Part Five

Gadgetive actually taught very few classes by herself. The most significant of those was how supers with costumed IDs - or who just wished to maintain anonymity - needed to be careful about their appliances. This lecture was heavily attended.

"There are so many gadgets a hero can't have," said Gadgetive, her tone an odd mix of annoyed and wistful. "Mainly due to software security. Or lack of it. Many people today don't realize just how much memory, processing power and connectivity even something as apparently innocuous as a steam iron has. Some devices are okay in lairs, as long as you're careful with shielding, or - for public teams like The FX - you're in a publicly known location anyway. Even then, Bluetooth and WiFi are pretty much right out. You also still have to be careful about not putting any secure information on commercial devices. There's a list - a pretty short one - of specific models which are safe. You can't generalize by brand. Even new versions of safe models might allow a casual hacker access. Beware of software updates, too."

Later there were complaints from some that her class was too technical. However, the list of safe devices she provided was very straightforward, and those attendees in the class who already had some technical knowledge had little trouble following her.

"In the end," she said, summing up, "your best bet is to have a gadgeteer on the team or as an employee."

* * *

The lecture which had the most attendance was again scheduled to last two hours. This was planned to address the general life of a super, whether a mask or not. Because of the nature and length, all four of those currently rooming at the old bakery were taking half-hour turns.

"People are often surprised that most of those with powers do not actually put on a costume and fight crime," said Blue Impact, her tone a bit wry. "Though as the recent war revealed, they may feel obligated to act during times of crisis. The tradition is that those without powers who want to help put on a uniform - military, police, paramedic, whatever - and those with powers who want to help put on a costume. Usually one with a mask."

She stopped for a moment and smiled at her audience. Since roughly half those in attendance were actually wearing costumes some might have been wondering at her statements. Perhaps thinking them redundant, or at least obvious.

"However, the percentage of those with powers who don the mask is much higher than the percentage of the general population who put on a uniform. There is also a large contingent in both groups who help while wearing clothing which is neither uniform nor mask. There is something in human nature which generates an urge to help, and many follow that urge if they see a desperate need."

She gave examples of non-costumed supers who had helped and/or were helping with the world's problems. This included people like Ike Kenniman. After a false start as a hero in powered armor, he had switched to finding ways to economically mass produce super inventions. In less than twenty years his energy generating inventions had greatly reduced both dependence on petroleum and the generation of greenhouse and ozone-destroying gasses.

"Of course, there's also the problem that people with powers may be blamed by bigots for causing problems they had nothing to do with. Or were even victims of. There was that famous case from a few years ago of a Swiss commuter plane which crashed at an Austrian airport. There was one survivor, a man who was a low-level super. Though badly injured, his superhuman resilience allowed him to survive, and he had fast healing so he was out of the hospital in only a few days. Many in both nations - including some in the Swiss government - blamed him for the crash, even though there was no evidence he had even used his powers during the emergency. Some of the accusers just hinted. Some overtly claimed he caused crash - with various vague reasons given - knowing he'd probably survive. Despite the official verdict that the cause was a combination of radio communication problems - the result of contractors hitting an underground cable not on their plans - and the pilot being unaware a new runway was under construction. The poor man spent years fighting charges against him and bringing libel and slander charges against those making the baseless accusations.

"There have also been several incidents where someone with powers but no costumed ID was first on the scene of an emergency, and even though obviously helping was fired at, or actually shot, by law enforcement.

"Remember that just being a super is illegal in some places. So anyone planning to use their powers in public in any way - even if it's for entertainment - should seriously consider using a mask identity. That won't prevent all associated problems but will greatly reduce them."

Gadgetive was next.

"My powers activated unusually early, when I was just ten years old," she told them. "Because of that I wasn't able to keep them secret. My parents had no powers and weren't involved with the super community, so they had no idea they needed to keep my abilities secret. I'm not even sure they realized my talent for technology was a power. The result of this was them being murdered and me kidnapped by a super child slavery ring."

She glared at them.

"Just to make sure everyone understands, the victims were supers and the kidnappers not. I've had problems with bigots who refused to believe that. I was eventually rescued, along with most of the other victims. However, we all had the existence of our powers publicly revealed. Since none of us had mask IDs Coltman vs. Dachshund didn't apply. Even though I legally changed my name to Gadgetive to try and spare my remaining relatives, that exposure still caused all of us trouble. So keep your powers secret or otherwise distance them from who you really are."

Energia spoke briefly on the general harassment of supers through history. Then came Vic.

"Yeah. Like Gadgetive, the fact that I have powers came out in public right away. My family, thank God, was not murdered, but they are still experiencing occasional attention from undesirables. Not just random bigots, either."

She spoke briefly of her problems with Mr. Truth and Rokuro and the latter's minions.

"So, yeah. Let as few people as possible know you - the private you - have powers. Regardless of whether you choose to put a costume on and help in a public ID."

