"...I do? Oh. Wonder why Psyche's not answering. I think she started chasing after Warthog and the metal lady while I was dealing with the other person who came with them," He says. "You say you're buried, but you got Vespid? That's great. They got away with whatever they wanted from here. Sorry about that. I hope the other teams are doing better here. At least I kept people from getting hurt," He comments, glancing at the patient wing and feeling a little pride about that.
"So, yeah, Psyche's not back, and she's not talking to me or in my head and I"m kind of worried now about her. I would ask if you could give me a ride, but you're pinned down. Haven't heard from Praetoria or Frostbite either. So..." He pauses, looking around as he sighs and starts some clean up, making sure no radiation is lingering around.
"Just hope I made the right calls here. Did anyone call for back up from the other hero teams? Actually, I don't think I know much about any of them. Not unless there's some heroes still active from my time, but I don't think they'd want to meet me regardless. Oh, hey, can I use this to call Blockbuster? Hellooo? Cool computer guy? I mean, I guess Isaiah's also a computer too, just one that walks and talks around, and boy I'm talking a lot and not hearing anyone talking back so maybe I'll just try and clean up here while waiting for Psyche."
He was sure she'd come back. She wouldn't leave him alone like this, as he started to clean up the mess of shattered glass, trying his best with how limited his powers were for actually doing things like fine manipulation. Not like his future self. Which was also pretty weird that he could apparently use radiation to move heavier objects around, but he'd probably get there.
"She'll come back," He assures himself as he cuts a finger picking up glass. In a few minutes he's got multiple nicks trying to salvage what he can. It was okay to get hurt a little when you were trying to do good.
Scorch grabs the device but Chiros manages to lash out at her as she passes, viciously striking her on the back of her head. The flames from her arms snuff out as she staggers a few steps before the bat-creature hits the button and red lights begin to flash flash and sirens blare. As the gouts of fire burst from the vents, she stands shaken in their midst. The flames coursing over her young frame, engulfing her.
"I don't think I can take this" she gasps, as she feels her body coursing with the energy. "I need to..."
Suddenly she throws back her head and screams, her arms held out to the side as flames burst from her body with an intensity greater even than those emanating from the vents.
After the first interruption by Shin's broadcast, the two inside Inquiry are again disturbed, this time by a large vessel hovering over the wrecked wing of the hospital. Several sinuous cables stretch down and grab huge chunks of rubble and toss them aside, clearing the debris off of the buried craft. Through the cameras set up earlier, the two heroes are able to see the cables move like tentacles, super strong and dexterous. They pull and toss aside chunks of concrete and steel beams, but any piece of technological equipment, it would grab and toss into a maw at the center of the vehicle, almost like it was eating it.
Once free enough to lift clear, the hovering vehicle retracts the cables and moves close to Inquiry. A docking tube extends and latches on, inviting the two to come on board.
Over the communicators, you hear, "Hello! I'm Ordnance, one of the Alliance. Sorry I didn't get here in time; it's been quite the day for us, as well. Are any of you hurt? I have a medical suite inside."
Watching this being designated "Ordnance" in action has convinced you with 89.45 percent certainty that this is a member of a Rogue Shard -- likely one of the "Feeders," a ravenous Splinter that consumes and incorporates technology and spreading like a plague across huge sections of space. They're generally regarded as horrific menaces, as they won't stop devouring, and grow ever more powerful with each new piece of technology they consume.
What do you do??
Dealing with her own fire powers is one thing, but dealing with them and the flamethrowers of the purge command was too much for Scorch. Frostbite tries to push back the flames with his own cold powers, but soon it's too much and the only thing he can do is encase himself in ice and run as two-thirds of the facility is turned to slag by the intense heat.
In the aftermath, the Infini-corp complex looks like a melted candle in its center. Response vehicles are on the scene, spraying retardant foam over the location. Scorch had staggered out from the epicenter and is now standing next to her brother to witness the devastation.
A flap of feathered wings and a shape passes overhead, circles over the scene, then lands near Frostbite. The woman who stands before them is tall, in a canary-yellow costume with red highlights, with an array of feather-shaped weapons called quills on her belt, gloves, boots and necklace. By far her most distinguishing feature, however, is the huge, tan feathered wings standing proudly from her back. She runs a hand through her strawberry-blonde hair as she surveys the destruction. "Couldn't happen to a nicer company," she says, then turns to face the pair of proteges. "Scorch, Frostbite, I'm Whippoorwill. Nice to meet you. Nice to be able to meet you. You're alive, the employees got out. And Infini-corp has the best insurance policies in Halcyon. You don't have to worry about them."
She turns and looks like she's about to take flight. "Come on. We're all meeting at Alliance HQ. Fret later."
What do you do??
There really should be theme music. He flies in like a streak of gold and blue from the mainland, and then pauses, hovering over the scene.
While Praetoria is still reeling from her transformation, Gallowglass's attempt to sneak back into the facility to do some snooping is stopped abruptly by the remains of the security force. They've moved into double-time, making sure the facility is secure and that there are no biohazards to be contained. Gallowglass is stopped immediately and almost like there hadn't been a supervillain attack, they start mentioning things like, "not authorized" and "federal offense."
