* October 1, 2008 *

The pistol fired, the aiming mechanism having selected a single individual in a moving car. The barriers between them didn't matter as the device didn't operate in normal four-dimensional space.

It was Necron technology, with a bit of Kryptonian, and mostly her own extrapolation from those two sources.

In that single car, a single parahuman simply ceased to exist. At least as far as four-dimensional space was concerned.

Then she used an encrypted line to send a message to the three other occupants of the back seat of that vehicle.

A moment later the three in the backseat had bailed out of the car, which sped up considerably in response to that. Not for very long though as it hit a streetlight less than a block later.

It was Welder Barbie that held up something that looked like a snowglobe, indicating that Heartbreaker was taken care of. In a pocket universe of his very own. Unable to extend his power, unable to touch anything, only able to see things from his tiny little prison.

Taylor/Doctor Curlyhair wondered if he was going to end up as a desk ornament when she turned him over to the authorities.

After studying his power, of course. She still had all the analytic equipment she'd used with Eidolon's not-so-little problem.

Well, it wasn't her decision after all. That was for the courts and authorities to decide. They might even let him out of that little cage in order to put him in a bigger one.

As long as he was in there, he wouldn't age. Wouldn't need to eat or drink. Wouldn't need much of anything really.

Maybe the Selective Multiphasic Underdimensional Transfer device wasn't up to the task of beating the End Boss, but unveiling it to her parents had seen the appropriate wincing at the acronym. Having a supervillain taken down by it would amuse her.

You had to take the little victories when you could.

As for Heartbreaker, Doctor Curlyhair thought that depriving someone of the sense of touch and being touched when they were dependent on such things was going to make the villain a bit more cooperative.

Which reminded her, she had to come up with a better cage for the Simurgh. There really wasn't any need to interrogate further at this point, she had a considerable database on everything the Endbringer knew. Couldn't release her, at least not as is, but just turning her off like she had for the other Endbringers seemed lacking somehow...

If the Simurgh could have seen Doctor Curlyhair's expression, she would have been quite concerned.

* October 12, 2008 *

"This is Brockton Bay NewsTalk Radio, and this IS the almost-famous Grand Poobah of the radiowaves, Marisha Ignis. You just heard the 0900 National and State, so here's the local skinny.

"Seems Doctor Curlyhair (fanfare sound effect) has turned over the supervillain Heartbreaker, wanted for numerous crimes and being a pustule on the buttocks of Earth-Bet but he did have competition on that, to the Guild and not the local Parahuman Response Team due to them having a lot more warrants out for his arrest. His powers were neutralized, no word on how, and the transfer happened without issue. Damn, just saying that a villain got arrested and stayed arrested seems like such a change from just a few years back, eh?

"We've heard about the dismantling of some Containment Zones due to actions by ForgeTech and the PRT, so let them continue to monitor Lake Ellisburg and await the possibility of fishing there after it's all been cleared.

"At the half-hour we've got Assault from the PRT ENE here in studios to talk about the Heartbreaker and Containment Zone operations, so expect him to go off-script at least twice. You'd think the local office would have spotted that pattern by now and sent someone else.

"To any robots or androids or mutants or parahumans out there. It's a beautiful day, try not to ruin it for anyone else. Not that most of you aren't well behaved, but we all know the exceptions."

"It's cold and rainy, Marisha."

"For this time of year, that's pretty nice, Cristina. You're the weathergirl, you know this."

"Just stuck my head in the studio to remind you about the elevator test today."

"It's a shuttle. And yes, everyone, if you see something launch at high speeds from the Docks area - it is NOT a missile. Forgetech is testing out high-speed lift systems designed to hoist things up to orbit faster than conventional systems allow. That's because the g-forces on this ride would reduce the average human being to smooshed jelly status. Can I say 'smooshed' on the air?"

"I don't think anyone's going to complain about that."

"You'd be surprised," said Marisha before continuing. "Before I forget, Pieman Street and Ackerman Avenue is where today's Army of The Disgruntled will be picketing the military presence here in the Bay, Forgetech in general, Artificial Intelligence and Synthetic Life, the lack of new gun control legislation, and the current high prices on potatoes. So you might want to avoid that area, the stupid might just be contagious."

"I'm pretty sure you can't say THAT on the air," drily commented Cristina the weathergirl.

"I'm pretty sure everyone appreciates not going near that intersection because we warned them. In other local news, local villain duo Over and Load just-"

"Uber and Leet," Cristina commented.

"What?"

The villain duo is 'Uber' and 'Leet' it's some weird 90s kind of reference." Cristina made a dismissive noise.

"Okay, local villain duo Uber and Leet attempted to hold up a number of food trucks outside the fairgrounds with 'monsters' styled after a videogame called 'Resident Evil'."

"Wait. Hold on there," interrupted Cristina. "A game about out of control biotechnology? A horror game? This is the same duo who tried to do 'Duke Nukem' last week and their equipment blew up?"

