Capítulo 2761: 6.2
A few hours after the encounter with the police I had arrived at the Rig. I called Dad telling him I'd be late home today, that they wanted to see me at work. He was clearly worried and if it were up to me I would've just sent him a text message. However with his lack of mobile phone that was rather impossible.
I shuffled nervously, wondering if I'd be punished for being so gung-ho about getting Lamps arrested. The cops were right I supposed. The thugs technically hadn't broken any rules yet, at least no laws that anyone could see. The police wanted proof and quite frankly I had none.
I hated it.
It reminded me too much about the situation with Sophia, with Madison, with Emma and all the other faceless bullies that put me down, it reminded me of the teachers and staff that let it slide...
Proof.
They knew something was wrong, that I was the victim. The cops were just like Mr Gladly.
"Vim?" A voice called. "You can go inside." A PRT trooper motioned for me to go past the scanners satisfied that I wasn't a Stranger or holding a bomb, not that they would know with my Inventory power I suppose. I nodded, grateful that I had been pulled from my thoughts. Every time I thought I was free from my old life as Taylor, something would remind me of it. Something negative would worm its way into my mind and just scream that I was still the same old person.
But I wasn't anymore was I?
I wasn't just Taylor.
I was now Vim.
I tried to draw strength from that knowledge for what would come next. I stood outside the labs where Armsmaster was awaiting me, no doubt to lecture me on protocol. As I had not been assigned to any patrols yet I hadn't been trained for proper field duty. I was woefully under equipped to be making any proper arrests as I had experienced earlier today.
I took another deep breath.
"Come on Vim, you're a badass." I assured myself. "I have the Veil, I can grow my powers by reading books and I can make healing potions…" Still, I couldn't touch the door, I almost felt that I couldn't handle the ridicule that would come from Armsmaster. He wasn't just a Hero to me anymore, not just a celebrity or a distant figure. He was MY Hero, my teacher, someone that I looked up to as a person now, a real tangible person.
I don't know why I mentally latched onto him so hard but here I was. Terrified of what he thought of me. Finally gaining the courage to press on I opened the door to find Armsmaster reading something from a computer.
"Armsmaster." The feminine voice of Dragon called out. "Vim has arrived." Looking up from his work Armsmaster smiled to me, no hint of malice on his face.
"Vim!" He called out. "We've been waiting for you!"
"You're not mad?" I asked hesitantly, confused but not quite unpleased by his tone.
"For what?" He asked. "The police report you mean?" I nodded and he shrugged in return. "While you technically broke some protocols, you hadn't done anything extreme like breaking the man's legs." He explained. "Honestly it's my fault for not having briefed you on proper procedure." Did he just apologize to me? It was so odd having an authority figure do that. "I've just been so focused on your powers that I've lost sight."
"He does that." Dragon added. "It's one of his admirable yet frustrating traits."
"Sooo…. I'm not in trouble?" He got up from where he was sitting and walked over to a plain white locker.
"Officially you're being reprimanded, you'll have to undergo punishment." He told me as he input a code. "Said punishment will be 'education' and since we were planning this anyways and since this was your first 'offense' it won't go on your record."
I almost felt guilty that I was getting off so easily but was glad that he was on my side. Opening up the locker he produced a small case with Dragon's green symbol on the side. Laying it on the table he pushed it over to me and crossed his arms.
"Go ahead." Armsmaster told me. "Open it." He seemed almost eager?
A present? No, he had returned from the Tinker review which meant that this was my steel armor? No, the case was too small for it, this was something else, something that came from Dragon if the logo had anything to do with it.
"Vim?" Armsmaster called out. Oh, right. I unlatched the case and it hissed, expelling a quickly evaporating mist. Inside was a fine red material with a black dragon emblazoned on it with golden trim. It wasn't Dragon's symbol that was on it though, it was the dragon that my steel gauntlets had!
It's tail, wings and overall shape were moulded to fit inside a diamond shape.
"You… you guys bought me a cape?" I asked bringing the cloth up to my eyes.
"A tabard actually." Dragon told me. "And technically we made it." Made it?
Armsmaster nodded with smile. "Do you like it?" He asked.
"I… I love it!" I took off my gloves to feel the material. "It's… really smooth, what's it made of?"
"Compound NC-99-" Armsmaster began before being interrupted by Dragon.
"It's Tinkertech." She said as if that explained everything.
"You guys are just GIVING me Tinker tech????" I dropped the tabard immediately. "But that must cost millions!"
"One and a half technically." Armsmaster clarified. That did not make this any better! "It's made using nanotechnology, you'll not find a finer weave then this. A side effect of some prototype technology I've been developing."
"Colin and I have been working on this for almost three days." Dragon told me. "Honestly the work is somewhat derivative, the basic idea had already been completed before we had even met you."
As amazing as this gift was, I simply couldn't accept it.
"Honestly Vim…" Armsmaster approached me picking up the tabard. "This is more for us then it is you." More for him? "Frankly your success is tied to mine, I brought you in so you're my responsibility, if your image is tarnished, if you allow yourself to be pushed around then that reflects poorly on me."
