[] Work with Legend to find mages in the Philadelphia PRT with his supervision.
Cloudy Skies 11.12
Wednesday, July 13
You have been to the Philadelphia combined Protectorate and PRT base on more than one occasion, but today is the first day you ever arrived by car. It would be a little cooler if the reason was because of a sense of secrecy and confidentiality, as though you were a character in a spy novel, but the truth is far less impressive. It is really more the fact that you have never been in the main garage of the base, and because you are just an independent you need an escort around the base. It's easier for someone to pick you up from a couple of blocks away and drive you into the garage than to be guided from the rooftop access door through the rest of the building.
Sadly, no matter how many life-changing revelations you have fallen into in your six months as a hero, sometimes it is still bureaucracy that wins the day.
The door of the garage closes behind you, and the driver of the sedan pulls up to a van that has been parked in the middle of the route rather than in a specific parking spot. "Your stop," the driver says with a grin. You're glad someone seems to find this all very routine, though his expression wavers slightly when your Barrier Jacket appears in a flash of light and you hand over the simple domino mask Samantha picked up for you yesterday. You are willing to take steps to protect your identity, but that does not mean you will stand around on a street corner in full costume.
Samantha hops out ahead of you and transforms back into her normal human shape, and the two of you walk around to the other side of the van where all the action is. Legend and a balding man you recognize from a photo as Director Paulson are there, along with the surprise appearance of Standstill and an Indian woman covered with tiger stripe tattoos. The cat ears on her head leave little doubt that this is Cat Sith, the other heroine's own Guardian Beast. Then there is another man in a standard PRT jacket over his dress shirt sans tie.
The target of their collective interest is obvious. Someone in a suit of armor stands before them, the plates a gleaming black with golden accents. It is slimmer than the suits of power armor Tim built for the Privateers, but you can still large elements of his design in this. The back has 'PRT' drawn in bold letters, and walking around the group to get a better look at the front of the individual reveals the PRT's logo stamped above the tinted visor of the helmet.
Next to the suit floats a silvery sphere the size of a softball with a glowing blue line wrapped horizontally around it. The top of the sphere projects a screen with Dragon's digital avatar, who is already in the middle of her sales pitch.
"…In addition to protection, the armor also provides a slight increase in lifting strength and running speed. It is not an extreme difference, but it will still put the agent inside at an advantage against any baseline human or any cape who is not a Brute or a Mover. My team has also designed a laser rifle that will be made available to the PRT once it is approved by the Tinker review board."
"That's all well and good," the man in the jacket says, "but my understanding is that Tinkertech requires the Tinkers who built them to maintain them. Armor and weapons are less useful if we have to constantly send them back to you for repairs."
"These blueprints were intentionally designed to be maintained by any PRT mechanic with a small amount of training, but depending on how Calamity Witch's project turns out, that may not be an issue in the first place."
Her comment and nod at you directs everyone's attention to you. "Good to see you, Calamity Witch," Legend says in greeting. "I don't know if you've met Director Paulson or Agent Samuels, the head of field operations for this city. They were both interested to see if this works."
"Yes," the director adds slowly, "your idea to find other people capable of 'magic'."
His disdain for that word and his doubt regarding your sanity is obvious to everyone here.
"It is not unbelievable. The technology you have just seen runs on the same energy field Calamity Witch can draw from. We are calling it magic and mana for lack of a better name, but regardless of the terminology it is very real."
"Just call it dark energy or something then," Director Paulson mutters. "Not something as childish as magic."
Childish?! You dearly hope now that
he of all people doesn't have a Linker Core, just so he can't directly benefit from the gift you're giving the PRT.
"Thank you for your help, sergeant," Legend tells the man in the power armor. "You are dismissed."
"My pleasure, sir," the man says in a Canadian accent. He turns to Dragon's screen. "Could I get a trip back—"
Rings of bright blue light surround him, and he fades out of sight.
