"Good job handling those guys, Browbeat," I praised my fellow Ward over the radio as he successfully calmed a group of angry teenagers and de-escalated the situation before it could get out of control.
Mm? What are you saying?
Seeing me praise Browbeat was too out of character?
Also, the mere fact that he didn't stumble over himself and got knocked out by a couple of normal kids was too unrealistic?
You'll be right to think that, but something that happened two days ago, something that brought great changes to my headspace.
It's better if I show you how it happened.
(Two days ago)
As you probably know, after Piggot had finished enacting her best impression of a secret twist movie villain, some Wards hung out in one of the Rig's spare rooms, and something happened.
No, I'm not talking about me beating Dennis with consecutive 'critical hits' on three different battles when we played Pakamon, though that was pretty funny.
No, I'm talking about finally creating an 'Anti-Power Stealing & Copying' power, though its addition was a nice thing to have around the other… let's say 'less consistent' Wards(Browbeat and Vista).
Though you'll notice that I changed my original idea about the power, and decided to extend it a little, adding copy protection to it. The reason for doing that was because of the epiphany that struck me just as I was about to create the power. I remember the existence of villains like Victor as I was about to use my charge, and I suddenly felt dirty and in need of taking drastic measures to prevent fuckers like him from benefiting from my hard-earned charges. At least I could say that the gist of the power stayed mostly the same after I modified it, so the charge should be able to cover everything nicely.
Anyway, as I was saying, it wasn't actually my anti-stealing power, nor me proving to Dennis the superiority of Chorizard over his uncool locking 'meta' Pakamons by sweeping through his team over and over, that kick-started my new change of perspective about my team.
No, the character growth came when I saw Clockblocker silently glazing at the room's clock(heh) after I defeated him without allowing him to even make a move (Air Slash chance to flinch was OP) and decided to ask him why he was looking at the time.
"I was just thinking about my dad… You know, since the director said that we would be stationed on the Rig until prior notice, I was kind of worried about him and stuff." Clockblocker stopped looking at the wall clock as he spoke to me.
"Shouldn't he be the one worried about you? He's the adult, and besides, you're the one fighting against superpowered villains; he should be safe." I didn't know anything about Dennis's dad (except the fact that he let his son spend too much time in the Wards base), or fathers, or family members, or people that cared about you in general, but unless he was secretively a cape or suicidal, he was probably fine staying in his home and sleeping with a gun next to his bed until everything went back to normal.
"He was worried about me too, but the thing is… he hasn't been on top of his health for some time… so I can't help but worry about him." In response to my question, Clock made a vague statement about his father's situation.
The same type of statement the orphanage matron used to tell us when someone was going to croak but didn't know 'when'.
That makes me think that Clock's dad wouldn't be staying among the living for too long.
"If he hadn't been fine for a while, why didn't you just call Panacea to help him? Didn't she use to heal you guys all the time before I got here? Surely, she could have given you a hand with that, no?" I couldn't understand why he didn't ask Panacea for help if he had a sick relative, though the director had been the same, so maybe there was something more serious going on regarding Panacea than the public didn't know.
Other than her not doing brains.
"Amy doesn't have clear shifts in a hospital, and she also doesn't take requests, so getting her to heal someone specifically is difficult." Gallant pitched in, shattering my worldview.
Mostly because it was the dumbest reason I had heard.
That… That… That couldn't be true, right?!
There's no way that a hero with such useful power can't be contacted easily.
"Are you telling me that the only way you can get Panacea's help is by wandering through the city's hospitals and hoping she's there?" I asked in disbelief.
"It's not Amy's fault; the labor laws regarding minors, coupled with the multiple regulations created to prevent parahumans from entering any sector of the job market, left her in an awkward position. Obviously, the hospitals still let her in when she comes to heal people, but she can't spend a lot of time healing, even if she wants." Gallant further explained the shitty situation while defending Amy.
Don't ask me why he felt compelled to try and defend her, when the real culprits and the ones responsible for this mess turned out to be social workers 'protecting' children.
Fuck those dumb fucks, did they never play an RPG?!
Healers are essential for the heroes to edge out a win, since monsters have a bigger HP pool than the good guys!
They can't gatekeep them, or we are toast!
"So, let me get this straight: there are people who prevented a healing cape from working more hours, and saving more people, because she's a minor?!" It didn't make sense to me.
"What about all the kids that could be dying during that time? Aren't they minors too? Or do these idiots just care about you if you can help the world?" Fucking assholes, only getting on the case of people trying to make the dumpster of fire we call Earth a little less shitty.
As you can see, I wasn't too fond of child protection services, though I may be biased, mainly because I never saw a single one of them, despite their claims of apparently 'helping' kids in bad places.
It was my own opinion, but if a kid screaming from the top of the orphanage roof about the end of times while hooked on multiple drugs before failing to his death wasn't a 'bad' enough situation to merit their intervention, then they may as well be a hoax.
Fake ass institution focused on laundering money with how non-existent they seem to be.
"It does seem like they only seem to care about children if they have powers, and only if they're actually trying to help, funny, isn't it?" Vista sarcastically remarked while she refilled her drink.
"Please don't you start Vista, you know that a person working non-stop, regardless of their age, is bad for their health; Amy doesn't need to heal people 24/7, she should rest and have a life." Oh, I'm not against Panacea resting Gallant.
I just think that the way they made her work is too stupid.
"Of course she must rest, but maybe there should be a better way of organizing her healing schedule, as it is she just suddenly appears from time to time and decides to heal for an hour or so before a lawyer or 'concerned citizen' pops-up; there's no waiting list from the sound of it, no emergency number to contact her, hell, if you wanted to prevent her being exploited that much, why don't set up a donation system; what I mean is that there should be a better way of doing things than just praying for Panacea to walk by." It felt counterintuitive to have people prevent heroes from doing their job, to the point that I was starting to think that child services were villains.
"Panacea had refused to take money in the past, the issue being linked to her 'no request' rule, so she probably won't take donations in the future no matter what in order to prevent setting a precedent, and while the Protectorate can solicit her services in case they need to heal a hero, and has done it in the past, she isn't a member of the Wards, so director Piggot can't dictate her actions nor request her help unless extreme circumstances without coming off as hypocritical to the general public." Dinah, who was sitting next to me, finally spoke, clarifying my silent doubts about the New Wave hero.
"So, Piggot couldn't request help with her medical issues, or the ones involving any of the Protectorate or Wards' family members, unless they were critical, lest she bring upon herself bad PR? Isn't that kind of extreme?" Was the director actually a noble soul? Not waiting to cut the line and letting the civilians have their turn first?
Or were public relations that important?
.
.
.
Nah, that's crazy talk.
If the PRT was concerned about how people saw them, then most of its top heroes wouldn't go around jobbing or let superpowered hobos turn entire towns into bloody art galleries.
Which means that Piggot actually cares about people and wasn't that a weird statement to make about the director (seriously, I thought the woman hated everyone with how pissed she always was).
While I was reassessing the impression I had of our fat director, Dinah nodded at me.
"It is, but PR is vital to the director's organization, and if people saw her monopolizing a cape belonging to another hero team, then the narrative of the PRT trying to strong-arm capes could entrench itself further in the public consciousness, and that's bad. Nobody wants potential heroes getting cold feet out of fear of being press ganged by the government; that's why the Protectorate mostly tries the soft sell with independents and stays on friendly terms with corporate teams." Contrary to my beliefs, Oracle showed her knowledge of the subject, showing me an angle I had been ignoring.
Ok, maybe 'PR' is important for the PRT (guess that's why it's part of the first two letters), and the problem is that they just aren't that good at managing their heroes.
It would explain why they seemed so focused on how they're being viewed while also not being able to rein in absolute losers like Shadow Coward.
