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Rise Of Titan (Worm/Original Superhero Setting)

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Ugh, Emma... She's going to gain powers from Nexus, isn't she...

Interesting, if short, interlude. My complaint is that nothing actually happens. I'm not a fan of a chapter's worth of Emma's inner whore...

More Greg!
 
Prince of Havok said:
Ugh, Emma... She's going to gain powers from Nexus, isn't she...

Interesting, if short, interlude. My complaint is that nothing actually happens. I'm not a fan of a chapter's worth of Emma's inner whore...

More Greg!
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Click to shrink...

No...she won't. They might be boosted by Greg but Nexus doesn't give people powers unless he wants to fuck with Evron. And when he gives them, they're always World Breaker Type Powers. Nexus is a godthing. He doesn't do things by halves. Ask me about Eldritch Rosington-Craven and his "family" if you want to know the shit Nexus does when he wants to fuck shit up for Ev.
 
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Complications 2.4A
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    • Complications 2.4A

    Emily Piggot


    Director Emily Piggot sighed as she lifted her head from the rather thick report on her desk. Tonight had been a horror for Brockton Bay. The rising tensions between the E88 and the ABB had been escalating for months and they had finally come to a head tonight. Many low-level members from both gangs had taken to the streets of the Bay, intent on killing each other.

    Fighting had quickly spread from parts of the Docks to the Boardwalk, the Trainyard and somehow managed to reach Downtown. Then things got even worse when the Merchants joined in, with Mush and Skidmark in the lead. Oni Lee only increased the bloodshed when he appeared with reinforcements, prompting Victor, Krieg, Alabaster and Cricket to join in. It did not help matters that Lung started burning down the Docks, apparently after undergoing a second trigger which changed his appearance. Brockton Bay was really in it deep tonight.

    Then she had received information from a physician concerning the new parahuman Armsmaster had apprehended just a few hours earlier. A parahuman that was reported to have taken down Lung. A parahuman that Armsmaster had tranquilized within a minute of meeting him. Piggot was confused, annoyed, sleep-deprived and very hungry. All bad things on their own. Combined, they made her one very furious woman.

    She looked up at Armsmaster, a piercing stare her only expression."Explain."

    Armsmaster stood up a little straighter. "What would you like me to clarify, Director? My report was very detailed."

    Piggot clasped her hands in front of her as she continued staring at Armsmaster and it was a few moments before she spoke again. "Your report was very detailed, as usual, Armsmaster. You went into specifics on how many E88, Merchant, and ABB members you apprehended, what methods you used in each and every single apprehension, how often you used your halberd, how many tranquilizers you used and an entire page long tangent on how an increased budget could increase your effectiveness against Movers like Oni Lee!"

    Armsmaster nodded. "That is correct, Director. Oni Lee's clones are nearly identical to him until their time limits run out. A larger budget would allow me to build a detection system that-"

    "That is not the point!," snarled Piggot. "I do not care about your budget. What I care about is the fact that half the Docks have been leveled. What I care about is that Lung has triggered again and is now more powerful than ever. What I care about, Colin, is that the new trigger that we reported at Winslow today is downstairs in the MedBay after defeating Lung with your tranquilizer in his system. Why is that, Colin? And why is that skimmed over in your report when you went into detail on other, less important things?!"

    Armsmaster was silent for a few moments, his mouth in a visible frown. "I was unaware that he was a new trigger. I had no information on him prior to our confrontation. Why was I not informed about him?"

    Piggot narrowed her eyes at Armsmaster. "There was a small briefing earlier today. We went over new information. You declined to come in but but you still were sent a copy of the information as you were 'too busy preparing contingencies for Lung'."

    Armsmaster frowned as soon as Piggot spoke. He had in fact received a packet of information and intended to read it but the gang war had interrupted him.

    Piggot wasn't done. "You didn't answer my question. Why did you tranq him?"

    "When I approached the scene, the first thing that caught my attention was the damage to the docks. I was cautious about what could have caused Lung to cause such damage to the area. Lung's new appearance and how badly he was damaged..."Armsmaster began a verbal report but trailed off as Piggot held up a hand.

    "Stop right there, Colin. I asked you a simple question. I do not need a verbal report. I already have enough on my plate tonight. Just...answer the question," Piggot growled.

    "I tranquilized him because he appeared to be belligerent and potentially violent. I noticed the brutality with which Lung was taken down and he believed to have killed him. He seemed disappointed when I told him that was false. He was also at risk of aggravating his injuries, as he was dragging a broken and bleeding leg behind him without care while he was severely burned," Armsmaster answered succinctly.

    Piggot's frown only increased as he spoke. What Armsmaster said sounded true...for the most part and she could see how he might feel threatened by someone strong enough to take down an improved Lung, but she had known Armsmaster for years. She knew how he thought, how he spoke. Something was off. Something...wait. How he spoke? "You say he was belligerent? Do you think there may be a reason for that?"

    Armsmaster shook his head tersely. "It may be due to his powers. I can't be sure."

    Piggot sat back in her chair, eyes merely slits at this point. "Really? You can't be sure? Tell me something, Colin. You spoke to him, didn't you?"

    Armsmaster flinched and the action didn't go unnoticed by Piggot. Neither did his silence. Normally, she quite enjoyed putting pressure on a cape that went out of line but this was just another annoyance she didn't need today.

    "I attempted to gain some information from him but he became extremely aggressive leading to the incident."

    "...Exactly what did you say to him that lead up to his...belligerence?"

    "I'm not sure what you mean."

    Piggot leaned forward and gave Armsmaster a look that well expressed the current level of her patience. "I think you know very well what I mean. What did you say to him...exactly?"

    "...He was young, without a mask, and severely injured. I simply tried to convince him to keep his head down and not bring undue attention to himself by parading the fact that he defeated Lung. It was part of my attempt to get him to join the Wards. I was also aware that an unknown rookie defeating Lung would make the Protectorate look bad. He didn't even let me finish without resorting to profanity," Armsmaster replied smoothly, not a single hitch in his speech.

    Piggot sighed. That all sounded well and good but she felt like she had a much better idea of what happened. "Do you know what we found out about the new trigger, Colin? His name is Greg Veder. He's apparently been bullied by ABB members in Winslow for over a year. He outed himself today, possibly at the same time he triggered but that's not likely as Shadow Stalker was there, retaliating against an E88 member who had been extorting him. He then goes out a few hours later and takes down Lung. His identity has already been exposed to both the E88 and the ABB, two groups that he has reason to hate. There's a good chance we'll be added to that list because of your stunt."

    Armsmaster took a step forward, attempting to explain. " I was just trying to-"

    Piggot wasn't going to have that.

    "No! I know what you were trying to do. We both know what you were trying to do. I don't care if he would have made us look bad. I don't care if he would have made you look bad. He would have probably been happy to join the Wards," Piggot continued, her voice taking a much harsher tone, " Even if he didn't, we could've spun it into something beneficial for us. Now, public opinion is going to be that the Protectorate attacked a young hero who stopped Lung from potentially destroying the entire city on his first outing as a cape and I doubt he's going to want to be part of a team that you are in charge of. This boy took on Lung with no backup and no idea of Lung's second trigger and won. If the public finds out his side of the story and that you tried to take credit for-"

    "I didn't-"

    "Don't interrupt me! We've worked together a long time, Colin. You can predict my actions in a given situation and I can do the same for you. My point still stands. We can't even pressure him into joining because we'll be flayed alive in the public if we're found out. So we have to lure him. Understand that?"

    Armsmaster nodded silently, his jaw tightening as she spoke.

    Piggot wasn't satisfied with that. "I said, do you understand that?"

    "Yes, I do."

    Piggot let out a deep breath through her nose and relaxed back in her chair. "What can you tell me about him? I know you observed him after his fight. Give me something."

    Armsmaster sighed and began to speak, his words settling into a rhythm quickly.

    "Firstly, his injuries. From what I observed, he had sustained third-degree burns over nearly 75% of his body. Most of his hair had been burnt off and I noticed his skull had been cracked. His right leg was broken and the bones were protruding from his leg. His right arm had been damaged to the point that it was unrecognizable as an arm and he had lost a severe amount of blood," Armsmaster clinically recited the young cape's injuries. "His durability seemed to be on par with Lung's or close enough for it not too matter. I know this because I used one of the special tranquilizers I designed for high level Brutes on him and it barely went past his skin. Regarding his personality, I believe he is highly brutal and most likely prone to excessive force. Upon my arrival, I noticed that Lung had both his eyes gouged out and his skull had been cracked open."

    Piggot scoffed and the large woman resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "It's Lung. When he's gotten that far, there's no such thing as excessive force. Is that all?"

    "No. I studied his injuries and noted that despite them, his functionality barely seemed to be limited. His breathing was not strained. He even seemed to be standing up without much pain despite the fact that his leg should not have supported him."

    Piggot nodded."So what you're saying is that he's like...Aegis but...stronger. Redundant but still useful."

    Armsmaster paused then nodded. "That is a possibility, yes, but he also displayed a healing factor. After I sedated him, I noticed some portions of his skin repairing themselves but not with any real speed. At he the rate he was healing, he should be in the MedBay for at least a few weeks. "

    Piggot made a satisfied grunt.
    "He could be an asset to us in both PR and keeping Brockton Bay safe. That is, if we can get him to join. We've asked Panacea to help with him if she has a spare moment and I've already decided who will be sent to be convince him to join the Wards." She shot Armsmaster a glare as he opened his mouth. "You're not going down there until I say so and even then, only to deliver an apology. Understood?"

    Armsmaster grimaced as he nodded, obviously annoyed. Piggot didn't care how annoyed he was. She was the boss and she made the rules. That much was simple.

    "I sent a team to bring his mother here to the Rig. She should already be down there as we speak. Miss Militia, Assault, Battery and Clockblocker will meet them after he wakes up," she announced calmly.

    Armsmaster's grimace seemed to somehow...intensify without his expression changing a bit. "I can understand Miss Militia and Battery but why Assault and Clockblocker?"

    Piggot smirked. "Militia and Battery are for the boy's mother. They're only there to convince her and as women, they'll have an advantage. As for Assault and Clockblocker, we're trying to convince a teenage boy to join us and as we don't have a naked model on staff, who better to convince a teenage boy than another teenage boy and someone who might as well be a teenage boy."

    Armsmaster's mouth twitched at that statement but he didn't smile. He was Armsmaster, after all.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Susan Veder was a nice, sweet woman.

    A sweetie pie that didn't know when or how to say no to people and cared a bit too much. That's how people had described her at least.
    Those people would be right.

    She liked caring for people, taking care of them. That's why she had become a nurse. She liked doing what she did. She loved the way people would light up when they realized someone, anyone cared about their pain and wanted to help them. It was one of the things that made her day. She'd be the first to admit that she somewhat resented Panacea but she couldn't help it. Patient's eyes used to light up the second she walked into a room because they knew how much she actually cared about them but that wasn't happening much anymore. When they realized that she wasn't Panacea, their eyes would darken and they'd become a bit...not harsh, but sulky. She really didn't mind. They cleared up once she got them talking. She did wish she had powers like Panacea, though. If she could heal like that, people would leave the hospital as happy as ever.

    Even without her patients, there was something else that made her day.

    Someone that never failed to put a smile on her face.

    Her son, Greg Veder.

    They had told her that her son was a parahuman after that team of PRT agents had come to the hospital and asked her to come with them. All it had taken was for one of them to say "It concerns your son" and she was in a PRT vehicle immediately. They had lead her to this room and she had seen him.

    She had cried when she saw him lying there.

    Who wouldn't?

    She was a single mother. She never imagined that something like that would ever happen to her. She had married her high school sweetheart. He was a big, handsome quarterback and she was...well, she was a nerd and while she had gotten prettier after high school, she was nothing compared to the popular girls. But that hadn't mattered back then. He had picked her, picked her over her sister, head cheerleader, and all of the other cheerleaders. She thought they would be together forever. She thought wrong.

    Her husband had left her almost three years ago for his little secretary, a girl that was only five years older than her son was. Her son, her beautiful, intelligent baby boy was all she had left to remind her that she was worth something. Something to tell her that her marriage to...that man...was worth something. Greg was her everything and now he lay there, covered head to toe in gauze and...he looked like he was dead. She had nearly fainted.

    Agent Whitmore, a female agent and one of the ones that had accompanied her, had stayed with her for a bit and had informed her that her son was a parahuman. A parahuman who had exposed himself at school while defending himself from a bully. A parahuman who had then gone out in the same day to fight a rampaging Lung and then defeated him.

    She had nearly fainted again.

    That was not her Greg. If his father had gotten powers at Greg's age, she could imagine him doing something like that. He was a brash, overconfident man who had somehow gotten a position as a financial manager despite being a narcissistic bastard with more brawn than brains. Greg did not take after his father. Greg was a sweet, kind boy who was just like her. She had taught him everything while his father was busy working. She told him to be nice to girls and taught him not to get drawn in by the first pretty face he saw and to find a girl with substance, with a brain.

    She had taught him all about the old comic books and heroes. She showed him Superman, Spider-Man, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Ferris Bueller, Back to the Future, E.T., The Goonies, Karate Kid, Spaceballs, Beetlejuice, essentially everything she had loved while growing up. In return, Greg had shown her anime, manga, comics as well as new music and movies from Earth Aleph that he had used torrents to download. They had a special relationship, one that Greg's father often derided Greg for, calling him a "mama's boy".

    She loved her son. He messed up sometimes but he was a kid. That's what they did. She just didn't understand today.

    Susan Veder sat by her son's side as she tried to understand what had lead to this.

    She knew he had been different for a few weeks now. He had been more confident and had been exercising almost constantly, coming home with bruises that he had told her had been from boxing at this gym he had been going to. She had believed him. Greg usually told her everything. He had told her when he was being bullied by the ABB and how he had to pay protection money to an E88 member. She had nearly marched down to the school to give the principal a piece of her mind. Greg had told her that all that would do would make it worse. She agreed after some thought. She had been bullied before. She had asked him if he wanted to transfer. He didn't want to leave Winslow. He had friends now. Well...he had Sparky and he didn't want to run away from his problems. Susan was proud of her son even though she didn't like the thought of him being bullied. In the end, all she did was give him extra allowance every week.

    Then she had noticed his new physique. This was what really made her pay attention. She was a nurse. She knew how much exercise accomplished what within a certain period of time. Greg had been almost rail thin before and now he was defined and sculpted in under a month. At first she had considered steroids. She had asked him about it and he had smiled with that cute little smile of his and said that his trainer was just awesome like that. She accepted that even though she was more than a tad suspicious. After that, Greg's acne had cleared up, his complexion just changed and his hair looked like he had been to a stylist. She didn't mention it but her suspicion was growing. She had just been so busy working double, sometimes triple, shifts that she hadn't had the energy to question him.

    Today had been hell for her. Patients flooded the E.R., suffering from bullet wounds, knife injuries, grenade wounds, and burns. Gang wars had erupted all over the city as tensions between the ABB and E88 reached their limit. People were dying all around her and she couldn't even focus because her husband had chosen today, their anniversary day, to call and tell her that he was sorry. He had then gone into a long statement about something between him and his girlfriend but she didn't pay attention to any of that. He was sorry. Susan had a tendency to take personal failures very hard and in her mind, her worst personal failure was her marriage. If only she had done something, maybe, just maybe...her marriage wouldn't have ended. Instead, her husband was admitting guilt and she felt a weight lift off of her...only for it to come crashing down when he spoke about his son.

    His two year old son. All this time...she had thought that it had been the girl. She finally understood now. He hadn't left because he was seduced by a girl half her age. He had left because he wanted a new family. A new life, away from the two of them.
    She hung up immediately and spent the rest of the day in a haze. She barely noticed the patients, barely even noticed her coworkers. Hell, she didn't even notice the PRT agents until they were right in front of her nose and said the phrase "It concerns your son". That was all it took. Her baby needed her.

    As she sat by his side, his heavily bandaged hand in hers, she wondered what would happen now. It didn't matter. She would always be here for him. If he wanted to be a hero, then she would have his back, no matter wh-

    "...mom?"

    It was weak. The voice, at least. The hand that gripped hers was unnaturally strong. It hurt, in fact. It hurt a lot. She didn't let that show on her face. Greg was right here in front of her.

    She needed to be strong for him.

    Her precious little baby.

    "Mommy's here, Greggy."​
     
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    Greg awoke to a sharp pain, 'No, not Pain', a sharp discomfort in his right arm and leg as well as a general itchiness all over his body.
    He wasn't in pain but he did feel...weak. He didn't like it. It felt wrong. There were other sensations that he felt. One of them was an odd sensation of heat in his chest, like a rush of warmth similar to the steam of a hot shower as opposed to the stimulating adrenaline-like rush of Zirin. 'What happened?'

    He felt a hand in his own and opened his eyes. White walls, fluorescent lights, odd beeping noises. He was in a bed, obviously a hospital bed. He'd seen plenty of them in his life. He appeared to be wrapped head to toe in gauze, but couldn't remember why he would need to be wrapped up like a mummy. Had he gotten hurt? He really didn't know. He definitely didn't feel hurt enough to need this level of bandaging. His head was too groggy to remember much of anything right now.

    Greg heard soft breathing noises and turned to his left, ignoring the rather slight discomfort the movement caused. A very familiar woman in a pair of scrubs sat in a chair right beside him holding his hand. Blonde hair much like his own down to her shoulders. Pale blue eyes and a soft, round face greeted him with a warm look in her eyes. The drowsiness cleared up immediately and he remembered. What he had done, who he had fought,...that fucker who knocked him out. 'Fucking Armsmaster. More like Dicksmaster.'

    He had done it, though. He had fought Lung. Oh my god, he had fought Lung! What was he thinking? He could have died. He wasn't ready for a fight like that. Hell, he doubted he could take on Oni Lee and he had fought his boss. He didn't even manage to kill the guy, too! Who survives a super strength heel drop from terminal velocity and then getting your eyes gouged out? That was overkill! Simply fighting Lung had proved why he had his reputation. He was a fucking juggernaut! To make matters worse, he had insulted him...in Japanese!

    None of that was important right now, though. What was important was the person in front of him.

    "...mom?"

    'Mom was here? What was she doing here? Honestly, Where is here?' Greg pushed those questions to the side as he squeezed her hand gently.
    She smiled at him even though Greg could tell she was holding back tears.

    "Mommy's here, Greggie."

    Her voice was soft and kind to his ears, with all the warmth that only a mother could put into every word. Despite that, he couldn't help but wince as he heard it.
    "Greggie? Really, I thought we were past that, mom. I haven't been Greggie since I was eight," Greg croaked out, his voice still weak.

    His mom began to cry, despite the smile on her face still as wide as ever. "You'll always be my Greggie."

    Greg sat up and patted his mom's hand with his own, trying to calm her down. "It's okay, mom. Everything's fine." Greg glanced around at the room he was in. It didn't seem like any of the rooms at the hospital. "Where are we, anyway?"

    There was a pause before the kind look on Susan Veder's face changed, turning into a glare of fury that only a mother could pull off. "Really, Greg? Is that what you think? Do you really think everything's fine when you're in a hospital bed? I saw your injuries. You could have died. Is that what you think counts as fine?"

    Greg shook his head, gaping at his mother's uncharacteristic outburst. "No..."

    "Of course, the answer is no. No, Gregory, everything is not fine!" hissed Susan, her eyes narrowed. "Everything is not fine because my son is covered in bandages from head to toe." She stood up and threw her hands into the air. "Everything is not fine because my son just fought Lung and almost died. Nothing is fine," Susan paused and leaned into Greg's gauze covered face until her nose was less than inch from touching his, "because my son is a cape who doesn't trust me at all." With that said, she dropped herself into her seat, the tears in her eyes removing most of the heat from her glare.

    With a look of bewilderment on his face, Greg mouthed the word 'Gregory' several times before shaking his head. "Mom, look...he was...look, he was going to kill kids. What else would you want me to do?"

    The rest of her anger slid off of her face as she processed the question. "You could have the PRT...or the police...or anything. You didn't have to fight him yourself. Why didn't you run away? Look at you...just...look at you. Does it hurt?" More tears began to fall and she held on to his hands tighter.

    Greg sighed. 'Shit, she never gets like this.' "No...mom, not really. I feel fine now."

    "Thanks to the Protectorate. You were still bleeding when they brought you to the Rig."

    "I can heal, Mom. I think I would have been just fine even if they just threw me in a cell. Seriously, Mom. Even if I did run away, would you really be proud if I let some kids get shot when I could have done something?"

    Susan sniffled, tears still streaming down her face. "I...I...what kind of question is that? You're my son. Forget about proud. I don't care if you were the biggest coward in the world. I was just so scared when I saw you. I'd want you to be safe...and alive...before anything else."

    Greg smiled at his mom's words. "Mom, I've wanted to be a hero for years, you know that. Before I ever cared about Eidolon or anyone else, you showed me comics and those table RPG's. I wanted to be like Superman and Spider-Man and all those guys since I was a kid, and I did that...tonight. I beat up a giant monster and a supervillain. That's just like Superman."

    His mom looked at him for a few seconds, a proud smile creeping on her face, before she finally spoke. "You did do a good job but really? You think you're Superman now?
    Listen...You did great, kid. Don't get cocky."

    Greg nodded for a few seconds before his eyes widened in realization. "D-did you just..."

    His mother nodded, a big smile on her face as she tried to hold in laughter.

    "Forget it. Mom, anyway, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you I got powers. I was waiting for the right moment." He paused as she waved away his apology. "Anyway, you shouldn't be scared, Mom. Don't you remember? Fear is the path to the Dark Side," Greg continued, the smile on his face matching his mother's.

    Susan laughed for a few seconds before speaking again. "You've been talking about being a hero for years but you're not an adult yet. Honestly, aren't you a little short for a superhero?

    Greg smirked. "I doubt it really matters how old I am. I'm pretty sure I'm one of the toughest capes in Brockton right now. Even if I lose, strike me down, and I will become more powerful than they could possibly imagine."

    After Greg finished his sentence, the two couldn't hold it in anymore and started laughing. Greg's ribs ached slightly as he did so but he didn't mind. He missed this. These moments with his mom had been happening less and less ever since his father left and his mother had to work more. He wanted to make his mom happy and being a hero was one of the things he knew that she would love...almost as much as she loved Star Wars, even the Prequels.

    Susan's laughter began to slowly die down and she the smile she gave Greg became wistful, almost sad. "You know, your father hated Star Wars. Honestly, he hated almost everything we loved. He thought it was stupid. I was going to name you Lucas Benjamin Veder, you know. Luke Skywalker, Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader all in the same name, heh. Who could pass that up? Your dad decided that he didn't like it and named you after one of his favorite baseball players when he was younger. Greg Luzinski, I think. Yeah, that was it."

    Greg looked at his mom oddly, a tinge of anger in his expression. "Why are we talking about him, Mom? You promised we wouldn't talk about him anymore."

    She was silent for a bit. When her silence began to reach the minute mark, Greg spoke again, his tone a bit harsh. "Mom?"

    "He called me today."

    "And you picked up the phone? Why would you do that, mom?" Greg clenched his hands, breaking through the gauze easily and exposing both of his heavily burnt arms and his mangled right hand. "We talked about this. He messes with your head even when he's not here anymore. You're better than him. I told you this already. Don't answer his calls anymore, Mom."

    Susan sighed and put her head in her hands. "I know. He hasn't called in a long time but...today...today was our anniversary. I felt a bit down because of how it ended. I just wanted to hear his voice...and then he...he apologized.

    Greg sat up even straighter and leaned toward his mother, his eyes wide and mouth slightly open in disbelief. "What."

    Greg knew his father. The man was an asshole with a capital ASS. He loved sports; baseball, basketball, football, you name it. He had never cared much about Greg and, honestly, Greg had never really liked his father much either. Rowan Veder was a bit of a workaholic. He loved to work, often staying late. Although, said work usually involved plowing a young, busty and usually blonde secretary of which he had had several. He was charming, Greg did give him that. He usually wormed his way out of situations where he was in the wrong but he never, ever apologized. That would mean he was wrong and Rowan, in his own words, was never wrong.

    'This...this makes no sense at all. There's gotta be something else. There has to be. He never apologizes.' Something was up. This made no sense. "Yeah, he's sorry. Right. Like that fixes everything everything he ever did to us. What did he add after that, Mom? Huh? Did he say that maybe if I wasn't such a disappointment, he would have stayed, right? Or maybe if you got the surgery he wanted like his secretaries, he wouldn't have left? Or if you hadn't raised me to be such a nerd, right? Did he add that, huh?" 'Fuckin' dickhead.'

    Susan, head still down, only said one word very quietly. "...no."

    Greg still couldn't believe it. "Mom, he said he was sorry? Seriously? Are you sure? Him?"

