Energy: 7
Current Training: None
Tuesday, January 18th, 2011
The Boardwalk, Brockton Bay
The trip to the Boardwalk is both cumbersome and slow.
For one, Aspirant spends over an hour tweaking his body so that it neither matches the oversized weight lifter physique he had when you first met him, nor the somewhat more normal look of his civilian form. What he comes out with is actually fairly bizarre-looking, almost screaming 'cape'. His arms and legs have been lengthened such that he has an almost cartoonishly tall figure, something mitigated only by the corded muscle lining every portion of his body. You can only really describe it as 'whip like'. Sleek, long, dangerous.
When you were explaining the concept of 'reach' to him the other day, and how it affects a fighter, this was not what you were expecting him to land on. Nor were you expecting him to have used his free time to apparently figure out how to grow scales. Scales which ripple out from him in waves to cover a majority of his body in the white pearlescent material he is apparently making them from, and that fuse together after several layers into a suit of nearly perfectly smooth iridescent armouring on every part of his body but his face.
"I can't breathe through it, so it makes for a poor helmet." Aspirant explains, obviously misunderstanding the perplexed looks everyone is shooting him as he comes to a stop by the exit to the base. Counter to his generally tall figure, he doesn't stand hunched over. He instead keeps his back straight, and his posture proper, just the way you taught him. His hands are clasped behind his back as though a soldier at ease, and his now heavily dilated eyes regard you with a sort of bored patience.
"No that's not..." Danny says slowly, clearly trying to search for the right way to phrase what he's thinking.
"Ya look like a fucking alien." Trainwreck explains instead, gesturing to the interlocking plates of something that are adhering to the younger capes skin.
"I... thought this would be the most efficient form for using what Emmy has been teaching me?" He offers after a second.
"What? No. No no no, do not put this on me." You yelp, waving your hands frantically infront of you to ward the rest of the now suddenly staring team off.
"Monkey style strikes with secondary sets of Snake style muscles supporting instantaneous acceleration of my fists, nacre plates that should allow me to replicate some of the Turtle style feats you've told me about, talons that I should be able to use with Tiger style-" Aspirant begins to list off, pointing at his long arms and legs, then his chest, and then upturning his hand to display the three inch long talons on the end of each of his armored fingers.
"Okay so maybe I suggested he make some changes. So what! He looks cool!" You defend eventually.
"He looks like he lurks in dark forests at night and lures children away to eat 'em." Trainwreck counters. Then smiles widely.
"Welcome to the freak side ya little weirdo!" He declares, opening his arms in a loose gesture that encompasses everyone else in the room but Danny. Your Master blinks in surprise at the inclusion, her eyes going from the living tank that is your Tinker, to the bizarre physiology of Aspirants current form, to you - a sentient Panda. Then she points at herself in obvious confusion, a gesture which Trainwreck is only too happy pounce on.
"You spend hours doing the weirdest shit, and somehow that nets you new powers. You were fucking dancin' around with a blade of grass earlier like that's totally normal. Face it boss. Your a freak." He says with a shrug.
Surprisingly, the statement comes across as significantly lacking in malice, and in fact seems to contain an air of fondness that you weren't expecting from the armoured man.
"...Fair." Taylor answers him after a second, apparently being much more inclined to take the subtext of his statement for what it is in lieu of taking offence.
"That's all very nice but, won't we be drawing a lot of attention if we just walk into town like this?" Danny chimes in, worriedly looking around him and - possibly for the first time - realizing he's the only 'normal' person present.
"No shit. You want I should take my legs off and roll into the city?" Trainwreck asks sarcastically.
"Which is another thing, none of you will fit in my truck." Danny continues, ignoring the other man. You and Taylor look at each other, then to Trainwreck who has begun to smile smugly at Danny in a decided malicious way.
"I got something for that." He says, and you can swear the shadows in the garage lengthen as he speaks.
"I don't approve of this!" Danny screeches from his position atop Trainwrecks back, where the Tinker had apparently attached a basket like apparatus for him to stand in. He was pointedly not holding onto the handle of the machine gun bolted to the Tinkers oversized shoulder, ostensibly placed there 'just in case'.
"Sorry, Dad! When the PRT gives us our money maybe we can buy a bigger truck!" Taylor calls out to him from a nearby rooftop, where she is sedately leaping from building to building alongside Aspirant, who appears to be attempting to practice free running with his new morphology.
