~X~

"Wahh!" a girl shouted as she woke up with a start. "What… Where am I?"

I looked around and seemed to be in some sort of cabin room. Not my room.

There was a broken mirror in the corner so I got off the dirty mattress I was asleep on. I used the biggest piece I could find to look at myself and I looked completely different.

I had scarlet red hair and green eyes. I was wearing an orange and black short-sleeved hoodie, distressed jeans, and orange and black sneakers.

There was a window with the early morning sun coming through. I went to it and looked out.

Outside were ships.

A bunch of rusted ships.

Some of them were beached, like the one she was in was, and some were partly sunken a short distance from the shoreline.

It was a veritable boat graveyard.

"What the fuck?"

*PING*

I pulled out the smartphone that was in my jeans pocket. It was a text message.

Hey there, my favorite mortal.

If you're getting this that means you got your memories back.

Yay! (≧∇≦)/

So, I'm sure you're confused. Do you remember the Worm CYOA you built last night?

Yeah, I used that to send you here. I need you to deal with Zion. I don't care how,just make sure he doesn't destroy the local multiverse.

Good luck~

.

And that was it.

So, I got ROB'd?

And Worm CYOA? The build I made last night was not optimized. I just simply threw a bunch of stuff together. And then there are all those drawbacks I chose. Of course, the ones with the most detriment right now are…

Wanted (Local) and Wanted (Global).

I chose both of those four times.

With Wanted (Local), the three major gangs plus Coil would be after me. And with Global, I'll even be wanted by PRT, Gesellschaft, CUI, and worst of all, Cauldron. I don't even know if I'm on their radar right now.

Haah.

Whatever, it means I need to be careful in the beginning until I hit a point where I have enough power that no one can challenge me.

Considering the powers I took…

The first one to mention was Inspired Inventor. It was very powerful but it's not the broken thing it was in v1.

In v1, you could put the charges to any knowledge field.

In v17, I can only put those charges toward technological fields of knowledge. I could've spent more SP to make the one I had more like the one in V1 but it seemed pointless, and I didn't mind the downgrade because gaining knowledge on any technological field is broken enough.

At least I don't have to spend points on Cyberpunk technology because that's another power I took. Knowledge to create any technology from the Cyberpunk Universe.

The first thing I want to create right now is a cyberdeck, not the one I have to install in my head because I have no way of doing that. Instead, I want to make the more external ones that were more used in the tabletop games.

So, I started searching around the ship I was in and got lucky because I found some computer stuff that hadn't degraded over time in the engine control room.

While I'm taking them apart, let's continue with my powers.

Next power to talk about is Chakra. …Although, I guess there's not much to say. I can use it. I guess it's the upgrades I bought that are more important as they give me a headstart in the use of chakra.

Those upgrades are Uzumaki, Slug of the Sannin, Sage Mode, and Six Paths Sage Mode.

All of that will help if I get into any fights.

Last but not least is some Nasuverse magic, Primordial Runes, Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, and Kaleidoscope.

Unfortunately, I only start as a beginner with all three of them. Fortunately, I took Homecoming as a perk along with Resume. That makes it much easier for me to travel to other worlds and I can come back to this one at the moment I left.

I'm thinking I might take a trip to the Naruto World to find some way I could learn some chakra techniques.

I have some other powers but those would take forever to explain, and I don't have the time because I just finished my cyberdeck.

It was pretty simple, a small mechanical keyboard with a slideable trackpad, a foldable screen, and a handle attached to the side. I used my striker power, Optimal, to ensure all the parts were in their most optimal form, including shrinking some parts so they could fit in a keyboard frame.

It's good enough for something made from scrap but the specs are pretty slow, at least by Cyberpunk standards. By Worm standards, this computer is pretty good for the late 2000's.

While the hardware may be meh, the software is amazing. After all, I coded it myself thanks to the Cyberpunk power. It also came with how to code my own OS and create my own ICE. It's much better than a corpo OS because I got rid of the unnecessary bloat, streamlined the whole thing, and didn't install the multitude of backdoors and ads that corpo programming would have.

I doubt anyone, even Tinkers specialized in this, could crack it.

The only exception was Dragon and that's because she's an AI. The best I can do is try and stall until I cut her connection to my tech until I decide to lean on my Cyberpunk power to build my own AI.

If she does try to hack my tech… Well, like I said earlier, it'll take her a while to get through the ICE and I should be able to cut her off before she can do anything.

That would also delay when I could get a Neural Link. If I had that, Dragon could hack into me, and that means Saint could hack into me through Dragon. So, no chippin' in until I build that AI.

On the upside, I managed to make my cyberdeck capable of remote hacking with a max range of 100 meters. I think I can up the range but I need better specs.

So, I got my cyberdeck… What next?

