Author's Corner: SeerKing stood in front of the hole in his wall, banging on a nail with a hammer.
"Oh, it's you lot again." He said when he turned his head. "Yeah, I'm still fixing this hole that Shu smashed open. Damn git."
A knock at his door made the author blink. "Huh…wonder who that could be?"
Walking over to the door and opening it, he did a double-take at the person standing there. "EH!? Over Gladiator Figaro?! What're you doing here?!"
"Yeah, sorry for dropping in like this." The King of the City of Duelists said. "I'd heard about you from Shu and I came to see you. Is that the hole that Shu made when he burst in on you?"
He pointed at the badly-repaired hole.
"Er…yup." SeerKing nodded. "He ran off when I showed him what would happen in the latest book of Infinite Dendrogram. Good work against Tsukuyo Fuso, by the way."
"Eh, fight her during the day and you have no problems so long as you finish her before night comes and she uses her Embryo's ultimate skill." Figaro waved a hand modestly. "Here, take this to pay for proper repairs. In exchange, let me have a look at the next chapter."
"Sounds fair." The author conceded, taking the offered bag of money. "It's on my computer's screen right now. Have at it."
"Thanks." The Over Gladiator nodded and padded over to read the fic, while SeerKing got on the phone to some joiners.
"That's quite the Embryo you gave her." Figaro said once he finished. "That [Balance the Scales] skill is a perfect counter to my Embryo."
"Eh, not really." SeerKing shrugged. "Yours lets you get stronger over time inverse to the number of equipment you have equipped. [Balance the Scales] is a onetime alteration of all physical stats to match the Master of Iustitia. There's nothing to prevent your Embryo's special effect from working, so as long as you can survive long enough, you'd likely come out ahead."
"Huh. Good eyes." The Over Gladiator nodded. "Well, I'd best get going. Got more levelling up to do and more equipment to grab. A bit of advice, that girl there would benefit from the [Gladiator] Job. The instant re-equip skill we have is really useful."
With that, he left.
"Well, that's nice. At least he didn't destroy anything." SeerKing blinked. "Well, scroll down and read on. Remember, reviews, Flames aside, are appreciated. And please don't ask questions in guest reviews, because they will be summarily ignored."
"Iustitia!" – Regular Speech
'Mistress!' – Thoughts/Telepathy
[Justice for All]! – Skill/Ability being used.
Beta'd by BigCC
Session 1.2
The Next Day
Abandoned Warehouse, Docks Area, Brockton Bay
Swish!
"Ninety-seven!"
Swish!
"Ninety-eight!"
Swish!
"Ninety-nine!"
Swish!
"One-hundred!"
I sagged down panting after that last swing. Iustitia had been counting out the swings for me so I didn't have to waste oxygen doing it myself. Swinging a sword, even one the length of a ten-year-old child, with one hand might not look difficult, but it took a surprisingly amount of effort to both control and maintain the swing without throwing myself off balance.
Then there was the fact that it was still a roughly twenty pound mass of metal that I was swinging back and forth for over an hour. My muscles were currently screaming at me in protest!
On the bright side, I got two extra points of Strength and Endurance each from my efforts.
Iustitia changed into her Maiden form and smiled at me. "Congratulations Mistress. You've levelled up and gotten access to the Job Dendrogram."
"The what now?" I panted weakly. Damn it, I was out of shape. Looks like I needed to add exercise to the to-do list on my "Becoming a Hero" planner.
"To put it in gaming terms, it's a Job Tree." My partner/power/living-help-screen explained. "You unlock jobs based on your actions, your equipment and the weapons you use. Furthermore, the Jobs are divided into Low-Rank Jobs, Mid-Rank Jobs, and Superior Jobs. Anyone can acquire Low-Rank Jobs, and you can have up to six of those equipped, with each having a maximum level capacity of Level Fifty. Mid-Rank Jobs are harder, as they require you to perform certain actions, have certain jobs already equipped and at a certain level and/or to have defeated certain enemies. You can have up to three of those equipped at once, and they have better benefits than Low-Rank Jobs. Superior Jobs are insanely difficult to acquire, but have almost Legendary-level stat bonuses and skills. Superior Jobs are so powerful that you can only have two equipped at any one time."
