- Pronouns
- Zug
You'd have to be insane to let them test your durability. Best case scenario you tell them exactly what they need to bring you down. Worst case they crack you like an egg and say "woops accidents sometimes happen during testing".
Brockton Bay's Marvelous Mage
- Thread starter MetaBettaOmega
- Start date
- Location
- England
Battery, because she's a Cauldron cape, and Assault, because he's affable and they sort of come as a pair. It's BB, though, so we don't know who's pulling the strings right now yet.
That would be way too blatant. Durability testing must be a well established procedure and the worst at stake would be something like a needle jabbed into a finger.
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- Pronouns
- Zug
Ya it's blatant but I personally wouldn't risk it given how much shit the PRT gets away with. And again, when the best case is you tell Piggott exactly what she needs to know to take you out. There isn't really an upside.
He already knows she's started on the bullshit given the pause with assault. He should figure out Piggott is trying to swing for full testing instead of just healing. And ask himself why that might be.
I think you want "Hear that Battery?"
Assault & Battery are a pair because their powers work well together and there's a chance that mystery cape wasn't going to be friendly when the cops showed up.
So I think their surprise at his powers seems a bit odd. We readers know his current abilities are a tiny fraction, but the powers he told the PRT about are not out of line with a grab bag cape unless he was far too open. A taser plus a small amount of physical enhancement plus healing is pretty inline with a normal grab bag cape, if you ignore how rare healing is. If you consider healing his main power with the others minor boosts it's not at all extreme, there are plenty of examples of similarly powerful grab bags.
I hope he doesn't let them test anything but his healing. They really have no need or right to know how strong his lighting or physical powers are if all he wants is approval for his healing.
Edit: I went back and reviewed his reasons for not joining the Protectorate. He doesn't actually distrust them or have major authority issues, he's just worried about how they would react to the growth aspect of his powers combined with the wide range. So I could see him being somewhat okay with PRT testing his powers. I still think sticking to just testing his healing would work best, cause then they have less ways to know that his powers are growing. If he lets them test everything, it will make it more obvious when his abilities grow. However at this point he isn't yet aware how shifty the PRT actually is, so a lot of our objections to testing aren't going to be his objections.
I hope he doesn't let them test anything but his healing. They really have no need or right to know how strong his lighting or physical powers are if all he wants is approval for his healing.
Edit: I went back and reviewed his reasons for not joining the Protectorate. He doesn't actually distrust them or have major authority issues, he's just worried about how they would react to the growth aspect of his powers combined with the wide range. So I could see him being somewhat okay with PRT testing his powers. I still think sticking to just testing his healing would work best, cause then they have less ways to know that his powers are growing. If he lets them test everything, it will make it more obvious when his abilities grow. However at this point he isn't yet aware how shifty the PRT actually is, so a lot of our objections to testing aren't going to be his objections.
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Arimai
Curmudgeon
They can't see or model him at all. That is Entity backed guaranteed. No two bit idiot, semi-sentient shard can see or hear him directly.
- Location
- Borderworld, Xen
Wouldn't they be able to tell that they can't? Like he has to have made issues indirectly. Like a giant blind spot is still noticeable even indirectly.
Arimai
Curmudgeon
They can't see him, hear him or model him at all. That is the protection. The Human sees him but the Shards and Whales don't perceive him at all.
- Location
- Borderworld, Xen
But if the Human part hears about a Healer in BB tries to use a Shard to locate them then learns that they can't. Healers are a big deal and I have no doubt Cauldron or the PRT would have people watching Panacea 24/7.
Arimai
Curmudgeon
Then what? How do you pressgang an absurdly escalating warmage? He won't need food, sleep or air with the right point investment. Transmutation handles resources. Contessa cannot act against him, the moment she shows up she reverts to a normal human because her Shard doesn't believe he exists at all, can't see or hear or touch him through her senses
So I've always thought that while reading other stories. To me, seeing a human-shaped unreadable spot would attract just as much attantion, if not more so than letting people just read him. This is why I very specifically gave him Blank Spot with a hint of SEP filter, as mentioned early in the story. Basically, not only is he unreadable, but people just kinda gloss over that as being a big deal.
- Location
- Borderworld, Xen
They don't know what he's capable of, they'd need to say...test him thoroughly through both noncape and cape means. And I don't know if his presence will nullify her power unless it's used on him specifically?
Arimai
Curmudgeon
Her only power is her PTV bullshit. She's a normal human without it. This SI is no longer a normal human, he can kill her. Contessa is a sock puppet of her power with normal human movement and reflexes.
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He needs to put charges into 'repeatable permanent enhancement/empowerment rituals.'
I would think this would be obvious.
or at least 'buff permanence/duration extension' with some kind of 'magic on-off switch for permanent effects' that can work with rituals.
'Chant mitigation', which includes shortening, internalization/silent casting, and should eventually remove the need for chanting entirely.
IMO the charges aren't coming fast enough either. He needs repeatable quests like 'people saved' with a high requirement. this will snowball once he gets into the big events but early on it'll be difficult. Maybe have the repeatable quests be harder every time they are achieved.
like start with things like 'people saved 1/100'
people healed '1/500'
stuff like that.
I would think this would be obvious.
or at least 'buff permanence/duration extension' with some kind of 'magic on-off switch for permanent effects' that can work with rituals.
'Chant mitigation', which includes shortening, internalization/silent casting, and should eventually remove the need for chanting entirely.
IMO the charges aren't coming fast enough either. He needs repeatable quests like 'people saved' with a high requirement. this will snowball once he gets into the big events but early on it'll be difficult. Maybe have the repeatable quests be harder every time they are achieved.
like start with things like 'people saved 1/100'
people healed '1/500'
stuff like that.
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Chapter Eleven
When I finally got back to the shop, stomach full and feeling a bit calmer about everything, I pulled out my burner phone and called the Protectorate hotline. I inquired about power testing, specifically for my healing ability. They seemed to have been waiting for my call because I was immediately transferred up the chain.
After discussing it with a few people, it was decided that I would make my way to the PRT headquarters at around noon, where I would spend the afternoon measuring and testing my powers. The more I talked about it, the less I liked the idea, but I was still hoping that having the PRT healing approval would be worth it. The idea of a group having accurate measurements of all my abilities sounded absolutely terrible, and the only reason I was considering it was that they had no way of knowing if I was telling the truth, meaning I could hold back. Even if I didn't, it was only a matter of time, literally, before I would be adding more powers and abilities to my repertoire.
With my appointment set up, I sat down on the couch, closing my eyes and leaning back with a groan.
"...Do you think it's worth it?" I asked Alya as she formed into her solid shape, sitting beside me on the couch. "Revealing some of my abilities for them to certify my healing?"
"For you, yes," She said confidently. "I could feel your disquiet at being unable to heal those two young women we saved from being mugged. If you had certification from the PRT, they might have accepted."
"... I'm sensing a pretty big 'but' there," I said, opening my eyes to look at my bound partner. "What is it?"
"Nothing, just wondering how much of a risk it is," She admitted. "Imagine if your powers didn't grow. How risky would this be then?"
"It would be a hell of a leap of faith," I said with a frown. "A leap of faith in a government-run program on a superhero world. You think these guys are more like SHIELD or CADMUS?"
"You mean dangerous by accident or dangerous on purpose?" She asked
"Yeah."
"...I couldn't really say, not without directly infiltrating the building," She responded. "But if people went in and never came out, people would know. There would be rumors about it, at least. People would shy away from Protectorate capes, not run up for autographs."
