1.6 Alliance Part 12

As they land on the floor, Protector comes out on top as Dark Tendril ends up on his back. Protector doesn’t hold back as he swings both of his fists into Dark Tendril’s fist repeatedly.

As Guardian uses her armour and KEPs to break free of the energy tendrils, now only half restraining her.

Dark Tendril didn’t get the chance to fully restrain me otherwise I wouldn’t be able to break free so easily. Hmm, it appears that Protector’s punches are actually hurting Dark Tendril. Why is that happening when I couldn’t do anything?

A mixture of power, multitude and timeframe.

Please explain in greater detail.

The exoskeleton suit in the armour enhances his strength. Protector is inherently stronger than you so his enhanced strikes are much more powerful than yours. He is doing it rapidly to the same area within a short amount of the time. The large amount of power being repeatedly delivered rapidly is actually overcoming Dark Tendril’s defence.

So how is Protector not getting hurt?

His armour protects his fists from damage while Dark Tendril is caught off guard and has yet to recover.

Should we intervene?

Wait until you have the ability to harm Dark Tendril, but be prepared to support Protector if he needs the help. In the meantime, attempt to get the capability to harm Dark Tendril.

So any ideas on how to do that?

Perhaps you could upgrade your energy projector batons to more power? Other than that, I have no suggestions to offer at this moment in time.

Thanks for the help anyway.        

Sparing Protector only a single glance before she gets to work, Guardian begins to attach more ElecMag cells to one of her batons.

Boosting the power to the energy projector should strengthen the energy projector. Of course overcharging it like this will burn through more power quicker and I will have to do make major repairs to it later. Not to mention it is much more likely to malfunction or break when being used.

We need the extra firepower.

I know, but this is only a short term solution, we’ll need to work on a long term one when we can.

We have to make it out of this in one piece to do that.

I know that as well.

As she finishes adding two ElecMag cells to the baton, Guardian whips her head around as she hears Protector grunt in pain.

Dark Tendril has fought him off and aims his hand at his head as a handgun made of solid black energy forms in it. The villain is clearly preparing to finish off Protector for good.

If that gun was able to dent my armour, it should have no trouble piercing one of my old suits. Then again, Protector’s modified suit includes a lot of Gardium, but I don’t want to take any chances.

With no time to waste, Guardian activates her KEPs as she zooms at Dark Tendril. She tackles him as they fly at the wall. Dark Tendril still gets a shot off, but Guardian is certain it went off target.

At the very least, it won’t kill Protector if it does hit him.

As they impact the wall, Guardian keeps on going, using Dark Tendril as a battering ram to break through. They fly not only through that wall, but the next one as well to reach the open city.

With Dark Tendril in her gasp, Guardian tosses him into the ground. He slams into it hard, leaving a small crater around his point of impact in the road.

Dark Tendril begins to get to his feet as Guardian hovers in the air, finishing modifying one of her energy projector batons into something with enough power to hurt Dark Tendril.

But how will I subdue him?

Subdue him? I don’t think you’ll be able to subdue him.

So what did you expect me to do?

Kill him.

Why?

Because he is an enemy trying to do the same to you. I am also certain that he has already harmed innocents and will do so again if not stopped.

But I don’t want to kill people.

Humph! Then you are going to have to flee instead.

Why do you have no problem with killing? We’re a superhero.

I’m a soldier.

With her energy projector baton now fully modified, Guardian activates it and a bright, electric blue energy beam appears, about thirty centimetres long.

In mid-flight amidst the night sky with an energy blade weapon in her hand, Guardian is sure that she is an impressive sight to behold.

“You know what Guardian?” says Dark Tendril from below, “Let’s call it quits for now. My bosses didn’t tell me you could do all this.”

And with that, Dark Tendril steps into the shadows before disappearing into them.

“Guardian?” asks Protector over their private comm-link, “What should we do now?”

“Get back to the basement with what you got,” replies Guardian, “I need to figure out how to explain all of this to Alexandria and the authorities. They ought to be informed of this, especially about Dark Tendril.”

1.6 Alliance Part 11

The man slams into to the wall, dropping to one knee.

