Brockton's Celestial Forge

by Lord Roustabout

The Celestial Forge is the greatest combination of crafting powers in Jumpchain, meaning it is the greatest combination of crafting abilities in all of fiction. In Brockton Bay a forgotten side character's trigger event ends with him linked to the Celestial Forge rather than his intended shard. His expanding collection of tinker abilities drag him into the city's cape conflicts.

43. 36 Debrief - Addendum The Bay Bulletin

36 Debrief

"What?"

The collective cry was almost painful in its volume and seemed echoed around the loft in the stunned silence following the strength of their reaction. I looked over the assembled Undersiders in their various states of emotional turbulence.

"So, did you actually not hear me, or do you just need some time to process that?" My question did not go over with the levity I intended. Brian looked to be at a complete loss for words, Tattletale looked distressed to the point of illness, Alec was trying and failing to appear his usual disinterested self, Rachel had a confused and frustrated look on her face, and Taylor was just stunned.

It turned out Brian was the first one to recover enough to be able to reply.

"Please, tell me this is just a bad joke?" He looked to Tattletale who just cradled her head in her hands and shook it slightly.

"Dragon." Taylor's voice had a hollow sound to it. "How? How did you end up fighting Dragon? And she's coming here?" She also looked to Tattletale who seemed to pull into herself.

I shifted uncomfortably. Apparently opening the meeting with 'So, I've kind of gotten into a war with Dragon and she's transferring to the city to hunt me down.' wasn't the best way to break the news, no matter how many points for honesty it earned me.

Frankly I was half expecting Tattletale to have briefed the team on everything that happened the previous night. Apparently the thinker was either excessively overworked, or was hoping to somehow sidestep the issue. I hadn't even gotten a clarification call before our meeting time, so I was kind of anticipating being ambushed with questions the moment I walked in the door.

Of the reactions, it was Rachel's question that came completely out of left field.

"So, you can take her, right?" The entire team turned towards her with expressions that suggested she had grown a second head. She just stared them down indignantly.

"Well, I did last night." I said with a smile. Once again, it didn't win me any points. Reactions ranged from Taylor's look of complete horror to Rachel's confusion, Brian's mounting concern, Alec's disbelief, and Tattletale's pained expression.

"Okay, I've gotta hear this one." Alec said with a smirk. A quick exchange of glances between the team told me his request was pretty much the consensus of the group.

I considered what I could share without getting excessively technical or revealing details I'd rather keep hidden.

"It started when I made a statement on Parahumans Online." I explained.

Alec just nodded. "Say no more. We all know how forum arguments can get. Flame war with a literal dragon. Got it." Brian elbowed him in the ribs and gave me a pleading look.

The Alchemy constellation passed by without a connection as I replied. "Anyway, I got a message from Weld. We chatted for a bit and I noticed Dragon was monitoring the conversation."

"Wait." Brian held up his hands. "I want to get back to that 'noticed Dragon' thing, but why were you chatting with a Ward?"

I gave him a flat look that I slowly shifted to Tattletale. She peaked up from her hands and gave me a sour look.

"Seriously?" I asked. "You didn't fill them in?"

"Give me a break." She half pleaded. "It's been hectic around here."

"Hey?" Alec raised his hand. "I know I'm usually good to just coast in these things, but considering we're dealing with, like, national level heroes and stuff I'd really like to be kept in the loop."

"Yeah." Rachel added sternly. Brian and Taylor didn't say anything, but they were looking at Tattletale as well.

Actually, now that I looked for it I could see the signs of sleep deprivation, and probably an edge of dehydration and malnutrition. The girl had obviously been running herself ragged, and the consequences were clear.

Since she hadn't been presenting information to me or her team that probably meant her boss. Given the seriously loose relationship he had with the rest of the team I'm guessing Tattletale probably had a direct connection and duties beyond just acting as a mouthpiece.

My passenger basically confirmed that, and from the sense I was getting I'd bet it wasn't particularly friendly. No, that was way too mild. She was under duress, and clearly had been trying to stay ahead of whatever consequences were hanging over her. Actually, just knowing the boss's identity would be enough to put her at risk.

Was I a horrible person for looking at this and seeing it as a potential opportunity? Maybe, but I was balancing heavier stuff than I ever anticipated, so maybe a little horrible was to be expected. Possibly even warranted in a case like this.

I decided to save Tattletale the trouble and jumped in with my own explanation. "I fished him out of the bay on Sunday night. Told him he could reach me on PHO if he wanted. Guess they finally cleared him for that. Still had Dragon looking over his shoulder."

"Okay, so how'd you pull that one off?" Alec asked from his spot on the couch. "Not that I'm doubting you, just would like to know what you broke out for that little trip."

I shrugged. "Nothing special. Adapted my Motoroid for underwater use and used drones to search for him. It wasn't fast, but I got him to shore."

"Right." Brian echoed. "Just submersible power armor and an army of drones. Nothing special."

"Uh-oh." Alec tugged on Brian's jacket and pointed towards me. "The tinker is smiling Brian. Brian, the tinker is smiling a smug tinker smile. He thought that was funny Brian. You've done it now Brian."

Brian put a hand the size of a dinner plate on Alec's face and shoved him so hard he nearly fell off the couch. The boy took it with good humor and pulled himself back while Rachel looked on in confusion. Brian gave Alec one last look before turning back towards me.

"So, you're pen pals with the Protectorate now?" His voice had a cautious tone, but I could tell how unnerved he was by the idea. There was a visible drop in tension when I shook my head.

"He was pretty messed up from the fight. He made a deal for some healing." That got everyone's attention. "Part of the talk was a follow up from that. Most of the rest was about music and dealing with fans online. Honestly I was kind of seeing how long I could string along Dragon."

"What was the deal?" Brian asked. "What did Weld pay for his healing?"

Apparently the mention of the original purpose of the meeting was enough to drag everyone's attention away from the prospect of a Dragon attack or my new friendship with a Protectorate hero. Technically I'd want to keep to a policy of confidentiality regarding these deals, but this would be a lot harder if the Undersiders thought they were being short changed, that I was making them pay through the nose for something I was giving away to other people.

"Weld shapeshifts. He made a deal. Gave up a tissue sample. Deep core, with components of what he uses for his nervous system and vital organs." That got me a few disturbed looks. "It's living metal." I said defensively. "Lots of research potential."

"And that was enough?" Rachel asked. "That covered all the healing?" One of the girl's hands had dropped to the scruff of Brutus's neck and the big dog's tail was thumping against the couch while Judas and Angelica sat nearby.

I took a moment to check on Angelica. Frankly, she looked like a completely different animal, and stood out sharply from the other two dogs. I had no doubt Rachel cared for her dogs to a religious degree, but they clearly had come from bad situations beforehand. There was a weight of years on the two larger dogs that had vanished from Angelica. The terrier was still occasionally blinking out of sequence, but with a shiny coat devoid of scars and restored eye and ear she could have fit in at any dog show in the country.

Rachel had noticed my attention being directed to the dog and gave me a complicated expression. I put that issue aside for the moment.

"Hey, I wouldn't hold out hope." Regent called to her. "It's not like he's going to let us trade an arm or a leg to cancel the debt."

I nodded, then paused. As horrible as the manufacturing process was, Bone Steel was still a significantly magical metal, and one I would need both bone and blood to make. High quality Bone Steel would need bone and blood from more powerful creatures. Barring stuff like Endbringer parts that meant capes. I wasn't going to raid cape corpses, but a voluntary donation was another matter. It didn't even need to be an entire arm. A blood donation and small bone sample would be enough for me to produce a starter batch that I could duplicate. If I combined the enchantability of Bone Steel and Celestial Bronze using my volcano I could produce an unbelievably magical metal, one which could…

"Fuck." The word echoed out and drew my attention to how quiet the loft had become.

I glanced up at Alec. "What?"

"You were actually considering it, weren't you?" He accused me. "I know that look. You were ready to go Doctor Frankenstein." He turned to Tattletale. "He was, wasn't he?"

She gave him a look that wasn't exactly a denial. I opened my mouth, then closed it. Somehow I doubted pointing out I could rebuild any body parts I removed would help my case.

Taylor cleared her throat, shifting attention away from the current topic, with the exception of Bitch who was taking a serious look at her left arm in a way that made me uncomfortable.

"Uh, I can't believe I have to say this, but can we please get back to the whole 'explain why Dragon wants to kill you' thing?" She asked in a tone that was halfway between meek and exasperated.

"Well, she probably doesn't want to kill…" I looked at their collective expressions and decided to drop that point. "Right, well, basically, I made contact with her after talking with Weld. I was able to get her help on some of Bakuda's encryptions. Then the Crisis Situation was declared, which apparently means the local PRT edicts are applied nationwide. That put us on opposite sides. She tried to trace my connection and I tried to throw her off. She made it to Brockton Bay before I was able to shut down her attempts."

Brian blinked. "That's it? You happened to be talking when a technical declaration went out, and that's enough to have Dragon transfer across the continent to hunt you down?"

"It's a little more complicated than that." I admitted. I wasn't going to get into the horrible complexity of what I had discovered last night, or its nightmarish implications. I looked at Tattletale and did my best to convey the seriousness of the situation. She might be prone to blurting out the worst thing at the worst time, but hopefully she would realize that if there's a secret that makes Dragon attack you, then it's probably not a good idea to admit you know that secret.

