Miss Militia – or Hannah Allen – did that crinkling around the eyes thing she always did on the news when she was smiling. "Well now, aren't you quick on the uptake. Normally Wards take a week or two to catch on after meeting me in the Costuming Office. And no, I just happened to be on-shift today. All the Wards work with me at some point though, if only for getting replacements for damaged costumes or due to needing larger ones." She then walked over to me and tapped a code into the security panel and opened the door.
"So, ready to see the Wards headquarters?"
Lowering my hand, I nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready. Getting the tour before meeting the others would be nice." Then a smile slid into place as an idea struck. "Also, the reactions I'd get from them coming in to find me in this armor would be
amazing."
The Protectorate heroine laughed. "I can imagine. Clockblocker and Shadow Stalker in particular are going to have… interesting reactions I'd say." She then shook her head, "But pranking your new team isn't the goal here, even if how you'll be meeting will effectively be one. Let's get you familiarized with your workplace, including your usual entry point."
The two of us walked into the next room and I found myself doing a double take at the
Hollywood-grade lounge that I'd just entered. One side of the room was dominated by a cluster of couches around what might have been some sort of projection system connected to what were probably gaming consoles. On the other side was a set-up more like a corporate conference room, with a glass-topped table that probably wasn't actually glass surrounded by fairly typical office chairs, on a gleaming white tile floor that ran into what looked to be a
full kitchen on the far end. Directly across from the door we'd entered through was another hallway, presumably leading to personal rooms for times when going home wasn't feasible.
"Well," I said, wide-eyed. "This is definitely more than I was expecting…"
Miss Militia smiled. "We do have to make it teen-friendly, even if I'm sure there are people who would rather it be an office lounge or community college dorm to reduce costs. Now, why don't we start with the console booth…"
---
I dropped onto a couch with a sigh, staring at the door Miss Militia had just left through. The 'tour' had turned out to be mostly being taught the basics of using the Wards' patrol console – a task I apparently wasn't even likely to have! – followed by being shown how to access the Wards area normally, using an elevator at the far end of the hallway with the living quarters, and then being pointed to my own room in said hall. Everything else was either perfectly normal, or was covered in the Wards Handbook that was in my room. Honestly, I almost thought the whole thing was just to keep me busy until the other Wards were on their way.
Probably wouldn't even be a bad idea really. Might even have been standard protocol for new Wards with teleportation powers.
Adjusting myself on the couch, I gave my head a shake. It didn't particularly matter, and I needed to be ready to meet my new team. A thought that brought a smile to my lips, as I currently had my back to the main entry and was basically just waiting for the alert to sound that the elevator had arrived. I'd been told that all they'd know is that they were getting a new member, while
I was in the perfect position to get a nice jump-scare once they costumed up.
A surprisingly musical-yet-sinister giggle bubbled from my lips as my mind conjured up an image of their collective reactions. Not even Triumph was aware of just what branding I'd gotten, and he'd be the most prepared for me.
But none of them would be ready for Lilith, Queen of Sheogh.
I blinked. It seemed I was already getting into this. I'd have to make sure I didn't wind up just doing this sort of thing all the time, it'd be too close to bullying for my taste.
A strange discordant chiming sounded, snapping me out of my musing. That'd be the elevator descending, so I had to be ready.
Slumping down to hide behind the couch back, I settled in to wait. There were currently seven Wards in Brockton Bay: Triumph, Aegis, Gallant, Clockblocker, Vista, Kid Win, and Shadow Stalker. We'd had two more last year, but both of them had been gone for months. Sun Knight had graduated and then left to join Haven back in August, while Brightspark had supposedly been transferred in May, but she 'left' not long after the Empire had torched a synagogue during a service and hadn't been seen at all since the day of the attack. Probably best not to go digging there.
Once I heard the elevator arrive, and the correct number of doors open and close, I sat up again and hastily adjusted my hair. Now I was ready, and had only a few minutes before I met the team.
Roughly eight minutes later, I heard the various doors open and footsteps start down the hall, only to stop again. Grinning widely under my helmet, I turned my head to look back at the junior heroes who had just frozen at the sight of the sinister figure lounging on a couch in one of the most secure areas of the PRT HQ building.
"So, you have arrived. Excellent," I said, carefully injecting some of my paternal grandfather's Norman French accent into my voice. "I am Lilith, and you must be the Brockton Bay Wards."
Standing, I turned to face them properly. "It will be a
pleasure to be working with you all, I'm sure."
Kid Win's laser pistols clattered to the floor while every visible face bore an expression of shock. Clockblocker staggered as if struck, while Gallant's posture practically screamed that he was ready to blast me and Shadow Stalker had gone into her shadow form. For a long moment, silence reigned.
Then Triumph broke it.
"How," he breathed, "Did you end up with
that being approved?"
"Glenn Chambers' idea," I replied with a shrug. "He thought I would make a good anti-villain."
