April 9th, 2011
Danny Hebert was drinking a beer and watching the evening news. Truth be told the television was only on for the noise. A distraction to help keep his mind from working in circles regurgitating the problems with work, life, and his daughter Taylor.
His daughter was upstairs working on a project for school, art class he thought she'd said.
He was trying to let the fuzzy feeling of the beer haze come over him but this was only his second can.
Suddenly a loud electronic bong sound came from the television. He looked up and noticed the screen had gone black. A white line then split the screen.
"Do not adjust your picture. We have hijacked this transmission," a sultry female voice purred.
Idly, Danny wondered if this was a real pirate broadcast or some commercial stunt to get attention.
"Your lives are in danger. Your very world is in danger. Drugs flood your streets. Mistreatment floods your society. Corruption consumes your government. Beyond that the Endbringers rampage and bring ruination to all in their path while hero and villain alike play games against each other."
Well, that was a dismal summation. True, but very grim. Danny thought. While superheroes were real and had appeared all over the world after the first mysterious super being Scion had appeared they couldn't even keep the supervillains in check let alone the mysterious monsters known as Endbringers.
"But hope nears. One man comes to lead you to the other side. A man who will see you into the future that lays beyond-" she stopped.
'THE DANGER ZONE' Appeared in red block letters on the black screen. It hung there for thirty seconds then faded to show a web address. The news program started again with a rough cut that spoke of no one at the studio knowing there was a disruption.
Danny shrugged Cape business or a cheap stunt neither was his problem. He drained the last of his beer and decided to turn in early.
April 10th
It was early afternoon and the warmth of the sun was fighting the early spring chill. Nothing much was going on at the Brockton PRT building. There were no holidays or events and schools were still in session so no one was touring.
The desk clerk was busy catching up on organizing some items behind the main desk. Lost in his own world he didn't see someone walk from the direction of the bus stop. The security guards noticed the visitor approach.
She was young enough to have been in school but old enough to have officially quit. She was fair-skinned, had wavy black hair, and vivid blue eyes. She had no makeup on and a bit of puppy fat about the face, and neither did much to disguise her natural good looks.
Her build was impossible to make out. She was in an Ill-fitting but new pair of sweats and cheap socks. Over this was a pair of rubber-soled canvas slip-on shoes. For such a pretty face it was an odd outfit. The entire ensemble could have been put together for a pair of twenties at a big box store.
She gave the guards a nervous smile as she walked up to the desk. The inattentive desk clerk gave a start when she gave a careful cough.
"Umm. Hi. Is this where I go to register as having superpowers?"
"Yes, yes it is. Before you say anything else I hope you are serious. False reports are not something we joke about here. Mistakes and misunderstandings we can deal with. Outright false reports can become criminal matters." The clerk warned.
The girl smiled, lifted her legs, and levitated a foot off the ground. "I don't think that will be an issue."
Battery walked up to where Armsmaster was working. He was reviewing the transcripts of the girl's verbal testimony.
"We did a physical examination. Then shipped her upstairs for power testing," the heroine reported.
"She says she's a complete blank, no name, no ID, no address. Tell me you found something," Armsmaster groused.
"We did but you're not going to like it," she admitted.
She handed over a folder. Armsmaster pulled out the contents and sorted them. He stopped to examine a high-resolution photograph of the girl's navel. Around it was a very crisp black ink tattoo of the letter Omega. It was the mysterious calling card of what the Protectorate labeled a Case 53, a parahuman found dumped at random with no memories and normally an alien physique, while a few more traditional para humans had been physically warped by their powers it was a rarity in the extreme. It was the rule with Case 53's.
"There has never been a case 53 that looked like her. She appears fully human," Colin mused.
"Her body disrupts the X-ray and MRI equipment. Her power seems to shield her in such a way we can't get a clear image from either. The doctors are having to do guesswork on her age. They're pegging her provisionally at sixteen. That's all based on surface details. The lack of fine lines around the mouth and eyes, etc. Internally she could be completely inhuman we wouldn't know."
