Chương 68: Chapter 66: A Certain Collective Cooperation Concerning Capes

Azure Avenger stood alongside Green Guardian as the two surveyed the secluded grove in Forestwall Park. Despite looking over no less than a dozen and a half independent heroes and their teams alongside about half as many of the number from Amberheart, Azure couldn't help but feel like the two of them were surrounded by enemies in this hidden opening among the trees.

The heroes in front of them had roughly arranged themselves by "allegiance," though the sheer variety of costumes didn't make the divide quite so obvious at first glance. Nor was it a clean divide between the two sides. Although, once you knew what to look for, it was obvious that the Tower capes had packed themselves closer together opposite the far less cohesive scattering of so called "free" heroes.

Most of them weren't glaring at each other but there'd been a palpable tension in the air for the last ten minutes as the last groups had slowly trickled in. Guardian leaned over to whisper, "This feels like a bad idea."

"You guys have veto power, remember? You're the one who needs to shut this down," Azure joked, even though saying that felt like eating a mouthful of ashes. It landed about as well judging from the conflicted look on his friend's face for a moment.

"Those are for Stupid ideas, not Bad ones," his friend also attempted an awkward joke that stung a little too close to home.

"I'm here for emotional support." The team dynamic was healing, but out of everyone, the rift between Rhys and Blake felt the worst off, especially when no one else was around. Their banter suddenly felt forced despite a lifetime of being friends since the playground. It was like every comment hit a sore spot somehow. I deserve it, Azure thought to himself before shaking his head to clear his thoughts.

Everyone was sneaking glances his way, which wasn't a surprise considering he'd been the one to ask for them to be there. Well, he'd asked about five of the unaffiliated heroes through what channels he could contact them if they'd be alright meeting up here this morning and passing along that invite to others who might be open to it. He'd also let also the Amberheart staff know about this as well, hoping to help them understand why they might be seeing abnormal hero movement. Apparently people talked.

He'd expected a few to bring along a squadmate or two or perhaps a tag-along, but not the roughly dozen and a half or so groups, some comprising their full team. In fact, the only people who had come alone were some solo heroes who were still sticking together. And much to his chagrin, everyone seemed to have a chip on their shoulder for some reason or another.

"Hey, you ready to start already?" Dashback, the speedster in charge of the Parkside Patrollers, shouted.

"Some of us actually have turf that will miss us if we're gone too long." Like many times in his career, Azure regretted not designing his costume with a mask that covered his mouth. It meant he was forced to keep his polite smile plastered on his face. He'd been incredibly hesitant about reaching out to Dashback at all, doing so only through another independent hero team to prevent an argument one way or another.

The Parkside Patrollers existed in the first place due to what some perceived as a failure they laid square at the feet of Amberheart which had to do with actions taken during one of the Ravog invasions. The aliens had used some of the larger parks scattered throughout Victory as beachheads to land their forces and it had been particularly difficult to fight them out in the open.

The heroes had been forced to pull back and use the urban environments to their advantage, ceding a lot of ground to establish chokepoints, only for the aliens to dig in when the world wide invasion became a siege lasting weeks. A lot of folks felt abandoned and local heroes had popped up to help take care of the threats in their neighborhoods.

In the wake of that incident, Dashback, already polarized against the towers' heroes for a variety of reasons, had gone from a small time critic as an independent hero into a full blown instigator of anti-Amberheart sentiments in the hero community stretching even beyond the city limits. And unfortunately, any effort to try and coordinate with the non-Tower capes in this city that excluded him and his team would be met with sabotage in some way or another.

Probably not outright aiding the League, but Dashback and his team were adept at stoking fires of resentment in the aftermath of team-ups with other non-Tower capes. That ended up making future attempts to work together with independent capes in this town all the harder. While the goal today wasn't to try and advance his long term goals directly, Azure really didn't need that bridge to be burned before he could get to it.

So despite the fact that a few faces he'd actually invited were still missing at the moment, the New Aurora Champion felt like he needed to try and appease the green and gold asshole before he started causing people to leave.

"Sure, we can get started," he spoke up, once more checking on the rest of his team through the trees. The lot of them were on duty to keep back any curious civilians who might stumble across this part of the park and wonder what all these heroes were doing.

