my bullets would ricochet around until they hit that part. Of course, obstacles could be interposed in the melee of combat, so keeping things as simple as possible was the best idea.
That wasn't all. When Iustitia advanced to her Third Form, the range and strength of the abilities of the other two forms were increased. Not by much, just an extra ten meters, range-wise and just another five points apiece, power wise. Still, I'd take any kind of bonus in a fight, no matter how low.
Letting Iustitia return to her crest in my hand, I started to feel really drowsy. What a day it had been! I was so going to sleep until midday tomorrow.
As I dropped off, I remembered that I still had Kid Win's Laser Pistol in my inventory. I made a note to find a way to return it at some point, with my thanks. It would have been much, much more difficult to defeat Hamelin without it.
The Next Day
Director's Office, PRT Building
Feeling very much refreshed after a good night's sleep and a session with the dialysis machine, Emily Piggot now faced the issue of exactly what to do about Justitia, the new Independent Hero who had, she admitted privately to herself, gone above and beyond the call of duty in saving the Wards, the Undersiders and the two youngest members of New Wave.
"So." She said to Armsmaster and Miss Militia, who were standing in front of her desk along with Deputy Director Renick. "Opinions of the Power Ratings for each of Justitia's known abilities?"
"The counter-Shaker skill she uses with the sword is almost certainly a Shaker/Trump effect." Miss Militia mused aloud. "I'd rate it at Trump/Shaker 3 at least for both range and utility."
"Hm." Armsmaster nodded in agreement. "The physical ability reduction field she has is a pure Shaker effect though. Shaker 5 or 6, although the fact it works best on opponents stronger than she is makes it problematic to use, I would imagine."
"Too much physical ability is sometimes worse than too little, especially if you aren't used to it." Miss Militia countered. "Imagine a baseline human being hit with that and then trying to jump; he'd put himself into a wall. Even a Parahuman would be thrown off balance with that power."
Piggot nodded in agreement. Miss Militia may have turned down the post of Head of the Protectorate ENE due to her disinclination to lead, but she was a very smart and analytical woman without being smug about it.
"Very well. So noted." She entered the rating onto her computer. "And the 'tipstaff' that she possesses?"
"Both abilities she has displayed with it are passive effects that synergise so well together that they may as well be a single power." The Tinker stated. "The ability to inflict greater damage when faced by multiple opponents and the ability to become stronger the more physical stamina you have used up until that point, as well as slowing down the rate at which you expend physical stamina. I'd agree with Kid Win in that combined, it's a Trump/Striker 5."
"I'd rate it slightly higher if she is faced by large numbers of enemies." Miss Militia demurred. "If she was using it when confronted by thirty or so of the ABB or Empire…"
"Yes, agreed. I'll enter it as Trump/Striker 5 (Variable)." The Director nodded. Ratings with 'Variable' in them usually meant that the upper limits of the power either hadn't been plumbed (in the case of Protectorate Capes) or hadn't been witnessed (in the case of Villains, Rogues and Independents). They were usually quite rare, as powers were rarely as flexible or as nebulous as Justitia's powerset seemed to be.
'And she apparently has five more unknown weapon 'evolutions' to go.' The Director shuddered slightly. The variation in the powers that Justitia showed was impressive, but the speed at which she was becoming stronger was also troubling.
"And finally…her 'RPG' powerset." Emily asked evenly. That had been the most difficult part to believe, but she was going to assume it was at least partially true.
"Trump/Shaker 10, easily." Armsmaster stated immediately. "It influences not only herself but her surroundings to a somewhat incredible degree. The variation in her 'Job Classes' must allow her to change and adapt to her situation as and when it is required. Given sufficient time, I could see her becoming Triumvirate-tier, even without her 'Embryo' at her side."
"Yes…her projection possesses a power of its own, so it seems." Piggot frowned. "Ranged healing, albeit slow."
"And dependent of Justitia's physical stamina." Miss Militia pointed out. "Shaker 3, I'd put it as with the small amount of information we currently have."
Emily sighed and sat back on her comfortable chair. It was custom made for her and had been one of the few luxuries she indulged in at work, although it was really a necessity as her damaged and corpulent body wore out regular office chairs far too quickly.
"How is the M/S screening going?" she moved on. All of the Protectorate, Wards and New Wave who had watched the final confrontation between Hamelin and Iustitia the previous day had been put into Master/Stranger Protocols as soon as the feed had cut, including her. It was now roughly time for everyone to leave, but she, Armsmaster and Miss Militia had been released a bit early to get some items on the agenda sorted out.
"Brandish is still furious." Renick said with a tired sigh.
"Bully for her." Piggot sniffed. "She, and the rest of New Wave, are PRT allies, so they agreed to M/S Protocols when they became such. Anyone else?"
