Chapter Text
The words had rejuvenated Jeff something fierce. Immediately asking me repeatedly if I was serious, as if I would sell a dog about that. Laughing as he told me he’d ‘set it all up’. I’d spent the rest of the day inside the garage, the process of getting there was as arduous as getting from it, and just like the last journey this one involved all manner of people just… staring at me… pointing. I almost wished I could just have some sort of veil to shield them out, a barrier of a kind.
Best I could do for now was to ignore them.
Chloe had shown up the day after, saying that she was my ‘handler’ and making sure I had whatever I needed to be comfortable. She also told me that the meeting would take place the day after. Food was provided and they even set up one of those projectors to entertain me.
Some theater about animals was being shown, penguins they were called, the animal, not the play itself. It wasn’t until a few hours had gone, and Chloe had been replaced with someone else, that I felt the need to stretch my legs. It was night now, roughly the same time as I had arrived the day before and nowhere near as crowded.
Staggering out of the garage alongside the boy that had taken Chloe’s place had led me to explore the surrounding area, taking in the amount of light that shined from each building.
It was bizarre how many people supposedly lived in this ‘city’. Hundreds of thousands of people, a number so high that it couldnt convey the size of the population, but the amount of light’s did. Each light had to be maintained, electricity as coal, cared for lest it grew out of control, and there was so much light.
I didn't move, content instead to just stand in the park that was close to the PRT building, the boy clearly debating if he should try to rein me in yet lacking the courage to tell me so.
As I squatted down on the sparse amount of grass that they allowed to grow, one hand on my knee while the other kneaded some of the dirt I picked up, listening to the noise the city generated, all blending into one another. Machine, dogs, humans, buildings and… ocean. Some of it sounded familiar, I just wished I knew which ones.
“I uh… I heard you’re new to the Bay?” The boy, he had told me his name when he first came into the room I was in, yet I hadn’t bothered to remember it. Chloe hadn't been much of a talker so it stood to reason that he wouldn’t either.
I turn my head to him, the bones in my neck almost sounding like rocks as they crack. Taking in the dark hair that was cut short, the eyes that roamed all around in growing anxiety and the dark suit to compliment him. Almost making him look older than he looked to be.
“I am new to most things.”
I hold his gaze for a while, the little courage he had mustered up in order to talk looking to evaporate as he makes eye contact with me. He nods jerkingly, looking away, wringing his wrist as he does. Huffing at the display, I go back to taking in the sounds of the city.
Just a boy then.
I stay for a while longer, until I decide that the nervous air the boy is giving out is too distracting, and make my way back.
The day after had started off slow, trudging into another makeshift room in the garage, Jessica waiting for me there. We had then spent two entire hours just reading different paperwork, ‘legaslations’, and other… things. Some things flew by my head, and some things made sense.
Eventually we got through it, or rather, Jessica got through all of the papers. All that was needed now was the actual interview.
It didn’t take as long, the door at the far end of the room opening to reveal a fat woman, important then. Followed by two guards, not the same garb as the others but their stance says as much, her heels echoing in the enclosed space as she makes for the table, not breaking so much as a sweat as she looks at me and pulls out the chair opposite of me. Blond hair pulled into a bun and with fingers that looked like sausages.
“My name is Emily Piggot, Director of the PRT ENE. I am here for the interview and vetting of the parahuman known as Maw” she sounds slightly miffed by stating my name. “Normally the Protectorate leader would be present for the interview as well, however Armsmaster is currently busy and will join us later.” She brings up her hand, clasping them in front of her and makes direct eye contact with me. There is no change in her demeanor, no sign that she’s uneasy by looking at me.
I like her.
”Normally I’m supposed to ask what previous experiences you've had that could be related to law enforcement, but I doubt you’d be here if you could actually answer that question.”
I can’t help but huff at the statement, the bellowing chortle reverberating inside the room, the guards behind her tensing up as the sound starts echoing within the room. Of course, I’m scary and they are afraid.
