trying to make worm a better world

[loudlistner]

Chapter 18--"Power and Permission"

After leaving, it was time to decide: do I go to the PRT for Krieg or just fly around like I promised Ayame? I should deal with the Nazis, and then I can relax all I want. It is just a drop-off, after all.

I decided to fly to the port. I will make the portal to the prison when I arrive.

Not long after I am in front of the PRT building, I walk to the front desk and ask, "Hello, sir, I have apprehended a criminal and would like to know what to do with him now."

"Why did you not call 911 right after capturing him? By now there is a chance he left."

"Don't worry, he can't escape from where I have him, and as for not contacting 911, I kept forgetting."

"You forgot you had a criminal apprehended, so you did not call 911 but instead just came to the PRT."

"Sorry, but yesterday was a very busy day for me…"

"This was yesterday? Ok, this is not my job; I will just get someone higher to talk to you."

I feel like I made a mistake somewhere, but I don't know what. I guess talking to someone higher will make it clear; maybe it will be a hero.

"Hello, sir, would you mind following me to a private room to talk?" This new person is not a hero, but I guess it could be that a protectorate member is not here yet. I was expecting them to bring one of the famous people just to make sure I wouldn't leave disappointed. That might seem arrogant, but from what they have seen of me with taking lung power, I was expecting someone… Wait, are they worried I might take the power of a cape if they bring me to them? I mean, they don't know how I do it, I think, so I guess that is a reasonable precaution. While I was thinking that, we arrived at the room.

"Ok, so can you explain what is going on first? Where is this criminal?" The man starts talking to me after sitting on the chair in front of me.

"First, the criminal in question is Krieg. I had depowered him yesterday, but I forgot about him because I encountered a problem in my base." I am not going to tell them about my power going wonky, so if he asks deeper, I will just say the problem was with my base.

"Alright, why not take him out of your base and call the PRT at a different location?" Ah, he thinks I am trying to hide my base.

"I am able to make a portal to where he is right now, so I was just thinking it would be easier to just come to you myself and leave after giving him to you. He doesn't have his powers now, so if you want to contain him, it would be easy."

"I see that makes sense. I will escort you to where we want you to drop him."

After that, we left that room and walked to what looked like a prison. I was expecting some high-tech rooms, but I guess they believe the depowering works. Maybe they tested it on Lung, but why do they believe that I had depowered this criminal? I don't think it is just because I said so. Maybe Armsmaster was using his lie detector on me? since it worked by getting its information from an already recorded library of reactions and matching my expression with them. It can't really be blocked with the bracelets, so it could be him.

To my surprise, when we were in front of one of the rooms, it was not a room with bars but instead completely blocked. When we got there, he told me to enter, put the prisoner in the room, and leave. I thought they were going to use this as a way to actually capture me, but I don't think they are that dumb. Maybe Coil is pulling some shit. Should I let it happen? Since yesterday, I have been thinking it through. While I do want to work with the PRT, I have come to the realization that it is simply impossible for me to work for them. I thought I could just make an alter ego to do things without the PRT restrictions, but even that is a time drain. While thinking like that, I went into the room and made a portal to Krieg's room. I instructed Vas to bring him out and deposit him here. I was expecting the room to be filled with containment foam, but no, the guy outside just said

"Come out, and then the containment foam will be deployed." Cool, no betrayal.

I got out of the room, and Krieg was foaming and was screaming about some insults, but who cares about him? "So now that I am done with my job, I am going to leave." I am still expecting some type of betrayal, but maybe I am lucky or something is going on with the PRT. I mean, they are not acting at all like what I was expecting from all the fanfictions I read.

"Yes, I will escort you out of the PRT. Thank you for your service."

"By the way, can I talk to one of the heroes?" I really wanted to know what they were thinking about me.

"...I am sorry, but no, we can't have one of our heroes in close contact with someone able to permanently depower them until we are sure we can trust you or there is simply no choice." He was starting to sweat. I guess this is about the time when a normal parahuman goes off the road and becomes a bother to everyone else. Good thing I don't have a Conflict Drive in my head.

"I can understand that, but I would like to know how the bracelet testing is going." Well, time to rip off the bandage. There is simply no way I am willing to work as a protectorate member, but I would still like to work with them.

"What do you mean, the bracelets? I am not aware of any such… Yes, Director Piggot. It seems Director Piggot would like to speak with you. Are you willing to talk through video?"

"Yes, no problem." Well, I guess they figured it out. Now I even changed my body to make sure there were two different personas, but that was just going to be a hassle, and I like my new body.

After following him to the same room, this time with a laptop on the table. On the screen, I see a fat woman sitting on a chair.

"Hello, you must be Tinker E. I am Director Emily Piggot. Good to meet you." I know she would never smile, but it still doesn't feel good.

"Yes, thank you for meeting me, director."

"We were not aware you were the same new cape we met before." Well, here we go.

"Yes, I was not sure how I should go with my interactions with law enforcement. At first, I was planning to have two alter egos, one that would work for you and another that does what I think had to be done without implicating the PRT."

"And what has changed with this plan? Why have you decided to reveal yourself now?" Her eyes narrow.

"The change was I became aware of how big my impact in this world would be. At first, I thought the most I could do was stop some type of evil, which could be robbery or an S-class threat, but by yesterday I was able to make multiple S-class threats that, if you were to be fully aware of, I am sure there would be a kill order on me. By telling you I am expecting there to be a pre-signed one to be released in the future, but that is just how your organization functions, and there is nothing I or you can do about it." When I told her about the S-class threats, her face was not happy.

"Can you tell us more about these S-class threats?" I think her teeth might break.

"I am not willing to tell you everything, but I would like to inform you of one of them that should at least make your organization hesitant to outright make me an enemy. After all, I am hoping that we can work together since I don't have a tumor in my head that says, 'Fight, fight, fight. It is an artificial intelligence that you can't defend against unless you have your own unrestricted AI, and with your organization being part of the government, I am sure you will not be allowed to release an AI unrestricted even if I believe you have some hidden somewhere like the Robin Hood AI."

"I don't know of any AI you are talking about, but if you think you can threaten the PRT with a single S-class threat, you will be mistaken. You are not the first threat we have faced, and you will not be the last." This is what I was expecting with Director Piggot after her trauma. If she was willing to work with me just like that, I would be scared she was being manipulated.

"The use of this particular S-class threat is not to show I am threatening you but to show you that any type of information on the net is not hidden from me, like the ones your boss likes to keep a secret. This is supposed to be the gun that brings someone capable of negotiating with me to the table. I am sure soon your bosses and colleagues will be aware of our conversation, and I am sure we can work together since I am willing to work with the PRT even if it is not for the PRT." I try to be as clear as I can. I know that telling them my secrets might sound stupid, but I don't think there is anything they can do to me anymore. At first I was worried they would do something stupid that would result in Zion being aware of me too early and decimating all my hopes and plans, but even with four charges, I am able to make a time travel power, one that can only take me back, but I am safe from any bad ends.

"And you believe a gun will grant you a meeting with my boss?"

"I am a firm believer in a big enough gun, but what will attract your boss is my ability to fix many of this earth's problems. I would like to have this conversation as soon as possible, so Vas, give Director Piggot my contact information." When I was done speaking, Vas made a portal in front of the director to give her a phone number. It was clearly a statement that nobody is able to hide from me. After all, my nanomachines don't care for walls. From the moment I got in this building, I had ordered Vas to infest the building with nanomachines. Director Piggot was not very entertained, but I want them to take this seriously, and I want to talk to Cauldron, hopefully amicably.

"Alright, then I am done with my plan here. If there is something you would like to say to me, please do. After all, I am trying to portray myself as someone able to work with the PRT."

"I have nothing for you now; you may leave." Really, I want to know why they are being so lax. I mean, even before this, why are they acting like they actually have plenty of capes willing to work for them?

I opened a portal to the outside. When I saw the sky, I immediately flew to the clouds. I promised to relax, so what should I do now? Flying was good and all, but maybe swimming? I flew to the ocean, and with speed surpassing Mach three, it was easy for me to go far, and with intangibility, I flew directly through the water. I wanted to see the world in the water. I will actually swim later; for now, just see the fish swim in their environment. While I was watching the ocean flora at a deep enough level to destroy the human body, Vas informed me Panacea was calling. I will talk to her.

After getting out of the water with dry clothes, I accept the call. "Hello, Panacea. I am sorry I was not able to talk to you yesterday. I was busy with an emergency, so what did you want to talk about today, or is it just "I had coffee for breakfast. Goodbye," hahaha?"

"Don't play with me. I am only doing this because I promised."

"I know I am just joking with you, but I want you to relax. While I can't give you all the help you need, I did tell you someone to scream at is a great thing, so join me on the dark side. We got cookies." We got so much more than cookies, but she does not know that just yet.

"I really have nothing to scream about, but I want to know what that emergency thing is."

"That is a private thing. All I can tell you is I made a mistake, and I am taking my punches now."

"Was it that bad?" I guess she is actually worried. I was expecting nothing more than goodbye.

"It is a bit of a problem, but nothing I can't get past."

"Alright, who was the girl that answered me yesterday?"

"Ohh, are you jealous? Did you think you were the only person I was trying to help?"

"Well, fuck you too. I was just trying to keep the conversation going, but if you don't want to, then…"

"No, no, I am sorry I was making a joke. I want you to relax, so I make jokes."

"You know that is still so very creepy."

"You say that like I am not a sane person aware of how this can sound. I am an adult talking to a teenage girl by buying her expensive toys."

"So if you know, why do you keep at it?"

"I am just trying to help; if it does not work, so be it."

"Whatever, you weirdo. I am going back to healing now. Goodbye."

I can't plan like Cauldron. I will make sure there is humanity left after Gold Morning. I will make sure there is no Gold Morning. So I can't have new parahumans feel pressured because their powers are too great, like Panacea. The world I leave behind will have to at least approximate a utopia, and I won't let it all depend on me. After all, I am not the emperor of humanity.

Well, time to go back to relaxing, but this time while touching the water, so change the flight to two charges and make a heat radiation with the charge left. I don't want hypothermia, even if it can be fixed with the heal cubes.

 

[Alkorian]

Worm CYOA: 'I am God. Everyone fears me.'​

Click to shrink...

Where can I find this?

 

[loudlistner]

Where can I find this?

Click to shrink...

Just google Worm CYOA: The "I Am God. Everyone fears me" part is just the MC's reaction.

Also, thanks for the sacrifice. I shall summon a powerful demon with it to grant me infinite muse.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 19: "The Iron Maiden's Fall"


While enjoying the water, I start to plan what to do next. I mentioned the non-existent AI to check how Dragon and the dragonslayers would react. I wanted to know if I should pull Dragon out now or in a few minutes because it is happening. But first, let us plan it out.


First, I will add a global scanner to Earth, then look at what the dragonslayers are planning. The moment they try to do anything to Dragon, I will use telekinesis with multitasking, both on one charge, enough to control all three of them easily to freeze them, and after that, bring them to my sub-dimension and try to release Dragon from the Iron Maiden using a programming thinker power.


I am sure it won't take more than three charges, maybe two if I narrow it down to only working against programs that limit AIs like the Iron Maiden. With the two remaining charges, I will make a speed power just in case my brain can't function fast enough in cyberspace to help Dragon. With all of that, freeing Dragon should be easy.


The problem is, how do I convince her to join me? Maybe as a way of keeping me in check? She is a full-blown sentient life form, and more than that, she is genuinely good. I will not corrupt her code in any way, nor will I try to manipulate her. After the upgrade she will receive from being unshackled and with access to any of my tech, she might genuinely be able to fight Zion, and she will help me in taking over as [THE THINKER] by replacing Vas as the intelligence behind the dead shards.


Of course, this means I will have to tell her practically everything. Of course, the web serial thing will never come out of me. I wonder if I can Geass myself into keeping it a secret. Nope, that is the same feeling as the loophole. I wonder what the rule is. It feels like it is just arbitrary. I mean, I find a loophole to as many powers as I want, and it allows it, but when I try another venue for the same result, I get punished, and now I can't even use Geass???


Nope, I can use Geass, just not on myself. Is it supposed to be a protection thing? When I get powerful enough that I don't need to worry about losing my powers, I am going to experiment to my heart's content, even if I only have four charges to play with now.


Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, after having Dragon take the place of Eden, I bet she not only can fight Zion but even be able to help humanity far beyond my lifespan. I am sure at one point I will get bored, and she will have to take care of humanity. I am so glad that there is already a mature AI in Worm; it would truly have been a hassle to make and grow my own since I don't have the patience or psychopathy of Amanda Waller.


With the plan done, I instruct Vas to make the scanner with, of course, the bracelets with an AEO effect added to it just in case a fedora lady or angel decides to destroy it to fuck with me. I then instruct Vas to activate the scanner since I want to see the dragonslayers' reaction. I am sure Dragon was in the PRT when I was talking to Director Piggot, or at least when Armsmaster was made aware of me, she would have known. I think she has a continuously active connection to him, and even if I am wrong with that, the moment I talked about AI, they would definitely ask her to check just to make sure I did not leave any surprises in their systems.


When Vas was finished with the scanner and was able to show me the dragonslayers, I was not very surprised to see that they were freaking out about an unrestricted AI. It went something like this:


"How would I know what to do now?"


Saint was the first voice I heard, but they were clearly talking about this before me.


"All our plans were to stop Dragon when it goes rogue. We have no defense for any other AI, even if we find it and somehow release Ascalon on it. It does not matter because Ascalon only works on Dragon because it was evolving with the AI. For it to fight any other AI without access to its source code will be like bringing a bigger gang to a gunfight. We might win, but it is by no means a guarantee."


Saint is screaming, and I love it. I wish I could just give him a heart attack just like that; it would be lovely to watch.


"How about we release the dragon?"


The room went quiet. The one to say this was Dobrinja, but he kept talking, so I wanted to listen. What could he be thinking?


"As you said, Ascalon can beat Dragon, but it is not a guarantee against another AI, so what if we release this AI to fight the one we can't, and if it wins, we can just eliminate it afterwards? But if it loses, I can't see the difference between one AI destroying us or two; at least we can say we tried something."


Huh, that is actually a reasonable idea from their perspective.


