Chapter 6 - Miss Militia

Hannah let the water dribble off her body, the heat causing steam to rise from her skin as she carefully washed her hair.

She really hated Masters, she wasn't exactly a stranger to having to go into lockdown because of one but, with the city under such conditions, it had been really hard on her and she couldn't even sleep to pass the time. Or, well, she could, it just wouldn't help.

Being a Noctis cape, Hannah didn't need to sleep. When she actually forced herself, she didn't dream, instead, she watched a moment of her life, the memory going on for as long as she was asleep, with her trigger event being the most common.

It was little wonder she disliked doing it, with her perfect memory, it was like re-living the worst day of her life every time she rested. Also, experiencing her memories in perfect clarity didn't help pass the time, so she preferred to do something useful instead.

Still, this time it was different. Instead of relieving one long memory, she had just experienced the fight on loop for several hours. A development that had left her feeling very uneasy when she woke up.

She didn't regret her actions, it had been the right thing to do at the time but, after going through the conversation so many times, she no longer thought Anakin was taking advantage of the girl. Hannah couldn't help analyzing their fight, brief as it had been. How she could have reacted, what move she could have used.

It didn't make the loss and subsequent days in a cell any better though.

Hannah didn't usually become this focused on a single villain. She had lost fights before, ones with far worse consequences too, if she was right, that is. It had made her worried that his Master power had longer lasting consequences, but none of the other victims had shown the same reaction.

With one last release of air, she shook her head and stared right at the shower head, letting the water hit her in the face. No, she didn't regret her actions, but she really regretted not winning that fight.

On one side, Hannah believed that Anakin had really been acting to protect the girl. Despite how dangerous he was, he seemed tired and unwilling to fight her, but determined to protect the kid and now he was branded a villain.

Now, even if he was captured and proven to be well meaning, he had still resisted arrest, still fought her. It didn't make for a good position to negotiate from.

Then there was the other side, the one that had made her act even more than her orders. What if she was wrong? What if he really was abusing the girl?

Next time, she wouldn't be caught by surprise, engaging from a distance and with room to make full use of her power. Hannah would arrest him. She would beat him… next time.

Stepping out of the shower, she put on her costume, her power shaping itself into a knife at her waist. As a habit, she touched the metal, her finger tracing along the blade.

Tying up her boots, she grabbed the toothbrush and spent a few moments taking care of her teeth, they weren't really hers, long since capped by dentists to be perfectly shaped and colored, but she took good care of them anyways. Leaning forward, she looked into the mirror, frustrated bottle green eyes staring back at her.

Sitting on the bed, she finally pulled out the reports and started reading. She needed to find out what was happening in the city after getting locked away. The first document was about the PRT and Protectorate.

Immediately, she frowned. It seemed like the Director hadn't been able to acquire support, her request denied by the higher ups, the city was still left to the PRT and them alone.

Idly, she found herself twirling a dagger in the air, the green glow of her power at work. She loved this country, she liked just about everything in it, but that didn't mean she was blind to the way politics worked, or the faults with the system. Someone was playing games.

The very thought that some of the Wards were forced to deal with bombs, to take the job she had once been forced into…

Closing her eyes, she took a breath and continued reading.

Studying the bombs recovered from Anakin's victims, Armsmaster had been able to create a device to disable the implants without triggering them. Like all tinker-tech, the neutralizer couldn't be mass produced, but ABB members could now be arrested without the fear of them blowing up and hurting the people around them.

The PRT still hadn't been able to locate the bomb Tinker's hideout, but they had narrowed the location by a lot and now it was only a matter of time. Thankfully, the bombings themselves had started slowing down, with only one explosion per day as Lung re-established control.

The level of terror they were causing in the city meant they had absolute priority, but there were still a few people working on other cases.

Finally, she pulled out the information about Anakin. Classified as a Master 2, Tinker/Shaker 6. More specifically, they considered him primarily a Tinker, but he was to be treated as a Shaker because of the result of one of his devices.

