Take a few poli sci classes. Get a job working for his father.

It was an uncomplicated path to set up a solid civilian cover for Rory Christner.

Shrapnel from what remained of the sidewalk buffeted his face and he was grateful that his helm blocked the lion's share of it. That piece of gear was the only thing that marked him as Triumph, Protectorate Hero. The rest of his ensemble was tucked away in his backpack near the cafe where he was eating a bagel when this all started. If he had realized what was happening sooner, maybe he would have had enough time to put it on. Then again, it was probably better to bum-rush the Master 8 before she brainwashed everyone within earshot.

He was kicking himself for not reacting sooner but it had started innocently enough. A soft hum at the edge of his awareness, an errant vocal here and there. It wouldn't be the first time someone brought a guitar to campus and started belting out a few chords.

It was the water show that tipped him off that this wasn't some guy trying to get laid. The fountain in the center of the campus had erupted like a geyser, showering the surroundings. Disturbingly, it hadn't caused mass panic.

He wasn't sure if that was a testament to the bravery of the residents who call Brockton Bay home or an indictment of how desensitized they had become to cape violence. Triumph was leaning towards the latter given the numerous phones he'd seen recording.

They were acting like this was a damn concert.

A clumsy swing came towards his right flank and he took a step back, avoiding the glowing club. That was an Eighth Note? If so his old piano teacher would be proud, he'd quit taking lessons when he entered high school to focus on his now-defunct baseball career.

What he did know for certain was that being hit by one would be a bad time. Styled after musical notes, the clubs were some type of kinetic weapon. They reminded him a bit of Ethan's power, smashing through concrete with little resistance.

So yeah, his healing factor wasn't that good. Thankfully, his opponents weren't what he would call skilled.

Triumph reached for his power and shouted at his attacker. A shockwave was emitted from his mouth and swept his attacker off her feet, she flew back several yards and he ducked to avoid another swing.

"Surround him!" A voice in his head barked. "Kat, are you alright?"

From his peripherals, he could see one of them kneeling by the target of his shout.

"I'm fine, get off me." The one known as Kat, he'd been mentally calling her green on account of her costume, pushed off the other and got to her feet. "Slippery fucker."

Why couldn't she finally stay down?

Being a hero meant responsible uses of force, which with parahumans was tricky. Fortunately, he'd practiced long and hard to know what level of strength was 'safe' to use in his shouts. Unfortunately, whatever tinkered-up bullshit they were wearing meant they'd shaken off everything he'd thrown at them.

Oh sure, a full-powered blast would probably put them down but he couldn't exactly risk pulping one of them. So the order of the day was increasing in gradual increments until he found the magic level.

A group of six had spotted and intercepted him. The full-body suits they wore looked professionally done. They were coated with an intricate array of feathers and sported a large yellow C on the chest. The visors they wore were much like his own, covering the upper half of their heads. On their feet, they wore bulky boots that looked like talons. Each had a distinct coloring and they reminded him of the defunct Sentai Elite.

"Keep his attention!" Despite the heavy metal blaring through his headphones, he heard it perfectly. "I'm getting him from behind!"

He swiveled quickly, shouting at the one trying to sneak up on him. She flew back with a cry and he turned his attention back to the ones in front of him.

While there hadn't been any public statement, the team had been briefed that a local villain was most likely responsible for breaking out Canary. The why was above his pay grade but they had received a file with her known abilities. Which is why his first action upon realizing whose face was displayed on the cascade of water above campus was to crank the volume on his music player to the max.

Canary's trial was a hot topic among cape circles. Although the local protectorate was split on the issue, they pretty much all agreed that she needed to be brought back into custody. Either she was a Master with criminal intent or she was a Master with an uncontrollable power, both of which put the public in danger.

Did he think she deserved the Birdcage? No. But she did at least need to be put in an asylum where she couldn't hurt anyone.

Frankly, he thought the Birdcage talk to be extreme. That was reserved for the worst of the worst and those that couldn't be safely contained elsewhere. He had found the comparisons to the Simurgh to be laughable. It was spoken by idiots who had never had to face an Endbringer.

