Log entry 12a Supplemental 12.11.10 ----------------------------------------------
Our entry into the Rig was anticlimactic at best. The rooms turned out to be a sort of cafeteria area for the Troopers and Protectorate mixed with several conference room setups that had their walls recessed to make it a larger area. They'd removed most of the folding tables and stacked the extra chairs, but it made Winslow of all places look newer in comparison.
A red suited figure –Assault I think– stepped forward to welcome us. "Pay no attention to the scuff marks and dingy paint, this was a working oil rig for years before the Protectorate gained its use. Come forth young … people and partake of pizza!" His voice skipped a beat on seeing Pestilence up close.
Point for Madison.
A blue clad female figure with circuits turned away from opening pizza boxes to shove him aside. "And don't mind Assault, he just has to live up to his name sometimes." She set down a stack of paper plates to step forward and offer her hand. "Battery."
"Keptain."
"Gingembre."
"Shathow Thocker." First slice already in hand, talking around a trail of cheese.
"Pestilence!" Madison made a showy stance like out of some bad anime, then shifted from a mass of insects to a human girl wearing a green themed suit like my own. "Have to play it as Hume form so I don't gross out the pizza eaters." She smiled as Gingembre moved past her with an appreciative meow sound toward –yep– sardines.
Point for Emma.
I'm not sure if Sophia deserved a point for managing to ghost past Battery to snag both plate and slice in one move, let alone wolf half of it down, but then I wasn't raised by wolves.
"Decorum, ladies. Keep a hand free to shake. Or wipe as needs be."
Murmured responses told the tale.
There were other capes nearby, moving into the room but giving us space for a time. Miss Militia, Velocity in a corner thumb typing into a tablet, Triumph in his lion themed suit, Dauntless passed through with someone in a bird themed suit on their way out.
"Yeah, we have a patrol group heading out to cover things while we have this little meet and greet." Battery noted.
"Did you get voluntold to be our handler?" Sophia asked point blank.
Ah, there is a point for sure.
Blushing a little. "Well, it was either me or Triumph being closest in age. Or maybe pull in Aegis of the Wards. They should be here any minute, all but Clockblocker and Browbeat who are finishing a morning patrol. Vista will be along as soon as they reach the downtown HQ and then the three of them can be here in a jiffy."
I frown a little. "How so?"
She confided clearly. "We don't exactly advertise it, but Vista in one of Dragon's transports can cross the city in less than a minute."
"Ah, spatial compression. That must be convenient." I took a paper plate and found a slice of Buffalo pizza to take a bite. The chicken was nicely done and the spicy sauce was proof it came from one of the better Pizza places in town.
Treads from a heavily armored form coming into the room showed that Armsmaster had arrived. I was inwardly trying not to fangirl, aside from Alexandria he had been my favorite while growing up. Standing taller I realized I was looking down slightly as he approached.
"Keptain. I appreciate your promptness. We have a number of activities scheduled to avoid an overly tedious power testing scenario. Food, games, people of your age group to mingle." His delivery showed he was reading from a script.
"I can't promise to stay all day, but I thank you for the invitation." My stressing the last word got a chuckle out of Assault who was hovering close while Battery did her best to stay between him and any one of us.
"Will Freyja be joining us?" He asked.
I paused. She hadn't mentioned contacting them, but I could not fault her checking out the 'natives' as she could. "Freyja is always with us, in the chair so to speak. She coordinates our outings. Any question addressed to her in our presence can be answered if she so chooses."
Letting her know I approved of some sharing was fine.
"Thank you Keptain." Her voice came from my right, a foot tall image of her appearing on the table looking up at us. She chose the image of her previous captain, looking like my mother in this form. I rolled my eyes.
Fairly quickly the four of us were split off, each with a minder or two. Shadow Stalker was ushered to an exterior walkway where a firing range was set up vs targets out on the water, buoys or tethered balloons.
I watched how Miss Militia eyed the bolt caster as Shadow Stalker explained some of its functions.
I found myself addressed by a PRT officer, turning to find my entourage had split aside for a blonde hefty woman with an unfortunate bowl haircut. She moved with a certain hesitance, but like nothing would stop any step she took.
