Danny had wandered into the house, the little cloud of depression coming with him.
He stopped at the table though. For one thing, his little girl was sitting there.
For another thing, she wasn't alone.
There was one woman at the stove who had an uncanny resemblence to his wife, enough that it took staring at her for a good few minutes to be sure this wasn't a ghost.
"Daniel Hebert. We've heard so much from your daughter," said an old-looking man at the table.
"If you're here to rob us, we don't really have anything of value," pointed out Danny, edging towards where he had a fireplace poker.
The third member of the group caused him to rapidly reconsider that action as he got up from where he'd been sitting on a footstool and still been taller than the old man who was sitting on a proper chair.
"Capes," Danny muttered, trying to figure out how freaking BIG this third guy was.
"Nine foot five inches," said the tall guy who had his head cocked forward a bit so that he didn't go through the ceiling. "Nineteen hundred pounds. Yeah, I'm not going upstairs."
"Look, whatever you want is..."
"To make Brockton Bay prosperous again, reopen the Port, and get young Taylor here set up in her career as a hero," said the old man. "Mystique, you continually surprise me. I had no idea you could cook."
"I have a number of skills developed over a number of years," said the woman at the stove. "Besides, this is simple fare."
"Wait. You want what?" asked Danny.
"Sit down, Mister Hebert. We have much to discuss." The old man made a gesture and one of the chairs scooted a bit.
"Oooh. Bacon pancakes, I love those," said the really big guy.
"Taylor? Let's go up and finish your studying. We want to get you into a good school."
"It's too late to change schools," said Taylor.
"You're just saying that because you want to see if Emma is going to change her mind," said Mystique. "When someone declares they want you to die and to go away forever - it's best to avoid them. Give them a couple of years and maybe things will have cooled down some."
Taylor pouted as Mystique turned off the stove.
"Cain. If you'll do the clean-up?" asked Mystique.
"Yeah. So long as it doesn't require tiny hands," said Cain as he carried his now-empty plate to the sink.
Silverware and cooking utensils gathered themselves and flew off to the sink, going around the big guy.
Danny looked to where the near-Annette was taking Taylor upstairs. "Uhm."
"She took that form to put Taylor more at ease and to look the part of a visiting relative," said the old guy. "Give her a few hours and she'll be able to produce documentation proving that your wife had a cousin who just came to help with your daughter. She's very good at that sort of thing."
"I don't understand," said Danny. "But if you're here to hurt my family..."
The old man held up a hand. "Please. If we wanted to hurt you or your family, it would already be done. We're actually here to help Taylor."
"And crush Nazis," came a muttered statement from the guy doing the dishes.
"Well, yes, but business before pleasure," said the old guy. "My name is Erik Lensheer, though Magneto is the name I prefer to go by. My associate is Cain Marko. He prefers Juggernaut. Mystique is the name of the young lady upstairs. Taylor is an empowered individual."
"They use the term 'parahuman' here," rumbled Juggernaut as he started cleaning the spatula.
"Yes, quite," agreed Magneto. "We're not 'parahumans' in the sense you're used to - though we wield powers."
"Shaker, Stranger, Brute," said Danny.
"Pardon?" asked Magneto.
"I'm not understanding a lot of that parahuman stuff, but the rhyme about the classifications of powers was on the radio the other day." Danny glanced between the big guy and the old guy. "You said Taylor has powers?"
"Her best friend betrayed her and wished her dead, her mother passed away and she feels guilt over how she might have contributed to it, and she feels that you distancing yourself from her means you might blame her as well." Magneto's gaze was cold as he met Danny's eyes with his own. "You need to remember you still have family. I know how precious such things are, and how hard it is when you lose it."
"You don't know how hard it is to go on after my wife's death," started Danny, but stopped at the expression on Magneto's face.
"Don't understand how it feels to lose someone close to you?" asked Magneto. He slid a sleeve up to reveal tattooed numbers. "My family. Auschwitz. They were taken away and killed then cremated and the ashes used to sow a field to feed to the remaining prisoners. My first wife, a Romani named Magda. We moved to the Ukraine and had a daughter, Anya, but my daughter was killed by a mob. She burned to death while that mob kept me away. I killed the mob but Magda grew fearful and fled. I searched for her only to find she had died shortly thereafter. I have seen friends and colleagues killed by the fearful and ignorant. I have seen discrimination against mutantkind, my kind, for over a half-century. I..."
