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

[thinkering]

Lorica snorts.

[mxglam]

Patrol patrol patrol.

Conjure little rubber ball and start playing with it and throwing it at rooftops to watch it bounce.

[thinkering]

"Miss Militia was really curious about you."

[mxglam]

"Oh?"

[thinkering]

"Your powers seem similar."

[mxglam]

"Oh." They ponder that for a bit. "Similar-ish, yeah. From what I heard she has this energy thing that becomes a weapon but always a single weapon that only she can use, yeah?"

[thinkering]

"Yeah."

[mxglam]

"Mine's... different."

[thinkering]

"Well, yes, they're not exactly alike."

[mxglam]

"For that matter, are there any duplicate powers on record? I've never heard of it but I've never actually looked for it and someone with the Protectorate might know better."

[thinkering]

"Second-gens, sometimes very similar indeed, but no outright dupes that I know about."

[mxglam]

"Oh, and you're second-gen, right? It's interesting that you and your dad have such different powers."

[thinkering]

"Yeah, no idea on that one."

[mxglam]

"How rare are you? ...I mean, second-gen capes that haven't powers very close to their parents'."

[thinkering]

"I don't have stats, and you'd have to define 'very close' anyway."

[mxglam]

"Well, I guess just not-very-different would be enough. You two don't even share a category, and granted, they're arbitrary and not quite natural, but yeah."

[thinkering]

"I do have a mover subrating for the suit, but yeah, not my focus."

[mxglam]

"I wonder where they'd even put me. I guess there's mover, blaster definitely, maybe shaker since I can make stuff appear and move and misbehave in a large area, maybe changer, but that feels kinda incomplete."

[thinkering]

"Mostly depends on your tactics, when you're that versatile. The ratings aren't descriptive, they're what you yell to the PRT squad."

[mxglam]

"What would you have yelled to them if I had fought against you guys that day with the Asian gangs and the teleporter guys?"

[thinkering]

"Would've depended on what I'd seen. If it was basically the same tactics, shaker blaster mover."

[mxglam]

"...I'm gonna drive forum-posters crazy when I'm all famous and stuff."

[thinkering]

"How so?"

[mxglam]

"Well, for one, I'm gonna be reeeeeally vague about my powers, and try to use them in bizarre ways in public. But in general, forum-posters tend to get really attached to these classifications as if they were Meyers-Briggs tests or astrological signs or something. I've seen some heated fights about whether a given cape did or did not count as a Brute for using armor that gave them a size, durability, and strength advantage."

[thinkering]

"Yeah, that's dumb. You have to act like they're a Brute regardless."