Then suddenly everyone stops and stares at the flying figure that arrived. His presence is often spoke of by those who have seen him, and those who haven't just roll their eyes at the star-struck witnesses. But those who have seen, know.
Captain Stalwart has arrived. He floats in effortlessly and lands. Powerfully muscled under his gold and blue suit, cape billowing in the wind. His face is strong, handsome, chiseled, yet his eyes are kind and with the right balance of purpose and mirth. But beyond his looks is his presence. Palpable. It's easy to believe that with him around, everything will be all right.
Captain Stalwart looks over the two young heroes, then bends down to give Bear a pat, who had run up to him, tail wagging. "Just a moment," he excuses himself, then goes to the security forces. "How many?"
Major Munnerlyn has come up to him and they exchange a handshake. "Five, with seven wounded. But we're thinking they'll make it."
Stalwart looks pained, then nods. "All right; I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner. Alliance HQ was also attacked. Keep me informed." He then turns back to leave the security forces to resume their work, and stands in front of Gallowglass and Praetoria, looking them over. "Praetoria. Gallowglass. Thank you for being here. Sorry we're meeting under these circumstances." Captain Stalwart's voice is a deep, authoritative baritone, but also earnest. "Are you up for continuing? The Alliance would like to meet with you and talk about all that's happened."
He extends a hand out to Gallowglass, inviting her to fly back to the mainland with him.
What do you do??
One moment, Horizon is standing in the middle of a ruined courtyard picking up pieces of irradiated glass, and the next, he's back home.
Well, he's still in the middle of the University, but it's back to the way he's used to -- half the buildings that were around are gone, and the rest look new. He looks around, and instead of the candy-colored future cars everywhere, the comforting black Studebakers and Ford Deluxes in their places. Young students hurry off to class in their sweaters and slacks or long skirts and blouses. Professors in their wide-brimmed hats stroll down the lanes with canes or tweed jackets.
A young woman is the only one seeming to notice Shin gawking at the scene. She walks up to him, then looks around at the scene. "This is where you come from? It's quieter, certainly. But you know now that this peace did not last."
She waves her hand and the present returns (or is that the future?). The woman is no longer in 1940s garb, but a flowing costume of light and colorful fabrics. She steps forward and offers a hand, coaxing Horizon out of the muddy hole where the water main broke. "I'm Imagerie. Telepath. Illusion-caster. Member of the Alliance. We'd like for you to come so we can decide our next move."
What do you do??
You sense familiar minds, wondering, uncertain, but telling themselves, convincing themselves that they're sure. Where is she? She'll come back. She's probably going off after them. Trying to stop them. She'll come back. She won't be gone long.
On the astral plane, you hear a chorus. Chanting, worshiping, extolling, though there is no love. But they believe in you. If you'll only open the door, and let them through. You have in the past, without even realizing it. It's not something you can do consciously, but that's fine. They'll wait until you learn. Because they believe in you.
Inquiry/Isaiah was tense. He was very nervous about this 'Ordnance'... but it had so far done nothing terribly wrong, and was being respectably polite. It wasn't unheard of for individual members to break off of a Rogue Shard... but there was still no way Isaiah was setting foot inside it. And he'd be talking with the others about it once they were clear. He wondered why this one hadn't shown up in his research about the Alliance so far... and he'd be doing some more targeted research on it now.
He relayed the info back home, just in case.
"I'm fine, but Mosaic got scratched by Vespid's stinger. Vespid should be locked down somewhere nearby. The other two escaped with their objective, unfortuantely."
Praetoria’s Anger melts away at Captain Stalwart’s arrival. If you need our help, we will do what we can. Our team,”[/b] she pauses, ”Our team isn’t fully accounted for, we...I thought us splitting up to watch for Mongrel activity would let us locate and converge on them. Instead they teamed up with the Chosen and outnumbered us at every facility. It’s like they knew,” she hangs her head, ashamed of the failure and danger she has led the team into.
She looks to Gallowglass and says ”I’ll bring Bear,” as she picks him up and cradles him in her arms.
"Understood," Ordnance says, and a small but comfortable medical chair appears on the other side of the airlock. "Please, Friend Mosaic, sit down and I'll run a diagnostic scan. I have Vespid's bio-data in my memory, so I should be able to create an antivenom by the time we reach Alliance Headquarters.
"I've located Vespid, Friend Isaiah, would you like to secure her for the ride to HQ, or shall I? You have encountered her; I have not."
Captain Stalwart gives Praetoria a steady, comforting look. "Splitting up wasn't necessarily the wrong choice. Silver Shield is taking it the hardest. She was the one who suggested giving you the chance to go up against the Mongrels. No one wanted you to go up against the Chosen on your own. Alliance members are out collecting your team. You'll see them soon. And we'll all get to the bottom of this."
Taking Gallowglass up in his arms as if she was as weightless as feathers, he lifts into the sky expecting Praetoria to follow.
Praetoria just nods, doing her best not to embarrass herself further by crying in front of one of her parent’s associates. She flies slightly behind and to the side behind Captain Stalwart, avoiding eye contact.
Scorch staggers from the molten wreckage of the building covered in blackened ask and soot. Her costume, created by The Silver Shield to withstand intense heat, has not escaped undamaged, and the girl now stands clad in little more than fragments that barely cover her. In contrast to her costume, however, Scorch herself remains mostly unhurt. Indeed, her eyes glow with the hint of barely contained power.
