1.7 Guardsmen Part 1

“May I come in?” asks Gears from outside the basement.

“Gears?” says Legacy in surprise as she looks up from her work.

“Yes,” replies her partner.

What is Gears doing here?

I lack that knowledge.

So what does he want?

Ask him.

Oh yeah.

“You can come in,” Legacy tells Gears.

“Thanks,” replies Gears as he enters room in full armour and looks around, “So no Scott or Cain at the moment?”

“No, Scott is out doing some business while Cain is with his family,” answers Legacy, “Is there a particularly reason you are here?”

“Actually I was just testing the tunnels connecting our new base to Chicago,” replies Gears, “By the way, it is operational now and ready for use.”

“Really?” asks Legacy eagerly, giving Gears her full attention.

“Yup,” replies Gears, “Jaylyn finished the basics this morning. Of course it will take several more months before it is completely done, but right now, it is ready to use.”

“Great!” exclaims Legacy, “Let’s go there! Can we go right now?”

“Sure,” says Gears, “Get your armour on and I’ll take you there and show you around.”

Legacy smiles and gives Gears a quick hug before darting off to get her armour on.

Our very own secret base!

You are very excited about this.

I can have a proper place to live in now. I will have much more room to work on even more projects! I don’t have to worry about spatial limitations anymore. Not to mention I can get access to better resources now with space to store the materials.

True.

“We have also finished making the rooms for you and Scott,” says Gears, “Well, actually we got a set of rooms for each of us with a total of eight in the event we take on more members for our group. Which is something we need to speak about. Not getting new members that is, but what our group is going to be called. I’m going to arrange a meeting later for our group so we can decide on what we’re going to call ourselves, amongst other things.”

“So should I bring some stuff with me?” inquires Guardian as she puts her helmet on.

“I think we should keep this basement as a mini-base for a long as we can,” replies Gears, “I don’t want to put all of our eggs in one basket. Plus it might be useful to go back to here instead of our main base.”

I agree with Gears, he has a good point.

I feel the same.

“Should I bring my personal items with me?” asks Guardian, “Since I’ll be moving into our new base.”

“I see no reason why not to,” replies Gears with a shrug, “It will save time and future trips if we got it now. Is there anything you would like me to carry?”

“You can carry the boxes of clothing,” Guardian tells him, indicating the boxes containing Alexandria’s old clothing, which Guardian has been storing her own clothing in.

It makes sense to store all of my clothes in a single location. That way I know where they all are.

Agreed.

Gears walks towards the boxes and begins to pick them up as Guardian collects her other personal items. There isn’t a lot, just a sturdy datapad with private stuff on it and a thank you note from Cain’s sister.

And, well, that is it. Just the two items. I only have two personal items. I feel like I should have more.

No necessarily. While you may be of fifteen years biologically, you only have forty three days of your current life. I am certain you will get more personal items to call your own in time.

I hope so.

“Is that all?” inquires Gears as he looks over at what Guardian is carrying.

“Unfortunately yes,” replies Guardian as the two of them walk towards the door.

“I’m sure you’ll pick up more in the future,” says Gears, “You only really have a month and a half of your life at the moment.”

You said the same thing.

I am aware of that.

The two of them activate their KEPs and take off into the air.

“The good thing about having this new base is that our team can actually be a team,” says Gears once they are in the air, “While you, I and Sentinel chat a lot about technology and our plans, our group is split into two, those of us in Grand Rapids and your lot here in Chicago.”

“Yes, we do need more unity amongst our group,” agrees Guardian.

“I should also mention that when I say that we got rooms for each member of our group, I mean we each got an entire set of rooms,” says Gears, “A bedroom, a dining room, a living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. You and I also have our own personal labs connected to our sets of room.”

Things just keep getting better and better. Not only do we get our room and a proper base, but we get a full set of rooms.

You’re right excited about this.

How could I not be?

Interlude - Alexandria

Charlotte Clarkson laughs as she zooms through the skies of Chicago as Alexandria on her night patrol. Being able to fly like she does is just outright awesome!

