7.1

Despite our awkward silence we arrived at the Rig in seemingly no time. Dad made me promise to be careful on whatever mission the PRT would send us on. He then proceeded to mention how famous his temper was and that something unfortunate might happen to a certain time based Cape if I ever got hurt.

Dennis to his credit got the message pretty quickly.

Dennis had to duck into one of the Wards dressing rooms quickly to change into Clockblocker while I simply cheated by using a combination of my Veil and Inventory powers.

"Boring but practical." He commented before leaving. Was that an insult or compliment? No, it was definitely a compliment! It then struck me how empty the base was. Only the receptionists and what seemed like a skeleton crew of interns and Troopers remained.

Now that I thought about it, I hadn't even seen any of the Heroes. I supposed I could ask around but I didn't want to be a bother. I'm sure they'd turn up sooner or later.

Eventually we all assembled in the Wards common area, the first person I saw was Shadow Stalker standing, looking out the window stoically brooding. All that was missing from the image were dark clouds, a bit of dramatic wind passing through her cloak and a gargoyle for her to sit on. Behind her sitting on the couch in a slightly less heroic manner was Browbeat with a comic book that seemed too small for his large muscular arms and hands.

"Hey!" I greeted them causing Shadow Stalker to flinch. Maybe I came a bit too strongly there? "Uhh sorry about that, uhh how are you doing?"

"M'okay…" She practically mumbled. "Been waiting awhile…."

Browbeat simply nodded in my direction. I was glad he was back as well noting that he didn't seem any worse for wear. It made me wonder why his parents were so worried if he hadn't been physically hurt at all. Then I remembered Dad's reaction to finding out that I had powers. Everything made perfect sense.

Clockblocker followed me soon after just as I sat down on the comfy couch.

"Don't panic!" He announced. "I have arrived to save the day!"

I replied by throwing a pillow at him. He dodged of course but that meant that the poor defenceless floor was soon attacked by the deadly pillow!

The floor as I had foreseen stayed where it was unmoving, struck dead by my attack.

Clockblocker looked down at the pillow, the floor and his failure.

No doubt he was consumed with guilt at not being able to protect the floor.

"I'm not picking that up." Clockblocker replied as he sat down next to me..

"Curses! Now I have to get up!" Well played Clockblocker, well played. I abandoned my seat and soon retrieved my weapon of choice.

Round two would involve melee combat.

It was then that the door opened up again and a second later Aegis entered the room with Vista and Kid Win at his sides. "Hey Vim, hey Clock!" He greeted us. I waved back of course not wanting to be rude. I then noticed I was waving at him with the pillow which I quickly hid with my Inventory.

Ignoring my antics Aegis glanced around the room, looking for someone. "Has Gallant arrived yet? He's late, he's suppose to be in the same grade as you two, any idea where he is?"

I looked over to Clockblock who also shrugged. I honestly forgot about Dean.

"We kinda got distracted." Clockblocker told them. Distracted? I raised an eyebrow in his direction wondering where he was going with this. Something that was completely wasted due to my goggles. "See, we were planning to go on a hot date." He boasted causing the rest of the Wards some measure surprise.

"No fucking way" Shadow Stalker mumbled out disbelievingly. She was quiet enough that you could convince yourself that you had never heard it but loud enough for me to notice. I winced at her knee jerk reaction. She soon realised that I was looking her way and began shrinking down on herself. "I don't… don't…. Uhh…." She seemed to consider her words carefully before awkwardly clapping. "Con...congrats Hebert? I'm… I'm happy for y-you…."

"This is unreal…" Vista whispered to which I noted Kid Win nodding. Browbeat however seemed lost and confused by the group dynamics, silently glancing at the other Wards for context.

I ignored the peanut gallery in favor of Shadow Stalker's destroyed hopes and dreams of being romantically involved with me. As much as I didn't want it, it was still kind of flattering. So I told her the truth.

"To be fair, it isn't a real date, Clockblocker was just trying to help cover my secret identity." Wait, maybe telling her all this was a bad idea after all. If she thought I was no longer single she would've moved on to other women. Damnit! Now she probably thought she had a chance with me again! Why did my love life have to be so weird?

Why couldn't I just find a nice boy and ask him to marry me? One that made me home cooked meals and still let me go off to be a Cape unworried about the danger I'd be in. Maybe they'd even start a little store while I was off being Heroic. They'd have nice abs and maybe a beard? Well, I could go either way on facial hair honestly.

We'd have a nice big house with a bunch of kids, a cabbage patch and a dog.

The kids would probably be adopted from an orphanage, that seemed like the Heroic thing to do and the dog would be a stray that we would love and nurture forever.