“What the-” starts Protector as he spins around before stopping as tendrils of solid blackness sprout from the ground, wrapping around his legs and up towards his body.

Several of the same tendrils appear around Guardian and attempt to do the same, but she is already in action as she flies at the man. The man is already recovering and has covered himself in thin layer of semi-transparent black energy.

Guardian swings both of her stun batons into the man, but they do little more than stagger and stun him.

This guy seems a little too powerful for me to deal with. My most powerful attacks haven’t actually done much to hurt him and if I can’t hurt him, I don’t see how I can win this.

Call for aid. Convert the electricity projectors of the stun batons into directed supercharged laser projectors to create an energy blade.

Good ideas.

Guardian sends an alert to Sentry and Gears before focusing on all four electric stun batons, both hers and Protector’s.

She can feel the tendrils wrapping around her, but Guardian focuses on modifying the stun batons. They need a more powerful weapon to take this guy down.

After a few seconds, the modifications are done and Guardian has a bad headache.

Focus.

I know!

The sound of the man speaking brings Guardian’s attention back to her immediate surroundings. The man has a couple dozen tendrils holding Guardian in place.

“I thought you would be tougher,” sneers the man.

Guardian tries to break free of solid energy tendrils, but they are extremely strong and solid. While they do strain a bit, they don’t even begin to show any signs of tearing or breaking. The best she does is getting her right arm free.

“Well, Guardian,” says the man snidely as he bends down in front of her, “When the angels bring you to the heavens, tell them that Durante Capello send you.”

He pulls out one of the not-technology guns that the other mobsters have been using. Meanwhile Guardian feels some sprouting her head, something dark and out of place.

He has spawned one of those energy tendrils inside of your mind.

So do something! You’re the smart on here!

I can deal with it, but it will only worsen your headache.

I can deal with more pain, but I don’t want anyone messing with my mind!

As you wish.

Guardian grunts in pain as her head flares in pain.

It feels like somebody is scrambling my head!

That is one way of describing what I am going if simplified and inexact.

Guardian is jolted back to reality as a pair of red lasers bounce off of her armour. She growls at the man, Durante Capello.

He is a supervillain and these black energy tendrils seem to be his main power so I’m just going to call him Dark Tendril.

Dark Tendril seems surprised at that fact his weapon didn’t kill Guardian or even damage her armour. Guardian doesn’t give him the chance to try again as she lashes out with her power. Dark Tendril yelps as his gun explodes in his hand, but leaves him unarmed.

Using her free hand, Guardian stabs her energy projector baton at Dark Tendril, but the supervillain grabs her waist and smiles at her.

“Nice trick, but I’m not so easily beaten,” says Dark Tendril with some respect in his voice.

Using his other hand, he grabs her by the neck and starts to squeeze.

I got a bit of time before the Gardium armour begins to give.

One minute thirty four seconds before it begins to crack and go inward, three minutes fifty four seconds until he kills you by crushing your throat.

Any suggestions?

Flashbang Dark Tendril with your power then hit him hard to knock him off balance. Try to keep him that way and retain the initiative until back up arrives. Try to hurt him with your energy projector batons if you can.

Thanks.

Using her power, Guardian activates one of the flashbangs on her utility belt. While not overly affected, Dark Tendril is stunned and staggers backwards, letting go of Guardian as he shields his face with one arm.

Guardian kicks her feet towards Dark Tendril’s upper legs and fires the KEPs in her boots as they make contact with him.

The still recovering supervillain is knocked off his feet and slams face first into the ground. He grunts as Guardian breaks free of the energy tendrils restraining her. She flies into the air as Dark Tendril begins to get to his feet.

Guardian throws a trio of explosives at Dark Tendril. He stumbles backwards, still off balance and Guardian flies down at him, feet first. Her feet smash into Dark Tendril’s chest and he goes flying backwards, crashing into a wall on the far side of the room.

Guardian lands on the ground whilst breaking into a run at Dark Tendril, an energy projector baton in each hand.

But Dark Tendril whips out a pair of handguns made of solid black energy and opens fire on Guardian. The bullets of dark energy slam into her chest, staggering Guardian as they dent her armour just barely.