And she is fast. Not as fast as her older brother who can fly around the globe in almost four hours when he is going at top speed, but Charlotte has a maximum speed of two hundred and eighty kilometres per an hour.

Charlotte isn’t surprised that her brother is faster than her. When it comes to their powers, Charlotte is basically a weaker version of her brother except when it comes to their Enhanced rating. Both she and John are rated as A+ with her as an Aphrodite while her brother is an Adonis.

Obviously.

And her brother is better at using his powers than her as well. While Charlotte is powerful by parahuman standards let alone mundane standards, she can still get beaten easily and outclassed by a weaker, but more skilled parahuman.

Guardian taught her that with all of her prowess. Not only has she been actually hindering the local organised crime with her antics, but she also mopped the floor with the Aquiline and his loonies and fought that mobster supervillain, Dark Tendril.

And that isn’t even taking into account how she so easily took out Charlotte last Thursday. She still has no idea how Guardian was able to pull that off. It was so sudden. One moment she was talking the vigilante, the next she was blind and deaf and then Charlotte found herself on the ground while Guardian was nowhere to be found.

It doesn’t help that she has found a way to block my super senses even without her armour.

And those are weird. Her super senses that is. Even over one and half months later, Charlotte is still getting used to being about to see perfectly at night at day. While it is useful for moments like now, it sucks for when she is trying to get some sleep.

Who would have thought I would end up missing not being able to see in the dark? And don’t get me started on being able to see heat and x-rays everywhere. It is so weird just to look at my mum and friends just to be able to see their body heat and bones in addition to what I would normally see. I don’t even want to think about the radio waves or all the stuff I can now smell. How on Earth I am not insane?

“Hey Char!” says Charlotte’s teammate Glowbug as her fellow superheroine flies up next to her.

“Hi Nic,” replies Charlotte as she looks at her gorgeous teammate, “What are you doing here?”

“I just thought I might as well join you on patrol,” says Nicola as she uses her glowing yellow energy surrounds her, granting her the ability to fly in addition to blocking the use of Alexandria’s super senses on her.

With some effort, Charlotte looks away from Nicola. It has been confirmed that Glowbug’s energy can be rather enthralling and very pleasing to the eye and so Charlotte has to be careful around Nicola when she is using her power.

Nic doesn’t try to manipulate and control people like that, it is just a feature of her power that she has no control over it. Same way I have no control over what I overhear or see with my super senses.

“Well, I’m going to check on Guardian,” says Charlotte, “I want to see how she is doing.”

“Why?” inquires Nicola.

“Guardian and I are friends,” replies Charlotte, “She was the first parahuman I made friends with. And she helped with Aquiline when I really needed it. Guardian is a good, kind, caring person even if she is technically a criminal. I trust her and she trusts me.”

“She didn’t mind showing us her appearance even if she did refuse to tell us her real name,” notes Nicola, “But that girl is weird.”

“We haven’t actually got a right to judge, but I get your point,” says Charlotte, “Honestly, I worry about her sometimes Nic.”

“Why?” asks Nicola, “You think she might get hurt or something?”

“No, not like that,” replies Charlotte, “Trust me, Guardian is more than capable of taking care of herself, more than anyone on our team can. She wasn’t joking when she claimed she could take our entire team even without her armour.”

“Seriously?” says Nicola.

“Yes,” replies Charlotte, “What I’m concerned about is her living conditions and mental state.”

“Why?” Nicola asks for the third time that night.

“Because we have no records on her,” replies Charlotte, “If she had a family or school or something, we would have some idea at the very least, but we don’t. And she operates out of the Battle-Zone and made her equipment out of junk when she first started out. I literally mean her earliest creations were made out of junk that she found lying around on the street. All of that makes me feel that Guardian is homeless or at least used to me. And given her lack of knowledge of things despite her smarts makes me feel that she hasn’t got an education either.”

“Oh,” says Nicola, “But she knows a lot about technology. You can’t deny that.”

“I think that is an element of her power,” says Charlotte, “Because that seems to be the only area she has any serious knowledge in. Other than fighting.”

