Spellsinger 2: continuation of chapter 32.
* PRT ENE HQ *
"New Wave has a new cape, Spellsinger," said Armsmaster. "Shaker 9 tentative rating based on their testing of her. Meanwhile with the Merchants, it looks like Skidmark is making remarks about expanding his territory - so Wards patrols near that area have been pulled due to the - yes Director?"
"New cape. New Wave. Shaker 9?" asked Director Piggot.
"Their powerset makes no sense, it is completely illogical," said Armsmaster.
Director Piggot glared at Armsmaster. "What. Does. She. Do?"
"She sings and plays an instrument. Things happen," said Armsmaster. "She sang a song about healing at the clinic on Shoreline Drive, wounds closed and illnesses faded. One patient regained use of their legs from an old spinal injuries. Apparently, unlike Panacea, she can affect brains as a dementia patient was also cured."
"So she's a range-based healer," mused Director Piggot, "uses music as a psychological crutch for focus maybe. Potentially useful."
Armsmaster fidgeted. "Not all."
"What else can she do then?" asked Director Piggot, not used to having to draw out Armsmaster in this manner.
"She was able to summon fifty-seven members of mixed Polish calvary at one point," said Armsmaster.
"Projection of soldier minions? That's potentially useful as well if they could be used for crowd control," said Director Piggot.
Assault stirred. "Uhm. Actually, that's not it. After encountering Spellsinger Friday I looked around for details. She's... really strange."
"You're being serious, now I'm getting a bit concerned," noted Director Piggot.
"Spellsinger begins playing and you can feel a charge of something building in the air, then she activates the effect which lasts all the time she continues on a particular song. She used a lullaby to put some Empire thugs to sleep, but it also put two police officers and Glory Girl to sleep. They could be immediately woken up as soon as she stopped, but there was that. When I started checking there were other reports of her doing entirely different things with her music. The most concerning was when she was stopped by the Hill Street Biker Gang and gave an impromptu concert. They broke out in tears at her rendition of 'The Shelter'."
Director Piggot remembered that song. One about the aftermath of an Endbringer attack and emerging from a shelter to find only the bodies of their loved ones and the wreckage of a city. Country music had a tendency to dwell on some subjects, feelings of loss in particular, in her opinion. Definitely not her musical preference though.
"People stated they saw their deceased loved ones, giving them messages that only that person could know," said Assault. "Mostly positive messages but still."
"Sounds like a Master effect," said Piggot.
"There is insufficient information on what it is that Spellsinger does," protested Armsmaster.
"How would we deal with her if she went rogue if she's that powerful?" asked Emily Piggot.
"Sniper rifle, 2000 feet, large caliber. Boom. Now if we're past the panic of a potentially powerful cape and can get back to being rational?" asked Assault.
"Uhm," said Armsmaster.
"Director Piggot isn't the only one who gets panicky about the idea that someone could be a powerful Master. Honestly, people. Just because she COULD doesn't mean she WOULD and everything I've seen so far indicates she's more interested in being helpful. So shoot her if you can't stand the idea that we may have access to someone who can heal dozens of people at the same time. Or that the same cape might be able to handle crowd control situations or any number of other situations. She has a variable power. Versatility like that is damn rare."
Battery glared at a number people before speaking up. "He's right. I was on a patrol, Parian was doing a puppet show. Spellsinger talked to her, Parian got some puppets ready, and she did the 'Octopus' Garden' song by the Beatles. It was an illusion that had tactile, auditory, and visual elements of being in an undersea grotto that put anything Disney ever did to shame. As soon as she stopped playing it faded away. She can do something like that, she can keep people from panicking in an Endbringer attack. We lose nearly a quarter as many civilians to panic and accidents during the evacuation as we do the actual attack."
"The important thing is that other than healing or fixing buildings and such, the effect stops a few seconds after she stops playing." Assault sighed. "Honestly, you might as well worry about Parian sewing people's mouths shut or something. Any cape has a chance of being dangerous. Plenty of non-capes have proven to be pretty damn dangerous too."
"You're sure about the duration?" asked Emily Piggot.
"Yeah. Documented with people having panic attacks at the hospital. After she was done, they started getting worked up again." Assault made a waving gesture. "Once you spot something like that, you go through and look at all the other times she's done something in public. She stops playing, the effect she's doing stops."
