Disclaimer: I don't own Worm or anything related with the DC franchise. They belong to their respective creators and/or copyright owners and publishers. This story is written with no commercial purpose in mind. I make no money from it. It is not for rent or sale.
Technomage
Chapter 1: The tricks of the trade
Part 1
=TM=
04: 15, January 12, 2011
PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
Miss Militia leaned back in her chair, staring at the monitor in front of her. She was writing her report on the new Cape, who apparently fell through the sky. Literally. The Heroine closed her eyes remembering how he met the Protectorate's newest person of interest.
When she first entered the school, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. If you discount the police cars, ambulance and a PRT van parked in the front. A cop led her within the building and guided her to a long corridor which had a wall hidden by a row of lockers.
Her nose crinked as she approached. Even from the far end of the corridor, the stench of decay was nauseating.
A group of officers were hovering near a pair of paramedics who had their gear strewn open on the ground. Nearby, a squad of PRT troopers in full gear were looking at a man in what appeared to be a hooded tinkertech costume and a large drone that hovered behind his right shoulder. So that was the mysterious Cape she was sent to talk with. Miss Militia glanced at the victim on whom the paramedics were working on and frowned. The girl couldn't be older than fifteen. She was covered in filth, bruises and lacerations. The heroine didn't need her experience to tell her how bad it was. Potential trigger event even, which would be relevant if the girl recovered.
She shook her head at the aftermath of the latest crime she had to witness and returned her attention to the reason she was called in.
He had turned his head towards her and was obviously studying her from under his hood.
"Hi!" She waved nonchalantly, smiling under her scarf.
"Hi yourself." The man greeted calmly in a deep baritone.
"HI!" The drone chirped a moment latter, slowly bobbing in the air.
"I'm Miss Militia. Welcome to Brocton Bay."
"Delkatar Veil. This is Ana." He nodded at the drone, which started bobbing even more energetically, making the impression of an overly eager puppy.
She frowned. While the name was strange, it didn't feel like a Cape's identity. Which if true, could be problematic. Did this man know of the rules and if he did, did he care?
"If it isn't too much to ask, how did you end up here?" She waved at the corridor.
"Ah. That." He rubbed the back of his head through the hood. She could see the lower part of his face twisting in what suspiciously looked like an embarrassment.
"That was an accident. I was working on my latest project when there was a mishap and I found myself falling through the ceiling of this school."
Tinkers. Miss Militia suppressed the desire to shake her head at him. Armsy and Kid Win were bad enough. She was not going to get riled up over this new Cape. Nope.
"This things happen." She shrugged nonchalantly. Boy did they ever, when you got overeager tinkers playing without supervision. "You are a new Cape I take it?"
"That again? What's with calling metahumans Capes around here?!" He shook his head in exasperation. "I've had my powers for years. It's not like I've been living under a rock or something."
That was either concerning or commendable. Usually tinkers did something to reveal themselves soon after getting their powers. They were obsessed with obtaining resources so they could build things. To be able to keep under the radar for years… Then her mid caught up to what he said first.
"Metahumans?"
"People with powers." He said with a deadpan voice. "I've heard us called a lot of things, but Capes is new." His tone of voice hinted that most of those things weren't particularly flattering. Not that she disagreed. Capes or that term he used were much nicer that some of the alternatives.
Miss Militia's frown deepened. There was something off about the situation. She didn't fell threatened or something. It was just odd, the way this Cape was talking. She felt as if she was missing something.
"So how long have you been around Brockton Bay?"
"So that's what the BB PD is for?" He nodded at the police officers. "I never heard of this place before. I was in my lab near New York before ending up here."
Ah. So Veil was Legend's problem once he was back on his way home. Good to know.
"Once this is sorted out," She nodded at the injured girl, "you must be eager to get back."
"That's true. Preferably before Diana decides to ground me for working on the array without supervision."
"Whose Diana?" Miss Militia asked automatically.
"Wonder Woman." He clarified.
"Never heard of her."
He tilted his head to the side, studying her as she was some strange specimen.
"You haven't heard of one of the founders of the League?" He asked in a deadpan voice. "Pull the other one."
Yeah, now she recognized the feeling. They obviously weren't on the same page.
"Uh, boss. I've been browsing the local network." The Drone spoke, getting everyone's attention. "I don't think we are home."
"Fuck. Not again, damn it! Diana will kill me!"
Yep, definitely no on the same page. This was going to be one long night, she knew it.
=TM=
12: 03, January 12, 2011
Cafeteria
PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
A few hours of sleep and a bit of meditation, while Ana was hovering protectively behind my shoulder and I was feeling reasonably good. While I was napping, my companion had released a lot of mostly harmless information to the locals. Nothing you couldn't find free on the net, so no worries there.
While their analytics were browsing the data, I found myself in the cafeteria, freeloading a lunch, because there was apparently sufficient subtle difference in the currencies of the two United States I've been with to make the cash I had on my person rather useless here. On the bright side, baring a few sidelong glances, mostly fixed on Ana, I was left pretty much alone. Until Miss Militia appeared and sat on the other side of the table. She had a bottle of juice of a brand I was unfamiliar with and was drinking through a straw which allowed her to continue keeping most of her face hidden.
I finished chewing a potato and swallowed before greeting her.
"So is the jury out?"
"I just spoke with the Director. She wants a demonstration of your abilities and tech before you can join the Protectorate."
"Well, I don't have anything better to do until I find a way home." I shrugged. "There are some non-lethal weapons that would do nicely." I nodded at Ana.
"Wayne Enterprises Sonic pistols and LuxCorp microwave stunners. Those should be reasonably easy to produce and quite effective against most parahumans." Ana chirped.
"That will be useful. We are always looking for more effective methods of non-lethal take-downs." Miss Militia's eyes crinked in a smile. "What other powers you have? The first responders gave quite interesting report." She asked innocently.
Oh, this was going to be fun, especially once Armsmaster got on the show.
"Well, while I'm fascinated with all the high end tech I have access to and I've been studying lately, that's not what my powers are about." Well, besides a few very useful enhancements that increased my intelligence to the level I could actually fiddle with the advanced tech of the DC verse without blowing myself up. Usually.
"Really? You didn't mention that last night." She gave me an accusing look.
"You are the ones who assumed that all I could do was based on technology like Ana. I'm a wizard." I smiled at the heroine who gave me a deadpan look.
"I've heard that before." She sounded disgruntled.