Overall, the multi-speaker presentation went well. However, some of those in the audience either - again - didn't like what the lecture taught, or missed the point entirely. The most problematic was Arlen, who, as most of the others were leaving, made a point of moving to where the four speakers were standing, to confront Energia.

"Yeah, look at you," said Arlen, smirking as he gestured at Energia. "Dressing up like that hero. That doesn't make you one! What makes you think anyone will listen to anything you say when you're trying to cash in on the reputation of a real hero!"

"What are you talking about?" said Energia, rapidly growing irritated. "My costume is registered. No-one else is allowed to wear one like it."

"Yeah? Then what does she have to say about that?"

"Who are you talking about?!"

"That woman who destroyed all those alien ships!"

"That was me," said Energia, grimly.

"Shhhyeah. Good luck convincing people of that."

Still smirking, he turned and swaggered away, having put that poser in her place.

"I could understand it if he thought I was too old to be the one who fought the Shilmek," said Energia, a little later, in the building's meeting room, still feeling both outraged and confused, "since it's been a few years and nearly every image of me in the news is from that period, but he thought I was too young!"

"He's an idiot," said Isarda, sourly. "Don't give much weight to anything he says."

"Tone told me he's her younger brother," said Blue Impact. She glanced at Energia. "She said he has had a chip on his shoulder since his powers manifested, and he hates that his father chose her to train and give his hero name to. Even though her powers are closer to their father's, as implied by the name."

"So why is he here?" said Energia.

"I guess I can explain, since Tone already told you that much," said Isarda. She gave an aggravated sigh, shook her head, and plunged in. "His father and sister made a deal with him that if he attended these lectures he could start a career as a mask. He's already missed too many for that. I don't know why he's still coming to some of them."

Fortunately, the topic soon changed, to how those present got into costumed crime fighting. More than a discussion about the lecture series, this was a real conversation between people with similar interests. Isarda's start as a costumed hero was almost as boring as Energia's and Blue Impact's; she just wanted to help fight crime. From what she said, Ma and Tone were both legacies who also felt the urge to help.

"When I first started out," said Isarda, sounding exasperated, "I thought everything would be simple. Find bad guys and stop them, and help with emergencies."

She sighed again, then stretched. Isarda was remarkably fit, and not just because of her super genes. Vic managed not to stare. Isarda smiled at the others present.

"I long for the time when I could just jump a purse snatcher and have the immediate reward of returning someone's belongings to them right then and there. In the process taking any frustrations out on someone who desperately needed a beating. Then leave. Maybe making an anonymous call to 911 if the perp seemed seriously injured."

"Yes, but today you're a publicly known hero, in a publicly accessible hero team," said Blue Impact, who sympathized. She leaned back in her chair - carefully - and shrugged. "You need to leave those kinds of activities to the rebels, like Mano Dura."

"I hate that guy," said Isarda, scowling. She began unconsciously drumming the fingers of her right hand on the central display table of the team's conference room. "He makes us other Hispanic heroes look like gangsters."

"Now, he's not that bad," said Blue Impact, with a slight smile. "He does have an attitude, but he also does a lot of good. I've worked with him a few times."

Posey's origin wasn't quite as prosaic.

"I started out patrolling a park notorious for petty crime," she said, grinning. "I mean, I found out I had powers a couple of years before that but didn't think much of it; they seemed pretty mediocre. I used them to entertain myself and some friends, and even in school plays. Nobody made much of a fuss about them, everybody figured they were just too minor for anyone to care about. Then I read in the paper and heard on the local TV and radio news about these guys who had basically taken over a local park. The police couldn't catch them; they'd just run. Descriptions were wildly different, so the law didn't have much to go on. People were whispering that they must be supers, but they never used any actual powers. They just knew who to rob and when to run.

"Anyway, I figured that I could scare them off, since they ran from the police. I wore my dancercize outfit, staked out the park from a hidey-hole I had found playing there as a kid and waited. Took me three nights before I heard something suspicious, checked, and found three rough looking guys robbing a nurse late for her shift at the local hospital who had decided to take the chance and use the park as a shortcut. I jumped out, turned my sparkles on and yelled something really stupid, like 'Beware, evildoers!' The muggers saved me from further embarrassment by shooting at me. That's when I learned I also had a forcefield. I was as surprised as they were when the bullets just bounced off, but they ran and never came back, while I was praised as a hero. I just moved up from there. Later learned I also have what they call 'environmental adaptation.'"

"Huh," said Energia, not sure what else to say.

"What was really weird was that once the police actually started making progress on the case, they found out that the robberies were by a lot of different groups of guys. Most from nearby towns. They heard, somehow, that there were easy pickings in that park and would rob one or two people, then leave. Which was why figuring out who was robbing people was so hard."

"Weird, indeed," said Energia.

They had a good, informative discussion of the various types of masks - hero or otherwise - in the process learning a great deal about each other. Finally, though, they had to break.

