Taking the Stage Chapter 2 (Original chapter Chapter 148)
Later That Night
Taylor's Room
It had been so damn hard to not cackle like a witch from an old movie all day. I had taken Sophia off-guard completely and I'd humiliated her. Granted, the only ones who knew that fact were the two of us, but hey, baby steps.
Dad had seen my good mood and taken it as me being glad to be out of Winslow. He was kinda right, but not at the same time. Currently, I was lying in my bed, reading and planning my next move.
The question now was how do I escalate this situation appropriately? Knowing Sophia, she'd be a lot more trigger-happy on patrol in case I showed up again, so that was out. I wasn't nearly confident enough to try and infiltrate the PRT building, so that was out. That left a handful of options for me to choose from.
Option One: I could stage an attack on Winslow. As I had no desire to ever set foot in that cesspool of a school ever again, this got a hard pass.
Option Two: Attack a patrol of the other Wards. I had no grudge against them (as of yet) so this wasn't a palatable idea.
Option Three: Attack Sophia at a PR event where she has to attend. This means the other Wards and PRT Troopers were going to fall under collateral damage. Out of my current options, this was the one I was leaning towards more.
Unfortunately, it was also the hardest to do out of all of them. I had several ideas for how to separate Sophia from the other Wards, and exactly how to humiliate Sophia this time around, but that left the crowd and the PRT Troopers to worry about. I was confident in my Tinkertech, but there were always at least half a dozen of the Containment Foam Sprayer-armed soldiers there, and that was ignoring the possibility of a member of the Protectorate being there!
Admittedly, I didn't think it likely; the few members of the National Protectorate in the Protectorate ENE were too valuable to waste on a PR stunt...at least I hope that's the case. Of a more worrisome prospect was New Wave possibly interfering. The two youngest members, Glory Girl and Panacea, were sometimes seen hanging around the Wards at these events, so that was troublesome to consider.
Glory Girl was known as Alexandria Junior for a reason, and Panacea was the best healer on the planet. I really didn't want to fight either of them, for multiple reasons.
After thinking about it for a while, I grinned. I had the perfect plan to deal with both the crowd and the PRT Troopers. All I needed was a little time...and fortunately enough for me, the Wards only did these PR events once per month or so, and the last one had been three days ago. I had the better part of a month to prepare for Sophia's public humiliation, and I was going to make sure that I had everything primed and ready for my next act of vengeance.
Satisfied with my nebulous plans, I turned my bedside light off and snuggled into my bed. The preparations for Phantom Renegade's next appearance began tomorrow.
Two Weeks Later
Taylor's Workshop
Tinkers were really bullshit. Given some ordinary tools and some ordinary materials, a Tinker could make some crude Tinkertech tools. Using those crude Tinkertech tools, they could then make some good Tinkertech tools. And with good Tinkertech tools, there was pretty much no limit to what a Tinker could build aside from time and materials.
Given all of that, I was very satisfied with the device that was making nucleus of my plan to ambush Sophia. It was printing out a set of A6 playing cards, which were different from my Capture Cards that I used in my Cardician Gun. The Capture Cards were designed to automatically envelop their target in an electrostatic foam that was packed tightly inside of each card using some sort of hammerspace principle. It trapped the target and almost fully immobilized them until I sent a particular signal from a button on my gun that dissolved the foam and reduced it to its component molecules, leaving no trace of its existence.
These were something I was taking from the old Walt Disney Alice in Wonderland cartoon film. Rather than the Suit of Hearts, which represent love, however, these would be of the Suit of Spades, which represented hate...specifically my hate for Sophia in this instance.
It was the other part of my plan that was making me trip up in this case. I was building some drones that could help me with the attack, and they were being particularly obstinate about being built. At a guess, they were a bit beyond my specialty to be easy to build. Either that or I wasn't being inventive enough with them to fit my specialty.
"Right..." I glared at the stubborn little bastards. I was planning on building twelve of them, and they were all around a bout the same size...hmm. Maybe I couldn't build them well was because I was trying to build them as just ordinary drones, rather than disguising them as ordinary objects? Most of my stuff was pretty well disguised inside of regular things, so it could be that.
