[PREVIEW] Great Sage Above Brockton 2.05

I've thought about it, and it would be fairer that all paid tiers recieve a preview of the next chapter, so here's one.

“An army of monkeys? You’re joking, right?”

When Triumph came into the Wards’ common room to tell them about the latest antics of Brockton’s newest cape, a short list had already formed in Vista’s mind. But she had to admit, an ‘army of monkeys’ was not among them. 

“What do you mean exactly?” asked Kid Win, lifting up his visor as he reclined on the burgundy sofa. “Like, civilians dressed up like him or-”

“Nope, I’m talking about an actual army of monkeys,” Triumph stressed, disbelief coloring his words even as he spoke. “An onlooker showed me a video he captured on his phone. Crusader and Victor paid a visit to the Asian district, and Sun Wukong decided to greet them. He stopped recording, but then the next clip he shows me is that of a dozen monkeys identical to Wukong going to town on the nazis.”

"Okay, where the hell did he pull that from?" asked Aegis, fiddling with his red helmet. "How does an extendable staff and being a monkey translate to clones?"

"Maybe he's a power copier or some kind of Trump," suggested Clockblocker. "But I'm not seeing a link. Or it could be that his whole powerset revolves around monkey business and driving people nuts."

Vista stifled a giggle, though she did a terrible job of hiding it. In her defence, Nazis receiving a beatdown always warranted laughter. “Can we see? I’ve been looking for something funny and YouTube doesn’t do it these days.”

Clockblocker sent her a brief look, but didn’t bother hiding his interest. 

“When it gets cleared by the evidence, I’ll show it. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ll see it by the time tomorrow’s news rolls out.” 

“Great, then we’ll make a movie night out of it,” Clockblocker snickered, but then his smile dimmed. “It’s not like we couldn’t use a few laughs considering…you know.”

Whatever brief levity that existed in the room was thrown out of a slingshot. Vista wrinkled her nose and felt her hands tighten on her arms. Yes, considering the sheer fuck-up their fellow Ward had gotten herself into, an excuse to laugh didn’t sound so bad.

“I’m still not sure we’re hearing the real story,” Aegis muttered with brows furrowed. “There’s gotta be another angle no one is telling the public.”

“Another angle?” Vista scoffed. “What else is there to know? Shadow Stalker was a bitch, and we all knew it. The rest of the PRT knew it. Hell, even a blind and deaf man would know it! A bullying campaign isn’t so out of character for her.”

Aegis flinched, but a rebuttal didn’t come right away. Since Triumph was due to join the Protectorate soon, he’d been trying his best to act as a mediator between their disputes as their next leader. He had to break up insult-fests between Shadow Stalker and the rest of them more than once; he had to know better than they how bad she was.

“Then why didn’t anyone speak up? I mean, sure, no one knew her identity, but if she was that bad, she wouldn’t have lasted so long without someone reporting her.”

“Winslow’s a shithole, Aegis,” replied Kid Win. His statement was uttered with the same surety as ‘water is wet’ and ‘the Slaughterhouse Nine are psychos’. “I’ve never been there, but even I know that. Either no one gave a damn or she made sure no one did.”

“That’s still being investigated, Kid Win,” a stern voice said from the corridor. The Wards turned as Armsmaster stepped into the room, with Miss Militia in tow. “I’d appreciate it if you don’t speculate about this matter further. We don’t need any ‘what-if’ statements leaking out of the building.”