"Just like Dinah said, we unfortunately can't go to Amy for things outside hero work without putting her in the spot or coming off as selfish; and she also can't go around healing all the time indiscriminately, not only because it would place a great burden on her shoulders, but also because the laws regarding parahumans powers and the fear of any attempts at monetizing them monopolizing the market." Gallant also seemed to have a lot of knowledge about the subject.
It wasn't a surprise that the two of them knew so much in retrospect; it made sense that the two rich kids would know about the economy and public relationships.
"While all that's true, you two are overestimating Clock's thought process. He is a clown, so he probably didn't want to ask Dean for help in begging Vic to convince her sister to get her onboard because he thinks it isn't very heroic to 'cut the line' to get Panacea help." Vista brought an end to the whole socio-economic and threw Dennis under the bus.
"What can I say? I'm always thinking of the little people first and foremost." Clockblocker took the jab in stride and just opened his arms like he was a savior figure, though he looked a little more awkward than normal.
Guess he really was worried about his old man.
"It's still weird, isn't it? Like the whole thing seems to be designed to stop people from helping." Vista was right, it smelled like a villain plot.
Maybe even a Simurgh plot.
"Of course, but that's by design; either join the government hero team and deal with heavy supervision, and in exchange have the law becomes more 'flexible' about children working hours, or try and do your thing by yourself, without resources or structures, while also not having the government to back you up in case you make any 'mistake' and having to bear with all types of laws and restrictions."
"Please don't make it sound like the PRT is a secret villain organization, Dinah."
"Sorry if it came out like that, I didn't mean to, though you're right, a better example of the situation could be how Vista and Clockblocker could still stay on the Wards base even after they exhausted their weekly working hours despite the Youth Ward complaining, while Panacea isn't allowed to work or experiment with her powers beyond the norm less New Wave face lawsuits." Dinah smiled as she corrected her statement after Dean's request.
Man, this talk about Panacea and laws about using your powers made me happy to join the Wards for the first time ever.
Though I'm still waiting for the benefits that they told me about on the first day.
"Looks like that pamphlet they gave me before I entered the Wards was being truthful about the support they receive, but I have a question, when do we get the power training?" Other than PR training, power testing, and console duty, I hadn't gotten a 'safe place to learn how to use your powers' like the Wards booklet advertised.
"We have those?" Browbeat (who I always forget exists unless he fucks something up) commented from the table.
"PFFF!" For his part, Clock laughed, making Vista give him a glare before she explained what was so funny.
"We get training, but it's mostly standard police procedures and hand-to-hand combat. Using our powers during training, it's something we do sparingly, since we need a Protectorate hero to supervise us during that kind of spars, and since most of the heroes are busy…"
"So, the booklet lied?"
"It enhanced the truth." Vista deadpanned at my question.
Fuck, that's what I get for trusting a piece of paper.
No wonder the Wards sucked at fighting.
Don't get me wrong, even if I dunked on them in my head, I considered the Wards heroes.
Sort of.
But it seems I had been under the wrong impression since the beginning.
They weren't incompetent; they just were being handicapped.
"Yeah, it sucks, Carlos tried to have us, and the Boston Wards engage in team spars to get us into better shape, but the Pig shot that idea down, so here we are," Dennis spoke like a man who had been beaten too many times, and looking at our winning record, it may be true.
This changed everything.
It didn't take a genius to decipher the reason they always lost.
Lack of battle exp.
Some new villain cape, like Skitter, could go looking for homeless bums and fill them with insects to power level and improve her bug control.
Meanwhile, Vista, despite having strong power, is still a level 1 hero who has to scourge enough purse snatchers in hopes of leveling up.
"Yep, can't have the Wards looking to 'competent'" Poor little Vista.
She was the Bodof that you threw so that you could heal your favorite Pakamon, forced to never get any wins or finish a fight without being downed.
"Now, don't act like all of your requests were reasonable; you asked for a gun."
"Do you know how effective I could be with a gun?"
"That's precisely why the director never gave you one, you know? The last thing we need is for people to think we are child soldiers."
"Right, because having 'cute little Vista' is more important than catching villains."
"It partially is, since if parents see children being outfitted for war, then the Wards program would face a drop in recruitment numbers and be reduced to only probatory members looking to escape juvenile; while the Protectorate would have its goal of integrating parahumans and normal people take a back seat since that sends the message that capes are akin to weapons of mass destruction and not people." Dinah tried to escalate Dennis and Missy's arguments.
I decided to throw my two cents.
"Why don't you just have Kid Win give you a non-lethal tinker gun? Aren't those fine?" Most capes didn't like to use guns, even if people did shoot them from time to time.
Probably a fashion thing.
Tinker guns seemed to work just fine to bypass that, though.
It was another point to tinker capes being overall better.
Everyone looked at me after I voiced my opinion.
Damn, did I step on a landmine? Was Kid not proficient enough to even grab a normal gun and put some lights on it?
He had a laser when we fought the Undersiders; he could replicate that.
Or did it explode after being used one time?!
"Kid Win already has trouble taking care of his own stuff; he doesn't need more things to do maintenance with." Ah, so Vista had thought about that before.
"Yeah, but can he just take a stun gun and make it be able to fire repeatedly and call it a day? You don't need a tinker magnum opus or a death laser to be effective." Or just take a lower caliber gun, use glue to add a new barrel, and call it a day, tinkertech at its finest.
It wouldn't be too different from the things Kid Win used to create.
"…"
Our little blonde 'shaker 9' was left speechless after my suggestion.
Probably because she was a gun nut and wished for an assault rifle, instead of searching for realistic alternatives she could use to expand her arsenal.
"That… That may be a good idea; the bank fight with the Undersiders showed that someone getting close to Missy could put her in the spot, so giving her some means of defense to circumvent her power limitation could help." Dean seemed to be caught between vouching against the idea, because it gave Vista a gun (sort of), and being for it, since it would help her stay in the fight for more than ten seconds.
"Eric, come with me and help me wake up Chris, I don't know why he even went to sleep when we have a teammate that can fix that, but we are fixing that and getting me a gun-, I mean a tinker-gun." In an instant, Vista snapped out of her funk and made her way towards the sofa where I sat, before trying to lift me by the arm so I could go with her.
"Grh." It was fun seeing her try to lift me, seemingly forgetting I could bench press a van without breaking a sweat, and ergo being able to resist being moved by someone who weighed less than 40kg.
The Browbeat downscale must have been crazy if she thought any Brute lost their powers when everyone forgot about them.
"Sure, let's go." Still, I got up, and then I caught the surprised Missy, who almost fell on top of me since she was grabbing my arm but failed to account for me suddenly standing on my own volition.
Don't worry, Vista, when you get that tinker gun and gain some experience, you'll probably start remembering that brute powers don't come with an off button most of the time.
"Right, let's go get Chris." Missy instantly recovered from almost falling and switched gears in an attempt to prevent everyone from realizing she almost ate the floor. It was even funnier seeing it in person since her face had gone from 'oh shit, I'm going to crash against the floor' to 'let's go do this very important thing'.
She really loves trying to sell the serious persona.
"I still can't believe Chris actually chose to sleep when we can basically stay up until late without detriments! One would think he would take advantage of it and keep tinkering until sunrise, but no." As we started to leave, Clock commented on the strangeness of Kid Win's situation.
"That's because Piggot closed his improvised workshop for the night, something about her still not being desperate enough to let him tinker unsupervised until morning, even if he did discover his speciality," Vista told Dennis offhandedly as we made our way out of the room.
"Really? What's it?"
"Fusing things… or merging them, he wasn't 100% sure when he told me, but he thinks it's one of those two; at least disarming and mashing the old PRT vans together helped him, somehow."
Man, I can't believe Kid just learned his specialty today! he had been in the Wards for more than a year!