"Perhaps we can get permission to call an outside contractor, Panacea could tell us more," Armsmaster said, making notes on his laptop. The biokinetic wasn't a part of the Protectorate. The family hero team NuWave didn't believe in secret identities or being answerable to the government. Director Piggott would have to make that call.
"She said she's willing to join the Wards so that's good news. By the time she is through with testing, Piggott might be done chewing their asses."
"I won't have to step into that until much later. That is one of the good things about Piggott choosing to take such personal responsibility for the Wards. The reduction of time I have to waste on youthful foolishness." Armsmaster said, not looking away from his screen.
He thus missed Battery's eye roll. "Maybe having a new Ward to add to the roster will sweeten her mood. Not that I expect a miracle, just a minor distraction to keep her from turning her ire on us."
"The test package shows her Intelligence Quotient is highly above baseline. She might be a minor thinker, something like Alexandria," Armsmaster muttered ignoring Battery's banter.
"PR is going to have trouble getting her into a costume that doesn't look scandalous. She's a flier with a D cup at a minimum and has the backfield to balance it. I imagine a lot of perverts being banned from PTO for inappropriate comments soon as she debuts. High-speed turns and stops don't have a good record with full-figured heroines. The Youth Guard don't care for underage wardrobe malfunctions," Battery pointed out.
"I'm pretty sure we have the plans for a bullet-resistant high support sports undergarment in the files. They were designed for Barbara, the barbarian they should work for preventing that sort of thing."
"I remember her. Not a flier, but she did those super leaps. Whatever happened to her?"
"Behemoth. She lived, but she has to use a walker for mobility," Armsmaster explained.
"Damn." Battery suppressed a shiver; the first Endbringer, Behemoth, was not known as the hero killer for nothing.
"Let's go see what the lab can tell us about her powers"
Battery followed Colin to the elevator and down into the sub-level where they did power testing. Upon exit, they noticed the lab tech's fixated on their screens.
"What's the situation?" Armsmaster asked.
"We did vulnerability testing first. We already knew she would resist magnetism and energetic bands of the EM spectrum. Nothing we've tested hurt her so we moved to strength. She maxed out the machine," the head tech explained
"We put her in the press and she held it without effort even at full capacity. While it's not strong enough to test top-tier brutes it puts her in that rating. We did some inexact research. She can do that with one hand while hovering too," another added
"Impressive," Armsmaster understated.
"Looks like we have an Alexandria package then. Glory girl will have some competition," Battery mused.
"Look at the data from the internal sensors. There is no crumbling, the stress on the plate is even across and suffused throughout. tactile telekinesis?" Armsmaster asked.
"Not exactly, we believe it is some form of gravitation manipulation field. Our working theory is that's how she flies too," The first tec explained
"I counter that it's atomic force manipulation. That would explain her ability to 'no sale' chemical reactions. Neither acids or bases would react to her flesh. If she went swimming in hydrochloric acid it would eat away the trace elements clinging to her and she'd walk out clean," The second tech offered.
"And naked," Battery deadpanned.
"Oh, yeah, she's going to need a hell of a costume," the first tech joked.
"Maybe not she's extending that field to the object she's pushing on. She may be able to protect her clothes," Armsmaster countered.
"Right, well, speaking of which; she said she could channel her internal power outwards we better send her on," the second tech said reaching for the mic switch.
"We'll meet her over there. I hope we find this good samaritan who she said bought her the clothes," Battery added.
"Seems doubtful they'd have noticed anything significant. She did say it was a kid," Armsmaster said, double checking the info on his phone.
"Still it would be good to reward someone for doing right by a lost naked teen in a back alley."
"In my experience young men hanging around, back-alleys don't have the best reason for being there. Anyone familiar with capes would suspect what she was and doubt she was as vulnerable as her appearance seemed. Which was correct given her power test so far."
