13.5 But There is 'Me' and no 'U'
The ride back to my lair had me increasingly on edge.
Purity walked us through her dropping of Amy. There had been PRT agents there, and after several tense minutes had allowed Amy to talk to her father, Flashbang. He had given her permission to heal at the hospital and then leave with Purity, or by different means, if she was confident of her safety.
I'm still peeved about Lisa trying and failing to plan all of this herself, but she does have control issues. Or some sort of issues. Whatever they are, she always tries to look like she knows what's going on.
I had maybe 2 hours to prepare, to leave 40 or some minutes to travel if necessary. The PRT and Protectorate could conceivably send all their capes and a bunch of their regular people. I don't think I could force that many people to back off if they wouldn't listen.
Flashbang, or even Brandish, would be ideal, since Amy's parents had seemed ok with her staying with us, and they were her parents.
Once we got back to the lair, I made Lisa call my dad to explain herself and the situation. I sit in her office while she does it, but plug myself into the connection that ran down to my primary matrix processor and mostly ignore her.
I think it's only the second or third time I've had to use it, but now I'm glad I installed it.
My hands and my spine interface give me complete control. Well, my spine is still mostly noise, but I'm learning those connections. First thing, if things go totally sideways, what do I want? I want to rescue Amy, and then get myself, and anybody else with me, away.
I think I might need a mechsuit. The first version was the right sort of idea, but too sluggish. Maybe something with bigger legs. Something that can scale walls. I can pull a bunch of combat arms and attach them to a tank that will be sacrificed to build a cockpit. That would make a sort of land octopus.
No, no space for the power. I need someplace to pack the batteries to get at least an hour or two of operational time. Maybe a dual pod design, I already have my notes from the mechsuit v1. No, that's too heavy. Even if I had ten industrial arms to make it able to climb, it would then be too slow.
This is why I wanted dinosaur units in the first place, something smaller such that the materials could take the strain resulting from their movement.
I already told Brandish though that they operate by tether. Cutting the tether would be obvious as a way to disable them. If only I was better at programming them, so they could operate autonomously.
Having them jump around or able to run around a corner or grab something or scratch at something isn't actually useful as single purpose goals.
Although, that's not terrible as sequence of motions. If I load all the commands and then order them to mimic me, I might be able to control them with only the bandwidth I have available through the comm system. It would be kludgy though.
I should have just spent the few days necessary to produce a dozen radio laser emitters and receivers. Then I could have left a pair near enough the hospital as a relay allowing me to talk to Amy over the comm and we could make more specific arrangements.
I start building them now. No time like the present. I may as well wait and see what dad has to say after he finishes talking to Lisa. The never ending need for more ant and turtle units also commands my attention. At least the turtle units produce a positive return on resource costs.
The city sewer infrastructure remains severely damaged. I haven't been able to reconnect to large parts of the southern part of what was ABB territory. That has to be bad for disease. E88 territory is a patchwork of semi-functionality. As that area is overall the furthest from the bay, those pipes have the longest way to go before meeting up to main lines. Some of those pipes work, some don't. Winslow, and the rest of territory that the ABB and Merchants would fight over a lot, to the northwest of my house is in worse shape. Or at least, there's a blockage my units can't get past along the two primary lines. One should head east, as the slope of the city allows for gravity to drain things straight to the treatment plant, while the other should run downtown, where there's a hub station that then gets the sewage moving horizontally up the boardwalk, through the docks, and past the trainyard to the sewage treatment plant outside of town on the north end.
My ant units have primarily been repairing leaks and cracks, and while that is going well, I'm eventually going to have to start flat out replacing the crushed pipes to reestablish my chemical harvesting operations over the rest of the city.
For the moment, I finish putting the new ant units together and prioritize everybody new with mapping duty to get more data on which pipes have been crushed, and which ones have been sheared. For the former, squiggles will then bring mini-tunnelers to find out how far such damage extends.
Lisa gets my attention partway through my setup of ordering my units around, and waits the minute or so that it takes me to finish the changes.
Afterwards, I give her my full attention. Well, aside from continuing on the new radio laser pairs and absent mindedly building a bunch of turtles, but that last one is basically like twiddling my thumbs at this point.
Lisa manages to look mildly sheepish after her lecture from my dad. I guess I shouldn't be mean about it, so I am fine with getting right into planning.
