Flare

{{#if: 8 | | Chapter Count || 8 }} {{#if: 58,786 | | Word Count || 58,786 }}

Flare
Arc 2
Date started 9 December 2017	Date finished 2 January 2018
Arc Guide
Previous Daybreak	Next Glare

Flare is the second arc in Ward. It is preceded by Daybreak and followed by Glare.

Summary

Victoria struggles to settle into her new housing situation at Crystal’s apartment. She tries to find employment among several hero teams, to no avail. Foresight considers her to be too unstable, Auzure is only interested in her connection to Amy, and The Shepherds/The Attendant see her as too brash when dealing with a Crowley recruitment drive. She finds temporary solace in visiting the hospital where Fume Hood is recovering. There she discovers that one of the young patients has a friend who has developed powers. After contacting Jessica Yamada, Victoria is distracted by a construction worker protest which has entangled diplomatic relations with alternate earths.

Later that night, Victoria and Crystal watch over the protest, which takes a catastrophic turn when 92 of the workers are massacred by a chain reaction of broken triggers. Two weeks later, Victoria and Mrs. Yamada meet at a coffee shop to briefly discuss the new parahuman, only for Mrs. Yamada to ask for assistance with some of her group therapy clients. Victoria agrees to sit in on one of the sessions, meeting Jessica’s clients: Kenzie (a rambunctious young tinker), Sveta (her old friend at the Asylum, now with a prosthetic body and a close relationship with Weld), Tristan (a suave Weld fan), Rain (a ragged older teen), Chris (an off-putting tween), and Ashley (an intense ex-member of the Slaughterhouse Nine).

Jessica explains that the group aspire to become a hero team, despite some of them not having reached a safe degree of mental stability. Victoria does her best to educate the group on the challenges of hero work, both financial and emotional. Over the course of the conversation, she learns that Rain is threatened by the rest of his multitrigger cluster, including Snag. Tristan is revealed to be a case 70, inhabiting one body with his twin brother Byron. Realizing that the group’s drive is unwavering, Victoria volunteers to act as a tutor. On the way out, she meets Rain’s friend Erin.

The following morning, Victoria scouts out a potential training ground at Cedar Point, only to run into a villainous mercenary, Cleat. He’s a messenger for Tattletale, who warns Victoria to stay away from Cedar Point. The neighborhood has been renamed to Hollow Point and is under the control of villains. Victoria rejects the warning and decides that this would be an ideal test for the new hero group.

In the interlude, Crystalclear is monitoring a portal station as the newest member of Foresight. A trio of militaristic ambassadors from Earth Cheit arrive with Weld and Narwhal, seeking council with the major politicians and industry leaders of the Megalopolis. Cheit citizens were among the victims of the broken trigger, and the theocrats are using the tragedy as leverage over Gimel’s politics. The Wardens are suspicious about the shifting balance of power and would like Foresight to act as their watchdog.

Chapters

• Flare 2.1
• Flare 2.2
• Flare 2.3
• Flare 2.4
• Flare 2.5
• Flare 2.6
• Flare 2.7
• 2.x (Interlude; Crystalclear)

Site Navigation

Flare
Chapters	2.1 • 2.2 • 2.3 • 2.4 • 2.5 • 2.6 • 2.7 • 2.x
Battles and Events	The Construction Protest Broken Trigger