Charged State flew casually through the air over Brockton Bay in the evening, her keen eyes watching the ebb and flow of humanity as they went about their business below. Long training had her noting when pairs of 'thug' would wander down alleyways.
Just like back in Paragon City, almost half were up to something. Most were just tagging their neighborhood, but she had stopped three muggings already.
So when she saw a man get thrown away down the alley and against a wall to land in a heap, she adjusted her flight to circle around so that she could see down that particular alleyway. There was a masked figure that seemed to be yelling at a vagrant. Not that he was much better dressed.
Skidmark, a gang leader with the power to shoot people away from him. The dark-skinned man with a bandanna mask on had turned away and was walking down the alley.
Repulsion effects weren't that hard to resist, especially as it looked she could just float above the ground. A moment's thought had her overhead and then she just cut her flying power as all of her energy started to channel through the air around her. The crackle-pop of electricity gave the villain just a moments warning so he looked up just in time to see her land with a painful thud right in front of him.
"Ah, god damn fucking wonderful," Skidmark said, instantly trying to shoot the star-spangled wearing heroine away. She didn't move, which shocked him (more than the little arcs of electricity from her). "The fuck?"
He did not even notice that she was not on the ground. Not the brightest sort, but could be a bit dangerous. She rabbit punched his nose lightly, sending him staggering slightly. The carefully gauged punch to his jaw laid him out.
That was when the garbage pile leaped up and attacked her, burying her in in a pile of pure filth. Mush chuckled, as he loved drowning the pretty heroes in muck. He chortled and laughed.
Charged State raised a fist as high as she could to pull it out of the muck, then slammed it down hard, shaking both building next to her as she made a ten foot wide crater and splashed Mush's trash onto both walls. Before he could could recover, a massive haymaker slid his real body thirty feet up the wall to smash into the bottom of a fire escape before he plopped down on the ground.
A click to her earbud got her in contact with the PRT dispatcher. "This is Charged State. I have apprehended two of the Merchant parahumans. Skidmark and Mush, I believe."
"Could you repeat that, Charged State?" the dispatcher replied, sounding a bit surprised. After it was repeated, the dispatcher replied with some orders. "Stay on site as reinforcements are sent to help contain them."
"Of course." Charged State stomped on the ground next to Mush, splatting him on the wall again. No teleport to prison tags. How annoying.
"You can't really hurt me," Mush stated woozily.
"I'm just trying to arrest you." Let's see if this would work. Both hands slammed together with a massive clap, louder than a jet engine.
The pile of trash just shifted back to a somewhat human form, groaning on the ground.
Charged State nodded her head as he seemed to finally give up. A soft scraping sounded from above gave her just enough time to look up as someone dumped a trashcan full of garbage out the window and onto her.
"I really don't like this city," she grumbled. At least it wasn't a cancer on humanity like the Rogue Isles had been. That had been casually horrific everywhere.
Rather than just in the alleys of Paragon City, she admitted ruefully. It was just annoying that the average person seemed more sullen and mean. More like the barely civilized people under Lord Recluse.
The SWAT truck finally arrived and sprayed down both villains. They seemed to be quite good at this part, if not the frontline fighters that the PPD were back in her reality. (Now those were cops that could go toe-to-toe with just about anyone. And might win).
Shaking her head, Charged State hoped that the other 'refugees' were having a better time of it.
The music was quite loud, giving the albino woman a reason to smile as she pulled her leather jacket a little tighter over her fishnet shirt. The doorman gave her a look from twenty feet back in the line.
"Name?" he asked, contrary to the rest of the line.
"Althea," she responded, using the name she had picked up when she landed in Paragon City.
His eyebrows rose higher. "You're... kind of pale?"
"Do you have a problem with albinos?"
"Ah, no. Not at all. Head on in, miss," the rough looking man said.
Althea raised an eyebrow behind her pair of dark glasses as she noted some very odd beings in the back on an upper floor. They were not very obvious and mostly in the shadows, but were leaning over the balcony. One of them was leaning up against a 'hazard-zone' taped off three foot section. They looked like some mutants. Off to the side was woman who, while not wearing a suit, was wearing an outfit that looked more serious than the party goers.
She grabbed a drink that she remembered liking the flavor of, paying with her generic bank card that Piggot said most people did not know even worked with the PRT. After about ten minutes, she wandered out to the dance floor, trying to lose herself into the beat.
It wasn't working, though. The music was good, the flashing lights and darkness were set up well. Young people danced and gyrated, smiles on their face. She should have been enjoying herself.
