Step 9.1
My foot tapped against the floor while I waited for a response.
I never expected my first test of the system Veda and Trevor helped devise to go so spectacularly sideways. The reconfigured drive interior let me activate the effect Veda triggered in Boston at will. It only lasted for a few minutes before the GN field couldn't keep it going, but so what? At three times the power and speed what could even last a few minutes against Astraea or Queen?
Dinah's power going completely out was completely outside of what I expected.
"We should not get ahead of ourselves," Dragon said.
I glanced down at my phone.
"We need to confirm it," G said. "There are a number of things that have and can block precognition, but there are limits. Scope."
"Forecast said that her power didn't work at all," I said, "like she didn't even have one. We did an immediate test after I got back to the workshop, and it happened again. Her power stopped working while the GN drive was in Trans-Am. Even when I turned the drive off though, her power blanks out if a possibility involves Trans-Am coming on."
"Has that ever happened before?" H asked.
"Yes," I said. "We've always assumed her power will cut her off if the question asked stops being relevant. I've always taken it as an inherent limit. We've never had her visions just stop in the middle of things though."
"Did this 'trans-am' have any effect on Laughter's power?" J asked.
"Lafter?" I asked. I raised my head and looked out the windshield. "Why?"
"When a bullet is fired at her, she begins moving before the trigger is pulled," H said. "Though, combat thinkers have always been difficult to qualify in terms of cause and effect."
"Lafter didn't say anything," I said. "But, then her power isn't like Forecast's. I suppose I could turn the GN drive on, point a gun at her, and… That's a terrible idea I'm stopping right there."
Stupid idea. If trans-am did interfere with her power, she'd get shot. Guess I'd gotten too accustomed to the idea of Lafter avoiding bullets like playing a game of dodge ball.
Part of me assumed she'd be fine. Lafter's power was weird. It didn't just involve her body moving in reaction to things fractions of a second before they happened. She also affected things physically. Guns exploded in people's hands. Doors came out of their frames. Cabinets collapsed. Logically, there might be nothing precognitive about her power at all. It might simply be a very subtle and constant telekinesis that affected everything around her.
She didn't dodge the bullet by moving before it fired. She dodged it because some part of her knew it was about to fire. Her telekinesis felt the finger on the trigger moving. She moved in response to an actual physical stimuli, not because she 'saw' what would happen next.
At least, that's what I'd put together after months of being around her.
"This could significantly change the board," H mumbled.
"I said we should not get ahead of ourselves," Dragon said.
"No," J said. "He's right. If the GN drive in this heightened state is able to block precognition, even interfere with it-"
"The Simurgh could be killed," I said.
Silence followed. That's what Dragon was afraid of probably.
Me, getting it in my head I could kill the Hope Killer. The thought immediately entered my mind when Dinah told me, not going to lie. The Foundation and I determined months ago the best deployment of the solar furnace technology was orbital. Massive furnaces able to supply completely free and clean energy to the entire world. No more wars over oil or natural gas. No more conflict over uranium enrichment or nuclear waste.
Only a particular Endbringer stood in the way of that plan being feasible.
The PRT was very tight lipped about the Endbringers, but they'd never been able to suppress everything. The Simurgh had multiple abilities. Tinkering, telekinesis, and her scream were the most famous. Her ability to master people was unparalleled, but that's not what made her so hard to take down. The Simurgh was precognitive. She dodged attacks before they came, or built obstacles in the early stages of a battle that ended up being the crux of a crushing defeat.
If the Simurgh died, it completely changed the game. If she couldn't use her precognition, then she might die.
"We'd need to test it extensively," I said.
"We need to be careful," G said. "This wouldn't be the first time someone got it in their heads that they could kill the Simurgh. It didn't go well for them."
I raised my brow.
"What?" I asked.
"Are you familiar with Zanzibar?" Dragon asked.
"The country?" I asked back.
"No, the cape. He was native to Jamaica," - Then why was he named after a country in Africa? - "and he had one of the most potent trump powers on record."
"Long explanation short," J said, "Zanzibar could stand in place and expand his control of the area around him. The longer he stood within his own area, the wider his area of control became."
"Okay," I said, waiting for the point.
