Disclaimer is in chapter 1. So apparently Tenhawk has resumed posting fanfiction on one of his own sites ( t . evancurrie . ca ) and on (username tenhawk).
PRT HQ, Brockton Bay.
Emily Piggot eyed the pair across from her with a firm gaze that masked her curiosity. Armsmaster had an odd look in his eye that she'd come to associate with him being lost in some idea for a new Tinker project, while Miss Militia looked… tired.
"Well now, out with it," She said. "What are we looking at with this Magus?"
The pair shifted, their focus coming back into the moment as they fixed gazes with her ion return. Armsmaster spoke up first.
"Magus is a skilled Tinker," He said finally, though there was an element of reluctance to it that was far from his usual derision for other 'lesser' Tinkers, "His work is efficient, effective, and… surprising."
Emily raised an eyebrow, that was high praise from Armsmaster, but she could still hear the reluctance.
"Explain."
"Magus' communication device is… possibly… the single most advanced example of Tinker technology I've ever encountered, bar none," Armsmaster said firmly, drawing surprised looks from both women.
Emily understood her own surprise, of course. That sort of statement from Armsmaster was the sort of thing that only, possibly, Dragon herself was likely to receive from the man. Miss Militia had been in the testing with them, however, and she shouldn't be surprised by anything said about it. Emily looked to the patriotic heroine, "Anything to add?"
"I hadn't realized that the communication device was that impressive," Hannah admitted with a shrug, "though it was clearly well thought out, and solidly built. Colin, what makes it so advanced?"
Armsmaster shifted uncomfortably as the two sets of eyes settled back on him.
"If it is built as he claims, and I have no reason to doubt it at the moment," Colin said reluctantly, "There is possibly no practical, nor even a theoretical, limit to its range. Across the planet, or across the universe, would be the same thing for this device."
Emily gaped briefly, "Ok, that is impressive, I'll grant. Somewhat overkill, but impressive."
"That's not all," Colin said with a frown. "It is likely impossible to jam it, impossible to tap it, there may be no effective signal delay at any range, and I'm not even certain that it requires any form of power source, or maintenance."
Both Emily and Hannah stared blankly for a long moment.
"Well," Hannah said after a moment, "I can imagine practically every government agency on the planet would very much love getting their hands on a few of those."
Emily snorted at the understatement, "Are you certain about the lack of maintenance requirements?"
"No," Colin admitted, "however it would fit with technology he claimed."
"It also would fit with his statements while building it," Hannah admitted after a moment. "Though Magus did say that he tends to build for decades of maintenance free operations rather than centuries… however he clearly believed that centuries or longer were easily achievable."
Emily settled back in her chair, considering that, "Unusual, for a Tinker."
"Indeed," Colin agreed. "However not entirely unprecedented."
She nodded, there were few Tinkers who could build items that didn't require significant upkeep, but a small handful were known across the world.
"What about his interactions with the Wards?" She asked, looking to Hannah.
A trobled look crossed the Heroine's face as the woman clearly pondered what to say to that, leaving a shiver a worry to run through Emily.
Was allowing him near them a mistake?
"He had a conversation with Kid Win," Hannah said, "a simple suggestion from Magus was enough to send Kid into a fugue."
Emily sighed with a grimace, but couldn't be entirely surprised by that. Kid Win was young and still rough as far as Tinker's went. His lack of understanding of his own specialty made the young Tinker… brittle, it seemed.
"Is that all?"
"It was what happened next that concerns me," Hannah admitted, causing both of them to tense, so she hurriedly moved forward, "It's not bad… just… Well, I'm honestly not sure. When Kid slipped into the fugue, Magus took advantage of the opportunity to scan him."
Armsmaster straightened, "Scan? With what?"
"His glasses, a pair of normal looking sunglasses," Hannah said with a shrug, "It's what he said that has me thinking on it."
"And that was?" Emily prompted.
"Kid's neural activity was off the charts," Hannah said, getting a nod from the pair.
Tinkers had been placed in MRI machines of varying capabilities in the past, and fugue state brain activity were known to be off the scale to levels that would result in severe brain damage for any normal human.
"That can't be everything," Emily prompted again.
"It's not," Hannah confirmed. "He said that the information was being offloaded, extra-dimensionally, processed and then sent back. Magus called it a Planar Contract, I believe. Clock snarked at him, of course, scoffing at the idea of Kid having made a deal with the devil…"
"And Magus' response," Colin asked, leaning in intently.
