A/N: This is my first fanfiction. It's probably a piece of shit, seeing as I cobbled it together in one sitting, but you have to start somewhere after all. Please feel free to review, correct any mistakes, or leave some tips for an aspiring writer.

I do not own either Worm or Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

-()-

April 11th, 2011, Just after midnight

Jolyne's Aquarium, The Docks

It wasn't even three days since I finished moving the marine life from my last aquarium in Florida to my newest aquarium after my transfer to Brockton Bay that I received an emergency message on my battered PRT issue cell phone. Pulling the old piece of junk out of my coat pocket, I read the broadcast with an urgent haste. Good grief. I knew Brockton Bay was bad but it hasn't even been a week since I got here!

With Lung apparently going on a rampage, I was the closest Hero as my aquarium was located on the Docks. Grumbling to myself, I slipped the beak-like mask over my mouth and nose, leaving my eyes unveiled. It always has to be me, doesn't it? Whether I liked it or not, it is my job to deal with unruly supervillains. The fact that my aquarium was at risk didn't slow me down either.

Finishing strapping the body armor to my chest, back, arms, and legs, I slid my right arm through the red coat sleeve and then my left arm through. The red, calf-length coat was decorated with red, metallic bird feathers. I have been told that the feathers were modeled after cardinal tail feathers, but that never did matter too much to me. The coattails looked like two wing-like lengths. Whenever I Stand-Jumped, the coattails would flare out behind me to mimic a bird gliding through the air.

After spending around half a minute adjusting the coat, I grabbed the red, torn-at-the-back cap hanging from the wooden hat tree in my office. The forward-facing, angry cardinal pin sat above the visor as always, looking as if it might engage in battle at any moment. Placing it snugly on my head, I was ready to head out.

As I had just finished moving the life in, the aquarium did not yet have any employees besides myself. I maneuvered my way through a small wall of cardboard boxes filled with various scientific devices, noting that I still needed to move the boxes into the lab, or at least into storage.

I passed by the turtle that I had named Polnareff, he was one of the first animals that I had received after I arrived in this god forsaken hellhole. After I said my goodbyes to Polnareff, I entered the main reception area. The globe carpet was covered with images of marine life in the oceans and seas that they would be found in along with a blurb about the life found in each area. The leftmost wall had a mural of schools of fish swimming with sharks and other marine life. The right side had many different pamphlets to be taken along with maps of the aquarium.

I pushed open the aquarium entrance and stepped out into Brockton Bay for the first time in the capacity of a hero. It wasn't very difficult to determine where Lung's rampage was by using my phone's map system. It seemed that Lung was only a few blocks away. Brockton Bay wasn't the tallest of cities, or atleast the Docks weren't. Most of the buildings were two or three stories tall, easily accessible via Stand-Jumping with Star Platinum.

Approaching the nearest warehouse, I manifested Star Platinum's legs. The giant, purple legs were more than enough to propel me to the top of the warehouse with little trouble. I had managed to jump up to four stories in the past, so two stories was no trouble at all.

It was easy enough to see Lung in the distance, as he was flinging flames with little restraint while on a roof. He was fairly well along the way for his dragon transformation, standing at around seven or eight feet tall and covered in fire. Using Star Platinum's eyes, I could just about make out what Lung was fighting, a young woman, although at this time and distance it was rather difficult to tell properly the features of her. Despite her best efforts Lung tagged her with one of his fire streams, knocking her down the roof.

Deciding that enough was enough, I Stand-Jumped closer to the fight. As I got closer, Lung seemed to have spotted something, or someone, and launched streams of fire in whatever he saw's location on a neighboring roof.

Preparing to stop time, I noticed something big, about the size of a van, barreling towards Lung. The creature slammed on top of Lung, forcing him to his knees. The snarling creature had mostly pinned Lung, while Lung was barely holding it off with a hand. Seeing an opportunity, I Stand-Jumped next to the fallen girl, she let out a startled yelp at my sudden appearance. I had Star Platinum scoop her up in its muscular arms before the spreading fire that covered Lung could reach her.

I silently stopped time. A rather useful trick that I learned after having a few fights where I couldn't talk, let alone yell. The world around me inverted colors before settling for a mute grey. The sound of a ticking clock winding down mixed with almost a dubstep like burst of noise accompanying the colors inverting like always.

In stopped time, I examined the fight before me. The creature that had landed on Lung almost looked like a twisted experiment gone wrong version of a dog. Lung had swung with one, clawed hand at the dog-creature's snout. What surprised me the most was the arrival of two more dog-monsters jumping at Lung, or at least the same roof he was on.

I can examine them in more detail later, first, I have to get the girl out of here. Star Platinum deposited the frozen girl into my arms. Together, we Stand-Jumped to another rooftop. During the jump, I noted the several downed gangers, if my memory serves they belong to the Azn Bad Boys. That would make sense as Lung leads the ABB and they don't seem to have burn marks on them.