"Within this area Zanzibar could completely negate powers," G said. "He was solely responsible for the complete absence of super villains in Kingston."
Okay, that is one hell of a power. "And I've never heard of him because..."
"He died in 2004," J said. "The Simurgh attacked Mexico City that year, only for a few minutes."
"Zanzibar went there?" I asked.
"No," Dragon said. "Zanzibar was killed a week later when the air conditioner in his home suddenly filled it with carbon monoxide."
Okay. That sent a chill down my spine.
"An air conditioner manufactured in Mexico City?" I asked.
"Yes," Dragon said. "The day before he died, Zanzibar approached the Guild with a plan to try and use his power on the Simurgh. He'd been present in Paris in 2003 when she appeared there and found he could block her scream."
"And the Simurgh killed him by fucking with an air conditioner six days before he even said anything," I mumbled.
"Yes," Dragon said. "Which is why we will not be discussing this topic."
…
Fuck that's bullshit.
How the hell could she even do that?
"There is little point in fearing a sudden death from some unseen avenue of attack," G said. "If the Simurgh's abilities enabled her to predict and prevent Zanzibar from taking any action against her, she could do the same to us on a whim. Fearing it serves no purpose. Will trans-am interfere with your ability to make use of Forecast's visions?"
Pushing the utter and absolute bullshit of the Simurgh seeing someone even thinking about going after her coming, I said, "I've already experimented with that a bit. Forecast can see just fine when the drive is normal. Asking her questions 'without using Trans-Am' seems to work just fine."
"And you can simply use the system later, still knowing what will happen," J said.
"Basically. Problem is, if trans-am merely increased performance, then Forecast's power should still work."
"There's more to the process than mere performance enhancement," Dragon said.
"There has to be," I said. "Maybe it's related to quantum states? Too much flux and it becomes impossible to even try predicting causality?"
"That goes beyond our present understanding of powers," S said. I was surprised to hear him speak. Aside from O, he was easily the most quiet of the old man brigade. "Especially thinker and tinker powers, given that they cannot be directly observed outside of what is done with them."
"A PRT power testing facility might be the most appropriate venue," G said. "They're quite adept at deciphering the scope and limits of powers."
"Piggot would love to finally have me in for power testing," I mumbled.
"The PRT also has access to thinkers the drive can be tested with," Dragon said. "Not all thinkers are the same. Just because the drive interfered with Forecast's power does not mean it'll interfere with others."
Yeah, that would be my luck. I invent something that fucks up only one thinker, and it happens to be the one on my team. Which sounded flippant, but I sensed Dinah's discomfort. I thought she'd gotten over her fears a bit, but maybe I'd been overly optimistic.
"I think you should mention this to Lieutenant Ramius," Dragon said. "She can make arrangements. The PRT will want to know the limits of the interference to ensure the functions of the Think Tank. They won't jerk you around on this, not even Piggot. Armsmaster is also adept in the field of power research."
Right. Another thing for us to talk about in our upcoming 'play date.'
Across the street in front of me, three men in dark clothes turned the street corner.
"Alright," I said. "I'll contact Ramius then."
"We can petition the PRT to involve us," J said. "The GN drive has truly become the gift that keeps on giving. I'm quite excited to hunt down this latest little mystery."
"Right."
I ended the call – maybe a little rudely – and focused on the men. Asian, of average height, and wearing ABB colors.
And this is what I'm reduced to.
Things had become so eerily calm in Brockton. It kind of freaked me out honestly. Worse, it left me uneasy and worried that I couldn't exist without some band of bad guys to pursue. With the Empire hiding, Coil and the Undersiders as elusive as ever – and you'd think tracking sightings of Grue and Hellhound would make finding them easy – I didn't have much to do. Street hustlers and common thieves were overkill for Astraea. Of course, I couldn't sit idle. That's just a straight no.
I watched the men walk up the street toward the shop on the corner. As soon as they entered, I sighed and swung the van door open.
Terry, sweet innocent Terry, heeded my offer. He evacuated the blocks around my factory overnight and stayed out. Smart lad. The rest of the ABB, somehow, didn't put the puzzle pieces together.