    Susan lifted her head for a second and Greg could see the puffy red eyes. She was seriously crying and doing her best to hide it from him. "Yes. He said that he was sorry for cheating on me all those times. He talked about how he should have spent time with us and that he realized he wasn't a good husband to me or a good father to you. "

    Greg felt something shift inside him. His fingers twitched and he felt a nervous energy inside himself. He didn't know what to say. His mind was blank and he honestly couldn't decide whether he was angry or...something else. '

    "...and then he talked about his new wife and son," Susan added softly.

    Greg realized he had decided, after all. He was very angry.

    "That fucker!!!" Greg snarled viciously, his teeth bared.

    Susan jumped out of her seat and glared at Greg. "That fucker you're talking about is your father."

    Greg's eye twitched in anger. "No, he's not! That fucker is a walking sperm factory. That's all he does! It's all he's fucking good for! He's probably got tons of kids all over the place!!"
    Susan sighed and Greg noticed that she was still tearing up. That just made him even angrier. 'Why the hell is she crying? She shouldn't be sad. She should be angry at that asshole!'

    "Mom, ignore him. Forget about him. No...Fuck him. He was shit to you. Hell, he was shit to both of us and he calls you like an apology's going to fix that. No, I don't think he meant to apologize, Mom. He obviously didn't!" Greg's voice began to rise. "No, he knew how you were when he left. You were broken. He left you like that and he knew you loved him. He didn't give a shit about that!! You are better than him! He can fuck off!"

    Susan's eyes widened like saucers as Greg continued to rant. "Greg..."

    "Does he know how hard you worked?! You do like three shifts in a day and you're so tired, you fall asleep on the couch! That doesn't matter to him, though. He thinks that's everything's all right because he apologized?"

    "Greg?"

    "He can fuck his apology. He can fucking shove that apology up his ass. Fuck it! I'll do it for him! That fucking fuck!" Greg's face darkened with anger. Everything he had ever wanted to say about his father just came spilling out and the more he yelled, the more Greg's words became less legible and more like growls from the throat of a beast. He needed to yell, needed to scream out his frustrations at his father for being the way he was and his mother for letting him walk all over her. His head felt like it was splitting open but he didn't care. He needed her to understand. Why wouldn't she listen?

    "Greg!!!"

    "WHAT?!!....oh"

    Greg took in a sharp breath as he looked around the room. Around him stood four heroes that he was very familiar with. In fact, nearly everyone in Brockton was familiar with them. How couldn't they be? They were always on TV for one reason or another.

    Assault stood a few feet away from his bed, his guard up. Battery stood right next to him, the lines on the heroine's costume glowing. Miss Militia stood by the wall opposite his mother, a large shotgun-looking weapon aimed directly at Greg. Clockblocker stood outside the room, the door frame blocking most of his body from sight. Assault and Battery attempted to stare down Greg while Miss Militia kept her large shotgun trained on Greg's torso. Greg just stared at the three heroes, one question racing through his mind. He voiced it.
    "What's this all about?" Greg began to wonder if it wasn't just Armsmaster. Maybe everyone in the Protectorate was a dick. He sent a glance toward Miss Militia. 'Who points a gun at a guy in a hospital bed? Fuckers.'

    Battery spoke first. "Power down first and then we'll talk." Her voice was crisp and sharp with a harsh undertone, a command rather than a request. Obviously someone with a short temper.

    Her reply only confused Greg. "Power down? What are you even talking about? I don't even think I can power up. My powers are always...?" Greg's sentence trailed off as he looked down at his hands.

    The bandages had fallen off both his arms at some point, exposing the bare skin that was there. Skin that had a somewhat translucent aura of red energy floating around it. Skin that was now pink and mostly clear of burns. Greg gaped as his anger gave way to curiosity and a bit of awe, eyes as wide as dinner plates at the sight of his two nearly healed arms. Even his mutilated hand looked almost good as new. 'That's way faster than usual.'

    "Sweetie, here." Rifling through her purse for a moment, Susan produced a small compact which she thrust into Greg's outstretched hands.

    Greg looked at her oddly for a moment as she gestured towards her face until she spoke. "Look at your eyes."

    Raising the small mirror to his face, Greg was surprised to see his irises visibly glowing red. Somewhat similar to Evron's eyes from...the night he had given Greg powers. 'God, that's a scary thought. Boss looked real evil then.' As he looked carefully, the red began to fade, returning to his normal pale blue in seconds. 'Huh, that's a thing, too.'
    Closing the compact with a snap, Greg turned to all of the gathered Protectorate members...and Clockblocker.
    "Sorry, I didn't even know I could do that. I wasn't trying to be threatening or anything."

    Battery looked at him for a few seconds before turning to Assault. The male cape simply shrugged and gestured towards Miss Militia. Miss Militia, her expression hidden by the flag scarf around her mouth, quickly looked up at the ceiling and shook her head. Greg and his mother both tilted their heads upward to see several small nozzles of some kind retract back into the ceiling until they were no longer visible. She then stepped forward, her large shotgun dissipating into green energy in her hands. As she walked in front of the group of capes and took point, portraying herself as the one in charge, Clockblocker also slyly sauntered up from behind the door frame until he was right next to Assault.

    Greg gave the group a somewhat awkward smile, deciding not to mention the fact that they seemed ready to take him down a few seconds ago. "So...what's up?"

    Miss Militia eyed Greg intently, as if waiting for him to say something else. When the silence began to drag on again, she spoke. "Mr. Veder...we at the Protectorate have been informed that you defeated Lung this evening." Her voice was slow and calm, as if talking to a dangerous animal. "I'd just like to confirm that with you. Is that alright?"

    Greg's smile faded slightly as he glanced at the heroes in front of him. 'What's up with them? They look so...jumpy. Weird.' "Yeah, I did. It was real hard though. He kept getting bigger so quickly. I don't think the fight lasted longer than...I dunno? Five...maybe ten minutes? Guy was tough, you know? He looked a lot different and he grew so fast."

    Miss Militia suddenly looked at Greg with much more interest. "Do you have any insight into why Lung's appearance might have changed like that?"​
    Greg shrugged again. "Not really, he just changed after this bug controlling cape drowned him in her bugs. Like, literally drowned him. He was choking on bugs. Really gross. He exploded and turned all his men extra crispy."

    This bit of news made everyone in the room pay close attention, including his mom. She was a cape geek, after all. Miss Militia stepped in closer until she was at the foot of Greg's bed. "What can you tell us about this new cape? Was she already fighting Lung when you arrived?"

    Greg paused for a second. "No...she attacked Lung like a few seconds after I showed up. I think she thought Lung was going to kill me or something. Lung tried to burn her when he found her and I saved her. Then her team showed up...after I already beat Lung." 'That was really annoying. I could have used help. Who shows up after the fight like that?'

    "Wait, her team? Who was she working for? Kaiser? Skidmark?" Battery jumped forward with a...battery of questions.

    Greg leaned back slightly. "Uh...no. I haven't heard of them. I think they're new heroes. There was...uh...Grue, Arachne, Regent...uh....Bitch! Yeah, that's it. Bitch and...Tattletale. They had big dog monster things too."

    "Are you sure that's all you know? Nothing else?" Battery leaned in closer and her voice had a sharper edge to it. Greg might have felt intimidated...if he hadn't just faced off against Lung.

    "If I do know anything else, I don't remember," Greg replied smoothly.

    Battery visibly slumped as Greg spoke and Assault stepped up, chuckling slightly. "Those aren't heroes, kid. They're a bunch of young small-time villains called The Undersiders. Puppy here got excited because she thought you might have some intel on any new capes the Brockton 3 got, not the kiddie gang you met up with." The male cape laughed a bit more until a peeved Battery elbowed him, interrupting his laughter. Behind the two of them, Clockblocker snorted quietly.

    Greg was a bit confused at that. "Villains? But they were pretty nice, though. Arachne even helped me fight Lung and everything." 'That pretty one even helped me up.'

    Assault clicked his tongue. "I don't know what to tell you, kid. She was probably trying to save her own ass...OW, Puppy!"

    Battery didn't even turn to face him as she elbowed him again. "Language."

    Miss Militia restrained the urge to roll her eyes at the married couple's antics. She did let out a small sigh, though. "Mr. Veder, the Protectorate would like to thank you for apprehending Lung. In his new state, he might have been a threat to the entirety of Brockton Bay as a whole."

    Greg smiled and opened his mouth to say something when a stray thought crossed his mind.

    "Wait! Where's Armsmaster? He shot me with a tranquilizer and he tried to take credit for beating Lung!," Greg said, raising his voice a bit. At his side, his mom raised her eyebrows in surprise.

    As Miss Militia, Assault and Battery exchanged odd looks, Clockblocker leaned over slightly. "What."

    Greg nodded confidently. "Yeah, he tried to take credit for Lung and then when I called him on it, he shot me!"

    Susan looked shocked. "He shot you?!"

    Greg nodded.

    Susan turned to the adult heroes. "Armsmaster shot my son?!"

    Miss Militia raised her hands up. "Ms. Veder, I assure you that whatever methods Armsmaster used, he only used them because he believed that, in that current situation, they were the most effective and beneficial."

    "How is Armsmaster shooting my son 'beneficial'?!"

    Clockblocker snorted at that last statement and let out a chuckle, then another and another and another until he was nearly doubled over with laughter. As everyone in the room turned to look at the young Ward that was doing a remarkable impression of a hyena, Clockblocker slowed his laughter, but by no means did he stop. "What? Come on, you guys know Armsmaster would do that if it was for 'Efficiency'. I mean, just imagine it." Clockblocker puffed out his chest, stood up straight and tried to make his voice deeper, which still wasn't that deep but he tried. "Hmm, Lung's down and that guy over there looks pretty beat up. I'll tranq both of them and figure it out later. Efficient! Hmm, I brought Lung in. Technically, that means I defeated him. Efficient! Hmm, take a shower or pee? Why not both? Efficient!" With that, he lost himself in laughter again. "Come on, it makes sense, kinda."

    Assault started to snort and snicker until he was chuckling right besides Clockblocker. That is, until Battery slammed an elbow into his ribcage. "Ouch...Come on, it's funny. Kid's got a point."

    The two male heroes laughter slowly died away as both Battery and Miss Militia shot them glares simultaneously.

    Greg frowned. "Look, all I really want from Armsmaster is an apology. As long as he says he's sorry, we're cool."

    Clockblocker snorted again and Assault's lip began to quiver. Miss Militia flinched and Battery made an odd noise that sounded like a strangled gasp. "...Well," began Miss Militia, "in response to any actions Armsmaster might have taken in that situation, he most likely tried to follow protocol and-"

    "Since when is it Protectorate protocol to shoot first and ask questions later?", Susan Veder questioned.

    Miss Militia winced again. "I understand how you might both feel about this situation. Ms. Veder, Mr. Veder, I promise that I will bring this matter to the Director personally. If she feels that Armsmaster was in the wrong, she will make attempts to rectify the issue and Armsmaster will give you a personal apology." In the background, Clockblocker let out another small chuckle.

    A simple shrug was Greg's response. " I guess that's cool. Mom?" At his side, his mother nodded calmly.

    Miss Militia sighed at Greg's response, seeming relieved. "Well, there is one more thing we'd like to talk to you about, Mr. Veder, and you as well, Ms. Veder."

    Greg sat up in his bed. "What?"

    "On behalf of the Protectorate East North East, the four of us would like to formally invite you to join the Wards. Young parahumans are-"

    "Wait just one minute!", his mother interjected, a small frown on her face. "He just fought Lung! Do you know how badly he's injured? He's burnt all over, suffered several torn muscles and ligaments and the bones in his right leg are shattered. He's in no condition to do anything, let alone join-" "Uh, Mom?" "Huh?" Susan paused her tirade to look over at her son, who had taken the liberty to unwrap the bandages on his torso and face. Despite some patches of bruising and burnt scar tissue, Greg's chest was mostly healed. His hair had still suffered greatly as the sides were gone, leaving him with a rough Mohawk. "Yeah, Mom, I'm pretty good, actually. My leg's still wrecked, yeah, and I feel kinda banged up but nothing that'll kill me."

    "Don't even worry about that, man," Clockblocker replied, "I heard Panacea's heading down here to give you a hand. She helps out the Protectorate like that all the time. Besides, the Wards are real cool with her and Glory Girl. Sometimes, Glory Girl helps us out on patrols. I bet you two would be friends. You're both blonde Alexandria Packages. We could all hang out after kicking some criminal butt."

    Greg smirked. "That does sound kind of cool."

    "Yes, the Wards do have a lot of fun," Miss Militia added. As she continued, her tone changed, the lightheartedness disappearing to be replaced by seriousness. "Besides that, Mr. Veder, there is something more urgent that we need to address with you and your mother. Due to your unfortunate outing at Winslow, it is likely that every major gang in the city is currently aware of your parahuman status. You and your mother could be in danger of being attacked by the ABB or being forced into the Merchants. With your...appearance being something that Kaiser would approve of greatly, there is no doubt that Kaiser will make every attempt to force you into the Empire. The Protectorate would like to help you and your mother avoid this from happening."

    "If I join you, right?" Greg replied, his eyebrow raised.

    Assault chuckled a bit, a smile visible beneath his visor. "Well, yeah. I mean, look at it from our side. For all we know, you could be a wanna-be villain. We'd love to help, kid, but the Protectorate is a government agency. You have to work with us if you want our help. I mean, if we help you out, and then you start doing stuff that isn't on the level, it's gonna be our fault for helping you. It's life, man."

    Miss Militia sighed. "While I wouldn't have phrased it quite like that, Assault is right. We need you working us with you for us to help you. It's also a matter of resources. If you're not part of the Wards, and we're helping you, then that's resources that can't go to the person that actually wants to join."

    His mom patted his shoulder and he turned to face her. "What do you think, Mom?"

    Susan gave him a small smile. "Well...you've always wanted to be a hero and...I really think the Wards could help you out. On the other hand, the gangs might already know who you are. So they could still find us either way but the PRT could help us with protection. I think it's up to you."

    'The gangs know who I am. That's true. I could join the Protectorate but I could also join New Wave. My whole thing fits their theme...but the Boss did say we would be a team...but what about Mom? Could he...maybe?'

    "Honey?"

    "Mr.Veder?," Miss Militia questioned.

    Greg paused as he came to a decision. "I honestly think that-" Greg halted his sentence as someone opened the door to the room.

    "Excuse me, they told me that my patient was in this room...Am I interrupting something?"

    A white robe with a red cross emblazoned on the front, brown hair, freckles and a white scarf hanging around her neck. 'Panacea.'

    Miss Militia nodded in greeting. Battery sent a smile at the young healer. Assault waved at her, a big smile on his face.

    Clockblocker waved as well, albeit lazily. "Hey, Amy."

    "Clockblocker," she replied slowly. "Vicky said she's still gonna punch you for last time."

    "What? She's still mad about that. Why? It was just a joke," Clockblocker said in a slightly panicky tone.

    "Freezing her? Maybe. Freezing her and stealing her fries? No." Turning to face Greg, she gave him a tired smile. "Hi there, I'm Panacea. Do I have your permission to heal you?"

    "Go ahead," answered his mom.

    Greg simply stared at her. This was Panacea. She was THE healer. The best that anyone, anywhere, could hope for. She handled cancer, missing limbs, incurable diseases! And she was here for him. 'Awesome...'

    "...Excuse me!"

    Greg snapped out of his thoughts. "Huh?"

    She sent him what could have been a glare if she put some actual anger into it, instead of just exasperation. "I said, do I have your permission to heal you? Since you're awake and in your right mind, hopefully, I need your permission and not your mother's to heal you."

    Greg nodded hurriedly. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead."

    She reached a hand outward and touched Greg's arm....and frowned. "Huh..."

    "What?," asked Greg. His mother tilted her head, staring at Panacea while she healed her son.

    Panacea scrunched up her face. "I'm not getting...anything from you...," Panacea replied, her hand still on Greg's arm.

    "You mean you can't heal him?" Battery asked. Clockblocker tilted his head. "Amy, you really can't heal him?"

    "No...well, yes but...he feels...fuzzy, I guess. I can't get a clear picture of his insides. Wait...," Panacea's eyes widened as she paused.

    "What? What is it?" spoke Greg and his mother almost in unison.

    Miss Militia stepped towards Panacea, a concerned look in her eyes. "Panacea, is there something wrong?"

    Panacea turned and gave Miss Militia a tired smile that seemed off, somehow. "No, I'm fine. I think I was just tired. I can handle his injuries now." As she said it, Greg saw the small portions of scar tissue on his chest and arms disappear and felt the damaged muscles reknitting themselves. As the bones in his right leg shifted back into place, the torn skin came back together and the last of the discomfort faded away, Greg sighed in relief.

    "Wow...thanks. I feel a lot better," Greg said with a grin at the frizzy haired girl.

    Panacea returned his smile and yawned. "No problem. It only took a few minutes."

    Greg shook his head. "No, seriously. Thank you. You didn't have to come help me. I owe you one." By his side, his mother nodded, smiling at Panacea.

    "It's just what I do. Nice to meet you." She smiled at the two of them and nodded at the four Protectorate heroes before leaving the room.

    Sitting up, Greg turned toward the four heroes still waiting for his answer.

    "I was thinking about what I wanted to do and at first I was about to join the Wards, cause I mean, who wouldn't want to be part of a hero team, right? But then I thought about it and I realized that I can't just decide on the spot like this. Miss Militia, do you mind if I think about the offer for a bit? I don't want to rush into anything, you know," Greg said, the smile on his face somewhat nervous.

    Miss Militia nodded slowly. "That's completely fine, Mr. Veder. The offer still stands. If you're intending to leave now, there should be some clothes under your bed. We stock them for situations like this."

    The four of them began to walk out until Clockblocker suddenly whipped around. "Wait! Do you have a cape name yet? Cause I'm pretty sure they're planning on giving you one and it's probably gonna suck. That's why I made mine up. It's the best name, isn't it?"

    Assault snorted. "The best? Really?"

    Clockblocker looked up at the only adult male in the room. "Instant brand recognition. Who's gonna forget a name like Clockblocker?," he replied smugly, arms crossed.

    Assault opened his mouth and closed it quickly. "Point." Behind the both of them, Battery groaned.

    "Uh...I already have a name," Greg replied, "Superior."

    "Are you sure that name hasn't already been taken?," Miss Militia asked curiously.

    Greg let out a slow breath. "Well...It used to belong to a villain down in Texas but...he died so...yeah, it's mine now."

    "Well, I think you should change it. Taking a villain's name doesn't exactly scream Hero," Battery replied. "In fact, it gives off the opposite impression. It also sounds really arrogant Besides, what are people in Brockton Bay going to to think of a blond blue eyed hero with a name like Superior with the Empire running around?"

    Greg shrugged. "Look, I doubt anyone's gonna care about me using the name of a villain from Texas that nobody remembers. If they do, then that's stupid. Besides, Superior doesn't sound that much more arrogant than Glory Girl and I'm pretty sure that when they see me fighting Nazis, nobody's gonna think I'm one of them. Look, it took me a while to find this name, a good one that someone wasn't already using. I'm not gonna give it up."

    Battery scowled and Assault smirked. "Well, you'll make a good hero, kid. You've definitely got the balls...OW! Come on, it was a compliment."

    Miss Militia's eyes crinkled in amusement. "Well, thank you, Superior. We hope that you'll make the decision to join the Wards. We'd be glad to have you. Thank you, Ms. Veder, for deciding to support your son's decisions. Many parents act as if their children never changed at all. We'll be leaving now."

    When the door closed and the heroes were gone, Greg turned to his mother to say something but froze as he realized something that filled him with dread.

    His mom was not oblivious to the look of horror on her son's face and she reacted accordingly. "Greg. what is it? What's wrong? Did Panacea mess up? Are you hurt? What is it?"

    Greg's hands patted his head, feeling the ragged Mohawk that served as the remnants of his once glorious mane.

    "I forgot to ask her if she could fix my hair!," Greg cried out.

    Susan Veder nearly cracked a rib during the ensuing fit of uncontrollable laughter.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Nearly Thirty Minutes Later
    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    "So, you're telling me this 'Superior' has a Master rating as well?" Emily Piggot questioned gruffly.

    Miss Militia nodded firmly. "That is correct, Director. It caused me to feel intimidated and nervous and I felt oddly...trigger happy. I ended up making a weapon that I've never used before. A CZ550 with an elephant gun cartridge."

    "Battery, did you notice the same effect as Miss Militia?" Piggot asked, purposely ignoring Assault. She did not need his verbal report as it was usually interspersed with stupid jokes and puns.

    "Yes, Director Piggot," Battery replied firmly. "When we arrived in his room, he was visibly angry. All of us felt extremely tense and intimidated. Miss Militia immediately materialized an...elephant gun. Clockblocker was outright terrified. He responded by hiding behind the door frame. When we entered the room, I instructed him to power down. He was confused at first but once he realized his actions, the effect dissipated but did not fully disappear until his eyes stopped glowing red. We also determined that his healing factor accelerated during that period."

    Clockblocker cleared his throat rather loudly before he put in his own two cents. "Um, I'd just like to add that I wasn't terrified. I heard this guy had almost killed Lung 2.0 and I was just-"

    Piggot had heard enough. "Clockblocker!",she said, almost snarling. God, she hated that name! It was annoying having to say it, almost as annoying as having to deal with the owner of said name.

    He got the message. "Shutting up now."

    "So he's similar to Aegis and Glory Girl in abilities. Interesting," she said to no one in particular.

    "Um...I think there's something else you should know about him," spoke a small, tired voice.

    Director Piggot sat at her desk, arms folded in front of her, as she stared at the five heroes in front of her. Four of them were here because she had called them in order to debrief them about the new parahuman they had recently spoken to. The fifth had shown up requesting to speak with her and Piggot would prefer not to have Panacea upset with the Protectorate for whatever reason, so she had obliged the small request.

    "Panacea, was there something you noticed?"

    The robed girl nodded. "Just before I healed him, I was able to get information about his biology."

    "And?" Piggot

    "He's not a parahuman."

    She was not regretting that decision.

    Piggot tilted his head curiously. "I'm sorry? Did you say that he's not a parahuman? We have several reports of him displaying abilities."

    Panacea shrugged. "I can scan brains. I can't affect them but I can scan them. I know what a Corona Pollentia and a Gemma feel like. They may be different in every parahuman but they give off the same feeling. His brain was different, yes. It was more...organized, faster, I guess, than a normal person's. His motor system was amazing, really. But everything else was much worse. His amygdala and emotional processing was so screwed up that when the slightest bit of epinephrine, adrenaline, enters his system, his fear and pain reactions are just gone and his anger. His hypothalamus barely regulated his anger. He has no control over it...at all. Extreme, murderous anger. He's also really prone to addiction and impulsiveness. All of that and he had no Corona or Gemma."

    Panacea continued to speak, breathing heavily and talking faster with every word. "I mean, his body was like Aegis but more limited. More like a regular human on the inside. But he had a bunch of organs that I couldn't even understand their purpose. His bones and muscles were denser than someone his size should be by more than half but they were all much stronger than they should be. So much stronger and they were working with me when I was healing him. Not like other capes with healing factors. I have to make their body follow my instructions. I was healing him and his healing was copying me. Some of what his body was made of. They weren't normal...I don't even know what they were made of. It's crazy. His strength, his speed, his stamina, his durability, hearing, vision, smell. His skin was...perfect. Like dirt barely stuck to it. Everything about him was not normal and his body structure was impossible. He's not a parahuman but he has powers and nothing about him was right. That's not even getting into his DNA. His DNA was...half of it wasn't human, like at all. It was so complex, like an octuple helix. And five percent of it made no sense. I would say that he's the final stage of human evolution but he's not even human...at least not anymore. He was...he was almost...no...he was." A gleeful smile crossed her face, as if she had finally understood something. "It makes sense now. Of course, no wonder. Oh God." The smile disappeared to be replaced by shock.

    Clockblocker patted the girl on the shoulder. "Hey, Amy, are you all right? I mean, his body seems off but capes have weird bodies sometimes. I mean, look at Aegis."

    Panacea took a deep breath to prevent her voice from shaking. "You guys don't get it at all. He was designed. Someone made him! He's like the perfect inhuman soldier. No pain, no fear, a healing factor, super strong and fast. Some of it makes no sense, like the weakness to addiction and the impulsiveness but I guess the anger makes some sense. Anger like that could make it easy to kill someone. Someone had to have created him...that or they modified him but I don't know how you modify someone like that without killing them."

    Everyone sat there in silence just processing the bombshell the girl had just dropped on all of them.

    Piggot was stone-faced as she took in what Panacea said. The thought that someone could create a parahuman of that level had nearly given her flashbacks. Someone was out there with the ability to turn people into capes with the power to take down Lung. This was...this was almost worse than Nilbog. Almost.

    "Thank you, Ms. Dallon, for your information. Assault, Battery, please escort her home. Miss Militia, please contact Armsmaster for me. He appears to have locked himself in his lab. Inform him that I wish to speak to him and tell him to contact Dragon." As everyone else left her office, she realized that one more person was still in the room. "Clockblocker...go do something."

