4.5

The fear of being blown up midair had faded with the heroes reassuring presence and while my faith in the helicopter's survival was still low, I was confident that we'd all at least land before anything violent occurred. At the very least I was sure that we'd be able to jump out and land in a dramatically appropriate fashion before fighting whoever blew up our ride.

Flying to the bombed out area of Brockton bay was going to take a while but gave us plenty of time to get to know one another. However, before I could awkwardly ask about their hobbies I was interrupted by Armsmaster.

"Three hours ago it was reported that there were sounds of explosions near the storage area of the Bay." He began, filling us in on something I already knew. "Eye witness reports claim that the Undersiders, Leet, Uber, Lung and Bakuda were involved in an altercation and despite time passing, they still might be in the area."

I froze up at that. I almost forgot about the Undersiders. That was one of the first things that Armsmaster mentioned at the house, at the time I was thinking about other things but now it felt like there was an all too real possibility that I might run into them, run into Tattletale. She knew about my face, my house and dad. They knew where dad lived. What would happen if I tried to arrest them? Would one of them get away? Would they try and get revenge by hurting dad? I hadn't told the Heroes about this yet, I kept getting side tracked, I had to tell them!

"Are you alright Vim?" Gallant asked. I realized that I had frozen up and forced myself to relax, the creaking leather of my armor brushing up against the seat.

"I..I…" I tried to get the words out but sheer worry choked me up. "The Undersiders, they know where I live." Everyone seemed to sit up at that, staring at me. "I… on my first night out, I."

"Hey, hey hey." Gallant patted me on my shoulder to calm me down. "We're right behind you and your family no matter what, you don't have to tell us anythin-"

"Yes she does." Armsmaster interrupted us, his tone surprising me. "If the Undersiders have something on you, we need to know. You cann-"

Then Assault jumped in. "What Armsy means, is that we need the details so we can protect you better." Annoyed by Assault's interruption Armsmaster seemingly calmed himself down before nodding.

"Please Vim, go on." Gallant told me.

As the helicopter landed and the rotor blades began to wind down, not a single person moved from their seats.

"Uhh." The co-pilot awkwardly called out. "Should we?" Armsmaster nodded and the co-pilot and the actual pilot looked at eachother before pressing a button, raising a screen between us all that blocked their vision. Presumably they also shut their comms off granting us the privacy we needed. With the rotors no longer drowning out our voices we were free to talk normally.

"On my first night, I took out a ABB member and got away from Lung." Armsmaster nodded, remembering the details. "Well, I left behind my baseball bat and well… they had dogs and used them to track me down… but it wasn't my bat. It was my dad's." My leather gloves creaked as I squeezed them. "They found me later and returned it, they wanted to say thanks for distracting Lung, then they told me how they found my house… we uhh don't have to be this secretive..."

Undoing his buckle Armsmaster stood up suddenly wrenching the helicopter doors open.

"Dispatch, we have a code 311 on Vim's Guardian." Leaving the helicopter Armsmaster continued to speak into his helmet, hashing out the details on my father's security. Baffled at the quick response I suddenly forgot my earlier worry.

"I've never seen him react like that before." Battery noted.

"He's never tried to protect civilians?" I asked.

"Well no… I mean yes." She amended. "I've seen him put his life on the line to protect someone before but I've never seen him react like this." She continued. "You must've made quite an impression on him."

"Actually." Gallant spoke up. "He's worried in a different way."

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"I can see emotion, he's got an immediate kind of worry, more fear than anything else, not the long term kind like concern." There was a difference? "Your dad must've made an impression on him."

"I almost find it hard to believe that Armsy cares about anyone." Assault piped up. He was then elbowed by Battery again.

Something about Gallant's words caught my interest. "Wait, since when could you sense emotion? What kind of tech do you have in that helmet?" He chuckled in response as he undid his seat belt.

