2

I had never been a coffee drinker. I had developed a taste for tea early in life and by the time I was old enough to drink coffee, I simply had no interest in it. Ordinarily, this wasn't a problem; I didn't need a major caffeine fix to wake me up in the mornings and it wasn't like I was visiting trendy coffeehouses with my many friends.

But now I found myself in one of those very trendy coffee shops and while they did have a few options for tea, the fact that they were hidden away in the corner of the menu didn't speak highly of their quality. I had elected to go with a coffee rather than a poor excuse for tea that would undoubtedly prove a disappointment and so now I was sitting alone in a booth, nursing my still two-thirds full drink, having no interest in finishing it but unwilling to throw it away.

I felt like the staff was starting to give me pointed glances, but I was an expert in ignoring dirty looks by this point and with the amount they charged for the coffee, I felt perfectly entitled to my seat by the window where I could stare out at the building across the street. It was unremarkable for the most part, a tall building with a glass exterior like so many others downtown. Only the shield logo attached over the entrance marked it as unique, the letters 'P.R.T.' clearly displayed.

The Parahuman Response Team was the organisation tasked with handling all parahuman crime in the United States and Canada. More relevantly to my own interest in the building, they were also the supervisory organisation for the Protectorate, the government-sponsored hero organisation, and their under-eighteen subdivision, the Wards. While it wasn't strictly necessary for parahumans to join up in order to act as heroes, it was definitely encouraged to sign up or at least align with them. I'm sure it was what my dad would want me to do if he knew I had powers and was planning on being a hero.

In the abstract, it's what I would have wanted not so long ago as well. The idea of getting powers and joining the Wards, transferring to Arcadia and proving that I was better than the bitches who tried to keep me down would have seemed like a dream, albeit an impossible dream. Now that I actually had powers though, now that it wasn't just a fantasy but an actual possibility, all I could think of were the many problems that could follow from joining up.

Part of it was that as a minor, I would have to sign up for the Wards which meant that for the next three years I would have to work and spend time with the other Wards. They were heroes, sure, but they were also teenagers, and the idea of getting tied to them was far more terrifying than fighting gang members and villains. I had little doubt that the Wards were leagues better than the bitches three, but most of Winslow's population weren't as bad as those three and still went along with it or ignored it at best and a part of me hated them for it. The Wards could be just as bad, putting up a front of heroism and decency while secretly just looking out for themselves.

Getting powers had provided hope of an escape, something I could do that my bullies and indifferent classmates couldn't ruin or even imagine. Joining the Wards could mean exposing myself to that same type of environment and then I really would have nowhere to escape it. It would just be one more vain hope torn away and twisted into yet more torment and suffering.

Beyond that, I was hesitant to put my power at the PRT's command for another reason. I couldn't fly or shoot laser beams or lift trucks, not myself anyway. Physically speaking, I was an unremarkable, scrawny teenage girl and not a particularly photogenic one. As much as I wanted to be a hero, I was afraid that if the PRT knew what my powers could do, they might come to the conclusion that the obvious weak point of my powers was me.

My power let me summon other beings to fight for me, my Champions. This wasn't unique, there were a fair few capes who could create their own minions but what seemed to set mine apart was that my Champions were basically autonomous once I had summoned them. They all had their own minds and personalities, though they all seemed to have an innate loyalty to me and were mostly inclined to follow my instructions. Furthermore, they could travel away from me with no issues. If there was a maximum range they could travel from me, or a maximum duration I could keep a specific Champion summoned for, I had yet to find them in my admittedly limited experimentation.

With all that being the case, I was concerned that once I had signed up with the Wards, the PRT might decide it would be easier to just have me send out my Champions on patrol with their heroes while I sat around on my ass. I had seen enough Wards and Protectorate merchandise to know that they put a lot of effort into their image and while I'm sure their costume designers and image teams were a big part of that, I doubted they would be eager to add a gangly, socially awkward stick-insect to their roster, especially one whose power was basically to stand around in the background while much more impressive figures did the actual heroics. It would be easier for them to just get me to summon some Champions and instruct them to follow the PRT's instructions for the day while I sat around back at base.

Logically, that made sense. I couldn't really do much to contribute in a fight and if anything, would be an active hindrance as my Champions and any other heroes would need to protect me from any villains who figured I would be an easier target. Staying in a secure location would be the rational strategy. But that's not what I wanted. Maybe it was selfish but as much as I wanted to help the city, I wanted to do it myself, to be an active participant and not just some armchair general or worse, a resource to be tapped and used by others.

My thoughts went on and on in circles, neither side of my internal dilemma managing to win out over the other. I wanted to be a hero but I didn't want to subordinate myself to the heroes. I wanted to be independent but I didn't want to face the villains alone and yet I didn't trust the people I might fight alongside. The Protectorate had equipment, support and years of experience and yet-

"Oh, Taylor?"

I froze. Every muscle in my body locked up at the sound of her voice and the sheer delight it held, genuine delight dipped in fake sweetness. A part of me vainly hoped that she would pass by, would recognise that there was a difference between Winslow or some isolated spot and a public place like this, but of course her footsteps carried her towards me and she slid her way into the seat opposite, as graceful and smooth as if she was on camera. I didn't miss that she just happened to leave her legs casually stretched out across the side of the small table, blocking me in.