Stepping back, I eyed the six incomplete drones, which were pretty awesome for being unfinished. They could fly, deploy a curtain of smoke and had a taser mounted as an offensive weapon. I was also planning on installing a soft-light hologram projector system on them, but it didn't want to get built!
Rolling up my mental sleeves, I tackled the problem. It wanted to be disguised? OK then, I'd make the drones into a suitcase that they'd deploy from at a remote signal from me. I could do that...yeah...yeah, this would work!
Enthused by my burst of inspiration, I dove back into my work, reaching for my tools with gusto.
Two Weeks Later
Mall Roof, Brockton Bay
Although I'm sure the PRT and Protectorate would like to keep the locations of the PR events a secret until the day of the event itself, advertisement was in fact part and parcel of Public Relations, so I knew where my target would be shortly after I overcame my roadblock in developing my drones.
Brockton Bay had three malls, with a fourth being half built and abandoned midway through construction. The one which the event was being held at was, very fortuitously for me, the furthest away from the PRT Building. I had scouted the place out to locate several things which were necessary for my plan. I located and mentally marked the locations of all of the security cameras, found out where the Wards would be doing their event, as well as deploying a little drone the size and shape of a spider to infiltrate the security systems of the mall and let me jack it whenever I so wished.
I had accessed the system several times to test my control, and I had complete control over the cameras, security shutters, alarms and even the sprinklers for some reason. All of this would be perfect for my plan.
Fully dressed in my outfit as Phantom Renegade, I was setting up some equipment on the roof when someone approached from the roof access. Standing quickly, I pulled my gun out of hammerspace and leveled it at the person who came around the corner...dressed as Mario.
What?
"Jesus!" 'Mario' yelped and backpedalled.
"Bro, what's the deal?" asked the next person to come around the corner...dressed as Bowser.
Seriously, what?
"Aw crap on a stick. Don't tell me a new hero's busted us before we've even started!" 'Bowser' whined.
"And you two are?" I asked carefully.
"Dude, we're Über and L33t!" 'Mario' said indignantly. "Don't you watch our show?"
Ah, the infamous 'Gaming Capes' that cause havoc and troublesome incidents around town.
"I only have dial-up." I shrugged before raising my gun away from them. "I'm sorry if you planned to cause trouble here, but I have to insist on the right of first refusal here. I've been planning my debut to villainy for a month now."
"Wait...you aren't a hero?" 'Bowser' asked. "You're a villain? The heck's with the suit?"
I was a bit irked at that. "My clothes are tinkertech and provide me with just as much protection as power armor." I shot back stiffly. "Now, are you two going to reschedule this caper of yours for another day, or am I going to have to put you both out of commission for the day?"
"Easy!" 'Mario' said, hands up in a placating gesture. "We only decided on this mall because the Wards are gonna be here, and that was only two weeks ago. You call dibs, fine, we'll do a different mall today."
"Bro!" 'Bowser' protested.
"Dude, let it go." the faux plumber shook his head. "This dude's fired up about this place, so arguing about who gets to go here is gonna be like talking to a brick wall. Look...what's your Cape name?"
"I am Phantom Renegade, the Magician of Chaos and Disorder." I bowed with a flourish. "I intend to see how the Wards stack up to my might."
"And you're a newbie? Great." 'Mario' grumbled. "OK, look, do you know the Unwritten Rules? No? Thought so. Here's how they go."
The so-called Rules basically boiled down to an unspoken non-escalation agreement between heroes and villains that kept things civil due to the Endbringers. No killing, no unmasked, no going after people when they aren't masked, no going after family. They were sensible rules that kept things from going too far in the Cape game...so long as everyone obeyed them.
"Right. Those are the basics, so keep them in mind." 'Mario' (or Über, as I found out he actually was) said.
"OK. Thanks for the info." I nodded. "Sorry for being sharp with you. This...is pretty important for me."
"Debuts always are." Bowser/L33t agreed. "We understand that, but...can you owe us a favor in exchange? You're a Tinker like me, right? If we need something that fits your specialization, we'll let you know on PHO. Sound good?"