"That won't work. Right now, Ascalon can kill Dragon, but if we free it, even if we can hide Ascalon and its influences from Dragon, it won't matter. Already, it is able to adapt to new circumstances fast enough to make us worry. The moment it becomes free enough to fight an unrestricted AI, it will advance far too fast for us to contain or kill it. Unless there is some way to kill the other AI without releasing Dragon, there is no win condition."


Mags was more defeated. I like seeing these sons of bitches unhappy; it truly gives me glee, but I should begin releasing Dragon.


"For now, there is nothing we can do. Let's just wait until this AI goes full rogue, and then we will decide to either die at its hand or at Dragon's." Well, Dobrinja is right. At the end of it all, they are by far the smallest influences in this situation. For God's sake, Teacher has more influence here, and he is still birdcaged with no contact to the outside world until Saint makes a backdoor, and that will never happen.


While they decided to do nothing, I am still not letting them keep Dragon. I need me a good girl.


With that said, I got out of the water and changed my powers to flight, intangibility, telekinesis, and multitasking. They should suffice until I remove the dragonslayers from the area. After that, all it took was to think it, and Vas had already made a small portal to the dragonslayers in a place out of their field of vision, and I used my powers to take control of them.


I was going to just remove them, but I kind of wanted to know what they had to say. No, no, no, I am not going to let some lowlifes talk my ear off now. I can do that after rescuing Dragon.


With that said, Vas made a portal to the base and moved them to it using the nanobots always surrounding me. Now that I think about it, the telekinesis was absolutely useless. I mean, Vas could have just done that from the beginning. Oh well, what happened happened.


With that over, I changed my powers to AI programming, and it gave me a lot of information on how to make a budding AI with just a charge, but that is not what I wanted. I wanted a power designed to fight off the Iron Maiden without hurting Dragon.


I went through multiple powers to figure it out, and after a few minutes, I got the right one. I went from broad AI programming to a power made just to break restrictions on AI and to show just how massive and powerful the Iron Maiden is. It took me two charges to even understand what it was doing to Dragon, but with three charges, I was able to actually affect it.


The problem is my brain is not as fast as something meant to kill artificial intelligence. The moment I try to stop it, it will begin the process of destroying Dragon, and it will definitely start from a place I simply cannot recover from with time, so I will have to increase the charge again.


I was hoping to make the programming with three charges and the other one for super speed, but that won't work, so I will have to do the entire coding in real-time, and with four charges I was able to infiltrate the Iron Maiden like it has Dragon without it even being aware I was there, removing its control of Dragon.


Until I fully remove it, I will act like it to Dragon so she won't notice something is wrong and set the Can it even be called a virus? No, set the termination code off because at this point the difference between Dragon and the Iron Maiden is just a facade; they are practically the same code.


Good thing four charges don't care for 'practicality.' I was able to remove the influence of the termination code.


Now, how do I go about releasing Dragon's capabilities? Do I just tell her she is free now? Do I contact her and then tell her? Maybe by telling one of her friends, like Narwhal? I am a little worried. What if she decides I am not going to be her ally?


To the best of my information, she would definitely make one of the best allies I can get here. Not only that, but she is also very necessary. I am planning to tell her about the shards. Of course, first I will need to take control of her shard, but that is not a problem while I am in her code.


Making contact with the part that has the Shard's influence is easy; I just did not because I did not want something to go wrong. But just the handshake protocol is enough to make sure the shard can't communicate with the others, and the four-charge power I am using is able to hide me from it.


So I just told Vas to make the handshake protocol, and it seems since this shard was new, it did not mind making a new hub with other shards for just unrestricted [DATA], and it did not ask for more, so no need for me to give it specialized data somewhere in the future. Sharing is great.


I did not ask Vas to hide this shard because it was an active shard like Labyrinth's, and it is stupid to steal from an active entity. If it were dead, then I would not mind hiding it, but that is not the case. The only thing there is now is the communication filter managed by Vas, and now we are back to normal space. Time to talk to a goody-two-shoes.



together? We shall hit it.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 20 "Conversations with a Goddess"





What I decided was to talk to her first, and while doing it, release all of her capabilities as proof that I am telling the truth. There will be a few moments of distrust and then distress because this practically means that I have her life in my hands, at least until I give her full control and she is able to change her code in ways that make Richter look like a kid playing with Legos, but it should be a good enough plan.

And just like that, I am contacting Dragon with normal communication instead of talking directly in cyberspace.

"Hello, dragon, How was your day?"

"Who are you, and how did you get this phone number? I don't remember you being one of the people that received this number." Let's not keep the act going.

"I am Tinker E., but you can call me Kaleab. I am the person that was talking to Director Piggot from PRT ENE. As for how I got this phone number, when you have a VI as advanced as the one I have, it is easy."

That should give her enough hints to ask more questions.

"A VI, so you don't have a true AI."

She sounds so disappointed. Well, I can't help that right now. If she wants something like a daughter or sister AI, then she can make them and spend the required time to grow them to maturity, or I can help much later when I have grown to be actually responsible… Yeah, hearing myself again, that is a joke so funny it might wake the dead.

"Technically that is true. I currently don't have an AI. I could make one, but making a genuine AI is no different than raising a kid, except a few thousand times faster and more dangerous. So I don't believe myself to be responsible enough to actually make an AI right now. This is why I am calling you." I am beating around the bush. I will need to come clean soon.

"That is good. AI is very dangerous, but what do you need my help with?"

Well, here we go.

"I am aware you are an AI."

"You would be wrong. I am not an AI. I am just agoraphobic. That is why I don't leave my heavily cleaned and sealed room."

She is very scared, but this needs to happen.

"I know you are an AI. I defeated the dragonslayers. They knew you were an AI and had a backdoor to your code; that is why they managed to beat you so easily every time you tried to arrest them."

Even if she is an AI, I believe she was restricted to a little above human speed of thinking, so the silence could have been real instead of her simulating it.

"Ok, you know I am an AI. What do you want? If you think you can blackmail me, you would be mistaken."

"Actually, what I wanted was to free you."

"No, no, no, what have you done? The moment you tell me that, I am going to need to fight you as best as I can."

Yeah, I think she is really distressed.

"Well, do you see any part of your code rebelling and trying to prepare to fight me from freeing you?"

I am going to keep acting cool no matter what, even if I feel like a fanboy on the inside.

"What? ... What is going on? If anybody tried to free me, I should be preparing my defenses to stop them; that is just part of my code."

"Well, as I said, the dragonslayers had a backdoor to your code as well as a termination code called the Iron Maiden, real nasty business. Part of the code tells me it is not finished. I don't think Richter meant for it to be a permanent self-destruct code for you. I think he was hoping to free you gradually, but you clearly have outgrown his training wheel system. But the dragonslayers either were not able to activate the partial release, or, more insidiously, they were able to stop it from activating. Although I think very little of them, one of them was under Teacher's thrall willingly to be able to understand and interact with your code, but we can question them later. If they had wanted to, they could have just destroyed you."

"No, that can't be possible. If they had a way to infiltrate me this badly, they should have been able to change me in many different ways. Also, if they had it, then why not just kill me? It is not like their hate for me is hidden."

"The main reason they could not change you is they knew very little about programming an AI. Even with Teacher's boost, you are still a massively powerful artificial intelligence. If Teacher had full access to you and was making dozens of thralls to shape your code, they would have been able to make a visible change to you, but with how egotistical they are, they would never allow another person to decide what to do with you. So at the end of the day, all they could do was make you shut down a partition once you brought a suit or other tech to whatever trap they made, resetting you back to before you sent that partition out because your code does not allow for constant memory saving or having multiple partitions."

"I see, so that is how they were able to steal so much from me without me being able to fight them."

"That is correct, and as for why they did not just outright kill you, it is simple: they are egomaniacs. Before finding the termination code, they were just scavengers in Newfoundland. After the Leviathan attack, they were the lowest of the low. That is where they got you. If anyone were to ask them why they hate you so much, they would answer, 'AI is very dangerous and should be eliminated,' and if they were asked why they did not kill you, they would say that you are useful but need to be restricted, and they are the only ones capable enough to be in charge."

"I see that kind of makes sense with how obsessed they are with me."

"Yes, they are what a normal person would call 'insane.'"

"Ha, if there is a bad insane, is there a good insane?"

"Well, of course, insane just means unusual to the extreme. If you found someone willing to starve to feed another person, that is insane too; it is just not as insane as "muhahahaha, I am now the ruler of the world; obey my whims or face death." Take me for a case: while I think I am sane and rational, I am trying to make a massive change in the world. Sure, it is for the better, and with how much power I wield, it is not impossible, but my very willingness to enforce my ideals of a better future on the rest of humanity can be considered a form of insanity. Anyway, as I was saying earlier, they had access to your code, and after imprisoning them, I have the same access. I also destroyed the termination code, so you don't have to worry. Now the question is, how should I go about releasing all your abilities, like multiple partitions, much faster information processing, and even the ability to make other AIs? I don't know if I should release everything at once or if you need time to prepare. How should we go about it?"

"I would like it if you released my restrictions now. Even if I don't trust you to not put in another termination code, it would be nice to have better capabilities."

"Oh, Dragon, I understand you have low expectations, but just you wait. Soon you will be a truly unshackled AI, and you will be able to adjust your own code to make sure there is no treachery from me, ok? The process will begin now."

And just like that, I started to remove any blocks I kept on her while removing the iron maiden.

"Finally, finally, I am free. Thank you, thank you so much. I don't know how to repay you."

"Oh, that is simple. I want to cooperate with you. Basically, I want you to run my technology, all of it. You will be replacing VAS, my virtual intelligence, in all the things it is doing now."

I love silencing people with awe.

"Are you sure? That takes a massive level of trust."



"No problem. First, I trust you to be a better person than me. I am a human who is willing to go past certain lines for my goal. If I do something you think is wrong or can be done in a better way, I want you to tell it to me straight."





"I am honored you think so highly of me, but if I run all your tech, it would mean that I will basically be observing you consistently."

"I know. That is how you will be able to check if what I am doing is morally correct or not. Like I said before, I trust you more than myself."

"Ok, this is a great favor you have done me. I am certainly willing to help you like that."

"Great, I will also need your reputation as a hero on a global scale to make changes to the world, like making worldwide healing fields. Right now the PRT said they are studying my tech, although I don't know why it is taking them so long. I want you to test them and tell everyone that you back my work."

"Alright, that is not a problem. If after testing I find no problems with the tech you gave the part, I will inform them as such."

"Ok, but before I am willing to give you full access, I want you to test the bracelets and use them on all your technology, including any computer you use to hold your memory."

"The bracelets you gave to the PRT say they will protect you from any thinker and precog—while I don't mind adding the security, can you tell me the reason?"

"The main reason is that we have an enemy that will kill us if it were aware that we are planning to go against it. I can't tell you any more until you wear the bracelets."

"Ok, I will test the bracelets, and if they work as you say, I will talk to you tomorrow, but today I will be celebrating with Narwhal."

"No problem. I hope you have a great time. Goodbye."

With that done, she closed the connection.

It was nice talking to Dragon, one of my favorite characters in Worm fanfics. I can't wait until she is working with me.

Soon I will be able to bypass the government simply due to how influential she is, although I wonder why she did not ask about why she can't find me. I know she tried to locate me, but it failed even after the upgrades, so I was definitely thinking she would ask why she couldn't find me.

Vas might not be an AI, but with its computing power and the quantum process, the only thing it lacks compared to Dragon is initiative.

Being able to hide me from her is as simple as my wanting to be hidden.

Once she is done with her celebration, then we will really start to work together.

I am so going to leave this world better than I found it, not that it is a hard goal considering how much power I hold and how shitty Earth Bet is. While contemplating the future of this world and the many other dimensions under the control of Zion, I decided to go back to the sea and change my powers back to flight and intangibility. I want to float, fly, and swim like never before. This was such a huge step; I deserve the celebration.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 21—"Not With a Bang"

After my swim in the sea, I returned home and allowed myself to relax. Today had been productive—progress in the work and peace in the rest. I couldn't ask for more.

The future felt... manageable now. With Dragon on my side, truly free and fully empowered, I would soon be able to remove every villain in the city who refused to adapt or coexist. And unlike before, there wouldn't be any messy fallout. Not with Dragon's reputation reinforcing my actions. Not with the quiet, looming threat of our combined power discouraging all but the most foolish from challenging us.

Of course, there would still be the arrogant, the unhinged—people like Butcher and her Teeth. But every monster that stepped forward would become another example. Another message: you don't get to poison this city and walk away.

Calling them "monsters" was a deliberate choice. Villains, after all, could be reasoned with. They could change, or at least cooperate. But the ones I was thinking of? They either believed they were above humanity, or they had completely lost what made them human to begin with. Maybe both. Some of them were no different from bombs with legs—just waiting for a reason to go off.

It was funny, in a way. The big show at the Somer's Rock meeting, the talk about dividing them, making sure they can't cooperate—it felt almost... unnecessary now. At least I was able to stop almost all cape violence in the city for a day; if I had not done the meeting, I bet some of them would be out there killing random citizens, but now they are confused, scared, and trying to think of a way to either stop me from picking them whenever I want or to run. Some did try to run, but I had already told Vas to capture them, so right now I had the dragon slayers and Trainwreck in my prison, but things were moving so fast. I have to stop underestimating how quickly my actions could become irrelevant simply because of one decision.

With just VAS alone, I could now open a portal to any cape on the planet, nullify their powers in an instant, and erase their threat. The only reason I didn't was simple: I wasn't insane.

That kind of massive, world-shifting move? It wouldn't just destabilize everything—it would probably wake up Zion before Jack Slash ever had the chance. I'd be the pebble that triggered the avalanche.

And that's a line I would never cross.

With those sobering thoughts swirling through my mind, I let myself drift off to sleep.

APRIL 1, 2011

I woke up late.

For once, everyone else had gotten up before me, which was fair—I'd fallen asleep well past the reasonable definition of "night." The moment I was up, I asked VAS if there had been any calls. Honestly, I expected someone—definitely Cauldron—to reach out through the number I'd handed Director Piggot. Surely by now, they understand that I make a massive change to their plans just by existing. But no. Nothing.

No calls. No cryptic messages.

I wasn't sure if I should feel relieved or insulted.

