1.11

1.11

I wake up incredibly disoriented and with a -completely understandable- fear of lasers. I do remember I'm supposed to be on a couch so I wait for my wits to come to me, apparently training with Shard is pretty disorienting. I'm a little surprised at how rested I feel though. Once I can tell where I am I sit up and stretch. I feel Shard sidle up next to my mind shortly after.

"Good morning Shard"

She tosses me an image of a sunrise.

I go over some of my training from last night. I had managed to design an energy shield using similar ideas to my fireball. Although it helped against lasers, it didn't exactly assist in the destruction of the robots. Robots are apparently pretty resistant to most of what I can do, so I ended up spending a majority of my time in the safe zone then testing things after developing them. The biggest development was a 'setting' system for enchantments, letting me change things such as sensitivity of shields, or strength and direction of flight - the flight one was the most difficult.

Today I'll have to think of a new attack spell. I'm thinking a laser if I can make work. I'll need to ionize a path through the air anyway if I want to use lightning, and I'm fairly certain a laser can do that. Hopefully it also gives me some insight into illusion, but that'll be a side project. "Alright, stop procrastinating and get ready for school." I tell myself and attempt to work up the motivation.

When I finally get off the couch, everything goes fairly normally as I go about my morning routine. I start thinking about the guys that were following Taylor last night while I brush my teeth. Whatever was going on it's something from a larger group. Either they somehow figured out Taylor is a parahuman, or more likely, there's a leak in the PRT and someone either wanted information on me, or wanted a hostage to use against me. Most of Winslow knew Taylor and I were friends because of the situation with Sophia, so that information was pretty easy to get.

I grumble to myself in my head, 'If this turns out to be E88 or something I might -have- to join the Wards just for the protection the name gives me... Maybe I can work out a deal as a sort of 'freelance' Ward. Eh, I doubt that'll work. Government agencies are all about their rules and without a rule for it I doubt they can just snap their fingers and make it a position. Besides, they'd want me in the main group so they have some control. Of course, if they can't figure out who it is or it's someone small I might be able to just stay on my own. Besides, if I can get Taylor to join the Wards, then she'll have both the name and the 'unwritten rules' to keep her safe, though that still leaves my parents as an issue. Then again they're probably better prepared to deal with it than a high schooler.'

Shard seems grumpy too. She's faded to the back and I think she's gone into her dream to smash up robots. Probably for the best, she's a bit of a birdbrain, I doubt she'd enjoy school.

I finish with my teeth and head downstairs to chat with mom for a bit before heading out. "Hey mom, what're you up to today?"

She looks up and says, "Ah, good morning, your dad didn't get around to telling you, I think it slipped his mind with the excitement last night, but some of his pals donated that ballistic cloth he was talking about. Any ideas on the type of costume you want?"

I tilt my head a bit to think then say "For now, just some sort of body suit. Effectiveness first. Besides, I can keep using the piece of crap I put together until we get something set and I can use that body suit under it."

She nods, "Good plan. Now give me a model to use to sew this crap together so I can get it off my table."

My mother really likes to use my magic for mundane things. Then again, so do I so I guess I can't complain. I quickly build temporary shelled pieces over myself, and once they're removed I build a much stronger thicker shell using the previous shell as a mold and pump it full of mana so it holds, then fit it all together. "There you go, a less talkative me, should last around an hour." I feel pretty tired, that's the first time I've used that much mana at once in a while. I can already feel it recovering so it'll be fine.

She smiles "Oh goody, what I always wanted, my own dress up Will!" Then she glares at me "When you figure out the whole light thing you're making me another with appropriate colors. I'm your mother so I'm entitled to more blackmail material." She nods having decided this whole thing already. Then she looks at me consideringly, "Hey Will, is Shard just a voice or does she have a form in your head?"

I kinda see what she's getting at, she's basically gained a metaphysical daughter and all she knows is Shard is excitable. Since some mana has recovered, and this isn't going to last -too- long, I start forming a shape as I answer "Yeah she has a form" I say idly as I concentrate. I create her form from what mana I had gathered, about a foot tall for the sake of my mana. She has a thin form, if it wasn't for her hips and slight bust she'd be androgynous. I create a T-shirt and shorts over it, then start adding details, the slight glow from the eyes, the hair that stands up around her head as a slow teal flame and the whispy tendrils of 'wings' coming from her back.

Halfway through the construct, I feel Shard's attention split from where she was beating up robots and when she sees what I'm doing she launches herself at my mind saying 'it's me, it's me!' with hundreds of images of herself filled with excitement. That's when I feel something strange. It reminds me of yesterday morning when I was feeling emotions in my mana. Things start to come together in my head.

