Hannah POV~
-x-X-x-
There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.
Hannah, also known as Miss Militia, doesn't quite remember where she heard that phrase, but she'd never personally felt it was accurate. At least not to her lived experiences. Every moment of her life, every week of every month of every year of the past few decades had been… well, certainly not nothing.
No, there was always something going on and more often than not, Hannah found herself in the thick of it. Sure, there might be quiet days, quiet patrols… but quiet weeks? In Brockton Bay? Nope.
However… she had to admit that this past week in particular made all of the previous weeks for the year, and indeed maybe the last several years, pale in comparison.
From Hookwolf being captured without any bloodshed, to Director Calvert being exposed as Coil, a kidnapping scumbag of a villain, to the Merchant Capes being taken down in a single morning, to now, with five of the Empire Capes in lockup and Hookwolf firmly out of the city and on his way to the Birdcage.
All of it taking place in the same week… and the week wasn't even over yet either. And sure, there was still a chance Hookwolf might not make it to the Birdcage, still a chance he'd get busted out somewhere along the way… but that chance had diminished dramatically in the wake of just how badly the Empire's first attempt at freeing him had gone.
The PRT and Protectorate couldn't take much credit either, though Hannah knew from long experience that they would still try. No, the lion's share of the real credit for Hookwolf remaining in captivity and five more Empire Capes winding up behind bars went to the newly formed Covenant. The same people who had been behind literally every other major event from the past week, and who Hannah was now the Protectorate Liaison for.
"Hannah."
Blinking, Hannah looks up as Armsmaster, aka Colin Wallis, steps into the room out of costume. She smiles and nods.
"Colin."
Closing the door behind him, Colin sits in a chair across from her. No table or anything like that, this isn't an interrogation. Rather, this is the third debrief for the morning's events.
The first debrief had been everyone involved in the morning activities, including Covenant. Armsmaster had gone over everything that had happened, from what went right to what went wrong. Of course, almost everything had gone right. They'd done pretty much everything by the book and came out of it with minimal to no injuries and five enemy capes captured and in lock-up.
Really, the only hiccup had been in the middle of battle when All Seeing Eye had given her analysis of the situation and then asked for someone to make a call. That should have been Armsmaster, but he was busy with Cricket and Stormtiger, as was Hannah and the rest of the Protectorate.
Instead, Portent had been the one to step up and direct things, though technically he'd only given orders to his own people and additionally his orders hadn't quite countermanded Armsmaster's previous orders, which had been 'take down if possible, chase off if not'.
If Armsmaster hadn't been so preoccupied at the time, would he have ordered Fenja and Menja chased off? Truth be told, Hannah didn't know. She could only go off of her gut feeling and admittedly, the fight down in the truck with Stormtiger and Cricket had been a little touch and go at first.
Without battlefield awareness, without being able to see how much Weaver, Antares, and Laserdream were harassing and pinning down the Valkyrie Twins, Armsmaster probably would have given the order to let them retreat and reinforce the rest of the prison convoy.
But he hadn't gotten the chance and while he'd been completely professional during the debriefing, Hannah could still tell that it rankled Colin a little bit to have Portent take charge like he had. Especially because it put the 'score' of the day at three captures Covenant, two captures Protectorate.
Not that that much should have mattered really, but Hannah had been a cape for a long, long time and she knew it was rarely about what SHOULD matter, in the end.
Still, during the first debriefing, Colin had been exceedingly polite when he asked Portent why he made the call he did. And Portent's explanation was… considered and logical. Not to mention that success washed away all mistakes, if one could even call it a mistake in the first place.
In the end, Colin had simply asked if Portent was the official leader of Covenant, framing it as Protectorate Bookkeeping. Interestingly enough, Portent hadn't been the one to answer that question. Instead, it was the rest of Covenant who had all piped up in agreement. As far as they were concerned, Portent WAS their leader.
To be fair, Hannah had put that in her report after her first meeting with them the day before as well. It was obvious that the other members of the independent hero group all deferred to Portent despite the fact that both Victoria Dallon and Crystal Pelham presumably had years more experience than him.
Still, confirmation was always good to have on that front, and confirmation they'd gotten.
The second debriefing after Covenant left had been all of the Protectorate Members who were on the scene. They'd talked about how they'd handled Stormtiger and Cricket, the things they'd done right and the things they could do better next time. Ultimately, it'd been a rehashing of the first debriefing, just with everyone a little more at ease in the absence of their new… allies.
But finally, here Hannah and Colin were for a one-on-one conversation. Because they both knew that sometimes… written reports just weren't good enough. Case in point…
"I'd read your report Hannah, but I want to hear it all from you as well. What is your opinion on Covenant and more specifically Portent?"
Hannah considers that for a moment, flicking her power from sheathed knife to holstered firearm and back again. It's a nervous tic of hers, one that she obviously controls most of the time… but when it's just her and someone like Colin who she's known since the very first Ward Program, she knows she's safe.
"… Portent… is inexperienced but not letting it stop him. And from the look of things, as their leader, that mentality seeps into everything Covenant is doing."
Colin frowns, slowly nodding as he takes that in. After a moment, he sits back in his chair.
"He made the right call today. Even if a part of me feels like it wasn't his call to make, hindsight shows that he was correct. We had more than enough firepower to take down Stormtiger and Cricket despite their ferocious defense and Covenant was able to capture Rune, Fenja, and Menja with relative ease and zero casualties."
