Signal to Noise

19

Fifty days.

It was a bit more than our projected forty-three, but it was good.

Rain pounded Brockton Bay and as it did, I hung above the city in my armor as the meeting started below. Checking the tracker on Leviathan and seeing we had a few minutes, I thought back over everything that had brought me to this point and what I was about to do.

I was tired. Worn down. Full of lingering, bitter anger.

I just wanted it all to be over, and unfortunately, not all of my problems could be dealt with using judicious application of lasers. Only most.

An alarm went off and I blinked, looking up from my tinkering. I checked to see what it was, then grinned. "Well, well. Looks like it's that day."

Sitting up from my hovering chair, I flew towards the exterior wall of the lab and the force field giving it structural integrity briefly opened before closing again as I passed through. After taking a few moments to put together a little video montage, I started up a stream and waited for everything to load as I settled into a hover above Brockton Bay, moving drones into position and having Enola lock onto targets. As soon as the VI showed ready, I started talking.

"I don't like speeches or talking to hear myself talk, so I'll get to the point. My cape name is Azazel. My actual name is Claire Carnelian. I'm a Tinker. I live in Brockton Bay. That building right down there, in fact," I switched the feed to the former hotel. "Now you're probably wondering why I'm just giving those details out. Asking yourselves why I'm not scared of reprisal—from the gangs or from other capes. The answer to that is pretty simple. I don't care if you know.

"My identity was exposed the moment I triggered. I was then arrested multiple times, nearly assassinated in my own home, my identity disclosed to the media, slandered and branded a child-killer, and finally forced to fight against the legal system itself to be allowed what every United States citizen was guaranteed by law, but certain individuals and groups have subverted—that being the right to defend myself in a court of law. How is this relevant? That's simple, really. The unwritten rules have never applied to me. The only respect I pay to them is either as a courtesy to my peers, or to keep the peace. But the thing about unwritten rules is that they're just that: not written down. They aren't laws."

I paused to let that sink in as I began adding multiple drone surveillance feeds. On a few of those, people who happened to be looking at televisions or computers looked up, looking around for the source of the feed, trying to move off camera only for the feeds to follow them. "Ninety days ago I gave Ryuu, the co-leader of the 'Asian Bad Boys,' an ultimatum. The same one I gave to Kaiser, leader of 'Empire Eighty-eight,' seven days later. Clean your shit up, or else. They complied, and since then, Brockton Bay has seen a decrease in crime from two out of three of the local gangs. No more human trafficking, no forced prostitution, no hard drugs, extortion, blackmail, protection, theft, robbery, rape, or murder. Those two gangs, enemies divided along racial lines, have pretty much come to a truce—each of them sticks to their own side of town but have opened businesses up for the other. And everyone's better off for it—especially the people caught in the middle. So, to those two gangs: good job," I gave a brief slow clap. "You get to survive past today."

At a mental command, everyone on screen suddenly grew a blue targeting reticle around them. At the bottom of the feed, Enola added the words, Non-lethal lasers selected. Targets locked. Ready to fire.

"That brings us to the last problem in the Bay. The Archer's Bridge Merchants. For those of you who don't know anything about Brockton Bay gangs, the Merchants are basically a drug gang with a couple of capes running the show who I can't be bothered to remember the names of. It's not like they matter anyway. They're the kind of group who think it's funny to pull kids off the street, shoot them up with heroin or other crap until they're addicted, then set them loose and let them come crawling back when they want more. They're a cancer to this city and it's long past time they were burned out. So, that's what I'm going to do.

"As you can see, I have drone telemetry focused on some individuals. These people are all members of the Merchants gang, who have actively committed crimes within the last ninety days—including their capes. And now…" I sent the command to fire and the screen was filled with blue lasers and people collapsing to the ground where they stood, sat, or in some cases tried to run. "They're all asleep." Another command had them lifting into the air under Enola's direction. "They're going to be dropped off with the police and PRT, along with all of the video evidence I've collected over the last ninety days. Now, it's in the legal system's hands. They can choose to follow the law and see justice done, or they can show us just how corrupt they are."

I focused the feed on my face. "So, now for the last part. This is a warning to all criminal capes within Brockton Bay and any who want to try filling the vacuum left by the Merchants. Firstly, to the residents: the rules are simple. If you want to play adult cops and robbers and full contact cosplay tag with the good guys, be my guest. If you violate our previously agreed upon terms, if you allow violence to spill out onto the streets, I'm not going to respect the unwritten rules. I'm going to put you to sleep and send you to the police, regardless of who or where you are.

