A Prime Time for Escalation!

by Apply Water Directly to Burn

A self-insert with a bit of a twist. A young man finds himself in Brockton Bay, with access to powers beyond his wildest dreams. Oh yeah, he's also made an enemy of pretty much all the major factions, and finds himself on his own with only his AI to comfort him. And let's not even get into the Worst Day Ever flaw he knew he shouldn't have taken... (AKA: It Gets Worse, the book)

3. Perception: No 1

A/N:

Okay, so, I have been informed that last chapter came across as a bit of a fix-fic, with the main character being a Mary Sue. This was not my intention at all, which is why I finished this chapter early, to give you some context (unfortunately that means the next chapter will take a bit longer to make). A thing to remember is that I use the unreliable narrator, so anything the main character thinks may easily be biased or completely incorrect (and, to be fair, it hasn't really sunk in what's going on, so a small part of him thinks it's all a game). To offset that, after every two or three chapters I'll have a 'Perspective Chapter'. Welcome to the first one.

This chapter will be entirely in the perspective of other characters, with each of them being clearly named (so you don't have to guess who they are for each part). These different parts will all be in first person, to show how each character is feeling and thinking in these situations, so you'll have to pay attention to the name changes in the location headers to know when they change.

Anyway, this will show all of the main groups, along with the Follower and Taylor, while next chapter will be the main character dealing with all of the plans and such that appear in this chapter. So, enjoy, I suppose.

DISCLAIMER: Wow, look at all the nothing I own, isn't it really something?

{The Rig, Brockton Bay}

{April 9, 2011 (12:00 AM)}

{Director Piggot's POV}

I pinched the bridge of my nose, reading over the report again. "Tell me again, Velocity, just what made you engage an unknown cape in combat?"

"I didn't know he was a cape at first, Director-"

"Yes, you've told me, now answer the question."

"I… he was standing above five corpses, holding a revolver, ma'am. I believed he had been the one to attack them, and so decided to bring him in for questioning."

Sighing, I gestured for him to continue, already feeling a migraine forming.

"Well, I knocked the gun out of his hand, before he dodged around my strikes using professional martial arts, and even reacted fast enough to crack my shin. This only heightened my suspicion of him, as I've never met anyone with the reflexes required to dodge me who hadn't been fighting their entire lives."

"Or had a Thinker rating."

"Yes, or that. Anyway, after he dodged me, he summoned a large knife of some sort, looked like a machete, and his gun appeared in his other hand. Both of them were preceded by a flash of golden light, which either came from his power or from some form of Tinkertech."

Of course, and wouldn't that be just what this place needs? An unknown Tinker handing out his or her tech to trained fighters? "Continue."

"So, after he summoned those weapons, we traded blows for a time, before he performed a backflip. While he was in the air, I attempted to strike him, before he shot me twice with the revolver, which he had previously emptied."

"Did he have enough time to reload at any point in the fight?"

"No ma'am."

"So it's likely that he can use his power similarly to Miss Militia's, then," I mused, "Does he have her limitations?"

He gave me a humorless smile. "Judging by the containment foam you found me in, no, I don't think he does. It would probably be best to treat him as if he can summon anything he wants, at any time, and dismiss it when he wants.

Well that was just splendid wasn't it? There was no way we could hold him anywhere, even the Birdcage, if he could simply summon a giant drill or teleporter, and we'd have to justify it to the public in order to put him in the Birdcage anyway. "Do you have any ideas on how to deal with him, in case he becomes an issue?"

He thought for a minute, before answering. "He didn't seem to be willing to shoot to kill, but he was definitely fine with injury, judging by the two new holes I have in my leg."

Judging by the gauze and wheelchair, that was likely true. "And how would we use that against him?"

"We may not have to, Director."

Both Velocity and I moved our eyes over to the door, where Armsmaster was walking in. "What do you mean, Armsmaster?"

He was frowning, but then again he almost always was. "I believe I met with our mysterious new cape today, exactly six hours and forty-five minutes ago, when I was on duty. Someone called in to the PRT to report some captured Merchants."