Wait, why was I even thinking about married life? I hadn't even gotten my first kiss yet! GAH stupid hormones! Stupid Dennis for asking me out on a date! It was all his fault! I glared at him and to my disappointment he hadn't reacted to my annoyance. He was probably used to people being annoyed at him.

"Ahem." Aegis interrupted us. "As interesting as…. This all is, we have work to do and frankly I don't think we can wait for Gallant to arrive anymore." He motioned all of us to follow him. "I haven't been given all the details but from what I know, every Hero has been deployed." Deployed? Had something happened? "We've all be called to the Rig as reserves."

Reserves? That didn't sound like work at all!

"Wait, wait wait!" Vista interrupted. "If all the Heroes have been called out doesn't that mean there's a big fight or something? Wouldn't it be better if we all got sent out as backup?"

"To my understanding we're here to defend the base while they're dealing with the problem."

"You mean they're sidelining us… again."

Browbeat chose this time to speak up. "Maybe they don't want us in any danger because of what happened with my Debut?" Huh, that made sense. "Public image is pretty important."

"Still annoying though…." Vista grumbled. "If they really want to improve public image they'd let us help."

"So what are we supposed to do then?" I asked. "Just sit around the base? If there was something big they could have at least put us on rescue duty." I still remembered the day that I was asked to heal people caught by Bakuda's bombs. Turns out my healing potions were very versatile.

"Not my call." Aegis told us. "But like I said, I haven't been given all of the details. For all I know the Heroes have just gone to an adults only potluck or something, it might not even be dangerous at all." He joked.

What kind of foods would the Heroes even bring to a potluck?

Miss Militia's Memorable Morning Muffins.

Velocity's Venerable Vegetable Vermicelli.

Dauntless's Deliciously Devilish Desserts.

Assault's Awesomely Appealing Appetisers.

Battery's Beautifully Baked Berry Buns.

Triumph's Totally Tubular Tater Tots.

Armsmaster's Amazingly Artful Alambre.

You'd think that those thoughts would make my mouth water but it was more of a clinical thought than anything else. An exercise in Added Alliterative Appeal if you would.

If I went I'd just give them sweet rolls. Maybe I should organise a Wards only Potluck? No adults allowed! That'll show the Heroes not to invite us!

…. Maybe they didn't invite us because there was alcohol? Wait, no. Aegis was only joking. It was far more likely that they were fighting some Villians.

"Maybe they're fighting Lung." I suggested. "Trust me when I say that facing him is something I don't want to do again."

"You've fought him?" Shadow Stalker piped up unexpectedly. Didn't I tell her about it on the helicopter ride with Gallant awhile back? Or did she think that I had run into Lung twice now?

"Well…. Fought is a strong word." I told them. "I just used my Master Power and then ran away before using my Veil."

"Oh… that's boring." Clockblocker commented. "Can't you lie a bit? Make it more exciting?"

I smirked. "Well, I hit him with my sword, ate his soul and now I have his powers. It's why I can breath fire now." I joked producing flames from my hands.

It was about then that my phone rang, however I didn't recognize the number. I glanced back up to the other Wards and shrugged.

"Probably just a telemarketer, I'll just tell them to go away." I told them.

Aegis simply nodded as I picked up the call.

Before I could even say hello the person who called me shouted.

"TA-V-VIM? Is this VIM!?" A panicked girl's voice assaulted me. "HELLO!? Oh god please work."

"Wait, who is this how do you-."

"It's me Glory Girl!" In the background I swore I could hear explosions and sounds of people shouting, even a roar. Sensing my unease the rest of the Wards turned to me. "I'm using Dean's phone he's…. Oh god, please help, he's hurt." Wait, why did Dean have my number on his phone? Wait, that didn't matter he was hurt!

"Glory Girl? What happened? What happened to Dean?" Those names got quite a reaction out of the rest of the Wards. Concern and confusion chief among them. They couldn't hear what I was listening to but they could judge by my reactions that something was wrong.

"He's hurt! I… I need… he told me you were a healer!" There were gunshots in the background. "You can help him!"

"He's hurt?" I began marching through the base. "You have to fly him out of whatever is going on and into safety! Wait… why can't Panacea help him?"

Another explosion in the background, this time louder which answered my question.

"She's… she's too fragile." Her voice cracked. "And Deans too hurt to move, I tried, oh god I just made it worse, please, he told me that you had a Brute rating, you… you have to come!"

"Wait where are you!?"

"We're… we're... oh god! There's so much blood!" Her voice was tinged with desperation.

"Focus! You're a Hero! Where are you?" I shouted to shake her out of it. Whatever I did must've worked because she answered soon after.

