Taylor panted as she ran. It was something she had decided to do, to try and get in better shape. She had used that same trick to learn proper stances for fighting from the only karate dojo within range of her house, a rundown half-house/half-studio building three blocks to the east. Maybe she should use her new 'skill' on running, too?
She practiced some punching as she slowed down to a walk the last five hundred feet to her house. Gina had suggested weights on her wrists to help build up muscle. All she could tell is it was hurting. But she could deal with pain.
She narrowed her eyes as she opened the front door to the house. The porch light made it easy to open the lock, even though the sun wouldn't rise for over a while.
Her father was just getting up and making breakfast. He looked up from where he was frying some eggs with a skillet on the stove. "Hey, kiddo. You seem to be doing better." He had been meaning to broach this subject for a week now, but he'd been almost afraid he would set back her recovery.
"I am. I don't know what happened, but the teachers and the administration suddenly stomped on any bullying around me." Taylor hesitated here. "Emma and her friend Madison can hardly open their mouths without a teacher breathing down their necks."
"Emma? I can't believe she was one of the girls, but that just goes to show you that you don't know people sometime. You know that you can always come talk to me, right? I might not be able to help directly, but I was a kid in highschool once. I just don't know what I would do without you," he finished in a low voice over the sizzle of the eggs. He flipped them over then with his spatula.
"I met a new girl. Not really a friend yet, but I'm talking with her at times. She's... sort of rude, but hates bullies and neo-Nazis," Taylor said carefully. "She's even showed me some basics on how to throw a punch."
"There are worse things than knowing how to defend yourself." Danny smiled at her as he put the eggs on a plate. "You should bring her over some time and introduce her."
"Um, maybe? I'm going to shower now."
After the shower, breakfast and the walk to school Taylor found herself in her first class quiet contemplating what she was going to do. It was starting to not be as cold and nasty outside. Even though the thought of being a hero had been an escape at first, she still wanted to do good.
To be a hero.
That thought haunted her for the most of the day.
Emma hit her bicep with her elbow. "Oh, sorry there Taylor. I didn't see you."
Taylor just glared back.
"Ooh, going blind before twenty. What sort of drugs are you frying your brain with?" Gina cat-called from the doorway.
That got the students in the hall laughing at the bully.
Taylor had taken the opportunity to follow Gina out the door while Emma glared in frustration at all the other students. "That was amazing. How did you do that?"
"Trained actually. Being quippy takes work. Good for pissing off people though." Gina seemed oddly quiet for her, just looking to the left away from Taylor as they walked along the side of the road. She was totally engrossed in watching dirty cars driving by on the road.
It took three tries for Taylor to build up the resolution, but at the turn off where Gina would head to her house, she finally spoke up. "Uh, Gina? Would you like to hang out at my place?"
Gina just turned to stare at her in surprise. She seemed to think on it really hard, but then nodded. "Sure. I guess."
The weather wasn't really that interesting, but Taylor really tried. Gina seemed to be in some sort of funk, but was at least willing to try.
Once they got to the Hebert's house, Taylor got some chips and soda out while Gina played with the TV to try and find something interesting on.
"Not much on over the air," the superhero noted in a bored tone.
"Yeah, sorry. Dad just gets videos and watches the news. I think he'd love to get cable for the sports, but not since my mom passed away a few years ago-" Taylor said cautiously, only to stop as Gina buried her head in the palms of her head. "Ah-"
She pushed the corn chips and picante sauce on the end table next to the couch Gina was sitting on, then desperately tried to find something on TV. Anything.
The crunch as Gina started to munch on some chips startled her.
Better to just ignore her red eyes. "So do you like sports?"
Gina snorted derisively at that. "Too boring. I like action movies. Bigger the explosions, the better."
"Not the most popular these days. Mostly comedies or fantasy. I heard that Earth Aleph actually sent over some movies about Harry Potter. They're pretty good." Taylor could sort of empathize with the bullied orphan.
"I'll have to watch that sometime, I guess." Gina's head turned to see on the news a breaking story about the Empire Eighty-Eight having attacked some place north of the docks. It was already over, so she just thumped her fist on her leg in frustration.
Taylor stared at the talking head for a moment. "I want to be a hero. But I don't know how."
"Being a hero sucks. Long hours-" Gina suddenly looked over at curly-haired girl, interrupting herself. "You aren't thinking something stupid like trying to take on villains without any powers, are you?"
The other girl opened her mouth, but it took three tries. "What if I did? Have powers, I mean."
Gina now narrowed her eyes. "And why would you come to me?"
"I might have seen you change into your superhero outfit and leap hundreds of feet away?" Taylor shrunk in on herself.
"When?" she asked harshly.
"When you kicked that dumpster hard, giving it a big dent. I was worried that you had been attacked. But you were fine and then with some hologram sparkles you were suddenly leaping short buildings in a single bound." Taylor's eyes blinked fairly rapidly behind her glasses.
"Oh. I'm so stupid." Gina bonked the side of her head with the bottom of her fist. "Okay. What sort of powers do you have?"
"I control bugs."
