Before dinner I decided to spend my time playing will my new Null-Space Computer. Aria was already fully integrated with it and helpfully ran me through the holographic interface. Aria also quickly integrated the holographic interface back into her bracelet. Sadly, the exact mechanism by how she transferred what to me seemed like a hardware feature from the computer to the bracelet quite escaped my comprehension. To understand that I guessed I needed genius or thinker level intelligence.

I queried Aria on how to integrate her with the simulation computer but Aria informed be that integration had occurred upon its addition to the base. The simulation computer was incredibly powerful however was very restricted in its functions. Giving her access to the programming computer in the electronics lab was quick though were those were only on par with regular computers.

Even with the base closed off I was happy to discover that Aria still had access to the simulation computer and could display the interface via the Null-Space holographic interface.

This was ideal for my next idea. I wanted to test what were the limitations for creating parahuman profiles. Taylor's experiences hadn't counted so it had to be me that observed them. It obviously didn't need to be a recent experience as I had only had my powers for four days but I had managed to create a profile for Clockblocker and Gallant who I had last seen months ago.

I may have seen them since but not known it if they weren't in costume, however the system had listed their availability when I selected the date that I had seen them in costume at the club. That to me was solid evidence that encounter was the source. Though that didn't rule out that if I had seen others parahumans out of costume I could add them to the system.

I set up a search with Aria to do the scan backwards taking note of any suitable targets for profiles. I mostly wanted parahumans but I also had her include gang members, police, PRT officers, security guards, bouncers, any sort of martial artists and a random sample of civilians. I wasn't fussed about the faces of the non-parahumans but, remembering Taylor's unspoken rules, I put in place instructions that for any parahumans that didn't match an existing profile to use the generic male or female avatar instead of a representative model and to assign them a random color rather than a name.

I would run simulations to work out who they were through power usage. Then I'd select an image from public media of their public costume. The system could easily manage that. After starting the search running, I went and had dinner.

Back in my room I pulled out my drumsticks and played as Aria presented the results. I had a veritable town of normal profiles to use and seven parahumans matches, five female and two males. I was rather surprised and pleased by that.

After setting up an alarm I dismissed the results and got down to some serious drum playing for an hour.

It was very relaxing but the sooner I could put my full kit back together the better.

Finished with the drums I used the remote interface to set up a series of battles using the same generic street corner and capture victory conditions I had used before. I pointed the webcam towards the door to my room and told Aria to give me a warning if anyone knocked or called out. Then, after placing a few boxes behind the door, I made my way to the simulation room.

The first battle was between the two first matches, both females. Two generic female forms stood across from each other, both wearing simple body suits, one red and the other blue. For equipment both had been provided with a pack of brute level zip ties.

"Go."

Red charged towards a nearby security guard, body checked him, then she seemed to flicker as she snatched his baton out of its holster on his belt. I didn't know what the flicker was and the angle the baton left the holster also didn't seem right.

My attention turned to blue who was sprinting directly at red.

Soon they were at hand to hand range. Red with her baton and blue unarmed.

Of course, my power chose that exact time to offer me a view of a new power room, thankfully I had the choice to push it back so I hastily did that so I could focus on the fight.

Red looked to have some martial training from her pose and quickly scored a strong hit on blue's arm causing Blue to gasp in pain. Blue didn't seem to be trying to hit Red, just trying to touch her and it seemed Red noticed and was controlling the distance accordingly.

Red landed a stronger hit which contacted with a sharp crack and I winced in sympathy as Blue screamed in pain and cradled her arm. But just as Red jumped forward to hit her head Blue suddenly ducked and reached out. She had almost scored a touch when Red turned to shadow and ghosted through Blue. The baton reformed and slammed against the back of a surprised Blue's head. The system popped up a 'Victory Red' floating message.

I named Red 'Shadow Stalker' though the high level of violence and knowing Shadow Stalker was a ward had me add a little question mark next to that, I'd run another simulation later to confirm. I really wasn't sure who Blue could be.

Next were two more females. Green and Yellow this time. It didn't last long at all as Yellow just took to the air and flew at Green punching her unconscious in seconds. Green didn't have a chance to do anything, she just stood there looking stunned and then was falling.

Victory was listed before she had hit the street.

There were quite a few female flyers so nothing there was conclusive.

Third battle included the first male, Orange against the fifth female, purple. These two I identified quickly. Orange fired off a burst of loud sound as he dashed forward with powerful strides. Triumph. Purple dodged behind a hotdog cart and a few seconds later the cart flew forward. Orange tried to dodge but the cart swerved and smashed into him. Orange tumbled but didn't seem too hurt and after the cart had battered him a few more times he managed to smash through it only to be collected by a minivan that Purple has spent a little longer writing on with her finger. Rune.

Orange was still struggling to move whilst pushed up against the wall by the minivan when I cancelled the simulation. I had seen enough and Rune was already working on another car. I didn't think it would have ended well for Triumph.

For the fourth battle I put Blue up against the last male, Gray. The battle started with both charging the other. Blue again showed a lack of fighting ability whilst Gray looked like an accomplished fighter. He took down Blue with a leg sweep, then tackled her quickly putting her into an armbar. He was reaching for his zip ties when Blue grabbed his ankle, forced the costume up and as soon as she made skin contact Gray collapsed unconscious giving Blue the Victory.

It was impressive but I still had no idea who they were.

I triggered a few more battles to see if I could make it a bit clearer. Blue seemed fairly average at fighting but a single touch and the battle was won. Green never seemed to achieve anything and was knocked out by Yellow quickly or subdued by Gray with a few quick moves. Yellow was able to punch out Blue before she got a touch in and Gray before he had a chance to apply any sort of decent move. The few times he got a hit in first didn't seem to hurt Yellow at all.

