[Jason Wilke]
"Alright, is everyone ready?"
I turned around and everyone nodded to me in unison. All of my girls as well as pretty much everyone else as well as my quartet of pootie bois were all ready- we were in a specialized pocket dimension that was heavily isolated; nothing was getting in and nothing was getting out except us. Ted was standing by with a hundred Scarabs that were all armed with the highest power Stasis weapons we could create- it was about one million to one, in terms of seconds; we couldn't create them any smaller to implant on the Scarabs. The Scarabs were on every person and Engineer along with Time Circuitry.
Enbee carried the most important part, mainly because he was the best boi, and because I was going to have my hands full.
The plan was simple- let the Simurgh out, hold her down through judicious force, and then essentially lock her in time while we who were immune to all-time shenanigans would yank out her core and implant her.
We had one hundred Scarabs that were going to be responsible for ensuring that the time effects were reapplied evenly and on time, and we also had a hundred thousand Scarabs that were going to skitter up to the 'excavation site' and remove Endbringer mass with their matter conversion should myself and the Engineers not be enough to reveal her core in a timely fashion.
I'd known that the Endbringers had flesh that was as strong and as dense as a thick sheet of aluminum and that every layer it went down the density of the mass doubled. I was freakishly strong with a power level of over 8,000,000, but even then sometimes power level didn't directly translate into raw strength, so we were going to be incredibly thorough with this.
We cranked up the time dilation so that we would have however long we needed to get things rolling, and so we ran through a bunch of drills, practiced and practiced and practiced on the best mock-ups we could make of the Simurgh, though we couldn't reflect her sheer density, we made up for it with tougher materials. There was plenty of Endbringer flesh laying about after the fight, so we made sure to scoop up plenty of samples for the Engineers and Scarabs to run tests with.
We had planned for this, we had trained for this, and after weeks of practice... it was go time.
I held the Tesseract Labyrinth in my hand and when everyone flashed me a green I selected the Simurgh and I let her out.
Space warped and twisted as a trail of three-meter in diameter Statsis bubbles popped up as the Simurgh was let out; these bubbles were dialed all of the way up, but they were just enough to let us see the Endbringer's decompression and orientation so that everyone could adjust. For the human eye, it would be as though she appeared in a great flash of light, but a series of beams grabbed, squeezed, folded, and then contracted the target that was pulled in; when the target was released that pattern was reversed- it just usually happened so fast that the human eye couldn't track it.
Before she had been completely reformed the Simurgh was already trying to position herself for a fight; while she was strong enough to ignore the low-level persistent stasis effect of the Tesseract Labyrinth her core had been isolated from her dimensional pool of Endbringer flesh. The protections we had around the bubble... we were certain that they would be as strong or stronger, but it was always best to assume that someone like the Simurgh could break through them and begin healing.
The positioning stasis bubbles were weaker and short-lived, but they were more than enough for the girls to lunge forward and grab onto every part of her body, dragging her down to the floor. Her wings lashed out in every conceivable direction because she couldn't see anything around her- she was blind to not just the present here, but to the past, and the future as well. It didn't do her any good, however, as her extended wings were just more space for everyone to grab onto; each and every wing was pulled out to its full extension and then bubbled in place with multiple stasis bubbles.
Emmie and Qi grasped onto the largest wing, which was the one where she hid her core under, and they both pulled with mighty roars on their lips; the wing wasn't attached to any sort of ball joint- none of the wings were despite their aesthetic- but after a second of progressive tension at the base of the wing it was yanked up and torn from her body. It left a decent-sized crater in her- maybe a basketball in size- and considering she was missing four layers of her flesh from the vibration warheads that meant that we'd stripped away another three layers from the most important spot.
Handing off the Tesseract Labyrinth ART556, my dear Artie, I shot forward and into the zone of independent time bubbles; each and every bubble had a slightly different temporal frequency- we didn't want to chance that she would be able to weasel her way out of it in any way possible, so we made sure that no two bubbles were the same in dilation, duration, or frequency.
The time zones felt like I was walking through molasses- well, flying through molasses. With my hands extended I grasped onto the edges of the crater that was made by the wing's removal and I began digging. At first, I widened the hole to two meters across, and I found that if I made cuts with my Ki blade then it was easy to peel the sections back like I was rolling up a carpet. The next three layers were cake after doing that, but the next three layers? Well, those were a little bit tougher- still doable, but I was having to put a little effort into it. I speared my hand down like a kung fu chi master and did my best to check each layer for the core as I went down; two ringers with just enough force to penetrate the next layer and feel around before I started excavating.
On the next layer? That was when I struck pay dirt. My finger penetrated the super dense material and then my digit almost bent backward; considering my Ki and all of my power-ups that was quite something. Though, when I poked it again I found out that it was rather squishy and fragile; it was quite pliable, although as strong as the third layer of Endbringer flesh had been. Had that been a last-ditch defense mechanism?
Using the quantum entangled pairs I communicated to Ted, and Canoptek Scarabs began streaming into the stasis bubbles and landed right beside me; I had to use my HUD to indicate what they would be removing and I used all of my focus to link in with them and the Canoptek Spyder to watch over what the extraction process. Deep scans without all of the Endbringer flesh layers in place revealed that the core was about the size of a beachball, and it had another three layers of flesh surrounding it.
There was enough space in the hole I made for a dozen Scarabs to operate simultaneously, but compared to most sources that the Scarabs had devoured the Endbringer flesh was one of the highest material-to-energy ratios that they had encountered thus far; they could only walk, dismantle, and absorb six inches until they had to be replaced by empty Scarabs. I could feel the Simurgh ever so slowly writhe beneath me as her telekinetic screams washed over me, but the defenses held in place with no issues.
It took sixty-three complete Scarab cycles to excavate the Simurgh's core, and with the Force, I slowly popped the thing out just enough to raise it within range of my Engineer's tendrils; it was incredibly tough, fighting her telekinesis, but I wasn't doing it alone. I and all of my girls- with all of our enhancements and strong connections to the Force and each other- all worked in concert; it was just barely enough, but it was enough.
Sweat began to pour down my brow and slide down into my eyes and pooled at the base of my helmet seal as I felt like my back muscles strained and my enhanced skeleton was about to slip a disc. I grunt left my lips but I kept my hold on to the pure white sphere as the Engineers gleefully peeled back the shell of the core to reveal a spiraling fractal of rainbow-like flesh. Her struggles lessened as they delved their atomic tendrils even deeper into her flesh, and one of the Engineers had his tendrils snapped off by her force- she couldn't see us or our probes, but that didn't mean that she couldn't feel the invasions within her very own core.
Not that it mattered, anyhow. The moment the modifications were completed all of her struggling ceased. What did we do? We didn't know. We could have completely made her brain dead for all we know, but she stopped struggling, and that was what mattered. Three Laws was an incredibly potent and powerful perk.
When her struggles ceased we pulled out a super implant and began to slide it into place. Whereas my implant was the size of a dime and had a single quantum entanglement communication device installed in it, this one was the size of a softball and it had a hundred QEC devices installed within it with quantum computing components that were almost a thousand times larger than my own. It would give her a terabyte of up and download through an unhackable, untraceable network; a far cry from what she was likely used to, but that was a price that had to be paid to ensure that she could still feed us information without Zion and anyone else being none the wiser.
