[ ] Helping Out the Little Guy
-[ ]With Vista!
Emigration 4.3
Monday, March 14
The bell rings to signal the end of the last class of the day, and you are among the first students out the door. That's not to say that Mr. Paulson, the algebra teacher here at Winterrose Academy, is
bad necessarily. He's certainly better than Mr. Quinlan back at Winslow, though that might have something to do with the fact that this particular charter school doesn't seem to have any kind of gang activity whatsoever. Which is kind of strange all on its own, to be honest. It made sense back in Brockton Bay for Arcadia to be gang-free; everyone knew the Wards attended that school. Here in Philadelphia, though? There are only three Wards, four counting Vista, and only one is high school age. One Ward in attendance should not be enough to scare all the gangs into submission, and the rumor is that he goes to school on the other side of town, anyway.
"Taylor!"
Your musings have cost you. Before you can disappear into the sea of black sweaters, a girl pops up and links her arm with yours. "That was just so unfair. Your first day, and Paulson makes you take a pop-quiz? Doesn't he have any decency? If you get a bad grade, just let me know. I'll tell Michelle and she'll tell Fiona and she'll tell Bobby and he'll tell his father – he's desperate to get back on her good side after that mess with Gretchen, and even if I don't think he was making out with her like everyone's saying, it was still stupid to be in the music room alone with her, right? – and he's on the school board so he'll tell the principal, and I just know that you'll get a chance to retake it or something."
"I'm sure I'll be fine," you tell her, partly because you have no idea what she just said. Kayleigh is, to your ever-growing regret, part of the Welcoming Club, a school club that, well, welcomes in new students and supposedly tries to help them fit in with a minimum of stress. You aren't the only Brocktonite who's starting today, and yet somehow out of that crowd of refugees, you are the one she chose to claim. You actually asked her why during lunch, and you were punished with more word-vomit that boiled down to you looking like
'little lost Bambi' and her wanting to make sure you felt at home.
She reminds you a bit of Madison, which is a completely unfair comparison. Madison was good at playing up the cute little girl angle to get people, teachers included, to ignore any wrongdoing on her part and give her whatever she wanted. Kayleigh has the staff similarly wrapped around her finger, but with her, it seems genuine. She is just that ridiculously chipper. She almost doesn't seem human but instead a puppy whose brain somebody shoved into a girl's head. You've only been around her for a few hours, and already you're exhausted. How do people deal with this day after day after day?
You take a moment to be glad Samantha is a raccoon.
"Oh! I know how to cheer you up!" Kayleigh runs in front of you, plaid skirt twirling. "I forgot all about it, but Greg's throwing a party at his place in a couple of weeks. The whole school's invited. Well, not the whole school, but it's still a lot of people, and since I'm invited, you're invited, too." She gives you a guileless smile. "What do you say? Let's go let's go let's go!"
"I'll have to think about it. Parties aren't my thing, and…." You consider your plans for the night. "And I might be busy."
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
So much for being busy.
Without knowing much about Philadelphia, you decided to patrol for a while. Nothing too intense, just getting the lay of the land and maybe stopping a couple of muggers or a break-in along the way. In a city of 1.5 million people, there is bound to be a lot of crime going on. Monday nights doesn't seem to be the time for it, though. The entire town is quiet as grave.
«
See anything on your end?» you ask.
«
Couple hookers, but that's it,» Samantha replies. After the first twenty boring minutes, the two of you split up to cover more ground, and thanks to telepathy, you'll know almost instantly if she runs into trouble. So far, you haven't had to worry about that. «
I don't know about you, but I'm starting to think we're wasting our time out— Hello, there.»
«You found something?»
«Sure did, but not what we're looking for. Turns out we aren't the only ones on patrol. I'm gonna say hi.»
«Samantha, what are you doing?» She doesn't respond. Sighing, you dash off.
Startled laughter tells you you're close, and you drop down only to shake your head at the sight. "Samantha, put that down. You don't know where it's been."
"Buwuh?! I don't like you any more," Vista says with a scowl. Her attempt to shame you fails the instant your Guardian Beast gives her another squeeze and makes her giggle. Her chaperone glares at all three of you. You can already piece together what happened: Samantha flew in as fast as she could and scooped the younger girl up and maybe twirled her a few times for good measure before anyone knew what was happening. "Samantha, are you sure you don't want to leave nasty old Calamity and stay with me instead?"
"Hmm. A temping offer," the raccoon woman says with a wink in your direction, "but I'm afraid I have to decline. It's a full-time job keeping Calamity and Captain in line, and without me around, I just know that they'd be helpless."
"You spent all day at home watching crappy soap operas!" Samantha shrugs your rebuke away. Ignoring them for a moment, you float over to the other Ward and offer your hand. "Hey. I'm Calamity Witch. That's my partner, Samantha."
He just looks at your hand for a moment before replying in a flat tone, "Bouncer."
"Nice to meet you," you try to say, but you can't help your voice lifting up at the end. Of the four of you here, the white-costumed hero is the only one who looks like he'd rather be anywhere else. "You're the local Wards leader, I hear. I suppose you know where the gang territories are."
