AN: A good day to you my friends and a happy belated New Year, it has been a little while hasn't it? I was not expecting my life to get quite so hectic this quickly but it is what it is. I finally found the time to write out another chapter, but my oh my has your reception been absolutely astounding. Man of Steel is averaging more than two hundred views a day with over two hundred follows and favorites.
Your support of my work has brought me more joy than I can properly express and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, it really gives me the determination to continue writing when I look at the numbers and read the reviews, that said I did receive a few strange criticisms. I have been scratching my head about it for a solid two weeks. How is John out of character? Its a self insert which means he is entirely modeled after my life and my values with a few twists to make writing him interesting. It is slightly bemusing to be essentially told that you taking an action due to your values is out of character. Weird.
Why does John not want to join the PRT? Because he is a version of myself and I have worked with the Federal Government my entire adult life and know full well how they would abuse Superman. In the words of Ronald Reagan. "The scariest words in the English language are 'I'm from the Government and I'm here to help."
Why was John rude to Velocity? He was brusque, honest and set his boundaries with a man utilizing gentle pressuring tactics to sell him on joining his government organization, to iterate this better. I have worked very closely with law enforcement and alphabet agencies in my life of service and know exactly the intentions behind a sell like this, perhaps I am a bad writer and didn't explain myself well in the chapter. But the intention is to establish rapport quickly and essentially make you feel bad for disagreeing to join, a soft guilt trip if you would. To seem so friendly open and reasonable that it is only logical to do what they ask of you. Drug dealers and cartels use the same tactic often.
If you ever have someone use this tactic on you then I strongly advise that you do not allow yourself to be swayed because saying no seems rude. To the reviewer who said the chapter was all over the place and didn't go anywhere, I disagree. It was an moment to write as it established John's relationship with the local authority and showcased more of his values. It also showed the cards of the PRT and Protectorate nicely, he now knows that they are hurting for manpower and dearly want to use him.
Why is everybody so nice? John is a superman shaped brick shit house in a world where every cape is considered a bomb just waiting to go off. If the Joker walked into your diner covered in blood and politely asked for a seat would you tell him to fuck off or would you give the best damn customer service of your life? Common sense.
That aside I will be recanting the promise of an upload schedule, my life got very complicated pretty much right after I posted CH3 and I can't promise regularity. I can however promise that I will not be abandoning the story, I have a good amount of it drafted out and a decent outline. It will be fun! To that one review who so nicely asked for another chapter I dedicate this one to you, its different than the previous three with it centering on world building with the Protectorate and Colin rather than John who knows basically nothing. There is one change that can be spotted that changed his behavior, he was at Canberra and this take on his character is heavily influenced by seeing the Simurgh take on the Triumvirate and in his mind barely be driven off.
No sauce dear guest LOL, it was wrong of me to put that joke in there but I couldn't help myself, sorry xD
If you like this story and want this to continue leave a review! My enthusiasm for writing directly correlates with your enthusiasm for reading it!
Colin rubbed tiredly at his eye with one hand and used the other to bring a now cold cup of coffee to his lips. This was easily his fifth cup but he couldn't afford to slow down at such a pivotal moment, he needed to be exacting in this next micro adjustment or the entire upgrade would be worthless.
The plastic coffee cup once drained was quickly discarded to the other side of the room in the direction of his trash can, ordinarily he would be more mindful of his workspace but the chance to eek out a three point one percent increase in efficiency on his halberd was beyond rare and demanded his entire being, the tinker fugue was well and truly guiding him.
As he ever so gently soldered the wiring together just so he reflected on his night and what had led him to seek out his favored hobby. Earlier into the morning they had received a call from the BBPD regarding a suspected cape double homicide. It was a stroke of luck that Colin was in the area and was able to respond quickly.
Colin was able to tell with a mere glance that it was the work of a cape with a high brute rating, the fractured concrete by the second body told that story well enough. Concrete began breaking at thirteen thousand pounds per square inch of pressure. The average human could only generate between fifty and four hundred. Elementary problem solving at best.
The first body was liquified from the sheer force involved, if it weren't for the double layered brick wall holding it into position the mess would have been far worse. The face had remained intact enough to identify the man, a known merchant. Small time but with a record for sexual assault and murder. A death sentence was likely, Colin wasn't sorry to see him go but there was a process for such things.
The second man was hardly better, instead of murder the man was known in police circles as Clover. A particularly uninspired nickname to signify his crimes, Child Lover. Again a likely death sentence no matter his sentencing, inmates rarely took empathy on such monsters. Most of them had children.
Colin had to take a deep breath and relax his clenched hands to avoid ruining his hard work, frustrating would get him nowhere. That did not change his displeasure at Director Piggot's decision regarding the new rogue. It was the same argument as with Shadow Stalker without the sympathetic understanding of the girl's young age.