"Wait, so why aren't you mad about the cop thing?" I argued. "There were people with cameras there, they must think I'm a punch happy Cape, no better than the thugs! Run for your life or Vim will beat you half to death for stealing a single apple!"
"Is that what you think happened?" He replied. "Vim, in the last three hours someone had posted several pictures of you on the PHO in regards to that incident." My heart sank at that, once something was on the internet, it couldn't be removed. I'd be forever cursed as the overly aggressive Cape. They had police brutality, now they had Vim Brutality.
"The thread currently has over five thousand unique views and five hundred comments and that's only accounting for the original thread." Dragon announced. "It's still growing, they love you." Love? Me? Like that little girl?
An image appeared on screen displaying said comments.
Things like:
VIM IS A CUTE! A CUUUUUTE! Acutey?
That armor is really cool and she has a bow, any relation to Shadow Stalker? Can't wait to see her in action!
Isn't she the one who healed all those people awhile back with the Bakuda thing? Is she the next Panacea? Only difference is that Vim fights people! COMBAT MEDIC!
Hey, check this out guys [LINK] now look at this news article from a month back [LINK] if that mugshot is accurate then he's one of the guys who robbed my store! Hey Vim! Thanks for putting away this scum bag!
"These comments are curated." Dragon admitted. "But I think this represents public opinion of you in general. People around the world have taken notice, a side effect of the poor media attention that had been sustained recently."
It was hard to believe it. They thought I was doing the right thing? That I was really a Hero? But all I was doing was getting revenge on a bunch of people that were trying to rob me. There wasn't anything heroic about that at all!
"So you see Vim." Armsmaster spoke. "We aren't worried about your public relations at all, you still deserve this." I looked down at the tabard again and paused. "With Hero image here tarnished as it had been recently, the PRT I'm guessing are going to latch onto you, onto this bandwagon you've seemingly generated out of thin air, frankly this sort of occurrence is quite the blessing for us." So they were just going to take advantage of this? That's all I was? A convenient distraction for the public?
"Vim?" Dragon called. "No one is forcing you to wear it if you don't want…. We can put it away."
"What happened yesterday?" I asked them. "You're telling me that the Heroes image was tarnished and I heard that the Undersiders were involved. What happened?"
"You hadn't been updated?" Armsmaster asked.
"Colin, I believe that was your duty to do so." Dragon told him. "Long story short, the Undersiders ambushed the collective Wards and Heroes, disabling them all in containment foam." She paused. "Investigation on where they got it all is ongoing…."
The Undersiders again?
"Colin has really been too focused on your Tinker tech as of late." Dragon lightly teased him. Armsmaster looked down scratching his neck in embarrassment.
"It's not a bad thing to put all your effort into your work." He argued weakly.
And that was why I hadn't just closed the case with the tabard still inside. They worked really hard on this, just for me.
Silence crept through the room but eventually I made my decision.
"I can't." I began. "I can't wear this with leather armor, I'll need the steel back."
Armsmaster nodded with approval. "We have it in the storage area." Storage area? Wait a second.
"Does that mean I get to ride the segway again?"
"Uhh." He hesitated. "The use of the segway is technically reserved for whenever you move large amounts of-"
"Colin, let her ride the damn segway." Dragon intervened. I smiled noting that she had been using his real name for some time now despite wearing his helmet.
TO THE SEGWAY! Wait…
"Where is the segway anyways?" I asked.
Armsmaster simply exhaled, defeated and outnumbered by the females in the room… well, females present? How would I count Dragon in this situation? Outnumbered by the females in this conversation?
Yup! That worked.
"I'll get someone to fetch it, I have to put out some paperwork before you can use it, besides I already had to go through it to access your armor, one more page won't be any trouble." If I didn't know him any better I would've sworn that he was complaining. "And of course with the revelation that you use a bow, we'll have to request some Tinker Tech arrows…" I was pretty sure I told him about the bow as well at one point.
Dragon wasn't kidding, he had been distracted lately.
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Eventually I had my armor, my segway and a smile upon my face. Frankly life was good. No more stupid triangle!
The Tinker Tech arrows were still being made and delivered though. Apparently they were 'Mass produced' or as close to being mass produced as Tinker Tech could be. I wasn't the only Hero to use a bow and arrow after all.
"Why can't I just borrow some of Shadow Stalker's arrows?" I asked as I sped across the hallways on the Vimobile.
"Arrows?" Armsmaster looked up from his clipboard as he walked alongside me. "She uses crossbow bolts, two different things… Speaking of which we'll be having you do some archery training."
"You're going to teach me how to shoot a bow?"
"Shoot an arrow with a bow." He corrected me. "And no, we're having Miss Militia do that." Oh, that made sense. Despite being a Master at Arms he usually seemed to specialise in melee weapons. There was the occasional video showing him shooting a dart or something similar from his Halberd but for the most part he was a WHACK THEM IN THE FACE kind of Hero. Having Miss Militia, a shooty hero teach me how to shoot made a lot more sense.
I tilted my head with a thought. There used to rumours about those two dating. Afterall they were both Capes who specialised in weaponry. A common story involved them working on their respective weapons late into the night with only a single lamp of light between them. Then they would reach for the same wrench and find their hands touching. Blushing, stammering and confessions of love would ensue.
