The Protagonist System

211 Getting Served

I broke the kiss after a few minutes and realized I really shouldn't have done that, not in public anyway. I gave her an embarrassed look and used a hand to pull her scarf back up to cover the bottom half of her face. It only technically hid her identity, since that was all she wore on her head to cover her face.

“I'm sorry about that, Miss Militia. I... I saw the sympathetic look on your face and... I just... I couldn't resist taking comfort in...” I stopped talking and shook my head as I tried to step back, only for her to keep her arms locked around my neck to hold me close.

“It's all right, Atlas.” Miss Militia said and her eyes looked deep into my own. “I can see your reluctance and that's understandable. You did just break up with Panacea and then let your anger out in the boat graveyard.”

I sighed again as I put my arms around her waist. “I wasn't as subtle as I thought I was with that little tantrum, was I?”

Miss Militia chuckled and I felt my face flush a little red. She let go with one hand and dug into her bandoleer and pulled out a USB drive. “It's a copy of the security footage from a rooftop security camera and another focused on the waterfront for suspicious activity.”

I took it and tucked it into my belt as she put her hand back up to my neck and held on. “Now you have to warn me to not do things like that?” I asked and she nodded.

“Now I have to warn you about not doing things like that.” Miss Militia said, her voice full of amusement. “Atlas, you really shouldn't do things like that.”

I chuckled and saw the edges of her eyes crinkle as she smiled. “Because people are watching?”

“People are always watching.” Miss Militia said and really looked amused now.

“Ah, dammit.” I responded and she chuckled. “You're still holding on.”

“So are you.” Miss Militia said.

I opened my mouth to say something, then mentally told myself to not be so stupid as to refuse her generous offer. I nodded and ducked my head slightly and moved my arms up to her back to hug her tightly and I rested my head on her shoulder as she did the same to mine.

We stood like that for several minutes, just holding each other, and we didn't speak or do anything else. Comfort was what we shared in the quiet calmness of that tiny park and we were both happy to have someone that understood what we had gone through.

Miss Militia was the first to shift her hands as if to let me go, so I moved mine down from the middle of her back to her waist, held on for another moment, then let her go. We stepped back as one and I was sure we had similar content looks on our faces.

“I have the rest of my patrol to finish.” Miss Militia said and looked a little regretful.

“Would you mind if I joined you?” I couldn't resist offering.

“Not at all.” Miss Militia said and motioned to her motorcycle. “Do you want to share a ride...” She paused and motioned at the air. “...or share a ride?”

I smiled. “Lady's choice.”

“Hop on.” Miss Militia said and strode over to her motorcycle to put her helmet on.

I took an armored helm out of inventory to make her laugh, which she did, because the thing was only metal and had no padding whatsoever. So, I pretended to crush it into a ball and then pulled my hands apart as I transfigured it into an actual helmet decorated like the American flag.

Miss Militia nodded in approval and climbed onto her motorcycle before starting it up. I climbed onto the back and held onto her as she pulled away from the curb and resumed her patrol.

*

“Aww, that's so sweet.” Paige said as she watched the live stream on her laptop. She was curled up on the sofa and hugged a pillow with a picture of Atlas printed on the pillowcase. When you had oodles of money, you could get anything done and done very quickly.

That was why she already had a work crew from the dockworkers union stripping out one of the warehouses to create a recording studio for her. She wanted, no needed to start making music again and she definitely had a lot more to write and sing about after what she went through.

Moving her home base to Brockton Bay was also a huge benefit to her. Not only was she happy about buying up all of the extremely cheap real estate on the waterfront that she picked up for a song, and she chuckled at the pun; but, it also brought her right to where her savior was.

As Paige watched the huge hunk of a man have fun breaking up a few petty crimes with the American military-styled cape named Miss Militia, all she could think about was having his strong arms wrapped around her like he was hugging the cape from behind on her motorcycle.

*

Miss Militia slowed down her ride and came to a stop before she neared the end of her patrol at the PRT garage. “I kind of don't want this to end.”

“It has been exceptionally fun and took my mind off of things.” I said in agreement and then had a great idea. “Can you wait here for a moment while I check on something?”

Miss Militia nodded and I carefully hopped off of her motorcycle and strode a few feet away as I took out my cell phone. I pretended to send a text to someone, let out a little whoop, and then walked back over to Miss Militia.

“Bad news?” Miss Militia asked and I chuckled.

