You've been living a lie for too long. You've got to tell someone about your powers. Someone you can trust. Someone who goes out of their way to keep you safe and happy. No, not Dad, he'd freak out, even though you've been wearing heavy power armor when you go out. Daniel and Ted. Uber and Leet. You need them to know that you've been using them for their gear. Only a week and you've already come to value their friendship so much that you can't bear the thought of something like this poisoning it. They need to know.
They need to know after you study and have a lunch date. It'll happen! Just later. You pack some extra clothes in place of a lunch before going to the library. You'll be needing them today. You shoot a text off to AllSeeingEye as you leave:
Lunch today?
Mari's, it's on me. Oh hey, she sent a map too! This phone is really neat.
Today you get to start studying something fun! You hope. You mean, you like math, but spending half a week on such basic topics? Hopefully social studies won't be as bad. Three sessions of civics; one each of US History, economics, and geography; and a final day for an overall review. It's all interesting stuff, except geography at this level is probably just memorizing places. Which you could probably solve in seconds by scanning a globe and just referring to it as needed. But that's not for a few days.
As you'd feared, today's work is at a more basic level than you're used to, but it's a new take on the theory of government to you. Put simply, you'd never considered legitimacy as a measure of whether or not something is a government. Prior to Scion's first appearance, various mafias around the world functioned as a form of unofficial local government, sometimes more powerful than the actual government. If they provide the same services as a government would, and do so via mandatory taxation, are they not a government? Modern gangs, especially parahuman-led ones, do the same thing. What makes the Empire 88 or the Azn Bad Boys not a government in the territory they control? Mostly, it's a matter of how much competition they have for vital services, how much people acknowledge them as a government, and to what extent they actually provide the services they claim to provide. As police fail to deal with crime in an area, a mafia or gang that
can do so gains legitimacy in the eyes of those they protect -- or they can just keep forcing people to buy the ever-valuable service of 'not being killed', and be seen as nothing more than what they actually are. (GED status: 8/30 study points!)
Finally, it's lunchtime! You rush your books to the return cart and dash into the bathroom. There, you change into even baggier than usual clothes,
wrap a shirt around your head, and slap a pair of snow goggles over your exposed eyes to hide your identity. And just in case, and because you have a head-to-toe layer covering it, you summon up the Zero Suit under your clothes as an emergency defense layer. Then, it's off to Mari's.
Which turns out to be a super-fancy place. If not for the blond-haired girl who flags you down outside the restaurant, you're certain they wouldn't have let you in. But money talks, and the maître d is more than willing to ignore the dress code and see you to a booth when AllSeeingEye slips him a Benjamin.
"Hi, I'm Lisa," She introduces herself properly. "Or AllSeeingEye online, of course."
"Samus," You offer. "I don't have powers or anything, but I also don't feel super comfortable revealing who I am to a stranger who sought me out, sorry." She pulls a pad of paper and a mechanical pencil out of her purse and starts writing as you mutter further. "I mean, I'm really excited about having a personal fan and all, I just, you know."
"Don't worry about it. I understand trust issues like that. I used to be a supervillain," she admits, sliding the hotel-sized pad of paper across.
I know you have powers, and I need your help to save a kidnapped twelve-year-old. Don't talk about it, just write as you talk. "Started out with cybercrime against the rich simply to survive. Nothing they'd miss, within the amount the FDIC would cover. Ended up getting caught eventually."
You barely manage to keep yourself from overreacting, and it's an effort of will to write while holding a conversation. "How'd you run into the Merchants, then?"
What are you talking about? I'm just an ordinary high-school student. You slide the pad back.
"Ended up joining a… I guess you could call us a gang? More like a bunch of friends who happened to be criminals."
I'm basically psychic. You're obviously lying. And you've been patrolling in Leet's suit. Neither he nor Uber would do that.
What do you want? You scribble, furious.
"Anyway, that was the Undersiders. Went pretty well for a while. We were the masters of the escape, always pulling off the perfect heists and getting away clean."
Like I said, rescuing a kidnapped girl. Dinah Alcott. Mayor's niece. Recently-triggered precog, taken by Coil for that.
You slide the pad back without writing anything.
"Then we pissed off a dragon, and you know how that kind of thing goes. Bitch was killed a few days ago, and the survivors split up."