"He casually said that it wasn't a deal with the devil, or even a demon… he knew what those looked like," Hannah said uncomfortably. "He also suggested that he had a contract himself, though he described his own as an 'external' contract, unlike Kid's."
Colin leaned back, letting his armor settle heavily onto the reinforced chair that he was sitting in.
"Interesting."
"Are you buying that?" Emily asked, somewhat incredulously. "Contracts with demons?"
Colin shrugged it off, "I have no opinion on that at the moment, I'm more interested in the fact that Magus concluded that the information was being offloaded in such a way."
"He said that he needed to see more Tinkers to be sure, but he believed that Tinkers might have a… extra dimensional supercomputer as part of their powers?" Hannah said, sounding uncertain.
Colin nodded slowly, "An unusual theory, I will admit, but it does fit the known facts better than most I've heard. Curious, actually…"
"What?" Emily asked sharply.
"It's… obvious, now that it's been suggested," Colin said bluntly. "How is it then, that no one else suggested it by this point?"
The silence between them hung heavily as they all pondered that question.
Hebert Home.
Taylor sighed as she slumped onto the couch, the hospital had finally allowed her father to sign her out of their care, leaving her the luxury of her own home in which to consider what she'd been told. The idea of being a Cape was seductive, the culmination of an old dream that she'd nearly allowed to be entirely forgotten in the traumas of the past years but she wasn't certain that this was how it was supposed to happen.
Capes don't get the same powers as someone else, and I'm pretty sure they don't become apprentices. No… Apprentice. I could hear the capital A when it said it, it meant something to him.
Magus was an interesting one.
He had a master power, but had used it only to protect her identity… despite the fact that he didn't bother to protect his own.
So many confusing contradictions.
"hey, little owl," her Father said, entering the room with a steaming cup in his hand. "Figured a little hot cocoa would be called for."
"thanks Dad," Taylor said gratefully, accepting the cup carefully and taking a tentative sip before nearly burning her lip and opting to set it down to cool a bit.
"So…" he said awkwardly, "Big day, huh?"
Taylor giggled, drawing a rueful chuckle from her father in turn.
"Understatement, huh?" He asked.
"Little bit," She confirmed.
"I looked this Magus fellow up last night, after… well, you know," Danny said, "There's not a lot about him out there. Apparently he's new to town, which we could have guessed. He's stopped a couple crimes, and spent some time flying around with Glory Girl. Only other thing of note is that he's apparently not too fond of Nazis."
Taylor snorted, sending ripples through her cocoa, "picked the wrong town to visit, didn't he?"
Danny rubbed the back of his head, "It would seem that way."
"Nothing suspicious, though?"
"No Kill Order on him, if that's what you mean."
"Dad!" Taylor objected with a roll of her eyes, "You know what I meant."
"Nothing I could find, and I even called a friend on the force who spoke with the officers who've spoken with him," Danny said. "They called him respectful, professional, that sort of thing."
Taylor nodded, unsurprised for some reason, "Maybe he's for real."
Danny didn't look happy about it, but he reluctantly nodded, "Maybe."
"I wonder what it's like," Taylor said after a moments silence.
"What?"
"Coming from another Earth, another universe?" She shrugged.
Danny was quiet for a bit, thinking about that, "You believe him?"
Taylor considered before nodding slowly, "I think I do."
"I think you might be a bit too trusting there," Danny said with a sigh, "but I guess we don't have much reason not to just yet. Other than simple caution, of course."
"Well, he's not Empire eighty eight, according to what you found out," Taylor said reasonably, "and I'm pretty sure he's not with the ABB… plus he's too clean and put together for the Merchants… so he's probably not looking to kidnap me for the local gangs."
She shrugged at that statement, drawing a wince from Danny.
Certainly, the odds seemed quite against Magus being a plant for any of the locals. He didn't really fit any of their profiles, as Taylor had pointed out, but that left a staggering number of known… and unknown… threats that he might secretly be representing.
That said, Danny didn't feel like that made any sense either.
Like it or not, and he didn't like it, Danny did have a feeling that the young man was on the up and up. He'd spent a lot of years learning to spot shills for the gangs, fighting to keep them out of the Dock Workers Union and away from his people in general. Magus didn't trip any of those instincts, which he supposed was a good thing.
The only thing he really had against the boy was that he was a Parahuman and he was interested in Taylor.
