Titanfall 32

Lacey contemplated Danny, then Taylor, then Henni. She huffed and slumped in her seat in the arena. The kids were still in the giant tent in the parking lot. Clark bots with giant rifles and ball drones watched the crowds. The very respectful crowd. Not something unexpected as thirteen Titans stood around the floor of the Arena where the competition was going to occur. One of them truly enormous.

She looked around the top row, Media booths jammed completely full. Foreign media even. Under them VIP or corporate booths fuller than she had ever seen them. On the floor Armsmaster and a dozen PRT geeks in lab coats handling what had to be fifteen thousand pounds of sensors and equipment.

All of this and it was round one of the ten county, so ten competitor, well, fifteen if you counted the diocese or parochial schools, State competition. They would down select today after two minutes in each type of event, dance, cheer, all the types of dance really, ballet, hip hop, modern, freestyle, and then tomorrow would be much longer routines from four competitors.

The giant four sided monitor above their heads was a picture in picture of Arcadia, so Rockingham counties, warm up. The tent had the Arcadia team as well as Immaculata in it. Hey what were the other schools doing for a warm up area?

Shit this was nerve wracking. Did she want to put herself through this? Sure as she had a daughter her big sister Taylor would take her over. And along with Taylor came a host, a literal fucking host, of normal and parahumans. Fucking Henni! It wouldn't be better for a boy either. He would be a three season athlete or a fucking spelling, math and science bee competitor, maybe all of that. Which all held their competitions here, of course. Though the place was a giant echo chamber then, not a standing room only fifty thousand seat rock concert. Damn!

Fucked if Henni wasn't right though. And Taylor was specfuckingtacular. Plus Amy was right there and had already checked her and Kurt. Hell tuned them up even. Little witch. Everyone Taylor knew got a tune up. Now Betty and Riley were getting in on the act.

Phhttt Aunt Riley. 'Yeah my aunt is Bonesaw, so you got something to say?' Lacey sighed, then the punches or mazer fire would start. Fucking Henni! And Kurt! The fuck was still sitting there with that shit eating grin he had gotten when Henni had brought it up. Not even the decency to look terrified like Danny did. Hey wait a minute! "Danny! You don't think I can raise a kid?" Danny put his face in his hands. Lacey turned to Henni "And you. How about a sister for Taylor." Lacey blinked at the smirk from Henni and groan from Danny. "Well, OK then. Now shhh here we go." She nodded to the floor.

On the floor a white haired gentleman in a tux had stepped to the center of the sprung floor as the PRT had cleared off. Armsmaster had nodded and a microphone lowered from the four sided giant TV "Let's get ready to rumble!" In a deep resonate voice. He drew out the rumble. Everyone sat up and looked at each other for a minute. As the base beat came in and then with Arcadia taking the floor he introduced them like professional fighters as Low played with the lyrics appearing on the jumbotrons. The crowd roared them. It was shattering. Somehow the announcer's voice was audible as he read the names and each member of the team danced out and then to the corner he had sent them too.

Silence fell and then the announcer introduced Lancaster Central High schools Wildcats to Hollaback Girl. They had won, lost maybe, the toss and were in the time slot up against the 'home' team. Arcadia roared the song and cheered them madly. The Wildcats beamed at them. They had already met most of them as Amy, Betty, and Riley, along with several medical professionals checked them. Amy and the others keeping it from being invasive. The Wildcats were a bit infatuated and determined to show as well as possible.

As the announcer read of some rules and cautioned the audience about behavior, rather ruefully as the crowd was really amped up, in the media booths the commentators got ready and did the last of their pieces to camera. Then ABC ran their old Wide World of Sports lead in, which appeared on the jumbotron with updated video from dance competitions. The agony of defeat section being a flyer with a broken leg sobered everyone right up. As compound fractures do really.

The introduced the judges and the teams left the floor as the lights dimmed. Then some music came up and Arcadia JV Cheer took the floor. The crowd roared.

