Brockton Bay.
Protectorate E.N.E. Central Headquarters.
Director Emily Piggot's Office.
Director Piggot often considered herself to be a reasonable and patient woman. The Protectorate's E.N.E. branch Director only demanded that Parahuman and non-powered Operatives perform to the best of their respective abilities and do not under any circumstances cause massive amounts of paperwork to appear upon her desk. It wasn't a difficult request to understand or follow. However, last night an operative not only failed to convince a newly discovered Parahuman to visit the Protectorate H.Q. for routine questioning and possible recruitment into their organisation but might've also given the new cape a negative image of the E.N.E. protectorate.
Piggot tolerated minor mistakes from those underneath her command; otherwise, she'd never get anything done nor have any personal within H.Q. However, the error that Operative Hawkins had created weren't minor in the slightest. The man's foolishness cost the E.N.E. a chance to recruit a new Parahuman into their organisation. If the Director hadn't bypassed the moron's orders to withhold medical treatment for the injured Rin, then Piggot would've later faced a P.R. storm that could've heavily damaged their image, something that the gangs' wouldn't waste a moment to exploit.
Speaking of Operative Hawkins, the man was standing before the Director's desk with a nervous expression. The man had been called into the office only a few moments ago and was beyond terrified at the prospect of receiving the wrath of Director Piggot, which was well known throughout the entire E.N.E. branch to be able to bring grown men to tears.
"So, Mr Hawkins," the Operative flinched at the icy tone that the Director used to address him. "Care to explain to me why you thought that it was a good idea not only to antagonise an unknown Parahuman but also attempt to withhold medical treatment to a seriously injured civilian?" The Piggot's tone conveyed that Hawkins had better have a good enough answer to explain his behaviour; otherwise, they'll be hell to pay.
Operative Hawkins swallowed nervously while the Director's steel-grey eyes seemed to be piercing directly into his soul. "Honestly, Madam Director, I hoped that by withholding the civilians' medical treatment and bringing in the Parahuman to H.Q. We could reasonably hold the new unknown cape until either Armsmaster or someone else convinced them to join the Protectorate willingly," Hawkins explained the reasoning for his actions only to receive an unimpressed and highly displeased expression from Director Piggot.
"Basically arrogance and stupidity are the reasons why I now have to deal with a justifiably angry civilian and a Parahuman of unknown capabilities running around Brockton Bay with the impression that we're not doing our jobs as protectors of the city." Hawkins tried to protest against the Director's view on the situation. Still, the leader of the E.N.E. branch just ignored the idiotic Operative and instead reached out and retrieved a glass of water and took a few sips to help calm her growing frustrations with the fool standing before her desk.
The antagonising of a cape whose capabilities were relatively unknown wasn't as terrible as Piggot was making it out to be, as the Protectorate had faced situations like that in the past and had come out of it on top. Heck, most of the time, the Parahuman would later join the Protectorate, and everything would be fine. However, the current series of events was slightly different as Operative Hawkins had blatantly lied to the rescuer of the ABB prostitutes that the E.N.E. branch deliberately withholds medical assistance to those that needed it. If the problem wasn't handled soon, it might become a P.R. shit-storm that the Director honestly didn't want to deal with, not when the likes of the Empire 88 or the ABB were just waiting for an excuse to cause a gang war.
Such an event could cause an untold amount of dangers to the populace of Brockton Bay, not that Kaiser or Lung cared about the safety of the civilians that get caught in the middle of their skirmishes. The Merchants wouldn't join a war if one broke out between Protectorate, New Wave, ABB and E88. The E.N.E. Director was sure of that. Skidmark was many things drug lord, leader of a massive percentage of the city's homeless and one of the most persistent pains in the ass that the Director ever had the displeasure of knowing. Still, the one thing Skidmark wasn't was stupid because the Merchant leader wouldn't have survived all these years within Brockton Bay.
Even if the Protectorate won against the Merchants, ABB and E88 without miraculously suffering significant casualties to their Parahuman and Trooper teams, that still wouldn't prevent the chaos such a massive power vacuum would cause. The minor and unimportant gangs that lived within Brockton Bay would not waste such a chance to obtain power and influence if the three most powerful gangs were suddenly destroyed. That wasn't even factoring in other outside forces that might decide to make the city their new home or worse; the Butcher could return and regain their former territory.