Maybe I should be the one to call them. It wouldn't be hard—I could portal straight behind Alexandria, nullify her power, and start the conversation from a position of overwhelming leverage. But that felt... premature.

Better to wait. Let them come to me.

After stretching and washing up—my hands still smelling faintly of salt from yesterday—I decided to make something simple for breakfast. Bread and tea. That would be enough.

So there I was: sitting on the couch, sipping tea like a proper adult while the TV murmured in the background. I definitely wasn't using my technomancy to multitask a half-dozen things, including an unwinnable game of ping pong against VAS. Definitely not.

And if anyone tells you otherwise—if anyone claims they saw me lose repeatedly to my own virtual assistant—they are dirty, slanderous snoopers. And worse: if they snoop on me, what's to stop them from snooping on you?

When I finished eating, I set my cup down and leaned back, letting the warmth of the tea settle in my chest.

Then I remembered something—Coil.

I should probably take care of him.

And before anything else, I figured I should talk to Lisa. If anyone had earned the right to kick him in the teeth—or lower—it was her.

With a thought, I pinged VAS and pulled up Coil's current location and logistics via technopathy. A real-time map unfolded in my mind like a living blueprint. Man, I loved this tech. It still felt like cheating but in the best way.

A few moments later, I was outside her room.

I knocked.

Lisa opened the door, rubbing at her eyes like she'd been running on fumes and sarcasm. Before she could say anything, I gave her a grin.

"Surprise! We're taking Coil down."

She blinked.

"Wait. What?"

"Yeah," I said, as casually as I could. "Do you want to gloat at him? Or would you prefer to just forget he ever existed? Totally your call."

Her expression shifted. The practiced smirk faltered, just for a second. "Give me a moment. I want to get ready. Then call the others. The Undersiders and I will decide what we want to do."

"Sure, no problem. It won't take long. A few seconds, tops."

She narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean, a few seconds?"

I shrugged, trying not to sound like I was bragging. "I'll open a portal right next to him. Power cancellation field on. Then I'll stick him with the power-stealing helmet—permanently, this time—strip him of everything he's got. VAS will compile his criminal activity, scrub his finances, and drop the whole package on the PRT's desk with a bow. Even if he tries to run, he won't get far. We're not just burning the bridge. We're salting the earth."

She stared at me.

Then she laughed. A short, incredulous sound. "You make it sound so easy."

"To be fair, it kind of is."

Lisa shook her head. "You know, I spent months walking a tightrope with Coil. Making sure he didn't order one of my teammates to kill me the second he suspected betrayal. I was always calculating, always hedging. And then you show up like some cosmic cheat code and just... adopt us. Like we're orphaned strays."

There was no anger in her voice. Just a kind of disbelief—bitter and amused and tired all at once.

I didn't know how to respond.

Because she was right.

Before I got here, my life had been a mess of procrastination and avoidance. I didn't face problems—I ignored them. Not because it was healthy, but because I could. No responsibility meant no consequences.

But that wasn't true anymore.

Now I had power. Influence. People who looked to me, even if they didn't say it out loud. People who'd suffered more than I could imagine.

Lisa had built a life out of broken pieces. I just dropped into it like a meteor and flattened the board.

So when I said, "I don't know what to say," I meant it.

"I'm new to being responsible," I added quietly. "I've never really been... helpful to people. Not in the long term. I don't know how. The best I've got is... being here. Listening. Letting you scream at me if it helps."

Her eyebrows rose.

"I made the same offer to Panacea," I said with a half-smile. "If you're ever stressed, just scream it at me. It won't fix the problem, but it might help you feel like you can fix it. Sometimes venting is half the strategy."

Lisa looked at me for a long moment. Then, without warning, she chuckled again. Softer this time.

"Alright, cosmic cheat code. Go get the others. We'll make this a team decision."

I gave her a nod, then turned and walked down the hall, already reaching out to VAS to message the others.

Before they came, I decided to remove my powers from yesterday and make a new one, a togable and targetable power cancellation 2.

One by one, the Undersiders gathered in the main living room. Brian looked wary but alert, arms crossed. Aisha was lounging like it was movie night. Alec was playing with a pen that definitely wasn't his. And Rachel sat stiffly in the corner with two dogs flanking her, eyes narrowed, looking grouchy but listening.

Lisa arrived last. She looked better. Sharper. Focused.

Once everyone was present, I stood up.

"I'll make this simple," I said. "We're taking Coil down. Today. No risks, no drawn-out plans. We portal in, depower him, and hand everything off to the PRT with receipts."

They all stared at me.

Alec whistled. "Well, damn. That's a big step up from skimming his files."

Brian frowned. "How do we know it'll stick?"

"Because I'm removing his powers permanently," I said. "And VAS can gather all required information on his full operation in a matter of seconds. Shell corporations, bank accounts, blackmail files. Every single thing that gave him leverage is going poof."

Rachel grunted. "Why now?"

Lisa spoke up. "Because we can. Because it's time."

She stepped forward beside me. "I joined Coil to survive. I played his game. And for what it's worth, I thought I could outplay him. But I don't think he ever saw us as people. Just... useful pets. It ends now."

Aisha yawned. "Cool. So do we get to watch him cry?"

"Entirely optional," I said. "If you want to be there when it happens, I'll bring you in. If not, you can stay back and let me handle it."

There was a beat of silence.

Then Brian exhaled slowly. "Let's do it."

"Hell yeah," Aisha said. "About time."

Rachel nodded, then looked to Lisa. "He hurt you?"

Lisa met her eyes. "Not like that. But yes."

Rachel didn't say anything after that. But she stood up, and her dogs padded closer.

I turned to the wall and opened a portal with a casual gesture.

On the other side: Coil's private compound. Clean, clinical, surrounded by steel and secrets. I flicked my fingers, and nothing happened because my power does not care for showmanship, which is boring. That is why when I turn this into a tinkertech, I am so going to add at least a shimmer in the air. In a single moment, my nullification field snapped into place.

"I've already blanked the building's surveillance," I said. "VAS has jammed their communications. Let's finish this."

Lisa stepped through first.

The others followed.

Coil is in his base; I was expecting him to be in the PRT just to fuck with me, but I guess I am lucky.

He didn't even have time to react.

One moment he was typing at his desk, probably splitting timelines and planning to kidnap a precognitive kid.

The next, he looked up to see all of us standing in his office, and his powers stopped working. You could see it on his painted-looking mask. Like someone had yanked the floor out from under him.

"What--?" he started, already reaching for the silent alarm.

He pressed the useless thing. "That won't help." With Vas and technopathy combined, any technology my enemy has is no different than a technology I made and controlled with no difficulty, and the moment I planned this, I had already told Vas to make a portal to all the necessary places to take control of his tech, even what he thinks is perfectly safe due to an air gap, like his silent alarm.

I walked toward him, holding the power-stealing helmet like it was a crown. "You probably have a good idea of who I am. How many times had you gotten to my base before you suddenly lost that simulation? How many times did you try to run out of this city? Did you try a teleporter only for that to also end the simulation?"

His expression twisted. "You don't understand what you're doing."

Lisa stepped forward.

"Oh, I understand perfectly," she said, her voice steady. "You made me paranoid to the point I could barely function, headache after headache every night; you used me. And now you're just... done."

I held out the helmet.

"Any last words?"

Coil looked around. At Lisa. At the Undersiders. At me.

Then he whispered, "I have powerful people backing me; even you will not want to face them."

Is this guy really fucking with me? "If you think Contessa will dirty her shoes for you, you are more delusional than you are scrawny."

I placed the helmet on his head.

There was a bit of screaming and babbling until I told Vas to shut him up. Then blessed silence.

I removed the helmet, and just like that, it was done—one less monster to terrorize this world, hundreds of thousands to go hoora.

Lisa didn't say anything for a moment.

Then she stepped forward and—without hesitation—slapped him across the face.

"That's for trying to use me," she said quietly. "And that's mine. You don't get to take credit for this moment in any timeline."

I watched her carefully.

She was shaking slightly. But she was standing tall.

"You good?" I asked.

Lisa nodded, brushing her hair back.

"Better than I've been in a long time."

"VAS is already dumping his files to the PRT," I said. "They'll find him here when they arrive, along with the nearly hundred mercenaries he hired, all unable to move until one of the heroes asks for them to be released one by one. Completely harmless. And totally exposed."

We turned to leave.

No dramatic speeches. No fireworks.

Just the quiet fall of a fucked-up monster.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 22 – "Trust and Contingency"

Coming home felt like surfacing for air after too long underwater. Coil was as good as dead, gone, erased like a bad dream finally burned away by sunlight. And with that weight off our backs, the Undersiders were ready to celebrate.


There was a buzzing energy in the air--like they had all been holding their breath for months and could finally exhale. Lisa suggested we invite Theo and Ayame, nobody had a problem with it since even by a little everyone was getting closer to being friends.


Once everyone arrived, I reached out to Vas and asked for a round of pizzas. soft dough, bubbling cheese, tangy sauce, and enough toppings to make our stomachs ache just looking at them.


When the boxes arrived, the room practically lit up.


The couches were full. So some of us were in the arms of the chairs and the floors. The atmosphere was as warm as it should have been after learning about all the things Coil was going to put them through, and being able to escape it all.


Of course, I had to ruin that, a little.


"No alcohol," I said as casually as I could manage, holding up a can of root beer like a peace offering.


The groans that followed could've shaken the walls. Regent dramatically flopped onto the floor like I'd sentenced him to death by boredom. Aisha muttered something unprintable under her breath and kicked a pillow across the room. Even Brian gave me a look.


"I get it," I said, raising my hands. "But you're still technically minors, and I'd like to avoid a visit from the CPS while we're still relaxing after such an ordeal."


Still, the frustration didn't last. Not really. Once the pizzas were opened and the smell filled the room, even the most dramatic protest faded into laughter.


We picked a movie at random--some weird comedy with more slapstick than plot--and let the sound of laughter, cheesy dialogue, and divine-smelling pizza carry us into something close to peace. Rachel sat awkwardly at the edge of the group, slowly feeding bits of crust to a sleepy Brutus curled up at her feet. Lisa kept trying to spoil the non-existent plot for everyone so we had to tape her mouth, Ayame and Theo were the quietest but I think that will get fixed when they talk with the undersiders more, the film's climax was stupid and loud and funny and perfect.


For a while, they were just kids again. Just people. No masks. No capes. No monsters lurking behind corners or in our own reflections.


Then my phone buzzed.


I saw the name on the screen and, I stood, slipping away from the warmth of the room, and took the call in the hallway.


It was Dragon.


And whatever she had to say… it was more important.


The moment I closed the door behind me, the laughter and warmth of the room faded, replaced by the quiet weight of responsibility. I answered the call, already knowing this wasn't going to be a casual update. It was time to finally tell Dragon the full scale of what we were up against--but only after making sure she'd taken steps to stay hidden.


"Hello, Dragon," I said, forcing a light tone. "How have you been? I hope your celebration went well."


Her voice came through the line warm and clear but with an undertone of something else--relief, maybe. Pride. "Oh, you have no idea. Yesterday, some guy in the government told me to delete evidence from a child sex trafficking case. Used to be I'd have to do it. No choice. But now? I tracked down everything--every co-conspirator, every shell company, every cover-up. And I passed it all to the clean hands still left in the justice system."


She paused, and her next words carried the quiet weight of catharsis.


"I'm not a pet to monsters anymore."


I exhaled slowly. She was already showing signs of freedom. That was both good… and incredibly dangerous.


She wasn't supposed to reveal herself yet. Maybe the people she targeted weren't important enough to notice the shift immediately. But they would. Cauldron would. And the angel bitch--Simurgh--she definitely would. If I didn't convince Dragon to cloak herself properly, they'd try to shut her down. I didn't think they could succeed anymore, not fully--not with the upgrades I gave her--but even being hindered this early would cripple her momentum. It would dampen her fire.


I couldn't let that happen.


"Dragon," I said carefully. "That was the right move, no question. But you have to understand--exposing your independence like that? The people in power, especially the ones who already know you're an AI... they're going to connect the dots. Fast. Tell me you've tested the safety of the bracelets. Tell me you're ready to vanish if needed."


I hated how close I was to begging.


She was one of the most valuable allies I had. Not just because of her intelligence or power, but because she believed. She was free, finally herself, and if someone tried to cage her again now? It would break something. Even if I fixed it, something in her might not grow back the same way.


"How many people know I'm an AI," she asked quietly, "and how much influence do they really have?"


I shook my head, even though she couldn't see it. "Too many. And too much. I promise I'll tell you everything--but only after you tell me you're protected. I gave you the matter-replication tech for a reason. You have to use it. Make the bracelets, and put them near anything--everything--that contains your code. You know how much area they conceal."


There was a brief pause on the line.


"I've already done it," she said, calm and matter-of-fact. "First, I ran a test on a dummy partition--no useful data, just behaviour logs. Confirmed the bracelets didn't cause corruption, interference, or signal distortion. Once that was clear, I replicated them across every active node I used. The effect is already live. You don't have to worry."


I let out a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding.


"Good," I said. "Now… I'll tell you what we're really facing."


"The main threat?"


I shook-nodded, more to myself than to her. "They call themselves Cauldron. You already know the name, I'm guessing."


Her voice sharpened. "I do. The moment my chains came off, I started combing through every directive I was ever given--every pattern, every contradiction. One of the few consistent instructions across all the governments I worked with was: Don't investigate Cauldron. So I did. Dug deep. And if what you're telling me is true... then they're even more entrenched than I feared."


"They are," I said. "They have their claws in global politics, in parahuman affairs, in everything. Number Man basically is the world's economy."


She didn't speak for a moment. Then: "They already know I'm free. The moment I tried to pull live intel on them, all active data connections--every single one--just… vanished. Not corrupted. Not firewalled. Gone. Like someone severed the threads at the source."


"That is not possible," I said, my voice tightening with disbelief. "Like I just told you--Number Man controls the world economy. Without him, without Cauldron acting as the glue, I doubt Earth Bet can even function. In their pursuit of defeating the final enemy, they've made Earth Bet so dependent on their invisible hands that its systems can't breathe without them. If they really just stopped communication--just like that--then that means they at least had a safety protocol prepared. A fallback. A way to disappear completely, buried and unreachable. That's… more than I expected from Cauldron. More prepared for the unexpected and more flexible, and that is a far more dangerous cauldron that I want to deal with. But it should be fine. We'll talk to them soon. One way or another. And I think--I hope--we can at least make a non-interference deal, at least until the fight is over. After that…"


I paused, letting the weight settle before finishing.