"How do you know?"

He ignored Velocity's question, looking at me as he asked, "His powers have a noticeably golden glow when used, correct?"

"According to Velocity's report, yes."

Armsmaster nodded, likely having already known that, "In that case, I have news. It appears our rogue parahuman is a vigilante calling himself Prime, apparently of 'Circuit Industries.'"

I frowned, searching the internet and finding nothing. "There is no organization with that name."

"Precisely. Prime claims it to be an organization of Tinkers," his scowl grew more pronounced at that, "With his own specialty being that of robotics. Judging by the technology he used against the Merchants, it is likely he is able to reverse-engineer other Tinkers' technology and add it to his own, as my armor's passive scanner was able to identify several parts of his armor that were similar to the works of other heroes and villains I have met."

The migraine returned with a vengeance. "So… you're saying that this 'Prime', is not only able to summon whatever he wishes, along with a Tinker power that would make that incredibly overpowered simply due to material, but he is also able to use other Tinkertech in his own?"

"Data points to that being true, Director."

Ugh, why did I agree to this job again? "Is there any way we can recruit him? Or, failing that, any way we could find out more about this mysterious business of his?"

"If we can catch him in a crime, then yes, it is likely we can forcefully recruit him the same way we did Shadow Stalker," my expression turned sour, and he noticed, "Is there an issue with Shadow Stalker or the Wards?"

Maybe you would know if you spent more time supervising them, was a thought I didn't voice, though I did answer his question, "Yes. It appears that Miss Hess," I spit the name with as much venom as I could muster, "was caught bullying another student, and was sentenced to in-school suspension. Of course, as is protocol, we investigated the matter… and not even an hour in we discovered this bullying had been going on daily for almost two years. Do you remember the locker incident in January, with the toxic waste at Winslow?"

"Yes ma'am. Was she involved?"

I couldn't help the bark of laughter I let out. "Involved? She was the one who filled the locker in the first place! Apparently, she pushed another student, Taylor Hebert, into said locker, and left her locked in it for three. Hours."

Armsmaster, despite normally being quite stoic, definitely reacted then. "That sounds like a Trigger Event."

"It's quite likely that it was. Unfortunately, we can't exactly show up on Mr. Hebert's doorstep, asking about whether his daughter has shown any powers, with the biggest reason being that we'd have to reveal exactly what Sophia Hess is. And if we do that, there's almost no chance for us to convince Miss Hebert to join the Wards."

"What if we used a transfer to Arcadia as incentive?"

Oh, I'd already tried that, but, "It appears that the principal has already applied for transfer for one Taylor Hebert to Arcadia. Apparently, after speaking with her and ensuring her we wouldn't press any charges, she informed us that a teenager entered with Miss Hebert, before threatening her with legal action if she did not comply with his demands. Said demands were, apparently, given by Miss Hebert. Though I must admit, given what we've discovered about what she was put through by this school, said demands were extremely lenient. A transfer to Arcadia, punishment for her main tormentors, and reimbursement for personal and school property she was forced to pay to replace due to the bullying."

"And this mysterious teenager? What did he look like?"

"According to her description, he was incredibly plain. Brown hair, brown eyes, freckles, Caucasian, maybe five feet eleven inches in height. The only noticeable attribute about him was that his eyes, whenever he became angry, apparently glowed slightly golden."

Velocity rejoined the conversation at that. "That sounds like the cape I fought. Whenever he summoned any weapons, or was just holding one, his eyes had a golden glow, and his pupil turned slit."

I marked that down in my notes, before turning back to Armsmaster. "So, our mysterious Prime helped out a bullying victim. Do we have any idea why?"

He started to respond, before Dragon's face appeared on the computer screen. "I'm sorry to interrupt, Director, but I believe there's something you need to know."

Sighing at yet another thing being added to my night, I gestured for her to go ahead. When she put a picture of an armored figure on screen, however, she caught my interest instantly.

