I have a Plan (Worm/Tinker of Fiction)

[DISCOBOT]

"What would you like to order, sir?" The waiter asked me. I had already browsed the menu before entering the restaurant, so I answered him immediately.

"A plate of fish and chips, please." I said, "And a chocolate milkshake for takeaway."

The waiter nodded and walked away, leaving me alone to admire the Neponset river. I specifically chose this restaurant for lunch because it has a beautiful riverside view. I can almost smell the sea breeze with how close the restaurant is to the ocean.

Honestly, I could have flown my way to New York, but I decided to avoid that because I do not want to be intercepted by the local PRT. Most of my infiltration viruses in PRT ENE were deleted by Dragon with her exotic code that I couldn't understand. Fortunately, I disguised all of my viruses as backdoors left by Coil so they couldn't trace it back to me. Kuroto suggested that I make a Bugster to infiltrate their system, but I refused.

B.A.R.F is an amazing camouflage technology, but visual and audio camouflage is all it does. I couldn't ignore the possibility that someone in Boston could detect me if I drove a flying vehicle so I went incognito with a normal-looking truck. I also installed mini B.A.R.F projectors in my jacket to camouflage myself without the drones constantly surrounding me. Beck is not good enough to miniaturize his own technology, but Stark is. I do not need to wear a motion capture suit like Beck to cover myself in B.A.R.F.

I have to be efficient with my drones, too. I only brought ten with me on my truck because of the lack of storage and energy. I only made two toxic Arc Reactors until now because of the lack of rare materials, and both of those are powering my factory. I have to make do with solar panels on my truck to charge the ten drones.

While I am reading the reconnaissance results from my drones in Boston, the waiter placed my dish in front of me. A piece of cod fish fried to a beautiful gold and brown, with potato wedges and a small plate of tartar sauce next to it. Elegantly, I cut the fish into pieces with my knife and dipped it into the tartar sauce before eating it.

Delicious.

As I was enjoying my lunch, Kuroto chimed up in my head. "Is stopping in Boston really necessary?"

Boston is a pretty important place for Worm. The Teeth, the Ambassadors and the Travelers are all here. We might need to fight here in the future, so it's best if we do some recon in advance.

"Your drones could have done that by themselves."

Looking at pictures is different from visiting the actual place.

"But you are just eating in a restaurant." retorted Kuroto. After a few moments of consideration, I decided to tell him the truth.

Fine. I just want to sightsee, okay? This is my first time outside of Brockton Bay that I can remember.

"You should have admitted that from the beginning." Kuroto grumbled, "But I shall not fault you for seeking entertainment."

Thank yo- My line of thought was interrupted by something flying out from the river on my left. The sudden large movement splashed water all over the restaurant's riverbank porch.

"Fuck!" I reflexively cursed and got away from the riverbank as far as I could. "What the fuck!?"

My whole body was soaked from the river water. It's so fucking dirty! I can smell the goddamn dirt and grass! I might even get parasites and infections from this! I can't even enjoy a lunch on Earth Bet properly, can I?

The perpetrator revealed himself by landing in the restaurant. The cape's whole body was covered by running water. My guess from first glance is that he has a skintight forcefield that looked like fluids flowing at high speed or he used hydrokinesis to cover his body like a sandstorm, but with the murky river water instead.

My glasses quickly identified him as Liquid Snake, a minor independent villain in Boston that does robbery.

Who the fuck robs a restaurant?

"Robbers, that's who." Kuroto's voice shook me out of my stunned surprise, "Now put on the Gamer Driver and transform already!"

I commanded my drones that were patrolling the restaurant's perimeter to enter and blast him into the river with the concussion blasters, buying me time to take out the Gamer Driver and Gashat from my waist pouch.

The Driver just tied onto my waist when my glasses warned me of a flying cape crashing through the roof and landing right in front of me.

Torrents of profanity ran through my head in my surprise and I fell on my butt against the floor. The new cape took a look at me and raised his hand to swing a punch, but my drones launched another concussion blast and slammed him against the railing.

"No time to panic, Adam! Get up and TRANSFORM!" Kuroto urged with a scream at the end. I quickly pressed the activation button of Inspira Tinker A and inserted it into my driver.

Gashat! Let's Game! Metcha Game! Mutcha Game! What's your name?! I'm a Kamen Rider!

I did not pull the lever, so I transformed into the bulky and stubby Level 1 form instead. While being slightly weaker and less agile, the Level 1 form offers a much stronger protection than the Level 2 form.

Liquid Snake and the cape that my system identified as Skyfire jumped out of the river as soon as my transformation was complete. The second cape is obviously female with how her latex bodysuit hugged her curves. She wears a flat porcelain mask painted with the pattern of a masquerade mask to hide her face with bright red hair mixed with orange flowing behind her head.

Without a word, I rushed forward and swung a punch at Skyfire, but she formed a wall of fire in front of her chest and blocked it. I wasn't punching with my full strength, but I was still surprised that she blocked it. Solid fire?

Liquid Snake took the chance to kick at my stomach, but I felt nothing behind the protection offered by my suit so I chose to tackle him and lift him up. He struggled in my grasp, but it was useless and I slammed him down on the restaurant's wooden floor and gave him a stomp on the chest with my right foot. That should have snapped his ribcage and collapsed his right lung if my sensation is correct.

Skyfire covered her fist with fire the moment I dropped Liquid Snake and punched me in the face. I felt the heat a little, but my head did not even move. Her punch certainly felt stronger than a normal human of her muscle mass, but not by much, and certainly not enough for me to be afraid of. I grabbed her wrist and tightened my grip, hearing a nice crunch coming from her bones before I stepped closer when she was stunned by the pain and stomped on her left foot, crushing it entirely.

Skyfire screamed in pain as I dropped her to the floor. She is certainly a Brute, but maybe just a 1 or 2 on the PRT rating scale. Enough for her to punch through walls and be more durable, but not enough to bend metal beams or be bulletproof.

I called the PRT with my system while reading all the public information I can find on the villainous duo. Skyfire is an independent villain as well, though she occasionally worked with Liquid Snake to conduct robberies. She has been seen flying with wings made out of fire, though it looked more like she made a wingsuit with fire to me.

"Two independent villains decide to rob the same restaurant at the same time you are inside. Hmm…" Kuroto hummed, "Very suspicious."

Suspicious indeed.

---

I inconspicuously left the restaurant and went back on my truck after Boston's PRT and Protectorate arrived. I need to avoid attention. As soon as I entered the truck, I took off all my clothes and entered the shower immediately.

"Call Lisa for me." I said out loud in the shower to H.E.R.M.E.S as the shower releases hot water on my body.

"Calling Miss Wilbourn." H.E.R.M.E.S replied dutifully, and there was the sound of a dialing phone call.

"Alright, what's wrong?" is the first thing Lisa said as she answered my call. "Wait, are you taking a shower right now?"

"I got attacked when having lunch in Boston." I answered and sent her the report, "It's too big of a coincidence."

"Uhuh, let's see…" Lisa went silent for a few seconds before speaking again, "Yup. It's Accord."

"How does he know that I am in Boston?"

"Probably hired a precog to inform him of anything about you. He's got the connections, after all. I think Liquid Snake and Skyfire is just a test for him. He wants to know your capabilities."

"I wiped all of my appearances in the surveillance footage, but he'll still learn about the Gamer Driver from his plants inside Boston PRT." I said and asked Lisa, "How plausible is it for me to dismantle his operations and capture him today?"

"Wait a sec, I'll ask Dinah." Lisa shouted from the other side of my call. I finished showering and got out to wipe myself dry when she came back again.

"64.539 percent. Do you really want to do this today?" asked Lisa.

64 percent. It's more than 50 percent, but I am not confident enough to take on Accord with this number, especially when I am unprepared.

"Do not be afraid, Adam. Take the chance." Kuroto urged.

But I'm alone in Boston with no support. I only have ten drones, and Accord is one of the most powerful Thinkers on the planet. He's gotta have some defenses to protect himself, especially designed by his power If I attack him and fail, who knows what kind of convoluted plan he will make to fuck me up? I only have one shot at Accord, Kuroto. And I don't think I am prepared enough to take him on my first day in Boston.

"But this is also the best chance you will ever have. Right now, ten minutes after his failed attack on you. He will be scrambling to find you, he will be making plans, and those plans are still in the making. The sooner you fight Accord, the easier the fight will be! Do not be afraid, Adam, because you are not alone! Because you have I, DAN KUROTO, will fight by your side!"

My eyes darted to the Rider Gashat Case hanging on the walls of the truck. Kuroto and I finished a new Gashat last midnight, an experimental Gashat that was meant to unleash the full potential of my power.

"Where is Accord?"

---

Charlestown is significantly different from the rest of Boston that I have visited. It is so different in fact, that I thought I stepped into another country entirely and left the USA.

The buildings here are all clean and well kept. The roads have no potholes. Traffic lights and lamp posts have no flyers on them. There is no graffiti to be seen anywhere, and the entire area seems like a peaceful and prosperous place with no trace of instability on the surface.

I am not sure who copied who, but Accord's headquarters are almost the same as Coil's. On top of a symmetrically beautiful office building is an underground base that is more than enough to qualify as an Endbringer shelter, complete with its own power generator, oxygen filter, armory, waste processing, aquaponic farm and even a mini submarine tunnel that allowed him to escape into the ocean. Accord can live his entire life in this fallout bunker if he wants to.

Too bad he provoked me.

After Kuroto and I were done reading the scans from my infiltration drones, I activated B.A.R.F to replace my appearance and cover up my blue armored silver spandex with purple circuitry lines. To anyone else with normal eyes, I should look like Accord's best friend, Coil. Wielding the Gashacon All-Driver, I brazenly walked into the building from its front door.

At the same time, Fatamorgana flew out from my truck and crashed into Accord's office floor for cape related business, causing panic and chaos in the mundane employees as my drones wreaked havoc under the disguise of elemental monsters.

As soon as I entered the building, dozens of machine guns came out from the ceiling and discharged their firepower on me. I had to put my effort into standing my ground, otherwise the torrents of bullets might push me back. Kneeling, I placed my palm on the floor and grabbed the metaphorical strings in my mind.

There. The machine guns stopped. With a wave of my hand, the machine guns, floorboard hidden with contraptions, computers from the information counter and the security cameras in the corners all flew out to form a ball of floating components in front of me, before recombining into a crude mech with machine guns for it's head and fingers.

This is Inspira Tinker A's true abilities, technokinesis. I can access, control and combine any technology within my range with a thought of my mind. Anything I created with the Gashat alone will be much more powerful than what was possible with its components, and it will disassemble and turn into scrap after I deactivated my transformation unless I actually tinkered with my power instead.

Under my command, the machine gun mech walked behind me and out of the building, breaking the glass walls in its path. The mundane employees had already evacuated the moment I showed myself in front of the building, and the elevator opened to reveal Accord's Ambassadors stepping out.

They stood in a triangle formation and my camera scanned them to give me their names. Citrine, Cassiterite and Ligeia. All of them dressed like they were going to a ballroom dance rather than a fight.

Cassiterite threw his black stars at me and Ligeia created a portal shooting a geyser at me. All the while, the area surrounding me was gradually colored with a yellow tint.

I swatted the black stars away easily. They turned into spikes when my All-Driver approached them, but my strength was enough to swat them away and continue forward as my drones began blasting concussive waves in their direction. The water geyser was as tall and wide as a minivan, but I blocked it by transforming the floorboards into layers of walls. Accord must have designed the floorboards, because the mechanism under them allows the floor to transform into various sorts of traps and defenses for his Ambassadors. He is like a contraption master in a wuxia story. All these efforts simply made it easier for my technokinesis, though. I could not control normal floorboards since there is no 'technology' in them, but Accord's intricate designs counted as a technology to Inspira Tinker A.

As expected, the floorboards held against the water geyser, though I noticed that the trio stood unaffected despite my drones bombarding them with concussive waves. Ligeia has created a portal to absorb the blast from my drones.

No matter. I only have two drones blasting them with concussive waves, while my other three were wreaking havoc above with Fatamorgana. I cranked the dial of the Gashacon All-Driver and turned it into a nail gun. A burst of force from my foot shot me across the ground hall as I aimed my nail gun at the trio.

I pressed the trigger and Ligeia's head arced back with a spurt of blood.

I slid across the floor and shot down more black stars that were thrown at me. Actually, I have a bright idea. Touching the floor, I controlled their mechanism and activated the floorboard's anti intruder measures, which saw it pop up rows of mini saws.

Citrine and Cassiterite obviously didn't expect the traps to activate on them all of a sudden and jumped away as soon as the saws cut their feet. I pursued them head on and fired another subsonic nail at Cassiterite as my drones revealed its own machine gun and shot at Citrine.

Citrine collapsed on the floor as she turned into a sponge with bullets and Cassiterite struggled to crawl on the floor, with a big nail-sized hole in his lower abdomen.

"Who…what are you?" Cassiterite asked as he looked at me and let out a groan of pain.

I answered by shooting him in the head. Only dumb villains and heroes talk in combat.

 

[DISCOBOT]

Everything in Accord's building is designed by the man himself. Lights. Floor board. Fans. Air conditioners. Even the elevator that he is taking with his secretary right now.

Three point five meters in width, length and height, illuminated by four diamond shaped LED lights that perfectly shines over the smooth and reflective metal surface inside the elevator. The floor is made out of perfectly carved glass, because the chaotic patterns on marble enrages him.

Accord and his secretary evacuated into the elevator the moment the elemental Blaster crashed into his floor. He smashed his fist on the elevator wall the moment his tablet showed the death of Cassiterite. His mundane secretary, Lucy, trembled at his display of rage.

Accord took a deep breath to reassert his calm and ordered his secretary, "Call the Travelers here, NOW! Have Genesis and Ballistic dispatch the monsters in my office while Sundancer and Trickster deal with the Coil imposter!"

Oh, it is very easy to see that the snake suit man on screen is an imposter. He knows his business partner very well, and he can tell simply from the pace of his steps and the swing of his arm that this man is an imposter wearing Coil's costume. A flaw of the costume culture. People usually recognize capes not by their power, but by their costume. It was harder to impersonate capes with flashy and recognizable powers, but the law works in the opposite way for Thinkers like him and Coil. Only they themselves understand and see the effects of their power and no one else.

He had to hold himself when the elevator suddenly shook. It seemed that the elemental monster was far more destructive than he initially assumed if he could feel it in the elevator.

Soon, the elevator opened and a steel vault door slowly opened to allow his entrance into his bunker, built under his office in case the worst of the worst happens. The Coil impersonator was powerful enough to kill three of his Ambassadors within a few moments of their engagement. While he did order them to engage to subdue, they shouldn't be able to be defeated so quickly. The fake Coil seems to have technokinesis as his power. A Tinker-Shaker hybrid?

That means his bunker, filled with contraptions designed by himself and the most advanced technology money can buy is entirely at his mercy.

No. There are no invincible powers. If his technokinesis were so powerful, he would have killed me when I was in the elevator. His power has a range.

"Where are the Travellers?" He asked Lucy.

Lucy tapped at her tablet again. She visibly gulped, sending a throb of pain down his head and answered, "I don't know, sir. They have failed to respond to our contact."

The idea that the Travelers disrupted his plans again filled him with unbridled rage. The sheer audacity those incompetent and useless morons have. It seems that they have forgotten their lesson last time one of them disrespected him. He made sure with his contact in the CUI to make Perdition suffer. Abandoning the Travelers to Brockton Bay with Panacea as the excuse was his plan before, but now he should burn them all alive as a punishment for their repeated transgressions.

"Where is Jacklight and Lizardtail?" He asked Luna again.

"They are both working in their civilian identity." answered Luna.

"Recall them now! And I want the intruders DEAD! SHOOT TO KILL!!" He shouted in the end as he could no longer restrain his rage. The fact that someone has ruined his laboriously crafted headquarters and killed his Ambassadors IS JUST SO ENRAGING!

Accord took a few deep breaths to get his emotion under control. He controls his power, and his power doesn't control him. He repeated that mantra within his mind as he walked down the clean hallway.

As he passed by the reflective walls, another tremor was sent through the bunker. Accord gestured for Lucy to show him the tablet again. The imposter has found the elevator and is coming down.

"Othello, kill him."

"Yes, sir." A masked figure answered behind him from the mirrors.

Judging by the strength and speed displayed in the footage, his guards and Othello wouldn't do anything effective against the imposter. He was fast enough to parry Cassiterite's black stars and move over the distance of a room with a skip. He has shown the strength of his disguise by tanking his machine guns before turning them into an ugly abomination of walking machinery.

Who is this intruder? Why is he attacking him today? Why is he disguised as his dead business partner?

Adam Danvers. Nameless Tinker D.

Just as he thought of that name, sounds of strained metal rang behind him.

The intruder was destroying the vault door.

"Order every guard to intercept the intruders now!" He barked at his secretary. "Have them equip EMP weapons and use them as soon as they catch sight of the intruder."

"Yes, sir."

As he increased his walking pace, Accord immediately connected the dots. He received a message from Eyewatch that Adam Danvers is coming to Boston this morning. He did not know why, but he understands that the twelve year old is not an opponent he can underestimate. Judging from the incident when Adam dealt with the gangs in Brockton Bay, he is not willing to kill his enemies. Childish, but that was why he sent two disposable capes to attack Adam, hoping to find more data about his drones and illusions from them afterwards. Adam has Tattletale in his employ, so she must have figured out it was him that ordered the minor attack.

Nameless Tinker D is a cautious and intelligent cape, not unlike himself. He assumed that Nameless Tinker D would retreat to Brockton Bay after this attack and retaliate from there. Instead, he disguised himself as Coil and attacked his headquarters in broad daylight and killed three of his Ambassadors, completely disproving all of his assumptions and derailing his plans. The last point filled his cranium with compounding pain that was growing more and more by the moment.

Accord clenched his fist and gritted his teeth. His plan only fails when he works with incorrect information. Coil's profile on Adam Danvers stated that he was very much someone who would endure abuse and retaliate when he had a chance, but that is clearly wrong. Adam did not endure anything and retaliated almost immediately. It wasn't even an hour after the attack yet! He doesn't even have time to interrogate Skyfire and Liquid Snake as they were still in a coma!

Accord does not possess the immediate power needed to fight against Adam right now. His strength lies in his plans and connections with other forces forged with his power, but his Ambassadors themselves have very little strength on their own. They were only considered powerful combatants because of excellent strategies made with his power and their abuse of the Unwritten Rules. Advantages that Nameless Tinker D was making irrelevant with his technokinesis used on his own contraptions. His powers are already filling him in on various possible situations when a technokinetic enters a location as abundant with gimmicks and technology as his own base.

What he was seeing did not make his mood any better.

He had made plans for cases when someone attacked his base, and he is going to follow it now.

"Luna, I want you to head to the server room and initiate the data wipe." Accord commanded his secretary.

Luna nodded. "Yes, sir." And walked away obediently.

She might die on her way there and back, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make as long as he got to live.

Following his evacuation plans, Accord headed towards the submarine hangar built in the middle floors of his base. He does not have the resources to dig a new tunnel that leads to the ocean, so he renovated a sewer tunnel to do so instead. The existence of this abandoned sewer is why he built his base here in the first place.

Every inch of his bunker is perfectly crafted to his desired specifications. It has to, otherwise he might set it on fire with all the imperfections his power will graciously point out for him. The hallways are three point five meters wide and tall, furnished with reflective walls to maximize Othello's power and acoustic materials to reduce as much noise as humanly possible without resorting to unreliable tinkertech. Even the smallest of chattering can trigger his rage, and he wishes to increase his employee's survivability from himself.

After exiting an internal elevator, he finally arrived at the fifth underground floor of his base, where the submarine control room lies. He walked as fast as he could to his destination without worrying about the time needed to prepare the submarine. His employees are all well trained, and preparing for his escape is one of their top priorities. He only has four of them in the base, but his personal submarine will always be the first to escape.

