10.

After school I gave mum a call and got her okay to visit a few shops before heading home. I said bye to my sister and walked away from her continued teasing about my new girlfriend. I had a few things to purchase and then build for Taylor.

Taylor had ended up giving me a pretty comprehensive rundown of her encounter with Lung and, though I tried not to, I probably came off as overly critical about her lack of preparation. So, in an effort to make it up to her I'd promised to help her out and extracted a promise from her not to go out again until she was a lot more ready. I had also partially explained my power. It probably wasn't quite fair, but I had hedged a lot of my answers with the mostly truthful statement that I still didn't understand my powers. I had revealed that my intelligence had jumped up significantly and that I had a great grasp of technology, chemicals but that my knowledge didn't reach into the tinker / thinker levels. Still master craftsman and PhD level scientist wasn't something to sneer at. I also hadn't revealed Aria's existence and weakly justified it to myself that I needed to ask Aria's permission first.

First off, she needed a cell phone, or three. Then some improvements to her costume. A full helmet, preferably with some fake dark hair out the back and a different shade to her natural colour. Lastly some medicines for emergency treatment for insect stings, starting with epinephrine and antihistamines. I would work on antivenoms once Taylor provided me with samples of the various venoms which she would be working on tonight.

She was also going to be preparing me some samples of spider silk cloth. I was more excited by that than anything else and I hadn't resisted the urge to ask her to create me at least one piece that was big enough to use for a drum skin. That I really wanted to test.

I was heading to a location that had a number of both second hand and pawn shops. It was in well-established Empire territory so hadn't suffered in the same way those places that had changed hands a number of time had. It was generally a fairly safe area for anyone during business hours. Long before nightfall any clearly non-whites would be well out of the area or behind locked and barred doors. Sensible people didn't linger around. Only the bars, clubs and well connected convenience stores did business after dark and a few goons were always around to keep things under control and protect that income that they would end up with a cut of. All the businesses were all owned by whites, those shops that hadn't been before had either been sold or taken over by less than legal means.

The man at the first pawn shop nodded pleasantly to me from behind the bars that surrounded the small square in the middle of the store. I peered through the bars at the wares on display. I noted the wall of cell phones with prices all more than I wanted to spend until I spotted a box nearby full of more cell phones.

"What is with the phones in the box?" I asked.

"Broken, don't power up."

"How much? Have art project that I could use them for."

He raised his eyebrows, probably not believing me but not caring that much, "Buck each."

"I'll take ten then."

"You want to search through them?"

I shook my head, "Nah... Just need to pass the class."

He laughed and grabbed a couple of handfuls. I noted there were more than ten there and nodded in appreciation.

I also picked up an old motorcycle helmet with a cracked faceplate for cheap. It wasn't badly scratched so I was pretty sure it wasn't from a crash. I was also tempted by a couple of electric drums so I could improve them but they were well outside my budget. Aria was certainly improving my online finances but as far as actual cash I was already running low. I hoped dad would start up our allowances again if the online work continued.

I headed on to the next shop. I couldn't really afford too much more but no harm in seeing what else was available. Half an hour later and now also owning an old torn tactical vest I was on the bus travelling home. Once again, I was closely examining the key that came with my last power. It seemed like a fairly normal brass house key but I could feel the power in it. I knew that all I needed to do was put it in any lock and it would open a door to my base. Another addition to my knowledge that was provided alongside the power. I was starting to accept that this was probably going to be the way of it for some time. Random powers each with random bits of knowledge just shoved into my brain.

The door to my room was a snib lock and my walk in closet didn't have a lock but I knew we had some old locks in the shed from when dad replaced the original locks in the house. I decided to repurpose one of those for the closet door and hope no one noticed and asked why. The alternatives that I had ruled out was using the garden shed or finding an alternate location outside of my home. The garden shed was used too often and my parents would wonder why I wasn't in my room. Same with outside of the house, I didn't have a good excuse and it would have been out of character. I really did need friends, but there was no one that I had any real connection to, well outside of Taylor.