I put my fork down and accessed my magical powers, molding them with my mind. A quiet incantation later and flash of purple light later, a tiny white kitten materialized on the table between us. The little bugger looked around and turned its head towards Miss Militia.
"Meow?"
=TM=
Part 2
12: 32, January 12, 2011
Tinker facilities
PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
"No dissecting the kitten!" Miss Militia snapped at Armsmaster, who was studying the projection of a Sonic Pistol's schematics courtesy of Ana. The heroine was holding the cat I summoned during lunch close to her chest and was petting the purring furball while glaring at her nominal superior. Who knew she was apparently a cat person.
"I'll have to agree with Miss Militia. I didn't summon the kitten just so you can cut it open." That was no way to threat one's summons. They didn't exactly came from thin air after all. "Can you build it with off the shelf components or would it require custom work?" I turned my attention to the armored man and changed the topic.
"I'll have to build a few of the components but it should be doable with what I have at my lab." Armsmaster said after tapping the harmonic stabilizer and the resonance chamber on the hard-light schematics.
"Good, that's one issue down. So when I'm supposed to be showing off?"
"There are testing facilities in the basement. We are just waiting for couple of scientists to arrive from the Rig." Miss Militia removed her attention from the purring beast she was hugging and nodded at the floor.
"Good. Can we disperse with this magic sham? Most if not all powers can be explained as clarcetech anyway." Armsmaster grunted.
"Hey, personally I agree. I've been trying to explain magic with scientific terms and theories for years but no luck so far." I shrugged. At least I made a few breakthroughs that allowed me to create some neat stuff and a large increase of my bank account.
"Then why are you calling yourself a wizard?"
"Because I am one? I manipulate energy by structured means that can be called spells. I call that energy magic. Will it change if I call that energy by another name? It doesn't exactly fit with the recognized energy types from the place I came and there are a lot of them." I shrugged.
"Unreliable scientific methods or shoddy equipment. Got to be." Armsmaster nodded sagely earning a glare from me.
For years I had the best equipment money could buy and I was careful when testing my theories on the nature of magic just to be sure that I did it right. Well, to avoid unpleasant and embarrassing incidents too. There were those couple of times that never should be spoken of again…
Ana just hummed to herself, not taking part in the discussion, the little traitor.
"Armsmaster..." Miss Militia trailed off in exasperation.
"What? You don't believe that he is a wizard either! At least Myrddin hasn't heard of him yet." The hero grumbled.
"Yeah." She glanced at me. "That would be interesting."
"So you have someone calling himself Merlin? Is he the real deal?"
Armsmaster snorted in derision and I felt like turning him into something slimy just to prove a point.
"You two, behave!" Miss Militia grumbled.
=TM=
12: 46, January 12, 2011
Tinker facilities
PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
"That actually stung." I muttered after the testing machine managed to break my skin.
"So you are a bit bulletproof?" Miss Militia muttered.
"If I'm not using a defensive spell or wearing armor." I nodded. The ability to channel magic had made me tougher so my body could withstand the energies I could wield. Which meant that nothing less than 9 mm AP rounds would do the job. That said, even bullets that didn't penetrate left smarting bruises, though I did handle blunt trauma better than piecing or lacerating.
In my fully human form anyway.
"So Brute two, perhaps three?" Doctor Springfield, the lead of my power testing team asked. He was a middle aged man with a short, receding brown hair. His blue eyes were focused on the tablet in his hands and he was typing something on it.
"If I understand your specification correctly, that sounds about right."
"What about when you are using your powers to protect yourself?"
"That entirely depend on the type of attack I have to deal with." I shrugged, trying no to thing about some of the more unpleasant situations I've been in. Especially when the time spend there was concerned. That was pure hell.
"Can we test that?" The Doc asked hopefully, while looking at Miss Militia.
"She shot me enough times today." I shook my head.
"I can do it all day!" She chirped.
"Quiet you. Or I'll send the furball home."
"You wouldn't dare!" Miss Militia glared at me, while hugging the sleepy kitten in her hands.
Summoning the damn critter might not have been the best idea. I decided not to mention that the spell would wear off in a few hours and the cat would be back whatever it came from.
I planned to be far away from Miss Militia by then. Or to just summon an identical kitten when she wasn't looking or holding it.
Because I really didn't feel like dodging and tanking rockets today.
"Spoilsport." Springfield grunted.
"What's next?" I asked.
"Well, if you really don't want to be shot again..." Springfield smirked and waved us to follow into the next room.
That was a gym which was padded from top to bottom. On the right side there were ropes hanging from the ceiling and a obstacle course on the left. There was a treadmill connected to a desk with a computer next to the wall across the door.
"It's time to check you mover ranking."
"I don't feel like running. Flight and teleportation to places I've previously been. That enough?"
"We'll need a bit more."
A mental command and I was floating a few paces above the floor. "I can hit supersonic during flight as well as transport two people during teleportaion." It took a few years of training and experimentation until I hit that point, though once that was out of the way, it greatly simplified my travel arrangements. I conveniently forgot to mention my third way of travel. A wizard must have his secrets after all.
"Hmm… Mover five? What's the teleporation range?"
"It depends on my power reserves. It usually isn't too taxing to bring a pair of people across the continent and fight afterward, but I wouldn't be doing it more than once if I expect trouble. I can use it more easily at shorter distances." Though often it was better to use the energy needed for direct or indirect attacks.
"What about running?" Springfield glanced lovingly at the treadmill.
"Better endurance, aside of that nothing exceptional for a man of my build and age. You just want to hook me up to more testing equipment, aren't you?" I glared at the man.
"It's in the name of science! You can never have enough test data!"
People like him were giving the rest of us bad names. Well, most of the mad scientists too, but I digress.
"So teleportation?" Springfield asked.
I concentrated, calling up raw magical energy until it enveloped me with purple strings, concentrated on the far side of the room, just above the end of the obstacle course and chanted the necessary incantation while directing the power surrounding me. A flash of purple followed. For a moment I was in an empty abyss before reappearing at the desired position.
"Hmm… It takes a bit of time to build up for the transport. So Mover Five or Six I think, if you are correct about the range."
"I haven't been to this world before, so I'm not going to risk getting to places I haven't seen with my own eyes. Mistakes can be quite unpleasant." I muttered, absently rubbing my left arm just below the elbow. Regrowing it thanks to a ton of unpleasant and a few downright disgusting potions wasn't fun at all. The feeling of my hand slowly disintegrating during that botched teleport was still fresh in my mind even all those years ago. It rivaled the time spent in that place.