Gina kept expecting more. Finally she replied with, "That's not much of a power."
"Oh. Um I can control them perfectly within the my radius. Which reaches almost all the way back to school," she countered.
"That's better. How many?" She was pretty blunt now.
"All of them?"
"Perfectly? Well, definitely a Master. You might even be able to do a lot of tricks like a Controller," the 'veteran' mused aloud.
"What's the difference?" Taylor asked in curiosity.
"Well, Master is the PRT term for someone that controls someone else. Even animals. A Controller controls the battlefield. Trips people on, freezing them and/or causing fear. Telepaths can be a pain in the butt," Gina admitted.
"I thought the only verified telepath was the Endbringer, the Simurgh?" The uncertain look was convincing.
"Dime a dozen back in my home dimension," the shorter-haired girl said breezily, waving it off.
"You're from Earth Aleph?" Taylor blurted out in surprise.
"Nah. Not part of the local dimensions, I guess. Futurias tried to explain it, but we're from a whole different section that she named Paragon-Virtue." Her hands creaked as she clenched a fist. "Fucking stupid to name something that's destroyed."
"The whole world?" Taylor's eyes were huge.
"Yes, the whole damn world. We fought till nearly the end and then fled through a portal. And that was that. So what sort of travel power have you developed?" Gina asked, ignoring the tears that were building in her eyes.
"I think things work different for you guys. I'm pretty sure my 'travel power' is going to be 'two feet'. My bugs aren't going to be able to fly me around," the taller girl said.
"So what is your origin?" the new girl to Brockton Bay asked.
"School girl?"
"You know, natural? Mutant? Magical? Science? Tech?"
"Those are origins? You mean like the X-Men mutants?" Taylor was actually getting weirded out.
"No idea who the X-Men are, but I'm a mutant. My genes triggered to save me from accidentally poisoning myself with some magical tattoo ink," Gina explained as she leaned back on the couch.
"Magic isn't real," Taylor said flatly.
"ﻮเtђгคςк קยtгเll๏гเкςฬ," the some-time giantess intoned rhythmically as black flames flickered into existence around her hand. "I'm only a dabbler, but magic can be useful at times."
"No fucking way," Taylor said. "Is that black magic?"
"Um, yes? I was a villain for over a year, under Ghost Widow. Creepy undead bitch showed me how to use it to help in battle at times." Gina raised an eyebrow at her new friend who was freaking out.
"Magic is real. Does that mean souls are real?" the bespectacled girl asked in a terribly small voice.
"As far as I can tell. I've run into way too many ghosts to not believe in them. They tend to hurt." Gina gave her a shrug. "You have a mask yet?"
"And an undershirt of silk I've made. It's kind of ugly, but I think it might be slightly bulletproof. I wish I could figure something out better for my glasses. Can't really afford contacts," she admitted as she desperately tried to force the thought that souls existed. That the afterlife was real.
"You'll have to wear your glasses for now. Do you have your prescriptions? I can ask Kid Win or Futurias about making some goggles or a mask with the right lenses." Gina stood up and grabbed her jacket.
"I can stop by the optometrist and get that. Do you think they'd do that without meeting me?"
Taylor looked a bit needy, in Gina's eyes. "They'll probably try to make it shoot lasers or something.
"Capes are weird," Taylor complained as she shook her head.
"Well, I guess I finally graduated to Trainer." Gina gave a chuckle at that. "I'll do my best, okay?"
She just smiled back shyly. "That's all I can ask."
Bug-Girl 101 was... not at all like she had thought it would be. Gitanica had carried her into the forest about several miles to the north of Brockton Bay and away from any houses. The clearing was barely fifty feet wide.
"Okay, try it again," Gitanica called out. She then charged at Taylor and threw a slow punch.
She responded, having the bugs swirl to try to blind the hero. When Gitanica got close, the other part of the swarm slipped under her left foot as Taylor tried to pull her off to the side as Gitanica stumbled. And Taylor finally got the timing just right and the brute went down in a slide.
"It worked?" the trainee hero said in surprise.
"Yes, it actually did. A decent knockdown attack. Wish you had more spiders so you could try for an entangling attack. You are getting really good at the blinding thing," the masked heroine explained. "Hmm..."
Taylor tilted her head in confusion. "Is there a problem?"
"I was just going to ask if you have got the feeling down for how you push or take control of your bugs?" Gitanica asked.
"Maybe?" Taylor wasn't really sure.
"Good, then I want you to find a spot to sit down. And then I want you to try to push that feeling into your muscles." At the other girl's incredulous look. "I know it sounds stupid, but with a little work you might find out you can jump higher or run at super-speeds."
"Does it actually work?" Taylor asked as she found a mostly dry spot in the clearing they were in.
"Absolutely," Gitanica sort of lied. It could work if they believed in it. "So first, I'd like you to start breathing. Let your breathe out, pull air in. While you are pulling your air in, imagine that breathe filling you with your bug power."
It sounded absolutely weird to Taylor, but she was not the expert. She started to breathe in and out. It felt like her power was either resisting her or did not know what to do with her own body.
