Chapter 3: 3. Burnout

“So, kitty cat, what’s your deal?” Present Perfect, the villain running the rooftops alongside me, says.

“Stop calling me that. My name is Soft Paw.” I say simply.

“Awww, cute,” She coos. I glare at her, daring her to continue teasing me. She seems to take the hint, continuing more seriously, “What’s your power then?”

“I make things soft. Two foot range, about.”

To show her, I jump to the next rooftop, softening the air, but keeping my landing solid. Don’t want to leave a trail of dents in the rooftops that leads right back to my house. I float to the next rooftop as she makes a normal jump, rolling as she lands to take the oomph out of her landing.

She whistles as she watches me land softly. “Nice,” She looks thoughtful for a moment, “Can you use it on people?” She asks that question a little hesitantly.

I offer my hand out and she looks at it hesitantly. She must be using her power to make sure I’m not about to disfigure her or something. After a second, she seems satisfied with what she sees and takes my hand. I soften her hand, bending it backwards like rubber. The moment I lift the effect, her arm snaps back to its normal shape with force.

She looks at her own arm in horrified fascination. I start explaining as I keep moving to the next rooftop, “Organic matter has a memory of its shape and it always returns to it. Trees, people, food. Good for softening punches or disarming people, not good for actually hurting people. Which is fine, I don’t want to send anyone to the hospital.” I shift at that last thought uncomfortably. Super fights have gotten cleaner over the years, but sometimes supers who don’t know their own strength have occasionally gone a little overboard. Thank goodness for medical inventor supers.

“Huh… neat. That must be very useful then!” She says. I smile nervously. Truth is, I have almost no clue yet. It should be more than enough for the local super team as is, though. “So, where are we headed?”

I point to the distance. “The Bank on main street. It’s the perfect place to make a scene.”

She frowns, looking over at me. “Isn’t a bank a bit high profile for our first team up?”

“It was my plan before you tagged along. You can handle your own, right?” She nods. “That bank is in the perfect spot, farther from the police station than the Warden HQ. The supers will arrive first, we rough them up a bit, and then when it looks dicey there’s a maze of alleys around for us to lose the heroes in.”

She looks at me, puzzling something out. “In one outcome we both get caught.” I consider this, jumping to the next rooftop.

“You said you can see paths?” I ask, considering her words.

“I can. The three paths that I can see are dependent on which of us leaves the bank first. One has me leaving first, leaving you to fend for yourself. One has you leaving first, leaving me to fend. The last has both of us leaving at once.” She raises her hand up, “But for outcomes that are farther away, The vision is more broad than it is clear. The paths ahead branch out more and more the further ahead you look. I can only see three branches at a time. When I’m in a fight, that’s enough choices, but when you’re looking that far ahead you can’t trust the outcomes to be all that happens. We could both escape, but both be seriously injured. Or we could escape, but one of us is secretly tracked home. I work best in the moment.” She smiles at me jokingly. “That’s why I called myself Present Perfect, not Future Perfect.” I smile at her joke, chuckling lightly.

I shake my head, trying to parse all of that. “So… if I’m getting this right… your visions get less clear the farther out?” I ask, looking at her for approval.

She nods, smiling thinly, “The future isn’t set in stone until it happens. It’s kinda confusing to think about if you don’t have the power to help you understand it.”

I think about this as we approach the bank. “The future gets clearer as it approaches the present…” I look over at my new companion. I’m placing a lot of trust in this person I’ve just met. Looking down at the bank though, I’m feeling confident. Three paths, two of them leading to our success, one to my failure. Unknown paths lay behind me. I could just walk away and not risk it. The future isn’t set in stone until it happens.

I look over at my new partner, seeing that she’s already watching me carefully. I shoot her a cocky smile. It feels appropriate. “Let’s go rob a bank.”

She smiles back, holding up a hand to stop me. “Before you jump right in, do you mind giving me a hand on the way down? I can’t exactly jump off roofs like you can.”

I roll my eyes, reaching over and picking her up into a princess carry. She gasps at that, looking at me wide eyed. “Oh, uh, wow. You’re stronger than you look, short stuff.”

I raise an eyebrow at her, “If you call me short stuff, I’ll have a hard time regretting dropping you.”

“Tall stuff. Really really tall stuff. Please don’t drop me, thank you.” She amends. I smirk at that, taking a step towards the side of the roof and hopping off. I slow our descent, cushioning the air below as we fall. The landing is a little rough and I drop her onto her feet so I can save the rest of my strength for fighting heroes. “Wow. That was so cool! What a neat power.” Present Perfect, Sarah she had called herself, is saying to herself.