He had. And while he could safely say it was one of the scariest moments of his life, he'd come back in one piece.

While the voices appearing in his head initially caused a spike of panic, it had tapered off when he realized that the invisible pressure associated with the Simurgh's scream was absent.

That and the fact that he very clearly wasn't meant to be hearing any of this.

"At this rate, we will tire before he does." The taller of the two in front spoke. "Do you think he has increased stamina? He's kinda cute..."

He was a hero. A proud member of the Protectorate. He'd dated and had several girlfriends. His face had no right to be burning as much as it did right now.

"Not enough if he couldn't be assed enough to patrol the docks." He didn't frown at that, even if he wanted to. He'd done numerous routes through there. "Knock out those earphones. Then the boss can tell him to go fuck himself."

That poured some ice down his back and he got his head back in the game, firing off another shout.

"Kat! You know that's not-"

Annnd he was pretty sure he just nailed the one trying to talk sense. Lovely. He blasted the shorter one back again, giving him some breathing room.

His eyes snapped toward the stream of water overhead. He could see Canary's reflection do a twirl. The girl herself was dancing on top of the fountain, suspended in the air. It was something between a hundred and fifty yards away, a distance he could cross in seconds at full sprint. The crowds surrounding them complicated things. One of them was centered around Canary, absorbed by whatever she was doing. The other seemed to be cheering on his fight.

He really, really wished they would evacuate already. Aside from blocking him off, it also meant he needed to be careful whenever he aimed his shouts.

At the very least they could not so blatantly cheer on the poultry sisters.

Canary's power worked pretty fast, they were probably already under the influence by now and were told this was some sort of promotional event. He'd tried yelling at them but they didn't seem to be able to hear him.

The drones delivering Canary's song flew tauntingly above. He might be able to clip one but then the debris would rain down on the bystanders.

On the bright side, he'd hit the SOS button on his PRT-issued phone the second he had his headphones secured. Something like this would scramble everyone, he expected to see Dauntless fly overhead or hear the roar of Armsmaster's cycle soon enough. Maybe not the last one with how drowned out his ears were right now. It was probably going to give him hearing damage but what good was a minor healing factor if you didn't use it?

"Keep it together." The speaker was dressed in red, she hadn't approached him directing the others instead. "We just need to hold him here."

Right, go for the leader. Although he doubted it would have much of an impact on their coordination, given they had nearly none.

He swayed out of the way of one dressed in blue, grabbing their wrist and throwing her over his shoulder and into another. Arms pumping back and forth, he made for the one in red. She stared at his approach with uncanny calm. It made him hesitate for a moment, thinking he was walking into some trap.

And in the next second, he was proved right as something impacted his shoulder, flinging him to the side. He recovered in a roll, locking onto the source.

"Bullseye!" The short neon green girl exclaimed. She was holding a megaphone? No, tinker tech. Wires jutted out from the side and he saw the blue glow associated with the energy source his boss had become a tad obsessed with. "I knew bringing this shit was a good idea."

He fired at her and she raised the megaphone. The two forces met and the resulting boom could be heard through the metal music.

Was that….

Fucking tinkers, copying powers was bullshit. He gave it another go and was rewarded by her diving out of the way. A recharge timer?

"How do you…" He zoned into the one in a disgustingly pink suit, she was fiddling with something. "Ah, got it."

Crap.

His shout couldn't disrupt the rainbow gale that swept toward him. It enveloped him, picking him up and throwing him through the air. His attempts or orientate himself failed and he had a surprisingly soft landing.

Wide eyes stared up at him. Their color transitioned to match whatever her costume was.

Currently, it was a light violet but he'd seen it cycle through several since the start of this fight. It was form-fitting and warm to the touch, a more elaborate version of the ones he'd seen the others wear. Her head was caressed by a silver crown, formed out of delicate-looking feathers. Droplets of water covered her face and somehow managed to make her more striking.

Damn. Her mugshot really didn't do her justice.

