An old build refurbished and given some new touches! Not quite an SI, not quite an OC, let's see how it goes?
Miracle [Worm CYOA SI/OC]
- Thread starter blackshadow111
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Prologue
blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
So, a new thing!
Well, not really new. I've been sitting on this build and most of this prologue since literally days after this version of the CYOA first came out. It went through a whole lot of revisions, and then I forgot about it entirely, until I saw it while I was going through old folders in the quarantine, and it grasped onto my brain and refused to let go.
Anyway, here we are.
Once, there was a family.
It was not a big family, not a clan consisting of dozens of members. No, it was tiny as such things go. Three people. Mother, Father, and the Son. They loved each other as families do, argued and made up… and they were, if not quite happy… satisfied.
Immigrants through and through, they had made a home in a land far away from where their people had originated. The Father was a full citizen, having been born in the land of opportunities back when it was still that, a son and grandson of immigrants.
His own grandfather had come over to the country back when it could still be rightly and properly called the Land of Opportunity. And it had lived up to the ideal. 1950s America was the preeminent power in the world, while his own homeland, infinitely older in culture but not worth mentioning in the same breath in power, was still undergoing the teething pains of a newly liberated democracy.
Vishnu Chandra had worked hard and had done well for himself. He had then wed a good, Indian wife, and sired a son. The son he'd named Yash, in hopes he'd be a great and successful man. That had never happened, but the son, Yash, had worked just as hard as his father, and built the small shop his father had left him into a modestly, if not extremely prosperous electronics business.
It was his son, Kamal Chandra, who featured as the Dad in our little family of three. Bright, hardworking (as opposed to 'hardly working', which was what his father thought of him), he'd been a teenager when a Golden Man had emerged into the world, and in the doing of it, changed everything.
He'd become an adult in a world of Parahumans, growing with the Golden Age that had descended upon the world. He'd wanted with every breath to be one, in those days… though rather less, when he he'd seen the Age end under the fists of drunken hooligans. Such was how these things ended anyway, his father, jaded and cold for years now, had declared.
Kamal had never become a parahuman, but he was intelligent, worked hard, and was, in every way that he could manage, a good man. He'd cried when Hero died and railed at the uncaring gods when the Endbringers had emerged into existence, and with every announcement that came saying that a city had fallen to an S-class threat.
This is not his story.
Kamal's wife, the Mother in our family, was a first-generation immigrant, who had come to America after marrying him. An immensely bright woman, she had a gift for languages, and had soon found work as a Foreign Languages teacher in one of the local schools.
The city they lived in was a bright, steadily expanding metropolis on the East Coast, growing fat and rich on trade and tourism. Not a great and glorious city, but with all the tools to become such.
Then came Leviathan.
Sumati Chandra was a good woman, a sincere woman. She worked hard at her job, and every student she sent away proficient in a language apart from English was a personal joy in her life. Unlike her husband, she'd always been rather ambivalent to Parahumans. In the land she had grown up in, such things had been made into a joke, hero and villain alike dividing themselves into Garam and Thanda, Hot and Cold capes depending on how loudly they wanted to yell when wrecking things around them.
She herself had no desire to be a parahuman and wanted it lesser still with every rumor she heard about the trauma involved in the process. Nonetheless, she was compassionate and thoroughly practical, and wanted to do the best she could to leave the world.
When they city they had lived in for over a decade, where her husband had grown up and where his family had lived for decades, started to die… it was her who pushed for them to move. They had the means, there certainly was the need, and it was time to be coldly practical.
She succeeded. They moved to Boston, the city whose trade had indeed, benefited to an extent from the collapse of the Bay's docks, and set themselves up. The father sold the business in the Bay and bought a shop in Boston, even though he could never bring himself to sell the house. The woman smiled at this and prepared herself to help her family face the world with their heads held high. She was, in many ways, a very remarkable woman.
This is not her story.
Both the father and the mother doted on their son. He was young, barely seventeen in the spring of 2009, and would never agree that he was anything but a grown adult. His parents smiled in amusement, but they loved him, and he loved them, and it was all fine. He was excellent in his studies and respectable in sports. A bit shy and a bit awkward, he did the best he could.
Of course, unlike earlier days, that counted for far less. The world was a harder place than the one his parents had grown up in, and a crueler one by far. New ills had emerged into the land, and these were problems that simply working hard and trying could not solve. Everything cost more, everything broke down more. The world was under siege, and it was all they could do to hold on.
Until they couldn't. It was the mother where it started. One day, in class, she found herself suffering migraines so terrible as to make her feel like she would die. Somehow, she managed to get through it, and the next day visited a doctor.
The doctor was a busy man and almost perpetually tired. Even if he hadn't been, he wasn't very good, as a man or as a practitioner. Looking at her, he evaluated the chances of extorting some of the more profitable tests from her and found them wanting. He prescribed some pills and sent her away.
Somehow it worked for a time. Her headaches faded away; her job resumed… for a time. But even when they returned, there wasn't the old intensity. Painkillers, replaced steadily with stronger ones, became a food instead of a medicine, and things stretched on.
And then she passed out while teaching a class.
This time the doctor was a better one, and the right scans and tests were conducted. The family arrived at the hospital when they could, and the results were passed around gingerly.
That was when it all broke apart. A tumor. Inoperable, incurable for modern science.
And for anything else, too. The irony of ironies was that the greatest healer anyone knew of lived in the city they'd forsaken, and regularly spent hours healing all comers. The problem, of course, was that she didn't 'do' brains.
The family pitched in to do everything they could. The father spent money like water, uncaring of cost or what he had to sell off. The second home, the jewelry… away it all went. In the beginning he spent it at every legitimate treatment possible, then at every quack who would take it, which was all of them. But of course, it wasn't to be.
And so, the mother died. And the content, small world of the family came crashing apart. To his credit, the father held on for entire months. He saw his son through his graduation, and the last memory the son had of his father smiling was when he saw him come out of the ceremony. He hadn't made Valedictorian or Salutatorian, but he'd made it in the top 5 percentile.
That was the last good thing that happened in his life. What the son hadn't realized that seeing him through school was the only purpose that the father had had left in the world. He wasn't what one would call a weak man in the traditional sense… but he had loved his wife so very much. With her gone, and the only pressing duty ended… there remained nothing to fill the hole.
He found love again soon after. His son would have been happy for him, if it hadn't been that the Father found it on the inside of a bottle. Syringes followed soon after, and then came the gambling. Anything to make it hurt less.
The business was the first to go, carved away by the loan sharks first in terms of stock and money, and then everything else. It had been rather a well-to-do business of TVs, accessories, appliances and whatnot. The father had run it well, and by the standards of 2010 Boston, he'd traded in shockingly few stolen goods. Once the business was gone, his house came next. Seeing everything he and his wife had built with such pain and care just… gone, his creditors taking particular care to stamp over his dignity in the process… it finished off whatever remained in the man.
A few weeks after the business died, two days before his son's eighteenth birthday, the man died too, overdosing on the one last hit of cheap meth he'd managed to score.
It hit the son like a truck, one trauma after the other. And much like the father had in earlier days, he railed at the gods his family had held to. What had they done to deserve this? Why did such things happen to them, and not people who cheated others, who delighted in cruelties? The gods might have answered had they been able to. But it was a tall order, considering that they didn't… well, exist.
And so, the son set down in his life to struggle. There had been a college fund, once. It was gone now, pillaged first for his mother treatment and then for his father's gambling. The business was gone too, as was the house in Boston. All that remained was the house in Brockton Bay, under two mortgages and soon to be repossessed. The boy struggled to grasp what had happened. He was alone in all the world, barely an adult with no savings and no means of income. All that remained was a house far too full of painful memories, with a few months left before the bank came to take it away. Still he endured. For months, having turned eighteen, he drifted from one menial job to another, looking for something that would allow him to bring any hint of stability back into his life.
It wasn't to be, of course. And as the months passed, it became even clearer just how cruel the world he lived in was. It was fitting, he supposed, that it was first of April when he got the notice to vacate. It was confirmation that yes, his life was indeed a joke. But all else aside, if he wanted a roof over his head he couldn't stay in Boston. Thus, to Brockton Bay he went, returning to the broken city in hopes of finding some, any means of keeping body and soul together.
He was young end energetic, educated and prepared to work hard. Couldn't he build it all up again, like his ancestors had done before him? The boy, freshly become a man, tried to force himself to believe he could, and willed himself to try and build a life in the Bay, as his ancestors had.
This is not his story.
It is not his story because he failed, and he failed because even on the way to Brockton Bay reality was already setting in. There was nothing left for him in the world, nothing and no one. The endless, ceaseless cruelty and hopelessness of the world had taken away everything he'd ever cared for, and if he built it up again, it would take it all away again.
Amar Chandra arrived in Brockton Bay on the second of April, just as the day turned into night. And looking at the house his parents had left all those years ago drove it in once and for all. The house loomed dark and cold on the outside and looked like a mausoleum of dead dreams under sheets on the inside. There was no light, since Behemoth's 'fun' with power plants had made electricity a luxury, and Energon had done the rest. It wasn't that it couldn't be had, it was just that paying the bills was out of the realm of possibility. Not for most of the population, not just yet, but certainly for him.
Water was still on, for what it was worth. The house had some decent furniture, and a basement full of broken electronics from when his family had owned that store.
That night, the young man went into a bathtub with a knife.
The next morning, a stranger woke up in his body.
This is his story.
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with a bleary yawn, trying to see what was going on. His neck was on the edge of the bathtub, his legs hanging over the other side of it, and both hurt. As did his arm, almost like someone… almost like someone had tried to slice it.
What the hell? Checking it he found it unblemished. It was also encrusted in something rather disgusting, which he was pretty sure was blood.
It was also blue.
With a jerk, he stood up, banging his head into the shower above. A second later, he stepped out of the bathtub in a hurry, rushing to the light switch.
He flicked it on. The he flicked it off, and then on again. Nothing happened.
"… okay…" he muttered to himself, growing more concerned by the second. Something niggled at him throughout all this, something that seemed obvious and rather important. Something like…
Since when did he have a bathtub?
Looking around, he spotted even more things weird. Shelves where there weren't any in his bathroom, no towels… it wasn't his bathroom at all.
He was in someone else's bathroom. He was in something else's bathroom, he was covered in blood, and he was Blue!
What the fuck was going on? Was this a prank? Had someone abducted him? Where was he? What was going to happen to-
The Status Effect 'Blind Panic' has been suppressed by Gamer's Mind.
What.
He stared at the notification, all too aware of the sudden calm in his mind. He raised a hand to poke it, but the words faded away before he could connect.
With a somewhat staggered move, he stepped back into the shower. The he stepped back out, and peeled off his somewhat ripped, straining-to-tear clothes.
Getting back in, he turned the shower on, rubbing himself all over to ensure that the blood was washed off. While he did that, he thought.
Okay… so he was in a strange place, in someone's bathroom. He was covered in blood, was blue, and apparently, he had the Gamer power. The Gamer. Korean Dresden Files, except in all the ways it wasn't.
There was going to be no use to panicking and yelling his head off. He'd need to understand what was happening. Could he remember anything at all about how he came to be here?
Thinking back, he strained his mind… and he recalled rather a lot, actually. He recalled a second life, the life of Amar Keshav Chandra, son of Kamal and Sumati Chandra. Eighteen years old orphan with the saddest fucking story he'd ever heard of… and who'd stepped into this bathtub last night with every intent to make the pain cease.
He also remembered being a different boy, also Indian, with an altogether less dramatic story. He was… which one was he? Was he Amar, the boy who tried his best but simply couldn't take it? Or was he… the other person?
Well, whichever he was, he was clean now, so he'd better get out of this bathtub. Toweling off, he put his clothes back on, grimacing at how badly they fit. Both Amar and his other personality had been a couple inches short of six feet. Whatever body he was in… was not. He estimated it was 6'5, or at least 6'4. And not to be forgotten, blue.
Getting out of the bathroom, he found the rest of the house better lit with the light from the windows. Coming close to a mirror, he looked at himself. So, not only was he inky blue, he also had Targaryen silver hair, and the greenest eyes he'd ever heard of. These weren't just green, they were bad HP fanfiction green. 'Carefully cut emeralds', or 'Viridian Pools' green.
Also, was it just him or did he… no, it wasn't just him. He was fucking gorgeous. He looked like someone had combined Bruce Timm's aesthetic with the daintiest, softest bishounen style in the world.
Actually, no, he didn't look anywhere as grotesque as that sounded, but holy shit, what else could he call someone who was ripped like an athlete, but prettier than Glory Girl at her best?
And then the man paused. Glory Girl? That was from the Amar set of memories. But no… something niggled at him from the other life too. Something he'd… seen? No, something he might have read. It was fleeting, disappearing like a dream even as he tried to focus at it. What he remembered living, on the other hand, spoke volumes. Glory Girl was a cape, a parahuman who was part of New Wave. A bit heavy on the collateral damage, but one of the stars of the bay.
So, someone had abducted him, and dumped him into the body of a recent suicide and then added powers to that body? Or had he, Amar, triggered and the look and the body and the new memories were his new power?
Hm. 'Triggered', another term from Amar's side of things. More slang than a proper word, it was how people with powers were supposed to have gotten them. You 'triggered' on the worst day of your life and got powers out of it. Kind of helpful to understand how so many more of the powered seemed to become villains than heroes. Four-to-one wasn't very good figures.
But with a moment of thought… wasn't it all academic? He was here now, and that was all there was to it. Certainly, there was nothing in either of the lives he recalled that he'd like to continue intact.
Oh, sure, the other life hadn't been bad. It'd just been… alright. And he was a fairly active denizen of the internet and the various fandoms. He knew how this sort of thing was supposed to work. Of course, that had been in stories, but come on. He had the Gamer!
Well, time to get a look at things.
"Character Sheet!" he called out in the air, waiting for the notification to appear.
Nothing happened.
Frowning, he swung around wildly, pointing at the wall next to him. "Observe!" he shouted.
And nothing continued to happen.
…okay, maybe he didn't know how this sort of thing worked. How was he supposed to use the Gamer power he if he couldn't even see his own status screen?
And an instant later, a blue box erupted into the air ahead of him.
"Seriously?" he called out into the empty air. It declined to answer.
For a moment, the man just stared. "Well" he muttered, looking at every skill from top to bottom. That looked... broken. He was aware that his mouth had fallen open, but he wasn't up to caring just then.
"I guess I'm calling myself Amar then" he eventually managed to mutter to himself. Still fiddling with the character sheet, he found that tapping a skill revealed a list of spells and sub-skills under it. The vast, overwhelming bulk of everything was greyed out due to the MP costs being somewhere in the stratosphere compared to what he had... but hot damn. He had skills. He had powers. He was a Gamer, and he had the powers of what looked like Arcane and Divine Magic from D&D, and Naruto and Harry Potter on top of it.
And other powers, on top of it. The only one unlocked was Hope Empowerment, but judging by the rest of it all...
Yeah. He could work with this.
Well? Criticism is the coin of the realm, and all that. Please tell me if the first part is particularly bad, I have my doubts about that one.
Well, not really new. I've been sitting on this build and most of this prologue since literally days after this version of the CYOA first came out. It went through a whole lot of revisions, and then I forgot about it entirely, until I saw it while I was going through old folders in the quarantine, and it grasped onto my brain and refused to let go.
Anyway, here we are.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Once, there was a family.
It was not a big family, not a clan consisting of dozens of members. No, it was tiny as such things go. Three people. Mother, Father, and the Son. They loved each other as families do, argued and made up… and they were, if not quite happy… satisfied.
Immigrants through and through, they had made a home in a land far away from where their people had originated. The Father was a full citizen, having been born in the land of opportunities back when it was still that, a son and grandson of immigrants.
His own grandfather had come over to the country back when it could still be rightly and properly called the Land of Opportunity. And it had lived up to the ideal. 1950s America was the preeminent power in the world, while his own homeland, infinitely older in culture but not worth mentioning in the same breath in power, was still undergoing the teething pains of a newly liberated democracy.
Vishnu Chandra had worked hard and had done well for himself. He had then wed a good, Indian wife, and sired a son. The son he'd named Yash, in hopes he'd be a great and successful man. That had never happened, but the son, Yash, had worked just as hard as his father, and built the small shop his father had left him into a modestly, if not extremely prosperous electronics business.
It was his son, Kamal Chandra, who featured as the Dad in our little family of three. Bright, hardworking (as opposed to 'hardly working', which was what his father thought of him), he'd been a teenager when a Golden Man had emerged into the world, and in the doing of it, changed everything.
He'd become an adult in a world of Parahumans, growing with the Golden Age that had descended upon the world. He'd wanted with every breath to be one, in those days… though rather less, when he he'd seen the Age end under the fists of drunken hooligans. Such was how these things ended anyway, his father, jaded and cold for years now, had declared.
Kamal had never become a parahuman, but he was intelligent, worked hard, and was, in every way that he could manage, a good man. He'd cried when Hero died and railed at the uncaring gods when the Endbringers had emerged into existence, and with every announcement that came saying that a city had fallen to an S-class threat.
This is not his story.
Kamal's wife, the Mother in our family, was a first-generation immigrant, who had come to America after marrying him. An immensely bright woman, she had a gift for languages, and had soon found work as a Foreign Languages teacher in one of the local schools.
The city they lived in was a bright, steadily expanding metropolis on the East Coast, growing fat and rich on trade and tourism. Not a great and glorious city, but with all the tools to become such.
Then came Leviathan.
Sumati Chandra was a good woman, a sincere woman. She worked hard at her job, and every student she sent away proficient in a language apart from English was a personal joy in her life. Unlike her husband, she'd always been rather ambivalent to Parahumans. In the land she had grown up in, such things had been made into a joke, hero and villain alike dividing themselves into Garam and Thanda, Hot and Cold capes depending on how loudly they wanted to yell when wrecking things around them.
She herself had no desire to be a parahuman and wanted it lesser still with every rumor she heard about the trauma involved in the process. Nonetheless, she was compassionate and thoroughly practical, and wanted to do the best she could to leave the world.
When they city they had lived in for over a decade, where her husband had grown up and where his family had lived for decades, started to die… it was her who pushed for them to move. They had the means, there certainly was the need, and it was time to be coldly practical.
She succeeded. They moved to Boston, the city whose trade had indeed, benefited to an extent from the collapse of the Bay's docks, and set themselves up. The father sold the business in the Bay and bought a shop in Boston, even though he could never bring himself to sell the house. The woman smiled at this and prepared herself to help her family face the world with their heads held high. She was, in many ways, a very remarkable woman.
This is not her story.
Both the father and the mother doted on their son. He was young, barely seventeen in the spring of 2009, and would never agree that he was anything but a grown adult. His parents smiled in amusement, but they loved him, and he loved them, and it was all fine. He was excellent in his studies and respectable in sports. A bit shy and a bit awkward, he did the best he could.
Of course, unlike earlier days, that counted for far less. The world was a harder place than the one his parents had grown up in, and a crueler one by far. New ills had emerged into the land, and these were problems that simply working hard and trying could not solve. Everything cost more, everything broke down more. The world was under siege, and it was all they could do to hold on.
Until they couldn't. It was the mother where it started. One day, in class, she found herself suffering migraines so terrible as to make her feel like she would die. Somehow, she managed to get through it, and the next day visited a doctor.
The doctor was a busy man and almost perpetually tired. Even if he hadn't been, he wasn't very good, as a man or as a practitioner. Looking at her, he evaluated the chances of extorting some of the more profitable tests from her and found them wanting. He prescribed some pills and sent her away.
Somehow it worked for a time. Her headaches faded away; her job resumed… for a time. But even when they returned, there wasn't the old intensity. Painkillers, replaced steadily with stronger ones, became a food instead of a medicine, and things stretched on.
And then she passed out while teaching a class.
This time the doctor was a better one, and the right scans and tests were conducted. The family arrived at the hospital when they could, and the results were passed around gingerly.
That was when it all broke apart. A tumor. Inoperable, incurable for modern science.
And for anything else, too. The irony of ironies was that the greatest healer anyone knew of lived in the city they'd forsaken, and regularly spent hours healing all comers. The problem, of course, was that she didn't 'do' brains.
The family pitched in to do everything they could. The father spent money like water, uncaring of cost or what he had to sell off. The second home, the jewelry… away it all went. In the beginning he spent it at every legitimate treatment possible, then at every quack who would take it, which was all of them. But of course, it wasn't to be.
And so, the mother died. And the content, small world of the family came crashing apart. To his credit, the father held on for entire months. He saw his son through his graduation, and the last memory the son had of his father smiling was when he saw him come out of the ceremony. He hadn't made Valedictorian or Salutatorian, but he'd made it in the top 5 percentile.
That was the last good thing that happened in his life. What the son hadn't realized that seeing him through school was the only purpose that the father had had left in the world. He wasn't what one would call a weak man in the traditional sense… but he had loved his wife so very much. With her gone, and the only pressing duty ended… there remained nothing to fill the hole.
He found love again soon after. His son would have been happy for him, if it hadn't been that the Father found it on the inside of a bottle. Syringes followed soon after, and then came the gambling. Anything to make it hurt less.
The business was the first to go, carved away by the loan sharks first in terms of stock and money, and then everything else. It had been rather a well-to-do business of TVs, accessories, appliances and whatnot. The father had run it well, and by the standards of 2010 Boston, he'd traded in shockingly few stolen goods. Once the business was gone, his house came next. Seeing everything he and his wife had built with such pain and care just… gone, his creditors taking particular care to stamp over his dignity in the process… it finished off whatever remained in the man.
A few weeks after the business died, two days before his son's eighteenth birthday, the man died too, overdosing on the one last hit of cheap meth he'd managed to score.
It hit the son like a truck, one trauma after the other. And much like the father had in earlier days, he railed at the gods his family had held to. What had they done to deserve this? Why did such things happen to them, and not people who cheated others, who delighted in cruelties? The gods might have answered had they been able to. But it was a tall order, considering that they didn't… well, exist.
And so, the son set down in his life to struggle. There had been a college fund, once. It was gone now, pillaged first for his mother treatment and then for his father's gambling. The business was gone too, as was the house in Boston. All that remained was the house in Brockton Bay, under two mortgages and soon to be repossessed. The boy struggled to grasp what had happened. He was alone in all the world, barely an adult with no savings and no means of income. All that remained was a house far too full of painful memories, with a few months left before the bank came to take it away. Still he endured. For months, having turned eighteen, he drifted from one menial job to another, looking for something that would allow him to bring any hint of stability back into his life.
It wasn't to be, of course. And as the months passed, it became even clearer just how cruel the world he lived in was. It was fitting, he supposed, that it was first of April when he got the notice to vacate. It was confirmation that yes, his life was indeed a joke. But all else aside, if he wanted a roof over his head he couldn't stay in Boston. Thus, to Brockton Bay he went, returning to the broken city in hopes of finding some, any means of keeping body and soul together.
He was young end energetic, educated and prepared to work hard. Couldn't he build it all up again, like his ancestors had done before him? The boy, freshly become a man, tried to force himself to believe he could, and willed himself to try and build a life in the Bay, as his ancestors had.
This is not his story.
It is not his story because he failed, and he failed because even on the way to Brockton Bay reality was already setting in. There was nothing left for him in the world, nothing and no one. The endless, ceaseless cruelty and hopelessness of the world had taken away everything he'd ever cared for, and if he built it up again, it would take it all away again.
Amar Chandra arrived in Brockton Bay on the second of April, just as the day turned into night. And looking at the house his parents had left all those years ago drove it in once and for all. The house loomed dark and cold on the outside and looked like a mausoleum of dead dreams under sheets on the inside. There was no light, since Behemoth's 'fun' with power plants had made electricity a luxury, and Energon had done the rest. It wasn't that it couldn't be had, it was just that paying the bills was out of the realm of possibility. Not for most of the population, not just yet, but certainly for him.
Water was still on, for what it was worth. The house had some decent furniture, and a basement full of broken electronics from when his family had owned that store.
That night, the young man went into a bathtub with a knife.
The next morning, a stranger woke up in his body.
This is his story.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with a bleary yawn, trying to see what was going on. His neck was on the edge of the bathtub, his legs hanging over the other side of it, and both hurt. As did his arm, almost like someone… almost like someone had tried to slice it.
What the hell? Checking it he found it unblemished. It was also encrusted in something rather disgusting, which he was pretty sure was blood.
It was also blue.
With a jerk, he stood up, banging his head into the shower above. A second later, he stepped out of the bathtub in a hurry, rushing to the light switch.
He flicked it on. The he flicked it off, and then on again. Nothing happened.
"… okay…" he muttered to himself, growing more concerned by the second. Something niggled at him throughout all this, something that seemed obvious and rather important. Something like…
Since when did he have a bathtub?
Looking around, he spotted even more things weird. Shelves where there weren't any in his bathroom, no towels… it wasn't his bathroom at all.
He was in someone else's bathroom. He was in something else's bathroom, he was covered in blood, and he was Blue!
What the fuck was going on? Was this a prank? Had someone abducted him? Where was he? What was going to happen to-
The Status Effect 'Blind Panic' has been suppressed by Gamer's Mind.
What.
He stared at the notification, all too aware of the sudden calm in his mind. He raised a hand to poke it, but the words faded away before he could connect.
With a somewhat staggered move, he stepped back into the shower. The he stepped back out, and peeled off his somewhat ripped, straining-to-tear clothes.
Getting back in, he turned the shower on, rubbing himself all over to ensure that the blood was washed off. While he did that, he thought.
Okay… so he was in a strange place, in someone's bathroom. He was covered in blood, was blue, and apparently, he had the Gamer power. The Gamer. Korean Dresden Files, except in all the ways it wasn't.
There was going to be no use to panicking and yelling his head off. He'd need to understand what was happening. Could he remember anything at all about how he came to be here?
Thinking back, he strained his mind… and he recalled rather a lot, actually. He recalled a second life, the life of Amar Keshav Chandra, son of Kamal and Sumati Chandra. Eighteen years old orphan with the saddest fucking story he'd ever heard of… and who'd stepped into this bathtub last night with every intent to make the pain cease.
He also remembered being a different boy, also Indian, with an altogether less dramatic story. He was… which one was he? Was he Amar, the boy who tried his best but simply couldn't take it? Or was he… the other person?
Well, whichever he was, he was clean now, so he'd better get out of this bathtub. Toweling off, he put his clothes back on, grimacing at how badly they fit. Both Amar and his other personality had been a couple inches short of six feet. Whatever body he was in… was not. He estimated it was 6'5, or at least 6'4. And not to be forgotten, blue.
Getting out of the bathroom, he found the rest of the house better lit with the light from the windows. Coming close to a mirror, he looked at himself. So, not only was he inky blue, he also had Targaryen silver hair, and the greenest eyes he'd ever heard of. These weren't just green, they were bad HP fanfiction green. 'Carefully cut emeralds', or 'Viridian Pools' green.
Also, was it just him or did he… no, it wasn't just him. He was fucking gorgeous. He looked like someone had combined Bruce Timm's aesthetic with the daintiest, softest bishounen style in the world.
Actually, no, he didn't look anywhere as grotesque as that sounded, but holy shit, what else could he call someone who was ripped like an athlete, but prettier than Glory Girl at her best?
And then the man paused. Glory Girl? That was from the Amar set of memories. But no… something niggled at him from the other life too. Something he'd… seen? No, something he might have read. It was fleeting, disappearing like a dream even as he tried to focus at it. What he remembered living, on the other hand, spoke volumes. Glory Girl was a cape, a parahuman who was part of New Wave. A bit heavy on the collateral damage, but one of the stars of the bay.
So, someone had abducted him, and dumped him into the body of a recent suicide and then added powers to that body? Or had he, Amar, triggered and the look and the body and the new memories were his new power?
Hm. 'Triggered', another term from Amar's side of things. More slang than a proper word, it was how people with powers were supposed to have gotten them. You 'triggered' on the worst day of your life and got powers out of it. Kind of helpful to understand how so many more of the powered seemed to become villains than heroes. Four-to-one wasn't very good figures.
But with a moment of thought… wasn't it all academic? He was here now, and that was all there was to it. Certainly, there was nothing in either of the lives he recalled that he'd like to continue intact.
Oh, sure, the other life hadn't been bad. It'd just been… alright. And he was a fairly active denizen of the internet and the various fandoms. He knew how this sort of thing was supposed to work. Of course, that had been in stories, but come on. He had the Gamer!
Well, time to get a look at things.
"Character Sheet!" he called out in the air, waiting for the notification to appear.
Nothing happened.
Frowning, he swung around wildly, pointing at the wall next to him. "Observe!" he shouted.
And nothing continued to happen.
…okay, maybe he didn't know how this sort of thing worked. How was he supposed to use the Gamer power he if he couldn't even see his own status screen?
And an instant later, a blue box erupted into the air ahead of him.
"Seriously?" he called out into the empty air. It declined to answer.
Name: Amar Keshav Chandra
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: None
Level: 1
Stats
HP: 170/170
Full Recovery Period: 47.22 minutes
MP: 175/175
Full Recovery Period: 43.75 minutes
Stat Points Remaining: 0
Skills
Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max
Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a Game.
Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological status effects.
Observe [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
A skill to find the target's information. Observe is obtained and improved through continuous observation.
Unarmed Combat Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight without using weapons.
Bladed Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Bladed Weapons.
Ranged Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Ranged Weapons.
Illusion [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Illusion based magic.
Healing [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to heal others.
Pyromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Fire based magic.
Hydromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Water based magic.
Electromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Lightning based magic.
Geomancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Earth based magic.
Aeromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Wind based magic.
Universal [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield spells beyond classifications.
Creation [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to create things with magic.
Summoning [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to summon other creatures and beings with magic.
Abjuration [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Defensive Magic.
Divination [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic pertaining to information.
Mind Magic [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic to affect minds.
Necromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Death based magic.
Transmutation [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to transmute things with magic.
Evocation [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to utilize directly offensive magic.
Telekinesis [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to move things without touching them.
Teleport [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to move further than humanly possible in an instant.
Feats: None
Perks
Comic Book Pretty: You look like a Model, airbrushed to perfection in all circumstances. CHA +100%
Man of Mystery: You wear mystery like a stylish cloak. Provides Immunity to all abilities based on Supernatural Perception.
Special Snowflake: Provides Immunity to all hostile actions/skills/powers targeted at your powers/skills.
Beneficial Case 53: +5 to all non-mental stats
Powers:
Hope Empowerment 9: Provides Bonuses to all Stats, Skills and powers based on ambient Hope and Hope induced by you.
LOCKED
LOCKED
LOCKED
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: None
Level: 1
Stats
STR | CON | DEX | INT | WIS | CHA |
19 | 18 | 19 | 14 | 13 | 36 |
HP: 170/170
Full Recovery Period: 47.22 minutes
MP: 175/175
Full Recovery Period: 43.75 minutes
Stat Points Remaining: 0
Skills
Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max
Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a Game.
Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological status effects.
Observe [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
A skill to find the target's information. Observe is obtained and improved through continuous observation.
Unarmed Combat Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight without using weapons.
Bladed Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Bladed Weapons.
Ranged Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Ranged Weapons.
Illusion [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Illusion based magic.
Healing [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to heal others.
Pyromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Fire based magic.
Hydromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Water based magic.
Electromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Lightning based magic.
Geomancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Earth based magic.
Aeromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Wind based magic.
Universal [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield spells beyond classifications.
Creation [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to create things with magic.
Summoning [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to summon other creatures and beings with magic.
Abjuration [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Defensive Magic.
Divination [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic pertaining to information.
Mind Magic [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic to affect minds.
Necromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Death based magic.
Transmutation [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to transmute things with magic.
Evocation [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to utilize directly offensive magic.
Telekinesis [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to move things without touching them.
Teleport [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to move further than humanly possible in an instant.
Feats: None
Perks
Comic Book Pretty: You look like a Model, airbrushed to perfection in all circumstances. CHA +100%
Man of Mystery: You wear mystery like a stylish cloak. Provides Immunity to all abilities based on Supernatural Perception.
Special Snowflake: Provides Immunity to all hostile actions/skills/powers targeted at your powers/skills.
Beneficial Case 53: +5 to all non-mental stats
Powers:
Hope Empowerment 9: Provides Bonuses to all Stats, Skills and powers based on ambient Hope and Hope induced by you.
LOCKED
LOCKED
LOCKED
For a moment, the man just stared. "Well" he muttered, looking at every skill from top to bottom. That looked... broken. He was aware that his mouth had fallen open, but he wasn't up to caring just then.
"I guess I'm calling myself Amar then" he eventually managed to mutter to himself. Still fiddling with the character sheet, he found that tapping a skill revealed a list of spells and sub-skills under it. The vast, overwhelming bulk of everything was greyed out due to the MP costs being somewhere in the stratosphere compared to what he had... but hot damn. He had skills. He had powers. He was a Gamer, and he had the powers of what looked like Arcane and Divine Magic from D&D, and Naruto and Harry Potter on top of it.
And other powers, on top of it. The only one unlocked was Hope Empowerment, but judging by the rest of it all...
Yeah. He could work with this.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Difficulty: God Mode +10
Powers
Greater: Gamer-4
Lesser:
Apprentice: D&D Arcane Magic + Archive - 3
Apprentice: D&D Divine Magic + Archive - 2
Apprentice: HP Magic + Archive - 2
Apprentice: Ninja Magic + Archive - 2
Wildcard: Transcendent Physiology 3 – 1
Wildcard: Hope Empowerment 9 – 1
Wildcard: Dimensional Manipulation 5 - 1
Wildcard: Craftsmanship Magic 6 - 1
Perks
Man of Mystery-1
Special Snowflake-1
Comic Book Pretty-1
Cauldron Vialsx2-2
Disadvantages
Wanted: Endbringers +2
Wanted: S9 +3
Wildbow? What's a Wildbow? +2
Reincarnate +2
Geas: Maintain Character +1
Case 53: Blue Skin, Silver Hair, fit +0
Things Get Worse: Disastrous – More capes, double S-class threats +2
Essence CYOA
Spoilers. Will be revealed in-story.
Powers
Greater: Gamer-4
Lesser:
Apprentice: D&D Arcane Magic + Archive - 3
Apprentice: D&D Divine Magic + Archive - 2
Apprentice: HP Magic + Archive - 2
Apprentice: Ninja Magic + Archive - 2
Wildcard: Transcendent Physiology 3 – 1
Wildcard: Hope Empowerment 9 – 1
Wildcard: Dimensional Manipulation 5 - 1
Wildcard: Craftsmanship Magic 6 - 1
Perks
Man of Mystery-1
Special Snowflake-1
Comic Book Pretty-1
Cauldron Vialsx2-2
Disadvantages
Wanted: Endbringers +2
Wanted: S9 +3
Wildbow? What's a Wildbow? +2
Reincarnate +2
Geas: Maintain Character +1
Case 53: Blue Skin, Silver Hair, fit +0
Things Get Worse: Disastrous – More capes, double S-class threats +2
Essence CYOA
Spoilers. Will be revealed in-story.
Well? Criticism is the coin of the realm, and all that. Please tell me if the first part is particularly bad, I have my doubts about that one.
Last edited:
Chapter 1
blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
"Have some more, Beta." The woman, Nikita Chopra, urged, gesturing at the table with a generous wave.