    "Yes, sir, ma'am!" he responded, running out of her office.

    Piggot didn't respond to his childish attempt at humor. The boy didn't understand how serious this was. If he did, she might have had some minuscule level of respect for him. She was focused on more important...more critical matters. There was someone in this city with the power to do what she feared most and they weren't behind a wall, at peace with their own small, monstrous kingdom. They were free to roam within her city, doing whatever they felt like and creating...super-soldiers. Whoever this new player was, they had to be stopped at all costs...before her city paid the price.



    __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
    __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


    This chapter took me forever. Especially the Characterization for Battery and Assault. I know nothing about them except that Assault is basically Mini-Accelerator. used to be a breakout specialist called Madcap, Battery caught him after a bazillion tries and he cut a deal and got married to Battery. Battery...bought powers from Cauldron. That's about all I know about her. And she used to be a Ward.

    Thank you to my Betas;
    @LordCirce
    @Cherico
    @Mohamud
    ​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Complications 2.5A
  • Threadmarks
    • I recommend that you read over the Information on Titanwatch or skim the Glossary or some parts might be confusing.

    Complications 2.5A




    "....Greg..."

    "...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...."

    "...Hey, buddy..."

    "...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."

    "Come on, Greg..."

    "...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."

    "Wake up, man...it's me..."

    "...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..."

    "Greg! Wake up!"

    "...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...."

    "...Fine, have it your way. GREG!!!"

    "AHHH!!" Greg Veder jolted awake and rolled out of his warm, comfortable bed, his comforter wrapping around his body like a hastily prepared burrito. Breathing heavily from the sudden shock, Greg looked up to see the grinning face of one Evron Grey, his white hair a dead giveaway. "Oh...you, what...what time is it?" Greg said with a yawn. 'What does he want now?'

    "Yeah, me. It's twelve in the morning. Your mom left like five hours ago for work. You really should tell her about me, you know. Nice hairdo, by the way. Anyway, you're still in bed. What's up with that?" Evron questioned, still grinning.

    "Mom said it'd be a good idea for me to lay low for a bit. So, no school, no going out to hero. I didn't mind. And no, we're not telling her until you actually go out in public and show people who you are. And shut up about my hair," Greg said with a scowl, using his one free hand to touch the rough Mohawk he now had in place of his once golden mane. He looked like a punk rocker and he hated it. "Why'd you wake me up, anyway?"

    "I just want to talk to my buddy. I heard you got into a bit of a scuffle last night. Wanna tell Big Bro Ev all about it?"

    Greg glared at Evron as he took steps to carefully extricate himself from the cloth based cocoon that he was currently bundled in without ripping the cloth. As he finally got himself free, he stood up. "First of all, it was not a scuffle, okay. It was a fight for my life."

    Evron shrugged as he zipped up his sleeveless blue and black hoodie. "Call it what you will, a tussle, fight, struggle, brawl, skirmish, fracas, rumpus, melee, donnybrook, whatever. Just tell me what happened. I want to hear it from you."

    Greg sighed. "Well, I met Lung and he tried to kill me. He stabbed me...through your bulletproof costume. I healed up then this bug controlling girl tries to help me out by shoving bugs down his throat. He tries to kill her. I save her with a force field...cause I can make those. Did you know that I could make those? Cause I didn't. Anyway, he's huge at this point with like spikes and shit. Guy burns me really badly and I used a finishing move on him. I jumped really high and I did a heel kick on him at terminal velocity. His skull split open, my leg shattered and then I stabbed him...in the eyes."

    As Greg finished his story, Evron stared at him with a wide grin on his face. "Yeah, I know the costume's bulletproof but I'm pretty sure Lung's got a bit more power behind him than bullets. Honestly, though, wow...you did great for your first night out. All I did on my first night was get beat up by a small-time gang. Someone had to bail me out. One thing though, I wouldn't recommend escalating to killing this early in your career. Stabbing someone in the eyes tends to lead to death. Just a tip."

    Greg frowned. "Uh, thanks for the tip. I'll make sure not to gouge out anymore eyes," Greg replied sarcastically before a curious expression appeared on his face.
    "I gotta ask you something, though. Last night, things were really weird. I was doing math in my head and thinking a lot, zoning out from the fight. I wasn't scared at all and I was really into fighting Lung. I was trying to make him angrier so he could get bigger. I was...just...fighting like a crazy person. I was laughing, man, and after the fight, when I was at the Protectorate Base, I was so angry that my head hurt. What's that about?"

    Evron opened his mouth and closed it as he stared at Greg with a strangely serious look on his face. "I never explained that to you? At all? The day I gave you powers?"

    Greg shook his head. "No, you were busy trying to keep me from jumping around like a squirrel on crack."

    "Yeah, you were really hyperactive that first day," Evron said with a bit of a smile. "That's normal, though. Okay...um...to explain the weirdness in your thoughts, well, first, your brain is still thinking at a much faster rate than the rest of your body can react to. For the anger and everything else, let me...shit...I have to do this whole thing. Sia, bring up the Kor default video. Projector one."

    Evron removed a small disk from his silver armband that was roughly the size of a quarter and tossed it on the ground. A second later, it beeped and a holographic image of a tall, muscled, blonde man with red eyes wearing nothing but underwear appeared from the device. Every few seconds, it would cycle between him running, leaping and throwing a tank like it was was weightless, all in his underwear. "First things first, I told you that you were an Evolved, right? Did I ever explain what that means?"

    Greg stared at the looping video, imagining him in place of the blonde in the footage. It wasn't that hard. They were both wearing roughly the same amount of clothing. "...Yeah, you told me that an Evolved is a type of metahuman. A metahuman is a normal human that develops a power-set that best fits their mindset or need at the time," Greg recited.

    Evron shook his head from side to side slightly. "Yes...and...no. An Evolved is a metahuman, yes. A created metahuman. A meta that I create. Evolved are made from a mix of Royal Kheran DNA, which is what this half-naked blonde is, metahuman DNA and a little something extra. All of that is found in my bloodstream."

    Greg made a confused face at Evron. "So, what's a Royal Kheran? A type of cape from your universe?"

    Evron clicked his tongue. "No...Kherans or Khorathians, if you want to get technical, are aliens. Former planet conquering, genocidal aliens. Royal Kherans are a ruling class above Noble Kherans and regular ones. They're like regular Kherans but stronger, faster, better...really. They also have a habit of being bloodthirsty, battle crazy, dominant and very, very angry."

    Greg gaped and took a few steps backward from the image. "And you turned me into one of them?!!!"

    Evron stepped forward, arms raised. "Greg, I didn't turn you into one of them. You're only half Kheran. The rest of you is human...mostly."

    Greg scowled at Evron and glared at him furiously. "Oh, that's so much better. I'm so relieved that I'm only half of a crazy alien," he replied, the sarcasm dripping. "If they're so alien, why do they look...so...so...normal?"

    "Well, no one really knows. Blame whatever. Anyway, Kherans were cavemen type aliens who were pretty much abducted by a higher species called the N'uovo. After some generations of genetic alteration, the original Kheran was made, looking a lot like eight feet tall, massively built bodybuilders to be the perfect working class. Brown hair, brown eyes, strong, semi-stupid, and loyal, like giant dogs really."

    "But he doesn't look like that. He looks-"

    "I'm getting there. Anyway, after working for these guys for however many centuries, a mutant was born. His name was Khorath and he was different from the others. Smarter, stronger, faster and much less docile. He and his family and several hundred of their species were working on a cargo ship when he was insulted and struck by one of the N'uovo they were sold to. It didn't hurt him but it did make him angry. Apparently, the N'uovo didn't realize that their alterations were a bit too effective. They knew how strong their slaves were but they never realized how durable they were or how pain didn't really bother them when they went berserk. Either that or they figured they made them docile and stupid enough. They weren't. In short, Khorath lead his people on a massacre of every single N'uovo on the cargo ship and none of the N'uovo weapons were strong enough to kill them. Hurt them, yeah, but not put them down for good. Then Khorath and his people realized they didn't know how to pilot a ship and crash-landed on a giant planet that was basically filled with giant killer animals."

    "I don't see how this-"

    "Greg, do me a favor and shut up for five minutes. Okay?"

    Greg scowled. "I didn't ask for a history lesson, though. I just wanted to know-"

    "I'm getting there! Are you the type of guy who watches the last ten minutes of a movie first? Come on, man," Evron replied, obviously exasperated by the interruption.

    "Where was I? Anyway, most of the slaves died in the crash and to the killer animals and in about ten years, only four hundred and fifty of them were left, most of them women and children because the men went out hunting. Anyway, Khorath and a group of about one hundred men came in contact with a basically omnipotent being...no...asshole...let's call him an asshole, inside of a cave pool. This omnipotent asshole was just chilling there as a giant glowing white crystal for who knows how long. It was the reason that the planet was so hellish and death-worldy with all of it's megafauna. When Khorath and his men drank from the glowing water in the cave pool, almost half of them died after a few hours.

    "Only Khorath and fifty-five other men survived whatever the water did to them. They were stronger, faster, smarter, tougher and their hair and eye color had changed. Khorath had gained red eyes and blond hair and while he had previously been ten times as strong as any of them, that strength had increased proportionally. They headed back home and brought the women and children to the pool and did the same. Many died. Others survived and were changed for the better. They ended up worshiping the omnipotent asshole," Evron said with a scowl.

    "Anyway, after hundreds of years, they had found their way back to the N'uovo homeworld somehow, committed genocide, rescued their people, and took all the tech the N'uovo had. They ended up doing this to almost every known species in their galaxy out of fear of being enslaved again, learning how to externalize the energy inside of them into blasts and improving their inhuman abilities by leaps and bounds until they were essentially godlike. Khorath died after 400 years of ruling, killed by his son, Kheran, in a spar. After hundreds of thousands of years of conquering systems and genocide on those who continued fighting, they mellowed out and created a galactic government, letting every species who wanted to leave the Kheran Empire leave.

    "The modern Royal Kheran looks like this guy here," Evron continued, gesturing to the hologram, "red eyes and blond hair with some variations in skin tone. Kherans, despite their new mellowness, are still a species that prides dominance and power and hate weak wills. Kherans love to fight. It's in every part of their culture. Exercise, marriage, friendship, dating. It's ingrained into their system like the idea of love is in human culture. The only Kherans that don't fight are the Monks and it'd be scary as fuck if they did," Evron continued, chuckling softly.

    Look, every Kheran has an ability called Bloodrage, where they lose themselves in rage and get stronger, faster and heal much quicker at a cost of their higher brain function, the fight being the only thing that matters. That's probably what you experienced the night before. We have to get that under control soon, okay. The average Kheran male runs about five hundred miles an hour and can lift up to five hundred tons. Right now, your speed is half that and your strength is barely five percent of that. That's going to change and it's going to change quickly. It's scary enough when someone who can dead lift five hundred tons loses it like that, okay? You have royal Kheran blood, man. I have that same blood. Two and a half million tons is the average Royal Kheran adult, Greg...with no training. Imagine someone capable of that losing their shit. Royal Kherans are gods to their people for a reason."

    Greg gulped and backed away, his breathing becoming fast. "You're joking, right? Please be joking. Seriously, I need you to be joking."

    Evron shook his head slowly.

    "Why? Why would you? I didn't want this. I never wanted this. This is...this is too much. I can't...I can't breathe. I can't breathe...," Greg wheezed, staring at his own two hands.

    Evron walked forward and put an arm on Greg's shoulder. "Greg, look, I gave boosts almost like yours to almost all my friends," Evron began calmly, his voice soft and placating. "The difference is that you didn't already have powers so I had to up the ante a bit. The Kherans were a bit off but they were also masters at controlling their emotions. You'll be fine. Mine was a good deal worse. All you need is some meditation, relaxation and emotional-"

    "No!!!" Greg screamed, pushing Evron back. "...what...what...what....What the fuck were you thinking?!!! You can't just drop that kind of power on me!!!," Greg snarled, his eyes glowing red and spit flying as he screamed. "Okay, Greg, here, you want powers, right? Here's a shit load of them! Don't worry, nothing's wrong with them. Oh, they feel kinda weak, huh? Don't worry, you'll get stronger and STRONGER AND STRONGER CAUSE YOU'RE NOT HUMAN ANYMORE!!! YOU'RE A FUCKING ALIEN NOW, GREG!!! AN ALIEN AND A SUPERHERO!!! A FUCKING ALIEN SUPERHERO WITH SPACE NAZI DNA!!! DON'T WORRY, YOU'LL MELLOW OUT!!! FUCK YOU!!! FUCK YOU AND YOUR FUCKING POWERS AND YOUR FUCKING FUTURE SHIT!!!"

    Evron didn't say anything. He stood there, letting Greg get all his frustrations out.
    After Greg had finished, he only had one thing to say. He didn't raise his voice. He didn't smile. The expression on his face could only be described as cold.
    He simply stared Greg's blazing red eyes down with his cool blue ones. "Do you want me to take them away?," he said in a voice that was barely more than a whisper.

    Greg heard it just as well as if Evron had shouted at the top of his voice.

    A look of fear appeared on his face unbidden and he shuffled backwards until the wall prevented him from going any further. "No...no...please. Don't take them, please. I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean it, really. Don't...please...," Greg said, just barely preventing his voice from wavering.

    'He...he can do that? Can he really take them back?'

    Evron stepped closer and Greg flinched as he stood nose to nose with him, Evron's cold eyes staring into his own. "Are you saying that because you're actually sorry or do you just not want me to remove your powers? Be honest."

    'My powers...can't lose my powers..can't lose them...can't lose them.' Greg stared into Evron's eyes and swallowed deeply. "I...don't want to lose my powers."

    Evron stepped back, a small smile on his face. "And why is that, Greg? You were just so angry about having them but now you're begging me not to take them away. Why is that, you think?"

    Greg looked at his feet, back still against the wall. "I don't know,"he mumbled softly.

    "I know you didn't mean to say what you did. It was the Rage. I also know why you were freaking out, Greg," his smile became a wide grin, showing off his rather sharp teeth. "Regular humans live weak, frail lives. They are never free from pain, tiredness or general weakness. Sickness, agony, fear. That's how they know that they're alive. You know what it's like to be free from that. For the past month, that weakness has been leaving your body, allowing you to reach greater heights. Last night, you were alive...truly alive. You expressed your power and defeated a powerful enemy like an ancient hero. Perseus, Hercules, Samson. You stood where they stood. You felt that power rushing through your veins. Losing that would be torture, right?"

    Greg, enraptured by his words, nodded slowly.

    "I've gone through the exact same thing, Greg, but it was much worse for me. I lost myself to my anger, to all my emotions. That's what Bloodrage does to you when you don't control it. I was a terror...and then I lost my powers. I had powers since I was...five and then...they were gone. I didn't know what to do. Because of that, I acted out. I pushed away my friends, my family, my girl. I did some bad things, Greg. I was lost. Nobody had ever lost their powers before. I didn't have anyone else to help me through it because they didn't know what I was going through. The weakness I felt. You know that weakness. You were pushed around because you were weak. All of them pushed you around, the popular kids, the bullies, the gangs..."

    "My dad...," Greg said softly.

    Evron gave him an odd glance at that. "...yeah...your dad. They thought you were weak. They thought you were pathetic. There are people who don't think that. You have your mom, Greg and...and...Sparky, yeah. You also have me, Greg. Don't forget that. I'm not gonna hold your hand but I will always be there when you need my help. You remember what I promised you that night I gave you these powers. You're gonna fix this world and I want to help you. These emotions you feel, I feel them too, Greg, but control is very important to being a real hero. In fact, it's rule number one when it comes to strength like ours and part of strength is about learning to control yourself. I need you to trust me, Greg. Do you trust me?"

    Greg looked up, tears in his glowing red eyes. "Yeah, I do." 'I really do.' "Thanks, boss."

    Evron grinned even wider, his unnaturally sharp, white teeth gleaming. "No problem. Now, let's talk about your powers. You had some more questions for me, right?"
    ​
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • I will maintain to my deathbed that this "X is not a parahuman" thing is equivalent to an Inquisitor seeing someone vanish in a puff of smoke or float on water and go "she's not a witch! she doesn't have a pointy hat! All the witches I've seen have had pointy hats!".

    It's a good way to get meta-knowledge in or move character impressions forward though.
     
    Greg joins the wards (Non-Canon Omake)
  • Threadmarks
    • Greg joins the wards or In which shadow stalker hates Greg's training montage. (Non-Canon)

    Created By X-777TheReQUium«»Tm


    "Uhh...Hi, I'm Superior. It's nice to meet you," said Greg as he looked around at the his fellow wards, his golden and white costume gleaming. He had decided that if he was going to join the Wards, he was going to make the best first impression possible. The boss had even made him a brand new costume, actually designed for someone of his weight class. It was a more impressive version of his old one. Despite his new outfit, he was still a little nervous as he was a bit unsure of how to act around them. They had been heroes for years and he was just a rookie. A rookie that had taken down Lung, but still...one night of fighting does not a hero make.

    "Hey, Superior, its nice to meet you, I'm Vista," said the blonde and bubbly young heroine. "You've already met Clockblocker," she continued, pointing towards a boy in a white, clock themed, armored costume. "And that's Shadow Stalker," she said with a voice tinged with a hint of distaste as she pointed to a dark skinned girl in a black costume cleaning a crossbow. "Gallant, Kid Win and Aegis are out right now. You can meet them when they get back from patrol."

    Shadow Stalker walked over, her steps determined and her posture dripping with arrogance. Despite her somewhat aggressive bearing, she seemed to be studying Greg as she gave him a quick once-over. "So, Blondie, heard you're the guy who beat Lung."

    Greg chuckled nervously and raised a hand upwards, scratching his bald head. Evron had recommended he shave his scalp clean in order for his hair to grow back even. "Well, yeah...I beat him." Greg knew he didn't look impressive compared to Gallant or Aegis with their big muscles but he was still pretty tough. At least, he hoped he looked tough.

    "Hmm...He must not have been as tough as they say. Heh...someone like you, you don't have any guts. I bet I could take you," Stalker replied with a sneer.

    Greg smirked, his eyes flashing from blue to red and back again in an instant. "Really, you think so?"

    You could almost see the cocky smirk behind Shadow Stalker's mask. "I know so."

    "Let's have a little fight. A spar to see who's really tougher. I am a Brute, you know," Greg replied.

    "And? I've taken down Brutes. You can ask Aegis," she replied confidently. " If you really want to spar, let's go down to the training room and I can show you exactly what I'm talking about." She walked out of the room, closely followed by an eager Greg.

    Greg was actually anticipating a good fight from all the hype she was spouting. He hoped she wouldn't disappoint him.

    Clockblocker and Vista glanced at each other and hurried after the two fight-crazy capes.

    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Shadow Stalker and Greg stood a few meters apart in a room that looked like it was designed to take damage. The ground was covered with some type of rubbery foam material and whatever the walls were made of, they looked durable. Clockblocker and Vista stood several meters away, close enough to see everything but still giving the two capes plenty of room to tear into each other. Greg had his arms at his sides, completely relaxed and waiting for the fight to begin while Shadow Stalker was the opposite. Equipped with weighted batons designed to deliver an electrical shock upon contact, she was ready and on her guard. Although it wasn't unexpected. One of them was a Brute and the other wasn't.

    "Okay, Vista, is the camera ready?," Clockblocker asked. The young girl nodded, holding up a small video camera to catch the footage.

    "You two ready?," he asked, this time directing the question to the two fighters.

    "Yes," the two replied simultaneously.

    Clockblocker cleared his throat dramatically. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am the great Clockblocker, Master of Time, and I will be your referee in today's Clash Of The Capes. Today's match is between up and coming rookie, Superior, who took down Lung on his very first night out. A legend in the making, He just might be the Brutiest Brute Brockton Bay has ever seen since Glory Girl and today he'll be up against the Wards' very own Shadow Stalker, a tough contender, the dark lady with a thirst for justice and the-,"

    "Clockblocker!!!," screamed Shadow Stalker. "Cut the shit or I'll introduce you to the business end of my crossbow!"

    "Fine, fine, fine, don't get your panties in a bunch," Shadow Stalker growled at that, "yeesh...Begin!"

    Shadow Stalker moved immediately, shifting into her shadow state in an instant and jumping forward. She was fast, much faster than a regular person in her shadow state.

    She reached him quickly and shifted back to normal immediately, her batons already swinging toward Greg's face. With a lazy movement, Greg slid over and avoided her weapons. With a small motion, she redirected her batons to strike him in the chest and he moved, leaning back.

    "HOW!" Miss. "ARE!" Miss. "YOU!" Another Miss. "DOING!" Another Miss. "THIS!" Another FUCKING Miss! "FUUUUCK!"

    She leapt back, turning into her shadow state the instant she moved, the force of her jump giving her distance. She glared at him, a growl rising in her throat as he gave her a small smile in return. The girl bent her knees and shot forward in an impressive run. She shifted into shadow once more and moved much faster, her gaseous form moving nearly as fast as a car. The instant before she reached him, she changed states and struck at him.

    The attack hit nothing but the air, though, Greg moved a few inches to the side, his face close enough to Shadow Stalker's for their noses to be touching.

    The movement had been nothing more than a shifting of his feet but to an outside observer, it must have appeared as an impressive display of skill. As the Boss said, fighting is all about footwork.

    Greg smirked. Despite the fact that this really wasn't much of a fight, he was still enjoying himself. Well, he was enjoying Shadow Stalker's enraged screams. He really wasn't doing much at all. From the moment the fight had started, adrenaline had entered his system and Zirin had boosted his senses greatly, slowing everything down even more than normal. Shadow Stalker might as well have been a crawling baby. 'This is kinda starting to get a bit boring. Might as well end it.'

    As Shadow Stalker landed, she whipped around and was about to launch herself at Greg when she noticed him yawning. Under her mask, her eyes twitched in anger.

    "What the fuck? Am I boring you? Huh? Answer me, shithead!," she screamed at the bored-looking baldie.

    "I am getting a bit bored, yeah. I'm going to end this," was the blasé reply.

    "End this? Shit's barely gotten start-," Shadow Stalker froze. What happened would be viewed as an example for anyone who ever claimed that someone like Greg could never beat Lung. Without warning, Greg's appearance and demeanor suddenly changed. His rounded face became sharp and defined, his silly, dazed smile became a harsh grin that promised pain, his muscles seemed to bulge under his costume, his face darkened with rage, and his eyes....his eyes became nothing more than pinpricks of red that promised DEATH. An aura of rage surrounded him, paralyzing Shadow Stalker and making Vista and Clockblocker take several steps back and then several more. Greg Veder was gone and Superior was in his place.

    He blurred. In an instant, he was in her face and she shivered as she stared directly into his eyes.

    Superior's harsh grin increased. "Did you really think you could beat me? I took down Lung with nothing but these hands! And you thought you could bring me down? Here's your punishment for insulting my skill." Greg drew his fist back and launched it forward. Shadow Stalker closed her eyes, fear in control of her reactions, as she braced herself for the strike.

    When she realized she was still conscious and that something...someone was poking her, she opened her eyes. Only to see that Superior...no...Greg had his finger to her cheek. The aura of rage and death that defined Superior was gone and his eyes were back to his normal blue, the silly smile there once again.

    He snickered. "Did you really think I was going to kill you? Come on, Stalker." He flicked her on the cheek and she grunted as she flew back, the small flick feeling like a light punch from Aegis, meaning a strike from a heavyweight boxer.

    Clockblocker ran over, followed by Vista who was still filming.

    "Wow, dude, you're strong...and fast," the self-proclaimed Master of Time exclaimed.

    Greg grinned at the praise. "Yeah, but it's all about hard work. When I first got my powers, I could barely lift a couch on my own and Shadow Stalker was faster than me. I had to train for this type of strength."

    "So, how did you get so strong?," Vista asked, staring at him with stars in her eyes.

    "It was the hardest training anyone ever undertook. I suffered through hell everyday without rest. My best friends became pain, suffering, and misery. The first thing I felt when I woke up in the morning was the burning ache of my muscles and bones. Day after day, I pushed myself to my limits and beyond, to the point I felt like my body was breaking down and I was about to die. But when it was all over, I had succeeded. I was like this," Greg said, clenching his fist,"and I still continue my training to this very day."

    "What type of training from hell was this?" asked Clockblocker, skepticism clear in his tone.

    "If you must know....100 push-ups, 100 squats, 100 sit-ups, and 10km run. Every. Single. Day." Greg told him.

    Vista gaped. "How long were you doing this?"

    Greg took a deep breath and closed his eyes, the haunting memory of the hell he had been forced through playing through his mind.

    "One...Whole...Month," he said solemnly.

    At this point, Clockblocker went into shock from disbelief, mutterings of "that's so stupid" being repeated. Shadow Stalker, who had regained consciousness quickly enough to hear Greg's statements of training, started to have seizures of rage and screamed obscenities.