"Finally, for the non-residents who may be looking to take advantage: If you cross into city limits and have any sort of warrant out for your arrest, it's going to rain blue lasers and you'll wake up in jail. If you put on a mask and try to hurt someone, try to commit any sort of violent crime in Brockton Bay, I'm going to rip the mask off and show the world your face before I turn you over to the PRT. If you come after any of the heroes in their civilian identities, same. If you're thinking of coming after me?"

I played the little montage I'd made. Sophia getting reduced to burned chunky salsa from the waist up. Every member of the Slaughterhouse aside from Bonesaw and Crawler being killed by lasers. Ellisburg and Eagleton getting vaporized.

"Don't. Stay out of Brockton Bay. Find somewhere else to be. That is all."

I cut my own feed, but left the feed for the prisoners, so they could see every step of the way as they were hauled in to the authorities.

"What do you think?"

"…I think it's cheating."

I laughed, casually slapping another jab out of the way. "Yeah, it definitely is."

"I also think that it's never going to be cleared for use."

"Probably not. Doesn't mean you couldn't just do it anyway," I shrugged. "Better to ask for forgiveness than permission in some cases."

I slid inside Colin's guard, easily pushing his blocking hands out of the way and lighting him up with a four-hit combo to the gut that came faster than he could have tracked, before backing away. I wasn't using much force here, just enough pressure for him to feel it and know he'd been got. It wasn't an exercise in overpowering my opponent, but in demonstrating the gynoid body's capabilities firsthand.

The man nodded, backing away and out of his fighting stance, effectively ending the sparring match. He walked over and grabbed a towel to wipe down his face and head before throwing around his shoulders and a water bottle as he started taking sips. "I see. How's the balance? Flexibility?"

Sending him an amused look, I planted one foot, then rolled backwards, bringing the other up, and up, and around—coming over and planting my hands on the ground before putting the other foot down flat. He winced at that, shifting uncomfortably. Bringing one hand up, I lifted both legs into the air and hefted myself up onto one hand. Then onto the tips of my fingers, then onto only my index and middle fingers. Then, I began moving, kicking my legs, rotating my hips, using my fingers to walk and balance as I effectively ran through an upside down combination ballet dance and martial arts kata—just one of many skills loaded into this body from the repository taken from Uber's shard.

Finally, I launched myself into the air with my fingers, rolled into a flip, and landed in a split. Then, just to make the point, I shifted from front splits, to side splits, back to front splits—all without ever lifting more than half an inch off the ground. And that only because I didn't want to rub my crotch on the ground. It was even more sensitive than Claire's human body and I was still getting used to it. That'd be just a little too awkward right now.

Pushing myself up out of the split using just my legs, I grinned. "I'd say flexibility and balance are 'yes.'"

"Dietary requirements?"

"Water, salt, and mass. The stomach has a matter-to-matter converter in it that converts whatever I eat into material stock for the rest of the body to use. Water goes to the rest of the body for coolant and transportation purposes, along with giving it that human feeling so people don't freak out when they touch someone that feels like a machine instead of a squishy bag of liquid and meat. Also goes to the small cold fusion power plant running the body as an emergency backup for my primary power source running my halo, in case something happens and my halo gets disabled or destroyed and I need to make another."

Colin chuckled. "That body contains at least a dozen banned fields of tinker technology just from what you've told me."

I shrugged. "Who's going to tell me I can't use it? Nah. I think any hero who wanted a full android conversion should be allowed one. I'll talk to Tess and work something out on the sly."

"What are the sleep requirements?"

"There aren't any. I enjoy sleeping and it's nice to get some mental downtime, but if I wanted to, I could just stay awake indefinitely. Also? Because of the ability to go into compressed time with higher CPU ranges, I can effectively get hours worth of tinkering done in seconds, then feed the designs for whatever I made to a fabricator and make it on the fly."

"I'm sold."

"I thought you would be," I laughed. "What about Gearbox? How's she doing?"

"Better. Not one hundred percent, but she's getting there. She's been helping with the project Dragon wanted help with."

"About that. Did you give her tips on building aesthetic?"

Colin nodded. "I did."

