Commercial District

October 17th, 19:30

---

In young Vista's mind, she has come to realise that being a Hero really isn't all it's cracked up to be. Granted, it's not like she joined up because she wanted to be the next Alexandria or anything, she mostly just wanted to get out of the house really.

There's only so much she can tolerate of her parents' arguing before it just gets too much. Her powers themselves are proof enough of that. So if she's going to be using her powers, because obviously she's going to be using her powers, then she might as well bat for the good guys.

Better than being a Vigilante and getting left to bleed out in some alley or something...maybe she's been watching too many movies. Either way, the 'why' doesn't matter anymore.

What matters is that she's found that there are two types of patrols; there are the annoying patrols, where she has to walk the boardwalk like it's a catwalk and be all smiles and sunshine. She hates those patrols, doesn't think they really even deserve to be called patrols.

But the other type of patrol is hardly any better. As instead of being annoying, it's just boring. It's the kind of patrol where they move around the edge of the boardwalk and basically just walk around for a few hours.

As a Ward, she doesn't get sent anywhere that has much of an actual risk of encountering any Villains, and even in Brockton Bay, people aren't stupid to commit crimes in the active patrol routes of Heroes. At least, not any more than a couple of times a week.

...Brockton is not a very safe place to live.

Unfortunately for Vista, she currently finds herself in one of the boring patrols. And as if that wasn't bad enough, it's made worse by the fact that neither of the two patrolling with her seem to want to talk.

Dauntless she can at least understand, even if it's grating. He's an adult, and they all know he's basically with them to babysit, and as much as she would like if people would stop treating her like a child, she still gets that they wouldn't really have much to talk about.

Dauntless is like, thirty or something, what are they going to talk about? Middle school? Taxes? Where's the common ground? Should they talk about their shared job? Oh yeah, that would go great for Vista.

Oh? You fought three Empire capes by yourself, in a daring battle of risk and intrigue? Wowzers. What have I done? Well, I helped a cat out of a tree and got called a midget by a druggie, who let me arrest him because he thought it would make a funny story. Yeah, Vista can see that conversation going just great.

That only leaves her fellow Ward, but she thinks she might have ruined any chances of making friends already somehow.

She hasn't had many interactions with Redemption before this patrol, but she'd hoped that they'd be able to form some kind of connection and at least have idle conversation to pass the time for the boring patrol.

However, that idea went down the drain almost immediately after the patrol started. With Dauntless' ability to fly and Vista's own ability to manipulate space, they decided it would be easier to move via the rooftops, with Vista making the distance between the roof and the ground more like a step, and doing the same for the distance between building to make them easy to traverse.

But as Redemption and Vista were moving through her shortened space, Vista made the mistake of being nice to Redemption. All she did was ask if the older girl was okay moving though the manipulated space, she knows it can be disorienting, and Redemption is still recovering from her stab wound.

She's healed enough to exert herself, obviously, but only so much. If her power was one that required acrobatics, then she probably wouldn't have been cleared for active duty yet. Hence why Vista was showing concern. The girl got stabbed through the gut for Christ's sake!

But apparently that was the wrong decision, as Redemption snapped at her immediately, like Vista insulted her twelve generations or something. She doesn't really get why Redemption acted like that, but she's been having to deal with the awkward silence of their patrol for the past hour or so because of it.

A small part of her resents Dauntless for keeping a short distance away, finding it unfair that she has to suffer the awkwardness and he doesn't.

But luckily for Vista, that boring monotony doesn't last much longer, as all of their comms abruptly sound off, Mary's bored voice coming through.

"Console to uh, you guys. Got a break in alarm goin' off a bit to your West, a minute out at best. You clear to check it out? Over."

With her words, the three of them come to a stop, and being the adult in the group, it's Dauntless that answers.

"Dauntless to Console, we'll check it out. And you know you don't have to say over, right...?"

"Sure thing, good luck have fun, over and out."

Vista turns away from the other two to hide her smile at Mary's words, not wanting to seem unprofessional by giggling.

"Come on then girls." Dauntless' voice snaps her out of her thoughts, hearing it from his mouth instead of through her comms.

Nodding her head, Vista focuses on the space in front of her and she twists. Within moments, the building that was across the street from them bends until it is close enough that they can simply cross the entire distance with a single step.

