A Ballad of Balances

TRAILENE

"Passcode," was the firm response from the armed guard outside the safehouse. The World Corps insignia on his sleeve was small, yet glinted brightly in the late afternoon sun.

"Oh for God's sake," said a flustered Trailene Torfield as she yanked at her hair. "LOOK AT ME!"

"Passcode."

Trailene was tempted to yank out one of her pocket grenades and thrust it into the ugly-as-sin grunt's mouth, but instead continued to stare ahead.

She took a deep breath. "Soldier. I am with World Corps. I have been undercover posing as BADGE. There was no passcode to give to me because I was inaccessible. Can you please radio a supervisor? I need to get in."

The guard did not blink. "Passcode, or we will arrest you."

"I'm going to have to kill another person today, I can't believe it," muttered Trailene to herself as she reached for her belt.

The guard looked cautiously at Trailene, then heard a buzz in his earpiece.

"Yes," he said. "Understood. Thank you." He looked at Trailene again. "You are allowed in."

Trailene did not acknowledge the guard, and with her chin up, strode past and towards the small building. The front door opened automatically and she stepped into a well-lit room. Trailene already knew where she had to go, and made her way to the back wall. She held her palm towards a slightly-darker section and after a few seconds, a panel slid outwards and Trailene made her way down a flight of stairs, emerging into a hallway with numerous doors on each side. The third door on the left was her target.

The room beyond didn't light up automatically, Trailene had to flick a traditional switch. In the room was a short table and a set of chairs. Trailene took the chair closest to the door, then pressed the call button on the speakerphone in the center of the table.

"Happy to have you back," came a voice, female, curt in tone but with a melodic sound slightly behind it.

Trailene said, "I would have thought Beta or Gamma pulled rank, but in a way I'm grateful it's you instead. Do you require my report?"

"It's not particularly important to me, but you'll have to give a debriefing to the site captain for official purposes. Listen closely, though, Torfield.

"It's not like you to lose composure. Please ensure it doesn't happen again."

Trailene replied, "It won't. No excuses."

"Really? You certainly would have been forgiven considering you risked your life while destroying that aircraft. Adrenaline alone would have been replaced by anxiety and fear... but we must move on. As you are aware, our scheme behind the curtain is the equivalent of a pin prick to the larger machinations of the four. The more that BADGE is preoccupied with the large-scale threats, the easier it is for us to achieve our own goals.

Trailene nodded in agreement.

"You need to keep a very low profile for the time being, Torfield. If any of the Realm Defenders survived, they'll be on the hunt. BADGE will be investigating the death of Rollin, and we don't have any eyes or ears where that's concerned.

"In the meantime, enjoy the fruits of your labour. You've been officially promoted. We'll have further assignments in due course."

Trailene, sensing the meeting was adjourned, rose to her feet. "Thank you, Nan-"

"Hush now, Torfield. Rest up."

A loud click signalled the disconnection, and Trailene walked out of the room, a spring in her step.

ROSA

[Message]
To: "Macaia's Daughter"
Subject: Assignment 01
Body: Welcome to the Freaks Family. Connect with Nexxus and Hard Left Hook at Providence Field. Bad Street Maulers are on the loose and destroying the park and threatening citizens.
[ends Message]

Rosa frowned, her displeasure at the automated message on her comms unit showing through. The welcome from her new squad went better than she expected, however she had never felt as isolated during any of her excursions in these strange realms. Her mother had advised her that it was important to keep a low profile, but the days since her initiation seemed to drag, and she didn't feel like herself at all.

"At least I don't have to drive anytime soon," she thought to herself as her Super Sonic Surfer automatically assembled itself. It had taken a little time to master its operation, but now that it responded fully to her thoughts, Rosa was delighted to have this method of transport on call in most situations. She hopped on and quickly navigated the streets leading to the outskirts of New Amsterdam.

Rain began to fall as she reached Providence Field. The multi-purpose sports and rec facility, which hosted no fewer than 4 baseball diamonds, had the appearance of untilled farmland. Cackling at the edge of the field was a band of grey-armoured brutes.

