It's Time to Duel! Chapter 3 (original chapter Chapter 51)

A Few Minutes Earlier

With Velocity, Northern Docks Area, Brockton Bay

"Console to Velocity, come in, over." Clockblocker called. He was on console duty (again) because of his constant needling of people.

"This is Velocity." The speedster hero said, stopping at a corner. "Go ahead, Console."

"Got a call in from what is apparently a new Indie Cape called Duelist, said she captured some Merchants." The Striker reported. "The location's in the Mid-Docks area, Benson and Third. The PRT Helpline lady said that it might be a prank."

"Roger that, Console. I'm on route." Velocity replied. The red-clad speedster zipped down the street towards the location that Clockblocker had informed him of.

'A new Indie, huh? You can bet the Director'll be wanting to recruit them if they're decent.' He thought. It was something that he approved of, personally. Independent Capes rarely lasted long alone. He had formerly been in the military and had approved of the way the Protectorate was set up. Why people didn't go to the PRT first when they got powers was something he found odd.

'Some like the idea of being superheroes like in the old comics.' Velocity grimaced. 'The world isn't like the comics though. It's ready to chew you up and spit you out if you let your guard down.'

Just then, he came up on the location he had been given and came to a halt. Arrayed before him were humanoids that he recognised from that card game that the Wards (and more than a few PRT and Protectorate members) played in their spare time. One was a tall, heavily muscled man, totally naked except for a loincloth and the sword he carried easily in one hand. The second was a blond-haired woman wearing red and black armour with a card suite theme and another sword in hand. Emerging from the warehouse was a man wearing blue armour and carrying a double-bladed pike. Standing in the center of all of them was a person wearing a large white coat, a full-face helmet shaped like a dragon's head, a red shirt, black trousers and black boots.

"Whoa…" he blurted out unconsciously. That made the three closest individuals turn to face him, the large man and the knight-like woman automatically moving to protectively loom over the white-clad figure.

"Umm…" Velocity said intelligently. "Who's Duelist?"

"Me." The white clad figure said in a, stepping forwards. He had guessed based on the body language of the other people around them that the white-clad figure was Duelist, but it was surprising that they were female.

"Okaaaayyy…" the red-clad hero took a breath and let it out. "Why do I have the feeling that this is going to be a long story?"

It wasn't, really. The kid, Duelist, had the power to summon Yu-Gi-Oh cards as projections, as well as increase and otherwise alter their abilities with the magic and trap cards she had available. Using the power of [Gearfried the Swordmaster], she had destroyed Squealer's tank before having her knocked out. Before that had happened, her projections had taken down the entire warehouse full of Merchants with not wounds and no casualties on either side.

Velocity even saw her call forth another servant, one he recognised as [Armed Ninja], to strip the place of any money and valuables before the new Cape chose to leave. He tried to offer her a place in the Wards, but she turned him down fast.

"With my monsters at my side, I'm fine." She replied firmly. "I'll be able to do more by myself rather than be weighed down by the silly coddling that you put the Wards through; I actually want to accomplish things before I hit eighteen, you know."

Barely twenty minutes later, Velocity found himself reporting to Armsmaster, Miss Militia and Director Piggot in the Director's Office.

"Duelist…a nickname for those who play that card game, I suppose?" the Director sniffed.

"Quite a fitting name though, much better thought out than most fresh Capes." Miss Militia pointed out.

"True." Emily Piggot allowed. "Armsmaster, presuming that she is able to manifest every single card that exists, are there any that may prove to be of use against the Endbringers?"

"At least three dozen and counting, not including various card combinations." The Tinker replied. "Dragon's helping me do so as we speak. The fact that we don't know the limits of her power makes this list little more than speculation, however."

"Quite, but she would be a major force multiplier if we were forced to deploy her in an emergency situation." Piggot mused before shaking her head. "She doesn't want to join up? Fine. All Protectorate and Wards members are instructed to keep an eye out for Duelist and build a rapport with her, in addition to observing her for any indications of any lawbreaking."

Miss Militia threw her a disapproving look, but the obese woman brushed it off with ease.

"She is too powerful to remain a free agent, Militia." Piggot stated. "It is only a matter of time before the Empire or the ABB gets it into their heads to attack her in order to forcibly recruit her. Failing that, the ABB at least will try to remove her as an obstacle. With Oni Lee and Lung after her, she won't last a week."

"She's only gone after the Merchants a single time, ma'am." Velocity pointed out.