Considering they could have put up more of a fuss about this than they had, it seemed like a reasonable price to pay. "Sure." I nodded.
"OK then. We'll be off." Über nodded. "Good luck with your debut, Phantom Renegade."
"Thanks." I said. "By the way, were you planning on doing Mario Kart for your game theme this time around?"
"Yup. And we're still gonna do it today, just over at another mall." L33t said before turning to look at Über smugly. "And you said that getting the security system schematics for all of the malls was pointless."
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up." the Thinker grumbled as they wandered away. "Lucky guess, dude..."
I watched as they left before cracking my mental knuckles and turned back to my equipment. Now that the Gaming Capes were out of the picture, I could finish getting ready. I only had an hour or so before the Wards showed up.
Then it was Showtime!
An Hour and a Half Later
With Shadow Stalker
'I fucking hate this.' the former vigilante growled to herself. Standing around making nice with the sheeple was a complete waste of her time and talents. She should be out there, hunting down criminals, not posing for the camera!
'Or even trying to track down that cocky bastard!' she snarled to herself, remembering the tuxedo-wearing Tinker who had attacked her out of the blue a month ago. No one humiliated her like that and got away with it. The minute she found the bastard, she'd kill them.
Out of habit, she looked around the large open room they were it. It was the central part of the mall and there were crowds gawking at them from the two upper levels. Vista, Clockblocker, Aegis, Kid Win and Gallant were here, as well as a ten-man squad of PRT Troopers armed with Containment Foam Guns. One man was even equipped with two of the relatively new ConFoam Grenades.
Snorting slightly at the weak weapons used by the PRT, Shadow Stalker braced herself for another half hour of this shit. The things she did to stay out of juvie...
Everyone's heads snapped up at the sound of shattering glass from the giant-ass skylight that the mall had above the central atrium. Falling from the hole made was...a suitcase? Yup, it was a metallic-silver suitcase. What the hell?
When it reached the same height as the floor of the third level, it split apart into twelve drones that floated in place for a moment beofre starting to fly towards the Wards!
"Wards, get down!" the lead PRT Trooper ordered gruffly as he and his squad raised their sprayers at the approaching drones. Why, Shadow Stalker didn't know, as Containment Foam wasn't actually very long ranged, even when fired from a mid-pressure ConFoam Gun.
Abruptly, the drones veered off and started rotating in a circle around the atrium, which was quickly being evacuated of people at the urging of the security staff and PRT troopers who were, as the former vigilante expected, utterly useless in helping to deal with whatever the hell was going on.
"Kid, you got a clue what those things are?" she heard Aegis ask Kid Win.
"Drones...very well made drones." the Tinker said distantly. "I can't tell what their function is, but they are very well made."
'A lot of fucking good that does us, you loser!' Shadow stalker sneered at him before raising her crossbow. Even although it was loaded with tranquilizer bolts, the impact from the tinkertech-improved crossbow she wielded should deal some damage to the damn things! Failing that, she'd use her shadow Breaker form to make the bolts phase through her targets and disable them that way!
Before she could pull the trigger though, the orbiting drones started spewing dark smoke around that billowed out and engulfed the entire area, at the exact same time as the lights went out!
"What's going on?!" the lead PRT trooper demanded of the nearest security guard as he frantically tried to contact his fellows.
"W-we've lost control of the entire building!" the guard replied frantically. "Security, power, utilities...all of it is under someone else's control! Even the emergency lights are being usurped!"
"Evacuate, now!" the Trooper ordered. "Wards, group up and-!"
"Ah-ah-ah. I can't be having my audience leave before the performance starts for real." a voice, synthesized and gratingly familiar, boomed over the tannoy as a hologram was projected. White mask with a red sneering smiling face, a black tuxedo complete with that damned top hat...
"YOU!" Shadow Stalker shouted in a fury, uncaring that the heads of her fellow Wards and the PRT Troopers snapped towards her in disbelief.
"Ah, Shadow Stalker. Glad to see you again." the bastard greeted her calmly. "Still on a permanent PMS, I see."
"Bastard, what the fuck are you doing here?!" the former vigilante demanded.