The next building is a few stories taller, but it isn't any more difficult for Vista to bring the lip of the building's roof down enough to be a single step in front of her.

The sight of her power in action was disorienting at first, seeing the very world bend and twist and loop does that. But Vista quickly got used to it, and for others it stops being too troubling to pass through after the first couple of times.

In no time at all, they are atop another building, looking down to the street where, in the fading light of the sky, they can see a group of men, and a couple of women, dressed in black red and green, moving about outside a storefront.

It's one of those buildings that is a shop on the ground floor and a home on the upper floor, and right now the large display windows on the front have been smashed in, the presumed gangsters moving back and forth through the opening.

Vista doesn't really get what they're doing at first, since none of them seems to be stealing anything, and a quick look shows that the store is just a clothes shop. That confusion only lasts until another pair of men come out of the building, dragging a kicking and screaming woman by her hair into the street.

Vista's hands clench in righteous anger as she watches two more people, a man and a girl, getting dragged out as well.

She can feel Redemption's indignation too, and just as they are about to rush in, Dauntless' voice reaches them.

"Vista, get Redemption on that roof and isolate the building, Redemption, circle of fire. I'll get the hostages and hopefully intimidation will be enough to get them to give up." Internally grateful that he is only giving advice and direction instead of telling them to stand down, the girls nod and get to work.

Vista doesn't want to give the game away right from the get go by simply connecting the roofs over their heads, so instead she creates a crescent tunnel of space. It bends around the right in an arc, allowing them to step forward onto the building opposite them, without actually passing over them.

Now directly above the procession, Vista deactivates her power, letting the world right itself, and then focuses on it again, working quicker when she sees the rough treatment the masked men are giving the family.

With only her thoughts, she expands the space around the building and nearby street, creating an 'island' of sorts, where they would have to walk dozens of metres just to get to the next door building. She then compounds that effect with a trick she learnt recently to rotate the twisted space like a hamster wheel, turning the world itself into an inescapable treadmill.

The thugs soon notice the strange happenings, but before they can even scream 'cape', the sound of lightning fills the street.

In a flash of white lightning, Dauntless appears above the group. His Greek-style armour and crackling Arclance and shield make him seem as if Zeus himself has descended from Olympus. Lighting bolt in one hand, Aegis in the other.

And if that sight alone wasn't enough to intimidate the thugs below, the effect is only compounded when fire rises around them, forming a burning dome of red heat in every direction, rising dozens of feet in the air. 

With the burning flames at his back, Dauntless swings his lance once, the spear extending as he does so and cutting through each man holding down the hostages. He obviously didn't make the lance concentrated enough to split the criminals in half, but each of them falls to the ground regardless, shaking and frothing as his lance acts as a high powered taser.

Hostages now freed, Dauntless floats down until he is only a couple of feet off the ground right in front of the cowering family. "Surrender," he commands, "you are under arrest."

The masked thugs, numbering near a dozen still standing, glance between each other, having a silent conversation.

With slow movements, the thugs raise their arms and place their weapons on the ground, making Dauntless smile inwardly. He does prefer when they don't pointlessly try to fight.

"Hey, Government Dog," one of the thugs says, getting Dauntless' attention, "I fuck your mother."

As he speaks, his Asian accent is unmistakable, and it's only when Vista hears it that she connects the dots and realises the exact situation. These are ABB thugs and the family they were assaulting are white. This isn't a break in, it's a hate crime. The thought makes her fists re-clench and her eyes harden.

Meanwhile, Dauntless' expression freezes at the uncalled for insult. However, in that momentary distraction, the other thugs all suddenly move.

"Dauntless watch out!" Redemption's hurried warning is all that allows him to raise his shield in time to block a thick, spearing limb.

Looking down the bladed arm, he is confronted by a pair of glaring red eyes that fill him with instinctual unease.

Moving as fast as a flash, his Arclance strike forward, hitting his assaulter and sending him flying back into the building. Yet when he looks at the others, he sees that they all seem to be in the middle of transforming, blood exploding out of their backs and solidifying into a set of similar shapes.

The only exception being the man who insulted his mother, who is holding the responsible needle in hand. Moving as fast as he is able, Dauntless twists his Arclance in the man's direction, extending the spear tip right into him and forcing the needle from his hands.

