Denial 2.3
"Someone's in a good mood."
I grinned and downed my orange juice. "Most I've ever looked forward to flunking an exam in my life. It's sort of liberating."
"Heh. A part of me thinks I should be telling you off for that." Dad's face fell. "You will be alright though, won't you?"
"Dad, it's power testing. They're not going to make me fight an Endbringer."
"I'm just worried, Taylor," Dad, Danny and currently Mother Hen said. "You say you don't have powers--"
"Which I don't," I was quick to interject.
"And which I believe you on," Dad was even quicker to add. "And that's what worries me. If these things are going to test if you're superhuman, then what happens if it goes wrong? What if they hurt you?"
"Dad, the PRT probably has things to prevent that." Like Panacea, I didn't add, because knowing I could be healed after the fact probably wouldn't stop him freaking out. Honestly, I was just glad someone believed my claims of being normal. "Nothing's going to go wrong, and if it did, Armsmaster will be right there. He's a Hero, and I told you how important PR is for them. Don't you think it might be bad PR if they went around injuring fifteen-year-old girls?"
"I guess…"
Ugh. I had to roll my eyes. "You know, most parents would be more worried about their children losing their job after less than a week. Especially one that pays this well."
Danny's face lit up and he laughed. "That's a good point." He hoisted his coffee cup. "Well, here's to you losing your first job. Cheers."
"Cheers!"
------
"Hey Taylor." Vista took one look at my face when I entered the Wards' female changing room and cocked her head to the side. "Overprotective parents?"
"Yeah," I agreed, neglecting to say it was just the one. No point ruining the mood. "How do you handle knowing they're worried about you and knowing you can't do anything about it?"
"I don't," Vista said. "I just try not to get angry when my dad tells me, for the hundredth time, that I should be playing with dolls instead of fighting bad guys. Tried to convince him for a while but gave up when he wouldn't listen. Parents know what's best and all that, right?"
"I guess so." Not quite the same problem I had, but close enough. It had to be worse for Vista given her age. I felt bad for her. There were many ways in which I wished Dad would be… more than what he was, but at least he didn't try and force girlish things on me. No one had it perfect, I supposed.
"By the way, your costume arrived."
"What? It's only been a day."
"Piggot pulled some favours. It arrived this morning via teleporting Cape and Miss Militia asked me to help you put it on. Costumes are more complicated than they look," she explained when I raised an eyebrow. "Trust me. Not as easy as you'd think."
Vista was proven right a second later when I opened the suspicious looking package on a changing bench nearby. There were far more pieces to the outfit than I'd thought there would be, including a full body one-piece skin-tight outfit of some kind.
"That's your underlayer," she explained. "Think of it like a wetsuit. It's to stop anything chafing and to keep you warm in outfits that might not be all that insulated. It's also more likely to stay in one piece even if your outer armour gets damaged. No naked Wards due to wardrobe malfunctions." She turned around to give me some privacy. "Put that on and I'll help with the rest."
I'd not normally have felt comfortable taking my clothes off with someone nearby, but Vista was so matter of fact about it, not to mention young, that I would have felt immature protesting. I stripped down to my underwear and pulled the underlayer on. It was surprisingly elastic, the hole for my head stretching so much that I could fit my whole body through it and pull the thing up me. "I'm done," I said once it was on, covering me from head to toes, including my feet but not my hands or head. It was pitch black.
Vista helped with the rest soon after, helping me into a top that was much less easy to get on, let alone tie behind my back. The plates across it, not to mention my now larger breasts, made reaching around difficult. "I didn't pick those," I said defensively when I noticed Vista looking.
"Glenn?" she asked.
"Glenn." I confirmed.
"Figured. Here, step into the leggings and boots. It'll be easier." I did so, and Vista helped secure it. The skirt actually wasn't a skirt, but rather two plated expanses of fabric that fell on the outer side of my legs. It didn't join in the middle or back like a skirt would and thus allowed me full freedom of movement. "You'll get used to putting it on yourself once you know how. You should have seen Dennis at first. His outfit was a nightmare. He broke a clock, too, which apparently messed with his image so bad someone had to drive down to a hardware store for a new one and a bucket of white paint."
I laughed at what I was sure was a fictitious tale designed to make me relax. It worked. "How does he do it now?"
"Freezes the pieces and climbs in."
The image made me smile, as it was no doubt intended to. Vista had me sit down and then walked behind the bench, taking my hair and braiding it while I played with the face mask. To my relief, it wasn't something that had to affix to my skin. It was more like a snood with the same material as my underlayer for the side and back. The mouth-piece just slotted over my mouth and nose. I could breathe through it without any issues.
"There's a hood in here as well," Vista said, tapping a zipper behind my neck. She ran it back and forth to make a sound and clue me in to its location. "Probably for when it's raining or when you need to cover up. You'd have to wrap your hair around your neck for that, though. Careful someone doesn't grab it and choke you." Vista patted my shoulders, unaware of quite how much the casual way she'd said that frightened me. Was this what the Wards had to put up with? "All done. You look good."
Despite any protests I might have, I had to accept that Vista was right. The outfit wasn't as flashy as Alexandria's or Armsmaster's, but I looked mature, intimidating and – most importantly for a Cape – confident, in ways that I normally didn't.
