Oh boy. Brockton Bay. As a tinker. It could be worse, right? Of course it could be. But in a 12 years old body with a serious lack of control over some your reactions, things get complicated. Hopefully it will go right. Right?!
Get Away From Brockton Bay! "Tinker of Fiction" SI
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Act 1, Chapter 1
- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
Hello. Inspired by Tinker of Fiction quest by Monk Penguin I decided to start a story based on the concept. But based on me as 12 years old. With my current memories mixed in. It doesn't mix well.
I'm a beginner writer, but I hope you will enjoy my writing anyway. 24 Pages of writing in two days, I'm insane x_X. I doubt I can keep up this pace, but I will try to update at worst once per few days.
I send my thanks to Magus Zanin, Hydralisk and other people on "Penguin's Monastery" Discord for helping me out with writing so far and doing some beta work.
My english isn't perfect, not even close, so feel free to point out whatever is wrong. Constructive criticism is also welcome, as I want to improve as a writer.
It turned out to be a nice day. Even if the previous club of my new buddies from Fautline's Crew didn't survive the Leviathan attack, at least we managed to secure a good spot in Philadelphia instead and created a new Palanquin Club . As far away as from Brockton Bay as possible. Thankfully, friggin hell. I smiled amused when suddenly my new companion called Alf walked towards me and decided to sit in front of me and pushed his alien head towards me to pat it. Oh, you pat maniac, you.
Sheesh, I love to spoil my creation… I mean my new Case53 companion. Yes, of course. It's not like I would dare to biotinker and bring ire of people like Piggot or Tagg, who would scream and rage how I deserve Kill Order. Thankfully Earth-Bet I ended up in haven't been one of those more nasty fanon worlds.
Of course if I decided to actually produce some that may self-replicate, I would end up in a position similar to Blasto and end up with a Kill Order on my head. Those last few weeks… tested my patience, resolve and determination, but I managed to reach a goal of escaping Brockton Bay. Again, fuck that hellhole. Also I noticed that being stuck in a 12 years old body and my tendency to swear more in English then Polish have been something that left me with mixed feelings, but living on Earth-Bet is not a very relaxing activity in the first place.
Even if a glare from my boss was something I never wanted to repeat in the first place. Because in the end mercenary work is all about reputation, but once I presented my plan of a fake Case53 she relented… somewhat. And creating the perfect replica of the infamous black alien from Alien vs Predator series is not something normal people liked to deal with. Or more mentally stable parahumans, which my Boss sure counted as.
"Honestly I still wonder why I accepted this idea in the first place." Faultline stated with a deceptively calm voice, but I knew that if needed she was a harsh, but fair taskmaster. And while she pretty much never raised her voice, I realized that she wasn't pleased. Oh well, I have been a reliable teammate to this point and we both knew it. And even if my tinkering laid more on an insane side, it does make our team that much more efficient, which also brings more money to us. I'm not a greedy asshole by definition and I know personally how coming from a high middle class may actually ruin your life as much as being very poor, but this is a story for later. But I still liked money. Because everyone knows that money is the best superpower of them all.
"Come on boss. Alf here already participated in one of our missions and performed reasonably well."
"Ah yes, he mauled four of our targets that we were supposed to knock out and deliver to Las Vegas Protectorate, but he didn't kill them. Thankfully that wondrous healing stick of yours from that game Team Fortress 2 managed to prevent that mess." Her glare intensified and my poor buddy Alf whined, clearly stressed. Obviously like a good friend I hugged him and whispered to him and our boss can be a pretty scary lady, but she cared about us in her own way.
"Boss Lady is a bit mean, but in the end it turned out well! And you are a good boy! Aren't you? But be careful next time, alright. Some humans and parahuman can be pretty squishy and all."
"You… I give up. Train him properly next time. And I admit when Night Hag jumped on us, he managed to help us survive. So good job. Also I wish you were more serious most of the time." Even when Melanie said it, I could see a tiny ghost of a smile. Ha, I knew you would get used to my new alien buddy. He's adorable in that very strange way. Also Elle adores him, even if others aren't as happy to see the guy.
"Dude, I can't get used to this alien. No offense big and scary alien guy thing. And I think he would be easier to deal with, if he didn't act… like a big and friggin scary puppy."
"Yo Newt. On the other hand if I left the original template on him… it would turn out ugly for obvious reasons. Right now he is like a very, very intelligent dog that improves with each new action. At one point he will be around human intelligence, but I programmed Alf so he will slowly get smarter with time, so it's easier for him to adapt."
"You're a great buddy, but it still gives me creeps. No offense. At least we are doing better than ever."
"Yeah, I'm that good and all." I ignored an eye roll from Melanie. No need to be jealous and all. Although it's good that I could finally relax and enjoy time I have spended with people I start to care about.
Nothing against some people like Taylor, Danny or Missy as some examples, but their loyalty towards Brockton Bay of all places made me tremble in disgust. Seriously. At least some people like Shadow Stalker and Coil received what they deserved, so it's good. Even if Protectorate at this point REALLY wants me to return to them. Ha, yeah, fuck them! Although the way I escaped them, I doubt they would be happy to see me back. Oh well, Fautline's Crew are really good at what they do and so far no one can find me. Even if I lost my secret identity, even if not in public thankfully, I'm doing more than fine at the moment.
"Any new missions at the moment, Boss Lady?" I asked.
"Not really. Although we may afford to take a break now. Some vacation wouldn't hurt." Fautline answered calmly.
"Really? Awesome! So where do we go?" Newter answered in excitement.
"Whelp, planning to go wild, Newt? Hmmm… only US, right?" I was honestly bored, so this change of pace was appreciated.
"Yes, it's simply safer this way."
"I always preferred to go on vacations where I visit some interesting places then lay on a beach or something similar." Because in the end, while I didn't mind beach time, it wasn't my favourite activity on my vacations.
"Sounds nerdy." Yeah, laugh it up Newter.
"Oh shut it. I dislike sun bathing, my skin doesn't take it well. Although swimming is always nice. Although some bikinis…"
"Ha! I guess you're at that age already. Ah, they grow up so fast these days." He even made 'remove fake tears' gesture.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. So… Honolulu? Sounds good?"
"Yes, it sounds reasonable. I just need to book some tickets and we may go. I just need to inform others as well." And this was it from our strict boss lady.
Yeah, even if Earth-Bet was hardly a nice place, in the end it still had some decent people in it. And by Earth-Bet standards Faultline's Crew are almost like saints. Sure, they are first and foremost mercenaries, but I may deal with it. I'm more than cynical for it. And people of Brockton Bay like Skitter? Sorry, but I was never obsessed with the story in the first place. And how creepy some self inserts could be with how hard they tried to 'befriend' the main protagonist disturbed me greatly. Especially when over 20 years old guys insisted on getting into a friendship zone with a 15 years old. Come on, ridiculous.
Thankfully it turned out alright so far. Even ignoring the incoming apocalypse and me missing my family, it could have turned out to be far worse. And in the end I will still try to do everything in my power to prevent it. And if not? Well… at this point I will end up dead or be already in a different dimension. Hopefully with my new companions.
Clearly relaxed, I closed my eyes and let Alf lay in front me. Even though I wish I could forget some things that happened. And what exactly happened so far? Well…
**********************************************************************************************************
"Hello Mister Hebert. It's nice to see you. I hope we will do fine together."
"Call me Danny, Kamil. I know it must be overwhelming to you to end up in a new country and… an accident that happened, but I hope you will enjoy your time in Brockton Bay."
Like fucking hell I will. Once I get a chance I'm out of Brockton Bay. I have nothing against you both, but I'm not suicidal. And Brockton Bay is one of the worst places when it goes to personal survival.
"Danny then. Again, I hope I'm not a bother."
"No, no, it's fine. And your parents left you with a pretty impressive inheritance, so you aren't a burden on us when it goes to finances. And your english is pretty good"
"Thank you. That's good. Also mister social worker, is that all?"
"Yes, all formalities are confirmed. Enjoy your time together."
Once a social worker that I completely didn't care about left, I sighed and moved towards the Hebert household. Awkward silence was pretty obvious, but I didn't really mind. Silence is something I always prefered over loud noises and crowds always made me uncomfortable.
Once I entered my new home, I noticed on the stairs moving towards us a teenage girl. Yep, it was Taylor Hebert, alright. Black, curly hair, glasses and a bit too wide mouth. In real life I would say she was completely… average. Honestly it was pretty cruel how they bullied and ridiculed her looks, because I met far, far worse. It was never truly bad for me, as I was also considered aggressive with my old temper issues. I was called fat all the time, but a good few punches and it shut up people in the past, which caused trouble to me back then. Later on with the help of a psychologist I almost eliminated my anger issues, but I'm again in my young, far more aggressive body… It's not a good combination. My old 32 years old body would even find her reasonably attractive, of course once she would get at least a few years older.
Of course I barely contained myself. In a way for me this was a nightmare scenario and I barely kept my far, far younger chubby body in check. I didn't want to be here and deal with a nightmare called Earth-Bet. I hated to admit it, but I spended few sleepless nights dealing with this issue. It was really unfair. But if I learned something in my previous life that I rarely needed to do, if ever applied to anything. Survive.
"Who are you?" Yep, she was already on defensive. Those bitches really screwed her up. Tightened jaw, clear mistrust in her eyes, grimace on her face. And while part of me felt sorry for her, I also wanted to avoid getting attached to her. Survival. Think of survival.
"Kamil Horowski. Your cousin from Poland. I know you never heard of me, but uncle Danny may confirm it. Also before you adopted me, I was an orphan, as my parents died in a car accident."
Talk about cliche. You couldn't be more original, could you ROB? Or whoever the hell sended me here. Anyway I had plans to escape this place, so hopefully everything would go right. And February 21st showed me that I still had some time to do what I needed to do.
"Camille? It sounds like a girl's name." I laughed, because in Polish Kamil in a way sounds similar. Although I could say that she was already more positively more inclined. Dead parent was something we had in common here after all. "In a way it's true. But it's a male name. I have no idea how American version would sound… I guess Carmelo? Yeah, let's go with Carmelo."
It's not like it was important in the first place. I just needed to deal with my tinker urges for a week, where I would end up in a school. I had a plan for this part of the escape plan once I would end up there. Just be polite and talk when needed.
Attack on Titan technology wasn't something I would find amazing, but it was pretty decent anyway. And it had some interesting gadgets, like vertical maneuvering equipment. Jumping around like a Spider-Man wannabe, here we come! Also it thankfully required some very basic tools and equipment, so I didn't need a lot to build it in the first place. Now to only find a moment and place to do it, without Taylor and her bugs spying on me all the time.
So I had a week to ignore those tinker urges and hope for the best. Without anything going wrong. Hopefully. Be patient and survive. Survive.
I'm a beginner writer, but I hope you will enjoy my writing anyway. 24 Pages of writing in two days, I'm insane x_X. I doubt I can keep up this pace, but I will try to update at worst once per few days.
I send my thanks to Magus Zanin, Hydralisk and other people on "Penguin's Monastery" Discord for helping me out with writing so far and doing some beta work.
My english isn't perfect, not even close, so feel free to point out whatever is wrong. Constructive criticism is also welcome, as I want to improve as a writer.
It turned out to be a nice day. Even if the previous club of my new buddies from Fautline's Crew didn't survive the Leviathan attack, at least we managed to secure a good spot in Philadelphia instead and created a new Palanquin Club . As far away as from Brockton Bay as possible. Thankfully, friggin hell. I smiled amused when suddenly my new companion called Alf walked towards me and decided to sit in front of me and pushed his alien head towards me to pat it. Oh, you pat maniac, you.
Sheesh, I love to spoil my creation… I mean my new Case53 companion. Yes, of course. It's not like I would dare to biotinker and bring ire of people like Piggot or Tagg, who would scream and rage how I deserve Kill Order. Thankfully Earth-Bet I ended up in haven't been one of those more nasty fanon worlds.
Of course if I decided to actually produce some that may self-replicate, I would end up in a position similar to Blasto and end up with a Kill Order on my head. Those last few weeks… tested my patience, resolve and determination, but I managed to reach a goal of escaping Brockton Bay. Again, fuck that hellhole. Also I noticed that being stuck in a 12 years old body and my tendency to swear more in English then Polish have been something that left me with mixed feelings, but living on Earth-Bet is not a very relaxing activity in the first place.
Even if a glare from my boss was something I never wanted to repeat in the first place. Because in the end mercenary work is all about reputation, but once I presented my plan of a fake Case53 she relented… somewhat. And creating the perfect replica of the infamous black alien from Alien vs Predator series is not something normal people liked to deal with. Or more mentally stable parahumans, which my Boss sure counted as.
"Honestly I still wonder why I accepted this idea in the first place." Faultline stated with a deceptively calm voice, but I knew that if needed she was a harsh, but fair taskmaster. And while she pretty much never raised her voice, I realized that she wasn't pleased. Oh well, I have been a reliable teammate to this point and we both knew it. And even if my tinkering laid more on an insane side, it does make our team that much more efficient, which also brings more money to us. I'm not a greedy asshole by definition and I know personally how coming from a high middle class may actually ruin your life as much as being very poor, but this is a story for later. But I still liked money. Because everyone knows that money is the best superpower of them all.
"Come on boss. Alf here already participated in one of our missions and performed reasonably well."
"Ah yes, he mauled four of our targets that we were supposed to knock out and deliver to Las Vegas Protectorate, but he didn't kill them. Thankfully that wondrous healing stick of yours from that game Team Fortress 2 managed to prevent that mess." Her glare intensified and my poor buddy Alf whined, clearly stressed. Obviously like a good friend I hugged him and whispered to him and our boss can be a pretty scary lady, but she cared about us in her own way.
"Boss Lady is a bit mean, but in the end it turned out well! And you are a good boy! Aren't you? But be careful next time, alright. Some humans and parahuman can be pretty squishy and all."
"You… I give up. Train him properly next time. And I admit when Night Hag jumped on us, he managed to help us survive. So good job. Also I wish you were more serious most of the time." Even when Melanie said it, I could see a tiny ghost of a smile. Ha, I knew you would get used to my new alien buddy. He's adorable in that very strange way. Also Elle adores him, even if others aren't as happy to see the guy.
"Dude, I can't get used to this alien. No offense big and scary alien guy thing. And I think he would be easier to deal with, if he didn't act… like a big and friggin scary puppy."
"Yo Newt. On the other hand if I left the original template on him… it would turn out ugly for obvious reasons. Right now he is like a very, very intelligent dog that improves with each new action. At one point he will be around human intelligence, but I programmed Alf so he will slowly get smarter with time, so it's easier for him to adapt."
"You're a great buddy, but it still gives me creeps. No offense. At least we are doing better than ever."
"Yeah, I'm that good and all." I ignored an eye roll from Melanie. No need to be jealous and all. Although it's good that I could finally relax and enjoy time I have spended with people I start to care about.
Nothing against some people like Taylor, Danny or Missy as some examples, but their loyalty towards Brockton Bay of all places made me tremble in disgust. Seriously. At least some people like Shadow Stalker and Coil received what they deserved, so it's good. Even if Protectorate at this point REALLY wants me to return to them. Ha, yeah, fuck them! Although the way I escaped them, I doubt they would be happy to see me back. Oh well, Fautline's Crew are really good at what they do and so far no one can find me. Even if I lost my secret identity, even if not in public thankfully, I'm doing more than fine at the moment.
"Any new missions at the moment, Boss Lady?" I asked.
"Not really. Although we may afford to take a break now. Some vacation wouldn't hurt." Fautline answered calmly.
"Really? Awesome! So where do we go?" Newter answered in excitement.
"Whelp, planning to go wild, Newt? Hmmm… only US, right?" I was honestly bored, so this change of pace was appreciated.
"Yes, it's simply safer this way."
"I always preferred to go on vacations where I visit some interesting places then lay on a beach or something similar." Because in the end, while I didn't mind beach time, it wasn't my favourite activity on my vacations.
"Sounds nerdy." Yeah, laugh it up Newter.
"Oh shut it. I dislike sun bathing, my skin doesn't take it well. Although swimming is always nice. Although some bikinis…"
"Ha! I guess you're at that age already. Ah, they grow up so fast these days." He even made 'remove fake tears' gesture.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. So… Honolulu? Sounds good?"
"Yes, it sounds reasonable. I just need to book some tickets and we may go. I just need to inform others as well." And this was it from our strict boss lady.
Yeah, even if Earth-Bet was hardly a nice place, in the end it still had some decent people in it. And by Earth-Bet standards Faultline's Crew are almost like saints. Sure, they are first and foremost mercenaries, but I may deal with it. I'm more than cynical for it. And people of Brockton Bay like Skitter? Sorry, but I was never obsessed with the story in the first place. And how creepy some self inserts could be with how hard they tried to 'befriend' the main protagonist disturbed me greatly. Especially when over 20 years old guys insisted on getting into a friendship zone with a 15 years old. Come on, ridiculous.
Thankfully it turned out alright so far. Even ignoring the incoming apocalypse and me missing my family, it could have turned out to be far worse. And in the end I will still try to do everything in my power to prevent it. And if not? Well… at this point I will end up dead or be already in a different dimension. Hopefully with my new companions.
Clearly relaxed, I closed my eyes and let Alf lay in front me. Even though I wish I could forget some things that happened. And what exactly happened so far? Well…
**********************************************************************************************************
"Hello Mister Hebert. It's nice to see you. I hope we will do fine together."
"Call me Danny, Kamil. I know it must be overwhelming to you to end up in a new country and… an accident that happened, but I hope you will enjoy your time in Brockton Bay."
Like fucking hell I will. Once I get a chance I'm out of Brockton Bay. I have nothing against you both, but I'm not suicidal. And Brockton Bay is one of the worst places when it goes to personal survival.
"Danny then. Again, I hope I'm not a bother."
"No, no, it's fine. And your parents left you with a pretty impressive inheritance, so you aren't a burden on us when it goes to finances. And your english is pretty good"
"Thank you. That's good. Also mister social worker, is that all?"
"Yes, all formalities are confirmed. Enjoy your time together."