“You really are a resourceful bitch aren’t you,” snarls Dark Tendril as more of his energy tendrils fly out of the ceiling and floor to restrain Guardian, “Then again, someone who has caused so much trouble would have to-”

Protector tackles Dark Tendril, knocking him off his feet.  

1.6 Alliance Part 10

After changing back into her original clothing, Guardian got back into her armour. After collecting the four boxes of Alexandria’s old clothing and bidding Pathfinder farewell, Guardian flew back to the basement, where Scott and Cain should be.

She lands outside the door, moves up against the lock so she can use her power to open it up. As Guardian walks in and takes her helmet off, both Scott and Cain look up at her.

“What is in the boxes?” asks Scott as he eyes them.

“Alexandria’s old clothes,” replies Legacy as she puts the boxes in question down on the floor, “Her team decided I was about her old size so I tried on most of her old clothes. Then I got your message and decided to let Alexandria and her team go after Armsmith.”

“Any particular reason why?” inquires Scott.

“Building goodwill up,” says Legacy.

“So what about the clothes?” asks Scott, “You showed them what you look like didn’t you?”

“Yes,” replies Legacy, “I also have their biometric scans so it seemed reasonable. It isn’t exactly like they can use it against me and it helps build up more goodwill.”

“It’s your secret identity,” says Scott with a shrug, “Did Leo tell you about Cain’s codename and the girl that he recruited over in Grand Rapids?”

“Yes,” replies Legacy.

“Good,” says Scott as he puts his hands together, “You know, we’re going to have to come up with a name for our group soon.”

“I am well aware,” replies Legacy, “I have already mentioned it to Leo.”

“Hmm,” says Scott, “So I got an idea for training Cain here. Since he has school, he’ll come round tomorrow evening for training and spend Saturday also training in the morning and afternoon. Then, in the event, the two of you can hit the mob target that Leo has so kindly provided for us.”

“Good plan,” says Legacy.

“It is what I do for this little group,” replies Scott with a grin.

***

Two Days Later

“Good,” replies Protector as he drops the mob thug he was beating unconscious, “So what now?”

“The Caporegime is in the next room,” says Guardian as she walks over to the door, an electric stun baton in each hand, “We take him down, steal their money and data. Then we’ll decide what do to hand over to the police, what to upload to the internet and what to keep for ourselves once we’re back at our base.”

“Sounds like a plan,” says Protector as he bends down and picks his electric stun baton up.

Protector is wearing the modified suit of power armour that Guardian came up with. Most of the old armour is pretty much gone with large amounts of Gardium holding it together. It is effectively plate armour with the exo-skeleton to provide enhanced strength and speed while helmet includes a HUD to help identify targets and items of interest to Protector.

Around his waist is a utility belt containing a variety of gadgets provided by both Gears and Guardian, including a pair of electric stun batons like the ones that Guardian uses. It also has a voice distorter to help keep his identity secret.

Guardian kicks the door down just a single strike and enters the room. Inside is a well-dressed man with a pair of armed bodyguards.

Each of them has a sleek, smooth, curved, black not-technology pistol and Guardian snarls beneath her helmet as she leaps into action. Using KEPs to boost her jump, Guardian swings her two electric stun batons into the heads of the two bodyguards before slamming into the leader.

They both go tumbling while the man cries out in pain. Ignoring him, Guardian swiftly uses her power to make the not-technology pistols explode. The leader screams in pain as his weapon explodes in his hand and Guardian shuts him up with a jab to the jaw, breaking it.

Guardian turns around to finish off the bodyguards only to find that Protector has already taken them out.

“Good work,” Guardian tells him.

“Will he be okay?” asks Protector, indicating the mob leader.

“Yes,” replies Guardian, “He should make a full recovery naturally. But it will take at least six weeks, possibly two months.”

“So now what?” asks Protector.

“I’ll download the data from the computers while you loot the guys,” replies Guardian as she gets to work, “Get their phones, money and weapons. Phones are useful as I modify them into useful gadgets while I feel it is important to disrupt their powerbases by ridding them of drugs, funds and weaponry whenever we can.”

