As she finished introducing herself, Shindo followed suit and reintroduced himself to the heroes present. "Hello, I am Wattz and as you know by now, I used to be a former gadgesmith. Due to some personal reasons, I decided to quit my former job in order to become a hero. Thank you for giving me a chance and letting me join your team. I hope we can work well together."
Both of them nodded at each other as Shindo finished his introduction. Soon after, the two of them turned their heads towards Yata, who looked to the side in annoyance.
"Yata," Lozen called to him with an innocent smile.
"Yes, boss?" He replied, still looking away.
"Won't you introduce yourself to the newbie?" Shindo was a bit irked that he was called a newbie, but he decided to not comment on it.
"I-" Yata started saying, but when he turned his head, the cat hero flinched.
"Do you remember what we talked about this morning?" Lozen asked with a cold tone, causing a chill to run down Shindo's spine.
Yata tried speaking again, but seeing Lozen’s gaze on him caused him to sigh and give up. He turned to Shindo and started speaking, "You already know a bit about me. Still, let me reintroduce myself. I’m Yata, the solo mission specialist and recon unit of the team. And sometimes, I serve as the sparring partner for other members."
With that Yata shut his mouth and gave Lozen a look that said “Happy?”. The heroine’s smile softened at that, before giving Wattz her attention.
“It’s a bit of a pity that I can only introduce Yata and myself at the moment, but at least you met with Jack Ace last Friday. He is currently occupied with other newbies, while Janus, our analyst, is doing some errands for the police. I guess that'll have to wait for later." Lozen sighed.
"Wait, hold on. So I'm not the only new one here?" Shindo asked, surprised.
"Pretty much," Yata commented with a bit of a scowl. "That other newbie’s skillset caught Ace's attention, so he invited the girl to the team. What’s more, Lozen gave her approval once Ace informed her, so she’s pretty much stuck with all of us for the near future."
"Huh, interesting..." Shindo thought out loud. The cat hero crossed his arms, prompting Shindo to send a provoking grin at Yata, which caused the cat hero’s glare to sharpen.
"Oi, knock it off you two. You'll have more time to get acquainted later on." Lozen slightly reprimanded them. The two men looked at her quizzically before she motioned them to the seats in front of her. "Yata, Wattz, please take a seat. I need to discuss a few things before we do anything else."
The two heroes sat down as Lozen ested her arms on her desk.
"First and foremost, Wattz. I need to confirm a few things about you, but before that, let’s set some ground rules." Lozen gave her full attention to Shindo. He found it a bit unnerving, especially with those piercing onyx eyes of hers.
"I think I mentioned last Friday that this team values comradery and individuality above all else.” She stopped there, allowing Shindo a few seconds to refresh his memory. “Still, that’s part of our modus operandi. How we work on patrols or in a solo or duo mission environment is the following: Firstly, we focus on saving people first, then we fight villains. Secondly, we do not condone or instigate fights with other team members or heroes outside our team unless it is a risk to your own personal safety or the team's integrity. Do you follow?"
Shindo nodded, indicating for Lozen to continue. However, these words also seemed to be directed to Yata, who was a bit pale when Lozen mentioned these words. Lozen then continued after a brief pause. "Lastly, this team focuses mostly on Solo and Duo missions. If you see a mission you want to do, you must report it to either me or Jack Ace. After that you're free to do what you want. Failure to comply with these rules will net you punishment from either me or The Board of Heroes. Am I clear?"
"All clear, boss," Shindo replied seriously, but a small smirk betrayed his intentions. With that mindset, no wonder she had the position of team leader!
“Good," Lozen said with a nod. Now that that’s out of the way, I will be asking you a few questions.”
Shindo straightened up at the mention of questions, causing Lozen to flash him a simple smile, “Don’t worry Wattz, I won’t be going to personal territory. That’s only for you to tell. However, I do need to test you on your knowledge so that I can see what you can and cannot do in my team.”
With this Lozen leaned forward, as Yata shifted to face Shindo. Both of their gazes were unmoving, as they were both filled with the intent of learning about Shindo.
