03 Monitoring Surprises

After we ate a delicious and nutritious lunch, I was shown where the monitoring room was. It was a command center with several monitors and microphones and we sat at a desk. It was our job to watch heroes patrol and when calls of crimes came through, we did computer searches and told the nearby heroes where to go and about the situation if possible.

"Most of the others hate this duty." Vista said and sat down on the right chair and I sat down on the left. "I love it. I get to watch the Protectorate capes at work and I learn how to handle all the different situations they get into."

I stared at her with my mouth open. "That's so smart of you! Why isn't everyone fighting to be here?"

"There's a whole lot of sitting around and doing nothing." Vista said with a blush on her face.

"Don't they keep previous encounters recorded? Can't we watch them?" I asked and it was her turn to open her mouth in surprise. "We can review the old footage between busy times, as long as it doesn't interfere with our duties, right?"

Vista gave me a huge smile. "Yes, we can. That's a great idea, Myriad."

"Thanks! I'm glad to help in any way I can." I said and she nodded.

We logged in and put on headphones, then we sat back to familiarize ourselves with who was working today. She told me there were independent capes that we cooperated with, a hero team called New Wave that had several active members around the same age as the others in the Wards, and a bunch of villains that always caused trouble and had to be fought off and contained to stop the collateral damage.

It was all very interesting as Vista ran me through the basic procedures and I learned everything that I could. We didn't have any other work to do all morning as I learned and soon the heroes on patrol took a break for lunch, so we did, too. We logged off and changed the phones to the emergency line and left the monitoring station to go to the cafeteria.

"How long have you lived here on the Rig?" I asked Vista as we picked up trays to gather our lunch.

"Almost since I triggered. I go home sometimes and... my parents... I don't want to talk about it." Vista said with a frown.

"It's okay. I didn't mean to pry." I said and she gave me a searching look. "If it makes you feel any better about things, my parents that were killed in the attack were branded potential villains. I was vilified in the papers before the PRT changed my name and sent me here."

Vista blinked her eyes at me several times before she spoke. "My parents definitely treat each other like villains."

I gave her a big smile. "And what was it you said about dealing with villains?"

Vista gave me a smile in return. "We fight them off and contain them to lower the collateral damage."

I nodded. "Sometimes all we can do is deal with the aftermath, like Miss Militia said. We can't always be there for everyone, so we can only do our best and hope that we can make a difference before everything goes to hell."

Vista let out a laugh. "You're not supposed to sound happy when saying things like that."

"Why not? I'm a hero now and legally allowed to use my budding powers under supervision in the field. If I can't be happy about actually getting out there and making a difference, then I'm doing something wrong."

Vista nodded. "I feel that way, too. I have these great powers and if I just sat at home and didn't do anything, I would start feeling guilty every time a crime was reported on the news or a villain killed another civilian. I just couldn't take it, you know?"

I nodded several times and we went to sit down. We ate in silence and it wasn't strained or anything. I would occasionally look at her and make a funny face, just because I could. I had her giggling by the time we were done eating and had to go meet up with the other members of the Wards to work out the patrol schedule for the week.

Miss Militia was in the Wards common room and her eyes showed that she was smiling at me. I smiled back and she waved to the couch. We sat there and waited until everyone showed up, or everyone that was at the base on a Sunday.

Aegis, real name Carlos, was from Puerto Rico with long dark hair and he was the leader of the Wards. He was always around, too. He could fly and push his body to the peak of human endurance and always recover. His body had so many redundancies that he could get stabbed in the heart or be decapitated, and they would just sew him back together and he was fine.

Gallant, real name Dean Stansfield, was an empath and could feel other people emotions and even create concussive blasts that could disrupt and change people's emotions. He wore medieval-like armor when he was on patrol and pretended to be a Tinker for some reason.

Kid Win, real name Chris, had brown hair and pale skin. He was an actual Tinker and made weapons for himself and his own tech armor and a real hoverboard. Honestly, it was weird that he could make so many things and not know what his specialty was.

