This chapter partially reviewed by cats. Undead Robot, broughtfromxp, and Abhorsen helped too.

Ascent 2.2

"Grant, pass me the reflective strip."

I tossed it Richard's way, then went back to digging through the bin of clothes. Fuck, nothing my size. I sorted out a few pairs of shorts and jeans for the others, taking a swig of energy drink as I tossed them in the costume pile behind me.

"Hey Grant, come help me with this!" Zach called from his workstation.

I clambered to my feet, taking another swig as I walked over. "What's up?"

"I need you to take these parts and make sure they won't blow up in any unintended way."

Zach's second project of the night featured a cylindrical core of tinkertech attached to the handle end of an aluminum bat, its glittering microcircuitry and other futuristic tech obviously designed so that it could be covered by a nearby sheath of wood-painted metal to form an innocuous-looking oversized slugger.

"'Kay," I said, "Walk me through it. What does it do?"

"It's the Home Run Bat from Smash Bros, modified for the new theme. Swing it just right, it sends the target flying. Problem is, I'd done a few kinetic energy tech jobs before, so this thing just shorted out on the second hit and went in the trash." He pointed out a few areas of the device. "I've repaired the circuitry here, here, and here. Kinetic buffer is the biggest point of potential disaster, here. Check it over, I gotta go help Rich with the costumes."

"Thanks," I muttered as he left, going for a soldering iron.

Tech/Pretech Check(Int): Rolled 7+1 vs. difficulty 7. Pass.

The repairs went quickly: a few issues with shard-tech worked around, four or five potential points of failure dealt with, and I had a mostly safe, Tinkertech-lite device. If it wasn't destroyed, I might take the bat apart later and write down the schematics of the individual parts, get kinetic tech unlocked.

Unfortunately, the work took time; an hour was gone when I next checked the clock. I cracked open a bottle of water after sealing up the device, wiping my forehead of sweat and getting up to check on costumes.

Richard had finished up with the sewing machine, having added silver and white trim to a dark violet leather jacket left over from some other game. A few other outfits in their sizes lay neatly folded nearby, carefully picked from the prop bins to match different character themes. By the looks of it, he'd moved to the woodworking station, lathe steadily forming what I presumed was the Pimp Cane. Meanwhile, Zach Tinkered away at his station, though I couldn't make out his project from this distance.

I chugged down the bottled water and went to get some more chicken. As I ate and waited for someone to need assistance, I mentally ran threat assessments for the Tattletale situation.

I could tell that I was starting to flag a little. The clock said 5:30, which meant I was less than an hour away from today's sleep cycle. Drowsiness would set in soon, followed by jitters as caffeine warred with serotonin, then most of my background processing would shut down until I only had one or two trains of thought going at once. After that, I could maintain that level of control until I either crashed and was forced asleep, or stayed up all 8 hours.

As far as I knew, I couldn't depend on having mental defenses beyond my saving throws. CYOA mechanics could be a possibility, but the lack of other upsides and downsides implied that wasn't the case. Saving throws probably wouldn't work on Tattletale- she didn't directly affect people, just gathered ambient information- so it stood to reason that she would read me like a book. I couldn't even lay low; she would be drawn to the fact that Uber and Leet were at the meeting as is, never mind that they had a new member.

Basically, by the time we were at Somer's Rock, I wouldn't be able to rely on myself to hide things well, and in general I couldn't expect my 'powers' to hide much either. I needed to assume that everything I knew, she might know. Plan for the worst, hope for better.

"How do you beat a cold reader and information gatherer at her own game, while exhausted out of your mind?" I mumbled as I went to finish off my water. "Hmmm… maybe…"

"Grant, can you come check this one?"

Distracted, I lost my train of thought. "Yeah, one sec," I called back, filing the bits of plan away for later. Taking a final bite of chicken and wiping my hands, I joined Zach at the table, grabbing another energy drink on the way. "Sup?" I said, pulling up a chair.

He gestured at the mess of circuitry on the table. "Got a wireless stun gun, just want a quick check-over."

"Ah, I loved this thing in the game," I commented as I started looking it over.

Tech/Pretech Check(Int): Rolled 6+1 vs. difficulty 7. Pass.

As I got to work, Zach made to get up. "Hey, wait," I said, stopping him. "Can we talk a minute? I wanna clear up a few things before I forget."

"Sure, what?" he asked as he continued to get up, stretching.

I turned the device, finding the first of several flaws that could be repaired, not bothering to de-tinker the design for speed's sake. "I've been wracking my brain a bit. I need a cape name."