“Does it work?” inquires Protector as he begins retrieving items of value from one of the men he has knocked out.

“While I can’t say for sure, I believe I am having some effect on their operations,” answers Guardian, 

“They are finding it harder to deal drugs and I’m sure that I’ve taken out at least some of their funds and destroyed a good portion of their product with my raids of their bases. At the very least they get stressed and angry with me and are doing their utmost to stop me.”

“Are their efforts working?” asks Protector as he moves onto the next man.

“No, they have nothing to match me yet,” replies Guardian, “That said, nobody has sent parahuman after me yet. Except for the government.”

“The government?” repeats Protector

“They’ve sent Alexandria to arrest me a couple of times,” offers Guardian in way of further explanation.

“Oh, okay,” mutters Protector.

Left Fist. Strike Forward and Up at Highest Strength. One, two, NOW!

Guardian does as her companion instructs and her fist connects with the lower jaw of a handsome, well-built man in a suit as he steps out of the shadows.

1.6 Alliance Part 9

“We don’t bring her along with us,” says Alexandria before looking over at Legacy, “I’m sorry, but I hope you understand. It would awkward for us if brought a known vigilante with us and would most likely get us in trouble. So I would really appreciate if you stay here.”

“Sure,” replies Legacy, “I don’t mind staying here until you get back.”

“Good,” says Alexandria with some relief, “Hey Pathfinder, do you mind waiting here with Guardian? You’re the least combat oriented out of us and my mum and brother wouldn’t approve of us leaving Guardian here on her own. Even though she is trustworthy.”

“I don’t really care,” says Pathfinder with a shrug, “I’ve never really that much a fighter anyway.”

“Cool,” grins Alexandria, “We’re already all in costume so all we need is for Guardian to give us the data.”

Legacy closes her eyes and uses her power to copy the first half of the data sent by Gears and Scott to Alexandria’s phone.

“Done,” Legacy tells Alexandria.

“Great,” says Alexandria excitedly as she checks her phone later, “See ya later!”

Alexandria flies out the room and Flamefly walks out after her. Meanwhile Glowbug walks up to Legacy and embraces her.

“You’re a real cutie Guardian,” says Glowbug as lets go of her, “If you are ever interesting in having something, just give me a call.”

Glowbug kisses the bewildered girl on the cheek, more than just a peck, before strolling out of the room whilst laughing silently to herself.

What was that about?

Romance and love is one of the areas that I am severely lacking in. Guardians usually retire when they get into such things.

So I can’t count on your advice in this matter.

I’ll try my best if needed, but I am afraid not. My apologies.

Well, I can expect you to be good at everything.

“Nic is bi,” says Pathfinder as she walks towards Legacy, “She isn’t exactly being serious mind you, but the offer is actually there and Nic is willing to be serious if you are also willing.”

What is she going about? What is bi and what does she mean by ‘serious’?

“I honestly don’t understand,” replies Legacy.

“Then don’t worry about it,” says Pathfinder as she sits down on Alexandria’s bed, “If you dismiss it as joke, so will Nic. I don’t think she actually expected to accept or even take it seriously.”

“Are you sure?” asks Legacy, “Because I don’t wish to offend her.”

“Yeah, I am,” replies Pathfinder before patting the area of the bed next to her, “Do you want to see down next to me? I want to talk to you about stuff I didn’t want to bring up in front of the others. Especially since I can’t use my power to help figure stuff out about you.”

“Sorry about that, but I have no control over it,” says Legacy as she sits down next to Pathfinder.

“Will this Bio-Scanner help you figure out my secret identity?” asks Pathfinder, “I’m the only member of my team with one and the only one with the chance of having one in the first place.”

“Most likely,” admits Legacy.

“Are sure you can’t just delete the data?” asks Pathfinder in an exasperated voice as she lies down on her back.

“No, but I will protect extremely well,” replies Legacy, “Between the actions of myself, Gears and Sentinel, nobody will be able to access it.”

“I suppose that is the best I’m going to get from you,” mutters Pathfinder, “Could you upgrade this Bio-Scanner so I can use for more than just scanning things? Maybe make it so it can be a phone again?”