The last one was Clockblocker, real name Dennis, and he had red hair and joked all the time, even when it wasn't appropriate. His power was he could pause things in time for a random amount of time with each touch. He also wore tech armor that had nothing to do with his powers. It was weird.

"Where's the delinquent?" Armsmaster asked as he entered the room.

"She said something about going home to rest for a big day at school tomorrow." Aegis said. "You know she doesn't want to pair up for patrols, so we can just assign her to random shifts."

"With Myriad here, she's the odd-man out anyway." Vista said and smiled at me.

"Ooo, I can team up with you? Really?" I asked, excitedly.

The other Wards, besides Vista, gave me odd looks for a moment.

"Not right away." Armsmaster said and walked over to the whiteboard on the wall. "You'll be on monitor duty this week after school and you can watch the others to see how a normal Ward patrol occurs."

"Sure! I like monitor duty." I admitted and those odd looks came back. "Vista and I worked out a couple of new procedures to alleviate the boredom during the long wait times between crimes."

"I didn't see a report for that." Armsmaster said and had a blank look on his face. "Nothing was filed."

"We just came back from lunch and haven't written it up." Vista said.

"Would a verbal report be good enough until I write it up after this meeting?" I asked and Armsmaster nodded. I explained about reviewing previous fights and takedowns and using the monitoring time as both a recap of the day's events and also as a training tool for future Protectorate capes.

Miss Militia looked quite pleased and nodded several times.

"I expect the report to be filed as soon as possible." Armsmaster said and I nodded. "I've relayed a recording of this conversation to Director Piggot."

"Great! Let's get the patrol schedule done and pick the best routes and partners for our power sets." Vista said and that was what they did.

I sat there and listen to their discussion and didn't add anything, because I hadn't had the chance to review anything about how their powers worked or what kind of conflicts they usually became involved in. I could have made suggestions for changes, especially for the leisurely route patrols that never strayed away from the main avenues and heavily populated streets that were also patrolled by the Protectorate.

They are treating us like children and not future heroes. I thought and stopped a frown from forming on my face. How are we supposed to learn if they coddle us so much?

"I think that's a good rotation." Miss Militia said and Armsmaster marked the schedule down and sent it to everyone except me. I was on monitor duty and didn't need to know in advance who was going on patrol.

"You're on free time for the rest of the day." Armsmaster said. "If you're going into the city, please inform myself or Miss Militia. We can arrange drop-off and a pick-up times for you."

Everyone nodded and Armsmaster gave me a pointed look.

"I'm going to my room to write the report up now." I said and stood.

"Me, too." Vista said and stood as well.

Armsmaster nodded to us and then left.

"You have to forgive Colin. He's not really a people person." Miss Militia whispered.

"How did he become the leader of the Protectorate capes if he's not a people person?" I asked.

"Seniority." Everyone said, exchanged knowing looks, then laughed.

Vista took my hand. "We better get started."

I nodded and looked at Miss Militia. "Do you have time after supper to talk? I have some questions about our powers."

Miss Militia nodded. "I can spare an hour from my training schedule."

"Thank you." I said and led Vista out of the common room and down the hallway to my room.

Vista didn't comment about it until we were inside and I sat her down on my bed. "I'm not sure I'm allowed in here. It's your personal space and..."

"If you want me to formally invite you to visit me here, or anywhere really, I grant it and you can't say no. No take-backsies!" I said with a chuckle and she smiled. "Were friends and I'm not going to tell my friend no when she wants to see me or spend time with me. We're going to school together as well and might even be in the same classes."

"I'd like that." Vista said and pointed. "There's a folding desk behind the dresser."

"Thanks." I said an checked to see that she was right. "I'm surprised they don't make everyone work in the common room or a meeting room or something."

"We can't have so many distractions." Vista said and helped me set up the desk. She opened the drawer and took out several sheets of blank paper. "We'll do up a draft before using a real report form. Armsmaster gets angry when we waste official papers."