There was a slight widening in her eyes, but if she had put it together yet she didn't say anything. I wasn't sure if that was due to restraint or sheer exhaustion. Regardless, the other Undersiders seemed to have missed the exchange.

"Okay, so it's complicated. The question is, what does this mean for us?" Brian asked the group in general, but mostly directed his question towards me. "Like practically, what exactly did you bring down on us?"

"Probably not much." I replied honestly. "Dragon's after me, but she's not going to go on a rampage to get me. She'll be operating in the city, but, no offense, there are bigger concerns than you guys out there."

"None taken." Alec quipped, which earned him a dirty look from Brian. The larger boy took a breath before speaking again.

"But we are known associates?" He asked rhetorically but I still nodded in reply. "So Dragon could still come after us. Track us down and hit us when we don't expect it?"

"She might." I admitted. Whatever restraints she was under wouldn't influence that kind of behavior.

"Right. So, what exactly are we supposed to do when the most powerful tinker on the planet shows up on our doorstep?" Brian spoke slowly and in a strained voice as he asked the question.

"Well…" I drew out the word, then gestured to the box on the coffee table. "You could offer him a slice of pizza?"

There was a long moment where Brian struggled to process what I had just said, transitioning to an openmouthed expression of shock. The same reaction spread through Taylor and Tattletale. The remaining Undersiders took it somewhat differently.

Whatever response Brian had been planning drowned under Alec's laughter. I don't think I'd ever seen the boy so lost in hysterics. He nearly fell off the couch, pulled himself together, then one look at Brian's face set him off again.

I don't know if it was the weight of my skills and knowledge boost, but I was seeing something different in Alec. I doubted I would have noticed it before, but it was like he was coming at his social interactions from the opposite direction. Previously he had a slight artificial edge to his jabs where his disinterest had seemed like his default state. Now he seemed to be applying that obfuscation to his emotional state. It was the periods of disinterest that came across as artificial and the emotional outbursts that had a sincerity to them.

Or maybe not. My mind had been expanded and altered, but I still didn't trust myself to properly gauge social situations. There might be something going on with Alec, but compared to the way his behavior was setting off the others that was a secondary concern.

"What's so funny?" Rachel asked.

Brian gave her a grateful look before shoving Alec. "Get ahold of yourself. This is serious."

"Hey, I know." He panted out between fits of laughter. "It's just, man, the timing of that, and your faces." He burst into a fit of giggles before getting himself under control.

"Come on. Even Bitch knows this isn't a joke." He scolded.

"Yeah." The big girl added. "I don't get what's so funny. I mean, he's right."

Brian froze and turned towards Rachel. "What?"

"Joe beat Dragon last night, didn't he?" She glanced at me and I gave her a nod. "So he's stronger than Dragon. He can handle this."

Brian was giving the girl a strained look. Meanwhile Alec was grinning like a loon, Taylor had a shell-shocked expression, and Tattletale looked like she was considering taking up day drinking.

In the silence following Bitch's statement Brian eventually seemed to decide that as leader it was his job to explain things. "Rachel, Dragon isn't a normal tinker. She has more resources than entire Protectorate branches. She fields suits that can hold out against Endbringers. She is one of the strongest capes on the planet."

"And he's not?" She asked, pointing at me. She reached down to her hip and pulled out my bowie knife. "Two days later it was good as new. Just like he said." She ran her fingers over the engraved leather of the now restored sheath. "Dragon have anything that can do that? Because I never heard about it."

Brian took a breath. "Rachel, it's not…"

"The healing. The robots. That sword thing. Fuck, all his weapons. He says he can take Dragon. What makes you think he can't?" The brown haired girl stated it like a challenge. Brian didn't reply, but there seemed to be a subtle exchange happening through body language and positioning. Eventually they concluded whatever the nonverbal portion of their conversation was, with Rachel settling back into her seat and Brian turning to me.

"Are you…" He trailed off, took a breath, and started again. "Is this something you can handle?" He glanced at the rest of the group before continuing. "I know you've been pulling out new stuff, getting more advanced…"

"No shit? Really?" Alec wilted under the collective glared that his offhand comment earned him. He made a conciliatory gesture and Brian resumed his question.

"Alright, I know you talked about power armor and stuff when we first met, so this probably shouldn't have been a surprise." Alec snorted, but Brian ignored him. "And we probably should have known where this was headed after you showed up with the knives, and seriously after Bakuda. But this is Dragon. Are you seriously telling me you can handle Dragon?"

I took a moment to consider before answering. The extent to which I had previously 'handled' Dragon was closer than I was comfortable with. The Technokinesis from my Demigod nature had let me cheat when working online, otherwise I would never have noticed her. That had let me put forward a much stronger position that I otherwise could have managed.

As confident as I was presenting myself Dragon was an astoundingly powerful tinker. The way she worked with technology; it was like she was born to it. That interface program she used was unbelievably advanced, actually a good deal more so than the rest of her technology. Being able to interact with someone at the speed of my throne's accelerated cognition, that is, for someone who wasn't a computer program, had been incredible.

Then it had all gone wrong. I had been dealing with input from my passenger the whole night. He cared about Dragon, but was also concerned for her. I hadn't been able to put it together until the State of Emergency was declared.

With the way she was acting things started falling into place. Sharing the fusion plans had been a risk. It went against everything I had been doing to avoid the attention of the Simurgh, but the prospect of Dragon being subverted was just as bad. Dragon was more than just a great tinker, she had become essential to the very fabric of the Protectorate, or the balance of power in the cape world. An unknown power with influence on Dragon's actions was a nightmare.

Backing off might have been a better decision than pushing through, but that last message… I just couldn't. I didn't know exactly how this master effect works, but I knew what I was capable of. Worse, I knew what I would have been capable of. That gave me the full appreciation for just how bad master powers could get. If I could give any sliver of comfort or hope to Dragon then it was worth it.

Well, it had been easy to think like that when I was in the heat of the moment. When I was dealing with the consequences it seemed like a much less sound idea. Dragon was a digital monster when she got going. Once again my own skills couldn't make up for the gap in experience. And resources. And support. And access. And complete disregard for the integrity of the environment we were fighting in.

I'm fairly certain Dragon wouldn't act like that in the real world, which is the only reason I'm not more concerned about the situation than the Undersiders. I threw everything I had at Dragon and it wasn't enough. I leveraged my powers to their full extent. I had Survey and Fleet scout communications architecture. I had one duplicate supporting me from my old computer throne and the other scrambling to install hardware upgrades on the fly. Even Garment was running around trying to help.

And also feeding me new duplication potions whenever the previous one wore off. That was a long and drawn-out fight. I made sure not to hold it against Dragon. She didn't deserve animosity, not when she didn't have a choice. I hope she got the messages I left in my trail. Once again, anything that could give her hope…

Hope was something I was running short on towards the end of that mess. When Dragon traced me to the city I pretty much accepted the inevitable. If I was a normal tinker that would have been the end. Even if they slipped away the loss of a workshop would set them back months. Actually, without external resources that was probably something that would take years to recover.

That wasn't a problem for me.

I could put my key in my pocket, drink an invisibility potion, and walk past whoever they sent to find me. I wouldn't lose my workshop. The only thing it would cost me was my identity.

I fully admit I had gotten careless about internet access. When you look at human systems with the perspective of a space robot it's easy to underestimate them.

That's a quarter, but I had bigger problems than my mindset at the moment.

I had been able to play those systems so easily that I'd gotten over confident. It hadn't occurred to me that if I could do it then other people might be capable of it as well. I mean, the confidence wasn't totally misplaced. That kind of manipulation would need a hyper advanced computer mind. Or, it seemed, the direct attention of the most prominent tinker on the planet.

I had nearly accepted my fate. I could get away, but the Protectorate would be able to trace me, find my location and identity, and pursue every possible lead. I would have to cut ties with everything and everyone. Considering I was someone used to operating without any close ties, the idea hurt more than I expected it to.

That last power had been a godsend. Okay, the name had implications that I was still struggling with, but what it facilitated saved my life. Or at least my personal life.

I had gotten an earlier power. Weaponsmith. The compliment to Armourer, another mental database of offensive tools. And tied into the Laboratorium. It seemed I could no longer criticize the brutality of Bakuda's designs, now with what I was capable of making. I mean, the poisons alone…

The thing was, 'weapon' didn't just mean firearms and melee. Okay, and vehicle mounted. And explosive. And chemical or biological… The point is, it wasn't just related to physical attacks. There were 'electronic warfare' tools in the database as well. And, while they were nightmares to develop, I could recognize them now that I knew what to look for.

The Laboratorium was equipped with an incredible array of digital countermeasures. Apparently it was a defense mechanism for the event that an infected piece of technology needed to be analyzed. They were able to counter everything from adaptive viruses to complete A.I.s. I knew about them, but until I got my second power I had no idea how to utilize them in the current crisis.

That power came with knowledge of an impressive array of easy to develop and highly useful technology, but that wasn't what saved me. It gave me the enhanced ability to think up upgrades and improvements, to devise solutions to problems and find work arounds. That's what made the difference. That's what let me access the attack programs.

