2.2

2.2

Last night mom had been completely unrepentant. As had Shard. Both citing 'you aren't my mother, you can't tell me what to do!'. I had tried to explain to mom that she was supposed to be an 'adult'. This was followed by various excuses telling me she had forgotten how to 'adult'. Seconds after that, I had found my arm sewn behind my back so there had ensued a small magic wrestling match. The entire thing ended with me learning that I -really- need to get some flight-grappling lessons, oh, and that dad's cooking is terrible. He had cooked since mom was busy with me. Mom had cleaned everything up, including what dad had 'cooked' then proceeded to teach Shard the easiest thing in the world to cook. She picked up a phone, stole my dad's wallet, then ordered pizza. Shard thought it was -hilarious-.

After dinner, Shard summoned herself outside of mom's head and returned to my aura, causing the artificially enhanced aura mom had been sporting to instantly dissipate. We sat down to discuss my powers some, since with Shard able to meld with people it would be useful for both of them to know more. It also turned out that mom hadn't been able to control mana at all, but she was still hopeful. She was of the opinion that her natural control had to be high enough on its own rather than be artificially inflated. The thing that gave her the most hope though; she said she could feel the flow of mana inside her when she meditated now. I assumed it was more likely to be a trick of her mind since I doubted she could go from 'blind' to 'internal awareness' in one day, but hopefully it's possible. My parents having 'magic' would really help any remaining worries I have - particularly since mom basically 'outed' me as a cape.

Another interesting thing; Shard had learned the breathing exercise mom had been doing. It was more than the lungs, apparently mom had been unconsciously creating a sort of 'vacuum' to grab what I've been calling the 'void' between auras and using her body to convert it to mana. There was apparently a mana 'network' throughout the body with a place that could safely store... I can't keep calling it 'void' so I guess 'natural' mana. The stored mana gets converted through the network and the excess filters through the body into the aura. Doing it in chunks like mom had been doing is what had created the ripple.

A couple of hours of having Shard teach me allowed me to figure out -how- it worked and adjust the exercise a little to work better for me, allowing me to breathe mostly normally by just guiding the incoming natural mana properly. Interestingly I felt more energetic, like the mana permeating my body helped with its movements. Probably just my mind playing tricks on me though.

I'm starting to assume that what I call 'mana' is what martial artists for ages have called 'ki' or 'spirit' or... well, any number of other names. I just have direct control of mine and -so- much more than anyone else.

The rest of the evening Shard was flooding me with her entire day and ALL THE THINGS!... seriously at one point she was -so excited- about a paperclip that mom had glued googley eyes on in the store. Because of that, I didn't get her to try to teach me meditation and instead humored her by listening to her entire day. She had been co-pilot with mom all day so the entire day was incredibly spastic. They stopped three crimes if you include the domestic abuse going on, and ended up with a small mob following them into some of the stores. When the mob got in the way mom would have Shard fly them over the crowd.

Mom had also been planning a new costume for me (Well... I -did- need one). I'm -very- glad Shard was with her, since apparently there were several times Shard said "Mom! Boys don't wear things like that!" and knowing my mother... I didn't want to think about it.

******************************************

I woke up with a groan, as is standard practice. I trained with Shard last night and finally managed to build up an idea on how to block lasers, however I'm almost certain I'll need to have better control to be able to build a 'sensing structure' that can detect the intensity of photons. The idea came about when I discovered the 'matter' I create does not -block- light, but it -can- act as a sort of prism if I build it right. That should make it so I can 'bend' lasers around me and hopefully not die horribly to tinkers with a laser specialty... As long as the material of the 'laser shield' will be capable of generating fast enough. I'm hopeful though because 'magic'.

I sigh to myself, "I'm going to have to incorporate all of the stupid shields into one spell so I don't have a million and a half battery orbs following me around... Ugh, far too many things to do and not -nearly- enough time to do them. Hell, I can list twelve off the top of my head that are all high priority." Something tickled my ear. "Shard, it's Saturday. Let me just... lay in bed a bit."