But her friends weren't here. After half an hour, the conflicting emotions were starting to cause her to develop a headache. Light. Darkness.
She had to get out. Inside was suffocating, trapped and confining. Out.
The cold air outside was a relief as she stalked past the line a bit unsteadily. She turned towards a wide alley way and once she was out of sight, leaped into the air in a flash of blue-white. Futurias stared at her white-glowing hands, then with a mental 'snap' nodded. Of course glowing was correct. A tap on her bracelet brought out her white and navy-blue costume out of storage. Energy surged through as she glowed even more, rocketing into the air.
Ten minutes later, she saw some members of the ABB beating up a blonde girl who was only wearing her bra for a top. She was crying and holding her hands above her head as they beat her with long sticks, leaving whip marks and her crying out in pain. The other end of the alley was blocked by a large dump truck.
Futurias land with a massive thud, glowing incandescently. "Leave her alone!"
"Ventilate the bitch!" the leader of the trio shouted through his handkerchief mask.
Twenty second later, after emptying their guns they were just make clicking noises and Futurias was totally unharmed.
"My turn, creeps," she said, unleashing a powerful bolt of white energy at the first thug, sending him flying. Three steps had her suddenly in melee, a glowing fist knocked the other guy two feet into the air. Her eyes then blasted a weaker beam that dropped the last one to the ground.
Her glow softened as she stepped over to the battered woman. "Are you all right?" Futurias held out a white glove to help her up.
The woman did not look up. "Sure. Thank you."
Futurias frowned. That was not a normal response-
Lung slammed into the ground right next to her. "Die, Purity." He buried his fist deep into her stomach, robbing her of breath. Her jaw cracked from his vicious right cross.
The stunned heroine staggered three steps before Lungs spinning left claw that plunged under her rib cage with a squelch. She looked down to see the hand, but it was inside her chest.
The Asian gang leader pulled out his hand and let her collapse onto her face. He turned to the blonde 'victim'. "You can leave, Carlina. Your bonus will be delivered by Hujong as normal."
The hooker nodded her head rapidly even as she ran down the alley.
Lung looked down at the figure on the ground, draped in her cape... Cape? When did the damn glow-bug start to wear a cape?
A massive double-helix of energy hit him in the back, smashing him into the dump truck as he felt his power suddenly feel a proper threat. "Purity? Who would have thought there were two dumb glowing and flying women in Brockton Bay." He pushed off the dented side of the heavy metal truck to stand up fearlessly to glare at the woman in the air.
"A trap for me?" Purity said, feeling a cold chill up her back. She could be just as dead as that girl, though she would have been a bit more suspicious. She narrowed her glowing eyes in fury.
Then the sound of alien chimes, striking discordantly as the crumpled form on the ground started to glow with the light of a star as the figure floated into the air. Her wounds were leaking energy, but you could see the energy filling in or moving the parts back into place.
With a snap-ring, Futurias landed back on the ground with her own glowing eyes glaring at Lung.
"That... was a mistake," Futurias said as layers of glowing energy formed transparent bubbles around her.
Lung just smiled under his metal mask. "I will rip your head off this time."
"Purity, right? Shall we work together?" the glowing woman on the ground asked the flyer.
Purity smile, just about the only thing you could see of her features. "Sure."
Futurias rushed in to melee with a leap, to smash down upon Lung with blasting force. He took the blow on his forearms, feeling the bones crack slightly, healing very quickly.
"You know, firing into melee doesn't work with large energy beams," Purity noted loudly.
"True. I have a solution," the albino said. With a crackle of blue-white energy, she turned into a ball of energy that continued to unleash bursts of white energy. "I am immaterial, so you can not hurt me."
A massive double helix of white energy blasted right through the energy being, even as Lung was hit in the stomach with a second massive burst to his stomach. Futurias spun off three globs of energy that exploded with steel shattering force.
Lung was finding hitting the blob of energy in front of him not very effective, so blasted out a massive burst of fire up at Purity as she flew overhead. She yelled out in pain and zoomed out of the flames. The glowing blob of energy next to Lung blasted him with stunning light and then shot a beam at Purity that hit her head on.
"What was that?" Purity shouted out surprise and fear.
"Healing energy," Futurias called out as she continued to pour on the blasts, cooking part of Lung's shoulder.
An even bigger blast of spiraling energy shattered a wing even as it grew out.