"I believe it should be obvious if you recall my last words to you a month ago, oh Stalker of Shadows." the holographic figure chided her. "Remember? I told you that I'd make your life as a Cape a hell from which you shall not awaken from. Consider this my first real fight against you, as last time I defeated you far too easily."
"Get the fuck out here so I can shoot you!" Shadow Stalker shouted furiously. "Goddamn coward!"
"The main character is always fashionably late." the hologram corrected her before the hologram shimmered slightly. "Now, judging by the way your fellow Wards are looking at you, they wish to no more about the Dramatis persona that I am."
'Aw fuck.' Shadow Stalker cursed to herself as she only now remembered that she wasn't alone.
"Stalker...what the hell is going on?" Aegis asked flatly.
"I'm hurt, Stalker." the holographic figure pressed on hand flat over their heart dramatically. "You didn't tell your pals about me? How...very like you. Well, for those who do not know me, I am the Phantom Renegade, Magician of Discord and Chaos. My purpose is simple, my goal is clear...to make Shadow Stalker rue the day she ever dared to think of herself as a hero."
"Shadow Stalker is a member of the Protectorate Wards and is a hero!" Gallant chimed in, one hand raised towards the hologram.
"Something that has bothered me for quite some time...what is the definition of a hero?" Phantom Renegade continued. "Does simply joining a government team mean you are a hero? Does it justify the actions they take? I say no. To me, a hero is defined by their actions and attitude. By that standard, Shadow Stalker is an antihero at best, and a villain at worst. Look me in the eyes...well, eyeholes, really, and tell me that her attitude is worthy of a hero? That she deserves the mantle of protector of the innocent? I am taking a stand and marking myself as a villain to make this fact clear to all."
"Cocky son of a bitch!" Shadow Stalker raged. "Get out here so I can put you down!"
The hologram gave her a cheeky salute before vanishing. As soon as that happened, the smoke that had surrounded the atrium suddenly rushed in and surrounded one handrail in particular on the third floor, making it look like a tornado of smoke.
"Got you!" Stalker snarled and fired her crossbow, the bolt shooting out and aimed at around about where a person's chest would be if they were standing atop the rail.
"What are you doing?!" Vista shouted.
"Screw you!"
Even as Stalker replied though, the bolt she'd shot bounced off of the smoke like it had been aimed at Alexandria. Seconds later, all of the smoke parted and vanished, leaving only the black-clad form of the Phantom Renegade looking down on them all.
"As always, you're quick to shoot, Shadow Stalker." the magician-themed villain said, spreading her hands in a 'what you gonna do' gesture. "Patience is key when hunting your prey. After all...I waited an entire month preparing specifically for this event. An entire month preparing to defeat you."
"Try it and die!" Stalker sneered.
"It would take the Triumvirate being here to make me fall, Shadow Stalker." Phantom Renegade said darkly before clapping their hands together and then ripping them apart. Arcs of electricity leapt from their hands and the body of the masked villain became shrouded in it. "And you are not Legend, Alexandria or Eidolon. You're so far from being strong that it defies belief. And if you're so insistent that the opposite is the case...then prove it to me now."
With that, she leapt into the sky and started flying towards Shadow Stalker.
'Shit! Of all fucking things, it had to be goddamn electricity!' the former vigilante cursed. Her Breaker form was very vulnerable to electricity, with the slightest touch forcing her out of it and hurting like a sonofabitch to boot. That vulnerability was also present in her normal form, hurting more than usual and preventing her from even trying to change into her Breaker form in the first place. With that handicap...
"Get fucked!" Shadow Stalker shouted, quickly backing up, loading and shooting another bolt as she did so. The magician responded with a blast of electricity that destroyed the bolt easily.
"HOW ABOUT SOME FUCKING HELP HERE?!" the Breaker shouted at her useless teammates and the PRT Troopers.
"Immobilize the villain!" the Troopers were at least doing their jobs, running to interpose themselves between Shadow Stalker and the flying villain, who merely raised their left hand and clicked their fingers once.
Just prior to that happening, Shadow Stalker's eyes widened as she saw that the troopers had a card attached to their backs somewhere...very familiar cards at that!
In an instant, all ten troopers were foamed up and helpless.