Shard points out the rather obvious fact that I haven't summoned her yet. I crack open an eye. Yep. That's a spider. And it's on my face. Spiders look gigantic when they're just a couple of inches away from your point of view.

I will admit, there was manly shouting, rather unmanly flailing and another introduction to my floor. I need a gym mat or something on my floor. I end up falling there enough I think it would be a good investment. I really need to just get my parents to let up on the grounding.

I pick up the spider that has a silver tendril connected to it. The thing raises its front legs and starts waving them around. And now it's dancing... Okay, I have to admit, it's cute. Shard is pestering me to summon her so she can play with it too. I assume Taylor can see through these things or she'd be terrible at gathering info with them, "T, go ahead and knock, someone'll get the door. I need a shower."

I grab clothes and head for the bathroom only to realize it's actually -really- early. I guess I'm just not sleeping as much anymore... I decide to be a lazy ass and I create a quick spell with some assistance from Shard; an orb that, on contact, will infuse a little bit of what it hits and apply rotational force. I aim it carefully at the lock on the door... then adjust the way the rotational force is turning since I'm aiming at an angle.

It takes me a few tries, but the door is now unlocked. And it would have been much faster if I had just walked down and done it myself. I shrug "Okay, shower time."

*******************************************

Clean and dressed, with Shard on my shoulder hugging a spider, I went downstairs to see... Arachne in my entryway. "Huh. Either you're about to introduce yourself to my parents or I need to get changed."

Taylor's hands are on her hips and I think she rolled her eyes. "Get changed slowpoke, we have a conference to attend this afternoon. You have to -at least- read over your speech."

... I tilt my head for a moment and look at Shard "Hey, you wanna meld and I'll let -you- read the damn thing?"

Shard shakes her head. I think mom advised her not to take any 'deals' from me. Oh well. She then creates a miniature construct that looks similar to dad.

I raise an eyebrow, "You want to go with dad today?"

Shard nods.

I think for a moment before continuing, "Well, this is our first public appearance and you're part of the team, are you sure you don't want to be there for it?" I'm a little worried. Without her mental quips I may fall asleep.

She nods and I slump defeated. I think she got the gist of how boring this was going to be from me. Oh well, nothing for it. "Give Arachne back her spider and lets go wake dad up. Apparently I have -things- to do today." I look over to Taylor, "this still takes near an hour so either hang out or come back in a while." and I give her a wave.

Shard carries the spider over to Taylor, then hugs her. Taylor cups her in a hand to return the hug, then Shard and I go to wake up dad and let them have a 'bring your daughter to work' day.

I knocked on my parents door, mom was a -little- upset at the news, I think she wanted Shard to come with her again. It turned out dad had a lot more focus than mom, the transfer took a lot less effort, though converting the mana was just as difficult. Dad's aura was a golden color and seemed just as intense as mom's. It was a little unusual since the vast majority of people I've seen have fairly weak auras. I left instructions with Shard to teach dad the breathing exercise I built based off mom's breathing technique and to try to teach it to mom even though she wasn't melded today. It may not do anything, but it's a physical way to influence mana so it -could- cause their aura to grow, leading to possibly being able to use mana, or if not at least some added astral protection or maybe even slightly increased physical capabilities if the 'ki' theory pans out.

Mom had apparently purchased a mannequin while she had been in town. It was set up with some cloth hanging on it, and it looked like she was still trying to come up with a design for my new costume. After having flown around so long with a hood and the fluttering coat back of the 'not-really-a-trenchcoat' I've decided I don't want lots of things that are easy to catch the wind. And maybe a mask with goggles of some sort. The wind is not overly nice to my eyes even with the little protection my glasses offer.

Oh well, it's not like I have time for her to finish anything up. I go get my normal 'costume' and work the spells on it, get the 'mask' set up, then hop out a window and hover around a bit up in the air a little ways so I can see when Taylor shows up. While I'm there I build up my Deflection Shield enchantment and go ahead and make a Flight enchantment so I wouldn't have to focus for it, leaving two battery orbs floating along behind me.

