2.3

April 4th, 2010

You know, sometimes I wonder if my life is built around a series of sick jokes.

Just a little bit of internet diving allowed us to find something that was uncomfortably close to what my powers had in mind - Shinto, a religious tradition native to Japan, and revolving around kami (divine spirits, somewhere in-between minor gods and nature spirits of European folklore) residing in the land, significant landmarks and even important items. I was not exactly sure if Western things could house a Kami, but if the principle did translate - Washington Monument, King Arthur's sword Caledfwich and Six Grandfathers mountain were all prime candidates (in which case, the latter being defaced to make the Mt. Rushmore Monument surely would've angered the Kami in question).

Anyway.

My papercrafts, for one, were aesthetically extremely similar to Shinto talismans, and the moment I saw 'miko' (shinto shrine maidens) and their paraphernalia, my power practically SCREAMED at me that this was the most optimal way to go - for example, if instead of a modified baseball bat, my control rod took the form of a 'gohei' (a wooden wand, sometimes with a metallic tip, decorated with two 'shide' - zigzagging paper streamers), it could double, if not TRIPLE its effectiveness for the same quality of materials and enchantments.

It was very similar to how my power wanted me to use naturally occurring materials and self-made tools and implements. As in - I was not sure WHY, but something about these specific solutions maximised efficiency, allowed me to do more with less, or overclock my 'inventions' beyond what I thought was possible.

The issue was, Brockton Bay had Azn Bad Boyz. As in, THE Pan-Asian gang. Its leader, Lung, claimed that all Asian people had to serve him, irregardless of their nationality, And me, using aesthetics derived from a distinctly Asian religious practice? Yeah, there was a high chance of him seeing it as either an insult, or me outright intruding into dragon man's domain.

The dragon warlord of the Bay was not known for being very reasonable.

So now, I had to choose between using design solutions that would almost certainly put me at odds with the most dangerous parahuman in the city - or risking not having them, and managing to draw his ire anyway, except with me only having to deal with my gear being at 33-50% efficiency

I was leaning towards the former - but the two options were still battling in my mind. And THAT was stopping me from finally choosing a cape name.

Lisa's proposed name structure was what essentially amounted to a short title. Like, a noun and either a verb, an adjective or another noun.

Picking a main noun was... Difficult. Like, after seeing those articles on Shinto, it really felt like 'Shrine Maiden' or 'Miko' was a way to go - but once again, there was the Lung issue with them. 'Priestess' felt like a mouthful, and was likely draw the ire of the Bible Belt capes instead. 'Shaman' felt just wrong. Meanwhile, simply 'Maiden'... No. I was NOT subjecting myself to the endless parade of 'are you really?' from every single smartass I was going to meet.

I was currently the most in favour of Miko - it both felt right, and was short enough to be used in emergency.

And there was also the issue of the second part.

Let's say we replaced Miko/Shrine Maiden/whatever with [Blank].

I was NOT going to call myself Turtle [Blank]. I didn't have a particular obsession with turtles, I just kinda liked that kids show with four mutant turtle capes. That was sorta the reason I went with Lisa's suggestion of naming my geriatric turtle vaguely ninja-like - we went with 'Hanzo', for Hattori Hanzo - one of the most famous ninjas in history. it was just a bit funny, if you asked me.

There were several ways to choose an adjective for a cape alias. The first one was a way of describing your powerset. 'Tinkering [Blank]', or 'Talisman [Blank]'. I really didn't like this one - why give a potential enemy hints of what you could do? The second one was to find a way to describe your personality or ideal, like 'Steadfast [Blank]', or 'Protector [Blank]'. This one was DIFFICULT, because introspection was far from being a strength of mine. Then there was a third one - something to strive towards, and…

Hm…

What I wanted - the end goal I had of me meddling in the cape business - was to make Brockton Bay better. A place where regular people could live their whole lives without this background radiation of trepidation, of fear, of knowing that at any moment, a cape could barge into their life and make it worse in a blink of an eye.

What was the best way to describe such a goal?

That was the sort of a question I was mulling over, as I cruised over the evening Brockton skies on Hanzo's back. The answer was on the tip of my tongue - but still refused to reveal itself to me, no matter for how long I thought about it.

