Blaze a New Path
Sometimes, all it takes to change ones fate is to make a single choice. Taking ones fate into their own hands can be the hardest thing to do, so some help is always nice, even if it does come from superpowers. All you need to do is make sure you make the choice you won't regret.
And we are back. Nothing much to say here, other than enjoy!
Chapter 5
Tattletale swore violently as she clung to the back of Judas for dear life as the mutant mutt took a sharp turn at high speed. Things had been going SO well until just a few minutes ago. They had got into the casino, grabbed all the loot and got away in short order. The plan had been perfect, in and out before anyone could get an alert out, either to the authorities or Lung. Unfortunately, it appeared that Human error had erred once again and someone managed to get in contact with the ABB. Now they had Lung on their ass and Oni Lee harassing them, herding them through the Docks to prevent them from getting away from his boss.
And to make matters worse, the only reason why they were still alive was thanks to her power and she was rapidly building up to a truly magnificent Thinker headache. They had to get away soon or else they would…
A member of the Stellaron Hunters, and a swordsman who abandoned his body to become a blade. Pledges loyalty to "Destiny's Slave," and possesses a terrifying self-healing ability.
Tattletale nearly lost her grip on the spur she was clinging to as her power spat out one of its random results. She looked up, just in time to see the source of the information step out of an alley in front of them, barley catching a glimpse of dark hair and crimson eyes before the dogs barreled past. She turned in her seat and watched as the man held up a black and red sword that looked like it had been shattered and put back together with gold and ran his fingers down the blade, making the whole thing glow faintly.
Then, he vanished and Lung faceplanted as his legs were cut out from under him.
Lung roared as the sudden pain ripped through his rage. He pushed himself up, just in time to see the Undersiders vanish down an alley. He wasn't worried about them getting away, Oni Lee would make sure of that, so he was fine to take a few seconds to squash the bug who had decided to get in his way.
He turned a burning glare on the newcomer as he turned to face Lung, an impassive expression on his face. To Lungs surprise, he wasn't wearing a mask, although the dark blue and red hair and red eyes would be rather difficult to hide. Then again, Lung didn't actually give a single shit about how other Capes went about their business, if they stood against the Dragon, they would be scorched to ash.
Lung planted his regrowing legs and jumped at the man with a burst of fire, claws outstretched. The man shifted and the next thing Lung knew, it felt like a truck had slammed into his cheek, crushing bone and cartilage and sending him flying, even with his bulked up form. Lung hit the ground hard and pushed himself up, his power roaring to new heights as his regeneration kicked into high gear as his cheek snapped back into shape.
Then, there was a flash of light and he gasped as he felt his entire lower half disconnect.
Immediately, he released a huge blast of fire in an attempt to buy time for his regeneration to do its thing. That tactic usually worked, but this time it didn't even dissuade his attacker for a moment and Lung was once again punted down the street.
Barely surprising a groan, Lung pushed himself up as best he could, fixing the unknown Brute with a burning glare as he stalked forwards, glowing blade held easily and horrific burns rapidly vanishing under a faint, crimson glow. At the same time, Lung realised that his own regeneration was far more sluggish than it should have been.
"You…what have you done?" he growled.
"Only what was needed," said the man, stopping in front of Lung and sneering down at him, "I had hoped for more. You are unworthy of the title of Dragon."
Kenta's eyes went wide, but before he could respond, a booted foot slammed into his temple and he blacked out.
"I'm done here," said Blade, turning on his heel and stalking away from the rapidly shrinking form of Lung.
"I can see that," said Silverwolf as she shimmered into existence, "What was that last bit about?"
"I have felt the fangs of a Dragon," said Blade, "He is not even close."
"I'll take your word for it," said Silverwolf, pulling up a few holographic screens, "Anyway, this quest is nearly done. I've dealt with the demon guy and the Undies have made their getaway, so now all we need is…"
She turned to the other end of the road expectantly and, as if on cue, a motorcycle came screeching around the corner, throwing the three Villains into the harsh light of the powerful headlights. The bike skidded to a halt and Armsmaster jumped off, his halberd unfolding as he held it ready, but not pointed at the two Stelleron Hunters.
"Are you going to fight me?" he asked.
"Wouldn't be much of a fight," said Silverwolf, "Sides, we only came to deal with him."
She jabbed a thumb at the now entirely Human half of Lung.
"I see," said Armsmaster, shifting his halberd to shoot a dart at Lung, "Why? I was under the impression that you were mercenaries."
"Elio's script demanded it," said Blade.
"And now thats done, we'll be going," said Silverwolf, "See ya Armsy!"
She waved and she and Blade vanished in a shower of blue polygons.
For the Protectorate, Monday morning always began with a meeting. It was an opportunity for everyone to get caught up with the weekly chaos that hadn't been important enough to warrant an emergency meeting and to ensure that anyone who hadn't bothered to read the update emails (Assault) was up to date.