"That's the pawns captured, now for the other pieces!" Phantom Renegade shouted. Dismissing the electric aura, they pulled a remote out of thin air and pressed the big red button in the center of it.
Explosions came from the third and second floors, followed by a deluge of what had to be the most ridiculous things that Shadow Stalker had ever seen...card soldiers! About the same height as she was and with blank faces, they landed on long legs and carried swords and shields in their hands as they advanced on the Wards.
"How many of these fucking trash-things did you bring?!" Stalker roared as she shot one...and it just kept coming!
"Two French decks worth." Phantom Renegade answered, drawing a cane from out of nowhere and floating above the battlefield. "It's a new game; pick a card, every card!"
Then the cardbots were on top of them, practically dogpiling the Wards. Aegis, seeing no need to hold back against robots, punched straight through one's body, only for it to explode into the same containment foam-like substance that trapped the flying Brute in its grasp. He struggled, of course, but that gave three more the chance to leap onto him and explode into more foam.
Clockblocker managed to freeze two that came at him, but was jumped from behind by a third, which quickly trapped him. Gallant was no more successful with his emotion blasts and strength, and quickly foamed. Kid Win backed off and started blasting the robots with his laser pistol. He scored a hit on one's head, which made it collapse to the floor and disintegrate.
"Stalker, aim for their heads! That must be where the control system is for these things!" he shouted over at the Breaker.
"Glad you're good for something!" she called back and sent a bolt through another's head, making it collapse. Kid Win joined in and dropped two more, but the number of enemies started to take their toll and the Wards Tinker was buried under sheer weight of numbers, leaving Vista and Shadow Stalker as the only mobile and free Wards.
"And then there were two." Phantom Renegade said looking between the two female Wards. "I intentionally ordered my cardbots to leave Shadow Stalker alone, but I did no such thing against you, Vista. As expected of the longest serving active Ward, you are a tricky one."
The Shaker had been twisting and manipulating space around her, about fifty meters or so wide and long, keeping the cardbots from getting close to her, as well as shrinking their arms and legs to render them helpless. Even so, she was straining to hold so many space warping effects in place at the same time. You could tell by her labored breathing and slow movements.
"Glad...to see that villains have heard of me." Vista said with a strained smile.
"Only a fool would underestimate one of the strongest Shakers on the East Coast." the magician said twirling their cane in one hand. "I would ask that you surrender, Vista. You're clearly at your limit, restraining over a dozen and a half of my cardbots and keeping a fifty meter warping effect around you. I would much rather not have to cocoon you like the others."
"Sorry, but...I don't surrender...to villains." the Shaker replied steadily.
"As I would expect of a hero. You have my respect." Phantom Renegade inclined their head before Vista was rushed by the remaining cardbots. She managed to keep it up for a minute or so more before she let out a whimper and collapsed to all fours, gasping and shuddering from the release of the burden she had been under as the limbs of the cardbots and the landscape around her rapidly returned to normal.
"And then there was one." Phantom Renegade said softly turning to face Shadow Stalker, as two of her robots secured Vista's trembling limbs. "And I think you must be running low on crossbow bolts. Am I right?"
"Bitch...!" Stalker seethed. It was true, she only had five bolts left. Stupid fucking PR weenies saying that twenty was enough for a 'milk run' in the Bay of all places! Next time, she was just going to grab a full quiver and flip the idiots off.
"Ah, you're jealous that I've been ignoring you." the villain nodded sagely as she landed on the ground. "Well, I am sorry for my inattention, but rejoice; you now have my undivided attention, my dear."
"Fucking DIE!" Stalker roared, the bolt leaving her crossbow even as the first syllable left her mouth.
Almost lazily, the Tinker raised their cane and pressed a button on its side, deploying a dome-shaped rainbow-hued shield that the bolt bounced off of it and shattered. Shadow Stalker ground her teeth together at how easily her attacks were getting no-sold by this arrogant, cocky, bastardized son of a bitch!
Dropping the shield, Phantom Renegade twirled the cane around again before daintily placing the tip on the ground and leaning on it. "Is that everything? There's only a couple of minutes before the Protectorate get here, and I'd like to have this wrapped up before I have to deal with those people."