Robbing Lung's casino was a cover for the kidnapping. We didn't know. We don't even know how he pulled it off.
"I thought she was called Hellhound," you comment.
"That's what the PRT called her, and they have all the PR. She meant it in the literal meaning of 'female dog', not the expletive it's usually used as.
Coil's a Thinker too, but I don't yet know how his power works. Seems to get information from nothing. Stay out of his interest until you're ready to act and you should be safe.
"So the lot of you nearly got shot up at least once by the Merchants?" You ask, still not needing to write back.
"More than a few times," Tattletale tattles. "The Merchants were scum, and I'm glad they're gone even apart from the revenge. We'd have done it ourselves had we been prepared to hold territory."
He's forcing me to work for him, or I'll be shot by his tinkertech-armed mercenaries. Also recruited The Travelers. Has underground bases, but I don't know where they are, or how to get in or out.
Food arrives, and you realize a flaw in your cunning disguise. Namely, you can't expose your mouth without untying your mask. And you definitely don't trust the psychic supervillain sitting across the table from you.
"Don't worry about it. I'll leave first so you can eat. I really am a fan of your work, though. It's too bad you don't have Leet's armor anymore. You did more good with it than he ever accomplished with all his other gear combined--Shit!" Tattletale interrupts herself as she drops the well-used pad of paper onto her sauce-covered plate. The page full of information on Coil slides off as she pushes the pad to the side with a fork "I needed those notes, too!" She exclaims, spearing the saucey page and some chicken and eating them both. "Now I'll have to rewrite everything later. Hold on, I'm going to go throw this in the trash."
Tattletale gets up, and not long after she returns, a waiter brings her a box for leftovers. "I really do need to run," She tells you. "But there's no need for you to rush yourself. Seriously, I'm incredibly thankful for what you did. You went above and beyond the call of duty, especially for being pressed into an Uber and Leet video." She places seven hundred-dollar-bills on the table, two by the waiter and five by you before heading for the exit, talking quietly to herself some more about Uber and Leet and the call of duty as she leaves.
With the supervillain gone, it doesn't take you long to loosen your headgear, though you still keep it on. People here know you have something to hide, now, so it's best to keep as much hidden as you can. Also, you pocket the cash she gave you. There's no reason not to take the money, you guess. If you decide not to keep the probably-stolen-goods, you can just turn it in later, but cash is basically untraceable. And you thought confessing to Uber and Leet was going to be the toughest thing you did today.
Speaking of which, you text them that you're coming over after you finish your very long lunch, and also that there's something you important need to tell them. You won't let yourself hide from this responsibility.
You arrive, are let in, and take a deep breath before spilling your guts. "I secretly have superpowers and I did from before we met and I don't want you to just think I've been using you because I'm not even though your gear makes me stronger I want to keep being friends because you're the only friends I have now and please don't reject me I don't think I could take it." You bury your head in your hands.
Uber interrupts your misery first. "We knew." He tells you.
"You
what?" You ask.
"There's been an unexplained second feed on the suit's helmetcam the last few nights," Leet explains. "Interior showed it was you, exterior showed what you were doing. We could probably splice it into an extra video if you want."
"You don't mind?" You feel like a broken record.
"Original's still here, so we hardly had anything to complain about, and we did basically trick you into the video in the first place." Ted tells you. "So, what can you do? Duplicate tinkertech?"
"Duplicate anything," You explain proudly. "More than just that, too. Can you clear some room for sparring?"
As Uber and Leet get to that in long-practiced motions, you pull out your copy of Uber's Master Sword. "Can you use the original?" You request.
Uber does so, and it quickly becomes apparent
why as you mirror his every motion for the duration of a short spar. "Your power lets you duplicate people's skills?" He guesses.
"Kinda," you offer, dropping into a chair, exhausted. "When I copy something, I get its entire history. Not just how it was crafted, but also every time it was ever used. And not used, and everything in-between. Things… remember how they were used, basically. And they want to be used like that again. If I used an unused sword, you would have destroyed me. But with the hours of practice you've put into this, I can stand up against you."
"Why'd you really tell us about your powers?" Daniel asks, dropping into a comfy chair opposite you.