He sat back down, disengaging the lock on the swivel chair so he could lean back. "Well, tell me what you've got."

"Umm…" I bought time, distracted by the search for a tool. "Well, I was thinking about your naming scheme, but I'm not the best with leetspeak, and it's hard coming up with a good name as is, let alone a bunch of weird powers and fitting a theme." I swapped a too-weak resistor with a more powerful one, and continued. "Best one I got was Skillz, but that just feels like I'm stealing Uber's shtick, you know?"

He rubbed his chin while I checked a few more spots. "Any other options you came up with?"

I shrugged. "Hax, but I'd really rather not, for… personal reasons." Too cliché. Every fanfic and their uncle used Hax for my position. "Maybe, um," I pulled out a pair of fine tweezers and realigned a part, then dug out the hot glue to prevent it coming loose. "There's Pwn, but I'm not sure I like that either. Phreak, if I was a better computers guy, but that would take a while."

"Huh," he said, sounding a little surprised at the list. "You're really thinking ahead. Good." He spun a bit, thinking. I worked on, and soon deemed the device passable. No major failure points I could see with my presumably successful check.

"I think-"

"What about-"

I stopped, he stopped. I waved for him to continue.

"What about Meta?"

Meta? I mean, it was a gaming term, sure, but… "I-" I stopped, yawning, as a wave of exhaustion made it hard to think. "I mean, why?"

"What? You change the group dynamic, and your powers supposedly change and improve, too. It works."

Yeah, I thought, better than you know. I wasn't from this universe, or didn't think I was anyway, and a name like that would be a stark reminder for as long as I had it. Still, it was better than Skillz or Phreak. "Sure. We'll go with that for now, unless we figure something out later." Hopefully. "I gotta go walk around a minute, maybe splash my face with some water. Seal the thing up for me, would you?" Before I got an answer, I grabbed my drink can and walked away, stifling another yawn.

Setting the Scene...

We walked through the tired, shabby streets of the southern docks district. The area was what a less exhausted me might have charitably labeled 'a bit sketchy', AKA that area you could just as easily be fine or dead after walking through it this time of night. Barred windows, heavy doors, and few external decorations made it hard to even tell what was open, and the inset doors would be perfect places for a mugger to hide. Luckily, we were dressed as capes.

At least, a little. Uber was dressed as a pimp, leaning on his Pimp Cane, wearing fine silks over hidden body armor and a ridiculous, feathered, ultra-wide-brimmed hat with a domino mask, all in bright cerulean and sea-green. Leet had on the set of combat gear from my first night, dyed purple and black. I was dressed as a street thug, a pair of aviators barely fitting over my glasses and a bandanna-cap combo on my head. Worse, my body was stuffed into a restrictive and non-zippable violet leather jacket, which pulled tight whenever I bent my elbows, but they were rushed for time and had nothing else close to my size, so it would do.

If anybody was dumb enough to try something, on three people who were obviously capes, on tonight of all nights? Well, I'd pity them.

I smiled wryly at the train of thought. It helped to smile, when I was tired, even if I didn't feel happy or optimistic. Kept my thoughts more in neutral ground, even if it made me feel a bit off-kilter.

Zach(No, Leet, in costume) abruptly stopped, and opened a door. "I think this is the right place," he said in a low voice. "Looks as shitty as I remember, that's for sure."

I just nodded and went inside, too exhausted to banter about the dingy pub, the deaf waitresses, or anything. We took a booth, and I tiredly wrote an order for a double espresso with a shot of whiskey to hopefully shock me awake for the next hour or two, followed by some ice water with lemon.

Fifteen minutes later, as I took my first sip of the vile concoction, the door opened. In walked… wow, so that's what vantablack looks like.

Grue, looking for all the world like a smoking hole in reality with a skull for a face, glanced around the pub, his empty sockets settling on our table.

Suddenly, things felt a hell of a lot more real. I was starting to regret our nonchalant costume choices.

The other Undersiders filed in behind Grue. Bitch, with her barely-a-costume dog mask; Regent, in his Shakespearean finery; Skitter, whose costume and body language were, well, at least as off-putting as I imagined, despite the fact I rarely cared about bugs; and Tattletale, who I now realized I had never correctly imagined the costume of; it was mostly lavender, with lines of black sort of crosshatching across it. I had the impression it was the opposite, for whatever reason.

Shit, I should not be thinking about their costume descriptions like that. Big Brother is watching, so to speak.

A voice echoed ominously from the void that was Grue. "I see you've been recruiting."