I dejectedly decided to turn back home, when-

Screams.

BUZZING.

Violently pulled out of my thoughts, I looked down to see what this was all about.

In a dark side alley, the shadows receded, revealing three figures: a scared woman trying to meld into a wall, a ziptied homeless-looking guy with a knife on the ground next to him, and a familiar noir mummy called Scarab.

An interrupted mugging, huh?

"…are you okay..?" the cape asked, to which the woman just nodded, "…can you call this in?"

Once the woman agreed, the Invisible Man impersonator slinked into the shadows. The woman bolted almost instantly, dialling someone - probably the cops - as she went.

Welp.

I flew over the zip tied mugger - he was not a priority here - and peered into the darkness of back alleys, trying to figure Scarab's movements. Given I had bird's eye view, and they had these buzzing shadows following them, it didn't take long for me to land where they headed, and decloak just as they shambled into my view.

"You really need to stop doing that," I noted, trying to keep my voice as level and calm as possible.

They jolted. The shadows surrounding them shifted, hissed, and began advancing, the BUZZING rapidly increasing in volume - only for another hiss to pull them back. It was only then that I've noticed how I've tensed up.

I forced myself to relax.

"…who are you..?" I couldn't see this cape's face, but they gave this… Nervous impression.

"Another independent. One that's really not amused with you."

"…why..?"

"Well, for starters - a few days ago, you saved this guy from four Nazis in an alleyway by Pickett's street," they began saying something, to which I've raised my hand, "Not saying you shouldn't have had. Nazis are bad, and you did well swarming and then zip tying them all. I have an issue with what you did afterwards."

"…what-"

"You LEFT. You left a guy who had multiple cracked ribs and was heading for an adrenaline crash to fend for himself, with four apprehended Nazis next to him, in the middle of Empire's territory," I narrowed my eyes, "He was found by Alabaster and another quartet of Nazis before the cops got there."

I could see the moment my words landed on the cape, as if they were physical blows.

"…I-I didn't-"

"Didn't know? Nobody knows what will happen, all we can do is our best. Didn't think? That much is clear," by this point, Scarab wilted and practically shrivelled right where they stood, "Luckily, me and my friend were there to keep him company, or things would've ended very badly for him. But we can't be everywhere, and judging by what happened right now with the mugger? This is a nasty habit of yours. A habit you really need to break."

The noir mummy wannabe looked very unsteady on their legs. Almost like they were a few moments away from throwing up and passing out. Was I too harsh? Felt like I was just harsh enough, but…

"Look, Scarab-"

"…not Scarab," they shook their head, without correcting me any further. Same issue with names, huh?

"Look, why are you doing this - beating up muggers and Nazis and who else - in the first place?"

"…I… …I need to be- to be a Hero…"

Ah, so this was just incompetence, not some malicious desire to beat up acceptable targets.

Well, my distaste with 'Heroes' aside…

"You want to be a Hero. Obviously, you currently suck at it, because there was no one to teach you the ropes. Have you thought of joining the Wards?"

"I-I can't… …my powers…"

"Some sort of a bug control?" I guessed. Not-Scarab nodded, "Yeah, they're gonna hate it."

And nobody really considered joining New Wave. Even with their shiny new healer, it was just not viable to join a team of unmasked heroes - not as long as you had friends, family and personal life to protect.

"I thought- thought of going alone-"

"And dying the moment you face Hookwolf or Lung?" I raised my eyebrow, "Bugs aren't gonna bother either of them. If you're going solo, all a gang needs is a single counter to your power - and yours is obvious. You need a team, both so you don't do dumb shit like leaving a wounded man in a place he might be attacked again, and to make sure you survive the moment gangs start to take you seriously."

Not-Scarab just nodded dejectedly.

At this point, despite knowing I had a point, it sorta felt like I was kicking a sick puppy.

Ugh, I was going to regret this, wasn't I..?

"We could team up, you know," I sighed. The mummy wannabe jolted at the suggestion, "I don't know how well we'll work together, but at the very least, we could patrol and stuff. It'd be safer than acting separately."