"Daaaaahm trumpssss," Lung hissed, as he realized this was too close of a fight. He smashed a fist into the ground, tore it wide open and then dove into the revealed sewers.
The flying parahuman shot a blast into the hole. Purity hovered in closer, looking like she was thinking of heading in.
"Don't bother following him. Probably trapped or just not safe for us flyers," Futurias said as she re-materialized with one fist pushed to the ground from her kneeling position. She stood back up and then floated off the ground.
"So is this where you attack me?" Purity asked threateningly. Her normal mode of resolving conflicts wouldn't work this time. She couldn't just fly away because this woman was a flyer too.
"Why should I? Unless you are a villain about to do a crime?" Futurias asked curiously.
"No. Not any more."
"Oh? Trying to redeem yourself? Very cool! If you need help, just ask. You need to do more high profile stuff though," Futurias said with an honest smile on her face.
Purity just blink-blinked at the strange woman. "That's it? Most people would think that a villain trying to become a hero is stupid."
"But you do want to be a hero? To do good?"
The older woman nodded slowly.
"Then you work towards it," Futurias stated. She held out her hand, which Purity took in a firm grip.
"Yes. So I see."
"You are a bitch, Gina," the blonde girl in front of her said. She had her fists clenched across the large table.
"So?" the scruffy brunette said in a lazy manner from her seat in the back of the science classroom. "Are you gonna cry to your shrine of Hitler?"
Did she really say that? Taylor looked up from her books where she was going over her school work. (Her grades had abruptly improved after Sophia had been transferred out. Emma and Madison had found out that 'zero tolerance' really was zero tolerance.
The whole room was silent as they processed the insult.
Marion Schmidt's face turned a startling red as she grabbed one of the desk chairs and shoved it out of her way. She had a twisted, angry snarl on her lips. She lashed out a fast punch at the sitting girl's face. Gina rolled with the attack ever so slightly.
"Fight! Fight!" some of the teens started to chant.
Gina had a frown as she tried to block the clumsy punches. She had to consciously try to not resist the pummeling, but even so she was still tougher than a normal human. And Piggot would string her up if she actually hurt the girl.
"Hey!" Taylor shouted, trying to grab the arm of the feisty blonde. "You guys are going to get in more trouble." Her skinny form was not holding Marion back much at all.
Marion suddenly found herself pulled off of Gina. "That is enough, Miss. Schmidt! Do you want me to call the police again?" Mr. Davis was a huge, bulky man that must have been on the way to his own class when he heard the commotion.
"Fuck you. No. Shit. Victor is going to tar my hide," Marion said.
Mr. Davis gave her a long, steady look. "I thought your father's name was Richard, Miss. Schmidt?"
"Victor's a friend of the family. He's watching me while my dad's in jail again. Sir." She was not hiding her dislike of the larger and dark-skinned man.
"Gina Itanica, Taylor Hebert. Come with me."
The three girls found themselves sitting outside the principal's office.
"You're still a bitch," Marion muttered on Taylor's left side, casing the skinniest girl to twitch.
"You already said that. Are you-" Gina started to retort on the other side, leaning forward to glare at her.
"Gina! Starting a fight in the school's office over the top of me isn't cool," Taylor interjected quickly. She was almost hyperventilating.
Gina blinked. "Oh. Sorry. Shit."
"Locker Girl is your friend? Man, you suck harder than I thought," Marion said snidely.
That was when the door opened and the principal stuck her head out. "Miss Schmidt. You're first. First time back in school in weeks and the first thing you do is get into a fight?"
The two sat awkwardly.
"So why were you provoking her?" Taylor finally asked as she nervously pushed her glasses up her nose.
"Hate nazis. Uh, neo-nazis. Fascist wanna be world conquering asshats," Gina said as she slumped down further in her chair.
"Wow, you must hate the Empire Eighty-Eight," Taylor said in small amazement.
"They are losers. I mean they don't even have any decent scientists. No giant robots, death machines, laser pistols or even making werewolves. Total losers," the new girl said.
"Uh, what?" She really was not certain if she was being serious or not.
"I mean, they don't even have a secret lair in a volcano or anything," Gina said with a curt nod of her head.
Has to be pulling her leg. Just has to be, Taylor thought to herself.
Somehow, trying to help and stop a fight was grounds for getting after school detention for an hour. At least she only had to stay today, though she had a letter that was being sent to her father about her 'fighting' in school. Gina had detention for the next week.
Taylor looked to the left at the other girl out of her peripheral vision.
