16

Summary:

The original version of the Mush fight was bad, and I only recently got around to fixing it.

The original confrontation with Danny was riotously bad.

Literally. The thread actually rioted. It was purged the next day. I am assured both of these are improvements over the originals.

Chapter Text

SUN FEB 20

I sent Sally a text, saying 'They're sending capes.' and getting a short 'kk' back.

That done, I cinched down my pack and stretched, shaking the kinks from sitting for half an hour out of my joints. Then I got down in a sprinter's start, and shot off. When I got to the more populated sections of the city, I ran diagonally up the side of a building, to start hopping rooftops instead. Which, given I couldn't just maintain my wind-boosted sprint in an uninterrupted straight line, actually made it slower than the ground.

It was fine, though. I still made it with five minutes to wait, picking around the trainyard with my senses and checking for more of those bombs from last time, while keeping an eye out for fliers. It was annoying, knowing that anyone who could fly could still sneak up on me, but there wasn't much I could do about it other than try to get into the habit of looking up. As I craned my neck, I realized that stung a little. Being as depressed and downtrodden as I'd been for so long, looking down had become instinctual, ingrained in a way that was hard to put into words. It wasn't just not showing my face to the bullies, it was... pessimism. Hopelessness. Keep your head down, don't attract attention, look for the good in your place in the muck, stay down where you belong.

I took a breath and sighed it out, unclenching my hands, which were so tight they creaked painfully as I released them. I wasn't that girl anymore. I wouldn't be her anymore. I choose to hope.

I forced a smile onto my face as I waited. I'd heard somewhere that the brain's wired to think you're happy if you're smiling.

I noticed the not-quite-subtle PRT wagon first. Mostly empty from what I could tell, it still had at least four bulky figures in the seats. The air-filled rubber tires still made it hard to see into cars. Dauntless caught my eye next, with his distinct stutter-start flight. It looked a bit like someone wading through thick mud, each step taking them streaking hundreds of feet through the air instead of one or two. Which wasn't to say he was motionless when between them, he just floated slowly instead. It reminded me a bit of Legend actually, with his ability to be a relatively normal flier, or break out near-lightspeed travel in a pinch.

Aegis was much more subtle than a lightning bolt, as it were. A reddish speck in the sky, growing larger as he got closer. I couldn't help but think there must be a mismatch in their cruising speeds, with Dauntless choosing to repeatedly catch up to the Ward, rather than overtake him. The two shot past the PRT van as they made their way closer, and the van parked itself a few blocks away. Maybe I wasn't supposed to know it was there?

My thoughts were interrupted by the pair dropping out of the sky next to me. Aegis had a big, friendly grin as he floated closer. Dauntless' smile was smaller, but I could still see it clearly through the gap in his centurion helmet, beneath where the built-in visor ended. It actually looked to my senses like they were two separate pieces, like my masks.

I shook Aegis' outstretched hand. "Terraform. It's good to see another hero around. I'm Aegis. Wards leader." He had a rather strong grip, but that shouldn't have surprised me, with his super-strength.

"Hi." I said, a little weakly. I still wasn't too keen on meeting people my own age. I had enough people to exhaust myself being around now, and something just felt... off about this. About him. Maybe it was the fact that he would've been my boss if I'd joined the Wards, but some part of me just didn't like him.

"Hello," Dauntless said, saving me from my awkward pause. "It's good to see you again, now that we have time to talk." I shook his hand too. He didn't seem off, like Aegis did. Then again, he wasn't in any sort of leadership position, besides being higher than the Wards in the command chain. It helped that I could tell he was nervous, but hiding it well enough. Something about putting a rising star like Dauntless on edge made me feel powerful.

"Yeah." I muttered, then straightened. No need to be rude, after all. "Thank you for coming to back me up, especially... under the odd circumstances."

"Armsmaster mentioned that, yeah." Dauntless nodded. "We... sort of realized the wording might imply some thinker warning, but we don't tend to find shakers with thinker powers, outside novel uses of their abilities, or things that make using them easier." I could tell he'd started rambling a little, but it was fine.

"It's..." Deflect, deflect. I shouldn't even let on we have a thinker, if it can be helped... "A teammate wanted me to be careful today. Made me call the PRT." Probably not ambiguous enough, but I had to hope Dinah would be a little safer, as long as I kept deflecting.

The pair blinked at that. Aegis cleared his throat. "You have a team?" I made an affirmative noise, and he continued. "How many teammates? Do you mind telling us about them?"

I froze up, my hackles raising. It was fishing for information, which was bad, but so obvious that it was probably just a teenager trying to socialize with a peer. Still, deny, deny... "I'd rather not say." I raised my hands to stall the questions I could tell they wanted to ask. "It's not that I don't trust you, it's just that I can't trust you." I chuckled nervously after that spilled out. That didn't sound fantastic, and they glanced at each other, before Dauntless let out a confused hum.