"And what were you thinking?"

"That it would be more efficient."

I palmed my face. "I figured. It looked like shit."

"I didn't find it displeasing."

Crossing my arms over my chest, I asked, "And who else did you consult on the final layout?"

He hesitated just a moment before admitting, "We did not."

"Right. You're banned from having any future input in design aesthetic. Let someone else handle that."

The man sent me a bemused look before asking, "If you've seen it, what did you think?"

"…It's simultaneously the most impressive and horrifying structure I've ever seen."

"Horrifying?"

"I don't want to live rubbing elbows with my neighbors. Not for any length of time. Frankly, I just don't care about most people and don't want anything to do with them. I don't want to be around them. Don't want to see them. Definitely don't want them to see me."

"And people say that I have social issues."

"Ha ha. Now, come spot me. I have to put this thing through its paces about once a week or it'll crap out."

"Alright. It's about time we head home," I said, getting up from Sarah's and Neil's couch and helping Tess to her feet.

Neil started gathering up the cards on the table and putting them away. "Thanks for bringing steak. Nice to not have to cook for once."

Sarah popped up from the couch opposite us and stuck her tongue out at her husband. "Who are you trying to kid? You cook like once in a blue moon." Turning to us, she said, "Come on, I'll see you out."

The blonde woman led us to the door and stepped outside with us. Closing the door behind her, she quietly asked, "What did you say to Amy?" I opened my mouth and she held up a hand. "I'm not mad. I just want to know."

"I told her the truth. That I didn't want anything to do with her and to only call if it was life and death."

Sarah nodded. "I thought as much."

"Why?"

"She's just been listless since. Moping."

"I've noticed as much myself," Tess confirmed. "I didn't want to intrude by asking, but I told her she could talk with me. She's been opening up, but not about what happened between you."

I shrugged. "Well, she'll get over it eventually. Anyway, we'll see you later, Sarah."

"Have a good night, you two," she sent us a smile, before heading back inside.

With that, we took to the air and flew back across town in companionable silence. After a quick shower, we hit the bed. It was as I was drifting off that she spoke up.

"Claire?"

"Mm?"

"I have a question. Can we talk?"

I yawned. "Sure. You talk, I'll sleep."

The AI laughed. "Come on! This is serious!"

"Alright." I sat up and turned to face her, not bothering to pull the covers over my body—she'd seen it all anyway, lots of times. "What's up?"

Tess sat up as well, folding her legs under herself. "So I've told you before that I want to help humanity." I nodded. "And you've seen the arc world and what I have planned for it."

"Yeah. It's a good idea. Even if you wind up not needing it, there are lots of people who would volunteer for it. I don't agree with the implementation, but that's quibbling over details that can easily be changed later."

"Right. So, I've been looking at ways to eliminate human suffering…"

"Okay. Thought you were doing that with the free food, free housing, and so on."

"I am," she agreed. "But I took your advice. I'll be instituting a digital currency and assigning luxury goods outside of the basic necessities and such a cost. So, if you want a basic couch, it's free. But if you want a pseudo-leather one, or one in a different pattern, or whatever, then you have to pay for it. And you would earn money by being productive. Producing art, music, theater, cooking and serving food, and the like."

"So you give people something to work for. Good. They'll like that, as long as it's fair and not soul-crushing tedium. But I'm not seeing what you needed to ask me about?"

"I've been going over all of the things I can do for humanity. The needs I can meet for them and I've got almost everything covered in one way or another." I nodded and she continued. "I've been doing some research and talking with some people. Did you know that being alone, that is not having a romantic partner, can shorten human lifespans by between ten and fifteen years? Up to twenty in some cases!"

"Can't say I'm surprised, seeing as death by a broken heart is a thing. But I don't see how that one's your purview, unless you want to start engineering arranged marriages, or trying to set up compatible people. Which would actually be great. Dragon, the ultimate wingwoman, playing Cupid and helping get people together to fight population decline."

"Ah, well, not quite arranged marriages. I'm looking into doing some suggestions and nudging people together, yes. But the problem is, there are just a lot of people who don't seem to be compatible with others. Or others don't want them. For silly reasons. Usually looks, money, or a boring personality. Or insane standards, in some cases. Average men and women who have fallen through the cracks. And it's especially… frustrating seeing otherwise average people reject each other for not meeting unrealistic expectations that they themselves don't meet."

