Number man
June 2006
I looked at the compiled data, Alexandria peered over my shoulder.
"So what's the results?"
I shrugged at it.
"80 thousand dead, as battles go we've had worse, we lost some Parahumans and gained some new volunteers."
"And?"
"Mostly military or ex military, some locals who won't show up. A few Protectorate heroes, some independents, a couple villain gangs decided to put up or shut up."
"Good."
"And we had 30 more fakes."
That earned a sigh.
"Great more idiots, how many of them died?"
"I'm just listing the people who survived, most of them got a darwin award."
Alexandria looked away.
"They're idiots, but at least they're brave enough to put their money where their mouth is, do we have to worry about them coming back?"
I shook my head.
"I doubt it, nobody's stupid enough to pull that trick twice."
May 2007
I looked through the data of the latest fight.
"Hmm this looks odd."
Alexandria was looking over my shoulder again.
"What's odd?"
"I'm looking through the numbers of the people who made it through the long 10, guess what came up."
She blinked.
"What came up?"
"A fake just made it through, that's a first, normally they die around now."
She sighed.
"How badly is it fucking over the war effort?"
"Um not that much, this one actually got his shit together after the 5th battle or so, might of had a scare. The reliability rating just jumps after that."
"And?"
"He follows orders to the letter when he's given them."
She looked over the file.
"Well as long as he makes himself useful I don't care, we have a war to win."
I shrugged and continued on.
April 2008
"The Simurgh hasn't upped her attacks like the others."
That earned me a nod from Doctor Mother.
"That makes sense she's the leader, their commander losing her could cripple them."
I looked at the numbers.
"Huh."
"What huh?"
"A fake just made it through 20 fights."
Doc stopped.
"That's impressive but it's not worth even knowing his name until he makes it past 30."
We went into the elevator.
"So where's the fake located?"
"Search and rescue, mostly, he obeys orders so his reliability rating is high."
"Which means the Thinkers have grown attached to him because fake or no fake there's nothing worse then having someone fuck up a plan because they thought they knew better."
I nodded my head.
"I think I'm going to set up a betting pool on if he makes it to 30."
"Put me in for 50 bucks on him not making it."
I nodded my head, the numbers for that were obvious but, I felt contrary and it was only money.
"I'm going to match that on him making it, doc."
"Going to cheat?"
"Nah sometimes I feel the need to make stupid bets, it's only money after all."
"I will make sure to get something fancy with my winnings."
March 2009
"And that makes 30."
I took in my winnings and smiled at them, Doctor Mother sighed.
"So the fake made it past 30, what's his name?"
I looked through the folder.
"Void Cowboy, real name Greg Veder, he's going to be going into high school pretty soon."
"So young and stupid?"
I shrugged.
"Yeah but if he survives the war he will have a bunch of stories to tell his grandchildren, at the very least he's going to be taken care of. His first upgraded check for making it through the dirty 30 is already in the mail."
The doc took a bite out of a danish.
"Financial situation?"
"Not particularly great, but not bad either, I'd peg them at lower middle class, above working class. They could pay for college but it would take years if not decades to pay it all off."
"Which won't be a problem with the GI bill."
She sighed.
"Its probably a financial thing, with him making it past 30 he will probably retire."
2011 Post battle of Zeus
"Well fuck."
We were watching the tapes again, Doctor Mother blinked.
"Where did he get that?"
I opened my lab top.
"Looks like tinkertech, Bakuda's work."
Hero blinked.
"This is the fake?"
I nodded my head.
"He gets a vial doc."
She frowned.
"I don't like giving those out for free but he's earned it."
We watched the feed again trying to get more data points, I think we made the right decision.