I woke up Sunday morning feeling refreshed as I always did, along with no small amount of trepidation. I went on my morning run, making sure to stick with the habit. It was easier to lose a habit than to gain one and I didn't want to lose the small amount of discipline I had built up in making myself go on these runs, even if they weren't hard.
I found it slightly more difficult to hold myself back this morning as well. Coming home I did my cool-down stretches before going inside to take a shower.
Dad was up and about as I came in and was fixing himself some coffee. He gestured the pot at me, "Want some?"
I shook my head, "You know I don't care for the taste."
He shrugged, "More for me then."
I shook my head again, slightly more exasperated, and made my way up the stairs.
I made my way into the bathroom, grabbed my towel, and stripped my clothes off. Thankfully the lack of stress from my runs meant I didn't really sweat. However, I always sprinkled a little bit of water on my head from my bottle just to make it look like it had taken some effort.
But what that ended up meaning was that my clothes were still fairly clean after a 'workout' so they didn't stick to me or smell gross which was a definite plus in my book.
I turned on the faucet as far into the hot territory as it would go. Part of being a brute is that I didn't quite feel the temperature as much as I used to. I could feel freezing cold temperatures, but it didn't quite bother me. I could also feel heat and I really enjoyed the way it suffused my entire being. Like it was seeping into my skin and empowering me.
…
Okay, maybe I was being a little dramatic. But it did feel good.
I took the time while I was in the shower again to marvel at my new physique. I had muscles. I poked my abs as if they might disappear in the steam that was coming up from the hot water.
The muscles weren't overbearing or gross to look at, it was more like the muscles of just someone who was making an effort to stay in shape but wasn't looking to do exercise professionally. If I was going to get a new and improved body, I would've liked to have gotten some feminine curves to go along with that.
Some hips, maybe a cup size or three. As it stood though, I looked largely the same that I had before the change, just now I didn't look like a complete stick figure.
Or a frog, as the Trio liked to so often remind me of.
After spending an indeterminate amount of time in the shower I turned off the faucet and climbed out toweling myself off, after drying my hair sufficiently I ran my fingers through my hair, finding the tangles and gently undoing them. Making sure that my hair was orderly and that when it dried it wasn't in knots that would be painful to deal with later when I brushed my hair.
I quickly dressed myself to minimize my exposure to the rapidly cooling air and left my hair to air dry. Heading downstairs I saw my dad relaxing in front of the TV, the kitchen still smelling like french toast and bacon.
Dad glanced at me as I walked past the living room to the kitchen, "Hey I made enough for you to have some as well. Should still be pretty warm."
"Thanks."
I quickly fixed myself a plate of the delicious goodness that was french toast and then drizzled it in syrup and placed a couple of slices of bacon on the side before making my way into the living room to sit down and watch the TV with Dad.
As I sat down the newscaster was talking about a casino just outside of Brockton that had been hit by a gang called The Undersiders. I think I might've seen something about them on PHO? If I had it wasn't anything big so they must be even smaller time than Über and Leet.
It had been a pretty clean operation, in and out before any proper response could be mounted with no tracks left behind to follow.
The blonde woman, whose hair didn't even look remotely natural by the way, talked about the theft for a few more minutes before moving on to other news, a new ward going by the name of Browbeat.
He was dressed in blue, diamond-pattern spandex that left little to the imagination. And he was an absolute hunk. Apparently, he was another brute. Although he focused more on the strength side of things than Aegis did I guess. Super strength was just something everyone got in spades, apparently. They didn't really go into too much detail about his powers, with Wards they rarely did. Probably because they didn't want to be advertising limitations and weaknesses to the villains in the area.
I wouldn't be surprised to hear that he was stronger than I was. It just affirmed my decision to not go straight to the Wards if I was just going to be a useless asset. It also kept me out of any possible high school drama. I had already had enough of that to last a hundred lifetimes, I didn't need to be putting myself into positions to acquire more of it.
Dad stood up while I was slowly chewing, thinking about stuff.
