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White Rabbit and Red Herring stood looking on in confusion, watching as Jumpcut’s trailing images slowly began to fade. They terminated where he had collided with Evelyn, stopping abruptly with an image of Jumpcut frozen in space, hand lowering as he delivered a blow, his eyes still cast up to where Red Herring’s orb was hovering. Red Herring let the orb drop, and White Rabbit stepped in to more closely watch Jumpcut’s fading lifeline.

Elsewhere, Jumpcut was trying to take in his sudden change in surroundings. He seemed to be standing in a sparsely furnished bedroom, with a threadbare carpet and peeling wallpaper. There was a low bed pushed against a wall, covered with a blanket that seemed out of place in how soft and colorful it was. Other than that, the only other things in the room were a stout dresser, what appeared to be the crushed remains of an RC helicopter under his foot, and Evelyn, who was backing rapidly away from Jumpcut with fear in her eyes.

While Evelyn reached for the door, Jumpcut took stock of his power. He had thirty seconds before he wouldn’t be able to snap back to an iteration of himself outside of the room, and he wasn’t sure that he wanted to be stuck here beyond that time. He knew that he couldn’t take anything back with him, either, and that made Evelyn a less appealing target. While she scrambled for the doorknob and stumbled out into the hallway, he went for a curtained window on the other side of the room. If he couldn’t bring back Evelyn, might as well figure out where he was. He threw back the curtains, hoping to see something more than the black void of some kind of pocket dimension.

He was greeted with a brick wall, about two feet out from the window and stretching up well above his line of sight. It wasn’t supernatural—the house was just depressingly close to the neighboring building, and he was looking out into some kind of side path leading to an enclosed courtyard behind the house. The ground was covered in scrubby, dying grass.

Behind him, Evelyn was fully out into the hallway, and shouting something out.

“Help! Someone help, I brought someone with me! He’s inside!”

Jumpcut took one last glance around the room. The toy that he had stepped on looked like it was probably tinker-made, and he had little doubt that he was currently in the base of operations for Mother’s Children. It was tempting to stay and see exactly what they were up against… but he hadn’t survived as a rogue cape for this long by jumping into fights against unknowns. Begrudgingly, he used his power to blink back to the parking lot in the last few seconds before his time was up.

Back in the parking lot, White Rabbit let out a long sigh of relief as Jumpcut took the place of one of his images. She hurried forward to check on him.

“Are you alright? What happened, did you see where she went?”

Jumpcut turned, scanning the parking lot for anything that hadn’t been there when he had left. He nodded at Red Herring as he saw her, and kept looking at her as he responded.

“Got pulled along with her to… wherever she went. Crappy little room, seemed like it was in a pretty regular house. I looked out a window but there was just an alley there. Nothing too distinctive.”

White Rabbit nodded, thinking. “I’m going to want details about that, try to hold on to them.”

Jumpcut tilted up his head, addressing Red Herring from where she stood, a few meters back. “You, are you alright? I’m assuming you’re the one who put up that orb earlier?”

Red Herring stepped forward slightly, introducing herself. “I was in the area, yeah. Name’s Red Herring. I’m new to the area. And you are?”

Jumpcut and White Rabbit gave their introductions in turn. White Rabbit played along, anyway, since Red Herring seemed determined to keep her identity as Allison out of it.

With introductions out of the way, the tensions were lowered somewhat. Evelyn seemed to be gone, and the capes slowly took on a more relaxed stance. It was White Rabbit that spoke up first.

“Look, that girl that was just here, we think she’s with a group called Mother’s Children. Strongly suspect it, anyway. If you’re new to the area you probably haven’t heard about them, but they’ve been kidnapping children around here. It’s actually pretty bad, the Party is refusing to even comment on it at the moment.”

“The Party?” Red Herring asked.

“Local branch of the Protectorate. They have a bit of a theme.” White Rabbit waved the question away with a hand. “Look, point being, that’s the second time tonight that we’ve seen her going after someone in this area, and, well…”

The statement was left hanging in the air. Everyone present knew what she was getting at—there was a very real possibility that Evelyn would come back to make another attempt. Red Herring shifted her footing awkwardly.

“Look, maybe you want to come on a patrol with us?” Jumpcut suggested. “It’ll give us a chance to brief you on what the cape scene is like in the area, and it means that you won’t be alone if that girl makes another attempt. No pressure if that’s not your thing.”