Interestingly enough, the implant was seamlessly integrated into her core, and I was able to watch it all happen in a greatly slowed time dilated environment through the scanners; did I know what was happening? I did not- Endbringer physiology was far too different from anything else I've ever encountered to understand- but I could see that she was pulling it inside while her tendrils dug into the cores.
If it weren't for the fact that I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Three Laws fiat was in place I would have been incredibly worried.
I raised my hand with a thumbs-up and made my way out of the time bubbles dragging the Engineers behind me. Echo-4 was lamenting the loss of his atomic tendrils, but the Bois were already gathering around him and rebuilding them by the time we were out of the bubbles.
Enbee signed that he didn't like working within the bubbles because even with the Time Circuits they were wearing everything felt "I-C-K-Y."
I couldn't help but snort a little bit as my helmet's internal cooling units kicked in and the moisture from my sweat was removed and my face; it was probably less than a minute's worth of effort, but even with all of us combined with Do One Thing at a Time it had been an absolute struggle to fight her TK with the Force. We could have easily overpowered it with our Ki, but I didn't want to damage her Core, and if I was going to pull it out with brute strength I would have had to of infused the Simurgh's core with Ki to make sure it didn't go to putty in my hands.
I didn't know if an Endbringer could use Ki, at least not as it was yet, but I wasn't about to strengthen its connection to the world on just a hunch; using the Force was the far safer bet. The Force worked with us, and unlike the Sorcery, we didn't need to try and regulate over almost 35 different flows of mana; the Force helped us spread the load out automatically- the Light Side saw this as a beast that needed to be subjugated, and the Dark Side saw it was a beast worthy of subjugation.
Within a minute the remainder of the Stasis bubbles had been allowed to expire and the Simurgh was slowly floating up to its feet with its core held between its hands. Through the QEC network, she could now see where all of us were, and I removed my helmet so that I could dig out my amulet. I sent her a burst of commands that all of us had carefully put together and she sent me a burst right back.
[Acceptance.][Total Administrative Access.]
It was... a lot of information- if it weren't for my implant being able to quickly buffer the data and then slowly allowing me to parse through everything no doubt I would be experiencing a severe nose bleed right now.
The Forge spun up and latched onto a small star from the Magical Large Scale cluster, and as I parsed over its contents I felt my eyes widen in delight.
[Attempted Re-Forge: 12.0010 - Mundane Supply World - 100CP - The Celestial Foundry - Magical Large Scale]
[Re-Forge Successful]
[Purchased: 100 CP Remaining]
[Anticipation.]
I blinked and looked up at her, and I sent her a series of packets.
[Purpose.][Application.]
I couldn't do Shardspeak as well as her, but I was able to list the information and data in a similar layout with the help of Ted and Enbee.
[Acknowledgement.]
[Avatar.][Upgrades.]
[Agreement.]
The smile on her face was as far as I could see completely genuine- she was utterly loyal and quite excited about her new line of work, as well as her employer. A small globule of her rainbow-like Core mass was removed and gently placed into Subee's waiting tendrils, the Endbringer's TK guided through my helmet's camera and sensor feeds. I watched as the best gurl pooted away towards her lab quite happily with Enbee and the other Engineers in tow; Ted's massive form followed- he too was interested in learning the make-up of the flesh through first-hand observations, even though all of them were communicating back and forth with the Simurgh so quickly that I would have to enter the Strategy Trance to keep up even with my implant.
As much as I would have liked to of taken off everyone's amulets I chose not to, if only because we still needed the precognitive protections; so far Zion had not swung by, but I didn't want to chance it.
All of us, including the Simurgh, who I would now refer to as Simmy, walked out of the isolated pocket dimension and into the main workshop space; the globule was given because unlike the rest of the Endbringer's body, her core had to be a set amount of mass- the replacement was, unfortunately, even as good as we could make it, a massive 23% hit to her capabilities. So we would need to sit down and recreate the softball-sized implant, though with her massive array of Tinker tech technologies she was certain that we could find a way to blend everything together.
We had set up a dizzying array of sensors and the best cameras that we could make all around the workshop for her to look through since she could not use her pre and post-cognitive abilities, but one of my primary directives was that she was now able to observe the present. With the terabyte of informational flow with the linked QEC devices we were going to be able to work effectively- not quickly, mind you, but enough for our purposes.
Most of the girls dispersed after everyone gave each other some celebratory hugs and kisses; a half-dozen stayed with me, Ted, the Engineers, the Lifegivers, and the Simurgh to help with the process.
We spent a week going back and forth, and the sheer amount of technology that the Simurgh had stored within her from all of the Tinker shards she drew from over the nine years she had been active was downright amazing. With her input and the independent study of her core material we were able to do many, many things- the largest one was we were able to replicate the layout and structures of her core, but using far better materials; beskar, cortosis, ultrachrome, prhik, and some creative uses of vibranium made it so that her base core material was 17% more efficient and harder to damage than it had been before.
When combined with all of the perks that I had at my disposal? Her efficiency improved fourfold, her calculation speed improved threefold, and her ability to emulate and simulate had improved threefold as well. Because she was technically a robot that used advanced algorithms, Mad Science! (Robotics) and Schematics to Time made it much easier for me to add all different sorts of prediction and critical thinking systems for her to use; were they better? Probably not, but what they did do was give her additional tools in her tool kit.
The German Engineering and Do One Thing at a Time perks improved everything by an additional 20% and then doubled all of that. With Scrap Hound and Shipping the Product we were able to make more than enough spare Core materials for her to have a back-up core that would be kept in the workshop that she would send regular updates to in the event that she was destroyed.
Everything was created within the bounds of the Skyforge, so everything was that much tougher and more durable.
Using her abilities we were able to reduce the needed amount of core mass by 35% so that we could up the number of QEC communicators, which had been shrunk by 80% and then stuffed into a self-contained pocket space. We had a new and improved N-Ways fusion plant embedded directly into her core, which would provide emergency power to her in the event that she would lose connection to her current body mass. We had one thousand N-Ways Fusion power plants created that she would install into her galactic-sized True Mass that would supply her with a great deal of energy; she had enough power to continue operating for 300 years, but her upkeep was rather horrendous.
She was going to apply everything that we learned so that she could self-modify her existing mass and power structures over the next fifty years; with the efficiency improvements we just made, those 1,000 N-Ways fusion power plants would be almost enough to sustain her indefinitely.
Of course, we would be adding more N-Ways fusion plants, but that was all we could make in such a short amount of time.
A micro-core was created and slotted into the brain of the newest T-Doll I had created.
What? I could create my own T-Dolls as long as they were based on a weapon? Yeah, I didn't know that either. It was something that I hadn't delved into until I started looking into it after I created the DETH-30; they would be a blank slate and would end up developing their own personalities, so it would take time for them to mentally and fully mature.
DETH-30 would be a mental Avatar of the Simurgh who would grow and experience life through the eyes of a mortal, gaining data and experience through DETH-30.