"Wards don't interfere in gang-related activities," he tells you with all the enthusiasm of someone reading from a phone book. "That is left to the police or the Protectorate should a cape be sighted. We go on patrol to let the public know that the PRT is vigilant in their duties to protect the public." Bouncer crosses his arms over the two upwards arrows painted on his chest. "Something we were doing before you interrupted us."
"Bouncer, stop being a dick. Calamity Witch and Samantha are good people and good heroes." Vista turns to you. "Do you want to patrol with us? It'd be nice to see some friendly faces."
"We'd be happy to," Samantha answers for both of you.
Bouncer scoffs and walks off, and a little skip-hop sends him in a high arc over the street to the next building. "Keep up, little girl, or you'll get left behind!"
"God, I hate him already," your fellow newcomer says. "He's got all the arrogance and bad attitude Shadow Stalker has and is just as much a stick in the mud as Aegis… was…."
You reach over and give the now-silent girl a one-armed hug. "How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine."
How often have you heard those two meaningless words pass your own lips over the last year and a half? "Mm-hmm."
"I am!" she insists. You lock eyes with her and just hold her gaze until she looks away. "I kinda knew this was going to happen someday. Endbringers, villains, a thug who got lucky. Hookwolf nearly killed me once," Vista admits, "and it was luck that I got away then. Someone I knew was going to die on me eventually. I just… didn't think it was going to be all at once. Or that we'd get split up like this. Everyone I know's gone. My team, my parents." Her face contorts as she tries to stop herself from crying. "I guess I should be glad I'm with Miss Militia, though, right? At least I have one familiar face around."
"No," cuts in Samantha, "you have three. We're not going away any time soon."
"Miss Militia has my number." Well, technically the number of the burner phone you bought and that Perfect Storm did
something with to make sure it wouldn't get canceled, but that's a minor detail in the grand scheme of things. "If you ever want someone to patrol with or vent to or just hang out with, give us a call. We'll make time."
She reaches under her visor to wipe her eyes. "Thanks. We should keep going. I don't think he's kidding about leaving us behind."
You take the obvious segue for what it is and let her twist space to cut down the distance you have to go. To your surprise, Bouncer did wait for you. You start to thank him, but he flings his arm up in a silent command to stop. Jerk.
"Trouble?" Samantha whispers.
Oh. That would be a good reason to be quiet. The three of you creep up to join him on the ledge of the building and look down. Eight figures move around in the street, five black and three yellow. It takes you a moment to realize what you're seeing, but then you can't help but stare.
These are the Case 53s Miss Militia was talking about?!
The black figures are definitely Brutes, and all of them look like someone scaled up a rat to monstrous size and then tried to make them look borderline human as an afterthought. The yellows are better shaped, but they look…
drippy. Snot-yellow slime molded into fat little men with big snail-shell hats on their heads, and once again, they are identical to their brothers.
Maybe Slime is a duplicator? He has to have some other power than that, though, or it wouldn't make sense for him to make copies of himself, too, nor why he's out in the open rather than letting Rat's doubles do the work. Or, scarier thought, the duplicator is a third cape, in which case you have no idea what Slime's capable of.
A Rat jumps through the window of the store they're clustered around, and his doubles are quick to follow. To your surprise, this isn't a jeweler's or a pawn shop or something else sensible. It's just a mom-and-pop grocery store. You've heard that Case 53s have problems interacting with other people because of their appearances, but to rob a grocery store? Something's not right about this.
"We take out the goop guys first," Vista says with an air of authority. "Calamity, Sam, you hit heavier than we do. Bouncer, I'll drop you on the street—"
"No. We're leaving." You look at Bouncer in surprise to find him tapping on his phone. "Going in guns blazing might be how you did things in that craphole you called home, but you're in Philly now. We pull out and let the PRT handle this."
Vista points downwards. "They're
right there! I don't know about you, but I'm a hero. I'm not going to let them just get away."
"And I'm team leader. You want to be a Ward? You do what I say when I say it."
The two teens glare daggers at each other, neither willing to bend, and below you, the Case 53s continue with their pillaging.
+1 training to Solar Wrath (3/6 Adept).
If it seems a little convenient for your first patrol to introduce you to the insane Case 53s, well, it is. Then again, all fiction is based around convenient coincidences, and quests in particular.
On to the important question. What are you going to do about this?
- Get away and call in the PRT. Bouncer's local, so he should know how things get done around here.
- Stay back and watch. They aren't hurting anyone at the moment, so best to see what they can do.
- Nibble at their flanks. Take them out stealthily, starting at the edge and working inwards.
- Charge in head-first. They broke the law, and now you'll break them. Shock and awe, people.
Oh! One more thing I forgot to tell you earlier. Solar Wrath, Temporal Sludge, and WAS are all advanced spells, which means Taylor will never use them on her own. Unless you vote to use these abilities, she will rely on her bread-and-butter Flare Shooter, Strong Shield, and occasionally Rust Shooter.