"Do you... mind telling us why?" He asked.

What was it that Amy'd said? "Trigger trauma. Authority-related. It's complicated." And I really don't want to talk about it.

I could feel his eyes widen behind his visor, and Aegis looked a tad poleaxed. "Ah, that's... okay." Dauntless muttered.

Shaking my head, I added, "That's why I can't join the Wards. I've got... trust issues, and control issues..." I hugged myself, rubbing my arms. At least they were focusing on me now, instead of Dinah. "I just can't take orders from someone I don't already trust, and in a big organization, that's bound to happen eventually."

They shared another look, this one far less nervous. "I can respect that." Dauntless said after turning back to me. "It's good to be conscious of our problems. Lets us make better choices, and work towards being better people." Aegis nodded along, and I tilted my head. I was a bit flattered, but... eventually he chuckled. "That's what my therapist says, anyway."

I wanted to ask about him seeing a therapist, it was hard to conceptualize heroes as people with problems of their own, but being a hero myself, I knew it could happen. Aegis nodding along again helped stay my tongue as well. "We get worried about independents." Aegis said, waving his hand in a 'what can you do?' motion. "A lot of them aren't willing to join any team, let alone the Wards. It's good that you've got someone to watch your back."

I nodded along, happy they were so quick to drop their recruitment tactics. "That's part of why I'm forming my own team. Dad and I think it'd do the city a lot of good to have an option besides the government capes and outed New Wave." Dinah'd said there were good chances we'd have four capes in a couple weeks, extrapolating that out... "We're hoping to have a solid team in a month or two."

They looked suitably impressed, and not just about the team, from Dauntless' next words. "Your parents know you're a cape?"

That stung more than I thought it would. "...yes." Better that they thought I had a set, to obfuscate my civilian identity as well as possible. It still hurt, like I was disrespecting mom's memory by implying she was still alive.

They didn't seem to notice, and he continued on. "That's another problem young capes have. Too many hide things from their parents, making rash choices and taking needless risks instead."

I bit back the groan at his words. That was part of why I was talking to dad, he'd wanted me to talk to him about these things, and my choices, to make sure I wasn't making foolish mistakes. If I'd called him about today, instead of Sally, I had no doubt he'd tell me to stop heading to the Trainyard, training or not. Had I just ignored him out of habit again, like I used to? I needed to start talking to him again. These bad habits needed to stop.

...oh well, nothing to do about it, today. I grabbed my backpack, slinging it on like it wasn't more than twenty pounds of books and gear, and pointed a thumb through the entryway. "Well, do we want to head in? I can show you some of what I've been doing to train."

"That sounds good." Aegis said. "We might even find ways to help with that."

I hadn't thought of that, but it did sound like a good idea. "I'd like that." I led them over to the nearest of my piles, the one where I'd had that fight last time. I dropped my bag again and took a moment to clean things up. Stuff had shifted a bit, maybe people were digging through the piles or something, it was the work of moments to pile up crunched metal containers and rebar, and re-stack piles of concrete and asphalt rubble, and the small stacks of brick from dismantled buildings. I raised my leg, holding my foot out in an exaggerated stance more for the spectacle of it than anything, and stamped my foot down to no obvious effect. The boys stood around confused, and right when Aegis was about to ask what that was about, an empty shipping container crashed down nearby with a calamitous racket. I casually flicked the wave of gravel ejected by the explosion back towards the ground, and turned to find the other heroes staring at me in horror.

The looks on their faces were hilarious. I couldn't help the ugly, snorting cackle that ripped itself from my throat. They'd backed away a bit, eyeing myself and the partly-crumpled metal box warily. My laughter petered out about ten seconds later. "Haha, oh man, did I need that." I hadn't laughed that hard in... I couldn't even remember, really. "I'll warn you next time. I've gotten very good at throwing rocks. And throwing things with rocks." I kicked my foot and the gravel under the container surged upward, twisting in midair to land a couple meters closer to us. I kicked again just as it was about to hit, and continued to juggle it right past us to where the foundation of the building I got blown into the other day was. I'd already torn it apart brick by brick, so it was little more than a massive slab of concrete now.

With the container beside the foundation, I strode up to it, taking a solid stance and flicked my hands out a couple of times. The concrete gave a pair of loud cracks as straight splits parted it, carving out a more manageable chunk that I levitated out of the ground with a pair of upward-thrust fists and a grunt of effort. The surface area of the slab was carefully measured at just bigger than the container's sides, and it was almost two feet thick. With deep, steady breaths, I hovered the slab over the container, and gently lowered it down. The container took the weight for a couple seconds, enough that I'd started to wonder if I'd need to help it along, before the rusty steel groaned and squealed, crumpling under more than twenty tons of weight.

