The Grimoire's Chosen Ch. 34 (Worm)

A/N: Patrollin'~

-x-X-x-

After a brief moment, Taylor nods her head ever so slightly, a motion that serves dual purposes. She’s signaling that she’s at least okay enough with it to let him make the call, while also showing her appreciation that he’s looping her in to begin with. Or at least, that’s what Jason reads from the gesture.

Either way, the nod means he’s going to go with his gut, and his gut says to play as nice as possible all things considered. Looking back to Fletchette, Jason makes sure to smile.

“We would be happy to have you patrol with us, sure. We’ll be traveling by rooftop, but my… method of travel allows me to take others along with me, so you won’t slow us down.”

He can tell that Fletchette is definitely curious about that. And Jason isn’t so stupid that he doesn’t know everything they show off tonight will likely go into some form of official report by the end of this. Truthfully, he’s not too worried about that… for a couple of big reasons.

Number One, they were always going to have to reveal things eventually if they were going to establish themselves at Independent Heroes here in Brockton Bay. There was no real helping that and it wasn’t like Taylor’s power was very obtuse or anything like that. She controlled bugs… that was basically it. Of course, there was still the nitty gritty details of her power to be considered, but so long as Fletchette wasn’t prying, they definitely didn’t have to give up those.

Number Two… Flash Air, despite being definitely one of his better powers and indeed the first power he’d happily bought without a second thought, was only the tip of the proverbial iceberg at this point. He already had multiple powers that were just as potent as Flash Air at this point, and he would only get more in the long run.

So it was perfectly fine in his eyes to expose Fletchette to his ability to swap air itself and create doorways in space for them to step through as they moved from roof to roof. Not only was that one of Flash Air’s least powerful abilities, but it also wasn’t even touching the rest of what he was capable of.

Ultimately, continuing their patrol with Fletchette alongside them doesn’t really change all that much. They move the same as they did before, continuing on their way through the docks looking for trouble that they might be able to put a stop to. Jason is willing to go with anything at this point. Even busting up a drug deal would be worth it, really.

However, first… his power decides to step in and roll something up in the midst of things.

Ding!

Something Wicked This Way Comes – Illusion – 200 Points

The presence of a Bray-Shaman does more than drive the herds into religious ecstasy, as they strive for their dominance of the Old World. Any man-filth, fey, or stunted hairball that stands against your horde will know despair in their hearts as they hear your guttural chanting, and know that death is calling for them. Your preaching cries and spell incantations will drain the courage from a man’s face, and instill a sense of inevitability and despair into the very air with every word spewed past your fangs.

You now have 200 Points saved up!

Technically, he could buy it. He certainly wasn’t going to replace his current Bank Slot ‘Chaos Magic’ with it. But as Jason gives the description a cursory, distracted glance… nothing about this new power really jumps out at him. Nor does it feel like it meshes well with the vibe he’s already establishing. Sure, he has spell incantations, but he does not want to be known for his preaching cries or guttural standing. And the whole ‘religious ecstasy’ bit puts him off as well.

Pass.

Even as the power is falling away and Jason is refocusing his split attention back on the patrol, he sees Taylor suddenly stiffen up and signal for them to stop. Him and Fletchette both give her their undivided attention as Taylor points in a specific direction after a moment.

“There’s a brawl breaking out over there. ABB and E88. No Capes, so far. No guns yet either, though several of them are carrying concealed firearms.”

Well damn. It wasn’t the drug bust he was hoping for, but better than nothing Jason supposed. Of course, he glances to Fletchette, curious what she’ll suggest.

“… Give me a second to call this in and get us some back up yeah?”

Yeah, he expected as much. But Jason just shakes his head. He was fine with Fletchette coming along… but he wasn’t going to let her hamstring them on their first patrol out.

“No time for that. Feel free to make the call, but we aren’t going to wait for them to escalate to shooting each other. Weaver, can you start making sure those guns are inoperable?”

Taylor nods sharply, even as Jason looks in the direction Taylor had pointed and, using Keen Eye, opens a door with Flash Air that takes them a whole lot further than they’d previously been ‘teleporting’. Fletchette hesitates for a moment… before sighing and following as he and Taylor step on through.