"Are you getting it?" the trainer asked in a low, melodic voice. "Does it feel part of you now?"
"Yes." She felt suffused with the feeling, even if it did not feel like it was doing anything.
The thunderclap right behind her was immensely loud, scaring the crap out of her. She was already dodging forward in a panic. She had leaped to her feet and away. Her head turned to look at Gitanica running after her, only to get in front and catch her.
"Whatwasthat!?" the rookie hero demanded.
"Super speed and super leaping? Interesting. I guess your power decided that the proportional leaping and speed of bugs was good enough for a travel power," Gitanica said with a cocky grin on her face. "Backstreet Brawler really was correct that its the best way to enhance your power."
"Super... speed?"
"Sure, you were going at least a hundred miles per hour and leaped over forty feet from sitting on the ground." Gitanica had kept her grin on her face. "Ready for a run?"
"Sure." Taylor had matching grin. That was a cool subset of her powers.
They took off at a jog, Gitanica reminding her to breathe in the feeling into her muscles. The jog speed up into a run, the forest outside of Brockton Bay starting to disappear in a blur.
The veteran hero hopped a fallen tree, shouting out an encouragement to the rookie.
But five minutes later, Taylor was very happy to stop at a highway.
"That's amazing. And anyone can do that? I never read anything like that on Parahuman Online." Her breath was coming back to her with each large gulp of air she took.
Gitanica blinked at that. "Not at all? But that's just the basics?"
"Maybe where you are from. I feel like a wet and sore noodle. Sooo out of shape."
"Guess it's time to get you home. Can't believe how you skittered out of the way of my hand-clap."
Talky blinked, then nodded. "Skitter. I can work with that."
Two weeks later, she had her costume entirely ready. It was, as Gina out it, a little edgy and darker than she wanted. Even a couple of the ABB thugs she had trained 'live' against agreed on that. But she was not going out 'hero-ing on her own' yet, she was going to do something much scarier. With only a little prodding from Gina, she was bearding a lion that she had no desire to face. The thump of the front door thudding home was her signal.
"Um, dad? Is anyone with you?" she called out from the basement as she finished pulling up her armored costume.
"No, why?" he yelled out in a confused tone. He put a bag of groceries down on the kitchen table. Why was the front drapes shut? It made the family and dining room a bit dark.
"Because I have something to show you," she said as she finished walking up the stairs.
Danny Hebert stared at the apparition that was a costume cape from the neck down and his daughter neck up.
"Taylor, what are you doing?" he asked in a painful, strangled voice.
"I have super powers. And I want to be a hero." Her voice was terribly low, almost a whisper.
"Oh, Taylor. When did it happen?" He walked across the room and took her up in a hug.
This is really what she wanted. She hugged him back, feeling a bit of peace return to her life. "It was the locker incident. It's why I was so messed up afterwards. I was sensing all those bugs. It was very freaky."
Danny released his hug to hold her at arm's length. "You have a mask and everything? But it's so dangerous."
"Most of the time I'll be blocks and blocks away. I have a very large range." She suddenly grinned. "And Gitanica has been training me in how to use my power to 'run away' fast. I can run faster than local traffic pretty easily."
"That actually makes me feel better. Though I think I'd rather you have a bulletproof vest than a silk body-stocking," he said while critically eyeing her outfit. It didn't have near enough armor for his taste.
"Actually, this suit is more bulletproof than kevlar. I added a little more armor and padding underneath it. Makes it a little harder to put on, but should be worth it." She started to pull on her mask. It covered her entire head with her goggles and armor plates turning it almost into a helmet. Her hair was pulled through an overlapping flap at the nape of her neck. "What do you think?"
"It's kind of dark," he admitted as he scratched the back of his head nervously.
The slump of her shoulders was pure Taylor. "That's what Gitanica said. But she liked it anyways."
"It's not bad. Very professional. You made it yourself?"
She nodded. "I'm wanting to meet the Wards today. No secret IDs or anything, but if you want you can come talk to the PRT about me joining. Gitanica says that's a lot safer for rookie heroes. And they have medical coverage, just in case."
Danny looked terribly conflicted, but finally nodded. "I'd rather you have someone to help you then you go out on your own."
The young heroine nodded and pulled out a blocky smartphone. "Hello. Yes, he wants to come in to talk to the PRT about me joining the Wards." She listened for a second. "What do you mean hold on for transportation-"
With a blink she was gone. Danny's mouth just dropped open and then suddenly with a pulling sensation he was suddenly in a office.
"Hello, my name is Futurias. It's nice to meet you." The tall heroine in black and maroon-red was quite imposing.
Danny stuck out his hand automatically. Futurias stared at it a second.
"Oh, right. Sorry." She shook his hand a little too forcefully.
"So I'm supposed to talk to someone about my daughter?" he asked as he checked with the teenage hero with a quick look.
"That's right, dad."
"I'll be taking us there. But first let me escort Skitter to the lobby," the albino explained as she led them out of the office and down the hall.
Danny looked confused, but then realized it must be his daughter's cape name.
