She's the Hero Chapter 3 (Original chapter Chapter 91)

The Next Day

Living Room, Barnes Residence

"Dad, I don't want to see a shrink!" Emma protested. "I'm not weak like that!"

Alan ground his teeth together. "Emma, the very fact that you believe that sort of thing is grounds to see a psychiatrist."

He hadn't wanted to believe it. He still didn't, but…the evidence was in front of him and he couldn't avert his eyes from it, no matter how much he may want to. Emma had changed, drastically, right under his nose and he hadn't seen it. No…he hadn't wanted to see it. He'd wanted to believe that she was the same as before the…incident.

But she wasn't. Alan knew Danny and Taylor. They wouldn't lie to him about something like this. What Emma had said and done to Taylor after she'd come back from Summer Camp…that had been over the line. Had he heard of it, he would have done something…which is why Emma had made certain that he hadn't heard about it.

Until now.

"Alan…is this necessary?" Zoe asked gently after Emma stormed off to her room after more minutes of fruitless arguing.

"It is, dear." The lawyer sighed tiredly. "I wish to heaven that it weren't, but it is. Our daughter is wounded, psychologically. I described her attitude and lifestyle change to a psychologist I know and he agrees with Danny and Taylor; she needs help."

"Damn those ABB bastards." His wife said in a trembling voice. He hugged her as she started to cry. He'd kept what had happened to Emma a secret from her until recently, which hadn't pleased her any. She had put it aside when she had heard the helpless anger in her husband's voice as he had recounted what he and their daughter had been through.

"We'll get through this, Zoe." He whispered. "Now that we know something's wrong, we can fix it. If I have to spend every dime that I have, I will. I'll have the best people look at Emma and help her."

Later

Storeroom, Marvel Universe

"Stan, what's with all this stuff?" Taylor asked as she gestured at the two cardboard boxes in front of her.

"Ah, that's a bunch of old stuff I had at my store in New York." Stan answered. "Old costumes and the like. It's gonna be Halloween soon, right? Thought you'd like to grab a costume or two for free."

Taylor suppressed a fist-pump. She'd been looking for something other than a black burglar-like outfit for her costume and this was almost perfect. "Sure. What's in this lot?"

"Some generic girl's superhero costumes." The store owner replied. "They're from a few old heroes, both Indie and Protectorate, so you have plenty of choice. Should be a helmet in there too. I don't need the thing, and you're a clever girl, so you should be able to make something of it."

The brunette pushed her glasses up with one finger, a smirk on her face. "Oh, I think I can, Stan."

Later

Taylor's Room, Hebert Home

Taylor looked the costumes scattered around her from her place in front of the positively ancient computer her Mom had gotten her. She'd spent a couple of hours trawling the Protectorate's website, as well as a few dedicated fan sites, in order to assemble an idea of which costumes she had available and of whom.

On the side of the Protectorate, there was Liberty Belle, who had worn a plain blue leotard with a simplified version of the actual Liberty Bell (including the crack) in the center of her chest and a domino mask; Lady Liberty, who had worn a green toga and headdress similar to the Statue of Liberty; Torchbearer, who had worn a rippling white and red costume; and Stripes, who had been part of a duo-name with someone called Stars. She had worn a red, white and blue striped costume.

For the Independents, there was Laser Lass, a British immigrant, who had worn a costume similar to Glory Girl's own, except she had worn a helmet that concealed her entire head and face; Canoness, who had worn a pure white shift and half-face mask; Golden Eagle, who had worn a golden costume when not Changed into a giant bird similar to her namesake; and Brigandine, who had dressed in metal armour that she had produced weapons from.

All of them had died in various Endbringer attacks ranging from 1993 to 2000, so they were fairly unknown to most people in 2011; eleven years was a long time when dealing with Capes, after all.

Still, she didn't want anyone to accuse her of outright plagiarism, so she was pretty glad she was OK at sewing. In trying to save money, she had taken to darning their socks when holes developed in them, which was coming back to help her now. Looking at Laser Lass' helmet, which was white with a mirrored visor over the eyes and covered the nose and mouth completely with a face shield, Taylor grinned.