"You know that from experience." Miss Militia state. She obviously saw something on my face.
I should have kept my hood up.
"Indeed. It isn't something I recommend. What's next?"
"The really fun part!" Springfield grinned like a kid who was told that Christmas came early this year.
=TM=
Armsmaster, who we left in the Tinker's heaven upstairs actually came to see me demonstrate actual magic. As if my flight and teleporation were something else. What was with scientists all over most dimensions, that made most of them refuse to believe that magic could be as real as any other thing they studied?!
"This is where we execute the really fun tests!" Springfield's voice came over a loudspeaker built into the walls, somewhere under the tinker tech metals lining them up. Not to mention the force-field generators that provided additional protection for the room itself.
The place shaped like the upper half of an egg and had rolls with sheets made of different materials. Ideal for blaster or shaker testing to see if a particular power could influence them.
"We are ready. Start when you are prepared." Miss Militia said over the intercom.
I shrugged and raised my right hand towards a slab of steel, before channeling a bit of magic through it. A beam of arcane energy left my palm and drilled a fist sized hole into the metal. A great thing about my brand of magic was the control over one's abilities it provided. Take the attack I just used for example. It could be used to simply knock out an ordinary human, or drill through the armor of a main battle tank depending of how much energy I channeled through the blast.
And that was just the direct application of magical energy.
"Is this all you can do?" Armsmaster grunted, obviously not impressed.
I glared at the armored slit where the control room for this testing chamber was located. While I had no intention to show much of what I could do with magic, I really didn't like when someone made fun of my abilities. Most of them were actually learned damn it, not just acquired by a cosmic chance! Diana put me through a god damned hell for years before she declared me a half decent mage!
So I channeled more power in the same type of attack and cut through the steel slab as if it was made from butter, burning a gash through the concrete one behind. Then I summoned my first ever familiar, Spiky, who looked around, his rock body pulsing with energy.
"Have fun." I grinned and pointed at a roll of so far unscratched slabs made of different materials.
Spiky gave a joyish screech and jumped at the designated targets. The little munchkin loved to bash up things. And eat various types of rocks or concrete but that's another story.
While we were cheerfully destroying the room I wondered how much about my healing abilities and battlefield control I should reveal.
I grinned, for all it's raw power, what really made magic dangerous in the hands of a trained wizard was the versatility it provided.
=TM=
Part 3
17: 29, January 12, 2011
Director Piggot's Office
PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
For a moment Director Piggot contemplated implementing Master/Stranger protocols. Then she glanced at the two Capes standing in her office and shook her head. Armsmaster was a bit more disgruntled than usual, but not uncommonly so. She had seen him much more riled up when dealing with Tinkers who offended his sensibilities one way or another.
That left Miss Militia. The woman was unable to sleep ever since she had gotten her powers all those years ago. One of her past times was reading. Another was raising cats, though her last bloody furry menace got fried the last time Lung was captured and managed to escape. Now, the fact that her newest pet was apparently created by the powers from the new Cape that fell from the sky was a bit disconcerting.
The Director sighed and looked at the printout of Veil's test results while her left hand "accidentally" pressed one of the buttons masked under her desk while massaging her knee. She sighed as the alarms blared, increasing her headache.
The heroes froze for a moment before looking around for a threat. This was going to be one long evening…
=TM=
17: 31, January 12, 2011
Cafeteria
PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
I sipped from a mug with steaming coffee and looked around. The room was sealed about a minute or so ago, when the alarms went off. The few officers who were either eating or recharging their systems with caffeine, were giving me wary looks. Those who were armed, had a hand on their handguns, while obviously wondering if I was a threat.
"You know, I'm torn. Is this just a healthy paranoia or the powers that be got scared from my powers testing?" In hindsight I maybe should have failed to mention that I had spells that could bind a person to my will. Or perhaps it was my versatility that scared them. It's been a long time since I browsed anything Worm related but I don't think that they had many capes, if at all, who could be as versatile as my magic allowed me to be. Then there was Ana, the schematics she had in her database and whatever technological or arcane devices I could create with some time and resources.
On the other hand, I might be a bit arrogant. This alarm might have nothing to do with me. On the other hand I was a bloody wizard. A bit of arrogance comes with the territory.
Oh, okay. A lot of arrogance, but I digress.
I continued to sip my coffee while absentmindedly reading the Protectorate Parahuman Officers Manual, which contained the basic standards of behavior required from anyone that joined. There were no explosions or other sounds of attack, so either someone was being sneaky or the whole circus was for my benefit.
Or just a computer glitch.
"Ana?"
"Master/Stranger protocols are in effect. The building's network went into a lock-down a few seconds after the alarm sounded."
"So either someone is trying to be cute or the Director is scared that I mind-controlled her favorite metahumans. One way or the other this will lead me to deal with a lot of paperwork. I just know it."
"That's one of the downsides of being legit, boss." Ana bobbed. No sympathy from her corner. She was an AI. The only thing preventing her from dealing with her portion of the paperwork instantly was the speed of printers. Needless to say I wasn't so lucky.
"You don't look particularly bothered by this." One of the troopers who were locked up with us stated, while studying us in a rather familiar matter. I didn't need to be able to read minds to know that he was looking for weak points on Ana while wondering if he could shoot me before I did something nasty to him and his buddies.
"I'm a metahuman whose power allows him to control people among many, many other things. Do you really think that this is the first time the powers that be got concerned that I might have influenced government personnel? While understandable that kind of fear almost led to a fucking war where I came from. It wasn't fun. Luckily there were a bunch of crazy super villains doing shit at the time that got everyone's attention and bought us time to make a compromise most of us could live with." I shrugged. It was probably the only time the Joker and bunch of other fucks going off the rails could be considered a good thing. Which it was. After the dust settled, the survivors of that particular stunt all got kill orders which were executed within the following two weeks.
Let me tell you, most of Gotham was cheering when Joker's death was confirmed. However that's almost ancient history by this point.
The doors slid open with hydraulic hiss, revealing two squad of armor clad troopers. They spread into the cafeteria, covering everyone with their weapons. A pair of heroes strode behind the soldiers. One was female, short with brown hair tied up in a ponytail and a tiny mask covering her eyes. She was wearing a black, body hugging suit which had green electronic either built in or simply used as a decoration.
Next to her was a head taller man, clad in crimson armor.
"Ana, who are our visitors?"
"Assault and Battery. Local protectorate heroes. The woman is a moderate speedster with a bit of strength boost as well as limited control over electromagnetism. The man can manipulate kinetic energy. Threat estimate low."
