AN:The first two chapters of this fic have been edited and changed, nothing that changes anything plot wise but events have been spread out and the internal conflict meter has gone up a notch from where it previously sat at 'could not care less about anything.' For those who do not wish to go back and see what changed, all you really NEED to know is that Alex has hit a wall in terms of stat growth with fighting normal people and knows it, Tyche's blessing from the polytheism skill has been discovered and discussed, and Alex has generally received more of a soul than he had before. I would recommend at least skimming through though, enjoy!
I end up waking the next morning to the sound of the alarm clock in my bedroom. I quickly rush to turn it off, waking up Tyche in the process as well. I'm not especially tired but this is probably the first time in a few months that I haven't gotten to bed at 10 sharp so it feels worse than it is.
I set about making up some breakfast for myself and Tyche. Arcadia's day starts at 7:40 in the morning so I have to wake up at around 6 to give myself enough time to eat and walk over there. That leaves me with about… 5 hours of sleep, how the hell do the people in my class who brag about being on 3 hours of sleep do it?
Coffee, I amend, pouring myself a cup as I cook a true american breakfast of pancakes for myself and Tyche. I would normally cook something else like eggs or bacon along with it but I have to give myself time to take a shower since I missed the chance last night.
"Ooo! Pancakes." Tyche said as she entered, somehow looking exactly the same as she had yesterday and having already shaken off her fatigue. Lucky.
"Do they have pancakes where you're from?"
"In Orario? Yeah, not in heaven though, we don't really have physical forms to eat stuff with up there anyways. Part of why everybody is so eager to descend." Pancakes are part of why God's are eager to descend? Understandable.
"I've been wanting to ask you about that actually. Earlier you mentioned that in order to descend, Gods have to give up their powers. That strikes me as odd, how exactly is descending worth giving up all your power?" This question has been on my mind for a while but I never found a good time to ask it.
"Well… honestly? Entertainment. Heaven is really really boring, especially after thousands of years of being there. Nothing ever changes, not even us. It's the same reason why God's in heaven aren't allowed to interfere with the mortal world, officially it's to preserve free will or something, but it's actually so that nobody can mess with the descended God's fun." Tyche spat out the last part, clearly unhappy with her fellow deities. "I got tired of it all so I just.. left. Asked for a portal to somewhere random hoping my luck would put me somewhere nice. And it did!"
So Earth Bet has no divinity except for Tyche? That doesn't particularly surprise me, even if the God's reportedly don't like to interfere with their 'entertainment' they would still have to do something about all of us potentially dying out, yet the Endbringers are still around. Though… if Scion isn't one of theirs, then what is he? Surely not just another parahuman?
"Alright, finish up while I get ready for school. You're going to be by yourself until I get back, we'll be doing a little bit of shopping in the afternoon."
"Alright!"
The shopping this afternoon will be in preparation for my career as a cape. First off and probably most importantly is a proper costume. Obviously with my somewhat limited funds and lack of connections that'll be the most difficult part. A proper custom costume may be out of reach for now, but there's a simpler solution. A tailored suit may not be the most flashy of hero costumes, nor really a hero costume at all, but it looks clean, professional, and better than 99% of independent heroes on their first night out. Not especially durable or protective, but if I'm getting hit then I'm probably already doing something wrong.
The mask is still going to be an issue but if worst comes to worst I can always buy a paintball mask or something similar without too much hassle. Ideally, I'll be able to do a little better than that but it's absolutely still better than nothing. There's also other supplies that I'll need like a second cell phone to use as a hero, zip-ties, a baton, and probably some more pepper spray.
Not the most heroic weapon, but it certainly evened the playing field last night. I seriously doubt I would've stood a chance against any of those guys had they possessed still working vision. Of course now the playing field would be a bit more even, my stats are hardly incredible but they are enough to give me more than a fighting chance in encounters with non-capes. No fist-fights with Lung though, unfortunately.
Speaking of Lung, that ABB casino, The Ruby Dreams. Tipping off the authorities will probably be useless, they might make some inquiries but the jurisdiction would end up falling to the PRT anyways. The PRT aren't necessarily bad but they certainly have better things to do then investigate a single allegation against a casino. Nothing for it though, maybe I'll find a way to use this information later but for now it's worthless.
I take a quick shower before putting on my outfit for the day, a t- shirt and jeans combo that about half the boys in the school are wearing. Leaving the apartment, I say goodbye to Tyche who is busy reading on the couch before exiting the building and beginning my walk towards Arcadia.
