1.9 Harbinger Part 5

“Cor donn Hor!” cries Guardian as she stabs Armageddon in the left eye, letting out the first battlecry that comes to mind.

He will pay for that.

Do not lose your temper Legacy! Letting your emotions control you will get you killed as well.

I…I know that Ceta.

Armageddon didn’t stand a chance as he was just turning his head to face Guardian when she struck.

Armageddon lets out a painful roar as Guardian twists the blade lodged in his eye. Before he can recover and let out another blast of energy at her, Guardian yanks Gord’Ang out and blasts off from Armageddon with her KEPs at full power.

Will he heal from that? He’s been healing from the other wounds inflicted on him.

He won’t heal from such a severe wound until a few days and one from Gord’Ang will take months to fully recover from. In fact, any wound inflicted by Gord’Ang will take Armageddon several months to recover from.

So we’ve hurt him.

Yes we have.

Then let us hurt Armageddon some more.

As Guardian stabilises herself for another strike, but Atlas flies at Armageddon just as Alexandria did.

But Atlas is significantly more powerful than his fallen younger sister and slams into the Harbinger at high speeds. Armageddon goes stumbling backwards before regain his balance as he blasts Atlas away another burst of energy.

“Now!” cries a strong feminine voice and Guardian watches as about dozen flying parahumans attack Armageddon.

She spots Glowbug, Iris, Flamefly and Ebony amongst their number and are led by a stunning Aphrodite in tight fitting white spandex with a glowing white energy spear in one hand pointed at Armageddon.

Fools.

They’re going to get crushed.

Armageddon is ready for them and punches Atlas away before firing a large, wide burst of energy at the group. Most dodge, but the slowest members of the group at unable to get out in time.

The white woman, Iris, Glowbug and four others are all about to avoid Armageddon’s attack, but Ebony and three others don’t. Flamefly barely manages to dodge due being at the back of the group, but is still knocked out of the sky.

Ebony and one of those caught in the blast are battered, but stay in the air while the other two are sent tumbling to the ground, one of them a mangled mess.

As the white woman teleports above Armageddon and the others begin their attacks, Guardian also launches another attack against Armageddon.

The white woman stabs her energy stab down into Armageddon as she also unleashes several bolts of white energy on the monsters. Glowbug, Iris and one of the other fliers hang back and pelt Armageddon with energy attacks while the other white attempt to engage him up close.

As she flies in close, Guardian notices more parahumans on the ground engaging Armageddon alongside military tanks and heavy weapon teams.

Guardian slashes Armageddon with Gord’Ang across the arm, but the monster soon recovers. Moving quickly Armageddon blasts the closest heroes away with more energy bursts before grabs a hold of the white woman.

The white woman doesn’t get a change to react before Armageddon snaps her back with a flick of his waist and tosses her limp body aside.

“It just killed Lightbringer,” whispers one of the fliers close to Guardian, sounding terrified.

Guardian uses her KEPs to direct herself at Armageddon, but the Harbinger just already moved on to his next victims.

Iris tries to dodge, but Armageddon is quick enough that his punch catches her in the legs and finishes the job with a concentrated energy attack from his fist as it makes contact. He then turns on Glowbug and the other energy projecting flier and blasts them both out of the sky with another energy burst.

But while her fellow is sent tumbling to the ground, Glowbug steadies herself as her yellow energy glows brighter than Guardian has ever seen it before. She fires a shining beam at Armageddon, causing the monster to pause.

For a moment it looks like Glowbug has actually hurt the Harbinger, but Armageddon suddenly slams his fist into her, sending her flying into the ruins of a half-destroyed building.

Human backs don’t bend that way.

We can’t do anything to help her until Armageddon has been dealt with.

Nic...

As Ebony flies past him, Armageddon catches her with a backhand swipe, knocking her out of the sky as well.

But as his hand comes past Guardian, she strikes out with Gord’Ang. Armageddon roars out in pain as the Linx Sword slices through his little finger.

That will take him a good couple of years to grow back at the very least.

He needs to pay.

Don’t let revenge consume you.

I know! I’m not stupid.

Once again Armageddon focuses his full attention on Guardian, even as a score of missiles slam into him. He staggers back from the force even though he isn’t actually hurt, but the Harbinger doesn’t break eye contact from Guardian.

With a sudden burst of speed, Armageddon rushes Guardian, but the smaller and more agile warrior dodges out of the way and catches his side with a slash from Gord’Ang.

Armageddon suddenly spins around and smashes his fist into Guardian. She raises Gord’Ang in front of her and sent flying none the less. But Gord’Ang absorbs most of the damage, leaving Guardian unharmed other than a bit more damage to the outer plating of her armour.

She smashes into the pavement of the path below and gets to her feet just in time to see Armageddon bring his foot down on her. But an orange ray beam that Guardian recognises slams into the throat of Armageddon.

The massive monster staggers backwards, unbalanced before toppling over and landing on his back.

1.8 Dances Part 3

What happened?

I had to reboot you for lack of better a term.

Why? What exactly does that mean?

