With your recent exploits on your brain, you opt to check the internet via your new phone to see what the news is saying. Turns out it's not much: the Protectorate has made a statement thanking the independent cape Zenith for the captures of Skidmark, Squealer, and Mush. No mention is made of the latter two's plans to reform, to your mild annoyance, though you suppose it does make the rebranding easier if Squealer and Mush just quietly disappear.
Kinda surprising that they're giving credit, I was kinda trying to set it up so they could take credit for the captures and make themselves look good. I'm not
complaining, but this isn't what I expected.
If we were inclined to be paranoid Mush and Squealer might be seeing the inside of a jail cell instead of getting rebranded, but given the need for white hats (even grubby ones) they're probably split up and put elsewhere. I'm going to guess something like "Mush in Seattle, Squealer in New Orleans" or something. It might be worth recording a video message and forwarding it to them to check on how they're doing too; relapses can happen, and even with the best support network available (which let's be honest, the PRT and Protectorate are not, though they're probably better than most) "a bit of help from your friends" can really come in clutch.
Plus it's a decent start to seeding a network of contacts over the country. We might not be getting Top Secret Information but just having Mush say something like "Mr. Tornado is a poor matchup for everyone on the team, wish there was a cape we could call in to help bring him in" and we take a three day vacation to the West Coast to see the sights and sic a Hound of Five Winds on a disgruntled hurricane insurance salesman. Always nice to spread the love.
Amusingly, there's a great deal of speculation about who 'Zenith' is. There's nothing in the PRT's statement linking your activities last night to the girl who glowed at Winslow, and the only people who know about your cape persona besides your dad are Protectorate heroes and PRT employees. Since the PRT is still trying not to spread your 'secret' identity, this means that there's no information out there for the public to connect the dots.
I wouldn't be surprised if there's a dozen different Zeniths as independent capes, given how generic a name it seems (like 'acme' or 'brick'). If no Protectorate hero has the name it's free game and if the one in Brockton Bay never meets the one in Kansas City there's not really any confusion.
Also, we get a hint of the PRT media control apparatus, in this instance used in our interests. We'll find out when we get back to Winslow if everyone signed NDAs (I doubt it) or if every time they posted "hey guys I think Zenith is this schoolmate of mine who just started glowing one day" they got an infraction and a 24 hour ban for trying to reveal a cape's identity (except Void Cowboy who is on a 1 week ban, again, for something unrelated but is going to open his mouth as soon as the mods let down their guard)
You'll probably have to correct that in the future. Maybe make an official PHO account or something. In fact, an online presence might be a good idea in general; using your social Thinker powers over the internet would be a good way to solicit aid for the charity you intend to start, though you wonder how the PRT would take it.
Cape-tuuuuube!
There's probably some sort of "Thinker Behavioral Guidelines" that the PRT has for how white hat Thinkers are allowed to act. (I can also see them classifying the document, waiting to see if you violated them and using that to try to push you in-house, or pushing you in-house if you managed to get your hands on a 'classified document' like that. That's giving them very little credit of course, but I can understand the thinking that goes into that)
Anyway, something to ask Kid Win about during our
playdate joint patrol.
Shrugging, you put that thought out of mind and begin to research how you'll start your charity. There's so much you don't know, and you need answers if you're going to help people. How do you organize something on that scale, navigate the legal complexities, acquire that manpower and funding? You'd talked to your dad about it last night, and while he'd assured you that plenty of his fellow dockworkers would be happy to help out, it was clear the two of you were a bit out of your depth.
So research would be the order of the day, starting with cape laws and how much you're allowed to use your powers in support of something like this.
Step one; get a lawyer. I know Taylor's Embassy stats are such she could probably act as her own lawyer, but even ignoring the adage that 'a lawyer who represents themselves has a fool for a client', you don't have the certifications to be taken seriously by many in positions of power (or the legal protections associated with phrases like 'attorney-client privilege') and even if you did you have far better things to do with your time than deal with all the minutia that you'd need to deal with. Most importantly though,
get a lawyer before you need one. It's one of those 'ounce of prevention' things.
Related to the above, we should probably talk to New Wave before launching the charity. I don't think that we should try to retain Brandish as a lawyer - there are too many potential conflicts of interest even ignoring that IIRC she's a divorce lawyer - but she should have a better idea than most about the unwritten portions of the intersection of 'legal' and 'cape'. There's even a chance New Wave might make an appearance at a charity event, lending their glamour to our event and both parties benefitting from the PR.
As it turns out, the rules are fairly permissive as long as you're not using your powers for profit: most of the legislation around superpowers is either to protect people or protect corporate bottom lines.
Hold on, I've got my 'surprised' face around here somewhere.
You grit your teeth. That last part rubs you the wrong way. Corporate power and the wealth it maintains, those are yet more ways for one person to wield power over another. Surely you aren't alone in seeing the wrong in that? Surely there's other people who feel as you do about the unjust nature of these hierarchies?
A quick, if vague, internet search reveals to you that no, you are far from alone. There's whole schools of thought stretching back more than a hundred years advocating for the abolishment of all coercive hierarchies: the state, capitalism, imperialism, patriarchy, you name it. You breathe a sigh of relief. There are people out there who share your feelings, and they've even given those feelings a name: anarchism.
You'd always thought anarchism was just throwing bombs and smashing things, but you see now that it's a complex philosophy with many schools of thought, a philosophy you find yourself agreeing with.
It's complicated, and I don't know how much SV is willing to tolerate on a forum like this, but spreading the idea of 'anarchism = throwing bombs' was not accidental and not spread by actual anarchists.