"Yes, which is troublesome." Piggot said with a frown. "If she continues to go after the Merchants, the power balance of the Big Three Gangs will be destabilized; the Merchants are good for nothing else if not acting as a deterrent against all-out gang warfare. If they go, the other two will be at each other's throats very quickly, and Brockton Bay will be a warzone."

"Director…it's only a matter of time before that happens anyway." Miss Militia pointed out softly. "There's only so much we can do with the current lineup and numbers of the Protectorate and Wards, even with the PRT backing us."

"It is our job to prevent it as long as is possible." The Director said firmly. "It has worked for years and I will not see Brocton Bay fall because of one idealistic Parahuman on a crusade."

What was very carefully not mentioned by Armsmaster, Miss Militia and the Director was that they were all 100% certain that they were being set up for something beyond a gang war. They had no idea what that might be, but the state of Brockton Bay would have demanded at least double the amount of Protectorate members and a substantially larger PRT deployment.

Instead, what they had was the absolute lowest, cut to the bone, number of Protectorate necessary, along with only a slightly larger than normal deployment of the PRT. This forced them to resort to merely checking the excesses of the various Parahuman criminals that existed in Brockton bay, rather than cracking down on them a bit as Piggot would prefer.

Shaking her head, Piggot returned to the matter at hand. "As it is, we have Squealer in custody thanks to Duelist and I want her out of the Bay as fast as transport can be arranged. Once she gets to a prison, Panacea can be brought in to wipe her clean of drugs and perhaps she can be convinced to rebrand. That isn't my problem though; that would be Alexandria's demesne."

Alexandria had a Thinker power that granted her a nigh-perfect memory and an almost inhuman ability to read someone's tells. More often than not, she was responsible for interrogating and convincing captured Parahuman criminals into turning a new leaf.

"If there's nothing else, you are all dismissed." The Director said, wincing as her body protested. "I have an appointment with my dialysis machine."

Next Day

With Taylor

It was after school, after I had finished my homework, when I looked between my trusty Warrior deck and my Spellcaster deck indecisively. I wanted to give all of my decks a fair go, but I was also reluctant to just exchange decks so easily.

I had a lot of cards that I had bought won in a couple of tournaments over the years and I had amused myself by building decks for most of the various monster types. I didn't bother with making different attribute decks, but I was rather good at building cohesive decks based on monster types. I also had a few archetype-based decks as well, but I specialised in the various types, Warrior, Spellcaster, Reptile, etcetera.

Shrugging, I grabbed my spellcasters and absorbed the deck into me, which made the first five cards automatically draw. [White Magician Pikeru], [Book of Secret Arts], [Magician's Circle], [Dark Magician Girl] and [Mystic Elf], huh…I drew my first new card, which was [Maha Vailo].

As for my disguise, I chose [Avatar of Nephthys], although I wouldn't be engaging it until after I'd left my house; it was too…elaborate, with cloth going everywhere , not to mention the big headdress the figure in the card wore.

Why that card? Simply, really; even although I was fairly flat chested, I was still a bit larger in the chest department than the male figure of [Kaibaman], which had made his disguise a bit on the sore side. So I'd try to wear disguises from now on that took the fact I was female into account.

…OK, and I wanted to experiment to see if I had any of their powers while wearing their outfits. Sue me.

I waited until dark to sneak out. Dad had gone to bed and I had some practice in sneaking out recently to test out my powers and now to patrol for crimes. Inserting my disguise came first, once I was sure there were no security cameras around, then I summoned [Maha Vailo].

The tall man in a blue robe, wearing an elaborate backpack with two large ornamental blades sticking up over his shoulders, as well as an elaborate headdress, appeared in front of me in a flash of light.

"Mistress, I am at your command." He stated with an abbreviated bow.

I let out a small sigh of relief; it looks as if any monster I summon is loyal to me, not just the Warriors.

"We're on patrol for lawbreakers." I informed him. "No killing or maiming is allowed by the laws of the land, so restrain your power."

"Yes, Mistress." [Maha Vailo] nodded obediently.

Before we started to patrol, I set [Magician's Circle] facedown, causing a rainbow array of light to play over my body. It was a pretty weird feeling too; kinda like an electric charge was running across my skin while it was active.

I would have preferred a proper defensive trap, but in a pinch, I could summon reinforcements from my deck. I didn't know what would happen if my enemies were classed by my power as 'spellcasters' as well though…would it call one of their Capes forth? Would it summon a token? Or would it be like if the enemy had a deck with no spellcasters? The only way to find out was experimentation, which was risky. It couldn't be helped though; it's not like my powers came with a rulebook like the card game did.