"Provisionally. I hope your group is well?" Uber replied in a voice like smooth chocolate, a fair distance from his casual rough tone. "We… weren't aware that Bakuda was that far off the reservation."

"Sure," Tattletale replied smoothly, her smile mocking. "It was just a game, right?"

Without flinching at the barb, Uber replied, "It was supposed to be, yes. Now we want to stop what we helped start."

I cradled my drink and did my best to focus solely on staying awake, trying not to think about anything important as I internally groaned for not planning more. Tattletale was right there, and I could almost feel her eyes probing me for information. I took a big sip, suppressing a sour expression at the bitter, fiery heat of coffee and liquor that was the only way I would make it through this whole damned affair, and tried to play the part of a shy, exhausted rookie.

Stealth Check (Wis): Rolled 7-2 vs. difficulty 9. Fail.

"Well," Grue said, fishing out a CD from his pocket and throwing the case on our table, "Good luck with that. Here's the fight after you guys left." They turned to go, and I glanced up in time to see a parting smile from Tattletale in my direction. It was the kind of smug look that told me all I needed to know; she had gotten something, regardless of how much or little she had actually used her power. I could only hope it was something less on the 'everything you need to know about everything' side, and more on the 'oh, you're lying to your teammates and your favorite colors are gold and violet' side.

I braced myself, then tossed the rest of my drink back. I did not need this tonight.

Making Con Saves...

You know, maybe it was the fact that my brain was now functioning on a heady cocktail of caffeine and serotonin, a pinch of alcohol and taurine, and a whole mess of transdimensional bullshit slow-cooking small sections of my brain to numbness, but man, this meeting was surprisingly dull. Big guy files in, lackeys in tow(or in doppelCoil's case, a lack of lackeys). Show of force is implied. Table seat taken. Repeat.

Of course, my presence did change things.

Uber got to join the table because the duo had actually worked with Bakuda; we had stream recordings of the attack and some minor pieces of information on their resources. Conspicuously absent was the information about the slave-bombs inside the heads of innocents, which they seemed to have missed in their haste to leave the fiasco. I'd neglected to add that detail for the sake of consistency; Grue would mention it anyway.

"Why should you have a seat at the table?" Kaiser asked Grue as he walked over.

Oh, wait, shit. Grue had joined because he had that information on CD in canon.

"You've seen their video," he said without missing a beat, echoing voice betraying nothing as he nodded to Uber. "We fought her. We came out of that intact, and we have information on her powers and tactics that you may regret not hearing."

Kaiser, bastard he was, pondered a moment before nodding assent. I couldn't see his face from this angle (and even if I could it was behind a helm of blades), but I could almost feel the smugness radiating off him from his little show of power. Thank god Grue basically lived for reputation games in costume.

I quietly wished that the car was closer, so I could go to sleep sooner once we left.

Next inside were the Merchants. Skidmark was even less appealing to behold than expected. Ruined greenish-brown teeth, ratty clothing, a whiff of something foul. Behind him was a woman who had to be Squealer dressed like a junkyard Road Warrior, and… who was that? A cape I didn't recognize, too normal-shaped to be Mush, his 'costume' a hoodie that was dripping on the floor like he'd just dumped a bucket of water on his head. While Skidmark called Kaiser a 'puckered, juicy asshole,' I leaned forward and asked Leet for info.

He shrugged.

The moistened mystery joined his other Merchant friends in a booth while I wondered what I'd done to cause such a huge divergence from canon so soon after arrival. The Travelers' entrance shook me out of a half-stupor of tired causality modeling, and I decided the new cape wasn't that important in the end.

The rest of the meeting went about as expected; Uber showed the video once more, complete with introduction, then talked about some insights Leet had made on the tinker's gear. In return, he was snubbed as Grue brought out the much more useful information on internal bombs, Bakuda's general psyche, and her recent lack of toes. To be honest, Uber took it graciously; the kind of people skills he could have when he gave a damn surprised me, powers or no.

I sipped my water as Hookwolf brought up his grievances. Across the room, Tattletale leaned in to whisper with Skitter. I wished I could chat with Leet, who was watching with interest as Grue resolved the dispute, but I doubted I could pay attention to either him or the meeting in any meaningful way for too much longer. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait. Uber got up along with the other members of the main table and headed our way. Coil's double went to discuss rates with Faultline, and the Travelers lingered a bit as well. On their way out the door, the Undersiders walked past our table. Tattletale hung back a moment, and I glanced up.

"Just wanted to congratulate you on the new teammate," she said, and were it not for her expression I might have believed she was sincere. "I hope you think his provisional status through. Wouldn't want it to blow up in your face!"