Once a social worker that I completely didn't care about left, I sighed and moved towards the Hebert household. Awkward silence was pretty obvious, but I didn't really mind. Silence is something I always prefered over loud noises and crowds always made me uncomfortable.
Once I entered my new home, I noticed on the stairs moving towards us a teenage girl. Yep, it was Taylor Hebert, alright. Black, curly hair, glasses and a bit too wide mouth. In real life I would say she was completely… average. Honestly it was pretty cruel how they bullied and ridiculed her looks, because I met far, far worse. It was never truly bad for me, as I was also considered aggressive with my old temper issues. I was called fat all the time, but a good few punches and it shut up people in the past, which caused trouble to me back then. Later on with the help of a psychologist I almost eliminated my anger issues, but I'm again in my young, far more aggressive body… It's not a good combination. My old 32 years old body would even find her reasonably attractive, of course once she would get at least a few years older.
Of course I barely contained myself. In a way for me this was a nightmare scenario and I barely kept my far, far younger chubby body in check. I didn't want to be here and deal with a nightmare called Earth-Bet. I hated to admit it, but I spended few sleepless nights dealing with this issue. It was really unfair. But if I learned something in my previous life that I rarely needed to do, if ever applied to anything. Survive.
"Who are you?" Yep, she was already on defensive. Those bitches really screwed her up. Tightened jaw, clear mistrust in her eyes, grimace on her face. And while part of me felt sorry for her, I also wanted to avoid getting attached to her. Survival. Think of survival.
"Kamil Horowski. Your cousin from Poland. I know you never heard of me, but uncle Danny may confirm it. Also before you adopted me, I was an orphan, as my parents died in a car accident."
Talk about cliche. You couldn't be more original, could you ROB? Or whoever the hell sended me here. Anyway I had plans to escape this place, so hopefully everything would go right. And February 21st showed me that I still had some time to do what I needed to do.
"Camille? It sounds like a girl's name." I laughed, because in Polish Kamil in a way sounds similar. Although I could say that she was already more positively more inclined. Dead parent was something we had in common here after all. "In a way it's true. But it's a male name. I have no idea how American version would sound… I guess Carmelo? Yeah, let's go with Carmelo."
It's not like it was important in the first place. I just needed to deal with my tinker urges for a week, where I would end up in a school. I had a plan for this part of the escape plan once I would end up there. Just be polite and talk when needed.
Attack on Titan technology wasn't something I would find amazing, but it was pretty decent anyway. And it had some interesting gadgets, like vertical maneuvering equipment. Jumping around like a Spider-Man wannabe, here we come! Also it thankfully required some very basic tools and equipment, so I didn't need a lot to build it in the first place. Now to only find a moment and place to do it, without Taylor and her bugs spying on me all the time.
So I had a week to ignore those tinker urges and hope for the best. Without anything going wrong. Hopefully. Be patient and survive. Survive.
Last edited:
Act 1, Chapter 2
- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
Chapter 2:
Last few days were pretty much calm, even if I struggled to simply rest. It was too much for me. I never dealt with heavy stress well. I managed to pass some important tests in the past, but I always felt it was always closer than it should be.
I hated pressure and I always worked better when I could simply relax and take my time to deal with problems or issues. And Earth-Bet was a problem that I really wanted to avoid. Mom, grandma, bro… I missed you. I will adapt, but I think it will take me a very long time before I'm over it.
I ignored the tears that gathered in my eyes and yet another almost sleepless night. I was at my limit, but at some point I will simply drop, because I'm too tired. I sighed heavily and slowly woke up, while also ignoring that urge to tinker.
No wonder tinkers needed to tinker. It was bad. Not horrible yet to the point I must do something, but I slowly reached my limit. I slowly stood up, changed my clothes and moved to the bathroom to take a shower and brush my teeth. Once I was done, I noticed slowly moving in my way Taylor, also clearly not happy with an obvious grimace and realization, that she needed to go to school and deal with her problems pretty much from the start. And yes, I despised Mondays myself. Although it was a day I was introduced to the new school with a bunch of 12 years old brats. Unfortunately I was one of them, but the thing is that I always disliked kids. Little nightmares I swear…
"Hello." I simply said. Her tired look showed that small talk is something she preferred to avoid. But I could also see that she at least wanted to be polite.
"Hello Carmelo. Today is your first day at a new school, right? Are you looking forward to it?" I suspected that saying this with a straight face took a herculean effort for her, taking into account her horrible school experiences.
"Not really. But I guess I should give it a chance, right?" No, not really. If everything went right, today would be the first and last day I spent there. Hopefully after today I will be out of Brockton Bay. And try my luck somewhere else, like Stafford.
Also yesterday I spent time gathering some information. Internet cafes, libraries and also I purchased a few small cameras. When Danny raised his eyebrows on those, I simply stated that Brockton Bay has a pretty bad reputation and I prefered to record everything just in case. Trust no one and record everything was pretty much my line of thinking. I clearly saw that this line of thinking troubled him, but inside I scoffed. If you really wanted, you would move from Brockton Bay a long time ago. Trying to revive that pretty much dead skeleton of a city was pretty much pointless in my opinion.
I know some people are very attached to the places they live in, but personally I never have understood that attitude. Sometimes some places simply aren't worth living in and it's better to move on.
"This is a new start for you. And maybe you will find a friend or two. Just be careful, alright." I barely managed to hold my wince, when she said all of this in almost bored monotone. I could tell that Taylor forced herself to say it.
Some things were better left unsaid and this was one of those situations. And anyway I prefered to not get used to it. Because in the end I wanted to avoid this whole mess in the first place.
After breakfast and Taylor moving out of the house towards her school, Danny picked me up and drove me towards my new school. Once he parked his car, he held my hand and we moved together towards possibly the few most boring hours of my life. Delightful. Also laughing and screeching brats made this experience even worse. It was time to move on and ignore that need to tinker.
Introduction to my new principal was as boring as I expected and all I did was politely answer some questions and with a fake smile I pretended to be excited and looked forward to meeting my classmates.
Afterwards the next few hours I could describe my experiences in a few simple words: boring, annoying, angry, tired and overall unhappy. Of course some little shits pretended to whisper about that fatso that was creepily silent. Well, thankfully I sat behind them, so one well placed rock towards one of them was satisfying to shut one of them up. Gosh, I needed a break. Badly. And to start my new plan.
"Excuse me, Miss Morris. I need to go to the toilet."
"You can't hold it in? It's just 10 minutes left."
"I really, REALLY can't. Please, I need it badly."
"Oh alright, but please try to come back quickly."
"Obviously Miss Morris."
I instantly stood up and ran as fast as possible towards the door. Thankfully with a blouse with a big cowl I could pick up some things before I left. Like that stolen penknife, which I admit left me with mixed feelings. I never stole in my previous life, but current circumstances… I needed all the advantages I could get. And I suspect Danny wouldn't want to buy me one because of my age. Sigh, so annoying.
I remembered at the start of the day when one of the students, whose name I forgot, presented me some classes where I could find a janitor. Some old guy who liked to move around once in a while for several minutes and check things at school. Idea here would be to simply wait and let my power tell me how to use penknife and open the lock. Yes, Attack on Titan specialty helped here. Even if I found it strange, I was glad for it.
I needed to be quick. With some difficulty I somehow opened the lock and checked everything that was around. Thankfully that specialty required very few materials and time to work. Although I decided to pick up what I could, including a gun. Nothing I recognized, but honestly I never truly cared about guns in the first place.
I quickly picked those, locked a door back and picked up some keys and one of the classrooms that were empty. I had no time to lose, and my power instantly helped me out.
I focused on vertical maneuvering equipment and a miniature version of Thunder Spear, which I could for some reason build with absolutely minimum amounts of materials. Tinker bullshit at its finest. Also some sort of stone to turn blades far sharper than they should be from the few knives I picked up and attached them to few sticks to turn them into primitive versions of bayonets. Whatever was left from a gun, I hid in the pockets of my blouse.
I quickly checked my watch and it was alright. Around 15 minutes. I heard the commotion outside, although it wasn't panicked if I heard it right. Satisfied with my work, I used one of my new knives to cut some rags I found and cover up my face and hair in bandana-like fashion.
While I was confident, I had some doubts. My tinker need was satisfied and I was certain it would work, but it was risky. I knew that I would need to commit some risky actions, Earth-Bet and all, but something felt off to me.
I shrugged, inhaled and opened up the window while I prepared my special maneuvering equipment. I smiled with glee once a hook attached to the closest building and I jumped.
Just one jump and I felt like I was in heaven. This feeling of almost flying in the air with some mid-air turns made me feel incredible. Man, no wonder Spider-Man loved to jump like this. Incredible wasn't even close to describing it. I knew the general direction I wanted to move on, while avoiding bigger gang territories. I needed to be as fast as possible, and so far it looked good. If I noticed a bigger group of people, I instantly jumped to the ground and threw my hook as close to the walls of a random building in quasi-climb fashion. I felt confident. It was looking good. Man, such simple equipment and it provided so much fun! And while I wished I had something better to work with, like Mass Effect or something similar, this wasn't bad at all.
I landed on some random building somewhere near the end of Boardwalk. Only Downtown and I would be free. Yeah, I suspect people wouldn't appreciate what I did, but Brockton Bay wasn't a place for me. Now I needed to be more subtle and…
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
Oh shit! That voice sounded like coming from a teenage girl. So in Brockton Bay it means Rune or Glory Girl. And while both options were horrible, the first one was really bad news. Nazis are bad people and all.
I turned around and noticed both Glory Girl and Panacea, which she carefully put on the roof of the building. I ignored the brunette afterwards, as I couldn't help, but look at this human wonder and that absolutely stunning blonde. And those legs to die for…
What? What the fuck? That… THAT AURA!
This left me speechless. I deep down knew that her aura affected people around, but this was still something I wanted to avoid. Maybe my reaction was so strong, because of my new very young body and how tired I was, but I think with how surprised she was here and how she slightly backed off, when she noticed sheer fury on my face. I reacted before I could think about it and pulled off my Thunder Spear and instantly shot in her direction. I ignored the shocked scream, although I doubted it would hurt her. It never crossed my mind that I actually managed to land that hit and that it pushed her away some distance from the sheer recoil. And I screamed as my arms suddenly exploded in pain.
Once I shook my head, angry Panacea moved in my direction, clearly not amused. I dropped Thunder Spear without thinking and pulled off one of my blades, and clearly aimed in her direction, which made her stop.
Oh boy, it escalated in some very wrong directions. Also I knew what both Panacea and Glory girl did to some criminals. And while part of me thought that they wouldn't do something truly bad to me because of the age of this body, I wouldn't trust them for shit as well to behave.
"What the fuck! That fucking mindraping aura! Keep it in fucking check!"
"What is wrong with you brat? That could hurt someone! And language!"
"Screw you, barbie! And you! Tell your sister to keep this shit in check! My body reacted on its own because of it. Holy hell, why does no one call you on it?!"
"You shot her, you little psycho! And Vicky, AURA!"
"My body went into 'danger mode', because of that aura!"
"Maybe someone like you needs to be spanked? And what are you doing here at this hour?!"
It was a chaotic mess. No one moved close to each other, but I knew I wasn't winning this one and I think only my words about aura and my age stopped them from literally jumping me just like that. I exhaled. I needed to deal with being tired, angry and in a bad spot. I needed to CALM DOWN.
"Stop! Just… stop. Please. I'm… tired." I dropped my knives on the floor as well. I raised my hands to show I have nothing in them. Thankfully Vicky calmed down and I kept looking at her. I ignored the annoyed huff from Panacea, because of course she can't be ever happy. Annoyance was still there on Glory Girls face, but it softened a bit.
"Ok, answer the question again. What are you doing here?"
I wanted to lie. To simply keep it that I tested equipment or something similar. But I think my tiredness started to catch up with me. So I simply told the truth.
"I want to escape Brockton Bay and never see it again."
Their surprised faces pretty much told the whole story. They didn't expect this answer. Although sudden looks of pity that followed up afterwards I wanted to ignore. Because I HATED pity aimed towards me. Amy raised an eyebrow, and stated.
"Or maybe you are lying? Parents didn't give you some attention and this is some childish rebellion?"
"My parents are dead, you insensitive cunt."
Ah, that look of shock on her face was fantastic. And I think the look on my face said it all. I didn't really care what happened to parents here, it was a very different story in my previous life. At least mother, because my father could fucking rot for all I cared. Gosh, I miss them. And I know they miss me as well. I just… it's not fair.
"Don't cry, okay? It's… alright."
"Ok, yeah, sorry. Geez…"
So I cried. Fuck this premature body. Oh well, I needed to wipe those tears, so I did. I decided to sit and simply close my eyes.
"Ok, I feel better now. To say why? Because this city FUCKING SUCKS. I never wanted to end up here, but the only family I have left is here. And I know they love this shithole for some reason."
"It's… not that bad. There are still people around that are worth fighting for. Isn't that right, Ames?"
Amy was silent and I suspected the reason. She hated healing and with all that violence around, she would never run out of people to heal. And while fanon heavily exaggerated the amount of healing she dealt with, it's more than enough to make her tired of it anyway. Also add to this neglectful and paranoid bitchy mother figure called Brandish and she's pretty much a mess. I never liked her and I think of her as a bitch, but some parts of her life sucked balls.
"Yes, like you Vicky." Ah yes, also the whole Vicky mess. I obviously never planned to touch it with a 20 foot pole. As I'm sure as hell was not qualified for it. Also for me it was clear that she pretty much only cared for Vicky with this sentence, while Vicky took it here as one of the people worth fighting for here. Obviously Worm communication at its finest.
"That's… they care about you, right? And they don't neglect you, right?"
"No, nothing bad happens. And we barely know each other. Pretty much been with them a week."
"So give them a chance."
No, fuck it. It was pointless. This city would be my grave and I refused to die here. And with all that incoming shit like Leviathan, Bakuda, S9 and some others… it was hopeless. Pointless.
"Honestly I'm baffled you keep your spirits like this. After the whole Fleur fiasco and all."
Ugh, that was a wrong thing to say. Her aura flared out and I choked. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
"Vicky, AURA!"
"I'm sorry!"
And it receded. Fuck this, I'm not dealing with her anymore. Even if I needed to secure a restraining order. It was horrible.
"Anyway I plan to continue. I have some ideas on how to proceed."
"Wait, wait. Why not join The Wards?"
Ah yes, and deal with Piggot, Shadow Stalker and fucking Coil messing with things around. With possibly most corrupt and incompetent branch of Protectorate, while also vulnerable to all villains around, with a city being a feudal criminal mess. No thanks.
"In this city? Hah, forget it! Not happening."
"Ok, I get it. You don't like this place. You are also really cynical for your age." I rolled my eyes, which she ignored. "But maybe you can… be transferred or something?"
Also something I was sure wouldn't happen. Piggot needed all the parahumans, and Heberts also wouldn't do it. Maybe I'm too cynical, but I didn't like my odds. And well… I suspected probationary membership is something I would end up with. And realization on how reckless I was hit me like a hammer. Oh, that was bad. Why…
"I'm not interested. You may as well help me or leave me alone. I need to keep going."
"Be reasonable. It will be alright, I'm sure of it!" When suddenly she flew in my direction and caught me, I started to trash in her hands.
"Oh, leave me alone! Help!"
"Stop struggling. Amy!"
When Panacea moved in my direction, I didn't like the look in her eyes. Once she touched me, I started to get sleepy.
"Oh you bi…" And my eyes closed. And darkness was the last thing I saw.
Last few days were pretty much calm, even if I struggled to simply rest. It was too much for me. I never dealt with heavy stress well. I managed to pass some important tests in the past, but I always felt it was always closer than it should be.
I hated pressure and I always worked better when I could simply relax and take my time to deal with problems or issues. And Earth-Bet was a problem that I really wanted to avoid. Mom, grandma, bro… I missed you. I will adapt, but I think it will take me a very long time before I'm over it.
I ignored the tears that gathered in my eyes and yet another almost sleepless night. I was at my limit, but at some point I will simply drop, because I'm too tired. I sighed heavily and slowly woke up, while also ignoring that urge to tinker.
No wonder tinkers needed to tinker. It was bad. Not horrible yet to the point I must do something, but I slowly reached my limit. I slowly stood up, changed my clothes and moved to the bathroom to take a shower and brush my teeth. Once I was done, I noticed slowly moving in my way Taylor, also clearly not happy with an obvious grimace and realization, that she needed to go to school and deal with her problems pretty much from the start. And yes, I despised Mondays myself. Although it was a day I was introduced to the new school with a bunch of 12 years old brats. Unfortunately I was one of them, but the thing is that I always disliked kids. Little nightmares I swear…
"Hello." I simply said. Her tired look showed that small talk is something she preferred to avoid. But I could also see that she at least wanted to be polite.
"Hello Carmelo. Today is your first day at a new school, right? Are you looking forward to it?" I suspected that saying this with a straight face took a herculean effort for her, taking into account her horrible school experiences.
"Not really. But I guess I should give it a chance, right?" No, not really. If everything went right, today would be the first and last day I spent there. Hopefully after today I will be out of Brockton Bay. And try my luck somewhere else, like Stafford.
Also yesterday I spent time gathering some information. Internet cafes, libraries and also I purchased a few small cameras. When Danny raised his eyebrows on those, I simply stated that Brockton Bay has a pretty bad reputation and I prefered to record everything just in case. Trust no one and record everything was pretty much my line of thinking. I clearly saw that this line of thinking troubled him, but inside I scoffed. If you really wanted, you would move from Brockton Bay a long time ago. Trying to revive that pretty much dead skeleton of a city was pretty much pointless in my opinion.
I know some people are very attached to the places they live in, but personally I never have understood that attitude. Sometimes some places simply aren't worth living in and it's better to move on.
"This is a new start for you. And maybe you will find a friend or two. Just be careful, alright." I barely managed to hold my wince, when she said all of this in almost bored monotone. I could tell that Taylor forced herself to say it.
Some things were better left unsaid and this was one of those situations. And anyway I prefered to not get used to it. Because in the end I wanted to avoid this whole mess in the first place.
