Chapter 9

"Ooooh!" The crowd exclaimed as hundreds of swords in the sky and I moved in a sync fly across the plaza.

Adults watched in complete shock recording the spectacle with their phones, while children clapped awkwardly with shining eyes as they tried to hold their Teems.

These shows have been a very fun part of my day during this last week of "break" after Yuri's promise. And for better or worse, except for my new hobby as an emerging street artist, not much has changed during this time.

In addition to these shows in various parks and squares around New York, I've been flying around helping out in the most eye-catching ways possible to every person I meet along the way. All in order to attract attention, of course.

Need help with shopping? Moonsong to piss off that meanie gravity that makes them weigh so much.

That dog won't stop bothering you? How about another, even bigger dog like Animos to talk some sense into it?

Can't cross the street? We can always fly over the traffic with some of Lionwing's swords if we need to.

Of course, although doing actions and word of mouth is important for the proper dissemination of my fame, I have finally begun to investigate the most important media outlets of the near future.

Social media!

Creating a Twitter account is probably going to be something I'll regret later, but until Instagram becomes more mainstream in the future, this is where I do official communications for now. I've posted my important superhero photos on both networks, of course, but I do post some more mundane stuff on Instagram, while writing the occasional opinion on Twitter.

And if I give my already very rich best friend a tip or two on where she should invest her money, it's definitely because I want to help Instagram grow faster, yes sir.

I already have a few hundred followers on both networks. Almost twice as many on Twitter as on Instagram. I thought that was a lot until I saw some singers with several million followers and Tony Stark with a dozen million followers. It doesn't sound like a lot by 2017 standards, but today it's quite a bit more than anyone in my world had in 2010.

Being a superhero is definitely a fast track to history, yes sir.

Once the show was over I received my usual round of applause, tips, photos and autographs, before flying off, this time to do some real superhero work.

While it's nice to be able to just go help people or put on public shows, in the end I can't forget what my main job here is. Not that I ever did, of course, but if there's one reason I've been able to take my time to do so many shows, it's because my ability to do good has had a substantial increase in efficiency.

A sign that I am already normally alert to during my patrols caused me to change course. A sign of fear mixed with hints of anger and disappointment.

I flew for a few seconds until I found him. A teenager who seemed to be taking a shortcut on the way home from school, which is not too far from here, was at gunpoint from an older man in worn-out clothes. The gun was old, but that didn't mean it couldn't be a danger to the boy.

I sneaked up on the man from behind while flying to make as little noise as possible.

The boy saw me and his emotional signal changed from scared to completely surprised and then hopeful.

Huh? Looks like he knows who I am.

I put a finger to my mouth to make the sign for silence and winked at him.

The boy gave a lot of quick nods with his face almost twisting in excitement.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! I told you to give me everything you have if you don't want me to-!" Of course, the old man noticed the boy's change in attitude, but it was too late.

Dispatch to take the badge. Golem to ruin any weapon. Moonsong to turn it into a carnival balloon.

That's been my power-up routine that I've used to take down dozens of thugs this week. Yuri made me promise not to get into any big fights, but this is definitely fair game.

"W-what!? What the fuck is going on?! Get me down from here! Damn woman, when I get my hands on you -!"

A quick application of Grue's power to the guy's head and peace returned to the alley, though not for long.

"You're Rogue!" I turned my head towards the teenager who was shouting my name excitedly.

I knew it! I felt like I couldn't stop smiling, little by little I'm paving the way to my dream.

"You know it well, citizen! That's right, I'm Rogue, the best heroine in New York and soon in the world!"

"That's amazing! I thought you only did shows in the park!"

Guh!, critical hit from one of my fans. I understand that doing public spectacles while helping people in the alleys isn't the best way to grow my fame as a super heroine and not a circus mutant, but that was painful nonetheless.

"No!" I replied a little louder than I intended. I quickly began to correct him and if my smile was a little stiffer than before, I hope he didn't notice anything.

"I mean… I do the odd show from time to time, but I'm a full-time heroine, you know? I've been in the paper and everything, Twice!"

"Really? Shouldn't you upload a video of that too or something, right? There are only videos of you doing shows on the internet."