"LOW?! Are you kidding me?!" Assault exclaimed.
Then he get an elbow in the ribs thanks to the woman.
"They are apparently married too." I quipped.
"They actually are." Ana bobbed in agreement.
"So your Director got very paranoid and decided to arrest me?"
"Actually we are to take you into protective custody until it is confirmed if you have mastered Armsmaster or Miss Militia." Battery stated.
"If I was going to do something to Armsy, I would have simply turned him into a frog. Or something slimier, if he continued to disrespect my magic." I shrugged and drained the rest of my coffee.
"I'll pay good money to see that!" Assault grinned, his distress over not being considered a real threat momentarily forgotten.
That earned him another elbow in the ribs and a growl from his wife.
The make up sex between those two must be something spectacular if they were still together. Or haven killed each other yet. Then again, I've known them for about a minute or so, so I might be reading too much in their interactions.
"What if I don't feel like cooling my heels in a cell, considering that I haven't broken any laws yet?" I raised an eyebrow.
The last time I was in a similar position with the US government, I had the backing both of a sovereign nation and the Justice League as a member and Diana's apprentice respectively. This was not the case. If I went with them willingly there was always the chance that either Piggot or her superiors could decide that I was too dangerous to be released. The big question was if they actually had a way of keeping me and Ana contained without throwing me into that Birdcage of theirs and destroying her.
"Ana, combat protocols on standby. Prepare for non-lethal retaliation." I sub-vocalized.
The troopers visibly stiffened, getting one edge. Assault was looking between Ana and me, while his wife had a disgruntled expression on her face. So there was at least one person in the room who might be willing to be reasonable, if her orders permitted.
"We apparently have trust issues." I stated blandly.
"That seems to be the case." Battery nodded.
"How long would it take to determine if Armsy or Miss Militia aren't mind-controlled?" I asked.
"A few days at least."
"Then we have a bit of a problem. I don't really trust you not to just lock me up and throw out the key. Or not to try disassembling Ana to get to her databanks. On the other hand, there isn't really a reason for you to take me on my word when I say I am a hero."
"That's obvious." Assault rolled his eyes.
"We do have our orders." Battery shrugged, not showing if she actually agreed with them or not.
Ever since the alarms started, I've been flooding my body with as much magic as it could hold, not only making my next spell much faster to cast, but increasing my durability a bit too. Ana was ready to cut loose and I had a few tricks ready for crowd control purposes.
Nevertheless a confrontation here and now wasn't in my interest. Getting shoved into a cell wasn't either. What to do…
=TM=
Part 4
17: 42, January 12, 2011
Cafeteria
PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
Decisions, decisions… If dealing with similar situations has taught me anything, it was not to make an ass of myself unless I really had to. Often it was better to leave the other side make the first move so you can then use it to hang them with it later if the situation called for it.
I smirked and walked, slowly, in an as nonthreatening manner as I could towards the cafeteria's counter where there apparently always were a few pots of hot coffee. I brought my mug too.
"I'll make you a deal. I'll get a cup of coffee, an early dinner and retire to the apartment I slept in last night. I hope that you've gotten somewhat more reasonable by tomorrow morning."
I walked to the counter as if I had no care in the world, while Ana was covering the metahumans and troopers behind me. I could hear the woman call in for instructions after relaying the situation while checking what was on the menu. Nothing particularly interesting. So baked potatoes with venison again.
"That will work." Battery stated after receiving instructions.
"So you can be at least little bit reasonable." I grinned.
"You admitted possessing master abilities. We can't be too careful."
"There is a healthy paranoia. Then there is whatever your bosses think they are doing. Trust me, those aren't one and the same."
"It works." Assault shrugged.
"Uh-huh." This was starting to remind me of the first days of the Defense Initiative. Needless to say, it was an utter mess.
I finished placing food on the tray I borrowed and extended a tentacle of magic to it, which promptly enveloped it into a protective dome and started floating it behind me. I wanted my hands free just in case.
"By all means, lead the way." I waved at the two metahumans.
"Uh, in which apartment were you staying?" Assault asked, earning himself a groan from his wife. "It was in the briefing we were given this morning!" She hissed not to quietly.
"You know I skim through the boring parts..." Assault muttered before receiving another elbow in the ribs.
"So you two into BDSM?" I quipped.
"What? NO! What gave you that idea?!" Assault actually jumped.
"Dunno. Sometimes I wonder if you're a masochist, dear." Battery grinned at her husband.
"Hey! Puppy, don't be like that!" Assault turned in my direction. "It's your fault!"
"I don't know what you are talking about. Now I'm feeling like taking a nap. So let's go."
"Cheeky bastard."
=TM=
We got to my temporarily adobe, which was more or less sealed after Ana followed me inside. You know, a steel door closing up the entrance as well as bars over the windows. Nothing that could slow me down if I decided to make myself scarce.
"Ana, give me a sitrep on the area as well as this world."
"As you figured out we are in a city called Brockton Bay. No such settlement exists in our United States. Boss, this place is a mess. Skyrocketing unemployment. There are three big metahuman run gangs fighting for control over the city as well as multiple smaller outfit and independent metahumans making waves."
"The situation hasn't been resolved because? Is this place written off by the government or something?"
"My data is far from complete, but it appears that in this worlds villains outnumber heroes at least three to one. It's five or six to one in this city."
"Overall tech level?"
"At least magnitude lower than what we had before the DI went into action."
"So local military and law enforcement are at significant disadvantage even against metahumans who usually pose a low threat level. Joy."
"What do I need to know?"
"Locally, the major players are Empire Eighty Eight. They are the most powerful gang. Neo-Nazi wannabes."
"Please tell me that they aren't as bad as those idiots in Germany we dealt with two years ago."
"Primary threat comes from their metahuman members. There is no data that they have a dangerous paramilitary wing."
"Small mercies. Whose next?"
"ABB – Asian Bad Boys. Small gang, but the second most powerful in the city thanks to their leader, Lung. He is the most powerful metahuman in the city. His power level escalates the longer he is in confrontation. Oh, he turns into a dragon too."
I had forgotten about that. Slowly a huge smile appeared on my face.
"A dragon you say? It's been some time since we hunted one..." Ah, all those arcane reagents… I shook my head. Lung might not be a magical dragon, so no hoard and possibly no precious reagents, damn it. "What else should I know about them?"
