[06th April 2011]

[Outside Bay Central Hospital, Downtown, Brockton Bay, United States of America, Earth Bet]

"Hello, Dragon isn't it?" I greeted the woman on the video screen as Jade sat beside in her 'Jasmine' disguise here in the PRT van "Seems you'll be our chaperone for the evening?"

The woman on the screen, one of these 'Tinkers' chuckled "Yes, indeed I shall...can't have you wandering around in an official capacity, not with unknown Stranger abilities I'm afraid and, well, the presence of a known villain, albeit employed under Truce. Don't worry, I'll be as unobtrusive as possible, and its only camera feed and audio, it's just the PRT, Protectorate want this investigated, but not made public knowledge you understand?"

I shrugged, glancing at 'Jasmine' who did the same "Eh, same old, same old, then, and I do understand, as does Jason at the Blood Bank. Look, I've signed the waivers, I've walked everyone through the illusion since she's isn't going in costume, and all the other joy, so let's get this party started, because it's getting dark"

Honestly it wasn't like I hadn't expected the problems laid out in allowing outsiders wander about their city, for potential threats from the other side of the portal between our earths. To be even more honest...the level of cooperation was slightly unnerving, along with the fact they were letting myself and Jason Blood physically inspect potential sites like this. We wouldn't do it...well, the Justice League might, but certainly not SHIELD anyway, beyond the benefit of seeing this earth's version of myself and Jason Blood perform our magic for some way to analyse perhaps.

Still, orders were orders, and my side of the portal had negotiated something, so here we were going in to check out likely hunting grounds a day and a half after the original talk about it. Rarely a good idea delaying, and it sounded like another girl had vanished, but it was still out of the public eye thanks to all the attention on local gangs, and, of course, the magic portal to my home. Or maybe it was because the local version of Yakuza regularly abducted girls in this terrible city and nobody had done anything about it; the mind boggled at that really, but it was true apparently. It was only other oddities with the cases, from the local point of view, that indicated vampires.

"Yes, it is isn't it?" the woman on the screen replied with a nod as I followed her look at the purple-black clad annoying villain girl "And Tattletale, you can confirm you are submitting to this 'illusionary disguise' of your own freewill and that the PRT, Protectorate, and Guild, accept no liability for any harm suffered making use of what, in this situation considered, unknown Tinkertech, Trump, or Shaker ability?"

"Yeah, yeah, free-will, liability, etc, my team get amnesty and payment, all that..." annoying super-villain girl turned legit replied, looking bored, then smirk "...now I want to be red-head, a smoking hot one, with beauty to match my current beauty and brains"

I blinked at her, then sighed repressing images of pulling out my gun 'bang, bang' as I nodded, glancing at the Dragon lady "I'm okay to go ahead and do this, you've got fake ID for her as a PRT agent for me to match the disguise to"

"Of course!" the woman on the screen replied, and she was replaced by an ID card and image of a...red-haired girl with freckles and green eyes. Captain Stereotype strikes again I could see as I took in the image, then summoned my magic, a faint chant, and cast a simple, if sturdy, illusionary disguise over the blonde haired villain girl. Like a mirage she shimmered, the air rippling, before she was replaced by a similarly built young woman, with red-hair, standing in white shirt and standard issue 'federal agent' tie. The 'Detective' assigned to us handed 'Agent Tara Tarant' a black jacket with ID as I stepped back.

"Happy now?"

She, and the woman on screen, studied her body, looking confused, or maybe thinking seriously as she looked herself up and down "I...yes, okay. How did...Yes, yes, all good"

I nodded, glancing at Frank West who was listening on the earplug to someone's words "Detective?"

He stood up after a few seconds, nodding "Yes, let us proceed. Please avoid giving any indications of your point of origin, or interfering in any official business as per the terms of the agreement allowing your operation with our jurisdiction. The same goes for Tattletale, there will be no tolerance of any breach of contract, and severe repercussion will result if you do"

I nodded, again, at the same thing being stated, again, to me "Of course, as agreed upon we will stick to our end of the arrangement. Jasmine?"

"Yeah, understood, screw up, go to jail, been over it. All agreed"

"That's us okay, so..." I replied with a gesture at 'Jasmine' and then at doors out of the van "...I'd say sooner we start, the sooner we finish? Okay?"

He nodded after touching his ear, and after a minute or two we were getting out the back of the PRT medical van, which was parked in the hospital's 'private' car-park. I put on glasses, using them as my focus a Detect Life spell; watching as the odd colourful mist of living auras came over those around me "Can I get a pair of those?"