    Vista ran up to him, hands held up to grab at his costume. "Teach me, please!"
     
  • Threadmarks
    • PRT Threat Assessment: Superior
  • Threadmarks
    • PRT Threat Assessment: Superior

    Name:     Gregory Lucas Veder

    Codename:     Superior

    Classification: Brute, Mover, Changer, Master, Blaster, Tinker

    Disposition: Independent but seems favorable to joining Wards

    Location: Brockton Bay, New Hampshire

    Personality: Possesses a sunny disposition, though prone towards bouts of intense anger, seems to enjoy classic films and comic books, displays extreme protectiveness towards mother and hatred toward father. (Unpredictable Behavior/Prone to intense anger, impulsiveness. Does not appear inclined towards villainy. Potentially Hostile.)

    General Information: Blonde hair, blue eyes (changes to red when enraged), 16 year old male


    Ratings

    Brute 7: Capable of surviving multiple impacts from Lung after the villain had undergone a second trigger. Ability to ignore pain below a certain threshold. Regeneration, seen to recover from damage that should be fatal in days, minutes when enraged. Exact mechanics of regeneration unknown. Superhuman strength noted. Able to engage in Close Quarters Combat with an enhanced Lung. Recovered from impalement through the chest within minutes.

    Mover 4: Footage recovered from street cameras clocked his running speed in excess of two-hundred miles an hour while carrying a passenger. Strength allows Superior to leap great heights and distances, greatest observed leap carried him nearly two-hundred and fifty feet into the air from the ground. Maximum distance of jumps unknown.

    Master 2: Causes intense fear/intimidation in others when enraged.

    Changer 0: Eyes change color to red when enraged

    Blaster 4: Footage recovered from street cameras showed him utilizing a blast able of tearing of Lung's arm twice. It is unknown why he did not use the blasts for a prolonged period. Possibly a time limit or the energy used weakens him.

    Tinker 0: Damaged costume retrieved by Armsmaster appears to be Tinker-made and seems constructed with nanomaterials. Device on costume appears to be a computer. Suit too damaged to retrieve additional information. Unknown if Superior is a Tinker but it is more likely that he has come in contact with a Tinker.

    Notes (Director's Eyes Only): Information given by Panacea has shown that he is capable of a higher Brute rating than he has shown. Lacks a Corona Pollentia and a Gemma. Believed to have been created by a Bio-Tinker specializing in physical enhancement/power granting.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Interlude 2c: Susan Veder
  • Threadmarks
    • Interlude 2c: Susan Veder


    "Venti Green Tea, No water, light sugar for a...Santa Virgin," announced the female barista at the front register, bored eyes scanning for the right customer. "I said, Venti Green Tea, No water, light sug-"

    "That's me."

    Susan Veder retrieved her tea from the barista's hands, the tattooed girl flashing her an obviously fake smile. She didn't even look back or say "Thank you" as she usually did. She had too much on her mind at the moment.

    Sitting down at an unoccupied table, Susan took a sip of the hot tea and frowned. Light sweetener, she had asked for light sweetener. What was wrong with them that every single time she came here and asked for light sweetener they ended up turning over an entire cup of sugar into her tea? This was not what she asked for. In fact, she should go back up there and demand they remake it...that or refund her money. Instead, Susan did what she always did every time this happened. She simply sighed and continued to drink. It wasn't worth it. Why should anyone care about her and her problems, her issues? She had a job, a good job with overtime and benefits. That was more than could be said for over half the people in this city. She had a big home in Captain's Hill and a son who had turned out alright despite having a horrible example of a father.

    Greg hated his father, hated him more than anything else. She knew that. She wished he didn't but she couldn't change that. The thing was, Greg was very protective and had hated Rowan for how he had treated her. He didn't know about the alcoholism or the drug abuse and if she had her way, he never would. All she wanted was to have a family again, for her son to have a father. Was that too much? That was all she wanted. Since she was young, her mother had told her that a woman's place was taking care of her family. She thought she had ignored all of her mother's ideas of what a woman should be but she had found out long ago that that wasn't true.

    Susan knew she had a tendency to blame herself for things she couldn't control but she couldn't help it. It was her family, damn it! First was Rowan, staying out late, drinking heavily, using drugs and cheating with so many different women. Now, it's Greg. She knew he had been hiding something and she was ready to talk about it with him. At first, with all the working out and changes to his appearance, she had thought he was gay and that he was just struggling with telling her. She wouldn't have cared. But powers? Why would he hide that from her? He knew she loved capes. They both did. It was one of the many things that they had in common. If he could be hiding that, what else could he be hiding from her? Sex? Drugs?

    Susan glanced at her phone, 9: 40. She should have been at work by nine at the latest. Who really cared? They had Panacea. Why would they need one extra nurse? Besides, they'd be fine without her. She'd call in sick in an hour or two, claim she took a bit too much NyQuil for a cold and ended up oversleeping. Susan took another long sip of her over-sweetened tea, lost in thought.

    Things were going to be rough for a while. Unless Greg joined the Protectorate or New Wave, they would have to move. She knew that for a fact. He was an outed cape. He might be able to shrug off bullets but what about her? Greg might be as tough as steel but she was still very squishy. All she could do was hope that no one would be crazy enough to attack the home of someone that, if what her son had said was true, sent Lung into a coma.

    The gangs had to know his identity by now. He beat up Lung so the ABB definitely knew his face. And the Empire...Greg had beaten up a young Empire member at school, so he was already outed to the E88 and the Merchants, as well. God, she hated this city. Three gangs, all of them with powered members. The ABB could be understood. Their homeland had been destroyed by Leviathan and they had all flocked to the one man capable of fighting him on equal footing.

    The Merchants were also understandable. I mean, a gang designed around drugs. That was only expected. But the one group she could not stand was the E88. What was the point of spreading racism, especially in times like these? An Endbringer could be at your doorstep at any moment or a cape fight could end your life in seconds. Why waste your life preaching hatred? It was pointless. She hated the looks she received too, from both the E88 and from regular people. Being blonde and blue eyed in this town was not a good idea. It had the side effect of making every non-white person around her wonder if she was part of the Empire and it made her a prime target for E88 men. It was even worse now. She had made sure to keep somewhat fit, hoping that if she stayed attractive her husband would give her more than a second look. It hadn't worked. It did have the unfortunate effect of making the E88 more up-front about what they wanted, asking her if she wanted to "preserve the bloodline." Weakest pick-up line ever.

    Susan sighed. This was not what she expected her life would be like. A single mother at thirty-nine and stuck in a city full of crime and Nazis. She raised the cup to her lips one more time only to freeze as she felt someone place a rather large hand on her shoulder. Not again...they were getting even more handsy now.

    Putting her cup down, she whipped around, intending to give whatever Aryan pig that felt like putting their hands on her a piece of her mind. Instead, she froze as she stared up at someone she had definitely not expected to see. "...you."

    "Hello, Susan. Long time no see. Mind if I join you?," the man said, voice smooth and confident.

    She nodded slowly, still in shock at the sight of the well-dressed figure in front of her.

    The man sat down in the seat opposite her, coffee in hand. "You look great, by the way. Have you been working out?"

    "...I have. I try to stay healthy. I'm taking care of Greg on my own, after all," Susan replied, unsure of what to say.

    He nodded, taking a sip of his coffee as he did so. "I'm sorry about how things ended between you and Rowan by the way. We were like brothers, him and I, and frankly, I just never expected him to do something like that. He was going downhill. Leaving you and your son like that...Just pathetic. That's why I had to fire him. How is Gregory, by the way?"

    "...He's fine. What is this about? Not that I'm not happy to see you. It's just...I haven't heard from you in over two or three years...apart from the occasional call at Christmas," Susan said, wondering where the conversation was leading to.

    A sad look crossed his face at the thought. "Well, I've been going through some family issues of my own and it's just been rather hard for me to face people. As Greg's godfather, I should have been there for him. It's been a long time since I've heard him call me Uncle, after all."

    Susan patted his hand and simply sat in silence, waiting for him to continue.

    "Honestly, though, this is about your son."

    Susan froze up as he said that. 'He knows? How could he know? How long has Greg been going out for? No...this can't be about that' "What about Greg?"

    "Susan, there's no need to worry. I already know. I was driving past the Docks the other night and I happened to see someone that looks a lot like Greg down there fighting Lung," he said with a small smile. "Look, I want to talk to Greg. Make him an offer. I know you've been struggling. I want to help."

    Susan frowned slightly and huffed. "Look, I know you want to help but I don't need your charity."

    He laughed softly in response. "Suzie, it's not charity. All I want is to offer Greg a job. I owe him at least that. I am his godfather, after all."

    "I don't...I don't know...I'm not sure," Susan said, shaking her head slowly.

    "Well, do you mind if I at least talk to him? Get his opinion on this?"

    Susan sighed again but returned his smile. "Fine, he's at home right now. Do you want to do this right now?"

    "No, why don't we have lunch first?," he said, standing up. "I know this great French restaurant downtown. They have the best salmon filet with seared shrimp on the side," he continued, reaching out his hand.

    Susan smirked at him as she stood up and took the offered hand. "Is this one of your famous romantic lunch dates? Should I be worried that you'll sweep me of my feet? Because we both know I'm not in the market for a boyfriend."

    She received a charming smile in response. "Of course not. Me? Sweep you off your feet? You're too smart for that. Besides, you've known me since high school. You already know all my tricks."

    Susan grabbed her purse and walked out of the coffee shop, hand in hand with the charming gentleman.
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Complications 2.5B
  • Threadmarks
    • Complications 2.5B

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    1:30 PM
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    Gregory Veder sat up on his bed, still wearing little more than a pair of boxers, and stared at his white-haired mentor. The person in question leaned back in Greg's desk chair, oblivious to the piercing stare of his minion.

    "......."

    "......."

    "......."

    "...Are you seriously telling me you really don't know what all my powers are?," Greg finally asked, exasperation evident in his tone.

    Without even opening his eyes or lifting his head, Evron let out a breath. "I didn't mean it like that. What I meant to say is that you simply haven't shown any yet."

    Greg spluttered, the statement being the last thing he expected to hear. "Wha...huh...bu...I...what are you talking about? You taught me how to use the ones I have. I'm strong, fast, I make weapons tougher, I can blast stuff and apparently, I can make shields. How is that not showing powers?"

    Ev yawned, sitting up and actually looking Greg in the eyes. "How are those not powers? Simple. You have Royal Kheran DNA. Royals have innate Zirin control. That shit's normal...it's in your genes, bro. Your speed and strength are basically a two year old's but everything else is appropriate. You just haven't developed a unique ability in response to an urgent situation yet. It'll happen, just give it time."

    Greg's jaw went slack. "All this shit is normal for them? All these powers? How tough were these Space Nazis?"

    Evron began to snicker softly. "Greg, man, they're not Space Nazis. I mean, they didn't do what they did out of hate or anything. They were scared of being enslaved again...at least at first. Then it became all about the fact that their race was better than any other and that they should be in charge...huh....I guess they were Space Nazis...Well, point to you. Anyway, yeah, Kherans, even the normals, are pretty fucking tough. No such thing as a Kheran civilian. That's how they conquered. They were real badasses on the battlefield. Real fucking badasses," Evron finished with a faraway look in his eye.

    "Y-yeah...real badasses." Greg stared at his hands and remembered how he felt the night before. He could understand what the Boss was talking about. Facing down Lung had been simply GLORIOUS. He could remember the sound of his heartbeat as the rush of Zirin boosted him, allowing him to dodge all, well...almost all of Lung's powerful strikes. Evron had told him that he needed to meditate and control his rage whenever he felt it building up or he could seriously hurt someone. Greg honestly didn't even know if that was possible. The level of euphoria he had felt was almost indescribable. It was a high that he doubted even drugs could match. If he had gotten it in his mind to fight all the Endbringers at once, Greg wouldn't have doubted that he would have tried. Looking back on it with a clear head, it actually terrified him. That level of unbelievable confidence combined with pure exhilaration and bliss was unbelievable but he didn't have it in him to stop. His muscles had been torn, his body had been burnt, his bones had been broken and he had been closer to death than he had ever been in his entire life, but it wasn't enough for him. He had needed MORE.

    Greg shivered, the thought frightening him, and he turned back to Evron, hoping to change the subject. "...Uh...so, Ev...uh...where...uh...where you yesterday?"

    "On the moon."

    It was a testament to how much Greg believed in Evron that he did not immediately claim that he was lying. As it was, he did seem to be having a bit of trouble processing the validity of that statement.

    "......"

    "......"

    "......the moon?"

    "Yeah."

    "....the moon in space?"

    "Yes."

    "...the real moon?"

    Evron turned to give his somewhat skeptical minion a blank look. "No, Gregory, the one made of cheese."

    Greg sighed, still struggling somewhat to believe Evron. "How did you get into space?" Then another more important thought came to mind. "How did you get past the Simurgh? Did you fight her again?!!"

    "Nah...I just teleported," Evron replied, leaning back again.

    "You can teleport?!," Greg exclaimed, before taking a few breaths to calm himself down. "Okay...okay...you can teleport. No big deal. That's not that special. Just...what were you doing on the moon?"

    Despite the fact that Evron wasn't directly facing him, Greg could still see a small smile play at his lips before quickly turning with an angry scowl. "Just...testing some of my more...esoteric powers...you know, just to see if they work. Different universes...some times, rarely, different fucking rules. Shit like than can fuck you up. You wouldn't know," Evron finished, the scowl fading somewhat.

    Greg shrugged. "Okaaaaaaaayyyyy...that does make some sense...I guess. What are your powers anyway?"

    Evron nodded, a small smile replacing the scowl, and he responded quickly, as if hearing a joke that he already knew the punch line to. "Yes."

    "What?"

    Shaking his head, Evron let out a small chuckle, and flashed Greg a sharp-toothed grin. "Nothing, nothing. It's a joke that my friend Craig makes all the time. Uh...well...at this point, I don't really think about it. There's so many that I'm not really sure, honestly," Evron said, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

    Greg stood up, curiosity written clearly on his face. "Okay...explain to me what powers you do know that you have. Just give me the basics."

    Evron raised an eyebrow, his grin fading into a small smile. "Huh...well, I started off with super speed and a healing factor. I was stronger than normal too but barely above a boxer in terms of strength. I got those at five years old and up until I was fourteen, that didn't change."

    "Why? What's so special about you being fourteen?," Greg asked, still as curious as ever.

    "Fourteen was when my best bud Anton wanted to go out and be a hero and I decided to join him. Anyway, I was trying to stop these criminals and one of them had lightning powers. The guy, we later found out we were cousins, was trying to kill me and he literally fried me alive but I managed to knock him out but his friends still escaped with him. Anyway, found out I could use lightning when I ended up shocking myself when I took a shower. Turned out to be permanent," Evron said, raising his right hand up.

    Greg gaped as electricity began to coil around Evron's arm, forming a small ball right above his thumb. 'Holy fucking shit!' "Cool...maybe I could get that too. Would it work if you tried to fry me? We'd be like lightning twins!"

    Evron narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth as if to say something but shook his head instead, changing his mind. "First of all, lightning twins...Two words. Hell. No," Evron shook his head again as if trying to remove the idea from his brain. "In fact, never say that again if you don't want to stay a minion forever. That's an order. Second of all, yeah...probably wouldn't work. Trying it would leave you with some major brain damage. You can't even regenerate yet. Lightning like that would fuck you up for good...Seriously, don't try that," Evron said firmly, sending Greg a sharp glare.

    "Anyway, a few months later, I found out I could shoot blasts from my hands. Then, shit went down and Paragon, The # 1 Hero on Earth, lost his shit and tried to destroy New York. Long story short, he ended up turning into a crystalline monster. I blew him up by overloading him and he exploded in the upper atmosphere and a lot of his crystals landed in me and a few landed in Anton who was trying to fly up there to catch me. I couldn't fly at the time. Anyway, we got a big boost from that. I got a LOT stronger and faster and my blasts got a major boost and I figured out how to use eye beams. And-"

    "Wait...so...you just killed him....just like that. You said he was your biggest hero. Why?," Greg asked, an uneasy expression on his face.

    "Greg, don't give me that. Seriously, you weren't there. It was hell, okay. The city was leveled, people were dying...Vermont was just...gone. A good chunk of Massachusetts too. Look, just imagine if...that guy...Scion? Imagine if Scion lost his shit and tried to kill everyone."

    Color bleached from Greg's face as he thought of the sheer mayhem that the world's most powerful hero would cause. "That'd be...horrible."

    "Yeah...you see my point...He had to go. Okay, so where was I...yeah...after that, I started having dreams about falling and I ended up figuring out how to fly after I got pushed out a plane at 35,000 feet. Then after that was telekinesis, just some Brute force stuff at f It was a learned skill. Later on, I got regeneration, force fields, Zirin control, limited shapeshifting, teleportation, energy absorption, psychokinesis, power copying, reality jumping, time travel. That's basically the important parts."

    Greg stared for a few seconds, his left eye twitching. "That's...that's just...Bullshit! How are you...just...what? I've heard of grab-bag capes...but come on! That's just so bullshittingly unfair! How can anyone have all those powers?"

    "Bullshittingly?," Evron replied, shrugging. "You could say that. Although every top tier hero is pretty up there. Even the older teams like Trinity, Super Sentai, The League of Many, Young Paragons. I mean, Trinity had Paragon, Liberty, and Renegade all on the same team. Well, Paragon and Renegade are kinda...dead...so...yeah."

    "So the Trinity? Three top heroes...the best, right? You're at their level?"

    Evron narrowed his eyes. "No...I'm not at their level. Umm...maybe when I was sixteen sure...but that's a long time ago. I run my own team, bro. Freedom Guard and their Trinity is shit compared to Titanwatch and my Alphas."

    "So this...Trinity? They were just like the Triumvirate, right?"

    "Eh...the Trinity were kinda basically America's super nukes. American military-made...well, not Renegade. American born...strongest heroes in the world. Officially, they were part of the UN sponsored team called Freedom Guard...but people knew where they stood. Let me show you what I'm talking about. Sia, bring up File: Paragon 1...Clearance Level...eh...C."

    A hologram appeared from the floor, emanating from the small disk Evron had dropped a short while ago. This time, a tall, heavily muscled blonde man appeared. His physique was Apollonian and his unmasked face was rather handsome as well. The costume he wore was a bright gold, with a white star as his insignia and white trim. A warm smile was on his face and he stood in a heroic pose, hands on hips and looking upwards. Greg gasped. The guy looked like the dictionary definition of the word 'Hero.'

    The device on the floor began to speak.
    "Paragon. Hero.
    Threat Class: S
    Affiliation: Freedom Guard.
    Designation: Leader.
    Archetype: Paragon.
    Married to Hero: Liberty.
    Father to Hero: Paradigm, Hero: Sunburst, Hero: Marvel, Villain: Ubermensch, Villain: Schadenfreude.

    Formerly regarded as the most powerful hero in the world, Paragon engaged in an experimental procedure to increase his abilities. This procedure led to Paragon going berserk and destroying nearly four states and portions of South America in his rage. Death toll was estimated to be over 75 million. He was terminated by Hero: Titan. Abilities: Paragon possessed superhuman lifting strength ranging from 250 thousand to 2 million tons, superhuman speed ranging from 25,000 mph to 250,000 mph. Durable enough to survive the heat of the sun's core for extended periods of time. Enhanced Intelligence. Superhuman Senses. Projected Energy Absorption. Solar Energy Projection."

    Greg continued staring as the image of Paragon as the device continued to speak. 'This guy...this guy was strong.' Greg turned to Evron, an incredulous expression on his face, and pointed at the image of Paragon. "This guy's unbelievable! You took him down?"

    "Yeah, but I can't take all the credit. It was a team effort." With a slight gesture of his hand, the device flew into his open palm, the hologram disappearing.

    Greg nodded, satisfied with that answer. "So...what now?"

    Evron shrugged, making a sound that could be interpreted as "I dunno know" but was most likely "I don't care."

    "You mind if I ask you something, Ev?"

    "...why not? Go ahead."

    "...."

    "...."

    "...."

    Greg sat there, a single bead of sweat gathering on his forehead, trying to think of a way to approach Evron with a request that he had been contemplating since last night. 'I need to ask him. Should I ask him now or should I wait? It's not like he's doing anything right now anyway. Do it. Do it! Do it, you giant pussy! Just ask. The worst he could do is say no. Well....no. The worst he could do is teleport me up to the moon and let me die but...Ev wouldn't do that. Right?'

    The two sat in silence for a bit longer, until Greg finally decided to speak his mind.. "...Yeah...so, I was thinking..."

    Evron slowly turned to face the blonde boy. "Oh, really...please tell me. What were you thinking about?"

    "Well...you can give powers...and you already gave me powers..."

    "Yes..."

    'Just say it! Boss, I know that you gave me powers and I appreciate the fact that you did. I like them a lot and it's because of you that I can be a hero now and that means a lot to me. However, I think that I may have underestimated exactly how dangerous the villains are in this city. Since I fought Lung last night and he was every bit as terrifying as he has been described online and I also attacked an E88 member at school, I've started to realize that the gangs will most likely attempt retaliation for my actions and I'm worried for the safety of my mother. I understand if I am going too far by asking this and that you've already done a lot for me, but I would like to ask you one favor. Would you please grant my mom superpowers for her own protection?' Greg nodded as he gathered his thoughts and prepared to eloquently make his case as to why his mom needed powers.

    He opened his mouth.

    "GIVE MY MOM POWERS OR SHE'LL DIE!"

    "......."

    Evron simply stared at him, one eyebrow raised.

    '...smooth, Greg....real smooth. He's never going to say yes to that.' "What...uh...I...uh...meant to say was...uh...I appreciate villains...I mean...the powers you did give me...I like Lung...I mean, I like them...uh,"Greg spluttered, scrambling to salvage the situation.

    "...Fine."

    Greg's eyes widened at Evron's simple acceptance."What? Really?"

    Evron put both hands behind his head and leaned even further back as he floated out of Greg's desk chair. "I'm going to have to give her a different type of powers than you, though because Evolved tend not to react well when you turn them past puberty. I'm pretty sure your mom is past that."

    "Why does puberty matter?"

    "Hormones and shit. You're brain hasn't really developed like an adult's so I can't Evolve her like I did you. Honestly, making more Evolved would be a stupid idea anyway," he continued, lazily floating circles around Greg's bed. "Evolved are all about dominance. Making more would just lead to them trying to fight you all the time anyway. I'll have to use something different, " As he finished speaking, he held his right hand in front of him and stared at it as a baseball-sized ball of blue light appeared in the center of his palm.

    Greg craned his neck, trying to see what Evron was doing. "What's that?"

    "Shh..." The ball split into five different smaller orbs and Evron closed his palm quickly. When he opened it, there were five small, blue, jagged crystals sitting there. Picking one up with his left hand, he tossed it down to Greg.

    After scrambling to catch it for a few tense moments, Greg held it up victoriously. Despite it's small package, Greg could feel an undeniable sense of power inside it. "What is it?"

    "...A less reliable method for granting powers, but still useful. Give it to your mom...or something. As long as it's on her person or around her, it'll grant her powers when she feels like she's in mortal danger," Evron answered, his eyes closed once again.

    Greg stared at the crystal in his hand for a few seconds as he processed Evron's words. "How am I supposed to give this to her? It's a crystal. I'm not a five year old. I can't just be like 'Here, mommy, I found this shiny rock on the ground'," Greg protested.

    Evron scoffed as he floated around Greg's room, eyes still closed. "Not my problem...Figure it out."

    Despite the slight frown on his face, Greg was smiling on the inside. Even though Evron's eccentric attitudes were sometimes funny and at worst, infuriating, the guy didn't mind helping him out most of the time. 'What's he getting out of this, though? I mean, he can give out powers like it's candy. He could do whatever he wants. Why is he messing around with me?' Greg stood up, walking past the still floating form of his young mentor, and made his way to his closet. 'He could be super famous but doesn't feel like outing himself until he's 'ready'. What does that even mean? He could have spent an entire month trying to get back to his universe but he's been spending it with me...training me. It doesn't really make sense...huh.'

    He continued to think as he dressed himself, occasionally glancing back at Evron. 'Maybe he's just weird and doesn't care about all that stuff. I mean, he's already the top dog on his world. Although, maybe he's lying about that...Nah, I trust him. Besides, why wo-'

    "Greg..."

    Still in the middle of putting on a polo, Greg turned around, hurriedly shoving his face through the hole. "Huh?"

    Evron was still floating but instead of lying back, he sat up with his legs folded. "...Your mom's home."

    "What? Mom works form eight to eleven most days. She can't be home yet," Greg replied adamantly.

    "Check for yourself then," was the as-expected nonchalant reply.