"No time to stare, apprehend them!" came a voice from behind. The hero named Hard Left Hook ran past Rosa, shooting energy bolts from an unusually shaped gun.

---

Rosa pointed at the blonde-haired thug. Nothing happened.

"Wot, you tryin' to be psychic with me? Silly goil!" exclaimed Blondie, before letting loose a shockwave. The force of it shoved Rosa hard against the fence and pushed her into a prone position on the ground. She tried to overcome the forces against her and regain her footing, but it felt like trying to lift a battleship.

She felt hopeless.

Hard Left Hook threw a devastating punch across the blonde thug's jaw, knocking him out instantly. Meanwhile, Nexxus had arrived and was cleaning up the remainder of the gang members with ease. Hard Left Hook gently helped Rosa back to her feet and grinned.

"Don't feel too bad," he said kindly. "Everyone has off-days."

She looked at her new ally. "Hey. Does your team have R&D labs?"

"Well that was unexpected... but sure. Nothing close to what BADGE's budget would allow though. What are you asking for?"

She sighed. "I need to get stronger... but I also need to be more versatile. I need to be more than just the telekinetic, mentallic girl.

"There's someone who's on my radar that when the next time I get to meet her, I want to be fully prepared... less naive... and ready to serve justice."

She turned away and looked to the heavens.

In a near-whisper, she said, "For Janice."

TRAILENE

The laptop delicately balanced on her knees, Trailene hunched forward. The interior of the van was dark, which was no problem for the double agent. She felt more than content while working from the shadows. With a flick of her wrist, she clicked and zoomed on a portion of the screen which displayed the exterior of PurpleRose Jewels, a jewelry store specializing in diamonds. Her small 'task force' had staked out this particular business for the past two weeks and she was certain the heist would go without setback.

A smile spread across her lips.

"Clear, Honch," she whispered to a microphone affixed to the collar of her blouse.

A heavyset man, at least 6 and a half feet tall, strolled towards the entrance of the jewelers'. An unlit cigarette dangled from his mouth as he cracked his knuckles. At the same time, an unassuming security guard stepped out of the building, clad in an all-green uniform. The man scarcely had time to adjust his hat before the large paw of the hulking giant clasped across his mouth. The guard lost consciousness almost instantly, while the larger man maneuvered into a position of appearing to offer assistance, dragging him to a bench and appearing to offer a bottle of water. The few passers-by took little notice of the situation.

Trailene first approached Honch not long after leaving the World Corps hideout. He had been playing dominoes with a few other mercs at the time, and to her, he appeared to be the leader of their group without playing the 'boss' role. The perfect person to be her Number 2 while she tried to gain additional capital, she thought. When she approached him to join what she called a secret taskforce, he seemed eager enough while still playing it cool. She explained that the World Corps was soon going to be at a crossroads with the serious risk of becoming a band of wanted men. Join me, she said, and they'll be able to keep their initial goal and stay relatively under the radar among various other factions that wanted nothing more than to be rid of BADGE and their merry band of heroes.

Honch's English wasn't great, but his response at the time was enough for her.

"Proceed, Skins," she whispered next.

"At your service, luv," came a voice, the phony British 'cockney' accent grating. Not for the first time since recruiting him, Trailene restrained herself from admonishing her lackey for failing to restrain his tongue. She instead changed her camera view to one from inside the store, where Skins was already present in the guise of an innocent person browsing the sets of watches.

From their previous surveillance, Trailene was absolutely certain that at this particular time of day, there would be only one staff member on shift - the general manager, and coincidentally, the head gemologist. Keeping him from disrupting their plan was the most delicate part of the operation, but she knew that Skins's best attribute would shine brightly.

In less than a second, Skins made his way directly in front of the gemologist. A small pistol was held in his steady right hand as he spoke softly, yet crisply.

"Hands up, please. Don't make any move towards the silent alarm, please," Skins said without a trace of any British influence. The gemologist nodded slowly and complied.