Gina had a few bandages over her light bruises. (They were actually healed already, but she didn't want anyone to see that). "What?"
Taylor jumped a little bit. "So, um, could you teach me to fight a bit. I mean, to defend myself? I wasn't very helpful to try and stop Marion and I don't want to be helpless any more." She hunched her shoulders, subconsciously trying to make herself smaller and less threatening, even though she was several inches taller.
"They really fucked you up, didn't they? Sure, why the fuck not," Gina said as she scanned around. "Let's go behind that apartment building. Don't want someone calling the cops for you punching my hands."
The other girl blinked, but nodded. They tromped through the crunchy, dirty snow and behind the half boarded up windows. Taylor watched the other girl open up her hands.
"So I want you to punch my hands as hard as possible. Don't worry, you can't hurt me yet," Gina promised as she held up her hands palms forward.
Taylor nodded, then lashed out a simple punch that slapped the palm slightly.
"Stop. I want you to watch me throw a punch. First, feet slightly wider than your hips and with bent knees. And when you throw a punch, you don't just use your arm and fist. The power from the punch comes from your foot and has your whole body behind it." Gina showed, her punch snapping through the air.
The other girl nodded. "Can you do that again?" Several tiny insects were positioned across the brute's body.
"Um? Sure, I guess." Gina snapped out another punch, then another from her opposite fist.
Taylor approximated her stance and move, using more insects to 'learn' the correct positioning. Her fist slapped against Gina's palm very hard.
"Great. Now keep trying to punch through my hand," the other dimensional superhuman said.
"Right," Taylor said with total concentration. She could use this to learn some martial arts moves, she realized.
Across the empty lot and standing in the shadows, Marion Schmidt snorted as she watched them 'practice'. "Locker Taylor wants to defend herself? They're both fucking idiots." She reached down and barely touched a broken brick.
It floated off the ground, the bottom crusty with frost and dirt. With just a few simple thoughts, the brick floated up and over the abandoned apartment building. A minute later, she saw the brick reappear above the two girls. For just a moment, she thought about slamming the corner of the brick into Gina's head. But being as asshole wasn't worth a murder rap.
Breaking her bones was fair game though. With a clench of her fist, Marion shot the rock at Gina's shoulder. It hit hard enough to send the girl to her knees. Then she smirked as the board under her feet lifted up even as she pulled up her hoodie. Holding onto another rock, she shot off down the alley away from the empty lot and then over a building.
"Gina?" Taylor shouted out worriedly.
"I'm alright. Well, mostly. Someone really doesn't like me. Think my jacket took most of the hit." Dang, that actually bruised. That would have broken a normal person's arm. Should she fake a sling for a few days?
"I don't see anyone around," the taller girl said.
Gina's PRT issued phone chimed. She pulled it out, seeing a message to come to the PRT Headquarters. "Say, Taylor? I've gotta go. Foster parents are worried, so I need to hurry home."
"Oh, sure. See you in gym tomorrow?" she asked.
"Yeah," Gina replied absently.
As Taylor was walking out of sight down the road, she felt the insects on Gina suddenly travelling down the road faster than a car and headed downtown. There must have been an emergency.
The stocky form of Director Piggot was glaring at her three newest members, with Armsmaster and Miss Militia at her sides. Charged State was standing off to the side of the conference table, while Futurias in an electric blue and shockingly white costume was sitting across the table.
"Would you mind explaining why you forgot to tell us you had an entirely different set of powers and alternate costume, young lady? And you," Piggot asked, pointing at the star-spangled wearing cape, "why didn't you tell us about this?"
It had nearly given her conniptions when Dauntless had flown up to talk to her as she had been flying around all morning.
"I didn't know, exactly, what was going on. What with all the cloners and alternate dimensions. Sorry," Charged State said as she gave a helpless shrug.
"And you, Futurias?"
"Because I'm trying to not go insane. The Fifth Column captured me, trying to find the source of my powers. They don't care about not hurting their victims." Futurias stared down at the polished black surface of the conference table. "Something happened, some sort of attack. There was some explosions. I probably should have died, but two aliens tried to save themselves by bonding to me."
"Two?" Charged State blurted out in surprise. "A Warshade too?"
"No, a Peacebringer and Nictus. At times, usually overnight, I'll switch to different meldings. My Peacebringer mind meld is just... a more light and fun version of myself. The other one though, I have to fight to not sink into evil." Futuria's head was pounding. It was much easier to not think about them, the alternate personality meldings.
