Chapter One - Awake

The girl gets to her feet and looks around her.

An alley, a dirty old alley of a city. That’s what this place is.

Something is wrong with me. I know that much.

She knows that there is something wrong with her. It feels like that are large gaps in her mind.

Except it feels like most of was there is gone rather than just some of it. Like the gaps isn’t what is missing, but what isn’t remaining.

Like her name or who she is. The girl can’t remember either of those.

Who am I? Guardian. I remember a Guardian and a David. They are same weren’t they? I think so. David was Guardian, but Guardian wasn’t just David. And I’m a legacy. But was it Guardian’s or David’s legacy? But I am without a name and I feel like I need one. I’m a legacy so I’m Legacy. And I’m the legacy of Guardian so that makes me Legacy of Guardian.

That is who she is the girl decides.

If anyone asks me who I am, I’ll be Legacy Guardian.

Now what?

Legacy looks at herself. No clothes. She should find some as something in the back of her mind tells she should have something to cover herself up. For protection in this chilly, freezing weather and slushy solid water.

I got black hair. I can see it on my shoulders. My eyes or face? I don’t know what they look like. Is that wrong? To be able to see a picture of one and not know it is you? As for my body, I’m healthy and got what? Curves? That what I think is the correct word for my body’s form. Fit and healthy with curves. Yeah, I think that’s what you would call my body.

She feels something at the back of her mind. Not a just voice or feeling, but something more that isn’t quite there. Legacy can only really get one thing from it.

Syncing. What does it mean syncing? Why is it syncing?

Legacy looks around for a source of clothing. Not that she can remember any of them.

There! Containers of old stuff. I can’t remember the word, but it has stuff people don’t want any more. And that means they won’t mind if I take stuff from them. I need it after all and they don’t want it so it’s okay?

She briefly looks through the black plastic container until she finds some torn denim legwear and a stained white sheet of cloth.

She puts on the legwear. It fits her rather well. A bit loose, but that is fine as she has nothing better. As for the cloth, Legacy wraps it around her upper body and ties the ends in a knot at the side.

That should hold it.  Now what?

Legacy has clothes now so that’s solved. She isn’t thirsty so she doesn’t need liquid.

What now?

Fight evil says the thing at the back of Legacy’s mind. Legacy mulls over it for a moment.

Might as well. Not like I have anything else to do.

But what is evil? I guess I’ll know it when I see it or at least I hope I do.

Legacy walks down the alley. There are windows with hanging sheets of cloth on the buildings. She 

can’t help, but wonder what’s behind them.

Bedrooms maybe? Or the rooms where people cook something I cannot remember?

Legacy reaches the end of the alley. A road lies before her. She looks up at glowing half- circle in the sky, surrounded by dots of light amidst the dark sky.

Is that the sun? I don’t know that as well. I think the sun is a circle so that might be half the sun?

A large metal device with someone inside goes pass Legacy on the road rather quickly. Certainly faster than Legacy could run. She might know much, but she knows enough that she should avoid getting in the way of those. Getting hit by one would be bad for her.

Legacy walks across the road into the alley on the other side of it. More black plastic containers of unwanted items. Legacy is tempted to look into them, but she doesn’t know what to look for at this moment.

But something catches Legacy’s eye. A rusty pipe about the size of her arm.

 I know what that is! And what’s it’s used for! A weapon, probably thrown away due to being damaged.

Legacy is excited at finally knowing what something is. In her excitement, Legacy decides to take it as her own weapon. Despite whatever reason its old owner had to discard it, Legacy is currently unarmed.

She grabs the pipe from its position at the side of container. Legacy gives it a couple of swishes through the air before deciding it is good enough for her use.

Legacy continues down the alley until she reaches a turn. Now faced with the choice of either going left or continuing onward, Legacy decides to take the left turn

Still no one about or least anyone Legacy can see. She can hear another of one of those fast metal boxes nearby, but out of sight.

Perhaps evil is harder to find than I originally thought.

Legacy is halfway down this alley when she hears a male voice.

“Got the dough pal? Because you ain’t getting nothing without it.”

Legacy quickly spots the source of the voice. A pair of males that are partway down the alley. One of them has some small plastic containers of white stuff. The other looks in bad health and has strips of paper in his hands.

“Here’s your money mate,” says the second male in a raspy voice, “Now just give me the meth.”

The first male takes the paper and begins to hand over some of the white stuff. The meth if what the other male said is to be believed.

