“Well, that’s this handled.” Sky Horizon leaps across the last lane of traffic, narrowly gliding over a honking station wagon. Paying the driver no mind, she lands smoothly, carefully sets her final trip’s worth of cargo down and dusts off her gloves. “Hopefully these turtles think twice about crossing busy roads next time. I may not be here to give them a lift.”
A little tone blips in her ear, signaling Alice tuning in. “I think you’d be better off hoping that drivers stop for wildlife next time.” The conversation is, as ever, a welcome reprieve from running around town on a drizzly evening.
“You’re probably right at that.” Taking a breather, Sky leans against the guard rail on the side of the road and watches the turtles toddle homeward. “But between wild animals and urban motorists? I’d bet the turtles are the more adaptable of the two.”
“What, so the turtles have to leave their home behind because other people can’t be responsible? That’s hardly fair.” The sound of Alice slurping at her water bottle comes through over the mic.
Sky shrugs as she hops back onto her scooter. “I’m not claiming it's fair, I’m lamenting the situation they find themselves in.” Though apprehensive about being taken incorrectly, she firmly reminded herself that Alice would give her the benefit of the doubt. Even if Sky’s phrasing was inelegant, it was unlikely that Alice would jump down her throat for victim-blaming terrapins. “Have any other reports come in while I was occupied?”
“Eh, not really. A few lost item calls, some whinging about people being rude when getting speeding tickets… Uh. Hm. Hold that thought.” Alice pauses for a few moments, the push-to-talk line snapping shut a moment before fizzling back to life. “Okay, so, someone just reported a break-in at First Republic over on the south side.”
Sky mulls it over as she weaves through traffic, one finger tapping her mask. “First Republic. As in the bank? Someone’s robbing a bank?”
“I know, right? It’s 2026, you’d think they’d just embezzle money like an adult. Apparently they’re even holding hostages, how old-school can you get?”
“The inefficiency of their methods isn’t my concern.” Returning from the suburbs to downtown, Sky pulls up to a leisurely stop at a red light. “Is there anything more my speed that I could be doing? A food truck that spilled, or the like?” Superhero or not, she had better things to do than butting her head into matters of law and order.
“Uhh…” Alice keeps listening. “No, they just keep going on about the bank robbery. Apparently there’s…” Alice repeats the words she hears incredulously, almost to herself. “Someone in a suit of ‘supervillain armor’? Calling themselves ‘The Breaker’.”
“Oh.” Immediately, Sky veers left. “Well, that’s another story entirely. Is it the First Republic in the tower, or is it the squat one by the art museum?”
Alice grumbles. “Sky, no. You’re not going to get yourself killed in a police shootout.”
“First of all, my suit can block bullets.” Maybe even more than once, she tactically leaves out. “Furthermore, if they’re dressed up in a themed suit, then we probably share dramatic sensibilities. I’d put good money down that I could de-escalate them more easily than cops could.”
“And if they don’t want to de-escalate? If they try to kill you?” Alice is pushing back quite hard on this for some reason. She had already been there for Sky talking down several different muggers, were these circumstances truly so different?
“Then I do the typical superhero thing. I-”
“Nope. No way. This is not some fun excuse for you to fight a villain.” Oh, is that what she was so worried about? That’s honestly a little bit insulting, obviously Sky knows that this is no joking matter. “If things get hot, promise me you’ll run.”
“Of course. I can deactivate my transformation at any time, and warp home instantly without a scratch on me.” If Sky could, she’d be rolling her eyes right now. “But at the very least, if people are in danger I want to do what I can to help.”
It’s a moment before Alice replies. “Alright, fine. It’s the one by the art museum. Knock yourself out, Miss Horizon. I’ve gotta go to bed early.” At that, Alice closes the call with worrying abruptness. Well, that’s a problem for later. Sky shakes her head and guns it.
As she drives, she kicks herself for having lied to Alice yet again, if only by omission. Though it was of course true that she wanted to do everything she could to help, and that she truly does believe she might be able to talk them down, that’s not the whole of it. As the first and no longer only owner of powered armor in Portland, a part of her is screaming, terrified that her passion project opened the doors to less scrupulous uses of the technology.
And so, a girl dressed in blue streaks through the rain-slick streets, praying she hasn’t already gotten in over her head.
All things considered, the police were easier to get past than she feared. A little flattery, a little we-all-want-the-same-thing-here repartee, and a promise to focus on the hostages were all Sky needed to get clearance to enter the building. Its wraparound windows made it easy to see the interior, so Sky strode into the lobby without fear.
From what Alice could glean, The Breaker, whoever they were, was working alone, having smashed through the doors a bit ago and setting off each and every alarm in the building. Those who tried to evacuate found a hulking armored figure rummaging around the place at the bottom of the stairs. All of this was corroborated by Sky’s findings, from the upturned desks to the glass crunching under her boots to the wailing sirens drowning out said crunching.