Battery frowned at the cynicism. She was the daughter of a cop. A cop's daughter was not exactly someone raised to think well of the common man on the street. Even for her looking to explain away, simple kindness seemed a bit too unflattering of human nature. But then that was Colin focusing on the technical aspects, the mechanics, and dynamics of a situation over the human and emotional side of things.
The next workstation had a single female tech looking out the window down to the testing floor. She nodded to the new arrivals. Colin barely nodded at her as he pushed the button to page out to the young mystery woman below "Miss this is Armsmaster, the leader of the local Protectorate."
"Oh, well, I hope that's good news," the young lady responded.
"Well, it definitely isn't negative," Colin replied.
Rolling her eyes, Battery touched the button. "This is Battery from when we did the physical, how are you holding up?"
"Oh! Hi! Yeah, I'm doing alright just doing what they say. Nothing has been terribly hard. I hope I'm doing okay. I'd hate to get rejected for failing a test," she said nervously.
"Don't worry it's not that sort of test. We just want to see what you can do," Battery explained.
"Yeah, just still kind of unsure about that. I mean, I'm pretty sure you don't let just anyone off the street join up. You have to have standards. A score under a certain percentile and you get shipped off to the garbage detail. Not to mention I'm already behind, lacking social cues and basic knowledge of everyday matters is a strong handicap to overcome. Stronger entrants that aren't so handicapped have to have some advantage there. I don't want to end up as some charity case. I want to contribute as well."
Colin took over the mic. "Miss, every Cape who wishes to associate with the Protectorate is welcome. Your skills are rare and valuable. There are no charity cases here. Even those Capes with severe side effects to their powers contribute. Studying them can increase our understanding of powers themselves and their mysteries. Those are problems that you lack."
"Yeah, sure. Okay, so what now? I just hit the target with my power?"
"Basically, just brush it first gently. We'll rotate targets when they are damaged. Keep increasing your power 'til we find the limits of your control and power. Later, in another exercise, we'll work on your range if you exceed these indoor facilities limits."
"Alright," the young woman said. A second later her body was surrounded by an aurora of white-gold light, a ray of light shot forth from her eyes and struck the target.
The target sat unmoved and undamaged. Armsmaster frowned at the apparent lack of effect. "Try a bit harder."
"Well, that picked up on the sensors about the force of a finger poke. Gravity effect guided by the light beam I think," the tech said.
"Good, that's something," Colin replied. Reaching for the mic switch he instructed the girl. "Try striking harder, try to crumple the target."
"Crumple or melt? I think I could do either," she asked. Still surrounded by the nimbus of power.
"Try melting. Your strike so far hasn't produced much thermal energy. We'd like to see that," the tech added.
She nodded and focussed on the target the ray struck and the effect was immediate the target vanished into a bright flash of light.
"Totally burned away," the tech marveled.
"Not burned, there's no ash or slag," Colin noted.
"Disintegration?" Battery asked.
The tech looked over the sensors "It's gone. No residue of any kind. The ground around it isn't even warm. The sensors showed a momentary spike of temperature hot enough to fuse hydrogen. Then it all just vanished when she cut the beam. Either she broke the law of conservation of energy or she pulled the resultant energy from that annihilation inside of herself. Damnation!"
"Well, looks like we have something that will distract Piggot after all," Colin mused.
Battery nodded in shock.
"Is that okay? I know you said melt but I wanted to make sure. I didn't mean to do quite that much. Is this going to count against me?" the nervous teen asked.
"Rest your concerns, you were very impressive. We can work on fine control later. That is what your time in the Wards is for I am quite sure you have a very promising career in the Protectorate." Armsmaster said un-excitedly.
"Thank you, sir! I promise I'll work hard and won't let you down. You won't regret taking a chance on me," she promised.
Colin raised an eyebrow at that in his experience those who came by great power naturally often didn't try hard. It would be a welcome thing if she did run contrary to the trend.
That Night
The whole team was dragging. Piggot had put them through the wringer and squeezed them dry. The entire team had gone over the events at Brockton Insurance Group over and over. A number of details had shaken loose that made them all look particularly bad.
