3.3

After my chat with Armsmaster we decided that I'd join the day after tomorrow. Or tomorrow technically since it was already 2am in the morning. He told me that he'd normally jump at the chance to bring me into the Wards but he had to go to a Youth management conference or something along those lines in the next town.

"Our reports indicate that the villains won't be up to anything major today, we've already had to reschedule our meeting many times to deal with other threats so our superiors are putting their collective feet down." I got the impression that he wasn't pleased about it. "The Wards will be in school, so we're not going to pull them out to meet you unfortunately, that can come tomorrow afternoon when all the other Heroes are on site."

He continued to explain Wards deployment protocol in more detail to me when I asked and despite it being what most others would consider boring rules and regulations I found it fascinating. Apparently most of the Wards couldn't just leave class to go save the day, it'd be too suspicious. If the Protectorate however had prior plans with them or were tipped off in advance then they could set up paperwork to have entire classes if not the entire school dismissed as a smokescreen.

Armsmaster admitted that information could fall through the cracks and sometimes bad guys could spontaneously go out on a rampage without warning. If a big enough crime was in progress and they absolutely needed some heroic Parahuman intervention then two or three Wards might be rushed out the door. Still they didn't do it too often as anything that could be done by a Ward would probably be done better by an older, more experienced Cape outside of specific power interactions. Also there was this thing about keeping Wards safe that kind of chafed at me but I understood why it was a thing.

"I assure you a city without Adult Hero supervision, even for a day is a very rare thing."

I supposed if they needed a healer and Panacea was busy they'd probably rush something to get me out of class to brew a potion. Assuming they ran out of potions in the first place. I wonder if I could convince them to give me a fridge for my lab and if so would they notice that I wasn't using it for my potions but rather soda and ice cream? Would that be considered abuse of government property? If so it would be sweet abuse of government property.

In the meantime he asked me to wait for now, try to keep a low profile, go to school and such. It was an odd request and I almost told him about the Undersiders knowing about my secret identity but I didn't. Well, Tattletale hadn't outright said that they knew that I was Taylor Hebert but it was heavily implied and only the most naive would brush it off. Regardless I promised that I'd be careful.

"So meet me at the Rig again after school tomorrow at 4pm." I of course agreed.

Awhile later I began to wonder why the pay phone hadn't run out of time yet. Normally a quarter would only give you a few minutes at most. So being curious I asked Armsmaster if it was his Tinkertech giving me free phone call time.

"No, all phones allow users to to make emergency calls regardless of funds, I happen to have this number on a similar line so that you wouldn't have to spend any money trying to contact me." That was a disappointingly mundane answer.

On one hand that made sense, if you just got robbed it's not like you'd have any coins to use on a machine. On the other hand this meant that the payphone stole my money!

Eventually our conversation ended and with the parting advice that I should tell my father about my powers sooner rather than later I hung up. The public phone booth looked like it had seen better days. Took me almost fifteen minutes to find it. I glowered at it. Pressing the coin return button did nothing. I continued to stare at it and considered smacking the thing to return my money.

The fact that I was upset over a quarter when I literally had hundreds of dollars in my inventory probably didn't do well for my sanity.

Considering how much money I had I began to wonder if I should get a mobile phone instead? I knew dad didn't approve of them and I could understand why but if I was going to be a hero I figured that they'd need me on call.

"Commissioner! The bad guys are threatening to blow up city hall!" A cop would shout as he tried to use his pea shooter against Hookwolf's bullet proof skin as he danced around to taunt them.

"Damn, get Vim on the line!" An older man with a bushy moustache would shout slamming a desk overflowing with paperwork that threatened to flatten a poor intern.

"She doesn't have a phone sir!" The Nazis would then start laughing as they held up sticks of dynamite in victory, presumably hailing Hitler at the same time.

"WE'RE DOOMED!" The cops cried out as one.

Then city hall would blow up because I didn't have a phone.

I shook my head, that would be unlikely to ever happen. For one they had Velocity who could run in and disarm the bombs, they had Miss Militia who could probably snipe the bad guys and knock them all out before they knew what hit them and Armsmaster was a Tinker, he'd probably build an Anti-Explosion button and press it.

Instead of 'BOOM!' it would be 'moob'.

But what if they had to attend another youth conference thing?

Well there was still the Wards, Shadow Stalker could sneak in and take them out like a ninja, Clockblocker could freeze everything followed by manacles and Aegis would probably just fly in a punch everyone like Alexandria would.

But what if they weren't around either? Big exams or something?