"Whoa…" I said, somewhat recovered from my exertions. "So, how many jobs can I take now?"
"Only the one, as you only levelled up once." Iustitia answered. "But the next time you level up, you can choose another job, so you can level up more frequently, although I'd advise reaching level twenty in a job before trying to acquire a second one."
"He who tries to be strong everywhere is strong nowhere." I quoted. Mom had always loved philosophy and kept several copies of various translations from the various greats, including Seneca the Younger. I'd ended up browsing through them a lot after she died, hoping to feel a bit closer to her memory, and I ended up enjoying them.
They were interesting, shut up.
"Exactly, Mistress." Iustitia agreed. "Now, choose your Job."
Smiling, I reached inside my hoodie and pulled out a flip-mirror I'd found in a second-hand shop. It had been donated because it had a scratch across the cover, which I thought was just a plain waste. It was still perfectly good for its intended purpose. People could be so wasteful at times…
Flipping it open, I ran a finger down it and waited as my status screen appeared. Following Iustitia's instructions, I tapped the 'Job' name and a new set of words appeared.
Available Jobs:
- Fighter
- Soldier
- Swordsman
- Duelist
- Academic
I raised my eyebrows at the last one. That was probably from my status as a student at Winslow.
"You have a good selection." Iustitia remarked as I read through the list aloud. "I would advise against Duelist; they use thinner, lighter blades than my First Form. Fighter…that's more of a 'jack of all trades, master of none' job that isn't really useful for anything but getting other jobs. Soldier will be useful once I gain other forms, but as you only have my First Form available, I would say Swordsman would be the best bet choice for you to start with."
I nodded absently in agreement. She was the one who knew the most about these jobs and her reasoning was logical. So I quickly tapped on the Swordsman tab.
[Congratulations!]
You acquired the [Sword Mastery] Passive Skill!
You have levelled up!
You are now a Swordsman (LV1)
You gain +50 HP!
You gain +500 Stamina!
You gain +5 Strength!
You gain +5 Toughness!
You gain +5 Endurance!
You gain the [Blade Charge] Skill!
You gain the [Swordsman's Eye] Skill!
You gain the [First Health Boost] Passive Skill!
The ache of my sore muscles seemed to wash away as the new job locked itself into place. Whew! What a rush! I checked my status again and smiled.
Name: Taylor Hebert
Gender: Female
Level: 1
Title: None
Job (s): (LV1) Swordsman (LV1)
EXP: 13/150
Embryo: Maiden of Justice Iustitia
Embryo Type: Maiden with Arms
Embryo Forms Achieved: 1/7
Stats
HP: 250
STA: 1500
MP: 155
Strength: 17
Toughness: 15
Endurance: 17
Intelligence: 20
Wisdom: 15
Luck: ?
I felt my lips turn downward into a frown as I hummed in thought. Something did not look right…oh yeah, my HP was too high.
Wait, wasn't one of my new skills called [First Health Boost]?
As it turned out, I was right. [Blade Charge] was a Swordsman's basic Attack Skill that was a powerful stab while [Swordsman's Eye] allowed me to predict the movements of my enemies slightly, currently at a couple of seconds in advance. [First Health Boost] did exactly what it said on the tin and boosted my HP by fifty. It was a skill that levelled up as my Swordsman Job did, so the boost would increase over time.
"Well Mistress, this is looking promising." Iustitia said, clearly pleased. "Do you want to try out your new skills?"
I thought it was a good idea, so I did. Iustitia changed back into the Sword and Scales of Justice and I grabbed her two forms. It turned out each item contained one of her First Form's skills, and I had to hold it aloft to activate that skill. The Sword contained [Justice is Blind] and the Scales held [Balance the Scales].
"So, how do I use [Blade Charge]?" I asked my Embryo.
"Simply mentally designate a target and utter the name." she answered, her voice seemingly whispering in my ear through our connection. "With practice you will merely need to will it to activate, but like all things that will take time and practice milady."
A target…right. I looked around the warehouse and spotted a barrel that was lying on its side. Righting it, I double-checked that it was empty before taking a ready stance a couple of meters away.
