Outsider Chronicles: Empress of Escalation
Isekai. A Genre I love to bits and one of the few that I would quite happily jump into with both feet. However, I don't care what kind of god killing powers I get out of it, finding myself as Taylor Hebert following a close encounter with the back of a locker is NOT what I had in mind!
And we're back. Nothing really to say here, so lets get started. Enjoy!
Chapter 3
The next month was...interesting to say the least. I spent my days working through the make up material sent over by Arcadia (I was due to start in a couple of weeks once I was up to date and had taken some placement tests), my nights training with Issei and the occasional spare hour keeping up with the utter chaos that was the mess of an investigation into Winslow. Apparently, my little...incident as Blackwell had referred to it as had got bumped up the chain and attracted a LOT of official attention. The end result? About 90% of the staff canned, more than half of them arrested on a laundry list of charges, a massive number of kids expelled and a few arrested and the mayor spitting nails as he tore through the local education board trying to find out just how Winslow had been allowed to deteriorate so much.
There had been a minor kerfuffle between Dad and Alan Barnes shortly after the whole mess had come to light, but, thankfully, cooler heads had prevailed when I'd got the two men to sit down and talked Alan through everything Emma had done to me, complete with walking him through my journals. Thankfully, he wasn't the stubborn idiot version of Alan and had accepted me at my word, saying that he'd be talking to Emma about it. A few days later, he came back looking downright horrible and apologized profusely. Apparently, the conversation had not gone well and lead to a number of unpleasant secrets coming out when Alan and Zoe had searched her phone and computer and found all the evidence they needed. Now Emma was undergoing therapy and under what amounted to house arrest.
As for Sophia, well, she'd apparently had the book thrown at her and Shadow Stalker had vanished off the face of the Earth with only vague platitudes and boilerplate responses coming from the PRT when questioned on her whereabouts. Not that many people questioned her whereabouts since she wasn't actually that popular.
Not that I really cared that much, I was over those morons. Instead, I focused on the much more important aspect of my life, my training. As I said, I spent a lot of time in my dreams working with Issei, not just on physical skills, but also on Magic. As it turns out, while he wasn't anywhere near as good as any of his girls, his long life had allowed him to pick up a fair amount of Magic. Nothing to complicated, I wouldn't be creating Seals for Endbringers anytime soon, but enough to give me a few ranged options, shields and a rather useful spell that let the user switch their clothes, the same one used by Rossweisse and Akeno to switch from civies to battle gear. Of course, I still needed some battle gear and, unfortunately, Issei didn't know how to use Alchemy, forcing me to find another way to get a decent costume. Fortunately, that issue was solved in a rather unexpected way.
I stared at the large, slightly dusty box on the kitchen table with a raised eyebrow, before glancing at a dusty, but pleased looking Dad who stood beside it. I had just arrived back from my run (because exercising in the physical world was still important, even with Ddraig allowing the results of my dream training to appear on my physical body) to find Dad emerging from the basement with the box and a triumphant look on his face.
"So, what exactly is this?" I asked.
"Its something I think you'll find useful," said Dad as he grabbed the top of the box, "I know you've been getting restless and your trainings reached the point that you can reasonably go out without much issue. I can't say I like it, but I know better than to try to stop you. Instead, I'll make sure your at least a little armoured with this."
He opened the box to reveal a suit of armour. I gaped.
"Um, what?" I asked, "Why do you have…?"
"It's not mine, it was your Mothers," said Dad, "She never got to use it because she left Lustrums gang before it was finished and never had any reason to use it afterwards."
I did a double take.
"Wait, Mom was a Cape?" I asked.
Dad nodded.
"She had insanely heightened strength, agility and flexibility, as well as the ability to mark objects with a touch and track them with perfect accuracy," he said, "She never really felt the need to go out and be a hero or villain though. I think she had her fill of that mess with Lustrum and her crazy followers."
