Ink-stained Pages

Interlude 2 (Patreon)

Published:

2024-01-21 06:18:23

Imported:

2024-03

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♦ Topic: Empire Capes Spotted @ Hillside Mall
In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America ► Brockton Bay
Dawgsmiles (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Posted On Jan 29th 2011:
I feel like Ive seen a lot in this city, too much probably, but seeing Hookwolf and Cricket just walk into the food court in broad fucking daylight is the scariest thing so far. I cleared out pretty fast because no way was I staying to watch what a bunch of nazis were getting up to during happy hour, but apparently things got really bad really fast. Like bad enough to warrant blocking off both entrances and stationing PRT squads outside.

I just drove by again and Im so confused. What the hell is happening downtown?

(Showing page 1 of 22)

►Saskatchew
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
lmao why is it always downtown

►Chilldrizzle (Banned)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
OP pussied out before seeing the action smh. How about starting a thread when you got actual information dumbass

►Dawgsmiles (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
@Saskatchew The Docks are no better, and as shitty as it sounds as a white man Id take nazis over Lung any day.
@Chilldrizzle Big words when you have nothing to contribute yourself. Stay on topic or leave asshole

►Thatdude
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Nah this shit was actually crazy as fuck. i wasnt int he food court when it went down but i was in the mall when the explosion went off. DUDE I ALMOST SHAT MYSELF. it was one of those explosions where the impact hits before the sound, ppl started freaking the fuck out instantly. idk what happened exactly but it sounded like a cape fight 4 sure

►Dawgsmiles (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
@Thatdude Did you see anything when you were leaving the mall?

►Thatdude
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Nahh dude i was not stopping to look around n shit. there was the explosion and then gunshots

►Apokalyps117 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
I was there when they came in too, not sure when exactly you left but that one Rogue with the doll mask was there talking to some new looking cape...I think her name starts with a P or something. She had a big ass teddy bear.

After she gave him a bag he went to the bathroom and then BOOM, nazi jump scare. A lot of people left after that, me included.

►Valkyr (Wiki Warrior)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Wait you mean Parian? Like the fashion designer Parian?

►Apokalyps117 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
I'm not sure but the cape she was talking to was black. Black guy speaking to woman, black guy goes to bathroom, minutes later nazis come running? I don't know why Hookwolf of all people would come at a Rogue and a brand new cape though, seems premeditated

►Dawgsmiles (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Holy shit, so I'm parked outside right now just being nosy and look who they just brought out restrained and foamed up.

Attachment1
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►Thatdude
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
OH SHIT, they actually got em?! isnt parian a fucking fashion designer hold on. and look at how fucked up Hookwolf looks damn dude, thats a lotta blood

►Lolitup
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Good freaking riddance. Less nazi garbage on the street can only be a good thing. Had to have been that cape you guys were talking about, Parian's not even a hero. Anyone got more info on the new guy?!

►Chilldrizzle (Banned)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
MESSAGE REMOVED BY ADMIN
USER BANNED BY ADMIN

►Tin_Mother (Head Admin)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Threats of violence to other members of the forums is against Rule 1-9 of the TOS. Cool your head with a 7 day ban.

►Thatdude
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
@Chilldrizzle ...dude, chill

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 20, 21, 22

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(Showing page 7 of 22)

►Bagrat (The Guy in the Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
It is I, the all-knowing and consistently up-to-date Bagrat, and I come to this thread bearing news!

As you all know from OP, there was a battle at the Hillside Mall today at roughly 7 PM. Empire Eighty-Eight capes, Hookwolf and Cricket, were seen with a group of nazi thugs entering the food court in full view of both CCTV cameras and local civilians. Cricket disappeared off into the male bathroom, while Hookwolf aggressively confronted one @Parian at her table. (Sorry for the ping, but please share more information if you can!)

What many of you are wondering, however, is how did ole' murder wolf and his lethal lackey end up in PRT custody? Well, it turns out that Brockton Bay has a powerful new contender in the hero scene, and he is the one responsible for single-handedly defeating both dangerous Empire capes! Information is sparse as of currently, but this is what I do know:

1. His name is Avalon, which is most-likely based off of the Arthurian legends.
2. He seems to have a cordial and professional business relationship with Parian, though I may be corrected here if this is a reach.
3. He is potentially a Grab-Bag Cape, with a variety of powerful and useful abilities including but not limited to teleportation, motherfucking laserbeams, and...whatever this huge golden cage is supposed to be. [IMAGE]

Now, as I have no interest in getting bonked for hijacking yet another thread, I will simply leave the link to Avalon's speculation thread here: [LINK]

►Feychick
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Oh damn that cage looks SICK. They didn't even clean the blood off of it yet. Howd he make it?

