[disclaimer - Wildbow owns Worm, I do not own Worm]
Armsmaster Interlude - Protectorate HQ
Armsmaster looked up from the work he was doing on his Halberd design - he had just started development on a tranquilizer intended to bring down Lung - as a ping sounded from the screen he primarily reserved for Dragon's avatar when she wanted to talk and collaborate with him. This time, however, it was an urgent videocall from Director Piggot that brought in both the Protectorate and the Wards. Of course, Armsmaster promptly accepted.
"Armsmaster.", the Director greeted, her mouth in a grim line. Armsmaster professionally replied "Yes, Director?"
"While we wait for the rest of those invited to get here, I would like you to run a sweep on sensors for any anomalies, anything that might indicate a new tinker or biotinker setting up operations."
"I will contact Dragon immediately. Is this by any chance related-".
Director Piggot cut him off. "We should wait to discuss that report of a potential new trigger once the others get here."
"Of course.", Armsmaster replied.
2 minutes later, a series of pings indicated that all of the Wards and Protectorate had joined the call. Armsmaster was pulling up a map of Brockton Bay sensor data, and Dragon was rapidly analysing permits, expected power throughput, missing pets or people reports, seismic readings - partially co-opted from the in-progress Endbringer prediction software she and Armsmaster were developing - as well as various other anomalies on the Internet, unusual purchases that she could trace to locations in Brockton Bay or nearby. As the Director indicated the start of the meeting, Dragon had filled up from the bottom of the screen a series of anomaly locations, about 1/6th of the way up.
"Today, I received a concerning call on my personal phone from a villain named Tattletale, a member of the Undersiders. Normally this would be dismissed, but the subject of that call was sufficiently anomalous to require an urgent meeting if even half of what she thinks is accurate. The Think Tank, when given the audio recording, deduced that Tattletale at least believed what she told us to be true, even though Tattletale herself admits she is not perfect.", Director Piggot began. "We may have a rogue biotinker on our hands. Or something sufficiently like it to present an equivalent threat."
Battery grimaced, and Assault quickly snapped from his normally playful composure.
"Perhaps I should run the call over my prototype lie detector", Armsmaster suggested curtly, "It may provide useful information on Tattletale's emotional state, even over a phone call."
"Now probably isn't the time, Armsmaster, though I would suggest taking a look later - it may give us more information on what she believed to be her most important deduction. Moving on, we should go over exactly what Tattletale told me.", Piggot replied. She continued. "Tattletale claimed to have seen the potential biotinker for the first time as they were walking up the boardwalk in fairly unclean clothes - she said that they had given another of her teammates information about the power of a personal enemy, and that they seemed deeply uncomfortable in their body, due to its masculine state. However they seemed to be happy, subconsciously touching skin that was clearly smoother than she expected from a body primarily run on testosterone".
With a slight air of grim amusement, Piggot continued, "Tattletale also said, and I quote 'my power went completely nuts' while looking at them, explaining that this was why she had so much information."
She grimaced, getting to the worst part of the reported events. "30 minutes later she saw the biotinker come back down the boardwalk with a bundle of plants and a burger, and this was when she deduced both that the person in question was almost certainly a biotinker, and their obvious intent to create something exponential. She claimed they seemed 'absolutely enamored' with the concept for some ideological reason."
All the capes, even Clockblocker, frowned at the last sentence.
"Do we have a psychological profile?" Armsmaster asked.
"The currently favoured suggestion by the thinkers is a recently triggered transgender person - probably lacking access to the related transition care - placed in a vulnerable position by a parahuman using a power they did not understand", Piggot continued, "it would fit with the tinker and trump powers we know of and the data we have - recent access to hormone replacement therapy of some kind, an innate understanding of parahuman powers - the result of which was passed to Hellhound in a chance interaction, and obtaining biomass in the form of plants. We also know that thinker powers slide off them in some cases and absolutely latch on to them in others, which perhaps indicates a secondary Trump aspect to their powers," Piggot said with a touch of finality. "Precognition seems to shift around them."
"Perhaps a new thinker blind spot?", Miss Militia suggested with a contemplative frown, "if so, we are in even deeper trouble than initially thought," Piggot replied, "I'll note it as a high priority issue in their file."
"Perhaps we should move on to the discussion of the incident report by Gallant and Clockblocker, and it's relevance?", Armsmaster continued professionally. "That is what I intended to do, Armsmaster. Gallant, please give your personal account of the events," Piggot prompted, the air of concern lifting slightly.