As Accord turned right in the hallway, he stopped his steps upon witnessing what was in front of him.

A cape in a ridiculously chaotic costume. Shiny silver spandex with purple asymmetric circuitry lines and black game themed protection gear, topped off by a helmet with cartoonish painted eyes and an exaggerated side part hairstyle. An impractically bulky neon green belt with the words 'Gamer Driver' painted in neon splashes. Behind him, Accord can see the door to his submarine control room destroyed.

The colors and details of the costume might be different, but he recognized the aesthetics from a report he received a few days ago. A new cape in Brockton Bay that killed Night and Fog, the racist scum that returned to the city and met their demise instead.

"Kamen Rider Resolute."

"You are technically correct, but I would prefer if you call me Kamen Rider Genm." The second intruder introduced himself. "Or just Genm, for short."

He caught on to the situation rapidly. Resolute- or Genm, has destroyed his means of evacuation. The 'how' does not matter. What matters was his survival.

"Are you working with Nameless Tinker D?" Accord asked, "I can pay you twenty million dollars to betray him and let me escape."

"Hmm?" Genm tilted his head in amusement, and then laughed. He laughed ironically, like he heard an unfunny joke as he slowly walked towards him.

"I don't need your money, Accord," Genm said with amusement clear in his voice and pointed his wrist weapon at him, intentions clear. "No. you're coming with us."

The sound of falling metal emerged behind him and he turned around to see the Coil imposter stepping out of his wrecked elevator.

As the illusions faded away, Accord found himself surprised yet again. Kamen Rider Resolute, though with slightly different colors, stepped out instead of Nameless Tinker D's blue and silver power armor. Did he guess wrong again?

The gadget inserted into their neon green belt was exactly the same, with the image of two humanoids separated by a silver and purple background projected in the middle screen. If he narrowed his eyes, he could make out the words 'INSPIRA TINKER AA' printed in the middle of the inserted gadget.

Resolute raised his tinkertech gun and in that brief moment, he panicked. From everything he gathered in the initial footage, Resolute will not hesitate to kill him.

With no choices left, Accord submitted to his desire to live.

"Door me!"

A brief hum in the air and the familiar rectangular portal formed in front of him. Before he could step in however, he saw something purple hit the edge of the portal in the corners of his eyes.

In his despair, the portal winked out like it never existed.

Did-did he just destroy Doormaker's portals?

He never knew that was possible!

"Aaargh!" Accord screamed as pain burst out from his feet. He fell to the ground on his ass as two metal spikes came out from the floor and stabbed through his feet.

"How does it feel to be hurt by your own contraptions, Accord?." A child's voice came from Resolute's adult body. "None of them will save you here."

With that, Resolute took out a white tinkertech gadget with a crystal pane. He pressed the button and a glitching holographic screen appeared behind Resolute, spreading pixelated waves all over the surface of his base before disappearing.

A few seconds passed in silence with Resolute raising the gadget before he slotted it on the side of his belt. "I guess it worked."

"Of course it will work, Resolute." Genm replied proudly as he stepped forward and lifted Accord by his collar, pulling his feet out from the metal spikes. "The Gashat is still a work in progress, but it can at least serve as a temporary sensory blocker to counter Clairvoyant."

"We should leave now. The Game Area cannot hold forever."

"Cannot hold forever yet." Genm corrected.

"Let…go of me!" Accord struggled to wrest free from Genm's humiliating grasp but to no avail. The movements of his body exacerbated the pains of his injury, but the sheer rage at his loss and humiliation hurts even more.

His final hope to escape was dashed. It would take a fool to not realize that Nameless Tinker D has created an anti-Thinker tinkertech, and the implications behind it. Cauldron's singular greatest asset is a Thinker. Can this tinkertech stop her? If it can, what else can Nameless Tinker D do?

"You want to keep him alive?" Resolute asked.

Genm lifted him closer and grabbed his face like one would do with a dog. "Scumbag he may be, why don't we recycle him? You wouldn't mind using more…intrusive methods on him, would you?"

Resolute turned the dials on his weapon and transformed his nail gun into a giant USB plug before stabbing it into the walls of his perfect hallway. Glowing blue circuitry lines appeared on the wall before Resolute pulled it out. "No, I don't mind."

Despair and helplessness welled up inside him as Resolute and Genm continued their conversation. There was a chance that he was valuable enough to Cauldron that they will save him, but will they? He used his chance to call for help, and Resolute destroyed it immediately. To Cauldron, anything that can risk their exposure was unacceptable. There was a higher chance that the woman with a fedora might show up to kill him instead of rescuing him, if he can survive whatever Genm has in store for him.

"Shame you killed Citrine. I bet she has far more valuable data than him,"

"Whatever." Resolute replied and to his horror, continued, "I've activated the self destruct protocol. Let's go."

 

[DISCOBOT]

Dinner tonight was kimchi stew. Learning from my lesson today, I brought the take out and ate it in my caravan truck instead of enjoying it in the restaurant. I have always believed that take out is infinitely inferior to enjoying the food in the restaurant, and I am a little disappointed that I couldn't enjoy my food to its maximum.

"I'm telling you, this kimchi is amazing." I said to the holographic screen with my mouth full of food. "We should come here again next time."

"Yeah, we should." Taylor replied over our video call. "I mean, Brockton Bay has some Korean restaurants too, but I never entered them since they're usually ABB hangout spots."

"The ABB is gone now, right? I wonder where Lung is."

"I don't know, maybe he ran away?" replied Taylor with a shrug. "I kept having people ask me the same question in school."

"How's Arcadia, Taylor?" I asked. "I know I said I'm going to get homeschooled, but I might go to highschool to waste my time and make friends in a few years."

If I even survived that long in Earth Bet, that is.

"I guess Arcadia's what a normal highschool supposed to be like?" Taylor replied hesitantly. "The New Wave kids chased away the crowds that swarmed me after I was outed, so I usually hang out with them, but I don't feel like I fit in."

I sighed. "Well, that's school for you. Just…be careful who you make friends with, Taylor"

"...Yeah. Wouldn't want to meet another Emma." Taylor replied, "Wait a sec. Dad!"

I heard some footsteps before Danny entered the screen next to Taylor. "Hey, Adam. How's New York?"

"I wouldn't know, Uncle Danny. I spent my entire day cooped up in the truck."

I wanted to stay in Boston to deal with the Travellers, but I booked a meeting with New York's Protectorate tomorrow morning and I couldn't afford to not do some preparations in New York beforehand.

"Err…okay." Danny replied after some hesitation. "What do you have for dinner today, Adam?"

"Taylor asked the same question." I said and showed my kimchi soup in a takeout bowl to the camera. "I bought some kimchi stew. The restaurant's pretty authentic since the boss is Korean."

"Isn't it too spicy for you, Adam?"

"Nah." I denied, "I like the spicy and sour taste."

"Alright, we're not going to disturb your dinner time. Good luck for tomorrow, Adam. I hope you can get what you want."

"Thanks, Uncle Danny." I replied and turned off the video call.

In a few minutes, I finished my dinner and got up from the table to stretch my hands. The compartment wall behind me retracted into the ceiling of the truck and stopped hiding the drugged up short guy restrained in a chair with a pen tied to his hands.

Yup, said short guy is Accord.

After capturing him, I locked a B.A.R.F and brainwave sensor headset and drugged him to keep him from being lucid. Right now, Accord believes that he is still in his office, tackling society's biggest issues with only a pen, a paper and a computer.

I picked up the freshly written papers scattered on the floor and reordered them according to their page number. It's a pretty thick stack of paper, probably almost a hundred pages. I looked at the title and debated if I should waste my time on Accord's updated magnum opus that I had him write down to test my illusion set up on him.

World Hunger: Solution to Humanity's Failings

His infamous plan to solve world hunger.

You know what? I'll skim through it.

I sat at my table and began to flip through the pages. First agenda of order, illegalization of meatpacking industry. Okay, that makes sense to me. Divert resources into efficient farming and to increase total food production instead of wasting crops on feeding animals to feed ourselves. People will hate it, but I can see it working. Punishment for food wastage, fines or imprisonment. How do you enforce such laws?

Of course, this is where the dystopian dictatorship begins.

Highly monitored area for the population's designated mealtime, as well as gradually removing normal food from the market and replacing them with rations. Snacks, carbohydrate drinks, ice creams, cakes, that sort of 'unnecessary food' will be gradually outlawed. Protests are expected and will be dealt with bribery, framing and assassination. Eventually, the only food known to society will be protein slurries made from genetically enhanced crops.

After the core concept comes the execution. Assassination of key figures in the meatpacking industry, bribing the Department of Health, inserting political figures in various nations to push for gradual food policy reformation. Once he had control of the government, reduce taxes to promote international food trade and cross border cooperation, which eventually ended in nations merging with each other to form a united government. Exploitation of natural resources without regards to the environment for the sake of higher food production. A transportation network to ensure all produced food will be properly delivered to the population.

"I thought his plan would be more…impressive." Kuroto commented as I stopped reading and put the file away. "This? This is just taking the easy way to solve problems. Anyone can come up with the same conclusion."

Or the most efficient way, but yes. His plan is…underwhelmingly normal.

The plan is highly detailed, especially with the predictions Accord made as his plan was gradually executed. But that's the problem that both Kuroto and I have. When you take away all the details and predictions made on said details, Accord's plan is efficiently simple.

Dictatorship to control food wastage. That's it.

After that, I grabbed another file that Accord wrote up. How to solve the energy crisis. How to solve global warming. How to solve poverty. How to solve racism. How to push for greater healthcare.

All of it leads to a dictatorship government that relies on brainwashing and obedience.

"No wonder nobody listened to his plans." Kuroto concluded. "He's insane."

I looked at Accord, writing down his dictatorship fantasy with illusions directly fed into his eyeballs and drugged up to his brain.

We'll keep him for a few hours to collect the data before disposing of him. I replied to Kuroto while throwing his plan papers into a makeshift incinerator.

---

16 Aprils 2011

"This world never ceases to amaze me with its cliches." Kuroto commented as I entered the New York Wards base.

The New York Wards have a very cliche and cartoonish base, if I say so myself. It is a giant dome surrounded by greenery. The entire design screams modern architecture and "heroic" right in your face with how bright and shiny the entire building is. So shiny in fact, I believe that it will be hard to look at the building directly in the afternoon with how it reflects the sunlight.

After informing the counter staff of my arrival, I was taken to a meeting room and patiently waited for the New York Wards to be informed of my arrival. Since I was already outed, I did not bother to disguise myself with B.A.R.F. The meeting room was decorated with Wards memorabilia, with posters and newspaper cutouts tacked on the noticeboard.

Soon, two women wearing colorful skin tight suits entered the meeting room

Kuroto chose this moment to pop up with a comment. "At least they have padding."

"Hi. I am Prism, a New York Protectorate hero." The taller and more muscular woman introduced herself and extended her hand.

"Adam Danvers." I shaked her hand back politely and replied, "Thank you for meeting me today."

"I am Flechette." She shaked my hands as well. "I heard you were looking for me?"

"Yes." I confirmed. "I would like to study your power for my tinkertech research."

"Really? I thought Jouster's power would be more suitable for something like that."

"His power is pretty flashy, but yours is far more useful to what I am researching right now." I replied.

"What are you trying to create here?" Prism asked, "A giant crossbow?"

"I want to make a penetrative gun." I gave them half the truth. "To deal with brutes like the Crawler or Endbringers."

"You're thinking pretty big there, kid." Prism said, "What do you think, Flechette? Do you want to help him?"

"How are you going to test my powers?" asked Flechette.

I used all of my strength and placed my case on the meeting table. A twelve year old's body is really inconvenient. I hope I can meet a ghost that can solve that for me in the future.

"Here." I said as I opened the case to reveal my testing apparatuses. "I need you to wear this headset when using your power. After that, I'll place some sensors around to scan for anything your power releases."

"Hmm…" Flechette hummed as she stared at the white and pink headset. "What does the headset do?"

"It scans your brainwaves. I made it to specifically scan for exotic radiation from the Corona Pollentia and Gemma."

"Nothing intrusive?"

"No." I denied. "I made this headset specifically so it's not a mad scientist's equipment."

"How long do I need to cooperate for the research?"

"I don't know." I admitted. "If we're lucky, a single application of your power is enough. If we're not, it might take the entire afternoon. I don't want to bother you too much."

"Alright." Flechette nodded. "Let's go. I agree to your research."

We left the meeting room and Prism led me into a small shooting range that was built under the dome.

"Will testing her power here work for you?" Prism asked. "This is where Flechette has her training."

"Yes, thank you."

I took out the scanners from my case and began to place them around the shooting range as Flechette loads her crossbow.

"How's Brockton Bay these days?" Prism asked casually as I scanned Flechette's arrow with a scanner.

"Dangerous." I replied. "The Pure Bastion went completely silent after their declaration, and that doesn't look good coming from Gesellschaft extremists. There's also Accord and the Butcher coming in the future, so it might be better to abandon the city at this point."

"How do you know that Accord is moving into Brockton?" asked Prism.

"Companies under his control are buying up properties in Brockton. It's not hard to guess his purpose from there."

"Is Brockton Bay that bad right now?" Flechette asked out of curiosity as she shot an arrow into the shooting range. The arrow penetrated three separate layers of solid steel before stopping at the four and fused in the middle.

Hmm…dimensional interference detected. The arrow was fused with the fourth metal sheet at a subatomic level. Nuclear fission and fusion occurred, but no energy was released.

Interesting.

"Civilians might think good days are coming, but that's kind of impossible in Earth Bet." I replied as I saved the data into my computer. "How good are you with moving targets?"

"It depends. If the object was slow enough that I can trace it with my eye and doesn't change its speed, my power can calculate the timing for my charges pretty well."

"Right, your power has a Thinker aspect to it as well." I nodded and typed on my computer. "Do you mind demonstrating it? Hit as many moving targets as you can."

"I already did it once during my power testing when I entered the Wards." said Flechette. "Can we give him the data, Prism?"

Prism opened her mouth to reply, but I answered Flechette before her. "While that would be appreciated, it won't be necessary. What I need is your brainwaves and the sub dimension radiation your Corona releases when you use your power. Can you describe how your power time itself later as well?"

"Oh, sure."

"Speaking of Accord, the Protectorate received news about him last night." Prism spoke, "Boston PRT will release a statement later, but do you want to learn it from me now?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Someone attacked Accord yesterday and destroyed his base. All of his Ambassadors were killed and he is missing."

I pretended to be surprised by widening my eyes and slightly opening my mouth. "Accord was defeated?"

"At least it looks like that." Prism continued talking, "What we gathered is that Coil and an elemental cape attacked Accord's primary front office in broad daylight. Accord escaped into his bunker, but Coil followed him and took him away before activating his self-destruct for the base. People in Charlestown are in chaos right now."

"I think it's a shame." Flechette said in pity. "I know he's a villain and a little psychopathic, but I thought he was trying to do good. I heard the reason he left Watchdog is because they refused to look at his plan to solve world hunger."

Prism crossed her arms and stared at Flechette. "Who did you hear that from?"

"Err…I forgot."

"I think it's good riddance Accord is gone." I voiced my honest opinion. "He's just an egotistical scumbag."

Flechette turned around to look at me after shooting at a moving target. "You know something about Accord?"

"I know he deals in human trafficking with the CUI." I answered. "Know the Travelers? One of their members, Perdition, was sold to the CUI for being late to a meeting. I bet he's not the only cape that Accord has sold to the CUI."

"Where did you learn that from?" questioned Prism.

"I was investigating Accord for blackmail material. He's got the ears of so many people you would never believe them all. Mexico cartels, mafias, gangs, senators in Congress, major shareholders…CUI isn't the only major power he was in a partnership with."

"No surprises there." Flechette shrugged. "But damn, I guess Accord's pretty evil, huh?"

"He's successful, and like most people who succeed in the United States he gave himself a good public image."

---

In my truck, Genm and I were working furiously to apply the data obtained from Flechette into a Gashat. With the Inspira Tinker AA Gashat inserted into the Gamer Driver, Kuroto and I both transformed into Tinker Gamer Level 20, as well as a corporeal body for Kuroto to work in reality.

The new Gashat, or sequel to Inspira Tinker A, is based on the same premise as the predecessor. We simply added a co-op mode into the game and made it the focus to create the Gashat. Kuroto has already researched Mighty Brothers XX and created Mighty Doctors XX before, so creating another Gashat that creates a second body wasn't a big deal for him.

"No, no, think bigger!" Kuroto shouted. " A hunting themed game is not enough! If you want the Gashat to be powerful, it must carry a game that can allow it to do so! Merely hunting animals wouldn't be enough!"

"What about incorporating the data into Bang Bang Shooting or Taddle Quest?" I asked. "I know Flechette used to use a sword before she joined the Wards and switched to using a crossbow."

"Hmm… that might work." Kuroto agreed after some contemplation. "I need more inspiration. MORE OF IT!"

"Calm down, Genm."

"Yes, yes. The Taddle series always had a swordsman protagonist, but what about a wizard? Or is it a magician…"

"Speaking of magic, I found the blindspot frequency from Dinah's data." I informed Kuroto.
"The key element for the Gashat is ready."

"Yes, finally!" Kuroto replied with his joy evident in his voice and made a fist pump.

The anti precog Gashat that I used in Accord's base is still an incomplete product at this point. We based the Gashat around the concept of sensory deprivation, but there are still too many unknown variables on how precognition works. Luckily, I finally found the backdoor to all precog powers in Worm.

In the middle of tinkering, I received a message from Lisa.

Vd call from Hberts coming

I saved my progress and gestured for H.E.R.M.E.S to put my computers away.

"They should not have interrupted our work." Kuroto complained grimly. "Time is being wasted here! My inspirations are flowing away!"

I ignored Kuroto's rambling and deactivated the transformation, returning to my twelve year old body.

Looking at my opening and closed fist, I silently pondered on the possibilities of obtaining an adult body. Panacea can do it, but will she do it for me? I'm not an expert in biology, but there must be some downsides to accelerating the body's growth while keeping the brain intact. Or can she create a brand new body out of biomass and transplant my brain into it? That does not count as modifying the brain, right? What if she put a backdoor into my body? Maybe I will obtain a biotinker ghost after Kuroto. I have become less repulsed by the sight of spilling innards ever since…

Ever since using Inspira Tinker A.

Hmm.

"Miss Hebert is calling you, boss." H.E.R.M.E.S politely informed me.

"Use A.R.C.S and answer the call." I ordered.

B.A.R.F projectors light up and transform the interiors of my truck into the living room in the Hebert household, with Taylor and Danny in front of me. Both of them recoiled when I suddenly appeared in front of them, but quickly realized that nothing was wrong.

"Oh, this is an illusion again, right?" Taylor lets out a breath of relief while patting her chest. "I thought you invented teleportation or something."

"Nah, I wish." I denied, "Anyway, why did you call me?"

"We just want to ask how your day is, Adam," said Danny. "So how is it? Did you meet Flechette today?"

"Yup." I nodded. "I managed to get the data I wanted and I made some progress on my new tinkertech. I'm going back to Brockton Bay tomorrow morning."

"Why don't you come back now?" Danny asked. " It's just 6 o'clock, and I think you can reach Brockton by eight or nine if I'm not wrong."

It's six o'clock already? No wonder I am so hungry.

"I have a lot of inspiration for my tinkertech today, Uncle Danny. I want to work them out as soon as I can and I don't feel safe working while my truck is driving." I said even though my truck was driving back to Boston right now.

"Oh, okay. You do you, Adam. What are you having for dinner today?"

"I don't know, maybe some fast food?" I shrugged.

"Well, don't have too much of it, okay? It's not good for your body." Danny nagged, but Taylor interrupted him before he could continue.

"Adam, have you heard about Accord?"

"Yeah, someone caught him, right? I heard it from the New York Wards this morning." I said, acting just like how Taylor expected me to act.

