[CYOA] Capes and Crawlers:Re [IC]

Finish


It was some minutes later, after the last of the people still in the mall where collected by a very tired mouse themed detective who was being comforted by another girl in a cat themed suit, that something surprising happened.

Several people jumped as, with a sound not too different from shattering glass, a woman appeared crouched at the mall side entrance to the store. Taking a moment to survey her surroundings and spotting the group she rose.

Minerva stood and prepared to speak.

“Have no fear Mouse Protector is here!”

Only to be interrupted by a woman seeming to explode out of nowhere beside her dressed as some odd combination of a knight and mouse, looking noticeably haggard and battle damaged. She seemed to dismiss just about everything around her until she noticed a her younger counterpart.

She rushed forward to quickly engulf the panicked cape in a bone crushing hut and lift the much shorter girl off her, still kicking, feet.

“Oh little Nibbles, do you know how worried I was!” she ignored the struggling girl in her arms and the girls muffled cries as the older cape rubbed her cheek against the top of the girl’s now hatless head, “I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Minnie and tailed your date today. But she’s been so jealous because we spend so little time together anymore. For shame Minnie!”

Minerva just stared at the hand pointing accusingly at her.

“I have been discovered.” The voice sounded less convincing then a 3 dollar bill, given with a delivery rivaling the worst of grade school plays, “Curses.”

“Captain please don’t encourage her,” Cheshire desperately wished she could turn invisible then. Well, she could but she knew it’d only make matters worse, “Were you able to stop the villain?”

Minerva turned towards the other Ward and frowned, shaking her head and earning a sigh of disappointment from the rest of the official heroes.

“Pale, drab, and scowly sadly managed to get away,” Mouse protector sighed, “Weirdo just dropped into the floor before I could tag her. No doubt off to lick her wounds.”

The woman posed proudly before the two teens before wobbling and needing to be caught by her more stoic companion.

“I told you not to put too much stress on it.”
“Psh, it’s just a flesh wound,” The mouse cape groused, “Just a little nick, hardly anything to make a fuss about. Anyway, let’s hear how the little power pack here handled things.”

The current incarnation of the servant of madness stirred and looked briefly at the bombastic hero that showed up. She guessed that the cosplay wasn’t for show...or it was just an elaborate set up for something. She didn’t indulge her paranoia further and instead wondered what was going to happen to her. It was pretty obvious what giving into madness would have caused and if this world had super heroes...she was likely a villain to be foiled.

Sayuri watched the exchange silently in amusement. ‘Nibbles, was it?’ She thought.

Minerva nodded, “Getting statements and a simple debriefing would be good. Mighty Mouse’s messages were unfortunately rather brief, though I can see why.”

Minerva’s gaze traveled softly over the civilians, some of whom still showed some minor injuries or at least signs of previous injuries.

“In the future however you should learn to delegate less immediately essential tasks, we work in groups for a reason,” the younger mouse, now released, rubbed her head awkwardly and bit her cheek at the soft but fair chastisement. She knew exactly what was being implied, the lack of information that had not been sent to the heroes about the threat they’d faced and how her sister’s injuries could have been avoided with forewarning. Minerva waited for the girl to nod in acknowledgement before continuing, “Now, I’d like to get a few statements from everyone regarding the events.”

“Are we being detained?” Was the quick response that answered her. A redhead in a familiar outfit but no longer wearing a mask stood up from where she was sitting next to several civilians, “I would like to know if I’m allowed to leave.”

“Unfortunately yes,” Came Minerva’s sharp response, she held up a hand as the crowd began to mutter and redheaded girl tensed, “It is standard procedure when dealing with unknown capes, or those who may have some form of mental influence over others. It is both for your safety as well as the public at large to prevent such things from spreading unnecessarily. I can guarantee you all that it will not be overly long, we are simply waiting for the arrival of agents needed to take contact information and verify identities. For you capes, this will not mean unmasking. The officers will release you after the procedures have been followed and everyone has vetted.”

“Haah, and here I thought that this troublesome day was finally over and done with. Greeeaaat.” The sarcasm was strong in Thema at the moment; she was not at all looking forward to dealing with a bunch of late to the party agents. “So who is supposed to be the one with the ‘mental influence’ anyway?”

Sayuri sniffed irritably. “Anyone who stayed probably. You’d have to be mental to want to wait for ‘vetting’ after driving the villains away.”

