1.20 Aftermath Part 4

“Go for it,” replies Leo, “But why haven’t you done that yet? It isn’t like you to not do something like this, especially considering this is Scott’s daughter we are talking about.”

“If I made one power nullifier, I would have to make more or share the technology to do so or people would just take Alice’s,” explains Legacy, “We could stop them, even if it was the government or some other official group. But that wouldn’t be a good option.”

“I understand,” says Leo with a thoughtful expression on his face, “Nuclear war is also an option, but that doesn’t mean anyone is going to take it. So basically you don’t want to release game-changing tech into the world without informing me first?”

“Pretty much,” agrees Legacy, “Do you have problem if I do this?”

“Not really,” replies Leo, “Just keep it basic. Let’s keep the fancy stuff for ourselves. No need to go around sharing the advanced stuff just yet.”

Legacy nods in agreement before asking a question that has been hovering about her mind, “How is Joan?”

“Good,” replies Leo, “She mainly adjusting to her powers. I would say that her manifestation has changed her personality, but I think it is more that her new powers allow her to act more freely. Joan hasn’t so much changed, but simply has more ability to act in ways that were previously denied to her. Which is good as I’m not sure what I could do if her mind had been altered by her powers.”

“So I’m guessing Joan is a carefree and whimsical spirit them?” says Legacy.

“Yep,” agrees Leo, “Quite like the rest of my family. Actually, Joan is a lot like them. I remember reading somewhere that people are likely to be attracted to people similar to those they grew up with. I guess that is true in my case.”

“So where is Joan currently?” asks Legacy, “I would like to ask her something.”

“Ask away Legacy,” replies Joan as she strides into the base, using the same entrance as Legacy.

Legacy and Leo both to turn to look at Joan as she strides down the base.

I wonder if this is actually her secondary body or if she is still just trying it out.

DD cup breasts, an excellent, but not quite Aphrodite hourglass figure, luscious red hair that goes down to her shoulders, a height of five foot seven, a pleasant feminine voice similar to her original voice and bright green eyes. Joan’s clothes consist of a white t-shirt that shows some of her cleavage, but not overly so. A pale brown skirt goes down just past her knees while on her feet are some black boots with some slight heels to them.

“So what do you think of my secondary body?” asks Joan before twirling around on one foot and dropping into what Legacy assumes is supposed to be a sexy pose.

“Looks good,” replies Leo.

“And you know first-hand that it feels good too dear,” replies Joan teasingly, but Leo just rolls his eyes, “You know, I want to spend more time together with you as a sexy girl. It was fun.”

“I suppose I can indulge you every once in a while,” replies Leo.

“Really?” asks Joan, surprised by Leo’s response, “I expected you to put up more resistance.”

“Physical forms and attraction don’t hold much significance to me,” replies Leo before tapping the side of his head with a finger, “To me, what is up here is what truly matters. When it comes to bodies and whatnot, I’m willing to let you call the shots since it will make you happy. That said, I don’t want to be a girl, I just don’t consider it a horrible thing to be one part of time.”

“Thanks Leo!” replies Joan, “So I am doing for you Legacy?”

“You don’t even know what I am asking you to do,” points out Legacy.

“You are such as hypocrite,” retorts Joan as she sticks her hands on her hips and leans forward slightly, “You’re my best friend Miss I-instantly-agree-to-something-without-knowing-what-it-is because-my-friend-asked-me-to-do-it. So out with it Legacy.”

“I want you to make me more normal,” says Legacy before elaborating, “I want to be able to feel physical attraction. I want to be able to understand things rather than just knowing about them without understanding. I want to be able to interactive with people without completely sticking out.”

“Oh I get that,” replies Joan, “You want to be able to maintain a normal relationship with Nicola right?”

“Half the time I struggle to understand what we’re doing and the other half, I’m just nodding and smiling while trying to keep that fact I have no idea what is going on secret from her,” admits Legacy, finally acknowledging the thing that been bugging her for a while now.

“You’re a space alien Legacy,” points out Joan as she dramatically rolls her eyes, “Tell ya what, I’ll help you out with that stuff. Heck, I’ll even knock your boobs up a couple of sizes at same time given we’re such good friends.”

“I’d rather you didn’t,” replies Legacy, frowning at the idea, “Big breasts would just be annoying to me. All they do is hinder one’s ability to fight and limit their mobility.”