I mean… I know my ultimate goal is to stop Zion but how do I actually go about doing that?

Well, I am a Tinker. So, the obvious thing to do would be to lay low and build up my resources. I do have a whole boat graveyard to go through.

Also, I should use the ten charges I get per day. But what to use them on?

…Hmm, I'll need to gather resources here but once I start doing that, I might end up getting on people's radar, especially the radar of the gangs or… Coil. So, I need to find a secure place and find a way to safely scavenge the graveyard.

Should I go with drones?

…Yeah, I'm thinking drones.

Cyberpunk did come with a lot of those. It should be easy for me to build some salvage drones., give them some basic defenses, a taser, and a VI. Maybe some teleporting capabilities in case they need to make a quick getaway.

I just need to find a good base.

Or somehow make my own pocket dimension that easily connects here.

I'm pretty sure I can do that with tinker-tech. I think Toybox has a tinker that can make devices that make pocket dimensions.

…Yeah, that works. I'll put points into it and interdimensional tech so I can interact with Earth Bet from my pocket dimension. I'll need a way to send signals to my drones from there.

Let's do that now. 5 points into Pocket Dimensions and 5 points into Interdimensional Technology.

Hmm… I need to give the two a couple more points and I should be able to make a device to get my own pocket dimension along the knowledge to make items to send signals through dimensions.

This is going to take a while. Most of the time spent comes from the fact I need resources. Tomorrow, I'll spend some points on something that can help me salvage these boats faster and some points on Miniaturization and Efficiency so I need fewer parts to use them.

For now, I'll head into the city, probably to Lord Street Market, and see if there are any gang members I can pickpocket. I need to get money for food somehow.

Since the docks are ABB territory, that's the ones I'll most likely take from. I just have to make sure I don't get caught.

I put on my backpack and closed my eyes, letting my perk, World Clean, do its thing and completely clean myself and my clothes. I pulled up my hood, put my cyberdeck in my backpack, and headed out.

~X~

Right, so, there might have been a slight flaw in my plan. Turns out gang members don't actively hang out in the Market because the shopkeepers have actually hired enforcers to keep them out of here and the Boardwalk.

Also, it's well known that the wards patrol through here as it's known that the Market and the Boardwalk are some of the safest patrol routes because of the previously mentioned enforcers and their proximity to the Protectorate HQ.

Then there's the fact I got the Fan Service perk. Even with the hoodie up, I kept getting looks from everyone. That's the opposite of what I wanted since I was trying to pickpocket someone.

Alright, maybe I should try somewhere- Hm?

Looking down the street, I saw a crowd was gathering. I saw some of the crowd part to allow two people to walk through, two people who were in costume.

Two people who were most definitely Wards.

The short blonde in the green and white costume was Vista and the one with the golden lion helmet was Triumph. They were probably doing a patrol.

I was a bit confused about Triumph, but I remembered that during canon, he was 18. Right now, it's June 26, 2009. That means he's still part of the Wards.

Hmm, the arrival of the Wards gives me an opportunity. With everyone focused on them, crowded together, and with their phones out, they won't be focused on their wallets. I didn't like the idea of pickpocketing innocents, but needs must.

I chose a mark that looked easy. He was in the crowd but they were not too crowded. His wallet was already hanging halfway out of his back pocket. Coming up behind and blocking the view of would-be witnesses was easy. I took the wallet without him noticing and escaped in a quick but calm manner. I discreetly took out the cash and threw the wallet in a nearby trash bin.

After a bit of walking to make sure I wasn't followed, I hid in a public bathroom stall to count my take.

…And boy was I surprised.

All the bills in my hands were $100 bills, totaling $2000.

Who the hell carries $2000 in their wallet?!

…Whatever, I won't question it, but there's gotta be better ways of getting money.

Maybe I could raid the Merchants. They may not have territory but they have to have safe houses to store their drugs and cash. The hard part would be finding them in the first place.

But let's not think on it now. That's a problem for future me and present me wants to eat some food.

I'm thinking Fugly Bob's. It's right on the border between the Market and the Boardwalk.

Yeah, let's go with that.

~X~

I was sitting in a corner booth eating my burger. It was pretty good but I wasn't really focused on my food.

I was using my WiFI power to do some research on the current events of Earth Bet, more specifically, Brockton Bay.

Glory Girl appeared only two months ago and Panacea doesn't exist yet. I actually don't know when Amy had triggered in canon.

The Protectorate members I know about are all there; Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Velocity, Assault, Battery, and Dauntless. And then I found one Protectorate hero I didn't know about.

Challenger.

She was a woman who wore a red bodysuit with epauletts and other decorations. She had brown hair and green eyes… Or, well 'eye' as she wears a diagonal blindfold over one eye. She lost it in an incident outside the city. She uses an axe and a rifle that are as tall as she was, but, for some reason, I can't find anything about her power.