Ugh, the sirens! Not for the first time, Sky regrets dialing up her suit’s perception so high. Taking a moment to crouch behind a potted vase, just in case, she fiddles with the dials and switches of her belt buckle, alternating between focus, frustration, and finally satisfaction as her calibration finishes. Smacking the main button, Sky sighs with relief as her suit begins to block out the high frequencies. The klaxons blaring overhead are now barely audible, while the murmur of the hostages on the office floor above comes to the fore, along with an odd, repetitive thudding sound.
Wham. Wham. Wham. The vibrations of this pulse visibly shake the fronds of the fern Sky is hiding beneath. It almost brings to mind something very heavy walking… or repeatedly impacting something. Well, at the least, Sky’s found her robber. Taking off towards the noise, she resolves to pat herself on the back for her audio trick later.
Though the whine was already reduced to the level of a mosquito, it fades further as Sky approaches the vault. It’s not hard to see why; each and every alarm visible in the walls and ceiling has been ripped out and smashed to bits -- flattened, as though an elephant stomped on them. Rounding a corner, amid a final few desks and overturned paintings, slouches a gigantic figure, beating away at the vault door.
Sky isn’t particularly tall, especially not outside of her armor, so this beast of a suit utterly dwarfs her. Counting the twisting horns adorning its head, it’s easily seven feet high -- and unlike Sky Horizon’s roughly human-shaped suit, this is built for pure power. The Breaker is unarmored from the legs down, instead wearing thick work overalls and hardy boots. A wise call, considering the sparks periodically spat out by the hydraulic pumps set into the massive arms. Sky only now realizes that the sounds of the Breaker’s suit were muffled -- were it not for her muting, the whole thing would roar and squeal with the sound of grinding metal and twisting hinges.
As it is, the only real noise Sky can hear from the Breaker comes from the massive hammer they carry, bashing over and over again into the vault door. Already, the hinges have started to give way -- it could be anywhere from ten more swings to ten more minutes, but there’s no doubt in Sky’s mind that the vault will give in long before the Breaker does. She’s not going to get a better chance. She takes a moment to center herself, waits for a moment between swings, and…
“Excuse me!”
The Breaker starts, turns around and glares down at Sky Horizon. Their voice, too, comes out as a rumble. “What in -- oh. Should have known. What do you want, then?” Their suit doesn’t have so much eyes as it does portholes to stare through -- if she focuses, she can see their actual eyes.
“Listen here, you, er-” Sky points a finger before trailing off. What would be the heroic thing to do here? Announce herself and start swinging? Being put on the spot like this, her adrenaline is already starting to spike. She should only fight in self-defense, that much is obvious, but there's no indication of if the Breaker could be talked down, or even their- hm. “Actually, side question. What are your pronouns?”
The Breaker tilts their head to the side, letting their hammer drop and drag on the ground -- Sky prides herself on not jumping at the noise. “My pronouns.”
“Yes! Like gendered-wise. I prefer she and her. You’re using a vocoder on your suit too, and I’d rather not make assumptions before calling you ‘sir’ or the like.”
A beat passes. “They/them.” Another second of relative silence. “But ‘Sir’ or ‘Mr.’ is fine, I guess.” The seconds tick by. “So, uh, why are you… here?”
“Oh! Right.” Out of reflex, Sky strikes the same pose she uses to transform. “I’m the masked heroine, Sky Horizon! I’d like to ask you to stand down so that we can settle this peacefully.”
“Huh. Gotcha. I think I saw you on Twitter once.” The Breaker strokes their chin. “Nice suit, by the way. Big fan of the coloring. Does yours have any weapons or anything?”
“Oh, ah. Thank you! That means a lot.” If Sky had skin right now, she’d be blushing. “No, it just makes me stronger and faster. It’s not intended for fighting, I mostly do service and rescue work.”
“Neat. I respect it.” With a grunt, the Breaker hoists their hammer up onto a shoulder. “So, does it protect you from harm, too? The suit, I mean.”
“In a way, yes. How to put this…” Sky leans on a desk and thinks for a second. “If the suit takes too much damage, then it’ll fizzle out. Should that happen, my body won’t be directly wounded, but my brain will feel all the pain that I would have if I suffered that damage myself.”
The Breaker thinks for a second, then nods. “I can live with that.” Stomping toward Sky Horizon, a whine cuts through her muted audio as an electric charge arcs from their gloves across their hammer’s head.
“Wait, hang on.” Backing away, Sky shoves the desk she was leaning against in their path. With ease, the Breaker kicks it out of the way, splintering it and slamming the pieces against the wall. “Are you certain you want to do this?” Carefully, Sky runs a finger over the Skyline. She can still deactivate it and jump out at any time. “I don’t want to fight you.”
At that, the Breaker laughs deeply. From their eyes, Sky can tell they’re grinning ear to ear. When they finally speak, it’s with the unmistakable cadence of someone getting to make a reference. “I wouldn’t wanna fight me, neither.”
I love how casual they are before fighting, sky is such a good little bean, making sure to gender her enemies right 👍
where's that tweet of "lemme get this bit*h's pronouns before i cuss they ass out" or smth