The walk is just as boring as ever, and I get to my first period class with time to spare. We don't actually have homerooms at Arcadia, we just go straight to our first class of the day once we get to school and that serves as our homeroom. My first class of the day is actually an elective, Woodshop. I'm not particularly good at making things but I can make a passable project. I thought about making a mask here but connecting my civilian and cape identity like that is just asking for trouble.
My next class is Spanish, I'm actually pretty good at Spanish except for the grammar rules. Of course those grammar rules made up 90% of our tests so I'm just barely hanging on in this class. Next up is my English Language Arts class where we are reading Lord of the Flies. I always found it really interesting just how easily the boys turned savage and started killing each other once consequences were taken out of the equation. Of course, the 26 page packet full of questions we got along with the book makes it all much less interesting.
The next class is probably my favorite of the entire day. Physics isn't easy, but it is very fun with how many hands on demonstrations the teacher does. The class brings to mind something I had been thinking about the other day though. How could luck actually exist as a legitimate force that affected the world around me? Tyche mentioned that I was the first person she had asked to join her Familia, and that she believed I was the perfect candidate. However, from the way she talked she clearly didn't actively seek me out.
I …. don't normally take that route home do I? Surely I would remember passing a playground every single day for the past year or so. So what was it that compelled me to walk in that direction, it's not like I was paying particular attention to my surroundings so did I just end up making a wrong turn that changed my life forever? All because of some invisible force compelling me towards Tyche? Luck is a seriously scary power… at least it's on my side now though. Although, what about me made me the perfect candidate to join Tyche's familia?
Probably the fact that I was willing to go out and fight gangsters at risk to my own life after about a day without asking too many questions, all for a chance at superpowers. That, and the fact I succeeded.
My thoughts end up taking me all the way through class and out into the hallway where I begin making my way towards the cafeteria. Arcadia's cafeteria is a large clean tiled room with massive windows covering the far wall. Of course even in a school like this it's difficult to cook lunch for hundreds of students and have it taste especially good, but they do a good enough job that I generally elect to buy lunch at school, and not just because it's cheaper.
After grabbing a chicken sandwich and some carrots from the counter, I move back into the lunchroom where I end up sitting at Vicky's table. I don't talk a lot but Vicky and the rest more than make up for that. As I sit down they're talking about their trip out to the boardwalk a few days ago, but the topic quickly turns to something more interesting.
"I haven't actually faced off against many villains. Mom's way too overprotective for that. I fought against a few empire capes sorta recently though, Stormtiger and Alabaster. Alabaster was really annoying though, he just kept getting up until Hookwolf showed up and I had to let him go because of course the PRT was taking forever to get there."
"What about Stormtiger?"
"He just kept flying around dodging all my hits and constantly battering me with his powers. I swear he was just messing with me, because he just flew off after a while and I couldn't chase him down."
Well, that brings my mood down a bit. Brockton Bay has the unfortunate dual issue of having the most villains per capita of any city this size in America and those villains also having relatively strong powers. This is obviously a major issue considering the wall I've hit with stat growth means I'm going to have to move on to fighting parahumans soon. Increased stat growth and effectiveness or not, I'm not anywhere near ready to be able to fight even the weakest members of the Empire 88.
That means I'm going to have to start off by fighting against the less dangerous independent small-time villains, the ones who won't potentially kill me for losing. Of course, finding those small timers is going to be the hard part considering they don't have any territory and most of them only ever come out when they're doing jobs.
Well… it's not like I'm in any rush to get stronger.
After lunch is Gym class, I've been looking forward to this class all day as it presents an opportunity to test my increased physical prowess without any danger. I'm not outside of the realm of human possibility with my strength yet so I don't have to worry too much about getting detected either. The class itself starts out with us forming into two teams, then the teacher informs us that we'll be playing dodgeball.
Dodgeball has never been my forte before this, but I guess we'll see just how far that increased agility and dexterity can take me. The game starts out with both teams touching opposite ends of the gym, then the coach blows the whistle and signals us to run for the line. My first hint of the effects of increased agility is I make it to the line on par with the more athletic kids of the class, easily snagging a ball and running back a bit before throwing.
My first throw is off by a bit, but I can tell the power of the throw was better than it would normally be, and it ends up passing my intended target and nailing some poor girl in the stomach. My team is apparently the teachers favorite, as we end up completely demolishing the other students in 3 straight rounds. My performance certainly isn't getting me to the olympics but I actually did manage to stay in the game the entire time, which is much better than I would normally do.
It's not exactly superhuman just yet, but my status has only been updated once so far. Things will only get better from here. After gym my afternoon classes aren't really worth mentioning, I end up trying out Tyche's little coin trick out of boredom in stats class and manage to get up to 7 heads in a row at my best before the bell rings and I begin my walk home.