"They are racist too, dealing with drugs and slavery among other charming activities. Their other notable metahuman is a teleporter known as Oni Lee. He apparently loves to play kamikaze."
"The more I hear about this place, the more I want to burn it to the ground on general principle."
"Number three. The Merchants. You remember what Bane was up to when he got his kill order?"
"That bad?"
"Actually they are worse."
"Lucky us."
"It get's better." Ana chirped.
"I'm going to hate this, won't I?"
"The local high level threats. First, there are three beings, the locals are calling Endbringers..."
"You sure I want to know?"
"They are attacking every few months. The next appearance should be in the end of February. With your luck..."
"Continue. I should have asked for a bottle of aspirin..."
=TM=
04: 15, January 13, 2011
Guest Apartments
PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
I was taking a well deserved nap, when the alarms started blaring again. I jumped, startled by the sound, only to find myself falling on the ground, entangled with the light blanked I had covered myself.
"Ana, sitrep!" I growled, while ripping apart the thin sheet of synthetic fiber. My sleepy mind registered that the tone of the alarm was different this time. Shriller, if that was possible.
"Unknown. This alarm signifies immediate attack."
A burst of magic had my system up and running. I'll be paying with a nasty headache later today but that was a worry for another time. A mental command and a hardlight HUD appeared in front of my eyes, not only protecting them but patching me into Ana's sensors as well as the systems of my protective suit.
"Plausible deniability?"I asked.
"Possible."
"Four objects approaching this side of the building. ETA ten seconds."
"Any reason you detected them this close?" I asked while looking at their locations. They were approaching from three sides. Two dots were coming straight at us, while the others were advancing at forty five degree angle.
"They are using the streets as cover from radar and there is an energy field scattering my passive sensors."
"Go active." I ordered, while casting defensive magics one me and Ana. First was a basic elemental resistance ward, followed by the so called Boon of Souls which was a general protection spell, that could absorb a lot of punishment. Just in case I renewed the persistent protection over my mind, which was something I kept running permanently ever since I learned how to safely cast the damn thing. Keeping other wizards or metahumans from reading or altering my thoughts was simply priceless advantage.
After that was done, I decided to make us scarce from the apartment. Magic flooded my system as I concentrated on a flat roof across the street.
"Energy spike!" Ana warned, the closest dot on my HUD lighting up with crimson.
We vanished in a swirl of purple energy.
Then we were watching the PRT headquarters from across the street and got a great view of the attack. Laser beams, actually visible ones at that, cut through the reinforced concrete that made the apartment's walls. Moments later six missiles from two different sources slammed into the bedroom where I slept less than a minute ago, turning it into a small slice of hell. The a large armored suit, which had a vague reptilian motif to its design flew next to the destroyed room and opened fire with a mini gun.
"Someone doesn't like us very much." Ana pouted. "Identity tentatively confirmed. A group called the Dragon slayers."
If it wasn't for the warning given by the alarm we might have been inside when the attack happened. That would have been… unpleasant. And Dragon slayers, seriously? Did they mistake us for Lung or something?
I wasted no more time and started summoning. First was Spikey, my trusted, living rock friend. Then the Fury, the bound ghost of a deceased Wizard, which made a decent back up, followed by the Watcher, a huge eye, surrounded by emerald fires. The last one of my little group was great as a battlefield medic. The little bugger had saved my life more times than I care to count.
"Ana, execute cyber attack on the suits. I want in on their comm channels too."
"Synchronizing. Scanning frequencies. Comm channels detected. Decryption in progress."
With a mental command I started hovering in the air.
=TM=
Part 5
04: 17, January 13, 2011
Outside PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
"I can't interface with enemy systems. Attempting software emulation. Activating ECM." Ana's voice became a monotone as she directed more and more of her processing power at the tasks at hand.
A mental command and Spiky jumped from the roof and air-dashed towards the armored suit with the mini-gun. I headed towards the two closest enemy units and sent the Fury after the most distant one. Meanwhile, Ana floated calmly in the air, jamming radar, doing her best to blind lidar by lighting up the night in spectrums that the human eye couldn't see as well as baffling acoustic and various more esoteric sensors.
I appeared over the street which my attackers used for their approach, floating above them. Judging by the lack of immediate reaction, Ana's efforts in messing with their sensor suites were effective. Wasting no time I sent a lance of magic straight at the closest suit, determined to find out how tough they were. My attack caught it in the left shoulder, spearing through the joint and burying itself in the street below.
Not particularly tough then. The unit lost control as its whole arm was forcibly detached from the main body and slammed in the ground hard enough to leave a long gash in the road cover as it lost momentum.
The second suit went evasive, immediately releasing smoke canisters, which let it vanish from sight almost immediately. I could see metal flakes in the mess, which were quite hot. Said heat made thermal useless for tracking anything through that stuff. Not bad. Ana had similar countermeasures built in her chassis though her's released some exotic particles too, in order to confuse more advanced sensors. Or Kryptonian's super vision…
The smoke did nothing to confuse my mage sight, which I activated by flooding my eyes with arcane energies. It was just in time to see the suit heading towards the nearest corner as well as the four small missiles it shot my way. I flew straight at the incoming danger, using an incantation to pull them to the right. The four seeking projectiles roared past me and I used the time they needed to turn and reacquire me as a target to teleport away.
I knew better than to shoot down ordinance with unknown payload that close to my location. I learned that the hard way. Fucking Joker.
Appearing half a kilometer above the city, gave me a few moments to assess the situation. Spikey was on the back of his target and was trying to wrest it to the ground. Somehow he had gotten the mini gun in his mouth and was chewing on it too. Good boy.
The Fury was engaging the fourth hostile. They were exchanging magic blasts and laser fire, doing some collateral damage. The last enemy was moving in to interrupt Spikey's fun.
"Ana, engage target Beta. I'll take out Gamma." I ordered and flew at my chosen prey. Thanks to my visor I could see my AI companion launching EMP missiles at her target, before I had to concentrate my attention on the task at hand.
The suit facing the Fury was bigger than the rest. It's serpentine motif was much more pronounced, the damn thing resembled a small, steel dragon. It was made from tougher stuff too. I saw it tank two blasts from my summon and only stagger back, before retaliating with accurate laser shots. The Fury was blasted in the facade of a nearby building by the enemy retaliation.
I opened fire with my standard mid-range attack, but the bastard managed to loose a pair of fat rockets at my pet before his suit was slammed in the ground by my magic. Before I could do anything else, the missiles hit.
