marvel

The guardian spirit and I sat down in the common area of the compound, the area lit up by hanging little bottles of light. Once we had settled down, I began to explain just why I had awakened him, and what had happened to the world since he had last gotten any glimpses. As an object to be worn, it would lay dormant between owners, meaning that for the last thirty or forty years, it had simply been asleep. Unsurprisingly, given the people he was pulling from, he was disturbed and angered by the news, especially when I explained just how far the local police force had fallen.

"There were always bad eggs. That's a given," He admitted with a frown. "You give enough people power, and some of them can't handle it. But to hear that it's just expected… that's horrible! I can't believe everyone would sink so low! It's so frustrating... gosh darn it!"

He stood and began pacing, the sound of his footsteps barely muffled by the wooden floorboards.

"It is unfortunate, but there isn't much we can do at the moment," I said with a frown. "Hopefully, by cleaning up the gangs a bit more, we can give the good ones a chance to clean up their mess."

The large metal construct continued to pace as if trying to burn off extra energy. Eventually, he did sit back down, the chair creaking as it was quite a bit more aggressive than necessary.

"Is there really no one we could tell? The state should know that this city is such a mess!" He said, frustration clear in his voice. "The governor could declare a state of emergency and bring in the National Guard!"

"Honestly, they probably already know what's going on," I admitted with a frown. "This city is oddly isolated from the rest of the state, even the country. So many of the problems here would be solved with outside help, but… no one seems interested. I mean, we had an openly known sex slavery ring set up in the docks south. I may have discovered its location, but to just let it go, no matter who was guarding it..."

The large metal-bound spirit was silent for a while, considering my words. I could see their face shift as they went through several strong emotions before leaning back heavily in their chair.

"Peter must be rolling over in his grave," The spirit said. "And Christopher would have been heartbroken."

"Then help me do something about it," I said, leaning forward. "For them and for yourself."

The spirit was silent for a moment, eventually looking up at the slightly swaying lights.

"The echo of Peter still dislikes the idea of vigilantism, but… I can see the reason why it's necessary," they admitted. "I am not the police, and I never was. If the system is broken… then working outside the system is necessary."

"So you will help me?"

"If the state of the city is as dire as you claim?" He admitted, crossing his arms, looking through the trees to see slowly brightening daylight. "Then, as long as you remain on the side of justice, I will join you."

"I'm glad to hear it," I said with a smile. "You should start thinking of a name, it's part of being a realized, thinking entity, even if spirits never naturally get them. Beyond that, we should get you some clothes, a uniform of sorts will help you interact with the public more easily. It doesn't need to be a costume, but something to set you apart would probably work better."

He nodded, seeming to take my suggestions in stride. As we talked about his options, I could tell that the spirit was settling down. The wild, almost alienness his words and questions had held calming down. He was still relying heavily on the people he was echoing, almost visibly switching between them, but that, too, was already fading.

We continued to talk about being a hero, the city, and the rest of the world. Eventually, we drifted to the Endbringers, a rather depressing topic, one that seemed to shake him up quite a bit, not that I could blame him in the slightest. I nearly vomited the first time I saw some of the secret, non-government-approved footage of Leviathan tearing heroes apart as it smashed through Kyushu.

"It seems… pointless to fight something so strong," my new ally said, watching a short clip of Leviathan knocking down a building by smashing it with his tail on my phone. "What could we do against something like that?"

"Right now? Not a whole lot," I admitted. "For the moment, Endbringers are all about whittling them down, fighting them until they finally retreat. Occasionally one of the Triumvirate will manage to drive them off early, all at once… But beyond that, we just have to work them down."

"What do you mean by 'for the moment'?"