I glanced at 'Tara' tapping the glasses "No, these were hard to make, and cost me a bit"

"Tinkers being selfish..." she muttered back folding arms across her chest as our little group of four walked forward "...but looks helpfully in a situation like this"

"Then I'll teach you if you pay for it...or better yet, get someone else to do it..." I muttered as I looked about, seeing nothing unusual as our group waved our ID's to get inside, getting them scanned, and being waved inside by the guard at the door in the familiar smell of hospital disinfectant "...but their situationally useful, like now for example"

'Detective' West gestured at us "Interesting, but follow me, I will take the lead with Doctor Irvin, and allow us conduct a standard audit of PRT supplied medical equipment and blood supplies. Standard check, chosen at random, and we'll have a number of interviews with senior staff after"

I gave a quick nod to acquiesce, and remained politely quiet when the woman at the front desk directed us to the grey-haired, and over-worked looking, elderly Doctor whose hand I gave a brief shake. He 'felt' 'clean' so that was some relief as I watched for any sign of mental domination or enthrallment as we spoke, and then were directed to where blood stocks were kept, with assurances everything was in order. There was something of a tour, and everyone we passed was, well, alive, albeit many been very sick or badly injured and I repressed the urge to help out the worst cases. Different earth after all, and simply stepping and healing for free only saved lives then there, but usually lead to dangerous precedents that costs lives down the line.

'It is odd though, looking at parahumans...funny auras on them' I thought to myself noticing the two inside a room we passed, same as with this Tattletale one. They were alive obviously, but there was an odd...other colour, glow, on them somehow. I shrugged it off for now, making a mental note to report it later when I got home, and focus on the task at hand. There was definitely something...off...here, yet I couldn't put my finger on it as the minutes passed by while we went down a floor, then another, checking one store of mundane looking supplies for half-an-hour.

"Okay, soooo..." I muttered after another hour of physically checking a store-room, looking at the map of the hospital "...next on the list is this room here. Blood Bank 4C/52/R, Endbringer reserve?"

'Detective' West blinked, looking at the map "No, I don't recall...that must be misprint..."

I paused, earning a startled glance from 'Tara' as I looked at 'Jasmine' and got a slow after shaking her head before 'Tara' gasped out "Dragon? Question on that location existing?"

She click on the telephone, sorry 'Tinker-tech phone' so we could all hear the voice of the superhero half-way across the country playing super-hacker and mission support. Idly I debated whether it'd be a good or horrific idea to introduce her to Robin and his hacker-ness "No, it was established nine months as part of a restructuring, funds were spent...records of purchases and sign-offs on delivery"

I paused, then let out a breath "Okay, I'm reporting a potential perception filter right now, because both of you..." I gestured at Tattletale and 'Detective' West "...are arguing with yourselves about its existence, yes?"

'Tara' said nothing, but 'Detective' West gave a tight nod "Dragon, I'm seconding possible Master/Stranger effect as I do in fact wish to disbelieve you, and my mind argues to go elsewhere"

"Great, dammit..." I muttered rubbing my chin "...right, Jasmine?"

"I don't know, don't care...League gave training for situations like this"

I nodded slowly "Yeah, that can work, you don't care if it exists or not, the mission is all that matters. Right, this needs to be investigated, but more than that we need to background check staff of the hospital, and potentially lock-down when we do. Because if there's a perception filter up..."

Then I froze as I reached out with my senses, holding out a hand and casting based on that location, before emitting a soft curse under my breath "...fuck. Right, not a hundred percent, but there's something wrong with this place...that should have, well, no matter what it should have done, something blocked my power"

'Tara' let out a curse "Collateral Damage Barbie and Pan-Pan the Healer are upstairs, if you lock-down or signal an alert without getting to them first..."

'Detective' West nodded calmly as he keyed something into his phone "That's a risk, but we have other onsite assets..."

"YOU BROUGHT SOME OF THE WARDS HERE! What are you thinking???" the annoying girl demanded of the man, as I drew my phone out and dialed Jason Blood. I'd only started the dial when the lights above me flickered...

I glanced up, felt the pressure in the air, the sickly breeze on the winds of magic as the lights at the end of the hall started to die, one after another...

That was probably my fault for trying to test out if wards were in place like I thought as voices a floor above and below indicated the dying lights weren't just here...

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