At the same time, a large man quickly flipped the sign on the front door from Open to Closed before shutting the door again. Honch then bent over as if tying his shoes.

Inside, Skins was happy that there was only one customer in the store and they didn't appear to be willing to risk their life in trying to play the hero role. He motioned her to come near, then with his free hand, drew a roll of duct tape.

"Tear a piece, place it over the manager's mouth... quickly, now."

She obliged, her fingers shaking only briefly. When she was finished, Skins passed the roll to the gemologist. With a sigh, he stepped around the display cases and tore a strip of tape. It was placed over the young woman's mouth.

Trailene watched intently as Skins got his unwilling allies to take turns taping around each others' legs, before the woman unrolled a longer length of tape and wrapped it around the gemologist's wrists. Skins had both people sit in a corner, before taking the tape back in order to wrap up the woman's arms. He smirked at the immobilized pair, then opened the set of briefcases that he snuck in the building 10 minutes prior. With a quick action, he cut out a panel in the largest of the display cases and swept into each briefcase, piles of chains, rings and watches. Skins even started whistling to himself while enjoying his work.

"Time," whispered Trailene. "Security cameras will be back online in 90 seconds."

Skins nodded to nobody in particular, walked to the gemologist, and patted his head lovingly. Then he practically skipped out of the building and towards the van that just happened to pull up to the storefront at the same time. In the driver's seat was a jovial-looking Honcho. Skins opened the side panel, heaved the now-heavy cases in the van, then jumped into the passenger seat. The van slowly left the scene.

Sitting alone in the back, Trailene nodded to both of her accomplices. Job done without incident. Her choices of partner proved to work yet again... allies loyal, yet disposable.

ROSA

Rosa was delighted to be on the surveillance mission - as soon as she heard the name 'World Corps', her excitement shot through the roof.

"I don't think the odds of finding this arch-nemesis of yours would be particularly high," suggested one of her teammates, Winter's Night.

"Doesn't matter. Finding and knocking down anyone affiliated with World Corps is satisfaction enough," Rosa confidently replied. Her new accessories were tightened around her forearms and she looked forward to trying them out, even if it was unlikely to be against Torfield... initially.

---

An hour later, the thrill had significantly waned. The team had fanned out across several kilometres of terrain only to observe an average amount of civilians performing the typical activities of residents - catching buses and trains, going to schools and shopping malls, huddling around the instant-bet screens to wager on who's winning the local Fight Club event.

With frustration, Rosa thrust her left hand against an oak tree. It splintered immediately, causing Rosa to jump back. "Sorry," she whispered sheepishly. She made a mental note to find out the contact info for the local Parks department to reimburse for the damages.

A buzz in her comm unit startlet her.

"Shadow Krampus in New Amsterdam alert!" beeped a voice. "Heroes requested on scene, immediately!"

"I'm the closest of our team, I'm on the way! Copy, H.L.H.?" cried out Rosa.

"Ten-four, we're right behind you," came the voice of Hard Left Hook.

Rosa activated her Super Sonic Surfer and dashed towards the city.

A few minutes later, she encountered another hero, flying fast on a dragon. "Wizard," she muttered.

"It's 'The' Wizard, technically," replied the man clad in his mystic garb, the dragon not slowing down. "You up for a teamup?"

"I thought WMD wasn't really about allying with norms," replied Rosa, not glancing at the Wizard.

"It's never safe to assume, milady. In any event, it's just the two of us for the time being... so let's try and make it work, yes?"

Relaxing slightly, Rosa nodded.

As they neared the bridge leading to the financial district and the more populated part of the city, The Wizard's comm buzz. He pulled his dragon to a stop, and motioned Rosa to join him. "It's Nova," he said as he clicked a button. An image of the Director appeared in front of the pair.

“Sir, we are on our way,” The Wizard said immediately.

“Do not join this battle. That Krampus is still too strong, it’s going toe to toe with an enhanced Midgard.”

The Wizard chuckled, “Don’t tell me the big snake took Viagra.”

Macaia’s Daughter laughed, “Don’t ever say that in front of him, or your pet dragon will be his next meal.”

