A Game of Supers (The Gamer/Original Superhero Setting)

[Kinni]

[X] Cut your losses and run away, you already have a good haul, and it wouldn't do to get greedy.
-[X] Jump out of a back window and go to the nearest public bathroom to change your clothes.

You decided that this was already enough. Collecting more loot would mean a better "grade" in the evaluation. But that would have just as many downsides as upsides, since the people of the gang would be more wary of you.

If you had the choice, you would still try to do better, but not doing as well wasn't the end of the world, and it just meant that you would have to change your approach to the situation. Thinking of that, you made your exit.

Jumping out of a back window and climbing over a wall was remarkably easy given your level of skill in parkour. And you took care to make sure no one saw you doing such suspicious movements.

There were more people around the neighborhood at that time, but definitely nothing close to the peak periods of activity. You had studied the surroundings thoroughly, to be able to decide which would be the best escape path to take.

And one of the benefits of aborting the operation so quickly was that you didn't really need to do much. You had plenty of time before anyone would be suspicious of a girl scout, and while you did keep to the less busy paths in the direction of the closest public bathroom, you weren't overly concerned with being seen.

You moved as quickly as you were capable of without causing suspicion, and you managed to reach your target without any further incidents. While you were inside the bathroom (which was in an area without cameras, you had checked earlier) you removed your make up and changed out of the girl scout clothing. When you left the bathroom, you were almost completely unrecognizable as the thief, even holding your backpack on hand instead of on your back to have an extra layer of deception.

Still, you couldn't help but worry the entire time you were going back home. There were so many things that were out of your control in this situation...

You came back home and hid the backpack, before going on with your day and hoping that your preparations had been enough.

-0-

The next day, it seemed like everything had gone well, so you were able to relax a little while you waited for the meeting time.

And before going there, you took the care of transferring your loot to a suitcase, instead of lugging around a backpack that could potentially be recognized. You also shifted to your "gang disguise" (except the mask, which you would put on just before the meeting) and went to the meeting spot.

You got there at the exact time the meeting was supposed to start, and the woman was already there. You put your suitcase on the ground and opened it, before sliding it towards her, who went through the stuff with care and without showing any particular emotion (the mask helped with that).

After that, she asked for you to explain your thefts, and you did so while giving a medium level of detail. Then she asked one thing:

"Why did you decide to rob two houses?"

"I decided to rob the middle class house before because it was the easiest." You said, talking with a casual voice "Then, if I failed to rob the second house, I would still have something to pass the test."

That actually got a slight reaction out of the woman, who seemed surprised, but controlled herself quickly.

"Well... You pass." She said "Your position in the gang shall be decided during this week. So give me an e-mail or cellphone number to pass on the message once things are decided."

And that was that. You had already made an e-mail in case of situations like that, and you gave it to the woman before returning home.

Now you were officially part of the Inscrutables, but this would only be the beginning of your career.

Also, considering that it was the end of the week, you should make your plans for the next one.

What should you do next week? (Choose three)

[] Focus on raising the level of the skills you already developed.
[] Focus on raising the level of a specific skill (Write-in)
[] Learn another martial art.
-[] Taekwondo
-[] Jeet Kune Do
-[] Karate
-[] Write-in
[] Now that you have weapons, it would be good to gain skill with them.
-[] Learn baton combat
[] Learn a useful miscellaneous skill.
-[] Sleight of hand
-[] Urban tracking
-[] Cold reading
-[] Write-in
[] Write-in.

Besides that, you also needed to decide what to train during school. Your choice would be...

[] Ambidexterity. Writing things with both hands at once is still a good exercise.
[] Shadowboxing. Try to imagine even more complex figures and scenarios.
[] Meditation. Trying to block out distractions would be good.
[] Cloth Work. You can do a few things under the table.
[] Something else? (Write-in a new ability and how you're training during class)
[] More than one thing? (Write-in two or more, but will have diminishing returns)

And there was also he matter of your learning hypnotic trigger. Among the skills you were working with this week, which one of them would you apply the trigger to?

[] Write-in.

 

[Kinni]

A. N: Here is the bonus earned for the picture. You can't miss it.

[X] Well Prepared

Again, since you didn't know which skills would be most useful, you decided to take a broad approach on your training and increase your mastery of all your skills.

You started with the skill that had started it all: Your Muay Thai. Since it was close to mastery, you were pretty sure that it would be hard to raise it much further without special attention... But something happened.

There was some kind of sense of enlightenment that you couldn't explain, even if you had some theories. And despite having very little time to focus on the skill (since you had already decided to work on several different ones), you actually managed to comprehend the very essence of the skill.

Your movements became sharper, smoother, more precise... And you pretty much lost yourself in training to the point where you only understood what had went on once you checked the skill.

Muay Thai Level 20

- A martial art developed for warfare, born in the country of Thailand, then known as Siam. At this level, you have comprehended the very essence of the art, and reached the very limits of what can be called Muay Thai.

You have obtained: The Fist of Aggression.