"I think I can make this work."

First things first, she chose a costume for Halloween, going with Liberty Belle's outfit. From the photos she'd seen online, the heroine had been of a similar build to Taylor, so that would look more authentic.

As for her hero outfit, the helmet was a given, as she had no intentions of showing her face to all and sundry. The added protection it would give her was a bonus as well. As to the rest of it…well, there were dribs and drabs that she could use from the other costumes, but she wanted her own costume, not just a kludge of other people's costumes.

It all just needed a little bit of…accessorizing…

Three Days Later

Docks Area, Brockton Bay

Heroine stood next to Heroman atop a roof, overlooking a gathering of Empire 88 thugs. Her costume was now finalized and this was the first outing she was taking in it.

The previously cream-coloured helmet was now covered in alternating red, white and blue stripes and Stan had somehow gotten his hands on an underlay for the goggles that corrected her vision exactly like her glasses did. How she didn't know, but she just put it down to the contacts he had built up over his life, including Tinkers he knew. He'd once met a good number of heroes, both current and former. His office had plenty of photos of him shaking hands with them.

She wore the red and white shirt and trousers of Torchbearer, but she also had a sheepskin flight jacket over her torso, devoid of any patches but the Stars and Stripes on the arms, as well as a pair of thigh-high heelless boots. Both were courtesy of Marvel Universe's clothing section and boy, was she glad about the employee discount.

The new hero was peering over the edge of the roof at the mob of skinheads beneath her. The Empire did this kind of bullshit every so often; a rally-cum-initiation ceremony, where new recruits got up on stage in front of a crowd and beat the shit out of a racial minority that they disapproved of. Judging from the ten terrified men and women on stage, Heroine saw that the skinheads had captured a mix of Asian and black people this time around.

Shaking her head at the stupidity of racist beliefs, Heroine crawled backwards and looked up at Heroman, who was hiding behind the water tower.

"Looks like there's no sign of any Capes." She told him. "Keep an eye out for anyone that's wearing a mask though."

The transforming Heybo nodded back at her silently.

"OK then." She breathed in and then out. "We go in as soon as the skinheads throw the first punch. Legal justification and everything."

Independents had been infamously hounded by the Protectorate into joining them, citing vigilante acts, before a rally led by several prominent Independents, including King Marvel, Anansi and Silver Valkyrie, in Washington DC of every Independent hero in America had led the government to passing the Vigilante Protection and Guidance Act.

The VPGA clearly stated and outlined the limits of the authority of an Independent/Rogue Cape, with those affiliated with the PRT and Protectorate enjoying more leeway in their actions than they would otherwise. It also stated what they could take from their defeated enemies, under the Spoils of Victory and Vigilante Subsidizing sections.

In this instance, although Heroine was 100% certain that those poor people on stage were not there voluntarily, she still couldn't act under the strictures of the VPGA. Only once some skinhead-wannabe stepped up and started beating on them could she and Heroman beat the snot out of the Nazi scumbags.

It sucked but, hey, such was the life of an Indie Cape.

As the apparent leader of the rally, some blond-haired, blue eyed guy got up on stage and started giving a speech, Heroine tuned him out. Blah-blah, lesser races, blah-blah, superior Aryans, blah-blah, put the animals in their places…if you've heard one racist speech, you've pretty much heard them all.

When the first kid came up and started pummeling a hostage though, that was her cue to act.

"Go for the hostages first; save them!" she ordered her guardian. "Heroman, [GO]!"

With a shout, Heroman leapt into the air and landed on the stage with a mighty crash, absently swatting the wannabe E88 thug on stage as the dust cleared. He gathered up the hostages in his arms, slinging some over his shoulders as well before leaping back onto the roof where Heroine awaited him. His cargo delivered, Heroman nodded at his master before leaping down to lay a Beatdown on the fifty-plus Nazis gathered below.