Landing on the next rooftop with a soft crunch, I gently lay the lightly injured girl on the rocky surface. Checking to make sure her injuries didn't need medical attention. Relieved to find that the injuries the girl had weren't serious, I recalled Star Platinum while standing up to my impressive 6'5" height. I turn back to the fight and resume time. The grey world reverts back to what little color there is at midnight. The phantom clock starts ticking again and that noise sounds off. I can feel my heart skip a beat as time resumes around me and pain shoots through my chest. I grit my teeth and ignore it as the fight resumes.

Lung swings with a fire-laden snarl at the snout of the dog-creature, striking it with his claw.

The dog-creature whimpers backwards before digging its paws into the roof and launching itself into Lung, knocking them both off the top. I can hear the sickening crack of broken bones and the girl next to me flinch, but that wasn't what caught my attention.

What caught my attention was that the two other dog-things had also entered the fight with Lung, who was slowing down considerably. His movements grew more sluggish and he seemed to start to shrink.

Turning back to the tall, stick-thin girl who was now standing next to me, cradling a slightly burnt arm and also observing the rather one sided fight below, I was taken aback by the quality of her costume.

It seemed to be made of a black, high-quality cloth with layered, grey armor plates positioned around key areas such as the chest, stomach, arms, joints, and other areas. Her mask was colored similarly to her armor, grey and black but with yellow goggles over the eyes, with no back letting her long, dark hair flow freely. Some of her armor sections looked like an insect's mandibles.

She looks to be mostly fine, but I should see if she's fine mentally. I thought to myself.

"Hey." My gruff voice didn't seem to be enough to draw her attention away from the crashing below. I spoke again, this time louder, "Hey."

The second time around seemed to do the trick as she dragged her yellow-tinted goggles away from the brawl beneath us. She started to say something before hesitating.

A few seconds pass as the noise grows quieter around us before silencing totally. A shrill whistle sounds off and the dog-creatures respond by sprinting almost happily away from the scene.

"You did good. Not many people, cape or otherwise, could go up against Lung and come out of it with all their limbs attached." I congratulated her for her success and pulled out a notepad and pen. "Armsmaster'll be around shortly and I need to get some basics out of the way, first, I'm gonna need your name."

She stood nervously, rubbing her elbow, "I… haven't come up with one yet." I mark down her answer.

"That's all right. Next, is this your first night out?"

"Y-yes." She managed to go toe to toe with Lung on her first night out? That's good, really good.

"Good grief, you went against Lung on your first outing?" Honestly, that is rather impressive, but she seemed to almost shrink at my words. "Next question, are you okay? Mentally, I mean." I tap my hat covered head.

"Well… I almost died. So that's just sort of setting in now." She gave a hollow laugh, moving her head at the surrounding area. "I think I'm still running off an adrenaline high. I'll probably crash soon and this'll all really hit me."

I finished writing down what she had told me and moved on to the second to last question. "What are your powers, if you don't mind me asking. It's policy to ask. If you don't want to tell me what they are, no need to tell me."

"My powers…" She seemed to struggle for a second. "I can control insects. It's not that impress-"

I stopped her there. "It's not what the power does, it's how you use it. Even the weakest sounding power can be used in extraordinary ways if you're clever enough."

"Thank you." She says honestly, if my skills at reading people are right. I nod in response.

"Now then," I sigh and start reciting with little emotion, less than usual at least, "the last question on this thing. Do you wish to join the Protectorate? If you are not yet eligible to enter for age reasons, do you wish to join the Wards?"

She stands there for a moment, the sounds of an engine reach my ears. It's probably Armsmaster, I have yet to meet him properly seeing as I was busy moving the animals. I had met him on call, but that doesn't typically allow for good character judgment.

After a few more seconds pass, the engine sounds grow louder as Armsmaster approaches, I speak.

"No need to answer now, It's an open-ended offer." I flip the notes over and write down my PRT phone number. I tear the note with my contact info on it off and hand it to her. I also reach into my pant pocket and remove a sandwich bag containing a few quarters.

"Here, my contact info along with some quarters if you don't have a phone at home. I tend to not use the Internet very much, so you can't contact me through that. If you make a decision on the offer, or if you just need help for any reason. You can contact me. Don't hesitate to call me if the need arises, okay?"

She accepts the bag and paper placing it in the compartment on her back.

"Okay Mr…?" She asks me, fishing for a name to put to the mask as the engine in the background enters the foreground. Armsmaster has probably just arrived.

Almost subconsciously, I hook my left hand around my coat and place it into my pants pocket. I move my right hand up to the brim of my hat, swiping along the edge.

"My name… is Cardinal."

-()-

There we go. I've just written something that's been jumping around in my head for awhile now. Hope it is received well, even if it's not I would still very much like some tips and tricks or whatever on my writing. Goodbye for now -Imperial Fister