"Someone pretending to be Coil is the one who attacked Accord." Taylor continued, "Do you think he's related to him in some way?"

"I don't know. Coil's a very cautious person, and so is Accord. His Ambassadors are pretty famous. You would need someone on Triumvirate's level to attack them from the front and get away with it. I heard Citrine can even shut down powers. Don't worry, I'll investigate it. I want to know who took out Accord too."

"Okay." Taylor nodded.

"You guys got anything more you want to say?" I asked, "If there isn't anything, I'm going back to tinkering."

"Alright, alright." Danny nodded and got up from the couch. "We won't bother you anymore. Bye, Adam."

"Bye bye." I smiled and waved my hand before shutting off the call.

"Can you transform and let me out now?" Kuroto grumbled in my mind.

Yeah, yeah.

I inserted the Inspira Tinker A Gashat into my Gamer Driver and opened the lever, prompting the driver to project a transformation screen in front of me before it enveloped me.

Double the hands at work! Double the power! Inspira! Inspira Tinker Double A!

Genm appeared next to me, and I ordered H.E.R.M.E.S to pull out the computer before we went back to work again.

"I think we should finish up the precog blocker first." I said to Kuroto.

Kuroto rubbed his chin in contemplation, before replying. "Hmm…you want to use it against the Travelers later?"

"Yes." I confirmed his guess. "I wouldn't want any Thinker to get a peek of what we will do later."

"Okay. We've already had most of the foundations, so we should be able to finish the Gashat with Inspira Tinker AA's work speed buff. Let's go!"

---

AN: Okay, here begins the reveal for all the buildup in Arc 3. Kuroto's story will end here, but I am a little unsure on who to choose as the next ghost. Should I choose someone who can improve on Adam's current tech? Or someone who will open up a new area of technologies for Adam?

 

[DISCOBOT]

17 April 2011

Do you know that sleep loss affects women more than men? Loss of memory, loss of focus, loss of libido, loss of hair, women just lose a lot more than men if they lose sleep.

That tidbit of information wasn't stopping her from staying late to midnight in order to provide intel assistance for Adam in his second assassination deal of the week though, Lisa thought as she sipped her hot chocolate in her office and watched the Travelers inside their apartment from Adam's insect drones.

The sheer sophistication in Adam's first ghost, Stark's drones are quite frankly, insane. They made Dragon's drones look obsolete, and Stark made them mass producible. The fact that the insect drones monitoring the Travelers right now are literally paper thin and have 24 hours of battery power made her check the corners of her room every night in case Adam wants to monitor her for some reason.

She's sure the only reason Adam did not monitor her is because he knew she would find the drones. Even if he could hide it from her, he doesn't want to risk her finding out later and ruining their partnership.

It would be funny how tense Adam is if she didn't know he was literally fighting against their extinction.

Seriously, Adam almost tinkered for 72 hours straight with no breaks in between. Sure, he stubbornly said that his new tinkertech boosted his power so he kept working, but Taylor was getting worried about him. A few days ago, out of the goodness of her heart, she decided to use her power briefly and see if there's anything Taylor should worry about Adam.

New tinkertech is making the subject a better Tinker.

That's good, but the next sentence made her frown.

Subject is hyperfocused on tinkering. Tinkertech gradually modifies the subject's moral outlook to make him a better Tinker.

Okay, that's fucked.

She debated if she should tell Adam about this. In the end, she decided to observe him a little longer. Her power might be wrong. She couldn't have a good read on Adam with him constantly masking his micro expressions with B.A.R.F(what a name), but she can work with the profile she wrote when Coil was alive and postulate his thought process from it.

At least, that was what she thought.

Kuroto, Adam's current ghost influenced his decision making more than she predicted and her power had a harder and harder time reading Adam accurately. It's frustrating, because she got the feeling she was watching a trainwreck in progress.

With Stark in his head, Adam killed exactly zero people. Coil is on her, but Adam successfully captured all the villains and handed them to the Protectorate without permanently maiming any of them. He even resolved Taylor's bullying with a single whisper to the right person. He played the Protectorate like a pro, something she approves.

With Kuroto in his head, Adam killed Night and Fog on his tinkertech test run. He disregarded his own wellbeing to tinker for days, and then killed about a hundred or so people in Accord's base with no hesitation or remorse. He was walking down a slippery slope, and she couldn't do anything about it without risking making it worse. Adam noted that Taylor was a stubborn girl in his files, but he is the real stubborn one in her opinion.

No mental influence my ass.

Still, she couldn't exactly oppose his decision to deal with the Travelers. Not only does she not have the power to do so, she also agrees that the Ziz bombs with a baby Endbringer hid away and planning to come to Brockton Bay should be dealt with.

Sorry, tumor baby, but mama wants to see tomorrow's sunrise.

The holographic monitor in front of her continued playing the situation in the Traveler's apartment.

"Should we tell Noelle?"

"No, not until we figure out what to do."

"Accord's gone. So be it. We knew he couldn't help Noelle anyway, so what's next?"

"Brockton Bay, maybe? They have a pretty famous healer there, right?"

"Yeah, the girl is outed too. Maybe we can ask for their help?"

"Maybe it's time we go to the PRT."

"No. Not now, Marrisa."

"Maybe we need to face the consequences now. Nobody can help us except the heroes."

"And the first thing they will do is lock us up! We all heard what they did to anyone that got close to the winged bitch!"

"Maybe they should lock us up! Remember New York, Francis?"

"You fuck-"

"Hey, hey. That's enough. Calm down, guys."

"Be with me here, Luke. Haven't we had enough? We already lost Cody. Who's going to be next?"

"Jesus fuck their programming ran deep." Lisa cursed as she listened to their conversation. "I might join the fight against Leviathan and Behemoth, but I will never fight the Simurgh. I might go insane on the fucking spot." She said to Adam in their communication channel.

"You should think bigger, Lisa. Maybe all the heroes who fought the Simurgh are already insane." He snarked back.

"Oh, so that's why the world is so shitty. Is that what you want to say?"

"Yeah." She heard Adam taking a gulp of water, before saying, "I've heard enough. Let's do it."

A.R.C.S(a much better name) activated, and she now sits in front of an apartment door in the middle of a dilapidated hallway.

Adam rebuilt and upgraded his previous body double, Fatamorgana and called it Ultron. There was some inside joke there, but she couldn't care less about media references from another world. Adam removed the mercenary disguise off the robot and installed all the weapons without holding back the lethality. It was bulkier, painted in deep silver and gave off a menacing presence with its crimson eyes and a mechanical face that can display human expression without mimicking it.

Ultron will be Adam's puppet to do his dirty work. She wondered if Adam realized the irony of it, playing both hero and villain. Kind of like Coil.

Ultron the robot knocked on the door, which Melissa opened and rapidly backed off into the living room the moment she saw it.

"Oh, don't be scared." Adam spoke through Ultron, which transformed his words into a smooth voice with deep baritone. "I'm here to help."

Francis put on his tophat and stood in front of the others to face Ultron as the leader of the group. "Who are you? What do you mean you want to help us?"

"You can call me Ultron." Adam introduced the drone. "I am a good person. When I see people in need, like you, I give them a helping hand."

Ballistic is holding ball bearings. Planning to use his power and take you down if things go bad. Worried about the noise and commotion the fight will cause, suffering from sleep loss.

"Ballistic is prepping his power." Lisa supplied after observing the rest of the Travelers. "He's more afraid that he will damage the wall than hurting you since you're…well, a robot."

"I know you don't believe me." Adam continued as Ultron nodded to his own words and walked around the Traveler's living room. "But it's fine. All you need to know is that I can bring you back to Earth Aleph."

After saying that, a portal appeared behind Ultron with a wave of his hand. Behind the other side of the portal was a place the Travelers could immediately recognize.

Madison. Earth Aleph Madison.

There were no containment walls, no ruined buildings, no rabid crowds. Everything looked just as it should be in Earth Aleph.

The portal materialized long enough for the Travelers to process what they saw before it disappeared again. "There. Don't you want to go home? Go home, after being trapped in this shithole of an Earth, where the sun doesn't shine and you have to play the villains? I can even get Cody back for you!"

It was a lie. Cody was with the CUI. He was already inside the nation's borders. Nobody can save him now. The portal was just an illusion made to trick the Travelers.

None of them will live to see the next sunrise.

Adam controlled Ultron to open his arms wide like a messiah and said, "All you have to do…is do something for me."

"What is it?" Luke asked. "What do you want us to do?"

"Luke!" Francis shouted.

Stressed. Worried about his lover. Dissatisfied that Luke spoke without his permission. Sees it as an infringement of his authority. Looks down on Luke. Looks down on everyone. Believes he is smarter than most people. He is not.

Time to get to work. "Luke is tired of everything here. He's the least programmed person in the group. He doesn't even want to stay with the Travelers anymore, he just wants to go home." She said to Adam

"Good to know." replied Adam before saying to the Travelers, "Noelle Meindhart needs to die."

"No." Francis stepped back and glared at Ultron without hiding his animosity. "That's not happening."

"I'm sorry, but if we're going home, it's either everyone or no one." Marissa shook her head and refused their request.

"You do realize what Noelle has become, right?" Adam asked rhetorically. "40 dead when she visited New York. She's not the sweet girl you fell in love with anymore, Francis. She's a monster now."

"It's not her fault those people died!"

"Wait, let me try." Lisa said before taking control of Ultron's speaker.

"No, it was your fault." Lisa spoke through Ultron. "It was your fault that your team was in Madison that day. It was you who found the briefcase with the vials. It was you who told Noelle and Oliver to share a vial and turned her into a monster. Noelle did nothing wrong, but you did everything not right."

"So what?" Francis shot back without shame. "We will never kill Noelle, and that's final!"

There. She planted the seeds, now it's time to see if the Travelers will take action.

"Do you really want to listen to him, Marissa?" She ignored Francis and turned to the woman.

Dislike being under the spotlight. Suffering from period disorder. Dislikes cape life. Feels burdened by Noelle. Wishes she can go home. Dislikes standing under the spotlight due to childhood trauma.

That's it. She found Marissa's weakness.

"Do you enjoy living the villain's life?" Lisa continued and Ultron moved like he was preaching to a choir. "Wear a skintight suit, throwing yourself out to commit crimes and get into the headlines? Everyone will be looking at you, Marissa. And they will all judge you with their eyes."

"I…" Marissa hesitated and Ultron turned to Luke. "What about you, Luke?"

Showing signs of hypertension. Used to be a friendly and positive person. Wants to leave the team. Had a cup of coffee that he disliked 47 minutes ago. Staying in the team due to Simurgh's programming to protect Noelle. Believes he is staying out of treasuring his friendship and nostalgia.

"There's nothing for you in the team anymore, is there? Cody's gone. Noelle's not herself and everyone is tired of being here. The team's falling apart, Luke. What are you going to do?"

"Enough!" Francis shouted and pointed a gun at Ultron. "Shut the fuck up!"

She continued to ignore him. "I can make you walk again, Jess." Dealing with disabled persons was always the easiest for her. You just had to poke at their insecurities, but this time she's not here to bully. She's here to ask for cooperation.

Jess, who has been staying silent in her wheelchair at the corner this whole time, meekly asked, "You can?"

"Yes. All I need your team to do is to free Noelle from her suffering before I send you home."

"Why come to us?" Luke asked with his arms crossed. "If you want Noelle dead, why didn't you do it yourself? Why ask her teammates?"

"Noelle's power makes her hard to kill." She decided to confess. It's not some super secret anyway. "In most scenarios, killing Noelle doesn't mean solving the problem she represents. Just because Noelle is dead doesn't mean the body dies as well. In her case, her body will go on a rampage if Noelle's brain goes inactive."

"So that's why you come to us. You need Sundancer's power."

"Yes."

Marissa hugged herself, then slowly collapsed in tears. "I…I'm sorry. I can't do it. I can't kill Noelle." She let out between sobs.

Simurgh's programming demanded that she could not kill Noelle Meindhart until she fulfilled her purpose.

"What a shame."

Adam will kill the Travelers.

She has barely processed what Adam has just said over their voice channel before all of the Travelers collapsed on the floor.

Auditory-based subduecation weaponry. Sonic Taser developed by Stark.

All of the Travelers became deathly pale, with their eyeballs bulging and dark veins visible on their skin.

Lisa ran her hand over her face. She knew Adam would kill the Travelers, but she couldn't help but feel scared when he does stuff like this. If she had more time, she could slowly break down the Travelers and have Sundancer work for them. Adam doesn't have the patience though. He was too impatient, too urgent. He wanted to deal with the Travelers as soon as possible.

The sonic taser is a frankly inhumane weapon with the pain it inflicts. She felt a little nauseous at seeing the effects, but Adam probably thought it was the most effective way to subdue the Travelers without causing too much of a ruckus.

Adam took over Ultron's control from her after that and shot lethal injections at the Travelers, before a few more robots entered the apartment and carried the corpses out.

A.R.C.S shut off and she returned to her office. Lisa took another sip of her hot chocolate as she leaned back on her expensive cushioned ergonomic chair. She was tied to his boat the moment she joined his camp. The wallpaper, her memory wipe resistance, all it did was tie her even tighter. There is a 50/50 chance that Adam might let her go free if she wants to end their partnership, but the other side of the coin is exactly what happened to the Travelers.

Even if she goes free, where can she go next? She could live out the high life in Europe with all the money she has if she did not know the nature behind powers and the apocalypse on the horizon. The knowledge will never let her rest free unless she is working on solving it. Her curiosity and desire to live demands it.

"We're going to deal with Noelle Meinhardt now. Will you listen in, Lisa?"

Lisa sighed.

"Yeah, might as well see it through to the end."

To both the Travelers and the end of Scion.

 

[DISCOBOT]

The headlights of a trailer truck came into Oliver's sight, before it drove into the farm Accord settled them in and stopped.

He grabbed his gun and was ready to turn off the safety as he peeked at the truck from the windows before a familiar cape with a tophat stepped out from the passenger's seat.

Oliver let out a breath that he was holding and slid the gun into the back of his pants before going downstairs to welcome his friend. As he approached the truck, he saw several people dressed like a handyman come out from the trailer the truck was pulling.

"Oliver." Francis called and gestured for him to come over. "How's Noelle?"

"She's the same as usual." He replied. "I bought as much meat as I can this morning, but I don't think it's going to satisfy her appetite. You got any news on what happened to Accord?"

Francis took off his mask and rubbed his face before replying, "Eurgh. Someone attacked, but he managed to get away. Accord contacted us. He wants to relocate Noelle before someone learns about her and sets her off."

"Okay." Oliver nodded. "Are those people here to help?"

Francis did not reply to him as Oliver fainted and slumped on the ground. A Legion drone approached him from behind and carried him away.

"Analyze Oliver's voice and synthesize it in the engine." I ordered and diverted my attention to another screen that was showing live footage of Noelle inside the barn. The torso of a human was attached to a mass of disfigured flesh, formed by limbs and shells of various animals.

"She's slightly smaller than a Bugster Union." commented Kuroto. "But I believe that she is weaker than one. We can kill her easily."

Really?

"My Rider System can defeat Bugster Unions with ease, and my Bugster Unions are far faster and stronger than this…clump of flesh. A single critical blow will be able to finish her for good."

She has powerful regeneration ability though.

"And my Bugsters are strong enough to be nigh impervious to mundane weapons. You can just use the Stage Select if you are worried about her escape."

…I don't want to risk it.

"Analysis and recreation of Oliver's voice is complete, boss." H.E.R.M.E.S reported and pulled me out of my conversation with Kuroto. "We are good to go."

I controlled my drones to project an illusion of Oliver just as he was when he came out to meet the fake Trickster. Jacket and jeans, check. The face looked fine too.

The real Oliver has already been handled. I don't really remember his power, other than it being useless enough that he did not become a cape. Something about becoming more 'human'? I don't know.

Fake Francis opened the door and walked into the barn, where a barbed fence separated him from Noelle.

"Noelle? Accord's guys are here. They are going to move you to somewhere else, but they need to cut out some part of you to move you into the trailer. It's going to hurt, but you have to push through, okay?"

The mass of flesh twisted and moved as Noelle tried her best to bend her body down and maintain eye level with Fake Francis. "O-okay. Are they wearing enough protection? I don't want to hurt anyone."

Fake Francis smirked. "Don't worry. Accord got this new tinker in his Ambassadors recently. It's his drones that are going to do the cutting, so you're not going to hurt anyone, baby."

Noelle's shoulders sagged as she let out a breath of relief. "Thank god. Are…are they here already?"

"Yup. I'm going to let the drones in, okay?"

Noelle took a deep breath, before she sniffed the air and dropped her smile.

"Oh no." Lisa's voice suddenly came up after a long period of silence from her communication channel. "Get out of there, NOW!"

"You don't smell like Francis." Noelle moved away from eye level and returned to her previous towering heights. "I can't smell Oliver either. You're not him! You're a FAKE!" shouted Noelle before she raised a furred appendage and crashed the fence like it was made out of paper.

I had already grabbed my belt and Gashat when Noelle leaned away from the fence as Lisa provided me with the reason behind our failure.

"She has a smell-based Thinker power to identify parahumans. It ties into her cloning powers!"

"I didn't know that, but it doesn't matter. Switching to Plan C now."

Inspira Tinker A! I Getcha! Do-Do-Drago! Na-Na-Na-Kni~ght! Dra-! Dra-! Drago Knight Hunter! Z!

In a set of black draconic armor adorned by colorful lightning bolts, I crashed into the barn and shot a blast of energy at Noelle with my Dragon Gun.

"AAARGH!" Noelle shrieked in pain as the blast left a burnt scar in the middle of her limbs.

Stage Select!

To avoid causing commotion and unwanted visitors, I pulled Noelle into a military shooting range. The place is barren of life, filled with concrete, gravel and steel bars.

Noelle continued her shrieking as she raised her tentacles and swung them at me. I tried to maintain distance between us, but Noelle was surprisingly fast for an entity of her size. So instead of taking distance and sniping, I chose to rush forward and attack her from within.

Her monstrous hoofs and tentacles twined around my limb, but the increase in strength provided by Hunter Gamer Level 5 was strong enough for me to rip them apart with ease as I carved through Noelle's mutated mass with my Dragon Blade. I even unleashed a torrent of hot flames with my Dragon Fang when I caught sight of the center.

Since the Kamen Rider system covered my entire body and left no skin exposed, I have negated Noelle's biggest advantage against parahumans. Her regeneration made any wounds I inflicted meaningless, but I have been getting closer to the center of her body. When I was finally below it, I raised my arms upwards and jumped as hard as I could, momentarily throwing Noelle into the air.

I quickly pulled out the Drago Knight Hunter Z Gashat and inserted it into my Kimewaza Slot Holder to finish her off.

Kimewaza! Drago Knight Critical Strike!

Three colors of energy enveloped my body and merged into one before I concentrated it all in the horn of my Dragon Fang and jumped up again to meet Noelle who was mid air.

"AAAA!" Noelle gave one last shriek of pain before she was enveloped in a storm of fire and exploded into chunks of fleshy limbs.

I landed on the ground with both my feet after that strike and surveyed my surroundings. The military shooting range was ruined, with blocks of concrete cracked by Noelle now covered in her viscera. I focused my sights and saw that her remains were rapidly degenerating.

I changed my Game Area again and returned to the barn, with the only visible sign of conflict being the collapsed fence. There was some yellowish gooey liquid on the floor, but I paid it no mind as it too began to evaporate rapidly.

Why did I feel nothing when Noelle exploded?

The amount of gore…the amount of viscera…it is incomparable to when I fought Night and Fog. I know Night and Fog to be brainwashed Nazis, but Noelle was different. She was a victim of her circumstances, controlled by the Simurgh and constantly suffering from guilt and instincts. Why did I feel nothing when I killed Noelle? No sympathy, no disgust, no anger, nothing.

I hid that question away from Kuroto as I walked out of the barn.

