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ROB'ed for pleasure in Worm by BatRou-Dawg

Misc » Book X-overs Rated: M, English, Drama & Humor, Words: 267k+, Favs: 112, Follows: 128, Published: Jan 26, 2023 Updated: Feb 8, 2023

30Chapter 2

Tattletale frowned a little at his answer. "There is a joke in there but I can't get it." She told Benji who could feel her frustration and how she hated not knowing, not being the smarter person on the room, yet he liked the fact that she can't find his secrets. One way or another Benji smiled under his mask.

"How rare." Regent chimed mockingly. "The tattletale unable to tattle, maybe is a ninja thing? They are supposed to be super secretive or shit like that." Deciding to yank on the chain Benji teasingly let out. "Nin, nin." Tattletale changes her glare from Regent to Benji.

Benji could feel a 'powerful/bright' mind approaching, parahumans tended to have stronger and brighter presences than regular humans, he isn't the only on to notice, Tattletale's glace fades as her power feeds her information.

"Well, Cap, a cape is going to show up in less than a minute. You did us a solid by dealing with Lung, so take my advice. If someone from the Protectorate shows up, finds two bad guys duking it out, they're not going to let one walk away. You should get out of here," She said casually. Then she flashed me a smile. He had to wonder if she practiced to get one of those vulpine grins or were natural. Behind her simple black domino style mask, her eyes were glittering with mischief. If she had red hair, she would have fit better with the image of a fox. She kind of did, anyways, when not confused over her inability to read him. "We don't want to see you getting busted just after doing us this favor."

Benji didn't bother to correct her assumption that he is a bad guy, he considered himself to be kind of a bad guy, just not a villain. The Undersiders hop on the mutated dogs and disappear into the alley. "Then again looking at this scene I can see why she assumed that I am not a hero." he mused on loud. "But there is this thing about assuming."

The protectorate cape arrives on the street preceded by the sound of a heavily altered engine, Benji could hear the man's thoughts and frowns at the conclusions that the man took, he was particularly disgusted at how Armsmaster was planning on twist the situation for his own benefit, apprehending the 'villain'.

Benji had researched the local capes and Armsmaster was prominent in the local scene, from what he could read in the internet and added to the just taken mental picture of the man, it was like the man had the worse of Tony Stark and Batman mashed up together without the alcoholism, spiced with a massive desire for fame and glory, with a possible inferiority complex to other capes, and that wasn't going close to his lack of social skills.

"Are you going to fight me?" Armsmaster said with an aggressive posture yet mostly neutral voice. "If I was I wasn't going to allow you to get this close." Benji answered, he had allowed Armsmaster to get out of his bike and made no aggressive movements, nor moved much. "Besides I am a good guy, unless you are a criminal I have no reason to attack you."

"You don't look like one." The bearded man countered. "And this scene doesn't picture a hero." Benji snorted at that, he didn't want to look like a comic book hero, and he certainly didn't want to look like a protectorate kind of hero either, he could smell the stench of the PR from the computer screen, god knows that there were tons of money being made out of the image of the protectorate heroes.

"Maybe not at the pussy-ass standards that your organization follow." Benji shot back. "Letting kidnappers, rapists, murderers, slavers, drug dealers and scum like these operate for this long." "You believe that to be the truth."

The armored man stated. 'Oh ho…' Benji said to himself. 'A lie detector, not fully finished and effective yet, but still good enough to work over eighty percent of the time, can't get a good read out of me because my costume hides my figure reducing the visual cues and my altered voice for the Batman voice also jinx the audio cues, as any stress signs are hidden by the stress of keeping it deeper than normal.'

"You know that it is true." Benji said deciding to rip off a quote, "Search your feelings, you know that it is the truth." he was given a minor twitch as a response. "Anyway." Benji said changing the subject before the unpleasant hero decided to get trigger happy. "Lung and his groupies here intended to kill a group of kids when I stumbled on them."

"Truth." Armsmaster said trying to get Benji to step back. "So I decided to put a stop on that." Benji continued unfazed by the attempt, knowing what the other side planned sure helped to prevent stepping on the mines. "Adding that to their crimes and your lack of real effort in dealing with them, I decided to be a little more permanent with my warning."

"Too permanent for a hero." Armsmastr countered. "As I said before, I am not a pussy like you are." Benji shot back. "I am Captain Ninja, make sure that the credit goes to where it is due." "I will make sure that the deserving party will get it." Armsmaster stated.

'Naughty, naughty, you are planning to steal it, now that I staked a claim on it.' Benji chided the man mentally, not letting him know, the saddest part is that the man was preparing a spiel about consequences and how dangerous it would be for him to take the credit as a unaffiliated hero, while making himself, Armsmaster, sound benevolent, on his own mind, to take the credit and consequences for himself, the upside was that he got plenty of intel from Armsmaster about the ABB.

"And you think that I will just let you walk out of this?" Armsmaster asked. "If anything you are guilty of assault." "I am a vigilant you moron." Benji snapped aggressively. "It is part of the job and the law allows it," A huge crash behind Armsmaster makes the older cape turn back while drawing his signature weapon. "Besides you can't stop me."

Armsmaster saw his bike fallen on the street a couple of meters away from where it was parked, turning to face Benji he saw nothing. Gritting his teeth Colin ponders if he should give credit for the capture to the younger cape. 'No I deserve it more than that villain does.' He decided.

'So sad.' Benji thought a couple blocks away, he caught the mental musings of the older man, while he could understand part of his reasons he couldn't accept them, the man has a massive complex about capes, it only got worse as he got older.

Being a pureblood tinker with no enhancements made him feel inadequate when compared to others, in a way Colin used his halberd as a compensator in more ways than one. 'The worse of Stark and Wayne indeed…' he teleports away from his hiding spot behind a dumpster. 'Time to steal from ABB, no need to let that loot stay where it is.'

Scene break*

Benji returned to his base around four in the morning, the hours between leaving Armsmaster and his return spent raiding the ABB, Lisa's mind provided more information, how the other male cape of the gang wasn't available to protect the places and a good chunk of the gangsters were mauled by the Undersiders.

The drug was torched, Benji has no use for them, he couldn't even turn them into useful chemicals, the money was kept, same with the guns and ammo, any prisoners, slaves and captives were released, any gangsters in the area were dealt with, with the ones forced to join and didn't want to be criminals he was more merciful, with the ones that enjoyed the power trip, he wasn't.

His makeshift base was now stuffed, most of his training space occupied with crates of guns and ammo, a much smaller pile consisted of the monetary loot inside duffel bags, safe boxes and a couple of safes, nowhere near enough in size to the gun pile, and both piles were dwarfed by the drug stacks.

His eyes ache thanks to the contact lens, Benji wasn't used to wearing them, he was feeling tired, he removes his costume pleased that at least it wasn't damaged, he takes out the lens with a sigh and puts them in their case, a couple drops of eyedrops to relieve the ache and putting on his glasses, he stores the spy goggles, he has a hero to topple.

On his regular clothes Benji grabs a reusable shopping bag no bigger than a regular plastic bag, stores everything that he needs to take back home in it, and with a quick check to see if the coast is clear he teleports back to his room, Danny was still sleeping as he was when he had left.

Benji stores the bag under his bed, change into his sleeping clothes and lie on the bed, not planning on going out heroing for a while, and especially not chasing after time sensitive targets any time soon.

Scene break*

Only after he woke up for the day that Benji realized something wrong. "I had no nightmares…" He murmured, he couldn't chalk up to his packages, Gucky had melancholic moods now and then, Ranma had no idea how to deal with emotional issues and the force user had no real issue with killing. "Not even from the bullying and nearly dying."

Benji had chalked the lack of nightmares as lack of experiencing said bullying, for him was like watching a movie or reading a book, the difference being some emotional value added to each memories, not enough to feel like he experienced it, but enough that he experienced it and had the attached emotions to in to a level.

Having read some stories where the protagonists got 'tweaked' by a ROB to not have issues performing things, he could consider that it was done to him, in purpose or not, he had chosen a powerful pack, each component was a fighter and warrior on its own right, being tweaked to make full use of it made sense.