"I don't play videogames. Well, except Madden, but yeah - that happened last week. Anyway - if he had any safety protocols on his robot minions they broke down within minutes of deployment. Not that it made much difference as two Astartes showed up and proved that Tinkertech versus ForgeTech is not a good matchup. They were assisted, oddly enough, by two of the 'monsters' who decided to rebel against the rest of them."

"Does the news sheet say which kind of monsters? There's a few in that series."

"Well, they're robots with a holographic emitter to give them a different appearance - just a zombie dog and a zombie guy according to this."

"Got it, maybe ForgeTech can rehabilitate them and reprogram the holograms to something a little less nightmare-inducing."

"During the fight Uber and Leet escaped, the Astartes more interested in saving lives than pursuing the two criminals. Seriously, Cristina - there's Madden and FIFA and some good games out there. Couldn't they go with something actually fun?"

"Don't give them ideas Marisha. They'll mess it up anyway."

* Uber & Leet Secret Base *

"How can she know about Madden and FIFA but not 'Resident Evil'?!" demanded Leet.

"Have you seen her profile pick on the WBBR website?" asked Uber. "She's a female jock. She's into sports, played basketball on the college level kind of thing."

"She's what? So she's a muscle-bound cretin," grumped Leet as he went to the website, went to the on-air hosts, and then stared for a few moments. "What the hell?"

"Yeah," agreed Uber, saving the game he'd been playing.

"Might have to get her into one of our scenarios, it might boost the ratings a bit," suggested Leet.

"Might," admitted Uber. "Wasn't there a basketball game version of Madden from Aleph?"

"Possible," said Leet thoughtfully. He looked at a picture of her posing with an Astartes, whose body language seemed to indicate bored tolerance somehow. "I'd really like a better look at that Astartes armor, but from a distance."

"Yeah, thing people forget about that stuff is that it is FAST," said Uber as he brought up the recording of the Astartes tearing through the Silent Hill monsters easily. Switching from flamethrowers and plasma lances to those gravity guns as soon as they figured out the holo-emitters over a simple robotic frame thing.

The two turncoats that had defended fair-goers had surrendered and been taken away.

"Do we still have signal on those two?" asked Uber, indicating the screen showing the Licker and the Cerebus.

"Lost that twelve seconds after they went to the base," said Leet. He sat back for a moment, then got wide eyes. "Oh... oh shit."

"What?" asked Uber.

"We need to pack and move. NOW," said Leet, quickly gathering up tools and equipment and running to the van to toss them in the back.

"How so?" asked Uber.

"Because I built them here, and even if I didn't activate them until after we were at the fairgrounds - they may have enough data to figure out where we are."

Uber was at the truck in a heartbeat. "Don't forget the can openers."

"Not after the last time," agreed Leet.

* ForgeTech *

"They're on the move."

"I expected this ten days ago. What's with that?" asked Doctor Curlyhair.

"Incompetence?" suggested Astartes-1.

"Sad, but I could see it," said Doctor Curlyhair. "I've finished upgrading the robots by the way."

"I thought you did that several days ago," responded Astartes-1.

"Eh? I got distracted. Homework, new supplies, that sort of thing." Doctor Curlyhair muttered something under her breath that sounded impolite. "Anyway, the former zombie-guy is now upgraded to a Ken-05 model. The dog is upgraded to the Bottweiler model. Much faster and tougher."

"Continue to monitor?" asked Astartes-1.

"Yeah, leave them alone for now. The most we can get them on with charges that will stick are moving violations. If they cause more problems than those protestors - we can tip off the PRT and let them handle it."

"Roger. Stealth engaged."

Doctor Curlyhair sat back, considering as she heard the rumble and felt another connection take place. It was a familiar constellation, Efficiency this time, and the "source" was also familiar - that Gundam place.

This ability made working with strange materials a lot easier, but wouldn't help with the mass production end of things - it would allow the auto-factory to work with the materials but not any of the tech being produced off-site.

"Exotic Compatibility" it called itself. Didn't come with any add-ons or equipment, which was a disappointment. A nice Gundam unit would have been nice. For confronting Uber and Leet with if nothing else.

"Eureka!"

Hearing that from one of her clones made her curious, and the memory hit them all a moment later as that clone dismissed herself. Apparently they'd gotten that third-level spell down. "Speak With Dead" didn't sound particularly great until you got into details. Even then, the limitations were a pain. What she'd give for being able to ask five questions with Leonardo Da Vinci or Einstein, or even Lucy the 3.2 million year old hominid.

Huh. A report crossed her omnitool's interface and showed that she had a call from the PRT, and a flag from the Saturn drydock indicated construction speed had increased.

"This is Doctor Curlyhair, girl genius!" she announced as she took the call.

"Armsmaster here."

"Armsmaster! Good to hear from you. Getting some practice in with your new weapon?"

"Yes, but that's not what I'm calling about," said Armsmaster, going silent for a few moments.

"What's wrong?" asked Doctor Curlyhair.

"What did you actually do to Heartbreaker?" asked Armsmaster. "He's been nearly catatonic."

"Ah. Well, from the report I got on him - he has a harem (which is an incorrect term but I won't get into that) who he's forced to adore him. Pretty much a sex and touch-addicted person, right?"