“Says the precog,” I chuckle. “Okay, best bank robbing face. We’ve got an impression to make.”

I pull my Tonfas out of their holsters on the sides of my boots and Present Perfect gawks at them. She holds back from asking any questions about them, instead focusing her attention on the bank. I wonder how much active thinking her using her power takes up. It seems like the kind of thing she can’t keep up all the time.

The two of us walk the steps into the bank and I push the doors open wide. Several guards notice us immediately, training their guns on us. I can see some bank tellers at the other end of the bank looking our way in confusion, and then a bit of nervousness. I step a couple steps in front of Present Perfect and raise a tonfa, shouting into the air. “This is a bank robbery! Get on the floor and preferably out of the way!” I use my sweetest voice and thankfully some people listen.

The guards don’t listen, opening fire on me. I keep my field active on the air around me, the cushion of air slowing down the bullets, and then eventually softening the bullets themselves. They splash against my suit harmlessly, flattening out and falling towards the ground softly.

If they were moving faster, they might have stung more, maybe left bruises. If they were old fashioned bullets they would hurt, maybe. I’ve never been so grateful to my Grandfather Aaron Tinker for inventing mass production Tinker Brand Pain Pellets. They’ve long since replaced almost all common forms of ammunition. A few of the squishy bullets manage to hit some bare skin on my right arm, but the pain it shoots through that arm is dulled thanks to the low speed.

I smirk at the guards, walking closer while they shoot my own family's tech right towards me. As I near the first guard, I can see that they’re all nervous about the bullets' lack of effect on me. I grab the first guard's gun, crushing it like playdoh. They all look at me in shock. “Sorry, I forgot the magic word. Please get on the floor.” I grin at them widely.

“Y-yes ma’am.” The guard in front of me drops to the floor quickly, the rest of them dropping their guns and doing the same. I try to shake off my blush at his words. Right, I forgot that they think I’m a girl.

“Thank you.” I drop the crushed gun, sauntering my way through the nearly quiet bank. Present Perfect is waiting by the door, keeping a lookout. I glance at her and she nods to me. So far so good.

I approach the counter, looking over it. “Hello, I’d like some service.” I tap my tonfa against the glass roughly. I can see some horns barely peeking over the desk. 

Slowly, a head peeks over the counter slowly. It’s a younger woman, she has horns coming out of her head that look menacing despite how scared out of her mind she looks. I frown at that, but shake my head gently. I’m a villain, people are going to be scared of me. “Um… Y-yes ma’am?”

“Have you contacted the heroes yet?” I ask directly. Her eyes go wide and she shakes her head abruptly. I frown at that, “Then do it. Hit the silent alarm or whatever. And then let me into the safe.” Her look of fear turns to confusion at the command, but she reaches under the desk to press what I presume to be the silent alarm.

Honestly, I couldn’t care less about the safe, but I have to keep up the facade that this is a normal bank robbery. Maybe make it out with a few thousand dollars or so. It’s not like the banks can’t afford it, people's accounts are insured.

The woman guides me around the side of the counter and towards a large door. She starts entering a code and the door swings open. Inside are a bunch of lockboxes. I walk near a couple of them and I realize that I can feel which boxes have stuff inside of them with my power. I reach over to a couple of boxes, softening the locks and pulling them open. The locks are soft, so the box pulls open without issue.

I reach in and pull out a wad of bills. I pull out several more wads and realize with a start that I didn’t bring anything to put the money in. I reach down, softening the money and squishing it together tight. I shove a couple wads into my boots. Money is made of paper or at least something like paper. Paper is organic, so it’ll expand back into the right shape later without problem.

“COMPANY!” Present Perfect yells from out in the lobby. I hum to myself happily, turning back from the lockboxes.

Guess it’s show time.

I leave the woman behind and step out into the lobby and I have to pause abruptly at what I see.

One, two, three, four, five heroes.

The local wardens only have four heroes. Reflex, Ballast, Sensate, and Tempo. All of whom are accounted for, but there’s one extra.

“We are the Wardens of Vogate and you two are under arrest! Come willingly and we can talk about this.” That’s reflex talking, defacto leader of the group.

“Mmmm, no, I don’t think so.” Present Perfect says, looking over their group. “And who’s this? A new recruit?” The group watches her warily, no doubt recalling their last encounter with her.