Benji could and feels a modicum of remorse at what he had done, not enough to make him stop, not enough to make him take a lighter stance, just enough to know that it was 'wrong' in society's eyes. With a sigh he moves to his morning routine, he has to keep up the appearance of being a normal kid, he can ponder on his issues later, plus he needs to put Armsmaster down if the man already claimed the credit.

Scene break*

Lisa had a bad night after she met the self styled Captain Ninja, she is fairly certain that he was that boy that she shared lunch with once, she had tried to meet him again afterwards, but he never returned to that Subway, it annoyed her that she couldn't meet him when she wanted to, as much as that she couldn't read him beyond what was obvious give aways.

Lisa never met someone able to block her power since she triggered, it was shocking to realize how much she relied on her powers in a low level, to see herself reduced back to human interaction without her powers telling her everything that she wanted or not to know was frightening and exhilarating, the unknown was scary, but not knowing every little secret, desire, fantasy and impulse was a blessing, the few times that she tried to date failed miserably, she couldn't even go beyond kissing after she triggered, and in the privacy of her own mind she would admit to herself that she was a bit lonely.

From his chosen name, Lisa could see the hints laid there, the ninja part alone was screaming about his abilities, to gather intelligence, to kill, to fight, to be unseen, of a code of honor unknown to her, the captain part spoke of order, of military, of authority, and the worse is that the mirth that she could see from him when he gave them his name made her present readings murky, there was a joke there that she wasn't getting, she didn't even took offence at the moniker 'Cap', he actually enjoyed it.

Lisa had no doubt on his skill thought, they had caught the tail end of the fight, before Lung was engaged and defeated under a minute, Lisa has no idea of the total of his powers, she tentatively gave him a mover, blaster, shaker and possibly tinker, while none of those, save for the blaster, looked particularly high rated, the combination was powerful, taking fifty three gangsters without being touched by them and then bringing Lung down with no visible effort.

Her power did tell her that he wasn't going all out and Lung responds by escalation based on perceived threat and received damage, and the response time wasn't immediate, so hitting hard and fast enough could take Lung down, plus those swords were essentially lightsabers, the cutting ability was extreme, the ability to change from cut everything to non-lethal was surprising.

It made Lisa understand a major mistake that they did when meeting him, Captain Ninja wasn't a villain, he was a anti-hero, still a hero, he attacked Lung and his goons because they were going to kill them, not because some turf war, quest for glory or personal reasons, he just played along and didn't correct their misconceptions because he didn't want to fight them.

And Lisa wasn't sure if they could win if they had engaged him, none of them had brute ratings, those swords would mince them finely. "Bitch's dogs wouldn't be able to tank many hits from them, Lung didn't and he was tougher than the dogs, Regent's power might or might not work, Grue's was also a maybe," Lisa muttered to herself, gently massaging her temples. "And if the ninja part of his name holds true to his skill level, which might, being unable to see won't be a issue, then there is that lightning blast, and I am not even worth mentioning, those thugs had guns and they did them no good and I can't get a read on him."

Lisa hated to do so, but the odds of him winning was higher than she liked. "Would he be willing to join us?" Lisa mused. "I mean the PRT won't accept him as a hero, he will be painted as villain by them, if so if I make the right sales pitch I could get him on the team, and god knows that someone of his skill will help us a lot."

'And maybe he could help me to kill Coil…' Lisa said on her mind, not wanting to voice that thought, she wanted to believe that Coil could be killed, and a ninja like cape with skills to back up the claim sounded like a viable option there. 'I wonder if he would help me there…'

"Let's see what the PRT is saying about last night's events." Lisa decided, she boots up her laptop. "Oh my…this is nice…no way in hell that Cap is joining them…stole his credit and painted him a violent villain…this might work well for me…"

Scene break*

"Please step out of the way." Benji said to Sophia Hess in a level tone, tired from the long night, weighting the issues of his situation, researching about the capes that he met the night before, a cryptic message by Tattletale and distracted with schoolwork, he forgot to consider the nuisances of his school.

"No way Hebert." Sophia snapped back, it was the first time in weeks that they managed to corner him, she has plenty of frustration to unleash on him. "You tattled on me and will pay for that. I have no idea of how you have been avoiding us, but this time you can't."

"I won't ask again." Benji said firmly, "Step out of the way and let me pass." he can see the crowd forming, he even spotted a teacher, Mr. Gladly, watching the scene. "My patience with your antics ended when you tried to kill me." "You are a coward Hebert." Sophia taunted and tried to shove him.

Benji had several ways of countering that, a good chunk of them without any serious complications or long term effects to Sophia's health, he chose none of those, instead he selected the ones with the most long term effects on her health and the most damaging.

Benji intercepts her right hand with his left, grabbing her outstretched fingers and twisting it outwards, stretching them beyond the comfort zone and as expected her arm followed and Sophia's momentum was gone, he follows up with a frontal downwards kick/stomp at her right knee, shattering the kneecap and forcing the joint to break and bend backwards, her weight aggravating the injury and tearing more tissue as the bones slide past the other protrude internally from both ends.

Sophia falls to her knees and Benji follows up by ramming the heel of his right hand on her elbow breaking that join as well, Sophia just began to scream when Benji's left knee impacts on her jaw, breaking it and several her teeth, sending her to unconsciousness. "Anyone want to go next?" Benji asks calmly, and then hell broke loose.

Scene break*

"Warmer Körper, heisses Kreuz, falsches Urteil, kaltes Grab." Benji sang softly while waiting in the deserted cafeteria, the school's security guard and the PE teacher standing at Benji's sides, nervous at the teen's singing, even handcuffed they are afraid of him, he had beaten twenty seven teens that attacked him, plus three adults, his clothes are still bloodied and Benji had just stopped because the attackers stopped trying and even handcuffed himself once asked to wait in the cafeteria, they have no illusion that he is any less dangerous while handcuffed, the security guard was specially aware of it, already suffered from his own beating by the teen. "Auf dem Kreuze lieg ich jetzt, sie schlagen mir die Nägel ein, das Feuer wäscht die Seele rein, und übrig bleibt ein Mundvoll, Asche!" And the singing in German isn't making Benji any less harmless looking.

"Not a bad singing voice." Miss Militia commented from where she was observing the scene. "Is he empire?" Blackwell asked being aware of the language, not enough to understand it. "Not that I am aware off." Danny answered. "And I honestly doubt it, if he hates someone is by personal merit of the person in question and not my race, color, creed or country of birth, plus he has a eclectic taste in music, my wife's fault, that is a German if I remember right."

"And the skill to beat over thirty people including a trained guard?" Blackwell asks. "Years of martial arts training." Danny answered with pride. "He never stopped practicing even after I had to pull him out of the classes by lack of money, just so you know, he could have done this after the bullying started, that he had to resort to this says a lot about the suppose that this school gives him."

"We didn't know!" Blackwell protested. "Lies." Alan Barnes countered. "We both know that that is a lie, you knew and did nothing but let him suffer through it." "You did nothing as well." Blackwell shot back. "I had no idea of what happened until the locker incident." Alan explained. "And I was told that was an accident until he came to me and showed me that it wasn't."

"I am surprised that you are at his side." Miss Militia commented. "And not at your daughter's." "She deserved what she got." Alan replied depressed. "Benji warned me that he had enough of Emma's abuse and that he could have beaten her to a pulp easily but refrained from it for many reasons, including the last vestiges of their past relationship."

"And he put his money where he mouth was." Danny said dejectedly. "In a way I am proud that he held this long, at another I want to scold him for losing his temper." Miss Militia snorts at that. "From what I saw wasn't a temper tantrum, but cold blooded action." She pointed out. "He surrendered himself to custody when asked and the ones asking didn't resort to violence. I was the one who asked him to stop, he was beating the tar out of some jock."

"And he just stopped?" Danny asked curious. "Dropped the other boy, bent over, picked the knocked out guard's cuffs and cuffed himself after greeting me cordially." Miss Militia answered with a smile that is hidden by her scarf. "Waited calmly while I roused the guard and is sitting there calmly singing in at least four languages."

"He does like his music." Danny commented with a chuckle. "What happens next?" "As soon my girl gets patched up we put them together and sit and try to make sense of this mess, she was the least hurt one of his bullies." Alan answered seriously. "I want to hear from her mouth why the hell she made his life a living hell for this long, and why she did the opposite that I told her and not only kept trying to harass him but attacked him."