"Well isn't this a surprise," Emma said, her smile showing far too many teeth and promising nothing pleasant. "I would have thought that this place is a bit more... upscale than your usual preferences." Implying that I'm poor, real original. She was probably busy, maybe she wouldn't have time to do more than- "But then, I guess money goes further when it's just the two of you. You must be so glad for the extra luxuries."

I bit down hard on my lip and grabbed hold of the edge of the table to keep from reacting. She was waiting for me to make a scene, to throw a punch, so that she could play the injured party. I'm sure she'd have a good laugh with her friends about how she got me thrown out or maybe even arrested. I managed to keep silent, but it burned to do so and from the malicious gleam in her eyes, she knew it. Feeling the familiar pressure building on me outside of Winslow where I was prepared to deal with it and overcome with memories of the last time she had found me outside of school, I made a mistake.

I cast my eyes away from Emma's cruel, fucking smirk, hoping to see an employee I could flag down or maybe just some random, helpful citizen who had actually noticed how blatantly insincere Emma's words had been. If anybody else was paying attention, then it would limit what Emma could do, it would give me a chance to get up and leave where she would have to let me pass or be openly seen as the aggressor. But of course, nobody had paid a second thought to the pretty redhead going to join her 'friend'. And nobody but me saw, out of the corner of my eye, as her hand flashed out and knocked over my still half-full coffee, spilling it over the table and my lap.

I shrieked and jumped out of the seat as the hot liquid splashed onto me, drawing every eye in the place to me. Emma had withdrawn her legs as she knocked over the cup and was rising to her feet with an expression of fake concern on her face. A barista hurried over to me with a handful of napkins and Emma carefully timed her own approach to get in the barista's way, delaying even that meagre assistance while I frantically swiped at the legs and crotch of my jeans in an attempt to alleviate the burning. My coffee had thankfully cooled enough in the time I had been there that it wasn't scalding but the pain was still an unwelcome addition to the almost expected humiliation.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, my friend Taylor's so clumsy," she apologies to the barista, making a show of trying to step around him while somehow managing to always get directly in his path. "I thought this early in the day she would be fine, but, well..." she trailed off as the barista finally managed to step around her and pressed the bundle of napkins to me so that I could try to wipe up the excess coffee. A part of me, the part that wasn't already looking to curse up a storm, wanted to yell at him, at everybody in the place, for buying into her act but the truth was, she was convincing. If I hadn't known her so well, if I didn't have such detailed knowledge of what she looked like displaying real concern and what she looked like when she was being cruel, I might have thought she was sincere as well.

The barista seemed genuinely concerned and was trying to help, albeit in a panicky, awkward way, but it was hard to appreciate when Emma was hovering around, chiming in with 'helpful' comments.

"Those jeans are cheap, it's probably soaked straight through them."

"Maybe you should take them off in the restroom? In this situation it's okay."

"And you're sure the stain is just from the coffee this time?"

Between her and the barista's well-meaning but honestly ineffectual and actively hindering efforts, my patience didn't last long. Everybody was staring at me, not a situation I was comfortable with, and from the way some of them were whispering to each other, they had started to pick up on Emma's oh-so-subtle insinuations. Pushing the soiled napkins back at the barista, I shoved my way past him and headed straight for the door, trying to ignore the sounds of Emma loudly and tearfully apologising to him for my "violent outburst". I made it out the door and instantly took off at a run, not wanting to give Emma a chance to catch up to me. I didn't look back.

The coffee was a rip-off anyway.

My decision about the PRT had been derailed by my encounter with Emma but I was in no mood to return any time soon and I wasn't about to sit at home either. I needed to go out and do something, to work off some of this stress. I was aware that this wasn't exactly rational, that going out in costume as worked up as I was would only increase the risk of making a serious mistake but if I didn't go out, then I was likely to explode and do something I couldn't take back. Injuring some gang members might damage my reputation but burning down Emma's house, as satisfying as it might be for the vindictive part of me, would be a lot worse.

I had gotten home before Dad and changed my pants before making dinner, which Dad and I ate with even less conversation than usual. Where there would usually be a few rote queries and stilted answers back and forth on how our days went, today I wasn't in any mood to lie. After his first few queries were answered with monosyllabic answers and formless grunts, he seemed to pick up on my mood and fell silent. He spent the rest of the meal giving me concerned looks when he thought I wasn't paying attention which I would probably feel guilty about later on but right at that moment, it only frustrated me further.

I excused myself to my room straight after dinner, mumbling something about being tired and turning in early before heading upstairs without waiting for an answer. Once my bedroom door was closed behind me, I immediately reached down inside myself, towards the metaphorical pool of energy where my power seemed to reside. I could feel the many different aspects of my power -a hundred, maybe two hundred in all - and I searched through them for the right one. I would have to wait until Dad went to sleep to sneak out but in the meantime, the pressure of my power had built up over the day, like an itching under my skin. It wasn't painful or anything, but it was a constant irritant that only grew more aggravating as I went longer without summoning anything and exasperated my already foul mood.

I quickly found the Champion I was looking for and grabbed hold of it, pulling it loose from the others and pushing it into the world before me. A mote of light sprung into existence before me and quickly grew in size as it took on form. As always, the name of the specific power I had chosen ran through my mind just as the light faded, revealing the figure left behind.

The Magical Cat

The figure that appeared was certainly a good deal less intimidating than most of the Champions at my disposal and I felt my spirits lifting slightly as the blue-furred cat blinked her big, blue eyes at me before lighting up with joy.

