The Protagonist System

201 Insert Name Here

Mom loved her new cape name, Nostrum. Amy thought it was fitting. Vicky thought they would both look great wearing a mix of her costume and mine, which was why I was unceremoniously shoved aside and forgotten as the three of them started arguing about the best colors, looks, and style of their new costumes.

I had a hard time not laughing at the mix of Amy's grumpy personality, Vicky's bubbly one, and my mom's practical and teasing one. They were somehow playing off of each other perfectly, as if they had been the best of friends for years, even though they had met my mother only a couple of days ago.

It was a little concerning that mom was dealing with dad's death by fully embracing her cape identity, then I remembered Sarah Pelham rationalizing that her cape life was her actual life and having a separate civilian identity wasn't worth the effort or headaches. It was her coping mechanism for dealing with how she became a cape, and that was exactly what my mother was doing.

My cell phone rang and I picked it up to see it was the woman I was just thinking about. I answered and she said she was coming over to visit to discus things, and I agreed. Since she could fly fairly fast, I walked over to the door and waited. A brief check netted me opening the door for her and I waited until the right time and opened the door just as she landed.

“Lady Photon.” I greeted her and stepped back. “Please, come in.”

“Atlas.” Sarah said and entered, hesitated for a second, and stepped close and hugged me. “I'm sorry to hear about what happened with your father.”

I let the door shut by itself and hugged her back. “Thank you.”

Sarah let me go and stepped back to look up at my face. “I've been there, you know. When we dropped the masks and became New Wave...”

“Hush.” I said and she closed her mouth. I stepped close this time and hugged her. “You don't need to remind yourself that we've both suffered from our choices, Sarah. I already like you and share your ideals, so I don't need any more convincing to accept you completely.”

Sarah shivered for a moment, then she put her arms around me again and hugged me. “Thank you, Greg.”

We stood there and held each other for several moments.

“If only you weren't married...” I said and trailed off.

Sarah huffed and let me go. “You just had to ruin it.” She said and smiled, showing me that she knew I had said it on purpose.

I smiled back and motioned towards the kitchen. “Just follow the sound of bickering and you'll find the others.”

“Oh? Who's here and what are they talking about?” Sarah asked and started walking.

“Amy and Vicky are with my mom.” I said and she nodded. “I registered my cape name last night with the PRT and made it official. I also registered my mother's.”

Sarah gasped and ran into the kitchen. I hadn't expected that reaction and quickly followed her and saw her hugging my mother and telling her how sorry she was for not being there for her. It took both Amy and Vicky several minutes to calm Sarah down and to tell her that they had been there for my mother.

That led into a discussion about what powers mom had and then Sarah was deep in the discussion about costumes and I was ignored again. I shook my head at that and prepared some drinks and snacks, thanks to my endless water container and bag of endless chips and package of endless cookies. They had been among the best purchases I had ever made and I used them all the time.

We moved from the kitchen into the living room and everyone relaxed as they enjoyed the different drinks and snacks, especially my mom and Amy. They kept giving me odd looks, as if I was holding out on them, and I kept pretending I had no clue what they were giving me looks for. They were just normal snacks and not special at all. No, sir.

Once the decisions about my mom's and Amy's new costumes were finalized, Sarah told us about the patrol schedule and how I would be flying patrols with Vicky, at her vehement insistence, because she was tired of flying them all alone while Crystal was at college. I wasn't allowed to refuse, either.

“You'll be transferring into Arcadia High tomorrow as well.” Sarah said, as if it was no big deal.

“How did you pull that off?” I asked before my mother could. “It has a two year waiting list and my grades are average at best.”

“That's only because you never applied yourself, sweetie.” My mother said and patted my hand. She looked at Sarah with concern in her voice. “The fees are going to be difficult to...”

“You don't have to worry about that. The PRT are settling out of court.” Sarah said with a satisfied look on her face. “New Wave is not rich by any means, even with our licensing deals; but, we have enough to cover both the legal costs and the fees for Arcadia until the settlement is approved in a few weeks. You can pay us back then.” She said and looked at a sad Vicky. “Things might be a little tight for a while...”

That reminded me of something important. “Ah, about that.” I said and took out my cell phone. I brought up my account information and showed it to her.

“You're rich!” All four of them gasped.

“Only because Dragon is a kind and generous friend to have.” I said, because I was pretty sure she was listening in. My powered up phone was awesome. “I helped her recover some of her stolen tech last night and she made a donation to the 'make Greg not worry about money' fund.”