/;/
Brockton Bay's Hillside Mall is a relatively large commercial building located in the downtown area of the city. It more or less marks the spot where the older architecture down towards the docks and the newer skyscrapers and office buildings meet. It has a store for just about everything, which is why it's the destination of choice for Tyche and I today. Not that she's Tyche in public, it's not a dead giveaway, but it's way more of a hint than I'm really comfortable with. Using the name Fortuna isn't a whole lot better, but it's at least just an odd name, and not a clear-cut reference to the Goddess of Luck.
"Do they sell equipment here? Like in the tower of babel where all the blacksmiths sell their swords and armor and potions and stuff?" Tyche opened, clearly excited to be out here today.
I should really take her around the city when I have the time.
"I don't think we'll be able to find any of that here. Well, perhaps a 20 dollar sword made out of salvaged microwaves, but certainly nothing you might have seen back in Orario."
"Well how are you supposed to become a true adventurer without proper equipment?"
"I didn't say it was impossible to get, just that you won't find it here. Traditional armor is going to end up being useless against most parahumans anyways, though maybe a weapon…" The only option for equipment that can stand up against parahumans is Tinkertech. Toybox is a well known rouge tinker group that sells their wares for high prices to just about anyone. I'm not nearly rich enough to afford it, but… there's certainly a way I can make a start.
The Ruby Dreams casino, ABB or not, represents an opportunity for any newly blessed and lucky adventurers that find themselves in Brockton Bay. The casino industry took a massive hit way back when parahumans first came around. Unprepared as they were, thinkers and other parahumans capable of manipulating casino games practically cleaned them out. Casino's adapted and hired thinkers of their own to make sure no one could cheat them, but they still needed a way to recover their original losses and make up for losses from parahuman crime.
This led to them petionating state and federal government to lower the legal age for gambling. Some states like Nevada, and luckily New Hampshire, gave in to those requests and lowered the legal gambling age all the way down to 17. That makes it legal for me, the only issue is avoiding detection from whatever thinkers Ruby Dreams may or may not employ. It's entirely possible they don't actually have any, thinkers are rare and expensive after all, and they might simply kick out anyone who wins too much, but is it worth the risk?
"Alright Fortuna, getting a suit tailored is going to take a while so why don't you take this," I say, handing her 20 dollars. "And go buy yourself something, just don't wander too far."
"Okay!"
With that Tyche wanders off, looking around at all the bright storefronts. Hillside Mall is packed full of people and well patrolled, despite all that I probably wouldn't recommend letting a normal kid out of your sight. Tyche is hardly a normal kid, and I pity any potential kidnapper that ends up facing off against her luck.
Now, what color would be best for that suit?
/;/
Tattletale
Tense; unnatural walk, keeping hand by right hip, concealed carry. Military experience; muscled, probable police.
There are some days I genuinely wish I had never received my power. It's difficult to keep a lid on and gives me headaches just about every time I truly let it loose. People watching at the mall is one of the few times I genuinely enjoy using my power, trying to draw my own conclusions then checking with my power. Who knows? Maybe one day I'll get good enough to not even need it.
Yeah, right.
Alright, the big muscly dude with the thin blue line t-shirt is police, who would've guessed. I have to save my power for the job tonight, but surely one more couldn't hurt. How about… that little girl over there walking around with the ice cream cone. She doesn't look lost which means I'm not going to be getting my one good deed of the month today. She's carrying change in her left hand, so most likely her parents just gave her some money and let her wander off. Not the safest thing to do in this city, but who am I to judge?
Now just to check with my power.
.
.
.
Hello? Powers?
.
Ok what the hell, are my powers malfunctioning? Is that even possible? I turn my eyes to someone else, a heavyset man eating a pizza slice at a nearby table.
Wearing T-shirt and sweatpants; shamefully eating, supposed to be at the gym, having a cheat day and feeling bad about it.
Gripping. At least I know my power is still fucking working, so what the hell is the problem with that little girl. Looking back to where I originally saw her, I see nothing but empty space.
Where the hell did she go?
"Hi there!"
Doing my best not to scream at the girls best attempt at a jumpscare. I slowly turn around to face the smiling girl behind me.
"Hello there, what's your name?" Letting down the walls around my power, the result is exactly the same as last time. It's like she doesn't even exist as far as my power is concerned.
"Ty-uh, Fortuna." She stopped and corrected herself, maybe if my power felt like working I would be able to figure out what she was going to say. Fortuna is kind of an odd name though.