“Sure,” replies Legacy and focuses her power on the device in question and begins to upgrade to an all-purpose device, capable of more than just scanning and communication.

Why should I hold back? Might as well get the job done to the fullest extent of my abilities.

“Done,” says Legacy after almost ten seconds, “I upgraded the Bio-Scanner as best as I can. I have also added a secret mode to it so my upgrades only appear when an authorised person is trying to view them.”

“Sweet,” says Pathfinder as she sits back up, “So I’ve been wondering, what is like to fight supervillains? You’ve taken down both Metal Man and the Lakeside Devils and the Aquiline and his group.”

“Well, with Aquiline, I was primarily focused on stopping him from harming more people,” answers Legacy, “I fought them and I did my best to take them down.”

“What did it feel like?” inquires Pathfinder.

“Other than angry at them for what they are doing, not really anything,” replies Legacy, “The fight with Metal Man was worse. I walk into the ambush and was horrible outnumbered and outgunned. I barely made out of there and wouldn’t it weren’t for a piece of advice from my companion.”

“Seriously?” says Pathfinder, looking closely at Legacy, “Everybody, including Metal Man and his gang, think that you kicked their asses super easy.”

“I had only a single chance to strike so when I did, I hit as hard as I could,” explains Legacy, “Then I pulled out before they could recover. I had lost my weapons and couldn’t recover them in time before the gangsters started to get back up. And I didn’t have any power armour back then so I wouldn’t have been able to take Metal Man in a straight fight. I was actually planning to take them out over the course of a few weeks.”

“And what about your fighting style, tactics and strategy?” Pathfinder asks after a moment of silence, “It seems to mainly consist of just shock and awe.”

“I strike hard and fast using precision strikes or overwhelming force depending on the situation,” replies Legacy, “For strategy, I use superior intelligence and surveillance to engage the enemy in guerrilla actions to disrupt their criminal actions.”

“Sounds cool,” says Pathfinder, “I might try a taking a page out of your book. It seems like a good way to use my power.”

“I think I’ll go home now,” says Legacy as she gets off of Alexandria’s bed, “Just give a moment to get changed.”

“Okay,” replies Pathfinder, “I hope we’ll meet again at some point. You seem like a cool person to be friends with.” 

1.6 Alliance Part 8

“Let’s go!” exclaims Glowbug as she holds Legacy against her chest as they flight into the air via an energy field surrounding them.

So this is flying without armour? Feels strange. And interesting. I kind of like it. Minus the pressing up against Glowbug’s chest. That is annoying.

They fly through the kitchen and down the corridor before entering a bedroom. Legacy assumes it is Alexandria’s.

This place is about three quarters of the size of my basement and it only includes her bed, a couple of desks and several wardrobes. All this space for her personal use without having to put any of it aside for necessaries such as food and storage. Alexandria is a lucky person.

“So, this is Charlotte’s bedroom,” says Glowbug as she drops Legacy on Alexandria’s massive bed, “I know the bed is a bit big, but she can afford to have a queen sized bed.”

It is about the same size as the table and the chairs. It is very big.

“The boxes of Charlotte’s old clothes are in the corner,” says Glowbug as the others also enter the room, “She was planning on donating them to charity, but I’m sure she won’t mind giving some away to you if they fit you. You can call me Nicola by the way or just Nic for short.”

“Well, if you girls are going to play dress up on Guardian, I’ll leave you to it,” says Shift as he exits the room, “My sympathies by the way Guardian.”

What does he mean?

“I’ll watch,” says Flamefly as she hops down on the bed as well while Pathfinder leans against the wall next to the door.

“Let’s start with underwear,” says Glowbug or Nic as she prefers to call herself, “You seem like a C cup like Charlotte was.”

More of Glowbug’s yellow energy tendrils emit from her and pick a pair of skinny jeans from the top box.

“Actually, would you like to try these on first?” asks Glowbug, “It would probably be awkard than stripping you naked.”

“You think,” mutters Pathfinder under breath.

“I don’t care to be honest,” replies Legacy, bemused by these events.