"Erik. Control," was Juggernaut's sudden interjection.
Magneto paused and the rattling of metal that had been building up during his speech stilled. "Pardon. I usually have considerably more self-control. Speak not to me of not knowing about loss. I know the pain of it all too well."
Four hours later, Taylor snuck down the staircase long enough to hear both of them talking of lost loves and missed opportunities. Cain was simply snoozing on the floor near the couch.
She returned to bed, satisfied that things were going about as well as could reasonably be expected.
* August 10, 2009 *
Mystique had gone off to run a few mysterious "errands" and that left one adult and one child wearing masks approaching the Parahuman Response Team East-Northeast building. Two further adults were wearing full costumes.
"Three groups watching us and not very good at concealing that they're watching us," remarked Juggernaut.
"Amateur hour," commented Magneto. "There are also fourteen people who are trying to film us with their cellphones and experiencing minor technical problems."
Juggernaut held the door open. "You first, kid. This is your debut."
Magneto smirked as he looked at all the hastily assembled troopers in their riot gear. "We're just here to make an appointment for registration. The young lady here wants to be a hero, after all."
"I see," said the young lady at the reception desk, who was apparently trying not to stare at Juggernaut.
"My eyes are up here," indicated Juggernaut, looking closer at her name badge. "Jessica."
"Oh, right," said Jessica. "Uhm. What about you three?"
"I'm not parahuman, metahuman, or mutant. I'm just the responsible adult," said Danny.
"I'm here to give a warning ahead of time," said Magneto.
There was a few clacks and clunks as weapons were readied.
"Tomorrow I'm planning on cleaning up the Ship's Graveyard and removing that rather large obstacle blocking the sea lanes," said Magneto without any sign of worry on his part. "I believe it would only be polite to let you know ahead of time."
"Ah, I see," said Jessica, glancing back at Juggernaut.
Juggernaut smiled and flexed, enjoying very much the way the reception turned red. Some women saw him and started running or trying to hide, even if he was just out trying to get a Chik-fil-a. Some found him intimidating. A very few were like this and he found it both amusing and reaffirming on some level.
"Well, uhm, I have some forms if you'd like to register?" asked Jessica.
"Not myself," said Magneto. "I have... issues with the whole registration aspect. A rather troublesome incident in my past."
"Uhm, criminal?" asked Jessica.
"I was in Auschwitz," replied Magneto. "I still bear the tattoo. Never again."
"You don't look nearly that old," commented a new arrival as he made his way to the front of the lobby.
"Thank you," said Magneto, smiling and nodding his head. "Assault, I believe your 'cape name' was?"
"That's me," admitted Assault. "We'll at least need to get some basic info down so we know what to call you and what to expect. Oh, and you do know that one of the gangs in the ciy is basically Nazi central?"
"I expect them to try something," admitted Magneto. "I'm expecting them to learn the lesson about pulling the tail of a sleeping tiger."
"I'm not familiar with that, but I suspect it doesn't end well for the tail-puller," responded Assault.
"Indeed," agreed Magneto.
* Two hours later *
"Impressions?" asked Director Piggot as the video clip played to the end.
"No records of either, but body language and the way they move? Experienced," said Armsmaster. "Likely mercenaries that kept a low profile. There's a few black ops groups that operate by other rules than is more typical. Government backed group most liekly and often. That there's no record of Juggernaut despite his unusual appearance would also indicate a highly placed government black ops sort."
"Neither of them had any weapons, but didn't need them," said Miss Militia. "Neither felt the slightest threat even with myself and Armsmaster right there."
"During the period we were waiting on Gachapon's paperwork, he showed me his arm. He had the tattoo. He is very old but my scans did not indicate he was that old," said Armsmaster. "He could tell when I was scanning him, and indicated that he thought it very polite. I pointed out that we have had a few bad experiences with Tinker-based explosives and wet Tinkers. He knew better but didn't press."
"What about the kid?" asked Director Piggot.