Well that was...interesting. Useful to since it saved me having to find a way to get a decent costume. I reached into the box and started pulling out the costume. A white breastplate with gold and pale blue accents, matching fingerless gauntlets, boots, hip guards and helmet that was shaped vaguely like a bird with sweeping wings. There was also a black leotard made of a material I didn't recognize, thigh high stockings made of the same stuff and a pale blue cloth wrapping that looked like it went under the hip guards. It looked pretty nice, very solid and extremely familiar.
"Um, Ddraig, I don't have any surprises in my DNA, do I?" I asked under my breath.
"No Taylor, your fully Human," said the Dragon, "Although I can see why your confused. It does look almost identical to Valkyrie battle armour."
"So, a coincidence?"
"Or possibly some higher power messing with you."
I twitched.
"I think I'll go with coincidence," I muttered.
"Something wrong Taylor?" asked Dad, drawing me out of my thoughts.
"Ah, no, nothing," I said quickly, "The armour looks good, although I am a little worried about being mistaken for a member of the Empire. It has a slightly...nordic look to it."
"Thats...actually a good point," said Dad, slumping slightly, "Damn, this stuff is all Tinkertech material, so I was hoping that…"
"I could always make a very loud and obvious rucas to make it obvious that I'm not affiliated with the Empire," I said.
The look on Dads face said everything it needed to about his opinion of that plan. I sighed.
"You do know that I'm going to get on the Gangs bad side at some point, right?" I asked, "I can't make a difference to the city if all I do is stop muggings and hold ups. Besides, its not like I'll be picking a fight with someone like Lung on my first day out."
I wasn't suicidal after all. Dad sighed and rubbed his eyes.
"To be honest, I don't like the idea of you fighting anyone," he said, "But...your right. One way or another, you'll end up getting into a fight. Your to much like your Mother."
I smiled a little sadly as Dad took a deep breath.
"Alright, I won't stop you from doing what you need to do," he said, "HOWEVER, if you see someone like Hookwolf or, god forbid, Lung, you are to run, got it?"
"Got it," I said, "I know I'm not strong enough to take on either of them alone. Yet."
Dad scowled at the reminder that I would likely be fighting them at some point, then deflated.
"I also want you to take this," he said, pulling a cheap burner phone out of his pocket with a look on his face like he was holding a warm dog turd.
I raised an eyebrow as I took the phone.
"You might need it to call in anyone you take down or for backup," he said, "I've already programmed the police and PRT helpline numbers into it."
"Thanks Dad," I said, "This'll be a big help."
I looked down at the armour and frowned.
"That said, this is gonna look odd next to my Boosted Gear," I said, "Hmm, Oh, I know!"
I held a hand over the pile of armour and closed my eyes. A moment later, a red magic circle appeared and the metal began to glow, before fading and revealing that the white parts of the armour were now the same red as the Boosted Gear and the dark blue decorations on the hip guards and helmet turned green, as did the lenses in the mask eyepieces.
"There, thats better," I said with a grin, "And for my next trick…"
I snapped my fingers and the armour vanished in a flash of light, leaving the left glove behind and reappeared on me. I stumbled slightly at the unexpected change in weight, then walked out into the hall where a full length mirror hung on the wall to check myself over. The armour fit surprisingly well, considering it wasn't made for me. In fact, it fit almost perfectly. I frowned.
"Dad, you said this stuff was made of Tinkertech material, right?" I asked.
"Thats right," said Dad, "Nothing but the best for Lustrums Lieutenants. Its tougher and lighter than anything else on the market and can somehow resize itself to fit the wearer perfectly. The Tinker who made it makes an absolute fortune on the stuff, metal and fabric."
"I bet," I said, "Still, thats rather useful considering I don't have any spells for resizing clothing."
I took another look at my reflection, then switched back to my normal clothes and turned to dad.
"So, I assume that your giving me the costume because you think I'm alright to go out?" I asked.
Dad sighed, but nodded.
"I'd rather you didn't, but I can also tell your getting antsy," he said, "Just make sure to be careful and TRY not to pick any fights you can't win."
I grinned.
"Don't worry, I have no intention of getting myself killed," I said.