I don’t even know what all this ‘dress up’ business is. Or why Glowbug would want to see me naked.

They go through most of the Alexandria’s old clothes when Legacy is internally interrupted by her companion.

You got a message in your armour from Scott.

Okay.

“How are things going?” asks Alexandria as she enters her bedroom.

“We gone through most your old clothes,” replies Glowbug, “Guardian is your old size and body shape so they fit really well.”

“I can tell,” agrees Alexandria as she looks Legacy over, “Nice dress Guardian. It looks really good on you.”

Legacy looks down at herself. She is currently wearing an aqua silk dress that is close fitting to the point Legacy feels she might be just a bit big for it. The sleeves are long and narrow while the skirt only goes down to just above her knees. The dress is tight around her waist and hugs her hips and thighs.

I prefer my armour. In a fight, my mobility would be restricted, especially around the upper legs and this dress offers no clothing.

Agreed. Armour is much better and more practical than this dress.

“I have to check my messages,” says Legacy, “It will only take a moment.”

Legacy uses her power on her armour. The companion is correct and Scott has sent a message to her armour.

Gears called. He found the location of supervillain supplying the fake technology in addition to a potential mafia target for you and Protector to take out.

The rest of the message only contains the data about the two places. What do you think I should do?

Tell Alexandria and her team about the first bit of information, but keep the second bit second so you and Cain may act on it later.

Okay.

“Done,” says Legacy, “I have some information on the person supplying the not-technology weaponry.”

“Really?” asks Alexandria, “Wait, how did you just check your message? You just stood still for a second.”

“She is a technopath Charlotte,” points out Pathfinder with a slight shake of her head.

“Oh, right,” says Alexandria, flushing slightly, “So what do you have on them?”

“Gears sent me their current location,” says Legacy, “I can send it to your phone if you want.”

“That would be great!” exclaims Alexandria, “I would get to take down a supervillain. The government has had my brother arrest so many already while I’m stuck here in Chicago. He’s actually how going after another one down in Houston with Lightbringer.”

“Won’t we need to go and get arrest warrants or anything?” asks Flamefly.

“Nope,” says Pathfinder, “The designated supervillain Armsmith has already got an open warrant for his arrest due to him supplying criminal elements with dangerous weaponry. We got after him using the information supplied by Gears and Guardian, we are just acting on a tipoff. While Armsmith might try to get out of it by claiming that we acting on illegally acquired information from another wanted individual whom we are not arresting. But I doubt the government will let Armsmith off so easily. They’ll lock them up one way or another and the public won’t mind as long as a dangerous supervillain is safely locked away from them.”

“How did you all figure all?” asks Glowbug.

“My power,” declares Pathfinder, “It lets me figure stuff like this out as long as I have enough information. Plus I read the reports we get sent. Doing that sort of thing is surprisingly helpful.”

“But the real question here is do we bring Guardian along or not?” asks Glowbug.

1.6 Alliance Part 7

“What does that include?” inquires Guardian, “I never done that before as far as I can remember.”

“What? Don’t you have any friends or anything?” asks Glowbug.

“I do,” replies Guardian, “There is Gears, Sentinel and Alexandria.”

“You can call me Charlotte,” says Alexandria as she blushes, “It isn’t like, well, everybody knows who I am so it doesn’t matter if you call by my real name or codename.”

“I understand,” replies Guardian.

“You know, it would easier to socialise if you took your armour off,” says Flamefly.

“I can do that,” replies Guardian, “As long as you don’t try to arrest me like Alexandria tried to earlier.”

“Is that why-” Alexandria starts to ask only to stop as Pathfinder lets out a grunt of pain,

They all turn to look at her and Pathfinder looks embarrassed.

“I tried to use my power on Guardian,” explain Pathfinder sheepishly as she half looks away from them, “But it went all funny and wasn’t working. She was disrupting it somehow and making it wonky and weird.”

“I am not doing anything that I am aware of,” replies Guardian, “So if I am interfering with your power, it is a passive effect.”

“That is interesting,” says Alexandria, “But please you take off your armour. I promise that none of us will try to arrest you. Even though we are supposed to.”

