Rory Cristner, or Triumph, didn't hate being a Ward. But he did find that it was necessary to adjust his expectations a lot. There was more paperwork, more rules, and more disappointment than he had expected. Still if he had the option to do it all over again he wouldn't have changed anything else.
His parents had given him the opportunity to become a hero with that mysterious vial. He didn't know all the details of how they made it happen, but apparently after he had mentioned to them how much he wanted to make the Major Leagues they had asked around. Apparently of all the conspiracy theories to be true, the powers from a vial conspiracy was on the money. Of course for his own sake after he got his powers he was encouraged by his parents not to find out what else this mysterious Cauldron was up to.
Rory could live with that. Brockton Bay had plenty of other problems he was better equipped to solve. His attempt at a baseball career had been ill-fated. Turned out they were getting better at catching parahumans trying to get into sports. So instead he decided to join the wards
He was one of only two wards at the moment, the other one was named Headline. She was a pre-cog that was fairly good at predicting things up to 24 hours in the future. She was already getting vetted for a place on WEDGDG, or Watchdog, so she wasn't going to be around much longer. She was a bit of a know-it-all like many thinkers, but he appreciated having her on the team. Today however she had a smug look on her face.
"Is there something you'd like to share with me Headline?"
"Come on Rory, you know me. I'm not supposed to give out predictions to other wards outside of patrols and missions. I don't like getting thinker headaches."
"Fine, be like that. Can you at least tell me if it's good or bad?"
"Well I can at least say you won't be lonely when I leave for Watchdog."
It was then Rory suddenly got a text on his Wards issued cell phone. It was a request for him to give a tour to a prospective new Ward.
"Did you actually time that?"
"It's the best kind of practice a pre-cog like me can have. Go on Rory, they're waiting. Also I can also tell you that I don't think selling them on the Wards will be the hardest part."
Rory wasn't sure exactly what she meant but he decided not to press the issue. Headline could be very misleading when she wanted to be. Best to just focus on giving the pitch he was trained to give.
Once he arrived at the door for the designated interview room, he noticed Armsmaster was waiting outside and holding a file. Besides him was a small case.
"Triumph, thank you for being prompt. Before you go in, I need to brief you on the prospective ward."
That made sense to Rory. Always important to be informed about what parahuman you were about to guide around the building. Armsmaster then picked up the case that was sitting by him and started reading from the file he was holding.
"The prospective ward is a young girl we have initially designated Spirit. According to her, she has the ability to create a ghost-like projection that carries her consciousness. She has discovered during the exploration of her powers at home that she can possess other humans with this projection. When she was testing if she could pass through live humans, she ended up possessing her sister. They contacted the PRT to help resolve the possession yesterday."
Apparently Rory had missed a lot on his day off yesterday. That sounded like a real nightmare to deal with. Armsmaster continued on.
"Thankfully after a little time had passed Spirit was able to calm down enough to release the possession of her sister. Velocity was the responding hero at the scene and has filed the report on his observations. We have chosen not to file charges of using parahuman abilities on a civilian since it was ruled an accident. Also she had been planning to join the Wards already so it was considered prudent not to alienate her family."
Rory relaxed a bit knowing the problem had gotten resolved. But he suspected another shoe was going to drop. Armsmaster flipped a page on the file and continued his reading.
"While she is not likely to be considered hostile, we are taking anti-master and anti-stranger precautions until she has undergone full power testing and evaluation. An initial rating of Master 5, Stranger 4, and Breaker 2 has been assigned. There is also the potential of a Trump rating if it is found during testing that she can make use of a parahumans abilities during her possession"
Rory was liking this less and less as Armsmaster went on. He hadn't gone through the full master-stranger protocols since he had become a ward yet, but he had heard some ugly rumors about how paranoid they could get. It was then that Armsmaster opened up the case. It opened to reveal several arm braces.
"These armbands are to be worn at all times by us while anyone is present around Spirit. If you are found compromised we can activate a remote activated shock tranquilizer. In addition you will have to enter a code every thirty minutes to prevent an automatic shock being activated. This will ensure she cannot control you without us knowing. The code for your armband will be the first 4 digits of your Ward ID number. Also, it will only be able to be removed after you input that code."
It seemed to Rory that the paranoia part of the rumors were spot on. But it was only necessary for a short time. He decided it was wise to just follow protocol for now.
"Well at least they're not going to explode I guess."
"…. Unlikely. There is only a .1% chance of explosive failure as long as the devices are handled properly."
