rogue, meet hero

[peterxy]

Most of the time, patrolling is a dull, uneventful affair, somewhat akin to the Ankh-Morpork City Guard ringing their bells and calling "All's well!" at night.

Sometimes, it's not.

Dauntless was not expecting to run into two unpowered Asian gangs (Japanese and Korean? that's what it looks like at a distance) duking it out in the middle of the street. Granted, it's the evening, and it's not quite the most well-frequented of streets, but still.

He decides to call for backup, not because he wouldn't be able to take them on, but because he's supposed to do that whenever confronting another parahuman or a large number of non-capes, at least until he graduates. He turns the comm on and describes the situation - a bit over a dozen people on each side, arguing and brandishing blunt weapons and in some cases guns - then waits and watches.

Comments

[mxglam]

"I presume that one would be in your 'cons' list."

[thinkering]

"No comment."

[mxglam]

They giggle. "Right."

[thinkering]

Patrol, patrol.

[mxglam]

Uneventful patrol.

"Why does Transit have a you-compatible HUD?"

[thinkering]

"He's my dad."

[mxglam]

"Oh. That's nice."

[thinkering]

"Yeah."

[mxglam]

"You mentioned long-range low-precision teleportation. How does that work, exactly?"

[thinkering]

"Okay, look, you seem nice, but I'm starting to feel like you're hoping I'll slip and reveal someone's secret weakness and I'm literally just summarizing wiki entries."

[mxglam]

"Oh. Uh. Sorry. I'll wiki him later, then." They shrug. "I suppose my saying that if I were trying to do that I wouldn't be so obvious about it doesn't help, does it?"

[thinkering]

"Only a little."

[mxglam]

"Right." Pause. "Satisfying my curiosity about other people's powers is actually a pretty big incentive to join up. It doesn't quite overcome the cons, but still."

[thinkering]

"If anybody ever asks me how to improve recruitment I'll mention that."

[mxglam]

"Will you really?"

[thinkering]

"If."

[mxglam]

They giggle.

[thinkering]

"Costume androgynous on purpose?"

[mxglam]

"Mmhm! They pronouns, please."

[thinkering]

"I'll alert the media."

[mxglam]

"Please, do! ...and there's another nice pro, the media knows about you more readily. I should make a wiki page about myself."

[thinkering]

"Go for it."

[mxglam]

"I need to appear in public more often. Something grand, like singlehandedly capturing teleporter guy, or Purity, that'd make the news for sure."

[thinkering]

"Admittedly, yes, but you're looking at a bad fatality rate there."

[mxglam]

"True, but maybe I could be really stealthy and kidnap her without her noticing and then she wakes up in some containment facility- well, that's bad, I guess, but still better than harassing people on the street because of skin colour."