It takes quite a lot of willpower not to roll my eyes at the gesture, instead choosing to look back down at the director again, she didn’t seem bothered at the outburst, simply looking at me with the same expression as before.
She clears her throat before continuing “What I am wondering is instead why.” She leans back in the chair, her hands going to rest at her lap. “You show up, make contact with the first person you see which leads you directly to us, you show us what you can do and then decide to join up? Did I miss anything?” She’s suspicious? “Now I am hoping that I am not as cynical as my secretary says I am… but I can’t help but wonder, what with everything else that has happened this week.”
… I suppose I signed up a bit fast
“... I… it felt like the right thing to do?” If I was still capable of it I would be blushing right about now. “ Jeff made it sound like things were in a very rough state… and if I’m able to do something about it then I should.” I could ot sound any more childish if I tried. “moreover… I doubt that there would be much work for me besides this, I mean” I gesture with my right hand towards me. “look at me, I could maybe find work moving things or farming but… yeah.”
She raises her left eyebrow miniscully at some parts of my speech, but lets me finish without interruption, taking her time to respond. “One of the better reasons I've heard so far, but considering the people I have had to work with It’s not saying much. Now, I hope you have understood what it means to be a member of the Protectorate.” I go to talk but she continues on, cutting off my chance. “You will see things that will stay with you for life, situations that are hopeless, interact with people that might seem like they want to cause as much misery as possible for no other reason than that they can.” Her tone sounds a lot older than her looks. “These people are smarter, faster, stro-” She narrows her eyes minutely.. “well… maybe not stronger, but you will be fighting an uphill battle for most of this job, and when you do that you will be putting yourself, and others, at risk. Do you understand?” It’s hard to place her tone, almost like a mixture of concern and reprimanding.
“Yes madam.”
She goes to acknowledge my answer, judging by how she sucks in a breath, only to stop and glare at me in confusion. “Did you just call me madam?”
…
“Yes?”
There’s a pregnant silence in the air, her two bodyguards looking at one another, the angle I'm forced in makes it hard to see their expressions, but I can guess that they agree that I've said something wrong.
“... You will refer to me as ma’am or Director… Am I clear?”
“Yes ma’am.” She gives me a nod, her expression letting me know that she didn’t think much of it beyond being caught off guard. The guard to the left seemed like he was trying not to giggle judging by his shaking.
“Well then, since you seem to at least acknowledge what this work entails, I’d like to discuss with you about your living arrangement as well as your cost of living. The PRT will make sure to have lodging for you at base and, if requested, one in the suburbs. We will be covering most of your expenses through some of the different parahuman benefits programs, it’s mainly the concern over how much you eat.”
“How much I eat?”
“Yes, how much you eat. Thankfully most of that will be covered by the Altered benefits act, but some of it will have to come from your pay, I assume that has already been discussed?”
“We’ve discussed it, yes.” Jessica pipes up from my side, startling me when she does though I thankfully does not jump. Although now that she mentions it… Yeah I remember her bringing it up but not much more than that. I hadn’t really thought about it, just assumed that I was getting a static deal when I signed up.
”I was wondering about the bonuses that will be wasted due to Maw’s specific condition and how they could instead be used for his general day benefit, clothes and food specifically.” What the hell is Jessica talking about?
The Director's gaze turns glacial when she looks over at Jessica “The PRT are flexible, Maw isn't the first Regen Brute nor will he be the last. Will there be anything else?”
There was something else, quite a few things in fact. But they were using terms that I had never heard before and since I didn’t want to slow their conversation down anymore then was needed I mainly nodded along, trusting Jessica’s wisdom.
It wasn't until quite a bit late that the Director brought up something that I had heard before.
“Have you two read over the documents regarding S and A class?”
“Yes ma’am.”
She looks slightly annoyed at the answer, though as to why I can’t say.
“... I was thinking that we would postpone that decision until later. It would be for the best if we could see how you perform in the field before you sign yourself up for something like that, yes?” Her tone almost makes it less of a question and more of a statement.
I don’t get a chance to think it over anymore as the door opens, the sound of metal on metal heralding a man assembled in some sort of blue plate armor.
