“You sure about this, Feather?” Sarah’s voice comes through my earpiece clearly, worry tinging her voice. I roll my eyes at that, my tail flicking around idly behind me. Feather. It feels nice to hear that name, despite it not being my real name. I smile at the thought despite myself. I couldn’t tell her my real name for obvious reasons, the least of which being that I’m still feminine presenting as a villain.

“I told you, I’ll be fine. It’s just the two of them on patrol.” I’m watching Burnout and Tempo walking along the street, civilians occasionally stopping them for autographs or pictures. My ears flick towards them, picking up bits of conversation occasionally.

“I know, but you said it yourself, they have Toybox’s tech on them now.” She says, seriously. “We don’t know what they’re carrying and you can’t rely on my precognition to help with any of it. Not to mention, he could have made something that you actually can’t affect this time.”

“I’ll be fine, Sarah. I have new gadgets too.” I tap my earpiece gently, not that she can see the gesture. It’s attached to the end of one of my feline ears. Because it’s so sensitive, the earpiece is a lot quieter than I would need it to be if I was in my more human form. I refrain from calling it my ‘other form’, reminding myself mentally that it’s my normal form. “Besides, you’ve got a meeting with Everyman later and I need that data.” Everyman is the one supervillain in this town that’s been around forever, his gang has been a large source of the uptick in crime and pushback against the local super team.

When I’ve asked the Wardens about them, they said that they’ve recruited help to gather information, but haven’t elaborated on that at all. But as Soft Paw, I don’t need to accept that. Everyman sent an informant to contact us on one of our outings earlier this week. The informant wasn’t a super, but did have wings instead of arms. Apparently we’ve caught Everyman’s eye recently with the few bouts we’ve had with the local supers.

I have no clue what Everyman could want with us, but his meeting came with perfect timing. I had just been planning out how I would gather information on Everyman, and he’s given us an in on a silver platter. The only catch is that only one of us can go, so I’m letting Present Perfect. She’s a precog, so she’ll fare better than me with getting away if need be. Besides, I’m better equipped for dealing with the heroes than she is now anyways.

In the two weeks since I’ve started there, the Wardens are starting to incorporate my, or rather, Toybox’s, inventions into their normal equipment. My equipment being immune to powers has made Present Perfect a lot less effective against the Wardens and she now opts to run intelligence for me when I go up against them.

There is a slight addendum there, though. My equipment is immune to powers other than my own. For whatever reason, my softening power is still able to affect my inventions. I imagine that what allowed me to repair and perform normal upkeep on my inventions, which is to say my power allowing me to affect my inventions, now applies to my new power as well.

From the warden’s side of things, it’s incredibly frustrating to them that I seem to be the only villain capable of outsmarting some of their new devices. From the Villain side of things, it’s saved me from a sticky situation more than once. At least one literally sticky situation involving the glue gun.

And then there’s the fact that I’ve been training the Warden’s to fight better. The Warden’s have been getting better overall, but I’m also tuned in to just how good they all are combat wise.

I snap out of my musings, following Burnout and Tempo as they continue down the street and away from another civilian. “You’ve got the glasses, right?” I ask Sarah, still keeping an eye on the two heroes.

“Mhmm. Fully charged.” She replies.

“Good. Those should help when gathering information about Everyman’s power. Or powers.”

“Yeah. They’re a handy bit of tech. I don’t think it’ll work on Everyman, though. If his power didn’t work on technology, I think we’d already know what it does.”

I don’t reply to that. I have no idea how to tell her that the glasses are Toybox’s tech without giving something big away. “We’ll see.” She hums into the earpiece thoughtfully. “Hold on, I think it’s show time. I’ll talk to you when you get back from the meeting.”

“Stay safe, Feather. See you later,” she says her goodbye and then the line goes dead.

The street below has cleared out enough for me to make my entrance. I jump off the building, softening my descent before I touch the ground. My tail keeps me upright as I fall towards the ground slowly. I land on my feet, like any good cat would. The two heroes tense immediately, getting into attack positions.