Piggot remembered the brutal pit fights and other nightmarish crimes that The Teeth loved to perform on those that couldn't fight back or were just too scared to defend themselves from the violent gang. The day that The Teeth had been driven out of Brockton Bay was perhaps one of the happiest days of the Director's life, and she'd be damned to allow that group of maniacs to return to the city and restart the horrors once again.
"Your contract is hereby terminated," Piggot told Operative or rather former Operative Hawkins with a chilling tone. "You've four hours to retrieve your personal belongings and leave the E.N.E. HQ," the man appeared as if he'd seen a ghost whilst the Director brutally informed him that he was now official fired. "If any items are left within your locker by the allotted time is over, they'll be incinerated."
"You can't do this to me!" Hawkins seemed to regain some of his wits as he glared defiantly at the leader of the E.N.E. Protectorate. "I've loyally served the Protectorate for the last five years! I've done everything that was ever asked of me! You can't just fire me because I didn't help some sluts that open their legs on the ABB's command and antagonised a cape!" Director Piggot gazed was fixed into an unimpressed expression as the former Operative finished his little rant.
"And that's why I'm terminating your contract," Piggot stood from her chair. A dark and icy glint shined from her steel-grey eyes that caused Hawkins to take a fearful step backwards. "You've lied about Protectorate protocols to two civilians and an unidentified cape, either of which can use this as a way to cause a P.R. nightmare whenever the mood strikes them," the Director moved around the desk and stood face to face with Hawkins. "You've also shown an obvious disregard to the lives of others whether they've relations to the gang or not doesn't matter, Mr Hawkins, in the end, you've proven to be an incompetent and a liability to this branch."
Without warning, Piggot removed the Protectorate badge from Hawkins uniform. "So, in short, Mr Hawkins, Get Out Of My Office!" The last words were bellowed with a thunderous roar so powerful and frightening that Hawkins screamed in terror and ran out of the office without so much as glancing back towards the enraged Director.
Piggot took a moment to calm down, then returned to her chair. A couple of minutes later, Armsmaster entered the office with a data tablet held within the Tinker's right hand. The armoured and highly experienced hero didn't even comment about witnessing Hawkins running through the hallways like the hounds of hell were at his heels and instead took a reinforced seat before E.N.E. Director's desk. The leader of the E.N.E. Parahuman response team and chief supervisor of the local Wards sat patiently for Piggot to get this meeting started.
"What've we discovered about our most recent headache Armsmaster?" The E.N.E. Director asked the veteran hero while contacting her assistant to instruct the women to have an armed escort ready encase Mr Hawkins tried anything whilst he was still within the H.Q.
Armsmaster gave the data tablet a quick once over before starting his report. "From the information I've gathered with the assistance of Miss Militia and the corporation of the two assault women from last night, our city's newest cape is a Tinker with a suspected specialisation in robotics. However, until the time we can safely question this Tinker and 100% identify their speciality, I'd advise not to inform the general public about this Tinker's capabilities." A few swift inputted commands into the tablet sent a copy of the official reports to Director Piggot's terminal.
"As the primary reports of last night's incident can tell us, the cape used a robotic bee to assist with the capture of the Merchants hence why we're temporally designating the Tinker as a robotics specialist." An image of the robotic bee appeared upon the Director's terminal. The overweight and intimidating woman raised an eyebrow in amusement upon gazing at the cartoonish robot bee; the thing hardly seemed to be dangerous. Yet, experience with Tinkers and other Parahuman abilities have taught Piggot that appearances can be quite deceiving.
"Is the robot in possession of an A.I.?" The last thing the city needed was for some lunatic to begin a crusade against the new cape. The collateral damage to both Brockton and its civilians would be catastrophic if such a scenario were to ever come about.
Armsmaster frowned at the question while typing in new commands into the tablet. "We've only the one encounter with the cape, so our data is rather limited, but from what our current information on the robotic bee can tell us, it is a possibility," the tinker hero went over the data once more. "However, it's only a theory, so we shouldn't jump to conclusions until we can either prove or deny the existence of an artificial intelligence within the robot bee." Piggot nodded in acceptance because if they told the world that the cape created an A.I. and was wrong, then the consequences to the cape's life would be disastrous and very short if the wrong sort of people got to them first.