"Well, I think I'm gonna go and head on up to the offices, try and get an early start on everything I can. Maybe it'll let me get home early. Although more likely it'll just allow me to handle more than I would've."
"Alright," I replied as casually as I could.
"Don't stress if I'm home late though, okay?"
I smiled at him, "I won't."
He smiled at me before giving me a shoulder hug and headed out the door. I heard the sound of his truck starting up, backing out of the driveway, and making its way off into the distance. I sat there for a moment, just listening. And waiting.
After I determined he wasn't coming back because he'd forgotten something I quickly scarfed down the rest of my food and put it in the sink to let the syrup soak off of it. Yeah, I was just letting it soak I'd come back and deal with it later. Definitely.
After that, I hurried up the stairs, went into my room, dug into my closet, and grabbed the clothes, bat, and first-aid kit I had stashed in the back yesterday. As I held them and my backpack I came to a realization.
This bat was not going to fit in my bag. That could be a problem… except I think I remember seeing a duffel bag in the basem*nt, one of Dad's old ones that he didn't use anymore.
I double-timed down the stairs into the basem*nt and started digging around in all the junk. It took me a good ten minutes before I finally found it hidden underneath the boxes.
I gave it several good tugs before I finally freed it from its compressed prison and started walking back up the stairs grumbling about people hiding stuff under boxes instead of placing them in the boxes, that's what they were there for. Holding stuff.
I quickly packed away everything I would need for my first day on the job. My heart was pounding in my chest almost painfully. Zipping up the bag I let it settle comfortably over my shoulder and went downstairs.
I hovered in the hallway near the door for a minute, I thought about leaving a note for Dad saying… something.
Maybe that I was at the library studying? Except I didn't like lying to Dad like that, and I fully intended to be back before he was home. I was thinking four, maybe five hours tops. That'd give me enough time to do a circuit around the area I was planning on heading to.
In the end, I decided against the note and went outside and locked the door behind me before setting off. I was planning on heading downtown, I wanted to be a decent distance away from the house, just in case someone nearby somehow managed to make a connection.
Having the distance gave me a level of anonymity, or so I hoped.
I planned to make a couple of winding loops of the area, in a way that allowed me to cover a decent bit of the area in the few hours I was planning on spending out there.
Downtown was the nicer part of Brockton Bay. For what constituted as nice, anyway. From what I'd managed to glean from the internet, downtown was the main operating area for the Empire. So I'd have to be careful about running into any of their capes, but I felt decently confident I'd be able to avoid them. Or at least not get involved in any scuffles with them as long as I stayed out of the areas closest to Medhall.
For whatever reason they seemed to congregate around that area like bees around honey.
I was also just now realizing that I still hadn't come up with a name. Well, maybe something would spring up in the moment. I was too jittery right now to try and think about anything other than the fact that I was about to debut as a cape.
I had wanted to catch a bus downtown, but it was almost impossible to get one down there and it was actually faster to just walk.
This actually ended up working out in my favor because in the docks area, around where I lived, there were more opportunities to slink away down an alley and change without anyone being the wiser.
So after I had walked a good distance away from the house and before I got into downtown proper, I did just that.
It was… unnerving, stripping down to my underwear in an alley.
I was worried about the very real possibility of someone walking past and seeing me, even despite the fact that I had slipped to the other side of a dumpster. The problem is that alleys are usually open on both ends. So while I was covered on one end, marginally, the other was left open completely.
Which did nothing for my fraying nerves.
Blessedly, my dignity was left unviolated by the eyes of strangers and I managed to get everything on quickly. I covered up my face last with the bandanna before zipping up the duffel bag that held my civilian clothes and kicking it under a marginally cleaner spot than the others under the dumpster.
That would hopefully keep it out of sight until I came back for it. I stood up and took a deep breath to try and calm my nerves.
It didn't help, my legs were shaking. Maybe I should have just waited until night to sneak out and go then. There would be fewer people around. Less public. I didn't feel ready for this but… it was too late to back out now. I just needed to go for it. I needed to own it, or at least try to.