Titanfall

"Colin, are you watching the competition?" Dragon asked with a smile in her voice. She knew, very well, what was on his HUD.

"External Security is very tight. We had little time to deeply vet all these dancers however."

Dragon nodded in another image in his HUD and the suit beside him "Yes, I think BT probably won't have much trouble with school children though. Especially as the titans are within feet of the floor. And yourself as well. You can look with your eyes though."

"The cameras provide a synergized view, really the best seat in the house is the floor and flying camera feed. Perhaps better than Uber and Leets snitch even."

Dragon nodded again tracking the snitch. Uber and Leet were in a booth with Tattletale. Rune and Shadow Stalker were up near the ceiling orbiting on a sheet of armor plate painted flat black. Hellhound and a pack of dogs was wandering in the crowd with Assault and Battery as her escorts. Sveta and Riley were in their titans. "The chatter dropped to essentially zero."

Armsmaster grunted "And that is why I am worried." Dragon nodded, she and BT were as well.

Titanfall

Mondays PRT Leadership teleconference meeting found a smiling Emily. Director Armstrong snorted "M and S for you East North East. What has you so happy?"

Director Treviso from East South East groaned "I get the next Simurgh attack."

Director Wilson from New York barked a laugh "Be glad, At least you don't have buildings growing out of the ground and hooking themselves to the power grid that is improving itself. Buildings that confoam people trying to break into them? Did I miss a meeting? Where the hell are they getting water towers full of confoam components? You know the City government is in a panic. They had all that open space they have been infighting over for years, now the owners have the buildings back. Panic might actually be too mild a word. Open warfare in City Hall is more like it. Not sure it wasn't better when the Elite had most of them in its pocket."

Meredith nodded "Speaking of normal," she waited on the rueful laugh to die down "We will be pulling Strike teams and Protectorate Members from Brockton Bay beginning at the end of this week. As it is they have a few more things to investigate, but East North East has become the most settled region and we really need to get on with this new normal."

One of the Directors from the Plains regions nodded "The new normal being Parahumans turning themselves in and the investigations that go with all of that. Along with dirty PRT Personnel and two Protectorate members."

The Director to his north nodded "And helping the local Police investigate the ones that turn themselves in to them after checking them for Simurgh effects."

Emily nodded "My thinker has looked at the reports. She doesn't think that is all. She thinks some of them are disappearing. Plus there has been a significant increase in Law Enforcement finding bodies."

Meredith nodded "Which upon investigation, have so far been serial killers, rapist, and violent pedophiles. Interesting, the evidence appears with them, but not ultimately in our purview for the most part."

Emily nodded "The Triumvirate is continuing their reign of terror."

Meredith nodded "They have scaled back to those with kill orders however."

Director Armstrong looked at Emily "What does Tattletale say about Eidolon? Hunch has, well, a hunch."

Emily shrugged "That his power made the Endbringers, or called them rather. They were already made. As reported from our debriefings with Ziz, there are twenty of them that she knows of. Obviously not all of them could be here, as there wouldn't be a planet anymore, whether from their effects or BT doing something permanent to them. We don't really have the facility to check other worlds but apparently only the three are active. Though even Ziz gets suspicious about the time manipulating one. It's a bit of a prankster apparently."

Director Treviso shook his head "Great, a troll Endbringer. Although to me that means I could wake up and all of this will have been a dream."

Meredith tapped a part of her desk and a report came up on the conference. Emily nodded "Unknown Parahuman from Concord. He tried to be a bit forceful with Operator."

"When will he be whole enough to go to the asylum, I mean really, he has to be mad?" Armstrong asked.

Emily nodded "Our thoughts as well. He is in a cell, whole, for a given value of whole. Panacea turned him into what my scientist tell me is an amphibian. Or his power did when she was trying to turn him into a frog. He already had some aspects, the slight green tinge of his skin and jumping ability for example. Now he has gills, or rather the things salamanders have. He seems pleased actually. We are waiting on his psychological workup. His parents apologized profusely. Anyway, Panacea cured him of the ruptured testicle Kim Song gave him."