Yes, I did look up how much concrete weighed.

When the container stopped crumpling, I pressed the slab down a bit, before lifting it off and setting it to the side. I raised the flattened container by levitating the gravel under it, and deposited it noisily on top of the pile with the rest. I turned to the heroes, noting that Dauntless was staring with wide eyes, and Aegis' mouth was hanging open. My face broke into a wide grin, even though they couldn't see it.

"Any questions?" I asked cheekily.

Aegis gave off a soft, startled wheeze, and Dauntless took a deep breath before asking, "Is... that your upper limit?"

I snorted and shook my head. "Haven't hit it yet." I'm sure I had one, but I was just as sure it was going up at least as fast as I was chasing it down. I probably wouldn't have been able to lift the slab when I started out. Now though? The hardest part was getting it out of the ground.

He paused again. "And you can do that with...?"

"Any of the classical elements, yes." I went over to my bag, grabbing out the old canteen and a couple of paper fans. "Water's a little hard to demonstrate when there's none around, but..." I took the cap off after shoving the fans in my hoodie's pockets. Then I pulled the water out, and started flowing through some simple motions, the water streaming along beside me. I danced with it for a few seconds, then froze it into sharp shards around me with a twirl and a flourish, the ice spiraling around me for a moment before it unfroze and flowed back into the canteen. They were both giving me weird looks again, but I shrugged and dug out the fans. I flipped them open and spun, leaping into the air and twirling, lashing out at the height of the jump, and causing a small literal tornado to speed out from my trajectory. The space I'd chosen was mostly empty, but I still had to flash out a few wind bursts to keep the gravel from raining down directly on top of us. Without a storm driving it, the wind quickly petered out. Then I closed the fans, holding them in my fists as I punched out a couple fireblasts, leapt up and kicked out a wave of flame, before landing and directing streams of fire to the ground around me. I spun, creating a wide circle of flame, which I pulled up with a rising twirl and raised hands. A swirl of air away from me kept me fairly cool in the middle of a biblical pillar of flame that died down a few seconds later, once the slow breath I'd been letting out ran out.

I hopped over the several-foot-wide trench of charred and semi-molten gravel, making my way back over to my bag. The two were staring again, and I decided to give them time to process what they'd seen. I kept the fans in my pockets, strapped the canteen to my waist, and grabbed the tonfa out of my bag, slipping them into the waist of my pants, under my hoodie.

"That was..." Dauntless said, regaining his wits. "...very impressive."

I shrugged. "I really don't want to use fire against anyone, but the others are pretty great, yeah." The two just nodded, still not sure what to make of me, so I said, "I'm gonna drop another container over there, okay?" I pointed to where the other had landed, and the two nodded and backed away. I launched another container into the air and tried to catch it with a mitt of gravel this time, to marginal success. Aegis was floating off to the side near Dauntless, watching me, while the older hero was standing around, talking into a microphone in the headset I wasn't supposed to be able to see through his helmet. Probably updating their information on me while it was fresh in his mind, but that was okay. I hadn't shown off the peak of my abilities, and I was okay with looking a bit scary.

We lived in the same city as Lung and a gang of Nazis with their own personal living blender. A bit of scary was more than called for, in comparison.

This continued for a while, them watching me crush containers, and making or listening to reports on their radios. Eventually Aegis offered to help with some target practice, and I started shooting bits of gravel at him while he tried to dodge. "So what are your powers, anyway? You're an Alexandria package, right?" I asked conversationally, also trying to distract him to land a few more hits. My aim was pretty spot on most of the time, but it was hard to change trajectories after I'd launched something, so the little stones weren't too hard to dodge if he focused on one of them. I felt sending out too many at once wasn't very sporting, even though I could've saturated the air with projectiles. Even so, I was sending three to five rocks at him every second, the hand motions directing them looking not entirely unlike someone trying to swat a pesky bug away from their face.

I was self-aware enough to know I looked silly right now, but I was hitting him more often than missing, so I counted it as a win.

"It's actually... redundant biology... and flight..." he managed, as I kept pelting him. He was having a harder time dodging and talking, so I took pity on him and lowered my rate of fire a bit. "Adaptive biology, I mean. I can make myself stronger or tougher, but the real strength of it is making myself able to see from part of my skin if I'm blinded, or pump blood with my spleen if my heart's damaged, or anything like that, really."

Wait... "So you can change how your organs work, too? Even if nothing's wrong?"

He nodded, which was odd, since he was still dodging in midair. "Yeah. Can make organs work better, or differently. Why?"