"I'll have the P.R. team and our information control department prepare to remove anything that might even hint to the new cape possessing an A.I. from the internet and local news." The idea of A.I. didn't sit well with Piggot. Machine intelligence could reproduce just as easily as the monsters created by that sick bastard Nilbog. Yet, at the same time, the E.N.E. Director wasn't going to allow her past with the monster that murdered her former teammates to cloud her judgment even if Piggot's brain was screaming at her to send a capture team and put the cape into the Birdcage.
"Anything else of importance I should be made aware of regarding this new cape?" Piggot could go over the minor details later, but the most helpful facts came first as it might help them locate and hopefully recruit the Parahuman into the Protectorate. Scion knew that with the state of the city, the P.R.T. could use some new blood. With a Tinker, the E.N.E. would possibly receive new technology to enhance their equipment and standard troopers. However, it would take time to study the Tinker's tech before it was approved by the P.R.T. safety and R&D departments.
Armsmaster check for anything important before responding. "The Tinker was reported to have used an electric-based firearm which caused unconsciousness upon contact with an enemy," the Tinker hero's tone was emotionless and to the point. Still, Piggot could tell by the Tinker's body language that the E.N.E.'s hero team leader was slightly impressed and interested by this new Tinker's known inventions. "Also, before fleeing the scene, the Tinker gave their name to our emergency phone operative."
"Why wasn't I already informed that our latest headache already had a designation?" Piggot wasn't pleased to have such a piece of information being withheld from her. After all, names were essential to capes as they would be the marker by which the whole world shall remember them. The Director could almost picture the outrage the Tinker would've felt if she had gone on the news and released a name other than the one the Tinker picked, the image the cape had of the P.R.T. was already tainted; there was no need to make it worse.
Armsmaster's face remained as cold and unmovable as stone as he types a command to retrieve the relative information. "Some of the analysts and P.R.T. troopers that written the primary reports seemed to have believed that it wasn't important. Thus only made a small mention of it," a growl left Piggot's throat, and the Director made a mental note to have a few words with those analysts and troopers when she had the chance. "Furthermore, the ABB affiliated prostitutes only called the cape by their name once, and that was only to tell the response teams who saved them from the Merchants."
"Nothing we can do about it now," the Director commented, receiving a nod from the Tinker. "So, what's the name of our city's new vigilante?"
"Dr Robotnik," Armsmaster told the Director while going over more reports and analysts that were appearing within the P.R.T. database. "The cape's chosen designation is Dr Robotnik," Piggot didn't even raise an eyebrow at the name as the woman had heard stranger and much weirder hero or villain names throughout her time as E.N.E. Director. "That sadly is all the data we've got on Dr Robotnik besides from the robotic bee and electro firearm that they used to take down the Merchants." A note of frustration entered the hero's tone, and Piggot perfectly understood such a small amount of intel wouldn't be very useful when it came to tracking the newest cape.
Piggot hummed softly as she contemplated everything that she was told about this Dr Robotnik. It was going to be a nightmare to find the vigilante, Brockton Bay; while not the largest city within the coastline, it wasn't exactly small either. That wasn't even including how the gangs were going to react once word got out that a new Tinker was in town. The ABB and, more importantly, Lung wouldn't care much as he'd already gained a Tinker, at least that's what some recent rumours floating around the docks were saying; Kaiser and his merry band of nazis shouldn't make a move for a while as Robotnik's gender and skin colour wasn't known. The bastard won't do anything that might hurt his P.R. until such information was made public.
ABB, E88 weren't much of a threat in this situation. The Merchants, on the other hand, were another story. Skidmark, once word of his subordinates being defeated by a newbie cape and sent to jail, reached the drug lord's ears. He would be forced to retaliate against Robotnik as any other action besides violence against the person who attacks his followers could be seen as a weakness by the other gangs. Those that showed weakness to the likes of Lung and Kaiser never lasted for long. Another problem was that if the Merchants were suddenly disbanded, there would be nothing stopping the ABB and E88 from starting an all-out gang war, potentially ending the city.