"This is your show now, Calamity," Dragon says in a voice the suggests nothing that just happened is in any way out of the ordinary.
You roll your head around on your shoulders and shrug your shoulders to loosen up. «
Ready for this, Storm?»
«
Awaiting your command, Mistress.»
"Samantha, Standstill, Cat Sith? You might want to plug your ears. Storm, transmit at full volume."
The mage and the Guardian Beasts hastily try to block off their telepathy somehow. You don't know if it will work, but it's better to let them try than catch them unaware.
«
Good afternoon, everyone!» you project, the transmission echoing oddly in your head. «
This is Calamity Witch, a hero here in Philadelphia. If you can hear this message, Legend, Director Paulson, and I need to talk to you. Please meet us in the garage.»
There you go. The message is out. The only thing to do now is to wait for—
The door to the garage slams open, and a woman in tactical armor storms out holding her head. "What the hell was that?!"
Okay. That's a start.
More people drip into the garage in ones and twos, and when you finally decide everyone who is coming is here, there are a full thirty people standing around listening as Dragon gives a short intro into the existence of magic. Initially you had thought to give it yourself, but honestly it sounds better coming from a heroine who has greater accomplishments to her name. She also is doing a much better job explaining it in a vaguely scientific manner without having to reveal anything about extradimensional visitors than you would have managed. You, meanwhile, are busy walking around and scanning everyone to get a better idea of whose magic is stronger or weaker.
The results are promising. Of the thirty newly discovered mages, thirteen are the lowly D-rank and eleven C-rank. Three B-rank, two A-rank, and a single AA make up the higher tiers of magic potential. They are also all members of the PRT. The Protectorate and Wards use this same base, so if any of them had Linker Cores, they would have shown up. It appears that they are, to a one, magically inept just the same as Vista.
Sadly, just because it is Dragon giving the lecture does not guarantee that people are going to give her the credence she deserves. The woman who came out in a huff, who is coincidentally also the lone AA-rank mage present, looks back and forth among you, Dragon, and Legend, but it is to the director and Samuels that she directs her doubts. "Is this for real, sir? I mean, we're supposed to believe that we have
magic powers?"
"I have my doubts as well, Agent Abigail," the director says, "but there is no reason not to give it a try. Worst case scenario, we have all wasted out time. Best case?" He shrugs.
You jump in. "Best case, you get abilities comparable to a parahuman."
That gets their attention. Rising into the air, you turn your staff sideways and sit on it. "That's what I do. I'm a normal human just like the rest of you. Went through the same medical tests you had to go through before joining the PRT to prove it, too, since
some people didn't want to believe I wasn't a parahuman at first," you add with a teasing glare in Dragon's direction.
No one seems to know what to say to that declaration, and they all look at each other again. A janitor who was found to have a D-rank core hesitantly raises his hand. "Uh, how are we supposed to see if we have magic or not?"
Legend takes a step forward, effortlessly pulling everyone's attention to him. "We have already taken care of that. Director, if you would like to introduce the new recruits?"
Paulson shakes his head but pulls out a walkie-talkie. "Bring them in."
Another door opens, and a group of people walk out, each of them with a multitude of leashes attached to a random assortment of dogs. You are sure you have the same expression of surprise that is plastered on the faces of the assembled mages. "Where…?"
"Adoption shelters from around the city," Samuels says. "We claimed we were starting a K9 unit. Which we still might do if this doesn't work out."
They won't need that contingency plan, but that is certainly not a bad cover story. Calling up a screen, you show the diagram for the ritual to create Guardian Beasts. "Samantha, Cat Sith, could you wave your hands? Everyone, the way I'm going to prove that magic exists is simple. You're each going to take one of these dogs and turn them into Guardian Beasts like these two."
Between yourself and Standstill, you can give the instructions and answer last-minute questions quickly, and then it is a matter of waiting for results. You do not have to wait long.