It was the mouth-piece, I decided. It was hard to tell from just my eyes how panicked I was. I pulled a few different expressions ranging from shock, to horror to what a charitable person might have called a flirtatious grimace (I'd tried for a smile and failed), and no matter what, my face didn't show it. My eyes would move and crinkle occasionally, but it was hard to tell if I was angry, upset or happy, at least without getting right up in my face and looking me in the eyes.
Was that the real reason Glenn wanted the rights to my face? I'd assumed it was to keep me from talking like Aegis joked, but that might have just been a joke on his part. One that I took too seriously. The real purpose, it seemed, was to hide my expressive mouth from view, saving me the effort of learning how to mask my emotions in what I already knew would be a short time frame from me being here to speaking in front of a crowd as I was sworn in. In a way, it would make my life easier. No faked smiles.
Well, if I made it past testing – which I was still determined I wouldn't.
"Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear," Vista reported. "Your voice is a little muffled, but it's okay."
My shoulders relaxed. So, I could speak. It wasn't to censor me. I shook my head, feeling a little silly for having thought it. They wanted me to do a speech anyway to announce me beating Hookwolf and Rune, and that would have been a little hard if I couldn't talk. There were some things inside it, likely methods for communication or such. I could only assume they'd teach me how to use those later.
All things considered, I liked the outfit. I posed for the full-length mirror and smiled, enjoying again how the mask prevented anyone from seeing it, making me look forever composed and in control.
It was just a shame it wouldn't last. I could almost imagine myself being a hero dressed like this. Enough to regret for a moment the fact it wasn't real. How often had I wished to have powers, and here I was, in the Wards, talking to Vista like we'd always been friends. It was… nice. It was something that could continue, if I let it. If I embraced the dream.
No. That was a dangerous line of thought; one I let go of quickly.
"Ugh. Now I like your outfit more than mine." Vista grimaced at her costume, which I kind of thought was okay. Bright, but it fit her blonde hair. "It's kind of dark, though. Almost like a certain someone's."
"Glenn wanted me to pair with Shadow Stalker and try to even out her public opinion." The moment the words left my mouth, Vista froze. I had the sinking suspicion I'd said something wrong. "Vista…?"
"You're… pairing with Shadow Stalker?"
"Yeah. Is that a problem?"
Vista took a single step. Her power carried her the rest of the way. I was taller than her, yet Vista still somehow drew me into a hug, patting a hand on my back. "I'm so sorry," she said.
I didn't know what to do. My hands floated in the air behind her. "Um…?"
"I'll always be here for you if you need me."
"Really, I don't mind. Shadow Stalker seems like an okay person. I'm looking forward to getting to know her."
"You poor, deluded girl…"
I let out a long sigh and let my hands rest on Vista's shoulders, trying to ignore the way she rocked my back and forth like she was consoling a small and particularly fragile child. Why did it sometimes feel like I was the only sane one here?
Maybe it was a requirement that all capes be crazy.
------
If I'd thought power testing would be as simple as plugging my finger into a machine that would say `Nope` in big bright letters and then I'd be on my way, I was sorely mistaken. The former part was true, but sadly the machine in front of me didn't come with a convenient parahuman-diagnostic function. Instead, it had needles. Lovely, lovely needles.
"Try again," Armsmaster said, his voice coming in over the speaker system.
With a groan I didn't even try to keep quiet, I put my hand back into the torture device, looking up towards the ceiling as it applied pressure to my skin in tiny increments, slowly building the pressure until-
"Ow." I hit the button with my other hand, stopping it.
"That's it?" Armsmaster asked.
"You said to stop the moment I felt any pain. I could keep it in if you want, but it started to hurt." The `Ow` was perhaps a little dramatic of me. It had been a pin prick at best, but I'd opined it just to make sure they knew I'd felt it. Otherwise, they might think I was faking it to fail on purpose.
"No, no. That's fine. There's no point risking injury by going any further. The readings are in line with a normal human. Though not a very resilient one." Armsmaster said something to someone next to him, but since it wasn't into the microphone, I couldn't hear him. Nor could he hear my grumble at the offhand insult.
I was in what appeared to be a gym of sorts, if a gym ever contained so many weird-looking machines of various nature. All had screens or dials, all were big and bulky and none of them seemed to make any sense. Except for the treadmill in the corner, that was. I'd barely managed ten minutes on that. Armsmaster was a monster when it came to upping the speed and I didn't buy his `testing for brute-stamina` excuse.
It wasn't like I was completely alone, of course. Aegis was in the room with me, along with Clockblocker. I'd been tested with Dennis' power, allegedly to see if I could resit the influence of it or something. For a dreadful moment, I thought I had. He'd touched me, nothing happened, and I was sure I'd be labelled a power nullifier. And then Carlos casually informed me three and a half minutes had passed. I'd just not experienced them.
Oh…
"Not a Brute rating to speak of," Armsmaster said. "The Changer and Shaker tests didn't yield any results, either."
It was hard to resist pointing out that it was because I didn't have any powers. I wanted to, but it felt too much like I was saying `I told you so`, and I didn't want to sound like a brat. Not to someone as famous as Armsmaster, anyway. I kept quiet instead, grateful for the mask that hid my growing smirk. We'd been testing for an hour and a half now and nothing had come up. No powers, no super-human abilities. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.