"You know how to handle standing among giants I see. I've seen adult capes near faint just being around this crowd." She accepted a small plate with some carrots and dipping sauce.
I smile a little at that. "I was raised with a rough crowd. You learn to hold your ground at the barbecue or find yourself hungry with only a hot dog at the end of the steaks."
She raised an eyebrow. "That sounded almost local. I was beginning to believe the rumors you are from outer space."
My smile unfolds. "There are rough places in space as well, but yes, I was locally sourced. Freyja, however, is not from this Earth."
"This Earth." She probes, ending it with a bite of carrot.
"Of course that is subjective, since she's been here for longer than humanity has. Since before most of the dinosaurs as well. She was trapped, and I set her free." I gesture down my chest. "All this is her way of saying thank you."
Her eyes drift to the open doors and rail of the shooting area. "Shadow Stalker was a known vig." She said that last like saying 'fridge' "here in the Bay. And Pestilence is a fresh trigger or my name isn't Piggot." And that was said like 'Pidge -oh'.
"Ah, Director Piggot." I said it right just to prove I'd caught the way she had. "I was not expecting to be welcomed by the local SO." I snapped to attention and laid three fingers over my heart. "You do my crew proud for the personal welcome. We are SMAAL." I clicked the heels on my suit together.
Her eyebrows climbed further as she noted Gingembre and Pestilence had both turned and saluted the same way. Shadow Stalker was outside and chose not to be part of the moment. I could give her that as she was still giving a rapid- fire description of what she could do with the bolt caster to a rapt Miss Militia.
I wave toward Sophia. "Don't mind my security officer talking shop. She doesn't get to show off her toys to appreciative audiences."
"Security? Now you have my attention. What does that make her?" She pointed at Gingembre.
"Science officer. While she is new, Pestilence will be working closely with her in a more specific Life Sciences role… Biology, she is a natural." I confide to her behind the cup of Sprite I'd slipped back into my hand.
She must have noticed my hand that had emptied for the salute, then where the cup reappeared just as I moved to take a sip.
"Fascinating." She chinned toward the double doors as the Wards filed in. "I look forward to speaking with you further, but I think the power testing groups are ready to start."
There were a few more minutes there as the Wards grabbed a slice or two and were promised the rest of the pizza would still be there later. I had Freyja beam a half pie of Buffalo Chicken pizza onto the ship into a storage compartment for later. The Director swept through the protectorate capes with a nod and relatively kind word, but she bumped fists with Troopers as she moved out of the area.
"The Director is a mustang, an officer from the ranks." Freyja murmured.
I chuckled while mouthing "I know." Turning to find a white coated man and a Ward in powered armor, ah Gallant approaching.
'You seem amused by the Director." He offered.
Shaking my head. "She just seems more at ease with the Troopers than the capes under her command. That usually happens when you spend more time in the ranks than at the rank."
Gallant seemed puzzled by this but the man in the lab coat laughed. "Dr. Phil Wenchovsky, PTG. You have that right. She was a field operator in her time, with enough pull to take an OCS commission instead of forced retirement. Her call sign was Lady back in the day." he held up a clipboard. "We have some standard tests if you don't mind sharing. Are you willing to let us scan your tech?"
I smiled, knowing this was coming. "No. it will stay with me, thanks. But I am willing to demonstrate certain uses in front of passive scans. To anyone but me or my crew our weapons are so much inert metal and carbon." I take out my stunner and turn it carefully upside down into my other hand.
He grunts. "No visible seams. Internal lighting with no clear buttons. Keyed to fingerprint?"
I shake my head slightly. "Genetic scan." I look at Gallant. "Catch."
Tossing it to him, he nearly fumbles it. He does lose his grip as it slips between his armored fingers with no friction to speak of. I raise a finger and it stops midair, spinning slightly.
I nod to the doctorate holder. "You can pick it up from there, nothing will activate."
He reached out and handled it. "As smooth as it appears. Oils don't stick to it." He wobbles it up and down. "It weighs less than a feather."
I shake my head. "It is much heavier than that but is set to move where directed. Or stay where I say to." As I say that it locks into place, unbudging.