"[Blade Charge]!" I said firmly as I mentally designated the old barrel as a target. I found myself leaping forwards, my blade drawn back. When I came within striking range of the barrel, the Sword of Justice shot out and pierced through the barrel's center.
"Christ." I said as I jerked my sword out of the barrel. I ended up having to use my foot as a lever to pull it out. "No way can I use this against people unless they're a regenerator."
"I see your point, but what of the one you call Hookwolf? He would resist it quite well." Iustitia pointed out.
I blanched. "I really hope I don't run into him for a good long while, Iustitia. Hookwolf's only avoided a Kill Order because he's had other people rein him in before he goes too far. He's vicious and ruthless."
Seriously, the man was an ex-pit fighter who could change into animals made out of steel blades and hooks. Until I was Level 100 at least, I didn't want to get close to him. Or Stormtiger. Or Kaiser. Or…OK, most of the higher-ranked members of the E88. And Lung. And Oni Lee.
Urgh. Why did Brockton Bay have so many damned villains?
"Master, we had better start heading home." My Embryo said. "It's almost six."
"Crap." Dad was due home late today, but I still had dinner to make. Maybe I should just order takeout and pick it up on the way?
Returning Iustitia to my Crest, I pulled on my gloves so no one would see it. My Embryo didn't like it much but agreed that such an easily identifiable mark should not be shown off.
Walking back home, I noticed that familiar prickle of my [Danger Sense] skill acting up. Looking around, I could see that the streets were almost deserted. What the hell? It's almost never like this in the Bay, especially not at this time!
'Master, ahead!' Iustitia called out in my mind. My eyes snapped towards the front from their roving and I saw…
…a rainbow-colored hooded robe? What the hell?
"Hello there, young girl." A male voice said from the robe. It wasn't a robe, now I came to look at it properly. It was a man wearing a robe. He turned around and I saw the half-face mask he was wearing. Oh hell. A Cape!
"Who are you?" I asked. "What's going on?"
I was sweating nervously, but was ready to fight if needed. Iustitia was ready and waiting to activate her First Form on my mental command.
"I? I am merely an actor on the stage of life." The masked man bowed. "But if you wish for a label for this dramatis persona, then do call me Hamelin."
My mind kicked up at that. Some Capes chose names that matched their powers, while others didn't. Armsmaster was rumoured to have picked his name out of a hat. In this case though, I had a feeling that this guy had chosen this name for a reason.
"As in the Pied Piper of Hamelin?" I asked for confirmation.
"Ah, so you've heard the story before. How lovely, children these days tend to be so uneducated." Hamelin chuckled and reached into the sleeve of his robe, drawing out a flute. "Enter the world of Hamelin, child, and grow."
Before I could do anything, he put his flute to his lips and played a quick three notes. A yellow cage snapped into place around me once the notes were finished.
"What the…?!"
Hamelin then played several longer notes and I was swallowed up by darkness. I was floating, somehow, and then I was landing on my butt as the darkness receded.
"Ow!" I groaned woozily, my head feeling like I'd just been thrown through the air by an angry Alexandria. Looking around, I saw that I seemed to be in a tunnel made from a natural cave of some kind. Had I been teleported somewhere? Mover/Shaker rating there. Definitely a Shaker rating for the energy cage as well. Then again, maybe the flute was Tinker-tech?
"Mistress, are you OK?!" Iustitia asked worriedly, snapping me out of my dazed musings.
"I'm fine, Iustitia." I said, getting up and dusting myself off. "Where the hell are we?"
"I don't know…" the Maiden of Justice answered.
"Well, if his name is anything to go by, we are either somewhere he's prepared beforehand on Earth Bet, or we're in a pocket dimension he controls." I theorized.
"Oh…the Pied Piper of Hamelin…I see." Iustitia said in realization.
The Pied Piper had lured an infestation of rats from the town of Hamelin using his flute and then drowned them in a river. When the town refused to pay him, he had taken all of their children into an opening in a mountain, never to be seen again. If he had named himself Hamelin based on that last portion of the legend, it would make sense, not to mention the musical component he seemed to need to activate it.
If he did need the music to activate it. For all I knew it could just be a prop. Anyway, the important thing to do was to find a way out of here. Sitting on my ass in this kind of situation wasn't going to get me anywhere.