"Vista! Needle! Redemption! Hostages!" Dauntless shouts out in quick succession before refocusing on the foes before him.

With one done and out and one injured, that leaves nine healthy foes. He can handle that.

In the brief silence before battle, he takes proper stock of who he faces. Including the man clambering his way out of the storefront, there are four of them with arms that have turned into thick, wicked looking blades of blood.

After them, there are another four who have a long, thick tail of fleshy blood ready to be whipped at him. The final two are both different. One has a single large, crystalline-liquid wing sticking from his right shoulder, while the other has six thinner, ribbon-like tentacles sticking from his middle back.

It's the last one he's most weary of, as he knows that the being from whom these aberrations originate first appeared with only the ribbons. 

However he has no more time to observe, as with an inhuman roar and eyes that have lost all reason, the four bladed thugs charge him down.

He only spares a brief glance behind him to check that the hostages are secure, but doesn't bother checking for the needle, as it really isn't as important as either the fight or the innocents.

That done, he doesn't hesitate to engage his foes, meeting the first two with his shield. His power flares, extending the area of his shield enough to parry both of the men at the same time. The force of his parry is enough to stall the pair, their arms breaking in the centre as the fall to the side.

Ignoring the fallen, he spins his Arclance, deflecting the next blow to the side and shocking the assaulter at the same time, before dodging the final of the four and slashing his lance across their already injured torso, sending him spasming to the ground.

But he has no room to breath as a pair of thick tails come crushing at him from both sides, forcing him to block one with his shield and the other with his lance.

However, before either of the attacks even land, the space between them and him suddenly expands, and with only a grateful smile, Dauntless quickly uses his boots to gain some air, following which space returns to normal, causing the two tails to slam uselessly into each other.

From the corner of his eye, he sees the sword-arm thugs getting up to resume their charge, only to find themselves running on the spot, seemingly too enraged to even realise the futility of their actions.

Smirking to himself, he turns back to the others in time to see them all getting engulfed in flame.

Two tail wielders immediately go down, but the rest seem to be capable of withering through the storm, regenerating as fast as they are being burned.

Charging own at them with the intention of quickly compounding his lightning with Redemption's fire to finish this, Dauntless abruptly has to stop and raise his shield to block a barrage of sharp crystals launched at him from the one's wing.

That moment of pause is enough for a tail to strike into him, sending him flailing to the side and right into the waiting 'arms' of the ribbons, which don't hesitate to wrap around him and bring him pummelling down to the ground.

He impacts the earth with a painful thud that dazes him for a moment. The two tails attempt to use the opportunity to slam him even deeper into the earth, but Vista comes into play once more, giving him the space needed to get his bearings back.

It's only a matter of flexing his power to cut through the ribbons binding him, and he quickly makes enough distance that Vista can drop the effect formerly above him, allowing the tails to slam into the ground and kick up a cloud of dust.

The wing wielder attempts to keep Dauntless occupied, but Vista once more interferes, allowing him to focus instead on swiping his Arclance through Redemption's flames, digging into the three other thugs. 

Unfortunately, he barely misses the wing wielder, who jumps over the attack with preternatural speed. 

However, his leap leaves him about as high up as the building's roof, and in an act of daring he would call incredibly reckless, Dauntless has to watch as Redemption jumps off the roof and into the thug, grabbing hold of him.

To the surprise of no one, they both quickly plummet to the ground, landing in a heap.

Dauntless is there incapacitating the thug before either of them have the time to get their bearings back, and with no more threats readily apparent, he allows himself to stand there and stare down at Redemption in disapproval.

She doesn't meet his eyes.

Letting out a sigh, Dauntless allows himself to relax marginally. He still needs to deal with the arm-blade thugs, but Vista should be able to keep them contained until a transport arrives for them.

The ones he's already taken down seem to be twitching, their skin slowly knitting back together from the damage done by Redemption's fire. By his estimate, they'll be back up in about a minute.

"Alright you two, cuffs out, let's get these guys wrapped up nice and good for the troopers."

Redemption lets out a grunt, which has him rolling his eyes about teenagers, but Vista's poorly concealed excitement has a contagious smile brought to his face as she looks at him like he's the coolest guy around.