Now, Jason can hear the fighting that Taylor uncovered. In fact… he’d managed things perfectly as it turns out, because he can look over the edge of the roof and see the brawl taking place down below. Looked to be about a dozen skinheads and Asians going at it. Like Taylor had said, there were no guns out yet, but that didn’t mean blood hadn’t been shed. Knives could be just as lethal, after all.

Staring at the messy brawl that was only getting messier by the second, Jason frowns as he considers his options. The first plan that comes to mind involves Taylor using her swarm to herd them all closer together so that he can use the power he’s stored in the Staff of Magnus so far to lock them all down with a temporary Seal. He can effectively put an entire area of the road down below in stasis that way.

… But he’s not sure he wants to reveal that ability to the Protectorate just yet. Maybe…

“From what I know of your power, the Protectorate must have given you nonlethal options, right?”

Jolting a bit at that, Fletchette blinks before slowly nodding and reaching for her pouch. Out of which she pulls miniaturized orbs that enlarge when she presses something on them.

“Con Foam Grenades. But they’re too spread out at the moment…”

Jason smirks and shakes his head.

“Not for long. Weaver, think you can round them up?”

Taylor nods decisively, having had more than enough time since they landed on the roof to gather every bug in the vicinity to this area… on top of the spiders that she’d already had on the men down below, webbing up their gun holsters or the guns themselves in the absence of said holsters.

Between one moment and the next, it’s like a biblical plague lands on the road. A carpet of writhing darkness washes in from all sides and flows over the fighting gang members. Screams sound out immediately of course, and some even go for their guns.

On the one hand… are they stupid? They weren’t willing to use guns on each other, but they were going to fire blindly into a massing swarm of insects? On the other hand, Jason kind of gets it. He definitely wouldn’t want to be in their position right now, and the human mind likes to panic when it finds itself in situations as extreme as this one.

Fortunately, Taylor hadn’t been slacking off. She’d done her job and made sure to disable every single gun she could get her spiders on. For some, this means they can’t pull their weapons out of holsters. For others, they drag their guns out of their waistbands and pockets only to find them thoroughly webbed up and inoperable.

As screams fill the road, the swarm does it’s job of pushing them all closer together into one nice, easily handled clump. Indeed, Jason’s Keen Eyes tell him that he could Seal the whole lot of them right now, as they’re as tightly packed together as they’re ever going to be. Instead he looks to Fletchette, only to realize she’s hesitating a bit in the face of the true breadth of Taylor’s powers.

“Fletchette. The containment foam.”

Jerking out of her momentary lapse, Fletchette sharply nods.

“R-Right!”

A moment later, she tosses the con foam grenades down onto the road. Any longer and the gangsters and thugs might have finally grown brave enough to flee THROUGH the swarm currently hemming them in. Thankfully, that doesn’t happen and as the containment foam rapidly expands, Taylor pulls back most of her swarm. Most… but not all.

Jason winces at the thought of being not just restrained by containment foam, but feeling bugs also glued in place squirming against your body the entire fucking time. He would definitely not want to be those fuckers right now. But… at the end of the day, they’d all made their choices. And even if they weren’t capes, they were still emblematic of what made Brockton Bay such a shithole. They were part of the problem… and it was high past time that someone found a solution.

“Alright… I’ve gotta call this in now. We need PRT and local police to take these guys in.”

Jason hums and nods, and he can tell Taylor also doesn’t mind. Frankly, this was one of the reasons why he was glad to have brought Fletchette along. Otherwise, either he or Taylor would have had to call the authorities to arrest anyone they’d taken down. Though it did bring to mind one question…

“Why both the PRT and the police? Why not one or the other?”

Fletchette grunts.

“Because we’re involved, the Parahuman Response Team has to get involved. But also, because the other side has no Capes, the local police are usually the ones who handle the arrests and lock up.”

… That made sense. Otherwise, what was even the point of traditional police departments anyways? Jason wordlessly nods, letting Fletchette place her call. At the same time, he steps over to Taylor, giving her a squeeze of the shoulder.

“You did good.”

Taylor leans into his touch and he can tell she’s smiling under her mask. She positively radiates happiness and contentment for a moment, clearly pleased to have earned his praise.

… However, before she can respond, that happiness and contentment suddenly morphs into worry, her head snapping in a certain direction.

“We have incoming.”