"Should I come out, Mistress?" Iustitia asked.
"Not yet." I replied. "We don't know if we're being watched or monitored somehow. Last thing we need is to advertise the fact I'm a Cape to anyone else here. Without a good enough reason anyway."
"Will there be other people here, Mistress?" the Maiden of Justice asked.
"In the original tale, the Pied Piper took every child aside from three from a town. A hundred and thirty of them." I informed her in a low voice as I went left and started walking. "Also, I doubt that he started with me. The streets were deserted for a while before he found me. I'd guess that he's been hunting kids for a while."
After all, why would he go out of his way to capture me? My Dad was only important as the Union Representative and Spokesman of the Dockworker's Association, and that was pretty much it. As one of a series of seemingly unrelated kidnappings though? That made a lot more sense.
We were both silent for a while as I walked through the tunnels. They were seemingly without end and just as deserted as the Boat Graveyard. It had been about…ten minutes (it was really hard to tell in a place like this) since I had arrived when I suddenly heard the sound of something large running in my direction.
"Iustitia, be ready to deploy into First Form." I said tensely.
"At your command Mistress."
Seconds later, out of the darkness came a monster of a rat. It was the size of a Labrador at least and had foam frothing from its mouth. And, had I forgotten to mention that it was charging at me like a bat out of hell?
"Now!" I ordered and in a flash, Iustitia's Sword and Scales of Justice were in my hands. I held up the scales.
"[Balance the Scales]!" I ordered and the scales shifted. They went off-balance for a moment before snapping back into a level balance, releasing a wave of semi-transparent energy that flowed outward, striking the giant rat head-on. It stumbled for a moment before resuming its charge, but I could tell that it was having more trouble moving than before.
Raising Iustitia's sword form, I designated my target and shouted. "[Blade Charge]!"
Exactly the same as last time, I leapt forward smoothly and buried my sword into the gut of the rat, which had reared up to try and claw at me. I reacted on automatic and twisted the sword around, ripping it out through the side of the monster's chest before jumping back as it tried to snap at me in a frothing panic.
The monstrous rodent thrashed about for moment longer, letting out a loud, keening shriek but seemingly unable to truly move. Then it fell to the ground, its limbs no longer able to support itself and, after a few more violent twitches and spasms, fell still and silent.
[Victory!]
You have defeated a Giant Rat of Hamelin (LV3)! You earn 75 EXP!
I let out a tired sigh as my body shuddered in disgust. That had not been pleasant. Seeing something die like that, even a monstrous rodent, was not a sight I could see anyone sane enjoying.
"Master, tap me on the head of the beast." Iustitia said, her voice surprisingly upbeat and pleased despite our grisly work. "I'll gather your loot for you."
Nodding, I gingerly tapped the tip of Iustitia's sword form on the head of the rat. It glowed for a moment before vanishing, along with the blood on the Sword of Justice.
Loot from Giant Rat of Hamelin:
- [Rat Fur Half-Face Mask]
- $10.00
"Iustitia…?" I said slowly.
"I can…influence what you get as loot a bit if you do the tap-method." She admitted. "You need a costume, a mask at the very least, so I...tweaked the drop."
"That's…actually good." I said with a sigh. "Just…next time, a bit of warning, ok?"
"Yes, Mistress." Iustitia promised.
Sighing again, I pulled my mirror out and scrolled through my screens until I found the inventory. I had a look at the mask.
[Rat Fur Half-Face Mask]
-A basic mask made of rat fur. Conceals the user's identity at a glance. Adds +1 to all damage.-
It was basic, but I'd take what I could get. Equipping it was as easy as the push of a button. It was nice and soft on my face, which was something, and I think it actually looked good on me.
Even better, you couldn't tell it was made from a giant rat; instead it just looked like a grey half-mask made from woven fur.
Grinning, I returned Iustitia to my Crest and continued down the tunnel.
Less than five minutes later another giant rat charged me from the darkness, seemingly identical to the one that came before.
