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LiFS Chapter 20 - Not Very Brief-ing
🕑 Added 2024-01-17 05:55:29 +0000 UTCEven though he’d been sitting in on such meetings for nearly two years as the leader of the Wards, Rory still sometimes felt a little out of place sitting with the rest of the Protectorate during official briefings. Sometimes he still felt like that little kid that just wanted to be a bit better at baseball and not like a veteran hero in his own right that deserved to be here.
The briefing room was packed today. Most of the Protectorate was present, sitting together on one side of the long table. Armsmater was on one end, sitting to the left of the director, with his second, Miss Militia, on his left. The rest of them were seated in no specific order. Velocity, him, Assault, Battery, and then Aegis in his role as Ward leader. Only Dauntless wasn’t present, out on patrol while the rest of them were otherwise occupied. He’d be read in on the details later.
The other side of the table was filled with members of the PRT. Rory only recognized a handful of them. There was of course Deputy Director Renick, who sat on Piggot’s right. Then there were a few captains he’d worked with before, officer Clair who typically ran the console when he was on duty, a few well-dressed consultants he’d probably met before, and a handful of others he’d only ever seen at meetings like these.
His eyes flickered towards his old spot near the end of the table where Carlos was sitting in his rust-red costume. His friend was really stepping up and doing a much better job than he had when he’d first been thrust into the role of Ward leader. Carlos fit right in with the PRT officers sitting across from his, his back straight and eyes focused.
Rory straightened slightly in his seat, suddenly feeling rather self conscious about his slumped posture. Assault––he still wasn’t fully used to thinking of the senior hero by his real name––glanced over at him and winked, then leaned back in his chair and folded his arms behind his head. Battery quickly elbowed him in the side and he sat up with a pout before refocusing on the meeting.
Rory shook himself and quickly did the same, cursing himself for getting distracted again. In his defense, they hadn’t exactly been talking about anything that concerned him. Something about repairs for van-mounted foam cannons. However, that was no excuse for losing focus. Both Velocity and Miss Militia on his right looked completely engaged, even though the conversation didn’t affect them either. Even Carlos, his junior by several months, was doing better than him, and the Wards had even less to do with the operations of PRT troopers than he did as a full Protectorate hero.
He tuned back into the conversation just in time for the Director to put an end to the brewing argument. “They’ll be fixed just as soon as we get the funds to fix them. Johnson, stop sending in new requisition reports every day, it's just making more paperwork for everyone. Stevens, stop tiptoeing around and just schedule a meeting with my secretary!”
The Director took a deep breath, then turned to Armsmaster, sitting in full armor in his specially reinforced chair. “Right, onto the next issue. Armsmaster?”
Armsmaster sat forward, his midnight-blue power armor shifting silently. “Yes Director,” he said shortly, inclining his head towards her. Then he turned to look down the table. “It is my understanding that everyone here has been read in on the Riptide situation.”
It wasn’t a question, but Rory found himself nodding anyway, along with most of the other people sitting in the room. For all that Armsmaster wasn’t the most outgoing person––Rory had been working under the man for nearly three years and could count the number of non-work related conversations they’d had on one hand––he cut an imposing figure and his words demanded attention.
“Good. Then I shall omit details mentioned in the initial briefing.” He made a sharp gesture and the image on the screens positioned around the room changed. Rory’s eyes widened behind his mask as he immediately recognized the bloody, battered figure lying sprawled on the hard ground in the photo.
Hookwolf was an unmistakable figure to anyone familiar with the villains of Brockton Bay. The man was one of the most dangerous capes in the entire city, and likely the one with the highest body count. Twice he’d been captured and sentenced to life in the Birdcage, and twice he’d escaped from his prison transports with the help of the Empire 88.
Rory had fought the man on a few occasions, and retreated from fights with him on more than a dozen others. He was one of the capes that Wards were not permitted to engage with, his long rap sheet meaning that he wasn’t nearly as afraid to seriously hurt a Ward as most villains were. After all, he’d already been sentenced to the Birdcage; there wasn’t much more the government could add on top of that.
