The docks were infested with the gang Azn Bad Boys, the asians only group run by the supervillain Lung, the only parahuman having fought the monster Leviathan to a draw.

They would be the targets Taylor would go after tonight. Powerful strides brought her roof after roof closer to the slums that the docks area had become.

A few weeks had passed, she had split her time between preparation and research to be a better and more prepared hero. Every waking moment was spent either in school or preparing with the constant urge to do something, anything, hounding her every waking moment.

She barely managed to get into the area before running into her first crime of the night. A couple of gang members robbing someone.

This time she forced herself to stop for a moment and planned out the best way to go about stopping them without putting their unfortunate victim at harm's way.

She descended rapidly, her decent not noticed till it was too late and she was between the thugs and their victim. The thugs quickly took a few steps back in surprise at her sudden appearance.

“We can do it the easy way and you all surrender, or we can do it the hard way.” was the threat Taylor used, made even more menacing by her sinister looking armor and eyes glowing in the dark of the alleyway.

“Fuck.” was the defeated sounding phrase coming from one of the thugs as the man just sat down. “I'm not dumb enough to fight a cape.” the other two were less bright, a few bruises later they joined their friend on the ground with Taylor snapping the knife one of them had into little metal shards. Once all three were tied up she turned her attention to the last person in the alley.

“You ok?” asked Taylor from the would be victim. The middle aged man looked very relieved.

“Thank you, I was just going out to grab some takeaway when they jumped me.” was the still shaken sounding response. Moments later he added “Yea im fine they just threatened me.”

Seeing that the situation was now under control Taylor got out her cheap, but new phone and called the PRT hotline number, one she had made sure to memorize..

“Hi, im calling to report some gang members that I stopped mid robbery.”

“Is anyone injured or in need of medical aid?” was the question from the other end of the line. After confirming that no one was injured she gave them the address where they were.

“I assume you are a parahuman. Could I ask for the name you use and would you be willing to wait for a Protectorate member to arrive. Its customary to have someone come and talk to you if you are a new hero. Was the follow up question, one that Taylor had expected thanks to Glory Girl.

“Yes that is fine, I'll wait. And you can call me Paladin” Finally Taylor had a chance to introduce her new name, one that for her was more of a title than name, but one that felt so very fitting.

The next while was spent waiting till the PRT agents arrived and got the criminals onto their van. They were very polite to Taylor but it was visible in their body language that they were wary of her. Just after they finished getting the statements about the crime from both her and the victim, a person on a motorbike arrived.

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Taylor had no issue recognizing the hero on it. Miss Militia wearing form fitting military fatigues with an iconic American flag themed sash and scarf, a scarf she used to conceal the lower half of her face hiding her identity. Her power was the dream of any gun enthusiast in America, a glowing energy field that could shape itself into any weapon with just a thought. At the moment the field was in the shape of a small knife in the sheath of her belt.

“Hello, and thank you for waiting, Im Miss Militia.” she introduced herself with her smile clear in her voice.

“Hi.” was all Taylor could initially get out.

“I was told you go by the name Paladin, a heroic name, good choice” Miss Militia said as she continued to talk to Taylor. “Have you given any thought to joining the Protectorate? Most heroes don't last long solo”

“I'm not really interested in joining up. Plus it would have to be Wards as i'm not old enough for Protectorate and for now I think i'm happier by myself” Taylor really did not want to have to deal with more people having power over her, people that had potential to be as unreliable as the people in her school had been. And Wards the junior superheroes just made her think of the fact that she would be surrounded by teenagers, and her experiences at school left her very much wanting to avoid any more of that.

“You really should at least think about it. You would get to meet others in the same situation as yourself. And would have people there to help you learn how to use your powers better and it's a lot safer.” Said Miss Militia trying to sway Taylors opinion. After a bit more effort trying to explain how dangerous being alone was especially for a teen, and talking about how much better it was, she eventually saw that nothing she could say would really sway Taylor, for now at least.

“You should at least consider power testing, there's only so much you can figure out yourself. And we would at least know your limits in case you need help.” Miss Militia tried to atleast get Taylor to come to them for some help so that maybe in time she might change her mind.

“I will think on that.” Promised Taylor as being on good terms with other local heroes was a good idea. And she had no intention of becoming their enemy so them knowing a bit more would do no harm.

“Good, I promise it will be worth it. And maybe we can schedule some patrols with some of the wards so you can get to know them a bit.” Was Miss Militias final statement on that topic. After a bit more friendly casual chatting Taylor said bye and headed off to continue her patrol.

The night ended up being fruitful with her managing to find another mugging in process and a drug dealer selling on the street corner. With some guilt Taylor also relieved the drug dealer from his ill gained fortune. Overall the night left her feeling successful as if she was making a difference. And getting some more funds for equipment and all the ideas she had on how to overall equip herself better did a lot to soothe her worries about money.

While Taylor was out on her patrol, in another part of town Tattletale was giving her report to her boss. Her whole body language screamed that she wished that she could be anywhere else than where she was, standing in front of Coils desk about to give him info that would probably help him ruin someone else's life.

“I found the person you were looking for, it was easy they spent most of the week in a public library researching heroes and what to do as a new hero.” Tattletale said not able to hide the smugness in her voice despite being unhappy about her boss.

“Any chance she is recruitable.” Asked Coil getting straight to the point that he cared most about.

“Don't think so, she is very very determined to be a hero.” responded Tattletale

“What about her personality, behaviour?” Coil continued asking for more details to work his plans around.

“Very focused and will probably not give way to threats, though I was having serious trouble figuring her out, her body language keeps changing randomly. I think her power may be messing with her head. She goes from unsure and shy to suddenly moving around displaying perfect confidence. And constant twitchiness as if she is checking if she is able to move. Nothing overt but constant small movements.”

Only after a very thorough interrogation on everything Tattletale had discovered, was she allowed to leave.

Leaving Coils base she really wished she did not have to go back there ever again, one of the mercenaries had kept leering at her and what her power told her about him made her even more creeped out. Leave it to Coil to make sure his mercenaries are total scum that he has blackmail on. She thought once she was back out on the street. Coil is really interested in the new hero, I hope she does not get fucked over too hard. No one deserves to be in Coils sights.

On the way to her current home she kept worrying about what the info she had given would be used for. But it was not like she had much choice, Coil always seemed to know if she left anything out.

Once she was back home, Regent, as always was playing video games, Grue was out somewhere and Bitch was napping next to her dogs. She needed to plan out the next heist, ideally something discreet and something that would give them more funds but keep them out of limelight. She was sure she had figured out a few safe houses from the gangs in town that held lots of cash.