"Hey! Quit yer bitchin'! Who do you think has to carry you huh?!" Trainwreck yells jubilantly front where he is running up the road, steam pouring out of various holes in his suit as he sprints tireless along next to some of the slower moving vehicles.
"I think it's cool!" You call from the opposite side of the road, where you are running in order to complete the formation and keep a ground-level eye on Trainwreck. You have to admit that it isn't easy to keep up with the implacable metal man, but it is somewhat satisfying to cut loose in such a way.
Eventually, the entire group reaches the Boardwalk area, which is strangely much more populated than normal for this time of day. Despite school not yet being out, dozens of groups of people are milling about the area, and no small few of them bear the dubious markings of the Empire. You would have expected many of them to flee or at least cover their allegiance as your group reconvenes and slowly makes its entrance into the area, but instead, you are met with a mix of curiosity and contempt from different groups.
Trainwreck, in his infinite wisdom, begins to scowl openly at anyone who grows too close, but is held from action by Danny helpfully pointing out that they aren't actually committing a crime simply by being here. Still, there is a palpable air of anticipation and tension in the crowd as you travel through it. The people present that don't appear to be affiliated with the Empire are looking about in almost as much confusion as you, and several of them take your appearance as a sign that it might be time to go home.
A number of others withdraw there phones to record you.
"This is weird. Where are the enforcers?" Taylor whispers to Aspirant as they walk, the two of them leading the group.
"They could have been drawn away by a disturbance elsewhere but that seems unlikely..." Aspirant acknowledges, panning his head around to regard his surroundings with an uncomfortable looking click as his head rotates just slightly too far in either direction.
"Let's hurry. If the Empire is going to do something I..." Taylor opens with determination, then glances at her father's figure, still standing in the gunner's basket atop Trainwrecks back in order to avoid the crowds.
"I guess we should hurry up so we can leave." She bites out, changing what she was about to say.
With a sombre mood, the group makes it's way to the boutique, leaving only you and Taylor to enter, while the other two take up position outside.
"Hello? Is Parian in yet? I have an appoint...ment..." Taylor calls out as she enters the shop, only to trail off as she observes the condition of the interior.
It's a wreck. Many of the clothes have been thrown aside, and a number lay in a shredded pile at the rear of the shop, where a familiar saleswoman is laying in a pool of slowly drying blood.
"Emmy!" Taylor calls to you immediately, charging past you and into the rear room where Parian typically works while you slide to a stop near the wounded saleswoman.
To your surprise, she appears to be mostly okay. She has a long cut along one side of her body that reaches from her clavicle to her armpit, and she's so pale your sure she might still be in some danger, but someone has clearly taken the time to sew the wound shut and staunch the bleeding with some thread.
When you are finished, you're Master returns from her search, a worried look on her face.
"Parian's not here. Is she going to be okay?" She asks.
You open your mouth to answer, but pause when Trainwreck sticks his head through the door.
"Uh. Boss? Gonna wanna see this!" He yells frantically.
With quick steps you and Taylor exit the building into the streets, where you are treated to a light show the likes of which you have yet to experience in this existence. Because out across the bay, a brilliant beam of white hot energy has exploded into existence, splashing against the luminescent shield of power that surrounds the Protectorate Headquarters and causing it to brighten.
And then flicker.
And then fail.
The mixture of terror and anticipation in the crowd increases to fever pitch, when finally the beam slams home into a rear section of the rig, vaporizing it nearly instantly.
"My brothers of the Empire! Rise up! The dragon is no more! The dealers are brought low! Lay claim to what is ours!" A voice calls from amongst the crowd.
You don't know who said it. You don't even know if it matters. The Protectorate Headquarters - and presumably it's prison specifically, were just destroyed before the eyes of the entire city, and the dozens if not hundreds of skinheads that have taken up on the Boardwalk have begun to whoop and holler, sporadic fights breaking out in the crowd as they begin to wantonly smash windows, attack pedestrians, and just generally riot.
"Fuuuuuuuuck." Trainwreck says, succinctly summing up the situation.
Your Master, who up to that point had a sort of doe in the headlights look to her, whips her head around to look at the massive Tinker, and then towards the brewing riot that you are sure is being even now replicated across the rest of the city.
You can tell she wants to do something. You can also tell that feels like she can't. Danny is looking on with a horrified expression, not noticing his daughter's plight, Trainwreck is thwacking one metallic fist into an open palm, and Aspirant seems as mystified but the sudden violence as Taylor.