“Yeah,” mutters Nicola, “You also said something about her mental health.”

“Oh that,” replies Charlotte, “It’s just how odd she acts you know?”

“Guardian definitely isn’t a normal person and doesn’t act like one,” agrees Nicola.

“Well, I think she might be mentally disabled or something,” says Charlotte, “So while she is smart, she doesn’t think in a normal way. Not like me or you do. Which could cause her trouble. Or perhaps she is one of those parahumans whose power has messed them up mental.”

“Like Thrust up in Alaska,” says Nicola, “The poor woman can’t speak or write ever since she manifested her powers.”

“Yup,” replies Charlotte.

“I can see how you worry about Guardian then Char,” says Nicola, “Perhaps I shouldn’t have offered a relationship to her then. I might have confused the poor girl.”

“Were you even serious about that Nic?” inquires Charlotte glancing at her friend.

“Yes and no,” answers Nicola, “I wasn’t expecting her to accept or take me seriously, but if she did, I wouldn’t have minded. Actually, I would have liked it if she did accept. She is kinda cute and a nice girl so I would have given a try at the very least. Honestly it was mostly just to mess with her. In a friendly jovial manner of course.”

“Of course,” agrees Charlotte with a smirk as she begins to look Nicola’s body over.

She does looks pretty ni-No. Keep it together and don’t get enthralled by Nic’s power.

Charlotte tears her eyes away and Nicola seems to notice what happened.

“Sorry,” she says sheepishly.

“It’s fine,” replies Charlotte.

“So how exactly are we going to find Guardian?” asks Nicola.

“Just fly around the Battle Zone and the surrounding area,” replies Charlotte, “After a while, you generally find Guardian beating up some drug dealers, muggers or other form of criminal.”

“Really?” says Nicola, “That easily?”

“Pretty much,” confirms Charlotte, “I sometimes do this when I want to relax. Just fly out at night and find Guardian so I can watch her kick ass.”

“Aren’t you supposed to stop her if you see her doing something like that?” asks Nicola.

“Technically yes, but the authorities don’t mind that much as long as Guardian doesn’t go after the wrong people,” replies Charlotte, “Which I doubt she will. Guardian is a staunch supporter of doing good, just not looking good. I’m certain her primary motivation is to just help people.”

“She is can be a bit simplistic,” agrees Nicola.

“That she can, but as I say, Guardian has a good heart,” says Charlotte, “There she is.”

“Where?” asks Nicola, “I haven’t got have super senses like you.”

“In the street down there,” replies Charlotte, pointing with her hand, “By the green car. Guardian is taking out a dealer.”

“Oh, I see her now,” says Nicola, “I think. It’s hard to see in the dark.”

“Then let’s go down and say hello,” replies Charlotte with a smile as she swoops down.

1.6 Alliance Part 12

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

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

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

A mixture of power, multitude and timeframe.

Please explain in greater detail.

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

So how is Protector not getting hurt?

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

Should we intervene?

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

So any ideas on how to do that?

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

Thanks for the help anyway.        

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

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

We need the extra firepower.

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

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

I know that as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But how will I subdue him?

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

So what did you expect me to do?

Kill him.

Why?

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

But I don’t want to kill people.

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

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

I’m a soldier.

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

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

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

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

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

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

1.6 Alliance Part 11

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good ideas.

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

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

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

Focus.

I know!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As you wish.

Guardian grunts in pain as her head flares in pain.

It feels like somebody is scrambling my head!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Any suggestions?

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

Thanks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Protector tackles Dark Tendril, knocking him off his feet.  

1.6 Alliance Part 10

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

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

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

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

“Any particular reason why?” inquires Scott.

“Building goodwill up,” says Legacy.

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

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

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

“Yes,” replies Legacy.

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

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

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

“Good plan,” says Legacy.

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

***

Two Days Later

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Good work,” Guardian tells him.

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

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

“So now what?” asks Protector.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“The government?” repeats Protector

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

“Oh, okay,” mutters Protector.

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

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