►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Bagrat, where did you even get that picture? The mall is still being cordoned off - I tried to stop by and get a look myself.

►Bagrat (The Guy in the Know) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
@Brocktonite03 Shhhh.

►Chaosfaith
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
welp there it is. GG downtown brockton bay, you gotta deal with a bunch of nazi bastards throwing a hissy fit all week

i do not envy you if you're a person of color

►FlippinMad (Cape Groupie) (Muted)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Wait do we know what he looks like at least??

►Deimos
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Who cares about what he looks like? You're telling me he's a grab bag with laser beams, teleportation, and what looks like metal generation? Manipulation? What sort of bullshit grab bag package is that?!

Not to mention all the rusted crap in that pic. Did he turn Hookwolf into the Tin Man?

►FlippinMad (Cape Groupie) (Muted)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
@Deimos Um, hello, I do??

►Lolitup
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Got pics from the speculation thread, you should prob check it out @FlippinMad, there's some cool info there.

[IMG][IMG][IMG]

►FlippinMad (Cape Groupie) (Muted)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Oh. My. GOD. Daddy? Sorry. Daddy? Sorry. I love his hair and that big spear

►Deimos
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Stoppp.

►Brocktonite03 (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Questionable origins aside, those pics certainly show him in an impressive light. Not sure about the whole 'dark sorcerer' thing he's got going on though, seems easy to interpret that as villainous. The spear looks well-made, if a little...extra?

Seems kinda young too. Potential Ward?

►Thatdude
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
i dont even care man i just hope he stays true to himself. dude fucked that pussy ass white boy uppp

we need more black heroes man, i fuck wit avalon. dude bringing in that POWAH

►ScriptKitty69 (Verified Cape) (Coolest Moderator)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
@FlippinMad Get muted loser.

►XxVoid_CowboyxX
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
WAIT I SAW HIM AT THE BOARDWALK THE OTHER DAY!

►Tin_Mother (Head Admin)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
@ScriptKitty69 Check your private messages please. You have not been verified, 'Coolest Moderator' isn't even a tag, and how did you mute @FlippinMad? Muting is not a function on this website.

►bothad
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Kinda wish we had a video of the fight, seems like it was fucking epic

►ScriptKitty69 (Verified Cape) (Coolest Moderator)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
@Tin_Mother gg ez

►QwertyD
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
hold on, how long is the mall going to be closed down??????

►KuKluxKoolAid (Banned)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
MESSAGE REMOVED BY COOLEST MODERATOR
USER BANNED BY COOLEST MODERATOR

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(Showing page 8 of 22)

►ScriptKitty69 (Verified Cape) (Coolest Moderator)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
I got it! Hehe

►Tin_Mother (Head Admin)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Check your private messages.

►Valkyr (Wiki Warrior)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Updating his wiki page rn

►Dawgsmiles (Original Poster) (Veteran Member)
Replied On Jan 29th 2011:
Please stay on topic everyone!!!

End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ... 20, 21, 22

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“Ahem.”

The exaggeratedly fake clearing of a throat was like ice water poured down the nape of her neck.

Amy jumped against her will, almost dropping the phone that she’d been doomscrolling on for the past ten minutes since arriving in the drafty conference room. It wasn’t like the main subject of the meeting was that relevant to her in the first place - the only reason they even invited her to the PRT Headquarters was because she’d been asked to run diagnostics on the bloodied and traumatized Hookwolf, and that had already been done an hour before they asked her to stay for this discussion.

Admittedly, she hadn’t possessed the greatest of bedside manners, but playing the ‘kind and benevolent nurse’ for the average Brocktonite was already hard enough; imagine doing it for a racist, black-hearted villain with a furry fetish.

The new hero, Avalon - in addition to the other powers surmised in his PHO thread, the guy was also a healer, and in spite of the clear pain it seemed to have put Hookwolf through…he was a fucking effective one, too. That was probably what they wanted to hear from her, in more wordy, technical, and complicated jargon that they probably wouldn’t even understand. It was definitely why Director Piggot, at the head of the intimidatingly long conference table, was giving her a severe look - not demanding or impatient, but expectant.

‘Right.’

It was her turn to speak. The very real and very intimidating faces of the Brockton Bay Protectorate stared at her, some with interest, others with thinly-veiled boredom, but they were all watching. Pressure began to build.