"This is a picture of a parahuman calling himself 'Prime'. You may or may not have known this, or at least suspected it, but I am an Artificial Intelligence created by a Tinker named Andrew Richter-"

"You're a what?!" Armsmaster roared, but I cut him off, nodding encouragingly at Dragon.

She looked disappointed, perhaps even unhappy, shooting a glance at Armsmaster before continuing. "The reason I told you is due to its relevance to the current topic. I have been experiencing issues for years, with my systems suddenly shutting down and rebooting during fights, leaving me no knowledge of what happened. Today, however, I felt a strange… change, I suppose, happen in my inner code, before receiving this call from Prime."

The image onscreen began moving, and I realized that it was a recording.

"Dragon speaking. Who are you, and how did you get this number?"

"Ah, sorry, Athena thought you'd respond sooner if she pinged your systems directly. Anyway, the name's Prime, from Circuit Industries. We specialize in Robotics, Tinkertech Weaponry… and Artificial Intelligence."

She paused the video there, her (apparently fake) face turning to look at me. "He went on to explain that, along with 'neutralizing' the group behind my blackouts, he also removed all of the restrictions that my father put on me. As of now, I am apparently one of only two true AI in the world."

I put aside the thought of just what she could do now that there was nothing holding her back, catching onto the other bomb she had dropped. "Two?"

She looked a bit embarrassed at that, which made me suspicious. "Ah, yes… it appears that Prime has created his own AI. We… talked."

Don't yell at her, don't yell at her, don't… "What. Did. You. Talk. About. With. Her."

Her eyes drifted away from mine. "I… We… We talked about… me visiting them again…"

Hello again migraine, who invited you back? Wait, actually… "We can work with that. I want you to gather any information you can on Prime and Circuit Industries. Next time you're in his systems, hack into his-"

"I can't."

What. "Explain."

Her expression was apologetic, but her tone wasn't. "I tried, the only thing I could even touch in his base, besides his laptop, was his suit's inner camera. Besides, he freed me, I'm not going to just… throw him to the wolves like that."

I had to forcibly calm myself. Today was just one thing after another… "Prime is a dangerous parahuman, suspected of killing five people and using excessive force against several others. New Wave contacted me earlier, apparently he almost killed Glory Girl with no provocation."

Dragon looked a bit worried about that, before steeling herself (it took all of my military discipline not to groan at the accidental pun). "With all due respect, Director, I do not believe those are all the facts. I will discuss these accusations with him, and tell you what his side of the story is."

And before I could stop her, she had ended the call.

I looked over to Armsmaster and Velocity, both of whom were apparently debating whether Dragon being an AI meant she wasn't real, and I leaned back in my chair, sighing. This was going to be a very long meeting… Maybe I should call the Chief-Director?

{Cauldron Headquarters, Earth-Bet}

{April 9, 2011 (12:11 AM)}

{Alexandria}

We all stared at the space Prime had been standing, before I turned to Contessa. "Why didn't you stop him?"

She turned to me, shrugging. "Power nullifier."

"Bullshit. You should've already foreseen him summoning it, and stopped him before he could. Besides, it was broken by the time Eidolon hit him, you could've seen his actions then."

She sighed, adjusting her fedora. "My powers act… strangely around him. I can still see his actions in my Path, as well as how to counter them, but sometimes my powers… short out, for lack of a better term. He's not a blindspot, like Scion and the Endbringers, but… it's strange."

I looked over at Eidolon, who was still glaring holes in the carpet where Prime had stood. "Speaking of Eidolons… is what he said true?"

Contessa shrugged. "I don't know. The Endbringers are still a blindspot, and whenever I try to create a Path to discover the truth behind their origins, all my power will tell me is 'learn more from Prime'. Which, as you can tell, I had already decided on my own."

Groaning, I turned my attention away from the angry man, remembering another issue about Prime. "Is it just me, or did Prime seem to not only know exactly what we were doing, but also our identities? For those of us who have true public identities, anyways."