Well… there was New Wave! I couldn't believe I had almost forgot about them! They were pretty cool! An entire family of Capes that could fly and shoot lasers, use super strength and summon force fields! I'd never really seen them in action before but the videos I've checked out make it look like a light show from afar. Only with less music and more violence. I wondered what a family argument would look like with them?

I tried to wrack my brain for other heroes. Protectorate, Wards and New Wave. No other heroic types in Brockton Bay? Well there was me I suppose but I was about to be folded into one of the previously mentioned three categories so I figured that I didn't count.

There was Faultline's crew I guessed, they were pseudo bad guys if I remembered correctly. Not really evil, just mercenary. If people paid them they would probably come in to save the day but relying on them probably wouldn't end well.

The more I thought about it the more I realized how backwards the Villains had it. Committing crimes in the middle of the night would never work! That's what the heroes expected! You had to do it in the morning when everyone still hadn't had their coffee, when the Wards would be late to school if they tried to stop you! It was a fool proof plan! Not that I planned on becoming a bad guy any time soon, or ever really.

Right home, I had to get home!

Creeping through the darkness I felt Elation as my Veil improved again. I hadn't noticed anyone around but there was a cat. I grinned wondering if I could catch it. Probably a bad idea all things considered. One of the homeless men that I passed earlier tonight was still there sleeping against the wall, he was old and his large, grey beard didn't help that image. His clothes were clearly too big for him and dirty. Even in his sleep his expression looked defeated.

That summed up Brockton Bay in my mind.

If I was joining the Wards then I wouldn't have to use my money to buy anymore gear, as Armsmaster said they would pay for it all. Digging into my inventory I grabbed out the rest of my cash and pushed it into his hands in such a way that a passing bystander wouldn't see it.

It would be pretty bad if someone saw the money and stole it, worse if they hurt him making my gesture ultimately detrimental. He seemed to stir from his sleep and for a moment he saw me.

"Whu….?" He mumbled suddenly opening his eyes in surprise to look at me. Not expecting him to wake up I ran off in panic. Still the act of charity made me feel good and for a moment I felt that my speech shard was slightly more powerful. I grinned. Earlier it made me bitter that my speech skill was improved with lies but it seemed that charity worked as well even if it felt temporary.

Eventually I made it back home.

Tomorrow… or in about five hours I'd wake up again and tell Dad everything about my powers. Then use said powers in front of him to make a whole batch of sweet rolls in an instant. As far as powers went I hit the jackpot in regards to having safe ones to use near other people.

I couldn't imagine how difficult it would've been for someone like Laser Dream to show off without blasting a poor tree.

The next day I had breakfast ready to be eaten along with some sweet rolls prepared earlier. I had decided against showing him that my powers could make them. For one I wanted to use a more impressive looking power. Secondly I didn't want him to realize I could make dozens of sweet rolls instantly. I wanted dad to be impressed by my powers, not feel hungry.

In the end I decided to show him my healing magic which not only was all glowy but also defensive. If he ever worried about me getting hurt he could just remember me doing this!

Wait. He'd just get worried anyways! Maybe I shouldn't remind him that I could get injured in the first place. There had to be something that I cou-

"Morning Taylor!" The man of the hour himself has arrived! "What's wrong? You seem nervous." He observed entering the kitchen. Okay, it's now or never, I found my mouth dry as I tried to speak. Maybe I should drink some water first. I grabbed my cup to drink and found that it was filled with treacherous apple juice instead.

Delicious treachery but treachery regardless. Why was I even serving apple juice for breakfast anyways? Breakfast beverages were reserved for orange juice, coffee and of course tea!

"Uhh Taylor?" My dad asked breaking me out of my haze.

"Oh right, need to tell you something important." I mumbled, it was luckily loud enough that he heard.

"Anything to do with the cop you mentioned the other day?" Cop? Wait, this was perfect!

"Well uh funny you should mention that." I began. "He's not actually a cop." Dad frowned a bit, more in confusion than anything else. "He's Armsmaster." He blinked for a moment and then he smiled.

"So those gang members, he chased them all off did he? I can imagine you being quite star struck."

"Uhh well, no he didn't chase them off… Vim did."

"Whose Vim?"

"I am." It was then I decided to use my power and suddenly I was Vim.

Leather gloves creaked slightly as I flexed my hands, my boots fit snugly around my feet and my armor hugged the rest of me protectively. Irritatingly my helmet once again jammed my hanging hair into its stifling confines. Earlier I didn't want to show him my healing powers because I didn't want him to think I could get hurt. Showing him my armor in hindsight probably would have the same effect.

Dad was understandably shocked.

"Ta-da." I announced weakly waving my arms around.

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Bonus image below.