Chapter 5: 5. Wardens

Wardens HQ. A brutalist's wet dream of large concrete slabs, simple and unassuming metal paneling, and it’s all in the shape of an unassuming gray rectangle. Eyesore of downtown Vogate, and my soon to be part time workplace.

I sigh, dragging my locked cart full of inventions behind me. I walk through the front door, earning a side eye from several of the guards at the cart I’m dragging behind me. The guards inside stop me, looking me up and down. “Halt. State your identity and purpose of visit?” The guard asks.

I reach into my pocket, dragging out my ID. “Sebastian Tinker, child of Sniper and Foster. I’m here for my… interview.” The guard’s eyes go wide after hearing that, looking at my ID to see if it’s true.

“Ah, apologies Mr. Tinker. It’s been some time since you’ve been around here.” He nods to me, gently stepping out of the way. I grunt lightly in response, dragging my cart behind me. Even if he’s being polite, I can’t help but hear the slight tinge of judgement that comes through when he says ‘Mr. Tinker’. I liked it better when people were calling me ma’am. At least then I knew they meant it. “Do you need help with that?” The guard asks after a moment.

“No, I’m good.” I tell him, dragging my cart towards the elevator. I look at the eye scanner, pulling out my ID card and inserting it into the slot above the eye scanner. The scanner dings positively, the elevator doors closing and slowly climbing upwards towards the floor I’d be having my meeting on.

Normally meetings would be conducted on the lower floors inside one of the indestructible testing gyms. I’m an exception, seeing as I already have clearance for the upper levels. The interview will instead be taking place in one of the gadget testing rooms on the upper floors, with an additional member of the team present and none of the guards that would normally attend an interview like this.

The elevator jerks to a halt at my floor and I walk off, dragging the cart behind me. I look at the signs, finding utility testing room three. I snort lightly at that. I highly doubt rooms one and two weren’t available. Maybe they’re trying to impress me with how many utility testing rooms they have. I frown at the thought, realizing that there’s a distinct chance that that’s actually the reason.

I find the room I’m looking for, pausing in front of it for a second. I take a deep breath, and then I knock gently. The door opens after a second and I come face to face with Reflex. My body tenses involuntarily, my mind having to remind myself that I’m not fighting him this time. “Hello! You must be Sebastian Tinker. I’m Reflex, I’ll be conducting your interview.” He smiles at me brightly, holding out a gloved hand.

I look at the hand carefully before dragging my own hand up and shaking it gently. He squeezes my hand in that way men do, as if to say that he’s strong and I need to acknowledge that. “Charmed,” I say drolly, looking past him and into the room.

Behind him, I see the familiar demon horned visage of Ballast. She raises a red skinned hand up to wave at me absently. I wince at that, memories of fighting her recently. I take a breath, waving back at her. “As you can see, my teammate Ballast will be joining us for this interview. It’s her day off, so she offered to help test some of your inventions.”

Reflex steps back, gesturing for me to join them in the room. I drag the cart in, leaving it by a nearby table and taking a seat at the table Ballast is sitting at. She smiles at me, looking me in the eye. “Heya, Tinker.” Reflex sits in the third seat at the table, placing one of them on either side of me.

I grimace, holding a hand out to her. “You can, uh, just call me Sebastian.”

“Sebastian then,” She says, taking my hand. She, at least, doesn’t try her hardest to break my hand during our handshake. “Nice to finally meet the infamous child of Sniper.” She smiles.

“Ah, yeah.” I say rubbing the back of my head. “That’s me.” I try to steer the conversation away from my family. “So, how does this work? Do you want to hop into weapon testing, or…”

Reflex clears his throat, picking up a clipboard that had been lying on the table. “Well, first, I have some questions for you.” I gesture for him to continue and he nods at me. “Right, well, the first question is regarding your power? I’m afraid that there’s not much in the public record about your power, just mentions that you’re an inventor like the rest of your family.”

I sigh, leaning back in my chair. “I make things randomly. There’s not much more to it than that. They’re slightly abnormal, basically standard super technology.” I shrug lamely.