I'd never been so proud to call myself normal, boring Taylor Hebert.
The tests had been wide, varied and sometimes bizarre. I think the strangest was when I'd been presented with a pile of gadgets and tools, an empty table and a functioning alarm clock. Armsmaster had instructed me to do what came naturally with the tools at hand, and that no one would offer any advice lest they skew the results.
I don't think he intended for me to pick up the hammer and smash the thing to pieces. Not if Dennis' uncontrollable laughter was any indication. On totally unrelated news, I probably wasn't a Tinker!
"What about the brain scans?" Aegis asked. "Could Denial actually be telling the truth?"
Where did he get off saying `actually` like I was some kind of compulsive liar? I frowned at Aegis and wondered for a second why it had no effect. Oh right, they couldn't see my mouth. Another point to Glenn, it seemed. Since I barely ever smiled, he'd cut off my impressive range of frowns, scowls and glowers. Hm, so his plan was to help me look more composed but also stop me looking like a cantankerous teenager. Likely to help pair off with Shadow Stalker.
Touché, Glenn Chambers. Touché.
You win this round.
"The MRI will take an hour or two to come back," Armsmaster said. "Not all powers are obvious upon testing." Again, Armsmaster spoke to someone else in a lower tone. I wondered who it was and what they were saying.
"We could bring in Panacea," Dennis suggested.
"Panacea's time is too valuable to waste on something like this, Clockblocker," Armsmaster chided. I might have felt offended at that if I didn't know that Panacea basically spent all her free time healing at the hospitals. Saving me two hours' waiting was a waste of her time. "If we continue to run into problems we'll consider that as a last resort, though even then I'd rather take Denial to Panacea than make her come here."
"Understood," the three of us said. "What's next?" Carlos asked.
"The tests will continue. Aegis, Clockblocker, begin mover testing."
"Roger that," Dennis said, reaching behind him. To my horror, he pulled out a gun of some kind.
My face fell. It was visible even behind the mask.
"Don't worry," Carlos said. "These just fire beanbags, and at a low velocity." Those would still freaking hurt, armour or not! "Since we don't know if you've yet to realise any latent mover abilities, we'll shoot these at you. Your job is to dodge and avoid being hit as best you're able. If you can move faster than a human normally could, this'll show it."
"And if I can't?"
Dennis shrugged and flicked his gun to semi-auto. "Eh. It'll be apparent soon enough."
"W-Wait," I called, hands held out before me. "This isn't necessary. You don't have to do this. Can't I just do an obstacle course or something?"
"Some mover powers manifest better in extreme circumstances," Armsmaster explained calmly. "If you could simply walk and climb through a course normally, you would do. Putting you in a position where using powers is the only solution will increase the likelihood of them being used."
That made sense, a lot of sense, but still! "I don't have any mover powers. I don't have any powers. I surrender! Don't I have a say in this? You can't just shoot me!"
"I discussed with you in full the methods used in each test yesterday afternoon, Denial. You signed the forms agreeing to them and told me you had no questions." A pause. "You were paying attention to what I said, correct? Considering that I took time out of my busy tinkering schedule to talk them through with you."
"Uh…" To be fair, it had been a long meeting and I'd just assumed I didn't have to listen since I wasn't a Cape and none of it applied to me. My outfit did a wonderful job of masking how red my neck and cheeks were turning. "Yes?"
"Begin testing when ready," Armsmaster said.
"Oh, come on--"
------
"No mover rating, sir," Aegis confirmed, floating several metres above my body, which was huddled in the fetal position with my hands over my head. "I think we can rule out a master, too. Or at least one that tells people what to do. She kept yelling at me to stop and I didn't feel any compulsion to do so."
"H-Hate you," I hissed. "Hate you so much…"
"I'd say some inventive dodging at the end there, but nothing that suggests she's faster or stronger than a normal person," Dennis said. "No extra durability, no speed, no super senses or anything. You sure this isn't a false positive?"
My head perked up. Was that the sound of a believer?
"It's far too early to tell," Armsmaster said. "We'll have to analyse everything we have here, not to mention the MRI when it comes back. Not every power is obvious, Clockblocker, as you well know. Our power testing equipment looks for common themes. Someone like Panacea would come out of this with no powers registered at all. Denial may just be Manton limited."
"Or I might have no powers," I offered. "Just throwing that out there."
"Let's not jump to any wild conclusions," Armsmaster said. "I'll also point out that your armour is modified tinker-tech, Denial. It's all but impossible that you would have felt any pain from the beanbags."
Oh, I was so burning my Armsmaster-branded underwear for that comment. It wasn't that the beanbags hurt; the armour was, as he said, exceptional, and Carlos and Dennis were as good as their word, never hitting me above chest height. It didn't even feel like the times when Sophia and Emma tried to hurt me in dodgeball. The two Wards were careful and complimented every successful dodge I made, and their general attitude made it clear there was nothing malicious behind it. If this were Winslow, I'd have taken it badly, but I couldn't take Dennis seriously as a bully and I wasn't sure Carlos had a nasty bone in him.
Then again, that might have just been the PR department hard at work. "I'm onto you, Chambers," I growled under my breath.