She was lucky that the man she was talking to, Amar Chandra, had figured out restraint these days. With Gamer's Body, he could eat her and her husband out of house or home if he wanted. As things were, it would've been be all too easy. He denied as graciously as he could, before making his excuses and begging leave so he could get out.
Once he'd left the table and the house, he crossed the street quickly, stepping into his own house after a few seconds. Or Amar's house, at least. That was something he still didn't feel he was ready to explore very much. It was barely evening at the time, not nearly time for what he'd decided to try.
Stepping into the room, he cast a murmured Darkvision on himself to navigate more easily inside the electricity-less house and slumped into a chair after spending a few seconds dusting it.
You have successfully completed the Quest: Know Thy Neighbor!
You gain: +300 XP
With a lazy hand, he dismissed the alert, noting that it put him just two hundred points short of his first level up.
So, Brockton Bay. He focused his thoughts on the city, and the crazy, insane world of Earth-Bet. He'd read comics about superhero worlds, and he'd watched movies and cartoons… but none of them had been like this. He'd been here, dumped or incarnated or triggered or whatever, for an entire day now and spent most of it in conducting some research in one of the libraries in town. And he still didn't know what to make of things here.
There were similarities to established superhero universes he'd read about. A single, mysterious figure appearing into the world, followed by powers popping up everywhere. Major superhero teams, villains claiming territories, team-ups, breakdowns… all that was familiar enough. But the details? The details were what gave him a headache, before Gamer's Mind fixed it. The four to one ratio between villains and heroes, quarantines in cities where no plucky underdog managed turn things around after all… and the Endbringers.
The fucking Endbringers.
If nothing else, the three mobile apocalypses this world had, monsters that kept hammering at civilization dealing it blows one city at a time… those alone would have convinced him that he was in some kind of hell, that he'd been tossed into this world where nothing could be done by some god he'd pissed off. It would be difficult to identify which; he'd been flippant to all of them in and out of his head.
But that hypothesis was challenged only by one thing. The power he felt coursing through himself every second of every minute, and the things he could do with it. Like this morning, for instance, when he'd been blue. But he'd wanted to step out of the house, and upon wondering how he might do that… the answer had presented itself as if by instinct. The Henge jutsu, a Naruto technique, the Disguise Self spell, certain spells to alter his color, and even more stuff that could help in minor ways.
That had enabled him to step outside and get a move on in figuring out things like where he was, where his house was and what all was around them, and how the fuck he had ended up here. And of course, the research he'd conducted.
No, this wasn't a hell and he hadn't been punished. But in that case…
Well, the only thing that came to mind was the original hypothesis he'd briefly considered before laughing off. A genuine, proper ROB situation. Which was… yeah. He'd laughed it off because come on. Random internet theory-crafters could not have beaten centuries of mythology and religion in figuring out the underpinnings of the cosmos.
And yet, he was here, he had powers, and curiously, he seemed to be thinking of everything in a very easy to transcribe way.
Okay, that last one was just him being silly. But the fact remained. Something had made him the Gamer. All that remained now was to see what he could do with it.
He'd looked at his own character sheet over and over, and he'd realized the basics. He had what looked like four separate kinds of magic. Well, three kinds of magic and one kind of chakra manipulation if one was to be that specific, but still. That was, he could cast Harry Potter spells, both kinds of magic from Dungeons and Dragons, and Naruto jutsu. Not, in any world, a bad haul. But nothing that gave him any meaningful powers right out of the gate. They'd make him strong, but it would take a while.
As opposed to the other thing.
Muttering "Inventory" once brought said window in front of him, with two slots already filled. One of them had a simple wooden stick, his wand. Holding it for the first time had been, and he figured would remain for a long time, the best thing he'd ever felt. The other filled slot displayed a briefcase, with a tiny '2' in the bottom-right corner.
With a sigh, he reached for the slot and pulled out a briefcase, making the counter disappear but the symbol remaining there. Opening it up and looking at the contents, there they were. Five vials, each filled with a shimmering, almost glowing liquid. He had no idea what they were, but damn if he couldn't guess. Terrigen, Quantum Vapor… there was basically just one thing mysterious liquids did in superhero settings.
Once again, he considered popping one. He had powers right now, and they were fun ones. But they would all require days, weeks to train up to meaningful strengths. In the meantime, there lived in this city a man who could turn into a giant dragon monster, a band of superpowered Hobo-Drug Addicts, and actual, real fucking Nazis.
Because yeah, that was a thing. Obviously. How would life be 'fun' otherwise?
But no. Popping one of the vials was attractive in the prospect of power it offered, but it was also stupid. One thing worse than being in a city with superpowered Nazis? Being in a city with them while having no idea what your own body or powers could do. Slow to improve as his other abilities would be, at least he knew what they were and how they were supposed to work.
Which, in the end, brought him to the here and now. The thing about Indian communities was, they tended to stick together. Well, one supposed that was true of all communities in foreign lands. But he only knew of the Indian ones, what with having been one in both lives. Brockton Bay didn't have a big community, but there was a fair few, about twenty or so families. The problem was, they lived in the Docks, the worst parts of the city. The bigger problem was that they lived in one of the areas regularly being contested between the Merchants and the ABB.
There was a hospital nearby, but everyone in it was perpetually overworked, and that was when one of the gangs hadn't bullied them into handing over large chunks of their medicine stocks. Which wasn't very often. There were drunks in the streets and, uh, 'free' women at just about every corner, the streets stank, the alleys stank worse, and the numbers of sick and injured homeless outmatched the actual residents.
All factors that inspired the legal denizens of the area to stick closer together, so much so that it'd been a genuine shock to him how forceful his new neighbors, the Rajveer and Nikita Chopra couple, had been in inviting him to dinner this evening. Evening, of course, because opening your doors after dark in this part of town? Not very clever.
He'd been made to listen all about the state of the city, how it had been better earlier, when Marquis had forced a code of conduct down everyone's throats. Often literally, but that was just the way he did things, Rajveer Chopra, husband, had told him in a far too 'amused' tone for his liking.
Of course, then they'd started to go on about their daughter, how they'd borrowed and saved and scraped to send her to Harvard and how she was returning in a few days despite their telling her not to. When they'd pulled out a picture of the girl… that had been when he'd left. Honestly, even in a superhero dominated and monster-ridden Earth, indian parents remained Indian Parents.
But he had a decent understanding of where he was now, as well as what he could do. So, all things considered, it was high time to begin with that most sacred of Gamer rituals.
Grinding.
"Wow, man! It's as good as new! My parents would've killed me if I had to tell them I broke another phone!" the kid, about fifteen or so, said again, eyes wide.
Amar preened just a touch, much in the way most people unused to complements tended to. But he brushed it off after a moment.
"Yeah, yeah. That'll be twenty dollars, please."
"Oh, yeah. Sure," the boy handed off a couple of crumpled bills to Amar, before running off to do… teenage boy things.
Amar, meanwhile, looked at the money in his hand, considering things. It'd been lucky as all hell that Rajveer just happened to run a small second-hand electronics shop. As soon as Amar had asked, the older man had told him that yes, he could do some repair work for a few hours in the day while the usual handyman was working elsewhere. And as literally everyone Amar had ever known who knew about the spell Reparo, he'd taken the job gladly. It'd be nice to know what he was doing, eventually, but Skill Books cost money.
Of course, mundane skills were far from the only things he was working on. He'd spent the last night and most of the morning walking on the ceiling and walls of his house, dozens of little pieces of paper stuck to him, while casting Lumos, Wingardium Leviosa, Tergeo and a few other spells every so often.
At the same time, he'd been using low-end jutsu with every breath, changing his appearance, creating illusory clones and whatnot. And he'd been thinking about just what he could do in this world. He'd never been particularly altruistic, but in a world like this fucking place… things were already bad enough that it wasn't, in the end, much of a choice. He had to do what he could to make them at least a little better. And that was before factoring in that he'd literally get more powerful as the Hope in the world around him increased.
He hadn't yet decided if he wanted to join any of the 'official' teams just yet, but at first sight he was leaning against it. Apparently, there was precedent for people just appearing out of the ether and looking weird, but none of them claimed to remember having lived another life, and none of them had ten vials of mysterious superpower liquid in an extradimensional space with them.
Still, he wasn't firm on anything just yet. What he was firm on was that this world needed helping, and he had to do whatever he could. And even now, before he started leveling his powers, he could do a decent lot.
Speaking of which… checking his MP counter, Amar noted that it was almost full again. With a thought he brought up his inventory, chucking in the money while he was at it. One casting of Create Food and Water later, the MP bar slid all the way back to empty, and another two slots of his inventory filled up with sandwiches and bottles of water. He'd go out for a walk tonight, donate the stuff to one of the soup kitchens around town. It should go nicely with some of the other stuff he had planned.
Amar's attention was brought out of his musings when he noted that there was someone present near his counter again. Looking up, he saw that it was a black man, proffering a broken… calculator? People still used those?
"Hey man? Can you fix this?" the man put the antique on his counter.
Looking at the item, it seemed like a simple enough piece. Amar glanced back at the man, setting off an Observe in the process.
Edwin Cartman
Level 11
Accountant
Working for one of the smaller businesses in the dying city of Brockton Bay, Edwin is a married man with two children.
Current Status: Concerned.
Through regular use, your skill Observe has gained a level!
Observe is now level 14!
"Well? Can you?" Edwin asked again. It'd only taken Amar about a second to Observe him, so evidently Edwin was a rather impatient accountant.
"Sure. Come back in an hour." The Gamer answered, picking up the piece.
The other man turned around and left, and one Reparo later, Amar was was again left contemplating what to do. Lacking ID Create, there was only so much grinding he could do during the day. And again, leveling up mundane skills with Skill Books required money. Until he could get it from drops or whatnot, this was what he had.
It chafed at him, to be in a new world, with literal magical powers, and be stuck doing repair work. But then, he'd done a lot of things that chafed at him in his lifetimes. C'est La Vie.
By lunchtime when the usual handyman reported for work at the shop, Amar had fixed another dozen pieces and managed to pick up about a hundred dollars or so. Not bad, for half a day.
Stepping out, he wandered into a used bookstore a couple blocks down, followed by a sports store and a few other shops until the $100 was gone in its entirety, but his inventory was sporting several very useful things. He cast Create Food and Water half a dozen times over the course of the time, gathering up a very respectable stock of food and water for later.
Right now, though? Right now, he needed to prepare.
He'd start with the skill books first. He'd picked up every book related to Medical Science, first aid and the like that had indicated it was one, and between them, he figured they could raise his Healing skill a fair few ranks, easy. That'd feed into lowering the MP cost on his Healing skills, letting him cast more of those skills, thus leveling the skills more and lowering the costs further… it was the smartest way to do things that he'd figured out so far.
Due to carefully considering your options before acting, you have gained a point of WIS!
…and his powered agreed. Glorious.
Once the skills books were through it'd be time for some archive-diving. Because bloody hell his mental archives were fucked. It was curious, in its own way. Any and all techniques he'd heard of were available right at the top, but any deeper details were all buried and jumbled into the mental archive so haphazardly that it seemed almost deliberate. D&D was better than most, since while the actual theoretical archives were as stupidly jumbled as all the rest, there was a nice, long list of simple 'turnkey' spells he could use if he just had the Mana to fuel them.
But the stuff he had from Harry Potter and Naruto? It was an exercise in frustration trying to extract useful material from them. Harry Potter especially. It'd been implied in the books and expounded upon in fandom, but evidently every spell, every transfiguration had entire volumes of complex theory behind it that needed to be penetrated in order to properly utilize any of the magic. He'd spent a couple hours on it already last night, but it would take a while before he could make serious progress. As it was, he could cast some of the simpler stuff, but no more.
Well, at least until he raised his INT. That was the primary bottleneck as far as he could tell. Certainly, the three points of INT he'd gained for 'diligently studying' his skill books and mental archives had made things a smidgen easier to understand.
With a confused sigh, Amar pulled out the skill books from his inventory.
Alright then. Medical first.
Two castings of Cure Moderate Wounds, and he was out of Mana. Well, not entirely, but close enough. Walking ahead, he stopped at the next bed, before quietly moving his wand into his hand. Keeping it inside the sleeve, he tossed a few minor healing spells out at the patient, watching as they sank in a second later. They weren't all that effective, these Harry Potter spells, but they patched up a few things. By far the most useful healing spell from the HP system he'd figured out so far was the spell to stop internal bleeding. There were other, more powerful spells that could heal people every bit as well as anything D&D or Naruto magic could do short of regeneration, but they were proportionately more complex.
Strictly speaking, he wasn't sure not sure how good an idea this was. The place he was visiting wasn't a 'proper' hospital, per se. Much like so many in the heart of the Brockton Bay gangland, it was a small, run-down place perennially at the edge of shutting down, with few staff that didn't look prematurely aged. The kind of place that wouldn't easily go reporting 'unlicensed Parahuman contact' to the PRT like he'd read big places like Central did sometimes.
Having arrived about an hour ago, he'd just slipped on a Henge of himself wearing a lab coat and a stethoscope and let his 36 CHA do the rest. It hadn't been a problem getting in, to put it simply. What was a problem was that just looking at them Amar could tell that more than a few of the patients there were gangbangers. While he'd been doing his best to avoid anyone wearing the colors, not to mention anyone who Observe said was one, he couldn't be sure he wasn't unintentionally helping some of them. Observe was still pretty under-leveled, after all.
Stepping away from the woman he'd all but fixed, Amar found he was recovered enough for a Light Wounds. Casting it in a second, he smiled as his favorite alert popped up in front of him once more.
You Skill 'Basic Healing' has gained a level!
Basic Healing is now level 24!
All Healing Magic cost -6%
Well, wise or not, it was working nicely for the grinding, so that was something at least. Wherever possible, he also helped mundanely, using his conventional skills, gained freshly out of dozens of medical journals, college books and first aid manuals. Mostly he was just reinforcing the work of the doctors and nurses that was already there. They tried their best, but between the sheer number of patients, the tiny size of the staff and the permanent lack of resources... yeah. It was all very basic work that he could do that way, but such were the troubles of having expensive spells and little Mana to spend. At least he was immeasurably better off than actual Clerics.
He went around the place for another hour or so, pushing Healing up to level 26, before stopping. Waiting for a few minutes for his Mana to tick back up enough that he could cast an emergency spell or two, he started to make his way to one of the soup kitchens he'd noted on his way to the hospital.
Half a dozen times along the way, he dodged into one of the alleys smelling particularly bad, tossing in several Scourgify spells as appropriate. Surprising as it was compared to what else he had access to, Harry Potter had proven by far the most useful magic system at his command. As the only one of them that wasn't a horrific Mana guzzler, he'd already used more Ferula, Scourgify and Episkey castings than all his other magic put together.
Seeing his mana return to a decent level, he pushed it to his feet, jumping off with a burst of power. Bounding between the walls of the alley, he made it to the roof before jumping across the road in one powered leap. He landed next to the building, sticking his soles to the wall ever so gently, before loosening the flow of chakra just enough to make him slide down to the floor.
He waited for a second. At the resounding lack of any alert, he grimaced. What would it take for the fucking Parkour skill to be created? Turning around, he looked to see if anyone seen that. Nope. Anyone in sight was too high, drunk or too asleep to notice. It was three in the morning, after all.
It was barely five minutes' work to step in, drop the food from his inventory on the table where they kept all the food already there, and get out. He stopped for a few seconds upon seeing what was already on offer, seeing as most of it was spoiling or spoiled already. It was likely the stuff the nearby restaurants and food stalls hadn't been able to get rid of, but most of it was already beyond human consumption. Checking his Mana, he dropped a few castings of Purify Food and Drink on the stuff, restoring it all to freshly cooked perfection.
And then it was back to his house, with a few stops along the way to cast whatever level 1s and 2s he could afford and clean up some more alleys.
Once back at his house, he considered the merits of sitting down and meditating some on the various archives in his head, trying to tease out some more useful knowledge. But no, until he managed to push his INT to a respectable level, it wasn't going to do much. On the other hand, grinding his physicals required no such thing.
And hey, it could be fun! Let's see, it would be easiest to try and grind up his STR and CON together. So what if he…
xxx
Through vigorous exercise, your STR increases by 1!
Through torturous self-exertion, your CON increases by 1!
Your level has increased by 1!
You have gained 5 Stat Points!
Fucking finally. Amar thought, pulling his head out of the water. That had most certainly not been fun.
Standing up, he shook his hair much like a dog might, trying to get his hair to dry quickly, before staggering over to one of the seats near the bathroom. Honestly, he imagined what someone looking at him might have seen, seeing someone lift weights with both hands extended parallel to the floor, while his head remained submerged into the bathtub.
This was the third STR point he'd gained since coming back from his outing four hours ago, but the absolute first CON point. He'd tried everything from trying to cut himself, run into walls, to jumping off of high places directly on his head.
… okay, maybe the dining table wasn't really a high place as such. But honestly, he'd been at the verge of trying to set himself on fire before he'd gotten the idea to try something less likely to burn down his house. Ergo the self-waterboarding.
And having had it work once… he really wasn't inclined to try and grind it more. On some level he understood how much more difficult he was to harm with Gamer's Body, but fuck if it wasn't unpleasant.
At least DEX grinding should be more fun. Now that it was morning outside, there was an opportunity to try and grind it rather more simply. Running in the morning was a common enough pastime, and there was no reason why getting faster that way wouldn't increase his DEX.
Tossing on an illusion of a tracksuit, he locked the house behind him, before stepping onto the road and picking up pace.
Running through the docks, he tried and Observed everything in range, trying to push the skill as far as it could go. Between the last day and night, it'd already gone up a handful of levels, and started revealing some mental issues as well. It was probably based on what could be read on their expressions and all that, but still, useful stuff.
By the time he made it out of the docks an into the Boardwalk, his DEX had already increased by one point, so at least he could be sure this was useful. Running ahead, he Observed the shop owners setting up their shops, the cleaners working through the streets one at a time, and the other runners, of which there were more than a few.
They were all pretty mundane, if he were to be asked. Middle-aged housewives, budding athletes, a few fat men who'd been bullied into this by their wives… and then he felt himself stopped in place as he read the notes on what looked at first sight like just one more teenage girl.
Taylor Hebert
Student/Budding Superhero
Parahuman
Level 13
Taylor Hebert is a young woman troubled by bullies in her school life and a depressed father in her home life. Alone and feeling opposed by the world, Taylor has been taking solace in the prospects of becoming a superhero in the Bay.
Status: Occupied in exercise.
Mental Status: Depressed, Isolated, Borderline Suicidal
He'd admit, he most certainly hadn't expected to run into a parahuman on his second day here. Especially without even trying to, that was. And she wanted to be a hero!
But wait. He read further.
Borderline what?
"… as I was saying, she's arriving at the 9th, my beautiful daughter. You know she's just graduated from Harvard Law?" Rajveer says again, a smile on his face as we drive down to his shop.
I just nod and manage to mutter out something about how nice it is. My mind is still occupied by the girl I encountered earlier this morning. Taylor Hebert, the near-suicidal parahuman who wants to be a hero. I'm hearing what he's saying, but I'm not really listening. It's fine, not like Rajveer's going to notice. Much like most parents when talking about their kids, he's far too enamored by his own voice.
"I keep telling her, it's not safe! But she doesn't know how things are here. Thinks we're overreacting."
That's a pretty dumb way to see Brockton Bay, my mind pipes up, but I keep my mouth shut. None of my business. What the fuck am I supposed to do with this girl? She needs help, and she needs good help. The kind a trained psychologist can provide. Not the kind I… although.
Ho hum. Can't I be a trained psychologist? A part of me says I can, but eh… it's one thing to pick up a scalpel and put bones and tendons in their right places based on skills I got from eating medical skill books. I get the feeling it's quite another to do the same to someone's mind. Let's just call that one Plan B.
But without it, what can I do? It's not like I can just walk up to her…
Actually… I consider that exact thought. Why can't I do that? It's not the same as trying amateur psychology on her, I'd just be trying to talk and see if there's anything I could do to help. Certainly, I couldn't have done anything like that in any of my previous lives. Amar Chandra couldn't have done it, and neither could have the me who was merged with him. But me as I'm now? With a 36 CHA score? I can see the steps taking shape in my head…
I'm brought out of my musings when I note that Rajveer's droning about his daughter broke off suddenly. Instead, he's broken out in a series of wracking, squelching coughs that leave him shaking. He manages to steer the car to a stop by the side of the road, before proceeding to do his best to cough his lungs out through his nose.
I look around, looking for his phone. If I can call the hospital… looking at me, he holds up his hand, gesturing me to hold. It's almost a full minute before he's able to speak again. Taking his handkerchief away from his face, he tries his best to be jolly.
"It's alright, it's alright! I get these coughs; I've been feeling under the weather."
I don't hear him. His voice seems to be coming from very far away when I look at the blood on the handkerchief he just pulled off his face. Following my gaze, he looks at the cloth himself.
Shrinking into himself, his expression goes from faux-casual to pleading in an instant. "Please. We can't afford the bills, and it's too late now anyway. And it's nothing I don't deserve, not with a whole pack a day for decades."
I close my eyes for a moment. "Does your wife know?"
He nods resignedly. "Yes. There's nothing she or I can do about this. Like I said, it's far too late. I have months, at most."
I hear what he's not saying too. There was a time when it wasn't too late, some months and years ago.
The same time when he and his wife poured every dollar they had into putting their daughter through Harvard.
"But… why? Panacea lives in this city."
His expression grows bitter. "Yes, she does. And I've been on her list for as long as I've known about this."
"Then…" I trail off.
He hesitates, as if wanting to tell me that it's not important, that we should move ahead. But looking at my face, he breaks. "Listen, she does her best. But she works through the hospital, and her patients are picked by a lottery, or when she gets a request from her family or the PRT."
"And the lottery…" I focus on the important part. It's obvious enough that a low-middle class shopkeeper doesn't merit a direct intervention from New Wave or the PRT.
"The lottery is run by the doctors and staff in that place, and there are ways for people to get ahead in the priority list without New Wave ever finding out. And even if they weren't corrupt… in this town, if a white guy in my position died and I got the treatment, it wouldn't be Panacea the Empire goes after."
Ah. Yes, the Empire 88. There was a time when I'd looked at Nazis in the media and thought it was over-saturated with them. Certainly, they were evil and they were toxic, but it was a long time ago. Did everyone have to keep making a big deal of them decades after the facts?
Looking at the Empire, and what their influence has done to the Bay... yes. Yes they did. If a white, blond man and Rajveer were in the same category in the lottery… or in anything, and the nice brown man here got it instead of the other guy... yeah. I can't even blame the hospital staff for doing things the way they have.
What I can do is help. Even as Rajveer starts the car back up again, having regained some strength, I consider things. There are a thousand and one reasons not to do this, not the least of which is the risk to my secret identity and thus this man himself. But I'm sure that all the other people who failed to help him had the exact same excuses in mind themselves.
And yet, that doesn't make them valueless. Maybe I could visit him in my cape form, or do it invisibly once I get some range on the spell, or… No.
"Neutralize Poison. Remove Disease." I mutter to myself as quietly as I can, reaching out and gently brushing my hand past his shoulder like I was reaching for something on the back seat.
There. It's done now, before I could talk myself out of it. Let the chips fall as they may.
Well, here's another chapter. I'm trying out a segment in a first person, present style since it's what seems to be coming more naturally to me. Please tell me which one seems better, the third person, past style or this? I can do either, I just have a slight preference for the first person.
And if it's really jarring to switch without warning, please tell me and I'll switch it over. This was supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter that would be entirely in the first person, but I liked this bit as an ending much more than as a beginning. And seriously, this is somehow proving the primary holdup me being able to write more chapters, please just let me know whether the first person or the third person comes across better.
She was lucky that the man she was talking to, Amar Chandra, had figured out restraint these days. With Gamer's Body, he could eat her and her husband out of house or home if he wanted. As things were, it would've been be all too easy. He denied as graciously as he could, before making his excuses and begging leave so he could get out.
Once he'd left the table and the house, he crossed the street quickly, stepping into his own house after a few seconds. Or Amar's house, at least. That was something he still didn't feel he was ready to explore very much. It was barely evening at the time, not nearly time for what he'd decided to try.
Stepping into the room, he cast a murmured Darkvision on himself to navigate more easily inside the electricity-less house and slumped into a chair after spending a few seconds dusting it.
You have successfully completed the Quest: Know Thy Neighbor!
You gain: +300 XP
With a lazy hand, he dismissed the alert, noting that it put him just two hundred points short of his first level up.
So, Brockton Bay. He focused his thoughts on the city, and the crazy, insane world of Earth-Bet. He'd read comics about superhero worlds, and he'd watched movies and cartoons… but none of them had been like this. He'd been here, dumped or incarnated or triggered or whatever, for an entire day now and spent most of it in conducting some research in one of the libraries in town. And he still didn't know what to make of things here.
There were similarities to established superhero universes he'd read about. A single, mysterious figure appearing into the world, followed by powers popping up everywhere. Major superhero teams, villains claiming territories, team-ups, breakdowns… all that was familiar enough. But the details? The details were what gave him a headache, before Gamer's Mind fixed it. The four to one ratio between villains and heroes, quarantines in cities where no plucky underdog managed turn things around after all… and the Endbringers.
The fucking Endbringers.
If nothing else, the three mobile apocalypses this world had, monsters that kept hammering at civilization dealing it blows one city at a time… those alone would have convinced him that he was in some kind of hell, that he'd been tossed into this world where nothing could be done by some god he'd pissed off. It would be difficult to identify which; he'd been flippant to all of them in and out of his head.
But that hypothesis was challenged only by one thing. The power he felt coursing through himself every second of every minute, and the things he could do with it. Like this morning, for instance, when he'd been blue. But he'd wanted to step out of the house, and upon wondering how he might do that… the answer had presented itself as if by instinct. The Henge jutsu, a Naruto technique, the Disguise Self spell, certain spells to alter his color, and even more stuff that could help in minor ways.
That had enabled him to step outside and get a move on in figuring out things like where he was, where his house was and what all was around them, and how the fuck he had ended up here. And of course, the research he'd conducted.
No, this wasn't a hell and he hadn't been punished. But in that case…
Well, the only thing that came to mind was the original hypothesis he'd briefly considered before laughing off. A genuine, proper ROB situation. Which was… yeah. He'd laughed it off because come on. Random internet theory-crafters could not have beaten centuries of mythology and religion in figuring out the underpinnings of the cosmos.
And yet, he was here, he had powers, and curiously, he seemed to be thinking of everything in a very easy to transcribe way.
Okay, that last one was just him being silly. But the fact remained. Something had made him the Gamer. All that remained now was to see what he could do with it.
He'd looked at his own character sheet over and over, and he'd realized the basics. He had what looked like four separate kinds of magic. Well, three kinds of magic and one kind of chakra manipulation if one was to be that specific, but still. That was, he could cast Harry Potter spells, both kinds of magic from Dungeons and Dragons, and Naruto jutsu. Not, in any world, a bad haul. But nothing that gave him any meaningful powers right out of the gate. They'd make him strong, but it would take a while.
As opposed to the other thing.
Muttering "Inventory" once brought said window in front of him, with two slots already filled. One of them had a simple wooden stick, his wand. Holding it for the first time had been, and he figured would remain for a long time, the best thing he'd ever felt. The other filled slot displayed a briefcase, with a tiny '2' in the bottom-right corner.
With a sigh, he reached for the slot and pulled out a briefcase, making the counter disappear but the symbol remaining there. Opening it up and looking at the contents, there they were. Five vials, each filled with a shimmering, almost glowing liquid. He had no idea what they were, but damn if he couldn't guess. Terrigen, Quantum Vapor… there was basically just one thing mysterious liquids did in superhero settings.
Once again, he considered popping one. He had powers right now, and they were fun ones. But they would all require days, weeks to train up to meaningful strengths. In the meantime, there lived in this city a man who could turn into a giant dragon monster, a band of superpowered Hobo-Drug Addicts, and actual, real fucking Nazis.
Because yeah, that was a thing. Obviously. How would life be 'fun' otherwise?
But no. Popping one of the vials was attractive in the prospect of power it offered, but it was also stupid. One thing worse than being in a city with superpowered Nazis? Being in a city with them while having no idea what your own body or powers could do. Slow to improve as his other abilities would be, at least he knew what they were and how they were supposed to work.
Which, in the end, brought him to the here and now. The thing about Indian communities was, they tended to stick together. Well, one supposed that was true of all communities in foreign lands. But he only knew of the Indian ones, what with having been one in both lives. Brockton Bay didn't have a big community, but there was a fair few, about twenty or so families. The problem was, they lived in the Docks, the worst parts of the city. The bigger problem was that they lived in one of the areas regularly being contested between the Merchants and the ABB.
There was a hospital nearby, but everyone in it was perpetually overworked, and that was when one of the gangs hadn't bullied them into handing over large chunks of their medicine stocks. Which wasn't very often. There were drunks in the streets and, uh, 'free' women at just about every corner, the streets stank, the alleys stank worse, and the numbers of sick and injured homeless outmatched the actual residents.
All factors that inspired the legal denizens of the area to stick closer together, so much so that it'd been a genuine shock to him how forceful his new neighbors, the Rajveer and Nikita Chopra couple, had been in inviting him to dinner this evening. Evening, of course, because opening your doors after dark in this part of town? Not very clever.
He'd been made to listen all about the state of the city, how it had been better earlier, when Marquis had forced a code of conduct down everyone's throats. Often literally, but that was just the way he did things, Rajveer Chopra, husband, had told him in a far too 'amused' tone for his liking.
Of course, then they'd started to go on about their daughter, how they'd borrowed and saved and scraped to send her to Harvard and how she was returning in a few days despite their telling her not to. When they'd pulled out a picture of the girl… that had been when he'd left. Honestly, even in a superhero dominated and monster-ridden Earth, indian parents remained Indian Parents.
But he had a decent understanding of where he was now, as well as what he could do. So, all things considered, it was high time to begin with that most sacred of Gamer rituals.
Grinding.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Wow, man! It's as good as new! My parents would've killed me if I had to tell them I broke another phone!" the kid, about fifteen or so, said again, eyes wide.
Amar preened just a touch, much in the way most people unused to complements tended to. But he brushed it off after a moment.
"Yeah, yeah. That'll be twenty dollars, please."
"Oh, yeah. Sure," the boy handed off a couple of crumpled bills to Amar, before running off to do… teenage boy things.
Amar, meanwhile, looked at the money in his hand, considering things. It'd been lucky as all hell that Rajveer just happened to run a small second-hand electronics shop. As soon as Amar had asked, the older man had told him that yes, he could do some repair work for a few hours in the day while the usual handyman was working elsewhere. And as literally everyone Amar had ever known who knew about the spell Reparo, he'd taken the job gladly. It'd be nice to know what he was doing, eventually, but Skill Books cost money.
Of course, mundane skills were far from the only things he was working on. He'd spent the last night and most of the morning walking on the ceiling and walls of his house, dozens of little pieces of paper stuck to him, while casting Lumos, Wingardium Leviosa, Tergeo and a few other spells every so often.
At the same time, he'd been using low-end jutsu with every breath, changing his appearance, creating illusory clones and whatnot. And he'd been thinking about just what he could do in this world. He'd never been particularly altruistic, but in a world like this fucking place… things were already bad enough that it wasn't, in the end, much of a choice. He had to do what he could to make them at least a little better. And that was before factoring in that he'd literally get more powerful as the Hope in the world around him increased.
He hadn't yet decided if he wanted to join any of the 'official' teams just yet, but at first sight he was leaning against it. Apparently, there was precedent for people just appearing out of the ether and looking weird, but none of them claimed to remember having lived another life, and none of them had ten vials of mysterious superpower liquid in an extradimensional space with them.
Still, he wasn't firm on anything just yet. What he was firm on was that this world needed helping, and he had to do whatever he could. And even now, before he started leveling his powers, he could do a decent lot.
Speaking of which… checking his MP counter, Amar noted that it was almost full again. With a thought he brought up his inventory, chucking in the money while he was at it. One casting of Create Food and Water later, the MP bar slid all the way back to empty, and another two slots of his inventory filled up with sandwiches and bottles of water. He'd go out for a walk tonight, donate the stuff to one of the soup kitchens around town. It should go nicely with some of the other stuff he had planned.
Amar's attention was brought out of his musings when he noted that there was someone present near his counter again. Looking up, he saw that it was a black man, proffering a broken… calculator? People still used those?
"Hey man? Can you fix this?" the man put the antique on his counter.
Looking at the item, it seemed like a simple enough piece. Amar glanced back at the man, setting off an Observe in the process.
Edwin Cartman
Level 11
Accountant
Working for one of the smaller businesses in the dying city of Brockton Bay, Edwin is a married man with two children.
Current Status: Concerned.
Through regular use, your skill Observe has gained a level!
Observe is now level 14!
"Well? Can you?" Edwin asked again. It'd only taken Amar about a second to Observe him, so evidently Edwin was a rather impatient accountant.
"Sure. Come back in an hour." The Gamer answered, picking up the piece.
The other man turned around and left, and one Reparo later, Amar was was again left contemplating what to do. Lacking ID Create, there was only so much grinding he could do during the day. And again, leveling up mundane skills with Skill Books required money. Until he could get it from drops or whatnot, this was what he had.
It chafed at him, to be in a new world, with literal magical powers, and be stuck doing repair work. But then, he'd done a lot of things that chafed at him in his lifetimes. C'est La Vie.
By lunchtime when the usual handyman reported for work at the shop, Amar had fixed another dozen pieces and managed to pick up about a hundred dollars or so. Not bad, for half a day.
Stepping out, he wandered into a used bookstore a couple blocks down, followed by a sports store and a few other shops until the $100 was gone in its entirety, but his inventory was sporting several very useful things. He cast Create Food and Water half a dozen times over the course of the time, gathering up a very respectable stock of food and water for later.
Right now, though? Right now, he needed to prepare.
He'd start with the skill books first. He'd picked up every book related to Medical Science, first aid and the like that had indicated it was one, and between them, he figured they could raise his Healing skill a fair few ranks, easy. That'd feed into lowering the MP cost on his Healing skills, letting him cast more of those skills, thus leveling the skills more and lowering the costs further… it was the smartest way to do things that he'd figured out so far.
Due to carefully considering your options before acting, you have gained a point of WIS!
…and his powered agreed. Glorious.
Once the skills books were through it'd be time for some archive-diving. Because bloody hell his mental archives were fucked. It was curious, in its own way. Any and all techniques he'd heard of were available right at the top, but any deeper details were all buried and jumbled into the mental archive so haphazardly that it seemed almost deliberate. D&D was better than most, since while the actual theoretical archives were as stupidly jumbled as all the rest, there was a nice, long list of simple 'turnkey' spells he could use if he just had the Mana to fuel them.
But the stuff he had from Harry Potter and Naruto? It was an exercise in frustration trying to extract useful material from them. Harry Potter especially. It'd been implied in the books and expounded upon in fandom, but evidently every spell, every transfiguration had entire volumes of complex theory behind it that needed to be penetrated in order to properly utilize any of the magic. He'd spent a couple hours on it already last night, but it would take a while before he could make serious progress. As it was, he could cast some of the simpler stuff, but no more.