“Alright,” says Joan as she throws an arm around Legacy, “Just come to me whenever you are going out on a date or doing something with Nic and I’ll boost your sexiness until you come back to me afterwards.”

“Thank you Joan,” replies Legacy, “Now if the two of you don’t mind, I’ll get changed out of my armour now.”

“Say, speaking of your armour, have you...” Joan gets this wide eyed look as her voice trails off, “Oh, oh! That gives me an idea!”

“I’ll join you,” says Leo, getting out of his seat as Joan runs off towards Legacy’ lap, “A joint-project using your Gadgeteering power sounds like fun.”

“May I join in as well?” asks Legacy as Leo walks past her.

“Sure thing,” replies Leo as he gets a thoughtful look of his home.

“I’ll help as well!” says Jaylyn using the base speakers.

Enjoying your life Legacy?

Yes, yes I am Mum.  

1.17 Homecoming Part 1

“Welcome back Father,” says Jaylyn in her new voice, still a feminine computerised voice as always, as Gears enters the base via elevator, “May I ask why you have come here first?”

“Is that a joke?” asks Gears as he looks upwards despite Jaylyn not having a physical form.

Does she seriously think I am going to go home to my family in this state?

She is just a little girl.

An AI.

But still just a little kid.

Gears looks down at himself. His armour is still a mess from the fight with Apocalypse and he has yet to have an opportunity to change into anything else. That said, he has been able to patch it up a bit.

The Norwegian locals, including the government authorities, were willing to help him out a bit. Even by respecting his desire to keep his identity secret since the US government wasn’t requesting they arrest him or uncover his true identity.

Ragnar healed up his left arm, but it is still missing from the elbow. A few spare pieces from folks here and there helped patch the damage on his armour temporarily so it was functional once again.

“No,” replies Jaylyn bluntly.

I wonder who she got that from? Me or Legacy. Perhaps Scott?

“I need time to tidy up and get my affairs in order,” says Gears as he strides towards his lab, “I want to be on top of things when I approach the DSA. Especially since they know my secret identity now.”

“But don’t you want to meet your new twin sister?” insists Jaylyn.

“What is she like?” inquires Gears, curious about his alternate that was summoned.

I’m going to take Jaylyn calling her my new twin sister as a good sign.

Jaylyn wouldn’t refer to her that way if she didn’t like her.

“Well,” replies Jaylyn, sounding excited, “Her name is Belinda Oriana Geary or Bel for short. She is a female version of you who is an only child and is a substitute sister to the Joan in her world. In her world, there are far less parahumans and they are weaker than those in our world on average. She is an Aphrodite like you, but is also Bellator that is stronger than A+ Class. Otherwise she is an A Class Energy Projector with white energy. At least as far as she has revealed to the government. Privately, she has told me that she also has psionic fields that grant super strength, nigh invulnerability, telekinesis and psionic blasts. She also has a few other minor and passive powers that aren’t really noticeable. Since arriving in our dimension, Aunt Bel has been spending most of her time with Mother.”

“Thanks for the info darling,” says Leo, taking in that information as he removes his helmet, “Do you have prosthetic arm ready for me yet?”

“Yes Father,” replies Jaylyn, “I have been working on it ever since you lost your arm. It is ready to place on your arm just as soon as you make the necessary upgrades to your flesh at the end of your left arm to support it.”

Huh. It has only just hit me that I’m going to be a cyborg now.

It could be worse.

And is being a cyborg any worse than being a parahuman?

I suppose it isn’t. Actually, I find the idea of being a cyborg kind of cool

“Let’s get this over and done with as soon as possible,” says Leo with some weariness, “I want to get home and see my family. It has definitely been too long since I’ve seen Mum, Dad, Tan-Mum! I forgot see manifested. Damn it! What sort of parahuman is she Jaylyn?”

“Grandma Danica is an A+ Class Abnormal taking the form of what can be describe as an Aphrodite Anime Cat-Girl Fairy,” answers Jaylyn, “She can open portals to other dimensions, has nigh invulnerability, telekinesis, white energy projection and tinkering at high levels. She also has lower level telepathy and appears to have various powers at D Class levels. She also emits a fear aura, but is able to control and tone it down. Grandma Danica’s mentality appears to be normal, but I have detected that she is much more whimsical and humorous like a fairy. However, it appears to be benevolent in nature and she does not enjoy the pain and suffering of others.”

