Within the Apple Ch13A

Chapter 13

PRT HQ

Emily Piggot stared at the screen, the video having long since finished, trying to wrap her mind around what had just been displayed.

“That is an impressively scary young man,” Hannah offered up quietly from the other side of the desk.

“He’s a cocky little shit is what he is,” Emily snorted, shaking her head. “Playing with someone like Hookwolf is just stupid, I don’t care how good you are.”

“Unless he had a reason.”

She glanced over to where Assault was looking thoughtfully at the screen, “What reason are you thinking?”

Assault was an irreverent fool, but also one of the most effective of the Heros under her Command, in part because he was an irreverent fool. He had an understanding of human motivations that few non-thinkers could match.

“He didn’t just play with Hookwolf,” Assault said seriously, “He destroyed him.”

“Hookwolf was largely uninjured,” Armsmaster objected.

“Not what I meant,” Assault picked up his phone and tapped the screen a couple times before swiping it up and sending a file to the office computer.

They all looked to see the image appear on the big screen. It was a meme, pulled from PHO from the looks of things, showing a terrified looking Chihuahua, shaking uncontrollably, in front of a Nazi flag.

The caption simply read, The new face of the Aryan Ideal.

“At this point, PHO’s meme-lords are putting out the memes faster than they can even be read,” Assault said with a shake of his head. “If Hookwolf gets broken out, he’ll have to flood the streets with blood just to get a fraction of the respect he lost back. Magus may or may not have known it was streaming, but his entire actwas calculated to demoralize Hookwolf’s followers.”

“You think it was a Psyop?” Emily asked, frowning.

“I think it was more than just one thing,” Assault responded. “He maximized the effect he had… granted, I don’t think allof it was intentional… but enough was.”

“Fair,” Emily tipped her head.

Certainly, it didn’t appear that Magus was aware of the Dogfighting ring before the fight. That was something that the Empire didn’t advertise, as a general rule. Having it come out at the end of a video where Hookwolf was turned into a mockery… that was going to hurt the Empire. Even Racists loved their dogs, some of them anyway, and a lot of people who might otherwise see the Empire as a lesser evil would re-evaluate based on that alone.

“What kind of classifications are we looking,” She asked. “Opinions welcome.”

“Mover four, minimum,” Battery offered. “Tactical teleportation and flight. I’m thinking more Mover six, higher depending on the range he has on that little trick.”

Emily nodded, jotting that down.

“Tinker Six,” Armsmaster said. “Tentatively.”

“Six?” Assault looked over, surprised. “Seriously?”

“He built his method of flight, and his communications equipment is… impressive.”

“Alright,” Assault conceded, frowning. “His flight isn’t self powered? Does that affect the rating?”

“It makes it partly a sub-rating,” Emily admitted, “however the overall rating doesn’t change. If he’s separated from his equipment, his ratings would be adjusted accordingly.”

Assault nodded slowly, “He either has a combat thinker power, or is highly trained. I’m going to say both.”

Emily scowled, “No evidence of the latter yet. I ran the names he dropped, Wildcat, The Bat, and The Captain. No matches that make sense.”

“I knew a Wildcat,” Assault admitted. “She wasn’t much of a fighter. Well, not on the streets anyw- ow!”

Assault clutched his ribs from where Battery had jabbed him, “Damn Puppy, it was from before you even triggered.”

She just glared at him before, blowing on her knuckles, then returned her focus to the meeting.

“That changer trick he pulled on Hookwolf,” She said slowly, “How do we classify that? Blaster?”

Everyone considered that for a moment, before Emily sighed and nodded.

“For now, I’ll call it Blaster four with addendum notes. This damn file is going to get complicated,” She complained.

“His power set is… incredibly varied,” Armsmaster offered up with a frown. “He claimed that, by our system, he considered himself to be a Blaster/Shaker primary with sub ratings down the board.”

“Wait…” Assault sat up straighter. “He said that? By our system?”

Armsmaster nodded.

“What is it, Assault?” Emily asked.

“If he feels the need to distinguish his powers by our system, what system does he usually use?”

*****

Hebert’s Home

Taylor stared in shock at the screen of her computer, trying to process what she was seeing on her news feed.

“Dad!”

“Taylor? What is it?” Danny charged in, looking around wildly.

“Look at this.”

Danny calmed, coming over curiously to lean over her shoulder and look at the screen. “What am I looking at?”

“Magus, he encountered Hookwolf last night,” Taylor said through a dry mouth.

Danny winced, “Is he alright?”

“Hookwolf’s in custody,” She said flatly. “Magus wiped the floorwith him.”

“He… he what?” Danny asked, somewhat shocked. Hookwolf was not the most powerful Cape the city, to be sure, but was not to be trifled with either. His peculiar blend of powers generally made him very difficult for anyone to get a solid hit in on, and while he hadn’t ever been able to actually defeat the likes of Lung as an example, neither had Lung been able to decisively put Hookwolf down.

“I watched the video,” Taylor admitted. “Apparently Hookwolf streamed it as one of his Capefights… I’m thinking he’s going to regret doing that. It wasn’t even close. Magus beat him hand to hand, then humiliated him, before punting him into a wall.”

Danny just blinked.

“He… puntedHookwolf?”

“He turned him into a Chihuahua first,” Taylor said dryly.

The strangled laugh that escaped from Danny’s throat startled even his own hearing.

“Wow,” He said, straightening up, his mind racing. “Taylor I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to train with him.”

“Really? Because I’m thinking it’s a great idea,” She countered. “He Just wiped the floor with Hookwolf dad! Who could be a better teacher?”

“Someone that didn’t just become number one of the Empire’s hitlist, for one obvious answer,” Danny said heatedly.

“I want to be a Hero, Dad,” She protested. “The Empire was never going to be exactly friendly.”

“There’s unfriendly, and then there’s out for blood,” Danny countered immediately. “They’re going to be gunning for his head. I do not want you caught up in the crossfire, that’s final!”

“I’m a Cape Dad!” She snapped.

“You’re my daughter, I don’t care what else that always comes first.”

She got up, turning to face him, neither noticing the lights in the house beginning to fade in and out.

“I can’t just not use my powers, and Magus says that I NEED training, remember?”

“He says,” Danny countered. “That doesn’t mean he’s right. And you can train with the Protectorate if you must, the wards program…”

A lamp exploded, startling them both as they turned to stare in the corner.

“Taylor… what?”

“I… I don’t know, Dad. I… did I do that?” She asked softly, fear entering her voice.

*****

Wrecked Super Tanker, Brokton Bay Ship Graveyard

The spell phone ringing woke Xander up, part way, and he flopped his hand over and around until he located the device.

“Hrmmf…” He mumbled as he slid open. “Wens? Wills? ‘Zat you?”

“Mr Magus?”

Xander blinked his eyes, forcing himself awake, “Yeah, that’s me. Who is this?”

“This is Danny Hebert… I… I think we had an incident.”

Fully awake, Xander sat up and planted his feet on the floor.

“Talk to me while I get dressed,” He said, “then I’ll need directions. Be there as soon as I can.”

*****