"No, the rest are resigned to the necessity of it, albeit unhappy about it." The PRT ENE Second in Command replied. "It's a good thing we told Arcadia to close for the day, otherwise there might have been questions asked about the Wards' presence. Vista's school accepted the sick note we requested her parents to sign for just such an emergency."
"Good. Any sign that anyone was Mastered?"
"None." Armsmaster answered gruffly. "Hamelin seemed to have preferred going after less subtle powers aside from the occasional Thinker, such as Tattletale. Even then, Thinkers were seemingly very much a tertiary concern for him."
"On the subject of Hamelin." Dragon popped up on a screen built into the wall.
"You found him?" Piggot asked sharply.
The world's foremost Tinker nodded grimly and a small photo of a man resembling Hamelin without the laser hole in the centre of his face appeared on the screen to replace her face. Then a family picture replaced it.
"His name was Anthony Lebowski, age thirty-nine." Dragon reported. "Formerly a resident of Albany, Capital District, New York State. Married to Jessica Lebowski, 35, with three children, Angela, 10, Samuel, 7, and Mary-Jane, 3, respectively. Four years ago, the New York Protectorate, including Legend, fought against members of the Elite there, the collateral damage of which resulted in the deaths of his family, including his wife, children, siblings and parents. Two years and one month ago, the Slaughterhouse Nine, as you know, rampaged through Albany, resulting in the death of Mr Lebowski's girlfriend, Emily Cole, at the hands of either Bonesaw or Shatterbird. It is uncertain at this time which event caused him to trigger or if he Triggered both times. He went missing a week after the Nine left. Two weeks later, the Independent Hero Mistral vanished without a trace. Mistral was one of the Capes recovered by the Wards from Hamelin's dimensional pocket."
"Dear god in heaven." Emily shook her head. The man must have snapped after losing someone again after rebuilding his life from the first time. She opened a drawer and pulled out a red form that made the other occupants of the room stiffen slightly; a Kill Order authorisation form.
"This form has been signed by Chief Director Costa-Brown, sanctioning the death of Hamelin." She said slowly. "I have also signed it, but not yet dated it. I am leaning towards making the time and date of the legal licence to kill authorisation yesterday, at the time that the Wards were abducted."
"Why haven't you dated it then?" Renick asked in surprise.
"Because I also received a call from Alexandria yesterday, asking to do what I can to recruit Justitia into the Protectorate." Emily informed him. "I can only suppose that a Thinker informed her of who dealt with Hamelin. Opinions?"
"Do not use the Kill Order as a threat to coerce her." Miss Militia advised immediately.
"She was the one who deliberately set things up as a one-on-one confrontation with him." The Director remarked as she picked up a pen and tapped it against the desk's surface.
"It was a no-win situation." Armsmaster disagreed. "Either Justitia betrayed the Wards, Undersiders and the two New Wave member in order to flee herself, or she stayed behind to let the others go free. She saw that and chose the option that saved as many people as was possible. She was clearly willing to die in order to stop Hamelin's rampage."
This made Piggot raise both eyebrows in surprise. Armsmaster was rarely the type to go against the wishes of those higher up on the food chain than he was. Alexandria's 'request' was a not-so subtle hint to use the Kill Order to apply pressure to Justitia in order to get her into the Wards ASAP. Generally speaking, a request from one of the Triumvirate was usually promptly followed through with, but in this case…
"Agreed." She nodded and scribbled down a specific date and time, indicating yesterday at five minutes to four. She also brought up the Kill Order's digital copy and entered the same numbers.
"Hamelin, the Pied Piper, was rated by Protectorate Thinkers as an A-Class Parahuman in terms of actual threat, but S-Class in terms of his allegorical and potential future threat level, so there is a substantial bounty ready to be released to Justitia for ending his threat, with the thanks of both the United States Government and the Parahuman Response Team." Emily Piggot said crisply. "All members of the Protectorate and Wards are directed to keep an eye out for the Independent Heroine Justitia so we can arrange the transfer of funds to an account for her use. Renick, please file this form in the Cold Vault."
She handed him the Kill Order Authorisation Form, which was received very gingerly.
"Yes Director." Miss Militia nodded, Armsmaster a beat behind her.
"Good. Then get to it." She said in dismissal. She still had paperwork to do.
OK, so…after careful consideration and some deliberation with my Muse…Ok. I will make this a full story. You've all twisted my arm into it. But I will repeat that these stories are to inspire other people to write Worm stories. So if anyone IS interested, please give one a try. Pretty please?
On that note, Justice for All will not be posted as a separate story until June, as I am way behind on my writing due to several irritating happenings IRL, not to mention being a chronic procrastinator, so hold yer horses until June, dammit!
And, for all of you crying out 'Something other than this story, dammit!', I will post something for the Asylum inside of the next two weeks. Later.