"I guess… I wanted to really be your equal. I mean, nothing I said upfront was untrue, even if it
is really embarrassing that I don't really have any other friends anymore. I don't just want this to be Uber and Leet and some girl who's barely played any video games but is still helping out to trade views for money. I want this to Uber and Leet and… whoever I am, I don't know." You explain more slowly as you catch your breathe. "But I want to be a hero too, and I don't know if I can do that with the two of you. And if I'm going to be copying your gear, not telling you just seems wrong. I should probably tell everyone else I've been copying from too, at least eventually, but they're not my
friends."
Leet turns to Uber. "Second playlist?"
"Second playlist." He confirms.
"Second playlist?" You inquire.
"We're cool with you hero-ing with our stuff. But we want to film it. We'll stick it on the Uber and Leet and Copy-Girl channel on a different playlist from the main stuff, and you still get a cut of the money."
"That's a terrible name," You tell him.
"Kirby!" Leet corrects. "It's the perfect choice!"
"We're not named after characters, though."
"Emulator?" Leet suggests.
"Do I get to decide at all?"
"Eh, sure," Uber tells you. He shows you a controller as he turns on Smash Bros. "Copy this and play as whoever. I want to have an actual challenge today."
Leet sidles over and grabs another controller, and for the first time all day, you finally
relax.
You call Dad on your cellphone and tell him you're having dinner with friends as Uber orders two pizzas on his. You're a little sad to stop playing as it gets late, but duty calls. If you're too late to save someone tonight because you were playing video games, you'd never forgive yourself.
"I'm here," A familiar, expected voice sounds inside your helmet. "I won't run overwatch for you every night, but I want to make sure you know what you're doing, at least. Want to fight some Nazis?"
"Okay," You let Uber know, running helter-skelter as your Speed Booster charges up. "Got something to throw on the map?" You leap into the air, flying towards the Empire's territory in a sped-up Space Jump.
"Halbeard's fighting Stormtiger and Cricket," an icon blinks on your mini-map.
"Halbeard?"
"He has a halberd and a beard. What does he expect to be called?"
You drop out of the sky, surprising everyone on the battlefield as you crash into Cricket at speed. She slams into and through a building as almost all your momentum is transfered into her.
"We really should have thought about how Speed Booster basically turns you into a Kinetic Kill Vehicle before giving you that powerup," Uber complains. "At least we remembered the sonic boom."
Armsmaster adjusts easily to your entrance, though he appears uncertain as to whether you're a friend or foe. You offer him a thumbs-up with your non-cannon hand as you starting shooting ineffectually at the remaining Nazi cape, who avoids your shots when the wind pushes them off-course. Weird, the environment never affected your aim in the games. Unrealistic, or just Leet unable to make the cannon completely faithful? There isn't even a stun setting in Metroid, so maybe that's what's causing the issue. You're so lost in thought that when he charges at you, hands open as if they were claws, he scores a clean hit. Claws they certainly seem to be, as he manages to drain a good 30 energy from your suit without even physically connecting.
"Ironically, your best bet for taking him is melee," Uber advises. "You probably shouldn't pull out any other weapons if you can avoid it. There's value in keeping your true power secret so you can surprise a stronger enemy in the future."
Which leaves you two options on the suit for non-arm-cannon melee. Option one: you punch with your hand-hand, missing wildly as he slides back, leaving him open for option two, which you blatantly copy from your earlier melee session: Grapple Beam to grab him, and then you violently slam him into the ground. Armsmaster takes the opportunity to jab the downed villain with the Halberd's haft, and Stormtiger promptly stops trying to get up and collapses back onto the ground.
Amsmaster nods companionably to you, confirms Stormtiger is still down, then checks the building for Cricket. While he's busy, you run off at top speed. You've seen how you act in front of your hero, and you do
not want to do that in your first costumed meeting. Besides the embarrassment, he also might recognize you. Maybe next time you'll work up the courage.
The rest of the night goes similarly, though you don't meet any more capes, as Uber finds targets for you and you alpha strike them and call the police. At his insistence, you call it a night early and head home.
Today was Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Name vote is still ongoing! This'll probably be the last week it's open.
Next Day's Day Plan (Two votes, up to two more if you cannibalize morning study or evening patrol):
[ ] Study extra for the GED
[ ] Spend time with Uber and Leet
[ ] Get more gear for your power
-[ ] How?
[ ] Other (Write-in)