    Greg opened the door to his room and poked his head out to see...no one. 'What's he talking about? No one's here.' Greg turned around to tell Evron that he was wrong only to see no one in his room either. Greg glanced around his room and waved his hands all over, trying to touch something that may be invisible to his senses."...Is invisibility one of your powers too? Is that a thing that I should know about? Cause I'm not cool with you walking around my house invisible."

    When no one answered, Greg sighed. "Fuckin' weirdo...whatever...I'm going downstairs to make something to eat. If you're hungry, I can only make food for people I can see!"

    No answer.

    Greg huffed and made his way down the stairs, mumbling to himself as he did so.

    "Ooooohhh, I'm Evron, a big bad hero with all the powers...frickin frick...I can teleport....ooh now I can go invisible too. I hope you can hear me, you creep!"

    He continued mumbling as he walked downstairs, only to pause as he heard noises from outside.

    "Oh my god, that was delicious...I can't believe it."

    'A woman's voice...laughing, no...giggling...Mom? She's home? Ev was right?'

    "What did I tell you, Susan? I know cuisine."

    'A deep voice...a man...flirting with Mom. Flirting with Mom?'

    "No, no...that's not all you knooooow. You also know how to show a girl a good time. You're...soooo nice...not like Rowan. He was never really nice to me."

    "Don't worry about that. Now...let's get you to bed."

    Fire burned in Greg's veins as soon as he heard the man speak those words. 'THE FUCK DOES HE THINK HE'S DOING?!' Greg jumped down the rest of the stairs and pulled open the door quickly, the wood creaking from his strength and his fingers leaving impressions in the doorknob.

    His mother stood there, eyes bloodshot and eyelids droopy and a few dark stains on her floral scrubs. Her face was flushed and a dazed smile was plastered on her face. Greg's nose twitched as he took in a strong smell of alcohol. 'She's wasted?'

    That dazed smile became an even more dazed grin as soon as she caught sight of her son.

    "Greggie, honey, looook who's heeeere," she slurred, gesturing wildly.

    A man stood next to her with an arm around her waist, holding her body tightly to his while she had her arm draped over the shoulders of his obviously expensive suit. Somewhat tall, blonde, grey eyes, square jaw...that same smug smile. It wasn't his dad. It definitely wasn't Rowan Veder...but it was a closer resemblance than he was at all comfortable with.

    He hated this man, whoever he was. He hated him. He hated his face. He hated his clothes. He hated his very existence. In fact, all he wanted to do was rip him in half for even daring to touch his mother. 'Control it. Push it down....Listen to Ev. Don't let it control you...You're in control.'

    Greg faced the man, an extremely forced smile on his face as he stared at the object of his fury. "...Hello," he finally forced out through his gritted teeth. The anger in his chest died down from a raging fire to a simmering burn as he finally pushed the word out.

    "Gregory, it's good to see you again. How's my godson been?," spoke the man with a wide, sincere smile.

    And just like that, the fire went out entirely as his anger gave way to shock.

    'GODSON?!!!'

    Greg froze as he stared at the man closely, picking out minute details that he didn't notice due to his rage.

    The smile...less smug, more confident. Hair...a dirty blonde instead of honey. Face...jaw line rectangular and sharp rather than square and strong.

    It all painted an oddly familiar picture and after a few seconds of intense staring, Greg's eyes widened and he took a few steps back out of surprise.

    "...Uncle?...Uncle Max?!!!"



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    I'm not happy with this chapter. I just feel like it was missing something...or various somethings. I really don't know.

    Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. My posting rate might be a bit slower for a few months. I'm starting a new job as a Sales Rep so...yeah.
    I'll still keep writing but chapters might be shorter or you might get one really huge chapter after a week or two.
    ​
     
  • Threadmarks
    • Complications 2.6
  • Threadmarks
    • Complication 2.6



    "Uncle Max?...What...uh...what are you doing here?,"Greg asked in confusion before turning his attention to what was actually important. "...and why is my mother wasted at two in the afternoon?"

    His mom let go of his godfather and stumbled into the house, swaying as she did so. With both hands, she grabbed onto his face and began squeezing it and and rubbing as if it was a stress ball. "Oh, I luh you so mush, Greggie. Oooo care abuh me...ooo care abuh me...I luh you, Greggie," she mumbled at him, slurring almost every word. "You're my presshious li'l baby. I luh you...I luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhh yyyyooooooooouuuuuuuuu."

    Greg courageously managed to suppress a groan as his mother blew her breath directly into his nose with every slurred word. Apparently, alcohol was not the only thing on her breath. "Mom, did you...throw up?"

    Her dazed smile became a tad embarrased. "A li'l bid. I had some wine."

    Greg pulled her hands from his face and helped his mom stand up a bit straighter. "Yeah, I can see that. How much did you drink?"

    "A bolly...abolly and uhalf. Mayyyybeeee two."

    Greg sighed and glanced at his godfather still standing outside. "Two bottles...really?"

    Max simply smiled and nodded.

    Shaking his head, Greg helped his mother stand straight up again. "Listen, Mom, let's...uh...get you...in bed...okay. Let me help you. "

    "H-h-h-heeeeey, youuung maaaan! Whaddya thing yeeeeeeeer doin'?" she slurred, jabbing a finger into Greg's chest.

    Greg took a step back. "....uh...helping you? You're pretty drunk, Mom," answered Greg, unsure of how to deal with Drunk Susan.

    "Gerroff me!" she said. "I'm ash sober ash 'm gonna git. And nuffing I - wait wait wait," she paused, gulping audibly, " nuffing you can do 'boutit. A'am your motha' and I take care of youuu. Not youu taking care of meeeee. Jew got that, mishta?"

    Greg nodded slowly and his mother smiled. "Datt's goood."

    And with that, she pulled away from Greg, ambling her way up the stairs, hiccuping and burping as she moved.

    Greg and Max watched her walk up the stairs, barely swaying at all with her hand on the banister. She walked into the second floor bathroom and a few seconds later, the sound of retching was heard.

    Greg turned to his godfather, unsure of what to say. Maximillian Anders was a close friend of his father. They had known each other since high school and the two had remained somewhat close ever since. Since Greg had been young, the man had been seen in the household at least once or twice every month up until a few years ago. Greg really had nothing bad to say about his Uncle Max but there was nothing necessarily good either. Despite the fact that he was less boisterous and much more kind than Rowan had ever been, Max Anders had always reminded him too much of his father for Greg to ever like him much. It was an odd balancing act between distaste and respect.

    Greg nodded awkwardly and Max simply stood there, a small smile on his face.

    "Can I come in, Greg?"

    "Yea-yeah...come on in, Uncle Max." Greg moved to the side as Max walked in, closing the door behind him.

    Greg watched as his godfather walked into the living room and sat down on the white leather couch his mom had bought. "I like what you did with your hair. A Mohawk. I always wanted one when I was your age but my dad ruled with an iron fist. Finally beginning to rebel?", Max asked with a smirk.

    Greg rolled his eyes. "Not really, I just made some stupid choices that ended up leading to this."

    "I understand. How are you, Greg?"

    Scowling slightly, Greg sat down in the single chair next to him. "I'm fine...No offense, Uncle Max, but why are you here? I haven't seen you since...HE...left and that was...what? More than two years ago?"

    Max nodded and leaned back on the sofa, crossing his legs. "It has been a while, I know. I'm sorry about that. I've been having my own family troubles."

    Greg sighed. "...I'm sorry about that...but that still doesn't explain why you're here now...and with my mom," he said, glancing up at the sound of his mother retching again. "That's another good question. Why were you with my mom when-" Greg paused as Susan's retching and dry heaving increased in volume, interspersed with random moans. "...when she's supposed to be at work?"

    "Greggie?!," called his mother's voice.

    "Yes, Mom? You need any help?"

    "Nooo, A'am vine. Buuuut...wheeeere's the draaaain cleaner? Uh...sumfing's got the toilet all stug up."

    Greg rolled his eyes at the thought of how much vomit it would take to clog a toilet that quickly. "It's behind the toilet, Mom."

    "Dank oooo, Greggie."

    Greg sighed and glanced back at his godfather. "And why in the hell is she drunk like that? You two were drinking? What? Are you dating now?," Greg questioned, nearly growling the last question.

    Max shook his head softly. "Greg, look, it's not anything like what you're imagining. I was in the middle of getting some coffee this morning when I saw your mother sitting by herself looking a bit down. I hadn't seen her in a long time and I just wanted to talk to her, see how she's been...how you've been. I took her to a nice restaurant for lunch. We ate a little bit. I had a glass of wine. She...had a bottle or two. She was in no condition to drive so I drove her home. Your mother and I are not dating or anything like that."

    Greg stared at him, not convinced that something wasn't up. "And you just happened to randomly meet up with her? In a coffee shop? Since when does a CEO get his own coffee? I don't buy it."

    Max chuckled softly in response. "Maybe I like doing things for myself. Did you ever think of that, Greg?"

    Greg raised one hand to his face and rubbed his chin as he shot Max a piercing stare. "I still don't buy it. Look, Uncle Max, I'm just a little bit suspicious, okay. No offense but you're my dad's friend and I don't really trust my dad...or anything to do with him, really. And all of a sudden, my dad's friend popping up after two years to wine and dine my mother...I mean, come on, that doesn't seem kinda off to you? I just want to know...why are you here? Why now?"

    "I get where you're coming from, Greg and...I'd be lying if I said I didn't understand. I know it seems a little bit suspicious but there's no need to be angry."

    Greg balled his hands into fists and placed them on his lap. This conversation was annoying him more and more the longer it went on. There was just something about his godfather that reminded him of his father and it irritated him to no end. Right now, it was the way that he was trying to avoid his questions. "I don't care if there's no need to be angry. It doesn't matter. I'm already angry 'cause you're not answering my questions. Why are you here, Uncle Max? Why now? And what were you doing with my mom? Just tell me! Stop avoiding it!"

    Max sighed and he leaned forward on the sofa, the leather squeaking loundly. "...You're absolutely right, Greg. There is a reason. You're very smart. Must have gotten that from your mother. To be honest, I hadn't thought about you and your mother much ever since your parents got divorced. Rowan...your father was my connection to you and your mother. I may have been your godfather, but I didn't think much of that. It's just a thing people say."

    "Is there a point to this?...Cause I have to go take care of my mom," Greg interrupted, glancing at the stairs.

    "Gregory, please...When your father left, I was going through my own divorce. I didn't feel like I could take any more stress. Though, for the last few months, I have been thinking about you two. I was talking to your mom today just to see how the two of you've been. I've talked to her over the phone a few times this year. Asked if I could help. She says she doesn't need charity. Then, last night...well...I realized how I could help you. I know you were there last night...at the Docks...with Lung."

    Greg's eyes narrowed into slits and he tensed in his seat, clenching his fists tightly. 'He doesn't know, he doesn't know....relax...' "Me?...I don't know what you're talking about. Why would I be at the Docks? That'd be crazy. Lung destroyed most of it last night."

    Max gave him a knowing smile and Greg's eye twitched in annoyance. "Greg, I know-"

    Greg literally growled as Max said that. "What? What do you know?! Tell me! I didn't see you there! Everything around us was destroyed."

    Holding his hands up, Max leaned backwards as if intimidated by Greg's words. The patronizing action only served to annoy Greg. "Please, let me finish...I saw a photo of you fighting Lung. I was at one of my warehouse overseeing the delivery of some new stock when I heard about Lung in the area. I was planning to evacuate when one of my workers showed me a photo they took. It was you...in costume, leaning on a wall with Lung behind you on the ground. It was rather blurry but I know your face."

    Max reached into his jacket pocket and brought out a phone. A lot of people had smartphones now. They were popular but expensive and if they could afford it, they bought one. Compared to Earth Aleph, Earth Bet's technology, besides the Tinker-made stuff, was lackluster. Aleph had bigger and better phones, tablets and televisions. Max's phone was one of the newer ones, large and well designed, copied from Aleph schematics. Some people had managed to get schematics from Earth Aleph and made small changes to them, producing better tech than most of their competitors. It was much more expensive, but if you were like Max and had the money to spare, then it didn't matter much.

    Greg grimaced at the picture. It was somewhat fuzzy but he could make out his own face. It was just after Lung had gored him and he was bent over, clutching his chest as he bled. "So that's why you're here. Because I have powers, huh. That's it? Me being a cape makes us important to you again, right?"

    "Again, it's not like that. I know my friendship with your father doesn't leave you with the best impression of me but just let me explain myself. I've been wondering about how I could help you and your mother but I realized I know what I can do for you now...," he paused as his phone rang, interrupting him.

    Max glanced at the screen and canceled the call before placing it face down on the coffee table in front of him.

    "Sorry about that. This is about you. No interruptions. As I was saying, I know what I can do for you now...I want to offer you a job, Greg."

    Greg blinked suddenly, surprised by the statement. "A job? Doing what?"

    Max's smile returned full force and he leaned forward even further. "I want you to be the official sponsored Hero for MedHall Pharmaceuticals."

    Greg's mouth opened slightly. "...I-I-I-I can't...what? Me? Why me?"

    "Greg, you're a brand new cape. You're young, handsome and you defeated Lung. Someone like you, with that level of power, is not going to be seen that often. I want to help you grow."

    "I don't know...I'm thinking of joining the Wards already....or, or New Wave."

    Max stood up, picking up his phone. "Greg, if you join either of them, you'll just be one of many. I can make you stand out. You defeated Lung. Do you know what that means? You could become what this city needs..." Max's smile became a tad darker as he continued. "...someone who can remove the scum from Brockton Bay and make it safe again. The Protectorate would make you a child soldier and New Wave's a family team. I'd let you live your life. With me, your Uncle Max, I'll get you whatever you want. Money, cars, tech, your own base. Say it and it's yours."

    'He's got a point, right? It makes sense. The Wards wouldn't even give me that stuff. New Wave...definitely not.' Despite his thoughts, Greg said nothing, simply staring at his godfather as he smiled at him. "...Why? Why do you want to help me?"

    "Well, I do have a motive. I'm a businessman. Having a hero like you as the face of my company would only improve business. But the real reason is simple. Your dad called me and asked me to take you under my wing. I thought about what he had to say and I realized that he was right. You're my godson...my family...and I finally have a way to show that I appreciate you. Just let me help you, Greg."

    Greg sat there looking up at his godfather blankly, trying his best not to let the fact that his offer was because of his dad make him furious. He said nothing, still thinking about his options and what he really wanted to do. His thoughts were interrupted as his uncle laid a hand on his shoulder. "Just think about it, Greg. I have to go. My driver was the one calling me earlier. He's here. Anyway, give me a call when you make up your mind. Tell your mother that I hope she feels better."

    Max walked to the door, only to pause as he glanced at the doorknob with Greg's fingerprints impressed into the metal. He turned his head to give Greg one more glance. "By the way, do you happen to have picked out a name yet?"

    "Yeah...I'm Superior."

    The small smile on Max's face became a full blown grin as he heard Greg's reply. Despite the smile on his face, his eyes seemed to have a dark gleam to them. "Superior...huh. I think I can work with that."

    With that said, he walked out, closing the door behind him gently.

    Greg sat by himself in the living room with only his troubled thoughts and the quiet sounds of his mother's dry heaving to keep him company.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
    3:30 PM
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

    Greg gently opened the doors to his mother's bedroom, careful not to let the hinges make much noise. Gentle mumbling came from the figure in his arms and Greg rolled his eyes with a slight frown on his face. His mom was sweaty, unconscious and still in her work clothes but he didn't mind taking care of her. In fact, he liked it. It made him feel like he was worth something. Helping his mom, taking care of her, making her meals in bed when she was sick...he felt good to do stuff like that.

    After his mother had exhausted herself heaving and retching down the toilet, she had passed out on the floor of the bathroom. He knew his mom. His mom did not drink...anymore, at least. The last time she behaved like this was when his father had left and she took to alcohol to comfort her, drinking like a fish almost everyday after work. She had only stopped when he had asked her why she was drinking like dad. The shock of him saying that had been enough to send her to tears. She had gone cold turkey soon after, not touching alcohol for more than a year and a half since.

    Greg sighed as he walked towards her queen bed. This made no sense at all. She only drank when she felt devastated...or hopeless.

    Why though? Yes, they were in a bit of a rough situation but it was far from hopeless. Greg knew he had made enemies with two of the major gangs in the city. That much was true...but, then again, one of those gangs was crippled. Cut off the head and whatever. Lung was the head of the ABB. Without him, the ABB didn't have the firepower to stand up to the Merchants or the E88 with only Oni Lee. Not to mention, the E88 wouldn't want to make an enemy of someone that had beaten Lung, right? So that was one problem gone. What else could it be?

    Greg placed her into bed slowly, making sure not to disturb her rest. He grimaced at the wine and food stains on his mother's scrubs as he covered her up. He knew that it wasn't the best idea to put her to bed in stained, sweaty clothes. However, even though he and his mother were close, he did not feel okay with undressing her. 'No way, I've read Oedipus Rex. That way lies bad things.' Besides, he hated his dad but he didn't want to kill him.

    Walking out slowly, Greg carefully closed the double doors behind him with a slight 'klik.'

    "Greeeeeggieeee," came a soft moan from inside the room.

    "Oh, come on," mouthed Greg.

    With a sigh, he opened the doors to the master bedroom. "Yes, Mom?"

    Susan Veder lay in her bed, red-rimmed eyes half open, hair tousled and face sweaty. "Wheeeree's Max?"

    "He left an hour ago, Mom."

    "Dish ooo talk?", she mumbled.

    Greg walked in and sat at the foot of her bed. "Yeah, we did. He offered me a job...as MedHall's spokeshero."

    "Ohhh, I rememma dat. He said sumfing like dat. Anyfing spessha, perks or sumfing?"

    Greg smiled slightly. "Yeah, he said he can give me cars, money, tech...even my own base. A cool superhero HQ. That sounds good, right?"

    "Mmmmhmmmm...do ooo wanna...work wif Max?", she asked with a yawn.

    Greg shrugged. "I dunno, Mom. He seems...okay but he kinda reminds me of Dad and he really only did it because Dad called him and told him to watch over me and...that's enough for me to not take the job."

    Susan patted Greg on the arm softly. "Nooo, baby. Max'sh real nice. He's real nice. He's a gooood guy. Ooooo can trust hiiiim."

    With a sigh, Greg turned away. "I don't know, Mom. Maybe you're right...but what if you're not? It's not like I don't wanna work for him. It's just the way he acts, you know. It's like Dad...but less in your face, more subtle. I just don't want to make a stupid decision..." Greg sighed again and put his head in his palms. "I dunno...what do you think I should do?...Mom?"

    Before he even lifted his head, Greg could hear the gentle snoring that told him his mother was asleep. He stood up from the foot of her bed and walked to her side, lifting up the covers to make sure she was properly under them. That done, he walked out of her room as gently as possible. On instinct, he reached for her door only to pause and shake his head. 'No...I already learned that lesson once.'

    Greg walked into his room and dropped himself down on his bed, face up staring at a poster of Eidolon on his ceiling. 'I still haven't made a decision...but why do I have to? It hasn't even been one goddamn day since I took down Lung. But...I still have to think about it. New Wave's definitely out. Max was right. They're a family group. I'd be the odd guy out. I'd upset their whole dynamic or whatever. That just leaves me with the Wards or...Uncle Max. If I join the Wards, I have a team...maybe friends, equipment and the entire government behind me. Not to mention, Miss Militia seems pretty cool. She even gave me her personal number. But joining the Wards means I also have to deal with a lot of questions and judgement and that's not even talking about...Armsmaster.'

    Greg sighed and turned over, thoughts still racing. 'If I join up with MedHall, I get money, toys, a base, cars...but there's Uncle Max. Dad could show up too. This could just be his way of getting me to like my dad and I really don't want to deal with shit like that right now. What do I do?'

    Glancing around his room slowly, Greg decided to try something. "Evron, if you're here...could you please help me out? Tell me what to do...PLEASE!"

    "........"

    "........"

    "beep-beep-beep-beep"

    "The hell...?" Greg sat up in his bed as something began to beep in a clear, loud tone. Getting up from his bed, Greg began to search around his room as the beeping got louder and louder. 'What is that?' He opened his closet and searched up and down....'Not Here!' Dropping to his stomach, he checked under the bed. 'No!'

    "BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!!!"

    "Where is it?!" Greg paused and forced himself to calm down. 'Okay, focus. You have super hearing. Just use it.' Closing his eyes, Greg tried to concentrate on only his auditory senses. The beeping only got louder and louder as he focused...where was it? Where was it? Damn it, where was it? THERE! Greg rushed to his dresser and reached under it, the beeping still getting louder. Feeling the sensation of a small metallic object, he pulled it out.

    'What?' In his hand was the tiny silver disk that Evron used to project his holograms all the time. The beeping suddenly stopped and a six inch hologram of Evron appeared. The hologram looked directly at Greg, who was already confused and rather irritated by having to look for this thing.

    "I teach you how to use your powers, not to live your life. The answer is no. Figure it out yourself." And with that, the hologram disappeared.

    Greg stared at the small disk in his palm, unsure of what to think. "Well, thank you very much. It's not like I have to make a super important decision that could affect the rest of my life. No...I don't need help at all...How often are you listening in anyway?"

    He finally settled on annoyance.

    Greg sighed and sat on the floor, back against the wall. "What am I supposed to do? I need a sign..." Greg glanced up to see a decal of Legend that he placed above his bed. Above the blue-suited laser hero, the words "Do the Right Thing" were emblazoned on his wall. "...or a poster. Huh...why did I ever put that on my wall in the first place?" Pulling himself up, Greg walked to the bedside and picked up his slow, blocky smartphone. It was crap, like most affordable smartphones were but it was useful.

    He dialed the number on his phone and waited as it rang. After only a few rings, someone picked up.

    "Hello, this is..." Greg paused as he took one last moment to consider his actions. This was the point of no return. If he went through with this, his life would never be the same. It didn't matter anyway. His mother had his back no matter what he chose, he knew that for sure but...did he really want to go through with this?

    Yes, yes he did. He had already made his decision...and he was fine with it.

    "This is Superior. I've decided."
    ​
     
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    ■​

    ♦Topic: Lung Taken Down?
    In: Boards ► News ► Events ► America ► Brockton Bay

    RandomCapeGeek (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Cape Groupie)
    Posted on April 12, 2011:

    Okay, I'm new to Brockton Bay. I've been here just over a year so I don't know all the intricacies of this crazy city. I mean, I know the basics.

    There's capes. Other than New Wave, the Wards and the Protectorate, most of the capes in Brockton are villains.

    Everybody knows Lung is the strongest and baddest villain in Brockton Bay. Shit, he's probably the strongest villain on the East Coast.

    He beat the entire Protectorate! He beat New Wave!
    He kicks all the ass!!!

    LUNG DOESN'T LOSE!....except last night, he kinda did.

    Last night after most of the fighting between the gangs was over, Lung was rampagng by the Docks. An hour later, there was a report that Armsmaster brought in Lung...BY HIMSELF.

    Looks like Armsmaster's the baddest cape in Brockton now.

    (Showing Page 6 of 57)

    ► peoplewatcher
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    This is really awesome for Armsmaster. He's getting the credit he deserves.

    ► hiddenthoughts
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    I know. It's so freakin cool. I bet Dragon couldn't even have soloed Lung.

    ► bangerwithcash
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    I call BULLSHIT! Lung would never go down like a bitch. Armsmaster's a Tinker. Lung is LUNG.

    ► Bank_Breaker
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @bangerwithcash: Really? Armsmaster's like the best Tinker in America. If anyone could take out Lung, he could.

    ► legostomper
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @bangerwithcash: Armsmaster is badass. Lung's a Brute but that's it. In a year from now, he'll still have the same powers. Armsmaster's a Tinker. He can make anything, man, ANYTHING.

    ► King Of Ancients
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @bangerwithcash: This is Halbeard we're talking about. He's the #2 Tinker on the planet. He could solo Lung if he planned ahead.

    ► Kpopqueen
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @bangerwithcash: Lung takes time to get stronger, Armsmaster probably took him down before he could get too strong.

    ► Nerd With A Cause (Cape Groupie)
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    You guys are all so wrong!!! I agree that Tinkers are badass but maybe try to hop off of Armsmaster's dick. Have you never heard of Toybox? Armsmaster's barely in the top 10. Go HERE to educate yourself, plebes.

    User recieved an infraction for this post.

    ► Bank_Breaker
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @Nerd With A Cause: Wow, you just proved how stupid you are. All of those capes are super specialized (Except for Dragon). They couldn't do shit to Armsmaster if he prepared. Armsmaster is all about making stuff smaller and better. He can make their shit and kick their ass with it.

    ► legostomper
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @Nerd With A Cause: You're so ridiculous. People used to think of Armsmaster as the next Hero. Do you know what that means? Armsmaster could be Triumvirate level one day.

    ► Nerd With A Cause (Cape Groupie)
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    I don't have to say anything else. I know I'm right. You're all just too stupid to understand that.

