Chương 24: R&R Ch. 24 — Homebase and Charred Pancakes

Nicholas found the train novel, though he understood why they took a train. It was cheaper and safer than any of the other options. They couldn't risk flying with who knows what tiers of Beyonder about, and paying for a personal guard on a car was ludicrously expensive. But paying to join an already defended car was easy enough.

He had thought they would offer to work pro bono as heroes to get the ride, but Rend had them all in their civilian clothes asleep with a hat over his eyes if the snowing was to be believed. He and Jasmine had been told to entertain themselves and figure out what they wanted to do while on the ride. Nicholas had decided to read while Jasmine was watching some kind of show on her phone, though from her furtive glances he suspected that the battery would die soon and she was hoping he had a solution.

He didn't while he had tried charge as a word; it had ended up vaporizing the small battery pack he had tested it on as it tried to make it go from zero percent to one hundred percent instantly. That and the device had been half charged already. It was going to be a delicate process to make the word, and he'd succeed eventually, but there wasn't the time. They were starting hero work soon, and he didn't want to waste time on something he could do mundanely.

The plan right now was to refine the words he had been relying on so far and make sure he had everything in his toolbox he had already created ready. More words would take time, and he knew Jasmine was planning the same. Her flying sword set was as amped as she could get it, but the rest of her gear wasn't on the level yet. The two of them needed time to get ready, though Rend seemed like they would start work the moment they got there. Which was fair.

If he was the kind of hero that only saved the day when he had the perfect tool for it, Nicholas was certain that would be an abysmal kind of hero. He had tools, and there were supers with very niche powers that pushed themselves to apply their limited tools in every possible way. He could do the same. Probably, though it was ignoring the pesky authority issue.

"Could you stop poking me?" Nicholas asked, batting Jasmine's seeking fingers away so that she would stop her incessant attack.

"My phone died and my tablet so could we watch something on yours while they're charging?" Jasmine asked, batting her eyes. Nicholas stared for a long moment before shrugging.

"Yeah, you can use it," he said, pulling out his phone and tossing it to her along with his earbuds. Jasmine made a buzzer sound tossing him an earbud back.

"You're watching too if I'm using your phone you can pick and watch with me."

"How kind of you?"

"I am the kindest and greatest person in all the land and may my virtue chime through the hills for all of eternity," Jasmine agreed as Nicholas glanced through his apps before settling on a fantasy show to watch. There was something cool about fantasy adventures that even now, as a superhero touched him.

"I've never seen this before. What's it about?" Jasmine asked as the opening began to play.

"Fantasy group of nobodies form a found family and go on to save the world against gods and dragons," Nicholas replied, only paying half attention to the show. They did not make it through the whole show, both of them falling asleep sometime around episode three, the exhaustion of the day finally catching up with them. Both bleary-eyed and exhausted, the two of them stumbled off the train behind their mentor, who seemed to have had a grand time napping.

"We're going to go to the official base of Renegades to drop our stuff off and get settled. And tomorrow we're going on patrol, which is in like six hours," Rend cheered as he led them through the streets, setting a pace the other two had to jog to keep up. The base that greeted them was a rundown complex that looked as if it had been broken a few months ago and besides cleanup nobody had deigned to repair it.

"Did you just buy this place?" Nicholas asked, yawning.

"Yes. It's a bit of a fixer upper but we're superheroes, so it's good practice."

"So what about the other members of the team? Are they going to be helping?" Jasmine asked, wishing she had thought of using her flying swords to carry her stuff.

"What other members?" Nicholas glared. Jasmine sighed.

"So the members of our team are you and us?" If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"That's right. I wanted to have a grassroots team, so I needed to find good candidates for who to be the test run," Rend said, hands on his hips and laughing.

"So until we are done with you we are going to be your mentees and your subordinates?" Nicholas asked, moving inside.

"Sounds about right, may our name ring on in forever fanciness."

"Fanciness?" Jasmine asked, trailing behind Nicholas. She was hoping at least the rooms would look better than this.

"Well, we can't be the strongest team, but I've never heard of the fanciest team so it seemed like an obtainable goal." Rend explained, waving them inside. The rooms were passable. Bigger than the rooms they had at the academy, though not as big as the whole suite. The bed, desk, closet, and attached bathrooms were all appreciated. Actually, most of the living areas were good; it was when they got to the training, storage, and other sections of their base that the wear and tear showed. Almost suspiciously so.