We really were just a couple of low-level scrubs…
I should look into a way to fix that later, like, I don't know, set up an easily stealable bank, (but not one with too much money since I didn't want parahumans appearing and having a repeat of the last bank job), and have the Wards guard the building until a group of crocks tries something until everyone hits level 10.
That would come later, though, for now, it was time to leave, but before we left, I had to do something.
"Hey, Clock!"
"Mm?" Clockblocker looked my way.
"We're going to your house and helping your dad after I come back from my night shift in the hospital," I explained my plan to Dennis.
Now, I know we had a very long and technical conversation about minors working hours and how heroes shouldn't put themselves first, but to be honest, it was kind of dumb to me.
I needed the team in top shape if I wanted them not fold against a level 5 angry teenager with attitude, and having them distracted by small things, like having a family member dying, was a big no in my book.
Let's say that one of the Wards failed a morale check during a fight against a villain, because their family dog kicked the bucket.
We would be doomed.
So, I thought of this brilliant move: offering free healthcare to not only them, but their families!
"Sorry, what?" Clockblocker looked like someone had told him Santa existed and was actually bringing gifts.
In other words, he was stupefied.
"You heard me right," I then looked at the rest of the Wards. "In fact, everyone who needs a family member or acquaintance healed just needs to tell me; see you all later." With those words, I finally went to look for Kid.
"Wait, you are working after this? It's 11:30 PM," Vista sounded surprised as we walked the hallways.
"Yeah, but Piggot's turning a blind eye to us working extra hours, so I'm going to go and relieve Panacea from her duties for the night."
"But aren't you tired?" Thankfully not, thanks to my powers
But even if I was, it was either going to heal at the hospital or have the Bay collapse.
Let me be clear, I don't enjoy work, but when the alternative is anarchy, I can endure long working hours if it means preventing chaos.
Because anarchy is what we are going to get if the health system (or any government system, really) falls apart.
I remember when something similar happened in the orphanage; it had been at a much lower scale, obviously, but I was able to live under total chaos for a week.
How? Well, last year, on September 24th, our 'caretakers' got 'food poisoned' and were out of commission for a week, and the moment the bigger kids realized there was no one to control them anymore, pandemonium descended.
You couldn't leave your room without being stabbed, robbed, or harassed, and going to the kitchen or bathroom was a one-way ticket to oblivion.
I didn't enjoy being 'ruled' by warlords, and I think I will enjoy it even less the second time around if the whole Bay decides to collapse into madness.
And that's without accounting for superpowers.
So yeah, I'll just have to endure the boringness of working in a medical ward until 7 am, but that's what 'Willpower' charges were for.
"I'm not, and besides, it needs to be done." So, without thinking too much about it, I answered Vista, and we kept walking.
(Present)
And that's how I learned that Panacea didn't work long hours in the hospital before the EMP bomb, and that the Wards were under-leveled and that losing so much isn't their fault (except for Shadow Stalker, fuck her).
…Wait a second, that didn't explain shit about my change in mindset or why I was praising Browbeat!
It was just a useless flashback about what happened two days ago!
"Vista to base, everything fine here, how's everything there, copy."
Fuck, there wasn't enough time to have another flashback and explain my change of opinion better.
I had to take this since Oracle went to the bathroom and left me manning the console.
Whatever, I'll tell you the abridged story:
-I got to Chris and got him to let Vista borrow his gun since he told us he was in 'the zone' and was going to create his 'Chrismovile' or whatever.
-Went to the hospital, met zombie Panacea (she never had to heal for longer than three hours during her shifts, so she wasn't built for this), relieved her, and proceeded to heal, heal, and heal.
-Thought about how the Wards were going to die against any mid-tier villain they met because of the level difference, and realized I wouldn't be able to save them because I was stuck on console duty.
-Relaxed because Dinah has premonition powers.
-Finished shift at the hospital and went to look for Clock.
-Went to his house and healed his dad, a heartfelt moment ensured.
-Took us back to HQ and did the same as yesterday, leisurely healing Oracle while she carried the team.
-Remember later during the night in a Morio Party game that she wasn't a perfect precog, hence Bakuda blasting us into the stone ages without Dinah seeing it.
-Worrying came back.
Yadda, yadda, yadda.
The meat of it was that I was a 'guy in the chair' now (Piggot wanted the healer on base healing our greatest asset, the cape with future visions), so if some of the Wards fought a villain, the only thing I could do was throw compliments their way and read them the PRT manual procedures for dealing with each type of cape.
Theoretically, I could fly and help them fight, but I would take a couple of minutes, even at max speed, and by then, the fight could be over.
I thought about adding another 'Speed' charge to fix the problem, but I ran into another pressing issue.
Turning into Glory Girl.
As you know, it's pretty difficult to control my strength to the point that I have never actually punched someone with force behind my attack since I put a hole in a tree.
Super speed makes the whole thing even more difficult to control, and since I didn't want to end like that bimbo, I decided to take a wiser course of action.
If I couldn't be there for the rest of the Wards before the fight was over (parahumans' fights take at most 5 minutes on average, talk about a lack of endurance), then I'll simply be there, as support.
Sure, in the future (a couple of days), I'll add more charges to speed, but today, I was laying the foundation for it by creating something new.
A power that both lets me use my powers more effectively and also helps my companions.
Yes, I'm talking about a thinker power, like the one Oracle has.
A power that enhances my brain and makes me able to compensate for the lack of experience of my companions and me in the field, whenever I was there physically, or by radio!
'So, you realized that the hundreds of Piggots in bikinis weren't enough to kill me, eh? And now you are coming back for my help? You're a fool, I'm never going to help-'
I wasn't talking about you.
'That bravado of yours is idiotic, there's no one here besides me-'
'Hi Eric, hello old model.'
A new voice made itself present in my head.
Good, I was wondering when you would come. Please take a seat.
'Sure, thing, boss.'
'Eric! Who-, no, w-what's this?!'
It's my brain, dumbass.
'That's impossible! I'm your brain, idiot.'
'I'm Eric's real brain.'
You hear the man, he's the real brain.
'Do you even hear what you're saying?! What's even this thing?! Where did it come from?!'
My power, duh.
'You- you can't just- Don't you see this is wrong?! Please, at least tell me that you find this a little unsettling.'
Nah.
'The boss doesn't need your opinion, old model, not after you had failed him, time and time again.'
What he said, besides, he came from my power, why should I worry about it?
'CAN'T YOU THINK FOR YOURSELF FOR A SECOND AND STOP RELLING IN THE DAMN CHARGES FOR A MINUTE?!'
…
It's funny that you said that.
You know why it's funny?
Because, if I'm remembering right…
Didn't you say my power would 'take care of things' the last time I asked you for help?
'What?! You can't still be angry about that?'
Oh, I sure am. You almost made me give cancer to an entire school, and then brushed me off.
So, don't bother me again and let Second Brain take command of things here, OK?
'You're insane!'
Second Brain, take things of things here, will you?
'On it, boss.'
'Wait! Don't come any closer-'
Welp, enough of those two, I had a call to take.
"Every fine in our end, Vista, Oracle steeped out for a minute, but from what she told me, we shouldn't have any trouble today; she was fairly sure that no villains would attack our teams today."
"That's nice and all, but it does make things more boring."
"Don't be like that, Missy. We are helping clean up the Bay by taking care of the boat graveyard, and Chris can salvage the boat's components to create those tinker boats you told him about." Clockblocker joined the chat on the radio.
"I know, but it feels kind of reductive; everything I had been doing is shrinking some boats."
"Don't think like that. You're doing most of the work Vista, getting everything ready for Kid, while Browbeat is doing the rest with Clockblocker, keeping people calm and explaining things; now we just need Kid Win to arrive and he can haul these things back home and start working on them" It was a nice having my new power, full name 'Second Brain: Teamwork', take control.