- The essence of Muay Thai are the fierce attacks aimed at quickly disabling opponents. By reaching this essence, you are now instinctively aware of the most efficient ways of causing damage to opponents, even when not using Muay Thai.

So that... was mastery. You were already imagining how it would be to use your new skills in combat, and also what kind of effects you could get from mastering other skills.

Still, things didn't go as well with your other skills. The problem was that you had too many skills to be able to give a good amount of attention to any of them. You were still training meditation in class, and that made it perhaps the skill with the greatest amount of improvement on the week.

By the end of things, you were already almost capable of remaining aware of everything, even deep within meditation.

Meditation Level 18

- The skill to reach inside yourself and obtain a better understanding of your own mind and behavior. At this level, you can relieve even deep seated stress as well being capable of awareness of most of the outside world even during meditation.

You were also pretty sure that training at school would not help anymore with it. Also, you would need focused effort to raise it any higher.

Apart from that, none of your skills above level 15 managed to grow more than one level. In the case of Acting, which was already level 18, going up at all from such an unfocused effort was a surprise.

You actually decided that you needed to interact with others if you hoped to train the skill, and you walked around the city trying to induce reactions from the nearby people just with your body language and in the most subtle way possible.

Acting Level 19

- The skill to act out a role, in a way that can fool viewers. At this level, your acting prowess is legendary, capable of inducing the viewers to feel actual physical sensations.

You would need focused effort to actually master this skill, definitely.

You had also managed to make both Ambidexterity and Knife Combat to rise two levels each (they had been both at level 15) by doing the somewhat foolhardy stunt of playing the knife game with alternating hands. The precision and focus needed to actually do so tired you out.

Ambidexterity Level 17

- Some people are born being able to use both arms with equal dexterity. But what most people don't know is that it is also possible to develop that sort of dexterity with sufficient training. At this level, you can use both hands with precision rivaling those of experts in handcrafts.

Knife Combat Level 17

- The skill to handle a knife effectively in combat. At this level, you are a knife master, having reached a level of precision with your knife work that can be considered an art in itself.

You were almost at the limit of what you could do without focused effort.

Shadowboxing was less productive, even though you went to the point of imagining scenarios including all sorts of varied small details. Still, it was doing well.

Shadow Boxing Level 17

- The skill to create mental scenarios that help the user in training. At this level, you can create the images of any opponent imaginable, and also create the images of complex situations with small details.

You were almost at the limit of what you could do without focused effort.

As for the other skills, you were less proficient in then, and so you managed to raise two levels in each. The most notable of them was the Disguise skill, which you actually trained by creating various disguises and walking around the streets and stores of the city.

Besides that, you simply trained as normal for the other skills, since they still didn't need so much special training.

Cloth Work Level 12

- The skill to work with thread able fibers such as wool and silk, altering and manipulating designs to suit your purposes. At this level, you can adjust your designs based on the situation and still achieve great effects.

Survey Level 12

- The skill to observe places and determine information from them. At this level, you can already be considered an urban recon specialist, but you still have things to learn.

Parkour Level 15

- The skill to move fast through a complicated series of obstacles, like a city. At this level, you are beginning to take parkour to a level beyond any actual practioner, given that it is a young art.

Disguise Level 16

- The skill to conceal your true appearance by faking another one. At this level, given enough resources, you could even pretend to be a specific person with a great chance of avoiding exposure.

Lock picking Level 13

- The ability to break through locks and related security. At this level, you can easily and quickly get through any most locks with very little equipment needed and you can pinpoint security flaws on most places.

Self-hypnosis Level 14

- The ability to put oneself into a suggestionable state and implanting triggers to manipulate their consciousness. At this level, you can influence yourself to a certain point even without external aids, and with them, you can create suggestions that go extremely far.

You decided to test your new ability with hypnosis by creating a trigger to do something very far from the ordinary... allow you to ignore pain. Tests (jabbing yourself with needles) allowed you to be certain of the effect. Still, there was a limit to the tests you were willing to do, and the things you understood about your own mind made it clear that it would be a bad idea to abuse that trigger too much.

-0-

Continue...

-0-

Okay guys, another unexpected thing happened, but I didn't want to leave you without a post for even longer, so I decided to split this in two. I'll write and post the rest tomorrow. I'll explain more about how the mastery bonuses and stuff work in the second half.

 

[Kinni]

Part 2

Speaking of triggers, you had also used your learning trigger during the week, but instead of using it on one of the skills you already knew, you decided to use the trigger in order to make it easier to train in a whole new skill.

What you had chosen was Cold Reading, since being able to "read" people would be a useful ability in a broad variety of situations. And a thing you understood pretty fast was that your achievements in the Acting skill were actually pretty helpful in this new case.

Since you already knew about how to act in order to give people certain impressions, you just needed to focus on trying to see those same "tells" on other people and quickly draw conclusions from that data. That was the base on which you started your training, again walking around the city and looking at people.

But that wasn't all, Cold Reading also involved deliberately making people give you information, watching their reactions to specific words, using vague phrasing to get them to fill in the blanks for you... all kinds of little tricks that had been used by con men and similar people over the ages.

The results were extremely good.