Well, at least until he raised his INT. That was the primary bottleneck as far as he could tell. Certainly, the three points of INT he'd gained for 'diligently studying' his skill books and mental archives had made things a smidgen easier to understand.
With a confused sigh, Amar pulled out the skill books from his inventory.
Alright then. Medical first.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Two castings of Cure Moderate Wounds, and he was out of Mana. Well, not entirely, but close enough. Walking ahead, he stopped at the next bed, before quietly moving his wand into his hand. Keeping it inside the sleeve, he tossed a few minor healing spells out at the patient, watching as they sank in a second later. They weren't all that effective, these Harry Potter spells, but they patched up a few things. By far the most useful healing spell from the HP system he'd figured out so far was the spell to stop internal bleeding. There were other, more powerful spells that could heal people every bit as well as anything D&D or Naruto magic could do short of regeneration, but they were proportionately more complex.
Strictly speaking, he wasn't sure not sure how good an idea this was. The place he was visiting wasn't a 'proper' hospital, per se. Much like so many in the heart of the Brockton Bay gangland, it was a small, run-down place perennially at the edge of shutting down, with few staff that didn't look prematurely aged. The kind of place that wouldn't easily go reporting 'unlicensed Parahuman contact' to the PRT like he'd read big places like Central did sometimes.
Having arrived about an hour ago, he'd just slipped on a Henge of himself wearing a lab coat and a stethoscope and let his 36 CHA do the rest. It hadn't been a problem getting in, to put it simply. What was a problem was that just looking at them Amar could tell that more than a few of the patients there were gangbangers. While he'd been doing his best to avoid anyone wearing the colors, not to mention anyone who Observe said was one, he couldn't be sure he wasn't unintentionally helping some of them. Observe was still pretty under-leveled, after all.
Stepping away from the woman he'd all but fixed, Amar found he was recovered enough for a Light Wounds. Casting it in a second, he smiled as his favorite alert popped up in front of him once more.
You Skill 'Basic Healing' has gained a level!
Basic Healing is now level 24!
All Healing Magic cost -6%
Well, wise or not, it was working nicely for the grinding, so that was something at least. Wherever possible, he also helped mundanely, using his conventional skills, gained freshly out of dozens of medical journals, college books and first aid manuals. Mostly he was just reinforcing the work of the doctors and nurses that was already there. They tried their best, but between the sheer number of patients, the tiny size of the staff and the permanent lack of resources... yeah. It was all very basic work that he could do that way, but such were the troubles of having expensive spells and little Mana to spend. At least he was immeasurably better off than actual Clerics.
He went around the place for another hour or so, pushing Healing up to level 26, before stopping. Waiting for a few minutes for his Mana to tick back up enough that he could cast an emergency spell or two, he started to make his way to one of the soup kitchens he'd noted on his way to the hospital.
Half a dozen times along the way, he dodged into one of the alleys smelling particularly bad, tossing in several Scourgify spells as appropriate. Surprising as it was compared to what else he had access to, Harry Potter had proven by far the most useful magic system at his command. As the only one of them that wasn't a horrific Mana guzzler, he'd already used more Ferula, Scourgify and Episkey castings than all his other magic put together.
Seeing his mana return to a decent level, he pushed it to his feet, jumping off with a burst of power. Bounding between the walls of the alley, he made it to the roof before jumping across the road in one powered leap. He landed next to the building, sticking his soles to the wall ever so gently, before loosening the flow of chakra just enough to make him slide down to the floor.
He waited for a second. At the resounding lack of any alert, he grimaced. What would it take for the fucking Parkour skill to be created? Turning around, he looked to see if anyone seen that. Nope. Anyone in sight was too high, drunk or too asleep to notice. It was three in the morning, after all.
It was barely five minutes' work to step in, drop the food from his inventory on the table where they kept all the food already there, and get out. He stopped for a few seconds upon seeing what was already on offer, seeing as most of it was spoiling or spoiled already. It was likely the stuff the nearby restaurants and food stalls hadn't been able to get rid of, but most of it was already beyond human consumption. Checking his Mana, he dropped a few castings of Purify Food and Drink on the stuff, restoring it all to freshly cooked perfection.
And then it was back to his house, with a few stops along the way to cast whatever level 1s and 2s he could afford and clean up some more alleys.
Once back at his house, he considered the merits of sitting down and meditating some on the various archives in his head, trying to tease out some more useful knowledge. But no, until he managed to push his INT to a respectable level, it wasn't going to do much. On the other hand, grinding his physicals required no such thing.
And hey, it could be fun! Let's see, it would be easiest to try and grind up his STR and CON together. So what if he…
xxx
Through vigorous exercise, your STR increases by 1!
Through torturous self-exertion, your CON increases by 1!
Your level has increased by 1!
You have gained 5 Stat Points!
Fucking finally. Amar thought, pulling his head out of the water. That had most certainly not been fun.
Standing up, he shook his hair much like a dog might, trying to get his hair to dry quickly, before staggering over to one of the seats near the bathroom. Honestly, he imagined what someone looking at him might have seen, seeing someone lift weights with both hands extended parallel to the floor, while his head remained submerged into the bathtub.
This was the third STR point he'd gained since coming back from his outing four hours ago, but the absolute first CON point. He'd tried everything from trying to cut himself, run into walls, to jumping off of high places directly on his head.
… okay, maybe the dining table wasn't really a high place as such. But honestly, he'd been at the verge of trying to set himself on fire before he'd gotten the idea to try something less likely to burn down his house. Ergo the self-waterboarding.
And having had it work once… he really wasn't inclined to try and grind it more. On some level he understood how much more difficult he was to harm with Gamer's Body, but fuck if it wasn't unpleasant.
At least DEX grinding should be more fun. Now that it was morning outside, there was an opportunity to try and grind it rather more simply. Running in the morning was a common enough pastime, and there was no reason why getting faster that way wouldn't increase his DEX.
Tossing on an illusion of a tracksuit, he locked the house behind him, before stepping onto the road and picking up pace.
Running through the docks, he tried and Observed everything in range, trying to push the skill as far as it could go. Between the last day and night, it'd already gone up a handful of levels, and started revealing some mental issues as well. It was probably based on what could be read on their expressions and all that, but still, useful stuff.
By the time he made it out of the docks an into the Boardwalk, his DEX had already increased by one point, so at least he could be sure this was useful. Running ahead, he Observed the shop owners setting up their shops, the cleaners working through the streets one at a time, and the other runners, of which there were more than a few.
They were all pretty mundane, if he were to be asked. Middle-aged housewives, budding athletes, a few fat men who'd been bullied into this by their wives… and then he felt himself stopped in place as he read the notes on what looked at first sight like just one more teenage girl.
Taylor Hebert
Student/Budding Superhero
Parahuman
Level 13
Taylor Hebert is a young woman troubled by bullies in her school life and a depressed father in her home life. Alone and feeling opposed by the world, Taylor has been taking solace in the prospects of becoming a superhero in the Bay.
Status: Occupied in exercise.
Mental Status: Depressed, Isolated, Borderline Suicidal
He'd admit, he most certainly hadn't expected to run into a parahuman on his second day here. Especially without even trying to, that was. And she wanted to be a hero!
But wait. He read further.
Borderline what?
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"… as I was saying, she's arriving at the 9th, my beautiful daughter. You know she's just graduated from Harvard Law?" Rajveer says again, a smile on his face as we drive down to his shop.
I just nod and manage to mutter out something about how nice it is. My mind is still occupied by the girl I encountered earlier this morning. Taylor Hebert, the near-suicidal parahuman who wants to be a hero. I'm hearing what he's saying, but I'm not really listening. It's fine, not like Rajveer's going to notice. Much like most parents when talking about their kids, he's far too enamored by his own voice.
"I keep telling her, it's not safe! But she doesn't know how things are here. Thinks we're overreacting."
That's a pretty dumb way to see Brockton Bay, my mind pipes up, but I keep my mouth shut. None of my business. What the fuck am I supposed to do with this girl? She needs help, and she needs good help. The kind a trained psychologist can provide. Not the kind I… although.
Ho hum. Can't I be a trained psychologist? A part of me says I can, but eh… it's one thing to pick up a scalpel and put bones and tendons in their right places based on skills I got from eating medical skill books. I get the feeling it's quite another to do the same to someone's mind. Let's just call that one Plan B.
But without it, what can I do? It's not like I can just walk up to her…
Actually… I consider that exact thought. Why can't I do that? It's not the same as trying amateur psychology on her, I'd just be trying to talk and see if there's anything I could do to help. Certainly, I couldn't have done anything like that in any of my previous lives. Amar Chandra couldn't have done it, and neither could have the me who was merged with him. But me as I'm now? With a 36 CHA score? I can see the steps taking shape in my head…
I'm brought out of my musings when I note that Rajveer's droning about his daughter broke off suddenly. Instead, he's broken out in a series of wracking, squelching coughs that leave him shaking. He manages to steer the car to a stop by the side of the road, before proceeding to do his best to cough his lungs out through his nose.
I look around, looking for his phone. If I can call the hospital… looking at me, he holds up his hand, gesturing me to hold. It's almost a full minute before he's able to speak again. Taking his handkerchief away from his face, he tries his best to be jolly.
"It's alright, it's alright! I get these coughs; I've been feeling under the weather."
I don't hear him. His voice seems to be coming from very far away when I look at the blood on the handkerchief he just pulled off his face. Following my gaze, he looks at the cloth himself.
Shrinking into himself, his expression goes from faux-casual to pleading in an instant. "Please. We can't afford the bills, and it's too late now anyway. And it's nothing I don't deserve, not with a whole pack a day for decades."
I close my eyes for a moment. "Does your wife know?"
He nods resignedly. "Yes. There's nothing she or I can do about this. Like I said, it's far too late. I have months, at most."
I hear what he's not saying too. There was a time when it wasn't too late, some months and years ago.
The same time when he and his wife poured every dollar they had into putting their daughter through Harvard.
"But… why? Panacea lives in this city."
His expression grows bitter. "Yes, she does. And I've been on her list for as long as I've known about this."
"Then…" I trail off.
He hesitates, as if wanting to tell me that it's not important, that we should move ahead. But looking at my face, he breaks. "Listen, she does her best. But she works through the hospital, and her patients are picked by a lottery, or when she gets a request from her family or the PRT."
"And the lottery…" I focus on the important part. It's obvious enough that a low-middle class shopkeeper doesn't merit a direct intervention from New Wave or the PRT.
"The lottery is run by the doctors and staff in that place, and there are ways for people to get ahead in the priority list without New Wave ever finding out. And even if they weren't corrupt… in this town, if a white guy in my position died and I got the treatment, it wouldn't be Panacea the Empire goes after."
Ah. Yes, the Empire 88. There was a time when I'd looked at Nazis in the media and thought it was over-saturated with them. Certainly, they were evil and they were toxic, but it was a long time ago. Did everyone have to keep making a big deal of them decades after the facts?
Looking at the Empire, and what their influence has done to the Bay... yes. Yes they did. If a white, blond man and Rajveer were in the same category in the lottery… or in anything, and the nice brown man here got it instead of the other guy... yeah. I can't even blame the hospital staff for doing things the way they have.
What I can do is help. Even as Rajveer starts the car back up again, having regained some strength, I consider things. There are a thousand and one reasons not to do this, not the least of which is the risk to my secret identity and thus this man himself. But I'm sure that all the other people who failed to help him had the exact same excuses in mind themselves.
And yet, that doesn't make them valueless. Maybe I could visit him in my cape form, or do it invisibly once I get some range on the spell, or… No.
"Neutralize Poison. Remove Disease." I mutter to myself as quietly as I can, reaching out and gently brushing my hand past his shoulder like I was reaching for something on the back seat.
There. It's done now, before I could talk myself out of it. Let the chips fall as they may.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Name: Amar Keshav Chandra
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: None
Level: 2
Stats
Stat Points Available: 0
MP: 310/310
Full Recovery Period: 59.62 minutes
HP: 295/295
Full Recovery Period: 46.09 minutes
Skills
Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max
Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a Game.
Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological status effects.
Observe [Basic] (Active) LV 19 Exp: 8.12%
A skill to find the target's information. Observe is obtained and improved through continuous observation.
Creation [Basic] (Active) LV 8 Exp: 68.43%
The ability to create things with magic.
Divination [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic pertaining to information.
Illusion [Basic] (Active) LV 18 Exp: 5.98%
The ability to use Illusion based magic.
Healing [Basic] (Active) LV 26 Exp: 24.37%
The ability to heal others.
Transmutation [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 7.43%
The ability to turn transmute things with magic.
Universal [Basic] (Active) LV 8 Exp: 2.27%
The ability to wield spells that do not fall under other classifications.
Unarmed Combat Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight without using weapons.
Bladed Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Bladed Weapons.
Ranged Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Ranged Weapons.
Pyromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Fire based magic.
Hydromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Water based magic.
Electromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Lightning based magic.
Geomancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Earth based magic.
Aeromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Wind based magic.
Summoning [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to summon other creatures and beings with magic.
Abjuration [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Defensive Magic.
Mind Magic [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic to affect minds.
Necromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Death based magic.
Evocation [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to utilize directly offensive magic.
Telekinesis [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to move things without physical contact.
Teleport [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to move further than humanly possible in an instant.
Feats: None
Perks
Comic Book Pretty: You look like a Model, airbrushed to perfection in all circumstances. CHA +100%
Man of Mystery: You wear mystery like a stylish cloak. Provides Immunity to all abilities based on Supernatural Perception.
Special Snowflake: Provides Immunity to all hostile actions/skills/powers targeted at your powers/skills.
Beneficial Case 53: +5 to all non-mental stats
Powers:
Hope Empowerment 9: Provides Bonuses to all Stats, Skills and powers based on ambient Hope and Hope induced by you.
LOCKED
LOCKED
LOCKED
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: None
Level: 2
Stats
| STR | CON | DEX | INT | WIS | CHA |
| 22 | 19 | 21 | 22 | 16 | 36 |
Stat Points Available: 0
MP: 310/310
Full Recovery Period: 59.62 minutes
HP: 295/295
Full Recovery Period: 46.09 minutes
Skills
Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max
Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a Game.
Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological status effects.
Observe [Basic] (Active) LV 19 Exp: 8.12%
A skill to find the target's information. Observe is obtained and improved through continuous observation.
Creation [Basic] (Active) LV 8 Exp: 68.43%
The ability to create things with magic.
Divination [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic pertaining to information.
Illusion [Basic] (Active) LV 18 Exp: 5.98%
The ability to use Illusion based magic.
Healing [Basic] (Active) LV 26 Exp: 24.37%
The ability to heal others.
Transmutation [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 7.43%
The ability to turn transmute things with magic.
Universal [Basic] (Active) LV 8 Exp: 2.27%
The ability to wield spells that do not fall under other classifications.
Unarmed Combat Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight without using weapons.
Bladed Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Bladed Weapons.
Ranged Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Ranged Weapons.
Pyromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Fire based magic.
Hydromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Water based magic.
Electromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Lightning based magic.
Geomancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Earth based magic.
Aeromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Wind based magic.
Summoning [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to summon other creatures and beings with magic.
Abjuration [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Defensive Magic.
Mind Magic [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic to affect minds.
Necromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Death based magic.
Evocation [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to utilize directly offensive magic.
Telekinesis [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to move things without physical contact.
Teleport [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to move further than humanly possible in an instant.
Feats: None
Perks
Comic Book Pretty: You look like a Model, airbrushed to perfection in all circumstances. CHA +100%
Man of Mystery: You wear mystery like a stylish cloak. Provides Immunity to all abilities based on Supernatural Perception.
Special Snowflake: Provides Immunity to all hostile actions/skills/powers targeted at your powers/skills.
Beneficial Case 53: +5 to all non-mental stats
Powers:
Hope Empowerment 9: Provides Bonuses to all Stats, Skills and powers based on ambient Hope and Hope induced by you.
LOCKED
LOCKED
LOCKED
Well, here's another chapter. I'm trying out a segment in a first person, present style since it's what seems to be coming more naturally to me. Please tell me which one seems better, the third person, past style or this? I can do either, I just have a slight preference for the first person.
And if it's really jarring to switch without warning, please tell me and I'll switch it over. This was supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter that would be entirely in the first person, but I liked this bit as an ending much more than as a beginning. And seriously, this is somehow proving the primary holdup me being able to write more chapters, please just let me know whether the first person or the third person comes across better.
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Liking the story so far.
Just don't get super locked on the Gamer sheet, since you have sooo many powers. That would get confusing as hell after a few chapters.
Also, Damn dude. You picked It Gets Worse for Disasterous? You must hate the Worm-verse, cause they were doing bad enough, but you just went and doubled the S-class threats.
Just don't get super locked on the Gamer sheet, since you have sooo many powers. That would get confusing as hell after a few chapters.
Also, Damn dude. You picked It Gets Worse for Disasterous? You must hate the Worm-verse, cause they were doing bad enough, but you just went and doubled the S-class threats.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I like the first person; it makes hearing his thoughts and motivations fee a bit more natural. I think you handled his power set descriptions fairly well here; though he does have quite a lot of options. One potential worry because he has so many options is not remembering all his options and then accidentally writing a problem that would be trivial for that forgotten power to solve. So my advice is just to keep an eye on his full power list when you write. It should also help generate ideas for how to use what he has creatively (well, hopefully)!
blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
Eh, it was as much a blanket excuse for bringing in AU elements as anything. This place is worse than canon in many ways, better in some, but the overall situation is tottering significantly closer to the brink than in canon. All the better for heroes to shine.
With any luck, yeah. It shouldn't happen since I'm pretty familiar with the powers I'm working with here, but of course the risk remains.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Mm. Interestingly, the places that Naruto "magic" has any advantage over the other available types are with Taijutsu (and bodily enhancement), Bukijitsu (weapons) and Fuinjutsu. D&D and HP Magic are better at utility, illusions, healing, and general combat effects for the most part. They're just less physically oriented, and sealing is just bullshit at high levels. Even without fanon, there's still the Hiraishin, Edo Tensei, Summoning, and Demon/ability sealing available as part of that art. Also, probably "magic item" creation, what with the Raijin no Ken being made by the Nidaime who is known to be a sealing expert.
blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
It's almost as if someone was trying to set things up to make a well-rounded character...
Thanatos4134
Overpowered is the best kind of powered
- Location
- arizona usa
so I am assuming the 3 locked powers are either level locked or require a certain amount of hope empowerment.
- Location
- Space, the final frontier.
You could also play around with this.
The character might forget, in the heat of the moment, to use a specific power, to solve something that he used a lot of effort to solve.
And in hindsight think, I could have done it easier with this power.
Or have the character wreck his mind, muse upon different solutions, and in those situations, look into his powers and find an easy solution to his issues.
Because both can happen, in real life, your situation will not wait for you to step back, and calmly figure out a solution as if life is a paused game.
There will be days, where there is time pressure etc.
blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
Ooh, true that. Mind you, the room for this will reduce once the INT and WIS start to climb higher, but still, this is an excellent point.
Chapter 2
blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
And here's another.
You have successfully completed the quest: Know your Place!
+500 XP!
Minimap unlocked!
Well, that's nice.
I turn around from the dead, rusting mausoleum of the Bay's shipping industry, bringing up the Map with a thought. It's still largely blank in all areas other than the docks, but I guess that's what I need to expand it to cover now.
It's already several hours since I left Rajveer's shop for the day and started on today's round of mini quests and whatnot. Mapping out the city, figuring out where everything is, how to get between places faster... all that. The funny part about this is, if things go as planned, I shouldn't really need any of this. Apparition is a hell of a thing, especially when I can further enhance it with the D&D Teleport spells.
But apparition also causes splinchings when you do it wrong, and while my current 22 INT is unbelievably better than what I had before, I think I'll still wait for a bit before jumping in all the way. Hence the whole 'see the sights' plan.
And what sights they are. I've researched some more in the last few hours, and Brockton Bay isn't exactly the worst place in the world, not even close, but even so…. It sucks ass. I used to think the city I grew up in India was bad. This place…
Anyway. On to happier thoughts, I finally, finally managed to get some of the combat spells working. Stupefy, Petrificus Totalus, and others like Shivering Touch etc. proved to be far more intractable pieces of knowledge than the bits I gathered about Healing, but now that I have learned them, I can't imagine doing without them.
Strolling my way home, I look at the plan for today. It's fairly like what I did yesterday, minus some of the CON grinding. Tomorrow I'll need to try and talk to the Taylor girl, see what I can do for her, but today… today I just train.
It only takes me a little time to get home from the Boat Graveyard, locking the door behind me. Much longer to set up the all the apparatus I need for proper grinding, between the weights, the leaves and pieces of paper, and the bathtub filling up with water. Once I have it all in place, I stick the papers onto myself, holding them in place with MP, sit on top of the water in the lotus position… and then I'm away into my own world.
It's not exactly meditating, but it's close enough. What I'm doing is digging up the archives in my head, sorting through their jumbled messes and finding useful knowledge regarding the various HP spells and Naruto universe jutsu. The process is significantly easier than it was yesterday, between my growing familiarity and sharply higher INT, but the sheer depth of the archives in my head means that it takes basically no time for me to submerge entirely into the proverbial pool, and soon I'm lost to the world, perusing the knowledge from two separate worlds of magic.
Spells zoom past my head, followed by hand-seal sequences, fuuinjutsu scripts meshing with runecraft, and I'm adrift on the waves in my own head, seeking the purest fruits of knowledge. Peace, understanding, the spells and their effects… I let them drag me away and toss me this way and that, luxuriating in the sheer joy of it… until the unmistakable BANG of a gunshot pulls me out.
Opening my eyes, I blink aside the notifications about my handful of improved skills and a point of INT. What the fuck just happened? I stand up from my place on the water, leaping onto the floor in an instant. A moment later I have an Invisibility spell wrapped around me, and I open my window and jump out straight to the roof.
The first thing I notice is that I was apparently concentrating for much longer than I thought, since it's evening already. I dismiss that thought quickly when several more gunshots echo through the air, accompanied by raucous laughter and several slurs. All around me people are scurrying back into their homes, or businesses, doors closing with loud slams and hasty gestures from people to any stragglers to hurry along. It doesn't seem like this is anything new for them, judging by how quick everyone is to act and how resigned they seem about it.
I follow the noises two streets down, only to duck back as a bullet goes whizzing by. Just… what the fuck?
Finding the street where it's all going on, I refresh Invisibility as the time starts running out, while surveying the scene. It's a clash between the ABB and the ABM, judging by the oriental people in Green and Red and the distinct smell, general trashiness and the filthy 'colors' of the Merchants. The ABB are gathered around a burned-out car, which apparently the merchants tossed a… Molotov into, while people… well, gangbangers, were still in it? Fuck.
Now they're firing back with everything they have, while the merchants are hiding behind several cars and dumpsters they've rolled into the street. There don't seem to be any capes from either side on the scene, but who even knows how long that will last.
Stepping back, I look at the surrounding streets, looking for any late entrants into the battle. The ABB forces seem to be all they have, but there's a small group of merchants rushing in on bikes and shitty cars.
Well, I have basically no inclination to intervene in the battle itself on either side. The more of the vermin that kill each other off the better. But there are other concerns in a battle like this.
I flew for the first time earlier today, once I had enough Mana to fuel it for a decent time. Now I pour my MP bar into another Fly spell, soaring high above the battle while maintaining my invisibility. The street is empty apart from the gang members, but there are a few people hiding in some of the alleys.
Including… oh bloody hell. I swoop down into the alley close to where a group of Merchants is clustered at and firing back from, looking at the three kids hiding behind a dumpster. One quick Sleep spell and a round of Invisibility for everyone, and I Mobilicorpus them into floating gently over the rooftop, taking them into the adjacent street before setting them down near an identical dumpster as to the one they were hiding behind.
Over the next several minutes I get half a dozen people out of the potential crossfire, leveling up my Fly and Invisibility skills up twice in the process. Or maybe it was the skills they're listed under that got leveled up, I wasn't paying attention. I keep a weather eye on the fight as it goes on, noting that with their reinforcements having arrived the Merchants seem to be winning. Or at least, that's what the invective being thrown around suggests to me. 'Reading Gang Battles' isn't one of my skills.
However, even I notice when everything changes dramatically. When a sudden cheer goes up from the Bad Boys, I whip around to look at them, fearing the worst. But no, it's not one of their capes. It's… it's just some guy running ahead with a… cricket ball?
A moment later I could smack myself. It's not a cricket ball. I put everything I have into flying away from where the Merchants have now clustered, getting out of range before the bomb lands.
And then it does. Looking at it I feel myself start to get dazed at the sheer brightness of it, but Gamer's Mind takes care of that in just a second. Then I look at the results, and holy fuck… the Merchants are basically gone. Where there was a group of about a dozen gangbangers, there are now skeletons gathered together. The bomb vaporized all their flesh, and it did so in a single second.
Dimly I recall something about the ABB having a bomb tinker. It was a rumor on the wind I'd picked up somewhere, although the notion gives me the same, utterly intense feeling of having read something about it that I got when I heard of Glory Girl for the first time. And just like that time, it's gone as soon as I first feel it.
I watch, still dumbfounded, as the ABM just break, turning around and running as fast as their legs will take them. The ABB cheer, firing guns wildly into the sky, whooping and slapping each other on their backs.
They start filtering out from the place a moment later, apparently realizing that some form of law enforcement will probably arrive here sooner or later. I watch as they load up in their vehicles and start leaving… until a smaller group peels off and heads into an alley.
Zooming through the air, I land just before my Fly spell runs out, refreshing Invisibility in the process. The group is moving, no, stalking their way down the alley, apparently looking for something they saw earlier. Or someone, I realize just as they spot the woman I hadn't, when I flew over this alley previously. She's a local, someone I've seen a couple times in the last few days, hanging around on the corners peddling… ah, negotiable affections.
The ABB crowd around her, jeering and laughing at her. Apparently, she was getting uppity when her pimp was one of the Merchants…? Fucking hell, one of them just started pulling on his belt.
Oh, hell no.
There are five of them, surrounding the woman in a semicircle. My stunner catches the lead squarely in the back, downing him in an instant. I watch to make sure he goes down, which is almost a mistake as the rest whip around on my position and fire their weapons even before he hits the ground properly. I jump straight to the other side of the alley, just ahead of the bullets that dig into the wall behind me. Rebounding off the wall, I land directly in front of the woman, before catching the man nearest to me with a second stunner. I move the wand into my inventory once I land, not wanting to risk it in close quarters.
For several moments, there's no sound in the alley apart from slow sobs from the woman. The ABB look around wildly, waving their guns around, but while my landing may have given a rough idea it's kind of hard to shoot an invisible person. Then one of the men just smiles a demented grin, before pulling out a perfect sphere from a pocket and lobbing it right in the general direction.
Fuck. I saw the result of the last bomb; I'm not going to let this one go off in my face. But I can't dodge and let it get the woman, so… I jump forwards, closing the distance as soon as possible. A murmur opens my Inventory and catching the orb, I push it into a slot….
Not before it goes off. A corner of my mind notes that one of the slots of the inventory is now depicting an ongoing explosion, but the rest of it is far too occupied with the sheer, overwhelming pain that overtakes all my senses. I feel my invisibility disappearing along with my other illusions, as gobbets of whatever was in the bomb splash across my chest in a diagonal line. It feels like a giant just cut me in two, and the explosion knocks me behind, slamming me into the wall.
-250 HP!
The status effect 'Delirious Pain' has been suppressed by Gamer's Mind!
The status effect 'Concussed' has been suppressed by Gamer's Mind!
With a small gesture I dismiss the alerts, grimacing at the drastically lowered HP bar in my HUD. It's already regenerating, but fuck that hurt.
Then I look at the fucking gangbangers. They've advanced several steps, one of them closing in on the woman and another on me, gun pointed. I feel his gait, and he's confident, although somewhat hesitant too. The bomb didn't do what he was told it would, but at least it downed me, and now he could kill me personally.
That ends when I open my eyes and fix him with a look. Scare, I cast without even thinking about it, before casting it again, then again and once again a fourth time, all in a single second.
Looking at him, it's the same fuck who threw the bomb at me, and whether it is the spells or the sheer hate that must be reflecting in my eyes, he turns around and runs for his life. Around us in the alley, his friends are doing the same, having been caught in the Scare castings themselves.
It's not going to be that easy.
The Bombarda catches the man who threw the bomb at me in the back of his head, splattering his questionable intelligence all over the alley in front of him. His friends pause when they step into some of it, before running even faster. I jump from my position with a burst of Mana to my legs, leaping to a wall, jumping to another from it and rebounding off that one to land in front of them. They look like they've seen a ghost, they way they stare at me.
I catch the one on the right with a plain, old-fashioned right hook, knocking him all the way to the ground and all into his friend's brains. Only half-dazed, he reaches for one of the guns the man had, forcing me to move ahead myself. One kick knocks the gun away and the other snaps back his head, finally sending him into dreamland.
By the time I look back, the other one's scampered. I consider chasing after… but just then a loud sob catches my attention again.
Right. That.
I look at my myself. My shirt is gone, burned and melted and whatnot. Most of my front is covered in blood, even though the actual wound stopped bleeding barely seconds after the actual hit. Oh, and I'm blue again, the pain of the bomb having torn apart all my illusions.
Okay… okay… I regulate my breathing. It's alright. This was my first encounter with actual, physical danger to my life. I made it through. I have powers that will make me powerful enough to crush gangsters like this like insects, once I grow into them some more. Right now, the priority is the woman I wanted to help in the first place.
Pulling my inventory back up, I carefully avoid touching the slot with the ongoing explosion in it. I'll let it off underwater in the bay later tonight, I guess. Gingerly, I pull out my wand and vanish the brains splattered all over the floor. I move a shirt onto my chest in the inventory, checking once it's on to make sure none of the blood is showing.
Taking a step towards the woman, I find myself stopping when I notice something. Right… that's a thing too. Kneeling, I look at the items on the floor. A wad of money and a handgun greet me, the smooth metal of the gun glinting in the rays of the dying sun.
Huh. Drops. I really wish I was introduced to them in a better time and place, but I guess that was never going to be possible.
That's when the alerts show up, of course.
You have concluded the Random Encounter: ABB Rapists!
You have defeated: 5 Gangsters!
You gain +2500 XP!
Your level has increased by one!
You have gained 5 Stat Points!
You are now Level 3!
You have gained 1 Feat!
Ouch, that name. I guess no one's gonna pretend it was anything else, huh.
Dismissing the Alerts, I walk back to the woman. She's stopped crying, at least, which is great because I think I'd genuinely prefer another round with those guys over trying to console a crying woman. Kinda cliché, but just one of those things.
"Miss, are you okay?"
It's several moments before she answers, turning up her tearstained face to look at me.
"Y-yes. I think." She manages to mutter out eventually.
"Okay… listen, can you make your way home or should I es… uh, follow you along on the rooftops?" I switch my wording halfway through. Don't want to say anything to bring back the waterworks.
"I'll be fine, please. I live nearby. Just… give me a second, please."
I just nod. Honestly, what the fuck can I say? I surreptitiously cast a Remove Nausea to help her along a smidge, before following it up with a Calm Emotions. She's recovered fully when she stands up, and I wait till she's out of the alley into the street.
Turning around, I jump straight to the rooftops, before heading home along them. I check on the people I moved away once, just to make sure they're awake and alright. Wouldn't want some other bullshit to crop up behind me.
Just as I make the final jump from a rooftop and land straight in my chair through one of the windows, an alert pops up.
Through repeated usage, you have unlocked the skill Parkour!
Oh, just fuck off.
Stepping back into my house, I sit down once again, closing my eyes to try and resume my studying. A deep breath, another, another… it's several more hours this time, until I open my eyes from the second round of archive-diving. It'd gone much more smoothly this time around, once I swept all the points from my level up into INT to follow up the ones I put in yesterday.
It seems I was somewhat wrong about the way the archives being jumbled, as there seems to be some manner of an organization to them after all. Incendio is placed close to Katon Jutsu and Fireball spells, Flame Strike is located approximately in between what I can roughly call the fire section and the bit where all the myriad prayer rituals from Naruto are placed… or it could just be deliberately jumbled that specific way, I guess. You never know what will be funny to a ROB.
Looking up, I seem to have picked up another handful of levels in various skills, and certainly, there are dozens of new Harry Potter spells floating in my head where there were barely even five yesterday. I hadn't put any emphasis on going through the Naruto knowledge just yet, but I can imagine it'd look somewhat similar there too!
Standing up, I stretch once just to get everything flowing again. Gamer's Body means I don't need to eat or sleep unless I want to, but it doesn't do much to make it any more pleasant. I feel like how the average person feels in the evening, all the time.
Well, it's late evening now. Time to step out, start mapping some more of the city, and maybe start making some rounds of the soup kitchens. I have several times the amount of food I had yesterday to donate, and my dramatically increased Mana means I can do commensurately more healing, too. Walking over to the door, I step out and lock it behind me, strolling onto the street. Okay, then! Time to…
Go over to the Chopras? I see Rajveer sitting by his window, and he stands up and waves hard to call me over when he sees me.
Okay, I like them, but this is too much. What can it be now? I walk close to the window, smiling at Rajveer and then his wife as she joins him there.
"Yes?"
"Oh, you're alright, Amar? We were worried when we didn't see you! Did you know there was a big fight a few hours ago? The ABB are back in control!" she rushes out in a single breath, clearly still rattled.
And now I feel bad. They were just concerned…
"Oh, yeah, I must have slept through that. I turned in for an afternoon nap, must have been more tired than I thought I was." The lies come to me easily. This, of course, is not thanks to my new powers. I've always been able to lie as easily as I breathe.
For a moment I can't be sure they bought it or not, but if they didn't, they don't say anything. Then Rajveer speaks up again.
"Listen, Amar. Now that the ABB are back in charge here, they might come looking for recruits. You should be fine, but you never know, if they get pressed enough, they might start counting Indians among the Asians they acknowledge after all."
I just nod gently. "I'll keep that in mind, try and stay out of their way."
The couple just smile and nod right back. For a moment Nikita opens her mouth to say something but pauses halfway in between before shutting up. I… as sad as it is that they literally can't afford to invite someone over for dinner… I'm kinda glad? It would've eaten up a whole hour, maybe more.
Heh. 'Eaten up'.
Finally taking my leave of them, I wander off into the street, ducking into an alley halfway through. Okay, then.
Earlier today I'd considered starting practicing Apparition but given as my INT had still been too low, I'd given it up as a bad idea. Now I'm at 27, and even the recommended INT at the skill is only 25. So here we are.
I focus on the details of the skill. Destination, Determination, Deliberation… I roll the thoughts over and over in my head, trying to feel myself at my target location, another alley like this one street down. I let the skill suffuse me for one moment, two, three… and then I channel Mana, turning swiftly on my heel…
And all but crashing into the wall as I turn too hard. No sound, no sudden feeling of movement… tch.
Okay, let's try this again. I calm my mind, tossing aside any concerns and hesitation. I studied the materials on this already, and there's no reason why this should be problematic. All I need is to focus, and I can just…
"CRACK!" fucking hell that's loud. This time I do slam into the wall, rattling my teeth from the force of it. Looking around, it's a different wall, the one in the alley where I was aiming.