"Well, thats a relief," said Dad.
I grinned again and hugged him.
"Thanks Dad," I muttered.
Dad sighed and hugged me back.
"Your welcome Little Owl," he said, "Now go be a Hero."
I grinned, gave him one last squeeze and headed for the door, grabbing my coat on the way.
"Try to be back before midnight!" called Dad as I left the house.
"Will do," I called, "Later Dad! Don't wait up!"
I jogged down the road and turned down an alleyway as soon as I reached a spot with few people. I kept going until I was out of view from the road and stopped, casting a quick spell to make sure I was alone, before switching to my new costume and jumping straight up, bouncing of invisible platforms as I did. Issei didn't have any Flight spells since he had wings, but he did know a method of creating hardened platforms of air, which was as almost as good as flight. Well, not really, but it'd do for now.
I quickly crested the building and shot off in the direction of the Docks. What? Its a good place to find trouble.
It didn't take long. In fact, I'd barely crossed over the boundary between the nominally peaceful part of town where my house was and into the badlands of the Docks when the sound of gunfire reached my ears. I paused and looked around, quickly locating the source of the disturbance as a rather vigorous disagreement between a group of ABB and Empire thugs who were shooting at each other. I perched on a roof, looking down at them while trying to decide if it was worth intervening or not. Things like this happened so often that the cops generally didn't bother responding to gunshots in the Docks unless called directly, mainly because the only people who lived there were homeless people who knew to duck in cover or Merchants who nobody would miss.
After a moment's thought, I sighed and conjured a couple of Magic Circles. While not exactly the most glamorous debut, I couldn't really leave them. Fights like this tended to escalate and we weren't that far from the inhabited parts of the city. Besides, considering my choice of outfit design and colours, making it abundantly clear that I was with neither gang by blowing up a number of their members would probably be best. The circles spun up and I pointed a hand at each group.
"Feachd," I muttered.
The spell word wasn't really necessary, but since I lacked the Devil ability to simply shape Magic with my will and imagination, I had to actually build my Spells from the ground up and assigning spell words as mnemonics made it easier to use them. I'd chosen to use Gaelic as my magic language, mainly because not many people spoke it and Ddraig was able to teach me it fairly easily.
This particular spell wasn't that impressive, it just did exactly what it said on the tin. Created a blast of force meant to knock opponents off their feet. Or, if powered up enough, possibly knock down a building. That was the beauty of Magic from the DXD verse, it was remarkably modular if you knew what you were doing.
The circles flashed and two faint distortions of air shot out, colliding with the ground smack bang in the middle of the two groups of gangsters and exploding, sending dust, debris and bodies flying every which way. The shooting abruptly stopped as the thugs started swearing violently and looking around wildly as the ones who'd gone flying staggered to their feet. I grinned and hopped off the roof, landing on top of a lamppost that was situated between the two groups.
"CAPE!" shouted one of the goons and instantly all eyes were on me.
"Why yes, I am," I said with some amusement, "Now, would you fools mind ceasing this ruckus and dispersing? Your disturbing the neighbours."
My response was a lot of guns pointed my way.
"So thats a no then?" I asked, "Sgiath."
A rather large circle appeared in front of me as the goons opened fire. The bullets created small sparks as they hit the shield, but didn't do much else. In fact, they just hung there, their kinetic energy completely absorbed by the barrier. I ignored the gunfire as I looked around and found a likely target. A twist of my hand summoned another circle.
"Tionndadh," I muttered and a thin beam of light shot out and hit one of the goons on the Empire side.
They seemed to have a lot more firepower than the ABB goons, although there were fewer of them. There was a brief flicker and a feeling of falling as the goon and I switched places, leaving him perched precariously on top of the lamppost without the aid of Magic to keep him in place. He quickly lost his balance and fell off with a rather unmanly scream. His friends were rather slow to react, mostly looking wildly between where I had been to where I now was, giving me plenty of time to regain my balance. It was a good trick, but I wasn't quite used to the decidedly odd feeling that spell induced.
I clenched my fist and grinned.