After breakfast and Taylor moving out of the house towards her school, Danny picked me up and drove me towards my new school. Once he parked his car, he held my hand and we moved together towards possibly the few most boring hours of my life. Delightful. Also laughing and screeching brats made this experience even worse. It was time to move on and ignore that need to tinker.
Introduction to my new principal was as boring as I expected and all I did was politely answer some questions and with a fake smile I pretended to be excited and looked forward to meeting my classmates.
Afterwards the next few hours I could describe my experiences in a few simple words: boring, annoying, angry, tired and overall unhappy. Of course some little shits pretended to whisper about that fatso that was creepily silent. Well, thankfully I sat behind them, so one well placed rock towards one of them was satisfying to shut one of them up. Gosh, I needed a break. Badly. And to start my new plan.
"Excuse me, Miss Morris. I need to go to the toilet."
"You can't hold it in? It's just 10 minutes left."
"I really, REALLY can't. Please, I need it badly."
"Oh alright, but please try to come back quickly."
"Obviously Miss Morris."
I instantly stood up and ran as fast as possible towards the door. Thankfully with a blouse with a big cowl I could pick up some things before I left. Like that stolen penknife, which I admit left me with mixed feelings. I never stole in my previous life, but current circumstances… I needed all the advantages I could get. And I suspect Danny wouldn't want to buy me one because of my age. Sigh, so annoying.
I remembered at the start of the day when one of the students, whose name I forgot, presented me some classes where I could find a janitor. Some old guy who liked to move around once in a while for several minutes and check things at school. Idea here would be to simply wait and let my power tell me how to use penknife and open the lock. Yes, Attack on Titan specialty helped here. Even if I found it strange, I was glad for it.
I needed to be quick. With some difficulty I somehow opened the lock and checked everything that was around. Thankfully that specialty required very few materials and time to work. Although I decided to pick up what I could, including a gun. Nothing I recognized, but honestly I never truly cared about guns in the first place.
I quickly picked those, locked a door back and picked up some keys and one of the classrooms that were empty. I had no time to lose, and my power instantly helped me out.
I focused on vertical maneuvering equipment and a miniature version of Thunder Spear, which I could for some reason build with absolutely minimum amounts of materials. Tinker bullshit at its finest. Also some sort of stone to turn blades far sharper than they should be from the few knives I picked up and attached them to few sticks to turn them into primitive versions of bayonets. Whatever was left from a gun, I hid in the pockets of my blouse.
I quickly checked my watch and it was alright. Around 15 minutes. I heard the commotion outside, although it wasn't panicked if I heard it right. Satisfied with my work, I used one of my new knives to cut some rags I found and cover up my face and hair in bandana-like fashion.
While I was confident, I had some doubts. My tinker need was satisfied and I was certain it would work, but it was risky. I knew that I would need to commit some risky actions, Earth-Bet and all, but something felt off to me.
I shrugged, inhaled and opened up the window while I prepared my special maneuvering equipment. I smiled with glee once a hook attached to the closest building and I jumped.
Just one jump and I felt like I was in heaven. This feeling of almost flying in the air with some mid-air turns made me feel incredible. Man, no wonder Spider-Man loved to jump like this. Incredible wasn't even close to describing it. I knew the general direction I wanted to move on, while avoiding bigger gang territories. I needed to be as fast as possible, and so far it looked good. If I noticed a bigger group of people, I instantly jumped to the ground and threw my hook as close to the walls of a random building in quasi-climb fashion. I felt confident. It was looking good. Man, such simple equipment and it provided so much fun! And while I wished I had something better to work with, like Mass Effect or something similar, this wasn't bad at all.
I landed on some random building somewhere near the end of Boardwalk. Only Downtown and I would be free. Yeah, I suspect people wouldn't appreciate what I did, but Brockton Bay wasn't a place for me. Now I needed to be more subtle and…
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
Oh shit! That voice sounded like coming from a teenage girl. So in Brockton Bay it means Rune or Glory Girl. And while both options were horrible, the first one was really bad news. Nazis are bad people and all.
I turned around and noticed both Glory Girl and Panacea, which she carefully put on the roof of the building. I ignored the brunette afterwards, as I couldn't help, but look at this human wonder and that absolutely stunning blonde. And those legs to die for…
What? What the fuck? That… THAT AURA!
This left me speechless. I deep down knew that her aura affected people around, but this was still something I wanted to avoid. Maybe my reaction was so strong, because of my new very young body and how tired I was, but I think with how surprised she was here and how she slightly backed off, when she noticed sheer fury on my face. I reacted before I could think about it and pulled off my Thunder Spear and instantly shot in her direction. I ignored the shocked scream, although I doubted it would hurt her. It never crossed my mind that I actually managed to land that hit and that it pushed her away some distance from the sheer recoil. And I screamed as my arms suddenly exploded in pain.
Once I shook my head, angry Panacea moved in my direction, clearly not amused. I dropped Thunder Spear without thinking and pulled off one of my blades, and clearly aimed in her direction, which made her stop.
Oh boy, it escalated in some very wrong directions. Also I knew what both Panacea and Glory girl did to some criminals. And while part of me thought that they wouldn't do something truly bad to me because of the age of this body, I wouldn't trust them for shit as well to behave.
"What the fuck! That fucking mindraping aura! Keep it in fucking check!"
"What is wrong with you brat? That could hurt someone! And language!"
"Screw you, barbie! And you! Tell your sister to keep this shit in check! My body reacted on its own because of it. Holy hell, why does no one call you on it?!"
"You shot her, you little psycho! And Vicky, AURA!"
"My body went into 'danger mode', because of that aura!"
"Maybe someone like you needs to be spanked? And what are you doing here at this hour?!"
It was a chaotic mess. No one moved close to each other, but I knew I wasn't winning this one and I think only my words about aura and my age stopped them from literally jumping me just like that. I exhaled. I needed to deal with being tired, angry and in a bad spot. I needed to CALM DOWN.
"Stop! Just… stop. Please. I'm… tired." I dropped my knives on the floor as well. I raised my hands to show I have nothing in them. Thankfully Vicky calmed down and I kept looking at her. I ignored the annoyed huff from Panacea, because of course she can't be ever happy. Annoyance was still there on Glory Girls face, but it softened a bit.
"Ok, answer the question again. What are you doing here?"
I wanted to lie. To simply keep it that I tested equipment or something similar. But I think my tiredness started to catch up with me. So I simply told the truth.
"I want to escape Brockton Bay and never see it again."
Their surprised faces pretty much told the whole story. They didn't expect this answer. Although sudden looks of pity that followed up afterwards I wanted to ignore. Because I HATED pity aimed towards me. Amy raised an eyebrow, and stated.
"Or maybe you are lying? Parents didn't give you some attention and this is some childish rebellion?"
"My parents are dead, you insensitive cunt."
Ah, that look of shock on her face was fantastic. And I think the look on my face said it all. I didn't really care what happened to parents here, it was a very different story in my previous life. At least mother, because my father could fucking rot for all I cared. Gosh, I miss them. And I know they miss me as well. I just… it's not fair.
"Don't cry, okay? It's… alright."
"Ok, yeah, sorry. Geez…"
So I cried. Fuck this premature body. Oh well, I needed to wipe those tears, so I did. I decided to sit and simply close my eyes.
"Ok, I feel better now. To say why? Because this city FUCKING SUCKS. I never wanted to end up here, but the only family I have left is here. And I know they love this shithole for some reason."
"It's… not that bad. There are still people around that are worth fighting for. Isn't that right, Ames?"
Amy was silent and I suspected the reason. She hated healing and with all that violence around, she would never run out of people to heal. And while fanon heavily exaggerated the amount of healing she dealt with, it's more than enough to make her tired of it anyway. Also add to this neglectful and paranoid bitchy mother figure called Brandish and she's pretty much a mess. I never liked her and I think of her as a bitch, but some parts of her life sucked balls.
"Yes, like you Vicky." Ah yes, also the whole Vicky mess. I obviously never planned to touch it with a 20 foot pole. As I'm sure as hell was not qualified for it. Also for me it was clear that she pretty much only cared for Vicky with this sentence, while Vicky took it here as one of the people worth fighting for here. Obviously Worm communication at its finest.
"That's… they care about you, right? And they don't neglect you, right?"
"No, nothing bad happens. And we barely know each other. Pretty much been with them a week."
"So give them a chance."
No, fuck it. It was pointless. This city would be my grave and I refused to die here. And with all that incoming shit like Leviathan, Bakuda, S9 and some others… it was hopeless. Pointless.
"Honestly I'm baffled you keep your spirits like this. After the whole Fleur fiasco and all."
Ugh, that was a wrong thing to say. Her aura flared out and I choked. Fuck, fuck, fuck!
"Vicky, AURA!"
"I'm sorry!"
And it receded. Fuck this, I'm not dealing with her anymore. Even if I needed to secure a restraining order. It was horrible.
"Anyway I plan to continue. I have some ideas on how to proceed."
"Wait, wait. Why not join The Wards?"
Ah yes, and deal with Piggot, Shadow Stalker and fucking Coil messing with things around. With possibly most corrupt and incompetent branch of Protectorate, while also vulnerable to all villains around, with a city being a feudal criminal mess. No thanks.
"In this city? Hah, forget it! Not happening."
"Ok, I get it. You don't like this place. You are also really cynical for your age." I rolled my eyes, which she ignored. "But maybe you can… be transferred or something?"
Also something I was sure wouldn't happen. Piggot needed all the parahumans, and Heberts also wouldn't do it. Maybe I'm too cynical, but I didn't like my odds. And well… I suspected probationary membership is something I would end up with. And realization on how reckless I was hit me like a hammer. Oh, that was bad. Why…
"I'm not interested. You may as well help me or leave me alone. I need to keep going."
"Be reasonable. It will be alright, I'm sure of it!" When suddenly she flew in my direction and caught me, I started to trash in her hands.
"Oh, leave me alone! Help!"
"Stop struggling. Amy!"
When Panacea moved in my direction, I didn't like the look in her eyes. Once she touched me, I started to get sleepy.
"Oh you bi…" And my eyes closed. And darkness was the last thing I saw.
Act 1, Chapter 3
- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
Chapter 3:
I opened my eyes. Silence was the only thing that greeted me. I woke up in a typical room with white walls, a single bed and some basic table with two drawers. Yeah, I realized that I didn't know where I was and started to slightly panic. Also I noticed my missing equipment, which made this situation even worse. Still kind of groggy I tried to remember what happened to me.
Oh gosh, I hope it's not Coil. No, I think someone would react already. I think. What happened? At school with stolen items I managed to tinker some equipment, escaped the school and at one point Glory Girl and Panacea caught me. It turned out ugly and… they knocked me out? Oh that bitch! But from what I see I have my old clothes on, so they didn't find those two small cameras I had on me. Good.
I already suspect where I was. Especially once I heard the door open up and I noticed two PRT troopers. One male and one female. Also it was hard to miss the third person there, a very famous Brockton Bay parahuman called Miss Militia.In panic I checked my face, but at least I had something cover my whole face and hair, so at least they did this right. Oh, I was still angry, alright. But I already didn't like my situation. Oh well, I guess I needed to see how it goes from there. I hoped Heberts were smart enough to at least enter the PRT building with some masks on their faces. Although they could have had no idea. I quickly pulled off my wallet and missed my new ID. Oh… I wasn't sure which annoyed me more - that PRT/Protectorate didn't respect my privacy or that Glory Girl and Panacea didn't. Second was slightly better I guess?
When I turned my head to look at eye-smiling Miss Militia and two silent troopers, I raised my eyebrows, but I also didn't say anything. I think they wanted me to say something first, but I preferred to wait on their first move. One of the troopers, female one, stepped in and stated.
"Hello Bangee." I raised my eyebrows. That was the nickname they picked for me? I guess something like Jumper was already taken, which would fit better. Maybe? Meh, whatever. "You aren't officially in trouble. Your guardian is contacted and should show up soon." At my glare, she continued undisturbed. "No, we didn't take your ID and checked your identity. Also we don't know who he or she is, because the one who informed him or her are Glory Girl and Panacea, who bringed you out here. Although honestly your… actions and escape weren't exactly subtle."
At this I groaned, because it was true. I literally acted like a burglar, stole some items, including a gun and tried to escape without informing anyway. Yeah, at this point I may at best expect criminal probation. Fantastic. Although my young age here may be helping here. It was so reckless, why did I…
I gritted my teeth, because I suspected why that was the case. This young impulsive body made me commit to the action otherwise I wouldn't really go for. Add to this my desperate need to tinker and powers wants to be used… My desperate urges pretty much fooled me. Parahuman recklessness at its finest. I need to learn how to control those or I may end up in bigger trouble then I already was in.
"It's alright. You're at a safe place and once you will see some other Wards, I hope you will give us a chance. Plus you're with us heroes, so it will be alright." Miss Militia calmly said with her trademark smile. I barely hold a snort. She tried to be nice and polite. If I didn't know how bad the situation in this city was and how I disliked 'yes-please' types like her I would maybe fall for it. I needed to be calm and maybe it will work out.
"So… now that I'm not in trouble, may I simply pick my things and leave? Also do you by any chance have my equipment?" I ignored the way they exchanged the looks and slowly stood up. Miss Militia coughed to bring my attention to her and from a bit more strained smiles, I knew that it wouldn't work. But oh well, it was worth a shot.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. You committed some… actions that may be hard to simply be pushed aside." Ah, what a gentle way to say 'you committed some crimes and we can't simply let you go'. Peachy.
"Let's not beat around the bush. You stole some equipment from your school, including a privately owned gun and used those materials to create illegal untested tinkertech. Also your escape attempt was also not exactly something that people would approve." Ugh, even if he had a point, it was annoying. Plus was this some sort of good cop, bad cop routine?
I didn't know what to say. Because what could I say? I did those things. I pretty much gambled on a smooth escape and trying to live somewhere else. It failed and I needed to deal with consequences. Vicky and Amy, you really made this complicated for me. But I needed to blame myself as well. Kurwa…
"Language. Most people know this polish swear" Ah, that polish kurwa escaped my mouth on instinct. I pretended to be embarrassed, with a troubled laugh that followed afterwards. I noticed disapproval on their faces, but I really didn't care. And I just left a big hint towards my identity, although at this point they must know it already.
With a heavy, defeated sigh I simply stood up and slowly moved towards the door. They allowed me to move first, while they followed me afterwards. Inside it was… normal? I noticed some tinkertech in some spots, but it was pretty much like any government owned building. Also I suspect this was PRT headquarters and not a Protectorate base on the island, as it didn't look really… advanced. Yeah, I think that was the correct way to say it.
"Also what time is it?"
"7:58 PM. You slept for around 8 hours."
I still felt not great, but much better. I was really that tired, huh? Also I needed to prepare myself, because I was about to deal with some people I wish I never had to to deal with in the first place.
Yep, I noticed a door with Piggot's surname on it. Oh boy, wild ride incoming. Back then I hoped she was the only one. Nope, never mind. I noticed Heberts, thankfully with masks on. While this wouldn't protect their identities, at least there was a pretense in case someone wanted to take advantage of it and blame it on PRT/Protectorate or something.
Other people I wanted to avoid as well. Armsmaster, Gallant, Piggot, Miss Militia, those two PRT agents and that's it. I noticed Gallant's reaction and some shift in his body language and possibly whispered something to his superiors? I think my annoyance, anger, resignation and some other feelings were obvious, huh?
Anyway Dean decided to step in first and presented his hand for a greeting. I didn't see any reason to at least not do this, so I grabbed his hand and shook it.
"Maybe it's not ideal, but we all make mistakes. Plus from what I heard you are a reasonably nice guy, outside of what you did recently. So it's nice to meet you, Bangee. And please give us a chance, we are a group of people you can trust. And sooner or later we make sure this city is worth fighting for."
Ah, so they knew why I did that. My flat, unimpressed look was an obvious answer on what exactly I thought on the subject. I knew that maybe trying to be more cooperative would be more reasonable, but I was really out of fucks given at this point. This whole situation was inevitable at this point. The only people I kind of feel sorry for are Heberts, because in the end they didn't deserve to end up in this mess.
"Why did you do it? Ka…" Danny stated and almost continued.
"Bangee. Use parahuman names, please. Secret identities. Although at this point I'm pretty sure they know anyway. But let's keep the pretense. So if I eat a bullet or something, at least we may know who will be responsible for a leak of my identity. So just in case sue them please."
Ahh, those troubled looks mixed up with angry ones. It bringed a satisfied smile on my face, which made it even worse. Yeah, it's inevitable what is coming, but I sure as hell will make it as annoying as possible with the superpower called spite. Maybe being a brat isn't so bad sometimes, if it allows me to do things like that.
"Why are you like this?" Ahh Taylor. It's still strange to see someone both so naive and jaded at the same time. Before the whole Warlord Skitter mess and all.
"Because this city is a walking corpse? That heroes are really good at walking around in costumes, while only keeping things barely from escalating, instead of fixing problems here? That you are so used to criminals that you can't imagine this city without Nazis around, because they pretty much exist since you were born here? That Brockton Bay may be as well called a feudal criminal hellhole, because they literally occupy american territory and no one does anything about it? So yeah, I simply want nothing to do with this. Pretty much any other American city is a better place to live in."
That almost oppressive silence was so delicious for me. You didn't expect a 12 years old to say something like this? Yeah, I wouldn't expect it as well if I were in your position.
"I see that you already have your opinions clear. Even if it sounds like you know what you're talking about, you don't really know. How hard it is to keep things from escalating. How we operate on limited budgets and how we keep things around and make people believe in us. Working in a city like this requires very delicate balance." Ah Piggot, your condescending voice clearly showed your true intentions. And I suspect some things I said struck a nerve with my future boss.
"Ah yes, the wonders of PR. Pretend to the bitter end." At Piggot's glare, I almost smirked. Being a snarky little git was really fun and because of my age, far easier to get away with. As I mentioned, I didn't plan to make it easier for them.
"You really believe in what you said, don't you?" The Armsmaster's calm voice bringed my attention. Honestly I was surprised they were so shocked. Maybe my outsider perspective allows me to see things like that far easier? Because we do have a tendency as humans to miss some obvious clues when we are used to something, even if we see them in front of us? Maybe I was too blatant about it, but I could see Armsmaster in deep thought already.