    User has recieved an infraction for this post.

    ► Tin_Mother (Moderator)
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @Nerd With A Cause: Try not to insult other members. If you have to make a point, insults are not conducive to persuasiveness.

    ► bangerwithcash
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    Okay, all of you think that you're so fucking smart. Did any of you actually see what the Docks look like? Take a look right fucking HERE. You see that, that's the shit Lung did.
    Tell me if you think your precious Halbeard could handle that shit.

    ► littleJOHN
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    ...Wow. Looks like a nuke hit the Docks. I heard an explosion last night but I didn't think...wow.

    ► doublehander
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    I saw the explosion last night but I was real far from the Docks. I didn't think it was this bad. Fuck it, I'm calling it. Armsy's a Tinker not a Brute. No way he fought Lung. That report's definitely bull.

    ► Thoughtbroker
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    Anyone notice the ground in the later pics? Those are footprints. Giant footprints. Lung would have to be pretty fucking big to make those prints. Armsmaster didn't do this solo. I doubt he did it at all.

    ► dead_man_dancing
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    That's some serious shit. That's almost like a quarter of the Docks fucked up. I wonder how many people fucking died.

    ► legostomper
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @Thoughtbroker: The PRT wouldn't lie about this. Armsmaster beat Lung and he did it solo. Maybe it was lucky, maybe not but Armsmaster still won! Deal with it!

    ► lightningpork
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    Everyone who says that Armsmaster beat Lung might want to look at these. I have picture of Lung right HERE. Warning, they're not pretty.

    ► EmoRap
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    ...that's not Lung. And also...gross.​
    End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 ... 55 , 56, 57

    (Showing Page 10 of 57)

    ► Asstech
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    I have to agree with everyone else. That's definitely not Lung. I'm pretty sure that Armsmaster just beat some new Case 53 half to death. Cause I didn't realize he was that fucking brutal, man.

    ► Alienator
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    No, no...just no. This is fucked up! That's some cape brutality. If that's Lung, that's really shitty. If it's some new Case 53, that's even more fucked up. The eyes are all stabbed and shit. The skull is caved in, man! The Protectorate can't do this shit!

    ► creepycreep
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    No way that's Lung. Armsy definitely beat up some random Case 53.

    ► Oreolicker
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    The PRT wouldn't lie about this being Lung. Maybe something happened to him.

    ► blackcopters
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @Oreolicker: The PRT and the Protectorate are government organizations. The govt. always lies.

    ► creepycreep
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @blackcopters: Thanks, bro but we don't need your craziness right now.

    ► blackcopters
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @Oreolicker: Really? Cause I know what happened to Lung. I found out after doing some research.

    ► RandomCapeGeek (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Cape Groupie)
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @blackcopters: I know I'm going to regret this but...what do you know?

    ► Asstech
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    No! Don't feed him!

    ► blackcopters
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    Apparently, Lung got kidnapped by this secret government group who steal powers from capes and sell them for a lot of money. He killed some of the people trapping him, escaped from their secret hideout and stole one of their Trump powers. It fucked him up and made him really angry and he lost his mind when he got back to Brockton Bay and transformed from human to a real giant dragon. Because he works for the government, they sent Armsmaster out to silence Lung and told him not to hold back.

    ► RandomCapeGeek (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Cape Groupie)
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @blackcopters:...Why did I even ask? That was so ridiculous...on like every level.

    ► cathead
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    That was a new type of crazy.

    ► Magic_Mikey
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    So, if Lung is red instead of silver now, how did that happen?

    ► LoserTed
    Replied on April 12, 2011:
    @Magic_Mikey: I'm gonna say...Fuckin Trumps.
    ​
    End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 ... 55 , 56, 57

    (Showing Page 31 of 57)

    ► RandomCapeGeek (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Cape Groupie)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    Okay, I just got some BIG news from my friend at the PRT. Armsmaster didn't beat Lung. He took Lung in but someone else soloed the big bad dragon. Some kid triggered and then went out on his first night and took Lung down. Only reason Armsmaster got the cred is because he tranqued both Lung and the kid when they were too tired to fight back.

    ► legostomper
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    So, Armsmaster really didn't do it, huh?

    ► cathead
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    @legostomper: No, apparently some kid did. This is crazy, right? Am I the only one who thinks this is insane?

    ► LoserTed
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    Man, first we had the Mini-Alexandria, Glory Girl, and her sister, Panacea and now we've got this rookie who destroyed Lung his first day out. Young capes are just getting stronger.

    ► AdamRuinsEverything (The Guy In The Know) (Veteran Member)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    What I find most surprising about all this is that Armsmaster would just tranq this new cape like that and claim the credit. Then again, I don't know Armsmaster personally so for all I know, he could be a serial killer that preys on criminals in his spare time. Wait...who am I kidding? That's ridiculous.

    ► Killerdave
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    @AdamRuinsEverything: It is ridiculous. Where do you even come up with bullshit like that?.....................................Everyone knows that's Shadow Stalker's job.

    ► Pitch44
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    Anybody know anything else about this new cape? Ratings? Is he just a Brute?

    ► Newx3
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    He's definitely a high level Brute. He fought new Lung, didn't he?

    ► bangerwithcash
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    @Pitch44: The guy just triggered two days ago. No one was even there to see him fight. Why would there be any real info on him? Don't be dumb.

    ► Top_Gunner
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    I got a pic of the new cape. Check it out. Blond hair, Blue eyes, and he made his first target Lung. Seems like the Empire's wet dream. HERE you go.

    ► RandomCapeGeek (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Cape Groupie)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    ...That's just a kid. Like, literally. He looks fourteen. I've got a little brother his age. This is insane.

    ► Asstech
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    @RandomCapeGeek: How is that what you're focused on? It's not like there's other more important things in this picture like his head bleeding, or maybe his chest being cut open or...I don't know...the fact that HE'S NOT WEARING A FUCKING MASK!!!

    ► RandomCapeGeek (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Cape Groupie)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    @Asstech: I noticed all that stuff but I was just struck with how young he looks, Even if I had Eidolon's powers, I'd still be kind of scared to fight Lung. And this kid did it.

    ► LoserTed
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    I know what you mean, man. This kid looks so...normal. I guess with the mask, it's easy to forget that they're just people under there.

    ► RandomCapeGeek (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Cape Groupie)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    I can't believe Armsmaster tried to steal credit from this kid. Especially on his first night out. Dick move, broh.​
    End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 ... 55 , 56, 57

    (Showing Page 44 of 57)

    ► SpecificProtagonist
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    Oh...My...God. I know this guy. Like, I seriously, literally, know him.

    ► Asstech
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    @ SpecificProtagonist: Come on, tell us! Who is he?

    ► SpecificProtagonist
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    Can I actually say it? You're not supposed to out capes.

    ► legostomper
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    You're not supposed to but he's already outed anyway. These pictures of his face are all over the internet. It's not like telling us anything else is going to make anything worse.

    ► blackcopters
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    It's true. The guy's secret is toast by this point. He's gone full New Wave at this point.

    ► creepycreep
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    @blackcopters: No, you never go full New Wave!

    ► SpecificProtagonist
    Replied on April 13, 2011:

    BLOCKED

    ► Tin_Mother (Moderator)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    It is an individual cape's decision to choose whether to go public with their identity or not.
    Until then, all speculations will be held and any further attempts to out this cape will result in immediate one-month suspensions for the offending party.​

    ► RandomCapeGeek (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Cape Groupie)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    Ok, so definite Brute, likely a Mover and enemies with Empire and ABB.

    ► LoserTed
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    I wonder what this guy is really like. All we know about him is that he's a Brute tough enough to turn Lung's face into....hamburger meat? Yeah? Hamburger meat. Maybe he's a Trump too? Cause that would explain Lung.

    ► Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    You guys talking about Superior? He's pretty cool...for a Brute, you know.

    ► RandomCapeGeek (Original Poster) (The Guy In The Know) (Cape Groupie)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    @Clockblocker: His name's Superior? Not bad. Pretty cool name, actually. Any more details? Does he have a Trump rating?

    ► Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    I'm pretty sure he doesn't have a Trump rating. Honestly, he's kinda like Glory Girl. They're both blond Brutes who can get really scary.

    ► Asstech
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    Scary how?

    ► Monkeydewnot
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    Yeah, scary how?

    ► Clockblocker (Verified Cape) (Wards ENE)
    Replied on April 13, 2011:
    I'm not going to say much. Just know that Superior's a lot like Glory Girl.

    End of Page. 1, 2, 3 ... 42, 43, 44, 45, 46 ... 55 , 56, 57


    ■​

    ♦ Private message from All_Seeing_Eye:

    All_Seeing_Eye: So, you ready for tomorrow?
    Spider_Queen: I'm still not a hundred percent sure about this.
    All_Seeing_Eye: I get it. You're scared about the job.
    Spider_Queen: No! It's not that I don't want to. I just didn't think want to think that the Protectorate weren't really good guys but I saw what Armsmaster did. And the way they just labeled you guys like that. It was just so unfair! You guys haven't even done anything actually...villainy but a heist? That sounds bad, like seriously bad.
    All_Seeing_Eye: Trust me, the bank's covered with insurance and it's not like anyone's actually going to get hurt. Nothing actually bad is going to happen.
    Spider_Queen: I just don't know if I can do this.
    All_Seeing_Eye: Really? This coming from the girl who helped put down Lung? Come on, you know you've got this.
    Spider_Queen: I guess so.
    All_Seeing_Eye: K, meet us at the hideout at 4 tomorrow.
    Spider_Queen: Sure, see you there.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------​
     
    Interlude 2e: Armsmaster/Colin Wallis
  • Threadmarks
    • Anyway, I haven't done an Armsmaster Interlude yet. So, I thought it time to check in on our dear old friend, Colin.
    So here we go, Interlude 2e. Enjoy.

    __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Interlude 2e: Armsmaster/Colin Wallis



    "She's still doing it...It's been exactly forty-nine days since she started and she hasn't changed since."

    "Hmmm..."

    "It's rather odd. I suspect that the excessive damage she accrued while in Canberra might have caused a change in behavior."

    "...yes..."

    "Although, that's unlikely. She has received damage before. Not quite to that extent, but still...I don't understand why she just keeps smiling like that."

    "...mmhmmm..."

    "It makes no sense. She has displayed expressions before but they were for short instances. It goes against all the data I've compiled on her."

    "...interesting..."

    "...Although, the cause of the odd behavior might be that mysterious parahuman, Hyperion. There's been no trace of him apart from that post on Parahumans Online. He seemed to have some strange connection to the Simurgh and his sudden disappearance...It's troubling to consider the implications. It's just..."

    "...this is so..."

    "...frustrating." "...complicated."

    "What do you think, Colin?"

    "...hmm."

    "Colin?"

    "..."

    "...Armsmaster."

    "Huh?" Colin Wallis jerked his head upwards from his workstation as Dragon called his name, the strands of silvery material in his hands falling and spreading out on the table in front of him. He whipped his head around in confusion as if shocked at the realization that he wasn't alone in his lab. With his mouth slightly agape in surprise, he spoke. "...Dragon?"

    "Hello, Colin. I arrived over ten minutes ago and until this point, I thought we were having a conversation. Or was that just me?" The voice of the Canadian tinker came through the speakers in a dispassionate tone with a slight undercurrent of irritation. Any normal man would realize the shift in tone and act accordingly.

    Armsmaster stretched, cracking his neck with a series of uncomfortable popping noises, and rubbed his rather unkempt beard. "Oh...I didn't notice you."

    Unfortunately for him, Colin Wallis was not a normal man.

    Dragon's tone somehow became even colder as she continued to speak, gaining a frigid quality that was unlike her. "You didn't notice me?"

    Blinking at the sudden change in tone, Armsmaster paused before speaking, uncomfortably aware of Dragon's likely irritation. In all their previous interactions, Dragon had been cordial, warm even, when she spoke to him. He doubted he did anything to upset her. 'Regardless, I should make an effort to placate her. If I engage her in conversation, she should relax somewhat. Females enjoy speaking about their problems.'

    "I apologize, Dragon. I was busy Tinkering and was unaware that you had arrived. If I had known, I would have spoken to you. I do enjoy our discussions."
    'Calm delivery, pleasant and non-agressive tone, passive language. Excellent for dealing with an emotional female.'

    Colin had recently taken to reading women's magazines, mostly due to the fact that he spent a lot of his time around females. He believed it was helping him interpret female social cues. It wasn't. He had, however, learned that Cosmopolitan seemed to have more 'Ways to Blow His Mind' than the Kama Sutra.

    Dragon didn't say anything for a bit before letting out a sigh. "...You've shut down all your video screens and you haven't been answering your phone or your communicator. Colin, when was the last time you left your lab?"

    "What?"

    "When did you last leave your lab?", she repeated calmly.

    "I admit that I have been distant over the past f-"

    "Colin...look at yourself. Look around you. You're a mess."

    Colin sighed, rubbing a hand through his unruly beard and glanced around at his lab, the edges of his mouth turned downwards into a small scowl. Papers and equipment were in disarray, thrown all over the usually pristine lab. Multiple beakers of his own specialized, caffeine-based stimulant were left unwashed and his suit sat on the floor, scattered without care. Noticing a mirror in the corner of his eye, he turned to face it, cringing as he finally caught sight of himself.

    "Look at this. This isn't like you," she continued, her voice almost pleading.

    He closed his eyes. Dragon was all too right. He didn't recognize himself at all. He was efficient, neat, ordered and practical above all else. However, the man in front of him was a disgusting mess. He was wearing a gray t-shirt and a pair of gray fleece jogger pants that had honestly seen better days. Stains were all over his clothes. Sweat, grease, oil and other mysterious substances coated his outfit. Rips and burns marred his clothes while his face and bare arms were stained with grease and oil stains. Red-rimmed eyes stared back at him while the skin around them were puffy and inflamed from his lack of sleep. Worst of all was his most prized feature...his beard. His once meticulously combed facial hair was overgrown, matted, rough and full of various crumbs and remains of the few meals he had consumed over his self-enforced exile.

    Honestly, the way he looked now, he would fit right in with Skidmark, Squealer and the rest of their Merchant scum. Grimacing, he turned away from his reflection and hung his head.

    This was not like him at all. He was Armsmaster. He was the epitome of efficiency, order, and protocol. He made it his duty to make sure the Protectorate ran smoothly. He took it upon himself to reduce the ongoing rise of crime in Brockton Bay. People knew him. People respected him. A certain level of prestige would always be out of his reach and he was aware of that. He knew he could never be on the same level as his mentor. He could never be a hero like Hero but he received respect for his own actions. At least, he used too. New, young parahumans...powerful enough to one day be considered on the same level as the Triumvirate. Dauntless...Glory Girl...and that...that Superior boy...they were unskilled, true, but they would only get better. He was nearing the limits of what his Tinkering could do and as he got older, his training would become less and less useful.

    "...three days. It's been three days but I have been busy Tinkering. I haven't had time to leave," Armsmaster answered, frowning slightly.

    "Don't lie to me, Colin. From what I can see, you haven't taken a single step outside of this area since we last spoke three days ago. I doubt you've even showered...or slept. What's wrong?"

    Armsmaster leaned against his workstation with his arms folded, a cloudy expression on his face. "Is this what you wanted to speak about?"

    "No. I wanted to speak about the Simurgh."

    Colin sighed. "Again? We've been over this." And they had. Several times, in fact. When Dragon had informed him that the Simurgh had been...smiling, his interest was piqued. One of the Endbringers displaying abnormal behavioral patterns was obviously a matter of extreme importance. However, there was only so many times that a man could look at video of a angelic murderbeast smiling serenely before he felt incredibly bored with the topic, especially when nothing else about her behavior had changed.

    "I said that I wanted to. Right now, I feel that helping you is more important. Now, just tell me why you're behaving like this. Is it because of Lung and the new cape? The way you explained the matter to me, it made sense. I understood that you were trying to pro-"

    "No," Armsmaster interrupted firmly. "It's not that."

    "Well, then enlighten me...what is it?"

    He didn't respond. Instead, he walked over to a screen embedded into the wall next to the door leading out of his lab and quickly pressed a few buttons on the panel just below it.

    The screen turned on, displaying the face of a young woman with facial features that were rather beautiful. Despite the fact that Dragon had never mentioned it, Armsmaster knew it wasn't Dragon's real appearance. The face in front of him was so unremarkable that it was actually remarkable. Nearly everyone who looked at it would find something familiar about it while still thinking it was rather pretty. It was uncanny exactly how average it was. Regardless, he still liked to talk to Dragon "face-to-face."

    "Colin?"

    "...I was demoted."

    "Demoted? When?", Dragon asked, eyes widening slightly in shock.

    "Three days ago..."

    "I spoke to Miss Militia and Director Piggot just yesterday. They didn't mention anything like this to me."

    "Well, that's because it's an...unofficial demotion. Nothing's actually on record...but everyone still knows. Miss Militia will be handling my duties...," he paused, scowling fiercely, "...indefinitely and I am to dedicate my time towards improving myself and my...behavior. At least, until Director Piggot feels that I am suitable to resume my position as Leader of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. All of this because of...that boy," he finished, nearly growling the last few words.

    Dragon's face fell as she heard him speak. "Colin..."

    He bent over his workstation, fists clenched, his back to Dragon.

    "This city needs me! There's no doubt that Kaiser's going to expand with the ABB as weak as it is now. Lung may be in custody but the ABB isn't going to let that stop them for long. Last time, the ABB, the Empire and the Merchants were just testing each other, barely even fighting." Colin let out a heavy breath, his shoulders shaking in anger.

    "Now, all we have to look forward to is a gang war that will destroy this entire city instead of a mere riot that spilled out into the streets. And...that boy...Superior...I've read the notes on his files. He's not a natural parahuman. He's the product of a Tinker. Maybe even a group of Tinkers that specialize in power-granting. We're possibly looking at an army of raging capes on his level...This city needs me more than ever....and she wants me out of the way, says I need to improve! Me? All I do is improve!!! Every single day, I get better, more efficient and that...that woman wants to criticize me? Me, the only person in this worthless organization that works himself to the bone to be the very best! This is my life! I do nothing else! Everyone else goes home and I'm here for days at a time, working and improving! And Piggot wants to sideline ME?!!" Colin punctuated his anger by slamming his fists on a workstation, the action sending beakers crashing to the floor and scattering papers all over.

    Piggot truly enraged him. A woman blinded by her fear. She was terrified of another cape with capabilities similar to Nilbog and at the same time was worried about the PR fallout from his actions against that same boy. How dare she? She wasn't there. She didn't feel the murderous rage rolling off that cape. At the time, Colin didn't care about whether he was a boy or not. He was ready to kill and Armsmaster had responded in a calm, moderate manner to prevent the boy from hurting him and inflicting more damage on his already mutilated body. And he was punished for that. He should be commended for his actions. Miss Militia would have responded to imminent death like that with a massive RPG. Battery, the hothead that she was, would have tried to punch his head off. Assault, being a former villain, would have responded with the lethal action at his first opportunity. Dauntless, that jackass, who knows what that fool would have done? 'Pathetic.'

    Dragon said nothing, simply staring at Armsmaster as he finished his outburst. This definitely wasn't like Colin. He never showed his emotions like this. She wasn't even sure what to say at this point other than "Are you okay?"

    Colin took many deep, ragged breaths as his powerful, muscled arms clenched the edges of the metal workstation. "I'll be fine. I admit that I am rather stressed but it comes with the job after all...It's just...I know that Piggot doesn't understand what she's doing by demoting me. She didn't even listen to Miss Militia's protests. Piggot's not out there with us, fighting, patrolling, keeping Brockton safe. She knows nothing about what this city's underbelly is like. In fact, Clockblocker knows more about the behavior of the criminal capes in Brockton than she does. She sits in her office all day, thinking she understands how this city works. She barely knows a thing...and I just know this city's going to end up paying the price for it."

    Colin took one more deep breath and let it out slowly, his heart rate lowering to what he felt was appropriate. He stood up straight and faced his fellow Tinker with a weak smile on his face. "Dragon, would you mind excusing me for a while? I have something rather important to work on. I'll contact you after I've finished."

    Dragon returned his weak smile with one of her own. She knew Armsmaster was stressed but this...this was unexpected. He was near his breaking point. She cared for Colin and if he needed his space, she would acquiesce to his request. Honestly, she was glad that he felt comfortable enough around her to speak like this as well as oddly reassured to see him this free with his feelings. It wasn't that she wanted him to feel stressed, of course not. It was simply that often, when she and Armsmaster would talk, she tended to feel that she was more human among the two of them. She appreciated Armsmaster's determination but sometimes he was much too focused. He needed moments like this, if only to release some pent-up aggression. "Okay...It'll get better, Colin. Just remember, you're Armsmaster for a reason. She knows how much you're needed. It's only a matter of time."

    Colin's smile increased as she said that and Dragon felt something at the thought that she could improve his mood with just a few words. "Goodbye, Colin...and try to get some rest."

    And with that, the screen shut down and the lab was left in silence once more.

    'I'm sorry, Dragon, but I have too much work to do to rest now. I'll sleep when I'm dead.' And he meant it. Colin Wallis hadn't had a single moment of rest in over forty-eight hours, relying on only his non-combat stimulant shots, a specialized mixture comprised of norepinephrine, epinephrine, caffeine and a slight amount of amphetamines. He needed to finish his work before he could even think of rest. His life really depended on it.

    Colin turned back to his workstation, a small smile still on his face, and as he looked down at the silvery threads on the table in front of him, his smile only increased.

    Superior...that boy...was definitely the product of more than one Tinker. At the very least, he had to be affiliated with two skilled Tinkers. One to grant him the rather incredible powers that he had displayed in his melee against Lung and another to make the suit that he had worn into the fight.

    That suit lay in front of him, most of it split apart into long, thin metallic threads. He had no idea why he had decided to keep it that night when the PRT EMT's had cut it off him. The thing was burnt and tattered, little more than shreds after the boy had gotten pummeled by Lung. It had seemed worthless but now...he definitely wasn't complaining. It was a goldmine.

    Impact resistant...Resilient against extremes of heat...Water repellent...Self-repairing and Self-cleaning...A paper-thin body armor constructed entirely from nanobots and nanomaterial. It was designed with high-power rechargeable batteries with nanoscale solar panels as well as a digital storage capacity that would be able to store the files of the entire Protectorate while running all his programs simultaneously a hundred times over. A truly incredible piece of technology...except for the fact that it wasn't.

    It wasn't really the suit that was impressive, no. It wasn't the design, not at all. Honestly, Armsmaster knew he could design something much better if he put his mind to it. It was the material that had shocked him. Anyone who knew what they were doing could make a suit out of these programmable nanobots and this flexible nanomaterial. After some investigation, he had noticed the suit that Superior had on seemed not just shoddy, but hastily constructed as well. Almost as if the Tinker who had made it was not only lacking in skill but in somewhat of a rush. The more Armsmaster looked at the suit, the more his Tinker sense seemed to scream at him that the work was lazy, shoddy, and worst of all...INEFFICIENT.

    That could not stand. For over three days, he had used the allure of the suit's impressive design to take his thoughts away from the embarrassment Piggot had caused him by stripping him of his position. He was all too glad for the distraction. Since that night, his mind had been racing with a multitude of methods he could use in an attempt to improve the suit's capabilities, ways that he could implement the material in his other works...including his weaponry. After all, he had already been working on nano-scale weapons. This would only serve to raise the quality of his work to new heights. Now, he didn't have to worry about limits, about diminishing returns, about losing the respect he had fought tooth and nail for. With Tinker-tech like this, even Dauntless, the rising star of Brockton Bay, would be little more than an ant compared to him. He would never have to worry about living up to Hero's legacy. Once he finished this project, the name Armsmaster would be spoken in the same breath as any of the Triumvirate.

    He chuckled slowly, an unexplained feeling of mirth rising up inside him. After struggling and failing to hold it in, Colin gave in to the spontaneous and uncharacteristic surge of emotion and threw his head back, letting out a deep belly laugh as he thought about what the future could hold. Armsmaster, Head of the National Protectorate. Why not? Hero had always told him to reach for the stars. No matter what it took, Brockton Bay was going to be safe and under control...his control.

    It seemed like Dragon had been right after all. It was only a matter of time.

    _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
    ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
    ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


    "Thinking in isolation and with pride ends in being an idiot."
    — G. K. Chesterton​
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • I will be posting my new story, Titan of Zero. It will have Evron as the MC.

    However, instead of it being this current Evron, it will be Evron from 7 years in the past. So, a 17 year old Ev with only 3, count 'em, 3 years of experience and not too many wacky hijinks.

    Here's the Link. White Titan Of Zero or How Evron Grey Learned That Magic Sucks Giant Donkey Balls

    So...Titan of Zero will have a much slower update rate as I want to finish this fic first before I start another.