I quickly killed it, the experience slightly less horrifying than before, and ended up leveling up to a Level 2 Swordsman, which gave me stat boosts similar to my first level, sans the Stamina. According to Iustitia I only got a Stamina boost every ten levels. Skills were similar, coming every so often dependent on what they did. I was almost certain to get another Attack Skill at Level 3, so that was something to look forward to.
"Seriously, is this entire place one long tunnel?" I complained as I tapped the third Giant Rat I'd killed today to retrieve the loot it held. By this point, I'd earned $30 and a [Rat Fur Cowled Cape]. It was grey fur cloak and 'raised the level of the [Cameleoline] skill' (basically giving me the skill while I was wearing it to boot), allowing me to fade into the background if I wasn't moving, so long as I was wearing it with the hood up. Once I earned enough EXP in the skill, it would go up to Level 2, meaning I'd have learned it at Level 1.
There were some advantages to having powers that were like a video game, including the ability to game the system.
This time, I got some [Rat Skin Leather Armour], which took the form of a thick grey leather shirt with a reinforced chestplate. It added a nice armour bonus to my arms and torso, which was nice. A few of those talons had come a little too close for comfort, and didn't want to think about the kind of stuff that would come from one of those things biting me.
"Master, I think you should have a rest." Iustitia said worriedly. "You're down to barely five hundred Stamina."
"OK." It would be a Very Bad Thing if I came across a giant rat while exhausted and without any Stamina to activate my attack skill, so taking a small break to recover my Stamina was a good idea. I sat down, pulled my hood up and wrapped my cloak around me as I rested and regenerated my Stamina.
Not only would it keep me safer in case a Rodent of Unusual Size or some other unpleasantness came by, but it would also get me closer to gaining [Cameleoline] as a true skill rather than relying on my cloak.
I stilled even more as I heard voices, the first human voices I'd heard since I'd been dragged into this crazy place nearly a half-hour ago. They were a mix of male and female, a group of at least five if I was hearing them right.
"-I'm telling you this place is a giant loop!" one male voice insisted.
"Clock, that's unlikely." Another male voice, slightly higher-pitched than the first, countered.
"Why, Kid? We got zapped here, wherever 'here' is, by a weirdo doing a Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat impression and you really think that a tunnel in a donut shape is unlikely?" 'Clock' countered.
"How would this place've been built then?" 'Kid' challenged. "We've been watching the walls and haven't seen any sign of a doorway of any sort, nor are any of them curved horizontally. It makes no sense for this place to be a 'giant donut' Clock."
"Urgh, can you two please be quiet?" a younger female voice groaned. "Your argument about this is stupid."
"Sorry, Vista." Kid apologized.
Holy shit. The Wards. Hamelin had kidnapped the fucking Protectorate Wards!
The sound of feet stopped at Vista's order. "Wait. I can sense someone here."
"What are you, Spiderman now?" Clock asked skeptically.
I could barely see the petit form of Vista at the head of the Wards. Gallant, Clockblocker, Kid Win and Aegis were all right behind. No sign of former vigilante Shadow Stalker though.
"My powers are Manton Limited, Clock." The Shaker retorted. "If I can't use them in an area within my range, it means that something organic and alive is there."
"Oh."
"I can sense someone too." The large armoured form of Gallant spoke up, his helmeted head homing in onto the general area where I'd been resting/hiding. "Whoever it is, they're human and not hostile."
"Excuse me, could you come out?" Aegis asked politely. "We're the ENE Wards."
Well hell, this was a fine predicament.
'Iustitia, only speak telepathically to me unless I order you aloud.' I sent to her.
'Understood, Mistress.'
Letting out a deep breath, I steeled my nerves and stood up, making the Wards jump in surprise. To them, it must have looked like I melted out of the wall.
"Holy-!"
"Clockblocker!"
"The 'Joseph Impersonator' you were referring to is called Hamelin, Clockblocker." I informed the Ward. "As in the Pied Piper of Hamelin."
Kid Win palmed his mask. "Of course. That explains the flute. Urgh, I'm an idiot."
Gallant nodded to me. "Nice to meet you…?"
"Call me…Justitia." I said with a small smile. "How long have you guys been here?"
"About two hours." Aegis answered. "We've been walking for most of that."
"Have you met any of the crazy bastard's 'pets' yet?"
"Nooooo…why, have you?" Clockblocker asked.