That'd explain why he felt so off to me. If his heartbeat, breathing, and other tells didn't line up with what I was expecting from a normal person. I think the term was 'uncanny valley'? Seeing something not quite right, but close enough to what you expect that it should be right... "No reason." I lied.

I wasn't sure how he took that, not being able to see him with my senses, but he seemed to just accept it at face value. I upped the rate I was firing rocks back to normal, and things continued for the next few minutes.

Then I felt a couple of vehicles drive up nearby, a car and a truck, and figured this was what I was waiting for. I felt a bit excited to take more goons off the street, and my face split into another grin. I didn't say anything to the heroes, that would just give away my senses, after all. The men unloaded from the vehicles, nine of them in total. One was gesturing about, probably giving orders. They started spreading out, and one of the shorter, dumpier ones started to shred.

I stumbled a bit, watching the portly stickman slowly collapse into a mass of tendrils, skin flaying, bones and organs liquifying, muscles peeling themselves into strands... I shook my head and coughed. Aegis flew down and asked if I was okay, but I waved him off.

What the fuck was that!?

And then I noticed the detritus in the area clumping together, about where the man's body used to be. "Oh, shit." I muttered, watching the humanoid form building itself, already larger than both their transports combined. Was this worth giving away my secret? I could bury Mush now, and that might take him out of the fight. But it would also tell the heroes I could see through walls and buildings. The worst part of my powers was how easily I could violate privacy, and I had no idea how the PRT, let alone the public, would handle it.

No, this was fine.

I can take him.

The first of the men rounded the corners behind the nearby standing buildings, and shuffled back to tell his friends where we were. They weren't very quiet about it, and I had to wonder if I was getting better at sensing sounds at range, or if they were just that bad at stealth. Either way, I had the opening I needed.

"I think we might have company." I said, waving over at the group.

Aegis' head perked in that direction, and I figured he was doing something to increase his hearing. Either way, he tapped the side of his helmet and said "Incoming." Dauntless perked up at that, readying his lance.

Leader-guy was waving his hands again. I had no idea what orders were left to give, but with Mush here... wait. If this guy was giving Mush orders, then he was probably...

About when I realized that, Mush's construct slammed its shoulder into the rear of the building they were hiding behind. The body absorbed the wall as it started to collapse, and thin tentacle whips of trash were slammed into the walls on his way through. The whole thing started to cave in on itself, and by the time he barreled out the front of the building, Mush had doubled his size.

"Holy fuck." Wasn't this guy supposed to be a C-lister? The Merchants were so small more than half the city didn't know what they were called! Mush rolled to the side, giving us our first clear view of Skidmark and the rest of the goons, half of whom were holding guns, and the rest were grabbing whatever Mush hadn't picked up, rushing the bits over to a brightly glowing violet strip I couldn't see with my senses and- "Fuck!" Dodging now!

I'd barely rolled away in time for the cinderblock to dig a trench a quarter mile behind me, instead of splattering me across the ground. Okay, no. Playtime was over. I raised a hill between us and the ad-hoc railgun and punched a clod of gravel-laden dirt right into Skiddy's crotch from under his feet hard enough to lift him off the ground. He'd been layering more fields over the existing ones. Probably to punch through the mound of dirt and gravel protecting us. That was not okay. As he landed and started collapsing to his knees, a wave of my hand brought a hand-sized mass of gravel up to slap him hard enough that he crumpled to the ground unconscious.

Fuck that asshole.

Mush stopped where he'd been, halfway between the building and my piles of rubble and scrap. The tops of the piles were starting to drag themselves towards him, and I could just barely make out tiny threads linking each of the pieces to the mass. The giant stood fully upright, staring back in confusion at his fallen leader, not seeming to notice as Dauntless blasted holes through his body. The electrical nature of the attack wasn't lending itself well to this fight, the steel an excellent conductor letting the charge flow between bits of metal until it hit the ground, while the brick and mortar and concrete that made up the majority of his golem body was an excellent insulator. The kinetic energy of the lance was blowing chunks away, and the occasional thin hole pierced directly through limbs or the body, but these were filling themselves too quickly for the damage to build up. I stomped my foot to halt the progress of the stone he was dragging towards himself, quickly finding myself struggling. It was like fighting a massive invisible hand trying to pull them along. What the hell was going on?

This seemed to shake him out of his stupor, and he flung one of his arms back towards the pile of containers. The limb thinned as it lengthened, slapping down on the flattened steel. Dauntless took the chance to focus on the thinner section of limb, having more success by the time I got used to the weird force on the rocks and held them steady. Mush was still pulling at the steel though, and I shook my head and let him have the rocks. Better to cut him off entirely, I thought as I sprinted to leap from the top of the hill I'd made earlier. I vaulted myself towards the arm where it was taking damage, rolling headfirst as I pushed myself forward with gusts of wind from my hands. At the height of my jump I lashed my legs out, flashing out first a massive gout of fire with the first, then a wave of wind with the second. The fire seared at the tendrils, the wind gouged at the stone, and I came down with both fists smashing into the ground, tearing a rift into the ground and severing the limb with earthbending.