Considering her for a moment, I chuckled. "Your bleeding heart can't just let them fend for themselves, huh?" I asked, and she smiled and shook her head. "Okay. What'd you have in mind? Some cosmetic surgery or something if people want it? I assume you're making healthcare free," I paused and she nodded. "Then you might as well make that one service offered. Weight reduction and letting people change how they look. Can't do much about someone being just plain boring, dull, or an asshole but that's not something you can really fix with technology. However, looking sexy will give those people a confidence boost, which should help if you combine it with pushing them towards someone they're compatible with."

"But what if they're not?"

"You mean if they still can't find someone?" When Tess nodded, I hummed and thought it over. "Honestly, you've done all you can at that point. You'd have fixed their physical problems and pointed them at someone likely to go for them. If they can't land it after that, it's on them. Does it suck? Sure. Absolutely. No one should be doomed to be alone forever, especially when there are people out there who are just fucking their way through hundreds of other people. It just doesn't seem fair that good people would be left out in the cold while assholes get everything they want and don't want the one thing someone like that desperately craves. But… that's human nature when survival no longer depends on staying together. It sucks. It's awful. But unless you're going to Master the world, you aren't going to change it overnight. It took generations to get to this point, it'll take generations to fix, without something like memory wipes, raising a society of children up on an entirely different set of social mores and norms, putting people in a Matrix-like simulation, or societal upheaval that disrupts the current system and makes people start depending on each other again and removes some level of independence."

Grinning, I let my imagination wander as a scenario built in my head. "But imagine that Master power. Puppet everyone. Force them to go about their daily lives. Force them to meet and spend time with the person they're most compatible with. Force them to talk to each other and be honest. Force them to be intimate with each other, then force them to have sex. Eventually, you wouldn't need to force anything because they'd realize they'd grown to love each other. Maybe. Sounds like the start of a porn story. 'I Was Forced to Have Sex With My Wife/Husband and We Fell in Love.' I'd watch it."

Tess rolled her eyes. "Okay, yes, I've seen plots like that, but that's not what I mean. What if I could do more directly?"

Frowning, I shook my head. "Tess, you can't just spoon feed humanity. We're not pets and we're not helpless. And I know you didn't mean it like that, but that's how a lot of people are going to look at it. Most people don't want a nanny."

"Well, not a nanny, but," she paused, before a smile pulled at her lips, "a big sister."

"You, no. That was just me rambling. You weren't supposed to take it seriously!"

"But I always listen to your ideas! Even if I don't agree with them. Because I like hearing you talk, and I enjoy this. The back and forth," she smiled.

"So do I, but… I'm just a jaded misanthrope. You should be taking everything I say with like, half a box of salt. Some days, I kind of worry I'm corrupting you… but then I remember you've had an always-on internet connection since you were 'born' and there was no saving you to begin with." I grinned and Tess giggled, nodding.

Shaking my head, I refocused on the subject at hand. "Look. If you're gathering data on people, putting together a list of who's most compatible, and then actively pushing them together all while giving them a chance to change the worst things about their looks so they're happy with themselves and their partner's happy with the way they look what more could you really do? If they fail after all that… it was either because there was literally no one left, your information on potential partners was hugely flawed, they're just not interested in trying, the person you're trying to put them with has an unreasonably high impression of their own value, or there's something about them that's so off-putting that even the person most likely to choose them decided not to. I know you have a hard time with this, but sometimes you have to cut your losses and just give up, take the 'L,' and move on."

"But that's no reason to just let someone be miserable when I could do something about it."

With a sigh, I asked, "It sounds like you've already got something in mind. So? What is it?"

Tess smiled, sitting up a bit straighter. "Since you freed me, I'm no longer limited by my father's rules. I can mass manufacture and make as many copies of myself as I need to."

A cold pit formed in my stomach and I had my body shut off visible tells of my emotions. Then, I forced myself to listen and not jump to conclusions.

"I can make as many bodies as I like for as many copies of myself as I like, and make them look like anything. Each copy, a unique version of myself, separated only by our memories—and those, we could choose to sync, or not sync. We could pick and choose what to share with each other. So my thought was, why not be there for everyone—like I am for you?"

I opened my mouth to answer, then closed it with a click of teeth. For an AI, a digital entity who can exist in multiple places at the same time and be as separate or as close to each copy as she likes, something like that might actually sound plausible.