"Power of summoning, which is not entirely unheard of," said Miss Militia. "My own power is producing a projection that acts like solid matter but is only temporarily in whatever form I give it. There have been two parahumans whose produced non-projection objects that lasted whenever the parahuman was unconscious or in Marianas' case - killed."
"Marianas produced obsidian blades if I recall," said Director Piggot. "The other one?"
"Jokester. A self-styled villain except more of a street performer than anything else. Could pull objects out of an extradimensional space in his hat. Was shot to death during one of his performances in Chicago by a gang member." Miss Militia shrugged. These things happened. "Robbery gone wrong."
"Yes, but Gachapon and these others state that she's pulling people out of other realities," noted Director Piggot. "There's a difference between Jokester pulling a punch-clown out of a hat and two parahumans. One of whom claims he's cleaning up the Ship's Graveyard tomorrow."
"On the positive side, that would allow us to determine if his powers are what his name suggests," pointed out Armsmaster.
* PHO *
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Topic: New Capes in BB?
In: Boards ► Places ► America ► Brockton Bay
Pythagorean_Python (Original Poster) (Cape Watcher)
Posted On Aug 10th 2009:
Only two pics because one was a minor and one was an adult apparently not a cape and there are rules about such, so these [Link] [Link] are all I could get that only had the obvious adult and obvious capes.
That armor? That costume? Really professionally made. So very much not the sort of gear you usually see in starting out capes but I haven't seen either in either hero or villain pics before this. And let me just say the big guy in the armor is absolutely not the sort to sit in the background unnoticed.
The old guy in purple? Yeah, maybe he could shuck the costume and go out normally. So maybe the big guy is a Changer type and this is his other form?
Went into the PRT building, came out two hours later. Noticed anyone getting close or trying to get close ups were suddenly having their phones die in showers of little sparks - maybe purple costume guy is a Tinker and has something running to discourage people trying to out him?
►Electric_Techpriest
Replied On Aug 10th 2011:
Judging from the way the 'big guy' practically had to crouch in order to get in the door? Size huge. Has to be over eight feet in height.
►Mojiizen
Replied On Aug 10th 2011:
Dude that size if he wasn't a cape could get a job in football playing the whole defensive line.
►Vista (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
Replied On Aug 10th 2009:
Apparently there's some big event going on in the Ship Graveyard tomorrow. Everyone's on high alert and on call.
►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Aug 10th 2009:
Officially it is being listed as a public power demonstration from an independent cape. Wards will be stationed nearby but not in the exact area if crowd control or rescues are needed. Protectorate will be there if the situation escalates out of control.
►Magneto (Unverified Cape)
Replied On Aug 10th 2009:
Play your little dominance games if you must. I will not be joining your organization for reasons already mentioned. I and my kind have already suffered enough from people "just following orders" as I stated in our meeting earlier today.
And if some others decide to attack me, I will be using rules more in keeping with your Army's rules of engagement.
I believe that is considered fair warning, is it not?
►Dingbat779 (Cape Groupie)
Replied On Aug 10th 2009:
The cape in question, I presume?
So, if I might ask, what are you doing tomorrow to demonstrate your power(s)?
►Reave (Verified PRT Agent)
Replied On Aug 10th 2009:
We'll all see tomorrow, won't we? Hence the whole public display.
►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Aug 10th 2009:
I'll bet he's going to launch the Empire into orbit.
►Magneto (Unverified Cape)
Replied On Aug 10th 2009:
Surprisingly close.
A little bit of trash pickup out in the bay itself. Nothing too spectacular. I plan on starting around 3pm or 1500 hours. I have some minor chores in the morning before I start.
* August 11 2009 *
Juggernaut not being precisely stealthy, and having problems just getting around anywhere without being obvious, was back at the Hebert house watching the TV. Game shows to be precise. He expected the local channel running them to break in once things commenced.
Magneto floated up to the top of a crane, then looked over the scattered humans. Strange bedfellows and all. When he was being Magneto he definitely preferred to be far away from them. When he was in either of his usual "civilian" identities he was still distrustful and avoided them, but they did have their uses. Such as now. Having some allies was useful in crafting a reputation.
"Are you ready?" Magneto called out.
"Ready whenever you are!" called back Danny Hebert, at the head of the crowd.