The girl that manifested as an ability that controls both the mind and body of a person. To counter that, I broke the control and reloaded the version of your mind from before you were put under this girl’s control.

Will she be able control me again?

Physically yes, but mentally, no. Now I have experienced it, I can block the mental control and while I can’t stop her seizing control of your physical form, it will take me up to two seconds at most to restore your own control.

So what exactly happened? What form does this mental and physical control take?

For starters her power seems to be based around dancing and her joy in partaking in it.

Dancing. I have read about that. So how is that relevant?

Her power makes others dance and they can’t stop. She also puts under in a state of bliss so they don’t want to stop even if they could do so. I’m not sure about the limits of her power’s range because while you, Alexandria, Flamefly and most of the other people were affected, Defender and Quicksteel weren’t.

Anything else I should know?

Yes, the girl can change the outfit of those that her power is affecting.

Wait a moment...

Yes, she replaced your armour with a dress.

She is going down.

“-Yeah, I’ll see if I can, wait, she is seems to be back in control,” says Defender into the Guardsmen’ comms, “Talk with you in a bit. Bye. Hey Guardian.”

“Hello Defender,” says Guardian as she inspects the dress that the annoying girl has replaced her armour with.

Perhaps you can reason with her to restore your armour?

And if she refuses, we beat her up real good.

You’re overacting.

That was my armour! My pride and joy! Someone has to pay!

You can also build more and you also have a spare back at the base.

Bah!

The dress is a silky light blue with a loose skirt and tight bodice. There are no sleeves or even a right strap, but there is a large, frilly one on the left. A white ribbon surrounds her waist, but fortunately there is no bow.

“Are you okay?” asks Defender in a worried voice, “Your armour disappeared and was replaced by the dress and then you went all blank while everybody else started dancing.”

“I’m fine,” says Guardian, “Get Quicksteel away so he doesn’t escape. You should also avoid going after the girl. You might not be immune and it is a bigger deal if people see your face than if they were to see mine.”

“That is true,” admits Defender as she picks up Quicksteel, “I’ll be going then. I have also informed Gears of the situation. I have also come up with a name for the girl. I’m calling her Dancing Queen.”

“Okay,” says Guardian, “Tell him that I can handle it and the others should keep out of it. I’m effectively immune to her powers now that I can counter them. But please pass Quicksteel’s phone to me before you go.”

“Sure,” replies Defender as she tosses the device to Guardian while flying up into the air, “The dress looks good on you by the way.”

I don’t care about that. I prefer armour.

Function over form.

Yeah!

Guardian glances at Alexandria, who is dancing with Flamefly whilst wearing a white, red and blue party dress. Both superheroes have this dazed look of bliss on their faces, oblivious to the rest of the world.

At least she is happy whilst under control of Dancing Queen.

From what I can tell, Dancing Queen doesn’t seem to be malicious. Rather, she seems to be confused and scared and is acting out of panic and instinct. I recommend we try and reason with her rather than attacking her.

Humph!

Don’t be petty. Focus on what on doing your duty.

I better call Glowbug then and inform her of what is going on.

That is the spirit.

Guardian takes a moment to use her power to customise Quicksteel’s phone, including adding a voice distorter so Glowbug will recognise her voice. Once that is done, Guardian phones Glowbug’s number.

“Hello, Nicola Hatheway here,” answers Glowbug, “Who is this?”

“Guardian,” replies Guardian. “I need to inform you of the situation.”

“Yeah, I was wondering what happened,” says Glowbug, “We suddenly lost all contact with Alexandria and Flamefly.”

“Well, the thing is that we got a newly manifested parahuman on the loose,” says Guardian before explaining the rest of the situation to Glowbug.

“That is not good,” says Glowbug, “Pathfinder and I will go after Dancing Queen then. We’ll try and talk some sense into her.”

“She is very dangerous,” points out Guardian.

“Yeah, but her power is dancing,” says Glowbug, “Pathfinder will find her and try to talk to her while I will nail her at range if that doesn’t work. See ya later.”

“But she took out Alexandria and Flamefly by accident,” Guardian tries to tell Glowbug, but she has already hung up.

She completely ignored my warnings!

Her preconceptions about some having a power based around dancing has stopped her from realising that Dancing Queen’s power is actually a very strong ‘control’ power.

Yeah. We should get moving. You know where she went?

I can point you in the right direction. We still have our spy network and I can access it simply by connecting the phone in your hand to the network.

Cool.

Following Ceta’s directions, Guardian begins to run down the street, only to stumble as she picks up speed.

What on Earth?

Guardian looks down at her feet.

Heels. I’m wearing heels.

Throw them away and wrap cloth around your feet to protect them.

Good plan.

Doing as Ceta suggests, Guardian takes off the heels and tosses them aside. She then heads back to one of the two people that weren’t affected by Dancing Queen and rips off several strips of cloth off of their clothes. Guardian wraps them around both of her feet before darting off.

Time to hunt down Dancing Queen and make her pay for getting rid of my armour.

Actually we’re going to try and reason with her.

Uh-uh. 