Once properly focused he allowed his mind to wander back to the meeting they'd had on this very subject last night, most of it was routine until Colin had brought up the vigilante murders. The Director's response had been…displeasing to his sensibilities.
"He only gets one." She scowled bitterly at his armored figure. "If those animal's hadn't been shoe in's for death row and we didn't know he was intending on being a hero I would already be starting a villain's brief with the public and releasing a threat rating."
Colin frowned down at the Director of the ENE Protectorate. "I want to put it on record that I protest overlooking 'Superman's' crimes simply because who he murdered is convenient. You dismissed my concerns when we brought on Shadow Stalker and we are still hearing rumor's of her bullying Kid Win, we shou-"
"Damnit Armsmaster I know!" The rotund woman cut him off with a bark before visibly restraining her temper. "Your objection is noted but we will not be treating Superman like a villain, I just got off a very long call with the Chief-Director and after reviewing his meeting with Velocity she and I have agreed to adopt a wait and see approach."
Miss Militia who had stayed silent up until now spoke up with a thoughtful crinkle of her brown eyes. "I can see why. A tentative rating of brute seven? Awfully high considering this is the first time he's gone out."
"Being cautious takes precedence above all else here." Assault waved a crime scene photo from his seat at the conference table. "Just take a look at Mr. Paste over here, that's a guy we don't want to be on the wrong side of. Becoming soup just ain't it for me Lady Liberty"
Battery snatched the photo from his hand and smacked the back of his head with a growl. "Knock it off or I will smack you again. Inappropriate comments aside I agree, a brute that can do that to a man in a single hit would take most of us at the table down solo."
Murmurs of agreement were heard around the room that was currently filled with the most senior members of the Brockton Bay Protectorate. Getting on the wrong side of a high brute had spelled the end of many a hero's career, everyone who had been to an Endbringer fight was unpleasantly aware of how squishy human's even with powers could be.
Director Piggot sighed and took a sip of water before speaking up. "We will be putting together threat ratings soon but the initial ones are cautious. Mover six do to his flight and eyewitness report of him moving 'faster than a bullet'. Brute seven I will refer to the crime scene photo's. Tentative blaster three, the woman he saved reported that his eyes began glowing red, think tank is assuming some form of laser vision."
"That puts him at a higher Brute and Mover rating than almost all the capes in the city." Velocity crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Think I'm faster on land but he was zipping around once he got up there. And that Brute rating is only two lower than Leviathan, when I spoke with him he seemed like a nice guy if standoffish and distrusting of authority. Do we really want to put him in the same category as an Endbringer?"
Armsmaster leaned forward in his chair with a heavy frown. "Superman reduced two men into a bloody paste with a single blow a piece, the impact was so strong that it moved the entire structure off its foundation by eight inches, if the first victim hadn't liquified he would have gone through four walls."
"And I'm not denying that." Velocity raised his arms in a gesture of peace. "But I spoke with him and I get the sense that he's an honest guy at least trying to do the right thing, if we start putting him in that powerhouse category then certain comparisons will be made, Alexandria is a Brute eight. Should we be putting Superman in the same league on his first night out?"
Before the argument could escalate any further, Director Piggot spoke up firmly. "This meeting is not to debate Superman's rating, it is temporary and subject to change thus arguing over it is meaningless. This is the path the Chief-Director and I have decided on and this is the path we will follow. Any further comments or questions regarding this decision?"
A chorus of no Ma'am's echoed around the room, some such as Colin's were more sour than others. Piggot glanced over the various caped figures with a raised eyebrow, after a few moments of silence the Director nodded in approval. "Very good. That's all on Superman for now. Patrol routes will be changed to reflect the rising tensions between the Empire and ABB."
Colin was shaken from his mental recollection of the aggravating meeting by a beeping from the comm in his lab, he steadfastly ignored it. Director Piggot had forced him to take today off after the thirty six hour shift he'd pulled in an attempt to piece together the Superman mystery, the fact that he had succeeded in his task garnered him little less than a removal from duty.
The bearded man silently stewed on the dismissal in addition to the firm rebuke he'd received. Perhaps it was an immature thought but he desired more recognition for his efforts, he'd calculated the hours worked and results achieved earlier in the year due to a flight of fantasy. Armsmaster was in the top one percentile for hours worked and successful captures of villains and criminals.
"And yet my professional advice is so often discarded!" He grumbled lightly to what he thought to be an empty room.
"That's a bit of a loaded statement." The monitor to his left turned on and the image of a worried Dragon appeared. "Are you feeling alright Colin, you don't look well."