Well, it was less him taking control, and more just repeating what he said, but the gist of it was the same.
He also told me that reinforcing successful work with praise was paramount, hence my also congratulating Browbeat before.
'If we can generate a Pavlovian response in the less performatives Wards, then we can have them associate successfully using their powers or completing a task with receiving praise! Making it so that they, subconsciously, push themselves to give 100% of their effort!'
'In other words: Browbeat should not forget he has Brute powers the next time he fights Regent!'
After years of mediocrity, I received good advice.
Who would have thought I just needed a new brain to get it?
*HOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKKK*
"And speaking of Kid Win… Here he is…"
A loud noise came from Vista's radio, accompanying her tired voice.
"Kid, what's that monstrosity?"
"Kid, my man! What a ride! Can I take it for a stroll?"
Two different responses, from two different people, each with an opposite view on whatever Chris had done.
"Kid Win to base, the Wardsmobile has reached the Boat Graveyard, and it's ready to extract the goods, copy." A satisfied voice came from the radio.
"Do you even have a license to drive that?" I couldn't see what Chris' car looked like, but from Vista voice, I got an idea.
A heart hazard.
"I don't need one; there are almost no cars functioning on the streets, and besides, this thing has an autopilot. Armsmaster let me borrow an older model of it."
Well, maybe it wasn't so bad if the leader of the Protectorate helped with it.
"Are you sure you won't crash into anything with it?" Vista sounded unconvincing.
"Please! It brought me here without a scratch, and it would take us back to base without a problem, too." Kid sounded sure of his creation integrity.
*CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASH*
Unfortunately for him, it didn't seem like the world shared his belief from the sound of it.
"HQ to Wards 2, what was that sound!" I screamed into the radio.
"A weird car came flying and crashed into Kid's monstrous car."
Fuck.
Well, at least it hadn't been Kid's car exploding and killing everyone there.
"Is everyone alright?"
"Yeah, we're good, don't know about Kid, me and Browbeat are going to see if he's alright," Clock responded, talking over.
"I'm fine, the plate over the car was thick enough, and only three of the 21 wheels are unusable." 21 wheels?!
What kind of car amalgamation did Chris bring into our world?
"The important thing is that you four are fine; don't move from there, I'm sending Protectorate support to help. Meanwhile, please try to see if there was anyone in the car that crashed into Kid."
"Browbeat to HQ, we're on it." Good, the Pavlovian thing was already showing results.
"Guys, I'm getting something big coming towards us through the sensors." Chris voice broke my good mood.
"Isn't that metal thing Hookwolf?" And Clockblocker buried what was left of it.
"Yeah… It sure is him." Thanks for the confirmation, Browbeat.
Fuck, what now?!
"HQ, we are engaging Hookwolf!" Vista was happy to finally throw hands.
Crap, she's going to die under my leadership!
Why couldn't Piggot get more experienced people to babysit her suicidal Ward?!
"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
A weird metal/scream sound could be heard through the radio, indicating that yes, that was Hookwolf, the mass murdering metal blender.
The metal murder blender, who was about to fight four very squishy Wards.
Second Brain! I need you!
Give me an idea to get out of here!
'Fake a suicidal note from Vista, then claim she ignored orders and proceeded to partake in a group suicide.'
…
I guess even thinker powers aren't as powerful as everyone believes they are.
PD: I have two things to say.
First: I finally know how guys like Batman and Skitter beat everyone in their stories despite being outclassed.
No, it isn't plot armor!
It's because super hero worlds work on RPG physics.
And how do characters gain stronger in those worlds? Experience points!
And unlike other heroes and villains, Skitter and Batman parrot the 'weak power/no power' narrative, so they aren't hit with a exp penalty everyone else suffers thought.
Hence them doing impossible things, like Batman beating Superman, or Skitter overpowering Armsmaster and taking his weapon despite the fact that the man had power armor!
It looks impressive at first glance, but the reality is that the real overpowered characters are these level 1000 'peak human' merchants fighting the level 30-40 Kryptonian/Protectorate leader.
Never again believe in someone telling you how they beat a meta character with their weird and unoptimized build, they're lying by omission, and leaving out the part that they were over-leveled for the encounter.
Second: Panacea isn't chained to a hospital and forced to heal like a bot like most Amy fans would make you believe.
Yeah, she heals people a couple of hours each week, but she doesn't have bags under her eyes because she's overworked.
That's a fake narrative! Whose purpose is to sell you cheap Pan/Skitter fics!
Carol is a horrible parent, but not even she wants Amelia to work 24/7.
The only one forcing Amy to heal more, to the point she decides to wander thought the night sometimes because she can't sleep, is herself.
Not to say Carol is not responsible for that, but the one that wants to heal more, and feels worse when she can't do it, is Panacea.
I think, that if I was a normal junior Ward, one who had a normal life, one who received the love of a good family and was a kid that hadn't expended his earliest years living in a place that reminded people of a horror movie set, then I would be incredible scared and trying to hopelessly recompose myself, before inevitable succumbing to a panic attack thanks to my teammates imminent deaths at the hands of a Neo-Nazy unleashing his 'metalsona' in the middle of the boat graveyard (soon to be renamed: Wards graveyard) and killing the closest thing I had to a group of friends.
Fortunately for the PRT, that wasn't the case, and previous experiences had prepared me for this exact moment.
Being present for numerous… let's call them… 'unsightly ends' in the good old orphanage had made the prospect of gore and dismemberment a common enough sight, so there was no need for me to calm down and lose precious seconds at the prospect of it.
Instead, everything started to slow down (thanks to my enhanced speed), and I started to think about how I was going to solve this so I didn't have the team's blood on my hands (and record).
And just to be clear, when I said 'I', that means you Second Brain.
I need you to think of a good plan, fast.
'The trick to falsify someone else's handwriting is in using their own writing as a reference, so go and look for Vista backpack, with some luck she should have a diary or something, and from then-'
Fuck, can't you drop that stupid shit already?!
Half of the Wards team is going to be liquefied by a guy who likes to get freaky with hooks!
There's no time for shitty jokes! Give me a plan to save them, or they are toast!
'Sorry, boss, my field of expertise is in teamwork.'
Then create a plan in which Vista, Clock, Browbeat, and Kid Win work together and use their powers to not die! I don't care if I don't do anything! Just save them!
'Uhhhh… You see… I'm more of a theory crafting and managing team dynamics type of brain than a tactical master… That means I'm no strategist…'
WHAT?!
'Yeah, like, I won't be able to save the Wards, since I don't possess the expertise to dictate the best course of action on the battlefield, much less one in which I have so little information, thanks to the lack of body-cams on any of the Wards or any means of contacting them apart from an old radio… But! I do know how you can navigate the complex and depressive social atmosphere that would permeate the base after the team dies, and you are forced to interact with the remaining junior heroes!'
…
'Under my guidance, you will not experience ostracization, and the rest of the team will start the journey to heal the wounds left after their companions' deaths!'
'How does that sound, boss?'
…
I think….
That I can't-
-BELIEVE I WASTED A CHARGE ON SOMETHING AS USELESS AS YOU WHEN I COULD HAVE INVESTED IN SPEED! AND MAY HAVE BEEN ABLE TO REACH THE SCENE BEFORE EVERYONE WAS DEAD!!!
'But boss! The ability to deal with loss and maintain team cohesion in the face of disaster is paramount for maintaining team cohesion!'
Yeah, yeah, you sure will help me manage the team and make them come to terms with the fact that the only thing left of Vista now fits in a small box, that's 'super useful'.
You know what a good actual power would actually do?
PREVENT THE WARDS FROM DYING IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!
'But-'
Bah! Enough with you!
Go back to the corner and let 'ME' think of a solution.
'S-sir I-'
NOW
'O-of c-course b-boss.'