I took another deep breath and then walked out of the alley and continued making my way downtown.
Thankfully the road I was on was pretty much empty aside from a few cars. It was still pretty early on in the day on a Sunday. Most people would probably still be sleeping or wouldn't necessarily be out walking around in the in-between area of the south docks and downtown areas. There wasn't a lot of action happening around here other than possibly gang action.
And they definitely didn't seem like the type that would be early to bed early to rise. As I got closer to downtown there started to be a few more people. Not a whole lot but enough, most ended up just kind of giving me a wide berth and didn't really meet my eyes.
I didn't really think much of it, in fact, that worked great for me. I wasn't super keen on any sort of attention, so I was happy with people ignoring me for whatever reason. Besides it wasn't like I was necessarily doing this for the fame. It'd be nice to get recognition, but I was just trying to do something, anything, to make the world a better place.
I wasn't necessarily hoping there'd be a crime for me to stop…
But if there was one, I certainly wouldn't complain if I happened to be nearby to stop it.
~~~Lady of Cinder~~~
I hadn't been expecting to walk into a crime scene in action, but I'd been kind of hoping that I'd find something.
After several hours of walking around, I hadn't seen so much as a glimpse of a single criminal act. I was starting to feel a little disappointed and maybe a little desperate. I knew it was probably wrong for me to want a crime to happen just so I could stop it, but I needed this.
It felt like the only thing that would justify my existence at this point, if I couldn't even stop a single crime in the entire time I spent walking around then what was even the point of me trying to be a cape?
If I couldn't stop a single crime… No, I refused to continue the thought. I would stop something today. Anything, no matter how long it took to find.
I shook my head and set off with a renewed determination. Before I had made it more than a couple of steps I heard someone yell, "Stop!"
And hurtling out of the sky someone landed in front of me in the traditional power landing pose, cracking the ground, that Alexandria capes were all fond of.
It took a moment to recognize who I was looking at, but she was probably one of the most recognizable, and possibly vain, capes in the Bay area. Glory Girl stood up from where she had landed and hovered a couple of feet off the ground making it so I had to look up to be able to see her face.
She was looking at me. And she did not look happy.
"Surrender now and I won't hurt you… Badly," She ordered.
I…
What?
I didn't even know how to respond, how was I supposed to respond to this? Did she think I was a villain? Why would she think that at all? I hadn't even done anything yet!
Apparently, I was taking too long to comply with her demands, "I'm warning you," She said venomously and hovered forward a few feet closer, "drop the bat and surrender yourself and I'll go easy on you, but if you don't."
She hammered a fist into an open palm creating a resounding thud, I swear I think I saw a shockwave come off her hands. The force from that punch would have popped my head like a grape if it had been aimed at me.
At the same time, an overwhelming wave of fear overpowered any slight rational thought I might have been having. Immediately what came to my mind was the same sort of helplessness I had felt that day in the locker.
I was trapped, I needed to get out. I need out I need out I need out I need out.
"I… uhhh…" I stuttered over my words, desperately trying to explain… something, I still didn't fully understand what was going on.
Glory Girl opened her mouth again and started hovering closer when she was cut off by someone else, "Vicky!"
Glory Girl's eyes instantly snapped away from me to someone behind me, I couldn't take my eyes off of her for even a moment to check behind me and see who was coming up. I felt like if I did she would instantly be on me and hit me with a full power punch.
Her face twisted into a pout that was extremely at odds with the menace she had been giving me before, "Gallant," She practically whined, "you know you're supposed to call me Glory Girl while I'm in costume."
I heard a huff of amusem*nt as whoever it was came to a stop a few feet behind me. Gallant? One of the wards I was pretty sure. My mind wasn't really thinking straight right now.
"Does it really matter? Everyone knows who you are, New Wave identities aren't exactly secret."
"It's the principle of the matter," She retorted, although she put on a voice as if she was imitating someone else.
"Alright," Gallant said, "Glory Girl. Who is this then?"