---

17 April 2011

"So I got the data I needed, and we had lunch together before I left. I don't really get how the Wards function. Like, isn't the building supposed to be their base of operations? Why have a gift shop opened to the public inside? And even a cafe?" I ranted to Danny and Taylor as we ate lunch in their house. "It just seemed very dangerous to me. What if a villain decided to attack the Wards in their headquarters?"

"I'm sure they have security measures, Adam." said Danny, "But you're not wrong. It does seem kind of dangerous to me. Good thing the two of you didn't join the Wards huh?"

"Yeah." Taylor nodded.

I finished my plate of macaroni and said, "I'm done."

"You're going to tinker again?" Danny asked.

"Yup. The Teeth are coming back to Brockton Bay, and we still have the Pure Bastion lurking around. I want to make sure we can handle them as soon as possible."

"You should get some rest, Adam."

"A genius never rests, Adam. Do not listen to him."

"It's fine." I ignored Kuroto and waved Danny off. "I'll rest after finishing my current project."

I stepped outside the house, where my own Iron Man suit was in stand by. It opened up for me to enter and I flew away. The first thing I did after returning to my factory was to move the main generator away and excavate a small partition in the ground below.

I connected a few power cables into a small podium and placed it in the partition, before activating my newest Gashat and slotting it inside.

Sneak & Shoot!

A gray Game Area generated from the white and red Gashat and covered my entire factory, before I inserted it into the podium. I hid the podium under a piece of flooring before moving my generator back to its original position.

Kuroto let out a sigh of relief. "Now we would not need to worry about enemies out of nowhere."

Sneak & Shoot, an assassination game that stems from the idea of hiding and attacking from your target's blindspots. The Gashat Kuroto and I created to utilize the blindspot frequency that I sampled from Dinah's brainwave. I had to analyze and examine the quantum radiation across various samples that I collected, before finally identifying the specific frequency that I needed when I asked Dinah questions about Scion.

She could not answer the questions, but I did find the disparities of her Gemma's quantum radiation when compared to asking other questions. After that, Kuroto helped to create a game that utilized the gimmick of hiding in blindspots to attack your enemy.

The Gashacon Podium is a new invention Kuroto created that allows Game Areas generated by a Gashat to passively stay active. It would not spawn any Energy Items, but special effects by the Game Area will continue to persist. I can even adjust the area of coverage to my liking.

My current plan was to create a few more Sneak & Shoot to be used as a portable precognition blocker, maybe even cover the entire city with it. I was still debating if I should do it though, since distributing the Gashat across the city would also risk it being found and stolen away.

I pat my hands and head towards my lab as my first agenda of the day was complete. What I want to do next is to prepare my nanoforge for the gold titanium alloy shipment that will arrive soon and incorporate Gashat technology into my Stark nanosuit. The nanoforge that Stark and I made was functional, but it was not the best that he and I could do. We made it more as a practice project for me to learn his knowledge and as an emergency tool in case I needed a nanosuit.

Cracking my neck, I entered my lab and transformed into Tinker Gamer Level 2.

"You sure you wouldn't need me?"

You don't know anything about Stark's technology. You're a genius, but engineering isn't your strong suit.

"I see." Kuroto replied. "You can do it your way."

The Iron Man suit that I wore just now was hanging in the middle of my lab, ready to be disassembled and recycled. Most of the technology that I installed inside was antique by Stark's standards due to my lack of raw materials. If I have to pull a comparison, it would be that my suit is equal to Stark's Mark 4 suit.

I spent the rest of the day porting Kuroto's Rider System and Gashat data into my suit's system. A few hours passed by before I was interrupted by an urgent alarm from H.E.R.M.E.S.

"Warning. Pure Bastion capes sighted. Ulfbernt and Gargoyle are attacking Taylor on her patrol route at Ronald Street."

I gave the incomplete suit a glance before shaking my head. It was not ready yet, so I will have to stick with Kuroto's old Rider System for now.

I stepped out of my lab while the factory doors slid open under my command.

Jet Combat!

Time to meet the Pure Bastion.
-
When I arrived there, the street was in ruins. A few cars were on fire, deep gouges were carved into the road and Taylor was trapped in a pincer attack between Ulfbernt and Gargoyle with clouds of insects forming a containment circle around them. Her suit was scratched and crumpled in some places, as the subpar alloys I used could not provide decent protection. Fortunately, she did not lose a limb or two.

I flew downwards and shot Gargoyle with my gatling gun before landing and punched Ulfbernt's mask with the momentum.

"Weaver." I greeted as I raised my left foot and stomped on Ulfbernt's as hard as I could, but he was quick on his feet and avoided it. "I'll handle it from here. Get out of the circle and use Bang Bang Tactical if you want to help."

"Got it." Taylor nodded and a swarm of bugs covered her retreat as I pulled out a black Gashat.

"Gesellschaft should not have come here." I said to Ulfbernt and Gargoyle when closing the lever and pulled out Jet Combat. "Now you will never leave."

A Game Screen appeared behind me as I pressed the activation button of Giri Giri Chambara. I inserted the Gashat into the second slot of my Gamer Driver and pulled the lever open.

Inspira Tinker A! I getcha! Giri-Giri-Bari-Bari Chambara!

An extra layer of black and yellow armor overlapped with my suit as I summoned the Gashacon Sparrow and Gashacon All-Driver and rushed forward.

---

AN: A short chapter, but I felt like I am writing too many fights of Adam curbstomping the shit out of people with his Kamen Rider tech. I might skip the fight with Ulfbernt and Gargoyle entirely, I might not. Who knows?

Spoiler: Drago Knight Hunter reference

I actually recommend watching the entire video to have a solid image on what the Kamen Riders look like.

View: https://youtu.be/GHHbuKJte-0?t=04m21s

 

[DISCOBOT]

There were a lot of abandoned buildings in Brockton Bay. People blamed it on the dock bombing and the following economic recession, but it never made any sense to George. The city should have recognized the incoming crisis and enacted a solution, not sit by and let it happen. Why are people such fallible beings?

George knew that people are fallible beings. That was why he was here. That was how he was here. Being sent to Brockton Bay derailed his many arrangements in Berlin. Suddenly being ordered to embark on a long term oversea mission does that, but his years of efforts did not completely go to waste.

"Ulfbernt." Major Oberst, his superior officer, called out behind him. "How is the fight?"

George leaned on the open window and calibrated his binoculars, getting a clear view of the ongoing battle happening five blocks away. "Gargoyle and Tony are doing well against Hope. Her armor is robust, but she herself? Not so much. Her bugs couldn't do anything against Gargoyle other than obstruct his vision."

"What about Tony?"

"His performance in combat with my swords is adequate, sir." George said as he observed the battlefield. "Wait, someone flew into the street. It's…the cape that killed Night and Fog."

Oberst stepped beside him and ordered, "Give it to me."

He passed the binoculars to his hand without delay. In Gesellschaft, being slow can be seen as a disrespect and be punished for it.

As Oberst observed the battlefield, George silently observed him.

Major Oberst, a Thinker 7, if he remembered correctly. His power revolves around planning. The more information and knowledge he gathered in his repository, the better his planning and action will be. If he learned martial arts, he would be able to unleash it to the best of its capabilities. If he learned engineering, he would be able to design the most robust and efficient vehicle. The more Oberst knows, the more accurate his path to victory will be.

Sometimes, Oberst's predictions are so accurate it's almost like he has precognition, but he played humble and explained that it was merely a conclusion reached by analyzing everything he knows. George knew that Oberst was one of Gesellschaft's most useful Thinkers, and he was even rated as one of the top 50 Thinkers in the world, only surpassed by the likes of Number Man.

And that makes betraying him a hard move to play.

He has finally escaped Berlin. He has finally escaped Europe. With the Empire's collapse and less than sixty personnel from goddamn Gesellschaft, he has never been so close to his freedom.

But Major Oberst was standing right by his side, and he couldn't risk such a powerful and inhumane thinker to even catch onto an inkling of his desire.

A few minutes later, presumably as the fight had ended, Oberst took out a remote button and pressed it.

An explosion lit up the evening sky, its source originating from where Resolute was fighting. Following suit, several explosions occurred throughout the city. Hospitals, schools, the abandoned shipyard, middle of Medhall and several more locations to create chaos.

Oberst put down the binoculars and stepped away from the window. "We're done here. Pack it up."

"Yes sir."

Oberst's plans begin now.
-
Power core, check. Program chip, check. Tungsten-titanium blade, check.

As George routinely prepares his weapons in the van, he could hear the screams and sirens around the city but saw none of it due to the black curtains inside.

Oberst drove the truck into some place and stopped there, where Vivian and Kayden opened the door and stepped in.

Vivian was wearing her long coat and gloves as usual. She looked lovely in it, but he knows that all of their clothes have long sleeves in order to cover up their scars.

Another reason he wants to escape Gesellschaft with her.

Kayden was dressed far more casually, with a jacket and a scarf.

"Where's Gargoyle?" asked Kayden.

"Resolute cut off his legs, so he won't be joining us today." George did not know that. "We will let PRT take him into custody. They have Panacea, who can heal him with no complications afterwards."

Kayden frowned and said, "But you just bombed the hospitals. Panacea's going to work overtime to heal the public."

Oberst turned his head around. "Legend was originally going to rendezvous with the Protectorate outside Brockton Bay. With the commotion we caused, he's going to come here now. We have no healers, and Gargoyle can wait." He said coldly with his emotionless stare.

Kayden flinched at Oberst's uncaring tone, but she nodded anyway. The engine started, and the van drove towards their destination. During this short moment, George decided to spend his time looking at Vivian.

They entered Gesellschaft together. When they were four, in a school bus on their school trip. The driver stopped the bus in a dark tunnel before stepping out, and a man dressed in elegant military attire and a swastika on his shoulder stepped in.

Not much from that day was remembered, other than that he pissed himself and the man judged every child on the bus before he gave them a bullet between the eyes, one by one. Only he and Vivian were left alive and taken away.

Standard recruitment procedure, he later learned. Weeding out the filth and rescuing the pure, they said.

He did not see Vivian again until he triggered, years after their kidnap. He weathered through the indoctrination and torture, burying his fight deep within him so that it wasn't snuffed out. Vivian? Not so much. By the time he met her, Vivian was an emotionless husk, starkly different from the cheerful girl that he vividly remembered.

Is she like him, wearing the mask to survive? Or is she truly gone, a soldier of their torturers?

He could not risk asking her and exposing himself. If Vivian was truly gone…he doesn't know what he would do.

The van stopped and their journey came to an end. Following the plan, he took off his jacket to reveal the sleek and shiny black bodysuit underneath. A glossy swastika in the chest stood out against the matte surface. A stark difference from the knightly armor that he used to wear.

Ten minutes ago, "Ulfbernt" died when fighting against Hope and Resolute because of the bombs planted by the remnants of the ABB. That will be the official story shared and enforced by The Pure Bastion.

Now, he is no longer Ulfbernt. George will be the 'child' of Night and Fog, who is out for revenge against the death of his 'parents', Bladewind.

Yeah, what a load of bollocks, but that's how it is.

Dead parents, heroic sacrifices, last stands. Dramatic, but appropriate for the public cape scene. They were not in Europe anymore. Guerilla warfare would not work against the Triumvirate. Public opinion needs to be on their side in order to hold the Protectorate back. According to Oberst, the Americans care more about having the moral high ground than anything else, so they need to stand higher if they want them to submit.

Seeing how celebrated Nameless Tinker D and Hope was for capturing villains nonlethally proved his point.

Major Oberst, Reinheit, Schneesturm and Bladewind stepped out of the van. They were in an alleyway not far from the PRT building, and they needed to walk a little to their actual entrance.

They walked from an alleyway into another and stopped in front of a broken vending machine, where Oberst typed a passcode in the number pad. The vending machine slid away from the wall to reveal a hallway illuminated by tube lights. According to the information provided by their moles inside, this was a route used by the PRT to enter or leave their building discreetly.

They entered the cramped hallway. It led them further underground, before coming up again and coming out from a room. They could hear people working and walking in the building, but Oberst walked confidently and they did not meet anyone in their way. They eventually arrived at their destination, the garage.

Oberst peeked through the door and gave him a series of hand signals.

Twelve troopers inside.

Bladewind nodded and pulled out several daggers from his pockets. Oberst opened the door and he threw it at the first trooper he saw. The glowing blue dagger tore through the trooper's throat as he let out a strangled gasp before it released an EMP that disabled all communications in the garage.

The other troopers put their guard up and raised their foam guns before the man even hit the ground. Reinheit and Schneesturm burst through the door to fight them. Reinheit unleashed helix beams from her hands, while some troopers collapsed on the floor just with a stare from Schneesturm.

Oberst looked down at a struggling trooper silently, before kicking him away like he was trash and pointed at the truck beside him. Receiving his orders, Bladewind pulled out a black sword that gradually heats up. When it glowed a bright orange red, he stabbed it through the truck and cut it open, revealing its passengers in cuffs.

Three people were restrained to the seats in the truck. Without a word, Oberst raised his handgun and gave the only Asian in the truck a bullet between his eyes. Oni Lee has been a staunch resistance against the Empire, a crime more than enough to warrant his immediate execution in Gesellschaft's eyes. Victor, whose mundane name he could not remember, sat unconscious in front of Oni Lee. At the end of the truck sits their main target today.

Max Anders, even with his unkempt hair and stubble, exudes an air of dignity and respect.

He glanced towards the major first before greeting him. "Major Oberst." Next, his eyes strayed towards the mature woman in white and widened. "Purity."

"It's…Reinheit now." Kayden replied hesitantly.

Max knocked it back as his shoulders slumped, as if despair had descended on him. "Where is Aster and Theo?"

Reinheit clutched her arms uncomfortably and replied, "We sent them overseas for their own safety."

"So they are in Gesellschaft now." Max replied calmly with a tone of acceptance. "Do you even understand what they will do to our child?"

"That is not how you should speak of our organization, Kaiser." Oberst interrupted.

Max ignored his warnings and continued speaking. "Let me guess. You were the only one who went free, so you must have been warned before Nameless Tinker D took action, or even outed. Did Major Oberst find you? Did he tell you how noble Gesellschaft is-" He was interrupted by a slap to the face from Oberst.

Oberst then walked away and shaked his head in disappointment. "I thought what Reinheit told me was untrue. That you were not faking your loyalty to the cause, but I can see that she is right."

Bladewind secretly thought to himself that what Oberst said was bullshit, again. He came to Brockton Bay with the intent of toppling Kaiser's rule, and there was no way a Thinker power as robust as his could not validate Kaiser's loyalty. Oberst was always going to remove Kaiser, one way or another. He was simply playing to Kayden's tone and presenting himself as a noble man right now.

"You maniacs are insane. Isn't that right, boy?" Max turned to him and asked.

A flash of panic zipped through his mind before he calmed himself down. Following the role of a mindless soldier, he stayed silent and did not answer Max's question.

Oberst ignored the man and took out a vial of smelling salt, waking Victor from his slumber.

"Eurgh…" Victor groaned as he woke up from his slumber. Oberst walked away from Victor and gave him space to cut his restraints open.

He hates how his superior in Gesellschaft treats them. Not only does he need to feign his absolute obedience and loyalty, he also needs to act like a dog, taking action from the slightest of gestures his superiors made. Excellent slaves do not need an order from their masters before doing their chores. They do it by themselves.

"Stand up, soldier." Oberst commanded Victor. "We welcome you back into our fight against the evils of the world, and I shall give you a chance to prove your loyalty."

Victor stood up and lowered his head towards Oberst. "It is an honor to meet you, Major Oberst. I would be honored to receive this chance and prove myself to the cause."

Oberst pointed at Max and said, "Drain his skills. As much as you can, Victor."

Victor was bewildered by Oberst's command, so he explained, "Kaiser has proven himself to be unloyal to the cause, and this is his punishment."

"Is…is that true?" Victor asked Max.

"Even if it is not, you do not have a choice." replied Max dejectedly. "But I do."

He could hear the sound of screeching metal as sheets of sharp metal sprawled out from the surface they were standing upon and instantly covered Max, prompting them to jump out from the truck. Being the man standing closest to him, Victor was instantly killed by blades penetrating his entire body.

Bladewind gave his limbs a quick glance. Kaiser's blades did not pierce through his body armor, and Oberst reacted fast enough to be entirely unharmed. Reinheit and Schneesturm were standing furthest away from him, so they were fine as well.

"Max, please! Stop!" Kayden pleaded.

"You are as stupid as ever, Kayden." Max's voice came out from the truck. "You think you're in control of anything? No, you're being used like always, and now our children are their hostages."

"They are third generation triggers, Max!" Kayden argued. "Their triggers would not be as painful as ours!"

Max, now enveloped by a knightly armor of steel, rushed out of the truck.

"But they will never be free."

A wall of sharp steel rose from the floor, forcing them to back away from Kaiser as he ran towards the closed gate of the garage. Routinely, Bladewind silently moved towards the door they used to enter the garage and stood guard there. Stabbing a sound absorbing sword into the floor, he watched as his team cornered Kaiser against the gate.

"He has abandoned the cause, and the cause has abandoned him." Oberst declared. "Reinheit. Subdue him."

He could tell that Reinheit hesitated, but it did not stop her from following Oberst's orders. She rose from the ground and unleashed her helix beams on Kaiser's incoming swords. The man formed a tall l to block the beam as his blades clashed against the metal gate behind him.

Oberst and Schneesturm stood aside as they watched the former husband and wife clash, though only one side was acting offensively. Reinheit repeatedly melts down Kaiser's steel beams, but he was raising them faster than Reinheit could collapse them. His eyes noticed that some of his beams were shielding him from Oberst's direction.

"The human body is a delicate machine, Kaiser." Oberst shouted. "How many toes can you still feel?"

Kaiser has excellent pain tolerance, and he can respect that. One of Schneesturm's most common means of intimidation and threat is flash freezing people's toes. When she uses her power, she has to establish a 'center' and gradually increase her area of effect.

In combat, where her target and 'center' were constantly changing and moving around, the best she could do is to flash freeze the volume of a BB pellet. More than enough to permanently blind someone if you freeze the internals of their eyeballs, or permanently paralyze someone by freezing their brain.

Kaiser did not answer as the gate behind him finally collapsed and a ray of sunlight peeked through. Wasting no time, he abandoned the fight and ran towards the light despite probably losing senses from more than half of his toes, if his estimation and experience with Schneesturm were correct.

Oberst simply raised a remote and ordered the gates to roll up, before commanding, "After him!"

There was a driveway in front of the garage that led into the street, but no matter how much Kaiser ran, he was not getting any closer to the final gate in front of him. Bladewind recognized this phenomenon. It was the signature move of a Brockton Bay's prized Ward.

Vista.

He quickly spotted her recognizable green wavy dress behind the transparent glass of the security guardhouse. He activated his visor and performed a quick infrared scan at the open space outside, and it seemed that Vista had taken her time to encircle the garage with her power. Did someone inside PRT see through the bombing as their distraction and sent Vista here to block off a path of escape?

It did not matter, Bladewind thought to himself as he pulled out a disposable dagger and threw it at the distorted space. Vista is famous, one of PRT's most renowned Wards for her Shaker 9 rating. Gesellschaft never set their foot on foreign soil without a plan to counter all known threats behind their back, so he was ordered to make this just in case they ever fought Vista.

If his hypothesis was correct, Vista's power functions by manipulating gravity from a higher dimension. Like manipulating the shape of ferrofluid with magnets, if you think of the ferrofluid as space and her power the magnet. He could not understand anything but the most simplified and basic explanation provided by his power when tinkering, but he wouldn't complain about it when the results functioned excellently.

The moment his dagger entered Vista's control, it made an unholy screech as space was forcibly rectified and returned to normal.

He took another glance at Vista's direction and saw her grabbing her head in pain. So fighting against her power causes mental backlash? A piece of information to keep in mind.

Kaiser was no longer moving, simply laying on the driveway as he struggled to move. Schneesturm probably killed a segment of the nerve cells in his spine like how she usually paralyzed someone.