Emily Piggot. "I do not appreciate being spoken to like that. The information needs verification, but if true I'll agree that it drops her threat level considerably. What about her projections?"
"Same thing, she stops playing and they fade." Armsmaster checked his tablet.
* Wards Room *
"How the hell does she DO that?" asked Vista.
"She makes with the music, things happen," pointed out Clockblocker.
"She sang 'Winged Hussars' and was backed up by armored knights on horseback!" said Vista.
"Then the Winged Hussars arrived!" agreed Clockblocker. "Since it's a song about defending a city from raiders, it was TOTALLY appropriate for her to sing it at a bunch of E88."
Shadow Stalker stirred herself from where she was in her usual brooding spot. "That was pretty cool."
"WHAT?!" asked Vista, actually falling off her chair. "Who are you and where's the real Shadow Stalker?"
"Hah freaking hah," indicated Shadow Stalker. "She sings about defending a city and then you have armored knights skewering and trampling underhoof a bunch of Nazis? What's not to like about that?"
"She's got a point," admitted Aegis.
"She's not a frontline fighter, but she can do artillery and support," continued Shadow Stalker. "Who doesn't like having backup if things get messy? You heard about that fight with the cops and those druggies last week? She sang a lullaby and all of the druggies fell asleep. Some of the cops and Glory Girl too, but they all woke up when she stopped playing. Course by then the gangers were all disarmed and cuffed. Kind of lame, but also kinda efficient."
"Kind of wonder what would happen if she played 'Dust In The Wind' at Hookwolf," said Browbeat. "She'd just have to change 'we' to 'you' and it'd be interesting."
"Huh," said Aegis, starting up a laptop computer and tapping away at it.
"What are you looking for?" asked Vista.
"Going to put together a playlist of 'songs to smack around bad guys' to, print out the sheet music, and hand off next time we cross paths," said Aegis.
It really surprised everyone when Shadow Stalker started contributing to the list.
* March 20 2010 *
Sophia watched. It was a concert, not really her kind of thing, but up here in the shadows she could watch for troublemakers.
Spellsinger, aka Taylor Hebert, alias the "Dead Weight" that Emma Barnes had told her about and then cut loose from.
It was one of those open secrets, everyone pretended not to know who Spellsinger was, but it didn't take much to find out ever since Emma had blabbed about it. It was one of the few things that Emma could have done to put a wedge between herself and Sophia - outing a cape's identity when she'd joined New Wave but got the waiver on outing herself because of her father being vulnerable? Breaking that particular rule because she had gotten upset on seeing a video about Spellsinger helping out a bunch of cops? Going around the school yelling at everyone who was wearing a Spellsinger or Taylor t-shirt or bag-clip or talking about her music?
Yeah, Sophia took that particular Unwritten Rule seriously. She didn't want her behavior to come back against her own family after all.
But there was the chance of severe trouble because of course some people didn't respect rules like that. So she had her tranq bolts ready to snipe anyone who was going to cause a problem.
This was a Spellsinger concert, for charity, and had drawn a crowd. There would be the usual parasites - hucksters selling unauthorized merch were annoying but not a target. Others, like pickpockets? Yeah, as soon as they left with their ill-gotten gains she could follow and snipe them at opportunity.
Spellsinger started with a cover of a Springsteen song. "Land of Hope and Dreams." Sophia didn't get that one.
"The Shelter" followed, that was one to remind people of the dangers of this world and to spend time with your loved ones now since there might not be a later. She understood that one at least.
The next one was one of Hebert's originals. "Whirlwind" was about taking the hits that life gave you, and how breaks could heal and leave you stronger for it. That was understandable and was probably at least in part about Hebert's mother dying and Emma breaking up with her. Sophia had to admit that Hebert was certainly doing better for herself nowadays so maybe there was something to that.
This was followed by two other songs Sophia wasn't familiar with, but she had a pickpocket to track and wasn't paying much attention at that point.
She got back about the time one of those "audience participation" songs was going off. Everyone (well, mostly everyone) clapping along to some happy-sappy song about philosophers. Seriously, who the hell does an Irish-style drinking song about philosophy? Much less make it a clap-along on the chorus. "And I'll drink to that! (clap-clap)"
On the other hand, it might help people remember some of those guys on a test which Sophia had a sneaking suspicion was the original reason for writing that song in the first place.