"Dunno, was about to interrogate them though."
There was a brief moment of silence before Gallant broke it, "Interrogate?" His voice sounded tight like he was stressed about something. I still hadn't moved and didn't try to interject, maybe if I was really lucky, they would treat me like everyone at school and just ignore me and I could sneak away.
"Yeah, I mean, she's obviously a villain. She's in empire territory, wearing empire colors. Clearly an empire cape, probably a new one since I don't recognize her."
"Vicky-"
"Call me Glory Girl."
"Vicky," Gallant reiterated with more emphasis when Glory Girl interrupted him, "I don't think she's an empire cape. She's terrified out of her mind like… enough to be on the edge of needing medical help."
Glory Girl just rolled her eyes, "Well duh, I just hit her with a dose of the aura. Of course, she's gonna be afraid, especially if she knows what's good for her."
Glory Girl reasserted her glare back on me as she said that causing another wave of fear to wash over me, causing my legs to give out letting me drop to the ground. I could feel tears starting to well up slightly in my eyes.
"Victoria! Enough!" Gallant yelled at her causing her to squawk indignantly.
The wave of fear overpowering my emotions pulled back and I heard a couple of brisk steps before I saw gunmetal gray legs appear in my field of view. I still didn't have control over my body so I couldn't even turn my head to look at who it was.
Gallant knelt down in front of me, just out of arms reach, giving me a bit of space and covering my view of Glory Girl. I couldn't see his face but he had a gentle smile on his face.
When he spoke to me his voice was soothing and calm, "Hey, you alright?"
I took a few shuddering breaths trying to recover any amount of composure to be able to respond to him. After a few moments, I got enough control to turn the angle of my head to look at him a bit better and fully take in the view I was seeing.
Gallant wore a silvery-gray set of futuristic armor that held a vague reminiscence of a medieval knight. It was accented by little glowing strips and circles that seemed more decorative rather than functional.
It did look cool though.
I took a few more deep breaths and the shaking finally subsided. Gallant's smile widened a bit just to show the barest hint of teeth.
"Looks like you're gonna pull through fine," He then stood up and held out a hand.
For a moment I just stared at it before I realized he was offering to help me stand up from where I'd fallen. I felt my face heat up in embarrassment. Thankfully it was covered up by the bandanna I had wrapped around my face, so it didn't look like anything other than me being a bit slow to respond.
Like everything else so far.
I grabbed his hand and he pulled me to my feet effortlessly, steadying me as I stumbled by grabbing onto both of my shoulders.
"Woah, careful," once I steadied he seemed to look deeply at my face, like he could see something behind the mask, "You good?"
This time I nodded, "Ye-" my voice felt hoarse causing me to cough before I tried to speak again, "Yeah, I think so."
He let his arms fall away and took a step back, "Well that was exciting, is it alright if I ask you a couple of questions?"
I glanced from him over to Glory Girl who was hovering possessively over his shoulder, like an angry little pixie, with a pouting glare she had firmly leveled at me.
"I uh, yeah?" I answered hesitantly.
He just laughed, "Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I think it's safe to assume you're a new cape. The standard protocol for when we see a new cape is to ascertain their identity if at all possible. So really all I need to know is your name and if you're affiliated with any of the gangs in the area."
I cleared my throat before responding, "Ummm, I don't actually have a name yet. I couldn't think of one…" I finished lamely, "But I'm a hero!" I added hurriedly," Or at least I want to be. Haven't had a lot of luck actually finding anything hero-like to do yet."
At that moment someone else appeared next to us.
"What the hell is taking you so long? We just gonna spend all afternoon f*cking around doing f*ck all?"
We all turned to get a look at the newcomer with Gallant responding instantaneously as if it was an ingrained reflex, "Language."
The girl standing next to us just snorted. She was dressed in an all-black and gray outfit, with a thick cloak that rustled lightly in the wind. Her hands were covered in black metal gauntlets and her knees were covered in the same material. On her hips, she wore identical crossbows. Her face was covered in a metal faceplate of a woman with a stern gaze.