"As I'm sure you're all aware, the League has seeded agents throughout our city-""Could you get to the fucking point?" Dashback interrupted, and murmuring spread throughout the crowd.

"Let the man fucking speak!" snapped Plasma Patriot, leader of the Shielders. Flashes of light stirred in the eyes of his helmet as he stamped his foot towards Dashback. That immediately got all of the Amberheart capes riled up and Azure looked to the sky, hoping to see Reflecta arriving soon. The Starlight Squad had abruptly dropped out of contact yesterday after swapping their patrol out for unknown reasons and Azure was already missing their guiding hand here.

While it was nice to have Vortex calmly standing a few feet from him, and he appreciated that the Shielders, Wardkeepers, Wild Warriors, and Knuckledusters all seemed eager to back him up, the absence of his most diplomatic friend was keenly felt in this moment. She had a knack for helping keep tempers in check by running interference behind the scenes, and he was even convinced she did so without relying on her team's resident psychic.

A lot of subtle positioning of her team nearby potential troublemakers before the speaking started. Or perhaps, more accurately to say, before anyone started shouting.

"Easy," he addressed his own capes first, which only saw them back away from the other group, not truly deescalate.

"Dashback, I understand we have our differences but you agreed to come and listen to me. You don't have to agree to my proposal when I make it, but with the League here, we cannot be fighting each other." The speedster didn't wear a mask, just an overlarge set of goggles with bulbous yellow lenses. That left his sneer plain to see, but it slowly began to dissolve into a frown that seemed to accept Azure's words. He crossed his arms over his chest and nodded, "Fine, but no fucking speeches."

The independents behind him warily looked over at this self-styled leader of their group but seemed willing to listen. Meanwhile Azure heard shifting from his fellow Amberheart heroes, but thankfully no other outbursts emerged.

"I still need to go over the situation to make it clear where we stand, but I'll keep it brief," Azure locked eyes with the troublemaker but fought to keep his face from forming a glare of his own. The man shrugged so he continued, "The League's arrival basically brought local villain crime to an immediate stop. Obviously our homegrown problems are still kicking, but we all know that the real nasty stuff is coming from our visitors, and that's what I'm coming here to talk about right now.

On an organizational level, they're operating with less overt actions but they're present throughout the city and have been making trouble all over, as I know you're all aware. Despite not hitting us with the full weight of their numbers, we've still seen a lot worse of fights than we're used to dealing with." Azure kept his face neutral while he observed the reaction from the heroes around him. A lot of grimaces that spoke of personal experience.

Even Dashback was looking like his anger was starting to be redirected towards the people who needed it. Good.

"Adding to our frustrations, they've been careful about what battles they commit to when it comes to fielding their more threatening forces. So far, the Arrestor sentinels have only been able to incarcerate a total of twelve who have been rated as upper C class threats along with two B's, but we're aware of at least twenty A and B ranks confirmed to be present from verified reports," he swept his eyes over the crowd.

"That's not including credible reports of at least two high ranking members of the League's upper echelons: Overseer and Arex." That news got a lot of reactions from the independent heroes. Amberheart's side of the grove had known about this so they didn't make much noise, but Azure still saw a look of concern cross any face where the mask wasn't completely covering it.

He took a deep breath, "I reached out to all of you here because while we've been seeing a lot of success dealing with the League's lower ranks-""You mean, we've had a lot of success," Dashback interrupted again, incensed at the perceived attempt to steal valor.

"Your little tower is busting one or two loudmouths on your milk runs while we've been putting in the work to track these assholes down!" The reaction from the heroes around him was thankfully more polarized than Azure feared it could be. A few of them seemed upset that the speedster was cutting in once more, but more than one team looked just as mad. Of course the hotheads on Azure's side immediately started shouting as well and chaos overtook the gathering for almost a minute.

Green Guardian looked over at him, a silent question written across his face. Azure shook his head. Trying to cut through the noise with super powers risked kicking off a scuffle; even the simple act of forming a megaphone using their gems could be misconstrued with half the crowd only barely able to get a clear line of sight on him as the groups had surged together. And shouting over this noise was a fruitless endeavor that would only add to the chaos.

Azure instead pointed his friend at one of the main ringleaders from the Amberheart side and glanced over to see if Vortex had stayed out of the shouting to hopefully recruit her to try and placate another.