"I lived in Poland. It wasn't great, but here it's kind of ridiculous." And it was true. While in other cities like Boston or New York some things looked somewhat similar, at least some things were in reasonable order. Even if it was thanks to criminals like Accord.
"You… are a very intelligent young boy. But trust me, we all lived here for a long while and we know it's not as bad as you describe it." Miss Militia stated, still confused. I guess it may be true? Because even Heberts weren't constantly harassed and other people in the room live in the best parts of this city, so from their perspective it never looked truly bad.
"Anyway this isn't what we are here for. Your guardian wanted to talk with you and we allowed it. And also we wanted to confirm why you did what you did." I shrugged, because this was a very clear attempt to gain her control back. And with what I planned to do afterwards, tension would be back with a vengeance.
"I assume we are about to enter a less nice part of the negotiations. If that may be called those in the first place." I wasn't hopeful. I did commit those crimes, even if pretty minor. And I also wasn't delusional. I wasn't in any position of power here. But I may make things a bit more difficult. And I won't work with someone like Shadow Stalker. Fuck that. Even if part of me thinks that it's not a very reasonable approach. But being bratty and petty in this body was allowed.
"Let's recall what happened. At 12:40 you called the classroom that you wanted to go to the toilet. Miss Margaret Morris agreed to it and you used this opening to open up the janitor's room to pick up items to tinker with. List of items included a privately owned gun of Mitch Morris, a few types of knives and basic items to build things like screwdrivers, hammers, nails and several others. Is this correct?" I nodded, because there was no point to lie about it. I ignored some worried or disappointed looks. Ok, those coming from Heberts didn't feel nice, but I could get over it.
"Afterwards once you tinkertech your equipment, which took you.. "15 minutes." "15 minutes you pick up your equipment and decide to instantly use it to attach it to the closest building and jump around the buildings. Somehow no one noticed you, before the incoming confrontation. I don't think lucky covers it." Piggot grumbled under her nose the last sentence and was that some hint of… respect in Armsmaster's eyes? Attack on Titan isn't really an advanced tech tree, so it kind of makes sense you may build it fast, unless it's one of the bigger inventions, like cannons.
"At around 13:15 you were caught off guard by patrolling around Glory Girl and Panacea." That was an understatement. Also I noticed how both surprised and excited Taylor was about that confrontation. Cape geek, huh?
"Both testified that you reacted badly to Glory Girl's aura and because of it you picked up a tinkertech firearm and shot Glory Girl." Ah yes, those gasps were pretty obvious. And I think Gallant wasn't happy about it, seeing his stiff body language. "And afterwards aggressive arguments followed up." Also understatement, although I admit I'm positively surprised that Vicky admitted about her aura screwing things up. "And they tried to convince you to stop, while also in the end they captured and bringed you to us. Is this all true?"
It was more or less true. This whole mess still grates on my nerves and I wanted in some very not delicate words to say what I really thought about it, but it wouldn't help here too much. Of course, I could complain about it.
"Sigh… let's make some things clear. I find Glory Girl and Panacea as well as menaces." I ignored the whispers and continued. "Glory Girl is completely reckless with her aura, it's ridiculous. She doesn't even pretend to control it and Panacea needed to literally scream at Glory Girl to make her stop using it. Maybe my reaction to this was harsh, but for me it felt at first like she was the love of my life and I wanted to check out her legs. Literally. It wasn't a nice feeling. I wasn't in control. So afterwards once Glory Girl's aura weakened, in anger I lashed out, because I lost control over my body." The Armsmaster nodded. Gosh, you couldn't make it more obvious with a lie detector, did you? I exhaled and continued.
"Some… very harsh words followed up from all directions and I felt too tired, so I dropped my equipment and I explained pretty much why I wanted to escape Brockton Bay. Also Glory Girl lashed out with her aura again, when I said that I was surprised that she can feel so positive about Brockton Bay after Fleur died."Yeah, those winces were clear on how much I screwed up. "Yes, I screwed up. But this time instead of love, I felt fear. It was horrible and suffocating. Panacea needed to scream about aura again. Afterwards I tried to escape, but Glory Girl caught me and didn't let me escape, while I tried to escape. Afterwards Panacea used her power on me without my permission, which I also don't appreciate." My growl surprised some people, but it was not ok and I made it clear for them. "And that's it."
"I guess we will need to have more words with Panacea and Glory Girl in the future."
"Please do. I also recorded that whole incident." I reached near the pocket small attached camera. Clear grimace on Piggot's face that showed up wasn't nice.
"I hope you don't record right now with this camera."
"I don't." And it was true. WIth this one. Other one I still had to record everything.
"One more thing. Please SERIOUSLY test Glory Girl's aura. I mean it."
"We performed tests on Glory Girl's aura."
"Yes, short term. But did you long term?"
Ah, that delicious silence. Because seriously, those two needed to be kept in check. And they needed this heavy reality check.
"Long term?"
"Yes, think about it. We have evidence that Glory Girl doesn't keep her aura in check really. Maybe short term it's perfectly fine to be under it, but long term? If she causes everyone to love or hate her, maybe it does affect people's brains? Causes issues with their hormonal balances? Or it may in fact make them permanently fall in love with her or want to kill her instead? She participates in all classes at her school, right? Do you want to imagine potential long term consequences and number of affected people on a regular basis? Exactly. And for all of us let's hope I'm wrong."
Ah yes, shocked reactions is what I expected here. And I sure delivered. And I knew it wouldn't be hard to test. And now that I bringed it up with some evidence that clearly shows that Glory Girl doesn't control it for shit, they couldn't really ignore it anymore. And if they did… Well, I still had that second recording. Was I spiteful? Yeah, I was. Because in the end they really needed this. Also the looks I started to receive now were… contemplative and wary? Oh, maybe I pushed too far.
"And also who said her family is immune? They may be, but again they may not be. It may explain some of her… reputation." For being reckless pretty much. Because if no one reigns her in, it may explain why she acts the way she does and my hint was as subtle as a hammer to the face here. Ahh, Gallant slightly shaking really shook his beliefs. Oh well, I think this relationship will be either done for or actually survive it. Maybe.
"That was… insightful." Yeah, I pushed too far. I didn't want them to look too closely to me as a person, so I needed to go with refuge in an audacity approach.
"Also on Panacea. She used her power without permission on me. I only ask politely, if possible, for a restraining order against them. I don't want them near me in any shape and form." I stated clearly, and I think they would comply here.
And oh boy, I caused an uproar. I said absolutely nothing and closed my eyes, while others whispered, talked, argued and some other things. Although with the way Heberts looked at me was uncomfortable the most. Like I was an alien that showed up out of nowhere. Sigh… I really made my life difficult with my lack of restraint, didn't I? Ugh, this lack of self-control as a twelve years old sucks.
"Silence." Piggot stated firmly and the room quieted down.
"Thank you for the theory. We will investigate these issues and test things in detail." Ah yes, she is clearly not happy with Glory Girl and Panacea. Although maybe them taking me more seriously back then had a specific advantage with what I was about to do.
"But in the end we are here about you. Did you admit to the crimes you committed?"
"Yes, I do." There was no point in denying it. And if I played it right, they would give me more leeway this leeway for being more cooperative.
"We will discuss this in more detail with lawyers, but criminal probation is what you may expect here. You did commit a crime, but it's not that serious, so leniency is expected here. From my experience it looks like 2 years probation, but I won't confirm anything here." I grimaced at this amount, but I wasn't a lawyer, so… it was hard to truly confirm if it was too much here. Thankfully I still had some ideas how to deal with this here. Although I doubted people would appreciate some of those ideas.
"Also I think I need to give a warning about something."
Not amused look of Piggot clearly showed what she thought about it, but it was also somewhat contemplative. Yeah, I think I left an impression here.
"About what exactly."
"Shadow Stalker."
Ah, that also caused the return of whispers and some shocked body languages of people around. And the defensive body language of Piggot was reasonably obvious. Trouble in paradise? Well I can imagine how annoying to deal with Shadow Stalker must be.
"Care to elaborate?"
"Sure. Shadow Stalker is someone I wouldn't trust to cover a hot dog booth and obviously not me. She is in fact a completely unrepentant psychopath who enjoys hurting people. In fact her life philosophy is a belief in survivor/predator/prey mindset. If she considers someone 'weak', then she will let them rot."
"What are you saying? She's… rude and abrasive, but she does her job. Her personality is difficult, but she may change." Miss Militia voiced this one. Oh you have no idea.
"Yeah, Shadow Stalker may be considered complex and I admit she's over the top sometimes, but you say way too much." Oh Gallant, your power alone should tell you the whole story.
"Oh, maybe in a cape costume she may act reasonably, but in a civilian persona? Ha, you have no idea. Although I suspect she pretends to act reasonable, because you keep her on a leash."
"You better choose your next words carefully. Revealing an identity of a cape is a serious crime." I shrugged, not really impressed. I refused to work with Shadow Stalker and if I must to make my situation worse, so be it. I'm on criminal probation anyway here, so whatever.
"You know what? Fuck it. She deserves it. I REFUSE to work with her. Someone here knows her really well after all. And from the worst possible side. Does the name Sophia Hess ring a bell? Yep, that fucked up psycho is in fact a Ward."
Oh boy, that look of pure murder on Taylor's face made me flinch. Oh, that buzzing noise… not good. Not good at all. I quickly moved and grabbed her hand, which she instantly understood. Hopefully no one noticed it. Anyway she deserved it to know, even if I felt sorry for her, because oh boy, it was a nasty mix of furious and resigned. And oh boy, she also had been crying.
"This… isn't true. Please tell me it's not. THIS IS WHY SHE COULD GET AWAY WITH ALL SHE DID! 2 YEARS! SHE TORMENTED ME FOR TWO YEARS! AND YOU ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN!"
"Please cal…" Miss Militia tried, but oh boy, there was no stop to this.
"NO! FUCK YOU! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOOD PEOPLE, BUT YOU ALLOWED THAT BITCH TO DO WHATEVER SHE WANTED! AND THIS IS WHY BLACKWELL IN THE END REFUSED TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"
Oh boy, I bringed out something nasty. Danny instantly hugged her and glared at everyone around, while I tried awkwardly to hug her, but it was simply hopeless.
Oh, that look of anger on Piggot's face was pretty telling. Although I suspected it was aimed mostly at me, whoops.
"Are those accusations true?" Her voice was calm, but I could tell something dangerous was behind it.
"Taking into account this girl ended up in a hospital pretty recently because of your Ward and her idea of a 'prank', then yes, they are. I have no direct proof myself, but if you actually bothered to check on her in the first place, you would avoid this issue." Suddenly Armsmaster's voice with "Truth" ringed out around. Gosh, this guy… you couldn't make it more obvious that you use a lie detector. Although we talk about someone who asked Taylor 'are you a villain' based on her costume and also used words like 'truth' or 'lie' in some conversations. And thanks for the opening.
"Lie detector? Really? Is this even legal?" Ahh, Armsmaster, you are hopeless. Also you shouldn't be so surprised that someone called you on when you made it so obvious.
"This isn't a court and in court it wouldn't be admissible." True, but it wasn't a point. "But it still sounds sketchy as hell to use even in this situation. But it also makes some things easier."
"Also what do you mean not check on them. We have a dedicated handler.."
"Then ask yourself Director Piggot. Why do you hear very different turns of events compared to 'official' ones whatever they are?"
Ah, her completely red face was completely comical for me. And I would feel sorry for Blackwell and Sophia's handler, but I didn't. I'm not a great guy, but if I can, I may as well help when something like this happens.
"And how do you know this?" Danny asked some pointed questions I would prefer to not answer.
"Her diary. I'm sorry for reading it, but something bugged me about you." And it was true in a way. Taylor's body language does scream 'victim abuse' and her avoidance of talking about school was also obvious in the last days we talked about a bit. Plus I did some research just in case I did end up in an alternate version of Worm. I also found it at one point where she went to school, but before I ended up in school. My fingerprints should still be there on it, so physical evidence is here and it works as an excuse. Sort of.
"I doubt it told you about Shadow Stalker." Sceptical voice of the Armsmaster was obvious and how he fished for information.
"True. But I was bored with researching. I checked out on Winslow as well via the internet and some discussions mentioned that Ward may be in Winslow." Ironically this was true as well. Of course it was mostly conspiracy nutjobs, but it worked for my argument just fine. "And it's also not a secret that Shadow Stalker is black, which you mentioned when you recruited her. And well… Sophia looks like a very athletic teenager black girl. Add to this Winslow rumours and how some people complained about her being aggressive… I suspected this was true."
"Half-true." Ahh this lie detector was an issue. Because in the end I did this research, but my source of information is different.
"I learned this information from someone, but I refuse to say it." That was the best I could do. Because I did learn it from Wildbow.
"And why don't you want to say it?"
"Simple. Imagine what I said about Sophia is true. What if Sophia learns about it and decides to take it on that person? Sorry, no can do."
"I insist." Ahh, trying to be pushy? No can do.
"And I refuse. And simply - if you didn't know about Sophia, why would I trust your information security?"
Ah, that flinch. You didn't like when I pointed out this to you, do you? Well, I think this was also needed. Because it may increase their own security, so hopefully some spies are about to have some difficulties with their spying.
"You… really like to cause trouble, don't you?" In a way I did, but honestly I also wanted to avoid lots of future issues.
"Yes, I can be petty and vindictive, but I needed to touch those subjects. I refuse to work with someone like Shadow Stalker. And Glory Girl and Panacea issue is a problem."
"Well it already happened. So I just need to prepare NDAs for you to sign and we won't have a problem…"
"No can do."
"What? How dare…"
"I dare, because as a minor NDA pretty much doesn't apply to me and that girl over there. And even if, it can't be used to cover up criminal activity, which Shadow Stalker is accused of."
"It's not proven yet." Ahhh you fight fiercely Piggot.
"Shadow Stalker doesn't strike me as a very intelligent person, so simply investigation will prove it. And taking into account her character, I'm pretty sure she is on a criminal probation, just like I'm about to end up in. Like call her in and check her phone? It should at least provide a lead or something?"
"Can you even do it? She has her private life, right?" Gallant said. Although I could say that realization who he worked with slowly sinked in.
"On a criminal probation, you don't have privacy. People may check anytime your private possessions and call off at any time probation and instead put you in juvie."
"This also applies to you." Ahh, you are really unhappy with me, aren't you Piggot?
"So be it. I did something stupid, I don't deny this fact. But I'm also not a bad person. Not really. My guardian and his daughter deserved to learn this truth. Also the way I see it, I'm not impressed with you people so far as well. Because even if you didn't know this, it still shows you as incompetent instead of corrupt, which in a way is as bad. And in a city like this, I'm surprised you trusted people under you so blindly. And who knows what we may learn next? Spies hired by villains? Who the heck knows at this point!"
"I'm still a busy person with my own set of problems. Brockton Bay is a very hard city to keep in check."
"True, maybe I'm too harsh. But there is that thing called work review. Trust, but verify, right? Yep. Don't trust blindly and all. Also I think you may be worried about the whole Shadow Stalker issue and how you will compensate people hurted by her."
Piggot was furious, I could easily tell. But she also realized that the situation was delicate enough that brute forcing any issue may be a bad idea. And I knew that revealing the identity of a Ward will possibly make this probation worse than it could be. But I left enough information and hints that it should also affect not only Glory Girl, Panacea and Shadow Stalker, but also Coil. Hopefully. Also I doubted they would believe that I found out all of this on my own and may suspect my Thinker rating as well. It sucked, but I knew it would be a difficult situation to say all of it and not get this suspicion to be a thing in the first place.
Meeting afterwards ended pretty quickly. They decided that I will spend a night at their headquarters, which was reasonable after I tried to escape. Next time meetings between lawyers would happen and it would be my first day as a Ward.
I opened my eyes. Silence was the only thing that greeted me. I woke up in a typical room with white walls, a single bed and some basic table with two drawers. Yeah, I realized that I didn't know where I was and started to slightly panic. Also I noticed my missing equipment, which made this situation even worse. Still kind of groggy I tried to remember what happened to me.
Oh gosh, I hope it's not Coil. No, I think someone would react already. I think. What happened? At school with stolen items I managed to tinker some equipment, escaped the school and at one point Glory Girl and Panacea caught me. It turned out ugly and… they knocked me out? Oh that bitch! But from what I see I have my old clothes on, so they didn't find those two small cameras I had on me. Good.
I already suspect where I was. Especially once I heard the door open up and I noticed two PRT troopers. One male and one female. Also it was hard to miss the third person there, a very famous Brockton Bay parahuman called Miss Militia.In panic I checked my face, but at least I had something cover my whole face and hair, so at least they did this right. Oh, I was still angry, alright. But I already didn't like my situation. Oh well, I guess I needed to see how it goes from there. I hoped Heberts were smart enough to at least enter the PRT building with some masks on their faces. Although they could have had no idea. I quickly pulled off my wallet and missed my new ID. Oh… I wasn't sure which annoyed me more - that PRT/Protectorate didn't respect my privacy or that Glory Girl and Panacea didn't. Second was slightly better I guess?
When I turned my head to look at eye-smiling Miss Militia and two silent troopers, I raised my eyebrows, but I also didn't say anything. I think they wanted me to say something first, but I preferred to wait on their first move. One of the troopers, female one, stepped in and stated.
"Hello Bangee." I raised my eyebrows. That was the nickname they picked for me? I guess something like Jumper was already taken, which would fit better. Maybe? Meh, whatever. "You aren't officially in trouble. Your guardian is contacted and should show up soon." At my glare, she continued undisturbed. "No, we didn't take your ID and checked your identity. Also we don't know who he or she is, because the one who informed him or her are Glory Girl and Panacea, who bringed you out here. Although honestly your… actions and escape weren't exactly subtle."
At this I groaned, because it was true. I literally acted like a burglar, stole some items, including a gun and tried to escape without informing anyway. Yeah, at this point I may at best expect criminal probation. Fantastic. Although my young age here may be helping here. It was so reckless, why did I…
I gritted my teeth, because I suspected why that was the case. This young impulsive body made me commit to the action otherwise I wouldn't really go for. Add to this my desperate need to tinker and powers wants to be used… My desperate urges pretty much fooled me. Parahuman recklessness at its finest. I need to learn how to control those or I may end up in bigger trouble then I already was in.