He's not wrong. Although I have uploaded photos of myself after catching the occasional criminal, I usually never record anything for one rather important reason.

"I would… But I don't usually have time to take out my camera and start recording while someone is committing a crime, you know? I often have to act fast." That's an excuse I have Dispatch.

"Can't you always carry a camera with you recording your patrols and then edit the videos?" Shit.

"Are you kidding?! I patrol for hours! I get lazy just thinking about it." This is not a lie, that would be really boring.

I'm a hero to avoid doing boring stuff, hell, I don't even plan on being in college for long. As soon as I'm an Avenger and rich, I'll buy an apartment nearby so I can continue living with Maddy without any problems. We have a kind of exclusive dorm, so it's not like it will change much from the situation we're in now.

"I can understand that… I guess?"

I felt some of the boy's admiration ebb away at my words, I could almost hear his thoughts and everything.

That's fine with me. I don't want people to think I'm some kind of perfect saint or something, I just want them to get to know me.

After that, a signature, a photo, calming down a catatonic old man after basically floating in an infinitely suffocating, soundless darkness, and a call to the police later, I was on my way flying over the city in search of a new crime. I was on a bit of a criminal-catching streak this week.

And it's all thanks to one power that completely changed how easy it has become for me to find these cases.

Effervescent.

I called it a discount Cherish earlier, and to a certain extent it is, but a discount Cherish is still a Cherish. Its emotion detection range allows me to sense everyone within a 5-block radius of me, it's not "I can sense an entire city" like its superior counterpart does, but it's a lot better than the absolute nothing I had before.

The problem is that it can be a bit exhausting.

I understand Superman better now, his routines as Clark Kent and his voice filters with his super hearing. It can be quite useful for finding crimes and getting the job done as a superhero, but feeling the emotions of everyone around you all the time is quite exhausting.

Thank goodness I can turn off the powers at will, so I only use it for a few hours during these patrols.

Effervescent's Master power, on the other hand... It's pretty bad. Not bad in the sense of evil, but more of mediocrity. If I only had the Master power I'd probably combine it with Sidepiece without thinking twice.

Basically, what it does is send a bunch of emotional signals to people at once. Happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, all of those and more at the same time. Usually the person in question is just paralyzed by the absolute inability to handle such an emotional shock. The effect is not permanent and I can control how much the shock is, so on paper it sounds like a perfect tool to stop a criminal and that's what I thought at first... Until it wasn't.

People's brains are different, we all respond differently to different stimuli. I found out the hard way that not everyone just freezes up when emotionally shocked, no, some lash out and lash out hard. I found this out a few days ago when I used the power on a drug addict who was running towards her friends after stealing a woman's purse. I was able to intervene in time, but the woman started turning into a wild beast and that, in a more delicate situation, could have been quite dangerous.

In a way, I'm grateful that I found out this way and not while a criminal had a hostage on hand.

There is one strange thing I've noticed, though, and that is that I haven't encountered any of these vigilantes during my patrols. Same with super villains. The comics and TV shows made it seem like they showed up every weekend, but I guess it makes sense that it's not exactly a common occurrence. New York would be on fire if that were the case.

Not that I've been looking for them exactly, and New York is very big.

Mmm…

You know what? That's going to be my goal for today. I'm going to find a superhero partner and we're going to do something together, it'll be some sort of crossover. I'm going to avoid the big ones like Stark Tower, the Baxter Building, or the Sanctum Sanctorum for now, though. I'm almost certain to find heroes out there, but I don't want to be overshadowed in my first crossover.

Now I just need to find them or decide who to find first. What heroes are there in New York?

If this were entirely the MCU? Probably none, at least for now.

However, considering all the mutants running around, the non-movie super villains I've encountered so far, and the Baxter Building I can see from here, I doubt this is the normal MCU.

That's not counting the more obvious clues like Spider-Man being my age in 2010 or the rumors about Punisher and what is likely Daredevil that I've heard around.

I guess that's the most important point. So... Considering Daredevil is out there means his fellow B-class vigilante heroes are out there too.

That would be Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist at the very least. Maybe Elektra too if she's not already dead.

Should I meet up with any of them? At least Jessica shouldn't be too hard to find if I ask the right questions, neither should Spider-Man.

