"I didn't know you were in here." She stumbles, taking a step back. "I just need to get something. There's a project next period that's due and it's worth-" She stops, catching sight of me, and stares for a good long moment. Her heart rate increases, and her muscles tense. "What the-"
"Come inside." I insist, and Emma grabs the girl and drags her in, sending me a glare.
"I said I'd handle it." She snaps.
"I can help. Sit her down." We settle onto the bench, and I turn to look at the stunned girl.
"I... What... How..." She stumbles, looking between the three of us.
"Taylor. I need you to calm down." She does, only moderately, but it's enough. "I'm going to ask some questions, and I want you to answer them honestly, okay? I'll know if you're lying."
"What, you're some kind of human lie detector now?" Emma asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Not a human, technically." Madison supplies happily.
If my powers were stronger, I could probably just look at the past and see the event in question. Actually, if I could do that, there's no reason someone couldn't find that information to screw over Madison, or Taylor. "Is your name Taylor?"
"Yes." Her vitals remain stable, her aura fluctuates a bit with nervousness, but nothing out of the ordinary.
"Are you fifteen years old?"
"Yes." Another green light. I've got a base line, sort of. Nothing that'd hold up in court but...
"Did you send the message about Madison's condition to the school?"
"No." No fluctuations, just a lot of determination. If anything, I'd say she's been trying to convince people of that for quite some time.
"Did you know who sent the message about Madison's condition to the school?"
"No." Another green light.
"Other than people who already knew, did you tell anyone about Madison's condition?"
She hesitates, looking down at the bench beneath her. "Yes." It's a whispered admission, and the other girls tense up. "I told my father. He was worried about me, and noticed how... Off, Madison seemed sometimes. I had to tell him, or he would have made a scene. So I told him the basics, none of the details, and he was okay with it."
"She's telling the truth. She doesn't think her father was the culprit either." I sigh. "Taylor's innocent."
Emma looks stunned for a moment, just shaking in place, before she lunges at the poor girl. They hit the ground in a tangle of limbs as the redhead sobs away, clinging for dear life to her former friend. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." It's kind of heart wrenching to watch, for a brief moment, before Madison joins in the pile happily.
I sort of feel out of place for a while, watching the pile of sobbing and giggling friends on the floor. "What the fuck did you do?" I turn to see girl my age in a dark costume, flanked by several teenage boys in equally strange outfits.
* * *
Part 3
"So what do we call you?" One of the heroes, Aegis, I think he calls himself, asks.
"I vote for Trouser Snake." Clockblocker supplies, getting an elbow for his trouble.
"I don't really know. I need two names, don't I?" I tried my best to ignore the argument going on behind me. I'd vouched for Taylor, but the newcomer, Sophia I think they called her, seems a little upset over it. Their relationship was a bit odd really.
I could sort of see the connections between them. Taylor had the strongest connection to Emma, though it's been recently strained. Emma has a strong connection to Madison, as does Sophia. Sophia's connection to the girl, however, was more protective in nature than the others. There's a small amount of guilt there, too, which makes me think maybe I should speak to her.
In turn, Madison has a strong outward connection to all three of the girls, almost bordering on love. Already one of them was forming towards me, likely due to how easily I was taking news of her condition.
Looking back at the group, I could see how strained the hero's connection was towards Sophia. There was respect, but not the kind of friendliness I'd expect to see among teammates. "Madison. Panties." Emma snaps, drawing my attention over. The girl had wound up in a compromising position, and was still wearing a skirt. All of the boys quickly looked away out of respect.
"But Mooooom~ They chafe!" Madison pouts, but scampers off to collect the garments.
"Well?" Emma hisses, the moment the girl is gone. She's got an arm around Taylor, and though she's tense about the situation, I can see that true forgiveness is well on its way for both of them. Thank goodness the relationship wasn't too heavily damaged.
"I'm glad you're excited to have your girlfriend back." Sophia drawls, still sounding cross. "But you're really going to take a snake's word for this?"
I cringe a little at the words. That wasn't entirely fair, was it? "She knows things Sophia. If she says Taylor didn't do it... I believe her."
"That's because you want to believe her, Emma. You've been this way from the get-go, but who else could it have been?"
