Interlude - Breanne

Breanne Fowler looks up at her family’s mansion as she walks through the gates. By just looking at it now, she wouldn’t be able to figure out that it was wrecked by the Slaughter Seven just a couple days before.

Abby works quickly. It must be nice to have-oh wait, I have high level superpowers now as well. I hope Joan won’t jealous. I mean, she is the only member of family not to have superpowers and is probably the one who deserves some the most.

Not that the rest of us don’t deserve our powers, but rather the fact that out of our family, Joan is the only who has suffered the most and she was definitely the one who needed superpowers the most.

None the less, Breanne is proud of her powers. She has some of the basics such as super speed, strength, senses, nigh invulnerability and regeneration. Beyond that, Breanne can flight, teleport, use telekinesis and freezes things in time with just a single touch.

But the greatest of Breanne’s new powers revolve around changing forms of herself and others. She takes on elements of anything nearby, including the features of people, and can shapeshift and not just into other people, but also into animals and inanimate objects.

It felt really weird to turn into a dress. I mean, I can turn back and forth at will, but I didn’t know that at the time and it took me a few minutes to figure out how to do so. At least nobody tried me on. Hmm, I might try that latter though. I’m curious about what being worn would feel like. Perhaps I’ll turn into a dress and let Joan wear me. She is the sort of person that likes to try out new aspects of powers. And we do sisterly bonding at the same time.

And my main power is to improve and upgrade anything I touch at will. The only limits to that power I have found so far is I need to be touching whatever I’m upgrading and I can only upgrade it once.

Breanne strides up to the front doors. Fortunately for her, her shapeshifting powers apply to her current attire so while her old clothing no longer fits her voluptuous Aphrodite body, Breanne was able to alter them so they do.

I wonder what my family will think of me now? I look different, but so does everyone else in our family with powers. They won’t judge me anymore than I judged them.

Still, I’m glad I kept it simple. Smart, casual clothing of jeans, a brown shirt and a white jacket with my old brown hair and blue eyes. Hmm, I could change my eyes to green like Mum’s. I have always wanted green eyes like Mum.

As Breanne hears her mother coming to the door to let her in, she decides to change her eyes to the green ones that she has always desired.

“Hey Mum,” says Breanne as her mother opens the large doors.

“Breanne!” exclaims her Mum as she embraces her oldest daughter in a hug.

Breanne is silent as she hugs her Mum back.

“So how is Joan?” asks Breanne as they release each other, noting that she can hear the girl in question coming down the stairs in her rush to greet her big sister.

Hmm, I can also hear somebody else whom I don’t know following her. I wonder who it could be?

“I’m fine!” yells Joan as she comes in view, “Wow! You look great!”

That’s Joan alright. Always thinking good things of other people’s blessings rather getting jealous of them. I wish I was like that, but I was always jealous of my family’s powers.

“Good to see you Joan,” replies Breanne with a genuine smile on her face, “So how have things been since we last talked?”

Joan’s face darkens and Breanne feels a sudden onset of worry at her reaction to the question.

Bad things haven’t happen have they?

“We should probably bring you up to speed,” says her Mum as Breanne recognises the person that was following Joan as she comes into sight.

Wait, doesn’t Allison need a wheelchair?

***

“That is a lot to take in,” says Breanne as she leans back in her armchair, “Can just focus on my situation for now while I process all of that?”

“Sure,” replies Joan, “I want to ask you some stuff about your new powers anyway.”

Two of them, their Mum and Allison are sitting the living room. The lot of them have been bringing each other up to speed on the situation here in Grand Rapids whilst Breanne has been informing them about her powers, including the fact that she has been allowed some time to go home so she can get a handle on her powers.

“Of course, you do,” says Breanne with a smile at her sister.

“What?” says Joan defensively, “I find powers cool even if I don’t have any of my own.”

“Oh, I know,” replies Breanne, “I just know you well enough to predict that you’ll want to do that.”

“So can I ask my questions now?” inquires Joan.

“Sure,” says Breanne as she internally debates on whether to do something silly and impulsive.

I wouldn’t even consider this if it was anyone else, but Joan has that sort of personality and we never really did many things together as kids. And I do want to try and connect with her now.

“Well, I was-” Joan starts to say before squealing as Breanne teleports on top of her.

“Got ya sis,” laughs Breanne as she manhandles Joan from behind, easily overpowering her little sister’s attempts to resist.