"Rumors… Dammit, I'm being stupid," I said, shaking my head. "I already have someone who would know this."
I quickly selected Tony's number on my phone and dialed, waiting patiently for him to pick up.
"Arcanum! Good to hear from you!" Tony's familiar voice nearly shouted. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything is fine, Tony," I said. "You got a minute to talk?"
"Yeah, I'm just at the kitchen, doing some paperwork," He explained. "What's up?"
"So, I was invited to the PRT headquarters to go through power testing so that they could verify my healing," I explained. "The problem is, I don't know much about the PRT. I wasn't a cape nerd before this, and I'm not from around here."
"Huh... Can I ask what the point is?" He asked. "Seems like a waste of time. As long as you ask permission first, you're covered, right?"
"Well, if the PRT signs off on my healing, people will feel better about letting me heal them," I explained, scratching my cheek. "I've already had a couple of people refuse, and… well, they were just a bit roughed up, but I want to keep that from happening somewhere serious."
"Huh… that's fair enough, I suppose," He admits. "Well… The PRT and Protectorate have a reputation for being… kinda useless around here."
"Why?"
"Well… They don't do much these days," Tony explained, his frown audible. "Now, to be fair, the situation really isn't in their favor. The E88 is packed to the gills with capes, and the ABB is run by a fucker who went toe-to-toe with Leviathan."
"Wait… Lung fought with Leviathan?"
"For a bit, when it sunk Kyushu," He explained. "I've seen some of that footage and… well, I can't say I blame them for not wanting to fight that."
"What about rumors about people who do power testing or about stuff like that?" I asked. "Stories of capes getting taken advantage of or anything."
"Well… I gotta be honest, Arcanum. Before you came around, I didn't do much thinking about capes either, beyond how to avoid them," He admitted. "That said… no, I haven't heard anything. I can ask around if you want?"
"Nah, no point. I got an appointment tomorrow afternoon," I explained. "I just wanted to know before I accidentally walked into something stupid."
"I'll send out a search party if you get lost," He joked, and I chuckled along. "Oh, and I'm hoping one of my contacts in the homeless groups around the city is going to respond soon. Tomorrow at the earliest, so we should get news about if they accept sooner rather than later."
"That's good. I'm looking forward to helping again," I said with a smile before idly checking the time. "Alright, well, thank you for the information, Tony. I appreciate having a second opinion."
"No problem, happy to help," He responded. "I'll talk to you soon, hopefully."
"Alright, until then."
I could hear the phone disconnect as I pulled it away from my ear, closing the call from my end a moment later.
"Well… that's about as good as I'm gonna get," I said. "Tony seems like the kind of guy who would hear about that, even if he wasn't big into capes."
Alya nodded in agreement, and after a bit more discussion, I prepared myself for sleep, eventually turning in for the night.
The next morning, after my normal morning stuff, including breakfast and getting clean, I went about the usual process of leaving the shop and hunting for a spot to change. This time, rather than heading to the line between Downtown and the Commercial District like I normally did, I made my way deeper into Downtown, heading off to the PRT headquarters.
As I walked through the streets in my costume, studiously ignoring the attention save the occasional wave to some younger children, I made a note of just how better the conditions were Downtown. The PRT and Protectorate had a pretty firm grip on this area, which was unsurprising considering it was where PRT headquarters was, and it showed.
When I finally arrived at the headquarters, I stopped to look up at the building. It was mostly concrete, coming off as one of those cheap, simple public works that popped up in cities that desperately needed facilities but couldn't afford to do anything fancy. The windows were all barred, and the glint on the glass showed it was deceptively thick, probably bulletproof. The PRT symbol, a shield with the logo on it, was displayed above the front entrance. If I had to guess, the simple nature of the structure was a purposeful misdirection to hide the fact that it was actually pretty well reinforced.
Or maybe I was just being optimistic.
After letting out a long breath, I walked through the front door, looking around to take the interior in. It seemed surprisingly modern and obviously fastidiously cleaned. Along one wall was a small waiting area with a space clearly marked for a guided tour. On the opposite side was a gift shop filled with Protectorate memorabilia and souvenirs.
Directly in front of me was the front desk, with four people working behind it. On either side of that was the entrance into the rest of the building, guarded by four large PRT agents, each armed with assault rifles and armored in full SWAT gear. They stood in front of three metal detectors on one side and what looked like a simple security station on the other, which I assumed was the exit, with the detectors at the entrance.
A soft breeze broke me from my examination of the front entrance, pushing me to the desk. I let out a breath and moved, ignoring the people sitting at the guided tour waiting space as they snapped pictures.
"Hello, my name is Arcanum. I set up an appointment?" I said to one of the receptionists.
"Of course, Assault is already on his way to act as your chaperone," She said with a smile.
"Here is your guest badge."
She reached into a yellow envelope and handed me a tag with an image of me on the front. Judging from the angle of the photo, I could only imagine they grabbed it from a social media post or maybe some body cam footage. I was clipping the tag to my jacket when Alya whispered into my ear.
"Assault just stepped out of a side entrance," She said softly into my ear. "He is coming this way."
"Arcanum! Glad you could make it," Assault said from behind me, prompting me to turn and face him. "Good, you already got your tag. Let's go this way."
He nodded towards a door along the wall, one clearly marked as off-limits to civilians.
"Assault, good to see you," I said, reaching out to shake his hand before following behind him.
"I was happy to hear you set up an appointment," He said as we stepped through the side door. "Especially 'cause I get some overtime to guide you around."
"Happy to help," I said with a chuckle. "So what's up first?"
"Well, I'll be honest, the folks who run the testing facility are very interested to see what you're capable of," He admitted. "The description you gave me really perked their interest."
I nodded as he talked, following along silently as he took me deeper into the building. Eventually, we stopped outside a pair of double doors, the government hero pushing them open. Inside was a relatively large room filled with more than a dozen different machines. They all looked like strange, white-gray medical contraptions with nobs, joystick-like handholds, platforms, and scanners. It wasn't quite mad scientist levels of crazy tech, more like if a mad scientist sold out and someone refined and mass-produced their equipment.
"Right, this is testing lab one," Assault explained, staying near the door but gesturing to the entire room. "This is where a lot of blasters and more esoteric energy… stuff is tested, like Vista's spacial mumbo jumbo, or in this case, your lightning."
I quietly listened and nodded along, asking polite questions until a pair of technicians joined us. They guided me to a specific machine, one designed to measure electricity. Or, rather, it would be after they attached a few pieces to it, meaning it was some sort of multipurpose device that could be shifted to multiple uses with the addition of certain pieces.
While that was being set up, one of the people running the tests asked me a series of questions about my powers, specifically my electrokinesis. I insisted it was not electrokinesis, but they assured me it was at least a form or offshoot. Considering I had already planned to obfuscate my abilities at least partially, I just went with it. If that's what they wanted to call it, even if it was inaccurate, I wasn't going to argue.
After the machine was set up, now sporting an exposed copper rod, while the rest of the machine was covered in rubber, the technicians disappeared. A quick look around showed they had retreated behind an enclosed observation bunker along one side of the large room. The man asking me questions quickly finished up after that, joining the others with a bit of a bounce in his step.
The observation room was raised up off the ground by a couple of feet, meaning it could look out over the entire room. It was clearly built to withstand a variety of attacks, keeping its inhabitants safe even if the people in testing lost control.