Mush let out a sound not unlike a deep bass shriek as his body staggered back, apparently able to feel the fact that I'd ripped its arm off practically at the elbow. His tendrils crushed the few containers he'd been able to get against his body like armor, and I started work burying the rest as he lurched away. He didn't seem able to work with gravel or dirt, so I churned the earth to put tons of the stuff above the larger chunks of detritus. If my guess was right, those tendrils were each pulling with about a ton of force, so this would put them out of his reach.

Aegis had been handling the normals, having flown past Mush and tackled one to the ground. He'd been wrestling their guns away one at a time, tending to leave the men winded and worse off, but some of them had pistols they took out after, or just got up to charge him with knives. One of them had even run away, but the rest were still shooting at him, which made getting into melee a challenge after the first friendly fire incident. They were all still standing near their boss, with Mush bearing down on them, snatching their leader from the ground and pulling Skidmark into his mass.

It was taking too long to handle the thugs, I decided. I thrust my palm up, tearing the top foot of packed soil and gravel from the former alleyway between the next building over and the one they'd demolished. This had the fortuitous effect of causing the massive golem to stumble as it tried to get through there, but that wasn't my goal. I pulled the fracturing mass towards me, barreling it into the goons who were still standing, knocking them down. Then I just dropped it, covering each of the men in a couple hundred pounds of gravel and dirt clods. They'd dig themselves out, but Aegis was already floating down to catch them as they surfaced.

Dauntless had let up on strikes to Mush's torso when he pulled in Skidmark, just in case. Another couple bolts to the giant's stone legs which barely phased it, had him deciding to help Aegis instead. That left the capes to me, and I felt just fine with that. Mush had made it into another alley with two standing buildings to a side by then. When I grabbed the dirt under him and caused it to shudder, pulling the lot like a conveyer belt back towards me, his arms lashed out to the walls. I pulled at his body, but between that weird pull that kept them bundled into a humanoid shape and sensing Skidmark unconscious at its core, I didn't think I could safely bend the body in multiple directions or try to peel him open without accidentally squishing him. The Merchants were trash, but they weren't worth blood on my hands.

We were at a stalemate, it seemed. He couldn't move as long as I was holding him and shifting the ground under him, but I couldn't actually do anything for fear of finishing off Skidmark. The PRT van had finally made it, parking near the entrance. The troopers got out, but seemed content to stay well away from the obvious cape fight for now, checking their gear as they slowly moved to assist with the normals.

That was when another set of vehicles started accelerating abnormally toward us from a couple blocks away. I didn't know who they were or what'd set them off, but the vans were set to show up in under a minute. I took stock of the area, Aegis and Dauntless a building over digging people out of the ground, the open space of the former building between them and the open yard by the entrance, with the PRT van on the other side of it. I spent half a minute slowly backing up while holding Mush pinned so I'd have a clear line of sight of the vans when they got here. When they did I cursed, catching flashes of red and green as men leaned out the windows to take shots at the troopers in the open.

I let Mush go for the moment, stomping my feet to raise thick but stubby walls between the troopers and the vans. My hands flashed out to snap a fault in the concrete foundation of the former building, before gripping my fists and heaving it up, tearing rents in the remainder as the rebar ripped from what I'd left on the ground. I didn't have time to spend the focus or effort keeping it neat, I just needed a nice tall barrier. When I got the slab upright, I focused back on Mush. It'd taken him a couple seconds to realize he could move, and I only gave him another couple before yanking him to a halt. He'd still made it to the end of the buildings though, grabbing the corners and trying to drag himself out of the alley. Not giving him the chance, I just yanked the walls, too. He scrabbled and scraped as he was dragged back a few meters, until his arms found purchase in the cement foundations of the buildings beside him, gripping into the rebar mesh as he tore out the stone.

Most of the men were leaping from the vans, hunching near doors or spreading out towards the walls while a couple peppered the troop's cover to keep them down. Dauntless chose that moment to leap into the air, his boots sending him soaring above the nearby warehouses. I could hear the Asians cry out in surprise, before he used his lance to spear through the engine block of the empty nearest van. There was a small gout of flame as it sputtered and died. Apparently not seeing the honor in standing their ground, the driver of the second nearly empty van gunned it, spewing gravel before the tires caught and sent it rocketing away. I could feel their panic and fear as desperation set in, most of them turning their guns skyward to force Dauntless to hide behind his shield.