"At the movies near Medhall, the Villains are everywhere fighting! I'm trying to protect him but there's so much happening! FUCK OFF!" I heard a sickening crack a second later and a cry of pain that hadn't come from either Glory Girl or Dean.

"Medhall?" I asked. It was at that moment that I knew where they were, where to go to reach them. I'd never been to Medhall or even anywhere near the movie theatres around that area. But my focus was absolute. There would be nothing to stop me from reaching Dean, my friend and helping him.

I heard another crack, as if the phone was dropped. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Glory Girl practically screamed, the sound however was muffled as if far away. It was then that the phone was cut off leaving me with just the empty dial tone. I had to move.

"Vim wait!" Aegis went to grab me before I left the room.

"Dean's in trouble, he's surrounded by Villains!" I shook him off angrily. This is what the other Heroes must've been involved in! "We're Heroes! I'm not going to stay in the base because they told us to!"

"No, I mean…. You're taking the long way." He explained. "If we go to the roof we can have Vista use her power on a bunch of other roof tops to let us get there sooner."

"Us?" I asked confused.

"Vim…" It was Clockblocker who spoke up. "We've known Dean for awhile now, longer than you in case you don't know, he's our friend, of course we're not going to abandon him."

"Yeah! We're gonna save him!" Vista cried out with more fire in her eyes then I would've expected from such a small girl.

"Like you said, we're Heroes." Kid Win agreed.

"I uh…" Shadow Stalker piped up. "I guess I'll come along…." As much as she didn't get along with the other Wards I still remembered Gallant standing by her. Even if she didn't show it, it was clear to me that she still valued Dean as a friend.

"Wait, won't you all get into trouble if you come with me?" I asked them all.

"I think you're misinterpreting something." Browbeat told me. "They aren't going to get in trouble by going with you, they're all going to get in trouble for helping Dean." My lips thinned as I acknowledged his point. "I haven't spoken to Dean that much but he seems nice so I want to come help as well." While I didn't know Browbeat that well it solidified him as one of the good guys in my mind.

It was at this point that I noticed the warm feeling in my chest. I hadn't known Dean for that long either but I knew he was a good person. He was a hero, friendly to the lonely Shadow Stalker and overall just helpful even as a civilian. He was a new friend but I didn't want to lose him. It wasn't just him though, everyone here, every Ward. Was this what it felt to have so many friends you could trust?

Trust huh? It had been so long since I had done that.

"We need supplies first." Aegis told us. "If the fight is as big as I think it is, we'll need extra ammo for Kid Win and Shadow Stalker." That made sense. "Make it quick everyone, let's go!"

"I'll need to grab something from the labs myself." I announced. Rushing to get everything we needed I found the lab empty, not even Dragon's voice to guide me. Luckily everything I needed was easy enough to find. The Tinker Tech arrows however hadn't arrived yet but that was okay. If I was going to face Lung again then I'd need something more powerful.

Meeting up once more we all marched through the halls straight to the elevator. The Halls echoed with our steps, heavy plodding stamps from Browbeat, the hum from Kid Win's hover board and the light taps of Vista's boots.

Eventually we found our destination…. Which was barred from entry.

Standing there in our way was a group of PRT troopers armed with containment foam throwers, guns and tasers. In front of them, standing authoritatively was a woman who I assumed to be in charge of the group since she was the only one not wearing a helmet. Honestly that surprised me, I always thought those propaganda posters were lying about this sorta thing. Seriously, what sort of leader didn't wear protective headgear?

Look at Armsmaster! Tinker tech headgear!

"And what do you Wards think you're doing?" She asked as if already knowing the answer. How did she get here so fast? Did they have cameras spying on us? I glanced around and noted that yes…. There were security cameras everywhere…. Because this was the Rig…. duh. "Back to your common rooms, none of you have been given permission to leave the Rig, this is a lock down situation."

"Ma'am." Aegis spoke out in an authoritative yet diplomatic tone. "Our friend is at ground zero surrounded by Villainous Capes, we need to-"

"What you need to do is let the other Heroes do their work, we don't need a group of children running in making a mess." The way she said it put me on edge and for a moment I considered reaching into my inventory to pull out my shield.

"I'm the leader of Wards, I outrank you and order you to stand down." Wait really? Aegis could go around ordering adults?

"The director's orders supersedes yours." Damn, figures though.

"We're Capes though, we can help!"

"Or get yourselves hurt or worse."

"I'm a Brute remember? I'll be fine!"

"What about Vista? Or Clockblocker?"

"They have experience in the field, this won't be our first mission."

"A mission you aren't cleared for."