"It was hard work to get the living areas cleaned. I imagined nobody would want to have a room with a skylight made of broken concrete." Rend said, confirming their theories. Nicholas thought about it for a moment before giving up and returning to his room. He was going to deal with this tomorrow; he was still exhausted and he could worry about it later. Jasmine also decided that it was not the type of problem she wanted to deal with; she was sleepy too. Upon the morning, it was time for their first team breakfast.

Which they discovered their mentor had failed to cook pancakes.

"How long have you been alive?" Nicholas asked over the burnt pancakes.

"Almost a century?"

"And you still don't know how to cook for yourself?" Nicholas asked, not keeping any of his disrespect out of his voice.

"But I do know how to turn a rabbit into a hat?" Rend offered, seeming unbothered by his almost charcoal pancakes.

"Nicholas, I will do the dishes forever if you cook?" Jasmine asked, unable to stomach the idea of eating this every morning.

"Alright, I will cook for you and I," Nicholas agreed, pushing his plate away and deciding he would rather just not eat than try to continue to consume this fare. He would grab something on the road if he had to.

"Wait, what about me?" Rend asked, his burnt food completely forgotten.

"Well, you haven't told me what you'll do for my additional effort," Nicholas reminded his mentor before walking to the locker rooms so he could change into his costume. Rend followed prattling on ideas to see if there was one that his student would finally begrudgingly agree to. Nicholas, for his part, staunchly decided not to deal with any of it as he made the transition from Nicholas to Retort. There was something to be said about how clothes make the man.

Now in his uniform, he felt separated from the identity of Nicholas and that he could fully focus on being a hero. The rules he followed, and could and couldn't do, were slightly different. Nicholas's first thought was wondering if there was something wrong with his psyche if his costume made him feel like a different person. His second was that he didn't care. And that it could potentially be a good thing. Nobody wanted his regular self willing to use his powers to solve everything or even kill folks if he had to.

But for a hero? There was a reason for any of those traits to be a part of him, and they could be what helped him stay alive, eventually. Nicholas was the second one done changing. Jasmine was already waiting in her super bodysuit underneath the robes that were part of her flying sword build.

"I thought you would go with the hammer build," Nicholas admitted as he moved to her side.

"I wanted too but they're still not being done upgrading, since with a stronger spirit I also have more room to work with, figured I would make it proper, you know?" Jasmine admitted, chewing on her thumb as she thought. Nicholas could understand that.

"What are you thinking of adding?"

"Behold, young apprentices, what you strive to be!" Rend said, waltzing out of his changing room, sword strapped to his hip and costume on full display. If you could call it a costume. It was vaguely similar to Nicholas's in that it was reminiscent to styles that people already wore though while his was made to look almost like a wizard in a sci-fi setting Rend had just gone for a camo and armored look colored in blues blacks and pinks.

"You use a sword?" Jasmine asked, curious.

"Did the name Rend not tip you off that I had some sword stuff going on? I thought it would be at least a little obvious?" Rend whistled, pulling out the sword. With an obsidian blade, it almost looked like the night sky with how the light reflected off of it, creating almost constellations on its edge. Nicholas knew nothing about swords, but he could tell that one was exceedingly dangerous and if he got cut by such a thing he was going to be in massive danger.

"So what's the plan?" Nicholas asked as the team made its way outside.

"Well, I want to see how you two are going to do on your own so I set you off to patrol the seediest part of town with the highest concentration of evil supers and I want to see how you do," Rend said before vanishing.

"I am beginning to think he doesn't want to mentor at all, just have teammates," Nicholas said as he stepped onto one of Jasmine's flying swords. There was something to be said about seeing the world from the view of those they protect, but to get the lay of the land, seeing it from above would be good.

"Yeah," Jasmine agreed, piloting her sword and flying to where they were supposed to. They had discussed their first day on the train ride, so they knew where they were supposed to go, but it was still irritating. What if they had forgotten?

"What are the odds that something does happen?" Nicholas asked as he cast his senses wide. With them being a new acquisition, he wasn't sure how to use them just yet, and any excuse to use them was a good one.

"High," Jasmine said before an amber portal opened up so that several drones could fly out to scout. Anything to reduce her cognitive load, and with having to be ready for anything, and piloting all of her flying swords, she didn't also need to worry about refining her senses just yet. She could do it all eventually; it was just now supposed to be one step at a time as she adjusted to being upper F-Rank. Three seconds passed as they flew together silently, each scanning the area.

"Huh, I had really thought something would happen after that," Nicholas admitted.

"It wasn't like we said nah what's the worst that could happen? The world doesn't usually spite cautious people," Jasmine disagreed. That's when the explosion hit.

"Oops," Jasmine mumbled.

"Oops," Nicholas agreed.