Nothing too bad. It could have been much worse.

Let us be thankful that it isn’t.

Still, Mum is kinda of overpowered and those powers aren’t exactly related.

We can look into that at later date.

“Okay, now what are the DSA doing?” asks Leo.

Depending what they decide to do, the Department of Superhuman Affairs could be a serious problem.

They have legal and official authority in the affairs of parahumans that is effectively uncontested.

And the backing of the United States government. I don’t fancy our chances against the entire US of A.

Actually we might have a decent chance. If we have some time to prepare that is.

Yes, Legacy and Sentinel would stand with us. Scott and Cain would both back up Legacy and Allison would support us.

We have a good amount of weaponry and equipment stockpiled and we can easily produce more. And our tech level is serious above that the US government even with all of their tinkers and gadgeteers.

And if we can produce warbots under the command of Jaylyn to fill out our numbers...

With some artificial intelligence of their own in case Jaylyn’s control is disrupted.

They have lots of powerful parahumans.

So? We have weaponry that is more than capable of killing an A+ parahuman with nigh invulnerability. Plus we can always hire some mercs or villains if we needed to.

And Legacy and Jaylyn are practically unkillable in the long term. And they would never stop fighting even if the rest of us were slain.

Interlude - Belinda

Belinda Oriana Geary hesitates as she waits by the door of her alternate’s bedroom, unwilling to go out into the corridor just yet.

This version of Earth is just so strange. And yet it is very similar and I almost forget where I am. But then something majorly different just comes along and reminds me of my situation.

We’ll work through this.

Yeah, we will. But this world will take some getting used to. They have only had powers here for six months and there is at least over a hundred thousand parahumans since then while our world had them for over two years and there wasn’t even twenty thousand yet. And there is at least five hundred A Class parahumans in this world while ours had less than twenty total.

We’ll have to get used to no longer being one of the most powerful people in the world.

I wonder when my alternate will get back.

Leo you mean?

Yeah, Leonard Orrell Geary. I wonder what he is like? I hope he is like me, but considering the major differences in our lives...we can’t be certain he will be like us at all. For starters he is a boy and has two younger siblings while we are, were, an only child. Plus he has Joan as a girlfriend rather than as the sister that we never had.

He is a good person like you are and he also choose to become a hero to do the right thing just as you did. Just ask Joan, she is coming to see us right now.

It isn’t Joan, just her alternate.

“May I come in?” asks this world’s Joan as she pushes the door wide open and strides in.

“You’re supposed to wait for a response for coming in,” replies Belinda as Joan hops down on the bed.

“I know,” answers Joan with a shameless smile.

Well, at least she is like our Joan.

I suppose.

“Come and sit next to me,” says Joan as she pats bed next to her.

Why not?

Doing as the alternate Joan says, Belinda plops herself down next to the smaller girl.

“So what do you want?” asks Belinda as she looks down at the smaller girl.

“Well, first I want to tell you that I think you’re beautiful,” replies Joan, causing Belinda to flush red in response, “I know you’re an Aphrodite, but just look at yourself.”

Now feeling both pleased and self-conscious at the compliment, Belinda looks down at herself.

Joan does have a point. I am very beautiful, beyond the point that a normal person could naturally hope to reach.

Her long, sleek blonde hair is draped over her large breasts with her cleavage exposed by the tightly fitting white t-shirt. Belinda looks past her breasts at her denim skinny jeans covering her legs.

I have long and pretty hair, an excellent hourglass figure and perfect features. I supposes I am beautiful. At least by my own definitions

“But what I don’t get is why you’re an Aphrodite rather than a Bellator,” continues Joan.

“What?” replies Belinda, confused by what Joan just asked her.

“Well, Leo is a very practical and pragmatic person hence why his Enhanced rating is a Bellator,” explains Joan, “You on the other hand are an Aphrodite, which applies when people care more about looks.”

“Well, while I’m a tomboy at heart, I still like to be a girly girl,” replies Belinda, “I suppose that is why I am an Aphrodite. That said, I am also partially Bellator as my Enhanced body puts my physique at C+ Class plus levels.”

“Really?” says Joan, sounding like she only half-believes what she is being told, “Well, I suppose there are weirder things than having a mega-hybrid superpower. That said, I’m certain that are some supers already with powers like that.”