I roll my eyes back a bit to talk to Shard, "Hey Shard, calm down for a moment, I want to try something. Understand?"

I get an image of a 'thumbs up' from her and I can feel the little bubble of her mind lock itself rigidly in place - still practically vibrating with excitement. While my mother is watching me curiously.

I start forming a small gem of mana, very slowly to make sure it's -exactly- what I feel from Shard - both in shape and impression. I have to repeatedly go back and make changes because Shard just -can't- stay still long enough. Finally I complete the gem and let Shard know she can move again.

She looks at the gem curiously, then really -looks- at it. I can feel her emotion in my aura, just like yesterday when my eyes were glowing and I used mana, but at the time, without a place to go, it had just sank back into me. Now it had a place it could anchor to. She tried, but couldn't quite jump to the crystal. I had a theory on how we could manage that too. I had her calm down or else this was probably going to hurt, because -everything- I've experimented with has ended up hurting me. She listened.... barely. I linked an enchantment line between the 'gem' and my core, then let it fill with aura - not controlled mana.

"Alright Shard, I want you to push yourself into that aura, impress yourself upon it. It's like making it 'force' or 'light' but instead make it 'Shard'." and I wait to see if she understands.

Once she understands the concept, she starts trying to. I can feel the uncontrolled mana, 'aura', come under her control and start to feed into the gem. A few moments later and I can feel a familiar and yet foreign aura floating in front of me, and I gradually feel Shard fade from my mind as the gem starts to glow brightly.

Mom is grinning, I think she understands what I've just done. Shard's gem starts to have little particles of solid mana form from her aura that build up into a body. It looks almost like the one I had built, but I'm no artist.

Shard opens her new eyes, and breaks out in a huge grin, she flips around and zips up to hug the side of my face, then quickly goes to do the same thing to mom.

Mom is grinning and hugs her with her hand, saying softly "Hello Shard, it's so nice to really meet you" and her eyes start to glisten, almost like she's going to cry.

Shard flits over to the 'doll' of her I made previously. I step next to my mom. This isn't like her, she doesn't cry, she's a mischievous lady that makes herself a nuisance for everyone. The last time I saw her cry was years ago, a funeral for her parents. I don't remember what happened, but they were awesome people.

I give mom a hug saying "Hey, what's wrong?" - she's smiling so I'm not -too- worried, I'm just not used to tears from her.

She hugs me back, "You know, last night she called me mom. I guess I have that little girl I always wanted."

I -gasp- then dripping with sarcasm, "You mean I was -unwanted-!?"

She gives me a -look- "Of course. You're not cute at all. Why do you think I keep trying to give you away?" then she smiles and ruffles my hair. which I had -just- combed.

I push her away but suddenly I feel the enchantment line break when it leaves my aura. My head snaps up to look at Shard, who I can see spinning around with her 'doll' but the moment her aura leaves contact of mine hers starts to dim. She doesn't have a true 'core' when outside of me to generate new mana, and her body and gem eat mana to exist. I'd guess she could last about a minute outside of my aura. I do -not- want to test what happens when she fades while outside it, and I have school, I don't really have time to work with this anymore.

Shard can feel herself draining and frowns. When I step forward and she slips back into my aura I'm pretty sure she understands what happened. "Shard, I have to go to school, and I can't have a little a glowing lady floating around me. Think you could come back?" She instantly nods, and zips straight at my chest. I grunt, it felt like being shot by a beanbag round when she rammed her head into me.

I make the connection again and she fades through it to appear back in my mind. Her body and gem dissipate shortly after.

I can feel Shard in my head trying to tell me everything at once, images fill my mind of 'dancing here', 'I touched the lamp!', 'the ceiling is so -high-', 'spinning is fun' etc.

I laugh, "I guess we'll be working on ways to make that better. Lasers are going to the backburner." a thought hits me. "Hey mom, would you mind asking one of your smart scienc-ey friends about how I could fit a laser spell in with my magic system?" and I go to dig out my notebook for her. when she agrees.

Now, about five minutes later than I planned, I'm ready to head to school. A bit of a crazy morning. Aaand... Taylor is here? I can see her aura's silvery tendrils sticking to a few insects in our house. I know she can't help it, but it's kinda creepy with how it feels like such an invasion of privacy. Idly I wonder if she spies on hot guys in the locker-room, it's not like anyone would be able to tell. I'll just assume the answer is 'yes' because 'no' would be too boring.

I grab my stuff and head out the door to see a slightly angry Taylor. "Heya T, um... what's up?"