"Tell the P.R. department to prepare a press conference for tomorrow," Piggot hoped that there was still time to put a stop to this new problem before it could get out of their control. "I'll tell the public about Robotnik and make a statement about how they should come in and work with us," the Director switched off the terminal and released a tired sigh. "If we play our cards right, then hopefully we can gain a new Tinker and stop Skidmark from causing a miniature war." The Merchants weren't as dangerous as the other gangs in terms of skill and equipment, but sadly, the drug gang eclipsed every faction within Brockton Bay when it came to numbers.
"I'll contact P.R. once I've done analysing the rest of the data retrieved from the alleyway," Armsmaster promised while standing from his reinforced chair. "I confess that I'm slightly hopeful that the Tinker joins our organisation having more Tinkers could help greatly when it comes to saving lives."
"And I'm sure that your hopefulness isn't fuelled by the fact that Kid Win hasn't made any progress in finding his speciality." The Director knew about the high standards that Armsmaster was putting on the boy, and honestly, Piggot could understand why the Tinker hero was so hard on Kid Win. Some might call the man's treatment of the Ward cold and unnecessary. Yet, those idiots didn't understand that cape battles were swift, relentless and death was a constant companion during these skirmishes. Armsmaster only wanted Kid Win to survive and grow into a great Tinker, and if capturing Robotnik and convincing the cape to train alongside the Ward to help unlock Kid Win's potential, then so be it.
"We can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst," Piggot's tone was resigned as she reactivated the terminal and started to type in various commands into it. "Now leave Armsmaster. I've got twelve more meetings to get through today, and I'd rather get them done as soon as possible."
"Of course, Director." Armsmaster slightly bowed his head before turning and exiting the office leaving Piggot to her work and soon to be coming meeting with the various leaders of the E.N.E. departments.
Once Piggot was sure that she was alone, the Director sat further into her chair with a frustrated groan. "To think that a few days ago I naively started to believe that things were starting to settle within Brockton," it was times like these that Piggot despised the fact that she couldn't get drunk any more thanks to the injures inflicted by Nilbog's monstrosities. "I should've known better, nothing stays peaceful within this city for long, and this Dr Robotnik is only going to cause more mayhem once the Merchants start to escalate."
Skidmark and the other Parahumans underneath his command weren't that much a threat by themselves. If the escalation grew to the point that the other gang leaders decided to join in, then the death rate would skyrocket. Piggot highly doubted that Robotnik knew of the potential danger they're putting the civilians of Brockton in. Quite frankly, the Director didn't care if the cape had good intentions; the fighting against the Merchants had to stop now before the damage became irreversible and innocent peoples lives lost.
One way or another, Director Piggot was going to stop Robotnik before the chaos they'd created by their one act of blind heroism spiralled out of control. The safety and peace of the population counted on the capture of this new vigilante and their recruitment into the P.R.T. before a gang war was born.
The race to find and stop Robotnik before the escalation of the gangs got beyond salvaging has begun.
Time Skip.
Hebert Residence.
The Basement.
"Hum, the mechanisms for Buzz Bomber's air pressure cannon have been slightly damaged," Taylor's tone held minor annoyance as she did some maintenance on the currently deactivated Buzz Bomber. "Damage probably caused by the sub-par materials that I've used to create this basic model of Buzz Bomber being unable to withstand the strain." The inheritor of Dr Eggman's legacy felt some frustration at the fact that, for the moment, she was forced to use low-grade materials to construct her inventions.
"I'll need to remove and upgrade both internal components and outer shell once new and stronger materials can be found or synthesised." Taylor removed a damaged component of the air cannon and gentle replaced it with a new one. As she worked on maintaining her only minion, Dr Taylor Robotnik knew that synthesising new metals that could withstand extreme amounts of stress and pressure wasn't going to be easy. A laboratory with sophisticated equipment was needed to create the materials. That could take months to build, and Taylor's vast intellect told her that the Merchants nor the P.R.T. were going to wait that long before coming after her.
"I'll have to find a base of operations and move all of my equipment into it before dad decides to come down into the basement for something and finds by creations." The newest vigilante loved her father dearly, but the facts remain that as soon as he discovers that she's a cape, he'd want her to join the Wards program, and that was something that Taylor wanted to avoid at all costs. The mad scientist's knowledge and intelligence allowed her to realise that the Wards program was nothing more than a gimmick, a fancy show too, but on for the citizens of Brockton and Taylor refused to be reduced to a show pony for the masses.
