Loki stood before the supposedly imposing figure of a fellow Vanguard member who sternly reminded him, "Loki... You've been repeatedly told that bringing ordinary people into Vanguard is strictly prohibited. It poses a significant risk to the secret identities of our members."
“I already took care of it, can’t you see?” Loki motioned to the two girls who were blindfolded while excited giggling and repeating his words
“Yeah, we can’t see!” The blonde one nodded her head.
“Don’t be a buzz kill, security guard. We just want to have an exclusive interview with our favorite superhero.” The dark-haired one held Loki’s arm in between her chest.
The security guard gave a disgusted look as he realized what was going to happen between the three. “Even more of a reason to not let you in. Those from the media aren’t allowed inside, either.” He stood firm despite the teen being a super celebrity in this city.
“Is it your first day here or something, guy?” Loki looked up at the man.
“Just transferred over from Bellwood.” He felt no shame in saying so.
“So that’s why you don’t understand what’s going on here. Well, let me make a good first impression for you.” Loki pointed his finger at the guy and muttered something under his breath.
A glowing pink beam shot from Loki's finger, transforming the guard into a tiny frog. The blindfolded girls removed their blindfolds, bursting into laughter at the unexpected sight. Loki hurriedly led the girls to his quarters, reminding them to blindfold themselves again. He knew he was already in trouble for bringing civilians to the base and didn't want any additional reprimands.
…
Time passed while Loki had some fun with the cheerleaders from his school. In the middle of their ‘studying’, he received a call from his work communicator and threw it across the room because it was ruining his mood. It wasn’t until much later when Loki was fully satisfied and the girls too tired to continue studying, that Loki picked up his still-ringing communicator. He looked at the name on the communicator and couldn’t help but sigh in annoyance. It was Jumper.
Reluctantly answering the call, Loki grumbled, "Yeah, what's up?"
“Loki! Thank God you finally picked up! Come to 45th Street immediately! The Iron Legion and The Cult are causing a mess, and we’re having trouble dealing with them both! We need every hero available right now!” Jumper shouted over the sounds of people yelling and things crashing before hanging up.
Loki didn’t even get the chance to refuse. Looking at the girls, he knew he couldn’t just leave them in here as he went off to do his job. That would be another thing he was going to be yelled at for by Nguyen. He smacked them on their butts and told them to get dressed. They had to go, and he had to do some work.
“Do we really have to leave so soon?” The blonde one faked a sad voice as she trailed her finger down Loki’s chest.
“I was hoping we could go for another round, Loki…” The black-haired one added.
“Nope. Get up and get out. Don’t forget your blindfolds.” Loki wasn’t hearing it.
Soon enough, the trio left Vanguard’s headquarters, and Loki made his way to the scene, carrying a large book in hand, clad in casual attire—a T-shirt reading "Bite me," shorts, and socks with sandals. A non-combative member of the Vanguard rushed him in their government-issued vehicle to 45th Street. Loki didn’t know what she actually did at headquarters, but since she was available, he had her helping him out. If he had to walk to 45th Street, the fight would be over by then.
The lady sped as fast as she could without endangering the lives of those on the street. Loki was a bit amused to see how seriously she was taking this job. “Try not to kill anybody on the way there, Speed Demon.” He was bumping and moving all over in this backseat. But then again, he wasn’t wearing his seatbelt or anything, so it was his fault.
“I’ll try not to!” She responded honestly.
Eventually, they made it to the huge fight between heroes and villains. Loki could see Blink taking out multiple members from The Cult and Iron Legion. Alongside him were all of his other team members from Vanguard Light. It turns out he was the only one missing from the team. Even most of Vanguard Elite was here! This was a lot bigger than he thought. What a pain in the ass…
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“Yo, Packrat. Get over here.” Loki called out to his teammate on his communicator.
“My name isn’t Packrat! My name is The Keeper!” The Keeper responded back as they made their way over to Loki. “Where’s your costume!?” She exclaimed.
“Don’t be a little bitch. I’m not like you losers who need to hide to protect your identities and your loved ones. If anyone comes after my family, I’ll fuck them up and make them live a life worse than hell. Hero or not.” Loki shrugged. “Now stick next to me, and let's get this shit over with.