That’s bad says the voice in the back of Legacy’s head.  Its drugs and those are bad and evil.

Got it voice. Meth is drugs and drugs are a form of evil. And those males are evil for having drugs.

Legacy walks towards the males, pipe in hand. She breaks into a run as she nears them. The girl aims for the first male. He’s the most dangerous one and the most evil as he had the drugs first. The other is less of a threat due to his bad health.

The first blow slams into the male’s chest as he turns to face Legacy. As he staggers back, Legacy swings the pipe into the face of the male. He drops with blood running down his face.

She spins around to face the second male. The stunned male is turning to flee, but Legacy whacks the back of his head and he falls face first into the grounds.

Now what?

Legacy puts the pipe down and searches the males for the small plastic containers that hold the meth. Once she has them, she rips them open and lets the drug fall onto the ground.

Useless now. Or at least I hope so.

But a couple of other things have caught Legacy’s eye, the small handheld devices. A phone is what she believes they are called and Legacy can sense them once she has them in her hands. Both of the men had one each, but now Legacy has them.

I should take stuff from people that don’t belong to me, but these men are evil so this okay.

The voice gives Legacy a sense of approval.

That’s good. I’m not doing something wrong then.

“What are you doing lass?” says a voice from behind Legacy.

Legacy grabs her pipe and turns around, weapon in one hand while her new phones are in the other.

Another male with greying hair stands before Legacy. He’s missing his right arm and his hair is long and grey. It covers his head with the exception of his upper face. The hair on the back of head goes down to his shoulders as does the hair on the front of his head.

Baggy legwear covers his lower body while knitted wool covers his upper body. The male is also wearing a tattered trench coat that is unbuttoned.

Something about him makes Legacy think of the David. His ruggedness, his eyes, his posture and the manner in which he carries himself.

“Not sure,” admits Legacy as the voice says she can trust this male, “I just woke up a little while ago. I can’t remember much so I got some clothes and decided to fight evil because that felt like the right thing to do.”

The male stares at her for a moment before laughing.

“Why is that girl?” asks the male, “Who one of those powered folk that started showing up?”

“Don’t know,” says Legacy, “I don’t know much. But I can do this.”

Legacy holds the phones against pipe and makes them merge with pipe, directing it as the phones come apart as she wills them to and graft themselves to the pipe.

The glass drops to ground while the plastic casting bends and forms a coating around the top of the pipe. The circuits and batteries go inside top of the pipe. Once it’s done, the plastic top of pipe crackles with electricity.

“You got powers girl,” says the male, “You say you don’t remember much, but you want to fight evil?”

Legacy nods. She vaguely remembers that’s a sign of agreement.

“Got anywhere to stay or people to care about you?”            

Legacy shakes her head. She knows that’s the opposite of the nod, a way to say no without speaking.

Do I need those? I don’t know.

The male sighs before speaking again.

“Might as well come with me girl,” says the male in weary voice, “I got a place for now and I can look after you and help you. If you’re destroying their drugs and taking their phones, might as well take their money as well. You’ll need it if you want to be a crime fighter.”

“I don’t want to fight crime,” protests Legacy, “I want to fight evil.”

“They’re pretty much the same thing,” says the male, “You really don’t know a lot do you?”

“No,” replies Legacy, “Money is the paper right?”

The male sighs for a second time before helping Legacy search the first two males again and taking their money. The first is the strips of paper, dollars as the male tells her. The second is the wallets. They contain money and cards. The cards are money, but the male says they can’t get to that money and it’ll just get all of them into trouble if they take those so he has Legacy snap them.

But the wallets have more dollars and thin metal discs that the male also claims are money.

“That’s all girl,” says the male, “Let’s go before they wake up or someone else arrives. Follow me and I’ll take you to where we’ll be staying.”

“I’m Mason Scott,” says the male as Legacy follows him down the street, “And you’re? Or do not remember that as well?”

“I don’t know who I am,” replies Legacy, “But I do remember I am and that’s what I call myself.”

“And what might that be,” inquires Scott.

“I remember I was the Legacy of Guardian and David,” answers Legacy, “So that’s what I decided to call myself. Legacy Guardian.”

Scott shakes his head.

Does he disagree with my name?

“So Guardian is going to be your codename?” asks Scott.

“My what?” Legacy asks in return.

“Your codename,” replies Scott, “What you call yourself when fighting crime.”

“I believe that is correct then,” says Legacy, “It feels like it is the right thing.”