"See you," Skitter said awkwardly as she gave her father a little wave. She slipped through door, hearing it click shut behind her.
A very large group of pre-teen kids was being led by some harried teachers and a PRT guide.
"Who's he?" one of the boys shouted.
A boom sounded from outside, then Gitanica appeared as she leaped across the ground to enter the large front glass doors from one side. She ducked her head to fit through the doors. "Hi, JC. Here to escort the new prospective Ward up to the base."
The entire class made an 'awwww' sound.
JC, the PRT guide, made a quick decision. "Would you like to introduce yourself."
"Uh, hello? I'm Skitter," the new heroine said in a very unconfident voice.
"What do you do?" a young girl in ponytails asked.
"I control bugs." With that, she had all of her aerial insects fly up in a circle behind her for a few seconds then disappear back into her chitin armor.
"Ewww," most of the girls said. Most of the boys on the hand looked at her as if she was the coolest thing since sliced bread.
Gitanica just grinned. "Come on, Skitter. Everyone else is ready to meet you."
The two very different young heroines walked over to the Ward's elevator.
Skitter looked the much taller (and mature) looking girl. "I can't believe your power turns you into a seven foot tall Amazon."
"I thought I was stuck that way for a year or so. Eating out as a giant was expensive. I did win a food eating contest once though," Gitanica said brightly.
The high speed tinker elevator zoomed back up quietly to the top floor with a jaunty little ding as it arrived. The giant shrunk down to her much more normal height of five foot two inches.
"They put the retina scanner down at a low enough level so that Vista can reach it," the now normal-sized girl complained. She put her eye to the scanner, then put her hand into a small control panel and tapped something out on a hidden pad.
The door opened to a small crowd of teens. Skitter recognized Aegis, Clockblocker, Vista, Gallant, Shadow Stalker and finally Kid Win.
"So this is the new hero you've been mentoring?" Gallant said. "Nice to meet you. Let's go through a round of introductions. Kid Win, you first."
"I'm Kid Win, as Gallant just stated so I'd be redundant in introducing myself," the younger teen said with a mock glare at the charismatic teen.
Skitter stood uncomfortably as he introduced himself. "I'm Skitter, thanks."
Then it was not quite a blur of names, but that was only because of all the costume to match to names.
"So what are your powers?" Vista blurted out.
"They are bug themed powers. I thought at first I was just a Master because I could just control bugs, but Gitanica showed me how to use it to get a bit of super-speed and leaping. But I don't have the proportional speed or anything," the new heroine explained. Bug reacted in milliseconds, much faster than a human could hope to ever be.
Clockblocker's totally blank helmet just turned to look at Gitanica. "She tried something sort of like that for me too. I thought it was just a weird idea. How fast can you go?"
"I think she can hit about a hundred miles per hour and she's still figuring out things as she goes along. Believe she's also a Master 4 or 5, Tinker 1, Mover 2, Thinker-I-have-no-fucking-clue, but she can't be overloaded multitasking her bugs," Gitanica explained to them.
"Swear jar!" Vista called out.
Gitanica just glared for a second at the other girl, then walked over to a large jar next to the TV in the 'den' area of the Ward's home and dropped two quarters into the jar.
Skitter nodded then watched her friend's antics, not really understanding it all too well, but starting to get the gist. She had actually been trying to enhance her strength and brain, which had helped a great deal with her speed. Because while it did not make her smarter, it made her be a lot faster. And being able to be about twice as strong was of limited usefulness.
Aegis gave out a whistle. "That's an interesting set of powers."
"A damn set of lame powers," Shadow Stalker declared abrasively. "I bet you she can't even fight."
"I've been training her in battlefield control. Just like those things I've been working with Vista on. So quit being a bitch. I thought you'd been to see your shrink this week?" Gitanica said snidely.
"Girls!" Aegis shouted out, cutting them off.
Skitter was just glaring at Shadow Stalker now.
"Just ignore her. She's been a total bitch since she got in trouble because she's a psycho," Clockblocker said without a trace of his normal levity.
"Fuck you!" She started over towards the swear jar to dump a dollar into it.
"Why does she pay into the jar?" Skitter finally asked into the oppressive atmosphere.
"She doesn't want to get thrown back into jail," Vista said nastily.
Skitter's head snapped towards the younger girl. "What?"
"Vista! That was totally uncalled for. Especially in front of a new recruit. Her bad behavior does not excuse bad behavior on your own part. You just earned a week of dispatch duty," Aegis snapped out to the younger girl.
"But-!"
"No. This is final and I will talk to Armsmaster about it, too. I thought you were better than that," Aegis said in a very disappointed tone.
"I- Sorry, Aegis."
Gitanica coughed into her fist. "Yeah, Shadow Stalker and I are ex-villains. But you know, trying to be a hero now."
"That explanation you gave me when I asked you if you got powers...?" the new hero asked her friend.
"Very abbreviated version of my history, yes. For my troubles, I do get to see the shrink on Wednesday afternoons." She gave a shrug.
A buzzing sounded over the intercom, sounding quite assistant.