"Don't worry, you're all safe now." Heroine told the terrified people as she cut them free of their bonds. "Stay up here where it's safe and keep your heads down. Once I give the signal that the coast is clear, come down."

"Thank you…thank you…" the man who had been hit said in a trembling voice.

"I'm a hero; it's in the job description." She said lightly before she triggered the new power that her gauntlet had given her. She'd only discovered it the previous day when she'd run Heroman through an obstacle course in an abandoned warehouse and almost been crushed by a falling girder.

With a blue glow from her gauntlet's screen, she exploded into a burst of superspeed, racing down the side of the building and into the massed melee between Heroman and the Empire forces. She slammed her gauntlet into one man's gut before leaping over him and slamming it into the guts of another one.

The superspeed that she was granted was awesome, but that wasn't everything she got. Included in the package were enhanced reflexes and a mental speed boost, as best as she could reckon it. Despite the fact she could move really, really fast, everything around her seemed to move so, so slowly that it was like they were moving through molasses. It was a pretty cool power.

Between her and Heroman, the majority of the skinheads were incapacitated in less than five minutes, and things looked as if they were going well.

Then a whole horde of Empire thugs turned up, armed to the teeth with assault rifles and with Hookwolf at the head of their group.

"So, these race traitors are the ones that decided to crash our rally." The topless man growled, his voice slightly muffled from the metallic mask he wore. "A freak and a brat. To think that these idiots fell to you…"

Before Heroine could respond something sped out of the night and started bouncing off of the heads of the Nazi footsoldiers, dropping them like flies. Once about ten of them were down, it flew back to be caught by someone standing atop a nearby roof.

"Who dares?!" Hookwolf roared.

"Jeez, Nazis these days are kinda loud, ain't they kid?" the man dressed in a blue costume said as he readied his shield for use. This was someone she had come across a lot in her research over the last few days, so Heroine recognised him instantly.

"King Marvel!" she breathed in shock.

"Glad someone still remembers me." The old Independent said before jumping down to land neatly next to her. "Sorry for gatecrashing your party, but I figured you could use a hand dealing with this many skinhead stooges. I think the big guy here can handle the tin puppy over there."

Nodding to indicate a thoroughly enraged Hookwolf, King Marvel smirked at her. "Think you can handle it?"

"S-Sure." She stuttered before getting her head back in the game as Hookwolf let out a roar of rage and charged forwards, transforming into his preferred form of a large metallic wolf covered in hooks, blades and other implements of death.

"Heroman, [Engage]!" she shouted. With a shout, the red, white and blue giant counter-charged Hookwolf, slamming a single fist into him that forced the Empire Cape back, even as the countless blades scraped uselessly across Heroman's armor.

"Holy…! That's definitely fuckin' King Marvel!" one Empire grunt swore in disbelief. "He was already an old codger when he got his powers, so he has to be ancient by this point! How the hell is he still active?!"

"Clean living, frequent exercise and beating down boneheaded whippersnappers like you." King Marvel answered before hurling his shield at the mouthy grunt, knocking him for six even as the rebound sent the shield spinning back to be caught easily by the old Cape. "Seriously, fascists like you idiots are what this country fought against over seventy years ago. I fought the Nazi regime then and I'll be damned if I'll let that evil take root here. Consider this war declared on the Empire 88!"

With that, the old Cape charged into the mass of panicking skinheads with the vigor of someone sixty years younger, laying them out with his fists even as they tried in vain to draw a bead on him. The few who managed to get of a shot found their bullets being bounced harmlessly into the air by his shield.

"And that's all she wrote." King Marvel commented as the last ten skinheads fell to a well-placed shield throw. They had stayed well away from one another, but he had solved that little problem by redirecting his shield off the walls. Catching his shield, he placed it back on his arm as he muttered, "Another intervention on the misguided youth of today, courtesy of the King of Cameos. Let's see how the kid's doing, shall we?"