"I follow you," agreed Armsmaster.

"He was in a sort of Phantom Zone, an extradimensional prison where he was completely safe and couldn't affect anyone outside it," explained Doctor Curlyhair. "He couldn't touch anyone, or be touched by anyone, surrounded by gray mists and the shadows of an immaterial landscape. Three days while I extracted his power connection and made sure he'd live through it."

There was brief silence from the other end. "That may have qualified as 'cruel and unusual punishment', 'unlawful imprisonment' even."

"Safety measure," said Doctor Curlyhair. "Psionic dampers to the side, there were the dangers of anyone coming close enough to be affected by his power. With his power permanently removed, he's safe to stand trial and if found guilty can be in a normal prison instead of something like the Birdcage."

"Still, a lawyer may be able to get him off and you charged," cautioned Armsmaster.

"I've got access to lawyers at the moment," said Doctor Curlyhair, sitting back in her chair and starting it spinning. "And this research may lead to a new anti-crowd weapon."

"Oh?" asked Armsmaster.

"I call it a 'Stop That' cannon, got the idea from an old science fiction novel," said Doctor Curlyhair. "Heartbreaker sent emotion and programmed people with longer exposure to his power. If it works, it will send an instantaneous mental pulse that serves as an interrupt on emotion - basically a blank carrier wave. Not sure if it will work, or that I can get it through all the legal hurdles - but it could actually help against certain menaces."

"We'll see," said Armsmaster.

"Was that all you needed to say?" asked Doctor Curlyhair.

"There was one thing more," admitted Armsmaster. "The removal of a parahuman's powers has repercussions."

"Yes," admitted Doctor Curlyhair. "You really are good at understatements. Specifically I was able to do it by isolating the connection to his power and transferring it to a blank surrogate brain."

"An artificial brain," said Armsmaster.

"Yes," said Doctor Curlyhair, who let the silence grow for a bit before pointing something out. "I'm a cybernetics specialist. I can create artificial organs, full bionic replacements, and bio-tech that looks and acts so real that you need microscopic analysis to tell the difference. That's been out there for awhile, people in five countries are now training up in those medical technologies. There are two centers specializing in the new tech - one in Japan and the other in Germany. Is there a problem?"

Armsmaster simply sent her a couple of pictures, waiting for her to pull them up and look at them.

"They're building mecha," noted Doctor Curlyhair. "Okay. Didn't expect that. Doesn't the higher profile just make them more susceptible to things like anti-tank weapons?"

"Yes, though forcefield technology can mitigate this somewhat and IED and landmines are actually less of a problem as such vehicles can detect and step over or around such things," pointed out Armsmaster.

"Okay," said Doctor Curlyhair, examining the two pictures for a few extra moments. "The Japanese one looks kind of Gundam-ish. Probably built for speed, agility, ease of movement. Bio-feedback or neural connection to the pilot?"

"Details are not currently available," noted Armsmaster.

"The German one is VERY reminiscent of armored knights, especially with the shield there. Bulky. Emphasis on defense and - huh. Those pauldrons open up, don't they? Probably ECM or drone launchers."

"That was my thought as well," said Armsmaster. "Any concerns?"

"No, I think the American power armor is going to be better in the short term as far as cost and applicability is concerned. The mecha are nice, but ground troops are still going to be necessary for holding areas. Mind you, military campaigns and tactics are not something I've spent a lot of time trying to learn." Doctor Curlyhair sent her own picture.

"What is THAT?" asked Armsmaster.

"The Astartes wanted one for backup when things are going on they have trouble with, that one is called a Dreadnought. The one from their game had a human component instead of a pilot. This version just hooks up to the Astartes armor and they sit in an armored shell in the torso. The Dreadnought becomes their body."

"Just one?" asked Armsmaster.

"Plan on making two," said Doctor Curlyhair. She sent another picture. "This one is for menaces that remain classified for now. Anti-Thinker protocol."

"Is the scale accurate?" asked Armsmaster, sounding a bit aghast.

"Yes," said Doctor Curlyhair. "Deployment might be a bit tricky because portals of that size require a lot of power. Just getting the materials to build it is proving a challenge. It's something else their Warhammer game has and I'm planning on unveiling it to them on Christmas."

"What's it called, so that I have something for the report," asked Armsmaster.

"Reaver-class Battle Titan," replied Doctor Curlyhair. "Twenty-five meters tall, or 83 feet if you prefer. LOTS of metal and it'll require some anti-grav just to walk on normal roads. Yeah, overkill for almost anything but if you want to face something that normal gravitic weapons or particle beams are useless against? 'Go big or go home' is the phrase, I believe."

"Well, that certainly would be big," noted Armsmaster.

* Perks This Chapter *

35.51.2-Exotic Compatibility (400CP)(Gundam - After Colony)(Efficiency):
You have a way of working with quirky and strange materials-in your hands and machinery, it assumes the forging and abilities of plain Iron until you begin building with it. You also can integrate exotic materials into your constructions a lot easier, and if you don't know what a material is or what it can do, you're very good at researching applications and properties of said materials. This research could also go into things such as improving production numbers and similar.