“Eh, it doesn’t sound like a terrible idea,” Red Herring said with a shrug. “I could definitely use some info about the local scene, and I don’t think I’ll be able to get much sleep tonight anyway.”

Jumpcut gave a curt nod, and began to take long strides toward the street, beckoning for the others to follow. “Alright, tag along. Let’s fill you in a bit.”

Over the course of a few blocks, Jumpcut was able to fill Red Herring in about the various cape teams in the area. His knowledge was fairly extensive, but where it failed, White Rabbit was able to jump in and fill the gaps. They discussed the Party and the Wards, doing their best to keep the villain teams in line, as well as the Alley Cats, the Punkheads, the Pharmacy, and what little they knew about Mother’s Children.

“Oh, and there’s PB&J, of course,” Jumpcut added in. “Local pair, both young. Wards age but not wards. They’re trying to get picked up somewhere outside of the Protectorate eventually, but these days they’re mostly just fighting the Punkheads.”

“The Punkheads,” Red Herring responded, rolling the name over in her mouth. She liked the sound of it. “What’s up with them? You said they were a younger supervillain group?”

“Supervillain honestly might be a bit strong of a word,” White Rabbit interjected, “if it weren’t for the fact that they do fall firmly on the villain side of things, and that a few of their members do actually have powers. Mostly they’re just the local gang of delinquent kids, following the directions of a rotating group of powered leaders. I’d almost call them… what, dark wards?”

Jumpcut bared his teeth a bit as he walked. “‘Dark wards’ could be one name for it. ‘Little shits’ could be another. They’re annoying, persistent little bastards.”

Red Herring nodded a bit to herself. Sounded promising.

Jumpcut stopped abruptly, holding out a hand to keep White Rabbit from moving any further forward. He across the street, to where the entrance to an alleyway was shrouded in shadow. White Rabbit leaned forward a bit, squinting.

“Uh oh. Definitely a cape over there.” She peered into the shadows, trying to discern her hallucinations from the shade, and saw two clouds of nebulous energy hovering around the person in the alley. One was centered around her hands, where they were clasped in front of her, while the other surrounded her feet. As a streetlight flickered, she caught a glimpse of the girl in the alley—she was wearing a crisp suit and a vest, green on black, and her curly hair was tied back into a neat ponytail.

White Rabbit’s eyes narrowed. “It’s Bouncer. What is she doing here?”

“I mean, probably stealing something, if past actions are any indication,” Jumpcut said. He began to stride across the street in the direction of the alley. “Let’s find out, shall we?”

Bouncer turned to face him as he approached, and she lifted her hands, cracking her knuckles as she cracked a smile.

“Ah, Jumpcut. Long time no see. Still playing the hero? Catch yourself any evil tinkers lately?”

He gave a low growl in response. “Let’s cut to the chase, shall we? You want to just tell me what you’re stealing tonight and save us both a whole lot of time?”

Bouncer’s grin widened. “Not stealing anything tonight, actually. Strictly above board.” She cocked her head to the side. “Well, mostly above board. We’re doing your job for you, actually. You should be thanking us.”

Before Jumpcut could interject, a dark figure strode up from the alley, a black silhouette on a black background. As she stepped behind Bouncer she put a hand on her shoulder, and White Rabbit recognized Pussysmasher, the leader of the Alley Cats. She was dressed in a full-coverage black catsuit, with only her nose and lower face left uncovered. The suit was unadorned except for the small cat ears at the top, but that was more than made up for by her imposing, muscle-bound form. It didn’t hurt that she was as tall as Jumpcut, either.

Bouncer looked back as her leader placed a hand on her shoulder, and watched as Pussysmasher gave a hand signal and then pointed out over the rooftops.

“Sorry, mates,” Bouncer said as she turned back to the assembled rogues. “Looks like we’re on our way out. You could try to stop us, I guess, but I don’t think you’d succeed, and I think that he—” she glanced back down the alley, “might be in need of some medical attention.”

White Rabbit stepped forward, alarmed. “Wait, what?” She looked up at Pussysmasher, and as she watched, her hallucinations showed what was visible of her mouth being stitched together with heavy threads. Beyond her, she could see a form slumped against the wall of the alley. No hallucinations from down that way, and she couldn’t see any signs of movement or hear any noises from down that way either. Not a great sign.

“What the hell did you do?”

Bouncer grinned again. “Like I said, we’re doing your job for you. Now, are you going to get in our way or not?”