BOOST!
I shot forwards and punched the closest goon in the stomach, causing him to fold in half, gasping for breath. A quick step to the side avoided a clumsy swing from another goon, who earned himself a fist to the face and a broken nose for his trouble.
BOOST!
I grinned as I felt the surge of power that came from my Sacred Gear and shot forwards, even faster than before. This time, the thug I punched went flying, just as the rest of the Empire thugs got their act together and aimed their guns my way.
"Sealanach slabhraidh," I muttered.
There was a loud crack and the goons went down, twitching and smoking slightly from the taser level lightning bolt I'd shot at them. I turned on my heel to the next goon, only to find him pointing a shotgun at me. Without thinking, I froze, making the man grin evilly and go to pull the trigger.
CLANG!
I blinked in shock as a metal disk bounced off the man's skull, followed by the flat of a sword that sent him face first into the floor. I blinked twice more as the newcomer planted her feet and thrust her sword skyward. I ruthlessly shoved down the urge to squee like a fangirl.
"Ho, once again the Heroes emerge victorious!" crowed Mouse Protector from her perch on the back of the insensate goon.
The Hammy Hero was a rather tall woman and wore costume that appeared to be a cross between knight and roman armour covered by a red cape and carried a round shield with a symbol that I'm pretty sure broke some copyright painted on it and a sword with a pommel shaped like said copyright infringing symbol. Her helmet had a visor that hid her eyes, but left her wide, expressive mouth visible, just to make sure that her famous grin was visible at all times, and topped with a pair of mouse ears.
I stared at her for a moment longer, then looked around. Apparently, I'd been rather more distracted by the E88 thugs than I should have been because, not only had Mouse Protector managed to sneak up on me, but she'd also managed to take down the ABB thugs without me noticing.
"Impressive work newbee, but you really need to work on your battlefield perception," said Mouse Protector as she hopped off the goon, "Losing track of those around you could well lead to you getting stabbed in the back by some dishonourable knave!"
I winced.
"Yeah, I know," I said, "My teacher is gonna tear strips off me later…"
"Better scolded than dead," said Mouse wisely.
"True enough," I said, "So, um, what now?"
Mouse grinned and patted me on the head, making me flinch since she hadn't been standing that close a moment ago.
"Now my little Kohai, we call the cops and have them pick up these miscreants," she said.
I brushed her hand off and ran my fingers through my hair.
"Thank you for your great insight Senpai," I said in perfect deadpan, "I could do without the gratuitous Japanese though."
Mouse grinned again and chuckled good naturedly as she pulled out a phone and prodded the screen.
"Greetings Police Type Person," said Mouse as someone on the other end picked up, "This is the gallant Mouse Protector calling to report that myself and…"
"Ddraig," I said as she looked at me.
What? It works fairly well as a name and sounds cool.
"...the new Hero Ddraig have taken down a number of miscreants from the ABB and Empire on the corner of 9th street in the Docks," she finished, "Would you mind sending some fine folks to collect them?"
There was a pause.
"Great, we will be waiting," said Mouse and hung up.
That done, she turned to me.
"So, what can you do?" she asked.
I blinked at the blunt question.
"Quite a bit," I said after a moment, "I'd rather not talk about it here though. That said…"
BLADE!
I pulled Ascalon out of my gauntlet and held it out to a now very intrigued looking Mouse Protector.
"Do you think you can give me some pointers on using this?" I asked, "My teacher is great at fighting, but not really a swordsman. Plus, he doesn't really know much about using this thing in a non-lethal way, so some advice would be nice."
"Can I see it?" asked Mouse.
I wordlessly handed the Holy Sword over to the hammy hero, who looked it over with an air of someone who was very familiar with swords.
"Hmm, excellent balance," she muttered as she flicked the pad of her thumb across the blade, "Sharp. Very sharp."
She took a stance and swung the blade, creating a loud whistling sound as the mythical steel cut through the air. Apparently satisfied, she nodded and held the sword out to me.
"A very good sword," she said, "But also not one I'd recommend using against just anyone."