I crossed the street and ignored the few people who stared. The store on the corner was an Asian grocery. Looked pretty good given the area. Probably did great business on the whole. Perfect place for the ABB to hit with a racket.
The door rang when I opened it, and I held it open long enough for Orange, Green, and Purple to roll inside ahead of me.
The men were standing in front of the register, and couldn't possibly look more suspicious. I gave the Haros enough time to flank them, and pulled a saber from my belt-line. The young man behind the counter noticed me first. He crouched behind the register, and the ABB all turned. One of them had the register till in his hands.
Damn they work fast.
"I think you're doing this shopping thing backwards," I said. I flicked my saber on and took a step forward. "I'll give you a tutorial."
They hesitated. Of course, they hesitated.
And then, naturally, they pulled out some guns and Purple hit one of them in the head. With a can of beans. Naturally.
I charged, running straight at the men while Orange tackled them by the ankles. Green flew by them as one got a shot off, his body spinning on its axis as the bullet knocked him aside. I struck him in the arm first. He dropped his gun, and I kicked the man to his right in the leg and punched the one to the left in the jaw.
More detail would be superfluous. Purple punted one in the groin. Orange and Green hit another in the back and knocked him down. They bound him, and I kicked a gun out of a hand while Purple pulled it behind the owner's back. The whole thing ended pretty fast.
"Yes," I said to my phone. "Three guys trying to set up a racket. They're restrained."
"Um, okay." The officer on the other side of the line said something to someone. "So, I guess we'll be right over?"
"You are police officers," I said.
"Yes." That wasn't a question.
"So… That's your job?" Actually, how long has it been since any of them could do their job?
I hung up and stood over the prisoners.
"Why did you take a bullet?" I asked, looking down at green.
"Haro is bulletproof," he said, "more bulletproof."
I suppose, he did only have a little dent. And who knows where the bullet might have ended up. My costume was bulletproof, but it still hurt getting shot.
"Um." The boy behind the register peeked over the counter. "Hi."
"Hi."
We waited for the police to show up.
It felt mundane.
On the other hand, asking all the local news outlets to put a 'crimes' column on the front page of their websites was maybe my dumbest 'I can't believe this worked' idea ever.
Dinah couldn't read super fine print, but if they posted a list of crimes she could see them and tell me what would happen over the course of the next week. Robbery at the corner store? Not with me waiting across the street there won't be. Murder in some back alley? Easy enough for Lafter to divert the victim elsewhere while the Haros dealt with the would-be muggers. Bank robbery? Tattletale – fucking somehow – managed to slip her way out of the Undersiders getting caught in that. They never showed up to rob that bank, which is total bullshit on par with being killed by an air conditioner.
But I suppose the bank went unrobbed and I should be happy about that… Should.
Going out and fighting crime without my suit also served a purpose. Never knew when I might next get caught outside my suit. Hopefully not against an Endbringer like last time, but it could happen again any number of ways. I needed to be able to at least survive without armor surrounding me. Common bad guys is good practice, and I kept Astraea in the van just in case with Queen ready to deploy at a moment's notice.
Still felt kind of weird fighting crime unarmored.
Just keep reminding myself Kati said it'll play well with the public.
People like heroes they can see she said, and I'd finally put Brockton Bay into a place where just walking around wasn't inviting a mugging anymore. Well, less so than before.
"Anything?" I asked.
"Negative," Pink said, "Negative."
And it's still strange.
The Empire and Coil seemed absorbed in some kind of shadow war. Continuing conflict from the raid last week that Kaiser launched? I missed having access to the Empire's phones. With that I might have some clue of what exactly was going on. Coil robbed some bank boxes owned by an Empire front: a front directly managed by one of their highest ranking members. Kaiser retaliated directly. Did Coil strike back?
And then Lung, who spent the past week entirely too fucking quiet. The ABB was fighting with itself, but why wouldn't Lung just burn anyone who questioned him down? An ABB civil war, even a very tiny one with unclear sides, shouldn't be tying his hands up. A few fights involved Bakuda's bombs too. Little ones, thankfully.
Something wasn't right, I just couldn't put my finger on it.
I weighed my phone in my hand.