The only one I was semi sure of was Yellow being Glory Girl. Then it clicked. Glory Girl had a public identity.

'Aria, change the parameters. Any profile for a parahuman that has a publicly known identity should use their own visage rather than the generic.'

I was not surprised when Yellow turned into Victoria Dallon. Though she was in civilian garb so it'd have to manually select her costume from the news feeds. I was however surprised when Blue turned into Panacea. After a moment's thought it did make sense, as a healer she should be able to apply an anaesthetic to a wounded person and combat wasn't her thing.

I decided five new known profiles was good though it was a little unfortunate that most were heroes. Maybe Green or Gray would turn out to be a villain once I worked out a better scenario to test them.

I left and closed up my base and sat at my drums before I let the power vision start. The first room, which moved quite fast, was a highly sophisticated smelting and forge setup for working with unusual and impressive materials. I would have liked to examine it for longer but it was gone before I could get a good grasp on what was on display. I did regret holding it back which seemed to have reduced the viewing time.

The next room was a futuristic Armory filled with massive amounts of weapons and parts of weapons. Benches were set up for the breakdown, repair and customization of weapons and armor. This was a power I was gaining and I immediately realized that this could be immensely helpful. However, before I could rush back into my lab and examine my new acquisition a second vision arrived.

There was no choice this time to delay and I immediately found myself inside a computer control room with an impressive number of monitors showing simultaneous data on and feeds from hundreds of drones. It was running some sort of battle simulation but it looked like it was set up to do much more. As it faded from view Aria spoke up, 'Upgrade successful. I am now one hundred percent integrated with all the computers system in the base and am ready to provide tactical data and support. Drone integration systems are online and ready for connection.'

Smiling I added a note to purchase some broken drones to my to do list.

I reopened my base and was pleased to see in the back right corner a series of lockers that weren't there before.

Inside them I found a massive array of augments and mods for weapons and armor. Whilst these almost felt like Tinker level compared to modern technology, I knew that the concepts were understandable and with time I could examine and learn the technology behind them. This meant that so could anyone else give the time to pull them apart and reverse engineer them. These didn't have the Tinker blackbox effect applied and could be easily misused if they fell into the wrong hands.

Sadly, after reviewing the available units, it turned out that the vast majority wouldn't be useful unless I switched to lethal weapons. There were a few I could apply to a taser or stun gun and three others for armor that had promise. I could outfit a suit of armor with 'Electrical Conduits' that could shock attackers if they got within melee range. It was designed for use as a defensive weapon but I was fairly sure I could repurpose it to be used offensively through gloves.

There was also a 'Kinetic Coil' that would improve overall damage resistance and a Medi-Gel regulator that seemed to offer a health boost but I had a feeling something else was required for it to function.

Knowing that I had already reviewed all the available mods and augments that had appeared I wasn't going to bother Checking the last few lockers in the row. That was until I heard a faint scratching and then a long screech from the third last locker. My initial thought was that there was a monkey trapped inside the locker. Not stopping to think about it I opened the locker and a tiny fox like creature made a sort of muffled bark at me before it rolled over and waved a paw at me. As soon as I put my hand near it, it rolled back on to its feet pushed up against me like a cat would.

Rather shocked it took me a moment to recognise the animal as fennec fox. The knowledge that he was my loyal pet came shortly after and I noted that I'd find everything I needed to feed and look after him either in this locker or in the bathroom.

After a quick investigation of the locker, not only did I find food for the little man, but I also found a supply of futuristic rations suitable for humans. The rations were in a series of small drawers in the locker that I immediately knew would refill after use. My power was getting stranger and stranger. Other reality warping powers existed, like Labyrinths, but I hadn't come across anything that suggested they had any sort of external intelligence behind them.

I set down some food for little Fennec. I'd decided if the name didn't suit, I'd come up a better name later.

Then I checked the last two lockers. I was only somewhat surprised to find the first was a weapons locker and though it was set up to hold a variety of weapons it only held a small futuristic pistol and a strange arm band. I cautiously took the pistol and, after making sure the safety was on, examined it whilst keeping it pointed well away from me. Then I put the M-3 Predator Pistol away. At least I had something I could use the mods on but I wasn't planning on carrying a lethal weapon around. It was one thing to decide that the world would be better without a lot of the criminals in it and another to actually realise I had a weapon that could do the job and then use it.

I picked up the arm band and which I realized was a biotic amplifier. Whilst wearing it my punches would hit harder than a professional boxer's. Maybe even up to a minor brute level. I'd have to do some study to work out where it rated. Less lethal but I would have to get a lot closer to an opponent to make use of it.

I was tempted to give this to Taylor but since it was the only example of the device I had, I'd need to make sure I had fully documented the design and had blackboxed parts of it before letting it out of my base. The augments and mods would assist there as I had the blueprints for those and the technology was related. I found it strange that those came with blueprints but the weapons didn't.

I locked both the weapons away and after picking up Fennec opened the last locker. He cuddled into my arms and sniffed at the suit of armor that filled the locker. It was a set of the most basic Hyper Guardian armor. However, most basic still meant it came with kinetic barriers, life support and short range jump jets.

"Thanks, little guy, if it wasn't for you, I might not have seen this in here." I tickled Fennec which he seemed to enjoy.

Documenting and blackboxing this armor suit was going to be my number one priority for some time This could make a cape out of anyone. I was sure that the technology in front of me would allow me to take Taylor's costume to the next level.

After that reveal I decided to take it easy. I located a small basket that would make a suitable home for Fennec and brought it out to my bedroom along with a supply of food and the small litter box also conveniently provided with the little guy. Then I closed up my base and put my feet up.

Time to chill. I'd work on sorting out my to-do list by priority once I worked out how Taylor wanted to proceed. She was the cape after all and I was going to be Q.