 “That’s good girl,” says Scott, “Since you can’t remember much, trust your instincts. They seem like good ones even if they’re not necessarily the smartest.”

“So what now Scott?” asks Legacy.

Scott grunts before looking over his shoulder at Legacy.

“Well girl,” says Scott, “Let’s talk about things back where I’m, we’re staying. The sort of things we don’t want to be overheard in public.”

“I understand,” replies Legacy.

At least I think I do. I’m really interesting in what sort of things Scott will want to talk about.

Legacy follows Scott through the dark streets until she can’t help, but wonder where they are going, especially once they enter a more rundown area. A lot of it looks recently flooded and there are holes in buildings and craters in the streets.

“Looks like a battlefield,” notes Legacy.

“It was,” says Scott, “A couple of weeks ago, when the first of the superhumans showed up.  A couple of criminals got powers and had a show down with each other. Washdown and Blastout. Hydrokinetic and Energy Projector respectively as the authorities called them.”

“I know what those are!” cuts in Legacy excitedly, “Someone who can control water and someone who can control and unleash energy.”

“Good for you girl,” mutters Scott, “But as I was saying, those two decided to have a fight with no regard for anyone else. Most of the waterfront was trashed in their battle. Almost ten thousand died and countless more were injured or left without homes. Of course, plenty of those folks have somewhere to stay now. They were stopped when Atlas stepped in. He’s got Superman powers. You know, flight, superstrength, invulnerability and all the other basics. A sniper took out Washdown while Atlas distracted him. Atlas subdued Blastout and the FBI took him away. No one has seen him since.”

Scott pauses.

“I actually came out on top consider how I got somewhere to stay now,” Scott continues speaking, “I found a building that collapsed after a hit from Blastout, but otherwise fine.  No flooding from Washdown. It looks up a wreck due to it fallen down, but the rubble is safe to walk through and there’s a nice, large basement. It that was abandoned with rest of the building but is still in good shaped. I been staying there for the last few days and you can join me provided you keep it secret.”

Don’t tell anyone where we’re staying. I understand that.

“I get it,” replies Legacy.

“Are sure?” inquires Scott, “I would normally trust someone like you, but with your lack of memory...”

“I know not to tell anyone about it,” Legacy reassures him, “How close are we?”

“Not too far,” says Scott.

And he’s right as the two of them reach the rubble of building within a couple of minutes. Scott shows Legacy the entrance and leads the way again as they enter the basement.

“There are no lights or power,” admits Scott as Legacy looks around in the darkness.

It’s empty except for some blankets on the floor and some bottles of water. Some more clothing is dumped at one side. There is also a wooden table and chairs, but no other furniture.

The basement itself is clearly the size of the house it’s under.

“Put the money on the table,” orders Scott as he goes towards the pile of clothes, “The pipe too.”

Legacy does as he says dropping the dollars in her hand on the table along with her pipe. The electricity stops flowing around the top of pipe as it leaves Legacy’s grip.

“So it is only on when you’re holding it,” mutters Scott as he looks at the pipe.

“Not true,” Legacy disagrees, “It’s only on when I will it to be and since I am not using right now, I wish to converse its power. It only has 53% remaining.”

“Better keep it off then unless you’re fighting then,” says Scott and Legacy files that information away in her mind.

It is good advice and I will then that given my mental state.

“Now Guardian,” says Scott, “As much as I admire your willingness to fight the good fight, we’re going to have to get a base of operations first. That includes not only gear and gadgets, but the basics like power, clothing, food and drink.”

“Right,” agrees Legacy, “That makes senses, but can I ask something first?”

“Go for it girl,” replies Scott.

“What is food?” asks Legacy.

“Please tell me you’re kidding me,” groans Scott.

***

Scott explained to Legacy how people get hungry and need to eat food to sustain themselves, but also how it was important about what you ate and not to eat too much as it was unhealthy.

Turns out to be an extremely important thing to know. Not to mention it is so simple whilst being so complicated at the same time. I should find out more at a later date.

Scott also decided to explain the other basic human needs as well. It turns out Legacy didn’t know about much of them. She had known about drinking and being thirsty, but not about relieving herself of bodily waste.

That sounds rather disgusting. It’s kind of annoying that something so gross, but necessary doesn’t come naturally to me.

He also told her about sleeping and resting too. Legacy had known about being tired, but that was all even if it does makes logically sense now she knows. Legacy had also known about the medical stuff Scott told her about and then some. That impressed Scott given her otherwise severely lacking knowledge.