* * *

The series of lectures, overall, was a success, and halfway through the Summer had already earned both The FX collectively and the lecturers individually a nice amount of money. Most of the troublemakers had weeded themselves out after just a few lectures, their money gladly refunded.

Vic emerged from the women's showers, headed for the breakroom. Lately she'd been giving Isarda, Sircada and Posey actual hands-on lessons, something they had asked her to do in addition to her hands-off lectures on how to learn self-defense. She was currently wearing a sports bra, t-shirt, riding jeans and athletic shoes, and feeling rather upbeat. All three of her students had shown a willingness to learn, and Posey had demonstrated a surprising proficiency.

Unfortunately, her mood was spoiled as Arlen smoothly pulled into formation with her.

"Hey, I keep seeing you with those others from Tricorne," said Arlen, his manner surprisingly charming. "You're not a member, though, are you?"

"No, since Tricorne can only have three members," said Vic, tone carefully neutral.

"Well, I'd love to have you on my team. Why don't we go somewhere and talk about it."

Vic needed a moment to understand just what sort of "team up" he meant. When she did, she smirked.

"No, thanks. Even if I weren't already in a monogamous relationship I wouldn't be interested in you."

Instead of getting angry, he decided to pour on the charm. He was actually quite good at that. Vic remembered Tone and Posey both saying that he could be friendly and and even entertaining when he wasn't being moody over (as he saw it) being "cheated out of his inheritance."

"Sorry," said Vic, barely avoiding rolling her eyes as he finally reached a pause in his spiel. "I really am not interested. I also need to be somewhere."

She turned down the side hall leading to the break room. He moved quickly and smoothly ahead of her and stopped, taking advantage of the narrower hall to block her path. That demonstration of inhuman grace reminded Vic that he was a physical super. Exactly how super she wasn't certain, but she decided that if he did get physical with her she would not hold back.

"Look, I'm just saying that I'm interested in you. Be reasonable. Don't just write me off. Get to know me. You might like what you find. Especially once we both get our clothes off."

Up until that last sentence Vic had been more interested in simply getting away from someone annoying that actually doing anything to Arlen. However...

"You realize that counts as sexual harassment, right?"

"What?" said Arlen, genuinely confused.

"You're being sexually aggressive with someone not interested. I suggest you back off before I file a complaint."

Vic stepped to one side to squeeze past him. He responded by taking advantage of his larger size to trap her against the wall, one of his arms on either side of Vic. She deftly ducked under Arlen's left arm and took several steps backwards away, surprising him.

"Keep your hands to yourself."

He scowled. Vic thought he'd finally gotten the message, and turned to walk away. However, Arlen lunged forwards, grabbing for her shoulder, obviously intending to spin her around. Vic dodged, but just barely; he again was exhibiting superhuman reflexes.

"Last warning," said Vic, her tone as neutral as she could manage.

"Hey, it's a free country," said Arlen, smirking. "I can say anything I want and touch anything I want."

To prove his point he smacked Vic on the rump.

"See?"

"Right," said Vic, pulling out her badge and holding it in his face. "You're under arrest for assaulting a federal agent."

"Hey, there's no reason to make a federal case out of it," said Arlen, offended.

"I'm a fed. You just sexually assaulted me. It's already a federal case."

"Bitch," Arlen, muttered. He smacked the badge aside, then turned and started to walk away.

He got slammed face-first into a wall.

"Did you miss the part where you're under arrest?" said Vic, angrily.

"You can't arrest me!" he screamed, easily pushing away from the wall. Only to get shoved right back into it. "I didn't do anything!"

"I'm sure the city district attorney's office will say otherwise, once they hear my testimony and see the security video!"

"I mean you can't hold me! I'm superhuman!"

He shoved off the wall, harder this time. Instead of fighting his superior strength, Vic went with the motion and threw him into the opposite wall. However, before she could close the distance he pushed off, screaming in rage, and charged her.

The fight was brutal but short. Fortunately, the only serious damage was to the new plaster and paint on the walls. Vic hardly even needed to use the Purple Art, though it did help her make the fight mercifully short. With most of the mercy being for Arlen. Vic felt grateful that he either didn't have any real skill or was too angry to use it. His physical abilities were sufficient that he could have put up a serious fight. As several staff members and Sircada came running to the scene, she secured him with super-rated zip-cuffs and called the Bureau. She pointed to her badge as she spoke, and one of the security women returned it to her.

"Yeah, I think this is definitely something you should handle through the local police," said the Bureau attorney on the other end. "Call as soon as I hang up."

"Roger," said Vic. She explained briefly to Sircada and the security personnel what had happened and what she intended to do about it. They agreed with no hesitation.

After making the second call, she hauled the barely-conscious Arlen downstairs and laid him on the floor in the lobby. The security guard there half rose from his seat, not sure what was happening. Vic raised her badge for him to see.

"I'm arresting this idiot. I've already called my bureau and the local police."

He nodded and sat back down.

"Good riddance."