White Rabbit looked to Jumpcut, and Jumpcut looked to Bouncer with a grimace. After a pause that seemed to drag on for quite a bit longer than it actually did, he caved.

“It’s not worth it. They’ll just slip away anyway and it’s too hard to pin this on them. Focus on helping the civilian.”

Pussysmasher nodded, her lips a thin line, and bent slightly to hoist Bouncer up onto her shoulders. With the (much) shorter girl riding piggy-back, she pressed a button on her belt, before crouching low to the ground and launching herself well over fifty feet into the sky. The group watched as she floated slowly forward, falling at a greatly reduced pace before landing on a rooftop and bounding off into the distance.

“Fucking tinkers,” Jumpcut growled. “Has to be. I just know it.”

White Rabbit pushed past him, heading into the alley while Red Herring leaned against the wall next to Jumpcut.

“So,” she asked, “do you always just let the villains walk away without a fight?”

“Learn to pick your battles, kid,” Jumpcut shot back. “Sometimes it’s just not worth it.”

Halfway down the alley, White Rabbit suddenly heard the man leaning against the wall let out a loud moan of pain, cutting in as abruptly as if a switch had been flipped. Based on the way the the other flinched at the front of the alley, they had been surprised as well. She closed in on the man, leaning down to see what the damage was.

He didn’t look like the most up-and-coming individual. He had a shaved head and was wearing cut-off jeans and a sleeveless tank-top, in spite of the cooling weather. Probably had something to do with showing off the tattoos covering the vast majority of his limbs. White Rabbit noticed that some of those tattoos were gang related, although they did at least belong to mundane gangs rather than anything power related. He wasn’t in a good condition—blood was dripping from a broken nose to stain his shirt, and was accompanied by a pair of black eyes. Bruises covered his arms and legs as well, black and purple marks already forming to distort the tattoos, and one of his legs was definitely not supposed to bend that way.

The man continued his moaning. ‘Oh, God, it hurts so much’; ‘Jesus, my leg, my fucking leg’; ‘Why does everything hurt’; etc. White Rabbit crouched down close to him, reaching out a hand.

“Hey, stay still. I know some first aid, I can help you out.”

“The man looked up, his eyes half-swollen shut. “Oh shit, not another cape. Get the hell away from me, you assholes just make this shit worse!” He let out a fit of coughing, throwing his body forward before it slumped back against the wall. “I’ll get to the hospital on my own, just go away!”

White Rabbit frowned deeply, but she stepped back. She pulled out the burner phone that she used for cape business, and after moving another few steps away, she called the Party’s hotline.

“Yeah, calling in to report a cape-related crime. Mhm. It was the Alley Cats, they just beat the crap of some civilian in an alley, he looks pretty bad. Mhm. No, haven’t tried to move him, he doesn’t want us to help. Mhm. Oh yeah, definitely needs it. He’s not going anywhere on his own.”

She looked down at the guy. He had dragged himself a few feet down the alley, and was now lying twisted half on his stomach catching his breath. She ended the call and walked back to where Jumpcut and Red Herring were waiting at the street.

“Just called for an ambulance,” she informed them, “and someone from the Party is probably going to show up as well, whoever is in the area. Standard practice for anything cape related, apparently.” She shrugged. “I’m not opposed to meeting the big names.”

“Well, I am,” Red Herring said, kicking off the wall. “Honestly, I’m not super down with meeting the Party. Not a big fan of institutions.”

“Ah—oh. Sorry.” White Rabbit sucked in air through her teeth. “Wasn’t my intention to put you in a bad spot. Look, before you go…” she pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen from one of her pockets, scribbling out a number on it and passing it over to the younger girl. “This is the number for the phone I use when I’m in costume. Just give us a call if you need anything, alright? I still don’t like the idea of you running around on your own with Mother’s Children out and about.”

Red Herring pocketed the number. “I’ll keep it in mind. I can take care of myself, though. See you around.”

With that said, she stalked off into the night, turning a corner and disappearing. Jumpcut stood nearby, maintaining the awkward silence with White Rabbit as they heard the man in the alley grunt and moan as he slowly dragged himself toward him.

It was only a few minutes before the silence was broken by the sound of a loud, distorted musical chord echoing over the rooftops. Looking up, the pair saw Bard standing on the corner of the building they were leaning against, his long black hair blowing dramatically in the wind. He stepped off the side of the building, plummeting rapidly until he slowed and came to a stop a foot or two off the ground, slowly lowering himself the rest of the way out of the air.

