Defiant's motorcycle roared through the streets of downtown, the road in front of him illuminated by a single high-powered LED lamp. The onboard fusion reactor hummed beneath his legs, as the synthetic tires ate up the distance beneath him. Tonight was his first night out on a real patrol, and it seemed pretty quiet. A chirp from his onboard radio signaled he had an incoming call. Flicking his eyes to the corner of his H.U.D. for a second to pick up the call, he decelerated a bit and pulled to the side of the road.

"Hey Honey, how's the weather in Metro City?"

"It's nice Rae, clear night, nothing so far. I'll give it two more hours then come home."

"Ok, I'll make sure Dragon makes you something to grab before bed. Call me when you're on your way back. Bye!"

"Bye."

*click*

Defiant chucked to himself as he turned onto a side street to continue his patrol route, scanning the shopfronts before him as he cruised along. While the headlight helped, his night vision cameras did just as much. The headlight was so that other drivers knew where he was and didn't accidentally hit him. His radio crackled to life with a quick burst of static before solidifying into a clear female voice.

"Defiant, parahuman crime two miles from your location, sending route to your HUD."

An illuminated track appeared before him, as he gunned the engine to race along it. Traffic was light at this hour, but a quick glance at his map indicated he would have to briefly drive on the highway.

"Copy that, Dragon, moving to respond. Situation report."

"Local cell phone footage and police radio indicate villain known as "Blister" is attempting to rob an armored car transport for some of the local businesses. Police are on scene but are being forced back."

"Capabilities?"

"Blister is rated as Blaster 6, Mover 4, Shaker 3 currently. Powers are exploding fireballs, low velocity flight, and a thermal aura with a radius of about 2 meters."

"Copy that, current ETA for myself and police backup?"

"Five minutes for yourself, ten for police."

"Thank you, Dragon, see you on the other side."

"Good luck Defiant."

The radio cut out with a *click*. As he raced to the crime scene Defiant mulled over how he was finally going to accomplish his dream since he was a kid. Over the years he had developed many amazing and wondrous devices, some of which he sold to raise funds for his own heroing. His policy on sold technology was to make it just like Worm Tinkertech, heavily black boxed to prevent replicability, and with a very short shelf life. Though his two greatest moments were his creation of Dragon, and his marrying of Rae. He was jolted from his reverie by the sound of an explosion up ahead. Seeing the light of the blasts and the glow of police sirens, he prepared to engage. He slipped his Halberd off his back and into his right hand, and ran a quick diagnostic on his armor. Finding it satisfactory, he checked his containment foam levels and made sure he had a bottle of dissolving solution to give to the police. Finally, he cycled the magazine on his dart launcher to tranquilizer.

Preparations complete, and arriving on the scene, he brought the bike screeching to a halt and leaped off. Currently Blister was hovering about three meters off the ground and dual wielding his fireballs, using one hand to lob them at the police and force them to cover, and the other to blast the doors of the van, which were already glowing red and heavily dented. His heat aura was keeping the police at range and blurred his exact position, making shooting him even more difficult. As he saw Defiant run up he chucked a fireball at him, which whizzed overhead and exploded behind him.

Wasting no time, Defiant leapt into action, his boots pounding against the pavement as his armor's servos whined. He jinked left, then right to dodge the next two fireballs launched at him, just managing to escape their blast radii. Pressing a switch on his halberd, a small sphere appeared at the tip, connected to a long, thin chain. The sphere expanded to about the size of a softball, as Defiant began to twirl the end, spinning the now-deployed flail around his head. With a few quick eye movements, he adjusted the mass for knockback, and swung the flail right into the haze. While he couldn't see much using the electromagnetic spectrum due to the heat haze, his suit also had a sonar suite, so he knew roughly where his opponent was. The end whistled through the air, before sending Blister flying with a *whump*. While Blister was stunned, Defiant closed the distance, and clicked the end of his halberd down, forming a stock, while a pistol grip and trigger slid down from the center. Sighting along the rear spike, he double checked the ammo he was using, then fired a tranquilizer dart into the center of the haze. A quick cry of pain echoed and Blister's outline flinched, before the haze faded, revealing the exact location a sleeping Blister.

"Son, I'm going to need you to step away from the criminal with your hands on your head."

Defiant turned around to see an entire line of cops pointing their weapons at him, one of them behind the lines wielding a megaphone.

"Might I ask why?"

"That was very reckless of you, plus I'm pretty sure that counts as assault and battery."

"That would be nice, but according to the Atlas Act of 1985, I was well within my rights to do so."

"Son, that law only applies to Supers, and after the Metahuman Ban, I can't see how you could get out of this either way."