"You have betrayed Gesellschaft and the cause, Kaiser." Oberst declared dramatically like a judge. "Reinheit. Execute him."

Nodding to Oberst's order, Reinheit slowly raised her hand and aimed it at Kaiser.

"I…want you to know, Kayden." Kaiser barely turned himself around and said, "You…you're the one who doomed Aster."

"I agree."

A torrent of bullets came from the sky and carved a line in the driveway, forcing Reinheit to back away from Kaiser. A man in neon blue spandex and orange jetpack landed from the sky and stood against Pure Bastion with Kaiser behind him.

Resolute arrived.

 

[DISCOBOT]

Bombings. It had to be bombings.

I thought capturing Bakuda means that Brockton Bay gets to avoid a city wide terrorist attack, but I guess I was wrong.

"Confirmed locations of bombings: Arcadia High School, Clarendon Middle School, Winslow High School, Brockton Bay General Hospital, Anders Private Hospital, Brockton Bay Dockworkers Union, Banks of America, Broadwalk, Trainyards…" H.E.R.M.E.S droned on, but I stopped paying attention after the first few names.

"Refit all drones with portable water tanks and deploy them for firefighting and rescue." I commanded. "Lisa, you in?"

"Yeah, can't have a peaceful week in Brockton for fuck's sake." Lisa quickly replied. "Gimme a sec for my painkillers to kick in, I used my power and was about to rest just now."

Who did this? Pure Bastion? The Teeth? The Elite? Slaughterhouse Nine? I built a network of surveillance drones specifically to stop this shit, WHY ISN'T IT FUCKING WORKING!?

Deep breaths. Emotions affect combat performance. I need to make sure the Empire members I captured isn't being freed during this chaos, otherwise-

"You…you're the one who doomed Aster."

Nevermind, I saw Kaiser about to get executed by his German relatives, so I raised my gatling and pressed the trigger before swooping down.

"I agree." I said in response to Kaiser's comment. "You think I let you go because I couldn't fight you, Kayden? I let you go because Aster and Theo would be in the care of the United State's shitty foster care system otherwise, but apparently you decided to send them to a brainwashing camp instead."

"I-You're Nameless Tinker D?" Kayden, now in a new costume full of platinum swastikas, asked.

Talking was wasting time and effort in combat, so I took the opportunity of her confusion and slugged her in the face instead. Meanwhile, some new guy in black protective gear and night vision visor pulled out a beam saber and swung it at me. Instead of blocking it with my Jet Combat gear and risking contracting exotic effects, I jumped away and kept a distance between us before I pulled my gatling gun up again.

Who's that guy? Did Ulfbernt change his costume and branding?

Just as I was about to press the trigger, I suddenly remembered that I was literally fighting on PRT's front door and it might be the best if I didn't kill them, so I put it down and pulled out my Gashats before inserting Inspira Tinker AA.

Double the hands at work! Double the power! Inspira! Inspira Tinker Double A!

Genm and I stood side by side, him wielding a Gashacon Bugvisor. Without a word, we rushed forward. When we transform into this form, our thoughts become…clearer to each other. The faster we move, the less we need to talk to each other. With my technokinesis, I forced the lights around us to overload and explode, briefly blinding them before I leaped at Schneesturm and slugged her in the face as well.

I did not know if my Kamen Rider armor was able to stop Schneesturm's temperature manipulation, but I do not want to risk freezing my eyeballs on it. That was why she was the first person I took out. Kamen Riders are fairly strong, and a punch from a Level 20 Gamer could have easily turned her head into exploding mush as easy as I could knock her out. Schneesturm does not have a brute rating as far as I could tell, so the lights went out for her as easily as that.

Major Oberst apparently decided to abandon his team and ran away while both of us were occupied.

"Genm!" I shouted at the man. "What's taking you so long?"

Genm parried a slash from beam saber guy, who was apparently dual wielding now. "He's skilled! I can't do much without killing him!"

I decided to cut my losses and chase after Major Oberst myself. Just as I stepped out of the PRT gate, something from the sky hit me and engulfed me in a small explosion.

"Okay, this is the second time I have been bombed today." I muttered under my breath. I was basically unharmed, but the same couldn't be said to where I was standing, which was now a smoking crater.

I briefly reviewed the footage of what just hit me and-Is that a fucking mortar shell?

To my frustration, H.E.R.M.E.S decided to inform me of two new events.

"Lung spotted rampaging near Broadwalk. 24 robberies are occurring simultaneously. Uber and Leet are causing chaos at the Docks."

Live footage of a flaming dragon writhing around and a pair of medieval characters throwing fireballs were displayed on my monitor.

"Okay, I subdued the guy." Genm came behind me and paused a little. "Ooh, busy day, huh."

"Let's just go." I gritted out in frustration and transformed back into Tinker Gamer Level 2 and activated a new Gashat.

Bakusou Bike!

A neon yellow motorcycle with spikes jumped out of the Game Screen and stopped next to me. I got on the motorcycle and quickly rode towards Broadwalk. The closer I get to my destination, the more panicked crowds I can see. It has been a few minutes already, so how much has Lung escalated? I might be able to defeat him with higher level Gashats, but I wanted to keep them as a secret trump card against the Teeth and the Nine.

I swerved into the Boardwalk and saw Lung right ahead of me, two stories tall and spewing fire everywhere. Lung looked like a children's drawing of a dragon brought to life. The characteristics were all there, but he looked nothing like a typical dragon when put together.

"What an ugly dragon." Kuroto sneered.

Someone was already fighting Lung. Glory Girl was darting around Lung's proximity doing hit and run while Laserdream occasionally unleash her lasers to carve away at Lung, though it was nearly meaningless seeing how quickly Lung regenerated. Shielder was erecting force fields to confine Lung in a single spot, but the dragon crushed them as he moved and Shielder had to remake new force fields.

There was a clear trail of destruction left behind by Lung's movements. From what I could tell, the trail came from the beach and extended into the Boardwalk where New Wave was fighting him right now.

I inserted Bakusou Bike into the Kimewaza Slot Holder and revved up my motorcycle, speeding directly into Lung's direction.

"Get away!" I shouted at Glory Girl and Shielder, who promptly dodged aside when they saw my motorcycle bursting with energy lines as I rode into the air. The wheels of my motorcycle glow a bright neon yellow as I ride the motorcycle like wielding a weapon.

Bakusou Critical Strike!

Several Hit effects pop up as my motorcycle hovered mid air and clashed with the deformed dragon before I came out from the other side, leaving an explosion at where Lung should be.

That attack managed to carve out about half of Lung's body mass, but he was rapidly regenerating it and he might be even bigger later. I mentally summoned my drone to come over, but I also needed them to prioritize the robberies over Lung.

I'm here, I should be able to take him.

"You're near invincible when transformed with how weak the capes here are, Adam." Kuroto pointed out.

Arrogance leads to downfall, Kuroto.

"That's not the point."

"Hey, that's a pretty powerful move." Victoria landed in front of me as I retrieved my motorcycle.

"Glory Girl." I greeted.

"So, who are you?" Glory Girl asked, "A new guy in town? Pretty powerful tinkertech you got there if it can hit Lung like that."

"I am Nameless Tinker D." I corrected her. "You got any idea to take down Lung? He's too big for anything I have to disable him now."

"Hold on, you're Adam? I thought you're…nevermind. All we can do is evacuate the place and hope he goes down by himself. Nobody in Brockton Bay can subdue Lung after he grows that big."

"My drones are on the way." I said to Glory Girl as I inserted Drago Knight Hunter Z into my driver, "Stay back and evacuate the people, I'll handle Lung."

Drago Knight Hunter Z!

My fight with Lung probably looked hilarious from an outsider's perspective. A man with chibi eyes cosplaying a cartoonish dragon was wrestling with a much larger and malformed dragon.

We fought on the ruined and smoking beach, with no small effort on my part to avoid collateral damage. I pushed my claw into his body and clenched, ripping his flesh out before tossing it away and repeating the move again. Lung was strong, and he was hot enough to turn the sand we were standing upon into glass. However, it was clear that Lung could not control his body very well. He was strong, but his movements were becoming more sluggish and predictable the larger he grew. A drawback to his escalation, maybe? The loss of control over strength.

Lung grabbed my shoulder with his right claw and breathed fire at me nearly point blank, and I was starting to sweat inside the armor. Drago Knight Hunter Z can withstand regular fire, but Lung was clearly hotter than that.

Any wounds I inflicted would be replaced by more growth, and Lung could not physically hurt me no matter how much he grew. We were in a stalemate, but that stalemate will be broken if the temperature of his fire increases further.

As I was contemplating possible tiebreakers, a blue beam came above us and hit Lung, dousing his fire and reducing the amount of heat I felt. Looking up, I saw a man in an unmistakable outfit. A skintight sky blue suit with white flames and lightning.

"So that's the most famous hero in the world, huh?"

Legend.

With both of his hands, Legend unleashed his cryo beams on Lung. Lung's fire was strong, but it was clear that the cryo beams were reducing his flames at a considerable rate. The flames on Lung's skin went out before it gradually gained visible frost. When Legend hovered down and landed in front of Lung, the dragon had already been reduced into a man frozen in ice.

"Your days of terror are over, Lung." Legend announced heroically, and I found myself cringing at how corny and show off his lines are. Why did he say it outloud? Why was Legend making a pose when saying it? It looked like he was just playing around to me.

Claps and cheers began to rise around the beach. People had stopped running away, and were instead running towards us.

Or more accurately, towards Legend.

"Legend!" I heard someone shout before he pushed me away and rushed towards the man, asking for a photograph.

"Idol syndrome in heroes. That's something I don't see much in my world." commented Kuroto at the crowd surrounding Legend.

It was surreal, seeing how the same people who were running away for their lives five minutes ago were now happily swarming Legend, asking for photographs and selfies. I would not be able to engage in fan activities after experiencing a life and death event, too traumatized to even think of any entertainment.

It felt wrong to me, seeing how Legend was giving autographs and taking selfies with people who came to him, showing no fear at all for the frozen Lung behind him. Even Glory Girl and her cousins were surrounded by people, though in much lesser amount than Legend.

Someone tapped my shoulder and pulled me out of my brief shock. It was a chubby teen with some dust on his jacket.

"Hi, my name is Greg." he said, "Can I take a photo with you?"

"No."

 

[DISCOBOT]

Things were hectic in PRT. People were running around, scrambling to get anything done. Employees were shouting at each other, and all I felt for them was pity and annoyance.

Before I approached the counter, a PRT trooper approached me and gently asked, "Kid, where are your parents?"

"Told you to come here transformed." Kuroto laughed.

The suit's too flashy. I still have a sense of shame.

"I am Nameless Tinker D. Take me to the meeting room." I showed him the license card PRT gave to every affiliated hero.

"Okay, follow me." The trooper said. He led me into a meeting room, where a podium stood in front of rows of plastic chairs. There were a few independent heroes and rogues here and there, but New Wave's uniform costume was the most eye-catching.

"That dress up doll's costume has the best quality in craftsmanship. Who is she again?" Kuroto singled out the attractive blonde woman in particular.

Parian. She's a tailor, not a combatant.

"That explains it."

I noticed Taylor sitting with Grue, Bitch and Regent, so I walked over and sat next to her.

"Adam." Taylor greeted, "Are you alright? I heard you fought Lung."

"I'm completely unharmed. Lung's fire is useless against my suit, and he's not strong enough to overpower me."

Regent whistled and said, "You wrestled with Lung with that suit? Guess it's stronger than it looked."

"We went out as soon as Hermes alerted us to the robberies." Grue reported. "We stopped four robberies in the docks and stayed to help with the Dockworker's search and rescue before coming here."

I nodded in approval. "I stopped the Pure Bastion from executing Kaiser, fought Lung and handled a robbery before coming here. I heard Uber and Leet escaped again."

Bitch growled out, "Annoying fuckers."

"I rewatched their stream. Apparently they were roleplaying Payday 2." Regent said nonchalantly, "They tried to go stealth in Forsberg Gallery, but it's kind of dumb to live stream a stealth heist. The police came by and they snatched a few paintings before running away."

"This is getting weirder and weirder." I said in frustration. "All of this is too coordinated to be a coincidence. Bastion jailbreak, Lung's rampage, Uber and Leet… Anything weird with the robbers?"

"I think they are new recruits." said Grue, "Most of them didn't hold their guns right. One of them didn't even take their safety off."

"I'm just glad the big bad dragon is finally locked up for good." said Regent as he shrugged his shoulders. "At least we know he's gone, right?"

"I hope so."

A few more heroes entered the room as we talked. Victoria waved her hand at us when she entered. When I was starting to get annoyed by the wait, the man in charge finally arrived.

Legend led the Protectorate heroes into the meeting room, walking confidently with his head held high. A stark contrast with Armsmaster behind him, who looked like his usual grumpy self.

"Everyone, thank you for coming here today." Legend spoke to everyone in the room "I know it has been a hard month for Brockton Bay, with the instability caused by Coil's exposure and the collapse of certain gangs. But I would like to remind you that today, we have achieved a great stride in our quest for peace. Today, we have achieved a historic victory with the capture of Lung, thanks to the effort of New Wave and the Undersiders. Let's give them a round of applause."

"It's just four of us pinning him down until he arrives. The rest of the Undersiders didn't do shit." Kuroto complained.

"What about the Pure Bastion?"

Ignoring Kuroto, my question got Legend to pause his speech.

"What about the Pure Bastion?" I ignored the stares and asked loudly. "They invaded the PRT building and I knocked them out inside PRT grounds. What happened to them?"

"Regretfully, the Pure Bastion escaped capture." Was the reply Legend gave me.

"That's surprising."

I was simultaneously surprised and not surprised, to be honest. Knowing PRT's incompetence is one thing, actually seeing it in action is another.

"How?" I questioned Legend. "I literally knocked them unconscious at PRT's front door. How the fuck did they escape? Actually, how did they even get inside the PRT building in the first place? They freed Kaiser from his containment and were about to execute him when I got here. How did they escape?"

I was a decibel away from shouting, and I took a deep breath to calm myself. Like, what the fuck? I know PRT are a bunch of incompetent fucks, but apparently they are way worse than what I expected.

"Adam." Taylor pulled my sleeve and whispered.

"Young man, I know you're frustrated. But please, stay calm." Legend said in an earnest tone. "I know it is sad that they escaped, but we will capture them next time."

"That means they want to cover their mistakes. Keep asking."

"How did they escape?" I asked again. "I want to know, so I can prevent it from happening again."

"I can't disclose that information to independent heroes." Legend replied.

Before I could shoot an insult at them, Brandish spoke up. "The kid's right. He captured and handed the villains to you, and now you spit on his effort by allowing them to escape the very same day. He has the right to know why and how."

Legend turned to his side to whisper with Armsmaster before turning back to the crowd and said, "The Pure Bastion's mundane members infiltrated the PRT building and disguised themselves as troopers to free them."

I let out a cynical laugh as my head went dizzy with anger. Deep breaths, deep breaths. The desire to grab my chair and throw it at Legend was strong, but I cannot do that. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, before focusing on the meeting again.

"So internal corruption and incompetence then. Should have known." I said.

"How could the PRT let this happen?" Lady Photon asked angrily. "This isn't the first time captured villains escaped containment, but freed from the inside by disguised troopers? Why didn't PRT stop them?"

"We all know why." An independent hero whose name I could not remember let out, "Their entire staff is probably under a villain's payroll or is a villain himself. I'm more surprised they still act like they are actually useful or some shit."

"PRT needs to get their shit together." A woman wearing an eagle helmet said, "Like, I know Coil's ridiculous, but apparently anyone can disguise themselves as troopers and sneak the villains away now. What's the point of handing the villains to PRT if they will just get out anyway?"

"Yeah. I handed Mush over to PRT a few months ago and he got free a week later. Why do we even bother with you guys?" Another independent hero spoke up.

"I know recent events have broken your trust in the PRT and left all of you disappointed, but I ask all of you to give the PRT a chance." Legend said with staunchly. "For twenty years, PRT has been protecting the public from villains and coordinating heroic efforts. We are doing the right thing, and we will do it better."

"You're not doing shit, Legend." I couldn't hold myself back and retorted. "PRT has been fucking things up since it's conception."

"Watch your word, Nameless Tinker D." Armsmaster warned.

"No, seriously. You can keep saying stuff, but you're not actually doing anything." I continued to state my point. "You keep saying PRT is doing the right thing, but what about Canary? She was condemned into Birdcage for a single accidental harassment. Is PRT doing the right thing or do you need a scapegoat to push your fear mongering on Masters?"

Whispers and murmurs began to rise when I said that. Birdcage wasn't a topic that could be shrugged off by any parahumans, especially now that I brought up Canary's case.

"Canary…is a special case." Legend said hesitantly. "Her voice controlled her boyfriend into mutilating himself, by accident. We cannot risk a similar accident happening at her concerts."

I let out a dry laugh. "By accident. You know it's an accident, and you sent her to Birdcage, the single most inhumane containment center built to house the most insane and guilty criminals. You sent Canary into Birdcage for her accidental first offense, and you say that's right?"

"I am not involved in the process that sentenced her to Birdcage." Legend argued with a frown, "But I trust that the judge was being fair and reasonable when he passed the sentence."

"Any lawyers in the room want to say something?" I turned towards the room, clearly eyeing Brandish, "Is it fair for Canary to be sentenced to the same punishment as Marquis? Or String Theory? Or Glaistig Uaine?"

"Meanwhile, people like Coil and Kaiser are lounging in their penthouse, sipping wine because the Unwritten Rules protected them!" I shouted angrily. "If it wasn't for me, who knows how long they would have gotten away with it!"

Armsmaster slammed the butt of his halberd on the floor, the sound silencing all others in the room before he shouted, "You of all people have no right to talk about the Unwritten Rules! You broke them flagrantly everytime you fight against a villain! And I have sufficient evidence to believe that you're the one who killed Night and Fog!"

"Yeah, I killed them. So what?" I shot back angrily, "They ambushed me with high explosives and threatened to blow up an apartment building full of people. Am I supposed to stand there and be killed by them? Is that what you want, asshole?"

"Nameless Tinker D is right." Brandish spoke up. "Canary's sentence is unfair, and both Coil and Kaiser have proven just how far villains can abuse the Unwritten Rules. We need to change the status quo, not allow it to persist after all of this."

"This is a wake up call." Lady Photon continued after Brandish, "It's not just capes, the government needs to be more transparent with us. There might be more people like Coil out there, hiding behind authority. We need to find them and right their wrongs."

"They are using your advantage to push their own agenda." Kuroto pointed out. "Can you fuck her up? I hate people like that."

Yeah.

"Shut the fuck up, New Wave." I said to her, "None of you deserve to talk about transparency."

"What do you mean by that?" Brandish questioned coldly.

"What? You don't think I know about how you took down Marquis all those years ago? Or that you cheated on Flashbang? Do you even know who Glory Girl's real father is?"

The blood on Brandish's face drained when I said that, along with a varied expression of shock from members of New Wave. Now that I shut them up, I turned back towards Legend.

"While you're talking about 'doing the right thing', like throwing everyone the PRT doesn't like into the Birdcage, The Pure Bastion is running free! They are not your average street villains, Legend! Those are highly trained terrorists that came from overseas! Their escape today proved yet again how incompetent you PRT fucks are!"

"Maybe if you actually captured Coil, we could have plugged all our security issues!" Armsmaster retorted furiously.

Coil didn't actually get away, but the PRT doesn't know that. Neither does anyone in the room other than the Undersiders, and I intend to keep it that way.

"Coil got away because of the resources provided to him by the PRT, dumbass!" I shouted back, "You people are the biggest reason behind his success and you're placing the blame on me? What a fucking joke. The PRT isn't doing the right thing. It's taking the easy way out!"

