The Badge and the Burden

Paladin

Semblances act in very strange ways. They give you a boost when you need help, but it requires a 'payment' of some sort to exist. For the average civilian, they live life normally, unbeknownst that they don't have a strong aura or semblance to protect them. When you train it however, then once the semblance takes effect, you lose something. For some, it may be their sanity. For others, their vision. But for me, I lost my voice.

"Neo, come look at this!" Roman shouted to me, prompting me to walk over, casually holding my umbrella. He had called me over to some sort of giant robot machine. He hopped inside of it and powered it on.

"It's like a giant suit of armor, except I can see all around me and stuff. How neat!" Roman explained from inside the suit. I had seen one through a hologram the other day while I was spying on the city. It was called an Atlesian Paladin.

"Maybe with this I'll be able to take out little red riding hood!" Roman laughed to himself, hopping out of the Paladin.

None of us know Roman's semblance, and I don't even think he knows. He trained hard, but he never really trained for his aura. He always gets nervous whenever he gets hurt, and it never heals very quickly. I think he knows that as well as I do.

"Neo, would you check on Perry and the boys for me? I wonder if they're ready to make the trip down to Mountain Glenn with us." He asked, and I smiled in return.

My semblance is a very strange one. For the cost of my voice, I got what I like to call 'Mirroring". I am able to teleport by 'mirroring' myself one place to another, I am able to 'mirror' other people's attack moves, and even perfectly counter by 'mirroring' their battle strategy.

I teleported behind Perry, who was casually chatting and having a cup of coffee. I poked his shoulder and handed him the letter from Roman. He read it thoroughly, and dropped his coffee cup in surprise.

"You mean we leave tomorrow? I thought he said two days!" Perry said, scrambling to get back to his car and prepare everything. I watched as he left, and gave a slight sigh. I went back to where Roman was, and was almost immediately hit by a giant metal arm.

"Whoops, sorry Neo! Didn't see you there!" Roman said, before powering down the Paladin and hopping out to face me. I retracted my umbrella and put in on my shoulder, giving Roman a thumbs down, meaning 'Perry wasn't ready'.

"Those stupid animals. They never get anything right. Well, except for you. I like you." Roman said, pointing to his personal bodyguard, a large man with a chainsaw. I personally don't like how he carries that thing. It always seems like he wants to kill.