Chapter 5-2

Armsmaster. The leader of the Brockton Bay Protectorate, one of the greatest Tinkers in the world, and a master of hand-to-hand combat, and I've just been shoehorned into fighting him with a halberd.

Fuck.

How did halberds work again, aside from 'pointy end goes in the other guy'? The knowledge wasn't really coming to me. I felt like I knew what to do, but I didn't know it. Maybe that was the point. If it's just instinct, maybe I shouldn't try to force it and just let it happen. Either way, I'd have to come up with something fast.

Armsmaster was taller than I was, so he probably had a longer reach. He also has the advantage of years of practice, even if my new-found power bridged the gap somewhat. He's smart, he's experienced, and he's one of the best in the business. He won't make mistakes, and even if he did, I might not be able to capitalize on them.

That said, he was still a Tinker, and fighting a Tinker without his tools is basically like fighting an ordinary person. Armsmaster was incredibly strong and skilled by human standards, but not superhumanly so. I was different. Even without my armor, I'm still a lot stronger and faster than most. Maybe not gold-medal-in-the-Olympics material, but certainly good enough for bronze. Still, this was fucking Armsmaster. If I didn't want him to roll over me, I'd have to be careful.

I twirled the halberd around a little, trying to get a feel for the weapon. It's a large and somewhat awkward tool for hand-to-hand combat, in my opinion, but I suppose it gets the job done. Armsmaster wouldn't have been as successful as he was if it weren't. The hero and I took steps around one another, neither of us willing to commit. Someone had to make the first move, or we'd be here all day.

Fuck it, fortune favors the bold.

I opened with a downwards strike to his shoulder. Effortlessly, he parried with the lower part of his halberd, took a step forward, and tried to plant the 'blade' in my neck. I let myself fall down, rolled, and quickly recovered as he started his counter-attack. Goddammit, he was fast.

Immediately, he attacked with a slash aimed at my left leg, one I easily blocked. Then, his halberd twirled around, catching my other leg with the hook and making me fall on my back, spitting curls out of my mouth. Mental note to self: tie up your hair next time you fight without your armor. I kicked him in the knee and rammed the blunt end of my halberd in his chest. He grunted and took a step back, but didn't back down.

I'd have to hit harder.

I got to my feet and attacked. I thrusted the halberd in his face and let him swat the blow aside. Next, I made a circular motion and brought the business end down on his head. He saw it coming, though, and hopped backwards, out of my reach. Close, but not good enough.

I'd have to be faster.

Armsmaster stepped forward and struck. I parried the blow, let it slide off the weapon's shaft before pushing the blade into his neck. He elbowed it out of the way before catching my feet and sending me sprawling. A moment later, I saw his halberd come down on my head and rolled out of the way just in time.

This wasn't working. I didn't quite know how my power worked, but it looked like it'd downloaded a bunch of common halberd techniques into my head. If that was the case, I was in big trouble: Armsmaster already knew every trick in the book. Unlike me, though, he'd been practicing them for years. I'd get my ass handed to me if I tried to beat him at his own game. I had to do something unexpected.

I threw my halberd into the air and, while he was distracted, punched Armsmaster in the face.

Yeah, he didn't see that coming.

A pair of legs coiled around mine and I was forced to the ground. A split-second later, I had a halberd in my neck and a scowling Armsmaster on top of me.

Well, crap.

Suddenly, there was an applause. I looked around and saw that we managed to attract quite a crowd: Miss Militia, a costumed woman I assume was Battery, and about two dozen other people.

Armsmaster's scowl quickly disappeared. "It looks like I was right." He said. "Apparently your power allows you to wield melee weapons competently as well." It sounded a bit like praise. Kind off. If you really squinted.

"Uhh, thanks?"

"That said, your technique is rough, almost wooden. The knowledge is there, but your body doesn't quite know how to put it into action yet. I'd recommend that before you take a weapon out in the field, you practice with it extensively."

"Yes, sir." Probably not praise after all. Then again, did I really deserve any? It wasn't really me doing the fighting. I just let my power run on auto-pilot and hoped for the best. Funny how a man like him could completely ruin any sense of satisfaction I might have gotten from that fight.

Armsmaster nodded. "Good. You should probably get back to your studies. As a Ward, it is required to maintain satisfactory grades and we can't have you fall behind."

"Understood, sir." Right, my other responsibilities. I couldn't afford to spend all morning having fun, after all.