"Nice to meet you Fortuna, can I help you?"
"Yeah, why were you staring at me?" She noticed me staring, then? At least she probably doesn't know why I was staring, or maybe she does. With the apparent immunity to my thinker power and odd name it's possible she might also be a parahuman, wouldn't that be just my luck?
"Oh I'm sorry about that, I was staring because I thought you were lost." If this girl is a parahuman, letting her know that I know and that I'm a parahuman myself is the absolute last thing I want to do. If she isn't, then I'll just have to hope her parents don't show up and take the whole staring thing the wrong way.
"Fortuna? Whose this?" Oh great, her …older brother? Just has to show up before I can get out of here. I know my luck is shitty, but this is on another level. Turning my attention to the approaching boy I give him a quick glance-over with my power.
Worried; not worried for Fortuna's safety, worried about her talking to me.
Not worried for her safety huh, definitely a cape then and her brother knows it. Probably worried about if she said something she shouldn't have to me. What else?
Average musculature, carrying full bag without strain; $# !% #WSD5356
Agh! What the hell is with these two, nothing has messed with my powers quite this bad before.
"I don't know, I didn't ask for her name." Fortuna replies.
"Well, nice to meet you, miss, but we really do have to get going." The boy says, grabbing Fortuna's hand and beginning to lead her off.
"Bye lady!" Fortuna says, waving to me until the two of them turn a corner out of sight, prompting me to breathe a sigh of relief.
The Undersiders have the biggest job we've ever done set up for tonight, and now I'm stuck with a headache and the knowledge of one, potentially two, new parahumans running around. Coil can go fuck himself though, hopefully that girl makes her opening debut by breaking into his stupid concrete hole in the ground. I'm sure as hell not warning him about her.
Time to get back to the loft though, I'll have to ask Brian to remind me to bring some Advil or something tonight. This job is definitely meant to be a test, and I really do not want to know what happens if I fail it.
/;/
Alex Lavere
"Fortuna, I told you to go off and get yourself something. I assumed you were smart enough to realize that talking with strangers is probably not the best idea, especially when they open the conversation by staring at you!"
"She seemed nice…"
"I'm sure she was, you catch more flies with honey and all that," Looking over at Tyche, she's probably the most downbeat I've ever seen her. "Fortuna… just please don't go around talking with creeps like that. Goddess of Luck or not, taking your chances in a city like this is a really bad idea."
"I know. Sorry." Tyche replies, it's times like these that it's hard to remember that this girl is technically a goddess. It brings me back to the conversation I had with her about the Gods and Goddesses in general. They descended to Orario seeking entertainment and an escape from the constant unchanging monotony of Heaven. Does that mean that she and other deities have just been like this forever? Unchanging? I can certainly see why they would be desperate enough to give up their power to descend if that's the case. Tyche seems at peace with it though.
"It's fine, next up on our itinerary is getting a cellphone for the both of us." I already have a phone so the second one is just for cape activity, but Tyche needs one just in case she needs to contact me.
Entering the cell phone store, I take a look at all the posters and decorations of various tinkers who likely signed to do promotional deals with the company. Most of these phones include at least one reverse engineered piece of tinkertech so it's not exactly a surprise to see tinkers like Dragon and Armsmaster adorning the walls.
A salesman quickly comes over to talk to us, trying to push us to buy one of the newer phones, but I'm having none of it. I've spent more than enough money today and I'm not eager to spend any more than I absolutely have to here. The suit was expensive but came out very nicely, entirely black to avoid associating myself with any of the gangs in town. It's hardly the most durable, but neither am I and if I'm getting hit with my luck then I've already done something wrong.
I end up selecting the same flip-phone model that I bought originally and buy two of them. The salesman is clearly a little disappointed and makes a few last ditch attempts to push me towards a new model but I refuse and he ends up completing the sale. Another few hundred dollars down the drain… Ruby Dreams is looking more and more appealing.
These aren't going to be the last expenses of my career as a cape, even ignoring the exceedingly expensive gear I'll most likely have to eventually buy. There's also replacements for anything that gets broken or damaged, maybe even medical bills if I end up getting injured. Of course Panacea, despite her policy of not healing outside of hospitals except in emergencies, will probably just end up healing me if I come to school injured but it's something to consider. Money is a superpower of its own regardless, it'll be helpful to have no matter what.
"Fortuna? You would know better than me I suppose but do you think my luck stat is high enough to tip the odds in my favor gambling?"
"Depends what game, but most of them have pretty thin margins so you should be fine with your current luck stat. If you're going to go gambling though, can I come?" Tyche asks, I guess it's not that surprising a Goddess of Luck would enjoy gambling considering she's always gonna win but…
"They won't let you in, you're too young."