Assault gave me an excited wave from inside, following it up with a thumbs up.
"Okay, whenever you're ready, why don't you start off with what you could consider a low-level attack." One of the men in lab coats suggested, his voice coming out from a speaker.
I gave them a thumbs up before simply stabbing out with my finger, launching a single spark of electricity. It slammed into the copper pole, which I assumed they thought would attract the spell, even if that wasn't how it worked. The targeting for most of my launched spells was all mental, which meant my electricity could completely ignore how normal electricity was supposed to work.
Over the next forty-five minutes, I cast a few dozen spells, a few silently, but most of them chanting like normal. They would frequently ask me to cast a spell multiple times, repeating spells they thought were interesting and asking questions when something "strange" happened. Eventually, when they were satisfied, they spoke through the loudspeaker again.
"Alright, now we want to see how powerful you can go," They explained. "For this next one, give it everything you got."
For a moment, I considered the request before nodding in confirmation. I did have something that I would consider my most powerful lightning spell, which I had no issues showing off. In terms of pure power, it was the highest one I had, but it had almost no flexibility or anything else going for it. It was just pure power. It also took way too long to cast for most circumstances.
After a moment, I raised my hands to just above my head, laying the index middle and pointer finger over the others so they formed a triangle with my thumbs touching.
"Evocabo fulgura ad percutiendum et dispergendum inimicum meum!"
Calling out the spell took about three seconds, a lifetime for open combat. As I chanted, I brought my hands down in a half circle on each side, rotating them until they were down at chest level, palms pushing forward. As I moved my hands, arcane sigils appeared in the air, connected by a constant line of my mana. Before the first sigil could fade, I pushed out with my hands, a final line of mana connecting them together. Suddenly, the spell snapped, and a bolt of lightning arced from my hands and slapped out against the copper rod, discharging an immense amount of power. Thankfully, the spell dampened my vision for a split second as the bolt flew out, or it would have at least partially blinded me.
I let out a deep breath, my mana almost four-fifths drained. My body felt wired and jittery from accessing so much mana at once. The feeling faded as my mana reserves slowly equalized.
"Not bad!" Assault's voice called out from the safety of the observation room. "I gotta say, I can see why you went with Arcanum!"
I chuckled and nodded, studying the machine I had attacked. It was obviously hot, since I could see heat waves emanating from the exposed copper. But other than that, it seemed intact. I had some visions of destroying their machine, but I suppose I just wasn't that powerful.
Yet.
At the lab workers' request, I repeated the attack a few times before a few technicians came out to disassemble the machine, and one of the lab workers came out to ask me some more questions face-to-face. When they were done, I asked a question of my own.
"So, how exactly do you guys test healing?" I asked, watching one of the techs testing the equipment. "It's honestly what I'm most interested in. I really want official approval from the PRT that my healing is safe."
"Oh, well, there really isn't a standardized test for that since it's such a rare ability," He admitted.
"As for official approval, I think that involves healing some volunteers, who would then be put under observation for some time. I don't really know for sure, though. It's not really part of what power testing."
"So you're saying that I didn't have to go through power testing in order to get official approval?" I asked, looking over the lab worker's shoulder to see Assault, who was now visibly wincing.
"Uh… no, not really…" The man said, now a bit confused. "Did someone tell you it was?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I was told," I responded with a frown, locking eyes with Assault. "If you'll excuse me for a moment."
I walked around the man, leaving him confused as I walked straight up to the Protectorate hero. For a moment, he tensed as if he anticipated me attacking him. When I stopped, he seemed to take that as a good sign.
"Take it easy, Arcanum. I can explain," He insisted, raising his hand up to ward off any aggression.
"You lied about the process so I would go through full power testing," I said, not willing to tiptoe around anything at this point. "Why?"
"...Orders." He said simply, not sounding particularly happy about it.
For a long moment, we were silent while I tried to figure out what to do. The temptation to leave was high, but I wanted what I came for, dammit!
"Set up the healing test so I can get approval," I finally said. "Then I am leaving."
"... Yeah, that's fair," The red-clad hero agreed with a nod. "Would you like to wait here or...?"
I looked around for a moment before plopping down on the corner of some random device. After a moment, he nodded before turning and whispering in harsh tones, presumably through his radio.
After discussing it with a few people, it was decided that I would make my way to the PRT headquarters at around noon, where I would spend the afternoon measuring and testing my powers. The more I talked about it, the less I liked the idea, but I was still hoping that having the PRT healing approval would be worth it. The idea of a group having accurate measurements of all my abilities sounded absolutely terrible, and the only reason I was considering it was that they had no way of knowing if I was telling the truth, meaning I could hold back. Even if I didn't, it was only a matter of time, literally, before I would be adding more powers and abilities to my repertoire.
With my appointment set up, I sat down on the couch, closing my eyes and leaning back with a groan.
"...Do you think it's worth it?" I asked Alya as she formed into her solid shape, sitting beside me on the couch. "Revealing some of my abilities for them to certify my healing?"
"For you, yes," She said confidently. "I could feel your disquiet at being unable to heal those two young women we saved from being mugged. If you had certification from the PRT, they might have accepted."
"... I'm sensing a pretty big 'but' there," I said, opening my eyes to look at my bound partner. "What is it?"
"Nothing, just wondering how much of a risk it is," She admitted. "Imagine if your powers didn't grow. How risky would this be then?"
"It would be a hell of a leap of faith," I said with a frown. "A leap of faith in a government-run program on a superhero world. You think these guys are more like SHIELD or CADMUS?"
"You mean dangerous by accident or dangerous on purpose?" She asked
"Yeah."
"...I couldn't really say, not without directly infiltrating the building," She responded. "But if people went in and never came out, people would know. There would be rumors about it, at least. People would shy away from Protectorate capes, not run up for autographs."
"Rumors… Dammit, I'm being stupid," I said, shaking my head. "I already have someone who would know this."
I quickly selected Tony's number on my phone and dialed, waiting patiently for him to pick up.
"Arcanum! Good to hear from you!" Tony's familiar voice nearly shouted. "Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, everything is fine, Tony," I said. "You got a minute to talk?"
"Yeah, I'm just at the kitchen, doing some paperwork," He explained. "What's up?"
"So, I was invited to the PRT headquarters to go through power testing so that they could verify my healing," I explained. "The problem is, I don't know much about the PRT. I wasn't a cape nerd before this, and I'm not from around here."
"Huh... Can I ask what the point is?" He asked. "Seems like a waste of time. As long as you ask permission first, you're covered, right?"
"Well, if the PRT signs off on my healing, people will feel better about letting me heal them," I explained, scratching my cheek. "I've already had a couple of people refuse, and… well, they were just a bit roughed up, but I want to keep that from happening somewhere serious."
"Huh… that's fair enough, I suppose," He admits. "Well… The PRT and Protectorate have a reputation for being… kinda useless around here."
"Why?"
"Well… They don't do much these days," Tony explained, his frown audible. "Now, to be fair, the situation really isn't in their favor. The E88 is packed to the gills with capes, and the ABB is run by a fucker who went toe-to-toe with Leviathan."
"Wait… Lung fought with Leviathan?"
"For a bit, when it sunk Kyushu," He explained. "I've seen some of that footage and… well, I can't say I blame them for not wanting to fight that."
"What about rumors about people who do power testing or about stuff like that?" I asked. "Stories of capes getting taken advantage of or anything."