I'd gained new perspective on more than one problem in Boston. Forgiveness? No. Not ready for that. My cuts ran too deep on the front of trust to forgive, but I didn't want to resent him. Not like I continued to resent a former friend, or a now dead tormentor. There's something cruel in resentment. Something final, that feels heavier when you realize it'll never be resolved.
I'd never have a chance to face Sophia and make her see… I don't know. Something. Something unclear or unspecific? I didn't know. Really I couldn't imagine ever wanting to see her again were she alive.
But she died, and all that left me with was bitter memories.
I dialed the number and held my phone up.
"Taylor?" Dad asked.
"Hey," I said awkwardly. "I caught some bad guys."
Stupid.
"Okay."
And now I know how Veda felt.
And I felt like I'd somehow ended up on the shit end of both sticks. Having a parent who fucks you over – even unintentionally – is painful beyond belief. Having a kid – or a thinking computer, same difference – that you know you've fucked over is even worse. I couldn't forgive a man who flat out told me he knew he messed up and would do it again, but having some experience on the matter fresh in my head… It's really easy to fuck up. To lose sight of things and become consumed with something else.
Ironic. That's why I set myself on my course in the first place, right? Good guys too consumed with things that didn't matter to achieve anything meaningful. Fuck my life.
"I don't have anything to do tonight," I said.
The next crime Dinah predicted might happen wouldn't occur until nightfall, if at all. Lafter, Veda, and Haros could handle that. I had a team now so I might as well let them do things on their own. That is the point. I didn't have to do everything. For once.
Just this once.
"I, um, can be home for dinner."
"Oh."
"I don't remember if it's your turn to cook or mine."
He didn't answer, but I heard the sounds of fingers against wood on the other side of the line.
"You don't remember either do you?" I asked.
"Takeout?" He asked.
"Thai is fine." Wait, I hate Thai why did I say Thai?
"Thai sounds nice." Wait, don't we both hate Thai?
"Okay." So this is what family feuding gets you. "I'll be in a bit late, but not too late."
"Are you doing anything dangerous?" He asked.
"Technically the least dangerous thing I've done in months," I answered.
The cops came and picked up the prisoners. They managed to be a bit more impressive in person than over the phone. I gave a brief statement, and they talked to the cashier too. To my surprise they even took statements from the Haros, though they did not do themselves the favor of writing what they said down just the one time.
Veda pulled the van over as we finished up, and I climbed inside.
The Haros eventually joined me.
"Where did you find money for strawberries?" I asked as the three robots settled in.
"Lying around, lying around."
Fat chance.
"Where did you find the money?" I really needed to stop ignoring how they kept finding things.
"Tattletale's wallet," Orange said, "Tattletale's wallet."
I turned my head and stared at him.
"Tattletale," Green chriped, "Tattletale!"
"Acceptable target," Purple said. "Acceptable target."
"Very funny," I said. "Look, promise me you aren't taking it from people we're supposed to be helping. Can you do that?""
The Haros stared at me.
"Promise," they said together, "promise."
I'm just going to have Veda spy on them a bit harder.
"Why do you have strawberries?" I asked.
"Enough for the whole class," Green said, "Enough for the whole class."
Figures.
"We've also prepared a backpack with notebooks and pencils," Veda said.
Orange lifted a bag from the back of the van.
I took it and looked inside. "You- Seriously?"
"Notes are very important," Veda said.
"Also doodles," Green said. "Also doodles."
He took one of the notebooks out of the bag and opened it to the first page, already covered in cats. Very photo-realistic cats.
I honestly didn't think of that. Not sure I really needed to, but the thought is nice. Something backward about the situation, though.
"Right." I took a deep breath. "It'll be fine. My luck with my peers is stellar." Not so bad lately, I guess.
The van pulled away as the cops pushed the boneheads into the back of their squad car. I shifted a little in my seat. I sort of knew Kid Win, but Valiant was a jerk and Vista apparently found me intimidating. Weld seemed nice enough the one time I met him, and Flechette showed concern for my injuries at the Leviathan battle. I'd never met Mockshow before. None of them seemed like assholes though, so I guess my hang up came from past experiences.
The form Ramius provided me didn't have everything. She said the PRT tended to organize classes for the Wards in an ad hoc, last minute, style. They usually picked up whoever was available to teach a class and let them define the curriculum. All the form said was that the class would be about power dynamics. It didn't define what power dynamics meant.
