Investments 14.1

"Don't directly agree to anything."

"I won't," I promised, for the third time. "I'm not an idiot."

My lawyer regarded me levelly. "Have you ever negotiated a contract before?"

"I negotiated one with you," I couldn't help but point out.

"In point of fact, you did not," he countered. "You brought a business proposal forward and then proceeded to let us dictate every single term. I, thankfully, argued successfully that taking an unreasonably large cut would backfire on the firm quite badly as, no matter what a man who will remain nameless tried to convince us of, you might not have kept your displeasure relegated to the legal system. Nor would the PRT nor the Protectorate serve as an adequate deterrent."

I blinked. That was. . . exactly correct. I'd assumed that they'd just scale their cut against plastic surgeries, factor in the extra benefits versus it being a new thing, and take off a management fee. For all I'd known, their claims of the first set of modifications only pulling in a small amount of money could've been all lies and they could've made several times what they'd claimed to me they had, and that they'd then nickel and dime me to where they'd be receiving the lion's share of the profits, while convincing me they were taking a loss. Had I found out that'd happened I would've been. . . upset. "Fair enough."

"Out of idle, non-legally binding curiosity, what would you have hypothetically done?" the lawyer asked.

"Me? Probably nothing. I'd've moved on as long as your firm didn't try to do something to further screw me over, like claiming I still owed extra fees on something," I said. "I'd've had too much to do to worry about a firm of Evil lawyers on the same moral level as the city's gangs, though I would've treated you as such. Break on the other hand, I couldn't speak for him, but he likely would've done something a bit more. . . permanent."

Quinn nodded, as if he was expecting such an answer. "And thus my arguments to not kill the metaphorical golden goose. This should have illustrated my point that you do not know how to negotiate a contract, and as such will be only be doing what I tell you through your earpiece."

His next statement came from said device, with no outward sign of communication from the man himself. "And as such, you are not to agree to anything. You may state you will consider it, that it sounds good but you will have to check with the others, or that you'd like hard details to look over before you agree to it."

"Can I bring someone else along, or will it just be the two of us?" I asked instead.

From the way his domino mask moved, he was raising an eyebrow. "You cannot bring Break."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Like I said, I'm not dumb. Trusting yes, and I'm working on that, but not dumb. I was thinking of Lady Bug. We could say she's part of Arachne Assemblages, and I'm speaking on behalf of her group."

Quinn thought it over, nodding slowly. "That would be acceptable. She'd be serving as a witness, and thus would be expected to remain silent unless you said something that her group would not stand by. Do you trust her to keep quiet?"

"More than I would myself," I agreed.

"We still haven't figured out why I couldn't summon her," he countered. "And we don't have enough time to-"

I waved a hand, "Don't worry, I've got that covered. Zilla, could you send Lady Bug up here?"

The V.I. replied a few seconds later, announcing, "The Lady, Bug is en route."

"And you have the samples ready?" Quinn asked.

I held up the aluminum box, flipping open the top to reveal the cubes of metal I'd extruded slotted inside, held in place by little hinged arms. Embossed on both sides of the lid was the Arachne Assemblages logo. "Ta-da."

He looked inside, sighing. "I'll give you points for presentation at least. Is this made with Kaiser's power as well?"

I nodded, smiling proudly. "Yeah, figuring out how to make hinges was a cast iron bitch, if you'll pardon the pun. "We've got gold, platinum, lutetium, scandium, iridium, and erbium. I considered adding Promethium for the mythology gag, but it's kinda radioactive, so I decided not to."

"I appreciate it," he commented dryly. "I can't help but noticed you left one out. Is that ebony? It seems too dark for that, but I can see the grain clearly, and it doesn't seem like something you'd include. It's a bit to normal, and I mean that in the best way."

I wanted to argue that I could do normal, but I was currently wearing a shape-shifting, psycho-reactive, impenetrable costume, standing in a hidden underground arcology, holding a box full of metals that I'd created from nothing, and planning on teleporting over to negotiate with an organization of super-geniuses. "It's something Panacea and I whipped up. Not sure if they'd want it, but Dryad can spend some time growing more if they're willing to pay for it. Assume it's a unique resource that we could create more of fairly easily, but we have sole control over. Because it is."

Quinn looked at me, then down to the wooden disk, then back to me. "And I am only hearing about this now because?"

"You seemed busy," I responded, shrugging. "Worst case scenario, they don't do anything with it, and it becomes a coaster. It took me ten seconds to grow, and from what I've seen it'll be really useful for my own purposes. Having them figure out the material stats of it for us would be appreciated, though. I've done some tests, but it isn't my field of expertise."

