Cold water splashed onto Shawn's face, bringing some life back into him. It had been a long day, was a long day. He leaned over the sink, dark eyes staring back at him.
His phone buzzed and he went for a paper dispenser to dry his hands, finding it empty. Typical, they had a suspended forcefield for a bridge but couldn't keep the bathrooms stocked.
He shook his head at himself for the thought, the janitor was no doubt as overworked as he was.
His hands wiped themselves on his sleeve and retrieved the device from his pocket.
It was Jean, his neighbor, confirming she could look after Addison. She'd been a tremendous help lately, consistently agreeing to watch his boy at odd hours.
His ongoing divorce weighed heavy on his mind, despite how Alan said it was one of the more amicable ones he'd worked on.
They didn't fit, he knew that. She wanted more out of life. Living in the Towers, the nicest area of Brockton Bay, wasn't enough for her. Her hints about moving to nicer cities had gotten progressively less subtle in the past months.
His stomach churned at the thought of leaving his hometown.
That didn't stop him from trying to make it work. He still loved her. It didn't hurt that she was really good with Addison. She was the only mother he'd ever known and Shawn was doing his best not to sour that relationship.
A watch beeped, warning him Shawn's time was up. He lifted the helmet precariously balanced on the sink and fastened it on his head.
Leaving the stall, he was Dauntless again.
He traveled through the halls of the Protectorate ENE Headquarters, smiling and offering nods to the many he passed along the way. PHQ never ceased to be a buzz of activity. The bustle only grew towards the end of the day, when the villains made moves on his city.
He'd like to say today was an odd occurrence, with a robbery happening in broad daylight. He couldn't, it was becoming more and more common with each passing day.
Along the way, he thought about where to place his next charge. When he'd first discovered his power's true nature, he'd focused on offense. Should he revisit that? Or maybe go for his breastplate? He couldn't always rely on his shield and that door could have seriously hurt him.
His steps brought him to an elevator which transported him smoothly to his desired floor. A short distance later he found himself in a waiting room.
"The Director will see you now." The secretary informed him, without ceasing her typing.
Sally? He couldn't remember her name, they didn't tend to last long.
"Thank you" He went with a generic reply and approached the double doors. They slid open and he walked in.
A meeting with your boss is always nerve-wracking. Having one with him and your boss's boss?
Much worse.
The office was large, fitting for the PRT ENE Director. A large window occupied the back wall, giving a view of the bay. He'd never been able to figure out if it was actually a window or simply a large screen.
At the center was a large stainless steel desk, papers cluttered its surface along with what was no doubt a heavily used computer.
Sat behind it was a large woman in a blue jacket, her steely gray eyes bored into him.
"Ma'am" He greeted with a tilt of his head. "Sir." He repeated the action for the other occupant
"Dauntless, take a seat." Emily Piggot's voice brokered no argument and he did as told. Taking the available seat in front of the desk. Beside him, Armsmaster maintained a level gaze on him.
"We'll be joined by Velocity who is still in medical." She pressed a remote and a TV descended from the ceiling, flickering to life. "Velocity, can you hear us?"
The image of his partner today was displayed. He was out of his usual costume, wearing one of those plastic disposable masks they were given when ordered to a sterile environment.
"Yes Ma'am, I can"
"Excellent." From her tone, he could be forgiven for thinking it was anything but. "Now you can both explain to me how my fastest capes managed to let two suspects successfully flee from a scene with a full PRT response mid-day.
"I take full responsibility, Ma'am." He didn't hesitate, he was the one who'd made the call. He'd be expected to do more of this in the future. Taking the lead. Taking the blame.
She leaned back, the chair ominously creaking.
"I didn't ask who was responsible. I asked how it happened."
"I've detailed it in my report-"
A hand slammed on the desk, almost earning a flinch from him.
"I've read the report. I'm asking you."
"Ma'am." Velocity spoke before he could gather a response. "Dauntless was merely trying to secure my release after I was incapacitated."
Dauntless followed up soon after.
"I made a decision Ma'am. I prioritized the release of my comrade. I stand by that choice and am willing to undergo any punishment you see fit."
"How noble." She scoffed. "The problem is, this here." She tapped a paper that must have been his printed report. "This here says hostilities resumed after your negotiation and you ordered those ready for pursuit to stand down."
Apart from the PRT Officers, some of the wards were present. Most of them were out of position but Aegis may have been able to intervene.
"That's right Ma'am." He swallowed. "The agreement was broken on our side. I chose to honor it."
Her hand moved, tapping another slip of paper.
"This one, from Officer Evans, says the villain known as Megamind took aggressive actions after the deal was struck."
"That's wrong Ma'am. He released Velocity and was preparing to exit when Officer Evans opened fire."
"Are you certain he wasn't reaching for a weapon? A remote specifically."