“Good point. I suppose that’s what we get for not bailing from here right after. Not making that mistake twice.” Thema mused.

Capes and secret identities, The girl lying peacefully on the floor thought. Yep, I’m in a superhero world...somehow. The girl closed her eyes and let out a soft sigh. I’d better corporate if only to learn what’s going on.

Aoife scowled, “And here I thought that this was the ‘land of the free’”

“Doesn’t your country have a mandatory registration for parahumans?” Mouse Protector asked recognizing the slight irish accent the girl tried to hide.

Aoife glared.

“Mandatory registration? That’s begging for someone to hack into it and go crazy on people outside of costume.” Now where would be nutty enough to think that would end in any way but fire and tears? Thema wasn’t sure but she should find out to know to be a bit more careful if she ended up there.

The Mouse hero shrugged, she wasn’t really overly informed about the cape world outside of the americas and only recalled the little bit of trivia she’d learned in her senior years World History class.

“It’s a hassle but it beats the alternative,” Mouse Protector answered, “We don’t have much information to work with right now so we can’t in good conscious let everyone wander off when it could be dangerous. Not just from a possible Master, we’re actually having a few good men looking around the area to be sure it’s safe fo you all exit as well.”

There were some mummerings from the concerned crowd.

“Hey, don’t look so down, look at it as a opportunity, we’ve got some time to kill and the magnificent me is willing to answer some questions, sign some autographs, and pose for a few photos with some fans.”

Quickly many of the younger members of the crowd started to gather around the Heroine.

“Hehe, patience patience! There’s only so much even a hero as awesome as me is able to handle at once. Follow me, we can leave the boring talk to Minnie, it’s her specialty after all!”

With a smile Mouse Protector began to lead the crowd of civilians away from the capes, the few stragglers eventually following as well to leave the awkwardness of being left alone in a room of capes and the intense looks of the Mouse hero’s partner.

Sayuri let out a sigh of the long suffering and began following. As much as she simply wanted to blow the protectorate off, she did need to have a working relationship with them. Capes who could heal without drawback were not common, which gave the fox girl a premium on her services. If she wanted to do be paid properly, the paperwork would have to be approved.

Thema pulled herself to her feet with the sigh of the annoyed and followed along herself, mostly because it would quite frankly be too much of a hassle to try to ditch the Protectorate right now, not when they had a bunch of teleporters to give chase. She was definitely going to be making herself scarce early on with the next cape incident though, this was already seeming like a massive waste of time.

Minerva looked at the redhead who still hadn’t moved. Aoife just stared back defiantly, the with a grumple reached into her pocket and pulled out a simple cloth mask she showed the heroine to hurry things along.

“Well then, Mighty Mouse could you give me a summary of what happened after you first contacted us about the incident?”

The dapper cape nodded and straightened her posture and began to explain the situation to the woman. Starting with the villains entrance, the berserker cape, the ensuing battle and the surprising turn around once it seemed the villains were on the ropes.

“...In the end I collected the remaining civilians and injured heroes to bring to the young lady with the fox tails. The henchmen I was able to locate we restrained or knocked out and then restrained before I returned Ma’am.”

“Thank you,” Minerva smiled and turned to Cheshire, “Do you have anything to add as well?”

“No, most of my attention was on maintaining my power on the captain and trying to avoid potential friendly fire and I was inside the store with Rider when the villain collapsed the roof on us.”

The armored cape nodded.

“And what happened to Brute that villains unleashed?”

Mighty Mouse narrowed her eyes.

“She was attacking indiscriminately but focused on the unnamed villain, after attempting to attack us she continued to fight the villain until partially collapsing the food court onto Miss Rider, Miss Mina, and Miss Comet. Afterwards she was defeated by the villain who then retreated.”

“Thank you, however she’s no longer there,” Minerva said, “Can you confirm what happened to her after she was defeated?”

“Y-”

“No,” Cheshire interrupted and put a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “There was too much confusion to keep track of her afterwards with the retrieval of the civilians and the heroes and afterwards we were unable to account for her.”

Minerva turned to look at the cat cape, a frown on her face mirroring that of the other Ward. Cheshire however simply used her power. For the two capes the opaque material of her mask disappeared to show her face as she met Minerva’s eyes and lead them down to the young civilian girl laying near the fox cape. And again towards the nearby crowd and some of whom were attempting rather badly to eavesdrop.

“Trigger” she mouthed.

She turned towards the fox cape, her mask a frowning visage as she tilted her head.