Mmn an adventure with Spider-Man doesn't sound too bad. Maybe we'll even end up fighting together with some of his personal zoo of villains.

Should I flip a coin? My powers are already based on chance, I might as well play along.

Let's see... My favorite superhero of all time will be the face, and the group consisting of a monk, a drunk, and a widower will be the cross.

Cross.

"Oh no! A strong current of wind what can I do?!"

Face.

"Oh well! Spider-Man it will be"

I started flying towards Queens to say hello to my friendly neighbor.

Along the way, a new star joined the ensemble.

You know what? Normally, I'm happy when that happens, even more so after a week of absolutely nothing, but I don't think anything good happened this time when I was given a power of attorney just when I was about to meet the unluckiest person in the world.

Another blue! What could it be?!

"Please be a Brute, please be a Brute, please be a Brute."

Shatterbird.

I stopped. I remembered the name again.

Shatterbird.

I took a breath, closed my eyes, counted to three, and checked the name again.

Shatterbird.

"Damn it! What is this supposed to do?! Destroy New York?!"

Siliconkinesis, and not a weak one at that. Through high frequency sound waves, it allows me to control anything made of silicon. Sand, glass, semiconductors. It's basically the absolute counter to anyone who uses advanced technology to fight, and its control of glass is brutal and precise enough to fly using it.

I have no proof, but I also have no doubt that it is one of the best blue powers out there, even so…

"I don't want it."

It's stupid considering all the advantages, but it was the power of the Slaughterhouse 9 member with the highest kill count. Being the Parahuman with the highest kill count in a group full of murderous, crazy hobos is definitely something to stand out.

Hell, I'm pretty sure she's the parahuman with the highest intentional kill count in existence.

Her power has a special use that allows her to send out a shockwave capable of traversing about 200 square kilometers. Anything made with silicon in that range simply explodes and you don't realize how much that is until you think about it a little.

Mirrors, glasses, screens, light bulbs, lamps, computers, phones, cell phones, cars, sand. Everything is going to shit. Glass fragments tearing lives away everywhere, cities cut off and unable to shed help, electricity not working, medical devices shutting down.

Death, everywhere.

Just thinking about having a power, which is basically a nuclear bomb for any modern city, makes me want to vomit.

"Even so…"

Can I really afford to lose it? It's a very strong power and a deterrent against almost anyone who fights with a lot of technology. It would be foolish to just get rid of it because some crazy woman before me was killing people left and right with it.

I mean, I'm sure some of the names I don't recognize weren't saints, like Skidmark for example, and yet I have no problem with them, so why is Shatterbird any different? Am I just going to throw away any power no matter how good it is, because the owner was a bad person? Or am I just going to do that until I get a power good enough that I don't care?

I mentally reviewed the other blue power I had that was dumped at the bottom of my galaxy, Bastard Son. The guy is a real fucker, but that wasn't why I wanted to get rid of his powers, no sir, it was because I knew it would reflect badly on me to go around turning people into zombies.

Is siliconkinesis something that would give me the same problem? Not really, not like Sidepiece for example, which is so impractical for me that it's almost funny.

In the end I knew what my decision was.

"I'll keep it." I really couldn't afford to waste a power this good, I knew that if one day I needed it and didn't have it, I would regret it, so I decided to keep it.

Well, it's settled! In fact, I'll make a promise to myself. No matter who the power comes from, as long as it works in my fight against crime, it's a power I'll use to the best of my ability for my own good and for the good of others.

Continuing with Shatterbird, I don't think I'll use it much, because attacking people with shards of glass isn't good for publicity. Attacking technology is still fair game. So for now, it will be my ultimate technology killer.

I was left hanging as I came to that conclusion, so I quickly made my way back to Queens. Along the way I encountered a few incidents with Effervescent while trying out Shatterbird for a bit.

And as expected from the Earth Bet's greatest mass murderer, her power is broken.

Its range is huge, about 500 meters, but honestly that's not as impressive as its control. While its control gets worse with further ranges, Shatterbird not only allows me to control things made out of silicon, I can "hear" and sense them fairly accurately as well. Its control may not be Skitter level, but it's precise enough that at closer ranges it's better than controlling my own body. That gives me a pretty good idea to explore next.

