"Armsmaster, reports of an unkown parahuman or a case-53 has been sighted, you are the closest to the location, do you copy?" The voice of Gallant came throught his helmet.
"Copy" I answered swiftly, already, my bikes path has been changed, the buildings of brockton appearing as nothing more than a blur to him.
"Brief me on the situation" I ordered, Gallant was a good kid, one of the less troublsome wards.
"About an hour ago, a night guard in the Sunset Cemetary saw and I quote 'a giant naked monster man sitting in front of a grave', he called the police, and they called us just about 6 minutes ago, Assault and Battery are also on their way, but you should be there 10 minutes or so before them, the police have locked down the area" Gallant reported in a clear voice, good, he is taken the job seriously.
"Was anyone inside? Did the police force tried to contact him? Was anyone hurt in any capacity?" I asked the questions I thought to be most important.
"No, nobody was hurt, the police evacuated everyone there with no difficulty according to them, the man just ignored them, none tried to approach him, just in case he turned out aggressive" that very good, coming in contact with a new parahuman always possessed a certain risk, you can never know what power they have or if it affected them psycologicaly, even more so with cases'53.
Truthfully, I was somewhat nervous myself, no matter how many battles I went throught, my proffession made risks necessary, but the fear never went away, facing said fear is something I was used to by now.
If the situation did escalate into a fight, my Anti-regenration sleep darts should come in handy, I was planning to use them on Lung, the request for a reid has already been written, a little demonstration on their affect should come in handy, hopefuly they are not required right now.
I was broken out of my thoughts as I came face to face with the graveyard, a blockade surrounding said gate, preventing the curios civilians, and the pushy journalists from getting in, how did the journalists get here so fast anyway?
I nodded to the cops as I made my way through, a familiar face, however, made me frown.
"Vista, Shadow Stalket, what are you 2 doing here?" My voice was harsh, but it was necessary with these kids, they were always like this, the epitome of disobediance, with Stalker's attitude, I was suprised she did not barge in already.
"We heard about the new cape from Gallant, we just came to support you" Vista grinned at me, the chiky brat.
"And you were allowed to 'support me' by who exactly?" Althought she couldn't see it my eyebrow was up, I am beyound certain that this is against protocal.
"We jus-"
"Cut the crap midget, this some new cape in town, maybe his powers nullify yours, we are here to help, just in case" Shadow stalket cut off Vista rudly, and as always, spoke her mind, trying to justify her behavior, she wasn't wrong however, both her and Vista have useful powers that could help in either offense or defense.
"Very well, you are in as support, but do NOT engage unless I allow it, undertood?" That is not to say they were not getting punished, but we can do that after we contact the seemingly Unkown cape.
"Yes!" Vista cheered, meanwhile stalker meerly nodded.
I readied my halberd as I passted the gate, the girls staying further away where they are safe, ready to use their abilities at any given moment.
It did not take me long to find him and it was definitly a him, I wouldn't say he was giant, at least not to the extent of the Nazi twin, but he was big, I advanced while my helmet estimated his hight as 269 cm, he was pale, exremly so, long white hair smeered on the ground he was lying on, I could see his face cleerly, he was fully on the ground, looking up in contemplation with terrifying pitch black eyes, decorated by crimson irises, in the darkness of the night, such a sight was truly horrifying.
I stopped at 5 meters from the possible case-53, my scanners failing on him, and called out "Unkown Parahuman, Identify yourself and your purpuse here"
Perhaps it was not a wise move to be formal with him like this, but I found that blunt and honest speech is well recived in my experiance.
The man raised his head slightly, and looked at me up and down with those terrifying eyes of his before he chuckled, a chuckle that slowly transformed into full blown laughter as he sat up slowly, I tried to communicate once more, but he just laughed.
It was then that...tears spilled over and mixed with the laughter, in my mind I already cancelled of him being a case-53, the way he cried while laughing reminded me of...less pleasant times, he is not an amnesiec 'monster cape', he is just broken.
"You know, when I woke up, I thought of it as some sort of joke, a bad fucking joke, but now that you're here, hehe ahahahahaa" he spoke in a raspy old voice, allowing me to his teath, those gigantic lion-like fangs that filled his mouth only added to the frightning presense around this cape.
"The PRT can help you, you are...obviously going throught a difficult time, sulking around have no benifits, only looking ahead can help, I do not know who you are...but please, let us help you" I slowly walked to the cape while saying this, my caution still, however, unlike what many thought, I was not uncapable of compassion.
Hearing my words, the Cape apeared suprised, but he did stop laughing/crying so I took it as a success, he let out a chuckle and spoke to me once more "You are different than rumered Armsmaster, but I suppose you would be, this is not a book after all"
A book? What does that mean? His tone shows slight familiarity...my scanners were still incapable of scanning the man, my 'Truth detector' included.