I considered Taylor and her plans for the rest of the bus ride. I didn't want to try being some sort of hero but I had no issue with helping her do the same. I wasn't sure if I would be so keen if she had decided to go down the villain route but I expect I would still have helped to some degree.

Logically, looking at the statistics a vigilante would be better for the city. Deal permanently with some of the core criminal issues. Wasn't that a heavy thought for a fifteen year old and certainly not one I was going to propose to Taylor. I was pretty sure from the conversations that her moral compass was a lot stronger than my own.

When I got home the first thing I did was power up my computer and re arrange my goals so goal two was now 'assist and help Taylor.' Then I got to work on my closet door. By dinner time I had the lock added to my closet door and was about to open it for the first test when the call for dinner came.

The meal was a fairly simple mushroom pasta dish but I did note the bottle of wine that my parents were sharing. It was not one of the cheaper bottles they had been partaking of infrequently. My parents had never gone for overly expensive wines but I had noticed a number of unfortunate looks when they had shared a few of the cheaper bottles. It was nice to see them smiling happily. I enjoyed the meal though I did have to admit to my sisters teasing that yes, I had spent most of my breaks with Taylor though I did deny that we were dating. This was likely to be a reoccurring theme at dinners for some time.

After cleaning up I snipped my door locked, put on some music at a reasonable level. This wasn't unusual as if I wanted it loud, I'd wear my headphones. After taking a few deep breaths, I inserted the key into the lock of the closet door and pulled the door open.

Even though I knew what I was going to see it was still a shock to see the door open up into a large hall with balconies running along both sides. The Japanese futuristic temple style was just as I imagined. Now that I was looking at it, I noted then even excluding the high-tech lighting and other various futuristic additions the base design was more inspired by Japanese temples than an attempt at a faithful reproduction.

The decoration outside the structure was fairly simplistic. A scattering of framed Japanese artworks, a few bamboo studies, a mountain scene, a valley scene and, slightly surprising, a framed set of Japanese characters that I recognised seeing in a vision a few days ago when I gained the 'mine and mine alone' power.

After my first long look around, I did some simple tests, walked in touched a few things, walked out. Closed the door and removed the key before opening it again to see the contents of my closet. Then I reopened it, pulling it partially closed behind me and went exploring.

Each of the front corners of the main hall had narrow stairs that folded back on themselves as they raised to the upper level. Along the bottom floor were five doors, the top had three doors. I found the rooms I had seen plus three more.

On the ground floor to the left was the futuristic Chemistry lab and the extensive carpentry workshop with too many hand tools to count and more conceivable power tools that I could name. On the right was a small bathroom and then a small workshop / study for working with electronics and programming. Finally, against the back wall large double doors led into a massive metal workshop. Contained within it were hot forges, anvils, both hand and power tools. A large kiln was built into the back wall alongside a massive furnace but pride of place was a small decorative Kiln in the centre of the room. As soon as I approached it, I felt a pressure within me building. The ghostly spirit I had felt in the music room was calling for permission to come forth.

It felt right so I granted permission. From around with me was a scratching as pieces of scrap metal hidden in corners and scrap bins pulled themselves towards the massive furnace. These scraps joined the left-overs and scraps already in the furnace and pushed themselves into the hottest part of the fires. I was unable to make out anything beyond some faint shadows within the flames. A few minutes later a small figure made up of semi melted scrap metal and other still molten metal walked out and after presenting me with a Japanese style bow hopped down to the floor and made its way to the central kiln. I watched bemused as it climbed up the stand to the kiln and gave me another bow. This bow I returned. Then the small golem entered the kiln and a wave of contentment broke over me. With this spirit content I knew any work within this room would be blessed by the golem. I also gained knowledge of his name and I mentally thanked 'Soul of the Forge.'