"…I'd… …I'd like that…" Invisible Man impersonator nodded.

I nodded, pulled out my cellphone, and dialled Lisa's.

"Hey, it's me."

"Is this one of those 'it's me' scams? I'm not sending anyone any money~" I could HEAR her smirk through the phone. This little shit…

"Look, I just met our April Fools runner. Know where we could all meet and talk?"

"Hm… Should I dress up?"

"A bit."

"Then how about that rooftop? The one you got stranded on?"

"Sure, meet you there in… Twenty, I guess," I sighed, hanging up and turning to Not-Scarab, "Hop along. We'll meet up with my friend, have a meet-and-greet slash planning session."

The noir mummy nodded, and stepped forward.

The shadows shifted, and began approaching along, skittering, and hissing, and BUZZING - and into the dim lights came what I could only call an impassable CLOUD of insects of every kind. Ants, caterpillars, centipedes and cockroaches crawled in a thick, roiling carpet on the ground. Flies and mosquitos and bees and wasps hovered through the air, so little space between them it was a wonder they didn't interrupt each other. Spiders, big ones, on the walls - and I was certain I saw at least a few dozens of black widows with their signature red hourglass on the back.

It was as if my entire vision was filled to the brim with bugs.

I barely stopped myself from shrieking - and definitely couldn't help but to flinch at the sight of it all. Even with all of those bugs still being a good ten feet away from me, I could practically feel their legs skittering all over my skin, causing dozens of small itches that were only getting stronger with each passing moment. Some of them began to feel like prickling stings, when-

A chittering hiss - a slightly louder one than others - and most of the scene disappeared back into the shadows, leaving only mummy-wrapped cape there.

"…I-I'm sorry," they squeaked

I forced myself to take a big, long breath, to hold it for a few seconds, and then to slowly exhale - only after that did my heart slowed down from beating a mile a second.

"It's… It's fine, just didn't expect… That," I admitted, "Do they all have to follow you?"

"…no… …I can send them home…" Not-Scarab shifted uncomfortably. Seems like they didn't feel right without at least some?

"You can bring just the ones that could trail us by air," I thought about it for a moment, "Just make sure they're not visible from the ground."

They nodded, and hissed something - in a voice that certainly shouldn't be replicable by human vocal cords. The shadows instantly receded, and the Invisible Man impersonator finally climbed on Hanzo's back, some bees, wasps and dragonflies hovering around like a light mist to the full swarm's thundercloud.

I still felt a bit icky seeing so many of them, but Not-Scarab probably felt about as anxious without most of their minions. Best compromises leave everyone equally unhappy, and all.

The noir-mummy sat a bit away from me - out of range of my Yin-Yang Orb's orbit - and seemed to look questioningly at me pulling out my SEP talisman.

"It's a… Basically, one-use Stranger device. With it, no one will pay attention to us while we fly."

They nodded, I activated the talisman - and we flew off to the testing site of my floating Engine prototype.

There was a bit of a funny story there - as I was testing a flying 4x4 board, we discovered that it didn't care if you were aligned vertically, horizontally, or upside-down - just like it didn't care if you've switched the directions back and forth several times a second at full speed. It sorta made rider's position absolute in regards to the Floating Engine. So, like an idiot, I decided to test if it was true if I was jumping while being upside down.

The regular gravity took effect the moment I've lost contact with the Engine - and I fell down on a roof, with the board missing it by a few inches, and ending up on the streets below. And given that Lisa couldn't operate the prototype, she had to mount a rescue operation to bring me down from the roof of an abandoned building. Lisa still someti-

"…urk…"

I look to my passenger, who didn't look so good. Like, even with those off-white bandages in the way, I could tell they felt a little bit green, and not exclusively behind the ears.

"You okay..?" they gave a slow, shallow nod, "Motion sickness?" another nod.

Well, guess some people did have issue with this kind of transportation.

How would I… Ah, right.

"Close your eyes? I'll tell you when we're there."

Not-Scarab nodded again and, it seemed, followed my advice. We've traveled the rest of the way without a hitch, and landed on the rooftop - where Lisa was already waiting for us.

It was time to talk business.