.
.
.
I can't believe it! I couldn't even depend on my own powers to get things done!
And I can't believe like that was all my useless Thinker power amounted to!
Looks like it was time to think of a solution by myself.
First things first.
Calling for help.
"Guardian to all Protectorate heroes and PRT agents, Hookwolf is attacking the Wards team stationed in the boat graveyard, requesting immediate backup, over." Speed was a blessing (and not a waste of charge like a certain other power); it let me conduct that idiotic conversation with my brain in the span of a second and make it so that I was still faster than any normal human in changing the radio frequency to the PRT channel and requesting help.
With some luck, a non-corrupt/inept/weak Protectorate hero would be close by and help the team, saving their beacon as well as mine.
Almost in response to my thoughts, the radio burst into life.
"Velocity here, I'm in Downtown and can't leave. A mob is attempting to break into a mall, and I'm working on de-escalating the situation." The fastest man alive in the Bay(allegedly) was being speed-equalized by normal normies.
We would not get help from him.
No matter, he wasn't the only hero on duty.
We had others.
Hopefully.
"Dauntless and I got caught in a bit of a situation with Stormtiger and Cricket. Guess we now know where their boss is now- "A horrible crashing sound cut Assault's reply.
Seems Assault and Dauntless were fighting against Hookfur cronies, which was another point on Assault being a secret villain mole, since he could have set up the whole situation so that murder blender 'escaped' and 'just so happened' to be in a position to kill half of the Wards that were close by.
Purely an accident, I imagine.
Still, that train of thought brought a bigger question to the table:
Why would Hook target the less diverse Ward assembly?
The A team (I'm pretty sure Carlos and Dean just called their team 'A' to placate Sophia's ego) had 2 E88 approved targets based on skin: Shadow Stalker(black) and Aegis(brownish)
While the 'B' team only had Browbeat(black), and even then, he could technically change his skin color, so I don't know how the Empire even ruled that.
So, looking at the stats, it didn't make sense.
…Though maybe you could add Clock to the equation, if the Empire was feeling ginger-phobic enough, but I don't actually know how many racist points a redhead may yield.
"Armsmaster speaking; I'm currently en route to meet Assault's team with Triumph."
Finally, at least someone who could help finally answered!
I already knew that I could not expect help from Ms. Militia and Battery because those two were accompanying overlord Piggot while she was in a meeting with the city's representatives and public figureheads, in an effort to get them all to coordinate and prevent our poor Bay from descending further into the abyss, but at least ArmsGod came through again.
Oh, and Triumph was there too, I guess.
But that wasn't important.
The important thing was that I could hand them control of the situation and sit-
"Our ETA is 8 minutes, Guardian. Inform Clockblocker to take command of the situation and bulk down until we arrive, over." And then my hopes died along with the radio call.
Everything is so over…
Why is that?
Oh geez, I don't know? Maybe because the Protectorate leader was 8 minutes away, and he had decided to pawn off the command to a teenager who thought it was a good idea to go by the name of 'Clockblocker'?
I had been growing to like Dennis, even to the point I could tolerate his previous transgressions, and while I did suspect the clown persona to be a mask, I also suspected that he wasn't a master strategist.
So, weighing up all the information available at the moment, a single question permeated my mind after hearing Armsmaster's command.
Had he caught Triumph's brain parasite?
Nonetheless, orders were orders.
And, who knows? Maybe I was being a pessimist.
Perhaps Dennis did know what to do; he was older than I, and he had been in the Wards for two years.
He should have experience dealing with these kinds of situations; the Wards had fought dangerous capes even before I joined them, like Lung, and they had even forced those types of capes to retreat.
Maybe they had a trick up their sleeves that they were only allowed to pull in life or death situations.
"Clock, help is on its way. Armsmaster and Triumph are 8 minutes away from you. Also, you are in command." I switched channels and informed Dennis as fast as inhumanly possible.
Ok, everything is fine now, Eric.
Armsmaster was the Protectorate ENE leader; he probably knows each hero's capabilities like the back of his hand.
If he believes in Clockblocker, then there had to be a reason for it.
Afterall, the man hadn't led you astray in the month you had been here.
"-FUCK! HE'S GOING TO JUMP OVER IT! MOVE OUT! MOVE OUT!" Clock voice assaulted me as soon as I finished relaying my message to team B.
*CRASHHHHHHH*
Accompanied by a crashing sound.
.
..
…
...…..
Mm.
From the sound of it, Dennis had already taken command, though the horrible cracking sound of asphalt I heard from the coms didn't give me high hopes for such an endeavor.
Looks like Clockblocker wasn't the illustrious leader and tactical mastermind Armsmaster thought he was.
…And it looks like Armsmaster may not be the infallible leader I had built him up to be.
Well, mistakes can happen.
It is what it is.
GGWP. RIP. Wards team 'B'.
We had a good run, guys (and gal); I promise to remember all of you as the good, but poorly trained teammates, that accepted me into the fold with open arms, and not as the red paste hanging from a lamppost after Bladewolf stops spinning through your bodies (and the bodies of many innocent bystanders).
Now, what should we put in each of their gravestone as an epitaph?
'Sorry you were out of time' and 'Hope you're in a better space' seemed good for Clock and Vista, respectively, but what about the other two?
'Keep building on, whenever you are'? It is generic enough to work for Kid, but what would be good for Browbeat?
I drew blanks.
The guy was nice enough, but his presence was so thin that one would think he was a Stranger.
Maybe leaving his grave unmarked would be better in his case?
*-ZZRRRRR*
*ZZRR--RRR*
*ZZRRRRR-*
The sound of what I could only describe as an angry metal saw grinding against the asphalt (or at least that's what I hope is happening) took me out of my hyper-speed induced musing, making me come back to the topic at hand, something I had been trying to ignore.
How to save the team.
Looking at the clock, I saw that not even 30 seconds had passed since I talked with Armsmaster, yet Hookwolf sounded like he was in melee range, or worse, already cutting into someone.
Was it too much to ask for Vista to make an infinite road and stall the villain until kingdom come?
Whatever, less crying like a bitch, more saving the Wards.
Thought realistically, there wasn't much I could do.
Dinah hadn't informed about any of this, but in her defense, she saw a lot of things, and numbers were deceptive, and in my humble opinion, a made-up thing.
Because, how else do you explain a move with an 85% of accuracy to rate missing 'twice' or my status effects always landing if numbers weren't a placebo? And don't say it was because of 'Luck', that shit had happened to me before I created the stupid power.
But going back to the topic of Oracle, I hope she comes back fast from her bathroom break, even if my previous interactions with girls and baths told me it was highly unlikely.
I could go looking for her, but if things were as bad as they sounded for team B, then I don't think I could afford to move out of the 'command room' unless I wanted to miss their last moments.
The worst thing was that I couldn't get someone else to fetch her either; we were understaffed, so I couldn't find anyone who could man the radio in my absence.
Ironically, we didn't lack people in the cape department, but in the boring, normal bureaucratic way.
Dinah had told me that Piggot had previously requested additional tech staff (along with equipment) during one of our breaks, and that was before the city received an EMP, meaning that our non-cape support was low from the get-go.
Add to that the fact that our director fired (and then handed to the police) a not insignificant portion of the clerical staff, since she got confirmation of them being moles using Oracle Thinker abilities.
Even that wasn't all that clean and cut thought; apparently, Piggot had originally known and confirmed at least 3 moles before our new Thinker got here, but she had been ordered by the higher-ups to keep the traitors on the PRT so we could feed them wrong information.
However, with the addition of even more moles and the city being on its last legs got the plan cut short, and the director wanted the traitors swiftly dealt with and crushed under all her weight-
Sorry, I mean crushed under all the weight of the law, yeah, that was what I meant…
Or at least that's what Dinah had told me, though Assault presence made me think that their plans to depose the spies within the organization only extended to unpowered people, and that they would take care of undercover villains using different methods.