"Summoner!" she cheered as she pounced from her perch upon the floating book that had appeared with her, directly into my open arms.

"Hey, Yuumi," I greeted her as she purred and nuzzled against my collarbone. I raised one hand to scratch at her exposed chin and she mewled in delight, all but melting in my arms. The sound of rustling paper drew my gaze to the other half of this particular Champion and I nodded my head towards it. "Hey, Book," I greeted it in turn and the book bobbed up and down in the air while turning its pages in a way that felt inexplicably like polite friendliness. I had learnt not to question exactly how Book managed to convey its meaning so effectively, just as I had learnt not to try to ask Yuumi how she could speak or do any of the other things she could do. The answers, when I got any at all, were rarely helpful and generally left me more confused than when I started.

"It's so nice to see you again, Summoner. Did you need me to eat some fish for you? Or help you take a nap? Oh, is that red dot back again?" Yuumi asked rapidly, her excitement palpable. There was a reason I had chosen Yuumi to summon. It was hard to linger on Emma or any other problems when faced with an adorable, flying cat that was genuinely thrilled to see me.

"No, I think the red dot is still hiding after you scared it away last time," I managed to say with a straight face, carefully not looking at the pen with a laser pointer resting on my bedside table. "I just had a rough day and thought I could use some company," I admitted as I sat on my bed, still cradling her to my chest. She twisted around in my arms until she was staring up at me, her paws pressed against my chest.

"Is there anything Book or I can do?" she asked, concern clear in her voice. "I think I still have some shredded tuna hidden on page 312, if you want it?" I knew from past experience that she did. Yuumi hadn't quite grasped that every time I summoned a Champion, they appeared in the same condition complete with any equipment or provisions that they had on them when I first summoned them. I considered trying to explain this to her but given Book's belligerent irritation at being used as a snack dispensary on previous occasions, I decided to keep it to myself.

"Thanks, Yuumi, but you can keep it. For now you can just take a nap while I read Book for a while," I suggested, running my hand along her back as I spoke.

"Okay," Yuumi agreed happily, her previous concern forgotten as quickly as it had come. The feline once again twisted in my arms until she was curled up in a ball on my lap and almost instantly fell asleep, purring happily and occasionally mumbling about fish. I reached out and gently grabbed the Book of Thresholds from where it had floated up to me. It was a large enough book that it would have been uncomfortable to hold it aloft while reading but it was perfectly capable of floating in place as I read, meaning I didn't have to worry about disturbing Yuumi.

Without any prompting from me, Book flipped through pages at a blur until it came to where I had last left off, on a page detailing the Placidium of Navori. Another of my Champions, Irelia, had mentioned it to me and I wanted to learn more about it.

That was definitely the strangest aspect of my power. I had done some research after getting my powers and while there were a few capes with projections capable of independent thought and action, none seemed to have the elaborate backstories that my Champions did. The closest I could find was Oberon, a member of the Protectorate in Oklahoma who could generate a few different types of fairy minions that spoke like characters from a bad fantasy novel. But general consensus was that they weren't really sentient and were more like simple programs that were capable of acting out a rudimentary set of behaviours.

My Champions, on the other hand, all seemed to be fully sentient and sapient beings with complex and distinct personalities and memories. What's more, their backstories all referenced a shared world of Runeterra that they firmly believed was just as real as this one. The details they told me of Runeterra and their own histories all matched up, barring a few discrepancies that could easily be accounted for by differing ideologies and viewpoints, and my tentative interrogations thus far hadn't turned up any contradictions or logical impossibilities.

Ever since Professor Haywire's portal to Earth Aleph was discovered, it was known that there were alternate universes and the idea had occurred to me that my power might be summoning my Champions from some alternate Earth that had drastically diverged from our own but my research in that area had not supported this. While I admittedly didn't follow all of the academic papers published on the topic, I had managed to gather that there was an almost total consensus that all accessible dimensions would have identical laws of physics to our own. Whether there were inaccessible universes with differing laws was still debated but analysis of Haywire's technology and notes, both by regular scientists and by other Tinkers and Thinkers who were willing to chime in, suggested that the connections between universes relied on our own laws of physics to exist and if another universe had different laws, then the portal would fail to manifest on that side. All of my Champions were adamant that magic, spirits and gods were all simple facts of nature in Runeterra, with some of the more scientific minded having tried to explain how they were empirically proven concepts that casually defied certain laws of physics as I presented them.

It was still technically conceivable that my own power used some drastically different method of bridging universes, one that was calibrated for different rules of reality on the other side but there was no denying that this felt like a weak argument. And to further complicate matters, the Book of Thresholds in my hands was apparently meant to be able to open portals to any of the locations it showed and yet it had apparently lost this ability when I summoned them. Both Yuumi and Book had been greatly distressed by this discovery, but they had calmed down slightly when they learned I could summon and dismiss a number of Champions from Runeterra. Book had apparently decided that whatever was inhibiting iys portals was only effective while they were summoned to my world and that when dismissed, they would have their full powers restored.

How Book had managed to convey that, even with Yuumi acting as an interpreter, was completely beyond me, as was their ability to take such an assumption on faith despite the fact that they confirmed having no new memories between being dismissed and resummoned. I suspected that all of my Champions were somehow compelled by my power to avoid worrying too much about how they had been summoned in my service, as they all seemed to intuitively know and take it for granted that they were to follow my commands despite the fact that many of them didn't seem like the subservient types. That was admittedly a concerning infringement of their free will but no matter how I brought this up to them, none of my Champions were able to work up more than an abstract, theoretical concern about the fact that they had apparently been compelled to obey me and I had eventually stopped mentioning it to them.

