* July 15, 2006 *
Emily Piggot, the Director of the Parahuman Response Team East-North-East division, looked down at the folder and then up at the person who had delivered it. If she'd been capable of standing at attention she'd have done so when the man had entered her office. As it was, she'd at least stood and saluted just from force of habit.
Which was a lot easier after the treatment she'd just gotten back from.
"What you do with the information," said General Michael W. Magee, "that's up to you."
She'd waited for the all-clear before letting him into the office no matter WHAT anyone from below said. This was, however, the real deal. The 33rd Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.
Rather than deal with THAT, she started flipping through the folder and stopped when it registered what she was looking at.
"Some of my men ran across that information, thought you'd prefer to clean house yourself," said the General.
"Why is a four-star General acting as errand boy?" asked Emily Piggot.
"Wanted to touch base with the local head honcho, that's you," said the General amicably. "Officially, I'm here to tour one of the ForgeTech facilities. How's recovering from the surgery, by the way."
"It was normal unenhanced surgery, so it'll be a couple of weeks," said Director Piggot. "I would rather do everything I can myself, without relying on new technologies. These sorts of things haven't been around that long after all."
"Understandable," said the General, crossing the room to stand before one of the windows. "Good view. Shows how much things are changing around here."
"Too much, too fast," complained Director Piggot. "It's drawing some undesirables this way."
"As I understand it, some are finding the idea of territory they can grab for some parahuman gang appealing." General Magee turned his head from the view to look at her directly. "For some reason they're not going after the area around ForgeTech."
Director Piggot couldn't actually help the amused snort in response to that statement. "Not for long, anyway."
General Magee inclined his head, not disputing that.
"So you have the official reason, and a cover reason, what's the real reason you're here?" asked Director Piggot.
The General took a card out of his pocket and placed it on the table. "Clean house. Double check everything. When you're ready, call that number. We'll talk when it's absolutely secure."
* WBBY Radio *
"...but I'm telling you, she's Skynet! She's a rogue AI who is going to kill us all or enslave humanity!"
"And that, dear listeners, is just one of the recordings from the Canadian court system dealing with the so-called Dragonslayers. You may recall that there was an attack by them on the Toronto Tech Expo where six people were killed and the Tinker hero Dragon was disabled by some sort of mechanism the Dragonslayers used. Some sort of jamming device from what I've been able to put together from the odd bits slipped out, but I admit I'm hardly an expert on parahuman affairs.
"Though honestly, with most politicians I'd feel hardly any difference between a robot overlord and what we typically get.
"Maybe the robot would be more honest. Not an expert in robots either, so I can't say for sure.
"Rumor has been that Dragon is either horrendously maimed from some other attack, or she's got a bad case of agoraphobia. Whatever the case, she's a hero who operates remotely and we wish her well here at WBBY - the Voice of Brockton Bay.
"Geoff Pellick also claims that he and his mercenary base were attacked by supermodels in Victoria Secret lingerie. I've seen some parahuman costumes that were pretty tight, so I'm not completely dismissing that claim and if any of you out there wants to drop by the studio for an interview I'd love to hear your viewpoint about wrecking high-tech terrorist bases for fun.
"In other news, the newest thing from ForgeTech to get trials here in the Bay is a sort of healing tank that looks straight out of Star Wars. Apparently it can speed up the healing from injuries turning months into days and is very good at things that require long periods of not moving around a lot. Burn skin grafts are one thing the tank is supposed to be very good at. There's talk about some kinds of nerve damage being reversed, so that will be very useful indeed.
"Oh, and if anyone is listening over at ForgeTech? If you want to come on the air, we'd love to hear from you. You have your vocal detractors, more vocal than a lot of us want to hear, but the results so far have been speaking for themselves.
"Now, a brief word from Brockton Bay Heating & Cooling. Winter Is Coming, and you know what the weather's like when the wind is whipping off the Bay. Get your heating checked before Jack Frost comes to visit..."
* Warehouse #5 *
Emma Barnes tuned out the radio playing over there. She needed to put her full attention on this, the first expression of her X-Gene power. The exam had been complete, her mutation was completely stable, she was in reasonable health for her age though some of the comments about her diet had stung.
"Okay, psionic energy levels stable. Tap into quantum level field is reading stable."
"You said that this 'quantum level field' is her power source?" asked Zoe Barnes.
"Sort of," said Doctor Curlyhair, wearing her goggles and labcoat that was her superhero identity. "See, the human body just doesn't produce the power to produce macro-scale effects like Magneto does. He taps into that field on a constant basis, which recharges a psionic field within him that then allows him to manifest his whole magnokinesis thing. I can show you the math if you like?"
"That's okay, last time I tried to follow your math I was hearing eldritch waves washing up against an unclean shore, or something like that." Zoe waved off the potential explanation beyond the most basic.
"Hah!" said Emma, finding the mental switch and throwing it. Red glowing armor appeared around her.