"Well… I gotta be honest, Arcanum. Before you came around, I didn't do much thinking about capes either, beyond how to avoid them," He admitted. "That said… no, I haven't heard anything. I can ask around if you want?"
"Nah, no point. I got an appointment tomorrow afternoon," I explained. "I just wanted to know before I accidentally walked into something stupid."
"I'll send out a search party if you get lost," He joked, and I chuckled along. "Oh, and I'm hoping one of my contacts in the homeless groups around the city is going to respond soon. Tomorrow at the earliest, so we should get news about if they accept sooner rather than later."
"That's good. I'm looking forward to helping again," I said with a smile before idly checking the time. "Alright, well, thank you for the information, Tony. I appreciate having a second opinion."
"No problem, happy to help," He responded. "I'll talk to you soon, hopefully."
"Alright, until then."
I could hear the phone disconnect as I pulled it away from my ear, closing the call from my end a moment later.
"Well… that's about as good as I'm gonna get," I said. "Tony seems like the kind of guy who would hear about that, even if he wasn't big into capes."
Alya nodded in agreement, and after a bit more discussion, I prepared myself for sleep, eventually turning in for the night.
The next morning, after my normal morning stuff, including breakfast and getting clean, I went about the usual process of leaving the shop and hunting for a spot to change. This time, rather than heading to the line between Downtown and the Commercial District like I normally did, I made my way deeper into Downtown, heading off to the PRT headquarters.
As I walked through the streets in my costume, studiously ignoring the attention save the occasional wave to some younger children, I made a note of just how better the conditions were Downtown. The PRT and Protectorate had a pretty firm grip on this area, which was unsurprising considering it was where PRT headquarters was, and it showed.
When I finally arrived at the headquarters, I stopped to look up at the building. It was mostly concrete, coming off as one of those cheap, simple public works that popped up in cities that desperately needed facilities but couldn't afford to do anything fancy. The windows were all barred, and the glint on the glass showed it was deceptively thick, probably bulletproof. The PRT symbol, a shield with the logo on it, was displayed above the front entrance. If I had to guess, the simple nature of the structure was a purposeful misdirection to hide the fact that it was actually pretty well reinforced.
Or maybe I was just being optimistic.
After letting out a long breath, I walked through the front door, looking around to take the interior in. It seemed surprisingly modern and obviously fastidiously cleaned. Along one wall was a small waiting area with a space clearly marked for a guided tour. On the opposite side was a gift shop filled with Protectorate memorabilia and souvenirs.
Directly in front of me was the front desk, with four people working behind it. On either side of that was the entrance into the rest of the building, guarded by four large PRT agents, each armed with assault rifles and armored in full SWAT gear. They stood in front of three metal detectors on one side and what looked like a simple security station on the other, which I assumed was the exit, with the detectors at the entrance.
A soft breeze broke me from my examination of the front entrance, pushing me to the desk. I let out a breath and moved, ignoring the people sitting at the guided tour waiting space as they snapped pictures.
"Hello, my name is Arcanum. I set up an appointment?" I said to one of the receptionists.
"Of course, Assault is already on his way to act as your chaperone," She said with a smile.
"Here is your guest badge."
She reached into a yellow envelope and handed me a tag with an image of me on the front. Judging from the angle of the photo, I could only imagine they grabbed it from a social media post or maybe some body cam footage. I was clipping the tag to my jacket when Alya whispered into my ear.
"Assault just stepped out of a side entrance," She said softly into my ear. "He is coming this way."
"Arcanum! Glad you could make it," Assault said from behind me, prompting me to turn and face him. "Good, you already got your tag. Let's go this way."
He nodded towards a door along the wall, one clearly marked as off-limits to civilians.
"Assault, good to see you," I said, reaching out to shake his hand before following behind him.
"I was happy to hear you set up an appointment," He said as we stepped through the side door. "Especially 'cause I get some overtime to guide you around."
"Happy to help," I said with a chuckle. "So what's up first?"
"Well, I'll be honest, the folks who run the testing facility are very interested to see what you're capable of," He admitted. "The description you gave me really perked their interest."
I nodded as he talked, following along silently as he took me deeper into the building. Eventually, we stopped outside a pair of double doors, the government hero pushing them open. Inside was a relatively large room filled with more than a dozen different machines. They all looked like strange, white-gray medical contraptions with nobs, joystick-like handholds, platforms, and scanners. It wasn't quite mad scientist levels of crazy tech, more like if a mad scientist sold out and someone refined and mass-produced their equipment.
"Right, this is testing lab one," Assault explained, staying near the door but gesturing to the entire room. "This is where a lot of blasters and more esoteric energy… stuff is tested, like Vista's spacial mumbo jumbo, or in this case, your lightning."
I quietly listened and nodded along, asking polite questions until a pair of technicians joined us. They guided me to a specific machine, one designed to measure electricity. Or, rather, it would be after they attached a few pieces to it, meaning it was some sort of multipurpose device that could be shifted to multiple uses with the addition of certain pieces.
While that was being set up, one of the people running the tests asked me a series of questions about my powers, specifically my electrokinesis. I insisted it was not electrokinesis, but they assured me it was at least a form or offshoot. Considering I had already planned to obfuscate my abilities at least partially, I just went with it. If that's what they wanted to call it, even if it was inaccurate, I wasn't going to argue.
After the machine was set up, now sporting an exposed copper rod, while the rest of the machine was covered in rubber, the technicians disappeared. A quick look around showed they had retreated behind an enclosed observation bunker along one side of the large room. The man asking me questions quickly finished up after that, joining the others with a bit of a bounce in his step.
The observation room was raised up off the ground by a couple of feet, meaning it could look out over the entire room. It was clearly built to withstand a variety of attacks, keeping its inhabitants safe even if the people in testing lost control.
Assault gave me an excited wave from inside, following it up with a thumbs up.
"Okay, whenever you're ready, why don't you start off with what you could consider a low-level attack." One of the men in lab coats suggested, his voice coming out from a speaker.
I gave them a thumbs up before simply stabbing out with my finger, launching a single spark of electricity. It slammed into the copper pole, which I assumed they thought would attract the spell, even if that wasn't how it worked. The targeting for most of my launched spells was all mental, which meant my electricity could completely ignore how normal electricity was supposed to work.
Over the next forty-five minutes, I cast a few dozen spells, a few silently, but most of them chanting like normal. They would frequently ask me to cast a spell multiple times, repeating spells they thought were interesting and asking questions when something "strange" happened. Eventually, when they were satisfied, they spoke through the loudspeaker again.
"Alright, now we want to see how powerful you can go," They explained. "For this next one, give it everything you got."
For a moment, I considered the request before nodding in confirmation. I did have something that I would consider my most powerful lightning spell, which I had no issues showing off. In terms of pure power, it was the highest one I had, but it had almost no flexibility or anything else going for it. It was just pure power. It also took way too long to cast for most circumstances.
After a moment, I raised my hands to just above my head, laying the index middle and pointer finger over the others so they formed a triangle with my thumbs touching.
"Evocabo fulgura ad percutiendum et dispergendum inimicum meum!"
Calling out the spell took about three seconds, a lifetime for open combat. As I chanted, I brought my hands down in a half circle on each side, rotating them until they were down at chest level, palms pushing forward. As I moved my hands, arcane sigils appeared in the air, connected by a constant line of my mana. Before the first sigil could fade, I pushed out with my hands, a final line of mana connecting them together. Suddenly, the spell snapped, and a bolt of lightning arced from my hands and slapped out against the copper rod, discharging an immense amount of power. Thankfully, the spell dampened my vision for a split second as the bolt flew out, or it would have at least partially blinded me.