"The Protectorate didn't remove the gangs because it's easier to keep them in the city and 'maintain balance'." I emphasized the last words and continued, "You kept Shadow Stalker in the Wards because it was easier than sending her to juvenile detention. PRT allowed Coil to run amok because it was easier to ignore your own corruption than actually doing something to clear it."

Yes. This is why I hate heroes in Worm so much. Every authority character acts like they are making hard decisions for the greater good, when they are actually taking the easy way out to compensate for their own incompetence. Endbringers could have been avoided if Cauldron bothered to help David mentally. Taylor's trigger could have been avoided if PRT bothered to do its job properly. Slaughterhouse Nine could have been avoided if the government actually empowered normal people to deal with capes..

But no, Cauldron lets people die because it was 'necessary'.

Fuck them.

"PRT's not changing because you said a few pretty words, Legend." I got out of the row of plastic chairs and stormed out of the room. Tolerating the PRT's incompetence was a mistake. I should not have taken their feelings into account. I could have done so much more if I didn't need to tiptoe around their fragile heart.

"And neither will you." I let out before slamming the door open and storming out of the meeting room.

"The PRT has negative value if they could undo everything you have done." Kuroto said, then excitedly asked, "Are you going to start collecting the sample candidates?"

No. I'm not going to kidnap villains for test subjects.
-
When a Gashat is inserted into the Gamer Driver, the RG Circuit Board will project its data onto the GD Hyper Module, which then converts the data into functional objects in reality. The most efficient and user-friendly design would have been to combine the Gashat and the Driver into a single device like most modern game consoles with their hard drive, but Kuroto did not do that. As he said so himself, the Gashats and the Gamer Driver were meant to be obtainable 'items' for Ride Players to use. Combining them together takes away the fun of collecting items in games, so Kuroto did not do that.

I am not making a game, so I do just that.

With the firmware structure and operating system complete, all I had to do was wait for my shipment of titanium alloys to arrive so that I could make my nanosuit. I decided to leave my old suit alone. The new Rider System needs a SX Giga Module to function, and it was easier to install it on the nanoparticle housing unit instead of making two of it.

I deactivated my transformation as my computer shut down, and a yawn came out of me naturally. Today's events were mentally exhausting, and I would like to get a good night of sleep for once.

I cracked my neck and left my laboratory, heading upstairs to get a cup of hot chocolate before I go to sleep. Or maybe I should try some honey lemon tea, if there were still any tea packets left. I entered the Undersiders living room and found Taylor sitting on the couch, wide awake.

"Hey, Taylor. You're sleeping here tonight?" I casually asked.

"Mmh." Taylor nodded. "I want to talk to you about today."

I got a feeling what she wanted to talk about, so I sat down on the couch in front of her. "Let me guess, my outburst at the PRT?"

"Yes. Why did you do that?"

"Because now the Pure Bastion is free again, and I still can't find them." I said as I slumped against the sofa.

I asked Taylor, "Do you know why Gesellschaft was so powerful in Europe?"

"Because they can consistently cause people to trigger in safe environments." Taylor replied with a frown, clearly unsettled by them.

"'Safe' is a relative term, Taylor. To me, wrestling Lung counts as safe. To them, people dying from being near a trigger event is safe. That's the enemy that we're fighting. Not Kaiser's pretend savior, but genuine war criminals. With their triggering methods, the Pure Bastion can create and recruit capes consistently. Right now, they have four capes. Maybe next week they will have five in a burning warehouse. Then six after ten casualties. We can't predict them, because precogs cannot see trigger events."

"So that's why you were so angry with the PRT. You're afraid of them."

I nodded. Worm was a shithole of a world, and Gesellschaft ranks up there with the Yangban and Cauldron in atrocities. They weren't talked about much in canon, but the fact that they create capes Night and Fog on a regular basis was more than enough evidence on the atrocities they do. What happened that you needed to become poison gas in order to survive? Or a monster when out of sight?

"When Gesellschaft first went active, Europe made the mistake of being lenient and gave them time." I said grimly, "We both know how terrible trigger events are, and these people are willing to actively cause them to bolster their own ranks. The Pure Bastion isn't an enemy we can be lenient against like the gangs."

"What about New Wave?" asked Taylor, "Is what you say about them…real?"

"Yeah." I nodded, "But that's not why I hate them."

"Why then?"

"When New Wave was still the Brockton Bay Brigade, they broke the Unwritten Rules first. They attacked Marquis in his home, in the middle of the night and threatened the safety of his daughter. Marquis only surrendered himself because he wanted to protect his daughter, and New Wave had the gall to talk about the Unwritten Rules when they attacked somebody in their own house. I just couldn't stand it."

"Marquis has a daughter?" Taylor whispered in shock, "Where is she?"

"Panacea." I answered, "So you can probably imagine how she's treated in the Dallon family. Brandish treated her like a potential villain, so she works overtime in hospitals in order to prove that she's not."

"Did Lisa find out about all of this?"

"Yeah." I nodded, "I was going to tell you sometime soon, but I…I let my emotions get the better of me. I was just so…angry. And frustrated, and annoyed at how my work went down the drain and the New Wave hypocrites are pretending to help me."

Taylor slowly nodded, coming over to my couch and pulled me into a hug. I could tell that she was a little awkward at it because of how stiff her movements were, but I hugged her back.

"Sorry, Adam." muttered Taylor beside me, "I…I guess I haven't fully understood how dangerous Brockton Bay is right now. I thought the city was probably safe with all your drones around."

I relaxed my shoulders and slumped into her. As I grew older, physical acts of intimacy like this became less and less often to me. I guess a perk of being a twelve years old is that people wouldn't bat an eye to hugging you.

Kind of pathetic of me to think like that, but I am in no position to complain.

"We'll figure things out." Taylor continued, "Your drones can't find them, but the Pure Bastion must be hiding somewhere in the city. Especially if they have mundane members good enough to disguise as troopers. I'll have my bugs search the city block by block. We'll find them eventually."

"I guess." I closed my eyes and muttered.

 

[DISCOBOT]

The trip back home was…quiet. Vicky doesn't know about her parents, but she and Amy were probably trying their hardest not to think about what Adam said to mom before he stormed out of the meeting.

Vicky didn't expect Adam's outburst against the PRT, though she can definitely sympathize with him. He captured four villains on the PRT's hometurf, and they somehow escaped under their noses. From the inside, no less. If it was her, she might have picked her chair up and thrown it at Armsmaster already, but Adam's choice of words definitely wasn't lacking compared to a chair throw.

She didn't think Adam had the balls to talk back against Legend, but he did. Taylor described Adam as a smart kid with some worrying control tendencies, but all she saw back in the meeting room was a child disappointed in the adults around him and decided to do something about it. She respects that, because she felt the same with New Wave. Vicky and Amy are the only two active capes in New Wave now, because everyone else has 'grown up' and moved away from being a cape in pursuit of stability.

She can understand why, but that doesn't mean she likes it. New Wave was supposed to be the leader of a new movement advocating for accountability, but they have stagnated. Nowadays, she is the only one who goes out for daily patrols, and Amy went to the hospital everyday to heal people.

She made a mental note to do some research on Canary's case as Dad parked their car into the garage. The weight in her stomach grew heavier with each step taken towards the living room.

What Adam said back there was false…right?

Sure, her face doesn't bear much resemblance to Dad, but she doesn't look like Uncle Neil either. Her power shared traits with Uncle Neil, but so what? That's not proof that she is his daughter! Researchers still haven't figured out how cape parents affect second generational triggers anyway. Similar powers definitely do not mean direct parentage.

Vicky hates that she could not say with absolute certainty that Adam was wrong. The moment he said it outloud, the first thing she thought was 'Wait, that actually makes sense.' The lack of resemblance between her and Dad, the power similarities, the weird atmosphere between her parents. Her mind connected the dots into an incomplete picture the moment she recognized the possibility.

Vicky refrained from sighing as she hung her cape on the wall before slowly sitting down on their couch. Mom and Dad sat on the opposite couch and maintained their distance.

As usual, her mind whispered. Do they even fuck as husband and wife? Dad's depressed, so is he ever in the mood for it?

Shut the fuck up, mind.

"What the boy said back then is pure slander." Mom spoke up first. "Vicky. You're our daughter. There's no mistake about that."

"If that's true, why don't we let Amy run a blood test on us?" She suggested as calmly as possible. "You can do that, right? Ames?"

Amy, who was trying her best to blend into the couch beside her, shot a glare before meekly replying, "Y-yeah."

"We don't need to do that." Mom immediately shot her proposition down, and it felt like a rock had been dropped into her stomach. "Go to sleep, Amy. There's a lot of casualties from the bombing and you need to heal them tomorrow."

"It doesn't take her long to do a blood test." Vicky insisted. "All she needs is to touch dad and I at the same time."

"Go to sleep, Amy."

"Mom." She stressed her words.

"Not now, Vicky." Mom replied, "We need to talk about your fight with Lung today."

To her surprise, Dad interrupted Mom. "You should be honest with her."

Mom flinched, but she quickly grabbed her bearings. "She is your daughter, Mark." She insisted.

"I'm infertile."

Two words, but it felt like Vicky's world exploded like that exploding planet GIF she used on PHO. Everything she thought she knew about her parents, gone.

"I didn't expose you because…I don't want to lose what we have." Dad continued in his usual placid tone. "But there's no point in hiding it if she knows about it already."

"Why?" Vicky found herself asking her parents, "Why didn't you expose her? How could you live with it? Why did you cheat on Dad? Just-" She has so many questions, some of which have answers she never wanted to admit. "Why? How?"

Mo- Carol stood up and reached for her. "Vicky-"

"No, don't touch me." She swatted her hand away. "You're the one who taught me how important being honest is. All this talk about responsibility and accountability, and you cheated on Dad?"

"This and that are two completely different matters!" Carol shrieked. "I am your mother! LISTEN TO ME!"

"NO!" Vicky shouted back and grabbed Amy's wrist. "Let's go. I don't want to be in this house anymore."

She's not going to leave Amy alone with Carol, especially when she is angry. The two of them stormed towards the door before she took Amy into a princess carry and flew away as fast as she could.

She could hear Carol shouting her name, but Vicky steeled her heart and ignored it. She has too many questions, and she cannot bear to stay in the same room who lied to her for her entire life and preached about transparency and accountability at the same time.

Tears rolled down her cheeks and blew away by the wind, but she did not stop flying. Where should she go now? She definitely cannot go to her cousin's home, considering Un- Neil's part in what happened today? Dean? Maybe, things were kind of cold between them recently but she's sure he wouldn't keep her outside if she came to his door. Taylor?

Taylor.

Did she know? Did she know and choose to hide it from her? How did Adam find out? Why did he expose it in front of everyone else?

"We should go and find Taylor." Vicky made up her mind and said to Amy.

"Yeah, you're right." Amy agreed and moved her head deeper into her shoulders. "We have a lot of things we need to ask her cousin."

The familiar sensation of the wind blowing against her hair took her mind of what happened, just a little. There were so many things she wanted to ask, yet so afraid of the answers. How much about her mother does she actually know? For a woman who built her entire career and history around accountability, how could she lie about something like this to her own family? To her own husband and daughter?

How much more has Vicky been lied to?

She doesn't know, and she's not sure if she wants to know.

The docks didn't look as shit as it used to, Vicky thought as she gradually lowered her altitude. Most of the grafitis has been covered with fresh paint, street lights were actually functioning and not just a pole by the road, and there were a pair of humanoid drones patrolling the streets.

If the witnesses she read on PHO were correct, Adam's drones responded to the bombings almost instantly. They acted with surprising intelligence and flexibility, becoming a great help to the emergency responders. There were people who raised concerns about the number of drones Adam possessed, but it was undeniable they were a great help with the search and rescue. Their advanced sensors were able to locate victims immediately in the rubble and they are advanced enough to move the rubble safely for rescue.

Slowly. Vicky landed in front of a clean porch and put Amy down. The Hebert house seems to have gotten some fresh paint, judging by the bright colors that stood out from the rest of the dilapidated residential area. The roof and the steps seem fairly new too.

She pressed the doorbell, and a middle-aged man with balding hair opened the door.

"Hi," Vicky greeted, "Are you Taylor's father?"

"Yes. Are you Taylor's friends?"

"Yeah, we have something we need to ask her."

"I'm sorry." Taylor's father apologized. "She's…not home tonight."

"Do you know where she is?" Vicky asked again, "We need to ask her something really important."

"Wait a minute," Recognition shone in his eyes as he took a closer look at her. "Are you Glory Girl?"

"Oh. Yeah." She nodded and pulled up a quick lie. "We have some cape stuff to discuss. It's about the bombings today."

"Oh. Well, Taylor's at their cape base tonight. I can drive you there if you want." He offered.

"Thanks." Vicky didn't refuse him. Taylor told them Adam has built a factory in the docks to maintain his drones, but she never said where it was. "Come on, Ames."

"Yeah." Amy nodded. A few minutes later, Danny was driving them towards Nameless Tinker D's elusive base.

"Today's a bad day, huh?" Danny started the conversation by saying, "Thought we would have some peace and quiet with the gangs gone, but apparently the thugs disagreed."

"Probably trying to do a last hurrah or something." Vicky gave a shrug and replied, "Legend came over to Brockton today, you know? Lung's locked up for good now."

"Well, I hope so." Danny nodded as he drove. "Glory Girl…err…you don't mind if I say something bad about the PRT, right?"

"Oh, no, it's fine. I actually wanted to talk shit about them too, in fact."

"Heh, okay." That got a chuckle out of Danny and he continued, "I heard from Adam that they let the new nazis get away today. Is it true?"

"Yeah. Apparently the nazis got some normal people to disguise themselves as PRT troopers and sneaked in to free them."

"Wow." Danny said in surprise. "That's a new low, even for Brockton Bay."

Vicky agreed. "No shit. I mean, everyone knows there is corruption inside PRT, but no one thought it was this serious. Adam was so angry he actually shouted back at Legend today. He's young, but he's got balls. That's for sure."

"Huh. I've never seen Adam get angry before."

"Really?" Vicky asked skeptically.

Danny's voice seemed a little distant when he replied. "Yeah. He's usually very calm. I wasn't there to see it, but apparently the day he got outed? He just brushed it off and launched an immediate counter attack like it's nothing. But when he told me Gesellschaft got away today, he reminded me…" Danny paused a little here, before continuing, "Of some of my colleagues when the city failed the docks. Is it normal for kids his age to be this mature?"

"I guess not?" She said before tossing the conversation to Amy. "What do you think, Ames?"

"Adam is twelve, right? Is his intelligence getting boosted by his power?" Amy suggested.

"I don't think so. He's mature, but not superhumanly smart. He still makes mistakes here and there."

"So something traumatic happened to him to make him this mature?"

Danny was silent for a few moments before replying, "Well, he apparently got his powers from losing his parents, so maybe."

"Adam's not wrong to be angry anyway." Vicky said, steering the conversation away from Adam's trigger event. "He handed the villains to PRT and they got free under their noses. Any hero would be angry if that happened."

"True, true." Danny agreed. "It's just…I don't know how to help him. He's very mature and independent, and there is a lot of stuff I don't know about capes. You're Taylor's friend at school too, right?"

"Yeah. Did she talk about us?"

"She does." Danny said with a smile. "She talks about school a lot more now. If it's not a bother, can you look after Adam for me? Maybe just give him some advice when you think he needs it. I don't think he'll listen to an old man like me despite how polite he is."

"Sure." Vicky agreed without hesitation. "Heroes gotta look out for heroes, right?"

"Yeah." Danny nodded. The car came to a stop in front of a factory before the gate opened for them to enter. Danny parked the car under a small booth as the factory gate rolled up for them to enter in person.

Vicky whistled as she looked at the mechanical arms and conveyor belts working. "Taylor wasn't kidding when she said Adam has a factory."

Danny nodded as he led them upstairs. As she walked up the spiral staircase, Amy tugged at her shirt.

"What's wrong, Ames?"

Amy pulled her down to eye level before whispering in her ears, "I thought tinkers can't mass produce their tech?"

Vicky could only give a shrug to that question. The only tinker she knows is Armsmaster and Kid Win, and she is certain they don't have a lab of this size, much less a factory. "Maybe something he exploited with his specialty?" She whispered back. Amy nodded to her speculation as they reached the end of the ladder.

It turns out there is a living room above the factory.. The floor was clean and the couches looked pretty comfy. There was a pretty boy playing games on the television as Taylor placed a few cups of water on the table.

"Hi." Taylor greeted with her usual awkwardness. "So…take a seat?"

"Yeah." Vicky nodded. "Thanks for having us, Taylor."

"It's fine. Sorry, give me a sec." Taylor replied before walking to the kitchen to talk with her father, leaving them with the pretty boy.

"So are you here to know who your real father is?" The pretty boy spoke up without letting his eyes off the screen. "Alec, by the way."

"How did-" Amy paused mid sentence as she realized who Alec is. "Are you Regent?"

Alec sent her a wink as the screen announced his victory. "Yeah, surprised?"

Vicky looked at him now with greater scrutiny. Huh, he actually does look like Regent out of costume.

Taylor walked over and sat on the opposite couch to Vicky while Danny went downstairs again. Despite her hesitations, Vicky decided to let the question out and get over it as quickly as she could.

"Taylor, did you know about it?" She asked, "About…what Adam said today."

"I didn't." Taylor immediately denied and Vicky felt relief bloom in her heart. "I don't even know how he knows about it!"

"Oh, thank god." Vicky let out, "I'm not sure if I can still be friends with you if you actually hide it from me."

"Did you run away from home, Glory Girl?" Alec asked with a tone annoying to her ears. "Can't handle a little infidelity from your mom?"

"None of your business, Regent." She shot back coldly. Just because the Undersiders are heroes now doesn't mean she forgets their days as villains, and Alec's attitude isn't doing much to endear her.

Alec shrugged his shoulders, letting her hostility slide off his skin. "I mean, cheating is not the worst thing a parent can do, you know?

"And what do you know about it?"

"I never knew which of the girls around my dad is my mother, so I would say I know something about adult relationships." Alec paused a little after saying that, then corrected himself. "Actually, scratch that. I'm pretty sure my father is the furthest thing available from the norm. I don't know shit about handling cheating wives."

"Fuck off, Regent." Vicky cursed back before asking, "Where's Adam? I should ask him myself."

"Adam's cleaning up his lab. He should be here soon."

Vicky nodded and slumped into the couch. "What a shitty day."

Taylor nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess. I never thought something like bombings would happen in Brockton Bay."

"Do you have any idea on who's behind this?" Vicky asked.

"From what we know right now, the evidence points to Pure Bastion." replied Taylor. "They somehow captured Lung and used him to organize the ABB remnants to plant the bombs and start looting. That's what Tattletale told me."

"Pure Bastion captured Lung?" Vicky repeated in disbelief. "How? I thought it hasn't even been two weeks since they came to Brockton Bay."

"We don't know." Taylor shook her head. "But Adam thinks they did it with Ulfbernt's tinkertech swords."

"Who's Ulfbernt?"

"Pure Bastion's sword tinker. The guy in swastika armor. He faked his death and rebranded himself as Bladewind, apparently."

"He faked his death to operate under a new cape name? Why?" Amy asked.

"It's a publicity tactic. They were going to make Ulfbernt a martyr to stand on the moral high ground." Taylor explained. "We saw through it pretty quickly, though. Tattletale's working on countering their publicity stunt."

"I didn't even know Pure Bastion had a tinker, to be honest." Vicky scratched her head in embarrassment. She is a veteran hero, yet she knew less than Taylor who entered the cape scene for less than a month.

"The Protectorate didn't tell you?" Taylor asked in confusion.

Vicky shook her head and explained, "Nah, the Protectorate usually keeps their cards close. It usually took like two weeks before they actually inform affiliated independents that there's a new cape in town but by then, everyone would have already known about them on PHO. The only useful intel we get from them is the power descriptions."

It was frustrating to be lacking in intel and let the villains get away because of that, but there was nothing independent heroes like New Wave could do about it. They simply do not have the financial strength to hire investigators and professionals to do the analysis for them. The Protectorate might be late on passing their information, but at least it was usually pretty accurate and authentic.