Another reason Taylor wanted nothing to do with the P.R.T. because they remained her of G.U.N on a conscious and subconscious level. This organisation held a mark of peacekeepers but were butchers that would murder anyone that might be a threat. The memories of what happened to Maria Robotnik and Gerald Robotnik come rushing to the forefront of her. When G.U.N. stormed the ark and murdered everyone on board and then locked away the most incredible scientific mind of the world for the rest of his days showed Taylor Robotnik that organisations like the Protectorate couldn't be trusted entirely.
"Huh, the central CPU and electronic network need recalibrating," Taylor groaned at the discovery after removing the Buzz Bomber's brain casing. "That's going to take another few hours of my time to fix." The young scientist grabbed a nearby blowtorch, put on a pair of safety goggles and started the necessary repair work that her faithful minion needed to function correctly. Taylor was rather thankful that her father was called away for an important meeting at the union as the noise created by the blowtorch and other sounds of maintenance work would've gotten her caught by now.
Once the repairs to the central CPU, electro network and the internal components were done, Taylor put the braincase back into place and sealed up the Buzz Bomber's abdomen. The robotic bee minion reactivated a moment later; its cartoonish eyes glared at everything around it before activating its wings and returning to the air. After a few tests to make sure that everything was functioning correctly, Taylor reached down and pulled from underneath the workbench the skeletal frame of a new Buzz Bomber. The thing only possessed a few wires and machinery; it would take about a week to finish and provide a power source before this new unit was ready for combat.
"Skidmark and his Merchants wouldn't escalate too quickly once word reaches them about last night," Taylor began working on the second Buzz Bomber while the first hovered over her shoulder. "Such a rash response shall be seen as weakness, and a coward like Skidmark will do anything to avoid been seen as weak by the other gangs." The Bio-reactor used to store captured animals, and proved energy was welded into place, and parts of the air cannon were installed into the second Buzz Bomber's abdomen.
"The time bought from such indecision shall be most helpful in my quest to harvest resources for the robots and other weapons I plan to create to destroy the city's criminal infestation." The hesitance from Skidmark will allow Taylor. To fortify wherever she chose as her base into an impenetrable fortress and central robotics factory. Granted, it wasn't going to be a towering behemoth like the one her predecessor had created to assist with his conquest of Mobius; still, for the short term, it should be fine for the elimination of the Merchants.
After a few hours working on the skeletal Buzz Bomber, Taylor moved on to her skull mask. She fully intended to give the ability to use infrared vision and a few other visual spectrums so as not to be blinded if a villain tried to remove the young Robotnik's ability to see. The modifications to the mask wouldn't be completed for a couple of days. However, by then, Taylor will have found a haven to research and develop new technology and tactics to handle better the multiple Parahumans that lived upon Earth Bet.
Dr Taylor Robotnik was a non-entity for the moment, and that was just fine with her. By the time the P.R.T., New Wave, ABB, E88 and Merchants discovered the genuine threat of the inheritor of Eggman's legacy, it will be far too late to stop her. The Brockton shall finally be free of the gangs by the time Dr Robotnik was finished with Kaiser, Lung and Skidmark. If the P.R.T. protested or tried getting in the way well, Taylor wasn't afraid of terminating an organisation that reminded her of G.U.N. and New Wave shall get the same treatment if they got any funny ideas.
The age of treating the villains and gangs of the city with soft gloves is over! Dr Robotnik will ensure that every criminal shall be either imprisoned or destroyed. The heroes and independents struggled against the gangs because they're too afraid to escalate and hit them where it hurts. The Endbringers also played a role in why the gangs could run free and do whatever they pleased. After all, monsters that can kill thousands with ease were more important than a single city; thus, the leaders of the gangs were relatively safe from the P.R.T. so long as the Endbringers were around to cause destruction.
They weren't safe from Taylor, though, as she was going to eradicate the Endbringers at some point in the future and with the knowledge inherited from Eggman, she has the technology to remove those monsters from the world. The other major threats across the world can be dealt with after Brockton Bay's gangs, Parahumans and leaders are gone. Robotnik calculated that by the time the Endbringers are dead, she'd have an army the likes of which was only matched by her predecessor.
By the time Taylor was finished with the Merchants, every criminal within the city will know to fear the name, Dr Robotnik!