“Breanne...” says their Mum with amusement in her voice.

“I’m just playing around Mum,” replies Breanne, “I never got to do this stuff with Joan when we were younger.”

“Joan does like this sort of stuff,” Allison pitches in.

“Get your boobs out of my face!” yells Joan and Breanne relents her hold on Joan.

“Sorry Joan, just wanted to have a bit of fun,” apologises Breanne as she releases her sister entirely.

“Now as I tried to ask before, can you use your improvement power on people?” asks Joan as she stands up.

“Um, yeah,” answers Breanne, caught off guard by the question, “I only done it once, but it worked. Are you asking me to use it on you?”

“Yes!” exclaims Joan excitedly.

“Joan, you don’t know what potential effects it could have on you,” warns their Mum.

“Don’t worry about that,” replies Joan with a dismissive wave of her hand, “Legacy has a backup of my biological and mental data, I’ll be fine. If something goes wrong, I’ll have her restore me to normal.”

“Okay then,” says Breanne as she reach forward towards Joan, “Come ‘ere sis.”

“Thank you Bree!” says Joan as Breanne touches her forehead.

The effects are instantaneous and while expecting the change, Breanne is still caught off guard.

Well, she still looks like Joan would, just better and improved.

Joan has basic look she did before, only now she is slightly taller and a lot prettier. She has a bright, lush red hair and shining green eyes. Her skin looks healthy and Joan has a good muscle structure.

Her features are more refined and her figure is average, which is a step up considering Joan didn’t have one before. And last, but not least...

“I have breasts,” squeals Joan as she looks down at herself with unconcealed joy.

“Only B cups at most,” says Breanne with a smile, noting that Joan’s clothes are now rather tight on her, “Perhaps you should change into something better suited to your new body.”

“In a moment,” replies Joan, not really paying attention, “I want to see how I look.”

Of course she does. Not that I’m in any position to speak given that I wanted to the exact same thing after I manifested. Well, I know I can help her.

“Oh, let me,” says Breanne as she shapeshifts into a handheld mirror.

“Thank you Bree,” replies Joan as she picks her up.

Wow, this feels weird.

“How about this for a suggestion,” says Breanne as she forms her face in miniature above the mirror, “I’ll turn into a dress later and you can wear me. I’m curious to see what it feels like and it seems like something we would both enjoy doing.”

“Sure thing Bree!” replies Joan happily as she checks herself out, “Oh thank you Bree! This is wonderful.”

“You’re welcome sis,” replies Breanne, more than happy to help her little sister, “Now let me change back. You have no idea how weird this feels.”

1.17 Homecoming Part 7

Allison looks around the massive dining room as they appear in the middle of it. With the appearance of herself and Abigail, Joan and her mother, Noelle, break off the conversation they were having.

Joan is looking good. Still not pretty like she wants, but healthy and vibrant. And with the amount of parahumans in her family, it is only a matter of time before she manifests. I don’t need to Legacy or Ceta to tell me that. The real question isn’t whether Joan will manifest, but whether she or her sister Breanne will do it first.

“Allison!” says Joan as she rushes forward to hug Allison.

“Hey Joan,” replies Allison as she hugs her best friend back.

After a moment, Allison looks past Joan and at her mother instead as she watches them.

“Um, thank you for letting me stay here,” says Allison nervously.

“Oh, don’t worry about honey,” replies Noelle, “It’s no bother. We got enough rooms to fit six kids and we only got two of them at the moment.”

“Well, thanks again,” says Allison sheepishly, not really sure on what to say.

“Let’s go to my room,” says Joan excitingly as she grabs Allison’s wheelchair.

Allison feels a bit guilty as Joan pushes her wheelchair. It isn’t exactly like she needs to push around like this and Allison hates the idea of making Joan to do extra work just to keep up Allison’s secret identity.

“Hey Al,” says Joan.

“Yeah,” Allison says back.

“I accidentally spilled Leo’s secret identity earlier,” admits Joan, causing Allison no small amount of shock.

W-what?! You got to be freaking kidding me!

“So now the DSA, my family and his family all know about Gears and Jaylyn,” continues Joan before sighing, “And I got Mum on my back about that last one.”

“I wonder why,” mutters Allison sarcastically as they reach the stairs, “So how are we going to get up these?”

“Umm, I didn’t think that far ahead,” admits Joan, “Give a moment. Hey Abby! I need help getting Allison upstairs.”