As per usual, Hannah was second to arrive, after the ever early Game Master, and took her seat at the table with her coffee and breakfast muffin. She and GM shared idle chit chat as they waited for the rest of the resident Heroes to file in in dribs and drabs, with Armsmaster arriving exactly on time, along with the Director. As Piggot took her seat at the head of the table, a standard scowl on her face, Armsmaster activated the projector and turned to the room.
"Last night, Lung was taken into custody," he said without preamble.
There was a pause, broken only by Assault as the Kinetic Striker choked on his coffee.
"Good god man, don't just drop bombshells like that with no warning!" he wheezed between coughs as Battery pounded him on the back.
"I'm guessing that there's more to that report or you wouldn't look so tense," said Game Master.
Hannah blinked and took a closer look at her boss. Sure enough, Armsmasters chin was rather more tense than was normal, even for the high strung Tinker. It was rather surprising how well the Master could read Armsmaster considering that they hadn't known each other long, although
"There is," said Armasmaster, "The ones who took him down were the Stelleron Hunters."
"Ah, that would do it," said Game Master.
"Um, who are the Stelleron Hunters?" asked Triumph, "I haven't heard of them before."
"They are a group of mercenaries who appeared around six months ago," said Armsmaster, "Dangerous and mobile, they have a number of murders on their rap sheet, but they have been operating on the other side of the country until now, so there was no need to brief all the Wards on them. Now that we have confirmed that they are in town however, that will change."
The projector flashed up with images of the three known members of the Stelleron Hunters with their names listed underneath.
"First, the assumed leader, Kafka," said Armsmaster as the first image expanded to fill the screen, "Female, age unknown. She had been spotted draped with a black jacket and wearing a white collared shirt inside, a pair of tight-fitting dark shorts, purple pantyhose, and a pair of sunglasses on her head. She is a Master 7, with the power to create threads that enables her to take control of her targets, although her control is noted to be fairly crude. She is also armed with a sword and a pair of submachine guns and is skilled in the use of both. As an additional note, Thinkers have noted that she appears to lack a normal fear response and is resistant to most Master powers."
Kafkas image shrank back down and the next one popped up, this one showing a dark haired man glaring at the camera.
"Blade, the apparent muscle of the group," said Armsmaster, "Male, age unknown. Wears a long, dark coat, grey trousers and carries a black, red and gold sword at all times. Is the most unpredictable of the group and generally only appears when combat is expected. Very dangerous and prone to go for the kill. He has an extremely potent healing factor, to the point where he can recover from stabs through the heart in seconds. He can also fire energy blasts from his sword and has the power to weaken certain healing factors, although that last ability is only theorised at the moment."
The image shrank and the last one popped up.
"Silver Wolf, the groups hacker and Tinker support," said Armsmaster, Female, age unknown. Wears a black coat, a crop-top, black shorts with a decorative piece of black and purple fabric that hangs off the back and purple goggles. Is a Hacker Tinker of considerable skill and has a number of weapons that are extremely potent. Tinkers are forbidden from engaging with her due to the risks of having their tech hacked. Is noted to be obsessed with video games."
The photo shrank back down.
"There has also been mention of someone called Elio, but we don't have any information on them, aside from their name," said Armsmaster, "Based on what we do know however, it's likely that they are the groups actual leader and likely some kind of precog."
He scanned the room.
"It goes without saying that if you see these people, you are not to approach without backup," he said, "And the Wards are to avoid them at all costs."
There was a general round of confirmations.
"Good, now, moving on, as I said before, Lung was taken into custody last night," said Armsmaster, "I was alerted to him engaging someone in combat who, after some investigation, turned out to be the Undersiders."
"Wait, really?" asked Assault, "Huh, I wouldn't have thought they had it in them…"
Armsmaster shot a look Assaults way.
"Indeed, this is out of character for them," he said, "Regardless, it appears that they robbed one of the ABB's front casinos and Lung took exception. There was a chase, with Oni Lee preventing the Undersiders from losing Lung or escaping out of ABB territory."
"So…what happened?" asked Triumph.
Armsmaster gestured to the image of Blade still on the screen.
"For some reason, Blade stepped in and…dealt with Lung," he said, "He is currently sedated in the medibay with his lower half missing."
There was a round of startled gasps and winces from the gathered Capes.
"And that is why we don't want anyone going after the Stelleron Hunters," said Piggot, speaking up for the first time, "They have generally avoided causing any permanent harm to Heroes for some reason, but I don't want to risk that changing if I can at all avoid it. We aren't entirely sure why they are in town or why they decided to help the Undersiders, but unless they actively side with one of the Gangs, I have no intention of hitting that particular hornet's nest. That said, Game Master, I want you to extend your net of pawns. If they start something, I want to know it before something explodes."
The Master nodded.
"I'll need some more suitable pawns," he said.
"Granted, just get it done," said Piggot, "Put in an order after the meeting."
Game Master nodded and Armsmaster took that as his cue to move on.
"In slightly less concerning news, we also have a new group of potential heroes," he said, "Miss Militia, I believe you encountered them?"
Hannah nodded and stood as the screen switched to show images of the Trailblazer and her friends, taken from her bodycam.