They hadn't been able to narrow his specialty, but they had a good idea of what it was and, really, that was the least of their problems.

Opening the video file in her computer, Hannah watched the video from a bodycam as a couple of policemen approached him when he was without a mask. Anakin looked to be around 30 or 35, years with short hair and a handsome face, he didn't have any scars and had blue eyes that took everything in with barely any interest.

Hannah registered the amount of destruction around him, the amount of death all around and gulped.

Approaching him, the officers started talking. "Sir, are you alright? What about the girl?"

Anakin seemed to take their appearance in with some confusion, but easily answered, his voice cold. "We are well; I have already eliminated the danger."

The rest of the video was a little out of focus as the policemen quickly retreated, but Anakin didn't seem interested in attacking them and the girl didn't seem to be trying to escape, then again, with his power…

Eleven deaths, all of who seemed to be some kind of mercenary, millions of dollars in property damage and the abduction of Dinah Alcott, the Mayor's niece. The mercenaries didn't have any gang indications and the PRT was uncertain of who they belonged to.

It could be Coil. While most civilians thought he was a minor player, she knew he was actually a fairly heavy hitter with a fame for competency, but the intel indicated it was just as likely to be someone from outside the city or completely different.

Still, Anakin hadn't shown any signs of the same kind of power since that last video was taken, using only his Master power to subdue criminals and avoiding any law enforcement, so either the tinker-tech likely used was a one-time use item, or he didn't have the tools to do maintenance on his equipment and was avoiding its use.

Hannah… didn't know what to think. On one hand, the attack seemed to corroborate his story about saving the girl but, on the other, he had killed a lot of people with seemingly no effort or care. Yes, they had been mercenaries, but he didn't seem ruffled or even winded, as if their deaths hadn't bothered him in the least.

She… wasn't a stranger to killing, the video didn't affect her as much as some of her fellow Protectorate members, but she had been avoiding it for the vast majority of her adult life and taking a life always left a mark.

Finally, looking at the clock, she got up and put on her bandana, hiding her face with the cloth and putting her weapon away, the revolver sitting at her waist with no problem.

Taking a breath, she stepped out, the guards watching the corridor snapping into attention with a guilty look directed her way. "Miss Militia, Director Piggot has ordered a meeting in her office."

"Thank you," she nodded and started walking.

She really hated that the reason she hadn't been isolated for longer was because the city was turning into a warzone filled with bombs. She should have left that kind of trouble behind.

Again, her hand reached for the weapon at her side, a handgun this time. Exercising a large amount of control, Hannah managed to release the weapon and continue walking.

"Miss Militia," Velocity nodded at her, holding the door open for her. "Good to see you're already out."

"Velocity, any idea what this is about?" she asked as she passed through.

"Probably an update about the ABB or something about Polaris," he said as he walked beside her.

"Polaris?"

"Tentative name, Armsmaster thinks Anakin's specialty has something to do with magnetism," he shrugged, giving her a thin smile. "Something about bullets bending away from him, what he did to the bombs and the damage he caused when he first showed up."

"He did say he didn't fear bullets," Hannah commented, thinking about their meeting once again.

She had thought he was just a Tinker without time to create his devices when they had first fought but, if he had something so destructive with him, could she have beaten him?

She had to.

Entering the meeting room, she saw that almost every Protectorate member was already inside. There was a map of the city with ABB territory on the wall, several black dots indicating known ABB buildings as they tried to find the tinker's location. "Miss Militia, good to see you're out of containment."

"Director Piggot, Ma'am," Hannah answered respectfully, straightening her posture and stepping beside Armsmaster.

Her longtime companion barely spared a glance her way, far too preoccupied with getting his presentation ready. A second later, Assault burst through the door, his face flushed from running.