“Heeeeey, Burny.” I say with a wave. My tail flicks happily behind me, betraying my playful eagerness to fight them. He frowns at me, keeping his eyes on me. I turn to Tempo, “and hello to you too, Tempo.”

Neither of them return my smile. Maybe it’s because these encounters never go well for them. I look them up and down, mentally correcting Burnout’s posture. I’ll have to get after him for it later. “Soft Paw.” Burnout practically spits my name out and my smile droops slightly. “I don’t suppose you’re ready to turn yourself in?”

“Burny, you wound me! Not yet though. Maybe next time.” I say with a smile.

Tempo scoffs at that and I glance at her. “You always say that, but you don’t mean it.”

“Who knows, maybe I do. I won’t tell.” I cross my heart playfully, holding my finger up to my lips in a shushing motion. “So, what new gadgets do you have for me today?” The question is somewhat rhetorical, I know what gadgets they have at their disposal. You know, since I made them.

Burnout speaks up, taking a step forward. “You know, I’ve actually got two new gadgets right here that I’d love to show you.” I perk up at that, looking at Burnout curiously. I only recall him getting one new gadget though…?

Burnout rushes forwards quickly, closing the distance between us quickly. I barely manage to dip to the side and away from him, softening the air between us before he can strike. “I call them Mr. Punchy one and two.” He grins at me, rushing at me with his fists once more.

I dip out of the way of his attacks, careful to soften his punches if they get close to striking me. “Ohhh, that’s clever!” I smile widely at that, but he doesn’t return it, still striking at me carefully.

Burnout rushes past me, leaving a fog cloud behind me, cutting me off from a retreat. Tempo is advancing quickly from the other direction. I grimace at that, glancing at the fog wall tentatively.

I’d finally found out what his fog does a few days into my new position as an emergency Warden. It blinds and disorients people caught inside it, but more importantly it can cause your power to work against you. Stepping through his fog is basically an invitation to be pummeled until you can get your wits about you again.

I don’t have long to consider the decision though as Burnout lays into me with punches. I dip and duck under them as best as I can, utilizing my much smaller frame as Soft Paw to my advantage. Tempo is getting closer, so I turn around and jump through the fog. I hold my arms out, preparing to catch myself in a roll. The moment I enter the fog, though, my vision spins with swirling colors and I feel as if I’m falling up. I don’t move my arms, despite feeling like I’m falling up.

My arms hit the ground and the disorientation only increases. I end up rolling across the ground, ending up splayed out on the other side of the fog. My head is spinning as I pick myself up and I take a punch directly to my gut. I keel over, the world coming into focus slowly. I stumble backwards, softening the air between me and Burnout to give me time to regain my wits. I reach into my boots and pull my tonfas out, shaking my head slightly and finally getting a read on the situation.

I manage to block the next couple of attacks from burnout, softening his hand as he lands the hit so that he doesn’t hurt his hands on my tonfas. “Jeez, that fog sucks.” I say as Burnout lays attack after attack into me. I sneak a hit into his side and leg, measuring how hard I hit him to hurt, but hopefully not hurt too much. “Do you ever chill out in it recreationally?”

It takes a second, but he laughs at that, not letting up his attacks the whole time. I smile widely. I, as Soft Paw, finally got a laugh out of him. He smirks at me, rushing past me once more to attack me from behind. I roll forward before his attack can hit and he speaks up, “No, I don’t get affected by my own smoke.”

“Oh, yeah.” I say, turning around to look at him. “Sucks to be you, I guess.” I feel a rope tighten around my leg suddenly and I turn to see Tempo holding the end of a rope. Shoot, I’d forgotten about her. The rope freezes in mid air, trapping my foot.

Burnout stops attacking, coming closer. “Gotcha.”

I smile at that, tugging on my foot. “Seems so.” I say, doing my best fake disappointed look. And by best, I mean best at seeming fake.

As expected, the second rope comes around my chest and I act fast, shooting my own rope binding out of my new glove and around Burnout, attaching it to the rope Tempo swings around me with my power. “What the-” Before he can finish talking, Tempo uses her power on the rope and since the rope wrapping around Burnout is attached to the rope wrapped around me, we’re both trapped in place.