"So that's why she would straddle the lines as a rogue or vigilante. I never got the straight story on that before," the other refugee said in a musing tone.
A rap, then three staccato raps and then two final raps knocked on the door. Miss Militia opened the door. The scarf-wearing heroine had a quizzical look on her face. "What was with the knock?"
"Roger Rabbit?" Gitanica replied with a grin.
"I'm sorry?" Miss Militia asked.
"Cartoon movie. Way to show your maturity there, Gitanica," Charged States said with a heavy sigh of frustration.
Armsmaster's thoughts were diverted for just a second from a problem he was thinking of with his new halberd he was working on. "So are you a threat to the team?" he demanded flatly of Futurias.
"No, even as as the Warshade... I understand the rules. And I'm still loyal to friends. I just have little patience with rules or letting villains getting away." Her head was really throbbing now.
Gitanica was just looking confused. "Er, why am I here?"
Piggot gave her a sidelong glare. "Because of your fighting at Winslow. Which we will talk about in depth after Armsmaster and I make a decision or two. Armsmaster?"
"Are you still going to be combat effect in all of your... forms?" the Tinker asked shrewdly.
Futurias nodded, the edges of her vision dimming slightly. "Yes," she replied in a pained tone.
"Then we'll work with it. She has not committed a crime here. If you commit any crimes as this Warshade or Nictus, you'll have to answer for it. Director? I have some things I have to get back to." He did not even wait for an answer, heading out.
Piggot nodded, hiding her frustration at the team leader. "Gitanica. Walk with me." She led the teen heroine out of the conference room.
"Are you alright, Futurias?" Miss Militia asked worriedly.
"It just hurts sometimes. The Peacebringer and Nictus are sworn enemies on opposite political factions of their race." It would be just easier if she could just be herself for a bit. Her posture changed ever so slightly as she tapped a hidden control on her glove, shifting her outfit back to its iconic blood red and black costume. "That's better. Just... myself for now."
"Well, that was a thing," Charged States said.
Miss Militia nodded. "It was. I've got patrol this afternoon, so I'll see you later." She gave them a wave and then headed out the door to the conference room.
"So, Futurias? Is this going to keep you from tracking down Lung so we can arrest him?" the red, blue and white wearing heroine asked.
"No. Just the two of us?" the albino asked curiously as her headache faded.
"No, we need another brute and a heavy blaster. None of the Protectorate really seem to want to confront him," Charged States said firmly. Battery had just laughed in his face.
"So you want to recruit Gitanica? I may have a local blaster that would love to prove her heroism," Futurias said with a soft smile on anticipation on her face.
"Oh?"
"Purity. She quit the Empire Eighty-Eight and has been trying to do solo hero work. Very powerful, but not very flexible. She can fly at least," the defender explained. "Probably need to help get her story out there so people can see she's trying to switch sides."
"I can probably help with that. Track Lung down and we'll see what we can do to see he gets a Birdcage suite," Charged States said with a wide smile.
Futurias nodded at that.
"I want your side of the story," Piggot stated as she sat behind her cluttered desk.
"This girl showed up. She's wearing some of those gang colors for skinheads. Red shoelaces, necklace with a swastika. Generic neo-nazi crap. I let her know I hate Nazis. She called me a bitch, I agreed and then asked her if she was going to go cry to her shrine to Hitler. She jumped me and she tried to beat me up," Gitanica said as she sunk as deep as she could on the chair across from the director.
"Really? So you are abusing your invincibility to get other kids in trouble. Do you realize how serious that matter is?" Piggot snapped out.
"Are you trying to tell me what to think? Or to just ignore those facist bastards? To not be a hero?" Gitanica said as she sat up and glared hatefully at Piggot.
It was silent for a long minute as they glared at each other.
"You are a bully that likes beating up on people-"
"No, that's Shadow Stalker. I like fighting. Baiting skinhead creeps that are probably going to join the Empire Eighty-Eight is not bullying. Especially when they throw the first punch," the teen interrupted loudly. "Don't project your own issues on me."
The stocky woman looked livid, but nodded. "Perhaps you aren't a bully, but you aren't a very good hero."
"No. I'm not. But I'm trying to not screw up as much any more." Gitanica sat back down.
"Why do you hate them?" Piggot asked finally.