The point to be taken away from all this was that I had no idea where my Champions came from or how I had called on them but it seemed to make sense to learn more about the world they remembered and since one of my more pleasant Champions came with a book that seemingly detailed every location within that world, it wasn't too much trouble to do so. It was mostly just geographical information with occasional summaries of history where it was particularly relevant to the area so not exactly a comprehensive primer on understanding my Champions, but it gave me a grounding and while a bit dry in tone, the fact that I was reading about an actual fantasy world made it an engaging read. There was no way to make a mountain that almost literally reached up to Heaven boring, for example.

For a while I continued on like that, reading up on the world my Champions had come from while occasionally petting the sleeping cat in my lap. The locations I read about were fascinating, but some reflected the darker side of Runeterra that I had seen in some of my Champions and had a touch of the added discomfort of familiarity.

"I suppose a swarm of murderous ghosts is a touch more dangerous than anything the Bay has, if only slightly," I remarked dryly to Book as I read through the article on the abandoned port city of Grey Harbor. "But at least that was a quick end to the city, instead of the Boat Graveyard slowly choking the life out it," I muttered darkly, just remembering to keep my voice low so as to avoid waking Yuumi. I raised a hand to turn the page, hoping for a more cheerful entry, but paused as Book stiffened dramatically. Before I could question it, the pages suddenly started flipping past in a blur. This continued on for several seconds and I was pretty sure that it had turned more pages than Book physically appeared to contain but eventually it came to a sudden, jarring stop on a new page. Leaning forward, I read the first few lines of the page. Then I stopped and reread those lines to ensure I wasn't mistaken as to what they contained but there was no change.

"Book," I asked incredulously. "Why and how do you have a page on the Boat Graveyard?" In answer, the edges of Book's pages rippled and briefly curled upwards.

"What do you mean you don't know?" I hissed, annoyed at the unhelpful answer from the one Champion who was specifically made to give information. Unfortunately, I forgot to keep my voice down this time and Yuumi sprung to her feet, her golden tail sticking straight up in my face.

"Don't bop the fish dragon!" she yowled, her fur standing on end and her back arched. For a moment the only sound was her breathing heavily as she looked around frantically, but she soon seemed to come to her senses and remember where she was. "Ah, Summoner? What's going on?"

"I - nothing, Yuumi. We just found out that Book here has pages on places in this world and we were a bit surprised," I said, trying to regain my calm. It was a little unsettling to find that Book had pages on real locations but in hindsight, it shouldn't have been a surprise. From what it and Yuumi said, it was a "magic" book that contained portals to every possible location so with a new universe of locations accessible, perhaps new pages would appear.

Yuumi had jumped up atop Book to examine the new page, though I suspected she was just looking at the pictures, hand drawn sketches of wrecked ships, run aground and sticking out of the water both. She tentatively poked a paw at a symbol over the image of a half-submerged tanker. Much to my alarm, the symbol suddenly started to glow with a bright light and my room was suddenly filled with the smell of the sea and rusted metal.

"Hey, look, the portals are working on this page," Yuumi remarked happily. Sure enough, while an outer ring continued to glow brightly, the interior of that ring had cleared up and now showed what seemed to be a photo of the real Boat Graveyard. Except I had a suspicion that it wasn't actually just a still image but rather that I was looking through a window into the Boat Graveyard.

"So you can open portals to places in this world," I surmised aloud, my thoughts racing. One of my worries in sneaking out was that somebody might see me and my Champions coming or going, or that villains might try to track me down based on where I was most active. But with this, if it still worked as Yuumi had described, would make distance and travel a non-issue. I could get to anywhere Book had a portal in an instant and wouldn't have to worry about being followed.

"This is good, guys," I said, feeling myself starting to smile. "Do you have portals to other places in Brockton Bay?" I asked eagerly. Book swayed from side to side in confirmation and the pages once again started to turn.I staggered forward dizzily, feeling faintly nauseous and nearly losing my footing as I emerged from the portal. Going through it had been an experience, to say the least. I had been able to reach through the portals on Book's pages as if they were simple windows but as I passed through, space seemed to distort around me to allow me to pass through a portal much smaller than I should have been able to fit through. This, combined with the brief disappearance of gravity as I completely passed through the portal and was momentarily on neither side made it extremely disconcerting though the sensations faded quickly. It was definitely a useful way to get around but not one I would be using liberally.

Taking a look around, I took a moment to appreciate that I had just stepped from my bedroom to the middle of an alley on the far side of Downtown, where the skyscrapers started to give way to commercial and occasionally residential properties. Halfway across the city in an instant and with no way of being traced or followed. Yes, a little discomfort was a small price to pay for that kind. The sound of rustling paper behind me announced the emergence of my second Champion through Book's portal and I turned to look at her.

Unlike Yuumi, this Champion was human, a tanned skinned woman in her twenties by appearances. She was a little shorter than me but her bright, lime green hair was pulled up into two pigtails that added a couple of inches to her height. She was wearing a bulky, blue jacket that seemed to be made of some plastic material and had rubber and metal cables running along the edges, connecting to some sort of metal turbine affixed to the back of the jacket. Under that she wore a small, orange shirt with a green lightning bolt design and metallic brown pants. In one hand she held what seemed to be a gun of some kind, made of red metal and with two barrels, above and below the grip.