“Not at all. I just need to take a quick flight to pick up something and I'll be right back.” I said and took off the helmet I wore and handed it to her. “A few minutes, tops.”

Miss Militia nodded and hugged the helmet. I flew up into the air and then took off towards the docks at just below the speed of sound. I remembered what she said about something watching the waterfront and flew out to open sea. Once I was out of sight of land, I made myself invisible and came to a stop.

I looked in my inventory and found one of Coil's mercenary weapons, an assault rifle with a tinkertech laser attached to it. Since I had many many powers, including more tinker powers than necessary, I used telekinesis to pull it apart and removed the black-box part of the thing to make it into a basic laser that still worked, thanks to my experience back in the Incredibles universe.

I reassembled it and reattached it to the weapon, which I debated upgrading with my powers, then chose not to. As far as I could remember, Miss Miltitia could only add normal designs and nothing too complicated, like a turret weapon or multiple weapons combined in a single chassis. I wrapped the weapon in a thick towel and carried it in my hands as I made myself visible again and flew back to the city.

Miss Militia was still there where she had parked, only she had her helmet off and had hung hers and mine on her handlebars. She hung up her cell phone when she saw me and her eyes went wide at the gun-shaped towel-wrapped thing in my hands.

“You would be surprised what a criminal can carry on them before being arrested.” I said as I landed beside her.

“Atlas.” Miss Militia said, her friendly demeanor instantly changed to professionalism. “What is that?”

“It's a gift, of course.” I said and patted it. “You might not want to unwrap it here, though.”

Miss Militia nodded and looked at her motorcycle.

“You can keep my helmet as a spare.” I suggested.

Miss Militia nodded again and secured my helmet to the back of her seat, slipped her own helmet on, and made the sign to follow. She started the motorcycle up and drove the rest of the way down the street and into the PRT garage after giving me the hold position hand signal. I landed by the door and stayed there until she returned a few minutes later.

“This way.” Miss Militia said and I followed her inside past the outside guards and over to the elevator. We entered it and she kept giving me and the bundle searching looks.

“This is private enough.” I said.

“No, it isn't.” Miss Militia said and her tone brooked no argument, so I stayed quiet and we rode the elevator to another floor. The doors opened and she walked over to a security station and signed in, motioned for me to sign as well, and she added 'unknown weapon' being registered and entered into evidence.

I mentally sighed, because my neat idea had just created a huge pile of paperwork for the both of us. I followed her inside the secured area and down the hallway until we reached a metallic-looking door. She knocked exactly twice and waited without saying anything, so I remained silent as well.

After exactly 60 seconds, the door hissed open and a blue-armored man stood there. “Miss Militia.”

“Armsmaster.” Miss Militia said. “This is the oddly-shaped weapon Atlas has chosen to turn in to the PRT without warning or previous notice.”

“Gift.” I corrected. “It's not for the PRT, either. It's for Miss Militia.”

Both of them gave me pointed stares.

“It's my weapon. I had it fixed and wanted to give it to her.” I said as an explanation.

“That's highly unusual.” Armsmaster said. “Also partially a lie.”

I sighed at being caught over such a simple thing. “Fine. I looted it and tore it apart to fix it myself. I just didn't want anyone to know I could do that.”

Both of them sucked in sharp breaths.

“You are a tinker as well.” Armsmaster said.

“I'd like to lie and say I'm smart enough to do it on my own, except you'd call me on it with your lie detector.” I said and he nodded. “Then I might as well admit I'm a Stranger, Changer, and Mover as well.”

Miss Militia blinked her eyes a couple of times. “We already have you classed as a Mover.”

“You only registered my flying ability.” I said and apparated soundlessly to the end of the hallway and waved to them.

“Good lord.” Miss Militia whispered.

I apparated back and smiled at their shocked faces.

“What's your range?” Armsmaster asked me.

“I'm supposed to have a range?” I asked back instead of answering, since pretty much anything I said in response would probably register as a lie. I mean, I traversed the entire planet in one night to deliver justice to those that deserved it and... holy crap, I'm Santa Claus and I removed nearly everyone on the Naughty List!

Thankfully, their disbelieving faces gave me the perfect cover for my laughter and the both of them relaxed. Armsmaster stepped back and waved us inside his tinker lab, which we both accepted and the door closed behind us without him touching anything.

“Place the weapon on the workbench.” Armsmaster ordered.

“I will, as long as you agree that when you see what it is, the patent is filed under my name and the PRT and Protectorate can license its production rights from me.” I said.