"And Seneca, so stoic, was in some ways heroic, of taking life's shots and forge ahead..."
Sophia looked around at the flickering images, conjured by Spellsinger's actively using her power, of the various marble busts of those old dead guys singing along. Seneca looked kinda grumpy in her opinion.
"Going forward is his way, don't be paralyzed by dread, 'cause hardship's just a foe to overcome!"
Sophia grinned there was another pickpocket going through the crowd, putting away the guy's wallet she'd just lifted. Had to give it to Spellsinger to at least give her a good hunting ground.
"Throw me to the wolves and I will return leading the pack.
"And I'm on the attack..."
Shadow Stalker paused in her following of the pickpocket. Actually... she liked that one. Might have to use that at some point.
* July 15 2010 *
* Volga Hydroelectric Station *
Shadow Stalker took a deep breath. She was ready. At least as much as she could be.
"Behemoth has been sighted!" came the call from the pocket-watch sized communicators they'd all been handed out. "Currently 8 miles away and closing."
She was Search & Rescue as her powers didn't really give her any special protection against the kill-aura.
Wait. Was that music?
"Spellsinger is going to try something. Shielding squads stand ready. Everyone clear of the water. Repeat: Everyone clear of the water and direct path to Behemoth!"
What the hell were they playing at? Why was Spellsinger doing some concert thing? Why did that song, an instrumental, sound so familiar?
Horns playing. Metal guitar going.
Was that Japanese chanting in the background, from whatever weird effect that gave Spellsinger backup music when she was playing without backup performers? She just had that electric guitar and was adding her own voice but no actual words?
Oh hell. Was that Leviathan? The waters of the river were boiling up? Were they going to get TWO Endbringers at the same time?!
Wait. What?
Something coming out of the water? It was still coming out of the water? What the actual fu...
Godzilla?!
Spellsinger had summoned fucking Godzilla to fight Behemoth?!
Sophia looked the other way. Behemoth had stopped moving forward. She could swear Behemoth had an "oh shit" expression which she wouldn't have thought possible previously.
Godzilla roared and charged. Buildings were crushed underfoot, roads smashed, anyone in that direct path would have been smooshed.
On the other hand, this was an Endbringer fight. Collateral damage was not a consideration.
Behemoth fired off one blast after another. Lightning at first, then as the overgrown lizard closed the distance, shining beams of bright light.
"Everyone stand clear. Behemoth is attempting to use radiation blasts against Godzilla. Shield teams hold steady. Everyone not radiation resistant get behind shields or at a safe distance."
"No shit," said Shadow Stalker, though she didn't send it over an open channel.
Shadow Stalker wondered if it was because it was a metal cover of the Godzilla theme that the Big G looked hungry and pissed as all hell.
Behemoth apparently noticed that its attacks weren't working and started to dive into the ground. Godzilla closed the distance and grabbed the Endbringer.
45 foot tall Behemoth against... 400ft tall? Maybe a bit bigger? Yeah, Big G was at least ten times Behemoth's size. It was like watching a wolf going up against a Chihuahua. A big wolf. A hungry wolf. He wasn't HITTING Behemoth, he was digging in with claws and jaws and ripping it apart.
Was the music now sounding triumphant?
Oooh. Snapping off bits of Behemoth in order to swallow them. Must find all that radiation tasty.
The music began to fade as the last chunk of Behemoth was chewed and swallowed. Godzilla looked towards where the music was coming from, his inhuman features not giving any feelings away. Then he slowly faded from view, apparently going back wherever he'd been summoned from.
"Okayyyy," said the voice over the communicators. "That worked. Huh."
Shadow Stalker nodded. Results mattered. Emma was one of her best friends, but she needed to stop ragging on Taylor. After this, Spellsinger was going to go on a lot of people's radars. People that wouldn't hesitate to string up a former friend as bait.