Over with Hookwolf, he had been pummeled by Heroman for a good five minutes now. As slow and feral as he might be, he had drawn a conclusion during that time.

"So this big man is just a fucking puppet, with you pulling the strings!" he snarled at Heroine. "Well that makes it easier! Kill the puppet master and the puppet will fall!"

He hurled himself at Heroine, who zipped out of the way with her superspeed. When she came to a stop, she noticed a new symbol appearing out of the ring of light on the screen of her gauntlet. It was of a large fist grabbing a lightning bolt.

"Oh yeah." Heroine smirked beneath her mask as she raised her hand and brought it down flat on the screen. "Heroman, [Blast]!"

With a roar, a corona of blue electricity burst from the back of Heroman's head and ran down the two lines vertically crossing his eyes, as well as projecting two blades from the H-shaped gaps on his shoulder armor. With another wordless shout, the giant leapt forwards and clenched his fist, coating it in electrical power before slamming it into Hookwolf, who had just turned around and pounced at Heroine.

Metal buckled, bent and distorted almost in slow motion as Heroman's blow sank into Hookwolf. Arcs of electricity lashed out and struck a couple of goons, who screamed in pain, but weren't hurt beyond a mild tingle.

Then, with the force of a cannon, Hookwolf was sent flying into a wall, going straight through it, through the other wall of the warehouse and out onto the street on the other side. He slowly reverted back to his human form, utterly unconscious.

"Whew." Heroine sighed as Heroman's [Blast] ran out, cutting out the corona that had surrounded him. "Well, that went well."

"Not bad kid." King Marvel said as he stepped up to her. "A bit rough here and there, but that's to be expected when you're fresh to your powers. I remember all the goofy mistakes I used to make back in the day. It was like I was getting punked by my powers…jeez, that sucked."

"Thanks for stepping in." the new hero said with an embarrassed nod. "Things might've gotten dangerous if I'd fought Hookwolf and his grunts at the same time."

"No problem. Always good to see new heroes around." The veteran hero said with a laugh. "Heaven knows this place needs it. Do you have a cell phone to call this in?"

"Argh, knew I forgot something." Heroine facepalmed in irritation.

"Grab the cash from these idiots and get one." King Marvel said as he pulled one from his utility belt. "In fact, get a couple dozen burner phones. The one and done prepaid kind. Until you can get a Tinker to set you up with one that can't be tracked or hacked, that's your best bet."

"Right…thanks." Heroine nodded and then began going through the pockets of the comatose skinheads before remembering the former hostages. "You're clear to come down now!"

The former hostages, looking disbelieving, made their way down as King Marvel called in the incident to the police and PRT, with a bit of a wait between calls.

"Y-You…you took down over eighty skinheads." One man said in disbelief. "A-And Hookwolf as well!"

"King Marvel took care of a lot of the skinheads." Heroine corrected him as she removed the cash from the wallet of an E88 guy. "And it was Heroman who took out Hookwolf."

"Yeah, but you control Heroman. You came for us when we thought our days were numbered." A petite Asian woman said warmly. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"All in a night's work, ma'am." Heroine replied with a bob of her head, a blush tinting her cheeks beneath her helmet. "You might all look into taking some self-defense lessons after this though."

"Agreed." One, rather angry, looking man said. "If it weren't for the fact I don't want to put myself on their level, I'd be taking a bit of payback right about now…"

He glowered at the skinheads meaningfully.

"That just proves you're a good person. Besides, it'd harm your chances of testifying against these hoodlums and getting 'em into prison, where they belong." King Marvel stated as he slid his cell phone back into his belt. "The cops'll be here in another five minutes. The PRT shortly after that. You wanna stick around? If ya want to avoid having them ask questions about your large friend there, the latter's the best choice."

Heroine hesitated. "Um…which would you prefer?"

"Honestly, I'd like to see you get your own credit for this." The old Cape stated. "I was only helping out; you're the one who saved these people."

Heroman, who had been carrying the men of the E88 and dumping them into a single pile, with their armaments in a separate pile a distance away, turned and nodded at her.