I let out a deep breath, my mana almost four-fifths drained. My body felt wired and jittery from accessing so much mana at once. The feeling faded as my mana reserves slowly equalized.
"Not bad!" Assault's voice called out from the safety of the observation room. "I gotta say, I can see why you went with Arcanum!"
I chuckled and nodded, studying the machine I had attacked. It was obviously hot, since I could see heat waves emanating from the exposed copper. But other than that, it seemed intact. I had some visions of destroying their machine, but I suppose I just wasn't that powerful.
Yet.
At the lab workers' request, I repeated the attack a few times before a few technicians came out to disassemble the machine, and one of the lab workers came out to ask me some more questions face-to-face. When they were done, I asked a question of my own.
"So, how exactly do you guys test healing?" I asked, watching one of the techs testing the equipment. "It's honestly what I'm most interested in. I really want official approval from the PRT that my healing is safe."
"Oh, well, there really isn't a standardized test for that since it's such a rare ability," He admitted.
"As for official approval, I think that involves healing some volunteers, who would then be put under observation for some time. I don't really know for sure, though. It's not really part of what power testing."
"So you're saying that I didn't have to go through power testing in order to get official approval?" I asked, looking over the lab worker's shoulder to see Assault, who was now visibly wincing.
"Uh… no, not really…" The man said, now a bit confused. "Did someone tell you it was?"
"Yes, that's exactly what I was told," I responded with a frown, locking eyes with Assault. "If you'll excuse me for a moment."
I walked around the man, leaving him confused as I walked straight up to the Protectorate hero. For a moment, he tensed as if he anticipated me attacking him. When I stopped, he seemed to take that as a good sign.
"Take it easy, Arcanum. I can explain," He insisted, raising his hand up to ward off any aggression.
"You lied about the process so I would go through full power testing," I said, not willing to tiptoe around anything at this point. "Why?"
"...Orders." He said simply, not sounding particularly happy about it.
For a long moment, we were silent while I tried to figure out what to do. The temptation to leave was high, but I wanted what I came for, dammit!
"Set up the healing test so I can get approval," I finally said. "Then I am leaving."
"... Yeah, that's fair," The red-clad hero agreed with a nod. "Would you like to wait here or...?"
I looked around for a moment before plopping down on the corner of some random device. After a moment, he nodded before turning and whispering in harsh tones, presumably through his radio.
Arimai
Curmudgeon
Make a point of charging ANY PRT affiliate of the local office double a specialist surgeon's rates invoiced and notarized. While charging those who can afford it a Canadian Walk In clinic's fee for international tourists and out of province residents, which is 50 - 90 CDN. Fuck Piggott!
Make sure that you get that approval in writing and issued from the Federal PRT and not from ENE! Piggott wants to play Fuck Around and Find Out games? There are ever escalating consequences for her entire command.
Also get a lawyer or firm on retainer ASAP, there should me a ton in the state want to make their name breaking the PRT over their knee. Everything in writing with clear chains of legal documentation and meticulous records. Don't be afraid to be litigious. You'll need an LLC up and running for your one man clinic.
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So he had already passed the test basically, cus there's no way they didn't pick up some of those he healed for their own test. PRT is the worst honestly, now all the gang have info on his powers thankfully he was already suspicious and didnt expose everything.
Chapter Twelve
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Assault whisper yelled into his radio for a good few minutes before eventually guiding me through the PRT to a small waiting room, really more of a cutout corner along a long, mostly empty hallway. As we walked, Assault kept looking over his shoulder at me. When he gestured to one of the seats, he talked for the first time since we left the testing room.
"Alright, Arcanum, if you wouldn't mind waiting here for a bit, we just need to get the volunteers ready," He assured me. "I also… I want to apologize for lying to you. I was ordered to, but honestly, I should have said no. You've done nothing to deserve that kind of treatment."
His admission catches me off guard, and for a moment, I look up at him with a frown.
"Then why do it?" I asked, continuing when he opened his mouth. "I know you were ordered to, but why were you ordered to?"
"Because… well… honestly, the PRT director is paranoid, and your powers are a bit confusing," He explained, looking back and forth down the hallway. "She assumed you were lying, so she wanted to get a look at your powers on her own."
"I was being purposely vague," I responded, shocking the man for a moment. "Because I had no interest in displaying my powers for everyone to see, my only concern was being accredited for healing."
"Huh… well, I can't blame you for that," He responded, scratching his chin. "Certainly not now."
"You're going to get in trouble for this, aren't you?"
"Oh yeah, I'm surprised they haven't already- Oh wait, here we go."
I was confused for a moment before I followed where Assault was looking. At that moment, another hero came around the corner, one I recognized as Miss Militia. She was dressed in a prop, stylized and lightly padded version of military fatigues, with a sash around her hips and a bandana obscuring the bottom half of her face, both of them stylized US flags. She had a holster on her hip, with an ethereal green revolver, the manifestation of her powers, holstered inside.
"Assault, Director Piggot wants to see you immediately," She said, her face obscured by her bandana.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going," He said with a smile and a sarcastic salute. "Sorry about all this, Arcanum."
"Yeah… Thanks for being honest," I said as I watched him leave before focusing back on Miss Militia. "I don't suppose you're gonna apologize too?"
When she refused to say anything, I couldn't help but frown. According to the online reports, after Assault, Miss Militia was the most personable and approachable member of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. And yet, somehow, I ended up sitting in front of her as she watched me closely, her glowing green sidearm shifting several times.
"You know, I was at least looking forward to meeting fellow heroes, even if I didn't want to give away all my secrets," I pointed out, meeting the woman's eyes. "This isn't exactly a great introduction. Then again, at this point, I shouldn't be surprised. Introductions haven't exactly been going well so far. First Panacea, then Battery, now this… I'd say more, but I'm worried I might actually summon Murphy himself here to make it worse."
Despite the fact that most of her face was covered, I could see her expression soften. It was at least nice to know she wasn't wholly remorseless or emotionless.
I waited patiently in the hallway for around twenty minutes, with Alya occasionally whispering secrets into my ear. She was mainly concerned about them ambushing me somehow, though I didn't think that was likely. Even if I admitted that I was playing fast and loose with what I was actually capable of, I hadn't actually done anything wrong, not that I knew about, at least. The entire PRT and Protectorate would have to be ridiculously broken or corrupt for them to actually make a move on me at this point.
After about twenty minutes, when the urge to just leave was starting to get really hard to ignore, Miss Militia reached up and touched her ear. She nodded once before focusing on me.
"They are ready for you now," She said simply before leading me down the hall, eventually stopping outside what looked like a miniature hospital.
Over the next two hours, I healed a dozen PRT volunteers, working on injuries ranging from a twisted ankle all the way up to a broken arm and a gunshot wound. All of them were recent, which made sense, considering they must have a quick in with Panacea. The process was relatively painless, even with a pair of doctors looking over my shoulder the entire time. I could practically feel their eye rolls and scoffs when I started chanting and moving my hands around, even with the various arcane sigils floating in the air.
When I finished healing all of the volunteers, I discussed some of the limitations of my healing, as well as how some of it worked. This, I was completely honest about, giving them as much detail as I could provide, which was a lot considering just how much information I got for each level of investment.