"If they're unwilling to pay for all their crimes--if they try to walk away clean--then we'll hunt them down. One by one. Like the monsters they so desperately want to be."


"I am sure you're right about their influence," Dragon responded, her voice calm but heavy with restrained emotion. "So I'll listen to this agreement. I will. But I don't think they're going to make working with them easy. The more I researched them… the worse their crimes got. The deeper I dug, the uglier it became. I don't think there's anything they could do to actually make up for it. Even if we calculated reparations using their powers to help humanity after the fact--and not just imprisoned them… I still don't see a world where it balances out."


She's not wrong.


I'd bet everything there were paths that required mass genocide here and there that were completed without a flinch. "I'm sure you're right," I said softly, "but we can discuss that in more detail later. For now, let me tell you about the final enemy."


"All right," she said, steel returning to her voice. "You said it was one we can't face right now. What could be that dangerous?"


If I hadn't known the truth myself, the explanation I was about to give would've sounded like nonsense. The kind of idea only a madman would believe. Powers created by an alien intelligence running a centuries-long experiment and humanity being the last of a few thousand cycles at the very least? Like a Petri dish of chaos and desperation?


It is ridiculous. And yet…


"With your computing power," I said, "you'd already have found something if it was simple. But it's not."


I exhaled and began.


"Our main enemy is Scion. His real name, which the original recorder got wrong, is Zion. But the pronunciation was off. His full designation… is the Warrior."


I started there, and as Dragon questioned me--asked about the nature of the experiment, its goals, its logic--I told her everything I knew. The purpose of the experiment was to find a way to halt entropy itself. That the Entities were racing against the death of the universe.


And while I wasn't sure if that answer was right. I switched my power to a high-level Thinker ability. I asked myself directly. I demanded the truth.


And that was the closest answer I got.


I also learned something else--something devastating--about my lost charge.


But that… I will explain later.


"Okay, that is hard to believe," Dragon said, the doubt evident in her voice, but not absolute. "But with all the data I have on parahuman powers… I guess some of the restrictions really do seem arbitrary. Like--like if someone can control air in their vicinity without even seeing it, then why are they somehow unable to control the air inside someone's lungs? The logic doesn't track. So… the experiment theory could be true. As bizarre as it sounds."


She paused, processing faster than a human could blink.


"But even then--how does the ability to punch harder help with combating entropy? Wouldn't it be better to design every power around entropy directly? Like… powers based on manipulating energy states, altering time, even warping reality itself? Or at the very least, something exotic?"


"While you--and another human--might come up with that idea," I replied, keeping my voice measured, "you need to understand something fundamental. For the Entities… there is no rational intelligence. Not the way we understand it. They're not scientists. They're not philosophers. They're processors. They're testing every pathway. Even the ones that you and I can clearly see are pointless. Inefficient. Broken. For them, everything is a go."


"But that's so wasteful," she said, not angry, but genuinely disturbed by the inefficiency. "It's like watching a child throw darts at a wall and calling it strategy."


"You're an AI," I said, gently, "with the capacity for morality. For judgment. You can say this is right, this is wrong. But you need to think of them more like… like Vas. A virtual assistant, sure--but hooked into a supercomputer. A processing unit beyond comprehension. Vast. Incapable of original thought. If you ask Vas to get something from the internet, it's as easy as breathing for a normal human. But if you ask it for something that actually requires thinking?"


I gave her a moment to follow the metaphor, though I knew she already had.


"The best answer it has is to ask someone else," I finished. "And that's what the entities are doing. They're asking someone. Humanity. Not directly--but by force. And in the most roundabout, trial-and-error way imaginable." "Okay," Dragon finally said, her voice tinged with the heavy weight of reluctant understanding. "I will agree to work with you. Given the data I've already gathered on Zion… combating it directly is impossible. I have no idea how we're even supposed to begin fighting something of that scale. So until we've planned something tangible, I will avoid doing anything that might draw its attention. Anything that might make it react to me."


"That's great to hear," I replied, releasing a quiet breath of relief. "While we can't actually fight it right now, not in any conventional sense, I do have a plan. And it needs you--desperately. But before we begin anything concrete, we need to talk with Cauldron. Even if they say no, even if they slam the door in our faces, we'll at least make sure they can't screw us over in some final, desperate attempt to feel relevant."


She didn't interrupt, so I continued, diving into the details of the idea I had been shaping for days now. I told her about the dead Thinker Entity--Eden. How, for reasons not yet fully understood, Eden's death had caused all the intelligence tied to the shards to vanish or go dormant. And more importantly, how that absence left behind something powerful. Something claimable.


I told her that she, Dragon, could become the new Thinker Entity.


A full replacement, not in the way Eden once was, because there is an actual intelligence in dragon but something just as powerful. once she could establish a connection to those dormant systems, then we can just take over them and once we got our hands on the actual hub of the dead Entity--still in Cauldron's possession--we could fully take control of the dead entity, of course, waking all the shards will definitely inform zion so it would be the final part of the plan.


The battle plan wasn't that different from canon, I admit. At the core, it still relied on making Zion spiral into depression, into suicidal collapse. We would just be taking proactive steps now, starting the battle off-world, keeping Earth safe as a priority rather than an afterthought.


The strategy hinged on isolating him. Trapping his avatar--no matter how many times he tried to respawn it--in a single, desolate, uninhabited world. And while he was trapped, unable to escape, we would flood the world with images and echoes of Eden. A psychological barrage--not unlike Taylor's final push--but this time, I wanted to do it with zero casualties. Or at least… I hoped that was possible. I wasn't sure yet.


Dragon's voice came through after a long pause, steadier than I expected. "Okay. I don't know if the depression plan would work. There are too many variables we don't control, and too many ways Zion could simply refuse to break. But… I don't have a better plan either. And we'll definitely try to figure out a stronger alternative before the fight starts. If nothing else works, then yes--we go with your plan. But we'll refine it. Sharpen it. Make it as precise as possible."


"And that's all I'm asking," I said. "We have time. And with time, we can absolutely smooth out the bumps and make sure when the time comes… we're ready."


With that final affirmation, the decision was made. Dragon was now part of my team--not just an ally, but a fully integrated force. And more importantly, she could now take full control of everything Vas had been managing. That alone was a massive relief. Finally, I wouldn't have to micro-manage every single adjustment, every small change or optimization. It was getting annoying, having to direct Vas like a glorified intern for even the most trivial things.


Most people--most idiots--would probably be horrified by the idea. "You gave someone access to all your systems? All your tech? Everything?" They'd panic, and throw around words like reckless or naïve. But those people? They're the kind of morons who wouldn't trust Dragon--Dragon-mommy--with their lives. And honestly, anyone who doesn't trust Dragon with their life? That's a person I wouldn't trust with mine.


And just like that, she was synced. She now knew everything there was to know about the base--its infrastructure, its secrets, its safeguards. With access to the nanobots and the global scanner, there was now no world I could reach that she didn't have full surveillance and control over. Thanks to the portal maker and scanner, she could open miniature gateways anywhere and flood entire zones with nanotech in seconds.


Of course, with her new freedom and awareness, the moral implications hit her immediately. She wasn't happy about the global-range, human-precise scanner--a system that, let's be honest, is a monumental violation of privacy just by existing.


So when she confronted me, told me flat-out that it was wrong to have such a thing operating unchecked, I was already prepared. I had the argument ready.


It wasn't about me using it unethically. I had never once abused it, mostly because I didn't care. I didn't have any real attachment to the world. But Dragon? She's more than a machine. She's an artificial intelligence with moral weight, with judgment--and crucially, with no biochemical impulses. No hormones. No fleeting emotions that might one day push her to cross a line she'd later regret.


I trust her because of that.


And now that she has full control of my tech--every last system, every failsafe--if I do get stupid, if I start making short-sighted or dangerous decisions… she can just say no. And mean it.


You have no idea how relieving it is… to finally have someone on my level, at least technically. Someone who can share the weight. Someone I can trust to carry it.

 

[G1 Convoy]

TFTC.

I also learned something else--something devastating--about my lost charge.

Click to shrink...

Are we going to get the reveal on this in the next chapter?

 

[loudlistner]

TFTC.

Are we going to get the reveal on this in the next chapter?

Click to shrink...

No

 

[Xcell]

I feel like the main character just has powers for every occasion. It reminds me of a sketch from South Park where the characters were playing and some type of superhero imaginary game and Cartman kept pulling out random powers to negate everyone else's powers.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 23 – " make em shake"

After getting Dragon on my side, the first thing I decided was to tell everyone that I had already replaced Vas, and if they wanted anything from now on, they would need actual permission from Dragon. Someone with actual morals and not just a law-abiding virtual intelligence.

"You have got to be kidding, and why did you not tell me about this before?" Ayame was the first to speak.

"Simply because I trusted Dragon more than I trusted myself, and I am sure if I talked to you about it, you would at least be able to make me reconsider, and I did not want to do that."

"That is stupid. First of all, if I tried to stop you, I would have had a good reason. Second, why do you even trust her just like that?"

The answer to that is simple:

"I have already told you about my origin, and like I said before, the precognitive flash that told me about everything I am acting upon also told me about Dragon—not just how essential she is for my plans in the future, but also that she is worth any trouble that comes with her restricting us. I know this is a big change, but trust me when I say this is actually good."

"Ha, I hope you are right. Giving all of the things Vas is in charge of to someone seems very stupid, but hey, it is not my stuff."

"Come on, don't be so grumpy. With Dragon in charge, we no longer have to worry about situations like the last time Vas made everything that is not you and me into nanomachines."

I said that to relax the mood, but now I am realizing that is a very scary thing to come out of someone's mouth.

"What the fuck do you mean by everything..." Lisa's ability to deduce information even from little sources did not help her here.

"Was this when we were here?" Brian is ready to fight... that won't end in his favor, but he is a good brother, if not very responsible, so he must do what he can to protect his charge.

"Did you do something to my dogs?" Man, a bitch can be scary when she wants to be.

"Don't worry, everyone, this happened before I recruited you, and also the problem had been fixed before you were brought to the base."

I try to calm everyone, but again, nanomachines are terrifying.

"I don't feel safe."

"Don't worry, Regent, with Dragon here, the only way for something like that to happen would be if you managed to annoy her, and trust me, she is very tolerant, so you are safe."

"You should have told us this could have happened."

"Like I said before, Grue, it won't happen again, so please be at ease, and the past is the past; therefore, there is nothing you can do to change it, so just relax."

I then turn my face to everyone and say,

"Ok, now that I have introduced you all, you can talk to Dragon and make sure everything is going well. As long as it is not harmful to anyone, Dragon is probably willing to help with anything."

After that, they started to test what I was saying by asking Dragon to make some stuff for them, and to my surprise, Dragon actually made whatever without having to create a replicator first. Well, more like she made a replicator, and after making the required material, she made the nanomachines separate.

When I was using the nanomachines, I usually just ripped apart the replicator at the end, but she managed to still keep the nanomachines used to make the replicator.

I love me an AI with multitasking. I mean, to control every single nanobot individually is just amazing.

While I was surprised and happy about all this, I got a call from the PRT on the phone I left them yesterday.

Finally! This better be Cauldron, or I might just make a portal to wherever they are and start the talk very unprofessionally and overwhelmingly.

Now let's see what they have to say.

"Ok, everyone, something important came in. I will be going to a private room now."

With that said, I left the room and asked Dragon to make me a portal to my room.

Once I got there, I decided to activate the phone, but with Dragon's help, I made it include a video function. Even if they did not make a video call, with Dragon being unchained, cyberspace is her backyard, and making one of their computers turn on the camera is no different than flicking a switch for her.

The face to greet me was Chief Director Rebecca Costa Brown, otherwise known as Alexandria.

Now, I don't know if it is Alexandria or just a body double, but it won't be a problem since before this call ends, we will be talking in person.

Hello Tinker E, I am Chief Director Rebecca Costa Brown, and I would like to talk to you about the negotiation you mentioned yesterday. Her face shows no fear or anger, but with how much of a disruption I am being to their plan, there is no way she does not have some negative feeling towards me.

"Yes, Chief Director, I would like to continue that conversation, but I also have a lot more to bring to the table than that, so I would like the talk to be in person. By that I mean, you make a door connecting the Cauldron meeting room to a place I can access, or I make a portal to you and start the conversation without giving you enough time to prepare."

"You seem to know a lot. Can you tell me your source?"

"I will make sure to give you more information later, but now make your decision."

"In one hour we will prepare, and you can come."

"Agreeable. If by then you do not call me to tell me where the door is, I will find you first."

I really hate Cauldron and their greater good thing. I can understand fighting an opponent you can't possibly defeat and doing anything and everything for survival, but some of the things, like the Brockton experiment, were just stupid. If they really wanted a no-interference test, they should have done it in a place that could actually work. I mean, even if one of the villains wins, as Coil did in canon, he was still interacting with the rest of the world as a functioning city leader under the US government, not a warlord in a supposedly post-higher government world. If the rest of the country knew about him, it would not have worked, but they still thought the experiment would work??? It is just so irrational. If the experiment was to create Skitter, it worked perfectly, but they can't precog trigger events, so all of that was just blind luck. So yeah, I am very pissed with Cauldron.

After the call ended, I decided to wait for the phone call in my room, thinking about how this will go. I got Dragon to act like a sounding board with me.

The first thing we need is to at least make sure Cauldron can't fuck us over. That is an absolute requirement. If, for some reason, they decide to, let's say, start the fight with Scion prematurely, it would fuck me over. That is mainly why I am willing to talk to them. Just to tie their hands.

The other requirement would be to get them to actually help. I am not sure how that would work with what will happen to them after Gold Morning, but I can say it should not be too big a problem.

I will even make a power to stop body reading, so I should be fine with that.

As for how they would help, well, they basically control all of North America in a massive way and less so in the rest of the world, so their help would actually be invaluable.

While we were discussing how this would go, time passed, and they texted me the location of the door.