"Three giant rats the size of Labradors that apparently wanted to eat my face." I answered dryly.
Vista's face, the parts I could see anyway, blanched. "Christ."
"Tell me about it." I grumbled. "I've only been here for about half an hour. Aren't you missing someone?"
"Stalker was on Console Duty today." Kid Win said. "We were on a visit to a mall when this Hamelin guy walks up, plays a flute and the next thing we know, here we are."
"Were any of the Protectorate around?" I asked with a frown.
"Triumph, Battery, and a couple of PRT Troopers." Vista answered.
"I wonder how he managed to get away from them?" I wondered. Triumph (whose power was basically a sonic cannon scream) would have been simple to escape from if Hamelin was prepared, but Battery's power granted her bursts of super speed and strength, it would be difficult to get away from her unless Hamelin had a Mover power of his own.
"Less important than finding our way out of here." Aegis interrupted. "Justitia, care to join us to break out of this place?"
I blinked at the somewhat corny offer. "Um…sure." I nodded. "I just came from over there though, so we'd have to walk half an hour just to arrive at where I came in."
I nodded in the direction the Wards had been walking to make my point.
"Well, we've covered everything back there for the last two hours, so your old direction's a better one than ours." Clockblocker shrugged.
"Fair point." I shrugged before walking over to them.
"Just to know, what's your power, aside from your Stranger power?" Aegis asked.
"It's a power Trumped into the cloak, actually." I corrected. "My actual power is...well…Iustitia, First Form."
"Yes Mistress." My Embryo answered and the Sword and Scales of Justice appeared in my hands.
"Whoa…!" Vista gave the impression that her eyes were wide open, despite the opaque visor she wore.
"Nice." Clockblocker said appreciatively.
"That…" Gallant sounded as if he were frowning. "I can sense emotions from them."
I blinked. "You're an empath?"
"Yeah, not as flashy as my emotion blasts, but it has its uses." he answered.
"Oh. Makes sense." I nodded. "OK then…Iustitia, Maiden Form."
"Yes, Mistress."
In a flash, the little Maiden of Justice was standing next to me. "Greetings. I am Mistress Justitia's Embryo, Maiden of Justice Iustitia." she introduced herself, curtsying slightly.
There was silence at this. Then Vista glomped Iustitia. "So cute!"
"Does she do that a lot?" I asked in bemusement.
"Any time anything adorable, fluffy or cute is involved." Aegis answered dryly. "So…Mistress?"
"Master/Shaker/Trump." I explained. "She's a projection, albeit a sentient and semi-independent one, which can manifest her own abilities or transform into an alternate form with different abilities. I also have the ability to quantify and improve my physical and mental abilities in numeric form."
"Wait…like an RPG?!" Kid Win looked at me sounding shocked.
"Basically." I confirmed. Then, I froze as I heard the sound of running clawed feet. "Iustitia, First Form!"
In a flash, my sword and scales were back in my hand. Turning, I found another giant rat, this one the size of a Great Dane, charging directly towards us.
"God!" Vista squeaked in disgust.
"What the hell?!" Kid Win pulled a laser pistol from somewhere.
"I'll handle it." I said and held up the scales. "[Balance the Scales]!"
Once again, the scales shifted and then rebalanced. The by-now familiar wave of semi-transparent energy washed out of the instrument and struck the rat, making it stumble for a moment, more than long enough for me to dash in and used [Blade Charge] to deal a critical blow. A few quick follow-up strikes and the rat fell dead to the ground.
"Oh god…!" someone started heaving behind me. Dammit.
I quickly tapped the tip of Iustitia's sword on the head of the rat, making it and the pooling blood vanish.
"You're pretty hardcore, you know that?" Clockblocker stated mildly, though he was leaning back a bit.
"They're not real animals, they're just projections or bio-mutants or something created by the crazy person who kidnapped us. I just have to keep repeating 'they're not real' over and over again and it stops being a problem." I said, trying to keep my emotions out of my voice, no way was I showing how close I was to freaking out over this. "In either case, killing them is necessary. They won't stop attacking unless you put them down for good. I've tried scaring them off, but they just don't stop."
Gallant stepped forward and put an armored hand on my shoulder. Oh right, empath. God damn it.