The ones who'd been on their way to the walls redoubled their speed, trying to make it to cover. The fire died down as their guns ran out, lightning flashing down to knock the men out one at a time. At least one of the men had a grenade, which seemed pretty obvious in hindsight considering one of their capes was known for using them. They pulled the pin and threw it at the troopers still huddled behind their cover. The men running for the concrete wall stopped as they saw Aegis and the bound up merchants on the other side, lifting their guns to open fire. Most of the shots missed, but one of the merchants had his shoulder pulped before Aegis flew into the line of fire. The grenade hit the ground.

I groaned as I let Mush go again. He was ready this time, shooting across the lot to slam into the next building over, before scrambling to his feet and making a beeline for their ride in. I turned and kicked my foot, a small mitt of gravel launching itself and the grenade away from the troopers. The idiot who'd thrown it already had another out, but I didn't want to risk trapping him with live munitions. I turned my attention to the assholes shooting at the prisoners, sweeping them under tides of gravel like I had the Merchants. I ran for the wall, boosting my sprint with a gust and vaulting it. The second grenade was in the air already, and I kicked out a gust to carry it behind a building before it'd land. When I hit the ground, I cratered it. A wave of rock and debris rippled out from me, pulling the nearby goons underground and upturning their smoldering van.

Mush had just grabbed the car and run away with it, setting it down after depositing Skidmark inside, and reforming himself in the driver's seat. I couldn't stop them now without following them back to their base, or crashing the car. I watched Aegis check the Merchants, and the troopers spring into action. One of them made a beeline for their transport, while the others spread out, heading to back up Aegis or start digging out the ABB.

I sighed. "They're getting away." I muttered.

Loud enough to be overheard it seemed, as Dauntless floated down beside me. "They're running. It's what they do when they start losing." I could hear the grin in his voice, and when he landed I felt how forced it was. "Sometimes they get away, but your ambush happened, and no one got hurt." He paused, turning to take stock of the injuries around, merchants being tended by one of the troopers, a bloody Aegis standing nearby. He seemed to notice we were talking about him, and waved.

"I'm okay!" He called as cheerfully as he could.

Dauntless chuckled. "Well, no one died, and none of our side were seriously hurt." We watched the agent who'd run back to their transport for a fire extinguisher jog over to the van, slowing down to a brisk but tense walk. He sprayed the hole, before fiddling with the latch and prying the hood off, hosing the whole block down once he was in. The rest of the tension left Dauntless as he turned back to me. "Everything worked out fine." He chuckled. "You know, I wasn't even sure this ambush of yours was going to happen at first."

"Really?" My tone was something between a huff and a whine.

He snorted, and I realized how very teenager I'd sounded just then. "Not every day's exciting." He shrugged, smiling wistfully. "I'm kinda' partial to the ones that aren't." That had me feeling pretty bad. Dauntless seemed like a pretty decent guy, who honestly didn't like fighting very much, and the first thing I did with him was drag him into an ambush. "But that's okay. Not every win is a perfect one, but today was definitely a win." He nodded to the groups of gangsters being lined up against my concrete wall. It wasn't much, but it did make me feel a bit better. "You did good, and it was time well spent on our part. Always keep an eye out for the bright side, Terraform." I could tell he was putting up a front, projecting confidence for my benefit. My senses ruined it a little, but he was charismatic enough that it would've worked otherwise.

I tried to put on my best smile, feeling like he deserved me trying to return the effort. "You can call me Terra, you know."

He held out his hand, and I shook it. "Terra, then."

I started helping after that, righting the van and unpacking the gangsters from the ground one at a time, letting each get pounced by a pair of troopers or Aegis. It was over less than a minute later, and I was pointing them in the direction Mush ran off. Dauntless peeled off to check things out in that direction, but didn't expect to find much. The troopers packed up the Merchant truck and the ABB van, filling up the transport they'd come in and leaving Aegis and I to wait for more backup.

It was only a few minutes to wait for another two PRT vans to show up, which disgorged a dozen troops, most of which split themselves between the various vehicles, checking for bombs or trackers, or other booby-traps while a couple helped Aegis and I load the rest of the gangsters up. When it was determined the vehicles were perfectly safe, the agents fanned out to document the site for records of the fight. I gave a verbal report of what'd happened from my point of view- I only omitted the parts where my earth-senses were involved- and they left me to cleaning things up after that. Dauntless had returned while I was giving my report, but he stayed in the air keeping watch until the rest of the agents left in the trucks that came by to tow the gang's vehicles away.

After that, I decided it was probably time to call it a night. It wasn't very dark out, but I had spent most of the day training already… and I needed to talk to dad. Dauntless said goodbye, and Aegis gave me a phone number to call if I ever decided to start patrolling with the Wards.