Hannah was just wondering when someone would begin to really question her presence there, while Alan Barnes and the principal know the why, neither Hebert knew and her excuse of being in the area when hearing about the incident in the police scan radio was weak.

Piggot had ordered her to deal with the mess without losing too much face or causing the Heberts to release their info to the media, and both women knew that Benji likely had recorded the entire thing and is just waiting to release it, while select few knew about Shadow Stalker, if the incident went to the news the PRT brass would learn about it and there would be consequences to it.

The bright side is that now Sophia burned her last bridge and her safety net, Hannah knows that Benji wouldn't start the incident and didn't believe Blackwell when she claimed that he did, if the teen haven't taken a gun to school and started killing people, he wouldn't start an incident.

'The saddest part is that if he was a parahuman he would be a great ward.' Hannah thought with a sigh. 'Still this will hurt him, the reputation will stick.' Her line of thought is broken when Emma Barns led by a teacher walks towards them. "Time for the meeting." Hannah said firmly, getting nods from the two fathers.

(Combate não me assusta, vencer em luta justa…) Benji stopped singing when the door opens, 'So much for Street Fighter Victory anime opening.' He said to himself. 'Then again I was getting a bit tired of singing.' "This will be precious." Benji said wryly, seeing Emma's face as she walks in alongside the others, she got a very nice shiner and a cut on her bruised nose.

"Please don't start anything." Hannah asked gently. "I am here to mediate this meeting so we can figure what happened here and the guilty parts." "He beat me! Just look at me!" Emma exclaimed. "He is the guilty one! Heck he is still bloody!" "Mr. Hebert care to contest that?" Hannah asks curious.

"I will let the evidence speak." Benji answered casually, tapping his glasses gently with his fingers, he turns to Danny. "Brought the stuff that I asked?" Benji asks to his father. "Yes, though why you asked for it is beyond me." Answered Danny placing a leather like case over the table where Benji is sitting.

"And I got a laptop with me." Alan added. "Will it work?" "Yeah, the system is plug and play, no need for fancy programs or anything." Benji explained, he then raises his hands. "Can I get these off?" Hannah nods and uses the keys that Benji gave to her to release him. "Thanks." Hannah nods in response and hands the keys and cuffs to the guard.

Benji opens the case and get a small screwdriver from it, then takes off his watch. Alan turns on a voice recorder and turns it on, it takes Benji three minutes to remove the memory card from the watch to Emma's horror, Benji hands it to Alan to places into an adapter and puts on the slot on his laptop, Benji takes a cable from the case and hands it alongside the glasses to the man.

"Just plug it into a USB port." Benji instructed, then he picked a contact lens case and puts them on. "When you got those?" Danny asks curious. "When I bought the spying gear, I had to remove the lens of my old glasses for it, it would be too pricy to get new lens made, these are cheaper." Benji explained blinking a couple times to get the lens in place. "And I just need them for short periods of time, while downloading the videos out of it."

Danny nods understanding, Blackwell pales at the realization that Benji had evidence of not only the bullying but her own active negligence and active sabotage against him. Emma too realizes that she couldn't rely on her word and act to get her out of the situation. "And done." Alan said handing the items to Benji, "The files are massive for what they are."

"It is hours long of recordings." Benji pointed out removing the cable from the glasses leg and placing the protective cover over the port. "Skip to noon, it happens during the lunch break." "You can't do that!" Emma protested. "I mean it is illegal! I had no idea that I was on camera!"

"In this case is permitted." Hanna countered, even if wasn't the PRT would find a way to make it legal, after all if the case is settled out of court and discreetly the better it is for the PRT.

"Damn kiddo." Danny commented after they watch the video with the audio recording synched to it. "Those lessons were beyond paying themselves if this is any evidence, where you learned some of those moves?" Benji grins at that question. "Movies, internet, books and tons of practice." Benji answered. "I had to do something with the frustration that I felt from the bullying, so I shadow boxed and hammered the bag back in the basement."

"A bit too brutal on the Hess girl." Alan said with a frown, seeing in first person perspective was very dramatic and brutal. "She had the worse takedown from what I could tell." "She was the most physical of the bullies, I did offer her a chance to back off, she refused and I had to make an example out of her, trying to scare the others in leaving me alone." Benji explained. "Isn't like the school did anything to curb them, if anything they are offering me in a altar as a sacrifice for their precious runner."

"You ruined her career!" Blackwell pounced on that opening. "I know." Benji said with a vicious smile that made Emma shiver, though Benji can tell that wasn't from fear. "I did in purpose, just deserts and all that, she did try to murder me alongside her accomplices. And I tried to avoid them since then, they actively sought me out and surrounded me"

"And started the aggressions." Alan sighed wearily, one way or another Emma was going to suffer for her decisions, she was refusing to get therapy and the situation doesn't look like will settle with a slap in the wrist.

"Why?" Emma asks confusing everyone, Benji could read the unvoiced words. "Why what?" Benji asks back. "Why haven't you fought back before?!" Emma snapped. "Why you did nothing before?! If you had showed any spine before things would be like this!"

"Because I am better than you." Benji shot back. "Have you forgotten that I have six years of martial arts? We went to the same fucking building for it! You had your ballet lessons upstairs from the dojo!" "I knew that! I never forgot that!" Emma shouted back to him. "Why haven't you show it before?! That you are a fighter! We wanted that!"

Benji palms his face. "Why did you keep taking?! Acting like prey!" Emma continued her tirade. "Regardless of what we did to you, of how far we pushed! Why didn't you fight back?!"

"Because martial arts are about defense." Hannah said levelly. "About discipline and humility, and not about beating someone with no reason." "We gave him reasons!" Emma snapped. "Stole from him, humiliated him, destroyed his precious things, ruined his schoolwork and more!"

"Not good enough." Benji said before Emma continued, poor Mr. Barnes was seeing how horribly his daughter turned by her own words, there is no need for him to learn that she was almost the school's bike. "And I still have no idea why the fuck you broke up with me and betrayed me like this."

"You betrayed me first Hebert!" Emma shrieked. "How?!" Benji snapped, acting pretty close to losing his top, it was actually easy, between the emotional load from Emma and 'his' memories own load, it was hard to keep his powers controlled and secret. "One day I come back from the survival camp, go visit my girlfriend and get dumped, shouted at and am not even given a damn reason why! How the fuck did I betray you Emma?!"

"Girlfriend?" Alan and Danny asked surprised, they didn't know about that tidbit. Benji takes a deep breath forcing himself to calm down, Emma was shocked with him shouting at her, Benji wasn't the type to raise his voice in anger. "Happened one week before I went to the camp." Benji answered. "You and dad went out bowling or something and Emma and I were having a sleepover at your place."

"I remember that night." Alan said, they didn't went bowling, they went to a karaoke bar and got wasted and sung badly, Danny liked to sign but sucked, Alan wasn't that fond of it, but his friend needed the help and it was little things like that that kept Danny from receding back to deep depression and constant heavy drinking, with company Danny drank less often. "Kicked his ass on it too."

"Yeah right." Danny played along, no need to tell Benji that he was getting drunk, took Alan a lot of time to wean Danny from heavy drinking, now Danny was back to normal, with no more than a couple of beers a day and no more than a couple shots when celebrating or drinking with his friends.

"I won't get on the details, but Emma and I were watching movies and eating junk food, somewhere along the way we began kissing and things escalated from there." Benji continued after the two adults stopped talking. "Since everyone and their dogs were pushing us and saying that we were practically dating, and we kind of agreed, we ended doing more than kissing and went all the way."

Benji pauses there and everyone waits for Alan's reaction. "What?" Said man asks confused as they look at him. "As much as I didn't want to remember that, I kind of expected you to blow your top about it dad." Emma explained. "I mean having sex at barely thirteen."

"Sweetheart, I would celebrate if I heard the news back then." Alan said with a bitter chuckle, knowing that it will never happen. "We were serious when we said that we hoped to see the two of you tie the knot." Danny nods in agreement, even Annette cooed over the two. "Benji still is the only boy that would get my blessings if you brought him home, not that will happen."

