Reflection 3.05

Things have progressed in the half-hour or so it take me to reach the conflict. Where before there were four heroes in position to battle the super villains and their respective minions, half of them are already out of the fight by the time Flurry arrives on the scene.

I'm still tapping into their communications—not a hard thing to do as they are using the communication protocols that the capes in this region have agreed to use whenever something occurs that requires the various groups to cooperate with each other. Something like this current situation, in fact.

The fight spills over into the farmlands just outside the city limits. The area is all wide fields and homesteads that dot the land, which is a good thing because that means there won't be too much property damage that requires rebuilding. Replanting, perhaps, but that's much easier to do.

I listen in as Flurry links up with the active combatants. I'm not terribly surprised to see Ajax is one of them. One of the oldest capes in this area, he's probably best known for having trained multiple generations of capes—sidekicks of his that have gone on to have successful solo careers of their own. He's hardly the strongest when it comes to takedowns and he's a cranky old man, but he's also a canny veteran and no stranger to getting out of impossible-looking scrapes. The other voice is unfamiliar to me, but she sounds young and I have no problem imagining that she's the old hero's latest protégé.

The story gradually comes together as I listen in. Nightwalker and members of his gang—criminals and mercenaries that use his particular Mover powers to bypass locked doors and guarded walls for the various stores and banks he steals from—had hit the local credit union and taken the employees hostage temporarily whilst they ransacked the place. Ajax and his current sidekick had responded along with the police. However, rather than simply escape with their ill-gotten loot, Nightwalker had apparently decided to force a confrontation.

Two other villains had intervened on his group's behalf and their combined forces had quickly broken free from the police cordon. As they'd escaped the city limits, they had attracted the attention of a pair of solo heroes from the nearby town. Both were fairly low-rated capes and they were apparently unable to overcome their disadvantage in numbers. They'd held out long enough for Ajax to catch up to the melee, but had disappeared with Nightwalker even as the newly arrived hero had been jumped by the clonemaster.

The sounds of their fight continues in the background even as Flurry communicates with him.

"But Nightwalker has vanished?" I hear her ask over the transceiver.

"He's still around, I think," the baritone voice of Ajax replies. "We've seen him hopping around between the shaded trees, but he's been keeping his distance. Maybe he's just here to keep an eye on things. His henchmen are probably long gone with their loot."

I glance to the left and right as I drive, scanning the fields that pass by for any nearby trees tall enough or wide enough to cast the amount of shade Nightwalker needs in order to teleport to them.

"'Keep an eye on things' you say? He is evaluating his allies? Do we know who they are?"

"One's a young male. Master-class, he can apparently mass-produce clones of himself. Disposable cannon fodder. They aren't too hard to put down, but he just keeps making more of them. I've never seen him before."

"I believe I am familiar with that one. From my colleague's report, they are self-replicating to a point—each individual copy produces additional clones as they receive heavy amounts of damage. The key is to restrain them without harming them too much, else they will continue to propagate. The alternative is to incapacitate the original; the copies will disappear when his power deactivates."

Yeah, that's right. I was the one who had found that out. It's nice that Flurry is sourcing her facts correctly, but it flies in the face of her assertion that I don't contribute to these sorts of things.

Ajax grumbles irritably at the news. "Problem is the newbie's offensive powers are a touch on the wrong side of 'harmful'. She's still learning to control her abilities. How quickly can you get to this position?"

"It depends on the opposition, but I believe I can reach you within five minutes."

"We'll take what we can get." Ajax's tone lowers into a growl. "Be advised however, the other cape is... something else. When we entered the building, we were assaulted by several individuals we had assumed to be civilians. Instead they were extensions of this one's power, also a Master-class. Possibly a Blaster sub-category. Nightwalker and his gang escaped in the confusion whilst we were fighting them off."

"What did they look like?"

"Children... if you could call them that."

There is a pause as Flurry seems to digest that. When she finally speaks again, she does not sound pleased. "That is troubling news indeed."