"Alright, alright. I'm getting up." I said, ignoring Dennis' snort of amusement. "See how you like this, Clockblocker."
"We do it all the time." Aegis pointed out. "It's good for training."
"Yeah well, I don't. On account of being a squishy human."
To be honest, even with the impromptu game of dodgeball I didn't feel too bad about the way things were going. This was my victory moment. A weird one, since I was going to be claiming victory in being mundane and boring, but it was still the moment where everyone realised I'd been right all along. With that in mind, I could put up with a little frustration from Armsmaster, or the repeated tests. I could be patient, because at the end of the day I knew what was going to happen. Better they took as many tests as they needed and proved this once and for all than rush and have to do it all again.
"We'll try a quick blaster test just in case, and then wait for the MRI before we go any further," Armsmaster said with an audible sigh. Well, excuse me for being a normal girl. You know, exactly what I'd told you all I was. Armsmaster continued, "Step up to the yellow marker on the floor and focus on the wall opposite you."
I found it with a little help from Dennis in the form of a cough and a pointed finger. Stepping up to it, I noticed a prop-up figure of a human being. A mannequin in every shape and form, but with an angry face drawn onto it, presumably in case a Cape had any qualms on brutally harming an inanimate object. The wall behind it was empty and obviously reinforced.
"What do I do?"
"Just focus on the target," Armsmaster advised. "Blasters manifest their powers in different ways. Try focusing on energy within you and pushing it out. Our sensors will detect any energy build-up."
What? What kind of advice was that? I closed my eyes with a sigh and concentrated. Energy inside me? Nope. Didn't feel anything. I tried anyway, humming and imagining me pulling something out of my own body and throwing it at the target. Predictably, nothing happened other than me sounding vaguely constipated.
"This is kind of embarrassing," I grumbled. I felt like a kid trying to imitate something I'd seen on a Saturday morning cartoon. Please, oh please don't make me have to do the sound effects to go with it. I wasn't sure my fragile self-esteem would survive that.
"Try holding a hand out," Dennis called. I did so. He hit the deck. "Not at me!"
"Not like anything was going to happen, Clockblocker. I don't have powers."
"Try it anyway," Armsmaster advised, ever the picture of calm.
Ugh. They were really determined about this, weren't they? I pointed my hand at the target, first with one finger, then two – and then the palm of my hand like someone from a bad martial arts movie. Drawing a deep breath, I imagined drawing that same energy up, and then let it go and thrust my palm toward the target.
The target, the wall, the floor and a good part of the ceiling exploded.
I wasn't ready for it and was hurled off my feet, even as sirens began to wail and Aegis and Clockblocker dove for cover. Fire licked at the building and the sky was now exposed beyond, the wall having been completely and utterly annihilated. I stared down at the palm of my hand in horror.
"No powers my ass!" Clockblocker howled.
"B-But I didn't," I stammered. "That wasn't me."
The siren's tone changed, becoming louder – more insistent. Another explosion sounded outside, further down the building, and this time there was no arguing it was mine. Gunfire began a second later, along with barked commands and cries. A voice came over the speakers.
"PHQ is under attack by the ABB. I repeat, PHQ is under attack! ABB sighted."
Denial
2.4
An attack? Now? Blood drained from my face at the thought of the ABB being here and the possibility that I'd have to face them. It was my worst nightmare; that the Protectorate would send me out, unpowered as I was, against real capes.
I needn't have.
"Clockblocker, Aegis, get Denial to a panic room and join the defence. Do not allow her anywhere near the fighting." The speaker went dead a second later and I had to assume Armsmaster had already left the waiting room to join the fight. I didn't have time for much else as Aegis landed beside me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
"We have to go."
"But-"
"You can't fight," Aegis said, misjudging my protest by several miles. "I know you want to get out there and make a difference, but even if you know your powers, we still don't. We can't work effectively as a team like that and we can't risk your safety."
"He's right, Tay," Dennis said, using my real name. "Don't worry, we've got this. Just let us take you somewhere safe and we can finish up the testing once we've rounded up some gangers."
"R-Right." It wasn't worth it to argue, not when they were trying to get me to safety and there were lives at stake. "Where is it? If you just tell me the way I can go myself. I don't want to keep you out of the fight if you can make a difference." Or, you know, saving my life. The sooner this ended, the safer I'd be.
"Better we show you," Carlos said. "Come on."
The two led me out of the testing chambers and into a corridor, Aegis dragging me aside as numerous figures in armour dashed past, weapons in hand. Regular PRT troopers, but each and every one of them was heading towards the gunfire, regardless of the ABB Capes that were no doubt there. They were braver than I, but then again, they were trained for this. I wasn't. Once they were gone, Carlos dragged me further down in the opposite direction.
"Doesn't make sense the ABB would hit here," Clockblocker said. "I mean, if they want Lung then why not wait for the Birdcage transport? It'd be easier."
"Maybe it's not Lung they're after," Carlos said.
I paled when I realised he was looking directly at me. "What!?"
"Not everyone believes Armsmaster took down Lung, Denial. He couldn't before and there are a lot of people, PHO and otherwise, who are arguing about it. There's bound to have been someone who saw what happened between you and we picked up more than a few regular ABB goons that night too. The ABB might not want to let something like that go, or let the Protectorate get so powerful a cape."