"Sorry, I'm late," he breathed out and Hanna noticed a few scratches on his costume as well as a lot of dirt. "Got into a little fight with the Empire."

"Assault," Piggot spoke with a warning tone.

"Hey, what was I supposed to do, let him kill the guys?" the man cracked his neck and smiled while giving a little wave to his usual partner. "Hi puppy,"

Battery avoided his eyes, putting a hand over her eyes and ignoring him.

"Anyways, it seems like our dear villains finally had enough," he continued, his voice even more satisfied at having annoyed her. "They're having a meeting at that old bar, probably to organize a cease fire."

Hannah cursed under her breath. On the surface, avoiding the chaos on the streets would be good, but a cease fire only meant they were going to focus on the ABB.

Lung and this new Bakuda had gone too far, it was no longer just about territory or power, if the villains in the city did agree to a cease fire it would be to completely eliminate the ABB, the fight would become one for survival and things tended to escalate when that happened, fast.

Hannah had been a hero for long enough to have seen more than one such fight happening. It was never pretty. It was also never clean and the unwritten rules tended to be thrown in the trash while it happened.

"We knew it was going to happen eventually," Piggot massaged her temples. "Don't interfere; all we can do is try to get to the ABB first. Now, for my second headache. Armsmaster?"

"Polaris, also known as Anakin… Even working with the Guild's database, I was not able to find any records of a parahuman with a similar powerset or that fits his description, but I did manage to trace his presence in the city," Armsmaster started speaking. "First located in the rubble during one of Lung's rampages, he had lost all of his limbs and presented third degree burns through most of his remaining body, including fourth degree burns at the extremities and internal damage to several organs. After triage, his case was deemed too severe and priority was given to other victims, but he survived long enough to reach the hospital and got treatment from Panacea who was on location."

"A Brute rating too?" Piggot asked.

"No, at least not that the hospital noticed," Armsmaster denied.

"Damn, he's a tough one," Assault noted and, for once, everyone agreed with him.

"He still remained in a coma for several days before waking up, Mastering a nurse into handing him a set of clothes and leaving the building. A few hours later, he encountered an attack on Dinah Alcott and eliminated the mercenaries, eleven deaths in total."

"You think he's not a Tinker?" Hannah asked, her eyes narrowing as the time didn't fit.

"The newest recording of Polaris and Dinah Alcott, tentative name: Cassandra in action revealed use of a drone, one that incorporated some of the tinker-tech weapons retrieved from the mercenaries," Armsmaster showed a picture of a round robot about the size of a head floating in the air. "He definitely has access to unique tinker-tech, likely to have been built by himself."

"So, the options are what?" It was Triumph that asked, his voice barely containing his anger. "He built something capable of killing eleven men in less than a day?"

"Impossible, it is far more likely he had the device ready but was unable to deploy it against Lung," Armsmaster shook his head. "He could have used the time to retrieve the device from a laboratory or hideout."

"Could he have help? What if he's not the Tinker or had a Shaker with him?"

"There's no indication of a third party working with him, but it is possible. Acting with Mister Calvert, I have been able to track his most likely location," Armsmaster taped something, causing a red dot to appear in the city map surrounded by a small circle of reddish color. "The area is an abandoned part of the Docks with very little traffic or interest from the gangs."

"So, when do we attack?" Triumph asked.

Everyone grew quiet as they watched the little dot. Hannah had the sudden urge to get into her motorcycle and drive right there, assaulting the location as fast as she could, but she knew better.

"You can't be serious!" He raised his voice, looking around the room. "He's got Dinah with him, who knows what he's doing with her!"

"Triumph, sit down," Piggot ordered but when the cape didn't move she reiterated. "I said. Sit. Down."

"You just… don't care about it?" The Lion headed gladiator mumbled, his face filled with disbelief as he looked for support around the room.