Benji nods in agreement. "Thanks for it anyway." Benji said with a sad smile. "But won't happen." "Was it at least good?" Alan asks to his daughter, she looks away uncomfortably and says nothing, he then looks to Benji seeing that she won't say anything.

"Having access to my late grandfather's stash of porn and with him teaching me the ropes in theory, I made her faint with foreplay alone." Benji answered honestly. "Gramps was always clear with it, 'girls are like wood stoves, they need plenty of stoking, work and care to get burning hot, not like us men who are like gas stoves, just a spark and we are ready and willing.' he said, 'foreplay, foreplay, foreplay, train your tongue my boy and you will never lack pussy in your life.'"

Danny facepalms at that. "Yeah, that is dad indeed." He groaned. "I knew that I should have chaperoned your hunting trips, but noooo, I had to stay home with Annette for quiet weekends." "I take that your father was a ladies man?" Hannah asked with a hidden smile that was clear on her voice.

"In his younger days, before he met my mother who straightened him up." Danny answered with a nod. "She was always smiling and happy saying that she got his full attention and talent for herself alone, for the rage of the other ladies." "I rather not hear about that." Blackwell said.

"Going back to my story." Benji said with a nod. "After our first night we fooled around for the remainder of the week whenever we could get away with it, when I went to camp Emma was crying and not wanting me to leave." "And you still left!" Emma snapped at him.

"Your dad paid for it dammit!" Benji barked back. "And it was your idea! 'Benji loved going out with his grandfather, why not send him on a camping trip to cheer him up?' I was there when you gave the idea to him and he worked hard to get a good camp!"

"Why that?" Hannah asks to Alan. "I mean why you did that for him?"

Alan sighs, wishing that he was back at that easier and brighter time. "Danny and I were friends for years, we got stranged these past couple of years." Alan explained. "But back then Benji and Emma were attached to the hip, we approved and encouraged it, we used to kid that they would one day marry and that we could see the two in the aisle, I used to see Benji as my own son and I am sure that Danny thought of Emma as a daughter," Alan rubs his eyes wearily. "Danny wasn't having a easy time with money back then, he was depressed because of Annette's death and the lost of her income made their modest situation fall to a bad one, in the worse periods of his depression I took Benji in, so Danny could mourn without him underfoot, so paying for a summer camp wasn't really a chore in any way, I knew that if the situation was reversed they would do the same."

Danny nods confirming. "And Alan was helping through it as well, knowing that Benji was cared and watched over during those days helped me a lot." Danny added honestly. "This damn lawyer still don't let me pay him back for it." He cussed without heat. "Never will." Alan shot with a smile, which falls. "And it is why this situation hurts a lot."

"And I still don't know why it started." Benji chimed in. "There weren't girls in my group, I don't like dudes, I called weekly from the camp, until the week that Zoe said that Emma didn't want to talk to me and in the following week Anne said that Emma didn't want me to keep calling her, when I came back I went to talk to her and she broke up with me, said that never wanted to talk to me again and to leave her alone."

"She told me that she told you that she asked you to give her some space." Alan said recalling the events. "After your second visit." Benji snorted at that. "Why you lied to me?" Alan asks to Emma seriously. "Were you planning this bullying campaign since then?"

Emma says nothing but looks away, which for Alan says a lot. "You did." Alan wearily sighed. "And you were already approached by Sophia not too long after that day." "That day?" Benji asks fishing for the information that he could already read from their minds, but he wants it 'volunteered'. "What day?"

"None of your business!" Emma snaps at Benji, shifting to a 'safer' target and a more familiar emotion, a more empowering emotion. "If turned you from the girl that I knew and loved to this bitch that I hate and loath surely is!" Benji countered. "If anything to get closure!"

Alan couldn't imagine how Benji felt, not knowing what caused Emma to change like that, as much as he hated recalling that day the young man deserves to know. "Emma was nearly raped by some ABB thugs." Alan said in a emotionless voice. "Dad!" Emma shouted horrified at her secret being exposed. "Shush." Alan ordered firmly, which surprised Emma and made her obey, she wasn't used to being told off by him.

"She was attacked and threatened, she was rescued before the worse happened." Alan continued, he turns to Miss Militia. "I want to tell them that secret as well." He informed the cape. "I can't approve that." Hannah replied. "And have to remember you that it is illegal for you to do it."

"Isn't like they won't figure it out." Alan countered. "Benji is smart, it won't take much for him connect the dots, your presence included as a dot to be connected." Hannah notices the brown haired teen looking at her with a look of understanding on hi face. "Great…" Benji said wryly. "One of the bitches is a cape, it Hess isn't it? She is the only one remotely fit enough to be one."

'Dammit.' Hahhah cursed. 'I knew that it wouldn't take long, Mr. Barnes just needed to point him to the right direction.' Hannah saw another flash of understanding on his face and hurriedly said, "Please don't voice that thought, did you guess who?" Benji nods confirming. 'It isn't that hard given the trail of evidence and which ward was capable of breaking into a locked locker.' Hannah sighed.

"Is that why you were asking me questions?" Benji asked playing the role of clueless teenager. "Yes." Hannah nodded confirming. "We were trying to get her to stop, but there is a process and it takes time." "Please tell me that now you can." Benji pleaded. "I mean I gave you loads of evidence, she was attacking me again, this time with you people aware of the problem."

"This time we have clear evidence of her actions, she won't be left out any longer." She answered, Piggot already had Sophia sent to the Rig and was seriously considering if she should call Panacea for the girl or not. "And this incident can't be kept as discreet as the locker incident, there is already videos and photos that leaked out, we are trying to remove those."

Benji nods understanding and then turns to Emma. "And how does that incident turned things like this?" he asks confused. "I could understand if you wanted to be left alone for a while, I could understand a break up as well given the trauma, why the campaign?"

"You weren't there!" Emma hissed venomously. "You promised me that you would always protect me!" "As much as humanly possible." Benji replied. "And as long we were together, which is obvious that we no longer are." "This is like one of my cases." Groaned Alan, he never dreamed to see a good reinterpretation of some of his divorce cases staring his daughter and the boy that once was his son.

"Sophia was there for me!" Emma continued. "She saved me from those thugs! She was there to comfort me later!" "If you had called me I would have come!" Benji countered. "I would have packed my bags and left!" "And you asked me to not call him." Alan added recalling the aftermath of that horrible day, recalling how Emma had cried Benji's name while being attacked, begging for him to save her. "I should have noticed it."

Hannah didn't like what she had learned, Sophia likely corrupted the damaged relationship, she had read the reports and heard the complains from the wards about Sophia, and as Emma goes on explaining how Sophia told her how the world worked, she could see how badly things were.

Scene break*

"So Shadow Stalker was behind everything." Piggot surmised what Hannah told her. "Corrupting a traumatized teen and turning her against her loved ones." Hannah nods confirming. "Out agents found the journal that she kept, she is a very disturbed child, some of her plans were horrific, she planned on having him as a sexual pet if he ever fought back, to show her superiority, and that doesn't come close to what we found on the Barnes girl."

"Similar?" Hannah asked warily. "She was operating under the illusion that he needed to pay for the sin of betraying her before the took him to bed again, with him submissive to her, including on penetration." Piggot answered with distaste. "She wanted to violate him every possible way, including breaking his mind and with Shadow Stalker helping her to rebuild him on their twisted image that he should be. The spiel about predator and prey was sickening as well."

"Indeed." Hannah agreed, she heard it as well. "What will be done? Keeping it quiet won't work. Work already leaked out about the fight, just the identities weren't leaked out yet."

"Transfer the Hebert kid to Arcadia, get him some therapy, anger management, something to say that he isn't getting rewarded, Shadow Stalker goes to juvie, therapy for the Barnes girl, the other girl gets a lighter punishment because she was just a follower, settle things outside the courts, because if the full length of this incident gets out our PR will crash down to the floor." Piggot answered. "Get the Hebert to sign NDAs about Shadow Stalker's civilian identity and for keeping this under wraps, it is bad enough that the kid handed evidence to the police, removing the leaks there cost us, and that isn't considering that it didn't have evidence of her cape actions. We will spin this in a way that the Hebert kid doesn't get painted negatively to keep them from refusing to cooperate with us, same with Barnes. He hide names the best that we can."