"Ayy, this place is interesting," she said cheerfully, olive eyes sweeping over the area and a grin clearly visible on her face. She had a cross shaped bandage on her left cheek but I wasn't sure if that was due to an injury or if it was just for decoration. "More open space than back home, plenty of space to run," she commented. Her voice carried a faint accent but not one that I could place.

"Hmm, I don't know," Yuumi disagreed as she emerged from the portal as well. Book followed right behind her, somehow inverting itself in the process and snapping closed around the portal upon its emergence. "This place doesn't look like it would be great for naps. Maybe we could go fight bad guys near the water instead? And I'll make sure no evil fish get near you," she suggested eagerly, literally hovering over my shoulder.

"Actually, Yuumi, Zeri and I are going to patrol around here for a while. I can let you go for now and then summon you again when it's time to head home, if that's okay?" I offered. While none of my Champions had ever expressed any discomfort about being dismissed, it still felt odd to just dismiss them from existence without warning. Yuumi predictably didn't have any issue with that, lacking any particular interest in crime fighting, and so I dissolved the ethereal connection between us. Unlike when she was summoned, there was no light upon being dismissed; Yuumi and Book simply faded away over a few seconds, turning transparent and then disappearing entirely.

That left me alone with Zeri, who was as eager to go as I was. I had chosen her to take with me on my first night out because of all my Champions, she seemed to have among the most enthusiastic responses when I had mentioned what I wanted to do with my power. She had apparently done similar work back in her home city which was, if anything, even more run down and crime infested than Brockton Bay. Plus, she had powerful and versatile electrokinetic powers that should be sufficient to deal with a wide variety of possible situations.

"Alright, so we might as well head north and see if we come across any of the gangs," I said, drawing a thumbs up from Zeri. "But first, you should probably put this on," I added, reaching into a pouch on my belt and withdrawing a white domino mask. While my Champions didn't exactly have identities to hide, I had prepared a number of simple masks for the more human among them. A 'cape' going about without a mask would just look amateurish and stupid, not the impression I wanted to give. New Wave didn't wear masks of course but they were an established team with professional costumes. And many would argue that unmasking hadn't been the brightest idea for them either.

It would also have the added advantage of making it less clear that Zeri and any other human Champions I summoned were part of my power. If people thought we were a team of capes rather than one independent with a range of projections, they would be less likely to focus their firepower on me over my much more durable and skilled Champions.

Unfortunately, Zeri wasn't particularly enthused by the idea and though she took the mask, she held it pinched between two fingers as if it was contaminated somehow.

"I still don't see the point of this. If we're going to do good for the city, we should let them know who's fighting for them," she argued. For all that her experiences in her world were similar to what I wanted to accomplish, there was a certain optimism to her that I couldn't help but find naïve. For all the issues Zaun had, it wasn't home to the same sorts of cape politics that my world and Brockton Bay especially played host to.

"I'm more concerned about the gangs knowing who's fighting against them," I pointed out. "If they see my face then they can track me down and attack me at home. Or worse, they could hurt my dad. Capes wear masks for a reason," I said, nodding pointedly at the mask in her hand. She clicked her tongue irritably but did don the mask. It didn't exactly match her bright hair and outfit but it did do a little to alter the apparent shape of her face and more importantly, it clearly marked her as a cape.

We stepped out of the alley and set off down the street with little further discussion, me hoping that we would encounter some criminal activity quickly while Zeri seemed more relaxed, looking around constantly and waving at the occasional late-night passersby.

Somewhat to my discomfort, most of those passersby were not enthused by her friendly greetings and many seemed to actively divert their paths to skirt well around us. It wasn't entirely unreasonable, given that a pair of unfamiliar capes could be dangerous. Zeri's large gun and somewhat haphazard 'costume' likely didn't do much to help there but I felt that my own costume was pretty distinctly heroic in design.

In a stroke of luck, one of the first Champions I had summoned turned out to be a supernaturally skilled seamstress. As in, she had managed to whip up a professional looking costume within minutes, using materials that she seemed to spin from thin air.

My costume consisted of a white and gold top with long sleeves tucked into black gloves that reached my mid-forearms and black pants that were honestly far tighter than I would have asked for. It had only been at Gwen's urging that I had initially been willing to pull them on and I had been surprised to find that when coupled with the accompanying black, thick soled boots, they made my legs look… not terrible. Maybe even good. I guess that was the difference an expert tailor could make, that even I could be made to look almost feminine.

The boots had metal insets in the soles and the gloves similarly had thin plates of some gold-coloured metal attached to the backs of my hands, as well as on my knuckles and fingertips. A belt around my waist was laden down with multiple pouches and pieces of equipment, carrying everything I could think of that might come in handy.

The most immediately visible piece of my costume, however, was the hooded cloak wrapped around my upper body. It was white with gold edging and a golden crest on the back; the crest was a rounded diamond, with another, smaller such diamond behind the lowest point. The inside of this main diamond had a solid circle at the very centre, surrounded by yet another rounded diamond which was in turn surrounded and partially covered by an intricate pattern of curving lines and flame-like designs. For times when a bright white outfit with a clearly displayed logo weren't suitable, the cloak could also be inverted to reveal the solid black interior.

