trying to make worm a better world

You know, sleeping one day and waking up in a black void filled with nothingness has always seemed to me like a good way to die--except for the waking up part. Can you blame me? The very idea of an eternity of pleasure or pain for such a temporary existence has always been terrifying to me.

Anyway, I want to freak out now, but how do I do that? I can't seem to do anything but think here. "Hello, hello, little soul. How have you been this fine night?" said a voice behind me. Where is it behind me? This is so very wrong. I want to scream. I want to scream. I want to scream.

"Don't worry, the disorientation is temporary. We can communicate by thought, so just think it, and I will know." The voice continues. Wait, it said I can communicate by thinking. Alright, let's do this.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, why am I here?" Before I can fully express my panic, it interrupts me again.

"You are here because you died," which is absurd because dying doesn't happen to me; it happens to others. I'm not old enough to die in my sleep. "Why can you communicate with me? It is simple, you see. I have decided to throw you into the Worm web serial with a power-- you know, that power fantasy you love." It keeps talking. "That's a lie. I don't want a power fantasy if it means I will die in a very short time."

"Sorry, but that has already been decided. Now, do you want to know the details, or should I just throw you in?" You know, nothing makes a person polite like meeting death face-to-face. "I would like to know as many details as possible, please."

"Alright, you will be teleported into Brockton Bay a week before Taylor fights Lung," I wheeze. I am going to die so fast." Your power is going to be power manipulation from the Worm CYOA: 'I am God. Everyone fear me.' Instead of getting 5 charges every day, you will only have 5 charges, but you can create a power and destroy it at any time to regain the charge." What are you looking at? That is enough to destroy a planet? I might still die.

"Alright, that is about it, so I will send you now." Did it just...? "Wait, wait, I would like to activate the power here before I go to Worm. I don't know how long it would take for Contessa to find me and kill me, but I bet it is faster than me activating and using my power for the first time." I make my case, and to my surprise, it responds with, "Sure, that is cool with me." You know, I don't even know if this thing has a name, but he seems cool with me now. Yes, I noticed I went from "it" to "he" pretty quickly. Anyway, time to structure my powers.

"First, like any sane person, I am choosing a blank power-- a stranger power that will hide me from any type of thinker or precog. It will limit itself to just hiding me and no other defenses, so it should fit within power classification 1-5." Great, that seems acceptable.

"Second, I want a thinker power that will allow me to reproduce the blank power into items and only the blank power, so it still fits with one charge." Yes, this is going smoothly.

"Third, I want a material creation power, only limited by volume." That works. Although a 20 cm cube might look small, it is enough for my plans.

"Fourth, I want telekinesis to assist me with tinkering. It will work like a multi-tool, so I want precision instead of power." Amazing, everything is going my way.

"Fifth, I want a power that will make me intangible, protecting me from anything physical. I doubt that this will protect me from any dimensional shenanigans, but all I need for now is to run from the mooks with guns and not from Zion."

Alright, it looks like I am done, but wait, "Can you transport me near the boat graveyard, preferably to a place where there is no one to bother me?" I ask. "Sure, that is cool with me. Oh, before I send you there, your job is not just to entertain me; you will need to find a way to kill Zion with as few casualties as possible compared to Canon."

You know that feeling of going downstairs to wash the dishes, and halfway there, your mother tells you to wash the dishes? That irritating but unavoidable feeling of vexation is what I felt when he told me to do the second part of the mission. Sure, that was part of my plan, but come on now; it just feels like work instead of something I wanted to do.

SUNDAY, MARCH 27, 2011 8:00 am

Before I could think of saying anything, I suddenly found myself lying on a dirty floor near a rather unclean-looking body of water. I got up and activated my intangibility. It seemed to be an automatic ability; I wasn't floating, but I also wasn't falling to the ground. I knew there would be some sort of background protection for the powers I possessed, but it was still cool to see it in action.

Now, I needed to find an unoccupied boat to start my plan to make the world a little better. After about five minutes of walking around and searching, I settled on one nearby that showed no signs of anyone being around it. To my untrained eyes, every single boat I looked at seemed abandoned, so either someone had done an excellent job of hiding me away, or everyone was really good at playing hide-and-seek. I didn't dwell on it too much.

It was time to start tinkering. I wanted the item to look like a bracelet and be easily adjustable for ordinary people. Since this power only allowed for one charge focused on creating an item with such significant ability, I couldn't add anything more to it. There would just be an on and off button to activate the item--nothing else. After what felt like two hours of my body moving on its own, I ended up with 22 bracelets. Why 22? One for me, one for testing, and 20 for the PRT. That's right; I'm joining the government stooges. It's simply the easiest way I could think of to help the world. If I want to do something in the future and they don't allow it, it's simple: I won't tell anyone about my trump power. I will sign up for the PRT with a set power, and suddenly there will be a new guy out there doing something completely different.

I put on one of the bracelets and activated the Tinker tech. Good, now I can deactivate one of my power slots--the blank slot is deactivated, and I'm still alive. I'll count that as a success! "Hooray!" Okay, I'm still a bit in shock, but nobody has time for that right now. It's time to upgrade my bracelet.

First, I plan to enhance my ability so that the bracelet can be surgically attached to my bones. That way, I can only remove it myself or if someone chops off my arm. It will be activated by my thoughts instead of buttons, requiring at least five commands from me before it can be deactivated. Each command will necessitate clearer cognition for activation, so there's no danger of getting drunk and accidentally disabling it. Plus, no biologically based master will be able to force me to remove it.

To be safe, I made three more upgraded bracelets, each requiring different commands. I put them on all my limbs. Now it's time to go meet the PRT.

Next, I crafted a simple-looking mask to hide my face, and that was enough of the material creation power. I decided to change that to a map function to find the PRT building. Since I was far from the graveyard, it would take me hours to walk. Definitely not ideal. Alright, let's destroy the Tinker power and create a new power to fly at high speed. With two charges, I can fly near Mach 1, and with intangibility, there will be no air resistance. I'll also add telekinesis, combining it with invisibility, and follow the map now. "Wow, wow, wow, flying is so amazing! With invisibility and intangibility, I can go anywhere unnoticed. This is incredible!" I spent a few hours just flying and gliding in the air, enjoying myself, but once I realized it was already 1 PM, I decided to cut my fun short and fly to my destination. Once I was about a 10-minute walk from the PRT building, I landed, deactivated my flight and invisibility powers, and walked out of a previously empty alley.

"Hello, you must be new here. Are you patrolling this area?" Miss Militia asked. I think she hoped I was a hero. Well, I wouldn't want to disappoint her.

"Actually, I was hoping to join the PRT, and I was just walking to the building. I wasn't sure how to go about it, so I was going to ask the person at the help desk. But if you're here, can you help me with my problem?" I think I managed to shock her. She seemed frozen, and after a few seconds, she said, "... Yeah, I'm sure I can help you. Just follow me to the PRT building, and I will guide you there."

The PRT building was about two minutes away from where we were, so she introduced herself and asked me what I would like to be called. I told her, "Actually, I am new to my powers, so I haven't decided yet," which seemed to shut her up. Oh, wait, she probably thinks she just made me remember my trigger event.

Now, I need to decide what power I'm going to show the PRT before I get there. The Tinker power is one option, a precognitive power to account for my future knowledge, and the intangibility power for my protection, so let's set those up in case Armsmaster uses his lie detection tech on me.

The precognitive power will simply allow me to access the worm book in my head as a library. When I want to know something from the worm story, it will just pop into my head, including wog(word of god) information and some canon and fanon info separating functions. For example, I once thought Ziz was the winged one in Pho, but that is just fanon.

"Alright, it looks like we just arrived at the building. Let's begin this process.

"Wait, are those scanners for Tinkertech?" I asked. She seemed to stiffen at my question but still responded, "Yes, those are to check for any Tinkertech that we might miss during the manual search and with the regular scanners. Do you have any Tinkertech on you?"

"Yeah, I have some items in this bag, but I also have four pieces attached to my body." When I mentioned that they were attached to me, she looked at me as if I were holding a gun to a child.

"It's not very invasive; they're just attached to my limbs," I explained. After that, she seemed calmer, though still somewhat worried, with a hint of exasperation in her eyes. She is very good at expressing her emotions through her scarf, it is almost creepy.

"Okay, let's wait a moment. Armsmaster will come and scan you before we begin." It wasn't even ten minutes later when a blue robot approached me, sporting a beard so straight and precise that it could serve as a better measurement tool than the metric system. "Hello, I am Armsmaster. Please stand up so I can scan your Tinkertech," he said.

As I stood up, he showed a frustrated expression and said, "It seems to be using some type of information-blocking function. I can't scan it without more specialized tools."

Stunned, I asked, "Wait, you're telling me this works on Tinkertech too?" My shock only seemed to exacerbate the situation. Miss Militia asked, "You don't know what they do?" To prevent things from escalating, I replied, "No, I made them to hide me from any Thinker, including precogs, but I didn't realize their information-blocking capabilities would also affect Tinkertech scanners." I smiled, though I might have strained a muscle doing so. Even if they couldn't see my face due to the mask, my body language didn't alleviate their apprehensive looks.

"Alright, let's go to a more private room, and you can explain as much as you can," she said, leading the way to the so-called private room. I packed my bag full of Tinkertech and followed her, with Armsmaster trailing behind us. When we arrived, she opened the door for us. I went in first, she entered last, and then she closed the door.

After we settled into seating that felt more like a criminal sitting in front of two detectives, she asked me, "Now, can you explain what the Tinkertech on your body does?"

I began to explain, "Well, I have four bracelets on me. They all share the same ability: they create a blind spot for any Thinker power. However, it seems their effects are not limited to that. When I created them, I wanted an item that would effectively hide me, so I designed them to disrupt any dimensional-based information gathering. Now that I think about it, the reason Armsmaster's scanners don't work is likely due to their heavy reliance on dimensional-based information gathering. You can still see the bracelets and notice that they're black, but if your eyes employ any type of dimensional scanning technique, I will probably appear invisible to you."

When I finished, they fell silent for a moment. Then she asked, "That is very impressive technology. Now I'm curious why you went to such lengths to hide from Thinkers and precogs." Her question made me perk up like a five-year-old in a candy store. "Oh, well, you see, that's because my other power is that I am also a precog. However, my power seems to only show me how the world will be without my involvement, so I got the idea that if I am my own blind spot, then I am better off being everyone else's blind spot." For some reason, this kept them quiet even longer. With a voice that sounded so dead it might as well have come from a corpse, she said, "You have two powers?"

When she gave me such a wide opening, I, of course, had to take it. So, I politely and calmly said, "Actually, I have three powers, since I am also intangible to any physical thing that can harm me." I say that while moving my arm through the table to prove I have that power, if you have guessed if my face hurts by now, you would be correct, but I kept going like there is no problem." By the way, I have duplicates of the bracelets in this bag. " I open the bag and show them 21 bracelets. "One of them is for you to test in whatever way you want; the other twenty are to be used. I am willing to stay here until you fully test the bracelets, and while I am willing to join, before I join, there is something I would like the protectorate to do, and the person hearing my demand must be wearing those bracelets, so take your time, make sure they are safe to be worn by any person, and come back. I am willing to wait if you are."

chapter 2

After a few seconds, it looks like Armsmaster gets an order from someone higher up. He says, "I'll go test the tinker tech. Miss Militia, you'll continue interviewing the cape—temporary code name, Blind Spot."


He calls it a temporary name, but honestly, I don't mind being called Blind Spot. I doubt the PR machine will let it stick, but hey—fingers crossed.


As soon as he leaves, I turn to Miss Militia and say, "I don't think he's going to like that the bracelets can hide from any dimension-based detection. His specialty is efficiency and miniaturization, and every tool he uses relies on some form of dimensional scanning."


Trying not to laugh, she replies, "I'm sure he'll figure something out. But I'd like to know more about your powers. Can you explain in more detail?"


This is where things might get tense.


"I'll explain more once you wear the bracelet. But while we wait for them to be ready, there's something more important."


My serious tone lands—she straightens up and nods. "Alright. Tell me what it's about."


Before I speak again, I switch from precognition to another power—one that subtly influences my body language to reinforce honesty.


"There's a problem with my identification. The major issue is... I don't exist."


She frowns, clearly confused. So, I elaborate.


"Out of nowhere today, I woke up near one of the boats in the boat graveyard, with an urge to build a bracelet that hides me from precogs. It seems someone temporarily removed me from their detection. That's actually why I'm willing to join the PRT—someone kidnapped me from a peaceful life and dropped me here. They seem to have the power to grant powers—or at least decide what powers someone gets when they trigger."


Before I can keep rambling, she cuts in. "You're telling me you're not from this Earth, and someone brought you here against your will?"


"Yes. And they decided I'd need tools to survive—like a precog power constantly warning me just how terrifying this death world is."


My panic isn't just for show. Sure, I was in shock for a while, but that only lasts so long. I'm in Worm, after all—a world where the average lifespan is way shorter than I'd like. Seems my new power didn't have to work hard to make me sound convincing.


"Sorry," I say, taking a breath. "As you can see, I'm not exactly in the best mindset to calmly explain everything. I know you'll want to verify what I'm saying, so feel free to ask Dragon to look me up."


I mean it—but I also enjoy the shock I keep delivering. So, I take off my mask. By the time I'm done with her, she's going to need to relearn how to do her signature eye-crinkle—this time to hide surprise instead of amusement.


"Now that you've seen my face, let me tell you a bit about who I am." I pause. "My name is Kaleab Dubale. I was born in Ethiopia, but my father brought me to Canada."


I give her my full information. While Dragon checks if I exist, I keep talking.


"I want to verify something about my precog power—because I am my own blind spot. It's hard for me to tell whether the information I get is accurate or if the person who brought me here is manipulating me. With your permission, I'd like to share some information you can verify."


She listens to her earpiece, then nods. "Alright. We'd like to test whether your precog power is accurate. Go ahead and share."


Oh, she has no idea what she just agreed to.


"One thing about my powers—they don't respect unwritten rules. I'm pretty sure I could find the home of every cape in this city if I wanted to. So don't be too shocked when I say that one of your Wards, Shadow Stalker, is actually Sophia Hess—and she nearly killed a kid on January 3rd of this year."


I told her not to be shocked, but I didn't expect her to actually pull it off. To my surprise, she just stands and starts pacing. She's probably realized by now that I'm enjoying her reactions a little too much. Maybe I should've just said I liked my mask and put it back on?


"If you're lying, you need to understand—this is serious. You could end up in prison."


Ah, another misunderstanding.


"I'm not lying. I want you to verify whether my power is real or just an illusion."


She sighs. "Look, I don't know if what you're saying is true—we'll check. But before you leave, you're signing an NDA. One that says you won't disclose any information about the Protectorate or Wards that you gained through your powers to anyone outside."


Wasn't a tough call.


"Sure, no problem. Bring the NDA, and I'll sign it. After that, we can schedule a meeting for whenever the bracelets are ready to be tested by someone else—and continue this interview then."


A few seconds later, someone walks in and hands me the paperwork. I swap out my body languge power for a thinker one that reveals hidden details in contracts. To my surprise, it's actually clean. I sign the NDA, and we set a meeting for eight days later—Monday.


Not five minutes later, I'm outside the PRT building, mask back on.


"Okay, that's done. Now what? Hmmm... this is Brockton Bay—there's always something for a hero to do."


First thing I do is activate intangibility and sink into the ground so no one can tail me. While underground, I swap my law power for a map power with two charges—one that lets me find people by name, including cape names.


I locate Bakuda.


Next, I swap out my tinker power for a mover power—one that lets me open a portal anywhere in the city. I teleport to just outside her base—still underground. No way am I walking into a bomb tinker's lair unprepared.


Then I destroy the map power and replace it with a version of Trickster's—one that teleports anyone near me to a time-stopped sub-dimension. That's right. I just inventoried Bakuda.


Afterward, I use my city-portal power to jump back to the boat graveyard. I swap that power for body paralysis—anyone within 30 meters can't move a muscle if I target them. I don't want it long-term; technically, it could be lethal. But for now, it's insurance.


I also create a truth field power. Now she can't lie. We're ready to communicate. This is one of my most powerful—yet volatile— powers in Earth Bet.


The first thing she says is, "Who the fuck are you? You better not try to rape me, you fat ass, or I'll melt you."


...Yikes.

In hindsight, considering she was kidnapped by a dragon who happens to be a rapist, I understand why her mind went there. Still, I'm shocked and offended.

"No, no, I'm not a rapist."

"That's exactly what a rapist would say."

"Look, lady, I'm not going to do anything to you. I just have questions."

"And what if I don't want to answer?"

"Honestly? I didn't plan that far. I thought I'd have a bit more time before we reached this part of the conversation."

What? It was jarring. My self-esteem feels practically two-dimensional right now.

"Can I just ask the questions first and we can figure out the rest later?"

"What are your questions?"

"Great. First one: Have you ever killed anyone before?"

"No, I haven't. Why did I answer that?"

"That's the truth field. You can't lie in here."

"How did the school hostage situation end if you didn't kill anyone?"

"Ugh. While I was holding the school hostage, I got tranquilized by one of those Protectorate bastards."

"Okay, okay. I can work with this. So here's your choice: either lose your power and go to jail, or work with me."

"You bastard! You can't take my power!"

"You have no idea what I can do. And I assure you, taking your power would be a simple procedure for me. I'll give you a few minutes to think it through."

With that, I leave to finally create a base that isn't just a rotting boat.

I swap my inventory and truth powers for a tinker power that lets me build a sub-dimension large enough to serve as a base. It takes two charges. Then, I create a matter generation power—limited only to materials required for building the sub-dimension. That takes one charge. I also swap out intangibility for super speed, which gives me movement and reflexes a hundred times faster than normal.

In less than thirty minutes, I construct a one-kilometer-wide sub-dimension, accessed through a watch-like device.

Now that I'm done, I head to my new base, which is basically a one-kilometer-wide patch of land in complete darkness. I got out of there fast, thanks to my super speed. After that, I swapped the sub-dimension power for a tinker power to create a matter synthesizer, and I finished that in less than ten minutes.

The synthesizer can produce any kind of base material and comes equipped with a built-in library of conventional technology. It's not everything, but it covers most of the essentials. Even better, it can replicate itself, so I won't have to waste any more charges on matter creation powers.

Once that was done, I returned to Bakuda—only to realize I had left her alone, paralyzed, and stuck in a pitch-black room for over thirty minutes. Let's just say… she's not exactly my biggest fan right now.


"You bastard, you left me in the dark!" she yells.