Armstrong nodded "And Hot Saw?"

Emily snorted "Ninety seven pounds of pissed off Asian dancer does not a parahuman make, no matter what the PHO boards are opining. She isn't a Parahuman. She doesn't remember a trigger event. She is just a mover zero. half of those blows were her kicking him, along with punching him."

Armstrong frowned "Ninety seven? That's a bit high, girl is tiny. Gravity manipulation could account for that, a shaker maybe? Was she scanned?"

Emily shook her head "She declined, besides she is very definitely in Operators camp. No way to force her either, clearly defense of others, Yes, muscle is apparently heavier than fat. As she appears to be all muscle, organs, and bones..." Emily shrugged.

Meredith nodded "Its still assault. And with that tongue of his its assault with a parahuman power. He goes to the barracks. Perhaps the one in Kansas though. I have reviewed the video. I don't like that look Ziz had on her face. BT only didn't vaporize him because he had jumped in the middle of that crowd of girls and Hot Saw was all over him."

Emily shrugged "We will try to get the prosecutor to release the case to us. As it was televised and he is over eighteen it's a bit of an issue. They want to try him as an adult and add a sexual assault charge. As it is the team is disqualified as they hadn't listed any parahumans, they had already not made the cut. Lancaster Central and Arcadia dominated. Lancaster Central being the runner-up was a bit of a surprise all around really. That team is most of the kids in their school and the rest are in support for the team, wardrobe, props, music, all of that. Still they get a trip to Disney and apparently get to hang out with Arcadia's team on weekends for joint practices.

Immaculata took the parochial division but really that wasn't a surprise. Though Arcadia and Lancaster leading the crowd in cheering for them was interesting. Concord Catholic, the senior parochial school from the capitol, certainly didn't appreciate it much. Especially the Arcadia band being in the crowd and doing that flash mob band thing."

Creek, The plains region director nodded "Probably like that with all their teams and play iron man ball. The same eleven guys play both sides of the ball. All these small towns are like that."

"OK, last issue for East North East, Yoda and Bookmaker? While they aren't out, their act while the floor was reset certainly got everyone's attention." Meredith tapped another spot and a different report came up.

Emily nodded "Good rapport with Miss Militia, their parents as well. Operator sort of folded them into her group. They scare the crap out of the former Empire and frustrate Tattletale no end. Registered associates for now, maybe Wards later."

Titanfall

Taylor looked at the tight phalanx of girls and drones and rolled her eyes. "He hit me in the cheek with his tongue."

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr."

She sighed at the synchronous growl from Amy and Song. "So going to take a while to wear off then."

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr."

Taylor tossed up her hands.

Titanfall

"So she can be touched at least." Animos watched the news segment again.

Hemorraghia and Vex leaned away from him and the arrow took him right through the body pinning him to the chair he had been sitting in in the living room of the house they had taken.

Titanfall

Mother Mathers watched the news and contemplated what they should do. Obviously they needed to find out if this was really the Simurgh. White Hair, Pale skin, super brute, but she didn't make the joyful noise. The Crowley's and McVeigh's were all but wiped out. Even the Mathers clan had taken pretty severe hits. She needed to get someone close. A female though? These girls seemed to let anyone in, as long as they were female. Young girls were like that. They were much more selective in the boys they kept company with. Hmm. Jimmy Wayne had those twins. A boy and a girl. They were about the right age. Good power set too. Master, not very high rated but getting better, and a Stranger that could project her power. Might take a long con and those two were smart and didn't have a record.

She spat into the spittoon beside her cane bottom rocker and looked at her son "Go get me Jimmy Wayne's youngest Elijah."

