"All this way, and it's over before I get here?"
Aegis turned to face her. "You're off your patrol route."
"Nothing happening. Thought I'd get some action, see the fresh meat." She toed the cuffed ABB lookout at her feet. "No action left, looks like." Her mask — a woman's face, frozen in a stern frown — jerked toward me. "I'm Shadow Stalker."
There was something about her, the way she moved, the way she spoke, the way she loomed over me that made me feel nervous. Threatened. A power? She didn't have a power like that — that the wiki knew about, anyway. The ability to make herself and the things she was carrying insubstantial, and a crossbow with tranquilizer darts. Even so, I felt swarms gathering in the park, in response to my sense of threat. I had to consciously disperse them, something that was... hard.
Like trying to smile and look calm, when all you wanted to do was cry.
Or hit something.
What was she doing to me?
Aegis stepped in. "Hasn't picked a name yet. We've been using 'New girl', 'Bugs', and 'Tailor'."
"Tailor?"
"She made her own costume. Not her actual superpower."
The mask turned to me, and I hunched, looking at her feet. What was it about her? "Well, Tailor — if you do join up we'll have a locker for you. And maybe you'll even learn how to fight."
Aegis chopped his hand down.
"Right, patrol, black marks. I get it." She ghosted out and leapt, a slow floaty jump that took her four stories up and thrice that in distance, departing the park in a different direction than the one from which she'd come.
He turned to me and shrugged. "Some of the Wards are friendlier than others. She's... pretty much at the low end on that." He paused, and glanced behind him — a PRT armored vehicle had pulled up, and Battery was pointing out the locations of the other cuffed criminals. "So!" He clapped his hands. "Tacos?"
···---···
We were sitting on a roof with some benches with Battery in the middle. The tacos had been... nice. I'd eaten on the other side of the of little building that housed the stairwell — a full face mask didn't really leave me many options for eating but taking it off, and nice as they'd been, I wasn't ready for that.
Battery had taken losing the fight over what to have for lunch the same way I'd seen her take everything: without any sign of disturbance. She had, however, spent the last two minutes explaining to Aegis why a flyby punch to the head was an unnecessarily risky takedown to use on anyone not a Brute.
I shivered when she turned to me. "You're not in the Wards yet, so I'll hold off on the negative criticism." I stifled a chuckle as Aegis wiped his brow in an exaggerated fashion. "You fought as a Master fights: with your minions rather than your person. Wise. But a smart enemy will look for you, and try to bypass your swarms. Have you considered decoys? Screening off enemy vision with clouds of bugs?"
I shook my head.
"It's also worth having an option if it does come to hand to hand. Are you prepared for that?"
I pulled the can of pepper spray out. "It's not much, but..."
She nodded. "It's a start. Anything else?"
I showed her one of the EpiPens, and she nodded. "Smart. Accidents happen, and people die... but you can minimize them. Disabling — if possible — is best. Maybe a taser. Foam, if you join us. And tools: restraints, communications..."
I swallowed, remembering how much easier last night would have been if I'd had a cell phone, if I could have called in support instead of trying to take on Lung alone.
Aegis broke in "Easy there. Expert advice is just one of many benefits of joining the Wards." He dropped his voice to a stage whisper: "Whether you want it or not." His voice returned to its normal firm and open tone. "Seriously, though — you with us?"
I shook my head. "It was... nice. Patrolling. But I need to do some talking first, to my family and... Armsmaster said he could hold things 48 hours. Can I check in tomorrow?"
Aegis grinned. "There's a standard tour of the Protectorate facilities. We can at least make sure you get a private one, get to meet a few of the others."
Battery stood with a smooth, controlled movement, and faced me. "Make the best choice you can for yourself. I will say that this has given purpose to my life. Meaning. And even unexpected happiness." Her voice never wavered from the even tone that was all I'd ever heard her use, but her words seemed... heavier than usual. The circuit board lines on her suit started to glow. I searched for words, but after several seconds the lines flashed, and she was gone, cutting northeast in a blur of speed.
Aegis clapped me on the shoulder. "See you tomorrow." He rose into the sky, and then flew off in Battery's wake.
I changed in the stairwell, and started walking home. Dad... if I joined the Wards, I'd have to talk to him about it.
My steps slowed, and I drifted toward the Boardwalk. Dad wouldn't be home yet.
···---···
I spent several quiet hours walking alongside the ocean, letting the vastness of it sink in. Putting things in perspective. Joining the Wards would change my life. And... what was it about my life right now that I didn't want to change? School was a daily exercise in humiliation. Joining the Wards would mean transferring, or maybe dropping out and using tutors. Either way, I wouldn't have to deal with Emma, Sophia, or Madison on a daily basis. And it's not like I had anything I was doing out of school that I'd lose — practically all I'd been doing since I triggered, school aside, was planning on how to be a hero.
It always came back to Dad. Ever since Mom died... a lot of things had changed.
For the worse.
And if I joined the Wards... active capes died, and heroes died more often than other capes. The more you stepped up, the more you put yourself between innocents and the monsters out there, the more likely you were to die doing it. Some villains would go for the kill, others for something worse. And there were always the Endbringers. Dad would worry about me. A lot. And he wouldn't be wrong, either: this would be dangerous. And it's not like I had one of the big powers: no flight, no invulnerability, no regeneration, no force field.
I could die.
I could have died last night, against Lung, easy. One good hit, or a directed blast of flame...
I shivered. But I couldn't stand by and do nothing either. Maybe last night I'd saved one group of villains from another, but the ABB did target children — usually for induction into the gang. And they did kill people. Knowing what I did then, even with how outclassed I was, could I have snuck away?
No.
So I was going to be a hero, then.
While I lived.
If that was settled... if that was settled then I'd need to tell Dad sooner or later. And this way, maybe, I'd have some support. Maybe even some friends, in the Wards. I'd settle for not having constant bullying, anyway.
I turned toward home. I wasn't really sure how the conversation with Dad would go, but maybe that would be a good thing. We'd gone a long time without talking about anything meaningful, tiptoeing around each other's fragility. This would be another change, but maybe this change didn't have to be bad.
I approached the house as dusk fell, saw my father's silhouette in the kitchen window.
Tuna 'Surprise' again, probably.
I smiled.
Not everything needed to change.
I checked the mailbox, and found the usual junk mail, bills... and a letter addressed to Ms. Taylor Hebert in elegant calligraphy. I opened it, put the junk mail in the recycling bin, and then tucked the bills under my elbow while I started to read.
Dear Ms. Hebert,
You probably never wanted to be famous for the locker incident, but — in Brockton Bay at least — the name 'Taylor' and the word 'locker' will always mean you. That's lucky in a way: I wouldn't have been able to thank you so quickly otherwise. I hope you found my choice of gift appropriate!
Yours,
B
Battery?
She'd seemed distant, and intensely focused on the job. And... the locker incident.
Fuck.
I hadn't protested at being called 'Tailor', hadn't wanted to hint that I had any reason to care about the joke, but had I flinched? Did she have super-senses to go with the super-speed and super-strength? And I guess Shadow Stalker had mentioned lockers... had I twitched at that reference? Was that enough for her to crack my secret identity? And she just came out and wrote me? And she would have had to courier the note, or hand deliver it — three hours from posting to delivery was definitely not normal postal service.
Was... was that some kind of politeness? A friendly warning?
I was hyperventilating.
I took a deep breath and stopped. No need to scare Dad by coming in panicked. Deep breath. In... and out. She mentioned a gift... was there a package I'd missed? I turned back toward the mail box.
A sudden sense of heat and pressure behind me. Flying.
And then darkness.