“What exactly do you know about superpowers?" Lozen asked.
Shindo almost raised a brow at this, but he immediately bit his tongue. He needed to control himself! At first glance, this was a simple question he could easily answer, but since he used to be a villain he needed to watch his every word. That applied even more when talking about superpowers, as he used to specialize in countering meta-humans.
Both Lozen and Yata seemed amused by his indecision. An action that greatly unsettled Shindo. Lozen’s face was unreadable, but her Onyx eyes betrayed her curiosity. Yata on the other hand was studying him intently, his green tinted eyes scrutinizing his every gesture.
So, in an attempt to divert their attention away from himself, Shindo started speaking. "Well, I only know a few things from conversations I had with my clients in my previous jobs. From what I could gather, a superpower, or in scientific terms a metahuman ability, is the genetic capability certain humans have that allows them to do supernatural feats. My clients also mentioned that roughly six out of ten people had powers, and that they were classified by what the power affects."
“Well, you have better understanding on the topic than most other newbies.” Lozen commented as she crossed her arms. She leaned her back on her chair before continuing on. "Or at least, you don’t seem to have the same misconception that other newbies have: That powers are miracles, that they are a gift.”
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‘More like a curse’, Shindo thought as he nodded to Lozen. This is when Yata took this chance to talk. “You mentioned classifications. Do you know how powers are classified?”
Shindo studied the cat hero. His words didn’t seem to hold any hostility or contempt, so Shindo started answering the question. "I know there are four main classifications, but heroes at my former job usually called them the four archetypes. The only one of those I sort of understand is the Enhanced Archetype, as my... power... falls under that archetype. After that, I only know the basic gist of what other ones can do, but I’m not exactly sure on their exact capabilities."
That last bit was a lie. Shindo not only knew the very intricacies of the archetypes, but he also knew how each of them worked to a genetic level. Still, his role at this exact moment was to play the newbie card.
“If you could please elaborate on the details on how the superpower archetypes work, I would appreciate it a lot,” Shindo said, as he scratched the back of his head.
Yata huffed at this, while Lozen took out the grey notebook she had last Friday. The sound of riffling pages filled the room until she managed to land on where she wanted to read.
“You mentioned before that powers are divided by what they affect.” Lozen started saying, “That is an inviolable rule that has been studied ever since superpowers first came to be. All powers affect something.”
Yata then interjected, “Because of that, the first classification was on where the effects of a power happen which resulted in two divisions. The first are known as internal superpowers, or that it affects the body of the user. The second is known as external, where a radial sphere around the user is affected by the power.”
“After that, came the Four Archetypes,” Lozen spoke, riffling a few more pages on her notebook, “It’s basically a subdivision of internal and external superpowers. The internal superpowers are subdivided into Enhanced and Mutant, where the only difference between the two is that the physiological effects on the body are unnaturally visible in a Mutant metahuman while an Enhanced one retains a “normal” physical appearance. On the other hand, external superpowers are subdivided into Elemental and Outburst. The difference between these two is on what they affect. Elemental superpowers control a traditional element, such as fire or water, while Outburst powers control either an abstract concept or a physical constant."
Through that whole explanation, Shindo was nodding and looking attentive enough to not draw suspicion to him. He only talked once Lozen asked him the following, “Do you need us to explain this more in detail, or are you fine with this explanation?”
“I’m fine with this,” Shindo replied, “If I ever need more info, I’d just talk to any of you about the topic, right?”
Lozen observed the green-clad hero before opening her mouth. "Yes you can. Both Yata and I have more knowledge on the elemental and outburst archetypes respectively. So feel free to ask whenever.”
“Thank you,” Shindo said to both heroes. Yata didn’t react, as he still was intent on studying Shindo, while Lozen seemed to get comfortable in her chair as a serious look graced her face.
“However, there's something that bothers me about all this,” Lozen replied. Shindo gulped. Was his lie caught?
"With that little bit of knowledge, how could you build a gadget that can suppress the powers of someone like Batoon?" She asked.
“I’ve been curious about that too,” Yata perked up at the question with renewed interest, “those gadgets nullify abilities or what do they do?”
