1.1 New Beginnings Part 6

I look up to see Britannia, the nation’s number one superhero, floating down. She also looks very angry with them as she lands in front of me.

Britannia or Elizabeth Greene if I remember correctly has a similar power set to Vistorix. A reverse in similarities compared to Sky and Vistorix’s close power set as Britannia is much stronger version of Vistorix. She is one of the few class 5s in the country or even the continent.

“Vigilantism is illegal,” says Britannia in a harsh and unkind tone as Samuel and Warden land near me and Britannia respectively, “What do think you were doing?”

“Stopping a Class 4 villain going on a rampage,” I retort, “Vigilantism isn't a crime by itself. It just happens to involve breaking the law most of the time.”

“And why did you take it upon yourselves to deal rather than leave it to the proper authorities?” demands Britannia as James and Skyler come out of the woods.

“They did call us,” points out Warden before either me and Sam can reply, “That’s why we got here so quickly. And we all know the police couldn’t do much against Vistorix, but die. Plus they kept it away from public and private property with effectively no collateral damage.”

Britannia shots her teammate a look before turning back to me and Sam. Her glare has seemed to have lessened. Not Britannia seems to be any less angry with us mind you.

“None the less it was still illegal what you did!” Britannia shouts at us, “And you could have been killed!”

“You make sound like we’re a bunch of kids who have no idea about what we’re doing!” angrily shouts Sam, “We spent our entire lives involved with super stuff even if we weren’t actively fighting the bad guys!”

Technically not true. Our grandparents have only been involving us since we were about ten, but we did grow up knowing about their superhero lives.

“Vistorix is a Class 4,” rebukes Britannia.

“So am I! Sentinel is a Class 4 too!” retorts Sam.

“Actually you’re a Class 4 with Class 5 and 6 potential,” Warden cuts in.

“And I actually saw some of the fighting,” continues Warden as Britannia turns to her, “Sentinel took two direct blows without a bruise and blasted Vistorix while he was knocked off his feet.”

“Actually I fired the sonics and Psychic’s grandson used his telekinesis to aim them at Vistorix,” I say.

“If I'm going to use a codename, it’ll be Vision,” dryly states James, “For reasons.”

“Brit, you know that is nothing to laugh about when it comes to Vistorix’s punches,” says one of the other Defenders, a man with the name of Green Knight and a power set a lot like Skyler’s, “It would have taken myself down and out. Same with everyone else on the team apart from you and Dreadnought.”

“And I can say from experience that even though I can take the punches, they still hurt,” says the other Defender with them, a woman in a steely grey costume, “Sentinel being able to take two head on and keep fighting as if they were nothing is really impressive.”

“Besides they right when they say they know what they’re doing,” says Warden, “I also grew up like they did. Being amongst the League of Heroes and all that it contains. It may not mean they have gone and out fighting villains, but they won’t make the mistakes of normal rookies and they all at least have decent idea of what they’re doing and how to it right. Don’t forget how good I was I when I join up with the Protectors.”

“I’m sure Bolt, Vibration and Psychic will give them their support,” says Green Knight, “I’m certain that they got all the stuff of the League.”

“Yeah, but,” says Britannia, clearly unhappy, but without a point to press.

“Looks they actually did pretty good, they know what they’re doing and they’re trustworthy,” says Green Knight, “The old League is pretty much gone, but these kids are attempting to use their gifts and inheritance to help people. In fact I’d been disappointed if they decided not to live up to the League’s legacy.”

“Don’t give them any encouragement,” says Britannia, her voice low and harsh, “They need to stop.”

“We didn’t choose for Vistorix to show up,” protests Sky, “We just stopped him before he could cause any major damage. He would have been in Brockenhurst before you showed up.”

“Actually if it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have known about him until he was in Brockenhurst, let alone show up to stop him in time,” says Warden before she glances at her fellow Defenders, “I only knew as early as I did because Sentinel told me. He also told me that he and the others were going to try stop and him.”

“You know this line of work is dangerous and often doesn’t have happy endings?” demands Britannia, but much softer than before.

“Look at my arm,” says Sky, holding out her right arm, showing where her costume was destroyed and her arm is only just finishing reforming, “I lost my grandfather because of his duty as Commando. I also got my powers solely because the government gave them to me.”

“As you also know I never got to even meet my granddad,” says Sam with a tint of sadness in his voice.

“Beside we know how good it can go as well,” I feel compelled to add, “My grandparents lived long and happy lives as did the rest of the League.”

“I can barely believe it,” says a deep voice suddenly.

