Open Fire
Getting booted into another reality after burning to death is really not my idea of a good time. Neither is finding myself in a world where alien invasions are treated as a mild inconvenience. Still, it could be worse. At least my power is completely broken! On the other hand, I don't think the Bat will approve...
And we're back. Lets have some fun here. Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Maybe going out was a bad idea. I'd forgotten that it was still raining and, although my costume was waterproof, it still didn't mean I appreciated getting wet. Fortunately, the rain didn't last long and my costume soon dried. Whatever, I soon found myself flitting across the rooftops, helped along by some power provided grappling hooks and the fact it seemed like the city was actually designed to be navigated vire the rooftops half the time.
Surprisingly, I didn't stumble across any crimes going on, although I guess even crime doesn't like getting wet. Odd really, you'd think a rainy day would be a good time to do it. However, the lack of fighting gave me time to think. While I at least had somewhere to rest my head, the warehouse wasn't exactly what I'd call comfortable. It had the potential to be, but I'd need furniture, stuff for the kitchen and, more importantly, food. For all of that, I needed money. Unfortunately, I don't think that many places would be willing to hire a teenager with nothing to indicate he even exists.
"Damn, this would be so much easier if I'd just been reincarnated," I grumbled, "Oh well, I chose this, I need to make the best of it."
I landed lightly on the roof of a building and looked down, spotting what looked like a drug deal going down. I eyed the exchange, wondering if it was really worth getting involved, before my gaze was drawn to the large wads of cash changing hands. I blinked, before I smacked myself in the forehead. The only thing I had to give was my power, so why not make some cash of making the city safer? A common theme in Worm was the ability for Capes to confiscate any money they found. True, that didn't exist here and I'm pretty sure it was fanon anyway, but the idea did hold merit. Bats didn't do it, but he was crazy rich. I had nothing, so I might as well help myself to the criminals ill gotten gains after kicking their teeth in. Who knows, I might even make more of a difference if the criminals knew that they stood to lose something.
I grinned and looked down at the deal. For a moment, I was tempted to start with them, but I quickly discarded it. I could deal with some of the drug problems later, but I didn't want to tip my hand to the big hitters just yet. Instead, I jumped away, heading back towards home. I had plans to make.
I was nearly at the Warehouse when a scream from below made me glance down. Almost immediately, I spotted the source, a girl with blonde hair being accosted by two big thugs who were threatening her with knives while a third tried to wrestle her jacket off. It didn't take much to guess what they had in mind. Immediately, my power formed into a rather large gun which I aimed and pulled the trigger. With a roar like an angry dragon, the bullet slammed into the thug holding the girl, sending him flying back with a cry of pain as his shoulder was completely destroyed.
"HOLY FUCK!" yelped one of the others, "Where did…?"
He didn't have time to finish the question as I jumped off the roof and landed on his shoulders with a loud crunch, driving him to the ground. The third barely had time to gape before my power formed baton snapped out, breaking his wrist with a loud crack. He fell to his knees, grasping his destroyed limb, before a second blow to the head send him to lala land. I held back just enough to keep from killing any of the fools, but they wouldn't be recovering for a VERY long time.
With the thugs dealt with and unlikely to get back up, I turned to the girl, who was staring at me with very wide eyes. She looked like she was my age, about seventeen, with a pretty face, long blonde hair, a splash of freckles across her nose and bottle green eyes. Her clothes were shabby and rather threadbare, her hair looked greasy and her face was streaked with dirt, indicating that she was probably homeless.
As I met her eyes, the girls face went through a series of expressions, before it settled on a foxy grin.
"Well, that was nicely done," she said, "Rather brutal though. I can't help but think that Bats'll be after you for that."
I blinked. That was...surprisingly lacking in hysteria for someone who'd just been saved from a rather nasty fate. I shook of my surprise. She was probably just hiding it and would have her breakdown later.
"They should be glad I didn't just kill them right out," I said, kicking the downed thug at my feet in the side, "Are you alright?"
"I'll be fine," said the girl, getting to her feet and brushing herself off, "So, I suppose I should be honoured, right? Being the first person saved by the new hero on the block?"
My jaw dropped. How in the fuck did she know that?!
"Wha...how…?" I spluttered.
The girls grin widened.
"I'm psychic," she said.
My eyes narrowed. That...didn't sound right. However, the fact remains that she somehow knew that tonight was my first night out and about. The girls grin widened even further and she sauntered off.
"See ya around Militia," she said with a wave.
I watched her go, feeling rather nonplussed. I would have gone after her, but I got the distinct feeling that I'd need a crowbar to get any information she didn't want to give out of her. I shook my head and turned in the other direction. Suddenly, I didn't feel like going home just yet. I needed to blow off some steam.