Turning to her brother, she begins to speak, but is interrupted by the arrival of the winged figure. ”The employees are safe?” she asks ”then we did it? We stopped them from getting it? What about the rest of the team? Are they OK?“
Gallowglass extends her hand to Captain Stalwart, her heart fluttering.
Just before he scoops her up, Gallowglass turns to Praetoria and whispers, "He knows my name!"
Praetoria smiles back to Gallowglass, not wanting to ruin her exciting moment, being flown around by a real hero.
Holding his, what he believes to be broken, ribs Frostbite gasps a greeting, Nice... to... meet you.... Alliance HQ huh... yeah let me go get my... Oh hell the Rhino.... Frostbite tries to limp over to his wrecked vehicle but is waved off by emergency crews and after a few choice words decides now is not the time to push the issue.
Patting Scorch on the back his hand makes a sizzling sound, "We really brought down the house with that performance, HA ha ouch my ribs... but like Whippoorwill said its just property damage, and you kept them from getting what they were after. Strong work."
"By the way, not that I am ungrateful, but why are you here and SS isn't... just figured if someone was going to come check on us it would be here."
Shin is home.
He's been here plenty of times when he was young. Imagined himself rushing off to one of his father's classes. All brick and mortar buildings, no strange steel and glass and curved ones. He's home, somehow.
But he still thinks, I can't be back yet.
When its revealed that it's all a fiction, a memory plucked from his head (Now he gets it, that day his father let him play under the old oak while he was in meetings), he's torn. He didn't want to be back yet, because there was still too much for him to do. People to save. People like himself.
He stares at Imagerie, blinking slowly and blushing as he tries to wipe the mud and bloodied fingers off on his costume, just ending up making him look more hurt than he was. "Hi. Uh. Sorry I didn't stop them," He apologized. "We thought we were being smart, covering all the bases. We didn't think they'd hit all these places at once. Psyche...have you seen her? I'm worried, because I know she won't leave me like that, so maybe she was captured or something? I'm worried about the others as well. I hope they weren't hurt. Um. Can we wait a minute, see if Psyche comes back?"
He's earnestly worried about his whole team, but mostly for Psyche. Worried that she's in trouble or hurt or in pain.
At least someone's glad I'm like this.
***
A feather's touch skims along the surface of her team's minds. She's still too raw to risk delving deeper. She's not angry any more, but she knew there were too many things she wanted to be different. What if no one was afraid of me? She needed time to put herself back in order, and get rid of the thoughts that didn't belong to her.
They were all okay though.
For now it was enough to know that.
As the aura of power and the heat emanating from her fades, Mattie seems to slump a little, though she can’t help but grin at Rory’s attempt at a joke. ” I, I couldn’t control it,… so much power it was.. scary, exhilarating, powerful. I couldn’t focus like The Shield taught us, it was so overwhelming. Do you really think I did OK? I should have done better, remembered the lessons” ”You did so much, I’m sure you could’ve stopped the fire if I hadn’t made it worse – I could’ve helped more, maybe then they wouldn’t have gotten away. “ she pauses for a moment. ”I’m sorry about The Rhino. It’ll be OK though – I’m sure SS or Isaiah will be able to replace it. Maybe it’ll be even better?”
she turns to Whippoorwill.
"Yeah, where is The Shield? And how will Ro,.. Frostbite get to Alliance HQ? I can fly there but he doesn't have a ride anymore."
He waits. He asks Imagerie to wait a few more minutes. Just a few more, he knows that Psyche will come back. That they'll apologize to each other and then go check out the Alliance and be amazed by how cool it was to be there. He waits and watches the sky. He sees nothing.
He follows Imagerie back to her vehicle, still glancing out at the horizon for a dot flying towards them. He does it until they are well on their way, before staring at his feet instead. The joy of meeting family, of believing he'd done good is fading. He's worried about Psyche. Worried about the others. Worried that the Chosen are going to hurt others.
"...have you met me before?" He asks Imagerie. It is obvious of which him he is referring. "Do you know any of my family?"
Holly is still blushing furiously as she takes a seat on the table. Scan away! she says, chipper persona firmly on.
if you have a way to contain her, I can give her to you once you get it set up. else, i could just carry her along in that until we get back to base.
Get it together, Kayla! You can’t go walking into the headquarters of The Alliance acting like a kicked puppy!
She looked down at Bear in her arms, and scratched him behind his ear, Sorry.
She noted the gleaming metal covering her arms, and the presence of the armor distracted her from her frustration of defeat. How...how did this happen? And why to me? Why skip over two whole generations of Praetorians who actively tried to make the armor appear and couldn’t? Then I just make it happen by accident?
As they drew closer to their destination, Praetoria had managed to fully draw herself out of her melancholy. Despite suffering a defeat today, she had won a victory for the Family. Even if it was by accident.
She smirked to herself as they touched down.
Shane is gonna be pissed...
"Yeah, that'd be fine. Her venom has a corrosive element to it, so be careful"
Isaiah was still uncertain about Ordnance... but was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for the time being, at least. If it was with the Alliance, that indicated at least some history of heroism, which it was unlikely to have achieved while behaving as was typical for its kin.