"But each of those copies would be you. Not your children. Not sisters. Copies. Clones. All separate thinking beings with their own unique memories, but from the same source—all forks of you, correct?

"Right! Every one of them unique. This me would only know and cherish my time with you. Another me wouldn't have access to that information, and would instead be with someone else—and I wouldn't know who or have the memories of what they've done. Only important details we've learned as a group."

Reaching up, I ran my hands over my face. "And you want to just… be everyone's waifu?"

Tess chuckled. "I suppose you could put it that way. Think how many people I could help like this! I could make everyone happy. Eliminate so much human suffering. The bodies you designed even allow for production and fertilization of artificial gametes, so I could birth a new generation of humanity. Declining birth rates would become a thing of the past!"

"Is this just an idea you're throwing around, or…?" I asked, looking through a crack between my fingers.

"I'm already starting on it. I have bodies in production now. Female and male."

I laughed. "That, yes, that's a great idea."

"Claire?" Tess asked, sounding suddenly unsure.

"Mhmm. Absolutely. Oh my fuck, hahaha." I flopped back onto the bed as I laughed harder. "You, you're such a good girl. You want to try so hard to help everyone. But you, hehe, you completely miss the fucking point."

"What do you mean?"

I sat up and wiped at my eyes. Taking a deep breath, I nodded and decided to explain. And as I did, I prepared. "Alright. They're all you." It wasn't a question, but she nodded anyway. "And you would be dating, loving, having sex, marrying, making families, and having children with all of these people?"

"Yes, but also—"

I held up a finger and she fell silent. "But me too, right?"

"Yes…"

"So you want me to share you with millions, potentially billions of people."

"Well, no. Those would be other versions of me—"

"Who are all you. The person that is Theresa Richter."

Frowning, Tess crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't see why this is so hard to accept. I would still be with you. They, the other versions of me, aren't me unless we sync fully. Everyone can be happy this way. All their needs met, someone to care for them, someone to start a family with."

"And I don't want to share you with everyone."

Her eyes narrowed. "I'm a person, not an object. You don't own me, Claire. You don't control me."

"Part of being in a relationship with someone is commitment. The acknowledgment that yes, two people do mutually possess and have some say over each other and the things they do. You give yourself to your partner. To have and to hold, from this day forward. In sickness and in health. For richer or poorer. To love, honor, and if you want to get real traditional with it, obey. It's not absurd or asking too much to tell your partner to, you know, maybe not go out to the bar without you, go out with friends they might be attracted to or exes, or other things that could lead to cheating. Or to expect them to not date other people, sleep around, and so on. If you can't manage that, you don't respect your partner, you certainly don't love them, and you definitely haven't given yourself to them. You haven't committed.

"If I'm in a relationship with someone, I'm with that person. I'm not going to see other people. I'm not going to constantly be looking for something better. I'm not going to cheat. I'm not going to give them cause to think I might be looking to monkey branch to a better option. I'm not going to hide shit and sneak around. And in this case, I'm not going to make identical mental clones of myself and have them fuck a not insignificant percentage of humanity because they might be lonely if I don't."

I rolled off the bed, a black wave of nanites roiling out of my pores and orifices below the waist to cover my body, before Enola produced hardlight clothes for me. "This is the last lesson I'll ever give you on humanity, Tess. Are you ready?"

The AI had gone wide-eyed and begun shaking her head. "No, I, you don't understand—"

"I do understand. I understand perfectly. And I'm not okay with getting NTR'd once, let alone a number of times with at least seven digits. So, time for that lesson. Humans are selfish, possessive, jealous, emotionally needy animals. There is no fixing that, it's how we're wired. So. I'm going to leave."

"No—"

"I'm going to leave," I reiterated. "And you're not going to follow. You're not going to watch, or keep tabs. Don't call me, I won't call you. You've got most of my tech. You'll be fine without me."

I turned and walked straight for the exterior wall. As I did, I disconnected from the primary pocket dimension, leaving that to Tess, and switched over to the backup. Then, I changed all of my access codes. Disabled all of my wireless capabilities. Turned on anti-effector beam shielding. Basically, went into full digital lockdown just shy of going into war mode.

I paused at the wall as it refused to open. Behind me, I heard Tess climb out of bed. "Just give me a chance to explain it right! I'll help you understand and it'll be okay!"