"No, I got that," I said as I took the sword back, "Believe me, I wouldn't use this against regular goons. Its for people who are a genuine threat, although I still need to know how to use it so I don't accidentally kill someone with it if I am forced to use it."
Mouse nodded.
"Probably a good idea," she said, "Alright, watch me."
She held up her sword as I focused on taking in everything she could teach me.
There were several things going through Miss Militia's head as she drove her bike carefully through the docks, but the two most important ones were how best to sell joining the Wards/Proctorate to the new Cape who'd apparently just taken down a large number of thugs and the other was what the hell was Mouse Protector doing here?!
She'd been on patrol a few blocks over when Console had contacted her with the details of the report, which had been passed onto them by the BBPD, as was standard for any incident involving Capes. The new face wasn't entirely unsurprising, although it was nice that they were apparently on the side of good for once, but Mouse Protectors presence was.
While the mouse themed Hero was known to move around a fair bit, she was primarily based in Phoenix and generally didn't show up in Brockton without getting in touch with Hannah first, mostly to ask if she could stay with her or at least meet up, so the fact she was in town without calling first was odd.
She turned the corner and found a number of cops loading the thugs from the report into a couple of police vans while another of their colleagues spoke to the two Capes on the scene. Hannah stayed back for a moment, both to let the man finish, but also to take in the newcomer. She was tall and slender, but clearly still a teenager, with long, curly black hair pinned back by her mask. Her armour was red and green and remarkably high quality for a new Cape, suggesting that she had connections and for some reason had mismatched gloves, with the right being fingerless and matching the rest of her costume and the left being a much more bulky gauntlet that covered her entire forearm with a large gem in the back and a pair of large gold spikes sticking out at the elbow that resembled the clawed hand of some kind of massive reptile.
As she watched, Mouse finished talking to the cop and turned to wave at her.
"Hey Missy!" she called, "Come on over!"
Hannah sighed at the nickname, but walked over to the two other Capes.
"Hello Mouse," she said, "I didn't know you were in town."
Mouse Protector shrugged.
"Eh, I'm visiting family," she said, "My Brother and niece have been having some trouble lately and he asked me to come up and help out."
"I see," said Hannah, "Then I take it you won't need to crash on my couch?"
Mouse grinned.
"Nope, I'll be staying with them for now," she said, "Although I'll be moving in to my own place eventually. The issues are...complex and to large to be dealt with quickly."
Hannah felt a slight shiver go up her spine at that. There was no doubt that Mouse Protector was an excellent Hero, but any city she set up shop in for any length of time tended to get...odd. She made a mental note to stock up on whisky and be very careful when she reported this to Director Piggot.
That was for later though, for now there was something much more important to deal with. Hannah turned to the younger girl, who was eyeing her with a slightly odd expression on the visible part of her face.
"And you must be Ddraig, correct?" she asked with a friendly smile.
Even if you couldn't see it, she found that it still helped make her more approachable.
"Thats right," said the girl, "Its nice to meet you."
Hannah accepted the offered hand from the girl and winced slightly at the tightness of her grip. Definitely a Brute.
"Not a bad job for your first night out," said Hannah, glancing at the full vans as the officers shut the back doors.
Ddraig winced slightly.
"Ehhh, not so much," she said, "I'm not used to fighting groups of opponents and got to focused on what was in front of me. If Mouse had not stepped in, it could have ended...badly."
Hannah raised an eyebrow and made a note of that response. Most new Capes weren't anywhere close to that self aware, especially the uncomfortably large number of teenaged ones.
"You know, the Wards could help you fix that issue," she said.
Ddraig smiled a little thinly.
"Thanks, but I've already got a teacher," she said, "Don't take it the wrong way, I fully intend to work with you guys, but I don't want to join the Wards for...personal reasons."
Hannah nodded and decided not to push.
"Alright, its your choice," she said, "Just so long as your aware of the risks that come with being a solo Cape."
"Oh, I am," said Ddraig, "Keenly. Thats why I intend to be very careful going forwards."