Once he was done with his explanations, Scott got some clothes from the pile for Legacy to wear instead of the ones she found in the black plastic containers that Scott called garbage bins or bins for short.

While Scott looked away for some reason he say he’ll explain later, Legacy got changed into some worn brown cargo trousers and a dirty, wrinkled dark blue hoodie made of polyester. They feel much better than her previous set of clothing.

“Now onto the next thing Legacy,” says Scott as he inspects Legacy’s pipe, “Let’s figure out your powers. How did you make this?”

“I just willed the phones to assemble themselves around it and I directed it as I wanted to be,” answers Legacy, “I could sense the phones when they were in my hand and I can sense the pipe when it is nearby since I upgraded it.”

“Let me think for a moment,” grumbles Scott before falling silent.

Doesn’t he know what my ‘power’ is? Scott is extremely smart. Or am I just dumb?

“Technopathy!” exclaims Scott suddenly, “I bet that is what your power is. That’s actually quite useful or at least it’s going to be.”

Technopathy. Control of technology. Yes, that is what my power is. I’m sure of it.

“Now for gathering supplies,” says Scott, “With your power, you can use electronic parts to create more devices like this pipe. You can go and scavenge for parts around the area while I use the money we got to get stuff like food, drink, clothes and other stuff we need to get in shops.”

“I understand,” replies Legacy as she starts thinking about what sort of devices she could build.

Pipes. I could modify more pipes into more dangerous weapons. At the very least I will have my own arsenal.

“But it is late and we should get some sleep while we can,” says Scott, “We’ll be busy in the coming days and we need to rest while we can. Here, you sleep on the blankets for now. I’ll get myself some more to sleep on tomorrow.”

“I understand,” replies Legacy, “But may I ask you something first?”

“Go ahead Legacy,” answers Scott.

“Not that I’m ungrateful, but why are you helping me,” asks Legacy.

Scott sighs again.

He does that a lot.

“I’m a soldier at my core,” replies Scott, “I fought for my country and people. I’ve done my best to stop bad people despite having done bad things myself in the process. I doubt you know about these, but I signed up as soon as I could and fought in the last years of Vietnam. I came off better than most than when onto fight in the Gulf War. After that I joined Delta Forces. My family didn’t like that. We were military family and they didn’t approve of me joining a black ops group. We haven’t spoken in a couple of decades. Since then, I’ve done a hell of a lot for my country until I lost my arm in Afghanistan a few years back. I got an honourable discharge. I struggled to adjust to civilian life and in less than a year without friends or family to support me, I ended up on the streets. Since then I been surviving until I met you tonight. You and your simpleminded willingness to fight the good evil inspired me. Reminded me of myself as a youth. Plus you needed the help so I decided that I might as aid you since I don’t have anything better to do.”

“I understand that,” says Legacy, “Not most of that such as the wars, but that you’re an old soldier on own who wishes to do good. I get that. I think that is what David was. Because you reminded me of him, I trusted you.”

Scott laughs.

“Goodnight Legacy,” chuckles Scott, “Perhaps you can tell me more of this David tomorrow.”

***

Legacy wakes up at sunrise at the request of the voice at the back of her mind. It insisted that she got up now.

Legacy yawns as she gets up. Scott is already awake and sorting out the money that she acquired last night.

“Up already girl?” says Scott, “I guess it’s for the best. Alright Legacy, here’s a bag. Go out and fill up with parts you’ll need. I recommend taking apart the electronic devices and taking the parts you’ll use with you. It’ll be lighter and more efficient than carrying the whole damn thing with you.”

He tosses a large bag at Legacy.

It’s made of woven fibres. That makes it stronger than if it were plastic. Good call on Scott’s part as I expect the parts I’ll collect to be heavy once I collected enough.

“I’ll get some useful stuff from the shops,” continues Scott, “Things like food, drink and clothes. The basics. We’ll meet back here later. Once you got all your stuff, just come back here without being followed and wait until I return. Don’t go starting any more fights until you’re better prepared.”

***

Legacy walks through the ruins of what she assumes was once a busy street. Over half the buildings have been reduced to rubble and there are several flooded craters scattered about.

Legacy has quite a good haul so far. She puts it down to the fact that stuff that is normally useless to people can be turned into usable items if Legacy uses her power on it to retrieve the remaining working parts. At the moment, Legacy has disassembled a few computers, a couple of TVs and a microwave.