"Now, don't go spreading this around but I'm not actually a Tinker." While everyone else was already standing, getting ready to leave I was still sitting down. Embarrassed I quickly undid my straps. "Since you told me about the bat situation I figure I should come clean with you."

"So why the armor then?"

"Because I'm squishy and don't have a brute rating." He replied easily as we all left the helicopter. Armsmaster was still speaking into his helmet. "That and I'm a sort of Master, Blaster, Thinker combo, all related funnily enough."

"Ooooh!" I was impressed he'd admit that and kind of happy honestly. Master's were mostly evil and in hindsight, I felt dirty for being one myself. I didn't know how powerful my own Master ability was but if I could calm down a rage beast like Lung by telling him to stop, then I had no doubts that I'd be a very strong one. "I think I understand why you downplay it." I nodded in understanding.

"You're a good person Vim." He told me, surprise evident in his voice. "Most folks become wary or afraid when they find out. Armsmaster wasn't wrong when he told us that you were a good person."

"Haha." Assault laughed. "Those weren't the exact words…" Pausing for a moment he deepened his voice and stood up straight in what I assumed was a facsimile of his boss. "Vim is a respectable youth who holds authority figures in high esteem, blah blah blah, are you paying attention Assault? No pay for ten hundred billion years!"

We chuckled at that, even though I felt bad about it. Just a tiny bit.

"I'm surprised you remembered the meeting." Battery replied with a smirk. "What next? You're going to volunteer for console duty next?"

"Pfft, if Armsmaster made a friend then anything's possible."

"Hey, you shouldn't insult him like that behind his back." I tried to defend him still feeling guilty about laughing earlier. "I mean, I've only known him for a short time but he's a good guy."

"Vim is right." Gallant supported me once more. "He might be… rough around the edges but he's still a hero."

"Uhh." Shadow Stalker broke her silence, it seemed giving her time was the right idea after all. "You shouldn't… shouldn't worry about your dad." It felt good to have everyone try to reassure me. "The bad guys won't target him, they know if they do, then we'll throw them into the birdcage."

"She's not wrong." Assault agreed. "The bad guys tend not to rock the boat too much, they know the more they do the more fire power we can bring in." Seemed almost cynical. "It's why you don't see Heroes getting shot by sniper rifles." Okay, that made more sense. "It does mean that the worst of the worst are strong enough to ignore that sort of thing though." I shivered thinking about the Slaughterhouse Nine, Nilbog and of course the Endbringers.

"Enough standing around." Called out Armsmaster, approaching us from the side, presumably done with his call. "Split up into your assigned teams. Assault, in case you've forgotten your route, it's been uploaded to your helmet. Battery, I trust you know what to do. Wards? Follow your assigned Heroes, let's move out." Dutifully I brought myself over to his side as we made our way over to what looked to be ruined apartment blocks.

"This is one of the last sections we haven't checked." He told me. "There's little danger of any bombs as this was all collateral damage and according to our records, the building was empty and designated for demolitions anyways." I looked over the damage and noted that nothing looked burnt lending credit to the theory. "Thus it's likely that Bakuda hadn't placed any bombs here." Oh, that was convenient. "However, this doesn't mean that there weren't squatters so be careful and keep an eye out for survivors. After we've done a preliminary scan of the area, we can take you over to the medical tent that's been set up."

"You don't want me to head over now?" I asked confused.

"I'd prefer that yes." He nodded. "However, Director Piggot has been breathing down my neck recently about not following protocol so I'll be putting you through proper procedure on this mission." The Director was mad at him for not following the rules?

What could he have done wrong?

No, impossible. He was a hero. It was more likely that he was a loose cannon, breaking all the rules to bring the bad guys to justice! He probably caused some sort of collateral damage to save someone. Would heroes have to pay a fine if they blew something up? Surely the Protectorate had a budget for it and the insurance company would help. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if some rich guy that he saved at one point decided to foot the bill in gratitude.