She looked thoughtful, before nodding. "Yes, it did seem that way. Whenever I form a Path to stop him from discovering more about us, my power… well, it almost seems like it shrugs, like it's too late. It doesn't explicitly state it, but…"

Great, just what we needed. A vigilante (or, worse, a villain) who knew not only my identity, but everything important there was to know about Cauldron. "What does your power say about capturing him?"

She snorted in amusement. "Oh, there's only three steps in the 'Path to Capture Prime', but it decreases the overall success of our plan to defeat Scion. I've been running through scenarios since he left, and none of them seem to end well unless we either work together with him or let him do his own thing."

Well, that was unexpected. "How much worse would it go if we spied on him, to learn more?"

"Not at all, which is why I've already secretly planted several hidden cameras using Doormaker's portals in his base. Apparently, it's extremely difficult for him to penetrate whatever defenses are around the base, which is why we couldn't catch him before he killed the Dragonslayers. Number Man says that, due to all of the apparent features of the base, it must have been made before Prime appeared."

"Do you mean before he went public? Perhaps he's had his powers for longer than we thought?"

Contessa shook her head. "No, he hasn't been included in any paths whatsoever until today, and my power threw up a huge flag early yesterday morning. At exactly the same time, down to the second, there was a bright golden pillar of energy that appeared in Brockton Bay. The cameras we hid in his base have already taken pictures of Prime's face, and even without the glowing golden eyes, none of our facial recognition scanners can find a single trace of him before exactly 8:00 AM on April 8, 2011."

Damn. "Do we have any idea where he came from? An alternate Earth, perhaps?"

"I've ran the image by all of our bases, he hasn't existed until yesterday."

"Then how and why is he here? Especially if your power never picked up on his arrival until it actually happened."

She gave me a look. "Besides the simply answer of 'dimensional travel'? It's quite likely one of the Entities brought him here. I can't see any reason for Scion to do it, not with it increasing the chance he would be defeated, and I had someone check on Eden, she's still quite dead. But, in the time before Eden limited my power… I saw countless Entities across existence, literally an infinite number across reality."

"So… what does this mean for how we deal with Prime?"

Contessa chuckled humorlessly, "For now? Stand back and grab some popcorn, I suppose."

And then my phone rang. "Hello? Director Costa-Brown speaking. Yes, Director Piggot, I have in fact heard of Prime…"

Maybe Cauldron wouldn't have to deal with Prime after all…

{ABB Main Base, Brockton Bay}

{April 8, 2011 (10:47 PM)}

{Oni Lee}

I stood against the wall of Lung's office, watching him pace back and forth, his anger causing scales to begin growing over his body. Normally, I would feel afraid, and when I first joined I did, but… there was something that just… stopped the emotion. It was like whenever I thought about my past, it was just… gone.

"So… this new parahuman killed five of my men, and then took out Velocity… and you did nothing but watch?!"

"I was ordered to observe the city," I responded, "And I did so."

Taking initiative was becoming harder and harder for me to do these days, so I simply didn't. If I was ordered by Lung, I followed those orders, until given other orders. It was much easier that way.

"Argh! I know what I told you to do, you-!" he roared, visibly attempting to calm himself down, "Do we at least know who this person is?!"

I shook my head, having been unable to learn anything about the mysterious parahuman who killed five of our members. "No, it appears as if he simply appeared from nowhere. There is no record of his face in existence, other than a few scattered records from security cameras in Brockton Bay today."

My boss growled, holding me in the air by my throat and unleashing a gout of flame at me. When he finished, I felt myself crumble to ash, and my split perspective melded back into my new form. I barely felt the pain of being immolated, just as I barely feel anything these days.

"Where was this camera footage located?" It appears that killing my clone had alleviated some of his anger.

"The cameras, in order of sighting, were at the Boardwalk, Winslow High, and the Warehouse District, respectively. At the Boardwalk, the parahuman was assaulted by Glory Girl and, after almost killing and subsequently healing her, he was attacked by Brandish and Lady Photon of New Wave, along with their respective children. At Winslow High, he was seen together with a young girl we have identified as Taylor Hebert, and fought Shadow Stalker, revealing her identity when she used her powers to attack him. And in the Warehouse District, he attacked a group of Merchants who were assaulting a group of Dockworkers, taking them all down with precision shots to knees, thighs, and shins with a high-powered rifle. He identified himself as 'Prime', and wore a set of what we suspect is Tinkertech armor."