Technical knowledge seems to be the one area that Legacy isn’t lacking knowledge in. Legacy already has a few ideas on what she’s going to make with all of the part she has collected.

Legacy has also found several more pipes for her to modify. They’re all in good conditions and easy to wield.

With the bag Scott gave her almost full, Legacy decides it is time to head back to the basement. It has only been a couple of hours, but Legacy has been working quickly.

Duck.

That was the voice speaking and not her, but Legacy ducks none the less. Lucky for her too as a small metal projectile flies over her head.

That was from a gun. Guns are bad. Really bad.

Legacy dashes behind a half fallen wall. Someone is shooting at her and Legacy is has no way of returning fire.

Not yet at least.

Legacy grabs on the longer pipes in her bag to form the frame of her makeshift weapon. Using a variety of parts from her bag and her power as Scott calls it, she forms the inner mechanisms needed to launch projectiles at high speeds from the pipe.

With her pipe-gun ready, Legacy only needs some ammo for it. She grabs some small pieces of rubble off the ground, none of it larger than one of her fingernails, and loads them into the pipe-gun. With that Legacy is ready to fight back as she hears her attacker approaching.

But something feels off about killing to Legacy. After a moment’s decision, Legacy gets one of the two batteries she found and attaches it to her pipe-gun to give it stunning capabilities.

Legacy’s attacker is now only a few steps away. Legacy rolls out of cover and fires her stun pipe-gun at her attacker.

The projectile hits the man dead in the chest and he twitches as the electricity courses through him. Enough time for Legacy to swing her original pipe weapon at his head and knock him out.

Legacy inspects the man who decided to attacker. Despite the state of the area, he seems well off. At the very least, he is healthy and his clothing is in good condition and of high quality. But there is no indication of why he decided to attack her.

Perhaps he wanted my stuff? But I better see what he has got.

Legacy searches the man, taking a phone, a pistol, a handful of coins and a lot of dollars. She also finds and takes a couple of magazines for the pistol. Other than that, Legacy leaves the man be, puts away both of her modded pipes and leaves with her bag.

After making sure she wasn’t followed, Legacy enters the basement. Scott isn’t back yet, but Legacy decides to wait for him rather than go out looking for more parts.

That is what Scott told me after all and I trust Scott.

None the less, Legacy is soon bored and decides to get working on her first project. A sustainable power source is her first priority. All of Legacy’s constructions will need power, but she only has available two batteries at the moment for a power source and doubts she’ll find many more any time soon.

Phones seem to be the best source of working batteries and I need to take them from people to get my hands on them.

Using a fifth of her collected parts, Legacy creates an electromagnetism extractor about the size of a microwave and places it on the table.

It works by extracting electromagnetic energy from the air to be stored as power, hence the name Legacy gave it. As her third piece of work, she is rather proud of it.

How long has it been since sunrise? Just over three hours by my count. I can’t believe it took an hour to create a single device. I didn’t feel like an hour had passed. Perhaps I was too focused on my project.

At least the voice keeps track of time. I don’t need to use a clock as long as I have it keeping the time for me.

Now what should I do? Perhaps I’ll refine my weapons. While they are good, they were both made on the fly and I’m sure with time to spare, I can improve them greatly. After all, I wouldn’t have made the electromagnetism extractor as effective and efficient as it is without all that time working on it.

That’s a good thing to remember about my ‘power’. I can make good devices on the fly, but to do my best work, I need time and focus to get it right.

And I need a better name for the electromagnetism extractor. ElecMag as shorten version of electromagnetism will suffice. ElecMag Extractor. Yes, I like the sound of that.

 Legacy is working on upgrading her stun pipe-gun when Scott arrives back at noon.

“We need to talk about your morning Legacy,” says Scott after he takes one look at the gun and money on the table.

“What about Scott?” inquires Legacy.

“First why is that there?” demands Scott as he points at the gun.

“I was getting parts as you told me to and I was shot at by a man,” explains Legacy, “I took cover and built this. I used it to defeat my attacker.”

Legacy shows the pipe-gun to Scott. He just stares at it before he speaks.

“Is that a gun?” asks Scott.

“Yes,” answers Legacy.

“Did you kill him?” asks Scott.

“No,” answers Legacy.

“So what happened to him?” demands Scott.

“I used one of the batteries I found to give the pipe-gun stun capabilities like my other pipe,” explains Legacy, “Then I knock him unconscious with my first pipe. After that, I took his gun, its ammo, his phone and his money before returning here. I then awaited your return as you told me to. During that time, I refined and upgraded my first pipe weapon and built the ElecMag Extractor. I was currently upgrading my pipe-gun when you arrived back here.”