This was going nowhere, we couldn't use force of course since she was one of the good guys and it looked like we wouldn't be able to talk our way out of it either.

Or could we?

"I'll teleport!" I announced grabbing everyone's attention. "You tell us not to go and I'll just teleport alone without backup, maybe even get myself killed… what kind of mess will that make?" I threatened them. If persuasion wouldn't work then maybe intimidation would. As much as I didn't like my Speech shard with it's Mastering qualities I needed every tool I had to help Dean.

"Your teleportation is delayed by hours." She commented without missing a beat. "Go ahead…" She called my bluff.

"Yeah and my powers keep getting better all the time, maybe it's gone down from hours to minutes by now!" I wasn't even lying since even I didn't know if it was true or not.

"You do that and it won't just be you that we punish severely, it'll be every other Ward as well." Damnit, my Speech Shard was USELESS!

Aegis took a step forwards and shouted. "Compared to our friend who might die? I think we can handle being grounded…" The rest of the Wards made various sounds of agreement. We were united in this. None of us wanted to hurt them but if it meant saving Dean from death it'd be worth it.

Aegis began to float ever so slightly. Vista's arms raised as if readying her powers. Shadow Stalker seemed to lower as if ready to pounce. Kid Win's hands rested upon his guns. Browbeat's muscles slowly grew in size and Clockblocker edged his way slightly closer to me. Were we really going to do this?

It was then that the PRT trooper's ear seemed to beep. She proceeded to press her finger against her ear no doubt getting a call from someone else. She simply stood there, watching us, listening to whoever was talking over the line.

"Yes…. of course…." were the only words she gave. Her eyes never left us until that moment where she glanced over to the other Troopers. "Alright, let them through, new orders suggests that the Heroes do need their help, you kids just don't get cocky out there okay?"

We passed through the group of heavily armed troopers and it was at that stage that Clockblocker let out a breath that he had been holding.

"Holy crap, I thought we were going to have to fight our way through them for a second there."

"Shame that we didn't." Added Shadow Stalker.

"We would've kicked their asses!" Announced Vista agreeing wholeheartedly. She then realized who it was that she had agreed with before blanching.

"I'm glad we didn't fight them." I admitted. "I don't like getting hit with containment foam."

"I dunno." Clockblocker shrugged. "You seemed like you were getting used to it during power testing."

"I can't believe Miss Piggot is letting us go like that." Added Kid Win. "Hell I'm surprised that she was even keeping an eye on us, I figured she'd be too busy over the big Cape Brawl to send those Troopers our way."

"Maybe they already were there to guard the place?" Suggested Browbeat. A murmur of acknowledgement passed through us, that made sense. Beyond those few words between us all, the elevator ride was quiet. As the doors opened up to the roof I found it empty of the helicopters and cargo that had once littered the area. Despite this the rushing winds were loud enough to fill out any silence that we once had.

"Okay guys, plan time!" Aegis told us. "Browbeat, protect Vim, she's our healer. Vista and Clockblocker, you two work together like usual and Kid Win? Try to stay low this time, we don't know what kind of firepower they're packing and I don't want them to pick you off."

"Well what do I do?" I asked.

"If Dean's earlier report about you is true then you're our resident Glory Girl detector, we'll use you to find Glory Girl and thus Dean." I nodded in reply looking out over the Rig feeling the wind blowing against my face.

I wondered why the force field didn't stop the wind from coming through? In fact, now that I thought about it, wouldn't it stop Vista from making the jump?

"Shouldn't we turn off the force field?" I asked. "Won't we just go splat against it?"

"We'll be fine." Kid Win told me. "The thing only stops stuff that go fast enough like missiles or bullets, it's why boats and helicopters can go through just fine. Besides, this isn't the first time that Vista has done this."

"Alright everyone." Vista shouted grabbing our attention. "Get ready!" With that, she made a gesture and after a few more jumps we were in view of the famous Medhall building.

Screams, smoke, fire and gunfire greeted us.

It was chaos.

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

Author notes:

A bit meta but the section about the Wards getting ready to fight the PRT troopers?

Kind of a comparison with the Companions. Seriously, do their questline in Skyrim (I don't think you have to complete it fully) and attack a guard and watch what happens. They will stand by your side even if the law turns on you!

Kinda heartwarming. Not a direct comparison but it's fun to think about.

An alternate name for this chapter was going to be Civil War as a nod to the Skyrim Civil war. Then I realised that this wasn't a Civil war at all. All the Heroes are on the same side and the only 'War' that's been seen so far is ABB vs E88 and that's less of a civil war and more like a bandit camp getting attacked by a random dragon.