Cold Reading Level 13

- The skill to gather information on people based on even the tiniest details. At this level, you are an expert at the skill, being able to easily pass yourself up as a psychic.

Besides that, you also decided to learn card counting, considering that another skill to help with your memory abilities (besides meditation) would probably be good, since you wanted to master everything, and having better mental abilities would help.

What ended up happening was another surprise that showed how you still had quite a lot to learn about your own gamer ability. Simply put, you followed instructions to learn card counting (they were easy to find on the internet, but not everyone was capable of it) and you worked hard at it, but what you got was actually...

Mental Discipline Level 1

- The skill to maximize the potential of your mind. At this level, you have started to be able to recall details more precisely and compare information more easily.

And that was that. Apparently the techniques used in card counting were all part of that skill. You kept training those techniques and leveling up the skill, before changing your tactics and working on all sorts of memory exercises and trying to maximize your experience gains by using diverse training methods.

And considering how hard it seemed to be to develop it, you were certain that the eventual results would be amazing.

Mental Discipline Level 8

- The skill to maximize the potential of your mind. At this level, you can memorize things with little effort, and sort information into distinct groups for easy access.

Along the way, you had learned all sorts of interesting details about how memory and other mental skills worked, perhaps the most notable of them being about how easy it was to create fake memories. Every single new thing to discovered made you realize how complex the mind was.

And finally, the end of the week arrived, and you went to the same place as before in order to discover what your position would be.

And when you went there, you didn't find only just the same member you had interacted with previously, but there were also three other women wearing the masks of the Inscrutables. One was notably shorter than the other two, of which one was blonde and the other was a brunette.

It seemed like you were the last one to arrive, because your "contact" started talking soon after you entered:

"Now that you are all here, I can explain how things will work." She paused for only a moment, to be certain that the others were paying attention "It has been decided that the four of you are going to be forming a new cell of the Inscrutables." She motioned to a suitcase on the floor "I have the details of your first mission here, but I think you should get to know each other first."

At that point, you and the three looked at each other, and it didn't seem like any of them was going to make the first move.

It was up to you, then.

You were going to introduce yourself to...

[] The short one.
[] The blonde.
[] The brunette.

You were also going to need a fake name to introduce yourself as, and you would choose...

[] Bianca.
[] Amelia.
[] Fernanda.
[] Something else? (Write-in)

 

[Kinni]

[x] The brunette.
[X] Amelia.

You strode confidently towards the brunette. She watched you move attentively but made no move to stop you as you reached close to her and introduced yourself.

"Hello." You said, with a small flourish "You can call me Amelia. How about you?"

The woman looked you up and down and then spoke in a calculating voice:

"Ah, so I've finally met the one they were talking about." She extended a hand "You can call me Susan."

You shook it and asked curiously:

"'They'?"

"Some of my friends in the gang. They talked about my future partners." She said like it wasn't anything serious.

You did not show it, but those simple words were enough to sharply increase the wariness you felt towards Susan. You supposed that it was logical: Entering the gang was extremely convenient due to not needing to reveal your true identity, but the higher-ups still needed a way to keep control. Putting trusted members in new cells to act as "inspectors" was an effective method.

And it seemed like Susan didn't have any intentions of trying to hide her level of influence on the gang. But you could handle that kind of thing. You would just have to play it smart and adapt to the circumstances.

You had a few goals in mind when you decided to infiltrate the Inscrutables: You wanted to have access to some of the leader's super technology to see if your power could interact with it. You wanted a way to learn more about the world of supers than it was possible with just ordinary research. And perhaps most importantly, you wanted to test your skills and see how much control you could manage to obtain.

Despite the way things began, the next interesting development of the night took some more time to happen. After your initial move, the other girls had stepped up and introduced themselves as well. The blonde girl called herself Roberta, and her personality really matched up with your initial impressions. She was soft-spoken and submissive, plus you also got the sense that she should be around the same age as you, which meant that she was one of the youngest members.

As for the short woman (and she was definitely a woman, considering her figure), she introduced herself as Clara and she seemed slightly stand-offish, but the combination of the appearance of an "inspector" with you drawing her into a conversation about her knife (your clear knowledge of the subject of knives certainly impressed her) smoothed over your interactions.

And then, of course, Susan had to throw a curve ball at you with a few words stated cheerfully:

"I believe it is necessary to decide upon a field leader. Amelia, I believe you would be a good choice."

Now, this was definitely something you wanted, even though you were quite clear about the downsides (increased scrutiny and the possibility of having to take responsibility for failures), but Susan's sudden recommendation really caught you off-guard, and you immediately realized that she was testing you.

From the little you had seen of Roberta and Clara, you understood that the former would not dispute any decisions made by the consensus, and wouldn't be willing to take on a leadership position. Clara, on the other hand, was the type who would chafe at any kind of imposition, which was something that could have consequences.

Best to nip that in the bud, then. You turned to look at her and asked:

"What's your opinion, Clara?"

"That..." She was briefly knocked off-balance "That's not the kind of thing that can be decided so easily."