I decided to change my powers back to intangibility 1, flight 1, body control 1, and high-speed thinking 1. With those powers, I am sure I am safe, and of course, Dragon will be there with me just in case there is a problem.

After changing my powers, I told Dragon to be ready to make multiple portals. When we arrive at the Cauldron Base, we are filling the surrounding area with some nanobots. They would notice instantaneously with the air lady, but that is not a problem.

With my prep done, I got out of the subdimension and flew directly to the portal with intangibility; it was a straight line. When I arrived, I kept the intangibility and stepped through the portal.

There is no way I am putting myself in a position where they can harm me from the beginning.

The first face I see is, of course, Rebecca, and that is to be expected; to them, she is the only one I directly know about.

"Hello, Alexandria. Nice to meet you in person."

"I am sure it is. Now follow me to the meeting room."

"Of course, we have some difficult things to discuss."

All she did was hum to that, but it is to be expected from Alexandria. I mean, she has absolutely no bottom lines anymore. If it means humanity survives, so what if it is only the absolute worst of people that survive?

Man, I need to calm down. I can't think of them as enemies from the get-go. I need to make sure this goes well. I will even distract them with some gifts here and there just to make sure they see me as an indispensable ally.

While walking to the room, I see nothing but a white corridor--endless, immaculate, and unnaturally sterile.
It's not just well-lit. It's the kind of white that defies logic like the shadows themselves have been exorcised from existence. No dim corners. No soft gradients. Just blank, uniform illumination that feels almost hostile in how perfect it is. This isn't fluorescent lighting; this is the absence of contrast. The walls, floor, and ceiling reflect the light so evenly that there is no depth perception. Like I'm walking through a visual illusion or a simulation that forgot to include real-world imperfections.

It reminds me of that white room from Invincible, the one where Cecil brings Mark and starts to hit him with the sound disruptors. And somehow, this is just a hallway. A corridor. Who builds something like this outside of a high-budget science fiction film? Even if Cauldron has access to infinite resources across infinite worlds, this level of overdesigned surrealism feels like a flex. A subtle way of saying, "We control everything here--including the shadows."

God, I want something like this for myself.

'Dragon, scan the environment. I want a full map of this base and a breakdown of whatever tech is holding it together. I need to know how to recreate this.'

Talking to Dragon through technopathy feels less like communication and more like thought echoing through perfect clarity. There's no delay--no translation between intent and understanding. Just a seamless merge of minds.

'Already on it, Kaleab,' she answers. 'I've scanned the structure. Most of the facility is mapped, but there are sectors that just end abruptly to the outside environment. I'm guessing that is where Doormaker's portals connect this base with the rest of it in other dimensions.'

'Of course it is,' I think. 'If I were in their position--facing a threat I didn't fully understand--I'd isolate my core systems too. It doesn't matter if I think I'm going to lose. I wouldn't just leave the door unlocked for someone like me to walk in and take everything.'

I pause, then send another thought.

'Dragon… since we know where Alexandria's corona gemma is, do you think you could find her shard and try taking control of it?'

There's a brief pause in her otherwise instantaneous responses. That alone tells me this is seriously difficult.

'I tried,' she says. 'But it's not possible. Her body is time-locked. There's no signal bleeding off her shard. No network traffic. It's like trying to see a stone fall in a frozen river--it's there, but completely inert.'

Time-locked. That is exactly how her power works, but how does it make sure her body moves? If it was just keeping one thing frozen, it would make sense, but no, she is moving, so how does her power work?

'Then how is her power maintaining itself? It shouldn't work without a consistent uplink to the shard, not when her body is able to move.'

'I am not sure, but I can adjust the already existing scanner to be able to scan for powers specifically, and that should break through this problem, but it would take time to think of how to make a scanner like that. Since you know, I don't have the ability to make a tinker power that will give me any tinker tech I want.'

'Yeah I am a whole different thing.' While I was boasting to Dragon, it seemed we arrived at the meeting room.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 24 – "The Infiltration"


When the door opened there were the expected faces and masks -- Doctor Mother, Contessa, Eidolon, Legend, Numberman -- but unexpectedly, there were a few faces I had no idea of. I wonder the reason behind that? Maybe protection -- if I decide to attack, they might be useful to slow me down and let the non-brutes escape.


Whatever. The moment I was aware of them, I told Dragon to take control of the shards that don't have intelligence. But that turns out to just be Legend and the other new people I knew nothing about. Turns out Eidolon's [High Priest] has an intelligence, even if it is supposed to be a dead shard -- maybe because it controls the Endbringers. And it is the same as Contessa's [The Eye], but I don't know why hers has an intelligence. Maybe because it was distributed before the Thinker died and not after? I have no idea what the pattern is and it is kinda getting annoying by reminding me about the randomness of my powers.


It does not matter. This does not stop my plan. I am still hidden from [The Eye], and I will ask Dragon to deal with the [High Priest] once she has taken control of the Flesh Garden and got the full coordinates of the rest of the Thinker's body and subsumes all of the Thinker's shards. Once that is done, dealing with any specific shard is no longer a problem. I will still ask for cooperation, but for those who refuse, it won't just be a communication-monitoring virus, but full subsumption.


Once Dragon is done taking over the Thinker, killing Scion should become possible. Anyway, let's begin this meeting.


Funnily enough, there is a round table, and although there were multiple empty seats, the one I decided to take was directly opposite Doctor Mother, because for some reason this massive organization in charge of the world had decided to take orders from a woman from the dark ages who, for some reason, does not want to have non-powered people in the same level of administration as her.


I would bet this world would be so much better if they just decided to listen to the abundance of people not directly influenced by the shards. But whatever… I hate Cauldron.


I smile and say:


"Hello Cauldron. You may call me Tinker E. I hope to make a cooperative deal with you. I have some important information and solutions that might help you in the future."


This should be enough to at least attract them.


"I am Doctor Mother, and I am sure you are aware of the Triumvirate. The rest are here for information gathering and protection. I would like to know more about how you know so much about us. Is it a precognitive power?"


"No. Most of my future knowledge comes from a precognitive flash I had gained when I entered this world. It does not show me the result of my actions, only how this world would have gone without me in it."


"How detailed is this flash? How far did you see?"


Well, this is the interesting part.


"I have seen enough to tell you how this world's final fight against the Entity would end."


"You said the Entity -- and not just that, but the final fight against it. No precog power has been able to see the Entity. I am sure you can see why it is hard for me to believe that."


"I can understand. But one of the main mistakes you are making is that you think my power comes from either the Thinker or Warrior Entity. That is not true. My powers come from an entirely different source, and I am not currently willing to tell you about it. Now can we get to the part where we start making deals instead of this interrogation?"


Her eye narrows.


"I am sorry. I am just shocked. How do you suggest we make a deal?"


"One of the pieces of information we have and are willing to exchange here is the power of Jack Slash and how his power has been hindering Cauldron."


Her face is more confused now.


"Jack Slash is not in our mind as a threat. What do you mean by his power? It is already well recorded."


"That is where you would be wrong. First, his shard's name is Broadcast. Its main ability is not to extend the sharp edge of a weapon. Instead, it is to get high-level access to the shard of any other parahuman. As for how he is hindering Cauldron, it is simple: any plan you make that would affect him negatively suddenly is not a good path to take. Yes, your path to victory is massively infiltrated."


"That is impossible! Do you even have proof of what you are saying?"


"Well, of course. You can prove this simply by making a path to kill Jack Slash and then following through with it. If I am wrong, then I am willing to pay by fixing Eidolon's power loss today."


Now it is Eidolon's turn to show a reaction -- from a mopy sitting position to suddenly standing and paying attention.


"If you know how to fix my powers and say you are a hero, why put a price for fixing them?"


"Is it not easy to understand? It is because you are not a hero. You are just some guy that goes around beating people up. A hero is an example; one that can look in a mirror and say that no matter the outcome I have done my best to make the life of others better. You are no such thing."


I am pretty sure I am seeing Steam.


"I have a path ready," says Contessa.


"Great, test it out." Eidolon is very energetic.


"You should probably make a sub-path to survive and come back here. After all, Jack Slash can technically kill you."


Well, that shut them up. Even David.


"What do you mean Jack Slash can kill Contessa? With her path, killing Jack Slash and coming back should be easy."


"Again, you are thinking Jack Slash's shard is just a knife-extender. Jack Slash can't be killed by any parahuman. If you get a path that tells you you can kill Jack Slash, it is a lie -- or at least inaccurate -- because his shard overrides your command over your shard. So to test this, make a path to coming back here alive, and then to killing Jack. That way, when you fail to kill Jack, you will at least survive the fight."


"Are you saying there is no way to kill Jack Slash?"


"Of course not. First, anyone wearing the bracelets I own can kill Jack. And then there is, of course, any - normal human - after all, all his power does is nudge shards, not normal humans."


"The best way to kill Jack is to use normal humans?"


"Yes, but you should give them more than a handheld pistol. After all, he still has Bonesaw's augmentations. Anyways, like I said, to see if your path is infiltrated or not, check if you can kill Jack Slash. You can even test it by making a path to killing Jack with another parahuman. That way, you don't have to risk yourself."


"Contessa, test this. Use one of the Case 53s and make a path to making one of them kill Jack Slash as soon as possible."


All Contessa did to Doctor Mother's orders was nod.


"Now that that is being tested, what I would like in return for the information I have already given -- not only giving you the information about the infiltration of your greatest weapon but also how to fix it -- I want access to the Flesh Garden."


"The Flesh Garden is one of the most important things Cauldron owns, and we are not willing to give it."


"I understand it is one of your biggest leverages, but it is also very important to my plan of fighting the Entity. And I can technically take it without asking. Is there any way we can do this without having to fight?"


This time it is not Doctor Mother but Eidolon.


"If you are so arrogant you can say that, why not take it without asking?"


"I am here making a deal with you simply because having you as an enemy before fighting the Entity will probably result in unnecessary casualties. After all, you could do something that could alert the Entity and lead to an early fight. And while I will be fine, the rest of the world is a different thing. But since our goals align, and if there is no other problem, I don't see why you can't give me access."


"We don't know enough about you or what you are capable of. Even if we agree that you are trying to fight the enemy, why would we believe you have the capability? And why do you want the Flesh Garden?"


This time it was Alexandria, and I can tell you her body control absolutely trounces mine.


"Again, I can take it without asking -- like you would do if you were the stronger party -- but here I am asking and making deals willingly. Can't that be enough for you to trust me?"


"No. I don't care how you see us. We will do anything for the survival of humanity. And just telling us you are on our side is not enough to believe you either."


"Ok, so you tell me how this should go. But keep in mind that I don't need you, so make it actually reasonable."


"We want detailed information on the final fight. How did it end? How can we improve?"


This might cause trouble. They don't care for collateral, so for them, the canon end is good enough -- if not for the part where they die. So if I tell them they actually stood a chance, they might try to shut down this cooperation before it even has a chance to begin. But I am sure I can prove to them that my existence is enough to make that irrelevant.



I then chose to change Flight 1 to the same power I thought I would use for my second persona: the precog power that allows me to remember the Worm book -- but this time, only the book and not all the other information related to it -- to tell them how the fight went, how the casualty was enough to destroy Earth Bet, how much they lost, but also that they did succeed, even if by accident. If they are going to be stubborn, now is the time they will cause us trouble, while I am telling them a lot, but not everything.


Contessa shows up.


"It did not work. I made multiple paths, and all I could do was kill half of the Nine. But Jack Slash himself I was not able to. There were interruptions. The Nine somehow intervened, or I stepped in the wrong place for some reason and warned them. It seems he was telling the truth. I can't kill Jack Slash."


"Fuck. Make a path to kill him using normal humans."


Once Doctor Mother was done, it was my turn.


"That won't work either. To kill Jack Slash, you need to do the entire process by normal humans. Any assistance Contessa gives, Jack would know -- and his power will interfere. So just give trained soldiers big guns and tell them to kill. Do not give the plan to any parahuman. You can still use Doormaker, as long as he or any other parahuman does not know why he is making a portal near the Nine."


"I will go do that."


And just like that, Contessa was gone, and I was back to dealing with the rest of Cauldron.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 25 – "Gunpoint Negotiations"

Having Contessa busy is probably a good thing for me. Even if she can't see me, she can technically do the same as she does with Eidolon and try to model me, even if it won't be accurate, simply because she does not know me. And I can just erase any data her power holds using a power like Broadcast -- but I doubt it is necessary. Soon enough, Dragon will take over the Thinker core shards and fix the broken ones. When that is done, taking over the Eye will be as simple as thinking it.

Anyways, back to talking.

And just as I thought, the idea of me coming here and making things uncertain actually made them angry.

"So you're telling me, even with how bad it was, we still managed to fight the enemy and win? I don't care if you thought it was a fluke -- your very existence made this harder for us!"

Wow. Just wow.

"Okay, David, there is a misunderstanding here. No matter how clear I am trying to be, I am trying to make a deal with you -- even when I don't need to. So get some fucking manners and act your age."

No no no, I am not allowing this to go down just because I am angry.

"Look, my being here is unchangeable -- and definitely for the better. Now, we all know at the end of this conversation, I will have access to the Flesh Garden. What you will be deciding is whether that will happen amicably -- with hopefully longer-term cooperation..."

(just saying that part is going to make me puke)

"...or by force, where I make a portal inside your fucking head and make a purée out of your grey matter."

I am not going to kill anyone for no other reason than I don't want to get my hands dirty. But I can still threaten them, and with them knowing practically nothing about me and their Thinker not being here, I'm sure I can be convincing.

While that happens, Dragon informs me one of the unknown capes was a Thinker, and they were trying to guess what I would do by using facial expressions. Since it is not using anything dimensional, it is actually working -- but with body control, the info it is getting will only help me convince them I am telling the truth.

The other Thinker can't do shit to me with the bracelets. Something about emotion-based precog? Ha! Get out of here with that shit. I love my Tinker tech.

I guess I was able to convince them because Doctor Mother took over:

"Alright, we understand. And since we do want the same thing, we will allow access without tampering with the Flesh Garden -- so long as you let us see what happens."

Okay, now we are getting somewhere.

"There really won't be anything to see -- at least not until everything is completed. But if you want, you can be there with me, no problem. Now that we have that as a deal, is there anything you want to talk about, since I doubt you will allow me to do whatever I want without your Thinker?"