"In my defense, I really needed to tinker… and I forgot," I reply sheepishly. "But, to make it up to you: if you agree to work with me, I promise you'll never run out of bomb-making materials."

That changes the mood fast.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, unlimited resources. Any bomb. Any time."

"Come on! Be a goody two-shoes, and you could be one of the greatest tinkers in the world. Imagine: time-stop bombs big enough to freeze an Endbringer, time-reversal bombs to heal any wound, maybe even revive the recently dead. Everyone will know the name Bakuda—the Bomb Thinker."

I think I just saw her drool. I win.

"Alright, I'm willing to work with you. But first, let me move again!"

She screamed that last part. I don't blame her.

"Where do we even start? Don't tell me this is our base," she groans.

She's not wrong—it's a dump.

"Don't worry. I've got a sub-dimension with a little problem."

"What kind of problem?"

"Well... it's a giant dark space with no buildings or lights. Just a one-kilometer patch of land. I'll fix it later."

I press the button to open the portal to the sub-dimension, just to show her how dark it is.

"What? When you said it was empty, you weren't kidding. This place doesn't even have a light source," Bakuda muttered, her voice thinning as she looked into the subdimension.

"What did you want me to do, make a fucking sun?" I shot back. "The light will come from inside the buildings. I'll make some drones to begin construction."

Actually... that's not a bad idea. Now's the perfect time to show off. She said she wanted to work with me, but I don't buy it—not even if she didn't know That the truth field was turned off when she said it. which means I need to earn her loyalty—or at least her curiosity.

"Actually, let's begin. Watch me mold the future of our base." I say dramatically, striding over to the tinker's wet dream —the matter synthesizer I still haven't named.

I trigger my super speed power and swap my tinker specialization to drones. That alone should be enough... but I'm feeling flashy. I narrow the specialization to construction drones. With that tweak, I can integrate the matter synthesizer directly into them, meaning they can make anything—as long as they've got blueprints and the right tools.

Which, you know, they can now print on demand.

Bakuda's voice cuts through my focused blur. "Hey, hey, hey, what in all hell was that? You were moving so fast I could barely see you! And what did you just make?"

Oh. Right. I have no way of stopping her from running off and spilling secrets. That's a problem for future me. And frankly, that guy sucks. Screw him.

I wave it off. "Oh, that? Just some equipment that mimics powers. That one gave me super speed—makes me about a hundred times faster, in both movement and reaction."

I say it like it's no big deal. I'm not going to go full paranoid and hide every little trick from her, but she's not getting anything about power manipulation if I can help it.

"You're telling me you've got thinkertech that replicates other people's powers? Are you serious? That's insane!"

Oh no. Mrs. Misunderstanding is back. "There's no way," she continues. "It either has insane limitations, or you're a power tinker."

Ugh. Earlier today you almost got me shot by Miss Militia. Now you're letting a volatile bomb tinker sniff around the edges of one of my biggest secrets. I need to distract her—fast.

This is what I get for trying to cooperate with someone who was acing college courses while I was failing my first gen-ed. "Hey, instead of that... why don't I let you use the matter synthesizer to make any bomb you want? Just call me when you're ready to test it. After all, what guy doesn't love a big boom?"

That gets her attention. She scurries off, clearly thrilled. Excellent. She'll be busy for a while, and I've got my own work to do.

The drones will take at least a full day to build a proper base, even with the synthesizer. But right now, they're missing one crucial thing: coordination.

Without a virtual intelligence to manage them, they'll fly in circles like confused bees.

First, I have the synthesizer build me a high-end computer—something beefy enough to host a VI. I still don't want to build a true AI—too much ethical mess. But a VI? That's fine. It can't think for itself, but it'll mimic sentience well enough to run a facility.

This is my first time using a three-charge power. I could've made a VI with one, maybe two, but with three? It'll multitask like a god, manage the whole subdimension, and run the base like it's playing SimCity on cheat codes.

I make sure it can't gain free will—that's the line I won't cross.

Also, I give it full access to the matter synthesizer's blueprint library. Because if I'm going to delegate, I'm going to delegate hard.

I press the activation button. "Hello, Vas. That's your new designation. Tell me your operational status."

(V.A.S.—Virtual Assistant Sally). I really don't want to get attached to it

"Hello, Operator. All systems are functioning at full capability."

"Do you have access to the library?"

"Yes, Operator. The matter synthesizer's blueprint library is available to me."

"Good. Build me a base of operations for tinkering inside the subdimension."

"I shall begin construction immediately."

A swarm of drones floats into the void. Finally, something's going my way.

So... what now?

I think about the Undersiders. Recruiting them might be fun. But honestly, I'm not in the mood to deal with chaotic teenager energy right now.

I just want to chill. Watch TV. Maybe nap.

"Vas," I call out. "Make me a sofa and a TV connected to all publicly available channels."

Soon enough, I'm lounging on my newly made couch, flipping through channels.

Peace.
i just veg out for a few hours, relaxing, and my TV interrupts me with Lung about to burn a city block

Figures.

Honestly, I should've seen this coming. Classic Brockton Bay.

I've got two options. One, teleport to him, use a long-range power-canceling ability, and drop him into a regular prison. Or two...

Let Bakuda take a shot.

He did kidnap her. He probably didn't do anything too vile, but he's still a rapist with a history—and she has every right to want a little payback.

I head to her workshop and knock near the entrance. She doesn't respond with a bomb this time, which is a miracle.

"Hey," I say. "Lung's out there lighting up the city. Want to get involved? If not, I'll just steal his power and hand him over to the cops. Can you imagine? Lung, powerless, locked in a normal prison. His rep? Dead."

She pauses, then says, "That bastard kidnapped me. Almost tortured me into working for him. I want my piece of flesh."

"Alright. I'll take his power. You drop a bomb on him—non-lethal. I want humiliation, not martyrdom. Make it a show. You in?"

She grumbles but agrees. Good enough.

"Cool. Prep your bombs. I'll bring the helmet."

I swap my VI specialization again—this time for crafting a power extraction helmet. My first attempt is way too bulky and slow, so I toss two more charges into it. That makes it compact, fast, and able to store up to three powers.

Perfect.

I use the synthesizer and my super speed to build the helmet in record time. Before Bakuda gets back, I switch to a costume-crafting specialization. I whip up two sleek, durable outfits—one for me, one for her.

Then, I switch again—this time the tinker to a shaper power with three charges—and morph my body to fit the suit. This shapeshifter power even records my original biological state, so I can snap back later if things get weird.

It feels weird. But not enough to stop me.

I reduce the shaper power to one charge—slower changes, but it keeps the record function. Then I toss those two charges into a power-canceling field with a targeting function and finally swap super speed for the city-scale portal power.

Helmet? Check.

Suits? Check.

Bakuda? Armed.

Lung? About to have the second-worst day of his life too bad he won't get to second-trigger.

Let's go ruin a reputation. It took her five minutes to gather up everything, and when I told her to wear the costume made for her, she looked at me weirdly.

"I am not getting in that thing if you pay me."

"What is wrong with it?"

"Simple. It looks like I am a cartoon character."

While my artistic skills might be questionable, I will never admit that to someone who wore a bomberman costume while terrorizing a city: "We are trying to humiliate Lung here; the more silly we look, the better."

"I am just going to wear normal clothes and a mask. You go there with a silly costume and take his power. I will then come when things settle down, and I don't need any type of protection." She makes it sound like I want to stay with her.

"Alright i will take care of it and you can swoop in take the credit and make hiis day just that much worse " I say that opening a portal a few blocks from where the rapist dragon is throwing his tantrum he has yet to get to the point of being un controllable but he has his scales and is spittin fire balls. Lets go this is going to last a few seconds with my current setup.

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Hello readers, this is my first author note. I made it because I am not feeling great about this chapter Tell me some of the issues you find I will edit it and make my future chapters better

Chapter 4 The Dragon, Dethroned

I walk through the portal and use another one to get to a closer building. I then use the power-cancelling field on him, making him lose his power and shrink to a normal human. I changed my portal power to a telekinesis power that can lift a car with one charge to keep him from running away. After walking closer to him, I hear him say,

"Who the fuck are you? I am going to kill you."

I just keep getting closer, and he gets louder.

"When I am done with you, you will beg to be dead."

"Can you shut up? I don't want to have a conversation with a rapist. I have standards," I say while using the telekinesis power to shut his mouth. I realize I forgot to deactivate Oni Lee's power, but he is not here yet, so I will just make it so that my power auto-cancels any other power when it enters my range. That should take care of the serial bomber. I then put the helmet on top of the rapist's head and activate the power steal function. It took less than a second for me to permanently depower Lung the Dragon of Kyushu, or as I like to call him, Chew Toy, aka Beat Up to Show Your Character Is OP. I mean, this guy goes from triggering by a heart attack because Contessa drowns him in drugs to almost dying by drowning in the ocean when Leviathan left him in the water, and after going through so much, he gets put in a pit for over a year only to come here and be a big deal and then lose to a bug girl on her first day. He really has shit luck. I am not going to feel sorry for the wasted potential that is a kiju reduced to a rapist, but still.

When I was done with the power extraction, I removed the helmet from the mumbling bitch that is Lung and remade the city portal power with the one charge left and the now destroyed shaper power. If I can't handle my new body, I will just remake the shaper power with more charges to reverse me back even if it doesn't have a record of how my body should have been.

I make a portal, and Bakuda comes out of it as she promised with just a mask and normal clothing.

"Well, Lung, anything to say?" When I heard her voice, the first thing I thought was her smile might hurt her face. Lung just mumbles. I decide to remove part of the telekinesis. If she wants to talk to him, why should I stop her?

"I will kill you both. You think you are safe just because you put me in prison? I will show you how wrong you are soon enough."

"You want to tell him, or should I do it?" I ask.

"I really want to be the one to tell him." Ugh, what I don't do for a redemption arc!

"Ok, but wait, I want to record this." I then contact Vas by opening the subdimension: "Hey, Vas, I want you to make a drone with the best camera you can add to it and bring it out here."

"Of course, sir, just give me a moment," comes a voice from the portal, and not ten seconds later, there is a floating drone recording the entire thing.

I look right at the camera and start, "Hello, hello, everybody. You may call me Tinker E, and this is my partner…" You know, I have been calling her Bakuda, but she did not tell me that, nor did she tell me her real name, so I whispered to her, "This is where you introduce yourself."

"Ugh, you can call me Bakuda. I am the greatest tinker in the world." She screamed, and I was proud.

I whisper to Lung, "You know the ego could use some trimming, but I really think she could do it and be one of the greats, like on the same level as Hero, if not Drogon. I can't wait to see how far she goes."

"She will burn and crush like every other bitch in this city." He did not have the same self-control as me, and so she heard him. Well, good luck, fuckboy; you are not going to have a great time now.

"Did you just insult me? I will show you what I got, you son of a bitch rapist." She picks one of her bombs, and to my utter surprise, she actually made one to be silly.

She throws it at him, and it removes all his clothes in a magical girl transformation but cuts it halfway. "Well, let's hope nobody else is here to get traumatized. I can see why you become a rapist; there is no way you could pull a girl with your equipment." He just keeps screaming in burning rage… without the burning part.

She did not stop. Bakuda used another bomb, and this one made his dick inverted in real time. Alright, time to stop this.

"Ok, that is enough. We still want him to be recognizable for the law to deal with him. Remember, humiliation is the name of the game."

"Tch, fine, I will not use any more on him."

"Let's just call the port and finish this." I call 911 because I don't know if the PRT has its own emergency phone number.

"Hello, this is 911. What is your emergency?"

"Me and my teammate are new capes, and we have Lung in custody. Can you help us contact the PRT?"

"Sir, if this is a prank call, you will get arrested."

"I promise this is not a prank. Can you just redirect me to the PRT?"

"Alright, wait a moment, please."

A few seconds later, "Hello, this is the PRT. What is your emergency?"

"Me and my teammate are new capes, and we have Lung in custody. Can you send someone to take him from us, maybe Armsmaster with his lie detector, because that might be required for him to believe us?"

"I will send the nearest cape. If Armsmaster is required, he will arrive a little bit later."

"Ok, thank you very much."

We waited there, talked about some random stuff, shut Lung's mouth with telekinesis, and waited for the hero to come. The problem is that the first person to get here is a teleporting Ash clone. He teleported behind me. I think he wanted to cut my neck and teleport away, but I held him with telekinesis, and the power cancellation field took care of the teleporting thing. After the interruption, I took his mask off and made him wear the helmet, took his power, and put the mask on again. He was not complaining, just struggling, but I guess that is what ego death does to you.

After waiting a little longer, Battery and Assault arrived. I immediately whitelisted them for the power cancellation field, but I think they may have noticed. Still, the answer is deny, deny, deny.

When they get close to us, I start by introducing us: "Hello, heroes of our fair city, you may call me Tinker E, and this is my partner on her redemption arc, Bakuda."

"I am not on a redemption arc!"

"Let's agree to disagree." Assault is smirking; it's always a good time to make someone happy.

"You called PRT saying you managed to capture Lung. Is that him?" battery was more serious and to the point

"Yes, but unlike how this normally should go, instead of just capturing him and giving him to you, we have decided to deal with him in a more permanent way." They got tense, so I kept talking a little faster. "Don't worry, I don't mean kill him. I have come to the understanding you frown upon such action, although I don't know how you manage to convince yourself that this rapist sex slaver is a human and not a monster. I am not here to judge; instead, what we did here is remove his power permanently. From this point on, even if you were to lose him in transport or anything like that, he will not be harmful to as many people as he used to." That did not help their tension.

"Wait, are you telling me you can remove someone's power permanently?" Assault was not smiling anymore.

"Yes, now that he doesn't have a theoretical value as an endbringer fighter, you can actually punish him instead of, you know, letting him be. This is what we will do to any of the vile monsters in this city—not kill them, just remove their so-called deserved gift." I then look to Battery and say, "I know you think it is hilarious that they get one bad day and they go around making it everyone's problem."

"As for the credit, you may give it to Bakuda. After all, if it were not for her, I probably would not have removed him from this city."

"You want them to give me the credit."

"Think of it as a reward for becoming a better human. I will show you just how good it feels to be good." I then open a portal to the boat base and walk through it while leaving the heroes dumbfounded.

Chapter 5 – "Freedom, Pizza, and New Beginnings"

"That was amazing. Did you see his expression when I inverted his dick? He has a useless pocket pussy now. He will remember me every time he tries to piss, yes." She is so happy that it is contagious.

"I know, right? It was super, and the heroes just being baffled is now a core memory." The adrenaline is still hitting me. Wow, it is amazing.

I breathe out and say, "Vas, tell me when the base is going to be done."

"The base will be complete by 8:23 am tomorrow, sir."

"What about two bedrooms with at least one bed in them?"

"That part is completed. The tinker labs will take a longer time, so I decided it would be optimal if they were to be completed last."

"Fucking great, I am going to pass out after dinner back Do you want to eat together, or do you want your alone time?"

"What is there to even make?"

"The drones can materialize almost any type of matter they want. You think they can't make food?" I say with a smile.

"You are kidding; they can create biological matter, alright. Vas, make me the cheesiest pizza you can."

"Of course, Ms. Bakuda. What would you like, Mr. E.?"

"Same thing but with as much pepperoni as possible, and I mean I don't want to see the cheese level of pepperoni," I say with glee so apparent that Bakuda looks weirded out. But Vas did not complain, and both our pizzas were completed in a few seconds.

While we are beginning with the food, I look at Bakuda and say, "So my name is Kaleab Dubale. What about you? I don't know anything about you."

"You could just ask Vas, and it would give you any information you want, right?"

"Correct, but one of the perks of being a good guy is that I at least respect your privacy; therefore, I won't ask Vas any such thing, so please feel at ease and introduce yourself, or if you don't feel like it, I can just look at the TV while eating my food."

"I would like to keep my face hidden."

I just picked up the TV remote and turned my chair towards it, opened the TV, and just watched what was available. "So, anything you want to tell me doesn't have to be personal, just to get to know each other, like what is your favorite TV show?"

"Man, I don't know why you want to know about me. I might not even pull through this hero thing. Sure, it felt nice when I used my bomb on Lung, but that was just because he kidnapped me, and the credit is not going to do shit for me. The PRT probably knows me already, and there is no way they would just ignore I held an entire college hostage."

"Ha, they could kill many of the worst villains out there, but they don't because they need meat for the endbringers. They let the likes of Lung live, and all he has is turning into a big Kaiju with no all-or-nothing effect. He is as useful to killing an endbringer as a random normal person is, but you—you can make black hole bombs, time stop bombs, and many, many other exotic bombs. You are one of the most lethal thinkers out there. If they saw even a little of what you can truly do, they would kiss your toes, so don't worry, you are safe from the PRT. And as for the good feeling, as amazing as revenge is, being praised for your good deed feels so much better. If you take pride in your work, there are heroes out there who do it for the ego, and for those heroes, no amount of praise is going to do anything. You need to make sure you like doing it first, and then the praise will enhance that feeling. If you don't want to do it, I am sure we can come up with something else, but I want you to at least give being a good person a chance, please."

I think my sincerity managed to calm her down; she was not saying anything. We keep quiet and watch the TV; it doesn't have to be awkward. After finishing our pizza, I decided to go to my room and she to hers. The rooms were bland; I mean, VAS is just a VI, but still, there is no paint either. Oh well, all I asked for was a bed. I lie on the comfortable bed. Whoo! VAS might not be able to understand fashion, but with its access to the internet, it can easily make some of the best-rated beds by following its process, even if it does not understand that the grey bed on the opposite side of the window without sunlight is not cool. Oh well, I am going to sleep now.

Monday, March 28, 2011, morning

I always like to sleep enough so that when I wake up, I just open my eyes and don't have to stretch or yawn or feel tired in any way. It is one of the best feelings I have encountered in my adult life.

I lay on the bed for a little bit, just looking at the ceiling. Oh well, time to wake up, but I need new clothes. I will bring Vas and ask for a phone with internet access. Once it makes one for me, I pick clothes that feel nice, and the drone synthesizes them to fit me. It was just a T-shirt and sweatpants. I left the room and asked one of the floating drones to make me breakfast: eggs and bacon. It tasted great. I love the feeling of self-sufficiency I had not experienced much in my previous life.

"What to do today? Oh, wait, I want to upload the video. I want the villains to be afraid. Vas, bring one drone to me." A drone comes next to me in a few seconds. I asked it to make me a good laptop and transfer the video of Lung losing his power. Don't edit anything; just add before the video begins, "Hello, villains of this fair city. Once this information is proven by the PRT, I am coming for all of you who don't know how to work with society. I do not mean the bank robbers, but those of you that kill and pillage, rape and ruin. I want you to know I will make all of your so-called deserved power disappear. You are not safe." I then ask Vas if Bakuda is awake, and he tells me no, she is still asleep, so I will wait until she wakes up by herself before I ask her if she wants to add to the video.