"The empty areas over there then," decided Magneto.
He wanted a public display. He wanted the reputation. There were those who would be drawn by it, to try to control him by various methods he'd seen way too often over way too many years.
By stating that he would use the Rules of Engagement favored by the military? Any attack on him or "soft targets" like Taylor's family meant swift reprisal. He could definitely do that. That this little demonstration would give ample warning he was not to be trifled with should keep the lesser players from making their own attempt.
A rusted-out hulk sitting in the water abruptly became airborne. Then another. Two more. Three others. Five more. Ten more.
Within his helmet, Magneto smiled a little. He'd wondered if there would be some monkey paw where he would be returned to the living but at the start of his career or at the level he'd been in Germany. No, apparently not. He wasn't even straining other than the multitasking of keeping this many objects in the air at one time.
He floated over to where the crowd was, mainly because he didn't want to shout anymore. "Do you want any of them intact, or just compact them all?"
The crowd stared at him, then at the boats floating around in the air. Danny though seemed to take it more or less in stride. "Uhm, that one there. With the blue trim? That doesn't look to be in too bad a shape."
One of the others held up a hand. "Mister Magneto, sir? Can you put that one with the canvas roof over on that pier there? I think I can patch it up."
He was in a good mood, and did that quickly enough and gently enough that he doubted it had damaged the two ships any more than they already had been. Then he raised one hand, fingers spread, before clenching that hand into a fist.
(CRUNCH!)
Collapsing the boats into squares was a little bit trickier, but this was also a test of his capabilities so the little amount of effort was hardly wasted.
Besides that stacked easier that way.
Another use for this little exercise was the distraction value of course. While everyone was watching him perform, Mystique would have an even easier time on her own little self-appointed tasks. Taylor would get into a good school next month and the friend who had declared that she wished Taylor would die?
Well, Mystique had her own sense of humor and it would be amusing to see what the shapeshifter decided to do there.
"Now for the big one," said Magneto. "The trick will be not splashing things around too much."
"What do you..." the one who'd wanted the canvas-roofed boat (Magneto had no idea what that sort of boat was called) began then stopped when it became obvious. "Oh."
Slowly, majestically, the cargoship blocking most of the Bay entry rose up into the air.
Magneto felt that some people didn't get the message unless you were very very obvious. This... this should do.
"We've got Docks #6-8 open and can start taking it apart if you put it there as slowly as you're bringing it up," said Danny.
"Don't want to generate huge waves," Magneto acknowledged. "I can fly above it after all but it would not be very neighborly for, well, the neighborhood."
"We do appreciate you being careful with a hundred thousand tons of steel," agreed Danny Hebert.
* PRT ENE HQ *
The phone was ringing.
Her e-mail was pinging.
Her personal phone was singing. (The song was 'Macarena' which she intensely disliked which was why she had chosen that particular song for that particular caller.)
Director Piggot was not happy as she watched the huge ship bobbing in the air like a children's balloon.
"Magneto's power seems to be an exceptional command of magnetic fields," offered Armsmaster over the intercom. "Readings are well in excess of what we've been able to see from similarly powered individuals such as Borealis in Canada or Magnetron in New Zealand."
"No bloody kidding," said Director Piggot as she moved to get the damn phone and shut off that damn song. "Director Piggot. Yes, Chief Director, I have indeed noticed. All the news channels? Lovely. Yes. Yes. No, Armsmaster is analyzing this even now but he would have mentioned if this was some sort of Tinker device. I suspect it will take some time for a full analysis, give him at least an hour. Yes. Yes. And what do you want me to do if he says 'no' because I suspect that will be the answer I'll get. Threatening to have Director Tagg take over the recruitment does not sound like a terribly productive plan. No, I am not backchatting you. I am just pointing out that putting a fire out by throwing gasoline on it doesn't work very well. Because the man is well preserved, but bioscans have indications of multiple tissue regenerations and he claims to be an Auschwitz survivor. No, I'm assured it is unlikely but with the regenerated organs diagnosis it is possible. If he IS or at least believes he is a survivor of that particular place - he was put there by people following orders and herded into a charnel house. So, yes, I do believe any attempt to put him under direct governmental control is not going to be well received."