Valefor shuddered, those two would be fucking, each other or somebody else, like always. He had told Jimmy Wayne. The idiot had laughed, made some comment about increasing the flock. Plus they were fucking vicious and would be damn near impossible to find. He would have to bribe them out again. With their momma run off like she had they had run wild. It was a mistake to send them too. They still had that damn movie in their heads Inglourious Basterds, how the fuck they had gotten that bootleg copy of an Aleph film was beyond him. 'Cousin, Business is a boomin' from Jane. Standing there naked as the day she was born with her brother passed out naked on the bed. How did she think she was Brad Pitt. Her brother Carl Wayne? Maybe, that boy was so pretty. But one of them was a girl for Simurgh's sake, though she didn't think so apparently, and Brockton Bay was full of Nazi's. "I can take someone and go Momma."

"What did I say Elijah?"

"Yes Ma'am."

Titanfall

"Song is waiting us out."

Amy looked at Taylor after her comment and grinned "Might not be as long a wait as she thinks."

"Oh my god Amy! What the hell has gotten into you? I told you the first day we met."

"Second I think, maybe third. So you don't like her Taylor?"

"Uh, no, well, I like her. I don't like like her though."

Amy looked at her and giggled, then rolled around on the bed laughing. She sat up eventually. "It's like middle school." Taylor huffed. "OK, adult time for a minute, the Teeth and the Fallen?"

Taylor shrugged "The Teeth seem to be whacking each other. The Fallen are really just the Mathers now. BT is watching them. This girl, Jane, skeeves me out though."

Amy nodded "Yeah, A mini Aldo Raine? More a problem for the Nazi's than us maybe. We'll have to talk to Yoda and Bookmaker. Let's see what Miss All American Soldier makes of a wampa and some ackley."

Taylor snickered "Shadow Stalker hates those things."

"Is terrified of them you mean. I thought she was going to pee in her pants when those ones clambered up in the rafters." Amy grinned. She still had a bit of a grudge against Shadow Stalker and couldn't get to her. Taylor had apparently put it behind her. Which was fine. Good even. Some time in the barracks in no way made up for torturing her girlfriend into triggering. Permanently locked in her shadow form with a solar panel hooked to her head was a good idea though. Now she just needed to work with Riley a bit more to understand how to do it for sure.

"Nice of your mom to let you stay here when you are grounded."

"Well, she had to do something, I mean I was trying to turn that guy into a frog. Song beating the shit out of him and his power wanting him to be some kind of Amphibian were a little much for me with you wiping the slime off and retching."

"He must eat like dead flies It smelled horrible." Taylor scowled.

"Hot Saw." Amy snickered.

"The Operator team Shot caller." They both laughed.

Danny leaned on the open door frame "Laugh it up funny girls. Lung called her that." The girls sobered and he nodded.

Taylor was thoughtful a moment "Ryuu likes her so it's probably OK. She can always step on her dad."

Amy agreed "Literally, or jump across most of Asia town and land on him. Plus I can still drop him."

Henni leaned on Danny "Matchmaker apparently thinks she is too young. And too Operator."

Taylor nodded then grinned "So Aunt Lacey?"

Henni pushed off of Danny and came and sat on the bed. Danny fled. He knew a girl talk huddle when he saw one. In his bedroom he asked "The Mathers? The Teeth?"

The ball drone roll nodded "Under observation, unless I lose them they won't be a problem, they wouldn't be much of a problem then, and I have updated the drones issued to the family to sense strangers. The Master is slightly worrying but only slightly, I run the check program continuously. The Butcher can be put in orbit, the device is ready. After that the rest of the Teeth are a law enforcement issue. One I am already working on."

"We talked about the sun."

"Perhaps another star Danny, I am not yet ready to evacuate this planet in case a parahuman power destabilized it and sent it nova."

"You can't believe all that stuff on the tinfoil hat forums BT."

"Some of the theories have surprising amounts of thought and until we prove them one way or the other I would prefer to err on the side of caution, at least for another two hundred and eleven days."

"Wow, an ark in less than a year. Nice work BT."