I still had some time... I pull out my notepad and start doodling costume ideas. I drew up some fairly simple old school 'tunic and pants with a wrapping for the belt' all the way to 'the gentleman magician' top hat and all. It did make me realize I could design a staff with a customized high power stun gun built into the inner workings. I'm pretty sure I'm capable enough to ionize a tiny channel via laser so I could use 'lightning' like that. Probably would still make use of it even after I figured out how to create my own lightning bolt spell to save mana.

I was interrupted from my doodling and musing by a few flies. Taylor must be here. I flip around and float down to meet her. "Heya Bugsy, you sure I can't just go up and say 'Hey, you guys are all wrong, Arachne's the brains of the outfit' and leave?"

She hands me a two page speech, "I'm sure. You're the one that stands out and you were 'out' longer than either of us. Fair warning, I think they're going to pull a little something. Maybe a meeting or handshake thing with the Wards to show our 'cooperation' with their team. Just play nice."

I nod while reading over the speech. Pretty standard stuff, greeting the people, saying the team name, talking about how great it is to help clean up Brockton Bay... yadda yadda... how much 'help' the PRT had been in the subdual and capture of Lung, we will aspire to continue cleaning up the bay... yadda yadda... PRT is our inspiration, bravery of normal men and women, admiration of the heroes, hope to inspire the next generation... yep, that's about the gist of it... An introduction of both Impact and Arachne. They each have their own minor speech.... hey! "Arachne~, why am I not allowed to fly?"

She crosses her arms "Because you'll look bored, inattentive and sloppy. We have to appear to be a great team so we can 'inspire' people."

I grumble, "Fine. At least I don't have to pay attention, you just said here to clap when you do."

She nods "Yeah, I knew that'd be asking too much of you."

Eh, I'll take what I can get. "Thanks Arachne. I knew you'd have my back at least a little."

Taylor stretches then says "alright, give me a lift, we need to go pick up Impact then get to the conference. We should be there early in case they spring anything on us last minute"

So I pick her up in a bridal carry just to piss her off... then she puts a black widow on my face. "You wouldn't."

I can almost feel the smug radiating off her, "Try me."

I frown "fine, you're no fun." and I put a shell over her to fly her (and her death bug) a foot to my right.

I let her guide us to pick up Impact. Grabbing him is pretty easy, he just lowers his density so he's easy to carry on my left and I fly us to the conference.

We're greeted by Aegis and Clockblocker, the other Wards are either on their way or already seated. Aegis holds out a hand for me to shake introducing himself, "Aegis" Why can't heroes be normal, 'Hey guys, I'm Aegis, this is Clocks, nice to meet you'... no they have to do single word introductions to sound important. Eh, maybe I can be an example.

I shake Aegis's hand, "Hey guys, you probably know, but I'm Oblivium," I motion to my right, "This is Arachne, " Conspiratorially I stage whisper "Don't piss her off, she's -really- good at getting revenge." then I motion to my left, "And this is Impact, but only because we couldn't get him to change his name to 'The Dragon Fist'."

Taylor nods to both and Impact gives an excited muffled sound I assume is a greeting. That or he needs to pee.

I turn to Taylor, "Hey, I'm allowed to fly until this show starts right?"

She just tilts her head for a moment considering, "You're just asking to be polite, aren't you?"

I smirk, "You know me -so well-!" and I make a construct bicycle (soft to be inexpensive mana-wise, but I'm flying with it so it doesn't matter.) to ride in the air. "Hey, anyone want to ride with?"

I swear, I didn't even realize Assault was here. I think he's got a hidden teleportation ability.

Several minutes later there's a rather large glowing disk in the air representing the moon, I have Assault in a larger than average crate I've made to stick on the front of the bike, he's sitting in it holding his knees with a towel someone had, wrapped around him and we are re-enacting the bicycle scene from ET over the stage, much to the amusement of the crowd that's trickling in and to the chagrin of all heroes present. Other than Clockblocker. He wants the next ride.