Director Piggot winced and held the phone away from her ear briefly.
When an interrogative was heard, she resumed responding. "I understand and will follow orders, but how exactly am I supposed to... Leaks?"
Director Piggot had been standing all this time, she abruptly felt the need to and therefore sat down. "CNN? How much of the interview?"
Director Piggot often felt the need for a facepalm but rarely indulged the impulse. She seriously considered it now. "I'll dispatch a team as soon as I'm able to put the phone down."
* Miss Militia *
"Hookwolf is leading a group of E88 to the Docks?!" asked Miss Militia. "Why? After seeing THAT?"
"Yes," said Velocity, sipping a cup of hot chocolate. He needed the energy after all.
"Is he stupid or insane?" asked Miss Militia.
"Nazi," answered Velocity before taking another sip.
"Well, yes, there's that," admitted Miss Militia. "Why aren't you already there?"
"Because you have someone who can control metal being faced by someone who turns into metal," said Velocity. "Even with Cricket and Stormtiger heading there - might I point out that Magneto was observed taking apart and crushing those boats? And pulling bolts and rivets out of others to make neat little piles of them? He isn't going to be short of ammunition and I don't want to be there when there's little bits of metal going everywhere at very high velocities."
"We have to be there to make sure that doesn't happen," tried Miss Militia.
"When do we ever manage to talk Hookwolf down?" asked Velocity. "Besides. You remember I was military? You know what military rules of engagement entails in this sort of situation?"
"That's why we have to..." Miss Militia stopped as she considered and got the point. More particularly she was remembering the last time she'd gone up against the Empire and seen dead civilians. "Obey all traffic regulations on the way there."
Velocity nodded. "Yup. Got to follow the rules."
* Taylor *
She had no idea why or how, but apparently something had happened as she had a new Coin in her possession.
According to the rules posted on the gacha machine, that meant something had changed. Looking at the TV and listening to Juggernaut's running commentary, she had an idea of what.
She thought she ought to just hold onto the Coin for now. She could demonstrate her totally awesome power later.
* Magneto *
"Have your people fall back," Magneto advised Danny Hebert and the small crowd. "Basements would be best. It might get... messy."
"Understood," said Danny Hebert, already having pulled out his walkie-talkie and sending directions to gather in appropriate buildings. Then he handed the device to Magneto.
A faint but genuine smile crossed the face of the Master of Magnetism. Competent people that thought well under pressure? Good to have and the man was much more functional today than when they'd first met.
They'd just gotten out of sight when the reason for the call to the Docks arrived.
The pickup trucks that had crashed through the gates roared towards his position, he could see guns pointing in his direction.
A group of them in the lead truck began firing. Steel-jacketed rounds. Idiots.
Magneto's smile turned cold. Far be it for him to complain when someone made it easy for him.
He made a flinging motion and all the trucks took short flights and went well over the water.
It was just an opening move but dunking Nazis and seeing how many were weighted down by weapons and riot gear amused him.
There was a series of splashes as the trucks began spinning around on their axis and were then thrown into the water.
Then someone shot up from one of the sinking trucks and managed to get nearly to his height before one of the compacted balls of boat swatted him out of the air.
"Stormtiger, was it?" asked Magneto as a metal net wrapped around the Empire cape and brought him down on the concrete dock hard. "Aerokinetic according to your profile." A woman with a face in a metal cage found herself being propelled at high speeds towards a Stormtiger that was also going at high speeds. They met with the sort of thump that promised some fairly advanced blunt force trauma.
Magneto had noticed some burly young man hauling himself up onto one of the Docks but he waited until that person covered himself in blades before acting. He might have thought the Unwritten Rules were somewhat silly, but he could use them himself.
Spinning the man at higher and higher speeds until the g-forces caused him to pass out was fairly simple.
It would not be later until Taylor was demonstrating her ability before Armsmaster that her gachapon powers provided:
A) Nautica (gen-1 Transformers)
B) an Engineseer (Warhammer 40k)
C) Kei & Yuri (Dirty Pair)
D) USS Enterprise (Azur Lane)
E) Diana Prince (DC)
F) Tomoe Gozen (Fate/Stay)
G) Sephiroth (FF7)
H) Someone else