1.8 Dances Part 1

“Woo hoo!” yells Defender as she flies through the skies of Chicago with Guardian trailing behind.

Why is she going faster than us? We’re using the same technology.

The maximum speed of our armour is different to what our safest maximum speed is. The limits of what our body can withstand is different to limits of what our technology can do. As a result, Defender is able to take more stress and withstand more damage than we can and that in turn increases the safety maximum speed that she can go at.

So she will be better at using the armour than us?

No, our technopathy gives us an edge when using technology that very few can replicate.

Is it wrong that I’m glad that Defender isn’t better than us?

No, there is nothing wrong with not wanting to be outdone in your area of expertise.

Good.

“Enjoying it?” asks Guardian.

“Yeah!” yells back Defender, “Flying is awesome! Makes me wish that I could fly as part of my powers!”

“So what do you want to do?” asks Guardian, “I’m thinking we should take out this group of drug dealers. They’re a bit out of my usual territory, but they’re getting too bold and powerful for my liking.”

“So they need to be taken down a notch?” replies Defender as she looks over her shoulder Guardian, “I like the sound of that.”

“They are also being uncharacteristically aggressive in getting customers,” says Guardian, “I should also probably mention that I believe they are selling a power-created drug. Follow me. You will need to slow down so I can take the lead.”

“Can’t you just speed up?” asks Defender with sigh, but she slows down anyway.

“No,” answers Guardian, “Going this fast is already straining my body. Please remember that my body isn’t as good as yours.”

“I know that, but why does-no wait, never mind,” says Defender, “I did do science in school.”

“That is good to hear,” replies Guardian, “It would be annoying to have an unintelligent teammate.”

“Lucky for you I’m smart,” says Defender, “I’m at the top of my class actually. The third best as a matter of fact.”

“I assume Gears is the top of your class,” replies Guardian.

“That he is,” answers Defender, “Are we close?”

“Yes, we are,” replies Guardian as she comes to a halt mid-air, “Down there on the corner. You see the group of men?”

There are five in the group, all wearing in their twenties or thirties. There is a group of about eight watching them and one of the gang members is holding a-

“Is that a girl they got there?” asks Defender distastefully.

“Looks like it,” replies Guardian, “And by the way she is struggling, she doesn’t seem to be there willing.”

“I’m surprise nobody has spotted us yet,” says Defender, “All they have to do is look up.”

“We are pretty high up and not many people spend their time looking for people in the sky,” replies Guardian, “Given out unlikely it is to be someone flying, people would generally dismiss us as birds or some other more mundane flying object.”

“That makes sense,” replies Defender, “Shall we go and introduce ourselves now?”

“Let’s,” agrees Guardian as she flies downwards.

Guardian hits the ground with both stun batons drawn. Her landing takes down two members of the crowd and a couple of strikes from her batons fell two more.

She doesn’t know if any members of the crowd are criminals, but if they are just willing to watch whatever the dealers are planning to do with the girl then Guardian will just treat as co-conspirators.

Guardian looks over at the dealers as Defender lands within their midst. Her fellow Guardsmen punches one in the face while slamming her fist into another’s gut.

She is pulling her punches. Good.

Not that this filth would be missed if she wasn’t.

Guardian swings her leg out as she briefly activates her KEPs. Her spinning kick catches three of the four remaining members of the crowd, sending them flying.

As the last flees, Guardian decides to make sure the girl they saw earlier is okay.

That’s not good.

It turns out that one of the dealers is a parahuman judging by how he is taking on Defender.

The man looks devilishly handsome with smooth brown hair and a light stubble as he darts around much faster than Guardian can.

But Guardian can still track him using her tech with ease and the guy must certainly isn’t faster than Defender.

Yet with his ability to control metal, the superpowered drug dealer is still holding his own against Defender.

Should we help her?

She doesn’t seem to need it and the remaining two drug dealers are attempting to flee.

It could be argued that we are helping her by taking out the last two foes.

Guardian activates her KEPs to slam into the closer of the two cowardly men, smashing him to the ground. She swings with both stun batons at the other before he can get out of range.

The first of her strikes miss, but the second catches the dealer in the face. Guardian is certain the man’s nose is broken as he goes tumbling backwards.

Now to see how the girl is.

There and she doesn’t look good.

Following the directions of Ceta, Guardian spots the girl curled up on the floor, spasming and convulsing.

What happened?

Judging by the needle next to her, I would say that the dealers were going to use her as an example of what their product does?

Hmm, that is unusual behaviour for them. We ought to collect these drugs from we can test them rather than just destroying them as we usually do.

After we tend to the girl of course.

That goes without saying.

But as Guardian approaches the girl, something very unexpected happens.