Until she wakes up, I will just watch some random TV shows. While I am just sitting and watching TV, Bakuda wakes up and is still wearing the same clothes as last night. "Hey, why are you still wearing those dirty clothes?"

"Because it is the only cloth I have, I need to go to the store."

I am dumbfounded. "You could just ask Vas to make you any clothes you want. Just use a phone to research what type of cloth you want and order it to recreate it to fit you."

"Am I allowed to use the drone for something like that?" she asked in a low voice.

"Bakuda, I want you to understand that you are free. This is not some probation; you can do anything you want. I am treating you like you are a new hero and not a villain in disguise. If you do something horrible in the future, it will be my fault, and I will give the appropriate reaction, but until then, do what you want. Use the drone to make yourself new clothes and new foods. Paint and decorate your room as much as you want; you can use VAS with no limitation." I want her to choose to be good by herself. As for the conflict drive, I am sure we can nudge it to fighting bad guys like every other heroic natural trigger, and if that can't be done, I should be able to make a power to fix it.

"Alright, fine, I will give it a genuine try. Thanks for the chance."

"Ok, cool. Hey, do you want to add to the video? I told the rest of the villains that I am coming for the ones that don't know how to live in society. If there is something you would like to add or change, just tell Vas to make the changes, and then we will post it on Pho and other websites to make sure it does not get removed."

"Yeah, I will see about that later. Now to change clothes and eat breakfast," she said, going back to her room.

Ok, what to do today? Oh, wait, there is Panacea. Maybe I can help her. I could probably make some type of healing tinkertech, but that would probably annoy the PRT, and it would need testing. Still, I could have her be the one to test it. I will go with that, and if the PRT tries to say no to it for a stupid reason, future me will deal with it.

I got up from my sofa and shut off all my powers and made a new one. This one will be used to make a tinkertech that can heal an area like an AOE spell. I will need to add multiple charges to it. First, I need it to have a self-repair function to stop the degradation and someone wanting to destroy it, and then the scanning to figure out what the problem is. Now, do I use shaper-like power to fix the problem or just matter manipulation? If I go with shaper, it will only work on biological matter, but I don't want it to fix clothes and technology, so it would be best if I used a shaper-like effect to make it work. When extra biomass is required, I will add the matter synthesizer, but it will be limited to just biological matter. If more is required, like an exotic body type is in the field, it will ask for permission from VAS, and VAS will tell me to make the decision. This is a big power with very little restriction, so it will require me four charges, and I want to take my time since Panacea will probably be in school until late afternoon, so I won't use my last charge for super speed. I will instead just go into a fugue-like state, even if my power doesn't require me to go into one to make the tinkertech. I then ask Vas where my tinker room is and if it made one for Bakuda. I got the answer I was hoping for.

"I have made two tinker rooms for both you and Miss Bakuda. If you would like more, you only have to ask."

"Great, lead the way to mine. If they are not designated, lead me to the closer one, and also call Backuda and tell her I am going to go on a fugue, so don't interrupt me unless there is an emergency, and as for what can be considered an emergency, just ask Backuda, or if any of our lives are somehow threatened."

"Yes, sir, this drone will lead you to where the lab is located, and I will inform Bakuda of your decision."

"Ah, I almost forgot to tell Backuda that when she is done with the video, she can upload it; she does not have to wait for my permission." I am coming to the realization that while Backuda has an immense ego, it is also damaged, and she thinks that she might be a prisoner. I want her to break out of such a mind state, so I will give her as much freedom as I can. Hopefully, it won't bite me, but I have to remember that I am a human and should never go to destroy the sanctity of another's freedom and mind unless I don't have a choice.

Chapter 6 – "The Weight of Miracles"

After arriving in my tinker room, I asked Vas to keep the drone here to synthesize the matter I require for building the heal field projector. Yes, that is what I will call it, the H.F.P. Right after starting, I notice that it is completed and the room is far messier than expected. Oh well, the drones can clean it up. The problem is the H.F.P. is room-sized equipment, as in it would fit in a room, but the room would have to be built around it, so that is not going to work.

"Well, it is alright. I will just change my power to one stupid thing to upgrade Tinkertech by miniaturizing and increasing efficiency—basically Armsmaster's power—but I want this thing to fit in my palm, so I will need to enhance it. I will use four charges, and that should do it." With my preparation over, it was time to go back to my fugue-like state, and right after getting close to the machine, it disappeared, and there was a box on the table. I am guessing that was the tech. Now to make more of it.

"Vas, come over here."

"Yes, sir, what would you like help with?"

"Scan this tinkertech and make a copy of it. I want five more."

"It shall be done. The scan indicates the subdimentional folding in this tech will make it so that the matter synthesizer will take a few minutes to recreate one copy while I use different drones to make multiple copies at once. Would you like to have some food? It is now 5:43 pm."

"I guess you are right. While the copies are being made, I will eat firfir, the Ethiopian dish. Make sure to add butter and jalapeño pepper." Oh, I can't wait to eat firfir. It always ends up with too much water when I make it. My dad was the best at making firfir… Well, now I just miss them. Fuck, I really am alone. This is horrifying. Calm down, Kaleab, you will be fine. You have godlike power. What could go wrong? Ha, fuck you, future me. One day you're going to die, and it is because of all the things I say now, probably hit by a meteor or some shit. Alright, let me wash my hands and get ready to eat.

"Vas, please call back Uda unless she is busy."

"Currently, Backuda is watching pho reactions to the video she posted about Lung losing his power. Would that count as busy?"

"Actually, I will watch. Pho, too. Let me just wash my hands first."

After cleaning up, I followed the drone to where Bakuda is. After all, this base is massive, and the only one that knows everything about it is Vas. Before getting in the room, I say, Hey, Bakuda, I am about to enter. If you don't have a mask on, wear one." I say, and then I wait until she tells me I can come in. Soon I see Bakuda focusing on a laptop, and I call out to her.

"Hey, so are you hungry, or did you already eat?"

"I haven't eaten since breakfast. I was tinkering, and then I came here to watch people's reactions to the video I posted. It has not even been a full day, and there are more than ten pages of posts with more threads being started."

"Alright, go wash your hands. I am going to surprise you with a food from my culture. We can just project the screen on the wall or just use the TV to look at photos while Vas scrolls through us."

"You are going to get fat again if you are this lazy," she says mockingly, and I start to smile, realizing she is starting to relax.

"Don't work. I got TinkerTech for everything. How do you think I changed my body before fighting Lung? If I get fat again, I will just change my body just like that," I said with a snap at the end.

"That does not help your laziness; soon, even if you can, you won't get out of the sofa."

"Har dee har, we will see how much you will use the technology here when you feel even more at home." She took a minute to wash her hands and come back. By then I asked Vas to open the phone on the TV for us to read through and laugh together.

"So what is this food you've been bragging about?"

"Vas, make two plates of firfir and another plate of enjera."

"Yes, sir, it is ready." It did not take it twenty seconds to make everything.

"Cool, ok, you can eat this by ripping a piece of the injera and using it to hold the firfir in your hand." I show her how to eat it, and the smell was so divine I was salivating.

"Ohh yes, this is how it is supposed to taste. It is glorious."

"Oh, calm down, you are just exaggerating." She then started to eat like I showed her. "Hum, ok, it is not that bad."

"Ha, I knew it. There is nobody in this world that can resist the taste of good food." While enjoying our food, I began to read the phone posts on the screen.

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♦ Topic: A New Thread

In: Boards ► News ► Events ► USA ► East Coast ► Brockton Bay

Tinker E (Original Poster) (Unverified Cape)

Posted on Mar 28th, 2011:

Ok, everyone, I am the new tinker on the block. I believe my teammate Bakuda and I have done something worth a post, so we would like to see your reactions. Here is the link to the video.

(Showing page 1 of 6)

►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)

Replied on Mar 28th, 2011:

There is no way this is real. I will check my sources to make sure, but if this is real and now there is a way to permanently depower someone without killing them, it will be massive news.




►Aloha

Replied on Mar 28th, 2011:

Well, this is a surprise. I hope it is real. A good enough equalizer like this would make things better, but this is also Earth Bet, and that place is Brockton. I am not getting my hopes up unless I see a few more villains lose their power, and even then, there is only one of the helmet. It can't be used everywhere.





►White Fairy (Veteran Member)

Replied on Mar 28th, 2011:

@Bagrat, Come back with your results soon; we need to know if this is accurate. And what about the PRT? Do you guys have something to say? Is this thing real? Did Lung really lose his power? Come on, you have to tell us.




►XxVoid_CowboyxX

Replied on Mar 28th, 2011:

Oh, it is beginning. The end has come. A new Tinker that can remove the powers of other capes—that is endgame bullshit. He must have been working with Cauldron. He steals the powers, and they sell them. That is how they have been able to do it this whole time.




►Antigone

Replied on Mar 28th, 2011:

Shut up, Void. We already know you are crazy; we don't need that transferred to us too.




►Tin_Mother (Moderator) (Newfoundland Survivor)

Replied on Mar 28th, 2011:

I have looked at the video and decided it violates multiple PHO policies, like no explicit pictures. While I will let the thread continue, if anyone would like to watch the video, find it on other websites. The link will lead to nowhere.




►AverageAlexandros (Cape Husband)

Replied on Mar 28th, 2011:

Ahh, Brockton Bay doing Brockton Bay shit. At least one r**p dragon is gone, and the world already looks a little bit better. If this turns out wrong and he comes back, fuck Tinker E




►kisers'sboy (Banned)

Replied on Mar 28th, 2011:

User has been temporarily banned 14 days for this post.

Rules clearly state to not post any hate speech. - Tin_Mother




►Bagrat (Veteran Member) (The Guy in the Know)

Replied on Mar 28th, 2011:

Alright, everyone, I have done my research, and what I got is this: last night, assault and battery came in with two prisoners. They were wearing Lung's and Oni Lee's masks, but Lung was awake, and he was not rampaging, so that says something already, but it does not prove it is a permanent loss. There has never been anyone that can steal powers permanently without killing. Even Glaistig Uaine has to kill her victims. The PRT is doing checks to make sure the effect is permanent, and they should be able to complete the tests by the third day. If by the third day there is no sign of them regaining their powers, then the PRT will just acknowledge that it is permanent.




►Laotsunn (Kyushu Survivor)

Replied on Mar 28th, 2011:

I hope this is permanent. That horrid lizard has been a stain on the honor of the kuyush. Oh, I fought an endbringer. No, bitch, you survived an endbringer like everyone else. He was just a coward. If he had at least kept going to endbringer fights, even if he acknowledged they were hopeless, I would respect that, but no, he would rather act like a r****t dragon of the Middle Ages. So disappointing.

End of Page. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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It was still early, so there were no real outrages because everyone was expecting it to be temporary. Once time passes and everyone realizes this is not a joke on them, that is when the show will really begin. I can't wait to see it all.
"Soon the world will know your name. I hope you are ready; it will be a heavy pressure," I say jokingly.

"You think a little pressure from some random people will make me crumble? They will see what I do when I want them to see."

"Ok, ok, don't talk with your mouth full, or you will die before you get any recognition back. You're the best tinker in the world, defeated by cocking food." When I said that, she started laughing, her face went red, and she threw a pillow on my face near my foot. Oh, this means war. I don't care if she is a bomb tinker; this girl is going to get a pie to the face before she sleeps tonight.

"Alright, I am done with my food. Now tell me how it tasted."
"It was not bad; I liked it. Next time we will be eating something my mother used to make; I will tell Vas how to make it." "Cool, cool, Can't wait to taste your food. I am sure it will be a great surprise." While we were reading and eating, time seemed to pass fast. It was already 6:22, so I better go to the hospital if I want to meet our resident biomancer.

"Ok, I will need to go to the hospital. I want to have Panacea test a Tinkertech for me. If it all works out, I should be able to help her soon.""What does she need help with? Isn't she already one of the biggest heroes around?"


"Okay, while this is a bit private, I don't want you to end up like she is right now, so I will tell you the bare minimum. Panacea is a type of hero who does what she does not for ego or because she wants to, but because she believes she has to. If she isn't healing someone, it means one person who needs her help is dying. Yes, it's a very bad habit, and you probably won't make the same mistake, mostly because your problem is quite the opposite. Still, it's something you should be aware of: never take on more responsibility than you can handle. If you find yourself in a situation where you have to shoulder such responsibility, call someone and talk to them. Even if they can't help carry the burden, just being able to talk about it helps."


"Alright, goodbye. I am going to the hospital," I say as I open a portal to the outside. Now how do I get there? I can do the city portal thing again, combined with a map. Why fix something that isn't broken? I then destroy the upgrade power I was using and remake the map and portal power. It tells me that Amy—and no, Panacea is still in the hospital healing someone.


How should I contact her? If I go through the front door, I doubt they would just let me meet the best healer in the world just because I ask. I'll use one of the charges for flight, just enough to make me fly three times faster than I can run. Good enough. I then create a portal to a back alley near the hospital she's in; surprisingly, it's not Brockton Bay General. Oh well, time to meet my hero. Just kidding—I already know she is flawed, so I won't be crushed by disappointment.

Chapter 7 – "The Tinker's Toy"

Before I do anything, I wear my cape costume. I then step into the alley to find where Amy is by using the map power. After figuring out where she was, I was lucky because she was healing a patient in a room with a window. I fly to the room and knock on the window. I hear her say, "Wait a while, Vicky," but when I keep knocking, she turns her head only to realize I am not her sister. She seems shocked, but she keeps herself together even if she is afraid.


Oh, shit, who the fuck is this? What does he want? Hopefully, it is to heal someone they want, and I can just say if he wants me to heal someone, he will have to put them in the hospital, and I might be able to get to them, but it would be a lie. There are already so many patients here; I won't be able to heal everyone. He just keeps knocking. Hopefully, when I open it, he won't try to kidnap or threaten me. It is not like he would be the first one to do it, but I can hope.

I open the window, and he just floats by, and he speaks, "Sorry for the interruption. If you need time to finish healing your patient, I am willing to wait. Don't worry, I am not here to do anything you don't want. I would like to say something, and if you don't like it, I will leave." At least he seems reasonable. I get closer to my patient and continue the bland work of fixing a body like I have done a thousand times before.

"You can talk while I heal my patient. I don't have time to talk to you alone. I have others I need to heal." He seemed to brighten up when I finished. Fuck this bastard. I am tired, and he is happy I am working.

"Actually, that is what I am here to talk to you about. You see, I am a tinker, and I made a tinker-tech that can be used to heal people. I would like it to be used by the public, but for that to happen, I need approval from the PRT, and getting your approval first would make it far easier for me. After all, if I have you on video saying it works, then the PRT can't stall for time by saying they are doing some tests." I was bored at first; I was just expecting him to say he wants me to heal him or someone he cared about, but then he drops a bombshell on me and keeps on babbling something about the PRT or some shit. I did not pay attention after the tinker-tech that can heal. I want this to be true; I want this to be true so much, but I have faced disappointment before. I won't get my hopes up.

"How do I even know you are telling the truth?" I ask, keeping my bland face going. After all, this could just be a false alarm.

"Oh, that is simple; I have the tech here," he says, showing me a fucking cube. Is that supposed to be able to heal people? He seems to see my disbelief.

"Here I will even prove it to you; once you're done with your patient, you can check my body when this thing is being used on me." Is this moron really saying to test a tinker tech on himself?

"Look, I know my tech, so I know it works, but I need you to believe it works, so I will need you to look at my body before injury and after injury, as well as before healing and after healing. I would also like to have a video recording of you testing it on me." I can't believe I am entertaining this, and is that thing floating near him supposed to be a camera? But since I was done with this patient,. I remove my hands from him and go to this guy who says he is a tinker, and I hold his hand. Of course, what was I expecting? He doesn't even have a Corona Pollentia, let alone be a tinker with the ability to heal injuries, but how did he fly? Maybe someone else gave him the Tinkertech and the lines to say to me. But why? Just a cruel joke? Or is he supposed to kidnap me? Whatever, I can just knock him out with a thought, so it does not matter.

"Great," he says and stabs his hand with something sharp. Is this guy insane? I immediately started to heal him, but he stopped me.

"No, don't worry, I will be using my tech to do it. You're supposed to see if it works, that is all," he says as if he did not just stab himself in front of me.

"Ok, I hope you're ok with the video recording. If you are unwilling, I will blur your face now. Just watch, my boy, the H.F.P. do its work; it will blow your mind." Hopefully, this thing does not explode on me. Shit, what if that is the plan of the person behind this, and what if this guy is just mastered? That could be why he did not react to the pain. No, I can see it; he is still confident this will work, and his body is sending pain signals. What the fuck is wrong with this guy?

Before I could decide on anything, his body started to heal in real time, and I was not the one doing it. Is this real? Oh my god, it is real. This could be great.

"Now I would like you to say that it does work out loud so that the video can be used." I did not even think about it.

"Yes, your body healed by itself, but until it is used on someone else, I can't know if it is real or if you just have some type of regeneration." I was being honest; I could see biomass being created from nowhere, but that is what most capes do when they regenerate themselves.

When I said that he did not wait that long, he just walked to the man sitting on the bed, baffled by what was going on in front of him. I don't blame him; I am also unable to make proper responses.

"Hello, sir, I don't know if what I am about to say is legal, but I am willing to risk it if you are willing to get a cut on your palm in front of this camera and let me use my untested tinker tech on you with the supervision of Panacea. I am willing to give you a gold bar. What do you say?" Again, the man is just confused. He looks at me and then back at the tinker. Until I can get a private conversation with him, I should just keep calling him the tinker in my head, even if he is not the one making the tinker-tech.

"Uh, ahh, yeah, you can use your tech on me, but first, I would like to see the gold." At least he got his priorities straight; that is better than me.

"Sure, Vas, generate a 27.4-pound pure gold bar that should be enough for you to make a good nest egg for yourself. If you require any type of protection with exchanging this gold for currency, you may ask Vas here for more help," he says, all the while pointing at the drone thing following him. I guess that is the camera, and wait, did I just see that thing make a gold bar out of nothing?

"Wait, wait, wait, I can't accept this much gold. This is worth more than a million dollars, and with your recording, I would probably get killed before I could so much as enter a bank to exchange this gold," the guy says, panicking. Now I am also panicking. I did not know how much gold costs, but for this guy to just throw away what is equal to a million dollars is very terrifying.