Jason frowns and closes his eyes for a moment, using Focus to check their surroundings. It’s not hard to locate what Taylor noticed through her bugs. Walking down the road in their direction, maybe a couple of blocks away still… is a single man. Not Lung, thankfully. That was probably the worst case scenario. But… it was still pretty bad.

The man is large, tall, and broad-chested. He’s not wearing a shirt, but he is wearing a metal wolf mask that makes it quite easy to identify him.

Hookwolf. Probably the Empire Eighty-Eight’s heaviest hitter, what with his power being to transform into a veritable meat grinder of metal and death.

Opening his eyes, Jason looks over to Fletchette, who has just finished calling in the arrests.

“Hookwolf is on his way. He’ll reach us in a couple of minutes.”

Fletchette’s entire body freezes up for a moment as she processes that. Her indecision wastes precious seconds, but Jason gets it to be fair. She’s caught off guard and considering their options.

“… It might be best for us to retreat. Fighting Hookwolf on your first night out isn’t a good idea.”

Jason huffs at that. He knows Fletchette has a point, but even still… a simple shared look with Taylor and he shakes his head.

“We’re not going to back down or run. We’re out here to try and build a reputation for ourselves. Won’t do that by fleeing the moment the going gets tough.”

He can tell that Fletchette approves, even though she also shakes her head. Heh, she probably wanted to stay out here but didn’t want to risk their lives needlessly.

“… Alright then. Please follow my lead though. I may be able to talk Hookwolf down and make him retreat if he knows there’s three of us. Let me do the talking.”

Sure, Jason was more than happy to do that. Part of him DID want to try capturing Hookwolf, but while he was willing to face off against the E88 Parahuman, he wasn’t willing to risk their lives if they could force Hookwolf to accept a loss instead.

Waiting the minute it takes for Hookwolf to finally reach the section of the street where the con foamed thugs are feels like an eternity, but finally… he’s there, tilting his head to the side and looking down at the mass of containment foam. Before he can do or say anything, Fletchette calls out from the rooftop.

“Hookwolf. You are in the sights of my arbalest. I’m sure you remember the last time I hit you with it.”

Jason blinks. He hadn’t even noticed her unslinging her weapon from her back… but she’s telling the truth. She’s now aiming it directly at Hookwolf, who looks up at their roof.

“… Been waiting for a rematch, girlie. All alone tonight?”

“You wish. I’m joined by two Independent Heroes. As well, we’ve already called this capture in. Armsmaster is three minutes out. You would be wise to retreat… while you still can.”

Letting out a bark of laughter, Hookwolf shakes his head and begins to transform slowly, almost as if he’s taunting Fletchette to take a shot at him.

“Sounds like this might actually be fun then. Been a while since I had a good challenge!”

Fighting seemed inevitable at this point. Fletchette tenses up and her finger tightens on the trigger of her arbalest. From the sound of things, her power is pretty effective against Hookwolf… if she manages to land her shots. By that logic, his and Taylor’s roles should probably be support, right?

Only… Jason could end this right now. Hookwolf is just one man. He has enough power stored in the Staff of Magnus to Seal the villain in place right where he stands. If he does so, the threat Hookwolf poses to all of them will be neutralized with no further bloodshed. But at the same time, he’ll have played out his hand to both a member of the Empire Eighty-Eight and the Protectorate.

… Was it worth the risk of not doing so though? Was it worth holding back against someone like Hookwolf?

-x-X-x-

A/N: Will try to keep this up to date at the end of every chapter, get on me if I forget please. Though if it gets too out of hand, might have to change it at some point.

Jason's current banked points:

200 Celestial Points

Jason's current banked power:

= Chaos Magic (1000 Points)

Jason's current powers:

= Flash Air (Gained in Chapter 1

= Transformation Pendant (Gained in Chapter 4)

= Keen Eye (Gained in Chapter 4)

= Blood, Death, and Demons (Gained in Chapter 6)

= Alchemical Prodigy (Gained in Chapter 8)

= Staff of Magnus (Gained in Chapter 13)

= Bind and Seal (Gained in Chapter 17)

= Hero of a Hundred Faces: Everyone's Leader (Gained in Chapter 20)

= Minor Regeneration via Blood Empowerment Ritual (Gained in Chapter 23)

= Restraining Order (Gained in Chapter 25)

= Focus (Gained in Chapter 28)

= Scarborough Fair (Gained in Chapter 30)