Vespid is contained and the two alien ships fly through downtown Halcyon to the Alliance HQ.
"Shield's at HQ waiting on us. Her suit took some damage, so I offered to fly over here. Speaking of, I'll get Rory there."
Whippoorwill doesn't look especially pleased, but has Frostbite turn around. She pulls out a couple hidden clips from her outfit and attaches them to Rory's belt. "Don't ice up and add a whole bunch of weight and we'll be good," she says as her wings start flapping hard. There's a little strain at first to get off the ground, but Whippoorwill's wings are superhumanly strong. Soon they're flying towards downtown Halcyon City alongside Scorch.
Imagerie tilts her head as if listening to something far away. "Psyche's not coming back here. She knows where we're all headed. You'll see her there," she answers Horizon. She turns and looks away for a moment when he asks if they've met before. Finally, she looks back to him. "Yes. On both counts." She smiles reassuringly. "And I wouldn't be doing this job if I didn't believe there's hope for everyone to choose the right path. Granted, I am a 'light touch' telepath, so I'm allowed to be optimistic." She laughs like you're supposed to know what that means.
It seems at first that she expects them both to walk all the way to Alliance HQ, or maybe even take the Shuster Skyrail. But suddenly a craft looking like the front end of an airplane materializes out if thin air in front of them. Imagerie opens up the door and has Shin get in first, then she hops in afterwards and fires up the engines. It lifts easily into the air and flies swiftly toward Downtown.
One Kirby Plaza in most ways is the heart of Halcyon. The towering Kirby Tower rises from one end of the plaza, with the skyrail wrapped like a gleaming ribbon around the tallest building in the city and connecting it to the rest of the districts. At the opposite end of the wide-open green space filled with statues and monuments to past heroes, is the Refractalry -- the site of the Alliance Headquarters.
The leftover mothership from an invading force from the Oblique Dimension, the Refractalry takes a different shape from every angle it's viewed. From one, it looks like a spindly needle, but move a couple degrees in any direction it may look broad and flat, or jagged like a snowflake. Rumor has it that inside the structure, you can view any part of the city if you know where to stand.
The Alliance heroes guide you all in from the various angles of approach. Psyche is spotted making her own way, and is guided into one of the confusing, "there's nothing there--oh wait now I see it" entrances to the interior of the structure.
Before too long, you all are standing in a huge hall made of glittering angular shapes and colors. Impressive as it is, the arrayed heroes before you outmatch it all. Foray stands with his arms folded across his broad chest, the handles of his two swords, Spirit and Faith, visible above his shoulders. Yeoman, the gangly-looking robot still functioning even now, having served with the original Alliance members in the days before WWII. Imagerie The illusion-caster, in her colorful costume of flowing fabrics and easy smile. The techno-shifting being Ordnance has shrunk down to a more manageable 12 feet, bulky and robotic but currently in a humanoid configuration with legs and arms. Whippoorwill, the winged fighter, her coiled whip at her side and a wide array of weaponized quills on her costume, stands easy and full of cool confidence. And at the center of the group, in a classic pose in the most famous costume of the modern day, is Captain Stalwart. His cape still rippling as if there was a steady breeze blowing, he gives you all a smile and nod as he holds his hand out. "Welcome to Alliance Headquarters. Don't worry, we'll all get to the bottom of this."
Captain Stalwart has a presence. You've all seen him on television and maybe caught a glimpse of him flying overhead. Maybe if you were lucky you even saw him fighting a giant robot menace from afar. There was always that sense of hope whenever he appeared that everything would be all right. But nothing compares to standing before him and being addressed directly.
You can almost see the psychic energy emanating from Captain Stalwart. It's not a conscious effect, you think. It's certainly not an attack (unless you want to define having a likeable personality an attack). It's just some aspect of his power, that he generates a low-level field of, well, awe.
The Alliance members lead you into a briefing room with a large computer and a holo projector table in the center of the room. Silver Shield is already there, her armor showing signs of damage. Yeoman moves off to a cabinet and begins serving bottled water and energy bars to everyone.
"Let's get started. We've got teams already going over what was taken in order to analyze what we may be dealing with. How about you each describe your impressions of the fights and anything the Chosen or Mongrels said that might give us a clue to their end goals?" Captain Stalwart says.
In the awkward silence that followed Captain Stalwart’s request, Praetoria just looked to each of her teammates, battered and hurting. And here she sat, seemingly fine thinks to the strange new armor that was gleaming on her. She didn’t even look like she’d been in a fight, except for her expression.
”Well,” she speaks up, ”I managed to get Shard to comment that this wasn’t his attack. The way he said it made me think someone else was pulling the strings.”
"We didn't chat with our foes too much. It did seem like they weren't very concerned about collateral damage, and the other two abandoned Vespid pretty quickly. I also did manage to stick a tracking device onto Haymaker. They might find it when they get back to wherever they're based out of, but it should at least provide some idea of where they went after the attack."
This was a significant upgrade from the Alliance headquarters that he'd known in his time. The physics involved with making it shift around like it was mindblowing. He's lost trying to figure out how it all works as he follows Imagerie towards the meeting hall.