Gallant tries to push it with his power armor, the whine of the servos picking up before he stops, "That is like Clockblocker's power." He says finally.
I wrinkle my nose under the visor. "Less time stasis, more fixed to relative coordinates and actively flying to the same point against any force. Like her bolt caster." I point to Shadow Stalker, who is standing on her bolt caster to the appreciative looks of Kid Win and Browbeat.
That worthy looked familiar, oddly quiet and shying away from direct looks. Was that Sparky? Noooo.
I shook my head at the odd thought.
"How do you have Tinker weapons and still have parahuman powers like flight and whatever it was that let you ignore Purity's blast?"
I shrug. "I never said I have parahuman powers. I am not in fact a parahuman." gesturing at my gray skin and then the white hair showing around my visor. "I just have good genes."
"Pull the other one, it has bells on." He deadpanned.
"Okay then. My weapons and other tech are not Tinker tech. They are Hume made."
Dr. Wenchovsky perked up at that. "Hume. You say that like it means something different from human, but not fully."
I trace a 'one' in the air for him. "Point, Doctor. Freyja's people are the Hume. She comes from somewhere, perhaps somewhen else." I salute him with my cup of soda.
I float up and pose as he plays a scanner of some kind across my feet and legs. "I can't detect anything being emitted. Wait." He brushed across the image of my ankle. "Ahah, a breaker state. Like Shadow Stalker but less like a cloud. You become a hologram."
We had always intended for them to make this assumption. It would leak but it would cover the fact that my method of passing through solid objects still required the Freyja ship sized passage. I could be trapped still, yet this 'proved' that I could pass through things anyway.
And then there was Freyja's ability to push or pull using the tractor beams. They offered nonlethal options that 'looked' like telekinesis with a few special effects thrown in. To play into it, I put a hand to my temple to trigger the effects.
With a pink glow around my eyes and head I caused a chair to slide across the floor toward me.
"Interesting. Is that an application of your flight or a separate power?"
I merely sat down in my freshly acquired chair. This was a game of trolling where we could and downplaying other areas. No one was asking how I fixed the corner of the building, yet I could feel them thinking about it. No. It wasn't mind reading, was it? I was starting to buy into the story.
********************************
Gingembre
Emma smiled as she found herself the subject of interest by a strong looking Hispanic boy and a tiny Chinese woman in a lab coat.
"I know I am Gingembre. And you are Aegis. And you?" She poured on the accent a bit.
"I am Dr. Flower Signal." The woman said.
Tilting her head and tapping an ear. "Did I hear that right? Flower … Signal?"
Smiling widely, the little woman nodded. "Yes, yes, that is what my name means. But in English it is Hua Zhao."
"Oh, right. Translator kicked in on me. I think it is still set from when we passed through ABB territory. So much easier when you know what people are saying about you. I can turn it off." I did so, not wanting any sudden phrases to be mistaken for now.
Aegis had been rolling over some kind of apparatus. It looked like a handle for a dumbbell set into a metal cylinder on wheels. "Behold the strength tester! Bane of all Brutes near and far." He hit a switch and it seemed to anchor itself to the floor. "Lifting force is measured in pounds, please let up if it sounds like the floor is bending."
"Demonstrate, por favor."
He grasped the handle and pulled. The readout lit up and showed a number going up past one fifty and slowing before it reached two hundred. It looked hard.
"And you."
Dr. Zhao waved something around like a meter or a tricorder –hah!-- as I stepped into position.
"The object is to lift?" I said, pulling it up. Bygul, my little shuttle and tugboat in training shifted its output to assist, forming up a short range but powerful lifting force. The number rose. Five hundred came and went.
A low screech hit my ears. "Oopsie!" The slightly smoking apparatus dropped to zero and Dr. Zhao turned off the mechanism that held it to the metal flooring, rolling it aside. There was a visible deformation like a bubble there, red and angry.
I stepped over to it, raising a foot knee high. Kicking down I flattened the bump with a muffled thump. The noise should have been deafening, but Bygul muted it for me and my delicate ears.
"Sigue siendo mi corazón" I heard Aegis whisper. I turned the translation on again and had Bygul play it back.