"It's alright. You're at a safe place and once you will see some other Wards, I hope you will give us a chance. Plus you're with us heroes, so it will be alright." Miss Militia calmly said with her trademark smile. I barely hold a snort. She tried to be nice and polite. If I didn't know how bad the situation in this city was and how I disliked 'yes-please' types like her I would maybe fall for it. I needed to be calm and maybe it will work out.
"So… now that I'm not in trouble, may I simply pick my things and leave? Also do you by any chance have my equipment?" I ignored the way they exchanged the looks and slowly stood up. Miss Militia coughed to bring my attention to her and from a bit more strained smiles, I knew that it wouldn't work. But oh well, it was worth a shot.
"I'm afraid it's not that simple. You committed some… actions that may be hard to simply be pushed aside." Ah, what a gentle way to say 'you committed some crimes and we can't simply let you go'. Peachy.
"Let's not beat around the bush. You stole some equipment from your school, including a privately owned gun and used those materials to create illegal untested tinkertech. Also your escape attempt was also not exactly something that people would approve." Ugh, even if he had a point, it was annoying. Plus was this some sort of good cop, bad cop routine?
I didn't know what to say. Because what could I say? I did those things. I pretty much gambled on a smooth escape and trying to live somewhere else. It failed and I needed to deal with consequences. Vicky and Amy, you really made this complicated for me. But I needed to blame myself as well. Kurwa…
"Language. Most people know this polish swear" Ah, that polish kurwa escaped my mouth on instinct. I pretended to be embarrassed, with a troubled laugh that followed afterwards. I noticed disapproval on their faces, but I really didn't care. And I just left a big hint towards my identity, although at this point they must know it already.
With a heavy, defeated sigh I simply stood up and slowly moved towards the door. They allowed me to move first, while they followed me afterwards. Inside it was… normal? I noticed some tinkertech in some spots, but it was pretty much like any government owned building. Also I suspect this was PRT headquarters and not a Protectorate base on the island, as it didn't look really… advanced. Yeah, I think that was the correct way to say it.
"Also what time is it?"
"7:58 PM. You slept for around 8 hours."
I still felt not great, but much better. I was really that tired, huh? Also I needed to prepare myself, because I was about to deal with some people I wish I never had to to deal with in the first place.
Yep, I noticed a door with Piggot's surname on it. Oh boy, wild ride incoming. Back then I hoped she was the only one. Nope, never mind. I noticed Heberts, thankfully with masks on. While this wouldn't protect their identities, at least there was a pretense in case someone wanted to take advantage of it and blame it on PRT/Protectorate or something.
Other people I wanted to avoid as well. Armsmaster, Gallant, Piggot, Miss Militia, those two PRT agents and that's it. I noticed Gallant's reaction and some shift in his body language and possibly whispered something to his superiors? I think my annoyance, anger, resignation and some other feelings were obvious, huh?
Anyway Dean decided to step in first and presented his hand for a greeting. I didn't see any reason to at least not do this, so I grabbed his hand and shook it.
"Maybe it's not ideal, but we all make mistakes. Plus from what I heard you are a reasonably nice guy, outside of what you did recently. So it's nice to meet you, Bangee. And please give us a chance, we are a group of people you can trust. And sooner or later we make sure this city is worth fighting for."
Ah, so they knew why I did that. My flat, unimpressed look was an obvious answer on what exactly I thought on the subject. I knew that maybe trying to be more cooperative would be more reasonable, but I was really out of fucks given at this point. This whole situation was inevitable at this point. The only people I kind of feel sorry for are Heberts, because in the end they didn't deserve to end up in this mess.
"Why did you do it? Ka…" Danny stated and almost continued.
"Bangee. Use parahuman names, please. Secret identities. Although at this point I'm pretty sure they know anyway. But let's keep the pretense. So if I eat a bullet or something, at least we may know who will be responsible for a leak of my identity. So just in case sue them please."
Ahh, those troubled looks mixed up with angry ones. It bringed a satisfied smile on my face, which made it even worse. Yeah, it's inevitable what is coming, but I sure as hell will make it as annoying as possible with the superpower called spite. Maybe being a brat isn't so bad sometimes, if it allows me to do things like that.
"Why are you like this?" Ahh Taylor. It's still strange to see someone both so naive and jaded at the same time. Before the whole Warlord Skitter mess and all.
"Because this city is a walking corpse? That heroes are really good at walking around in costumes, while only keeping things barely from escalating, instead of fixing problems here? That you are so used to criminals that you can't imagine this city without Nazis around, because they pretty much exist since you were born here? That Brockton Bay may be as well called a feudal criminal hellhole, because they literally occupy american territory and no one does anything about it? So yeah, I simply want nothing to do with this. Pretty much any other American city is a better place to live in."
That almost oppressive silence was so delicious for me. You didn't expect a 12 years old to say something like this? Yeah, I wouldn't expect it as well if I were in your position.
"I see that you already have your opinions clear. Even if it sounds like you know what you're talking about, you don't really know. How hard it is to keep things from escalating. How we operate on limited budgets and how we keep things around and make people believe in us. Working in a city like this requires very delicate balance." Ah Piggot, your condescending voice clearly showed your true intentions. And I suspect some things I said struck a nerve with my future boss.
"Ah yes, the wonders of PR. Pretend to the bitter end." At Piggot's glare, I almost smirked. Being a snarky little git was really fun and because of my age, far easier to get away with. As I mentioned, I didn't plan to make it easier for them.
"You really believe in what you said, don't you?" The Armsmaster's calm voice bringed my attention. Honestly I was surprised they were so shocked. Maybe my outsider perspective allows me to see things like that far easier? Because we do have a tendency as humans to miss some obvious clues when we are used to something, even if we see them in front of us? Maybe I was too blatant about it, but I could see Armsmaster in deep thought already.
"I lived in Poland. It wasn't great, but here it's kind of ridiculous." And it was true. While in other cities like Boston or New York some things looked somewhat similar, at least some things were in reasonable order. Even if it was thanks to criminals like Accord.
"You… are a very intelligent young boy. But trust me, we all lived here for a long while and we know it's not as bad as you describe it." Miss Militia stated, still confused. I guess it may be true? Because even Heberts weren't constantly harassed and other people in the room live in the best parts of this city, so from their perspective it never looked truly bad.
"Anyway this isn't what we are here for. Your guardian wanted to talk with you and we allowed it. And also we wanted to confirm why you did what you did." I shrugged, because this was a very clear attempt to gain her control back. And with what I planned to do afterwards, tension would be back with a vengeance.
"I assume we are about to enter a less nice part of the negotiations. If that may be called those in the first place." I wasn't hopeful. I did commit those crimes, even if pretty minor. And I also wasn't delusional. I wasn't in any position of power here. But I may make things a bit more difficult. And I won't work with someone like Shadow Stalker. Fuck that. Even if part of me thinks that it's not a very reasonable approach. But being bratty and petty in this body was allowed.
"Let's recall what happened. At 12:40 you called the classroom that you wanted to go to the toilet. Miss Margaret Morris agreed to it and you used this opening to open up the janitor's room to pick up items to tinker with. List of items included a privately owned gun of Mitch Morris, a few types of knives and basic items to build things like screwdrivers, hammers, nails and several others. Is this correct?" I nodded, because there was no point to lie about it. I ignored some worried or disappointed looks. Ok, those coming from Heberts didn't feel nice, but I could get over it.
"Afterwards once you tinkertech your equipment, which took you.. "15 minutes." "15 minutes you pick up your equipment and decide to instantly use it to attach it to the closest building and jump around the buildings. Somehow no one noticed you, before the incoming confrontation. I don't think lucky covers it." Piggot grumbled under her nose the last sentence and was that some hint of… respect in Armsmaster's eyes? Attack on Titan isn't really an advanced tech tree, so it kind of makes sense you may build it fast, unless it's one of the bigger inventions, like cannons.
"At around 13:15 you were caught off guard by patrolling around Glory Girl and Panacea." That was an understatement. Also I noticed how both surprised and excited Taylor was about that confrontation. Cape geek, huh?
"Both testified that you reacted badly to Glory Girl's aura and because of it you picked up a tinkertech firearm and shot Glory Girl." Ah yes, those gasps were pretty obvious. And I think Gallant wasn't happy about it, seeing his stiff body language. "And afterwards aggressive arguments followed up." Also understatement, although I admit I'm positively surprised that Vicky admitted about her aura screwing things up. "And they tried to convince you to stop, while also in the end they captured and bringed you to us. Is this all true?"
It was more or less true. This whole mess still grates on my nerves and I wanted in some very not delicate words to say what I really thought about it, but it wouldn't help here too much. Of course, I could complain about it.
"Sigh… let's make some things clear. I find Glory Girl and Panacea as well as menaces." I ignored the whispers and continued. "Glory Girl is completely reckless with her aura, it's ridiculous. She doesn't even pretend to control it and Panacea needed to literally scream at Glory Girl to make her stop using it. Maybe my reaction to this was harsh, but for me it felt at first like she was the love of my life and I wanted to check out her legs. Literally. It wasn't a nice feeling. I wasn't in control. So afterwards once Glory Girl's aura weakened, in anger I lashed out, because I lost control over my body." The Armsmaster nodded. Gosh, you couldn't make it more obvious with a lie detector, did you? I exhaled and continued.
"Some… very harsh words followed up from all directions and I felt too tired, so I dropped my equipment and I explained pretty much why I wanted to escape Brockton Bay. Also Glory Girl lashed out with her aura again, when I said that I was surprised that she can feel so positive about Brockton Bay after Fleur died."Yeah, those winces were clear on how much I screwed up. "Yes, I screwed up. But this time instead of love, I felt fear. It was horrible and suffocating. Panacea needed to scream about aura again. Afterwards I tried to escape, but Glory Girl caught me and didn't let me escape, while I tried to escape. Afterwards Panacea used her power on me without my permission, which I also don't appreciate." My growl surprised some people, but it was not ok and I made it clear for them. "And that's it."
"I guess we will need to have more words with Panacea and Glory Girl in the future."
"Please do. I also recorded that whole incident." I reached near the pocket small attached camera. Clear grimace on Piggot's face that showed up wasn't nice.
"I hope you don't record right now with this camera."
"I don't." And it was true. WIth this one. Other one I still had to record everything.
"One more thing. Please SERIOUSLY test Glory Girl's aura. I mean it."
"We performed tests on Glory Girl's aura."
"Yes, short term. But did you long term?"
Ah, that delicious silence. Because seriously, those two needed to be kept in check. And they needed this heavy reality check.
"Long term?"
"Yes, think about it. We have evidence that Glory Girl doesn't keep her aura in check really. Maybe short term it's perfectly fine to be under it, but long term? If she causes everyone to love or hate her, maybe it does affect people's brains? Causes issues with their hormonal balances? Or it may in fact make them permanently fall in love with her or want to kill her instead? She participates in all classes at her school, right? Do you want to imagine potential long term consequences and number of affected people on a regular basis? Exactly. And for all of us let's hope I'm wrong."
Ah yes, shocked reactions is what I expected here. And I sure delivered. And I knew it wouldn't be hard to test. And now that I bringed it up with some evidence that clearly shows that Glory Girl doesn't control it for shit, they couldn't really ignore it anymore. And if they did… Well, I still had that second recording. Was I spiteful? Yeah, I was. Because in the end they really needed this. Also the looks I started to receive now were… contemplative and wary? Oh, maybe I pushed too far.
"And also who said her family is immune? They may be, but again they may not be. It may explain some of her… reputation." For being reckless pretty much. Because if no one reigns her in, it may explain why she acts the way she does and my hint was as subtle as a hammer to the face here. Ahh, Gallant slightly shaking really shook his beliefs. Oh well, I think this relationship will be either done for or actually survive it. Maybe.
"That was… insightful." Yeah, I pushed too far. I didn't want them to look too closely to me as a person, so I needed to go with refuge in an audacity approach.
"Also on Panacea. She used her power without permission on me. I only ask politely, if possible, for a restraining order against them. I don't want them near me in any shape and form." I stated clearly, and I think they would comply here.
And oh boy, I caused an uproar. I said absolutely nothing and closed my eyes, while others whispered, talked, argued and some other things. Although with the way Heberts looked at me was uncomfortable the most. Like I was an alien that showed up out of nowhere. Sigh… I really made my life difficult with my lack of restraint, didn't I? Ugh, this lack of self-control as a twelve years old sucks.
"Silence." Piggot stated firmly and the room quieted down.
"Thank you for the theory. We will investigate these issues and test things in detail." Ah yes, she is clearly not happy with Glory Girl and Panacea. Although maybe them taking me more seriously back then had a specific advantage with what I was about to do.
"But in the end we are here about you. Did you admit to the crimes you committed?"
"Yes, I do." There was no point in denying it. And if I played it right, they would give me more leeway this leeway for being more cooperative.
"We will discuss this in more detail with lawyers, but criminal probation is what you may expect here. You did commit a crime, but it's not that serious, so leniency is expected here. From my experience it looks like 2 years probation, but I won't confirm anything here." I grimaced at this amount, but I wasn't a lawyer, so… it was hard to truly confirm if it was too much here. Thankfully I still had some ideas how to deal with this here. Although I doubted people would appreciate some of those ideas.
"Also I think I need to give a warning about something."
Not amused look of Piggot clearly showed what she thought about it, but it was also somewhat contemplative. Yeah, I think I left an impression here.
"About what exactly."
"Shadow Stalker."
Ah, that also caused the return of whispers and some shocked body languages of people around. And the defensive body language of Piggot was reasonably obvious. Trouble in paradise? Well I can imagine how annoying to deal with Shadow Stalker must be.
"Care to elaborate?"
"Sure. Shadow Stalker is someone I wouldn't trust to cover a hot dog booth and obviously not me. She is in fact a completely unrepentant psychopath who enjoys hurting people. In fact her life philosophy is a belief in survivor/predator/prey mindset. If she considers someone 'weak', then she will let them rot."
"What are you saying? She's… rude and abrasive, but she does her job. Her personality is difficult, but she may change." Miss Militia voiced this one. Oh you have no idea.
"Yeah, Shadow Stalker may be considered complex and I admit she's over the top sometimes, but you say way too much." Oh Gallant, your power alone should tell you the whole story.
"Oh, maybe in a cape costume she may act reasonably, but in a civilian persona? Ha, you have no idea. Although I suspect she pretends to act reasonable, because you keep her on a leash."
"You better choose your next words carefully. Revealing an identity of a cape is a serious crime." I shrugged, not really impressed. I refused to work with Shadow Stalker and if I must to make my situation worse, so be it. I'm on criminal probation anyway here, so whatever.
"You know what? Fuck it. She deserves it. I REFUSE to work with her. Someone here knows her really well after all. And from the worst possible side. Does the name Sophia Hess ring a bell? Yep, that fucked up psycho is in fact a Ward."
Oh boy, that look of pure murder on Taylor's face made me flinch. Oh, that buzzing noise… not good. Not good at all. I quickly moved and grabbed her hand, which she instantly understood. Hopefully no one noticed it. Anyway she deserved it to know, even if I felt sorry for her, because oh boy, it was a nasty mix of furious and resigned. And oh boy, she also had been crying.
"This… isn't true. Please tell me it's not. THIS IS WHY SHE COULD GET AWAY WITH ALL SHE DID! 2 YEARS! SHE TORMENTED ME FOR TWO YEARS! AND YOU ALLOWED THIS TO HAPPEN!"
"Please cal…" Miss Militia tried, but oh boy, there was no stop to this.
"NO! FUCK YOU! I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOOD PEOPLE, BUT YOU ALLOWED THAT BITCH TO DO WHATEVER SHE WANTED! AND THIS IS WHY BLACKWELL IN THE END REFUSED TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!"
Oh boy, I bringed out something nasty. Danny instantly hugged her and glared at everyone around, while I tried awkwardly to hug her, but it was simply hopeless.
Oh, that look of anger on Piggot's face was pretty telling. Although I suspected it was aimed mostly at me, whoops.
"Are those accusations true?" Her voice was calm, but I could tell something dangerous was behind it.
"Taking into account this girl ended up in a hospital pretty recently because of your Ward and her idea of a 'prank', then yes, they are. I have no direct proof myself, but if you actually bothered to check on her in the first place, you would avoid this issue." Suddenly Armsmaster's voice with "Truth" ringed out around. Gosh, this guy… you couldn't make it more obvious that you use a lie detector. Although we talk about someone who asked Taylor 'are you a villain' based on her costume and also used words like 'truth' or 'lie' in some conversations. And thanks for the opening.
"Lie detector? Really? Is this even legal?" Ahh, Armsmaster, you are hopeless. Also you shouldn't be so surprised that someone called you on when you made it so obvious.
"This isn't a court and in court it wouldn't be admissible." True, but it wasn't a point. "But it still sounds sketchy as hell to use even in this situation. But it also makes some things easier."
"Also what do you mean not check on them. We have a dedicated handler.."
"Then ask yourself Director Piggot. Why do you hear very different turns of events compared to 'official' ones whatever they are?"
Ah, her completely red face was completely comical for me. And I would feel sorry for Blackwell and Sophia's handler, but I didn't. I'm not a great guy, but if I can, I may as well help when something like this happens.
"And how do you know this?" Danny asked some pointed questions I would prefer to not answer.
"Her diary. I'm sorry for reading it, but something bugged me about you." And it was true in a way. Taylor's body language does scream 'victim abuse' and her avoidance of talking about school was also obvious in the last days we talked about a bit. Plus I did some research just in case I did end up in an alternate version of Worm. I also found it at one point where she went to school, but before I ended up in school. My fingerprints should still be there on it, so physical evidence is here and it works as an excuse. Sort of.
"I doubt it told you about Shadow Stalker." Sceptical voice of the Armsmaster was obvious and how he fished for information.