I made my way home, ducking into an alleyway to change hoodies and de-mask, along with stowing my gear in my bag again. Once back in 'civvies', I checked my phones. I was surprised to find a missed call and a few texts. I shot off replies to Amy and Vicky. Amy got an apology for being busy training, and that I'd tell her about it later. Vicky I told I was fine, but spacing out on a lazy Sunday. The last one, though?

'Hey, Taylor. I tried to call, but it went to voicemail. I know you probably don't want to hear from me right now, but I wanted you to know that I was sorry. I'd like to get together sometime to clear the air and make amends. I'll answer' It hit the character limit and rolled over into a second text, 'anything you want to know. I'd really like it if we could still be friends. –Kara'

Goddammit, I was already feeling like shit for ignoring dad again, and now this? I was still mad at her. I knew I was still mad, and she knew it too, but… she'd been very kind, there at the end. I was still feeling confused and conflicted about that. I thought on it for another couple blocks of walking, before I decided I couldn't not give her another chance. I replied, 'Sure. What'd you have in mind?' I knew the ball was in my court, and I could be a petty bitch and put this off for weeks if I wanted to, but I knew I shouldn't.

'Maybe coffee or tea after school? Does Monday work?' came back almost instantly. She'd probably been waiting on my reply. It reaffirmed that she probably did feel really bad about what happened.

'How about Tuesday?' …just because I was trying to forgive her didn't mean I couldn't be a little petty about it. She could stew an extra day. Amy would be busy that day too, so it wasn't like I'd have plans.

'Sounds great!' With that settled for now, I nodded and made my way home.

---

"Hey, dad?" I asked when I got home. He was on the couch, watching the news. I dropped my bag on the way in, and sat down.

"Yeah, Taylor? What's wrong?" He asked, watching me sit.

I paused, not sure how to start. "I… think I might be forgetting. To keep you involved in things."

"What happened?" He didn't snap, he never did, with me, but there was a sharpness to his voice I hadn't heard directed at me in years. After a second staring at me, while my eyes stayed on the TV, he clicked it off with the remote. "Taylor?"

I chewed my lip. "I just… I've been training. In the Trainyard. I know we talked about that, but…" He nodded his head in a 'go on' way, but otherwise waited. "…I got into a fight. …again."

He sucked in a deep breath through his nose, the remote creaking in his hand before he set it down as he breathed out. "You're telling me now. That's what's important." He said, more to himself from what I can tell. "How bad were the fights? Were you hurt? Was anyone else hurt? Are there bodies?"

"No! No bodies!" I answered quickly. "I got scuffed up a little the first time, but never hurt. I… called for help today. Aegis got hurt a bit, but part of his power means little wounds don't matter." I saw the tension ebb out of him as I spoke. "I was never in any real danger." Except that time I dodged. Best he didn't find out about that. "I think… I might've done better without the Protectorate. I was holding back a bit. I don't want them to know about a couple of my powers. I could've won before the fight started, otherwise." Maybe not the smartest move, but something in my gut told me it was important.

He took another deep breath and let it out. "Taylor… I know you're not going to like this, but I want you to text me every time you're going to go train, from now on. I want to know where you are, and when you might be getting into these fights, but most of all… I want you to start running away."

"What?" I'd heard him fine, but… run away? When I'd win?

"It's that, or you're grounded." He said, firmly. I could tell the rage bubbling away in him was giving away to nerves. He was getting more sad and anxious by the second. "I don't care about the gangs, or the city, or anything as much as I care about you, Little Owl." He broke out mom's nickname just to twist the knife, I knew it, but it still hurt. "I want you to start running away from fights until you have people with you that you won't hold back around. You get your team, then you can stay and fight." That… didn't sound so unreasonable, I guess. "And if I hear about you getting into fights and not trying to run, you're grounded." I pouted at him and he pointed at me. "And if you're grounded and don't stay grounded..." the finger dropped and he sighed again. "I know I can't really keep you from doing anything now, but I'm sure Armsmaster could. You listen when I try to be your father, or it's the Wards for you." He waggled his finger again, trying to be funny and failing. "Am I understood?"

I scoffed. "We've talked about the Wards, dad. You know why they aren't an option."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Because they'd either start pulling you into fights or paint a target on our backs. Right?" I looked away first. "Exactly my point, Taylor. If you're already doing what the Wards would be doing, you might as well be a Ward."

"But…" I started, then looked away again.

His stern gaze softened a bit. "What's really wrong?"

I took a deep breath. "I don't like…" Being controlled? Manipulated? Used? "Being held down. Trapped." I managed. "It reminds me of Winslow too much."

"And how would the Wards do that?" He asked, and I gave him an incredulous look. "Just so I know where you're coming from."