"You are right." You agreed "But questions about ability to lead are very difficult to solve without doing tests. And besides that, the role of a field leader would be different based on the tasks we are asked to perform, and the time we have to plan." You put your hands behind your back "This is indeed not something that should be completely set in stone so early, but I believe that setting a provisional choice early would be good. Susan has suggested me, do you have another suggestion?"

Clara froze, apparently trying to find something to object to and failing "I guess... If it is only provisional..."

You nodded "Even before we actually go on a mission, if you three decide that someone else would be better, I would have no objections."

And that was that. You could tell that Susan was observing you with interest, but you were always going to have to deal with such things if you wanted to achieve your goals. Soon after, the "contact" called you four to inform you about the mission.

Again, you received information in paper about a target, but this time the target was a drug lab of the Red Claws, and the objective was destroying it.

This was pretty alarming, but it seemed like the mission had been well thought-out. The information included the time in which they had to attack (Thursday 2:00 AM) when the place would be mostly empty, as well as the fact that they would receive an "explosive apparatus" to effectuate the actual destruction.

But perhaps the most important part was what the "contact" said after:

"Perform well, and you may be rewarded with some special toys."

That could only have one meaning.

-0-

All that done, you went back home. Since the operation would happen in the middle of the week, you had time to train before it.

Some of the training should be about something relevant for it, but you still had to keep training other things. With that in mind, the training irrelevant to the operation that you were going to do was... (Choose one option)

[] Focus on raising the level of multiple skills you already developed.
-[] Write-in which skills (more skills means your efforts will be split more)
--[] Write-in any special methods for training the skills (Optional)
[] Focus on raising the level of a specific skill (Write-in)
-[] Write-in any special methods for training the skill (Optional)
[] Learn another martial art.
-[] Taekwondo
-[] Jeet Kune Do
-[] Karate
-[] Write-in
--[] Write-in any special methods for training the skill (Optional)
[] Now that you have weapons, it would be good to gain skill with them.
-[] Learn baton combat
--[] Write-in any special methods for training the skill (Optional)
[] Learn a useful miscellaneous skill.
-[] Sleight of hand
-[] Urban tracking
-[] Cold reading
-[] Write-in
--[] Write-in any special methods for training the skill (Optional)
[] Write-in.

-0-

A.N: Really tired... The detailed information about the target and opportunity for planning will come next update, together with the chance to train more things based on the plan, as well as your options for school stuff and learning trigger.

 

[Kinni]

[X] Focus on raising the level of a specific skill (Acting)
-[X] Try using Self Hypnosis to help you get into Character.
-[X] Take video recordings of yourself, and see what your Cold Reading skill can pick out.
-[X] Go out in disguise, and try to trick people into doing or believing various ridiculous things. (Pending)

After the "contact" left, you and the other three members of the cell took a good look at all the information you had available about your mission. The location of the target was a house on what you called the poor part of town. It wasn't near any "important" place (definitely by design), so you would have relative peace for your operation, even more than just from the usual lack of police. It was part of a row of houses in one of the streets that were very close to the peripheral edge of the city.

You knew the area pretty well due to your recon of the city. You explained to the others how the houses around your target were situated, along with general directions. Quickly, you came up with five different routes of escape, and Susan suggested that you should split apart after completing the mission, just in case.

The information mentioned that at the time of the attack, there should be around six gang members present, and at most a single pistol in terms of firearms. For home security, they had three trained guard dogs (rottweilers, to be specific), along with 3.5 meter tall walls with barbed wire on the top and a gate secured with heavy chains and padlocks.

It would definitely be a tough nut to crack. But before planning for it, you needed to make sure the entire team was on the same page, and the first step was...

"Right. We need to explain our skills so we can make plans based on them." You said "In my case, I am pretty good at Muay Thai, can handle a knife decently, I know a bit about lock picking, and I'm a parkour adept." You somehow managed to say all of that without giving off even a trace of smugness, which was definitely a credit to your acting abilities "How about you?"

Clara was the first to answer "I'm an expert in knife-fighting, and I'm also pretty good at scamming people."

Susan spoke next "You could say that I'm an information gatherer and supplier. If you want some information that we don't already have, or if you want some special resources, I can see what I can get. But there is a limit to what I could bring for a new cell."

Roberta was the last one to talk "I-I can do a lot of lockpicking... and... I'm good at snea-sneaking into places without being seen."

"Understood." You said "And... Do you have any special concerns regarding our operation that we need to plan about?"

"Actually..." Roberta unexpectedly took the word first "The plan is to explode the lab... Bu-but there are people there, so we should find a way to not k-kill them." She stopped and took a deep breath "The effects of the bomb would be limited to the space of the house, so bringing them outside should be enough."

They considered that, as Clara decided to talk next "I think we need to plan about what to do in case Shadow Crusader appears. Since she is active in the area."

Susan shuddered at the thought before putting in her own two cents "I bet there's some information about the Red Claws somewhere in the lab. We should try to find it."

And that was the situation. You had to create a plan that would satisfy all three of them if you wanted to solidify your control of the group. Planning the operation itself was obvious, but there were also some extra preparations to do before that, including possibly doing preliminary scouting attacks or similar things. You had until Wednesday night to do everything. So your plan would be...