Though with how corrupt the PRT is, that means the villains got their intel too. Which just negated any advantage they have.

"I'm here." Adam's voice came up from the ladder as he stepped into the living room. "I guess you want to ask me about your mother?"

Her first reaction is to correct Adam and claim that Carol is no longer her mother, but she refrained. She needs to learn the full truth before she could say that. "Yes."

"Okay." Adam sat down on the couch beside Taylor. "Ask away."

"How did you find out?" She first asked.

"It was a suspicion at first." Adam began, "Your power inherited aspects from Manpower, Brandish, Lady Photon and Gallant. It's weird, so I asked Tattletale to do some investigation for me. Didn't know she would come up with an affair between the family though."

"Why did you expose her in front of everyone tonight?" Was her next question.

Adam ran his hand through his hair in frustration as he sighed. "I guess I was pissed that someone as hypocritical as Brandish is using me to push her transparency agenda, you get me? I was in a bad mood from having the Bastion escape."

"So I only knew that my mom's a bitch because she pissed you off." Vicky concluded. She could feel the irony lacing her words as she spat them out, and all she could do was scream into her hand to let her emotions out.

"I don't think the two of you should go back, especially Panacea." Adam suddenly said.

"Huh? Why?"

"Did you notice that Carol is neglecting Amy?"

All Vicky could respond was a single word.

"What?"

Her heart dropped to rock bottom when Adam said that, because the familiar sensation of the sudden realization has assailed her mind yet again. No, no, no. Carol didn't neglect Amy. It is impossible, because if Carol did neglect Amy, that means that she, as her sister, has been blind to it this entire time. That means that she has been neglecting Amy too, and that-

"Panacea is underage, but your mother allowed her to work overtime in the hospital for free, with no reason other than 'it's hero work'. She's suffering from physician burnout and your mother doesn't seem like she cares. How does she treat Amy in private, by the way? It's way different from how she treats you, right? I'm guessing that your mother only talks to Amy in formal tones and avoids speaking with her outside of what is necessary. Does Amy-"

"STOP!" Amy interrupted him with a shout, "Don't talk about me like you actually know me!"

Adam nodded and apologized, but she was too shaken to listen. Too much of Adam's brief examples has already lined up with what she remembered, and with it more dots connected in her mind.

Amy works in the hospital for free, but she has always argued against Carol that Amy should at least receive some recompense for it despite her constant objection. She knew Amy was suffering from burnout and kept telling her to take a break, but she never noticed how she was the only one in the family to do that. Carol's tone when speaking to Amy has always been rigid, but she thought-no, justified that it was just tough love from her. Looking back now, there were so many things wrong between Amy and Carol's interactions that she internally justified it as family quirks.

How much about her mother does she actually know? No, how much about her own family does she actually know?

"I can give you a place to sleep if you want." Adam offered as he stood up from the couch. "You can stay here for a few days before going back to confront your mother."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Thanks, Adam." She accepted and turned towards Amy. "Ames, I…we need to talk. Can you give us some space?"

"Sure. Follow me."

 

[DISCOBOT]

I flicked the lights on and stepped inside the sparsely decorated room. "Here. You can take a few days here to sort out yourself before talking to your family."

"Thanks." Vicky nodded and entered the room with Amy. There was not much in it, just two sets of beds, tables, chairs and an empty cupboard. This was a room I prepared in case people needed to stay the night in my factory, and I am glad it paid off. I built it downstairs because it was safer for my team members that way,

"Take your time and talk things out." I advised before leaving the room. "Keeping everything inside is how you make things worse."

Vicky gave me a nod, but I noticed that Amy was staring at me warily.

Understandable.

I closed the door and went upstairs, where Taylor and Danny were waiting for me in the living room. I sat down on the couch and the three of us threw awkward glances at each other. Taylor wouldn't start the conversation unless she felt pressured, and I wouldn't do it unless I am pissed, and that leaves one last person to talk first.

"So…" Danny began hesitantly. "You want to tell us anything?"

"I investigated New Wave because I was worried about potential hidden issues." I said frankly, "I was afraid that there was another Coil hiding among us, and I still am."

"Did you investigate every cape in the Bay?" Danny asked.

"Yeah." No point in denying it now. I will use the information down the line anyway. "I have Lisa and Hermes building a database of profiles. Not just capes. Any person in power that makes decisions in the city. The PRT Director, the mayor, the police chief, and every head of the local departments."

Danny ran his hand across his hair in disbelief while Taylor simply stared at me. An understandable reaction, but I need them to understand why I am doing this as long as I am with them.

"They would probably do the same if they have your capabilities." I could hear Kuroto's derisive laugh. "I mean, who wouldn't?"

Shut up.

"Do you know how corrupt Brockton Bay's city office is? Literally every layer of personnel was infiltrated by Coil and the gangs. Even Mayor Christner was in Coil's pocket. The only reason I didn't expose all of them is because nobody can do anything about them. There's too many of them, and we still need them to run the city."

"I…I can't believe this." Taylor threw her hands in the air and said, "You're afraid of Coil, then you do the exact same thing he did? Really?"

"I didn't pay anyone to be in my pocket." I said to Taylor, looking her straight in the eye and strengthened my tone. "Those people are corrupt. I have the evidence, but nobody can arrest them when the police themselves should be arrested. I am waiting until the city gets stable enough before I can do something about them."

"I don't even know where to start with you, Adam." Taylor put her hands down and said, "Fuck, do you realize how invasive you are being right now? You're not just investigating villains, you're literally breaking the Unwritten Rules for everyone all because of your paranoia! New Wave doesn't deserve to have their privacy destroyed because you got angry!"

"It's not paranoia if what I am worrying about has been proven to be a legitimate threat." I argued. "Do you really know how corrupt the officials are? It's not just one or two consultors or directors. The entire system is designed to not function. I'm not just fighting a street gang now, Taylor."

"Adam," said Taylor. "This…I still can't accept this. We are heroes. We are supposed to be better than this. Better than Coil. It's wrong to break people's privacy like this. How would you feel if someone else did this to you?"

"I-"

"Taylor's right." Danny agreed. "Look, I get it. Brockton Bay is a shithole, and you're afraid that someone bad is placed into a position of power and makes things worse. But you don't have the right to probe into people's privacy like that. And it's not right to blurt people's secrets out like that."

"I know." I admitted my mistake. "Brandish just pissed me off so much I lost my grip on my emotions. It won't happen again."

"See? Even you know that it's a mistake, and you did it anyway." Danny pointed out, "That's why one man shouldn't know so many secrets. Everyone makes mistakes, and everyone has their own secrets. Sometimes, you can destroy a person's life by exposing those secrets. Especially if you did it accidentally. You understand that, Adam?"

"Hm." Kuroto snorted. "Only mortals like him will care about something like that. We are meant for something greater Adam. Remember that."

"I know, I know."

"I wouldn't tell you to delete everything you have investigated."

"Dad-"

"You and Adam might need it in the future." Danny interrupted and continued his lecture. "But Adam? I want you to promise me that you wouldn't keep breaking people's privacy like that, okay? Capes are people too. Let them have their secrets."

"Okay." I pretended to be serious and nodded solemnly. "I'll stop investigating people unless they are villains."

Danny smiled. "I'm glad you understand." He let out a yawn as he stretched his shoulders and got up from the couch. "Do you have one more room? I think I'll crash here tonight. It's getting really late anyway."

"Sure, there's one more room downstairs."

It was the same barebone room downstairs, and right beside Vicky and Amy's room too. I led Danny there before saying that I want to sleep and head upstairs.

"Goodnight, Adam."

"Goodnight, Uncle Danny."

"Goodnight, Adam." Taylor said, "I want to talk with dad before I go to bed."

"Sure."

Back in my room, I let out a deep sigh.

"I don't understand why you are playing pretend family with them." Kuroto expressed his frustration.

I would prefer to keep them close than keep them afar.

"You have a robust information network. You can totally go solo and keep a close eye on them at the same time! It's not like Taylor or the Undersiders are particularly strong anyway!"

I need to maintain the image that our team is unified to the public. I explained. If I leave, the PRT will eat them up like hyenas.

"Let them! Why do you care?"

Because I'm not you.

"You'll never be able to reach greater heights if you cannot even leave people you don't care behind, Adam." Kuroto warned.

But I care about them.

"How much? You lived with them for three weeks at best, and you worked alone most of the time. How much more than an actual stranger do you care for Taylor or Danny?" asked Kuroto. "You're just afraid of being alone."

Shut up. I mentally growled before pulling my focus away from Kuroto. "Hermes, bring up surveillance footage of Room 1 in the past hour."

I sat down in my cushioned chair as holograms of an empty room were projected in front of me. "Fast forward until the Dallon sisters entered the room."

"Here. You can take a few days here to sort out yourself before talking to your family."

"Thanks."

"Take your time and talk things out. Keeping everything inside is how you make things worse."

clack

"We can't trust him."

"Ames, he's Taylor's cousin. He disbanded ABB and the Empire. Adam's the best hero we can trust."

"And he knows way too much about me for me to feel safe around him. Can…can we leave here tomorrow? We'll crash at a motel or sleep at Dean's or something, I just don't want to be around Adam."

"...Alright. We'll leave tomorrow, but I want to talk with you first, Amy."

"I don't want to talk about it, Vicky."

"You heard what Adam said, right? Not talking about your problem will just make it worse."

"And I already told you I think he's a creepy kid."

"Amy, I study psychology at uni. He's right about talking about your issues to fix them."

"You're not going to let me sleep until I tell you, huh?"

"I wouldn't go that far. I know you're going to overwork yourself at the hospital again tomorrow, and that's what I want to stop."

"...Fine. Just…where do you want me to start?"

"Anywhere you feel comfortable with, Amy. You don't have to tell me everything yet. You're my sister, okay? I'll be here to support you no matter what happens."

"...Thanks, Vicky. You're the best sister a girl can ask for."

The night went on, and my ears did not stop listening until the glasswork sisters went to bed.
-
19 April 2011

To the naked eye, nanoparticles looked like silver colored quicksand that flowed like glue. Or maybe a heavier glitter glue was the correct description. I watched with rapt attention as my nanforge injected the nanoparticles into my storing unit under a quiet whir. When the monitor above lit up in green, I finally opened the case and took out my last set of storing units.

It was a simple matte black choker with the symbol of an Arc Reactor in the front. I gave it a cursory check before putting it on me. In addition to the choker, I have a pair of anklets and bracelets as well as a main hosting unit on my chest to store the nanoparticles. I essentially combined Black Panther's nanosuit concept with Iron Man's, and added Genm's Rider System into the mix as well.

It's time.

I left my lab and sent a quick message for the team to gather up. Vicky and Amy left yesterday as they planned, but I left a few insect drones to keep track of them. There was nothing I could do to keep them here without coming off as intrusive so I let them go. I would prefer to recruit them when they are more stable anyway.

Rachel was the final person to come into the living room. With her in place, I snapped my fingers and activated the hologram.

"I'm sure all of you know about this, but I have been planning to capture Heartbreaker for a while now. And now that I have completed the preparations, we will move out to capture him tonight." I announced.

"Cool." Alec gave a dismissive shrug, but that was how he has always acted. Maybe Lisa could tell if he was really being apathetic to his father or not, but he would have fooled me if I did not know about his connection to Heartbreaker.

The projection changed to a diagram of relationships surrounding Heartbreaker. "The reason Heartbreaker is so notorious is not only because of his power, but also his suicide agents. He not only kidnaps and brainwash women, but also control a select group of people in society to commit suicide the moment something bad happens to him. This is the main reason PRT and The Guild is so wary of him. He is holding people hostage and we have no way of identifying them. Luckily, I came up with a countermeasure."

I took the Toki Meki Crisis Gashat out of my pocket and showed it to them. "This tinkertech should be able to remove artificial affection caused by powers. It's a little hard, but I managed to upgrade it so that it can remove Master powers from the source. Meaning if I use this on Heartbreaker, it will cure all of his victims as well."

It did take me some time to upgrade the Gashat. Since Toki Meki Crisis is a dating simulation game, all I had to do was implement a storyline of defeating a mind controlling rapist into the game for the Gashat to manifest the ability I need. The hardest part was actually writing a storyline that could stand up to Kuroto's standard of quality since he would not allow "a shitty story to pollute his game".

But we still did it, and the Gashat should now function as I intended. And defeating mind controlling villains is like an average Monday for Kamen Riders anyway. I literally have the perfect tinkertech for capturing Heartbreaker. Maybe even a bit overkill.

"Have you actually tested it?" Taylor asked, "What if it didn't work?"

"We'll hand Heartbreaker over to The Guild and keep it under the wraps." I replied, "His suicide agents won't do anything if they don't know he was captured. It will buy time for me to work on a solution."

"That's a sound plan, but what about the actual plan of action to capture him?" Brian was the one who asked this time.

"Only Alec, Taylor and I will go to Montreal for this operation. Alec has resistance to his power, while Taylor and I can operate remotely. Anyone else is a liability if they get controlled." I explained. "I wish I had a private jet that can take us there but unfortunately, we don't. I'm hiring Strider to take us there and back."

"How much did it cost?"

"3 people, fifteen million dollars."

"We have that much money left?" Taylor asked in surprise.

I simply shrugged instead of giving a reply. I cannot say that I killed Accord and stole all his money as well, can I?

Gotta thank Accord for his lovely donation of 75 million dollars in cash.

"Anyway, we will wait until Heartbreaker is alone before knocking him out with bugs and drones. Then we use my Gashat on him. It will be a little challenging to subdue his children and women without spilling blood, but I think my drones and Taylor's bugs are up to the job."

"And I managed to narrow down a list of Heartbreaker's thralls in position of power." Lisa said and patted Dinah on the shoulder. "Well, we did it."

"Any questions?" I asked the team?

To my surprise, Rachel was the one who raised her voice. "What are you going to do with his children?"

"Let The Guild handle them, probably. Not like any of us here are qualified to raise children anyway."

"Can you do better?"

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Just do better for the children." Rachel huffed out before jumping off the couch and walked away.

I glanced over to the resident plot device. "Lisa, a little help?"

"The Heartbroken reminds her of herself when she was young." She answered. "Which I guess kinda makes sense, but what can we do about it?"

"I dunno, throw money at the problem and hire a therapist?"

---

AN: Alright, here's the chapter. It will take two or three more chapters to wrap up Arc 4. I will work on Hard and Cut next, and donate to me on Ko-fi if you want to support my writing.

 

[Isebas]

Very interesting. I quite enjoy Tinker of Fiction stories and this is certainly a unique take on it. Definitely looking forward to reading more. Lisa should definitely tell Adam that his power is fucking with him mentally.

 

[DISCOBOT]

A rough push on his shoulder woke Valentine Nikos from his slumber. Reflexively, the first thing he did was to look for cuffs on his limbs or neck. Only seconds after waking up did he realize that he was no longer in the basement, but strapped inside a helicopter.

That he was finally home.

"Come on, Vally." A pull of his collar broke his brief bout of relief. Uncle Donnie unlocked his seatbelt with his thick and rough fingers. He wrapped an arm around his legs and carried the boy on his shoulders. Valentine squirmed, but he did not dare to resist.

Daddy might punish him if he made Uncle Donnie unhappy.

Uncle Donnie walked like a waddling penguin while biting on his cigarette as usual. Seeing that he was back on the mansion's clearing puts him at ease, even more so when he finally saw Auntie Miki and Niki waiting for him.

"Where's Nikos?"

"The money, Mr. Howard."

"Bah, couldn't even spare your customers any pleasantries. Here. I had a great time with Vally."

"We are happy you appreciate our services, Mr. Howard."

"I think I'll come back for him in the future. Keep him free for me, 'kay?"

"Please book a reservation for us if you wish to spend time with Valentine again."

"...I want Alice to be the one here next time. I don't like stiff gals like you."

"I will tell this to my husband."

"See you next time, girls."

Valentine almost thought Uncle Donnie was going to hit him when he came forward and raised his hand, but the old man simply patted his head and ruffled his hair.

"I'll see you soon, Vally."

Valentine nodded, trying his best to push down the brief fear he felt earlier as Uncle Donnie walked away and entered his helicopter. His shoulders finally sagged from relief when the helicopter took off.

Auntie Miki and Auntie Niki did not say a word to him. Daddy made them dislike talking to anyone but him, so Auntie Niki simply opened the car's door for him and pointed for him to enter.

Despite having already slept again in the helicopter, Valentine fell asleep again in the car. He didn't feel well rested in the helicopter. When Auntie Niki woke him up, it was already night time. He remembers the time being afternoon when he got off the helicopter and wonders how far away the grassy clearing was from their mansion in the woods.

He could barely contain his excitement as he followed Auntie Miki and Auntie Niki into the mansion. As usual, the huge men in black patted down their bodies to look for dangerous things at the gate before letting them in. The closer he got to his room, the happier he felt. He almost skipped his way across the halls and stairs!

The door opened, and his mother sat inside. Curly black hair styled in a bob with brown highlights, she threw her book away and rushed forward to give him a hug. He opened his arms and returned it, just as happy.

"Mom!"

Her nose ruffled against his similarly curly hair. Mom always had this smell on her that he could not recognize, but it smelled good. Hugging mom always made him feel safe.

"Val!" His mom sighed as she patted around his body. "Did you eat well? You look skinnier. Did you remember to brush your teeth everyday?"

"Yes, ma. I brushed my teeth everyday and I even ate my veggies! Uncle Donnie even treated me to some ice cream! But I only had one scoop because I don't want my teeth to rot."

Mom gently ran her hands over his cheek. Her eyes were filled with sadness, but why? He didn't get any scars. Uncle Donnie was very careful with him. He said a cute boy with exotic looks was hard to find, and he couldn't leave scars on his body.

Mom didn't say anything and simply hugged him tight, and that was the best thing Valentine could have.

Better than ice cream, better than candy, his favorite thing in the world is mom's hug.

---

They talked, and they talked, and they talked. Mom yawned, but Valentine didn't feel like sleeping at all. He slept enough on the helicopter and car already. Valentine wants to spend as much time with his mom as possible. Even if they weren't talking about anything at all, being beside her made him feel safe and comfortable. She was always here to hug him better and read him bedtime stories. Sleeping on her lap made his nightmares less scary, he realized sometime ago.

Mom gently ran her hair across his hair as she hummed a simple tune. He was beginning to feel a little dozy when she asked, "Are you hungry, Val?"

Speaking of it, Valentine rubbed his stomach. He has not eaten anything after stepping into the helicopter, but he ignored his hunger because he doesn't want to go to the dining room. He wanted to deny it, but the loud rumbles of his stomach betrayed him.

Resignedly, he admitted it, "I am, mom."

"I'll cook some noodles for you." She said and got up from their bed, "Do you want chicken flavor or seafood?"

"I want chicken flavor!" He shouted, "Can I have an egg too?"

Mom's smile faltered at his question. "I'll have to ask Auntie Kate. Maybe we can put some mushrooms, okay?"

Valentine nodded obediently. He's happy that Mom was going to cook at all! He thought Mom will never cook again after what happened with Auntie Laura last time. They had a big fight and Daddy had to step in, and Mom rarely stepped into the kitchen after that. However, Mom was going to cook for him today!

He waited outside when Mom talked to Auntie Jessie, who was taking care of the kitchen in the night for Auntie Laura. A few minutes later, she brought him in with a packet of noodles, a jar of shallots and an egg on the table.

"Egg!" Valentine shouted happily, and Auntie Laura smiled behind the table.

"Yes, Valentine, you get to have eggs today." Auntie Laura smiled and walked beside Mom."Remember what you said, Beck."

"I know."

Auntie Laura left the kitchen and Mom began to cook methodically. She filled the pot with water before putting it on the stove and ignited it. When it boiled, Mom put in the noodles and eggs and put on the lids again. Valentine kicked his legs at the air as he sat at the table, overjoyed to finally have Mom's cooking again.