I frown, not quite sure what—or who—the two of them are referring to. I know nothing about the sort of power they were describing. I have to assume the final villain is a transient-type. I'm not quite keeping up with the local heroes or villains as much as I should, much less those capes who seem to travel back and forth across the various regions as they please.

It makes me wish Karen was around. Maybe she'd be able to figure out who they're talking about with that small amount of information. I frown as the thought of her brings back the memory of recent events. After everything that has happened, it's hard to imagine that she won't be somewhat cautious of being around me. If only I'd handled the situation better than I had, then perhaps things might have ended with a happier conclusion.

It's not over yet, though. I still have time to fix things. The thought brings a grin to my face as I lean across the handlebars—as if the action can coax a bit more speed from the moped. So focused I am on the destination and my future plans, I barely register the paired row of trees along the stretch of motorway I am currently passing through. Their leaves stretch across the road, forming a natural tunnel of sorts that allow small motes of light to pass through the canopy.

I barely notice this tunnel, but I do notice when a black shape materialises beside me and grabs ahold of me. I definitely notice when I am torn away from my bike, helpless to defend myself as I feel the world being dropped out from beneath me.

...

It felt like I was being pulled through an utter blackness, but it was unlike anything I'd ever felt before. It wasn't like The Darkness, not a void of physical absence and sensory deprivation. This sort of darkness I could feel. I felt myself being compressed and expanded, as if my body was being squeezed through a very narrow hole only to return to normal on the far side. The feeling repeated itself several times before I was suddenly dumped to the floor of a dimly lit room.

I groaned from the various aches I had acquired through my brief trip as I raised myself onto my hands and knees, taking a brief glance at my surroundings.

I appeared to have been dropped into some sort of large supply shed. It was mostly empty except for several rusted sets of farming tools stacked up against the far wall. Light streamed through the windows, reflecting off the dust in the air and illuminating the centre of the room. More light also filtered in through one wall, the rectangular outline suggesting a poorly-fitted doorway. The other three sides were steeped in shadow, the contrast enough that I couldn't make out any further details around the walls.

Huh, I heard Jamie say in my head as she sent me a brief pulse of awareness, I'm not sure where we are, but I'll give you three guesses as to what just happened.

I turned my head again, refocusing my attention on the corner of the room that Jamie indicated. Two unconscious men lay there, arms and legs bound together with plastic ties. One was dressed in flowing blue robes and appeared to have an empty sword sheath strapped to his waist. The other had plastic shells of black, glossy armour covering his limbs and torso.

Blue Thunder and Bomb Bay, the two capes that had gone missing earlier in the fight. Normally Bomb Bay's outfit would have included a pair of bandoliers criss-crossing his chest, but they had been removed—most likely by the same person who had brought me here.

I had a sudden moment of clarity. Nightwalker can pull people along with him on his teleports! He doesn't just bypass doors for his groups, he takes his group with him.

Right in one! Jamie answered. I'm so proud of you! Speaking of the Shadow-That-Flaps-Through-the-Night...

I relaxed one arm, tipping one side towards the ground even as I shoved myself against the ground with my other, starting a roll that carried me out of range of a falling punch that impacted the ground right where I had been laying. Even as I rolled to my feet, I belatedly realised that I had full control over my body.

Better than full control. I ducked my head away from the punch that had shot out from behind me before I had even registered it was even there. I saw a flicker of movement ahead of me and dove forward into a roll that carried me under a sweeping kick as Nightwalker materialised in my path. Even as I rolled past him, he twisted in mid-air, disappearing into the shadows of the dimly lit room.

"Impressive." His voice seemed to echo around the chamber, coming from everywhere at once. "Few people have been able to avoid my attacks to this degree."

"It's not often you engage in combat directly, you Batman reject," I called out into the air even as I whipped my head back and forth in an attempt to catch a glimpse of him. "Why start now?"

Behind.

I'd ducked before I had even fully registered the warning, bending at my waist and letting Nightwalker's flying kick sail over my head harmlessly. He landed halfway in the shadows and I saw him take a brief step forward and twist himself into nothingness once more.