Hookwolf was an absolute terror to fight. The villain could shrug off his shouts and blows from both Assault and Battery, neigh endlessly regrow any parts of his metal body that Armsmaster could chop off, and before Panacea triggered, just getting too close to him could permanently end a hero or trooper’s career. Even in his human form, metal hid just beneath his skin, making him both incredibly strong and hard to hurt, and his transformation sometimes allowed him to break free of containment foam––the typical counter the PRT employed against brutes.
Never in his life––not even when he’d caught a glimpse of the neo-nazi cape getting loaded into a prisoner transport truck after a massive cape fight––had he ever seen the man look like that. Hookwolf looked like he’d gone three rounds with, well…himself, and lost badly. His entire body was littered with small cuts and scrapes, and he lay unconscious in a slowly spreading pool of pink-tinged water, shards and shattered scraps of pointy metal blanketing the ground around him like snowdrifts.
Rory was still staring at the high-definition photo, likely taken from Armsmaster’s helmet camera judging by the angle, when his leader continued. “Early yesterday afternoon, Riptide and Laserdream of New Wave encountered an ongoing battle between elements of the ABB and E88 gangs. Hookwolf and Oni Lee were both present and Riptide moved to engage while Laserdream remained out of sight and called for reinforcements. I was the closest Protectorate hero to the scene and I, along with teams three and seven, moved to respond.
“According to later testimony, the first additional hero on the scene was Glory Girl of New Wave. Once she arrived, Glory Girl and Laserdream moved to assist Riptide in dealing with Hookwolf. Oni Lee and ABB gang members had previously retreated and Riptide was unable to give chase while engaging Hookwolf.”
Armsmater paused for a moment and the picture on the screen changed, this time showing a wide angle shot of the entire street. The entire road was littered with bits and chunks of Hookwolf’s metal body. From this angle, the giant man almost looked tiny, utterly dwarfed by the amount of scrap around him. Rory could also see a small hole punched clean through the road a few steps away from the unconscious man through which water was slowly leaking out onto the street, though it was nothing like the dirty geyser he’d once seen when a water main burst not far from one of his patrols.
It wasn’t until Armsmaster continued that he saw who else was in the photo, his eyes too focused on Hookwolf to notice the small figures in the background. “Towards the end of the fight, Laserdream was badly injured by Hookwolf. Riptide then decisively defeated Hookwolf using his hydrokinesis and proceeded to provide first aid to Laserdream using his power.”
The picture changed again, this time zoomed in on the crouch form of Riptide, Laserdream held protectively in his arms. The young woman’s injury was slightly blurred, but Rory could still see just how bad the damage was. He could also see the thin streams of blood floating through the air where the rest of her leg should have been, forming a rough outline of her missing leg and foot.
One of the captains swore loudly. “Holy shit! He’s not Manton limited.”
It took a moment for Rory to parse what the woman had just said, and then he suddenly understood why the room had just gotten very quiet. A non Manton-limited hydrokinetic, one who could clearly control blood just as well as water. And, if he remembered the briefing correctly, had an absolutely enormous range to boot.
“How the hell do you fight someone like that?” someone whispered.
“You don’t,” another captain said solemnly. “There’s a reason nine-plus ratings exist.”
Rory tried to remember what the measures for dealing with high-level shakers were like. Something about intercity missiles. He knew the Rig was equipped with some pretty serious heavy weapons, but as far as he knew, none of them had ever needed to be used.
“And he’s a hell of a brute too, at least when he’s wearing that armor of his,” one of the squad leaders chimed in. “Look at him, he’s just as shiny as in those photos from the lab. Does that look like a man who just went toe to toe with Hookwolf?”
Armsmaster moved on before anyone else could respond. “By the time we arrived, Hookwolf was fully subdued and unconscious, and Riptide was working to stabilize Laserdream. Glory Girl was not on the scene, having left to retrieve Panacea. Once I ascertained that the situation was fully under control, I moved to secure Hookwolf. I must commend squad three’s work in successfully transporting the prisoner to the PRT headquarters and Hookwolf is currently being held under sedation to prevent attempts to escape.”