* November 12 2010 *
"The Fallen have captured several people including young Emma Barnes," said the reporter on the TV, trotting out her concerned look for the viewers. "TV 8 viewers may remember Miss Barnes for repeatedly outing Spellsinger's identity and proclaiming her 'weak', 'worthless', 'tone deaf', 'talentless', and 'ten pounds of ugly in a burlap sack' - whatever that last was supposed to mean. Identified as a former friend turned main detractor, Miss Barnes was frequently found protesting any public appearance by Spellsinger in her public or private identities. Now you can see from our live footage outside the Malden Center where she has been chained to some sort of device set up in the center plaza. Will Spellsinger surrender herself to the Fallen as they've demanded to save the life of a former friend? Or will... hang on. What's that music playing?"
"Hocus Pocus, the version by the band Focus," identified someone off camera.
"You can surrender now, nobody needs to be harmed," said a voice over a police bullhorn. "Last chance."
"I don't think that'll work," said the reporter. "Wait. The music changed. Does anyone know this one?"
"Oh shit, be ready to duck," said one of the reporter's crew.
"RIP AND TEAR!"
"Wake up, she's a bullet loosed,
"Into the heart of a wretched age."
The anchorman at the studio held a finger to one ear. "Janet. According to one of the technicians the song is 'Hell To Pay' by the band 'Miracle of Sound' from Aleph."
"She breathes just to beat and bruise,
"Evolution of the burning rage."
Janet glanced to the side. "Is that... a member of the SWAT team? Why does she look angry?! She's the angriest thing I've ever seen! And why does she have a CHAINSAW?!"
"Gonna get hers! Get out of her way!
"It's gonna be, gonna be Hell to Pay!
"Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!"
Carlton in the newsroom cleared his throat. "We're not showing the current footage because it may upset the more sensitive viewers. Apparently Janet and the TV 8 newscrew were about to be captured by more Fallen and one of the SWAT team members volunteered for activity and has now... resolved the situation."
"THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE!" screamed Janet. "None of it mine, fortunately. Oh, there goes someone's hand, still clutching an assault rifle. How about that? AHHHHHH! WAS THAT A SPLEEN?!"
Carlton hmmed briefly, watching the carnage. "I believe that Spellsinger is attempting to use her ability to enhance another person's performance, and may have poorly chosen the song to do it."
"BRINGER OF PAIN!" sang Taylor, her voice sounding more guttural than usual.
"Judging from the armor she's wearing and that she's switching out weapons that I've never seen before for others on the fly, yeah, that might explain a lot," said Janet. "I'm... just going way over here out of the splash zone. There's a fountain, I can wash some of this off."
"We just received a report that Armsmaster has disarmed the device that young Miss Barnes was chained to, tentatively identified as a neutron bomb. Oh dear," said Carlton.
"She just stuck that industrial-size chainsaw in someone's mouth and turned it on," reported Janet. "I believe that might have been Valefor? I am having to avoid a literal rain of blood and body parts here."
"I think this one is going to go on Spellsinger's 'do not play' list," said Carlton.
Sophia turned the TV off. Yeah, she was going to make nice with Spellsinger. Because she wanted THAT.
* EMMA *
She'd been approached, asked about Taylor, and she'd obliged by talking about how Taylor had cried for a week on the death of her mother - that she was a useless no-talent hack who'd just gotten lucky a couple of times. You know, the usual stuff.
And then she'd been grabbed and chained to some device. Taylor had been given the choice of killing Emma Barnes and stopping the bomb from going off, or surrendering to the Fallen.
Taylor had instead gone to the PRT and her fellow members of New Wave, and this little event had gone off. With some nameless woman on the SWAT team getting a power-up from some stupid metal-sort-of song.
Which had led Emma to her current state of being still chained to a now-disabled bomb and drenched in Fallen blood with someone's spleen having fallen down the back of her collar and now resting in its squishy cooling glory about halfway down her back.
Valefor had tried to meet the DoomSlayer's eyes but whatever aura of sheer RAGE she had going had just ignored that and she'd...
Well, Valefor was a bit beyond the point where he could be arrested. Whatever that monster chainsaw on steroids actually was - it was certainly effective.
Some older woman had tried to get the officer to acknowledge her and the officer, now wearing some kind of power armor, hadn't even glanced in the woman's direction before another swipe of that chainsaw had ended whoever that was.
It was horrifying. It was nauseating. It was the carnage of some horror/slasher movie turned up to 11.
The Fallen were some of the most dedicated, fanatic, sadistic groups out there. The remainder of them were running as if their lives depended on them getting out of state this very minute. And it just might.