[] Write-in

Also, you still would have to go to school during this period to avoid suspicion. Your father had asked a few questions about your recent behavior (mostly about suddenly leaving your Muay Thai classes), and it would be best not to do anything else that might cause concern. And in the school you would focus on...

[] Cloth Work. You can do a few things under the table.
[] Something else? (Write-in a new ability and how you're training during class)
[] More than one thing? (Write-in two or more, but will have diminishing returns)
[] Doing something other than simply training (Write-in)

And there was also the rest of your free time. You had already decided to try and master your Acting skill before the operation, but there should still be time for doing other things.

You had thought of trying to get to know your team mates a little more, via some team building exercises. However, considering the situation, it would be more difficult than what you had thought. The anonymity provided by the gang was a powerful incentive, so it was unlikely that they would reveal their real faces to you, specially when you've all just met. And it would be difficult to find places where you could practice (and forms of practice) that you could do while under your Inscrutable disguise.

Still, it was something you could not simply reject out of hand, you just needed to think about it. Or of course, you could also do something else with your time.

You chose... (Choose one)

[] Try to improve you team dynamics by going on team building exercises.
-[] Write-in the exercises and how to convince the others to go along with them.
[] Focus on raising the level of multiple skills you already developed.
-[] Write-in which skills (more skills means your efforts will be split more)
--[] Write-in any special methods for training the skills (Optional)
[] Focus on raising the level of a specific skill (Write-in)
-[] Write-in any special methods for training the skill (Optional)
[] Learn another martial art.
-[] Aikido
-[] Jeet Kune Do
-[] Karate
-[] Write-in
--[] Write-in any special methods for training the skill (Optional)
[] Now that you have weapons, it would be good to gain skill with them.
-[] Learn baton combat
--[] Write-in any special methods for training the skill (Optional)
[] Learn a useful miscellaneous skill.
-[] Sleight of hand
-[] Urban tracking
-[] Write-in
--[] Write-in any special methods for training the skill (Optional)
[] Write-in.

 

[Kinni]

A.N: And I'm finally back. After an awful bout of depression that totally screwed up my projects, I'm ready to come back to this. I hope you guys are still excited for the quest.

A.N.2: I'll try to keep a rate of at least one post every week.

A.N.3: The best part about a team is that you don't have to solve everything yourself. Also, Glass Mask is my favorite shoujo manga, if it wasn't obvious from the post.

[X] Plan Piece of Cake

The four days before your operation were very busy. You first created a chat room to be able to communicate with your three partners easily.

You asked Susan if it would be possible to get the blueprints of the house, and she answered positively. That was the easy part.

You also inquired about the possibility of a cellphone jammer, but Susan's response made it clear that their resources were not nearly enough for something like that. Too bad, it would have been useful. Still, it wasn't likely that the Red Claws could send reinforcements to that place all that fast, specially if you attacked during the time period suggested by the information. So, while it would be best to finish things fast, you wouldn't really be that hurried either.

Of course, you also took a look at the house on your own time, trying to find any security blindspots or useful information. And you quickly found out some useful things: First, while the padlocks on the gate were heavy duty, the chains weren't of the same quality, so they could be easily broken through with a bolt cutter or similar instrument. Second, Clara had mentioned being able to get a portable ladder that was tall enough to climb over the walls, and you saw that it could definitely work if you also brought some sort of cover to allow you to climb over the barbed wire.

However, not everything was good news. It was sad, but she had to admit that the location of the drug lab was pretty secure. The distance between the walls and the surrounding buildings, as well as between the walls and the lab building itself was pretty long. The yard was also open in all directions, except for a doghouse next to the north wall (opposite of the gate) which was also pretty distant from the building. Sneaking through was going to be difficult.

While you were looking, you installed a few cameras to watch the house and tried to make friends with the dogs... But that was also a no go. They wouldn't be friendly no matter what you did, and they didn't even look at the food you tried to give them. You vaguely remembered something about dogs trained to avoid eating poisoned food, and you made the connection, deciding that those dogs should have been professionally trained..

But it wasn't all bad news regarding the dogs. You unexpectedly gained a skill from your efforts, even if they had been unsuccessful:

Animal Taming Level 1

- The skill to teach animals skills and behaviors that they are smart enough to learn. At this level, you understand a bit about taming, but even the simplest tricks are beyond your teaching capacity.

But most importantly, once you mentioned the issues about the dogs, Roberta managed to come up with a solution. She would bring along nets (like those used for fishing) with weights attached to them, so they would be capable of restraining the dogs relatively easily.

Susan came through with the blueprints of the target house. They were as follows:

The ground floor was split into three sections, a west wing, an east wing and a central part (again, that is considering the front gate as being on the "south"). The west wing had a kitchen and attached dining room, along with a side door. The central section had two bedrooms, a living room, an anteroom (connected to the front door) and stairs to the second floor. While the east wing had a bathroom, a laundry room and another side door.