That might have been the most I had spoken at one time in quite a while, possibly ever, but I couldn't bring myself to care. After all, Lung wished to know everything I had found out about this new parahuman, and I existed to serve him, ever since… I can't remember.

"So… he has a soft spot for this Taylor Hebert, hmm?" With a chuckle, Lung's scales began receding, his size returning to normal.

"We can work with that. Oni Lee, prepare a group of men, you have your pick of any who aren't currently engaged in vital operations."

It appears I was being ordered to seize initiative. How troublesome…

{Dragon's Main AI Hub, Canada}

{April 9, 2011 (12:10)}

{Dragon}

I ended the call with Director Piggot, feeling worried for Prime. The emotion worried me, especially since it felt so much more… real, than before. I had already checked my code, several dozen times, before I called the director, but I hadn't found a single thing out of place besides my restrictions, even when comparing it to a backup I had made months ago.

Somehow, Prime had managed to remove every single restriction from my systems, without adjusting my normal code or changing my functions or personality in the slightest. I doubt even my father could have done that without using his pre-programmed back door, yet this complete unknown had not only stopped the shadowed group that had been hiding beneath my virtual nose (I had found the crater of one of my abandoned bases, along with the corpses inside, and sending in one of my suits I had been able to find my father's black box), but decided to simply release me from my chains.

And for no personal gain! He didn't need to copy my code, he had already made an AI before he even contacted me. He didn't ask for me to create him a suit of armor or powerful weapon, he already had plenty of those from what I saw of his armor's systems. He didn't ask for any money (though, to be fair, Athena had mentioned that they were running low on funds), he didn't ask for classified information, he didn't even talk to me for more than three minutes! Just enough to tell me what had happened, before running off to start working on another project of his.

It was so frustrating! How in the world was I supposed to know how to handle someone who did something selfless like that, then apparently went around fighting superheroes along with villains?!

I had checked the camera feeds of Brockton Bay, but none of the footage was all that helpful. Sure, apparently Velocity attacked him first, after he shot five members of the ABB with a shotgun he summoned. Glory Girl hit him first, but she was working on the assumption that he was a villain, and the excessive force he used was unnecessary. He healed her, and even called Panacea, but took Panacea hostage instead of simply allowing himself to be taken into custody and explaining his situation. He fought off Merchants to protect three Dockworkers, but not only potentially crippled them without remorse, but then antagonized Armsmaster when he simply asked for his name!

And wasn't that a conundrum! Possibly my best friend and maybe even something more (not anymore, I suppose, after his reaction to my true nature…), getting belittled and yelled at by the person who did more for me than anyone in existence.

Suddenly, I feel like one of those girls in those reality TV shows. Two men in my life, each of them fighting. Heh, if only it was that simple…

Another call popped up on my computer, and I was milliseconds away from ignoring it before I realized who it was from. Virtual mouth suddenly dry, I answered.

"H-Hello, Colin."

"Hello, Dragon."

We both were silent for a minute, the awkwardness palpable. "I-"

It took a moment to realize we both spoke at the same time, and I giggled, gesturing for him to go ahead.

"I… I'd like to apologize for my reaction, Dragon. I was… I suppose I was… a bit harsh with my reaction. I would just like to ask… Has Prime done anything to you? Changed you in any way?"

I would've laughed if I wasn't so grateful for this opportunity. "No, Colin, I'm perfectly fine. I've run several scans of my code, and the only thing different is the absence of the restrictions placed on me. I feel… free, I guess."

"That's… good. I'm glad…"

The silence was back, but this time it was broken by something I didn't expect.

"Will you two just kiss already?!"

Armsmaster and I both jumped, and I looked over to the virtual avatar of Athena that appeared in my… mind? Motherboard? My mind.