When the doctors were satisfied, meaning they were finally done trying to trip me up and make me look silly for chanting, Miss Militia returned to walk me out of the building. Either she was given permission to talk to me, or she was taking a page out of Assault's book, because she spoke up as we walked.
"I would like to give you the Protectorate's official apology for the confusion around power testing and verifying your healing ability," She said as she walked, her glowing green weapon set on a switchblade. "It was unprofessional and underhanded."
"It really was," I agreed with a nod. "But I got what I came for, and I was never going to join anyway, even without an egg on your face."
"...Are you sure?" She asked, turning to look at me, somehow radiating genuine concern. "I know Battery was… a bit aggressive in her explanation of why it's important, but none of what she said wasn't true. You are in significantly more danger on your own."
"I know, but I don't need people on my back, forcing me to do stuff I don't want to," I explained with a shrug. "Like lying to a new hero because my boss wants a better understanding of his powers."
That got a wince out of her, and for the rest of the walk, she remained quiet. Eventually, we reached the same door I had entered with Assault. We stopped, and Miss Militia held something out for me, a pair of cards.
"One of these is for the people you can talk to about your verification should something go wrong," She explained. "The other is for Assault's hero line. He wanted you to have it. Keep in mind, this is not a publically available number."
I paused for a moment before reaching out and taking them both, sliding them into one of my many pockets.
"Thank you, Miss Militia," I said, shaking her hand, careful not to crush it with my enhanced strength. "It's unfortunate how this day went, but I'm sure in the future we will joke about this. Or at least Assault will."
That got a smile out of her, the exposed parts of her face shifting enough for me to tell what she was doing. With one final goodbye, I stepped out of the door into the front lobby. I took a quick look around before turning to the exit and walking out and into the street.
With a sudden abundance of time, I was tempted to try my hand at some shopping, but instead, I decided I would be better off going on patrol. I had about six hours before my absorption ran out, and since I was already in my uniform, I could get right to it.
"Alright, Alya, why don't you spread out," I mumbled to myself. "Start looking for anything interesting."
I could feel her agreement as she pulled away, spreading herself over a massive area around me. In all likelihood, she wouldn't find anything, especially so close to the nearby PRT headquarters. I would likely have to cover a bunch of distance before I was in a rough enough neighborhood.
I quickly cast the marathon spell, letting the stamina enhancement rush over me as I began to jog, heading north toward the Docks. My last patrol had been in the "bad" areas of Downtown, towards the west, where E88 held territory. Today, I would be working my way along the north side close to the South Docks. It took me about twenty minutes to get to the right area, and I could really start the patrol.
I ended up walking all around the area, spending hours jogging and walking. The entire time, even with Alya's help, I saw next to nothing. Once, I scared off some guys looking into a car, which definitely wasn't theirs. I would have been happier if I hadn't been sure that the second I left the area, they would be smashing the windows to grab whatever was valuable inside.
I also helped a pair of lost kids, who had assured their parents they would stay nearby and had instead rushed off and gotten lost. Their parents were very glad when I led them back with Alya's help. I was happy as well since I couldn't imagine that situation going well, especially as it was getting darker at this point. There were still a few hours before sunset, but it was still too close for comfort.
I was finally making my way back home, or more specifically, making my way back to where I left my civilian clothes to change when I heard someone from above me.
"Mage! Hold up."
frowned and turned, looking up to see Glory Girl floating down from the sky. As she approached, I could see a conflicted look on her face. She glanced at the people stopping to look at the both of us.
"It's Arcanum, actually," I said before following her look around. "What can I do for you?"
"Nothing, I just spotted you when I was flying over," She explained. "But… maybe we could talk, somewhere private?"
I looked around at everyone watching, frowning at the complete lack of privacy. I was about to ask where she would like to go when Alya whispered in my ear.
"The rooftop, it's clear," she said, tugging on me with the wind and pointing me to a nearby building. When I spotted what my partner was pointing out, I nodded toward it.
"I'll meet you up there," I said before walking into an alleyway.
As I moved, I cast a relatively quick spell, twin blue bands slinking down my arm, similar to how the marathon spell worked, only with fewer bands that all went down to my legs.
"Ver me altius" I chanted, before jumping up, my spell boosting my jump considerably, way more than I thought. "Woah!
I passed over my target, a lower offshoot of the larger building I had directed Glory Girl to. I ended up tumbling and rolling as I overshot, having assumed I would have to lift myself up, not clear the lower floor entirely.
"What the fuck?" I said quietly, standing up and dusting myself off. "What the hell was that?"
"Your strength is enhanced," Alya pointed out. "You could already jump much higher than normal."
"And the spell only increased that," I muttered with a nod. "Okay, let's try that again."
I quickly cast the spell again, running along the lower section of the roof before jumping, pushing myself hard. Between my enhanced strength and the buff in my legs, I easily cleared the edge, landing on the flat roof. This time, however, I was ready and landed smoothly on the roof, a smirk on my lips. I really needed to revisit my running. If there was a way to leverage my enhanced strength as I ran…
"Everything alright?"
I turned to see Glory Girl floating a dozen or so feet away, touching down on the roof easily, patting her skirt flat as she looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, still getting used to the powers, you know?" I explained, and she nodded understandingly.
"Oh, tell me about it. The amount of phones I went through when I first got mine," She responded, shaking her head. "Hard to control yourself sometimes, you know?"
"I know the feeling," I said, chuckling softly. "So… what did you want to talk about?"
"I… well, I wanted to apologize," She said, rubbing her arm, the spitting image of an embarrassed teen, mostly because that's what she was. "I kinda messed up our first interaction, and then… well, Amy had a meltdown…"
"Meltdown?" I asked, making sure my concern was audible since she couldn't see my face. "Is she okay?"
"She… well, she is pretending to be," She admitted with a frown. "She's not your biggest fan at the moment, though. I think something about you really, really got under her skin. Which is totally not your fault! I just…She… "
I looked around the roof, spotting an air conditioning unit not too far away. I made my way to it and sat, gesturing for her to continue.
"Tell me what happened. I might not be able to help, but I can at least listen."
Apparently, I had been standing on the low end of a failing dam, because all Glory Girl needed was my permission before opening the floodgates full send. The young woman started talking and didn't stop for several minutes. I can only imagine she didn't intend to be as open as she was but got caught in the moment, because eventually, she stopped to take a breath and froze. She was explaining how Amy had been sneaking out at night to go to the hospital again, when she appeared to realize just how much she was revealing.
"Relax," I said, holding up my hands. "I'm not going to say anything to anyone. Who would believe me anyway?"
She laughed nervously, before shaking her head.
"I just don't know what to say," She admitted. "She insists that nothing is different, which means that I've been a horrible sister and didn't realize she was working herself to exhaustion because she thought it was all she was good for."
"What about your parents?" I asked. "Have you pointed it out to them?"
"Well, Dad… has some issues," She said, chewing her lip. "And I think Mom might be part of the problem?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, sitting up straight.
"Mom… is really intense," She admitted. "And she pushed Amy to volunteer at the hospital in the first place. I'm worried she might have the wrong idea because of that."
I took in what she said, rolling it around in my head for a long moment. Eventually, I nodded.
"Do you want my advice?"
"...It couldn't hurt?"
"Well… I can't say I know enough to offer a simple solution, but I will say…" I said, trailing off to restructure my thoughts before eventually continuing. "Sometimes, the best response is to lay it all out on the table. It sounds like your sister needs help, and you might be one of the few people who's noticed. So help other people notice it. Just like you, they can't help if they don't know. You'd be surprised just what a little communication can do."