I then pulled off my helmet and reverted to my normal accent. "Anyway, I'm Taylor Hebert when I take the Demon Queen off. What about you guys?"
Shadow Stalker abruptly recorporealized and collapsed with a thud. All eyes turned to the black-cloaked girl for a long moment before Triumph, again, was the one to speak. "Okay, I'm going to page Medical to come take a look at Stalker," his leonine helm pivoted to face me. "And
you are going to explain what you mean by 'anti-villain'."
"Yes," Clockblocker interjected. "Please explain the bullshit branding that got you hot evil bitch armor and the name of a legendary demoness."
A smirk on my lips, I made a gesture, opening a portal to Sheogh. Through the shimmering orbular rift in reality was the chamber I appeared in after…. The Locker. There was another succubus there as well, though thankfully clothed in what looked to be chainmail.
"Greetings my Sovereign. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Just introduce yourself for now," I replied. "I don't believe I'll be needing anything else right now, unless you feel like playing exposition fairy for my new allies."
The succubus giggled shyly and answered. "My name is Ama, my Sovereign, and I do not believe I am suited to the task as I am quite young for my kind."
Nodding, I said, "That will be all for now then Ama. You may go about your day." With that, I closed the portal.
All eyes were on me again. This time though, Vista was the one to speak next.
"Right, that is officially an insane power. That's, what, Shaker-Mover and Master? You can open portals to a hellish pocket dimension full of demonic minions." The small blonde then frowned in clear irritation and added "I'm guessing you have zero restrictions on combat?"
I snorted. "Try basically no restrictions period. Can't kill people without a kill order, no major criminal activity, listen to the director and select Protectorate members, don't out people. That's basically it for me." Pausing for a moment, I then continued "It's not all fun and games though. My paperwork said something about monitoring and regular psych evaluations to ensure I don't lose it or go full villain."
Vista seemed to relax a bit at that, even if she was a touch pouty. "So basically, you're supposed to be the big scary monster that the PRT is holding the leash of. You've still got more slack than us normal Wards though. I can't get so much as a taser to zap people who get too close with."
Well, seemed like she had some issues there. Probably should look into that. Also, best not mention my blaster grab-bag right now, she seemed jealous enough already.
Putting those thoughts aside I gave the others the same brief rundown on anti-villain branding I'd gotten, which prompted a cry of 'bullshit!' from Clockblocker.
It also seemed to have put Gallant on edge again for some reason. That, or he hadn't actually relaxed at all. Odd, that.
Triumph, meanwhile, simply groaned and then removed his own helmet.
"Right," he said. "I think that's enough of that for the moment. Let's finish the introductions before the medics show up. I'm Rory Christner."
I blinked. "Seriously?
Rory and you have a
sonic Blaster power? With a theme based on an animal that is known for its
roaring?"
"Refuge in audacity I think," he laughed. "Too obvious to be believable is probably what Image was thinking there. And it's not like any of us
chose our powers either."
Kid Win's visor came off next, "Chris Smith. And yes, the jokes have already been made about a Smith who is a Tinker. Clock wore them out within a week."
"Oh come on Chris, they're still funny!" said cape retorted, then removed his bulbous helmet and added "Dennis Jones, at your service milady" with a bow.
Vista snorted and pulled her own visor off. "Do you
have to flirt with every new girl who joins the team, Dennis?" Then looking back to me said "Missy Biron, youngest but certainly not weakest."
I smirked. "Well, aren't you a little miss badass. I think I'll enjoy working with you."
The petite blonde actually
preened at that for some reason. Maybe she felt she wasn't being taken seriously or something? Maybe I could do something about that…
Aegis's helmet was the next to be removed. "Carlos Cortez, local math homework helper," proclaimed the smiling Hispanic boy.
Gallant, meanwhile, remained standoffish and made exactly no moves to unmask like the others. "I don't know why you guys trust her," he stated, giving me a clearly wary look even with his gleaming silver helm still firmly in place. "I am getting
nothing from her and I
never heard about anti-villain branding even
once in my time here. Anti-hero, and whining about not qualifying, yes. But nothing about anti-
villain."
What. That... Seriously? What was with this guy?
Before he could continue, or someone could reply though, the elevator chimed again and everyone hastily replaced their facial coverings. That done, I locked eyes the best I could with the older Ward. "So the fact that I unmasked to you guys, that you were brought in to meet a new Ward by your own superiors, that
Triumph recognized me, all that means nothing to you? No, I'm
clearly up to something nefarious because I'm dressed in spiky black armor. I came here to
avoid this kind of knee-jerk judgmentalism! So much for your chivalrous persona,
Gallant."
Drawing in a deep, calming, breath, I started towards the hallway. "I'll be in my room if anyone needs me. And if no one does, I'll be leaving at six."
As I passed the two newly arrived medics, I heard "Why did you do that Gallant! She's on the team, even if she's got scary powers, and it isn't like you to do this kind of thing!"