Sadly I had to play nice and Armsy made a big deal about how the moon was distracting workers.

*****************************************

The conference was boring. It was an understatement but I don't really know how else to convey it. I had to give my speech, then there were -questions- the first one was the most obvious 'what are your powers?' so I answered in the most descriptive way possible; 'Magic'. Didn't matter to me if they didn't believe me. There was also a question of why 'Backup Buddies' as a team name, and why we went with something silly. So I mixed a little truth into some bullshit. "When I first started, some information was given to me: 'Unaffiliated capes have a -very- high mortality rate', and that's for those that aren't forced into one of the local gangs because they don't have a team to help protect them. I met Arachne shortly after that. At the time I wasn't interested in creating a team, I was new - For that matter I'm -still- a new cape - and I knew I didn't have the experience to lead a team. Instead we exchanged information so if one of us got into trouble we could call the other as 'backup', we jokingly referred to each other as 'backup buddies'. This ended up being a very important statement to us, it represented when we first started, and had the meaning of protecting and looking out for each other, not just as backup but also as friends. When we first met Impact, he was in a fight involving the Merchants, afterwards, we invited him to the group and decided that we should go ahead and make it a team, but more than just a team - we would be a group of friends that always had each other's backs. Backup Buddies is more than just a silly name, more than just sentimentality of when we started, it's a description of -who we are-. We will -always- have each other's backs."

After that I didn't really get many more questions, though Arachne was asked a few and portrayed her power as more of a way to investigate suspicious buildings and general recon via a couple of spiders. She didn't -exactly- lie, but she had them believing she could only link up with two or three spiders at once. I'm guessing they attributed the Merchant bug swarm the other day to me - or hadn't heard much on it.

Impact got several questions, he loved the attention but I think they were asking him questions just for the comedy gold. He vividly exaggerated answers with his motions since every answer was just muffled incomprehensible speech. When asked about punching out Lung he requested my assistance so he could take his 'meteor fist' pose. I'm starting to think he might be the most popular of our trio.

After that was the PRT speech and the introduction of the Backup Buddies to the Wards and Protectorate heroes with speeches about how they hope to become friends so we can -all- have each other's backs. Though I assume that statement was made on the fly after my little speech.

Next it was time for the Wards... ugh, dragging on -so long-.... I hope Shard is having more fun than I am.

... My pocket is vibrating. I tap Taylor's shoulder and make the hand sign for phone then proceed to float off the stage to answer. I pull out my phone and see dad's number is calling. huh. "Hey dad, what's up?"

I can hear the sound of traffic in the background. He's yelling at someone and telling Shard to get off the driver's face before he responds, "Hey kiddo. Just thought you may want to know since they decided to drag ALL the damn heroes in the city to that stupid conference. One of our guys spotted the Undersiders making a move. Not entirely sure where they're going yet, but they've got the dogs beefed up and are obviously in costume. Either they're out for one hell of a stroll or they're hitting something. The agency called me in since one of our guys called in sick and the place is in the general direction they're headed."

I smile, "Thanks dad, I -really- needed an excuse to get out of here. I'll hit the air with my team, see ya later."

He laughs, "Later kiddo." I hear wind then muffled yelling 'Shard! you are -not- a hood ornament!' before he hangs up.

I decide it's time for an executive decision - no time to ask Taylor for the best course of action. This is important. Villains are loose in our city and speed is of utmost importance - right beside stopping the villains that are running amok. -Amok-, I tell me. Yep, it's absolutely necessary. I float across the stage behind Aegis to the confusion of everyone except the oblivious Aegis. I grab Vista with a shell and throw her over my shoulder, she gives a yelp of surprise but apparently either Aegis is ignoring it thinking someone's talking, or he's so caught up in his speech he doesn't notice. I'm pretty sure both Assault and Clockblocker are laughing. Armsy is frowning and Miss Militia is giving me a 'what the hell are you doing?' look. I carry Vista over to my team, grab them all in shells for flight and say to both my team and the crowd, "Minor emergency, villains en route to do villainous things." And I launch the four of us into the air with a burst of mana and make use of the inertia and a little more than my mana regeneration to keep a decent clip.