You pocket your phone and peek out the window to see a black man in well-tailored suit. He notices you looking and gives you a friendly wave.
Oh no, a suit! Alarm bells should be going off right now, Taylor!
You freeze. You'd known being an open cape might get you attention, but you're still more than a bit shocked to find someone approaching you in your own home. And that that someone would know to call you Zenith, well, that implies things.
"Are you with the PRT?" you ask. Nobody else should know to call you Zenith yet.
He shakes his head. "Afraid not, though I can see how you might come to that conclusion. My employer is particularly well informed."
You carefully pull your phone out of your pocket, prepared to dial the PRT if this should turn south. In a fit of paranoia, you cast your senses over to Eurus to check on your dad. Thankfully, he seems to be alone, just filling out paperwork.
"And who exactly is your employer?" you ask.
"A man who's very impressed by what you accomplished last night," he replies. "You should know you're not the only one with ambitions to clean up the city. My employer is just a little more indirect in his methods than you are."
"And yet you won't tell me who he is," you point out.
The man shrugs. "Orders are orders, you know how it is. What I can do is give you this," he says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a thumb drive. He hands it to you, and you gingerly take it from him.
"I want you to do something for me, I know a lot about you, but you're not allowed to know my name."
"Huh. Seems legit."
"What is this?" you ask.
"Intelligence on the Empire and the ABB: detailed dossiers on their capes, as well as locations of some stash houses and such. My employer is sick of seeing these gangsters and Nazis, these overgrown bullies, preying on the weak and dragging this fair city down with them. He has a plan to curtail the criminal element of the city without triggering a repeat of the Boston Games, and he'd like to enlist your aid to implement that plan."
"The Boston Games?" you ask.
"Ah, see a few years back, Boston managed to get rid of all their supervillains practically overnight. Problem is, nature abhors a vacuum, so it was the most natural thing in the world for other villains to move in and try and carve up the city for themselves. There was a lot of fighting, a lot of collateral damage, and at the end of it Boston was left with even more supervillains than it had had before."
That… makes sense, you're forced to admit, even if it does mean your job of cleaning up the city is going to be even harder than you thought.
"So how are we supposed to get rid of the gangs without something like that happening?" you ask.
The man smiles. "Trust my boss. He's got it all worked out. He's a powerful Thinker, which means schemes like this are his forte."
"And what does he want from me?" you ask.
"Simple, really," he says. "Just do what you were going to do anyway, but with the targets he points you at. Might get a little dangerous from time to time, but what kind of cape are you if you can't handle a little danger?"
So Taylor has learned a few things already;
- Boston tried cleaning up their criminal element and it caused Problems
- We can probably ask for additional information from Kid Win when we meet with him. He probably doesn't have the information himself, but I can see Piggot sharing that information to help dissuade a new cape from recklessly trying to clean house.
- Also 'I encountered someone who knew a lot about me this morning' probably sends up a few red flags at the PRT. I doubt it'll amount to much, but there's a moderate chance this stunt may cost Coil one of his moles in the PRT.
- This Mysterious Stranger is a Thinker able to provide dossiers on the two largest cape gangs in town, including stash houses.
- This Mysterious Stranger knows enough of how to manipulate you by emphasizing the 'bullies' and 'help the city' angle that they are able to task a minion to convince you to do stuff
This nameless merc is attempting to persuade you to coordinate your heroics with his boss. This is a basic persuade, as it largely consists of doing things you were going to do anyway, just on someone else's timetable.
Your resolve is 4 - 3 from your major virtue being exploited, - 3 from your major intimacy of "I hate bullies" being exploited, bringing you down to the minimum of 1 Resolve.
The merc rolls 4 successes on 6 dice, beating your resolve with 3 extra successes. He will use 1 to instill a minor intimacy of Mysterious Benefactor (Trust). He will use his 2 remaining successes to purchase level 2 of persuade, meaning you're willing to work with his employer in ways that may be personally inconvenient or even dangerous.
I can't help but wonder, given the approach and rolls, if this is the first persuasion attempt or the fiftieth. (I doubt it'd be that high, he has other stuff to work on after all, but the thought remains)
[x] Accept (You will accept the influence, gaining a minor intimacy of Mysterious Benefactor (Trust) and agreeing to work with the man's employer even when it would be dangerous or inconvenient for you).
Edit: Actually if we want to really screw over Coil's attempts to play with proxies Motive Discerning Technique gives you access a number of questions you can ask the storyteller for 1 mote each, at 4 integrity (which we have) you get access to extra questions including "Who's really in charge here?"
I don't think we need to get Integrity-boosting charms just because Coil is save-scumming his attempt to convince us on something, but I can admit this looks like a good charm to pick up for unrelated reasons; I don't know what the other questions on the list are but I imagine this won't be the last time we go into a situation where we wished we had more information.
So here's the thing, Coil isn't very good at seeming trustworthy long term because you know... he's a snake, made it his suit and everything. If we can see him we we can judge his operations, but if we do not know it's there he can hit us when we are not looking. While it is inconvenient to start off trusting him it isn't the end of the world.
I'm sure betraying Taylor's trust won't have any negative consequences for Mr. Calvert at all.
Imagine if he has to become a decent person out of self-preservation.
I have too many bad memories of Conquest Quest.
I have a great many rather good memories of Conquest Quest. Sorry you didn't like it.
Also, the way I see it the more we interact with Coil the better our chances are of meeting the Undersiders on a 'talking to' basis instead of a 'come back and surrender, criminal scum!' kind of basis. Heck, we already have an in; dogfighting rings run by Hookwolf and the chance we encounter Bitch.