"Then why not attack me at home?"
"It's against the rules. I know it sounds crazy, but the ABB does follow the unwritten rules. Or Lung did, barely. Beyond that, identities are one of the hardest things to figure out around here. It's possible a mole learned about your power testing but not who you are. Meaning that today is the only day they could hit us."
It was crazy, but just crazy enough to be true, especially if the ABB – like the PRT – actually believed my completely undeserved hype. My entire world began to spiral in as I hyperventilated.
"Don't put ideas in her head, Aegis. It's just as likely they're coming for Lung and just picked a random day for it."
Aegis shrugged. "That too."
R-Right. A more reasonable explanation.
"Either way, I doubt they'll get away with it," Aegis said. "A couple of Protectorate Heroes will be out on patrol or other assignments, but this is PHQ. They're not going to be able to dig through all our defences and get to the containment cells before the others get ba--"
"Containment cells breached!" a speaker broadcasted.
Aegis winced.
Clockblocker scowled. "You just had to say it…"
Miss Militia met us in the corridor, running along with a man beside her. Her eyes narrowing on us immediately. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"Armsmaster told us to get Denial to a panic room before joining the fight, ma'am," Aegis reported.
"I can handle that," the man in uniform said. He had coarse, short-cropped hair and a stern expression. "Team Commander Thomas Calvert," he said, nodding quickly to me. "Leave her in my hands. You'll make more of a difference on the front lines than I, especially if Lung has escaped."
"Sir, Armsmaster said--"
"Every hero is needed out there," the man snapped. "Have you not heard? Reinforcements are being hit by some tinker from out of city. There are explosions everywhere and the other heroes may not get back in time to make a difference. Everyone is needed."
Aegis and Dennis froze, and then cursed. They sprinted after Miss Militia, leaving me with the man.
"Denial, is it? We haven't met but I oversaw the transport of your father to the PHQ for safety. My name is Thomas Calvert." He held a hand out, which I shook nervously. Now didn't really feel the time for introductions. "We'll head to a panic room now where you'll be safe. In the event we're challenged it'll be important for me to know what you're capable of. What powers do you have?"
"I don't have any, sir."
Calvert's face twitched. His brows drew down for a moment but, to my surprise, he simply nodded and didn't push any further. He seemed unreasonably upset by my refusal. Probably because he thought I was making light of the situation when I really wasn't.
"I see. Very well. If you don't want to say, I won't press you." He jogged down the corridor, keeping his pace slow enough for me to stay with him. "In times of attack, non-combat personnel retreat to panic rooms that serve as bunkers or shelters. They're not impenetrable, but I wouldn't worry about that here. The ABB are clearly after something, likely Lung. I doubt they'll stay much longer."
"Is there a chance they'll win?"
"Not even with Lung," he said. "They simply lack the Capes to deal with the PRT, let alone the reinforcements that will eventually arrive, delay or not. You've no reason to worry. In fact, I-" Calvert cut off suddenly, looking down a corridor. I hadn't heard anything other than the gunfire that was audible everywhere, but it seemed for a moment like he'd noticed something. "Not that way," he said, hand on my shoulder. "Take a right here."
"You're sure? But I can see other employees running that way."
"Different sectors, different responsibilities. Trust me, Denial. I know what I'm doing."
I supposed he did. "Alright."
Despite his assurances, I started to feel more and more nervous as we approached what to me sounded like more fighting. It was for the most part down below, however, with the two of us running out into an enclosed walkway.
"Quickly, we just have to get across here and--"
It happened suddenly. The corridor we were in shook and the lights flickered out. It was an explosion outside of the corridor – one that the commander could not have possibly expected – but it caused a crack in the wall and caused the walkway to pitch down. I cried out as my footing was ripped away from me.
Calvert was faster on the draw, grabbing onto a railing and holding a hand out for me. "Grab on!" he called.
I tried, I really did. He was too fast, though. Or I was too slow. By the time I'd even registered his words I was already falling, sliding and tumbling down the wreck. It wasn't a fatal drop. In fact, the corridor had collapsed down like a ramp, so I hit the ground and rolled atop some rubble. But I was now outside and on the ground floor, which was the last place I – and Armsmaster – wanted me to be.
"Denial!" Calvert shouted. "Are you okay!?"
"Soon not to be," I groaned. While I could appreciate his concern, his voice had done little other than alert the people around us to my sudden appearance. Aegis was there, his chin and mouth visible, the latter falling in equal parts shock and horror.
The asian man he'd been facing shouted something I couldn't comprehend and pointed his gun towards me. That, at least, I understood.
When he opened fire, I screamed.
"Move!" Aegis grunted, flying through the air – literally – and shoving me aside. He gasped as the bullet tore into him but kept moving, grasping me under my armpits and stumbling along on a clumsy flight path, dragging me along for the ride. I felt more than saw him waver.
"A-Aegis, are you alright!?"
"Fine," he gritted. "I'll get better. What are you doing here? You were supposed to be at a bunker."
"The corridor we were running through got destroyed," I explained quickly, earning a muttered curse from him. "Calvert managed to react in time to hold on, but I fell down and out here. What do I do?"