Our first and ideal one is that nothing bad happens. Purity picks up Amy from the hospital and that's it, we come back to my lair for a quiet evening of prepacked military food ration things and maybe sandwiches if we still have bread and canned tuna. This plan can be checked because Amy has a comm system now. Even as we talk, I order a squiggle to bring jellies to the hospital to act as a set of comm system relays so that we can talk to Amy and check up on her without tipping off that we're nearby.
In the worst case, the Protectorate sends everybody and the Wards, claiming that Panacea is being kidnapped and that we're bad people.
I suggest building an army of stun gun wielding ants, and swarming the heroes, but Lisa shoots that down, pointing out that dad wouldn't like it. Even if nobody was hurt, it was still probably a bad idea. Granted, if the heroes did that plan, then they wouldn't be heroes, but that's why it was called 'the worst case' scenario. Being prepared and stuff. I quietly make a note to consider weaponized units later.
Lisa wanted us to plan in case the PRT or Protectorate ambushed us on our way to Panacea. Lisa thought the idea would be to capture Purity, since she was actually a wanted criminal, with the same being true if any of Undersiders showed up. If Sandra or I showed up, they'd try to forcibly bring us in for questioning. We were a bit sketchy, and i could see how they could make that argument stick.
Then, of course, with nobody to pick up Amy, she'd just conveniently need to come back with them as well.
Lisa said that even if we convinced Purity to change her costume and rebrand, she still glowed and it would be obvious who she was to anybody in the Bay. The point of that was to make a break between her and the Nazis, not to convince anybody else that she was a new cape.
I was becoming extremely irritated at Lisa for her bad planning. At least she had the good grace to be embarrassed about it.
Basically, if the PRT and Protectorate wanted to pick a fight, they would be able to because we had to go pick up Amy.
Dad wasn't much help, he was down at the dockworker's building, doing something or other to help people who didn't have homes anymore. I wasn't mad at him. He'd told me about his plans, but it was still frustrating.
Lisa's suggestion that I make my 'Xenomorphs' controllable without a tether, by using the radio lasers I was building, was quickly shot down by dint of me not being a genie, and therefore unable to snap my fingers and magically make said tinker projects complete. I had only begun to touch on using a sonic based directive control scheme for built in pathing and function algorithms. Switching to photon control would be better, but also require lasers able to rapidly track and lock onto signals.
Lisa apparently couldn't distinguish between me slapping a bunch of premade arms together onto a pair of chemical reactor tanks and calling it a mechsuit, and actually making things from scratch. And that was with a much larger amount of time to work. I put my head in my hands, sigh, and ask how much time we have left.
"We've got about an hour."
Her reply just depresses me further.
Lisa doesn't disturb me for a minute, then "There's not much we can or should do if the Protectorate shows up to fight, so maybe we should plan for what we can do otherwise?"
"Fine, let's plan for that, I guess."
The plan, such as it is, is just that Sandra and I will be backup for Purity. I'll go to be unseen and to provide command and control for getting in touch with Amy, and Sandra will be there in case there's a need and a way to help Purity.
We call Purity on the lair intercom system, and Thrawn explains the plan when she shows up.
She isn't pleased about the increased chance of danger. Thankfully, she's still willing to do it, but she wants the skin upgrade, just in case.
Purity follows me while Thrawn stays behind in his office to start making arrangements for pickup vans and stuff, or whatever vehicles we'll be using.
Once Purity and I reach the stairs to my lab, I go through the entry pattern twice. The second time is because she wants to fly down, and that would trip the infiltration attempt traps. If one sensor can detect a person, such as the sonar system, but another can't, such as the pressure plates, then the matrix processor will default to assuming there is an hostile attempt at infiltration and set off everything. That would be messy, and possibly lethal.
I would hope my infiltration countermeasures are good. I haven't been able to find online copies of the Master Stranger Protocols for the PRT. I suppose I should ask Lisa. I've mostly been copying ideas that seemed good from various parahuman analysis websites. Well, the ones that weren't behind paywalls anyway.
Still we get to my lab, and I think Purity is suitably impressed. She's also very polite about not touching stuff. Most of it's safe, because dad likes to ask what something is by poking at it.
I grab an arm and begin transferring the superskin reagents out of storage and into- Right, dammit, I have got to build a changing room for giving people some privacy and an actual shower stall or something.
I just don't want to dedicate the space to something that gets used for like a day, once a month. Well, I empty a sufficiently large reactor tank, and start explaining how this will work.