It only took him a few moments to figure out exactly what I was going to do with it, proving why I'd recruited him. "You're going to use this to rebuild Brockton Bay, aren't you." It wasn't a question.

I nodded, not bothering to hide it. "Once we own the land, yes. I'm still going to be using Kaiser's power, like we discussed, but this'll help fill in the gaps I can't use Metal Creation to fill."

"I was wondering," he mused, turning to look towards the door a moment before Taylor entered, helmet under her arm. "Good morning, Ms. Bug. I have been informed that you are to join us in our negotiations with Toybox?"

She looked between the two of us, a little confused. "Yes?" She glanced at me, then back towards Quinn. "He didn't tell you?"

"He did just now," the lawyer snitched, and Taylor gave me a stare which said 'really?' Quinn continued, "There is no problem; you'll be the representative from Arachne Assemblages. As such you are not to say anything unless Vejovis commits your organization to anything unilaterally. Do you still have the earpiece he gave out for the Endbringer attack?" Taylor nodded. "Good, put it in, and if I need you to say something I'll instruct you through it, as well as telling you what to say. Understood?"

"Don't talk, unless you tell me to, and then what you say to say," she affirmed.

He smiled, a bit of the tension that had been building up between his shoulders easing. Taking a deep breath, he straightened and grinned roguishly at us. "In that case, I do believe it's showtime."

The newly-minted Parahuman disappeared into static, and Taylor rounded on me. "You didn't tell him?"

"He kept talking about how busy he was, and I was kinda busy too," I defended. "Besides, if it was a problem I'd just come back and tell you what happened. I've just had a crash course in negotiating which was ten different flavors of 'Look neutral and don't agree to anything outright,' so nothing definite was going to happen anyways." Taylor started to respond, but I held up a hand, feeling a metaphysical tug. "Hold on, be right back."

The world dissolved around me, reforming into a conference room, in which stood Quinn, and two others. One was likely a short man clad head to toe in greenish-blue power armor, the visor a thin plus sign across his face. The other was a woman in her early forties, wearing loose, almost ethereal looking flowing lavender robes that completely obscured her form except for her face, the rest of her head under a hood that was hard to look at, as if it was very far away, and her hands, which were covered in pure black gloves. I smiled at them as the disorientation of Quinn's call faded and my sensory powers kicked in, only to not be able to sense anything outside of the room. "Pocket Dimension?" I asked them, looking around the windowless room.

"Just something to keep anyone from listening in," the woman reassured me.

Focusing, I could still get a bit of something from beyond the walls, feeling the insects around me, though it felt like my connection was numbed, the sensory data I got back blurry and out of focus. Shifting to focus on the Marks I'd left behind, I could get a lock on one of them, but I wasn't sure which one. "Interesting affect, and much appreciated. I'll be right back with our last member."

Disappearing with a pop, I found myself in the training room I'd half-covered in Teleportation Marks. Stumbling slightly as all my senses kicked back in, I pushed the flood of information down and teleported towards the room where Taylor was still waiting for me.

I missed, overshooting and ending up in a café where Karen and I had grabbed a midnight snack, but my next attempt popped me right back to where I'd been called away from. Taylor jumped a little, dropping into a defensive stance when I reappeared, her helmet on and ready to go. "Mouse Protector's?" she asked, inquiring about my power.

"Yep, interfered with Striders, but I got it to work. Ready to go? Fair warning, they've got something up that mutes sensory powers. You can punch through it, but you're going to have a hard time sensing outside of the conference room," I warned her.

She hesitated, before nodding once, more to herself than me, and took my hand. It was easier than when Mouse Protector and I had tried to teleport each other when we were sparring, and I reappeared in the conference room, right next to the Mark I'd left on Quinn's jacket. I held onto her as she took a moment to stabilize herself, lacking my flight or Karen's enhanced reflexes to catch herself, likely made worse by this being the first time she'd done so.

"Vejovis, stand by the middle seat, Lady Bug, right, I'll take left," Quinn's voice crackled in my earpiece. "Now that we're all here, I believe introductions are in order," the lawyer announced jovially. "My client, Vejovis, is here to negotiate with you on behalf of Arachne Assemblages," he said, waving to me, before turning to Taylor. "The Lady, Bug is the representative from said group, and I, Overwatch, are their legal council."

The older woman nodded graciously, "You have us outnumbered. You may call me Phantasma, and this young man is Refactor, and we're the representatives from Toybox. Let's be seated, and get down to business, shall we?"