Shadow Stalker, another Ward.
As my eyes took in her appearance she took in mine. Her eyes briefly flitted down to my shirt and she took two quick steps back and was pulling out her crossbow when Gallant yelled, "Stop!"
Shadow Stalker halted and for a moment silence reigned again before she hissed, "She's empire!"
Gallant just sighed, "No. No, she's not. She's a new hero that's probably debuting today and just happened to be wearing the wrong colors, in the wrong place, at the wrong time."
Stalker hesitated for a moment longer with her crossbow half pulled out before she slowly put it back in place. We all briefly looked at each other for a moment before Gallant let out another long-winded sigh, this one sounding more like relief rather than exasperation.
"Alright, I need to send this in. GG, Stalker will you stay with Metal Bat while I do so?"
Metal Bat? Oh, that's me. It was kinda… plain. Although not like I had managed to come up with anything better on my own time, so it would do for now.
He took a couple of steps away before speaking, probably into a radio he had built into his helmet, "Console, this is Gallant."
He waited a brief moment, probably for whoever was on the other end of the line to do whatever it was they needed to.
In the meantime, Glory Girl, Shadow Stalker, and I all stood in a triangle formation, equidistant away from each other. If this was a cape movie we'd stand her in our Mexican standoff for another few moments before breaking into a free-for-all brawl.
One that would probably see me killed pretty quickly. Either by Glory Girl or Shadow Stalker.
From the internet and PHO, I had managed to find out a lot about the Wards and their powers, along with New Wave as well. Gallant was some kind of tinker tech emotion blaster. Glory Girl was invincible, could fly, and had super-strength.
Shadow Stalker was a breaker, she turned into a, well, shadow and could pass through objects. Rumor had it that she could just spawn her attacks straight into your heart or brain if she wanted to. Wouldn't matter how durable my skin was if she just hit my brain. No amount of increased strength would help me there.
"Yes, we've come across a new hero in the area during patrol that I'm naming Metal Bat until they come up with one of their own. Glory Girl engaged initially thinking she was possibly a member of E88. I sent Shadow Stalker to secure the perimeter before linking back up with us if we needed assistance. Situation has de-escalated at this point."
He waited for a moment longer while whoever was on the other end took note of what he said and probably responded.
"Understood, I'll check back in at thirty after. Gallant out."
With that taken care of, he made his way back over to us and flashed us all a smile, "Sorry about that," He directed at me, "Also, I'm sure you heard, but I went ahead and gave you a temporary designation. It's not permanent so you don't have to worry about it sticking if you want to change it in the future."
I just nodded in response not really wanting to speak in the tense situation right now. Shadow Stalker just scoffed, "I'm going ahead, you dweebs can talk about whatever."
She turned around took a few quick steps into a sprint before jumping and turned into a shadow which launched her into the sky up to the top of the building next to us. She reformed at the top before running and jumping over the ledge and repeating the trick, quickly moving out of sight.
Something about her…
"Good riddance," Glory Girl snorted derisively after a moment, pulling my attention away from Shadow Stalker's retreating form, before turning back to look at me. She looked at me for a moment before her expression softened.
"Look, Bat, I uhh, I might've gotten a little excited back there. But don't sweat it, nobody got hurt so it's fine, right?"
I frowned. I wasn't quite sure that I was fine with it, but honestly, I really didn't want to push the issue right now.
"Yeah, nobody got hurt," I echoed.
Her face lit up into a bright smile, "I knew you would be cool about it. Come on, you were patrolling, right? You can join us on ours. It'll be nice to have another girl hero around. Shadow Stalker doesn't count since she's kind of a bitch-" "Language." "-but you seem pretty cool, it's fine if she comes right, Gallant?"
Gallant pursed his lips before looking at me.
At this point, I had no clue what was going on. So much was happening so fast, I'd met Glory Girl and two of the Wards, two of whom had nearly attacked me and probably injured me pretty badly. I hadn't been remotely prepared to deal with any sort of engagement and now I was being invited to go along on a patrol with them.