The van pulled up to the PRT building and I stepped out. Green hopped out after me and rolled by my feet as I approached the building. One of the troopers guarding the door nodded to me as I approached, and a crowd of tourists inside all turned after someone pointed at me. I kept walking toward the front desk.
"Newtype," the woman behind the desk said. She looked at a piece of paper in front of her. "Right. Doors on your right." She pointed and I thanked her.
I followed her direction, finding Ramius walking down the hall on the other side of the doors.
"Hi," I said.
"Afternoon," she said with a small smile. "I have paperwork for you. This way." Green and I followed her as she pointed. "Nothing too taxing," she said. "Just some releases and NDAs. Mostly relating to secret identities."
"Right." That.
We stopped by an office space of cubicles. Ramius talked to someone and got a clipboard from them. She handed it to me, saying, "There's no rush. Get them back to me when you can."
Right. Paperwork. I glanced over the forms as I followed Ramius. They did seem really straight forward. Straight forward as in, one literally said, "I, _, agree not to disclose any secret identities I become aware of by willful or reckless action under penalty of prosecution via the Secret Identities Act."
"Is that it?" I asked. I'm already doing that.
"I figured you'd be more comfortable with something not covered in legalese," Ramius said. "And it's not exactly a complicated agreement. It's mostly just a formality for anytime we deal with independents closely enough that they might see some faces and hear some names."
"And the Wards said they were okay with it?" I asked.
"Weld doesn't really have a secret identity," Ramius said. "None of the others voiced any objection. What do you plan to do?"
It's fine, Dinah said. "I guess I'll take my mask off," I said. "PRT and Protectorate already know who I am anyway. The Wards knowing isn't going to make me any less safe." And it would be very awkward to attend classes with them with my mask on. Almost insulting if they unmasked.
I flipped past the first few NDAs and looked at the next form. Ah. "I'm not in college yet," I said.
"Just let me know when you apply," Ramius said. "Whenever you start. We have different arrangements with different universities, but the process is mostly the same. You'll put down something like an internship or an advanced course and we'll make whatever arrangements we need to confirm it to the school. You'll get the credits under your real name and we'll fudge the location so it isn't easy to just point and say 'this girl is a cape.'"
Ramius led me to a small conference room at the end of a hall.
"It's basically giving us permission to lie for you, and you agree that you won't say anything about it."
Right.
She held the door open as I entered. Unlike other rooms I'd seen, all the chairs in this one faced the same direction. A single long table in the shape of a V faced the front of the room where a projector pointed at a white screen and a podium waited. The chairs looked the appropriate amount of uncomfortable for school chairs, the ones made of plastic with metal legs and the singular wooden chair tucked into the corner.
"The Wards will be up in a few minutes," Ramius said, "and Professor Katagiri should be here any moment."
"Katagiri?" I asked.
"You know him?"
"I read a few papers he wrote. Some of his ideas are..."
I trailed off, and Ramius said, "Out there?"
"Yes."
"Just wait until you see him in person," she said. "The PRT doesn't let him publish some of his more fringe ideas."
I assumed she meant the more esoteric ideas. Katagiri didn't strike me as a dumb or crazy man, but he definitely made leaps in logic without sufficient evidence to support them. A lot of his hypothesis seemed to run on coincidence and happenstance more than anything. Still, the few papers I'd read did strike a chord, particularly his theories on the mechanics behind powers and their limitations.
I picked a seat and lifted Green up on the table.
Oh, right.
"StarGazer is here too," I said. "I mean, she's kind of along for the ride because Green is here and she can see everything he sees."
"I'll just print out an extra form that'll cover all of Celestial Being," Ramius said. "I can get it to you after the class is over." She stood by the door, looking over the room. "Are you going to be alright? I know school isn't a place you like being."
"This isn't school," I said.
"I know, but it is a class."
"I'll be okay," I said. "Thanks. I do plan to go to college." Arcadia hasn't been so bad. I just didn't want to waste my time with high school anymore. "I'll just hope that this is a more mature environment than what I'm used to."