“My name is Burnout.” The new recruit says, his voice gruff. It sounds oddly familiar for some reason. “And you must be Present Perfect?”

“Ooh, so you’ve heard of me?” She leans against a wall, feigning casualty. “Is that why you look so… tense?” I blink at that. Was that a… grammar pun? She looks over the group. “Aww, come on. Not even one laugh? You lot are no fun.” She pouts. I watch her carefully and despite looking completely relaxed, I can see her eyes are watching the Wardens carefully.

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“Who’s your new friend, Present?” Ballast asks, stepping forward and pointing over at me. Shoot, I forgot that I’m not a spectator for this.

I step forward, bowing with a flourish. “The name’s Soft Paw, Wardens. New to the area, thought I’d say hi.” I keep my eyes on them throughout my bow, especially watching out for Burnout. I know what the others do, but Burnout is an unknown variable.

“Dodge right!” I hear Present Perfects shout a second before Burnout lurches forward. I shift to the right, rolling out of the way. I watch as Burnout rushes forward quickly, a multicolored fog rising up behind him. Burnout is looking around, fist where I just was. My eyes go wide at that. Burnout is a speedster?

“Sensate!” That’s Reflex again, but I can’t see him through the fog left in Burnout’s wake. I try to cover my ears, but I’m too slow.

I hear a shriek from somewhere above, sending my ears ringing. Then I’m not able to hear anything. Sensate, he can turn off one sense from anyone that hears his shriek. It lasts five minutes, but that’s five minutes that none of my other senses can be affected. He has his own cooldown. Burnout turns away from me, heading for Present Perfect. I turn my attention to the two that I can see on this side of the fog wall.

Ballast and Tempo. Both of them keep their distance from the fog wall, advancing on me carefully. Formidable opponents in their own right, Tempo is the one I have to keep an eye on most. Thankfully, neither of them have wings like Sensate, this will be a grounded battle.

I have the advantage of surprise here, neither of them knowing what my power does. I hold my tonfas up, ready to fight. I need to figure out how to deal with Tempo without letting her lay a finger on me.

Tempo runs for me first, reaching out to touch me. I dodge back and then dip left, keeping my distance from her attacks. I soften the air between us and her clawing swipes slow down like she’s trying to hit me through molasses. I kick her legs out from under her, letting her fall and hit the ground. I mutter a sorry under my breath. Don't exactly feel great hitting a girl, but really she attacked first.

Ballast comes at me from the side, sending a blast of force my way. I try to dodge out of the way, but it hits me square in the side. The force knocks me over, but I soften the ground as I hit it, rolling into it and leaping back to my feet. I can see Ballast’s mouth moving and I figure she must be talking to Tempo. Of course they have some way not to be affected by Sensate’s power.

Ballast only has a set amount of energy for her force blasts that she can use in a day, so she tends to use them sparingly. I just need to watch out and make sure I don’t get hit by any blasts that she might make more powerful.

I get a crazy idea, looking between the two of them. I have to wait for them to be in the right position, but it should work. Ballast shoots another blast of force my way, but I manage to dodge this one, twisting my body out of the way. I make some false strikes with my tonfas, mostly forcing her to keep her distance.

Tempo gets up, looking at me more cautiously. Ballast starts making her way physically towards me, attempting to close the gap. I grip my tonfas tight, running right at Ballast. Her eyes go wide and she stops advancing. She shoots a larger blast of energy towards me. I make the air in front of me soft, trying to curve the shot away and throwing it slightly off course so I can dodge it. It misses me just barely, the force from it pushing the air around it and causing my hood to ripple slightly. I jump at her, kicking at her midsection.

She braces for the kick, holding her arms up in front of her. I smile at this, using my power to soften her as my kick lands. Her body contorts strangely, like rubber. My foot sinks into her as she stands her ground. Then I stop the effect, her body springing back to its normal shape.

The snapping force of her body returning to that shape launches me at high speeds, using her like a springboard and shooting me to the side and directly towards Tempo. She holds her hands out in front of herself, but I don't soften the impact.

I ram right into her arm, but her hand manages to touch my right arm before I’m able to fully barrel her over and the world around me speeds up significantly.

In the few seconds before I hit the ground, I can barely see the blur that I was bowling into moving out of the way, a rope quickly affixing around me after only seconds.

Tempos ability. She can slow people down a random amount for one minute, and with objects she can control how slow she makes them. She managed to touch me, so everything around me isn’t moving fast, I'm moving slowly.