A distant, yet familiar rumbling noise that came from above caused him to slow down his legs.

"What's that?"

Mom turned off the stove and rushed to his side before carrying him up. "We should go."

"But what about the noodles?"

"I'll cook them for you again later, okay?" Said Mom, "We need to go to the basement."

"Daddy said the basement is for when we're in danger. Are we in danger now?"

"I hope not, but we should hide there just in case."

---

Valentine quietly sat in his mother's embrace as something happened outside the basement.

Sounds of loud, consecutive bangs came outside the door again. It must be what they call gunshots. Florence told him that all it takes for a human to die is to get one of these shots, so what exactly are the men in black upstairs shooting that needs so many shots? Valentine does not know, and he is afraid to find out.

He leaned deeper into Mom's chest, hoping that the noises upstairs would go away soon. Most of his siblings and aunties are here, in the basement as well. Except Florence, Domini, Lexi, Harry and Robert. Because they are the oldest amongst his siblings, and they have powers that can help Daddy.

"It's gonna be okay." Mom whispered into his ears, his body tight in her embrace. "It's gonna be okay. I will never let anything hurt you."

Guns, the same guns people upstairs were using, were hanging on the walls of the basement sparsely. The only furniture here are crates containing foods and stuff Valentine doesn't know. Some of the aunties were taking care of their child like Mom. Some of his siblings were left alone because they don't have aunties to take care of them. Valentine pitied them, but he couldn't do much about it. He doesn't want to share Mom with others, and tighten his grip on Mom's shirt when he locks eyes with Darlene.

A brief feeling of dizziness suddenly hit him. It was like having his mind pulled out of his body, just for a split second, before he was stuffed back in. Valentine doesn't have time to process what was going on before his sense of balance is suddenly thrown off.

He fell on his head, on the basement floor because something pushed him away from Mom. "Wha-huh?" He cried out in surprise and confusion.

"S-stay away!" Mom shouted at him. She stared at him with wide eyes, wearing an expression he never saw before. Her teeth were bared as she raised a hand and shouted at him again. "Stay away from me!"

Valentine doesn't understand. What happened? A distant part of his mind recognized that Mom is looking at him with hatred. With disgust, and with anger. But why? What did he do wrong?

"M-mom?" The little boy reached out his hand and meekly cried.

"Stay away, you…you monster!" Mom shrieked and ran away from him, keeping as far distant as she could. "DON'T CALL ME MOM! YOU'RE NOT MY SON!"

He felt hurt in a way he never thought possible. Like his heart stopped beating. Not even his time with uncles away from home hurt him this much.

Thinking about the uncles brought up a wave of nausea he had not felt for a long time. It felt familiar in the back of his mind, the terrible feeling of struggling to breath. Why is he gasping but fair? He didn't do any exercise! Why were his hands shaking so hard? Why did his mouth feel so dry all of a sudden? He felt afraid. He felt sad. He felt angry. He felt-he felt-

The little boy couldn't hold it back. One knee falling on the floor, Valentine puked, before looking at Mom again. "M-mom?" He could barely speak with his shortened breath, but he still did. His throat, burned by acid, cried out, "W-what's going on? I feel sick…"

He reached out his hand, trembling from a sudden chill despite his body feeling so hot at the same time. He wants to hug mom again. Why was she staying away from him?

"Mom?" He said and sniffed his snot back in, "What did I do? I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Another sniff. "Mom, I'm sorry. P-please, don't cry. Don't be angry."

Her head swiveled around, looking at everything in the basement with glaring and hateful eyes before grabbing a small gun from the wall.

"I should have done this when I had the chance." She hissed, with so much vitriol that Valentine flinched. Her thumb pressed something on the handle that made a clicking sound. "You're not my son. You're a fucking mistake!"

He heard a bang, and pain struck him like lightning. His trembling legs lost what little strength he had and his entire body fell backwards.

"M…mom…"

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

All he could feel was pain as color drained from his world. What little sound he could hear became blurry, fading into deafness.

Just before his eyes closed, Valentine could see the basement door opening from the sudden rays of light. He could see Mom standing over him, but he couldn't see her face clearly.

Did…did Mom shoot me?

His eyes closed, and an impossible vision shadowed his mind.

Two entities, sailing across the galaxy, shedding stars on their path.

One of the stars falls towards him, and a trail of colorful mirrors surrounds it.

[CONFUSION]
[INFORMATION ]
[SUSPICION]
[IRRELEVANT]
[HOSTI——FRIENDLY]
[OBJECTIVE]
[ACKNOWLEDGED]
[PLAN]
[AGREEMENT]

 

[Seeker_Of_Worlds]

I was not expecting that...

 

[JohnDoe22]

I mean, the whole situation is pretty screwed up. I hope everyone involved gets therapy though. Poor kid. I kind of look forward to the next person though. I don't really care for kuroto. He is kind of making adam too bloodthirsty to enjoy reading. Just saying.

 

[Sunwheel]

Adams ok I mean being in a death world people would have to adjust there morality to survive.

 

[DISCOBOT]

A man that did not exist in the basement ten seconds ago now stood before my very eyes.

Several lines of text in red scrolled across my screen, saying something about brainwave and quantum signature irregularities. I know I just blacked out. I know I heard gunshots. However, nothing, ever since I came to Worm, has ever put me in more terror than the man standing over the bloody boy.

A single smooth, immaculate black coat covered his entire body. A black balaclava covered his entire head, leaving no skin exposed to the naked eye. A white cravat and black tophat presented the image of a gentleman, but I remember that expressionless white mask. Nothing but a piece of white with two black holes that covered his entire face.

A character from the comic book series that has accompanied me since childhood. The eldest brother of four emotionally mutated freaks of nature, his intellect was what allowed them to be a group of mercenaries powerful enough to topple countries. He has achieved what can be considered biologically impossible, and his inventory of modified critters and beasts can fight top ranking adventurers on equal grounds.

Void, of the Ferocious Four, stood before me.

"How did he get in here?" Kuroto's voice pulled me out of my stunned stupor. "Wait. What is he doing?"

Void was pouring something on the boy(who I now notice was shot in the torso) from a bottle he presumably took out from his coat. My camera zoomed in, and I had to hold in my vomit at what was happening on his skin.

Earthworms wriggled on the boy. Not just one or two, but in an amount like how you see them packed in buckets. The worms slowly absorbed the blood spilled around and melted into his skin and wounds, merging with his flesh.

Classic. Void's mad scientist bullshit.

In a flash of movement so fast I could only perceive a blur, he threw things at me that I reflexively shot down with my repulsors and promptly regretted. A quick replay on my monitor showed that he threw six translucent orange rocks, which instantly expanded and covered me the moment my repulsor blast made contact. I was a little surprised he had this, but it wasn't really that surprising on second thought.

Amber containment shells. They work like Dragon's containment foam, but with amber instead. They have an organic stasis effect, capable of keeping any living being alive and time-locked. It was used to capture UMAs, but it can also be used on wounded persons to halt their demise and even slow down a virus infection. Void came from The Golden Age of Adventure series, which was set in the 1950s, while amber containment shells made their debut in another series, Ultimate Showdown which was set in the 1970s. All the X-Venture series have a connected continuity, so I shouldn't be surprised Void has them. Most of my focus was on why he was here, now.

The amber spilled across me and hardened instantly. It was strong enough to contain various UMA, but my strength as a Kamen Rider is well beyond such a thing. It took me but a second to break free.

In that single second, Void ran past me with the boy in his arms.

I turned around and gave chase immediately, ignoring all the shouts and cries of the children and women in the basement. Void is a bigger priority. I cannot let him go free.

"Who is he?" Kuroto asked.

"A Frankenstein scientist and mercenary." I replied hastily as I broke free. Heartbreaker's base is a freaking mansion in the middle of a forest, and my drones have surrounded the entire building. Even so, I cannot afford to let my guard down. Void has escaped from worse situations than just drones.

I didn't even get a single step out of the basement before high voltage shocked me and my suit.

I screamed in pain. It hurts more than injecting the Rapid Bugster Vaccine, but the pain was instantaneous. It flashed across my nervous system for a moment before leaving nothing but aftershocks. Dozens of warnings flashed across my eyes, informing me that a powerful current has destabilized nanoparticle integrity and the suit is compromised. What the fuck? Tony improved the nanosuit's electrical resistance after his encounter with Star Lord. It would take something close to Thor's lightning to even have an effect like this.

"What was that?" Kuroto asked, and I pulled whatever was dropped on my helmet to take a better look.

It was charred and black, but I could recognize it as common house lizards that you can see anywhere else. Unlike common house lizards however, I recognized that there were multiple broken sacs across the lizard's backs.

A surface roll across my nanosuit dropped several dozen more lizards off me.

Electric lizards.

I pushed my shock away and focused on the present. Heartbreaker's base of operation was essentially a small village in the middle of the woods, with his own shelter being the most luxurious building. My drones have surrounded the village, but I only have two dozen of them since Strider has a transportation capacity limit.

With a thought, I commanded my drones to abandon their post and surround Void. Heartbreaker's influence on humans should have been removed, but I have no time to confirm it with his victims. Void is too dangerous. He has all the capabilities of a biotinker, but without their limitations and flaws. Void is an extremely competent and disciplined scientist. That alone puts him above other biotinkers like Bonesaw and Blasto.

My nanosuit formed repulsors under my feet and I blasted off from the stairs, all while keeping an eye on Void.

On my monitor feed, I could see Void running towards the woods as half a dozen of my drones surrounded him while invisible. However, my hope for his quick defeat soon vanished. Like a magician's trick, a flock of pigeons flew out from his cloak and accurately dive bombed each of my drones.

In a pose reminiscent of Superman, I opened my palms and opened fire. The repulsors, at lethal output, barely scorched his cloak. But it did knock him off his run where I caught up to him and swung a punch with my full power.

With his left arm carrying the kid under his shoulders, he raised his right hand to catch my fist. He might be strong enough to catch my punch if I was wearing Tony's regular nanosuit, but I am not wearing a regular nanosuit.

The moment my fist met his hand, there was a splat of green before his arm was crunched like an aluminum can under a hydraulic press. I could almost hear the squelching sound before he was thrown off and slammed against a tree.

I didn't get to celebrate my short victory before Hermes's voice sounded in my ears. "Warning. Contact made with extreme corrosive substances. Nanoparticles on the left hand corroded and damaged beyond repair. Purging unusable nanoparticles now. Nanoparticle volume at 85 percent, boss."

Lumps of black sand slid off my arm and broke contact. That's two hours of production time wasted. I should really get around to mass producing them.

"Adam? What's going on?"

"There's a biotinker." I replied hastily and rushed forward. I need to free the boy from Void before I can go all out. "He has a hostage and I'm in pursui-"

I swung my fist, which Void easily dodged just by tilting his head before I was knocked back from a hit to my stomach. I leaped and charged forward again, forming a boosted hammer around my right feet and swung at his head.

Instead of dodging, he lifted the boy with one hand to catch my kick. I immediately redirected my kick away from the boy and maneuvered my left leg to aim and fire a blast of repulsor.

A rabbit jumped out from the shadow within his cloak and took the charge, exploding into a mist of smoke.

"He's good." Kuroto said in an unusually grim tone. "Very good. Is he from a shonen manga or something?"

Yeah. Kuroto is right. Void didn't become a top mercenary just with his critters. He might be the weakest in direct combat among the four brothers, but that doesn't say much when it was ranked against top combatants in a shonen world.

What can I do to get an edge? Distanced bombardment is out with him carrying a hostage, and I have next to zero close combat skills. What Gashat can I use? I have none of the higher Gashats, and I am feeling rather discouraged to let Kuroto out.

What about my technopathy? Does Void even have something I can-

"Taylor!" I shouted while chasing after Void as he ran across the woods. "Can you control any bugs Void has on him?"

"Who's- wait, I think so?" Hope confirmed, "But you're both out of my range! Should I leave Regent here?"

I pulled up the map and saw that we were already almost a kilometer away from Heartbreaker's village. "Come out and join the fight!" I shouted, the back of my shoulders forming micro missiles and launched them at Void. Or rather, the terrain around him.

I have already lost half of my drones that I brought here. Should I call them here? No, Heartbreaker's victims need to be watched. Regent's isn't strong enough to overpower them. Can Hope and I take down Void before he escapes?

Suddenly, Void stopped in his tracks and dropped the boy like a sack. Ants, centipedes, flies, cockroaches, all of them began to gather and form a wall of black, chittering noises surrounding the mercenary.

Taylor should be here soon. Should I go and take the boy now? Why did Void stop?

My question was soon answered. A scalpel slid out from the sleeve of his good left hand and he plunged it into his own stomach without any hesitation.

I cautiously observed while H.E.R.M.E.S calculated the best trajectory and course of action I could do to grab the boy. Hope landed next to me and paused when she saw what Void was doing. The All-Driver was summoned silently as I prepared my next move.

"Is he…" She whispered, her queasiness clear, "Operating on himself?"

"What bugs does he have on him?" I asked while sending my plan to Hope, and slowly walked to the other side of Taylor's swarm. Void was twisting the scalpel inside his chest, seemingly digging for something while his left foot stepped on the unconscious boy. I don't remember him doing this in the comics. He fights with his critters, not with himself. The only time he fought with his own body was when he ran out of critters or the one time he merged with the IBYon cells, but he doesn't have the tell-tale horns and blue skin either.

"A lot. Mosquitos, dragonflies, beetles, centipedes, scorpions, but all of them are inside containers. I can't bring them out."

"I go high, you go low." I whispered and primed my thrusters.

I'll charge and distract Void. You save the kid.

There was a moment of silence. Tense, so tense I could hear my own heartbeat. If I fail, someone might die tonight.

If I succeed, someone will die tonight.

I sent the signal, and both of us charged. I aimed my drill at Void's head while Taylor flew for the boy under his feet.

He pulled his scalpel out with a quick stroke, inadvertently spraying drops of blood on my suit while our weapons clashed. Though, clash was too strong a word since his scalpel broke quickly and shattered under my drill.

Just before my drill was about to pierce through his hand, I realized that he was holding more than just a scalpel.

For a moment, my vision went black. I didn't lose consciousness or anything, it was just that something covered my main cameras. I could still see my suit interface, but for that brief moment, I was blind to the world.

A sense of vertigo hit me and I recognized the momentum as something hitting the side of my head, so hard that it knocked me off trajectory.

All of it happened so fast. I didn't even hit the ground yet when I heard a blood curdling scream from Hope.

Oh no.

My sight came back just as I hit the ground, and all I saw was Hope, laying on the ground as Void carried the boy away. The swarm was chasing him, but I noticed that they died before they could even get close to Void. And there was a colorful lavender flower on his hat that wasn't there before, too.

Instead of chasing him immediately, I opted to check up on Hope first.

"Hope," I knelt down beside her and pulled up her status before asking, "What's wrong?"

Oh no.

"He's…getting away…" Taylor struggled to speak in her breath of pain.

"Shell open." I commanded and the rear of Weaver MK 1 retracted, revealing Taylor and her clothes stained by blood.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, the blood was already pooling inside her suit.

"Your life is more important." I said and applied suture spray on her wound. Something, a dagger most likely, broke through the suit and stabbed her in the waist. It nicked her artery, and I need to stop the bleeding quickly.

I should have brought more drones. More firepower. None of this would have happened if I didn't grow arrogant. I thought two dozen drones was enough to take down Heartbreaker, and I didn't even have Lisa on intel support tonight. I should have known. The moment I let my guard down, Void came out of fucking nowhere and stabbed Taylor.

"I'm…eurgh, I'm fine." Taylor's voice was so quiet it was almost a whisper, "You..have to get the biotinker."

Cycling through the Gashat, I chose the one that is best for this situation.

Mighty Doctor XX!

Knowledge of professional first aid entered my mind, and I shed nanoparticles on Taylor's wound to act as a makeshift bandage and disinfectant.

"She's right. You should just ditch her and chase after Void. He's clearly a powerful threat." Kuroto agreed.

I hesitated. Should I let Taylor here and chase after Void alone?

"No." I said, "I'm not going to leave you alone when you're hurt."

And I don't think I can defeat Void if I head in alone. I wasn't doing that well before Taylor came, and I doubt that will change without any of my drones for support.

"Mmh…"

I sent a message to the Guild. The plan was always to contact them after I removed Heartbreaker's influence and leave the rest to them. Someone needs to identify the victims, contact their families and collect the evidence. All the world needs to know is that I captured Heartbreaker and have the ability to remove his influence.

"Close suit." I ordered and Weaver MK 1 closed back up. "Initiate Wounded Transport Protocol. Follow my trail."

"Yes boss."

---

AN: I have been busy with Uni, and the fight scene went through several revisions. Taylor was originally going to have this super acid spilled across her shoulder, but I removed that becaues the story doesn't flow well with that. So she gets a stab wound instead.

Donate on my Ko-fi if you would like to support me!

 

[UnbegottenProxy]

Ahh, yes, the MC sacrificing innumerable people to horrible death for the price of one friend. It's not heroic or good, it's selfish and practically evil. Every person destroyed by this Void person is now on his head because he could've stopped him and didn't, I hope he feels suitably shitty about afterwards.

 

[John Lasko]

Ahh, yes, the MC sacrificing innumerable people to horrible death for the price of one friend. It's not heroic or good, it's selfish and practically evil. Every person destroyed by this Void person is now on his head because he could've stopped him and didn't, I hope he feels suitably shitty about afterwards.

Click to shrink...

That sounds a bit extreme. I'd say the MC deserves to be selfish every so often. If I was in his position, I would almost always go for those I know over those I don't, even if the people I don't know out number those I care about. It would take a suitably large amount of people for me to not choose friends and family.

Side note, I have no idea who this Void is nor how dangerous they are.

 

[DISCOBOT]

That sounds a bit extreme. I'd say the MC deserves to be selfish every so often. If I was in his position, I would almost always go for those I know over those I don't, even if the people I don't know out number those I care about. It would take a suitably large amount of people for me to not choose friends and family.

Side note, I have no idea who this Void is nor how dangerous they are.

Click to shrink...

Hold on a sec, I'm adding an informational.

 

[DISCOBOT]

A very barebone and in my opinion, insufficient wiki page.

Spoiler: Character sheet

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?st...Gc3GgXUbbl&id=140928522644333&mibextid=CDWPTG

Spoiler: Operating on his brothers

 

[Darquesse]

A very barebone and in my opinion, insufficient wiki page.

Spoiler: Character sheet

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?st...Gc3GgXUbbl&id=140928522644333&mibextid=CDWPTG

Spoiler: Operating on his brothers

Click to shrink...

any Idea where to read it online?

 

[DISCOBOT]

any Idea where to read it online?

Click to shrink...

The series is available on Google Play Books, but only the season 1 is available. Void appears in season 2 or 3 iirc.

Books by Tadatada on Google Play

Enjoy millions of the latest Android apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines & more. Anytime, anywhere, across your devices.

play.google.com

 

[Kenodoxia]

What does writers have against theirs characters being powerful. As soon as their inserts become sufficiently strong, somehow extras from other ip just start coming out of the woodwork for no reason. There's already a bunch of biotinkers we know about, panacea, bonesaw, nilbog, balsto...

I guess they're just filler, but there are already biotinkers around. It's like, they are opening an avenue for the possibility of other characters coming through from other places, and once you know it, the story just turns into a mess with all kinds of characters from all kinds of universes just popping out of nowhere like with the current mcu and the plot just becomes a bunch of superpowered people trying to fight each other aimlessly.

 

[LollipoPReapeR]

I don't get this… How did this Void just pop up out of the woodworks?

 

[RamblingMadness]

I don't get this… How did this Void just pop up out of the woodworks?

Click to shrink...

I think Void is a projection. It seems like Valentine triggered, and his shard is a bud of Adam's. Though, the shardspeak in Valentine's interlude was weird, so who knows what's going on exactly.