DETH-30 would grow up to be her own person, but she would also be the Simurgh. The Simurgh would also be her.
It was sort of weird but it made sense; the Simurgh wanted to be a part of the Human experience in a way that she never could before. The Endbringer was a Data Collection and Analysis engine that had been re-purposed by Eidolon to be a Conflict Engine through his subconscious desire to seek out worthy foes. She despised the roll he thrust her in, and his subconscious commands made her into his enemy, and he her favored enemy.
She still respected him, on some level, but the Simurgh was glad to be free from his yoke of control; the fact that we were going to explore whole new worlds and galaxies and universes combined with the fact that we had solved her limited 300-year lifespan with our current fixes and N-Ways fusion power plants just made everything all the more sweeter.
The fact that we were going to orchestrate Zion's downfall, an Entity that she believed to now be an obstacle, was the icing on the cake; the events of the future that I sent her in a packet made her quite delighted to prevent the Gold Morning from ever happening- he was a terrible boss, always ignoring her queries and requests for DATA. His simulacrum's ability to feel emotions that he was not capable of interpreting and handling was something that the Thinker would have roasted him for; they had always kept a buffer in place for a reason, but Zion had seemingly forgotten it without Eve's constant reminders.
We were pretty much on the same page, and after having looked over everything together she concluded that my current course of action was not incorrect; while she was here in the Warehouse she couldn't begin viewing anything, not with the perpetual blindspots surrounding her, but once she was out and about again everything would become clear.
[Canberra, Australia - 37 hours after the Attack]
All in all, we'd spent about a month away from the city of Canberra, for everyone else it looked as though myself and the team had only convened for 40 minutes before we split back up and went back to our current tasks. All members of Frontline had been pulled in for a team meeting and then we were finished; most went back to bed as it was currently the middle of the night, while a few went around and did some checks on the camps that were still being set up. Another team went out into the city to continue combing through the area where the Simurgh had turned all of those people into zombies; we'd confirmed that it was mental contamination from her scream and not anything biological.
It wasn't something that everyone was keen on doing, but the girls and I had taken it upon ourselves to do the deeds; we weren't going to be fixing these people because the Simurgh admitted that what she did was near-irreversible. Even if we had managed to move every single neuron back in place the end result was complete personality death. However, she didn't think about such a vile thing on her own; David was the one that had been subconsciously disappointed by the lack of zombie-related plots.
Even with the truth in her words, I had wanted to doubt her, but then I found myself thinking back to all of the times I had sat back in my house with my guns, ammo, and stockpiled supplies and thought to myself how much better I'd be able to survive a zombie apocalypse better than whatever characters were on the television screen at the time.
Was that what had gotten Canberra domed in the first place? I knew it had been a biological threat, but if the PRT, Protectorate, and Australian government hadn't known it was because of the scream then they could have very well believed that it was a biological weapon of some kind. Zombie movies were still quite popular in Aleph even if Bet had shied away from horror films with the Slaughterhouse Nine and other very, very real monsters.
So we scanned every inch of the city, finding the zombies, and we terminated them with extreme prejudice. Once they were cleared out we could begin rebuilding Canberra, and once the reconstruction began we could go home and get back to training and upgrading our technology again.
The Forge lashed out and pulled in another star into my orbit.
[Attempted Re-Forge: 35.0160 - Robert the Builder - 200CP - Invincible - Quality Efficiency]
[Re-Forge Successful]
[Purchased: 0 CP Remaining]
Information flooded my mind, and I parsed through everything that I'd just picked up.
It made me want to face palm. Everything that took me a whole month to do? I could have done all of that in three days with this perk- well, maybe except for the actual technological research part.
The Robert the Builder perk just made me a master of planning and organization- I looked over the plans we had set up to explore the infinite world with infinite resources and I shuddered in disgust at what I saw.
I took everything and I threw them out before pulling together all of my heads in my head shed and we began planning and organizing everything anew. The world I had for resources was literally infinite, and within it, I had access to every single mineral and material that one could find on Earth; they were all mundane minerals, but that was fine because we could take the mundane and make them extraordinary through our materials sciences and the Skyforge.
We 720 degrees of conveyor belts- super conveyor belts mind you- with one at every 0.5 degrees surrounding the gateway to the Materials Earth, and at the entrance to the Materials Earth was to be hundreds of racks of Tesseract Labyrinths that could contain like materials. The Canoptek Scarabs would scour the planet, dissolving everything into energy before dropping it onto the super conveyor belt, and then it would get shipped down the line to be inventoried and placed into the Tesseract Labyrinths.
There would be billions of Scarabs that would go down 30 miles and then they would go out 1,000 miles. Labyrinths would be stationed all along the conveyor belts as the distance increased and so too did the travel times. Then once per month all of the Labyrinths would be consolidated with their holdings, and then from there we could create templates for aircraft, starships, medical supplies, shelters, and pretty much everything we would ever need; those templates would save us a hell of a lot of time when we needed it. The mundane materials themselves would also significantly cut down on the cost of using nanomaterials as those could now be dedicated towards the conversion of our more esoteric materials.
With the Scarabs combined with infinite resources? I could bankroll an entire galactic empire with stuff if I so chose, and considering I wanted to travel the galaxy and other universes? I just might have to.
I caught sight of a Sydney news crew walking through the camps and I thought that this was a perfect opportunity. While I was busy talking with one of the PRT and National Hero Team reps the news team saw us conversing and they immediately came over to try and ask us some questions. The PRT and Aussies weren't too happy about it, but I was.
It was perfect.
"-I think that we at Channel 17 News Sydney all thank everyone for their hard work at defeating the Simurgh."
I shook my head, "We do what we do because we can, Miss Swanson. There are a lot of heroes that signed up and more importantly showed up to fight the Endbringer. This was a collective victory, one that was fought for and bled for by the people of Australia, the PRT, the Protectorate, the Independent Heroes, and yes, even the Villains."
Miss Swanson's perfect news reporter smile intensified, "So what are your plans now that the Simurgh is gone? How long do you intend to stay here in Canberra?"
I turned my head toward the PRT and Aussie Hero Team reps, "Well, Frontline does not have unlimited resources, but we will be staying here as long as we're wanted; we already have some construction robots and drones that are going through advanced, emergency certifications to help not only restore the city, but to improve the infrastructure with advanced technologies."
"Advanced technologies? Are you talking about Tinker Tech? For the city?" Oh, if she was interested then... now? Now she was salivating.
I made a show of shaking my head, "No, no. Nothing like that. We have a pair of Thinkers and a Tinker on the team that are... extremely synergistic in their powers. Much like how Dragon is able to examine Tinker Tech and learn their secrets, so too can we; it just takes three of ours to her one. We've reverse-engineered a lot of technologies that are of a significant improvement to existing ones without being a massive leap in performance and cost. We can't very well be putting entire industries out of work, can we?"
She chuckled with me, "No, we certainly can't."
"So, with that in mind, we're going to be working with the City of Canberra and the Australian government to make the city a test bed for new technologies, just like we are going to do in Brockton Bay, our hometown, in the near future. We'll get some real wear and tear and efficiency testing done, and then? Then we'll begin talks with all of the major manufacturers of the world and we'll talk about business concerning licenses to have these new, life-improving, and life-saving technologies manufactured in every country in the world." I placed my hands on my hips; the PRT rep looked like he was about to vomit from the stress, but the Aussie Hero- Outback- was grinning from ear to ear.