“Yeah,” agrees Belinda absentmindedly.

“Hey Bel,” says Joan suddenly, getting that cheeky look on her face that Belinda wouldn’t recognise anywhere.

At least some things are same in this universe.

Joan reaches forward with her hand towards Belinda’s chest. And while she spots it easily with her increased reaction times and perception and could easily block the relatively slow motion with her superior reflexes, Belinda lets it happen.

My Joan did this plenty of times as well.

Joan’s hand squeezes Belinda’s breast and Belinda, deciding to have a bit of fun herself, quickly grabs Joan at inhuman speeds and thrusts her head towards her breast. As her head is buried in Belinda’s breasts, Joan lets out a yelp that is muffled by the mounds of flesh.

As she lets go of Joan, Belinda starts to laugh and as soon as she has pulled her head back, Joan joins her.

This Joan is going to be just fine.

See? Look on the bright sight of things Belinda.

As their laugh dies down after a minute or so, Belinda pulls Joan into a hug and Joan hugs her back.

“Thank you for being here for me,” whispers Belinda into Joan’s ear.

“No problem,” replies Joan, “Leo has always been there for me and you’re basically Leo if he had been born a girl. How big are they anyway?”

“So you think of me as female version of Leo?” inquires Belinda, genuinely curious about this matter, “Oh, the girls are F cups.”

“Wow,” mutters Joan before answering Belinda’s question, “Well, yeah. Of course I do. I mean, I wouldn’t have done that to anybody else. I haven’t done it with my own family, with Allison it would be to awkward and it would just be plain weird to do it to Legacy.”

“Legacy?” repeats Belinda.

I have never heard of that girl before.

And such a strange name.

“Guardian,” replies Joan with a shrug, “Half-alien mutant super soldier superhero with no memories of her past and my best friend. But we can talk about her later. I want to show you something first.”

“Sure,” replies Belinda, intrigued by whatever Joan wishes to show her.

Aren’t you bothered by whom or rather what Legacy is?

Not at the moment. Besides, she is Joan’s best friend so we don’t need to worry about her.

Joan pulls out a smartphone and holds the screen in front of Belinda.

Don’t react to this and keep it quiet.

This is the only secret I haven’t spilled today and probably the most important.

Okay, now I definitely want to know what this is.

The text on the screen of the phone changes, breaking apart and reforming into a series of different words.

Hello Aunt Belinda. I am Jaylyn Geary, more commonly known Sentinel to the world at large. I am an AI created by my father Leonard Orrell Geary and my true nature is known only to a select few. Pleasure to meet you.

Wow.

Oh yes.

I can’t believe this.

You’re an aunt.

Oh shut it Determined Protector.

1.16 Devil Part 3

Remembering how Tar’garieth hit him even after he dodged, Gears won’t let Apocalypse get off so easily either. He swings the halberd towards Apocalypse and the beam slams into Apocalypse.

Got him!

Good shot.

The Harbinger howls as unnatural energy tears into his side, ripping through the outer flesh of the arm, leaving the limb hanging loosely at the side.

Almost instantly, the wound begins to regenerate and Apocalypse turns his head to look directly at Gears.

Not good! So totally not good!

Run!

“Run!” yells Gears to Beowulf as he takes off into the air.

Gears doesn’t make it far, barely reaching the buildings again when he slam into the ground. He cries out in pain as he feels his left arm crushing inwards, the armour doing nothing other than resist for a couple moments before breaking and tearing into his flesh and bone.

As Gears grits his teeth in pain, the crushing suddenly stops and Gears looks up to see several figures standing over him.

“Gar det bra?” asks a voice and Gears hears Beowulf reply in Norwegian

Gears calls up his armour status on his HUD.

That...that is pretty nasty.

I am unable to heal it in this realm.

Gears’ upper left arm has been compromised with broken armour, internal and external bleeding, bruised and torn muscles and a fractured bone. The lower half of the arm and the hand are...missing, simply torn off by whatever Apocalypse did.

The Harbinger must have used his telekinesis.

That is the most probable answer.

How good are you with your right hand?

Good enough given I’m left handed. At the very least, I am good enough to last this battle.

“Father,” says a familiar and welcome voice via his internal speakers.

Jaylyn? I am so glad to hear her voice again.

We missed her.

“Sentinel,” mutters Gears as he remembers to turn his external speakers off, “What is the status at home?”