Aegis stopped short; at this point, they'd beaten the horse dead; they would see no benefit from further rehashing. With morale in an abyss and nothing to gain from further discussion, maybe they'd get a bite to eat and try to recover.
Miss Militia was waiting at the door into the rooms and lounge set aside for their use.
"I've got some news. A new eventual teammate has shown up, she's going to be living here for a bit so you might want to keep up mask protocols."
"Is it Browbeat? Is his paperwork all cleared early?" Aegis asked.
"He wouldn't be moving in," Gallant said.
"No, it seems to be a Case 53, but remarkably human," Miss Militia replied.
"Like Wield?" Aegis asked. He'd studied the guy. He was a case 53 in the Boston Wards. He looked like a human other than being completely made of metal. He absorbed any metals he touched into his body. There was talk of them switching teams. He had wanted to know who he would be trusting his friends with. Seemed like a pretty good guy altogether.
"Even more so, she looks completely human. Also, as she has no memory and no history. The normal safety of mutual revelation doesn't exist. She has no secrets we hold over her should she go rogue and we have known her less than a day."
"She's homeless," Vista said with realization.
Shadow stalker scoffed. "Screw that. If she's a 53, Faultline would take her in. Getting kicked out wouldn't keep her quiet."
"No, I don't think I will. I'll screw you and your antagonistic attitude," Clock Blocker angrily retorted. He removed his helmet.
Sophia stared at him, her face hidden behind her mask, while her voice dripped with contempt "You're going to just trust this? Too many red flags. First, how many 53s have looked passable for humans? Second, she came in while we were all out and tied up for the day? Third, in the one city with a gang known to shelter 53s she passes that up to play girl-scout minor league bullshit? No. Too many things don't line up."
"Yeah, well, maybe we can't trust her yet, but I know we can't trust you either," Clock Blocker shot back.
"Dennis, if you want to keep your mask off, fine, but don't do this because you have a beef with Shadow Stalker. If you're not sure about trusting her, don't," Miss Militia ordered.
"If she's legit then she's dealing with some traumatic crap. She doesn't need to be looking at a sea of masks that aren't giving her the benefit of the doubt," Clock Blocker replied.
"He's right after a fashion. She's walked into our house which shows some trust on her part. That being said, there is no reason to divide or guilt anyone as the team's leader. I'll go without a mask. Clock Blocker and I will be the 'friendly face'. Nothing can be read into it for everyone else. As the team leader, I order the rest of you to keep masked for this first day till I'm more sure of the risk," Carlos ordered.
"I guess that takes the decision out of our hands," Kid Win summed up.
"I shouldn't wear a mask either. Give her at least one female face she can talk to," Vista offered.
"No, but you can be next to unmask to her later", Aegis compromised.
"Fine. It will be good to have another girl on the team," Vista said, slightly annoyed at the rejection.
"Alright, then Battery is inside helping her to get set up. Poor girl only had some sweats and a pair of shoes. Some good samaritan helped her get those. They didn't get her anything to go under it," Miss Militia said with a frown.
"Let me guess the good samaritan was a guy," Vista sighed.
"Yes. He probably didn't feel comfortable buying lady's underwear or really understand the need," Militia admitted as they walked in.
"Wards, this is our new friend who has chosen to call herself Nova. Nova, this is Aegis, Clock Blocker, Gallant, Kid Win, Shadow Stalker, and Vista," Miss Militia said, introducing the others.
Vista looked at the new girl. She seemed nervous. She was a little above average in height and carried enough weight that fashion magazines and model agencies would try to label her as being on the lower end of plus size. Despite that, it was the sort of shape boys liked looking at. The cruder ones would say she was thick. The sort you'd see twerking in a rap video. She'd never have gotten past the interview for that sort of job with that face. Her face was too youthful. It gave off the vibe of being innocent. Vista wondered if the new girl would have similar issues as herself. Vista hated how her looks made everyone treat her like a kid.