Rory desperately tried to ignore that comment from Armsmaster. It was possible that was his idea of a joke. He hadn't quite gotten the sense of Armsmaster's type of humor after all. Gingerly he picked out the armband with his name on it and put it on his left bicep. It activated with an upbeat chirp and he became very conscious of the time.
"Is there anything else I should know?"
"Only that Headline said that she would cover your patrol for the day. Since we don't want you to rush, we granted her request."
"Oh well that's oddly nice of her." And also weird. She patrolled as little as possible since she was a thinker. Maybe she wanted to make up for lost time before she left town? "Wait, why isn't she doing the tour? She's the senior ward."
"Correct, however it was decided that since you will be working with Spirit longer that it is important for you to build up rapport."
He decided not to argue further and keep Spirit waiting, so he entered the room. There he found a young girl sitting at the meeting table with dark braided hair, a generic mask, and a cast on her leg. Next to her was probably her father, a tall, thin, balding man with dark hair. He had glasses over a mask they gave civilians and a slightly stressed expression.
"Ah Triumph glad you could make it, I'd like you to meet our prospective new ward. Have you been briefed?" A professional looking woman sitting across from the father and daughter said to Rory.
"Yes, Armsmaster filled me in on the basics for the tour today." He turned to the girl. "They told me you're going by Spirit?"
"Only until I get my real Wards name. I got a bunch of other ideas though." The girl said, her expression brightening. It was nice to be admired, Rory thought. One of the nicer perks of being a hero.
"Why don't you start your tour of the Ward's quarters, Triumph? Please go slow though, she's still recovering from an injury. Her father and I still need to hammer out some details on the timetable of her induction. It probably won't be immediate given her condition but we can set some wheels in motion."
"Of course, we can take our time."
Waiting a minute for Spirit to get on her crutches, he opened the door for her to get through. Once they were in the hallway they were alone and making their way to the elevator.
"So Triumph what's it like to be a Ward?"
"Rewarding, though not as dangerous as what the full-time Protectorate hero's do every day. You'll be spending a lot of time learning the ropes. There's lots of supervision to ensure you don't get yourself into more trouble than you can handle."
"Sounds great…. Hey, how much did they tell you about me?"
"Just a few details about your powers. I understand you had an incident yesterday testing them?"
Her expression became a bit sheepish at that question. "Oh they mentioned that, yeah? Well it was a complete accident. It's been a couple weeks since I got back from the hospital and I've barely been able to do anything except the schoolwork Tay- I mean my sister brings back for me. My dad promised I could join the wards when my cast was off but that's going to take another month. I really wanted to figure out how my powers worked."
"Yes I can understand that. There's a saying that powers want to be used. Parahumans rarely like to be inactive."
"Yeah my sister mentioned that too. She's been reading about powers lately. She actually agreed with me about training before I joined the Wards. Talked about how I should get a better idea of my limitations. So she suggested checking if there was anything I couldn't phase through and one thing led to another and umm…. I tried going through my sister and then I found out I can possess people."
"It can happen like that sometimes when you're on your own. That's why we have professionals to spot you during your power testing when you join. As long as you don't make a habit of it I'm sure no one will hold one mishap against you."
"Thanks, my dad was pretty upset about it though. I never saw him that mad before. We kind of did it behind his back though so we kind of deserved it. I mostly felt bad because the only time I've seen him more worried was after the accident…. " Spirit said as they approached the elevator.
Rory could see she was feeling a bit ashamed of worrying her father.
"I'm sure he was just worried about whether you and your sister would be alright. It's hard for parents to adjust when their kids become parahumans. Give it a little time. Once you get the hang of your powers he'll have much less to worry about."
They reached the elevator to the Wards quarters at the end of the long hallway. Rory punched in the code and bio-metric inputs. The elevator was spacious enough that she had plenty of space to maneuver into it. It quickly sped to its designated floor and when it stopped a short alarm was heard. Spirit jerked in surprise.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, that's just an alarm for the Wards to let them know someone's coming. It's only me and Headline now. So it's usually unnecessary."
"Oh I guess I'll have to get used to that then."
"I'm sure it won't take long."
They entered the empty common room. Rory wondered if Headline had left early for her patrol. Maybe she was aware of the armbands and didn't want them on her arm he mused. In any case they had the Ward quarters to themselves.
So Rory went into the descriptions he had memorized of the different parts of the quarters: from the kitchen to the little storage rooms. It wasn't that hard to do. The only challenge came from waiting for her to hobble over to each part as they progressed. Soon they had finished.
"Hey before we go back do you mind if I sit down for a minute. I'm not used to this much time on my crutches."
