endbringer, meet gun

[peterxy]

...Very unseasonable rains can be seen in the distance from the shores of Acapulco.

The Brockton Bay Protectorate starts organizing volunteers to be transported or teletransported in batches to it. Heroes, rogues, villains, anyone's assistance is appreciated. A rendez-vous point is set for non-Protectorate capes wishing to volunteer, and Protectorate capes are informed of the situation via communication devices.

Comments

[thinkering]

"Worse than."

[mxglam]

"Though, I mean, I suppose some capes are invulnerable enough that they do it for the sexy. Which I don't complain about." Pause. "Or just clueless enough that they think it makes sense or should be used or something, in which case, well, no skin off my nose."

[thinkering]

"I can't actually think of anyone who uses the design off the top of my head."

[mxglam]

"I think I've seen a minor villain or two online."

[thinkering]

"Well, better them than someone I'd stop to wince about if they got their sternum broken."

[mxglam]

"I'd hope Branding was at least sane enough not to let them."

[thinkering]

"That's not Branding's job. Branding would probably love the authority to put somebody in a costume like that. But no, it's definitely not Protectorate-compatible."

[mxglam]

"It's not? You mean there will be multiple teams invested in changing how I look?"

[thinkering]

"There is one invested in how you look and one making sure you don't have major practical liabilities like boobplate."

[mxglam]

"...well I like the second one."

[thinkering]

"Ah-huh."

[mxglam]

"You know, this talk of cracked sternums made me wonder if I can deflect projectiles. Or even direct blows."

[thinkering]

"Ones you didn't originate, you mean? I can bring a bag of golf balls for bots to throw at you next time I'm patrolling."

[mxglam]

"Yeah. I mean, it's not just my stuff I affect, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to fix Santuario's forcefield thingy. And maybe if I walked into a fight and was like, 'don't even bother wasting bullets on me, it won't work, you'll just annoy me and make me like you even less' that could be enough."

[thinkering]

"If you can handle the golf balls we can upgrade to tranq darts - if you tell me where to put you to sleep it off - but I'm not going to fire bullets at you."

[mxglam]

"Yyyeah, low stakes first, being shot is probably not terribly fun."

[thinkering]

"Mm-hm."

[mxglam]

[thinkering]

Patrol patrol.

[alicornucopia]

A few nights later, some heroin is changing hands in an alley between a parking garage and an office building plastered with "FOR RENT" signs.

[mxglam]

A few nights later, Glam hasn't run into Lorica. Or any other Wards, really, but other than Echo that one time and seeing Dauntless from a distance, they never did run into those.

What Glam does run into is a drug deal. They inspect the scene, from a roof. Weapons? Obvious parahumans?

[alicornucopia]

Weapons yes. Obvious parahumans, no, it's dudes in almost stereotypical drug dealer outfits and a duffel bag of cash and a box of heroin and a couple cars with the engines running.

[mxglam]

Oh, alright, then, sounds easy enough. Glam gets their stun gun, turns their suit black, and silently hovers down to an unobserved unlit spot round a corner.

Then they hover into view, white again, billowing cape, mysterious sourceless light making the watermark G reflect in interesting ways, and twirl their gun around their finger. "So, do you all turn yourselves in or do you make this more difficult for yourselves?"

Surreptitious hard-to-see fishing lines now loosely connect the legs of the people present. In fact, they had always been there - everyone just neglected to notice them!

[alicornucopia]

Someone lurches towards his car. He trips.

Someone else goes for a gun and shoots at Glam instead.

[mxglam]

They miss! Thankfully, because Glam hasn't had time to test their potential ability to make projectiles not hit them. In any case, just to be sure, some white armor that's - of course - bulletproof now covers most of them.

"Difficult it is," they say, and shoot at the someone else almost carelessly, using the upgraded version of their stun gun that curves to hit their target.