“The Slaughter Seven have been sent in full retreat,” replies Sentinel, “Friend and most of their lackeys are dead while Necromantress and Aquiline have been captured. Demonica has taken over leadership for the survivors. Less than three hundred people were killed. We got lucky. Very and extremely lucky Father.”

Aquiline got captured?

“And our casualties?” ask Gears.

“Other than Guardian, nobody whom you know was killed or injured beyond the ability to heal,” answers Sentinel, “Other than that, some interesting things happened in the aftermath. Oh, Mother is fine and completely unhurt by the way.”

Good. That is one less thing to worry about.

What about Guardian?

She’ll be fine.

“So what interesting things happened?” inquires Gears as he feels the pain in what is left of his left arm begin to fade away.

“Well, Grandma Danica manifested and is A Class,” replies Sentinel, “She, Grandpa Cecil and Mother’s family found out your secret identity after DSA revealed it to them. They themselves found out after Mother let it slip. Secretary Scott himself showed up and it turns how he is Sentry’s brother! Other than that, when they tried to retrieve you from the other dimension Demonica sent you to, they accidentally got an alternate version of you instead. So now you have a twin sister! The DSA is currently in the process of sorting out the paperwork. I should also inform you that you have suffered severe damage to your arm? Should I begin to fabricate a replacement?”

Well that is a lot to take in. Shouldn’t all of that seem weirder?

Meh.                                                                                                 

Weird is relative to us these days anyway.

“Yeah,” mutters Gears as he sits upright and looks around.

Beowulf is there along with a brown haired Adonis in a brown and dark green costume. Standing next to him is a red-white spandex clad Aphrodite with flaming hair while to Gears’ other side is person wearing thick and bulky grey armour. Next to the armoured person is hovering Bellator man in dark blue spandex with white boots and gauntlets and glowing mane of hair.

To the front of Gears is a white-haired female in Viking armour whilst tending to what remains of his left arm is another person in Viking armour, this one an Adonis.

“Are you okay now Helt?” inquires the man tending to his arm in heavily accented English.

“Yeah,” replies Gears as he gets to his feet, “The pain is gone.”

“Good, my potion has done its work then,” says the man, “I am Ragnar. You are the fabled Gears right?”

Beowulf must have-wait, fabled Gears?

He must have heard of us.

“The one that scares Darkness right?” inquires the woman in front of Gears in a deathly cold hiss.

Ah, that will explain it.

So both Darkness and we are known here in Norway. Not bad for a couple of Americans.

“That I am,” confirms Gears as he picks up his halberd with his right hand, “Who are you guys?”

They all take a few moments to explain their powers to each other as the Viking woman keeps up a telekinetic shield around them.

The man in green and brown is midlevel brick called Bjorn while the flaming hair woman is Pryokinetic called Flamevinge and the armoured man is a low level brick and Gadgeteer known as Jernside. None of them speak English, but all of the rest do.

All of them are local government heroes led by the hovering man, a specialised energy projector at lower upper levels called Bolt. The two in Viking armour are both supervillains and part of Darkness’ international Syndicate.

Ragnar is a Norse enchantment tinker at B Class while the woman is an undead Abnormal at A Class level called Draugr with half a dozen A+ Class powers.

“Super Strength, Nigh Invulnerability, Regeneration, Telekinesis, Cryokinesis and Phasing,” Dragur had said, “I am the leader of Scandinavian Syndicate Division.”

“Okay guys,” says Gears as he looks at wear Apocalypse is now hovering over the city, “Let’s go and hurt this guy.”

1.14 Slaughter Part 7

Aquiline dodges to the side and Gears’ handgun automatically ejects the empty magazine. Most of the Renders miss, but three hit Aquiline despite his abnormally quick reflexes.

Aquiline’s words about his suit being both bullet and explosion proof are proven correct as the Renders fail to hurt him with neither its kinetic force nor its explosive power. Aquiline laughs loudly as he twirls both of his blades again.

Where is Necromantress?

Yes, where indeed?

Probably off to create more undead.

Then we need to finish off Aquiline and Murderiser and hunt her down.

Along with the rest of the Seven and Sinister Man.

If Sinister Man isn’t a member of their group.

Oh he is.