"Besides, shes not going solo," said Mouse, slinging an arm around the taller girls shoulder, "Shes got me after all!"
Ddraig looked even more taken aback than Hannah at that declaration.
"Um, thanks?" said Ddraig, "But...why?"
"Well, you've got a cool sword," said Mouse, "Plus, your interesting. I really wanna see what you can manage to do."
Hannah frowned and made a mental note to keep an eye on Ddraig. Not because she thought Mouse would do anything wrong, just the opposite actually. The Hammy Hero might act the fool, but she was anything but and an excellent judge of character on top of that. It wasn't often that she took an interest in new Capes, but those she did often became excellent. Heroes in their own right.
"Alright, I guess I've said everything that needs to be said," said Hannah, "It was nice to meet you Ddraig. I doubt you will, but please consider joining the Wards. I have no doubt that your...teacher is good, but the Protectorate has a lot of good teachers as well, not to mention a lot more resources."
She reached into her belt pouch and pulled out a card.
"Take this as well," she said, "I can be reached at that number 24/7 if you ever need help or someone to lend a sympathetic ear."
"Thank you," said Ddraig, taking the card and slipping it into a compartment in the back of her armour.
Hannah smiled and said her goodbyes, before remounting her bike and driving away, already mentally preparing the report she'd have to give to the Director.
"Well, that was fun," said Mouse Protector once Miss Militia was out of sight, "Sorry to cut this short, but I have a previous engagement."
"Thats fine," I said, checking the time on my phone, "I probably ought to be getting home anyway. Um, thanks again for the help."
Mouse Protector grinned and slapped me on the back.
"Don't worry about it Kiddo," she said, "It was my genuine pleasure."
Her smile changed to one that was less happy-go-lucky and more smugly amused.
"See you kid," she said, "Possibly sooner than you think."
I frowned, but before I could ask what the hell she meant by that, she snapped a salute and vanished with a pop.
"What was that all about?" I asked.
There was no response, of course.
It took another half an hour to get home since I took a circular route to throw off any trackers (hopefully), but eventually, I turned into our street, once again back in civilian clothes and about ready to hit the sack. As I approached my house, I paused as I saw a car I didn't recognize parked in the drive.
"Huh, I didn't know we were expecting guests," I muttered, "I wonder who it is?"
I approached the door, hopping over the rotten step as I did, and opened it, noting the additional coat and shoes by the step.
"I'm home!" I called.
"In here!" called Dad.
I followed his voice into the sitting room where I found him sitting in his favorite chair and drinking tea with a tall woman with black hair that curled at the bottom, despite being cut short, dark brown eyes and an easy grin, which was pretty normal for her. She was also wearing a Mouse Protector brand T-shirt, which was also pretty typical from what I knew of her.
"Hey Kiddo, its been a while," she said.
"Hey Aunty Debbie!" I said with a grin, "What are you doing here?"
My aunt's grin faded slightly.
"Danny told me whats been going on," she said, "And since things have been boring back home, I decided to come up and give you a hand."
I stared at her for a moment, then my jaw dropped as I suddenly figured out exactly why that grin looked so familiar.
"Oh, you have got to be SHITTING me!"
...I probably shouldn't just end this here, but I couldn't resist. You can probably guess where I'm going with it anyway. I don't think I've ever seen it done before, so theres that.
Side note, there is a reason why I called Taylors Aunt Debbie, but I'm positive that no one else will get it.
Let me be perfectly clear, no Annette was NOT a Valkyrie! I just really like the design of Rossweisse's armour and decided I wanted to use it. As Ddraig said, its pure coincidence.
I picked Mouse Proctors home city at random, so there really isn't anything to her being based in Phoenix, it was just the first American city I thought of that doesn't have a Triumvirate member based in it.
Miss Militia probably could have pushed the Wards harder, but considering that Ddraig's running with Mouse and she clearly has some idea of what shes doing, she decided not to. Soft sell is much more effective in that case.
I...honestly can't think of anything else to say, so I'm gonna sign out. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!