“Of course you do,” says Abigail Fowler as she teleports next to them, “I’ll take the two of you to your room sis.”

“Thanks Abby,” replies Joan as Abigail touches her and teleports all three of them to the middle of Joan’s room, “I’ll be seeing you around Allison.”

And with that, Abigail teleports away again as Allison looks around Joan’s room. The room is large, as expected within mansion, with the basic essentials such as her big, fluffy bed, a chest of drawers, a wardrobe, a desk and other stuff like that. Basically the same as every other time that Allison has been here.

But what catches Allison’s eye is all of the posters and pictures on the wall. There is one for each of the Guardsmen field members and Allison smiles as she looks at Defender’s. But there are also a few pictures of Joan’s sister Alexis posing as Iris along with an official poster of Iris. Those are new.

Furthermore, there is a picture of Abigail Fowler, looking divine and commanding, next to a couple of posters for movies that her oldest siblings as the main actors, one for Irwin on the right and one for Breanne on the left.

Lastly, there are three posters of Marcelle Fowler, one from before her manifestation, one from afterwards and the third with both Marcelle and her new girlfriend and singing partner Diana Hunter 
singing back to back.

“Huh, you have a lot of posters,” says Allison as Joan plops herself down on her bed.

“What can I say?” replies Joan with a grin, “I’m proud of my family and their achievements.”

“I wish I could say the same about my own,” mutters Allison sourly before deciding to avoid that particular topic, “So, where did you get those pictures of Alex from? I don’t recognise them from anywhere.”

“Oh, I got those from back when I was in hospital still,” answers Joan with a wave of her hand, “Man, that feels like a long time ago. Anyway, Alex let me take those an apology for not telling me when she got her powers and for abandoning me. It was back around when Darkness attacked me.”

“So how are you getting on with them now?” inquires Allison.

“Great,” replies Joan as she gets back on her feet, “My parents, Mum in particular, are doing their best to make up for not being there for me. To be honest, I don’t really give a damn about how they treated me back then as I personally consider it water under the bridge right now. Anyway, Abby also has one of her bodies around as you saw while Alex will hang out when we’re both free. Marcy will often pop in for visits with Diana and we get to hang out then. A lot of people forget that those two are still only eighteen. Bree and I video chat every now again or meet up in Eldrim. Irvin and I don’t really care for each other. The guy is too focused on his career and I’m not that important to it. Not that he is a jerk or anything, but Irvin and I just don’t connect with each other you know?”

“Yeah,” mutters Allison, thinking back to how she gets on with her step-brother Nathan, “You don’t mind me staying here?”

“Better than letting you stay on the streets or being forced to give up your secret identity,” replies Joan with a shrug of her shoulders, “You’re my best friend. I’m not just going to abandon you. Plus Mum takes being a good mother really seriously now and your mum is a really bad one.”

“May I ask something?” asks Allison.

“Shoot,” replies Joan as she pulls out a DVD, “Want to watch this?”

“One of your sister’s films? Maybe later,” replies Allison before asking her question, “So what about my secret identity?”

“Oh, Mum, Dad and Abby know that,” answers Joan, “We’ll probably end up bring Alex and Leo’s parents into the know about that soon.”

“Great,” says Allison as she gets to her feet, “It’s going to be cool not to hide who I am from the people I’m living-”

“Joan!” says Abby as teleports into the room, catching Allison off guard as she adopts a defensive stance, “Breanna has manifested.”

1.17 Homecoming Part 6

Allison pulls up Joan on her contact list and dials her. It takes only a few seconds for her best friend to answer.

“Allison?” says Joan and Allison has never felt happier to her voice.

“Hey Joan,” replies Allison as she leaves the street.

“So Al, what’s up?” inquires Joan.

“My family finally kicked me out,” explains Allison, “Though I should admit that I kind of chose to leave in the process and I sort of forced my way past Simon on my way out.”

“So I’m guessing you need somewhere to stay,” replies Joan, quickly grasping the situation to Allison’s relief, “And since you’re phoning me instead of somebody else, I assume you want to continue your old life.”

Heh, good Joan. She summed up that I wasn’t going to Legacy because I wanted to keep up my secret identity while making sound so innocent. I wouldn’t expect anything less from Leo’s girlfriend. The guy is a firm believer that the woman of his life should be his equal.