The glove is actually an old invention of mine that I wasn’t sure would be useful, but is turning out to be. It shoots normal metal cable around things, but it uses normal metal cable, so it has to be reloaded after every use. I keep spare lengths of cable in my utility belt just in case.

“Well, even if you trapped me too, at least you’re trapped,” Burnout says in exasperation.

I smile, wanting to show off the new move I’ve thought of. I can’t soften the wires that Tempo shot at us because they’re stuck in time, but I can soften myself. “Sorry, wrong on that front too.” I soften the parts of my body trapped by the rope, squishing myself against it so I can squeeze out. My body feels weird and wrong as it twists in ways it definitely shouldn’t be able to, but I know that the weird morphing feeling isn’t permanent. Burnout gapes at me as I contort my way out of my bindings, slipping my foot out of its own binding too. “Ta-da.” I say, springing back to my regular shape.

Tempo is running towards us, but she’s too far to help Burnout.

“Your power is cheating,” He says bitterly.

“Sorry, I’m a villain. I don’t play by the rules.” I reach into my pocket, peeling the back off of a sticker and slapping it onto Burnout’s forehead with a chuckle. “Something to remember me by.” The Sticker is stylized like street graffiti and reads ‘Soft Paw’. I give him and Tempo a peace sign, running into a nearby alley.

As I’m running away, I can see that during the course of the fight we gained a bit of an audience. Most citizens know to keep a respectable distance from super fights, but plenty must have gotten closer to watch the action. I pose for a couple of citizens with cameras and phones pointed in my direction as I’m running away. Visibility is good.

Tempo considers running after me for a second, but thinks better of it, staying to help Burnout when her power runs out a minute from now.

More than enough time for me to get away. Another successful outing.

Once I’m far enough away from the action, I steer myself towards Sarah’s apartment. I enter through the balcony, and note that she’s already left for the meeting with Everyman. “Adira, power down.” My suit complies, sucking itself obediently into my bracelet and spitting my lounge clothes back onto me in the same instant.

Thankfully, in the weeks since I’d gained my new form, I’d managed to get some shopping done. I now have a sizable wardrobe full of cute clothes that I can wear anytime I need to be in this form. Even the times I don’t need to be in this form honestly. Anytime I’m not needed at Warden HQ, I tend to lounge around in this form. If I’m honest, I kind of like looking so cute, even if I sometimes have to uncomfortably remind myself that I’m not actually a girl.

Not that I have to explain myself to anyone in the comfort of my room. I look good in a skirt, damn it.

I settle myself on Sarah’s couch, pulling my spare laptop onto my lap and turning the television on. After the first week of spending time after Villaining at Sarah’s place, I opted to buy a second laptop just to keep at her place. I switch to a news channel, waiting for anything regarding the stunt I just pulled to pop up on screen. I scroll through the forums, doing some more research in the meantime.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see the news article I’ve been waiting for come up. I turn up the volume, watching in rapt fascination.

“-Wardens Burnout and Tempo were involved in the incident, going up against local Super Villain and general public nuisance, Soft Paw.” The television says, sending up a picture of me caught by a bystander.

“General public nuisance? I must have been promoted from normal public nuisance.” I chuckle at my own joke dumbly.

The Television continues, making no motion as to having heard my incredibly funny joke. “Soft Paw managed once more to outsmart the heroes, seeming to have no other goal with fighting the heroes than to make her presence known. Aside from the occasional bank robbery, this seems to be her modus operandi, only concerning herself with fighting heroes.” I frown at that, tapping my chin thoughtfully. My ear twitches as I think. I guess that’s true, I don’t want to concern myself with a lot of more serious crime. Definitely not anything that could endanger civilians.

“The city is still on the lookout for her partner and possible love interest, Present Perfect.” Wait, what? “The two are a nearly inseparable duo, so the local heroes are expressing concerns about her absence. Find out more from our experts after the break.” I mute the television, looking at it weirdly.

Do people really think that me and Present Perfect could be dating? I mean… she’s ace!

Not that the media would know that, I guess. I shrug, shaking the thoughts away. I’m used to the rampant speculation of media and I’m sure that Sarah will only find it funny and tease me about it later.