I smile brightly at him now, as he blushes brightly behind his mask. "I have very good hearing, you know."
"That should not have worked that way." Dr Zhao noted. "The force required to flatten that would have pushed you up to the ceiling!"
A sudden presence of a short girl in a green filmy dress next to us raised a hand and offered. "I got this… Powers are bullshit." She had been all the way across the room, but seemed to stretch into position close in one step.
Aegis clapped a hand over his face. "Gingembre, this is Vista. Vista who should not swear in public."
She winked at me. "But we aren't in public. Are these the new Wards to be?"
I shook my head slowly. "To be or not to be. That is the question." I give her a curtsy. "Or is it the answer? We are but Rogues I fear, though friendly ones without a hall to our name."
She was noting the smoking strength tester. "You did that?"
"Not on purr-pose." I giggle a little as I play the cat theme up, pretending to lick a paw.
She looks at me askance and then at Aegis who is frozen. "I think … you broke him."
I turn my paw and let my claws out a moment, close enough to startle him out of his freeze.
"Do that again." Dr. Zhao and Vista both say in near unison.
I flex so my claws come out again, this time with my palm up.
"Those are metal!" The good doctor is using a camera phone to record.
"Very metal." Vista echoes. "Amazing, even."
I hold my other hand up in a shhhh pose. "I wasn't born exactly thus. There are some things that have been … changed for the better." I let my tail curl around and the end extends slightly to show the metal at the tip of the stunner/blaster. It was smaller than the Keptain's, but mine had a flower shaped focus that irised open to use it, and closed to hide it with the fur of the tail.
"Prehensile tail. Cybernetic additions surgically grafted." Dr. Zhao was rapt.
Vista sidled closer. "You have a wet Tinker in your group?"
I sniggered. "We have no Tinkers at all. All of our tech is standard manufacturing –for a cluster spanning space faring society." I add the last with a hand on hip. "Star Trek got many things right, and just as many wrong. Like the Prime Directive. I think you might find us as close to the Borg or maybe the Ferengi as to the Federation."
Her eyes just kept getting wider.
Or was that her power in action?
**********************
Shadow Stalker.
"Are you creating the bolts as you fire them?" Miss Militia was digging the bolt caster, that was fucking clear. It was like showing off a new car to a total gearhead.
"I can call more bolts to me as I need them, like you and your ammunition." Sophia grinned to herself. "There are all kinds of bolt tips that can be swapped out. Anchor tip with a zip line, and ascender to pull me up, taser tips, cameras, you name it."
"Get out." The red, white and blue bandana face cover didn't quite hide the smile. "What about a flashbang?"
"Yep. Got those as well as smokers and choke and puke dispensers." I nod.
She winces. "Those aren't legal in this state."
"Considering I would only fire them at people firing illegal guns –or powers– at us, I think we would get a pass." I added confidently.
"Do you have a spare?" She asked.
"Trjegul, bring up the spare. Unlock to guest mode, ally in the field. Twenty bolts." I spoke, A moment later I passed over a bolt caster just like mine, but a gray color to my black. That was the default coloration without the 'skin' active.
Miss Militia echoed the movements I mimed to open the arms and rack in a bolt to the ready position.
"And you just sight in the target and shoot." I add.
Thwut.
The dampers keep down the noise. It was already winding in another tension pair, the next bolt in place and ready to fire as it cranked the third pair of arms ready for the next shot.
Miss Militia hummed to herself as she felt her power feeling around the device. It wasn't like the Tinker laser thing Kid Win had made. That had been slippery to her power, an unknown thing. She could form the outer casing but never the interior that made it work.
This?
She let go and watched it hold position in the air.
This bolt caster was real to her.
She flexed her abilities leaving a glowing green bolt caster in her hands.
"So much for borrowing." Sophia huffed quietly. Raising her voice, she called attention to Miss Militia sighting in her new toy. "She terk mah job!"
Assault, over where Battery had him hemmed in, was now laughing so hard he spilled his coke.
**************************
Off to the side, feeling like a wallflower now, Pestilence sat with a half eaten slice of pizza and a coke to hand. She was still in human form but was playing with a spider she'd found living on the Rig. it wasn't huge but it was clearly a hunting spider.