Once I had that power things shifted from a death march to a desperate bid where I tried to hold off Dragon while one duplicate scrambled to make hard connections while the other negotiated with the Laboratorium's machine spirits for access to the tool that could make the difference. The fact that Lung was also in the process of burning down the city didn't exactly make this a pleasant endeavor.

It would have been really easy to be angry at Dragon for that, but I made sure not to shift the tone of my messages. A person forced to act against their will didn't need to deal with that. I held out, buying what time I could, until finally, I was able to launch the attack.

I badly underestimated that technology. It didn't just purge the network. It powered through Dragon's firewalls and decompiled her interface program. I had to manually restrict it from going after backups and support systems. The world couldn't afford to lose Dragon's oversight, which was all the more reason for why seeing this through was absolutely essential.

"Yes, I can handle Dragon." I'd need to. Even if I had to stop holding back, break out technology and avenues of development I'd been apprehensive about, I needed to do this. I couldn't leave Dragon at someone else's mercy.

Because that was exactly the situation my passenger was conveying. Dragon wasn't just limited; she was in danger. There was a sword at her throat that could come down at any time. She NEEDED help, and I wouldn't deny it to her.

Rachel was a bit smug at my response, but the rest of the Undersiders didn't seem as convinced.

"You really mean that?" Brian asked. "Because, believe me, this isn't the time for bravado. If you can't manage this, if it's going to get beyond you, we need to know right now."

Before I could answer the Celestial Forge moved, bringing the Quality constellation within reach. My power connected to a couple of motes from one of the clusters. The same cluster that had given me Divine Child.

The first mote, the small one, was called Minor Blessing Athena - Craftsmanship. The logistics of an actual goddess blessing were something I wasn't sure about, but the effect was a general improvement to the quality and aesthetics of my craftwork. It was like a more specialized and less powerful version of Masterwork Craftsman, providing a continual divine insight into all works of art and craftsmanship. Basically, a blessing of skill to the arts that were with Athena's domain.

The second mote was called Fate Finds You Interesting. It changed everything.

Divine Child had been a fantastically powerful ability, but it had been incomplete. There had been another element, a portion of it that was locked away in another mote. In this mote.

I could feel the divine powers within me unfolding, taking on their true form. This was more than I ever expected. Combined, the motes were even larger than Master Craftsman, and may actually warrant that scale. I could feel the changes to my body, the surge of strength, precision, and endurance. The new instincts and intrinsic knowledge forming within my mind. Concepts that I just barely grasped were now as simple as breathing.

And I was pyrokinetic.

Or, it should be said, I was always pyrokinetic. I only just realized it now. This wasn't the slight feel for temperature, the affinity for my volcano, or the ability to influence the heating or cooling of metal. This was the true form of the ability. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the warmth within me.

I could feel the pulsing heat of the energy within me, but my sense wasn't limited to that. I could feel the warmth from the body heat of the Undersiders and Rachel's dogs. When combined with my sense of the Dragon's Pulse it was like I could map out their entire body. Warm blood flowing through them along with the pulse of life energy resonating through the world.

I could feel other sources of heat. The appliances and electronics stood out, either still drawing current or only recently shut down. That was the real secret to this power.

I had previously been capable of technokinesis. Through the power of Divine Child I could feel, understand, and influence machines. I could detect the means of their operation, the principles in their construction, and the cause of damage or defects. It was like another sense, another limb that I could use to interact with the world.

Pyrokinesis wasn't like getting a new sense, it was like getting glasses and suddenly realizing you've been missing what was right in front of you the whole time. Technokinesis wasn't a power I had alongside pyrokinesis, technokinesis was pyrokinesis.

Fire was a conundrum. It didn't exist as a defined state of matter, but was still counted as its own element. Everyone knew what it was, but it had no concrete existence. It didn't exist in the sense of a physical object. It was a process, a transitional state, a change.

Divine pyrokinesis wasn't about throwing burning gas at people. It was about fire as a concept, as an idea. The warmth emanating from the people in the room, that was fire. Both in the literal sense of chemical reactions in their cells, tiny engines burning fuel and oxygen to power their lives, and in the sense of a drive. Of a change.

You couldn't define a person as a static being any more than you could capture an instant of flame. They existed as a set of moments through time. The fire of creation burned within everyone, a force of change that carried them from one moment to the next.

Technology wasn't something that just happened. It was a driven expression of creation. Every item that 'technokinesis' touched was formed by directed intelligence. Fires of life spreading to a new form, like one candle lighting another. It could sustain itself without the source, but couldn't exist without that spark.

What I had thought of as technokinesis, the recognition of forces and motion, was just fire. That fire of creation, that energy in a new and contained form. Moments of the fire of life, frozen in time and purpose. That was technology. That was what I worked with.

I let the energy well up within me, and let out the breath I'd been holding. It felt like the draft from an oven. Just a hint, just the barest touch of what I could manage. I could sense heat, throw fire, or control flame, but that was crude child's play. The use of a precision tool as a blunt instrument.

Still, sometimes you needed a blunt instrument. And with what I was facing I needed every instrument I could get.

"I'm sure." I said to Brian. "I could handle her better now that I could last night." That was possibly an understatement given my most recent ability. "She got me by surprise and I still came out on top. I can handle this, no matter how it goes down."

Brian didn't look entirely convinced. Taylor still had a conflicted expression. Rachel was smug and Alec was still looking amused by the entire situation. Then there was Tattletale.

The girl was pressed back into the couch with her hands clawing the cushions and armrest and her unblinking eyes wide and staring. Her expression was completely frozen and her breathing was shallow. When she realized I was watching she quickly made an effort to school her features, but I could still see the strain underneath.

The rest of the team didn't seem to have noticed the reaction. Understandable. If someone confidently says they can take Dragon, and isn't obviously talking out of their ass it tends to draw a bit of attention.

"Alright." Brian conceded. "So, where do we go from here?" He looked uncomfortable, probably due to the fact that we were going to be talking debt. A serious debt. Even if I didn't charge them for the research that would be necessary to develop the experimental treatments for their condition, even if I went easy on hazard charges, even if we ignored the markup hospitals usually charged so they could give fake discounts to preferred insurance providers, it would still be a crippling amount.

"Right. Well, I already went over this with Lisa, but I'm not going to be asking for cash payment." I assured them. "We still need to nail down the exact amount, but I'm betting you don't have even the lowest estimates on hand?"

Brian looked a little ill at the idea. Rachel had a frustrated expression on her face while Alec looked unsure, a somehow more honest expression than I expected from him. Taylor appeared uncomfortable and Lisa was still trying to cover her earlier reaction and doing a middling job of it.

"So, if you don't want cash how are we handling this?" It seemed Brian had elected himself the spokesperson for this portion of the discussion. "We're willing to work it off." Alec and Rachel seemed less than enthusiastic about the idea, but sat there with a kind of grim acceptance. "But we have our own expenses, our own commitments. We can't just drop everything and work for you full time."

The plea would probably have had more impact if they hadn't just successfully robbed a bank and recovered the take after the Saturday night mess. Still, I didn't want them full time either. As long as I could steer them away from getting themselves killed without making it completely obvious.

On that note I reached for a small case I had brought with me.

"Before we get into that, I have something I made this morning that'll make sure you will pay me back." I said it with a smile, but I could see the blood drain from Brian's face.

"That's not necessary." He replied very quickly. "I promise, we'll see this through. Whatever you made, you won't need it."

Looking around I could see the tension had ratcheted up several levels in the group. Even Taylor was looking confused and uncomfortable. The only outlier was Tattletale, who seemed to understand my meaning, but was too tired to deal with it.

The fact that Tattletale was too worn out to show off her intelligence was probably a really bad sign.

"Uh, sorry. That was bad phrasing." I apologized. "What I meant was I made something to make sure you stay safe long enough to be able to pay me back. And to avoid a repeat of Saturday night."

The tension slowly dropped down and was replaced with a cautious curiosity. With a sigh I set the case on the table and opened it like I had when I presented the knives, all those… six days ago.

God but it had been a hell of a week.

The sight of what was in the case brought a mixture of intrigued and confused looks.

"Oh, I get it." Offered Alec. "Someone sees us wearing one of those and they'll assume we have wealthy relatives that they can ransom us to, instead of killing us."

"Alec…" Grue growled.

The smaller boy just shrugged. "Hey, don't blame me. I've seen that stuff priced on the Boardwalk." He turned towards Tattletale. "That's what, a hundred grand in watches? Two hundred?"

The blond girl looked at the case, then flinched and shook her head. "To the higher end, at least. And those aren't just watches."

"Obviously." I muttered, drawing the group's attention back to me.

Brian eyed the five watches warily. It was easy to tell who each one was for. I had been able to personalize back when I made the knives, and my stylistic abilities were a lot stronger now. Each watch was tailored to a specific Undersider in terms of bulk, sleekness, design, material, coloration, fit, theme, and a hundred other subtle factors that made each one as unique as a fingerprint.

"Okay, so what do they do?" He asked.

"First off, they're communicators." I replied. "Perfect point to point communication, so no more of that running around trying to find everyone or calling in help past the point where they could intervene."