The cloak had a high collar and a large hood that hung over my face, meaning that even without the white face mask and the thick goggles I wore over my glasses, it was unlikely anybody would be able to get a good look at my face. And the white and gold colour scheme was about as heroic as I could get, short of cosplaying as a more famous hero and calling myself "Kid Eidolon" or "Little Miss Militia". And yet, people were actively avoiding me like I was about to grab the first person to draw too close and beat them up.

"You'd think they'd realise we're not here to attack them, given we're just walking down the street," I groused some time later, after the third time a figure approaching caught sight of us and immediately turned around to walk quickly in the exact opposite direction. The second time it had occurred to me that they might be reporting to somebody but when I raised the suggestion to Zeri, she didn't seem to find it likely, judging it was more likely they were just looking to avoid getting caught in any trouble we caused.

"When people get used to being pushed around, they stop expecting anything else," Zeri said, somewhat more sombrely than her usual cheery voice. "It can make them draw closer as a community, which is great, but even that just means they're suspicious of outsiders and newcomers. It took a long time for people outside my own neighbourhood in Zaun to believe that I was there to help, and some still don't trust me or think I'm gonna do more harm than good," she admitted, before suddenly shooting me a grin. "But that makes it all the more important for me to keep fighting for my community. To help show everybody that we're not helpless, that we're stronger together!" she said firmly.

"Huh," I managed to say, caught off guard by her sudden intensity. When she spoke with such conviction, it was hard to argue and it made it easier to see why she wasn't a fan of the masks. Not enough to actually do without them, not even close, but I could see her point. Capes were larger than life and could do a lot of good, but had I ever even entertained the idea that one of the Protectorate would ever help with my own problems, even as a fantasy? They would show up to stop any violent crimes, sure, but it was a very different sort of heroism than the more community-based heroism Zeri was used to. Less about fostering trust and more about providing a strong figure of authority to look up to in a more abstract way.

My musings were cut off by the sound of a crash coming from not too far away. The few people around who hadn't already been hurrying away from me and Zeri quickly dispersed as if they had practiced it, life in Brockton having prepared them to disappear at the first sign of trouble. I almost followed suit, my instincts telling me to turn and walk the other way before I managed to seize control of my nerves. Briefly thinking back to Emma in the coffee shop to stoke my anger, I set off at a run in the direction of the sound, Zeri right beside me.

As we approached, there were no crashes as loud as the initial one, though I could pick up fainter sounds of destruction as I drew closer. There were, however, the sounds of shouting to guide us to our target. Not angry shouting, exactly, but jeering. Mocking and cruel. I couldn't make out the words, but I knew the sound, the familiar cadence of petty cruelty. It kept my anger burning hot enough to balance out the burgeoning panic that wanted to overwhelm me.

We turned a corner and I skidded to a stop, managing to grab Zeri's arm and pull her back as I hastily jumped back behind cover. There was no doubt we had found our target and I wanted to take a moment to get a good look at them before they noticed us.

The source of the crash was immediately evident. A wrecked car was buried halfway in the front wall of a store at the far end of the street, though I noted to my limited relief that there was nobody inside the car nor did anybody appear to have been hit by it. And not just wrecked by crashing into said building; it was a beat-up, rusted frame of a vehicle that I sincerely doubted could have built up enough speed to ram into a building like that even if it wasn't missing its tires.

There were a half-dozen people gathered around the destroyed storefront, with a preponderance of shaved heads and charming tattoos among them. They were the source of the shouting and two of them were in the middle of spray painting swastikas and slurs across what remained intact of the front wall while it looked like a couple more were inside the store, tipping over shelves and destroying what hadn't already been demolished.

More concerning to me was the figure standing atop a large, stone platform that was floating in the air above the street. Dressed in a red and black robe with a distinctly peaked hood, I easily recognised her as Rune, the Empire 88's telekinetic and presumably the source of the car crashing through the building. Believed to be the Empire's youngest member and probably not much older than me, she had nevertheless been active for around a year at this point and had both experience and a demonstrably strong power on her side. She also commonly ferried the Empire's less mobile members around but mercifully, there was nobody else with her on the platform so it looked like she was flying solo tonight.

Zeri would probably have decent odds in a fight against Rune, having the range to hit her and the speed to avoid getting squashed in retaliation, but the non-powered gang members could tip the scales against her. Either way, there was no harm in bringing out a little backup. Motioning for Zeri to stand back, I began searching through my options while Zeri jogged on the spot, sparks starting to dance over her body as she did.

The problem was, most of my Champions typically greeted me when I first summoned them and quite a few of them were pretty loud in doing so. It was bad enough worrying about getting caught by my dad because Olaf had no inside voice, getting caught here would be a lot worse. That left me with a smaller range of Champions who could reliably be expected not to blow my cover and when I considered that I would want a Champion who could occupy multiple unpowered thugs while Zeri took down Rune and could be relied on not to suddenly go rogue, well, there was one option that stood out. Which was unfortunate since I would really have taken just about any other choice.

Reluctant as I was, I didn't have all night to try and figure out if any of my other options could suffice. I grabbed hold of the chosen Champion and pulled her out, striving to ignore the sudden sense of fatigue that ensued as the light appeared and took form. Keeping one Champion out indefinitely was no problem at all but as the number of Champions I had out went up, my power started to put a strain on me. Having three or more out would leave me largely helpless but a second Champion wasn't too much of a burden. It was about as bad as carrying a heavy backpack loaded down with books. Not something I was unfamiliar with.