"As I said, if you require any more help, such as protection, Vas will definitely provide it until you are satisfied. No need to worry at all." He is saying all this while being calm. Are you kidding me? What the f is going on here?

"Oh… ok, I guess I don't mind if I can be protected until everything is dealt with; even just a video camera can do a lot, I guess," says the patient, still worried.

"Oh, don't worry, unless you are up against a brute of a very high caliber, Vas here can take care of anybody. After all, if it can make gold, what is to stop it from making a gun, right?" Holy hell, did he just say the video camera can make any gun it wants? I am suddenly realizing I am so out of my depth here.

"Ok, I am just going to ignore that part and agree to the test." The patient might have just surrendered to the situation. Hmph, slowpoke, I did that long before him.

"Great, here we have a scalpel for the test." He says that, and a thin but sharp object that I am very familiar with appears in front of the drone. "Ok, sir, would you like me to do it, or would you like to do it yourself? Don't worry about the pain; Panacea can make sure you don't feel the pain."

"Yeah, I still don't want to cut myself." That voice, I remember it. Oh yes, it usually comes out of me when I am done with all this shit.

"Ok, great. I will do the cutting panacea. Please keep him from feeling any pain." I walk towards the guy and touch an exposed part of his body.

"Alright, Panacea, check the body getting repaired," he says and just cuts the man's palm. The man, even if he can't feel the pain, still winces from seeing his hand get cut, and I get to see that healing again. The way the required biomass is being created, does it mean this will also work for amputated body parts? Fascinating. This might be the first time in over a year that I am happy about looking at a body being healed.

"Ok, what is the result, panacea? He asks nonchalantly as if this is not the most fascinating machine I have ever seen.

"The effect is consistent with your body, so yes, it proves the tech is working." I don't even open my eyes. I am still looking at how perfectly the new biomatter is melding with the patient. Actually, the only reason I believe it is new is that I saw it come out of nowhere. Fuck, even the DNA, including junk data, is accurate to the smallest degree. Holy hell, this thing is advanced.

"Now, sir, while this is the only test I had thought of, if you are willing to let me fully cut a piece of your finger to show the regeneration part of my tech, I am willing to increase your pay by another bar. What do you say?" Did he just offer to cut this man's finger off??

"Yes, you may cut my finger off if it means I will get even more money." Well, like I said, this man knows what he wants.

"Great, thank you. Vas, get me a sharp enough tool to cut through this man's bone fast." The machine barely took two seconds to give the tinker a new tool, and just like that, the patient I was still keeping from feeling pain lost a part of his finger. I am sure that as a healer, this is wrong, but seeing the machine in effect again is amazing. It is not just the creation of biological matter; it is the fact that this tuning can make sure the matter created is so compatible with the patient that there is no difference. The machine managed to fix him faster than I would have.

"Ok, that should do it. Now, Panacea, I would like you to acknowledge the functionality of my tech on video."

"Yeah, the healing is working as intended, and so is the regeneration. I did not need to do anything to this man's body to make sure there were no side effects. Your tech managed to fix him perfectly."

"Ok, great, that was all I wanted. Stop recording. Now, sir, if you would like, I can give you the other bar of gold, or if you want, Vas can take the gold to a different place, and you can leave the hospital without anybody knowing anything, and Vas will meet you outside to help you deal with the gold-to-currency transfer. I can understand trusting a stranger with this much money might sound unreasonable, but I doubt the guards will let you out with a gold bar."

"Yeah, I guess you are right, and even if this ends up being a scam, I still did not lose anything."

"No need to worry; you won't lose anything. Vas follow this man once he is outside of the hospital to a bank and help him out with everything he requires until the deal is completed. If you require it, you can contact me through another drone." This man is just full of surprises. A portal just opened, and a new drone came out of it.

Chapter 8 – "Building Trust in a Broken World"



A minute after making a deal with the man for his gold bars, he left the room, leaving me and Amy alone. Now might be the hard part, but I will try to make it go fast.

"So, let's get to it again. Ok, Amy, now that you have seen my tech, I want to tell you more about the TinkerTech. First, it is an area of effect, so it can heal multiple people at the same time. It has a self-repair function to stop the need for me to keep repairing it, so while it can't be reproduced by normal people, once it is tested well enough, it can be everywhere without any big issue. That is the main thing I wanted to tell you to attract you even more towards my deal. I know it might sound a little weird, but I will give you my contact information, and I want you to call me every day and tell me something about yourself. It can be anything; it can even be, "Hey, I got coffee in the morning. Goodbye," and I will accept it.

"Wait, while this is amazing, what is with the last part? It is so weird." Her face is disgusted.

"Yes, it is weird, and I am not threatening to not make the HFP, but I would still like it if you could do this for me. If you want, I can give you a reason for it." I say awkwardly. I mean, I am asking a kid to phone a stranger every day, so yeah.

"What reason could you have that is not just going to be creepy?" Her face did not change.

"Ok, first, Vas, make sure nobody is recording us right now, ok? The reason is I have seen a precognitive vision about how this world would go without me in it, as in what would happen if I and my teammate Bakuda did not destroy Lung, if I am not here offering this tech and anything I would be likely to do in the future. It is not a very great future, and that is why I am willing to change it," I say as fast as I can, just in case she interrupts me.

"You've seen a precog vision. How? You are not even a parahuman. I want to talk to the person ordering you to say this."

"What? There is nobody ordering me to say this. You can touch me and figure out if I am lying. Do that," I say while giving her my hand.

She takes my hand and says, "Repeat what you said."
"There is nobody ordering me to say this." That shocked her. "Then how are you able to do this without a corona polentia?"

"That is simple. I did not gain my powers through normal triggering. Someone gave them to me. I can't say who, but they told me to make this world better, and I feel thankful at least for the power, if not the whole coming to a death world, so I will try to help the world."

"What do you mean someone gave you powers? Nobody just gives powers."

"Actually, that would be wrong. Currently, there is what is called a natural trigger, which is when you get a bad day and get superpowers. Then there are artificial triggers, which are when someone sells you power. I am not any because my power does not have anything to do with my corona polentia or gema; mine comes from a different source. That is all I am willing to say to you."

"Alright, while you may believe you are telling the truth, can I talk to the person who gave you your powers?"

"I have no idea how to contact them. I am not even from this earth, so I doubt they are here."

"Ok, let's say I believe you. Why do you want me to talk to you every day?"

"That is simple; it is because you need some type of stress relief, someone you can shout at and not feel guilty. The precog thing I told you about—while I am not willing to tell you more about it without you wearing a bracelet device someone made to conceal the wearer from any thinkers and precogs, you end up being driven to break your no-brain rule and doing something you will regret. Now, I don't want you to use this info to feel even more depressed. What I want you to do is to take this opportunity and relax whenever you need to, or you can go to therapy, but I am not sure your mother would allow that." She is frozen, the expression saying she might just be willing to silence me if she has to.

"So you know of my power."

"Yes, I am aware you are a biokenetic with one restriction, that being no self-modification, but it can easily be fixed with a meat suit, so I don't think it is an impossible rule to get past. I know how dangerous you could be, but I am not here to scream about that. I can be just as, if not more dangerous than you, but I won't go around abusing my power, not just because of guilt but because I want to be a good person. And because of that, I am willing to get therapy, and since I don't have a bad parent to get in the way, it is easier for me. That is what I want you to do—talk to someone who might understand what you are going through now."

"Ok, I will do whatever you want."

"No, I don't want you to do this because you are feeling threatened. I want you to get better, and you don't do that by being forced. That is why I added the whole coffee thing so that you know you only have to talk about things you feel comfortable with. Please don't do this if you think you are being forced."

"How am I supposed to think I am not being forced? Sure, you don't seem to be lying, but you know so much about me that it is simply too unfair to be a mutual relationship."

"I can tell you more about myself if it helps, like how my life was before I came here."

"Look, I don't know; just leave your contact info, and I will think about it."

"Usually, that means no, but I will give you the chance. Vas, make a portal to the base and bring out another drone." A new drone flies through the portal, and behind it is what seems to be a shelf full of other drones.

"Why do you have so many of those drones?"

"That is because I needed a lot to make my base fast. I could probably destroy them, but if I need multiple active at once, why not just keep them here, right?"

"I am just going to ignore it. Why do you think anyone will be willing to let me keep a drone that can create matter in whatever form it wants?"

"Oh, the drone can't create matter; it uses dimension-based technology to gather the required matter from planets in different dimensions. As for why they wouldn't let you keep it, I can give you two drones, one for you to use and another for the PRT to test. But if they say it is too dangerous, Vas can just add a phone number to contact me on your phone. I'm also going to give you five HFPs; they can be used anywhere you want them. They will take orders from you and only you, so if you want the PRT to test them, you are going to have to allow it, or it will just be a self-repairing cube of metal."

"I promise to at least call you even if I won't say anything important."

"That is all I want from you. We can build a healthy friendship once we can trust each other. And as weird as you are feeling, imagine it from me. I am twenty-two. I feel even creepier, but your situation makes this a must."

"Ok, thank you for the drones and the HFP. Why do you even call it that?"

"Heal field projector. It projects a healing field."

"That is a stupid name."

"It is an accurate name, but whatever you want, kid. And since we are finished with this, I would like to leave for my base. Do you need me to do anything for you now?"

"No, everything should be alright for now. Goodbye."

I then ask Vas to make a portal to my base and step through it. Altogether, this entire situation only took about forty minutes, so I still have a lot of the night left. What should I do now? Yes, I would like to test more of Bakuda's lethal bombs.

After asking Vas where Bakuda is and if she is tinkering, I got the report that yes, she is tinkering but is not in a fugue, so I can talk to her. I then follow Vas to Bakuda's lab and say, "Hey, Bakuda, want to test some of your more destructive bombs? I would like to see the effects they have."

Her voice is happy. "Alright, I can't wait to test all my bombs. They will be wonderful."

"Cool, let's lead us to an open area for bomb testing some far away from the buildings and bring enough drones to record and light the area for the testing."

"Yes, sir, it shall be done. Please follow me."

"Backuda, do you need any new bombs, or did you get Vas to scan all your bombs for the testing?"

"All the bombs are scanned for testing now; all that is needed is to replicate them and throw them to the target." While Bakuda was excitedly telling me how this was going to go, Vas made an electronic car to drive us there. I could probably use the city portal power to get there faster, but who doesn't want to drive in a cool car? So we took the slow and nice route. After leaving the building, there were still roads for us to take with lighting to provide the necessary visibility. The thing is, the sky is still black, so it's weird to look at. I would need to make a new Tinker Tech to make a day-night cycle. It could just be a dome with holographic tech in it, but that is not now. It took us barely five minutes to get where we had to go. After entering some type of building, we see a massive empty area with glass surrounding it.

"Is this building incomplete or what, Vas?"

"The use of this area is to test Miss Bakuda's tinkertechs; therefore, there is a protective glass for the viewing area where you and Miss Bakuda will get to see the result. As for the deployments, a drone will go to the testing area and activate the bomb. The drone will try to escape the effect zone, but if that is not possible, then the only thing lost will be an easily replaceable piece of equipment. Now, which bomb would you like to test?"

"Alright, this is perfect." Bakuda has agreed, and who am I to disagree if the person who made the bombs thinks this is good enough?

After that, Bakuda made her decision to start the testing with a bomb that turns anything in its area into glass. I believe it was used in the original, too. It is cool. After that, it was my choice, and as much as I wanted a time-stop bomb, I wanted to see a black hole bomb more, so that is the one I picked. It was glorious. We spent the night making those poor, poor drones throw bombs somewhere in the middle. We decided to drink, and she just removed her mask and let me see her face. I was so confused. I mean, it has only been one day, and I did not expect her to trust me that much, but who am I to stall progress? So I just goofily smiled while she said,

"My name is Ayame," she said shyly.

"I don't know what brought the sudden trust, but I would like to say you have a beautiful name. Thank you for letting me know about it."

"Shut up; you are just trying to get into my pants."

"I won't lie, you are beautiful, but for now, I want you to get more confidence. After that, if you still have not gotten yourself someone you want to stay with, then I will woo you."

After that somewhat serious point, we just kept drinking and seeing bomb after bomb, and when she showed me her time-stop bomb, I loved it. Of course, I could probably take care of an endbringer, but I want someone from this earth to do it just to show everyone it can be done. I mean, they don't know I am from here, but still, my power is simply an out-of-context problem.

That was the last thing I remembered before falling asleep.

Chapter 9 – "Nanobots and Nostalgia"
Tuesday, March 30, 2011

When I woke up in the morning, Ayame was still asleep on the chair next to mine. I did not want to wake her, so I removed my current active powers and made myself intangible to slip through the floor and get out of the room, now to get breakfast… Nah, I will wait for Ayame to decide what we should eat. I decided yesterday, so it is cool if she does it now. I can't wait to see what she will order.

"When Ayame wakes up, tell her she is deciding what we should eat this morning, and tell me when she wakes up," I say that and make the city portal power go straight to my lab.

The first thing I will do is upgrade my subdimension, something to give it a night and day cycle. It will use a hologram with some area control function to simulate wind or any atmospheric phenomena.

I will begin with a power to make the day-night cycle Tinkertech. It costs one charge with a drone next to me. Anything is possible. I first get Vas to play some random music for me to enjoy while tinkering, and I get to it. After a while, I was done with the cycle part.

Now, for the environment simulation, I would need the control to be very fine, as in control as small as a sand grain individually, so I will need a very powerful computer to even get it to work. The current one running VAS would not be efficient, and since I don't want to come back and upgrade it again and again, I am going for the nanobot solutions. Now, that might seem an overreach, but as nanobots, they would be able to do anything for me, so long as it is physical, so that is a massive help.

First, I removed all my powers, then made a tinker power to make a nanobot as small as an atom. It costs three charges. With the knowledge on how to make such nanobots in my head, I then use a technopath power to transfer the knowledge to Vas. I instruct Vas to make a nanobot and take control of it. With how small it is, Vas was able to make enough to start building its computer, now to change my nanobot power to one design to make the best possible quantum computer. with a little time and dimension shenanigans it is able to spit the results of whatever it was used for at the same time the query was sent so that should make it so vas can out compute dragon if need be even if her body is smaller the power took three charges but it was enough by destroying the nano bot power after all vas can already replicate them. From now on, this is how I will tinker, get power and give Vas the blueprint to replicate. I was then able to show Vas how to make it using the tecnopath power. After giving it the blueprint, I destroyed the power, and Vas made the quantum computer to atomic perfection by being able to make the nanobots and assemble them. With that done, time to make the environment control machine. With this computer, forget the sand grains. This thing will be able to calculate atomic pressure. There is nothing it won't be able to control in its field. It is basically reality manipulation, but nothing but the best for my tech.

I do the same with the environment simulator: get power, send a blueprint, and watch it get made. After ten minutes, Vas is done with an environmental control field (ECF).

Ohh, when I can freely give my tech to everybody, I can't wait to alleviate humanity. I will not be stupid and give everything out, but I will be able to show them it is possible and help them replicate it themselves. Ok, so the lab problem should be fixed now. What am I going to do today?

"Vas is bakuda awake yet."

"Yes, sir, Bakuda is awake and has acknowledged that she will decide what to eat. She said to make it a surprise, so I am not to tell you."

"It's alright, Vas; guide me to where she is."

"Of course, follow me, sir."

After following the drone, I see Ayame sitting in front of the TV. Her hand is wet, so I guess she washed her hand. I should do that, too.

I turn around to the nearest washroom, wash my hands, and go to the TV room.

"I have nothing planned for today. What about you?"

"I am thinking of calling my parents and telling them I am sorry for the hostage thing."

"Well, that was deep. I did not think you would tell me that, but congratulations, little by little you are growing." She threw a pillow at my head, and I took it like a man, with a girly yelp.

"Hey, I was just praising you."

"I don't want your praise. Now let's eat already. Vas, make us washoku with gohan, onigiri, misoshiru, and yakizakana."

"Yes, Miss Bakuda, your food is ready."

This looks good. some type of rice and fish dish. It smells nice. Time to feast. After half an hour of eating and talking, when we were done, we watched some TV, but Earth Bet really lagged when it came to entertainment, but I guess that is what happens when Hope is getting beaten and robbed in a back alley.

"Ok, I am bored. I am leaving," Ayame said and left the room.

I just lay there waiting for anything interesting to happen, but nothing did. Maybe PHO? but there wasn't any thing interesting there either, maybe bring a cape criminal to justice i change my power to map with two charges and my power is telling me they are all hiding in their burrows nobody is doing any thing interesting so i let them be and destroy the power, with currently no power i don't even know what to do.

Yes, I can just fly around. That is still the best feeling I have felt for a long while. After adding flight and intangibility to my power using three charges, I ask Vas to make a portal outside the base. Time to fly like a bird. After that, I just spent the entire day flying around, increasing and decreasing my speed with charges, sometimes even destroying my power of flight from a high place and just falling. It was exhilarating. The day passed by fast, and just like that, it was dark.

"Vas make a portal to base." It was night, almost time to sleep. I forgot about lunch and dinner. It will be an experience I will never get tired of.

"Hey, Ayame, how did things go with your parents?" As soon as I enter the base, I fly to where she is after Vas tells me.

"They were upset, but that is to be expected. I thought they would never want to speak to me. To my surprise, they were aware of how people trigger, so they tried to comfort me at first, and then when that was over, they said that I would need to make this up for everyone involved. Man, I love my parents. I don't even know how I put all that pressure on myself. How about you? What did you do today?"

"Oh, I was flying. It is one of the best feelings I have ever experienced; truly a winning move. Did you have anything to eat?

"Yea, I already ate, but we can do the picking foods for both of us like twice a week, once you and another me, but that is it."

"I am cool with that."

I ordered my food and enjoyed it. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Chapter 10 – "Lines Not Meant to Cross"

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

After my morning ritual of waking up at whatever time my body decides is morning, I remembered that I left some things unfinished with the bots.

Since they are technically as big as atoms and were not told to stop replicating after a certain moment, they are everywhere now, maybe even facilitating all the natural reactions my body needs to act at an optimal state. I would even bet I no longer need to eat or sleep, and it is the same for Ayame. Actually, that is very easy to figure out, so I better tell Vas not to do anything extra with the nanobots. Technically, Vas can't have initiative, but it can still do as it is commanded, and if Ayame were to say, I don't want to go to sleep, it might take that as a command, so

"Vas, I would like to know if you have any bots in my or Ayame's body."