Did I even want to go with them?
…
I didn't know if I liked Glory Girl really, but Gallant had been nothing but nice… and it'd be nice to maybe have someone help me if we did run into some action.
Gallant's face eventually broke into a soft smile, "I'll have to call it in, but I can't imagine them turning us down."
"Yes! You're the best, babe," Glory Girl punched a fist into the air doing a little pirouette before hovering over to give Gallant a hug.
That's right, I'd think I had heard something about them dating. There went any potential… no, there hadn't been any in the first place. I wasn't the kind of girl that guys fawned over…
I was the kind of girl they shoved in lockers with bloody tampons and trash.
At the moment I was grateful for the face covering, but I now also wished I had something that covered my eyes. If only to hide what little emotion could show through a person's eyes.
A few moments later the confirmation came that I was cleared to join them, which Gallant announced with the same smile he always had that looked genuine no matter how long he showed it.
How he managed something like that, I had no clue.
We were pretty close to Arcadia currently, the plan was to do a quick loop around it and then move to the Boardwalk.
"So I'm assuming this is your first time out?" Gallant asked, directing the conversation back to me.
I nodded, "Yeah," I tried to go for a cool tone, but it probably came out lamer than I intended.
He just nodded as well, "Nothing wrong with that, everyone has to have their first day. And it's never easy, especially when you don't have anyone to show you what to do."
"Already going for the Wards pitch, huh?" Glory Girl asked jokingly, giving him a slight nudge.
Gallant just smiled, "Not intentionally, maybe it's just become a habit at this point," He said with a bit of faux deprecation.
"Although, since we're on the topic, have you considered joining the Wards?"
"I…" I hesitated. I had, and I still wasn't sure that I wanted to. I also wasn't sure that I was strong enough to contend with any of the major villains in the area. Hell, I didn't think I could contend with many of the minor ones either.
"I did…"
"But?" He pressed gently.
I shook my head, "I don't think I'm strong enough," I finished lamely.
I couldn't see it, but I could practically feel the frown on his face. Glory Girl openly had one as well.
"What's your power?" She interjected.
"I'm a minor brute."
She tilted her head in confusion, "A… minor brute?"
"What do you mean by that specifically," Gallant asked.
"Pretty much exactly what I said, I got a minor boost in my physicality. When I got my powers, my body's muscles were… enhanced is a good word I think. I'm much more muscular than I was before, I can lift more, run a bit faster, I'm more durable, and I don't really get tired. Although I still need to sleep."
I left unsaid the capability to track the sun or tell time with it. It didn't really feel relevant.
"That doesn't sound that bad," Glory Girl hedged, "in fact, that's honestly pretty basic, that's almost what I have minus the flying."
I shook my head, "My limit on my strength is about several hundred pounds. Four hundred, maybe five hundred if I'm lifting with my entire body."
Gallant tilted his head, "That's an incredible lifting capacity considering how small you are though."
I shook my head again more emphatically this time, "That's not even beyond the realms of human capability, much less superhuman."
"Bat… That's Olympic record-holding territory, a small fraction of the global human population can lift that much."
"Maybe for women," I retorted derisively, "I looked, even if it's a bit above average, men that weigh around 140-150 lbs should be deadlift around 500. 500 lbs! That's as much as I can carry if I push myself, so even if I'm a little bit stronger than a normal human male who weighs about 20-30 lbs more than me, it's still not enough to compete against parahumans. I mean, Glory Girl can lift a cement truck apparently," I gestured angrily at her, "How am I supposed to compete with something like that?!"
For a while everyone was quiet. I took the moment to take a deep breath and try to calm down from the annoyance I was feeling.
"It's fine though, I'm not expecting to have to fight against Lung or anything, so it shouldn't matter. If I can even stop just small-time crime, that gives real capes a chance to deal with something more important that I wouldn't be able to handle."