The young woman, dressed in a white and gold super suit and gold tiara, floating several inches off the ground, chewed her lip as she nodded.
"I guess? I'm just worried… I'm worried it won't be enough," She revealed. "That I'll tell my parents, and they won't do anything."
I leaned back, my eyes wide at that statement. On one hand, it could be nothing more than an anxious teenager, worried that people don't care enough about her to listen. On the other, it could be an admission of something much worse.
"Well… if that's the case, then go up the chain."
She looked at me now, confused at what I said. I raise my hand to hold off the inevitable question.
"When you tell your teacher there's a problem, and they do nothing, you go to a different teacher. When they do nothing, you go to the principal," I explained. "When they do nothing, you go to the superintendent. If they do nothing, and the problem is bad enough, you call the police. If you tell somebody something, something that is their responsibility to take care of, and they ignore it…"
"I go up the chain," She repeated with a frown. "Aunt Sarah, maybe?"
"I don't know, Glory Girl, there is a lot about this situation I don't know," I admitted. "You're going to have to use your own judgment."
"I… yeah, okay," She said with a nod, seeming to gain confidence as a plan formed in her head. "I… Thank you for listening. I just wanted to apologize, but…"
"Hey, I'm glad I could help," I said with a smile, though I idly noted she couldn't see it. "I hope everything works out."
"I do, too," She said with a solemn nod before pulling out her phone. "I need to go. It's getting a bit late. Thank you again."
She waved before taking off into the air, rising above the buildings before blasting away at a pretty impressive speed, leaving me on the building, watching her go. I couldn't help but shake my head as I watched her fly away.
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Assault whisper yelled into his radio for a good few minutes before eventually guiding me through the PRT to a small waiting room, really more of a cutout corner along a long, mostly empty hallway. As we walked, Assault kept looking over his shoulder at me. When he gestured to one of the seats, he talked for the first time since we left the testing room.
"Alright, Arcanum, if you wouldn't mind waiting here for a bit, we just need to get the volunteers ready," He assured me. "I also… I want to apologize for lying to you. I was ordered to, but honestly, I should have said no. You've done nothing to deserve that kind of treatment."
His admission catches me off guard, and for a moment, I look up at him with a frown.
"Then why do it?" I asked, continuing when he opened his mouth. "I know you were ordered to, but why were you ordered to?"
"Because… well… honestly, the PRT director is paranoid, and your powers are a bit confusing," He explained, looking back and forth down the hallway. "She assumed you were lying, so she wanted to get a look at your powers on her own."
"I was being purposely vague," I responded, shocking the man for a moment. "Because I had no interest in displaying my powers for everyone to see, my only concern was being accredited for healing."
"Huh… well, I can't blame you for that," He responded, scratching his chin. "Certainly not now."
"You're going to get in trouble for this, aren't you?"
"Oh yeah, I'm surprised they haven't already- Oh wait, here we go."
I was confused for a moment before I followed where Assault was looking. At that moment, another hero came around the corner, one I recognized as Miss Militia. She was dressed in a prop, stylized and lightly padded version of military fatigues, with a sash around her hips and a bandana obscuring the bottom half of her face, both of them stylized US flags. She had a holster on her hip, with an ethereal green revolver, the manifestation of her powers, holstered inside.
"Assault, Director Piggot wants to see you immediately," She said, her face obscured by her bandana.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm going," He said with a smile and a sarcastic salute. "Sorry about all this, Arcanum."
"Yeah… Thanks for being honest," I said as I watched him leave before focusing back on Miss Militia. "I don't suppose you're gonna apologize too?"
When she refused to say anything, I couldn't help but frown. According to the online reports, after Assault, Miss Militia was the most personable and approachable member of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. And yet, somehow, I ended up sitting in front of her as she watched me closely, her glowing green sidearm shifting several times.
"You know, I was at least looking forward to meeting fellow heroes, even if I didn't want to give away all my secrets," I pointed out, meeting the woman's eyes. "This isn't exactly a great introduction. Then again, at this point, I shouldn't be surprised. Introductions haven't exactly been going well so far. First Panacea, then Battery, now this… I'd say more, but I'm worried I might actually summon Murphy himself here to make it worse."
Despite the fact that most of her face was covered, I could see her expression soften. It was at least nice to know she wasn't wholly remorseless or emotionless.
I waited patiently in the hallway for around twenty minutes, with Alya occasionally whispering secrets into my ear. She was mainly concerned about them ambushing me somehow, though I didn't think that was likely. Even if I admitted that I was playing fast and loose with what I was actually capable of, I hadn't actually done anything wrong, not that I knew about, at least. The entire PRT and Protectorate would have to be ridiculously broken or corrupt for them to actually make a move on me at this point.
After about twenty minutes, when the urge to just leave was starting to get really hard to ignore, Miss Militia reached up and touched her ear. She nodded once before focusing on me.
"They are ready for you now," She said simply before leading me down the hall, eventually stopping outside what looked like a miniature hospital.
Over the next two hours, I healed a dozen PRT volunteers, working on injuries ranging from a twisted ankle all the way up to a broken arm and a gunshot wound. All of them were recent, which made sense, considering they must have a quick in with Panacea. The process was relatively painless, even with a pair of doctors looking over my shoulder the entire time. I could practically feel their eye rolls and scoffs when I started chanting and moving my hands around, even with the various arcane sigils floating in the air.
When I finished healing all of the volunteers, I discussed some of the limitations of my healing, as well as how some of it worked. This, I was completely honest about, giving them as much detail as I could provide, which was a lot considering just how much information I got for each level of investment.
When the doctors were satisfied, meaning they were finally done trying to trip me up and make me look silly for chanting, Miss Militia returned to walk me out of the building. Either she was given permission to talk to me, or she was taking a page out of Assault's book, because she spoke up as we walked.
"I would like to give you the Protectorate's official apology for the confusion around power testing and verifying your healing ability," She said as she walked, her glowing green weapon set on a switchblade. "It was unprofessional and underhanded."
"It really was," I agreed with a nod. "But I got what I came for, and I was never going to join anyway, even without an egg on your face."
"...Are you sure?" She asked, turning to look at me, somehow radiating genuine concern. "I know Battery was… a bit aggressive in her explanation of why it's important, but none of what she said wasn't true. You are in significantly more danger on your own."
"I know, but I don't need people on my back, forcing me to do stuff I don't want to," I explained with a shrug. "Like lying to a new hero because my boss wants a better understanding of his powers."
That got a wince out of her, and for the rest of the walk, she remained quiet. Eventually, we reached the same door I had entered with Assault. We stopped, and Miss Militia held something out for me, a pair of cards.
"One of these is for the people you can talk to about your verification should something go wrong," She explained. "The other is for Assault's hero line. He wanted you to have it. Keep in mind, this is not a publically available number."
I paused for a moment before reaching out and taking them both, sliding them into one of my many pockets.
"Thank you, Miss Militia," I said, shaking her hand, careful not to crush it with my enhanced strength. "It's unfortunate how this day went, but I'm sure in the future we will joke about this. Or at least Assault will."
That got a smile out of her, the exposed parts of her face shifting enough for me to tell what she was doing. With one final goodbye, I stepped out of the door into the front lobby. I took a quick look around before turning to the exit and walking out and into the street.