"Not to sell myself as the main character, but I am a powerful mage already, only two months into my career," I pointed out, running my hand through my hair. "My knowledge is growing steadily, and my power will follow along behind it. Eventually, I am hoping to increase my spell or ritual crafting skills until I can create something that will eliminate or capture one of them. Unfortunately, we need to be prepared before we can do that. Things will likely accelerate after that, as the Endbringer Truce is, in quite a few ways, is a major support of the face of civility and blind eyes we have for major criminals. If we start killing Endbringers, the Truce might unravel, and a lot of things will start to come undone."

"The fact that the PRT engages in this… game with the villains of this world is disturbing," the spirit said, shaking its head. "By what you describe, I understand that it's necessary…"

"I know, I dislike it as well," I agree. "But we need to work within it for now. Besides, what else could we do, murder our way through the E88? I may dislike the status quo, but going that far is not something I am willing to do either."

"No, I suppose not. It is just... frustrating," they admitted with a frown. "I am beginning to understand why you have awoken me and intend to wake others. Without the power to hold your own, to defend what you oversee… It is truly like the wild west, where might makes right."

"Yes, and I hate it. But for now, we need to use it. As long as we have might, then we can be the ones to set things right."

He nodded, before switching topics to some of the features of the Bay, including my allies. The number had grown considerably over the last month and would only go up now that I could make them on my own.

Eventually, the subject of allies turned to their powers, which led to discussing his abilities. Due to his golem frame and the amount of extra magic I put on it, he was noticeably stronger than the other golem. He could eat steel, brass, iron, and copper to heal damage, recover lost mass, and even gain it if necessary. His core was under four or five inches of metal, while his "heart", the worn metal badge, was just about the same.

Basically, as long as he didn't get shot by something much bigger than a fifty cal in either place, I could just use magic to put him back together again. Destroying the core would freeze him until I could make another, but there was only so much damage the badge, his heart, could take before his spirit would just disperse. That was his one actual weak spot.

On top of all that, he also had a rather interesting ability. When I was shifting and strengthening certain strands and echoes, I noticed that both of the echoes the spirit pulled from were dog lovers. Seeing a common thread to work with, I tied them together and solidified it, harmonizing the two echoes. The result of that, however, was that with a gesture, the spirit could summon a pair of ethereal canines, a doberman pinscher or a golden retriever. The doberman pinscher was faster, stronger, and tougher than a flesh and blood dog had any right to be, and was colored black and white like it had been greyscaled. The golden retriever, on the other hand, was just as lovable and goofy as the actual breed was but glowed with an internal golden light, which we confirmed was low-level healing magic. It wouldn't bring people back from the brink, but it would definitely stabilize serious injuries, until more capable people could arrive.

"That is an interesting combination," I admitted, watching the golden retriever walk around the compound, sniffing and nose into things, while the doberman stood almost at attention, awaiting orders. "How… permanent are they?"

"I think I can keep them up, but I can recall them just as easily," the spirit said, rubbing his shiny fingers over the Doberman's head. "I think they can be forcefully dispersed as well, and that would… probably be rough for me. But it wouldn't be permanent."

"That's good. Their vulnerability to permanent death would be a big weakness you would have to look out for," I said, the guardian totem spirit nodding in agreement. "How bad is 'rough?'"

"I could work through one, but I would need a minute if they both got knocked out at once," he explained with a wince. "Probably more than a minute, if I was honest."

"In that case… bringing them both out at once might be asking for trouble," I suggested. "Plus, it's never a bad idea to hide some abilities for emergencies later."

The golden retriever made his way to me, putting his head in my lap, his glow increasing for a moment as if he were checking on my health. I scratched his head, feeling the fur between my fingers.

"How much of this are you controlling?" I asked, the semi-transparent canine huffing as his tongue hung out of his mouth. "They are pretty life-like."

"I can exert full control, but when I don't have the sort of do their own thing…" He explained with a shrug. "They aren't alive in any sense of the word, as far as I can feel."

We continued to talk about his powers and my magic as I started getting ready for the day, first showering before putting on my costume. When I was done, we made our way to the ritual platform.