I look at where I've positioned the only -slightly- terrified Vista above me "Hey, mind doing your spacial compression thing to squeeze out a bit more speed? If we can meet them before they get where they're going it would be advantageous."

Taylor looks over to me from my right, "Did you -have- to go and kidnap the youngest Ward and drag her into a cape fight on television?"

I tilt my head "Come on, it's the Undersiders, it's not like she can't take care of herself."

Taylor just sighs and hands me the shield talisman to recharge.

Impact looks to me and says a few muffled things.

I shrug "We needed to get there fast, we could cut the whole thing off if we find them first." about this time Vista recovers her wits and pockets of compressed space start showing up in the air in front of us.

Impact shrugs and hands me his talisman.

I build Force Shield spells on both instead of Deflection because it's a public place, but I say to Impact, "Hey, I'm letting Vista borrow yours since you have a solid defense and she's a guest. I guess I need to start carrying more around."

He shrugs and makes a sound I interpret to mean 'Whatever.'

After building the spells I hand Taylor hers and I hand Vista the other one saying, "Keep it in a pocket or something mid-body. It'll protect you from projectiles."

She's concentrating on compressing space but manages to take it with a distracted, "Thanks"

I see the Undersiders in the middle of the road, they're turning wide so it looks like they're planning on charging straight in to a bank.

Taylor notices too. She yells at Impact "Impact, drop in front of the first one - full density, to break the charge, keep it up until the blast." She continues, "Vista, increase distance to all bystanders, Oblivium toss a supercharged Foxfire in front of Impact to blow them backwards and off the dogs." She's been gathering insects the whole time and seems to have a -huge- swarm.

Eh, this is going to be bad. I used most of my mana on the trip between shields and boosting flight faster when I caught a glimpse of the Undersiders - not to mention carrying three people (Impact barely counts). A supercharged spell would knock me out of the fight... oh well. Orders are orders. I throw Impact where the dogs are aiming at the entrance and he increases his density once he takes position, I instantly start charging a supercharged Foxfire as I zip low to drop off Taylor and Vista so we don't fall out of the sky and I dissipate my shield - it's deflection anyway, wouldn't want that active here.

Before Impact even lands, Vista has expanded space around where the battle is supposed to take place in a U shape, sides and bank door spread for safety of the people there. Impact cracks and sinks into the concrete about an inch but retains his density. Grue is leaking darkness, and a lash of aura stretches out from Regent to hit Impact, although it sinks into his leg it doesn't seem to do anything. My Foxfire orb comes next, I actually hit Impact with it so horizontal force is at the height of the Undersiders. Besides, at his density the shockwave won't do much to Impact. The orb explodes as if it was a double charged concussive grenade, I can -see- the blast wave instantly radiate out from it. It staggers the monster dogs and knocks the closest one down temporarily, but the main benefit is the concussive force disoriented the animals - I know how it feels, I hit myself with one, though it was much weaker. The blast threw Bitch like a ragdoll and blew all but Tattletale off their dogs. At that point I drop out of the air and back against the wall of the bank. I'm seeing black spots and I almost feel like I'm having a heart attack, but it's centered in my core.

Ten seconds later I feel like I can breathe again and look up. Dad's group saw the commotion in passing so they stopped their van to assist since the Undersiders were -the- reason they were called. Grue's darkness has filled the combat zone Vista had previously made, though her zone has since dropped and she looks exhausted, the time it was up was all that was necessary for people to get away. Taylor is yelling to dad and Vista. Impact has changed stances but has returned to a dense state to keep them from moving through him into the bank.