"He might have been-." He saw her glower and corrected himself. "He was Ma'am."
"The same remote that prompted you to initiate the engagement. Please tell me what changed in the minutes after that to turn it from dangerous to harmless."
He didn't know what to say in response to that.
"It wasn't a weapon." A gruff voice sounded next to him. "We recovered it at the scene. It's a standard remote. Unless they took something it was meant to activate, there was nothing dangerous it was connected to."
He failed to keep the surprise off his face at the interruption. Their relationship had been strained for some time now. Dauntless couldn't blame him, the man worked harder than anyone else.
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He'd forgone any part of civilian life and concentrated his full efforts on bettering himself as a hero. In contrast, Dauntless only needed to drop a charge into his choice of gear every 20-30 hours and, unless he reached a limit, would surpass him.
The Director shared his astonishment if her lack of immediate response was any indication.
"That doesn't change anything." She replied after collecting herself. "You weren't aware of what it did at the time."
Back in the headlights, he decided to go with honesty.
"I wasn't Ma'am. I'm not sure what to say besides it was a judgment call."
"Would you care to know why I am interested in this chain of events? Let me show you." She pressed a button on her desk. "Sheryll, is the mayor's office on the line again?"
The secretary's voice sounded from an unseen speaker.
"Yes, Ma'am. Shall I direc-"
"No." She said while unceremoniously hanging up. "I've stopped counting how many times they called me. Did you know I spoke to the governor and the Secretary of the Treasury today? That bank distributes cash to the entire country. Any disruption of it hurts the entire supply chain. The money itself isn't a problem, it's insured. But if we can't be seen as competent enough to protect it they'll move the hub to another city. Which means less funding. If you either apprehended those responsible or prevented damage to the building we wouldn't be having this conversation. I can spin that. Instead, we're here." She waved an arm across the office.
Shame welled up inside him. Was this how a child being scolded by their parents felt like? He didn't know. His parents said they loved him.
But they never loved him enough to scold him. Never enough to praise him. Never enough to make him feel like they were saying anything but empty words. He was a guest in their lives. He'd realized that, leaving and emancipating himself at the age of sixteen. He remembered, walking into that very bank. He was so nervous, acting by himself. A kind older lady noticed his distress and walked him through the entire process of opening an account.
He planned to do the same for Addison. Not now, maybe in a year or two; when he was fifteen. He'd already set up an education fund for him but this was different.
Getting your own account for your own money.
It felt like a milestone, one he'd wished his father had given him. He refused to let history repeat itself, he wanted to be there for all the pivotal moments. From going to ball games to sending him off to college. He'd witness them all. He'd be a part of them all.
"Wipe that pathetic look on your face." The director's voice brought him back to the present. "What's done is done. I'm going to eat shit for this but it could have been a lot worse. None of the public were there to witness the fight itself and more importantly, no one was seriously injured."
That was the important part. The bank could be repaired. People were harder.
"Velocity, I read your report. Do you want to expound on your injuries." She directed to his colleague.
"I'm fine Ma'am. I took two hits. The second felt like a taser at first but the after-effects….well on one of my deployments something local didn't agree with me and I ended up bedridden with a fever for a week. This felt worse. It wore off quickly. I'd estimate a minute or two but my powers may have interacted with it. The medical staff here aren't seeing anything wrong."
"I see that." she responded while reading something on the computer. "The second shot doesn't concern me, tell me more about the first."
"It was strange. I can't be sure what it did because the second hit me soon after." Her stare prompted him to continue. "In the time between, I felt doubt in my ability to win. I can't be certain it was externally caused. The fight wasn't going my way and I'd been shot by something. I documented it in my report but Megamind is not as frail as he appears; I wasn't having much of an effect."
"He's right Ma'am." Dauntless added his own observations. "My Arclance should have kept him down longer than it did."
She looked to be in thought.
"Would you say it's similar to Gallant's blast?" Armsmaster queried.
"Maybe sir. Without the concussive element."
"Armsmaster, I recall you have something to counter that?" The director voiced a question.
"It's not complete, but it should function."
The chair squeaked again as she shifted.
"Strike it from your report." The director's voice came out colder than usual. "The effects you described are minimal. Canary's trial is ongoing. I'm not going to let the newspapers get a hold of this and cause a panic claiming there's an emotion manipulator in my city."
That didn't seem right. Velocity nodded anyway.
"What other capabilities are we looking at?"
He made to respond when noticed it was directed to Armsmaster.
"We recovered several devices. Most of them are autonomous drones of some type. Crude in construction, aside from the fans that had some novel designs. Their power source is interesting. I was only able to collect a small sample but it was far denser in energy than anything I've seen before. If I can replicate it I'-"
"Save it." The director held up a hand. Saving them from tinker babble. "I want to know what it powered."
"All I saw him use was the gun and those strange cubes Ma'am." Velocity supplied.
