1.7 Guardsmen Part 8

“Thanks for coming,” says Gears as Guardian joins him in flying over Grand Rapids in the afternoon the day after they visited Alexandria and Atlas.

Does he think that we would even consider not helping him?

Apparently so.

What exactly are we doing?

Did you even bother to find out what you were agreeing to?

Leo asked for help and that required meeting him at this time. The details weren’t important for me when I was agreeing to help him.

I understand. None the less, details are still worth paying attention to.

“So what are we doing?” asks Guardian.

“Did you even know what you were agreeing to?” inquires Gears.

“I was agreeing to help you,” replies Guardian, “That was all that mattered.”

“Ahh, well, thanks for that,” replies Gears, “But first let’s switch to a private channel, I would rather not get overheard by anybody with super senses.”

“Sure,” says Guardian as she switches to the same private channel as Gears just switched to, “So why am I here?”

“The answer to that has multiple parts,” answers Gears, “Primarily it is to help Joan and, to a lesser extent, you. I think you two would make for great friends, but I need to arrange it so the two of you can meet in a way that isn’t suspicious so you can be friends publically. I am also trying to get Iris, Joan’s sister, to interact with her. I have to do in a way that won’t cause Leo or Joan trouble as I have no idea how Alexis will react to being reminded of her sister.”

“She has forgotten her sister?” inquires Guardian, “How could that happen?”

“Simple,” says Gears, “Joan has always been ill and is the youngest of six. Her parents are billionaires and need to manage their fortunes amongst other things. Even then, they are still mildly involved in Joan’s life if not directly. As for her siblings, Joan has been living in the same room for about two years now and they all have their own lives to live. Only Alexis is still living in Grand Rapids at the moment and she is most likely ignoring her memories of Joan because she can’t do anything about her condition. And if she still remembered Joan at the start of the year, I’m sure that her powers and ensuring mess have completely driven her younger sister from her mind.”

“So what are going to do?” demands Guardian, feeling determined to help Joan, despite having yet to meet her.  

Joan is important to Leo and Leo is a teammate, friend and family. I would help someone in Joan’s position anyway, but I share Leo’s personal stake in this.

We should follow Leo’s lead in this. He is extremely smart, has better knowledge of the situation and has already thought this out. I doubt he would risk messing up something so important to him. His plan will work.

Aye. And if it doesn’t, we shall be there to support him in whatever else he tries.

“Ahh,” says Gears, “Here comes Iris now. And she is with one of her teammates.”

Guardian watches a pair of girls. She has spent enough time around Alexandria to recognise them as Aphrodites.

One is wearing a full body spandex costume, consisting of blue with a gold undertone. It leaves only her head bare as her long brown hair flowing in the wind behind her. A blue domino mask with a yellow outline is the only thing on her face and doesn’t actually hide her facial features.

The second is wearing much less and Guardian notes that she has a darker skin colour like Protector, his family and plenty of the gangsters that Guardian has beaten up on the streets of Chicago. The girl is wearing black spandex shorts and sleeveless top that bares her midriff. A pair of silk gloves covers her hands while she wears a pair of high heeled boots.

Guardian takes an instant dislike the second girl.

That outfit is extremely impractical. Why on Earth would she wear it?

I see no logical reason for her to. But we shouldn’t negatively judge her for it.

Humph.

“What are you two doing here?” demands the girl in blue and gold as the two pairs come to a halt in front of each other.

“I was showing Guardian the skies of Grand Rapids,” answers Gears, “I am Gears by the way.”

“I’m Iris and this is-” the first girl starts to introduce herself and her partner when said partner yelps in pain, “What’s wrong Ebony!”

“I tried to use my telepathy on them,” grunts the impractical girl as she clutches her head, “Guardian was...undetectable. Gears....messed up....hurts a...lot. Completely....%&$@ed up.”

“I was not aware of that,” says Gears as Iris glances between him and her friend, Ebony, “This is interesting.”

“What is interesting?” demands Iris.

“If what Ebony is saying is correct,” replies Gears, “Then that means I passively fended her off. It means I have another aspect to my power that I haven’t found out yet due to not having a telepath attempt to enter my mind.”

“Let’s ignore that for now,” says Iris, eager not to move onto the subject of her friend attempting to telepathically enter the minds of the two vigilantes without their consent, “So what do we do now? Technically speaking, we are supposed to arrest you for all of your lawbreaking.”

“Let’s avoid that for now,” replies Gears, “Let’s talk instead.”

What are their powers? I want to know what do if they do decide to fight us.

Iris is Joan’s sister and has A Class superstrength, superspeed, nigh invulnerability and energy projection like Glowbug and Dark Tendril. She also has B Class super senses and healing in addition to flight that is closer to Alexandria’s if slower and slightly less mobile. She is also an A Class Aphrodite.

And what about the other?

That is Ebony. She is Iris’ best friend and rather powerful. She has A Class nigh invulnerability and weak flight and limited teleportation at C Class level. Ebony also has several B Class powers. There are telekinesis, telepathy, super strength, enhanced speed and reflexes, super senses, super toughness, regeneration and other enhanced physical prowess.

I wouldn’t have fancied our chances with them before today, but with our power armour, new molecular blades and teamwork, I believe we could take them in a fight.