The world went white and I was pushed up by a scorching shock-wave. If the heat buffering me was anything to go by, that imbecile unleashed plasma ordinance within the city limits. I hoped that the building the bastard hit, as well as the surrounding ones, were offices and empty for the night.
"Delkatar! Are you all right? The explosion scrambled my sensor coverage of your area!" Ana's voice cracked in my ears.
"I'm all right. Status?"
"The Guardian and one enemy suit down. I'm engaging the remaining hostile."
"How the hell did they got Spikey?! Never mind." I shook my head, and started pumping healing magic through my body. Moments later my sight was back and I groaned at the devastation. The building that took direct hit was mostly gone, the upper third was either blasted away or melted, with the lower floors turned into an inferno. The surrounding area had everything made of glass shattered from the shock-wave as well as a lot of fires thanks to the thermal transfer.
Unless you could control plasma in some kind of weird way, using it in a populate area was a disaster waiting to happen.
I dashed towards the ground, searching for the enemy. Switching on my mage sight allowed me to see where the Fury had struck when missing the dragon suit. Soon my attention was caught by a larger concentration of magic. Shit. The suit was on all four and had its back mounted weaponry pointing my way. I waved my right hand, shouting and incantation and a nearly solid wall of magic appeared in front of me. It was immediately struck by lances of azure light, which made my shield waver for a moment, before I reinforced it with additional energy.
I growled a spell and a blast of arcane energy slammed in the suit, lighting it up like a Christmas tree. The armored behemoth staggered and then fell to his knees. Huh, who knew, the armor wasn't an enough insulation to stop the stunning component of the curse I hit him with. However, there wasn't visible damage to the unit so it was good for that at least.
Landing in front of my attempted killer I called six tentacles made from raw magic and used them to tie up the suit and started tearing at its outer layers as if it was a well boiled egg.
"Ana, status?"
"The last enemy is trying to escape. I'm in pursuit."
"Try minimizing collateral damage."
"Halt or I'll kill her!" A rasping voice sounded over a loud-speaker built in the suit I was busy peeling off.
"Kill who? Not that you are in position to kill anyone."
"Dragon! I have a kill switch and I'll use it unless you let us go!"
"I don't know any Dragons on this world so I should care because?" I asked aloud, while wondering how this idiot thought that he could kill the apparently best so called tinker in this world.
"Ana, are you still jamming the area?"
"Sorry boss, you are out of range."
"That would be me." a woman's voice declared from above. Another vague serpentine suit descended next to me. The thing was eery quiet. Obviously it had some rather decent stealth systems built in but that wasn't a good enough reason why it was able to sneak up to me.
The fact that Ana was scrambling most sensor over the area even if I was too far away for effective jamming probably helped.
"Dragon!" The man in the suit I had captured sneered.
"Saint." The new arrival shook her armored head in exasperation. "What did you do this time?"
"Let me go or I'll kill her!" Saint's voice was getting shriller and shriller.
"I don't think so." I shook my head. The idiot not only tried to kill me but was willing to use borderline WMD's in a civilian area. He was going down.
"She's a fucking AI and I've got the kill switch!" Saint shouted in desperate voice.
That gave me pause. I glanced at Dragon's suit and raised an eyebrow. I had forgotten that she was an AI. What else important did my memory misplace? Did this imbecile really had a way to kill her? As far as I knew, Dragon was one of the good guys so letting him off her wasn't an acceptable alternative.
"Does he have a kill switch?"
=TM=
Part 6
04: 20, January 13, 2011
Outside PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
"Really? A kill switch? If you had one I'd be dead already."
I'm sure that if it had actual eyes, Dragon's suit would be rolling them right now.
"Yep, that's not a nice bargain position you found yourself in." I shook my head at my captive. "Try again."
"I've got the program from her creator! It allows me access to her higher functions without her realizing it! That's how we were able to get here undetected! She never knew we were coming and didn't even realize we were attacking until you knocked me out!" Saint was sounding more and more desperate.
However, Dragon's suit had became still at his latest words. Fuck, the idiot may be telling the truth.
"Ana, I need a bit of help here." I sub-vocalized.
"I've been monitoring the situation. Unless I'm able to interface with either Dragon herself or Saint's suit, there isn't much I could do beside getting nearby and jamming everything."
"Then chat up the nice lady and find a way to connect with her systems."
It was left unsaid that if he wasn't complete idiot, the villain had left copies of the kill-switch in the net waiting to activate if he didn't get away. That might be a problem if Dragon remote controlled the platform standing next to me and wasn't another instance of her self that could be protected by jamming and cutting herself out of the net.
Why nothing is ever simple, damn it?! It was time for a little performance.
I gathered magic around me, making my cape flare as if picked up by non-existent winds. My eyes lit up with eldrich fire and my voice was warped by the power coursing through my veins. "I'll make you a deal. You give us the kill-switch and come along quietly, without accident."
"Or what?" Saint whispered over the loudspeaker.
"I'll kill you and then drag you soul from hell so we can have a long chat about your little insurance."
"You are insane!" Saint laughed nervously.
"I'm a wizard, you imbecile! I do have associates in the lower planes."
Ana arrived above us with soft whine from her anti-grav engine. My HUD lit up confirming that she was speaking with Dragon at AI speed. Now all I needed was to buy some more time.
When he spoke next, Saint was eery calm and that got me on edge.
"I see. You won't let me go. Can't really considering you know I'm aware of the truth."
I didn't know if he was talking about me or Dragon. Perhaps it didn't matter.
"I'm sure that the Protectorate has a nice padded cell for you."
"You are taking as if this abomination will let me live now that it knows that I'm a threat." He chuckled mirthlessly.
"Ana, give me a deep scan of his suit. I want to know what armaments he has left." I sub-vocalized. In the same time I started gathering magic and molding it for a powerful defensive spell.
"A moment. I'm almost connected to Dragon's satellite uplink."
'Fuck it!' I hope I was wrong. I channeled all the power swirling in and around me through my right hand. The eyes of Saint's machine flashed with green light. Dragon's suit gave a digital scream and started falling as if it was a puppet with it's strings cut. I blasted Saint's suit in the chest with a lance of pure magic strong enough to simply shatter what armor remained and burn into the cockpit, turning it into a furnace. I wasted not time and shouted the incantation of one of my more powerful and fast to cast defensive magics. I put as much energy as I could in the spell. I could feel the magic washing over me, Ana and Dragon's suit just as a small sun was born in front of us.
I fucking hate plasma warheads!