"They're one and the same." Armsmaster interjected. "I reviewed security footage from the bank. There is no audio but I witnessed the gun in use. It has multiple modes. In addition to what Velocity described, it can condense objects into small cubes, cut through steel, and create thermal explosions. Comparing explosive residue, it was used to blow through two feet of dirt and asphalt along with the brick exterior of the building. He was also seen deploying a smoke bomb, analysis shows it was non-toxic. Finally, there was his escape vehicle."
"Sir." He wasn't usually one to interrupt his boss but he felt they were missing the gorilla in the room. "I think we're too focused on Megamind, his partner was a larger threat."
"I agree." Velocity backed him up. "He was a major complication in the fight. I had to wait for Dauntless to incapacitate him before slowing down. The projectiles he flung my way seemed to come at the worst moments."
"I was getting to that." Armsmaster stated. "The vehicle matches the description Laserdream provided about the recent break-in on the boardwalk. She logged an interaction with a 'poorly disguised fish piloting a gorilla body' identified as Mini Man and a second party. Her words."
Dauntless was left wondering what poorly disguised meant.
Armsmaster continued.
"The suit was able to throw an eight-ton door and displayed the ability to extend its hands. I haven't finished analyzing the hand we recovered."
"I want to focus on what was in it. Megamind fits the Case-53 mold. What about the fish." The director spat the final word.
They all heard the silent question of whether or not it was the work of a bio-tinker.
"I don't have enough data points to draw a conclusion. The bank footage is not of the highest quality and even then it's a difficult distinction to make."
"His name is Minion." Dauntless found himself talking. "They seemed more like family than anything. He was also nice?"
The villain introduced himself and went on to say it was nice to meet him. The crazy part was Dauntless believed him.
"When he wasn't throwing tables at you?" Velocity somehow retained humor.
"I repeated my question about his motives. His response was to throw one and say 'let's table that for later.'"
The room descended into silence, as perplexed as he was when he heard it.
"The attitude matches with my hypothesis." Armsmaster clicked something on his wrist and the screen with velocity split. The second now showing a scene he'd recently witnessed. "This is when he took Velocity hostage. You see him plant his boot. Watch his face, he's looking at the corners of the room where we recovered cameras from. Then, when Dauntless confronts him he shows confusion. He was trying for a camera op, not a hostage. This is supported by his initial release of potential hostages when he first took the bank and his entrance." The scene shifted to the exterior of the bank. "We see the smoke and then his arrival through the ground. Witnesses corroborate there were lights and music playing. He then proceeded to wait for our response while preparing a scene." It shifted again, to Minion organizing the room. "This wasn't a robbery. This was a show."
"A show is two hours with an intermission. This was reckless endangerment at the minimum. If what you say is true, we're looking at another Uber and Leet. It's only a matter of time until they start hurting people to get their kicks." The director said with a sour tone.
"Their potential Case-53 status complicates that picture." Armsmaster didn't sound convinced. "They're displaying childlike tendencies. They may be actual children or have some form of mental illness."
The director looked to visibly bite back a comment.
Were they children? They didn't look like it but that look of betrayal at the end, it wasn't fake. If they were adults and mentally ill, well he'd battled his own demons.
The director looked to be mulling something over.
"They showed some restraint with that weapon. Mark them as two independents for now. With the Empire and Coil fighting over downtown, they're low priority. We'll get to them when there's less fires to put out." The director made a snap decision.
"I'd advise against that, focusing on the capture now-" Armsmaster tried to plead his case and Dauntless felt there were ulterior motives in place.
"That's final. All of you out. We've spent enough time on this topic and I can't dodge the mayor forever."
The door slid open and Armsmaster marched past him, back to his workshop no doubt.
"Ma'am." He was pushing it but if he didn't ask now he never would "What's going to happen to Officer Evans?"
He did his best not to shrink under her glare.
"That's out of your purview." He hesitated before nodding and turning to leave. "Suspended pending review. Mandatory desk duty for six months. Remedial training and after that we'll see. I don't need trigger-happy officers but we're not drowning in recruits."
"Thank you, Ma'am." He replied somberly and left.
Dauntless made his way to the roof. He'd fly to the city and change there before heading straight home.
As he turned a corner, his feet stopped dead in their tracks. On the wall opposite was a large printout of the Brockton Bay skyline. It was five years old if his memory was right. He tried to reconcile it with what he flew over every day. He slowly approached it, tracing his fingers on the glass covering.
Today was the bank. What would be tomorrow? It seemed each day chipped away at the city.
His city.
For a split second, he was back in his van. His tomb. Buried alive by a mudslide. Watching as the love of his life withered away.
The light shifted and he stared at his helmeted reflection.
His son once asked him who Dauntless was. He'd said it was him doing his best.
What happens when that isn't enough?