1.04
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It was tense as we sat in the back of the heavily modified and armored PRT van on the way to our destination. My costume had been shipped with the rest of my stuff that hadn't arrived yet so I'd really had to wing it. I was wearing a black SWAT helmet and face-covering hood like the PRT guys sometimes used along with a borrowed set of standard body armor. Other than that I was wearing jeans, black sneakers, a black coat and black fingerless gloves that I owned. Not exactly a top of the line Protectorate costume and some of the PR guys would have a heart attack at seeing me dressed in black tactical gear but I didn't exactly have a lot of options. Not if I wanted to come along and make sure my new teammates didn't get hurt.
I looked at Shades sitting across from me who was poking inside a Tinker-tech gun with a pair of pliers. The gun was mostly yellow with little accents of purple and I couldn't help but think it looked like a toy in his small hands. Shades was Peter Hasbro, the only Tinker in the San Francisco Wards and by far it's youngest member at only twelve years old. He was also the least experienced member and it showed in how obviously nervous he was. Hoping that I could say something to help put him at ease I spoke up.
"How you holding up Shades? Is this your first time in a cape fight?" I asked casually.
It seemed an effort for him to tear his eyes away from his gun to look at me. I couldn't see his face since he was wearing his helmet, a yellow high tech mix between a modern biker helmet and a medieval fantasy one with purple accents. The reflective surface that covered his eyes was shaped to look like a pair of fancy sunglasses to go along with his chosen cape name.
"My second technically," he said sounding apprehensive, "but the first one we were just there as backup for Magicman and Ursa. All I did was take a few pot shots at some thugs."
That sucked. Peter was greener than me when it came to cape fights and I'd only been involved in two serious enough to deserve the name. I couldn't help but feel that there was something profoundly wrong about sending a twelve year old kid out to fight hardened criminals no matter what kinds of things he could build. I'd always known the Protectorate wasn't perfect but some days it seemed less perfect than others.
"Just don't take any big risks. Getting out in one piece is more important than taking them down or stopping them from getting away," I said. Somehow my advice felt hollow and inadequate.
Peter sighed and seemed to sag under the weight of the Tinker tech armor he was wearing. "Yeah. I still have to try my best though. It's my duty to be a hero," he said, making the phrase sound like something he had heard many times before. I wished that I could have seen his expression underneath his helmet.
"Well I may be new to the team but I got your back," I said, offering him a smile before remembering he couldn't see it behind the hood I was wearing.
"Thanks," he said simply, though he did sound grateful and maybe just a hint more animated. With that he went back to tinkering with his gun and I decided to leave him alone lest his gun doesn't work when he needs it to because I kept distracting him.
I took a look at Escudo who was sitting next Shades typing furiously on a tablet computer and talking to someone on the phone. His uniform was one of the more wholesome and family-friendly ones I had seen. He wore entirely white armor polished to a mirror sheen. His boots and gloves were blue as was the round shield pattern on his chest with the white silhouette a rearing horse which was his personal symbol. His helmet was a mix of blue and white that left his mouth uncovered and had spikes that resembled a crown reaching upwards. All in all he looked extremely heroic and ready to kick some ass. Somehow that managed to make me feel a little bit better about the upcoming fight.
Knowing better than to distract him I turned and looked at the last member of our group. Wendy, or Rewind as she was known in costume, wore a surprisingly dark colored outfit. It was a hard shell that hugged her figure and covered her from neck to toe. The armor was done in tones of black and grey that were broken up by parallel stripes of white and red paint that went up and down her arms and legs. Her helmet looked almost exactly like those used by jet pilots but without the breathing mask. It was colored in a matte grey with a black visor and an artistic red spiral painted on her forehead. Rounding out the outfit was a black cape wrapped around her shoulders. Next to her thigh rested a huge crossbow that looked about two sizes too big for her. I guess if they wanted to keep her from getting up close and personal they had to give her some way to contribute while hanging but I was skeptical about how useful such a large contraption would be.
"Nervous?" I asked her.
"The Gore are dangerous and a lot of their members act like animals. Hell yeah I'm nervous," she said though I did notice she at least looked calmer than her words implied. "What about you?" she said turning to me.
"Yeah pretty nervous too," I said with an anxious laugh. "I don't even know what capes we're going up against or what they can do."
She gave me a small reassuring smile. "Don't worry Escudo will brief us on it before we get there. All that multitasking he's doing right now is to get all the intel we need for when we get on site," she said gesturing at Escudo with her chin. Indeed he was talking with someone on the line and while his phone cradled in his shoulder he was typing something furiously on the tablet sitting on his legs.
I thought about what we were heading into and realized I potentially had a really large hole in my knowledge. "Can you go over what Escudo and Shades can do?" I asked Rewind, "All I know is what I got from PHO and CapeWiki."
"Uh, yeah sure. Those places always miss things," she said absentmindedly. "Well for starters Escudo is a Mover, a Blaster and a Shaker. He can fly and create a round energy shield just big enough to protect himself. His most useful power is his blaster power though. He can create energy beams that explode with concussive force, loud sounds and light. Essentially he can make his beams become flashbang grenades with an extra concussive kick. Best part is he can control the direction most of the light and sound goes so even if we're looking directly at his blasts we won't be blinded as long as he's paying attention."