“You wouldn’t happen to have seen where she disappeared to?” She asked as behind her back she wagged a finger where only her teammates could see.

The kitsune raised a hand under her chin and hummed to herself. On the one hand, it sounded like a ward thought she was worth covering here and the berserker clearly wasn’t thinking clearly. On the other, the fox girl didn’t want to lie to the heroes

“I don’t believe I saw her disappear anywhere, sorry.” After all, the berserker didn’t disappear at all, so she didn’t lie.

“Ah, disappointing I don’t think anyone else besides Mighty Mouse would have had the opportunity before we noticed she was missing.”

Cheshire was sure of that, with the exception of the Ring User all the other heroes were were either unconscious or indisposed of when the fox had snatched up the berserker to heal. Said user either didn’t realize, thinking the girl just another victim, or didn’t care in which case it was a moot point.

Thema listened to the short exchange between the fox and the heroes and made a point of not saying anything whatsoever about the subject. She wasn’t sure what was the story of the berserker, but she didn’t seem to be the kind of person who would do that deliberately so she was fine with leaving it to the girl to sort things out herself. If she wanted to turn herself in, she’d do it herself, but this magical girl was leaving well enough alone.

The girl was a bit touched that the nine tailed fox seemed to have trying to protect her, but after coming down from her all consuming rage and having time to think...she had a very bad feeling. Berserker’s weren’t known to care about collateral.

“How many people died?” The girl asked opening her eyes again. “How many died while I was under the effect of Madness Enhancement?”

“Well, so much for that,” Cheshire grumbled under her breath.

Sayuri’s lips thinned, but she stayed silent. The girl was on her own at this point.

Behind the now revealed girl several people tensed, a pair of friends readied themselves while Aoife tensed and grit her teeth and glaring down at the girl like she was about to attack. The two independent heroes, Scarlet and Mech Tech Rider gave the girl wary glances.

Minerva closed her eyes and sighed. Be it exasperation or resignation she just shook her head and knelt before the girl giving her a serious look.

“Thank you for being honest with us,” She said, “I know you have every reason not to be, so again thank you for your candidness. That must have taken a lot of courage in this situation, courage and integrity.”

She sighed.

“Unfortunately I have some bad news, some I’m sure you are aware of or at least suspect. And some of that is that your confession has made things a bit more difficult to help you deal with them. But that is a discussion that can wait, for someone better suited for it than I. As for your question, for your honesty I too well be truthful, even if what I am about to say is painful to hear. I’m sorry to say that I do not know. I was able to see the scene and there was very little left of those trapped inside that I don’t believe it would be possible for me to guess”.

“I see,” the girl said. It was only by a force of will that kept her warring emotions in check as the realization hit her. She blinked a few times and sat up. “I’ll go wherever you want me to go then.” She looked at the woman and smiled, it never reached her eyes.

“It’s alright,” Cheshire stooped close to give an awkward pat on the girl’s shoulder. It was rather clear that she wasn’t very used to giving comfort even when her expression and body language were hidden behind her costume, “There were… circumstances outside of your control. While we can’t undo the damage, we can do what we can to make the best of it. C’mon, we should probably get you to somewhere a bit more comfortable and I can let you know what we can do.”

The illusionist helped the poor girl to her feet and began to lead her towards one of the exits. Mighty Mouse made to follow her only to be stopped by Minerva who held her back and shook her head. Biting her lip the mousy girl hesitated before deciding to follow the lead of her commanding officer instead of heading over the help her friend.

Admittedly the subject that Cheshire was going to be discussing with the girl would be something not only private but personal, and one Cheshire could uniquely empathize with. However Mighty Mouse, knowing her friend as well as she did, was aware of her friend’s own insecurities and guilt. She didn’t think that Cheshire would lead the new trigger down some wrong path, nor be unable to give her comfort. Rather she was concerned for her friend, for having to offer comforting words that were never given to her and were ones she may not truly accept herself.

Mighty Mouse shifted uncomfortably but still gave the rest a smile, trying to appear simply slightly bored instead of anxious. She’d need to do something for Cheshire later, she prefered the girl in her normally cranky and pessimistic mood instead of the melancholic and apathetic attitude that tended to come out when she was reminded of certain unpleasant things.

Minerva nodded at the aquiessence, not noticing the hesitation. She felt the two girls would need some privacy, and that offering a bit of comfort to someone in a similar situation could help the girl she had known for years. Still, she kept a close eye on the two as they left, ready to activate her powers at a moment’s notice should the new trigger show any signs of attempting to escape or harming the Ward escorting her.