"Oh man, no one told me this was going to involve shouting at Azure! I would've totally swung by earlier!" an amplified voice cut through the arguments with disgustingly sardonic cheer. Azure heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose as Ned dropped down through the trees around them to land between him and the fracas, causing everyone to pause and look as the spider hero gave an exaggerated flourish to his landing.

"Why are you here?" Azure met the man's animated eyes. He might've extended an invitation to the planning committee that was scheduled later this week, but Azure had definitely not looped ArachNed into this meeting. They both knew that meant the spider hero was tapping communication again. After he'd promised to remove his backdoor programs.

"Delivery, first off," Ned cheerfully marched over to Dashback, holding a large paper bag out.

"Your usual." The speedster was bewildered, glancing between the bag, the hero holding it, and Azure, as though he had any idea what the hell Ned was doing. His mouth worked at super speed but nothing came out.

"I heard from Ollie that you guys were over in Forestwall this morning and he made me bring you lunch," Ned explained when Dashback finally took what was being offered.

"Now that that's done, I'm here to rescue Azure from the foot attempting clog his mouth." His eyes flickered to an infuriatingly smug expression as he bounced back, landing on a nearby branch, "Oh hey, PSZ! Congrats for the job well done last night! Sweeper! You're up early! And is that Trackstar? Man, it's been ages!" The tension in the air began to evaporate as Ned called out to the independent heroes, getting various forms of greetings in return, most of them confused but still warm.

From what Azure knew, Ned didn't particularly go out of his way to team up with any of them any more than he bothered to actually work alongside any Amberheart capes outside of when the whole city was in danger. Despite this, the entire atmosphere had changed as though all of them had suddenly felt like one of their own was in charge now that the spider clown had the stage.

As he wrapped up the last of his acknowledgments, he shot a glance over at Azure and then back over the crowd, "You'll have to forgive Big Blue, he likes to use 'we' a lot. Makes things feel more inclusive. I think it's some manager seminar thing he attended. Point is, we know that you guys are in the trenches and picking up the slack." He gestured at his leg, the plating of his costume still discolored, "Obviously."

Azure watched all the resentment bleeding off the other heroes, even as some on his side bristled slightly at Ned's words. Still, he had to admit that the man was doing a fantastic job working the crowd here, as the Amberheart capes didn't look nearly as offended at Ned's flippant statements as some of Dashback's friends had at Azure's slip of tongue.

"Anyways, Bluey's trying to butter you guys up because we all know the favor's got to do with the city still wanting to do Victory Day celebrations," Ned casually dropped the statement with a shrug of his shoulders as he nestled against the tree. Azure watched the wave of tension spread throughout the crowd and clenched his fist.

However, the spider hero kept speaking before anyone could get in a word edgewise, "And he's so desperate for help on this that he's got me working to help plan it and address security concerns." The brief spark of outrage Ned had lit suddenly fizzled as the gathered crowd struggled to process that. Apparently it was common knowledge that the two of them weren't getting along these days, judging from the bewildered looks the heroes, independent and otherwise, were throwing back and forth between ArachNed and Azure.

"Yeah, I said yes," Ned chipperly added.

"Double A's got the whole spiel about how the world needs to see us standing tall, or about celebrating wins in dark times, or whatever, but truth is that he's being strong armed into this 'cause that's what selling your soul to the tower does." Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. And once more Ned managed to rile up the crowd.

Standing on the edges of it and watching the whole thing with a critical eye, Azure was struck by just how well the seemingly antisocial loner had a handle on playing with people's emotions. He was simultaneously reinforcing both hero groups' identities but somehow weaving himself into both of them. He'd noted his support for Azure while bemoaning Amberheart's compromises in the same breath. He was poking at insecurities while setting himself up as a loyal friend and confidant to all who met him.

If it was anyone else, it would come off as two-faced or hypocritical, but for all Ned's faults at not being a team player, he made an effort to try and mingle while he was out and about, something that was paying off here. The independent heroes saw him in their neighborhoods or no doubt heard stories about him from those who lived there. He was one of them despite joining the Tower because he didn't just fly over their streets, he lived in them.