Apparently, Armsmaster felt like he had said his piece. He got up, put his halberd back and walked away, probably to his lab.

"Okay, that was officially amazing." Miss Militia said, smiling.

"He didn't seem to think so." I replied. I did lose, after all.

"He's Armsmaster. Don't worry about him. He's always like that."

I snorted. Didn't make me feel much better. "Okay. Anyway, I should probably get some work done."

Miss Militia nodded in return and I went on my way. Off to spend the rest of my afternoon with math and history. Fun times.

At the end of the day, Miss Militia texted me, ordering me to come to the conference room. Costume wasn't required. Odd. I arrived and noticed that the rest of the Wards had been called as well. Everyone except Carlos, for some reason.

"Hey guys." I greeted. "What's going on?"

"No idea." Dennis replied. "Just got a call from Miss Militia, telling me to come. Thought I was in trouble again, but if you're all here…"

Suddenly, Missy snuck up behind us. "In trouble for what, Dennis?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all. Because I didn't do anything. At all."

"Hmm-hm."

We kept up the small talk until Miss Militia and Carlos arrived, both looking rather uncomfortable. The two shot each other a glance before Carlos called us all to order.

"Guys, please sit down. We have an announcement to make: we're getting a new team member." Quiet murmurs followed. Odd. You'd think they'd be more excited about getting some extra help. Unless…something was horribly wrong, wasn't it? Carlos bit his lip and continued. "Tattletale has decided to switch sides. As of next week, she'll be joining us as a probationary member of our Wards team."

The room turned completely silent. So Tattletale wanted to switch sides. I wasn't sure what to think about that. My first thought was a flat-out 'no'. There's no way in hell bringing a villain into the Wards would ever work. Sure, she didn't strike me as a particularly evil person, like Kaiser or Lung, but still…she was a villain. An actual, honest-to-god, bank-robbing, hostage-taking villain. Why would she even want to join us? Better yet, how did she talk the PRT into agreeing to hire her?

Dennis interrupted my train of thought. "This can't possibly end well."

"Dennis…"

"I'm being serious here, and you know shit has hit the fan when that happens." Dennis said, causing the rest of us to chuckle. "I mean, we all know how the last token evil teammate worked out. Are we really ready for another one?"

"Maybe not, but that's out of our hands." Carlos argued. "Whether we like it or not, Tattletale is joining the team. We now need to decide how to handle this."

I frowned. As much as having a villain forced down our throat bothered me, he did have a point. We could argue until the cows come home, but that wouldn't have accomplished anything. Sheer pragmatism would force us to accept her, somehow. It would only make sense to try and make the process as painless as possible.

"I'm more worried about my secret identity or anything else that girl can figure out." John added. "She's the Thinker, right? How do we know she isn't a mole?"

Judging by how quickly Carlos answered, I figured he expected the question. "She won't have the chance to rat us out. I don't know the exact legalese, but from what Piggot's told me about her terms, she'll have stay in the base for the most part, using her power to support us in the field. On top of that, they'll watch her closely in and out of costume. Nobody wants another Sophia."

"Besides, it wouldn't be the first time a villain was successfully reformed." Dean added, probably trying to live up to his cape name again. "We should try and befriend her, if possible. Who knows, we might even turn her away from the dark side."

Dennis nearly choked. "That is your plan? Save the evil villain through the power of fucking friendship?"

"Well, when you put it that way…"

The time-stopper rubbed his brow. "Look, I know that this is the 'right' and 'noble' thing to do, but it's just not going to work. I…Taylor, help me out here."

Oh, great, now I have to make the decision. Wonderful. "Way I see it, we're stuck with Tattletale, whether we like it or not. How we feel about it doesn't matter. We'll have to deal with her being around, one way or another."

"Sure, but that doesn't mean we need to be in the same room. Can't we just stick her in a box somewhere and pretend she doesn't exist?" John said. Dennis and Chris nodded too, apparently sharing that sentiment. Not I blamed them, all things considered. Part of me felt the same way. If Tattletale hadn't been forced onto us, I might have taken their side. On the other hand, they were still talking about turning someone into a persona non grata right off the bat, which hit a little too close to home for my tastes.

I sighed. I couldn't worry about that right now. "Aside from the fact that we're heroes, and not a bunch of dicks? If we don't push her away, at least we'll be able to stop her if she goes bad. Besides, what if Dean is right and she ends up being a really nice person?"

"And what if he's wrong and she'll turn villain again?"