She stole a glance at the PRT vehicles just arriving outside. She was only willing to let them leave at all due to the clear walls around the exit, something that would allow her to keep an eye on them.

She stepped forward towards the remaining capes.

“I would like to take your statements on the events that occured here…”


------


“Sooooo… I have a question for you, miss Minerva, if I may?” The kyuubi started, looking expectantly at the older appearing cape. “I’m not completely familiar with your country’s cape laws. What rules do I need to abide by to offer healing to the public? I’ve read up on a cape called Panacea.”

Minerva looked up from where she was speaking with Aoife, or rather having the small redhead refusing to give clear answers and glaring all the while.

“Healing?” She asked, “The procedures may have changed but I believe the basics of it have remained the same. For crisis situations the Good Samaritan laws are usually enough to cover the majority of cases unless the healing causes some permanent damage. If you want to do so regularly, or offer it as a service, you will need to speak with the PRT and the Protectorate first. Given some… past incidents they are reluctant to allow even seemingly benign abilities to be used on the general public without prior testing. From there allowances are made on a case by case basis following a guideline based on the properties of the healing ability. The meeting will need to be set up in advance however, as there are a few specific capes we prefer to have on hand for those evaluations.”

“I see.” Sayuri replied. Having to go through bureaucratic testing would be a pain, but being able to earn money would make the process more tolerable. “I suppose I would have to schedule this directly at the PRT?”

“You can visit either the PRT or the Protectorate to apply, though here in Dallas both are located on the same property,” Minerva answered, to be more exact they were on two seperate but neighboring properties but the difference was minor, “For future reference if you do move to another city you will need to speak with their branch before offering parahuman services for the public and they can request our files and determine if any additional tests are needed. For now though I can take your contact information and we can determine an optimal time for testing.”

“That is acceptable.” Came the reply. A number to a burner phone was passed over. “On an unrelated note, there was a... cape who was teleporting a number of hostages to safety during the situation. Is she still outside?”

“Actually I can answer that,” Mouse Protector stepped in when Minerva seemed unsure, “I got a call in while Minnie was handling the fuddy duddy stuff. I’m sure you’re talking about the redhead that left earlier. Well some PRT squads let me know that the escapees were found by some officers at a park about half a mile down the road.”

Sayuri stopped and considered her options. Having an alternate identity complicated things and while she would like to help the girl, the means to do so were difficult.

“Please share my contact information with her if you happen to meet again. I’m hoping we won’t be rudely interrupted next time.”

-

“When I came here, I was expecting my first meeting with capes to involve me trying to get an autograph from Mouse Protector, not a bunch of villains trying to rob a mall for some reason. And the crazy spear woman with attacks that feel like death.” Thema was mostly detached from the proceedings, not quite sure what kind of statement Minerva even wanted beyond ‘a bunch of villains showed up and violence happened until that creepy woman showed.’

Beside the Puella Magi the upset redheaded cape flinched as her expresion tightened.

“It’s really much worse,” Aoife muttered as she tensed her grip on her arms at the memory of the attack, “All the light was just gone, everything… it didn’t hurt, but it was… it was like falling into an abyss and just fading away.”

She did her best to hide the trembling in her arms. The feeling was… it could almost be called peaceful but no, it was more the absence of emotion and thought. Aoife was sure, without a single doubt in her mind, that her soul itself had been struck. A portion of her spirit simply erased or stolen with the woman’s attack before the fox eared girl had healed her.

Aoife spared her savior an uneasy glance, her sight not agreeing with what should be true. The fox girl had no monster on her shoulder, no creature that whispered in her ear like every other with power she had seen. And the same was true of quite a few others she had met just this day, a first and a startling revelation that could not have been a worse moment to surprise her.

The fox, the Troubadour, the madwoman, and the redhead with the unsettling air about her, they all had the same lack of demons on their shoulders. Though perhaps the most frightening, and what seeded a greater unease was the lack of such on the False Priestess.

Eyeing the clearly inhuman girl Aoife bit her lip but didn’t make a move to make more space. Whatever the girl was, she appeared to be benevolent, and as much as the girl didn’t quite trust what may be a Fae she could give the benefit of the doubt. She did not seem like the Winter sort at least.

As if sensing the stare, the kitsune turned her head towards Aoife, blinking in confusion.