A glance towards Quinn, who nodded, and I took my seat along with the others, placing the box on the table. Looking at them with Power Sight told me quite a bit. Phantasma was a Tinker who specialized in Electronic Counter-Measures, while Refactor was a Tinker with Trump abilities who could take apart and improve the tech of other Tinkers, while also being able to determine what the Tinkertech did at a glance. A third presence was standing behind them, a Tinker specializing in Light based technologies. There was one slight problem, however, all of their powers were coming from ten feet to the left of where they were seated, and higher up, as if they were standing.

Quinn must've noticed me tensing, as my earpiece informed me, "I'm aware. Take no action, and don't comment. No use letting them know that we know." I wondered how he'd noticed without being able to see powers, but it was obvious when I considered his powerset. While Phantasma's device wrapped the room in metaphysical cotton, the room itself was unaffected. Even if the man's Tinkertech was out of range of being possessed by Quinn's Machine Spirit power, if the Light-Tinker had any normal technology on him then the Lawyer's Technopathy would ping it as accessible, even if the light was being bent around it, as I assumed that Tinker's invisibility was stemming from.

"We've arranged this meeting because we believe we can start a profitable business endeavor between our two groups," Quinn stated, smiling. "Vejovis, if you would." In my ear, he said, "The cover story we agreed on."

I smiled at the image of Phantasma, who, by the way Refactor glanced, was the one in charge. "The Penumbral Defenders, of which I am the leader, has partnered with Arachne Assemblages. I've convinced them that their ability to procure metals would be of greater use in supplying other Tinker groups than just used internally. As such I've brought a few samples of what they could make, along with something else they've been experimenting with, to see if you'd be interested in a supply contract."

The older woman's image gestured towards the box as she asked, "And this is those samples?"

I nodded, hearing Quinn's voice chide "I said explain the cover story, not what we wanted. Please only say what I tell you to say if you want me to do my job."

Phantasma regarded the metal container in front of me for a moment, the Refactor's power shifting position slightly, though his image didn't move. "Then please pass them over," she requested, "so we can see what you're offering."

I did so, after Quinn said to, pushing the box slightly so it slid across the table and topped within arm's reach of the woman. Her image reached out and grabbed it, the box moving even though she was actually several feet away. Hard-light holograms? I wondered, but even though she moved the box in front of her, my connection to the power-created wooden disc showed my it was being carried, invisibly to her actual location. That was the problem with Tinkertech, you never knew exactly what it could do until it did it. My own power was of no use in this regard, only telling me the Tinkers general theme. This was especially true in this situation, where you likely had Tinkers using the Tinkertech made by others that weren't even present.

Was it some kind of drone, either invisible or cloaked by the Light Tinker's tech? Was it some kind of electromagnetism that'd grabbed the box, or some other kind of tech-based telekinesis? Were they actually sitting where they seemed to be, but some kind of mind-affecting Trump tech was making us think they weren't? Did my innate hostile reaction to mind-powers only kick in when it came to mind powers, and not brain affecting Tinkertech? There were so many unknowns.

Either way, the image looked at the lid for a long moment, eyes flicking over to Taylor for a moment, before she finally opened the box, the real box now in front of the real her. Probably. Refactor's power moved again and she reached inside, unlatching the small golden cube and lifting it up out of its slot.

Phantasma turned it over, looking at it carefully, while Refactor's image peered at it carefully. She made no comment, but seemed to be listening to something, before replacing it and doing so with every sample in turn. When she got to the wood, I could sense it rotating as she appeared to turn it. Real-time then. After a long moment, she replaced it as well, closing the box, the third, invisible Tinker taking it, even though it seemed not to move on the table in front of us.

"How does Arachne Assemblages procure such pure samples?" she inquired, looking at me.

Before I could even look to Quinn for what I was allowed to say, Taylor spoke up, informing the woman that it was, "Classified."

Glancing over to Lady Bug, she'd gone from somewhat nervous to ramrod straight, staring directly at Phantasma. "Classified?" the older woman asked incredulously. "If you're going to be working with us, we should know what you and yours can do."

Taylor didn't move an inch, not breaking her stare, her blank facemask and perfect stillness adding a level of menace to her, if you didn't know better. "We're not going to be working with you, we're going to be selling to you. Maybe buying. Are you willing to tell us exactly how your anti-eavesdropping device works?"

"Say you want to buy, even if she doesn't. Play moderator." Quinn's voice whispered in my ear.