That sounded like a pretty amazing power set for a Ward and a hero. He was almost perfectly designed for non-lethal takedowns and his power would be hella useful in almost any fight. That taken with his super heroic costume I was willing to bet Escudo was the poster boy for the SF Wards.
"As for Shades," she continued stealing a glance at the boy who looked oblivious to the world as he worked on his equipment, "Bulletime thinks his specialty is 'platforms'. Shades is a relatively new Tinker so his equipment is still somewhat limited. However he has a flying platform he rides on that is outfitted with a strong force field and a flying drone that shoots non-lethal lasers. Plus that laser pistol he's fiddling with. As far as I know that's all the equipment he's made that's been approved."
"It is," said Shades without looking up from is work.
"So there you have it. As for me," she said hefting up the huge crossbow with some visible effort. Despite the situation a wicked grin spread across her face, "this baby shoots an arrow outfitted with a Tinkertech arrowhead. Bulletime made them for me. The arrowhead explodes in a field of electricity that works like a taser on anyone within four feet. Best part is that my power means I never have to reload, I can continually shoot my electro-bolts over and over again. I even have a couple of different types of ammo for Alexandria here in case I need them."
"You named your crossbow Alexandria?" I asked, my voice laced with incredulity and amusement.
"All right everyone listen up!" Escudo said drawing everyone's attention. "We're only a few minutes out so let me brief you on all the information we've got,"
"Twenty minutes ago The Gore hit a heavily secured site of West Coast Industries. We've determined that what they are after is a number of extremely valuable rare earth metals and rare isotopes of different elements. These substances can be used for building delicate and advanced hi-tech devices and there are easier places to hit if they were simply after money. We can only conclude that these raw materials are for Frightdoll to make more of her creations, possibly even more advanced versions of what we've seen so far."
The two other wards Wards seemed to get a combination of worried and resolute at the announcement. That was the second time I'd heard Frightdoll mentioned. I wanted to ask more but it really wasn't the time.
"We need to do our best to make sure don't get away with what they are after," Escudo continued. "It is confirmed that they are still on site which means they're probably having trouble opening the vault where West Coast Industries is storing those elements in. So far we have three Parahumans confirmed on-site,"
"First we have Ink, one of the original members of The Gore. His power is that he can tattoo regular humans and as long as they are near him they gain a Brute rating of 1-2. He can also somehow mentally coordinate all his troops as long as they are nearby. The more tattooed people he has nearby the stronger his Brute rating gets so every one of his tattooed lackeys you can get far enough away from him or knock unconscious means he gets weaker. By himself he's not as strong as other capes but don't underestimate him. He's vicious and smart and intelligence thinks he used to be Special Forces. Ink is a high priority to take down right away as that will weaken his troops and disrupt their coordination. Do not underestimate the men under his command or things will go badly for you,"
"Next we have the third founding member of The Gore, Cat Sith. Sith is a Master who can create smoky black projections that look vaguely cat-like. They are not-quite smoke, not-quite solid and are difficult to disrupt. Even if you do manage to disrupt them Cat Sith can just conjure them again in under a minute. The projections are extremely mobile and dangerous so make sure not to let them get on you. Thankfully Cat Sith can't control them properly if he can't see them. The best way to deal with the threat is to go after the Master himself. Again don't underestimate him, intelligence also seems to think he's had some military training,"
I was starting to see a pattern here. Was all of the leadership of The Gore ex-military, including T-Rex? It certainly sounded like it. The last President had certainly liked to send America's military to fight abroad while trying to promote global stability in the face of Endbringer attacks. The worst had been the failed US defense of Israel after all the surrounding countries decided to use their capes to finally wipe the country off the map. Remembering the scenes on TV when I was a girl I could easily see a lot of men and women in uniform triggering during that hellhole.
"Finally we have a new unidentified cape, abilities unknown," said Escudo sounding grim. "All that we know is that he appears to be made of metal or mercury. Possibly a Breaker state or a Case 53. Assume he has a Brute rating and engage him from a distance if at all possible. Use extreme caution, engaging a cape with unknown abilities is possibly the most dangerous situation we can walk into,"
"Also sighted with them were about a dozen men. A couple of pistols and automatic rifles were spotted along with more conventional weapons like lead pipes and knives. These guys have all been boosted by Ink and some may be ex-military so don't let your guard down. Remember they are going to be faster, stronger and tougher than regular non-powered people so treat them accordingly. Our game plan is going to be disrupting the robbery and attempting to get them to flee. The Gore are tough and slippery and going after their capes too hard without backup nearby could easily backfire. Capturing their capes would be a bonus in this case but not the highest priority. If we can stop them from getting what they came here for we can call this one a victory," he said.
I was glad the mask hid the displeased look on my face. Logically it was a good call. It didn't sound like we had any cape backup nearby so going in balls-deep to take down all their capes could easily turn deadly. However fighting not to defeat the enemy but instead to just scare them off didn't sit right with me. It was a smart choice but I couldn't help but feel it was somewhat distasteful and cowardly.
My dad had taught me that when you fight you fight to win. If you're not willing to go all the way you shouldn't fight at all in the first place.
All of a sudden I felt the van lurch to a stop. Rewind hefted up her crossbow, Shades holstered his pistol and Escudo stood up looking tall and imposing in his white armor.
"All right team," he said punching a gloved fist into his hand, "let's go be heroes."
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