Vicky let out a snort and whispered something, then she started giggling like someone was tickling her. I glanced over at her and Amy actually was tickling her.

“You are not begging my boyfriend for a shopping spree before we have our first date.” Amy groused and tickled her harder. Vicky's laughs grew and she could easily get away, and didn't.

Sarah sighed and gave my mother that exasperated look that all mothers used when kids were misbehaving and you couldn't do anything about it, except to let it play out and end on its own. My mom gave her the same look back and nodded towards me.

“Right, this changes a few things for us going forward.” Sarah said and took out her cell phone and dialed. “Hello, Carol.” “Yes, I'm here with Atlas.” “You can give him the details later. Uh huh.” She gave us the same exasperated look as Carol kept talking and my mom softly laughed. “No, we don't have to stretch things like we thought. Greg has just come into a substantial amount of capital and we can use that instead of our savings.”

“Thank god!” Carol's voice said loudly enough for us to hear. “I hate eating only cold-cut sandwiches for lunch.”

Both Vicky and Amy nodded several times at that. They had gone through some rough patches apparently and had to scrimp on the food budget more than a few times. It kind of explained why Vicky kept getting back together with Gallant. He was well-off and spoiled her, which she appreciated. Of course, with me in the picture, I was sure that he was out of it from now on.

Sarah and Carol worked out handling the different things and Carol let out a very loud sigh of relief when I transferred a hundred thousand dollars into her account as a retainer. That was going to help her out a lot more than a normal retainer would and she thanked me for being so thoughtful, especially when I authorized she could use up to 10% of it for personal expenditures.

A press conference was arranged for the weekend to announce the two new members of New Wave, Atlas and Nostrum, which would give the accountability movement a huge boost that Sarah and Carol never expected to ever have.

Sarah, Amy, and Vicky stayed with us at the house until the afternoon, when both Vicky and Amy had to go do their work placement programs. Just because they skipped school, that didn't mean they could skip everything else.

My mom hugged Amy just before they left. “I'll go by the PRT tonight and get myself tested and certified, so I'll be able to join you on Friday afternoon at the hospital.”

“Thank you.” Amy said sincerely, her face red. It really showed with her blonde hair, too.

“Don't worry, Amelia. With the two of us working, we'll be done in half the time and it's going to be fun.” My mom said and kissed her cheek. “Victoria, don't fly too fast. Wait until after you drop your sister off before doing any loop-de-loops.”

“Aww!” Vicky pouted and crossed her arms. We all knew she was faking it, though.

Sarah hugged my mother and then hugged me. She was exceedingly happy to have the both of us as a part of the team and possibly the family. I was another heavy-hitter like her and my mom chose to be another support hero like Amy, so New Wave's prestige was going to go through the roof with two healers on the team.

The three of them waved and flew off as my mother gave me a one arm hug and we watched them fly off into the distance. Mom shut the door and led me into the living room and sat me on the couch. She stood in front of me and put her hand on her hips in a classic mom interrogation pose.

“Greg, dear. When were you going to tell me about going out as a cape last night?” My mother asked me with a sweet voice that promised a lot of pain if I wasn't honest with her.

Oh, crap. I thought as several memories surfaced of seeing that exact same look on her face when she thought I had been a bad boy. Don't tell her the truth! “I wasn't going to tell you. Things just happened after I registered our cape names and then I stopped someone trying to murder me and then I found a small time villain that needed my help and then things started snowballing after that because of what she said and then I didn't want to worry you because I was out all night and only got back just before you woke up and I told myself to keep my mouth shut because I didn't want to disappoint you and...”

My mother's hand snapped out and grabbed my ear and twisted it, just as she always did when she didn't like what I was saying. I did not squeal in pain as she used her super strength to make sure I felt it and anyone telling you different is a stupid liar.

“Young man.” My mother said sternly and loomed over me. “You are going to tell me everything you did that kept you out of the house for the entire night. If you lie to me or leave anything out...” She tweaked my ear and I did not squeal again. Nope, I did not. “...I will not be happy.”

It was in that moment that I realized I might have made a mistake by making my mom a cape.

Super-powered mothers were scary.

*

Emily Piggot sat in her new temporary office in a nearby building. It had only been a small surprise to survey the damage the new Ward had done to the PRT Headquarters in only 30 seconds. What was impressive about that was she hadn't been trying to wreck the place and it was all just her brute forcing an encounter with Shadow Stalker.