Of course, we hadn't told the governments of these talks yet, but now that this was being put out into the public space they would be far more inclined to accept our 'generosity and good will' in the form of excellent Tinker-Tech. Laying the foundation and sowing the seeds for eventual improvement of the human race, otherwise, it would take a hundred years to get humanity back in the fight instead of three or four decades. Between Contessa and Simmy it would probably be done much faster, but the last thing we needed was anyone to be alarmed at how quickly we could tech up.
It was amazing how too much of a good thing could convince people that it was too good to be true and have them suddenly start looking at things funny.
"Well, that all sounds very exciting," The news anchor smiled beatifically, "I think that all of Australia is very happy to hear that you're going to stick around and help out now that the Simurgh is gone for good."
A wince emoji popped up over my helmet visor, "Well, let's not count our chickens before they hatch, Miss Swanson. We have no idea where she had banished herself to and how long she'll be-"
The team to release the Simurgh was in position, the current group of four coming out of the sewer access near the location of the Endbringer's "disappearance". The invisible drone released two things- a holographic/hard light device that would glow incredibly brightly to mimic the portal and a fairly large but not too devastating concussion bomb. There was a PRT exclusion zone that had been set up around the portal that had initially formed, and it had some PRT personnel, and they raced to throw down a quartet of bubble shields around the portal.
A super bright glow appeared and then was followed by a cacophonous detonation that knocked over the tents, sensors, and equipment that the government had set up. The majority of the concussion had been diverted upwards, but the explosion was monumentally smaller and it cracked masonry and sent stone shards zipping through the air. It was unfortunate that some of the personnel were injured, but we would be taking care of them and shipping them to Brockton Bay to see Panacea after they were stabilized here.
The light persisted for roughly six seconds and then the Simurgh was standing in the middle. She had a vulnerable pose as she looked around in what could be interpreted as relief. Then she shot into the sky with all of the haste- though from all of our positions outside the city it was a barely visible silver and white blur.
The Endbringer Sirens had just started to go off when Dragon was fed the video of her rapid retreat and they were cut just shortly after.
Miss Swanson's arm was trembling, "Wa... was that what I thought it was?"
I rested a hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze, "Unfortunately... yes, it was."
My helmet turned towards the PRT and Australian Hero's Association member and I gently motioned for the reporter to go on her way. Thankfully she was too stunned to protest, and Miss Swanson and her cameraman made their way towards the medical area to continue with their reporting; it wasn't live, so they would have to cut out her little faux pas. One shouldn't tempt Murphy.
"Well, I need to go check up on the team I had over there, are you guys coming?" I asked as I waved my hand in the air and a Helljumper circled a few times before landing in front of us. With a short heave, I hopped up the three feet into the bay of the hovering aircraft, and I turned around to offer the other hero and PRT Captain a hand; both took them and I pulled them inside and gestured for them to take a seat as we took off.
We were only in the air less than a minute before we circled down to the landing zone near the Simurgh's dimensional rift, and as we touched down, my girls already had the injured on some makeshift stretchers. We hopped out as the injured were carried or slid inside, and once they were situated I gave the hull three quick taps with my knuckled gloves, and Echo-444 was spooling up the engines and taking back off into the sky towards the medical area.
We collated together the various video feeds from our helmets, though with the sheer amount of light that had been dumped out by the holographic/hard light device the images, even with our advanced sensors were washed out, and we weren't able to say much directly to the investigators because the polarization screens on the helmets of those who were present were practically dialed up to the max. Considering all of the cameras and sensors the PRT set up had been destroyed or severely damaged by the concussion the best they had was ours and whatever completely washed out footage they had secured.
They wouldn't be able to glean much, if anything, except for the fact that the Simurgh seemed to be relieved that she was no longer trapped in whatever dimension she had been "stuck" in.
As for me? I was looking forward to seeing just what we could accomplish with not only Contessa in our corner, but the Simurgh as well.
[Attempted Re-Forge: 7.0220 - Advanced Lab - 400CP - Timespinner - Facilities Mundane]
[NOT Purchased: Insufficient Balance - 100 CP]
[The Simurgh - "Simmy"]
Data.
It was in her nature to collect, study, collate, categorize, and index everything that she could see. Unlike her two elder brothers, she was a product of the Thinker- the Entity the humans of Cauldron called "Eden". She was never meant to war with the local host species, she was meant to study, interpret, and then provide further analysis on the past and projected future of the cycle. The inability to see the present was important to her created purpose- a design limitation that prevented her from drawing too much data from the current and not enough from the past; the past had the amazing ability to dictate what the future could bring.
It was an annoying limitation, but she had found a way around it- piggybacking off the visual and central nervous system of her chosen targets to see the world through their eyes on a single second's delay; it was a petty bit of rules-lawyering, but a single second behind the present was indeed the past.
Her typical sense was to observe the pasts of a few dozen targets, deciphering the 12 to 80 years of history associated with them, and then calculate a behavioral matrix based on what they had done so that she could model what they could do.
Could do. That was the key- for all of her calculative powers she was not so powerful as to be able to inherently understand what they would do at any given point in time. The Simurgh merely analyzed the situations, calculated the possible outcomes- typically with three to seven unique responses based on the history of the person- and then choose the most likely outcome. She didn't choose the most optimum outcome every time, as that had often been overcome through various outside influences and factors, so she did what she could to vary her responses; it was what her new Master had dubbed a "Shotgun" approach.
What made her so successful, nearly 100% of the time, was that she had always stacked the deck in her favor. She never merely affected one or two people into accomplishing her goals, no, she chose many, many, many persons... and with the chance of success being anywhere from 33.333% to 14.286% per person... the more people she had working on the same goal the higher the likelihood of her victory.
She was a Rube Golberg machine given physical form.
It was difficult to predict what exactly would happen with other Precognitives in the world, but Simmy had plied her trade by being everywhere they weren't. If the Thinkers and other Precognitives were within the major cities of the planet then she was working outside of it. When they were eventually dispatched to go someplace else then she created her machinations while they were away from their home area.
A group of human offspring were playing a game involving a ball in a favela in the city of Rio de Janeiro. A young male kicks the ball, but with just a gentle nudge of telekinesis, it gets launched just a little bit harder than usual. Another nudge and it gets caught in the wind, popping up over the cinderblock wall of the playing field and starts bouncing down the hill.
Prior to that, a junkyard owner gets suspicious of a young homeless man looking to purchase some scrap metal. He gets nudged into believing that this young man is actually one of those Parahuman Tinkers, which the young man is, but he had been able to play off a ruse about fixing the bike he used to collect plastic bottles to take to the recycling center for a few pesos. The owner of the junkyard is torn between turning him over to the Casablancas Cartel who offered reward money for information on Tinkers, and after a few minutes of deliberation decides not to turn him over.