There was a brief round of applause and several people clapped the captain of squad three on the shoulders and back. Rory joined in––he certainly didn’t envy having to sit in a cramped, fast-moving box with god damn Hookwolf, even if the violent lunatic was covered in containment foam and bound in brute-rated chains.
“It will unfortunately take several days to prepare a birdcage convoy to transport the prisoner. We expect a response from the Empire in the coming days, but we hope that without several of their capes, they will be less capable of mustering a force to free their fellow villains. For the time, the specific locations of Rune, Victor, Othala, and Hookwolf are need-to-know only.”
“And what exactly are we doing about Riptide?” one of the consultants asked sharply, cutting off Armsmaster before he could continue. “He has clearly proven himself to be a serious danger.”
Despite usually staying silent during this sort of briefing unless he was giving his own report, Rory felt compelled to say something. “To villains, maybe. I’ve spent more time with Riptide than anyone else here and he’s a good guy. A real hero. He’s been active for what, barely a few days, and he’s already taken several dangerous criminals off the streets.”
“Perhaps, but he’s still both a virtual unknown and possibly one of the most dangerous capes on the entire east coast. We should––”
Director Piggot raised a hand in the air, cutting both of them off before things could devolve. “Armsmaster, your summary please?”
“Our analysts have him tentatively as a Brute seven, Shaker nine, and with a Trump/Stranger null subrating for his effect on certain Thinkers. He has so far shown himself to be generally heroic, immediately jumping in to engage Hookwolf when he saw that there were lives at stake. He has also shown himself to have a positive relationship with New Wave, with Carol Dallon acting as his lawyer during interactions with the PRT. Though it is hard to say definitively due to his Trump/Stranger ratings, we have tentatively accepted his status as a case-22 and are working to help him establish himself on Earth-Bet.”
Director Piggot’s lips were pulled into a narrow frown. “As you can all imagine, he’s not someone we want going villain, no matter the circumstances. As such, we’re going to stick with our current policy. Soft sells only, and we’ve streamlined his applications for case-22 resources and aid programs. While I would prefer to have him sign on as a member of the Protectorate, having him as an independent hero with a good relationship with the PRT is preferable to many other outcomes.
She clearly didn’t particularly like what she was saying, but Rory understood where she was coming from. The director didn’t tend to trust independents––long standing teams like New Wave notwithstanding––and it was Protectorate policy to aggressively recruit new triggers. However, Riptide’s situation was somewhat special. He wasn’t really a new hero with all the mental baggage and inexperience that typically came with it. According to him he’s been an active cape since he was twelve, roughly six entire years. That was longer than him and Dauntless combined, and it sounded like he’d been much more active than any normal Ward his age.
Rory had to suppress a sigh as an argument broke out about Riptide’s ‘excessive’ force when taking down Rune. It was rather stupid––Rory had seen Riptide deliberately break her fall, turning a potentially fatal impact into just a handful of bruises.
Before he could speak up again, Piggot slammed her hand against the table.
“This is going nowhere. So far he hasn’t shown any dangerous signs. Though both Rune and Hookwolf sustained a number of injuries, it's clear that Riptide has experience modulating his strength and has so far been careful to minimize damage. If he ever does go too far, our response will change to reflect the new situation. Understood?”
“Yes, Director.”
“Good! Now then, let's see what we can do to make sure the Empire doesn’t get its capes back this time. Stevens, what’s the situation with the birdcage transport?”
Rory shifted in his seat and glanced over at Aegis again. He was still sitting up straight, but this time he noticed the glazed look in the other boy’s eyes. Maybe Carlos wasn’t paying quite as much attention as Rory had thought initially.
Comments
X Blade
Nice
thevolunteer
My thought as soon as I saw the word “consultant” with him pushing for aggressive measures
Bishop7053
The one pushing for a hostile approach was definitely coil huh, probably fucks with his power