There were only four Wards; Triumph, Aegis, Gallant, and Vista. There was no Kid Win or Clockblocker yet, Shadow Stalker was still a vigilante, and I forgot when Browbeat joined but I know it was really close to canon.

The gang population is something in this city. There were 5,000 suspected members between the E88 and ABB alone. That is insane considering the average gang only had about 150 to 200 members. But these are gangs run by supervillains. Not sure how much of a factor that plays. There were no definitive numbers for the Merchants.

Still, in a city with a population of 350,000, if you stayed in the nicer parts, you could go through your entire time here without running into gang violence. This place was nowhere near as bleak if you weren't looking at it from a Parahuman's perspective, or worse than that, Taylor's perspective.

Unfortunately for me, I'm going to be forced to get right in the center of the violence. Especially, getting Coil's attention.

Why?

Part of it is because it's a step to take down Zion.

But I have a much more personal reason… A choice I made in the CYOA. Something that's been nagging at me.

I…

Oh?

Walking through the door and taking a seat at a table are the current Wards I was talking about earlier along with Glory Girl. I pulled my hood up and hoped they wouldn't notice me.

You know… Maybe I can use this chance to use a power I've been wondering about.

I mentally flipped a switch in my mind and the information came in.

Wards are here for lunch.

Yeah, I gathered that much.

Vista is listening intently to Gallant. Subconsciously leaning closer while keeping a respectable distance. Excitement in her voice when talking to Gallant. Quickly answers his questions. Romantic interest?

Vista has a crush on Gallant already?

Gallant is taking subtle glances at Glory Girl. Carefully watching her reaction. Glory Girl smiles more when looking at Gallant. Pupils dilated, discreet touches, and discreet wink. Gallant's body language suggests embarrassment yet likes the contact. Dating or, at the very least, courting.

Aegis pointedly looking away. Head movement suggests he is rolling his eyes. Body language is that of exasperation yet familiarity. Gallant and Glory Girl do this enough that he is used to it. Exasperation at what?

Triumph and Aegis staring at each other. Heads subtly glancing in the direction of Gallant and Glory Girl. A silent conversation. Triumph shrugged. Knowing smile.

Gallant and Glory Girl are at the lingering touches stage of physical intimacy but not yet holding hands.

Courting. Not dating. …Yet.

Triumph and Aegis see the obvious and are in disbelief that it's taking so long for them to confess their feelings. It's only a matter of time.

Vista's smile strained. Jealous of burgeoning relationship.

That took a while. I knew they would be dating eventually. I just didn't know when they started. Tell me something I don't know.

Gallant thinks you're a Parahuman.

What?

Was idly looking around the restaurant. Saw you in the corner. Body jolted suggesting he saw something surprising. You know Gallant can see emotions. Thinker power. Blank makes you invisible to Thinker powers. Gallant can't see your emotions.

Okay… that is not good.

Gallant looking at Glory Girl. Wants to tell her but is hesitant. Doesn't want to break Unwritten Rules. No indication of hesitation to tell Wards. Wards do not know of his aura sight. PRT most likely unaware, as well.

Right, that's my cue to leave. Don't want to get involved with any major players on my first day.

~X~

It's been a few hours since lunch.

I was sitting on a bench, conveniently shaded by a tree, and eating ice cream.

What do I do?

I know in the short term I'm going to use the points of Inspired Inventor, train my chakra abilities, and gather resources.

Maybe I could find some Earth Aleph imports of the Naruto manga. I could use those as a medium for my Homecoming Perk to go to that world and hopefully learn more about chakra. I'd rather use Kaleidoscope to go there but, again, no experience using it.

Thanks to the Six Paths Sage Mode upgrade, I have a mental encyclopedia of all ninshu and shinjutsu, but I still have to learn to use them. Having someone teach me instead of learning through trial and error would be much easier.

Then, I need some way to learn more about Kaleidoscope. The only one I know who can use it is Zelretch and I don't want to meet him if I don't have to. But that will be a problem for 'way into the future' me.

Haah.

This is going to be a boring summer of training and gathering resources.

Oh, right.

One last thing.

Remember back at Fugly Bob's? When I flipped on a power to test it out?

Did it seem familiar?

Well…

I took out my phone to look at the message from ROB. There was something at the end that I'd been mostly ignoring, a reason why I wanted to personally take out Coil.

Good luck~

Amber Livsey.

~X~

Author's Note:

Chapter is done!

Yup, new story here. I'm not sure how far it'll go.

This chapter was a bit short for my taste. I wanted it to go longer but where it ended felt right. Next chapter will definitely be longer.

As always, constructive criticism is appreciated.