1.4
The next day, which was Sunday, Teddy went up to the PRT headquarters to meet all the Wards. They sure do work fast. Plus, they don't want me on the streets without signing me for any longer than necessary.
I was escorted by Miss Militia and Assault. They showed up to my door bright and early. Never know how long paperwork will take, so myself and Mom rode with them back to base.
The paperwork took forever, the contracts were long and tedious to read, and while we didn't expect to get screwed over, it never hurt to be careful. I ready through the required reading, the Ward manual, skimmed PRT procedure book, and a few others. Mom asked a bunch of questions. I knew most anything I could need, but there were a lot of details you just don't get until you're there.
Eventually we finished, and had some lunch brought in for us to eat. Miss Militia and Assault ate with us.
"So, sorry about the other day guys. It was a big issue, and I wanted it fixed quickly and efficiently. I know you considered her one of your own, but she never thought like that. She never viewed you as anything more than annoyances in her black and white world."
"We realize that now. We were much too complacent. We also wanted to apologize. We feel responsible for letting it get that bad."
"I can understand. You guys are swamped, undermanned, and outcaped. She had a useful power and seemed like she wanted to play ball. She's also not as dumb as she seems in some aspects. I truly do think she deserves the Birdcage, but I know she'll actually be able to get some help where she is going. Not that she deserves another chance, but it's fair that she gets one."
"I'm glad you're not dwelling too much on that. So, you excited to join the Wards?"
"Yep! Though, let me tell you a little secret. I've been told that the new Wards leader is quite the looker. I'm glad we'll have plenty of time to work together." I smiled and winked at Miss Militia.
She froze, mid bite on her sandwich. "It was you! You set this whole thing up didn't you!"
"What can I say, I'm just a lost cause." I replied smiling. "I even named it as one of my conditions to join."
A burst of laughter erupted from beside her, Assault clutching his stomach and spraying crumbs. "YES! That's the way you do it, kid! I knew I had a reason to like you!" He gave me a thumbs up.
Miss Militia elbowed him in the stomach, causing him to choke.
"I can't believe you actually did that." Miss Militia said to me.
"Oh, he's definitely a lost cause." Mom said. "But at least he's got a good eye." She said as she smiled at Miss Militia.
Assault actually lost it and fell on the floor laughing.
Miss Militia then started blushing so hard the room practically started glowing red.
It was then that Battery walked in. "Okay, what happened here?" Assault was on the floor laughing so hard he was crying, his food now on the ground everywhere, Miss Militia was hiding in her hands and Mom and myself were just smiling innocently.
"Oh, Puppy. I can't believe you missed it. It was one of the greatest moments of my life. I think I want this woman to adopt me."
My mom and I just stared at him in disbelief.
"Do I even want to know?" Battery asked, dragging Assault off the floor.
"NO!" Miss Militia screeched much too quickly, then got up and walked extremely quickly out of the room.
"Don't worry Puppy, I'll tell you everything later. And kid, don't give up, I didn't." He said as he looked at Battery.
"You must have had an extra helping of strange today, hubby." She looked at him weirdly. "Well then, the Wards have assembled and are waiting to meet you. They don't often all come in on the weekends so let's not keep them all waiting for nothing.
A few minutes later, I was headed down to the elevator with Assault, Mom staying behind with Battery, as she wasn't cleared.
"I gotta hand it to you, kid, I've never seen Miss Militia blush like that before. She's usually so calm and professional, but you seem to know just how to push her buttons."
"Thanks. I take that as the highest form of compliment!"
"I can give you a few hints, you know. I know her about as good as anyone."
"I appreciate the offer, but I think I'd rather figure it out myself. Makes it more fun that way."
"Alright kid, I can respect that. Now lets go and meet some Wards."
The elevator dinged, and they waited for it to open a few seconds. When they walked in, all the wards were waiting, arrayed in a semi-circle like pattern.
I saw Aegis, and gave him a nod. He nodded back. "Hey everybody. Nice to meet you all, I'll be the newest member of the team." I said cheerfully. I then removed the mask I had been wearing and revealed my face. "I'm Teddy. I think we'll make a great team together."
Aegis started first, and then took off his mask. "I'm Carlos, also known as Aegis. Good to meet you Teddy." He offered his hand.
I grasped his hand and asked. "Do you mind? And have they been briefed?"
"I don't mind. Go ahead. And they have not. They only know about Shadow Stalker." Aegis replied.
Clock was the first to ask. "What do you mean?"
I was momentarily distracted as the changes began to take hold of my body internally. It's like it immediately readjusted to become just like Aegis' body. Weird.
"Sorry about that. Was distracted for a moment." I looked at Aegis. "It was instantaneous, almost."
Carlos' eyes widened. "No way! That's bullshit!"
"Uh, guys, what's going on here?" Clock looked at me, Carlos, and Assault.