He was wearing heavy metal armor over his torso and legs, ending in full on armored boots. His mask was simple, an angled piece of steel with a thin strip cut in the top for his eyes. It muffled his voice a bit when he spoke, but not so much that his heavy Scandinavian accent wasn’t noticeable. His arms were bare, and he was boasting some seriously impressive biceps, which seemed necessary considering the sheer size of the electric guitar he was carrying. It was massive and made of some combination of metal and heavy-duty plastic, with extended railings covering the sides. It had a very industrial feel to it, and from what videos existed of Bard using it in battle, those railings were pretty effective at smashing into people and still allowing Bard to actually play the thing immediately afterward. There was a cord stretching out the bottom of the guitar that snaked into his costume, presumably connecting it to the speakers mounted in the shoulders of his armor.

He set the guitar firmly on the ground, leaning against it. “Jumpcut. Keeping your nose clean, yes?”

Jumpcut gave a curt nod back. “That I am. The Alley Cats aren’t, though. You have an ambulance on the way for that guy, right?”

Bard turned to look at the man in the alley, who seemed to have given up moving and was now back to leaning against the wall, taking deep breaths with his eyes squeezed shut.

Bard stepped closer to the man. White Rabbit could see thin lines connecting the two of them with her hallucinations, like rays of light stretching from Bard to the civilian. As she watched, the rays changed color, and began to radiate out in every direction from the hero, except for a 45-degree wedge directly in front of him. She frowned. However his power worked, it was multi-faceted and weird.

Bard turned back to Jumpcut. “This does not look like the usual work of the Alley Cats. Looks more like the usual work of you, to be honest. I am not saying you are responsible.”

“I get the message,” Jumpcut said through his teeth. “That’s why we called you. It’s pretty far outside of their usual M.O.”

“And where are the Alley Cats now?” Bard asked. “Were you unable to detain them?”

White Rabbit jumped in. “We were more concerned about the safety of the civilian. We considered that a higher priority than trying to pin them down.”

“Ah, a fair excuse,” Bard responded. “I am sorry, but I do not think that I know you, miss…?”

“White Rabbit. Relatively new, I’ve been patrolling with Jumpcut lately.”

Bard nodded. “Always good to have new capes in the area. At least, capes that are fighting for good. Even if you are paired with Jumpcut here.” He let out a deep bout of laughter, while Jumpcut frowned and White Rabbit gave an awkward smile. “But I jest, Jumpcut. Please, do not take it to heart.”

He turned, addressing the man in the alley. “Sir, I cannot help but notice that you seem to be in significant pain. Would you not prefer to be aided by myself or these other fine heroes? We may be able to lessen your suffering significantly while we wait for medical attention to arrive.”

“F-fuck off,” the man stammered, eyes still squeezed shut. “Just leave me alone, please.”

Bard shrugged. “Be suiting yourself.” He cocked his head to the side, and few moments later the faint sound of a siren became audible in the distance. “Ah, they are arriving soon. It should not be too much longer anyway. Good for you.”

White Rabbit cleared her throat, catching Bard’s attention. “Uh, Bard, before the ambulance gets here and things get busy, I thought I should mention this… but we’re pretty sure we ran in with someone from Mother’s Children tonight.”

Bard turned around at that, facing White Rabbit directly. “Oh, yes? Details, please. Anything you can give us is helpful.”

White Rabbit explained the situation with Evelyn. “She wasn’t in costume at all,” she finished, “but she was definitely a cape.”

“And you know this how?” Bard asked, one hand at his chin.

“Thinker power,” White Rabbit responded, tapping the side of her head. “Figured it out after seeing her in action. Also, she could touch things and make them disappear, so that was sort of a giveaway.”

Bard nodded. “Thank you for this information. It is very valuable to us. We hope to combat this shadowy foe soon.”

As he spoke, the ambulance rounded the corned, pulling in to stop where the three capes were gathered on the sidewalk. Bard lifted his guitar from where it was leaned against the wall, and raised himself a few inches above the ground.

” I think that I can handle things from here. Thank you for your assistance, Jumpcut and White Rabbit. I will mention your contributions to my team.” He nodded them off as they started to make their way off.

“Oh, and Jumpcut!” he called after them, “Stay out of trouble!”

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