She glares at me and says "Turn off the glowy."

Oh right, forgot to re-do that whole thing when I brought Shard back. I close my eyes and we sink her mana into mine. When I open my eyes again, no more glow. "Thanks T, almost forgot. Sooo... I doubt -that's- the reason you're here." I say pointedly.

She's still glaring "You're late and I'm making sure you're ready for school, which is making -me- late, so let's get going before the bus gets here."

Oookay. Taylor is taking this friend thing a -little- far. I shrug and start jogging toward Winslow, which is apparently the same direction as Taylor's bus. She's keeping up easily, I think she's in quite a bit better shape than I am. There's a couple of people at the bus stop, I hang back for a moment and wave to Taylor "See you later, have fun" and turn to leave. There's a hand stopping me. That hand is connected to Taylor. Logically that means there's a Taylor stopping me. I can't figure out -why- a Taylor is stopping me. I do the logical thing and point out the physics involved in going to school. "Taylor, it's difficult for me to pass through you to make it to school."

She nods in agreement, a good thing. Then she says "That would be true, but you're taking the bus."... a bad thing.

I can math sometimes. I put two and two together. "You got me signed up for Arcadia and asked my parents not to tell me."

I see her grin like the cat that got the canary as she chirps "Yep!"

I groan and roll my eyes, I didn't -want- a new school. I was -perfectly- happy just coasting through my easy classes with people who wouldn't bother me. Well, other than Sophia, but that was a new thing. Oh no, Sophia. Taylor did the things I said didn't she? Shard interjects that we could just blow the bus's tires and go to Winslow anyway. I mutter "No Shard, that would upset T, and you like her."

Around that moment, the bus arrives. Ugh, no going back now. Interestingly Taylor, me and the other two students that were waiting, were the only ones to be picked up in this neighborhood. The next stop was closer to Winslow. There we picked up one person. A shorter girl who was glaring DEATH my way.

I raise a hand in a defeated wave "Hi Sophia".

Taylor and I were in back so Sophia took a seat in the front, the other two students were in the front quarter of the bus too. I turn to Taylor "So, I thought things had been cleared up pretty well with her, I kinda assumed she'd be more pissed at you than me. What's with the hate?"

Taylor looks about ready to split open from trying not to laugh "I told her you wouldn't sign the form the PRT needs unless she dressed as a maid and served you tea one day this week."

I cover my face and hunch over "Oh god. Now the PRT is going to think I'm a perv with a maid fetish. No, wait, Sophia's black. Black 'servant' oh -god- they're going to think I'm a perverted racist ass."

Shard helpfully sends me an image of Sophia in a sexy maid outfit. I mutter "Not. Helping." I send an image back of Sophia in a sexy maid outfit, with a -machete-. "She's going to kill me."

This time Taylor tries to help, "No she won't, if you die she gets tried as an adult."

I give Taylor a flat look, "You -do- realize she's INSANE right?, that would be a good trade for her. She is a rage monster. If she thought about consequences she wouldn't be -in- this mess."

She just grins saying, "It's what you get for 'passing the buck'"

I groan again, "With friends like these, who needs enemies?" Shard points out that enemies are good target practice, we can't use Taylor for that.

I give up. I'm just going to let it happen. I lean back in the seat and sigh. "Any other crazy news?"

Taylor shrugs saying "Not particularly" then she gives me a hard look, all humor gone. "But you have some explaining to do. We have time. Tell me everything about this whole 'Shard' thing."

So I tell her about being trapped in a dream, how it related to Glory Girl with the aura stuff and brute ratings and flight, how I can train there now, how Shard came about once I beat the 'boss' and how I assume she's a piece of my subconscious infused with mana splitting her off from me. Then I go into all the stuff that happened this morning and how I can give her a physical body as long as she stays in my aura, but I assume there's a way to expand her range in some way since it's only because she can't regenerate mana.

Taylor just stares at me in shock. "One day. I left you alone for ONE DAY and you go and fracture your brain."

I shrug "Technically half a day, you saw me that morning and then in the evening. Really I'm the one that should be complaining, you went and got yourself a stalker while I was away. You should have learned from the one I got last week." And that brings up the next point. I wait a few moments then say "You need to join the Wards."

Taylor watches me for a moment then says "Are you going to?"

I deflate a little "If you don't then I may have to."

She's glaring now. Huh, I think this is the first time she's -really- been mad at me. "I do -not- need your protection. I can take care of myself just fine, and don't you dare bring up last night. That was about secrets. I -could- have taken care of them myself."