Shindo almost sighed but held himself back. It was to be expected that they would ask this, but considering that he would be working under Lozen and Yata, it was better to tell them about the gadgets than to hide information.
"I'm going to assume you already read the patents, right?" Shindo asked both Lozen and Yata.
"Yes. I have informed the rest of the team on how the controller gadgets work." Lozen said, as he placed three different controllers on Lozen’s desk. One was a static controller, the other was an RTC, and the last was a different one with the letters PR on one of its faces.
"Well, since you're familiar with the secondary functions of my RTC and PR gadgets, I guess I can jump past a few explanations."
Lozen and Yata raised their eyebrows in interest as Shindo laid the three pyramids on the table for Lozen and Yata to see. "I could only defeat Batoon using the main temperature disruption function due to circumstance."
"How so?" Lozen asked while taking the RTC gadget in her hand and started examining it.
"My gadgets only work against certain types of superpowers, but it’s not limited to the archetypes. It’s limited to certain aspects of a superpower. It was only because I noticed an aspect of how Batoon’s power works that I could use the RTC." He revealed.
"Could you please elaborate?" Lozen inquired. Yata on the other hand was staring eerily at the gadgets on the table.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but from the description you gave before, Batoon’s power is either a Mutant or an Enhanced archetype, right?" Shindo asked
"He's an Enhanced archetype," Yata chimed in.
"As I suspected," Shindo sighed. He then leaned forward, controlling his tone into a more serious one. “When I fought him I noticed that he sped up and stretched his body a lot. Still, this should require a lot of energy to do, right? Hence I deduced a theory: his power must have a cost, a cost I could exploit with my RTC. Yet,what could be that cost? The first thing that came to mind was heat."
"Wait, wait, wait! Hold on!" Lozen eyes bulged at Shindo's words, "You mean that Batoon's power relies on heat?"
Shindo nodded to affirm her doubts. Both Lozen and Yata exchanged glances for a bit. However, Lozen immediately broke eye contact and looked away from the two. She put the RTC back on the table and placed her other hand on her chin, muttering theories on how Batoon's power related to heat, to which both Shindo and Yata smiled wryly. This lasted until she turned and looked at them with brightened eyes.
"You mean that he grows faster the longer his power's active, right?"
"Exactly so. When I activated the pillar function of the RTC, his powers seemed to have slowed down, maybe due to the interruption of him using his power. My Controller Gadgets specialize in attacking powers related to energy consumption, manipulation and generation. And that includes speeding up." Shindo declared, as he relaxed his posture while gauging the heroes' reactions.
Yata seemed confused about something but tried his best to hide it behind a wry smile. On the other hand, Lozen was pensive, with one hand covering her mouth and her eyes focusing on the gadgets and Shindo.
"Do you need me to answer anything else about my gadgets?" Shindo asked, as he started putting his controllers back on his belt.
"At the moment, there's nothing else." Lozen answered, but Shindo wasn't convinced by her words. It was pretty obvious from her tensed brows that she was still debating on a few things. Yet ultimately, the heroine sighed and then looked straight at Shindo.
"Thank you for cooperating with Wattz. This helps clear up a few things" She crossed her arms as she visibly relaxed, making her indecisiveness almost look like an illusion.
Shindo nodded. "I'm already part of this team. If I am to work with you, I should at least tell you this much."
“Good. Since the serious stuff is over, how about I give you a tour of the office!" ” Lozen smiled as she clasped her hands. Her leader-like attitude shifted to a delighted one, making her seem weirdly youthful. On the other hand, Yata flinched as soon as this happened. He was about to dash to the door but Lozen's words stopped him in his tracks.
"Yata, you're coming too," She directed her smiling face towards Yata.
"But I-" Yata tried to argue.
"Should I remind you of who broke protocol last Friday?" Her smile deepened causing Yata to cower. Lozen's voice didn't match her youthful demeanor at all. However, Shindo did not dare say this out loud. All he could do was almost feel pity for the cat hero, who hung his head in defeat. Almost.