Fortunately, it didn't take long to find more crooks to punch in the face and by the time the Wayne Clocktower chimed midnight, I was no longer feeling quite so confused over my unusual encounter, so I headed home to hit the sack.
I entered the warehouse, absently noticing that I needed to see about getting some locks before someone decided to squat in it, and headed into the room that was probably once a breakroom and still contained a moth eaten sofa, pulling off my mask as I did.
"Nice place you got here."
I spun around, my power forming into a large handgun as I did. Sat on an old computer chair with a slight smirk firmly in place was the same blonde I'd met earlier.
"What the...what are you doing here?!" I demanded.
"Well, when you live on the streets, a place like this is a rarity," said the girl, "Besides, you interest me. Bats is easy to read, but you...I can't get a proper read on you at all."
I frowned. What the hell was she talking about?
"Who are you?" I asked.
The girls grin widened.
"My names Lisa Wilbourn," she said, "But you can call me Tattletale."
My jaw dropped and I gaped in utter shock at the girl. How in the actual FUCK could Tattletale exist in this world?! The existence of a counterpart I could believe, but by the sound of things, she genuinely had her power. Either that or she was a natural Sherlock Holmes…
"I do indeed have powers of my own," said Lisa, cutting across my thoughts, "I'm psychic."
"Bullshit," I said, "Your power is to extrapolate information."
This time it was Lisa's turn for orbital eyebrows.
"Huh...thats interesting," she said, "You know how my power works...and have some idea of where they come from?"
I pulled a face.
"Ehhh, sort of," I said, "I somehow doubt that your powers come from there."
And if they did, I didn't really want to see what a fight between the Justice League and Scion would be like, so I really hope they didn't.
"Huh, you certainly are an interesting one," said Lisa, "So, I've spilled my guts, who are you?"
I sighed and dismissed my gun. There really wasn't any point in keeping my identity a secret at this point.
"Thomas Calvert," I said, "Call me Tommy."
"Well then Tommy, what do you say about teaming up?" asked Lisa, "We both have powers, we're both lacking in adult supervision and I really want to try and figure you out."
I shrugged.
"Eh, sure, why not?" I said, "Safety in numbers and all that."
"Ohhh, very interesting," said Lisa, "I think this'll be the start of a beautiful friendship."
"Of that I have no doubt," I muttered.
I had to wonder if anyone else was going to pop up unexpectedly? This was going to be...interesting.
Third Person POV
Batman narrowed his eyes as he examined the location of another fight. Over the course of the night, the Batwave had detected multiple reports of the police being called in to respond to a number of incidence of people being saved from muggers by someone in a mask who dropped in from nowhere, knocked the mugger out, then vanished. Needless to say, the internet was going a little crazy with theories of what had happened, with a good number mentioning that he could have been involved, despite his status as an urban legend.
It had taken a while, but Batman had managed to trace the incidence back, getting some idea of where the mysterious hero had been. The trail was winding and without any really indication of planning, but Batman was good at his job and had the advantage of Waynetech computer systems to help. That had led him to the place he was pretty sure was the earliest incident where he found a number of worrying things.
The other incidence had been rather brutal and had resulted in a few broken bones and unconscious muggers, but they were mostly done with the precision that indicated training and a desire to put the targets down quickly and with the smallest amount of damage possible, however this one was different. There wasn't a body, thankfully, but there was a lot of blood, enough to indicate that whoever it belonged to was in bad shape, and even a bullet hole that was rather large and, strangely enough, empty. There was no sign of the round that did the damage, other than a strange energy lingering around the hole that Batwave couldn't get a handle on.
Batmans frown deepened as he stepped back to take in the scene as a whole. Whatever was going on didn't bode well. There was another person in town heading out at night in a mask, apparently beating up muggers and they were apparently not squeamish about making it stick. If they kept up with this, it was only a matter of time before someone turned up dead. Batman scowled. He needed to get to the bottom of this before that happened.
He turned away from the crime scene and fired his grapple, vanishing into the night. He had a lot of work to do.
And done. I know its short, but I was honestly tempted to tend it when Lisa introduced herself. Oh well, no plan survives and all that.
Let me be clear, anyone from Worm (and there will be more) who pops up in the future technically aren't Parahumans. Its a case of Dis being bored and inserting more people into the world for shits and giggles.
Looks like Batmans already onto Militia. I can see this ending badly.
Anyway, I know this is short and the ending wasn't exactly up to snuff, but I've got work tomorrow, so I should probably sign out. Don't forget to leave a review!