"That's it," said Doctor Curlyhair. "Psionic armor, basically a forcefield that protects you and gives you superstrength. If my calculations are correct this will give you a Brute 6 rating. You should be able to lift a 50ton tank. That timer on your costume? It tells you how much time you have left before your armor dissipates. Taking hits will decrease the time, so will lifting heavy weights. On the other hand, when you dismiss your armor and aren't engaging in heavy activity you'll be able to recharge some of those reserves. You're currently at the medium setting, with the armor basically power-armor size at 6 foot 4 inches. You can contract it to nearly skin-level but that cuts your protection and strength boost to minimum. Going to max size, you'll boost your strength and durability but run out of power a lot faster."
"So we can test this out?" asked the Scarlet Lady.
"One of the things that took so long was building the test equipment," admitted Doctor Curlyhair. "Shall we begin?"
* August 3, 2006 *
She'd started tagging a blackboard.
Every time she heard a rumble and got a result, she was putting another tally mark on the board.
Totaling it up, Doctor Curlyhair could see it was up to:
[Age/Species Requirement Not Met, No Points Gained] - 47
[Other Requirement Not Met, No Points Gained] - 62
[Insufficient Points, +100 points] - 12
[Prerequisites Not Met, No Points Gained] - 3
She blinked and twisted to look across the room as a new locker appeared next to the rest.
She used her flash-step move to get there even faster and look at the notes on the folder, aches and pains that had suddenly appeared being ignored as the process worked its way through.
The construction perk, Foraker-Hemphill, was useful as it stacked with Build Rome and her Auto-Factory would also utilize it as long as she was doing the setup for the factory to do its work. Now with this, she could begin research in a medical treatment called Prolong that would extend lifespans into centuries.
Or, Taylor decided, she'd keep this absolutely secret. It had to be done while someone was very young after all, and neither of her parents could benefit from it.
She'd have to think about that one.
Meanwhile she had so many projects just from the information she had that even with shadow clones to carry some of the workload and restricting herself just to build prototypes that could then be researched by other people - she was busier than most kids her age.
She was really hoping for something more out of that Time constellation because she always felt she could use more of that particular resource.
"Doctor," came the smooth British-accented tones of Jarvis from the intercom panel, "five minute warning. The Marine squad is already there for this week's lesson in ninja techniques."
"Be right there," said Taylor, feeling this proved the point about still needing more time in the day.
* Thursday, August 3, 2006 *
* White House conference room *
"What has the Asset done this time? And why does my Chief of Staff look like Christmas arrived several months early?"
"President Hayes. She found out that a villain group was planning on moving into Brockton Bay and met with a series of completely unforeseen and unfortunate accidents."
"Funny how that keeps happening."
"Yes, a great pity I'm sure. In any case, she apparently took a weekend and sent us this," said the Chief of Staff as she clicked a remote and brought a screen up.
"Okay, I'm not an architect. I can tell these are blueprints but... wait. Is that some kind of jet rotor?"
"It's a set of blueprints that utilizes her fusion and anti-gravity effect with stealth capabilities and force field emitters. She calls it a 'heli-carrier' and deems it might be useful to us."
"I take it the name is descriptive?" asked President Hayes.
"You could say that," said the Chief of Staff, her eyes bright as she looked over the blueprints herself. "She's looking to build a much smaller version herself as a prototype. If we follow the blueprints, it will take ten years to build one if we don't build a dedicated factory that automates the more repetitive tasks."
"Even with these 'work-pod' exoskeletons? I've seen those demonstrated last week in Newport News. The promises of enhanced productivity were quite enthusiastic."
"Not to mention worker safety, yes. The 'Labors' could also cut the time but the need for secrecy has been a concern there."
"If we could just find a way to deal with that little orbital problem, that would be less of a concern."
"I'm told the Asset is aware but frustrated about that herself."
President Hayes shook his head. "I wouldn't be surprised to find out she was working on a way to deal with that obstacle, but it remains the main reason all of her tech remains buried and of only limited rollout. For now. Nobody wants a repeat of Sphere."
* Friday, August 4, 2006 *
Magic, genuine actual not-a-parahuman-power, magic.
More proof that whatever or whoever the two Beings involved in this Celestial Forge power was - it did not operate at all the way parahuman powers were supposed to.
[Choose four mundane crafting skills to enhance to mastery.]
"Tailoring," said Taylor quickly, not sure if there was a time limit and not willing to chance it. Everyone liked the clothing she was making whether it was from mundane or Resource System acquired materials. Making that better was a good choice, she felt.
It bloomed in her mind instantly following that, not new knowledge but as if it had refined those skills even more than Artiste or My Fashion Sense Is Tingling had done.
"Computer Programming," tried Taylor. That didn't seem to click though. So something about building something physical only, maybe? "What about 'jewel crafting'?"
THAT seemed to work, metals that were supposed to be decorative and things like gemstones and settings. Again, it seemed to hook up with both Artiste and My Fashion Sense Is Tingling. She could picture designs that would compliment outfits or look good nearly anywhere.
So, jewel crafting or jewelry making or goldsmithing were all sort of the same general thing. CAD Design probably wouldn't work either. What about "Armorer"?
Oddly enough THAT worked. Armor could be fashionable after all, and dovetailed nicely with tailoring and design skills.