"OK…I'll stick around." She decided. Putting off the inevitable would benefit no one. She'd have to face the police and PRT face to face (so to speak) at some point, so getting the first contact over and done with, while she had a veteran hero to support her, was a good idea.

The fuss and feathers was intimidating at first, but with Heroman looming protectively over her, the PRT officers who came up to her behaved themselves. The scene of so many E88 gang members being taken into custody was very refreshing for the new hero to watch. Seeing Hookwolf being loaded into a PRT van after being covered in a large amount of containment foam was even more so.

"Looks like our job's done for the moment, kid." King Marvel said once the van carrying the Nazi Cape drove off. "We'd better get gone before we get inundated with offers to join the Protectorate."

"Is that a bad thing?" Heroine asked with a small frown.

"A Ward, which you'd be, is about as effective as a snowball in the Sahara as a crime fighter." The older hero replied seriously. "Publicity patrols, photoshoots and very little in the way of actual crime fighting, which I doubt you guys want. As for me…they'd use me as a figurehead and a lure for other Independents to join the Protectorate and Wards. I'd pretty much be a geriatric version of a Ward 'out of concern for my age' or some twaddle."

"Yikes…point taken." Heroine shuddered. That sounded bad to her. She wanted to be out doing things, not parade around in a glorified dog and pony show!

While the PRT would have liked them to stick around after giving their statements, there wasn't much they could do to stop Heroman from picking Heroine up and leaping away. Nor could they stop King Marvel from turning invisible and escaping that way. So when Armsmaster turned up, he was most frustrated by the situation.

Several blocks away, King marvel reappeared in front of Heroine. "Looks like we gave 'em the slip kid."

"Yeah. Thanks again for your help." She said.

"Like I said, no problem." The older man waved a hand lazily. "Look…you're new at this whole hero thing, so how's about I teach you some hand-to-hand stuff? You just lashed out with that gauntlet of yours, which is OK considering you were up against low-end thugs, but eventually you're going to face tougher enemies, and Heroman is slow enough that he isn't always gonna be able to protect you, especially if he's fighting someone strong enough to hold him in place, like Lung or the Fenja/Menja twins."

The offer surprised Heroine, but she was glad of it. There was something that she had to know first though. "Why are you helping me so much?"

King Marvel smiled at me. "Because of a buncha reasons. First, I don't want to see you get hurt if I can do something to possibly prevent it. Second, it's the right thing to do. Third…well, someone once asked me if I thought that one person could make any difference in the world. I said that I did. That was just before I led the Independents on the march to Washington. In any given place, I believe that the actions of a single person can make all the difference in the world. Standing against crime, against discrimination, against racism…against every bad aspect that humanity has, it sometimes falls to the actions of a single person to be the catalyst that sparks change for the better. I believe that with everything I am, and I believe that your actions could benefit Brockton Bay, and more besides, for the better. So, what do you say?"

"I accept." She said instantly. "Um…who was it that asked you that, by the way?"

King Marvel snorted. "A very annoying woman with a fetish for fedora hats and being a smug pain in the ass. Anyway, I know where you train yourself and Heroman here, so let's meet there in two days' time, OK?"

"OK!" Heroine nodded eagerly, unseeing of the fedora-wearing woman looking around the nearby corner, glaring at King Marvel before walking off with a muttered, "Not HIM again…"

And the plot thickens…^_^

Powers revealed this chapter: Gauntlet Speed Boost (I'm honestly not sure if this is accomplished in a way similar to Unruly A's Lightning Chakra Mode, using electricity to stimulate the muscles and nerves to increase the strength of the muscles and the reaction time of the nerves, or if it's some sort of time acceleration. In the anime, it looks like the latter but it's more likely to be the former.)

Heroman: [Engage/Go]: The activation/attack order.

Heroman: [Blast]: Empowers Heroman with electricity. As an addition to the power assessment last chapter, the lightning he coats himself in while this mode is active adds Striker: 3 to his rating.