I shook my head, but started talking anyway. "If I join the Wards, I'll start getting into fights, sure, but I'd have no say in which fights I'd get called away from. The ones where lives are on the line, or where I could make a difference. You know how fast I'm getting stronger, in a month or two I can probably take Lung if I wanted." Dad nearly had a heart attack, there. "But the Wards would keep me benched from real fights for at least two more years." I stood up and started pacing in front of the couch. "Then there's the Wards themselves. What if they're assholes? Or just like the Trio?" I realized then that dad might not know what I meant. "Like the girls at Winslow. I couldn't get away if I was on the team. And then there's the chain of command. What if I get an order I don't like, from someone I can't trust? I'd be AWOL faster than you can yell 'villain'." I snarled.

"This... really bothers you, doesn't it?" He felt numb. Shocked into stillness. The nerves were swiftly bubbling back to the surface, but for that brief moment when his blood vessels were so tight and his muscles were so loose, he just felt... lost.

I nodded. "Yeah. It... really does."

An aborted bit of laughter burbled out of him, before he choked it down. His eyes were starting to mist over a bit. He covered it up by rubbing at his face like he was tired, but I knew it was there. I thought about giving him a moment, letting him gather himself up, but I'd given him years in the past... "Dad?"

He heaved in a deep, wet breath, and chuckled ruefully. "I'm scared, kiddo." He shook his head, blinking rapidly. "I don't... handle scared well." I took the time to move back over to the couch and sit down. He didn't follow me with his eyes, and that was a bad sign. "I can deal with angry... I thought I could handle sad... scared?" He was smiling, but he wasn't happy. His hands were clenching, and his muscles tense. He was trying very hard not to be angry with me. "Scared's only good for making you angry or sad."

I needed to shut this down, before he blew up. "Dad, I..."

He raised his hand, cutting me off. "No, I get it." He swallowed thickly. "You're strong now. I get it. But I don't get it." His hands clenched out a pattern for a few seconds. "You're still my little girl. Her little girl." I looked away. A fine time to start protecting me, dad. Maybe something on my face gave it away, he was looking at me now... "I know I haven't been a good father, but... I thought I was doing okay. At least after..." After his intervention. He sighed and shook his head again. "I'm trying, but there's nothing I can do. I can't punch Hookwolf, I can't break Lung's kneecaps, I can't even..." He trailed off, his breathing growing heavier.

And now he was breaking down. I needed to cut him off. "Hey, you want me to be safe? We should talk about this, instead of just dictating terms." Try to get him back on familiar ground. "You want me to start texting you when I go places? That'll take me a few seconds, I can do that. But I'm not going to stop fighting if someone needs me." Take the bait, dad...

"But... you'll go if you don't have to stay?" He asked pointedly, and I cheered a little inside.

"If I'm just training, I can leave before anyone shows up." Except a flier, but now was not the time for that.

He was calming down a bit now. He always did better with something to fight, or fight for. That's part of why he fell apart for so long, rushing headlong into fighting for his boys, and leaving me in the dust. I could see how I wouldn't merit fighting for if I didn't tell him I needed it, I didn't forgive it, it didn't make it better, but I think I understood. "Can you find places to train that aren't in open gang territory?"

I thought about it, and gave a slow nod. "I want to clean up some of my mess in the Trainyard..." He gave me a sharp look, but I pressed on. "Just to bury my trash so they can't use it. I wanted to recycle it, but..." He was debating it, and eventually nodded. "I think I have some projects coming up, fixing some things for people. I could also start trying to get contracts with the city for tearing down buildings, or maybe putting up buildings, after I get my costume." Which should be done by the weekend, or early next week.

He nodded at that, then again, stronger. "That sounds good." We waited, until the silence grew slightly awkward. "I'm... sorry. About earlier."

"Threatening me with the Wards?" I asked, injecting a touch of incredulous teenaged sass.

Dad smiled and nodded. "I thought, even if you were angry with me, you'd still be here to be angry..." He trailed off, muttering. "Hey, if I wanted to meet your team, or see you working, would... I have to wear a mask?"

I bumped his shoulder with mine. "Probably, you doof." He grumbled at my name-calling. "Unless you wanted to go as Danny 'Head of Hiring for the DWA' Hebert, and I was working in the docks, or something."

He nodded, considering it. "Anything else?"

My stomach chose that moment to growl rather loudly. I blushed and muttered, "I… might have skipped lunch?"

He snorted, then broke down into chuckles. "Well, let's order a few pizzas, and you can tell me about these fights of yours. Deal?"

I smiled. It'd help give him an idea of how strong I was getting, which would probably help his worrying. "Deal."

...probably downplay the railgun and maybe skip the bomb part of that first story, though.