The young superhero looked uncomfortable. "One of my mother's first boyfriends that I remember... he was that sort of guy. And he always put her down for being quarter Japanese. Didn't stop him from screwing her though. Then he joined the Fifth Column. The Fifth Column, they make your Empire Eighty-Eight look like amateurs. They can field hundreds of soldiers fitted out with high tech, anti-superhero weapons alongside their giant robots, mutant werewolves and vampires. They've come close to conquering our Earth at times."
"He got captured or killed, didn't he?" Piggot suggested in a soft voice.
"He was still a thug and beat her. And she still wanted him back. Mom was stupid."
Piggot finally nodded her head. "There won't be any disciplinary action this time. But if you start a fight with them at school, you will be punished for it. Just like any other student."
Gitanica stood up and shrugged at the older woman. "Fair. I guess I should just grab something to eat from the cafeteria, then wait around to go on patrol."
"Have a good day, Gitanica," Piggot said frostily as she left.
The door slammed quite loudly.
The next morning, the elevator that led to the bullpen of the Brockton Bay Gazette opened to admit a woman in a pair of pinstripes suit pants, matching vest and a button up white men's shirt and tie. She doffed her fedora and looked around and finally spotted the person she was looking for.
The young man in the smallest cubical looked harried. He looked up, peering at her through his stylish prescription glasses. "Yes?"
"Jordan Lang?" She continued at his nod. "I understand you do investigative reporting on Parahumans?"
Jordan raised an eyebrow. "That's right. Heroes, rogues and villains. Very swingers outfit you have there."
"It's an acquired style, I guess. I saw it on a World War I vet and thought it classy," the dark-haired woman said with a grin.
"So what can I help you with?" Jordan asked curiously.
"I want you help to take down the Lung and his ABB thugs," she said directly as she squeezed into a small chair in front of his tiny desk.
"Isn't it dangerous for you to be without a mask? I mean, you don't know you can trust me," the reporter noted curiously.
"My only friends and family can take care of themselves. You can call me Sam," the short-haired brunette said.
"You aren't nearly nine feet tall or an albino, so you must be Charged States then. Not worried at all for your own safety?" he asked curiously.
"I'm bulletproof and just about as tough as any brute. I'm not too worried right now. We'll keep it our little secret. Can you help us with tracking down Lung?" she asked.
"Probably. You going to show up there with the Protectorate to take him down finally?"
Sam gave him a vicious grin. "Something like that."
It was three nights later that they tracked him down. Futurias had ghosted into the abandoned looking warehouse while the door had been opened by two ABB thugs. She teleported directly from the door into the rafters, cloaked in shadowy living darkness.
Then she watched as Lung stomped up and down in the open area cleaned out between old crates.
"Jahng. Lee. You had better have some good news to report about what happened two hours ago," Lung said in a threatening tone to his newly arrived underlings.
"We were attacked and robbed by unknown capes. Not heroes. Only one I recognized or saw was the Bitch. She had three of her monsters. We did not have a chance, especially with the living shadows being thrown around. There was a jester girl and some gay dude with a frilly outfit. They hit our vault just after we put in the... last of the week's take." Jahng did not look happy to explain that.
Flames were flickering over Lung's body. "They knew I would not be there as I was dealing with Hookwolf leading an attack into my territory. The shadows... that was likely Grue. He's a nobody. I will crush him and the Bitch."
"Pardon, but I think they called themselves the Undersiders, great Lung," the other new arrival said.
"Ha. Bottom feeders. If only Oni was free, he could have stopped them on his own," the leader of the ABB proclaimed. "I have received some news from a few capes from New York. Siwang Qixi was very interested in a position, though I had to promise him a large fee to leave his place in Chinatown," Lung explained. "Once he is here, we will free Oni and then start to push back against the Empire."
"Siwang? I thought he had a kill order from the PRT?" Jahng asked carefully.
"He is... a bit unstable, but he respects power. He will follow me. Or else."
That calmed the small group of his four most trusted human lieutenants.
While they had been talking, Futurias had been quietly teleporting heroes to her. First had been Charged States, then Gitanica. Finally she summoned a last minute addition; Ms. Liberty. Purity was outside and supposedly close, but she had refused to power all the down, as her glowing aura was her mask.
Charged States got a ready hand-sign from everyone, then did a three count. On one, she and Gitanica leaped forward towards where Lung was still talking just eighty feet away. By the time they both landed next to the totally surprised Lung, murky black energy was clawing at the ABB's life force from the ground below them; weakening him.
"Ambush!" Lung managed to bellow out before two powerful punches landed into his stomach with nothing held back. He lost his breath explosively, but quickly snapped a punch into the electricity brute in front of him, to little effect.