There he finds himself relieved to see the others, looking tired but whole. The one face that he was most concerned about showed up last, as he rushed over to her.
"I was so worried about you! I couldn't reach you, and you didn't come back, and I worried that you were hurt or captured or even dead..." He tells her, balling up his cut up and dirt crusted hands. He let out all of his fear in one heavy breath. "I'm sorry. I wasn't much help at all to you. I'm just glad that you're safe. You..." He gets flustered, unable to say anything, his feelings confused inside. But she can feel the genuine affection he holds for her at least.
Once the meeting gets underway, Horizon is awed by the Captain. He's impressed by him, feeling like he's moved even farther from his ordinary life as a city boy. Now he feels a little more heroic, more like he belongs with the elite.
He's a little lost when it comes to the other Alliance members. That is, except for a face he didn't expect would still be around. He knew of Yeoman, the machine man from his time's Alliance. He actually had a toy of his in his bedroom that he'd given to his little brother Ishida. He wonder if he could take a moment later to ask him things.
When they got to retelling the recent fights they all had, Shin spoke up quietly. "Psyche probably knows more about their plans than I do. I dont know if it was coincidence or fate, but...apparently Ballista, one of the Chosen, is kind of related to me. I know that she listened to me though. She's not a bad person, just misguided and hurt...by, well, you all probably know." It was unfortunately annoying how quickly people were finding out about him and his future self. Present self to them, as he was the past self to the people here. He couldn't help but wondered how many of them had fought him before.
"Anyway, they got away with the case that they were trying to steal. I actually, kind of, uh, gave it to Ballista," He admits. "But I think we can track it. I was soaked in gamma radiation while handling it, so it's going to be detectable by its decay trail. I think I can do that."
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Part of her quietly fumed. Maybe if he'd done more we wouldn't have only captured one
Part of her wanted to dive into his mind What did he really think I was doing? He must've heard Attraction's offer.
Part of her recoiled at the idea, keeping her telepathy locked down He saw what you did. He's hiding it with his face, but you know what you'll see if you really look
Part of her just wanted to just grab him and fly away, patch up his wounds, and just stop fighting.
The thoughts and impulses raced around in her head. If they'd been more aligned, maybe a small part of her would have acted on them. Just enough to tug him off his feet, or tap into his thoughts before she decided to do so. But they were all fighting each other, so she was able to grab her racing thoughts and keep them in check, balancing them on top of the box that was already bulging with migraines, and bone bruises, burst capillaries in her nostrils that she'd telekinetically pinched shut.
"I'm fine, Horizon. Just needed a moment to clear my head."
***
Captain Stalwart's presence washed over her, and she instinctively shielded against it, but a voice echoed in her head ...And you can't treat heroes like you don't trust them. People are suspicious of suspicious people...
She floated forward to shake his hand, a gleaming smile of her own on her face. "Psyche, sir. A real honor to meet you"
She mostly kept her mind to herself with the other heroes. She collected a few hunches from their general auras, but didn't go diving in. Especially while Imagerie was right there. Psyche'd never gone mind to mind with her, and while she was pretty sure she had the edge in terms of psychic muscle, the odds were very low she'd be able to do much snooping without Imagerie noticing.
"I didn't get anything specific of their plans," her thoughts are tight with annoyance at the revelation that Shin had let Ballista get away - and with the case! "I had expected we could discern their plans using the item they had come to steal.
"I'm concerned that Shard too seems to be working on someone else's behalf. He doesn't really seem the type, and I've already informed Silver Shield that Vespid seemed to view this all as a necessary sacrifice. Who could hold sway over both teams?"
Overlapping with her projection, she slips a private sending to Praetoria.
"Is that really THE armor? How'd you summon it?"
"I know it will be fine, this has all been a bit of a whirlwind. One minute I'm feel things are going great and the next I feel she is pushing me away, then we are holding our 9wn against some bad guys and then my truck gets wrecked, and I am trying to be everything that people expect from me and I keep falling short and at times I can be surrounded by people and feel alone..." Frostbite clears his thtoat, "Well that was a lot... so moving on..."
Yeah, Like Isaiah said. they did a basic smash and grab, not feeling chatty. We got Vespid out of the picture for now, though. Holly says.
It's not the chosen... it feels like they'ed be the puppetmasters, not o. the strings... weird
You have... Dusk has a? Holly says And why is she with the chosen. Disk isn't
Alarm bleeds into her response to Kayla, "Who knocked you out? Are you okay?"
Carefully she probed a little, making sure Praetoria's thoughts weren't sluggish in their responses, and poked randomly at her memories, watching to ensure that they appeared in Kayla's mind like normal when they fired.
With the kind of force necessary to knock Praetoria out... It was better to be safe than sorry.
Praetoria keeps her face seemingly emotionless as the others relay their stories.
”Fossil. I was fighting him and Shard. He got a hold of me and started turning me to stone. I panicked. My fear kept me from fighting properly. And then he punched me. Hard. Despite not actually taking damage or getting cuts or bruises...I still feel the pain. And then...I guess I blacked out. Gallowglass said I had turned entirely to stone, but I had had a vision...of getting this armor. And when I came to, I had it.”