A voice cleared nearby. It was Kid Win, fresh from taking a moment to 'wash his hands'. "You like spiders? I have a pet tarantula at home."
"Really?" She smiled. "I can become any insect, spider or apparently anything with a chitin carapace. Or any combination of them. And control any of the above within roughly line of sight."
"Damn." He tapped the pistols and then his helmet. "And I thought I was lucky to be able to make stuff. That is a strong power there."
"Bugs?" Pestilence made a face, deprecating her own abilities.
"Wait, if I can pull up a picture, can you try something more exotic?" Kid leaned in as he typed on his phone. "Or are you limited to North American insects?"
Madison, bless her heart, just watched as he brought forth a picture of something vile and horrific. She immediately changed into one, then a dozen, then made it even bigger than what the picture showed.
"Cool!" He typed some more, with a few clicks. "This is from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, A Meganeura."
The pile of pale spider horrors each the size of a kitten danced happily and shifted to a Dragonfly with a four-foot wingspan. It looked around and buzzed, sounding like a drone as it took off.
I heard Assault clear his throat, then say in a bad Aussie accent. "Crikey! That's a biggun."
Battery turned to hit him but was upstaged by the woosh of Vista appearing next to Kid Win so fast she seemed to be teleporting. She grabbed his phone with a flourish. "No!" She winced as an even larger version of the Dragonfly passed in a tight loop around her. "We do not feed the Trolls!"
"Freyja, are there larger insects in the fossil record?" Pestilence speaks, having reformed in her clothed human form, but with a ten inch Dragonfly perched on her arm. "Or other things from where you come from?"
Ah she was smiling at Vista with a truly evil grin forming as the green dress shook in a moment of horror. Then she was somehow behind Kid Win, placing him between herself and Madison.
*********************
I got a notification from Freyja.
"Pestilence is requesting access to off-world insects as templates." Her little avatar displayed a screen next to the figure which showed something with many, many legs moving along a cliff. It wasn't until it zoomed in that I could see trees like palms brushing its underside.
I glanced over to Pestilence. She seemed so earnest, but there was also the figure of Battery who moved in between us and was waving 'no' vehemently. Well, at least Freyja had been projecting this video on only one side.
"I think we had better hold that for a later date. Save it for an Endbringer event unlock?"
Letting the screen next to her avatar dissipate, Freyja nodded primly. "As you say, Keptain."
Battery paused and looked at me quizzically. "The way she says that, like you are her commanding officer…"
"But I am her Keptain. It is as simple as that." With that I moved off to check on Pestilence now, who was wheezing a little after going back for another spin as a Meganeura.
Madison looked up at me with a flushed look in her human form, green suited version. "Too long in that form and nothing else is bad juju. It felt like I was suffocating."
"That would make sense. The oxygen was more abundant when that creature was common. Book lungs do not work as well."
"Coconut crab!" Kid Win was holding up another image.
Frowning. "That isn't an insect…"
A solid click of pincers next to me said that mattered little. She was almost three feet across in this form, at least two high in places.
Kid Win smiled wide. "She did mention crabs and exoskeletons being in her remit."
I murmured in a way only Freyja would catch. "Also lock down any off-world exoskeleton life forms. Especially any with carnivorous tendencies."
Pestilence turned my way. "Awww." She pouted a little as I noted the small gnats that had been monitoring me, perhaps all of us. She deserved another point or two there.
Then she grinned again. "I did see what she projected, by the by. But I won't do that indoors, just in case."
"As you were." I nod toward the space where Vista had been, a dolly zoom effect filling in as she stepped out of the room all the way to where Shadow Stalker was consulting with Miss Militia.
********************
By midafternoon, I'd raced with Dauntless to shore and back (after his patrol ended), letting him win… for now. No sense showing all our cards. Madison left them with a web covered wall, the material forming ropes in places. Shadow Stalker had gotten Miss Militia's promise not to overuse the bolt caster. Gingembre had mostly held her own against Browbeat and Aegis in various feats. A certain Clock themed Ward was still hiding after surprising Pestilence. It appears the rest if her continues unchecked if one part is frozen—even the human part.