With a hop to her step, she bustles up to him and offers out her hands, showing him the needle, still full of red liquid.

"Thank you Vista, you did good work today," he says, and he means it too. That fight would have been a whole lot more painful if she wasn't here.

He knows people call him Brockton's Rising Star, saying that he has the potential to be one of the greatest Heroes, standing with the Triumvirate. But give it a few years, and he thinks Vista could do just as well. 

Letting go of those thoughts as he casts his gaze about, he sees the victim family, huddled together in the street and gives Vista a nudge. "Can you stay with them, make sure they're okay until someone comes to get their statement?"

"Sure thing!" She exclaims, rushing over a few steps before catching herself and seemingly forcing herself to relax before continuing at a much more sedate pace.

Dauntless shakes his head in amusement, before joining Redemption in tying up the criminals, briefly glancing at the syringe in his hand before pocketing it.

Hopefully with this we'll be able to figure out what exactly this stuff is made from.

Perhaps more importantly, with this many users, they might be able to track down the suppliers.

---

Commercial District South

October 22nd, 22:30

---

"I don't care how much that little psycho bitch is paying us! This is not how we've always done things! We're not some big gang, none of us have powers like Lung! If we get any deeper into this shit we could die. What ever happened to just staying small time and keeping under the radar, huh?! 'Cuz this is the exact fucking opposite of 'under the radar!!'" The girl's voice is near a screech as she finishes her triad.

She is a brown haired girl with slightly pudgy cheeks showing her youth, as well as her small, five-one frame and thin body. She's wearing a simple outfit of loose dark clothes, with her mask poking out slightly from one of her jacket's front pockets. And she is left panting as she stares at her supposed 'friends', daring them to contradict her.

"Sydney, you're being unreasonable," one of the boys responds, his tone placating, "it's not as bad as you're making it out to be."

He is a scrawny, teenage boy, dressed in loose light grey clothes decorated with geometric shapes. He has a head of short black hair hanging loose and a slightly upturned nose leading to a pair of dirt-brown eyes. He stands only five and a half feet tall, but the slight pudginess of his cheeks show his young age, so he will likely grow into his height in the years to come.

To their side, the third of their trio lets out a loud snort, bringing their attention to him. He is the eldest of the three at seventeen years old, and he has an impressive wide build unbefitting of his age. His head displays a simple dark buzz-cut, while his face is one of hard features, with a strong square jaw, a thick nose and grey eyes set into a scowl that matches the upturn of his lips.

He is dressed in loose combat pants and a tight long-sleeved muscle shirt, showing off his definition. His head tilts to the side, a crack following a sudden jerk and he brings a hand up to massage his popped neck as he opens his mouth to speak. "C'mon Kyle, be honest, you just want all'at money."

Kyle's face immediately sours at the accusation. "Oh yeah? Big talk coming from you, Cody," his scathing voice sounds out, "we all know why you accepted her offer."

"And what the fuck is that supposed to mean!" Cody surges to his feet to match his raised voice, towering over Kyle even as he stands to meet him, staring into his eyes without blinking, mere inches apart. "If you've got something you wanna say," Cody practically whispers out through gritted teeth, "then fuckin' say it."

But Kyle never gets the chance as Sydney jumps to her feet, pushing herself between the two of them. "Guys!" She screams out, "stop fighting! We're supposed to be a team!"

Rather than dissipating, the tension in the room only grows with her intervention, as two pairs of hot-blooded eyes turn to her.

"Oh that's rich," Cody turns to her, his voice mocking. "Remind me again, who is it that wants to decide what 'the team'," he makes air quotes, as if to further mock the term, "does all by herself, huh? You're already outvoted and you still keep telling us we should break off the contract and dip. If we're such a 'team' then shouldn't you shut the fuck up and accept the vote?"

"Oi, don't talk to her like that!" Kyle interjects, poking a finger into Cody's chest.

"Stop being such a fuckin' pussy, Kyle! We agreed that as a team we would follow majority rules! We both want to respect the contract with Circus, but she keeps screeching about it!"

"That's because it's a terrible idea!" Sydney waves her hands around as if to emphasise her point. "Two fucking Wards have already been put in a fucking coma for fuck's sake! And another was hospitalised! Don't you fucking get it! Ward's don't get hurt, that's the whole fucking point of the program! The Heroes will come for us, and the gangs will fucking help them you fucking morons!"