Ramius smiled. "It'll be fine. The Wards are good kids. Though, I'd brace yourself for-"
The door swung open and a voice shouted, "Murrue!"
A small girl tackled Ramius suddenly, knocking her onto her back foot as she reached down.
"Mockshow," Ramius said with a pained smile.
She patted the girls shoulders. Mockshow hugged Ramius around the waist, saying something about beating Valiant in a game of 'fisticuffs.'
"I don't hit girls," a familiar sarcastic voice mumbled as he followed her into the room. He wore a loose-fitting shirt and jeans, and walked to the far end of the table to sit.
Behind him I recognized Weld in sweat pants and a hoodie, a pair of headphones around his neck. He smiled at me, and then turned to Mockshow and Ramius.
"Come on," he said. "Class time, Mock. You can brag later."
"But I can brag now," she said, looking over her shoulder at him.
Behind Weld two girls entered. Vista and Flechette, obviously. Easy to tell them apart. Easy to tell all of them apart really. Especially since none of them were wearing masks.
Mockshow looked older than Dinah but younger than me, with brown hair tied into a tail on either side of her head. Freckles marked her cheeks, and her eyes were a bright hazel color. Flechette was a pretty girl with Asian features, and long black hair, and Vista looked oddly familiar. Wavy dark-blonde hair – lighter than the shade she had in costume – with green eyes. I swear I'd seen her somewhere before but I couldn't put my finger on it.
Weld was a metal boy, and yeah. I'd seen him before. Valiant is more pretty than handsome. I felt a small pang at the thought of it, because I'd always looked somewhat boyish and I think he actually looked more feminine than me. Sharp angular features with curly black hair with a lanky build.
The last Ward to enter was-
"Chris?" I asked.
He stopped, looking straight at me.
"Um. Guess we've met out of mask?" He asked.
Holy shit Chris is Kid Win. Which shouldn't be that shocking I guess, because I barely knew him from one class at Arcadia. I think we'd actually talked more as capes than as students.
I regretted saying anything instantly, because every head in the room turned to me.
The only person in the room with a mask.
Fuck.
"Um, Yes." I hesitated for a moment and then felt like a bigger idiot because I'd already made the decision so what did it matter? I reached up and pulled my mask off with one hand. I looked at Chris and hoped my face wasn't too red as I revealed it. "Hi."
Chris stared at me for a moment. Then he blinked. Then, "Taylor?"
"Hi? Sorry, um. I wasn't expecting everyone to be sans-mask."
"The team figured it would be more friendly," Weld said, finally managing to pry Mockshow away from Ramius. "Not that I really have much say."
"It would be awkward wearing masks like this anyway," Flechette said. "Lily. Good to see you again."
"Y-You too," I said. And hello social awkwardness my old friend.
"I'm Olive!" Mockshow said with a smile. "You're the badass" - someone said 'language' - "with the robots right?"
"Um, yes?"
"Can I have a lightsaber?"
"No."
The answer came from me, Weld, and Ramius.
Mockshow – Olive – frowned. "Party poopers."
"I don't think Piggot will appreciate a living lightsaber running around the building," Ramius said.
"But that's awesome!"
Right. Mockshow's power. She could touch things and animate them, kind of like Parian but with rock and metal instead of threads.
"Missy," Vista said.
"Hellooooooo-"fuck.
I remembered where I'd seen her.
She was one of Dinah's class mates. She'd seen me with Dinah. I'd seen her with Dinah. Shit. She knew I was Dinah's tutor and now she knew I was Newtype which meant she could probably figure that-
"I already know," Missy said. She walked past me and pulled out the chair to my right. "She told me last week."
She did. "She did?"
"She said you were going to unmask and wanted to tell me herself."
I nodded to her, noticing only then that she'd willfully chosen one of the seats closest to me.
I appreciated the generic use of 'she.' The line of talk got everyone's curiosity, but there was no way for anyone to know if she was talking about StarGazer or Forecast. That would help obscure things. Dinah must have seen I'd unmask and decided to unmask herself first. Suppose it is her identity. She'd probably already seen Vista's at some point in one vision or another.
"Oh," I exclaimed. I pointed at Green. "Um, StarGazer is here too. Sort of."
"Hello," Veda said through Green.