Brian nodded slightly at the idea. "Just so you know, my darkness blocks radio signals. It's a nice idea, but you won't be able to transmit out of the cloud."

"Well, then it's a good thing it doesn't use radio signals." I was a little smug in my reply.

Taylor leaned in and raised an eyebrow. "Really? How does it work?"

I held up her watch. "They have quantum entanglement communicators built into them. That's linked to a secured relay point with a receiver for each of the watches, acting as a hub." And alchemically sealed fifty feet underground with a power source that would last into the next millennium. QECs could only communicate between parried sets of particles. If I didn't want to daisy chain the watches together I needed a separate receiver. The receivers for the watches had additional QECs linking them to my workshop and watch respectively.

The group had turned to Tattletale, who seemed to have recovered enough to be able to play smartass again. "It means he linked subatomic particles so that anything done to one happens to the other. If that's right it means you can send information anywhere. You can't block it and it's instantaneous. Even faster than light."

Alec let out a whistle and reached forward for his own watch, only to find Rachel beating him to it. She had a contemplative look as she held up the wristwatch that was both rugged and feminine.

"They have normal EMF communication as well." I explained. "They can access cell networks, or just work as a radio transceiver. I've loaded a virtual intelligence to help coordinate things, basically a fancy Google assistant. You can work on voice commands for the features. Also, if you hold a cellphone near the watch it can copy the sim card and parameters to emulate the number."

Brian tentatively picked up his own watch, the largest of the set, and looked at it with apprehension. "You can track these, right? I get that it's nice, but this is basically a leash for us."

"So?" Rachel's response caught me by surprise. I turned to see her holding a disposable phone over the watch face. "Watch? Do that cellphone thing?"

There was a tone and the vaguely electronic voice of the Virtual Interface responded. "Cell phone and sim card scanned. Would you like to begin emulation?"

"Yeah." She answered, then glanced at the group. "And call Brian."

The sound of a phone on vibrate resonated through the room. Brian fished a phone out of his pocket and checked the number. He nodded and Rachel gave him a smug smile.

"Hang up." She said to the watch. The vibration stopped and Rachel tossed the disposable phone to the side.

Brian sighed and put away his phone. "Okay, I appreciate this, but…"

"Hold up." Alec shushed him. "I've got a feeling you're judging the infomercial half way through. We've probably got at least three 'But wait, there's more!' before he's done." He gave me a huge grin. "Go on, say it."

"Yeah, not playing into that, but there are more features." I gestured to the watches. "They're also medical scanners. Even if you can't message, any serious injury will send out a call for help. Also, general health monitoring, but that's kind of a side benefit."

"Perfect. I always wanted to know how my kidneys were doing." I gave Alec a sour look before responding to him.

"Regent watch? Medical display, renal system." A display screen appeared above the watch on his wrist, showing an outline of the organs in question as well as a pile of medical information I'm sure went over his head.

Alec stared at the screen for a moment, then moved his arm, noting how the display maintained its position relative to the watch. He intentionally waved a hand through it, then buried part of it in the couch, watching how the hologram reacted to objects disrupting its projection space.

"This the same stuff you use for your scanner screens?" He asked, twisting it back and forth some more.

"Similar but scaled down." I was distracted by a click and turned to see Tattletale attaching the elegant watch to her own wrist. There was a hungry look in her tired eyes, one I recognized from how she had looked at my omni-tool on Saturday night.

The Time constellation passed by as Taylor picked up her own watch with considerable apprehension. "Uh, they're beautiful, but I'm not sure I can wear something like this."

Despite her statement that it wasn't right for her, once she had the watch in her hand I could see her begin to doubt it. I had built these watches with significant care. Workaholic duplicated my work five times, and the personalization was done afterwards, but the initial construction had been to the highest quality I could manage. That included magic.

It wasn't obvious magic, but most of my magic wasn't particularly obvious. I hadn't been able to perform the entire construction by hand, but there was enough hand work for Fey craft to have an influence. Lathe of Heaven allowed me to work empowerment into the watch, strengthening it as an accessory. I had crafted with my then-limited divine abilities to improve the quality, but most of the effect came from Elven Enchantment.

That particular form of magic is heavily based on intent. Exactly what aspects are reinforced, strengthened, or amplified are based on what you are trying to accomplish. For this I was very clear in my intent. Keep the Undersiders safe. Keep Professor Hebert's daughter safe. Those thoughts had gone into the items.

These watches wouldn't be easily lost or stolen. They wouldn't draw unfriendly eyes and would reinforce rather than detract. They would sit comfortably and cause no inconvenience for their bearer. They would remain unnoticed until needed, then be at the ready.

"Um, maybe it will work, but what about when we're in costume?" Taylor asked. "They still work if we wear them underneath our sleeves, or hide them?"

I smiled at this and called out. "All watches, cape mode."

Each item instantly shifted in tone and coloration, causing the Undersiders to flinch. The shape remained unchanged, but with the effect of the new shading and color they appeared to have a completely different profile, each matching the specific costumes of the Undersider they had been built for.

I let them take in the new design before calling out once more. "All watches, civilian mode."

They shifted back to their normal appearance. It was a less complicated mechanism than you would think, mostly an update of the color shifting technology I'd used on my bike. It was the particular design of the new color scheme that really sold them as a completely different item. Honestly, they didn't even look like watches in cape mode, more like a random costume accessory.

"Very nice, very nice." Alec complimented, admiring his wrist. Brian still hadn't put his on, but seemed to realize he was losing whatever stance he had taken. I doubted saying 'I don't need these watches to track you.' would do much for his peace of mind. "You got anything else?"

Alec's tone was cheeky, but I couldn't resist a setup like that. "Well, there is the force field."

That immediately got everyone's attention. I sat there smiling waiting to see who would ask first.

Turns out the answer was everyone.

"Force field?"

"What?"

"How does it work?"

"Seriously?"

"Uhhhh…"

The last one was Tattletale, and I was beginning to get a bit concerned for her. I waited for things to settle before answering.

"It's a concentrated personal EM barrier projected from the watch using a charged plasma circuit and a micro-deflector array. It will hold against most man-portable weapons, but sustained damage or extremely strong attacks could bring it down. You're at least good for a 50 cal. If the field drops it will take about an hour to recharge the capacitors. Well, fifty-seven minutes and change, depending on how severe the hit was."

My explanation was met with stunned silence, which was becoming something of a theme for this conversation. Brian was once again the first one to speak up.

"You seriously put a personal forcefield in a wristwatch, along with all that other stuff?" He was making a real effort to keep the disbelief out of his voice.

"I'm good at watches." I explained. I really was. Gadget Master might let me miniaturize anything, but that seemed to be taken to another level when it came to cramming technology into a watch. Probably a side effect of the spy theme. "And it's just a basic one."

"Basic." Brian muttered. "Anything else we should know?"

"Well, the virtual intelligence will respond reactively. Someone shoots at you or you're in a fight and the field will activate immediately. Also, some level of 'smart' assessment to threats, so it will try to react defensively. The field can close to be airtight, but I only have a basic CO2 scrubber." Matter fabrication for a full life support system was something I didn't have time to develop and implement. "You'll probably be good for between five to ten minutes before you run into trouble, so best to avoid any extended excursions to deep sea or hard vacuum."

"Well." Alec made an exaggerated pout. "There go my weekend plans."

Brian still appeared to be trying to wrap his head around the situation. "What about maintenance? How long will these last?"

I considered the micro-fusion system and how I had stretched it with Robust Engineering. "They should hold until about twenty-nine thirty."

Brian stared at me. "You're kidding? You're saying these things will last eighteen or nineteen years?"

I blinked. "Oh, no."

He relaxed. "Good I…"

"Not the year two thousand twenty-nine or two thousand thirty." I clarified. "The year twenty-nine thirty."

Brian stared blankly, but words seemed to find their way to his mouth regardless. "Nine hundred years?"

"Well, a bit over, depending on how much they're used." I offered in good humor that wasn't received.

"Thanks, I'll set a reminder." Alec paused. "Hey, watch, can you do that? Set an alarm for nine hundred years from now?"

"Alarm set." The voice replied.

"Okay, but that." Brian gestured to Alec. "And that." He gestured to where Rachel was examining the holographic touch screen above her watch with cautious curiosity. "That's the kind of stuff that will give us away in public."

"The screen won't activate if there are other people around while you're out of costume." I assured him. "And the voice is only audible in situations like this. It can use the forcefield as a medium for sound, so nobody else can hear notifications. Also, it can block sound going out, so you can talk without being overheard." I considered something. "That could also be used for stealth. It will cover any sound from your body, so as long as you don't make noise while interacting with your environment you could be pretty much silent."

"What about damage?" Brian asked. "They might not wear down, but what do we do if someone breaks them?"

"Well, if someone breaks one of these watches what you need to do is, from a very safe distance, ask them to help in the next Endbringer fight." I explained in a simple voice. I elaborated upon seeing their confusion. "They're tough. Seriously tough. You won't find much that can damage these things." The casing was adamantium infused mithril that was both Skyforged and volcano wrought with the boost from Lack of Materials. That combined with the enchantments meant it was damn near indestructible.