“Pretty much,” admits Allison, feeling self-conscious about having to ask her best friend for help, “I know that you might not be able to help, but-”

“Honey,” says another voice that Allison vaguely recognises as Joan’s mother, Noelle Fowler, “Of course you can stay over here. The way your family has been treating you is just downright vile. I have honestly been meaning to do something about them for a while now, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. We’ll send Abigail over to pick you up now. No need to force you to make your way across town on your own.”

“Thank you,” replies Allison, feeling a bit tearful.

“See you here,” pipes in Joan before the phone call ends.

As she comes to a stop, Allison feels uneasy. For some reason, she suddenly feels alert and ready for battle as she has been many time whilst acting as Defender.

What is wrong you girl? I must have been through too many battles. No way is there anybody out here to get me.

But Allison takes notice of her surroundings, she realises that there is nobody about and night is falling. There is usually at least one or two people about in this part of town.

Okay, this really doesn’t feel right.

“You think you can just get away that easily you little @~&*ing bitch,” snarls an angry voice that reminds Allison of her stepbrother Derrick.

Oh don’t tell me that the stupid little excuse of a human being actually manifested.

With annoyed growl, Allison spins her wheelchair around to a massively improved version of dumbass stepbrother, both handsome and ripped, standing in the street.

A freaking Adonis. Of course Derrick is an Adonis and not something practical like a Bellator.

“Oh for crying out loud,” grumbles Allison as Derrick strides towards her.

“Don’t £#$%ing ignore me,” shouts Derrick spitting in her face, “Cannot just get away from being my bitch with such little effort.”

Allison laughs as she sees the fist coming towards her, easily tracking it with her super senses.

Does Derrick really believe he can just beat me like that? Oh wait, he thinks I’m just a helpless crippled girl in a wheelchair. Hah, little does he know that I’m an actually a B Class vigilante with plenty of combat experience. And while brick might be bland and simple, we do have our uses. It doesn’t matter if he out powers me, I got enough power, skill and experience to take him down.

Allison does nothing, just smiling like an idiot as she waits for the punch to connect with her face.

I can’t wait to see the look on his face.

But Allison doesn’t get that chance before Derrick’s fist pulls up short and he instead grabs her by the chin.

“I would hurt you, but I can’t be certain I wouldn’t kill a weakling like you,” sneers Derrick as Allison internally debates whether to hurt him or not, “Instead, I’m going to get you in trouble with the authorities just as you deserve.”

“And how exactly are you going to do that?” asks Allison dryly as she jerks her head away from Derrick.

“Why, you’re the manipulative and bullying stepsister who made an unprovoked attack on our father as he tries to rightfully punish you,” drawls Derrick, “You have record of causing trouble and picking on me. In fact, you have bullied me so much, that I actually manifested.”

“We both know that isn’t true,” mutters Allison.

“Who is going to believe somebody of your reputation over the sweet, well-behaved boy such as myself?” sneeringly asks Derrick as he leans in close to Allison.

Oh, that is it! Secret identity or not, I’m wiping that smug grin off his face. I have not whipped the butts of countless criminals and supervillains just to let Derrick of all people pull this @#£$ on me.

“I’ve heard enough,” states a strong, female voice as Allison is about to headbutt Derrick’s face.

Both Allison and Derrick turn to face a floating Aphrodite woman. She is tall with flowing brown hair and lush green eyes. She is wearing jeans and a white leather jacket whilst anger is etched into her facial features as she glowers at Derrick.

Oh, that must be Abigail. I hope it is anyway, not that I care given they are clearly going to help me.

Derrick recoils under her glare and suddenly sprints off, heading back down the street towards Allison’s former home.

Well, that is Derrick dealt with. For now at least.

“Are you okay?” inquires the Aphrodite, as she lands in front of Allison.

“I’m fine,” replies Allison, “You’re Abigail right?”

The woman nods.

I really am.

“Good,” says Abigail, “I’m going to teleport us back to the Mansion.”

“Okay,” replies Allison as Abigail touches her wheelchair. 

1.17 Homecoming Part 5

“Damn you!” yells Derrick.

“I really don’t care anymore,” replies Allison, not even bothering to spare her brother a glance.

I am well and truly fed up of that brat. Why on Earth should I give a damn about him when I find battle harden supervillains on a regular basis?

Allison hears footsteps on the stairs and her mother yelling as their parents come to tell her off for “bullying” her younger stepbrother again.

No, not my mother and our parents, his mother and his parents. My dad is dead and I haven’t had my mum for a long time. For far too long.