Well then. That was horrific. Let's see if I can make it less so.
The Dimension Door drops me close to start of the running track I decided on today, conveniently draining the last of my MP.
Your Skill Teleportation has gained a level!
Teleportation is now level 14!
All Teleportation skills cost -3.5%
Dismissing the alerts, I swap on my running clothes via the inventory. They're real ones this time, thankfully. Having some money and Clothier's Closet means I can get whatever outfits I need without needing to bother with any shops in the process. Reapplying my illusion at the same time, I jog in place for a few moments to get used to being almost a foot shorter, before I'm finally ready.
Okay, let's go then. Once I start on the jog, I gradually increase my pace, once again Observing everyone I see. The skill's leveling up slowed down a lot over the last day as it increased in level, but I've pushed it to a decent enough level now, I feel. It still doesn't show me any stats, though. I'm starting to think it's reserved for beyond level 50 or something.
Picking up pace in my running, I wait until I see the girl once again. It takes a while, allowing me to get some excellent running in and even pick up a DEX point, but I do see her eventually. Taylor Hebert, fledgling superhero and bullying victim. Running just right to synchronize my speed with hers without making it obvious, I work my way to just ahead of her, before slowing down and falling in a holding pattern.
I considered my approach here for a long time yesterday, wondering how to approach her and talk without giving the game away… and in the end what I managed to come up with was… well, I cast Glibness on myself, before letting myself trip on and fall in an obvious, goofy pratfall that takes out over 30 HP all at once. It could have broken some bones if it wasn't for Gamer's Body. Lying on the ground with the alert fading away, I wait to see if she comes to my aid, focusing to hold the illusion in place the whole time.
Yeah, turns out I may look awesome and a perk may have given me awesome charisma, at the inside I'm still the same guy who couldn't talk to girls if my life depended on it. Twice over. Funny how that works, isn't it?
For what it's worth, I see her approaching me, even as I start sitting up and moving around obviously enough to ensure a crowd doesn't form.
Looking at me, she winces slightly, before asking hesitantly "Are… are you alright?"
I give her a somewhat pained smile, before hobbling straight. "Yeah, miss. I just tripped on something, I guess."
A few of the other people who were coming closer break off upon seeing me upright again, and I smile at Taylor. "Er, you wouldn't mind helping me to that bench over there, would you? I think I could do with sitting down."
She looks at the stone bench on the other side of the road once, before switching back to me. I can almost see the gears in her head turning, before she just reaches out with one hand.
It's just a short minute before I'm sitting on the bench, and looking at her, she's starting to feel just a bit awkward.
I consider, once more, just casting a Detect Thoughts. It'd make everything so much easier.
But no. I've never been the most moral of persons, but there are limits. It's one thing to do things like that when necessary, quite another to do it just to make a conversation more convenient.
"Thanks for the help, miss. Er… I'm Amar."
She hesitates a bit, looking at me and back at the track, before resolving herself with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I'm Taylor. Taylor Hebert." She expands, before shrinking slightly. Gods, she's painfully shy. I'd say something, but I remember a little tale about stones and glass houses I read somewhere.
"Well, thanks for this. I think I saw you run here yesterday too? Do you run every day?"
Blinking in surprise for a moment, she stares at me for a moment, before seeming to finally place me in her head.
Then she realizes that I'm still waiting for an answer and starts in a hurry. "Oh, yes. I saw you too, I run daily, so I can get fit for… er, school."
I nod excitedly, before thinking up something to answer before she gets the idea to get back to her running. "Oh, nice. Are you trying for the track team?" I eventually manage to say after a couple seconds.
She recoils as if struck. What did I say? Glibness makes it so everything I say comes across as much more convincing and confident, but it still doesn't tell me what to say.
"No, I'm just trying to get more athletic in general, I guess."
I have a personal rule that if the words 'Oh, that's nice' ever get uttered, that should be the end of the conversation. And yet, there's nothing else that comes to mind. After a second of thinking, I manage to say "Well, that's very nice. That's what I was doing too, before I planted my face into the ground like an idiot."
And that, somehow, seems to break the ice.
We talk for another few minutes, remaining with safe subjects like running, athletics and whatnot. I assure her I'll be okay after a day and tell her I should be here tomorrow.
Once she's running off, I shoot off another Observe.
Taylor Hebert
Student/Budding Superhero
Parahuman
Level 13
Taylor Hebert is a young woman troubled by bullies in her school life and a depressed father in her home life. Alone and feeling opposed by the world, Taylor has been taking solace in the prospects of becoming a superhero in the Bay.
The recent meeting with another running enthusiast has filled Taylor with a strange feeling of friendliness, but she doesn't expect it to last long once she returns to school.
Status: Occupied in exercise.
Mental Status: Depressed, Isolated, Borderline Suicidal
Well, that's… something, I guess?
The rest of the day goes by almost identically to yesterday, apart from, y'know, the whole 'gang skirmish in the open' thing. I repair things at Rajveer's shop for the first half of the day and use the money to pick up a collection of skill books afterwards, focusing on martial arts this time. I did medical the day before and things like languages and artsy things yesterday, but it's high time I get some leveling of combat ability.
Picking up manuals on every martial art that was to be found in the store, I consider buying some gym equipment. I managed to scrape up another point of STR last night after my hospital tours, but it was almost painfully slow compared to the first night. And it'll only get slower from here, I'm guessing.
But gym equipment is big and heavy. Unless I'm prepared to move the items into inventory right there in the shop and out myself spectacularly, it's not really going to work out. Heh, 'work out'. The typical way people do it is to get the delivered, but I don't have any idea when I'll be home to receive a delivery.
Oh well. It's not like I don't have other things to grind in its place. I push teleports as far and fast as I can, invisibly Apparating or using Dimension Door into the horizon over a dozen times. Once I manage to find a suitably isolated area out in the ocean, I just… let go. For the first time since I've been here, I manage to move the needle on my evocation and elemental skills, testing out some of the fire and water jutsu, tossing a few Lightning Bolt spells into the open ocean… it's all very therapeutic. Managed to get underwater and unload that explosion in my inventory too, so that's another thing scratched off the list.
Once back home I spend the whole day once again immersed in my HP and Naruto archives, proceeding through several years of education in the Harry Potter world and across wide areas of training in Naruto terms. I can finally jump, hop and basically do whatever I want on the surface of the water, and my Mana Control skill additionally reduces the MP costs of each spell I cast by 0.25% every level. It's kind of a weird and slow progression, but it's what I have.
Once it's night outside I go on my usual tours, this time venturing further than ever. The Create Food and Water spell creates 45 pounds of food per casting, and I found that when I dumped half a dozen castings' worth in just a few of the nearby shelters and soup kitchens, a fair bit of it was actually getting wasted! In a soup kitchen!
My regular Scourgify castings have cleaned up basically all of the alleys within three blocks of my house by now and moving further and further out into the docks and the areas around, I continue to cast it everywhere, enjoying the way all the trash and filth vanishes into nothing, leaving entire roads looking like Mr Clean was just at them.
I've even started to follow it up with some repair work by now, fixing random cars and items with Reparo, Mending and Make Whole spells, conjuring some stone to fill in potholes, and in general doing what I can to leave things looking just a touch prettier all along.
What's weird is that people seem to be starting to recognize my blue form by now as I roam around in the night. There aren't many of them, but here and there I get someone who waves at me when I go by.
Thankfully the staff at the actual hospitals don't seem to be any wiser. I conjured an actual lab coat before stepping out this time, complete with a fake ID that looks nothing like my normal 'Amar' form, and all the nurses and everyone seem to just be glad that their service finally seems to be making a difference. I do take care to spread out my work among over a dozen hospitals, so no one place ends up emptied out overnight, so that might be one of the reasons.
I mean, I know it's risky, but at the risk of sounding painfully sappy… how can I not step in when I can? And so I spend the night, moving through Children's Cancer units, tossing around as many castings of Remove Disease as I can before switching to the trauma wards to practice some of the Harry Potter spells and some Iryojutsu, all to power-level that Healing skill and maybe push the needle a smidgen towards hope in this endless, grinding nightmare of a world.
Mind you, it's not that no one at the hospitals has noticed anything me. Twice in the night I end up having to fudge around with Glibness, and one time I'm even forced talk my way out of getting noticed without it when a nurse notices me while I'm low on mana. But apparently, I do well enough that I create the Diplomacy and Bluff skills, so that's a plus. It's not like there's a choice here, I can't exactly go around casting Confundus charms on hospital staff.
It's a pretty long night, all in all, before I'm done. Managed to push Healing to 35, but it weighs on my mind to see the sheer numbers of the sick and the injured.
Once back home, I can't summon the energy to bother with grinding any physical stats this time. It's still several hours before I need to be at the track again, so for the first time since arriving into this world, I stumble into the bedroom and just let myself fall onto the bed.
Well? I've been told that the first Taylor conversation is one of the litmus tests of a good OC or SI, so please, tell me how it was! Tried to make it as awkward and stilted as a forced conversation between two people, neither of whom have any real skill in the matter, might be, so…
Oh, and let me know about the other things too. Am I inserting too many 'Gamer' bits? Too little? How is the first person perspective working? Or anything else you feel like commenting on, too.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
You have successfully completed the quest: Know your Place!
+500 XP!
Minimap unlocked!
Well, that's nice.
I turn around from the dead, rusting mausoleum of the Bay's shipping industry, bringing up the Map with a thought. It's still largely blank in all areas other than the docks, but I guess that's what I need to expand it to cover now.
It's already several hours since I left Rajveer's shop for the day and started on today's round of mini quests and whatnot. Mapping out the city, figuring out where everything is, how to get between places faster... all that. The funny part about this is, if things go as planned, I shouldn't really need any of this. Apparition is a hell of a thing, especially when I can further enhance it with the D&D Teleport spells.
But apparition also causes splinchings when you do it wrong, and while my current 22 INT is unbelievably better than what I had before, I think I'll still wait for a bit before jumping in all the way. Hence the whole 'see the sights' plan.
And what sights they are. I've researched some more in the last few hours, and Brockton Bay isn't exactly the worst place in the world, not even close, but even so…. It sucks ass. I used to think the city I grew up in India was bad. This place…
Anyway. On to happier thoughts, I finally, finally managed to get some of the combat spells working. Stupefy, Petrificus Totalus, and others like Shivering Touch etc. proved to be far more intractable pieces of knowledge than the bits I gathered about Healing, but now that I have learned them, I can't imagine doing without them.
Strolling my way home, I look at the plan for today. It's fairly like what I did yesterday, minus some of the CON grinding. Tomorrow I'll need to try and talk to the Taylor girl, see what I can do for her, but today… today I just train.
It only takes me a little time to get home from the Boat Graveyard, locking the door behind me. Much longer to set up the all the apparatus I need for proper grinding, between the weights, the leaves and pieces of paper, and the bathtub filling up with water. Once I have it all in place, I stick the papers onto myself, holding them in place with MP, sit on top of the water in the lotus position… and then I'm away into my own world.
It's not exactly meditating, but it's close enough. What I'm doing is digging up the archives in my head, sorting through their jumbled messes and finding useful knowledge regarding the various HP spells and Naruto universe jutsu. The process is significantly easier than it was yesterday, between my growing familiarity and sharply higher INT, but the sheer depth of the archives in my head means that it takes basically no time for me to submerge entirely into the proverbial pool, and soon I'm lost to the world, perusing the knowledge from two separate worlds of magic.
Spells zoom past my head, followed by hand-seal sequences, fuuinjutsu scripts meshing with runecraft, and I'm adrift on the waves in my own head, seeking the purest fruits of knowledge. Peace, understanding, the spells and their effects… I let them drag me away and toss me this way and that, luxuriating in the sheer joy of it… until the unmistakable BANG of a gunshot pulls me out.
Opening my eyes, I blink aside the notifications about my handful of improved skills and a point of INT. What the fuck just happened? I stand up from my place on the water, leaping onto the floor in an instant. A moment later I have an Invisibility spell wrapped around me, and I open my window and jump out straight to the roof.
The first thing I notice is that I was apparently concentrating for much longer than I thought, since it's evening already. I dismiss that thought quickly when several more gunshots echo through the air, accompanied by raucous laughter and several slurs. All around me people are scurrying back into their homes, or businesses, doors closing with loud slams and hasty gestures from people to any stragglers to hurry along. It doesn't seem like this is anything new for them, judging by how quick everyone is to act and how resigned they seem about it.
I follow the noises two streets down, only to duck back as a bullet goes whizzing by. Just… what the fuck?
Finding the street where it's all going on, I refresh Invisibility as the time starts running out, while surveying the scene. It's a clash between the ABB and the ABM, judging by the oriental people in Green and Red and the distinct smell, general trashiness and the filthy 'colors' of the Merchants. The ABB are gathered around a burned-out car, which apparently the merchants tossed a… Molotov into, while people… well, gangbangers, were still in it? Fuck.
Now they're firing back with everything they have, while the merchants are hiding behind several cars and dumpsters they've rolled into the street. There don't seem to be any capes from either side on the scene, but who even knows how long that will last.
Stepping back, I look at the surrounding streets, looking for any late entrants into the battle. The ABB forces seem to be all they have, but there's a small group of merchants rushing in on bikes and shitty cars.
Well, I have basically no inclination to intervene in the battle itself on either side. The more of the vermin that kill each other off the better. But there are other concerns in a battle like this.
I flew for the first time earlier today, once I had enough Mana to fuel it for a decent time. Now I pour my MP bar into another Fly spell, soaring high above the battle while maintaining my invisibility. The street is empty apart from the gang members, but there are a few people hiding in some of the alleys.
Including… oh bloody hell. I swoop down into the alley close to where a group of Merchants is clustered at and firing back from, looking at the three kids hiding behind a dumpster. One quick Sleep spell and a round of Invisibility for everyone, and I Mobilicorpus them into floating gently over the rooftop, taking them into the adjacent street before setting them down near an identical dumpster as to the one they were hiding behind.
Over the next several minutes I get half a dozen people out of the potential crossfire, leveling up my Fly and Invisibility skills up twice in the process. Or maybe it was the skills they're listed under that got leveled up, I wasn't paying attention. I keep a weather eye on the fight as it goes on, noting that with their reinforcements having arrived the Merchants seem to be winning. Or at least, that's what the invective being thrown around suggests to me. 'Reading Gang Battles' isn't one of my skills.
However, even I notice when everything changes dramatically. When a sudden cheer goes up from the Bad Boys, I whip around to look at them, fearing the worst. But no, it's not one of their capes. It's… it's just some guy running ahead with a… cricket ball?
A moment later I could smack myself. It's not a cricket ball. I put everything I have into flying away from where the Merchants have now clustered, getting out of range before the bomb lands.
And then it does. Looking at it I feel myself start to get dazed at the sheer brightness of it, but Gamer's Mind takes care of that in just a second. Then I look at the results, and holy fuck… the Merchants are basically gone. Where there was a group of about a dozen gangbangers, there are now skeletons gathered together. The bomb vaporized all their flesh, and it did so in a single second.
Dimly I recall something about the ABB having a bomb tinker. It was a rumor on the wind I'd picked up somewhere, although the notion gives me the same, utterly intense feeling of having read something about it that I got when I heard of Glory Girl for the first time. And just like that time, it's gone as soon as I first feel it.
I watch, still dumbfounded, as the ABM just break, turning around and running as fast as their legs will take them. The ABB cheer, firing guns wildly into the sky, whooping and slapping each other on their backs.
They start filtering out from the place a moment later, apparently realizing that some form of law enforcement will probably arrive here sooner or later. I watch as they load up in their vehicles and start leaving… until a smaller group peels off and heads into an alley.
Zooming through the air, I land just before my Fly spell runs out, refreshing Invisibility in the process. The group is moving, no, stalking their way down the alley, apparently looking for something they saw earlier. Or someone, I realize just as they spot the woman I hadn't, when I flew over this alley previously. She's a local, someone I've seen a couple times in the last few days, hanging around on the corners peddling… ah, negotiable affections.
The ABB crowd around her, jeering and laughing at her. Apparently, she was getting uppity when her pimp was one of the Merchants…? Fucking hell, one of them just started pulling on his belt.
Oh, hell no.
There are five of them, surrounding the woman in a semicircle. My stunner catches the lead squarely in the back, downing him in an instant. I watch to make sure he goes down, which is almost a mistake as the rest whip around on my position and fire their weapons even before he hits the ground properly. I jump straight to the other side of the alley, just ahead of the bullets that dig into the wall behind me. Rebounding off the wall, I land directly in front of the woman, before catching the man nearest to me with a second stunner. I move the wand into my inventory once I land, not wanting to risk it in close quarters.
For several moments, there's no sound in the alley apart from slow sobs from the woman. The ABB look around wildly, waving their guns around, but while my landing may have given a rough idea it's kind of hard to shoot an invisible person. Then one of the men just smiles a demented grin, before pulling out a perfect sphere from a pocket and lobbing it right in the general direction.
Fuck. I saw the result of the last bomb; I'm not going to let this one go off in my face. But I can't dodge and let it get the woman, so… I jump forwards, closing the distance as soon as possible. A murmur opens my Inventory and catching the orb, I push it into a slot….
Not before it goes off. A corner of my mind notes that one of the slots of the inventory is now depicting an ongoing explosion, but the rest of it is far too occupied with the sheer, overwhelming pain that overtakes all my senses. I feel my invisibility disappearing along with my other illusions, as gobbets of whatever was in the bomb splash across my chest in a diagonal line. It feels like a giant just cut me in two, and the explosion knocks me behind, slamming me into the wall.
-250 HP!
The status effect 'Delirious Pain' has been suppressed by Gamer's Mind!
The status effect 'Concussed' has been suppressed by Gamer's Mind!
With a small gesture I dismiss the alerts, grimacing at the drastically lowered HP bar in my HUD. It's already regenerating, but fuck that hurt.
Then I look at the fucking gangbangers. They've advanced several steps, one of them closing in on the woman and another on me, gun pointed. I feel his gait, and he's confident, although somewhat hesitant too. The bomb didn't do what he was told it would, but at least it downed me, and now he could kill me personally.
That ends when I open my eyes and fix him with a look. Scare, I cast without even thinking about it, before casting it again, then again and once again a fourth time, all in a single second.
Looking at him, it's the same fuck who threw the bomb at me, and whether it is the spells or the sheer hate that must be reflecting in my eyes, he turns around and runs for his life. Around us in the alley, his friends are doing the same, having been caught in the Scare castings themselves.
It's not going to be that easy.
The Bombarda catches the man who threw the bomb at me in the back of his head, splattering his questionable intelligence all over the alley in front of him. His friends pause when they step into some of it, before running even faster. I jump from my position with a burst of Mana to my legs, leaping to a wall, jumping to another from it and rebounding off that one to land in front of them. They look like they've seen a ghost, they way they stare at me.
I catch the one on the right with a plain, old-fashioned right hook, knocking him all the way to the ground and all into his friend's brains. Only half-dazed, he reaches for one of the guns the man had, forcing me to move ahead myself. One kick knocks the gun away and the other snaps back his head, finally sending him into dreamland.
By the time I look back, the other one's scampered. I consider chasing after… but just then a loud sob catches my attention again.
Right. That.
I look at my myself. My shirt is gone, burned and melted and whatnot. Most of my front is covered in blood, even though the actual wound stopped bleeding barely seconds after the actual hit. Oh, and I'm blue again, the pain of the bomb having torn apart all my illusions.
Okay… okay… I regulate my breathing. It's alright. This was my first encounter with actual, physical danger to my life. I made it through. I have powers that will make me powerful enough to crush gangsters like this like insects, once I grow into them some more. Right now, the priority is the woman I wanted to help in the first place.
Pulling my inventory back up, I carefully avoid touching the slot with the ongoing explosion in it. I'll let it off underwater in the bay later tonight, I guess. Gingerly, I pull out my wand and vanish the brains splattered all over the floor. I move a shirt onto my chest in the inventory, checking once it's on to make sure none of the blood is showing.
Taking a step towards the woman, I find myself stopping when I notice something. Right… that's a thing too. Kneeling, I look at the items on the floor. A wad of money and a handgun greet me, the smooth metal of the gun glinting in the rays of the dying sun.
Huh. Drops. I really wish I was introduced to them in a better time and place, but I guess that was never going to be possible.
That's when the alerts show up, of course.
You have concluded the Random Encounter: ABB Rapists!
You have defeated: 5 Gangsters!
You gain +2500 XP!
Your level has increased by one!
You have gained 5 Stat Points!
You are now Level 3!
You have gained 1 Feat!
Ouch, that name. I guess no one's gonna pretend it was anything else, huh.
Dismissing the Alerts, I walk back to the woman. She's stopped crying, at least, which is great because I think I'd genuinely prefer another round with those guys over trying to console a crying woman. Kinda cliché, but just one of those things.
"Miss, are you okay?"
It's several moments before she answers, turning up her tearstained face to look at me.
"Y-yes. I think." She manages to mutter out eventually.
"Okay… listen, can you make your way home or should I es… uh, follow you along on the rooftops?" I switch my wording halfway through. Don't want to say anything to bring back the waterworks.
"I'll be fine, please. I live nearby. Just… give me a second, please."
I just nod. Honestly, what the fuck can I say? I surreptitiously cast a Remove Nausea to help her along a smidge, before following it up with a Calm Emotions. She's recovered fully when she stands up, and I wait till she's out of the alley into the street.
Turning around, I jump straight to the rooftops, before heading home along them. I check on the people I moved away once, just to make sure they're awake and alright. Wouldn't want some other bullshit to crop up behind me.
Just as I make the final jump from a rooftop and land straight in my chair through one of the windows, an alert pops up.
Through repeated usage, you have unlocked the skill Parkour!
Oh, just fuck off.
Stepping back into my house, I sit down once again, closing my eyes to try and resume my studying. A deep breath, another, another… it's several more hours this time, until I open my eyes from the second round of archive-diving. It'd gone much more smoothly this time around, once I swept all the points from my level up into INT to follow up the ones I put in yesterday.
It seems I was somewhat wrong about the way the archives being jumbled, as there seems to be some manner of an organization to them after all. Incendio is placed close to Katon Jutsu and Fireball spells, Flame Strike is located approximately in between what I can roughly call the fire section and the bit where all the myriad prayer rituals from Naruto are placed… or it could just be deliberately jumbled that specific way, I guess. You never know what will be funny to a ROB.
Looking up, I seem to have picked up another handful of levels in various skills, and certainly, there are dozens of new Harry Potter spells floating in my head where there were barely even five yesterday. I hadn't put any emphasis on going through the Naruto knowledge just yet, but I can imagine it'd look somewhat similar there too!
Standing up, I stretch once just to get everything flowing again. Gamer's Body means I don't need to eat or sleep unless I want to, but it doesn't do much to make it any more pleasant. I feel like how the average person feels in the evening, all the time.
Well, it's late evening now. Time to step out, start mapping some more of the city, and maybe start making some rounds of the soup kitchens. I have several times the amount of food I had yesterday to donate, and my dramatically increased Mana means I can do commensurately more healing, too. Walking over to the door, I step out and lock it behind me, strolling onto the street. Okay, then! Time to…
Go over to the Chopras? I see Rajveer sitting by his window, and he stands up and waves hard to call me over when he sees me.
Okay, I like them, but this is too much. What can it be now? I walk close to the window, smiling at Rajveer and then his wife as she joins him there.
"Yes?"
"Oh, you're alright, Amar? We were worried when we didn't see you! Did you know there was a big fight a few hours ago? The ABB are back in control!" she rushes out in a single breath, clearly still rattled.
And now I feel bad. They were just concerned…
"Oh, yeah, I must have slept through that. I turned in for an afternoon nap, must have been more tired than I thought I was." The lies come to me easily. This, of course, is not thanks to my new powers. I've always been able to lie as easily as I breathe.
For a moment I can't be sure they bought it or not, but if they didn't, they don't say anything. Then Rajveer speaks up again.
"Listen, Amar. Now that the ABB are back in charge here, they might come looking for recruits. You should be fine, but you never know, if they get pressed enough, they might start counting Indians among the Asians they acknowledge after all."
I just nod gently. "I'll keep that in mind, try and stay out of their way."
The couple just smile and nod right back. For a moment Nikita opens her mouth to say something but pauses halfway in between before shutting up. I… as sad as it is that they literally can't afford to invite someone over for dinner… I'm kinda glad? It would've eaten up a whole hour, maybe more.
Heh. 'Eaten up'.
Finally taking my leave of them, I wander off into the street, ducking into an alley halfway through. Okay, then.
Earlier today I'd considered starting practicing Apparition but given as my INT had still been too low, I'd given it up as a bad idea. Now I'm at 27, and even the recommended INT at the skill is only 25. So here we are.
I focus on the details of the skill. Destination, Determination, Deliberation… I roll the thoughts over and over in my head, trying to feel myself at my target location, another alley like this one street down. I let the skill suffuse me for one moment, two, three… and then I channel Mana, turning swiftly on my heel…
And all but crashing into the wall as I turn too hard. No sound, no sudden feeling of movement… tch.
Okay, let's try this again. I calm my mind, tossing aside any concerns and hesitation. I studied the materials on this already, and there's no reason why this should be problematic. All I need is to focus, and I can just…
"CRACK!" fucking hell that's loud. This time I do slam into the wall, rattling my teeth from the force of it. Looking around, it's a different wall, the one in the alley where I was aiming.
Well then. That was horrific. Let's see if I can make it less so.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The Dimension Door drops me close to start of the running track I decided on today, conveniently draining the last of my MP.
Your Skill Teleportation has gained a level!
Teleportation is now level 14!
All Teleportation skills cost -3.5%
Dismissing the alerts, I swap on my running clothes via the inventory. They're real ones this time, thankfully. Having some money and Clothier's Closet means I can get whatever outfits I need without needing to bother with any shops in the process. Reapplying my illusion at the same time, I jog in place for a few moments to get used to being almost a foot shorter, before I'm finally ready.
Okay, let's go then. Once I start on the jog, I gradually increase my pace, once again Observing everyone I see. The skill's leveling up slowed down a lot over the last day as it increased in level, but I've pushed it to a decent enough level now, I feel. It still doesn't show me any stats, though. I'm starting to think it's reserved for beyond level 50 or something.
Picking up pace in my running, I wait until I see the girl once again. It takes a while, allowing me to get some excellent running in and even pick up a DEX point, but I do see her eventually. Taylor Hebert, fledgling superhero and bullying victim. Running just right to synchronize my speed with hers without making it obvious, I work my way to just ahead of her, before slowing down and falling in a holding pattern.
I considered my approach here for a long time yesterday, wondering how to approach her and talk without giving the game away… and in the end what I managed to come up with was… well, I cast Glibness on myself, before letting myself trip on and fall in an obvious, goofy pratfall that takes out over 30 HP all at once. It could have broken some bones if it wasn't for Gamer's Body. Lying on the ground with the alert fading away, I wait to see if she comes to my aid, focusing to hold the illusion in place the whole time.
Yeah, turns out I may look awesome and a perk may have given me awesome charisma, at the inside I'm still the same guy who couldn't talk to girls if my life depended on it. Twice over. Funny how that works, isn't it?
For what it's worth, I see her approaching me, even as I start sitting up and moving around obviously enough to ensure a crowd doesn't form.
Looking at me, she winces slightly, before asking hesitantly "Are… are you alright?"
I give her a somewhat pained smile, before hobbling straight. "Yeah, miss. I just tripped on something, I guess."
A few of the other people who were coming closer break off upon seeing me upright again, and I smile at Taylor. "Er, you wouldn't mind helping me to that bench over there, would you? I think I could do with sitting down."
She looks at the stone bench on the other side of the road once, before switching back to me. I can almost see the gears in her head turning, before she just reaches out with one hand.
It's just a short minute before I'm sitting on the bench, and looking at her, she's starting to feel just a bit awkward.
I consider, once more, just casting a Detect Thoughts. It'd make everything so much easier.
But no. I've never been the most moral of persons, but there are limits. It's one thing to do things like that when necessary, quite another to do it just to make a conversation more convenient.
"Thanks for the help, miss. Er… I'm Amar."
She hesitates a bit, looking at me and back at the track, before resolving herself with a small shrug of her shoulders. "I'm Taylor. Taylor Hebert." She expands, before shrinking slightly. Gods, she's painfully shy. I'd say something, but I remember a little tale about stones and glass houses I read somewhere.
"Well, thanks for this. I think I saw you run here yesterday too? Do you run every day?"
Blinking in surprise for a moment, she stares at me for a moment, before seeming to finally place me in her head.
Then she realizes that I'm still waiting for an answer and starts in a hurry. "Oh, yes. I saw you too, I run daily, so I can get fit for… er, school."
I nod excitedly, before thinking up something to answer before she gets the idea to get back to her running. "Oh, nice. Are you trying for the track team?" I eventually manage to say after a couple seconds.
She recoils as if struck. What did I say? Glibness makes it so everything I say comes across as much more convincing and confident, but it still doesn't tell me what to say.
"No, I'm just trying to get more athletic in general, I guess."
I have a personal rule that if the words 'Oh, that's nice' ever get uttered, that should be the end of the conversation. And yet, there's nothing else that comes to mind. After a second of thinking, I manage to say "Well, that's very nice. That's what I was doing too, before I planted my face into the ground like an idiot."
And that, somehow, seems to break the ice.
We talk for another few minutes, remaining with safe subjects like running, athletics and whatnot. I assure her I'll be okay after a day and tell her I should be here tomorrow.
Once she's running off, I shoot off another Observe.
Taylor Hebert
Student/Budding Superhero
Parahuman
Level 13
Taylor Hebert is a young woman troubled by bullies in her school life and a depressed father in her home life. Alone and feeling opposed by the world, Taylor has been taking solace in the prospects of becoming a superhero in the Bay.
The recent meeting with another running enthusiast has filled Taylor with a strange feeling of friendliness, but she doesn't expect it to last long once she returns to school.
Status: Occupied in exercise.
Mental Status: Depressed, Isolated, Borderline Suicidal
Well, that's… something, I guess?
The rest of the day goes by almost identically to yesterday, apart from, y'know, the whole 'gang skirmish in the open' thing. I repair things at Rajveer's shop for the first half of the day and use the money to pick up a collection of skill books afterwards, focusing on martial arts this time. I did medical the day before and things like languages and artsy things yesterday, but it's high time I get some leveling of combat ability.
Picking up manuals on every martial art that was to be found in the store, I consider buying some gym equipment. I managed to scrape up another point of STR last night after my hospital tours, but it was almost painfully slow compared to the first night. And it'll only get slower from here, I'm guessing.
But gym equipment is big and heavy. Unless I'm prepared to move the items into inventory right there in the shop and out myself spectacularly, it's not really going to work out. Heh, 'work out'. The typical way people do it is to get the delivered, but I don't have any idea when I'll be home to receive a delivery.
Oh well. It's not like I don't have other things to grind in its place. I push teleports as far and fast as I can, invisibly Apparating or using Dimension Door into the horizon over a dozen times. Once I manage to find a suitably isolated area out in the ocean, I just… let go. For the first time since I've been here, I manage to move the needle on my evocation and elemental skills, testing out some of the fire and water jutsu, tossing a few Lightning Bolt spells into the open ocean… it's all very therapeutic. Managed to get underwater and unload that explosion in my inventory too, so that's another thing scratched off the list.
Once back home I spend the whole day once again immersed in my HP and Naruto archives, proceeding through several years of education in the Harry Potter world and across wide areas of training in Naruto terms. I can finally jump, hop and basically do whatever I want on the surface of the water, and my Mana Control skill additionally reduces the MP costs of each spell I cast by 0.25% every level. It's kind of a weird and slow progression, but it's what I have.
Once it's night outside I go on my usual tours, this time venturing further than ever. The Create Food and Water spell creates 45 pounds of food per casting, and I found that when I dumped half a dozen castings' worth in just a few of the nearby shelters and soup kitchens, a fair bit of it was actually getting wasted! In a soup kitchen!
My regular Scourgify castings have cleaned up basically all of the alleys within three blocks of my house by now and moving further and further out into the docks and the areas around, I continue to cast it everywhere, enjoying the way all the trash and filth vanishes into nothing, leaving entire roads looking like Mr Clean was just at them.
I've even started to follow it up with some repair work by now, fixing random cars and items with Reparo, Mending and Make Whole spells, conjuring some stone to fill in potholes, and in general doing what I can to leave things looking just a touch prettier all along.
What's weird is that people seem to be starting to recognize my blue form by now as I roam around in the night. There aren't many of them, but here and there I get someone who waves at me when I go by.
Thankfully the staff at the actual hospitals don't seem to be any wiser. I conjured an actual lab coat before stepping out this time, complete with a fake ID that looks nothing like my normal 'Amar' form, and all the nurses and everyone seem to just be glad that their service finally seems to be making a difference. I do take care to spread out my work among over a dozen hospitals, so no one place ends up emptied out overnight, so that might be one of the reasons.
I mean, I know it's risky, but at the risk of sounding painfully sappy… how can I not step in when I can? And so I spend the night, moving through Children's Cancer units, tossing around as many castings of Remove Disease as I can before switching to the trauma wards to practice some of the Harry Potter spells and some Iryojutsu, all to power-level that Healing skill and maybe push the needle a smidgen towards hope in this endless, grinding nightmare of a world.
Mind you, it's not that no one at the hospitals has noticed anything me. Twice in the night I end up having to fudge around with Glibness, and one time I'm even forced talk my way out of getting noticed without it when a nurse notices me while I'm low on mana. But apparently, I do well enough that I create the Diplomacy and Bluff skills, so that's a plus. It's not like there's a choice here, I can't exactly go around casting Confundus charms on hospital staff.
It's a pretty long night, all in all, before I'm done. Managed to push Healing to 35, but it weighs on my mind to see the sheer numbers of the sick and the injured.
Once back home, I can't summon the energy to bother with grinding any physical stats this time. It's still several hours before I need to be at the track again, so for the first time since arriving into this world, I stumble into the bedroom and just let myself fall onto the bed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Name: Amar Keshav Chandra
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: None
Level: 3
Stats
STR 23
CON 20
DEX 23
INT 28
WIS 17
CHA 38
Stat Points Available: 0
HP: 440/440
Full Recovery Period: 68.75 minutes
MP: 400/400
Full Recovery Period: 52.63 minutes
Skills
Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max
Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a Game.
Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological status effects.
Observe [Basic] (Active) LV 34 Exp: 18.13%
A skill to find the target's information. Observe is obtained and improved through continuous observation.
Creation [Basic] (Active) LV 28 Exp: 88.43%
The ability to create things with magic.
Divination [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic pertaining to information.
Illusion [Basic] (Active) LV 21 Exp: 9.80%
The ability to use Illusion based magic.
Healing [Basic] (Active) LV 36 Exp: 4.37%
The ability to heal others.
Transmutation [Basic] (Active) LV 11 Exp: 17.93%
The ability to turn transmute things with magic.
Universal [Basic] (Active) LV 12 Exp: 1.94%
The ability to wield spells that do not fall under other classifications.
Unarmed Combat Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight without using weapons.
Bladed Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Bladed Weapons.
Ranged Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Ranged Weapons.
Pyromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 9 Exp: 10.36%
The ability to wield Fire based magic.
Hydromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 7 Exp: 4.12%
The ability to wield Water based magic.
Electromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 6 Exp: 7.82%
The ability to wield Lightning based magic.
Evocation [Basic] (Active) LV 8 Exp: 9.30%
The ability to utilize directly offensive magic.
Telekinesis [Basic] (Active) LV 9 Exp: 11.00%
The ability to move things without physical contact.
Teleport [Basic] (Active) LV 13 Exp: 18.46%
The ability to move further than humanly possible in an instant.
Bluff [Basic] (Passive) LV 2 Exp: 1.64%
The ability to lie, deceive and otherwise trick others.
Diplomacy [Basic] (Passive) LV 1 Exp: 95.96%
The ability to convince, charm and otherwise play well with other people.
Geomancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Earth based magic.
Aeromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Wind based magic.
Summoning [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to summon other creatures and beings with magic.
Abjuration [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Defensive Magic.
Mind Magic [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 2.17%
The ability to use magic to affect minds.
Necromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Death based magic.
Feats: Silent Spell
Perks
Comic Book Pretty: You look like a Model, airbrushed to perfection in all circumstances. CHA +100%
Man of Mystery: You wear mystery like a stylish cloak. Provides Immunity to all abilities based on Supernatural Perception.
Special Snowflake: Provides Immunity to all hostile actions/skills/powers targeted at your powers/skills.
Beneficial Case 53: +5 to all non-mental stats
Powers:
Hope Empowerment 9: Provides Bonuses to all Stats, Skills and powers based on ambient Hope and Hope induced by you.
LOCKED
LOCKED
LOCKED
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: None
Level: 3
Stats
STR 23
CON 20
DEX 23
INT 28
WIS 17
CHA 38
Stat Points Available: 0
HP: 440/440
Full Recovery Period: 68.75 minutes
MP: 400/400
Full Recovery Period: 52.63 minutes
Skills
Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max
Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a Game.
Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological status effects.
Observe [Basic] (Active) LV 34 Exp: 18.13%
A skill to find the target's information. Observe is obtained and improved through continuous observation.
Creation [Basic] (Active) LV 28 Exp: 88.43%
The ability to create things with magic.
Divination [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic pertaining to information.
Illusion [Basic] (Active) LV 21 Exp: 9.80%
The ability to use Illusion based magic.
Healing [Basic] (Active) LV 36 Exp: 4.37%
The ability to heal others.
Transmutation [Basic] (Active) LV 11 Exp: 17.93%
The ability to turn transmute things with magic.
Universal [Basic] (Active) LV 12 Exp: 1.94%
The ability to wield spells that do not fall under other classifications.
Unarmed Combat Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight without using weapons.
Bladed Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Bladed Weapons.
Ranged Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Ranged Weapons.
Pyromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 9 Exp: 10.36%
The ability to wield Fire based magic.
Hydromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 7 Exp: 4.12%
The ability to wield Water based magic.
Electromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 6 Exp: 7.82%
The ability to wield Lightning based magic.
Evocation [Basic] (Active) LV 8 Exp: 9.30%
The ability to utilize directly offensive magic.
Telekinesis [Basic] (Active) LV 9 Exp: 11.00%
The ability to move things without physical contact.
Teleport [Basic] (Active) LV 13 Exp: 18.46%
The ability to move further than humanly possible in an instant.
Bluff [Basic] (Passive) LV 2 Exp: 1.64%
The ability to lie, deceive and otherwise trick others.
Diplomacy [Basic] (Passive) LV 1 Exp: 95.96%
The ability to convince, charm and otherwise play well with other people.
Geomancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Earth based magic.
Aeromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Wind based magic.
Summoning [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to summon other creatures and beings with magic.
Abjuration [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Defensive Magic.
Mind Magic [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 2.17%
The ability to use magic to affect minds.
Necromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Death based magic.
Feats: Silent Spell
Perks
Comic Book Pretty: You look like a Model, airbrushed to perfection in all circumstances. CHA +100%
Man of Mystery: You wear mystery like a stylish cloak. Provides Immunity to all abilities based on Supernatural Perception.
Special Snowflake: Provides Immunity to all hostile actions/skills/powers targeted at your powers/skills.
Beneficial Case 53: +5 to all non-mental stats
Powers:
Hope Empowerment 9: Provides Bonuses to all Stats, Skills and powers based on ambient Hope and Hope induced by you.
LOCKED
LOCKED
LOCKED
Well? I've been told that the first Taylor conversation is one of the litmus tests of a good OC or SI, so please, tell me how it was! Tried to make it as awkward and stilted as a forced conversation between two people, neither of whom have any real skill in the matter, might be, so…
Oh, and let me know about the other things too. Am I inserting too many 'Gamer' bits? Too little? How is the first person perspective working? Or anything else you feel like commenting on, too.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Thanks for the chapter! I think it came out well; it didn't feel too mech heavy or too light. The conversation with Taylor was pretty good, though I think she would be a bit more shy about meeting someone new, or maybe just a bit more awkward? Either way, not by too much (aside from the fact that she might choose not to go and help at all). The scene felt fairly realistic, and I liked the note in the observe that she didn't feel it would last.
Quite good in an awkward way. The choice to first talk to her as a random clumsy person rather than 'in costume' as a Cape is rather interesting.
blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
True... I wanted to convey that Amar isn't really all that better a talker or more confident a person himself. He has the CHA score, but it's all skin-deep.
- Location
- United States
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Out of curiosity, does using Henge then lower his charisma while in use?
blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
Not really. The CHA forces him to use a superstar tier Henge.
Like... Indian people are friendly, but we don't normally invite people to dinner literally minutes after we meet them, if you know what I mean.
Last edited:
Chapter 3
blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
"Hey, Taylor" I say in with moderate excitement, once I approach the girl standing by the side of the running track.
"Hey" she says right back, smiling just a bit, painfully hesitant. The girl looks somewhat better than she did yesterday, but that's not saying much. She still has circles around her eyes, an overall downcast look, and shoulders slumped like the weight of the universe is upon them.
"So, your foot okay now?" she asks me, moving slowly towards the bench we talked on yesterday.
I nod, running in place for a moment to show off. "Yeah. I rested it for most of yesterday, right as rain today. Hell, I was faster today!" I continue in the fake excitement. Truthfully, I'd seen her looking at me when I passed her a few minutes ago, but that's not the kind of thing one points out.
"I know, I saw you when you passed me." Well, unless the other party is going to do it.
"Oh, I guess you did. Anyway, it was nice to get back out after spending a whole day stumbling along with a sprain…" I deflect just a bit. Truthfully, I'm trying to see how I might maneuver the conversation so I can end up in a position to help the girl out without showing up to the track anymore. Nice as it feels to run in the morning air, I didn't gain a single DEX point today despite running much faster and longer than yesterday, and I get the feeling I'm not going to anymore. I need proper gear, treadmills and the like, before I can get my DEX leveling going again.
Anyway, getting back to Taylor… they good thing is that I managed to scrape together some time to do some research on her. And it revealed a workable avenue to use in order to er… whatever I'm doing with her. Manage her depression? That works.
"Say, Taylor, is your mother's name Annette Hebert?"
She jerks up in surprise. Fear flashes through her eyes for a moment, before surprise and anger. Eventually she settles on wariness.
"Yes…" she trails off, prodding me for info. Well, that bit of Glibness yesterday at the Town Hall paid for itself, then.
"Right, so I think my family knew yours for a bit a while back! I thought your name looked familiar, and my mom taught at the same place as yours for a bit!"
"Oh." She looks surprised at that. As she should. The records now say that Sumati Chandra taught a foreign languages course at the same university as Annette Hebert had, but it took some work.
"Yeah. As I understand they weren't best friends or anything, but they knew each other fairly well."
She just nods, seemingly lost in memories. Eventually she speaks up, visibly struggling with herself.
"What does she say about her? I'm sorry, it's been such a long time, I'd just like to…" she trails off, hesitant and struggling with herself. For a moment, the sheer sadness in her tone bites at me. What the fuck kind of scummy thing am I doing here, anyway?
… right. Literally saving her from herself. 'Borderline Suicidal'. The tag on her status says. I'm not sure how much of me is Amar Chandra, but however much it is, I remember what that feels like. I remember what it felt like to cross that 'borderline' and go through with it, too. If we're still in contact when she's no longer in danger of taking a blade to her wrists, she can slap me silly for the lying if she wants.
"She's not… ah, around anymore." I mumble out with a sadness that is surprisingly easy to fake. It hurts when I think about Amar's mother, that's for sure.
And just like that, I see her breaking, to see the internal recoiling, shrinking into herself at having touched the same nerve that has to have been hurting her for years now. She falls silent for a moment, before opening her mouth again with copious hesitation.
"Sorry, I… I didn't know."
I smile a wan smile. This is the delicate bit, where this whole thing gets either sewn up securely or shot to hell. "No, of course you didn't. Relax, it happened a long time ago." I say easily, keeping a deliberately fake tone in my voice.
She remains as she was, head bowed. I say again. "It is okay, Taylor. You don't have to feel guilty here. We literally just met yesterday. You're not expected to know things about me."
At the reminder she perks up just a little, smiling tentatively. "I guess…"
"We talk for a few more minutes, mostly just me tying off the end and preparing ground for the future. Then she's back to her running, and I'm heading back home.
Maybe if I scrub myself enough times, the slime will wash off.
Maybe.
Once the talk with Taylor is done with, the rest of the day goes by much the same way the last few have, falling rather neatly into the pattern. About the only unusual thing that shows up is that there seem to be more people than ever, showing up to get things fixed. Not by a lot, it's not a crowd or anything, but it's another of those little hints that tell me I'd best quit this pretty quickly now.
The first day there were maybe a dozen or so people, and just about the same on the second. Yesterday we had twice that number, and by the time I'm done and leaving at lunchtime today, I've fixed well over fifty pieces, pocketing a cool five hundred bucks from here.
Added to the five thousand from the ABB drop… I don't think I'll need to keep bothering with this after this weekend, give or take.
Speaking of the ABB… there are disturbing rumors I've been picking up. Evidently there's a… Farm of sorts, which they're expanding? There have been girls going missing in the past couple days from ABB controlled areas. The state of this fucking world and this fucking city is that such disappearances are far from an unheard-of thing, but they seem to be picking up… another thing to look into later, I decide with a shrug.
Once free from the shop, I grind for most of the rest of the day, pushing all my elemental skills by several levels each, pushing Mana Control a whole lot, along with a few other nifty skills here and there, all while remaining invisible, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I basically teleported to yesterday's spot, and a dozen jumps to the horizon from that point. Pushed Teleport several levels too, so that's nice.
I can now apparate entirely silently, with or without conserving momentum, from any position into any position. Haven't tried taking along anyone with me, but that's not exactly what I'd call possible right now.
Still, my skills are rapidly approaching the point where I'd be comfortable actually donning a costume and stepping out properly. Not quite there just yet, not if I can help it, but close. I guess part of it is still the sheer ridiculousness of the idea of me as a superhero. Me, who got told I would never amount to anything beyond average in life and took it as a comforting idea that I'd at least be average.
But such are the cards that have been dealt, and it's time to start playing them.
Once my 'outdoors' grinding is done it's back to diving into my mental archives while working on my Mana Control further. This time it's through some of the more advanced ANBU techniques that the archive revealed last night, high level tricks they use to train low level medics and sensors… complicated stuff. It's things like pouring a bottle of ink into the water, and then separating the two fluids, like oil and water are separated, using only chakra.
But advanced or not, by now I'm set in a pattern with that, and goes as steadily as it ever has.
Come nighttime, it's back to wandering the streets, healing, cleaning up the roads, and all the rest. By now I've started getting a decent handle on the HP spells, and I might even be getting ready to try out the whole Iryojutsu thing again sometime soon once my Mana Control gets there.
And so, two days pass. The pattern is deceptively comfortable, and with every passing day my powers grow a bit more. By the eighth of April, I have the city mapped and can apparate from any point to another, silently and invisibly, at a moment's notice. My total healing figures keep ticking upwards, and a surprise shows up at Friday night, when the Novice Healer title pops up for having had a hundred 'successes' in the field.
By this point the hospitals almost certainly know that something's up, and I move my operations further and further out, switching over partly to some of the smaller towns near the Bay instead of within the city itself.
Here again, there's the same weird… presence of the Asian mobs, and the murmurs that tend to circulate. Disgusting habits among the high and mighty of the towns, sated among certain facilities controlled by the Dragon's people. Rumors of escaped sex-slaves, girls and even boys, frequently Asian themselves but all too often from poor Caucasian families.
It's all the kind of things that one used to hear about from remote villages in Bangladesh or Serbia in my previous life, only it seems to be happening on the East Coast of the United fucking States in this world. I When I can I try and spare a few hours to find something more concrete on these rumors, but try as I might, there's nothing. And there's only so much time and effort I can dedicate to rumors.
On my other humanitarian front, my efforts to supply food are boosted and enhanced dramatically once my Harry Potter skills catch up, and I can use the spells to expand every batch I produce to over twice its size. More than that, I can transfigure and conjure blankets, clothes, all things like that to more effectively help out.
On the Taylor front things proceed much more slowly, unfortunately. It probably says something that I manage to enhance the situation of the homeless and poor in the city by an order of magnitude before I start making any tangible progress in getting the girl to talk about her problems, but there's only so much one can do with fifteen minutes in the morning. It's probably for the best to keep this slow and steady, too.
But before very long it's Saturday, the 9th of April, and I'm contemplating finally quitting things at the shop. I have a really, really generous collection of Skill Books I'd like to go through, I have money to get more, and in general, I've grown sick and tired of the fucking crowds thronging the shop for repair work. It was fun at first, and I can still pick up a level or two of Transmutation every day, but it's become fuckin' boring.
That's what brings me to talk to the Chopras here in the morning, when we'd normally be heading to the shop.
"So what did you want to talk about, Amar?" Nikita asks me, smiling wide.
"About the shop, Mrs. Chopra. I think I know what I'd like to be doing now, and it really is becoming rather…"
"Obvious?" Rajveer's voice volunteers, before he comes in with his tea. They know better than to offer it to me by now, I couldn't abide it in my past lives, and I can't abide it in this one. But that's irrelevant compared to what he just said.
I jerk up in an instant, as the word and its implications ring in my ears.
"Obvious?" I ask, hoping against hope.
"Well yes, dear. I'll admit, I didn't buy it when the notion was first floated to me, but lately…" he continues as if it's a done deal.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I say as flatly as I can.
"Amar. You've working with us for five days. You've done more work than the last dozen people I hired before you. You have, personally, fixed close to a thousand pieces. That's two hundred a day."
"I work fast. You know I take a lot of them home to fix." At least I pretend to. Mostly they sit in my inventory till the next day.
"Two hundred, Amar. Someone ran the numbers. It's theoretically possible for someone to do that, but if you're that good you could make hundreds of times the money working for the company. What tripped me up was that from everything we've heard, powers are rather more… shall we say, 'destructive' than that."
I guess I have made it a touch too obvious. Before I can say anything, Nikita leans in again.
"Now listen. There's another matter. There are… rumors going around, here in the neighborhood."
Ah. This time I might have an idea what they're talking about.
"What rumors?" I ask, knowing the answer already.
"About a man, a tall blue-skinned man who wanders the night. He heals the sick and the injured they say, those poor folks who lie drugged and drunk, and his touch has removed diseases from dozens of people. Alleys are left clean; roads and cars are repaired… it's as if these streets have their own guardian angel."
Yeah, that's about what I figured, too. I can only be glad they haven't yet-
"And Rajveer got an X-ray yesterday."
… okay, now I might be in trouble.
I sit still, as the man in question rises and pulls out two envelopes from a cupboard. Laying them down on the table, he pulls out a diagram from each of them.
"This is how my lungs were a month ago." He points to one, depicting a set of lungs choking on tar and cancer. "This is how they were yesterday." He points to the second one, to a set that could have belonged to Alexandria for how perfectly healthy they are.
Yeah… I was expecting as much. I'd just wanted all this to last a couple more days, till I was confident I'd gotten smart enough.
On the other hand, I have leveled up Bluff a fair chunk.
"That's amazing, Rajveer! So the mystery healer person cured you too?" I ask, as delightedly as I can. I see them look at each other exasperatedly, before turning back to me.
"Amar, these rumors started about a day after you got here. If you don't want to tell us, that's fine. But please don't insult us." Nikita start again, a slight tone of anger in her voice.
Ah. Chips are falling.
I've considered what to say in this situation, and no matter what, it just doesn't seem like the best idea to go with telling them the unvarnished truth. It's nothing on them, but three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead, and I don't want these people dead.
And yet… that was the kind of thing I needed to figure out before tossing those spells at Rajveer, wasn't it?
"I don't know what you expect me to say here. If I did have something to do with any mysterious blue figures, I'm sure you wouldn't expect me to go about bragging of it." I pause, doing my best to look both of them in the eyes. I will them to understand, to get how delicate and potentially dangerous a situation this is.
"…nevermind. You wanted to talk about leaving the shop?" Rajveer eventually speaks up.
Hallelujah. I don't know what they're thinking and I don't want to know, but if we can just avoid the complicated conversation… "Yes, about that…"
Five minutes later, leaving their house, I use my much-grinded Observe skill at both.
I wince slightly at the final line in Nikita's status. I mean, fair enough, but ouch. Something seems to have been broken here, something I value. An invisible bond that was halfway through forming.
Oh well.
Having ripped off that particular bandage, I'm free to finally get started on some real, proper work. I have hundreds of skill books lying about covering everything from body language, linguistics, to coding and engineering.
What the hell's up with these flies?
It's several hours after I met up with Nikita and Rajveer, since I pulled the whole bullshit act on them. I ate over five hundred skill-books in the time, creating about half a dozen new skills and boosting my existing skills by a bunch of levels.
But at a point, I just got tired of the process. It's not noticeable if you do a few at a time, but consuming skill books does stress my mind just a tad stressed with everyone that I do. After five hundred, I started feeling like I'd been awake several hours too long.
It's better now, once I came here into the market and started just window-shopping a bit. I want to get a phone, maybe a laptop and some other stuff so I can start putting all the skills I've acquired to some use. I did some research way back on the first day I came here, and a little bit more in the days between about specific topics, but most of that was just using Glibness or Read Thoughts on employees to get in and out of places, look up things and other stuff like that.
I haven't had time to do proper research. Dig up the important details about the gangs of the bay, their heavy hitters, their territories… I imagine I need to know a lot of things if I'm to start actively operating as a hero instead of just donating stuff and healing in the night. Hell, even that's been getting complicated lately. I found some people trying to follow me around the other night.
All that ends up with me here, in the Lord's Market. Looking through, I've been past this area dozens of times in the last few days, but I never bothered to just y'know, look around. Every time I was here I was just hunting down one bookstore after another, otherwise headed to or from something specific. Now I'm… browsing.
Or I would be, if these fucking flies would leave me alone. I don't even know what happened. I was just fine earlier, but a few minutes ago I noticed one of the buzzing close to me. I swat that one, continued looking, and there was another just seconds later! It's as if they're following me. I feel like Morty from that Squirrel episode. It's a conspiracy!
But not one I can't deal with.
One Repel Vermin later, I'm free to continue moving around, looking at stuff. Having finally found an acceptable phone and laptop, I pay for both, add on a full plan for the internet and the rest, and that's that.
But it's not the end for my quest today! Another thing I need to buy is gym equipment! My Stat leveling has completely stalled in the last few days, and I need some high-quality equipment to get it started again.
Making my way to the shop I notice that the fucking vermin are still trying to come to me! Repel Vermin makes a ten feet barrier around me that they can't cross without taking damage, but even now I see the odd insect trying to get in. The damage the barrier delivers is killing them as soon as they touch it, but why the fuck are they…
Oh.
I pause right in the middle of the street, as a distinctly unpleasant notion develops in my mind.
Slowly walking to the side, I feel my mind spinning as I weigh the merit of the notion. I never did find out what Taylor's power is. Observe didn't tell me, and I couldn't very well ask her without telling her that I know she has powers. Our rapport might get good enough to survive that with a few days more of work, but I don't feel it's there right now.
Well, it'd better be that good now, hadn't it? I consider the possibilities again, here. Could I be overreacting? Considering that there are still insects flying in a seemingly random pattern into the denial zone created by Repel Vermin, only to write and die as they do… not much of a fucking chance.
Could it be some other parahuman? Not likely. I may not have in-depth info, but I've done some basic research into the powers of the heroes and villains of the Bay, and no one has insect powers.
And most importantly, I can't imagine any parahuman who'd have a reason to try and follow me who isn't Taylor. And… Locate Person confirms, she's nearby.
Shit.
Well, nothing for it. I apparate, silent and invisible, to about ten meters away from where she's standing around near a bus-stop by the side of the road, at a cross-section. Gaseous Form allows me to approach close without any chance of being noticed, until I can take a look into the shopping bag she's holding. Belts, lenses, and some clothing accessories, like a few spare rubber straps.
Exactly the kind of things one might need to, say, put together a superhero costume. But how could she know the time when I'd be here so well that she could time her shopping to it? I see her panicking ever so slightly now, so she's not much of a mastermind…
And then I look at the location again. I passed this place, not twenty minutes ago. Could it really be that it was a coincidence? That she saw me passing by and instead of like, calling my name or waving like a normal fucking person, she sent bugs at me?
Well, there's one way to know for absolutely certain.
"Oh, Taylor!" I call out, stepping into her field of vision with a light smile on my lips.
It dies when I see her expression. In an instant I see her cycle through guilt, fear, and amazement, before settling on anger.
"Ah." I let out. Well, there goes that possibility.
"What the fuck, Amar?"
"What?" I ask, as light as I can. She's about to say something vitriolic in response, but then she looks around, before swallowing noisily.
"Taylor, would you like to talk, maybe? Possibly in the library?"
Take the hint, please…
Narrowing her eyes even more suspiciously at me, she nods, before we step away.
It takes us several minutes to get to the place, and throughout that time I can feel her glaring at the back of my head. I set off an Observe anyway.
Hoo boy. That title's new, at least. I stopped Observing her for the last few days since I was getting tired of being unable to do anything about the 'suicidal' tag, so I'm not sure when it appeared exactly… and I have bigger problems right now.
Settling into a chair near the back of the library, as far away from the computers as I can manage, I ask. "Well?"
She all but explodes at me. "Well? That's all you have to say?"
"I'm not sure what you want me to say, Taylor. Yes, I have powers. Yes, I know that you do too. My powers are how I knew you have powers too."
The bluntness seems to catch her off-guard for a moment. I take the opportunity to cast Glibness on myself, to go with the Eagle's Splendor I cast earlier.
"And was that why you decided to talk to me? It was, wasn't it? Was all that about mom just bullshit?" she whispers heatedly. I can see slight specks of wetness on the corners of her eyes at this point, too.
You know those sayings about how 'The truth shall set you free' or 'Honesty is the best policy?' yeah, I always thought they were bullshit.
"What? No! Of course not!" I respond as heatedly as I can myself, acting as offended as I can.
"What, then? How do you explain all… this?"
"Listen, Taylor. I came to this city about a week ago. A couple days after I arrived, I met you. As soon as we met, I knew you were a parahuman. I also knew that it would be really, really stupid to just stroll up to you and tell you 'hey, I have a power too! Wanna team up?'. Or are you telling me you would've responded well to that?"
The grimace on her face is all the response I need.
"So, I waited. My mother did teach at the same place as yours, and she had mentioned you before. I thought I'd get to know you, figure out if we could be a team or not, and then tell you!" I finish with an emphasis on then.
Looking at her, I see the whirlwind in her mind. She's considering whether or not to believe me, what the odds are… or she might be pondering a noodles recipe, but I think it's the former. Still not going to use Legilimency casually.
Eventually, she just stands up from her place.
"Taylor?"
"Just… don't talk to me right now. And don't try to find me on the track tomorrow. I'll find you if I want to talk to you."
Tch. Observe.
I… that was not what I meant when I told I wanted to see if we would make a good team or not.
On the other hand, is the Mental Status… I check the reading again. Yup, it's gone. Well, this was not how I meant for it to happen, but it seems my work here is done.
Thankfully, no other surprises come into my life for the rest of the day. I do some more of my Teleport leveling, some practicing of the elemental techniques and all the other usuals. Even at night, now that I'm healing in hospitals towns away, things go fairly low key.
One thing of note that does happen is that Neha Chopra, the daughter of my neighbors they've been going on and on about, finally arrives from Boston. I didn't notice when exactly it was that she arrived, but I did notice it when she had a shouting match with her mother for some reason or another while I was trying to figure out permanent Conjuration of metal and how I could use it with my budding Kunai throwing skills. Ah, a mother and daughter screaming their heads off at each other, interspersed with telling the other to calm down before the neighbors hear. I'm practically home again.
The 9th of April passes thus and come Sunday I'm mostly busy doing the same things that I was doing over the week. Finally, I managed to make my way through enough of the Hogwarts and Shinobi curriculums for it to be practical, having mastered enough of a variety of skills that I no longer feel like I'm jumping in half-cocked. I even started on a costume! It's weirdly difficult to work on anything related to crafting or enchantment, I've noticed when trying it. Some of the Hogwarts spells involved enchanting objects permanently or semi-permanently, and while I could do it, it seemed like the ability was… resisting me somehow. As if I'm no supposed to do any of that just yet.
Don't know what that's about, but I'll figure it out. It's morning right now, and I'm stepping out to get started with the day.
Stepping out, I take the chance to just walk about some, take in the changes around the street. In the past several days I was taking pains to not do anything particularly dramatic here, on these streets, until I realized that was making the neighborhood stand out in its own way. I gave it the treatment last night while making it as subtle as I could, but even so, changes that improve things always visibly improve things. It's how the whole idea works.
Still, it's pleasant to look at it and find something so much more pleasant than what I saw a week ago. Several of the multiple-feet deep potholes are gone, the grime on the walls is nonexistent, bits of exposed wiring that used to be in evidence everywhere are tucked in… little things, but I like to imagine they matter.
Looking at the way children are playing at the street, I take in a moment just to breathe in, luxuriating in the fact that the smell on the street is actually fairly pleasant for once. None of the rot and urban decay that suffused the air just yesterday, replaced instead with the more common smells of a city, Indian cooking, and just… people.
Speaking of people, I find my gaze pausing at someone coming down the other way. She looks good, beautiful and vibrant in the way so many people around here just… aren't. That's probably because she hasn't been living inside America's asshole. Looking at her again, I'm sure. That's Neha Chopra, the daughter Rajveer and Nikita have gone on and on and on about in the last few weeks.
I move my gaze away just in time before she looks up and sees me, turning to look straight ahead, picking up pace just a bit.
But she pauses herself for several moments, while I come closer to her on the other side of the road. It's just after I've passed her that I hear her turning around, before she walks more quickly.
I wait till she stops in front of me, smiling brightly.
"Hey, Amar, right?" Neha Chopra asks me with a smile.
I smile right back "Yeah, that's me. You must be Neha?"
She laughs. "Ah, my reputation precedes me?"
I just drawl. "Something like that."
"Well, I've heard a lot about you too!" Aand it just got complicated. Did they tell their daughter, just like that? What the fuck happened to knowing to keep one's mouth shut?
"Oh?"
"Yeah! I got in touch with some friends, and they were all talking about the new guy at dad's place who could fix anything!"
…ah. That's moderately better, but only moderately. Honestly, I can already tell that the shop thing is going to become a problem. I should have quit a long time before yesterday. Or alternatively, I should've paced myself from the beginning. But I was enjoying it, dammit.
"Oh, you know people. They'll say anything." I note dismissively.
It's entirely clear that she doesn't buy it, but she doesn't say anything.
"So, I heard you're a lawyer now! Which field did you specialize in?" I try to change the subject. I've known very few good students who could resist talking about their studies, especially once they graduate.
"Parahuman Law, actually." She says, with a mysterious smile on her lips.
Well, fuck.
We talk for a few more moments, basically her trying to assess me and me trying to escape, before finally breaking apart.
For the next minute my speed slows down to a crawl as I consider the encounter. Does she know after all? Was she trying to test me, or try to elicit a reaction… or, as ridiculous as the idea might be, it could be that she just trying to be nice to a neighbor? I swear, this world is turning me into a paranoiac.
Not that it's not warranted at times, I conclude, looking at a certain car parked across the street about five hundred meters from mine and the Chopras' house. The car isn't the issue. The people inside however… they look the very picture of innocence, perfectly harmless people just talking to each other in a parked car.
The problem is, I've seen both of them before now. I saw them not five days ago, when they were in the middle of a full-fledged gang skirmish against the Merchants.
I consider acting. Certainly, a few spells would go a long way in making life hell for them. The problem is, this is my street. Something happens here, I might as well put up a neon signboard on my door announcing all the details of my power.
And it's not like they're doing anything particularly nefarious. They seem to be talking about a picture one of them has on their phone, talking excitedly about… her measurements?
Oh, fuck this. Boys will be boys, even ABB vermin.
Hours later, the sun is setting on the tenth of April, and I've just gotten done with today's bout of 'training wildly destructive techniques in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean'. I'm just about ready to get back home, rest up for a few hours and then step out for my healing rounds for tonight.
I channel a bit of mana to further harden the surface of the ocean I'm standing on, turn on my heel, and Apparate straight to the alley behind my house.
Okay, then. Just stroll in, get some quick rest, and it's onto the streets again…what the actual fuck?
I look at the street, then turning to look at my house to make sure I'm at the right place. Yeah, it is my house and my street, but then… the first thing that hits me is the complete, absolute silence. Every house has its door closed; every window barred up. No children are playing on the street, and no one is even moving about. It's like I'm in a ghost town.
I fixed the streetlights on this entire street last night, but several of them are broken again. And there's bullet casings on the ground, but not a single drop of blood anywhere, and no bullet holes in any wall. Fired into the air, then. And judging by the number of casings, not a few bullets. People rolled up and fired automatics into the air until anyone and everyone who might have been on the street ran and hid in their homes.
The first notion that occurs to me is that someone's tracked me down. Did Taylor do this somehow? Unlikely. Not PRT behavior. But then… my thoughts are interrupted by a single, keening wail that erupts, an ordinary human voice but screaming with everything it has.
A female voice.
Nikita Chopra's voice.
A moment later, I'm at their door. I consider knocking. No time. I teleport right across, stepping in. She's at the floor, wailing her lungs out. Her legs are bleeding, bullets to the kneecaps. Rajveer is lying to the side, a faint smell of acids in the air. Shot through the gut, bleeding out. The room is a disaster, everything thrown about. Half the items in here have been shot up. Examples made before they got started on doing it to the couple. Not out of necessity. For fun.
There's a piece of nail stuck in the doorframe I just came through. A female hand, holding on for everything she had till they pulled her away. Hair scattered on the staircase from when they dragged her by her hair from her room upstairs.
"Mrs Chopra?" I ask as tenderly as I can, kneeling beside the woman.
She screams again, a single scream stretching for several long moments, before she seems to recognize who I am.
"What happened, Nikita?" I ask. I don't need to, since the room tells the tail, but something compels me to.
"They took her! They said they'd been waiting for her, and they took her!"
I don't need to ask. I've heard the stories. But I still do. "Who, Mrs Chopra? Who took her?"
It isn't, surprisingly enough, Nikita Chopra who answers. It's the dying voice of her husband, from the side of the room. "The ABB. Lung's men. They said she'd fetch a good price once they got done with her. They took my daughter!"
I exhale.
It's from a distance that I see someone standing up. He points a hand at Rajveer, and with a thought, the man's injuries are gone. Another gesture, another thought, and Nikita is healed like nothing ever happened to her. They look at themselves in wonderment and then back to him, but he's changing. His form ripples, flickering like a TV in bad weather. It ripples once, twice… and then it's gone entirely.
In its place is the Blue form. Standing taller than before, jaws set, eyes trying to burn a hole into the wall. A family that all but took me in, helped me whenever they could, invited a complete stranger amongst them, a girl who was nothing but nice… and now this happens. I don't bother with raging at any gods. What would the point be?
I've been a fool. All these days, spent sitting and 'practicing', hiding from this world and the ugliness in it. I told myself I was training, preparing for the days I would head out, but at a moment like this I have to ask myself, how much of that was true? Was I preparing, or was I just taking the path of least resistance again, procrastinating and delaying actual action, actual work for as long as I could?
It's something I'm very, very good at, after all. Both my lives, Amar Chandra and the Other, always finding reasons not to do things, always avoiding any piece of work I didn't have to do. But it never hurt anyone before. Not like this. Gods above, never like this.
And it won't ever again.
And that's Chapter 3. Feedback, as said before, remains the fuel this machine runs on.
"Hey" she says right back, smiling just a bit, painfully hesitant. The girl looks somewhat better than she did yesterday, but that's not saying much. She still has circles around her eyes, an overall downcast look, and shoulders slumped like the weight of the universe is upon them.
"So, your foot okay now?" she asks me, moving slowly towards the bench we talked on yesterday.
I nod, running in place for a moment to show off. "Yeah. I rested it for most of yesterday, right as rain today. Hell, I was faster today!" I continue in the fake excitement. Truthfully, I'd seen her looking at me when I passed her a few minutes ago, but that's not the kind of thing one points out.
"I know, I saw you when you passed me." Well, unless the other party is going to do it.
"Oh, I guess you did. Anyway, it was nice to get back out after spending a whole day stumbling along with a sprain…" I deflect just a bit. Truthfully, I'm trying to see how I might maneuver the conversation so I can end up in a position to help the girl out without showing up to the track anymore. Nice as it feels to run in the morning air, I didn't gain a single DEX point today despite running much faster and longer than yesterday, and I get the feeling I'm not going to anymore. I need proper gear, treadmills and the like, before I can get my DEX leveling going again.
Anyway, getting back to Taylor… they good thing is that I managed to scrape together some time to do some research on her. And it revealed a workable avenue to use in order to er… whatever I'm doing with her. Manage her depression? That works.
"Say, Taylor, is your mother's name Annette Hebert?"
She jerks up in surprise. Fear flashes through her eyes for a moment, before surprise and anger. Eventually she settles on wariness.
"Yes…" she trails off, prodding me for info. Well, that bit of Glibness yesterday at the Town Hall paid for itself, then.
"Right, so I think my family knew yours for a bit a while back! I thought your name looked familiar, and my mom taught at the same place as yours for a bit!"
"Oh." She looks surprised at that. As she should. The records now say that Sumati Chandra taught a foreign languages course at the same university as Annette Hebert had, but it took some work.
"Yeah. As I understand they weren't best friends or anything, but they knew each other fairly well."
She just nods, seemingly lost in memories. Eventually she speaks up, visibly struggling with herself.
"What does she say about her? I'm sorry, it's been such a long time, I'd just like to…" she trails off, hesitant and struggling with herself. For a moment, the sheer sadness in her tone bites at me. What the fuck kind of scummy thing am I doing here, anyway?
… right. Literally saving her from herself. 'Borderline Suicidal'. The tag on her status says. I'm not sure how much of me is Amar Chandra, but however much it is, I remember what that feels like. I remember what it felt like to cross that 'borderline' and go through with it, too. If we're still in contact when she's no longer in danger of taking a blade to her wrists, she can slap me silly for the lying if she wants.