"You keep out of trouble and stay low. They've already sprung Lung and there's no telling when he--" He was cut off by a mighty roar. Numerous heads turned in the direction of it, cheers erupting from the ABB forces as the head of a dragon exploded out of a nearby building, followed quickly by a figure in blue armour, halberd in hand. "This isn't good…"
"Can Armsmaster take him?"
"Depends on how big Lung gets. If the others get back in time, maybe, but Assault, Battery, Triumph and Velocity are out on their own patrols. Today was supposed to be quiet and the birdcage patrol wasn't scheduled for another day or two. There was no reason to keep everyone at base. If Lung ramps up before they arrive and help put him down, things could turn ugly."
"How did they get him out so quickly, anyway?" I asked. "Wasn't he in a cell?"
"Someone must have snuck in. Maybe--" Aegis' eyes widened. "Shit!"
I followed his vision in time to see a mass of black smoke explode out of the wreckage Lung just came through. The smoke itself wasn't unusual, but this was darker and obviously Shadow Stalker in her breaker state. The reason why was obvious, as the force of the explosion carried her smoke out of the building itself. As she reverted to her human form, she landed hard and stumbled. Her crossbow was nowhere to be seen.
A figure appeared behind her. Dressed in black, with a red mask and a bandolier, Oni Lee was easily recognisable. He reached for and unpinned a grenade on his vest.
"Stalker!" Aegis yelled.
The warning was enough. Barely. Shadow Stalker shifted into her breaker form once more and was pushed further away by the force of the explosion. She shifted out, landed in a roll and sprinted in our direction.
Her eyes met mine, "The fuck is this? No. Don't care. You got a gun or something on you? And where is everyone?"
"The ABB are causing trouble all over the Bay to keep the others busy. They're on their way back, but they're being harried by some tinker the whole way. And no, no gun. Where's your crossbow?"
"I was in fucking M/S confinement, dipshit. They wouldn't leave my weapon with me in that. The cell broke down when that Oni Lee fucker appeared and broke Lung free. Barely got out before the roof came crashing down."
"You can't fight, then," Aegis decided, and I was sure Shadow Stalker snarled at that. "Look, I'll keep Oni Lee and Lung busy. You need to get Denial back to a bunker. She's a new Ward. Introductions can wait."
"You telling me to run?" Shadow Stalker snapped.
"He's telling you to go get a weapon," I interrupted, realising that my chances of getting out of this alive were slim if Aegis couldn't convince her. "Your crossbow is in the Wards area, right? Once you drop me off there, you can grab it and come back to fight."
Aegis nodded, "Denial is right. I'm not keeping you out, Stalker. We need you, but we need you armed and dangerous."
"Fuck." Shadow Stalker shook her head. "Fine, I get it. Denial, right? Come on. Don't slow me down." Shadow Stalker instantly ran to the left, forcing me to sprint to keep up. Her pace was punishing, and she didn't seem to be breathing heavily, unlike me. "You're the one that took out Lung the first time, aren't you? The one Armsmaster mentioned."
"Y-Yeah." I wasn't, but I was too winded to explain. She didn't seem to recognise me as Taylor, the girl she'd saved from Hookwolf, otherwise she wouldn't have had to ask that.
"Good on you. Need more capes willing to pull their weight on the team. We'll finally have someone who isn't such a bitch."
I wasn't sure I'd fit Shadow Stalker's needs of not being a bitch, but I didn't argue. Arguing would have taken effort. My lungs were already burning. Wards or not, I decided I was going to take up jogging after this. I was way too unfit for my age. Shadow Stalker, on the other hand, was fresh as a daisy. I closed my eyes and concentrated on keeping up with her, all the while shutting out everything going on around us.
It was a mistake.
"Watch out!" Shadow Stalker yelled. My eyes snapped open, realising at the last second that a figure had appeared in front of me, literally out of nowhere. Oni Lee. I tried to scream but there was no time. He tried to reach for a weapon, but there was also no time. I drew a breath. He touched his bandolier-
And then I slammed bodily into him, all flailing limbs and gangly teenage body.
Oni Lee either wasn't ready for the assault or couldn't resist it. Going full sprint and without even a moment to consider slowing, I bowled him over in a tangle of limbs. He landed first, me atop him, and when I looked up into a tusked mask, I found my voice again, screaming at the top of my lungs.
"Nice!" Shadow Stalker yelled. "Keep him pinned!"
Keep him what? Who had who pinned!? In the midst of blind panic, I slapped him – for all the good it did. It was more me pushing my hand into his face than anything. His reached down for a knife, or to push me off, but my chest was pinned to his and I flailed like a wild animal, driving my knee up into something soft. Oni Lee gasped and cross his knees together.
Five or six seconds later, something shifted. I was suddenly falling a short distance to hit the concrete, mask stopping me from knocking my forehead on the ground but digging into my face painfully. I coughed out what tasted like ash.
"Fucking A," Shadow Stalker said, gripping my shoulders to drag me back. "You showed him."
"I-I did…?"
"Not even worried about the bomb."
"Bomb…!?"