"Sydney," Kyle starts, his voice low but unwavering, "with what she's paying us, we'll have enough money to live out the rest of our lives in less than a year. And it wasn't us that hurt the Wards, so the Heroes won't be coming after us for revenge or anything like that."

"Woah, what a shocker," Cody's voice couldn't be any more fake, "the Jew really does only care about the money, who could have seen this coming?"

His voice cause Kyle to clench his fists. While that joke would have usually made him chuckle, or roll his eyes in fond amusement, with how strained the relationship between the three of them has become ever since accepting Circus' contract, it only brings a frothing, searing anger to his chest.

she runs out

"That's not fucking funny, Cody," he spits out, voice laden with threat.

But Cody merely smirks at him, "the fuckin' do somethin' about it, Jew."

As soon as the last word leaves Cody's lips, Kyle surges forward, arm raised high to deliver a punch with all his might behind it.

However, he only makes it a step before Cody's own fist slams into his face, folding him over his back and straight into the ground.

Cody is, after all, older and in far better shape. Kyle doesn't really stand a chance in a straight fight, something he knew but was too angry to let stop him.

"What the fuck!" Sydney yells out as she falls to her knees, helping Kyle up and checking him over, "what the fuck is wrong with you two! We are a team goddamnit! We shouldn't be fighting! That fucking psycho bitch is driving us apart, can't you see!? We need to get out while we still can!"

Unfortunately for her, her words go unheard as the two boys simply stare at each other in smouldering masculinity. Instead of responding to her words, or even letting her help him up, Kyle simply pushes her off of him, causing her to give an indignant yelp as she falls on her butt.

"Fuck you," is all Kyle says before his body suddenly folds in on itself, falling flat to the ground.

His now two dimensional form rapidly dashes forward, slipping between Cody's legs before he suddenly shoots out of the ground, rapidly gaining form behind Cody. Before the taller and stronger boy has the time to turn around, Kyle manages to land a solid right hook right into Cody's ribs, making the boy wince slightly.

But even then, Kyle simply lacks the strength to compete with Cody, who soon finishes his spin, swinging a wide backhand for Kyle's face. Only to hit air as Kyle rapidly collapses back into the ground, making some distance before reforming himself again.

Yet as they return to staring each other down, Sydney fumes to herself. Can't they see that this job is driving them apart!? They used to be best friends, and now they're at each other's throats, literally!

It's all that psycho bitch's fault, but what can she do about it? Circus is a Clown for fuck's sake. Even she knows that fucking with Clowns is a terrible idea. But she can't just leave her friends out to dry, even if they are acting like stupid, unreasonable, assholes!

"Guys!" She shouts out, trying one more time, "stop this already!"

However, she is once more ignored entirely.

A well of anger burns its way up her chest, and her next words are spoken with that anger unhidden.

"Fine then! If you wanna act like macho men assholes then fuck it! I'm leaving! Don't call me!" With her piece said, she turns around and storms off, ignoring how she only now seems to have gotten there attention.

"Sydney wait!" Kyle shouts at her retreating back, but this time she ignores him.

Stupid boys, is her final thought as she slams the door behind her.

The silence left in her wake is wrought with tension, and Kyle's head snaps over to Cody's when he hears the older boy let out a snort.

"Nice job, looks like you've driven her away. Oh how valiant."

The look Kyle sends him after his mocking words is so glacial that it could freeze mountains.

"Fuck you." Is all Kyle says before collapsing back onto himself and sliding away through a crack int he wall, leaving Cody standing there alone.

Bringing a hand up to his neck, he jerks his head, a soft popping sounding out at the action as his face falls into a contemplative frown.

"Yeah," he says, his voice forlorn, "fuck you too."

---

A/N: He~llo! Dear readers!

I'd like to re-emphasise that I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just writing shit.

One thing I do know, and I don't think it's spoilers to say, but I've decided to write this arc kinda like it's a video game, like Overlord or some shit. Idk, I don't know what I'm doing, I've already established that.

Also, just fyi, but credit to my mum for the TGT name for the drug

(4)Advanced chapters on pat.reon, link in description and profile. Also, join the discord with this invite code! Pj3Dttwses