“That is good,” replies Guardian as she uses her power to make her armour come off, “I would probably severely damage this room and injure some of you in my escape.”

I’m glad that I was able to convince Leo to make it so my armour could be automatically removed. While I don’t use that function per say, it means that I can use my power to don or remove my armour.

“How exactly could you do that without your armour?” snorts Flamefly.

“If I told you, you would be able to prepare for it and that option would no longer remain valid for me to use,” replies Guardian as the armour finishes coming off, leaving only the helmet on her head.

She removes her helmet and looks around at the group. Legacy doesn’t wear much beneath her armour, only a white tank top and black cycling shorts. Both are close fitting so that the armour can go on top of them.

“Definitely not an Aphrodite,” mutters Glowbug as she snuggles up against Legacy, “Perhaps a Bellator like Gemma?”

“What are you talking about?” asks Legacy as she notes how uncomfortable close Glowbug is.

“Your Enhanced rating,” says Alexandria, “The majority of superhumans some sort of physical change to them when they get their powers. It is permanent and seems to be a separate change to their powers even if it happens at the same time that they get their powers.”

“There are different types of Enhanced as well,” says Shift, “The most common are the Adonises and Aphrodites. Basically focusing on beauty with physical enhancements being secondary. Adonises such as myself are male while Aphrodites are females. Aphrodites and Adonises also have some supernatural beauty comforts as none of us girls have to worry about body hair, sweating or bras anymore. Bellators are those that while they are more handsome or beautiful, it is in a more practical and normal manner. Compare Gemma to Charlotte or Nic.”

Shift indicates towards Pathfinder, whom Legacy assumes is Gemma. As she looks at Alexandria and Pathfinder, Legacy admits that she does notice the difference in physical appearance between them.

“So as you can see, Vanessa, Nicola and I all have at least E cups while Pathfinder is only a C,” explains Alexandria using terms that are meaningless to Legacy, “Not only that, but we Aphrodites don’t need bras and lack a lot of body hair from the neck down. But while they might lack beauty compared to an Adonis or Aphrodite, Bellators have a lot internal improvements to their body such as better healing, speed, reflexes, toughness and other stuff like that. Adonis and Aphrodites also have those improvements, but they are weak compared to Bellators.”

Ah, Gears must be a Bellator. But I don’t think Cain or I have that sort of power. I’m certain my technopathy is my only power while Cain has had any physical changes since he has gotten powers.

That is correct. You have not undergone any physical changes due to me. You do have other abilities than technopathy.

What are they?

Not yet.

“The last two ratings are Abnormals and Monsters,” says Shift, “Abnormals are those that are mostly human, but have some inhuman traits while Monsters are clearly... monstrous. For example, Metal Man was an Abnormal due to his metal skin.”

“Given how your figure isn’t good as mine and you’re clearly not an Abnormal or Monster, you have to be a Bellator,” says Glowbug as she gives Legacy a light punch to the chest.

“I don’t think I have an Enhanced power,” says Legacy, “I’m certain technopathy is my only power.”

“Are you sure?” asks Shift.

Yes.

“Yes,” Legacy tells him, “That is what my companion says.”

“Your companion?” inquires Glowbug.

“That is what I call the source of my power,” replies Legacy.

That is correct right?

Indeed it is.

Good. It would have been embarrassing to get that wrong.

“Is your power sentient or something?” asks Pathfinder.

Yes.

Of course you are.

“Of course,” says Legacy.

“Seriously?” demands both Shift and Glowbug and Legacy nods.

“I’m going to have to tell my brother and the others,” says Alexandria suddenly as she floats to her feet, knocking both Legacy and Flamefly off the couch, “You called your power your companion right?”

“Yeah,” replies Legacy as Glowbug uses tendrils of yellow energy to help Legacy back up.

“I got to go,” says Alexandria.

“Sure,” says Glowbug, “Mind if we let Guardian try on your old clothes? She looks about your old size.”

“Go ahead,” replies Alexandria as she floats into the balcony, “Not like I’m going to use them anyway.”

“Great,” says Glowbug as she clasps her hands together and smirks at Legacy.