"Miss Militia, reports from eyewitness calls and security camera footage paint a series of skirmishes and battles occurring in the border between Marche and Teeth territory. Do a recon of the area, backup is three minutes out, Velocity going ahead. Do you copy?"
"Miss Militia copies, heading there now."
The heroine ended the call from the console, adjusting her nav map from a regular patrol route to one heading towards the designated area.
"Haaaah. This night patrol was supposed to be relaxing." Miss Militia, real name Hana, grumbled as she revved her motorbike and turned right. "I hate the Teeth. It's not enough that the damned idiots tried to hire the Nine, now they start fights in the dead of the night. I don't need sleep, but seriously..."
Miss Militia stared at the fight happening further ahead.
From her bike she watched Animos, the Teeth's infamous changer cape get danced around by a person riding a flying vehicle of some sort at break-neck speeds. Gashes and wounds were struck into the monstrous cape's body by the blur of white and blue, appearing to be effortlessly dancing around the villain's attempts to knock them down. The Protectorate heroine only managed to get a clear view of the white blur when the cape spun around mid flight, evading a series of slashes and a head swing and rising higher in the air. The sight managed to get a gasp of awe from Miss Militia.
The new cape had an aesthetic that made him (the broader shoulders clued her in) look like he stepped right out of a story book. Riding atop a sleek, dart shaped hoverbike was a man clad in pure white armour, left pauldron sporting a gem of some sort inlaid in gold. A blue crested helm surrounds a blank white mask, red eyepieces glaring outwards. A crest of white rose from behind the helm. Two triangular flags, pennons she recalled, billowed in the wind from the back of the bike and from below the glowing tip of his lance, and a red streamer flower from behind his helmet.
The scene before her, of the cape exuding the poise and confidence of the ideal knight with a futuristic upgrade hovering over the battered changed Animos growling and stomping on the street, it brought to the forefront of her mind Tolkien's stories her adoptive parents once read to her, when the horrors from her past resurfaced and nearly paralyzed her from the fear.
She was brought out of her awed state of mind when she noticed Animos hunching in that familiar way, instincts ingrained into her from many past conflicts warning of the imminent Howl. The villain was facing away from her, turned fully towards the flying knight so she wouldn't be affected, so she tried to warn the new cape of the dangerous attack as she pushed her bike forward fast.
"Evade!" She shouted. "He has a power nullifying effect howl!"
But her warning was drowned out halfway by the sheer volume of noise Animos let out in his howl, all of it pointed straight up at the flying knight.
Indeed, Animos' infamy is earned not just by his monstrous transformation into a quadrupedal creature, but a ranged attack that, when aimed directly at a parahuman, the target's powers are temporarily and completely nullified. A blaster's attacks fizzle out, flyers fall out from the sky, brutes lose their toughness, and tinkers' self-built equipment start malfunctioning, armour joints locking or even pieces falling out. The flying knight was hovering several stories from the ground, a fall from that height would, if not kill him, injure him greatly and rendered vulnerable to Animos nonexistent mercy.
She watched with bated breath, dead pooling in her guts as she waited for the flying knight's inevitable fall, the cape not making a move to dodge so unconcerned he was. But to her and the villain's astonishment he stayed hovering, his hoverbike stock still in the air and not a sign of tinkertech malfunctioning or breaking apart.
"Do not think me a fool, tye ulundo -o hráve ar acso."
The knight spoke, his deep voice echoing and somehow loud without him shouting. The way he spoke oozed nobility, and she can feel his imperious stare even from far away. Then he lowered his lance, the tip glowing a brighter gold.
"This ends now!" He shouted as he dived, Animos already beginning to turn around to flee but he was too slow. The cape roared in pain as the knight dived down in a streak of light, the blazing lance disintegrating toughened flesh and bone plates as it severed Animos' right limbs like hot knife through butter. The villain landed hard, cracking the concrete road and shrinking down until a masked man remained amidst mounds of sloughed flesh and bone shards quickly rotting away, unconscious and unmoving. This is where Miss Militia swerved her bike to a stop, looking incredulous at the sudden end to the fight. A slight humming to her right made her turn to look and there was the flying knight slowing his hoverbike to a floating stop a few feet next to her.
"Greetings, fellow hero." The man spoke to her, getting down from his hoverbike in one smooth motion. He still carried his lance, planting the butt on the ground as he held it straight by the shaft. Nonchalant, calm, as if he hadn't taken down one of the city's more notorious cape by his lonesome.
She stared at him, the moment stretching to an uncomfortable length of time before she shook her head and dismounted her own motorbike. Now that she met him face to, well, helmet, she noticed that he was very tall. Two heads taller at least, his helmet only adding more to his height. He cut a gallant image, white armour plates seamlessly flowing together over what she can now see as a body suit of the same white colour. On his left bicep she now sees a blue cloth wrapping pinned by a red gem on a gold base. Some mimicry of human muscles can be seen on the overall theme, but it wasn't prominent and only made the whole panoply look, dare she say, elegant.
"Good evening." She finally greeted him back after that quick assessment. "Is this your first time out?"
"Indeed." The man answered, then proceeded to introduce himself. "Like you I am a hero, Drastanta the Shining Spear. I was on my way to aid my fellow aspect when I spotted Animos heading in the same location. I thought of him a worthy challenge and initiated combat."
"Impressive." She complimented him, genuinely impressed by the feat. Not many heroic capes out there could claim to take down a villain on their first outing, a major one like Animos no less. She took another glance at the now named Drastanta's hovering bike and the rest of his gear.
"You're a tinker then? I must admit, your works are amazing. Smooth and graceful looking, a complete opposite to most other tinkers just starting out."
When she's done Drastanta only let out a small laugh, then went to quickly reassure her.
"I mean no offence, Miss Militia. I am flattered, but no I did not create my impressive arms and armour. I have only made myself worthy of the honour of being their bearer."
She raised an eyebrow at that, surprised at first, then forming to the next obvious conclusion from that.
"Is that so? So your actual power must be one that makes you immune to powers like Animos' power nullifying attack then?"
Drastanta only laughed again. He then gave her a slight bow, to her surprise, before he turned to mount his hoverbike again. He left some parting words though, as sirens of incoming PRT vans began to sound closer.
"Miss Militia. I have done my duty as a hero and so for tonight, I must bid you farewell."
His words said, he raised his lance in her direction in a salute, then flew away into the night sky, trailing white light like a comet.
Now she's left alone with an unconscious villain and a decomposing pile of flesh.
"Is that a yes or a no?" She sighed, before contacting console once again, to report on Brockton's newest cape and his possible teammates. With the incredible quality and effectiveness of Drastanta's gear, it doesn't take one much time to guess his teammates would have armour and weapons on the same level. Not to mention, that hoverbike of his looked to have handled like a dream. Hana glanced at her modified motorbike.
"I want one of those. Ehem, console..."