You turn towards Paulson and Samuels, both of whom are staring at the thirty dog-people who just appeared and are exuberantly expressing joy at their new existences. "Do you still have doubts?" you ask with the faintest of smirks.
Paulson does not look your way but simply shakes his head. Excellent.
You turn back to the agents and call out, "If your concerns that I and Standstill and Legend are crazy have been put to bed, there's still plenty we need to talk about. You are mages now, and there is so much we haven't covered. Standstill and I are going to give you a crash course."
"We are?" asked Standstill in panic.
The humans look at one another before making their way towards you. That leaves the new Guardian Beasts standing around, and even though they are not truly separated from their mages, they certainly look uncomfortable. Before you have a moment to wrack your brain for something to occupy their time while you give your own mini-lecture, Dragon calls out,
"All Guardian Beasts of the Gear, please join me over here. As a Tinker, I have a unique appreciation for your situation."
Samantha looks over to you, and you shrug. If she has an idea, she should run with it. "Swords and Rifles, you are the attackers, but there are rules you need to know to deal with humans' opinions of combat. They don't make sense, but I'll walk you through them." You shoot her a glare; she did not need to phrase it that way! "Shields and Tomes, Cat Sith will talk to you about defensive strategies."
"Do I have to?" whines the cat.
"Yes, you have to."
Purpose seems to alleviate the new Beasts' worry and anxiety, and they gather around their teachers with greater enthusiasm than do the mages. Six each for Samantha and Cat Sith, while Dragon has a class of sixteen who are already hanging on to her every word. Even divvied up like this, though, two stragglers remain, and you are at a loss for what to do with them now. "Storm, what class are they?" you ask, hoping that information will suggest a course of action.
"Guardian Beasts of Mask. Infiltrators, saboteurs. Capable of taking form of others as well as emulating spells and Rare Skills."
"They can use other mages' Rare Skills?" you ask in surprise. Back before Perfect Storm accepted that parahumans were not mages, it had described parahuman powers as Rare Skills, hadn't it? "Would they be able to copy a cape's abilities?"
"…Possible?"
Someone clears his throat, and you turn to fine Legend waving the Masks towards him. "You two come over here. You are not leaving this room until you have the Protectorate's Master/Stranger protocols memorized backwards and forwards."
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
You spend just shy of an hour and a half answering the newfound mages' and their Guardian Beasts' questions, but finally you can escape. You send a goodbye wave to the New York heroes – poor Legend looks like he still isn't sure what to think about the creepy Strangers who now call Philadelphia home – and let Samantha's teleportation spell wash over you as you return home.
…Or to Tim's workshop. Not quite the same, but still a nice place.
The full group of Tinkers are present, though something must have happened to dampen their mood. Tim is sitting in a chair with his hands buried in his hair, and Dragon and Cassiel are on his shoulders whispering something to him. It would be a cute scene were it not quite so reminiscent of old cartoons where someone has an angel on one shoulder and a devil on the other. Nostromo also looks worried, or as much as either of the feathered Guardian Beasts ever express on their faces; he is wiping tools down with a wet rag and glancing repeatedly at his master.
"Ah. Your timing could not be better." Firefly is the only one who does not appear preoccupied with Tim's mental state, and instead she walks over with something in her hands that she offers to Samantha. Unwrapping the sheet reveals the gift to be a sword with an elaborate cage-like handle over a thick cross-guard.
Samantha pulls the sword out of the scabbard and looks down the blade. "Thank you? I mean, I don't really need a sword, and no offense but this one doesn't have the best balance…" She trails off as she looks closer at the hilt. "What
is this?"
"I did say I considered building a weapon for the flame witch's Beast, yes? This is it. Base form is unremarkable. If you press the button near the handle, it will disassemble and elongate."
Samantha does just that and gives it a flick. Even though you are nowhere close to where she is waving her new toy, a blade suddenly shooting out as a ten-foot whip is still startling.
"Is this why you wanted to know the details about my Shredding Claw?" your Guardian Beast asks, giving the whip a few experimental swings and cracks.