Gallant made a hum, while Glory Girl kind of hovered with a bit of a pained thinking expression on her face like she wasn't used to thinking so hard about something. In reality, she probably wasn't used to it. From everything that PHO said about her, she usually did her thinking with her fists.
"Well, I won't push you on it. If you really don't want to join the Wards that's fine, no one is going to force you to join up. But I will say this; I think you're selling yourself short. I really do. I mean, without this power suit I don't know that I'd be able to stop you in a fight before you could crush me. And even with the suit it only matches me to around your level of physicality.
"Keep that in mind, your level of physicality, is the expected standard of safety for being out in the field for someone squishy like me."
"I…"
I hadn't actually thought about that. I was the expected standard.
The Wards weren't necessarily expected to face off against the more dangerous capes, it sometimes happened anyway, but the system was supposed to be designed to give them a place to learn and experience their powers while also allowing them to do good for the community.
And according to Gallant, my level of capability was the standard they held people to, at least marginally so. For someone like Aegis, a power suit wouldn't really be all that useful, same with Shadow Stalker or Vista. Their powers are what gave them their edge, they didn't need extra utility on top of that. They needed things to help them use their power better.
That definitely brought a new perspective to the situation that I hadn't really considered. Had I been letting the words of the trio completely dictate my view of my powers?
"I'll think about it," I whispered, almost sheepishly.
He just smiled, "Whatever you decide is fine. Even if you decide not to, it's not like you can't still patrol with the other Wards or even New Wave."
"Hey, yeah! You could totally join us for some of ours!" Glory Girl, had apparently been looking for a spot to insert herself into the conversation, "Amy doesn't patrol with us, too busy with hospital work and Mom doesn't really want her doing that anyway. Crystal is getting ready to go away for college so she's not really gonna be around anymore, that just leaves Eric… which there's nothing wrong with Eric," She added hurriedly, "but, he's a guy, ya know?"
I really didn't, but I nodded anyway.
"So it'd be nice to have someone else to join us or even just to talk to. Especially if you're a brute, I think we could work well together."
I nodded again, "Yeah, maybe."
If she heard any hesitancy in my voice she didn't acknowledge it in any way. She seemed a very go-with-the-flow type of person, and she just kind of sucked everyone else up into her tempo.
She seemed like the kind of girl Madison might get along with, she always seemed like a follower which is probably why she spent so much time sucking up to Emma and Sophia by tormenting me.
I tried to push away the pit of darkness that was forming in my stomach and just focus on enjoying the fact that I actually seemed to be making friends for the first time in nearly two years.
I had to keep reminding myself that they weren't Julia. They weren't trying to become friends with me to inevitably betray me later. At least, I didn't think they were.
I hoped they weren't.
I glanced around for a moment before asking, "So where's Shadow Stalker?"
Glory Girl's attitude almost immediately evaporated and Gallant pursed his lips before responding, "She's around. She doesn't do well with groups, unfortunately."
"I think you mean 'fortunately,' she's an absolute bitch to be around," Glory Girl muttered under her breath.
I was almost positive Gallant heard her words, but he didn't respond. Given the little interaction I had experienced with the other Ward, I could relatively safely agree with Glory Girl. She seemed very abrasive as a person.
If she didn't want to stick around with us as a group then I didn't mind either way.
Our conversation eventually veered off into other things as we walked. And as we got closer and closer to the boardwalk, more and more people started coming up to us, some of them wanting autographs from either Gallant or Glory Girl, or perhaps wanting to ask if I was a new Ward.
"Not yet," Gallant responded with patience I wouldn't have felt after answering the same question for the 23rd time. Yes, I counted, "But we're hoping so in the future. She's still considering all of her options."
I still wasn't too sure about that
~~~Lady of Cinder~~~
Eventually, we made it to the Boardwalk, and it was starting to tip over into the evening…
And nothing had happened. Not a single criminal activity.
The entire time a lingering frustration had been mounting up throughout the patrol. By the time we reached the Boardwalk, Shadow Stalker had rejoined us. Shortly after we made it to the Boardwalk she muttered something about rather watching paint dry than walk through the safest area in the city and had split from the group to head back to the local PRT building.