His face stung and he belatedly realized he'd been slapped. He put Rory in time-out. Triumph currently had a villain pinned to the ground and needed to focus on restraining her.

"S-sorry about the interruptions folks, some fans can act fowl." Wait. He heard that. The slap had displaced his headset. "It's a bit too much to swallow. Can someone show some bravado?"

His palm was moving to cover her mouth when he was tackled off her. His head was spinning again but instincts kicked in and he wrested the person off of him. It was hard with the size of them but he wasn't a professional for nothing. Someone else came for him and he pushed them back with a low-powered shout. Being extra conservative.

Their team wasn't any good but like hell was HE going to be blamed for their football team losing to Boston again.

Canary staggered to her feet and a deceptively sweet voice followed.

"Take a bat to the kitty cat~"

He was considerably less careful with the second baseman, yanking the aluminum bat out of their grasp and flipping them on their back harshly.

Bitter? Him? No sir, the man had a weapon.

"Trying to cage me? First, you'll have to upstage me~" Since when did she have a cape? She swung it towards him, pointing at him with a dramatic finger. "Be wary of the Canary! "

A sense of unease flickered in his head.

"Trying to pinch this finch but he forgot his cuffs, don't be afraid to be rough~"

He actually had a pair in his back pocket. Not that he was about to explain that to the crowd surging towards him.

His head angled down, and he shouted. Dirt flung into the air, forming a cloud and disrupting the incoming wave. His legs pushed off the ground and he weaved through grasping hands. There were too many, his path was blocked off and he frantically backpedaled.

Masters he decided, sucked.

"Give him some space. My Serinus will put him in his place."

They dispersed and he caught his breath. Where was his backup???

Hers was right in front of him, the girls from earlier.

"Bird brain! Why'd you knock him into the boss?" Green berated pink, it made it hard to take these people seriously.

"It wasn't like you gave me the manual for this thing!" Pink retorted and he took note of how their actual voice came out in a foreign language. Was that Russian? He wasn't familiar with Slavic languages but he committed the words to memory.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Kat the klepto," The red was standing slightly in front of Canary in a protective manner. "I thought we had sorted this already."

"Hey! I asked the fish and he said it was cool. The blue guy did extra work on them just in case, this is the just in case." She waved a hand in his direction. "I don't see you complaining about the headsets I got everyone."

There were people behind Canary but if he moved a little to the right he should get a clean shot.

"Besides, watch this." Kat produced a teddy bear, pulling on its string and throwing it towards him. Triumph was not stupid. Whatever that thing did he did not want to be ANYWHERE near. He inhaled, releasing a full-powered shot and making it soar high.

That was the best decision he made all day as a blinding light engulfed the sky. Heat blasted against him and he took a knee to brace himself against the shockwave.

A ball of blue fire, resembling a sun swirled above campus. It was gone the next instant although he had no doubt most of the city must have seen that.

"Are you trying to get us killed!" The pink one snapped and he saw the others still shaken.

"I didn't know it would do that!"

Potential mass casualty event or not, he now had the perfect response whenever he heard Tinkers bitch about the approval process.

"Then why did you use it!"

"Well, I did throw it away from us."

They rapidly berated each other, the group looked close to fracturing and he was hoping they would fall to infighting. It wouldn't be the first time he'd seen something like that.

"I-I think we've raised the crime rate, it's time for us to migrate~" Canary placed a hand on the red one's shoulder, pulling her back and waving towards the crowd. "I hope you all enjoyed the show, the next one might cost some dough."

Not on his watch.

—

Megamind removed a branch that had found its way under his glove. Rolling out of the bush, he looked up towards the hole he'd fallen through.

Okay, he might have understated the family duo just the teensy tiniest bit. Of course, not as much as they had him.

Making sure there was no more shrubbery hitching a ride on him, he was about to stroll forward when the sky was lit up.

…

…

…

"Minion! We've been robbed!"

He waited but no response came.

"Minion?"

Something must have happened! He took in the surroundings, comparing it to his mental map.

That way.

He ran. It was a horribly ineffective way to travel.