Of course the fantasies were dashed once it was confirmed that Miss Militia's weapons required no maintenance. Kind of obvious in hindsight but shippers were weird like that. At least it wasn't as bad as the Kid Win/Armsmaster theories, those were creepy. I'd be happy to stick with Armsmaster/Dragon thank you very much.
Entering the training room I found not just Miss Militia already there but also the rest of the Wards minus Browbeat. Where was he anyways? I glanced around for his muscled form. The only oddity that stood out to me was the way that Shadow Stalker was trying her best not to look my way. It was a large gym like room, not too different from the power testing room minus the glass viewing areas.
"Ah good, you're here Vim." Miss Militia called out. I glanced over to Armsmaster.
"Wards training." He told me. "I figured we could get you trained up with a bow at the same time." I produced my weapon with a smile.
"Oh wow!!" Clockblocker called out. "New costume! I like it!"
"It's pretty cool." Vista complimented me.
"Did you make it yourself?" Asked Kid Win literally hovering over us.
"Not too heavy?" Asked Aegis looking me up and down.
"Okay guys, let's give her a bit of room." Gallant called out politely, ever the shining knight. Oh that reminded me.
"Hey Gallant!" I called from atop my Segway. "You wouldn't mind having a shield would you?"
"A shield?" He asked. "Never thought about it, why? Did you make one for me?"
I nodded. "Yeah, have a look!" Pulling out the steel shield I handed it over to him.
"Huh, it looks nice but I don't think it'll work." He began. "I mean, nothing wrong with it, it's great! I'm just saying that the wood bits don't match the high tech knight look I have."
He was right, the shield did clash with his image. I deflated. I took the shield back and stashed it away into my inventory. Gallant looked like he was going to say something but someone else beat him to the punch.
"Hey uh…." Shadow Stalker piped up. "I think it matches you fine though….." I hadn't really intended to use the shield myself but if Shadow Stalker thought it looked nice then who was I to say no? I didn't want to discourage her comments after all. At the same time though, I wanted to use my bow. Time to change the subject.
"Where's Browbeat anyways?" I asked.
"His parents." Kid Win winced answering for us. "They saw what happened at the debut and got real panicked and pulled him temporarily from the Wards, hell my folks were pretty worried to." The other Wards nodded in varying degrees of understanding. "The only reason mine let me stay is because none of us really got hurt."
"He should return next week" Miss Militia pointed out. "Browbeat's parents just want him to take a break, let him fade into the background before letting him out into the public eye again."
"Well I see you have this under control." Armsmaster nodded. "I'll leave the Wards to you, I have some paperwork to catch up on." Turning around he left.
"Okay." Miss Militia began. "I want everyone to take three laps around the gym, last person to finish takes console duty for the next shift." Well that was heavily skewed in favor of the Mover heroes. "And-" Before she could continue I was off, I'd need the extra time to beat Kid Win's hover board or Vista's silly take a million steps at the cost of one cheat.
"WHOO! SEGWAY!" I shouted as I took the lead. The rest of the Wards were stunned for a moment but quickly recovered diving into action. Despite my initial lead they managed to either match my speed or outright beat me within moments. It struck me that running on foot might've been quicker.
Hmmm, looks like I'd need to get the Vimobile upgraded.
*Clank clank clank!*
And now I was eating Gallant's dust, the slowest Ward in the group besides me and Clockblocker.
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Miss Militia POV
The sudden start that Vim had made followed by the rest of Wards dashing off had left me stunned. Despite my many years as a Hero and as a survivor of many conflicts I was still caught surprised. Internally I scolded myself, this is how we were caught out by the Undersiders yesterday. Just because we thought we were safe, just because it was a harmless photoshoot, just because I was in the heart of the Rig didn't mean I could just drop my guard.
"So Miss." Clockblocker stood by me as the rest of the Wards caught up with Vim. "What were you going to tell them?"
".... I was going to say no powers or vehicles allowed." It was mostly for Kid Win and his hoverboard more so than the segway which only had a top speed of about 12 miles per hour. That and it wasn't exercise if you got the machine to do all the work for you. Honestly they should've known better but it seemed that Vim had a way of getting people to follow her lead.
"Fucking Tinkers." Clockblocker nodded sagely. "Well, I'm gonna just lay down until they get back."
I couldn't find it in myself to disagree or reprimand the Ward for swearing. Hell, I couldn't even bring myself to tell him to get running, this was already a mockery of a training session. I promised that I'd bring them in after the first lap.
"I can't tell if Vim is a bad or good influence…" I mumbled smiling. Despite the promise I made to myself in terms of never dropping my guard I could tell that the kids couldn't do that, not without stress. Let them have their fun for now. After the incident they needed it. Despite what happened to me in my youth I had to remind myself that they weren't soldiers and if I had anything to do with it then they never would be.
It then struck me how much Vim reminded me of another Cape.
"This is Mouse Protector all over again…" I could only pray that those two would never meet.
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Two bonus pictures below! The second picture is more of an errant scribble that's only semi-canon but I had fun making them both regardless.
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