I roll my head a little to look at her "Alright, I can accept that. You should -still- join the Wards. You want the Hero gig, capital 'H'. I just want to fly around and help people out once in a while. With the PRT you can make a real career out of that stuff."

She still doesn't look happy with me, "You can help a lot of people, you have a responsibility to help the people who are hurting in this city."

I roll my head back and look at the ceiling of the bus, "That's the thing though. If you find a gun on the side of the road, does that merit having to fight in a war? I'm not the 'Hero' type. I'll protect my family and friends, I'll help when I see problems, even go -searching- for people to help sometimes. But I don't want to make it my life." I look over to her, she still looks upset, "That's why I don't want a team. If the shit is gonna hit the fan, give me a call and I'll be there. But I'm not going to be a soldier."

She's back to glaring though looks a little confused, "But that's exactly what you're going to be!" she lowers her voice when she realizes she's gotten a little loud. "I mean, you're going to be out fighting anyway, helping people, you just won't get any protection from the PRT, you won't be allowed access to restricted com channels or any gear. You wouldn't even get any information on any plans that come up and could even be breaking the law because you aren't sanctioned by the PRT in any way. The only benefit you get is you won't be told to do the things you'll be doing anyway." She rolls her eyes "You're basically saying you want to be a vigilante because the police chief might be an ass."

I raise an eyebrow "I'm pretty sure you -met- the 'chief'. She didn't exactly come across as sunshine and rainbows."

She rolls her eyes, "Just-..." she sighs, "Think on it alright? It's not like you'll be signing your soul away or anything."

I nod. "I'll think on it more. Maybe we can get a trial thing going." A moment later I look back to the ceiling, "By the way, T. I'm trusting you when you say you can take care of yourself. If you get yourself kidnapped I'll be pissed."

Taylor just rolls her eyes then says "So what does Shard have to say about this?"

I shrug, "She's still stuck on you comparing Piggot to a police chief and calling her an ass. She's also showing me Piggot's ass is probably the size of your average police chief."

Taylor just laughs.

The rest of the bus ride was filled with idle chat. I made Taylor promise to ask Glory Girl about flying in her sleep if she gets the chance.

School was pretty straightforward, though -very- different from Winslow. Mainly it was -pristine-, not just clean, I swear the damn place -sparkled-. Introductions to classes was a little awkward since I was a day late. I got the standard introduction "William Taylor, call me Will.". There was a bit of chat but I didn't see anyone I recognized, and like Winslow I just kept to myself and tried to practice with my mana invisibly. Mainly playing around with crystalline structures under the desk trying to sort out how to filter light like a prism and trying to understand the wavelengths. Luckily no one looks at the -underside- of the desks where the light was being projected to.

The class right before lunch had a Puerto Rican guy I didn't recognize at first, but once he got close enough I was able to place him immediately by his aura; Mr. Tentatively Wards Leader. The Wards -do- go to school here so I guess it's expected.... And he sat next to me. I wonder idly if this is a plan from Piggot to get me to make friends with a Ward and then 'Oh, you're a WARD!? that's awesome, guess I HAVE to join now!'. Then again maybe TWL is doing this on his own initiative.

He coughs. Because that's what you do to let everyone know it's your turn to talk. God, he's going to introduce himself. No one else did that in my other classes, just some general gossip. Maybe if I ignore it, it'll go away?

Shard... actually makes a good point. I haven't played with my emotion aura much, but he's right -next- to me, within plenty of range to affect him. I pump his area full of [relax], [sleep], [calm], [procrastinate], [apathy], I'm not even sure if the last two work yet, but if they do delay him, all the better. He seemed annoyed when I ignored him, but that's starting to fade. He ends up sitting back in his seat and watching the class. I pull back on the [sleep] part when his eyelids start to droop. Wouldn't do for him to conk out and realize that's not normal. Oddly enough there's another guy looking right at TWL, though he seems a little confused... I'm betting another Ward, they probably had a plan or something and TWL just botched it.

I gradually pull back the emotional push until it's at a fairly easy level to hold while remaining effective. I have to admit, it -is- kinda fun to screw with them.

When class ends I gather my things quickly and head out for lunch. It was a much nicer affair than Winslow. I didn't see Taylor around, but I -did- see Glory Girl. I think her name was Victoria.... and she's hovering. Okay, I'm jealous. This is exactly the reason why I hate secret identities. -I- want to hover around school. So does Shard. Shard wants to hover anyway and blame aliens when we're accused of being a parahuman.

I find myself a mostly-filled table and sit down with my salisbury steak. About a minute later Mr. TWL finds me and I almost groan. He takes the seat across from me and 'other guy' takes the seat beside him.