The world snaps back to normal motion after only a second and I'm careening towards the ground still, but now restrained by a rope. I soften the impact, but it still hurts to land on your face. I'm forced into a sitting position by Ballast, her gripping the collar of my shirt and yanking me up.

The fog separating our groups is clearing up now, new puffs of fog scattered around on the other side of the room. Present Perfect is surrounded by Reflex and Burnout, but uninjured. I turn to Sensate, who is flying around the fight with his big white wings. As I watch he reacts to some device on his wrist. The heroes around me and Present Perfect all reach up to touch a button near their ears. He sucks in a breath, letting out a shriek.

I don't hear it, though. The world around me is still mute. My eyes go a little wider at that, glancing over to Tempo. She slowed time for me, so my five minutes isn't up yet. I can see Present Perfect looking around frantically, just barely dodging a left hook from Reflex.

She can’t see. He got rid of our hearing so Present Perfect couldn't tell me what to do, but now that I'm out of the fight, he's taking away her sight. In a two on one with Reflex and Burnout, she loses that fight.

But she should be able to hear me now.

"Run!" I shout as loud as I can. I can't hear myself, only feel the vibrations, but she hears me. She turns her head slightly my way. She looks hesitant, but she does just that. She runs. Despite being blinded, she still manages to leap over the counter and slip out the back door with her power.

Ballast gives me a kick in the back. I feel it coming and soften the blow. I don’t turn around to see if she’s annoyed by that, I can’t let on that I’m still able to see.

"-her, Burnout. We'll take care of the one we caught." My hearing comes back in the middle of Reflex speaking. Burnout speeds towards the counter, stopping to vault it and run out the back door.

Interesting.

I focus my attention on the supers around me, not turning my head and already softening the ropes. My ears flick towards them automatically, happy to finally be able to hear things again. I don't look directly at any of them, keeping my gaze low to keep up the ruse that I can’t see.

"So then, Soft Paw," Reflex steps towards me, "are you going to come quietly, or are you going to go kicking and thrashing?"

I roll my eyes at nothing, not turning to look at him. "I'm gonna escape and go about my day." Reflexes eyes go wide at that and he holds his breath. I watch him out of the corner of my eye.

Reflex's ability is enhanced reflexes and some short prescience, but only when he's holding his breath.

Ballast snorts out a laugh behind me, "you're already tied up, sweetheart." Her voice is condescending. I don’t respond, focusing on Reflex.

Reflex has to take a breath sometime. Eventually, as predicted, he runs out of air, taking in another gulp. I spring to action at that moment, slipping out of the soft ropes easily and rolling out of the way before Tempo can touch me. Reflex is on me in a second, responding only slightly slower than he would have if he had his power up. He sends a variety of punches and jabs my way, but I soften every hit and they bend ineffectually as they hit me.

Tempo gets within my radius, reaching for me. I soften the air around her feet, which trips her up.

That was a mistake. She lurches towards me, falling. I try to dodge out of the way, but I'm too late. Her hand brushes against my suit… And then she falls to the ground.

My eyes dart around at the other heroes. I'm not slow. I don't look a gift horse in the mouth, immediately turning to make my escape. Tempo is looking baffled, staring at her hand. Something strange happened there and I’m not gonna stay long enough for them to puzzle out what it was. Sensate tries to shriek, but I'm already clamping my ears down as I run for the exit.

I slam the door shut behind me, making it soft and twisting it in a way that would prevent the door from opening. Thank god the doors are metal and not wood. Something on the other side slams into the door just as I make it hard again. I continue running, not waiting to see if they make it through.

With adrenaline still pumping through my veins, I make my way through the twisting alleys, thoroughly losing the heroes.

I did it. I robbed a bank.

"Nice job back there." I startle, turning with my hackles raised. I deflate upon seeing Present Perfect behind me, lurking in the shadows.

"Scared me half to death." I mutter, leaning against a nearby wall to catch my breath.

She walks over, flicking her fluffy tail up into my face to get my attention. I spit the thing out, glaring at her. "Come on, let's go to my place while we wait out the heat." She gestures with her arm casually.

I quirk an eyebrow at that, following along beside her. "You trust me enough to take me back to your place?"

"No, I just do that with all the cute girls I meet." I sputter at that, my ears laying themselves flat while my tail flicks agitatedly. "No, we robbed a bank together. You seem nice enough." She giggles, skipping ahead some. “Besides, you’ve got some loot for us to split, don’t you?”

I sigh, nodding once. I try to compose myself and follow behind her closely. My tail flicks anxiously behind me, betraying my nerves.

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