Both know that won't be easy work, but the wounded party was seemingly willing to play ball and as long the evidence doesn't get leaked they could salvage the situation.

Scene break*

"I am not sure if that counts as in costume or not." Regent said after Benji pulled down his hoodie revealing his mask and glasses covered face, and then put on the camouflaged cap. "He isn't wearing the same shit from yesterday." Benji was wearing the gear that he wore when stealing from the ATMs, seeing no need to put on the armored suit, his sabers hidden on the hoodie's pocket

"I say that is enough." Countered Tattletale, not willing to lose the bet. "He isn't showing his face," She turns to Grue, "back me up here." "Am I missing something?" Benji asked pretending not to be aware of the issue. "These two made a bet whether or not you would come in costume." Grue answered. "And well, it is a bit hard to judge that."

"Consider this the mark zero of my suit." Benji told them. "I did some scouting runs with this one without the cap." "Yes!" Tattletale exclaimed and made grabby gestures towards Regent. "Pay up!" Regent grunts in annoyance and hands the girl a folded wad of cash.

Lisa has her dirty blonde hair tied back into a loose braid, a smattering of freckles over the bridge of her nose and the same vulpine grin was easily recognized from the night prior. She wore a black long sleeved t-shirt with a graffiti-style design on it and a knee length denim skirt. Internally Benji admitted that he liked the bottle-glass green color of her eyes, he had a thing for girls with green or blue eyes.

The smaller and younger of the two guys was undoubtedly Regent, easily by recognized by the mop of black curls. He was a good looking guy, but not in a way that would make Benji say he was handsome, his facial lines are too feminine for it, instead he was pretty, with a triangular face, light blue eyes and full lips pulled into a bit of a scowl. The kind that would be popular in a anime or manga as a brooding bishie.

Benji pegged him as having French or Italian heritage, he could see where he would have girls all over him. He had that pretty boy band look that would attract most girls like bees to honey. He was wearing a white jacket with a hood, jeans and sneakers, and was leaning against the wall of the alley, a bottle of cola in hand, still complaining about the loss.

Grue by contrast, was startling in appearance. Benji wasn't used to being around people taller than himself, he was still adjusting to the loss of height that he suffered, Grue is taller than Benji is by at least a half a foot, Grue had dark chocolate skin, shoulder length cornrows and that masculine lantern jaw you typically associated with guy superheroes. He wore jeans, boots and a plain green t-shirt, was a bit cold for the spring. Benji did take note that he had considerable muscle definition in his arms. This was a guy who worked out regularly.

"It's your own fault for taking the bet in the first place," Grue said, wanting the other boy to stop complaining, "Even if it wasn't Tattle, it was a sucker bet. Showing up in costume makes too much sense. It is what I would do in his place." He had a nice voice. It was mature voice, even if his appearance gave the sense of a guy in his late teens. He extended his hand to Benji, "Hey, I'm Brian."

Benji shook his hand with polite firmness and he wasn't shy about reciprocating it. Benji then said, "You can call me Cap, or captain, whatever you like for now, I guess as we are being civil, until I decide this isn't an elaborate trick or something on those lines." Grue shrugged, "Cool." There wasn't the slightest trace of offense at the suspicion there.

"Lisa," Tattletale introduced herself. She didn't offer her hand to shake, Benji didn't take offence from that, given what he saw from her mind, she is still uneasy and uncertain about how she feels about her inability to read him. Benji nods at her acknowledging her introduction.

"I am Alec," Regent took his turn, with a quiet voice, then he added, "And Bitch is Rachel." "Rachel is sitting this one out," Grue said, "She didn't agree with the aim of our meeting, here."

"Which raises the question," Benji cut in taking the cue, "What is the aim of this meeting? I am a little confused out with you guys revealing your secret identities like this, or at least, pretending to." "Sorry," Brian apologized, "That was my idea. I thought we should make a token show of trust."

Behind the tinted lenses of his mask, Benji's eyes narrowed, flicking from Lisa to Alec to Brian, without his telepathy he would never be able to tell their objective from their faces and body language. "Why, exactly, do you need my trust?" He finally asked. "I don't think that this your SOP."

Brian opened his mouth, then closed it. He looked to Lisa, who bent down and picked up a plastic lunchbox. She held it out to Benji as unthreatening as possible. "I said we owed you." Lisa explained, "All yours, no strings attached.

Without taking the box, Benji tilted his head to get a better look at the front, "Alexandria. Not my favorite member of the Protectorate when I was a kid. I was more of a Hero fan." Benji commented, "Is the lunchbox collectable or something?"

"Open it," Lisa prompted him, with a roll of her eyes offering the box again, he took it. From the weight and the motion of the contents inside it, it wasn't that hard to get a pretty good idea of what it was, he then undid the clasps and opened the box.

"Money," Benji said a bit surprised with the amount. Eight stacks of bills, tied with paper bands. Each of the paper bands had a number written on it in permanent marker. Two fifty each, and in small denomination bills.

Lisa answered before I had the number totaled up in my head, "Two grand." Benji closed the box and did the clasps. With no idea what to say, without exposing his secrets he remained silent.

"You have two choices," Lisa explained, "You can take that as a gift. A thank you for, intentionally or not, saving our ass from Lung last night. And maybe a bit of incentive to count us among your friends when you are out in costume and doing dastardly deeds." Her grin widened, as if she had said something she found amusing. Maybe it was the irony of a villain talking about 'dastardly deeds', or how corny the phrase was. She elaborated, "Between territory disputes, differences in ideology, general power struggles and egos, there is a rare few people in the local villain community who won't attack us on sight."

"And the second option?" Benji asked already knowing the answer and wanting to hear their argument, wondering how they would take the truth of his alignment. "You can take this as your first installment in the monthly allowance you're entitled to as a member of the Undersiders," Brian spoke up, "As one of us."

Benji knew that it wasn't a joke, it was a nice gesture even taking in consideration their more selfish goals, a skilled fighter would help their group a lot, he snorts in amusement at the fact that it is his second offer to join a villain team. "Two thousand a month," He finally said.

"No," Brian cut in, "That is just what the boss pays us, to stick together and to stay active. We make, uh, considerably more than that with our jobs." Lisa still had a bit of a smile, but turned a bit uneasy at Benji's response, it wasn't as positive as she hoped for. Alec looked a little bored, if anything. Brian looked dead serious.

"Just a little problem here." Benji pointed out while putting the lunchbox under his left arm. "Problem?" Brian asked a bit worried that maybe the meeting will turn sour. "I consider myself a hero." Benji explained, not making any moves that could be taken as aggressive. "While I won't turn on you three now, I wasn't planning on taking that side of the line."

Lisa smirked, and Alec chuckled as he swished the contents of his coke bottle. "I hate to say this but you were outed as a villain by the PRT and the Protectorate." Alec pointed out. "Everyone already sees you as a villain, add that to your less than gentle approach…"

"I have evidence saying otherwise." Benji pointed out. "My glasses have a camera and a microphone," Seeing them tense Benji adds, "it isn't on, I came to this meeting in good faith and won't start anything."

The trio nod in relief. "Still I am not sure if it will work, the PR machine of the Protectorate will smear you." Lisa explained. "But that won't stop you, will it?" Benji confirms that. "If I fail I will give your offer more thought." He replied, "As long you understand that I likely won't commit crimes and will keep my war on the gangs."

"Better than nothing." Brian commented, at least he was giving the idea some thought and not outright dismissing it. "So Bitch didn't come because she was against the, er, recruitment?" Benji asks changing the subject a bit. "Yeah," Alec said, "We voted on it, and she said no."

"On the plus side, the rest of us voted yes," Brian hurried to add, giving Alec a dirty look, "She'll come around. She always votes against adding new members to the group, because she doesn't want to divide the money five ways." "So you have done this recruiting thing before," Benji concluded. "But I didn't see a fifth undersider, unless he or she got hurt or killed before yesterday."

"Uh, yeah, about the recruiting part and not the hurt or dead part" Brian looked a touch embarrassed, he rubbed the back of his neck, "It didn't go well. We tried with Spitfire, and she got scared off before we even got to the job offer. Our fault, for bringing Rachel along that time."