A crimson laser shot past his shoulder, cleaving through the trash can to his right.

Huh, he could have sworn he'd dealt with that. Looking over his shoulder, he saw both formerly blonde heroes fly after him. Through gritted teeth, more beams were fired his way. Debilitate should have put them both out of commission.

He easily sidestepped both attacks. Debilitate targeted the central nervous system, forcing the body to believe it was in a state of incredible sickness that caused the victim to lock up. They should barely be able to lift a finger, which was exactly how they were able to fire such poorly aimed shots at him.

Their flight didn't seem impacted. Either it was controlled separately or there was something abnormal about their nervous system.

Even so, the fact that they could think straight enough to chase him spoke well of them. He nodded in approval, this was how it should be.

There was a crack and he stumbled forward, his left shoulder burning. A second one came, hitting his central chest. By the third, he had the sense to dive behind a planter.

His hand rubbed his shoulder, something was lodged in his suit and he retrieved it. A rubber bullet?

What was that supposed to do?

There was a crash and the ground splintered near him.

"Sir!" Minion deployed his shield, the pointless bullets bouncing off. "Are you okay?"

"Of course." He rose, brushing himself off. He scanned Minion quickly, finding him fully operational. "Did you put me on mute!?!?"

He could think of no other reason he didn't respond to his calls.

"Ah, well….maybe? There was something important."

Minion moved to block an incoming barrage of lasers.

"As important as me?" Megamind didn't pay them any mind, asking the question that had bubbled up inside him.

"That's a good joke, sir." Minion laughed, inspecting their adversaries. "Who are they?"

Megamind followed his gaze. The pair were keeping their distance and he couldn't blame Minion for not immediately recognizing them given their makeover.

He cupped his hands around his mouth, yelling in a loud voice.

"Don't worry! Wash it with sulfur every day and it will come out in 2-4 weeks!" He elbowed his Minion, raising a hand and whispering to him. "The only thing the Sulfur will accomplish is making them stink of rotten eggs."

In actuality, the blue dye seeped into their clothes and hair would linger for a full month without the proper dissolver. They should be thankful it doesn't affect the skin, he didn't want anyone stealing his looks after all.

"That's Lady Photon and Laserdream." He answered and then looked at the others shooting at them. They were scattered and wielded a variety of firearms. Some wore vests, some didn't. He spotted some badges sprinkled among them. The only thing they had in common was the bulky sets of ear protection they sported. "Those are…campus security? No, probably the prt."

They were pretty decent shots and he doubted campus security would be prepared to deal with his protege. Given the slapdash nature of their assault, he deduced they were first responders of a sort. Actually, given the way they were arranged, they may have been trying to form a perimeter.

"La-"

"Did you give Canary the teddy mauler?" He cut off his Minion, he couldn't let him hyper-fixate right now. Besides, she would provide a rewarding fight in this state.

"The bear? I wasn't sure what it did but I figured you weren't using it so I loaned it to her minions. I figured with you focusing on Canary I could help them out a little."

A little Minion to minion mentoring. He could follow the logic. Still, that didn't excuse him from raiding his supply closet.

"Minion, that's a one-and-done. You can't loan it out. The only thing left of it is lingering radiation."

"Oh," Minion was deep in thought, letting some of the rounds bounce off his chassis. One of them ricocheted and left a mark on the floor. Live rounds now? It was about time. "Can we collect that? The radiation."

"No," Well they could but what would be the point? "Let's just go see what's going on. Her set should be done and I don't hear any music anymore."

He'd been saving that bear as a surprise gift. If that Bakuda girl ever poked her head out he'd mail it to her. What better way to prove your superiority than showing someone how much better you were at their job?

And if she dared try to one-up him maybe he'd spend longer than an afternoon on his follow-up.

"Forward," He hopped on Mininion's back, pointing towards the center campus and through the makeshift perimeter. "Step to it!"

"On it boss!"