Vista shifted her gaze to judge her fellow Wards' reaction Shadow Stalkers and Gallant's full face masks gave nothing away. Chris was biting his lip looking at her feet. Dennis' eyes were glued to the girl's chest. Only Aegis was making eye contact.
"You can call me Carlos. I'm the team leader. By my direction, the others will be keeping their full identities secret for now. Just a security formality. Other than Dennis here. He isn't good at keeping mask discipline and volunteered to offer you a friendly face rather than risk getting punished for screwing up," Aegis told her.
"Hey!" Dennis snapped his eyes locking on Carlos' face.
"That's one way to get him to stop staring," Vista snickered.
"I wasn't. Damn, maybe I was. Sorry," Dennis offered.
"Umm. Sure just don't you know make it a habit maybe? I'm Nova. The first person I met said my aura looked like that when I charged it up," She stammered nervously.
"Aura?" Chris asked
Without saying anything a white gold glow snapped into existence around her.
"That is so cool!" Chris gushed.
"Thanks. I don't know much. About, well, anything really I remember how to speak obviously. The tests show I know math, science, and stuff like that. I don't have any cultural knowledge or literature. I'll probably be a very dull conversationalist," She fretted.
"Yeah, probably," Shadow Stalker replied walking away to her room.
"Don't mind her, she's a bitch to everyone. It's nothing personal," Clock Blocker explained.
"Not knowing about stuff just means everything is new. Let's watch a movie, guys. Something to help fill her in," Kid Win offered.
The group began to debate the merits of different movies to watch while pouring sodas and heating some pizza, determined to turn Nova's first night into an excuse to party and recover morale a bit.
Nova was laughing at the banter and starting to feel more comfortable with the group. Gallant was the first to change into street clothes and a domino mask. Shadow Stalker had returned to the main room to take some of the food. She remained listening on the sidelines.
The mood dampened a bit when Gallant returned from getting a phone call. "Hey guys, that was Glory Girl. She said we need to see this webcast. This is important."
"She's his girlfriend. When they're not fighting. She's part of NuWave," Vista explained.
The movie was paused and the video from the laptop took over the screen. It was Shadow Stalker navigating through a cubicle farm.
"Shit, this can't be happening! Where did this video come from?" Shadow Stalker snarled as she stood up.
Her voice could just barely be heard. On the broadcast "Yeah, I'm waiting outback now he's not getting past me."
In the video Shadow Stalker slowly opened a door into another room. It was a server room. Inside someone with their back to the point of view was working on a terminal. The group watched as she leveled her crossbow and carefully lined up a shot.
The target was a short boy in his very early teens. He was wearing khaki pants tucked into tall black rubberized knee-high boots, matching black rubberized welding gloves, and a long old-fashioned style of lab coat. It had two rows of buttons to close up the front arranged in parallel rows. Large round black metal framed goggles obscured his upper face. His hair was jet black and wet-looking spiked into a wild mane of a reckless coiffure.
A slight turn revealed a gun barrel under his left arm. The turn aligned it with Shadow Stalker. With the speed of lightning, there was a flash and Shadow Stalker was on the floor. The figure did a little dance move and then looked the fallen heroine over. With a smile, he unplugged a nearby fan from an extension cord and tied her wrists with the cord while leaving one end plugged.
"I really want to know how that son of a bitch knew I couldn't ghost through things that are electrically charged!" Shadow Stalker snarled.
"She turns into a living shadow and can slip through normal matter but she can't bypass energy. Electricity actually moves through her easier in shadow form. If she tried going through the cord she'd have got a very bad shock," Kid Win explained.
"Which is why we don't blurt it out to everyone!" Shadow Stalker exclaimed, eyeing Nova.
"Not the time Stalker," Carlos snapped in an authoritative tone.
In the video, the action continued when the teen finished his knotting. He then rushed out of the room and down the hall. The video cut to the front of the building where something about roof level across the street was recorded.
Kid Win was flying overwatch. He was in his full high-tech armor and floating around on his anti-gravity board. The rest of the Wards were arranged in front of the building in a rough semicircle. Down from the building the figure from before stepped out of an alleyway. He lifted his silver pistol-like weapon and fired.