"And then she got recruited by someone else," Alec added. "Yeah," Brian shrugged, "She got snagged by Faultline before we got a second chance. We've made an offer to Circus, too, and she told us in no uncertain terms that she worked alone." "Taught me a few new curse words while she did it, too," Alec said. "She was pretty vocal about how she flies solo," Brian admitted.

"So you're going the extra mile, with no costumes as a show of trust and a cash bonus up front, to get me to join," Benji said, making a show as if the pieces just came together.

"That's the gist of it," Brian agreed, "Long and short of it is, especially with Lung taken out of action and the ABB diminished by his being gone, it is bound to be some pushing and shoving over territory and status among the various gangs and teams. Us, Faultline's Crew, the remaining ABB, Empire Eighty-Eight, the solo villains, and any out of town teams or gangs that figure that they can worm in and grab a piece of the Bay now that a heavy hitter is down and out. If it comes down to it, we want firepower. We haven't screwed up a job yet, but the way us three figure it, it is only a matter of time before we end up stuck in a fight we can't win, with Bitch as the only one of us who can really dish out the hurt."

"And there is where you come up if you join us." Lisa explained with her smile turning vulpine, doing her best to give a good sale's pitch. "You totaled Lung and his crew in minutes, while I don't have numbers for your power ratings, you must have at least a mover, shaker, tinker and blaster, maybe a minor brute, you would be a major boon to our group." Brian nods in agreement.

"I got lucky with Lung." Benji said honestly, afterwards he realized his mistakes when thinking with a colder head, he had gotten too greedy and confident, sure it paid off, but that is the path to ruin, he should have killed Lung first and not let him alive and able to get revenge. "He overestimated himself and underestimated him, and I had a plan that I followed and weapons that allowed that plan to work, if Lung was immune to my blades I wouldn't be here."

"Neither would we." Lisa said grimly, then she smiles and more positively says, "But you succeeded, you don't get it Cap, other teams took beatings and heavy losses when dealing with Lung, you apparently didn't break a sweat and made it look easy, that is more than luck, is talent, talent that we would like very much to have on our side. That Lung is still lying in a hospital bed is just icing on the cake."

Brian and Alec nod in agreement and Alec raised his bottle in congratulation. "Add that to the kind of damage that you did to him and his group." Lisa continued, "You castrated the majority of the lot as well crippled all save Lung for life, Cap, honey, sorry to break this to you, but even with them being rapists, your rep isn't going to be of a hero, at best as a noble villain."

Benji shrugs at that, he wasn't expected to be held as a shiny hero, it was the same with the Punisher, whom he molded his attitude towards the unrepentant criminal elements. "I never expected to be acclaimed as a hero by the Protectorate standards," he replied. "Anyway, I will give your offer some thought."

"Just send me a PM on PHO." Lisa said with a nod, at least she isn't getting the feeling that he was going to turn them in. "No time limit for the offer." "Yeah." Brian agreed. "If all else fails we will save you a spot on the undersiders." Benji could feel the genuine honesty of the offer, the guy wasn't a criminal by choice and did it for the less bad reasons, if given a chance Brian would turn sides. "Say what." Benji said.

"What?" Alec said with a grin, Benji shakes his head in mock annoyance, raising his hands in the air in mock exasperation, making his teammates chuckle at the exchange. "If things turn well for me and I get acknowledge as a hero." Benji explained, "I will save your guys a place in any future team that I make, just to return the kindness."

Lisa was stunned with the offer. "We appreciate it." Brian said recovering first. "It wouldn't be bad, but the PRT doesn't take those changes seriously or at face value, they would likely bust our balls before accepting us as heroes." "But who knows?" Lisa cut in, at least she could hope that she would one day be freed from Coil's grasp.

Scene break*

To say that he felt bad about uploading the video that he took from the fight with Lung and the meeting with Armsmaster would be lying, however Benji was a bit bothered that he had to do it, part of him wanted to believe that a hero would act like one, regardless of what he saw in the hero's mind, plus being labeled as a villain, a violent and ruthless one to make it worse, kind of killed any sympathy that Benji had for the older hero.

Using a laptop purchased solely for use as Captain Ninja, he uploads the video while sitting in the roof of a café with free WIFI. "What the fuck?" he cursed when the upload suddenly crashed, the internet icon in the screen was still giving a strong signal, so the wasn't that to blame.

"I am sorry for this." A unfamiliar feminine voice came from his computer, a screen pops up and shows the image of a female clad on a skin tight lightly armored purple and black suit with a violet tinted faceplate with eyes and eyebrows clearly light projections of a lighter purple as the only features there. "But I can't allow you to tarnish Armsmaster's reputation, even if he is in the wrong here, well intended as you are, you are too extreme to be allowed to be a hero, I apologize but this plan will be stopped."

Benji had a flash to that one Mass Effect girl, Tali or something from the image, it takes him moments to notice the sudden heat on the computer, he is then struck by a precognition. "Fuck!" he shouts throwing the computer away and running away from it, but was too late. "I am sorry for this." She said before the computer exploded with far more violence than it had a right to have.

Shards of plastic, metal and glass fly and hit him in the back, he stumbles and falls out of the roof, barely having enough presence of mind to grab on the edge as he is ass over teakettle, the impact is jarring and his shoulder either broke or dislocated, one way or another he lost the grip and fell.

Only his telekinesis and instincts finally kicking in save him from a possibly deadly fall, he lands in a crouch, cradling his damaged shoulder, he shakes his head trying to clear it, he could hear a multitude of running steps, his telepathy giving him the identity of the runners, PRT troopers, there to capture him.

"Bitch…" He cursed realizing that the woman not only tried to cripple or kill him, but ratted out his location to the PRT, likely even slowed the upload to hold him in place for the troopers to get to his location discreetly. Looking around Benji finds the café's back door, he races towards it and gives a push with the force shattering it.

Luck was on Benji's side, the door and the push hit several PRT troopers that were about to breech that door, he runs amidst them making use of the confusion, weaving his way towards the from door, he races out of the café, his telekinetic sight was used to trace a route with the least resistance.

Leaping over a trooper Benji uses the man as a stepping stone and jumps across the street, landing on the roof of a car and then leaping into a building, he ignores the cries and screams behind and around him, the building was a IT company, he dodges and weaves, leaps out of a window after breaking it with a thrown fire extinguisher.

Finding an alcove Benji smashes a door with force push and teleports away to his hideout, knowing that he wasn't watched doing so. Safely on his base he let himself fall on his knees, shaking as his body begins flushing the adrenaline, his mind racing, the confusion being replaced by anger, with his telekinesis he figures that his shoulder was dislocates and forces it in place.

The pain feeding to his anger, gritting his teeth he summons his sabers, his first instinct was to teleport back to that street and do a encore of his meeting with Lung with the PRT troopers, but he chokes down that desire, it wasn't productive and would be playing at the PRT's game, acting like a out of control villain.

That only added to his anger, unable to vent it at the sources, he teleports away to one of his hidden training spots away from Brockton Bay and any one else, "Raahh!" Benji screams unleashing a force repulse destroying everything on a ten meters radius of himself, letting out another roar of rage he ignites his blades and begins to reduce a massive tree into kindling with them.

Scene break*

"That isn't good…" Brian said watching the news in horror. "The poor guy just wanted to help…" "That is the protectorate for you." Lisa grimly announced typing away on her computer, sending a PM to Benji. "They are lying about the casualties, there was no deaths nor any serious wounds, the worse that they had were a inch or so of wood into some guys when he breached the door that they were about to breach, they are smearing his rep so much that he has no choice but be a villain, they want to cover the fact that they failed capturing him even with surprise on their side."

"At least the bottle cap is joining us, right?" Alec asked wryly. "I mean there is no way that he can be a hero after this crap." "Maybe, he could just ignore the PRT or treat them as enemies, just another gang." Lisa countered sending the message, then turning to hack the PRT to get the real scoop on the incident. "One with official sanction to work."

"I wonder why he fled like that." Alec commented. "I mean he could cream those guys." "Regardless the PRT, he still sees himself as a hero." Brian pointed out. "And the PRT is listed as a lawful hero faction, the unpowered arm of protectorate, though I am unsure if the guy will give them the same courtesy now."