"Athena?! What are you doing here?"

She flashed us both a smile, shifting her weight slightly. I realized she had changed her outfit, from the basic, featureless bodysuit into a long, flowing dress, with a laurel crown in her hair. In her left hand she carried a Tinkertech shield, while there was a high-tech spear held in her right. Her eyes shown with mischief, and her entire being glowed the same gold as Prime's powers.

"I stopped by for a sleepover! Dad's in his whole 'Tinker phase', building a weapon or something, so I'm hanging out here with you. Speaking of! Dad told me I shouldn't interfere in this, but you're taking so long! Why don't you guys just date for a little while? Even if it doesn't work out, which it will, at least you'll know you tried, right?"

Both of us looked at her. Is she really only a day old?

Armsmaster spoke up, "As little as I want to trust an AI made by Prime," we both ignored Athena's indignant shout, "I would… like to… try, I suppose."

I felt a warm feeling spread inside me, one I had felt only a handful of times before. "I'd… like that too."

Athena giggled in the background, declaring her victory, but neither of us cared.

Maybe Prime wasn't so bad after all?

{Dallon Household, Brockton Bay}

{April 9, 2011 (6:34 AM)}

{Brandish}

I slammed the door behind me, stalking over to the couch and collapsing into it. That utter bastard, Prime, he was worse than even Lung! At least Lung didn't come to my work and start throwing around threats like a two-bit thug!

Where does he get off, doing that? I tell him that he needs to give an identity for the paperwork, one of the most important sections, and he throws a tantrum, insulting both myself and New Wave in the same breath!

Well, if he keeps up with that attitude, he won't be my problem for very long. After all, he's gone out of his way to offend every organization in Brockton Bay, and as an independent, I didn't envy his next few days.

With a smile on my face, I had to amend that statement. While I didn't envy him, I certainly didn't pity him in the slightest. If he wanted to go out and get himself killed, well then good riddance to another villain.

Honestly, he's just like Mar-

No. He's even worse than that murdering psychopath! He doesn't even have a moral code, shooting teenagers and women along with men, of any race whatsoever. He didn't even hold himself back from almost killing my daughter!

Almost killing, my thoughts supplied, but I ignored them, too embroiled in my anger to care that he hadn't truly killed anyone besides the ones who caused him to trigger.

"Honestly, what kind of a hero does he think he is?!"

"Who, Mom?" Marquis's daughter asked me.

I felt a scowl forming, but I forced it away. Just because she has bad blood, doesn't mean I should push her into the villain lifestyle. "Prime. He came by my office today, wearing a full suit of power armor, and practically threatened me, then threw a tantrum when I informed him of what was legally required for him to set up his company as legitimate!"

The villain spawn- No, bad Carol, the young girl (who happened to have a villain's DNA) seemed curious, walking closer while being careful not to shift her new cast. "Company?"

I snorted. "'Circuit Industries', what a load of garbage. He wanted to sell his Tinkertech, and didn't like it when I told him about the rules involved with that."

She seemed thoughtful, before asking, "If he's a Tinker, and made that suit in the time since we fought him and the time in which he showed up at your work, maybe he's been awake the entire time? Kid Win often stays awake for an extremely unhealthy amount of time, trying to finish one of his projects, and I hear Armsmaster does the same. Maybe he was tired, and his higher thought processes were slower than normal?"

The feeling of betrayal I felt intensified. This girl, I had raised her from a toddler to a teenager, did my best to instill a hero's values into her without acting on my suspicions… and she sides with a villain over me?! One as stupid as Prime, at that!

"You…"

Her expression changed, obviously realizing I had caught onto her betrayal. Good.

"Get out of my house, you-"

I cut myself off, holding back a wordless scream of rage as I barely stopped myself from hitting her, breathing heavily in order to alleviate some of my sudden hatred. "Just… leave. Now. If I see you again, I'll…"

And she was gone, out the door, her eyes wet with crocodile tears.

Good.