The second reason of which was more than enough for Danny to distrust him, of course, but he'd prefer slightly more if he could get it.
"So you want to do it?" He asked carefully.
"What? The… Apprenticeship?" Taylor asked before shrugging, "I don't know. I mean, if I have powers I should learn to use them, I think? Right?"
Danny hummed a little, "If you have powers? You aren't certain?"
"I… I don't know," She admitted. "it's like I believe him, but also I don't really feelany different… most of the time."
"Most?"
I felt different in the hospital, when I panicked," Taylor admitted. "There was a… I don't know… a rush that I could feel through my whole body. Like I was hooked up to a power main or something. Not painful, or anything like that… but…"
She shook her head, "I wish I could describe it. It was like every cell in my body was vibrating, and then it just surged out."
Danny hummed again, "That's not like anything I've heard described, but Parahumans are all pretty unique."
She nodded with a concerned look on her face, "what I'm worried about is if he's right and I out myself just because I have a panic attack in public."
"That would be problematic, yes." Danny sighed.
If that happened, they wouldn't have much choice in her future. They'd almost certainly have to go straight to the PRT and put her in the Wards.
Of course, they didn't have to wait for that…
"You know, the Wards might be an option," He suggested carefully. "Protection from the Gangs, training…"
He didn't likethat idea, of course, but it was a viable alternative to Magus' suggestion. Danny had seen enough to know that the Wards weren't as 'safe' as they were made out to be, and he loathed the politics of the PRT and Protectorate, but they were far and away a better option than Taylor accidentally outing herself.
"I don't know, Dad," Taylor curled up a bit. "In one way, I really want to join. I do. Being a Ward is a childhood dream come true."
"But…?"
"But I don't want to deal with superpowered teenage drama," She admitted sourly. "I can't imagine it's any better than the normal version."
Danny snorted, "Probably not, lord knows the rumor mill about Glory Girl's antics are already passing into legend… still, the Wards likely aren't that bad. They're supervised, after all."
"I guess."
Danny smiled slightly, "Think about it. You have time to decide."
"Yeah… I will."
Xander loved the freedom that superhero worlds offered, the ability to fly in the open without obliviators and the Pride or some idiot Aurors chasing him down was liberating in a way very few could ever truly understand. Even among Wizards, those upstanding pillars of the world back home, the truth was that freedom was a rare and multifaceted beast… with facets sharp enough to lop off fingers, hands, and limbs if you stuck something in too close.
In fact, he'd say that it was worse for Wizards than for muggles.
Muggles didn't have a clue what they were missing, for the most part.
Doing everything secretly, furtively flitting about in the shadows, erasing their presence from anyone who saw them… Xander honestly wasn't surprised that so many Wizards went dark.
Act like thief in the night long enough, pretty soon you start thinking like one.
It was different in open worlds, such as this one. From what Xander had seen, this world had its own issues which caused people to be desperate… and desperation inevitably resulted in criminals of varying stripes, but the call of the hero? That was here, and it was loud.
It might even be louder here than it was in the DC and Marvel worlds he'd visited, albeit with an equal and opposite wail of despair countering it.
It was almost as though the despair was intentional, though, like something… or someone… was trying to break this world.
If so, Xander wished them all the luck of the universe, if only to make a good show of things. Despair broke people, yes, but it fueled hope and determination as well.
If this world hasn't found its hero yet, it's only because they've not been born.
In the meantime, well Xander would take some time to evaluate things. With a cute little apprentice in the works, it wouldn't do to go stumbling around getting into fights blindly.
A gunshot in the distance caught his attention, and Xander couldn't help but grin.
With eyes wide open, of course, well that was a different matter.
Empire 88 Dogfighting Ring.
"Get that Bitch!"
The aforementioned Bitch just snarled as one of the gang members charged for her, a crowbar or something similar in his hand. She ducked under the swing and plowed into his midsection with as much force as her stocky form could manage, blowing the air from his lungs as she drove him to the ground and all the combined weight of their two bodies and her own powerful lunge.
Her dogs, mutated now into powerful raging beasts as far as anyone might be able to tell, swept aside the other members of the gang with ease as the pair of them worked their way forward in time with Bitch's advance. Behind her there were two more… one dead, and one badly wounded from the fighting pit already. She could feel the plaintive look of the wounded animal, even at her back.