Reflex frowns at this, making some notes on the paper in front of him. “That’s it? You just… make things? And you don’t have control over what you make?”

I grimace, nodding despite myself. My inherited ability has always been underwhelming. It’s hard to imagine that I’m supposed to be a part of the famed Tinker Family. “That’s it.” Ballast offers me a reassuring thumbs up while Reflex isn’t looking and I can’t help but appreciate the gesture.

Reflex continues to the next question after a moment. “Okay. Well, what about training? From what I understand, you had combat training growing up?”

“Yeah. I train every week. It’s nothing fancy, but I could probably hold my own against an unpowered combatant. With the proper gear, I could probably spar a guard.” I tap my chin. Despite being a ranged combatant as her hero name implies, my mother, Sniper, is a fearsome hand to hand combatant and in recent years I’ve managed to hold out for upwards of ten minutes.

Reflex nods approvingly, loudly marking something on his clipboard. “Alright then. Do you have any skill with coaching?”

“I dunno,” I shrug, “I could give it a try.”

“If you’re actually as good as you say, it would be a massive help if you could give the others some practical combat training. No powers, just normal training.”

I tilt my head at that, looking at him carefully. “Not to offend, but… why don’t you do it?” I choose my words carefully.

He smiles at that, “You’d think, wouldn’t you. I don’t have any idea how to train people. My power does a lot of the work regarding my combat ability.”

I digest that, nodding to myself. That explains some of the teams incompetencies regarding practical combat. “Ah, I see. Well, I could give it a shot then.”

“Well, that’s nearly all of the questions for now. The next segment will be the practical showcase of your inventions. As I’m sure you can tell, this interview is being held in a utility testing room. The configuration panel is on the wall if you need to rearrange the room accordingly.” I look over at the panel on the wall, nodding slowly at that. The inventions I brought shouldn’t require any serious safety adjustments.

I stand up, walking over to my cart and undoing the security latch. I open it up, pulling a device out. “Alright, I’ll start with these two.” I move over to the panel on the wall, summoning a plastic dummy near one of the walls. One of the items is a large and blunt knife. With the press of a button, the blade glows electric blue. I hold it up, near the dummy for Reflex and ballast to see. “This… doesn’t have a name. I usually call it a laser saw. It can cut through anything.” I gesture to the dummy, dropping my arm slowly and watching the knife cut through the dummy cleanly. “Anything except for people.” I hold my arm out, dropping the knife towards it the same as the dummy.

Reflex and Ballast stand up immediately in alarm, but they can’t stop the knife as it bounces harmlessly off of my skin. I turn my arm, showing where the knife has cut a large hole in my sweater, but not in my arm. Ballast sits back down roughly, “Christ kid, give us a heart attack why don’t ya.”

I shrug, “I trust my inventions. They’re nothing if not reliable.”

Reflex draws closer, looking at the blade. “This is incredible. This could seriously help rescue efforts if we could reproduce this technology!” He looks at me incredulously.

I sigh, taking the knife back from him carefully. “That’s nice, but I can only make one. And if I’m not around to perform upkeep, if it breaks, that’s it.” He visibly deflates at that, becoming thoughtful.

“I see… that is unfortunate.” He says simply.

I roll my eyes, but don’t comment. I point to the other device in my other hand. “This is a self repairing baton.” I use the knife to cut it cleanly in half, the tip clattering to the floor. Slowly, the baton repairs itself, reforming from the base all the way to the tip. After a minute, it looks the exact same as before. “No matter what happens to it, it will return to this shape afterwards. Nothing I know of can stop it from regrowing as long as a large enough chunk survives.”

Ballast gets back up, leaning against the counter and looking at the baton. “What about that side? Why doesn’t it regrow like the one you’re holding?”

I shrug, “Dunno. Just doesn’t.” Reflex is looking at the baton, thoughtful.

“Even if it, for instance, gets bent out of shape?” He asks.