Stealth Check (Wis): Rolled 2-2 vs. difficulty 6. Critical Fail.

Wow, Lisa, I thought to myself. What a dick move. And here I thought I liked you.

Her smug expression flickered a bit as if she'd noticed something disgusting in my teeth. Before I could even begin to bring myself to reply to her sabotage, Skitter arrived at her side. "Is there a problem?"

"...No," Tattletale replied after a pause. "You two have a good night." The two most dangerous teens in the Bay departed.

"Fucking bitch," Leet commented. I neglected to answer, using my remaining brainpower to puzzle out what had just happened. Tattletale had been digging at Leet with the face-blow-up thing, but her focus had been on sabotaging my spot in the group. What were her exact words? Something something 'think things through'? What was that expression she had? Anger? Disgust? Shock?

Leet stood from the booth and Uber took his spot, sliding over so Leet could sit back down. I realized after a moment that this meant we were staying here. I stopped trying to think about things for now, instead asking the most important question there could be in this moment.

"Hey, so, we're not leaving? Is there a reason for that?"

"Well, we were talking, before, and I think we should ask Coil for some resources," Leet said. "We've got things we don't have good supply lines for, and a time limit to get them. All your medical tech, a few of my new ideas, maybe some combat gear…"

I shook my head. "I really think we should work without his help. He's-" I yawned, "-the kind of guy who'd stab us in the back jus' to watch us bleed out, I bet." I finished off my water, looking unhappily at the empty glass as I contemplated working with Coil.

Uber, dropping his announcer voice, nodded assent. "Probably, but unless you can think of a better way to get those materials, we should still ask."

I glanced at Coil's double, seriously discussing terms with Faultline while Newter and Gregor stood guard. I bobbed my head in acknowledgment as I accidentally locked eyes with Gregor. He stared dispassionately, and I looked away.

"Yeah, you're right," I sighed, too tired to argue. "Better him than Empire, I guess." I'd have to stay hands-off with Coil for a while anyway, might as well benefit a bit from his continued villainy. "Maybe ask him now, and get a phl- a phone number? I'm not gonna be able to list off ingredients as I am right now."

"Sure. Let's go talk to him, then get you back home for some rest." They started sliding out of the booth, and after some hesitation, I followed.

"You guys do realize the only reason I'm awake is because I'm high-functioning when impaired, right?" I muttered as we weaved our way across the bar. "I'm basically drunk right now."

"Then don't talk," Uber said, his voice smooth and deep again. "Just look like you mean business. Shouldn't be hard to stand still and look like a goon."

"Right. I'll do that." Anything to get this over with.

We found a seat at the bar near Faultline's group, and shortly thereafter, said group finished their negotiations and left. Uber took the lead in standing, and I begrudgingly followed them over.

"Coil, we'd like to thank you for the opportunity to join the meeting," he said as we approached. "If you have a minute, we'd be interested in an arrangement of our own."

'Coil' motioned to a seat, and Uber took it. Leet sat next to him, and I sat further down. "Of course. You should know though, I am not looking to hire a second group of parahumans to assist us at this time."

"That's a shame, to be sure," Uber said conspiratorially, "but not unexpected. No, we were hoping we could buy tinker supplies through your channels, instead of ours. With a broker's fee, of course."

"Ah, yes, I could certainly provide such a service," the thin man said, leaning forward to express interest. "I hope you understand how expensive that might prove, though. I assume money is no object?"

Leet cut in, putting on his nasally 'streamer voice' just a bit now that he was talking outside the group. "Money is always an object when dealing with tinkertech, of course. Of course we are willing to negotiate alternative forms of payment, should an item prove too expensive for our liking. Favors, free or reduced jobs, custom Tinkertech, and other things in that vein."

Coil's doppelganger steepled his hands. "I would be willing to serve as a middleman for supplies in exchange for… two favors, in future, along with a fifteen percent fee on all purchases. That rate would only apply for the duration of the truce: any continued business would need a more formal arrangement. Do you find that amenable?"

Leet glanced at me, and I nodded reluctantly. Coil was a devil in the literal form of a serpent, offering an apple in exchange for our souls, but we had little else to work with. Two favors just meant two more things to make him pay for when the time came.

"We're in agreement," Leet said. "I look forward to working together."

"As do I," the double said, offering a hand, then proceeding into the most awkwardly stiff shake I'd ever seen. With that sinister deal sealed, we headed home, looking forward to the last night of peaceful rest we'd have for awhile.