Orthosilicic 2.6

(Terry Hess)

March 5, 2011, evening

There was something… off... about this situation.

Terry was sitting in the trunk of a PRT vehicle next to Fish, who was swinging her legs out the back, both of them glancing anxiously over at Rogue, who was currently coating Rune's arms in a healthy layer of containment foam. He could see Rune's scowling mouth, and he grinned at the memories of the night, but let it slip when he turned his eyes back to Rogue.

Rogue was an enigma to him. She had hurried them along after finding them in the hallway, nabbing Rune and swinging the girl over her shoulder as soon as she had finished complementing them for them 'doing good'. When he first saw her, his thoughts immediately leapt to 'she's really hot', which was expected of course, because she really was. But something rose in his mind when he looked at Rogue's visor.

There was a niggling at the back of his mind whenever he looked at her, and he had thought it was just him until he noticed Fish tensing up whenever Rogue was in sight.

He wasn't the only one to sense it then?

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7…" Rogue counted as she stood up, stretching her arms over her head.

When she reached ten she radioed over some of the troopers that came with her, who pulled up Rune by her shoulders and dragged her over to their largest van.

The words on the side of the van read out 'Prison Transport', and Terry could see the legitimacy of those words by looking at the bars in the windows.

So the PRT troopers seemed legit to him, as well as their vehicles.

But Rogue…

Something was off when it came to Rogue. He'd be wondering about her all night if this kept up.

"Hey, Fish and Crystal right? Thanks for calling us in!" Rogue cheered at them, causing Terry to flinch in surprise and look away at Fish, who had done the former, but kept Rogue in sight.

"No problem. Rogue, right? Wasn't there an arrest warrant out for you?" There was? He didn't know that. He hadn't even been sure that Rogue was Protectorate until Fish told him a few minutes ago.

"There was, but those charges were discarded when the evidence piled in." Fish didn't look relieved at those words, but Rogue kept going "I was PRT before joining the Protectorate, but I got powers trying to take in a villain who used to live here. He got out during the drive to the Birdcage though, and we don't know where he is now." She was looking at both of them, slowly panning her visor from Fish to him, as if judging their reaction. Her shit-eating grin really didn't help with that observation.

Terry glanced back over to Fish, who was looking at him, and made eye contact beyond her goggles. A slight shake of the head gave him all of the information he needed.

He definitely wasn't the only one to notice something wrong.

Terry decided to speak up "And this villain still hasn't shown up anywhere? How do we know you didn't make him up to get us to trust you?"

Fish smacked her forehead.

"What? I thought that's what you meant?"

"You have to be more subtle than that…" Fish sighed out exasperatedly as Rogue watched with an air of amusement around her "You can't just ask someone if they're tricking you, you have to figure it out first."

"But surprise is the best way to make them give it away! If you rush people with questions, their story usually slips up."

"No, that just makes people mad at you because of the accusations! Then they can just lie out of spite! You have to ease yourself into getting answers. I mean, I knew Rogue was Protectorate, but what if this was an imposter? Your question would only work if Rogue really was Rogue and could provide proof. If she was an imposter she could make up a story on the spot to get us to believe her."

"But then can't we just ask her for proof?"

"No, then she'd know we know something's up!"

"But if we know that she'd know that we know something's up, can't we use that to our advantage?"

"Well, maybe… but what it she knows that we know…"

"Eh-em." A light cough sounded from their side. "As much as I love recursive arguments, can I interrupt this?"

"You were there the whole time…" Fish whispered out "How could I be so dumb? Rule 13, Fish…, eyes on the surroundings." She was smacking her forehead again.

Terry glanced over at Rogue who was laughing at the younger girl's self-punishment. "I have to hand it to you, you're the first independent I've talked to who has had their rules numbered past ten. What's your highest? If you don't mind me asking. "

Fish stopped the slapping with a sigh, and looked back towards Rogue sheepishly "Umm, forty seven?"

"Forty seven!" Terry blurted out "Really? How do you have so many? I only have four!"

"I worked on it with my… uh… guardian."

Terry shook his head and glanced over at Rogue who was typing into her phone.

He tensed, preparing for the worst.

"What are you doing?"

"Hmm? Oh sorry! I kept it on!"

"Kept what on?"