Ahead, Bitch could heard the howling of more dogs, locked in cages, wounded in many cases…waiting for the end.
The ones she could save, at least.
Another kind of howling was in the air too, the vicious sort that just wanted to inflict pain because that was all they knew.
Those dogs, even Bitch knew she couldn't save.
"You got balls on ya, girl!"
Speaking of dogs that couldn't be saved.
The man in the steel wolf mask strode out of the building she was trying to get to, and Bitch knew that she was in real trouble. Hookwolf might be a broken mad dog, all but literally foaming at the mouth, but he was also a dangerous enemy to be fighting.
She whistled her Dogs back, and the instantly pivoted and withdrew back to her side, where the three of them formed a line to meet the enemy as needed. She snarled, bearing teeth in a clear threat that didn't even slightly seem to affect the target.
"Coming to my ring? Yeah, you've got balls," Hookwolf said with an easy grin as he tore off the remains of his shirt and tossed it aside. "but you don't get to come in here and stir up shit without consequence. You want to tuck tail, good luck, bitch… but I tell you what, I'll give you a fighting chance in the ring. Me and you, you can keep the Dogs. You come out on top, you can have what you came for. What do you say?"
She growled low in her throat, but it had even less impact than her snarl had. A glance behind her was enough to confirm that the injured dog wouldn't be able to run. She grimaced, but set her self firmly.
"Fine."
"Alright, then," Hookwolf grinned, looking around. "Someone get a camera running, we've got a Cape fight to stream tonight!"
The roar was deafening but Rachel Lindt, who went by the name Bitch, ignored them as she got ready for the fight of her life.
What in the ever loving…
Xander paused as he arrived over the scene of… whatever the hell was going on.
Some kind of fight club bullshit? He wondered, cocking his head to one side as he saw a hell of a large group of people circling a pair of people who were clearly facing off. One man against a… girl, he thought, but she was pretty buff… and a couple mutant beasts he didn't know what the hell.
Doesn't seem fair, but he doesn't seem to be complaining… Ah, That would explain it, Xander noted as the man sprouted metal blades from varying parts of his anatomy, letting them whirl around him menacingly.
So… Parahuman fight club?
Without properly knowing what was going on, Xander opted to watch for a bit as he scanned the crowd.
Lots of guns, how shocking… they all seemed to be such upstanding members of the community too.
Honestly, though, it was more the state of the guns that would have tipped Xander off to the nature of the people he was observing. Only a handful were in well kept condition, and a significant chunk were what he'd term potentially dangerous to use. Criminals rarely bothered to care for their gear, in his experience…
That was one of the things that separated the thugs from the Super Villain types, of course… well, the ones that used guns.
"Brutus, Kill!"
Hookwolf laughed as the tank of a beast lunged at him, easily evading the attack while opening up wounds along the mutant animal's flank with his blades.
"Right to the point? Good, I like that," He announced extending his arms to either side magnanimously. "We should always fight like we mean it. Allow me to reciprocate…"
In an instant, his blades tore through his skin and were whirling about his body with enough force and speed to rend the air. Ignoring the dogs, Hookwolf lunged for their Master, easily cutting through the armored hide of the beasts when they tried to stop him.
Bitch backpedaled, whistling and giving commands in a rush, but it was to no avail as her enhanced dogs couldn't do more than slow the Nazi murder blender down. She tensed as he lunged at her, his intent to kill apparent, and threw herself aside at the last moment.
Even then, she felt a hot pain along her thigh as his blades scored a hit, and sent her tumbling to the ground.
Bitch merely hissed at the pain, though, and quickly clambered back to her feet as she squared off again.
"Guts you have, Bitch," Hookwolf said a moment later, pausing briefly before using her name, "but you and those beasts aren't a match for me. Too bad, I was hoping for a good fight."
Bitch tensed, getting ready to whistle for the retreat as she calculated whether or not she'd be able to grab the injured dog as they ran.
She had to try.
Hookwolf leaned in to lunge forward again, and she pursed her lips to give the command to run…
And then Hookwolf threw himself back as a blast of orange light came out of the sky and tore a hole in the ground where he'd been.
Everyone looked up as a flash of movement came down, and in an instant there was a young man standing in a crouch within the shallow crater, one hand easily on the ground for a moment before he rose to his feet.
"Tell me the truth," He said, looking around at everyone, "The superhero landing… too much?"
"Who the fuck are you?" Hookwolf demanded.