“Well, this has been fun, but I have to go,” says Aquiline with a mock bow, “Personally, I don’t want to get involved in this anymore than I have to. It is my teammates that want to tangle with you guys to be honest. So I figured why not let them find out first-hand how dangerous the Guardsmen are? If they survived, they’ll come out more educated for it. If they don’t, then we’re better off without them.”

Meanwhile Gears has reloaded his handgun with another type of bullets, Blasters, as he listens to Aquiline talk. Blasters contained high explosives with a lot of power. Designed purely to blow apart their targets.

As Aquiline dashes down the alley, Gears opens fire with his handgun. Five of the six shots hit Aquiline and while they don’t penetrate his clothing, they do stagger him. As the Aquiline stumbles, Gears fires off his KEPs and slams into the monster in human form.

Shouldn’t there be more people about?

Yes, there should be.

With the Seven about, the implications of such a thing are disturbing.

Indeed, we should eliminate Aquiline as quickly as we can so we can evaluated the situation.

Both Gears and Aquiline go tumbling into the road, Gears losing hold of his weapons in the process. As Gears get to his feet, he spots one of Aquiline’s silver swords lying within reach. He looks up to see Aquiline preparing to strike him with the other sword, where it is has currently lodged itself into the road.

With a snarl, Gears rolls out the way and grabs the other sword. Aquiline yanks his own sword out of the road and swings it at the vigilante. Gears whips his stolen sword around, meeting Aquiline’s in a clang and burst of sparks.

Gears is rewarded with a momentarily stunned look on the Aquiline’s face, just there for a spilt-second to the one point somebody would need inhumanly quick reaction time to even notice it.

And I think that was a bit of fear in that look as well.

Growling at Aquiline, Gears’ fist slams into Aquiline’s gut, already in mid swing when the swords made contact. Winded, Aquiline stumbles backwards and Gears presses his attack. He swipes his sword at Aquiline and the serial killer raises his own.

As the flat side of Gears’ sword hits the sharp side of Aquiline’s, Gears watches as his sword snaps into two.

Dammit it!

We still have two of our own molecular daggers.

Plus Aquiline’s blade must be losing its sharpness as well.

Indeed. Aquiline might be more skilled, but we have more options and gadgets available to us even if we are equally skilled physically.

I just wish we knew his power set.

As Gears hops back and prepares for Aquiline’s next attack, both he and his foe turn to look at Murderiser as the mass murder crawls rapidly along the side of the wall. Protector quickly follows him out of the alley at ground level.

Gears and Protector make eye contact.

“Don’t let Murderiser get away,” says Gears, using the comms in their armour, before turning his attention back to Aquiline, “I got this one.”

“As you say,” replies Protector as he activates his KEPs and flies off after Murderiser.

It appears wall crawling is one of Murderiser’s powers.

And did you notice that his arm was healed from the damage we inflicted earlier?

Yeah, I did.

It is not good news.

Indeed, Murderiser must have some form of powerful healing or regeneration.

That is definitely not good news.

Aquiline charges forward, swing his sword at Gears. Gears fires up his KEPs and takes off into the air, out of Aquiline’s reach.

“So where is the rest of the Slaughter Seven?” inquires Gears in an angry voice.

“Dealing with the local heroes,” replies Aquiline in what is supposed to be a causal tone, but is too tight for that, “Friend and some of our lackeys are dealing with the local heroes while Demonica, Hackjob and Murder Wolf are taking care of those ridiculously powerful Fowlers. Necromantress is doing her thing.”

Joan.

We must deal with this monster and go to her aid.

We can’t just let Aquiline go and he shows no signs going down anytime soon.

Then we send Jaylyn to aid Joan.

“Sentinel,” says Gears as he switches to a private channel and turns off his external speakers, “Go and help your mother. Demonica, Hackjob and Murder Wolf are going after her and the rest of her family.”

“Understood Father,” replies Jaylyn in less than a split-second, “I will use your spare suits of armour.”

“Good girl,” mutters Gears under his breath as he turns his external speakers back on, “Let us finish this Aquiline.”

“Then come down and fight,” sneers Aquiline as he points his remaining sword at Gears.

“Actually,” says a deep, distorted feminine voice, “Why don’t you go and help some others in need of aid Boh. I will deal with this Tokkik.”

I know that voice…

This is wondrous news!

Indeed!

Excellent!

Brilliant!

Praise be God!

“Guardian,” says both Gears and Aquiline at the same time, but in two very different voices.