"She's not… ah, around anymore." I mumble out with a sadness that is surprisingly easy to fake. It hurts when I think about Amar's mother, that's for sure.
And just like that, I see her breaking, to see the internal recoiling, shrinking into herself at having touched the same nerve that has to have been hurting her for years now. She falls silent for a moment, before opening her mouth again with copious hesitation.
"Sorry, I… I didn't know."
I smile a wan smile. This is the delicate bit, where this whole thing gets either sewn up securely or shot to hell. "No, of course you didn't. Relax, it happened a long time ago." I say easily, keeping a deliberately fake tone in my voice.
She remains as she was, head bowed. I say again. "It is okay, Taylor. You don't have to feel guilty here. We literally just met yesterday. You're not expected to know things about me."
At the reminder she perks up just a little, smiling tentatively. "I guess…"
"We talk for a few more minutes, mostly just me tying off the end and preparing ground for the future. Then she's back to her running, and I'm heading back home.
Maybe if I scrub myself enough times, the slime will wash off.
Having successfully inveigled yourself into another person's confidence for the first time, you have unlocked: Relationship Status!
Your relationship with Taylor Hebert has gained a level! Relationship with Taylor Hebert is now 'Close Acquaintance!'
Your Bluff skill has gained a level!
Your Bluff skill has gained a level!
Your Bluff skill has gained a level!
Bluff is now Level 4!
Your relationship with Taylor Hebert has gained a level! Relationship with Taylor Hebert is now 'Close Acquaintance!'
Your Bluff skill has gained a level!
Your Bluff skill has gained a level!
Your Bluff skill has gained a level!
Bluff is now Level 4!
Maybe.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Once the talk with Taylor is done with, the rest of the day goes by much the same way the last few have, falling rather neatly into the pattern. About the only unusual thing that shows up is that there seem to be more people than ever, showing up to get things fixed. Not by a lot, it's not a crowd or anything, but it's another of those little hints that tell me I'd best quit this pretty quickly now.
The first day there were maybe a dozen or so people, and just about the same on the second. Yesterday we had twice that number, and by the time I'm done and leaving at lunchtime today, I've fixed well over fifty pieces, pocketing a cool five hundred bucks from here.
Added to the five thousand from the ABB drop… I don't think I'll need to keep bothering with this after this weekend, give or take.
Speaking of the ABB… there are disturbing rumors I've been picking up. Evidently there's a… Farm of sorts, which they're expanding? There have been girls going missing in the past couple days from ABB controlled areas. The state of this fucking world and this fucking city is that such disappearances are far from an unheard-of thing, but they seem to be picking up… another thing to look into later, I decide with a shrug.
Once free from the shop, I grind for most of the rest of the day, pushing all my elemental skills by several levels each, pushing Mana Control a whole lot, along with a few other nifty skills here and there, all while remaining invisible, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I basically teleported to yesterday's spot, and a dozen jumps to the horizon from that point. Pushed Teleport several levels too, so that's nice.
I can now apparate entirely silently, with or without conserving momentum, from any position into any position. Haven't tried taking along anyone with me, but that's not exactly what I'd call possible right now.
Still, my skills are rapidly approaching the point where I'd be comfortable actually donning a costume and stepping out properly. Not quite there just yet, not if I can help it, but close. I guess part of it is still the sheer ridiculousness of the idea of me as a superhero. Me, who got told I would never amount to anything beyond average in life and took it as a comforting idea that I'd at least be average.
But such are the cards that have been dealt, and it's time to start playing them.
Once my 'outdoors' grinding is done it's back to diving into my mental archives while working on my Mana Control further. This time it's through some of the more advanced ANBU techniques that the archive revealed last night, high level tricks they use to train low level medics and sensors… complicated stuff. It's things like pouring a bottle of ink into the water, and then separating the two fluids, like oil and water are separated, using only chakra.
But advanced or not, by now I'm set in a pattern with that, and goes as steadily as it ever has.
Come nighttime, it's back to wandering the streets, healing, cleaning up the roads, and all the rest. By now I've started getting a decent handle on the HP spells, and I might even be getting ready to try out the whole Iryojutsu thing again sometime soon once my Mana Control gets there.
And so, two days pass. The pattern is deceptively comfortable, and with every passing day my powers grow a bit more. By the eighth of April, I have the city mapped and can apparate from any point to another, silently and invisibly, at a moment's notice. My total healing figures keep ticking upwards, and a surprise shows up at Friday night, when the Novice Healer title pops up for having had a hundred 'successes' in the field.
By this point the hospitals almost certainly know that something's up, and I move my operations further and further out, switching over partly to some of the smaller towns near the Bay instead of within the city itself.
Here again, there's the same weird… presence of the Asian mobs, and the murmurs that tend to circulate. Disgusting habits among the high and mighty of the towns, sated among certain facilities controlled by the Dragon's people. Rumors of escaped sex-slaves, girls and even boys, frequently Asian themselves but all too often from poor Caucasian families.
It's all the kind of things that one used to hear about from remote villages in Bangladesh or Serbia in my previous life, only it seems to be happening on the East Coast of the United fucking States in this world. I When I can I try and spare a few hours to find something more concrete on these rumors, but try as I might, there's nothing. And there's only so much time and effort I can dedicate to rumors.
On my other humanitarian front, my efforts to supply food are boosted and enhanced dramatically once my Harry Potter skills catch up, and I can use the spells to expand every batch I produce to over twice its size. More than that, I can transfigure and conjure blankets, clothes, all things like that to more effectively help out.
On the Taylor front things proceed much more slowly, unfortunately. It probably says something that I manage to enhance the situation of the homeless and poor in the city by an order of magnitude before I start making any tangible progress in getting the girl to talk about her problems, but there's only so much one can do with fifteen minutes in the morning. It's probably for the best to keep this slow and steady, too.
But before very long it's Saturday, the 9th of April, and I'm contemplating finally quitting things at the shop. I have a really, really generous collection of Skill Books I'd like to go through, I have money to get more, and in general, I've grown sick and tired of the fucking crowds thronging the shop for repair work. It was fun at first, and I can still pick up a level or two of Transmutation every day, but it's become fuckin' boring.
That's what brings me to talk to the Chopras here in the morning, when we'd normally be heading to the shop.
"So what did you want to talk about, Amar?" Nikita asks me, smiling wide.
"About the shop, Mrs. Chopra. I think I know what I'd like to be doing now, and it really is becoming rather…"
"Obvious?" Rajveer's voice volunteers, before he comes in with his tea. They know better than to offer it to me by now, I couldn't abide it in my past lives, and I can't abide it in this one. But that's irrelevant compared to what he just said.
I jerk up in an instant, as the word and its implications ring in my ears.
"Obvious?" I ask, hoping against hope.
"Well yes, dear. I'll admit, I didn't buy it when the notion was first floated to me, but lately…" he continues as if it's a done deal.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." I say as flatly as I can.
"Amar. You've working with us for five days. You've done more work than the last dozen people I hired before you. You have, personally, fixed close to a thousand pieces. That's two hundred a day."
"I work fast. You know I take a lot of them home to fix." At least I pretend to. Mostly they sit in my inventory till the next day.
"Two hundred, Amar. Someone ran the numbers. It's theoretically possible for someone to do that, but if you're that good you could make hundreds of times the money working for the company. What tripped me up was that from everything we've heard, powers are rather more… shall we say, 'destructive' than that."
I guess I have made it a touch too obvious. Before I can say anything, Nikita leans in again.
"Now listen. There's another matter. There are… rumors going around, here in the neighborhood."
Ah. This time I might have an idea what they're talking about.
"What rumors?" I ask, knowing the answer already.
"About a man, a tall blue-skinned man who wanders the night. He heals the sick and the injured they say, those poor folks who lie drugged and drunk, and his touch has removed diseases from dozens of people. Alleys are left clean; roads and cars are repaired… it's as if these streets have their own guardian angel."
Yeah, that's about what I figured, too. I can only be glad they haven't yet-
"And Rajveer got an X-ray yesterday."
… okay, now I might be in trouble.
I sit still, as the man in question rises and pulls out two envelopes from a cupboard. Laying them down on the table, he pulls out a diagram from each of them.
"This is how my lungs were a month ago." He points to one, depicting a set of lungs choking on tar and cancer. "This is how they were yesterday." He points to the second one, to a set that could have belonged to Alexandria for how perfectly healthy they are.
Yeah… I was expecting as much. I'd just wanted all this to last a couple more days, till I was confident I'd gotten smart enough.
On the other hand, I have leveled up Bluff a fair chunk.
"That's amazing, Rajveer! So the mystery healer person cured you too?" I ask, as delightedly as I can. I see them look at each other exasperatedly, before turning back to me.
"Amar, these rumors started about a day after you got here. If you don't want to tell us, that's fine. But please don't insult us." Nikita start again, a slight tone of anger in her voice.
Ah. Chips are falling.
I've considered what to say in this situation, and no matter what, it just doesn't seem like the best idea to go with telling them the unvarnished truth. It's nothing on them, but three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead, and I don't want these people dead.
And yet… that was the kind of thing I needed to figure out before tossing those spells at Rajveer, wasn't it?
"I don't know what you expect me to say here. If I did have something to do with any mysterious blue figures, I'm sure you wouldn't expect me to go about bragging of it." I pause, doing my best to look both of them in the eyes. I will them to understand, to get how delicate and potentially dangerous a situation this is.
"…nevermind. You wanted to talk about leaving the shop?" Rajveer eventually speaks up.
Hallelujah. I don't know what they're thinking and I don't want to know, but if we can just avoid the complicated conversation… "Yes, about that…"
Five minutes later, leaving their house, I use my much-grinded Observe skill at both.
I wince slightly at the final line in Nikita's status. I mean, fair enough, but ouch. Something seems to have been broken here, something I value. An invisible bond that was halfway through forming.
Oh well.
Having ripped off that particular bandage, I'm free to finally get started on some real, proper work. I have hundreds of skill books lying about covering everything from body language, linguistics, to coding and engineering.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
What the hell's up with these flies?
It's several hours after I met up with Nikita and Rajveer, since I pulled the whole bullshit act on them. I ate over five hundred skill-books in the time, creating about half a dozen new skills and boosting my existing skills by a bunch of levels.
But at a point, I just got tired of the process. It's not noticeable if you do a few at a time, but consuming skill books does stress my mind just a tad stressed with everyone that I do. After five hundred, I started feeling like I'd been awake several hours too long.
It's better now, once I came here into the market and started just window-shopping a bit. I want to get a phone, maybe a laptop and some other stuff so I can start putting all the skills I've acquired to some use. I did some research way back on the first day I came here, and a little bit more in the days between about specific topics, but most of that was just using Glibness or Read Thoughts on employees to get in and out of places, look up things and other stuff like that.
I haven't had time to do proper research. Dig up the important details about the gangs of the bay, their heavy hitters, their territories… I imagine I need to know a lot of things if I'm to start actively operating as a hero instead of just donating stuff and healing in the night. Hell, even that's been getting complicated lately. I found some people trying to follow me around the other night.
All that ends up with me here, in the Lord's Market. Looking through, I've been past this area dozens of times in the last few days, but I never bothered to just y'know, look around. Every time I was here I was just hunting down one bookstore after another, otherwise headed to or from something specific. Now I'm… browsing.
Or I would be, if these fucking flies would leave me alone. I don't even know what happened. I was just fine earlier, but a few minutes ago I noticed one of the buzzing close to me. I swat that one, continued looking, and there was another just seconds later! It's as if they're following me. I feel like Morty from that Squirrel episode. It's a conspiracy!
But not one I can't deal with.
One Repel Vermin later, I'm free to continue moving around, looking at stuff. Having finally found an acceptable phone and laptop, I pay for both, add on a full plan for the internet and the rest, and that's that.
But it's not the end for my quest today! Another thing I need to buy is gym equipment! My Stat leveling has completely stalled in the last few days, and I need some high-quality equipment to get it started again.
Making my way to the shop I notice that the fucking vermin are still trying to come to me! Repel Vermin makes a ten feet barrier around me that they can't cross without taking damage, but even now I see the odd insect trying to get in. The damage the barrier delivers is killing them as soon as they touch it, but why the fuck are they…
Oh.
I pause right in the middle of the street, as a distinctly unpleasant notion develops in my mind.
Slowly walking to the side, I feel my mind spinning as I weigh the merit of the notion. I never did find out what Taylor's power is. Observe didn't tell me, and I couldn't very well ask her without telling her that I know she has powers. Our rapport might get good enough to survive that with a few days more of work, but I don't feel it's there right now.
Well, it'd better be that good now, hadn't it? I consider the possibilities again, here. Could I be overreacting? Considering that there are still insects flying in a seemingly random pattern into the denial zone created by Repel Vermin, only to write and die as they do… not much of a fucking chance.
Could it be some other parahuman? Not likely. I may not have in-depth info, but I've done some basic research into the powers of the heroes and villains of the Bay, and no one has insect powers.
And most importantly, I can't imagine any parahuman who'd have a reason to try and follow me who isn't Taylor. And… Locate Person confirms, she's nearby.
Shit.
Well, nothing for it. I apparate, silent and invisible, to about ten meters away from where she's standing around near a bus-stop by the side of the road, at a cross-section. Gaseous Form allows me to approach close without any chance of being noticed, until I can take a look into the shopping bag she's holding. Belts, lenses, and some clothing accessories, like a few spare rubber straps.
Exactly the kind of things one might need to, say, put together a superhero costume. But how could she know the time when I'd be here so well that she could time her shopping to it? I see her panicking ever so slightly now, so she's not much of a mastermind…
And then I look at the location again. I passed this place, not twenty minutes ago. Could it really be that it was a coincidence? That she saw me passing by and instead of like, calling my name or waving like a normal fucking person, she sent bugs at me?
Well, there's one way to know for absolutely certain.
"Oh, Taylor!" I call out, stepping into her field of vision with a light smile on my lips.
It dies when I see her expression. In an instant I see her cycle through guilt, fear, and amazement, before settling on anger.
"Ah." I let out. Well, there goes that possibility.
"What the fuck, Amar?"
"What?" I ask, as light as I can. She's about to say something vitriolic in response, but then she looks around, before swallowing noisily.
"Taylor, would you like to talk, maybe? Possibly in the library?"
Take the hint, please…
Narrowing her eyes even more suspiciously at me, she nods, before we step away.
It takes us several minutes to get to the place, and throughout that time I can feel her glaring at the back of my head. I set off an Observe anyway.
Hoo boy. That title's new, at least. I stopped Observing her for the last few days since I was getting tired of being unable to do anything about the 'suicidal' tag, so I'm not sure when it appeared exactly… and I have bigger problems right now.
Settling into a chair near the back of the library, as far away from the computers as I can manage, I ask. "Well?"
She all but explodes at me. "Well? That's all you have to say?"
"I'm not sure what you want me to say, Taylor. Yes, I have powers. Yes, I know that you do too. My powers are how I knew you have powers too."
The bluntness seems to catch her off-guard for a moment. I take the opportunity to cast Glibness on myself, to go with the Eagle's Splendor I cast earlier.
"And was that why you decided to talk to me? It was, wasn't it? Was all that about mom just bullshit?" she whispers heatedly. I can see slight specks of wetness on the corners of her eyes at this point, too.
You know those sayings about how 'The truth shall set you free' or 'Honesty is the best policy?' yeah, I always thought they were bullshit.
"What? No! Of course not!" I respond as heatedly as I can myself, acting as offended as I can.
"What, then? How do you explain all… this?"
"Listen, Taylor. I came to this city about a week ago. A couple days after I arrived, I met you. As soon as we met, I knew you were a parahuman. I also knew that it would be really, really stupid to just stroll up to you and tell you 'hey, I have a power too! Wanna team up?'. Or are you telling me you would've responded well to that?"
The grimace on her face is all the response I need.
"So, I waited. My mother did teach at the same place as yours, and she had mentioned you before. I thought I'd get to know you, figure out if we could be a team or not, and then tell you!" I finish with an emphasis on then.
Looking at her, I see the whirlwind in her mind. She's considering whether or not to believe me, what the odds are… or she might be pondering a noodles recipe, but I think it's the former. Still not going to use Legilimency casually.
Eventually, she just stands up from her place.
"Taylor?"
"Just… don't talk to me right now. And don't try to find me on the track tomorrow. I'll find you if I want to talk to you."
Tch. Observe.
I… that was not what I meant when I told I wanted to see if we would make a good team or not.
On the other hand, is the Mental Status… I check the reading again. Yup, it's gone. Well, this was not how I meant for it to happen, but it seems my work here is done.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Thankfully, no other surprises come into my life for the rest of the day. I do some more of my Teleport leveling, some practicing of the elemental techniques and all the other usuals. Even at night, now that I'm healing in hospitals towns away, things go fairly low key.
One thing of note that does happen is that Neha Chopra, the daughter of my neighbors they've been going on and on about, finally arrives from Boston. I didn't notice when exactly it was that she arrived, but I did notice it when she had a shouting match with her mother for some reason or another while I was trying to figure out permanent Conjuration of metal and how I could use it with my budding Kunai throwing skills. Ah, a mother and daughter screaming their heads off at each other, interspersed with telling the other to calm down before the neighbors hear. I'm practically home again.
The 9th of April passes thus and come Sunday I'm mostly busy doing the same things that I was doing over the week. Finally, I managed to make my way through enough of the Hogwarts and Shinobi curriculums for it to be practical, having mastered enough of a variety of skills that I no longer feel like I'm jumping in half-cocked. I even started on a costume! It's weirdly difficult to work on anything related to crafting or enchantment, I've noticed when trying it. Some of the Hogwarts spells involved enchanting objects permanently or semi-permanently, and while I could do it, it seemed like the ability was… resisting me somehow. As if I'm no supposed to do any of that just yet.
Don't know what that's about, but I'll figure it out. It's morning right now, and I'm stepping out to get started with the day.
Stepping out, I take the chance to just walk about some, take in the changes around the street. In the past several days I was taking pains to not do anything particularly dramatic here, on these streets, until I realized that was making the neighborhood stand out in its own way. I gave it the treatment last night while making it as subtle as I could, but even so, changes that improve things always visibly improve things. It's how the whole idea works.
Still, it's pleasant to look at it and find something so much more pleasant than what I saw a week ago. Several of the multiple-feet deep potholes are gone, the grime on the walls is nonexistent, bits of exposed wiring that used to be in evidence everywhere are tucked in… little things, but I like to imagine they matter.
Looking at the way children are playing at the street, I take in a moment just to breathe in, luxuriating in the fact that the smell on the street is actually fairly pleasant for once. None of the rot and urban decay that suffused the air just yesterday, replaced instead with the more common smells of a city, Indian cooking, and just… people.
Speaking of people, I find my gaze pausing at someone coming down the other way. She looks good, beautiful and vibrant in the way so many people around here just… aren't. That's probably because she hasn't been living inside America's asshole. Looking at her again, I'm sure. That's Neha Chopra, the daughter Rajveer and Nikita have gone on and on and on about in the last few weeks.
I move my gaze away just in time before she looks up and sees me, turning to look straight ahead, picking up pace just a bit.
But she pauses herself for several moments, while I come closer to her on the other side of the road. It's just after I've passed her that I hear her turning around, before she walks more quickly.
I wait till she stops in front of me, smiling brightly.
"Hey, Amar, right?" Neha Chopra asks me with a smile.
I smile right back "Yeah, that's me. You must be Neha?"
She laughs. "Ah, my reputation precedes me?"
I just drawl. "Something like that."
"Well, I've heard a lot about you too!" Aand it just got complicated. Did they tell their daughter, just like that? What the fuck happened to knowing to keep one's mouth shut?
"Oh?"
"Yeah! I got in touch with some friends, and they were all talking about the new guy at dad's place who could fix anything!"
…ah. That's moderately better, but only moderately. Honestly, I can already tell that the shop thing is going to become a problem. I should have quit a long time before yesterday. Or alternatively, I should've paced myself from the beginning. But I was enjoying it, dammit.
"Oh, you know people. They'll say anything." I note dismissively.
It's entirely clear that she doesn't buy it, but she doesn't say anything.
"So, I heard you're a lawyer now! Which field did you specialize in?" I try to change the subject. I've known very few good students who could resist talking about their studies, especially once they graduate.
"Parahuman Law, actually." She says, with a mysterious smile on her lips.
Well, fuck.
We talk for a few more moments, basically her trying to assess me and me trying to escape, before finally breaking apart.
For the next minute my speed slows down to a crawl as I consider the encounter. Does she know after all? Was she trying to test me, or try to elicit a reaction… or, as ridiculous as the idea might be, it could be that she just trying to be nice to a neighbor? I swear, this world is turning me into a paranoiac.
Not that it's not warranted at times, I conclude, looking at a certain car parked across the street about five hundred meters from mine and the Chopras' house. The car isn't the issue. The people inside however… they look the very picture of innocence, perfectly harmless people just talking to each other in a parked car.
The problem is, I've seen both of them before now. I saw them not five days ago, when they were in the middle of a full-fledged gang skirmish against the Merchants.
I consider acting. Certainly, a few spells would go a long way in making life hell for them. The problem is, this is my street. Something happens here, I might as well put up a neon signboard on my door announcing all the details of my power.
And it's not like they're doing anything particularly nefarious. They seem to be talking about a picture one of them has on their phone, talking excitedly about… her measurements?
Oh, fuck this. Boys will be boys, even ABB vermin.
Hours later, the sun is setting on the tenth of April, and I've just gotten done with today's bout of 'training wildly destructive techniques in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean'. I'm just about ready to get back home, rest up for a few hours and then step out for my healing rounds for tonight.
I channel a bit of mana to further harden the surface of the ocean I'm standing on, turn on my heel, and Apparate straight to the alley behind my house.
Okay, then. Just stroll in, get some quick rest, and it's onto the streets again…what the actual fuck?
I look at the street, then turning to look at my house to make sure I'm at the right place. Yeah, it is my house and my street, but then… the first thing that hits me is the complete, absolute silence. Every house has its door closed; every window barred up. No children are playing on the street, and no one is even moving about. It's like I'm in a ghost town.
I fixed the streetlights on this entire street last night, but several of them are broken again. And there's bullet casings on the ground, but not a single drop of blood anywhere, and no bullet holes in any wall. Fired into the air, then. And judging by the number of casings, not a few bullets. People rolled up and fired automatics into the air until anyone and everyone who might have been on the street ran and hid in their homes.
The first notion that occurs to me is that someone's tracked me down. Did Taylor do this somehow? Unlikely. Not PRT behavior. But then… my thoughts are interrupted by a single, keening wail that erupts, an ordinary human voice but screaming with everything it has.
A female voice.
Nikita Chopra's voice.
A moment later, I'm at their door. I consider knocking. No time. I teleport right across, stepping in. She's at the floor, wailing her lungs out. Her legs are bleeding, bullets to the kneecaps. Rajveer is lying to the side, a faint smell of acids in the air. Shot through the gut, bleeding out. The room is a disaster, everything thrown about. Half the items in here have been shot up. Examples made before they got started on doing it to the couple. Not out of necessity. For fun.
There's a piece of nail stuck in the doorframe I just came through. A female hand, holding on for everything she had till they pulled her away. Hair scattered on the staircase from when they dragged her by her hair from her room upstairs.
"Mrs Chopra?" I ask as tenderly as I can, kneeling beside the woman.
She screams again, a single scream stretching for several long moments, before she seems to recognize who I am.
"What happened, Nikita?" I ask. I don't need to, since the room tells the tail, but something compels me to.
"They took her! They said they'd been waiting for her, and they took her!"
I don't need to ask. I've heard the stories. But I still do. "Who, Mrs Chopra? Who took her?"
It isn't, surprisingly enough, Nikita Chopra who answers. It's the dying voice of her husband, from the side of the room. "The ABB. Lung's men. They said she'd fetch a good price once they got done with her. They took my daughter!"
I exhale.
It's from a distance that I see someone standing up. He points a hand at Rajveer, and with a thought, the man's injuries are gone. Another gesture, another thought, and Nikita is healed like nothing ever happened to her. They look at themselves in wonderment and then back to him, but he's changing. His form ripples, flickering like a TV in bad weather. It ripples once, twice… and then it's gone entirely.
In its place is the Blue form. Standing taller than before, jaws set, eyes trying to burn a hole into the wall. A family that all but took me in, helped me whenever they could, invited a complete stranger amongst them, a girl who was nothing but nice… and now this happens. I don't bother with raging at any gods. What would the point be?
I've been a fool. All these days, spent sitting and 'practicing', hiding from this world and the ugliness in it. I told myself I was training, preparing for the days I would head out, but at a moment like this I have to ask myself, how much of that was true? Was I preparing, or was I just taking the path of least resistance again, procrastinating and delaying actual action, actual work for as long as I could?
It's something I'm very, very good at, after all. Both my lives, Amar Chandra and the Other, always finding reasons not to do things, always avoiding any piece of work I didn't have to do. But it never hurt anyone before. Not like this. Gods above, never like this.
And it won't ever again.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Name: Amar Keshav Chandra
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: None
Level: 3
Stats
STR 23
CON 20
DEX 23
INT 28
WIS 17
CHA 38
Stat Points Available: 0
HP: 440/440
Full Recovery Period: 68.75 minutes
MP: 400/400
Full Recovery Period: 52.63 minutes
Skills
Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max
Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a Game.
Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological status effects.
Observe [Basic] (Active/Passive) LV 52 Exp: 18.13%
A skill to find the target's information. Observe is obtained and improved through continuous observation.
Through leveling Observe past level 50, user unlocks passive INT-based deduction capabilities.
Creation [Basic] (Active) LV 34 Exp: 48.43%
The ability to create things with magic.
Divination [Basic] (Active) LV 7 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic pertaining to information.
Illusion [Basic] (Active) LV 23 Exp: 19.82%
The ability to use Illusion based magic.
Healing [Basic] (Active) LV 49 Exp: 94.83%
The ability to heal others.
Transmutation [Basic] (Active) LV 19 Exp: 27.13%
The ability to turn transmute things with magic.
Universal [Basic] (Active) LV 15 Exp: 31.42%
The ability to wield spells that do not fall under other classifications.
Unarmed Combat Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 22 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight without using weapons.
Bladed Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 16 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Bladed Weapons.
Ranged Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Ranged Weapons.
Pyromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 15 Exp: 70.36%
The ability to wield Fire based magic.
Hydromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 19 Exp: 84.12%
The ability to wield Water based magic.
Electromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 11 Exp: 67.82%
The ability to wield Lightning based magic.
Evocation [Basic] (Active) LV 12 Exp: 49.36%
The ability to utilize directly offensive magic.
Telekinesis [Basic] (Active) LV 13 Exp: 14.00%
The ability to move things without physical contact.
Teleport [Basic] (Active) LV 29 Exp: 13.46%
The ability to move further than humanly possible in an instant.
Aeromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 12 Exp: 9.00%
The ability to wield Wind based magic.
Bluff [Basic] (Passive) LV 11 Exp: 12.64%
The ability to lie, deceive and otherwise trick others.
Diplomacy [Basic] (Passive) LV 15 Exp: 5.96%
The ability to convince, charm and otherwise play well with other people.
Perform [Basic] (Passive) LV 20 Exp: 2.12%
The ability to deliver theatrical performances.
Software Development [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to design and program computer software.
Linguistics [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use and understand languages.
Parkour [Basic] (Active) LV 6 Exp: 8.00%
The ability to move rapidly in urban environments
Geomancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Earth based magic.
Summoning [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to summon other creatures and beings with magic.
Abjuration [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Defensive Magic.
Mind Magic [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 2.17%
The ability to use magic to affect minds.
Necromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Death based magic.
Feats: Silent Spell
Perks
Comic Book Pretty: You look like a Model, airbrushed to perfection in all circumstances. CHA +100%
Man of Mystery: You wear mystery like a stylish cloak. Provides Immunity to all abilities based on Supernatural Perception.
Special Snowflake: Provides Immunity to all hostile actions/skills/powers targeted at your powers/skills.
Beneficial Case 53: +5 to all Non-Mental Stats.
Powers:
Hope Empowerment 9: Provides Bonuses to all Stats, Skills and powers based on ambient Hope and Hope induced by you.
LOCKED
LOCKED
LOCKED
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: None
Level: 3
Stats
STR 23
CON 20
DEX 23
INT 28
WIS 17
CHA 38
Stat Points Available: 0
HP: 440/440
Full Recovery Period: 68.75 minutes
MP: 400/400
Full Recovery Period: 52.63 minutes
Skills
Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max
Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a Game.
Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological status effects.
Observe [Basic] (Active/Passive) LV 52 Exp: 18.13%
A skill to find the target's information. Observe is obtained and improved through continuous observation.
Through leveling Observe past level 50, user unlocks passive INT-based deduction capabilities.
Creation [Basic] (Active) LV 34 Exp: 48.43%
The ability to create things with magic.
Divination [Basic] (Active) LV 7 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic pertaining to information.
Illusion [Basic] (Active) LV 23 Exp: 19.82%
The ability to use Illusion based magic.
Healing [Basic] (Active) LV 49 Exp: 94.83%
The ability to heal others.
Transmutation [Basic] (Active) LV 19 Exp: 27.13%
The ability to turn transmute things with magic.
Universal [Basic] (Active) LV 15 Exp: 31.42%
The ability to wield spells that do not fall under other classifications.
Unarmed Combat Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 22 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight without using weapons.
Bladed Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 16 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Bladed Weapons.
Ranged Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Ranged Weapons.
Pyromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 15 Exp: 70.36%
The ability to wield Fire based magic.
Hydromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 19 Exp: 84.12%
The ability to wield Water based magic.
Electromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 11 Exp: 67.82%
The ability to wield Lightning based magic.
Evocation [Basic] (Active) LV 12 Exp: 49.36%
The ability to utilize directly offensive magic.
Telekinesis [Basic] (Active) LV 13 Exp: 14.00%
The ability to move things without physical contact.
Teleport [Basic] (Active) LV 29 Exp: 13.46%
The ability to move further than humanly possible in an instant.
Aeromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 12 Exp: 9.00%
The ability to wield Wind based magic.
Bluff [Basic] (Passive) LV 11 Exp: 12.64%
The ability to lie, deceive and otherwise trick others.
Diplomacy [Basic] (Passive) LV 15 Exp: 5.96%
The ability to convince, charm and otherwise play well with other people.
Perform [Basic] (Passive) LV 20 Exp: 2.12%
The ability to deliver theatrical performances.
Software Development [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to design and program computer software.
Linguistics [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use and understand languages.
Parkour [Basic] (Active) LV 6 Exp: 8.00%
The ability to move rapidly in urban environments
Geomancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Earth based magic.
Summoning [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to summon other creatures and beings with magic.
Abjuration [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Defensive Magic.
Mind Magic [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 2.17%
The ability to use magic to affect minds.
Necromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Death based magic.
Feats: Silent Spell
Perks
Comic Book Pretty: You look like a Model, airbrushed to perfection in all circumstances. CHA +100%
Man of Mystery: You wear mystery like a stylish cloak. Provides Immunity to all abilities based on Supernatural Perception.
Special Snowflake: Provides Immunity to all hostile actions/skills/powers targeted at your powers/skills.
Beneficial Case 53: +5 to all Non-Mental Stats.
Powers:
Hope Empowerment 9: Provides Bonuses to all Stats, Skills and powers based on ambient Hope and Hope induced by you.
LOCKED
LOCKED
LOCKED
And that's Chapter 3. Feedback, as said before, remains the fuel this machine runs on.
Last edited:
- Location
- Iowa, United States
- Pronouns
- Him, His, He
Very nice. I have liked the training and grinding he has been doing but it's nice to see that he's going to be getting to the meat of it now. Yeah his repair work was kind of stupid, nice way to make some cash but really not very smart for hiding his abilities. I can also see where Taylor is coming from being upset with him for "lying" because of where she is at in her life and her current mindset.
Though I am wondering if Amar can gain the skills for resistance against harm and health/mana regeneration. Would be nice if he could do enchantments that allow him to enchant something for health/magic regeneration boost like in Skyrim.
Though I am wondering if Amar can gain the skills for resistance against harm and health/mana regeneration. Would be nice if he could do enchantments that allow him to enchant something for health/magic regeneration boost like in Skyrim.
Chapter 4
blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
Warning: Lots of Violence.
Locate Person yields no result. She's out of range, then.
Pulling out my wand, I make a gesture. Immediately, hair comes zooming from the staircase, and the loose nail unsticks from the doorframe and flies directly at me. I ignore Rajveer as he cries out, turning and stepping out of the house in a rush.
A moment later I'm in the air, a wordless Fly allowing me to move towards where I see the tire tracks going. They can't have gone too far, judging by how everyone is still inside. If my understanding of crowds is right, they'd start coming out five, at most ten minutes after the gangbangers leave.
Once I have the hair and the nail ready, I wince at the prospective Mana cost, before casting Scrying.
Closing my eyes, I let the magic go to work, before a picture forms in my mind's eye. She's unconscious. Chloroformed. But she's not what I'm focusing on. Looking around her, I note the faces in the car. They're the gangbangers from the Merchant skirmish, siblings of the ones I saw earlier.
Focusing at the absolute edge of the ten feet range Scrying provides, I try to glean any hints of where they are. Shop names, landmarks… it's over a minute before a sudden jerk pushes Neha around enough that the window moves away from the car and the blank road, and for just a fraction of a second, I see the wall they're zooming past. I know it.
A moment later, I'm there, the tiniest 'pop' of Apparition proof that my focus is shot already.
Looking at the car speeding down the road, I fly behind it, renewing my flight spell seconds before it runs out. This… isn't sustainable. Flying close, I consider options. Part of me screams to just act now, pick her up and end these bastards. I suppress it with an exertion of will. I've been ignoring too many signs, and how many young women just like Neha must there be, suffering as a result of that idiocy?
It would be different if they were… doing anything to her in the car. But they're not, and I think I can let my Mana recover before acting. Harry Potter spells are well and good, but there's no use confronting enemies with just barely enough Mana for a 0-level spell if I don't have to.
Once the Fly runs out for the second time, I take to the rooftops, channeling a steady flow of MP to my legs to keep up Naruto style while a simple Disillusionment Charm keeps me safely out of sight.
Before long the car is leaving Brockton Bay city limits entirely, crossing even the outlying suburbs and heading into what looks like a region dominated mostly by poor farms and shitty vineyards. It's not one of the regions I've visited before, not many hospitals or soup kitchens in it.
Another thing it lacks are convenient rooftops. Instead of jumping, I start Apparating after them, teleporting at regular distances to keep them in sight. It's more than an hour after this chase started that they finally start slowing down, pulling in towards what looks like one of the better maintained, more prosperous farms.
I recheck my disillusionment once I'm close and top it off with a Bedazzling Hex just to be sure. Okay, the Farm looks perfectly innocent, but the gates open as soon as the car comes close, and there are a lot of guards around, all with oriental features. None have the ABB colors, being dressed instead in smart guard uniforms.
Okay, then. With one more apparition, I place myself directly at the roof of the barn, Feather Fall ensuring I don't make any noise when I come to rest on it.