Equipping the [Book of Secret Arts] to myself, I utilized the secondary powers that I had found that I gained while it was equipped to me; not only could I attack and defend with it, I also gained minor 'spells' from it like basic levitation and flight, as well as other things a 'normal' magician had naturally. Joining my monster in the air, we soared across the night.

"This city has seen better days, Mistress." Maha said softly as he gazed at Brockton Bay. "I can almost feel its pain."

"Yeah…we have to fight to return it to those days." I said determinedly, even as I spotted twenty gang members from the E88 fighting with the same number of ABB. "Here's our first group. None of these guys should be stronger than a [Cyber Commander], with most being barely stronger than a [Kuriboh]. Remember to restrain your attacks accordingly."

"That shall be difficult, but not impossible." The Spellcaster frowned for a moment. Before pointing one hand at the group of gang members. "[Sacred Lightning]!"

A single bolt of energy shot out of his hands and spread to cover the entire group, shocking them and even dropping a handful, but the rest were, if not unharmed, then still conscious.

"Hmm…It looks as if the ones we face this time are slightly superior to what you faced before, Mistress." [Maha Vailo] said with a slight smile. "That was me restraining my [Sacred Lightning] to the equivalent of 500 Attack Points."

"Cape!" one of the E88 skinheads yelled. Way to state the obvious.

I tapped my deck again and another card was drawn, [White Magical Hat]. I think he would make an excellent addition to this fight.

"Come forth, [White Magical Hat]!" I called out, summoning the monster. In a flash, a man wearing a purple suit, white gloves, cape and hat, with a monocle over one eye, floated in the sky before me.

"Mistress, I am at your command." The thief bowed to me.

"Go down there and take care of those men who are gaping at us." I ordered, pointing down at the ABB and E88 members. "Remember to hold back; they are stronger than 500 Attack Points, but likely weaker than you are by far and we are not permitted to kill."

"By your command." [White Magical Hat] stated and, grabbing his cloak, he wrapped it around himself, and vanished from sight, although I could still tell where he was, somehow.

"Shit, that Cape's a Master!"

"What should we do? We don't have any guns!"

"We run, you dumbass! Leave these slants to get beaten up!"

I rolled my eyes at the common racial slur that the Empire grunts used. Couldn't they come up with anything more original than that? Well, they are racist fucks, after all, so they likely don't have much resembling imagination.

Before either side could move, [White Magical Hat] reappeared and laid into them with his fists, beating them down rather easily, starting with the one who had said they were going to run. I was getting surprisingly frustrated with myself, as I had no way of gauging the strength of people so I could direct my monsters properly.

Abruptly, my vision cut out for a moment before springing back up seconds later…only now, I could see people's Attack/Defense Points, as well as what 'magic cards' they were 'equipped' with.

[Empire Footsoldier]

A man lost on the path of hatred based on race and skin colour. Redemption is possible, but not at this time.

{Warrior/Normal Monster}

– Attack 650/Defense 500 (Equipped with [Old Iron Pipe]: +150 Attack Points)

[ABB Footsoldier]

A footsoldier of a Pan-Asian gang. His worship of a mighty dragon from both fear and respect gives him courage in the face of adversity.

{Warrior/Normal Monster}

– Attack 850/Defense 600 (Equipped with [Replica Katana]: +250 Attack Points)

Those were the strongest members of the two groups of criminals down there and I had to sigh. Seriously? Only now, when I asked for it, did I gain the ability to see relative Attack and Defense values, as well as equip cards…and holy shit, is that flavor text?!

From what I can see, the Attack and Defense values for the ABB are all about 600, while the E88 were hovering around the 500-550 range. The unconscious ones were all in the 400's.

It actually made sense, as the Empire made extensive use of firearms, so their grunts were less well trained physically than the ABB, who tended to favour close combat when possible. Plus, they had more than a couple of martial artists (yes, it was stereotypical, but whatever) in their ranks, so their higher base stats made sense.

It kinda made me wonder about what the villains and heroes would look like…

Once [White Magical Hat] finished beating the morons into unconsciousness, [Maha Vailo] conjured ropes to tie them up and we left them bound outside the police station. As we flew away, the phantom thief handed me all of their money, which was really useful. His sleight of hand skills were incredible; I had only seen him punching the gang members, not pilfering their cash!

"Well that was an excellent test." I said as I stored the money in a little pouch on my costume's belt. "Let's go hunting for more criminals."

"Yes, Mistress!" my monsters chorused and we swooped away into the night.

A short update this time, because there's one snippet that I've been dying to write and I can't shake it. Look forward to it in a few days' time…