“What are you doing?” Nova interrupted their joking.

“We are going to help protect the city and keep an eye on this.”

“Good. Just don’t get yourselves killed.” Nova commanded.

The screen vanished. "Well, this took a wild turn," said The Wizard.

"Can the Serpent take him on solo? I mean, if anyone can, it's probably him... but from all reports these Krampus behemoths have always required a team effort," asked Rosa.

The Wizard was already running towards the sounds of the battle. "We'll just have to find out," he gasped. Rosa was already back on her Super Sonic Surfer, trying to get an aerial view. She soon found the combatants and motioned her new ally to follow. She landed on a rooftop of one of the taller apartment buildings, about two blocks away from where Midgard and the Shadow Krampus were exchanging blows, their height dwarfing the surrounding structures. Rosa took a second to gaze across the surrounding area, gauging the situation.

“Midgard is really pulling out all the stops. I’ve never seen him show any respect for property when he is in the middle of a good fight.” The Wizard said.

“He’s doing okay. But, it won’t last long. Look, they’re heading for the Brownstone district near the bridge.” Rosa pointed out. “Ah, rats. There’s a wreck and three buses are stopped.

The Wizard jumped up, “I got em, just make sure those apartments aren’t leveled.”

The two heroes parted at top speed.

Rosa zoomed so close to the battle that she had to duck a backswing and then dodged a flailing tail. Midgard had Krampus by his shadowy neck and was just about to plow him into an old brownstone apartment building.

"Let's do this," she thought, and mental energy flowed into her armlets.

“Not today!” Macaia’s Daughter hit the building with his hands and a shimmering shield of psycho-kinetic energy spread out. Krampus bounced off the barrier, leaving the building intact.

Krampus dislodged the hands around his neck and then kicked Midgard in the gut, throwing him toward a large public parking garage filled with cars.

“WOAH!” Macaia’s Daughter focused all her powers and caught Midgard mid-fall and forced him back up. Midgard used the newfound rebound and slammed Krampus in the face.

Krampus twisted around and just about plowed into three buildings. Macaia’s Daughter thrust both hands up and a wave of energy hit Krampus and threw him over, landing him in the street, which only crushed half a dozen cars.

Spending a moment catching her breath, Rosa said, “This is insane. It’s like refereeing a Godzilla boxing match.”

Just then she saw Midgard go to pummel Krampus with a double fist pound while the shadow enemy was down. Rosa dropped to ground and put her hands on the pavement, sending out her strongest psycho-kinetic barrier. The slam hit, Krampus wheezed under the pressure and Macaia’s Daughter nearly blacked out, keeping the road system from being wrecked beyond repair.

Rosa groaned as she looked at her aching hands. “This is crazy.”

Krampus exploded into a cloud of dark mist and reformed, standing upright. He swung to punch Midgard. Macaia’s Daughter prepared herself for the next object she would protect. However, Midgard strategically dodged the first swing, then the second, and then caught the arm of the third. He twisted his body around. Macaia’s Daughter created a barrier to protect the building across the street. Midgard’s considerable tail crashed into her barrier and didn’t smash the buildings. While she did this, Midgard swung Krampus around like a giant shot-put and released him with an enormous roar. Krampus sailed over New Amsterdam Bay and just before he crashed into the water, a blast of energy from Midgard’s mouth obliterated the villain in a violent explosion of the black smoke. This time, it didn’t congeal, but fell apart, evaporating on the wind as a slight echo of a scream rolled across the city.

Rosa looked on. She couldn't believe what she witnessed.

"He... he did it..."

The Wizard flew by, giving Rosa a thumbs-up sign. Rosa returned the gesture, then looked at her hands. She thought of what she had done in the heat of battle.

"I too,... did it."

(long long overdue, sorry)

TRAILENE

"No way," Trailene smirked as she reclined on her leather chair.