Amy could feel her pale, freckled face heat up slightly as she rose to her feet, surreptitiously sliding her smartphone into the folds of her loose white robes. Her thumb caught on her shiny blue ‘GUEST’ lanyard as she did so, almost jerking her neck down for a split second before she extracted the traitorous digit, but no one commented or laughed so that was good. Silver linings: she wouldn’t come out of this meeting hating anyone more than she already did.

Of course, silver linings didn’t exactly make up for the fact that she was here instead of finishing up the last minute emergency calls at the hospital, but Amy had long since adjusted her expectations to skim the bare minimum when it came to ‘things going well’ in her life.

It was best to just get it over with.

After all, it wasn’t as if they forced her to do this - they had simply asked, and like always, she selflessly offered her time and assistance because that’s what a good hero did. While Amy truly believed and knew that she wasn’t a good hero, because that title was reserved for blonde girls infinitely better and more deserving than her, she at least wanted to emulate one and do her just service. What other use for her was there, with powers like hers? Expectations like theirs?

“You can explain what you’ve discovered as soon as you’re ready, Panacea,” Director Piggot spoke again, clear and commanding. If she was anyone else, Amy probably would have assumed that patience was there as well, but she had enough experience with an older woman’s subtle microaggressions to recognize the almost imperceptible impatience and annoyance when it was present. The familiarity left a bad taste in her mouth.

Amy cleared her throat and shifted her gaze away from Piggot’s cold stare. There was a coffee stain on the sickly woman’s blouse, near the collar, and she focused on it. Vicky would always tell her to imagine other people naked whenever it came to the anxiety of public speaking, but that was clearly not going to work here.

Having Vicky in the room instead of being surrounded by half-baked acquaintances and strangers would’ve been infinitely better, but that wasn’t realistic. She was alone here, and that constant, nagging yearning and loneliness in her stomach twisted her guts, intermingling with an ever-increasing stress. Amy’s lips twisted downwards.

“Avalon’s healing ability works on a fundamentally different level than mine, but that doesn’t make it any more dangerous from what I could tell without actually watching him heal. Instead of utilizing the excess material preexisting in the body in order to directly heal the injury, Avalon seemed to have just…skipped three or four steps in order to invoke high-speed regeneration at the cellular level.”

The flood of words came out somewhat clumsily, but she’d worked through exactly what she would say at least three times while browsing PHO. That little spiel was probably the best they would get. But, feeling like she needed to say just a little bit more, Amy hesitantly spoke again. “Until I can witness him healing in person, all I can say one hundred percent is that Hookwolf is completely healthy, no side-effects or anything. ‘Avalon’ did a pretty good job.”

Silence settled over the room as the heroes absorbed her prognosis, and Amy moved her gaze from the Director’s coffee stain to the rest of the Protectorate. Her hands twitched to fiddle with something in the tense atmosphere, but there was nothing to grab hold of. She folded her hands into the sleeves of her robes instead.

“Sounds good enough to me,” Assault broke the silence, dropping his docket down on the table and grinning a mega-watt grin. “Kid can beat Hookwolf’s ass, send Cricket packing, and get the seal of approval from Panacea herself? Screw the Wards hook, let him come play with the big boys!”

His sudden bravado was apparently the push needed to incite discussion and break the uncomfortable silence. Voices began flying to and fro, some pushing back against Assault’s presumptuous claim and others entertaining the idea. Amy sank back into her seat, happy to not be stared down by an entire group of powerful superheroes.

Her eyes drifted down to the file they’d put together for the mysterious new cape. It was fairly sparse considering the supposed lack of information regarding him, but they’d gotten a nice picture of him leaning against a huge fuck-off spear with his arms crossed.

It made for an impressive image, Amy had to admit. He was striking, in a way that you would find a particularly dangerous, yet majestic creature striking. The dark colors of his costume meshed well with the gilded gold of his gauntlets and lapels. Hell, even his mask practically oozed ‘dark and mysterious’. He managed to straddle the line between ‘villainous chic’ and ‘misunderstood hero’, if she wanted to use a bit of Vicky’s cape aesthetic lingo.

Combined with his random array of potent powers and his weird, bullshit method of healing and Amy had to admit that she was a little curious about the new guy. Just a tad.

Maybe she’d stick around for the full meeting, if only to gather more intel that her sister would inevitably grill her about. It didn’t seem like the Director planned to kick her out anytime soon.

“And I’m telling you that Avalon wouldn’t be ready, regardless of if he actually wanted to join up or not,” Armsmaster was saying, his voice serious and intense as he leaned against the table. It was easy to misunderstand his intensity as aggression, but Amy could see the expression on his face - the man was just engaged. Vicky could get the same way sometimes.