"Yes, sir, the bots have replicated enough to fill the subdimensions and technically are everything that is not you or Miss Ayame."

"Ok, you see, that is a little troublesome. First, make sure every bot is out of our body discreetly. I don't want Ayame to know about the bots yet."

"Yes, sir, the act should be completed in a few minutes."

"After that, I want you to make a minimum distance between any bot and biological matter, even if the bots can act as any matter recorded within your database."

"Of course, sir, what shall the minimum distance be?"

"Make it twenty centimeters from the nearest biological matter."

After that was done, I should tell Ayame. This is technically a massive breach of trust, and I don't want her getting rightfully mad when she figures it out.

So, let's go talk to her first.

"Vas, tell me where Ayame is."

"Ayame is currently in the living room, sir."

Ok, I already know where it is, so I will not need to follow a drone to get there, but funnily, the living room is next to the kitchen, and I don't get why there even is a kitchen, but I guess with matter synthesization and now near reality warping matter control, any place can be any other place without a problem, so I guess it is just normalized house making.

Now it's time to talk to Ayame about massively violating her body autonomy. I hope she is in a forgiving mood.

"Hey, Ayame, good morning."

"... Good morning? Why do you look constipated? Go to the washroom if you need to."

"Yeah, I am going to tell you I made a mistake and not to freak out, mostly because the problem is totally fixed."

"Ok, what is the problem then?"

"Ok, so the problem I made is basically I created the machine army but made Vas take control. That is not the problem. I see you trying to interrupt me; please don't. I will explain everything I can, and I want you to wait until I am done, even if it is freaky, because it will be freaky." She looked horrified for a moment and just made a continuing gesture with her hands.

"After letting VAS control them, I made VAS a quantum computer that gives results to any calculation made at the same time the query was sent using some time shenanigans. After that, I forgot to tell VAS to make any restrictions, so VAS replaced all matter that is not us with the nanobots, so yeah, everything you are interacting with is a nanobot, including the air, but don't worry, I already told VAS to remove all the bots from our bodies and to keep a twenty-centimeter minimum distance between any nanobot and the closest biological matter, so the air you are breathing now is normal air."

"Ok, first we need to talk about boundaries; second, you can't make a mistake like that again; third, why in all hell did you want to make nanobots; and fourth, you either tell me more about your power so that I can prepare, or I am out of here."

"I don't mind the boundaries part. I am very sorry about this, and I am willing to communicate more. That should fix mistakes like this before they happen. As for the third, I decided on nanobots because of all the amazing things they can do, even with the S-class threat they are. when we go beyond this city to help, they would not just be useful but extremely necessary. As for the fourth, while I still can't tell you everything, I can tell you about the prominent problem causer."

"Alright, explain more."

"Ok, what has caused the biggest problem up to now is the tinker power because it leaves a permanent mark in real life. My tinker specialty can basically be anything I want it to be, such as virtual intelligence or nanobots and even quantum computers."

"So you can build anything you want. Are you sure it is not the same as leet, where it will degrade in the future?"

"Yes, I am sure it won't degrade. I am sure of that because that is not my only power, and there is a sort of guarantee, which I can't tell you yet, not because I don't trust you but because I would need you to wear this specific tinkertech before I tell you something so important. Vas make a blind bracelet."

"What is it?"

"What this tinkertech does is simple: it interfears with dimensional-related information gathering, making the user a blind spot for any thinker or precog. Then I am willing to tell you more, but I would like to warn you that while willful ignorance is stupid, it is still bliss."

"Except I am already aware that I am in danger. I need more information. Give me the bracelets."

"First, this bracelet, once worn, will permanently attach to your bones. The only way to remove them is by cutting off your limbs, but there are ways to turn them off with security passcodes and other verifications. Are you sure you want this?"

"Yes, I am sure."

"Ok, Vas, attach four bracelets to Ayame's limbs. As for the passcodes, you will decide the codes in a private area where VAS will not be able to gather information."

After a surgery that took less than twenty seconds with the nanobots, Bakuda was safe from any Tinker bullshit.

"Ok first of all i am not from this world i received my powers from the person that brought me here, my power is that i have five charges each that can make a power themselves but the more charges one power has the stronger it gets something like Eidolon but with a twist anyways i was also given a precognative flash of how this world would go without my interference and it is not great which is why i sometimes feel that i am not doing enough that is why you will some times see me making nanobots or quantum computers what i have now is nothing compared to what we need to fight our greatest enemy i will not give you any mor hints becaus there might still be a situation where you decide to turn your bracelets off for some reason and that would be a huge problem"

"Let me get this straight: you are not from Earth Bet, and you were brought here by someone that gives powers, and the power they gave you is basically Eidolon power with a few changes."

"I know it is hard to believe, but yes."

"I need time to think," she says while leaving with her hand pressed to her forehead.

I did not think I would tell her such a massive secret, even if she wore the bracelet. They only protect her from someone gathering information forcefully; she could still give it out willingly, but when she showed me her face and started to trust me more, I had to reciprocate, even if I knew she was volatile and did not have enough time to heal yet. She is still not as damaged as she was in the book. Calm down; everything will be allright.

That was heavy, but I am done with what I needed to do anyway. I told her about the nanobots and apologized. That is good enough, but what to do the rest of the day? I definitely need to take care of at least one villain. They probably won't still be hiding, and if they are, I am sure I can taunt them into action, so who should I pick to pick on? I have no idea. Let's just destroy all current powers and make map power again. It should tell me the location of all villains in Brockton Bay, and done. Hmm, weird, there seem to be a few of the Empire gathering together, probably for some lynching, so I will stop that, and more are going towards the same direction. Let's check where the place is by an actual map; after all, my power does not tell me street names unless I want it to, haha. After asking Vas to get me a map, I learned where they were going.

Chapter 11– "A Meeting of Monsters"


When I used the map that was made using the nanobots, I learned these bitches were all going to Somer's Rock. That is the place where the villains meet up to organize and work with each other. I can't allow that, mostly because while I can stop them really fast even without attracting Zion's attention by using some very powerful abilities, I also kind of feel safe with Canon even if it does not make any sense. I mean, I am sure I can technically give myself a precog power that would be able to show me the future as if it is written from my perspective. But I am not going to be able to untangle all my mental issues in this instant. So, it does not matter, but how do I deal with them all? I guess if it worked on Lung, why won't it work on anyone else?

But let's plan how things will go. I will first make city portal power and intangibility to be able to portal myself in the ground, then destroy the city portal power and make a power cancellation field with targeting. I got lucky when I was waiting for Onilee a few days ago. I mean, what if there was a poor flying cape in the sky when the field was up? So, the targeting will have to rely on my intention. After shutting off their powers, I am going to need to hold them because there is no way they won't figure it out so fast, especially with a thinker amongst them, so I would use telekinesis. After shutting down their powers and holding them, I should be able to do what I want. Ok, let's check the map. Still, some people are going to the pub, so I will wait until they all arrive. I don't want to spend a long time in the dark ground.

"Vas, we are going to be interacting with a lot of villains outside. First, I want you to make sure no nanobots replicate more than I say so, especially outside, and once I decide, I want you to implant a self-destruct function in every nanobot in case they get left behind. But first, the escape priority is to make a portal and bring them back. Actually, can you do that? Make a portal as long as you have a nanobot as a connection to the outside world."

"Yes, sir, I am able to make a portal to a nanobot."

"That is great. While I do plan on giving you the ability to make portals like the Door Maker, for now, that should be enough." That is how I plan on getting past the whole five powers at most restriction. While I have not even tried to find a loophole, I always get the feeling I should not, but what I don't understand is I already have it. Like with Tinker Tech, I am able to make an item that basically gives me powers, so why do I feel weird when I try to do so directly? I will have to research this in private and not while waiting for villains to gather. The map still shows that not everyone is there yet, so I will wait for them.

After about ten minutes, everyone seemed to be there. Now is the time to execute the plan, but first, I'm asking Vas to change my clothes to my cape outfit. After that and a few seconds of setting up my power, I was in front of a portal to a black wall. I walked through it and destroyed the map and portal power. With that, it was time to go to step two, which is power cancellation and telekinesis. I was right; the moment I made the power, everyone figured it out, even those without currently active powers. This explains Assault and Battery's reaction when we met; they hid it, but I did think they figured out there was a problem. I just did not know how. I wonder if the power loss feeling is just a feeling or if they get a guarantee they lost their powers. It does not matter. I used the telekinesis power to make sure nobody moved, but I came to the realization that the bigger the field I controlled, the less accurate it got. Technically, I can make a big car float with two charges, but unless it is in front of my eyes, I cannot control two different objects. I will need to add a multitasking power to make this work correctly, so I will need to get out of the ground. Man, you have no idea how cool it is to get everyone's attention by floating from the ground. It is cool as hell. All their shouts turned quiet. I took that moment to change intangibility with multitasking, and it made all the difference. I could make everyone here make different moves at the same time. It is hilarious.

"Alright, alright, everyone shut up. Today I was just planning to capture one of you, and that would have been it—scare you for a while, take someone's power permanently, and put you back in your hiding holes—but color me surprised when I hear everyone was coming to talk together." I used telekinesis to actually shut them up; there is no way they would actually do it just because I said so.

"At first I did not believe my source. I mean, can you blame me? You are a motley group of Nazi racists." Looking at the empire, they were the biggest group, of course, and as Nazis, all they do is infest.

"Drug addicts that sometimes die from forgetting to breathe" The merchants are only two, but it is funny to see someone try to talk but have their jaw shut, so I might have been taking my time with them.

"Gaming bro wannabe failures" Uber and Leet were happy at the gaming bro part but scowled at the wannabe failure part. I at least allow for expression.

"Small-time thieves," the undersiders were able to make the biggest differences in reactions. Regent just did not care, but Bitch was trying everything to escape, which was what everyone was doing, so you go, Regent.

"Mercenaries that do anything for money" Fault Line was not different; she was also trying to escape, but Gregor seems to be trying to get closer to Fault Line. Maybe to protect her, I guess he is the bodyguard, while neuter and spitfire were doing the same as everyone and fumbling about in the same place.

"And of course there is our resident garden snake." Would you believe me if I told you he is the only one that did not react when the power cancellation field went up? I wonder why.

"I just could not see any of you working together, and pretty much all of you are untrustworthy monsters. Even now, I am shocked you are willing to come together and cooperate against a seemingly greater enemy. It is almost as if you really think you are human. It is a joke so funny it might make a corpse laugh." They all stopped fumbling when my voice got angry with my mask. It was the only way to know my feelings unless you are a body reader.

"Hooof, sorry, I was getting a bit too angry here. I mean, if monsters tried working with each other and made a habit of it, that would basically destroy humanity's chance of fighting all you scum-sucking bastards," I said while slowing my voice.

"I can't have that. I simply can't and won't allow you all to work together."

"So let me monologue here for a bit. How do I destroy every chance of cooperation you have? I can't just keep interrupting whenever you try to gather. You could just make phone calls. I don't want to remove all of you at once because every rat out there will take it as an invitation to come to the city. Just removing the ABB will probably cause some problems. I am not killing because I don't want to, and for the same reason above, so I have come up with this plan: basically, make you fight each other."

"Now, as for how I will go about that, it is simple. I will reveal some secrets. Let's see. First, I am picking Coil. I personally detest you, so I will make sure they can't cooperate with you."

"Ok, Empire, I would like to inform you that he has gathered, or at least is in the process of gathering, your secret identities to leak at an opportune time of his choosing. You don't want to work with someone actively trying to ruin you, do you?" I say this while being behind Kiser, and I let him talk.

"I promise you this: I will kill you for this violation you have enforced."

"That is nice, little emperor, but you have not answered my question. Can you cooperate with Coil knowing he probably knows who you are and his willingness to make this knowledge public?" He makes an angry scream.

"And if you are able to see the bigger picture and ignore his threat for now, can your puppy? I don't think so."

"Now, who to go to next? Ah, yes, the merchants. Did you know your newly acquired friend Trainwreck is a spy working for Coil? I don't know why anyone would want to send a spy to you morons, but this control freak just could not leave even the smallest pot alone. It is seriously unhealthy. If I was not going to make sure he resisted while a few Nazi-aligned cops came to arrest his ass, I probably would have suggested he get therapy." I did not want to do the whole talk to Skid Mark from the back like I did with Kaiser—that druggie smells—but everything is for the play, and I used a little bit of telekinesis to ensure I am only breathing air coming from a completely different direction.

After giving him the same respect I did to Kaiser, and I bet that pissed Kaiser off even more, all he said was he is going to kill Trainwreck. I bet the first thing Trainwreck is going to do after this meeting is get the fuck out of here.

"After the merchants, who do I go to? Ah, yes, the gamer bros. I really don't think he has much planned for you—maybe buy you out or just kill you. I am not sure, but I am sure the very idea of working for this man, who, if he got the opportunity, would torture and kill you for the fun of it, would disgust you." Again, give the same courtesy and let them talk for a while.

"Yea, yea, we get it. Nobody is allowed to work with Coil, even if he doesn't have all these things you said. With you just appearing here and saying you would take our powers, it would be enough to make sure no one works with him. What is with all the charades?"

"Oh, my dear gamer, I am just testing a plan. See, I want to know if there is a bit of humanity in any of you. If you are willing to work with each other even after this, it proves that monsters are adapting. In the land I come from, monsters are simple; they don't work together, and if they do, it is a pack thing, not a let's-sit-down-and-plan thing. That is humanity's only defense against the monsters in the dark. If you are able to take humanity's best chance at survival and mimic it, even in simple terms, such as working together to fight a larger enemy, it means my plan to fight off your kind would need adjustment." After ranting that total bullshit, I shut the duo's mouth and turn my head towards

"Ah, Faultline, the mercenary that does anything for money, I have not done full research on you, but you better hope there is a limit to that anything, or I am going to be pissed. As for how to make sure you won't work with anyone here, I will treat you like a human, and instead of just making it hard to work for them, I would instead incentivize you. How about this: if you don't do anything as stupid as working with monsters, I will heal your dear friend Labyrinth. That is all I will be talking to you about, but when I research you, if there is anything you have done that makes me think this is not a human but a monster, then I will take a pound of your flesh." The last part was a fucking lie. If she does anything horrible, I will just cancel her powers and send her to jail. I mean, I did not kill Lung, for God's sake. I am not going to kill her, but I do need a way to scare her, and of course, I also need to let her talk.

"I would like to make a deal with you in healing my friend, but the problem is with her brain, and not even panacea can touch brains."

"Yea, but I am not a panacea. I am Tinker E. If you can find something I can't take care of, it most likely is because it has already killed me. I am not exaggerating, but believing me will have to come later."

"How do I know what would make you think of me as a monster? I have jaywalked before. Is that enough? What about kidnapping, because I have done that?"

"I don't have a strict moral code just yet. I AM NOT BATMAN. If, after doing some research on you, I figure you can be helped, then I will. If you can't, you will lose your power and be put in a normal prison. I bet that is the greatest fear you all possess now—not even just dying, but dying as a normal human. It is lovely how superior you think you are. And, of course, no skipping town. That is for everyone, by the way, not just Faultline's crew." I do the Batman thing with a scary voice. I am going to enjoy my time here. I also take my time to think of something.

"Actually, Vas, come over here." A drone is made from the air using the nanobots already in the air and my cloth, the replication ability already putting my cloth back together.

"Yes, sir, what is your order?"

"Vas, I want you to implant a tracker on everyone here except the undersiders. I want you to implant multiple at random spots in their bodies. Don't leave any visible trace. Make sure one of them is in their brains." Oh, they did not take that professionally. They all tried to scream and mumble with locked jaws and lips, but nothing came out of that.

"Don't worry too much; they are just trackers to make sure you don't try to escape, and of course, they will be listening in case you tell your friends to escape with a phone or something. Then I would just take their powers. But other than that, they won't blow up or anything." It might be a little too much, but I also want to use the map a little less.

"Now the undersiders. I hear you are a great thinker, tattletale. Right now, you can't use your power, but you are still smart enough to figure things out yourself. I want you to figure out why I did not put a tracker in you." I talk to the undersiders by sitting in front of them instead of standing behind them.

"You want to recruit us; that is the only reason I can come up with for the preferential treatment."

"Correct, but I also think you are mostly just damaged humans and not some monsters already gone off the deep end and in need of being taken care of. How do you think I will be able to buy you off?

"Money would do it. If you don't want us to work with anyone, just give us money, and we won't, you know, like the man you experimented on with panacea—not a hero move there, but still."

"Wow, your power is impressive. How did you even come up with that conclusion? Your power should just be on the fritz when it encountered me. Did you try the whole simulation thing before? I knew you were not dumb, but that is actually a surprise. Good job." I was surprised; I did not think the power would even give her accurate data of a simulated me. In the many fanfics I read, she just goes off a trail and would need to back up multiple times to get any accurate results. I wonder how many headaches she had to go through.

"I will give you any resources you want. When you can synthesize matter in any configuration you want, money becomes useless, but I also don't want to stop there. If, for some reason, Coil still has other means of control over you, I want you to break them. So while I am sorry and I will allow you as much time as you will need to heal from this shock, I will still have to talk." I take a deep breath, and she seems to be confused.

With an exhale, I say, "Ok, I am now going to tell you what Coil's power is and how he uses it. Coil's power is simple: when you take it from the bottom, it simulates reality. Let's start from zero. His power is deactivated, and now he activates it. The power makes two simulations. Each coil in the simulation is aware of the other but not aware that they are a simulation. They then do two different things to achieve the same goal, and whichever one gave them the better result is then picked, and the power, once done with the simulation, starts to master Coil's body and moves it how the simulation that was picked decided, so you could say he has lost a great amount of living time as a puppet to something that does not even understand why a human does something it does. The power just has a lot of information to make the simulation very accurate. Now, let's go to how he uses it. When I started talking about how his power worked and the cost of using it, her face was beaming with happiness. It is sad that I am going to destroy it, but I will need her to be well-informed before she makes a deal with me.

"The way Coil uses his power is to gather information. How do you act when you are in this form of stress? That is basically it. Have you ever wondered how he learns everything you are hiding, as if you tell him about it, whenever you buy his goon, how they keep getting eliminated, whenever you are in a bus going out of the city, and how he seems aware before you even execute the plan? It is simple: would you not tell him all your secrets if he was torturing you, killing you, or raping you? Sure, it is just a simulation, and he has never done it to you directly, but it is a very accurate simulation." Her face went from glee to shock, from terror and rage to despondence by the time I was finished.

"I am sorry to hurt you like this, but I can't have any of you thinking Coil is still a person you can work with. I also want to make a deal with you."