    Anyway, It will eventually be a Multicross, at least I hope so, and it will take place during the period of Evron's adventures when he gets stranded due to two villains and their desire to travel realities. No guarantees on story quality....I'll be writing by the seat of my pants on this one.
     
    Complications 2.7A
  • Threadmarks
    • Complications 2.7A


    The Brockton Bay Central Bank was busy as usual. Dozens of people waited in several lines to accomplish their banking-based errands.

    Among those in need of the bank's services was New Wave's own Panacea, although as she wasn't in costume, she liked to be referred to as Amy.

    Today wasn't a good day for Amy, not at all. Her sister had spent most of the school day nuzzling up to her boyfriend and that had stirred up a hornet's nests of emotions that she didn't really feel like analyzing. Not to mention, Chris had been trying to talk to ask her out in his own subtle way. His methods were obviously less than subtle if Vicky could pick up on it. Now she had to hope that Vicky didn't try to set up her own 'Glorious Date!!!'(™) for her and Chris.

    However, the cause of her irritation right now was something a bit more petty.

    'Oh, hurry up...'

    '...come on, what are you even doing?'

    'Oh God and Scion, what I would give for some special treatment right now? Would it be too much to ask for my own line? I save lives here!'

    The bank itself was the issue.

    Amy had always disliked banks and she felt she was perfectly justified in feeling that way. And why shouldn't she?

    They combined several things she hated into one big, annoying place and Brockton Bay Central was no different.

    Long lines, customers in front of her who always had ridiculous and complicated transactions, and the annoying tellers. Scion, she hated those tellers.

    The second they saw her name, they always wanted to talk to her about something stupid before she could get done with her actual bank-related business. Always so fake and smiley. Asking her about her day, her family, her fucking entire life story. She knew that they knew that she knew they didn't care.

    They were doing it for one reason and one reason only.


    'Oh, Panacea, I think I might have the flu. Can you help me out?'

    'It's not flu...and for wasting my time, you have AIDS.'


    'Panacea, please help me out. My girlfriend's gonna dump me! Just an inch or two.'

    'Fuck you and your girlfriend. Oh wait, you can't.... you have no dick.'


    'Oh, Panacea, I was thinking about getting plastic surgery. Could you do a gal a favor and boost me up a few cup sizes?'

    'Here...now you'll never need to buy milk again.'


    'One favor. You know, we're friends, right. I have this zit right here. Could you help me out?'

    '...Drown in your acne and die.'


    She had to deal with shit like that all the time. And if she didn't help them out, they'd bitch at her the whole time she was at the teller and make the whole thing take forever. Just once, she wished that she could say or do something instead of just having fun imagining it. 'But no, I'm Panacea, a hero. A hero wouldn't do that.'

    Her inner rant against the banking system and the annoying tellers that serviced it was suddenly halted as her ears were suddenly assaulted by a sound that made her freeze for a moment.

    A loud noise suddenly came from somewhere outside the bank, like the deep, rough barking of some sort of massive dog. Something about that seemed very familiar...what exactly was familiar about it seemed to be escaping her at the moment, though.

    She turned around quickly, trying to see what was going on. Before she could even see the entrance of the bank, everything went black.

    For an instant, she thought she was blind.

    That instant passed when the darkness began to recede, converging in a dark haze at the center of the bank. As her hearing returned to her, the sound of people's screaming hit her eardrums and she choked on a scream as a swarm of bugs crawled, slithered, creeped, wriggled, squirmed, flew from the dark fog and flooded the bank floor. Nearly everyone in the bank rushed back, Amy included, running toward the walls in an attempt to avoid the biblical swarm of insects.

    The bugs apparently did not appreciate that as they immediately began to herd everyone towards the center of the bank lobby.

    She felt her gut sink even more as a group of costumed individuals appeared from that fading haze. She recognized them on sight. New Wave often held bi-weekly briefings to go over tactics concerning Brockton Bay's villain community and the team in front of them had been the topic of many a discussion.

    'The Undersiders...these assholes.'

    Tattletale stood in front, a gun in her hand, smirking as her eyes trailed over every single person in the entire bank. Regent stood to her right, a silver crown on his head, twirling a silver scepter around like some demented jester. Grue was on the far left, darkness leaking from his motorcycle helmet and leather long-coat, creating an aura of black fog that surrounded his team. Hellhound stood behind the other three, her arms and legs disproportionately large, grotesquely discolored and covered with bumps, spikes and odd growths. Next to her stood a long-haired figure in a jet-black costume that screamed 'I'm the one with the bugs!' simply from the design of the mask itself.

    She didn't know the bug girl's name...which was great.

    'Undersiders got a new member. Wonder-fucking-ful...What the...HOLY SHIT!'

    All the terrified screams in the Bank ceased almost instantly as something...no, three somethings leapt out of Grue's jacket and everyone in the bank caught sight of something even more terrifying than the supervillains.

    If someone had asked Amy if they were dogs, she might have said yes...maybe.

    They could have been dogs, right? Possibly.

    If dogs were seven feet tall.

    If dogs had skin that looked like pulverized hamburger meat left to rot in the sun.

    If dogs had teeth the size of butcher knives.

    If dogs had giant bone spikes jutting from their skin in random places.

    Until they didn't look like they could swallow her whole, the same way a puppy could swallow a treat, she'd never think of them as dogs. No, they were monsters.

    Amy's eye twitched as she took in the appearance of the newest villain team to hit Brockton Bay with their massive mounts and she clenched her fist in anger. 'Why did they have to pick now...while I'm still in here? Fuck these guys!'

    "Fifteen minutes," spoke the bug girl in a calm, resolute tone. "We won't be here any longer than that. Stay put, stay quiet, stay on the ground. We'll be gone before fifteen minutes are up. You'll be free to give your statement to the police and then go about your day as usual. This isn't a TV show, this isn't a movie. If you're thinking about being a hero, don't. Seriously, don't be a hero. You'll only get yourself or someone else hurt. You see those bugs, they're only in place to prevent you from doing anything stupid. Just stay in the circle. They won't enter that circle unless you give me a reason."

    She was really convincing, Amy had to admit that. The instructions were simple, they sounded reasonable and no one wanted to get hurt. After sharing some scared looks among each other, every single person in the bank, herself included, followed her instructions, hesitantly getting on the ground. What was she supposed to do right now? She was strictly touch-based. 'Maybe if they stayed still and didn't move at all for ten seconds, I could knock them out. As if...Scion damnit, fuck banks!'

    Fuck banks, indeed. Above every single other reason, there was one major motivation behind Amy's hatred of banks. Something she knew occurred somewhat often but never expected to happen while she was IN one. 'I mean, come the fuck on! Right now, though! What are the fucking odds?'

    Banks were huge targets for villains. It was a fact. A fact she fucking hated.

    As Amy lowered herself to the ground, she eyed the almost uncountable swarm of insects that kept her and all the other hostages corralled in the lobby and noticed the unnatural way all the flying, crawling, slithering bugs were just waiting in place, making a perfect circle around the hostages. God, it was almost creepier this way. Having hundreds of thousands of bugs just in the same room as you was more terrifying than any gun. These guys were good.

    With a sigh, Amy curled in on herself and did her best to hide her face. What better hostage could someone have than Panacea? She just knew that Carol would never let her forget about it.

    Besides, she really didn't need to be a target today.


    ---------------------------------------------------
    MedHall Pharmaceuticals
    ---------------------------------------------------

    His office, like many things Maximus Anders owned, was large and ostentatious. Built on the top floor of a skyscraper with large floor to ceiling windows, it was filled with all sorts of metal sculptures and statues.

    Some people would find that odd. After all, Max Anders didn't seem the type to be too into art.

    Metal seemed to be a motif for Mr. Anders. At least in design. Metal floor, metal ceiling, metal bookcases, metal chairs and last but certainly not least, a large, ornate and most of all, imposing, metal and glass desk.

    Everything in the room screamed wealth, power and influence. If no one stopped him, Greg might have simply poked around it for hours. That is, if his attention wasn't being drawn by the rather courteous verbal battle taking place in front of him.

    "Mr. Anders, while your offer does seem to have merit, you have to understand the position we're in. My client is a limited resource that is in high demand," spoke a smooth, cultured voice with a slight Spanish accent.

    "Oh, I'm well aware of that. That's why I made him the offer that I did," retorted a voice that was, while not quite as cultured, still rather eloquent.

    "...Forgive me if I'm overstepping here, but it just seems like you're trying to cheat him out of a fair deal."

    "What? He's my godson. Why would I want to cheat him? I believe that the offer I made is quite generous," Maxim said calmly, settling back into his large leather business chair.

    "If you say so..."

    Narrowing his eyes slightly, Max stared quietly at the gentleman sitting directly in front of his large ninety-inch ornate metal and glass desk. "I do say so, Mr. Calle," Max replied, his expression still an unperturbed smile.

    Quinn Calle chuckled softly, the spit curl from his silky black hair bouncing as his shoulders shook. "The thing is, Mr. Anders, I have made a business of assisting capes. And my assistance is obviously needed in this situation. Ms. Veder called me for a reason...correct?"

    Both handsome, well-dressed men slowly turned to face Susan and she immediately shrunk in on herself.

    "Umm...well," Susan mumbled, quickly focusing on straightening the jacket of her black pantsuit in an attempt to gather her thoughts. Why, oh why, were they asking her questions? Their conversation...their subtle arguing...GAH! It had just been so distracting and...'Why did they have to be so handsome? A smooth Latin lawyer who puts his life on the line helping capes or a charming CEO with a piercing stare who could have a whole secret life behind closed doors with handcuffs, black latex andwaitwhatamITHINKING? NO, NO, NO! Scion damnit, Susan! Stop reading those books!'

    As Susan slowly dragged her mind out of the gutter it was in, she scrambled to think of something to say. She had no idea this whole thing would turn out like this. She only called Mr. Quinn this morning and told him the situation because she had heard that he was one of the best cape lawyers around and she didn't want to go into business without having a good lawyer. She didn't expect him to come right over once she told him the entire situation. She most definitely didn't expect to speak to Max today. She was pretty sure she had said some rather inappropriate things yesterday. 'Oh sweet Scion, they're still looking at me! What should I say? What should I say?'

    "I...um...I didn't want...I just thought some legal advice would...be...helpful. Everything was just happening so quickly," she squeaked out.

    Mr. Calle's smile achieved a level of satisfaction that Greg honestly found rather impressive. Smug without being too smug. Impressive. Evron could learn something from this guy.

    He turned from Greg's mother and faced Max once more. "You see, Mr. Anders, Ms. Veder just needed some legal advice."

    Greg and his mother sighed almost simultaneously as they watched Max once again enter a stare-down with their newly hired lawyer. Both of them still had pleasant smiles on their faces but Greg could almost sense the distaste running between them. Then again, they were two successful men. Massive egos were in play.

    "Let's be clear on one thing, Mr. Anders. Mr. Veder here," Quinn paused, glancing over at Greg on his left, "is a limited resource that is in high demand in today's society. Not only is he a rather powerful cape, he's unmasked. The public would flock to him."

    Max kept his eyes on Quinn, his demeanor still unruffled. "I do understand your point. However, he's also rather young. What you're asking for seems rather exorbitant given the fact that he's only been out for one night. The public has no idea who he is."

    Mr. Calle's smile became positively devious as Max spoke and for a second Max wondered what the man was thinking. He didn't have to wonder much longer.

    "You obviously haven't been on the Parahumans Online forum, Mr. Anders. People from New York down to California are clamoring to find out about the cape who defeated Lung. He's almost as popular as that mysterious Hyperion fellow. Youth. Power. Beauty. Mr. Veder has those in spades. He's a precious resource, Mr. Anders. Your company makes more than drugs. You produce soft drinks, teas, soaps, deodorant, and a few other items. In a year or two, Superior will be a household name all over America. Greg could go to other companies, bigger companies. I could have this boy's face on a Nike ad by Monday. You want his name backing your company? Make my client a better offer."

    Quinn stopped speaking and the room was silent once again. Although, this time it wasn't due to a staring contest between the two men in suits.

    In the tense silence that followed, Greg and his mom shared a few looks and more than a few gestures. Greg wasn't sure what half of them meant but he was pretty sure his mom wanted him to say something.

    Clearing his throat, Greg leaned forward, freeing himself from the plush lining of the white guest chair. "Uhh...Mr. Calle?"

    "Yes, Greg?"

    Greg sat up straight and flashed an awkward smile at his godfather and lawyer. Simply being in the same room as these two was stressful. The way they spoke, the way they moved, even their expressions...these guys were just so...rich. Hell, those suits were probably more expensive than his mom's car by themselves. Greg swallowed slowly as he took in their appearances once again.

    Despite their differing racial backgrounds, the two men were eerily similar. They both had meticulously styled hair, expensive custom suits (Quinn wore tan, Max wore black), and those scary smiles...Max's was hungry, shark-like, even while Quinn's was patient, sneaky, somewhat like a snake.

    Huh...that actually fit. The business shark and the snake-like lawyer.
    Right now, Greg just felt so...out of his league. Glancing over at his mom, he noticed her red face as she continued to stare at the two men. 'She probably feels out of her league too.'

    Greg glanced back at the two men, lingering once more on their well-groomed hair and expensive custom suits. He felt a tinge of heat in his cheeks, noticing that he looked a bit ridiculous in his simple white shirt, black tie, slacks and sneakers. Oh, and how could he forget, his fucking Mohawk.

    "Mr. Calle, I don't think...see, me and...My mother and I never actually heard any offer. You just looked at a piece of paper and said 'No deal,'" Greg answered.

    A look of faint surprise appeared on both Mr. Calle's and Max's face as well. "Ah...," Quinn finally responded after a few moments of silence. "Isn't this embarrassing?"

    Greg cocked his head slightly in confusion. 'Don't tell me that you two were enjoying yourselves so much you forgot we were here.'

    "The thing is, when you've been a lawyer as long as I have, you get used to clients letting you do the talking. I sincerely apologize for that, Mr. Veder, Ms. Veder," he responded, his charming smile eliciting a slight shudder from his mother.

    Quinn reached into his jacket pocket and brought out a small folded slip of white paper, roughly twice the size of a post-it note.
    "I don't know what you were expecting, but this is his first offer," he continued, offering the note to Greg.

    He took the note from Mr. Calle and opened it slowly, his mother reading over his shoulder.

    Greg's eyes widened as soon as they fell on the paper.

    The note fell from his fingers shortly before his mother collapsed into her seat, clutching her chest.

    "...a million dollar a year contract...for 5 years?", asked Greg, breathing heavily. "That sounds amazing!"

    "Except it's not," interrupted Calle. "That's nothing. Chump change...athletes get more than that. You don't understand your value, Greg but I think your godfather does." Turning back to Max, he uncrossed his legs and stood up, looming over the seated CEO with his full height of six feet, two inches. "My final offer...five million dollars a year for five years plus the little bonus you mentioned earlier. That's the deal, Mr. Anders. It's up to you to take it."

    Max raised one eyebrow quizzically but his gray eyes never left Quinn's hazel ones. "...And if I don't?"

    Quinn turned to give Greg and his mother a quick glance before returning to Max. "Then someone else will. I'm sure Apple wouldn't mind taking him off your hands."

    Max stood up quickly, placing his hands on his desk and leaning forward. He wasn't quite as tall as Quinn but there wasn't much difference. He stared directly at his opponent, a bright, beaming smile on his face that just screamed insincerity. "Mr. Calle, I like you. I really do. You do good work. If it wasn't for the fact that you exclusively handled parahumans, you'd be my personal lawyer. Since you work for my godson, I'll accept your deal."

    "Wonderful. Have your people send the contract to my office."

    "I'll have that done by tomorrow."

    "Perfect."

    The two shook on it, still flashing each other those wide, predatory grins.

    Greg and his mother stood up to join them. His mother stepped towards Mr. Calle, shaking his hand firmly. "Susan, thank you for this opportunity. I'll make sure to represent your son to the best of my ability. And don't worry about today...I'm waiving the fee."

    "Thank you, Mr. Calle. You have no idea how much this means to me."

    While his mother continued to thank his lawyer, Greg was busy talking to his godfather who was now his new boss, as well.

    "Sorry about this, Uncle Max. I didn't know Quinn was gonna be like that. I thought he was just gonna be there to...I dunno...give advice."

    Max chuckled softly. "No problem. Honestly, I'm glad you brought him. He has skill and he's a lawyer. Besides, he's more invested in this than you are. The more money you have...the more you can pay him with. Isn't that right, Calle?"

    Quinn sighed, still smiling. "I do have to make money, after all. Besides, I'm sure the Veders understand." Glancing at Greg, he nodded. "You do understand, don't you?"

    Greg shrugged. "I...don't really care. I need a lawyer and you're the best cape lawyer on the East Coast so...yeah. It'd make no sense for you not to want money."

    Quinn's eyes flicked to Susan. "Ms. Veder?"

    She flashed him a smile. "If Greg's fine with it, I'm fine with it."

    "Well, if everything's settled, then there's only one thing left to do," Max began.

    Greg cocked his head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

    His mother was curious as well. "Yeah, Max, what do you mean?"

    Max only smiled at them. Slowly reaching into his jacket pocket, Max brought out an angular white and silver device and held it out. "This is for you, Greg."

    Taking hold of the device, Greg looked it over carefully, noting the crown logo on the back. "Is this...is this a new phone? You're giving me a new phone? Thanks, Uncle Max."

    "It's more than a new phone. I purchased this from Toybox," he began, folding his hands together. "It's a phone designed to supplement your heroing. It's connected to a little twenty-four hour group that I set up. Constantly scanning police radio and alerting you in case of an emergency. Determining the severity of the situation and giving you a rating for it, navigation to guide you to the location of said situation and a direct line to the PRT Emergency Line. You'll never have to worry about having a signal and it's rather durable as well."

    An odd look passed over Greg's face and he glanced down at the shiny device in his hands. "Durable...How durable?"

    Max's smile dissapeared and was replaced with a blank expression. "...Please don't test it, Greg. It's supposed to be able to take multiple blows from a sledgehammer. I don't think it would survive you actively trying to destroy it."

    Greg nodded. "Fair enough."

    "Anyway, it's solar powered, water-proof, temperature resistant and ,theoretically, should function anywhere on Earth. Regardless, I still wante-" Max paused as a loud and rather high-pitched noise suddenly interrupted him.

    "bip-bib-bip-bib-bip-bib-bip-bib-bip-bib-bip-bib-bip-bib-bip-bib-bip"

    The phone in Greg's hands made that noise as it turned on automatically, the logo of a crown appearing on the screen. A few seconds later, text appeared on the screen.


    Code P10-90 at Brockton Bay Central Bank.
    Robbery in Progress.

    Parahuman Suspects Likely.

    PRT notified.    ​
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    ​
    ​
    "Holy...," Greg paused and turned to the three other people in the office room. "There's a robbery at Brockton Bay Central. There might be some capes there."

    "...Do you want to go?", asked Susan.

    "Yes, why not? Get yourself out there. Let the people know you. Show them what Superior's all about," Max replied.

    "But...look at me! I'm not dressed to fight!," Greg shouted.

    Quinn nodded, rubbing his goatee. "True. Maybe you should sit this one out."

    Susan took his hand. "It's okay if you don't want to go, sweetie...not that I don't want you to go. If you want to go, you can go...follow your dreams."

    Greg scrunched up his face in confusion and gave his mother a questioning stare.

    "What do you want from me? How many mothers do you think wants their son running into danger? Huh? Don't give me that look. I'm doing my best here trying to deal with all of this," she replied with a huff.

    Greg shrugged, trying not to laugh at the pout on his mother's face. "Fair enough. I'm not sure I want to fight crime like this though. I'd look kind of dumb."

    Max chuckled at Greg's statement, a derisive, mocking chuckle that caused everyone to turn and look at him. "Oh...excuse me. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you. I just can't believe what I'm hearing."

    "What do you mean?", Greg asked, crossing his arms.

    Max leaned forward, his nose almost touching his steepled fingers. "You don't want to stop a bank robbery...because you're worried you'll look stupid in a dress shirt and tie?"

    "NO! I just mean...heroes have costumes. Lung burnt my costume off. I can't fight crime without a costume. I'll look ridiculous. It'll be embarrassing," he replied, shaking his head.

    Max nodded in understanding. "Ah...I get it now. You're not scared of the criminals, you're scared of them making fun of you. That makes perfect sense."

    Greg felt his cheeks heating up and he spluttered, anger causing him to stumble over his words. "N-n-no! That's not...not it! T-that's not it at all!"

    A tilt of the head and a single eye raise was Max's only response.

    "It's not like that!", Greg shouted.

    "Then why are you scared?"

    "I'm not!"

    Max's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh...you're not? Then why don't you want to go?"

    "I do!"

    Without Max seeming to move a muscle, a single pane on the wall-to-ceiling window opened up and wind whipped into the office, surprising Greg slightly and shocking both Susan and Mr. Calle, although he hid his reaction much better. Max simply raised an eyebrow. "Then hurry up. The bank's barely ten miles away."

    Greg turned to face Max, his eyes red, and growled.

    Max yawned. "Was that supposed to scare me?"

    Greg dropped the phone on his godfather's desk and turned away.

    Without saying a single word, he jumped from the top floor.

    The office was silent as the window returned to it's former position.

    "Really, Max?", Susan said, finally. "I mean, really?"

    Quinn shook his head. "I agree. I doubt that was necessary."

    Rolling his eyes, Max settled even further into his plush desk chair and pulled out a cigar, biting it harshly.

    "It worked, didn't it?"


    -----------------------------------------------------------


    By the time Greg landed on the closest roof, his clip-on tie had been ripped off by the wind.

    His blonde Mohawk blew in the wind as he moved like a man possessed, avoiding obstacles with ease. Leaping across the skyline of Brockton Bay, he cleared two or three roofs at a time, landing almost perfectly with each bound.

    Despite his graceful movements, his chest was filled with a faint heat that he recognized as rage and his eyes were a bright red hue, a sure sign of his anger.

    'Does he think I'm stupid?' Greg thought to himself, jumping over a smokestack without even paying attention. 'I know he was playing me. He knew that I knew but he still did it! Who does he think he is?'

    He ignored the faint voice inside him that said "The guy paying you five million dollars."

    Greg shook his head, trying to clear his head. He couldn't afford to be occupied right now.

    There was a bank robbery. People were in danger. They needed him.

    Flipping off a rooftop, he deftly landed on the mostly empty sidewalk below and sped off, shocking a homeless man into dropping his hat full of coins.

    "Sorry, old man!" Greg called out behind him, not looking back. He doubted the guy heard him, anyway. At this speed, he probably only saw a blur.

    Speed. That reminded him...He had to move it!

    A minute after he had started running, his sneakers had already started breaking apart.

    Two minutes later, he was moving as fast as a race car and completely barefoot.

    'The bank!' The Brockton Bay Central Bank was in front of him. Well, it was about a mile and a half away but that was nothing at his speed. Slowing down, Greg began to approach the bank at a pace much closer to the speed limit as he scoped out the situation.

    No capes were outside yet but there were plenty of cops. So he was the first hero here, huh. Maybe he should stop? Talk to the police. See what's going on. He contemplated it for an instant before changing his mind.

    'Villains are inside. People could be hurt.' With that in mind, Greg moved without thinking.

    He leapt.

    As he crashed through the window of Brockton Bay Central, the combination of his velocity and the impact of his body on glass completely ripped his white dress shirt apart, exposing his rather sculpted upper body.

    Greg landed on the marble floor of the bank with bent knees, spider-web cracks spreading from the point of impact.

    "Stop, criminals! Or...huh?"

    Almost immediately, Greg froze as he took in the sight in front of him.

    Apparently, he was wrong. He wasn't the first hero here.

    Bug Girl was here...and so was her team...except the pretty blonde...oh, and they brought their giant monster dog-things. Were they bigger? They looked kinda bigger.

    Greg's eyes widened in surprise and he stepped forward. "Hey, guys! You're here! Did you already catch the bad guys?"

    Bug Girl didn't say anything. In fact, she took a step back. Make that several steps.
    Her team didn't move a muscle. All of them just stared at Greg as if he had a second head.

    "Guys, something up?"

    No words.

    Something was off here, but Greg wasn't sure what. He looked around and noticed something kinda weird.

    A stack of several canvas bags were piled behind Grue. 'Okay, they confiscated the money.'

    There was a massive swarm of insects in the shape of a circle in the center of the bank. 'Bug Girl brought her bugs, of course. Nothing weird there.'

    Inside it was a large group of people, dozens probably, huddled on the floor and staring at him with weird looks on their faces. 'Maybe one of the bank robbers is in that crowd.'

    One frizzy haired brunette girl was the odd one out, standing instead of crouching like everyone else. For some reason, she seemed oddly familiar.