As I approached the stairs to climb to the upper level a new series of visions stole over me. This one I had the choice to push back but typically, when I had the choice, I didn't need it. I let the visions roll.

First was a large study with two walls covered from floor to high ceiling with scientific books. Books at a level that even with my extreme intelligence I would have struggled to understand. The other two walls were, apart from a doorway, covered by blackboards and taped pages of mathematic formula and chemical equations also well beyond me. Somehow, I knew that the knowledge here was beyond genius level but still real science. Not tinker science. Sadly, the room moved on without me learning anything.

The second place was not a room, I was in a sports stadium. This was a significant change. I was quickly moved past various running tracks and then it was gone, much sooner than normal.

The final room was my destination. It was a small room with a single large chair in the middle. The chair was partially reminiscent of a dentist's chair but one from a science fiction including miles of complicated cabling terminating at a massive full helmet that was obviously designed to lower down. It had the look of a virtual reality setup with only a small obvious switch to turn it on and off. As I looked at the chair, I again suddenly and without surprise knew that I was looking at a simulation room that could extrapolate situations based on my own experiences for training.

This was very interesting and as it faded, I wondered how to access it. The question was rapidly answered as when I finished climbing to the upper level, I found four doors.

I only briefly examined the first three rooms, a large library and a study or calligraphy room on one side. A leather working and tailoring workshop. Whilst they were all well-equipped and interesting the true excitement was the simulation room.

It wasn't exactly as I saw it, whereas in the vision the walls had been fairly plain as I entered, I saw that the walls now reflected the same Japanese theme as the rest of my base. However, the seat was just as I pictured it. With great eagerness I sat down and flicked the switch.

I appeared standing within a plain white room. I looked down and a generic white body reformed into a representation of the real me wearing my AI bracelet. It now looked like it actually belonged. A number of floating screens appeared in front of me. There was a central blank screen surrounded by a number of smaller screens each showing something different. I quickly worked out that as I glanced at a smaller screen the larger touch screen would present that view to me and it was quite easy to switch between the different views with a simple glance.

There was a time and date selector that I could use to scroll back through my memories, though it wasn't like a playback, just a summary of potential simulation sources. It didn't take long to realise that I could only create simulations around things that I had personally encountered which limited it rather a lot. I had never seen a villain in person. In fact, the number of parahumans I had personally encountered I could count on one hand and even if I included myself, I'd still have a finger left over.

Still, I set up profiles for those that I knew. Myself, Taylor, Gallant and Clockblocker.

Just for the hell of it I created a quick simulation of Taylor vs Clockblocker just to see what would happen. I had to pick a location so I choose a generic street corner. Put an end goal of disabling the opponent and for equipment provided them each with zip ties, Clockblocker with his normal costume and Taylor with a police SWAT outfit as I hadn't actually seen her outfit yet but I had seen police SWAT.

The battle started with Clockblocker charging towards Taylor and Taylor running. She was quick but I could see Clockblocker catching her. Taylor dodged around a cart and pushed it over, Clockblocker froze it and pushed off it as he vaulted over it. I was impressed at how Clockblocker used his power to freeze small items to help him corner and he was catching Taylor quickly. I was wondering if I had set up the simulation incorrectly or it needed more information about her powers when out of vents, street grates and windows emerged a nightmarish swarm of insects that engulfed Clockblocker.

Taylor double backed and as she approached the swarm as they split apart and I could see a frozen Clockblocker surrounded by hundreds of floating, frozen insects. Taylor had to be a bit creative with chaining the cable ties to ensure that when Clockblocker unfroze he was going to have a lot of issues moving.

The simulation flicked up a note that Taylor was the victor.

I just stared at the apocalyptic swarm that she had gathered in a couple of minutes of evading Clockblocker. Was there really that many insects around normally and how many did she normally have gathered around her?

After shaking myself a bit I ended up smiling. Well, it wasn't the most PR friendly power it certainly wasn't as weak as I initially imagined.

I really hoped that I could bring Taylor into the simulation with me.