Brian looked like he wanted to ask something else, but took one look around before just collapsing back onto the couch. Alec leaned over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Hey, remember when Dragon took a couple of hours in the morning and equipped an entire team with personal forcefield cell phone watches?" Brian stared at him blankly. "Yeah, me either. Put on the watch that best tinker made for you."

He took a breath, then slipped the watch onto his wrist. "…so, what do you want for these?" He eventually asked. "I mean, these have to be worth…" He turned to Tattletale who looked up from her own display screen.

"You don't want to know." She glanced back down at the display. "Trust me."

Brian swallowed, then looked back at me expectantly.

"Alright, for part of this deal I wanted to get some scans of your powers, try to get a better sense of how they work." There were no vigorous reactions to the idea, so I continued. "The watches are part of that. I'll get some basic data from the medical sensor. Wear them long enough for me to get a full set and I'll knock five percent off whatever the final bill works out to."

Brian nodded slowly. "How long do we have to keep them on?"

"Hey, speak for yourself with that 'have to' talk." Alec countered. "They're going to need a hacksaw to get this off me."

"Hacksaw won't get through that force field." I turned to Brian. "Say a couple of months of continuous wear, maybe one of two weeks more if you're inconsistent."

Brian relaxed and gave a quick nod. "I can live with that."

"Yeah, 'live'. Such a penance." Alec looked back at his wrist. "Hey watch, you have internet?"

"Access possible through emulated cellular connection or Wi-Fi connection." The voice responded.

"Awesome." He smiled at the rest of the group. "Finally, Netflix in the shower."

"Okay, I did not need to know that." Taylor muttered.

"Alright, five percent for the watches." Brian said in an attempt to get back on track. "What about the rest of it?"

This I didn't have a specific answer for. "I have some jobs planned that could use parahuman support. Particularly Lisa or Taylor to keep an eye out." That was a vague possibility in the event I decided to take up some of the less than legal offers to purchase healing or other services. I had a lot of stuff I needed to get set up before I could manage that. "Outside of that I don't really need heist services. I might have some jobs lined up, but nothing at the moment."

Brian nodded. "As long as we can still decide on which jobs we take?" It was a tall request for someone in as much debt as he was, and from his body language he knew it.

"If that's the case then I want to be kept informed on what your other commitments are." I counter offered. "I don't need to have a say in what you do, but you're connected to me and using more of my tech. I don't want to get blindsided like with the bank."

Some quick glances were exchanged around the room. "I think we can agree to that." Brian tried to remain professional, but he couldn't cover the relief in his voice. It was understandable. His team was far enough in the red that even that joke about selling organs wouldn't cover the balance. I had traded the ability to keep close tabs on them for any form of aggressive payment.

There was also the possibility that I could send them on some make-work job outside the city while I dealt with the worst of the current situation. The Vehicles constellation passed as I smiled at the idea. Now I just needed the funding and capacity to actually dispatch the team.

Something to worry about later. Some unconscious signal had confirmed the end of the meeting. Things shifted to a more casual tone, but I noticed it was decidedly more strained than what I had previously seen.

When I first met the Undersiders they came across as a bunch of kids in a club house. Their hideout was pretty much the picture of a 'no parents, no authority' space, a bastion of junk food, video games, and creature comforts.

There were still comforts, but they seemed to be less frivolous in nature. The hideout had become a refuge rather than an escape. There was more of a lived-in sensation, more care towards the space. I hadn't given much thought to how the Undersiders managed after the storage locker battle, but given what they'd gone through it wasn't surprising for there to be some lingering effects.

I would have liked to help them, and my passenger was certainly in favor of it, but I didn't have the time or resources to devote to something like that. I had a line of communication on each of them, and they were as well defended as I could manage without issuing blatantly obvious technology, like power armor. That should hold long enough for me to put out some of the other fires.

Well, there was one exception to that. Tattletale was still a wreck, and obviously getting worse. I didn't particularly like her. I knew how manipulative she was, how she had roped me into this. I accepted my role in the mess, but that didn't absolve her of that blame. Furthermore, her relationship with her power was infuriating. It drove her to idiotic actions while also being incredibly inconsistent in terms of providing helpful information.

That didn't change the fact that she was obviously running on fumes and heading for a crash. I finished my slice of now lukewarm pizza as I considered how to handle things.

"Hey?" I called out to where Brian was discussing something with Tattletale. "I need to go over the accounting with Lisa. Can I borrow her for a bit?"

The two had a quiet exchange before the blond girl turned to me. "Uh, sure. We can talk in my room." She trudged past the living room where Alec had convinced Rachel to test the forcefield by throwing cutlery at him while Taylor watched in a combination of interest and embarrassment.

Actually, it probably hadn't taken much to convince Rachel to do something like that. Each time she launched a fork or spoon it bounced off a barrier that briefly flared to life around Alec's body. He was having the time of his life and the effect had at least captured the interest of the rest of the team.

Well, aside from Tattletale who just glanced at it and rubbed her forehead. She led me into one of the rooms in the large block to the side of the living area, revealing what looked like a cluttered office that happened to have a bed in it. Well, allegedly a bed, considering it was covered in enough printouts that it could have just been a low sitting table with added pillows. The rest of the space was devoted to work and had clearly seen a lot of it over the past few days. Three laptops sat on the desk, each a different model. A filing cabinet in the corner had two of its drawers wedged open by the weight of the papers it was containing. More printouts, documents, reference books, and office supplies were scattered haphazardly across the space.

Between my implant, technokinesis, and omni-tool I could perform a perfect check for any listening devices or similar equipment. It was a big factor in how candid I was able to be during my meeting with the Undersiders. There was a real concern that their boss had monitoring equipment in place. At the very least the living room had been clear, and the only system in Tattletale's room was a recording program on one of the laptops that was easy to suspend.

Lisa moved in and sank into the office chair, resting her head on her hands and not looking up. It was more than a little awkward being confined with someone who was ignoring you like that.

"Lisa?" She peeked up. "You're obviously pretty run down. If it will make this easier I can try to fix that."

She gave me a weary smile. "And how much is that going to add to the bill?"

I shrugged. "Don't know. What do doctors charge when they tell patients to get a night's rest and drink some water?"

She laughed at that. "Too much. But, sure. Actually, yes, seriously. I could really use that."

After a second of consideration, she extended her arm. I rested a hand on her wrist and activated my nanites. The electric tone started as blue circuitry lines spread over her body. There wasn't any obvious injury, so I just directed them to incidental repairs. Lactic acid was broken down, muscle tension was removed, blood sugar was balanced, and the effects of overwork and exhaustion were scrubbed away.

Mostly scrubbed away. Her brain… Well, it wasn't as bad as Taylor's had been after Bakuda's seizure bomb, but it was pretty messed up. There was a kind of response feeding from her corona pollentia to the rest of her brain. Some kind of deliberate and directed pain effect. I tried to direct my nanites towards it, and for a brief moment the nerves died down and the girl practically collapsed in relief. Then the instant the nanites moved on the neurons were firing again.

Tattletale tensed so severely that it looked like she might break her teeth. I sent the nanites back and she shifted from beef jerky to wet noodles.

"That's thinker feedback, isn't it?" I asked. She seemed more interested in enjoying the brief respite from the pain than responding, but she managed to nod her head.

"Been pushing my power." She took a deep breath and kept her eyes closed. "It causes feedback. I didn't know it could be fixed."

"I'm not fixing it, I'm holding it back." I explained. The best I could say was the response didn't seem to be getting worse in reaction to my interference with the signal. "I'm guessing the connections from your corona pollentia are how your power provides you information. They're the same ones that are triggering this reaction. Unless you actually turn off your power or let it settle it's not going to stop."

"You've been studying powers." She said confidently without opening her eyes. "I mean, studying them more than you did before, when you built what powered that motorcycle."

I didn't respond with a positive or negative. Instead, I focused on finishing the healing, then moved to pull my hand back. Tattletale tried to move her arm to maintain contact, but stopped when she realized the power was receding. She blinked her eyes slowly, then turned to me.

"What did you do?" The question was half an accusation.

"What I accidently did on Saturday night." I explained. "I fixed everything I could, but left the chemical mix that was helping you cope. You've got a natural high of stress chemicals that should be enough to keep you functional until you can get some rest." She gave her computers a sideways glance. "And if you don't actually get some rest you can forget me helping you with anything like this again. And I'll know if you do."

She followed my gaze down to her new watch, then nodded in defeat.

"It is beautiful." She admitted, holding it up in the dim light of the room. The rectangular watch face and slim band caught the light, causing a dozen subtle details to shine in a way only mithril could. "Alec was lowballing the price. This is beyond anything they sell commercially."

And it was no longer my best work. I had just gotten an increase in divine quality, meaning I could once again exceed the workmanship of something I just made. Still, they were well suited for their intended purpose, and I didn't need to chase perfection on every angle.

"Thanks." I offered weakly.

"And you don't even care." She continued. "You churned this out in what, two hours? A bit more? And that's for all five." She took a deep breath and rubbed her forehead. "I know you didn't come in here to talk about accounting. I know you don't care about that. It's just a control lever for you."

I made to say something, but she waved me off.

"No, I'm not accusing you of anything. I know we would have been dead without your help." She failed to conceal a shudder, but schooled her features afterwards. "We owe you for that, and you could be asking for a lot worse than you're letting us off with." Her eyes fell to the watch again. "What happened with you and Taylor?"