"That's where you're wrong," Piggot denied, taking a moment to adjust her position. "I care; I also care about ensuring the safety of the capes I have to protect my city… and having a city to protect in the first place. I'd like nothing more than to assault the place myself, but I just can't.

"A Tinker workshop is always a hard target, one with unknown capabilities is even worse. We simply don't have the manpower to fight the ABB, keep the city safe and attack two such workshops in short order."

"But…?" Triumph started to as asked but hesitated, he too had seen the results of Bakuda's bombings.

"Armsmaster, have the location watched at all times, if we manage to catch him out of it…" Piggot ordered, hating herself for it. "Otherwise, we will not be attacking him."

"Ahem… I hate to be the one to point this out but, have we considered he may be speaking the truth?" Assault asked, getting a glare from Triumph. "I mean, the girl was under attack when he met her and, well, if she's some kind of Thinker…"

"Ma'am?"

"Miss Militia, you have something to say?"

"I don't think he was lying," Piggot raised a single eyebrow at her and she hurried to explain. "I know it doesn't look good coming from me, but I have been going over the meeting. I felt that he was actually frustrated at being unable to hand the girl over."

"And what about the girl? Triumph, is there any possibility she's a Thinker?"

"I-I honestly don't know," the young man had to say. "Cassandra had several headaches, but her reported power is hard to prove without strict testing."

Yes, Thinkers capable of precognition were always hard to judge, not to consider how many attempted to fake clairvoyance to get money from gullible tourists.

No, while there was a good chance the girl actually was a Thinker, with only a few sentences recorded by Miss Militia and some half remembered statements by her parents there was no way of making sure. "We'll assume she has a power. It's best to be safe. Still, even if that's the case, Thinker powers are not unbeatable or the source of all knowledge, worse, until we know otherwise, we have to assume the girl is compromised by his power."

"But we are investigating his claims?" Miss Militia asked.

"As much as possible at the moment, yes."

Closing her eyes, Director Piggot centered herself, taking a moment to consider her next move. She absolutely hated leaving a young girl in the hands of a Master, with every fiber of her being, but her job had always been to make the hard decisions.

She had been holding this city together with duct tape and bubble gum for years now. Forced to manage the gangs and parahumans in it for so long…

The truth was, letting a Tinker… or whatever the hell Polaris was, roam free to grow was a mistake, even worse if the girl actually was a parahuman, but, sometimes, she had to choose the lesser of two evils. They simply didn't have the manpower to assault both his location and Bakuda's while also keeping the city from crumbling and, as hateful as it was, the terrorist bomber was the priority.

"I'll have Renick watch the Polaris situation, but I want all our focus back to Bakuda, if the gangs are going to stop hiding we no longer have time to split our attention," Glancing at the youngest member of the Protectorate, she continued. "Triumph, the sooner we deal with the ABB, the sooner we can focus entirely on Polaris. I swear, once Bakuda and Lung are dealt with and the city calms down, we will come down on him like a hammer of God."

"… Yes, Director," the young man replied, his hands balled into fists.

Hannah understood his worry. Dinah Alcott, the girl kidnapped by Anakin, was his cousin and, while they didn't have a deep relationship, they were related.

Damn, she really hoped she was right, that the girl was safe with him and not being abused in any way. She really should have won that fight.

"Dismissed," Piggot finally said, leaning back against the chair and closing her eyes. As Hannah was leaving the room, she glanced back to see the bags under the Director's eyes, the exhaustion.

All of them were stretched pretty thin. Panacea had allowed all of their heroes to get back into the field, but it was still taking a toll on them all.

Closing her eyes, Hannah saw herself surrounded by small kids, a Turkish man pushing her ahead in order to look for mines. A terrible choice, walk ahead and risk dying or being killed where she stood.

She remembered grabbing her power, changing it from a handgun into a full automatic, turning and using her captor's surprise to gun them all down before they could kill her.

No, she definitely wasn't a stranger to killing. She just hoped the city wouldn't need her to start doing it again.

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