My eyes narrow slightly at that, but I answer evenly. “I don’t know, probably.” He nods approvingly at that. I put the two devices on the table, reaching into my cart for my next device. It’s a small black box. I step back and set it on the ground between me and Reflex. I step on it and a five foot tall, five foot wide holographic wall appears between us. It’s transparent blue and I can see Reflex’s look of amazement through it. “Holographic wall. It can take quite the beating before falling.

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I step around to Reflex’s side of the wall, picking up the baton. I strike the wall, the force of my attack traveling back through the baton and up my arm. “Ow. More force than I could hope to put out, unfortunately.” The wall flickers gently in the wake of the attack, several small cracks from the impact site disappearing in an instant.

Reflex looks back at Ballast, gesturing to the wall. She smiles darkly, cracking her knuckles. I step back, not wanting to get caught up in one of her force blasts. She sends out a blast of force directly towards the wall. It whistles through the air for less than a second before hitting the wall and fizzling out, the impact sounding muffled.

She frowns at the wall, charging up a stronger blast and directing it at the wall. With this blast, I can feel displaced air blowing gently against me as it sails through the air towards the wall. Again, the blast dissipates against the wall ineffectively. When I had hit the wall, it had developed small holographic cracks before dissipating them. At least simulating the damage done to it. When her attack had landed, there’s evidence that the force had hit the wall, but the wall didn’t react at all. Almost as if it wasn’t affected by the attack.

“What the fuck? That blast was at least strong enough to dent metal.” Ballast curses, walking up to the wall. She punches it with her bare fist, causing the wall to flicker and crack at the impact zone. “Is this wall immune to powers?” She asks, pointing her thumb back at it.

My eyes go wide at that, looking at the wall. “I… maybe? I wouldn’t know if it does. I haven’t had any way to test that sort of thing.”

Reflex steps forward, looking at the wall in awe. “If this wall is immune to powers, that’s incredibly useful. We’ll need to find someone else that we could test this with.”

The two of them admire the wall for a moment longer and I rummage through my cart. Only two more devices to showcase. I shut down the wall, placing the black box on the table next to the knife and baton. “Okay, next device.” I pull out a weapon shaped like a high tech gun, which, to be fair, it technically is. "Glue gun." I shoot the gun at one of the nearby table legs, where it meets the floor. A glob of slightly yellow sludge splatters against the area, affixing the two points together.

"The leg of that table would sooner break than the glue would wear off." I press the safety, stepping forward and holding the butt of the gun over the glue. I press a button and drip a single drop of a different fluid onto the glue. The moment it touches the glue, the glue sizzles away quickly. "And a solvent, to dissolve the glue. As far as I know, this is the only way to remove the glue."

Reflex holds his hand out reverently and I hand him the gun. He shoots the leg of the table, affixing it to the ground. He pulls on the table roughly, but it doesn't budge. "Fascinating. Is it skin safe?" He asks.

"Yeah." I look away in embarrassment, "I accidentally glued my hand to my desk while testing it." Ballast guffaws at that, pulling at the desk too. It similarly doesn't budge.

"Get one good shot on a villain and you could glue them to the ground." Ballast says, looking at the gun in Reflex's hand. I nod at that, wondering idly if I could just escape as Soft Paw. I wouldn't particularly like to find out.

"You have to land that shot, first. Someone like Reflex who can dodge projectiles with his power wouldn't be easily trapped like that." I explain. Ballast nods solemnly, folding her arms together.

I pull the last device out, holding it up. "Shock absorption gloves." The pair of gloves are the long up to your elbow type of gloves. "They absorb impacts, using those impacts to charge up the gloves. One glove can use the energy as a magnet, pulling items or people closer. The other works the opposite, pushing things farther away." I pull the gloves on, gesturing to Reflex. I hold my arms in an X shape, "hit me."

Reflex looks at the gloves hesitantly, but eventually he nods and punches me. He pulled his punch slightly, which I'm thankful for. As the punch lands, a little bar on the side of the gloves lights up slightly. I point the right glove, the pulling glove, and point it at a nearby table. I press a button while clenching my fist and the table starts dragging across the floor towards me, slowly.