Well, it seemed Vista… Missy, wasn't particularly happy with her elder teammate's behavior. Hopefully the others were too.
Closing my door, I slumped into the desk chair nearby. On the desk itself were three things, a computer, a cell phone for Wards use, and the Handbook. The computer was presumably for homework and access to the PRT system, and the phone, while not exactly something I was happy about, was something I'd need when I left. Slipping off my helmet, I picked up the phone with a sigh. Cell phones had been a sore spot for my dad and I since Mom died, though with all the dangers in the city, not having one was really a bigger risk than either of us had been thinking.
Not that having one would've helped earlier today, as I'd have not had the
space to pull out and use one in the first place. Assuming fucking Hess didn't break the thing beforehand. Or steal it. I wasn't sure our finances would've been able to handle regular replacement phones on top of everything else.
Happily, my new Wards-issue device was the older flip-style rather than the so-called 'smart' type, as I'd heard that the latter had a
circular motion interface for some inexplicable reason. And the physical buttons were far more manageable with the metal-clad fingers of my armor than a touch screen would be. It, surprisingly, unlocked itself immediately as I opened it, displaying a 'RFID authenticated' notice. That was handy, as I didn't have a passcode for it yet.
Just as that thought formed, a prompt appeared onscreen requesting I set the passcode. Convenient timing is convenient. I carefully tapped in a string of numbers I knew I'd be able to easily remember and then reentered it when asked to confirm. That done, I set the phone aside and turned on the computer. Which also logged in with the same message as the phone. Once the desktop loaded only ten seconds later, another notification popped up, asking if I wanted to arrange a PHO account for my cape identity. I knew that Protectorate members and Wards usually had accounts, but not that it was quite this formal of a thing. Maybe it had just started out as government capes joining up normally and then this more official set-up was done?
Eh, didn't matter much really. I clicked 'yes' and slipped my helmet on again, before selecting the 'photo' option and opening another portal, this one positioned to give a good view of the hellish city I had access to. Another click set a ten second timer and I adopted a casual stance next to the spherical gap in reality and leveled a glare at the camera mounted to the monitor. Moments later, the screen displayed a rather nice image of myself and the portal, including the basaltic structures and lavafalls on the other side.
A knock on the door almost immediately distracted me from that though, and I sighed "Enter," while closing the portal.
Triumph opened the door and slipped inside before closing it again. "I'd like to apologize for Gallant's behavior. He normally isn't like that and there
has to be more to it than just you not showing up for his power. Or what he said about not having seen your branding before either, none of us had heard about anti-heroes until Brightspark joined and started complaining about having
almost qualified for it, so it's not like we haven't had prior experience with non-standard branding being dropped on us."
I sighed – been doing a lot of that today – and said "You don't need to apologize for him, it's not like you can stop him from being a jerk."
Rory's lion helm came off again as he leaned against the wall. "Well, as team leader, it's my responsibility. If he soured you on the Wards, that would cause everyone problems beyond just two teammates not getting along. Shadow Stalker causes enough issues for us, the last thing we need is our Master 9 deciding she'd rather go villain because the team was that unwelcoming for her."
"Master
9?" I squeaked. "Isn't that
Heartbreaker level?"
"That's what I was told your preliminary rating is," Rory replied. "Well, you're technically listed as 9+, with the possibility of being elevated to a 10 should you be able to confirm what your minion Beth said. And yes, that would put you on par with the Simurgh."
He then shot me a smile, "Don't let that go to your head though, in either way Taylor. You aren't at risk of becoming an Endbringer, nor are you a superior lifeform. Triumvirate-tier is a decent possibility on the other hand."
I dropped into my chair and ditched my helmet once more, so I could massage my temples. "Great, just… great. I'd been hoping to
not wind up labeled as an S-class… So much for that."
"You aren't an S-class threat Taylor," Rory stated firmly, tone hard as stone. "You
could be one if you went villain, but frankly, so could Missy if she realized just what her power is capable of. Or any of the Triumvirate. And even then, the S-class label would only be applied if you were acting the Slaughterhouse Nine or something. And I don't see you joining them or the Teeth."
"But I've still got the threat of it hanging over me," I groaned. "My own Sword of Damocles, just what I always wanted…"
Then my door slammed open, with Shadow Stalker barging in, disregarding the presence of the Wards leader. "How the fuck did you get in Hebert? And with
that kind of branding?" she demanded, in a voice that, while mechanically distorted, was
very familiar to me.
A burning heat rose in my chest and I snarled back "I could ask the same of you Hess. But
I am here as the Wards' new chained monster because today's stunt with a biohazardous locker made me the new ruler of Hell."
A portal to Sheogh opened once more, admitting a Pit Fiend into the room. The hulking demon glared down at the bullying little thug and rumbled menacingly. Sophia Hess swayed like she was about to faint.
"Now get the fuck out and stop bothering me."
She turned and fled with all the speed of a high school track star.