"I'll get it," Gallant said as he walked over to a control desk. "Gallant here."
"The prime minister of Australia has declared his intention to accept all help to fight the Simurgh that just showed up above Canberra. Please contact your families if you wish to try to assist in the fight against the Endbringer," the crackling voice of Armsmaster came over the speaker.
"An Endbringer? Hell yeah!" Gitanica shouted.
"We'll be assembling all capes on the VTOL platform outside the PRT Headquarters in half an hour. Armsmaster out." With a click, the room was suddenly silent.
There was a very long silence.
Kid Win had dropped his gaze. "My mother already told me no. Not like my stun lasers can help."
"My family doesn't care, so I'll be going," Vista said in a low voice. She pulled out her cell phone and stepped to the side.
"And I don't have a choice, unlike miss psycho that's looking forward to fighting the Endbringers," Shadow Stalker said in a tone of voice that was almost a snarl. Her mother had agreed all too quickly on the PRT's demands as part of her 'new deal' probation.
"You're not a Ward yet, Skitter, so you don't have to go at all," Gallant said in a somber tone.
"I want to. I may not be able to hurt it, but against the Simurgh, I can help find and rescue people with my bugs-"
"With her amazing Bug Sense!" Clockblocker crowed out, breaking the somber mood.
"That's not funny!" Skitter said. She worked hard to figure out her powers.
It wasn't a whine. Really.
"She's be amazing with her range. Could spell out directions on how to evacuate to the people, too. Shouldn't have to get close enough to be affected," Gitanica said as she considered the manner. She had done a fair bit of studying on the Endbringers in anticipation of this fight.
"Half an hour. Luckily we have a teleporter in our group now," Aegis said as he punched his right fist into the palm of his hands. He then pulled out his phone and started to call his own parents.
Skitter nodded to herself, then turned to Gitanica and Kid Win. "Could you guys take me back to the PRT area where I arrived? I need to talk to my dad."
"You brought your dad?" Kid Win said.
"She pushed me a bit into it. Besides, with Gitanica here I think the Wards might be... tolerable."
"Ouch. Now I'm just tolerable! Stabbed through the heart!" Gitanica said, holding her hands over her heart.
The ride down was fast and smooth again. The entry foyer was notably empty right then and Kid Win signed her into the front desk PRT officer and then back into the office area. Then it was about five minutes for her to find her father talking to a heavyset woman.
"We better wait here," Gitanica said, catching Kid Win's arm to direct him to the side.
Danny blinked in surprise as he saw his daughter approach. "Skitter?" he asked uncertainly.
"Dad, I want to go with the Wards," she said earnestly.
He actually smiled at that. "That should be fine." It was good to see his little girl getting out and socializing.
Skitter was blinking at him behind her goggles. Oh, he must not know. "To fight the Simurgh in Australia, dad."
The abrupt shift had Danny reeling mentally. "No!"
"But I can help. I wouldn't even be fighting her, probably just helping with rescuing people," she tried to argue. "I could save lives."
"No. I am not sending my daughter out to fight Endbringers as her first act as a Ward. Maybe when you are older. But not right now," Danny said very clearly and a bit louder than normal.
She knew that tone of voice. "I understand. I want to see them off though? Is that okay?" While he nodded, she suddenly realized what he'd said. "I'm a Ward? Just like that?"
The woman next to him gave a short chuckle at that. "Yes, Skitter, you are. Just like that. Your father does see the need for young heroes to be mentored and trained. The medical benefits were just the clincher. Director Piggot. Or as most of the Wards refer to me, 'boss'."
"Um, nice to meet you? But I have to catch up before they leave."
"Yes, I heard that Futurias is going to be ferrying to Australia. Mr. Hebert, if you would come with me while we get the contract from Legal?" Piggot said to the father.
Skitter trotted over to the waiting teens. "I guess I'm a Ward already. That was fast."
"All right then, lets go," Gitanica said as she led them back to the foyer.
"I'll see you later." Kid Win he turned back towards the elevator.
"Later, KW!" the giant woman said as she ducked through the doorway. She looked down at her friend. "So no?"
"I'm going," Skitter said in a very stubborn sounding tone.
Gitanica cracked a huge smile. "Just remember, you're armor isn't that good. So no charging her head on."
"I'm not stupid, Gitanica!"
There was quite a crowd on the VTOL pad. All of the local protectorate except Triumph and Velocity. Vista, Clockblocker and Aegis were there, but only Gitanica and Skitter joined them. It was the other additions that were surprising.
The glowing cape named Purity floated next to Futurias, the pair an odd contrasts of opposites. With her was three more capes; Fog in his white outfit, Night in her voluminous cloak and Crusader. The last was busy chatting up with Miss Militia, talking animatedly as he gestured with his hands.
Armsmaster looked over the group, a grim smile of pride on his face. "New Wave will be arriving shortly, then we will depart." This was more people than were coming from Boston.
Charged State was talking on the phone. "One more if you can wait?" she asked as she looked up from her phone.
"Your friend, Ms. Liberty?" the leader of the Protectorate Brockt Bay asked.