Let's see, then. Arcane Eye is a level four spell for Wizards and would suck out most of my Mana. But that's the joy of it, I don't operate as a Wizard. I'm an Arcane Caster, period, and wouldn't you know it? Trapsmiths get it at Level 2.
Moments after I see them carry her into the building, my vision follows them in. After a moment's thought I pull a penny out of my inventory, casting Spymaster's Coin on it. A droplet of glue and disillusionment later, I levitate it onto the back of the man carrying her.
I see them carry her into the place, open the secret door hidden inside a Pantry on the far end. I follow Neha down the stairs as they take her into the basement, and then further into the sub-basement… though one might as well call it a Dungeon at this point.
I feel my anger start hammering at Gamer's Mind as my sensor follows them in, even as I renew the spell. There are dozens of people here, from ages ranging from what looks like early thirties to as young as five. It makes me angry, but not surprised. There are creatures who will pay for such things, and therefore there exist creatures who will supply them. Economics at its most obscene.
I don't ignore my anger, not anymore. Recent events have helped me better understand Gamer's Mind, and I recall a certain line from a Hindi movie I liked. It's a very useful thing, anger. I don't waste it pointlessly on imagining what I'm going to do to these people, and I don't try to grow past it. I save it, lovingly storing it all in a box in my mind. I cultivate it like a farmer cultivates his crops, so I can spend it when the time comes.
There are dozens of people underground, chained to their beds, more than a few of them beaten bloody and bruised. Even more disturbing are the empty beds, of which there are even more than the full ones. It takes me a moment to understand.
This isn't a brothel, not precisely. This is a processing center. They bring people here to be broken, and they store them here when not in active use. There are probably just as many people in several 'active' brothels around Brockton and the nearby towns and cities, where 'customers' are… I shove the fresh lance of rage into the box with the rest of it. Not yet.
The first part becomes further evident when they carry Neha deeper into the nightmarish pit, past the broken and abused people and the empty beds. Here they have what looks like a hospital ward, with neat beds arrayed in lines, IVs beside every one of them. Once they put Neha on the bed, the men step back to what looks like a gathering area at this level, while a woman steps up to her and starts strapping her onto the bed and setting up an IV next to her.
Once the man who was carrying Neha sits down with his friends, it takes a moment to activate the coin on his back.
"… will the doctor be here? I want to sample this bitch." The voice comes through as clear as any top-brand speaker, and once again I crush an urge to rush down there and start slaughtering them in job lots. I'm paying for taking the easy way out with things right now. No more.
Another man, someone in charge by his tone, answers bitingly. "Keep your cock in your pants, boy. Let the doctor assign a price. Don't forget what happened the last time."
"Probably won't be, though. Bitch's a fancy lawyer! Plenty of paying idiots will want to teach that kind their place!" A third voice opines, and yet another eruption of red is channeled into the box in my head. I will feed this man his spleen for this. Just not right now.
Okay, so there's a doctor to assess the 'value' of the intakes. Low value ones are presumably available for these vermin to use, but high value ones aren't. And the doctor isn't here yet.
Alright then. A few simple Alarm spells on the gate to the farm and the road leading to it will tell me if there's anyone coming in.
I apparate away.
An instant later, I'm back in Brockton Bay, in one of the innumerable side streets that litter the docks. In front of me is an abandoned warehouse. A few homeless used to live here, but I moved them to a nearby shelter the day before yesterday.
I start casting. A Muggle-Repelling Charm, then another, followed by the Unplottable Charm, a Notice-me-Not; imagine my surprise when I found they exist; and half a dozen other spells. Stepping in, I work quickly. The area inside quadruples with a wave of my wand, and it takes half a dozen more waves of it to conjure about a hundred mattresses.
I follow it up with a few glyphs of warding, and round the whole thing off with transfiguring the contents of a trash can into a dozen tigers with instructions to guard the entrance and tear apart anyone in Green and Red trying to get in.
Okay, then. That's the basics in place. Meanwhile, I have an idea for what to do here. I check the alarm spells once. Nothing so far, and in any case, it's not even been five minutes since I came here.
Apparating back to about two hundred meters from the Farm, I start preparing. Normal transfiguration is one thing, this is more complicated. I start with a normal wolf transfigured from a chunk of wood. An Engorgio increases its size to equal a horse, and another puts it comfortably beyond.
Now for the hardest part. I imagine what I want it to look like, fix the image in my head, and cast the spell. Come on, turn it into a mass of blades… but no. It's not happening.
I try half a dozen times more, but they only serve to confirm that it's not going to happen. Oh well.
I settle for turning its color silver-chrome and follow that up with conjuring about a dozen large scraps of cloth. Several Unbreakable Charms later, I stick them all over the wolf's body as perfectly as I can, while also coloring them identically silver chrome.
Okay, then. That's close… I finish the ruse by sticking as accurate a Genjutsu of Hookwolf over the creature as I can manage.
Crusader, on the other hand, is so easy it's almost silly. Bunshin, Henge, and I'm done.
I create about twenty more illusions and make them look like a random assortment of skinheads.
And we're ready. I tell my creations to charge the gate of the farm, while making as much noise as they possibly can. Not that I won't help them.
Sonorous.
"Come out, you worthless fucking chinks! You bastards, we've found your fucking place today, pigs! We'll show you what you're worth!" 'Hookwolf' screams his head off, continuing in that vein.
Just to help him out I toss around a few fire jutsu at the building, followed up with a few sonic spells just to add flavor. A last minute thought reminds me to add on a Stormtiger clone, and I toss out a couple wind jutsu.
The wolf goes bounding into the guard post near the gate, and while everyone is firing everything they have at it, it isn't doing much.
I wait for about a minute as more and more guards come pouring out of the building, trying to fight off the seeming Empire attack. There were, when I last saw, a little over thirty guards in the building. When a quick count of the defenders here reveals that there are twenty-eight here… it's time to go in.
Apparating directly to the landing on the first floor, I cast Depulso to make the roof cave in on the staircase. A moment later I'm into the actual floor, and I come across one of the guards. One Diffindo to the neck, and I move on.
Pushing Mana to my legs and senses, I rush through the entire place. I find about three more guards in the next minute, and then I'm done.
I pause for a second to toss a Diffindo at the stomach of one of the creatures whom I recognize from my scouting earlier, before kneeling beside him. Promises should be kept, after all. Once his jaws close with the last 'squelch' and I make his neck swallow, I'm free to get the important work done.
Okay, so Neha and the other fresh entrants were… here we are. The woman from earlier is leaning over her with a scalpel to her throat. "Don't come any closer or-" I banish a coin through the open mouth, before making it go straight up.
Cleaning the blood off Neha with a Tergeo moments later, I hold her tight, before Apparating.
Dumping her at a bed… I start.
There were, I would note later, sixty-three young men, women, boys and girls in that place across the three underground floors. At three seconds per person, it took me a shade under four minutes to move them all to safety.
In the back of my head, I note that my fake Hookwolf died just before I made the last teleport. Impressive of the ABB. There were patches where the invulnerable cloth didn't cover it, but them being vermin doesn't mean I can't appreciate a job genuinely well done.
Once the last of the ABB's victims is in my makeshift safe house, I cast sleeping charms on the lot of them. Perhaps unkind of me, but I'm really not in the mood to answer questions. Done with that, I start casting Unseen Servant, ordering each servant to put the people onto beds as it appears.
While they do that, I start with the healing. These people have been abused beyond any measure of cruelty, beyond all rhyme and reason. There are broken bones, deep-seated infections, long term starvation effects, you name it. There are obscene dilations in the rectal and vaginal areas from when examples were made of resisting victims using the animals oh so conveniently available on the farm. Each instance provokes a fresh lance of red in my mind, and each time I shove it into the box.
Not yet.
I can't do much for the mental scarring they must have but Cure Serious Wounds and Remove Disease go a long, long way into dealing with the physical traces. I stop casting them after a few times, though. It's a stupid way to go. Instead, I deal with the normal trauma using Harry Potter spells and the diseases using Iryojutsu. Neither has the clinical perfection of D&D spells, but nor do they have the ruinous cost.
It takes me over an hour to do a full circuit of the patients, by which time the servants, done with moving them onto the beds, have started on stripping and cleaning them. Offhand I conjure several piles of clothes, nothing fancy but things that will keep off cold and shame. Once I have enough for everyone, I tell the servants to dress them as best as they can. It might result in a few shirts put on inside out, but I can't be everywhere.
Beginning my second round, I start with Observing them and spamming diagnostic spells to make sure I got everything. Several times along the way I cast Neutralize Poison, to the point I end up having to wait for my Mana to recharge. I use the time to organize things some more, helping the servants clean and dress the patients.
Another hour passes as I ensure that everyone is free of any drugs or other poisons. I'm about to move away, before a thought occurs.
The real tragedy of forced prostitution is, the ways the scum use work. There's one last thing to do, and if I skip it a good chunk of these people might actually end up back at the Farm, possibly even willingly.
The good part is, Remove Addiction is significantly cheaper as a spell to cast, and Observe is very good at telling me who needs it.
Once I'm done with that, it's been two and a half hours since I initially attacked the Farm. I finish this up with depositing the entirety of my Create Food and Water proceeds for the day on tables placed nearby.
Then I step out of the building and alter all the protection spells to go out in two hours if I'm not around to remove them. Going back in, I alter the sleeping charms on everyone to go out in an hour. There's basically no chance whatsoever that I won't make it back in. My spells haven't noted a parahuman coming in, and fighting gangbanger rabble isn't in any world a suicide mission.
That being said… Never Again.
Finally, finally I Apparate.
Before me lies the Farm. It's still buzzing with activity, with significantly larger numbers of ABB around. A quick check yields no capes, so that's good on the alarm spells.
Looking in, they've actually made it through my cave-in! Very well done indeed. I'm going to tear everyone here apart, but they're good workers.
I consider my options. Spells? Jutsu? I don't think so.
I have a box full of rage in my head, and it demands the kind of visceral satisfaction I just can't get from spells.
Picking up a random twig, I transfigure it into a Baseball bat.
Hmm… no. Another twitch of my wand, and it turns into a Cricket bat. That's more like it.
I cast an Unbreakable Charm on it. Okay, then.
Michael Chen wasn't a bad man. At least, he didn't think he was. He was a good man who'd been dealt a bad hand in life. Born poor and in territory controlled by a small Chinese gang, he'd joined up as a teenager, and over the course of years carried out several abduction and ransoms, hits and shakedowns. Once he'd even run a small meth operation under Bai Hu, the Chinese immigrant parahuman who'd come to become the leader of all of Brockton Bay's triad-descended gangs.
Then, a few years ago, the Dragon had come, and suddenly the small Japanese, Korean, Thai and other gangs that had been their primary competition had become their compatriots. The dragon decreed that years of hatred, grudges and rivalries had to be set aside, and such was his power that they did it, too. The parahumans who led the gangs he was merging had tried to resist, and they'd died for it.
Michael had been one of the Bai Hu's lieutenants by then, and it'd been him who had dug the grave for the tiger-themed Blaster and together with the man's other lieutenants, buried him in it.
The only remnants of that day and age, the heirs of men and women who'd competed with Allfather and Marquis's organizations, were men like Michael and a few in Lung's new group, and the Yakuza dog who'd been the first to bend to Lung, and thus the only one to live.
But if unity made them chafe and loathe each other and themselves, it'd also made them strong. Michael remembered the times after the Brigade had taken down Marquis. The Empire had run rampant, the disunited competitors too weak to fight them off. It'd only been once Lung had forged them all into one that they'd emerged as true rival claimants for the city.
And Michael had done well too. While he'd feared for what would become of him with Oni Lee as Lung's Second, the man seemed to have died inside at some point along the way. He had no ambitions beyond being Lung's loyal dog. No desire for territory, no input demanded on decisions… no, it was Michael and other men like him who ran Lung's kingdom for the Dragon.
Michael had, once he rose in the Dragon's favor, come to manage one of the most crucial properties of the ABB. The Farm they called it, and it was responsible for over half of their income. It was where they kept the whores, it was where they kept the earnings from the whores before they could be laundered, and it was where they kept the recordings of various people fucking the whores, recordings which, every now and then, turned out to be very useful indeed. People in the Brockton Bay city government, in the police, in the PRT and in the official positions in the other towns the ABB was in power. Businessmen, Judges… a lot of people had a fascination for being able to access whores that they could whip, belt, strangle or brutalize to any extent they wanted without needing to be concerned about it at all.
Only they did have to be concerned about things. Stop using those services? They were ruined. Fail to inform on their organizations to the ABB? They were ruined. Some of the businessmen were taxed on a regular basis in addition for what they paid to use the bitches. It was never too much for them to pay, and always too little compared to the cost of their lives burning down around them. No, Michael had a sweet spot for himself, and he was trucking along just fine.
That was, until he'd gotten report of the Empire attack on the Farm. Then he'd found himself clutching at his heart, with his family asking what had happened. He'd rushed here with a dozen boys to shore up the defenses and was even now trying to understand just how it could have happened. As it turned out, what they had presumed to be Hookwolf wasn't him at all, and by the looks of it someone had gotten into and out of the place while they'd been dealing with the imposter. The surprise was that they'd chosen to steal the whores in the place instead of the money or the information, but that was a small matter compared to the fact that they'd gotten here at all.
He'd ordered them to empty out all the whorehouses and bring the bitches here anyway, along with the people assigned to them. If whoever was doing it had value for them, one location with all of them would make for a better trap than having to defend dozens of places. He'd asked for parahuman support just in case the Nazis had reinforcements, but that was evidently not going to happen. Lung and Oni Lee had gotten a lead on the Undersiders and were heading out to finish them off once and for all. At least he had plenty of bombs.
"Anything?" Michael asks one of his people who was on the line with the lookouts parked ahead of them on the road to watch for anyone coming in.
"No, Boss." The flunky replied, turning his eyes back on his phone.
Michael tried to relax. They had over twenty of their people here, all armed to the teeth, all with tinkertech bombs in hand. They would be fine.
Naturally, that would be the time He chose to appear.
Michael's first warning that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong was when a series of harsh noises came from the outside, followed by his men crying out in alarm and pain. One, two, three… in less than five seconds four people cried out and fell over, just after heavy smashing noises came from their directions.
Running out, Michael came across the first of them. He was a man Michael had known well. He'd been to the boy's graduation, for fuck's sake.
Now he was lying face down on the floor, his head smashed open.
"There's someone here. Spread out, and search for him! Shoot the fucker!" Michael could feel his voice growing higher. He'd never dealt well with personal danger.
For several moments after the initial attack, there was complete silence, other than the footfalls of his people as they spread out around the Farm.
Then Michael heard a whooshing noise, like a gust of wind right next to him.
He whipped around, peppering the air with bullets… and found himself shooting one of his own men, who'd just been felled himself.
And so, it went. Wherever he went, it was like a spirit was striking from the shadows, with an imperceptible noise, a dull, wet thunk of something hitting a skull, and the sound of the body hitting the ground.
It was over two minutes and a dozen flunkies later that Michael first saw him, the man who was doing all this. And in an instant, he felt his breath hitch.
"He's supposed to be a healer…" Michael said to himself, as what couldn't be anyone other than the Blue Man appeared out of nowhere next to one of his people, and swung a wooden bat drenched in blood. Michael shot at the man with everything he had, but if any bullets hit the man, he didn't show it, disappearing just a moment later.
They'd known of the Blue Man for some days now, the man who walked the city in the night, healing the sick, feeding the homeless… he was supposed to be a bleeding-heart healer, not something like this!
The men were getting spooked, starting to panic. This was too familiar, too much like what they were used to laughing at. They were ABB. A teleporting cape moving rapidly across the battlefield, striking with impunity was nothing new, but he was supposed to be on their side!
"Bombs out! Everyone brings out the fucking tinker bombs, blow up anything that moves!" he ordered, keeping his voice level by sheer force of will. As if in a response to this, a mist suddenly appeared all around the farm, covering everything and making it all but impossible to see anything or anyone.
And from there it was a struggle between them to try and catch the man hunting them in the blast of one of the bombs, or for him to escape it. Michael struggled to deal with the wreckage the man was turning his crew into. He wasn't even limiting himself to heads anymore. More than a few times Michael saw one of his people on the ground, half his ribs on one side broken by the swing of a bat, before the man had taken the same bat to his hands.
Three times in the next ten minutes they caught him in one of the blasts, incinerating four of their own people in the process. Each time he shrugged it off like it was nothing, like it wasn't supposed to have vaporized him!
Michael tried to keep the men's morale up, but it was hard to do it, when they kept going down! Two of them went in at one side to check a sound. They were on the ground a second later, one man having shot the other upon hearing him stumble and hit the wall. Meanwhile the man had kicked the other in the head and sent him flying into the crowd, which had perforated their own man with bullets.
Michael was starting to think that having given dozens of trigger-happy men orders to shoot at anything that moved might not have been a good idea, especially when one of them came close to getting him with a shot!
And it was almost worse with bombs. While several of the grenades they had were smart bombs, in that they identified who they were being tossed at, and course-corrected midair to hit him. But that went only so far when facing a teleporter. And the worse part was, again, that he simply didn't seem to care when he did get hit!
To their credit, they lasted very long after a point. Every movement was a warning, and they learned to move away from it just as they learned to fire at it. And they lasted until there were barely a dozen of them left, before the rest finally, finally broke and ran.
Michael himself threw himself at the car, gunning it for everything it had and aiming straight at the gate… when he felt the presence in the seat next to him.
"Oh, it's much too late for any of that nonsense, I'm afraid." The voice was cultured and crisp, like a news announcer reading out a moderately interesting tidbit. It sounded utterly wrong from the psychopath who'd just ravaged more than twenty people in less than fifteen minutes.
"Curiously enough, you don't seem to have realized that the ones among you left are the leaders. The ones with useful information."
What? Michael felt his head jerk up, even as he abandoned trying to start the engine and started fumbling with the door. He had to get out!
"Well, that's not happening, is it? Like I said, much too late for that nonsense."
What the hell was the man talking about? Michael risked another glance at the man. He was Blue, he noted again. Somehow the sheer presence of the color seemed notable above and beyond everything else about the man. The shockingly green eyes and the ethereal silver hair just served to complete the look.
"Oh, stop it. You'll make me blush now." The man spoke again with that same voice, and for the first time this night, Michael felt true terror. Lung was scary, but he was scary in the way this man had been scary until a few second ago. Now he was edging into the territory of the nightmares everyone in America had, when sudden cuts appeared on you before a demented voice started speaking random things…
"Well, if it's any consolation they'll get theirs. It'll take a while, but they will." The man continued conversationally, and Michael Chen could no longer escape the conclusion that the man actually could-
"Read your mind? Well of course! How do you think I identified which of you creatures to leave for last?"
Before Michael could say anything, he felt an arm grabbing him, before he was squeezed, feeling like he'd just forced himself through too tight a hole.
A moment later he was falling, hands waving wildly before he felt himself land with a crunch. As lances of pain exploded across him, Michael Chen, senior Lieutenant of the ABB, concluded that he'd landed on the same car he'd been in five seconds ago.
"W-who are you? Why…?" he finally managed to get out, after a few tries. If he could get the man to bog himself down with him, the rest of his boys could get away, tell Lung and get him to tear the cape apart…
"Ooh, good point! Y'know, I think I like you ABB people now. I mean, y'know, the way someone can appreciate the efficiency of a well-designed sewage system." The man chirped in his disturbingly cheerful tone, before teleporting away, presumably to hunt down the last of Michael's boys.
Just as Michael had known he would. Now if he could just get the phone in the car underneath him, he could call one of Lung's phones and tell him this that way. He'd tried to do that since this started, but the cape had targeted anyone trying to call their Boss first and after a point people had started refusing flat-out.
It hurt like hell to extricate himself from the car roof, stand up and reach into the interior. The windscreen had broken and sprayed glass all over the interior, but the glove box…
The phone wasn't there.
"Well, duh. C'mon, give me some credit here." the cape's voice came from behind him.
Michael closed his eyes at the sound that followed, the eminently recognizable crunch of a smartphone being crushed to pieces.
Then he gathered every scrap of energy he had, whirled around and tossed the bomb he had in his hand at the man, activating it in the process.
The bomb flew through the air at the man where he was standing before Michael with a smile on his face, the detonation priming as it approached closer… and flew right through him, the illusion disappearing when it was disturbed.
"Your nephew pulled that one off better. Though I made him swallow his other bomb for how much that hurt, so maybe you come out ahead in the end? What d'you think?" the man's voice came from Michael's other side.
The man said a quick prayer for his nephew in his head, followed by an apology for dragging the boy into the business. Then he drew himself as straight as he could with the sheer pain that his back was and faced the man.
"I have lived with honor, you fucking coward! And I'll die with it." He said as loudly as he could.
He drew some satisfaction from how the words wiped away the man's smirk, even more from how, for the briefest of moments, an expression of pure anger appeared before vanishing under iron self-control.
"Honor." The man spoke, and for a moment Michael was struck by how… strange the man's voice sounded. He'd been too scared or too busy scheming to pay attention earlier, but it sounded like one of the strongest voices Michael had ever heard, while still being delicate enough for just about any song.
"Honor." The cape repeated.
"That's a strange word to put before a lifetime of brutalizing and torturing sex slaves. Of having them ripped away from their families, breaking their wills and having them raped by farm animals."
"What would someone like you-" Michael was in the middle of refuting the man, when all of a sudden, he felt his tongue burn. He closed his mouth instantly, but the flame burned for several more seconds before going out.
"You don't get to speak. Not anymore." The man said, before moving his lips as if to say something himself.
"… and neither do I, come to think of it. What am I even doing, wasting a Reason you Suck speech on a thing like you? No, I don't think so. No, I have actual work worth doing waiting for me." The man finished, looking at Michael like he was something he'd just scraped off his shoe.
And then he moved, one hand wrapping around Michael's neck and lifting him off the ground, before slamming him into the wall. Wincing at another several ribs breaking, Michael waited for the coup de grace.
Which never came. Instead, the man leaned in, settling his emerald eyes directly on Michael's. "It's just that there's quite a lot of useful information in that head of yours, which I want. So… Legilimens."
Bloody hell, that is a lot of alerts. I dismiss them after a cursory check, to look at later when I have more time. I'm standing in my safe house right now, about ten minutes after I finished off the last of the stragglers. Of course, I was interrupted by the intermittently exploding tinkertech bombs they had strewn around everywhere when they realized they weren't going to win. Victor Chen was… something, alright.
Having gathered up all my… targets, I turned them into pieces of wood and set them on fire, before staring on the actual building. I only got to destroy the surface, though. Someone in Chen's employ set off a self-destruct in the cupboard with all their blackmail files, and it spread pretty quickly from there.
But it's done now, and only the easy stuff remains. Looking around, everyone looks good, safely ensconced in dreamless sleep. I navigate my way through the beds till I can get to Neha. Now that I look down at her it occurs to me, I really should have brought her back home earlier, when I was healing everyone. She didn't need much of it anyway. Rajveer and Nikita have probably spent hours wondering what happened, at this point.
But try as I might, my powers don't include time travel, so there's no point in debating this.
Picking the woman up, I take a few quick steps to get clear of the beds, before I Teleport with a quick motion. I'm now standing in the same back alley I always use, right next to my house. Stepping to the main door… there's a small crowd at the Chopras' house, the usual assortment of the curious creature that is the Bystander Indian. Too cowardly to act at the right time and too nosy to stay away. Something in my mind niggles at me to try and imagine that they might be here to console the couple… but that's never how it works.
The buzz of the crowd fades into nothing as I approach, a sudden wave of silence staring from the ones looking out the window and covering the whole house in moments. They part as I step in, carrying the girl bridal style. They look at me, eyes wide. Some are frightened. Some I've seen in the past, lying around half drunken. Some I've seen do rather more unsavory things in back alleys.
None matter. My eyes are limited to Nikita and Rajveer, who sit in the center of the hubbub, eyes red and puffy and voices hoarse after being forced to relive the worst moments of their lives over and over by these 'well-wishers'. A wordless casting of Detect Thoughts assuages one of my concerns. They didn't divulge my identity. It never even occurred to them as a possibility.
The spell also makes my derision towards these people turn to ash in my mouth. Several of them have lost people to the ABB in exactly this way in the past. None were so lucky as to have me, though at least three will have cause for happiness in a few hours. The crowd remains silent as the grave, making every step I take in the restored, repaired living room sound unnaturally loud.
No words are exchanged as Nikita and Rajveer rise from their places, rushing to my side in an instant. They gaze at their daughter with eyes full of hope bordering on disbelief, and once they've gazed at her to their satisfaction, I set her down on a hastily emptied couch at the back of the room.
Comprehension is spreading about this, about what just happened, and I see some phones start to come out.
"None of that" I murmur ever so slightly, making Rajveer jerk up in shock. A moment later I raise a hand, and every smartphone not safely in a pocket zooms into it, moving straight into my inventory before I deposit them on the floor, switched off.
I see Rajveer and Nikita exchange a glance, before she opens her mouth to say something. I shake my head ever so little, all but invisible to the onlookers. She falls silent at the gesture, and I turn away before anyone can say anything.
A moment later I'm out of their house, and another second passes before I land all the way in the middle of the street a good way down from their house. I see people rushing out to see me, before I Teleport.
Arriving at the safe house, there's a few last things to take care of.
I dispel the protection spells on the place, turning the tigers back into trash and shutting down all the Glyphs of Warding too. I leave the sleep spells in place, though. Probably for the best.
Well, one last thing. I got a phone from one of the random ABB idiots I… er, 'removed from consideration'. I dial the number.
"Thank you for calling the PRT Helpline, this is Vivian, how may I assist you?" the woman on the line sounds far too cheerful for someone manning a public helpline at four in the morning on a Monday. Poor woman is going to spend a lot of time with voice analysts in the coming days. The name's probably a fake, or I'd send her a gift basket.
"Trace this call. This phone is currently placed in an abandoned warehouse, where sixty-two sex slaves liberated from the ABB are currently being kept safe. I've provided them some help, but they need support and assistance as soon as possible." I finish, before I pull the phone away from my ears. It has a full battery, so it'll last the while. I move to put it on a table, but a loud noise from the other side interrupts.
"Wait!" the lady is yelling. Evidently, she has some experience with callers like me.
"… yes?" I ask after a brief wait.
To her credit, she doesn't waste my time with any crap about 'if this is a fake call', or all that.
"We'll… er, need your name." the voice comes back, confident but with just the right tone of weakness interspersed. All the same I almost revise my estimate of her intelligence, before realizing what she's talking about.
"You mean, um…"
"Your Hero name, yes. Unless you're uncomfortable sharing it?" She asks once, tone again balanced just right.
Hm.
Huh. This seems to have been a curious lapse in my preparations. All those hours I spent planning and researching, and I haven't… huh. How about that?
I let my mind run wild for a moment, considering options.
With a bit of thinking, a name pops up. It's a real word, but this usage is from a series I read. A story about a world much like this one to be honest, except in all the ways it wasn't.
"Hierophant" I answer the woman on the phone.
Only the first part has been through betas so far. I got impatient.
Tell me what you think!
XXXXXXXXXXXXX
Locate Person yields no result. She's out of range, then.
Pulling out my wand, I make a gesture. Immediately, hair comes zooming from the staircase, and the loose nail unsticks from the doorframe and flies directly at me. I ignore Rajveer as he cries out, turning and stepping out of the house in a rush.
A moment later I'm in the air, a wordless Fly allowing me to move towards where I see the tire tracks going. They can't have gone too far, judging by how everyone is still inside. If my understanding of crowds is right, they'd start coming out five, at most ten minutes after the gangbangers leave.
Once I have the hair and the nail ready, I wince at the prospective Mana cost, before casting Scrying.
Closing my eyes, I let the magic go to work, before a picture forms in my mind's eye. She's unconscious. Chloroformed. But she's not what I'm focusing on. Looking around her, I note the faces in the car. They're the gangbangers from the Merchant skirmish, siblings of the ones I saw earlier.
Focusing at the absolute edge of the ten feet range Scrying provides, I try to glean any hints of where they are. Shop names, landmarks… it's over a minute before a sudden jerk pushes Neha around enough that the window moves away from the car and the blank road, and for just a fraction of a second, I see the wall they're zooming past. I know it.
A moment later, I'm there, the tiniest 'pop' of Apparition proof that my focus is shot already.
Looking at the car speeding down the road, I fly behind it, renewing my flight spell seconds before it runs out. This… isn't sustainable. Flying close, I consider options. Part of me screams to just act now, pick her up and end these bastards. I suppress it with an exertion of will. I've been ignoring too many signs, and how many young women just like Neha must there be, suffering as a result of that idiocy?
It would be different if they were… doing anything to her in the car. But they're not, and I think I can let my Mana recover before acting. Harry Potter spells are well and good, but there's no use confronting enemies with just barely enough Mana for a 0-level spell if I don't have to.
Once the Fly runs out for the second time, I take to the rooftops, channeling a steady flow of MP to my legs to keep up Naruto style while a simple Disillusionment Charm keeps me safely out of sight.
Before long the car is leaving Brockton Bay city limits entirely, crossing even the outlying suburbs and heading into what looks like a region dominated mostly by poor farms and shitty vineyards. It's not one of the regions I've visited before, not many hospitals or soup kitchens in it.
Another thing it lacks are convenient rooftops. Instead of jumping, I start Apparating after them, teleporting at regular distances to keep them in sight. It's more than an hour after this chase started that they finally start slowing down, pulling in towards what looks like one of the better maintained, more prosperous farms.
I recheck my disillusionment once I'm close and top it off with a Bedazzling Hex just to be sure. Okay, the Farm looks perfectly innocent, but the gates open as soon as the car comes close, and there are a lot of guards around, all with oriental features. None have the ABB colors, being dressed instead in smart guard uniforms.
Okay, then. With one more apparition, I place myself directly at the roof of the barn, Feather Fall ensuring I don't make any noise when I come to rest on it.
Let's see, then. Arcane Eye is a level four spell for Wizards and would suck out most of my Mana. But that's the joy of it, I don't operate as a Wizard. I'm an Arcane Caster, period, and wouldn't you know it? Trapsmiths get it at Level 2.
Moments after I see them carry her into the building, my vision follows them in. After a moment's thought I pull a penny out of my inventory, casting Spymaster's Coin on it. A droplet of glue and disillusionment later, I levitate it onto the back of the man carrying her.
I see them carry her into the place, open the secret door hidden inside a Pantry on the far end. I follow Neha down the stairs as they take her into the basement, and then further into the sub-basement… though one might as well call it a Dungeon at this point.
I feel my anger start hammering at Gamer's Mind as my sensor follows them in, even as I renew the spell. There are dozens of people here, from ages ranging from what looks like early thirties to as young as five. It makes me angry, but not surprised. There are creatures who will pay for such things, and therefore there exist creatures who will supply them. Economics at its most obscene.
I don't ignore my anger, not anymore. Recent events have helped me better understand Gamer's Mind, and I recall a certain line from a Hindi movie I liked. It's a very useful thing, anger. I don't waste it pointlessly on imagining what I'm going to do to these people, and I don't try to grow past it. I save it, lovingly storing it all in a box in my mind. I cultivate it like a farmer cultivates his crops, so I can spend it when the time comes.
There are dozens of people underground, chained to their beds, more than a few of them beaten bloody and bruised. Even more disturbing are the empty beds, of which there are even more than the full ones. It takes me a moment to understand.
This isn't a brothel, not precisely. This is a processing center. They bring people here to be broken, and they store them here when not in active use. There are probably just as many people in several 'active' brothels around Brockton and the nearby towns and cities, where 'customers' are… I shove the fresh lance of rage into the box with the rest of it. Not yet.
The first part becomes further evident when they carry Neha deeper into the nightmarish pit, past the broken and abused people and the empty beds. Here they have what looks like a hospital ward, with neat beds arrayed in lines, IVs beside every one of them. Once they put Neha on the bed, the men step back to what looks like a gathering area at this level, while a woman steps up to her and starts strapping her onto the bed and setting up an IV next to her.
Once the man who was carrying Neha sits down with his friends, it takes a moment to activate the coin on his back.
"… will the doctor be here? I want to sample this bitch." The voice comes through as clear as any top-brand speaker, and once again I crush an urge to rush down there and start slaughtering them in job lots. I'm paying for taking the easy way out with things right now. No more.
Another man, someone in charge by his tone, answers bitingly. "Keep your cock in your pants, boy. Let the doctor assign a price. Don't forget what happened the last time."
"Probably won't be, though. Bitch's a fancy lawyer! Plenty of paying idiots will want to teach that kind their place!" A third voice opines, and yet another eruption of red is channeled into the box in my head. I will feed this man his spleen for this. Just not right now.
Okay, so there's a doctor to assess the 'value' of the intakes. Low value ones are presumably available for these vermin to use, but high value ones aren't. And the doctor isn't here yet.
Alright then. A few simple Alarm spells on the gate to the farm and the road leading to it will tell me if there's anyone coming in.
I apparate away.
An instant later, I'm back in Brockton Bay, in one of the innumerable side streets that litter the docks. In front of me is an abandoned warehouse. A few homeless used to live here, but I moved them to a nearby shelter the day before yesterday.
I start casting. A Muggle-Repelling Charm, then another, followed by the Unplottable Charm, a Notice-me-Not; imagine my surprise when I found they exist; and half a dozen other spells. Stepping in, I work quickly. The area inside quadruples with a wave of my wand, and it takes half a dozen more waves of it to conjure about a hundred mattresses.
I follow it up with a few glyphs of warding, and round the whole thing off with transfiguring the contents of a trash can into a dozen tigers with instructions to guard the entrance and tear apart anyone in Green and Red trying to get in.
Okay, then. That's the basics in place. Meanwhile, I have an idea for what to do here. I check the alarm spells once. Nothing so far, and in any case, it's not even been five minutes since I came here.
Apparating back to about two hundred meters from the Farm, I start preparing. Normal transfiguration is one thing, this is more complicated. I start with a normal wolf transfigured from a chunk of wood. An Engorgio increases its size to equal a horse, and another puts it comfortably beyond.
Now for the hardest part. I imagine what I want it to look like, fix the image in my head, and cast the spell. Come on, turn it into a mass of blades… but no. It's not happening.
I try half a dozen times more, but they only serve to confirm that it's not going to happen. Oh well.
I settle for turning its color silver-chrome and follow that up with conjuring about a dozen large scraps of cloth. Several Unbreakable Charms later, I stick them all over the wolf's body as perfectly as I can, while also coloring them identically silver chrome.
Okay, then. That's close… I finish the ruse by sticking as accurate a Genjutsu of Hookwolf over the creature as I can manage.
Crusader, on the other hand, is so easy it's almost silly. Bunshin, Henge, and I'm done.
I create about twenty more illusions and make them look like a random assortment of skinheads.
And we're ready. I tell my creations to charge the gate of the farm, while making as much noise as they possibly can. Not that I won't help them.
Sonorous.
"Come out, you worthless fucking chinks! You bastards, we've found your fucking place today, pigs! We'll show you what you're worth!" 'Hookwolf' screams his head off, continuing in that vein.
Just to help him out I toss around a few fire jutsu at the building, followed up with a few sonic spells just to add flavor. A last minute thought reminds me to add on a Stormtiger clone, and I toss out a couple wind jutsu.