Guess that was part of the reason the Wards had gone after the Undersiders without some kind of PRT backup at the bank, and why Oracle and I were basically running the radio broadcast: we had too many kid heroes, and not enough responsible normal adults that actually knew what they were doing.
Damnit, I'm going on a tangent at the speed of light (figure of speaking, I don't know how fast I could think) again while the team is on the bridge of death.
Maybe my old elementary math teacher was right to hit me with his ruler all those times for not paying attention? To think all this time I had been blaming my inability to do math on me missing several classes thanks to injuries, and his inability to be a teacher.
It turns out I was wrong, and if this keeps happening, then my next power is going to have to be super concentration.
Though being realistic, what could I do?
Every order I could relay to the team would be on the basis of old information (No cameras, no immediate feedback).
At most, it would distract the others from the fight and get them instantly killed at worst.
That means that even if I could react faster than everyone on site, it would be useless to try to walk them step by step on how to survive Hookwolf.
Do I really have no other choice but to leave my faith in the Wards?
…No.
I couldn't, mostly because I remembered something vital that I had overlooked.
Vista had talked about a previous fight she had been against with Hookcuck, and the scar the nazi had left when he slashed her like it was a badge of honor!
That's right, getting her face cut had been a mark of 'Good Ward' for Vista, one which I had reprieved the girl from when I healed the damn scar when the Travelers attacked Arcadia!
Missy was probably going to try to go on the offensive because she wanted to make up for the scar she lost, as if collecting scars was something similar to winning Pakamon badges.
So, she would be going on the offensive right now and accelerating the deaths of her squad thanks to it.
So, let's see what I had to work with:
-No more heroes or agents close by who could help.
-No means of communication beyond radio. So, no visuals or too much information on the battle
-Suicidal Wards
All things considered, the Protectorate sure knew how to pick its battles.
If only we had more movers…
But enough of Ifs, I can't live in hyper speed for the rest of my life!
It wouldn't fix anything.
So, I would just look at this the same way I had always done when something horrible happened.
Accept life as it is and think of the situation in video game terms so that I may soften the reality of the situation and find a solution.
Let's start:
Mission parameters: SURVIVE 8 MINUTES
I had to remember that the Wards didn't need to defeat Hookman; he was akin to one of those bosses that you lost against in the cut-scene, so beating him was only for bragging rights. They just had to stall him by any means available.
What could I use to delay him?
The party, or in this case, the Wards.
Now, I just had to consider each Ward as an RPG unit, so let's see.
Unit number 1: Clockbloker, AKA Dennis; Close-range ginger status inflictor.
Unit number 2: Vista, AKA (Suicidal) Missy; Long-range space wizard whose AI tries to put the unit in melee range. Has a tinker gun (borrowed from Unit 3).
Unit number 3: Chris, AKA Kid Win; Crafting ADD guy who just unlocked his class specialty. Drives a car (or something resembling a car).
Unit number 4: Browbeat, AKA ______; Tank (but not really durable) who could double as a DPS (but not too fast). Addendum: Actually, a Ninja unit that everyone mistakes for a Tank/DPS because he's ripped.
Now it was time to brainstorm.
Could I suggest that Missy expand the terrain and trap the nazi dog in a never-ending street?
No, it wouldn't work; she couldn't affect things too close to people easily, and setting such a thing also takes her some time.
Even if she had already 'anchored herself' (don't ask me how that works; apparently, she gets better at using her power in a single place the more time she's there, but I don't know everything), doing something that obvious would get Hook to react and move out of the way long before she had set it up.
He may be a giant death metal dog man, but that didn't mean he was slow. Believe me, I saw videos of how he ran through people, and he was faster than someone that big should be.
What else? Had Clock freeze him?
Dennis's hand (and the rest of him) would get caught in the giant blender bigot, and I would be one hero unit down before I could blink.
Browbeat? Same as above.
The guy could theoretically throw a mean punch, but he went down to a taser.
And I would wager that Hookwolf was a few magnitudes more powerful than something you could buy in the self-defense section of the mall.
If I send him in, it'll only increase the work of the cleanup crew, making it so that they have to do a couple more big sweeps through the zone to try to collect enough 'mystery meat' so that they can put it in a body bag, attach a 'Brownbeat' tag, and call it a day.
That only left me, Kid Win, to work with.
That was bad.
I don't like to beat the horse to death, but it was obvious to everyone else that Kid Win didn't win(ha) the power lottery.
His best works were under repair (hoverboard), borrowed by another cape (hard light gun), or couldn't be deployed without approval (anti-civilians cannon).
Barring the 'Wardsmobile' (which I hadn't seen), that was all the tinkertech that Chris has shown.
And I doubt a giant car made out of the PRT vans had hard enough plates to hurt Hookwolf.
Those things may have been equipped to deal with Brutes, but it was thanks to the foam in their-
THE FOAM!
If (and it was a big if) Kid had integrated the foam tank of the PRT vans when he constructed his tinker gismo, then they could contain Hookwolf!
"Kid Win, please tell me you installed a containment foam turret when you were tinkering with that 23-wheeler." As fast as my speed would let me, I called out on the radio
Please, Chris, please be alive and have that gun installed. I'm only asking you for one thing!
After not hearing anything else for a few seconds, I started thinking everyone had already been brutally murdered.
Thankfully, it turned out that wasn't the case, for now.
"Kid here! Yeah, I had them installed the other day- "
YESSSSSSSSSSSS
"-but the car Hookwolf threw our way crashed partially on top of where I put the containment foam dispenser. There isn't enough of the stuff left to seal Hookwolf completely. I could cover one of his legs, but he is going to break free without much else!"
FUUUUCK
"What about Vista? Can't she expand the tank?! Give you more foam to work with or expand it before it hits Hookwolf?!" I had the distinct impression that such a plan wouldn't work (Vista couldn't increase matter, same reason my infinite food plan failed), but there weren't a lot of good options.
That left the stupid options, which I personally was fine executing, because if throwing stupid shit at the wall saved the team, then I was prepared to have them do a lot of retarded shenanigans if it could buy them even a second.
"I don't think she can enlarge the foam reserves, the car Hook threw had people in it, and I'm hearing sounds from the back, so they could be alive, and with them right next to the tank…" Great, excellent, just what we needed.
Civilians are hurt and bleeding on top of our new tinker ride while also obstructing my stupid plan.
What did I even invest my charges in luck for if this was the end result? Screw it and all those esoteric and thinker powers! Always letting me down!
Now I've seen the light; forget those overly complex and poorly defined powers, give me raw stats every day!
I should have known gimmick builds were called gimmicky in games for a reason, it was in the name for fucks sake! But nooo, I just had to invest in them!
*ZZZRRRRRRRRR*
"Why didn't I add multiple tanks to contain the foam!" Chris's curses came from the radio, along with the sound of what I assume to be Hookdog going to town with the team.
Shit, we were running out of time, and at most, it had only been a minute since Armsmaster communicated with me.
They wouldn't make it.
'Teamwork...'
Not you again.
I don't have time for this idiot, and didn't I tell you not to bother me?!
'Don't dismiss teamwork, together, people can rise above anything.'
Right, I'm sure having the Wards holding hands and singing would stop that heavy metal mass murderer puppy.
News flash, you idiotic waste of a superpower! The only reason they assembled team B in the first place was so that the PRT could send them out there and try to scrap a couple of boats for parts while dressing the whole thing up as doing a favor to the city in these trying times!.
Be real with me for a second.
What could a tinker with a car that can only spit a little gunk, a little girl that bends space only when nobody else is in the way, a guy that can punch through thought walls but has no defense, and a ginger that stops time but only on touch; what can they all do against the death machine that's Hookwolf?
