She is sitting there naturally.
In a space filled with tranquility, white sunlight shining upon her dignified posture. There was a purity to the air, as though something unearthly had descended to this space. A deep blue ran through her, a vast ocean of calm serenity, streaked with the occasional other color that reflected whatever she happened to be thinking about in that moment.
After a year, his sister had woken up, and Dean wasn't sure she was the same person any more.
His sister had been an excitable, chatty thing, always flitting from one thing to another. She had never lacked for something to say. She had also been a bit of a brat, if he was honest with himself.
Now, she was this mature young woman who he sometimes caught looking at him as though he were a stranger. A young woman who saw her room, kept exactly the same way it had been a year ago, and was confused by it. A young woman who spent all her time working – either on her rehabilitation or her studies.
Dean let out a breath. She was still his sister. He shouldn't be surprised that there would be some changes after an experience as traumatic as what she went through.
Raising a hand, he knocked lightly on the doorframe. Ellie's eyes opened, a small smile crossing her lips. So unlike the wide, bright smiles she had worn before. "Hello Dean. Did you need something?"
"No, I just saw you sitting here and thought I'd check on you. You okay?"
"Yes. I am doing well. I am surprised you are still here however. Were you not scheduled for your internship today?"
Dean's smile faltered ever so slightly. He hadn't told Ellie what his 'internship' really was yet. Before, she had been too young and a bit too much of a gossip for him to do so. Now… "I still have a bit of time, though I do need to get going soon."
"Sit for a moment then. I would ask your counsel."
Furrowing his brow, Dean sat down next to his sister, though he crossed his legs instead of folding them under himself like she had. "What's the matter?"
"The other day, at the mall, Chelsea was accosted by some boy who claimed to be a gang member. The incident was resolved without her coming to harm, thankfully, but it still concerns me that they would walk about displaying their allegiances so brazenly. Is the law failing to keep the peace in our city?"
Dean winced. That was a hard question to answer. "To a degree, I suppose so. Really, the city's had a slew of gang problems, going back to at least the 90's. The Marche, the Teeth, the Empire, and now the latest, the ABB. Seems like as soon as one gets kicked out, a new one moves in."
"What is preventing their removal?"
"Well, the obvious answer is Capes. There's a lot of villains in the city, and they have a tendency to be especially dangerous. That's just the obvious answer though, I think. The real answer is that too many people privately support them. Too many people who think the Empire has the right idea even if they aren't members themselves. Others just want the respect and power that it gives them over other people. And even putting that aside, there's a lot of people who are just desperate, and will do whatever it takes if it means getting a steady paycheck."
Ellie went silent for a long moment before asking, "Is the city so filled with desperate people who have no other options to them but banditry?"
"I'm really not the best person to ask about the economics behind it all, but yeah. There's a lot of businesses that have shut down and we have a growing homeless population."
"I see."
Dean frowned, watching a thread of purple melancholy run its way through his sister. He smiled brightly and clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, it's not all doom and gloom. We have Heroes too. Maybe once they put the gangs away, the city will get better."
"That is true. The gangs may be a symptom of the underlying disease, but their presence prevents an actual cure. Like a cancer, they will need to be cut out if things are to improve."
That was… now the melancholy had changed to the steel of resolve. What was she thinking of doing?
"Thank you for the advice, Dean. I appreciate it."
"No problem, Ellie. Keep yourself safe, okay?"
"Of course. Would I do aught to make you worry?"
Dean wasn't sure that he wanted to know the answer to that.
•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•
While the Bay was dominated by the view of the Protectorate Headquarters, a shining beacon for all its citizens to see, the headquarters for the Parahuman Response Team was a much smaller office building located downtown. It didn't look like much from the outside. It wasn't until you got inside that you started noticing the steel bars that could descend to cut off a hallway, or how the windows weren't actually glass but some sort of special plastic instead.