"Get out of the way citizen!" Armsmaster would yell tackling Max Anders, CEO of Medhall out of the way of a rampaging Kaiser. He would then take his bike and throw it at the villain causing an explosion that would level a skyscraper.

"CURSE YOU ARMSMASTER!" Kaiser shouted in both pain and anger as the explosion would throw him to the stars. "LOOKS LIKE EMPIRE 88 IS BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"

"STORM TIGER THAT'S RIGHT!"

*Ting*

Without looking at the explosion or the fires left behind Armsmaster would then look down to Mr Anders to see if he was alright.

"Thank you so much Armsmaster." He would say. "Please, use my solid gold credit card to pay for the repairs! It's the least I could do!"

My musings were cut short by more explanations from Armsmaster.

"I'll be teaching you how to perform search and rescue." Approaching the rubble he pressed a finger against his helmet and paused. "Hang on… this can't be right."

Suddenly the rubble in front of us seemingly exploded knocking me over. A firm grip had dragged me away and I absently noted that it was Armsmaster with his Halberd held in his other hand.

"AFTER TEN THOUSAND YEARS! I HAV-" A voice called out before being interrupted by a meaty sounding smack.

"Dude, shut it, we don't want the authorities knowing we're still here." Wait, a second.

"Oh come on, we were trapped for like hours just looking at the life scanner!" He slapped an odd device in his hands. "I was bored out of my mind! Can you blame me for having a bit of fun?"

As my vision cleared I noted that the two voices belonged to a scrawny boy and his significantly larger and fit friend. Both wore white bodysuits with a pink bobble on their heads with blue leotards. They seemed familiar for some reason.

"Ahem." Armsmaster interrupted them both. I scrambled to stand up before pulling out my shield to defend us. "Leet and Uber, you're both under arrest." They both took a step back, clearly surprised by our presence.

"Uhh okay." The skinny one said. "Turned out the life scanner doesn't work so well any more… you guys aren't turning up on it."

"Leet…" The larger one asked. "I've been meaning to ask, does that thing even detect us?"

"Yeah of course it does it…. No wait… it doesn't….oooooh…. It's detecting the lack of life." Wait, that didn't make any sense! They could've still used it anyways! Just look for the blank spots on the scanner! That's where the life would be! Tinker Tech was weird.

"Vim, just follow my lead." Armsmaster told me, leaving the two villains to bicker among themselves. Taking advantage of the distraction he approached the pair before swinging the blunt end of the Halberd towards them in an almost lazy arc.

The larger one, Uber noticed, possibly alerted by the crunching gravel beneath our feet and jumped back out of range of the swing. The villain was safe… or he would've been if the Halberd's end didn't extend and stretch to twice its length revealing a two pronged fork that suddenly lit up. With a loud buzzing sound and a scream of pain he was now on the ground.

"Oh DICK MOVE!" Leet yelled pulling out a bomb. A large, cartoon bomb. At the weapon's appearance Armsmaster froze, unwilling to make a move and potentially blow us all up. Slowly, but surely Leet approached his unconscious friend, all the while holding the explosive in one hand. Armsmaster backed up but I had other ideas.

I leapt forwards and before anyone could do anything I grabbed the bomb from his fingers before stuffing it into my Inventory. It seemingly disappeared from existence.

"What just?" Before the Villain could say another word his face contorted into pain as Armsmaster's taser finished him off.

"That was reckless Vim." He told me and I scratched my neck nervously. "What were you thinking? It could've gone off and killed you."

"Uhh.. well it's not exploding." I lamely offered. "I mean, he hadn't even set the fuse on fire or anything so…"

"Leet is a Tinker, don't take his tech at face value, for all we know the bomb could've been voice activated."

"Well… it's not doing anything now?"

"Give it to me." He told me. "I need to dispose of it or take it in for quarantine."

"But… but what if it's useful? Like I could use it against…" His withering glare told me that continuing this conversation was fruitless.