Minion crouched and in the next moment, the wind rushed through Megamind's scalp. He tightened his hold as butterflies took hold in his stomach from the leap. He should have installed a grip somewhere. They landed again and Minion broke into a sprint, bullets whizzed by and he heard the vroom of an engine before an armored van made itself known. The foam turret tracked them ominously for a few seconds before it began spewing the yellow-white substance.

His gun lashed out with destroy, countering the stream.

"Hold on!" His ride called.

Megamind wrapped his legs around Minion's waist, just in time as they soon became airborne. Minion's extendable hand had lodged itself in a building, pulling the villainous duo up in an arc.

They swung back down and Minion landed feet first on the van, toppling the vehicle. Megamind shot the turret for extra measure and it exploded, rapidly engulfing the van. Minion was quick to extract them from the area.

"Okay, that was fun but we really should check on her." He spoke with a grin, watching how the officers scrambled out of the foam's reach. "Best hurry."

More appeared from the opposite direction and he shone the Megalight towards their driver seat, causing a collision.

They were beginning to swarm, this could get out of hand quickly.

"I see them." Minion's voice caused him to look towards the front again. "Uh…I think she lost?"

Canary was on the ground, her minions surrounding her with some of them in similar states. The hero opposed to them didn't seem to be in a much better state, dealing with a horde of students.

"We'll call that a draw." Not exactly a failure but something he could work with. Especially when he watched the video. "Their exit looks to have been foiled."

The concept of a Canary's birdbath hadn't been his own, it came from her side. He was happy to oblige, rigging something to forcibly extract the water from the fountain in large quantities and projecting images on them. A small part of him wished he'd thought of it.

Minion leaped again, landing in their circle. One of them lashed out reflexively and Minion caught the hand.

"Sorry!" Minion let the girl down and she slumped to the floor. They seemed rather exhausted. "We're your ride."

Minion reached into his fanny pack and produced the backup plan, or van in this case. Were those the sounds of choppers in the distance? The news? Should he stick around…

His eyes traveled to Canary, her face was flush and her eyes tracked everything wildly. Maybe not.

"Everyone in," He slapped the side of the vehicle to display the urgency. "No time to waste. Unless anyone would like to go to prison."

That put more speed in their step. It was a legitimate question, cells were a great place to think and concoct new plots.

They piled in and he took the passenger's seat. Using the intercom Minion ordered a path to be made through the crowd.

Canary's power was fairly useful.

The modified van surged forward, pressing him into the seat, and could hear complaints from the rear. They should have put on their seatbelts.

He did remember to install those…didn't he? Oh well, their suits will protect them from the worst of it.

Minion took a sharp turn, earning more screams. Megamind twisted so he could face Canary in the back, it took a moment to spot her among the pile of bodies.

The van shifted again and the group was flung to the other side.

"Minion, can you drive smoothly please?"

How was he supposed to take her initial impression like this?

"I'm trying sir!" Another swerve and another round of groans. "They're making it difficult."

Difficult? He should have driven himself.

"Let me try." Megamin turned back to the road and reached for the wheel. "Move!"

He yanked the wheel to the side, avoiding a collision with a truck.

"I was moving…" Minion sulked before pointing at the side mirror. "But we might have company."

From his angle, he couldn't see what he was referring to. Leaning back on his seat, he could barely see through the mirror on his side that some motorcycle was gaining on them. He needed a better look and pressed the button meant to control the window, there was no response.

Tsk, tsk. If he had purchased the van he'd be lodging a complaint. And by complaint, he meant remodeling the dealership.

He took out a multi-tool, prying the door panel open and diagnosing the issue.

The sound in the van kicked up, a telltale sound of the back being opened. Megamind was about to berate them when he heard the crunching metal behind them accompanied by angry horns and screams.

"Uh sir…" Minion spoke after it died down. "I think we're fine now."

"You're fucking welcome."

That was one of the minions, he didn't know which one. He'd not bothered to memorize their names.

He faced the back again, to see they'd mostly sorted themselves.

"How was it?" He asked eagerly, honing in on Canary. He was bouncing up in his seat with anticipation. "Fun right?"

The girl looked up at him, eyes flashing with a myriad of colors.

And threw up.