Taylor fidgets, drawing attention back to her. "Uh... Well... No offense, but... It could have been you?"
The slap rings out through the entire locker room, and I'm surprised to see Emma step in to take the blow without flinching. "That's enough!" She yells, silencing everyone. "I won't have my friends fighting anymore. This has gone on too long. We're all going to apologize, and move on."
"If it helps..." I feel bad for interfering, but that niggling sense tells me it'd be for the best. "Sophia, would you mind answering a few questions?"
"I shouldn't have to." She growls, looking at her friends with more than a little betrayal. Their bond will survive, however. "But fine. If it makes everyone sleep better, do your worst."
"Did you betray Madison?"
"That's not a fair question." She shoots back. "Ask it properly."
I pause, considering my words for a moment. "Were you responsible, in any way, for the anonymous message that revealed Madison's secret?"
"Not to my knowledge." True.
"That's true. She's not to blame." Though I wonder exactly how she betrayed her then, and why the guilt?
"Finally. Can we all be friends again then?" Madison sighs, scooping up Taylor from behind. "Pretty please? We can have a sleepover, like we used to."
"That'll be great." Taylor smiles awkwardly, actually looking happy. "And uh..."
"You should totally come!" Madison beams at me. "You're the hero of the day, after all."
"Madison, you just met her." Emma sighs.
"Yeah, but look how cute she is!"
* * *
"So that's that." The woman in front of me, Director Piggot, is... Well, in a word she's wholesome. She's not model worthy, by far, but at the same time she's the epitome of all American farm girl. Strong muscles, short hair, and stern faced. "The paper work is all set for you to go over."
Becoming a Ward. Well, it's not like I have too many options, really. Doing this, the PRT will set up a whole identity for me, complete with a spending budget and trust fund. They'll put me in school (Not that I'm certain I need it), and give me a place to stay. All my needs taken care of, so long as I risk my life as a hero.
I don't know what anyone else would do with powers like mine, really.
"Thank you for the offer." I nod, looking down at the papers and pushing a stray lock of hair over my ear. "I still don't know what to call myself."
"That's alright. You don't have to sign immediately. We've been in here for a few hours, why don't we take a break?" So reasonable too. A good manager to have, stern but fair.
"Hey, thought of a name yet?" Clockblocker, from earlier. At least I'm no longer in a towel. At my negative head gesture he hums to himself for a moment. "How about Megan?"
"Like Miss Martian?" I joke, mulling it over. We are both green...
"You read earth Aleph comics?" He gasps, eyes widening. "Oh man, we've got to hang out some time. There's a store not too far away from here that— Right, sorry got sidetracked. Kid Win is the only other geek in the Wards, and he's a Marvel fanboy."
"They both have their merits." I shrug. "Though... Uh... Speaking of Marvel. Do I have to worry about 'mutant hate crimes'?"
"No. Not really. Some people will probably stare, but other than the Lightbringers, who think Case 53's are inherently evil aliens or something, you'll be fine. I mean, watch out for the E88, but that's a given." He rambles for a bit.
"Apparently they want me for something called 'Think Tank'?" I mention, the idea hadn't sounded that great to me, but...
"I've only heard a little. Apparently it's a government run organization of Thinkers, people who are either smarter or can predict things, or just have better senses than most humans. They do the planning and reviewing and stuff. Behind the scenes things." He explained. It sounds like what I'd been told about them.
"What do you think I should do?" I ask, noticing Sophia, in costume, come in.
"It'd be a pretty dumb move." She states, moving over to sit on the couch. "I've met a few of them before. They're obsessed with posturing and outdoing one another, always trying to one up everyone else's skills. The pay is alright, I hear, but you'd be working a desk job for the rest of your life."
That's what I'd thought. I'm pretty sure there's more to my power than just seeing things, to be honest. I just need to figure it out. "Yeah... I think I'm going to join the Wards. I just need a name."
"Ophidian?" Sophia suggests, causing Clockblocker to snicker.
"With an orange costume." He all but giggles.
"No. How about..."
"Monty?" He suggests.
"No more snake jokes!" I snap. "And before you suggest it, no Medusa."