”I wasn’t strong enough. I need to be stronger if I’m going to be anything for the world, for my Family, for the team. I just don’t know if I can. I was so scared, Kylie. Scared what Shard was going to do if they had captured me. He’d have made me a weapon. And the scariest part...was before I blacked out...I almost surrendered to them...I can’t be that weak again!”
”What about you? Are you okay?”
He's baffled by the shrug off from Psyche. He doesn't understand why she's giving him the cold shoulder, but he pulls back and gives her space. He doesn't want to bother her when she's got things on her mind. It suddenly occurred to him that she was probably angry with him for letting Ballista go...
Or maybe she was guilty about hurting someone who was related to him? That might be why she wasn't opening up to him. He'd have to show that he didn't begrudge her for that.
As the others relate their own experiences, he takes the time to reply to Holly. "Yeah, it was surprising to me as well. Partly because I didn't think I'd have had time to get married and have a family. Partly because I would have thought there would be great-great-grandchildren this far into the future! My future self's almost a hundred years old. There's something weird about our powers though if his aging has slowed down like that..."
He switches topics, glancing at Psyche. Hey, Holly, do you think you could get Psyche to talk to you? She seems shook after our fight but she's not talking to me. I think maybe you can get her to open up better than I can right now...I think she's guilty about hurting my granddaughter. That is still weird to say."
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Despite their terrifying fight, stepping into Alliance headquarters plasters an ear-to-ear grin on Gallowglass' face.
Her eyes take in all the heroes she's watched on YouTube and read about, but they keep returning to Captain Stalwart.
"Oh Em Gee! It's amazing to be here, to be part of this. I mean really, Whipporwill! I must've watched the video of your battle with the Unstable Man on top of Simonson's Hammer a hundred times! And Foray, when--
"Oh, there's so much I'd like to ask you all...but so, about what's going on...is there a member of the Chosen who goes by Trapdoor? Or who can generate teleportation portals? That's how Shard, Fossil, and Terrier arrived...and when they left, Shard touched an earpiece and seemed to call someone named Trapdoor."
While waiting for the others to finish their statements, Isaiah did a quick search on things regarding Ordnance. was it known how it had ended up in the Alliance? How long had it been here? If it was truly a reformed Feeder, that might give some hope that the rest could be turned from their course. But only if the method by which it had been achieved was known.
"Shin. I'm fine. Drop it." She might want to talk later, but the last thing she wanted to do was air out her dirty laundry in Kirby Tower.
***
"I'm fine, Kayla. I pushed myself in a few too many directions, but once the out of body experience was over it was fine. You'll be okay too." Some slight confusion flickered across the link. She knew that Kayla sometimes had mixed feelings about being a hero, but surrendering? Joining the bad guys? She could barely imagine Kayla doing anything like that - even after she'd seen her mind controlled! No wonder Attraction wanted me to join them. If Praetoria's vulnerable, who isn't?
"Stuff like this is just why we have teams." Her assurances felt insufficient, but she was too discombobulated to do much better.
***
A perfect bullseye, Bear taking a turn too fast and skidding out when he was still a puppy, the first time she tried on Her own costume, happy memories bubbled up in Ness's mind like a hug. "Thank you for keeping her safe."
***
Psyche kept smiling.
As Mattie flies towards next to Whippoorwill and Rory, she cant help but smirk at the site of her brother dangling in beneath the winged hero. When they land at Alliance HQ, however, she quickly sobers and stands with the rest of the team as they meet the real heroes. The mere presence of Captain Stalwart, and the fact that these heroes think enough of her to include her in their discussions makes her feel more heroic herself. Nevertheless, she can't help but think that her own powers are less well suited to heroics than destruction, especially in contrast to the heroes before her and the destruction she caused at InfiniCorp.
Greeting the others, Mattie raises an eyebrow at Praetoria's new clothing, and, when she sees her male teammates fidgets uncomfortably at the damage to her own uniform which shows considerably more flesh than usual, though still less than Psyche habitually shows off. As they are lead into the briefing room, however, she forgets the state of her uniform and thinks back to the fight.
"There seemed to be a bit of conflict between Chiros and the others that we fought, like they weren't really happy to be working together. They didn't really give anything away about their plans that I can remember though."
When Praetoria mentions Shard's comment about working for someone else, Foray and Whippoorwill exchange a troubled glance. Isaiah's mention of having planted a tracking device on Haymaker gets Silver Shield animated, and she interrupts everything as she pulls the Outsider up to the table and produces a wide variety of access ports -- from USB drives and HDMI, to crystalline data hubs, to old floppy disks and cassette cartridges. One is clearly an Iron Federation standard port.
Horizon's revelation elicits a response from all the organics. Whippoorwill pinches her brow briefly, then actively avoids looking at Silver Shield. Imagerie looks the saddest. Even Captain Stalwart puts on a pained expression. Foray is the most serene, but he gives Shin a sympathetic look. Whippoorwill leans on the table and speaks. "We know. We know Ballista's your... other's granddaughter. I'm very sorry that you found out this way. We--" she glances at the other Alliance members, "--were hoping there'd be enough time to better acclimate you to the present and your... connections. Hoshiko -- Ballista -- was why you were to go after the Mongrels and leave the Chosen to us. Shard would have no compunctions to use her to get to you."