In most other cities, the Wards would be located with the Protectorate, with the older heroes taking on the role of mentors. As with many things however, Brockton Bay was the exception.
Dean swiped his badge to clock in before heading up to the Wards' living area. The place wasn't much, honestly. A couch, a TV, a small game system that Dennis had brought in himself. A microwave and refrigerator in the attached kitchenette. They each had bedrooms here to use in case of emergencies, but they weren't actually supposed to stay overnight most of the time.
Speaking of Dennis –
"Hey Dean," the redheaded boy called from the couch, controller in hand. "How's it going?"
"Oh, nothing new. Any idea what tonight's meeting is about?"
"Nope. Rory might though."
"Cool." Dean glanced at the TV, checking on what Dennis was playing. Some sort of shooter, it looked like. "If we have time afterwards, maybe I can join you for a round."
"Heh. Well, if there's one thing I've got plenty of, it's time."
Dean grinned at the joke, ignoring the sickly yellow fear and worry that shot through Dennis when he said that. When he'd told his team about his sister waking up, Dennis had been the one person who had really understood. The others were all happy for him, of course, but Dennis knew what it was like having family that you weren't sure you would ever get back.
"Is Chris here yet?"
"Already in his workshop when I got here. I'm not entirely sure he actually goes home sometimes."
Dean snorted. "His mom would be all over him if that were the case. I'll go say hi and get into my armor though."
Chris was the newest member of the team, having joined back in January. He was still finding his footing, trying to figure out what he could do with his Tinker power, and his workshop reflected that. Several half-finished projects were scattered around the place, abandoned in favor of whatever new idea had struck him.
The door was left open, but Dean still knocked on the doorframe. "Hey Chris. How's it going?"
"Huh? Oh! Hey Dean. Good to see you." Chris grinned and looked up from whatever he was working on now, a pair of welding goggles strapped over his eyes. It really added to the tinker look, in Dean's opinion. "I finished tuning your armor up already, so you should be good to go."
"Great," Dean replied, giving an easy smile. The armor in question sat in the corner of the room, appearing much like a large set of medieval plate if not for the blue LED lights that lit up the joints. A button near the back of the neck caused it to slide open, revealing the powered skeleton within. Originally, this had been Armsmaster's project, a way to protect Dean and make him look like a Tinker instead of a Master. Since Chris had joined however, it had been passed to him. Dean started stepping inside, glancing over his shoulder at Chris. "Any progress with your stuff?"
A flicker of teal. Pride mixed with hope, perhaps? Sometimes the colors blended together in ways that weren't easy to read. People were rarely ever just one thing. "It's a bit touch and go, but I think I might finally have the gravitonic emitters working for the hoverboard. I'll be your eye in the sky before long."
"Hey, that's great to hear. Could always use more air support." Dean curled a fist, metal fingers curling in response. The armor sealed up behind him, hiding Dean away so that Gallant could step onto the stage. "Alright, thanks again for the work. See you upstairs?"
"Yeah, I'll be up in a minute."
Dean was the first up to the conference room that they used for official meetings. It was a rather plain room, the sort of plain wooden table and low pile carpet that you'd expect to see in any normal office setting. It had honestly been a surprise his first time here. When he had joined a team of superheroes, a part of him had expected the sort of things you saw in comic books and movies. Holographic projectors, steel sliding doors, secret passages, that sort of thing.
Instead, it was incredibly average. Cheap, even. He'd seen offices at his father's company that were better kitted out than this.
One by one the others arrived.
Carlos, wearing a rust-red costume, a silver shield on his chest. Aegis.
Dennis in his white bodysuit, animated clocks ticking away on his shoulders and chest. Clockblocker.
Missy in her green and white skirt. She didn't so much walk into the room as burst in, the space warping to pull her from across the hallway. She took a seat next to Dean and smiled up at him, pink dusting through her. Vista.
Chris, in his red and gold armor, a callback to Hero. Kid Win.
Rory, his helmet in the shape of a golden lion's head. Triumph.