"That's lame, casinos in Orario always used to let me in." Really? That can't have been good for business.
"Unfortunately, casinos here won't be quite as eager to admit you." Tyche and I make our way back to the beat up sedan that I call my car. I managed to get it for a reasonably low price back before I realized most of my destinations were within walking distance of the towers. "I'll drop you off back home before making my way to the casino and I should be back around midnight at the latest."
/;/
The Ruby Dreams casino is a pretty large 2 story complex that themes itself around a ruby red color scheme as well as the gemstone itself. My outfit for the night is the same suit that I plan to use for my cape outfit, I might have been worried about connecting the two identities if it wasn't for the sheer genercism of the outfit. A black overcoat, white dress shirt, black pants and tie combo that probably half the gentlemen and staff here are wearing. I also brought the cowl and bandanna I plan to use for my mask, just in case something happens and I need to use my powers.
Ideally nothing like that will occur, but it doesn't hurt to be prepared. My funds for the night are as much as I'm comfortable spending to start with, 300 dollars. Gambling is absolutely not something I would ever consider under normal circumstances, it honestly seems like it would be too stressful to even enjoy. Of course these are hardly normal circumstances, now my only concern is to ensure no one else figures out what I'm up to.
Thinking about it logically there's a very very low chance that Ruby Dreams actually employs any thinkers. ABB or not, thinkers are rare and naturally exceedingly expensive. It makes much more sense economically for an operation this small to simply kick out anyone who is winning too much on suspicion of being parahuman, maybe call the PRT to follow up and see who they can get. That isn't even a particularly bad scenario for me, I'll most likely end up recruited into the wards if caught like Shadow Stalker was.
Shadow Stalker reportedly did much worse than a little casino fraud as well, at least according to rumors on PHO. The validity of those rumors might vary but they each generally have at least a little truth to them. The only real problem for me getting detected by the PRT would be Tyche, the ability to practically create parahumans is incredibly valuable, and something pretty much every group would kill to get their hands on.
It's best if no one ever finds out.
Stepping into the lobby reveals two teller's desks with no lines in front of them. This casino is probably a little more packed at night, fewer people means a higher chance of casino staff watching but less people overall. It's a trade off of sorts, it might be better to come back later but if I end up drawing a crowd by repeatedly winning that would be the worst case scenario. I end up moving to the teller on the right and quickly exchange my money into chips to gamble with.
The main casino floor is a wide open atrium with balconies overlooking it, most of the floor is dominated by slots and a few table games but around the edges are other games like roulette. Plenty of options, but which one is going to be most effective for me? Any game involving other players is out right away, that's extra risk of getting noticed and most of them involve skill to some degree that I just don't have. Slots are also out, the chances of winning are pretty low compared to other games, the only difference is when you do win you tend to win big.
Roulette is probably my best option, you have a almost 50 percent chance of winning if you bet on red or black and it's entirely luck based. The numbers are a riskier but potentially very profitable method as well, of course if I just happen to bet all my money on a single number and it actually wins I'll get detected for sure. I don't need to become a millionaire tonight, just walk out with profit, though obviously the more the better up to a certain point. Decision made, I walk to a roulette table set in the back corner.
"How ya doing kid? This your first time at a casino?" The worker, Billy James his name tag identifies him as, speaks to me as I walk up. I'm the only one at this particular table for now but it's still relatively early in the day so that might change.
"It is, any sage advice you'd like to share?" It's only 6:00 and I told Tyche I'd be home by midnight, it can't hurt building a rapport with the worker. It'll help with avoiding suspicion as well.
"Nah nothing like that, other than you shouldn't be visiting any ATMs if you start losing."
"I'll keep that in mind, I don't intend to lose much tonight however." Cocky? Sure, but I've literally got luck on my side.
"Ain't I heard that before, hah! Alright then here's the rules in case you don't know, minimum bet is 5 dollars and maximum is 5000 dollars, you can bet on even or odd numbers, red or black numbers, or you can bet on the numbers themselves. A single number win is 35 times your bet. With Even, odd, red or black you get back the value of your bet. The rest of the payouts and betting options are listed on the side over here. You're better off sticking with the simple ones if you never played before though."
I look over at the indicated section of the table and can't help but wonder if they make it this complicated on purpose. There's probably more optimal ways to play this that I should've spent some time researching, but unfortunately the only place where I would be able to access the internet is Brockton Bays public library and that place closes at 5:00. Perhaps I still should've waited, normally I would've actually, but something makes me want to get this done tonight. I guess I'm more eager to get these 'preliminary' stages of my cape career out of the way than I thought I was.