I chuckled and sat beside her on the bed. "What's that word that's both dirty and describes people like him?"

Vista smirked at me. "What makes you think I know it?"

"Hello? Brilliant girl?" I asked and pointed to her forehead, then pointed to mine. "Practically empty."

Vista let out a giggle. "I think you mean he's anal retentive."

"That's it. He's holding too much in his anus and the stick is lodged in there pretty tightly."

Vista laughed and lightly smacked my arm. "Alex! That's terrible!"

"If he was a mathematician, he could work it out with a number two pencil." I joked and she laughed and laughed.

*

For the first time in a while, Miss Militia was nervous. The young man that had just transferred into the wards, had a wonderfully terrible power. A copy power. It was only at half strength; but, if you looked at it in a certain light, he was reducing a person's individuality by taking a part of them. She had almost started thinking that thought as the other capes discussed what tests to perform, then she had seen what Alex did.

He had created a new gun. He hadn't replicated one like she thought was the limit of her power. He explained later that he had changed it so that he could max out his creation ability to push it as hard as he could. Even the ammunition was different and not something she had ever encountered.

When he had offered for her to touch the gun to let her copy it, she knew then that he understood. Her power had touched his and they were similar and different, in a good way, and it suddenly felt great to meet someone else that knew what it felt like to make something out of nothing and he was someone that she could talk to and discuss her power with.

Miss Militia knocked on Myriad's door and heard him say to come in. She opened the door and caught her breath. He wore only a pair of bicycle shorts and his entire body was covered in glistening sweat. His deliciously muscular body. Her eyes couldn't stop their very detailed examination of him and she could freely admit that the statement that he had a perfect body was completely accurate.

He's only twelve. Twelve. Just twelve. Miss Militia thought and tried to not think about the age of consent in her native country or what was allowed by marriage. Those were bad thoughts. Bad!

"Whew!" Alex exclaimed and dropped the hundred pound dumbbells he had been easily arm curling. "The doctors weren't kidding when they said combining a perfect body and a healing factor would allow me to get massively strong quickly."

"You need... fluids." Miss Militia whispered and then corrected herself. "Replacement fluids."

Alex nodded and went over to the small refrigerator to retrieve a chilled bottle of water. "Do you want one?"

Miss Militia nodded and accepted one before she sat down on the edge of his bed. I shouldn't be here. This won't end well. It can't. I won't let him tempt me.

Alex picked up a towel and wiped himself off before he sat down on the bed beside her. "Guess what I can do?" He asked and held his right hand up to create a normal knife handle that slowly morphed to have a set of brass knuckles that he put his fingers through.

When he had a good grip on it, the blade shifted to the side and extended out to his full ten inch limit and then spread to the sides to end up six inches wide with thick metal spikes covering his fingers. By the looks of it, he could probably punch through steel with it.

Dammit. Miss Militia thought and put her hand on top of the brass knuckles. She shivered and held in her moan as she gained the best combat knife she had ever seen and technically didn't exist a minute ago.

"Are you left or right handed?" Alex asked and held up his left hand and then formed a second identical knife with brass knuckles as the handle.

"Oh, god." Miss Militia whispered and closed her eyes as her power almost rejoiced as she felt him use it in such a creative new way.

"It's neat, isn't it?" Alex asked.

"Y-yes, neat." Miss Militia said and let his hand go. "I better go and let you get back to your workout."

"What? Why? We haven't talked yet." Alex said. "I have a few questions and..."

Miss Militia opened her mouth to tell him that she was having very impure thoughts about him. When his first question was why she never experimented with her power to make a billy club and he formed a big thick one that looked suspiciously like one of the dildos she owned, she quickly decided that he was much too young to talk about those kinds of things and stood.

"I'm sorry, I need to go." Miss Militia said and fled from the room. She needed to relieve some of her growing tension and Alex's last creation had told her exactly what she could use to solve her problem.