"True. But I was bored with researching. I checked out on Winslow as well via the internet and some discussions mentioned that Ward may be in Winslow." Ironically this was true as well. Of course it was mostly conspiracy nutjobs, but it worked for my argument just fine. "And it's also not a secret that Shadow Stalker is black, which you mentioned when you recruited her. And well… Sophia looks like a very athletic teenager black girl. Add to this Winslow rumours and how some people complained about her being aggressive… I suspected this was true."
"Half-true." Ahh this lie detector was an issue. Because in the end I did this research, but my source of information is different.
"I learned this information from someone, but I refuse to say it." That was the best I could do. Because I did learn it from Wildbow.
"And why don't you want to say it?"
"Simple. Imagine what I said about Sophia is true. What if Sophia learns about it and decides to take it on that person? Sorry, no can do."
"I insist." Ahh, trying to be pushy? No can do.
"And I refuse. And simply - if you didn't know about Sophia, why would I trust your information security?"
Ah, that flinch. You didn't like when I pointed out this to you, do you? Well, I think this was also needed. Because it may increase their own security, so hopefully some spies are about to have some difficulties with their spying.
"You… really like to cause trouble, don't you?" In a way I did, but honestly I also wanted to avoid lots of future issues.
"Yes, I can be petty and vindictive, but I needed to touch those subjects. I refuse to work with someone like Shadow Stalker. And Glory Girl and Panacea issue is a problem."
"Well it already happened. So I just need to prepare NDAs for you to sign and we won't have a problem…"
"No can do."
"What? How dare…"
"I dare, because as a minor NDA pretty much doesn't apply to me and that girl over there. And even if, it can't be used to cover up criminal activity, which Shadow Stalker is accused of."
"It's not proven yet." Ahhh you fight fiercely Piggot.
"Shadow Stalker doesn't strike me as a very intelligent person, so simply investigation will prove it. And taking into account her character, I'm pretty sure she is on a criminal probation, just like I'm about to end up in. Like call her in and check her phone? It should at least provide a lead or something?"
"Can you even do it? She has her private life, right?" Gallant said. Although I could say that realization who he worked with slowly sinked in.
"On a criminal probation, you don't have privacy. People may check anytime your private possessions and call off at any time probation and instead put you in juvie."
"This also applies to you." Ahh, you are really unhappy with me, aren't you Piggot?
"So be it. I did something stupid, I don't deny this fact. But I'm also not a bad person. Not really. My guardian and his daughter deserved to learn this truth. Also the way I see it, I'm not impressed with you people so far as well. Because even if you didn't know this, it still shows you as incompetent instead of corrupt, which in a way is as bad. And in a city like this, I'm surprised you trusted people under you so blindly. And who knows what we may learn next? Spies hired by villains? Who the heck knows at this point!"
"I'm still a busy person with my own set of problems. Brockton Bay is a very hard city to keep in check."
"True, maybe I'm too harsh. But there is that thing called work review. Trust, but verify, right? Yep. Don't trust blindly and all. Also I think you may be worried about the whole Shadow Stalker issue and how you will compensate people hurted by her."
Piggot was furious, I could easily tell. But she also realized that the situation was delicate enough that brute forcing any issue may be a bad idea. And I knew that revealing the identity of a Ward will possibly make this probation worse than it could be. But I left enough information and hints that it should also affect not only Glory Girl, Panacea and Shadow Stalker, but also Coil. Hopefully. Also I doubted they would believe that I found out all of this on my own and may suspect my Thinker rating as well. It sucked, but I knew it would be a difficult situation to say all of it and not get this suspicion to be a thing in the first place.
Meeting afterwards ended pretty quickly. They decided that I will spend a night at their headquarters, which was reasonable after I tried to escape. Next time meetings between lawyers would happen and it would be my first day as a Ward.
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Informational: Timeline
- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
Chapter 1 (Part 1, Fautlines Crew): Unknown
Chapter 1 (Part 2, Hebert Household): 21st February
Chapter 2: 28th February, 8-13:20 AM
Chapter 3: 28th February, 19:57 PM
Chapter 4: 1st March, 6-7 AM
Chapter 5 (Taylor/Danny Part): 1st March, 8 AM - 14 PM
Chapter 5 (Wards Part): 1st March, 3 PM - 6 PM
Chapter 6 (Confrontation with Shadow Stalker's Handler): 28th February, 20:59 till the end of the day.
Chapter 6 (Next Day): 1st March, 7 AM - 7 PM
Chapter 7 (Vista & Taylor Scenes): 2nd March
Chapter 7 (Krieg Scene): 3rd March
Chapter 1 (Part 2, Hebert Household): 21st February
Chapter 2: 28th February, 8-13:20 AM
Chapter 3: 28th February, 19:57 PM
Chapter 4: 1st March, 6-7 AM
Chapter 5 (Taylor/Danny Part): 1st March, 8 AM - 14 PM
Chapter 5 (Wards Part): 1st March, 3 PM - 6 PM
Chapter 6 (Confrontation with Shadow Stalker's Handler): 28th February, 20:59 till the end of the day.
Chapter 6 (Next Day): 1st March, 7 AM - 7 PM
Chapter 7 (Vista & Taylor Scenes): 2nd March
Chapter 7 (Krieg Scene): 3rd March
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- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
From most fiction. Some really overpowered options like Doctor Who, Stargate, Babylon 5, Warhammer 40k, etc. won't show up.
Pretty much mechanism here is that once per week (at the end of Sunday) protagonist may keep current tech tree or may change it. But he can't do it for longer then 3 weeks.
But trust me, there is still an absurd amount of options. I roll for them or ask someone do it for me. First four tech trees I already have planned, but I will keep it as a secret which ones for now.
And in the end this protagonist will end up as a villain, which Fautline's Crew shows in first chapter. He isn't truly an asshole, not even close, but his views are pretty different from normal people. Also he is on more selfish side, which I think I presented reasonably so far as well.
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- Location
- PA
u mean change current tech tree???
- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
Yes, change, my bad x_X.
I will also add one more thing to explain.
Tech tree MUST at least last for 1 week at minimum once picked. Once this week is over, he may keep it or swap for something else. He doesn't choose it in story, but instead an option is provided to him, and by instinct he may swap it. Next chapter it will happen, so you will see how it looks in story.
I think that's all for now.
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- Location
- How should I know!?
Tinker of fiction dose not just gife you everything, its still a cape power. You do not get to pick which fictional setting your power will give you next week. That is the charm of writing stories about it because you can get realy creative. @Kejmur posted his first but in the original thread by @Monk Penguin we have a bunch of omakes of many fun techs which probably will get their own posts soon as well. Keji put the link to Tinker of fiction at the top of the first page so check it out.
- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
Pretty much this. Tinker of Fiction is random and it's still 'shard based' power, if with very few limitations. As I mentioned I roll for it or I ask someone to do it for me. Attack on Titan was suggested to me and I rolled with it.
Also 'Tinker of Fiction' powerset is a really good powerset for Worm, especially if you don't go with completely broken options quickly. You start at street level, but it may escalate to Endbringer/Zion level even depending on picks. Worm is that strange mix of street level and cosmic horror, which is actually hard to balance with specific powersets. As either your powers are completely bonkers or you are too weak to deal with bigger issues in the setting.
Also I ban Rick & Morty as too overpowered and too generic. I don't want tech trees, which cover up pretty much all options or are very close to it. So for example no Marvel or DC as well, but I may consider something far more limited like 'X-Men Evolution'. I will need to post a full ban list at one point I guess.
Also I may avoid for a while tech trees that escalate to space level like Mass Effect, but we'll see. I'm open to suggestions. Reasonable ones.
Also the point of this story isn't to escalate power wise fast. That's not the point. There is a crapload of power wank SI stories. There is LOTS of those. I don't want yet another overpowered juggernaut, but write a story about a flawed human being with his own issues, dreams and ambitions. Power here isn't supposed to dominate a story, but it's only an addition and plot device to reach some specific plot points and interactions. In many SI stories from what I noticed an issue is that many people let chosen powers completely dominate storylines, while destroy characterization in return. They turn into Mary Sues, which is a problem. This MC will reach high levels of powers, but I want it to be earned and fight for it. First several trees I will keep somewhat on a lower scale for good reasons, because I also find street level of Worm as the best part of the story.
I don't mind reading power wank stories once in a while. Good stomp can be relaxing. But a fair warning - this won't be this story.
When I analyze some dialogues in my head I see... lots of weird interactions. And some very specific dynamics, because MC doesn't want to get attached to people and last chapter especially shows how odd protagonist must look in his 12 years old buddy. I like it so far, because it creates very strange 'middle ground' between someone who is somewhat antagonistic, but also isn't really someone 'who looks for friends'. Normally I despise Ward stories for example, but I feel like I can create very strange dynamics here and not end up with Wards that are 'HEY, let's be all friends now xoxoxo'. Like I imagine how weird it will be with Vista for example - she will both be grateful (no Glory Girl!) and despise him (why they listen to him more then me, most veteran of the Wards!) for example.
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- Location
- Brazil
- Pronouns
- He
if you want some tech use suggestions
most "low tech " tech trees can prob be reversed engineered (like fallout tech, you can build a laser , fusion generators and robots on an atomic hell hole) so a viable option is selling stuff to one of the most powerful entities in America: the military
so stuff like the newer call of duty would prob equalize the powers of weak parahumans without being basically Clark tech
most "low tech " tech trees can prob be reversed engineered (like fallout tech, you can build a laser , fusion generators and robots on an atomic hell hole) so a viable option is selling stuff to one of the most powerful entities in America: the military
so stuff like the newer call of duty would prob equalize the powers of weak parahumans without being basically Clark tech
Act 1, Chapter 4
- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
I have some things to say before this chapter. This chapter is dialogue heavy and it's a transition chapter, so it's not an action one. But I think it's important to establish some things and to present important plot hook. Also this chapter is a bit personal to me, as some things I described here happened to me.
Also 'slice of life' will be an important part of this story and situations like this will show up. Anyway one more chapter and I plan to write Emily Piggot interlude. Thank you for reading and I hope you will enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 4:
I woke up around 6 AM, which surprised me. I hated to wake up so early in my previous life and I expected to be the same here. I recognized the same room from yesterday, so I assumed I wasn't free to go yet. Things… could go worse, but I also felt that it would go better. With a sigh I stood up, and when I was about to do something else, doors to my temporary bedroom opened up and two PRT guards I knew walked in. One of them carried a tray with some breakfast-like meal and the other one simply observed, although that police club was a bit too much? Oh well, it's not like I had a choice really.
"Enjoy the meal and afterwards we will go to Director Piggot to confirm your probationary status and secure some agreements with lawyers as well." Female trooper passed the tray to me and I started to eat. Ahh scrambled eggs, I missed you. Any breakfast without eggs for me is a disappointment. Eggs for the win!
I could be pretty and prolong my breakfast for as long as possible, but there was also no point for it. I suspected my probation was already in a pretty complicated spot, so I may at least for now play ball. More or less.
Once I was done, they guided me towards Piggot's office. I noticed Danny was already there and Armsmaster. And some lawyers. No one else was this time around, so I shrugged and walked in.
This time around I ignored voices around me and analyzed what happened to me. I almost grinned in a realization that the tech tree may in fact change for me. Mentally when I realized what kind of tech tree I received, I wanted to jump and whoop in joy. It obviously wasn't a complete game changer like Starcraft or something like Marvel, but it was good in its own way. With a smile I accepted the change. When I realized that I was a 'Tinker of Fiction', it didn't mean it couldn't be different. Like for example if I rejected something, it may not wait to be picked later, but permanently removed from tech tree selection.
And Asterix from very famous french comic books was too much for me to pass. This series was one of the things that pretty much defined my childhood. And Gaulish Magic Potion alone is an incredible force multiplier. Of course I wouldn't reveal it, because I simply haven't trusted my superiors and it's still the truth till this day. Obviously rest I could reveal it, because with this one I felt like a pretty much alternate version of Cask. Awesome.
Suddenly someone gently tapped my arm and I raised my head towards Director Piggot. Her poker face was pretty impressive, but there was that small amount of glee in it as well. Oh boy, Piggot as a winner was not a nice thing to deal with.
"Nothing to add Bangee?" Will they keep this nickname? It's odd. Although once they realized that my tinker specialties swap, they were forced to drop this cape name anyway.
"Nothing at all. Although… I was kind of distracted?" I admitted, which caused people to raise eyebrows and Piggot to frown. Oh well, it was waaay too early to play any sort of mind games. And doing it with a 12 years old… seriously Emily? Never mind, this sounds like something you would do if annoyed enough.
"It's something close to 6:15 AM. Only insane people wake up at this hour."
"No, this is normal for people that perform their duties." Well, I guess you received that military training far back in the past and you not so subtly hint that I'm spoiled. I guess I couldn't be the only one completely petty.
"Whatever."
"Obviously at one point we may organize a specific schedule for you. I think you have potential to be reasonable, but in case we have specific boot camps that also help troubled Ward to train their powers in a safe environment." I hated to admit it, but I flinched a bit on this. In my previous life I managed to avoid compulsory military service, which was a thing in Poland, before they removed it about 3-4 years later. I always hated strict discipline and this whole boot camp, possibly with fucking Alexandria, wouldn't be something I would enjoy.
I also needed to check how my sugar levels looked in this life. I doubted I had diabetes and thankfully I never needed to apply needles with insulin to my stomach in my previous life, but I had slight tendencies for too high sugar levels.
Anyway I didn't like this smile on Piggot's face. Seriously, don't smile. It always gives me creeps when I see it. And yes, yes, you noticed one of my weaknesses. Sue me. Or better not.
"So you did your research here as well." Director Piggot stated in a very neutral voice, but I wasn't fooled. She did to pretty much test my reactions as one of potential 'sticks' and she liked the overall result. Fuck you Piggy, fuck you. I was both angry and somewhat impressed that she could be this petty.
"Director Piggot, I hope boot camp isn't what I think it is." Danny stated, clearly not happy with Protectorate after yesterday. I suspected once signing my probationary Ward contract, he would negotiate a potential Shadow Stalker issue.
"I apologize for that use of a language. It's pretty much something similar to summer camp, but for parahumans. We don't really use any specific military training in those, but instead have hired guardians that have experience working with parahumans or parahumans that know how to train other parahumans." Oh, that wording was pretty good. It doesn't deny military training, but the way she said it like it wasn't relevant and guardians suggested that potential younger parahumans are safe in those types of camps and that they may trust them. I'm both annoyed and impressed with it.
"So it's not military in any shape and form?"
"Obviously not. We will even present recordings from some of them, provided to us with permission obviously." It calmed Danny down, and I had a feeling he may not take my words too seriously, because I shouldn't have any specific evidence for otherwise. Reasonably well played, unfortunately.
"So… are we done here?"
"Almost. I will simply state for our young charge here that Wards probationary contract is officially signed. Because of your… reveal of Wards identity and illegal theft of firearms and illegal use of it your probation is set up for a 4 years period with a potential to shorten it by a year for good conduct."
I raised my eyebrows. My displeasure was pretty clear on my face, but a hand of Danny's on my shoulder calmed me down. For now. Plus sometimes it's better to let things go and attack later on when someone doesn't expect it.
"Thank you for your time. Today you have a free day, as we need to organize specific changes, like your classroom schedule." To make it easier to keep me in check I suspected. Would they pick Missy to spy on me? It wouldn't surprise me knowing them. "And your first few days as a Ward and to learn what you need to be one properly."
I nodded, even if I felt it would be horribly boring. And that some people would organize in a way I would like it even less. Although I needed to ask for something.
"Director Piggot. I need to ask something though."
"Yes?"
"Could you like… organize something so I'm tested out and I may study in higher class?"
"And why would I do it?" Because you may do something nice for a change? It would be a nice gesture. Maybe she does have a superpower no one knows about called pettiness. I wanted to say that I'm simply too smart and bored for those classes, but hinting on anything off with me would be a bad idea. Day before I pushed really hard and I was pretty sure I overdid it anyway.
"Never mind."
"I'm pretty sure experts would agree with me that you may need to socialize with your peers, even if your personality suggests that you get along with older people better." Of course this argument needed to be bringed out. Dealing with screeching 12 years old demons for hours per day is an exactly perfect example of a good time. I have nothing against kids as a person, but I also don't really like them. No, I would never hurt them and who does this on a regular basis is the worst kind of scum, but I would need to get over it. Or think of something on how to make it bearable. School.. Oh gosh. And I was pretty sure it was yet another thing to annoy me.
"Thank you Bangee. Plus wait for me for a moment as I also have something to discuss with Director Piggot." Danny stated firmly, while I tried to leave a room. Some PRT troopers stopped me before it happened and applied something that looked like a yellow-black watch. Oh, that was a tracking bracelet. At least they made it look like a watch. Wow, they really don't want me to escape. Although with my last attempt I was considered a fly risk to be fair, so I needed to take this into account for some of my future plans as well.
I took a nap on some random chair and woke up, when Danny left a room. He wasn't happy, but I also don't think he was that disappointed as well. In other words a negotiation where the winner isn't clear, which is what I expected. More or less.
We quickly left the building and we entered his van. For a few minutes we said nothing, but I decided to break the silence first.
"Danny… are you satisfied with your negotiations?"
"More than less. I didn't sign any NDA, but I also promised to not sue them directly. Plus it was clear she was in a tough position of trying for it to not explode in her face, while also not appear weak." He sighed to clearly also gather his thoughts. "But everyone else is a free game. Brockton Bay School Board, Regional Centre of Brockton Bay, City itself and some others. Amount of money is still not certain, but it should be a pretty satisfying amount. Plus I still have that stick with Shadow Stalker and they know it. I also secured a promise of PROPER investigation this time and a transfer to Arcadia for Taylor. So people responsible for it like Blackwell, Sophia's handler, Emma and some others are about to regret it. And from yesterday I knew Piggot wasn't happy with them, so she should take it seriously." Ahh, that hint of satisfaction in his voice was clear. It could be better, but also far worse. It was indeed on a more positive side. And Piggot was many things, but people avoiding law she hated with a burning passion.
"It's good. Although 4 years for me was a bit too much. I think."
"It started with 6." I choked in disbelief. That was waaay too much. They really wanted me as a Tinker. I stared at him, because I was pretty sure I misheard him.
"What?! No way."