From anyone else that question would have been anything from an inappropriate joke to a detestable accusation, but Tattletale delivered it like a simple request for clarification.

"What have you figured out already?" I asked.

She let out a slow breath. "You worked out the main problem, and figured something out. You have a connection you didn't know about, to her or someone important to her." She shook her head. "It's been good for her. She's not talking about it, but she's doing better in a lot of areas." She glanced up. "Did she tell you about her trigger event?"

"Rough details. The circumstances, but nothing specific." Tattletale nodded in response.

"I'd rather not say anything if she's not ready to, but it was bad. She was in a bad place before she joined us, and since then has been all over the place. I'm glad the talk went well. Whatever the connection is, it means a lot to her."

I wasn't sure how much she had put together, but it wouldn't surprise me if she got there eventually. From the way she spoke and my passenger's reactions I was fairly sure she cared about Taylor's wellbeing. Actually, digging deeper into my passenger's reaction I could tell there was some deep significance to that. Something that was probably personal.

Her head snapped up and she gave me a questioning look. I had to wonder how much she could really pick up from that. I didn't have the easiest time parsing my passenger's intention. It was weird thinking that a random thinker would be able to manage a clearer picture. Still, the insights I got around her weren't exactly ground breaking, and were more likely to be restating stuff she already knew.

The only difference was now she knew that I knew. Well, I knew that she knew that I knew. And with that she probably knew that I knew that she knew that I knew.

From the look she was giving me she had probably either followed or guessed that train of thought and wasn't amused by it. I smiled before moving on.

"You've been pushing yourself hard since Saturday night?" It was more of a question than a statement and she understood it as such.

The Magitech constellation passed by as she responded. Her eyebrow twitched, but she didn't comment on it. "There's been a lot happening. I would have had to put in extra hours anyway, but with the city the way it is…" She let out a breath. "I can't follow the ABB. March is too much of a block. I've been trying to work from earlier information, but none of that holds anymore. That would be bad enough, but things keep piling up, and I CAN'T keep up with it."

It felt like she was admitting some fatal flaw, some personal defect that she badly wanted to keep hidden.

"Every power bloc in this city is turned on its head. I can barely keep them straight, and then everything goes out the window as soon as March gets involved." She gestured angrily at a pile of crumpled papers. "I legitimately don't know what's going to happen because everything is changing too fast." She looked up with a hard expression. "Including you."

I took a deep breath and let it out. I didn't want to get into this, but I also needed to know how much she had figured out already. For some of the details of my power having half the story was more dangerous than a complete explanation.

"What do you want to ask?" I watched her consider the question before she looked up, this time with just a hint of her traditional foxlike expression.

"Are you pyrokinetic?" She asked in a flat voice.

I did a good job concealing my reaction, but I knew she had picked something up. "What did you see?"

"Earlier, during the talk something happened. There were physical changes. Minor ones, but I could see them. And I could tell how significant it was to you. You figured something out. When you breathed out there was a heat shimmer. Your body temperature has been higher since then. You're also reacting to things without seeing them. You were doing that before, but not to this extent. I'm guessing something got ramped up." I stood passively as she listed the chain of reasoning provided by her power.

It was still deniable, but that was an arbitrary point. My main concern was information getting back to her boss, and she already had enough to convince him. Actually, confirming things might help our not exactly stable working relationship. I was certain we weren't being recorded, and no one else was present. This was the best time.

I lifted a hand and her eyes widened. I had never produced flame before. As thoroughly groundbreaking as the exposure to the power had been it was still something that needed training, practice, and development. But that was for advanced or combat applications. This was as basic as you could get.

It was a far cry from my last foray into flame manipulation. The fight with Dragon would have been harrowing enough without also having to deal with what was happening in the city. By the time I became aware of Lung's rampage I was committed to my fight with Dragon, and he quickly grew to the point where it was questionable if I'd be able to stop him if I tried. Temporal weaponry was a definite priority.

So, as I fought system by system to hold off Dragon I also watched reports and information on the damage Lung was causing. Even when he finally fell back he had leveled a section of the docks and caused a fire that was set to spread dangerously. If I could have spared a duplicate I would have sent them to try to stop it, but instead I needed their help against Dragon. That meant that roughly the instant the fight was won I was out the door with the plan I had cobbled together.

Well, with the plan, a disguise, and the best stealth tech I could throw together in thirty seconds. All things considered it was a pretty good effort.

I don't know if I'd ever been hit by a breakthrough from Researcher before, but my mad studying of the flame dynamics was apparently enough to trigger it. Fire was something that could be affected by alchemical transmutations, and that branch of alchemy was scientific enough that my research powers applied. So, with a single flash of inspiration and a hastily assembled plan I proceeded to run around a burning city jabbing stakes into the ground.

Well, me and my duplicates. I opened the workshop as soon as I got close to the fires and they were off like madmen. The transmutation had to be planned out on a map, and involved upscaling the throwing knives I normally used for remote transmutation to the size of tent poles. By digitally coordinating we were able to set a perfect pentagram around the fire and arrange ideal relay points to draw our circles.

Hand drawn circles. I don't think I really believed it would work until that moment. Even chalk on pavement counts when it comes to the act of creation. A divine construct alchemy array was an incredible power amplifier. With three master alchemists feeding it we were able to snuff out a multi-block fire with a single burst of alchemical energy.

Once again, a brilliant discovery, the path to flame alchemy, totally eclipsed in less than half a day. It wasn't useless by any means. In fact, it would probably synergize wonderfully with my new abilities. It's just the significance of such a desperate eleventh-hour breakthrough felt a bit hollow when I could do this.

I focused on my raised hand, concentrating on the open palm. Fire wasn't a single thing, it was a series of moments. Fire was change, one state to another. Creating fire without fuel or oxygen meant enforcing the state of change, of energy flow, on the world and sustaining it with your mind. Just like any other act of creation, it was a deliberate act of will. This wasn't wild, uncontrollable fire. It was the flames of progress, of life, of technology, bound by divine will and formed in my open palm.

It started as a wisp of light that suddenly opened into an orange flame the size of a tennis ball. The flickering light cast the room into a soft comforting glow and brought gentle warmth to whatever it touched. Fire's nature as a 'creation' was debatable, but at the very least One Thing at a Time, Beauty in the Arts, and Tailor Made were in effect. It was as beautiful and perfect as a tiny flame could be, and Tattletale's eyes shone in its light.

I closed my hand and snuffed out the fire, plunging the room back into it's half light of computer monitors and desk lamps. Tattletale let out a breath that I hadn't realized she'd been holding and looked up at me.

"How are you…" She stopped herself. I trusted Tattletale's power enough to realize when a question would be too far. I had no intention of sharing the mechanics of my power with her. Instead, she went in a different direction.

"The fire, last night?" She asked. "You were the one who put it out, right?"

I don't know if she picked up on me reminiscing about it, or just made the simple connection of 'never before seen power effect' and 'cape who gets new powers' and did the kindergarten level math.

"Yeah. I wasn't going to let the city burn down. I stayed out of the gang fights, like I promised, but that was something else." I watched her reaction and saw her nod along.

"I get that. Aside from Dragon I don't have a problem with how you handled things. They went off the rails without your help, and I didn't see it coming. And with Dragon…"

I cut her off before she could continue. "Lisa, I trust that you realize that if I discovered something that made Dragon come after me as aggressively as she is, and you happen to guess or even suspect what that might be, then you know it would not be in the best interest of someone, who probably can't handle Dragon as well as I can, to reveal that they know that particular detail."

She looked guilty and reluctantly nodded. "I know there's something big there, something significant, but I haven't put it together yet."

I took a breath. "Just, hold off for now. Please don't push on this."

She nodded slowly. "I wish I could ask for the same thing, but this city's going to hell with or without you in the mix." She looked up. "You want us out of this? Because of Taylor?"

"Because of that, and because I can't trust you." I said plainly.

She didn't take the amount of offense that statement would usually warrant. "It's the boss? He concerns you that much?"

"That's part of it." I admitted. "But not all. You're keeping things from me, things I know are important."

She looked unsteady for a moment before rallying. "Joe, we'll need to work together, if not now then soon. If you want to know something, ask."

"Really?" My tone was highly incredulous.

"I can't tell you who our boss is, but anything else…"

"The bank robbery. What was it diverting attention from?"

My question hit her like a sledgehammer. She was barely able to conceal her shock at my interruption and made a desperate attempt to rally. "What…"

"I know it was something. Something significant that needed to tie up cape resources." I gave her a hard look. "I'm going to find out eventually. I'm done sitting back and letting things happen. This city can't handle that anymore. Do you want to tell me, or do you want me to find out on my own?"

I could see the girl flounder and thought it was perhaps a little cruel to drop this on her so suddenly when she was basically being held together by spit and chewing gum. Maybe it was cruel, but this had been bothering me for a week. If not for the nightmare that was the ABB's resurgence I would have dug into this long ago.

"I… I don't know exactly. I have ideas, know what it could be." She swallowed "Probably."

"Then tell me." My simple request sent a shot of fear through the girl. I could see her desperately grasp for any way out.