Ms. Liberty was a bare moment behind them even as she carefully gathered electricity into her upheld hands as her boots hit the ground. Lightning crackled and struck everyone within fifty feet of herself. Lung, Charged State and Gitanica didn't even flinch, but each of the lieutenants felt like they had been jabbed with tasers and collapsed in twitching heaps.
And then shadows descended, wrapping around Lung in a cocoon of inky blackness that he could not burn away with his pyrokinesis.
"คєtђєгเς คςtเשคtเ๏ภ: Shadow Fall," Futurias intoned as she used her mental mantra to shape her power. She would be using her regeneration retarding powers to their utmost, even as she healed the minor scrapes by stealing some of Lung's life force. It was a long time tactic for taking down tricky archvillains like Lung.
Purity arrived in her inimitable style, blasting a thirty foot hole in the far wall that she then flew in through. "Hey, Lung! This is payback for putting me in the hospital for a week," she called out as she gathered up her most potent blast.
He barely heard her boastful declaration, as he was starting to have serious issues even as his silver-bright scales extruded out to protect him. He could feel his regeneration reacting sluggishly and his scales seemed weaker and hardly any protection. The blinding pain as Purity's three foot wide helix-bolt refocused him, but the triple pounding by Gitanica, Charged State and Ms. Liberty was starting to pile up. Already one arm dangled loosely, broken and not healing nearly fast enough.
"Howr!?" he howled smashed a punch into the smiling giantess's face.
"Hya!" Ms. Liberty said from right behind him, smashing a eagle-claw martial attack into his back.
Lung actually felt his back break from that attack. "No! No!" He started to crumple forward as he lost control of his lower body.
"Now!" Charged State yelled out.
Two massive, fury-fueled knock-out blows lifted Lung off the ground, smashing him into the ceiling over with their punches to his jaw. He flopped back down to the ground and did not get up.
"Hell yeah! Take that!" Gitanica shouted as she bounced up and down like a loon with her fists in the air.
"Is that... normal?" Purity asked as she watched the hyperactive girl.
"Yes," the Paragons called out in synch, sounding frustrated.
The glowing woman snickered.
Futurias took a moment to send a message to the PRT. "Gitanica, help tie them up and keep our guest unconscious, please. A containment crew is on the way. Armsmaster is very upset at us."
Gitanica stopped hopping around and gave her a disgusted look. At Ms. Liberty's hand on her arm, they both started to tie up gang members with kevlar slip-ties.
"I should leave then," Purity said in a subdued voice.
"Not quite yet, I hope," Charged State called out. She had just finished sending a text message. "After all, how can people know you are a hero without being on the front page?"
"What-!? What are you talking about?" the ex-villainess stuttered out as she floated off sideways a little bit.
A tentative knock came from the front door. The star-spangled heroine popped the door off its hinges. "Meet Jordan Lang, a reporter with the Brockton Bay Gazette."
"You did it? You actually captured Lung?" the young reporter asked in amazement.
"Right over there," Charged State said, gesturing at the unconscious form in the middle of the group of captured gang members.
The reporter trotted over, snapping a quick picture or ten with his sturdy digital camera. "Amazing. How could you do that when the whole team and the Wards couldn't even stop him?"
"We had to defeat him in the first minute before his strength and regeneration could ramp up. Futurias's darkness was very useful for weakening him enough that we could take him down," Charged State explained. "It was all over in less than a minute."
That got a whistle from the reporter. He looked around, spotting the two unaffiliated capes. "Purity? So is Empire Eighty-Eight working with the Protectorate to take down Lung?"
"No! No, I quit the Empire. I'm just a solo hero, trying to make up for my past mistakes," the glowing woman said strongly. "Futurias invited me along to help make a real difference here in Brockton Bay."
"Can I quote you on that?" he asked excitedly.
"Sure." What little of her features seemed pleased with the direction of the interview.
"And how about you? I don't think I've heard of you before?" Jordan asked Ms. Liberty, recorder out even as he snapped a quick picture.
"I'm Ms. Liberty, a new heroine in the area. And an acquaintance with Futurias, Charged State and Gitanica. I'm alway happy to help out with taking down an archvillain like Lung," the pretty young blonde heroine said.
"Great! If you don't mind, I'm going to get the bare bones information and then call it in," the reporter explained.
Armsmaster tromped through the broken front door of the hideout even as the PRT containment truck pulled up outside. "Futurias, I would like to speak to you."