The Keeper decided not to respond to Loki’s words and simply followed behind him. She watched as he began to mutter some words that she could barely understand. Multiple pink lights shot out from his body, each one targeting a criminal. Everyone watched as those that were hit by the pink beams were transformed into inanimate objects. There was a clock, a rubber duck, a robot action figure, a crowbar, and more.
Loki continued mumbling as he walked down the street while The Keeper picked up the transformed criminals and pocketed them inside their dimensional space. The transformed criminals were helpless to resist being grabbed and stored away by the teenage hero. While transformed, they couldn’t do anything! Loki specifically transformed them into inanimate objects so they couldn’t run or hide away, unlike that security guard he turned into a frog.
“Die!” Steel Menace leaped toward Loki right after he finished casting another spell on his allies.
Steel Menace’s body was covered in steel armor. His armor formed together in the shape of a metal humanoid bear. Loki frowned at the sight since he had just gotten done casting a spell and didn’t even see this asshole. He could deal with this, but what were these other assholes doing while he and Packrat were cleaning shit up?
“I got you, Loki!” Golden Ram rushed into Steel Menace head first before he could reach Loki.
“Motherfucker.” Loki transformed Steel Menace into a snail.
Loki’s eyes glanced around, and he saw one of the important members of The Cult running away with some of their members that avoid getting caught by Vanguard. Steel Menace was the only important one from Iron Legion that Loki saw. The others from Vanguard cleaned up the criminals who failed to escape in time, and soon enough, all of the criminals were captured and stored away by The Keeper.
“My job is done here.” Loki stretched as he felt himself leveling up.
A massive grin adorned his face as he carefully clutched his tear-shaped diamond earring on his left ear. Loki ignored his teammates and the adult members of Vanguard Elite as he rushed into the car with the lady who was waiting on him. They shouted and called out to him, but this was far more important than whatever the hell they had to say. If they had any brains, they would quickly escort Packrat to headquarters and set things up so that they could safely transfer the criminals into a secure prison.
“To my house!” Loki ordered.
“I don’t know your address, Loki…” She nervously told him.
“Go to the Hills. I’ll lead you when we get to the gates.” Loki told her.
“Yes, sir.” She put the car in motion, and they were off.
“You don’t have to break the speed limit this time. I’m just getting off of work.” He reminded her.
“Oh, right, sir.” She slowed down immediately.
Minutes later, Loki arrived back home. He gifted her a transformed diamond necklace with an L as the pendant to thank the lady. She looked hesitant to take it, but Loki just threw it at her. “Don’t let me see you not wearing it next time we meet.” He told her before rushing into his home.
“Welcome home, Patrick.” His mother greeted him with a smile.
“Welcome home, son.” His father didn’t look up from his newspaper.
“Hey.” Was Loki’s only response back as he ran upstairs into his room.
He sat on his bed as knowledge from his skill going up in rank flowed around in his brain. Loki wasn’t a natural hero, unlike his co-workers. He didn’t gain his powers through a freak accident, naturally awakening them or making them. The Random Skill System granted him his power. Transmutation was the ability to alter matter itself. This ability had multiple limitations, but it was perfect for helping him become rich and famous. Loki wasn’t dumb enough to complain about a heaven-sent gift wrapped in pretty bows all for himself.
Before today, Transmutation was at the newbie rank. After dealing with those villains, it ranked up to average. At least, Loki is assuming that’s why it ranked up. Loki could temporarily transmute anything that his skill landed on. It hasn’t changed that much after ranking, except that he’s gained a larger source of energy to use while transmuting. He’ll be able to transmute more criminals than he’s had in the past without reaching his limit. At the same time, he could extend the transmutation time of targets hit by his skill because of his larger source of energy. Targets that are transmuted actively drain Loki’s energy. If Loki runs out of energy, everything he transmuted returns to its original form.
“Big battles are not for me.” Loki already knew this weakness of his, but at least it wouldn’t have such a big impact anymore, thanks to his increased energy reserves. As a hero, his specialty was taking out the most dangerous villains or the mastermind as long as he could get within range of them.