The basement was only a single room, intended for storage, while the second floor had three rooms and a bathroom. Susan said that the drug lab itself was probably on the basement. So that was the situation. More than what you had before, enough to think about.

And of course, you didn't slack off on your skill training. You decided to work on your acting abilities, since the skill was already only one level away from mastery, and while you didn't know which mastery you would gain from it, having an additional mastery, specially for a skill with such a broad range of use, would definitely be useful.

Normal training would probably not help much at that point, so you took to the streets, and without using any disguise, you did your best to act as all sorts of things to fool the nearby people.

You were pretty sure that you left a lot of people feeling confused. You first pretended to be a ghost, manipulating your expression and movements to give off an impression of otherwordliness, and walking on the edges of streets. Later, you shifted to walking in the middle of the crowd, trying to pass the impression of cold to as many people as possible.

You did all sorts of things like that, but you soon realized that the experience gains were slow, and petering out too quickly to be effective. Frustrated, you decided to do something even more extreme, and went to the park and started pretending to be a tree.

Luckily, that allowed you to stumble across the answer.

Trying to act like a tree meant that you needed to completely suppress your human reactions, and while you were focusing on that, your experience gains increased considerably. So you thought about it and arrived at a few conclusions:

You realized that, at the deepest level, acting wasn't about changing into something else. Instead, it was about controlling yourself to such a level that you can completely separate your inner thoughts from your outer actions. You could be completely aware that you were playing a part at the same time as you were enveloped in the character you were playing, without one being able to affect the other, like you had two minds.

And with that understanding, you finally leveled up.

Acting Level 20

- The skill to act out a role, in a way that can fool viewers. At this level, your acting prowess can be called perfect, with only supernatural means being able to detect your true self.

You have obtained: The Glass Mask.

- The essence of Acting is assuming a role without losing oneself. Upon reaching that essence, it is like you have an invisible mask that can hide your true self. It is now like you have two different minds, one on the surface and one deeper down, and that second one is harder to reach from the outside, making it an amazing mental defense, among other qualities.

That was a strange mastery, way different from what you had expected, but you could tell that it would be something extremely useful for the future, just from the words "mental defense".

Besides that, you had ideas of possibly attacking at a different time than what was suggested in the information, but your hidden cameras watching the place showed that such a plan would be difficult to realize.

There was a reason why that particular time had been pinpointed in the documents, and it was because it was the time where the place was most vulnerable. You saw that other times included frequent movements, with supplies being brought in and "merchandise" being taken out. And there were always guards watching over that stuff, and they also frequently stayed within the house for long periods of time.

The short period of recording didn't allow you to pinpoint any specific patterns, but you could tell that trying to attack at different times would lead to being faced with higher resistance. You weren't that afraid of the concept, but it would be difficult to convince your partners to face such a thing if you didn't have a very good plan.

And one last thing to consider was that Clara came through with what she said she would do, and managed to get the number of the cellphone of one of the gang members that would be inside the house during the attack. She was planning on calling during the operation to attempt to drive them into confusion, but she was open to suggestions about other things to do with that call.

Finally, there was one last thing to think about: You had been having thoughts about getting to know your team members in real life, outside of their roles as anonymous masked members of the Inscrutables gang. Doing so just after you had met them would be impossible, since you would need a certain amount of trust to get them to reveal their true faces.

However, you were already thinking of the future. If you finished that first mission successfully, you would probably have gained enough trust to get them to take off their masks... As long as you also did the same, as a show of trust.

That was something you had to decide. It was possible to get closer to your teammates, which would definitely help with whatever you wanted to do later, but the price of that was the loss of your anonymity. Considering that, your decision would be:

[] Yes, you would reveal your face.
[] No, you wouldn't reveal your face.

And... That was all you had. It was finally time to try and come up with a final plan of action for your operation. Considering all your resources and information, your plan would be:

[] Write-in.

A.N: The school stuff will be depicted in a separate post, an interlude that I will try to finish soon.

 

[Kinni]

A.N: Holy Writer's Block, Batman! That was awful.

Interlude: School Dominance

It was amazing what a few well-placed words could do, regardless of whether they were spoken or written.

You hadn't gone in with your plans of assuming dominance of the school that fast. The reason for that was understanding that taking over the social structure of the school wasn't really your goal, per se. Instead, it was simply a way for you to train in abilities that would be useful for your future plans.

Observation of the students and their social structures so as to understand their flaws and how to manipulate them. This had broad applications, since the same principles would apply to manipulation of any organized group of people.

So you observed the groups at school, determined their structure and interactions intra and intergroups, and started thinking of a few possible plans.

Very quickly, you realized that your best chance for taking control of the school lay in taking down the original power structures. You could potentially be able to make your way upwards through normal channels, but it wouldn't be as fast and efficient.

So, going back to what you had been thinking before, words were pretty much all you really needed to achieve the first steps of your plans. However, they had to be properly applied. You had to be sneaky about it, because if people found out that a single person was the source of all those rumors... It wouldn't end well.

And not being exposed was only part of your considerations. The rumors had to be at least somewhat believable, or they wouldn't have any effect. But by far the most important part was that they had to be properly targeted.