"Yeah, it was-" She gasped, "Shit!" Her hands, under my shoulders, suddenly rolled me to the side, while she turned into mist. Something crashed down between us, pushing through her but hitting the concrete with force enough to throw me away. The air was hot and heavy, threatening to burn my skin. As I landed with a gasp and cracked my eyes open, I felt my blood paradoxically freeze.
Lung's fore-foot (leg? Paw? Hand?) had come mere feet away from crushing me, Shadow Stalker having saved my life again. Still, it didn't do much for the fact that Lung was over fifteen feet tall and growing, with foot-long claws and scales covering his body. He had wings and other things, too, but I didn't pay much attention to that. I was far too busy staring directly into his eyes, atop a giant snout, which was pointed directly at me.
"Denial!" Armsmaster yelled. "Retreat now!"
Y-Yeah. Good idea. I'd get right on that, as soon as my legs started working again. Something told me to turn my back on the monster before me was to die immediately. Nice and all, but I was sure staring the dragon down would also get me killed.
"'oo arr famir'ar."
"DENIAL!" Armsmaster yelled, louder now. Oh, he was coming to save me.
That… That was good.
"Oi Lung!" Shadow Stalker yelled, trying to draw him away. Or so I hoped. She didn't have a weapon but waved her cape like a matador. "Back off! She's the one that beat your sorry ass the last time. Better be careful she doesn't do it again!"
I gaped at her. What the hell was she doing!? Sure, if Lung actually believed I was a threat he might hesitate, but he might just as easily stomp on my face and be done with it. Or bite me in half, or one of a million ways he could kill me.
And besides, Lung knew the truth.
More than anyone, he knew my not-so-hidden secret. Lung knew how I'd beaten him. He knew I wasn't a Cape. If he wanted me dead, it was as easy as not tripping up at my feet and practically knocking himself out. If the look in his eye was anything to go by as he looked back to me, he knew it.
Lung regarded me for a long moment. It was impossible to pin any rhyme or reason to his thoughts, his face being too inhuman to read. The dragon took a deep breath, watching me even as Armsmaster finally appeared before me, taking a protective stance between us with his halberd at the ready. I wasn't sure it would do any good with Lung's pyrokinesis, and both Lung and Armsmaster clearly knew that.
Lung could kill us both, right here, and everyone knew it. His eyes were focused on mine, his head far too high up for Armsmaster to block his line of sight. The ABB gathered behind him, Oni Lee appearing off to one side, atop a building, waiting for orders.
And then, before my wide eyes, Lung took a step back.
"He's… retreating…?" Armsmaster said.
He wasn't wrong. Lung, reaching twenty feet tall and still more then capable of crushing me like a bug, took one step back, and then another. His wings spread, not shielding his people but rather making it clear that they were to retreat as well. All the time, his eyes remained focused on me, filled with some unreadable emotion. The PRT forces, beleaguered and in desperate need of reinforcements, watched them go, no one quite sure whether to give chase or not. When Lung turned his back and retreated, no one followed. Some cheered, even if this could hardly be called a victory.
"Lung has never retreated before," Armsmaster said. "Certainly not when he has the upper hand. It's almost as though he were afraid of something…"
"Afraid of what?" I asked.
It took me a second to realise who Armsmaster, Aegis, Shadow Stalker and literally every PRT agent within hearing distance were staring at.
Me.
Fuck…
Interlude
Lung
There were many who believed Lung a fool.
In doing so, they proved themselves the fools.
A dragon is wise. A dragon knows this, but also knows that to parade wisdom is to show no wisdom at all. As the proverb went; Wisdom is in knowing when to hold your tongue.
Lung was not nearly as foolish as others made him out to be, or as he allowed himself to be seen. Every now and then he would allow himself time to ponder exactly what made people believe him the brute. Was it the manner in which he thought? Was it that he chose not to allow Thinkers into the ABB, that led people to assume he was a brute with no defence against them? Or was it the way in which he spoke, his words garbled and often mispronounced by his snout?
It was hard to say, and Lung spent many a night relaxing with a cup of rice wine contemplating the fact. He fought with strength because it was strength that set the grandest example. He avoided Thinkers because he respected the power of strategy, even if he did not respect those who were granted intelligence not through hard work, but by the whims of destiny.
And as for his speech? Well, English was hardly his first tongue. He could speak Japanese, mandarin and English. Pardon him for only being trilingual. Watch the Americans who could hardly even say `good morning` in another language laugh at the idiot foreigner.
Hmph.
No, Lung was no fool and he had no issue with people seeing him as such. The tinker, Bakuda, no doubt saw him as one. It made her predictable. It made her lower her guard. Ironically, her arrogance served as her own shackles; ones that he had exploited to recruit her and would continue to exploit to keep her in line. She believed herself fit to rule in his place but chose to bide her time.
She would not have the chance to supplant him, but for now she could be allowed her moment of glory. A chance to believe it, and to believe that he feared her. Lung was a wise dragon. But a dragon must also appear strong, especially if he was to rule a gang like the ABB.
Being defeated by a regular human, a slip of a girl no less? Armed with pepper spray and a trashcan lid?
This, Lung admitted, did not reflect well on him…
It would not have reflected well on an Empire recruit coming out of puberty, let alone the Dragon of Kyushu.