TWL smiles, "Hey Will. The name's Carlos, he's Dean" and he holds out his hand while Dean gives a wave with a short 'hey'. Alright let's get this over with, if I'm boring enough they won't have an excuse to hang out. Besides, boring is easy, I just have to write out incomprehensible notes.

I nod to him and shake his hand with a grunt of acknowledgement. Then pull out my notepad to flip to a blank page, setting it beside my tray and continuing some calculations I had started on Saturday about calculating out my mana, I had a pretty good grasp on how it all interacted, just needed to figure out specifics.

TWL a.k.a. Carlos's smile turns brittle at the brush off. "So, you liking Arcadia?"

I just shrug "It's school." then keep writing.

Dean says something under his breath to Carlos who frowns for a moment before taking a more neutral expression. "So... what are you working on?"

I mumble "Volume of a spherical area held by an input of pressure versus loss and possible outside force and relations of other variables based on it. Primarily though, I'm worried about the rate of input." Mostly accurate. Other numbers involved such as how much I can control and I assume a lack of outside force and whether all of it changes based on maximum size versus current amount.

Carlos continues, "Okay... um, Dean is pretty good with math, he could give you a hand."

Dean looks a little surprised at being thrown under the bus but answers "wouldn't it just be... the same pressure as the outside?"

I sigh and put down the pen. He's not leaving. I say to Dean "Nah, there are other variables involved in this one. But no thanks, I've got this." I look straight at Carlos and say, "Now what's this about?" When Carlos blinks for a moment I continue "You aren't exactly being -subtle-."

Dean smirks, but I'm pretty sure he wants to laugh. Carlos just looks a little annoyed, "Can't I just want to make friends with the new kid?"

I raise an eyebrow "If the new kid was the socially outgoing type or the jock type that might fly. Or if you were the nerdy gamer type it could work, but as it is, no, not really. All I really see going on is you want to be the 'nice guy' and introduce 'the new kid' to your social group." I probably should have left the last part off, but I was getting a little annoyed and obviously I couldn't say my other theory without pissing some people off.

Carlos seems to decide he can work with that and smiles. "Well, if all you're going to do is write notes, then you can do it with our -social group-, come on, sit at our table." I'm starting to wonder if Miss Militia told him to make me feel welcome and Mr. TWL took it as a mission.

That's when I saw Sophia. She had half a table to herself, I'm pretty sure she scared everyone else off. I grin, 'perfect!'. "Ah, Carlos, sorry, I just found someone from my old school. I want to catch up with her, I'm sure you understand." and I grab my notepad and tray then stand up as he's still trying to put the information together. After a few seconds he sees who I'm moving toward, it comes together and he looks like I slapped him with a fish. It's an amusing mixture of confused, insulted and 'where the hell did that come from?'.

Dean seems to think it's funny and waves, "Later Will." I think I could get along with him. He's not as overbearing as Carlos. I give him a nod since my hands are full.

I leave them behind and set down my tray across from Sophia. I get some looks from some of the people in the cafeteria, but mainly I get a death glare from Sophia when she looks up. The death glare gets even -more- death glare-y... not really sure how she managed it. She growls "What do -you- want?"

I answer matter-of-factly, "A secret base on the moon. Though for now I'll settle for 'finishing lunch in peace'. Turns out -you- scare away all the other fishies so this place works."

She glares around "That's because they're weak." Then she remembers she's supposed to be angry with me so turns her glare back in my direction. "Go away, I don't want to deal with your shit."

I shake my head as I finish a bite of my lunch "Nope, this is the perfect place. You don't like me so you're not going to try to make friends, but you also can't really do anything to me. You scare away the other people who -do- want to make friends, and you won't leave because it would be seen as running away." I point my spork at her. "That means you should get used to having me around for lunch."

Well, she's still glaring but at least she doesn't seem enraged. I could probably ask her a few questions without pissing her off too badly. Since no one's in range to hear over the din I figure talking shop would be fine. "So, is Mr. Tentatively Wards Leader's 'friendly' plot something done by the PRT or is that just him naturally?"

She chokes for a moment and looks up wide eyed at Carlos then back at me before they narrow and she demands "How did you know?"

I just look at her flatly for a moment before saying "Sophia. I am -not- that popular. I ignored his small attempt in class, I was decidedly -un- friendly here, then he decides I can be unfriendly at his table."

She rolls her eyes "I think it's just him. They don't know what to think about you." She watches me for a couple of moments and her eyes narrow a little as if she's trying to figure me out, then says with a some surprise "You're not even -mad- at me are you?"