My ears flick towards the balcony, picking up on a thump from the other side of the door. The door opens quickly and a familiar voice calls out, “Honey! I’m home.” Well, speak of the devil. I roll my eyes at her antics, pushing my spare laptop aside.

She steps into her apartment, not looking any worse for wear and holding the glasses I made in her right hand. “How did it go?” I ask curiously.

“Awful. That guy is terrifying and I still have no idea what his power is. All I remember about it is that I definitely don’t stand any chance against the guy. I kind of got the impression no one does.” She shakes her head, her ears dragging behind her slowly. She hands me the glasses. “He basically threatened us a bunch to not get in his way or there would be consequences. Scary guy. He let me leave without breaking my hand or something though, so there’s that.” She steps past me, brushing her tail against me and laying down on the couch. “Oh well. It was worth a shot.”

“Well, hold up, I haven’t even checked the glasses yet.” I tell her, plugging the glasses into my computer.

“You can try, but I asked about that too. He told me that even electronics forget his power. Sections of a recording disappear, audio cuts out, everything.”

I go through the video recording, watching through her entire counter. Just as expected, whatever part of his power makes people and electronics forget his power doesn’t work. The recording plays back easily, but as I’m watching through the encounter a frown grows on my face.

I watch the recording again, attempting to piece a puzzle together in my mind. In the recording, he states to Sarah that his power allows him to do whatever he wants, and then he gestures to open air and everyone starts reacting to something that isn’t captured by the recording.

But I know that this camera can still record powers, even if it’s immune to them. I made sure with Ballasts energy blasts, and they show up on the recording. Whatever he’s doing isn’t showing up on the recording, though.

Can his ability really not be remembered? Even by my camera?

“Sarah, what did you say about his ability? The electronics part?” I ask idly, staring at the recording again. I replay it one more time, watching one part in particular carefully.

Her ear turns my way before she does. “Which part? Sections of recording disappearing? Audio cutting out?” she asks. I smile wide, looking at the recording.

“I know what his power is.” I say, turning the computer around. “It’s nothing. He can’t do anything.”

She frowns at me, looking at the computer. “What do you mean?”

“His power is that he can make you think he can do anything, illusions, the whole works. He wants you to think it, and you will. Someone would catch on eventually, but his power also makes you forget what it is he can do.”

“No way,” She sits up, “That’s why nobody has any clue. There’s no way to track what it is he can do. He doesn’t leave a trace.” She pauses, looking at the computer. “But, you have proof. How can nobody figure it out if he actually can be caught on recording.”

I grimace at that, spinning the computer back around. “Umm…” I say, drumming my fingers against the table carefully.

“Feather?” Sarah says expectantly. Her ears are flat against the back of her head. I wince, looking her in the eye.

I take a deep breath, my tail flicking behind me agitatedly. “These glasses are Tinker technology. I got these from Toybox.” I explain, holding them carefully. Sarah gapes at me, her mouth opening and closing gently a couple of times. She shakes her head after a moment and looks at the glasses.

“How the hell did you get one of Toybox’s inventions?” She asks incredulously.

I shrug, looking away from her and at the wall. “I stole it.” It’s a bad lie. I’m sure that my ears and tail betray that fact. If they do, Sarah doesn’t seem willing to call me on it.

“Well… That would explain why you were so confident in this plan working.” She mutters. I nod gently, still fidgeting nervously. She gets up, pulling me onto the couch. “Hey, Feather?” she says gently.

I allow myself to be pulled around, looking her in the eye. “Yeah?”

“I’m not mad, alright? You’re okay. I was just concerned.” She sighs, laying herself down into my lap. “You’re allowed your secrets.”

I nod gently, letting out a small relieved sigh. “Thank you, Sarah.”

“No problem.” She grabs my tail, which is still anxiously flitting about. She threads her fingers through it, likely in an attempt to distract me. “So, what are we gonna do about Everyman?” She asks.

I frown, glancing at my computer. “I’ll need to think about it. Plan something out.”

“Aye, aye, captain.” She salutes at me with her free hand, the salute looking silly in her position. I smile at that, unmuting the television.