Lisa grimaces at what she saw in her screen. "Unlikely, he just got screwed over by trying to reveal the corruption of the Protectorate." She announced. "Dragon intercepted his upload of the video of the fight and Armsmaster being a dick and stealing Cap's fame, Piggot is mad about it because Dragon gave her the video, Armsmaster cost them the Cap by being a dick and being aggressive at a new cape that she considers that could have been convinced to join the wards or protectorate if the cape at the scene had diplomatic skills."

"Could see that happening if was Miss Militia or Battery, those two are the best faces of the local chapter." Alec lecherously pointed out. "Not sure if bottle cap would accept though, he stuck me as a hardass."

"From the little that I could read, he honestly believes that his method is the best to deal with the situation here." Lisa explained ignoring the perverted part of Alec's speech with practiced ease. "Can't say that he is wrong, the empire, the ABB and the merchants have almost free reign, heck even us have easy here, with or without the boss, with his way there is fifty three less thugs out there, Lung will take months to heal and be back in shape, crime will be down for them, especially as I got word that Cap raided several other ABB locations after we left him."

"He works fast." Brian said impressed. "Fuck the PRT they also fucked me up." Lisa says nothing, knowing the truth of that Coil was to blame for that, the man bragged about it to her, he wanted Brian desperate enough for crime, allowed him to steal on his own for a while and then made the offer to work for him, Brian took it, he needed the money and she knew it.

Scene break*

Panting and with stinging eyes Benji surveys the damage that he caused, the destroyed several hundred meters worth of woodland counting the destruction that the fires started by his blades and force lighting ravage the area, most of his anger faded thanks to the orgy of destruction. "It was all going well…" he murmured. "Why it went to shit like that? No one knew about the recording save the undersiders and they didn't even consider selling me out like that, not even Lisa."

Unable to find an answer Benji teleports away, he had caused a mess there, it won't be long before someone notices it, better not risk staying there, he teleports back to his base and throws the sabers on his workbench, his telekinesis holding them before hitting the desktop and gently placing them down on it.

Now no longer seeing red he felt the pain from his wounds, stripping while heading to the bathroom he floats the first aid kit to him, once there he sits on the toilet and uses his telekinesis to gently remove any shrapnel from his body, then to clean the cuts and bandaging them.

Scene break*

After two hours of meditation to both calm himself and use his telepathy on Armsmaster, Benji learned why he was busted, Armsmaster had a scanner on his helmet, it pinged his glasses camera without alerting the man, it wasn't a threat so it could wait until the threat that he was left before warning the user without risking a possibly lethal distraction.

"I got overconfident." He muttered angrily at himself, blaming that in a mix of being drunk with his powers, on the success on the bullying front, of the high of beating a monster like Lung on top of fifty plus armed men in the span of minutes, being able to steal whatever he wanted without being caught. Rubbing his face with his hands he throws his head back and lies down on the mats. "Can't let that happen again…"

Being realistic he knew that any shot of being acknowledge as a hero went down the drain, Armsmaster is aware of the smear campaign that the PRT rallied against him, the bearded hero even convinced Dragon to help, the acclaimed best tinker in the world, sure no one was happy with Armsmaster for stealing the credit and coming out aggressively on him, unlike his coworkers and hidden love interest, Armsmaster doesn't believe that Benji, Captain Ninja, is a hero.

"One way or another, that man made an enemy of me." Benji gravely announced, promising to himself to make the man pay for it when given the opportunity for it. "So did the Protectorate, I might not go and cripple them, though Panacea could fix them up if I did, but they will get hurt if they try to arrest me."

He wasn't nice enough or dedicated enough to the cause to endure the negative reputation like the Punisher did, said hero didn't care to be considered a criminal, Benji didn't even want to be a cape at all, with a tired sight he stands up and changes out of his training outfit and into his casual and civilian clothes, it was getting time to return home.

Scene break*

Despite the meditation, which surprisingly helped to sooth the pain that he felt, Benji not only was in pain but was filled with nervous energy, the outburst in the woods helped a lot to vent the excess, and the lightsabers just lacked the weight and impact feedback of solid blade swords which help to tire one out, and get the very satisfying feeling of bashing things.

With a weary sigh he turns his computer on, with dinner done he doesn't have much to do, he never realized how much time he invested on building things, training, and generally working out for his debut, and now that things soured he wasn't anywhere near the mood to work on delicate things, any training would turn into anger venting, and going out seeking for trouble would end in death, which honestly he doesn't want to do.

Reading wasn't helping, he decides to check the response to his presence on the PHO site. "Aw crap…" he hisses seeing that there was a thread named after him, the official protectorate capes had also listed him as a villain. "Note to self, do not log with my masked account at home or at the base…"

Having been scalded by Dragon's trap only crystallized his paranoia about internet access on his computers, specially his cape related ones, the saving grace is that the laptop destroyed was meant to be the one to edit and post videos, as well PHO use, he was using his cannibalized desktop to store the original files and other important data. 'Who knew that being paranoid over ideas from comics and fics would pay.'

He does notice that the thread that Lisa started to set the meeting got replies, he checks them out, ignoring the unrelated posts and finding a rather worried sounding post from Lisa asking about his well being and to check his PMs. "Well it is something to do." He pulls a pen from a cup in his desk and writes on a notepad while the computer shuts down. Before leaving the house he leave the note posted on the fridge to not worry Danny.

Scene break*

"Cap?" Lisa asks after approaching Benji who is sitting at a table at a Wendy's holding a tray with her order, the outfit matched, but without the cap and mask it was hard to tell. "Tats." He replied. "Have a seat." "Thanks." She replied relieved that it was indeed him. "I am glad to see that you aren't hurt."

"Thanks, but I didn't come out scratch free, the wounds are minor though." Benji said with a tired smile. "You are welcome." Lisa smiled sadly, "At least you escaped, they really fucked you up Cap." "The name is Benji, but call me whatever you like." He decided to give that much to her, between her genuine concern, the trust that she was showing and a rather unhelping dose of loneliness and helplessness made him want to connect with her.

"Thanks for trusting me this far." She said honestly, "Though you sounds older in costume." "I trained for that." He said using the Batman voice, deepening it. "It is part of why I took my time before outing myself." "It is pretty impressive comparing both." Lisa said, hearing the two in one after the other did make the differences quite impacting, she sips on her coke, "Reconsidered joining us?"

Benji sighs at that. "It is looking better now, but I rather not rush the decision." He fishes a fry from his own tray and pops it on his mouth, then after swallowing it he adds. "Ask me again in a few days." "Will do." She agreed, Lisa could respect that he wasn't going to make knee jerk decision or change his answer based on a setback, it was the kind of thing that could help her in the long run.

"Why here anyway?" He asks curiously. "After this afternoon that alley will likely be hot and I rather not risk meeting there." Lisa answered while unwrapping her burger, "And last time that we shared a meal was on a Subway, so I wanted a different setting, add to it that Wendy's is normally louder than Subways we can discuss things without being eavesdropped."

"No migraine this time?" He asked with a smirk before sipping his sprite, that took the vulpine smile from her lips, Lisa didn't think that he would remember the looks of a random girl that he met once and had just a short conversation. "That is annoying." She said with a huff, 'I wonder if that is how the others feel about me when I do shit like this.', then she tries to turn the tables on him, "Was it that memorable? Should I be flattered?"

He chuckles softly. "I was nagged about your looks, I knew that I had met you before," Benji lied, "Not many girls have the same traits as you do, the freckles and distinctive eye color helped narrowing it down, I knew that you weren't from my school," "Which reduced the matches," Lisa concluded with a pout. "Fucking ninja…"

"I did pick that name in purpose after all." He chuckled her pout. "And the captain part?" She asks curious, she didn't find a rhyme or reason for such an odd name. "My granddad's rank in the army." Benji explained, it was truth that it was his rank, but wasn't the why. "I am rather fond of armaments myself, it would also disguise my age a bit."

"Yeah Brian and Alec though that you were around twenty something," Lisa confirmed, if wasn't for her power and inability to read him, she would have thought that as well, "Between the voice, the height and the ruthlessness, they thought that you were ex military or police."