I also learned that sand is very difficult to control precisely. I can make it explode or move in a direction without any problems, but not much else, so I won't be Gaara anytime soon, same with almost any other material other than glass, which is especially easy to control, I can't even sense plants which was curious, probably an arbitrary Manton limit.

As I said, it's broken.

A bunch of panic signals coming from the east interrupted my internal monologue.

A major incident, here in Queens, while I'm looking for Spider-Man?

"That's convenient~"

As I was flying there at full speed, I was grabbing glass bottles, breaking them into pieces and gathering them around me. That was a lot of glass bottles. I used some of the pieces and attached them to my costume to help me with my movements, and immediately felt like I could move in a more controlled way, like one of those Chinese martial artists.

A few seconds of this, until I saw the scene of the incident, and it was as if they couldn't help but follow one of the classics just today, there was a hole that looked like it was made by a large explosion in a medium-sized bank here in Queens.

It doesn't seem like they would have the courage to steal one of the largest banks in Queens, but it's still no small feat.

And as if awaiting my arrival, I felt a mind that was excited, worried, curious, and a little anxious and scared, but mostly with a determination that seemed to cover everything else, heading toward this place with swinging movements through the city.

I had no doubt who it was. In the distance I could finally see his signature red and blue costume, the hero among heroes, the Amazing Spider-Man… heading right towards the building below me.

Oh God! It's coming!

Dispatch my common panic response kicked in.

Well Rogue this is your chance to make a good impression! I mean, you see him in college sometimes. How different is he now that he's wearing a mask? He's just your favorite hero of all time.

Okay! Okay! I don't want to seem like some kind of desperate superfan or anything. The guy's only a month-old being a superhero (much better than my measly week and a half, but we're not talking about that) or something, I can't make him seem like such a big deal. Plus, I want us to be partners, so I have to have a cool attitude.

Oh shit, how can I impress him when I just got to the Bank like 30 seconds ago and did absolutely nothing? I don't want to instantly defeat all the villains either, then I wouldn't have anyone to brag against, but I need to at least do something, get some information or something.

From the bubble, I properly checked out the surroundings and grimaced immediately after. What looked like three security guards were lying on the ground, with what looked like bullet holes all over their bodies. I don't think they'd survive that, but I still have to make sure.

Aside from the giant hole, there are two trucks at the entrance that I assume are where they'll stash the money and where they'll escape. There are three guys outside, they don't have any uniforms or anything, but they're wearing balaclavas and what look like machine guns. The killers? In any case, I don't think I'll be very nice to anyone I get my hands on, I'm not sure if I want to wait for Spidey anymore.

In fact, I don't think I can afford to do that, so they've put out a call and are killing a hostage every minute or some such stupidity. I didn't think they'd be capable of escalating the situation that much, but with what looks like three dead people outside, I can't afford such a naive thought. Not now.

Shit, that's some heavy equipment. They don't look like professional mercenaries or anything, but machine guns imply people with money. A sponsor?

I need to find out if there are more people inside, surely they have companions or even hostages, or worse yet more corpses. This is the first time I've seen a dead person, it's probably put me in a worse mood than I expected, but if I want to be the best heroine in the world, I might as well get used to it sooner rather than later.

Although I don't know if I want to do it.

I exit the bubble and after a quick scan with Effervescent and Shatterbird as I move closer to the bank, then I activate another bubble, I can't afford to waste any time.

There's one alive! The guard closest to the thugs outside is alive, I could feel his emotions. They're a bit strange, less panic and fear than I expected and more… Excitement? Anticipation? He seems to be playing dead. Does he want to play the hero by attacking at the perfect moment or something? An adrenaline junkie? Either way, he's a priority.

According to my scans, there are 35 living people in there. From the feelings of fear, panic, and anger of those 35, 20 are either customers or bank workers, while the others with feelings of confidence, haste, and even a bit of fear, happiness, or pleasure are the bastards I have to take down. I hadn't noticed before, but there's another person hiding on the roof of the bank, and from what I can tell from their excitement, it's definitely one of them. That makes them about 14 targets. Although there was strangely no one in the vehicles, were they that confident in their plan, or is driving the guys outside's job?