"Alright. So here is the deal. Eventually, I will cut you and whatever other spirits I awaken loose to cover whatever territory needs patrolling," I explained, letting my jacket settle on my shoulders, feeling Kali adjust the collar for me. "This is just the introduction phase. If you want to talk, you can talk, but we are basically just showing you off and letting people get used to you. Plus, I want to introduce you to Crow and whoever is patrolling for New Wave today."

"You mentioned clothes?" the spirit guardian asked.

"That is our first stop. There is a second-hand shop that should have everything you need," I explained. "It might get a little weird going there in costume, but since you stand out no matter where you go…"

"About that… is there any way you could turn down the shine?" He asked, looking down at his hands. "I feel like a Christmas tree ornament."

I frowned as I considered the question before making my way over to one of the tree storage units. I started to dig through my metal samples, looking for the one I had the most of.

"Well…I could definitely kill the shine, give you a matte finish," I assured him, before pulling out a half dozen rods of rebar, from when my geomancy enhancements weren't permanent. "How about a darker iron finish instead?"

"Some shading would be nice?"

I snorted and gestured for him to get closer, letting him take a knee in front of me. I then used some of my metal manipulation spells to work in the iron like clay, mixing it into his face and body. He went from looking like polished gold to burnished bronze, with darker spots for highlights. Despite not having much experience, the process went well, though I was still considering finding a way for someone with more sculpting experience to help.

When I was finished, I whistled for the golems, sending one of them back so there were three, plus the spirit and myself. They then held on to my arms as I chanted the teleportation spell, all of us appearing just inside the entrance of an alley, right across the street from a second-hand shop. The golems remained outside while we entered, the spirit walking through the clothes aisles, while I talked to the person behind the counter as well as the manager.

The guardian spirit was oddly decisive with his clothes. He grabbed a pair of navy blue dress pants, a light blue dress shirt, and a simple, cut-back black peacoat, one without the massive collar. The final touch was a newsboy cap, which he found at the bottom of a whole pile of used hats. With a belt, some boots, and some black leather gloves, the look was finished. I quickly paid for the clothes and we left, were a crowd already starting to form around the outside of the shop, people daring each other to get closer to the golems. I whistled, and people backed away as the golems stood up[ straight and followed behind us into the alleyway.

A few seconds later, we arrived at the usual meeting point, the golems falling in line as we approached Crow, sitting in her usual spot. Immediately, she noticed something was off, standing up and leaning forward to look up at the recently awakened spirit's face.

"Well… that's an interesting look," She said, walking around the golem. "I like the clothes, and the head looks good, but why the change? I thought you did the whole 'golems aren't people, they don't even have heads' thing on purpose?"

"I do, but this isn't a golem," I explained with a smirk.

"Hello Crow, I-"

Before he could finish talking, Crow shouted and leaped backward, throwing out a barrage of feathers, several of them catching his shadow on the wall of the alley. This locked the guardian spirit up completely, freezing him as he reached out with his hand for a handshake.

"Not bad, you're getting quick at that," I complimented, nodding in appreciation.

"Thanks," She responded smoothly, slowly standing up before gesturing with her crowbar. "You uh... wanna explain what the hell this is?"

"This is what I was talking about," I explained with a smirk. "The answer to needing more allies to hold back not just the E88, but also protect the city from gangs and villains coming in trying to fill the vacuum."

"You... you made a sentient golem?" She asked, her eyes going wide. "I... that's big, Arc..."

"Uhhh, kinda? It's hard to explain, but..." I started, pausing as the guardian spirit finally broke free from her feather. "He is a golem, but... well, just treat him like he is alive 'cause he kind of is."

"Apologies for startling you, Ma'am," the awakened spirit said, still holding out his hand. "I look forward to working with you."

"Yeah... same here," She said, reaching out to shake his hand, shooting daggers with her eyes at me. "Welcome aboard, I suppose."