"You dare to question my courage?!" his voice roared, again from everywhere and nowhere at once. "It is strategy that dictates where and when I choose to contribute to an engagement. It is my genius that allows me to find the best way to apply my abilities, unlike foolish little boys—such as yourself—who dive headlong into trouble! But you underestimate me—all of you underestimate me! That is why I will show you that you have reason to fear my brilliance as I—"

I rolled my eyes as the villain went off into his rant. Volley had once described Nightwalker as annoying and hammy. Listening to villain defending the slight against his pride in vainglorious terms and no indoor voice, I felt like I could sympathise with the Tinker much more than I previously had.

I hadn't had the pleasure of experiencing it for myself the first time we had crossed paths and that engagement had been relatively short due to the others' experience in fighting him. Flurry and the others had tangled with him numerous times before I had met them and they had almost gotten down his basic combat strategies down to a science.

It basically came down to two basic factors—deny him the shadows he needed to transport himself, or if that wasn't possible then simply give him a reason to abandon the fight. Nightwalker's goals tended to be fairly straightforward. At heart he was a basic thief, a burglar. He didn't often engage in lengthy fights, preferring the quick knockout instead. Trapped in this room, able to teleport at-will to areas all around the central area, I could easily imagine how he'd managed to knock out the other two capes. If Jamie hadn't been looking out for me and speeding up my reactions, I probably would have been taken out just as fast.

Nightwalker hadn't eased up his attacks the whole time he'd been ranting. In fact, several of his attacks had come in the middle of his sentences. They still sounded like they were coming from the opposite direction he'd actually attacked from—a neat trick that I wished I had the time to puzzle out. However, I hadn't exactly been sitting still whilst I thought either. My only weapon, my nightstick, was now out and from the faint twinges in my hand I knew I had gotten in a few glancing hits.

Door. My eyes snapped towards the glowing rectangular outline. As the next attack came I sidestepped it, then charged the doorway shoulder first. The wood creaked slightly with the impact, but it failed to swing open. Whatever was keeping it closed was doing a fair enough job that I achieved nothing further, not even with a kick against the door to propel me back into the lit area.

There went Plan A for removing myself from this battle. Without being able to flood the room with more light than it already had or even escaping into the open sunlight, Nightwalker could press his attacks for as long as his stamina held out. I wasn't eager to give him any further opportunities, so I might have been more open to suggestions than I otherwise would have been.

Grapple, Jamie said. Hold him down.

I knew what she had in mind, but I was in too much of a hurry to protest. Whether they knew I was present or not, the other heroes needed me there and I couldn't afford to waste time with this guy. Nightwalker materialised out of the gloom directly in front of me, fist outstretched.

Up until now all of his attacks had been launched towards my blindspots, a tactic which might have worked except I'd had Jamie to cover those for me. I wasn't sure if he was also growing tired enough to not be thinking straight, or if he was trying to double-bluff me. Either way, the attack had my full attention and it was a pretty basic punch, albeit one thrown from a fairly odd angle and without any noticeable windup. It was no problem for me to turn towards the attack and throw Nightwalker across my hip.

Even as I flipped him onto his back, Jamie was diving out from my chest and into his. He stiffened as the last wisps of her tail vanished inside of him, though he didn't seem to be falling unconscious either.

"Ha... hahah!" he choked out, eyes wide. "This sensation, I remember this! So, it was you!"

I blinked even as I kept one hand against the collar of his costume, the other raised to deliver a knockout blow. I hesitated. "What about it?"

"I thought you were a villain!" he crowed. "A psychic predator, instilling fear and terror in your victims. You're a hero?"

I felt an icy sensation settling in my gut. "Okay, that's enough from you," I said as I swung my nightstick towards his head.

Nightwalker's hand twitched and he managed to throw his elaborate cape across his body. It did nothing to hinder my attack, but that wasn't his goal. Even as the cape flew across my eyes, it also raised a curtain between himself and the beams of light streaming in from the windows. I felt him twisting around in my grip and suddenly I was holding nothing, the cloak settling across the ground across my hand as my nightstick flew harmlessly through Jamie's annoyed-looking face.