Granted, he was able to do that because he was absorbing every report Amberheart put out. In a way, Ned embodied the very system Azure wanted: a hero that could face any foe, anywhere in Victory, and flexibly reroute to where he needed to be at a moment's notice thanks to the information being pulled from every other hero. Only he refused to share his own reports in return and staunchly undermined any attempts to get others on board.

A cynical part of Azure even wondered if Ned had been showing up at the Tower more and more often these days to work his same magic there, being seen by those heading off on patrol so he could claim peerage with them when the time came for a formal vote on an Alliance.

"And the thing is: I signed on because he's right, even if he'll give you the wrong reasons." Azure met the man's false eyes and the two held the stare in silence for several seconds. To the New Aurora Champion, the man in the tree dropped the act of the playful fool for the briefest of moments, showing something behind the mask that he rarely did. But whatever it was, Azure struggled to truly understand it, only knowing that it was truthful in the twisted way that the reclusive hero could only hope to be.

In turn, he bore his gaze directly into the other man's soul, hoping to show his own conviction in return. He had to know, had to understand that this fractious nature of the city's heroes was the reason Leland was crippled. It was the reason why Dashback had such a massive chip on his shoulder for feeling abandoned when he couldn't see the full picture. It was the reason why they were struggling to find Over Seer or lock down where Arex was hiding.

The Amberheart aligned capes and their wide net patrols of the city might not grant them the insight of these street level heroes for the people they protected, but when the villains of this city shuffled around to different neighborhoods, all that long built-up wisdom for fighting them was left behind.

Their greatest foes might avoid a fight with someone who knew their every move simply by relocating about a dozen blocks away and their old foe would never think to track them down if their actions didn't make headlines the next day. Not for the first time, Azure wished for psychic powers to be able to hammer this into Ned's stubborn skull, regardless of how many anti-psionic defenses he put up there. Instead, he had to settle for a hard stare that lasted just long enough for the crowd to grow uncomfortable.

Ned was the one to break eye contact, probably, when his neon projections flicked back down to the other heroes, "I'm not going to give you his speech, just the highlights. The people of this city need a dose of hope. Day-to-day, most of them are fine. The League's smart enough to keep things running smooth for normal people, but you run the numbers and you'll see how scared they really are. Planes are flying out emptier. Trains are running half as many on the lines between here and Orion.

Lots more intranet traffic towards news sites and they're not hearing good things there. And that's just broad picture. We all know about the muggings and the random assaults." Azure raised an eyebrow, not informed about the uptick in violent crime that Ned was referring to. However the nods from a lot of the smaller teams vouched for his words.

Azure chewed his lip as he watched Dashback cross his arms with a scowl on his face, realizing that Ned might've saved him from another "foot in the mouth" incident since part of his planned speech had involved mentioning how well the heroes were doing at keeping the people safe. He hated knowing he probably owed Ned for this interruption after all.

Ned pulled himself into a crouch, his head too close to other branches for him to actually stand up fully, "Amberheart has been making good on all the efforts of you guys and others and has been hot on the heels of some of the League's leadership in the City. Getting to the point here, Cyan Clapback over there wants your help to squeeze the net and nab Over Seer before the opening ceremonies."

He gestured to hand over the spotlight and all eyes followed the direction of his hand to gaze over to Azure, who was doing his best to take Ned's various nicknames on the chin. He met them all with a nod, "The Arrestors tell me that they believe they can arrange a transport to get her out of the city. We all know that the League won't let her see the inside of a proper jail cell but it's likely that will pull away other elements of leadership present to pursue.

We can use that time to press the remaining elements, capturing and containing their stronger members. They likely wouldn't be able to respond before their global offensive ends." Following off of Ned, Azure felt like his words were painfully dry by comparison, but they had the effect he'd been hoping for. The body language of the gathered group seemed to shift at the prospect of fighting back the League, a mix of confidence, eagerness, and righteousness as the heroes suddenly had a clear enemy once more.

So naturally Dashback had to speak up, "What's this going to involve? Us working for you part-time?" Azure was about to respond when Ned hopped down from his perch to land beside him. He had the nerve to wrap an arm around Azure's shoulder as he did so. The New Aurora Champion took a deep breath as the chatterbox started up, fighting the urge to throw the man off him in front of this crowd.