Individual plates interlock with one another, a sigil of some kind on both his faceguard and his chest, both silver. He has something on his back, whatever it is it’s clashing against the almost water-like smoothness of the rest of his armor.
“Armsmaster, you’re half an hour late.” The Director having turnt towards the man as he strides into the room, cutting off the potential to gauge her expression, but the general air of it all gives me the impression that it’s not a big deal.
“Sorry about that, the tinker tech turned out to be… worrying, there will be a meeting later with-” He looks up briefly at me before turning back to the Director. “multiple parties, i’d read up on the file we compiled of it.” The Director simply sighs, and then grunts as she leverages herself out of the chair. All that weight can’t be good if you don’t have the muscle to carry it, and she very much does not train from the looks of things.
“That up in arms over some footage?”
“Not just some footage, the tinker tech was found earlier today.”
She was halfway to the door at this point, her eyes turning around to look up at this ‘Armsmaster’, I've heard that name before, some sort of silent conversation going on between them. It ends with the Director nodding and walking out, the guards following suite, leaving Armsmaster behind. He looks up at me, his expression hard to gauge what with the metal faceguard he has but he does grin at me, a well groomed beard with some of the whitest teeth I've seen peeking out under the facemask.
“Maw was it?” He holds out his arm to shake hands, and I obliges by offering my claw. Without missing a beat he grabs the claw and gives it a squeeze from the looks of things, letting it go after a second or so has passed.
“The name’s Armsmaster, great to see you joining the Protectorate!”
… I passed the interview? When the hell did I…?
I look down at Jessica but she seems to be collecting the papers. I almost feel like asking, the fear of looking like I wasn’t paying attention instead winning and I decide to keep quiet, instead turning back to look down at Armsmaster.
“I will be your team leader during your time here in the ENE, hopefully it will be a long one.” He turns around, striding towards the panels that control the walls. ”We will be heading over to the Rig on foot, I’m certain you can keep up with me on my bike but uh.” He looks over his shoulder at me. “I don’t want to risk you trampling any cars on the way there, you don’t know any traffic rules after all.”
Traffic?
The process to get out of the garage was a bit more cumbersome this time, more people working during the day and all. I also got the opportunity to see Armsmaster send his ‘bike’ off without anyone on it, he called it a self driving program, I call it weird as hell.
Walking through the city proved to be both tedious and challenging, Armsmaster tried to inform me what we were going to be doing at this ‘Rig’ but with all the noise of the city being fully awake and there being several feet between us I couldn’t make out a word, which left me to just follow him as we walked. The challenging part was not stepping on the people that would suddenly run up to Armsmaster to get his signature, or autograph as they called it.
There was an equal amount of people that would just… walk under me, leading to me having to lift my leg as high up as I could in fear of knocking them over if I just walked normally. And then there were all the signs on the way, food, clothing, technology and other things to invite people into a shop or something else. I accidentally ate five signs with my chest and shoulders, leading to Armsmaster telling the signs owners that they would be compensated before moving on.
All in all it was tedious as hell. There was one upside to the whole process and that was the colors. There was so much… color. The buildings, the common person on the street, their ‘cars’, every single one displaying so many colors. Some of the buildings even had screens on them almost as big as me, displaying… I suppose products or wares but I couldn’t really gawk at them for long. Couldn't risk hurting someone while I walked through the streets, there was a part of me that was wondering why we didn’t do this at night and there was another part of me that assumed that Armsmaster knew what he was doing.
The crowd finally lessens, and my maws pick up that particular taste that only seawater has, there is a taste of rust and oil in there as well. Walking in silence with Armsmaster, painfully slow now that I can walk normally, is pleasant enough. Probably wasn’t that good for my back to hunch over all day, then again I heal.
A little while later and I can see the sea, still and surprisingly blue. The city comes around it, half moon style and then opens up on the… right…
sounds of chains against rock…
voices… young and old…
fog… branching out from the shoreline… how did it… through the w-
And then it’s gone again, just like earlier. For a brief second there’s something until there isn’t. The haze I had felt earlier permuting at the edge of my vision while I collect myself and by the time I’ve shaken off the wariness that the memories? had brought forth I can n longer recall what they were. Goddamned haze.