"Kamil, while I agree that was too much, but that spectacle yesterday and the reveal of Wards identity was a serious issue. It's a really serious crime. Some people in the past died because of those kinds of reveals."
"I… know. I think." I paused to gather my thoughts. "While I admit some of that motivation was selfish and I wanted to get rid of a Stalker, it also wasn't fair to you, especially Taylor. I can act like I don't care, and in some cases I don't. But I also know I put you in a very awkward spot yesterday and I also did some things to take heat from you."
"Take heat?"
"I did some things to help myself and you by proxy as well. I turned that whole gathering into a spectacle, so I would show myself as that weird insightful kid, because I suspected they could try to blame some revelation on you and that you used me to encourage those actions. And instead they completely accepted that Sophia reveal was on me and it had nothing to do with you and Taylor."
Danny looked at me with that look I described earlier as "who are you", because I really didn't act like a twelve years old and I knew it.
"Kamil… I don't know what to think about you." And oh boy, was it a loaded statement. Because I wasn't sure myself. I preferred to stop thinking about it, but right back then it returned with a vengeance. Are memories of my previous life real? Or am I some very weird 12 years old that simply received those memories and both personalities mix? Or I did something afterwards about my trigger event that revealed some information like different life and Worm events?
It was a blur. My mind screamed to me to not look for information, because trigger events are a serious deal for lots of good reasons. For a short while this body was alone, after they both died and it triggered from that loneliness and hopelessness of it not being possible to be fixed. Also it screamed and argued that our father wasn't bad. He could scream sometimes, but he never hit us or did any things it received information about from different life. I thought that Attack on Titan wasn't my first tech tree, but some strange precog mixed up with mind technology? It was so confusing. Was it a dream? Or it actually happened?
Sudden headache and tears showed up on my face. Danny suddenly stopped and awkwardly tried to… make me stop crying? Or hug me?
"I… don't know." And it was true. In the end this whole mess was confusing as hell for me. "I.. think I did something to myself. Like when I received my powers, I think I used some technology on myself. On my mind." At his alarmed look, I waved my hands. "Although it feels like a dream. It's like hidden behind some curtain. Honestly I have no idea."
"Are you really alright?" That concern in his voice was clear and it made me feel bad. Because I put him in a very awkward position yesterday and I knew it wouldn't be the last time. I had certain goals and ambitions, and I refused to bend. I refused, because I wouldn't like it if I changed my mind here. I had a clear goal and I would stick with it.
"Yes, I'm better. Thanks." At his unconvinced look I shrugged and tried to change the topic. But Danny was faster.
"About Brockton Bay. It's really not that bad." Sigh, I really wasn't in a mood to argue with this one. I think I showed what I thought there, because he continued. "I'm serious. While crime is an obvious issue for Brockton Bay, outside of most isolated spots it's not as rampant. I know how places like TV and the internet present it, but it's true."
It was hard to argue with someone who pretty much spends his whole life in Brockton Bay. Story and fanfiction presented crime as something that was almost like blood vessels of this city. Something impossible to deal with and inseparable. But it was also presented mostly from a perspective of a very unreliable narrator called Taylor Hebert.
Maybe cape fights and blatant crimes at day weren't as often as I believed. Maybe Taylor Hebert caused a chain reaction that truly changed things drastically for worse. Because in the end we didn't know a lot as readers about Brockton Bay before canon started.
I wanted to avoid all of this for obvious reasons anyway, because there was a very high change that everything would go to shit and I wanted to do everything in my power to not end up in the middle of clusterfucks like Leviathan or S9, but I would at least observe and learn more about Brockton Bay. Because in the end sheer knowledge from some web novel wouldn't cover how it truly was.
"Maybe you're right. I barely know this city after all. And it has lots of cape tourism, as otherwise I think people wouldn't risk it if it was far worse." It was a reasonable argument? Anyway after this rest of the drive we spended in silence.
Once Danny parked his van and we entered the house, I noticed silently sitting Taylor watching TV. She looked… bad. Bloodshot eyes, unvoming body, the sheer desperation she hugged the pillow. I didn't know what to say. And while Danny and her hugged together, it was awkward. Gosh, this word would describe lots of interactions here, wouldn't it?
I guess it was up to me to do something? Oh boy, I hated to be in situations like this.
"I'm sorry." Wow, what an opening.
"Are you? It's not like you care about Brockton Bay. And what you did had lots of selfish reasoning about it, didn't it?" I winced, because part of it was true and some venom behind her statement hurted. Danny tried to look disapproving, but I raised my hand. She… went through horrible revelations yesterday, and her being angry and bitter about it was completely justified.
"Yes, some of it is true and some of it was motivated by me being selfish." That look of anger and satisfaction of something that applied to her worldview was a strange mix, but I could see it. "But I also try to not be an asshole. You deserved to know the truth, even if… reveal could be far more gentle." Understatement should be my new name. "And I'm very blunt as a person. It's not an excuse per se, but I'm always brutally honest. This, I swear, is true. Even if the truth turns out to be harsh."
"I… don't know what to think. I'm both angry and glad some things are over." She inhaled and continued. "It hurts. That realization that a hero could be someone like her." And oh boy, you have no idea how bad it truly is. Not even close. Sophia is simply one of the symptoms of the whole group of issues. This world is rotten to the core. "I wanted badly to do something about it. Or for things to change. I thought it was just normal bullies being bullies. But the truth turned out to be worse." Danny hugged her and she cried. I closed in and caught her hand and gently squeezed. Although the way she said, was worrying, because it was clear she wanted to be in control and fix it on her own. And some part of her is bitter about it.
"But in the end it will change things for the better. I think." It should. Although with Taylor being parahuman and Shadow Stalker revealed, I doubted she wanted to be a Ward.
"Taylor, I'm sorry. I should have helped better. It's…"
"It's alright dad. You have your own things to worry about."
I disagreed with this statement. Danny fucked up in some very important moment, and honestly he deserved to be called on it.
"Danny… you did screw up." I looked at him in disapproval and I could tell Taylor wanted to protest, but I raised my hand and continued. "Fact is that Taylor was bullied for 2 years and you missed it. It's a fact."
"I didn't tell him." "True, but in the end it's his responsibility as a parent to raise his daughter." "As I said he is also busy." "Maybe he should work less or ask some people instead if needed?"
"Both of you stop." Danny stated and we stopped. "Yesterday was a wakeup call. For all of us I suspect. I realized some things. I will try to do better from now on." I appreciated that he said 'will try better' instead of for sure, because it was far more honest.
"I also managed to secure most things I wanted in my negotiations. Taylor, you will be transferred to Arcadia. If anything, ANYTHING happens, INFORM me and I will deal with it. But I learned Arcadia has no bullying policy and they apply it. And rumours say that Wards go there, and I KNOW they won't want to make us angry." He clearly looked at me. Well, I already have a certain reputation from what I managed to secure. I nodded, because it was true. "And I will talk with Kurt and Lacey and try to organize my working hour to be a bit different."
"Dad…"
"I'm sorry Taylor, I will try to do better from now on. Also don't be too harsh on Kamil."
"Just call me Carmelo. I'm fine with it."
"What happened?"
"My… spectacle yesterday added me 2 more years of probation. Playing with a gun and revealing the identity of a Ward, even if she was a very bad person, is a pretty serious crime."
"That's…"
"That's how it is. Government dislikes being shown up and the Brockton Bay department has… issues." Yeah, understatement. Snorts all around clearly stated what they thought about it.
"No wonder the city is in the state it is." I think her hero worship died a brutal death.
"I think it's mostly incompetence and not corruption. While both are bad, the first one doesn't have that malicious intent behind it." And while my opinion on Brockton Bay is very not flattering for obvious reasons, in the end Piggot and other heroes want to fix Brockton Bay. It's not completely their fault that people like Coil and Cauldron fuck this up or set up situation to be this way on purpose. When I can, I should try to be objective. And this was one of those moments.
"It doesn't make it so much better." True Taylor, true, but at least some people want things to be better. Also in this moment Danny explained why I acted the way I did and she sended me the same look Danny did earlier. Also he explained what I said in his van, and I looked at him unimpressed, because I wanted him to leave my breakdown alone.
"Ok, let's change the topic. Something else?" My change of topic wasn't very subtle, but they thankfully complied.
"Yes, there is something for you." I raised my eyebrows, because I had no idea what he meant. "Someone delivered it yesterday and I think it's some sort of… family heirloom?"
Family heirloom? Danny moved from the room and brought me a… box? No, a trunk would be more accurate. Not a big one, but it was beautiful. Creamy white with lots of golden elements. That creamy look was strangely familiar. And that symbol of an elephant that happily raises its trunk. No way…
"Is that… made of Ivory?" My voice of disbelief was clear. And yes, it was shocking, because holy hell, Ivory is so illegal to use for products it's not even funny.
"While I can understand your reaction, ivory is legal again to be picked for the last 6 months. Elephant populations in both Asia and Africa actually reached the levels it did around 50 years ago. It's strange to be honest." No shit. People are really that busy fighting each other that no one hunts them, or maybe it's some parahuman responsible for it, like a biotinker? While it was interesting, it wasn't really important back then.
I curiously opened up the box. Last few days were hectic and I needed to admit that I forgot about my parents in this world. It wasn't as… important. But I needed to learn about them here, because who the heck knows what they were responsible for here.
I noticed lots of photographs. Mostly family photographs and how we stayed together. I recognized both my mother and father. They looked pretty much the same as in my previous life, but much younger. And strangely my father didn't look like a complete waste of a human being destroyed by drugs and alcohol. The wonders would never cease. And two envelopes.
I picked up both of them and opened them up. In the first one there was a letter and in the second one some photographs, that I ignored for a short while as I needed to read a letter first. It was in Polish.
Kamil, my dear son.
It's me, Irena. Your mom.
I can't write much, because I'm in a dangerous situation.
Also if this letter is delivered to you, it means that I'm dead. Don't cry too much after me, because no matter what happens I love you.
But I need to warn you about something.
It's unfortunately your father. Or rather his past.
He joined a… bad crowd. Nazi bad crowd.
In other envelope there are photographic truths of this.
I don't know why he joined. I don't know why he started to cheat on me. Why he started to beat me. I know that you remember him fondly, but he changed. For worse.
I don't know if he is still alive or not, but be careful.
Parahumans are dangerous people and they also don't live very long lives, but it's true.
I managed to secure this trunk and managed to find a way to make sure you landed up in the United States, as Poland isn't safe anymore.
I need to thank Rose Hebert for helping. She's a harsh, but fair woman. Also I was so sad when I learned about Annette's Hebert death, her daughter. Give a Hebert family a chance, they are good people.
Be careful. And I love you.
Irena Horowska
I was both angry and sad at this moment. Tears freely moved on my cheeks and I didn't realize when I was hugged. I translated words from the letter and their shock, disgust and at the end some bittersweet happiness were clear.
So this version of my father was even worse. What a shocking surprise on Earth-Bet. In my previous life he was antisemitic, I clearly remembered that conversation. I argued a bit on how conspiracy theories with Jews were stupid. He disagreed, but we never returned to that topic ever again. Later on I found out the he way a drug user, hardcore alcoholic, beat up on my mom and loved to participate in some… orgies. It was as horrible as it sounds. And how he started to act out and how I wanted to almost kill him. Thankfully we separated before it was too late. At this point it was 15-16 years ago, but I still remember how bad it was. And I think it affected me long term. I'm still scared of any relationships, because I didn't want to end up in the spot of my mom. Because I also learned that friend of the family, Dorota, started this whole relationship and it escalated from there.
Something changed here. I guess the far bigger influence of Nazis like Gesellschaft here changed things around. And my father joined them, because I suspected he decided it was a good way to make money and secure some business deals. I hated him, but it was true that he had a good business sense and he did secure the position of our family in the higher middle class. Before drugs and alcohol destroyed him that is.And he didn't really disagree with them, and here he could be far more openly racist. It made sense.
I picked up another envelope and checked the photographs. And oh boy, they were discriminating. Like from some shitty movie. People standing in 'sieg heil' poses. Some drunken hugging, with people wearing SS uniforms. Some hunting photos. But one of them shocked me the most.
I recognized this person. It was cape Krieg, happily shaking the hand of my father in a greeting. And my father wore some sort of tinker armor. Did he trigger? Cauldron Vial? He… was a member of Gesellschaft. I felt sick.
And it made my situation that much more complex. Did Empire88 already know about me? It would explain why I ended in Brockton Bay, but on the other hand I would end up in a different family. I needed to think about this. And desperately think on how to fix this issue. Because what was I supposed to do?
Also 'slice of life' will be an important part of this story and situations like this will show up. Anyway one more chapter and I plan to write Emily Piggot interlude. Thank you for reading and I hope you will enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 4:
I woke up around 6 AM, which surprised me. I hated to wake up so early in my previous life and I expected to be the same here. I recognized the same room from yesterday, so I assumed I wasn't free to go yet. Things… could go worse, but I also felt that it would go better. With a sigh I stood up, and when I was about to do something else, doors to my temporary bedroom opened up and two PRT guards I knew walked in. One of them carried a tray with some breakfast-like meal and the other one simply observed, although that police club was a bit too much? Oh well, it's not like I had a choice really.
"Enjoy the meal and afterwards we will go to Director Piggot to confirm your probationary status and secure some agreements with lawyers as well." Female trooper passed the tray to me and I started to eat. Ahh scrambled eggs, I missed you. Any breakfast without eggs for me is a disappointment. Eggs for the win!
I could be pretty and prolong my breakfast for as long as possible, but there was also no point for it. I suspected my probation was already in a pretty complicated spot, so I may at least for now play ball. More or less.
Once I was done, they guided me towards Piggot's office. I noticed Danny was already there and Armsmaster. And some lawyers. No one else was this time around, so I shrugged and walked in.
This time around I ignored voices around me and analyzed what happened to me. I almost grinned in a realization that the tech tree may in fact change for me. Mentally when I realized what kind of tech tree I received, I wanted to jump and whoop in joy. It obviously wasn't a complete game changer like Starcraft or something like Marvel, but it was good in its own way. With a smile I accepted the change. When I realized that I was a 'Tinker of Fiction', it didn't mean it couldn't be different. Like for example if I rejected something, it may not wait to be picked later, but permanently removed from tech tree selection.
And Asterix from very famous french comic books was too much for me to pass. This series was one of the things that pretty much defined my childhood. And Gaulish Magic Potion alone is an incredible force multiplier. Of course I wouldn't reveal it, because I simply haven't trusted my superiors and it's still the truth till this day. Obviously rest I could reveal it, because with this one I felt like a pretty much alternate version of Cask. Awesome.
Suddenly someone gently tapped my arm and I raised my head towards Director Piggot. Her poker face was pretty impressive, but there was that small amount of glee in it as well. Oh boy, Piggot as a winner was not a nice thing to deal with.
"Nothing to add Bangee?" Will they keep this nickname? It's odd. Although once they realized that my tinker specialties swap, they were forced to drop this cape name anyway.
"Nothing at all. Although… I was kind of distracted?" I admitted, which caused people to raise eyebrows and Piggot to frown. Oh well, it was waaay too early to play any sort of mind games. And doing it with a 12 years old… seriously Emily? Never mind, this sounds like something you would do if annoyed enough.
"It's something close to 6:15 AM. Only insane people wake up at this hour."
"No, this is normal for people that perform their duties." Well, I guess you received that military training far back in the past and you not so subtly hint that I'm spoiled. I guess I couldn't be the only one completely petty.
"Whatever."
"Obviously at one point we may organize a specific schedule for you. I think you have potential to be reasonable, but in case we have specific boot camps that also help troubled Ward to train their powers in a safe environment." I hated to admit it, but I flinched a bit on this. In my previous life I managed to avoid compulsory military service, which was a thing in Poland, before they removed it about 3-4 years later. I always hated strict discipline and this whole boot camp, possibly with fucking Alexandria, wouldn't be something I would enjoy.
I also needed to check how my sugar levels looked in this life. I doubted I had diabetes and thankfully I never needed to apply needles with insulin to my stomach in my previous life, but I had slight tendencies for too high sugar levels.
Anyway I didn't like this smile on Piggot's face. Seriously, don't smile. It always gives me creeps when I see it. And yes, yes, you noticed one of my weaknesses. Sue me. Or better not.
"So you did your research here as well." Director Piggot stated in a very neutral voice, but I wasn't fooled. She did to pretty much test my reactions as one of potential 'sticks' and she liked the overall result. Fuck you Piggy, fuck you. I was both angry and somewhat impressed that she could be this petty.
"Director Piggot, I hope boot camp isn't what I think it is." Danny stated, clearly not happy with Protectorate after yesterday. I suspected once signing my probationary Ward contract, he would negotiate a potential Shadow Stalker issue.
"I apologize for that use of a language. It's pretty much something similar to summer camp, but for parahumans. We don't really use any specific military training in those, but instead have hired guardians that have experience working with parahumans or parahumans that know how to train other parahumans." Oh, that wording was pretty good. It doesn't deny military training, but the way she said it like it wasn't relevant and guardians suggested that potential younger parahumans are safe in those types of camps and that they may trust them. I'm both annoyed and impressed with it.
"So it's not military in any shape and form?"
"Obviously not. We will even present recordings from some of them, provided to us with permission obviously." It calmed Danny down, and I had a feeling he may not take my words too seriously, because I shouldn't have any specific evidence for otherwise. Reasonably well played, unfortunately.
"So… are we done here?"
"Almost. I will simply state for our young charge here that Wards probationary contract is officially signed. Because of your… reveal of Wards identity and illegal theft of firearms and illegal use of it your probation is set up for a 4 years period with a potential to shorten it by a year for good conduct."
I raised my eyebrows. My displeasure was pretty clear on my face, but a hand of Danny's on my shoulder calmed me down. For now. Plus sometimes it's better to let things go and attack later on when someone doesn't expect it.
"Thank you for your time. Today you have a free day, as we need to organize specific changes, like your classroom schedule." To make it easier to keep me in check I suspected. Would they pick Missy to spy on me? It wouldn't surprise me knowing them. "And your first few days as a Ward and to learn what you need to be one properly."