That was the reason why you spent a long while observing the social structures of the school. Creating general dread was easy, but to actually make those structures implode, you needed to target their weaknesses.

And your observations quickly revealed a possible avenue of attack. The most "popular" group at school consisted of four girls, but there was one of them who was the clear leader (Amanda) and there was another one who had drama with her in the past (Cleo), so there was an obvious place to drive a wedge through.

But again, acting recklessly would not be enough. You took note of the interactions between the members of the group and the other popular groups of the school. The web of relationships was difficult to follow, but with some observation you managed to get a general idea of how it flowed. This let you strategize a fairly good plan.

First, you sent a few anonymous paper messages to Amanda, telling her she should be paying better attention to her friends. Nothing really amazing, just something to spark her paranoia. Of course, doing just that would take far too long, because trying to get a big change all at once would backfire.

So the second part of the plan would be to make a move from the "other side".

You slowly approached Cleo, starting with asking for advice in ballet training, because she was a semi-professional ballet dancer, and took it very seriously. It didn't take long for you to graduate from acquaintances to friends, though not close friends.

And then you started the next phase, by dropping a few carefully selected words while you two were walking through the school together:

"Amanda really is popular."

Cleo looked at you weirdly "Yes, she is, but what makes you bring that up?"

"It's just that yesterday I saw a girl putting a love letter on her locker." You said.

Cleo narrowed her eyes "Really? When did that happen?"

"It should have been around 1:15 in the afternoon, since it was a little after I left chemistry class..." You said, after thinking for a moment "Why? Did something happen?"

"Actually..." She stopped for a moment, unsure "Someone has been sending Amanda threatening notes."

You faked a startled reaction "For real? Damn, that's rough..."

She looked at you with a serious glance "Could you tell me what that girl looked like?"

"Okay... Let me think for a bit..." You put your fingers on your head.

So you passed to her a description of the "girl". You already had someone in mind: One of the friends of Amanda's sister.

You could see in Cleo's eyes that she recognized the person from your description. After that, you two had to go to your classes, but you were able to determine that Cleo had became worried about what that could mean.

It would be difficult for her to talk to Amanda about that, considering that not only it would make things awkward with her sister, but there was also the possibility that Amanda could be the one behind all of that, trying to garner sympathy.

Of course, this would result in Cleo treating her friend differently, even if unconsciously, which would feed her paranoia even further. This was a situation that could be exploited very easily.

Not bad for two weeks of work.

Also, this training yielded good results for your skills, namely:

Cold Reading Level 15

- The skill to gather information on people based on even the tiniest details. At this level, you are capable of picking up information from someone even through the smallest details, and even if they are trying to hide it from you.

Personal Manipulation Level 5

- The skill to understand what makes people tick and how to make them tick your way. At this level, you can manipulate teenagers without a problem, as long as you have a prepared plan.

-0-

A.N: The first part of your mission should be coming soon. It was just this one part that was holding me back.

 

[Kinni]

[X] Plan Piece of Cake, Revised

The plan they had came up with was actually pretty simple. The easiest way to get inside the house was to be escorted in by one of the members. Usually, that would be difficult to arrange, but with Clara's help and preparations, they had a good chance of making it work.

Of course, "a chance" wasn't a guarantee, so the members of the group had prepared themselves to make a frontal attack if necessary, so they were all equipped with nets to deal with the dogs, along with their normal stuff. Roberta and Susan were waiting with a ladder on the opposite side of the house, ready to go for a pincer attack, or start the second phase of the plan.

You and Clara waited a certain distance away from the target house, and she took out her cellphone and made a call, which was picked up on the third ring. Then she started talking:

"Alvarez? It's me." She had deepened her voice to the point where it could easily pass off as a male one.

"I have a job for you, straight from one of the big bosses. It will be our ticket to a higher position in the gang." You could only hear one side of the conversation.

"No, of course this can't be done through normal channels. There seems to be some sort of struggle among the higher ups, and even I don't know about all the details. I'm just doing what I was ordered to." Her voice was steady and she was very convincing, to the point where you had to admire it.

"You just need to receive a package and keep it hidden on the drug house until 2:30 PM. Also, don't look inside. That was something the boss made very clear."

"I only know that two members are going to come deliver it, and they should be getting there in about five minutes."

"Okay, thanks, I hope things go right for you." Clara hung up, and gave you a thumbs up. You nodded in response.

The two of you didn't want to reveal your faces to each other, but you also didn't want to wear the very conspicuous Inscrutable masks for an infiltration mission. Instead, you wore some heavy clothing, along with hoods, and consciously avoided looking into the faces of each other. You had your masks ready to be put on when the first phase of the plan was done.

You waited for six minutes before walking to the gate of the house. The dogs quickly discovered you and went to bark.

Like that was a sign, a man emerged from the house. He ran over to the gate and calmed the dogs with a few quick gestures. Then he looked at you two and asked:

"Do you have it?"

Clara brought up the suitcase she was carrying. The man nodded and unlocked the padlock before opening the gate. He made to take the suitcase, but Clara brought it away from him.