Assault waved his hand dismissively in the air. “What’d he do, piss on your halberd when you went in to stick Hookwolf? Unless I’m reading into things way wrong, the kid has more than what it takes - he’s a natural, through and through. And he looks pretty close to eighteen, er…” The ginger man tilted his head as he looked over the file again, sticking his tongue out the side of his mouth. “...Give or take a few months? Maybe? We can make it work.”

Before Armsmaster could retort, Miss Militia spoke calmly from her side of the conference table. “Avalon wasn’t very receptive to the idea of joining any sort of ‘team’, which is why I pushed for him to come and register as an Independent.” She chanced a glance at Director Piggot, and sure enough, the overweight woman was staring impassively right at her. “...Which I am still prepared to take full accountability for.”

The Director held eye contact with the gun-toting cape for a few seconds longer, her frigid blue eyes indecipherable, before letting out a puff of air. “No need - it was the right call. Orders have already come from the Chief Director; we play the game Miss Militia started, try to lure him in and establish rapport. We want to know more about his abilities and his goals, and we can’t do that if he’s running away every time the word ‘recruit’ comes up.”

Amy saw the frustration in the Director’s face as she spoke, the way it jiggled her jowls in a tic that she probably wasn’t even aware of. The others most likely saw it as well.

It was Battery who spoke up next, her hands folded neatly on the table in front of her as she tilted her head towards Piggot. “So we give up on recruitment? I don’t mean to question the Chief Director, but that seems…risky, considering all that happened tonight.” Heads were nodded all around, and Amy nodded a moment too late once she realized what the others were doing. Her ears burned in embarrassment, but she forced her face to stay stoic.

“Of course recruitment is preferable,” the Director groused, “but orders are orders, and we cannot afford to alienate ‘Avalon’. Until we can learn more and get him to distrust the PRT less, focus on fostering an amicable relationship.” It almost sounded like she was biting the words out towards the end.

“...So, what exactly are his powers?” A young, boyish voice hesitantly rang out from the chair beside Miss Militia. Heads turned in his direction, and Aegis faltered for only a brief second before jutting out his chin and continuing in a more confident tone. “Not to interrupt, Director Piggot. I know you’re having me sit in to participate and assimilate info to pass over to my team, but the details on the file is kinda brief. For instance-”

Miss Militia put a hand on the teenager’s shoulder, and he shut up immediately. “Breathe,” she said, a small smile on her face.

“Uh yeah, sorry. I just wanted to-”

“I know what you wanted to do. Learn to be patient.” Piggot interrupted dryly, pressing a button on the conference table. In front of the gathered heroes, easily seen by all except for Amy who had to wiggle and stretch a bit to look over Dauntless’ shoulder, a projector screen lowered from the ceiling and blinked on. The Director looked over to Armsmaster and Miss Militia and nodded her head once.

Almost synchronized, the two Protectorate heroes stood and made their way over to stand on either side of the screen. It was obvious that the whole thing was planned - Miss Militia even brought her own remote out of her pocket. Amy probably would’ve been more impressed if she could see a little better, though - she eyed the back of the armored hero’s head with an annoyed frown. If only she could float like Vicky.

“Heh, I feel like I’m back in school,” Assault chuckled, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest.

Battery snorted. “Somehow I doubt you were this well-behaved.”

“Babe, you’ve got-”

“This,” Miss Militia started, easily talking over and silencing Assault with one word, “is the CCTV camera footage taken from the food court, starting moments before Avalon faced off with Empire Eighty-Eight members Hookwolf, Cricket, and four non-parahuman criminals.”

She pressed a button on the remote, and they all watched as the black screen stuttered for a moment before the video started playing. The scene was fairly bleak almost instantly - Parian, semi-popular Rogue and seamstress, was clearly being pressed by the unpleasant and hairy Hookwolf. Even with her bad angle, Amy felt disgust rear its ugly head in her chest at the acerbic and racist drivel coming out of the man’s mouth, barely audible due to his booming voice.

“Not this shit again,” Assault grumbled sourly.

“Quiet,” Piggot frowned, her own face impassive as she watched the projector screen.

“Cricket, bring the mutt out! Don’t have too much fun without me!”

Aegis leaned forward, and Amy watched in the corner of her eye as he frowned at the video. “Where is she?”

“She slipped into the bathroom before this recording started. It’s where Avalon was changing into the costume he presumably commissioned from Parian,” Armsmaster responded automatically, still staring at the screen. It sounded like he had that answer ready and rehearsed too.