I shake my head "Nope, don't even care much. Besides, I'm getting my revenge with the whole maid outfit and tea thing."

Having been reminded just -why- I deserved the super death glare, it suddenly returns. "That was SERIOUS!?"

I shrug "Started as a joke, but I'm not above accepting it when it's handed to me on a silver platter." Hrm, looks like she's about to explode, better dial it back a bit. "Y'know, I kinda preemptively feel bad for your victims tonight." Ah good, the anger has dropped a touch, reminding her she's a violent rage beast seems to be calming her, oddly enough.

She shrugs and grumbles "No victims tonight, monitor duty for the foreseeable future."

I raise an eyebrow "When you join them they don't let you go out in your free time?"

She's still glaring but at least it's at the non-presence of whoever made the rule "No, we always have to have a patrol partner. As if the others could ever keep up with me. And because of YOU I have to wear this goddamn tracking bracelet all the time." She seems to remember -again- that she's supposed to be angry so she growls "Stop. Talking. or I'll use -this- to pin your hand to the table." She holds up her plastic knife.

I have a feeling the fact that it's plastic won't matter to her... "Counter offer, I'll let you shoot sharp things at me after school if you tell me -why- you were in my room Friday night."

She seems to struggle with herself, she -knows- I have a shield. She narrows her eyes "Fine, Ship Graveyard but -you- ask for my help training. These idiots are ready to grab their ankles if you ask."

I nod "Deal, now spill it."

She sighs "You weren't supposed to take those guys out. You were prey and they were ready to kill you. But once no one was looking, you just got up and beat them down like they were barely worth your time. You were supposed to be prey, and I had to know. So I was there to find out what you really were." Not quite how I remember the kidnapping, but it may have looked that way from the outside.

I nod "And you found out I wasn't prey. I was explosive."

She goes back to glaring "No, you're still prey, you hold back. You're a -coward-, afraid of your own power." She's probably upset that I wasn't going around lighting gangsters and drunks on fire. Shard points out a drunk would probably burn better than a merchant.

I shrug "Alright, so I'm prey. I'll see you at the ship graveyard later." I finished my lunch and apparently I need to make a couple of calls.

A few phone calls later and my parents knew I'd be a little late getting home, the PRT was having me visit as Oblivium to pick up Sophia and she was going to take her aggression out on me in my requested 'sparring'. Armsmaster, who apparently was in charge of the Wards, tried to force it to be in the training room they have, but I was insistent and eventually got my way when I said I'd go find someone else to shoot at me.

The rest of the school day was pretty straightforward. After school I walked out to try to find a place to 'change'. After a bit I just found a spot between a couple of cars. No one seemed to be paying attention to me anyway. I turned on the light around me and went to visit the PRT.

I figured the teal glow would give me away but I still had to go up to the desk and sign in as Oblivium. I met up with Armsmaster shortly after. He frowned slightly at my teal T-shirt, jeans and sneakers with my featureless mask.

He started the meeting with "Oblivium" and a nod.

I was tempted to roll my eyes, this almost seemed like a hero ritual. I followed suit instead "Armsmaster" and a nod. "I'm here to get Shadow Stalker for some sparring."

He was pretty stiff as he spoke, and honestly I half expected what came next. "She's on monitor duty, she'll be free in about a half hour. You should come greet the wards while you wait."

I shake my head, "No it's fine. I'll be right outside, send her out when she's done."

He continues with "You should still use our training facilities, they can support whatever testing you're trying to do."

I sigh, this was going to be a -thing- with the PRT. Like a needy ex 'wait, just stay a little longer!'. "No thank you Armsmaster, I'd prefer to use my own facilities." I knew they were going to be tracking Sophia. I almost smile at them figuring out my 'facilities' were at the ship graveyard.

I went outside followed by Armsmaster who apparently was my escort while I was in the building. He took off after I stepped out the door. Once outside I cast an enchanted flight spell and gave Shard control while I built up the shield enchantments, a test Deflection Shield, a Force Shield under it -just in case-, and an Astral Shield, again -just in case-. I also gave Taylor a call letting her know I was out practicing but not patrolling. She let me know her costume would be ready by tomorrow night so we're going out patrolling on Wednesday... oh joy, we're gonna fill my Murphy's punch card o' doom.

Twenty minutes later TWL and Silver armor man step outside, I assume to patrol. TWL was about to come greet me but Silver grabbed him and said something. Instead both just waved and they went on their merry way to patrol.

