witch's cape, not hat | Glowfic Constellation

witchwatcher

She glances at a certain building. "Cricket's still unconscious on that roof. She might be getting up soon, I can't tell. I can't get her, can't fly anymore... Ah, sorry I wrecked the Steelwing you made me. And what the hell kind of drugs can keep something like him down? And that shredder cloud is just scary. Wish I could copy tinkers sometimes."

wormcan

"It was designed with him in mind. Wouldn't be safe against most.
Villains ruining equipment, that's part of the job."

Vista and Battery collect Cricket while Armsmaster loads Hookwolf into a van. By the time they get back Lung is small enough to be moved and they can return to base.

witchwatcher

Gren rides in one of the vans, not having anything to fly with. She addresses the other Wards. "All's well that ends well. I'd have bolted if that last try didn't work. But if we left early we'd have to do it again eventually, with worse odds. I'm just glad we don't."

wormcan

"And this time there won't be a rescue attempt," Clockblocker agrees. "Since Bakuda's captured and Oni Lee couldn't plan his way out of a wet paper bag."

witchwatcher

"These fights would be really exciting if they weren't so dangerous. Maybe we should spar or something once in a while. I could probably use more close-combat skill, or parkour or something - I rely on flight a bit much."

wormcan

"Sure, I'd do that.
And I heard the Boston and New York teams practice against each other sometimes, maybe we can join that."

witchwatcher

"Anyone know if Armsmaster made a spare 'wing for me? I might have to use one of the ugly production models from my world. Or a regular broom or something, though that'd look even stupider."

wormcan

"I think that was one of the production models, the ones from this world. Or at least close enough to be replaceable."

witchwatcher

"Good. I hate being immobile in a fight."

wormcan

"I wouldn't know," Vista grins.

They return to the sound of cheers. Lung gets unloaded into a cell, having shrunk to normal and still unconscious. Hookwolf and Cricket have woken up, but are equally thoroughly restrained. (Not that anyone pays as much attention; they got Lung and the others hardly matter.)

witchwatcher

Gren feels strange being the cause of such a big celebration. Lung just doesn't compete with the Neuroi in her mind, for all the danger he posed.

She becomes Citrine Mage, pretending to be a calm and confident hero.

wormcan

Mostly it matters because Lung was the single strongest cape in the city. (As of recently, he had gone toe to toe with multiple Endbringers and survived.) Even aside from the fact that the ABB is likely to disintegrate, it means that every remaining villain can at least be straightforwardly fought.

And in fact subsequent patrols mostly see them fighting the Empire, and once in a while the Merchants. It's a slow fight, the heroes are still outnumbered by the various villain factions, but now they're winning.

witchwatcher

Gren overall tries to reserve as much power as possible. Any cape fights she tries to end quickly, with as little flashiness as possible.

Dauntless's power keeps charging her lovely amulet. Now that she realizes it, it's easier to copy and use multiple powers at once when she wears it. She loves this power.

...Considering some of the villain powers she's read about recently, specifically the Master powers, she kind of wants a specific sort of power to copy. Doing magic is a mental action for the most part... She inquires with the PRT and the UDF, is there anyone known to have protection against mental influence as a power or Witch special?

wormcan

As far as anyone else is concerned, Citrine Mage is just good at copying powers. Any noticeable difference they'll put down to practice.

Power immunity is rare on Earth Bet. There's a Ward in Boston who's immune to mental powers, but that's more as a side effect of the fact that those powers tend to work either on living or nonliving things and his body is made entirely of metal. And the Siberian is immune to practically everything, but she isn't going to stand still to be copied. Add to that the fact that powers are rarely purely defensive, and no likely candidates come to mind.

witchwatcher

The UDF finds two relevant Witches. One can enter a sort of emotionless combat fugue, shutting off all emotion and reason until a pre-arranged signal snaps her out of it. This is not something Gren wants to copy. The other has immunity, but not to mental effects - only to Witchly curses. Gren doesn't bother trying to copy this, either, it'd be useless against capes.