"Sorry again. Just power testing, and it was really weird. Like I said, I'm Teddy. Carlos here saved the juicy bits for me to tell, it appears." I smile and look at Carlos, and he seems to be a bit guilty.
"Sorry, figured it was your story to tell." Carlos said.
"OK! Someone please tell me what's going on!" Clock was getting upset.
"Heh. I'll get there. So you guys know about what happened with Shadow Stalker on Friday, right?"
"Yeah, seems she did something bad and broke her probation. She's going back to juvie or something." Vista answered.
"That's the short version. Well, I was the one who reported her." A few of them bristled in response to that, but Carlos got their attention.
"Guys! Let him finish. This is important." He looked deadly serious.
"Anyway, so yeah, I came on Friday and registered as a parahuman, and at the same time reported what I knew about Shadow Stalker. Just so you know, I'm a trump. I'll explain in more detail later, but it's important to the story."
"You see, she and I went to the same school. Funnily enough, for only one day. I just moved to this city over winter break, and started at Winslow. My first day in a new school, and the first thing I come across was a group of students surrounding a locker. Someone had been locked inside. For quite a while it looked like. No one helped. No one did anything. They all just looked and laughed. Well, I'm not one to let something like that happen, so I managed to find help and get the locker open. Inside is a poor girl, who had been locked inside that tiny locker, alongside some… stuff. The locker wasn't empty. Someone had placed… used feminine hygiene products inside. An entire garbage bag full. From the way it smelled, they had done it over a week before, because it was rotting and bugs were everywhere. It was disgusting. Blood was everywhere. The girl collapsed and wasn't conscious when we got her out, she spent a few nights in the hospital for the bug bites and infections, not to mention mental trauma."
The looks on their faces were disgusted. Even Carlos looked sick, he probably didn't get the full details before.
"I found out who put that girl in there, and when I touched her, I knew who she was. I told you I'm a trump, and when I touch someone I can sense if they have powers or not. The girl I found had powers. She was Shadow Stalker, or in her civilian identity Sophia Hess."
"Oh my god." Clock was the only one to respond, and even he couldn't find anything funny about the story.
"That's not all. The whole incident was covered up. The school did nothing, the police weren't even called. I waited for a few days, thinking something would happen. What happened was basically attempted murder, or assault at the very least mixed with unlawful imprisonment. However nothing happened. I triggered when I pulled the girl out. And I knew who did it, and who she really was. I wasn't about to let her get away with something like that. I eventually talked with the girl who was locked inside, and it turns out that Sohpia had been bullying and torturing this girl for the past year and a half. Stealing homework, pushing her down stairs, destroying her stuff, spreading rumors about her, all kinds of messed up stuff."
"I came into the PRT and decided to report what I found. I also planned on joining at the same time. My power happens to be quite powerful and useful, so I was able to get justice served quickly. Sohpia was detained, evidence was taken, and she was questioned. While there wasn't enough physical evidence for a court case, there was enough to know she was guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt, and with her history, she is back in jail."
"That's my story. I'm sorry to have taken away a teammate, but a person like that is no hero. I doubt she ever viewed any of you as more than passing annoyances who got in her way on her quest to rid the city of "the weak"."
"I'm not sure how you'll feel about me joining, but I believe we'll be able to move past this and become an excellent team."
There was silence for a bit. I guess that was a bit much to just drop on them, but they needed to know, otherwise conflicts would arise in the future.
"I never liked her anyway. I'm glad she's gone. She was always mean and grumpy." Vista finally spoke.
"Yeah, she wasn't a good teammate, really. I can't believe she went that far in her civilian identity, to be honest." Kid Win piped up for the first time.
It looked like it hit the other three the hardest, though. Aegis, Clock, and Gallant were all silent.
"Guys, don't beat yourself up too much. What's done is done. There may have been signs, but she was good at hiding things. You all just probably thought she was permanently on her period or something."
Someone laughed and started choking. It was Clock. Then a few others started giggling. The tension had been lifted slightly.
"I can only promise one thing joining this team." I said seriously, and looked at them all in the eyes. "I won't ever have a period."
I kept a straight face for about two seconds before I cracked up, and they all started cracking up as well.
"So, what are you powers, exactly? You said your a trump, and can sense other capes without costumes. That's kinda sketchy." Kid Win asked.
"That's just a small part of my powers. It's kinda a prerequisite. You see." I started floating a bit off the ground. "I don't' just sense powers, I can copy them completely."
Clock and Kid Win looked at each other, and then back at me. "Powers are bullshit!"
"Heh! Mine are for sure! Anyone else want to try? It feels kinda weird to have my biology all changed like Aegis' right now."
Gallant finally spoke up. "Your body even took on those changes? That's broken!"
"Yeah. Want to see me copy yours?"