"That's right." Charge State then closed her eyes, reaching for her powers mentally. Mentally juggling how to use her own powers as energy started to crackle over her body.
Black shadows shimmered over Futurias as her normal skin tight outfit was modified. At its base, it was still her black and maroon outfit, but now heavy gauntlets and greaves of silver were added, along with a light metal face-guard, chest and belt armor. Glowing energy glowed from within it.
"Why don't you wear that all the time?" Vista asked. "That looks cool."
"It's an armor to allow me to use my full potential as an Incarnate. It is relatively overkill most of the time," the albino paragon explained.
All of the New Wave heroes showed up; Lady Photon, Manpower, Laserdream, Shielder, Brandish, Glory Girl and Panacea all were flown in on their own group manner.
"Are we all set?" Brandish asked Armsmaster.
"Just one final hero flying in from the Dartmouth. How long will it take her to get to us, Charged State?" Armsmaster asked one of his new recruits.
"I think I feel her now," the star-spangled brute said.
With a krakoom of a bolt of thunder, Ms. Liberty arrived in a blurred streak of flight that slammed home into the ground next to them. Her outfit was almost as it always was, though now she had changed her mini skirt in for a pair of long tights in a matching blue.
"Sorry, I'm late. I had to slip out of my class," the blond explained to the group. Energy crackled through her, barely controlled by her girdle's magic
"Anyone else?" Futurias asked. She was typing on a holographic control screen above her left gauntlet.
That got a round of people shaking their heads or saying no. Deep inside the PRT headquarters, the mini-power plant revved up to full speed as it fed energy into a special transmitter.
Futurias' shoulder armor started to leak enough energy to make it hard to look at her.
And then, with a boom of displace air, they were suddenly gone.
The bang of displaced air was quite startling as a the fairly large group of capes appeared on the grass in a park, fluttering flags in a long row along one side.. It was quite dark and night time here on the other side of the world, but rather pleasant if a bit muggy.
The young cape that was there whistled appreciatively. "Wow, there sure are a lot of you here. Come on, Alexandria is briefing people while Legend, Eidolon and Downunder fight the Simurgh and keep her occupied."
They all trotted or flew over to the parahumans all gathered under some lights where tables and chairs were set up as soldiers were putting up tents.
"-once again, unless you have proven immunity to the Simurgh's telepathy, you have only limited time. Dragon has provided us with armbands that will monitor how long you are within range when you hear her song," Alexandria was saying. "Armsmaster? Good to see you here so quickly."
Futurias raised a hand. "If you can try to stick somewhat near me, I can imbue those in a short range almost total immunity to mind control effects along with a heavy protection against psionic attacks."
"How mobile are you?" the female Triumvirate asked in a very intense tone.
"I can fly or teleport, but I'll try to keep close enough to people on the ground."
That got a small cheer from the crowd.
"Search and rescue, talk to Valorian. She's in charge of helping evacuate people as quickly as we can. We need to hit the Simurgh hard and fast before most of the Australian government has to be quarantined. Let's go!" With that, she lifted off the ground and then flew off towards the center of town to the west.
All of the flyers were only a moment behind her.
Skitter headed over to Valorian, who was a woman wearing purple and white. She was followed by several other teen capes.
"Quick run down of your powers and how you can help," the woman ordered.
"Flyer and can take a little damage. I figure I can go and fly specific people out," Aegis explained. "If I team up with Vista here, we can get a lot of stragglers out."
"Which is me. I can compress or expand distances, but it's Manton limited. But in the air I can cut down the response time by at least a quarter," the youngest cape present said.
"Good. Panacea, we don't have any wounded yet, but I would like you to stay here. We'll be the primary healers here, I think," Valorian noted aloud. "And you dark and creepy?"
"I can control and sense through insects, with about a half mile range. I figure I can help track down people for others to rescue while I direct them from the battle. I didn't realize how mobile the Simurgh was. She keeps moving fast," Skitter complained.
"You can track the Simurgh? In real time? Any limits to your power? How many bugs can you control?" the local heroine asked.
"I think so. I've got some insects on her already. And I haven't run into a limit on how many bugs I can control so far. Oh, and I can run and jump pretty fast, just in case," Skitter explained, a little confused.
"Okay, slight change of plan. We are going to be linking up with Major Aussie there. He's been put in charge of deploying heroes. You are going to help him while doing S&R. Okay, let's move, folks."
The Simurgh was firing several cannons at the hero Downunder, sending her flying into a shopping plaza from the hits. She was broken and dead before she even hit the walls.
The air started to tingle, then a massive column of lightning erupted from the ground and down from the sky, pulverizing almost all of the floating guns that the Endbringer had created. It turned away from Legend and Eidolon for a second, looking towards the two approaching figures that were charged and leaking electricity as they smashed the last two guns to broken fragments.
It wavered back and forth, as if looking for something. That something was Alexandria as she suddenly appeared out of a cloud of inky blackness, catching the Endbringer by surprise. Abruptly it could see that she was leading a whole group of heroes. Then shadows blackness burned and covered the Endbringer's body, clouding its senses even more.