1.14 Slaughter Part 4

The punch goes upwards, connecting with the Sinister Man’s jaw from below. Unlike Leo’s, Joan’s punch actually hurts the Sinister Man, causing the parahuman to stagger backwards.

Where did she learn to punch like that?

And where did she get that much power to put behind it?

To Leo’ shock, Joan follows it up by grabbing the Sinister Man’s arm and twisting it as she kicks him in the back of the knee. The Sinister Man’s features contort in pain before he violent throws Joan away.

When did Joan learn out to fight?

Those are some good moves.

Guardian has used those moves in battle before.

Wait, did Legacy teach Joan how to fight?

Either that or Ceta is in control right now.

It could easily be both.

As Leo gets to his feet, he moves to grab at the Sinister Man, but the hostile parahuman is already trying to get away. As the Sinister Man flees from sight, Leo stops and blinks.

What is going on? Why does my body hurt so much?

We-we were in a fight?

Yes, we were.

Against whom?

A fellow parahuman?

It has to be. No normal person could beat us so.

Or mess with our memory.

I-I vaguely remember fighting a tall man in a suit.

This is troublesome.

***

Leo drops his school bag on the chair after closing the door. While not injured enough to send off to hospital, the school nurse still sent him home after looking him over.

But right now, I’m not worried about my injuries. What is worrying me is the parahuman.

Indeed, we still don’t know the full extent of the parahuman’s powers.

Even his appearance is still fuzzy to remember.

He was a tall and slim man with short black hair and very bland features.

And he still on the loose.

And once he leaves your sight, you forget about him. Even if you see him on video.

Yeah.

We can remember him.

We’re spreading out of the effects of his power between the six of us. It is only one sixth effective on us than it would be on a normal person.

Joan was able to remember the Sinister Man due to Ceta’s defences in her mind, but pretended it was due to Abby’s power affecting her. The two girls had no memory of what happened, but Leo was able to capture the Sinister Man on video. Even if they hadn’t, there was still the aftermath of the fight.

But as soon as the video ended, people would forget about the Sinister Man. Ultimately the police got their officers to describe what they were seeing so they could record their words as evidence.

Leo walks into the kitchen. While he should probably stay at home, it would be best if Gears hunted down the Sinister Man.

“Father,” says Jaylyn, her voice emitting from Leo’s phone, “The Sinister Man is heading to your house. He is almost there.”

He is coming after us?

In our own home no less.

How did he find us?

Perhaps it is one of his powers?

Maybe he just followed us.

“If it a fight he wants, then a fight I will give him,” replies Leo.

In private, I can do a lot more.

Plus we have all those gadgets you have hidden throughout the house.

We still need to be careful to not trash the place.

Now that would be hard to explain to our parents.

“Be careful Father,” says Jaylyn before the call ends.

Leo dashes up to his room where he has stored a basic set of power armour. He quickly puts it on. It doesn’t consist of much, just an exosuit and some Gardium armour plates. No extra gadgets or devices other than the helmet HUD. Nor is the power armour as strong, powerful or durable as a set of Guardsman armour.

Leo grabs a pair of molecular blades that he has hidden away beneath his bed before deciding to go and confront the Sinister Man. As he turns to exit his bedroom, Leo spots the Sinister Man down the corridor at the top of the stairs.

This-this is actually pretty scary.

If it a choice between keeping our family safe and keeping our secret identity…

We will always to our best to keep our family safe.

And that means removing this fiend from our home.

“Well, well, well,” says Leo as he strides forward, “I can’t say I expected you to follow me home, but when I found out you were coming…anyway, did you really think you could just make forget about you?”

Make myself appear more confident than I am.

Good plan.

The Sinister Man is silent as Leo draws both molecular blades. Once he is within two metres, Leo sidesteps as the Sinister Man strikes at him. Also moving inhumanly quick if slower than his foe, Leo slashes both blades at the Sinister Man.

One blade cuts the Sinister Man across the left cheek while the other nicks the side of his chest. The Sinister Man’s facial feature express surprise and he doesn’t react as Leo kicks him down the stairs.

Landing at the bottom of the stairs gracefully, the Sinister Man and Leo stare at each other for several minutes before the Sinister Man decides to leave, moving swiftly. Before Leo can stop him, the Sinister Man is already almost out of the house and Leo decides to just let him leave.

Well, that could have gone a lot worse.