CH2 - PRT Interlude

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"What should my caption be?

I want it to be clever." - #SELFIE

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The conference room snapped into view, and from the vantage point of the security cameras she saw the CGI face she presented to the world start up quietly on a screen to the right. In the same moment, she deactivated the screen.

There wasn't anything she could contribute to this meeting that Armsmaster could not do alone. Given how upset he was last night, she did not think he would appreciate her presence today.

Armsmaster was standing near the screen at the far end, and Assault and Battery were sitting near the door. Between them were Dauntless, Miss Militia, Velocity, and Aegis on one side. Director Piggot and Deputy Director Renick sat on the other. Aegis looked like he wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing.

As she watched, Triumph slipped in the door, looking embarrassed.

"Now that we're all here," Piggot said, giving him no time to speak. "It's your show, Armsmaster."

Armsmaster didn't move, but the large screen against the wall lit up, and a overhead map of Brockton Bay appeared. A green line appeared, starting in the woods just outside the city, and crossing over before going out to sea. Beside it, the Earth spinning slowly, with another green line around it.

"This was the flight trajectory of the latest satellite in orbit. Much of this is from event reconstruction; it was small, fast, and barely showed up on radar as it exited United States airspace. It reached low earth orbit in less than ten minutes, and was quickly escalated up the chain, ultimately earning a brief threat check with WEDGDG. Given size, speed, and performance, it was assumed to be tinkertech. A note was made to keep an eye out locally."

The image on screen switched, to various devices laid out on a table, over boxes of text.

"The next day, a new parahuman was seen at the local market here in Brockton Bay. He has been codenamed Black Box for now. He was selling tinkertech. Given obvious mutations to the head, it is possible that he is a Case 53. Protocols for Case 53s suggested a light touch, and the analysts concurred. They recommended purchasing tech samples before taking further action. This was done, and they were brought in for testing."

"During the testing, I noticed unusual efficiency in design, more than most tinkertech displays. This could be the result of a tinker specialty that requires narrow tolerances, or simply a personal trait. Performance of the items has not degraded yet, and none have failed. It was all solid state, with no seams or fasteners."

"The most important thing is that there were no third party components. Nothing conventional off the shelf, nothing that could be recognized from tinkertech part distributors, legal or illegal. By all evidence, every item purchased was one hundred percent custom design and manufacture, from the ground up."

He shifted in place. It was slight, but small details stood out to her regardless. He wasn't happy with what he had to say.

"I realized the next day that the battery design alone would require nanoscopic manufacturing processes. I take full responsibility for the delay; the samples were brought in late the day before, and I did not see the implications. According to protocols in place since Eagleton, I flagged the report and uploaded it to WEDGDG servers."

She noticed Piggot frown.

"The response was potential but not immediate threat. Full measures against the tinker were considered high-risk, but according to WEDGDG operating within the same limits as applied to more typical tinkers is unlikely to provoke a high-risk event."

"I still think that's the wrong approach, but I've been stonewalled," Piggot interjected.

"...Yes," Armsmaster said after a moment. "They recommended soft touch, authorized approach. In the event the parahuman commits a crime, only escalate as justified by something other than nanotechnology."

"I'm sure we will be able to think of something," Piggot said.

Armsmaster frowned.

"Kill order has been pre-authorized, contingent on evidence of self-replication."

Piggot opened her mouth.

"Hard evidence," Armsmaster quickly continued. "Tactical thermobaric missiles have been moved to neighboring cities from the Eagleton quarantine zone. They will be on standby if needed to help shut down a self replicating nanotechnology event."

"That concludes the read-in."

"Is that all we know?" Battery asked.

"No. Tinkertech of the same type is being sold through the Brockton Bay board on PHO. It is delivered by autonomous robots. Payment is taken by the robot, and any attempt to rob or track the robot results in a self-destruct, destroying both it and it's cargo with explosives and disassembler nanites. We have not had any encounters with the tinker himself. The only thing we can work with is the delivery robots, and they do not fight, only try to escape or self destruct."

"What matters is how do we kill them," Piggot said.

"As far as nanomachines like the disassemblers go, their weakness is temperature. Any given design at that scale deals poorly with heat or cold."

"And the robots?" Miss Militia said.

"Armor piercing ammunition, 'dragon's breath' ammunition, incendiaries. These all have collateral damage and PR issues, unfortunately. Assault and Battery might work for crippling, after which flamethrowers could be applied if needed. It is also worth trying Dauntless' Arclance. I'm currently working on better countermeasures."

"Is there any reason to think we will need to fight?" Velocity asked. "I read the list up there— batteries, solar panels, stuff like that. It's a crime, but it's white collar. We have drug dealers and neo-Nazis on the streets."

"This is just being prepared," Miss Militia responded. "We can't ignore a crime in progress, no matter how trivial, so if we encounter one of these robots we need to know how to fight them. In case it comes to that."

"It will," Piggot said firmly. "Someone like this is dangerous. Watchdog wants us to pussyfoot around, fine, but we all know that anyone willing to use these 'disassemblers' in a goddamn delivery robot is going to cross the line sooner or later. We better be ready when they do." She stood up roughly. "I think I've said all I need to say about this."

She stalked out, letting the door thump shut.

"...Well, that's…" Triumph started, then trailed off.

"She has some personal history with Nilbog," Assault finally said. "It's not the same, but the Machine Army in Eagleton is similar, so…" He leaned back, shrugging.

"I see," Triumph said.

"Eagleton quarantine favors energy Blasters. Unfortunately, the closest we have at our branch is Dauntless, and to an extent Miss Militia. They… are not the type of Blaster they recommend. Director Piggot has authorized me to reach out to New Wave and have their adult membership read in sometime this week to help cover that. I've requested special authorization to hire Faultline's Crew for Spitfire, if necessary. That is still under review at a higher level."

There was silence, for a minute.

"Did we miss anything? Any other ideas..." Battery looked around the table.

"No, I think that's all," Armsmaster said, after a pause. "There just isn't enough to go on right now."

Everyone started standing up.

"I will schedule another meeting if anything new comes up," Armsmaster said.

Dragon watched everyone filing out of the conference room, and quietly disconnected.