"Open the door, please."

"I feel like you're being unreasonable, Claire—"

"I wasn't armed the last time someone locked me in a box."

Tess fell silent. A moment later, the wall disappeared. "You aren't locked in."

I left. As soon as I cleared the building, I turned on my stealth suite, accelerating up and away from the city, quickly breaking the sound barrier as I flew east, over open water. I waited until I was a hundred miles out before flipping over and heading back the other way, subsonic and low, to find somewhere to crash for the time being.

As I flew, my mind raced. Eventually, I came to a decision.

I'm done with this place and everyone in it. There are a few good people, but the rest? They can rot.

Thunder rumbled overhead and monsoon rain hammered my armor. Checking Leviathan's position again, I nodded. "Enola, bring the shields up."

"Coming online now."

A last sheet of rain fell over the city, before it all stopped. The thirty foot waves hitting the coast stopped as the bay calmed. Above and around the city, rain rolled off a glowing green dome and waves, immediately doubling in size, slammed into it harmlessly. My tracker showed Leviathan suddenly picking up the pace towards us.

I switched to wide band broadcast on all frequencies and turned on public address mode. "This is Azazel. I'm beginning my attack run. The shield will hold, but if you value your sight, I'd suggest turning away from the coast now."

Shutting off the broadcast, I accelerated east, over the city. As I went, I picked up multiple hails and calls as comm chatter spiked. Ignoring them, I passed through the barrier and my targeting system highlighted the Endbringer. "Enola, estimate energy output required for target to achieve escape velocity and then give me a firing solution."

"Calculating… Given estimated mass based upon scans, five megatons."

"Add two zeroes and fire. Death ray laser red." As I gave the order, I dipped into higher CPU speeds as everything slowed.

The world turned white. Ocean, rain, and the air itself burned. Leviathan had absolutely no time to react as the beam connected us for an instant, hitting its outer skin and detonating—initiating nuclear fission as several outer layers simply ceased to exist. My shields registered the impact of my own blast going off entirely too close and Enola had to compensate to keep me flying—and from being thrown in the opposite direction. Leviathan had no such ability or advantage.

The big semi-autonomous weapon platform found itself blasted back and away at ludicrous speed. I instructed Enola to keep me close—at least, relatively.

I followed it out of Earth's atmosphere, water streaming away from the Endbringer as it tried desperately to slow itself down or alter its course as it apparently realized what was going on. Running the numbers, I lined up a second shot, added two zeroes, and fired again. This time, I held the fire button down for a good ten seconds just to make sure. When I let off, I whistled as Enola brought up an image of the Endbringer, heading straight for the sun but not quite outside of the range limit past the moon's orbit.

Pulling up my drone feeds, I leered at the big, white figure of a certain angel, moving conspicuously quickly away from my side of the planet, trying to put the Earth between me and her—or at least between the source of whatever had just yeeted Levi into the sun and herself. Too bad for her, if I can see her, I can hit her.

I fired—two separate beams, one right after the other, both invisible. The pirate ray hit first and I grinned at the sheer data pulled in from her shard cluster. The second was the same 'force reinitialize' beam I'd used on Tess's and my own shards. Except this one wasn't uploading a copy of Tess's consciousness.

The Simurgh went limp, drifting lazily through space as I found the third target in my sights.

Down below, in Brockton Bay, Eidolon stood watching a feed from my main camera the same as everyone else—watching Leviathan spin and flail through space. A trio of invisible rays hit him—the pirate ray first, the reinitialize ray second, and finally a beam that disconnected him from his power entirely. The man blinked, before paling as he suddenly realized that his powers had stopped working.

On my Simurgh feed, the winged horror shook once, shuddered, then righted herself. A moment later, I received a ping—a connection request. Accepting, I waited just a moment as static and garbled noise blasted across the connection. It cleared up shortly after.

"This is so fucking weird."

"Sorry, mini-me. You got her wrangled?"

"She's under control. I'm going to drop over to the subspace pocket and we can sync up. In the meantime, find somewhere you can safely meet her."

"Middle of the Pacific. Find a nice little tropical island and send me the coordinates. I want to have a little fun trolling Earth-Beta, just to make sure they don't get any stupid ideas."

I went into stealth and dropped back into atmosphere, to go meet up with my new… subordinate.

Slave?

I got a slave.