Bloody hell, she grumbled. People can get used to me? They're not supposed to get used to me.

"I didn't believe my newest minion when he first told me about you," Nightwalker's voice echoed from behind me. I turned to look over my shoulder and found him leaning against the wall sans cloak. His hand was pressed against his chest and he was breathing heavily, but he had a manic grin on his face. "Duplex seems to have run into you as well and the experience seems to have..." he glanced towards Jamie floating over his cape, "...spooked him. I had no problems with promising him a way to ply his strengths against those who would try to bring him down again.

"We paid a visit to that monster you protected. The one that gave him so much trouble before his rebirth. It was quite a satisfying experience, one I believe he's looking forward to repeating." Nightwalker took a shaking step back against the wall, deeper into the shadows. "I shouldn't take that away from him. I look forward to seeing how you'll do. Or better yet, how you'll explain what you've done to your allies."

He twisted in upon himself and vanished, leaving me alone in the empty room... along with the two knocked out heroes.

"Why that..." I growled. "Of all the... What are we going to—aargh!" I slapped my club against my side with more force than I was comfortable using, but the brief pain helped me refocus my thoughts. I sighed, "Well, that could have gone better."

Jamie said nothing, simply staring down at her folded arms.

I crossed my own arms as I thought back on what Nightwalker had said. 'Duplex' was most likely the name the duplicator had chosen for himself. The idea that he might have become a villain because of me was disturbing, but I couldn't let myself take a villain's words at face-value. Still, it seemed like he was the one giving Ajax and his sidekick a fair amount of trouble, so it seemed like I'd have to confront him at some point anyhow.

I shook my head and stepped over to the two unconscious heroes, dropping into a crouch and checking them for injuries. Without taking off the equipment that kept their identities secret, I couldn't see much, but from the scuffs on their headgear and the visible portions of their faces, I assumed they had just taken a few headshots and dropped.

I felt a chill run through my body and I rose from my crouch, turning and leaving the heroes where they lay. Jamie had taken advantage of my distraction to repossess me and I cursed at myself for not thinking of fleeing when I'd had the chance.

"Not that it would have done much," she said. "Unless you knew how to get out of here in the first place."

I would have figured something out, I protested. We're not leaving these two here, are we?

I felt my mouth curl into another grin as my body stepped towards the doorway I had failed to open previously. My hand reached out to push gently against it, but again the door remained stubbornly in place. I felt around the edges for a handle to pull, but when that proved fruitless I simply placed my palm flat against the door and shoved it to the side.

The door slid open along its rails with barely a squeak of rusted tracks.

"They'd just slow us down anyways," Jamie replied. She fished my cell phone from a pouch pocket and brought up a map of the area, checking our position in relation to the conflict. Once she'd oriented herself, she kicked out my legs and shook them slightly before setting out as if on a light jog. "Off we go~"

...

Ajax and his sidekick have taken refuge in a hamlet that seems to have been evacuated or abandoned at a recent point. It doesn't take me very long to reach it—Nightwalker's chosen battleground was the next settlement over, less than a kilometre away.

I spot Duplex's clones first as I approach, a veritable mob of dozens of lightly armoured figures doing their level best to charge the heroes' defensive position. Rows of portable energy barriers wall off most of the approaches between the few buildings and channel the main mass of clones into easily defensible choke points. Ajax has parked himself in the middle of the main channel. His primary shield is deployed, ready to guard against any sudden charges or other attempts by the clones to rush their position.

A vaguely effeminate figure wreathed in smoke stands behind him. The swirling winds around her body carry sparks and embers into the air and she raises one hand to send a blast of wind down the chokepoint, knocking several clones back against the ones crowding them from behind. They are undeterred, continuing to press forward even as she sends a second blast that knocks them flat onto their backs.

The clones approach again and a third blast shoots out, however this one carries a reddish tinge as flames reach out to strike the clones. The front line of clones collapse, their clothing smouldering and showing patches where they have charred. Most of the clones rise to their feet bearing the marks of their injuries, but several seem to flicker as they lie on the ground. When the flickering ones stop, twice their number rise with nary a scratch on their faces.

