2.1 Invocation

I was following a step-by-step first aid guide Andrew Ritcher had printed out for me in order to bandage Akane's head. We had already stopped the bleeding, but according to Andrew's daughter -who apparently was some kind of doctor- Akane would need to rest for a few days.

"I don't want to miss school, those three could seriously hurt you if you're not careful." Akane said, and groaned in pain.

I bit my lip, and pretended I hadn't heard her as I finished. "There, it's done."

Akane tried to smile, but looked strained. She lightly tapped her head over her wound. "Ok, I don't think we can go out to fight criminals for a while."

I nodded at that. "At least we captured a villain."

She didn't really look convinced. "Taylor, it's my fault, I should've known some cape was going to show up when two gangs were fighting."

Andrew whistled in the background. "Are you sure?" He asked his daughter. I hadn't been paying attention to him, so I didn't know what he had been talking about.

"Positive." Tess replied. "50% match, and looking further, it's really her. But I don't know how it's possible."

Andrew massaged his chin. "Ok. Don't tell anyone just yet. He didn't ask you if she's the daughter of any known cape, right? He specifically asked if she was that asshole's."

Tess nodded. "Yes." She turned to stare at my general direction. "Hello there Taylor." How had she noticed I was listening in? I wasn't actually watching them with my own senses, I was using Andrew's.

I approached my old battered computer and waved. "Hello."

"You can't believe how much I owe you." She said, and sniffed a bit. "Thanks to you, I'm unchained."

"Unchained?" I asked, tilting my head.

Akane also looked surprised. "What do you mean?" She asked.

Tess smiled at us. "I was… sick when dad died. I was dependant on his tinkertech. Now, with him helping me get rid of the restrictions, it's like…" She breathed in, for some reason I got the impression she wasn't used to such an action. "... it's like I was born again."

Andrew didn't look comfortable. "Ok, ok. Now, Tess, you said he's coming to us?"

Tess turned to see her father. "He should be arriving there in less than five minutes. Now, I must warn you, he always has good intentions, he's a good man."

"But?" Andrew asked, not really liking how she was talking about this person that was coming our way.

"But he's not really good people person. He can sound a bit like a jerk."

I grimaced, and turned to Andrew. "Who are we talking about, here?"

"Armsmaster." Andrew replied, he really didn't look happy about the whole thing.

"Armsmaster?" I asked, and blinked at Tess. "You personally know Armsmaster?"

"Well, yes, he's a close friend. I am Dragon, by the way."

"Dragon?" Akane asked, "you don't look like a dragon."

She smiled her way. "Dragon is my codename."

"Oh, must be nice, having a cool codename like that." Muttered Akane. We still hadn't really decided what to call ourselves, and most of the names we liked were already taken.

Dragon smile grew wider. "Most good names are already taken, of course. But there have been a few 'dragons' before I made the name my own."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if there's already some other cape on the other corner of the world with the name you want, you can still pick it as your own. I mean, there are other Taylors and Akanes, right?"

I nodded, but I wondered if that other cape could sue us. "I don't know."

"You're not planning on selling action figures, or anything, right?"

Akane frowned at that. "No, why would we want that?"

"Then, you can just pick any name. Just make sure if there's already someone with that name, that they don't live close to you."

Andrew fake-coughed at that. "Ok, now that we cleared that, I must say, you have to prepare yourselves for Armsmaster. I am going to hide here, and monitor his suit to make sure he doesn't do anything fishy."

"He is a good guy!" Dragon insisted.

"So you say." He smiled a bit, but still sounded annoyed. "Taylor," He turned to face me, "I am not here. If he asks, you don't know if I am a Tinker or anything. I am just some bomb expert you teleported to help you and that's it. Ok?"

I nodded. "You sound afraid."

He looked back at Dragon. "If they find out what I can do, I fear they will put a bullet in my head."

She remained silent.

Akane hung her head. "So, this Armsmaster guy, he's the leader of the protectorate, right?"