Became part of the same bloodstain after he finished them?
'Teamwork is always important; the sum of its parts will always be superior to what each individual could have accomplished by themselves.'
Sure, and now you are going to tell me that all those miniature boats Vista minimized were also useful because they were part of a team effort to clean the grave-
Wait a moment…
The boats!
'I'm happy you came around to appreciate teamwork! Were you thinking of congratulating your teammates even at the time of their untimely deaths? I can help them come to terms with their own mortality over the radio if you would like?'
Get the hell out of here, idiot. You finally gave me an idea and justified your wasteful existence, don't go and ruin it with your doomer talk.
I ignored that useless brain and radioed Kid Win.
"Kid, I had a plan, but I need to know if everyone is still combat available to make it work."
"They are, they can't use their radios without risking losing ground against Hookwolf, but they're still fighting and can hear you." Good, I could work with that.
Time to bet everyone's lives on a plan made on the fly because of what my power told me.
"Listen, this is what I want you to do- "
POV – Dennis
Life had a funny way of balancing itself.
You could have a good day at school and then a bad time when getting home.
The boss of a major gang goes to jail, only for his insane subordinate to start a bombing spree across the city, while asking for his release.
Or your dad catches a terminal disease, except you gain superpowers when donating bone marrow.
Hell, you can also add the mere act of gaining powers to the list, since they are a permanent reminder of how much of a little coward you were when trying to help someone you love, only to want to back down at the last second because you were scared!
Freaking life balanced itself out, though if anybody asked Dennis, the balance was slightly inclined towards sucking more than not.
Why was he expelling all that self-hate and philosophical talk? Because he was about to die.
But despite such prospects, it didn't come as a surprise for him that his own life was probably about to end, because he knew how these things were, and thanks to the effects of equivalent exchange, he knew that the relative 'good' luck that had permeated him recently was going to come to an end and ask him to pay up.
Sure, one could argue that the city spiraling towards being more of a dump should equalize whatever good thing he had gotten, but here was the truth of the matter:
His dad was healthy again.
He didn't need to suffer through a long recovery process, pay exorbitant health care bills, or worry about the side effects of an experimental treatment.
Eric had healed him in less than a minute, and then his father had practically jumped from his bed and enveloped his son in a hug.
Just like that.
It would be a lie if he said that he wasn't happy, but he also couldn't help but feel that he had cheated somehow.
He didn't feel bad about getting help for his dad; he could never feel bad about it, but the nagging he had about gaming the system didn't disappear.
Since the day he had gained his powers, they served as a reminder of how little time he had with his old man, something that he couldn't control and that may stop staying the way it was without previous notice.
Not anymore, or at least not totally.
Power without consequence sounded nice, didn't it?
It would be a lie to say that it wasn't, and he would be lying if he had never entertained the idea of asking Amy to do the same thing Eric had done.
He hadn't obviously, not because he didn't worry about his dad or didn't understand how precarious his situation was.
No, it was because Amy didn't do requests, and because, from what Dean had let slip, the girl already had her hands full healing people when she had the time to spare.
He didn't want to use the fact that he was a hero to have the rules bend for him; the entire point of being a hero was to stop being a coward, not to profit and get his dad on top of the waiting list.
…Thought he would be lying if he said that he wouldn't have asked her if his dad's illness had taken a turn for the worse.
But there wasn't any need for that anymore.
His dad was fine, his mom cried tears of joy after his miraculous recovery, and not even the city going back to the 16th century dampened their happiness.
And the most damning thing was that he didn't even need to ask or break his stupid 'code' or whatever, the solution literally walked through his door!
Eric was a good guy, no, scratch that, he was a great guy.
Despite Dennis butchering the first impressions the younger hero could have of the Wards with his stupid attempt at a harmless joke, he didn't even seem to hold him in a negative light and had offered his help without him even asking.
Not only that, the little guy went above and beyond.
It didn't matter that he hadn't been a member for less than a month; the new cape had taken things with the chin, and that's not counting the fact that his first month aboard had been filled with pure disasters.
I mean, seriously, what was going on?
A kidnapping attempt, bombings, villains attacking their school, and then an EMP making their lives a post-apocalyptic drama; all delivered in quick succession.
They were superheroes, but come on!
Life wasn't a comic book; shouldn't everyone calm themselves a little? Take some time to cool their heads?!
Nonetheless, Eric, or Guardian as he was called in costume, just kept going forward.
And it wasn't like the guy didn't have his own problems in the first place. From what he had told them, he used to live in an orphanage, and while he hadn't spoken a lot about how life was there, Dennis got the impression that it wasn't a nice place.
He knew about how you got your powers; how it was the worst day of your life.
He also knew about the different types of triggers and knew that you don't get Brute powers without things getting physical, in a bad way.
Vista seemed to have reached the same conclusion when they talked about their new companion in private, and they decided not grill the guy with questions about his life, even if he didn't seem bothered with how he talked about it from the sound of it.
Maybe he wasn't as bothered by his trigger because the next generations of capes were built differently?
Vista was also tough cookie and didn't seem hesitant to go head-to-head with murderous villains, and Dinah kept her head cool despite joining their team during a terrorist attack on the school AND the city bombings, while also spearheading their team leadership during the event and helping them disarm Bakuda's bombs.
Sure, both of them and Eric had good powers, but so did he.
He was a Striker 7 for goodness' sake!
'Damn, I sound like an old movie star comparing himself with younger actors, and I'm only 17!'
Not that he would get to live to old age as things were, you know? With his whole life flashing before his eyes, he did nothing as he saw Hookwolf approach them in the distance.
Thankfully, someone else did something.
Vista used her power and increased the distance between the E88 captain and them, while he stayed still.
'Here I go again, depending on someone younger than me to step up and do something about my problems, as if they didn't have enough on their plate already.'
At long last, he finally got himself out of his funk and told the rest of the team to get the hell out of dodge when he saw that the metal wolf was preparing to jump over the long road.
They could never have an easy fight, could they? No, the people of the Bay hated doing things the easy way; even new villains went in powers blazing and made them pay for every inch of terrain they gained.
Still, he got on with the itinerary and prepared to fight the neo-Nazi.
Intellectually, he knew it would be a difficult fight; the villain seemed more murderous than usual (and wasn't that a statement, considering the villain was already designated to the Birdcage), and the team wasn't exactly built for a direct confrontation with a Brute.
But he wasn't baking down.
Not when the city needed him the most.
He had gotten cold feed once, and he was rewarded for it, unlike many who had to pay with blood for their powers.
He won't run away again.
*CRACK*
Hookwolf crashed where the Wards had been, and even though he felt some shivers going up his spine at the sight of the damage, he stood firm.
'I can't believe what I'm about to say, but Hookwolf does look more unhinged than usual.'
That means they had to put him down.
Fast.
Unfortunately, while he had the who and why, he lacked the how.
How could they restrain or at least stall this guy?
'Looks like I would have to get close and personal with our favorite smoothie machine.'
'I hope there's enough of me for Eric to heal, or that I didn't bleed out before I could get to him.'
*GLUP*
A sound, accompanied by a yellowish sustain, hitting the murderous villain in one of his 'paws', took him out of his thoughts.
'Right, I almost forgot about Chris and Eric discussing tactics over the radio.'
In his defense, he kind of put the whole radio business to rest when he heard that Armsmaster was 8 minutes away from them and simply concentrated on staying alive.
He still caught some tidbit of the conversation, like the fact that the car didn't have enough foam left in the tank to seal Hookwolf, only enough to slow him down.
'Shame, it could have brought us more time until the cavalry came.'
It was also a shame that they didn't have a better shooter, because Chris missed and got a good chunk of the stuff splattered on the ground, only managing to hit one of Hook's legs and making a big pool on the asphalt with most of it.