I look back down at Armsmaster, he’s a few meters away at this point but hasn’t noticed me stopping, instead striding towards some sort of building that lines the harbor. It stands out amongst the other buildings I can see around me, while they were not in a state of disrepair they weren’t gleaming like the structure we were heading towards. Armsmaster finally turns around to address me, and as he does I’m able to make out some sort of docking mechanism on the other side of the building, a guard post then.
“Maw!” Turning my eyes down at my boss I see him mounting the bicycle that had ridden off on its own earlier…
I’ll just roll with things from now on. As I get closer he looks up with a smile on his face “Ever heard of riding the rainbow?”
The mechanism flickers briefly, a steady hum starting up as light suddenly flares up, a myriad of different colors taking the shape of a bridge, following its trail I see it ending at some sort of raised structure in the middle of the sea. Guessing that that's where we're heading. “It’s made out of hard-light, you’ll be able to walk on it without any issues.”
Armsmaster rolls up to the bridge, his feet not having to move as the bicycle moves by itself.
Not questioning it.
And then starts driving up alongside the bridge made of light… not going to question it. I move to keep pace with him, placing my right foot as gently as I can on to the ‘hard’ light.
It’s almost like… glass. Solid yet fragile at the same time, at the very least in how it feels to walk on, echoes reverberate on it as I start walking on the ‘rainbow’ bridge.
I can see the waves under me as I walk, murky blue water and foam wrestling in unison as I trudge onwards.
“And this is going to be your quarters on the rig, a little barebones for the moment but that can be fixed.” Armsmaster finishes, left arm gesturing around the room. “There will be another minor power testing later, so for now you can simply rest here until they’re ready.” Great another one. “Tomorrow you will be looking at a crash course with the basics involving Protectorate duties as well as a meeting with the PR team.” Hells a pe ar?
“For the coming two weeks you will be mainly looking at basic training, or as basic as it can get in your case.” He rubs at his jawline. “As well as crash courses in the different situations you will encounter during your time as a Protectorate member, the laws primarily.”
I look around the room for a bit, the fact that I can actually stand at my full height makes me wonder what was originally supposed to be in here. The all metal interior only being broken up by the multitude of rags and cloths that they have assembled as a makeshift bed for me. That and the screen that they have set up for, wonder if it also showed penguins.
“Tell me.” My voice causes Armsmaster to finally look up, if he was inspecting the room or my feet I couldn’t tell. “Are two weeks of studying your laws enough?”
The question makes him smile, good, a leader that’s fine with people not knowing things. “You will enter the force as a trainee, and will spend one and a half year in practice alongside your studies, studies that we expect you to be able to keep up with, they aren't intensive. During this time you will primarily be patrolling with one of our more senior members, though there will be some cases where you might patrol with a junior member. We don’t expect you to be able to handle yourself after only two weeks of training, those weeks are mainly to help you prepare for the public.”
“Makes sense.” I think. My eyes roaming to inspect the lights, briefly musing if I’m supposed to call them ‘rainbow’ lamps, Armsmaster had let me know that they were capable of changing colors.
“Truth be told.” I look down at him again, seeing him resting against the wall to my left, the open garage door next to him letting me see the setting sun. “I would prefer if you spent those years just learning the laws in theory and then did practical work, and not together.” He heaves a sigh. “But… I- We can’t afford to hold back manpower so this is the compromise.” He pushes himself off the wall, giving me a wave and starts to move out of the… metal shed.
I haven’t even taken a step before he calls out one final time. “There will be a morning meeting tomorrow, I’ll guide you there and you can meet the rest of the group.”
I turn around, taking care not to let my shoulder take a bite out of the hanging lights, and give him a thumbs up, he takes the sign for what it is and moves into the main building, leaving me with my thoughts and the sunlight.