"We were ordered to go inside to make sure everything is done properly." She said, using her real voice, in a tone that left no room for argument.

The man was clearly surprised and reluctant, but he still led the two through the yard, and the dogs did nothing against them. Finally, the three entered the house.

You went through the anteroom, and stepped into the living room. There was one man sitting on a sofa, watching TV. You couldn't see any guns on the man or around the living room.

That was pretty much the limit of where subtlety could take you. From now on, you would have to take some risks. You didn't know where were the other four men, and you still didn't know where the gun could be.

Perhaps it would be best to attack and disable those two members first. In that case, you would:

[] The guy watching TV is distracted. You and Clara should team up to subdue your "guide" without a sound before moving onto him.
[] There are two of them and two of you. Split the duties and deal with both targets at once.
-[] Clara gets the near and you the far one.
-[] You get the near and she gets the far.
[] Something else? Write-in.

Also, while the plan was to deal with the forces inside before calling the others, perhaps using their attack to attract attention would help in that. So, should you call them over already?

[] Yes.
[] No.

-0-

A.N: Time to think on your feet.

 

[Kinni]

[X] The guy watching TV is distracted. You and Clara should team up to subdue your "guide" without a sound before moving onto him.
[X] No.

Communicating the plan to Clara wasn't difficult at all. The group had previously decided on a few simple gestures to allow orders to be passed without the need for words. And so, you took a piece of cloth from your pocket while Clara took out her knife. And then you both moved at the same time.

In a single, smooth motion, you wrapped the piece of cloth around the mouth of the man, muzzling him, and Clara put a knife to his back and whispered "Don't move."

She then brought his hands behind his back and put him in handcuffs. You followed by tying the piece of cloth so it would remain steady and forcing him to the ground, upon which Clara bound his legs together. The entire operation had been completed without a hitch.

Without a word, you two pounced on the man in the couch, managing to subdue him with just as much trouble as you had with the first one, that is to say, none. Then you pulled the two to a corner of the room, getting them out of sight.

That done, you proceeded to put on your gang masks, since scamming wouldn't really be useful from that point onwards. And seeing the empty room, you thought of asking the other two members of the team to come, even though that would alert the gang members inside that something was wrong, but eventually you decided to keep following the plan.

Of course, now you needed to decide what should be your next actions. There were still four gang members inside the house, so to deal with them you decided to:

[] Remain on the same room and attract the other enemies by making noises.
[] You and Clara shall move on together...
-[] To the basement. It's the likely location of the drug lab, so it's almost certain to contain one or two enemies.
-[] To the west wing. It's the place with a kitchen, so people should go there relatively often.
-[] To the east wing. It's the place with a bathroom, so people should go there relatively often.
-[] To the second floor. It's the place with bedrooms, where people would likely go to rest.
[] You and Clara shall split up...
-[] Write-In your specific movements.
[] Something else? Write-in.

 

[Kinni]

[X] You and Clara shall move on together...
-[X] To the basement. It's the likely location of the drug lab, so it's almost certain to contain one or two enemies.

With a few whispered words, you told Clara to come with you, and you two headed down into the basement.

In complete contrast to the rest of the house, the basement was anything but normal. Looking at the walls and floor, you would probably think they belonged to some kind of advanced medical research institute, instead of a drug lab owned by a local gang.

It made complete sense that they would be sent to destroy it, as a setup like that would definitely cost a pretty penny, and it would harm the Red Claws gang if it were destroyed. But you wondered why they would give a job like that to a new team like yours. Was there some hidden reason behind it?

Regardless, you still had to do your job, so you took point as the both of you walked down a white hallway, leading to a sealed door. It was locked, and it wasn't the kind of door that your lockpicking skills could help with, so you decided on another method to go in.

You simply knocked on the door and waited. The security measures in the house were lax, so you didn't think they would have a system to prevent unauthorized people from entering the lab. It could be easily done via calling the cellphone of someone inside, but it was some extra trouble, and people frequently traded security for convenience.

Sure enough, very soon there was a sound as the door opened, and you heard someone say something like "what do you want?", but you were already moving.

As soon as the door was open enough, you punched through it to hit the throat of the man behind it. He stumbled backwards, unable to utter a sound due to a lack of air, and you forced yourself through, giving a sign to Clara for her to restrain him while you took care of the rest.

However, that was when things stopped going according to plan. The first thing you noticed when you got in was a man wearing a white lab coat, who had frozen midstep. He looked towards you without understanding what was going on, and you took the chance to dash over to him at your maximum speed.

It still wasn't fast enough. The man managed to get out an "INTRU-" before you shut him up with an uppercut. The voice had been loud enough to be heard throughout the entire house. The remaining two man were definitely ready for a fight now.

You looked at the entrance and saw that Clara was just finishing the restraints on the other man and looking at you in concern.

You dropped the screamer to the ground and quickly restrained his arms and legs. Since the jig was up, there was no need to keep him silent. But now you had to deal with two more men, and a gun.

What will you do?

[] Write-in

-0-

A.N: Sorry about the lack of options. I had a few ideas but they were too complicated.