"Rude," Xander said pointedly to the bare chested man, casually brushing himself off. "How does the Bat keep all the dust off him when he does this?"
"I asked you a question," The Parahuman said.
Xander sighed, "The name is Magus, if you must. Yourself?"
"Magus," The man spat, looking aside for a moment. "I've heard of you. You're the loony fucker who believes powers are magic… and you flapped your gums about the Empire. This is going to be fun… You can call me Hookwolf."
"Hookwolf?" Xander considered that, a smile slowly growing across his face. "Oh yes, I've heard of you too. Nazi lapdog, right? I think I might actually agree with a Nazi for once… this is going to be fun."
Hookwolf barked in laughter, "A new challenger then. Good, Bitch over there was too easy."
Xander glanced to the wounded girl, noting that she was watching the events with sharp eyes and a strong look of distrust.
"You might want to clear the area a bit," He suggested to her. "Me and the lapdog here have a dance date."
Xander made a point of winking salaciously at Hookwolf as he said that, causing the man to snort.
"You'll have to do better than that to rile me up, boy."
"On a first date?" Xander mimed being shocked, hand over heart, "I am not that kind of boy, you hussy."
Hookwolf twitched, but kept his feral grin. "We going to do this, or are you going to keep up the pansy act, boy?"
"I'm good," Xander stretched a bit, "Rules?"
"This is a pit fight, boy." Hookwolf snarled, "There ain't no rules."
"Ooh," Xander winced, shaking his head, "Bad choice. Call it, lapdog."
"Ring the fuckin bell!"
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Topic: Holy Crap, guys - Check out the pitfight streaming channel!
In: Boards: Brockton Bay.
Bagrat (Original Poster) (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know).
Posted On Jan 12th 2011:
As you guys know, I try to stay in the know. That includes alerts on various known criminal streaming feeds, like Uber and Leet's Channel... and also one of the Empire's. This feed belongs to Hookwolf, so be aware of potentially nasty Content. Mods, if it gets too bloody I'll kill the link myself but I think it's important to let people know.
Everyone knows that Hookwolf runs pitfights, and most of us know that he streams them regularly to show off his gangs fighters. What he doesn't stream is the dogfighting he sponsors in the same locations. Tonight, looks like he had a dogfight setup but Hellhound crashed the party.
Hookwolf decided to run an impromptu Cape Fight stream.
Edit : Damn, he just tore through those dogs of Hellhounds. Am I really seeing this, though? Is that the new face in town, Magus?
I hope he's ready for this.
(Showing page 1 of 1).
RJaime.
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Oh hell no! Come on, get out of there, Magus!
I don't want to see the guy who saved my dumb ass chopped up by the Nazi murder blender!
GstringGirl.
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Did... did Magus just HIT on Hookwolf? Is that allowed?
End of Page 1.
Topic: A New Thread.
In: Boards.
AllSeeingEye (Original Poster) (Veteran Member).
Posted On Jan 12th 2011:
He's just winding him up, notice Hookwolf didn't fall for it. He DID just twitch at the Hussy comment, though. lol
(Showing page 1 of 1).
XxVoid_CowboyxX.
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
I don't get it. What's funny about that?
AllSeeingEye (Original Poster) (Veteran Member).
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
Come on, Void. He basically just told HOOKWOLF that if they were in a relationship, the Nazi would be the girl.
XxVoid_CowboyxX.
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
oooohhhhh...
Wait, are we SURE he's just winding him up? I mean, not that there's anything wrong with that if he isn't you know.
RJaime.
Replied On Jan 12th 2011:
I don't know if Magus is gay or not, Void, but even if he is... trust me, this guy isn't chasing after a Nazi's skirts. I looked him in the eyes when he learned about the Empire... I'd almost rather deal with Jack Slash than anyone who can make me that scared with a glance, and I'm NOT a Nazi.
End of Page 1.
Topic: Holy Crap, guys - Check out the pitfight streaming channel!
In: Boards
AllSeeingEye (Original Poster) (Veteran Member).
Posted On Jan 1st 2011:
Oh boy, they're about to get started... trust me on this guys, it's about to get GOOD.
(Showing page 2 of 2).
XxVoid_CowboyxX.
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:
Holy crap! He just nailed Hookwolf right between the uprights!
AllSeeingEye (Original Poster) (Veteran Member).
Replied On Jan 1st 2011:
He did Nazi that coming.
End of Page 2.