I make out some of what Taylor is saying. Apparently they're preparing to run. I've regained enough mana for a couple of good shots. I prepare a larger than average Foxfire orb and build up a charge to launch it faster than normal.

Idly I consider the fact that I should really invest in a utility belt or something. Being able to carry around and infuse a steel cable or something and wrap it inside a weak Mana Bolt would be a great way to 'capture' an enemy. Hell, some vials of containment foam that are released when broken would do wonders... until someone punches me. yeah, scrap that plan.

Taylor gives me a small line of five insects off the orb. I shrug and align it before firing it into the darkness and hope to god I hit someone inside and it didn't just pass through and club a civilian. I can just see it now, a six year old with bruises everywhere and a broken arm in school 'how'd that happen Henry?' a sniffle 'Oblivium's a jackass'.

The dogs suddenly -rocket- out of the darkness as I'm making the next orb. The Undersiders have apparently decided 'scatter' is the way to go about this. Regent's lash of power whips out and catches the arm I'm 'aiming' with... my first thought is 'Shit'. My second thought is interrupted when he makes me slap myself -hard-. I grumble, "You asked for it you dick." and I launch the new Foxfire orb at Regent. Sadly Regent turned the dog so he didn't get hit. Luckily I hit the trashcan next to him and blew trash everywhere, landing a good bit on him. I give him a one fingered salute since I'm not going to risk firing again and I don't have the mana to chase him down. He returns the gesture. It's really too bad that he's a villain.

When I look around I find that apparently Taylor had aimed my first blast at Grue and it had blown him off the dog. Since his darkness was fading I assumed he was probably unconscious. Well, no losses and we're up one. I'll call it a win.

I walk over and lean on Impact as he releases his breaker state. "Like true heroes, we arrived in the nick of time and saved everyone the trouble of banking later."

I get what I assume is a muffled agreement. It could have also been 'get off me' but I'll just go with the first one.

I go over and hug my dad to find Shard crawling out of his pocket and glaring at him. I assume she's upset she didn't get to rescue any bad guys from a life of villainy. "Dad, go introduce the sourpuss to Vista and Grue so she'll stop sulking."

He laughs "Sure thing kiddo. Good job here. I was about to toss some tear gas in there but I didn't know the situation. Best thing about it is the only damage was a bit of broken concrete in the shape of shoes." He pointedly looks over to the small holes Impact made on landing.

I nod "Yeah, could have been a lot worse."

When I look up I see Taylor has zip-tied Grue and seems to be -intently- checking for weapons on the guy's arms. I roll my eyes and think to myself 'come on T, you don't have to be so obvious about it.'

I shrug to myself "All in a day's work. Oh, right." I walk over to Vista, who has an excitable fairy hugging her face. "Hey, did you want a ride back to the conference? This didn't take too long so Aegis might -still- be on his speech."

She laughed and cupped shard to hug her back after the surprise wore off, "No thanks, the PR things are pretty boring."

I nod, "Got it, we spent -hours- in a 'grue'-ling stalemate then had to ensure Grue didn't escape which required the watchful eyes of four parahumans and a fairy."

*********************************

The PRT had come after that to pick up Grue, apparently all the paperwork isn't done for us to accompany any transfers of prisoners so Vista had to go with them. The team split up for the day, Taylor wanted to do some recon about E88, Impact was happy with his bit of fame for the day and stopping the Undersiders so he went home.

I decided to go home to grab some money and head out to make a few purchases. I locked myself in the basement when I got back home and lost myself to my tinkering, I think I only took a break for dinner and to transfer Shard back to me. I also ended up stealing some of my mother's materials. I had a lot of stuff I wanted to make and have ready for the future. I needed more options - particularly some options that would be available when I was out of mana. I didn't even get much of a chance to talk to my parents that night, though Shard was telling me about her day the whole time I was working. Apparently dad's co-workers were fun and entertained her the whole time.

"Too much to do, and not enough time to do it..." I mumble to myself.