But it could not see those heroes clearly, not past the point where Alexandria had appeared. Massive amounts of rubble were lifted up, far more than anyone had seen the Endbringer move before. They were all being used as a shield against attacks.
Futurias narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to clear the debris!" With a snap, she disappeared.
The Endbringer suddenly turned, seeing dozens of heroes appear out of a murky past and future only a hundred feet away and only for a short time!
A massive surge of black energy exploded right next to, catching it in stunning, absolute surprise. Everything except the Endringer and Futurias abruptly ceased to exist as meaningful matter within a hundred feet. The albino swished off back to the group of heroes that, cloaking them back in her anti-psychic aura of inky shadows. Futurias blinked back to the hero group.
That did not even slow the heroes follow on, Legend and Purity at the forefront, from unloading while within the protective shield. Eidolon was gathering up power, testing what he now had gained with the arrival of all of the other capes. Then he unleashed incandescent sparks that burned off some of the small wings of the Endbringer.
"Why are we still hearing it's psychic song, even at a muted level?" Charged State called out. "I'm immune to psychic mind-control powers myself, much less with Futurias' help." She rushed out of Futurias' aura, smashing an electrified punch into the Simurgh's expressionless face.
"It's not a mind control," Futurias called out. "Perhaps a form of physical psionic attack on the nervous system?" That would explain why it was not just blocked by her powers to protect against all forms of mesmerization. If it was using psionics to manipulate them physically, it would be 'psychic damage' not mind control, which she only massive protected against.
Legend took a moment in between blasting the embattled Endbringer to float over to her. "How sure are you of that?"
"Almost positive," she replied.
"It's still muted. Does that mean we can fight longer up close?" Purity yelled out.
"Yes. Still protected for a longer time, just not as thoroughly," she replied, adding her meager blasting of negative energy.
Legend nodded. He unleashed several blasts that hit the Simurgh perfectly, as she did not even attempt to dodge or block with rubble like she always had for years each time he attacked. "She's blind?"
Several other blasters were unloading into the erratically bobbing winged horror, but it was more random and not nearly as effective. Sometimes the Endbringer even dodged into attacks.
"She can't detect anyone within Futurias' psionic protective aura," Alexandria said as she narrowed her eyes, her Thinker power actually deduces the Endbringers problem. Which meant she saw via some form of mental power. Telepathy? Perhaps something else.
"We got this in the bag!" one of the native Australian heroes screamed out in glee.
Large pieces of debris of the capitol building lifted up, forming a crude shields that covered the Endbringer in an arc that was roughly pointed in their direction, but was quickly be pulverized by the blasters with impunity.
That was when eight Tinker devices shot out of the earth in a rough circle around the mass of heroes. With a thundering boom, the high tech anti-personnel bombs went off. Everyone, dozens of heroes and villains, took punishing hits as it turned into a killing ground.
Skitter blinked, then rushed in more insects into the hole in her perception. "Status change. I just lost every insect on 90 % of the capes fighting the Simurgh." She looked over at the Valorian and Panacea, trying to convey how lost she suddenly was.
Panacea gasped.
Major Aussie looked up from the map. "What do you mean?"
"The Simurgh detonated some bombs, I think. And killed most everyone. So many bodies- Why are the bodies being moved? They are being placed in a pile." Skitter was totally confused.
"I need actual eyes on the scene. We need to know if we have to just cordon off the city," Major Aussie said even as she slammed his fist on the table, disrupting the bugs on it for a second.
They all crawled back into position under Skitter's casual, perfect control. She turned to him. "Then I'll head out." She took off at a sprint across the grounds of the Peace Park. With a leap, she cleared a ten foot embankment. The runner was so fast she did not even hear him yell for her to stop.
The flashes of energy and blasts would have made it easy to spot without her insects. The Endbringer looked battered, damaged but undaunted as it continued to assemble new weapons as Eidolon, Alexandria, Legend, Ms. Liberty, Charged State and Gitanica fought on.
The young Ward was gritting her teeth as she pushed against a green beam that was melting the ground in front of her with its backwash. "I'm not going to give up, you stupid birdbrain."
Another Tinker gun was finished being assembled, unleashing a pulsing blue beam that shook the whole area as it blasted Ms. Liberty. It may as well have been shooting her with a searchlight for all the damage it was doing. Her return punch pushed the Smirugh back fifty feet and through a fast food restaurant.
Eidolon and Legend were attacking with sparks and beams, blowing off feathers, while Alexandria and Charged State stayed directly in melee in the air, corralling the Endbringer between them to make it harder for it to just float away.
She skidded to a halt next to a large mound of bodies in the shadowy aura of the heroine. Futurias, battered and bleeding, floated overhead as bodies were teleported in a macabre pile of limbs.
"Futurias, what are you doing?"
"I am recovering the dead to apply emergency assistance," the Defender declared flatly.
Skiter hoped that it was to make them into zombies or something. "Limits?"