"Haro brought strawberries." Green reached into my bag and pulled out the berries from the grocery store. "Strawberries for class, strawberries for class."
"I see the door is open," a voice called. A handsome man about Ramius age poked his head around the corner. He wore glasses, his long hair tied back into a tail behind his head. "Well. Everyone is here then."
"Billy," Ramius said.
"Murrue, lovely to see you as always. Leesa was just asking about you. She thought about coming, but the Navy is a cruel mistress."
"Deploying?" Murrue asked.
"In a few days."
"Maybe next time."
"Next time, indeed." Billy Katagiri stepped into the room with a friendly smile and looked the gathered super powered teenagers over. His eyes paused on Green for a moment. "Well. Let us get started!"
He walked to the front of the room with a few books tucked under his arm. Ramius took her leave, and the rest of the Wards sat down. Weld took the wooden chair and pulled it up to the table. Chris sat on my left, with Lily on his other side. Olive sat next to Vista, and Weld between Valiant – who I noticed hadn't given his name and didn't seem to be paying attention – and Olive.
And this feels bizarrely normal...
"Alright, let me gather myself for a moment," Professor Katagiri mumbled. He turned on the projector and organized his books. "As a starter, I am Billy Katagiri. I'm one of the researchers at Berkley who studies powers with the PRT, and they occasionally ask me to come around to pleasant cities like Brockton Bay to help educate all of you. I'm assuming you all know one another already, but for my sake, can we do some introductions."
Everyone went silent for a moment. I didn't need to ask why. I didn't know either.
Should we use our real names or our cape names?
"Use whichever name works for you," Professor Katagiri said. "I've signed all the NDAs and been threatened by all the lawyers."
"Lily," Lily said.
"Um. Chris."
"StarGazer."
"Taylor."
"Missy."
"Olive."
"Weld.
"Jet Steel."
We all turned and stared at Valiant.
Professor Katagiri raised his brow. "Well, Mr. Steel. Do you know how powers work?"
I stared.
"No one knows how powers work," Missy said beside me.
"Hmm. No one. That's one answer."
I raised my brow.
"The Manton Limit is kind of how powers work?" Chris said.
"It is a commonly cited and widely understood mechanic, but it's more of an explanation of power behavior than an explanation of how powers work."
"Capes," I said.
He turned his head toward me.
"Capes know how powers work," I said. "Even when they logically shouldn't have any reason to."
The professor gave me a raised brow. "Well, someone read ahead."
"It's the topic of one of your papers," I said. I flinched and glanced around the room. "But I didn't read it for this."
"Really? Work on your brown nosing. People will knock it but it's a very valuable skill." Professor Katagiri turned on the projector and said, "But that is what I wanted to get to. Capes. Capes know how their powers work, often with no real reason or explanation. Tinkers can build things they previously possessed none of the skill or ability to produce. Shakers can bend the very fabric of space, even though they have no idea how space works. Weld, did anyone ever teach you how to form your arms into blades, or did you just know how to do it?"
Weld tilted his head slightly. "Never really thought about it."
Katagiri smiled and pointed. "And yet, you know how to do it! It's especially interesting in the case of Case-53s, as you normally have no memory but you're still completely capable of using your powers like you've always had them. That's not to say everyone is a master on the first day, but it defies reason that people can simply wake up one day and know how to fire a laser that bends around corners as capes can."
"And as for the Manton limit," he continued, "It frankly, doesn't make a lick of sense."
"It's well supported by qualified evidence," Veda offered.
Professor Katagiri pointed at Weld. "Weld defies the Manton limit, if he doesn't mind being the object example."
"No," he said.
The Professor nodded. "Weld, for those who don't know, is unaffected by many powers that work on living organic matter."
"He's made of metal!" Olive said.
"He is equally unaffected by many powers that work on inorganic matter."
Olive blinked.
"Doesn't make sense does it? If the Manton limit holds as an actual mechanic of how powers work, then it should be consistent. But the Manton limit is not consistent at all. Even the ideas that underpin the concept don't hold water."
He pressed a button on the podium, and the projector clicked.
The image of the Butcher stood on the screen, looking at the camera.