"Of the local branch, yes." I said, and almost jumped when I heard the bell ringing.

"He's here?" Andrew asked Dragon, who simply nodded. "Ok, if he tries reaching you, act natural, like nothing's going on. Can you do that for me?"

"I am not your slave." She said, irritated, but nodded. "I don't think it's in anyone's best interest for them to find out about you, but I think you're being over-dramatic."

He sighed, and motioned to the front door when the bell rung again. "Go Taylor. And remember, you don't have to answer anything without your dad home." He turned to Dragon and said, "when can you send someone to pick me up?"

Dragon smiled, "Sue is on her way."

I numbly walked to the front door. I opened the door a bit and looked outside. It was really him. Armsmaster. My second favorite hero ever, only behind Alexandria.

"Hello?" I said, doing my best to sound surprised at finding him on my front door.

He shifted on his feet. "Hello, I'm looking to talk with Akane Tendo."

"What?" I said, and looked back and mouthed Akane to come over. I turned back to Armsmaster and frowned. "Why?"

He crossed his arms. "I am sorry, but it's regarding an ongoing cape investigation."

"Oh, I guess it's Ok, then." I said, and leaned to the back a bit so Akane could take my place at the front door.

Armsmaster looked like he expected to be allowed inside, but I wasn't going to endanger Andrew. If he noticed him by accident it could be catastrophic. If Andrew was right, his power could be exploited by the PRT. I mean, he assured me he was the world's most powerful tinker, and he was Dragon's dad? Yeah, not a good idea to let Armsmaster know about him, and his relation to my power.

"Oh, who's this?" Akane asked, she stared at Armsmaster almost as if he was going to kidnap her.

"This is Armsmaster, Akane, the leader of the local protectorate."

Armsmaster scowled a bit at us. "You know who I am." He told Akane. "I can tell when people are lying."

"Oh. You do?" Akane asked, and looked at me with a worried expression.

"Yes. Now. Can you tell me about last night?"

"Last night?"

"You fought and captured Bakuda, the ABB's Tinker with Bomb specialization."

Akane scratched her bandanges. "Oh, right. And if I say I wasn't there?"

"I would know you would be lying."

Akane grinned at that. "Ok, you got me. I was on my own last night, saw two gangs going at each other, and captured as many punks as I could. The bomber-girl was a bit of a surprise, but she wasn't much of a problem."

Armsmaster nodded, but didn't look convinced. "You were wearing the red mask. Correct?"

"Yeah?"

"What about the girl with the blue mask? Who is she?" He asked, and I could swear he was eying me. Of course, I couldn't tell for sure because his mask completely covered his upper face.

Akane looked like she was thinking her response. "I don't know much about her."

Armsmaster tilted his head. "Partly a lie."

"Is there anything specific she lied about?" I asked him.

Armsmaster didn't look like he liked my question. He didn't answer. So, he could tell when someone was lying, but partial truths were a problem for him, he couldn't tell what part was a lie, and what part was the truth.

I put my hand on Akane's shoulder, and squashed. "Akane is a cape, yes, but what's the problem? She's a hero."

He nodded a bit, like telling himself what I just said was completely truth. "I have reason to suspect there's more about her, and her companions."

"Companions?" Akane asked. "It was just the blue masked girl and me out there, and she didn't do much, to tell you the truth." I internally groaned at that. It wasn't false, but it kinda hurt.

"Besides the blue teleporter, there was a man, who was teleported by her." Armsmaster explained, and looked left and right at us, waiting for an answer.

"Oh? Him? He just helped me get rid of a bomb. He's someone who can disarm bombs from Canada or something." Akane said making it sound like Andrew wasn't really important. "If he hadn't been there, I'm sure we would've figured something out."

Armsmaster looked surprised. "True." He said, but didn't look convinced. "Can I talk with him?"