Actually… the same rules as the previous place should probably apply here as well…
Each step carried its way around the platform, big enough for me to actually walk around it to a degree, varying shades of orange marking the metal exterior of the base.
When we had arrived I hadn’t had the chance to look around much, Armsmaster having clearly been in a hurry for something, prioritizing showing me to my quarters.
The building that could be seen when I had made my way over the bridge had turned out to be built like a horseshoe, enclosing it on the tower that Armsmaster had entered with my quarters being on the left side's end.
It takes me about a few minutes to walk around the pier, finding a crane looking device, a raised platform with a massive H on the ground and boats that were nowhere near the water itself. Some parts of it were obviously older than the rest, fading color and different architecture being found in some places. Guessing that the whole thing used to be some sort of working station and then got turned into a fortress when it was needed. And it certainly was a fortress, around me that same glow that the generator I destroyed emitted, indicating that there was a wall of protection around the whole rig, with the only means of accessing it was with the light bridge. Magical, yet all the components of a fortress, walls and bridges of light situated in the middle of the sea…
I wonder how it was built initially, was it floating or did the legs go into the bottom of the sea?
I was peering over the edge of the platform, inspecting the bearings from the front when I hear something behind me, building’s in front of the entrance being opened. Ignoring it I keep looking at the bearings, noting where the waves crashed into, how the original colors seems to have been simply the steel itself and how the tower was a lot longer than one would think. Wonder how many people were inside of it.
“How’s the weather up there big man?”
The voice, coming from where I have my right knee planted, reveals itself to be a brown haired man clad in red, plates of armor around his shoulder and front that looks like they wouldn't even help against knives, his face veiled by a bug-like visor. The full body suit itself looks to have a leathery texture to it.
“... Windy.”
He breaks eye contact, placing his hands on his hips, puffing his chest up, trying to make himself bigger? “Not” He pauses, leaning forward. “Justicy?”
Who the hell is he supposed to be?
“That’s not a word.”
“Well when you're ready to dispense justice anything will seem just!” he thrusts his fist up in the air, the attempt to sound serious being ruined by sounding like he’s having a few screws loose, movement from the corner of my rightmost eye indicating that someone else is joining, yet I can’t really tear my eyes off the man next to me, a part of me being worried that he’s so close to the edge of the platform.
“For are we not sworn to defend the weak from the WICKED?” What am I watching? “IN THE DARKE-”
“Are you quoting triumvirate and friends?” A woman wearing lightning pajamas appears in my vision, having been hidden by my right arm.
Red man seems to deflate like a balloon. “What? No, that was Green Lantern. C’mon man you're supposed to know this.”
“Green Lantern?”
“The comic book!”
“Oh wow you actually read comics? Lame.” She turns away from him, the man throwing an arm over her shoulders.
“My name is Battery and this nerd.” She stops briefly, looking over at the man who is currently nodding along while looking at her. “is Assault. We are both looking forward to working with you.” She finishes with a smile while the man grins and salutes me, only to immediately turn to the woman.
“Looking forward to it then.” I go back to looking down into waves, briefly being distracted by the strange white birds that are resting on some of the railings. Their prattling continuing for some reason.
“You actually haven't read Green Lantern?”
“Why would I, It would be like if Piggot read books about directors in her spare time, I’m already a ‘superhero’”
“Battery I’m actually going to cry, why did you borrow my Aleph imported issue if you don’t read them!”
“Oh that? I use it to swat flies in my office.”
“You what?”
A sound akin to thunder is all the warning I get before they streak across the bridge, the man almost bouncing with each step and the woman looking more like a blue and white blur.
Not magic my ass.
Eventually I move back to my quarters, just in time for a young man to fetch me for the session. It wasn’t as noteworthy, mainly just moving some boxes and then sitting down as they tested various devices on me. They seemed impressed enough at the end of it all but I was mainly wondering about the upcoming ‘PR’ meeting.
At the end of it all I finally feel tired, trudging my way back up to my quarters has me actually using the bed, sleep claiming me for the first time since I woke up in that hole.
I wasn’t ready for the dreams that came.