"No limits other than being within a short distance of myself," Futurias called back. She would not mention that she also had to be mid-range of an enemy also.
"Ninety-six feet in that direction," Skitter called out, pointing towards a smashed shopping plaza. SZWRING. "Forty-two feet and behind that car." SZWRING.
Her earpiece crackled. "Skitter, report," Major Aussie demanded.
"Futurias is still active and has a plan. Helping her recover the bodies," she shouted back even as more insects pointed out more bodies, teleports ringing out. The low singing in the background was annoying. Was the that the Simurgh's song?
"Is that all of them?" Futurias demanded.
"This is everyone I can detect or had tagged," she shouted back.
Black energy gathered in Futurias' hands. "๓є๓єtเς єภς๏๔є קгєקคгє๔: קєภย๓๒гค гєคl๓ l๏ςкє๔ ๏ภ. ς๏ภŦเг๓є๔ ς๏ภภєςtเ๏ภ. คςtเשคtเ๏ภ ๏Ŧ ๓є๓єtเς tгเﻮﻮєг: คςtเשคtเภﻮ - ђ๏ฬlเภﻮ tฬเﻮђlเﻮђt!" A beam of black energy was pulled from the Endbringer, who whirled in startled surprise as something affecting her from the killing ground. Something draining energy from her!
Skitter's mouth opened up in shock as massive streams of black energy exploded from the ground under the corpses, causing them to float up into the air so that they could all land on their feet. "What the fuck!?"
"That is not a situation report, Skitter," Major Aussie shouted back across the radio headset. "What is going on?"
"Futurias just resurrected everyone that had been killed. No fucking way!"
"Get the Endbringer!" the revived Downunder shouted out to all the capes present. "Let's do this for the world!"
Beams of energy and the roar of those that charged into melee was heady. Life energy was stolen from the Endbringer as Futurias healed herself up, then kept blasting and summoning energy. She turned and started summoning with small, human sized figures of nebulous darkness who started to added their own inky blackness to summon black tentacles to try and bind the Endbringer while adding their own damage.
The Simurgh spun back around as a heavy onslaught appeared out of her blind spot again. Each of its remaining wings was being used as a shield. Feathers were being blasted off as she turned her sense towards the fast flying leader of the Australian national hero team: Downunder. She was flying perfectly fine, uninjured in the least and alive.
She could see her death. Then her body disappeared from the Endbringer's sight. And then when she reappeared, the heroine was fully healed without any sort of trauma! It turned its attention back to implanting its triggers, only to realize that while she had been fighting so hard, all of the people within her range had been removed.
So the Simurgh wrapped all of its wings around herself and then shot straight up into the sky.
The whoops of joy would have down NASA control proud.
"Um, Major Aussie? The Simurgh just took off straight up. I think its retreated," Skitter informed the thinker hero.
A lightning bolt crackled through the air to try and strike the retreating abomination.
Futurias landed down upon the ground, checking over the area. She smiled to herself, mentally chalking up the Raid as a success.
The Triumvirate landed next to the darkly garbed albino.
"An impressive first showing," Alexandria said as she gathered her black caped behind her, looking quite regal.
"I would have rather fully defeated it, but that appears it will take entrapping it in a forcefield of some sort," Futurias admitted.
"Oh, wow," Skitter said in awe as she realized she was actually there, right there, with her childhood hero.
"That has been beyond our grasp, but there is always hope," Legend said, a large smile that you could hear in his voice. "That was some stunt, bring them back to life. I hope that is permanent?"
Eidolon said nothing, staring at the newcomer that had actually shown them up. He released his powers, trying to reach out for something similar to what she was using. But for once, his power was balking, as if it did not understand what he was trying to do.
"Of course it is. Soul fully joined with their reincorporated bodies. They may have flashes of their time as spirit, but it's mostly trauma free," she explained with a matter-of-fact nod of her head.
"You believe in spirits?" Alexandria asked, not quite hiding her disapproval.
"I've fought too many ghosts, spirits, imps and demons to not believe in them. I leave it up to the experts mostly on the specifics. I'm more of a 'neutralize, blast it' sort of girl," Futurias said as she shrugged.
The three of the most recognized heroes of the world shared a glance with each other, giving off a bewildered vibe, even with their full masks and concealing costumes.
Armsmaster walked over from where some of the other Protectorate groups had been talking. "I think we have something for the record books. No permanent fatalities."
Legend perked right up at that. "We must have really spooked Ziz there."
"Sadly, I don't think that we'll be able to spook Behemoth or Leviathan," Alexandria noted, putting a damper on the good mood.
"Myrdinn was a bit surprised that the Endbringer attack was already repulsed. The Slaughterhouse Nine eluded him again. He did offer to help ferry people home," Armsmaster explained to the other leaders of the Protectorate.
"I'll help with that too," Eidolon said gruffly.
"Oh, and Skitter? We are going to have a very long discussion with your father about coming to an Endbringer fight against his wishes. And as your very first action as Ward," he said pointedly to her.
"I saved lives today, so I don't regret it." She was upset that she had to go behind her father's back, but he didn't even try to listen to her.