With a weary sigh, Allison spins her chair around to face the doorway of her bedroom, where Derrick is standing by it.

Despite being in a three bedroom house, her parents share one of the two largest rooms, Derrick gets the other large room while Nathan gets the smaller bedroom. Allison on the other hand, has to put up with a small office on the top floor that has seen been converted into a bedroom.

Allison restrains herself from growling as she spots the balding black hair of her stepfather coming up the stairs.

Simon Davis. That snivelling moron who always caters to his spoiled brat of a son.

“Allison,” says Simon sharply in an angry voice, “What have you done this time?”

“Nothing,” replies Allison in a dry drawl as she knows her words won’t be believed as they always aren’t, “Derrick is just being a brat as usual, but as usual, you won’t believe me and punish me anyway.”

“Allison Ryder!” shouts Simon, “Don’t you dare take that tone-”

“Why not?” demands Allison, “All you ever do is treat me like dirt.”

“Young lady, if you’re going to live under my roof, you will have to abide by my rules and you will respect me as your father-” Simon starts to lecture only to falter as Allison begins to laugh.

Respect him? Hell no. As for abiding by his rules? Why? I’m a freaking superhero and a member of the Guardsmen, the world’s most famous team of vigilantes. I publically flout the law so why should I have to follow his dumb rules? I don’t have to a thing that this piece of scum tells me to and he is physically incapable of making me do so.

“I am so not respecting you,” says Allison through her laughter, “And if I have to follow your stupid rules to live under your roof, then I am not going to live under your roof.”

“How dare you!” yells Simon, “And where exactly will you go?”

My quarters in our base. Legacy and Scott won’t mind the company.

“I’ll manage,” replies Allison with a shrug as she begins pack a bag, “I have friends who are willing to support me.”

Ain’t that the truth.

“I’ll report you to the police as a runaway,” threatens Simon as Allison packs her most sentimental items into her bag.

Anything else other than the emotionally valuable stuff is replaceable.

“And I’ll tell them why I left,” counters Allison, “And then you’ll have to explain how you been treating me.”

As Allison finishes packing the most important things into her bag, she turns her wheelchair around once again. Not to her surprise, she sees Simon blocking the doorway with the rest of her ‘family’ in the hallway.

Is he seriously going to try and stop me? Me, the...oh right, I’m just a crippled helpless girl in a wheelchair to him. Idiot has no idea about what he’s got coming.

“Out of the way,” says Allison casually as she wheels herself towards the door.

“No,” replies Simon bluntly as he crosses his arms.

After deciding the pros and cons of arguing with him versus forcing her way out, Allison decides to simply go with the latter.

Speeding her wheelchair forward, Allison swings a gentle punch into Simon’s gut. Unfortunately for the grown man, Allison has B Class super strength and a gentle punch from her drops him to his knees.

Lightly grasping Simon’s shoulder, Allison casually shoves her stepfather to one side into the wall.

“Get out of my way,” Allison tells the rest of her family as a dazed Simon slumps and she continues to wheel forward.

After seeing what happened to Simon, her former mother and two stepbrothers all get out of her way and Allison is uncontested as she leaves the house.

As she wheels herself out of the front garden, Allison lets out a bark of laughter.

I am finally free! Man, this feels good. How could I have left it for so long? No longer having to put up with the abuse and having to pretend that those worthless excuses for human beings are my family.

But now what? Where do I go? Do I just discard my secret identity or do I cling onto what remains of my old life?

The former is seems interesting, just fully devoting myself to being Defender. I could even help others in my situation using my fame as a respected superhero. I mean, Legacy, Scott and Jaylyn are all fine without having secret identities to live and maintain.

That said, I do like my life. I enjoy school, get good grades and have friends. Do I just give all of that up so easily? I mean, the only parts of my life that I hate is my ‘family’ and my wheelchair. The wheelchair is just there as a cover now and I don’t have to live with those horrible pieces of scum anyone.

Oh, what to decide? Become Defender full time or keep on living my old life without my family?

As she goes down the street, Allison makes her decision and pulls out her phone.

1.14 Slaughter Part 11

Guardian uses her KEPs to land on her feet and readies Gord’Ang for a second attack. That energy blast damaged her outer armour plating but the inner held and no circuitry was damaged.

Both Alexandria and Glowbug are hovering next to the bleeding Friend. Alexandria looks the same as ever in her costume, but this is Guardian’s first time seeing the changes to Glowbug’s appearance.