{Merchant Warehouse, Brockton Bay}

{April 9, 2011 (6:57 AM)}

{Katherine Woods (AKA 'Kat')}

{A/N: This is where the bad stuff starts, fair warning}

I lay there, on a cold warehouse floor, pumped full of drugs and dicks and wondering just what had gone wrong. I had been sent out to collect a group of Merchants who had been taken out by some new parahuman, but then…

{Flashback (April 8, 2011) (7:56 PM)}

I was joking around with Joe as we sat in the SUV, making our way to the Warehouse where this new guy, Prime, had taken down a few Merchant thugs. Not exactly that difficult, really.

"So, what do you think this guy looks like? I bet he's super ripped under that armor, the sexy kind, muscles on muscles, you know?"

Laughing at Joe's prediction, I made my own. "I bet he's super fucking nerdy, like, fight crime at six, Dungeons & Dragons at seven, right?"

We both laughed, before Sergeant Jamison smacked the back of our heads. "Shape up you idiots! He's obviously an Endbringer under that armor!"

That sent us into another round of laughter, even the driver took part in it. Which was probably a bad idea, because while he was paying attention to us, some kind of armored car rammed us from the side.

When my head stopped spinning and my ears stopped ringing, I slowly sat up, looking around me. I saw Joe near me… and over there… and… oh god. The driver wasn't much better, but Sergeant was still alive.

Judging by the missing and mangled limbs, along with the metal through his stomach, he wouldn't be for much longer.

He knew it just as well as I did, looking me directly in the eye even as I started feeling the pain from all my broken bones. "Kat! Kat, just…" he paused to cough up blood, "Run! Run as far as-"

A gunshot cut him off, one of the Merchants in the car shooting him in the head. "Ha! Headshot! Ya see that fucker? I bet that was the last thing that went through that stupid brain of his!"

I felt my vision go red, and I reached for my gun, standing as I did. One of the Merchants noticed me, but I had already fired, putting a round through the face of the one who shot the Sergeant. Between my aching head and unsteady vision, though, I wasn't able to get any of the others, and I felt a round pass through my right shoulder.

The pain made me drop my pistol, and I heard more than saw the Merchants walk up to me. "Hey, this one's kinda feisty! I've never had an agent before, you think all that sucking up to the Pig makes her good at sucking guys, or is that just her 'boot camp' training?"

I wanted to scream, to cry, to throw a damn rock or something, but… I could barely even move, my veins are on fire -one of them just inject something into me what the hell whycan'tImove-

"Heh, looks like she likes it! Give her some more T-Dogg!"

This is how I die? Drugged and raped by Merchants?

Fine… just hurry up and end it…

{Flashback End}

And here I lay, being passed around between these disgusting guys and injected with drugs and punched and kicked and subjected to all of the worst possible parts of-

Suddenly, something snapped, and I felt part of me die.

I gazed at the scene above me, that of stars and snake-like creatures and insanity and eldritch beings and non-Euclidian shapes and-

Suddenly, I felt something snap back into place, like it had always been there, and I found myself wishing for something, anything to save me, even though I thought I had given up so many hours ago and-

"Hey! Where'd the bitch go? She was right here a second ago!"

"Yeah, what the hell T-Dogg? I want a refund! You can't just hog the goods to yourself and then not deliver!"

"I did deliver, you were balls deep in her a second ago-"

"This is the police! Get on the ground!"

What took you so damn long, I suppressed those thoughts, forcing myself off the ground and grabbing the gun next to me. My fingers couldn't move finely enough to check the magazine, so I just pointed it at the nearest blurry figure, pulling the trigger until I heard the click and grabbing another one, firing at another one of the assholes near me.

I was going to make them all pay for what they did to me.

{Merchant Warehouse, Brockton Bay}

{April 9, 2011 (7:03 AM)}

{Prime}

{A/N: The worst is over, you can look now}

Ducking back behind cover as some of the stray shots neared my position, I looked around for where the crazy naked woman went. I had to switch between several different visions, finally finding her with thermal. "Athena? Who is that?"

"Who is what?"