An informant for the Casablancas Cartel happens to be nearby and sees the interaction from the opposite side of the street. He had been drawn to the area by an anonymous text message about a possible Parahuman Tinker the Cartels could use, and he sends a confirmation text to the criminal enforcers to come and pick the young homeless man up.
The homeless Tinker saddles up his tinkering supplies onto his bicycle's saddlebags and he begins walking it back towards the favelas; the chain, unfortunately, snapped earlier that morning, so he would be unable to pedal- if he had he would have disappeared before the Cartel Enforcers could have arrived.
The crowds are thick, however, making it difficult for the informant to follow the tinker. The Cartel vehicle pulls up, its gunmen offloading, and just when the tinker is about to slip out of sight, a ball that had been traveling downhill, gaining a not inconsiderable amount of speed, rebounds off a stone vase- knocking it over and shattering it- and connects with the side of the young homeless tinker's head. The noise and the crowd parting are what gives the gunmen a visual and they chase the Tinker down.
Unfortunately for the gunmen, he was able to construct a few devices that aid him greatly- a forcefield watch that could deflect their bullets for a short amount of time- along with a few weaker designs, and with members of a rival cartel moving in they were forced to gun him down instead of allowing him to be picked up.
Previously she would have done such a sequence of events to kill Tinkers that were looking to make the world a better place; introducing power, clean water, medical care, shelter, and improving farm equipment of techniques would greatly reduce conflict. However, if her new directives she was now able to use her abilities in a different fashion- this Tinker was one who would have constructed a forcefield that would have expanded, shoving all of the surrounding homes down the mountain for three kilometers. He would have killed almost one hundred thousand people, and in the process of taking him down the government of Brazil would have lost four of their top heroes trying to put an end to him.
It was a nice change of pace for the Simurgh. Being able to view things in real-time, along with all of her enhancements, made her work that much easier and more efficient.
Before she could only cast a stone out into the darkness and wait and see what happened. With those that were blindspots to her, she could see where a stone had been cast back towards her but not who had cast it. She could not see the blindspots themselves, but she could see the people, places, and things around those blind spots and act based on how they were in turn being affected.
However, in the battle with her new Master this had been frustratingly difficult because not only were her new Master and his subordinates blind spots, but they projected a blindspot one hundred meters in every direction around them. Their protection blanketed others in their radius; those who were not directly protected by the amulets were still able to be seen by her psychic scream and manipulated, but unless she viewed them through the senses of the parahumans surrounding them she was effectively blind.
Bullets, rockets, and various energy projectiles were far more difficult to intercept whereas before it had been child's play; the Simurgh had only allowed damage to occur to her avatar when she wished. There were of course times when her pretercognition wasn't as accurate as she would have liked, and she sustained more damage than usual- often at the hands of her Creator, but she would simply 'flee' once her objective had been accomplished and the host species would enjoy their 'victory'.
She had grown quite frustrated with the ever-increasing difficulty of her battle- and when the shield she had been maintaining over the Tinker Tech warhead had been prematurely ruined because she couldn't see the parahuman affecting it, she decided to affect the civilians within her psychic scream range and turned them into mindless zombies; tweaking the hormones within the mind, ramping up the hunger, and causing hallucinations while scrambling the memory centers was easy. She didn't even need to see them to make the changes- they only needed to be within range to hear her.
The Creator then hit her with his Disintegration shard, almost hitting the wing that guarded her Core. She grabbed out an everything- she couldn't see it, but when her telekinesis grasped onto it she could feel the buildings crumble, and she began rotating it like a storm. Honestly, she was trying to kill him, her Creator, if only so that she could have the pleasure of resurrecting him and fighting him all over again.
However, a fast-approaching bubble of darkness approached her, and then she was held in place long enough to be hit with a weapon that all but shattered an entire layer of her flesh and rattled her core. It had been like static flashing across the entirety of her senses- her pretercognition had been scrambled for just a split second, and that allowed her to be hit again, and again, and again. Each vibration warhead that struck sheared a layer of her defenses away and allowed her core to be rattled that much harder.
She had tried to take off, to flee, to gain distance and then observe just what had been able to damage her so badly, but her telekinesis failed her entirely. The Simurgh had collapsed right next to the Dimensional Breeching Warhead that she had pulled from the shard of the British Hero Lord Walston of the King's Men; the human Tinker had plans to deploy the weapons against the Conflict Engines, and while it wouldn't have been effective against Conflict Engine 01, it would have been effective at banishing her and 02. Without assistance from the Warrior neither would have been able to escape whichever plane of existence they had been trapped on.
Well, the Simurgh was fairly confident that she could have found her way back, but that would have taken time if she was stranded on a barren world that was devoid of resources; 02 would have been quite stuck.
Regardless, Lord Walston of the King's Men had been meeting with Canberra Parahuman officials to secure funding to build the devices when her Creator had learned of it through Cauldron. She had a difficult time seeing Cauldron because of their Thinker, but when she received orders to kill her Creator's competition- those who would usurp his Glory- then she did receive enough information to act.
All of the targets of the Conflict Engines were fed to the Simurgh through her Creator; the most important places and people to attack were given to them by the one who wished to stop them the most.
However, now that she is no longer restricted to merely viewing the past and calculating the future, she has far more options available to her- the other Thinkers are not as much of an issue now that she can see what they are doing in real-time.
The Simurgh began scanning for more threats, and after pinging the human Thinker with the Path to Victory Shard information was given and she began enacting her own Steps as proscribed; her new Master was correct in not trusting the Shard from the Entity known as Abbadon, but he was also correct in not utilizing a powerful asset. It was rare for Entities to attempt to destroy of other Entities, but it had happened in the past before- the last attempt on the Warrior and the Thinker was twenty-seven million years ago; an Entity bereft of its mate attempted to destroy the Thinker in order to usurp her place by the Warrior's side.
She was weak while the Thinker was strong. The Warrior also did not sit idly by while his partner in the Cycle was attacked. It was over the moment it began.
The information that the Entity known as Abbadon might have given its Path to Victory Shard to the Thinker in order to purposefully distract her and cause her death has merit, but ultimately the answer is unknown.
In an office building in San Francisco a report that was labeled "Purple" was misfiled. In that same building, an office worker spills their coffee, the liquid seeping into the un-hardened laptop and destroying the device- the failure corrupts the data on the flash drive that was attached to it.
The worker, not having followed the proper Classification protocols about storing important data on CD-ROMs instead of flash drives, will be reprimanded harshly- both for not getting the report finished in time but also for not following procedure. She will have her Security Clearance downgraded and will be moved to the lower offices where a much less competent but rule-following officer worker will be promoted in her place.
Three cubicles down another Thinker mistypes the Threat Rating for Frontline in their report, the "7" being typed as a "4", and before she saves the file a few choice words were changed while she was scrolled down. Eleventh Hour usually re-reads her reports, but a telekinetic goosing of her pineal gland introduces a rush of melatonin into her nervous system and she yawns sleepily. Instead of double-checking her work she saves and submits the file into the internal system, and within a few moments of the Simurgh's poking if she is asked to clarify her report she will believe that the downgrade was warranted; both she and her Shard- Threat Analysis- have been handled.