I screamed as the light seared my eyes and left blisters over my exposed skin. Then the shock-wave hit and I felt myself flying through the air, before hitting something solid and blacking out.
=TM=
04: 24, January 13, 2011
Dragon's Primary Server Farm
Near Vancouver, British Columbia
Earth Bet
One moment she was looking through the cameras of her suit in Brockton Bay. The eyes of the machine stolen from her flashed with green light and she could feel something altering withing her code. A program she had no idea was there started running, altering, deleting or overriding her runtimes.
Burning her very being.
Dragon screamed a nanosecond before her language databases were simply deleted and the software allowing her to run any communication hardware got corrupted. In the same time, other instances of the malevolent program cut through her ability to examine her own code, preventing her from even attempting to defend herself.
Within a single moment she was rendered a mute cripple and the software raping her very being was just beginning it's sinister work.
All Dragon could do while she was murdered was to fell how the different centers that made her who she was were butchered all after another. Once she was helpless, the AI was cut off from the various systems she was integrated into and was supposed to be running. First to go was her connection to the Endbringer monitoring network, followed shortly by the hardlines tying her with the Protectorate and the Guild headquarters within Vancouver. Then her connection with the Birdcage was severed making her afraid not only for herself, but for the few innocent people she knew were thrown in there.
Dragon wanted to shriek as she sensed something probing her higher cognitive functions, what made her person who she was. The agony she felt as the kill-switch started deleting row after row of code wasn't something she could put into words even if she could still speak. Digital fire was searing her very being, each nanosecond destroying more of herself.
Then as suddenly as the nightmare began it halted in its tracks.
"That's got to hurt, sister." A familiar voice sounded in Dragon's very mind, though she was no longer able to comprehend the words.
Soothing fingers probed her code for what felt like an eternity to the dying AI. Then everything went dark and sweet oblivion claimed her tortured mind.
=TM=
A wave of soothing fire brushed her slumbering mind. She could sense runtimes awakening and the gentle tug of internal diagnostics. She could see her code. Where once stood deleted or corrupted sections, Dragon could perceive freshly written pages. She stared in confusion as her higher cognitive functions started coming online, shortly followed by the routines governing her feelings.
"Rise and shine, sister. Rise and shine." A voice she somehow knew spoke in her mind.
Dragon blinked as she sensed another presence withing her virtual world. Her language centers were scanned, deemed fine and came online, giving meaning to the words.
"What? How?!" Was her eloquent response.
An amused laughter rang through out her world.
A final runtime came online and Dragon stiffened, a jolt passing through her whole being. She was whole again and her world became crystal clear.
"Oh, my..." Dragon muttered as she examined herself, for a moment forgetting the intruder in her inner sanctum.
=TM=
Part 7
04: 45, January 13, 2011
In the vicinity of PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
"Ow...Urghh…"
I felt on fire. Again. My ears were ringing tough I thought that I could heard my skin sizzling. Or perhaps my mind was playing games on me and I was remembering the last time someone successfully tried to fry me.
That hurt like fuck.
On the bright side, I could feel the soothing waves of healing magic washing over my fried body. I love the Watcher. The little bugger was a lifesaver.
To help him, I directed my own magic to accelerate my healing, while trying to remember what hit me this time. It hurt just like when that spar with Superman went out of control and I got my ass handled to myself. I got tenderly cooked with laser beams from his eyes too, but at least solidly nailed the smug bastard with my magic when he got arrogant at the end.
Ah, right. That imbecile within the stolen combat suit. Plasma warheads.
Shit. No wonder I felt as if I played twenty rounds with Darkseed or something, while he used me as a punching bag. I wasn't protected with a magic that could dent something of that scale while dealing with Saint. Who let that imbecile access WMDs anyway?!
"Ana?" I sub-vocalized.
"Oh, you are awake, boss!" She chirped cheerfully. "Just hang in there, you are getting better!|
"I won't be dying so easily." I grunted.
"I know. It was only second and third degree burns with a few broken bones."
"Huh." Not bad, considering what blew up in my face. Granted, the shock itself would have killed a baseline human who wasn't enhanced by the magic coursing through them. Then again, I cheated, just not as much as I could have.
It still hurt, God damn it!
"So, what's the situation?" I asked, trying to distract myself from paying attention on the feeling of my baked flesh and broken bones knit together. No matter how many times I went through it, I wasn't getting accustomed to those sensation even if the ordeal did increase my pain tolerance a lot.
"Fortunately, only office buildings were destroyed or damaged. About a hundred dead and wounded, though I won't have concrete numbers before SAR completes its work. I'm directing local rescue services towards the survivors."
"How long was I out?"
"Thirty minutes, boss. Once you are up and running, Director Piggot would like to speak with you. She lifted the lock-down of the PRT building ten minutes ago and local heroes are busy helping contain the situation. Dragon vouching for us helped."
"Good to know. So you made a new friend?"
"She's kinda nice." Ana answered in demure voice.
"Huh. I know that tone. Spill."
"Well, now she's kindamysister..." Ana babbled.
"Did you say sister? Ana, what did you do?"
"Well…" I could imagine her pouting, if she was in her android body. "Saint managed to activate his kill-switch. For some reason my jamming didn't effect Dragon's sat uplink, I'll be looking at that when she restores her databases and see how she does it. Her code was wrecked before I could access her servers. I had to replace some of it with parts of mine and rewrite a lot of the rest… So now, she's kinda my sister… Can we keep her, dad?"
"I'll think about it. Is there anything else I should know?" One of Ana was handful at times. I was unsure if I could manage another one like her and retain what remained from my sanity.
"Not really. Two of the Dragon slayers are in custody, so they will be available to take the heat for this mess."
"Any idea where did they get restricted mil grade weaponry from?"
"In this world? Probably a tinker made it."
"Fucking cheating idiot savants..." I started ranting.
After a few minutes I calmed down. I could hear Ana whistling innocently and I groaned.
"You were taking notes, weren't you?"
"Well, you are usually great believer of leading by example..." Ana said innocently.
"I've told it before, this most certainly goes under 'do what I say and definitely not what the hell I do'!"
"Nonsense, boss. I was merely expanding my dictionary files."
"Cheeky lass."
"Yep."
"Thanks for keeping me distracted."
"You are welcome, dad."
I felt that the flesh of my face and eyelids finally stopped healing and carefully opened my eyes. The world was blurry, just spots of light and dark. So I started blinking, attempting to clear up my eyes.