Reflex looks at the table, gaping slightly. "That table is a synthetic plastic, not metal."

I Quirk an eyebrow at that. "Did I say it can only attract metal?"

Ballast snickers, pointing at the gloves on my hand. "Does it pull any faster?"

"If it has more charge." I say, holding my arms in an X shape once more. 

She grins, winding up a force blast. I brace for a strong hit. The blast of force sails through the air and I feel it hit me through the gloves. I grit my teeth and stay standing, but my forearms sting. "Ouch. Definitely doesn't dull the pain much." I comment. I look at the bar on the side of the gloves, but it didn't go up at all. I check the other glove, but the shock didn't go to the auxiliary battery either. Why didn't it power the gloves?

Ballast looks at the gloves with daggers in her eyes, folding her arms. "I think your machine is broken," she comments.

"But it just worked. I've been keeping a close eye on the upkeep, it should be working fine." I say, frowning as I poke at it.

"Sebastian, can we try something?" I look up at Reflex and he's looking over the inventions on the table. I shrug, pulling off the gloves and placing them near the others. Reflex looks over the inventions and picks up the gun, handing it to me. "I'm gonna use my power and I want you to shoot me with this somewhere. Don't tell me where."

I take the gun, Ballast giving Reflex an odd look. He steps back a few feet while I turn off the safety. Reflex holds his breath and I aim the gun. I aim it about chest level for a second, and then I dip it lower and shoot for his leg.

The glob of glue shoots out of the gun and flies through the air at him, moving much slower than normal bullets. It catches him by surprise and he tries to move out of the way ineffectually. The glob hits him in the leg and he stumbles to his knee, affixing him to the ground.

It took him by surprise. While he was using his power.

"Reflex?" Ballast asks, flabbergasted, "why didn't you dodge that?"

I run forward, dripping a drop of the solvent onto the glue. He gets up slowly, looking at the gun warily. "I couldn't. I couldn't react to it." He gestures at the table with a sweeping motion. "Sebastian, your invention quirk is that your inventions can't be affected by powers. For better or for worse." Reflex looks at me significantly and I can only gape at that. I snap my mouth shut, memories of Tempo touching my suit just the other day. She couldn't affect my suit because I made it.

"I… What?" I look at my inventions in shock. My inherited power is much more useful if other powers can't affect them at all. I made a glue gun that can work on Precogs. That's massive. "I had no idea." I whisper quietly.

Ballast picks up the baton, looking it over more carefully. "Yeah, apparently neither did anyone else. Makes some of these gadgets pretty useful at fighting other Supers. You could probably become a full time member if you wanted." She smiles at me more genuinely than before. Reflex frowns, looking at the devices.

He looks up at me, standing up tall. "She's right, you know. You could. I know you were only applying as an emergency hero, but would you be interested in a more permanent placement on the team?"

"I…" My brain stops as I process that. No, not yet. “I can’t.” I say, looking away ashamed. “I need to think about it. Probably not soon, but maybe in the future?” Reflex puts a hand on my shoulder and I look up, meeting his eyes.

“It’s alright. Take as long as you need. We’ll still be around whenever you’re ready.” He releases my shoulder turning to the clipboard. “There’s a couple of papers you need to fill out when it’s convenient, but…” He holds his hand out for me to shake, “Welcome to the team, Sebastian.”

I sigh, letting the tension in my shoulders drop. “Thanks.” I shake his hand gently and he grips mine firmly yet again.

“So,” Ballast says, leaning against one of the tables and pointing my baton at me, “Got a hero name picked out? Even if you’re only an emergency hero, you’ll want that squared away before you have to deal with any of the press.”

I nod, smiling for once. “Yeah, I do. You can call me Toybox.”

Reflex smiles at that while Ballast lets out a deep laugh. “Toybox, then. Welcome to the team, Toybox.”

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