"That's alright, we're not in any rush"
It was then that a loud beep came from the armband. *One minute! Enter code!* Rory casually looked to the left side where the armband was. It was only then he realized that his shoulder guards were blocking his view. He started to panic. What was the keypad layout again? Was 123 at the top or the bottom? Then he had an idea.
"Hey kid, could you tell me how the numbers are laid out on the keypad?"
"What keypad?
"The one on my armband."
*THIRTY SECONDS TO ENTER CODE*
"Why are you wearing an armband?!"
"Long story, pleasejusttellme." He said with some desperation and speed.
"Okay okay okay…ummmm… wait I can enter the code for you."
"The codes are classified. Just tell me please!"
*TEN SECONDS TO ENTER CODE*
"Okay it's 123 at top your left to your right
Finally, he entered 131-
BBBBBRRRRRZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTTTTTT
And like that Rory lost consciousness as the electricity knocked him out. Sam awkwardly scrambled to get to his side in a panic. Then she was at a loss at what to do, with an unconscious Triumph and no way to use the elevator. It was then only two minutes later a strike team burst into the Wards quarters. Sam could only look at them in confusion while next to Triumph's unconscious body.
"Did I just fail a secret test or something?"
Her only answer was the large amounts of containment foam that enveloped both her and Triumph's bodies.
_
Missy Biron didn't hate her parents, but it was very hard to genuinely love them anymore. Ever since their marriage had started to fall apart they had been showing the worst parts of themselves. When it had been confirmed with divorce papers Missy had lost all hope things could go back to normal. She had become a parahuman that day.
It was a warm April day when she and her mother made their visit to the PRT ENE HQ to join the Wards. The questions were dull, and she couldn't get excited as her mother brought up how her father would be involved. Or rather how her father shouldn't be involved because he isn't fit to have a role in Missy's life.
It was thankfully Triumph who arrived to save her by offering her a tour of the Wards quarters. She agreed instantly and they made their way down there quickly. Once they were in the elevator Triumph seemed to move into the next part of his pitch.
"I'm sure once you meet the other ward Manes you'll get along great with her. She's a bit rough around the edges but she's grown a lot in the months since she's started."
They reached the designated floor and a short alarm sounded.
"Now that was the warning wards get when someone is about to enter the common room. Manes should be masked up soo-"
It was then a ghostly form poked her head into the elevator. Missy was not prepared for this.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH"
With her girlish shriek of terror she activated her warping ability. Suddenly the elevator space expanded to almost the size of an indoor football stadium.
"Ma'am please calm down!"
Triumph put his hand on her shoulder as she slowly regained her breath from screaming her head off. They had lost sight of the ghostly head. Missy tried to think of what to say but was left speechless.
"I'm so sorry about that. If you could please shrink the elevator back to normal I would appreciate it. That was just Manes. I'm going to ask her to apologize for that. She knows better than to scare people here in the HQ." Triumph said.
Missy calmly accepted that explanation and did as Triumph asked. This allowed them to open the elevator doors and enter the Wards common room. Triumph raised his voice as he entered the room.
"Manes come out now. You need to apologize to our guest for your little stunt."
A door opened and a young girl wearing a costume resembling Roman legionary armor entered the room. Despite wearing a mask covering the top half of her face she was obviously a bit embarrassed.
"I guess my attempt at stealth reconnaissance wasn't so successful. I had a whole bit planned where I'd come out with a blindfold on and guess what you were wearing but it seems it wasn't to be."
"Manes when I said you should be prepared to greet a prospective new ward that is not what I meant and you know that. Now apologize." Triumph said sternly. After that Manes turned to face Missy.
"I'm sorry about scaring you. I was trying to do something special to impress you but I guess it kind of went off the rails a bit."
Missy wasn't quite sure what to make of this girl but she decided to be the bigger person and not hold it against her.
"Apology accepted"
Manes seemed to brighten up from Missy's forgiveness. "That's great. So do you want to know anything? I'm up for answering all kinds of questions. I can tell you about what is and isn't good to eat in the cafeteria, some great hiding spots for hide and go seek, and even what containment foam feels like."
Missy's attention was grabbed by that last item."Why do you know what containment foam feels like?"
"Oh well that's a fun story. You see when I had my first tour here-"
"MANES, I don't think that story is something you should be telling to guests."
"What? Do you want to tell her the story? If so I can fact check. Besides, she's only going to be a guest for a little while. You do want to join the wards right?"
Missy felt put on the spot but she had already made her decision.
"Yes I do want to join the wards."
Triumph decided to take control of the conversation from here.
"Alright, that's good to hear. Manes, while I show our guest around, could you please finish your patrol report. Please type it this time."