While she was told of the changes, Nicola only used her old appearance in Eldrim and any other time they met in virtual reality. While wearing her black spandex costume as usual, Glowbug’s missing legs are hidden from sight. But the other changes are clear to see.

Her costume no longer covers her right arm as the limb is now consists of only golden energy, currently ending in what looks like an energy cannon. The rest of her body is covered by the same golden energy while her eyes glow.

Glowbug’s energy has changed from yellow to gold.

Interesting.

Yeah. I don’t want to fight my friends.

Only Alexandria and Glowbug are your friends. Remember Friend’s power.

I do, but...

Just remember your duty.

I will.

Alexandria flies straight at Guardian at top speed. The vigilante is only able to react in time due to using her power to control her armour and its inhuman processing speed. Guardian’s green hardlight shield appears just in time to block Alexandria, coming into place a mere inch away from Guardian’s face.

The hardlight shield begins to crack and Guardian pops one of her flashbangs with her technopathy. They always work well on Alexandria.

Alexandria staggers backwards and Guardian jumps forward, leaping off of Alexandria’s shoulders before boosting herself further using her KEPs.

I feel terrible. I got a massive migraine pounding skull, I feel like puking and my body aches so badly all over.

While you are in your armour due to your power and I have pretty much shut down your body, you have seriously messed up. I doubt you’ll be fit for another fight after this one is over.

Well, that sucks.

Indeed. You might not even survive this fight.

Again, that sucks.

Guardian aims Gord’Ang at Friend and boosts forward. But Glowbug is already surging forward to intercept Guardian. As she spots the incoming bolts of golden energy, Guardian teleports her shield into front of her, repositioning to protect from the attacks of her girlfriend.

The already battered hardlight shield takes another pounding, almost breaking this time with several shards of green light being blasted off. Guardian decides to keep it up despite knowing it won’t stop another hit from Alexandria or Glowbug.

How to take down Friend without hurting my best friend or my girlfriend?

I do not know the answer to that. I would recommend focusing on one or the other.

Not hurting Alexandria or Glowbug.

Than do that.

Guardian flies back, putting some space between her and the others as Alexandria and Glowbug put themselves between Guardian and Friend.

I don’t think I’ll survive this.

If it any consolidation, dying is only trivial to you.

How does that work anyway?

The same way that you summon your hardlight shield and when you first summoned Gord’Ang.

And all those times I summoned Gord’Ang in Eldrim. That makes sense. I didn’t realise it would work on organic matter.

Why wouldn’t it?

I don’t know. It just seems a bit overpowered.

Why would we care if something is more powerful than what our enemies have to offer? And vice versa?

True. So how come it will only take a few days this time instead of a few months?

The first time is the hardest and longest since I have to restore you for the first time. Later times I have a point of reference that I can just use.

That also makes sense.

Glowbug fires another barrage of golden energy at Guardian as Alexandria flies behind it. Guardian places her hardlight shield between herself and it. As it shatters, Guardian rolls to the side to avoid any remaining golden energy and Alexandria.

As Alexandria tears up the pavement. Guardian turns to face her, ready for a fight. Suddenly, her side flares up in overwhelming pain, causing Guardian to cry out loud as she staggers backwards

W-what happened?

Glowbug hit you in the side, blew off your right arm and most of your right side, both armour and flesh, with multiple direct hits.

Damn it.

As Guardian stumbles backwards, Alexandria turns on her. She slams into Guardian like an unstoppable storm, her fist smashing through Guardian’s armour and into her gut. As Guardian’s body goes limp, a furious Alexandria rips off Guardian’s helmet, revealing her face.

As a dying Guardian looks Alexandria in the face, she spots something click in her best friend as the anger is almost instantly replaced by horror.

As Alexandria lets out a strangled cry as she removes her bloody fist from Guardian’s gut, the vigilante looks past Alexandria and Glowbug to where Friend is. Defender has snapped the neck of the psychotic supervillain, breaking their control over Alexandria and Glowbug.

As the world fades and Alexandria says something Guardian is unable to make out in her damaged state, she chuckles.

Both Friend and I are dead, but I’m that is coming back.

Yes, it is somewhat amusing I’ll admit.

Darn right it is.

1.14 Slaughter Part 10

I feel like puking.

That would be due to the damage your body has taken. You have a concussion, warped bones, severe internal bleeding, multiple bursted organs and an emptied bladder.