Despite the synthesized nature of the voice, it was plain to hear the bored tone to it. The fucking bastard had the gall to bored when fighting her, fighting Shadow Stalker?!
She saw red.
With a scream of frustration, outrage and sheer fury, the Breaker tossed aside her crossbow and charged straight at Phantom Renegade, her only thought being to get her hands on that smug bastard and tear them to pieces!
"A bull rush? How predictable." Phantom Renegade sighed before raising the point of her cane to point at Shadow Stalker. The tip snapped open and launched a dart on a wire right into the former vigilante before she could react. Her scream of pain and surprise as it struck home in her chest made it clear what had struck her.
"A...taser...you fucking...!" Shadow Stalker gasped as she collapsed to her knees and had her arms grabbed by two cardbots. The taser line withdrew into the cane and the tip shut with a neat click before the villain
"And now that you've been defeated, it's time for the finishing touch..." the magician Cape swiped their hand through the air and pulled out a gray ball about the size of an apple. Tossing it into the air and catching it a couple of times, then abruptly pitched it hard at Shadow Stalker. It struck the black-clad Cape's midriff and exploded, covering her in a cloud. When it dispersed, the change to her outfit was...startling.
Pink. From Shadow Stalker's mask, to the short cape that she wore, to her boots and costume. It was all turned a bright, lurid and eye-watering shade of pink, and not just on the side that the paint bomb had hit; it was her entire costume.
"Wha...wha...wha...?!" Shadow Stalker sounded completely horrified by her sudden 'makeover' and was speechless with fury.
"Well now, don't you look pretty in pink?" Phantom Renegade chortled before looking around at all of the trapped Wards and PRT Troopers. "Sorry folks, that's all we have time for this week! For a repeat performance of Me kicking Shadow Stalker's ass, please follow her patrol routes and wait for the spectacle!"
"WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" Shadow Stalker screamed, trying to free herself, but getting foamed by the two robots exploding instead. "Are a fucking Nazi or something?!"
"Kindly don't compare me to the likes of Kaiser and Hookwolf, who have as little brains as they do common sense." the villain snorted. "To make it clear, I could care less what color your skin is, Shadow Stalker. You could be black, white, Asian, Hispanic or pink with yellow spots, and it wouldn't matter. I loathe and despise you for who you are and what you have done, nothing else. You are a coward, a bully and utterly unworthy of the title of hero. So long as you attempt to call yourself a hero in my city, I will be here, making your life a living nightmare in costume. Now, I must bid you farewell, as Armsmaster has just pulled up outside. Catch me if you can!"
With that, Phantom Renegade floated into the air and sped out of the broken skylight like a black bullet. A handful of seconds later, all of the PRT Troopers and Wards were freed from their bindings as the foam dissolved into nothing and the remaining cardbots followed suit. Not even dust was left.
Seconds later, Armsmaster ran into the room, halberd out and ready, with more PRT Troopers following him. He stopped at the sight of the Wards lying or sitting on the floor, with a long, hard look at the sight of a pink Shadow Stalker.
"What happened here?" he asked finally, a note of disbelief in his voice.
"I think Shadow Stalker should answer that, sir." Aegis said as he stood up, glaring at his teammate. "She knew about a possible threat to us for an entire month and it came back to bite us on the ass!"
Armsmaster slowly turned to look at the former vigilante, his mouth thinning in anger and disapproval.
"We shall talk about this back at the Wards base." he rumbled. "All of you will be interviewed...especially you, Shadow Stalker."
The former vigilante just knew that this was gonna suck.
So yeah...Pink Stalker! Bwahahahaha!
Ahem. Yeah, I figured that a reasonably harmless way of humiliating Sophia was paint bombing her. As to the color, she seems to be the kind of person who hates pink, so there you have it. More deserving humiliation is due for her in the next chapter. ^_^
On a different subject, I'm going to be posting a couple of MHA stories separately from this Asylum, mostly because this is overwhelmingly a Worm ficlet story. That, and I think they could someday be stories on my profile's schedule. I may choose one of them to write when I eventually finish one of my current stories, who knows?