1.8 Dances Part 2

A completely different person has suddenly replaced the convulsing girl.

No, she has just manifested. That is still the same person.

Is that what happens? I thought there would be more to it.

There is, but that is for the only the person gaining power to see. We, the outsiders, don’t see the process, only the results.

Oh.

We should check on her.

Guardian bends down over the girl. She never really got a good look at the girl.

At least my armour will contain records of what she looked like before.

Guardian checks out the appearance of the girl. She is clearly an Aphrodite like Alexandria, Glowbug and Iris.

Is it just me or does it seem like there are more female parahumans than males one?

Statistically speaking, there are generally two females for every male when it comes to parahumans.

How do you know that?

Using data that I have collected over time.

Anything else I should be aware of?

Adolescents are more likely to become parabeings. In the case of humans, that means teenagers.

That I have noticed already.

You might find it interest to know that over half of parahumans will be bisexual with a third of the rest being homosexual, another third being asexual and only the remaining third will be straight.

That could be useful to know. Maybe.

You might also want to know that parahumans are also more likely to be attracted to power regardless of their orientation.

Now that I’m sure will be useful someday.

The girl has long shiny black hair and glistering blue eyes in addition to her sleek and slender body. Her top seems strained due to her new chest while her jeans are now too short and tight.

“A little help please Guardian,” says Defender as she continues to fight the parahuman drug dealer.

Guardian pulls out a flashbang from her utility belt and throws it at the duo. It goes off, blinding the dealer while Defender’s armour filters it out.

With a furious swing, Defender’s armoured fist connects with the jaw of the dealer, knocking the man off his feet. Defender grabs the man’s leg and swing him over her shoulder and into the ground.

“Did the girl manifest or something?” asks Defender as she looks at the curled up girl, “Because I’m sure she didn’t look like that before.”

“She did,” answers Guardian, “I’m going to call Alexandria so she can arrest the parahuman dealer and help out this girl. She’ll be able to do it better than we can.”

“Is this normal to you?” asks Defender as she indicates the scene around them, “We go to take down some drug dealers and end up dealing with a pair of parahumans. And you just act so calmly about it.”

“I suppose this sort of thing is normal for me,” replies Guardian as she calls Alexandria’s number, “I haven’t experienced another type of life so this is all I know. Now please excuse me as Alexandria is answering. Hello Alexandria, this is Guardian.”

“Hello Guardian,” replies Alexandria, “What do I owe the pleasure of this call to?”

“Defender and I have taken down a parahuman drug dealer,” explains Guardian, “We also have a newly manifested parahuman girl on our hands and I feel that you would be better suited to dealing with her.”

“Okay,” replies Alexandria, “Flamefly and I were just about to go on patrol anyway. We’ll just swing by to your coordinates.”

“I’ll send you them now,” Guardian tells her as she does that.

“Thanks,” says Alexandria, “See you in a bit.”

Guardian ends the call.

“Alexandria and Flamefly are on their way,” says Guardian to her teammate, “Have you fought villains other than this one?”

“Not really,” replies Defender, “Protector and I did help Mr and Mrs Fowler fight off Vampiric and Invicta. But we arrived late to the fight and it wasn’t before long Darkness called them off. What about you? The first supervillain that you fought was Metal Man right?”

“That is correct,” confirms Guardian as she uses a bio-scanner on the girl, “Despite what people may believe, I feel that Metal Man defeated me that day.”

The girl is physically fine. There is nothing we can do help her.

I am aware.

“But didn’t you take him down and left him to get arrest?” asks Defender.

“No,” replies Guardian as she sends off the scan, “Contrary to popular belief, I walked into a trap and was lucky to get out alive. When I took down Metal Man and his gang, it was an act of desperation to give me the opportunity to get away with my life. I was expecting to end up taking his gang down over the course of the next couple of weeks.”

“Huh,” mutters Defender as she crosses her arms, “I’m- I’m not actually sure how to feel about that.”

“It isn’t a big deal,” replies Guardian.

“I wouldn’t spread that around if I were you,” says Defender, “Your attitude and reputation are doing you wonders.”

“What do you mean?” inquire Guardian.

“Well, you’re pretty cold and intimidating as the Guardian,” explains Defender, “Having been with you out of costume I know that isn’t the case, but that would be how the rest of the world sees you. Just a pragmatic and dangerous vigilante going around beating up people with minimal speaking.”

“I see your point,” replies Guardian, “I personally feel indifferent to how others perceive me.”

“Yeah,” agrees Defender, “I never really cared about how other folk have seen me. Especially since my accident. What matters was what I thought about myself.”

“That is a good outlook to have,” replies Guardian.

“Kind of the opposite of what we’re been told,” says Alexandria as she floats down with Flamefly trailing behind her as the weaker parahuman struggles to keep up with Alexandria, “PR is one of the things our bosses worry about the most and also want us to worry about.”

“We just focus on helping people and trying to do the right thing,” replies Guardian.

“We also try to do that, but we just have to look good while doing so,” replies Alexandria as she lands and bends over the girl, “So-”

***

Reboot Successful.

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.