"Anyway, you are...correct" the man got up while wiping his tears "I should not cry, it is unfiting for someone my age to cry over a little change in scenary"
The man stood up, making me forced to look up a bit, this suit was 7 feet tall and it was still shorter that him.
This interraction has been positive so far, witch was unfortunatly a rare thing when dealing with new capes, I repeated my earlîer proposal "Again, I urge you to accompany me to the PRT headqaurters, parahuman powers can be dangerous, the PRT can help test your newfound talents and make sure using them is safe"
I intentioly did not offer to join Protectorate,I had a gut feeling it would not end as positive as we had been going, having him join would of course be of great benifit, both foe him and for my carrier, however, I have learned long ago that being insistent does not work well with new parahumans.
I could see that he was about to answer when the unexpected happened, a massive explosion of flame came from our left, judging from the sound, it was a couple of streets away.
"Consol, what was that??" I asked with a frown, those fires...I have fought Lung long enough to recognize it, my bike has received the signal the moment I received I saw the fire.
"Galant here, it seems that Lung and Oni lee is fighting the Undersiders, Assault and Battery have been close to the fighting and are currently engaging Lung with the the Undersiders, you were busy with the new cape so..."
Is this a joke? I have been preparing to arrest that piece of shit wanabe dragon for months, and it had to be this day that a new Parahuman shows up!?
"Well that seems fun, wanna join in?" The raspy old voice took me out of my temporary anger, and brought me back to the pale (notably still naked) cape in front of me, his previous laughing/crying now gone, he eyed me with a serious expression on his visage.
In my minute rage, I almost said yes, but in the end, both Assault and Battery can hold their own, and know not to fight Lung exensively, the best option of me would be to take the girls and the still unamed cape to the headqaurters.
"No, we should head away from the fighting" I suggested, he still did not agree to accomapany us, and I couldn't force him to do so, I could arrest him for public indecensy, but I rather not burn bridges with a new cape.
The cape was obviously suprised by my decision, as he said something whitch I disagreed with entirely "Well Armsmaster, I refuse your refusal, I should at least test these powers I now have, taking down a little lizard by the way could only positive in end"
How did he know it was Lung? Does he have enhance senses or some other form of thinker qbility?
As I was about to try to convince him that fighting Lung would be nothing more than a suicidal endevour, he grabbed with his hand into the open air, and from it, a black liquid goo? manifested in it.
Upon the display of unkown parahuman power, I backed away, guard up immediatly "Open use of Supernatural powers can be seen as hostile, stop whatever you are doing, now"
"Chill Armsy, I am just making my self some clothes" hmm? Althought my detectot is not working on him, his body language says he is truthfull...
"Oh, and by the way, I understand that you guys like to use cover names" he said as he took the mass of goo and slammed it to his chest "Now I would call myself Knull, but from what I remember, that name was taken"
It is taken, the problem is...how did he know it? The news of the rest of the world was only is not heavily expanded on, especialy about mysterious capes like the CUI chinease Knull.
"So, you guys call me...hmm...picking a name is harder than it looks" I watched in facination as the goo changed into a metalic suit of armor surounding everything below his neck "Ahh, I got it, label me Klyntar, hehe, yup thats a rather fitting name."
The armor was pitch black just like his eyes, in the middle of his chest, a red crest manifested, it was of a winged creature that I do not recognize "Its ironic, really, I always like reading stories of Worm, and wishing I got here, but the moment I did, I broke down, be careful of what you wish for indeed"
The man did not stop at just the armor, he extended his hand as if catching something again, and from it, a reddish black goo formed into a strange sword "Its not the All-Black sadly, as that sword got its power from the dead celectial, but even a normal Symbiote sword like this should be enough to take down that rage lizard"
The All-Black? Symbiote Sword? Power sheninagins are always strange, thou the mention a 'Symbiote' Sword got me to raise my eyebrows a little.
"Fighting Lung is a kin to suicide, I know you are confident in your powers, we all were at the begening, but overconfidense can and will lead to you death, the best option for you Klyntar is to come with me for power testing, and if you are as strong as you think, going after Lung can be arranged" that was a lie, but he did not need to know that yet.
"Hey Armsy" he called him as another facinating power display took place, black bat-like wings manifested from his back "Your full of shit"
The wings stretched wide, I already had a feeling of what was to happen so I took even more stepps back to my 'Armscycle', and turns out I was right as he took off flying with a flap of those black wings.
"Armsmaster to Consol, the Parahuman identified an Klyntar has took off flying, presumably towards the battle between the Undersiders and Lung, I am on my way."
...
Feel free to point out any grammatical mistakes.