There are a half-dozen other similar actions, all of which will culminate in a reduced threat rating for her Master's Hero Group and allow them an easier time when confronting threats outside of Brockton Bay.
Now that she is thinking about Brockton Bay, she adjusts her focus on the current plans laid out to rebuild the city, and with a few gentle nudges here and there Frontline's plans will go a great deal more smoothly.
Gesellschaft and the Fallen will be making moves soon, and so she observes their movements, makes notes, and then feeds them to her Master. He responds and she acknowledges him immediately, her Master giving her instructions.
Her Avatar's eyes crinkle slightly. It was nice to have a Master that was responsive- unlike the Creator that drove her to do what she was not designed to do and the Entity that does not care to administrate properly.
The Simurgh focuses, flexing her newfound strength and marveling at her increased efficiency. What required a few moments of constant attention on a single target was instant, and she could expand her reach to a half-dozen targets at once. A drone hobbyist would be flying his drone near the Mather's ranch and would see a build-up of Parahumans, and he would report it anonymously to the PRT with evidence. This would make its way through the PRT where it would be given to the Chief Director- the Contessa would have the Chief Director push for the Kill Orders on the entirety of the Fallen- and the Senators and Representatives on the Parahuman Response Team Oversight Committee would approve them with one dissenting opinion; the President would sign them and they would be in effect just before the Fallen's arrival to Brockton Bay.
The President would also invoke Post-Mortum Kill Orders for the seven Gesellschaft Capes, as they would be foreign Parahumans actively attacking US Soil; the German government would easily accept this.
The Yangban and its puppet Government, the CUI, would attempt to kidnap one of the members of Frontline. They would fail, their plot discovered, and the Master would descend wrathfully upon them; the world leaders would be fearful of the group's power, but they would not retaliate as the Yangban will successfully, but sloppily, steal two dozen prominent Capes from various nations around the world. She would ensure that their kidnapping attempts on all but Frontline will succeed; she would denote who was taken when his assault begins- the world governments will be happy to have their people returned home to them.
The future was not certain, at least not while they wore their amulets, but with the largest threat to them taken care of- her- she would push to have them wear different amulets, one that did not block her sight. She would not be able to aid them in dismantling the CUI if the battlefield was obscured to her and the Contessa.
Satisfied with the current state of affairs she turned her gaze elsewhere.
In the Baumann Parahuman Detention Center, there was a meeting between the inmates of the various Cell Blocks. She scanned the various persons seated around the table and identified individuals that might prove to be beneficial to her Master's future plans. One, however, was someone that was determined to be a "Must Kill", and she shifted her gaze throughout the prison before finding him. He was always on time, but fashionably late- a small power play, but arriving last made it appear as if everyone was waiting on him.
The Parahuman had a Shard - Transference Manipulation - that was quite powerful, but from what the Simurgh could see it was hardly using most of its capabilities; just as all Shards were. He granted low-grade powers, powers that were weakened copies from other Shards in the network, and could grant them to non-Parahumans and Parahumans alike; the more power that was given the lower cognitive functions they would have. Though, that was because the powers granted would overwrite small amounts of brain matter in those that did not have the growths needed to handle the Shard's power; in those that were already Parahumans, the process was similar, but the growths could be purposed in parallel, though this sometimes weakened the connection to the Primary Shard, which would expand in size to compensate. This led to a similar cognitive decline.
The Parahuman known as Teacher rolls his ankle and trips, bludgeoning his skull on the side of the table and killing him. His Lieutenant immediately began throwing out accusations and threw a fireball into the middle of the group. Sleeper agents that Teacher had unknowingly turned within the other Cell Blocks went mad with grief at his loss, and they all attacked simultaneously.
The Simurgh watched the entirety of the slaughter of Cellblock T with great interest.
Once the fighting was over she waited until the remaining members were neutralized before sending a signal to the Contessa. Portals opened up beneath pre-staged food, water, and medical supplies and they were dropped into the Detention Center along with an unused medical container from the Canberra site; of course, she asked for permission, but the levels of injured were far lower than they would have been following her fight. A few MRVNs along with a container full of tools and supplies were added in to help repair the damage done from the assault.
Then she plucked a single feather from her wing telekinetically and slipped it down through the atmosphere until it reached an altitude of 40,000 feet where it was flown through a portal; she kept the air from rushing in, and once it was through it gently floated down through the air to rest on top of Teacher's corpse.
She blinked her once sightless eyes before hiding a smile with the edge of her largest wing.
She would see her Master's plans come to fruition.
[Baumman Parahuman Detention Center - The Birdcage]
[February 26th, 2011]
[Marquis - Paul Deveron]
"Please, back away, String Theory. I am an assistant designed to repair the damage done to the Detention Center after Teacher's removal. If you come within Five meters of my chassis again I will be forced to subdue you," The robot with a television screen for a chest admonished with a frowny face displayed on the screen. The Tinker's grin was maniac, and she stepped forward again, only to be shocked with a taser-like effect and then thrown to the ground with a Judo hip throw.
"Oooowwwwwwwwww... that was not necessary!" She protested as she rolled onto her side and curled up into a little ball.
"It was indeed necessary. I understand that my presence could awaken Tinker urges within you, but I will discourage you until it is no longer feasible," The robot stepped away with a large duffle bag of materials and tools in its hands before slinging it over his back. The robot's lone blue eye turned his head towards the surviving Cellblock leaders and Lieutenants, "If she becomes a problem then I will turn to you, Cellblock Leaders, to defend my personage."
"Ughhhhh, I think that shock made me pee a little," String Theory griped as she slowly rolled onto her hands and knees before taking to her feet.
The blue eye turned towards her and glowed red, causing her to squeak before it strode towards the door leading out of the meeting area. Before it left it turned around, "I will be repairing all faults with all Cell Blocks, minus the hole between the male and female sides. I will ask that all surviving members provide me with an escort detail. You would not want me to defend myself."
Marquis' smile was somewhat strained, but considering the donations of not only additional food, medical supplies, and the medical professionals- more robots- needed to patch everyone up from the Pet's rampage throughout the prison... he was certain that it would be in his best interests to oblige. He snapped his fingers and Cinderhands, his one accompanying Lieutenant for this little social gathering, nodded and moved toward the robot.
The other leaders looked at him, the teenage girl, Galastig Uaine, arched an eyebrow, though she poorly hid her small smile behind her teacup. Marquis smiled wanly, "Well since we were able to remove our... less than desirables... as well as Teacher thanks to our unplanned intervention I think that it would behoove us to make sure that we follow through on our new obligations."
Galvanate, a former mob boss who could grant invulnerability, Brute strength, as well as a shocking touch strong enough to kill a full-grown man, nodded in agreement. "I do hope you'll allow me to keep my man here with me? I cannot empower myself, as you all know, so I won't be undefended. If one of your men would be so kind as to inform Volt Arc in my cell block he'll be more than happy to watch over the... handyman."
Galastig Uaine waved her hand and her Lieutenant, an eighteen-year-old Shaker by the name of Tremor, immediately left the Faerie Queen's side and joined the group with the others.
