1.03

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Where the Wards lived made me think a bit of the apartments that college students used with individual rooms but large shared living and kitchen areas. When Wendy led us back to the common room I spotted a guy cooking in the kitchen who could only be Escudo, the leader of the San Francisco Wards.

He looked up when he heard us enter the room, moving a strand of curly black hair out of his eyes to get a better look at me. Escudo was certainly a handsome guy. Hispanic looking with dark hair, blue eyes and a large brick shaped jaw that would probably break my fist if I tried to punch it. When he saw me he quickly turned the heat down on whatever he was cooking and walked over to me with a friendly and professional smile on his face.

"I'm Nico, Nico Cortez. Otherwise known as Escudo," he said holding out his hand, "you must be Gert-"

"Just call me Geri," I said cutting him off. I shook his hand. "Or Ripple if you have to. Nice to meet you Nico."

He nodded. "Do you mind if we talk in the kitchen? I don't want to let what I was making burn."

I stole a quick glance at Wendy who just shrugged. "He's got a thing for cooking. It's not like the rest of us don't appreciate it."

Huh. Superhero cooks. Who woulda thought. "Sure lead the way," I said turning back to Nico, doing my best to turn up the friendliness and charm.

After we all walked into the large kitchen I leaned on the island with Wendy nearby while Nico kept an eye on his creamy mushroom stroganoff. It smelled really good so I was happy that it looked like he was making enough to feed everyone.

"So what do you think of the Bay so far?" he asked. Nico was friendly enough but there was a stilted quality to his voice that made me think he was trying to be professional.

"Haven't seen much other than the airport and the highway to get here," I said, "though what little I did see seemed nice enough. Cool architecture." It wasn't entirely true but I was trying to be nice. Some of what I'd seen off the highway had been a desolate urban wasteland. I had seen a pretty neighborhood or two though.

"No no no you can't give a boring answer like that. You're supposed to say that all the people you've met so far are awesome," said Wendy rolling her eyes in humorous exasperation.

"Lying is beneath me," I said in a deadpan voice. Wendy punched my arm again though not too hard this time. That seemed to be a thing for her. Nico I noticed barely cracked a smile. Serious dude that one.

"Constellation wants you on the patrol roster as soon as possible," said Nico turning things to business, "I'm sorry to rush you but she doesn't mess around about these things. Unless something comes up I'm supposed to take you through a training session today and get a feel for your powers. Then I'll make sure you get a copy of all the policies and procedures we use here. They're probably similar to the ones you're used before to but these things can change slightly from city to city."

Wow. Not even a few minutes for small talk before getting down to business then. Either Nico is extremely business focused or Constellation has been riding him about this. Or both.

"Why the rush?" I asked him, "I mean I'm not going to make a big deal about it but I figured I'd at least get the rest of the day to get settled in and deal with the jet lag."

"Because Constellation's got a major hate-on for T-Rex," said Wendy, "she wants to know if you can actually shut the stupid dinosaur down."

"Tyrant Rex causes massive collateral damage whenever he appears. It's frankly a miracle civilian casualties have been relatively low so far," said Nico with a frown, "but it's only a matter of time before he collapses a building full of people inside. He's a menace. Hopefully your power will give us a counter to his."

"Woa woa hold up a second," I said holding up my hands, "first off who is this guy? I read about the heroes in the Bay but didn't have, eh, too much time to do research on the bad guys. And secondly why do you think I can counter his powers?"

Wendy and Nico exchanged a look.

"No one told you about that?" asked Nico sounding troubled.

"About what?" I asked a little impatiently.

"Some Protectorate people – Thinkers probably – thought your power would be able to counter his. That's why you were sent here in the first place," said Nico sounding concerned.

I rubbed my forehead. Fucking Director Downey back in St. Louis. He conveniently forgot to mention that to me and my mother when he was pushing for this transfer.

"I guess my memo got lost in the mail," I said bitterly.

Wendy hip checked me in a friendly way which I found myself feeling grateful for. "The Protectorate and PRT can be stupid sometimes. No surprise there," she said trying to lighten my mood.

Nico for his part looked uncomfortable so he settled for going back to business. "Well in any case Tyrant Rex is the leader of The Gore. We don't know who he is but the analysts all seem to think he's ex-military. He turns into a thirty foot tall creature that looks like, well-"

"He looks like three story tall mutated Tyrannosaurus Rex that has horns and arms long enough to drag on the ground," summed up Wendy.

"Right," continued Nico, "and when he's transformed he has insane almost instant regeneration which makes him extremely hard to put down. He's also big and strong enough to simply walk out of whatever containment foam we can get on him. That's not the worst part though," he paused for a moment, "the worst part is that when he stomps on the ground he can create what we're calling 'localized seismic events'. He can create the equivalent of an earthquake anywhere nearby and isn't shy about using his power in a fight. Understandably that kind of ability makes the people in the Bay nervous given that an earthquake sunk a fifth of this city just eight years ago."

I turned that information over in my head. "So, what people think I can use my power to cancel out his 'localized seismic events'?" I asked feeling a little incredulous.

Nico shrugged. "The Thinkers think you might have a good chance. If you can't you can't. All we can ask is for you to give it your best shot. Tyrant Rex isn't someone to take needless risks with or underestimate."

I shook my head. "I don't think it will work but I'll try. I can't really sense vibrations on the ground unless they are really close to me. Mostly I just shoot mine out like a bullet," I laughed humorlessly, "I can't believe I was brought out here to fight a cape as big as an Endbringer."

"Hey," said Wendy giving me a shoulder bump, "don't freak out ok? Me and Escudo, all of us we got your back."