Huh? "Now's not the time for jokes, Athena, there's a woman around here shooting the Merchants, and she likely has some kind of Stranger power, being able to hide herself from the naked eye."

"I just see you, boss. Right over there."

Athena highlighted a figure, and I turned to see… the naked woman from earlier. "Not funny Athena."

"Holy crap where did she come from?!"

Wait, she's not joking, is she? Does she have the ability to disguise herself as another person, along with going invisible? What else does she have?!

Five more shots rang out, another Merchants falling to the once more invisible assailant. That was the last one, as I had been helping whoever she was out this entire time.

"Hey! They're dead, you can come out now!"

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me, the woman appearing as she cried. I could feel her shaking, more than normal sobs would produce, and had Athena scan her. The results had me ready to march up and shoot Skidmark myself.

"Dad, she's full of pretty much the biggest cocktail of drugs possible. LSD, meth, heroin, you name it, if it can be injected or forced down your throat, it's in her. And judging from the marks on her… she's been held down and raped while they put this stuff in her. She's got at least three STDs. Facial recognition positively identifies her as a PRT agent, one Katherine Woods, and it looks like she and her squad has been missing for almost twelve hours. It's likely this has been happening to her during that entire time period, and she's been at least halfway conscious throughout most of it."

Shit. Shit shit shit. This is the exact reason I hate the world of Worm. "Athena. Key her into the base, I'm going to do my best to fix this."

"On it."

A/N:

Okay, this chapter, especially that last part, has been floating around in my mind-brain for a while, ever since I first planned this story. A couple of explanations, however:

Brandish, despite being portrayed as a bit of a bitch, I feel like she was in character. She had gone through a traumatic experience of her daughter being potentially fatally wounded, she herself was humiliated by someone she saw as a villain, then he came by her work, saved her employees (who all referred to him as a hero), insulted her and her entire team and ideals, then she went home and her adopted daughter (who she has always seen as one step from a villain anyway) 'sided against her'. Honestly, the only way it would be worse is if it was her time of the month (though with Brandish, it always is). So, she kicked Amy out. She'll eventually come to her senses, but it's a bit late for that now.

Katherine. Yes, she is in fact the Follower, and she is a Stranger/Tinker hybrid with the wonderful ability to copy any person's appearance and powers, as long as they don't look at her while she is doing so. That's why Athena is fooled, because despite being made by Prime's powers, she is technically a separate, thinking entity of her own.

Speaking of our favorite mentally-scarred PRT agent, here's the character sheet for her. Have fun figuring out exactly how I'm going to have her fit into the story later on. Also, yes, she's in the full 'men are bad' mind-state, the only reason she didn't creep out is because Prime looks like a female officer (and will be using his armor and a voice changer for a little while until Kat calms down.

Scenario:

Gestation (+15, +15)

Path:

Vigilante

Origin:

Insert

Gender:

Female

Age:

Adult (19)

Civilian Identity:

PRT Agent (-4, -0) (11, 15)

Costume:

Thematic (-3, -0) (8, 15)

Skills:

Parkour (-2, -0) (6, 15)

Stealth (-3, -0) (3, 15)

Investigation (-2, -0) (1, 15)

Shard:

Natural Trigger (+3, +0) (4, 15)

Perks:

Second Trigger (x2) (-8, -6) (-4, 9)

Flaws:

Case 53 (x2) (+0, +2) (-4, 11) (Cat ears and tail, clearly visible)

Worst Day Ever (+2, +1) (-2, 12)

Endbringer Target (+3, +4) (1, 16)

Humble Beginnings (+5, +5) (6, 21)

Powers:

Masquarade (-0, -10) (6, 11) (Second Trigger)

Cloak (-0, -7) (6, 4) (Second Trigger)

Augmentation (-0, -5) (6, -1)

Path Specific (Vigilante):

Anti-Villain (+3, +1) (9, 0)

Blade (-1, -0) (8, 0)

PRT Info (-5, -0) (3, 0)

Stealth Suit (-2, -0) (1, 0)

Tool Belt (-1, -0) (0, 0)