"I… I…"

"You can't." I said. "Because it's not safe. Because you're in danger." Tattletale froze and looked towards her computers. I realized what she was implying and rolled my eyes. "Please. Like I wouldn't have dealt with that already." Did she seriously think I was going to reveal all this in front of a live mic? Me?

She looked up at me and I could see the pieces falling into place. She sagged in relief, practically panting. "I… Yes. I can't tell you. Not yet." She looked at the computers again. "Thank you, but…"

"I'll put them back when I leave. Say it was persistent ECM. I've been developing that stuff for Bakuda." I remembered something and brought up my omni-tool. "Oh, this is as far as I got decoding Bakuda's system with Dragon. Can you…"

"I'll take a look at it." She promised.

"After you rest." She gave me a quick nod. "Now, is anyone else in danger? And how bad is it?"

Tattletale let out a long breath. "Not as bad as me. When I was recruited, there wasn't much choice on my part." I clenched my teeth at that. "It's not as bad for the others. They have their reasons for being here."

"Alec is getting away from something. Brian has something he's trying to protect. Rachel has her dogs, more than she brings on missions, and Taylor…" I paused. "She has something. I haven't figured it out yet."

"God your power is annoying." She muttered.

"Like you're one to talk." I countered. That got me a slight grin.

"Okay, that's fair." She sighed. "I can't tell you, not yet. It's not safe."

"But it will be?" I asked. She gave me a hopeful expression. "So, that's it? You wait until I'm strong enough to deal with things, then hope I'll help you?"

She gave me a serious look. "Will you help us?"

I let out a slow breath. Her use of the word 'Us' was a bit presumptuous considering the threat was mostly on her, but honestly I probably would. If it was something I could do without endangering anyone else, then yeah, I would try to make sure they were safe. The Undersiders weren't master criminals. They were stupid kids in bad situations, and apparently they were being leveraged in power plays they had no stake or business in. If just due to my passenger's affection for them I would try to help them. Even beyond Taylor's importance.

The Knowledge constellation passed by as I considered my response. I may have wanted to help, but that didn't mean I wanted to admit that to Tattletale, even if she probably read it off me. "I'll see." From her reaction I could tell my attempt at deception had accomplished absolutely nothing. "Fine, I'll try to help. You know that." I sighed. "But I'm serious about my question. I'm going to find out, and if it's bad…"

"I'll get you the information." She assured me. "I'll make sure it's accurate, and as soon as it's safe…" She looked conflicted and I could guess why.

"Powerful thinker?" It was really the only possibility for a cape in the boss's position.

She nodded grimly. "Very. Even revealing the details of how his power works would be dangerous. He'd find out, and trace it back to me…"

I grimaced. I didn't like it, but I understood. "Am I in any danger? Any chance he's coming after me?"

She shook her head. "Not with the city like this. He had bigger problems. As long as he thinks you're focused on the ABB he's not going to try anything."

Which meant that after that was dealt with I'd have to counter a thinker who scared the crap out of Tattletale. Well, maybe she was right. Hopefully by then I'd be able to handle whatever he could throw at me.

Unfortunately, my passenger wasn't as confident. Oh, I could manage, but not with absolute confidence. There was something about this thinker. Something either intrinsic to or connected to him that was a massive threat. Something I would have to be intensely careful about, and that was on top of every 'normal' concern about him.

"We'll deal with this. We have a communication link now, and you at least have basic defenses." I assured her.

The girl nodded. "This, it will make a huge difference. You don't even know." She shook her head and admired the watch again. "Thank you for this. Seriously. I know you didn't have to, and that it was mostly for Taylor, but thank you."

"You're welcome." I replied a little awkwardly. "You should get some rest. That healing isn't a substitute for sleep, and your power is still in a feedback loop. You need time to reset."

"I'll try. For a few hours at least." She looked at the paper covered bed with reluctance, but started gathering them up.

"Good. Check in later, after you get some sleep." I turned and left her to what would hopefully be a decent rest.

Emerging into the living room I found the remaining four Undersiders with their faces buried in holographic screens. Even Brian seemed to have gotten over his reluctance at being 'leashed' and seemed to be enjoying having his own personal tv and sound system attached to his wrist.

"So, am I going to regret giving those to you?" I asked in a jovial tone.

Alec lowered his arm to peer over the screen. "Hey, this is like a cell phone on crack. Don't blame us for getting addicted." He looked at his screen again. "And you didn't tell us about the video calls. This is some Star Trek shit."

Surprisingly even Rachel seemed to be enjoying her watch. I wouldn't have pegged her as particularly tech savvy, but the combination of voice commands and user friendliness seemed to have won her over.

"Uh, Lisa alright?" Brian asked, apparently remembering he was supposed to be the leader of the group.

"Just resting. She was pretty burned out." That got an understanding nod. "Anyway, I'm going to head out." There were some halfhearted nods from the rest of the Undersiders that barely diverted the attention away from their screens. "Hey Taylor, you need a lift?"

The girl checked one last thing on her watch before dismissing the screen. "Uh, yeah, thanks. That would be great."

She took a quick moment to gather her things before joining me on my way out of the building. She waited until we were in my car before saying anything.

"Um, thanks for that. And this." She lifted her wrist to show off the watch. "It's beautiful." She paused, seemed to realize what she said, and dropped her arm. "I know you said you would make something, but I didn't expect this much this soon."

I shrugged. "I had some time, and a few new ideas. It seemed like I should start putting them into practice."

The virtual intelligence was a big part of that. I had rough experience with them from my Class: Engineer power, but my latest Knowledge ability really expanded my understanding of virtual assistants. Not everything I created would be on the level of Fleet and Survey. More basic programs were a possibility. In fact, Survey had been a big help in designing the watch's software.

Though, the real reason I had decided to pursue that particular avenue of technology was my encounter with Dragon. A big reason that fight had been so brutal was the array of programs she had used. In addition to that adaptive interface program that I had just barely defeated there were at least a half dozen other support programs that had been working alongside her through the night.

Dragon was famous for analyzing the technology of other tinkers and applying it to her own work, but that wasn't what had happened here. The programs were fundamentally different from everything else Dragon created. They all had a particular signature, a unique style. Various levels of complexity, but all bearing evidence of pure tinker work, not Dragon's adaptation of it.

At some point Dragon had gotten access to the works of a software tinker. A very powerful one. The programs were incredibly advanced, and she had put them into use directly rather than deconstruct them. She had some connection to that tinker, and some part of that was related to her current situation. To her mastering.

I didn't have a lot to go on. The only thing people knew for sure was Dragon had fled Newfoundland and set up in Vancouver. From there it was a story of developing connections with the Protectorate, steadily advancing technology, and eventually Guild membership and her place as the most famous tinker on the planet.

The background was deliberately obscure. It was hard enough to research a normal cape, much less one of Dragon's standing, but I had to do it. Somewhere in her past there were answers to these questions. I had been holding off on my use of information resources, but I couldn't afford to be conservative any more.

Taylor considered the watch again and shook her head. "That force field took everyone off guard. I can't believe you managed to fit all that stuff in here." I snorted and she turned towards me. "What?"

"I can fit a lot more than that." I held up my own watch. "This has a complete omni-tool in it, the same combat model I used on Saturday night."

"Seriously?" She asked.

"Yeah." I glanced at her. "Yours does too."

Taylor froze and looked at her watch. "What?"

"I put a full combat model in there. The features are sealed off, but if you need to deal with that thing we talked about I can unlock them." I explained.

She considered. "So, I just have to ask?"

"Taylor, if you need a combat omni-tool then whatever the situation is, you aren't going in alone. I'm coming in as well. This just means I don't need to change your loadout." She seemed a little disappointed, but accepted my reasoning.

"Um, I saw the picture you posted online, the one from your last fight?" I nodded. "Can this do that? I mean, can the watches take those kinds of records."

"Sure. I mean, you aren't going to run out of storage space anytime this decade. They maintain basic scans, but you can request any recording you want." I paused. "Though if you're thinking of surveillance I have better options for that."

"No." She quickly assured me. "It was just a thought, about something else."

Taylor stared out of the passenger window of my Pinto for the rest of the drive to her house. When I slowed to drop her off she seemed to have worked through whatever she was considering.

"Thanks, for everything." She said. "The rest of them, they tried to play it off, but they knew what this meant. Thank you for looking out for them as well."

"It's fine." I assured her. "I'm glad you have some protection out there." I paused and considered if I should mention Garment's wardrobe plans, then decided against it. I had direct communication now, and it was probably better to wait a couple of days on that point. "Look after yourself."

She nodded and waved me off before walking up the path to her front door. I pulled away and headed back to my parking space at the gym, to be followed by my apartment.

So, I had outfitted the Undersiders with advanced technology. At least this time there was no way it could be used to dismember a hero. Of course, defensive technologies had combat applications as well. The shield would definitely make it easier to get into knife range. I may have just opened the door to a whole host of stabbings.

So I had to trust that they would use this responsibly. That wasn't that unreasonable of an aspiration. Despite my constant criticism of the events at the bank they were at least as much the fault of the Wards as the Undersiders, and the situation could have been much more lethal if they hadn't been careful with their weapons. Same with the storage facility. It could have been piles of corpses if they weren't being careful.