Benji takes a bite from his sandwich, a spicy chicken one. "Why the hell you wear a cap over your mask anyway?" Lisa asks curious, that was a bit of a issue that was bugging her a lot, it made no sense for it, especially with tinted glasses, which she admitted that hid the true colors of his eyes.

"Make me look silly and less of a threat, what kind of idiot of a ninja wears a camouflaged baseball cap over a ninja mask?" He answered with a smile, if wasn't for the sheer numbers of capes and some ridiculous costume designs, the cap would make others take him less seriously, giving him another edge.

Lisa smacks her face at that, she didn't consider psychological tactics, while the impact of the cap was lessened by the fight that she watched, she did think that it was silly of him to wear it, especially earlier in the day when meeting them, where he made a point of putting the hat on, she didn't realize that it did make her lower her guard just a bit, Alec was still making fun of it and even Brian chuckled at it. "Fucking ninja…" Angry at herself for not thinking that she bites angrily at her burger.

Scene break*

"Good date kiddo?" Danny asks when Benji enters on the living room, having seen the note it made the dockworker happy that his son was trying to pick up the pieces of his life. "It was nice," The teen answered, "We chatted for a while and ate at a burger joint, just testing the waters."

"As much as I don't like saying stuff like this, keep in mind what my dear old dad taught you and you will be okay." The widower said honestly. "Where you met the girl?" "At a Subway restaurant, I was eating out during class." The unwilling hero answered. "We met by accident yesterday and again today after school, this date was kind of a last minute decision, nothing serious yet, Lisa also have issues, so neither of us are in a hurry to push things."

Danny nods, "At least you are going out again, meeting new people." He said content. "Hate to say this dad, but you could try as well." Benji said with some seriousness, "Mom would want you to find someone as well." Danny sighs knowing that it is true, but he felt that Annette took his heart with her when she died. "If I find a lady that interests me I might." He finally said. "Maybe later in year I might try going to a pickup spot or something, test the waters as you said."

"As long as you try I won't ask more than that." Benji said with a chuckle. "Remember to always keep a couple of condoms in your wallet, do not trust the lady unless you know her for a while." "Yeah, yeah." Danny laughed. "Dad drilled me on that too," the brows knit on Danny's face. "Did you wear protection with Emma?" he asks worried, "I admit that is kind of silly asking it this late, since she had no kids, but…"

"Well no, we didn't have them, mom confiscated the condoms that gramps gave me." Benji answered recalling the events. "She would check my wallet randomly for it, it was hard enough to keep my stash of porn from her, I suppose that we lucked out with no pregnancies, and we were both virgins, so no SDTs."

Danny stands up from the chair that he was sitting watching TV and walks to were he left his wallet, he pulls a twenty and hands to Benji. "Buy some tomorrow." Danny said in a firm tone. "You are old enough to want sex, you already had it, so this time keep it safe." "Got it." The teen replied, he should get back on that habit anyway just to be safe. "Now how does this Lisa girl looks like?" Danny asks with a smile, maybe they could patch their relation with this as another thing to talk about, god knows that men are hopeless understanding women.

Scene break*

Brian watches as Lisa returns from her outing. "How is the Cap?" He asks concerned, "You two met, right?" "Yeah." Lisa answered shrugging of her jacket. "He is pissed at the betrayal and smear, he is hurt from the incident, but not badly hurt, he said that he still wants to think over our offer, not making any rash decisions in anger and so on."

"Good." Brian relived nodded, at least the guy wasn't hurt badly. "So a unmaked meeting? How was it?" "Nice." Lisa replied. "We met at a Wendy's, while a fairly attractive boy, he is around our age, he isn't the strikingly handsome kind, nor the ruggedly kind like you or the pretty boy like Alec, he has a boy next door look, the cute guy that a girl could introduce to her parents and get their blessings." Lisa snorts at that, her parents wouldn't, "You wouldn't look at him twice if crossing his path in the street, really ninja too."

Brian chuckles at that. "No reading?" He asks, it was rare that Lisa couldn't get any info on anyone. "From him just the basic stuff that I keep getting when he lets me, from his clothes, well some, his family isn't well off, modest to poor." Lisa answered levelly. "Well worn, slightly faded, speaks of heavy use or second hand purchases, if not both, cheap but reliable watch, unremarkable glasses, the pricier things that I noticed were his shoes, he went all out on them, might be boots. He dresses to fade in the background and to hide things."

"Given the situation on town that covers a lot of people." Brian commented, even in their best days his family wasn't well off. "Still isn't like we are that different." "If you count out martial arts training." Lisa pointed out. "His hands show sign of heavy training, not only at the knuckles, but at the heels, sides and fingertips, the little skin that I could see showed signs of muscle, not near your level in buffness."

"I box Tats," Brian pointed out, "It requires different muscles and my own style is a heavy weight style." "I know, I know." Lisa waves off the comment. "His likely focuses on deflection, critical strikes and armed techniques, I will go and rest, using my power on him wears me out, I have to rely more on non powered techniques than my power, it just points me the clues and I have to figure the meanings myself with him."

"Welcome to how the rest of us does it." Brian laughed at the blonde. "We don't even get pointers to clues, so be thankful for what you get." Lisa says nothing and let Brian walk away, she knew that, but it infuriated her anyway. 'Maybe I rely too much on my power,' she mused. 'Nah, my power is awesome, fucking ninjas…'

Scene break*

Amy Dalton, AKA Panacea, wasn't having a good day, if she was to be honest to herself she can't really remember the last time that she had a good day, the bright spots on her life were her sister, but today was particularly bad for Amy, first the day started with a onrush of rape victims, forced prostitutes and freed kidnapped girls, not counting a score of amputees and animal attack victims.

Amy learned of the hits that the ABB took during the night, their heavy hitter taken out of the streets supposedly by Armsmaster, she doesn't believe in that, the man wouldn't give the cause of wounds that she saw, the victims of the gang claimed that a ninja with a cap and swords of fire and light rescued them, which sounded ridiculous, but given some costumes, it was believable.

Having treated victims from that gang in the past, Amy couldn't say that she felt sorry for them, which made her feel horrible, fortunately she wasn't require to heal them, which also made her feel horrible, then the day got worse when the PRT called her to heal their troopers that got hurt in a failed bust.

Nothing too serious, which surprised the healer, normally failed busts and other cape attacks ended with at the very least compound fractures if not worse, the worse that she healed was a pair of broken ribs and a stabbing wound from a large shard of wood, it wasn't even deep or in a critical area.

What soured her already bad mood was that the PRT claimed on the news that the bust ended with operatives dead and others that only survived thanks to her help, complaining to Carol didn't help, Amy didn't like to be used to support a lie, but she was warned to not discredit the story, now a poor cape that wanted to help, with a misguided level of force, was labeled as a villain and she couldn't do anything about it, not even Vicky was sympathetic towards the wronged cape. 'If they are willing to do this to a new cape, how hard would it be to do the same to us,' she thought while lying on her bed. 'To me…'

End of the chapter*

Notes and observations:

In this chapter things start to go pear shaped, it was part of the plans to happen like this. The first chapter was a 'empowering' chapter, a pride before the fall kind of thing.

The high school incident will linger and won't be forgotten later on the story.

I admit that I am going on a route with a somewhat corrupt PRT, willing to go far to save face.

Piggot will be shown accommodating towards Benji in his civilian identity, he isn't a cape as far as she is aware of, so she will feel more inclined to be nice to him, as Captain Ninja she will do her best to crush him underfoot for making the PRT look bad, his taking down of Lung hurts their PR.

Hence the conspiracy to cover up Armsmaster's 'kill steal', I got Dragon involved because she is in love with him and would help to cover it up, at least from the public, she would tell the truth to Piggot and the PRT brass.

I am setting up to meeting Amy/Panacea, how it will go, well in my mind well, if will end well I am unsure, depends of what feels the best.

Some of the dialogue during the recruitment meeting was copied and altered from the original Wildbow chapter, since the message was the same and only needed to be altered to fit the new circumstances.

For some reason, I picture Dragon being similar in appearance to Tali from Mass Effect, I have no idea why, so for my story she looks like Tali with her suit on, it sells the image of her being a tinker for me.

Chapter 121 - 2