"They've got some little gizmos they want to pass out to let you guys access a secure sub-band of Amberheart's hero comms," Ned explained things he was not supposed to know to the crowd. Azure glanced over at Green Guardian who shrugged and went to go retrieve the "Guest Passes" they'd stashed nearby.

"Bit of volunteer work to help coordinate on the ground level, but it'll plug the holes that the League is using to sneak around everyone. Don't worry, they're using direct transmission features so they're not pinging anything in a way that would provide location data." As Ned got into the technobabble, Azure remembered that someone had mentioned he'd been hanging out in the labs yesterday. Great, time for another chat with the gearheads about OPSEC. Perfect.

Dashback looked primed to interrupt but the big mouth of ArachNed was not to be denied, "Look, not going to lie, this is probably pulling double duty to get you guys a taste for the heronet and see if it can't tempt a few of you over, but the main focus here is trying to track down Over Seer.

The Wardkeepers over there and the rest of Amberheart's magic contacts are trying to to pin her down but we're having trouble keeping eyes on her whenever she pops up and we're just asking for real time reports from the ground level." He purposefully looked over at Azure, who nodded and picked up where he left off, "The passes are bio-metrically and psionically secured to you and the subnet should be secure for the next three weeks according to the techs, as long as a technopath doesn't get their hands on it.

Even then, it's set to shut down at the first hint of intrusion. All we're asking is for you to work with each other when it comes to the League and to report back to us. You can opt in to receiving more reports from us or even talk further with a tech, but you don't have to." Guardian returned with the communicators, holding them in a large burlap sack in front of him. No one moved towards them, all glancing at one another in silent consideration. As expected, Dashback was the first to speak.

But what he asked was a surprise.

"This celebration… You're talking about the parade, the ball, and the little festival in the main square, right?" Azure glanced over at Ned, who seemed just as confused as he was judging from those infuriating neon eyes. He took the opportunity to extract himself from the other hero's embrace before answering Dashback, "The city is demanding we find a way to safely host the ball and the parade at the minimum. The festival is…" Dashback cut him off, "Happening.

I know a couple of kids who love going, so the Patrol's gonna help you get these creeps out of our town. But I got a couple of conditions." Azure's heart rose and then hardened in less time than it took to beat twice. If the speedster agreed to help, it looked like almost every other independent hero would sign on for this temporary alliance. But he had a sinking suspicion that the demands were going to make or break this.

So he readied himself while the speedster looked around at the gathered heroes, both sides of them.

"That planning committee. You'll be going over security AND resource allocation? You want our help for this to go off then we deserve to be on it," Dashback stated.

"With veto power." Azure blinked, not expecting that one, "You want to be on the planning committee?" Dashback crossed his arms, "Every year, some villains get rowdy while you guys are all partying up at your ball. Couple extra capes where it matters throughout the day and night would let the streets breathe a little easier." That seemed reasonable…

But Azure couldn't help but think this was also an attempt by Dashback to set himself up in a seat where he could exercise some extra power over the Tower capes for one reason or another. Maybe as a future bargaining chip or just to settle some old grudges by assigning some shit tasks to heroes he felt slighted by. Still… it wasn't the worst way to extend an olive branch. Azure nodded, "Fine by me. I already invited ArachNed, after all."

The other hero overacted a routine of feigned shock and dismay at his words while a few of his fellow heroes from the tower laughed at it. A couple of independent heroes smiled as well. Dashback obviously kept his frown fixed on his face.

"Secondly, you're asking us to drop everything and stalk after whatever League mook crosses our path, aren't you? Or run backup for whoever else does, right?" the speedster locked eyes with Azure, burrowing into him with his stare. He took a deep breath and nodded, "It's unlikely that Seer's going to show herself directly. We're probably trying to shake her out of hiding by hitting her nests. It's been working so far, but our intel's too slow."

Even with the help of local villains, Azure thought to himself, keeping that detail out of this conversation. There was no telling how the heroes here would react to the idea that the people who helped terrorize their neighborhoods were also indirectly working with Amberheart. He sighed, "So yes… we'd be asking you to roam further out to follow after League threats where they emerge and keep everyone updated on them.

If possible, we'd want you to assist your neighboring heroes to help ensure that if a fight does break out, then it's finished rather than having them slink away to lick their wounds without first getting questioned."