"Sure. Give it a go. How do you do it?"
"I just need a touch. I can also do it a few inches off if I'm there for a few seconds, but a touch works best. Actually, when Assault first brought me in, --"
I was cut off by the sound of a slide being cocked on a gun. I froze. Oh shit. I turned behind me, and there stood Miss Militia.
"Oh. Hey." Was I all managed to get out. Then Assault started laughing.
"Kid. You just got no luck. What can I say. I think it's high time I get out of dodge. Good luck!" He sprinted out, leaving just me and the Wards alongside Miss Militia.
"Well, aren't you going to continue your little story?" She then turned her gun into a taser.
"Ah yes. Where was I… right. When I first came in I was totally respectul and didn't do anything wrong whatsoever. Now, let's test your power shall we!"
Clock looked between me and Miss Militia like he was waiting for a lion to leap onto a baby dear. I just grabbed Gallants hand, which was covered in armor, but holding it for a second allow me to do my thing.
All of a sudden the world changed, and I could see colors in all the people around me. It was awesome, if not distracting.
"Holy hell man, how do you walk around like a normal person?" I said as I sized up everyone. The only person I couldn't see like that was Gallant. Seemed it didn't work on him. He probably couldn't see me anymore either.
He just laughed. "Finally, someone else can understand my pain. It's quite distracting, right?"
"My god man. I don't think I could talk to someone without staring at them improperly." Unfortunately, I said this as I was looking in Vista's direction, and she promptly turned a bright pink color primarily. "Gallant, what do the colors mean?"
He saw Vista as well, and saved her. "It's not really polite to talk about what you can see like this. It's quite the invasion of privacy."
"Ahh. Right. Sorry. New to the whole thing and all. Alright, who's next?" I smiled.
"Me! Do me!" Clock jumped over near me and extended his hand.
"I think there is a better way to phrase it than, 'do me', man. Because, no offense, but I'm good." I said. He froze for a second before laughing hysterically.
"Oh man. I totally set myself up for that one. Nice." He then smiled deviously at me. "Well, what do you say? Copy my power?"
I don't know what's going to happen, but I know he'll try and freeze me. I wonder if I can copy his power and become immune before he does. I guess we'll find out.
I just smile back. "May the best man win." And then I grab his hand.
When our hands touch, I try pulling on his power immediately. That works, but there is a surprised expression on his face. "No--"
Before he could finish, he freezes in time. However at the same time, I'm also frozen. Neither of us know this though, but the rest of the audience just stare with slack jaws.
Kid Win speaks, "Oh my god. This is fantastic. The froze each other. Everyone, hurry, we won't get many opportunities like this again!"
Immediately every busted into action, including Miss Militia, and she had a dangerous gleam in her eye too. Before long, markers were collected, pictures were drawn, pictures were taken, silly string was used. All in all, it was a disaster of epic proportions. All done in just a few minutes.
They finally sat there. And waited. And waited. Finally ten minutes was up, and nothing happened. Everyone looked at each other. An almost unanimous, "Oh shit" was uttered. Miss Militia immediately made a call.
Five minutes later there were significantly more people in the room. Dauntless, Armsmaster, Assault, Velocity, and Battery were all there. It was the entire protectorate. They all stood around the two frozen figures, discussing possible options.
All of a sudden, one of the figures spoke. "--o! That's bullshit. You can't be immune!" He finished his sentence before he realized they were surrounded by new people. Like they had teleported there. He looked around. I looked around.
Wait. What just happened. I thought I was immune for a second when his powers didn't work immediately, I had then tried to freeze him. Did it not work? No…
"It seems there was a weird power interaction. Which is exactly why we test powers in a safe and secure location." The judgement was evident in the voice of Armsmaster.
Clock and I let go of each other's hand. I looked at his face and laughed. He did the same to me. "Haha your face!"
"No, your face!"
I then looked around myself and noticed colorful drawings drawn around my arms, as well as silly string hanging off of me. "What exactly happened?"
"It seems that you froze each other, at the exact same time. Incidentally, the normal ten minutes was passed, and Miss Militia called it in as we weren't sure if you were ever going to unfreeze." Armsmaster continued.
Clock and I looked at each other and our mouths hang open. "Okay, were not doing that again. Pranks just not worth it!"
"Yep, that's a little scary." I replied back.
"I think that's enough power testing for one day." Armsmaster once again said sternly.
"Yeah. Sounds good to me. I'll try not to touch anyone else today." I said, and then Assault and Clock both choked and laughed.
"Hah! You have to be treated like a pervert!" Clock laughed as he spoke.
"Anyway... " I turned to look at Velocity and Dauntless, who I hadn't met yet. "I'm Teddy, nice to meet you both." I extended my hand then I remembered that might not be taken to well at the moment.
"We can shake another day. When we haven't broken the space-time continuum or something.