"Anything… Anything you want, so long as you get me away from him, please. I don't want that to happen to me in real life. I am begging." Shit, I made her cry. Of course she is going to cry; I just told her she might just get raped and killed at any moment.

While it might seem like I am taking advantage of her, it is the best I am willing to do now. "If you work with me, and it is work with me instead of work for me, I am not only willing to guarantee you protections but also help with any goal you have as long as it is not going against my plan." She does not know the plan is to be a goody two-shoes, but we can laugh at that later after she gets some rest.

"Now how about you, Grue? Do you think a control freak like that would ever allow you to slip past your chains by achieving your goals? I don't think so, but if you work with me, then I am not only willing to protect your sister but also give you legal support when it comes to taking custody."

"Why am I not surprised you know my secret identity? I am willing to agree to this deal."

"Great, as for the secret identity part, I really don't care how any of you look; it is useless for me." I then look at Bitch and start talking to her.

"Now then, bitch, I know you are more of a pack girl, so we won't be working together. Instead, if you acknowledge me as your boss, I am not only willing to heal all your dogs now, but if you want, I am willing to give you as many dog pounds, as big as you want, for you to protect any dog you want, and with the drones, you can take care of as many as you want. All you have to do is look me in the eyes and then bow your head." This is more of a power move, but I don't think there is a better way to get Bitch to work with me than this, and just like I asked, she looked at me and bowed her head. Great, now just regent, and that should be just as easy.

"And then there was one left, regent, to get you to work with me. How about the best gaming platform you want in whatever way you want? You can laze around as much as you want, and while I think that should be enough, I will also give you this button. It won't work today, but after tonight, if you ever decide to press it, a drone will make a portal to your daddy dearest's skull and punt that ball into soup. What do you say? Want Daddy Diddy to go boom?" I let him talk, but he was not saying anything either, just looking at the button, and after a few seconds of awkward quietness, he said,

"I will believe you when I press this button and see the result. Until then, yes, I am willing to work with you for the gaming equipment."

"Great, that was my main plan for today, but I also don't just want to make sure you all aren't working with Coil; instead, I want to make sure none of you can cooperate in a large group, so let's dismantle the empire a little. How should I go about that? Oh, wait."

"Vas, restrain everyone other than the undersiders for me."

"Yes, sir," and new chains appear around everyone's hands and legs to make sure they can't move. Now I change telekinesis with map power to figure out where Purity is and then destroy that power to make space for city portal power and make a portal to where Purity should be. Then

"Vas, capture and bring Purity to the pub. Make a mask for her to wear, please."

"Yes, sir," Purity screams for a moment, but the mask seems to silence her and only leaves her to struggle for a bit until she comes to the pub, and I cancel the city portal power to change it to telekinesis.

"Ok, let's make the restraint disappear."

"Yes, sir."

"Stop struggling, Purity. I am here to make a deal with you, you racist bitch." I allowed her to speak.

"Who are you, and what the fuck do you want, you bastard?"

"It is simple. I want you to fight the empire. I want to divide you apart, and to do that, I have come up with a plan. Now, I know you are not going to fight the empire without a push, so I will help. I will protect your child from any retaliation Kaiser can enforce on her. If he tries to kidnap her, it won't work. Custody won't work either; while my protection of your child is absolute, there is no such deal for you. If you want, you can die in a ditch for all I care, but I will protect little Aster if you fight the empire, bring Night and Fog to your side, and bother the empire. If I learn you tried to hurt any innocent people, I am going to capture you, remove your powers, and make sure you get put in a Black female-populated prison. Am I understood?"

"And how am I to believe you can protect my child?"

"I would be taking her into a sub dimension, while she and her brother will have unrestricted access. You, on the other hand, will only be able to talk to them in a single room. Whenever you want to talk to them, I will give you a way to make a portal to a designated room in the sub dimension, and they can go to the specified room to talk to you. Is this deal agreeable to you?"

"If you can guarantee my daughter's safety, I will do whatever you want."

"Great, that should do it. Now, there is no way for any of you to work in a big enough group to be a bother to the city. Now, to make one last decision, and this will be a vote with all of you participating. I am going to take someone's power and send them to prison. That person will have to be from the empire or the merchants, and it can't be their leaders, so the choices are"

"Krieg, Hookwolf, Fenja, Menja, Crusader, Night, Fog, Alabaster, Stormtiger, Cricket, Victor, Othala, and Rune for the empire, and Squealer, Mush, and Trainwreck from the merchants make your choice."


Author's note

I want you readers to make the decision. One villain is going out of the board. Who is it going to be? If the decision is not clear enough by the time I start writing the next chapter, I will decide.

Chapter 12 – "Thirteen Little Capes Said 'Nein'"


Once I allowed all of them to talk, they were loud. I know that I have basically shattered their plans and made any interaction between them extremely hard, if not impossible, but no need to act like children.

"Alright, shut up." I use telekinesis. "I said you need to pick one of you to lose your powers. That is the only thing I want to hear about now." I then let go of telekinesis on their mouth.

"The empire is voting squealer from the merchants." Of course, the empire decided to pick Squealer to weaken the merchants; after all, she controls all their movements with her vehicle tinkering, and I already removed Trainwreck by exposing him as a spy. When everyone heard Kaiser decide to pick the merchant's mover, maybe because they wanted to hurt the empire now that it is wounded by me, but when Purity said

"I am picking Krieg. He controls the empire's contact with Geshlshaft, so if we remove him, we can at least make sure that the empire won't get any support from Geshlshaft any time soon. It would be a massive blow." Everyone was quiet for a moment, but then started talking more about it. After all, this is a decision that would permanently remove one player from the board.

"We are also picking Krieg. Purity is right; even if he is not their main powerhouse, he is still powerful, and if he is imprisoned without powers, he won't be able to make an escape, nor would the empire be able to help when most of us start to attack them." The undersiders were able to make a good enough reasoning for…

"We would also like to remove Krieg, mostly because this was no longer an individual bet the moment the empire decided to pick as a group. It is Krieg or Squealer, and the empire is a greater threat to us than the merchants. Faultline speaks up and said something that now can't be denied: the empire was better off voting individually and lowering their chance of being picked off, but they are Nazis, and the only thing about them that is remotely notable is their number, so I guess they did not have a choice.

"I decide on Krieg." Skidmark, and what a name that is, decided to do something smart. There were some insults in there, but I don't want to remember that part.

"Same with me." Squealer was right behind him, but Mash seemed to be asleep or just in nirvana.

"Hey, wake the f up and choose."

"What? What is it? Why did you bother me? I was having the best trip ever." Wow, he is a perfect example of don't do drugs. This guy is not present in his life.

"We are deciding who loses their powers. Decide who you want." Squealer is pissed, probably because if Krieg doesn't lose, then her powers are gone.

"Alright, I choose Trainwreck."

"You bitch, if we don't pick Krieg, then I am losing my power, you stupid moron."

"I am picking Krieg." Train Wreck has a clear enough cognition to make a correct decision, but I guess he was never a merchant fully. I wonder if he can even get addicted. I mean, he is basically a ball of flesh, right?

"We are picking Krieg, too." Uber and Leet were ignored by everyone but me since I was counting scores. Other than that, who are they again?

Now, last and definitely least is coil.

"I also would like to pick Krieg; he is a greater threat compared to Squealer."

From the beginning, when Purity voted for Krieg, he and Kiser were already pissed, but after Faultline's declaration, they were actually worried, and when the countervote reached eleven, they were shaking as best as they could. It did not get them far. After their loss was guaranteed, Kaiser just gave up and slumped, while Krieg started to actually cry, Bawl and beg not to lose his power.

"Please, I don't want to lose my powers. Don't do this. I can give you money. If that is not enough, I can contact Gesellschaft and get you a well-trained cape of your own. You can get a parahuman that will do anything you want. Please don't do this." His screams were annoying, but I let them continue because I am a drama bitch, and I want a Nazi to piss himself in front of everyone.

"Vas? Make a PDH, place it on his head, and activate it." Kriege keeps crying, screaming, and bargaining all the while a helmet appears on top of his head and falls on it. Not a moment later, he has lost his power, but because the helmet does not make any light or sounds, he still thinks there is a chance, so he is screaming.

"Alright, now that we are done with this part of our game, you may all leave. Undersiders, please stay. We are going to my base. Purity, same for you. I will be taking your kids to the base, so if there is something you would like to say to them, you should do it before we leave. Krieg, stay put. Faultline, I will be meeting you tomorrow at the Palanquin to heal Labyrinth, and if I decide you can't function in society, I will just put you in jail. Don't try to run; it is pointless. That should be it. I will now remove the telekinetic field holding you down." The moment I removed the field, Hook Wolf tried to jump me, but I guess damage to me is not allowed, so Vas just restrained him with all the nanobots in his body.

"Just drag his body outside. If any of you try the same as him, you will get the same result." After that, they all quietly left the same way they came. Once they all had left, I changed my powers from telekinesis to city portal, and then I changed power cancellation to map. After that, I made a portal to where Aster is, and Theo was there taking care of her with the amazing brotherly love he has. He so deserves a reward. When he saw the portal open in front of him, the first thing he did was carry her and try to run away.

"Well, Purity, it is your job to get him to calm down and bring him through this portal. We will be taking care of them after that." Once Purity steps through the portal to the subdimension, I look towards the Undersiders.

"Ok, do you guys need anything from the outside, Grue, your sister, maybe, clothes, dogs, or whatever sentimental thing you have? Now is the time to decide. Vas made maps for each of them." After a few seconds, the extremely detailed maps were brought to them, and they all decided to start pointing out where they wanted to go first.

"Stop first will be Tattletale because I want her to be done with this and go to sleep as soon as possible; second is Grue, since one of his objectives is his sister; then Bitch because of her dogs; and after her, last and definitely least, Regent for his games. Is that understood?" The only one to have an objection is Regent, and all he said was, "Heyyy", I like this kid.

"I have some computers in my room; they have all my necessary data. They are located in my room in the underside base in Redmond Welding."

"Understood, I shall get to it," I say that and use the map she is pointing at with the map power I have in conjunction to make a portal in the undersiders base.

"If there is anything you all want from there, pick it up now." All the undersiders got into the portal and started to pick things up. "Vas, start construction for everyone staying in the sub dimension for an extended length of time. After they get their rooms, listen to them in whatever way they want to decorate."

"Yes, sir, I shall follow your orders to the best of my ability."

"This is great. Also, make a portal to the living room and tell us when you have completed all their rooms."

"Yes, the rooms have been completed." That was fast, but with how much of everything in the base is nanobots, I guess it is to be expected. "Nice, go help the undersiders with carrying anything they want."

"As you wish, sir." A few minutes later, the Undersiders have picked everything they want, and even Purity is done with her talk with Theo and Aster.

"Ok, next is Grue. Where should I open a portal to?" He points a finger at his map, and I open a portal to where it is. He enters it, and I look towards Bitch.

"Bitch, if you require any help with where things are, just say them out loud, and Vas will change the map for you, and if you need to go there physically, Vas can just follow you to wherever you want." When I said that, bitch just nodded and got out of the pub instead of pointing at a map or anything, Vas made a drone to follow her.

"Regent, now it is your turn. If you have anything you would like to get, point it out now."

"I got nothing. Everything I want was in the base, and I already picked up everything I want from there."

"All right, then, Theo, I am so glad to see you are safe. As Purity should have told you, you will be staying in my base. As for Aster, she will be your responsibility, but if you were to require any help, there is Vas, and if for some reason Vas can't help or you just don't want Vas to help, then there is me and everyone else in the base to help you guys. We will be helping each other; after all, we are now the goodie two-shoes." My smile when I said the last part would have lit up the night sky if it were not for the mask on my face and the sun.

"Vas, go to Gru and help him in whatever way he requires. The rest of you, follow me," and they did as if they were little ducklings.

"Welcome to my base. Make yourselves at home, and we will have a dinner party when everyone is gathered. If you have any problems with your identity, even if I already know most of you, then you can still wear your masks. Now go to the rooms Vas has prepared and start decorating whichever one you choose to be yours. Bye, kids. I am going to talk to the other resident here and hope she does not blow my head clean."

Chapter 13 – "Portals, Plans, and One Missing Piece"

When the undersiders were getting acquainted with their rooms, I asked Vas where Ayame was.

"Miss Ayame is in her lab right now, sir," Vas answered me as fast as usual.

"Is she in a fugue?" I wanted to know if I could talk to her or not. I mean, when we separated a few hours ago, she said she needed time to think. I don't want to make the problem even worse by interrupting her fugue. She might actually test one of those silly bombs on me. I might survive, but my dignity would just evaporate.

"Yes, sir, Miss Ayame is in a fugue and has been for the last hour." Well, I got my answer.

"When she is done, inform her that I have invited a few people to stay with us and that I would like to talk to her about it." With that said, now, to make my map and city portal powers irrelevant, I did promise Regent to help him off his dad… Now that I think about it, there is no way that is a good idea. I am sure one of the main reasons someone does not just snipe him is that he has many thralls in the government and other major organizations—enough to at least damage Canada in a massive way. How do I keep my word without being a mass murderer by proxy? I will just make a master power that will control Heartbreaker to defuse any such bombs. Ok, let's clear the plan: make a tinker power to make a global scanner to allow for pinpoint portal making, and make a portal tech that can make portals to anywhere, so long as it knows where to, like by using a global scanner. After that, make an anti-master power and a master power to take control of Heartbreaker and make him dismantle his thralls. If there are any problems, being able to make any necessary powers should help.

"Ok, Vas, I will need to tinker in my lab for a while. If I am needed, please contact me first before allowing anyone into my lab."

"Understood, sir. I will try to help everyone with what they need. If they require you in person, I will contact you." Vas is a great machine; it is honestly one of my most useful inventions, not counting the bracelets that keep me from dying from stray shots from a fedora lady.

I power walk my way to my lab and close the door. First is the scanner tech. I will destroy all my powers and make one for the scanner. It would need to be global and accurate to a very small degree to the point that I won't need to upgrade it any time soon. Just by itself, it will take four charges. I was hoping to use technopathy power to just let Vas do the work, but that plan only works with tinker powers of three charges, not four or above. Maybe I can modify the technopath power. Instead of having a full-blown communication with Vas, how about just sending information and not receiving? Yes, that worked. I can now make a tinkertech with four charges by using Vas instead of having to do it myself.

"Vas, I am now going to send you a blueprint for a global-wide scanner. I want you to make one in this room, and nowhere else, understood?" These scanners are massively powerful. Once I set one up on Earth Bet, I would be able to go big brother on everyone. I won't unless I start going insane, but I could.

"Yes, sir, I shall start making the machine when you are done with the transfer." Great, everything is going my way. By the time I am done with this, the doormaker is going to worship me.

As soon as the transfer was done, the nanomachines in the air and the surrounding objects started to fly towards the center of the room, making a rather large-looking stick with some holes in it. I know all my tech uses dimensional folding to work, from the nanomachines the size of atoms to my first tech, the bracelets, but watching a stick the size of my room being able to scan what would be the size of a planet if it was not in my sub dimension just numbed me to it all. Now all I need to do is change the scanner power to a portal-making machine. I want this thing to be able to control the portals even after it is made. No doormaker-level laziness here; we are professionals. This power also takes four charges. Why is it like that? I guess being able to move the portals after making them is a very advanced tech? They could be used to cut through almost anything, maybe even Siberian's invulnerability, since she is just a complex space anomaly with a human shape—at least that is all I got from fanfics. It should be easy for a two-dimensional portal to pop her like a balloon. Anyway, now I am just getting distracted by useless shit. Let's send the blueprint to Vas and make the portal maker.

"Vas, I am now sending you another blueprint, this time one for making a portal. If you can, integrate it with the scanner; if you can't, I will make a way to combine the two."

"Yes, sir, the transfer is complete, and I can integrate the two technologies together. Would you like me to modify the current scanner or make a new one?"

"Combine it with the one already made." With this, the only place the doormaker beats me is with his other dimension portals, but that is okay. I am happy enough to make that bitch useless in Earth Bet. Of course, to use any of my techs in Earth Bet without going emperor of mankind, I would need to work with Cauldron, meaning the PRT in public, so I will try to be less of a smug bug in front of them.

In a few seconds, the stick had a weird-looking orb attached to it. "Great, now add the bracelets in a way that they will be able to hide the portal maker." I am so glad that VAS can interact with my Tinker Tech in whatever way I want. I mean, VAS can't make tinker tech, but once it has the blueprints, it can dissect them in whatever way it wants and recombine them again. I bet VAS could combine parts of the scanner, portal maker, and healing field generator to make a healing field all across the world, like Taylor was able to take over most of the cape in the world as Kepri, even if her range limit was a few feet in technicality.

Ok, with all that over now, I just make the master power and take over Heartbreaker to complete this entire shitshow. My first global presence would be to take care of a dirty rapist. I feel nice and clean just thinking about it. But I would need to talk to my team first, huh? I am already thinking of them as my team. I mean, I only brought them in because they were a major part of Worm, so they were present in almost every Worm fanfic I read, but still, it is probably not a good idea to get attached so quickly. I mean, it was the same with Ayame. I have only known her for about three days now, but I am already willing to call her one of my best friends. I mean, I got none in my previous life, but still, I should take my time.

With how fast Vas is able to print the machines, the thing that took long was me understanding the blueprint enough to transfer it to Vas and me ogling in amazement at my new, privacy-law-breaking tinkertech. All that to say, it did not take very long for me to finish with my tinkering.

"Hey, is Ayame done with her tinkering?"

"No, sir, Miss Ayame is still in her fugue."

"Has anyone requested me personally, or is everything going fine?"

"Everything is going well, sir. Nobody seems to have any problems I cannot solve." Ok, so I still have time. I guess I can do the experiment I was wondering about before the meeting. It still makes me feel uneasy, but what must be done will be done. Ok, so one of the things I have had a bad feeling about is when I think about making Eidolons' power. I mean, with five charges, I should be able to make any power, so why can't I make a power that gives me other powers? I will test it now. I turn all my powers off and make a new one that works the same way as Eidolon works, but not one that uses the shards. I still don't want Zion to frown and glint me out of reality, so this power would just be making new powers of my choice. They can be weak to begin with, so the charge number is not a problem. Let's make Eidolon's power nerfed with one charge. The powers it grants me are just a little above peak human, so speed, senses, and other things—nothing truly supernatural—just to keep it at one charge. Alright, the plan is complete. Now, just to make the power.