"Of course, Armsmaster." She followed Armsmaster over to where Gitanica was watching Lung closely where he laid on the ground.
The teen suddenly punched his head into the ground, making a small crater.
"Quit brutalizing the villain," Armsmaster ordered curtly.
"I was knocking him out again, oh master and lord," Gitanica called out snidely. "I've only hit him twice."
"So what was with this clandestine operation?" the leader of the local Protectorate asked the albino.
"Not clandestine so much as just not bothering to fight against your team's apathy about taking Lung down. I actually approached everyone on the team about the possibility of tracking him down in my task gorce. I got varied responses of 'no' to 'hell no, he'll kill us'. And from you I got that it would be making too many waves and be messy." Futurias gave him a stern look. "I am here to be a hero and that means stopping the villains while using reasonable force and not breaking those 'unwritten' rules you mentioned. Nothing more. And nothing less."
"So if I told you to back off on stirring up the hornets nest?" Armsmaster asked in a low, tense voice. He extended a needle from the heel of his halberd and jabbed lung.
"I would first ask you what would be a way to do it without making such a large mess. And if you continued to stonewall me, I would tender my resignation from the Protectorate and go my own way," the woman stated coldly.
Armsmaster met her glare through his visor. "I am going to have to talk to Director Piggot. Consider yourself on unpaid leave until next Monday-"
"Hey, Armsmaster?" Charged State called out. "That might be a really stupid idea."
"What are you talking about and why shouldn't I put you all on leave?" he snapped out.
"Because we won. And it's probably going to be on the front page," clone noted simply.
Purity actually turned to look at her in surprise at that.
"You-" He swallowed angrily, obviously getting a hold of his temper. "You may have a point." He turned to look at the floating (and glowing) woman. "Why isn't she arrested?"
"Because she and Ms. Liberty were key to taking Lung down with ninety seconds of attacking. We needed her firepower to decisively win and defeat him," Futurias declared. "And because she's trying to switch sides and become a hero."
"So she turns herself in and we look at cutting a deal. If she resists, she's still a villain and we take her down," he argued grimly.
"I can't just turn myself in," the ex-villain said in a low voice.
"So take her-" Armsmaster started to say as he readied his halberd.
"Whoa! Wait a second. Let's find out if she actually has a reason here first before you blast her," Charged State called out, stepping in between her and the leader of the team.
There was a long pause, as the Tinker thought it over. "That's fair."
"I have responsibilities in my civilian identity that I can't and won't just abandon," Purity replied after a moment of thinking.
"Your job will fire you if you don't show up?" Armsmaster asked in a flat tone.
"Not over one day, no." She really appeared to be struggling for a second to make a decision. "I have a kid. She's all I have. I won't lose her."
That almost literally rocked Armsmaster back on his heels. "That does change things. Would you fight the Empire if you joined the Protectorate?"
"I- I don't know. I think I would ask to not be sent out unless it was a really bad emergency. Some of them are friends. I can't get Nightmare, Fog or Crusader to come with me. They just quit rather than keep fighting for Kaiser," Purity explained carefully. "I tried to convince them to turn over a new leaf."
"One of them is the father, isn't he?" Ms. Liberty said in a serious but still empathetic tone.
"I- Yes. And if I go against him, he'll take her away." She looked almost defeated now, hanging in the air with her glowing hair draped in front of her face.
"I understand. We have a secret identity protection program. Let me talk to Director Piggot and we might be able to get that enacted." Armsmaster thought for a second. "I'm not heartless, but you have hurt a lot of people and have been accused of killing more. Mostly other villains, but we think you were behind Fantastar's death."
"I didn't. But I guess I can see why you would think so. I was surprised to learn he died after that battle, when he tried to take down Hookwolf. He started that fight," she replied.
"You might have to agree to go to every Endbringer fight for several years. But if you did that, it gives us a lot of flexibility in getting you reformed." Armsmaster waited for her patiently.
"I'd have to think about it. I'd need some guarantees about my daughter." She might finally succeed at breaking free entirely from the Empire Eighty-Eight.
"Can I leave now? I have a trig test in the morning," Gitanica asked crankily.
"I think that we've done enough for tonight," Armsmaster agreed with her out loud. "Purity, this is my business card. Dial the number and then after it picks up, hit the star key. That will stop the automatic tracing. If you need someone to trace it as a high priority, hit 911 afterwards."
"I'll call you in a couple of days then." With that, she shot out of the building through the hole she had blasted in through.