"I encountered them on Friday at about 1400 hours," she said, "They stepped in to help Parian with a recruitment attempt from the Empire. They weren't clear on their actual alignment, but their willingness to help Parian and talk to me afterwards indicates possible heroic inclination. They introduced themselves as March 7th, Dan Heng and the Trailblazer."
She pointed to each picture in turn."
"Interesting names," said Battery, "There doesn't seem to be any real theme to them or their costumes. In fact, aside from Dan Heng, they don't even really look like costumes."
"That would make sense if they are new," said Dauntless.
"I got the impression that the Trailblazer was new, but March and Dan Heng were both far too confident for this to be their first fight," said Miss Militia.
"Agreed," said Armsmaster.
"I'll put out some requests for any information other departments might have," said Piggot, "For now, lets move on."
Armsmaster nodded and repeated what he had done for the Stelleron Hunters, albeit with far less detail.
"Finally, it should be noted that Dan Heng has some kind of Trump ability," he finished, "We interrogated Victor after we took him in and he said that his power didn't work on Dan Heng. This will likely not be relevant to anyone here, but it might come up."
After that, the meeting turned to more mundane topics and ended an hour later. As the Proctorate began to file out, Hannah found herself walking with Game Master, which was fine with her as she found the Minion Master to be far better company than most of her other colleagues.
"So, what did you think of the new kids?" asked Game Master as they walked.
Hannah hummed thoughtfully before answering.
"They seemed like good kids," she said, "They were clearly close and cared for each other. Assuming nothing bad happens to them, I think they'll make good heroes."
Game Master snorted.
"Nothing bad, in this city?" he said.
Hannah winced and nodded.
"Yeah, therein lies the problem," she said, "I really hope that they decided to join up before anything bad happens."
"Do you think thats likely?" asked Game Master.
Hannah frowned, but before she could answer, Game Masters phone rang. The Minion Master scowled slightly as he fished his phone out of his belt, but his expression shifted into confusion when he saw the caller ID. he shot Hannah an apologetic look as he answered.
"Hello? Shouldn't you be in scho…?" he said, before cutting off and listening, "Wait, what happened? No…wait…slow down honey…no, stay there, I'm coming home. No, absolutely not…I don't care, you're more important. I'll be there as soon as I can. Love you."
He hung up and turned to Hannah, a stricken look on his face.
"I have to go," he said, "My daughter was attacked at school!"
Hannahs stomach dropped at that.
"Oh my gosh, is she…"
"Shes fine, she wasn't hurt, but apparently that was the last straw," said Game Master, starting to speed walk in the direction of the Directors office, "Shes home right now and I need…"
Hannah seized his hand, stopping him in his tracks and mid babble.
"Danny, thats enough," she said, "You go, I'll let Director Piggot and Armsmaster know. They'll understand. You go be with Taylor."
Danny stared at her, then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Alright, thanks," he said, "I'll call you later!"
He gave a strained smile and ran off in the direction of the Protectorate locker room.
"And drive carefully!" shouted Hannah after her retreating friend.
She sighed softly and whispered a brief prayer to the Rainbow Titan, before turning and jogging to let her bosses know about Danny's unplanned absence.
And with that, I'm done. This was a bit of an interlude chapter, but I'm not really comfortable calling it that considering I switch POVs in my standard chapters anyway. Regardless, its a bridge for the next bit of the story.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. I want to try to avoid situations of canon as much as I can, but that doesn't mean that the script won't keep going. It just so happens that the Lung of this Bet met someone significantly more dangerous than Bug Girl this night.
So, normally, Lung is shown to be the next best thing after being unstoppable in fics, but after reading the Wiki, thats not the case. Apparently, it can take a while to regrow limbs if hes not massively ramped up and a good way of doing that is to hit him hard and fast before he can do that. Which is what Blade did, causing a huge amount of damage incredibly quickly, which basically forced Lungs power to focus on keeping him alive after being bisected. He is also using a weapon that was designed for fighting the Abominations of Abundance and his entire shtick is death symbolism, so I extrapolated that out and gave him the ability to temporarily slow down regeneration.
There was also Silver Wolf there, who could easily apply a few DOTS to slow Lung down even more.
Bit of back story about what the Stelleron Hunters have been getting up to since their arrival and a harsh warning about what they can do. I really wish that some characters' powers were a bit clearer since I have no idea what Kafka's power actually does. I based her noted powers on what she does in her trailer though.
I'm pretty sure that captured Villains would be happy to spill the details about their potential rivals' abilities since they will inevitably get out thanks to the PRT's complete lack of secure information. In case your wondering, Victors power didn't work because Dan Hang isn't Human, so any Human tuned power just won't work on him. The same applies to Foxiens and any of the puppet/robot characters as well, for fairly obvious reasons.
So, did anyone fail to guess who Game Master was? Again, inspired by Constellations, props to Unwelcome Storm, etc.
Oh my, something happened to Taylor? I'm sure that won't blow up at all. We'll get to that next time.
Anyway, with that done, I'm going to sign out. Don't forget to leave a review on the way out!