With a sudden abundance of time, I was tempted to try my hand at some shopping, but instead, I decided I would be better off going on patrol. I had about six hours before my absorption ran out, and since I was already in my uniform, I could get right to it.
"Alright, Alya, why don't you spread out," I mumbled to myself. "Start looking for anything interesting."
I could feel her agreement as she pulled away, spreading herself over a massive area around me. In all likelihood, she wouldn't find anything, especially so close to the nearby PRT headquarters. I would likely have to cover a bunch of distance before I was in a rough enough neighborhood.
I quickly cast the marathon spell, letting the stamina enhancement rush over me as I began to jog, heading north toward the Docks. My last patrol had been in the "bad" areas of Downtown, towards the west, where E88 held territory. Today, I would be working my way along the north side close to the South Docks. It took me about twenty minutes to get to the right area, and I could really start the patrol.
I ended up walking all around the area, spending hours jogging and walking. The entire time, even with Alya's help, I saw next to nothing. Once, I scared off some guys looking into a car, which definitely wasn't theirs. I would have been happier if I hadn't been sure that the second I left the area, they would be smashing the windows to grab whatever was valuable inside.
I also helped a pair of lost kids, who had assured their parents they would stay nearby and had instead rushed off and gotten lost. Their parents were very glad when I led them back with Alya's help. I was happy as well since I couldn't imagine that situation going well, especially as it was getting darker at this point. There were still a few hours before sunset, but it was still too close for comfort.
I was finally making my way back home, or more specifically, making my way back to where I left my civilian clothes to change when I heard someone from above me.
"Mage! Hold up."
frowned and turned, looking up to see Glory Girl floating down from the sky. As she approached, I could see a conflicted look on her face. She glanced at the people stopping to look at the both of us.
"It's Arcanum, actually," I said before following her look around. "What can I do for you?"
"Nothing, I just spotted you when I was flying over," She explained. "But… maybe we could talk, somewhere private?"
I looked around at everyone watching, frowning at the complete lack of privacy. I was about to ask where she would like to go when Alya whispered in my ear.
"The rooftop, it's clear," she said, tugging on me with the wind and pointing me to a nearby building. When I spotted what my partner was pointing out, I nodded toward it.
"I'll meet you up there," I said before walking into an alleyway.
As I moved, I cast a relatively quick spell, twin blue bands slinking down my arm, similar to how the marathon spell worked, only with fewer bands that all went down to my legs.
"Ver me altius" I chanted, before jumping up, my spell boosting my jump considerably, way more than I thought. "Woah!
I passed over my target, a lower offshoot of the larger building I had directed Glory Girl to. I ended up tumbling and rolling as I overshot, having assumed I would have to lift myself up, not clear the lower floor entirely.
"What the fuck?" I said quietly, standing up and dusting myself off. "What the hell was that?"
"Your strength is enhanced," Alya pointed out. "You could already jump much higher than normal."
"And the spell only increased that," I muttered with a nod. "Okay, let's try that again."
I quickly cast the spell again, running along the lower section of the roof before jumping, pushing myself hard. Between my enhanced strength and the buff in my legs, I easily cleared the edge, landing on the flat roof. This time, however, I was ready and landed smoothly on the roof, a smirk on my lips. I really needed to revisit my running. If there was a way to leverage my enhanced strength as I ran…
"Everything alright?"
I turned to see Glory Girl floating a dozen or so feet away, touching down on the roof easily, patting her skirt flat as she looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, still getting used to the powers, you know?" I explained, and she nodded understandingly.
"Oh, tell me about it. The amount of phones I went through when I first got mine," She responded, shaking her head. "Hard to control yourself sometimes, you know?"
"I know the feeling," I said, chuckling softly. "So… what did you want to talk about?"
"I… well, I wanted to apologize," She said, rubbing her arm, the spitting image of an embarrassed teen, mostly because that's what she was. "I kinda messed up our first interaction, and then… well, Amy had a meltdown…"
"Meltdown?" I asked, making sure my concern was audible since she couldn't see my face. "Is she okay?"
"She… well, she is pretending to be," She admitted with a frown. "She's not your biggest fan at the moment, though. I think something about you really, really got under her skin. Which is totally not your fault! I just…She… "
I looked around the roof, spotting an air conditioning unit not too far away. I made my way to it and sat, gesturing for her to continue.
"Tell me what happened. I might not be able to help, but I can at least listen."
Apparently, I had been standing on the low end of a failing dam, because all Glory Girl needed was my permission before opening the floodgates full send. The young woman started talking and didn't stop for several minutes. I can only imagine she didn't intend to be as open as she was but got caught in the moment, because eventually, she stopped to take a breath and froze. She was explaining how Amy had been sneaking out at night to go to the hospital again, when she appeared to realize just how much she was revealing.
"Relax," I said, holding up my hands. "I'm not going to say anything to anyone. Who would believe me anyway?"
She laughed nervously, before shaking her head.
"I just don't know what to say," She admitted. "She insists that nothing is different, which means that I've been a horrible sister and didn't realize she was working herself to exhaustion because she thought it was all she was good for."
"What about your parents?" I asked. "Have you pointed it out to them?"
"Well, Dad… has some issues," She said, chewing her lip. "And I think Mom might be part of the problem?"
"What do you mean?" I asked, sitting up straight.
"Mom… is really intense," She admitted. "And she pushed Amy to volunteer at the hospital in the first place. I'm worried she might have the wrong idea because of that."
I took in what she said, rolling it around in my head for a long moment. Eventually, I nodded.
"Do you want my advice?"
"...It couldn't hurt?"
"Well… I can't say I know enough to offer a simple solution, but I will say…" I said, trailing off to restructure my thoughts before eventually continuing. "Sometimes, the best response is to lay it all out on the table. It sounds like your sister needs help, and you might be one of the few people who's noticed. So help other people notice it. Just like you, they can't help if they don't know. You'd be surprised just what a little communication can do."
The young woman, dressed in a white and gold super suit and gold tiara, floating several inches off the ground, chewed her lip as she nodded.
"I guess? I'm just worried… I'm worried it won't be enough," She revealed. "That I'll tell my parents, and they won't do anything."
I leaned back, my eyes wide at that statement. On one hand, it could be nothing more than an anxious teenager, worried that people don't care enough about her to listen. On the other, it could be an admission of something much worse.
"Well… if that's the case, then go up the chain."
She looked at me now, confused at what I said. I raise my hand to hold off the inevitable question.
"When you tell your teacher there's a problem, and they do nothing, you go to a different teacher. When they do nothing, you go to the principal," I explained. "When they do nothing, you go to the superintendent. If they do nothing, and the problem is bad enough, you call the police. If you tell somebody something, something that is their responsibility to take care of, and they ignore it…"
"I go up the chain," She repeated with a frown. "Aunt Sarah, maybe?"
"I don't know, Glory Girl, there is a lot about this situation I don't know," I admitted. "You're going to have to use your own judgment."
"I… yeah, okay," She said with a nod, seeming to gain confidence as a plan formed in her head. "I… Thank you for listening. I just wanted to apologize, but…"
"Hey, I'm glad I could help," I said with a smile, though I idly noted she couldn't see it. "I hope everything works out."
"I do, too," She said with a solemn nod before pulling out her phone. "I need to go. It's getting a bit late. Thank you again."
She waved before taking off into the air, rising above the buildings before blasting away at a pretty impressive speed, leaving me on the building, watching her go. I couldn't help but shake my head as I watched her fly away.