"Correct. The cables connecting the sections are thin enough that, in theory, your spell should concentrate on the segments. Each one would therefore apply the armor-weakening effect individually." Firefly shrugs. "You said the effect was multiplicative. The more segments that hit, the faster you destroy your target's defenses."
"That sounds nice, but it doesn't explain why there's a
trigger on this too."
Firefly glares at her. "You cannot be trusted with firearms at long distance. A laser pistol hidden in the guard gives you a surprise weapon should someone be too close for you to attack them with the blade."
You decide to leave the two Guardian Beasts to argue about just what should be inside Samantha's weapon, so while they continue on that subject you walk over to the rest of the group. "Don't tell me Dragon's running the newest member of her company ragged already."
No one laughs at the admittedly weak joke, but it does get Tim's attention even if he does not lift his head. "I wish that were it."
"He was analyzing another of Bakuda's bombs," Dragon explains when it becomes clear Tim has no intention of doing so. "The results were… not what we expected."
Any of those bombs could be the culprit, but there was one that you had concerns about. "Didn't you think one of them was possibly based on some of the Butcher's powers?"
"That one was less impressive than advertised," Dragon tells you. "All it did was overload nerves to cause intense pain. The underlying method is honestly the only interesting part. Tim had a few ideas about how it might be adapted to create virtual reality controls for drones or create entirely mental HUDs. If nothing else, it has potential applications in the healthcare industry for prosthetic connections or perhaps a full exoskeleton for quadriplegics."
So if that bomb isn't the problem, which of them is?
"We just finished analyzing the Crawler bomb," says Tim with a sigh. "It's a nightmare, even if I could refine it."
Samantha walks over, buckling the sword and scabbard to her belt. "What does it do?" she asks.
"Mutagenesis. Just like what Crawler was capable of. Immediate, hideous mutations. I ran some simulations. Insect carapaces, claws, sprays of acid. Anyone I used it on would turn into a monster."
"All the first bomb you played around with could do was stop time," you point out, "but you said you could broaden its range of effects. You even thought you might be able to pop Grey Boy's bubbles. The same thing is probably true about this—"
"No, it isn't!" he snaps, finally looking up at you. "That's the problem. The mutations aren't a side effect I can get rid of. They're the
objective. That's how Crawler's power worked.
"Let's say I wanted to make you tougher and harder to hurt. I shoot you up with a serum, and you would develop rhino skin or scales or a shell because that mutation is
how you would get tougher. There's no way to divorce the beneficial side and the mutation. I'd be turning people into Case 53s," he finishes with a sigh.
Dragon huffs. "I've already told you that is not the case. Case 53s aren't defined just by their physical abnormalities. The amnesia is just as important. This particular effect is not one that can be tossed about without long consideration, but it may still be of use. We just need to be careful."
"Going back to the Grey Boy thing for a moment," you say, dragging the conversation away from the ethical issues that you now see are what are really plaguing Tim, "you went off to look at the time loops a couple of days back. Do you think you can do anything about them?"
His bitter laughter tells you this might not have been the best subject either. "I don't know. I just don't know. I can disrupt the edge of the anomaly to break it, that much I'm sure about, but I have no clue what happens next. Maybe all the people inside are set free unharmed. Maybe the years they've been stuck there catch up with them all at once and they die of starvation. Maybe I erase them from existence when the time loop collapses in on itself." He shakes his head. "There are just too many possibilities. I can't predict what will happen unless I actually try it, and from there whatever happens is my fault."
"Mechashift sword" added to Key Items.
"Neural Stimulation" added to Exotic Physics.
"Mutagenics" added to Exotic Physics.
Oooo hoo hoo hoo! 
I was looking forward to you guys analyzing the Crawler bomb. So much chaotic fun can be had with that. If only you had a transhumanist character to try it out on…
And on that note, build time! Refresh yourselves on THE RULES, and take 24 HOURS to mull things over.