"Noted." Kid Win gulped, but snapped a switch on the side of his laser pistol. "Lethal mode online."
"I thought Armsmaster had to authorize that?" Gallant asked nervously.
"Our link to the Console is gone." The young Tinker shrugged. "Armsmaster set things up so that, if that happened without a signal from him beforehand, I could access the lethal mode. Emergency procedure in case of sudden, unexpected attacks."
Damn. No reinforcements coming to the rescue from the Protectorate then.
We all started walking down the tunnel in silence before Aegis spoke up again.
"Justitia, what was that ability you used against that rat?"
"It's…well, a Shaker power that lowers the physical abilities of anything caught within ten meters to match my own." I answered. "Or raise them."
"Huh?"
"The name of the power is [Balance the Scales]. That means the power's purpose is to equalize the abilities, the physical ones at least, between me and my enemies." I explained. "Either they get lowered to my level if they're stronger than me, or they get raised up to my level is they're weaker than me."
"That's…pretty scary." Clockblocker remarked. "What kind of tests have you done with it?"
"None. I've only used it four times, including just a moment ago." I answered. "Heck, I wasn't even in costume when Hamelin up and kidnapped me. Hell, it hasn't been a full day since I realized I HAD powers!"
"Holy fuck." Aegis swore. "This guy's breaking the Unwritten Rules, going after a Cape out of costume like that!"
"I'm more worried about what him going after us in particular means." I put in with a frown.
"Whaddya mean?" Clockblocker gave me a confused look.
"This guy's modelled himself after the Pied Piper, which means that, more than likely, he's going to be targeting kids. And if the lot of us are any example, he's also only targeting Capes as well." I stated, my mind buzzing as I put two and two together. "Following that logically, he could be going after Shadow Stalker, Glory Girl, Panacea, Shielder and maybe Laserdream too."
"Aw fuck!" Gallant groaned. "We should have thought of that."
"He didn't go after Triumph and he just left the Wards a year or so ago, so he can't be older than twenty." Aegis said thoughtfully. "I think that eighteen's the limit of this guy's criteria. Laserdream should be safe as she just turned nineteen not long ago."
"Any other teen Capes in the Bay?" I asked.
"Rune from the Empire is definitely in the age limit and the entirety of the Undersiders as well." Kid Win volunteered. "I think that Parian is also under 18 but I'm not sure about that. Unless any more fresh Triggers like you are targeted, Justitia, that should be everyone from the Bay that could be or come here."
"Great. A pacifist, Ms. Hitler Youth, and the Masters of Escape." Clockblocker shook his head. "Not useful to get out of this place."
"It isn't like a healer, shadow-Breaker, Alexandria-type and a forcefield user are going to do much either." Vista pointed out, before looking curiously at me. "How'd he even know you were a cape Justitia? You said you weren't even in costume when he found you."
"I've got two theories." I responded thoughtfully, the question had been bothering me as well. "First is that he saw me practicing with my powers, but I don't think that's likely. I was using a derelict warehouse in the docks and it was completely deserted. Unless he's got a Stranger power I would have noticed someone else in there. The other option is that he's got some kind of Cape-Detection power and he just grabbed me when it noticed me."
"So either a Stranger or Thinker power, some sort Mover/Shaker teleportation power, and whatever he used to make those rat things and get away from the Triumph and Battery." Kid Win listed off in frustration. "Just what kind of grab-bag power does this Hamelin guy have!?"
"He also used some kind of energy cage when he grabbed me." I added, getting a groan from Kid Win. "I'm starting to think he's some kind of Tinker. Both times he used his powers on me he was playing that flue of his, was it the same for you guys?'
"Yeah." agreed Aegis, rubbing his chin in thought. "He just waltzed up, playing that thing and then we were all dragged here. So you think that flue is Tinkertech?"
"Either that or some kind of control device." I agreed with a nod.
Our conversation was suddenly and violently derailed as a loud, angry, female roar rippled down the tunnel from the direction we were heading. It was a well-known sound to those who lived in Brockton Bay, belonging to the resident Alexandria-with-a temper.
Gallant said it best as we started racing in the direction of the shout.
"Vicky!"