That sounds very nasty.

It is. We’ll have to redo your physical body again once today’s events are over.

It would take another three months will it?

No. The first time is always the longest. I would estimate it will only take a few hours this time. Several hours if you die again.

That is a relief.

Guardian strides over to where a battered and bloody Defender is standing over a downed Graviburn. While her armour is severely damage and will need to scraped and replaced, Defender’s A- Class regeneration means that she has mostly recovered from her injuries.

Graviburn is not so lucky as Guardian notes the supervillainess is badly injured as she lies in the rumble.

“What do we do with her?” asks Defender as she stares at her prone opponent.

Guardian doesn’t verbally answer her teammate and instead decapitates Graviburn with Gord’Ang, much to Defender’s shock.

“How can you just do that?” demands Defender after a moment’s silence.

“Easily enough,” replies Guardian as she looks at the bloody blade of Gord’Ang.

“She was defenceless,” snarls Defender as she looks around, “You just murder her in cold blood! Did you kill the-oh my god, you did...you really did...”

“Letting them live would have been putting others at risk just to let myself feel a false sense of superior morality,” explains Guardian as she looks around for Friend.

Where is he?

He is no longer in this area. It would appear he fled once you showed up and started winning.

Can you find him?

Yes, just follow your HUD.

Send it to Defender as well.

As you wish.

“Wait, what are we doing?” asks Defender as Guardian takes off after Friend.

“Taking down Friend,” replies Guardian, “We’re not letting him get away.”

“Okay, but about the others?” inquires Defender as she races off after Guardian.

“They are fine,” replies Guardian, “You were the only one in need of assistance and that has yet to change.”

“So how if the fight going?” asks Defender.

“The Slaughter Seven have been driven to a halt with the exception of Aquiline and Friend, who are both on the run,” answers Guardian, “We should take to the air.”

“Okay,” says Defender as Guardian flies into the air, “Wait, my KEPs aren’t working.”

“I catch him from the air while you catch up on foot,” says Guardian.

“Are we even immune to his power?” asks Defender, “I don’t think he was affecting me earlier, but I can’t be certain. Not for sure.”

“I don’t know, but theoretically I should be,” replies Guardian over their comm link as she gets high up into the air, “At the very least he won’t be able to fully manipulate me due to Ceta.”

Thank you for your trust.

You have earned it many times over.

“Okay,” mutters Defender, but she still sounds unsure and upset.

Have I angered her somehow? We seemed to rather tense with one another.

I think that your willingness to kill has disturbed her.

Okay then. We can sort that out later.

Guardian looks down at where Friend is running through the deserted streets. Increasing her speed, Guardian angles downwards to the end of the street Friend is currently on. She lands on her feet and grips Gord’Ang in both hands as she and Friend stare each other.

Friend’s currently form is a pretty American teenager with curly brown hair and hazel eyes. Her body is curvy, but more along the lines of a Bellator than an Aphrodite, and is muscular and well-built.

As Guardian prepares to strike, she hesitates.

Why am I fighting my friend?

Naidraug!

Guardian relaxes and lowers Gord’Ang as Friend approaches her. As Friend asks her to drop Gord’Ang, Guardian hesitates.

The Slaughter Seven are still in the area. I can’t just drop my weapon let alone Gord’Ang.

Ycagel!

Something doesn’t feel quite right...

As Friend speaks to her, Guardian checks her armour as it goes haywire. While it isn’t failing completely due to Gears’ high level of skill in designing it, the systems are suffering random malfunctions, including blocking out any external sounds.

Cidro!

Ceta?

Guardian looks up as Friend does so and she spots Alexandria and Glowbug approaching from the air.

Are they coming to fight my friend?

Ordic!

Ceta, what are you saying...? Urggh, my mind is so foggy.

Legacy of Guardian, you are Ordic, the Guardian! This woman that stands before you is an evil one and a monster.

I...I understand.

As Friend walks pass her, Guardian tightens her grip on Gord’Ang again. With Friend’s back turned on her, Guardian charges at her.

She may be friend, but as the Guardian, I must still take her down for the evils she has committed.

Guardian snarls as she swings Gord’Ang at Friend as she passes her. Guardian skids to a halt and spins around, Gord’Ang ready to strike again. She charges forward at Friend as the supervillain blankly stares her missing arm.

A beam of golden light slams into Guardian, knocking her off her feet before she can hit Friend again.