Scott sighs and sits down at the table.

“ElecMag Extractor?” is the first thing out of his mouth.

“Short for electromagnetism extractor,” replies Legacy and gives him a brief explanation on her latest invention.

“Damn girl,” says Scott with a shake of his head, “Less than twenty four hours and you already built a brand new source of power. You could become famous and make billions with that alone.”

“Billions of what?” asks Legacy curiously.

“Money,” answers Scott, “Dollars, Pounds, Euros, whatever form of currency you want.”

“I seek neither fame nor money, only good triumphing over the forces of evil,” declares Legacy.

To Legacy’s surprise, Scott laughs.

“Legacy, you are one of the noblest people I know,” says Scott, “If a bit clichéd.”

“I do not understand what that means,” replies Legacy, “But I assume it’s a good thing.”

“It’s a compliment,” says Scott.

“I still don’t know what that is,” says Legacy.

“A compliment is when someone says good, nice things about someone or something,” explains Scott, “Now we need to discuss our plans. I assume we’re going for vigilante crime fighting.”

“I believe so,” answers Legacy, “But since I don’t know what that is, I going to say that I’m going to battle evil with the resources at my disposal.”

“That would be what we are going to be doing then,” says Scott, “So, I got enough food and water to last the week. I’m going to go out in runs to get medical supplies and clothes in addition to more food and water. We won’t need to buy electronics. It is cheaper to just acquire parts that lying around and have you build stuff. You got weapons and a sustainable and renewable power source. Now what you need is armour and knowledge. The former is extremely useful. Trust me, I know that first hand. The second is vital and we need to make up for what you don’t have as quickly as possible. Try and get a computer to hack the internet. Preferably without it being traceable. Normally I would say it’s impossible to get something untraceable, but after these last couple of weeks and a day with you, I’m not counting out anything as impossible anymore. Do you need to get more parts yet?”

“No,” answers Legacy.

“And did you understand what I just told you?” asks Scott, “Any of it which you didn’t understand?”

“I understood all of it,” replies Legacy, “Technical knowledge is the one thing I’m not lacking by the way. I’m fairly certain I have much more of it than most people do.”

“Excellent,” says Scott with a grin, “Give your power, I think that the reason you would have technical knowledge is so that you can use your power. Or that the knowledge is a side effect of your Technopathy. Either way, I believe the source of your knowledge is your power.”

“I concur,” agrees Legacy, “I also feel that my power is the source of my technical knowledge. May I ask you something Scott?”

“Go ahead kid,” says Scott.

“Why do you wish to fight evil?” asks Legacy, “We both know why I want to and I know why you’re helping me. But I don’t know what your reasoning behind battling evil. I do know that you spent most of your life doing it, but you have been crippled whilst doing so and have suffered greatly because of your choices and injury. So why fight evil again?”

Scott sighs and is silent. Several seconds pass, but Legacy doesn’t bug him. She does start to wonder if he’s going to reply however.

“I always dreamed of being the hero when I was kid,” says Scott, “When I grew up, I join the military and those dreams died as my experiences grew. But by then I had a purpose and I was content with what I was doing. Then I joined the ‘black ops’ as my brother called it. Then I did bad things to stop bad people doing even worse things. For the greater good or the big picture was how I justified it all to myself. Then I was injured in battle and lost my purpose. But here you are, fulfilling my childhood dreams and giving a new purpose I don’t regret.”

Scott pauses.

“So Legacy,” says Scott, “What do you want for lunch today?”

***

“Are you ready Legacy?” inquires Scott as night falls.

It has been a week since Legacy woke up in an alley and Scott found her. In that week, they been preparing hard for Legacy’s crimefighting career.

Each morning, Legacy would go out and collect parts before spending the afternoon building devices or improving her old ones while Scott would acquire other resources using the money collected by Legacy. Then they would spend their evenings together as Scott helped teach Legacy about the world.

By now, their basement is pretty well equipped with the ElecMag Extractor in one corner with a whole load of homemade ElecMag power cells stored next to it, each cell half an inch long, while a collection of weaponised pipes lay in another corner of the basement. Two piles of lain out blankets form beds for Legacy and Scott.

A trio of cold storage units made by Legacy and powered by ElecMag cells contain their food and drink supplies. Scott calls them a fridge and a pair of freezers. Legacy personally prefers her name as she feels it more accurately describes their purpose.