The Gloomist

I couldn't help but wonder if it was just my imagination that the light that manifested this Champion seemed to fade just a bit quicker than usual, revealing a figure barely more than two feet tall. She was roughly humanoid but distinctly not human, with skin covered in short, light grey fur except for on her nose, mouth and around her eyes, which were all black. Her head was too large in proportion to her body, with huge, purple eyes peering out from beneath her messy, turquoise hair. She was wearing an oversized, black and purple hoodie with holes for her large, furry ears atop her head and long sleeves that trailed along the ground behind her.

"Oh, it's you," she greeted me dully, expression fixed as always in a bored frown. "Grreeeaattt," she drawled, and I silently vowed to try and avoid using sarcasm when talking to my dad. Talking to this Champion was like talking to a dark, overexaggerated caricature of a moody teenager and I had no desire to put him through that.

"Vex, there are some criminals around the corner and we're going to fight them," I hurriedly whispered, not giving her a chance to complain. "Zeri is going to take down their cape, so I need you to help take down the rest of them. Non-lethally," I stressed the last part for both of them. My Champions didn't necessarily have the same idea of excessive force as I did, and it was worth making sure they both knew not to go overboard.

Vex pursed her lips and visibly thought it over for a few seconds that seemed to stretch out for an eternity. Finally, she sighed, her shoulders slumping under her hoodie.

"Ugh, fine, if I have to," she groaned dramatically. I resisted the urge to respond, knowing from experience that it wouldn't help, but not everybody shared my knowledge of how to deal with her.

"Come on, girl, cheer up!" Zeri said, her hushed volume doing nothing to disguise the enthusiasm in her voice. "We take these guys down and the city will be a better place for everyone," she said with a grin, shooting a thumbs up in Vex's direction for good measure. The diminutive Champion stared blankly at her for a moment before turning back to me.

"Is she going to be talking a lot? Because if so, then I changed my mind," she objected, a touch more disdain appearing in her voice than usual. Sensing an argument coming from the way Zeri puffed up in anger, I quickly stepped between them.

"Zeri, don't bother, she's not the friendly type. Vex, just stay quiet and the sooner we get this done, the sooner you can go back to… not existing," I offered curtly. Zeri placed her free hand on her hip with a huff but thankfully didn't argue further, and Vex's lips briefly twitched upwards at the prospect of oblivion before returning to her usual dour expression. Reaching into my belt, I pulled another mask out and held it out to her. "Put this on and let's go."

That got a reaction as Vex visibly leaned back away from me, eyeing the mask with a pronounced sneer. Her shadow, cast against the wall by a nearby streetlight, suddenly gained two stylised, blue eye designs and started swatting at the mask angrily.

"It's white," she pointed out, sounding as if I had just asked her to stick her face in garbage. Before I could press the issue, she shook her head and backed away. "I'll make my glamour wear a mask. A black mask," she said firmly. "A cool, depressing, black mask."

"Fine then," I gave in and put the mask away, not willing to argue with her any further. I wasn't entirely clear on how yordle glamours worked and I wasn't sure most yordles did either, as the explanations I had gotten were frustratingly vague and inconsistent. The basic idea was that it should make people view them as normal, if short, humans and based on this little titbit, they could also alter the appearance it presented to others. Or Vex was just making it up to get out of wearing a mask but that was a risk I'd have to take.

"Zeri, try to shoot down Rune, the one on the flying platform. Vex, you and Shadow keep the ones on the ground busy and I'll help take them down," I instructed brusquely, drawing my own weapon from its holster on my hip. The two-foot-long baton wasn't pretty, with incomplete metal plating and visible wires along its length, but Jayce had assured me that it would do what I needed. After a copious amount of complaining about the limited materials and substandard working conditions. He had insisted that it was nothing compared to what he could build if I got him some quality materials and in the future, I might see about getting him some, but this had taken most of what I had scavenged from the basement.

My two Champions gave their assent, Zeri with notably more enthusiasm than Vex, and I took a moment to steady my nerves, holding a hand up in front of Zeri. I took a deep breath and flicked the switch on the handle of my baton, causing it to emit a quiet, electrical hum, before swinging my arm down and motioning Zeri forwards.

Zeri was off like a shot, sparks of lightning trailing off of her as she blurred down the street at superhuman speeds. I followed behind her at much less impressive speeds and trusted that Vex would be bringing up the rear.

Zeri closed half the distance to the assembled Empire thugs in an instant. Upon coming to a stop, she raised her gun and fired a barrage of sparks at Rune's platform. Credit where it was due, however, the telekinetic reacted quickly. The stone platform lurched upwards and to the side, the sparks impacting harmlessly against its side.

"Fuck!" she swore angrily and gestured at the smashed storefront. The wrecked car shuddered and lifted into the air, pulled by her power. The various unpowered gang members were also turning our way, brandishing clubs and knives and even a couple of handguns but before they could do anything, a shadowy blur race along the ground under my feet into their midst and immediately erupted into a gaseous black cloud that seemed to wrap around the thugs. They all to a man started coughing painfully and several slumped to their hands and knees while others tried to stagger away. Most importantly, none were still pointing guns at me.

"Good job, Shadow. Go team," Vex's bored voice commented dryly from behind me but I ignored it, focusing on closing the remaining distance while Rune's flying car swung low over the street at Zeri, who blurred over to the nearest building and then actually ran up the wall, winding up hanging from the edge of the roof with one hand while firing another barrage of shots at Rune with her other. I managed to reach the nearest gang member just as he was pushing himself to his feet and I jabbed the tip of my baton right into his shoulder. A sharp ZAP sounded out as my baton discharged into him, causing him to spasm violently for a moment before sprawling backwards on the ground, unconscious.