"Manton's original hypothesis proposed that the limit on powers was an inherent element of psychological makeup. A power didn't affect a living being because the person behind the power, at some level of consciousness, didn't want to hurt anyone. How does that idea work with someone like the Butcher? The Butcher has multiple powers, gained from multiple capes. Each power has successively maintained the exact same Manton limits, even when passing through different Butchers."
"The Butcher is a special case," I proposed.
"A possibility." The projector clicked again. Kaiser. "Does anyone here think Kaiser has any propensity against hurting people?" I didn't. "Why then is his power unable to spawn metal constructions from someone's body? Another special case?" Click. "Stratos, a hero for a change. His power affects both organic and inorganic material equally. Do you think he's somehow more willing to hurt people than the likes of Kaiser or the Butcher?"
The Wards clearly didn't think so. Neither did I, honestly.
Although there were the rumors.
Red wouldn't be a good color on her.
He seemed to hate the idea of Lafter going out and killing Cranial. He expressed no compunctions about the idea of doing it himself. It's a strange thought. Stratos was easily one of the most personable and likable professional heroes I'd met thus far. He seemed a lot more balanced than Armsmaster or Miss Militia. I'd seen him hurt people though. But Stratos being more vicious than Kaiser or the fucking Butcher?
Yeah, hell no. I remembered Katagiri's paper better now. It had been fairly convincing in terms of delivery.
"But powers do generally adhere to the Manton limit," I said.
"They do," Katagiri said. He clicked the projector. "Which is part of what makes the topic so baffling."
Armsmaster.
"Why is it that his abilities, and those of many tinkers, can be so precisely defined. Chris. Taylor. Could either of you say, build me a nuclear powered coffee maker that can shoot laser beams?"
"Yes?" We both said.
"How about a device that creates perpetual exotic energy from sunlight?"
"I don't think so," Chris said.
I stared at the man in silence.
"Doesn't make sense does it?" He asked with a smile. "Tinker powers are as inconsistent in their abilities as all other powers. Dragon has produced everything from advanced chemical compounds to hyper-dimensional armor plating, while Squid is solely able to produce mechanical limbs. Why the disparity?"
No one really looked at me, but that didn't help the sense of complete what the fuck. Did he just pull that question from his ass? I doubted it. Far too coincidental, and while his eyes didn't linger on me he did look my way when asking. No. No it had to be a coincidence. No one could figure that out from visual observations.
Me and my paranoia.
"To use examples from the room, Vista is able to twist space at the snap of a finger but if people are in the way she can't do it. Labyrinth meanwhile is able to pull objects and spaces into reality from her mind, and doesn't care if people are present. Why does one power have such an arbitrary limit while another doesn't?"
"It's harder to bend space with a person in it," Missy said.
"You're able to turn a nuclear reactor inside out but not a stomach? Pardon the imagery, but you see how that doesn't track? Yes." I did. "I know the question is a bit esoteric, and I don't expect you to actually answer it. However, as we march forward in a new world full of people who can travel at the speed of light, shatter tanks with their bare hands, and exist as an ever-constant explosion, I think it can be invaluable for capes to sit and talk about what they can do and why they can do it. Powers have a bizarre level of consistency, but also bizarrely inconsistent for no apparent reason."
"I want us to focus in this course on some examples," he continued. "We'll talk about various capes, their powers and limitations, and how those powers and limitations compare to other capes. It'll involve in depth discussions of strategy and tactics, mechanics, and the ever constant and unanswered question."
Click.
The words stretched across the screen.
Why are powers the way they are and what does it mean for us?
I admit, he had me at the edge of my seat. The topic was interesting, and the idea of talking about various capes and their powers was right up my alley of fun times. I liked the way he laid out the course too. Weekly topics focused on a handful of capes and discussions about their powers and limits. I recognized some of the names he covered but not others.
He even threw in more examples, like Miss Militia.
It was a good question.
Why could she make a fully functioning automatic weapon but not a toaster? She could conjure laser guided missile systems, but not a microwave. Why is her power so arbitrarily limited? She didn't even know how to make an actual physical gun, yet she could form her power into one. Why? Why did her power work that way? Why did mine work the way it did?
I'd forgotten what it felt like to enjoy learning.