"Ok, so I apologize, but I've yet to build an actual changing room. You need to get into that tank," which I helpfully gesture to, "and use the spray hose to coat your skin in the super skin polymer. Don't get it in your eyes or mouth. It won't hurt you, but it's wasteful. That's about it. The upgrade will take maybe an hour to take effect, and will give you a Brute 2 rating for about a month, a Brute 1 rating for the following month, and will be flushed out of your system by the end of the third month."
Purity hesitates a moment, then starts taking parts of her costume off. She comments, mostly to herself, I think, that if I was a creeper, there were likely already cameras in the actual showers. She does make me lock the door to my lab though.
I can't think of a non-awkward way to interrupt her that I didn't mean all of her clothes, just the ones that would be too difficult to take off in what was basically a small shower stall.
I am grateful for my mask, and at least she's quick about things. I start partitioning off space for a changing room and attached shower in the couple of minutes I have while she's busy, in order to avoid this ever happening again.
Finally, she's done and dressed. We meet up with Sandra out in the vehicle garage. Surprisingly to me, it's not a van, but some station wagon I've never seen before that's going to be our ride.
Purity displays some frustration when it turns out the next step is her and Sandra being secretly transported by means of 'the pair of them, hiding under a blanket in the back of car.'
With some complaints, we make our way to the waypoint, a few blocks from the hospital. I put my mask on and then signal Purity and Sandra that the coast is clear.
I'm not saying that the endbringer fight was good, by any means, but now at least, there are a ton of places to hide even a car in all the damage the Simurgh did.
This time it's deep into the lobby of some office building. The front was busted open, looks like due to a flung car that's upside down and back by the elevators.
While Purity and Sandra get themselves vertical, I put on my full mask, and then open the door to stand up, but sit back down and start gagging as I yank shut the door.
There's a god awful smell of rot.
I try not to think about what that means about the upside down car, and engage the air supply on my costume. Just knowing that I'm breathing from my backup tank helps a lot.
"Purity, Sandra, you guys are going to want to wait here. I need to step outside the car. I'll contact Panacea and let you know if anything has changed for our plans. Uh, you might want to pinch your noses."
Before things can get more awkward, I quickly step outside, and intentionally avoid looking at the upside down car and instead face out towards the street.
My units should be around. I send out a query and get a response confirming it. A second or so of checks, and the expected relay line of jelly units connects me to the hospital. The jellies there have been tracking Amy and she's; well, I can't tell what she's doing, but she's in the hospital.
I guess I should try to talk to her, without interrupting her much. I make a beep noise, to get her attention, then, "Hello Panacea, this is Recluse."
"Did you really just say 'beep' at me?"
"Yes?" Maybe I should have just started talking.
"Whatever. Leave the channel open, I'll take a break in five or ten minutes and get back to you."
Right, well.
I put an arm against the window and that transmits enough of a signal that I can tell Sandra and about Panacea needing ten minutes, and that there's a body or something in here, and that they'll want to stay in the car. Oh bother, Purity doesn't have a comm system.
I wish I had my apex laser and receiver so I could get some work done. Instead I make some notes on designs and materials and store them in the tiny matrix processor integrated into my suit. No really new ideas, but I'd really like to make my ant units completely from harvested materials, and maybe work towards making my squiggles cheaper. The key to the turtles was a dedicated printer reactor, that had specialized pieces for guiding the curing process. I might be able to do that for the ants, if I make their shells and legs separate from their internals.
Just as I'm starting to get into things, Amy interrupts with, "Alright, I've got a few minutes. I'm on break. So, everything good?"
I put an arm back on the car window to relay our conversation by transmitting the vibrations through the glass. "Yeah, mostly, we got concerned about stuff on your end. If the PRT or somebody showed up to hassle you, as an example, so we're here early."
"Oh, they're totally here, they showed up like twenty minutes after I got here, and complained when I wouldn't do a private interview about shit with them. Their five dudes had to follow me around asking if I was alright while I did actual work. Also, Ca- Brandish and Flashbang are patrolling around the hospital currently. Have I told you about Mr Shin? Yeah, he's here. He also brought some sixth person that I don't think is PRT, but they're being all cagey and crap about her. She's not wearing a mask, so, not a cape. Anyway, my dad says he and Brandish want to meet you, if things are safe enough. Uh, and if you aren't going to freak out about it."
"Well, Purity is going to pick you up, I'm not sure how that would work? I don't think she could carry Flashbang. She's a pretty petite woman, even if she tried to do it in two trips."