Another Twenty minutes and Shadow Stalker and Vista stepped out. Apparently Stalker needed a babysitter - Oh right, they can't be out alone and I guess I don't count. I drop down low - having taken the reins back from Shard , and hover a little off the ground. "Hey Stalker and Person-Who-Makes-Physics-Cry" I idly note to myself I'm being overwhelmed by women. Mom, Taylor, Shard, Sophia, Miss Militia, Piggot and now Green Girl Who Makes Physics Cry. By comparison there's Dad, TWL, Dean(probably Silver), Armsmaster, Greg and... maybe I could count the kidnappers? But they're in prison somewhere I'm sure.

The green girl pouts a little and says "It's VISTA."

Sophia rolls her eyes "He calls Aegis 'Tentatively Wards Leader'"

Vista looks at Sophia surprised, then at me "What did you DO?"

I assume she means Sophia is normally mean to her. "Common enemy" and I point to myself. It takes a second but I think she gets it.

Sophia's looking impatient so I kick this off with, "Alright, let's go." and I start heading toward the ship graveyard with my four battery orbs floating along behind me. I see Vista looking at them occasionally and asking questions of Sophia. Sophia seems to be sharing her frustration a little until she realizes she's doing it, then goes back to rage beast, which causes Vista to stop pestering her. Throughout the trip Vista keeps warping space to make them faster, it still throws my brain off to see Vista twisting space like that. With the pace they set with Vista's spacial compression I end up having to eat into more than my mana regen leaving me around half mana when we get there.

Once we stop Vista asks "So, Oblivium, what are those for?" and points to the orbs.

I smile and say a little loudly so Sophia can be sure to hear "If Stalker's crossbows are any good you'll see." The look Vista is giving me makes it look like I just signed my own death warrant.

I just grin, which in hindsight, with my mask, probably just freaked her out. I head to my side of the dead ship.

Sophia calls out "You're not going to cry if you get hurt are you?"

I call back, "Are you?" and produce four blunted and very weak mana bolts. They should shatter and dissipate after delivering enough force to give a solid bruise. And at this power I could fire them nonstop for a good while.

I can almost -feel- Sophia grin as she changes out her knockout bolts for the lethal set. Vista looks about to say something but I wave her down "I need to test this." I tell Shard to watch and make sure Vista doesn't get hit. Just for her to be prepared to make a wall if a bolt is deflected her way.

I call over to Sophia as I float a little off the ground "You get the first shot princess".

She fires and reloads quickly, the Deflection Shield works okay, not amazingly yet but I can tweak it later tonight. The Force Shield saves me from a slash from a badly deflected arrow. Sophia gets really angry one time with my teasing and shifts to her shadow state to fire a bolt. I learned her shadow state is affected by my Astral Shield. She also hit one of the orbs once, when the arrow passed through it destabilized the battery, I managed to disperse it before it exploded. I had to set Shard on flight while I rebuilt the thing. Throughout the spar I've been raining groups of three to six non-lethal mana bolts at her, only managed to catch her a couple of times - the girl is -fast-, she changes to her shadow state to avoid any she has a hard time dodging. It was actually good training. It didn't last long though.

Sophia threw down her crossbow and screams "Grah! I can't hit you!" She's glaring, I'm sure. I'm fairly certain it's the default state of her face. "Get down here and let me punch you!"

I consider it for a moment, then shrug. I can always fly off if things get too intense, besides, Vista is there. Not to mention, I could use the training and Sophia needs to let off steam. I drop down and go into melee with her. Her first punch is straight for my jaw, but telegraphed, I think she thought I was letting her get a free hit. I slide in by it. I'm bigger than her so should have the advantage in grappling while I'd guess she prefers striking. I underestimated her speed though and I have to use a couple of quick boost applications to avoid some pretty nasty hits. Every time I block I feel like I'm blocking a hammer. That punch from Winslow makes sense now, her gloves are armored. Just as she gets a -really- solid hit to my stomach I crank up the flight spell to toss me backwards avoiding the majority of the impact. Then I start using flight in melee to try to throw her off with the awkwardness of fighting in three dimensions. She's still incredibly fast so gets some solid hits and I can't grab her.

I disengage just in time to avoid another solid hit and I fly up saying "Alright, I give. You win in hand to hand"

Sophia sniffs "Damn right."

My myriad of bruises seem to be the price for her letting out some anger and aggression, took one for the team. Some bruises are better than a murdering rage monster on the loose. But -ow-, I think I'm going to be sore for a week.

Suddenly Sophia and Vista stiffen, though Sophia recovers quickly. 'Goddamnit Murphy.' I'm tasting waves of 'strength on the wind' like the kick you get from drinking something bitter mixed with a cool breeze. I see greenish aura whipping around from a central point a distance behind me.