Her 'merry little crew', as she called Skins and Honch, had done an admirable job of setting up their makeshift hideout in a non-descript warehouse overlooking the waterfront of New Amsterdam and one of her favourite features was the lounge area complete with several (stolen) high-tech TVs. Trailene had happened to be channel-surfing when the screen displayed an exhausted-looking woman thrusting her arms outwards, sending a wave of energy, purple-pink in tone, in the form of a shield. A large behemoth struck the shield and rebounded forwards, instead of crashing through the building. The caption accompanying the report simply said, 'Untold damage to lives and property averted by the hero Macaia's Daughter'.

She beckoned Skins over. Skins, who had taken to the habit of bringing over unknown women from time-to-time, patted his newest friend on the head and sauntered over to join his boss. "So that's the gal you wanna crush? She's cute."

"If you like them goody two shoes like that, maybe," Trailene scoffed. "But check it out, Skins. Getting in the mix against the monsters, even."

She took a large swig of her drink. "That's actually very impressive for that flyweight. Gonna have to up my game for the next time I see her, to finish her off."

In a rare instance, Skins' face took a serious tone. His eyebrows furrowed as he said, "Keep you head in the game, boss. Don't get distracted."

Trailene turned on him. "YOU focus on not getting distracted by the twerking blondie waif you rotate in and out of here every week, Skins. I'm fully focused on our plans, so make sure you are as well."

Backing away, Skins said, "Absolutely, boss." He walked back to his previous spot, took the hand of his new friend, and walked to another room.

Trailene sighed inwardly. That skinny fool had a point. They were in a solid position - [i]it would be fun to crush her once and for all, but we're building up something nice here with this underground unit. Even Honch and Skins have recruited underlings of their own for various tasks. We have enough loot and deals in place to have us living comfortably for a decent amount of time and at the expense of the do-gooders[/i]. She briefly closed her eyes, trying to relax.

---

"Aw man, I wish I had powers too," whined Trailene.

Ereka, a pretty woman in her late teens, conjured a bolt of energy from her hand, and with a wave, pushed it up in the air. She snapped her fingers and the energy bolt disappeared instantly. "Well the next best thing, your best friend has some, right?"

Trailene punched Ereka in the shoulder. "Very small consolation. Are you going to fight the Legion?"

"I suppose I'd have to, Tra. If whatever this is, is a gift, then protecting my loved ones is the next step."

They walked arm in arm along the crowded sidewalk, not altering their path for anyone. Some people stared, their awe at seeing the auburn-haired youth casually firing energy into the air overwhelming. Others pulled out cellphones and took photos. Ereka and Trailene were oblivious to the added attention.

Their period of enjoyment was interrupted by a loud rumbling noise. The ground shook heavily, as Ereka and Trailene stumbled to keep their footing. A large crack appeared in the road just as a pair of large alien behemoths strode along the street. People screamed and dashed in all directions.

One of the monsters grabbed a truck and effortlessly hurled it along the road. It rolled and tumbled before smashing into a storefront. With a heavy laugh, the other beast picked up a van - its driver frantically honking the horn - before throwing it in the same direction.

"Run!" shouts Trailene, reaching out for her friend, only for her hand to clench at air. She whirled in a panic and nearly burst into tears. Ereka had tried to dash across the street after the truck was hurled, only to be caught in the path of the van. Ereka was pinned underneath the overturned van and screaming in utter pain. The driver of the van moaned as he fell into unconsciousness.

"Help!" cried out Trailene as she ran over. She pushed the van, to no avail. It didn't budge an inch, and Trailene dropped to her knees. Ereka's screams continued.

---

Her reminiscing was interrupted by a ring on the wallphone. Trailene bolted out of her seat - when they were setting up their hideout, the first thing she requested was a dedicated line, with no dial-out ability. It was for incoming calls, from one specific entity. She was not going to let it ring twice.

"Here," Trailene said emotionlessly.

A voice on the other end began to speak. Trailene nodded, as if taking instruction on a next course of action.

"Thank you," Trailene finally responded. "An unrelated question, if I may?"

Silence from the other end, then two words. "Go ahead."

"N? Is there any way for me to negate mentally-generated attacks directed at me?"