Eventually I decide on putting 150 dollars worth of chips on red, that'll give me two tries before I'm out of money. It's risky but if my luck can't even manage to sway a near 50 percent chance of success in two tries then I'm better off just leaving now.
"Playing it safe eh? You know they say the safe gamblers always lose the most in casinos."
With that he grabs the ball and places it into the outer ring of the roulette wheel where it's accelerated. The ball ends up taking almost ten seconds to finally slow down enough to fall into the inner ring and bounces around a bit before finally landing on red 14.
"Safe and lucky I suppose, nice job."
This is a single zero roulette table which means just below a 50 percent chance for the ball to land on red or black. I could go again and probably win just about every time with my luck but that won't be very profitable at lower bets and will get suspicious fast. The next highest percentage is columns, all the numbers are divided into 3 groups of 12 which means the win percentage hovers somewhere around 30 percent or so with a 2:1 payout. If I can win consistently enough with a 30 percent chance I can start to move on to riskier stuff, this is probably the best opportunity I'll have to test my luck after all.
I end up placing 300 dollars worth of chips on the third column, if I lose I can just win back my money on fifty-fifty's. The staff member wishes me luck as he places the ball back into the ring where it spins for a few seconds before eventually landing on… 33! That means a 2:1 payout and my current funds are now 750 dollars.
In five minutes.
I can see why people get addicted to this, though that would probably be financially beneficial for me.
Briefly, the idea of simply using this power to make money strikes me, but it would be an absolute waste. What would I have once the endbringers almost inevitably cause economic collapse anyways? There's also no guarantee that Tyche would even go along with it given her stated desire to turn me into a proper adventurer. Regardless, a quiet life like that has never really appealed to me, I would rather cause serious change or die trying.
"Those were lucky for your first two games, but can you keep it up?"
Back to the grind.
/;/
5 hours and probably over 100 spins of the roulette wheel later, I'm sitting with just over 30,000 dollars worth of chips in front of me. I could've probably got a lot more by betting more instead of sticking lower, but I didn't want to appear too confident in my odds of victory for risk of detection. Obviously 30,000 is still a pretty hefty sum, but I can literally see people playing with more on the poker table 10 feet away. The only problem now is going to be cashing out without getting robbed, murdered, or revealed. I ask the worker Billy, who has been faithfully serving me his entire shift, about where to go to cash out.
"You're gonna cash out on a streak this hot? Then again I suppose this is a pretty absurd amount of money for a kid like you, alright give me a second." Billy then beckons over another member of the staff who counts up the total and gives me six 5,000 dollar chips as well as a few hundred dollar chips for change. As he locks up his briefcase and gets ready to leave, Billy strikes up a conversation with him.
"Yeah, kids been here all night playing. Started out with like 300 dollars and made it all the way up to here. Hell of a winning streak huh?"
"Is that right?" The other worker, presumably a floor manager, glances at me.
Really, Billy? You're not very damn professional for a casino worker.
I elect to say nothing and make my way to the cashiers desk, where I exchange my chips for a check amounting to 30,120 dollars in cash. Check in shaking hand, and praying to Tyche that I don't get stopped, I make my way outside towards my car. Thankfully I made it all the way there and got inside without being stopped. 30,000 dollars might seem like a lot to me but it's probably not worth the trouble for them. That is, not unless I come back again, in which case they'll almost certainly be watching me.
Not that I'll need to come back for quite a while, 30,000 dollars plus the money I already get from my trust fund is more than enough for pretty much every expense I might have. Except, of course, for tinker tech. I'm not sure exactly how high Toybox sets their prices, but with the demand they must have there's no way it's anything close to what I could afford right now. Though, maybe they would accept a trade…
My planning is interrupted by the sound of screeching metal, the kind of sound I had always associated with collapsing buildings. A look out my window reveals the source of the sound, three absolutely massive spiked and scaled monsters running at full speed towards the main entrance of the Ruby Dreams.
Supervillains.
The Undersiders, to be more specific. I had stumbled across a thread of one of their robbery's earlier in the week. Very little is actually known about most of their members, partly because they haven't been active for very long and partly because one of their members is apparently a shaker who can obscure an area in black fog. The only exception to the information hole is Hellhound, the girl responsible for the three mutants I can see barreling down the parking lot. Apparently she had killed someone and gotten caught by the PRT in the process, leading to her identity being revealed publically.