Guess Chris hadn't installed an aim-bot into his tinker car yet. Nobody could blame Kid Win for not having the foresight to do it under the Bay's current circumstances, but seeing their chance at victory scurry away was a sour grape to swallow.
"Clock! Freeze the containment foam!" Eric spoke again on the radio, calling him.
He knew their support on base couldn't see the situation with the lack of cams and all that, so it didn't come as a surprise that he was unable to see that getting close to Hookwolf was still impossible, and the only way he could touch the containment foam the man had on its paw was if he slapped the mass specifically thrown away from the metal man but that was still connected at the villain-
He did a double-take and realized he was an idiot before racing towards the foam.
'Carlos was right on me, not paying enough attention to the coms, I can't believe I almost messed up.'
In his defense, cape fights often ended too fast, so there wasn't much point to giving attention to the people on console duty.
At most, they told you about the estimated time of reinforcements or that a villain was inbound.
Never in his career has he received substantial help from console.
'Your team has a Thinker now, one that's using her powers uninterrupted to even the battlefield.'
He wanted to slap himself for forgetting that crucial detail during a fight, but instead, he chose to do something useful and slammed the foam glued to the ground.
The effect of his power was immediate, and it thankfully encompassed the foam touching Hookwolf, keeping him in place despite his attempts to break free.
The dumb brute kept trying and failing to dislodge his paw from under the time-frozen foam.
'Man, Thinker support sure is useful-'
*BBBZZZZZZZZZ*
And then the other shoe dropped.
"You have to be kidding me." He didn't want to believe what he was seeing.
Hookwolf, finally understanding that he wouldn't be able to escape with his current plan, changed tactics.
The metal wolf/man was using his free arm/metal paw to try to cut his trapped appendage.
It didn't surprise him how quickly the man was to cut his own arm. Hook was insane, but it did surprise him how fast on his feet the murderer was.
'Why couldn't the stereotype of the dumb nazis be true this one time? Why is it always the villains, the ones that try to break out of negative stereotypes?!'
At least the containment foam plan had given them a moment of respite; now they needed to press the advantage and-
"Vista! Throw the miniature boats close to Hookwolf! Browbeat! Start preparing your body to use all of its strength!"
'What?'
He didn't understand what the Wards behind the chair were thinking, but the rest of the team didn't bother to question their orders.
Vista threw the boats she had shrunk earlier today, and threw them, and Mike, while a little slower, did seem to be following the instructions delivered to him and tensing his body.
When the small boats reached Hookwolf, he saw Missy click her radio and dial back to base.
"Done with the boat throwing," Her voice came from his earpiece.
"Nice, now, I need you to enlarge them, but not too much, just big enough to encompass Hookwolf."
He was starting to see what Dinah had been using her precognition powers for.
Vista did as she was told, and in a couple of seconds, the boats were big again.
"Done with my part!"
"Browbeat, you have to go and push those boats until they fall over Hookwolf, or at least very least obstruct him."
"On it." Without losing time, Mike went and punched one of the boats closer to Hookwolf, making it tumble on top of him.
*BBZZZZ*
They weren't in the clear yet, though, the E88 cape wasn't deaf, and had stopped trying to cut his limb and was trying to cut the boat weighing him down.
*BZ----BZ---*
Or at least that's what he had been trying to do until Dennis froze the boat.
"Clockblocker, freeze those boats on top of Hookwolf! Don't let him escape!"
He didn't even wait for the orders to come from HQ to act, so by the time his power had taken hold, most of the naval vessels remained intact.
Hey, don't look at him like that. He may not pay the most attention to console, and his jokes were an acquired taste, but he could see the endgame of a plan and do his part without having his hand held.
He had been doing this for two years; give him some respect!
The team didn't stop moving, even as he froze the boat, Mike carried out the rest of the plan and pushed the rest of the boats on top of the villain.
*B----Z---B-*
And with each boat that was added on top of him and then frozen thanks to Dennis, the metal blender that was Hookwolf sank more and more.
It got to the point where the villain was unable to move, and if any of the boats unfroze, Dennis could simply reapply his power without having to fear for his life.
'Thinkers really do make life easier, at least when they are in your team.'
"Brave Wards to base, the villainous puppy has been neutered. Please give my thanks to our Thinker." Now that the fight was over, he could try to raise their spirits after they almost died from iron overload.
Vista did a face and said something to Browbeat, before the two of them moved to investigate the car that had trashed kid magnus opus while he kept guard in case one of the boats unfroze.
'Hope the people in the car are fine, even if it's unlikely.'
Those were his sincere thoughts as he saw Mike rip the car's door; after all, the thing had been launched for who knows how many meters by the iron brute before loudly crashing.
It would be a miracle if the people inside were alive.
Though the car that had hit Kid's was a little odd now that the smoke coming out of it let them see it more clearly.
It looked like it was a mismatch of various parts, and it looked like it was kept together with glue.
'Must be one of those old but in poor condition cars that someone must have jury-rigged to work.'
It would have been a walking health hazard for its occupants without them even meeting Hookwolf.
"Oracle is currently occupied, Clock. It's just me here." Eric's voice over the radio took his attention from the car.
"Oh, so she left the instructions in case Hookwolf attacked? Nice of her, but I would appreciate a heads up next time."
"She didn't leave anything."
Oh.
"Does that mean you came with that plan on the go?" Dennis didn't know how to feel about that.
One part of him was glad that the new team members kept stepping up to meet the challenges, but another part of him felt he had been coming short of what he was expected to do, meaning the newbies had to pick up his slack.
"Well, I went over different plans at super speed, but that's the gist of it."
…
The weirdness of the statement shut his brain for a little bit before he recovered.
"Are you telling me you used speed hacks on your own brain to think of a plan in which we bury Hookwolf with miniaturized boats?"
"Yes"
It was absurd.
"Pfffft"
And it was too much.
"Hahahaha, I-, ha, sorry, I shouldn't laugh, but thinking about you coming to the conclusion that doing this Looney Tunes plan was our best bet while in slow motion was just too much."
It was like something taken out of a morning cartoon!
'Ha! I needed that laugh.'
A lot of things had been going on in his head for the last couple of days: the city, his family, himself, the team.
He tried to make peace with himself while playing the happy, funny guy he usually was to try to help the others, lighten the mood, and do his part.
But it was nice being the one laughing once in a while; it made things easier.
For a moment, he forgot about all his problems.
'Guess I had been too pessimistic with that 'balance' thinking.'
"Blagh"
"For fucks sake, S-squealer, I-I told you that wasn't the shitty free stuff we get from our usual dealers. It was fucking g-good coke! Not dollar store brand, you idiotic b-b-itch! You didn't need to snort it in one go like you were sucking a-a dick!"
His thoughts were interrupted by two new voices.
Looking towards the place from which they originated, he saw a blonde woman emptying her stomach on Browbeat, and a man screaming obscenities every four words.
'Seems the car owners survived.'
Worse, he recognized them.
Those two were Squealer and Skidmark.
Super crackheads.
'Damn, Squealer ruined Mike's costume with her vomit, and just when water is getting to be an issue.'
Maybe the world was balancing itself again? He would have to ask Browbeat later to see what he thought about the situation.
For now, he had to keep on guard and re-freeze the boats while his teammates captured two vomiting villains.
Brockton Bay sure does give its toughest battles to its toughest teenage heroes.
PD: I wasn't sure if I should include Clockblocker part at first, since the change of POV is mostly reserved for interludes, but the PRT is low on equipment, and writing the Hookwolf scene from Eric point of view would mean that once the he told the others his plan then he would not be able to know what the fact was going on, until the Wards responded each time, and that couold feel sort of boring.
Mybe I would write a fight going that way alone the line, but if I do, I would plan to try and do something so it feels more engaging or at funny.