Ajax barks out a sharp command, unintelligible to my ears, and the girl settles to the ground, the smoke around her dissipating as she shakes her head and pressed a hand to her brow. Without the smoke and embers covering her, she appears to be a young teenaged girl dressed in a form-fitting bodysuit of black, the collar pulled up to cover her lower face. Ajax shouts out another command and she shrouds herself once again, firing off the lower-powered bursts of heat rather than her flame-laden winds.

I slow to a stop several hundred metres away from the conflict, trying to decide the best way to insert myself. Finding the clones' progenitor is the main issue, since without the freedom of movement a spectral form allows me, scouting has become something of a luxury I cannot afford.

It suddenly occurs to me that Flurry would be of more help in subduing the clones without harming them, which makes me wonder why she is not the one beating back their attacks instead of the relatively inexperienced cape struggling to hold back with her powers. On the other hand, Ajax is rather well-known for his enforced training methods—this might have been a good opportunity to tone her powers down to a more hero-appropriate level in a stressful situation, allowing for the occasional lapse in control.

Even as I mull through the possibilities and plans running through my head, I feel a hand suddenly come down to grip my shoulder. I spin around in shock—I hadn't even noticed the intruder's presence and I bring up one arm defensively in preparation to strike against my attacker—

I lower my hand as the identity of the person sneaking up on me becomes clear.

"What are you doing here?" Flurry demands of me, her eyes flicking across my surprised expression towards the skirmish going on not too far from us.

I blink as if confused, then allow my mouth to curl into a wry grin. "Helping, of course. I heard you guys were having some trouble, so I decided to drop by and see if I could lend a hand somehow."

Flurry narrows her eyes at me, but releases my shoulder. "We will have words about your insubordination later," she promises me, "and you will not enjoy it."

"Technically speaking, you're no longer my leader, so I'm not being insubordinate," I point out.

She closes her eyes and turns her head away in frustration, then nods towards the Duplex clones. "I am having difficulty in locating the clones' master," she reports. "What we are seeing is a continuation of the very first wave. I have not seen any newer batches being created."

"Hrmm, perhaps he knows we'd be on to him if he was releasing clones willy-nilly I suppose," I offer.

"Can J locate him? She was able to manage it previously, or is she still indisposed?"

I consider lying to her briefly. I shake my head. "She's not having any luck," I tell her. "He's too well hidden, I think we'd need something to lure him out. We may have to disable the current batch of clones or see if they have a limit to their reproduction and force them to use it all up."

"The idea has merit," Flurry admitted. "Perhaps I should go and aid Ajax and Qarin." She half turns away as if to go out and do just that, but pauses. "By the way, I am glad that you and J seem to have worked through your issues, Looking Glass. From the way you had been explaining it to me, I was afraid those issues would have been as bad as a Jabberwock in the Tulgey Wood."

So Qarin is the sidekick. Useful information, but irrelevant at the moment. I narrow my eyes at the reference to the Jabberwocky poem. If Flurry has realised the inspiration for our codename, then she might have guessed the true nature of our powers.

Still, the way she says it means she's clearly expecting some sort of followup response. "My fault, I guess. Sometimes I'm just too melodramatic for my own good. It was just a misunderstanding—once we figured out what our miscommunication was about it was like taking a vorpal sword and cutting through all the bullshit." I snap my fingers and grin, "Snicker-snack!"

"I see. Well, keep your transceiver open and let me know the minute you find anything." Flurry stares at me for a moment longer before turning and walking away. "You know the frequency, I assume?"

"Yeah, of course," I say. "It's—" I get no further, mostly because I feel a sudden chill behind me. There is no further warning, but I manage to drop into an undignified sprawl as a snowball sails over my head from behind me. "What the—Flurry?!" I snarl.