“Consider it done, Atlas.” Dragon's voice said and one of the black monitors on the wall of monitors flickered and showed her smiling face.

“Hello, Dragon.” I said and waved. “Have you enjoyed examining and recreating the little innovations from my upgraded cell phone?”

Dragon let out a little chuckle. “I knew you knew I was doing that.”

I chuckled as well. “As soon as I gave you my number, actually.”

“Is that why none of it is black-boxed?” Dragon asked. “The hardware alone is amazing, and the coding...”

“Ahem.” Miss Militia said with a fake cough to get things back on track.

“Ah, right. Sorry about that.” Dragon said and blushed a little.

It was Armsmaster's turn to chuckle. “I believe I'll be just as excited as you in a moment.”

Dragon smiled and nodded.

I slowly unwrapped the large towel from around the assault weapon and both Miss Militia and Armsmaster leaned forward slightly to see it, so I whipped the last of the towel off with a flourish.

“Taaaadaaaa!” I said and held the thing up.

“It's a normal assault rifle with a laser sight.” Armsmaster said in a disappointed tone and Miss Militia looked a little sad, too.

I couldn't help but laugh at that reaction. “Miss Militia? Catch!”

Miss Militia jerked as the weapon fell into her arms and then she gasped, her eyes glazing over.

“What is it? What happened?” Amrsmaster asked and she didn't respond. “Miss Militia! Report!”

Miss Militia stiffened as if coming to attention and her eyes went back to normal. “It's not just a laser sight, Armsmaster. It's a laser. A fully powered, working laser.”

“I don't see how that's noteworthy. Dragon has several kinds...” Armsmaster started to say.

Miss Militia put the assault rifle down on the workbench and then her nine milimetre handgun at her waist disappeared in a swirl of dark green energy and it reformed in her hands and became an exact copy of the assault rifle, including the laser sight.

Both Armsmaster and Dragon gasped this time.

“I need a target.” Miss Militia asked and Armsmaster pointed to a small testing area. She strode over to the small firing range, that I assumed he used to test launching his halberd's various ranged functions, and she took an appropriate stance to fire a two handed weapon before she pulled the trigger.

*BZZZZOWWW!*

The two inch thick steel plate used as a backdrop instantly had a hole cut through it and the armored wall behind it had a melted indent in it the size of a quarter.

“A full powered shot like that would have drained about half the battery's charge on a normal weapon.” I commented and Miss Militia nodded. “But, it's not a normal weapon now, is it?”

“No.” Miss Militia said as it dissolved and reformed, giving it back a full charge, and she reduced the power as she fired again, reformed the rifle, then she fired once more. When she dissolved the weapon and it reformed into a handgun at her side in the holster on her hip, we all saw the steel plate had a happy face carved into it, as did the partially melted wall behind it.

“Cute.” I said with a smile.

Miss Militia strode over to me, confidence exuding from her, and she pulled down her face covering just before she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me passionately. Neither Armsmaster nor Dragon said anything as we made out right there in front of them.

*

New Wave had their plan of action worked out, the pizzas were eaten, and everyone was relatively happy about the whole thing. The only objections were from the two girls it concerned the most, because it made one look like a shallow social butterfly and the other like a doormat that went along with everything.

That it actually reflected reality quite closely, didn't matter, because Carol Dallon was right. It was how people perceived things that mattered, not what was actually true. With the plans to handle the fallout of the breakup that didn't happen because they weren't actually dating, set in place, Sarah Pelham changed her idea to start the campaign the next evening to doing it immediately.

So, they handed the finished plan off to their social media expert, Crystal Pelham, and she started the information dump. It began with culling the rumors over the Fugly Bob meal and continued with her counter-posting on PHO about the jokes Glory Girl made at Panacea's expense, embarrassing them both.

Then Crystal started digging up older posts from Vicky where she said similar things and really got to work. Her mother Sarah couldn't have been happier about the plan actually working, giving her and her family a chance to get out of the mess Amy and Vicky caused without too much of a hassle. All it really cost them was smearing Glory Girl's reputation a little.

Unlike what Vicky thought, she actually deserved it. It was also a little humbling for her to see her actions and her posts from someone else's perspective and she realized how mean and vindictive a lot of what she joked about was and she resolved to try and do better in the future.

Vicky's first decision to do that? To make up with her ex-boyfriend Dean and apologizing, just like everyone said she was going to. At the very least, she was quite predictable in her behavior, and her family used it to their advantage.

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