Motherfuckers.

Sigh, once, twice, then three times.

I need to calm down and prioritize, speed is key this time, so Dispatch will be my main power this time.

The first thing is that guard bleeding out over there.

I cancelled the bubble before pushing myself at full speed towards the wounded guard using all the movement powers I had to propel myself to get there as fast as I could and just as I entered the range I created another bubble where I trapped us both.

The faces of the two nearby thugs were looking in my direction, but I didn't care much, all my attention was on the guard beside me.

As soon as I put him in a bubble, he panicked, but he didn't move. I would be scared too, if a woman fell from the sky and suddenly everyone outside the bubble moved slower.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm Rogue, a superhero, I'm here to help you."

I tried to calm him down a bit so he wouldn't make any sudden movements while I helped him. My statement only seemed to fill him with confusion before he had a moment of understanding and then excited wariness.

Does he know me?

"Please… Help me, those bastards shot me."

There was something strange in those words, an instinct told me that something was wrong, but this is not the time to test superpowers.

I quickly pulled out my first aid pack. A quick check with Golem told me that he doesn't have any bullets inside his body and it seems that his clothes covered much of the bullet holes that didn't seem to hit anything major in his torso. In other words, this guy had an incredible amount of luck.

Gauze to put pressure on the wound, Chlorhexidine to clean everything and prevent infection, and some bandages to secure everything properly. The whole process took me a total of 30 minutes because I was as careful as possible, although I don't think I did it very well. The guard moaned in pain many times during the process, so I lost quite a bit more time than I expected. About 5 seconds outside, it was good that it was over, because the air was already starting to get scarce in here.

"Thank you very much for your help, Miss Rogue." Another strange statement

"Mister…"

"Leon, you can call me that, you have earned it after all."

"Mr. Leon, those bastards are robbing the bank right now, I need you to stay here while I finish them off."

Mr. Leon was feeling a little worried about what I just said. I don't blame him with the sight before him. I gave him my patented All Might smile. Might try to calm him down.

"Don't worry about those who aren't aiming their guns. You won't even notice me taking them out."

He seemed even more concerned about that, it seems he doesn't believe me. Well, he'll see, or not.

"Remember, don't move from this spot."

With that, I walked over to the edge of the bubble to where those guys were. A quick flick of bubbles on and off, and this time Leon was out while these guys were in. My sudden appearance took them by surprise, but before they could get a shot off.

"Argh!"

I used Moonsong to force the gun out of their hands. I may have broken a finger or two, but that's cheap compared to what I feel like doing.

Still, I held back and after a quick punch to the cheek, they were both knocked out.

I stepped out of the bubble and checked my surroundings again.

I didn't notice it before with the quick blinking, but the person on the roof, seemed to have noticed the commotion. They panicked for a second when, after the disappearance of the strange barrier somehow caused the two thugs to fall down, but as soon as they saw me, they seemed excited, happy even.

What happened next shocked me. The person on the roof who I couldn't see yet was launched into the air.

A flyer.

Knowing that made me reconfirm my earlier assumption that this wasn't done by normal people. A flying super villain here in Queens on Spider-Man's turf on a heist that just happens to use bombs? I couldn't help but think of the greatest enemy in Spider-Man history.

Green Go -

" Cow Cow ! At last, a worthy rival to compete with me for supremacy in the skies!"

That definitely doesn't sound like Green Goblin, in fact it reminds me more of...

A bald middle-aged man, wearing a green suit with claws and a pair of mechanized wings on his back, slowly descended from the sky like if he's showing off his mastery of the air.

Volture was here and looked ready to take a beating.

Another star decided to join in at that moment as if my power agreed and was eager to give me more ways to do so.

I quickly opened a bubble, ignoring Volture as I saw something rather surprising. A star with a color I had never seen before was on its way. A red star, I felt like there was one more tier above the red one, but it was basically at the top of the powers. I was eager to see what it would bring.

As if sensing my haste, it quickly approached my metaphorical self and a name immediately came to my head.

Scanner.

Indeed, I have no idea who he is, but I knew it would be no small feat.

Now I really want to beat him up.

"Hey Volture ! You look busy! I hope you have room for one more superhero!"

And the good news keeps coming.