I sighed and elected to hope for the best. As I turned a corner the Forge made a connection to the Resources and Durability constellation. It was a mid-sized mote that came with a smaller mote.

The smaller mote was called Weapon & Item Storage Chest. It was an item, a pair of large wooden chests. One could hold a thousand weapons, pieces of armor, or other equitable items, regardless of size or weight. The other could hold a thousand TYPES of any item that didn't fit into the category of the first chest, and could hold 999 of each item. It was almost like a video game inventory, but attached to a chest that would magically hold the items without changing its weight.

Storage wasn't the problem it used to be, and the chests were bulky enough that transporting them was a trial, but the ability was still useful, and it came free with the larger mote.

The larger mote was called Waste Not. It was a massive game changer. Its basic function let me reduce the materials I'd need for a project by half, rounded down in the case of discrete items. On the surface that sounded like a lesser version of what I'd gotten from Workaholic or Lack of Materials. That would be true, if not for the secondary effect of the power.

When building something there was a 50/50 chance that I could replace a rare material with more of a common material and still have the resulting item function. It wouldn't actually have the material in question, but it would operate as if it did. That meant, in exchange for a 50% chance of botching construction, I could attempt to make anything, even if I didn't have the necessary materials for its construction.

That included rare isotopes. That included magical metals. And, most of all, that included cybertonium.

I could finally attempt to produce the technology that had been locked behind Master Builder. I didn't need to spend days of transmutations, navigate through chains of custom alloys and isotopes, and rebuild my alchemy arrays specifically to accommodate the production of the metal. I could just substitute any material I wanted, accept the 50% failure rate, and start producing peak space robot technology.

I smiled to myself. Finally, I had found a path through one of my early roadblocks. And it was one I needed. The city was in a state of emergency, March was a mounting threat, the issue with the Undersiders boss was going to come to a head sooner or later, and a mentally influenced Dragon was hunting me. Weirdly, beyond all that, the thing that struck me most was what I had realized from getting my last power during the fight with Dragon.

My power had seemingly referenced things before, but it never came together like this. I mean, the reference was 40 years old. It made sense that I wouldn't know it immediately. It had taken Survey to point it out to me. My God had that been a head trip. Aisha had floated ideas like this, I just never expected it to be this direct. The sheer implications of the situation…

I shook my head as I recalled that particular revelation. I mean, the power was called I Am Iron Man. It should have been completely obvious.

I took another corner and the tone came to my lips.

"Dunnnn Dunnnn"

"Dun Dun Dun"

"Du nu na na na na na "

"Dun Dun Dun"

Black Sabbath, 1970. It was the opening line of the song. Even then it wasn't completely obvious. It could have been that old comic cape, or a reference to that Ted Hughes book. That was until you actually looked at the lyrics to the song.

"He was turned to steel"

"In the great magnetic field"

"When he traveled time"

"For the future of mankind"

For a heavy metal song, you wouldn't really expect it to have a science fiction narrative. The song is about someone trying to save the world, but something goes wrong. They're trapped, disabled, and mocked by people who can't understand what he's trying to do. I stopped at a red light as I continued the song.

"Nobody wants him"

"He just stares at the world"

For me, that would have been bad enough, something uncomfortably direct and personal, but that doesn't get into the weight of the rest of the lyrics.

"Planning his vengeance"

"That he will soon unfurl"

That was the point of the song. Someone who tried to help people endures too much, reaches their breaking point, and becomes a villain.

"Now, the time is here"

"For Iron Man to spread fear"

"Vengeance from the grave"

"Kills the people he once saved"

And that was the real uncomfortable part. I knew how close I had come to becoming something unspeakable. My original trigger… there's a reason I don't like thinking about it. Now I was getting power. So much power, so fast. Something could easily go wrong. One thing too far and I could go from just being regarded as a villain to actually living up to the role.

"Nobody wants him"

"They just turn their heads"

"Nobody helps him"

"Now, he has his revenge"

With the kind of power I had, that I was going to have, any misstep, any carelessness could be devastating. Even a failure to act was a choice of its own, and could have horrible consequences. I couldn't wait around and hope for things to just get better. I needed to start taking action if I wanted to make a difference.

"Heavy boots of lead"

"Fills his victims full of dread"

"Running as fast as they can"

"Iron Man lives again"

A man next to me at the red light threw up the horns through the window of his Charger. I felt more than a little self-conscious, but returned the gesture before the light changed and we drove our separate ways.

A reference this specific had to mean something. Possibly that my powers were future based, or intended to save the world, or needed to be carefully handled.

Or maybe it just meant that Black Sabbath rocked.

One thing was clear. I don't know what it meant, but the idea of a metal man turning from hero to villain made my passenger very uneasy. It was perplexing, but felt significant. Regardless, I turned the final corner and parked my car. I had to get back to my workshop.

Everything was open before me, and it was time to get serious about this work.

---

Addendum The Bay Bulletin

BROCKTON BAY NEW HAMPSHIRE

THE BAY BULLETIN

Partly Cloudy Max:65F Min:48F

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

LUNG RAMPAGES THROUGH DOCKS, NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYED

(Pictured: Lung towering over the North Docks area following a series of conflicts with E88 capes)

The North Docks saw one of their worst nights on record following a brutal conflict between ABB and E88 parahumans. The ABB leader was able to maintain conflict for an extended period, allowing him to achieve a level of strength not seen in recent memory. In the face of this threat E88 forces retreated with several reported injuries while Protectorate heroes moved in to attempt to contain the situation.

Lung's rampage set fire to a large section of the North Docks, including several abandoned warehouses believed to have been used extensively by the city's homeless population. Due to the threat posed by the spreading fire and Lung's continued rampage a state of emergency was declared in the early hours of the morning, resulting in the deployment of the New Hampshire National Guard, who had been placed on standby following the Cape Blackout and subsequent attacks.

Attempts to contain the fire proved unsuccessful, resulting in its spread across several blocks. An emergency evacuation was being considered for nearby residential areas when an unknown effect resulted in the complete and immediate extinguishing of the inferno. The effect was described as a blue electrical discharge spread over a wide area (pictures, page 3). The Protectorate has refrained from comment on this matter, but common speculation suggests this may be a new, unreported ability of Brockton Bay's own Dauntless.

Despite the quick end to the fire the damage was extensive. While it was able to be contained to abandoned building and storage sites it remains another incident in the chain of attacks that have plagued the city since Saturday night. (This article continues on Page 3)

DRAGON TO RELOCATE TO BROCKTON BAY

The Guild has announced that the renowned tinker Dragon will be temporarily relocating her operating center to Brockton Bay to assist in the ongoing situation in the city. Guild leader Narwhal made the announcement early this morning, stating that Dragon has expressed interest in pursuing the Brockton situation and assisting the local Protectorate forces. Director Piggot of the PRT issued a statement welcoming Dragon to the city and thanking her for her assistance.

Reports indicate Dragon will be operating out of a custom facility in the South Beach suburb of the city. Narwhal has assured the public that this relocation will not affect Dragon's ability to support other Protectorate initiatives and programs across the country. Dragon has yet to issue a public statement on the matter, but Mayor Roy Christner and other civic leaders have committed to welcoming Dragon upon her arrival.

"On behalf of all of Brockton Bay I express my gratitude to Dragon and the Guild for assisting the city in these trying times. It is an honor to have such an esteemed hero electing to operate from our city and we pledge our support to her efforts."

(This article continues on Page 7)

Jumpchain abilities this chapter:

Fate Finds You Interesting (Percy Jackson) 300:

You must take the "Fate finds you interesting" drawback receiving no points for it (you can also do this with a lesser god to get greater powers).

(This boost the power of Divine Child)

Minor Blessing Athena - Craftsmanship (Percy Jackson) 100:

For one reason or another you've got a god who cares slightly about you and has seen fit to grant you some minor boon within their domains. Choose one god from any pantheon and gain a minor boon from them. The god will care slightly about you but unless you go on to further distinguish yourself it will be more of a minor interest in your affairs than someone they feel the need to help (Effectively think a diminished version of one ability a demigod might have, think minor ones are stuff along the lines of breathing water, lucid dreaming, or appropriate vague extra senses, useful but nothing especially major). This can be taken multiple times.

Waste Not (Monster Hunter) 300:

You have found out a great secret in the blacksmithing trade - the reason that most blacksmiths usually ask for so many materials to make a certain weapon or armor isn't because its material intensive, but because they can make one for half of the materials and either sell the rest or make another to sell at a profit. The bastards! You have figured out how to use less materials to gain the same results when it comes to crafting your own weapons and armor. At first it may just be an ore or two less, but with enough practice you can reduce the amount of materials needed for a project by half (rounded down). As an added bonus, with enough practice, you have a 50% chance to not require high-grade or legendary materials (Rubied, Plates, etc) to make an item, provided you can supplement the build with excess materials.

Weapon & Item Storage Chest (Monster Hunter) Free:

An absolute must whether you're an aspiring hunter or roving trader. You get two chests - the first one is capable of storing up to 1000 individual weapons, pieces of armor, and charm talismans, while the second is capable of storing up to 1000 stacks of 999 of any given healing item, monster part, ore, or item that isn't a weapon, armor piece, or talisman.