So - Tailoring (or cloth working?), Jewel crafting, Armorer or armor-making, and the fourth and final should be something like "Blacksmithery?"
That did work. Blacksmithing took a basic knowledge of metallurgy, welding, shaping and heating metal, determining what metal worked best with what job you had to perform with it. All coming together to form a single large crafting skill. As a bonus, she could make her own tools now instead of relying on her wrist omni-tool or the gun-like omni-tool from her Resource System.
Now the carrot that had her doubting many of her assumptions about her power. Magic.
"Earth," decided Taylor. Earth element incorporated not only stone and soil but metals. Being able to manipulate the raw stuff through her magic could only help.
"Light," Taylor chose a moment later. Being able to heal wounds or purify things could be of use when someone she was around was in danger.
That left the "Null Magic Talent" but with the other two, and her current focus on being able to make stuff there seemed an obvious choice. "Endbringer Destruction Magic."
She got a definite nope out of that. Apparently it still had to do something with crafting or technology. Oh well. "Enchantment."
Enchantment magic, taking a magical effect and binding it to an object. Tricky, but she would get better with practice.
Maybe she could come up with something better to deal with Endbringers and pesky parahuman criminal types. Huh. Enchant the barrel of a gun to be frictionless on the interior, reinforce the metal, acceleration runes. For that matter, her father had a slightly modified section of pipe he had put up near the old fireplace. Some kind of trophy? Maybe something along those lines?
Her mother had a birthday coming up. Something armored that she could put away in her purse or was concealable? Oh, yes and put a healing and protection enchantment on it?
That sounded do-able.
* Saturday, August 5, 2006 *
Armsmaster was unsure about his participation in this, even though it had apparently been a specific request on the part of the other party.
"Pleased to meet you, I've heard a lot about you and am looking forward to working with you."
"I've heard good things about you as well, Dragon." Armsmaster nodded towards the teleconference display.
"Director Piggot, Armsmaster, Dragon," said General Magee. "You've heard of my upcoming retirement?"
"Yes," said Director Piggot. "I take it that's just a for-public thing?"
"Yes," agreed General Magee. "The new medical treatments are... impressive. Haven't felt this young in ages."
"Sometimes it's the years, sometimes it's the mileage," said Dragon, sounding as if she were quoting something.
"In my case, both," said the General. He gestured to his attache who put a device down which activated a scan and then put a holoscreen up over itself.
"Forgetech technology?" asked Armsmaster.
"Holo-emitter and anti-eavesdrop technology in one package," said the General as a series of 3D blueprint images began cycling in the emitter field. "I want you to consider this."
"A robot vehicle?" asked Armsmaster as an overview appeared.
"They're called Labors. Mainly used for construction work. Armsmaster - you attend Endbringer fights. Having something like this to include extra environmental and particularly sensor arrays, drone control?" The General indicated the display with a free hand.
"I see, limited deployment but extra armor in an Endbringer fight wouldn't be amiss," admitted Armsmaster. "This is a basic model?"
"Yes, though uprated with special sensors," said the General. "It's the sensor data we want, plus we're going to start using similar models openly in shipyards and military facilities. Being able to show that the technology is safe may avoid some of the more extreme reactions."
"Why Armsmaster?" asked Director Piggot. She had her suspicions, she just wanted them confirmed. "Why involve the PRT at all?"
"You're the local Tinker," pointed out the General. "Also, Endbringer fights are designated by Congress as under PRT authority with National Guard for local and Armed Forces abroad only allowed specific roles - mainly as support. If we're going to get the data, and both your agency and mine want that data, it's going to have to be one of your folk."
* Perks This Chapter *
20.0120 Foraker-Hemphill (300CP) (Honor Harrington) (Knowledge Future Tech):
The brilliance of the officers and the planners does a lot to help, but in the end what wins wars is the equipment. The best equipment, a lot of it, and built really quickly and cheaply. That is where you come in. You are an innovator almost beyond peer, able to design and build technology literally decades ahead of your competition. Or if not that, you may build at the normal levels, but build it with an unbelievably tiny resource base or build it so quickly that the enemy simply can't believe their eyes. Your specialization depends upon your faction perk, but at the very least you gain vast knowledge and an in-depth understanding of this universe's tech, enough to be a Jack of All Trades.
FREE- Prolong A simple, perfectly medical treatment performed in this world, prolong extends a person's lifespan dramatically, easily adding multiple centuries. You get a full treatment for free, as well all the knowledge and information you need to start doing it yourself elsewhere.
35.9.1-Excellent Craftsman (200CP)(In Another World With My Smartphone)(Efficiency):
You are incredibly talented at making things. What kinds of things? All kinds of things. You are simply that talented after all. Anything you personally make, or direct the creation of, will automatically be top-quality, and you never need to worry about making mistakes in the creation process. To get you started you may pick any four mundane skills related to making things, which you start as a master of. Tailoring, Armorer, Jewelcrafting, and Blacksmithing.
FREE: Magic - Affinity for Earth and Light/Healing Magic. Null Magic Talent: Enchantment.