This… is actually perfect for me. An opportunity to fight against some relatively lightweight opponents who can't afford the heat that comes with killing another cape. I'll need to avoid the big monster things, most likely some kind of master projection, but other than that the group had no reported brutes on PHO. Obviously that's not the most trustworthy source of information but with any luck I won't run into anything I can't handle.
My only real goal is to fight them and ideally leave before the PRT arrives. Letting them run away would honestly be better for me anyways, as it means I might get a rematch in the future. It's perhaps not the most heroic mindset to let villains go, but if I ever want to get to the big leagues and be able to help where it actually matters I'm going to need more excelia.
Objective in mind, I pull on the black cowl and bandanna that will account for my mask today. It covers my entire head except for my eyes and hides my facial structure quite well. It's a little easy to pull off for my tastes but until I'm able to get something better it'll work well enough. Identity hidden I exit my car and start moving towards the main entrance, taking care to avoid revealing myself near my car to the camera at the main entrance. At this point it's only been 2 minutes or so since the Undersiders entered the casino but that's a pretty long time for a heist.
I make my way to the center of the parking lot before breaking out into a run towards the main entrance. Once inside I continue running past various guests in the process of evacuating and make my way to the main room where the smoke generator and another unknown cape with a white ceramic mask have taken control.
The security control room is probably in the back, along with the vault. That must be where the other two members are, Hellhound is the obvious choice for going up against armed security after all. The one who went back with her will probably be responsible for getting into the vault, those monsters don't look strong enough to tear through reinforced steel after all.
"Hey Grue! Tell Tattletale she owes me 20 dollars, there's a cape here!." The ceramic masked boy shouts to the other cape, Grue I suppose. Tattletale will be the cape who went back with hellhound, probably a thinker with a name like that.
Grue doesn't say anything in response to his partner, or maybe he does and I don't hear it, the smoke seems to be muffling sound as well as blocking vision. The black fog rises from where it previously sat at floor level and envelops the entire playing area, blocking sight and sound entirely and putting me into pitch blackness.
Well that's gonna be tough to beat, especially if he can see through it himself.
I consider trying to exit the fog but before I can make a decision Grue is already upon me, laying a vicious hit into my right side with his fist before disappearing back into the fog. He can definitely see through it, and appears to have some actual combat training to go along with his power. This is going to be difficult, my one chance to beat him will be if I can get into a grapple and keep him from using the fog to his advantage too much. It's not an especially high chance given his experience advantage over me but it's the best I have.
His next attempt at hitting me comes only a few seconds later, coming out of the fog to my left and aiming for my face. Luckily I'm able to get my arm up in time to block the blow, but before I get the chance to retaliate Grue disappears back into the fog. He's slippery, but if I can get a hold of him just once then it'll turn into a brawl where my enhanced strength might give me an edge. He's attempted to hit me once from both sides at this point, he is on a time limit though, which means he's probably going to go for a more serious hit soon. I prepare by bringing my hands up in front of my face, he can either choose to attack from one of my sides again or, more likely, from the back.
As expected Grue's next hit comes in the form of a hit to my lower back, prompting me to quickly spin around and pursue him into the fog. I manage to get a grasp on his arm and pull him towards me before tackling him onto the ground. Now on top of the villain I take the opportunity to land some punches of my own, his helmet prevents me from aiming for his face so I instead do my best to aim for his chest. Just as I'm starting to feel confident about my chances, the fog disperses and I'm set upon by one of hellhound's monsters and launched off to the side, slamming into a slot machine and hurting my side.
I was doing so well too.
/;/
Tattletale
Smudges on the keypad; numbers 02359. Passcode recently inputted; first number 3, second number 5…
My headache reaches a new high as I tap in the code for the vault, I can only hope that I'll be able to stay standing long enough to get back to the loft. I wouldn't normally have a headache this bad from how little I've used my power so far but that little incident earlier at the mall is apparently still having an effect on my power.
Eventually I manage to get the vault door open and Bitch and I work on bagging the money and placing it onto one of her dogs, Angelica maybe? How Bitch manages to tell them apart is honestly beyond me, I can't even come close without using my power. The heist so far has gone pretty damn smooth, the security didn't put up much of a fight once they saw the dogs and the vault door was easy enough to open. Now I just have to hope that Regent and Grue haven't managed to screw up in the time we've been gone.
Bitch and I enter back onto the main playing floor where we are greeted by Regent.
"Hey Tats, you owe me 20 dollars by the way. Also another cape showed up and Grue is over there fighting him." Another cape? It's only been a few minutes since we got here though, there's no way it's Protectorate. At point Grue, presumably seeing our arrival through his fog, disperse the smokescreen and gives me my first good look at the unknown cape on top of him.