"Alright, I'll call it quits now, or, well, tell Brandish that she can come if she's willing to follow Purity and me. Once everybody finishes arguing, I'll stop healing and let you know once I'm on the roof."
"Oh, uh, I don't have units on the roof, not quite yet. Your floor, the third, the fourth, and the ones below it. The fifth, and sixth, are scattered coverage, and no jellies have made it to the roof yet. Just let me know when you head up, and I'll tell Purity. The lot of you will arrive about the same time that way."
With arrangements made, we wait maybe fifteen more minutes before Panacea tells me to send Purity over to the hospital.
Purity gags as she gets out of the car and gets away as quick as she can.
Our driver complains about the smell, and so Sandra lets him pull out into the street. She and I get out, remaining hidden in the lobby of the building.
A few more minutes later, and I can see Purity on her way back.
Thankfully, she's got Panacea. Oh! And I can see Brandish in her Breaker form a ways back. Well, lovely, time for an interview I suppose.
"I'll just go ahead and wait here, quietly." Lisa lets me know over the comm that she's abandoning me, as I walk forward, and she camouflages herself amongst some rubble.
I walk out and stand by the car. I avoid flailing my limbs in greeting. Well, I sort of nervously twitch my artificial arms as Purity and Amy land next to me. Purity sets her down, and I greet the pair of them, asking how things went.
Purity makes an exasperated noise, and Amy says things are fine, and that she warned Brandish that I don't talk much. I can see the bright orb that is Brandish's Breaker form flying towards us.
Before the awkwardness can really get started, my thoughts are interrupted by stomping noises.
I look around, and see a major problem. Fuck everything, and I regret complaining about the awkwardness, because Fenja, Menja, and fucking Kaiser are rounding the corner, and not overly surprised to see us. Fenja and Menja are in their Breaker form, supersized to maybe 15 feet tall. Kaiser is wearing knight-like plate armor made from the blades controlled and created by his power.
"Don't panic! It's the Empire right?" Lisa's voice quickly comes over the comm.
Purity lifts off, but doesn't leave. I confirm over the comm who it is, and Lisa says she's staying put for the moment.
"They must have been watching for Purity, they probably want to try and bring her back into the fold. Reassure Purity that she is safe with us."
Right, I can do that, "Purity, you have allies here, and I expect Brandish would side with us as well. I do not think we need to consider running just yet."
I seriously regret not giving her a comm system. That's getting rectified as soon as we get back.
Purity doesn't land, but she doesn't move further away, thankfully.
Lisa's voice, as Sandra, comes over the comm system. "Amy, just keep the car between you and the Nazis. I'm pretty sure they'll have called their friends, but also that since Brandish is here, they won't be willing to pick a fight."
Great…
Thankfully, Brandish is going to get here first. Right, plans, uh, "Purity, I don't think Brandish can carry anybody. If this gets ugly, you take Panacea with you when you get clear."
That's actually it for my ability to plan for keeping everybody safe.
I step out in front, marking myself as the leader, I think. Brandish lands next to me on the left, returning to her normal human form.
That puts Amy behind me and to my left, with Purity hovering behind and above me, the mercenary driver still in the car, and Lisa as Sandra is in the building. Can she see us? Well, maybe not, but she'll have the sonar system.
Uh, I guess Brandish would've talked now if she had wanted to, and we're out of time as Kaiser and his giantess goons come to a stop; a surprising distance away. Like 30 feet.
We all stand for a moment looking at each other.
So… who talks first? Brandish? She's the only adult non-criminal here.
Oh, wait Recluse is an adult, as part of my cape identity. Handy that. Also, Brandish is watching me with a bit of a glare to see what I do.
Might as well not provoke them deliberately. "Hello, Kaiser, Fenja, and Menja. Why are you here?"
Kaiser turns his head a few degrees to stare directly at me.
Lisa is a horrible, horrible influence on me as I'm perversely tempted to stick my tongue out at him, since he can't see my face.
When he doesn't respond though, I turn to Brandish, with my body language hopefully being questioning.
Brandish smirks, just a tiny bit, saying quietly, "I don't think he can understand you, due to your unusual voice changer. He's not willing to admit to that, and he's not eager to get to close to me and Panacea. I am currently on probation for executing Bakuda in response to a situation that has some parallels."
I catch myself wriggling my extra arms nervously, and stop.
"Tell Kaiser to come closer so that he may hear you. Don't let him control the conversation."