"Of course, Director. Myself and Clockblocker were doing an after-call patrol - in response to a reported gunfight led by Hookwolf and Skidmark near the transition between the commercial district and the Docks. There was very low civilian presence, but I sensed someone in an extreme state of anxiety and general distress, and intense depression - and what I soon learned was gender dysphoria, when I incorrectly gendered them male and recognised a very specific emotion change as they corrected me", Gallant noted in his usual earnest demeanor, "in terms of behaviour, they were extremely tense and actively afraid of us, or perhaps of the social interaction, which would match with a fear of parahumans related to a Trump trigger, or it could be a fear of heroes, the government - or just other people. With the additional information discussed so far, I think it is likely that it's the first, Director. Myself and Clockblocker approached them on the basis of concern and that they seemed in a mental state typical for a new trigger, " Gallant finished politely.
"Thank you, Gallant. I'd like to ask Clockblocker about their own thoughts on the person we are discussing and their interaction, " the Director replied, looking to continue and glancing at the aforementioned Clockblocker.
"Well, Director Piggot, while we were talking - it was a short conversation - they seemed practically frozen to the spot and simultaneously looked like they wanted to flee. When they noticed us, they literally jumped and 'eep'ed, they were that high-strung. I offered them a subtle hint to call us if they had gone through a traumatic event, which they acknowledged. They seemed more interested in getting out of the conversation though, and given that we were on the edge of Empire territory, them being transgender might explain that reaction - they told us that their name was Zychi, zed-wy-see-haitch-eye, but of course in the likely case they are indeed transgender that may not match their legal ID, " Clockblocker stated, his more casual demeanor coming through even in the serious tone the meeting had taken.
"Thank you, Clockblocker. That last part is an important note - IDs may not match the names people use when identifying themselves, especially in cases like this, but I will note it down in the preliminary file on our biotinker as a potential civilian identity, given that they seem intent on becoming an S-class threat at some point, " Piggot concluded. "I will be informing the rest of the PRT to be prepared to initiate containment procedures around Brockton Bay at a few minutes notice. Unfortunately we can't risk startling the biotinker - assigned codename Appleseed - in case it makes them do something more rash. It may yet be possible to bring them under the Protectorate's umbrella and I would rather have a biotinker under PRT command than Brockton Bay turned into another S-class quarantine zone", she gestured to Dragon, "I assume the Guild will be making preparations as well?"
"Absolutely", Dragon replied with her synthetic voice, "I've already contacted the wider Guild and we have notified our primary responders of a potential future S-class threat in Brockton Bay. I'm going to pass over the conversation to Armsmaster, as I finished collating anomalies that may indicate a new tinker or biotinker in the area."
Armsmaster continued "Thank you Dragon. If I may, Director?"
"Of course," she replied, "I am interested to see where our biotinker - codename Appleseed - might be hiding. Filter the data to new anomalies 4 days before the interaction with the Wards."
Armsmaster tapped on his keyboard, and several of the red regions on the map disappeared, leaving 5 - two in the Docks, one in the Trainyard, and two more on opposite ends of the commercial district, and started "While these are all anomalies indicative of some kind of tinker, none of them have yet gained the expected signature of a biotinker. No extra missing pet reports, nothing about large quantities of biomass being shipped to Brockton Bay. Perhaps, given their initial interest in plants, they have no need to obtain biomass from elsewhere," Armsmaster suggested. "This may also indicate another aspect to their specialisation or powers, one which means they see no need to obtain large amounts of biomass from elsewhere. Perhaps they develop more like a traditional tinker before being able to engage in biotinkering, or have a backer enabling more stealthy resource acquisition, in which case, the other indicated anomalies are likely to be more relevant for finding Appleseed."
Piggot nodded as Armsmaster finished, and began her summary - "Thank you, Armsmaster. I will adjust the Wards patrols to avoid those areas -" Vista furrowed her brows in irritation - " - and place more Protectorate and PRT patrols around them instead, with priority given to those who have the ability to move rapidly via vehicle or parahuman powers in case Appleseed decides to take humans rather than what has currently been reported by Tattletale. I will note the potential for other aspects of their specialty in their file." The Director looked particularly unhappy at that, "the preliminary rating for Appleseed is Tinker 5, Trump 3, given that they likely gained access to tinker-constructed hormone replacement therapy within at most 4 days after their estimated trigger event. Wards, Protectorate, you are dismissed."
The call ended, and Armsmaster was left in his lab with much more worrying thoughts than he had 20 minutes ago. He began working on miniaturizing more components of his halberd, and his day went on.
Cauldron Interlude - Contessa
On the 1st of March, Contessa twitched. This was the only external evidence of a shift in her Path, a tiny glitch already accounted for. Not a blind spot, not truly, but a fuzzy area of the Path that clarified shortly after with minor changes.
Contessa twitched several times over the next few days, her Path shifting further, all in tiny amounts centered around Brockton Bay. She merely informed the Triumvirate, and they went about their day, not yet identifying the situation as a minor but expanding out of context problem, because by their very nature, you couldn't see them coming.
[end of chapter - nya~]
Thank you all for suggested improvements to my dialogue ^.^ - I appreciate the suggestions.