The wolf goes bounding into the guard post near the gate, and while everyone is firing everything they have at it, it isn't doing much.
I wait for about a minute as more and more guards come pouring out of the building, trying to fight off the seeming Empire attack. There were, when I last saw, a little over thirty guards in the building. When a quick count of the defenders here reveals that there are twenty-eight here… it's time to go in.
Apparating directly to the landing on the first floor, I cast Depulso to make the roof cave in on the staircase. A moment later I'm into the actual floor, and I come across one of the guards. One Diffindo to the neck, and I move on.
Pushing Mana to my legs and senses, I rush through the entire place. I find about three more guards in the next minute, and then I'm done.
I pause for a second to toss a Diffindo at the stomach of one of the creatures whom I recognize from my scouting earlier, before kneeling beside him. Promises should be kept, after all. Once his jaws close with the last 'squelch' and I make his neck swallow, I'm free to get the important work done.
Okay, so Neha and the other fresh entrants were… here we are. The woman from earlier is leaning over her with a scalpel to her throat. "Don't come any closer or-" I banish a coin through the open mouth, before making it go straight up.
Cleaning the blood off Neha with a Tergeo moments later, I hold her tight, before Apparating.
Dumping her at a bed… I start.
There were, I would note later, sixty-three young men, women, boys and girls in that place across the three underground floors. At three seconds per person, it took me a shade under four minutes to move them all to safety.
In the back of my head, I note that my fake Hookwolf died just before I made the last teleport. Impressive of the ABB. There were patches where the invulnerable cloth didn't cover it, but them being vermin doesn't mean I can't appreciate a job genuinely well done.
Once the last of the ABB's victims is in my makeshift safe house, I cast sleeping charms on the lot of them. Perhaps unkind of me, but I'm really not in the mood to answer questions. Done with that, I start casting Unseen Servant, ordering each servant to put the people onto beds as it appears.
While they do that, I start with the healing. These people have been abused beyond any measure of cruelty, beyond all rhyme and reason. There are broken bones, deep-seated infections, long term starvation effects, you name it. There are obscene dilations in the rectal and vaginal areas from when examples were made of resisting victims using the animals oh so conveniently available on the farm. Each instance provokes a fresh lance of red in my mind, and each time I shove it into the box.
Not yet.
I can't do much for the mental scarring they must have but Cure Serious Wounds and Remove Disease go a long, long way into dealing with the physical traces. I stop casting them after a few times, though. It's a stupid way to go. Instead, I deal with the normal trauma using Harry Potter spells and the diseases using Iryojutsu. Neither has the clinical perfection of D&D spells, but nor do they have the ruinous cost.
It takes me over an hour to do a full circuit of the patients, by which time the servants, done with moving them onto the beds, have started on stripping and cleaning them. Offhand I conjure several piles of clothes, nothing fancy but things that will keep off cold and shame. Once I have enough for everyone, I tell the servants to dress them as best as they can. It might result in a few shirts put on inside out, but I can't be everywhere.
Beginning my second round, I start with Observing them and spamming diagnostic spells to make sure I got everything. Several times along the way I cast Neutralize Poison, to the point I end up having to wait for my Mana to recharge. I use the time to organize things some more, helping the servants clean and dress the patients.
Another hour passes as I ensure that everyone is free of any drugs or other poisons. I'm about to move away, before a thought occurs.
The real tragedy of forced prostitution is, the ways the scum use work. There's one last thing to do, and if I skip it a good chunk of these people might actually end up back at the Farm, possibly even willingly.
The good part is, Remove Addiction is significantly cheaper as a spell to cast, and Observe is very good at telling me who needs it.
Once I'm done with that, it's been two and a half hours since I initially attacked the Farm. I finish this up with depositing the entirety of my Create Food and Water proceeds for the day on tables placed nearby.
Then I step out of the building and alter all the protection spells to go out in two hours if I'm not around to remove them. Going back in, I alter the sleeping charms on everyone to go out in an hour. There's basically no chance whatsoever that I won't make it back in. My spells haven't noted a parahuman coming in, and fighting gangbanger rabble isn't in any world a suicide mission.
That being said… Never Again.
Finally, finally I Apparate.
Before me lies the Farm. It's still buzzing with activity, with significantly larger numbers of ABB around. A quick check yields no capes, so that's good on the alarm spells.
Looking in, they've actually made it through my cave-in! Very well done indeed. I'm going to tear everyone here apart, but they're good workers.
I consider my options. Spells? Jutsu? I don't think so.
I have a box full of rage in my head, and it demands the kind of visceral satisfaction I just can't get from spells.
Picking up a random twig, I transfigure it into a Baseball bat.
Hmm… no. Another twitch of my wand, and it turns into a Cricket bat. That's more like it.
I cast an Unbreakable Charm on it. Okay, then.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Michael Chen wasn't a bad man. At least, he didn't think he was. He was a good man who'd been dealt a bad hand in life. Born poor and in territory controlled by a small Chinese gang, he'd joined up as a teenager, and over the course of years carried out several abduction and ransoms, hits and shakedowns. Once he'd even run a small meth operation under Bai Hu, the Chinese immigrant parahuman who'd come to become the leader of all of Brockton Bay's triad-descended gangs.
Then, a few years ago, the Dragon had come, and suddenly the small Japanese, Korean, Thai and other gangs that had been their primary competition had become their compatriots. The dragon decreed that years of hatred, grudges and rivalries had to be set aside, and such was his power that they did it, too. The parahumans who led the gangs he was merging had tried to resist, and they'd died for it.
Michael had been one of the Bai Hu's lieutenants by then, and it'd been him who had dug the grave for the tiger-themed Blaster and together with the man's other lieutenants, buried him in it.
The only remnants of that day and age, the heirs of men and women who'd competed with Allfather and Marquis's organizations, were men like Michael and a few in Lung's new group, and the Yakuza dog who'd been the first to bend to Lung, and thus the only one to live.
But if unity made them chafe and loathe each other and themselves, it'd also made them strong. Michael remembered the times after the Brigade had taken down Marquis. The Empire had run rampant, the disunited competitors too weak to fight them off. It'd only been once Lung had forged them all into one that they'd emerged as true rival claimants for the city.
And Michael had done well too. While he'd feared for what would become of him with Oni Lee as Lung's Second, the man seemed to have died inside at some point along the way. He had no ambitions beyond being Lung's loyal dog. No desire for territory, no input demanded on decisions… no, it was Michael and other men like him who ran Lung's kingdom for the Dragon.
Michael had, once he rose in the Dragon's favor, come to manage one of the most crucial properties of the ABB. The Farm they called it, and it was responsible for over half of their income. It was where they kept the whores, it was where they kept the earnings from the whores before they could be laundered, and it was where they kept the recordings of various people fucking the whores, recordings which, every now and then, turned out to be very useful indeed. People in the Brockton Bay city government, in the police, in the PRT and in the official positions in the other towns the ABB was in power. Businessmen, Judges… a lot of people had a fascination for being able to access whores that they could whip, belt, strangle or brutalize to any extent they wanted without needing to be concerned about it at all.
Only they did have to be concerned about things. Stop using those services? They were ruined. Fail to inform on their organizations to the ABB? They were ruined. Some of the businessmen were taxed on a regular basis in addition for what they paid to use the bitches. It was never too much for them to pay, and always too little compared to the cost of their lives burning down around them. No, Michael had a sweet spot for himself, and he was trucking along just fine.
That was, until he'd gotten report of the Empire attack on the Farm. Then he'd found himself clutching at his heart, with his family asking what had happened. He'd rushed here with a dozen boys to shore up the defenses and was even now trying to understand just how it could have happened. As it turned out, what they had presumed to be Hookwolf wasn't him at all, and by the looks of it someone had gotten into and out of the place while they'd been dealing with the imposter. The surprise was that they'd chosen to steal the whores in the place instead of the money or the information, but that was a small matter compared to the fact that they'd gotten here at all.
He'd ordered them to empty out all the whorehouses and bring the bitches here anyway, along with the people assigned to them. If whoever was doing it had value for them, one location with all of them would make for a better trap than having to defend dozens of places. He'd asked for parahuman support just in case the Nazis had reinforcements, but that was evidently not going to happen. Lung and Oni Lee had gotten a lead on the Undersiders and were heading out to finish them off once and for all. At least he had plenty of bombs.
"Anything?" Michael asks one of his people who was on the line with the lookouts parked ahead of them on the road to watch for anyone coming in.
"No, Boss." The flunky replied, turning his eyes back on his phone.
Michael tried to relax. They had over twenty of their people here, all armed to the teeth, all with tinkertech bombs in hand. They would be fine.
Naturally, that would be the time He chose to appear.
Michael's first warning that something had gone terribly, terribly wrong was when a series of harsh noises came from the outside, followed by his men crying out in alarm and pain. One, two, three… in less than five seconds four people cried out and fell over, just after heavy smashing noises came from their directions.
Running out, Michael came across the first of them. He was a man Michael had known well. He'd been to the boy's graduation, for fuck's sake.
Now he was lying face down on the floor, his head smashed open.
"There's someone here. Spread out, and search for him! Shoot the fucker!" Michael could feel his voice growing higher. He'd never dealt well with personal danger.
For several moments after the initial attack, there was complete silence, other than the footfalls of his people as they spread out around the Farm.
Then Michael heard a whooshing noise, like a gust of wind right next to him.
He whipped around, peppering the air with bullets… and found himself shooting one of his own men, who'd just been felled himself.
And so, it went. Wherever he went, it was like a spirit was striking from the shadows, with an imperceptible noise, a dull, wet thunk of something hitting a skull, and the sound of the body hitting the ground.
It was over two minutes and a dozen flunkies later that Michael first saw him, the man who was doing all this. And in an instant, he felt his breath hitch.
"He's supposed to be a healer…" Michael said to himself, as what couldn't be anyone other than the Blue Man appeared out of nowhere next to one of his people, and swung a wooden bat drenched in blood. Michael shot at the man with everything he had, but if any bullets hit the man, he didn't show it, disappearing just a moment later.
They'd known of the Blue Man for some days now, the man who walked the city in the night, healing the sick, feeding the homeless… he was supposed to be a bleeding-heart healer, not something like this!
The men were getting spooked, starting to panic. This was too familiar, too much like what they were used to laughing at. They were ABB. A teleporting cape moving rapidly across the battlefield, striking with impunity was nothing new, but he was supposed to be on their side!
"Bombs out! Everyone brings out the fucking tinker bombs, blow up anything that moves!" he ordered, keeping his voice level by sheer force of will. As if in a response to this, a mist suddenly appeared all around the farm, covering everything and making it all but impossible to see anything or anyone.
And from there it was a struggle between them to try and catch the man hunting them in the blast of one of the bombs, or for him to escape it. Michael struggled to deal with the wreckage the man was turning his crew into. He wasn't even limiting himself to heads anymore. More than a few times Michael saw one of his people on the ground, half his ribs on one side broken by the swing of a bat, before the man had taken the same bat to his hands.
Three times in the next ten minutes they caught him in one of the blasts, incinerating four of their own people in the process. Each time he shrugged it off like it was nothing, like it wasn't supposed to have vaporized him!
Michael tried to keep the men's morale up, but it was hard to do it, when they kept going down! Two of them went in at one side to check a sound. They were on the ground a second later, one man having shot the other upon hearing him stumble and hit the wall. Meanwhile the man had kicked the other in the head and sent him flying into the crowd, which had perforated their own man with bullets.
Michael was starting to think that having given dozens of trigger-happy men orders to shoot at anything that moved might not have been a good idea, especially when one of them came close to getting him with a shot!
And it was almost worse with bombs. While several of the grenades they had were smart bombs, in that they identified who they were being tossed at, and course-corrected midair to hit him. But that went only so far when facing a teleporter. And the worse part was, again, that he simply didn't seem to care when he did get hit!
To their credit, they lasted very long after a point. Every movement was a warning, and they learned to move away from it just as they learned to fire at it. And they lasted until there were barely a dozen of them left, before the rest finally, finally broke and ran.
Michael himself threw himself at the car, gunning it for everything it had and aiming straight at the gate… when he felt the presence in the seat next to him.
"Oh, it's much too late for any of that nonsense, I'm afraid." The voice was cultured and crisp, like a news announcer reading out a moderately interesting tidbit. It sounded utterly wrong from the psychopath who'd just ravaged more than twenty people in less than fifteen minutes.
"Curiously enough, you don't seem to have realized that the ones among you left are the leaders. The ones with useful information."
What? Michael felt his head jerk up, even as he abandoned trying to start the engine and started fumbling with the door. He had to get out!
"Well, that's not happening, is it? Like I said, much too late for that nonsense."
What the hell was the man talking about? Michael risked another glance at the man. He was Blue, he noted again. Somehow the sheer presence of the color seemed notable above and beyond everything else about the man. The shockingly green eyes and the ethereal silver hair just served to complete the look.
"Oh, stop it. You'll make me blush now." The man spoke again with that same voice, and for the first time this night, Michael felt true terror. Lung was scary, but he was scary in the way this man had been scary until a few second ago. Now he was edging into the territory of the nightmares everyone in America had, when sudden cuts appeared on you before a demented voice started speaking random things…
"Well, if it's any consolation they'll get theirs. It'll take a while, but they will." The man continued conversationally, and Michael Chen could no longer escape the conclusion that the man actually could-
"Read your mind? Well of course! How do you think I identified which of you creatures to leave for last?"
Before Michael could say anything, he felt an arm grabbing him, before he was squeezed, feeling like he'd just forced himself through too tight a hole.
A moment later he was falling, hands waving wildly before he felt himself land with a crunch. As lances of pain exploded across him, Michael Chen, senior Lieutenant of the ABB, concluded that he'd landed on the same car he'd been in five seconds ago.
"W-who are you? Why…?" he finally managed to get out, after a few tries. If he could get the man to bog himself down with him, the rest of his boys could get away, tell Lung and get him to tear the cape apart…
"Ooh, good point! Y'know, I think I like you ABB people now. I mean, y'know, the way someone can appreciate the efficiency of a well-designed sewage system." The man chirped in his disturbingly cheerful tone, before teleporting away, presumably to hunt down the last of Michael's boys.
Just as Michael had known he would. Now if he could just get the phone in the car underneath him, he could call one of Lung's phones and tell him this that way. He'd tried to do that since this started, but the cape had targeted anyone trying to call their Boss first and after a point people had started refusing flat-out.
It hurt like hell to extricate himself from the car roof, stand up and reach into the interior. The windscreen had broken and sprayed glass all over the interior, but the glove box…
The phone wasn't there.
"Well, duh. C'mon, give me some credit here." the cape's voice came from behind him.
Michael closed his eyes at the sound that followed, the eminently recognizable crunch of a smartphone being crushed to pieces.
Then he gathered every scrap of energy he had, whirled around and tossed the bomb he had in his hand at the man, activating it in the process.
The bomb flew through the air at the man where he was standing before Michael with a smile on his face, the detonation priming as it approached closer… and flew right through him, the illusion disappearing when it was disturbed.
"Your nephew pulled that one off better. Though I made him swallow his other bomb for how much that hurt, so maybe you come out ahead in the end? What d'you think?" the man's voice came from Michael's other side.
The man said a quick prayer for his nephew in his head, followed by an apology for dragging the boy into the business. Then he drew himself as straight as he could with the sheer pain that his back was and faced the man.
"I have lived with honor, you fucking coward! And I'll die with it." He said as loudly as he could.
He drew some satisfaction from how the words wiped away the man's smirk, even more from how, for the briefest of moments, an expression of pure anger appeared before vanishing under iron self-control.
"Honor." The man spoke, and for a moment Michael was struck by how… strange the man's voice sounded. He'd been too scared or too busy scheming to pay attention earlier, but it sounded like one of the strongest voices Michael had ever heard, while still being delicate enough for just about any song.
"Honor." The cape repeated.
"That's a strange word to put before a lifetime of brutalizing and torturing sex slaves. Of having them ripped away from their families, breaking their wills and having them raped by farm animals."
"What would someone like you-" Michael was in the middle of refuting the man, when all of a sudden, he felt his tongue burn. He closed his mouth instantly, but the flame burned for several more seconds before going out.
"You don't get to speak. Not anymore." The man said, before moving his lips as if to say something himself.
"… and neither do I, come to think of it. What am I even doing, wasting a Reason you Suck speech on a thing like you? No, I don't think so. No, I have actual work worth doing waiting for me." The man finished, looking at Michael like he was something he'd just scraped off his shoe.
And then he moved, one hand wrapping around Michael's neck and lifting him off the ground, before slamming him into the wall. Wincing at another several ribs breaking, Michael waited for the coup de grace.
Which never came. Instead, the man leaned in, settling his emerald eyes directly on Michael's. "It's just that there's quite a lot of useful information in that head of yours, which I want. So… Legilimens."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
By successfully retrieving Neha Chopra, you have Completed the Primary Quest: The Dragon and the Maiden +10000 XP
By successfully retrieving all other ABB slaves, you have Completed the Additional Quest: Needs of the Many +20000 XP
By destroying The Farm, you have Completed the Additional Quest: Once and For All +15000 XP
You have defeated: 31 ABB Gangbangers! +9300 XP
You are now Level 11!
Your Skill: Teleport has gained a level! X3
Your Skill: Healing has gained a level! X2
Your Skill: Blunt Weapons Mastery has gained a level! X9
Through Completing a Primary Quest, you have successfully commenced the Main Quest: Yada Yada hi Dharmasya
You have Unlocked the Power: Crafting Magic
You have Unlocked the Power: Dimensional Manipulation
You have Unlocked the Essence: Adventurer
You have Unlocked the Essence: Crafter
Crafting Menu is now Available!
The Skill: Crafting has been Created!
Crafting is now at Tier: Greater!
The Skill: Inscription has been created!
Inscription is now at Tier: Greater!
The Skill: Enchantment has been Created!
Enchantment is now at Tier: Greater!
Summoning is now at Tier: Intermediate!
Summoning is now Level 66!
The Skill ID Create has been Created!
ID Create is now at Tier: Intermediate!
ID Create is now Level 66!
The Skill ID Escape has been Created!
ID Escape is now at Tier: Intermediate!
ID Escape is now Level 66!
The Skill Dimensional Magic has been Created!
Dimensional Magic is now at Tier: Intermediate!
Dimensional Magic is now Level 66!
You Receive: $250000!
You Receive: 30 sets of Automatic Weaponry!
You Receive: +5 to CHA"
You Receive: +10 to INT
You Receive a new Perk!: Invictus
You Receive a new Perk!: Iron Body
By successfully retrieving all other ABB slaves, you have Completed the Additional Quest: Needs of the Many +20000 XP
By destroying The Farm, you have Completed the Additional Quest: Once and For All +15000 XP
You have defeated: 31 ABB Gangbangers! +9300 XP
You are now Level 11!
Your Skill: Teleport has gained a level! X3
Your Skill: Healing has gained a level! X2
Your Skill: Blunt Weapons Mastery has gained a level! X9
Through Completing a Primary Quest, you have successfully commenced the Main Quest: Yada Yada hi Dharmasya
You have Unlocked the Power: Crafting Magic
You have Unlocked the Power: Dimensional Manipulation
You have Unlocked the Essence: Adventurer
You have Unlocked the Essence: Crafter
Crafting Menu is now Available!
The Skill: Crafting has been Created!
Crafting is now at Tier: Greater!
The Skill: Inscription has been created!
Inscription is now at Tier: Greater!
The Skill: Enchantment has been Created!
Enchantment is now at Tier: Greater!
Summoning is now at Tier: Intermediate!
Summoning is now Level 66!
The Skill ID Create has been Created!
ID Create is now at Tier: Intermediate!
ID Create is now Level 66!
The Skill ID Escape has been Created!
ID Escape is now at Tier: Intermediate!
ID Escape is now Level 66!
The Skill Dimensional Magic has been Created!
Dimensional Magic is now at Tier: Intermediate!
Dimensional Magic is now Level 66!
You Receive: $250000!
You Receive: 30 sets of Automatic Weaponry!
You Receive: +5 to CHA"
You Receive: +10 to INT
You Receive a new Perk!: Invictus
You Receive a new Perk!: Iron Body
Bloody hell, that is a lot of alerts. I dismiss them after a cursory check, to look at later when I have more time. I'm standing in my safe house right now, about ten minutes after I finished off the last of the stragglers. Of course, I was interrupted by the intermittently exploding tinkertech bombs they had strewn around everywhere when they realized they weren't going to win. Victor Chen was… something, alright.
Having gathered up all my… targets, I turned them into pieces of wood and set them on fire, before staring on the actual building. I only got to destroy the surface, though. Someone in Chen's employ set off a self-destruct in the cupboard with all their blackmail files, and it spread pretty quickly from there.
But it's done now, and only the easy stuff remains. Looking around, everyone looks good, safely ensconced in dreamless sleep. I navigate my way through the beds till I can get to Neha. Now that I look down at her it occurs to me, I really should have brought her back home earlier, when I was healing everyone. She didn't need much of it anyway. Rajveer and Nikita have probably spent hours wondering what happened, at this point.
But try as I might, my powers don't include time travel, so there's no point in debating this.
Picking the woman up, I take a few quick steps to get clear of the beds, before I Teleport with a quick motion. I'm now standing in the same back alley I always use, right next to my house. Stepping to the main door… there's a small crowd at the Chopras' house, the usual assortment of the curious creature that is the Bystander Indian. Too cowardly to act at the right time and too nosy to stay away. Something in my mind niggles at me to try and imagine that they might be here to console the couple… but that's never how it works.
The buzz of the crowd fades into nothing as I approach, a sudden wave of silence staring from the ones looking out the window and covering the whole house in moments. They part as I step in, carrying the girl bridal style. They look at me, eyes wide. Some are frightened. Some I've seen in the past, lying around half drunken. Some I've seen do rather more unsavory things in back alleys.
None matter. My eyes are limited to Nikita and Rajveer, who sit in the center of the hubbub, eyes red and puffy and voices hoarse after being forced to relive the worst moments of their lives over and over by these 'well-wishers'. A wordless casting of Detect Thoughts assuages one of my concerns. They didn't divulge my identity. It never even occurred to them as a possibility.
The spell also makes my derision towards these people turn to ash in my mouth. Several of them have lost people to the ABB in exactly this way in the past. None were so lucky as to have me, though at least three will have cause for happiness in a few hours. The crowd remains silent as the grave, making every step I take in the restored, repaired living room sound unnaturally loud.
No words are exchanged as Nikita and Rajveer rise from their places, rushing to my side in an instant. They gaze at their daughter with eyes full of hope bordering on disbelief, and once they've gazed at her to their satisfaction, I set her down on a hastily emptied couch at the back of the room.
Comprehension is spreading about this, about what just happened, and I see some phones start to come out.
"None of that" I murmur ever so slightly, making Rajveer jerk up in shock. A moment later I raise a hand, and every smartphone not safely in a pocket zooms into it, moving straight into my inventory before I deposit them on the floor, switched off.
I see Rajveer and Nikita exchange a glance, before she opens her mouth to say something. I shake my head ever so little, all but invisible to the onlookers. She falls silent at the gesture, and I turn away before anyone can say anything.
A moment later I'm out of their house, and another second passes before I land all the way in the middle of the street a good way down from their house. I see people rushing out to see me, before I Teleport.
Arriving at the safe house, there's a few last things to take care of.
I dispel the protection spells on the place, turning the tigers back into trash and shutting down all the Glyphs of Warding too. I leave the sleep spells in place, though. Probably for the best.
Well, one last thing. I got a phone from one of the random ABB idiots I… er, 'removed from consideration'. I dial the number.
"Thank you for calling the PRT Helpline, this is Vivian, how may I assist you?" the woman on the line sounds far too cheerful for someone manning a public helpline at four in the morning on a Monday. Poor woman is going to spend a lot of time with voice analysts in the coming days. The name's probably a fake, or I'd send her a gift basket.
"Trace this call. This phone is currently placed in an abandoned warehouse, where sixty-two sex slaves liberated from the ABB are currently being kept safe. I've provided them some help, but they need support and assistance as soon as possible." I finish, before I pull the phone away from my ears. It has a full battery, so it'll last the while. I move to put it on a table, but a loud noise from the other side interrupts.
"Wait!" the lady is yelling. Evidently, she has some experience with callers like me.
"… yes?" I ask after a brief wait.
To her credit, she doesn't waste my time with any crap about 'if this is a fake call', or all that.
"We'll… er, need your name." the voice comes back, confident but with just the right tone of weakness interspersed. All the same I almost revise my estimate of her intelligence, before realizing what she's talking about.
"You mean, um…"
"Your Hero name, yes. Unless you're uncomfortable sharing it?" She asks once, tone again balanced just right.
Hm.
Huh. This seems to have been a curious lapse in my preparations. All those hours I spent planning and researching, and I haven't… huh. How about that?
I let my mind run wild for a moment, considering options.
With a bit of thinking, a name pops up. It's a real word, but this usage is from a series I read. A story about a world much like this one to be honest, except in all the ways it wasn't.
"Hierophant" I answer the woman on the phone.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Name: Amar Keshav Chandra
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: Novice Healer
Level: 11
Stats
STR 23
CON 25
DEX 26
INT 38
WIS 20
CHA 43
Stat Points Available: 40
HP: 1225/1225
Full Recovery Period: 78.53 minutes
MP: 1290/1290
Full Recovery Period: 62.63 minutes
Skills
Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max
Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a Game.
Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological status effects.
Observe [Basic] (Active/Passive) LV 52 Exp: 18.13%
A skill to find the target's information. Observe is obtained and improved through continuous observation.
Through leveling Observe past level 50, user unlocks passive INT-based deduction capabilities.
ID Create [Intermediate] (Active) LV 66 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to create various types of Instant Dungeons.
ID Escape [Intermediate] (Active) LV 66 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to escape Instant Dungeons and other pocket spaces.
Creation [Basic] (Active) LV 34 Exp: 48.43%
The ability to create things with magic.
Divination [Basic] (Active) LV 7 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic pertaining to information.
Illusion [Basic] (Active) LV 24 Exp: 19.82%
The ability to use Illusion based magic.
Healing [Basic] (Active) LV 52 Exp: 94.83%
The ability to heal others.
Transmutation [Basic] (Active) LV 19 Exp: 27.13%
The ability to turn transmute things with magic.
Universal [Basic] (Active) LV 15 Exp: 31.42%
The ability to wield spells that do not fall under other classifications.
Unarmed Combat Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 22 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight without using weapons.
Bladed Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 16 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Bladed Weapons.
Blunt Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 24 Exp: 96.87%
The ability to fight using Blunt Weapons.
Ranged Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Ranged Weapons.
Teleport [Basic] (Active) LV 33 Exp: 63.46%
The ability to move further than humanly possible in an instant.
Crafting [Greater] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to craft and create useful items
Inscription [Greater] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to create runes and seals with powerful effects.
Enchantment [Greater] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to enchant objects with magical effects and powers.
Dimensional Magic [Intermediate] (Active) LV 66 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic dealing with other dimensions, universes, planes etc.
Summoning [Intermediate] (Active) LV 66 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to summon other creatures and beings with magic.
Pyromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 15 Exp: 70.36%
The ability to wield Fire based magic.
Hydromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 19 Exp: 84.12%
The ability to wield Water based magic.
Electromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 11 Exp: 67.82%
The ability to wield Lightning based magic.
Evocation [Basic] (Active) LV 12 Exp: 49.36%
The ability to utilize directly offensive magic.
Telekinesis [Basic] (Active) LV 13 Exp: 14.00%
The ability to move things without physical contact.
Aeromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 12 Exp: 9.00%
The ability to wield Wind based magic.
Bluff [Basic] (Passive) LV 11 Exp: 12.64%
The ability to lie, deceive and otherwise trick others.
Diplomacy [Basic] (Passive) LV 15 Exp: 5.96%
The ability to convince, charm and otherwise play well with other people.
Perform [Basic] (Passive) LV 20 Exp: 2.12%
The ability to deliver theatrical performances.
Software Development [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to design and program computer software.
Linguistics [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use and understand languages.
Parkour [Basic] (Active) LV 6 Exp: 8.00%
The ability to move rapidly in urban environments
Geomancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Earth based magic.
Abjuration [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Defensive Magic.
Mind Magic [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 2.17%
The ability to use magic to affect minds.
Necromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Death based magic.
Feats: Silent Spell
Perks
Comic Book Pretty: You look like a Model, airbrushed to perfection in all circumstances. CHA +100%
Man of Mystery: You wear mystery like a stylish cloak. Provides Immunity to all abilities based on Supernatural Perception.
Special Snowflake: Provides Immunity to all hostile actions/skills/powers targeted at your powers/skills.
Beneficial Case 53: +5 to all Non-Mental Stats.
Invictus: Infinite willpower to keep going through any amount of hardship; even bloody and broken. You will not stop.
Iron Body: Immunity to all diseases, immunity to minor health problems, and the ability to consume anything that isn't actually poisonous or indigestible by your metabolism without any problems.
Powers:
Hope Empowerment 9: Provides Bonuses to all Stats, Skills and powers based on ambient Hope and Hope induced by you.
Dimensional Magic 5: Attunes you with the raw energies of the dimensions. Provides Bonuses to all related skills, provides Skill: Dimensional Magic
Crafting Magic 6: Provides all crafting related skills at two tiers pre-advanced, allows for casting of all manner of artifacts and objects.
LOCKED
Class: The Gamer
Race: Human
Title: Novice Healer
Level: 11
Stats
STR 23
CON 25
DEX 26
INT 38
WIS 20
CHA 43
Stat Points Available: 40
HP: 1225/1225
Full Recovery Period: 78.53 minutes
MP: 1290/1290
Full Recovery Period: 62.63 minutes
Skills
Gamer's Body (Passive) LV Max
Grants a body that allows the user to live life like a Game.
Gamer's Mind (Passive) LV Max
Allows the user to calmly and logically think things through. Allows a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological status effects.
Observe [Basic] (Active/Passive) LV 52 Exp: 18.13%
A skill to find the target's information. Observe is obtained and improved through continuous observation.
Through leveling Observe past level 50, user unlocks passive INT-based deduction capabilities.
ID Create [Intermediate] (Active) LV 66 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to create various types of Instant Dungeons.
ID Escape [Intermediate] (Active) LV 66 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to escape Instant Dungeons and other pocket spaces.
Creation [Basic] (Active) LV 34 Exp: 48.43%
The ability to create things with magic.
Divination [Basic] (Active) LV 7 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic pertaining to information.
Illusion [Basic] (Active) LV 24 Exp: 19.82%
The ability to use Illusion based magic.
Healing [Basic] (Active) LV 52 Exp: 94.83%
The ability to heal others.
Transmutation [Basic] (Active) LV 19 Exp: 27.13%
The ability to turn transmute things with magic.
Universal [Basic] (Active) LV 15 Exp: 31.42%
The ability to wield spells that do not fall under other classifications.
Unarmed Combat Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 22 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight without using weapons.
Bladed Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 16 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Bladed Weapons.
Blunt Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 24 Exp: 96.87%
The ability to fight using Blunt Weapons.
Ranged Weapons Mastery [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to fight using Ranged Weapons.
Teleport [Basic] (Active) LV 33 Exp: 63.46%
The ability to move further than humanly possible in an instant.
Crafting [Greater] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to craft and create useful items
Inscription [Greater] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to create runes and seals with powerful effects.
Enchantment [Greater] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to enchant objects with magical effects and powers.
Dimensional Magic [Intermediate] (Active) LV 66 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use magic dealing with other dimensions, universes, planes etc.
Summoning [Intermediate] (Active) LV 66 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to summon other creatures and beings with magic.
Pyromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 15 Exp: 70.36%
The ability to wield Fire based magic.
Hydromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 19 Exp: 84.12%
The ability to wield Water based magic.
Electromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 11 Exp: 67.82%
The ability to wield Lightning based magic.
Evocation [Basic] (Active) LV 12 Exp: 49.36%
The ability to utilize directly offensive magic.
Telekinesis [Basic] (Active) LV 13 Exp: 14.00%
The ability to move things without physical contact.
Aeromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 12 Exp: 9.00%
The ability to wield Wind based magic.
Bluff [Basic] (Passive) LV 11 Exp: 12.64%
The ability to lie, deceive and otherwise trick others.
Diplomacy [Basic] (Passive) LV 15 Exp: 5.96%
The ability to convince, charm and otherwise play well with other people.
Perform [Basic] (Passive) LV 20 Exp: 2.12%
The ability to deliver theatrical performances.
Software Development [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to design and program computer software.
Linguistics [Basic] (Active) LV 10 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use and understand languages.
Parkour [Basic] (Active) LV 6 Exp: 8.00%
The ability to move rapidly in urban environments
Geomancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to wield Earth based magic.
Abjuration [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Defensive Magic.
Mind Magic [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 2.17%
The ability to use magic to affect minds.
Necromancy [Basic] (Active) LV 1 Exp: 0.00%
The ability to use Death based magic.
Feats: Silent Spell
Perks
Comic Book Pretty: You look like a Model, airbrushed to perfection in all circumstances. CHA +100%
Man of Mystery: You wear mystery like a stylish cloak. Provides Immunity to all abilities based on Supernatural Perception.
Special Snowflake: Provides Immunity to all hostile actions/skills/powers targeted at your powers/skills.
Beneficial Case 53: +5 to all Non-Mental Stats.
Invictus: Infinite willpower to keep going through any amount of hardship; even bloody and broken. You will not stop.
Iron Body: Immunity to all diseases, immunity to minor health problems, and the ability to consume anything that isn't actually poisonous or indigestible by your metabolism without any problems.
Powers:
Hope Empowerment 9: Provides Bonuses to all Stats, Skills and powers based on ambient Hope and Hope induced by you.
Dimensional Magic 5: Attunes you with the raw energies of the dimensions. Provides Bonuses to all related skills, provides Skill: Dimensional Magic
Crafting Magic 6: Provides all crafting related skills at two tiers pre-advanced, allows for casting of all manner of artifacts and objects.
LOCKED
Only the first part has been through betas so far. I got impatient.
Tell me what you think!
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- Location
- Iowa, United States
- Pronouns
- Him, His, He
Very nice. I really enjoyed this chapter. I am glad that he was able to save all the one's at The Farm though I wish he had been able to gather up the blackmail material. Even if he got it from the leader's mind actual physical evidence would have been a big bonus.
williams1996
Alba gu bràth
- Location
- Scotland
i hope he keeps his kill policy with the villians aswell and not just the mooks
Arimai
Curmudgeon
@blackshadow111 with the Indian background and blue skin I expected a more Vedic, or Buddhist name. Did not expect the Greco-Indo bent at all. Then again you could always say heirophant is your title and profession. Heirophant of Vishnu has a nice ring
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blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
The Greco-Indo angle wasn't it, actually. The primary reason behind the name is that Masego is totally awesome, but the second is that he does want a name in English, since it obscures the Indian angle. No one can tell the ethnicity of the blue form, so giving away that advantage by picking a culturally obvious name...
Arimai
Curmudgeon
Ahh. When you described his features these are the first things that popped into my head.
Vishnu, but with only a single pair of arms, and the Blue Buddha respectively.
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blackshadow111
Happy Helpful Grenade
- Location
- India
And you're right... But Amar doesn't know that.