Well, Lisa's advice is usually good, even if today she's been off. I call out much more loudly, telling him to come closer, so that we can talk without shouting.
Kaiser probably looks all stoic and badass, but since I'm nervous enough to not look at him all that much, I'm relieved, a bit, to see Menja hesitate a bit as Kaiser waves and the three of them walk over. Or maybe it's Fenja.
They're the same person, possibly, so I doubt it really matters to her if I get them mixed up.
Once they come to a stop maybe 10 or 12 feet away, I repeat myself. "Hello, Kaiser, Fenja, and Menja. Why are you here?"
Kaiser's got a deep voice, sort of rumbly, "I'm here to discuss your position with Brockton Bay, and to invite Purity to discuss her choices before her crimes lead her to hurt those she claims to love."
"Ok, well, speak your piece about the first part." I have no idea what he might be able to pitch to me that would be at all interesting. Also, I'm not sure how respectful I should be to a gang leader.
"The horrible violence done to this city, by the Simurgh, is being repaired. I, and the resilient members of the Empire, struggle against further collapse and decay to-"
Brandish cuts him off with, "Get to the recruitment pitch or to the threats."
Kaiser shrugs and starts again, "Well, what can you expect from the city's professional hypocrites? For you, Recluse, I offer an alliance. You hold no territory known to anyone. Mark out an area, restore order within it. Be a part of making this city better, or be driven from it with the rest of the rabble."
Uh huh. "Ok, and you had a message for Purity?" I have no idea how Kaiser might be 'trying to control the conversation'. It's not like I can claim territory without talking to da- Xanatos first.
"Yes, but it is a private message, from her family."
"Don't let him talk to Purity alone."
"I'm afraid that won't be possible."
Yeah, he doesn't like that. "You presume to order her around?"
I really wish I could see Purity, but she's behind me. "No, just concerns for safety. Well, that and there's no privacy around here." I'm completely sure that Lisa has moved to where she can see the road, and so I continue, "I hired Sandra to help provide security for Panacea, and she's very nosey, I'm pretty sure she'd be unable to resist spying on a private conversation." Lisa would absolutely read the body language of a private conversation between Kaiser and Purity. Especially since the last time I checked Lisa is pretty sure Kaiser is the father for both of the kids that Purity has with her.
Fenja, or maybe Menja, turns her head a bit to glance around. I hope she's nervous.
Kaiser speaks up, more loudly, but still clearly, "Purity, is this spying and these restrictions voluntary? I bring news, peacefully and generously. Surely a few moments between the two of us is not impossible?"
"Actually, it is, Brandish just relaxed, the PRT or Protectorate will be arriving in moments."
Right, time to go. Oh, I guess, maybe Brandish wants to come? "Brandish, I have no interest in being between the Protectorate and the Empire. I intend to leave this area, with those that choose to come with me. You could come along for part of the ride, I suppose. If you'd like. You would not be taken anywhere near my lair."
Sirens start up in the distance, signalling the end of the conversation. Brandish turns to me, "I'm going to have to decline the invitation, I'll ensure they don't follow you."
She hesitates a moment, then adds, "The Protectorate is very keen to have a conversation with you. Come to the Rig, but not the PRT headquarters, if you want to talk. At any time."
Well, uh, maybe. I should probably talk to Xanatos and Thrawn first. "Uh, perhaps," I say to her, and then more loudly, "Everybody who is leaving with me, get in the car."
Kaiser actually looks almost indecisive for a moment, like he's about say- I steel myself, and am vindicated as I don't flinch when Sandra yells out, "Hey Kaiser!" with a chirpy voice from behind the three Nazis.
Everybody else flinches, even Kaiser, and Sandra slips out from behind a dumpster blocking part of the sidewalk. She hops forward, aiming to pass by the three of them with plenty of space. Near the closest point, she adds, "Tell Othala I say hi, and that I hope she's doing well!"
I made the Sandra suit, and yet I find myself wondering how it's possible for such an amount of innocent cheer to come from that voice modulator.
Actually, given that it's Lisa saying this, how she managed to sound innocent in the first place is possibly the better question.
Panacea gets in the back seat, Sandra dashes forward, opens the door for the other side of the backseat, and gives Purity a weird sort of salute thing. Right, probably can't look dignified trying to fit her and Sandra in the cargo area. I hurry over and get in the passenger seat, and manage to shut the door, just as Sandra gets herself settled.
The driver immediately heads out. As we round the corner, I see the three villain capes heading off and away from Brandish.