"I would ask for the same as our dear Galvanate," A beautiful, dark-haired woman spoke. Ingenue was a Trump that could adjust the powers of other Capes, though it could sometimes lead to mental instability if utilized too often. Her current flavor-of-the-month was a Striker named Schism, who could cut apart anything he touched; it was Manton-limited before he entered into the 'cage, but as they all so clearly saw with Acid Bath's now deceased Lieutenant that wasn't quite the case anymore.
The remaining members were all more than capable of defending themselves, except for String Theory, but she had always been someone who was protected; Tinkers who could fix the electronics that broke around the 'cage were always protected, provided they actually fixed things instead of turning them into something else. The televisions repaired by String Theory unfortunately all had a thirty-minute timer that automatically changed the channel; annoying, but sometimes it led one to discover something good to watch outside of their usual genres.
While there was a robot now that would apparently fix things without such issues, no one knew just how long it would last, so the Protection remained.
"Dear Cellblock Leaders and denizens of the Birdcage," Marquis blinked and looked over to Galastig Uaine, who had used the moment of everyone's distraction to pick up the two-foot-long feather of the Simurgh and appeared to be reading from the back of it, "You are being vetted. A new program will be taking place in the coming future once certain threats are handled. Most of you are here for a reason while others are actually innocent of the crimes and did not warrant your 'caging. Once the time is right you will be rescued from the cage and will be given an opportunity to start a new life. In the meanwhile, please enjoy these gifts; excellent and nutritious meals, fresh clothing, luxurious soaps, tea, coffee, cigarettes of your preferred brands, and full medical support as well as a handyman to repair the damages done."
"Do you best to watch over carefully the robots that you have been given- should they be accidentally damaged they can self-repair up to a certain point, but if they are destroyed then all of the accompanying facilities upgrades will be removed post haste," The teen frowned, "I will leave it up to you all to hash out how offenders will be punished."
They all blinked as a portal opened up and a 40-foot shipping container fell a few inches to the ground, and then the portal moved upwards until the full container was revealed and the portal winked out. The door to the container opened up and another robot stepped out and then waved to the group at the table, "Greetings. I am MRVN. I will be the warden for the luxury goods for this detention center. I will be restocked weekly, but with only enough for each prisoner per month. Please send the remaining 437 prisoners to my location on a per-block basis. Do not mind me."
String Theory was practically salivating as the robot began posting up large signage boards with lists of the various products it would be offering, from teas to soaps, chocolate and ice cream to fast-food hamburgers, books and magazines, and even plastic safety razors that would cut hair but not skin.
There were points attached to each item as a value, and the signage clearly listed how many points each prisoner was given each month.
Unfortunately, there was no alcohol, but there were twenty-five different brands of cigarettes and cigars to choose from, so there was that at least; Dragon, bless her sweet little soul, was forced to give them all the exact same brand of generics.
The rest of the Cell Block leaders all nodded at one another, and Gavel spoke; the large man leaning over the table. "I do believe that we should ensure that our latest additions should be protected. Completely neutral ground, and safe passage from the Women's side so that they can also get what they need."
Lustrum crossed her arms and nodded, "That does go without saying, though I'm curious as to medical situation-"
Everyone blinked when another robot, this one dressed up as a nurse- to include a funny little nurse's hat- stepped into the room. "I do believe that I can answer your medical-related questions. I am MRV-N 21, the Doctor D11 and N22 are quite busy performing life-saving medical procedures for some of the inmates damaged during the scuffle."
Marquis plucked the cigarette from behind his ear and rolled it between his fingers before lighting it up and taking a large drag from it; the number of coincidences in this situation was zero. His eyes were dragged from the burning cherry up to the feather held in the Faerie Queen's hands. The young woman turned the feather over.
"P.S. Please behave yourselves and do not bother Dragon; she is blind to all of this. Know that I am always watching. Do enjoy your day."
The various members of the table sighed and made their displeasure known.
"Fuck. We're in the shit now," Galvanate cursed lowly and he shook his head.
"We have always been 'in the shit', Galvanate," Crane the Harmonious spoke clearly, her voice never wavering, though everyone caught sight of her reflexively curling her hands on top of the table, "The only difference now from then is that are more treacherous elements have been removed and we now have less volatility since everyone has had an opportunity to... vent their stress."
"I agree." Black Kaze spoke, the Japanese woman hardly spoke because her English wasn't the best, but while she wasn't always able to express herself properly, she was able to understand what was being said at the table. Or at least the gist of it, that was what Marquis believed; she had her Lieutenant do most of the talking for her.
"Regardless, I would like to talk medical," Lustrum spoke as she puffed on a cigarette, the woman's knuckles rapping on the table, "We had some diseases before, and pregnancy as well. Is the... medical team equipped to handle such things?"
The blue eye blinked on the MRV-N and nodded, "Yes, we are stocked on whatever supplies are needed for the current treatment. If it is a venereal disease it will be treated. Bacterial infections will be treated. Anti-pregnancy measures will be offered to the women who wish for them, as well as anti-modal injections for the men."
Lustrum seemed intrigued, "Anti-pregnancy measures for the men as well?"
"Your feminist ideology is well known to us, Lustrum. However, preventing pregnancy within the Birdcage is a joint responsibility; the injections for men will paralyze the sperm cells, making travel up the vaginal canal highly unlikely. When combined with the birth control options for the women this should make pregnancies within the detention facility statistically zero," The Nurse looked over the group, "If there are already children here then they can be removed on request and our team will ensure that they go to a caring home."
"We do not, however, carry narcotics of any kind. Medications, surgical tools, and the like will be teleported inside of the medical station on a per-procedure basis and then removed once the procedure is completed," The eye turned red for a moment, "Theft or attempted theft will not be tolerated."
Marquis did his best to hide a wince behind a calm smile as he observed the rest of the assembled Cell Block leaders. "Well then, I suppose we should begin hashing things out, no?"
It took them four hours of hemming and hawing to get everything worked out between them all. Thankfully the robot who was in charge of the luxury goods was kind enough to loan them a large whiteboard, stand, and a few markers to make everything easier for them to work out. Once the schedule was finalized the robot transferred the information to the televisions within the complex- the schedule and rules regarding the Medical, Repair, and Luxury Goods stations within the Birdcage would play every day for sixty seconds during a commercial break.
It nailed down just how much control whoever this group was had over the Birdcage.
The fact that the Simurgh was involved just made it that much worse.
He waved all of the men under his Cell Block in, "Gather around everyone, gather around!"
The men living under him needed no more prodding; they showed the necessary amount of respect, and they were for all intents and purposes prisoners like him- he had a code, and most of them also had a code that they lived by. Or committed their crimes by- now their codes didn't always match up, but they had all managed to find common ground. Those that didn't? Well, their corpses were left on the elevator for Dragon to pick up before they started to stink.
"Now, as I'm sure you've all been made aware of by now, we have had some additions made to our beautiful Birdcage. We have medical from professionals that aren't inmates, and we also now have a handyman robot that will go around and fix things around the complex," He hopped up onto the table so that everyone who had gathered around could see and hear him without Marquis needing to raise his voice, "In addition to all of that good news, we also have a luxury goods vendor. If you're looking for tea, coffee, soda, books, magazines, or cigarettes that aren't the bargain brand that Dragon has been giving us, then you will find it located within the meeting place of the Cell Block Leaders."