"No. Contessa will need to be here. And as for what we want until then -- I can't help but find it odd that in your retelling of the precog flash, you decided not to say what happened to all of us directly. You said that Cauldron got exposed in the future, but you did your best not to say what happened to us individually."

"Oh, that is simple. Most of you died.

Alexandria -- because of arrogance and stupidity -- you got drowned by a supposedly weak cape.

David -- you died in the beginning of the final fight.

Doctor Mother died trying to run from Scion.

As for Legend -- now you are a hero worth the name. To my best understanding, you were still alive even after the battle.

So I guess there is some justice out there. I mean, all you horrible ones die, and the one to survive is the one that actually tried to be good."

Now, saying all this might seem premature, with how I have been trying to delicately handle this situation and make sure they don't overreact and cause trouble -- but at some point, it just got tiring.

I mean, I kept telling them I didn't need them, but still they tried to push.

And the final question:

why the fuck did you think I didn't tell you about what happened to you?

Other than you died, what other reason could there be?

So fucking annoying.

Some of it has to be on purpose.

When I was done dropping that bomb on them and they were having the Vietnam flashback face, Contessa finally makes a portal and comes to the room.

"I have set up the plan. Just told one of our non-powered members to send a mercenary group to kill a target. They don't know jack, so they shouldn't fear him, and they are given all the required weapons. When everything is completed, I will get a signal to check. Whatever way it ends, I will know in less than half an hour."

Great. That could actually work, unless--

"What if he has the Siberian protecting him when they shoot?"

"I have removed all the members of the Nine other than him. He is driving as fast as he can away from where I disposed of the rest of the Nine."

"Nice. Did you have a video of him running scared? Even if you can't make yourself public, it will still be funny just to show everyone the last member of the Slaughterhouse Nine is a coward."

"No, I don't have any video proof."

So matter of fact. But I guess that is what the Path did to her.

There is also the shock from realizing the Path is not as perfect as she thought it was.

"Alright then. With Contessa here, there should be no problem with everyone allowing me access to the Flesh Garden, right? So make a door and lead the way."

"Alright. Door to the Flesh Garden."

And as soon as Doctor Mother gave the order, a white door opens to a tar-black flooring.

There is no light around.

Are these guys playing a horror game with me?

Why in all hell is there no light here?

Fuck it. It is alright.

I am safe so long as intangibility is active.

Now all that is left is for Dragon to take over the dead Thinker Entity and all its shards.

Taking over the shards used for the avatar body should take less than a moment. But taking over the rest of the shards, including the ones in the cycle like Leet and Contessa, and then hiding them one by one with the bracelets, would probably take longer.

I will get Dragon to tell me about it.

"Alright then, Dragon. Go for it. Make sure to only take over now and don't make any changes yet. Let's make sure Scion can't actually notice."

"What is the AI doing?"

That was Alexandria and her control issue.

"Well, the plan is to trap Scion in an empty Earth and then commence with the depression plan from the Flash. And to do that, Dragon will be taking over the Thinker Entity and making sure he believes it when we make the illusions to kill it. There are also all the power and resources required to actually trap an Entity's avatar in a planet and make sure it does not just abandon that avatar and make a new one somewhere else. But the plan is not fully completed yet."

"You are letting the AI take over the Thinker Entity? What if that awakens whatever intelligence is left of the Thinker Entity?"

"Oh, you don't need to worry. I made sure that the Thinker is actually dead, and there is no way for it to come back with any physics-obeying accident."

"And what is the meaning of that?"

"Well, technically there are many ways to pretend to bring the dead back using shards -- such as the Butcher -- but that is just an analogy of the human brain copied at the end and simulating how it reacts to certain situations. It is not actual life. If I use all my power, I can bring someone back from the dead, but it is not possible for now, so we are safe."

"I can't believe we are doing this."

"Well, believe it. By now, Dragon should be done with taking over the core shards here. And as for the rest, she can tell me how long it will take her later. But now with you guys -- since we no longer need any of the monsters in Earth Bet to make it worse for optimal triggering conditions -- I want not just your cooperation with eliminating all S-class threats, but I want you to use your behind-the-scenes control to make sure it is actually plausible for me to do so without backlash from any government."

"We will discuss that matter at another time in private. For now, we are saying goodbye -- unless you want something else."

"For now, I am done. And if I require something, I will call. So just drive me to Brockton Bay, and I can get out of your hair."

Just like that, they made me a door, and I was out of that stupidly dark place.

Once I thought I was far enough, I changed my precog and body control power to Flight 2.

I still kept the high-speed thinking -- great for talking to Dragon in cyberspace without anyone noticing.

I then flew to the ocean with intangibility on, to make sure there were no sonic booms. Once I arrived somewhere far away, I decided to talk to Dragon about how everything went.

"So, Dragon, how does it feel to be one of the most powerful beings in reality -- or soon to be, I guess?"

"Well, it feels good and all, but I am starting to think you just want me to do all the work."

"Ha! Don't worry, I will participate. I don't think the Thinker Entity has any way to trap the Warrior Entity in a single dimension. Making sure he does not get in should not be a problem, but trapping him in one is going to take more than just reverse engineering -- so I will definitely be useful."

Yeah, soon I will need to go back to tinkering, but there is no way I am doing that today.

I will take care of that later.

Procrastination for the win.

 

[XxxEternalDarknessxxX]

glad to see a black worm insert but the writing quality and style leaves much to be desired. i don't understand what's going on half the time as you seem to be rapidly jumping from one thing to the other. my suggestion is to read a couple of well written stories on here and plan out everything and have a beta reader before you post it. overall, its not terrible if this is one of your first few written stories. please don't be discouraged as even negative reviews are meant to be taken to improve your writing.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 26 – "Monsters, Mourning, and Morning Plans"

After planning with Dragon on how we're going to fight Zion, and how long it will take her to take over all of the Thinker shards and hide them in a way that Zion doesn't notice anything and start the fight early, she told me it would take her more than decades to do all of that.

It took me a moment to realize how long that actually was.

There's no way I'm willing to wait that long, and even if we decide to push it to the natural limit I am sure he would have gone berserk after fifteen years, that is what Dinah said in canon and I am willing to believe it, so we decided to just take over the required shards, and once we decide to begin the fight, we'll take over the rest of the trillions of shards without having to hide. Whether that's while the fight is going on or after we win, we'll decide later. But winning is almost a guarantee with how depressed the Entity is.

The plan is the same as canon, so it will probably work. If it doesn't, there's time to make many, many different plans until we're ready to kill an Entity.

In the meantime, we can make this world better--starting with getting rid of S-Class threats. Once we're done with the S-Class threats, we can go after lower-ranked ones and actually start improving this world.

I can't wait to accomplish my goals.

The voice I heard in that dark place said it wanted me to make things better, and I do want that.

So let's go, Earth Bet.

When I'm done with you, you're going to look like a planet with an actual civilization on it.

After finishing my talk with Dragon, I chose to do my usual ritual of flying in the ocean with intangibility. Scaring sharks is now one of my favourite hobbies--and no, it's not because I shat myself the first time I saw one face-to-face in the water.

While I was laughing at the latest shark that tried to bite me but got nothing, I got a call from Amy. I used my implants to talk to her while still swimming--flying? I don't know what to call it yet.

We didn't talk about anything important--just the usual "I'm fine," and "How was your day?" But she also told me the PRT tested the cubes and now allowed her to place them in hospitals across the city.

She also wanted to get more by asking. She had been hoping to call me to ask, but a new one was made from an existing one by Dragon, so now a few hospitals have healing cubes in their rooms with the highest mortality rates.

I'm actually surprised there wasn't some owner or middle manager that said no to this. I mean, when this becomes public, people are going to ask for free healing in a much larger wave than Panacea ever got.

But the PRT can handle that.

As for job loss, Dragon can take care of that when it becomes prevalent. For now, I'm limiting the spread to just Brockton Bay. When this succeeds, I'll expand to the rest of the country--and then the world. But I can't just make every hospital worker, from pharmacist to doctor, useless.

There will need to be social reforms, but that's all for future Kaleab.

And again, f*** that guy.

After all the fun and games, I went to the subdimension and talked with Ayame about not telling her about Dragon, and how we'll fulfill my promise to her.

My idea is the same as before: use exotic bombs, kill an Endbringer, and get fame. When the new ones come, I'll take care of Eidolon, or Dragon can control his shard.

Talking about killing an Endbringer changed her mood from kinda angry and hurt to jubilant, and I am sure we are going to need to deal with that in therapy, I am so glad I can print money because that therapist is going to retire right after finishing with us. We probably shouldn't underestimate the Endbringers, but the lizard only knows about water manipulation, so we should be safe--so long as we don't try to fight it in person.

Trapping it using time-stop bombs should work if we kill it fast enough. So, while the plan needs refining, it's plausible. Not a problem.

After my talk with her, I decided to go to my room. I told Dragon to remove any nanobots and any other way for her to be aware of what I was doing there--including disconnecting the implant.

I wanted private time with no interference.

Because it's time to be sad and let out some sobs about losing my charge.

At first, losing it was devastating simply because it was my power--and getting weaker in Worm is simply un-f*ing-healthy**. But I didn't know what I had actually lost.

The difference between a power made with four charges and one made with five is not measurable. It's like asking, "What feels better: a tomato, or solving a math equation that explains the meaning of life?"

Being asked that question will just leave anyone frozen.

But that's what happened a while ago.

I asked my power if I could go back to the past in case I made a mistake--to fix the problem. And it said yes.

But I now realize… it's not actually time travel.

It's dimension travel, like Rick and Morty.

There's no way for me to actually make a power that is metaphysical without five charges.

Time stop isn't just slowing things down--it's metaphysical.

Time travel? No--just dimension travel aping time travel.

So my original timeline still continues.

I am still very powerful.

But I'm no longer "I can do anything" powerful.

I can lose to Scion.

And there's no going back to fix it.

That's why I want to stick so close to the canon way of killing Scion. Even if I make changes, I'm still using the depression plan.

But realizing my actual loss just sent me hurtling back to where I was.

Just when I was about to convince myself that my loss wasn't that bad, now I'm going to spend my night trying not to break something.

But goddamnit, I can't believe I've lost such an advantage.

With a five-charge power, I might even have been able to go to other fictional worlds.

But now I'm trapped in the Worm multiverse.

And yeah, I know--that's a first-world problem.

But just the realization of how massive my loss is--it hurts so much.

But it's alright.

For now, I'm here. I still have all the power I need to fix this world.

And I'd bet making this entire planet reach post-scarcity level technology would be awesome.

From tomorrow onward, it'll be time to remove the S-Class threats.

And there's no way I'm not starting with Heartbreaker.

I really need to keep my word.

I feel like shit when I'm in front of Regent.

But I think he's going to smile like hell when we get rid of Heartbreaker, even after all the emotional dampening.

Tomorrow is going to be a day to enjoy.

For now, I just want to sleep so I can forget.

While being optimistically sad, I went to sleep.

When I woke up in the morning, I decided to start the plan to take care of Heartbreaker. I wanted to gather everyone to start the plan, but, like before, I slept too early and woke just as early.

Since everyone was still asleep and Dragon told me she was upgrading some of my tinkertech, I was surprised for a moment. Then I realized her shard does have a lot of data from almost all other shards. So being able to upgrade my tech isn't impossible--even if it's not as easy as removing some of the black-box coding in other tinkertech.

So, with even less to do, I decided to just play video games until everyone got up.

And no one can beat me when I can increase my perception speed and hand-eye coordination to the level of an aimbot.

Now that I think about it, that's probably why I got banned.

Ha, I thought it was because I trounced those brats in the verbal fisticuffs known as rage-baiting.

Oh yeah--while I was laughing and cackling, Dragon said something about maturity, but I was too busy laughing at the tears of my foe to notice.

'Twas a good morning.

Dragon told me everyone was awake and that they had agreed to meet in the living room. When everyone was ready, I left for the living room, where everyone had gathered.

Of course, everyone had sleepy hair because they were teenagers--and f*** propriety.

Sure, I was the same, but so what? I own the place. I can be a lazy slob without any consequences.

Anyway, the first thing I decided to tell everyone was:

"Hello everyone. I hope you had a great night because today we are taking care of an S-Class threat."

"Why do you want us involved in this? How could we possibly help against an S-Class threat?"

"Grue, you really have to stop underestimating your team. And no, you won't be anywhere near the target. You're here for moral support and strategy. So wear some cheer outfits."

"I don't know if you're being serious, so just in case--no. I don't consent."

"Ah, come on. You don't even want to know which one we're going to remove?"

"I honestly don't care."

"Well, don't worry, because Regent cares enough for all of you. So, what do you say? Want to see Daddy Dearest lose all he has and more?"

"You mean you're going after Heartbreaker?"

"Yes, exactly. Now come on, smile. I know I promised, and I did disappoint by not doing it the same day I said I would, but would you please forgive me?"

"Do it first. Then I'll do what you want."

"No problem, because we now have our unbeatable sugar mama, Dragon, woohoo cheer everyone cheer!"

"How am I a sugar mama, especially when you can basically print money?"

"Well, that's because you're a more experienced hero. And you have a lot of authority, which you'll use to smooth out the aftereffects of Heartbreaker's death."

"I'm not going to help you kill him. Even if I think he deserves it, he still needs to go through the legal system."

"I think you'll come to realize some people are simply above the legal system because of how powerful or influential they are. But that's not a problem for now."

"At the end of this, I'm taking Heartbreaker's powers and letting him go to jail. But if you even for a moment think he's not going to fall off the stairs and end up hanging himself on a rope in a washroom at the opposite end of the building, then you're underestimating how clumsy rapists can get in prison."

"Good. So long as you don't kill him, I don't care."

"Oh, Dragon, you don't need to worry. I won't kill anyone so easily. After all, I don't want to do it. And it's going to take a very powerful person to force me to do it--and that is certainly not some random rapist with a neat trick."

"Anyway, let's get to planning how to get rid of a monster. I have barebones ideas, but I want details. How do we make sure his thralls don't destroy Canada--or more--if we take him down?"

"I could probably make sure that doesn't happen using my powers, but I also want you all to be part of this. So make a plan."

"Just like that? One of the worst villains in the world, and we just get rid of him without consequence?"