The other three main things that Legacy has built is a high-tech computer from old ones she has found lying about, a jammer to keep them undetected by sensors and senses and a temperature control unit which Scott claims is called air con.

The jammer does a variety of functions including rendering internal signals undetectable from the exterior, masking heat signatures within the basement, muffling sound originating from the basement and a whole other stuff that keeps the basement and those within it hidden from outsiders.

The computer is the one Legacy is most impressed with as it can process and store much more data than any other computer. Or least that what Scott says as Legacy has no other computer to compare it to.

Thinking about Scott’s opinion, he was pretty surprised by the coding. I mean, just because I didn’t use English or any other known language on the planet. Or the fact the characters in didn’t match any alphabets on the planet. I understood it all perfectly. Who cares if it was ‘alien’?

With her computer, she can use it to remotely access internet signals and copy data. Basically works like a web browser, but instead it snatches the webpage and downloads it to Legacy’s computer temporarily while remaining undetectable in the process.

Or least Legacy hopes it is undetectable as she is certain that she could build something that could detect it. Either way, Legacy will be able find out if someone is tracing her computer before they can actually finish doing the deed.

Right now Legacy has just finished putting her armour on. Not proper armour, but some cheap alternates that Scott as scraped together. A football helmet, elbow pads and knee pads in addition to some thick leather gloves and hardy walking boots. He has also thrown in some goggles to protect her eyes.

Scott also got her some thick trousers that won’t do much, only providing a tad more protection than the thin legwear Legacy has been using. Her new shirt is also quick thick compared to her old one and has long sleeves and pockets. On top of that, Legacy has a bullet proof vest that Scott brought for her. He says it is only good against handguns that aren’t up close so she still needs to be careful around guns.

And for looting more supplies from her enemies, Scott also got her a belt with multiple pouches to wear around her waist. For than enough for storing electronic parts and money that Legacy will acquire.

Scott says it isn’t the best stuff there out there, but should do well and is definitely better than nothing. He also told her that she ought to get use to fighting with armour as it is only a matter of time before she builds herself a set of power armour with her power.

“I only need to equip myself with weaponry,” replies Legacy, “Then I shall set out.”

“The armour should protect against fists and kicks where you have it,” Scott warns her, “But it won’t protect against guns, knives or other weaponry.”

“I understand Scott,” Legacy reassures him, “I’ll be careful and shall avoid injury.”

“Just make sure you do Legacy,” says Scott, “You got potential and I’ll hate it to be cut short by some ganger.”

Legacy doesn’t reply as she goes about selecting what pipes she is going to take with her. She decides on four pipes. The first two are upgraded versions of her original weapon with ElecMag cells instead of phone batteries providing the power. The extra bulk around the end is also harder than mere phone casing and less likely to break after heavy usage.

The third pipe is her ranged one with an ElecMag cell for stunning capabilities. It uses small solid fragments and uses velocity and kinetic energy as its primary ways of harming people. Legacy as estimated its effective range is up to about twenty metres whilst its effective range when attempting to stun an opponent is about half that.

While Legacy could have improved its range, she instead decided that her greater priority was on short range effectiveness. Her pipe-gun has practically no recoil and almost always hits it target. In her opinion, those are much more important than range as Legacy has no prior experience with guns or other firearms and ranged weaponry.

At least none that I can remember.                              

The fourth is for when Legacy needs access to brute force or to break something. The pipe has been modified so it is basically a hi-tech mace. It has a thick head on the end of dense metal with sharp, serrated spikes of metal around it.

It is also the heaviest of the four and the only reason Legacy hasn’t decide to leave it behind is that other three are all extremely light. Otherwise it would just slow her down too much to be valuable.

On the other hand with all this armour, I am pretty weighted down.

“I’m ready to go now,” says Legacy as she finishes attaching the chosen pipes to her belt.

“Not yet you aren’t girl,” says Scott in a gruff, well gruffer, voice as he holds up another piece of clothing.

This piece of clothing is made of leather strips. On one side it contains an open pouch with the gun Legacy got who the man who tried to kill her earlier in the week. The other side contains another two pouches that have the two spare magazines got from the same man.

“This is a gun holster,” Scott tells her, “Goes on around your shoulders. Your weapons may be good, but you never know when you need a good old gun to get the job done.”

“Thank you Scott,” says Legacy as she takes from him.