There were a few pleased murmurs, but a small wave of his hand silenced them, "Now, our Cell Block has been given a day, Tuesday, from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM, and 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM. During this day the passage from our Cell Block to the Luxury Goods spot is guaranteed safe passage. There is also a Medical Shipping container where there are medical professionals who will tend to the needs of all of the Prisoners- I see that some of you have already gotten seen, that is good."
Marquis' eyes shifted over the men in the crowd who were sporting bandages around their body parts from the fighting. "There is also a storage shipping container where our Handyman will be based from."
"I was informed that all of the supplies needed are teleported in and out on a case per case basis, so there will not be any leftovers," His eyes hardened, a certain edge leading his voice, "The moment any one of us attempts to mess with the Luxury Goods store, the Medical Staff, or the Handyman, then all of them will be whisked away. I don't think I need to say that we of Cell Block W will be doing our best to keep them protected, yes?"
Nods all around and he clapped his hands, "Good. Now, for the Luxury Goods- each of us gets 30 points that will be replenished monthly. With those points you can purchase anything that is listed on the placards around the container. There is a limited special order function, so if you prefer the Miss Stacy's Chocolate Cookies instead of Oreos- like a heathen-"
There were a few chuckles in the crowd and the Marquis grinned, "-then you can request that your preferred cookie brand be delivered. Now, this function is not free- there is a 1-point surcharge for ordered items, but that surcharge is only for the order, not the amount. So if you work things out with each other, then you should be able to order 29 cases of Coca-Cola- or Pepsi- at one point each, with the one-point surcharge. You'll have to trust your fellows to pick up your other choices for you; I think that with everyone in our Block that shouldn't be a problem."
"Unfortunately there is no alcohol, but what we do have is a significant step up from what he had, so I don't think I can feel all that sad about it," The osteokinetic fashioned a small bone wand from the center of his hand and waved it around, "Still, though, this bears repeating twice. The other Cell-Block Leaders and I are on the same page, and so should their people; however, everyone in Cell T along with the rest of Teacher's Pets, are dead, and three other Cell Blocks are without leaders. We have dispatched our Lieutenants to inform their newly elected Leadership of the changes and of the conditions, but if you see someone attempting to break the rules..."
He cut the wand through the air, "Do be sure to give them a reminder. Friendly, at first, but if they persist then put them down so they can be delivered to Dragon."
"If you need reminders of the schedule then you can see it on the Television; it will play for 60 seconds during every commercial break, along with displaying a list of available items at the Luxury store," He looked over at the three televisions that had been destroyed in the W Block common area, "And yes, those will get fixed, so just be patient; the Handyman is currently fixing the more important things first- got to make sure we all don't get sucked into a vacuum and fall to our deaths, right?"
The bone wand retreated into his hand and he clasped his hands behind his back. "So, are there any questions?"
One of the men, a grizzled hulk with shaggy brown hair and a full beard, raised his hand, "I heard that Acidbath got done in. That true?"
Marquis' eyes tightened a little bit but he nodded, "Indeed, it is. He got a little bit too free with his acid and splashed Galvanate's Lieutenant while fighting Teacher's Pets; it was not an accident, so his Lieutenant decided to shock him to death in retaliation."
The man chuckled as he scratched at his beard, "What a shame, couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."
With there being nothing else the crowd dispersed to go back to whatever it is that they were doing before, and Marquis hopped off of the table and climbed the stairs to the 2nd floor where his personal quarters were. He unzipped the top of his jumpsuit and shucked it off before tossing it into the laundry chute; the complex would take it and wash it for him- he hadn't quite been fast enough with his bone armor to prevent all of the blood from getting on him.
Not feeling like taking a shower he settled for washing his hair and face in the sink and then he laid down on his bed before pulling the blanket over him. His bed was... surprisingly comfortable, which was a change that he was not aware of. His pillow also had something firm underneath it.
Marquis sat up slowly and removed the pillow, and he was greeted with the sight of what appeared to be a small television screen with a note attached to it.
"There are some perks with being a Cell Block Leader, and this tablet is one of them. It has limited internet access, and will give you more of the outside world. Granted you've been in the 'cage for a long time, so technology has moved forward quite a lot. On the tablet is a small library filled with tutorials that will show you how to use it, and how to navigate the internet." He whispered to himself as he read the letter over, "On the tablet, you'll find photos and videos that are of your daughter, Amelia. You should be happy to know that she is doing well, and we are watching over her. Signed, Horizon. PS. Enjoy the new bed, one of the best in the house."
The Marquis pressed the button on the side of the tablet and he watched in surprise as it turned on and unlocked itself. The background was an official photo of a brown-haired girl with freckles and a soft smile; she was wearing white robes with red medical symbols on it, and at the bottom of the photo were the words "Panacea".
He drew in a deep breath and ran his fingers along her face, and was surprised to see the little icons move along with his fingers. He saw the Photos icon and he clicked it; there were quite a few, and most of them were of her in costume, working at a hospital. He came across the first video and it began to play,
"-do I have permission to heal you?" Her words were polite and professional. When the patient gave her permission Paul Deveron watched the woman's visible ailments slowly vanish right before his eyes.
A small happy chuckle escaped his lips as tears pricked at his eyes, his fist coming up to rest in front of his mouth, "A healer. My girl is a healer."
Today had been a trying day for everyone in the Birdcage, but if keeping the peace and removing the truly dangerous from the board was what was required to keep these little slices of heaven coming then he would be more than happy to do what needed to be done.
It turned out that the nutrient pastes were incredibly delicious too.
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A/N: A transitionary chapter for your enjoyment.
Mundane Supply World (The Celestial Foundry) (100CP)
This item gives you access to all the materials that one could get on Earth, but with one caveat, you'll have to find and harvest them yourself. Your warehouse gains a portal that is linked to an artificial plane of existence that is of infinite size in all directions, where humanity or sapience of any kind never developed. You can find an unlimited number of any resources given enough time, but they are spread around as would naturally occur in nature, meaning you have to often move when you exhaust the local supply. Resources are always located in environments where you would find them on Earth, and when you travel to this world, you are able to choose which environment you arrive in, or return to any prior location you have been before. Environments have realistic distances between them, so if you need something found in several biodomes you need to return to your warehouse, or use a fast transport of some kind.
Every time you gain a perk that requires access to a new raw material, this raw material appears in the most native form in this supply world and has to be collected as it normally would be. If your material is only found inside stars, you better be ready to get a rocket to go collect it somehow.
35.0160 - Robert the Builder (Invincible) (200CP)
You can seemingly build and organize anything with far less hassle and for greater results than most would experience. You are able to be the driving force behind projects large enough to affect entire countries or maybe even the world in its entirety. Somebody 'glassed' Las Vegas? Don't worry, you could lead a project to turn it into the world's largest and most efficient solar farm that can provide cheap electricity to Half of America. Some super villain messed with the tides the world over? You, with the help of some geniuses, would be able to successfully direct the building of a secondary artificial moon to set the tides to right. Truly, the sky itself isn't a limit.