"Even if Arachne doesn't want to buy anything from you, the PD would like to see what you have to offer. And, if you don't mind, I have a contact in For Whom the Bell Tolls that's expressed an interest as well," I smiled genially, trying to lower the tensions which suddenly sprung up. Toybox's question didn't seem like that much of a big deal, but if Quinn was telling Taylor to get her hackles up, apparently it was.

"We'll pay half market price, on a few conditions," Phantasma offered, dropping the topic entirely.

As Taylor started to say "What? No! We won't-", Quinn instructed me, "Interrupt, ask conditions."

"Let's hear the conditions," I said, cutting my teammate off, holding up a hand. "It won't hurt to at least hear them out."

Taylor seemed to glare at me, before leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms, obviously angry. She was a good actress, only the underlying worry-fear-guilt that was completely devoid of real anger belying her thoughts. In turn, Phantasma smiled at me, "I see why you're leading the negotiations," the woman commented warmly.

A bit of anger did flare then from my partner, but I ignored it as the Toybox representative continued, "First, we'd have absolute right of refusal for any sub-standard materials, though we will keep the defective deliveries as recompense for breach of contract. Second, you would deliver all materials to a location of our choosing, at your expense. Third, Arachne Assemblages would only supply Toybox, and no one else. And fourth, that Arachne Assemblages would become part of Toybox itself, seemingly separate but part of our organization."

Taylor's "Go fuck yourself!" wasn't entirely faked, and Quinn's "No to all. Be polite, but menacing. No direct threats," wasn't really needed. The woman's amused air at Taylor's reaction didn't help her endear herself to me either.

I smiled again, though with more teeth than I had before. "Ah, I see there has been a slight miscommunication. We came here seeking to enter into a business relationship between equals, not hat-in-hand supplicants seeking your help. I thought that Toybox did not seek to make enemies, but I know now that that particular piece of information is in error." I stood, and Taylor stood with me, "If you're going to be wasting my time, then be glad I do not seek recompense myself. I'm sure you would not like to pay."

Overwatch stood as well, putting a restraining hand on my shoulder. "I'm sure that Phantasma didn't mean it that way, did you?" he inquired politely. "A bit much, but workable," he told me through my earpiece.

"No, though without those conditions we'd only be able to offer one-fifteenth market price," she smiled, unaffected by our rejection. I realized she likely had planned this from the start, a trap which Quinn had has us walk into, and she felt she was safe within her illusion in case we struck out at her. I wanted to address her directly, not her image, but my lawyer was the one running the show, not me, so I let him take the lead.

He motioned for Taylor and me to sit, and we did so, Taylor making a point of standing for a moment before sitting down and leaning back, arms crossed. With us not going anywhere, Quinn sat as well, and took over the conversation. "I've seen low starting points for negotiations before, but I must say, this is by far the lowest. Selling something for a fraction of its production cost, even before delivery costs, and any other incidental expenses, is a bit unreasonable. Given the fact that the material is untraceable, will be delivered covertly, and will be under the radar of the dozen or so organizations that try to track your movements, I believe a better offer would be five times market value, at an agreed upon location, with a surcharge for delivery dependent on the locations chosen, and fifty percent off any items purchased from Toybox."

The woman's expression lost its mildly amused quality, "And Arachne Assemblages?" she demanded.

"What about them?" This time it was Quinn's turn to smile.

Phantasma huffed, crossing her arms. "Do you think we're made of money, to even consider such an outrageous offer?"

"I think you will be, once you have access to materials previously restricted," Quinn reposted, expression unchanging.

The two got down to actually negotiating, a long, drawn-out haggling that lasted for over four hours. With nothing better to do, I Saw the powers of the three opposite me, though I kept my face pointed towards their images.

I'd never had the chance to really examine a Tinker, and what I found was interesting. Each 'Tinker' power was, essentially, the same power at its base, but with different variants on top. It was the ability to perform minute transmutations, changing material composition at will, but locked behind large amounts of restrictions. From there, each one had a store of knowledge they could tap into. Even after hours of observation, I wasn't sure if they all accessed the same repository, or separate repositories of technical specifications. From their the power would filter it, customizing the base tech with all sorts of accoutrement to hide its nature.

Phantasma built her tech into cloth wherever possible, her entire robe likely some large piece of tech. her creation base was based around the theme Electronic Counter-Measures, but that was a bit of a mis-nomer, as I was coming to realize my Power Sight gave me when I only gave powers a Cursory Glance. It wasn't exactly Electronic countermeasures, as much as it was Energy countermeasures. More than that, it wasn't just stopping energy, but in using energy to stop other things as well. Had I the ability to see energy, she'd likely be the tightly contained maelstrom that her power itself showed itself as.