The footage of the encounter played again and Emily noted how the new cape used her powers and the environment to focus solely on her target. The spacial awareness alone was phenomenal, as was her ability to not hurt anyone else in the area, despite Vista standing out in the open and using her power around her.

Emily agreed with Miss Militia's opinion when she mentioned Vista had sent the piece of wall up instead of down, since down would have destabilized the entire building and not just the upper floors. It would be repaired by next week and she could move back in.

Well, after the entire security grid was replaced. That anonymous file bundle detailing all the leaks and security holes that Coil had, really helped close the case on that idiot, Thomas Calvert. It had been quite the interesting read and the espionage charges alone would see the man shot. The government did not appreciate subversive elements inside their organizations. At all.

She enjoyed the look of horror on his face a little too much when he had woken up in a PRT holding cell. His protestations about being a cape and losing his powers, just made the interrogators go harder on him. Claiming to be a villain cape was also a crime and kept him well within their jurisdiction, powers or not.

“How is the new Ward settling in?” Emily asked Miss Militia.

“Surprisingly well.” Miss Militia. “She absolutely hates the new cape Atlas, though.”

Emily raised her eyebrows at that. “Did she mention why?”

“It has to do with his triggering in that toxic waste filled locker, because she was supposed to be the victim.” Miss Militia informed her.

Emily's raised eyebrows dropped down into a frown. “Don't tell me she blames him for taking her chance at getting powers.”

Miss Militia didn't say anything and just touched the tip of her nose.

“Stupid teenagers.” Emily said with a sigh. “Did she happen to also mention how she gained her powers?”

“Not to me directly.” Miss Militia said and Emily nodded at the qualifier. “She was talking to Vista about it over breakfast and said she read on PHO about Atlas being shot at and having an Asian woman arrested for attempted murder, whom turned out to be a serial killer going after Empire members.”

“Of course she saw a tall blonde cape and assumed he was Empire.” Emily said and Miss Militia nodded. “Is the file attached?”

“Under 2B.” Miss Militia said and Emily checked it and read it.

“This kid just can't catch a break.” Emily commented. “His father murdered by Lung, he gets revenge...”

Miss Militia coughed and shook her head.

“...retribution, then.” Emily said and Miss Militia nodded. “Then he comes in to register with you and gets shot when buying a map to help him with street names.”

“His mother triggered as well.” Miss Militia. “It's under 3A.”

Emily read it and let out a silent curse. “Another healing cape?”

“He thinks she's going to be a mix of Panacea and Glory Girl.” Miss Militia told her.

“Wonderful.” Emily said with a flat tone. “As if one of them wasn't enough.”

Miss Militia barely held back a smile as her prediction of Emily's reaction came true. “I suspect she's going to join New Wave as well.”

“Of course she is.” Emily said and closed the file. “Carol Dallon is never going to stop crowing about having two capes that can heal.”

Miss Militia nodded, because she knew her boss would be doing the same thing if she had landed a healing cape. Emily would never accept their services, though. Despite Panacea's claim to not do brains, her boss still thought she would be influenced by her if she accepted her healing. Personally, Miss Militia thought her boss just didn't want to owe a cape anything.

“We should offer Nostrum the same emergency healing contract that Panacea has.” Miss Militia said and Emily gave her a single raised eyebrow. “I've already told Atlas to bring her in for testing and certification for volunteer work.”

Emily smiled at the sneaky offer to get an accurate threat assessment done on the new capes. “Well done. They're going to announce Atlas joining soon, because they would be idiots if they didn't capitalize on his win against Lung, so they'll have to come here before that.”

Miss Militia's cell phone rang and she took it out. “I only gave this number to three people.”

Emily nodded and stayed quiet.

“Hello, Atlas.” Miss Militia said and Emily smiled. “No, I'm not busy.” “I see.” “That's fine. I'll call the boys at the Rig and I'll meet you on the helipad in half an hour.” “It's no trouble at all, Atlas. I'm happy to help.” “All right, see you then.”

“Take the SUV he repaired, too. Let him see we trust his work.” Emily said and Miss Militia nodded. “You can also unofficially tell him the PRT settled his suit and it's going through in a couple of weeks.”

Miss Militia stood up. “Won't he already know that if his lawyer does?”

“Yes, but he'll know that you know about it and you're trusting him with that information.” Emily responded. “Keep rebuilding that shattered bridge, Miss Washington.”

Miss Militia smiled with a nod and left the office.