I hear him right before I turn around. "Well, what do we have here? We got word some capes were trying out their powers but it's just a couple of kids." When I turn I see Stormtiger floating in the air on a coned pillar of green aura, I assume it's been mixed with the wind. He continues "What should I do with the three little kids away from big papa PRT?"

Well, if this comes down to a fight, at least I can see any wind blades he makes. I'm not sure how my shields would hold up to the force of a parahuman's power. I point out, "If you attack the Wards unprovoked you'll have the whole PRT come down on E88"

Stormy seems to grin "But they -have- provoked us, they have captured our men. So have you rookie. And you are no Ward. Who are you with? You were fighting the Wards, you must have joined up with someone?"

I blink for a moment then say "Um, believe it or not, we were just sparring. I'm not with anyone right now, not planning to be either, at least not yet."

Stormy lets out a deep laugh then nods and I'm getting a little worried Sophia is going to shoot at this guy. Right now I think we can get out of it without a fight. And if I end up fighting this guy I'm not going to hold back and try to 'knock him out' I think they say its three times as hard to capture than to kill - and if it's kill or be killed, I know what side I'm on. Suddenly he says "Rookie, show me what you can do." When I tilt my head I'm almost prepared to blast him with some Foxfire orbs, but then he points to a ship.

I shrug and turn to the ship he pointed at, then focus all I can to supercharge a Fireball. Through a combination of enchantments allowing me to use my full focus (The shields I was using Sunday were holding half my focus), increasing the efficiency of the spell and my own overall growth, I was surprised as the bowling ball-sized crackling orb lobbed out then contacted the middle of the ship and ERUPTED in an inferno nearly fifty feet across with a veritable pillar of flame in the center, which all flickered out an instant later leaving the top of the ship black and parts of it warped and slagged in the center ten feet of where the blast took place.

It almost hurt to expend that much energy at once, when I checked it was roughly a fifth of my aura all at once, but it was the most I could put out all at the same time. Launching one of those while being shot could be dangerous since my enchanted shields draw straight from aura bypassing my focus.

I turn back to Stormtiger, who is still looking at the ship. When he turns to face me he sounds happy as he says "You will have a place in the Empire when you are ready." He then turns to the wards. Vista is still looking where the blast had taken place but Sophia had grabbed her crossbow and seemed to be ready for a fight. Stormy then inclines his head "Good day -Wards-" and he chuckles before floating over a warehouse and landing in the street out of sight.

Sophia is yelling at me "Why did you let him get away!?"

I look over my shoulder at her "Because, I'm not confident I could beat a guy that can control the wind without using one of -these-" and I form a normal Mana Bolt and launch it through the hull of one of the ships. "Which I don't particularly want to use on a guy who happens to be out on a walk."

Sophia is looking at the bolt I had put through the ship, and I'm pretty sure she's getting angry that I 'went easy' on her.

I sigh, "Alright, let's get you two back before Murphy decides to drop in and we end up facing Lung or Behemoth ends up falling on top of us."

Sophia is back in her 'pissed at the world' mood, but at least I got to test my Deflection Shield. I also learned I need to make shields around the batteries or they'll get destabilized and explode if they're hit.

When I deposit the girls at the PRT building I'm greeted by Miss Militia. After Sophia and Vista go inside MM thanks me for getting Stalker out of everyone's hair for a while.

I wait for a moment and decide I need to tell someone with the PRT, may as well be MM. "Hey Miss Militia, just to give you guys a heads up; I'm considering asking for a 'Wards Trial Run'. A week or so to see how it works - and if I'm interested. Even if I don't do that I'd like to be put on a list of people that can be called in, similar to how I'm sure New Wave are - if that's alright. I -do- want to help. I had a conversation with Taylor this morning about it. I don't want to be a soldier in this war, but I wouldn't mind being part of the militia." I smirk at the little joke, but it fits.

MM's eyebrows raise a little at both the reveal and I can see her eyes glint at the touch of humor but she nods "I'll see what we can do. I'm just glad you aren't really considering joining E88."

I give a soft laugh "Ah, you heard that huh? I just didn't want to get into a fight with the guy."

MM nods "Smart move. He may not be the strongest piece E88 has, but he isn't a pushover."

I stretch and float up a bit "Alright, I have to get home and I have some experiments to run. See you later Militia." and I start to float away toward home while MM just waves with an 'until next time Oblivium'.

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AN: I'm not overly happy with this one, I think it's because so much crap is crammed into one day even -with- the skimming over things.