In the recording, Hookwolf commanded his thugs to go check out the bathroom before threatening Parian and her oversized teddy bear. The camera panned and turned, following the goons as they approached the door cautiously.

Things were starting to get tense, and Amy felt goosebumps raise over her arms as she watched the scene play out. It almost felt like some sort of horror or thriller, which was pretty fucked up since this was real life and those weren’t B-list actors. Even then, she almost found herself wishing that she had popcorn.

Abruptly, the sound of an explosion ripped through the speakers, and the camera became shaky and grainy as the entire wall of the bathroom was practically imploded by a massive golden laser beam that disappeared almost instantly. The silhouette of Cricket’s body was seen flying through the air and landing at Hookwolf’s feet, whose back was to the camera.

Silence reigned for a moment, before-

“Holy fuck.”

Eyes turned to Amy, but she refused to be cowed once again by the weight of their stares. “...What? That’s a lot of firepower for just one blast. Stronger than anything I’ve seen my Aunt put out, at least.” It didn’t bother her to admit such, either - Lady Photon was a capable hero and a nice woman, but her normal laserbeams weren’t over ten foot tall and just as wide. Whether Avalon had the ability to consistently use that sort of firepower was another thing entirely, though.

“Makes you wonder how much of that he’s got in the tank,” Dauntless muttered the healer's thoughts aloud.

Amy returned her attention back to the screen. At this point Hookwolf was yelling at the cloud of dust and property damage to ‘show himself’, pistols were being shot, and Avalon’s response came in as clear as day in the speakers.

“Bringing guns to a cape fight isn’t very ‘honorable’, Hookwolf…”

His voice was deep, warm, and thick, like a steaming hot cup of hot chocolate. Amy wasn’t into super manly voices like Vicky was, but even she had to admit to herself that the sudden sound of Avalon speaking had made her heart jump a bit in her chest. It was objectively hot, right? Like, if she played a recording of it in a crowd of average people they’d probably be a bit startled too! Annnd…now she was sounding like she was in denial in her own head. Amy sighed.

‘She’d probably like how he sounds. And looks.’ Of course, the thought made her heart drop into the pit of her stomach. Amy sneered, forcing all thoughts away. Collect intel, think less.

Someone gasped when golden spears shot out from the dust cloud at speeds too fast for the cameras to pick up, skewering through the heads of the nazis who’d shot first. Only when she forcibly closed her mouth and glance to the others did Amy realize that she was the one who’d gasped, and everyone else - while suitably disturbed by the footage - seemed fine.

Logically, she knew that they were fine - she had been asked to check up on them as well, and the thugs had been conscious and completely unharmed, if just a bit low on dopamine and energy. Even then, seeing them pinned to the ground with golden spears double the size of their bodies was disturbing.

Piggot was looking at her again, and Amy sighed. “The spears are harmless…relatively speaking. From what I could tell, without going to deep into it, Avalon directly attacked their willingness to basically…do anything. At all. He exhausted them and made them too depressed to stay awake.”

Assault began to open his mouth, and she smiled thinly. “And no, I don’t know how that correlates to big ass spears.” It wasn’t something she often did - talking back or snarking at the Protectorate of all people, but inane questions interrupted the footage and she wanted to see more. This whole meeting wasn’t as uninteresting and boring as she had originally thought it would be.

Dauntless, usually quiet and content to listen rather than speak, chimed in with his own opinion. “Reminds me of Gallant’s emotional blasts. It didn’t wound them physically, but…”

“It harms them on a more base level. More aggressively than anything Gallant has shown, but less versatile too on the emotional front.” Battery finished, a curious edge to her voice. “It seems he did learn how to control it.”

Miss Militia nodded her head seriously. “No one was permanently or irreversibly harmed today.”

Today? The hidden meaning behind their words grabbed Amy’s attention, but no one seemed like they wanted to go into more detail so she begrudgingly turned back to the screen.

The Avalon in the footage was fully shown now, the dust having been blown away at some point by his four-pronged attack against the nazis. He made for a badass figure, his coat and hair moving in some nonexistent breeze and that huge spear leaning against his shoulder. The grinning skull hovering at his side was slightly less ‘badass’, though, moving into ‘unsettlingly creepy’ territory and staying firmly put. It seemed almost alive, its bright yellow eyes moving to and fro as it studied the room.

“Parian, are you safe?”

He seemed way too collected for facing off against Hookwolf.