What happened? Nothing went wrong, but the power is not active. So what was all that bad feeling about? I thought I would be going through the weird power-up scenes from anime, you know, all that fire in my veins bullshit where they scream. I was so ready to drop the power in case it did something like that to me. Whatever, I will just test something else that gave me a bad feeling. If Eidolon's power is not allowed, how about the Emperor of Man's power from the same CYOA, even nerfed? If I can give myself psychic powers, it would still be cool, so I go to my headspace where my charges are to make the power, and to my utter shock, one of my charges feels weird, as if it is occupied with a power, but I don't have any power active. The Eidolon light power that can make other powers did not work, so what is the problem? Let me destroy that power and just make a new one, and that does not work either. Ok, what the f is going on? Don't tell me I broke my powers just a few days after I got them. What about my other charges? They seem to feel like they work properly. Is this permanent? Did I just lose one of my powers? Fuck, fuck, I feel like crying. I guess I am not that different compared to the other capes out there. Losing the one thing that finally made me matter is shattering, and I did not even lose all my powers, but still, this is depressing. I am going to go cry myself to bed.

Chapter 14 – "Echoes of Loss"

The very idea I could lose my powers never even came to me. When I go around taking the powers of others. I am truly a hypocrite, but I guess that is how taking always works. Nobody wants to lose what they've got, even if they did not work for it. All that to say, I want to cry. I am an adult, but I still want to cry. I am never doing anything with my powers if I get any bad feelings towards them. What time is it right now? It should not have been that long since I learned my power was damaged.

"Vas, what time is it?" I don't want to talk to anyone right now. I will reschedule any conversation with Ayame and the Undersiders for tomorrow.

"Currently it is 6:48 pm, sir."

"6:48. When did I start tinkering? It should not have been that long."

"You started tinkering at 2:32 pm. As for why there is an unaccounted time difference, after you asked me if Miss Ayame was done with her tinkering and I told you she was still in her fugue, you went still for what would appear to be almost four hours. Because you were not showing any signs of injury, I decided it was not a problem, so I have not informed anyone of this. Miss Ayame asked for you, but I told her you are currently occupied and that I will contact her when you are able to meet her. She is now aware that you can communicate with her. "What the hell? I just stood there for four hours, and when I got out of it, there was no time distortion at all. I did not know I was knocked out at all, but time just passed by without my awareness. This is so fucked up; I have no idea how to deal with this. I will talk to Ayame a little and go to sleep. There is simply nothing I can do because even trying to make a power that might help me with my charges is also giving me the same feelings. This is insane. I kick some stuff in the room, hoping to get my anger under control.

"Vas, check if Ayame is busy. If she is, I will go to her; if not, call her to me."

"I have informed Miss Ayame of your request; she said she will come to you." Great, now I just have to wait and talk to her about my power loss, and fuck, this is bullshit. I don't care if it is hypocrisy; this is fucking scary.

"Sir, Miss Ayame is outside your lab. Would you like to let her in?"

"Yes, Vas, let her in." I try to calm down, but the room is not exactly clean and proper, not after I broke everything I could.

"So how was your day, and why were you cooped up here all day?" She is smiling, and for a moment I think, "It is not that bad.' Then the reality hits, and my face changes enough for her to notice.

"Hey, what is wrong? If this is about the undersiders, even if I am upset you brought them here without asking me, I am not going to be that mad. Why do you look so sad?"

"Well, karma decided I should experience some of the punches I have been doling out."

"What do you mean? And stop being so sad. Whatever it is, I am sure we can work it out."

"When I finished tinkering today, I decided to experiment with my powers and decided to make a power that gives me other powers instead of just making a specific power. As a result, Vas told me I was standing still for four hours, and now I have lost one of my charges."

"Shit, sorry, I don't know how to help with the power thing, but you know I am here for you with anything, right? I will help the Undersiders with whatever Vas can't help them with, and I will tell them you will talk to them another day. As for you, come on, let's get you to your room first."

"Vas, inform me if Kaleab is having any trouble, even if he says he is fine, understood?"

"Yes, Miss Ayame, if Kaleab needs any help and I am having difficulty helping, I will call you."

"You don't have to bother that much. I will be fine. I still have a power that can do pretty much anything. Sure, this is sad, but give me some time, and I will get over it." I try to be cheerful even if I don't believe it for a moment, but it failed, and Ayame noticed in an instant.

"Don't worry, you will be fine; we are here for each other, even if we only knew each other for three days," she said the last part with part laugh and part exhale, making a chuckle sound.

"Thanks, I know I will be fine, but still, this hurts." I am not ashamed to say I cried just a little bit.

"No problem, Vas. Make sure nobody encounters us when we are going to Kaleab's room."

"Yes, Miss Ayame, I will guide you through a route currently unoccupied by anyone."

Good I don't want to talk to anyone right now. Even Ayame is a push, but I trust her. I just want to sleep now, but I need to say something first.

"Vas, if Regent uses the button I told him about before I am ready to talk to everyone, I want you to tell him to wait until I say so, understood?" I can't have him destroying a country, and because I know he is very damaged, I doubt it would even come to his mind if an entire country being damaged is a bad thing or not.

"Actually, Vas, make a rule that if anyone requests your help in an act that will endanger the life of anyone, I want you to get my permission. If that is not available, get Ayame to help." This should at least make Vas safer to use by others. Vas can't break any human-made law as long as it is in their land without my express permission, but still, this should help somehow.

After a minute, I walked to my room with Ayame, and we said good night and separated. The moment I saw my bed, I just fell on it and started sobbing. I am thankful the rooms are soundproof. After what took more than ten minutes, I fell asleep without even realizing it.

Ayame's POV

Shit, this is not good. The very idea Kaleab could lose his powers never even occurred to me. I am keeping a calm face, but this will need more planning since the moment we met he has been this powerful but kind of stupid guy with his good guy act. At first I thought it was just an act, but he kept to it, and even if it has not been that long, he is still at it, so I will not judge him too early, but losing a part of his power is going to cause everyone at least some trouble. Like he said, he is still massively powerful, but that does not mean he is unkillable. Now I need to talk to the Undersiders.

"Vas, lead me to the living room and also gather the undersiders there and make me a mask to wear around anyone I have yet to tell my identity."

"Yes, Miss Ayame, I will inform the Undersiders and Theo you would like to speak with them, and here is your mask."

A minute later I am in the living room, and Regent is watching TV. I guess I will tell him about the button thing before anyone enters.

"Hey, you are Regent, right? I wanted to tell you the button won't do anything for now. He said he will talk with everybody, but before that, he said the button, whatever it was supposed to do, won't unless he gives the permission first."

"Yea, I did not have much hope." He is not acting like I thought he would with how Kaleab was acting. I thought he would at least be upset, but nothing. While I was thinking about Regent's reaction, everyone else came to the room.

"Ok, everyone, while I did not agree to bringing you here, it has happened, and I will get over it, but Tinker E, or from now on just E, will not be able to talk to you today. There was an emergency, and if you need his specific help, just wait until tomorrow. Hopefully it will all be over by then." I did not believe what I was saying, but the mask did its job and made it so nobody could see my worry.

"If you have any questions, now is the time."

"What is the emergency?" His voice was as relaxed as usual, but I guess he was worried because Regent was the first to ask and pretty fast to.

"If I was going to tell you what the emergency was, I would have told you about it in the beginning. This is not middle school; there are stupid questions. Don't ask them." I bit back, Shit, I am tense. I need to show a calm and steady face to relax everyone. "Next question."

"What is there to eat?" There is a kid even younger than the teenagers. I think Vas said one of the undersiders has a little sister.

"For any material requirements, Vas will be able to help you. That includes food. Like this, Vas, give me a slice of cheese pizza."

"Yes, Miss Bakuda, Vas replied like he always does, and he gave me pizza. Every one of the kids thought I was joking until I put it in my mouth by removing a small part of the mask.

"Are you kidding? This thing can make food." The same kid is making a face that says she won't be able to sleep tonight.

"If whatever you want does any long-term or permanent harm, Vas will need to get the permission of E, or me when there is an emergency, but just in case, Vas, make sure her brother approves the only food the kid gets." Well, she looked disappointed. Good, that is how it should be. The kid was planning to either kill herself with sweets or make it my problem by not letting me sleep. That is not happening, and before I could even say next,

"If you can't tell us what the emergency is, can you at least tell us what is going to happen until E is ready to talk to us?" Grue is more responsible than the others, but having to take care of his sister would do that.

"For now, do what you want, so long as it is not harmful. Eat, watch, and play whatever you want. Don't worry about expense; there is nothing for you to worry about. We could print money if it were not so useless." My nonchalant voice helped everyone relax or at least shut them up. "Now I am going to eat my food and go to sleep. I suggest you all do the same. Everything will be alright, and even if it won't, you don't have the ability to help, so just relax." It is the advice I am taking. I have no idea how to help, so I will try to sleep. After that, I just left the room. "If Kaleab asks for me, call me even if I am asleep."

"Yes, Miss Ayame. I shall inform you of any changes with Sir Kaleab."

What a fucking nightmare. This was a shit day, from the morning nanobot stupidity to the I am as powerful, if not more, than the triumvirate bullshit and the last power fuckery. There are also the new guests. All my problems are his fault. The moment he gets over this, I am so going to make it his problem. I am not going to let this go. But for now

"Vas, make me a laptop in my room with access to the internet." When I get in my room, I am just going to binge-watch some TV show until it is long past midnight or I fall asleep.

"Yes, Miss Ayame, your laptop will be ready for you by the time you get there." That was the last coherent, useful information I acquired for that day.

Chapter 15 – "Waking, Waiting, and Warnings"

Thursday, March 31, 2010

Kaleab POV

Waking up from a cry Sleeping is never good. Your face is itchy, and the sleep, no matter how long it lasts, does not feel like enough, but like every day before today, I woke up like yesterday was not devastating. I feel bitchy, but whatever. I get out of my bed, wash my hands and face, clean any tear marks, and go to the living room. There is nobody here. I am relieved I will not have to talk to anyone right now.

"Vas, make me firfir with butter again and put it in a bowl with enjera on a plate." I have made multiple promises today, and I will have to fulfill them. I will need to talk to the Undersiders and also talk to Faultline about helping Labyrinth. I don't think the cube will do anything to her; to my knowledge, she is not ill; she is just distracted with her power showing her multiple worlds, and she needs to familiarize herself with the land to bring them here, right? How about I make a second mind for her, one that will do the exploring and recording, and then she can manifest whatever land she wants? I can't seem to make the change with a charge, or it is just temporary. I get the same feeling as before if I think of making it permanent, so I won't try, but I could make some type of tinker mind that will attach itself to the corona pollentia or something similar so it won't be a problem. Next, I will need to hand Krieg over to the PRT. I forgot about him.

"Vas, where is Krieg?"

"Sir, after you left him in the sub dimension, you told me to make rooms for everyone and let them decorate to their choice. He has decided not to decorate, but he is in his own room in the base."

Well, I did not mean to give him the royal treatment, but at least he did not escape, or I would have just opened a portal under his feet to put him in a temporary jail. Hmm, I am sure that is illegal in US law, but it is just a Nazi; I don't think anyone who matters would care. The firfir would probably be one of my favorite foods forever. Technically, I am supposed to be on a fast where I am not allowed to eat meat or any other animal products, but fuck that; I am going to engorge myself in that godly butter. Anyway, so what is the plan for today? Talk to everyone in the base, make a second mind tinkertech, and go to the palanquin, and after all that, give Krige to the PRT.

"Alright, let him stay there until I order you to do something different. He is a criminal, so don't let him leave. Other than that, you can give him food but no outside contact. Treat him like other criminals get to be treated in prison, but inform me of any changes so I can decide whether to allow it."

"Sir, the prisoner known as Krieg had asked for a phone call, and I had allowed it. Would you like to know what was said?" Well, shit.

"Yes, summarize what was said."

"Krieg asked to be rescued, but the person to answer on the other side told him that it is impossible to rescue him currently and that they would free him once he is being transported from the PRT to a prison." Again, shit, I probably would have to make sure he can't get rescued, but that won't be a problem; a drone can take care of that. After eating the best breakfast ever created by man, I decided to check if the guests were up.

"Vas, has anyone gotten up from their sleep?"

"No sir, currently you are the only one awake in the sub dimension." Ok, so what do I do until everyone wakes up? I don't plan on working on anything, so I guess I will play some video games.

"Vas, make me a game setup in my room, one with the same games Regent was playing with. Also, inform me when all the teenagers and older are up." I think he likes playing multiplayer online games, so they should be fun to play with for the next few hours. I played politely and quietly in my soundproof room. As for all the broken things, don't worry; that was just because I was sad about my power loss and did that before starting the game.

"Sir, everyone in the category you had indicated has woken up." Good, I wonder who was the last to wake up.

"Tell everyone I would like to talk to them in the living room and lead them there." After I told Vas to tell everyone that I would like to talk to them, I gave everyone ten minutes, and I got to the living room.

"Hello, everybody. How was your night? I hope better than mine." I try to make the room relax a little. It did not work, considering a huge part of their lives just changed out of nowhere, but I hope it is for the better. The moment I finished, everyone started to talk at the same time before I even figured out who was there.

"Ok, everyone, stop, one at a time. I will talk to everyone. There is time. Also, Vas, why is the prisoner out of his room?"

"Well, he is in the group you indicated to bring here." How? How was a prisoner one of the people I wanted to talk to right now?

"How did you get to that conclusion?" I am so confused.

"You said to inform you when everyone older than a teenager has woken up from sleep, and after that you said to meet every one of them in the living room, them being everyone older than a teenager." I see; I guess it could go in that direction.

"Ok, I did not mean to include the Nazi in the group of people I wanted to talk to. Whenever he intersects with a group I am mentioning, please ask if I mean to include him." That should fix the Krieg problem, but it is not enough to fix the root. I will need an AI soon. I will need Dragon.

"For now just put him in his room again. The rest of you, now you can speak." The first to take the opportunity was Regent.

"Been having a great time. Thanks for the game." Ah, Regent, just as always so emotionless. I will have a lot cut out for me to fix that. He is seriously damaged. The only reason I did not take his power away is because I can excuse his actions as being his father's fault. Even then, the moment he shows any more tendencies to harm an innocent, I will need to restrain him, even remove his powers if I have to, but first, let's try to make sure that does not happen.

"Good, I was hoping you would like the unrestricted access to any form of gaming equipment, but I have to tell you, to kill your dad? We first need to plan."

"Don't worry, I was not expecting much on that part; just hiding here is enough. He won't try to get to me when I am being protected by someone that can take powers."

"While that is probably true, we still need to take care of him, and I do hope you would like to at least see it happen, maybe save it and rewatch it every night for a good night's sleep," he quieted down. He still doesn't believe me, but that is to be expected; I did break my word with him, and his father is by far the worst serial rapist in the world, and nobody has killed him yet.

"Thanks for the dog place; it was big." Bitch got to the point, like always.

"No problem. I also want you to teach Vas how you take care of the dogs under your protection. While Vas has a big human library, humans don't know everything about taking care of dogs. I want you to fill those gaps. Vas can help you take care of more dogs if you want."

"Sure, I will show him how to take care of dogs better."

"Vas, I want you to learn from Bitch on how to take care of canine species. Her power and giving instincts should help you fill in the information gaps in your library."

"While we are thankful, what is the price for this generosity? What do you want from us?" Grue is always trying to care for those he is in charge of; he would make a good leader for a small group.

"For now, nothing but that is not the case for the future; Bitch will be teaching Vas, and Tatletell will be helping with information organizing. I have yet to figure out what to do with you and Regent, but since I need your teammates and you are a package deal, it is easier for me to get all of you together."

"What type of information organization do you want me to do?" Tatletale should be someone I should be careful around, not because of her power but because of her mental state right now. She is still in the same mindstate she was in under Coil, and I can't have her thinking of me the same as him, trying to subvert me, even if soon enough she will realize that is hopeless. I don't want her to stay because she has no choice but because she thinks it is better to be working with me.

"Vas is a very sophisticated VI, but at the end of the day, it is just that virtual intelligence. Right now, I am making it pretend to be a human by making it follow all US law, with me being the only one that can order it to break said law, and that is not enough. Until I am able to talk with an already existing and sophisticated AI, you will help with information organization and making Vas a more flexible tool."

"Are you saying there is already an AI, and if you can do all this, why not just make an AI?"

"First question: yes, there is an AI that already exists that is mature enough to be considered a human and is morally aligned to me. As for why not make an AI myself, it's simple: a genuine AI is no different from a human, and right now I am not in the correct mind state to babysit a child for a day, let alone help one grow up to be a functional part of society, forgetting the amount of time it would take to do that."

"Ok, that is a lot to take in, but I will try to be useful." Yep, she is in shock from the info dump. I will need to give her space for a while.

"We will talk in private about what happened yesterday and start planning for the future, but for now, are you feeling better?" Ayame will be one of my major helpers in the future, so everything she says now has more weight to it, and I am glad that is the same when she is showing care to me.

"No, the problem still persists, but like I said, even if it can't be fixed, we should be able to still progress." I tried so hard not to show any feeling right there, but I doubt Ayame bought it.

"While I know me and my sister are only here because you want Purity to attack the empire, I am still thankful. If there is anything I can help you with, please ask." I hold Theo to a high standard mostly because he has Max as a father, and he still manages to be a good person. Even if Max does not believe in the E88 propaganda, he is still a horrible man, and as his son, Theo should have been influenced to at the very least see other people through the scum-tinted glass of an evil father. Even if you say he is doing the opposite of his father to spite him, he still becomes a hero even with all the hardship that comes with that.

"While you are right, I mainly wanted you here for my deal with Purity. I would like your help with dealing with your father's civilian business. I would like it if you took over once he is dealt with."

"I am not sure that is a good idea. I don't have any business acumen. I didn't pay attention when my father tried to teach me because I did not want to be more like him."

"I mostly want your help with the authority your name holds; the rest can be taken care of by you cooperating with Vas and Tattletale."

"I would like to have access to any food of my choice." Aisha is definitely going to be the group's gremlin, like her canon counterpart, Imp.

"I will not do that, and wouldn't you like to annoy your brother for any type of food you want? Just imagine it: you want some type of candy, and you can basically go bother Gru without feeling guilty of asking him for something he can't afford." That made her so much happier than expected. I probably should not be that happy considering Grue is facing towards me with his shoulders tense. I think he figured out his sister will not be giving him any amount of free time anymore, and of course, there is the boiling tea kettle sound coming out of Aisha, but I don't know what that is supposed to express.