"No, I'm not-," I said, then took a deep breath and let it out, "I'm not freaking out. More like I'm incredulous and a little pissed that no one bothered to tell me about this. Am I worried about being set up against a thirty foot lizard? Well fuck yeah. But I'll cope," I said trying to give them a confident smile.

Nico smiled back. "Wendy's right. You're part of this team now. As long as you're here we'll have your back," he said sounding a little awkward about it. I could tell Nico wasn't very good at any kind of personal mushy stuff but I could tell he was sincere and I appreciated the effort.

Still I wasn't very comfortable with all the mushy stuff either so I changed the subject. "So Wendy mentioned something about The Gore being the ones stirring up all the trouble around here? What's the deal with them?"

Nico moved around the kitchen and started filling a huge pot with water. "Well Tyrant arrived in town about a year ago with two other capes and together they essentially started a war in the Bay area underworld. They threw the balance of power into chaos. When the dust settled a few months later the six gangs that had been a staple of the Bay for more than a decade were down the three; the newly formed Gore led by Tyrant, the Blood Brotha Kings led by Black Spear and Reina, and the Dragons of Heaven led by Qian."

I couldn't help it; my muscles tensed at the mention of the last one. Thankfully neither of the Wards seemed to notice.

"Everyone knew Tyrant was ambitious and was just waiting for the right time to make a move," Nico continued as he set the water to boiling, "then a few months ago his people started pushing into BBK territory. Not only that but The Gore have been getting a lot more bold with the crimes they commit. Like right now the Protectorate is engaging Tyrant down by San Lorenzo at the edge of BBK territory in broad daylight," he said and though he tried to hide it I could tell he was worried.

"So the Dragons aren't fighting?" I had to ask.

"No, not really," said Nico, "they seem to be happy just holding the territory they control. At least for the moment."

I nodded at that and the conversation lapsed into silence for a few minutes. It made some sense now why Wendy had said Constellation had a 'hate-on' for T-Rex. He was the one escalating things. The one rocking the boat so to speak. Also there was the issues of massive property damage. Even if Wendy could fix some of it after the fact I seriously doubted that was much of a consolation for the powers that be. Plus less than a decade after a devastating earthquake a villain cape who can cause small ones had to make people wonder if he could somehow trigger another city devastating earthquake either on accident or on purpose. From what Nico had said it sounded like The Gore was the main problem.

"How many capes does The Gore have?" I asked.

"Five that we know of. You should really read up on them and all the other capes in the city," said Wendy.

I nodded at that. Definitely good advice. I decided to try and lighten up the mood a little bit. "So who do you guys think is the strongest villain cape in the city?"

Nico and Wendy looked at each other. "Hmm," began Nico, "I'd say T-Rex. We haven't found a good way to put him down and not for lack of trying."

"No way," said Wendy, "it has to be Qian. No one dares to screw around in his territory. That's why Tyrant is going after BBK even though they're in Oakland and he's on the SF side of the Bay. The DOH are closer but even he doesn't want to deal with a fire dragon."

"Ok…" I said guiding the conversation away from that topic, "what about in the Protectorate? Who's the strongest?"

"Probably Constellation," said Wendy with a shrug.

"Hard to say. But yeah probably Constellation," said Nico.

"Ok… dumbest cape?" I asked.

"Eh, Supermax is kind of an idiot."

"Probably Escudo," said Wendy seriously. The leader of the Wards just rolled his eyes probably used to her sense of humor.

"Cape with the most ham?"

"Oh totally Titan. That guy's a riot," said Wendy with a grin naming one of the few independent heroes in the Bay that I knew about.

"I dunno I think his wife has him beat. She literally wears an American flag," said Escudo.

"Scariest cape?"

"Frightdoll," they both said in flat tones at the exact same time. A shudder passed through Wendy and Nico's upper lip curled in displeasure at the name.

"Why? Who's Frightdoll?" I said, their reaction making me extremely curious.

"Scariest Tinker you'll ever meet," said Nico suddenly sounding serious and business like, "she rarely shows her face, but she can make-"

He was interrupted when both Nico and Wendy started beeping loudly. Both of them instantly reached into their pockets and pulled out their phones. I watched Nico as he scrolled through a text message he had just gotten. His face went from generally relaxed to grim in a matter of moments.

"Shit," he said, the word coming out accented with his distress, "they planned this out really well."

"Why? What is it?" I said pushing away from the counter I was leaning on. I could already feel that familiar rush as adrenaline was pumped through my body.

"The Gore are attacking an industrial park on the other side of the city from where the Protectorate are," he said while quickly turning off the burners in the kitchen, "Tyrant must have shown himself to draw everyone away. He must have known that his presence would mean a full Protectorate response. Also two of us Wards Osteo Girl and Tranquil are even further away doing some charity thing for the Mayor," He looked at me and Wendy. When I looked at her the girl had a stony look of resolve on her face that I'd never seen on her before.

"Me, Rewind and Shades are the only ones left who can respond," Nico said, his voice grim.

"Fuck well let's not waste any time then," said Wendy, "I'm going to get suited up. Meet you in the garage in five," she said before turning and running off to her room.

Nico looked at me, a conflicted look on his face. "Geri, I hate to ask this of you and you don't have to if you don't want to but-"

"Shut up," I said cutting him off. I stood up as tall as my five foot seven frame would allow and looked him in the eye, "of course I'm coming to help. You don't even have to ask."

He looked at my face searchingly for a few moments before breaking into a relieved if strained grin. "All right then," he said, "let's do this."

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