"Remember what I told you about your own Tinkertech sword? The one you made in front of us? Well imagine what I'll say about a weapon that you hadn't built, that you don't know how to use or activate?" Okay, when he said it like that, I felt kind of stupid. "Dispatch, we have Uber and Leet restrained on site at our location, requesting pickup."

"Sorry…." I told him as I slowly gave him the bomb pulling it out of my Inventory.

He grunted in response as he seemed to scan the explosive and after a long pause he sighed. "You did good, sorry for snapping at you." He apologized. "Dragon tells me that this is just a prop." Using some sort of laser that he pulled from his belt, he demonstrated by cutting through the 'Bomb' revealing nothing inside. "His tech fails the more often he builds the same thing and he's built bombs before, this was likely to be a distraction at most."

"Wait… Dragon?" I asked hung up on those words.

"Oh, right, I have Dragon on my comms, she's been present for most of our interactions." He explained.

"Wait, you're talking to her right now? The best Tinker in the world?" Wow, did they have each other on speed dial? Forget Assault and Battery, Armsmaster and Dragon were the new shipping hotness!

"Yes, she's a bit busy but… hang on…. She wants to talk directly to you Vim, does she have your permission to connect?"

"YES!" I couldn't agree fast enough and suddenly there was a new voice in my ear piece. Nodding in my direction Armsmaster pulled out some manacles and proceeded to cuff the two unconscious villains.

"Hello Vim." A feminine voice greeted me.

"Oh wow!" I nearly shouted. "It's really you!"

"Sorry about not revealing myself sooner, Armsmaster needed advice on how to recruit you and I offered to help. When you finally joined the Wards however I decided to monitor your progress." Dragon was monitoring my progress? "Do you have any questions for me?"

I didn't know if I should be intimidated or flattered. Either way I was feeling light headed.

"Uhh I do have one question sure!" I told her. "How long have you and Armsmaster been a thing?"

Armsmaster paused as he finished securing the prisoners.

"We're just professional friends." He denied.

Dragon chuckled nervously. "Just friends, yeah."

Oh wow, there was so much denial right now. It was adorable.

=================================

Non-Canon Omake: Gallant POV

Well, this was it. I was going to die. It was surprising really, everyone died sooner or later and against an Endbringer it was to be expected. It was almost an expected tragedy. However despite my fears of death I couldn't help but think of Glory Girl, of Vicky. They said that your last thoughts should be of your loved ones and with her, the thoughts came so easily.

So beautiful, so passionate…

The only problem was her sister. The darkness that grew from within. I wanted to help get her past those feelings, I just wanted to be there for them but it looked like life wasn't going to cooperate, that was my only regret, that I couldn't help as much as I could. Pain washed over my body and I couldn't help but stagger back and kneel, the pose felt so natural. I felt crushing weight, pain and burning lungs as I drowned within my own power suit. I was dying and I was powerless to stop it.

As Leviathan passed I noted that I was still in one piece and somehow alive.

"GALLANT!" Someone called out. "YOU'RE ALIVE!" Oh it was Vista.

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"In last week's Endbringer attack it was noted to have record survivors!" The newscaster announced. "While any death is tragic, the Heroes counted their blessing when they noticed a strange occurrence. Protectorate Think Tank believe it's the work of a powerful Shaker, however it seems that this new, unknown Cape does have their limits."

"That's right Jonathan." The co-host agreed. "Reports indicate that the Shaker effect prevents people from death once they are in fatal danger." Pulling up a picture of the Wards she continued. "However, this effect seems to only apply to underaged Parahumans like the Wards."

"In other words this Shaker makes kids indestructible." They smiled. "Whoever this mysterious Shaker is, know that we and all the Capes of the world are in your debt."

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Taylor Pov:

"Damn, that's some powerful Cape." I commented finishing my cereal, watching the news. "I wonder if they're still in Brockton Bay?"