The shot hit Kid Win, sending him falling into Gallant. The effect the gun had on Shadow Stalker seemed magnified on the two armored heroes. Gallant, in knightly-looking power armor, seized up just as Kid Win's gold and red armor landed on him.
"Some sort of directed electron pulse. It overloaded the system and we were both stuck while they rerouted," Kid Win explained to Nova.
"My power doesn't actually come from the suit. I can fire energy blasts that also affect emotions and I'm empathic. I can sense people's feelings. That sort of power creeps people out so we do a bit of misdirection to make it look like technology while giving me some protection," Gallant explained
"This proves he planned that. He had cameras up. He watched us set up. We were walking into a trap from the start," Dennis vented.
"Piggott won't care. She said we should approach everything like it's a possible trap," Aegis reminded him.
On the screen Clock Blocker raced toward the sudden threat. A zigzag weave spoiled the gunman's aim. Clock struck out for his foe who responded by blocking with his gloved left hand.
"That should have been it. I can stop time for objects I touch. The duration is a bit inconsistent but it is an 'I win' button against a single opponent." Dennis said angrily.
To the Wards' amazement, his power didn't function as normal. The glove took on a glow that vanished reappearing on his target's right glove then moved to his 1950s-style ray gun. A gun that just happened to be pointed at the approaching Aegis.
"I can adapt to damage my body routes around injuries. I can force it to perform at peak power despite the harm that it inflicts on itself. I am very hard to beat if I can get into close quarters. Here I never got the chance. Our adversary knew us. He'd studied us." Carlos postulated
In the video, the ray gun fired. The shot this time was a white beam that froze the Ward leader in place. The villain smiled at Clock Blocker and pivoted to bring the gun to face the temporally powered hero.
Dennis released his grip and formed a fist but before he could strike the two were separated by a gulf of sudden distance.
"And that's me. I can warp space so long as it has nothing living inside it," Vista explained.
"Even that's not much of a limit when you can warp the space around them," Dennis said, staring at the action on screen.
The screen version of Clock looked off toward his teammate. "Good one, Vista, see if you can-"
Before the young hero could reveal his planned action the Mad Scientist touched his gloved hand to the ground and suddenly the pair were next to each other again. Something Clock Blocker was not prepared for, but the villain was. He brought his right hand around, having adjusted his pistol he whipped the hero with the butt of the gun just under where the helmet met the neck of his costume.
Clock Blocker collapsed. Before his opponent could capitalize on his collapse, Vista was on the villain. Space between them compressed under her power and in a single step, she was in front of him. She let loose with a flurry of punches that proved she had been taking her self-defense training seriously. Each blow missed by a fraction. The villain desperately ducked and weaved but mostly parried. He deflected just enough for each strike to only glance at him. Then he took a big step backward.
While so far silent, the oddly-dressed teen now spoke. "You have such a spirit, you're extremely brave. I want to say in advance I'm terribly sorry."
"For what?" Vista snarled. She was watching his hands for any sudden moves.
"For being so ungentlemanly as to do this," he replied, tapping the ground with his toe the same glow that involved his gloves when discharging power moved through the boots and the ground under Vista suddenly became a sloped hole.
"Son of Bitch!" Vista exclaimed as she slid down into the pit made with stolen force from her own power.
The villain paused in front of Clock Blocker and did a little dance jumping about and shaking his hips then took off running as the feed ended.
"Did you see that?" Dennis snarled.
"Yeah, it was the Time Warp," Kid Win replied.
"Son of a bitch must pay," Dennis growled. As the screen cut to a new location.
"AND there it is! The exciting first caper in the soon-to-be infamous adventures of I, Justinius Polymath Danger, P-H-D" the same young man exclaimed this time behind some form of metal desk looking into the camera.
"What? His name is…? Really?" Kid Win sputtered.