She settles for trying to practice teleporting while in less than ideal mental conditions. Though how to generate less than ideal mental conditions to teleport under is a bit of a quandry.

wormcan

This they can do. Gallant, her teammate, has emotion-affecting blasts as his main power. She can practice teleporting while hopeless, scared, sad, ashamed, et cetera and so on. Or any combination. Emotions aren't the only thing mental powers can do, but they don't have any other of the relevant type of Master on hand.

witchwatcher

She would, indeed, like to practice operating under the effects of various negative emotions. Only for a little while each day, in between patrols and the inane things school has her doing and a little free time, only when Gallant and her are both free, but she does indeed get some practice in.

It works best if she has a plan in mind before the effect starts, she can follow through simple courses of action with sheer bullheaded determination but her ability to think creatively takes a significant blow.

She continues to be unusually good at copying powers and rounding up villains.

wormcan

It's not an emergency situation, so the villains with superpowers are still being left to the Protectorate as much as possible. When parahuman backup arrives for the other side the Wards' primary goal is to disengage, but if Rune or Crusader happens to get stunned without more capes to drive off the Wards then nobody is going to object.

Before long the heroes are ready for what they hope is a final assault on the resident Nazis, thanks to a confidential and/or anonymous tip about location. Wards, especially Citrine Mage, may join but are naturally not required to.

witchwatcher

Citrine Mage would indeed like to join. Her usual warning that every fight she fights potentially means less stored-up power later applies. Though this is less severe a restriction than it used to be - if she is ever actually low on mana, there's a few immigrant Witches operating as rogues in Brockton Bay by now. One healer, that weather precog (who brought along an apprentice of sorts, one with cooking magic), three with various flavors of telekinesis. The PRT can buy off their mana to refill Gren's reserves if they get significantly depleted.

wormcan

The healer is in high demand already, and there are people with schemes to use weather precognition to get more useful information, but the PRT is in favor of having options.

They've got a time and place where the remaining Empire Eighty-Eight leadership will be. Leadership in this case means Purity, as Kaiser and his other lieutenants have been killed (by Behemoth) or captured (by Gren). Who Purity's seconds are is unknown, but information on the capes is available. Everything from powers and tactics to which teammates they tend to be alongside. An annoyingly high number are likely to be resistant to stunbolts, but Gren is the best counter they have to Purity herself. Gren is a flying Blaster who is better at both things, if not as destructively powerful.

They've even got numbers on how many unpowered reinforcements are likely to be on hand, and all capes know to watch out for bullets.

witchwatcher

Gren studies up on who might be there, planning to list cape names based on their powers as soon as she's close enough to tell them apart. She's been practicing unusually placed shields - they'll always be easiest to cast right in front of herself, but she might be able to completely shut down Purity's attempts at blasting things. Might. She definitely understands that Purity will be her priority.

wormcan

As the target day approaches, the team to send in gets ready. Armsmaster, Dauntless, Triumph, Aegis, Gallant, and of course Gren. Between the Protectorate and the Wards victories, they are certain to have the Empire capes outnumbered. The catch, predictably, is that the remaining ones are the hardest to capture.

But they're fully informed and expecting the fight, an advantage the Empire almost definitely doesn't have.

witchwatcher

When Citrine Mage approaches the outside of the building in question, she can confirm that a subset of the remaining Empire capes are inside it. One there, one there... Purity on the top floor.

But Gren is not good at stealth. "They're moving, I think we're spotted!" And shields go up.

wormcan

Visibility decreases as a gray fog spills out a window and spreads toward them. in a gust of wind. No, as Fog spreads toward them. All the heroes were prepared for this, with full-body costume coverage and very fine air filters. There's no telling if it'll be enough. Gallant tries to sense Fog's emotions, to get an idea of his intent, and relays that there barely are any. Maybe something to do with Fog's currently inhuman body. Fog is joined by Fenja and Menja, twin giantesses who jump out the window normal-sized and grow before they hit the ground. Purity herself moves closer but does not make a move yet.

Armsmaster gives an order to Dauntless, and white light crackles from the Arclance. It burns a path through the mist, and strikes Fenja. She weathers it and rejoins her teammates.

witchwatcher