Rather than dwell on that, they move to Psyche's report. They bring up a live feed of Vespid's cell. The wasp-woman is buzzing around at all odd angles of her current prison. "We'll see what we can get from her in a little bit. But that's good to know," Imagerie says, back to smiling.
Frostbite's string of gripes is met with a sharp rebuke by Silver Shield. "We'll get you another truck. Right now, let's focus on the problem at hand. And you should be recognizing that out of all the places they hit, they did not get the component they sought from Infini-corp. So, if we find out what they didn't get, then we know what it is that they still need." She moves closer to her Protege and under her breath, she hisses, "Be smarter.
Scorch's analysis gets some nods, as if they all are glad that there's not perfect harmony between the two teams of supervillains. They all seem to take comfort in that fact.
Gallowglass's enthusiasm for being in the Alliance headquarters is not lost on the heroes. Whippoorwill gives her a tight smile -- something she doesn't do often -- and gently tamps down her exuberance in favor of business.
Her mention of Trapdoor gets a reaction. "Trapdoor was apprehended years ago," Captain Stalwart says, immediately moving to the console on the table and calling up current records of the Chamber, another meta-max prison -- this one located in Nevada. After a couple of seconds, a name is highlighted. "He's still there," the hero says with a note of uncertainty.
"The source of his power was never ascertained," Whippoorwill says, frowning. "He didn't have the metahuman markers."
Accessing readily-available records, you learn that Ordnance made his presence known on Earth roughly six years ago, though it's entirely possible he'd been hiding out undetected for years if not decades. Though he is known to have consumed everything from ambulances to hovertanks to fighter jets, he has lately only eaten the superscience doodads and gizmos of would-be villains. Though he can generate missiles and lasers and other forms of lethal weaponry, he uses tricks such as stun guns, tear gas and rubber bullets against living targets like humans.
He joined the Alliance after a year of doing independent hero work, and then successfully completing his probationary period as an Alliance member. Though certainly the most unconventional team member, he has proven to be both loyal and restrained with his considerable power.
"One more thing," Psyche adds before the debriefing finishes, "Even if we don't have the case Ballista got away with, we've seen it. I can 'show' it to some of the people who worked at the university, so if other things were destroyed, we should be able to identify what was actually stolen."
"Now, when can I get another crack at Vespid?"
Silver Shield's words dig deep into Frostbite stirring up guilt for not being more successful.
Despite her strong feeling that her powers are more dangerous than heroic, the Alliance's response to her word, coupled with Captain Stalwart's heroic aura make her feel that she made a valuable contribution, and may have helped prevent their foes' plans. At the mention of Trapdoor, and his powers, she pauses in thought, trying to remember what she has read about the villain. . Remembering her studies, the girl raises her hand and, when called upon, shares what she remembers with the assembled heroes...
"You've met a lot of people, haven't you?"
Isaiah pulled a connection chip out of one of his pockets and plugged it into the Iron Federation port. No real reason not to share something as simple as tracking data, and he trusted the encryption protocols of IF tech better than most of the others. Running a quick conversion to local coordinates, he then started streaming the tracker's location, overlaying it onto a map for reference.
"Location data only. Something with eyes or ears would have been big enough to be too easily noticeable. As it is, Haymaker may never realize that one of those pebbles wedged in his boot-tread isn't a rock."
Kayla noticed the look Foray and Whippoorwill shared. What is it about Shard that they know? Do they know who he is working for?
”Maybe Trapdoor’s powers were technical? Some device he either made or was given? And after being captured the tech went to someone else?” Praetoria asks.
Praetoria, Whippoorwill's fairly no-nonsense. A direct confrontation is likely to get a response.
Imagerie shakes her head, looking stern and sober. "No, Psyche. Mental interrogation is something we don't condone. It's brutal, invasive, and destructive. And Vespid's own powers are dangerous. It's too great a risk to let you touch her mind, even if we allowed it."
Isaiah, you connect to a component of the Alliance supercomputer -- far more advanced than Blockbuster, but of a similar build and function though you can detect traces of non-Earth technology. By providing the signal to the tracker, you can trace Haymaker's trail from the medical center. It appears to go underground, then moves at an extremely rapid pace towards Rustside, where the signal gets diffused and imprecise -- likely due to the high concentrations of heavy metals in the soil and structures in the area.
Captain Stalwart rubs his square jaw as he observes the blinking light grow wider and less accurate. "It's still a good thing you've done," he says once the signal stops moving. "This gives us at least a starting point."
Foray nods in agreement, then speaks up. "Thank you for what you have shared. Now it is our turn." He touches a button and the Quesada Bridge appears on a monitor, footage evidently taken from a weather camera. The well-known foot bridge is being wracked by a miniature tornado. The Alliance is hard at work saving people from the localized storm, plus fighting an oversized brute, a guy throwing fire around, and a crazed mob protecting a woman.
"The Instigators attacked just moments ahead of the strikes on the genetics facilities. They lingered just long enough to occupy us and endanger innocents," the swordsman says as the battle plays out. Just as the Alliance started to gain the upper hand, the four members disappear in a flash of light.