I nodded, even if I felt it would be horribly boring. And that some people would organize in a way I would like it even less. Although I needed to ask for something.
"Director Piggot. I need to ask something though."
"Yes?"
"Could you like… organize something so I'm tested out and I may study in higher class?"
"And why would I do it?" Because you may do something nice for a change? It would be a nice gesture. Maybe she does have a superpower no one knows about called pettiness. I wanted to say that I'm simply too smart and bored for those classes, but hinting on anything off with me would be a bad idea. Day before I pushed really hard and I was pretty sure I overdid it anyway.
"Never mind."
"I'm pretty sure experts would agree with me that you may need to socialize with your peers, even if your personality suggests that you get along with older people better." Of course this argument needed to be bringed out. Dealing with screeching 12 years old demons for hours per day is an exactly perfect example of a good time. I have nothing against kids as a person, but I also don't really like them. No, I would never hurt them and who does this on a regular basis is the worst kind of scum, but I would need to get over it. Or think of something on how to make it bearable. School.. Oh gosh. And I was pretty sure it was yet another thing to annoy me.
"Thank you Bangee. Plus wait for me for a moment as I also have something to discuss with Director Piggot." Danny stated firmly, while I tried to leave a room. Some PRT troopers stopped me before it happened and applied something that looked like a yellow-black watch. Oh, that was a tracking bracelet. At least they made it look like a watch. Wow, they really don't want me to escape. Although with my last attempt I was considered a fly risk to be fair, so I needed to take this into account for some of my future plans as well.
I took a nap on some random chair and woke up, when Danny left a room. He wasn't happy, but I also don't think he was that disappointed as well. In other words a negotiation where the winner isn't clear, which is what I expected. More or less.
We quickly left the building and we entered his van. For a few minutes we said nothing, but I decided to break the silence first.
"Danny… are you satisfied with your negotiations?"
"More than less. I didn't sign any NDA, but I also promised to not sue them directly. Plus it was clear she was in a tough position of trying for it to not explode in her face, while also not appear weak." He sighed to clearly also gather his thoughts. "But everyone else is a free game. Brockton Bay School Board, Regional Centre of Brockton Bay, City itself and some others. Amount of money is still not certain, but it should be a pretty satisfying amount. Plus I still have that stick with Shadow Stalker and they know it. I also secured a promise of PROPER investigation this time and a transfer to Arcadia for Taylor. So people responsible for it like Blackwell, Sophia's handler, Emma and some others are about to regret it. And from yesterday I knew Piggot wasn't happy with them, so she should take it seriously." Ahh, that hint of satisfaction in his voice was clear. It could be better, but also far worse. It was indeed on a more positive side. And Piggot was many things, but people avoiding law she hated with a burning passion.
"It's good. Although 4 years for me was a bit too much. I think."
"It started with 6." I choked in disbelief. That was waaay too much. They really wanted me as a Tinker. I stared at him, because I was pretty sure I misheard him.
"What?! No way."
"Kamil, while I agree that was too much, but that spectacle yesterday and the reveal of Wards identity was a serious issue. It's a really serious crime. Some people in the past died because of those kinds of reveals."
"I… know. I think." I paused to gather my thoughts. "While I admit some of that motivation was selfish and I wanted to get rid of a Stalker, it also wasn't fair to you, especially Taylor. I can act like I don't care, and in some cases I don't. But I also know I put you in a very awkward spot yesterday and I also did some things to take heat from you."
"Take heat?"
"I did some things to help myself and you by proxy as well. I turned that whole gathering into a spectacle, so I would show myself as that weird insightful kid, because I suspected they could try to blame some revelation on you and that you used me to encourage those actions. And instead they completely accepted that Sophia reveal was on me and it had nothing to do with you and Taylor."
Danny looked at me with that look I described earlier as "who are you", because I really didn't act like a twelve years old and I knew it.
"Kamil… I don't know what to think about you." And oh boy, was it a loaded statement. Because I wasn't sure myself. I preferred to stop thinking about it, but right back then it returned with a vengeance. Are memories of my previous life real? Or am I some very weird 12 years old that simply received those memories and both personalities mix? Or I did something afterwards about my trigger event that revealed some information like different life and Worm events?
It was a blur. My mind screamed to me to not look for information, because trigger events are a serious deal for lots of good reasons. For a short while this body was alone, after they both died and it triggered from that loneliness and hopelessness of it not being possible to be fixed. Also it screamed and argued that our father wasn't bad. He could scream sometimes, but he never hit us or did any things it received information about from different life. I thought that Attack on Titan wasn't my first tech tree, but some strange precog mixed up with mind technology? It was so confusing. Was it a dream? Or it actually happened?
Sudden headache and tears showed up on my face. Danny suddenly stopped and awkwardly tried to… make me stop crying? Or hug me?
"I… don't know." And it was true. In the end this whole mess was confusing as hell for me. "I.. think I did something to myself. Like when I received my powers, I think I used some technology on myself. On my mind." At his alarmed look, I waved my hands. "Although it feels like a dream. It's like hidden behind some curtain. Honestly I have no idea."
"Are you really alright?" That concern in his voice was clear and it made me feel bad. Because I put him in a very awkward position yesterday and I knew it wouldn't be the last time. I had certain goals and ambitions, and I refused to bend. I refused, because I wouldn't like it if I changed my mind here. I had a clear goal and I would stick with it.
"Yes, I'm better. Thanks." At his unconvinced look I shrugged and tried to change the topic. But Danny was faster.
"About Brockton Bay. It's really not that bad." Sigh, I really wasn't in a mood to argue with this one. I think I showed what I thought there, because he continued. "I'm serious. While crime is an obvious issue for Brockton Bay, outside of most isolated spots it's not as rampant. I know how places like TV and the internet present it, but it's true."
It was hard to argue with someone who pretty much spends his whole life in Brockton Bay. Story and fanfiction presented crime as something that was almost like blood vessels of this city. Something impossible to deal with and inseparable. But it was also presented mostly from a perspective of a very unreliable narrator called Taylor Hebert.
Maybe cape fights and blatant crimes at day weren't as often as I believed. Maybe Taylor Hebert caused a chain reaction that truly changed things drastically for worse. Because in the end we didn't know a lot as readers about Brockton Bay before canon started.
I wanted to avoid all of this for obvious reasons anyway, because there was a very high change that everything would go to shit and I wanted to do everything in my power to not end up in the middle of clusterfucks like Leviathan or S9, but I would at least observe and learn more about Brockton Bay. Because in the end sheer knowledge from some web novel wouldn't cover how it truly was.
"Maybe you're right. I barely know this city after all. And it has lots of cape tourism, as otherwise I think people wouldn't risk it if it was far worse." It was a reasonable argument? Anyway after this rest of the drive we spended in silence.
Once Danny parked his van and we entered the house, I noticed silently sitting Taylor watching TV. She looked… bad. Bloodshot eyes, unvoming body, the sheer desperation she hugged the pillow. I didn't know what to say. And while Danny and her hugged together, it was awkward. Gosh, this word would describe lots of interactions here, wouldn't it?
I guess it was up to me to do something? Oh boy, I hated to be in situations like this.
"I'm sorry." Wow, what an opening.
"Are you? It's not like you care about Brockton Bay. And what you did had lots of selfish reasoning about it, didn't it?" I winced, because part of it was true and some venom behind her statement hurted. Danny tried to look disapproving, but I raised my hand. She… went through horrible revelations yesterday, and her being angry and bitter about it was completely justified.
"Yes, some of it is true and some of it was motivated by me being selfish." That look of anger and satisfaction of something that applied to her worldview was a strange mix, but I could see it. "But I also try to not be an asshole. You deserved to know the truth, even if… reveal could be far more gentle." Understatement should be my new name. "And I'm very blunt as a person. It's not an excuse per se, but I'm always brutally honest. This, I swear, is true. Even if the truth turns out to be harsh."
"I… don't know what to think. I'm both angry and glad some things are over." She inhaled and continued. "It hurts. That realization that a hero could be someone like her." And oh boy, you have no idea how bad it truly is. Not even close. Sophia is simply one of the symptoms of the whole group of issues. This world is rotten to the core. "I wanted badly to do something about it. Or for things to change. I thought it was just normal bullies being bullies. But the truth turned out to be worse." Danny hugged her and she cried. I closed in and caught her hand and gently squeezed. Although the way she said, was worrying, because it was clear she wanted to be in control and fix it on her own. And some part of her is bitter about it.
"But in the end it will change things for the better. I think." It should. Although with Taylor being parahuman and Shadow Stalker revealed, I doubted she wanted to be a Ward.
"Taylor, I'm sorry. I should have helped better. It's…"
"It's alright dad. You have your own things to worry about."
I disagreed with this statement. Danny fucked up in some very important moment, and honestly he deserved to be called on it.
"Danny… you did screw up." I looked at him in disapproval and I could tell Taylor wanted to protest, but I raised my hand and continued. "Fact is that Taylor was bullied for 2 years and you missed it. It's a fact."
"I didn't tell him." "True, but in the end it's his responsibility as a parent to raise his daughter." "As I said he is also busy." "Maybe he should work less or ask some people instead if needed?"
"Both of you stop." Danny stated and we stopped. "Yesterday was a wakeup call. For all of us I suspect. I realized some things. I will try to do better from now on." I appreciated that he said 'will try better' instead of for sure, because it was far more honest.
"I also managed to secure most things I wanted in my negotiations. Taylor, you will be transferred to Arcadia. If anything, ANYTHING happens, INFORM me and I will deal with it. But I learned Arcadia has no bullying policy and they apply it. And rumours say that Wards go there, and I KNOW they won't want to make us angry." He clearly looked at me. Well, I already have a certain reputation from what I managed to secure. I nodded, because it was true. "And I will talk with Kurt and Lacey and try to organize my working hour to be a bit different."
"Dad…"
"I'm sorry Taylor, I will try to do better from now on. Also don't be too harsh on Kamil."
"Just call me Carmelo. I'm fine with it."
"What happened?"
"My… spectacle yesterday added me 2 more years of probation. Playing with a gun and revealing the identity of a Ward, even if she was a very bad person, is a pretty serious crime."
"That's…"
"That's how it is. Government dislikes being shown up and the Brockton Bay department has… issues." Yeah, understatement. Snorts all around clearly stated what they thought about it.
"No wonder the city is in the state it is." I think her hero worship died a brutal death.
"I think it's mostly incompetence and not corruption. While both are bad, the first one doesn't have that malicious intent behind it." And while my opinion on Brockton Bay is very not flattering for obvious reasons, in the end Piggot and other heroes want to fix Brockton Bay. It's not completely their fault that people like Coil and Cauldron fuck this up or set up situation to be this way on purpose. When I can, I should try to be objective. And this was one of those moments.
"It doesn't make it so much better." True Taylor, true, but at least some people want things to be better. Also in this moment Danny explained why I acted the way I did and she sended me the same look Danny did earlier. Also he explained what I said in his van, and I looked at him unimpressed, because I wanted him to leave my breakdown alone.
"Ok, let's change the topic. Something else?" My change of topic wasn't very subtle, but they thankfully complied.
"Yes, there is something for you." I raised my eyebrows, because I had no idea what he meant. "Someone delivered it yesterday and I think it's some sort of… family heirloom?"
Family heirloom? Danny moved from the room and brought me a… box? No, a trunk would be more accurate. Not a big one, but it was beautiful. Creamy white with lots of golden elements. That creamy look was strangely familiar. And that symbol of an elephant that happily raises its trunk. No way…
"Is that… made of Ivory?" My voice of disbelief was clear. And yes, it was shocking, because holy hell, Ivory is so illegal to use for products it's not even funny.
"While I can understand your reaction, ivory is legal again to be picked for the last 6 months. Elephant populations in both Asia and Africa actually reached the levels it did around 50 years ago. It's strange to be honest." No shit. People are really that busy fighting each other that no one hunts them, or maybe it's some parahuman responsible for it, like a biotinker? While it was interesting, it wasn't really important back then.
I curiously opened up the box. Last few days were hectic and I needed to admit that I forgot about my parents in this world. It wasn't as… important. But I needed to learn about them here, because who the heck knows what they were responsible for here.
I noticed lots of photographs. Mostly family photographs and how we stayed together. I recognized both my mother and father. They looked pretty much the same as in my previous life, but much younger. And strangely my father didn't look like a complete waste of a human being destroyed by drugs and alcohol. The wonders would never cease. And two envelopes.
I picked up both of them and opened them up. In the first one there was a letter and in the second one some photographs, that I ignored for a short while as I needed to read a letter first. It was in Polish.
Kamil, my dear son.
It's me, Irena. Your mom.
I can't write much, because I'm in a dangerous situation.
Also if this letter is delivered to you, it means that I'm dead. Don't cry too much after me, because no matter what happens I love you.
But I need to warn you about something.
It's unfortunately your father. Or rather his past.
He joined a… bad crowd. Nazi bad crowd.
In other envelope there are photographic truths of this.
I don't know why he joined. I don't know why he started to cheat on me. Why he started to beat me. I know that you remember him fondly, but he changed. For worse.
I don't know if he is still alive or not, but be careful.
Parahumans are dangerous people and they also don't live very long lives, but it's true.
I managed to secure this trunk and managed to find a way to make sure you landed up in the United States, as Poland isn't safe anymore.
I need to thank Rose Hebert for helping. She's a harsh, but fair woman. Also I was so sad when I learned about Annette's Hebert death, her daughter. Give a Hebert family a chance, they are good people.
Be careful. And I love you.
Irena Horowska
I was both angry and sad at this moment. Tears freely moved on my cheeks and I didn't realize when I was hugged. I translated words from the letter and their shock, disgust and at the end some bittersweet happiness were clear.
So this version of my father was even worse. What a shocking surprise on Earth-Bet. In my previous life he was antisemitic, I clearly remembered that conversation. I argued a bit on how conspiracy theories with Jews were stupid. He disagreed, but we never returned to that topic ever again. Later on I found out the he way a drug user, hardcore alcoholic, beat up on my mom and loved to participate in some… orgies. It was as horrible as it sounds. And how he started to act out and how I wanted to almost kill him. Thankfully we separated before it was too late. At this point it was 15-16 years ago, but I still remember how bad it was. And I think it affected me long term. I'm still scared of any relationships, because I didn't want to end up in the spot of my mom. Because I also learned that friend of the family, Dorota, started this whole relationship and it escalated from there.
Something changed here. I guess the far bigger influence of Nazis like Gesellschaft here changed things around. And my father joined them, because I suspected he decided it was a good way to make money and secure some business deals. I hated him, but it was true that he had a good business sense and he did secure the position of our family in the higher middle class. Before drugs and alcohol destroyed him that is.And he didn't really disagree with them, and here he could be far more openly racist. It made sense.
I picked up another envelope and checked the photographs. And oh boy, they were discriminating. Like from some shitty movie. People standing in 'sieg heil' poses. Some drunken hugging, with people wearing SS uniforms. Some hunting photos. But one of them shocked me the most.
I recognized this person. It was cape Krieg, happily shaking the hand of my father in a greeting. And my father wore some sort of tinker armor. Did he trigger? Cauldron Vial? He… was a member of Gesellschaft. I felt sick.
And it made my situation that much more complex. Did Empire88 already know about me? It would explain why I ended in Brockton Bay, but on the other hand I would end up in a different family. I needed to think about this. And desperately think on how to fix this issue. Because what was I supposed to do?
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dracklor
Beyond the Frontier
- Location
- Texas
I think that might just be an excuse to use meta-knowledge of Worm/Ward?
- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
I left it this way on purpose. I will reveal the truth at one point, but for now it's at best a guess work.
But it's also true that when I said MC will deal with some issues, they will be there, alright. And if it's connected to trigger event? Well... parahumans are hardly mentally healthy individuals. Thankfully it's a tinker trigger, because to satisfy shard those need first and foremost tinker and not get into danger as often as like other categories. Otherwise groups like Toybox would struggle to keep themselves in check.
Because he is very odd from outside perspectives and I think I present it so far reasonably well.
SuperQuatz96
Slick Beerus
I hope he gets back at all of them, vindictive mc is best mc
- Location
- Koszalin, Poland
I know myself and if someone really piss me off, I can hold a grudge for a looong time. Longer then most people.
Friggin Agnieszka Radwańska and her 'Olympics aren't most important sport event in the season' as a Captain of Polish Olympics team. And back then from top5 tennis players from WTA, 3 of them reached in semi-final, while she lost in first round. This disrepect towards people rooting for her still pisses me off.
Obviously there will be some things I plan to do here. But also he isn't currently in a position to do anything about it, yet.
You know in one of these stories it'd be nice to see the MC going to court rather than accept the PRT 'deal'.
Good story can't wait to see how it turns out.
Good story can't wait to see how it turns out.
- Location
- California
Will watch for now.
Good to see you on the writer's side of things.
Good to see you on the writer's side of things.
I did Nazi that twist coming.
I'm enjoying the story and excited to see where it goes. The two things I love most in fan fiction are interesting premise and character development, and this story has opportunities for both. It's really impressive that you are writing in English!
Petty theft by a minor leading to charges for over 4 years is insane, but parahuman law is really shit. Parahumans are an unprotected minority without representation in government, so it makes sense that the law discriminates against them. It also doesn't help that Cauldron/PRT interfere to prevent peaceful capes from living a life free of violence. It's a big reason why there are so many villains. One of Piggot's accusations is that Kamil used untested tinker tech. So it's illegal to be a tinker unless the PRT has power over your tech. The purpose these laws is to force parahumans under PRT control.
I'm enjoying the story and excited to see where it goes. The two things I love most in fan fiction are interesting premise and character development, and this story has opportunities for both. It's really impressive that you are writing in English!
Petty theft by a minor leading to charges for over 4 years is insane, but parahuman law is really shit. Parahumans are an unprotected minority without representation in government, so it makes sense that the law discriminates against them. It also doesn't help that Cauldron/PRT interfere to prevent peaceful capes from living a life free of violence. It's a big reason why there are so many villains. One of Piggot's accusations is that Kamil used untested tinker tech. So it's illegal to be a tinker unless the PRT has power over your tech. The purpose these laws is to force parahumans under PRT control.