It was an irony of its own, Lung supposed, that despite the PRT's greatest weakness being their so-called reliance on PR, the ABB was no different. He had an image to uphold, as did his gang. They needed to appear strong at all times and despite their low number of capes compared to the Empire, Merchants and the PRT, they pulled it off. Lung took pride in the fact they were considered equal despite in some cases having a third the number of parahumans.
Maintaining that visage of strength was a delicate balance.
One that the girl threatened to disrupt.
Lung massaged his brow with one hand as he thought of her. What she was doing in a costume, he had no idea. The girl had not triggered, he knew this for he would have felt and experienced it as all parahumans did when another triggered. Similarly, she had no powers before. His transformation would not have ended, and she would not have so pathetically accepted her death, if she did. He doubted she would hide a power even unto that point.
Her victory, if one could call it that, was ill-deserved. Lung knew the truth of that matter…
But the world did not.
Could not.
It might have been okay to let Armsmaster claim the glory there, and when Lung had heard of that back in his cell, he had breathed a hidden sigh of relief. When they asked about the girl, who he knew they now called Denial, he remained silent. Why would he not? To admit to defeat at the hands of one so weak would have been shameful. Had the PRT proven even slightly adept at their job, it would have stayed that way, but alas, they were as incompetent as ever. Much like the villains they captured, information often passed through their revolving door policy.
Somehow, somewhere, the information had gotten out that Armsmaster did not defeat him. He'd heard as much from the guards outside his cell, and discovered that it was worse when he escaped. It had been spread across the internet, with evidence to back it up. Nothing concrete and thankfully no video to his frankly humiliating defeat, but time schedules enough to show that Armsmaster could not have been there fighting him when he claimed to be. Already the rumours were flying. It hardly helped that many of his own men had known Armsmaster was not present when he fought, and others knew Armsmaster, for all his attempts, could not fight him on equal grounds. Lung suspected the Undersiders, or perhaps whomever backed them. It didn't matter, though. In the end, the result was the same - The world knew that someone else had bested him.
And now, thanks to this latest altercation, they knew who it was. Brockton Bay would soon know. That, Lung decided, was a problem.
Though not in the way one might have thought…
The girl was no threat. None whatsoever. Given a moment, he could crush her and forget her existence. He held a similar lack of concern for the possibility that his rivals might recruit her. More fool them trying to understand her non-existent powers. Lung idly wished he could be there to witness their frustration. It would be a delight. No, Denial as a cape was not a threat.
The threat was her dying…
Dying a fool's death.
Denial had bested him, and thus her reputation would rise. If someone else were to defeat her, it would be as though they could best him. They could not, of course, but they would believe it. If Bakuda killed her, she would almost certainly challenge Lung next. She would fail, but the carnage would no doubt weaken the ABB's position. That could not stand. The same might happen with the Empire or the Merchants, and even if it did not, his reputation globally would suffer.
Lung, the one who faced Leviathan, brought low by a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl with no powers.
No one could know this. No one.
And so, faced with her at that moment, with his gang – and likely the world – watching, Lung had done the only thing he could do.
He retreated.
What other choice was there? To fight her was to crush her instantly, to show the world that she was nothing and reveal himself the fool. To continue the fight was to risk one of his men – an idiot with a gun – doing the job for him, again tarnishing his reputation and leaving him a laughing stock among the cape community. Given time, no one would remember the one who bested him and was bested in turn. Such things came and went. But no one would forget the time a schoolgirl bested Lung. The shame of such would haunt him forever. He could hear the taunts in his head.
"Shit, it's Lung. Quick, contact the nearest high school!"
Lung shuddered.
It would be different if he could have faced the girl in private. He could have reduced her to paste and then fallen upon his own claws, tearing chunks from his flesh and the surroundings until no one could doubt that there had not been an epic battle worthy of two titans. All would see and know that Lung had bested Denial in arduous combat, honourable combat, and regained his honour. He would make the scene of their battle look like an Endbringer attack, and him bleeding from a thousand wounds. She would die a hero's death.
But that moment had not been there, before so many witnesses…
At least in retreating Lung could claim victory in having escaped the PRT yet again. It would be seen as his strength, even if Denial's legend would grow alongside it for being the one to force his retreat. This was fine. If Denial were to become larger than life, then his reputation would grow when he fought her.
So long as no one else did first…
"Lee," Lung spoke.
"Lung," Oni Lee said, appearing as though from the shadow.
"The girl I faced, Lee. Denial." He tasted the name. It was foolish, even by the PRT's standards. "I wish you to spread her name and image among the men. To everyone, Bakuda included. Make sure they know her name, her face, everything there is to know about her."
"Yes." That was all. Lung knew it would be done. "Are they to target her?"
Lung was a wise dragon, and sometimes that meant doing things he did not approve of. Sometimes a dragon had to appear weak, so that he did not draw the attention of all his enemies at once. Sometimes a dragon had to bide his time and wait for the right moment, even if he didn't want to.
"No, Lee. Any who face her are to do one thing, and one thing only."
Sometimes... Lung hated being a wise dragon…
"Flee."
Spoiler: Note Award Quote ReplyReport1796Nara'la28/9/2018Reader modeNewAdd bookmark Threadmarks taovkoolThe Post Editor28/9/2018Add bookmark#1,038Wow.
This is...
Okay then.