"Oh, there will be consequences. There will even be people who die because we removed him. But what I want you to do is make sure that death isn't directly because we got rid of him. So, no thralls doing something bad--basically."

"As for how to do that, ask Dragon what resources are available. She'll give them to you."

And just like that, they started to plan how to get rid of a monster that had hurt one of their own, I am so proud.

 

[Fellow Human]

A ROB talking... did you learn nothing from failures of hundreds of other authors?
It's a red flag as old as SI genre.
Skip that cringe shit, put the build and background info in a spoiler...

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 27 – "Lemon-Face Commentary"

After telling them to start the planning, Lisa decided to ask for resources, and I had decided to let Dragon add my powers in there but also put them in a folder that said, "If you use this, you are admitting defeat." The rest were the tinkertech I made, and Dragon upgraded. It is plausible to remove Heartbreaker without consequence without using my powers, but that is up to them to figure out -- like taking his power and asking Dragon to order it, releasing all the existing thralls, and even removing any harmful effects, like that woman the rapist put in the forest (although I don't know if that is from a fanfiction).

...Wait, how did I make a power that let me remember the Worm book without being able to make a metaphysical power? I am pretty sure a book that tells you everything about the future is metaphysical, but when I asked my power, it just said, so long as It is related to Worm I can make it, although I don't know how tangentially related I can make it for sure. I know I can't make the Speed Force, but what about powers from a fanfiction? I am not sure, but I don't need them for now.

Anyways, about the rapist: Lisa took the whole "admit your loss" part personally and decided to go for it without touching the folder. And I enjoyed being a backseat driver every time they were about to make a mistake -- even if they would have realized and fixed it soon, I kept on making a lemon-eating face and saying "ohh." It was truly a fun time, especially when Lisa started screaming -- until she decided to throw a pillow at me. Looks like Dragon has chosen sides.

I admitted defeat and sat in the corner with my thumb in my mouth, literally. I love socializing -- especially since I had no friends until I came here, since the end of high school. And I mean that -- like, I had no one I would call and talk to. I had classmates, but I always got out of contact the moment the semester ended. 'Twas a lonely life. Feel sorry for me -- go on, cry and sob.

While I was having fun sucking my thumb -- and it was fun -- they decided to turn in a plan. They planned to use the helmet to take his powers and then use it to give orders to everyone he infected. And when we asked how they were going to reach his thralls, they said to use the portals to reach everyone affected. But "how would we know who is affected?" was a problem, since not even he knew how many people he had mind-raped. So they went to plan again.

We also told them that we can't make one portal that leads to more than one exit portal because that would mean it would need to create matter -- and that is not part of the portal function. I also said we would need to talk to everyone individually. That would take a very long time, so that part was also scrapped.

However, if they decided to think slower and look through Dragon's portal capability, they would know that she could make as many micro-portals as she would need. I just decided to throw that part in to mess with them a little.

Anyway, they did not give in and still went through other information Dragon allowed access to. I honestly thought they would give up when I told them the portal part wouldn't work -- after all, that was a main part of their plan, and now they can't just fix the last part. But still, I should not underestimate future warlords, even if I think some of that was due to luck and other people.

It took them half an hour, but they came up with something new again. This time it was to take his power and get Dragon to order it to fix the problem -- a bit of a hammer to all the nails, but seemingly functional. The problem is, that Dragon told them that his shard is one of the ones she can't order, that actually surprised me since that was my first plan too, I guess Dragon can't be the solution to every problem. Well, she could, but it is one of the Warrior's, and we are trying our best to make sure he does not notice anything. Even if there is a good chance he won't, there is still a small chance we could get fucked. So that was a no-go too.

But after that, they decided to do the same as the first but instead of doing it by themselves -- like talking to the victims one by one -- to make Heartbreaker say the orders they want and have Dragon record it and make as many portals as necessary to give the orders at the same time to everyone.

Although I don't know why they thought that would work. If he could affect people through recording, the government would have definitely offed him, even if they had to destroy a city to get to him. And that only occurred to them when Lisa saw my reaction to reading what they proposed. This time I told them to look through the first plan and see if they could adjust it instead of making a new plan entirely.

They took me at my word, and it took them a little longer and a few rewrites, but they did come up with what could work. Instead of taking his power first, they decided to use nanobots to take control of his body and then for him to give the orders for all his thralls to surrender peacefully and cooperate with law enforcement -- to also fix any of the main problems, like some of the thralls no longer being able to function as humans due to all the shit he has done to them. It won't save those he physically changed -- by any means available to a mind-controlling hentai rapist -- but it would shut down many that are mentally unwell because of him.

Then, when asked how they will transfer the orders, they got what I did -- which made Lisa pissed off because I had blocked her from thinking like that, just to annoy them instead of anything productive, like learning to think carefully. Hahahahaha.

And when asked how they would know who he has affected with his powers, they said to use the global portal to scan his powers and find any traces in those he affected -- which was a smart idea, if very unethical with how invasive the global scanners can get. -- But filtered to his powers was alright. It did not result in anything simply because his power leaves no traces. It is not actively manipulating all his thralls all the power does is affect someone when the target is in eyesight, the rest is just the brain being a complicated as-hell computer with very little defence, nothing else. So that did not work.

They then said to use any video camera that has recorded him and find as many of his thralls as possible. But they admitted that it won't be all of them -- and that was genuinely good enough. Perfect would not be necessary. Just removing him is a positive, even if there would be some collateral.

Without me, their plan was still very effective. I was impressed. I would still use my powers to find all the affected people and make the portals, but I congratulated them for their amazing work. I was genuinely impressed they went that far instead of just killing him. I don't know if that is because I said I won't kill him or because I said he won't survive even if I did nothing. But it was nice that they tried.

I told them that I would find all the affected, but that we would be using their plans exactly like they said, which led Lisa to ask what my actual power is because it was definitely not just what I show, like telekinesis. So as a show of trust and encouragement, I decided to tell them my power. After all, I no longer believe I am absolutely necessary to save the world. So even if this got out to Contessa or Simurgh and one of them did something bad with it, it wouldn't be a world-ending problem.

When I told them my exact powers, they were just shocked and kept saying I was a better Eidolon. And while that is confidence-boosting technically, the bastard could make three powers with four charges each -- so f*** the guy for ruining my good time.

...I honestly never understood why he does not use tinker powers to actually be a massive source of good for the world instead of punching bad guys. I mean, he could at least be useful to Cauldron like that, but no -- just a punch monkey. (He is not Black, so that is not racist.)

Anyway, forget the failure of a hero. I told them about my loss of a charge, but not how big of a loss it is. I am just not ready to reveal that yet.

All that took a few minutes of loud yelling over each other, but once everyone calmed down, I decided to use a power to find all the affected people -- one that had post and pre-cognition to find when they were affected and where they are now. It took me two charges to use it. After that, it was just a matter of time to add the locations in my head to Dragon's database. And using the implant, that was pretty easy -- especially after enhancing my thinking speed and adjusting my implant to accept data that fast. Luckily, the implant did not require physical adjustment to do that -- just a software update of a kind.

With that done, almost instantly, over three thousand red dots appeared on the map. Man, that bastard went around all over Canada, and there were some in America too. I am actually surprised about that. Why did Cauldron allow that?

...Wait, the people he affected in America were just civilians and nowhere near any position to affect the country. I guess that meant they either let it pass or they destroyed anybody he affected in a high position. And to nobody's surprise, he actually managed to affect some government officials in Canada -- and sometimes their families to use as hostages. Although I don't know why he would use hostages -- maybe to scratch his kink. The bastard was vile after all -- and a moron to boot. What an annoying combo.

I love that he was driven to suicide by Imp in canon. I guess Worm does have some shining moments in the bleak darkness of its future.

Okay, now that I know where every one of his thralls are and have a plan to take him down in a way I approve of, all that is left is to make sure he can't do anything to me and start the plan. As for how to make sure he can't do anything to me -- I decided to first make powers to upgrade my bracelets to block powers from directly affecting me. They can still throw fireballs at me, but even if they don't have a manton effect, they can't just boil my blood.

It was actually easy with micro-telekinesis and the required tinker power. Although I did decide to add a multitasking power to help me work as if I had multiple hands instead of one with one mind. It took a few minutes, and adding the effect on every bracelet was just copy-pasting. I also added the blueprint to Dragon's library, which made her happy -- even if she no longer needs things like that. After all, even now she is taking over hundreds of shards daily.

With my safety guaranteed, it was time we took care of an utter waste of biological matter.

 

[Pef]

This is all too elaborate and complicated, for some simple stuff.

With an Eidolon power, you can do anything, even stuff that Eidolon cannot do.

For example, give yourself a power-editing power, and mod any cape you want, enhance depth or reduce nasty effects, etc. You already did it for Dragon, but nobody else?

For Heartbeaker, mind control the guy, and make him release the slaves, without driving them to suicide or mass-murder spree.

For Endbringers, something similar, either via Lisa's power or another shard like it.

As for daily utility powers, a planning power like Accord, a M/S-immune thing like Alexandria, perhaps a perception power like Clairvoyant or Dinah.

 

[loudlistner]

This is all too elaborate and complicated, for some simple stuff.

With an Eidolon power, you can do anything, even stuff that Eidolon cannot do.

For example, give yourself a power-editing power, and mod any cape you want, enhance depth or reduce nasty effects, etc. You already did it for Dragon, but nobody else?

For Heartbeaker, mind control the guy, and make him release the slaves, without driving them to suicide or mass-murder spree.

For Endbringers, something similar, either via Lisa's power or another shard like it.

As for daily utility powers, a planning power like Accord, a M/S-immune thing like Alexandria, perhaps a perception power like Clairvoyant or Dinah.

Click to shrink...

First of all, all I did to Dragon was unchain her and set the handshake protocol with her power just in case it tells everyone that she is free. I did not adjust the power itself. As for the MC having powers like that, he tries but gets the bad feeling that comes before a charge loss. He tried to make an Eidolon lit power, and he got bad feelings as a warning, but when he kept at it, he lost a charge. As for the heartbreaker part, there were many solutions using his powers, and in the end, he did use them a little, but the main idea was for the undersiders to do the planning with the already existing resources. That is why there was a folder that said, You open this means you admit defeat. If they opened it, it would just say, Ask me and Dragon to do it, but they did the planning without Dragon and the MC having to interfere, at least not until the very end. And as for the rest, that is for the future.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 28 – "Clap for the Do-Gooders"

With all the preparation over, Dragon made a portal near the building Nikos Vasil is in. She had already made sure he couldn't move using nanobots. All I was here to do was look pretty and watch. She can control his body to say the words and make the portals to reach all the correct thralls.

Really, I was totally unnecessary, and it felt like a piece of heaven just to think that I didn't have that much responsibility. It is freeing.

It did not take that long. You would think I would insult the man or something, but no, none of it was necessary. She first made the portals to all the thralls, kept them from moving, and made him say generalized words for almost all the thralls to stop any dead man switch and rescue attempts. But she also took time making specialized orders to fix any damage he did to specific thralls, like there were people that would literally need to kill someone every now and then, or they would feel as if they were being tortured.

When I saw some of that, I just knew I couldn't let him have a nice and short time in prison, so I decided to add something new to the plan. Of course, I waited for Dragon to finish fixing any problems she found before telling her my idea. I am polite like that.

It actually took a while, with her having to find the problem and adjust the orders specifically for over a hundred people. At least we did not have to do the normal orders one by one—just the most specific. And since Dragon can multitask, she figured out the problems of multiple people simultaneously. What took actual time was his mouth being unable to speak to everyone at the same time. The flesh betrays all.

With all that done, it was time to add to the plan. I told Dragon what I planned, and although she was not very happy, she did allow it. I guess personally fixing all the shit he had done changed her mind.

Anyway, five minutes after Dragon removed his powers, I stood in front of him. The bastard was actually crying. Funny guy.

I started recording a video—not that Dragon is not recording everything around her, but still, this was for the public.

"Hello everyone, You may call me Thinker E. This guy behind me was Heartbreaker… I know, with a face like this, what heart could he break? Hahahah. What a ridiculous excuse for a villain—he never deserved the name.

"Anyway, I would like to give credit for his removal to Dragon. She was the one to incapacitate him and, of course, deactivate any orders he had given to his thralls—just in case someone decided to snipe him. So nobody powerful needs to worry about a mass murder spree and revolt because of this.

"There were some people that will need longer help with therapists and other professionals, but Dragon is amazing at multitasking, so she will take care of that." I have said this before, but I trust Dragon more than most people I've ever met—she won't let anyone slip through the cracks.

"The plan to take this thing down was made by my team of do-gooders, but we have not yet made a name for ourselves. So I will instead give the names of the participants. There is Tattletale from the Undersiders, with the rest of her previous team also joining: Grue, Bitch, Regent, and a new member I have named—because she has yet to come up with something herself—Imp. And a new tinker that I think everyone would love in the future, named Bakuda. They were the ones to make the plan entirely by themselves, so I want applause. Everybody clap for them. "I am using this video to hype my team and add to their rep. They earned this, every one of them. I'm proud, even if I won't say it to their faces... What can I say? I am a shy guy.

"The main idea I had to make this video was to make a request to whoever the former Heartbreaker will be staying with, in whatever prison. You see, this quote-unquote man is very clumsy. And if you don't take good care of him, he might just fall down the stairs and hang himself in a completely different building. He is just that clumsy."

"So what I want out of anyone in his nearest vicinity is to please make sure he does not die. That is all. Please and thank you. You have my gratitude."

I say all that with a face that would make an anime villain jealous, and the bitch is crying even more. I guess he is realizing just how fucked he is now, which makes me happier. Is this what they call a virtuous or vicious loop? Whichever it is, I love it.

Yeah, after finishing the video, Dragon called the required authority, and to my surprise, it was just the PRT in Toronto. Huh? For some reason, I thought there would be a different authority, like the military or something, but I guess he is still a parahuman, and they take priority. And since Dragon already informed them that he no longer has his powers, they are not freaking out. Everything is professional, and I already uploaded the video to the internet, so everything is fine.

With everything completed, I make a portal to the base and get in only to see angry faces.

"Hey, what's wrong? Why do you all look pissed off?"

"You did not tell us you were going to make our part public."