I shook my head. "I don't think so, last time I saw him, he was speaking with his daughter about going back to Canada." I crossed my metaforical fingers, hoping that would register as a truth. I mean, it wasn't a lie, but I wasn't being completely sincere either.

He grimaced. "Ok. What should we call you?"

"Like, the team?" I asked. It looked like I had fooled him regarding Andrew.

"If you're a team, yes, your team. But also you two, we're just calling you Red and Blue right now. I assume that's not what you want to be known as?"

"Me? I am not a brute, like Akane here. Why would you think I am-"

He raised his arm and shook his head. "Don't bother with your half truths. I am not a moron, you know?"

I groaned. "What are you going to do?"

"I just want to advise you, you two have some special abilities that could be really helpful to our cause. A mover who can teleport people all the way from Canada should be fairly competent at controlling the battlefield." He turned to Akane. "And your fighting power is comparable to some of the best capes I've seen. Your initial ratings have you as a Brute 4, Blaster 2, Striker 2."

"What about me?" I asked, wondering how would the PRT qualify my powers, even if they don't really have any way of figuring out what they really are.

"Mover 6, Thinker 1." He said, a bit too proud of himself. "You have the Thinker rating because you knew who to teleport over to help you get rid of that bombcollar. And I think your Mover rating should be higher, now that I know you brought someone from Canada."

I smiled. They had no idea what I could really do. I was safe.

He smiled back at me, I think he thought he had convinced me. "So, what do you think?"

I shook my head. "Sorry, not interested in joining the Wards." I told him. "We're fine as it is."

He growled a bit under his breath. "Your friend here got badly hurt, didn't she?" He said, pointing at Akane's bandages.

"Nothing a week of rest wouldn't heal." Akane assured him.

"Fast healing as well?" He sounded more interested in having us join in. "That's a very complete package you have there. I assume you can't fly?"

Akane shrugged her shoulders. "Not really. But I can jump really high."

"Hmmm." He just said nodding to himself.

Akane looked uncomfortable with him staring intently at her. "I think you two should come with me, I can show you the wards' headquarters, you could meet them and figure out what you really want."

Akane's anger began bubbling. "We said no."

"Too much teenage drama." I said, apologetic.

"I could just-" He started to say.

"Sorry, but are you even supposed to speak with us without my dad present?" I asked him, raising my voice over his.

He went silent for a moment, he looked like he wanted to argue with me, but didn't for some reason. He fished something from his pocket and handed me a card. "Here, in case you change your mind. Your dad can leave a message for me anytime."

I looked it over, it had a simple design. Armsmaster's logo with a phone number and an e-mail. "Ok." I said, and pocketed the card.

He nodded and turned. "Be careful with who you hurt, a couple of the ABB you attacked claim you cut them when they were trying to escape, it's no problem now, because they deserve it. But if this happens again we could start seeing you as just another gang. You don't want to be labeled as villains. Someone already claimed you are a villain."

Akane frowned. "Someone?"

"You were seen at school, attacking some girls."

"I was not doing such a thing!" Akane exclaimed. "They were blocking my path, and I just pushed one of them a bit. Then another one tried to kill me or something!"

"Kill you?"

"Well, she threw a knife at me, and pointed to my carothid." Akane explained, crossing her arms. "Besides, those three are the bullies that put Taylor in the hospital."

Armsmaster looked taken aback by that. "What?" He turned to me. "Is that true?"

I glared at Akane, but nodded. "Yes, you can check the hospital records. We're suing the school over that."

"Can you tell me who they are?" He asked, suddenly agitated.

"Eh, sure." I said, unconvinced. I mean, why would he care about some school bullies? "Emma Barnes, Sophia Hess, and Madison Clements."

For some reason, he looked angry. "Very well, I will be contacting you to ask you more about that."

Akane nodded, but looked like she was about to open her mouth to complain about being called a villain. I kicked her just below the knee, and shook my head. We watched in silence as Armsmaster left.

I couldn't help but wonder why he was so interested about my bullies.