"Al, get your ass out here and help me!" Rune yelled angrily as she once again dodged around Zeri's latest shots and raised her car up for another attack. I briefly wondered what was so special about this lackey that she expected him to make a significant difference in a battle against what she must have assumed were three capes but I didn't have to wonder for long.

"Weren't you the one complaining that you didn't need a babysitter?"

Looking over at the voice calling from the trashed store, I froze in place, cursing myself for my own stupidity. Just because Rune didn't have any other capes riding with her, didn't mean she was the only one there. Stepping out through the hole in the storefront was a tall, muscular man with perfectly white skin and similarly white hair in a buzzcut. If he had been standing still I might have mistaken him for a statue as his skin had no blemishes or variations. He was wearing a brown, short-sleeved shirt and pants with black combat boots and a red band around his left bicep, too reminiscent of an SA uniform to be a coincidence. He had a matching pair of shoulder holsters with a large pistol in each one and a combat knife strapped to his right thigh.

Al. Alabaster. One of the longer running Empire capes known for being effectively invincible, his body restoring itself to pristine condition every few seconds. He wasn't the most powerful villain in their roster, having little in the way of offensive powers beyond some low level superstrength, but he was a brutal fighter who was unstoppable unless you had some way to restrain him. While I had some zip ties in my belt, I wasn't confident in my ability to get them on him given that he could shrug off just about any attack I or my Champions might launch at him. My advantage of two Champions to one cape had just vanished, the remaining unpowered criminals were already recovering from Vex's initial attack, and my power hadn't yet recharged so I couldn't summon any further Champions yet.

"You take care of the electric chink if you can. I'll help the boys deal with whitey and the goth kid and then come help you," he said with the casual confidence that I assume could only come from being functionally immortal. And with that, he began to advance on me, grinning darkly.

AN: So a little note on how I choose what Champions are summoned; I basically have three factors I consider. First and most importantly, what Champions is Taylor likely to summon in the situation. I have a little leeway here for now in that Taylor only knows a small number of her Champions so while there are other Champions that would work well in this situation, just assume that Taylor either hasn't summoned them yet or doesn't have a full understanding of their abilities. The seconf factor is, of the Champions that pass the first requirement, which ones will most serve my own purposes in getting the narrative to where I plan for it to go and get across any information I want to show. The third factor then, is simply which Champion that suits the last two criteria will be the most entertaining in the situation.

So I used Vex here partly because I find her entertaining and Taylor's unlikely to ever use her once she has a wider range of potential Champions that she knows well enough to rely on but mostly because she does demonstrate a bit more about how the loyalty Champions feel towards Taylor works. Vex is unmotivated, disinterested and generally contrary yet she still winds up agreeing to go along Taylor's plan. But just because she obeys Taylor's orders doesn't mean she's not going to complain about them.

So this is how Taylor's first fight as a cape begins. Personally, I don't think it's as bad as running into Lung but then again, the night is still young. Again, give me any feedback on things you think could be improved. And since I'm using the relatively undefined character of Alabaster here, I briefly wrote out a background and trigger for him just to keep my characterisation straight, since canon provides little to nothing on his personality and background. I doubt it's ever going to become relevant to the story as a whole but if you're interested to see the background that informs my portrayal of him in the following fight, check the spoiler below for a summary. It is pretty dark and features mentions of torture but I don't go into any graphic details.

Alabaster was born into a mildly racist military family and followed the family tradition by enlisting straight out of high school. He was stationed overseas when he and a couple of other soldiers were captures by a small extremist group active in the area. This group was not professional by any standard, they had captured him mostly by luck and barely had a coherent mission statement. Half of them were rabid, foaming at the mouth "Death to America" types while others were looking to build up their own power base and reputation.

They eventually decided to try and ransom him and his friends back to the military in exchange for a number of concessions. During this time, Alabaster and co were treated harshly and when the initial response was more tepid than they expected, they started ramping up the treatment of the prisoners, including cutting off fingers and sending them to the miliary base.

Eventually, somebody started negotiating with the group for the release of the prisoners but it was pretty clear that the demands weren't going to be met. Some of the more extreme members of the group decided they might as well start killing the hostages and Alabaster was stabbed several times before one of the more conservative members convinced his colleagues that they should keep at least one alive and keep trying. So the mortally injured Alabaster was given just enough medical treatment to survive his injuries as his friends died. Unfortunately, negotiations didn't really improve and this same situation happened twice more, with Alabaster getting nearly killed and then brought back from the edge, all with increasing amounts of torture and abuse in between. Eventually, it got to the point that Alabaster just wanted to die, as by this point he was crippled, mutilated and in constant agony, and after getting nearly killed for the fourth time and hearing them once again deciding to keep him alive, he triggered with an Immortal Brute power. He was restored to perfect health, became the "ideal white" specimen and gained a power that let him constantly be injured and then immediately brought back, though he at least no longer felt pain.

Alabaster fought his way free, killing everybody else there, and headed back to base. The military's policy was to not employ parahumans and since Alabaster's power was not one that could be hidden, he was discharged and sent back home. This caused a lot of tension between him and his very pro-military family and caused a schism between them. Angry, traumatised and marginalised, Alabaster eventually came into contact with the E88 and decided that this was a cause he could get behind.