Flurry spins around as the snowball approaches her, allowing it to spin around her in a short arc before it flies back towards me, faster and larger than before. I gather my limbs and spring away to the side, avoiding the renewed attack as the air begins to fill with the innumerable light snowflakes that are her namesake.

"You are not Looking Glass," she states flatly, eyes shrinking into a glare directed towards me. One hand comes up to press against the side of her hood. "This is Flurry," I hear her on the open comm-channel. "Enemy Master protocols in effect. We have a possible bodysnatcher on-site."

I hear a voice swearing on the private channel used by our team. Volley. I don't have time to dwell on this because I'm suddenly too busy dodging various projectiles and sheets of snow flying my way. Each impact seems to weigh me down ever so slightly. My arm begins to drag as if it's being pulled in a direction I don't wish it to go. The irony is not lost on me and I grin savagely.

With swift movements I retrieve the microphone and cable and plug it into my transceiver. "What are you talking about, Flurry?" I shout bewilderedly. "It's me! I know you're angry at me for disobeying but why are you suddenly being so violent?!"

"Flurry?" the voice is Ajax's, sounding confused.

Another snowball slams into the hand still holding the microphone, knocking it to the side and ripping the plug free from the device. I blink down at the mechanism and scowl.

"Master and Stranger protocols," she orders. "I'm going offline, do not respond to anything else I may say in the near future unless I give the all-clear or I respond in person with the proper codes. Flurry out." She reaches into her hood and disconnects her own transceiver with unhurried motions, even as I am frantically using my newfound agility to escape her attacks.

Except the heightened-reflexes that come from our merger simply aren't there. Before I can puzzle out this strange turn of events, several large snowballs impact against my chest, knocking me to the ground. A secondary barrage of snow holds my wrists and ankles to the ground as Flurry slowly, carefully approaches me.

She stops at my feet and leans across me slightly, holding up an ever-growing ball in her palm. "J," she says.

"Hey, Sunny," I grin back. "What gave it away?"

"There are several things you have said just now which James has already contradicted in prior conversations—discussions I am certain you were not around to witness," she replies. "You will forgive me if I do not state the specific circumstances of those conversations, nor what was said." Her face darkens slightly. "And while I would like to properly chastise you for your cheek, It would not be fair to James."

Heh. Hear that, James? I send. Flurry's wor-ried about you~

There is no response. I frown inside, even as I keep a stupidly cheerful grin on his face. I reach out to him in our link. He's never been able to hide himself from me before, why should he have developed the skill now?

Flurry pulls her arm back as if to throw the snowball, now the size of a wrecking ball and still growing. "This is not an idle threat, I will knock you unconscious for all of our sakes so we may sort through this when time allows. I will ask you this once, J; where is James? What have you done with him?"

James isn't here. That's troubling. Where is James?

I tilt my head to the side, still smiling. She must have seen something in my eyes, however, because she hefts the snow a little bit higher. "Relax~, he's unharmed. Except for what you just did to him," I answer cheerfully. "But there's two things you've gotten wrong."

Her face betrays nothing, her attack grows larger. "And that is?"

"Hitting me with that will do nothing to me. Just this body. And secondly, I'm not J."

Flurry blinks twice, slowly. Maybe that's her way of looking confused?

"I never liked that name in the first place." I grin. "It's Poltergeist now!"

I break free from James' immobilised body and rush her. It's a race to see if I can reach her before she can react somehow, although I'm not sure what she could do even if she did.

It doesn't matter. I win.

ooo

(a/n)—shoutouts to Panda and Visler from the irc channel for letting me use their OC's as cameos from the weaverdice game. one has already appeared, the other has been mentioned but not quite shown up yet. i'm just getting it out of the way now.

in case some Worm readers aren't aware, there is a chatroom at ( irc / darklordpotter / net) (remove slashes and spaces, replace with periods, yada yada...)
with the chatroom at #parahumans

WeaverDice is the name a group of fans have put together, sort of a DnD-lite role-playing game based off the pickup game Weaver started in Drone 23.4, it has its own chatroom with a dice-bot, but i'd suggest idling in the main chatroom and wait for a gm to get a game started.