A moment passed and the tension in the situation immediately faded away. Fish had her head cocked to the side and was peering at Rogue curiously as she held up the phone to her ear.

"Rogue checking in. Confirmed blue on both with exception of pink of course. Reeaaaally shiny gold on Fish, with a tarnished silver on Crystal. Oh, and tell Assault he owes me twenty bucks, the record's up to forty seven now!"

Terry could feel the blush emanating from Fish.

"Any-who, got to go talk to the indie's now. Ta ta, em em!"

Rogue looked up at Fish and Terry with a grin and spoke up. "Sorry about that, you two, I'm the gatekeeper for the Protectorate in case the two of you have 'evil intentions'," The spooky voice was a nice touch "My secondary power takes care of that, but I have to pay attention to turn it off."

"I…" Fish was stammering. Whether in embarrassment or amusement, Terry couldn't tell "I-I, um. Stranger? Or was that a Master? I thought you were a Tinker? An-and what was that about Assault?"

"Oh, sorry. Assault and I have a bet about each new independent that actually signs up with the mail-in sheet. I bet twenty on you beating the record for most rules, so…"

At Fish's indignant stare she held up her hands "You can have a cut? I mean, if you want it."

"So, Stranger? Master? What's that?" Terry interrupted.

"Oh, you see…" "You don't know? Have you done any research?"

Rogue and Fish both paused and turned to look at each other.

"You can't know it all, kid. He could have just forgotten." Rogue turned back to Terry "Strangers are parahumans that alter the perception of themselves, like turning away attention or being real sneaky like."

"They're the best at directing attention elsewhere and avoiding notice. Masters are capes that can control other things."

"You know your stuff, kid. Most don't even bother. But she's right. Anyway, I can't give you the exact details on my powers because of 'security issues', but you should know that they help recognize the heroes from the villains."

"Can..?" Rogue put a hand up to Fish's mask and stopped the onslaught of oncoming questions. "Up, up, up. Pause." When Fish stepped back Rogue started again "We need to get Rune back to base first. I had to be sure if you could come with before we left though. Any questions you have can be asked on the way."

Rogue turned back towards one of the smaller van and waved her hand at them "Come on! Let's get going!" Terry looked over at Fish, who was looking over at him, and both shrugged.

Sure she was strange. But she was nice? And hot. Terry couldn't forget hot.

Terry really was confused though. Was he supposed to look up things like Stanger beforehand? He hadn't ever really felt the need because of his goal to take in as many Empire thugs as possible, but something in Fish's confused voice spoke to him. Was it that odd that he didn't want to waste time looking up anyone other than the Empire capes? He didn't think so.

As Rogue shut the door behind them and sat across from him and next to Fish on the van's bench, Terry sighed.

After that tense little situation, it was nice to finally be able to sit down and relax. They were finally home free.

Unbeknownst to him, Fish shivered from across the van.

Terry leaned back against the wall of the rumbling vehicle and put his hands behind his head.

Maybe he'd finally get some sleep tonight after all?

Rogue's Ratings (i.e. I made it up, I make the names!)

State of emergency

Blue - Heroes are present, good intentions, no emergency.

Purple – Heroes in presence of non-reactions, backup up to task leader's discretion.

Red – No heroes here! No good intentions, or no emotions. (See 3) (see Armsmaster(1,2,3,4) (Armsmaster's note: I prefer to call myself a logical person))

Special

Pink – If I fail to mention the color pink, it either means I'm mastered or I forgot (oops).

State of heroics

a. State of rules

i. Gold – Lots of rules, and has been proven to follow them.

ii. Silver – Some rules, may follow them, may not.

iii. Bronze – No stated rules that they follow.

b. State of obeying rules (Assault's note: A little long, don't you think?)

Shiny – Either really devotional to their rules or new enough not to have broken them.

Plain – Can't prove whether or not rules are followed. Observe.

Tarnished – May have broken rules in past, whether it be by ignorance or mistake.

Rusted - Clearly has ignored rules (still having good intentions at this point is questionable, but Ms. P. still wants this rating here)

State of non-reactions

Rust – Definite Evil (should have run away by now)

Steel – possible sociopath

Platinum – Held against will, but not good

Titanium – Logical being (Fine, I put it in now. Are you happy, Armsmaster?)

If you have any additions, don't hesitate to tell me!

With tolerance,

Rogue