Britannia flies up, desperately looking around for the speaker. Green Knight draws his shield and adopts a defensive stance, looking shaky while Dreadnought seems to freak out. Warden for her part looks confused, as if she can’t place something. 

1.1 New Beginnings Part 3

I check who’s calling before I answer.

Just Charlie Armstrong, my partner and one of my closest friends.

He is also the grandson of my granddad’s arch-nemesis, the Bulk. At the very least my granddad’s former arch-nemesis.

I hesitate on whether to answer before I decide on yes.

“Hello Charlie,” I say.

“Hey Daniel,” says Charlie, “Grandpa’s stuff says that Lantern, the Psychic and the Commando have just left the base? We’re guessing that it’s Samuel, James and Skyler.”

“That would be correct,” I answer, “They decided to go on patrol. I decided to check the Sentinel Armour just in case I needed to help them out.”

“You think they’ll get into trouble?” inquires Charlie.

“We’re talking about Sam and Sky here,” I answer somewhat sarcastically, “Knowing them, they’ll probably pick any fight they can with the criminal element.”

“True,” laughs Charlie, “What’s the worse that they’ll run into anyway?”

“Probably a fight with a class 2 baddie,” I answer, “Don’t worry about that. Skyler and James are class 3 while Samuel is a 4 like the first Lantern was early on. More likely they’ll get in trouble with 

the police.”

“Do think the police figure out who they are?” asks Charlie.

“They got the voice disguisers so unless they do something incredibly stupid, no,” I state, “Which even James and Sky won’t do. They’re impulsive and reckless, but they’re not dumb.”

“None of us are,” says Charlie, “Not like some of American newbies. Honest, remember how Air Wave’s first name was revealed to be Olivia by Earth Strike back in April.”

“As if any of us would use our real names while in costume,” I state, shaking my head.

The media had an early Christmas with only the intervention of Defenders of Justice with Powerman himself that stopped them figuring out Air Wave’s secret identity.

“Don’t expect them to find any crime to stop,” I say, “Very few villains operate here and crime is rather low.”

“Okay, I’ll tell grandpa,” replies Charlie.

“Bye,” I say before Charlie hangs up.

I turn to leave the room before hesitating.

What I told Charlie was true, that the group had very little chance of encountering trouble.

On the other hand, supers, especially capes, generally encountered an illogically high amount of 

trouble.

Granddad used to complain about that a lot.

Even now, I was preparing for the worst. That meant something. That I expected things to go wrong and get out of control.

I mean what’s the worst that could happen?

An armed gang, one of our grandparents’ Arch-Nemesis looking for revenge, polices attempting to arrest them, a bomb going off -,

I stop and collect my thoughts, calming myself.

Why am I so jumpy all of a sudden?

I guess it couldn't hurt to put on the Sentinel Armour tonight. I mean I don’t have to join the others on patrol, just use inside the base.

I step forward on a platform near the centre of the room. One of the things about granddad’s lab is that it doubled as a personal armoury.

I take off my outer clothing, a light jacket I wore due to decreasing warmth when I came to the base mid-evening. I stand only in my t-shirt and shorts.

Robotic arms come out and step picking up the pieces of the Sentinel Armour, taking out of the outer later and putting it aside so they can get to the inner layer. Once they reached the parts they want, the arms begin placing it on me.

The process goes smoothly. As the parts are put in place, I check the connections are working properly. While the armour was built out of many small parts, Granddad made them so they consist of several larger pieces rather than a load of small ones. Easier and quicker for manually putting on and taking off the armour than doing it by hand.

Within a couple of minutes, the arms are already putting on the outer armour plating, the final stage of putting on the Sentinel Armour. Without the arms, it would have taken me over ten minutes to do it manually.

The rocket fuel is at 100%. I really need to find a replacement for the rocket pack. It’s been with the all, but the earliest versions of the suits. I personally think granddad was sentimental about it.

Wrist mounted lasers at 98% charge.

The voice changer, the public address system and both wrist mounted sonic projectors are all working.

Comms are up and the magnetic and EMP shielding seem to be working.

The Heads Up Display or HUD is working as well. It shows a mixture of information about the suit and my surroundings.

The spyders are a bit low, only eleven out of sixteen onboard the suit. I sigh and begin to look for some more in the lab. There are over a thousand in the main armoury, but I don’t feel like going over there.

I find only a couple. One with an explosive charge while the other is unequipped, not even a camera. 

It doesn't really matter however. I mean unless the others run into a Class 4 like Vistorix or maybe a Class 5 such as the Barbarian or the late Black Storm.

“Daniel!” says a female voice over my communicator, “Vistorix is going for Lantern, Commando and Psychic.”