"Then you need to be covering us," Dashback said, squaring his shoulders.

"You need to be prioritizing our districts with your patrols while we're on the clock for you. That means pulling your rent-a-capes if you have to." Azure stiffened at the insult, and he heard muttering break out around him. It seemed everyone from Amberheart had bristled at the man's words and were beginning to anger.

It wasn't just a matter of egos being bruised by his dismissive referral to the guardian contracts they undertook, it was the fact that everyone there knew just how much those contracts actually meant. There were also a lot of relationships and trust built off those that basically gave weight to their mask, a reptuation to who they were beneath it.

The suggestion that they be forced to abandon their post to take over patrolling another part of the city, ostensibly to handle potential street level villain threats that were probably rated low C or high D at best felt like a direct insult to most of the teams that had shown up here. It would be one thing to be recalled to directly face League forces, but the way Dashback had worded it implied that the indie capes would be the ones handling those.

"We're-" Azure began to say before a shadow crossed overhead. Looking up, he was surprised to see the Starlight Squad descending down, causing scattered muttering across the crowd. They moved to drop towards the edge of the gathering, although one of them split off from the rest of the group. Azure noticed Ned tense in the corner of his eye before realizing who the person angling to land before him was. Thana Alsdottir wore a cheerful smile as clapped a hand on his shoulder, "Apologies for delaying the others.

And for dropping of eaves as we approached. It was not my intent." She turned to face the others before Azure could formulate a response to that, his eyes drifting over to Reflecta as she nestled her team on the outskirts of the gathering. Despite wearing a helmet that obscured her entire face, she somehow gave him a look that said "I'll explain later."

Azure noticed as the independent heroes seemed startled by the appearance of the Stormdaughter and had to remind himself that despite her being a constant presence in the Tower for the past few weeks, she had never officially announced herself to the public. Still, he would've thought that rumors would've spread by this point especially with her forays fighting villains on an almost daily basis. He didn't like the implications of that.

She addressed the crowd while he stewed on those thoughts, "Some of you might know who I am by my appearance, but forgive me for stating it anyways. I am Thana Alsdottir. I have come to this city seeking a dangerous foe who revealed himself with the death of the one known as Maniacal. I have seen your struggles in my days here and would hope to aid you in your own pursuit of justice. You may consider my spear at your disposal in this endeavor.

I shall be glad to watch over your charges should you aid the Azure Avenger in his quest to rid this city of the League, so that we might focus our efforts on its own villains." She glanced back his way and Azure fought to keep his face neutral as he nodded in thanks. Looking past her, he could see the stunned heroes gradually recovering from the shock of her appearance and her announcement. The looks they were giving each other told him this was in the bag now.

Dashback was even wearing a look of grudging respect on his face at the legendary figure offering to fill in for them. One by one, the different teams and heroes came up to Azure to offer support, hashing out final details on what their cooperation would look like. Some wanted to be more proactive while others were just promising to call in anything they saw. Every single one still took one of the guest passes. Finally, Dashback was the last to approach him, as Azure suspected he would be.

He locked eyes with Azure once more as he fished out his own communicator, immediately going through the motions to activate it without even glancing at the screen, instead keeping his glare up the entire time. Eventually his eyes flicked over to Thana, who had moved to talk with a few of the other heroes nearby, "She's really gonna be covering for us?"

"If that's what she said, then that's what she'll do," Azure told him, making a mental note that he'd need to get her looped into this system now that she'd volunteered for it.

"From what I know about her, she keeps her word." Dashback's mouth twitched slightly, "Fine then. I'll keep this little rowdy bunch coordinated. That doesn't mean any of them work for you though. Don't forget that and we can keep this whole thing working. And you better send me details on that committee of yours!" He raced off before Azure could say another word, gathering his team and heading out immediately. The blue hero sighed and glanced over at his friend. Green Guardian shrugged, "It didn't go terribly.

Thanks to those two." They turned to see ArachNed awkwardly approaching the lightning goddess for some reason. When she turned to face him, they both noticed a flicker cross the woman's face before she excused herself and walked away from the clearing with the spider hero in tow.

"What do you think that's about?" Green Guardian wondered as the two disappeared between the trees.

"No idea," Azure shrugged as he headed over to chat with the Starlight Squad to thank them for showing up.