The tinkering hero slowed down ever so slightly in his work as he considered how she'd bypassed his lock out. "You used the emergency access code I shared with you?"
The computer generated face raised an eyebrow and his annoyed tone. "I've been trying to contact you for fifteen hours, it was only prudent to make sure you hadn't gone overboard again."
"Fifteen hours? I started tinkering at…" Colin trailed off as he glanced at the clock, sure enough it read 7:04 PM. "2:12 AM."
"I'm worried about you Colin, since the battle of Canberra you've been running yourself ragged." Dragon's voice carried a saddened tone. "What's wrong?"
The bearded man twitched and continued working quietly for nearly a minute, long enough that Dragon was about to start running a diagnostic on the audio output device when finally he responded by putting down his halberd and standing up.
"Everyone always balks at running the numbers." Colin paced the room furiously. "I did too until Canberra, the thought wouldn't leave me be as I watched the Simurgh engage the Triumvirate. How long can humanity keep this up?"
Dragon visibly considered this line of thought. "The current consensus in the scientific community is that even with the amount of damage from the Endbringers we have between forty and seventy years before civilization falls, but that's the most pessimistic number assuming we don't find a way to beat them."
"I thought so too, the number while catastrophic doesn't necessarily mean we won't find a way to eliminate even one Endbringer by then. But then I spent some time researching from there. Did you know that the rate of triggers in America has increased by twelve hundred percent since 1992?"
"The appearance of Behemoth and its siblings is widely considered to be a major factor in the explosion of capes." Dragon agreed with a curious tone. "Where are you going with this Colin?"
Colin was aware that he shouldn't be even considering sharing this information with someone not explicitly cleared to know, he'd just been in a meeting the day before about this very fact but Dragon was someone he respected greatly and he valued her opinion above most others.
"I trust you'll be discreet about this." Decision made he sat down at his computer and forwarded the case details to his fellow tinker. "This is the case file for the new cape self identified as 'Superman'. What disturbs me most about him is that he follows the trend."
Dragon hummed as her digital eyes roamed over the file, she paused as something caught her eye. "He shifted the entire foundation with someone's body?"
"Disturbing isn't it?" Colin nodded before continuing. "New triggers are getting stronger year by year at a ratio of between 1.2% and 4.1%. I've accessed every database I can get my hands on and the numbers don't lie. By this time in five years we will have newly triggered capes on the level of Endbringers."
"That's making a lot of assumptions Colin." Dragon warned gently. "You're assuming the trend from previous years will continue unabating and it's based on an average."
The bearded man ran a hand over his face in frustration. "Even if the numbers are overstated it doesn't change the conclusion, within our lifetimes we will have capes nearly as strong if not stronger than the Endbringers, if even one of these capes joins the side of evil then it shortens Humanity's clock by decades."
The female tinker quietly considered her companions words and rapidly connected the dots in a way only she could. "You're worried Superman is the beginning of this era of, for lack of a better word, super-triggers."
"I could name a dozen capes with the potential in the last five years that could have marked the start." Colin sighed with an exhausted expression. "Superman raises that to thirteen and six of them have appeared in the last eighteen months. If the estimates for his true strength are correct then he could level this building with ease, what are we going to do with villains even stronger? We're fighting a losing battle as it is."
"I suppose we do what we've always done Colin." Dragon's avatar gave him a warm look. "The best we can and that starts with you getting some rest, the world won't end while you sleep I promise."
The urge to protest and argue the point arose within him at her response, the frustrating sensation of her not understanding the direness of the situation welling up within. Colin forced himself to take a deep breath as the corners of his vision swam with black. It was days like this that he felt envious of Noctis capes such as Dragon, how much more efficient could he be without the need of sleep?
Nevertheless the woman was right. "Very well Dragon, I'll rest. But you understand where I'm coming from right?"
"I think you have a good point and an interesting theory." She hummed back as he settled upon the cot he kept in his lab. "I'll run my own numbers and get back to you, if they match up then we'll discuss how we can prepare for this world you see."
"Thank you."
"Of course Colin, I'm always here for you if you need me." Dragon's avatar smiled down at him as he closed his tired eyes.
Sleep slowly overtook the hero as Dragon's soft humming filled the room with the tune of Fur Elise. Admiration filled the tired man as he realized she'd done what no one else he'd brought this up with had, she'd considered and accepted the merits of what he feared. Not just a world of super capes, but one where he was invalidated. With his last thoughts left uncompleted he slipped into the realm of dreams.
-End
I've always liked Colin and Dragon's dynamic, hopefully I did it justice here. I've decided to treat this fanfic as if I was genuinely writing my own novel so I will be writing in an easy to digest manner with some exposition. Hope you guys liked it. Thanks for reading!