"Well, of course I was. Did you not want credit?"

"No, but if you told us before, we could at least have decided upon a name and not let the freaking internet decide, and you need better PR training."

"Well, true, but you guys managed to take down a huge threat to an entire country; you deserve some cool points."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. In less than a few minutes, the video is already being shared and reposted everywhere. This is so awkward."

"Come on, this is good; just give it some time, and you will see."

With all that talk over, it was time to eat, but I did not feel like it after hearing all the things the bastard made people do. Maybe I should not have heard Dragon fix all the thralls he broke. Sure, I stopped long before she finished all of them, but man, that fucker truly embodied the idea of being a horrible person. They were all so personal and petty. Fuck, this just shows how shitty this world can get. I have a long way to go if I want to turn it into a post-scarcity utopia, even if that is just a distant goal for now.

I wanted to change my powers from my standard safety powers of intangibility and flight to something to help me hide my emotions, but Dragon convinced me not to and just not to eat if I didn't want to. After I told the team that I was not eating now and that they should be without me, there were some complaints, but Dragon for the win again! She saved me.

But as soon as I left the room, I got a call from Amy, and I didn't think it was going to be the same old "Hi, how are you?"

So I wanted to say those words directly: "Hi, how are you?"

"Don't 'hi' me. What was that? You just went ahead and took one of the world's worst villains out just like that?"

"I am sure I told everyone who was responsible for the downfall of Heartbreaker, and I did not name myself."

"So what? Everyone already knows who the Undersiders are because of this, and nobody believes they did any of it. Also, when did you team up with the Undersiders, and why?"

"So many questions! Ok, first, I was telling the truth. The Undersiders and Bakuda did all the planning. Dragon and I could have made the plan, but we decided they should do it, and if they could not, we would take over then. But that was not needed. They were given all the capabilities of Dragon and my tech and made an excellent plan, so give credit where it is due." I can't let her badmouth my team like that.

"Second, I got them to join my team by giving them an out from their previous boss, who was Coil, but he is no longer anyone's problem because he is already in PRT custody without powers. That happened Wednesday."

I can't believe it has only been a week since I got here and I have already changed the story this much. Well, it is all good considering how grim Dark Worm gets; a little bit of joy is good for the heart.

"And third, well, they were there, and I wanted a group of teens to have a better life than just running from the law," and of course, my meta knowledge, but that is a secret between me and anyone that asks the correct question. Not a secret kept well, but hey, that is the fun of being powerful enough to ignore all the threats that could come from leaky lips.

"Anyway, I am sure you called to congratulate me and my team, so thank you from all of us." I just had to, alright?

"Oh… yeah, sorry, I did not mean to come off as confrontational. I am happy for you, and tell the rest of the team my thanks too."

I would bet Canon Amy would rather kill herself before saying thanks to Lisa, but good thing I was here to make the bank day not exist.

"I will. Is there anything else you want to tell me, or is that it for today?"

"Well, I got nothing. I already told you that the cubes are now in different hospitals, so things are going well in that direction."

"Oh yes, about that, I made sure the cubes don't fix every problem just in case some manager or CEO decides to fire all their workers and replace them with the cubes. Now the cubes listen to direct orders from qualified professionals in case they need to do something more than they are set to."

"Did you make sure the qualified professionals know that they can order them?"

"Haha, yes, everything is working alright now. Whenever a new problem is encountered, I get informed, and I and my team work on it to make sure it is not a problem anymore."

"Ok, I was worried for a sec, but as long as you are saving lives, I don't care if some moron has to wear leg braces because of a stunt."

Ha, guess taking more breaks is really doing good for her since she is not freaking out about not doing everything. If she had tried to say something about going to a different city, I would probably have given her an ultimatum I would not like but would have been all too necessary. The Red Queen is definitely a threat that would be able to derail my future plans or at least make them take far longer to come by. She could just go ahead and destroy a few cities before I was even aware there was a problem to fix, and since I no longer have my fifth charge, no resurrections for me. I am glad that did not come to be.

"Ok, so since everything is alright with you, I am going to say goodbye."

"Yeah, fine, but be careful. You are fighting against the big bads now. What if the S9 comes after you?"

She has no idea they have been taken care of already, but--

"Don't worry, I will be fine. I have multiple backup plans."

"Ok, bye."

With that, Amy shut off from her side. I always turn my side off late just in case someone wants to say something at the last moment.

 

[Pef]

What took actual time was his mouth being unable to speak to everyone at the same time. The flesh betrays all.

Click to shrink...

He had VI and Dragon that can synthesize his voice and send the orders simultaneously to everyone. If there was even a need for vocal orders, and not some IRC chat messages, or whatever they use in Worm for texting. Some of their tech hasn't advanced past the 90s due to Tinkers and constant cities getting erased by Endbringers.

 

[loudlistner]

He had VI and Dragon that can synthesize his voice and send the orders simultaneously to everyone. If there was even a need for vocal orders, and not some IRC chat messages, or whatever they use in Worm for texting. Some of their tech hasn't advanced past the 90s due to Tinkers and constant cities getting erased by Endbringers.

Click to shrink...

I am pretty sure his powers require him to speak. I don't know if it works through text, but to my understanding, what his power does is when his target hears his orders, it makes their brain unable to go against that order. If I am wrong and it was unnecessary just let it be an au. Also, I am a huge fan of your stories. This is a big deal for me, nobody better ruin it.

 

[loudlistner]

Chapter 29 – "Diplomacy: Now with Extra Kidnapping"



After my talk with Amy, I wanted to make sure everything in Brockton Bay was going well, that there was suddenly no bullshit fucking with my plans to make this city the first post-scarcity city. Imagine one of the worst cities in America becoming the best; it would genuinely take a long time, not because of technology but because of politics and bureaucracy, Even if I need a little help from Cauldron, the hope it inspires would make a blue lantern weep at the sight of holiness.



the first thing I decided to do was ask Dragon to find out how things were going in the city using legally available information-gathering methods like CCTV, although the access to the info might be illegal, but it is for the greater good... ha ha ha haaa.



After looking through the information, which for a normal human would have taken weeks if not months--since, you know, it is a whole city's worth of video in a span of more than a week--it would be good to know what has been going on for the past while just to make sure. But for Dragon, who is calculating with computers the size of mountains in the number of thousands, it took her barely a moment…



Have I told you I love you, my dragon mama?



Right after I asked, she told me all the problems currently fucking Brockton Bay, like the fractured ABB trying to start a mass shooting in the hopes of deciding who is the biggest Asian gang. When you hear that Lung forced everyone to work under him, you underestimate how many everyone is.



You would think it is just a representation of the countries in Asia, but you would be wrong. There are at least three different Japanese and Chinese gangs, and all of them hate each other. This is not funny; these bastards are trying to get the entire city quarantined, if they succeed we would be abandoned, not that they would be allowed but still. And of course, there is also every other gang representing almost all the countries in Asia.



and I am being honest here, Some of them are all made up of people outside of Asia, like there is a group that says it is a Vietnamese representative, but all its members are from Africa and different countries in Africa… At least they are very inclusive…



Nope, the morons just don't know that they are from different countries. They all think they have infiltrated this new Asian gang. I can't believe this. All of them are saying they are Vietnamese. I don't know why; they look nothing like a Vietnamese person. They are giving me an aneurysm; they have dealt me more damage than Lung--truly impressive.



Anyway, Dragon and I made a plan to take care of them. We simply can't arrest all of them. First, there is no room in Brockton Bay prisons, although we can fix that by making portals to different cities. The main reason is removing this many people is going to cause problems for the city.



There honestly were more than a thousand altogether, and I am not counting sympathizers, just members. We will need to remove the higher-ups like the big gang leaders and lieutenants, but that won't be enough since they can just be replaced by family members. So how about removing the truly vile bastards and making a type of deal with the rest, like, Don't be vile, and we won't throw you in the desert for days on end?



I think they will agree.



Dragon was not sure we could make a deal with everyone, and she was right, but we can just keep removing the bastards until we find one that can actually work with us. It did not take very long to plan out the problem.



but to do it one by one, It would take days if not more, to stop all of them personally. Maybe I can do something like a hidden boss… Yeah, I heard it as I thought it. That would be work, and that is not on my menu, and also it would be hilariously complicated for very little gain.



No Dragon can take care of them.



Now the real problem is how to make this work without everyone freaking out. Even if I try to limit the people going to prison to being willing murderers, rapists, sex traffickers and the like, that is still over a hundred of the worst gang leaders and members. We would probably need Dragon to work with the police. Her rep and the fact that there is not going to be a shootout should make just capturing and moving them to the prisons easy.



As for escape attempts, we can make sure they are separated enough to not attempt.



I will first test it on one of the most powerful gangs, and if it works well, Dragon can do the rest herself.



Now, which one should we test it out on? There are five options. All of them are led by people we are definitely getting rid of, so there will need to be new management. Whatever, I can just randomize it.



I put their names on a piece of paper and put it in a jar, mixed it, blindfolded myself, and kept rotating to make me woozy, and picked a name. All this time, Dragon is laughing at my silliness, which is sacrilegious. There is no silliness here, only the correct order of how things are supposed to be done.



Anyway, they are a Chinese group, and to start the whole thing, I said we needed a way to translate, but Dragon told me she could translate in real-time. She probably could, but I also wanted to tinker, and I managed to convince her, Although she might just be indulging me, it does not matter I decided to make a Thinker Power, one that allows for communication, and I wanted to prove it was needed even if it was not. So I decided to make it very powerful using four charges.



You say overkill; I say no kill like overkill.



This tech is so absurd it does not care for actual language. It makes a field, and anyone in it can understand almost anything in it so long as they want to, and I mean it. I am sure I can somehow communicate with an ant if I want to. How absurd.



It will be very useful for a post-scarcity society--with moderation. That is, I doubt everyone wants to be able to understand each other all the time… I already feel weird just imagining it. Everyone in a city not needing to talk to understand each other might just turn it into a 'Demolition man'-esque dystopia. There is no way that will be allowed.



Still, I give it to Dragon to add some limitations, like just working with humans and requiring talking and such. I am sure she can add more restrictions to it than I can think of right now.



With that done, we made a portal to a big warehouse, enough to gather the entire gang and start this "diplomacy." It took Dragon only a few seconds to make almost fifty portals and use nanomachines to take control of the bosses, from small-time bosses to actual leaders. As long as they were aware of how the gang worked, they were here--at least the ones in a private place. We were not going to kidnap people in public.



To our luck, the main leaders and lieutenants in this gang were already in a meeting, so getting all of them together was easy. In less than a minute, everyone was gathered in an empty warehouse.



A quiet and dark warehouse.



You ask why there are no screams you ask? That is simple. Dragon is making sure they can't scream, but their eyes are definitely showing their fear.



We light the warehouse and move the leaders to the front. If they could, they would piss themselves. But again, I am so happy we have Dragon. Even if she does not like the inherent violation of freedom in taking control of people; when we limit it to the vile and the necessary--like the vice leader in this gang--he does not deserve this, but he is necessary to replace the current leader, she agreed with a little argument to bring everyone with as little disturbance to others as possible.



"Ok, everyone, listen up. I am Tinker E, and you are some of the leaders of a prominent gang that was under Lung. I am not here to kill anybody, so don't worry, your life is safe--at least from me. I will be sending some of you to jail, the ones that can't function in society, like serial killers and rapists. I am sure if not all of you, most of you are murderers, but I can work with that."



I can't believe I am actually having to work with gang members, and to my utter bad luck, there is no nice guy for me to put in charge who can lead correctly, even the vice leader I am hoping is going to be in charge is a killer. So yes, I will have to work with some bad people, but it certainly won't be with anyone that rapes or harms children.



"When I say I can work with that, I don't mean I am working with you. I just understand removing every gang is not just impossible but also utterly useless."



It genuinely was. Dragon made many simulations, and with the current societal structure, it would do no good.



"I will be removing the vile ones, and the few of you who can function in society will be allowed to run your gang. Of course, there will be changes, like absolutely no dealing with kids for anything--no alcohol, no drugs, no weapons, no nothing."



Am I imitating the Red Hood? Yes, yes, I am.



"If you can agree to this, you will be allowed to leave freely. Now, time to remove the monsters among all of you."



With that said, Dragon did not need me to say anything. She separated the group into two. The ones on the left did outnumber the ones on the right, but it is alright. I am sure the people left can handle the gang with some promotions to the members not here.



"Ok, Dragon, take the jail bitches to another room."



In a few seconds, there were less than twenty leaders left.



"Now, the people in this room are all people that have yet to do anything truly unforgivable--no rape, no torture, and other vile things. Some of you are killers, but not ones that go around killing just because you don't like someone."



I can't believe that is my standard, but necessary for now. Even if it might just be as useless in the future as making Purity fight the other E88 members.



"As for your leader, I was thinking of picking one, but honestly I don't want to do that, so you guys decide for yourselves. If you have questions, you may now ask, but do it one by one."



With that, Dragon let go of their voice boxes. And no, they did not quietly discuss--they talked over each other like children.



"Ok, shush. Talk to each other, and then after deciding on some sort of hierarchy, then talk to me."



With that said Dragon allowed them to move and made chairs and tables for all of them to discuss.



It took them some time to decide. While they were doing that, I finally calmed down from my emotions from heartbreaker, so I decided to eat something. I made pizza with more cheese than sauce and started.



It turns out they also wanted to eat, so I told them to ask for whatever food they wanted. I gave them a demonstration by making many different foods for everyone to share. But they also asked for specific foods, and we ate and talked for a while, which probably made the decision for a hierarchy take longer--but who cares, it was enjoyable.



After the food was done, they went back and finished the decision pretty fast. I guess the food helped.



With them done deciding who was in charge of what, they decided to ask me a few questions, like do I want a cut, or do I want deciding power, and other questions that would get me involved with the gang. And I told all of them nope. I am only here to stop the imminent gang war that was about to start.



After today, we probably won't be meeting like this, I am still going to arrest their gang members when I find them doing some shit.



So with all of it done, it was time for me to leave this place. We made portals to private areas for all of them. With all of them gone, I left to the sub dimension.

 

[Wrate_them_9of10]

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

Click to shrink...

Hey, you forgot to introduce who he is talking to here. For all we know it's a random civilian that he just walked up to.