Chapter 16 -- "Still Me, Still Human"

After the introduction with everyone and some general talk with each other, I wanted to say some last words and leave to my tinker lab. I had gotten a completely different idea to help with Labyrinth's problem, one I got from a Worm fanfiction I no longer remember the name of. It could probably be used to help almost any power-related problem, but I will think more about it in private.

"Alright, everyone, I am glad we are all having some fun, but I would like to go tinker on something now. I won't go on a fugue, so if you would like to interrupt, no problem. If I decide to go on a fugue, I will inform Vas, and he can tell you," I decide to say as I get up from that sinfully comfortable sofa.

"That is not how fugues work; you don't just decide to go on a fugue. Whenever you are in the middle of tinkering, your power just pulls you to a fugue randomly." Tatletale, with the random info, is already trying to be the smartest girl in the room. If only I didn't have a VI with unrestricted access to the internet, I would have found that useful, and while she can't read me accurately due to the bracelets, she is still able to simulate normal human expressions, and that told her that I thought she was wrong. And as someone who just got their worldview shattered just yesterday, shouldn't she be a lot more meek than this?

"Sorry to say, my power is different, but good looking out. I hope you can show this enthusiasm in your actual work." Snarky replies are the best.

"Alright, goodbye, everyone," I say while fast-walking my way to my lab, avoiding eye contact with Ayame. After arriving in my lab, I just remembered I was supposed to talk with Panacea yesterday. She probably called, and Vas did not inform me because Ayame said it was not an emergency.

"Vas did panacea call yesterday"

"Yes, sir, after you went to sleep, Panacea did call, but Miss Ayame answered to tell her that if it was not an emergency, she should call back tomorrow." Ok, so I should not call. I was expecting missed calls because Ayame just chose to ignore the calls, but she did give a reply.

"Ok, Vas, lock the doors and don't let anyone in unless I decide to allow it. If someone wants to talk to me, inform me."

With the doors locked, I want to get to that idea I was thinking about. I was thinking of making a hub like the one [THE THINKER] and [THE WARRIOR] control, but this one will have the bracelet-hiding function incorporated with it. Right now, it won't work by stealing active shards because the moment I try, I will get fried by Zion. Instead, it will perform a handshake protocol and implant a virus. All it would do is check on communication between infected and uninfected shards to make sure there won't be a problem. It won't do anything massive; just make sure if a shard does not like the deal in the handshake protocol, it will not somehow send information to [THE WARRIOR], which would cause my death.

With a tinker tech like that, I can make sure any power-related problem can be fixed simply by communing with the powers and ordering them to do something, and this can fix the hub problem once the shard system falls. Ok, to make something like that, it would need to be able to imitate a shard. Vas can do a good job at that with the quantum computer, but it would also need a massive space bigger than my sub dimension, so I would need to make a portal to a different dimension. That is not a problem; just a portal would only take two charges. I then use one charge to make the technopath power to give Vas the design to make the portal, and in a few seconds, there is a circular gate to a different dimension.

For now, it is set to random because I don't have a database of the dimensions that exist. I would first need to check if there is a sentient life form there, so I will use the planetary scanner. And yes, there were humans, although they were in a very primitive civilization, so it won't work. I asked Vas to keep repeating this until it got to a planet with no sentient life form on it. It was taking a while; maybe I should use a luck power to just get to the end. After a few minutes, Vas was still at it, so I decided to make a luck power to fix this, and since my power is not from a shard, it doesn't have a problem with metaphysical things like luck, so after I changed the tinker power with the luck power, I made it use three charges to make sure the planet is not just barren of sentient life but also a planet I won't find a problem with in the future.

I walked through the portal, made Vas use the scanner just in case, and there was no sentient life form to be destroyed when a massive computer the size of a few mountains started to destroy this planet. This is going to take longer than I expected. I would need to enhance the replication speed of my nanomots to even get close to achieving this, so I changed my luck power to the upgrade power and restricted it to work only on nanobots.

That should make the nanobots better, faster, and more efficient overall. I gave Vas the new design for the nanobots, and unlike before, when it took over a day to fill the sub dimension, the new nanobots were easily able to fill the sub dimension in a matter of seconds, destroying and replacing the already existing ones. Now, to make a shard of even the lowest access to a hub, I would need four charges, so I will need to make the technopath power into a tinkertech. That is not a problem. I will make a tinker power with three charges and transfer the design. This is a brain implant, so I will need to remove the distance limit between a nanobot and biological matter, but limited only to me.

With that done, Vas will operate on me after sedating me. This should be scary, but I know all the things Vas can do and the other tinkertech resources it has access to, like the healing field generator, so this won't even take an hour, and the sedation can be fixed in an instant with the nanobots removing the drugs right out of my body. After waking up, the first thing I noticed was not light but signals. I can actually communicate and order Vas without speaking, but I still want this to be upgraded, so I decide to make a technopath tinker tech with 4 charges, and it no longer just allowed me to talk to the machine but also allowed me to live like an AI with a copy of myself saved in case something killed me. I don't know if my power recognizes that as me, but it can't be a bad thing, so I decide to give the tech to Vas and get sedated again to upgrade the tinker tech in my brain.

This time I did not just wake up; I was already fully functional before the drugs were ejected out of me. With this, I could even control the nanobots directly but will not because my human brain is not able to do that without things going wanky, so I will stick to commanding Vas. With this, I am back to my original capability since I never even decided to make a five-charge tinkertech.

With that completed, let's see if I can exchange the data of a massive mountain from my power to Vas without the unlimited informational exchange capability of a charge-granted technopath power, and the answer was both helpful and useless. I could send the design in parts, but it would take more than a day just to transfer it, so I would need a better technopath power. So let's see if I can upgrade it using the upgrade power, and it works, so I make an upgrade meant to up my technopath power only in informational transfer capacity with four charges that, while still not infinite, should still be enough for transferring a shard design to Vas.

Just like that, with the new tech, my body was out to sleep, but surprisingly, my mind was fine even if the tinker tech was being replaced. Cool. When it was done, there was no distortion because my continuity was still fine, and I also figured out that my power does not care about my body because I was able to change a power while being in cyberspace, so yeah, I just became practically immortal. Even if someone destroyed my body to atoms, so long as there is a memory storage big enough to store my data, I would be fine. I probably should be freaked out with this. I mean, what about the soul? I am sure after I died, I was talking to that thing with my soul, so what is going on over there?

But that is not for now. Usually when the characters in fanfic do the things I do, they are insane and go on to say some shit like "I don't care about random stranger A" or "I don't care if I destroyed the world," and that always puts me off the story, but I still want to be a good person and none of that greater good bullshit. I am still me. I still like to sleep and eat good food, so I don't care if I change my body as long as I am still me at the end. After that small existential affirmation, I make the shard power again and give it to Vas.

With Vas using the quantum computer, no matter how long it would take for it to unpack and understand the data normally, now it just takes an instant. I had already told Vas to hide the planet by using the bracelet technology on a massive scale the moment I got the first technopath implant, so it was already done by now. The nanobot replication speed is truly massive; now they were able to cover the entire atmosphere in a few hours of me being sedated, with the already large coverage making the bracelet tech cover the planet in no time at all.

The moment I made sure everything was going well, I told Vas to make the shard, and it has begun. All this just to fix one girl?? Wrong!!! All this to fix every parahuman-related problem I come across. While the Shard is being built, I will think about what to do with Labyrinth. The plan was simple: use the new shard and communicate with Labyrinth's shard. The virus will make sure there is no danger to communing with a shard from the warrior hub, and if the shard gives me trouble, I am sure I can do something about it later, but the problem is, what do I give the shard to work with me right now? The best I can come up with is unrestricted [DATA] sharing between all shards in the hub, but that won't be very interesting to already powerful shards since they have the authority to just command lower shards for [DATA]. Maybe I will get them to work for me by enticing them with [DATA] specific to what they want using my power, but it will have to be done later in the future. While I was planning what to do with the connections I was going to make, the shard was complete, with Vas being the intelligence behind it to make sure no new intelligence pops up. Ok, so now that I am basically done with this, I will just go and talk to Faultline to fix Labyrinth. I soon got out of that planet and went to my sub dimension. I want to eat something before making a deal with Faultline.

After getting out of my lab and going to the TV room, I decide to eat some meat with Dorowet and Tibis. It tasted just like how Mom makes them.

Chapter 17–"Miracles, Made Man"

While I was enjoying my lunch, Ayame came to the living room and sat next to me. I guess it was bound to happen.

"Ok, I am not going to push about yesterday, so what did you do today?"

"After I woke up, I ate breakfast and waited for everyone else to wake up. After that, I talked to you guys; you were there. Then I went to my lab and made some massive advancements to my capabilities. I am pretty sure I can cure Case-53s now."

"Ok, I was not expecting that, but I want you to get out of the base and get some air. I want you to relax a little. You can't just go from a tinker project to sleep and back again without something breaking." While she did not know I was playing games in the morning, she could still be right. I will go out and fly again. That was still one of the best feelings I had.

"Alright, I will go out and fly once I am done with Faultline."

"By the way, I just remembered, Vas, gather all of Faultline's crimes for me."

"Yes, sir, it is done." That quantum computer is really doing its job.

"Ok, give the info to tattletale and tell her to organize it from the worst to the least. If there are multiple of the same crime, I want you to summarize the information; I don't want her to go through hundreds of pages of crimes."

"Yes, sir, shall I inform you of her decision?"

"Yes, do that. Ok, so Ayame, I am sorry I keep getting busy. I will definitely try to relax more, so please don't worry."

"What the hell do you mean don't worry? To my best understanding, you are as powerful as Eidolon, if not more. You going crazy means Earth gets even worse. Of course I am going to get worried." I forget that this is no longer the Bakuda from the web serial; she is actually a sane person with a little issue with a rapist dragon and an ego to drown a fish. She is very healthy.

"I am sorry." That is all I have to say.

She sighed and said, "Just take care of yourself."

"I will," I say as I leave the room.

"Vas, show me where Tatletale is," and just like that, I had the full map of the base in my head. The technopath implant is a great addition.

I used the map to arrive at her room, and I ordered Vas to tell her I would like to talk to her about the info gathered on Faultline.

She opened the door and said, "Come in. While I am not fully done, I have organized most of the heavy crimes."

"Cool, I wanted to check if I should remove her powers or if they can work with me."

"She has done some bad things, but not on the level of rape and murder. From what you said yesterday, she can work with society. The worst crime listed here would probably be kidnapping, but either she got lucky or she did some research, because the kidnapper got what they wanted and let the teen go back. It seems they just needed a political hostage for some meeting."

I am not happy about the kidnapping of a teen, but it was not a child, and the kid was safely returned, so I think I can bend enough to allow her to stay. Alright, thank you. I know you don't like her, but you still kept your professionalism. Now, about you, I know what I said yesterday was very shocking, so I apologize. If there is anything you want me to do, so long as it is not against my moral code, there is a good chance I will do it, so after resting and healing, I want you to think it through."

"Yea, yea, I will make sure you regret it." Ha ha, I know she is going to try, but I think she deserves it, and I am sure I can convince her to be a goody-two-shoes.

"Ok, goodbye. I am going to meet with Faultline to help with Labyrinth," I say, leaving the room. After the door closes, I just command Vas to make a portal to Earth, and after stepping out, I decide to clear my powers and make the intangibility plus flight combination with three charges on flight, and just like that, I was flying through the sky at Mach 3, not the max I can go with three charges, but I just wanted to get up to the sky and to flex on human technology. I love my powers, but I decided to go to the palanquin because I want to finish this thing fast. I will relax once I send Krieg to jail. By asking Vas for a map, I learn where the palanquin is and fly straight there. As soon as I arrived, the bouncer/security just pressed his ear. Maybe he was told I would be coming, or they just have orders for generally anyone coming with a cape costume. Oh well, it does not matter. When I stepped on the ground, I was led to a different entrance where the first person I saw inside was Newter.

"Faultline is in the back room. Follow me; I will take you there." He is not acting like a teenager at a party, but I guess I did threaten all of them: if they have done anything too vile, I will take their power, and the same for leaving town.

"Thank you." There really is nothing more I can say right now, but I am sure I can turn that frown upside down in a little bit.

After following him to the back room, I see Faultline, Gregor the Snail, Labyrinth, and Spitfire. I was wondering if she was already recruited. Good to know everything is alright. Now, how to begin?

"Hello, everyone. How was your day?" I try to relax the room. I mean, since I am not coming guns blazing, that should tell them I am not here to take their powers, but maybe I should be more clear.

"I gathered some info on you, and it seems you have not done anything I would consider truly unforgivable. You got close to it with kidnapping a teenage kid, but he was safe at the end, so I am willing to forgive, but no more getting close. If you are willing to be a cooperative force in this city, then I am willing to help Labrinth with her powers, but I would also like to make another deal with you not pertaining to this, so first let's take care of Labrinth. Do you agree?" I don't think I can be any more clear than this.

"Yes, we want Labyrinth to be cured, but the only problem we know is that her power distracts her. There is no actual damage to her brain or anything, so how do you plan to fix that?"

"I am aware of the problem with the labyrinth. As for how I am going to fix it in a simple way, I am going to tell her power to work a little differently than it should. If you want more information on that, we can talk about it with the second deal."

"Alright, I am willing to agree, but I also want you to know if something bad happens, I am going to use all my resources to make your life difficult." She has no idea how impossible that is.

"No problem." With that said, I connect to VAS and order it to proceed with the handshake protocol, and it seems to actually work. If this goes as planned, my chance of victory against Zion becomes actually visible. Vas then informs me that the shard has agreed, but not just for unrestricted data sharing but also for a specified [DATA] from me. That is not a bad thing because with the way the shards work, I can do this [DATA] sharing decades or even centuries later, and they won't mind, so it is practically free now, and in that future it should be easy to give them the required data.

"Alright, that should do it." It took me less than a minute to say this after beginning the process. They did not see any flash of light, so there was no indication I did anything, so their response was natural.

"What the fuck do you mean you are done? You didn't even try anything." Newter was the first to speak his disbelief, but he was not the last; all of them said pretty much the same thing.

"Don't worry, the process is done, and right about now, Labyrinth should be able to come out of her trance-like state," and to prove me correct, she actually did get up.

"I am hungry. What is going on?" Well, that was anticlimactic, but I guess since she was not in pain, there was no relief to feel. She probably thinks she will go back to her trance randomly now.

"What the fix did was basically change the random trance into manual. She will still need to go into a trance to use her powers, but she can now do that at any free time and save whatever landscape she wants in her head and bring them out at a later time. Once she brings them out, she will have to destroy them to make them disappear. It is destruction, as in if she wants the same structure back, she will need to find a similar one by herself." I like helping, but their dumbfounded faces just give me glee.

"We will see if this is true, but for now, thank you. We are willing to cooperate with the law even if we are not going to allow ourselves to be captured."

"That is all I wanted to hear. Now, for the second deal, there is a process I would need you to go through first. What it does is make you into a blind spot for thinkers and precogs. If you are willing to wear this bracelet, I am willing to tell you of my plan."

"I am not sure what this plan is or if I will agree, so I can't just wear any tinkertech you just gave me."

"True, I guess I can be a little more clear. I am planning to use that same method I used with Labyrinth on Case-53s. I am not sure it will work, but I have high expectations. What the bracelets do is make sure the people behind the Case-53s don't kill you before you are able to make my cure public. I could do it myself, but delegation is the name of the game." I don't think they believed me, but Gregor was the first to stand.

"I am willing to risk it; do what you can."

"Gregor, are you sure?" Faultline was trying not to show much, but I guess the info dumps got to her because I was able to read her at least a little.

"This is the goal of every case-53. Even if I don't think it will work, I will have to give it a try. I am willing to wear the bracelet."

"That is good and all, but remember the use of the bracelets is to make sure a precog does not kill you all. If even one of you decides not to wear it, there is a good chance you will all be killed before tomorrow morning."

"Well, I am not going to disagree." Newt was for it all.

"Alright, I am not going to be a roadblock for you guys to achieve your dreams, and figuring out who is behind the case-53s is one of our biggest goals." Faultline has decided, and I guess everyone agreed because they showed me their hands and told me to give them the bracelets.

"Vas, make the bracelets for Faultline's crew," and just like that, bracelets were being made in real time in front of my eyes.

"Great, we can now get to work. Don't worry, it won't hurt at all." With his permission, I start the process, but when Vas sends the handshake protocol, there is no receiver. Is that what a dead shard means? But that doesn't make sense. A dead shard is just a shard without a connection to others, not a dysfunctional shard, so what is going on? I instructed Vas to check what the problem was, but for some reason there really was no intelligence behind the shards that make up Greggor's power. Does that mean Vas can get in there and take over? I decided to see what happens, and just like that, Vas had two more shards under its control. I guess they were the ones messed up to make the connection for Greggor. This is great; with this, Vas can become an entity with not much problem since there is no defense for a dead shard. I can just have Vas take control of the shards. I basically can replace [THE THINKER]. While this is amazing, and I will experiment more, I decide to order VAS to make Greggor into a changer/breaker with the ability to transform into his human form and the cape form. As for what the human form looked like, the shard still has information on him.

"Ok, Gregor, I am done now. I want you to sit down, and then your power will change you to a human form. After that, you can decide to change back and forth by yourself." Gregor, still unbelieving, sat down on the floor because he was too big for the chairs here. When he did that, I told Vas to change his body and to listen to commands from him to change forms. Just like that, Gregor was a completely different person.

"Gregor, are you alright?"

"Man, say something." Newter, while worried, is hopeful.

"Gregor, blink twice if you are feeling fine." A few seconds later, "Yeah, he blinked twice. He is fine. Three blinks—I don't know what that is supposed to mean." Labyrinth is really enjoying her time out of the trance.

"I am fine, just… Where is the mirror?" He got up and tried to walk to where he could find a mirror and promptly fell on his face.

"This body is different than the one you know how to control, so it will take some time for motor functions to be back again," I say while Newter goes to get him a hand mirror, trying and failing to keep the giggles quiet.

Soon after, Newter came back with a handheld mirror. Everyone was celebrating the occasion. I decided to give them a few minutes to enjoy it.

After that I asked, "Hey, Newter, you want me to fix your power too, right? So sit down somewhere."

He did not take a moment to think it through; he found the nearest seat and said,

"Hit me," and just like that, I began the process of overtaking more shards, and it seems there were three shards that made his power. Vas was now in charge of five shards. I am so glad the bracelets can be used on such a massive scale, or Zion might start to think Eden was back.

With that done, they wore the bracelets when they figured they would be killed if they talked about it. There was celebration, but I thought this was a friendship thing and didn't want to interrupt, so I left.