Inexperienced fighter; has only gotten this far because of $4!2278/.
My power freaks out once again, sending a spike of pain through my head. Is this really the same kid from the goddamn mall? What are the chances of him being close enough to counter our heist tonight? Regardless, apparently Bitch's dogs have no problem with him as one of them charges and launches him off of Grue, sending him careening into a nearby slot machine.
Serves you right.
"Grue! We got the money, let's go!" I shout across the room to him, luckily it seems the unknown cape didn't manage to do too much damage to him as he gets up and on top of one of Bitches dogs.
With all four of us having mounted one of Bitches dogs and the money secured Bitch whistles and the dogs begin running outside. We'll make sure we aren't being followed before having Bitch 'deflate' her dogs and proceed on foot back to the loft. All in all, a pretty successful heist. Taking a final look back as we enter into the main lobby, I see the unknown cape standing and staring as we make our escape, apparently none too worse for wear after his earlier hit. I don't even try using my power, my headache is bad enough as it is.
With any luck, I'll never see him again.
/;/
Alex Lavere
I may be able to stand right now, but I'm almost certain that's just because of adrenaline. I can see how Hellhound is considered a Master 6 if all her monsters are capable of hitting like semi-trucks. I manage to get outside and out of sight of the cameras before removing my mask and making my way back to my car. Getting inside I take the opportunity to pull up my shirt and see how large the bruise is, the answer? Large, very large.
I'll have to see if I can't get Panacea to help me out tomorrow.
The pain starts to hit on the drive back to the towers, but it's overshadowed in part by what I've managed to accomplish tonight. My first cape fight, even if I lost without debate, it's still good experience and especially good Excelia. Obviously the Undersiders hardly had the most combat suited powers, I'm still not even sure what the ceramic mask guy does, but they're a good start for me. My new objective is set, stay off of the big gangs radars until I'm confident I can handle them and farm Excelia off fights with independents. They might not be out to kill me, bringing down the risk factor, but cape fights are still dangerous and anything could happen.
And I have the Texas-sized bruise to prove it.
Arriving at the towers I exit my car and lock it before making my way back up to the apartment. It's only around 11:30 so I've actually managed to keep to the time I said for Tyche despite the unexpected drama. Unlocking and entering my apartment, Tyche looks up from her book and greets me.
"Welcome back, how much did you make?" Tyche says, cutting straight to what is clearly the most important topic.
"30,000 dollars, that's besides the point though. There was an attempted heist." I continue, ignoring Tyche's gasp. "I ended up fighting four supervillains, so, would you like to try updating my status?"
"Yeah sure whatever come lay down, but did you really just say money is besides the point? It's always the point, always." Tyche says, oddly serious as she bites her finger and lets a drop of blood drip onto my back.
Alex Lavere
Level 1
Strength H107
Endurance H115
Dexterity I72
Agility H101
Magic I0
Luck H151
Skills:
Polytheism: Allows for invocation of power from the Gods when certain conditions are met.
Tyche: Fortunes Bounty grants increased stat gain against stronger opponents, and increases general effectiveness of basic skills.
Magic:
None
"Huh, I thought your growth would slow down much more once you got out of the rookie stage. I guess you've got my skill to thank for that right?"
"I suppose I do, thank you Tyche" I thank her sincerely, causing her to get a little flustered.
This kind of growth is pretty good, but fights will probably end up being few and far in between especially as I get stronger and run out of threats. That's a long way always though, for now I'm more than challenged enough with just the Undersiders.
One day though.
AN: Longer chapter+edits is why this one took a little longer than the first two. This AN might get a little long as I explain my reasons for some things here and in the edits. If luck can increase loot drops, then the goddess of luck can certainly increase stat drops hence the skill. The increased stat effectiveness is just necessary if I want Alex to be able to stand up to worm-brand powers. As for whether I should have given him the skill, I seriously doubt you came here to read the story of an average Danmachi adventurer who will take years to level up. That's boring and the Danmachi system was designed with a skill like Liaris Freese in mind. It's why the Danmachi author gave Bell a skill to level up way faster, and it's why I gave Alex one. The change in perspectives generally won't happen unless it's to show something that can only be shown from that perspective, like Tat's power. A pinch of foreshadowing here and there and I'm generally proud of this chapter, even if as always I feel the pacing is off somehow. Feedback is always appreciated, till next time.
Also, "I asked for a portal to somewhere random, hoping my luck would take me someplace nice, and it did!" Yeah sure Tyche, someplace nice. (ps:Tyche is pronounced Tie-key, like Nike)