Hannah inclines her head wordlessly, knowing how hard it was for Colin to admit that. Yes, in hindsight… or perhaps with the benefit of oversight, Portent HAD made the right call. Where Colin had been on the ground in the thick of the fighting, Portent being on top of a nearby building and having a proper line of sight of the entire battlefield meant he knew what they could and couldn't handle.
On the other hand… he could have easily been wrong given the aforementioned inexperience. One might even argue that he'd gotten lucky…
"I'm not even sure it was luck either."
Hannah blinks. She knows Colin isn't a mind reader, but that was a little eerie. He's not even looking at her though, instead leaning back in his chair even further and staring up at the ceiling in thought.
"… I believe that Portent might have a Thinker Rating."
Now that gets Hannah's attention. She sits up a bit more, prompting Colin to finally look at her. Leaning forward, he clasps his hands together in front of him, elbows on his knees.
"In fact, I believe that Portent might be a Trump and is doing his best to hide that from us."
Narrowing her eyes, Hannah frowns, turning the idea over in her head.
"… Alright, walk me through it."
There's a reason she's been Colin's second in command here in Brockton Bay for so long. A slight smile spreads across Colin's face as he starts to explain.
"First, there's what we already know about his powers. It's not much, but it's still telling in and of itself. He doesn't teleport; he seems to displace space itself. Almost like Vista's power, except he can use it to make these… doors that he and others can step through. He used that today to grab Rune off of her platform and pull her to his rooftop before she could blink."
Hannah nods to show she's following along.
"He can also apply a stasis-like effect to individuals or even groups of people, like he did to Hookwolf and the unpowered thugs from both the Empire and the ABB a week ago. These two powers in and of themselves don't seem too connected, but twice can still be happenstance, as we've seen among so many others. However… it's not just two powers, is it?"
No… it's not…
"We know for a fact that Portent claims to have 'rather strong surveillance powers'. That's what he told Legend when they turned over Coil. Not 'Weaver has a good power for surveillance', but rather 'Weaver and I both have strong surveillance powers'. And today, though he made sure it came through Weaver and All Seeing Eye instead, the information about the exact formation the Empire Capes were going to use… I suspect that came from Portent himself."
Hm, that did make sense. Though… Hannah knew Colin too well to think that was all he had. No, there was more to it than that, wasn't there? The smoking gun. The silver bullet. Her power transitions between knife and firearm a few more times as she leans forward, matching Colin's energy and steepling her hands together.
"There's something else, isn't there?"
Colin hesitates… but finally nods.
"Yes. When I first met Portent and Weaver the night they took down Hookwolf while out on patrol with Fletchette… they were both wearing surprisingly decent costumes for all that they were newly minted independent heroes. Handmade costumes, clearly designed for their preferences."
Hannah slowly nods, taking that in. Colin frowns.
"But today? Portent's costume has changed. It's not just handmade and designed for his preferences anymore. It's tinkertech now."
What? Hannah blinks, truly taken aback by that. She hadn't noticed a single thing. When she tells Colin this, he just shakes his head.
"No, I imagine you wouldn't have, it's clearly disguised to appear like normal still. But if anyone is going to recognize a suit of power armor… it's going to be me."
On the one hand, Colin had a point there. On the other hand…
"Power Armor?!"
Nodding, Colin just grunts.
"Yes, power armor. I could see it in the way he moved when we first met… but it became much more obvious after reviewing footage of the battle. The way Portent grabbed Rune and dragged her through the portal… it was too much strength too suddenly and so far he hasn't shown any sort of Brute Rating. No, that costume of his has been transformed somehow. Or he made power armor designed to look like his original costume… and in the span of days at that."
Yes. Because everything they were talking about had happened in a week. Hannah lets out a low breath as she takes in all of Colin's evidence. Then, she goes over everything from her singular meeting with Covenant… before slowly nodding.
"I think you might be right, yes. His powers, of which there are more than most people have, seem too varied. He might indeed be a Trump. But Colin… what exactly does that mean for us?"
Letting out an explosive sigh, Colin leans back in his chair again. It's not how he would ever act in front of pretty much anyone else, but much like her nervous tick of flicking her power back and forth, they've both known each other too long to keep up the act.
"… I'm not sure it means anything. I just wanted to bounce the idea off of you before I submit it in an official report and suggest his internal ratings be changed. Your confirmation makes it clear I'm onto something here though. Heh… some parahumans have all the luck."
Hannah's face twists at that, a crooked smile appearing on her mouth. She and Colin both know he doesn't mean that entirely. Or if he does, he acknowledges this to be one of the worst parts of himself. His envy. And his vanity. As Armsmaster, he's done everything he possibly can to be the best hero he can be.
But it's not always about helping and saving people. There's a part of him that loves the adulation, the accolades, and the respect. There always will be. He wants to go down in history as one of the greats, to be acknowledged for his achievements on the same level as capes like the Triumvirate.
For a long time, he'd struggled with Dauntless because the other man's power was ever-expanding and ever-growing. They'd had a few talks about that, her and Colin. But now… well, Portent was something else entirely. Something growing faster and stronger than Dauntless ever could in the same time frame.
"You know… I could just ask him."
Colin blinks and looks at her. Hannah just shrugs.
"I AM their liaison, Colin. I could ask Portent outright if he's a Trump and if he would be willing to tell us more about his powers. Covenant are our allies, after all. If nothing else, gauging his reaction could tell us something as well…"
Frowning, Colin seems to consider it for a long moment… before opening his mouth to respond.
-x-X-x-
The Vote:
[X] Have Miss Militia ask outright - 86%
[ ] No, better to just keep observing - 14%
-x-X-x-