"Fine, you know where to find me."
As Manes walked back to her room Triumph turned to Missy.
"Once again I'm really sorry about her behavior. She's really bad about testing peoples boundaries. Once you get to know her she'll mellow out."
"She said she got confoamed on her first tour here. Do I need to worry about that?"
Triumph made a face at the mention of confoam. "I wouldn't worry. There were some special circumstances around her visit that made security a bit higher. Her powers sort of made it necessary. She's proven herself trustworthy since then."
"Wait, all she does is turn into a ghost. Confoam wouldn't stop her from doing anything. Wouldn't she just phase through it like the elevator?"
Suddenly Triumph was looking a bit nervous. "Well you see there are standard procedures and…. Sigh." His face straightened up and he looked Missy straight in the eyes.
"Look, Manes has gone through a lot of hoops to get where she is now. She's been vetted several times over and has spent the last several months getting lectured about how to use her power responsibly. If I tell you the truth, do you promise to keep an open mind?"
Missy thought about it for a moment. Triumph seemed to be speaking genuinely. She decided it couldn't hurt to reserve judgment.
"Alright I'll listen."
"Okay… Manes has a master ability."
It took a minute for that statement to sink in for Missy.
"Wait, she can control people?!"
"Only one at a time, with some limits. There's a whole file I could go into but the bottom line is that when her ghost contacts another person she can possess them. Her actual body is left behind, so as long as she works with us she has a strong incentive to stay honest."
"But I remember seeing her debut on TV. They only talked about her turning into a ghost. Why would the Wards program lie like that?
"For a few reasons. Some of its PR. People do not like the Protectorate and Wards having a lot of master capes. It's not heroic to control people. Then there's the fact that people don't get to pick their powers. Tell me, did Manes look like a sociopath to you?"
"... No, she was kind of weird but she didn't seem like a bad person."
"That's about right. Once you get to know her you'll understand she means well, even if she can be the most aggravating person you've ever met."
It was then that Manes popped up from the couch she was hiding behind. "Aw thats so sweet of you."
"GAAAAAAAAHHHH" Both Triumph and Missy screamed at her sudden appearance.
"HOW LONG WERE YOU BEHIND THAT COUCH!" Triumph shouted.
"Long enough to hear you spill the whole master secret. Not cool man. With how quickly you folded I bet I could get your bank account at the end of the day."
"WHY WERE YOU EVEN THERE?!"
"Well I am trying to improve being stealthy and you only improve when you practice. But the sanctity of my secret has to take priority." Manes turned her attention to Missy, who was looking at her back with new eyes. "So Missy, should I expect my secret to be in the morning papers?"
Missy had not expected this when she decided to join the wards. She had envisioned going out there to kick bad guy butt. There hadn't been any room in her fantasies for having to make moral choices like this. She decided to trust her instincts. "No, I don't see any reason to tell anyone if you continue being a hero."
Manes smiled at this. "Fantastic, you passed the secret test."
"Wait, there was a secret test?" Missy responded in confusion.
"No, there is no secret test Manes. Please stop making up tests." Triumph tried to correct.
"Oh but there was a secret test. You're just jealous because we failed our secret test during my first tour. And the price of that failure was getting confoamed."
"Okay at some point you guys need to explain to me how exactly that happened." Missy responded.
"Don't worry, when you join I can tell you all about it. Now I won't interrupt your tour any more. Me and Triumph have a patrol coming up after all."
As Manes returned to her room, for real this time, Missy began to wonder what exactly being a ward would be like. At the very least with Manes around it wouldn't be boring.
A/N
-So there was a slight change of plans. I decided to fill in the gap between the previous prologue and the intended start of the story with this chapter. I couldn't help but feel like I needed to add some more foundation to Sam's backstory. So enter Triumph and Vista to provide their own perspectives (told from the 3rd person). I may write more about this time skip period but it'll likely just be as side stories.
-Sam hiding her master powers is mostly something the Protectorate wanted her to do. She's still young and is willing to listen to authority figures when they tell her to do something. I can promise this secret won't last long but it did make for a convenient test of character for Missy. As one poster suggested Sam and Missy are going to be close friends in this fic.
-Headline is my own idea of a filler OC to give Triumph at least a teammate when Sam arrives. I doubt she'll be back but if the story calls for them I'm not opposed to bringing a character back. As for why she let the armband disaster play out, let's just say it's a combination of how her power works and she figured it was a good learning experience for Rory and Sam. Rory learned communication is important and Sam learned the PRT really takes masters seriously.
-Please leave reviews and feedback. They can be very nice to have.