"But Danger, I hear you ask, you're so young how can you have earned an illustrious honor like a doctorate, and in what subjects? 576 applied physics for my paper on methods of particle charge reversal. AND an Sc.D. for my work on the relativity condenser. And of course, you haven't heard of them as I had to wipe my existence from both time and space to cover the sudden repurposing of my life from academia to creative social engineering via applied villainy. Which if you can't tell is a work in progress for yet another paper. Because I really got tired of people asking how come it's called a doctor of philosophy when none of my work is in the field OF philosophy.
Come to think of it, those papers are sort of important. Too important to leave erased. I better republish them." he stopped to stare off into space for a moment with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Is this guy for real?" Nova asked.
"A for real nut job," Dennis said.
"Right, well, I'll mail those in, I suppose. Meanwhile, I will continue my work toward no less than world domination! I will conquer this planet as a benevolent authoritarian figure. I will use its resources to solve the world's problems such as Endbringers, poverty, racism, and religious intolerance. This brings us to the Brockton Insurance Group. Below I have data stolen from the internal records of the aforementioned Insurer that shows a dedicated and sustained effort to keep rates higher on minority applicants or buildings and businesses serving the same. While these crimes which are punishable but seldom prosecuted have been overlooked by our government I have stolen from them funds equal to the maximum penalties they would be assessed under law plus interest. I have also taken an extra 10% finders fee for, you know, my time and effort. I mean even Robin of Locksley kept a bit to cover the bills am I right?
"Anyhow, quick word from our sponsors. Danger Industries presents the exciting new Abnormality Redirector. Bizarre breakage of the laws of physics got you down? Relocate those pesky things to unobtrusive locations with just a touch like so and then off to some out-of-the-way place. Best yet it's custom keyed to work alongside our classic Particle Dispenser. Are you overstocked with a surplus of electrons? Too many photons in storage? Send those particles packing to distant locations with the famous Danger Industries classic. The link below is to book the usage of these fine items. You can't find them in stores.
"Well, with that out of the way. Hope there are no hard feelings ENE Wards you put up a good fight but a genius such as mine is a hard act to keep up with even for such brave and worthy souls. Even the ravishing Vista. I thought for a while she was going to break my nose. Might have been worth it to see her smile. I mean she's gorgeous when she's angry but I'll bet... Right umm, Links below to the data leaks, safe addresses for fan mail, and questions or suggestions for other people, places, or even things that need to find themselves in... the DANGER ZONE!" He trailed off into mad cackling as the screen faded to black.
"This is awful, we're going to look even worse when people see this. This wack job is the guy that beat us" Shadow Stalker said angrily.
"Maybe you should have thought of that before lone gunning your way into his trap?" Dennis shot back.
"There's more to this. The way he parried Vista speaks of neural kinetics that are faster than average. We can't dismiss him as a nut. He might have a Thinker power. He could be playing up for the camera to influence public opinion," Carlos mused.
"He's a Tinker with trump tech, Aegis, no play-acting is going to make the PRT or Protectorate dismiss him," Kid Win said with anger.
"Why?" Nova asked, puzzled.
"Tinkers are the worst if they're good at using their specialization. If they have prep time, they will have just what they need to maximize any situation in their favor. At the cost of carting around a ton of gear and being nothing more than just some dude if they are caught unprepared, but a proactive Tinker who studies and does his homeworld is never a threat to be dismissed," Clock Blocker said with abnormal seriousness.
"And Trumps whose power is to screw with other power is the Capes other Capes fear. No one likes being on the receiving end or finding themselves suddenly powerless," Carlos added.
"Yeah, that would make sense, there still has to be a limit to how much power he can store or redirect. I wonder if there is a way we can measure the upper threshold of his limit, sort of like the power testing they are doing with me," Nova pondered.
"I doubt he would willingly lay his cards on the table like that. Without specialized equipment, we're limited to the observations we make in the field. Still, with each encounter, we know more. Next time we'll just have to be better prepared." Carlos said with confidence meant to boost the team's faith.
As he turned in for the night he had a good feeling that it might have worked. Hell, he'd half-convinced himself.