Lite-Brite, or whoever the Light Tinker was, had a thing for metal, mirrors, and other reflective surfaces. Not that they were needed for his tech to work, but his own power pretended they were, working them into the designs wherever possible. I had a feeling that, if I cracked open one of his mirrors and looked at it with a microscope, I'd find a nearly invisible circuit board inside, making the entire device function.

Refactor was a bit of an odd-man out, as he actually had two powers, like Armsmaster did, though they worked together to appear to be one power, again like the glory-hound's did. His was Tinker Refinement, with the standard Tinker Transmutation, but I couldn't narrow down any one field he was good at other than, well, refinement. His secondary power, which allowed him to scan of technology within visual range, meshed well with that. When Quinn brought out a desiccation pistol, likely having asked Theo to fix on of them up, I saw the power in action.

He scanned the piece of Tinkertech, his power forming some kind of reference code, before the entire thing rippled, querying the, or his, database. It rippled again as he got a response on the item's capabilities, along with a way to improve it. I couldn't see what that way was, the information too abstract, and I wasn't willing to lower my guard to look deeper.

From the expression of Phantasma's face, though it was only for a moment, she hadn't expected that, and the tenor of the negotiations changed. The expression flickered again when Overwatch brought out something else, something I didn't recognize, which was a single lens set into a frame, monocle style, with circuitry the same color as his mask emblazoned across the rim.

Unfortunately, Quinn wasn't in range for me to easily See so I wasn't able to dive into his power, but I made a mental note to do so in the future. Turning back to Refactor, his power was the same color as his armor, and it, like my own, liked to brand itself. It also tended to lean towards the slightly futuristic, slightly lean look of what people stereotypically thought of as 'TinkerTech', even though such things actually ran the gambit from blocky steampunk, to organic bio-tech, to the veils the woman beside him wore.

Feeling Quinn nudge me, I glanced over and he was looking expectantly at me. "Y̴̨͙͟e͓̠͔̲̝͘͟s̶̮͟͡?̧̘͔͖̤̲̬͍̫̀ͅ" I asked, my voice odd. My lawyer's eyebrows rose underneath his mask as I caught Phantasma glancing at me sharply from the corner of my eye. Coughing, I smiled genially, forcibly deactivating Power Sight. "Sorry about that, dry throat, yes?"

"I asked if this deal is agreeable?" Overwatch said, obviously repeating himself. In my ear he said, "One point three times market value, delivery at a location we control in rural Idaho at no charge to them, they have first right of refusal among other Tinker groups, fifteen percent off any tech purchased from them, we receive fifty percent of the profits of anything we sell to them, and a ten percent finders fee on any other Tinkers that we recruit to sell to them. Arachne Assemblages stays independent. Say yes."

"I find no fault with it," I smiled. "I'm glad we could come to an agreeable arrangement. And the material stats on the wood we provided?"

Phantasma smiled, and for once this seemed genuine. "Let us keep the samples, and we'll deliver it with the first payment," she shrugged, her matron-like demeanor gone, all business. "There's always someone with some kind of odd request. Lava from the outer core of the earth, sand that hasn't seen darkness in a year, one person even asked for moon rocks of all things!" she laughed. "I'm sure we'll find a use for it, and price it accordingly to what they can use it for, if you want to provide more of it."

I thought about what she just said, and what I knew both I and my people were capable of, and I felt myself smiling. "And if we could get those for you?"

She just stared at me, disbelievingly. When I just grinned confidently back, she shook her head. "Then, with what they said they'd be able to make with them, we'd pay you handsomely." She hesitated, "But, how?"

I didn't see the harm in saying so, and glancing at my lawyer, he just sighed and made a 'go ahead' gesture. "The first is a matter of time and resources, nothing more. The second, we might have a way to cheat. The third I'm honestly surprised you haven't gotten yourselves. Space ships shouldn't be beyond Toybox's ability to make."

From Phantasma's stare, she wasn't sure if I was brilliant or an idiot. To be fair, I wasn't really sure about that myself half the time. "And The Simurgh?"

"What about her?" I replied innocently. I remembered something vaguely about her messing with stuff in orbit, but everyone had cell-phones, so it wasn't like she interdicted everything up there.

"It intercepts anyone that even gets close and drives them mad," the older woman said slowly, as if talking to an elementary school student.

I just smiled back at her serenely, "Don't worry about Ziz. She'll never see me coming."