Then came the dreaded pitch.
"You would all do better as Wards. It is a safe place to learn powers, to build camaraderie and public trust."
Odd that they'd put Battery up to making the pitch. I would have expected Miss Militia to be the one. Or, from the side eye Battery was giving the USA themed cape, that might have been the way it was supposed to happen.
"We are fine as we are. We already know our powers. We can act as Affiliates and will join in for disasters. We don't need the public to trust us, we have you for that." I counter her arguments with no heat. We can be friendly but not side with the Protectorate party line.
The carrot was pushed aside so the stick was brought out.
"If you find yourself in trouble with the law, you may lose that independence you seem to care for. Rogues are not allowed to sell products that cannot be reproduced by normal manufacture. If you compete with existing businesses, the government will shut you down."
"Odd. I haven't heard any word about Toybox being shut down."
Frowning. "Toybox is a villain organization."
"Really? Didn't they outsource the force fields used right here? Or was that a different group?" I keep my smile just touching my lips.
She waved that off. "That hardly counts. You spoke of being Rogues. What business will you be working in?"
Shadow Stalker beat me to the line. "Noneya."
Sniggers from around the room showed that the Ward teens were picking up on it, as did Assault.
"Oh puppy, no." He whispered.
"What do you mean, Noneya?" Battery growled.
"None ya business." Sophia smirked. She aimed her bolt caster over the rail and fired a grappling hook out, angling toward the parking area where the bus was preparing to leave.
Gingembre, Pestilence and I were already on Freyja, the tiny ship covered by an image of the crumpled paper plate my image threw across the room to the can by the same doorway to the firing rail. The flipper spun as if something had gone into the can, but Freyja continued on, catching up to Shadow Stalker's image. Trjegul had beamed her aboard, the smoke cloud he released covering her trail.
Our images inside pixelated then broke up into inch sized blocks of light that scattered across the floor of the room.
***********************
This left the Protectorate and Wards pretty much alone with their thoughts.
An email pinged to each of them, Armsmaster's automated scheduling software sending them to their various usual Saturday taskings now that the Director's little party had broken up.
Battery fended off Assault's arms and moved to where Hannah was cradling her new power created toy. "Why didn't you make the pitch? The Thinkers said you were the most likely to get through to them!"
Pausing, she let the caster dissolve and reform into a pistol in the holster at her hip. "I believed that until I spoke with Stalker." She looked out to the light bridge forming up to take the midafternoon tourists back to shore. "They think and act like a military unit. There is no way they will go for a split up and you know every Director would be fighting tooth and nail to get one of them. Well, maybe not Tagg. He has an issue with spiders."
She looked over to see Armsmaster coming in with Director Piggot, hip to hip. "You saw it?"
Nodding, Emily Piggot grimaced. "I don't know exactly where a teenager picks up a thousand-yard stare, but Keptain had it. Armsmaster has let it slip that he and Dragon made contact with Freyja directly. They are keeping secrets –the reasoning behind which I may yet disagree on– but suffice to say they have adult supervision."
Assault tried to say something, but found Battery's hand covering his lips.
She said what they all were thinking.
"Who are you and what have you done with the Director?"
It was the first time they'd seen the woman smile in months.
**********************
Max Anders was reading a report. It was hardly real time but his moles had slipped off to report this group, SMAAL, was visiting the Rig itself today. "I think you should table this grudge you have for Keptain and her girls. They are all but Wards in fact."
Kayden Anders sat up from the tanning bed, glowing brighter than the bed did when active. "Visiting is not joining. There will be a time for them to stand in the spotlight. They had better be wearing enough sunscreen."
That tore it. Kayden was off her rocker if she thought… He raised his hand with the glass of wine held to sniff. Kaiser, the man who had run the Empire for the last ten years noted the cloud of smoke curled around his feet. If Fog were here, then Night could be anywhere about in the shadows of the office. He would be doing nothing, for now. Instead, he picked up the wine bottle and poured some more into the glass.
"Purity, be a dear and tell Fog to stop posing around the floor. This isn't some old movie."