Amy witnessed many superheroes in the field, from street-level fights that spilled too close all the way to Endbringer attacks where she was as far away from the danger as reasonably possible. Hookwolf wasn’t a fucking Endbringer, but he was a highly dangerous cape that might as well have been some crazy monster to any normal beginner. The footage was too grainy, too tinny to accurately portray everything on Avalon’s visage, but that calm, almost casual confidence rang out like a beacon. He was not perturbed in the slightest, or, if he was…he had an unnaturally good poker face.

Amy’s nose wrinkled. It frustrated her - not him being unafraid in the face of danger, but the ease in which he was handling everything, and she didn’t even know why. Where were the frayed nerves, the hesitance? Where was the imperfection?

“Good, stay back. I’d hate to taint my first cape battle by slaughtering a bunch of punk nazi trash.”

Someone whistled, and a soft smack accompanying it clued Amy in on who the duo most likely was. She didn’t turn to check, though, considering Hookwolf was charging like a bull and the battle was officially on.

Amy wished she could say that they spent the next couple minutes hyper-analyzing every aspect of the fight, since that would imply that she wasn’t as mesmerized and interested as the Protectorate heroes, but that would have been a lie. Other than grunts and hums, no further words were spoken as everyone gathered watched the rest of the battle between Avalon and Hookwolf. It was…enlightening, and while Amy actively disliked having the responsibility and powers that she had, even she had to acknowledge the fact that Avalon wasn’t just powerful.

He was skilled, too. Fearless.

Every movement was calculated and performed with an almost condescending gracefulness, and with every second that he battled the metal wolf it seemed as if he was growing even more dexterous and nimble. He actually made Hookwolf seem like the noob in the fight. Amy…didn’t know what to feel. On one hand, she was happy that such a hero was on the side of good in Brockton Bay. They needed all the help they could get when it came to pushing back against the villains, and there was nothing but good things that could come from his assistance if he decided to register with the Protectorate.

At the same time, though…he was objectively hot, he was young, and most importantly…he was really fucking cool. These weren’t the thoughts of a girl with a crush - no, it was the lamentations of a girl suffering from unrequited love.

‘Vicky is gonna eat this up.’ Bitterness clogged her throat and stomach, warring with jealousy and something else that wasn’t adding up correctly in her brain. ‘She’s gonna want to meet him. Talk powers. Fucking spar. Probably patrol together.’ He was hotter and taller than Dean, had a deeper voice, seemingly had every power under the fucking sun, and they had just started another one of their stupid 'breaks'. Vicky was free game.

As if she didn’t have enough fucking things to worry about.

Armsmaster paused the screen just as Avalon roared something out, only barely audible over the loud music blasting through the room, and the golden cage shown in his file began to blast upwards and imprison the rusted and discombobulated Hookwolf.

The scene looked like something out of a 1:1 rendition of some sort of video game. Avalon was falling to the floor, upside down and throwing his hand forward with a vengeful scowl on his handsome face, while Parian simply stood behind the kiosk, seemingly unable to react in time to dodge the metal spear extending out of the nazi’s corroded maw. Piles upon piles of rusted scrap and broken steel littered the food court, leaving a hazy brown mist polluting the air.

“...I think this is a good time to go over all gathered information, with input from all of you,” Armsmaster said in the ensuing, heavy silence. “I know that it’s a lot to work through, but it’s imperative that we analyze and come to rough measurements of Avalon’s powers. His rate of growth…isn’t normal.”

Director Piggot, quite possibly the only one in the room not a little dazed by what she’d just watched on the screen, chose that moment to speak up before anyone else could offer their opinions. “He’s already been classified as a Trump, evident by the increasingly dangerous powerset that has escalated drastically since the last time we’ve heard from him.” She took a sip of the mug that was resting beside her pudgy, clasped fingers. Amy eyed the coffee wistfully.

“...Trump Six, at minimum.” Dauntless said, crossing his arms over his armored chest. “Teleportation of about ten feet, some sort of effect that constantly and effectively rusts and corrodes metal, the ‘goat skull’ that put out those lasers and seemed to act independent of Avalon himself…” He trailed off, shaking his head with a sigh. “Maybe a little higher than a 6.”

“Don’t forget the shit he did at the start of the fight. It was kinda hard to see, but he had some sort of bright glow around him that looked sorta like a cloak. The bullets from those nazis was floating inside.” Assault’s voice was more serious now, the man fully engaged and leaned in as he scribbled something onto the back of his file.

“So something similar to kinetic energy?” Eyes turned to Aegis, and the boy shrugged his shoulders. “I saw it too. It looked kinda like the bullets were slowed to a standstill and left floating. Like that glowing cloak thing sapped away all the force.”