"Easily, actually. The Atlas Act allows any 'person of sufficient strength so as to exceed that of present law enforcement' to aid in the stopping of a crime. However, the Metahuman Ban only applies to persons with 'abilities beyond the scope of human physiology'. Officer, under my armor, I'm just a really intelligent and well-trained human, carrying around enough equipment to provide me with enough strength to be counted under the Atlas Act. So I'll leave Blister in your capable hands, and I'll be on my way."

"Ok. Boys, let him through."

"Yes, sir."

As the officers lowered their weapons and approached the sleeping blister, Defiant turned back to the sergeant.

"The tranquilizer should wear off in about an hour and has no known side effects."

The officer nodded, then spoke up,

"Son, what's your name?"

"Defiant."

And with that, Defiant mounted his motorcycle and resumed his patrol.

One and a Half Hours Later:

Defiant rode his motorcycle up a metal ramp and into the hull of a small jet, its engine outlets angled downwards for landing. As he stoped and got off, metal clamps emerged from the floor and secured the bike. Taking off his helmet as the ramp raised itself behind him and the engines roared to life, he walked through the doors at the front of the cargo bay and into a small suite.

The female voice from earlier chirped, "Good evening, Defiant."

"Good evening to you too Dragon, what's our estimated arrival time?"

"Current projections put us arriving at Nomanisan Island by 11:00 p.m. At your wife's request, I have prepared you a light meal before bed. She also insists that you call her as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Dragon, I'm going to do that as soon as I get my armor off."

Pulling a small lever by his hip, Defiant reached around to a second panel that opened up near his armpit and pressed a release switch there. With a whir of servos and a slight hydraulic hiss, the front of the armor unfolded like a work of origami, allowing William, formerly Buddy, Pines, aspiring hero, to step out. Freed from his armor, and with robotic arms securing it in the corner, Robert took a seat by the table and pulled up a holographic screen. Tapping in a password and number, he listened to the ringing of the phone.

"Hey Will, are you done for the night, and did anything interesting come up?"

"Yep, Dragon says I'll be back around eleven. There wasn't much tonight, mostly a few robberies and muggings I stepped in on, the only big event being a mid-ranked blaster trying to rob an armored car."

"Really? Which one?"

"Blister, you can look him up later, plus I've got an idea for new defenses I can install on the Island from how his attacks worked."

"That's nice dear, do remember to come out of your lab once in a while."

"I could say the same to you, see you at 11. Love you."

"Love you too, bye."

William relaxed back in the chair.

He dreamily thought, 'How did I ever manage to get a girl like her.'

His thoughts wandered back to when they first met, back in his Sophomore year in College. Both of them were studying engineering, with her planning to continue on to medical school. Both of them were in the same advanced chemistry class. He met her early on in the year, when no one else wanted to do labs with them. As the year wore on, they grew closer together, and she opened up to him, explaining why no one interacted with her. She had always been obsessed with medicine, reading everything she could get her hands on. Her parents had separated when she was younger, and she moved between their houses. One day, while she was at her father's house, he suffered an attack of a rare medical condition, collapsing to the floor. She called 911 and tried CPR, but was unable to get it to work. Remembering everything she knew, and realizing that CPR wouldn't be able to work in this situation, she leapt into action. As she told her tale, William was reminded very much of the biotinker Bonesaw. Much like Bonesaw, she was left alone in a house, forced to do something she never tried before to save the only family there. Rae wound up saving her father's life, but permanently disfigured him in the process. Word got out to her classmates, and being the children they were, they criticized her for it, isolating her. She thought she would have a new start in college, but another student from her school came with her, and the rumor mill started up again. As she moved to continue, William cut her off, and told her his own story. Like her he was also isolated because of something he did with his intellect. He told her stories of how he had had few friends in high school and even fewer now, because he spent so much of his time working on his tech. They continued to swap stories, which then turned to talking shop on chemical compounds. Over the years, they dated, then eventually married after college, moving to Nomanisan a couple years later, once William's tech business really took off.

He had shown her the story of Worm and told her of his dream. Surprisingly, she decided to hero together with him, taking up the mantle of Chirurgeon, the surgeon without peer.

Author's Note: So I realized it had been a while and I decided to update. I don't like how the ending turned out completely, but I needed some exposition. I'm going to put the same warning I did over on my first fic, my writing usually gets worse as a story goes on, be ready in case that happens.

So yeah, Buddy gets a teammate. I decided to bring over four to five capes from Worm, Dragon, Defiant, Bonesaw, Kid Win, and possibly String Theory. With the latter two being Robert and Rae's kids, because if the Incredibles can be a super family, so too can the tinkers.

As always, please read, rate and review.