"Click-click-boom-boom," sang Taylor.
The chainsaw vanished and some oversized shotgun replaced it. The DoomSlayer put two servings of buckshot directly into some costumed guy's face. She wasn't going after the ones fleeing, but apparently anyone not running madly away was considered a fair target. Good to know.
Anyone attacking her was just going to be...
"Keep rushing and a-running, running.
"A reckoning of lead is coming.
"Got molten metal in my veins!
"click-click-boom-boom."
* PRT ENE HQ *
"Status on Lieutenant Anderson?" asked Director Piggot.
"She states that she felt an emotional remove from her actions against the Fallen. That she had full control, but it felt as if she were playing a videogame instead of actually being present during all... that."
"She's getting counseling anyway?" asked Director Piggot.
"Yes," answered Armsmaster. "After she gets out of Master/Stranger."
"No lingering power effects?" asked Director Piggot.
"No parahuman abilities, but somehow she's showing uprated physical resilience and strength," said Armsmaster, consulting his tablet.
"So a Brute 0," said Director Piggot. "What else?"
"Managed to get an agreement on a figurine sale, as this WAS a parahuman action due to the Fallen and Spellsinger. Preorders are going through the roof, with a portion of proceeds going to a medical fund for police officers. Meanwhile, Image is working on various accessories available for sale separately," stated Glenn Chambers from his conference call monitor.
"Excuse me?" asked Director Piggot.
"The power armor and some of the weapons," explained Glenn, checking his clipboard. "Especially The Chainsaw. Image department wants to do a figma-style statuette of her racing forward with The Chainsaw in one hand and that shotgun in the other."
"They saw that... display," stated Director Piggot slowly, "and they want one of those model statues of her doing THAT on their bookshelves."
"She DID only go after villains that were threatening to turn an American city into a radioactive wasteland," pointed out Glenn Chambers. "And reduced most of them to a fine red paste until they started running. Even in the heights of her rage, she did not go after those who had surrendered or were fleeing. Gives a certain degree of sympathy."
"She slaughtered them. They rushed to attack her with knives and handguns and she reduced them to chunky salsa. She didn't arrest anyone. They were just..." Director Piggot made a gesture in the direction of the event.
"Yes. Which was why a non-parahuman SWAT team member was the one Spellsinger approached. They have a completely different set of encounter restrictions," noted Glenn Chambers. "When the means of saving a city from nuclear devastation involves chopping up terrorists like so much sushi? It'll be reviewed and gone over but there's damn little chance of anything other than a 'Good Shooting' coming out of it."
"If anyone from the Protectorate or PRT had been involved, I suspect it would end in significant charges despite the results," said Armsmaster as he flipped through a few screens on his tablet.
"So Spellsinger was able to permanently enhance someone beyond the duration of a song?" said Director Piggot.
"Her effects have always been able to do so," pointed out Armsmaster. "Songs about healing or fixing things? All demonstrated longevity beyond instant. Her projections have all been only so long as she's playing a particular song, and on-going effects like the anti-Master barrier produced by her playing of Metallica's 'Don't Tread On Me' also only last that duration."
Glenn Chambers fidgeted briefly before leaning forward. "They're not projections and such things may be because of her own mental limitations. Do you recall the 'Octopus Garden' incident?"
"Yes, that was one of the occasions where analysis of her abilities actually dropped her threat rating," stated Armsmaster.
"ThinkTank noted that water stains remained on the ground after she stopped playing," said Glenn Chambers.
Director Piggot blinked twice before leaning closer to the video pickup. "Then WHY was her Shaker rating downgraded?"
"Because they worked out, and the precogs agreed, that every analysis of her as a greater threat ended with her either limiting herself further or ending up antagonistic to the PRT," said Glenn Chambers. "If it were widely circulated that she WAS a monster waiting to happen, she'd pick up on pretty damn fast. When she summoned freaking Godzilla the security concerns were loosened on that particular bit of information. Emily. We want Spellsinger on our good side. We want to maintain Spellsinger on our good side. Don't cater to her, but be sure to explain to her why you're doing something if you're doing something to negatively impact her. This comes from the very top as her abilities make no sense to the experts on parahuman abilities other than Shaker: Yes."