    'Oh, there's the blonde girl...Tattletale.' Tattletale was standing away from the group, just outside of the circle of bugs. She seemed to be smiling at him, the same smile his mother always had on her face when she was trying not to scream in frustration. For some odd reason, she had a gun in her hand...and was aiming it at the frizzy-haired girl...who was looking more and more familiar.

    '...holy hell, that's Panacea...but why does Tattletale have a gun on Panacea? She's a hero...that seems.....weird.'

    For the second time since he entered the bank, Greg froze. This time, because he remembered something. Something Assault had mentioned on Monday night.

    'Those aren't heroes, kid. They're a bunch of young small-time villains called The Undersiders.....Ow, Puppy!'

    'Oh, fuck me sideways.'

    Greg sighed slowly, his face drooping. "...you guys are the bad guys, aren't you?"

    As he said that, Bitch seemed to come back to life, as she glanced between her dogs and him.

    Tattletale's mouth dropped open and she screamed. "No!!!"

    She was too late.

    "KILL!," Bitch shouted, her voice harsh and guttural.

    Her dogs ran at Greg, the three of them attacking him at once.

    For an instant, Greg felt the icy grip of fear in his chest, locking up his muscles and shocking him into inaction...then it was gone.

    His muscles tensed and his vision slowed down as Zirin rushed through his entire body in preparation for a fight. This was it. This was what he had powers for! Fights like these! He had a pleasant feeling that he was going to enjoy this.

    Leaping into the air to meet the first dog beast, Greg cocked his fist back to deliver a concrete-shattering strike.

    Then it all went to shit.

    -----------------------------------------

    If there was someone in this world that Amy could say she personally hated, it would be Tattletale, that bitch.

    It wasn't enough to single her out as a hero, announcing her identity to the rest of the bank. Those idiots even had the nerve to glare at her like it was her fault the bank was being robbed or that she couldn't save them. What did they want from her? Never mind that she had probably cured at least one of their relatives of cancer. No, she had to kick bad guy butt like Vicky.

    Hell to the no! She was strictly touch based and support only. She couldn't even heal herself. What was she actually going to do against a whole team of villains? Bleed all over them? Pfft..fucking idiots.

    Anyway, back to the bitch. Tattletale had then noticed the phone in her pocket and figured out she had called for help. Apparently, the bitch was actually psychic as she knew she had texted her sister. And if that wasn't enough, she knew her secrets...all three of them.

    Amy hated Tattletale more than she thought possible. She had even considered running up to her and just giving her a heart attack with a single touch. They wouldn't kill her but she didn't. Instead, she sat there while Tattletale taunted her by hinting at her deepest, darkest secrets in public. She couldn't do anything and it infuriated her.

    That was why, when the shirtless cape crashed through the bank window, she had relished the fearful look on Tattletale's face. Amy recognized the cape. Who wouldn't? The Mohawk on that boyish face was rather distinctive. The powerful not-cape who took down Lung. By the look of terror on Tattletale's face, she had met him as well.

    It had been enough to put a smile on Amy's face. That smile only increased when Superior had addressed the Undersiders as friends.

    "Hey, guys! You're here! Did you already catch the bad guys?"

    That was her first clue that something delightful was going to happen.
    And not delightful in the good way, like lollipops and rainbows. Delightful in the best way, like revenge and pain.

    Her second clue that things were about to go down was the way their new member, the one controlling the bugs, had started backing away.

    The third and final clue was the anguished look on Tattletale's face just before she screamed. "No!"

    "Kill!!!," screamed Hellhound.

    All three of her monsters rushed Superior at once. One rushed from the front while two attacked from the sides.

    He jumped at the one attacking from the front, a fist pulled back. I knew how much strength was in his muscles. This would be over quickly.

    That's when things went wrong.

    Superior suddenly spasmed violently, his arm cracking from the rapid, uncontrolled movement, and a look of pain crossed his face.

    Panacea glanced at Regent and noticed him holding a hand out. 'Shit...'

    The beast closest to him caught him in his mouth and closed it's massive jaws around his arm.

    The scream that came from Superior was more rage than pain. His screams only increased when another creature bit down on his other arm. The third tore into his leg. All three of the monstrosities tugged at him, treating his body like a chew tow.

    The sight and sound of muscles being ripped apart as the cape screamed was too much for most of the civilians. A few of them vomited. It didn't bother her, though. Fortunately for her...or unfortunately, depending on your line of thought, Panacea had seen much, much, much worse.

    "Grue! Portal! How long?"

    Panacea turned to look at Tattletale as she screamed at Grue, a mild note of panic in her tone.

    "At least another ten minutes," responded Grue, his tone deep and powerful. "I had to carry all of us and the dogs. That took a lot out of me. We're going to have to run for it."

    "SHIT!" "Fuck!" Both Tattletale and the bug girl cursed at the same time.

    'Come on, Vicky. Where are you? Get here qui-' Amy's thought pattern was suddenly cut off as Regent suddenly spoke up.

    "Tats, he's resisting!"

    "He's what?!!" the girl shrieked.

    "It's like he can fight me off!" the scepter-wielding boy responded. "I can't hold him much longer."

    The bug girl suddenly gasped in sudden shock. "Guys, the Wards are here!"

    "WHAT!!!!" Tattletale's scream was more a statement than a question. "Scion fucking damn it! How many?"

    "All of them, except Shadow Stalker."

    "Tattletale! You said we'd be fine!!!" Grue screamed, his tone ringing with barely controlled panic.

    "I know what I said. I say a lot of things! Ninety-nine percent of the time, I'm right, okay!!!" Tattletale kneaded her temples roughly, almost as if she thought she could massage her brain into a breakthrough. "How much time do we have till he breaks out?"

    Regent flinched. "...no time."

    Amy glanced back at the monsters. The three of them were huddled around the boy, their teeth ripping and tearing his skin. She couldn't really understand the Undersiders' fear. Nothing seemed to have changed.

    "RAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

    With a thunderous slam, the beasts were sent flying through the walls with a flash of red light.

    'Oh my god! Oh my God! Oh my God!' He stood up slowly and as she caught sight of him, she felt something that she could only describe as her sister's fear aura on steroids. Now she could understand the Undersiders' fear. She could definitely understand it.

    Amy found herself backing up and found that she wasn't alone in her fear. Several people around her were little more than gibbering wrecks and a few more were throwing up, possibly the same ones as before.

    Part of his eye was missing, while the other was little more than a pit of red fire. Blood flowed freely down his face and chest while lacerations and bite marks all over his body clearly showed bone. His right pant leg was little more than tatters, showing how deeply one of the dog beasts had damaged his thigh with it's jaws.

    Superior slowly turned his head to face the Undersiders. Bitch in particular, and his red eye seemed to flash. With a roar, he burst into a run, destroying tiles beneath him with his powerful strides.

    Bitch and Grue, the two members of the Undersiders who seemed to be mostly unaffected by his Master effect, charged at the same time he moved. Grue stretched out a hand and shadowy tentacles burst from the sleeves of his long coat. Bitch ran at Superior, swinging at him with the massive growths on her arms.

    Grue's tentacles wrapped around his arms, surprising the raging cape for an instant and giving Bitch the chance to get in close and punch him in the face, sending him skidding back and ruining the bank floor even more.

    With another roar, he rushed forward again mindlessly. This time, bugs swarmed him, blinding him. Their stinging and biting only served to enrage him even more. He barreled through the wall of bugs in time for Grue's tentacles to reach him again.

    Amy shuddered as she witnessed Superior's mouth open in a vicious, brutal grin and she suddenly realized that behind that rage, there was still a cunning mind. Superior side-stepped Grue's tendrils and pulled on them with all his force. The villain was sent hurtling towards Superior's waiting fist at the speed of a car.

    Amy almost closed her eyes in expectation of the gruesome death that was bound to happen. She was a health professional, not a sadist. Just because she was used to injury and death didn't mean she liked to see it happen.

    Superior's fist rocketed forward but thankfully for the sake of Grue's life, more tendrils emerged from his coat and wrapped themselves around his body, creating some sort of ebony shield.

    As Superior's fist slammed into his shield, the black shield was sent rocketing upwards into the ceiling before bouncing back down and Grue emerged from it, dizzy but not too much worse for wear. Several tendrils coiled from his jacket and he used them as legs while hanging over ten feet in the air. Even more shadowy limbs wrapped around Tattletale, Regent and the bug girl, eliciting several girlish shrieks of surprise and a joke about tentacles that shouldn't be repeated, all of the above just from Regent.

    "That's it. We're leaving!!!" Grue screamed.

    "What about Bitch?" shouted the bug girl.

    Bitch was busy engaging Superior in hand-to-hand combat. Apparently, only having one eye caused you to lack depth perception and misjudge distances. The girl was avoiding his wild swings and hammering the battered cape with brutal strikes, aiming for his open, bleeding wounds. A quick strike to his blind side, driving her overgrown fist into his empty eye socket, jump back as he flails wildly in pain, jump forward. She slammed her knee into his damaged tibia, eliciting a loud crack and a pained roar and she followed it up with an uppercut to his broken jaw, sending the red-eyed boy sprawling. She took a quick moment to dig into his ribs with a jab. As he howled in pain, Bitch quickly dodged to the side to avoid his lunge and jabbed his side again.

    As she struck him once more in his broken ribs, she was suddenly pulled from behind by one of Grue's tendrils wrapped around her waist, eliciting a growl from the girl.

    "Shut up, Bitch!"

    Superior rushed at Grue only to be hit by dozens of tendrils that Grue sent flying with a sweep of his hand.

    These tendrils were unconnected to Grue's body and wrapped around Superior's body tightly, preventing him from gathering any leverage. The raging cape fell to the floor, roaring all the while.

    Grue scaled the walls

    "What about the money?!!"

    "Fuck the money, Regent!!! We might still have to fight the Wards!"

    "Come on!!! We risked our lives!!" Regent said, his tone more whining than pleading.

    "Fuck, fine!!! I have enough juice left for this anyway!" Grue grabbed the bags with a loose tendril and tossed them into his jacket and they dissapeared. "There! Happy now?" he asked sarcastically, exhaustion audible in his voice.

    Regent nodded imperiously, trying to joke in the stressful moment. "Very."

    Grue growled and another tendril appeared in front of him, forming an ovoid shield, to protect him and his team, most likely from gunfire.

    "Let's do this!!!"

    Looking like some kind of demented octopus, his tendrils propelled him out the doors of the bank. Amy simply stood in the same place she had been the entire fight.

    After a few moment's hesitation, the hostages ran out of the bank. Amy almost face-palmed at their shortsightedness, all of them so eager to escape the bank that they would run into a cape fight outside. Sure enough, judging by the screams outside, most of them had realized their blunder.

    On the floor, Superior had stopped struggling in the bonds that Grue had forced him into as a look of realization crossed his bloody face. With a burst of red light, he burst free from his bindings and jumped upwards.

    He glanced around, a violent grimace on his face, as if searching for someone else to fight. As he slowly realized that Amy was the only one in the bank, his eye focused on her.

    To her horror, he slowly began walking towards her.

    'What does he want? What does he want? Why me? What does...wait...wow.'

    Her horror slowly turned to fascination as she noticed the changes happening on Superior's body.

    A red aura had appeared on his wounds and before her eyes, they began to heal up quicker than she would have imagined possible. His eye grew back in mere moments, the useless bit of flesh falling out of his ocular cavity and landing on the bank floor. With every single step he took, torn muscle, damaged bone and giant lacerations all over his body righted themselves in seconds.

    By the time he had gotten within a few yards of her, she noticed that every single wound on his body had disappeared, returning him to exactly to the way he was when he first crashed through the bank window, in all his shirtless, muscled glory.

    As that last thought passed through her mind, Amy felt her cheeks heat up and she looked away from his chest and stared up into his eyes...his beautiful, once again, blue eyes. 'Bad idea, Amy. Look away, look away now!' And look away, she did. Amy decided that the floor needed to be studied.

    'This is definitely going to cost a lot to repair. Huh, is that a dollar coin? Cool. Eww...dried blood on my shoes....Oh, god. He's still just standing there.' Despite her best to ignore the shirtless teenage boy in front of her, Amy knew she couldn't do it forever. 'Might as well get it over with.' Raising her head slowly, Amy gave Superior an awkward smile and a weak wave. "Hey..."

    He returned her smile and Amy found herself wincing. 'Scion, so fucking bright. Who the hell has teeth that white? What, do you use acid as your mouthwash?...Fuck, a Brute like you? You probably could.' Amy shook her head to get those thoughts away as he began to speak.

    "Hey, Panacea, could you fill me in with what just happened?"

    "What?"

    "Yeah, I don't really remember much after those...things dog-piled me," he replied, smiling sheepishly. With one hand, he raised a single hand to pat his Mohawk down.

    Amy couldn't help herself and she let out a giggle. A very girlish giggle. 'What the hell? I don't giggle like that. I'm not Vicky. Speaking of Vicky, where is-'

    As if on cue, a loud scream interrupted Amy's train of thought.

    "GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!!!"

    The blood drained from Amy's face as soon as she heard that familiar scream. Before she could even move, the boy in front of her was suddenly hit by a golden comet moving at about a fourth the speed of sound, leaving her the only occupant in Brockton Bay Central Bank.

    Amy sighed.

    '...Damnit, Vicky.'
     
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    • Great story so far. I have to admit, it is refreshing to see a story with such a potential Mary Sue get nerfed, not by reducing his power, but by situational effects. Too many other stories would go "Oh, stuck in close quarters in a bank? Level it, somehow the civilians will live!" while yours is more logical. I like how he seems to be more human (and isnt that ironic) than most other OP-fics. Nice job, I'll be following this closely.
     
    T3HD4RK1SC0M1NG said:
    Great story so far. I have to admit, it is refreshing to see a story with such a potential Mary Sue get nerfed, not by reducing his power, but by situational effects. Too many other stories would go "Oh, stuck in close quarters in a bank? Level it, somehow the civilians will live!" while yours is more logical. I like how he seems to be more human (and isnt that ironic) than most other OP-fics. Nice job, I'll be following this closely.
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    Eh, Greg's blasts aren't on Purity's level. He doesn't know how to do kinetic or explosive yet. His are just piercing. Besides, his mindset is physical. He loves to get in close and fight.

    I really hate Mary Sues. Every character I write has to go through several Sue tests. Evron went through the same.
     
    T3HD4RK1SC0M1NG said:
    Great story so far. I have to admit, it is refreshing to see a story with such a potential Mary Sue get nerfed, not by reducing his power, but by situational effects. Too many other stories would go "Oh, stuck in close quarters in a bank? Level it, somehow the civilians will live!" while yours is more logical. I like how he seems to be more human (and isnt that ironic) than most other OP-fics. Nice job, I'll be following this closely.
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    If you're on SB, I'd love if you could do a read-over before I post to tell me what I should change in the story to help it flow.
     
    ZFighter18 said:
    Eh, Greg's blasts aren't on Purity's level. He doesn't know how to do kinetic or explosive yet. His are just piercing. Besides, his mindset is physical. He loves to get in close and fight.

    I really hate Mary Sues. Every character I write has to go through several Sue tests. Evron went through the same.
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    Fine, POTENTIAL for Mary Sue-levels of power.

    And honestly, if Evron can go toe-to-toe with the Simurgh while almost dead and drained of power, along with possessing a LITERAL god inside him providing him power, I'd hate to see your idea of a Mary Sue... Also I sometimes like Mary Sue characters, depending on the setting. Some stories are just made for OP characters (For example: Escalation: The Story) and others are not. This one seems to be a happy medium, with Evron being definitely overpowered yet not actually using that power in a directly influential way. Greg is being trained by him, instead of Evron just going up to Scion and tearing him a new one, and that makes it one of the extremely rare fics with what I see as a Mary Sue but the story isn't actually too influenced by said Sue.

    Also I have an account on SB, but I haven't used it in well over two years, so I dont remember the password, sorry.
     
    T3HD4RK1SC0M1NG said:
    Fine, POTENTIAL for Mary Sue-levels of power.

    And honestly, if Evron can go toe-to-toe with the Simurgh while almost dead and drained of power, along with possessing a LITERAL god inside him providing him power, I'd hate to see your idea of a Mary Sue... Also I sometimes like Mary Sue characters, depending on the setting. Some stories are just made for OP characters (For example: Escalation: The Story) and others are not. This one seems to be a happy medium, with Evron being definitely overpowered yet not actually using that power in a directly influential way. Greg is being trained by him, instead of Evron just going up to Scion and tearing him a new one, and that makes it one of the extremely rare fics with what I see as a Mary Sue but the story isn't actually too influenced by said Sue.

    Also I have an account on SB, but I haven't used it in well over two years, so I dont remember the password, sorry.
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    What I meant to say was that this Evron is literally the EoS Evron. Greg in Evron's world would be a low-average cape, barely above stopping street crime. Greg would have kicked Evron's ass in his first book.

    It wasn't really a good showing against the Simurgh. The Simurgh wasn't really in danger of dying. She was being hurt, yes. But none of the techniques Evron was using would have pierced her core or penetrated close to it. He's just not skilled in dimensional fuckery like that


    Besides, having Nexus and not being from the Wormverse, the Simurgh can't really plan for him so she wasn't as effective.

    Anyway, Ev's used to fighting giant monsters and eldritch space horrors. He has techniques designed to fight them in the first place.

    Nexus doesn't actually give Greg power. He views life through Ev's eyes and gives Evron bigger fights and tougher enemies so that he can enjoy the action. The power is all Ev's. He earned it. Nexus is like an old, rich but miserly acquaintance you don't like and that causes a lot of trouble for you but you let live in your house because you know when he dies, you're getting all his money.
     
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    ZFighter18 said:
    What I meant to say was that this Evron is literally the EoS Evron. Greg in Evron's world would be a low-average cape, barely above stopping street crime. Greg would have kicked Evron's ass in his first book.

    It wasn't really a good showing against the Simurgh. The Simurgh wasn't really in danger of dying. She was being hurt, yes. But none of the techniques Evron was using would have pierced her core or penetrated close to it. He's just not skilled in dimensional fuckery like that


    Besides, having Nexus and not being from the Wormverse, the Simurgh can't really plan for him so she wasn't as effective.

    Anyway, Ev's used to fighting giant monsters and eldritch space horrors. He has techniques designed to fight them in the first place.

    Nexus doesn't actually give Greg power. He views life through Ev's eyes and gives Evron bigger fights and tougher enemies so that he can enjoy the action. The power is all Ev's. He earned it. Nexus is like an old, rich but miserly acquaintance you don't like and that causes a lot of trouble for you but you let live in your house because you know when he dies, you're getting all his money.
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    Ok, yeah, I get what you mean now :p
     
    Complications 2.7B
  • Threadmarks
    • Complications 2.7B



    Greg was no stranger to hard hits. He really wasn't. He was a Brute, after all. He was designed to take hits. Or, so he thought.

    His training with Evron had actually taught him a few things about taking hits...and fighting, in general.

    Case in point, Evron had instilled in Greg a firm respect for evasive actions... albeit through many, many, many surprise attacks. He had done this to teach Greg what he felt was the most important lesson about fighting.

    Pay attention to any and every opponent.

    Or in the Boss's words, 'Look out or you're gonna die!'

    This most important of lessons was one Greg usually paid close attention to. It had served him well against Lung...for the most part and he believed that in any future fight, he would utilize it to the best of his ability.

    But Greg wasn't perfect. He forgot things and he made mistakes. After all, he was only human...metaphorically speaking, of course.

    Who could blame him, really? There was a pretty girl in front of him, the bad guys weren't there...anymore, at least, and he was confused as to exactly what had happened. He didn't remember anything after getting attacked, after all.

    So, he asked her a question and then they talked a little bit and he made her laugh. The whole thing wasn't completely his fault. There were extenuating circumstances involved in the situation. Panacea's shirt was ripped and her bra was showing. I mean, he wasn't looking but...that had served as a tiny little bit of a distraction as well.

    Regardless, how was he even supposed to know what was going to happen next?

    He wasn't a psychic. Although, maybe if he had been paying more attention to his senses, he would have noticed an odd whistling noise that was associated with high speed objects flying through the air. Maybe he would have heard a furious scream from a bit farther away.

    Maybe...but that was then.

    This was now.

    "GET AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"

    Now could best be described as a blonde bombshell body-checking him at over two hundred miles an hour.

    Glory Girl's shoulder struck him center mass, cracking at least two of his ribs and sending him flying out of the bank.

    Luckily for him, he had flown through a rather large hole in the wall instead of crashing through the steel and marble structure of Brockton Bay Central.

    Unluckily, Glory Girl had flown through that same hole and caught up to him in an instant.

    The instant before her fist made contact, Greg mentally cursed the fact that he couldn't fly.

    With a shrill roar, she let her fist fly and struck him in the face, creating a loud and audible crack.

    Greg screamed as several teeth in his mouth were forcefully removed with the force of that blow and he was sent flying back even further.
    After nearly five seconds of continuous screaming, he forced his mouth closed and choked down his screams.

    It hurt, yes, but then again Lung hit harder.

    Still, getting hit in midair when you couldn't fly was rather different than fighting on the ground. For one, it was much harder to dodge.

    It was also nearly impossible to control how you would land when you inevitably took a hit.

    He had flown pretty far from the Bank, propelled a good distance by Glory Girl, and was deeper Downtown, most likely the East Side. As Greg began to fall to the ground, he could only thank Scion that there weren't too many civilians around.

    There was, for some reason, an empty hot dog cart.

    With a screech of crushed metal and the exploding hiss of boiling water, a small crater formed in the pavement from the powerful impact as Greg as his 160 pound body slammed into it with enough force to pulp a normal human.

    As he lay on the ground, the smell of hot dogs and the foggy steam of the boiling water dazing him slightly, Greg took a moment to process his thoughts, the Zirin in his brain involuntarily enhancing his analytical processes.

    His chest hurt (understatement), his ribs were probably cracked (understatement), he had obviously just gotten into a fight and judging from what he remembered, he probably lost (understatement), and...Oh, Glory Girl's here again.

    Greg barely rolled out of the way in time as Glory Girl's foot landed in the exact place where he had previously been, cracking the asphalt even more.

    Getting to his feet in less than a second, he faced the enraged Glory Girl with a closed-mouth smile on his face.

    She stood in front of him like an enraged goddess, back-length blonde hair flowing in the wind. Her white-and-gold costume was spotless and she stood with all the confidence, or arrogance, of one who had nothing to fear.

    Greg recognized that stance. He had seen it on Evron many times and most recently, he had seen it every time he looked in the mirror. 'She wants a fight, she's gonna get a fight.'

    "Give up now and I won't break you," she said through her gritted teeth.

    Greg's smile only increased at her words. 'That was such an obvious lie.'

    He laughed at her, his derisive tone taken directly from his Uncle Max, perfectly designed to rile her up.

    Glory Girl clenched her fists in anger, her face turning red as Greg continued to laugh.

    Taking a step forward, she decided to shout her previous statement as if her increased volume would change his mind.

    "I said, Give up now or I'll break you!", she repeated, her cape fluttering behind her.

    Greg stopped his mocking laughter and simply stared at the young heroine with a scornful smile before changing his minf.

    His smile then turned into a wide grin as he flashed his bloody, broken teeth at her.

    "You hit like a bitch."

    A stunned look crossed Victoria Dallon's face for a single second. A second was all Greg needed.

    He shot towards her at over a hundred miles an hour. Faster than she expected. Faster than she could react to.

    He wasn't going to waste this.

    His fists lashed out with as much force as he could muster in his condition. The One-two Combo...a classic. A quick left to her face and a powerful strike to her chest that sent her flying back. Her body skidded on the pavement, skipping like a stone until her backwards motion was quickly halted as she found herself embedded

    Ironically, the first time he had used this move was against a blonde as well. Albeit, nowhere near as powerful, but still. Deja vu.

    Glory Girl peeled herself from the outline she had left on the wall and stumbled dizzily for a few moments. Her hair was a mess, her clothes were dusty and she looked like someone had told her to scrub her pores with a dirt-covered Brillo pad. She took a moment to before glaring murderously at Greg who stood over a hundred feet away, right next to the crumpled hot dog cart.

    A devious thought crossed Greg's mind as an even more devious smile appeared on his face. See, Greg had been somewhat obnoxious before he had met Ev. Frankly, he was still obnoxious now, he just hadn't had any opportunities to express himself.

    He wasn't just a motormouth for no reason. Greg loved to use his mouth for a good cause. That is, to annoy people. People who were jerks to him, anyway. Right now, Glory Girl was at the top of that list.

    "Hey, Glory Girl! You hit me, I hit you! We're even stevens now, right?", he yelled at the top of his lungs.

    Glory Girl didn't move a muscle. She didn't say a word.

    'Wait for it...Wait for it....Wait...for....'

    Glory Girl screamed shrilly before she launched herself at him at top speed.

    To Greg, she was moving much slower, his blue eyes quickly flashing to a bloody scarlet as a jolt of energy rushed though his veins.

    'This is gonna be good (understatement).'
    ​
     
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