"Does the phrase 'self-fulfilling prophecy' mean anything to you?" Dean argued. "If we treat her like dirt, Tattletale will jump ship at the earliest opportunity. We'll create another villain and we'll have no one to blame for it but ourselves. Besides, Taylor's right. We're stuck with her and we might as well make the most of it."

"I still think it's going to blow up in our faces." Dennis muttered. Not that I could really fault him for that. If Tattletale did fall into old habits again, we'd be the ones taking the brunt of the fallout. Screw secret identities, I'm more worried about her telling the other villains how to beat us. Sure, the PRT probably would try to make sure that never happened, but they probably said the same thing about Sophia. On the other hand, if we'd end up creating another Sophia because we never gave Tattletale a chance…

"If it does, you'll get to say 'I told you so'." Dean said, sardonically.

"If it does, I don't think I'll want to."

"But you'd say it anyway…"

"Of course I would! I have a bad reputation to uphold."

We went back and forth like this for a while. I lost track of time and, ultimately, interest. This discussion was waste of time, in my opinion. The decision had already been made for us by our superiors. As much as I wanted to smack Piggot and Armsmaster for doing this without asking, none of us had the means to change it. Ultimately, Dean, Carlos, and I managed to convince the others to at least give Tattletale a chance, if only to keep our bosses happy. If we found out that she was Sophia 2.0…well, I guess that's what jail's for. At least we'd be able to stop her before someone else gets hurt like I did.

Afterwards, Carlos called me over to a separate room. "Taylor, can I talk to you for a moment?"

"Sure. What's up?"

"It's about Tattletale, actually." Carlos looked even more uncomfortable than before. "I'm…well…a little surprised that you went along with it. I'd have thought that you of all people would…object, considering your, uh, 'history' with Sophia."

That surprised me a little. "Weren't you trying to convince us just five minutes ago? Besides, whining won't change anything. I'm just being pragmatic."

"Yes, but…I'm just trying to figure you out, you know. Trying to understand how you think. So please, why? Really, why?"

I nodded. He wanted the truth? Fine, I'd give it to him. "Honestly, it's because I won't be able to live with myself if Tattletale pushes some innocent girl into a locker full of tampons."

Carlos suddenly paled a little and swore under his breath. "I see. That's…understandable. Still, if Tattletale goes nuts, it won't be on us. She's not our responsibility."

"Just like Sophia wasn't yours?" The words came out before I was able to stop myself. "Fuck, sorry, that was out of line."

Carlos just looked really guilty. "Don't. Just…Okay, be honest with me. I won't think any less of you either way. Do you blame us for Sophia?"

"You should have known." I replied coldly. "She's been your teammate for months. She's been under PRT scrutiny for months. You should have seen something, anything, and I…" I took a few deep breaths. Part of me wanted to stop, but I couldn't keep this in. "Look, Sophia broke me. She and her friends tortured me for two years and nobody cared. If it weren't for me getting powers along the way, I would have slit my throat by now. Fuck, she got even away with stuffing me in a locker. How's that even possible unless everyone was screwing the pooch?"

"We tried…"

"I know you did. I believe you tried to connect with her and keep her on the straight and narrow and knowing Sophia, that must have felt like stabbing yourself in the gut over and over again. I understand that you did everything you could and that she's beyond help, which is why I'm not making a fuss over this. It isn't fair for any of us. You shouldn't have been saddled with a bitch like that. I just…you're good people and for the first time in years, I don't dread having to get up in the morning. I don't want to lose the closest thing I have to friends because I can't get over Sophia."

Carlos nodded. "I get it. I'd be angry too, if I were you."

No, he still didn't get it. "I'm not angry with you, or any of the other Wards. I'm frustrated, disappointed, a lot of other things, but I'm not angry. It's just…pointless and…I just can't bring myself to be angry anymore." I sighed. "I can't change what happened, but I can make sure it doesn't happen to someone else. So I'm going to be nice to Tattletale. If I'm lucky, I'll get a friend. If not, I'll shatter her eardrums and throw her in jail myself. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes. Yes, it does." Carlos said. As I turned away, he spoke again: "But Taylor, what you said about connecting? It counts for you too. You've got issues and they aren't going to disappear in a week. Talk to someone about this. If not to me, then to Miss Militia or your father, just…don't bottle it up, okay? You're one of the good guys and I'd hate to see you snap."

"Yeah, okay." I replied, weakly.

Fuck, I really needed to punch something. Where's Armsmaster when you need him?