"Euryale?" It's another girl who suggests the name, stepping into the room through some kind of spatial distortion. I'll admit it, I stare for a good long while, until she begins to grown uncomfortable and begins to fidget. "What? I'm sorry if it's a bad name-"
"No, that's not it. I just... I can see these distortions around you, in space."
"Wait, you can see those? That's cool! That'll make coordinating with you easier." She beams. I smile back, wondering if I can do more than just see them. I feel like I can, I just need to practice.
"Anyways, I'd rather not be associated with 'hideous'." I reply, pondering over the name. I know most people would overlook it but...
"Jormungandr is out. Too much like an endbringer name, plus the E88 connection." Sophia points out.
"Adelinda." I decide, the name sticking out in my mind. "Adel for short."
"Sounds pretty." The girl smiles. "Nice to meet you Adel, I'm Missy. Vista, when in costume."
"Pleasure to meet you Vista." I smile back.
* * *
Power testing sucks, I decide rather quickly. They went over everything from pure physical skill, to IQ and knowledge tests, to things like you'd see quacks testing for ESP and stuff. Overall, the results were what I was expecting. There's barely anything out there I can't see, so long as it's in line of sight (and somethings I can see if it isn't).
I can see stuff they don't even have names for, including these little mote-like things that occasionally float around. More stuff to test when I get the chance.
Their best instruments say I'm about baseline human, physically. Aside from me not being human, that is. They put me at being about 15 years old, despite what my powers tell me. Apparently my powers are 'wrong' about that, which isn't very scientific of them.
The most interesting thing about my powers is the rating they attached to my Thinker 5 rating.
Trump 2.
Apparently I can see people's powers in action in ways they've never heard of. Clockblocker's power, for example. I can tell which objects he's used them on, because they seem to actually remove themselves from time. They count as having existed for less time than anything else, even months after he froze them.
If I really can do more than just see things, I really want to actually work with that. Messing with time sounds like a ton of fun. Hopefully this isn't my mad-scientist streak surfacing.
The scary thing? Shadow Stalker's power.
She removes herself from reality in all but image, which no one else seems to grasp. She literally... Steps, up into another plane of existence, and the only thing remaining behind is actually a shadow of herself. The scientists doing the testing argued with me for almost an hour about the details before giving it up as 'semantics', but that's not the scary thing.
The scary thing is, she's not the only thing wandering around up there. There are those motes, that occasionally exist there instead of the wall they usually hide behind. (I peeked past the wall once. It was terrifying. I'm not doing that unless otherwise necessary.) They sort of swim through the air like fish, paying no mind to anyone or anything, Sophia included.
But there's these things. Humanoid and mostly featureless, that sort of drift aimlessly around. Sophia can't see them, even when she's in her 'breaker state', but she's definitely sharing a plane with them when she does that. I'm beginning to think it's better she doesn't know.
Looking at Aegis do his thing is pretty darn cool, but it gets boring once I realized he can't control it. There's so many cool things biology can do, and things I'd want to try if I could control it. They say I'm going to get a chance to talk to Panacea soon, which sounds pretty wicked.
Otherwise? Gallant sees aura the same way I do, but he can actually change them with his beams. Kind of cool, for 'mood ring' powers. I do wonder how he can't see Missy's obvious crush on him, or maybe he's just dickish enough to ignore it. I also wonder if he can see arousal like I can, or if he can cause it. Kind of an abusable power, that, but that's why he's named Gallant.
Otherwise, I think I'll fit in just fine here, especially when I solve the mystery surrounding my powers. I know I can do so much more than this. I've just got to practice.
"You're kidding right?" I look up from my own musing, glancing over at Carlos, Dennis and Chris. Chris is a bit of an odd one. Even with all of my abilities going at full, I can't make heads or tails of his work. Bullshit pseudoscience that it is. Gives me headaches whenever I try to look too hard at it.
"What's up?" I must have missed part of the conversation, because they give me that look.
"Apparently one of the higher-ups is trying to gather together capes to try and kill the Ruby Emperor." Dennis explains, quickly taking in my blank look. "Okay, so you know how there's big endbringers?"
"The big three, right? I've been told..." Nothing named the Ruby Emperor was on it though.
"Well, there's usually three categories people like to use. There's small fry, like Bloodhound down in Houston a few weeks ago." Carlos explains.