We reached the end of the Boardwalk itself and as Gallant handled a couple more fans that had walked up, Glory Girl stretched her arms and yawned slightly, "Well, glad that's over. Shame we didn't run into any actual crime. I could have used the exercise."
I agreed with her for different reasons entirely.
"You shouldn't say that Glory," Gallant said as he walked up to us, "the last thing New Wave needs is a video of you circulating about how you want there to be more crime. Besides this is the safest area in the city, it's not like we were going to be seeing a lot of action up through here, you knew that when you joined. This isn't the docks."
What. This was the safest area in the city?
I could f*cking kick myself right now, it should have been obvious. No gang would specifically be doing crime near the PRT, which is where I just happened to be walking at the start, or Arcadia. Much less the Boardwalk, which was basically the nicest part of the city outside of some of the areas downtown.
The docks, on the other hand, were borderline slums. Run-down, seedy, and desolate were just a few of the words I would use to describe it. A lot of the buildings were abandoned or taken over by gangs, windows broken in, walls broken down, and a lot of the area probably didn't even have electricity running to it.
The result of decades of gang warfare and a declining economy. The city just didn't have the money or the capability to push the gangs out and repair the area. Not that there was even really an incentive to do so. It's not like just building up a few of the buildings in the docks would suddenly make the city more appealing to people.
No, there wasn't a reason to risk an investment like that, so it stayed as it was. A criminal paradise.
I should have gone there first, it would have been the perfect place to start with for my debut as a cape. But for some reason, I had subconsciously avoided it. Was it the fact that my parents had always told me to be careful whenever I was going through the docks? If I could help it, never be alone or always carry my spray.
Most likely. I had gone to wherever I would have felt the most safe. That was my problem.
I was still thinking like a scared civilian, rather than a cape looking to make the world a better place.
"Bat?"
I blinked, before turning to look at both Glory Girl and Gallant who were staring at me.
"Sorry, could you say that again? I was lost in thought."
"We were just asking if you had a phone or something we could use to contact you in the future. Our patrol is at an end here, so Glory Girl is about to take me back to the PRT building, but it'd be cool if we could have you around on a patrol again in the future."
They wanted me to join them again?
For the first time in a long time, I genuinely smiled. Just that small thing made me happy. It also made me sad that I was so socially deprived that someone saying they wanted to spend time with me made me this emotional.
The only problem…
I shook my head, "Sorry, I don't have a phone."
Gallant nodded, "That's fine, here…"
He rummaged around in a little compartment that sprung out of his leg and then pulled out a couple of things. A pamphlet and a card with the PRT shield logo on it were then handed to me.
"I know you said you weren't sure you wanted to join the Wards yet, but this pamphlet has some stuff in it you might find interesting. At the very least, it can give you a bit more information on what exactly the Wards team is designed to do. The card is just a card for the PRT, but it's nice to have the number a little more easily accessible I think. Feel free to call them for any reason at all, they really are more than happy to help you by answering questions."
He smiled at me as I took the stuff and put it away in a little pocket in the cargo pants I was wearing.
"You'll be fine getting home on your own?"
I nodded, "Yeah, I think so," not that I planned on going home yet.
"Alright then. Well, it was nice meeting you Metal Bat, maybe next time you'll have a better name than something I can think up on the spot," He said with a bit of humor.
I chuckled good-naturedly at the joke. I liked this kind of humor, the kind that wasn't designed to hurt me or derive pleasure from my pain.
"Until next time then."
"See ya, Bat! We can never have enough female heroes around!" Glory Girl said as she picked Gallant up by the arms and slowly accelerated up into the sky.
I watched them for a brief moment before they quickly started fading from view.
I turned around and started making my way out of the Boardwalk. I walked with a newfound determination.
I wasn't heading home, I wouldn't be heading home until I dealt with at least one crime. No matter how long it took.
I stepped out of the Boardwalk proper and started making my way further into the docks.