Finally, Armsmaster strode through the door in his signature silver and blue armor, reaching the head of the table exactly when the meeting was supposed to start.
"Hello. Thank you all for attending." Armsmaster took his helmet off and sat down at the head of the table, smiling at each of them. "I know some of you have patrols after this, and the rest are eager to get home, so I'll try and keep things brief."
"First is the situation update. There have been a few skirmishes between the ABB and the Empire over the last couple weeks. Nothing too serious, and we're hoping it stays that way, but be on the lookout. More importantly, we've seen an uptick in independent cape activity."
He flicked the projector on, an off-color image appearing on the far wall. A woman wearing a bright red-gold ensemble, a jester's hat atop her head. "We've had a couple pop up this month. First is this one. We're tentatively going with the name Circus. She's been doing a lot of breaking and entering, burglary. A villain, though not a violent one so far."
"Next is this one." A new image, this one of a teenager. His costume wasn't much, a black hoodie with a red scarf wrapped around his mouth. "We think he's a new trigger, a vigilante. He's been operating mostly in ABB territory though. Battery has had the chance to talk with him, so we hope he'll take the offer to join before something happens to him."
There was no need to say what. Everyone knew the statistics for vigilantes.
The projector flicked again. "Moving on, Shadowstalker. She's been operating as a vigilante for awhile now, and while there's been some concerns, there hasn't been anything concrete. That's changed. If you see her, call it in."
Dean cleared his throat. "What did she do, exactly?"
"We are pretty sure it was an accident. A member of the Empire bled out before an ambulance could get to him. She's still not considered a villain, but she needs to be brought in."
General nods went around, but Dean could see flickers of sympathy through the other Wards. The Wards existed to teach responsible use of powers, but powers were inherently dangerous. Everyone knew accidents could happen. Still, that was why they worked with a team and within the bounds of the law, not as independent vigilantes.
"Finally, there's been an uptick in missing persons cases. Mostly the homeless, which isn't that unusual, but keep your ears to the ground and let us know if you hear anything. You've been doing good work out there, so keep it up."
With that, Armsmaster stuck his helmet back on and left. It was a bit abrupt, but Dean had discovered that Armsmaster was something of an abrupt person. You more or less got used to it after a while.
"Well, that wasn't too bad," Dennis said,raising his arms to stretch above his head. "No lectures about proper call-in procedures this time. You still up for that game?"
"You've got the time, don't you?" Dean joked. "How long until my patrol starts?"
"I suppose not. Next time then."
Missy bounced up from her chair, pink suffusing her aura again. "Well, we might as well get going then, right? Just the two of us, Dean."
"Don't forget me on Console!" Kid Win called.
Missy's mood immediately dampened. "Oh yeah. And you too, I suppose."
Dean laughed awkwardly. He'd told Missy before that he was dating Vicky, but it hadn't really discouraged her. If anything, she had gotten more obvious with her affections. For someone who could tie knots in space, she was an incredibly straightforward girl.
"Well, and one more too. Vicky mentioned she'd like to come along tonight, so I told her to meet up with us."
The last of Missy's good mood disappeared.
A few notes.
First, the vote on Chapter 0.3 is still ongoing and will remain so for another 48 hours. It's running pretty close on a couple of them, so get your votes in now.
Second, a bit of housekeeping on the character sheet.
- Firearms have been renamed to Ranged. It more accurately reflects the possibility of using a Bow, Crossbow, or Thrown weapon as well.
- The Reputation Passion has been renamed to Honor. This is actually what it originally was in the Pendragon tabletop, but I initially renamed it because 'Reputation' is more of a thing for capes than 'Honor' is. Passions are about your personal interests though, and it's a bit weird doing a passion role for Reputation. So back to Honor it is.
Finally, one person requested a purchase, so we get our first shop vote:
[ ] [Purchase] A Burner Cellphone ($20)
[ ] [Purchase] Don't buy anything at this time.