“Good eye, Aegis.” Miss Militia grinned - or, rather, squinted approvingly…Amy still wasn’t sure how she expressed her emotions so clearly through her scarf. She just ended up looking constipated and angry when she tried it. “It faded quickly after being shown on camera, but we don’t know if it’s as simple as activating this ‘cloak’ again.”

“Some sort of Breaker effect, then.” Battery acknowledged.

“Seems like it. The thugs used 9×19mm Parabellum rounds, common and efficient but not necessarily the most penetrating, so the strength of his ‘cloak’ is mostly in the air.”

Armsmaster nodded his head appreciatively at the progressing discussion. “Trump 6,” he said gravely, eyeing Dauntless, “is a dangerous lowball to make. I spoke to him, and he seemed like a good kid if a bit arrogant - Trumps tend to be that way. Even then, there’s not a zero percent chance that he goes overboard or decides that adhering to the rules and regulations set forth just isn’t worth it anymore. Not to mention he seems to grow fast, and has show no sign of plateau. We have to judge him impartially-”

“Which we are-” Miss Militia moved to cut him off.

“And in accordance to that,” Armsmaster countered her interruption with his own, stepping forward and staring heavily at the gathered heroes, “I say that we classify Avalon at a tentative rating of Trump 8, subtype still unknown until we can gather more information.”

Miss Militia was immediately on the defense. “Footage here doesn’t warrant a classification of eight, Armsmaster. He defeated Hookwolf and Cricket, yes, but his metal-corroding Shaker ability was the only reason it happened in the first place. Six or seven is more accurate.” She wasn’t upset, necessarily, but Amy could see that she wasn’t planning on backing down.

Armsmaster frowned, turning to look at his teammate with what seemed like condescension on his face. “You’re the only one whose weapon doesn’t rely on being made of metal, Miss Militia.” He shot back calmly, but there was a fire in his eyes. “He also has a Breaker effect that blocks bullets, high-speed teleportation, a flying minion with the equivalent firepower of a Blaster 6, flying energy spears that saps your vitality on contact, and while tests are still being made on that golden cage he created at the mall, so far no attempts to break or remove it has succeeded.”

Silence. Amy tried not to breathe too loudly, awkwardly afraid of disrupting the tenseness that had befallen after Armsmaster’s mini-tirade. She agreed with him for the most part, even if she wasn’t the biggest fan of power classifications in the first place. Avalon was powerful, and the spread of abilities that he possessed was probably not the only ones he had or could get, if Piggot’s initial statement was true. Even then, despite the unfair and unfounded dislike that was growing in her heart towards the dashing new hero, Amy felt bad for him. Just a little.

The responsibility for that type of power was probably heavy.

“I don’t say this too often,” Assault eventually spoke up, his voice even. “But I agree with Armsy here. I think the kid’s great - anyone who sticks their foot up nazi ass is pretty great to me - but we can’t drag our ass on this. If he turns out to be a bad apple…”

“Then underestimating him would be our downfall. I know. I just…” Miss Militia exhaled softly, closing her eyes. A heartbeat later, she opened them again. “I have a good feeling about him. In my gut. I guess it affected my opinions there for a moment, I apologize. It won’t happen again.”

Director Piggot cleared her throat, and with that one noise all attention turned back to her. “See that it doesn’t, Miss Militia - even more than being a teenager, he’s a teenager with too much power in his hands and the lack of wisdom to work with those who has his best interests in mind. Armsmaster, your designation of Trump 8 is well thought-out and I’ll expedite it up the ladder. I expect a full report on my desk tomorrow morning, detailing his displayed abilities and effective strategies designed to counter them.”

Both heroes nodded, Miss Militia a bit stiffly, and returned to their seats.

“Now, any last minute observations or questions?”

Aegis slowly rose his hand, and the Director gave him a dry look. “What is it, Aegis?”

“Did anyone else notice that he was getting stronger and faster over time? More skilled, too - the way that he was swinging the spear and dodging around became much smoother towards the end of the fight.”

Battery suddenly snapped her fingers, and the abrupt noise made Assault jump and gawk at her. “You’re right! I was going to comment on it before the, uh…” she trailed off, eyeing the composed Miss Militia and Armsmaster, before soldiering on. “Anyways - it could just be us looking too deeply into it, but it was noteworthy enough for me to notice too. Nice catch, Aegis.”

The boy rubbed the back of his helmet sheepishly. “Thanks Battery.”