It is a couple of moments before Legacy put it on her. Not too heavy and shouldn’t restrict her mobility enough to be noticeable. Still, Legacy doesn’t think she needs her fourth pipe anymore and puts it back it.

Now I have too much weight for it to be useful.

“Now you’re ready Legacy,” says Scott, “And if anyone asks who you are, you are the Guardian.”

***

Guardian leaves the base and makes sure to stay out of sight.

I don’t need Scott to tell me that my gear will draw unwanted attention.

It is for that same reason that the gangsters Scott is sending her after are only a block away.

I know the plan. Get in stealthily and beat up the gang members inside. Once the building is secure, take their money and destroy their drugs. I should also take their ammo and guns if I can or destroy if I can’t with a priority on ammo over guns. I’m also going to acquire more parts if I can.

Guardian quickly finds the building that Scott described to her. He spent some time scouting undetected. Not many gangsters pay attention to the crippled homeless man, let alone consider him a threat.

Guardian reaches the door and tries the handle.

It’s locked. Let’s try something else.

Guardian puts her hand against the lock and focuses as she can senses the mechanism that is the lock. It’s faint, but it is there.

I guess a mechanism is basic technology so it falls under my powers. Still I have to be touching it to feel it with my power and even than I can barely connect with it.

With a click, the door is unlocked and Guardian pushes open and draws her pipe-gun. She made sure it was loaded before she left and it has a total of ten shots currently in it.

A man is already in the room when Guardian enters. He is a quick draw, but Guardian already had her pipe-gun at ready. The man manages to draw his submachine gun and get to his feet when Guardian’s stun attack topples him over. The weapon falls from his grasp and nosily clatters across the floor.

Guardian is at the door leading into the main room when another ganger opens it up. Guardian quick shots him as well and then drops the guy behind him before he can react.

Unfortunately for Guardian, the element of surprise is no longer with her as she hears footsteps from the floor above her. She cautiously stays back as Guardian spots someone on the stairs.

He sticks his own handgun around the side of railing of the stairs and fires in Guardian’s direction. While the bullets hit the wall next to her with heavy thumps, it still gets Guardian’s adrenaline going as if she had actually been hit.

She takes aim at what she can see of her opponent and fires. Her shot strikes her target in the leg and he falls down the stairs with a cry of pain.

The ganger behind him is much more aggressive and goes down the stairs whilst firing at Guardian. She ducks back into the other room as bullets smash into the walls and ground around her. She isn’t a moment too soon as a pair of bullets fly through the space she was previous occupying.

Six shots left with my pistol as a backup. I can afford to spend a few shots on this foe.

Guardian sticks her pipe-gun around the doorway and fires a trio of shots in rapid succession. She steps back into the doorway as she hears a gurgle and gunfire stops.

One of her shots is lodged in the far wall while another stuck her target in the chest judging by the hole in his shirt. Another appears to have torn through his right shoulder as evidenced by the small pool of blood forming around it as he lies on the floor.

Guardian marches into the middle of the room, waiting for more opponents. None come.

I waited long enough. I do have a schedule to keep if I am to do I need to and get out before more show up.

Just she turns her back to start looting the first lot of gangsters, Guardian hears a noise behind her. She spins around just in time to block as the ganger she shot of the stairs swings a knife at her.

Metal clanks against metal as the blade is intercepted by pipe. Guardian jumps back, but the gangster presses his attacker.

“Who the @$#£ing hell do think you are bitch?” demands the gangster as Guardian blocks again.

“Guardian,” replies Guardian as she backs up and remembers what Scott told her to say.

“Oh yeah you-,” starts the man before being cut off as Guardian gets a shot in.

It misses as it flies over the gangster’s shoulder.

At least it shut him up. But I’m down to my last two shots until I can reload.

“Damn you &%*#er!” yells the gangster, “Goddamn superhero wannabe!”

This would be a lot easier if I had a free hand to get one of my other pipes. Back at the basement, I’m going upgrade my pipe-gun so it only requires one hand to use. But what can I do to get the advantage?

Then the perfect solution hits her. Fending off another attack, Guardian reaches out with her power to find any electronic devices on the man. She is in luck as he has a smart phone on him.

It takes couple of seconds before she is ready, but the gangster is completely unprepared. Guardian smiles.

“What’s so funn-” the man starts to demand, but ends up yelping as his own phone electrocutes him.

He falls unto the ground, writhing in pain.

It’ll only last until the battery runs out and the phone is fried and useless. Only a few minutes at most.

With the building secured, Guardian gets to work.

Next Chapter