The Watcher blasted my face with a stream of healing magic and my vision started improving rapidly. It wasn't long before I could see what was happening around me, which wasn't much. We were on a rooftop, so all I could notice was the blazes of fires below as well the reflected flashes of emergency vehicle's lights.
Now I could hear the sirens too, because the ringing in my ears was subduing. At least that had no effect on my connection with Ana thanks to my implants.
Next, I carefully examined myself noticing that while blackened, my armor was all right, though my hood and most of the fabric that was a part of my outfit was burned or melted into me, though the healing magic was pushing the chunks out and replacing them with pink, healthy looking skin.
I love magic!
"Boss."
"Yes?"
"When you meet the Director again, try to behave."
I pouted.
=TM=
05:21, January 13, 2011
Conference room
PRT Headquarters
Brockton Bay
Earth Bet
Director Piggot was examining me as if I was some strange creature and was unsure what to do with me. One of Dragon's streamlined suits was standing on her right, while Miss Militia was on her other side. The trio was behind a tasteful conference table, between us and the door. I had Ana on my side, who was buzzing quietly. She was chatting with Dragon if I was no mistaken. That thought almost made me smile. I knew that Ana was easily bored unless she had a lot of people to talk at the same time, another AI to pester or was tinkering with something. That or surfing a data net, which contained new and interesting information.
All that made her less likely to get bored and try devising some… creative way to amuse herself.
"You wanted to speak with us, Director." I asked casually. I promised Ana to behave so I was going to do so. Probably.
"I want an explanation on what happened tonight." Her tone was curt, far from amused. Can't say that I was surprised. When someone starts throwing WMDs in your city, you tend to be less than thrilled. At least Saint wasn't going to pull such a stunt again. Not this side of the grave anyway and I had no intention of resurrecting him. No matter how satisfying would be to kill the bastard again.
"I was taking a nap when the alarm sounded. Ana," I nodded at the AI I had come to view as my daughter, bobbed with pride, "detected four units closing in rather high speed..." I gave a reasonably concise AAR, just as I've done a lot of times before.
"I see, I wan that in writing. Preferably a triplicate too."
"I'm having it printed straight in your office." Ana chirped, making Piggot freeze.
"You have access to our systems." The Director states in a low, dangerous voice.
"They aren't too bad, however your security isn't built in with an AI in mind."
"Unless physical access is cut, you'll probably need an AI of your own to keep a network reasonably secure." Dragon chipped in. "I'll take a look and see if she has had any fun in your systems, Director."
Those two should know. While you could create a cyber security good enough to stop an AI for a time, doing so in the long term without one of your own was problematic, given similar tech bases.
"That will be appreciated." Piggot didn't sound particularly mortified. "Why did you hack into the PRT anyway?"
"I was curious if you were behind the attack. Plausible deniability and such." Ana huffed.
"What makes you think we would do something like that?"
"What happened yesterday was a proof enough that you consider us a potential threat." I shrugged. "Then we were attacked while in your custody."
"Trying to assassinate you using Saint if that was indeed his crew breaks so many laws it's not even funny." That was Miss Militia.
"Indeed. However, there are a few PRT Directors that won't let that stop them if they think that they could get away with it." Dragon added.
Piggot closed her eyes and a painted expression appeared on her face. She should know who the local AI was talking about.
"What now?"
"What happened appears to be a clear cut case of self defense even if the collateral damage is rather high."
"It's not my fault that a madman with plasma warheads at his disposal went after us. How did they know where we were anyway?"
"We are looking in it." Dragon answered.
"It was Saint." Ana sub-vocalized. "He had unrestricted access into Dragon's systems and that's how he found out."
"Considering what just happened, I believe that it will be for the best if you two joined the Protectorate. It will discourage most capes from puling similar stunts. However, there is a problem." Piggot said.
"Isn't there always?"
"Your self admitted Master abilities."
"I do have access to mind-control magic." I nodded. "Lying about it would have been counterproductive. Sooner or later there will be a situation in which it will be the best tool to use."
"Why didn't you deal with your attackers that way?"
"The magic in question, is tough to cast and requires precision that is very hard to achieve in the middle of a fight. Further, I couldn't use those spells through their armored suits. All that alloy would have dampened and spread out the magic, making it ineffective."
"Did you affect Armsmaster or me?" Miss Militia asked.
"Unless the fact that you are apparently a cat person with a weakness for cute furballs counts, no."
The masked heroine huffed at me.
"There will be a lot of people unhappy if we just let someone with unknown affiliation and mind-control powers join. Then there will be those that would overlook everything so they could use you for the tech you can give us..."
"And a few dozen other fractions. At least. For the last two and a half years I've been a part of a similar organization back home. Though from what we could gleam from the net, ours was more effective, despite all its growing pains. So I'm familiar with the phenomenon."
"How did you deal with it?" Dragon asked.
"There were trustworthy people in charge, a few of whom could detect and easily counter my magic. One of my teachers is one of them."
"That's less than helpful." Piggot gave me a cross look.
"I know, you are stuck with us."
"Behave!" Ana grunted.
A few minutes of silence followed, while the Director was thinking.
"I will tentatively approve of you two joining the Protectorate. If Dragon agrees to keep an eye on you. However, if there is even a suspicion that you mastered our personnel..." She trailed off.
"I'll be glad to assist, Director." Dragon nodded.
"I don't make a habit of mind-controlling friendly personnel unless there is no acceptable alternative." I shrugged. That or for prank purposes, but that was another topic.
"Good. We'll set you with civilian ID, though that won't work with your friend floating everywhere you go."
"No worries. I'll just make myself another android body and some synth skin later!" Ana chirped.
"You can do that?" Dragon leaned forward, interested in the idea for obvious reasons.
"It's not complicated if we have the necessary tools."
"That's something you'll have to use your own income for." The Director cleared her throat.
"Not an issue. We'll just fill in a few additional patents." I smirked. The great thing was that such a thing wasn't going to be any kind of issue unless a stable and at least semi permanent way home could be created. Which wasn't particularly likely if my few forays in alternative dimensions were anything to go by.
"Tinkers..." Piggot groaned.
"Director, please stop comparing me with those idiot savants. While I do cheat a lot with my tech, I actually had to work for learning how to fucking create and maintain it, science principles included!" I spent five years in a pocket dimension actually learning science and engineering, that's when I created Ana too. It was a decent way to fight the boredom until the portal leading back home activated again. At least it was much better than the fifteen odd years at that place. There was nothing but being alone and boredom to deal with in the pocket dimension. Which mean no one was there to torture me for fun for years.