Armsmaster tapped the remote again, and the sound of a loud gunshot tore through the speakers. Amy and the Protectorate heroes swung their heads over to the screen and watched as Avalon’s spear blasted from his grasp in a picture-perfect throw, glowing a shimmering gold and practically disappearing and reappearing inside of Hookwolf, skewering straight through his rusted metal and hitting something important.

He paused the screen as Hookwolf was transforming back, stabbed through the gut and howling in pain.

“...Did his spear just break the sound barrier?” Dauntless asked dully, still staring at the frozen video.

Armsmaster smiled a humorless smile. “Thank you for reminding me. We can add Brute and Thinker subclassifications to his file as well.” There was an underlying frustration and tiredness to his voice that Amy could only barely detect, but she was clueless as to why he was feeling them. The looming paperwork he’d have to deal with, maybe? The Director did drop a pretty large assignment on their laps.

Piggot massaged her temples. “Great. Until I’ve confirmed everything, what we’ve discussed here does not leave this room. News is already getting out, and in order to curtail the majority of the panic and wild theorizing, the PRT will have to release some sort of statement as soon as possible. For now, meeting dismissed - Miss Militia, Armsmaster, meet me in my office in ten.”

“Understood.”

“Yes, Director.”

Chairs were pushed back, handshakes were given, and mutters ran across the room as everyone got ready to head home and ruminate over the news that they received today. Amy’s ass felt numb as she stood and headed towards the door immediately, thoughts running through every inch of her brain. There were good ones, like ‘Vicky’s gonna pick me up soon, I can’t wait to see her face again’ and ‘I wonder what perfume she used today’, but the bad ones like ‘She’s my sister, of course she’s going to take me home’ and ‘I’m such a fucking weirdo, why am I daydreaming about her perfume’ were there as well.

Even louder than those, of course, was the biggest worry crawling like hookworms in her stomach. ‘I wonder if she’s heard the news already…’

Like clockwork, as Amy made her way through the plain, boring halls of the PRT Headquarters, a text pinged on her phone. Hands only slightly sweaty, she took it out of her robes and swiped over to the message. It was Vicky.

FlyinxHigh: OMG, have you seen PHO recently?? Some badass messed up Hookwolf and Cricket, like rlly fucked them up

FlyinxHigh: hes like REALLY hot, Amy!!!!

FlyinxHigh: You think he likes blondes? LOL you HAVE to tell me everythinggg

Her heart fell through her stomach.

Distantly, she was aware that she was still walking, making her way to the front desk and turning in her 1-Day guest pass. The secretary said something, but Amy didn’t want to listen to her and wasn’t in the mood so she just turned on her heel and kept walking towards the exit. Why was she even upset? This entire time, she knew how her sister would react. Her and Dean were on one of their little ‘breaks’, and Avalon was trending on Brockton Bay’s PHO board. She should have expected it - she did expect it.

So why did it still hurt so much? Bother her so much? Why was she hating an objectively good guy that she didn’t even know?

FlyinxHigh: OH im outside btw! Maybe we can stop by Fugly’s and grab food for dinner :) My treat for my hardworking lil sis <3

Oh right, because she was a disgusting freak in love with her own sister.

Gritting her teeth, Amy forced herself to text back. These feelings in her body wasn’t Vicky’s fault, and she refused to punish or alienate the only good thing in her life because of her own fucked up defects. It was a weight and a burden that she had to carry, and as always, she’d do so silently.

PanPan: I’m almost outside.

Her fingers shook over the screen...

PanPan: And I come bearing gifts of my own about a certain new hero

The reply was instantaneous, and it was a bunch of excited emojis that Amy would never be caught sending in a million years. She stood there for a moment, right before the double doors that separated her from the outside world, and simply breathed. She could do this. She would do this, because she was Amy Dallon…a good sister. Just a good sister.

“C’mon.” She muttered darkly, biting her lip and pushing open the door.

There was a blur of gold, softness, and beauty. The sight of Vicky's smiling face kickstarted her heart.

“Oh, Ames! How’d it go?”

Warm arms encircled her, a citrusy orange scent filled her nostrils, and in the moment Amy simply allowed that heady dopamine rush to ward away all of the bad thoughts.

“It went pretty good. Boring as fuck, though.”

“Ughhh, I bet. Stuffy suits…but it’s okay, because tonight we dine like men! Into my arms, m'lady.”

"...Pfft, alright missus knight in shining armor."

The thoughts would come back, of course. They always did, without fail.

But for now, she could live in the glow for just a little longer…at least until the man of the hour was brought up again.