Whippoorwill speaks up. "That's Jaunt's signature. He's the teleporter for the CADRE. Metahuman mercenaries. I don't know if they're fully involved or just hired for the extraction, but this is even bigger than just the Chosen and the Mongrels. The Instigators are involved -- there's no way this can be a coincidence -- and there's a good chance that so is the CADRE."
Holly was... a bit overwhelmed. evryone here was larger than life, all of them defenders of peace and justice. It was weird to be the star-struck one.
So, our third outing as a team, and it's a 4-team, minimum, super-teamup... Holly says tentatively We think there are maybe 24 villains in on this, of which we have, through all of our efforts, captured exactly one, and that one because the villains were careless and apathetic about losing her. Is there any way we can seperte off some of them. because, even with all of us, I don't love or odds in a straight fight
even if every one of the alliance can take two of them in a fight. Praetoria too, probably. Psyche could take 2 or maybe 3, of we don't mind her leveling the block, or giving everyone in a mile night terrors for a week... and assume Isaiah, Scorch, Frostbite, and hopefully horizon can go mano-e-mano... and GallowGlass and I could take one together... I think we're still outnumbered
When Captain Stalwart nods at her Mattie lowers her hand and speaks up. "I remember reading about Trapdoor a bit in The Shield's files." she says, "Teleportation's such a cool power that I wanted to learn more... Wasn't his teleportation limited in how far he could use it? He had to be able to see the locations of his portals unless he was familiar with them? If that's true, maybe we could see if anyone's been loitering around The Dawkins Facility on their security cameras and maybe ID him?"
Shin recoils a little from Psyche's blunt demand. He glances at her, wondering just how much she's holding back right now. Her smile seems frozen in place from his point of view.
He listens to what the Alliance has to say about why they were delayed, looking increasingly concerned. He keeps his opinions to himself though, unsure that he can justifiably add anything of merit to the discussion. For all he feels like he's standing shoulder to shoulder with giants, he still thinks he's not up to trying to comment over them.
He steps back instead, trying to find something that puts him out of the way. He goes to Rory and Mattie, trying not to stare at Scorch's state of disarray. "Damn, you guys look like you were put through the wringer," He tells them. "...I kind of feel a little out of place. Everyone's here because they want to be. I'm the only one here who was just dropped into things. Part of me thinks that I'm way over my head trying to get involved in some mastermind's scheme."
He frowns, and breathes out slowly. "Wish I knew if I got through to Ballista. Wish I knew how she fell in with the Chosen...you two didn't know, did you? I mean, Silver Shield is your mentor, and...I feel like everyone's walking on eggshells around all of the time. Like one wrong word and suddenly I'm going to explode. So level with me - did you know about Ballista?" He asks, looking over them at Silver Shield. She's been extremely quiet this whole time, and he wonders what she's been keeping from him. What all the Alliance has been keeping from him.
Rory smiles at Shin,"I think we all feel that way sometimes, you are doing just fine, little awkward at times but otherwise. As far as Ballista, I rarely look that deep into the files when studying them, fighting styles, powers, know locations and preferred targets is where I focus and even if it did mention it, it would likely refer to Dust being related and while you are biologically the same dude, it would be easy to not notice it,"
"You're not out of place Shin" Scorch replies, "not with us. How can you be out of depth dealing with a mastermind's scheme - the other you is a mastermind." As he continues she steps forward and gives him a hug. "It's all right Shin, I'm sure yo got through to her, I, we didn't know," she says, shooting Rory a look. "it wasn't in the files. I'm sure it wasn't."
Looking up and finally noticing Scorch’s outfit being nearly destroyed in the fight Praetoria gets up and says ”I’ll be right back.”
She makes her way to a rest room and looks at herself in the mirror, seeing herself in the armor for the first time. She looked it over at all angles and muttered ”This is crazy.” She looked for a buckle or strap or something to remove it, but couldn’t find anything. Then, she thought hard on making the armor vanish, and it began to dissipate piece by piece!
Once gone, she undid the zipper to her usual outfit and took it off, glad she had decided to wear her work out clothes beneath it. Then, she looked in the mirror again and said ”Okay...let’s hope that wasn’t a one time deal...” and thought about the armor coming back. Sure enough, the armor and cape materialized! Praetoria smiles excitedly before heading back out to the teams. She hands Scorch her uniform and says ”Here. It may not fit quite right, but it’ll work for now,” with a smile.
She then looks to Whippoorwill and asks ”So, do you know of anyone who might be able to boss Shard and the Chosen around like this?”
"Your uniform? Are you sure? But,.. Thanks. Thanks very much!" Mattie stammers when Praetoria returns with the uniform, and presents it to her. Mattie grins and runs from the room, appearing minutes later in the ill-fitting uniform. "You were right that it doesn't really fit, especially,.. up top." she laughs, her face blushing red. "Thanks Kayla" she says, hugging the older girl.
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Kayla smiles at Scorch’s response. When Mattie hugs her, Mattie can feel that Kayla seems like she needed the hug more than Mattie did. Kayla holds on to it a bit longer than expected before letting go and returning to the conversation at hand.
While Mattie is away changing Rory slides over to Kayla, "That was nice of you, but if you two become buddies who am I going to complain to when one of you is driving me crazy?" Rory softly chuckles, his ribs were starting to not hurt as bad.